Close...!

It didn't take me very long to climb the mess of a structure some of these buildings were. I then hopped from rooftop to rooftop until I reached the desired building.

I made it sound quite simple but the roofs of these places were the most illuminated areas, without my power I don't think it would have been such an easy task. Plus, running and the like made me stand out so I still had to be very sneaky.

I finally sneaked into an open window on the tenth floor.

Creak.

For some reason, this area had wooden boards. It's worth mentioning that wood had become a rare commodity since most of the trees are well… dead.

Tick.

The lights to the room turned on with the flip of a switch. I panicked slightly as I scoured the room for a place to hide.

"Who's there?!?" A man asked in a rough voice. I didn't even get a chance to see the person before I hid behind a desk.

Click.

It was the sound of a gun being cocked. This was bound to be trouble but I couldn't cock my gun in return lest I reveal my position.

"Hey, Seamus! Give me a hand!" The man yelled out to what I presumed was a comrade.

This was really bad no matter how I looked at it. Should I kill him and run?

Well, there was really no point in killing him but he might be able to shoot me if I run towards the window and jump. If I took the initiative the outcome might be different, however.

Go!

...I wanted to yell but truthfully I never handled a gun before. All of my knowledge was based on movies and video games. I was never known for my courage. If I was courageous you would have seen me on the news long before.

Thus I hesitated, and with this hesitation, I was losing more of my chance to escape.

If the light was off I would be confident in being able to sneak out in front of this person but as the man was not distracted and rather alert, my chances were slim.

"What is it, Malcolm?" The man called Seamus said in a solemn tone. His voice was familiar. Was he the man I was trailing earlier?

"Someone's in here." The man, Malcolm, promptly replied.

"Hey! Come out! We won't hurt you!" Malcolm then proceeded to yell.

Tap. Tap.

It was the sound of his slow yet steady steps as he slowly scoured the room.

Clomp. Clomp.

The sound of Seamus' heavy footsteps on the wooden boards. Both of these sounds worked in tandem to stress me out beyond belief.

So I took a deep breath. My eyes turned sharp and focused. What was I fighting for? I don't know. But I don't want to get caught anyways.

I swiftly yet silently searched through my pockets. I pulled out a pen. It wasn't some sort of special gadget, I just wanted to toss it.

Thud

I tossed the pen away from them and from the desk. It rolled a bit on the floor but the primary work was done.

The sound of footsteps had stopped as both Seamus and Malcolm pointed their guns towards the direction of the sound. Maybe they were just as panicked as I was as their reflexes were quick.

"It's a pen" Seamus, who was closer, said while looking at the pen on the floor. His eyes became sharp after seeing the logo, however.

"F*ck it's the police" Malcolm who also spotted it accidentally cursed.

Swoosh

I ran out from behind the desk and darted towards the… door! I came here for something and escaping would do me no good.

The office space was fairly cluttered. There were crates containing what I could only presume was contraband and the window near the desk which was directly facing the entrance.

Both Malcolm and Seamus tried to quickly adjust their aim.

Bang.

I gritted my teeth and ducked covering my head. Panic was likely making some more home renovations as my heart thumped nervously.

Slam!

I closed the door with force on my way out. I was now inside a narrow hallway with only a couple of doors on each side.

My attention was then caught by the sound of hurried steps going up stairs. I hastily entered one of the rooms. It seemed to be a closet.

"Hey! What the hell happened!?" Asked a person after they passed by my door. They were likely directing those words towards Seamus and Malcolm who had opened up the door with sharp eyes.

I caught sight of some old clothing inside of the closet which I took and wore over my current attire.

Lots of people had passed by me but I could not hear anybody else coming up the steps so I sneakily opened up the door and left towards where the stair should be.

The guard uniform would stand out too much here so I had to at least cover it up with something. Otherwise, all of my snooping privileges would be withdrawn.

"Hey, what happened?" A seemingly young man asked me after I came down the stairs. It seems he was also about to make his way up.

"There was an intruder, I need to go get something." I hastily dodged the question and made an expression of evident haste. The young man didn't bother me and continued on his way up the stairs.

Hopefully, he didn't get a good look at my face and its features. This floor was much wider. It seemed to be some sort of criminal lounge in fact. There were pool tables, couches.

It was pretty relaxed.

I, therefore, decided to stick around. My powers clearly worked better when I was not moving as the young man clearly demonstrated. It also worked better if there were more people or when performing mundane tasks.

To put it simply, anything that reduced my presence to others was the way to go. If I sat in a corner of this lounge I might be able to go by unnoticed and even learn a few things from the thugs that inhabited it.

Some more hurried steps sounded, this time coming from upstairs.

"Hey! someone go get Kaiser!" One of the first people to go down the stairs said to the few behind him.

A man in his thirties replied.

"I'll go" His voice was familiar. It was Malcolm.

The group started to slowly disperse and some stayed in the lounge to well… lounge.

"Damn, it's a good thing that Malcolm was checking things." One of the people that stayed said.

"You are right. It would be a real problem if the government found anything." Some man messing around with a pool stick replied.

Now, that definitely sounds interesting.