metalogs | I want to be blinded from this dull today

Entry tags:

I want to be blinded from this dull today

Who: Leonardo

faceguy, Donatello

purplexing, Accelerator

levelshift
What: Three children commit light B&E and felony theft.
When: Late May. Probably after that Fantastic announcement, what timing.
Where: An electronics recycling facility in Central.
Content Warnings: Kids committing crimes, body horror, psychological horror, blood, sensory overloading. These kids have trauma, thanks nightmare floor! Will update as necessary.

[With everything going on in Central City - the flooding, the lockdown, Fantastic taking over the Alliance - the smart thing to do would be to delay this whole mission. Or even better - call it off, because even though it should be a (mostly) harmless crime for the benefit of Donnie, stealing equipment meant to be recycled is still illegal. But no, they've made plans, scoped the place out, trained. Dropping things now would be putting all that time and effort to waste, and besides, it should be a simple stealthy in-and-out mission, right? It's a recycling facility, how bad can the security be?

Besides, it'll be fun to stick it to Fantastic. A heist (albeit, a small one) happening right after he becomes head of the Alliance? Now that's fantastic.

Accelerator isn't too sure what to expect. He's been in a recycling facility before, back in Academy City, and the security was incredibly lax. This is a different city - different universe, with different rules. He's a little cautious, since this was originally his idea, and he's the one with only thirty minutes of power to work with. Otherwise he's a weaker-than-normal high school student relying on two very capable ninjas.

It's fucking weird to be relying on other people. He kind of hates it, and he isn't totally sure why, though he can't exactly overthink it right now like he usually would. He's trying to stay focused on breaking into the facility and not fucking anything up for Donnie and Leo. He's even made something of an effort for tonight, with a duffle bag to store equipment (a smaller backpack is inside for stuff he'll grab for the Society's cut) and a black hoodie in case he needs to hide his hair (he isn't sure, white hair just doesn't seem very stealthy).

So far it's going smoothly. With Leo's planning and leadership and Donnie taking care of the security system they're able to sneak in and avoid the paths of the security guards. In fact, it's going so well that it sort of seems like they might be able to get in, grab what they need, and get out with no incidents whatsoever.

Of course, it's absurd to throw all caution out the window simply because things are working out right now. Especially when they run into their first obstacle.

After dodging a few more guards, the trio will come to a long hallway, the only path to their goal without having to pass directly several security stations. Spread through the length of the hall are little red lasers, arranged into one very elaborate grid meant to ward off would-be thieves such as themselves. It's like something out of a spy movie, and it's unclear whether these are the kinds of lasers that will cut a limb off or simply sound an alarm if tripped. Maybe it's both.

Accelerator leans heavily on his crutch, looking thoroughly irritated with this obstacle. His reflection might be actively detrimental here.]

This is fucking ridiculous.

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[Nodding once at Leo and then at Accelerator, Donnie follows once they set forth.

He leaves the other two to handle keeping an eye out while he works on where the most ideal place will be to set the alarm off that will get any lingering guards away from where they are and where they want to go.

Just a little longer and they'll be out of here. He's narrowed down security feeds.]

I've got eyes on our egress route. Two guards.

Once we're at that last turn, hang back until I set things off. I'll give you the all-clear.

[Leo gives Donnie a thumbs up at that and leads them to the last turn, then stops, signaling for Accelerator to stop, too.

They'll just chill here while Donnie does his thing.

If this works, they can get back to the apartment, stow this stuff and then... what? Maybe Leo shouldn't let his mind drift too far off, but he's thinking maybe a blanket nest in the living room and some Lou Jitsu films at low volume. The kind of thing he used to do with his brothers as a kid when one of them had a nightmare.

Focus on getting out of here, and then worry about that. He stays still and quiet while waiting for Donnie to enact his plan.]

[Accelerator is counting down the seconds. It feels like slow going, but he's been judicious with his time in esper mode. It's a complete 180 from how frivolous he had been that night with Kihara. He supposes that's a good thing, that he's been able to change.

He stops when Leo signals to, and while he keeps his attention mostly on their surroundings, he does glance over to watch Donnie tap away at his computer. Damn, this is so impressive. He knows Last Order can unlock doors with her electromagnetism, he kind of wonders if she could use it for hacking stuff like this.

... If she can she'll probably figure how to do it, eventually. That'll be a pain to deal with.]

[Donnie's thoughts are in the moment, he needs all his focus on the present, as much as he'd like to look forward to getting home. But they're almost there.

He wants to get them out safely, and that's why he's not taking any chances. The adjoining hall is too open that he'd rather not risk them getting caught between guards all drawn to the position he's aiming for just to clear their way out. His countdown is quiet before he sets things off, and distantly, one can hear the alarms sound off.]

Come on, come on...

[Donnie watches things for a few seconds, and then gives it a few seconds more just to make sure no one else is coming from the other direction.]

-okay, go..!

[He doesn't have to tell Leo twice - he heads for the door and opens it, giving it one more look to be certain no one is around before motioning for Accelerator to come through.

Once they're all through he goes ahead and pulls out his good katana just in case - for a quick getaway or a fight, he's ready for either. He's rested up enough that he could at least get them down the street, if they needed to put distance between themselves and pursuers.

So far the coast is clear, though, and he puts his energy into moving.]

[Shit, it almost feels too good to be true. Accelerator darts through the door when Leo indicates, making a concentrated effort to stick with the two of them this time instead of just going on ahead.

Look at him! He's learning, it's great. Doing an actual stealthy escape and not just smashing down walls and not giving a crap, it's kind of absurd to him that he isn't just doing the latter.]

[Goggles up, Donnie moves after Leo, and then lets himself drop back to bring up the rear. True, he's not sure what good he'd be able to manage if they did run into any opposition but he still feels better keeping an eye out on their six since Accelerator was doing all the literal heavy lifting.

He knows soon they'll be out of range and the security feeds will go back to normal, but by that point they should be well away.]

[Thankfully Accelerator is not just smashing down walls and not giving a crap, because it makes this much easier.

Leo leads them out of the compound and watches for cars as they get to the road outside. Central City is significantly sleepier at night than New York, especially since the pod people outbreak, and this part of town in particular doesn't host much night life, so the roads are largely quiet when he approaches. One car turns a corner and trundles away, and then they're clear to move.

Leo moves to an area way from any streetlights to cross. There's an alleyway running between old office buildings just across the way - get into the shadow of that building and they'll be just about home scot free.]

[With Donnie redirecting the remaining security guards and keeping the cameras on loop their path out of the facility's compound will be infinitely more straightforward than it was getting inside. It feels almost too easy, mostly because setting off the nightmare magic system pulled the majority of guards away giving them a clear path. It isn't likely something that can be repeated.

They make it outside, at any rate. The fresh air and darkness of the streets are a welcome change, Accelerator is realizing as they make their way across the street and into the alley. It's far enough away from the compound that once they make it there he's setting some of the bags down before leaning against the wall and hitting the switch on his choker to save some battery. The pain from hitting the wall comes flooding back and his legs are shaking, which is all to be expected.]

[As much as Donnie won't feel completely clear until they've all made it back to the apartment, they hadn't all been at 100% even before they left, and that adrenaline rush is wearing off. But they're far enough now that he doesn't feel like anyone's noticed them, and as he sees Accelerator slow, he does as well, turning to just make another quick sweep of their surroundings as he steps over towards the esper.

Stopping is probably worse because now all the exhaustion has a chance to flood back, but with Accelerator working on a time limit, Donnie's not about to say anything there. He grimaces slightly at the obvious changes once that choker's turned off, but he remains away from the wall because he has a feeling if he lets himself relax now, he won't want to move.

He looks ahead after Leo, moving to heft up one of the bags over his non-injured shoulder. ...yep, definitely bumping up scraping together a new method of transportation on his list.]

[Leo moves ahead to make sure they’re in the clear that way, before he comes back to where Accelerator is resting. His adrenaline is still up and he doesn’t want to lose it yet, so he bounces a little on the heels of his feet to keep his blood moving.

Leo has always had a lot of energy and it’s one of the things working in his favor tonight.

Like Donnie, he grabs one of the bags and tosses it over his shoulder. He can grab a second if he really needs to.]

Well… that was… surprisingly easy. Wow! [He gives Donnie an elbow nudge.] Maybe we should consider changing careers!

[Leo is, of course, joking. He’s good on heists for a long time now.]

[This suuuucks so much. He's acutely aware of how much battery time he has left. Most of it was spent in the facility, and while he does have time left he needs to weigh walking back on normal mode or making his life infinitely easier with esper mode and risk running out of battery entirely.

It isn't an easy decision.]

Tche. [Even if they were successful these two are still too nice to be villains....]

How far away is your place? Would going over the rooftops be faster?

[Donnie smirks at the suggestion.]

Not that it'd be that big a leap. But that was a pretty smooth getaway. Nicely done.

[He's not really sure he wants to do this again any time soon, especially now that they know magical security is a thing. Hiss.]

The high road would definitely be faster. We'd have a more direct route to travel.

[He's going to assume Accelerator can manage across rooftops if the esper's the one bringing it up, and while he's not sure if it would make a difference usage-wise for his choker, they'd cover more distance quicker this way.

Donnie looks to Leo then.]

[It’s a good suggestion, so Leo nods.]

Rooftop travel is always the best, that’s what I say. Accy, will your choker hold out? If we move fast and straight I think we can be there iiiin… ten minutes or so.

[They’ll have to keep it moving though.]

[Ten minutes.... He does a few quick calculations in his head, plus there's the desire to get back to his apartment (and his bed), and he nods.]

Should be fine. I'll have about three minutes of esper mode left, which should be five hours of normal time before this thing dies.

[He'll be relying a lot on normal mode, though six hours is more than enough of a buffer. Still, that means esper mode is ticking down, so with that said he's hitting the switch on his choker. There's a bursting noise and four small tornado-esque whirlwinds are exploding from his back and he's shooting upwards to the rooftops.

His legs are tired, he's going to fly.]

Edited (I did the math wrong lol) 2023-05-31 01:11 (UTC)

[Donnie blinks as Accelerator goes up ahead of them before grinning as he reaches for one of the other bags.]

I think he has the right idea.

[Because Donnie's not going to jump when he can use his battle shell! His legs are tired too!

Rotors unfold and lift him up, do at least all he has to do is hang onto the bags.]

Oh, so we’re back to showing off, huh?

[Leo was just going to jump, but he feels like he can’t let himself be outdone here. It’s still not the easiest thing for him to do, but if he just concentrates…

Leo chucks his katana as hard as he can at the roof of the building. There’s a flash like blue lightning, and then he’s grabbing his katana out of the air and landing just on the solid side of the edge.]

Don’t think you’re going to beat Neon Leon!

[It totally isn't showing off, it's just a more efficient of travel!

... That looks really cool. Really, between tornado wings, a jetpack and literal teleporting they have "cool modes of transportation" covered.

Once he's up in the air Accelerator will let the other two lead start in whatever direction they're supposed to head in, then he kind of sort of might be going just fast enough for this to maybe be a bit of a race. Maybe. He will deny it forever. His legs are grateful for the break and the breeze up at rooftop level is brisk, so this is almost relaxing.

Almost. No longer having the stress of getting in and out of the recycling facility gives his brain time to start wandering back to the nightmare room.]

'Neon Leon'? Really?

It's been his thing.

[He can't really give Leo too much grief about the name given his own favorite handle, but he can still smirk about it.

Really, he's just glad to see Leo making more casual use of his portals. It's definite progress. Donnie knew his brother had it in him, and being able to pull it off after all that speaks volumes so far as he's concerned.]

"Beat", though? It's not like we're racing.

[Although the slight curl at the corners of his lips suggests he is not above it. Mostly because he just wants to get back so he can put this load down.]

[He’s probably not going to be able to pull off more on the way home, exhausted as he is both physically and mentally, but maybe Leo is a little proud of himself for managing it, too.

Even if he’s stuck running from now on, he doesn’t mind it so much. Leo is fast and he likes running, especially across rooftops with the wind rushing by. If he moves quickly he can outrun the exhaustion.]

Aren’t we? [He says this to Donnie, a grin stretching over his face. Challenging, a little cocky. It’s easier to pull this on than dwell on what happened. At least until later.

He runs faster, making an easy leap to the next building.]

Hmm. [It's ridiculous. But then, from what he's seen, all of Leo's nicknames are ridiculous.

Accelerator is a tiny bit disappointed he doesn't get to see more teleporting, because it is a lot cooler looking than esper teleportation. Still, he isn't going to complain.]

Tche, who cares? The sooner we get back the better.

[He's sounding bored as usual, like having a whole race across the rooftops of the city at night and flying is really dull.]

[A race seems a reckless way to round things off when they're all pushing their limits, but if it gets them home with all their loot and in one piece, who's Donnie to argue? Besides, it serves to stoke a second wind, and for the while, he can mostly ignore the strain of what he's carrying.

It's not like it's that heavy compared to airlifting all of his brothers anyway.]

Don't feel too badly when I beat both of you.

[With that, he puts on the speed to push ahead.]

Oh, we’ll see about that!

[It would be easier if Leo were also flying, but he’s doing a decent job of keeping up with the two of them on foot, even with the bag. The only thing slowing him down is some of the bigger gaps he can’t as easily jump straight across, so he has to detour.

He’s determined to win, though, now that it is a race, so he puts on speed and tries to overtake them.]

[Accelerator gives a small sigh and starts weighing seeing how fast he can go (he's never actually checked) versus how much of a scene he wants to cause. The answer to the second question is, obviously, no scene at all, since they're technically running from a crime.

So nothing that's going to result in him blasting through billboards and stuff. And nothing that will cause any friction booms or roars (as cool as they are).

He does a few calculations, then blasts forward, straight past Leo and Donnie.]

[Donnie's not too surprised that Leo can keep up. They've been running rooftops for years!

Seeing Accelerator suddenly burst past them startles him. Impressed? Maybe. Not that he's going to say as much.

Besides, he's starting to lag behind and that is not allowed.]

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