Security Minister's Mansion... (Mumei's PoV)

  It would seem that, owing to the small size of the scout drones, the guards don't seem to notice them in the dead of night, which made the infiltration easy. The only real threat were the cameras.

  There were a few... minor mishaps with the drone's sensitivity, but I've penetrated the defences via the air ducts with the drone in one piece. Fortunately, it seems Harold hasn't invested in any rat-sized robots to patrol the air ducts.

  Amy wants us to save a hostage. Where would Harold put a hostage?

  If we're talking about clichés, then prime targets would be the basement, followed by maybe the attic. On the other hand, since Amy thinks the hostage has been brainwashed, there's likely either a specialised brainwashing room or a device - meaning we've got to keep an eye out for what looks like a b as well.

  When it comes to brainwashing, there's many different types. Ranging from changing small part's of someone's behaviour to making their personality do a complete 180. Since the VIP looks like quite the beauty, Harold probably brainwashed her into having obsessive love with him - so there's a chance she's in Harold's bedroom as well.

  ...

  We might as well check all rooms at this rate.

  Progress has been made! I've found the VIP!

  I turn to my pyer, who's taken off her mask to smoke, "Ataraxia, I've found the target. She's in a room on the left side of the mansion, second floor. It's a windowless room, quite spacious and has CCTV. Doesn't seem to have any blind spots. Along with her, I've found a few other girls in simir rooms, along with a file named 'Project Ethos' on a table near a possible entry point."

  #Good job. We can cut the power by snipping the wire connected to the city's power grid at the local substation. That should turn off CCTV, albeit putting the guards on high alert. Since he's a security minister, there's probably a backup generator located somewhere, so we've got to get in there and nab the girl and that file before then#

  She suddenly stopped writing and started contempting something.

  #It'd be better if we waited a few more days and kept observing. How long do the drones' batteries st?#

  "The package said around 12 hours."

  #Then let's withdraw them for now. Besides, we need to see the security of the substation as well if we want to disable Harold's CCTV.#

  Hmm... It's true that Amy gave us 12 days to do this job. There must be something we're missing.

  (Third Person PoV)

  As Mumei went to set the drones up near the substation, Ataraxia turned to the east of the car park, the direction where the local substation y, and looked down her binocurs.

  'Following through with this pn will cause quite a bit of chaos... oh well. In this Sci-Fi world, a power cut or two shouldn't matter too much. At most they'll up security once they find out the cables were cut.' Ataraxia thought as she scoped out the substation. 'At least the guy can do his job semi-decently.'

  While not overly impressive, the substation had CCTV and guards patrolling the area, though not nearly as well armed and coordinated Harold's guards were.

  Mumei parked their car, "I'm back!"

  Tossing a controller to Ataraxia, they started their second reconnaissance operation. The feed from the drone's camera came through to the controller, showing exactly what Ataraxia saw through her binocurs. A few security guard patrols and some CCTV. The CCTV at the station seemed to have a lot more blind spots than the ones in the mansion.

  'Overall, it should be doable. Suppressors would be nice to have. While they wouldn't completely muffle the sound, it's a whole lot better than having police from all over the city scrambling after our asses.' Ataraxia mused before refocusing on her recon mission.

  'Overall, we shouldn't need to shoot any guns to get in, but it'd be better to have a suppressor just in case.' Ataraxia considered. 'It'd be better if there was a festival involving fireworks soon, so we can potentially mask any gunshots as fireworks.'

  #Let's go Mumei. We need to get suppressors, just in case.# Ataraxia wrote as the sun started to rise.

  #Also, are there any festivals that involve fireworks soon?#

  "Not that I know of, no."

  'Oh well. We just need to save shooting the gun as a st resort.' Ataraxia thought as she climbed into the passenger seat.

  On the way to HIPFIRE, Ataraxia continued her scheming, along with what she would do to Harold if he really was brainwashing people.

  "Welcome back." Jaiden greeted as he saw the familiar pair. "Came for a chat?"

  "For business I'm afraid. Do you really think anyone would come to a pce full of murder weapons just for a pleasant chat?" Mumei quipped. "We need suppressors for a Ballista, PIT VIPER and an MCX Spear."