4.1
Jelani opened his eyes earlier than Echo the next morning, and as he lay flat on his back, staring up at a blue sky, he imagined what sorts of things he would encounter in the coming days. As he fantasized about battling ultra-powerful beasts, a thought popped into his mind.
I was supposed to get a weapon.
It was one of the main reasons they'd come in the first place.
As soon as Echo woke up and rolled over with a groan, Jelani said, "We forgot to get me a weapon."
Echo froze, staring straight up. She clicked her tongue and mumbled, "Yeah, let's do that now."
The crowds were already buzzing, and as the two of them climbed back down into the heart of Hoodsdale, ignoring the signs with a poor depiction of Echo's face above an all-caps 'WANTED,' she said, "I was thinking we'd find some good stuff by the military buildings. Do you know where the weapons are?"
Jelani scratched his head, searching through his mind. "I think there's a room where they keep weapons, but it's in the middle of a big building."
He was thinking of the large building, not far from his old military housing, that was entirely dedicated to the military and government. Inside that building, there was a room full of weapons, but breaking into it undetected would be utterly impossible.
"What kind of weapon do you think I should get?" he asked.
"The simplest thing would be to get you a dagger or two," Echo replied, "but we might be able to do better. I'd prefer if you had something less restrictive. Ideally, it wouldn't hold you back at all. That's why I was hoping we could find a knuckle duster, although the military probably doesn't have any of those."
A knuckle duster? Jelani wondered, forming an image of the weapon in his mind. Knuckle duster, knuckle duster, knuckle duster…
"Ah," he exclaimed in realization. "They have some."
"In that room?"
"I think so," Jelani replied, "but the only ones I've seen have knives attached."
Echo considered this for a moment. "If you're able to hold them so the knife faces outward, that might be even better."
"I've only seen people hold them the way you usually hold a knife," Jelani mused, "but you might be able to."
"Whatever," she dismissed. "We'll figure it out after we get them. Where's the room?"
"In the main government building," he said. "But I can't imagine how we'll get in."
Echo, completely unfazed at hearing this, asked, "Is there even a remote possibility that we could sneak in without anyone knowing?"
"No." Jelani answered without hesitation.
"Then we're gonna make a scene," she concluded. "From what you've told me about this place, it'll probably be a massive scene, and we'll have an entire army on our asses."
"Is it really worth it?" Jelani asked, unable to imagine himself dodging all the bullets his former comrades would be sending at him.
"You've been eager for action, haven't you? Besides, you need a weapon," she told him. "The army here'll be less dangerous than those Portland rogues."
"Alright," Jelani agreed. "Let's make a better plan than our last two."
"I always plan to rely on my own strength," Echo replied, "so I think our last two plans were perfect."
"That's great to hear," Jelani said, feeling as if he was talking to a little kid, "but it'd also be nice to have some idea of what we're actually going to do, before we do it."
"Something unexpected always happens," Echo countered, "so we'd have to ditch the plan and rely on our own strength anyway."
"If your plan is perfect," he retorted calmly, "you won't encounter anything unexpected."
"Can you make a perfect plan?" she asked.
He couldn't, so he instead proposed, "How about this: we sneak into the building, and then you keep everyone away while I break into the weapons room and steal something."
"Good thinking," she replied. "That's a plan I can work with."
After navigating through Hoodsdale's downtown, they finally neared the northern edge of the city, which was where everything dedicated to government and military took place.
Jelani pointed out the only building in Hoodsdale that looked even somewhat distinguished.
"That's the one."
The building was a simple, clean-cut gray brick rectangle with three rows of windows. The front entrance had a small sign over the door, which had some sort of Hoodsdale slogan written on its bronze face, although Jelani had never taken the time to read it.
"Is that the only entrance?" Echo asked as she gazed at the lone door, which also happened to have a pair of soldiers stationed on either side of it.
"I think so," Jelani said as an official-looking, middle-aged man stepped out of the door, nodding his head to the soldiers before continuing on his way.
"We should break a window," Echo decided.
"Yeah," Jelani agreed. "Let's go through the back."
The two of them made a wide circle around the building, being very cautious to keep their presence undetected.
Behind the building, there was the large dirt field that Jelani had once sat in, eating lunch, and behind that, there was the military housing that he'd lived in up until less than a month earlier.
"Let's go for it," Echo announced, zeroing in on one of the large glass windows. With a running start, she leapt into the air and kicked her way into the first floor, smashing her boot through the glass.
Jelani followed suit, flying through the newly created opening in the building's exterior. Luckily, the two of them had broken into an empty hallway, so they were still operating in secret.
"Where's the room?" Echo whispered.
"The center of the third floor," Jelani whispered back.
They silently raced down the hall, windows on their right and closed doors on their left, but Jelani screeched to a sudden halt when they passed a pair of large, stainless steel doors.
"What is it?" Echo hissed over her shoulder.
"An elevator," Jelani replied, pushing the button to go up.
Echo walked back to rejoin him, and the two of them waited as the elevator descended from the third floor. When the small display above the silver doors showed "1", a sharp ding rang out and the doors slid open.
But Jelani was met with two men in suits who must have been important, as only the most important people wore suits, who appeared behind the sliding metal doors, and he stared blankly. His brain couldn't come to a decision.
The men were certainly wondering who on earth they were looking at, but because of Jelani's camo army pants, they were partially convinced that it was a soldier standing in front of them.
In the moment of hesitation by both Jelani and the suited men, Echo calmly strode into the elevator and swung her fist twice, knocking both men out cold before they could even process what was happening.
Jelani followed her into the elevator, careful not to step on the unconscious bodies as he pressed the number three button.
"What were you doing, just standing there?" Echo asked.
"I was surprised to see them," Jelani replied.
"Remember what we're trying to do," she lectured him. "The best decision was to knock them out immediately."
They stood in silence as the elevator slowly climbed to the third floor, bracing themselves when the doors finally slid open. No one was waiting at the elevator's entrance, but they could hear the faint echoes of voices coming from somewhere nearby.
They stepped out of the elevator and ran lightly down the hallway, searching for some path to get to the center of the building.
Suddenly, one of the hall's doors swung open in Echo's face. In that split-second, she instinctively dodged it, slamming Jelani in the side and sending him flying into a window.
The glass pane shattered with a tremendous crash, and Jelani was able to barely avoid plummeting to the ground three stories below by latching a hand onto the wall and yanking himself back into the hallway. Echo, meanwhile, was busy taking care of the man who'd thrown the door open.
Understanding the importance of the moment, Jelani said nothing as he followed Echo through the door, which conveniently opened on a hallway that ran straight across the building.
"I know where it is now," he huffed, speeding ahead of Echo and focusing his eyes on the doors that lined the hall.
Halfway down the hall, they reached it. The door whose name plaque read "Myles Johnson - Mayor".