Mists of Celeste - an Ateez Fanfic

act five ➻ part seven

chapter specific warnings: violence, blood/injury, choking, brief depiction of a panic attack

The stench in the air is some cross between smoke and rotting food. It's enough to make your nose wrinkle in disgust, something you've done several times over the past twenty minutes since getting here, but Hongjoong is still sitting beside you and tinkering with his wristband in the same position he's been in since arriving. A chain-link fence and a row of boxes are all that separate you from your target — the military complex in the Upper Echelon just as Jisung detailed to Hongjoong the day before. It's closer to the thickest parts of the Smokehouses in the lower area, which is no doubt what's causing the smell and, in turn, your misery.

"The outside security is a combination of motion sensors, cameras, and guards," Hongjoong notes, not looking up from his forearm. "Keep monitoring the guards' patterns for now while we wait. My techie here in Lynder is working on hacking their surveillance systems remotely."

"Anything specific to look out for?"

"Just their patrol patterns. Once we get the cameras and sensors down, we can sneak in the side. On our initial patrol, I saw a spot in one of the left alleys where the fence bends up. We'll slip under there and infiltrate through the trash chute."

"The trash chute," you echo. You tear your gaze off the courtyard beyond the fence to peer at Hongjoong with question in your eyes. "How will that help?"

Hongjoong looks up from his wristband at long last, only to stare directly forward and jab a finger at the building before you two.

"Trash chute wraps down to the basement. They use air turbines to push trash up and out of the building, so it will be easy for us to slip down. I just got a blueprint of the building from my hacker. It's not enormous but it's big enough for us to need to stick together. No booby traps waiting inside either, since they don't really expect company like ours, but there are a few single or double guard patrols to watch out for on each floor. This is more of a scientist and doctor facility, so we shouldn't be seeing anything in the way of large squadrons."

"Then couldn't we just walk in the front door?" You ask, head tilting to eye the guards once more.

"With this pretty face on display? I think not. They might not recognize you since they have no image data on you, but me? They've got all sorts of image references on me that could cause lots of issues for both of us. It's best if we avoid whatever confrontation we can."

"How are we meant to avoid confrontation when moving from level to level?"

"The trash chute leads down to a maintenance area, so there will be workers bringing trash in the basement. We knock them out, put them in a safe and secure location, and take their uniforms. Their keycards will grant access to each level so we can move almost freely around the building. Chances are San will be behind a door that those keycards can't grant access to." Hongjoong motions forward but you keep your gaze firmly set on him. "That's where my techie comes in handy again."

"You're relying a lot on this friend," you mutter, finally dropping your eyes to the chain-link fence before you once more.

"I happen to trust him quite a bit, yes. He's a bounty hunter, so we've had plenty of run-ins with each other over the years and he's always helped me in many ways. Meeting him here on Dorado, though, that was planned. I asked him to come because I knew the chances of needing a techie like him would be high, and he was in the area. After the mission with Seonghwa tomorrow, we'll be dropping in to visit him for payment too. Bounty hunters never work for free after all."

"Makes sense," you hum. A guard passes. One, two, three seconds, then he wraps around the side of the building again. "I considered working as one for a short period of time but it never came to fruition."