Lonely Thieves

Act IV, Part X

Daryl's Side (April 14, 8:00 am)

The Florencia building, despite not being used for anything in particular, still had a massive roster of staff on hand to maintain the buildings. There were janitors that cleaned the floors, and clerks that ran from room to room taking care of miscellaneous tasks. No one knew, of course, what exactly was happening in the building that would require such a massive retinue of staff, but no one was able to give an answer.

One such janitor walked out of the building pushing a large cart of garbage with both hands. Inside the cart was a massive bag of garbage that seemed to be bulging to the brim. Passerby who were usually surprised to see any sort of activity from the building remarked in awe at the large bag as it passed by.

"Look at that! What the hell are they doing in there to end up with so much trash?"

"Maybe they were just waiting for it to pile up?"

"No way, man. There's definitely a dead body or two in there."

The janitor ignored them as he turned into the alleyway beside the building, towards a dumpster designated for the building's personal use. The janitor stopped, then pulled open the lid of the dumpster, revealing the rancid contents within. The janitor turned around and picked up the bag with both arms. He struggled with the sheer weight of the bag, even with the strength enhancers in his arms fully activated.

Eventually, he managed to toss the entire bag into the dumpster. After taking a moment to catch his breath from the exertion, the janitor closed the dumpster lid and pushed the cart back towards the building.

From inside the dumpster, a loud rattling could be heard. Then, the lid suddenly burst open as Daryl and Megumi climbed out.

Daryl coughed and gagged as he pulled himself out of the garbage bag. "Ugh, the smell... Was this really the best way to get out of the building?"

"Don't complain! And keep your voice down!" Megumi scolded, though her face showed she clearly did not enjoy the stench either. "We've got a long way to go, so I don't have time to listen to your complaints!"

Daryl grumbled, but he didn't argue back as he checked to see if any garbage had stuck to him while he was in the dumpster. Thankfully, he seemed clear of any gunk, so he turned his attention to Megumi, who was busy checking her phone's connection to Trevor.

"You can hear me, right?"

"You're good. You remember the plan?"

Megumi nodded. Daryl had it memorized as well, since they had spent a long time during last night's dinner going over the plan in detail. They would head straight for the sewers that they had used to get to the building in the first place, then use it to go straight to the Sunshine district.

"Are you sure we can get to the Sunshine district just by traveling through the sewers?" Megumi had asked last night.

"I'm certain," Trevor replied as he stuffed chicken into his mouth. "Hell, as long as we can get out of the Morning Star district, you guys should be home free."

Megumi and Daryl both looked at their smartphones. Both of them had been outfitted with a special mapping program developed by Trevor. The map was already active, and showed them a direct path to their destination.

"Just follow that and you'll be good, all right? Come on, standing around like this is gonna get you in trouble."

"No need to tell me," Megumi replied as she put away her phone. "Come on, let's get going!"

Megumi immediately ran off in the direction of the sewer entrance, with Daryl following slowly after her. They dashed across the street as soon as the light was green and into an alley between two tall skyscrapers. In no time, they were standing in front of the sewer entrance that they had burst out of only the day before.