Cameron changed into the clothes Claire had given him. He wore a pair of black jeans and a long sleeved black turtle neck, which was a bit thicker than he was used to wearing but it still hugged his toned muscles all the same. It was paired with black combat styled boots and she had also given him leather gloves. How she got his exact sizes without him saying both spooked and intrigued him. Once he was done, he walked out of the locker room he was in to go search for Claire. Along the way his eyes marveled in wonder.
He had never seen such an intricately designed base. It had rooms upon rooms of weapons, training facilities and even a few fully equipped living quarters. But what truly fascinated him was the amount of high tech features he spotted everywhere. Voice recognition locks, eye scanners, motion and heat detecting cameras and a lot more difficult to come by gadgets. And what made it even more amazing was the fact that it was expertly and strategically hidden under an almost impenetrable body of ever raging water! Even his boss's hideouts and bases throughout the underworld, although grand, hadn't impressed him this much.
He finally reached Claire at a conference room of some sort where she was standing in the middle of the room hovering over a metal table that had a touch screen on top of it. She was surrounded by uniformed people with their faces hidden by their all black head to toe attire. Getting closer he noticed the screen was projecting an image of a floor plan to a big house. He assumed it was hers.
"Good." Claire started to speak once she saw Cameron walk in. She had fixed her messy bun and her face was now bare of any traces of makeup. But for some reason, she was still in her evening gown and heels. It made her look seriously out of place. "Now that everybody is here we can start."
A man's voice was heard at one of the ends of the table making everybody pay attention to what he had to say. "We've confirmed that the people behind tonight's attack against the Boss and Miss Lily were indeed on a suicide mission with the objective to kill. Who the exact target was or who had them commissioned to do so is still unclear since there were no survivors from their side that could be interrogated.The Leopards team has already been sent out to hunt, but in the meantime us from the Wolves team are going to go catch us some prey." The man spoke as he crossed his arms in front of him.
"Our scouts at the Collins property already confirmed thirty body's hiding and staking out the villa waiting for a chance to charge in. We already had it wiped down of any kind of trace of our bosses existences inside but we can't miss the chance to lose the intel these rats have on them. Keep in mind the trap has already been set. Our only objective is to bring them in for questioning. Understood?"
"Sir yes sir." All of the people present except for Cameron and Claire answered the mans question. He went on to explain a few more things about the mission and as he finished Claire spoke.
"Hmmm." Her hum was heard drawing everybody's attention back to her. "Thirty rats are a bit too many to keep. Don't you guys think?" As Claire asked to nobody in specific. Cameron could see the knowing look she gave to those around her. She didn't seem to have to explain what she meant. "Dismissed" Was all she said making everybody but Cameron bow their heads a bit towards her and quickly leaving.
"Come with me." Claire told him as they left the room and made their way down the hall. They stepped into another room with a short nerdy looking woman inside. She was the first person he had seen while being there who didn't hide her face from him.
The room was very small and was perfectly shaped like a box. It had nothing but four exposed concrete walls and... an air vent in the middle of the floor?
"Hey boss. This the bird who needs training?" The short woman said to Claire.
"Yes. Make sure he makes it in one piece." Claire answered her before turning to look at Cameron who was already sporting a confused and somewhat nervous expression. "Relax, you got this. I'll meet you by the car." And just like that she left the room shutting the door behind her.
"Well don't just stand there mister. I've got some serious tracking to do and can't afford to waste time here." The woman told him as she pushed him to stand on top of the circle shaped grates on the floor. "Now pay attention because I'm only going to explain it once. And unless you want to lose a limb I suggest you do as I say." She told him while folding his arms in front of him. "Don't unfold you're arms until you exit the tunnel. Keep your back straight but bend your knees a bit when you see you're out. It'll prevent you from injuring yourself when you come back down. A nice trick is to imagine you just jumped really high and now you have to approach the ground accordingly okay? Now repeat what I just said."
Still confused as to what he was about to do he replied. "Keep the arms folded until I exit, bend my knees once out and imagine I'm landing... from a high jump?"
"Excellent! Oh! And here!" She reached up to his mouth and pushed a bullet inside. "Bite on that. It'll avoid your teeth from shattering while you go up and accidentally biting your tongue off when coming down." As she said that she walked in front of him and stood by a small metal square on the floor that looked like a button. "Ready? Okay! Off you go!"
Before Cameron could react he saw her press the button and he immediately felt a strong burst of air beneath him. It had so much pressure he was instantly lifted off the ground and shooted upward. He closed his eyes while he tensed his body to stay straight, pressed his folded arms into his chest and clenched his jaw while biting down on the bullet in his mouth. The sensation of being launched like a rocket into the air only lasted for a few seconds before he felt a change in the air's pressure around him. He opened his eyes and quickly realized he was falling. He hastily stretched out his arms and bent his knees to avoid breaking his legs a few second before his boots hit the ground. He stumbled a bit but managed to avoid falling face first on the ground. Steadying himself by placing his hands on his knees he took deep breaths.
'What the hell just happened!?' He yelled inwardly. Cameron wasn't one to outwardly express much of what went on in his head, even if he found himself in situations as confusing and dangerous as the one he was in now. He was the true definition of the phrase 'a man of few words'.
"Well that went better than I expected. People usually fall face first on their first try." Cameron's head snapped to his side so fast he almost got whiplash when he heard Claire's voice. His eyes let her know he was seriously pissed off from yet again not being told what he was about to be put through.
"Sorry okay? You're just too damn big to go through the other exit. Don't blame me. Blame genetics." Seeing as he was still looking at her as if he was cursing her out in his head, she knew he was still mad. Claire somehow understood him without him having to speak. "I'll make it up to you, promise." She offered him a grin as she promised. "Did she give you the bullet?"
Cameron stood up straight. He answered by biting the bullet in between his front teeth and letting her see it.
"Good. She tends to forget." She said while turning around as if she didn't just casually mention the great possibility of him almost losing a tooth or even worse, his tongue. She started walking towards the car that was just a few yards away from them. "Let's get going then. We have some pests to deal with."