I headed back to the warehouse, but my body was on autopilot as I transferred over into one of the two bird drones that were slowly getting scans of the city. As I did, I heard Alizra yelling at me, but I set my body to give her short and curt answers as it headed to the area I stored it for modifications. She was still a prisoner, and I had no reason to explain things to her when I needed to be concentrating on the task at hand, the guards.
Both groups were about ten mins from the boy's location. Coron and Zarek ended up finding a hard-working family with a run-down three-story house that looked like people had tried to repair it in the past, but the workmanship was awful. It was good that they were in the same location for this, but I had to find a way to deal with both groups of guards.
I had to act fast before the guards reached the boy's location. I quickly flew towards one of the sets of guards, swooping low and creating a smokescreen of nanobots that spread out from me. The smoke clung to them like an unnatural fog, causing them to lose sight, sound, and smell as it snuffed out all signals. In a few short seconds, their communication systems were also thrown into chaos, leaving them unable to call for backup.
I then shot forward toward the other set of ground guards. Again, I released my nanobot cloud, but this time it was more focused and dense. It swarmed around and between the guards, locking onto their armor and weapons so they couldn't move freely. These nanobots acted almost like magnets, keeping them in place while still not being visible enough to alert them to what was happening.
With both groups incapacitated and unable to reach Coron and Zarek, I flew back toward the warehouse. Alizra was waiting for me when I arrived, her eyes wide with worry.
"What happened? Where did you go?" She asked, barely able to get the words out.
I explained everything, including how I used nanobots to immobilize the guards. Alizra seemed taken aback by the fact that I had such power over machines, and she sat down in stunned silence after hearing the story.
"You really are something else," She said softly, looking up at me. I shrugged, not sure how to respond.
"Let's get back to work," I finally said, and then switched over to Kilna. "Let me know if they need more time."
I had planned on confronting them, but that would have just confirmed both groups' suspicions about me doing something in the area. That would just end up getting the people investigated anyways. Killing them would have nearly the same results, so some subterfuge was the best route. Even if the guard did make it thereafter, my people would be gone.
"Do you ever get tired or overwhelmed?" Alizra asked once I had come back inside the caged area.
"No. I am not a human like you, even if you hardly seem like one yourself. I find it intriguing that you can sleep so little and still function," I said as I walked over to the computer to take another look at the scan of the metal that was in the Mindless heads.
"I have special potions that I brew myself and enchants that allow me to magically keep myself awake, but it is hard on my lifespan. I think I only have another ten years left and less if I keep having to use the potions. Since you are a champion, you must have been human in your past life. Considering how you act, you must not have got a lot of sleep, right?" She asked as I expanded the recording of the scan as I had touched the metal ovals.
"No, I slept a solid eight hours every night. I created an empire where I was free of people trying to kill me. I was betrayed by someone close to me, not by an enemy, and that is why I am here now," I said as I started to watch, frame by frame, the arm that had come from my finger move to touch the metal oval.
The moment before it contacted me, I froze it and expanded the view even more. I clicked the frame ahead, and when it connected, the metal seemingly turned inside out and then burst with the pins. As they came out, chaotic energy connected all the tips, making it look like a sparkling ball as I zoomed out to follow it. Once it had finished expanding through me, the chaotic energy dissipated from the tips, and it was just platinum. Sadly I had only collected about 10 grams from the first person, so it didn't have much effect on my system.
"Sleeping every night for 8 hours? How did you get anything done? With one of these enchanted boxes?" Alizra asked as she came over to me and pointed at the computer beside me.
"No, I got up early and got my work done, always doing what needed to be done. That was the only way I could get ahead with my empire," I said as I continued to watch the energy dissipate from its source until it had completely gone.
"It must have been exhausting," Alizra said before leaving me alone to think about what I had just seen.
"It was at first, but I chose life because I didn't like the plainness of normal life. I didn't become a criminal because I grew up in a bad place, or even associated with the wrong people. I had just become tired of normal life, and someone had stolen my wallet. I guess that was really what set it all off," I said as I walked over to one of the Mindless cages that held another man. This one was shorter, had no tattoos, and for the most part, looked like an average person.
"Someone took your wallet? That is what made you become a powerful crime lord?!" Alizra asked with incredulity as I placed the same sleeping device on the man's head as I did the last and picked him up.