Ten and Cyte brought Demo back to Braverte's home. They put him in a bed where he laid unconscious. Braverte and Pulmo were still preparing for their mission and were updated on what happened. Braverte looks at Demo in bed and smiles with relief.
"He made it back alive."
Ten nods and closes the door. They now stand outside Demo's room. Ten is slightly frustrated.
"I wish I could stay, but I have to keep watch on the dealer. He met a few more people, so I'm pretty sure his stock is running low. He will have to get some more soon. I should be able to find his supplier."
Cyte nods.
"I found a supplier to the dealers as well. If they both go to the same dealer, then it's certain."
Braverte has a look of contentment and pride on his face.
"You two are doing an amazing job. I really appreciate the help. Me and Pulmo are about to go fishing for some information ourselves. Let's meet back here tomorrow at noon."
And with that, the team splits up again to continue their respective missions. Ten arrives just as the dealer leaves his home. He is carrying a very big bag with him, but based on how he is carrying it, it seems to be empty. Cyte is seeing the exact same thing, the dealer she is following is also holding a big empty bag. The dealer Ten is following is taking what feels like a leisurely stroll, but then he goes into a supermarket. Ten is a little disappointed because he thought the dealer was going to re-up but instead, he is just going to go grocery shopping. But Ten follows him in nonetheless because this might be a decoy move.
From a safe distance, Ten watches the dealer grocery shop. He avoids all the green isles and gets nothing but sweets and potato chips. He tops it off with a pair of oven pizzas and some soda. Cyte's dealer went into a different supermarket and bought all healthy food protein powders for shakes. Both dealers leave the supermarket with their empty bags not filled to the brim with groceries.
Instead of going home, the two dealers decided to get something to eat at a restaurant first. They each take a seat at a booth meant for 4 people and place their bags next to them. Ten and Cyte are outside looking in. Ten is the first one to break the silence.
"This is where they will re-up."
"But why buy all those groceries?"
Ten and Cyte can see the two dealers order. After a few minutes, their orders arrived and they ordered the exact same thing. Down to the green drink that came with it. They then see the waitress that brought them their food, and hand them two receipts each. The dealers put one of the two receipts into their pockets and then eat what they ordered. Once they are done, they stand up and leave the restaurant without their bags. The two dealers walk out together and before they go their separate ways they nod to each other. Cyte and Ten now have a choice to make, follow the dealers or stay with the bags. Ten looks at the dealers and the bags back and forth.
"What do we do?"
Cyte calmly responds.
"Stay with the bags. Someone will either pick them up or exchange them. That is who we want."
After a few minutes, both Cyte and Ten are shocked at what they see. Strils, one of the teachers at this school, walks in and grabs both bags. He doesn't walk out the front door, but instead, he walks into the kitchen presumably to walk out the backdoor.
Ten and Cyte both nod and immediately start running towards the back of the restaurant to catch up with Strils. Once they get the back of the restaurant in view, they see Strils walk towards a building that functions as a warehouse for gym equipment and school supplies. Strils walks into the building, Ten and Cyte aren't able to follow him in, because they have no idea what the layout is inside. So they wait. After about an hour, Strils walks back out with the two bags. But the content of the bags has clearly changed. The top still has several items that were originally in the bags, but whatever is underneath wasn't what was there before. They watch Strils go back to the restaurant and see him put the bags down. Soon after the two dealers came back and seemingly forgot their grocery bags. Cyte can't believe what she just witnessed.
"Strils is the main supplier?"
"He and Bilicus are close. Do you think Bilicus is a part of this as well?"
"Why would the vice principal be involved in dealing drugs?"
"The money?"
"This school is filled with rich kids, the teachers here make more money than kings. And the vice principal makes double that. Why would he risk it?"
"We should tell Braverte and check that warehouse."
While Ten and Cyte were following Strils, Pulmo, and Braverte made their way to the abandoned research facility. They hid in the shadows as they did a quick run around the building to see where all the students were. After finishing their recon they met back up and exchanged what they found.
"23 students, most of them pairs, some of them in teams of 3."
"Same, 26 students."
"Once they are all asleep, main entrance. See you there in 5."
Pulmo nods. The two split up and they both start opening up a pouch filled with tiny darts. Braverte sees two students and throws a dart into their necks. The students feel something stinging them, but before they can react, they fall asleep. Braverte smiles.
"This stuff is still as magical as ever. Those shamans and their mud, deserve their reputation. I might have to visit them after this to stock back up."
Braverte keeps going around putting students to sleep. Once all the students are down he goes back to the main entrance and moments after he arrives, Pulmo lands as well. Without saying a word Braverte closes his eyes, grabs a bottle of water, and uses Higher Reasoning. The bottle of water starts glowing and then explodes into a burst of energy that short-circuits all the cameras in the building. Braverte and Pulmo rush in and go towards the elevator. They push the button and wait for the elevator to come up.
Once inside they push the button to make it go down, and then go up to the roof of the elevator. They place a small bomb on the floor of the elevator. The elevator reaches the bottom floor, the doors open up and there stand 4 guards who are on high alert because there were no visits planned today. They look inside the elevator and see nothing but the small device. The device goes off and it's so loud that disorientates the 4 guards, the bomb also releases a heavy amount of smoke. Braverte and Pulmo go back down, knock out the four guards and see that they are in an underground lab, the path in front of them splits left and right. They nod at each other and each takes a different path to cover as much ground as possible.
While running around they are using the camera's on their chest to record everything. Whenever they meet a student or someone they don't know, they immediately knock them out. They pass room after room where drugs are being made. They keep turning corners until eventually they see each other coming from the opposite direction. The lab is in the form of a square so they met up in the middle once more. And there stood a giant door. The door had several security systems in place. They instinctively knew that they weren't prepared to open this door so they decided that they got what they came for.
They quickly went back up the elevator and made it out of the building unscathed. They made their way back to Braverte's house. From on top of a hill, looking down at the abandoned facility was Bilicus. He saw Braverte and Pulmo run away.
"Seems some rats made their way in."
Chapter 45 Fin