For the past week I've been stalking the outside of the North Stromford Facility from a nearby rooftop. With a pair of cheap binoculars and an indomitable will to climb up the many steps of the exterior stairs on the side building every day I have been able to notice a few things.

First off, I've basically got the outside guard routes memorized and should be able to avoid them pretty easily. And considering outside cameras are only at the front and back it makes things easier for me.

As for a secret exit/entrance, unfortunately no one decided they wanted to do a nice old reveal of that, so I'm in the dark there. I have a few suspicious places I'll check, and hopefully it's in one of them, or else I'll have to try to sneak in from the front or back.

I know, it's a genius move, I'm like Einstein.

And so here I was, once again, laying on top of this building as I watched it with binoculars. I stared at the guards, relieved they were following the same plan as usual.

Okay, game plan. Sneak in, hopefully through the basement so I can nab something on the way and sell it later, find the breaker room or some other room that I can use to draw attention, then skedaddle the hell out of there.

Yep, good plan.

I checked my cheap watch. Twenty minutes till 1:00. I should start moving now so I can time it right. I'm too used to getting a job slightly wrong and having a prick use that as an excuse to pay.

As I stood up to start descending down the exterior stairs, a light buzzing entered my ears. I glanced to the side, seeing a bee buzzing around.

...please tell me she can't see through those.

I climbed down the exterior stairs, dropping myself down into the alley next to the North Stromford Facility. If my observations are right, I should be able to quickly climb over the fence here and avoid getting spotted.

I jumped, gripping the fence and pulling myself up. Luckily it's a simple fence that's only tall and doesn't have any actual defenses. I peeked over the top, seeing that I was right in my observations of the guards movements.

I pulled myself over, dropping myself down and rolling behind a stack of wood. Thankfully for me I'm in the outside shipping section of the Facility, so there's a few things I can sneak behind.

I made sure the guard passed before I moved, going from cover to cover. Throughout this whole week there's been one thing they've never moved, and it's a wooden crate with who knows what's inside.

Maybe it's a secret entrance!

I got behind the crate, trying to open it. Nope, that's sealed tight. Wait, but what if I try lifting from the bottom? Maybe the whole crate is the secret door!

Nope.

I'm way too creative for these bozos, apparently.

I continued to sneak around, making it to another one of my possible secret entrances only for it to also be a dead end.

Dammit, I'm running out of time. I only have ten minutes left till 1:00 and I haven't even entered the building.

The echoing sound of footsteps started to approach. Welp, guess we're going to plan two.

The guard rounded the corner, only to find his face grabbed and slammed into my knee. I quickly got behind him, choking him out as he was disoriented.

He struggled against my grip, squinting with teary eyes and a bloody nose as he weakly clawed at my arms. And then, after a few seconds, he passed out and I laid him onto the floor.

Alright, not too bad.

Time for dress up.

"Sorry buddy." I whispered. "But I'm gonna need those."

I stole his guard jacket and pants, leaving him in a simple tank top and shorts. I then grabbed his belt, putting it on and acquiring a flashlight, pistol, and a taser.

You can never have enough guns, as I like to say. I don't really have that many though, I usually sell any I grab for extra profit other than one.

"Full magazine, nice." I nodded to myself. "Taser looks good too."

I propped up the unconscious guard out of view, wishing he had handcuffs on him so I could keep him in place. It's fine, this will be quick.

In and out. I'd rather go for the restaurant but I need my payday first.

I stood up, walking towards the back of the Facility. Using a keycard I found in the man's pocket I quickly swiped myself in before I could get questioned by anyone.

Okay. I'm in.

Looks like I'll have to scrap the basement for now. I was really hoping I could break into the storage and grab something but who knows if I could even get anything worthwhile.

Now I just need to act natural. Can't let the cameras see anything too off, but I also can't get caught by one of the other guards. Since there's only two per floor, I'm sure they'll notice if a third suddenly appears. Especially if it's not during a shift change.

Ah perfect, a map. Let's see, where should I go?

The breaker room is...in the basement! You know what, maybe I can kill two birds with one stone. And it's pretty close too.

I glanced around the corner. No guard. Perfect. I continued walking forwards, before finding the double doors which led to the basement. This should be where the stairs are.

I opened the doors, slipping through and walking down the stairs. It's kinda creepy here, with these stone walls and yellow lights. Okay, here's the door. Looks like it needs a swipe.

I swiped with the card once more, getting access into the basement. Or should I say, a small hallway with double doors in front and a door to the left. So, according to the map the breaker room should be through that door to the left, while the rest is storage.

You need another swipe for storage? Seriously?

I swiped the card on the next reader, only for it to deny me. You gotta be kidding me. It's right there! If the doors weren't strong, sturdy metal ones I'd just try to break the damn thing down.

Okay, just focus on the job. Let's see...

12:58? Perfect. It's close enough.

I opened the door to the breaker room, walking over to where I could shut off the power. I quickly shut it off, causing everything to go dark. I pulled out my flashlight, shining it at the breaker.

You know what, I can do better.

I pulled out the gun, taking off the safety and shooting a few bullets into the breaker to destroy it and make this a whole lot harder for them to fix.

Heh. Breaker? I barely know her!

The resounding sound of two sets of quickened footsteps echoed into the basement. No doubt the two guards running down the stairs right now.

I turned off the flashlight and put it away, placing my ski mask back over my face. With the pistol in one hand and the taser in another, I crouched down against the darkness and behind where the door to the room will open.

The door slammed open, one guard entering with his flashlight and gun pointed to the right. The other quickly entered after, facing my direction, the left one.

I quickly jumped up, activating the taser and slamming into the guard's neck as I held him with my arms. He shook as the other guard swung towards me.

"You wouldn't shoot your own friend, now would you?" I grinned, holding the unconscious man up as a shield.

The guard seemed unperturbed, his finger hovering over the trigger and about to press down. I quickly chucked my taser at him, causing him to sidestep and allow me the second needed to twist my other arm to point the pistol at him while still holding the man up.

Two bangs simultaneously rang out. The man dropped to the ground, clutching his side as I dropped the other guard.

"Damn, you really shot him." I replied. I walked over, kicking the guard across the face and knocking him out.

I guess I won't need to worry about these two.

An explosion suddenly rocked the building from somewhere above. That must be the other group that chose this facility. Right on time!

Now I can make my escape...

I paused at the door, glancing back at the two unconscious guards. Sorry boys, you'll be feeling that tomorrow. I pushed one over, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a keycard.

This one does look different. Could it open the storage door?

I quickly tried it out, swiping the new card through the reader. I felt myself grin as I got an approving beep and heard the unlocking of the door.

Stromford will be busy dealing with whatever those other goons are doing upstairs. I can afford a little looksie around as long as I'm quick.

I slipped into the storage, pulling out the flashlight once more with my free hand to get a good look at everything around. Man, there is a lot of wooden creates and mechanical junk crowding this room. I mean, the room is already huge and all of this stuff fills it up a good amount.

I don't know what here is useful and what would just go to the scrap yard. I open a crate and it's just more stuff I don't know the value of. But maybe they're hiding the good stuff in the back. I continued to walk, squeezing past boxes and climbing over them to reach to the back of this huge storage room.

Almost there, not seeing anything-

Is that a fucking leg?

Is there seriously a dead body down here? I looked at the two legs poking out from a crate with an open wall. Who the hell stashes a dead body in the back of a mechanical storage room?

And it doesn't look rotten. It must be fresh. I don't even know how you'd drag a body back here without moving everything!

More chaos resounded upstairs, causing the ceiling to shake and little particles to float down. Okay, let's check this real quick and then go before this building collapses on me.

That'd be a lame way for me to go out.

I stepped in front of the crate, shining the light into the open side to see a woman seemingly around my age laying in the empty crate, eyes closed. She was incredibly pretty, with short white hair and a delicate face. She didn't even look dead, just asleep.

Wait...there's two lines going down from her eyes. Are those mechanical seams?

I shined the light over the rest of her. She was wearing a simple shirt and skirt, but on her exposed skin were mechanical seams at her joints and such.

This woman is a robot? Geez, way to freak me out.

I brought my finger forwards, poking at her leg. That actually feels like real skin, freaky. She didn't respond to the poke either. Is she de-activated?

My curiosity got the better of me as I got closer, examining this strange robotic woman. I mean come on, can you blame me? It's not often you come across such an advanced piece of machinery.

Though I doubt it works, considering it's been left down here for who knows how long. There is a decent bit of dust on the body.

Could I even sell this? It's probably too heavy.

"Oooh, what's this?" I murmured to myself, finding a panel on the back of the neck. I flipped it open, finding a few switches. I assume this "on/off switch" is how you're supposed to turn it on.

...I shouldn't flick it.

But I can't resist!

Come on, you gotta understand. We have the urge to flick a switch when we see one. Have you never just wanted to continuously flick a light switch before? It's the same thing!

Besides, it's not like it's actually going to work-

Her eyes suddenly opened, causing me to jolt backwards and fall onto my bum. She slowly sat up a little straighter, looking at me with one orange eye and one blue eye adorned with long, pretty eyelashes.

Her eyes glowed as a small projection came from her eyes, a blue line which went down and up across my whole body.

"Scanning complete." Her voice came out, soft but stiff and strictly structured. "You must be my new master."

What the f-