Michael spent a major part of the next day staking out his target. From Don's words last night, he had expected that the pharmaceutical company would have a decent security detail. But as he surveyed the towering metal and concrete structure from the top of a nearby highrise, Michael could not help but frown.
The amount of guards he had seen in the past three hours alone exceeded anything he had ever seen at any singular place in the past. Their shifts were tight too, with over a dozen well armed guards patrolling the only two entrances into the building at every single point in time. The way they acted would make it seem like they were protecting something a lot more valuable than just scientists and formulas.
Although to Michael, that was good news. The insane security meant that whatever was in that building was definitely invaluable. The serum he was searching for was most likely to be there as well.
'Seems I might have to thank Don for his info when next we meet,' Michael thought with a small grin as he packed up his few surveillance equipment and made his way down the highrise he had spent the last six hours on.
*************
Michael proceeded to set his plans into motion an hour before midnight. During his earlier scouting, he had identified one possible route of entrance; the building's roof. There were guards posted there of course, but their numbers were fewer than the ones on the ground and their shifts longer too. But he had discarded that idea since he had no actual way of getting to the rooftop in the first place.
Instead he found a more... discreet route.
The building only two entrances for individuals, but there were other exits that were built to remove other things from the building. Exits like the metal pipe he was currently crawling on his hands and feet through since that was all it was big enough to allow. The reason why Michael had picked this particular pipe was because of the sickly yellow liquid puddles in it that which showed that this was the main Toxic Waste Disposal unit.
The air vents would have made a much safer choice for a normal individual, but thankfully Michael was much more than that. He had gambled on his increased stats to have improved his body's durability and now as he shuffled through three inch deep toxic acid without so much as a slight burn, he was grateful it had paid off.
Another reason Michael had gone this way was because unlike other routes, he felt this one was guaranteed to lead him directly to the company's main research lab since that was where most of its toxic wastes came from. His theory held up when he reached a point in the pipe where it split off into smaller pipes and was just able to hear the faint sounds of departing personnel.
Once again Michael was glad he had come here on a Sunday night. Normally with a company like this, it was not unusual for scientists to stay overnight working away at their labs. But since this was the end of the weekend, he figured no one would want to spend the entire night at work when the next day was a Monday.
Still he waited for a good fifteen minutes after he had heard the last voice leave the lab before pulling out the small handheld acetylene torch he had brought with him for this exact purpose. He worked slowly and quietly to minimize discovery but eventually he was able to carve out a decent portion of the pipe's surface big enough to let himself out.
The main research lab was huge, far bigger than he had expected. It stretched out across the entire expanse of the building to occupy an entire floor on its own, though it was somewhat segmented into different partitions that acted as mini-labs for the workers. The entire lab was bathed in a soft florescent glow that illuminated the million dollar equipment that filled the place. There were all manner of advanced high end technology here that Michael knew would have fetched a lot of money on the black market.
However he was not here for that. The moment he had entered the lab, he automatically assumed that he was working on extremely limited time. There was no way for him to disable the cameras that he was certain were watching the place. Luckily he had taken measures to keep his identity secret by dyeing his hair brown and wearing brown contacts along with a hooded jacket that he pulled low around his face as he looked around the lab for his target.
He found it without much hassle, though he felt that was the easy part. The Risax serum was in a cylindrical device just like the one he had taken from Victor. It was held in a transparent glass case that was over six inches thick with some sort of high tech electronic lock. The case itself was contained in a bigger glass room that was equally as thick as the case itself.
Michael approached the glass room with silent steps, taking care to examine the construct all over for any weak points through which he would break in. The moment he stepped in front of the glass room however, Michael felt a sudden sensation of impending doom surge within his mind. He acted on instinct and jumped back, just in time to avoid a blurry figure crash into the ground he had been a second ago.
The dust cleared up soon enough and Michael found himself staring face to face with a strange man dressed in a form fitting black suit with black sunglasses. The man pulled his arm from the crater it had created in the ground, revealing the foot long blade that extended from the top of... his hand?
"What the hell?" Michael blinked in surprise and used Observe on the man.
[Security Droid]
[Level 13]
[Strength: 22; Agility: 20; Endurance: 30; Control: 25; Intelligence: 25]
Michael's expression darkened as he read the stats of his new opponent. "Oh, that's not good."