Chapter 5:

Information, Favours, Prid Quo Two

The Ginger Death


Three days after dealing with Mittens Haji stands on a wall overlooking a warehouse bearing the markings of a rival Company of Yukio's as Haji stars at it holding a USB in his mouth and wearing a camera on his collar with a look of displeasure as he thinks "Censored Yukio! Having me wear a body camera like a Censored Cop just so he can have me gather intel for him!"

After confirming that it's the right building Haji runs along the wall and jumps down to the roof of the building as he thinks "Seriously! I'm a Censored Serial Killer not a Censored Cop! Why does he think it's funny to fit me with a body cam just for recon on a rival company while planting spyware on their computers!?"

After finding his way to the street Haji begins looking around for a way into the grounds that didn't put him in front of the security cameras with a body camera and a USB while also recording what he saw on the body camera.

Haji notices a guard he hadn't seen from his vantage point and ducks behind a street light before he hears Yukio saying in his ear "That was close there Haji! Good thing you noticed him before he noticed you considering you're wearing that camera!"

"Censored Yukio!! You know I can't reply so you're using that fact to get away with calling me Haji even when I hate that name!!" Haji thinks angrily as he looks toward his left ear remembering he has a wireless earbud in it before thinking "As if having this thing put in and the collar with the camera put on weren't bad enough this just takes it to another level!!"

"Now, now Haji, pay attention, the guy's walking away now, you should take this chance rather than get angry at me!" Yukio says via the earbud as though he knows what's going through Haji's mind.

"Stay out of my head you billionaire!!" Haji thinks as he takes his advice and sneaks past the guard before climbing a nearby telephone pole and once on top aims the camera at the security perimeter slowly moving around to pan the view.

After finishing aiming the camera Haji looks down at the pole as if trying to figure out how to get back down before realising something important as he thinks "CENSORED!! Why did I climb this thing when it's made of concrete!? How the Censored am I supposed to get back down!?"

While wracking his feline brain on how to get back down without breaking something Haji notices a small truck with a canvas top coming down the road and gets a glint in his eye like he just found the answer and jumps down carefully timing it so he lands on the top of the canvas.

After Haji manages to stick the landing, safely landing on the truck’s canvas top he suddenly hears Yukio saying "Nice work getting out of that sticky situation! Now you just need to avoid the security check when the truck gets to the gate!"

Haji gets a look of complete and utter shock and surprise as he realises he jumped on a truck headed for the facility he was spying on as he thinks "CENSORED!! MY ROTTEN LUCK!!!"

As the truck approaches the gate Haji realises he needs to avoid detection and begins suppressing his presence as he lays low on top of the truck before the guards wave it through and it drives into the facility.

After the truck passes the gate Haji releases a hefty sigh of relief with a look of utter mental exhaustion before thinking "Those censored security guards were surprisingly lax, did they only check the drivers ID and Manifest without checking the underside or inside of the truck?"

"Amateurs, all my facilities have strict rules about vehicles entering and exiting my facilities!" Yukio complains in Haji's ear as Haji looks displeased about his doing it as Yukio continues "If those fools worked for me and let in an enemy spy I'd ship them off to Siberia! Under the context of a corporate transfer of course."

"Only a fool would believe that wasn't a punishment..." Haji thinks as the truck pulls up to the loading dock and parks routinely while Haji stays quiet on top of it.

After the truck parks and the driver gets out Yukio says "Now you just need to find a way inside so you can plug that USB into either a server or a network access point, just like when you did this while human."

"I know that, you Micromanager!!" Haji thinks as he lays low with an annoyed look in his eyes trying to keep his tail from expressing his annoyance before he notices that the staff around the facility were not bothering with the truck or even paying attention to it yet and gets off.

After getting off the truck Haji looks around for a door or window not observed by a security camera as he thinks "Being a cat may make sneaking around easier but it makes getting past doors harder..."

Suddenly Haji's ear twitches as he looks up thinking "Wait, that sound can't be right, there's no way such a thing would be possible."

"CENSORED!! It is one!!" Haji thinks as he sees a balloon with a camera and two small rotors on it looking around the facility before Haji runs under a nearby car as he thinks "Just how in the world did they get one of those things!? I thought they were just the sci-fi fantasies of stalkers and paparazzi!"

As Haji hides under the car not hiding how shocked and borderline freaked out he is before Yukio says "That was a close call, that drone even surprised me, I'll need to look into those and see if I can make some improvements."

"Censored Yukio! This isn't the time to be plotting to rip off someone else's product ideas!" Haji thinks as he hears the drone fly away before he sticks his head out and notices it's all clear before looking up toward the nearby windows and sees a small one is open and not covered by the cameras as he thinks "Perfect, that's my entry point!"

After being absolutely sure it's safe and the camera's aren't a problem Haji runs over to a spot a straight line from the Window, perfect for a running start as he takes up a running stance as he thinks "Hope this works, if it doesn't then I wasted hours of my life stalking that girl on the schools track and field team!"

A moment after Haji finishes thinking he takes a deep breath and exhales before taking off at full speed toward the window and just before the wall jumps and begins climbing the cladding as though it were the bark of a tree until he reaches the window and climbs in as he thinks "SUCCESS! Watching that ponytail with the fine body was well worth it to have pulled this off!"

After sneaking into the building Haji finds a spot to hide as he thinks "It's funny how many of the things I picked up as a Human that I never used are proving useful now that I'm a cat, now I wish I remembered that girls name, if she likes cats then she's a human I could live with."

Suddenly a voice shouts "GUARDS! There's an intruder hiding behind that crate over there!"

Haji freaks out and quickly looks for the source of the shouting but sees no one before realising he recognises the voice and thinks "You Censored Evil God!! Do that again and I'll kill you!!"

The evil god just laughs before saying "Feel free to try, just don't expect it to be easy!"

"Is something wrong Haji?" Yukio asks, confused by the movement in the camera before saying "Oh, right, you can't reply, I'll figure something out that way for next time."

"Your friend is humorous, little kitty, maybe I'll reincarnate him as something fun too." The Evil God says with a chuckle before saying "What do you think would be better, a snake or a panda?"

"I'll tell him you said that later..." Haji replies with a displeased look in his eye before thinking "He may be a bit of a tease and an unapologetic prankster, and yes, he even scares me, but he's still one of my closest friends."

"Now that's rare, a psychopath with a friend, who would have seen that coming!" The Evil God replies as he tries to not laugh before saying "Better get on with your friend's request before the guards manage to find you!"

After hearing that Haji hears a sound like an electric motor and rubber tires before jumping up on the crate and from there up to the top of a set of shelves before staying low as he cautiously looks at the ground below as he thinks "What the Censored is with this place!? Why do they even have that type of drone!?"

As Haji cautiously looks down at the ground he sees a Radio Controlled Ground Vehicle type Drone with a rotating camera on a post sticking out of the top as he thinks "That thing is clearly a rip off of one of those camera cars that search engine company uses for their street view footage!"

"Get me a good shot of that thing, I'm going to send an anonymous email with a pic of that thing to the people that own the patent on such equipment." Yukio says with an openly annoyed tone as he continues "Those drones were made by a company I bought three years ago, how did they get them!!?"

"Censored, Yukio is Censored about this!" Haji thinks as he helps him get a pic of the drone before dodging its view by backing up and hiding behind a box as he thinks "Yukio rarely gets angry but steal from him or mess with what's his in any way, shape or form and he'll kill you, which is why I couldn't keep his half sister despite how hot she was."

While keeping his ears open for more drones and making sure to avoid security cameras and guards Haji looks around for a network access terminal or the server room but only finds an inventory status terminal which requires a key card to access it and thinks "Censored, they made this harder for me in this new body."

"This is a problem, if you were still human you could just steal a key card and plug in the USB." Yukio says as he sees the situation via the body camera before saying "Guess I'll have to deploy a bot to support your activities."

"This may take a few minutes, should be able to get this done with time to spare." Yukio says with a seriously motivated tone as the sound of furious typing echoes in the background as he hints at the time limits he and Haji are working with.

After a few minutes a random employee walks up to the terminal and swipes his key card through the reader before pushing some buttons and walking away leaving the device unlocked.

Seeing the opportunity Haji rushes over before the Terminal can auto lock and plugs in the USB as he thinks "Brilliant Yukio! That technical wizardry is as good as ever, almost reminds me of that time he hacked a target's coms and got his security team out of my way!"

Haji watches the USB go to work while listening for the employee before seeing the prompt to remove the USB once finished but no sooner than he takes it out he hears Yukio say "This is a problem, the terminal isn't networked, guess we'll have to find a different spot."

Haji turns around and jumps down and finds his way out of the area as he thinks "Censored, they actually use some serious security inside the facility even if it was ridiculously easy to get in."

After looking around a bit Haji notices a room with a heavily secured specialised door as Yukio says "The Kanji on the door says 'Server Room' and if I'm not mistaken that door is designed to block wireless signals, safe bet that what we're looking for is in there."

"They would have to have it behind a door that from a cat's point of view looks like it belongs in a demon lord's doom castle..." Haji thinks as he looks over the door looking for a way in before noticing another nearby door and aiming the camera at the sign on it and Yukio says "If you're wanting me to read that one it says 'Security Office' on it, if you can get in there I can access the cameras and drones, no way the drones aren't networked."

After hiding nearby and observing both doors someone exits the security room and heads in the direction of the toilets Haji spotted while looking for the Server Room.

Haji seizes the opportunity entering the Security room before the door automatically closes thinking "Even as a cat, a hydraulic door closing arm is my friend!"

Upon entering the room Haji looks around and finds a large terminal set up with monitor banks and several people sitting at different stations further in the room controlling various drones around the facility before seeing one with a set of USB ports on it.

Haji plugs the USB into one of the USB Ports as he thinks "Hopefully this one works Yukio!"

"It's done, I have full access to their security system, I can use it to unlock the door to the server room so we're good!" Yukio states in a pleased tone before Haji hears someone opening the door to the Security Office and unplugs the USB before running out just after they enter.

After exiting the Security Office Haji spots a security drone and before he runs to hide from it Yukio says "Don't worry about the drones or Camera's, I have you covered now."

The drone drives on completely ignoring Haji like it didn't even see him before Yukio says "I replaced the video with you on it with a recording of the drones last patrol, I'll keep any others from spotting you."

"He managed to pull that off with so little time!?" Haji thinks as he runs over to the Server Room Door before continuing "That proves just how good he is at this and that he hasn't gotten rusty while I was gone."

As soon as Haji reaches the Server Room Door he hears a buzz and pushes it open as Yukio says "Now Haji!"

As soon as he's in the room Haji notices there's tons of server towers each in cages he can't open and no sign of one he can access and waits for Yukio to give him instructions but he gets nothing but silence and thinks "Yukio, are you still there? If you went to the bathroom at a time like this I might actually kill you!"

After several minutes of standing there confused Haji realises that the room may be blocking all wireless signals and finds a spot to wait for an employee to open the door while thinking "What a disaster of a landmine to run into!"

After Haji finds a spot to hide he hears a series of knocks at the door and listens carefully and realises that it's Morse Code and thinks "Took you long enough to realise I was stuck in here!"

After noticing the Morse Code Haji deciphers it and realising Yukio is saying "Stay calm, I've checked their schedule and you'll be getting a visitor in about 5 minutes, just sit tight until that happens."

"Smart move, must have used a drone to make those noises and letting me know what the plan is." Haji thinks as he takes up a position not visible from the other side of the door as he continues "I'm glad I got so good at Morse Code when I was Human so I could talk to Yukio among others with ease."

A few minutes later two people enter the room and each head to different server towers and open the cage and begin working.

After a few minutes they suddenly stop and head toward the back of the room and one heads to a different server while another enters a supply closet filled with spare parts and cables as Haji thinks "Now's my chance!"

Haji runs over to one of the servers with an access terminal open and climbs the cage door before plugging in the USB thinking "I hope this works and that I can retrieve the USB after this."

After he sees the visual prompt on the screen to remove the USB he does so and drops from the cage and heads back to his hiding spot just before the two people come back and finish their work before closing up the cages.

As they open the door and exit via it Haji slips out cautiously without them seeing him thinking "That's the mission accomplished, now I just need Yukio to help me get out of here and get home!"

A moment after Haji exits the room he hears Yukio saying "Good work Haji! That Scif Room was unexpected but you got the worm planted and now I own the systems there."

"You're telling me, that was one of the least pleasant times I've had in this new body!" Haji thinks as he gets ready to leave before Yukio says "Better hurry and find cover, security guards are headed your way."

Hearing that Haji quickly finds a spot to hide as he thinks "Next time open with that Yukio!!"

As the guards arrive in the area from his hiding spot behind a crate Haji thinks "Censored!! Those guys are going to make me late for getting home!!"

"I forgot, tonight's the night of your favourite show, I'll have someone record tonight's episode and get you those you missed after your capture, I'll put it on one of your safe house computers." Yukio says remembering the time and day as well as which show Haji was addicted to as a human.

"Thank you Yukio!" Haji thinks filled with gratitude to Yukio as he hears the guards saying "Man the client we picked up last week is a real paranoid freak."

"I know what you mean, the guy he's so afraid of is dead yet he's still worried he'll try and kill him!" The second guard says as they walk past before saying "I mean, this isn't some Manga, it's not like the guy's going to be reborn as a rat and chew through his gas line!"

"You have no clue how right whoever you're talking about is to be worried..." Haji thinks with an ominous tone as he thinks "If I knew his name and address I'd probably put a rat on his snoring face as he sleeps and scare it into running down his throat!"

"Whatever the case, the guy's paranoia is paying our salaries!" The guards say as they walk away before Yukio says "You're all clear, I'll guide you out of there!"

"I hope you get me out of here without getting caught, I Really want to get the name of that target of mine from you later!" Haji thinks as he follows Yukio's instructions leading to an automatic door.

"When I open the door, make for the truck and get on!" Yukio says with a serious tone before beginning to open the door.

As soon as the door opens far enough for Haji to run out from under it he runs straight at it thinking "With this I might just make it in time for my show!"

Just before Haji exits the door Yukio says "Hold! Get to cover, someone's coming outside!"

"Censored!!" Haji thinks as he shifts to hiding next to the wall before seeing a light looking under the door and hearing the guard saying "Why is this open, did someone not shut it right?"

"Nothing obviously suspicious, someone probably just didn't close it all the way." The man says before pushing a button on the other side shutting the door as Haji thinks "Censored! That guy just closed my exit!!"

After a minute Yukio opens the door again and says "You're clear this time!"

Haji bolts out the open door before climbing on top of a truck again and waiting to exit thinking "Hopefully I'll make it in time to catch my show!"

A minute later the driver gets in the truck and starts driving as Yukio says "I checked and your show starts in two hours, I can get you home in one."

The truck passes through the security gate without issue or the guards noticing Haji before Haji spots Yukio standing next to a van before thinking "Nice timing, guess it's time to switch vehicles!"

As the truck stops as part as part of a queue of vehicles sitting next to where the van is parked allowing Haji to jump over thinking "Not quite as smooth as when I was human but close enough, guess we've got a learning curve as far as how to make the best use of my new abilities."

After Haji jumps to the van the truck drives off with no sign they noticed Haji before he gets down from the van as Yukio says "You did good, let's get you back in your regular collar and back home!"

Haji nods as Yukio opens the vans sliding door to let him in and jumps into the van followed by Yukio.

Yukio removes the collar, earbud and takes back the USB and says "Glad it went so well considering we're not used to your new body."

"You're not wrong, there were times in there I thought I was in trouble, I even had an incident in that Scif where I thought my claws were gonna tear out!" Haji replies via a tablet positioned next to him for his use by Yukio before continuing "That aside, I learned a lot about my limitations and capabilities."

"You did hear what those two guards said right?" Yukio asks pointedly before Haji looks at him confidently as he replies "Of course I heard their indiscreet words, they pretty much gave away your secret reason for having me infiltrate there."

"Well, we can discuss that later, right now getting you home before your show starts is what matters." Yukio says as he puts Haji's regular collar back on and continues "Thanks to your hard work I now have access to my business rivals data and other useful info so you've more than earned that info I promised."

"I'd better get driving or you'll be late!" Yukio says as he gets into the driver seat, puts on his seat belt and starts the engine.

After getting Haji back to his general area Yukio pulls over and opens the door saying "I'll drop you off here, I'll email you the information as promised tomorrow."

Haji nods before jumping over Yukio's lap and jumping out of the van but before he shuts the door Yukio says "I'll try to figure out a way for you to reply to me when we're doing jobs like this, I'll email the details if I come up with anything."

Haji nods before running off in the direction of Yasuo's house thinking "Great, he's working on the two way communication issue without me saying anything!"

After getting back Haji pushes open the flap door and jumps through before looking around and noticing that Yasuo is nowhere to be seen and remembers something before thinking "That's right, Yasuo finished his death march earlier and went to get his manuscript approved last minute by his editor!"

"Guess I have the place all to myself this evening, good thing since I'd rather he not catch me watching TV." Haji thinks as he heads to the TV room.

After heading into the room and getting on the table next to the remote he turns on the TV and puts on a show titled "Fear the Undead" and begins watching with a curl in his tail thinking "Wish I knew what happened at the end of the last season and the beginning of this one but Yukio said he'd fix that."

Suddenly Yasuo wakes up in the back of the room and gets up and sees Haji watching TV and thinks "I must still be asleep, no way my little Haji would be interested in a horror TV series."

After thinking that Yasuo goes right back to sleep thinking he was just having a weird dream.

To Be Continued

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