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WELCOME, GUARDIAN.
He grinned despite himself. That would never not be the coolest shit he’d ever seen. Gibby was a goddamn genius when it came to all things tech, and she’d outdone herself.
“Lighthouse,” Guardian said, voice once again modulated. “Do you copy?”
Nothing.
Guardian frowned, tapping the side of his helmet. “Lighthouse, this is Guardian. Do you read me?”
Silence.
“What the hell,” he muttered. “They’re supposed to be—”
“Lighthouse here,” Jasmine Kensington said in his ears, voice crackling. “We read you loud and clear. Sorry about that. Gibby was punching the bag Seth has hanging in the basement, and then she started sweating and youknowwhat that does to me.”
“They’re having sex in the secret lair,” Guardian told Seth.
Seth threw up his hands.
“We arenot,” Gibby snapped. “It was just foreplay. Trust me, Jazz would sound more out of breath if it was sex, because I can do this thing with my fingers that—”
“What in the good goddamnshit,Gibby,” Guardian growled. “Stop fornicating when we’re supposed to be stopping a jewel heist! I need the schematics of the building.”
“On it,” Jazz said, ever the professional. “What’s the—Gibby, you’re going to get us introuble.Oh.Oh.That’s… wow. Do that again!”
“Schematics!” Guardian bellowed.
Seth sighed. “So much for the element of surprise.”
“Schematics,” Gibby said, and Nick couldhearthe eat-shit grin in her voice. “We’ll get them for you. What’s the address?”
Guardian looked at Seth, who shrugged and said, “What is it? You need to pay attention to these things, every single little detail. You’ll never know when you need to call for backup, and you shouldn’t always rely on the tracker in your suit. What if something disrupts it? An Extraordinary who could cause a blackout and knock out your locator as well as the comms? What do you do then?”
“Right,” Guardian muttered. He moved to the ledge to his right, looking down at the street below. People walked along the sidewalks, unaware that an Extraordinary watched them from above. Cars lined the road, traffic backed up, horns honking obnoxiously. There wasn’t any place like it in the world, and though Nova City had bitch-slapped him more than a few times, he’d always do what he could to keep her safe. “We’re at the corner of Tenth and Marketplace.” He glanced at the numbers on the buildings across the street. All even. Numbers going up to the left, down to the right. He thought back to their arrival. He’d seen the street number of the building, hadn’t he? He’d glanced at it. What was it? Think, think,think—ah! He grinned. “1757 Marketplace. No, wait, that’s the building we’re on. 1759 Marketplace.”
Seth squeezed his shoulder. “Good. Nice one, Guardian.”
“1759 Marketplace,” Jazz chirped in his ear. Through the speakers in his helmet, he could hear her fingers flying over the keyboard in the basement of the Gray brownstone. “And here… we… go.”
Guardian blinked against the brightness of the screen in his helmet. The light faded slightly, and when he could see clearly again, a three-dimensional schematic of the building they needed to infiltrate appeared before him, spinning slowly. “Any way in that doesn’t involve doors?” Guardian asked. “And would avoid alarms?”
“Gibby, you got anything?” Jazz asked.
“There,” she said. “You see a vent near the top of the building?”
“Yeah,” Guardian said, heart thumping in excitement. “Big enough for us to get through?”
“Should be,” Jazz said, and the schematic zoomed in to focus on the venting system. “Might be a tight squeeze, but both of you should be able to get through it. Hold on. Gibby, do that line thing.”
“That line thing,” Gibby said with a snort. “I love you so much. Yes, I can do the line thing.” A moment later, a red dot appeared at the start of the vent before extending in a line through the ductwork. It took a right, a left, two more rights, before it stopped in the middle of the building. “There, that should lead you to a grate in the ceiling. Gives you the drop on anyone inside.”
“Security system?” Guardian asked, staring at the vent access.
“Old,” Jazz said. “Looks like a simple system that only registers the front door opening after hours. Hasn’t been updated since 2004.”
Guardian nodded. “Good. The city calls for me. I hear her cries and will do whatever I can to save her.”
Silence.
