User:Arnout aka The Emperors Angel/RPG/Current Post

Prologue
Arnout passed the revolting doors, nodding at the robot manning the security checkpoint. "Good morning Oscar. How are we today?"

Oscar didn't respond, but ran his standard security check. Apparently, Arnout didn't pass, as Oscars weapon systems came online. Slightly annoyed, Arnout waited for the human guards to show up.

A few seconds later, the guards came running out of the checkpoint. The man on point gave Arnout one look, and lowered his weapon. "Damn it, Mike, I told you to reprogram Oscar! Arnout told us he'd be bringing explosives over for his colleges' lustrum."

The security guard named Mike looked at his boss with what could only be described as big puppy eyes. "Sorry, boss. It won't happen again." "Humpf. Oscar, stand down. Arnout, what do you have in store for us today?"

"Well, I was asked to keep it low key. We were going for the college initials plus the lustrum, carved into a blast surface, then fill it with a low power charge, that when detonated, creates a dust wave which would then erupt into fire."

"That sounds like "low key" for you, Arnout." Mike interrupted. "Yeah, but not when that blast surface is like 10 by 20 meters, and when its 200 metres up in the sky, above the main podium." Arnout, replied.

The guards laughed. "Yeah, that sounds more like you, Arnout." "Yeah, now we have two smaller blast surfaces. One on top of the other, in the shape of a T. On the top one, a huge fireball will erupt, and when it fades, the letters on the other one will start to burn." Arnout shook his head. "Yeah, I know. Horrible. I hate low key."

Not sure whether Arnout was serious, the guards smiled. "So, what you have there, then?" the boss pointed at Arnout's bag. "25 meters of det cord, iron rust, aluminium powder, 98% pure sulphuric acid and glass containers." "Rust? What you need rust for?" Mike inquired. His boss smacked him on the back of the head. "Thermite, am I right?" "Yep, thermite. My own special mix, with some special ingredients to make it burn a little longer, and not cause any damage to the crowd's corneas."

The boss waved Arnout through. "We will be watching, Arnout. Better make it good..." Arnout laughed as he walked off, and added a "Sir, yes, Sir." As he saluted mockingly.

Arnout slung his backpack over his shoulder, and dodged a recruiter as he crossed a infotainment market in the lobby. Seeing the cue in front of the elevators, Arnout decided to use the stairs instead.

Huffing and puffing, Arnout reached the 14th floor. As he was catching his breath a set of elevator doors opened, and Arnout's supervisor came out. "Ah, Arnout. Just the man I needed." Arnout looked unhappy. Usually his supervisor ended up scolding him. "Your plan for tonight has been approved." "Eh? You're serious?" Arnout was shocked. "They actually agreed to one of my plans?" Arnout's supervisor, a huge, bearded man who looked remarkably like Santa Claus, nodded. "I can hardly believe it either. Well, they saw you had planned originally, and then compared it with your new, "low-key" plan, and they probably though; "Well, we won't get him to down it down anymore. Might as well give it the green light." "Well, thanks. You could have messaged me, though." "I don't know how that works, Arnout, and you know it." Arnout thanked his supervisor, who took the elevator down.

Heading towards the labs, Arnout stopped at a coat hanger to pick up a lab coat. Putting it and his safety glasses on, he reached the private lab, where only he and his team where allowed in. Arnout tried the door, but found it locked.

Pulling his keys out of his pocket, Arnout opened the door, and stepped inside. He walked in on two of his team members putting their biology classes to good use. "What the FUCK are you doing? In the LAB of all places! Ugh." Arnout turned his back to his teammates. "Get dressed. We have work to do."

Still mad at his teammates, Arnout set to work. Over the course of the next few hours, Arnout produced his thermite charges, and his ways to trigger their detonation. Arnout stepped away from the safety cabinet and whipped his hands off on his coat. "I'm done!" He called over to his teammates. "We are too. Have been too, for like, an hour." Came the return. Arnout flipped them the finger. "Let's go then. We still have to get this installed."

Arnout attached his karabiner to the safety rope, and gave a thumps up. The safety supervisor checked him, and gave a thump up too. Quickly, Arnout soared up to the blast plates, a hundred metres in the air. He zipped past Rashid, who was just done with the burning letters. Once up top, Arnout was greeted by of another member of his team, Justin, who did the work on the detonators. Arnout accepted Justin's hand, and clambered onto the blast plate. "I'm nearly done. In just five minutes you can lay the charges. Then we run a dry test to check every detonator, and then you can connect the charges." Justin told Arnout. "Good. You need a hand with those detonators?" Justin shook his head. "Nah, I'm fine. Just enjoy the view."

Arnout took his backpack off, and zipped it open. He pulled out the thermite charges, the dett cord, and the glass containers with sulphuric acid, and carefully set to work. Arnout spread the charges in a precalculated pattern, which would give the crowd the most bang for the college's buck. He then connected the dett cord to the charges, making sure the glass containers where wrapped in the dett cord.

Arnout walked to the edge of the platform and yelled down: "Justin! Dry run in 5!" Justin gave a thumps up in return. Keeping a close eye on the power drawn by the detonators, Arnout watched as Justin gave the signal to detonate to each individual detonator. To his dismay, Arnout saw one of the detonators on his far side overload. Goddamn son-of-a-bitch!" Arnout muttered. Arnout pumped his lungs up for maximal volume, and roared down: "KILL IT! KILL IT NOW!"

Arnout sprinted to the overloading detonator, trying to save his display. Before Arnout even got halfway, the detonator exploded. The explosion shattered the glass container of the detonators thermite charge.

Barely taking the time to mutter "O fuck!" Arnout turned and ran, knowing he'd only have 3 seconds before the half kilogram of thermite would erupt into a massive ball of fire. The heat released by the igniting thermite would be enough to kickstart the nearest thermite charge, and this would start a chain reaction which would engulf the platform in a fire that burned at 1500 degrees.

Arnout raced desperately towards the nearest edge of the platform, while behind him, the first charge went off. Just as he reached the edge and threw himself off, a massive wall of flame caught up with him, throwing Arnout off the platform.

Epilogue
Arnout finished his beer, swiped his hand over the payment scanner and greeted his bartender. "See you tomorrow, Eddie." The bartender raised his hand, and continued polishing glasses. Arnout walked to the jacket stand, picked up his coat and hat, and walked out the door, into a light drizzle.

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Arnout?" "No. But then, what has been for the past few weeks? I mean, taking on Gravitron, without any plan what so ever, was just, well, crazy." The silence that followed was a testimony to the truth of that statement.

"Turn right here." "I know, okay?" "Are you stalling, Arnout?" "Yes. Yes, I am." Arnout's computer sighed. "Dude. Go now, or I'll make you." "Fuck off, okay?" But Arnout listened, and took the next right, down the stairs to the subway, and got on.

When Arnout exited the carriage, a familiar face was waiting for him. "You're late." Pinky looked mad. Arnout kissed her on the cheek. "It's difficult for me, okay? I haven't seen my parents in two years. For all they know, I could be dead." Pinky took his hand and pulled Arnout towards the exit. "Then let's not waste another minute!"