As night fell swiftly, the moon hung high in the sky, accompanied only by the shining stars. Elias stood ready in his new uniform, prepared for his latest night shift security guard post.

He found himself clocking in on the shift seemingly no one wished to have at Pier 379—a port that houses a large shipping dock for incoming and exporting goods for the city of Roćeira. 

All the other guards who were to turn up didn’t, calling out and other various matters, meaning there was a need for a last-minute backfill. Fortunately, a third-party vendor extended contracts that only Sebastian could procure. He passed the information on to Elias, who he believed was more than qualified. 

Patrolling the area, monitoring the cameras, and managing their access points were all part of the job description. Even though it was just for a few hours, Elias couldn’t help but groan at the situation—it was eating into his precious gaming time!

Lately, it’s been sweltering in his lobbies. He’s been running into an adamant online user who goes by the ID of LumpHoneyyydew, who has been a real thorn in his side.

Out of the familiar IDs he’s encountered, this player seemed to be a troll who followed him from game to game. Their current love for an online PVE with PVP elements is a class-based strategy game in which leveling up and acquiring gear are necessary to be strong. 

LumpHoneyyydew was exceptionally amazing as if having some help behind the scenes. Elias, who worked hard, often played against them, chasing after the same missions, which ultimately led to back-and-forths. 

While Elias believed he was a decent player, his rival LumpHoneyyydew, on the other hand, messaged him in their last game to get good. It led to more trashing talking that never stopped, ultimately pushing Elias to dip into his pockets to buy some extra loot boxes the game offered to procure gear that would one-sidedly beat down his opponent. 

That aside, Sebastian’s job paid well—too well, but Elias wouldn’t complain. Considering it was easy and last minute, he believed the urgency must have contributed to the inflation of the pay rate.

“Stay up all night, sleep all day…I don’t love it, but it works if I can pay off some of this debt.”

He would be able to do more than just splurge the check on in-game currency to crush his online rival. In fact, he could make up for the rent money he owed and pay for some new stuff he’s been eying for his apartment.

As he sat in the security booth with his legs kicked up, he relaxed until the hour to clock out arrived. It was easy money. While technically, patrols were a part of the description, the monitors, in detail, displayed a fantastic array of footage from all sorts of angles through the port.

He had to thank Sebastian for being a fool. A fool who would pay big money for such a simple task. 

As he closed his eyes for a second, he opened them again to see another hour had flashed by instantly. With two hours left, Elias started to debate whether it was better to pass them by, watching some videos on his phone or taking another nap. The latter would be ideal, but he couldn’t trust himself to wake up before the next batch of security showed up to clock in and take over.

Ahh, who cares anyway. Screw it.

His time was being charged, and he was left alone anyway.

Let’s see…two hours, eh. Maybe I should set an alarm just in case. Maybe twenty—naw, ten minutes before should be fine. Now, where is…

At that moment, he tilted his head upwards, his curiosity piqued by a sudden movement in his peripheral vision. Two of the cameras had gone dark, failing to display their feeds. One was positioned at the main entrance nearby, while the other overlooked the gate down by the loading docks. He was positive that those cameras had been functioning earlier. Admittedly, he might have accidentally interfered with them as he had dozed off with his feet resting on the controls.

While trying to negotiate with them to remedy the situation, he heard a series of noises. Taking a moment to peek around the corner, he found two blacked-out vehicles entering through the gate.

“That’s odd. I don’t recall seeing anything scheduled.” 

What was odder was that their headlights were off as they pulled up to the barrier—it lifted on its own without Elias pushing the button on the console.

Without a care, the vehicles drove by and headed directly toward the docks. 

Seeing as it was his duty as the night guard security, he had little choice but to grab a flashlight and a pair of keys, the only two items aside from his uniform that he was given for tonight’s job. 

Reluctant Elias decided to go check out where the vehicles parked and ask his guests what their deal was. 

Parked at the edge of the docks with an array of individuals standing outside, all dressed in black. They weren’t your average fraternity who came out for a late-night skinny dipping session. No, not in the slightest.

Elias noticed that they were equipped with various guns and wearing matching blacked-out masks covering their faces. They were accompanied by nifty night vision goggles that sported a three-lens design. It was safe to assume their vests weren’t for a fashion statement either.

One of them withdrew a small device from his vest to bring it close. 

“We’re here. Proceed with the shipment handoff.”

Turning to face the others, a gesture with their hand waved as they continued, “Make sure the perimeter is secure. There shouldn’t be anyone on guard duty tonight, but we can’t be sure some randoms aren’t lurking about or kids doing some test of courage. Do a quick sweep. I want to be in and out before anyone sees us.”

The group dispersed, leaving a few handfuls around to wait by. The one who had given the order pulled a pen-sized object from one of their many assorted pockets along their vest. When pointed, it shot out a tiny laser into the harbor in a quick, rhythmic pattern.

A subtle noise hummed before an object on the water’s surface became visible. As it drew closer, it became more apparent. A black military-grade rubber craft with two more individuals sorting similar gear. They were not alone, as they had a gift, a large crate, on board.

Reading themselves, they swiftly pulled the raft and the individuals up, along with the crate. This left the one in charge with a crowbar to pry open the wooden box. After staring at the contents, they waved their hands again to signal that the job was good to go.

They operated precisely, resembling a tactical unit from a top-notch video game. Elias couldn’t help but draw parallels, which left him hesitant to delve deeper into their mission.

While he was a security guard, he saw enough to know that it was better to call it than pry into other people’s business.

In his frantic search for his phone, it suddenly slipped from his grasp and landed on the ground with a resounding thud. He dropped to the floor in a rush, silently cursing himself for being so careless. As he retrieved his phone, he noticed with dismay that the screen was cracked. A wave of panic washed over him as he feared the noise might have alerted the covert operatives to his whereabouts. After a tense moment, he realized, to his immense relief, that they hadn’t heard a thing.

He calmed himself with a deep inhale and exhale before understanding that he would need to radio the proper authorities back at the security booth. As he got up, his foot came into contact with something light. 

It clinked and clanked as it rolled. 

Elias found himself holding his breath as he stumbled upon an unexpected sight. This lone bottle seemed to have been abandoned after a failed jump shot. The person responsible for this mishap must have been so embarrassed that they didn’t even bother attempting another shot. He would have probably done the same, given the distance to the nearest trash bin.

Unfortunately, this bottle rolled and rolled and rolled some more until it clanked against a neighboring shipping container, the sound echoing to more ears than just one. 

Guns were drawn as the groups of individuals took to tactical positions.

“Heads up, we might have a mouse.”