Engineering Disappointment

-Motor City, early afternoon-

Wearing a white short-sleeved t-shirt, brown work gloves, and blue overalls with a new pair of brown boots and a perfectly fabricated I.D. listing her as "Margaret Cochran", Stiletto made her way through the staff-only entrance to the racetrack and was not challenged; no one even gave her a second look. She had wrapped her hair in a double bun and dyed it with magical dye to get a rich dark brown hair color like Princess Origahna from the hit movie Celestial Conflicts in order to better pass for a mechanic because most mechanics did not have long hair that hung freely. Over her eyes were a pair of oversized sunglasses and under the sunglasses were brown contacts to obscure her true eye color.

Stiletto's mission was to sabotage a new engine model called the C59x Torpedo that was made by a company called Lacri-Cars. A rival company had hired her to sabotage the engine in order to prevent several of the client's investors from jumping ship to Lacri-Cars. The client did not care if the driver of the test vehicle got killed as long as the engine was sabotaged and malfunctioned in front of spectators. Since she did not have to kill the driver, she would rig the engine to do something embarrassing but harmless like fail to keep working while on the track. Killing innocent people when it was not necessary was a good way to get pigeonholed into jobs that only involved indiscriminate slaughter.

Stiletto was not that kind of mage. She had standards that she maintained precisely to keep from falling into the role of mindless murderer. Holding onto those standards was why she was recruited to Hidden Blades instead of some other Dark Guild. Her trade might be morally dubious no matter how she tried to soften it, but she still had standards. So did Hidden Blades.

Stiletto noticed that there were no security cameras or security presence whatsoever. That made the job a lot easier for her because what she planned to do required time and privacy. It would also require a good measure of luck.

-Inside the garage-

"Margaret" passed through the garage interior and eventually found her way to the engine room where the engine sat on a table awaiting installation into the vehicle. On the wall was a convenient diagram of the engine components to consult. This was almost too easy, but the blonde was not going to complain. She liked easy jobs. The hardest part would be sabotaging the components because she had very little knowledge of mechanics other than putting the key into the ignition and turning it to start a car.

Perhaps she should not have taken this job, but it was too late to back out because she was already on site and the show started in a little over an hour. Failure would not be looked on very kindly by Hidden Blades' top brass, so she would have to carry on. How to sabotage the engine?

Margaret's Sunglasses:

[Word Count: 514]
[Total Word Count: 514/1,500]

"Margaret" grabbed a wrench and set to work on the engine, following the diagram until she got to the power conductor. She spotted a few lacrimas that provided the power and read a notice scrawled in red marker that stated "DO NOT KNOCK THEM OUT OF ALIGNMENT OR THE ENGINE WILL SPEW SMOKE AND SHUT DOWN WHEN THE IGNITION IS STARTED!" There was a plan of action laid out for her in bright red marker.

Margaret knocked them out of alignment with her fingers just enough so it would look accidental. It was a good thing she wore gloves when she touched them because otherwise she would have left fingerprints. She then did a little more "accidental" tinkering by loosening the cords that led to the power conductor that would make a small fire and nothing more. She loosened them just enough where it would look like simple negligence more than it would deliberate tampering.

She wanted to make Lacri-Cars look like they had promised more than they could deliver, not turn them into murderers. Authorities would put a lot more effort into investigating accidents that led to deaths than they would in investigating simple accidents that made someone look bad.

Margaret's work was almost finished when some important-looking bald man in a brown three-piece suit barged in and spoke to her like it was a chore to even deal with her.

"Oh good! The last-minute hireling's here. Be a good little grease monkey and go over the engine, but be quick! The show starts in thirty minutes!" He said impatiently. Margaret had noticed that grease got on her and suddenly had a thought. She would make that self-important man the fall guy for this job. Margaret decided to get a little friendly with him.

"Thank you for hiring me, sir! I really needed the work! I just got out of mechanic school and I didn't know if anyone would hire me!" Margaret gushed, reaching out with her greasy glove and "accidentally" reaching too far for a handshake. The glove brushed against his sleeve and she quickly retracted it. He was too angry at her daring to shake his hand to notice the grease on his sleeve.

"You idiot! We don't pay you to talk! We pay you to work! Now go over the engine!" He barked at her. Margaret acted apologetic and apologized repeatedly until he left the room. Left alone again, Margaret resumed her work. She cleaned up the wrench and cleaned up the engine to eliminate any evidence that had been accidentally left behind, then spent some time cleaning it and making it look bright so that the bald jerk would be too impressed with the shiny engine to even bother berating her over the accidental handshake. By the time she finished with the work it was one minute to showtime.

"Oh, good! At least you can do something right! Now get lost!" The bald man ordered Margaret.

[Word Count: 500]
[Total Word Count: 1,014/1,500]

"Yes sir! Thank you sir! Thank you for hiring me!" the brunette gushed as she put the wrench exactly where she had found it, then quickly vacated the engine room. Her work was complete. Now to change her look so that no one would know it was she who was behind the sabotage. Margaret slipped into an empty mechanic locker room without cameras or other people watching it.

She quickly took off the boots and gloves and crammed them into a locker before gently shutting it. She took a black Steel Matron t-shirt and slapped it on over her white shirt, left one of the overall straps undone, and rolled up the pants legs to resemble shorts. She then stuffed the socks and I.D. into her pocket and put the sunglasses in another pocket. Since she had natural abilities not to leave fingerprints and footprints, no one was the wiser to her change of clothing.

Margaret quickened her pace and slipped out the back through a wide-open door that no one or no camera was watching. She sneaked around and quickly undid the bun, then snapped her fingers to go blonde again. She kept the contacts in because they helped with the disguise. She went into the audience section and took up a place in the top of the stands without anyone batting an eye.

"Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, we present to you Lacri-Car's newest product, the C59x Torpedo! When paired with the Bosaru Velocity car, the sensation of speed will be nothing short of amazing! You'll get to see it here first!" A female announcer promised the crowd. The crowd's excitement was palpable. The blonde would watch this next part with keen interest because she would get to see the results of her handiwork. Now she would see whether her work would pass muster or come up short.

The car began to roll onto the track amid the cheers of the crowd. The driver waved to the crowd and the racing enthusiasts began to wave back. He then climbed into the car and waited for the signal.

"Are you ready to see the Torpedo sink the competition?" The enthusiastic female announcer asked. The crowd roared back with a response that was safely in the affirmative.

"OK then. Let's get this demonstration started!" She replied. Diana pulled out her burner phone and began to dial up Blanche to make the report.

"3... 2... 1... GO!" The woman shouted into the microphone. The car started accelerating and soon went to its maximum speed. Its deafening roar slapped Diana's ears when it passed by on the first lap. It held its speed for roughly two laps before smoke rose from the hood of the engine and a small fire started. The driver quickly pulled over and abandoned the vehicle as a fire truck and emergency services rushed onto the track.

"The demonstration just ended." Diana reported in a disappointed tone, using the code phrase that had been arranged beforehand. Everyone else was too busy pointing at the car and being disappointed to really pay attention to what she was doing. No one could single her out for making a call since others were calling people on their phones.

"Good." Blanche said before abruptly hanging up. Good old Blanche... she was quite the conversationalist. Diana's work here was done. She left the stands along with other disappointed auto fans and made her way out of the racetrack without anyone being the wiser to her activities there.

She had left no hair, no fingerprints, and no footprints that could be traced back to her. No one had seen her enter the locker room and change or exit the locker room and go blonde, so Diana was in the clear. She would start the trip back to Hidden Blades HQ as soon as she bought some cheap sandals to wear back. Going barefoot hurt so badly.

[Word Count: 663]
[Total word Count: 1,677/1,500]