The gentle hum of Field Alpha's cooling system filled the silence.
Gwen sat cross-legged on the metal floor, her mask resting beside her, tools scattered like puzzle pieces across a cloth mat. She carefully fastened the final thermal dampener into the lining of her suit. It locked in with a soft click.
"That's the last one," she said.
Luffy peeked over from where he sat eating cereal straight from the box. "So that means we're fully... what?"
"Invisible," Gwen said. "To heat, to light, to most mics. We've cloaked every trace."
She stood, slipped her mask on, and activated the system. A soft pulse shimmered through the air. Luffy blinked.
"Whoa. You look like you're glitching."
"Perfect," she grinned.
Over the next two days, they ran tests on everything.
Gwen set up motion-triggered sensor walls around Field Alpha and ran sprint trials through them while fully suited. Not a single trigger tripped.
Meanwhile, Luffy practiced his new resilience limits.
He launched himself from increasing rooftop heights, rebounding off crash mats or reinforced boxes. He took hits from heavy bags Gwen swung on pulleys and barely flinched. His body bounced, absorbed, or flexed around the impact.
"I'm pretty sure I'm bulletproof to anything short of a tank," he joked.
Gwen scanned him mid-test. "More like shock-absorbent. Your body's learning how to give with the hit and reform instantly."
He grinned. "That's what I said."
They spent the next night installing three emergency stashes across Brooklyn. Each was hidden in a disguised city maintenance box: extra web fluid, stealth sprays, compression gloves, Luffy's emergency snacks.
By sunrise, Gwen finally leaned back in her chair and exhaled.
"The cloak is ready."
Mission Brief – Target: East River Arms Deal
A tip came through Gwen's encrypted scanner — a low-level arms exchange scheduled near an old shipping warehouse. Minimal guards. Ideal testing ground.
They suited up in silence. No nervous glances. No hesitation.
Gwen perched on the rooftop above the warehouse, scanning the perimeter with her visor overlay.
Inside, four armed men paced near crates. One glanced at a flickering security monitor.
Gwen whispered through comms. "Cutting lights in three... two..."
The entire building plunged into darkness.
Luffy moved first.
Rubber-soled and silent, he slid through the shadows, ducking past crates. One smuggler stepped away from the others — Luffy looped his arm silently around the man's ankle and pulled. The man hit the ground with a muted thud.
Gwen, moving upside down along the rafters, dropped a flash scrambler onto a second man's radio. It emitted a burst of static, then melted into his gear unnoticed.
The third guard turned just as Gwen dropped behind him. She tapped the back of his neck with a stunner glove. He dropped instantly.
The fourth tried to run.
Luffy bounced off the wall, flipped overhead, and landed in front of him.
"Bad night to do bad things," Luffy said, and tapped him lightly on the forehead.
The man crumpled.
They cleared the warehouse in less than three minutes.
Before leaving the area, they climbed to a nearby rooftop overlooking the East River.
Gwen crouched near the ledge, her visor scanning the sky. "No drones. No heat returns."
Luffy sat beside her, hands behind his head. "Think they'll ever know it was us?"
"The criminals? Maybe. The police? Not unless they build conspiracy boards like my dad."
Luffy chuckled. "You think he's close?"
"He's always close. But not enough to guess it's me. Not yet."
They watched the water shimmer under the moonlight in silence for a few moments.
"You know," Gwen added, "what we're doing? It's not just prep anymore. It's a pattern. It's our life now."
Luffy nodded slowly. "Feels like we crossed a line tonight. Like we stopped waiting for the real stuff and realized we're already in it."
Gwen looked at him. "And we didn't break."
"Not even close."
Gwen sent a silent alert to a nearby precinct using a masked emergency relay. As she and Luffy vanished into the alleyways, police cars were just beginning to arrive.
No cameras caught them. The air shimmered and bent slightly behind them. Nothing left. Nothing seen.
Back at Field Alpha
Gwen played back a test drone's recording. The camera feed showed static. The timestamp looped. No figures appeared on screen.
"No shadows cast. No footprints left. The cloak is complete," she said.
Luffy nodded, pulling off his gloves. "We didn't even have to touch half of them."
Gwen updated the whiteboard:
OP: East River – 100% Stealth Success
Cloak systems: PASS
Comms: PASS
Evacuation: Clean
They slumped into their chairs, adrenaline fading.
"We're not prepping anymore," Gwen said, stirring her cup of instant ramen. "We're operating."
Luffy raised his own cup. "To being invisible legends."
They clinked cups with quiet pride.