Bad Beat - Chapter 35 - Splash (Patreon)

For a few minutes, Mia just flew the drone around, getting used to controlling it.

At first, she was slow and awkward, but soon she adapted. Though Gabriel suspected it was more like Sparky slowly taking over the process so Nate wouldn’t realize the AI existed.

Meanwhile, Nate picked up one of the other drones and began inspecting it, turning it over in his hands.

“This is pretty high-quality work, Gabby,” he commented. “How the hell did you manage this with all those bargain-bin materials?”

As Gabriel watched the precog marvel at his creation, he couldn’t help but notice a dark look cross Nate’s eyes.

Gabriel shrugged. “Oh, you know. A bit of elbow grease, some blood, sweat, and tears, and presto: a stealth drone.”

Nate sent him a look but didn’t reply. Instead, he surprisingly gently placed the drone on the table and cleared his throat.

“Alright, ladies...and Gabe,” he called out, causing Mia to look up from whatever she was doing on the screen and scowl at him. Gabriel suspected she was exchanging sassy quips with Sparky. Or planning Nate’s murder. Nate just flashed her a smile and continued. “How about we watch the opening of the meet-and-greet, then get started on the operation?” He paused for a moment. “Did we name it?”

Gabriel shook his head. “Nope.”

Nate grinned as if he had won the lottery. “How about Operation Gothic?”

“You really need help, dude,” Gabriel told him. “How about we call it Operation Flyby instead, and Mia doesn’t pull your spine out through your left nostril?”

Nate eyed him for a moment, then looked at Mia and recoiled at the murderous look on her face.

He scratched the back of his head. “Haha! Totally. Operation Flyby sounds awesome.” He even gave them an awkward double thumbs-up.

“Why do you want us to watch the opening?” Mia asked suspiciously instead of commenting on his naming scheme.

Nate looked at them for a moment before shaking his head. “I have no idea. It’s important, but no matter how much I look, I can’t find a reason for it.” He playfully glared at Gabriel and pointed at him. “Probably because of him.”

Gabriel ignored the comment. Instead, he picked up the remote and switched from the laptop feed to the actual channels. “Which one?”

“One seven three,” Nate said immediately.

Gabriel switched over and found some kind of entertainment channel, probably focused on gossip and celebrity news. It was currently showing the outside of the Thousand Flowers Hotel, where a sizable crowd had gathered. All of them waved placards and signs bearing Bombshell’s logo or image. He even spotted a few women and men cosplaying as her.

There wasn’t much visible security. Just a few suited men with earpieces standing around the entrance while a dozen or so hotel staff tried to herd the excited crowd into one area.

All of it was accompanied by an excited woman nattering on about Bombshell’s appearance, speculating about her love life, and generally doing what gossip channels did best.

Spread misinformation and sensationalize even the smallest tidbit.

Gabriel watched with interest as the camera froze for a second and the excited host abruptly stopped talking before breaking into a squeal. The camera jerked upward, capturing Bombshell flying toward the hotel from a distance.

The bombastic woman slowed as she neared the crowd chanting her name, then stopped to hover above them in a classic superhero pose, smiling and waving.

Gabriel stilled slightly.

This was the first time he had seen the woman who had almost killed him with her careless use of power. Back then, he had been terrified, barely understanding what was happening. Now, seeing her in broad daylight, he had to admit she was...something.

As the camera zoomed in on her smiling face, he saw her eyes and how empty they looked.

Not empty in the sense that she was vapid. More like she hated hovering there and interacting with all those people, though she seemed to be doing her best to appear friendly and approachable as she slowly descended and began shaking hands, signing photos, and signing journals.

But Gabriel could see how forced her movements were.

She was there because somebody told her to be there, not because she wanted to be there.

That much was obvious.

On some level, he could sympathize with her.

Interacting with people screaming into your ear had to be hell on earth. On another level, he felt this was exactly what she deserved for destroying his apartment and killing a bunch of people.

This and more.

Wrenching his eyes away from the screen, he turned to Nate. “Did we watch enough?”

Before the annoying precog could answer, a noise cut through the room.

They heard tires squealing and engines revving from the street below.

Rushing to the window, Gabriel pulled the curtain aside and looked down. They were on the seventh floor, but even from there, he could see the blue-and-white-decorated cars peeling away into the distance.

He looked back at Nate, who was wearing a smug grin. “Yep! Perfect timing!”

Mia clapped her hands together. “Excellent. Let’s start!”

A few moments later, the television was once again showing the wireframe of the building from the front, the ninth floor and up clearly marked, while Nate sat next to Mia staring into the distance, his eyes unfocused and sweat beading on his forehead.

Mia furiously typed away on her enhanced laptop, power humming beneath her fingers.

The three drones hovered silently in front of the window while Gabriel stood ready to release them.

He stared at Nate, waiting for the signal.

Finally, after several tense moments, Nate grunted. “Now!”

Gabriel instantly pulled the mechanism that tilted the window inward, letting the slightly foul San Bernardino air seep inside while the drones vanished into thin air before shooting out through the opening.

After waiting a few seconds, he closed the window, pulled the curtain shut, and walked back toward the middle of the room.

The television screen changed, splitting into three sections, each displaying the feed from one of the drones.

Their flight was slightly turbulent because of the wind, but thanks to the powerful motors and energy sources Gabriel had added, the drones had little trouble climbing higher along the building.

“Let’s start phase one...” he murmured as he stepped beside Nate and watched over Mia’s shoulder while she guided the drones.

Well, one drone. The other two were set to follow it automatically.

A short while later, they crested the edge of the roof, still invisible, allowing Gabriel and the others to finally see what was up there.

Previously, they had only viewed the roof through a ‘misaligned’ birdwatching webcam. Now they were seeing it in high definition.

To Gabriel, that mostly meant a confusing mess of antennas in various configurations, several metal boxes that looked like parts of air-conditioning systems, and a few things that might have been heat sinks. Thankfully, Nate didn’t have the same issue.

One brief glance into the future later, and he was already guiding them.

“See, that small white box on the right?” he murmured, pointing at the screen.

“Yeah?” Mia asked.

“Avoid flying near it. It’s a motion sensor.”

“Got it.”

Nate pointed somewhere else. “Go that way. Slowly.”

Mia complied.

“Now turn right. Good.”

Gabriel simply watched the drone feed while the other two navigated the maze covering the rooftop.

Finally, Nate found what he had been searching for.

“There! That small black box. That’s our ticket!” he exclaimed softly, sweat dripping down his face. Apparently, using his powers in such rapid succession was exhausting.

Deciding not to be completely heartless, Gabriel handed him a glass of cool water. Nate looked surprised but accepted it with a nod and gulped the drink down eagerly.

Meanwhile, Gabriel could see on the screen as Mia began to work.

Two drones repositioned themselves to keep watch while the third hovered closer to the small box.

Mia pressed a button, and thin wires wriggled free from the drone’s underside. They reached the box and began unscrewing several tiny screws.

A minute later, another wire carefully collected the screws and placed them aside.

The small box opened, revealing waterproof insulation protecting a compact circuit board and several smaller plastic modules with wires running everywhere.

“What even is that?” Gabriel asked curiously.

“That looks like some kind of control board,” Mia answered. “Based on the placement and all the wiring, it controls one of the antennas. Probably raises and lowers it when needed.”

“Ohh…”

Mia grinned. “Which means it’s a perfect backdoor for us since they need regular access to operate the antenna.”

Nate nodded. “It was added later, which is why it’s not fully integrated into the main system.” He smiled wryly. “You know how it is. Nothing is more permanent than a temporary solution.”

Gabriel chuckled and nodded.

On the screen, the wires extended farther, probing the circuit board until Mia made a quiet sound of triumph, and one of the wires plugged into an open slot.

“Aaand we’re connected!” she declared.

Gabriel looked at her. “What now?”

“Now you guys wait until I can get us in...” She made a dismissive shooing motion. “Go do something useful while I work. Like bringing me pizza.” With that, she turned her full attention back to the laptop.

Gabriel and Nate exchanged a glance before shrugging in unison.

“Come on, let’s set up that console,” Gabriel said.

Nate instantly brightened. “My man! You are absolutely not going to regret playing it. Best game ever made!”

Gabriel just chuckled.

He grabbed a few slices of Mia’s favorite pizza and a drink, set them beside her along with a pile of napkins, then turned back to watch Nate wrestle with the ancient console.

They spent the next thirty minutes trying to set up the console. Nate wrestled with the cables while Gabriel searched online to see whether the ancient thing was even compatible with his shitty television.

Apparently, it was, but only with an adapter.

An adapter Nate had forgotten to bring.

Gabriel sent the precog a flat look. “Really? You, a precog, forgot to bring something we would obviously need?”

Nate rolled his eyes, though Gabriel could tell he was embarrassed.

“Listen, it’s not like I use this power for everything. I thought a lame-ass TV like this one would connect to it,” he said while gesturing toward the television.

“Sorry my lame-ass TV is too modern for your shitty console,” Gabriel shot back with a faint smirk.

Nate opened his mouth to respond, but Mia beat him to it.

“Guys! I’m in!” she exclaimed proudly.

Nate and Gabriel exchanged a glance, immediately abandoning the argument as they crowded around Mia to look at the laptop screen.

“Idiots. Why are you standing here when the TV is right there?” she asked, pointing toward the television, which once again displayed the wireframe model of the building.

Gabriel sheepishly stepped away from the couch and turned his attention to the screen.

The diagram zoomed in on the ninth and tenth floors before expanding further.

Instead of displaying incomplete layouts like before, the software, assisted by Sparky, continuously filled in the missing sections using the information Mia had stolen from the building’s systems.

Roughly thirty seconds later, the entire ninth and tenth floors were fully mapped out.

Most of the apartments existed only in theory now. Aside from the load-bearing walls, nearly everything had been stripped out, with only a few enclosed sections remaining. Based on the plans Mia had acquired, those areas were cold rooms for the servers.

The rest resembled a customer service center, with computer stations spread across the floor.

There were also a few bathrooms, a kitchen area, and several sleeping quarters where the gang members could rest.

The tenth floor was somewhat different. It also contained server rooms, but more of the apartments had been preserved, creating several small offices along with a larger communal and resting area.

As Gabriel tried to memorize the layout, three red lines appeared on the screen, each leading toward the server rooms.

“There are three ways to reach them…” Mia commented with a frown.

Gabriel nodded in understanding.

One line began at the elevator and curved along the edge of the room before reaching the target. Another started at the stairwell and ended at the same location. The last began on the roof, passed through the tenth floor, and descended into the ninth.

“Any idea how to get to the floor?” he asked absently.

“You don’t have to,” Nate interjected. “Just use the stairs.”

Gabriel turned toward him with a raised eyebrow.

“They’re running on a skeleton crew,” Nate continued. “With Mamma Mia doing the overwatch thing and opening doors for you, it’ll be a cakewalk.”

Without saying anything, Gabriel slowly turned toward Mia and raised his other eyebrow.

Mia stood from the couch, punched Nate in the shoulder, and looked at Gabriel.

“Ow!”

“If you call me that again, I’m going to do horrible things to you,” she stated, eyeing the precong before she took a deep breath, giving Gabriel a small smile. “As much as I hate admitting it, he’s right. I can guide you through with the access I have.”

Still rubbing his shoulder, Nate offered Gabriel a grin. “We’ve got around two to three hours, depending on how things go.”

“Got it,” Gabriel nodded. “Let’s set the operation to forty-five minutes. Just in case.”

Nate opened his mouth, then closed it again, before nodding.

Mia sat back down. “You go it. Start in five?”

Gabriel gave her a mock salute and headed for his bedroom. There, after closing the door behind him, he pulled on a card-created pair of pants, a shirt, and shoes before focusing on the tether connected to the ring on his finger.

The Shifting Shadow Stalker Set instantly flowed over his body. He lowered the mask into place and inserted a simple earbud into his ear. Almost immediately, he was connected to Mia’s laptop while Sparky provided snarky commentary across his mask display.

As a final touch, he slipped on a pair of disposable gloves.

Exiting the room, he found Mia sitting behind the laptop with a headset already resting on her messy hair while Nate finished closing the window with one of the drones in hand. He released it, and the drone floated over to Gabriel, hovering near his shoulder.

Mia glanced up from her typing. “That way we can see what you see...”

“Smart,” Gabriel said. “Anything else?”

Mia and Nate exchanged a look before both shaking their heads.

“No, you’re good to go,” Nate said.

Mia stared at Gabriel for a long moment, countless emotions flickering through her eyes before she finally waved him toward the door.

“Go!”

**

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A/N: I spent too much looking up how windows work on tall buildings like that.