The drive to the TekNik building was a surprisingly pleasant one. Kaleb kept his ear bud in, but mostly he was left alone with his thoughts as he drove. As he watched the setting sun, he thought about what he wanted to accomplish at the hangar and the issues he would have. He tried to think about his upcoming infiltration of a corporate building, but his mind continued to wander. The Scanner project was coming along nicely and would probably be complete when the others logged in tomorrow. Especially with his workshop’s new helpers.
Kaleb was humming to himself as he pulled into a spot a few blocks away from his intended building. Farrah had explained to him that what they were doing was completely legal and sanctioned. But he still wanted to take precautions. Conducting a Covert Investigation sounded all well and good, but he was basically breaking into a business and looking for evidence. He didn’t understand the nitty-gritty of how all that worked. But apparently it did.
He was doing a last check on his equipment when Farrah spoke up in his ear.
“Please stop humming. You’re going to infiltrate an office building, not skip down to the market.”
“Farrah, I’m having fun, alright? Let me just enjoy this moment before everything turns to crap and I have to run for my digital life from a giant robot or something.”
“Or you can take this seriously now and not have to worry about giant robots.”
“How will me being serious make it easier for me to avoid robots?”
“Cause then you might see them coming?”
“They’re giant robots, Farrah! I’m sure I’ll be able to spot them.”
Kaleb smiled to himself as he checked his pocketful of Taser Eggs. If TekNik used its own bots for protection, he’d be well-armed for what was coming. Nodding to himself, Kaleb started walking toward his target. Overhead he heard the sounds of Farrah’s drones keeping pace with him. They wouldn’t be going inside with him, but Farrah would have them monitor the building. He had thought about bringing Roy’s body-cam but it was sewn into the boy’s armor. So that was a no-go. Kaleb had put it on the list for later inventions.
“The building is dark, and the security is active. Thankfully, the local PD knows to ignore any silent alarms while you conduct your search. But if they get reports of explosions or gunfire, they’ll come running. So keep things to a dull roar this time, Professor.”
“It’ll be fine.” Kaleb said. “I’ll get in, disarm the security, find what we need, and get out. Piece of cake.”
“Uhhhh, yeah about that…”
Farrah trailed off as Kaleb stopped walking. Already he could see the TekNik building in the distance. But something about Farrah’s tone froze him in his tracks. She was about to insert a new wrinkle into tonight’s proceedings.
“Farrah?”
“Yeah, the covert warrant we’ve been issued has a non-destruction clause in it.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning that you can’t permanently disrupt or destroy any of the company’s security systems.”
Kaleb shut his eyes and took a deep breath as his guns seemed to increase in weight. Making their presences on his body even more known. Even the plastic eggs in his pockets were out if any of the security systems were improperly shielded. But something Farrah had said stuck out to him, too.
“What do you mean permanently? Cause I can fry a few consoles and have the entire building go dark until it’s repaired. That’s not permanent, right? Cause they can fix it later?”
“Any long-term damages will be billed back to the supergroup. So please accomplish things in the most non-violent way possible. The security office on the main floor should give you access to everything you need. Get inside, get to the security room, and shut things down. Then make your way to the C-level executive floor and start your search. You’ll have until dawn.”
Kaleb snorted as he started walking again. So he had to break into a building and then shut off the power to whatever security the building used. All without breaking anything, and if he broke something, the Super Group was going to have to pay for it. Fantastic. His walk became a slow trudged as he started thinking about the problem before him. Breaking in would be easy enough if he could pick the lock. But if they had electronic locks, he would have to fry them. Which meant the SG was paying for that, but once inside, he could quickly make his way into the security room. After that, some quick hacking is all it would take to shut things down.
“Okay,” Kaleb said to himself as he walked. “One or two locks tops and then I’ll be able to shut things down. That’s not too bad. My credits will take a hit, but I’ll manage.”
Kaleb’s steps were picking back up and he was feeling good again when he spotted three black vans on the curb. They were parked in front of the five-story building on the opposite side of the street. Something about them rose his hackles and immediately Kaleb was on-guard. That’s when he spotted the broken front door.
“Shit!”
“I see it!” Farrah commented. “Alerting the local PD. Professor, we do not have authorization to go inside under these circumstances.”
“Okay, but I’m a hero witnessing a crime. Don’t I have an obligation to stop it?”
“Yes, but only to a reasonable degree. Three vans could be upwards of twenty people. Are you sure you can handle it?”
Kaleb nodded as he slid to a stop near the building’s front door. “Of course! Then afterward, I’ll complete my covert investigation.”
Farrah’s voice was a little strained as she spoke into his ear. “Professor, the warrant for the investigation is burned. This break-in changes things. Deal with the criminals first and maybe I can swing something for later.”
“Oh, come on! You’re kidding me?!”
“No, I’m not. Anything you find now could be explained away as being put there by these criminals. So we’ll have to scrap the investigation part of tonight. But look on the bright side, you can use all your weapons now.”
Kaleb rubbed his forehead as he dashed into the building’s lobby. The smell of burnt metal and ozone filled the air, and he kept a running commentary for Farrah and the others. He wasn’t sure if he was being recorded, but he figured better safe than sorry. The remains of several robots were strewn across the lobby floor, along with three fresh corpses.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“The bots did their best, but it looks like they were overwhelmed.” Kaleb whispered.
He continued past the foyer and down a hallway. More signs of battle were everywhere, but he didn’t spot anymore bodies. A few metal limbs were shoved to the sides of the hall, but that was it. The thugs were apparently cleaning up after themselves for some reason. The first signs of life Kaleb came across was at the security room. It was nestled into the corner of the hallway, giant metal door swung wide and an eerie blue glow shining through the open doorway. He could hear the muffled sounds of conversation as he got closer.
Drawing his Sun Gun, Kaleb approached the edge of the door and tried to peer in. But all he saw was the back wall of the security room. The metal door swung inward and was blocking his view of anything else. With a grimace, he slowly crept into the room and glanced around. Four men in black fatigues were standing around a large computer terminal. On the wall in front of them was a bank of screens much like the ones at the Hangar. Three of the men were watching the screens as the fourth was rapidly typing away at the terminal.
“Hurry, Ralph. We ain’t got much time until the police get here.”
“Shut it, Wedge. I’m working as fast as I can and I told you already: we tripped the alarm when doofus broke the front door. The cops should’ve been here by now, anyway.”
“And you still don’t have the building bots under control! Also, if Dofun hears that you called him a doofus, he’ll pop your head like a grape.”
The man at the computer snorted derisively, but stayed quiet. Kaleb took the chance and opened fire on the three men standing slightly away from the terminal itself. Aiming for chest shots, he pulled the trigger and swept the gun across the three men. Bright yellow balls of energy flew through the air and collided with two of their backs while the third was in mid-spin. So the shot took him in the side. The third man tripped sideways and slammed into the console. The man at the console was already moving, spinning in his chair, a grubby-looking laser rifle in his hands. Kaleb and the seated man stared at each other for a beat as the other crooks writhed on the floor. Kaleb’s Sun Gun was non-lethal, so the bad guys would be fine.
“I don’t suppose you’ll throw your gun to the ground and surrender, will you?” Kaleb asked as he scanned the seated man’s weapon.
He was pretty sure his armor could take the rifle’s shot. But why risk it? His opponent also stared at Kaleb’s weapon in confusion. When Kaleb’s gruff voice finally registered, the human man jerked his eyes away from the Sun Gun and looked into Kaleb’s eyes.
“That depends. How close is your backup?”
“Police are twenty minutes out.” Farrah said in Kaleb’s ear.
“They are too far away to matter, apparently. So the question is, can your rifle make it through my armor, right?”
“You seem awfully blasé about a weapon that can shear metal from military-grade robots.”
Kaleb shrugged. “It is what it is. So you going to try something or give up peaceably?”
The fourth crook seemed to think on it for a few seconds before raising his rifle in surrender. Kaleb blew out a breath and slowly approached to disarm the man. But a flicker of a grin on the thug’s face made him pause. That hesitation was like a starting gun as the seated crook quickly tossed his rifle into the terminal next to him and drew two items from his black jacket. Two silver pucks sped toward Kaleb as their thrower tried to back away.
Kaleb spun to avoid the pucks and fired blindly at the retreating thug. He heard a grunt as his shots land and grinned when he realized one puck missed him. But the second puck clipped the front of his armor as he turned and Kaleb’s world went white. A loud sound echoed in his ears and he felt his an explosion rock him off his feet. His back collided with the wall and the air in his body left for better housing conditions.
“Professor!? PROFESSOR! Are you okay? That sounded like a concussive grenade.”
Kaleb coughed and hacked, as his chest felt like someone was sitting on him. His eyes watered and he’d lost his weapon in the abrupt flight into the room’s wall. Taking a deep breath, he tried to address Farrah’s concerned voice, but all that came out was more coughing. It was another minute before he could say anything.
“Far- Ack! Farrah! Calm… cough… calm down! I’m alive. But my everything hurts and I think I have bigger issues.”
Kaleb stumbled to his feet and checked the crooks. Two of them had been shoved out of place by the concussive grenade, but the other two were still laying prone where Kaleb shot them. The jackass at the terminal was sprawled over it, unconscious. Kaleb moved to tie all four men up as he glared at the security terminal. The fourth man had thrown his weapon on the terminal to throw his pucks at Kaleb. When the weapon hit the terminal, apparently it went off, frying the terminal and blanking all the screens. He had no visuals on the building and no access to any of the building’s security functions. When he told as much to Farrah, the rabbit woman sucked in a breath and blew it out slowly.
“It’s worse than that, Professor.”
“How!?” Kaleb asked as he tried in vain to get the terminal to turn back on.
“When the security terminal died, the building activated all its security functions at once.”
“Shit, so this place is crawling with robots?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know?”
“I don’t have a visual on anything going on inside. The building’s security shutters came down and a magical barrier sprung to life. The building is in total lockdown from the outside.”
Kaleb hurried to the security room door and looked down the hallway. Normally, the streetlights from outside would light the front foyer. But now everything was pitch black. Kaleb hissed as a pain throbbed in his chest. He was about to ask Farrah more questions when metal footsteps shook the hallway to his left. That hallway led further into the building and Kaleb was sure it was the sounds of more security robots coming to life.
The slow, almost rhythmic thumbs of the footsteps sounded heavy as they got closer and Kaleb quickly shut the security room door. The pain in his chest flared again and as he tried to lock the room down. But nothing worked. He placed his back on the door and sank to the floor, still in pain.
“So, let me see if I have this right. I’m locked in a building with probably twenty-something bad guys, and whatever other security this building has. Is that right?”
“Yes. But the police are closing in and they have barrier specialist who can probably shut down things from out here.”
“Probably…” Kaleb echoed dryly.
He could almost hear Farrah’s shrug. “They’ll do their best. Meanwhile, you are mandated, as a hero, to put a stop to whatever the criminals are doing.”
The loud, thumping footsteps came to a stop and Kaleb sighed in relief before going back to arguing over his comms. “Farrah, the robots are up and running now. Can I let them handle things?”
“Sure, if the robots are working under the assumption that you are a friend to building. Do you think that’s the case?”
A sharp screech of metal screamed in Kaleb’s ear and he turned his head in time to see a large metal hand punch its way through the door. It scrabbled around for something to grab a hold of before it pulled back out into the hallway again. Kaleb swore under his breath and pulled away from the door. Another fist crunched its way through the metal door as it, too, flailed around wildly.
“No, Farrah. I don’t think that’s the case at all.” Kaleb said as he got his weapons ready.