Gale watched three figures enter the room. One of them turned at the door and backed into the adjacent shadows, the others strolled into the center, stopping a few feet from him. Everyone here was wearing full body suits and a face mask, although there was a clear difference between Angel and her guests. The stranger’s disguises were an exotic, vaguely foreign design.
“These the one’s you mentioned, Angel?” Gale said.
She nodded. “Yes, Mable and Beltran.” She motioned to Mae and Arte respectively. “They said they want to help.”
He looked them over carefully. This was a surprising display of initiative from the girl, given she was as passive as the others. Although she did, at least, possess a modicum of enthusiasm. “And where did you find this pair of ‘promising’ recruits?”
“They found me,” Angel said.
Gale frowned. As far as he knew, no one discovered and joined the Night Owls without an invitation from an existing member. He wondered if that meant the two were very capable, or if Angel’s op-sec was terrible. “And how did they manage that?”
Mae stepped forward. “My partner and I are in the business of, ah, retrieving lost property. There are certain… restrictions, that make life needlessly difficult. In our search for potential solutions we discovered your organization, and feel we have a natural alignment of interests.”
“Lost property?”
“Yes, you might say in particular those errant goods found amongst another’s effects.”
Gale hummed. A thief? He didn’t appreciate working with her kind, though he supposed she couldn’t be worse than Thirteen, and probably more competent to boot. The idiots tasked with disposing the meddlesome Class B went and wrecked their car on the way back. It left too much of a trail for his taste.
He shook his head. Now wasn’t the time to think of that, instead he said, “It sounds like you’re trying to use us.”
“That’s one way to put it,” Mae said playfully. “Though the real question is if you can find a use for me too.”
Gale smirked, suddenly curious how she looked under the bulky robes. He pushed the thought aside, and said, “That depends on how good you are.”
“I found one of your Night Owls, did I not?”
“You make a fair point, though I have my doubts.”
“Then the question would be, is there some item you need ‘returned’ which I might retrieve to prove my worth?”
Gale paused. There was something, though it might be unwise to bring it up. He developed a healthy level of paranoia during his career, and this woman showing up at the right time seemed too perfect to be a coincidence. On the other hand, he didn’t see how anyone could have formed a plan in response to his own. He only recently floated the idea past the Night Owls, and hadn’t gone into specifics.
He supposed he should let things play out. Plus, if they went along with the next stage, the problem would sort itself out. He said, “You’ve come at an opportune moment. There does happen to be something I’m in need of.” When the woman perked in interest, he continued, “How do you feel about the CSA?”
“Something of a bother,” Mae said.
“And how do you feel about the inside of one of their data centers?”
Mae paused, then said, “Somewhat more of a bother.”
“Too much for your skills?”
“I didn’t say that, certainly, though it would be a big ask. If you don’t mind my asking, what is it you feel you’ve misplaced.”
“There is… a hard drive,” Gale said. “Though the conditions for its removal are rather particular. You see, it’s not enough to find the right drive in a specific rack, but there will be a narrow timeframe to retrieve it.”
Mae crossed her arms. “You need me to do it blindfolded too?”
Gale laughed. “I admit it won’t be easy, but I have something that should help.” He pulled a thumb drive from a hidden pocket. “This contains a special program that, when plugged into the right terminal, will neutralize all security systems in any CSA facility for thirty minutes.”
“That’s quite the potent trinket,” Mae said. “Not the sort of thing any old dissident could get their hands on. You must have very powerful friends.”
Gale suppressed a laugh. She had no idea. Instead, he said, “I have my ways.”
“It does bring a question to mind,” Mae said. “Namely, why someone so capable, and connected, can’t handle the retrieval himself.”
“I have many skills,” Gale said. “But, ah, ‘finding lost property’ is not one of them. There’s no value in being sent to a federal prison without getting the drive.”
“Then you are lucky I happened upon your organization when I did.”
“Maybe a little too lucky.”
Mae laughed. “You don’t trust a pair of strangers who dropped into your lap at the perfect moment?”
“I’ll admit it is rather convenient,” Gale said.
“That’s fair, though I’m not sure you have much choice. That program of yours will not stay viable forever, even if we assume limitless flexibility on the timing of your ‘retrieval’.”
Gale hummed. She was right, of course. The program relied on a few unpatched exploits in the federal data center security infrastructure. It wouldn’t be the end of the world to waste it, so he might as well spend it testing the woman and her partner. “That’s a compelling point.”
“Then it’s settled,” Mae said, holding out her hand. “You let us handle this, and when we’re finished, we can explore the, ah, full extent of our relationship.”
“I look forward to it,” Gale said, handing over the thumb drive. “I have a specific facility in mind, and I trust you can find your own way there.”
“Of course,” Mae said. They spent several minutes going over various details, then parted ways. Mae took Angel and Arte on a long, circuitous route, calculated to throw off hidden pursuit as well as to confound the autonomous tracking of the CSA surveillance network. Eventually, they arrived at Mae’s aircraft, where she ushered the other two inside before joining them.
Angel looked around in awe while she removed her disguise, then asked, “How did you manage to land so close to the city?”
“The Raptor is equipped with very sophisticated stealth capabilities,” Mae answered, then laughed. “Most of which I couldn’t tell you about if I wanted to. All I know is it takes the most advanced sensor systems to detect it, and only within certain ranges.”
“That’s incredible. And you can fly this thing? It barely looks like any aircraft I’ve ever seen.”
“Me? No, I wouldn’t have the foggiest. The Raptor is a fully autonomous transport. It’s mostly used by Solvers, although a few are owned by security companies.”
Angel shook her head. She tried to say something, but wasn’t able to pick out a coherent thought. Instead, she sat on a bench Mae deployed from the wall and Arte scooted in next to her. The Solver took up a position opposite them.
“Is it actually possible to get into that data thing?” Arte said. “It sounds like one of those important places no one wants you inside of.”
“It should be easy enough,” Mae said. “It’s been done before by other Solvers, although not for the CSA in particular. Still, these facilities all have the same layout, so I can grab the schematics off the net and see how other operations were done.”
Angel perked up. “Wait, really? I’ve never heard of that.”
Mae smiled playfully. “That’s because they made sure they weren’t noticed.” She pulled down a terminal and started working on it. “Anyway, you kids sit tight. I’m going to do some research and come up with a plan.”
Angel and Arte spent a few minutes in silence, before Angel turned to Arte. “I’ve been wondering,” she said. “How were you able to afford a mercenary? This cannot be cheap.”
Arte shrugged. “I don’t really understand myself. I guess it’s included with my Psa Psa membership.”
“‘Saw Saw’?”
“Yeah, it’s spelled p-s-a p-s-a. It’s short for, uh, a bunch of stuff, but it’s something called a private social association.”
“Is it, like, your government?”
“What’s a government?”
“I, uh… what?”
“It’s a gang of federals,” Mae said over her screen, before returning to work.
“It is not!” Angel snapped. She seethed at Mae, who ignored her.
“Well, what is it?” Arte said.
Angel settled, and turned to Arte. He had an earnest, curious expression. “It’s… complicated.”
“Lots of things are complicated,” he answered.
She sighed and pursed her lips, taking a moment to think. Finally, she said, “A government is the organization that makes the laws for your country.” Arte gave her a bemused look that was not encouraging. “What?”
“Does law mean something different to you?” he said. “Because I’m thinking of things like gravity, and I’m pretty sure those laws made themselves.”
Angel was stunned a few seconds, then broke down laughing. “Ah, yes, those are laws too, but I meant the rules people have to live by.” She settled, then turned to Arte and sighed. “You’re still giving me that look.”
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“Sorry,” he said. “I… I’m not sure I get it. What did you mean by ‘have to’?” Angel returned her own bewildered look. “Like, there’s very little a person naturally has to do, arguably nothing, depending on what they want, right? It sounds like this governing thing makes choices for you, but that can’t be it.”
Angel gestured vaguely, then said, “I suppose it kind of does, actually.”
“What?” Arte said. It almost came out as a yelp. “How does that make sense? Shouldn’t you know what you want better than anyone?”
“It’s not about what I want, it’s about what’s good for society.”
“What does that even mean?”
“You know, like, everyone.”
“How is someone who can’t figure out what you want, supposed to figure out what everyone wants? I don’t think problems get easier as they get bigger.”
“It… it doesn’t make all your choices, and it isn’t quite like that anyway.”
“Then how does it work?”
Angel sighed. “It’s… comp—“she cut her self off, then shook her head. “Alright, maybe if I start from the beginning. So, the government creates a bunch of rules, right? We’ll ignore the process for now, and suppose they make them, and publish them.”
“What kind of rules?”
“You know, like, don’t kill people, or rob them.”
“You need someone to tell you that?” Arte gave her a wary look.
“N-no, I-I mean, they decide how those things will be handled. Like, figuring out who did it, and making sure they’re punished.”
“Okay, I guess that makes sense,” Arte said. “Is that the only kind of rules they make? I don’t see why you need to keep some fancy gang around for that.”
“It’s not a gang,” Angel said. “And no, they also make other laws.”
“Like?”
“Uh, well, there’s… a lot of them. Like, you need to pay your taxes, pay employees a certain amount, and there’s regulations for how businesses can operate.”
“That sounds… expansive. How many of these rules are there?”
“I don’t know, to be honest.”
“You… don’t know?” Arte said. “Is that normal?”
“Yes,” Angel said. “Generally, you need to hire a lawyer if you want to know what all the laws are, and different fields require different kinds of lawyer.”
“You need a professional to know what your rules are?” Arte sounded alarmed at the prospect.
“What,” Angel snapped. “Are you saying your people don’t have lawyers?”
Arte shrugged. “Not that I know of. Mae?”
The Solver looked over her screen, her face a mixture of amused and annoyed. “Given that associates really only have one rule, ’To accept responsibility for your actions,” I can’t imagine why we’d need to hire some guy to tell us that. The closest I can think of is an advocate, who can help in a dispute by doing research and arguing on your behalf, but, from my admittedly limited knowledge of lawyers, advocates are both cheaper and nicer, and often included with your membership dues regardless.”
“Well, whatever,” Angel said. “We have lawyers, what’s your point?”
Arte shrugged. “Mostly it sounded like you had so many rules you couldn’t keep track of them. I thought that couldn’t be true, but apparently it is.”
Angel huffed. “I… I suppose it could be said we have a few too many. But still, whatever, everything works out well enough, even if it’s a pain in the ass, depending on what you’re trying to do.”
“If that’s alright with you, I can’t complain. I mean, it doesn’t sound remotely appealing, but it isn’t my problem. I do have a related question though.” He glanced at Angel, who motioned for him to go ahead. “These rules of yours… why do people follow them?”
Angel paused to consider the question. She’d given up any hope of it being a joke. It seemed the earnest young man really didn’t know a thing about how society worked. After a minute or so, she said, “This is a very simplified description, but the basic process is that if you break a law, the police will come and arrest you.”
“You mean that kidnapping thing?” Arte said.
Angel started to object, but cut herself off and sighed. “Close enough. Anyway, after you’re arrested, they’ll charge you with a crime, and then you have to go to court where it’s their job to prove you’re guilty. If they decide you are, then you get punished.”
Arte hummed. “I guess that sounds good enough for murderers or whatever, but it sounded like your law things covered a lot more than that. Like, I dunno, you said they had rules for operating a business. That includes farming, I assume?” He glanced at Angel, who nodded. “Okay, so, if your government people decided a guy needed to grow one kind of plant, and he decided to grow another, they would go kidnap him, with all the guns and yelling and stuff?”
“Ah, well, there are, um, other things they might do, uh, first, but yes, I suppose it could come down to that.”
“And if the guy didn’t want to be kidnapped, they would shoot him?”
“N-no, I mean, maybe if he was resisting that, you know, might happen, depending on how things worked out.”
“Do they get punished afterwards?” Arte said. “I mean those police people. I’m pretty sure murder is worse than botany.”
“Well, no, the police would be defending themselves, you know?”
“They escalated the situation in the first place,” Arte said. Angel did not at all like the look of vague disgust.
“That… I mean, technically.” Angel shook her head. “The police need a different standard, in order to do their job.”
“I… don’t see how that’s acceptable.”
“It’s necessary,” Angel said. “And besides, things like that don’t ever really happen anyway.”
“Yeah, I’ll bet,” Arte said. “No one wants to get shot over a plant. I meant even as a possibility. Who would subject themselves to something so… crazy.”
“It’s how things are, okay!” Angel snapped. Arte recoiled and she softened. “Ah, sorry. I… didn’t mean to yell.”
Arte shrugged. “Well, whatever. I don’t get it, but I guess everyone has their own reasons for why they do things.” He gave her a cautious look. “If you don’t mind my asking, how does the CSA fit into all this?”
“They are supposed to manage the Safe Citizen Program,” Angel said. “Although lately they’ve been acting more like the enforcement arm of some big tech conglomerates.”
“How do you mean?”
“Well, there isn’t exactly proof of it,” Angel said. “But the OLS believes members of the companies providing equipment and software for the SCP get leniency in calculating their Safety Score, and as a result they effectively have special legal privileges not available to the common man.”
Arte hummed and looked off, drumming his fingers on the table for a minute. “Does ‘legal’ have something to do with that rule stuff?”
“Right, sorry,” Angel said. “I keep forgetting you don’t know anything about this. But anyway, yes, I meant they had an easier time dealing with laws. Well, allegedly. There isn’t supposed to be any kind of advantage in the courts for having a good Safety Score. That’s what the ‘One Law’ in the One Law Society is referring to.”
“And the Night Owls are a part of that?”
“Yes, exactly. The OLS seeks to address the issue by political means, whereas the Night Owls are meant to take direct action.”
“Direct action?” Arte said.
“Well, admittedly we don’t do a lot, but some Night Owl branches plaster signs on walls, or stage protests outside CSA offices. You know, trying to amplify the message however we can, even if we have to skirt the rules a little.”
“I get that. I mean, if the rules are an obstacle to doing the right thing, then they probably aren’t good rules to begin with, don’t you think?”
“Yes, exactly,” Angel said. She looked down and added, softly, “Although I suppose Class Bs don’t have to deal with a lot of rules in the first place.”
Arte laughed. “Honestly, I’m surprised I even know what a rule is.”
Mae poked her head up and said, “That has more to do with your weird life than anything related to being an associate,” then returned to her research.
Angel laughed, and said, “I was wondering if all Class Bs were like him.”
Arte blushed and mumbled, “I can’t help how I am.” He straightened out, made a show of brushing down his coveralls, then turned to Angel and said, “A-anyway, what’s a Safety Score?”
“It’s a measure of how safe you are,” she said. After a few seconds of a blank stare from Arte, she sighed and said, “It’s easier to show than tell, but I need my phone for that.”
“You don’t have it with you?”
“No, of course not,” Angel said. “Traveling into Old City costs a few points, and besides, you don’t want one on you when doing sneaky stuff.”
“Ah, okay,” Arte said. “I guess I’ll keep that in mind, after I get another phone.” A perplexed look landed on his face, and after a moment he said to Mae, “How am I going to do that anyway? For that matter, how am I going to tell Crown to cancel my shifts?”
“You’ll have to order one,” Mae said. “And I already took care of alerting your job.” She pushed down the screen on her terminal, laying it flat. “Also, I think I figured out how we’re going to do this.”
“We?” Angel said. “You mean you aren’t doing it alone?”
“No, even with Solvers it took three people. This virus”—she held up Gale’s thumb drive—“is powerful, but not enough to turn this into a solo operation.”
“Well, still, why not call in reinforcements. I mean, Arte’s whatever already sent one mercenary, what’s one more?”
“That would make it easier,” Mae said. “But unfortunately there isn’t enough time. It’s very rare for anyone to need a Solver in North America, so I was the only one on call. HQ didn’t think it worth it, so no one else was deployed. With the station empty it would take days to get someone out here. Gale insisted we needed to fetch the data tomorrow, so we’ll have to do it ourselves.”
“Can it be done with only the two of you?” Angel said.
Mae smiled. “Of course not. That’s why you’re helping too.”
“Are you crazy! I-I can’t….” Angel shook her head. “There’s no way.”
“Sorry kid, you’re drafted. Even if Gale is squeaky clean, or rather especially, this is a Night Owl mission. The least you can do is contribute.”
Angel withdrew into her corner. “I…. It’s….”
Mae reached over and patted her arm. “It’ll be fine, sweetheart. You won’t do anything dangerous.”
Angel was not convinced, but Mae’s soft voice settled the beat of her heart. And besides, the woman had a point. This was her chance to finally take action. If she turned this down, there was never any point in joining the Night Owls at all. She’d be nothing more than some punk kid playing at rebellion.
“A-alright,” Angel said. “I-if you think I can do it.”
“Of course you can,” Mae said. “You have enough grit to stand up against the mightiest federals on the planet. There’s very few who could say the same, even amongst associates.”
Angel blushed, and after stammering though an attempt at gratitude, she said, “What do you need me to do?”
“You’ll handle the insertion and extraction,” Mae said. “Or put another way, dropping Arte off and picking him up.”
“I thought you said the Raptor was fully autonomous?”
Mae laughed, and said, “It is, but even she ain’t stealthy enough to land in the middle of a parking lot unnoticed.” She motioned to a metal box latched to a nearby wall. “You’ll be flying that.”
Angel gave the crate a bemused look and said, “And how is that supposed to work?”
“It’s power armor!” Arte said. “Mae swooped in to rescue me with it, and it’s totally cool!” He looked at Mae. “How come she gets to wear it?”
The Solver smiled at him. “Because she’ll actually fit inside.”
Arte blushed. “Ah, right.”
“Y-you want me t-to fly… in that?” Angel said.
“It’s much easier than it sounds,” Mae said. “The suit does most of the work, you only have to learn the controls. It takes a few hours of practice to get the hang of it.”
“O-okay.” She tensed her jaw and nodded. “If that’s what you want.”
“What about me?” Arte said.
“Your job will be a bit harder,” Mae answered. “It shouldn’t be too bad, but you’ll have to fetch the drive. I can give you all the directions you need though, so if you follow the plan it’ll work out”
“You need me to go inside? Don’t you think I’ll stand out a little?”
“These data centers barely have any staff, so you likely won’t see a single person, and in any case, a man in coveralls is virtually invisible, just make sure you walk with a purpose. We’ll also fix the tags on your clothes.”
“What about security,” Angel said. “Are you certain Gale’s program will work?”
“Having doubts about your fearless leader?” Mae said with an impish grin.
“N-no!” Angel shook her head. “I… well, it does seem suspicious he get could get his hands on something like that. I-I mean, what if the person who gave it to him was lying, or whatever, you know?”
“Could be.” Mae shrugged. “But in any case, I checked. It should work as advertised, assuming the exploits haven’t been patched. I will note though, especially for you Arte, that the program won’t actually disable the cameras inside, it replaces the outgoing stream with stale data. If anyone at the facility checks the raw feed they’ll see what’s really there.”
“Isn’t that bad?” Arte said. “I mean, won’t someone be watching?”
“Nope,” Mae said. “The federals automated away their security guards. The danger is the maintenance staff. If something goes wrong that needs human intervention, someone is liable to check to see if they can fix it remotely. If what went wrong is you getting your arm stuck in a vent…. Well, they don’t have anyone watching the cameras, but they do have guns.”
“Ah… I’ll keep that in mind.”
“What about you?” Angel said. “What’s your part in this?”
Mae held up the thumb drive. “I’ll be getting this in position.”
“How?”
“Never you fret.” Mae patted her head. “Little old Mae has her ways.”
Angel blushed and looked away.
“Anyway, that’s the gist of it,” Mae said. “For now I’m going to show Angel how to pilot the suit, then we’ll go over the details.” She stood, motioning to Angel to follow. “Come on kid, let’s have some fun.”