ic [IC] The Drone Ranger

[olopi]

GM

 

Wednesday, July 13^th, 2016

The Theatre District, Freedom City

Afternoon

 

 

Mona and Mickey Simms had arrived in Freedom City a few days ago. That meant, it had been time for a little tour around the city, learn about various places the locals went to. While Mona had probably visited most spots in the city a few times before, it still felt like a good idea to walk around the place together with Mickey, show him some stuff she’d seen the last times she’d been here. Today plan had been the Theatre District. Unless one was looking for theatre, or night clubs, one didn’t really go there. There were a few exceptions, like a really good and somewhat well known Chinese restaurant, or a museum on the history of theatre, but all in all, it wasn’t the most populated area. Still, it was one of the few places the two siblings hadn’t been yet, and why leave out one?

The two had been walking around for some time, enjoying various sights, when suddenly a group of roto-drones flew past them a few feet above at high velocity, turning a corner behind one of the many theatre buildings.

And just as they turned, a cloud of smoke appeared from the direction the drones had been coming, flying at about the same height but slower. The cloud headed the same direction as the drones, when it suddenly started speaking.

 

“ ----. Lost them.”

 

The cloud continued moving the same direction, addressing the two teenagers.

 

“Hey, you two. Any ideas where those drones headed? They’re pretty dangerous”

[EternalPhoenix]

This…could’ve been weird, if Mona and Mickey were in any other city and didn’t have incredible superpowers literally from birth. As it was, Mickey was a little surprised at a talking cloud. Mona was surprised, too, but she recovered inside a nanosecond. She shifted into hyperturbomode and casually stepped around the corner while her brother’s expression had barely started forming. Hyperturbo mode was when even lightning seemed…kind of slow. Yep, round the corner and down the street. She returned to where she was standing, shifted back into stallmode, and spoke. “Aroundthecornergoingrightdownthestreet.” Okay, maybe a little too quickly, but whatever. And now Mickey was (finally) reacting.

 

“I didn’t-oh, right. What she said. Around that corner and going straight down the street.” It was all Mona could do not to tap her foot in impatience. She loved her brother dearly, but like everyone else on the planet, he was stuck in stallmode. She rolled her eyes, and knocked it down one more little notch.

 

“You’re a hero, right? Not some random talking cloud? How dangerous are those drones, anyway?”

 

Mickey placed a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t be rude, Mona. I’m sure our friend is having a busy day. We should let him get on with it.”

[olopi]

PC

 

Huh, a speedster of some sort perhaps? Usually those were the ones talking really fast. Then again, that was what Cass had heard, he’d never actually dealt with a speedster talking to him directly. Maybe these two just were ordinary teens? They looked like it. Probably. The chances of running across heroes were pretty low, even in a place like Freedom.

 

Well, now he knew where to go. Good enough. He’d been chasing these things for a few minutes now. He knew where they’d come from, he knew what they could do. And it was best to deal with them as quickly as possible. Maybe he’d even be able to find their controller at some point. Couldn’t hide forever, after all.

 

He didn’t waste a second floating in mid-air, these things already had quite the lead and he couldn’t allow it to grow bigger.  If need be he could always ignite, but that was about as dangerous as letting these things fly around unless he’d have a good reason to. Still, there were people talking to him. He could probably manage a few more sentences, so he’d have use those well.

 

“Name’s Bonfire. FREEDOM’S HOTTEST NEWCOMER. “

 

“These things are pretty dangerous, gotta take them down ASAP. Could lead to serious injuries and worse otherwise. “

Edited July 15, 2016 by olopi

[EternalPhoenix]

Mickey smiled gently. “Then you’d best get to it, I think. Don’t let us keep you. We’re just sightseeing a little.” Mona frowned for less than an instant. He was always so…nice. She didn’t get it sometimes, but now?

 

“My brother’s right. People could be in danger right now. GO. We’ve got stuff to do anyway.” To prove the point she started walking away. Stallmode walking…ugh. Mickey hung around for a moment.

 

“It was a pleasure meeting you, Bonfire.” Then he followed his sister down the road. He did not catch up as quickly as the dramatic size difference between the two would suggest.

[olopi]

PC

 

Time to follow the drones. The two bystanders continued walking, so chasing the drones at full velocity was easy enough, Bonfire wouldn’t suddenly end a conversation by doing so. So he flung himself around the corner, before heading straight on again. The drones had quite the lead by now, but he could still catch up. Their batteries couldn’t last forever. Neither could his powers, but he wagered that he’d be able to fly longer.

 

So he continued giving chase. These drones were headed somewhere. And just delaying already counted for something. Sure, some assistance would’ve been good, but you couldn’t always get what you hoped for. He’d already taken out a few drones by himself, a few more wouldn’t be that difficult, right?

Edited July 15, 2016 by olopi

[EternalPhoenix]

Bonfire was out of sight. Mona shifted into hyperturbo and glanced around. No one was looking in their direction, so she changed clothes. For her it took the normal amount of subjective time, but for an outside observer Mona disappeared and Pacer stood in her place. She shifted back to stallmode. “Herotimebro. Letsdoit.”

 

Mickey just looked at her, and stepped into a nearby alley. A small eternity (for Mona) later, Stalwart walked out. “Let’s lend him a hand, then.”

 

“Meetyouthere.” Pacer was quite simply gone, the barest whisper of wind left behind. In the space between normal human heartbeats and eager to stretch her legs a little, she ran to Key West and back, only stopping a block in front of the last place she’d seen the drones flying. She shifted down into stallmode and glanced. “Here droney droney droney. Here droney droney droney.”

 

Stalwart, for his part, simply gathered the muscles in his legs and leapt. He landed softy a few feet behind his sister as she finished speaking. They weren’t twins for nothing, after all.

[olopi]

GM

 

The drones had done surprisingly little. They had simply continued flying forward, at what some might see at high speed. Then again, some. For others, like a certain speedster, they were really slow. Either way, they hadn’t changed their direction, were still headed down the road. And, now a good 100 or so feet behind them, the cloud of smoke calling himself Bonfire.

 

They passed over Mona’s head just a stallmode-moment before Mickey landed behind her. The drones weren’t flying at a high attitude, but just grabbing them out of the air would not be an option. Still, there had to be some way to get them down, right?

Edited July 15, 2016 by olopi

[EternalPhoenix]

Pacer, as it was since she was born, was the first to act. She upshifted and started whipping random street garbage and/or debris at the drones. Each object let off a mini sonic boom as it flew. Subtle, Pacer was not. Caution was alien to her entire worldview. And so crumpled soda cans, various kinds of bags, a variety of pebbles, and even some scraps of fabric shattered the sound barrier on their way to knock at least one of these drones out of the sky. It wasn’t like they could get away from her, either. As they continued to move she effortlessly followed, keeping up the barrage.

 

Stalwart, for his part, simply got out of the way and let his sister work. Knocking the drones out of the sky was technically not outside of his abilities, but it would likely come paired with property damage. Pacer might crack a window or a wall if she missed, but he would definitely damage the street and probably knock over cars in addition to the building damage. It was their team dynamic. Pacer, impulsive and reckless. Stalwart, cautious and careful. So far it’d worked fine, but whether or not Freedom City would turn the tables remained to be seen.

[olopi]

GM

 

The drones continued flying ahead, having now passed over the teens’ heads, when suddenly, bang. One moment to the next, they had sustained massive damage, while loud sounds hung in the air for just a second. Then, the drones came tumbling down, whatever remained of them hitting the concrete and breaking apart into even more pieces. A bit of paint, and maybe some bits of concrete, also took damage in the process, but other than that, the two drones had been grounded rather destruction-free.

 

Bonfire was still flying at the same speed, he was slowly dropping in attitude however, clearly intentional in such a way he’d be touching the ground around the point he’d reached the twin heroes.

 

“Whoa, what just happened?”

Edited July 16, 2016 by olopi

[EternalPhoenix]

Pacer was disappointed. The world frozen in place around her, she pouted a little. They wrecked so easily. Maybe Bonfire was…she didn’t know…not good at being a hero or something? Well, whatever. Time to blow off some steam. It took a few seconds for Bonfire to get within reasonable speaking range. In that time the tiny speedster sprinted to Los Angeles. She had a hankering for a specific food truck, and heaven knew the conversation she was abandoning before it started would be, like, super boring.

 

The drones crashed to the ground, and Pacer simply wasn’t there anymore. Stalwart smiled. He knew she’d run off again, probably for food. While it wasn’t superhuman by any stretch, his sister’s appetite simply didn’t match her physical size. “That was my partner, Pacer. She’ll be back in a while. Basically she picked things off the ground and threw them. Judging from the sonic booms, she threw them pretty fast. Probably as fast as she could.” He spoke as if completely unsurprised by any of those facts.

Edited July 17, 2016 by EternalPhoenix

[olopi]

PC

 

As soon as the cloud touched the ground, Bonfire changed into a more human look. A human body, clothed in plain coloured clothes, with one glaring detail marking him as super-powered : A smaller cloud of smoke, similar to what he had been just a few seconds before, where his head would be. It looked somewhat discomforting, there was no sign of emotion, and making eye-contact wasn’t really possible either.

 

“Wait, so. She just threw those … and then disappeared? In the span of …. Yeah, essentially nothing? Gotta say, not bad. So, she can do that, what’s your thing then? “

 

A short pause, then Bonfire realized he’d forgotten something and continued speaking before giving Mickey any chance to respond.

 

“Name’s Bonfire, by the way. Freedom’s HOTTEST Newcomer. And yeah, you can probably see what I do considering I’m standing here looking like …. This.  “

 

Whoa. This day had gotten interesting. Whatever this Pacer had just done, she clearly was leagues above the stuff Bonfire could pull off. How’d she do it? It would be something interesting to figure out. And what was with her partner? If she was that strong, what would his thing be? Even more powerful? Or less so? Or on the same level? Would be something to find out. Especially considering he hadn’t heard of anybody going by the name of Pacer before.

Edited July 17, 2016 by olopi

[EternalPhoenix]

Stalwart’s eyebrows rose slightly behind his mask. “Me? I’m just strong. Stalwart is my codename.” He glanced around. “Well, I’d demonstrate, but there’s nothing out here heavy enough to impress.” There was another pause. “I’m not bulletproof, though, so please don’t shoot me.” He smiled gently. Bonfire didn’t want to show his face. After all, when you can turn into smoke a simple mask doesn’t quite cut it. Stalwart understood that much without having to be told. “Pacer’s just fast. When I said she ran off, I meant it literally.” He paused again for just a moment. “What was with the drones, anyway?”

 

On the other side of the continent, one of the fastest beings in all creation was having taco salad. It was quite delicious, and only this food truck did it the way she liked. And as it happened, she’d barely beat the lunch rush. She’d run back right after she was done. Her brother would have made introductions and learned what they had to do to help Bonfire out. She took another bite. Stallmode was a pain in the neck for everything but eating. You better believe it.

[olopi]

PC

 

Just … fast? Whoa. Really, really fast then. So this was what meeting a speedster was like. They’re there one second, and then, suddenly, they’re gone. Huh. Not quite how people in the news talked about it, but who knew? Different speedsters did different things, probably. Meanwhile, Stalwart here was … strong? If he was anything like his partner, that probably meant “Whoops, I accidentally lifted this building” levels of strong. Okay. Probably quite a useful power, lots of everyday uses. Pickle Jars would certainly never be a problem anymore.

Bonfire took a few steps around, listening to Stalwart speak. In the end, he leaned against a wall, then responded.

 

“They’re controlled by somebody. No idea what the name is, barely any idea about motivations. Thing is, I’ve been chasing drones like these for a few days now. First time, they broke into a jewellery store. I managed to chase them down, returned the jewellery and all. Easy enough. But then, more. Lots of thefts, really. All kinds of things. These ones right now? No idea what their deal was. I ran across them while patrolling, they were just flying around the area. And then started to run away. I think I can assume they’re remote controlled from a safe location, maybe even autonomous. “

 

“So yeah. No idea what their deal is, but they’ve been stealing things. And I was chasing these things for a few minutes, so thanks for giving me a hand here. “

Edited July 18, 2016 by olopi

[EternalPhoenix]

Stalwart raised his hands in a gesture of placation. “I didn’t do a thing. It was all Pacer.” He sighed wearily, something he seemed to be familiar with doing. “And that means she’s also responsible for waiting until the drones pop up again. Unless you know someone knowledgeable about tech who could trace the drones.” He shrugged. “Well, maybe my Uncle could do something, but he’s…” He thought for several moments. “You know, I’m not sure where he is right now. He travels a lot.”

 

“Or I could just search the whole city top to bottom.” Pacer had returned, patting her stomach in contentment. “Wouldn’t take a full minute.” She burped happily, if that was possible. “Unless you wanted to spread out the whatchamacallit, search area.” It was typical of Pacer to avoid waiting under any circumstances.

[olopi]

PC

 

Had she …. Just gone to grab food? All casually? Having super speed must be nice. Bonfire and Stalwart were standing here, talking, while Pacer had quickly gone and destroyed a few drones and grabbed food. Cool.

 

Bonfire took a few steps away from the wall, walking closer to the two others again. There, he continued talking, while also taking a closer look at Pacer. Was she just new and already this powerful? Was she somebody’s second alias? He’d not heard of her, and that was surprising.

 

“Already tried that. He couldn’t get anything out of them, and he’s good at what he does. Like, apparently all the possible info was just wiped. And considering I have no idea what you’d have to look for, beyond “drones”, I doubt searching the city would yield any results. Might be best to just wait for now, chances are a few more will show up sooner or later. “

 

“Well, any of you up for a coffee? If we’re lucky more will pop up soon enough, and I’d rather wait at a Café than here. Plus, I’ve not had any coffee in a while. “

Edited July 19, 2016 by olopi

[EternalPhoenix]

Pacer moaned. Anything but waiting. No, seriously. Literally anything else would be preferable. Like death. Seriously, she’d rather die than wait around for stuff to happen. But as sudden and instanteous death appeared to be holding off, there was nothing she could do about it. Nothing but drink coffee and wait. Her extreme disappointment showed on the exposed lower half of her face and slumped posture.  “Waiting. Again.”

 

Stalwart didn’t mind waiting. And hey, coffee. Maybe a muffin or three. Because he was just as much of a teenage eating machine as his sister. “You’ll be fine, Pacer. Delayed satisfaction is generally better, after all.”

 

“Psssh. Slowpokesdon’tgetit.” She was abruptly in his face. “Fiveminutesislikeforeverman.” She turned her back on him. “Whateverlet’sgo.” Unable to wait to go somewhere and then wait more, she started walking. “Whatsthecafe?”

 

Stalwart just sighed. His sister was impatient as usual. “She has a point. This wasn’t how we intended to spend our day, but we can’t back out now. Where are we going?”

[olopi]

PC

 

 Ooof. Looked like Pacer wasn’t really that big a fan. Waiting, heh? Must’ve been a speedster thing. Being fast all the time probably made that whole thing a lot more exhausting. Yeah, that made a surprising amount of sense. Anyways, it was time for some coffee. And fortunately, these days one could find a Starbase at every other street corner. Cass had passed one while chasing the drones just now, and it was only a few streets away.

 

“I saw a Starbase a few streets away. Sure, they’re no Café Luxurieuse de Madame Pierrot, but their quality’s pretty high. Also, they’ve got free ‘net, and that’s really nice if you’re on a budget. And their prices are acceptable enough. Any objections? Should be a few minutes … or, well, microseconds, of walking tops. “

 

At the same time, Bonfire had started typing something on his phone, which he had casually phased through the back pocket of his pants. Judging by a quick glance, he was using a messenger of sorts, probably to check up about any new drone activities.

Edited July 19, 2016 by olopi

[EternalPhoenix]

Stalwart remained placid and vaguely cheerful as he followed Bonfire to the Starbase. “I don’t spend enough time on the internet for that to matter. There are too many ways to get oneself in trouble if one spends too much time there.” He flashed that gentle smile again. “Also, I’m rough on most anything not made out of inch thick steel. I’ve gotten better over time but I still break things now and again. Thinges like keyboards, mice, and phones.” He took just a moment to compose his next thoughts. “Pacer…well, even the best web speed is slow compared to her. Though I understand she does have a Twitter. Tumblr wouldn’t shock me either. She is a teenage girl, after all.”

 

The short and skinny speedster in question was…vibrating in place? She stayed a few steps ahead of the two males, until the coffeeshop was in view. “Timemebro.” Then she was gone again. As to where, she went literally around the world. Without sprinting it’d have taken a minute and a half, or thereabouts. But Pacer wanted to top that. So she sprinted and, well, covered some turf. She crisscrossed the globe in three different directions before coming to a stop just as the other two heroes approached the coffeehouse. She was breathing a little heavily, but otherwise appeared to be fine, if rather wet. “Bigstorm inthe south pacific.” She shook herself like a dog and water flew all over the sidewalk. “Three round trips. How’d I do?”

 

Stalwart, who until this point had been chatting with Bonfire about small things, instantly replied. “The Himalayas added a few seconds, but otherwise better than average. Your record, however, is safe.”

 

Pacer pouted, but for barely more than an instant. For the first time since the heroes had met, she actually spoke to Bonfire. “Hey, sorry about earlier. I hate waiting. So much, you just don’t know.” She was speaking fast, but in human range easily. “But I’m a hero. And that means putting up with the worst thing ever sometimes. I mean, I thought we’d go find the bad guys, get punchy, and go home. Didn’t happen. Sucks. Movin’ on. Because caffeine is like, the best, and I’m gonna have a lot.” And then she was in the Starbase and at the counter, ordering something as fast as the barista could keep up.

 

Stalwart sighed and muttered under his breath. “So she’s feeling mercurial in addition to impatient today.” That, right there, was the one thing he would never understand about his sister. Stalwart, to a certain extent, feared his power. He wasn’t wrong to, necessarily. If he stepped wrong there’d be something worthy of the term impact crater, after all. So it was safe to say he didn’t think of his power as nothing but fun. Pacer, on the other hand, gloried in her speed. She absolutely loved to run. It was stress relief, time to think, and great exercise all in one. Pacer had used those fleeting seconds (far longer to her) to get her head together.

[olopi]

PC

 

Whoa. Like, full on whoa. So this was what a speedster was like. “Hey, I’ll quickly run around the globe. 3 times“. And here Cass was, thinking his powers were co- not, not cool, but whatever else worked to describe them. And then came in somebody apparently a few years younger, and just outdid him by massive degrees. Would she be good at dealing with a reactor? Probably yes, actually.

 

The two heroes entered the store, and Bonfire directly went to the counter, ordering a quadruple espresso. Lots of caffeine here. Good for body and soul. The coffee itself had been prepared quickly, and the smoke-headed man moved to a table, bigger than most others in the store, easily fitting three seats. There, he put down his cup, then addressed the others once they had joined him.

 

“Yeah, waiting sucks. Had to wait like 2 days once, all without falling asleep, and while hiding. In a sewer. Trust me, once you do that waiting like this suddenly becomes a lot nicer. Oh yeah, that was because right beforehand I had not waited, and kind of accidentally gotten into stopping FC from becoming a nuclear wasteland by destroying a nuclear reactor. So yeah, waiting that time would’ve probably not gotten me into that entire thing back then. “

 

After finishing to talk, he held onto his cup again, taking a long sip, probably emptying the cup about halfway.

Edited July 21, 2016 by olopi

[EternalPhoenix]

Pacer looked suitably awed and impressed. For more than an instant, even. She was smart, sure. Fast, you better believe it. But destroying a nuclear reactor, saving the entire city? She didn’t know if she could do that. The destroying part could only be but so hard. But doing it right so that it didn’t, she didn’t know, explode? Killing a ton of people and poisoning far more? It sounded impossible. She gulped coffee. For once, she had no idea what to say. So she fell back on bravado. “I could’ve done that. No problem.” She had not one, but three large overdone drinks, and one was already gone. With her low body weight the caffeine was hitting her like a sledgehammer. Slower because of the food in her stomach, but a sledgehammer nonetheless. “I mean, how hard could it be?”

 

Stalwart was drinking iced chocolate. He didn’t do caffeine or anything else for that matter. They might weaken his control, and then somebody could get hurt. He was also impressed by Bonfire’s feat. “There are limits to modesty. You saved the city by yourself with no knowledge or training in nuclear reactors.” He sipped his drink slowly. “Don’t brag, Pacer. Speed isn’t always an advantage. Strength, either. He may have been able to walk through heat that would broil us alive.

[olopi]

PC

 

“Well, you certainly wouldn’t have had to worry about pulling it off within a few seconds. I imagine you could’ve done it, yeah. Same goes for Strength, could’ve just ripped the entire thing out and disabled the power source.“

 

Bonfire continued drinking his coffee, he couldn’t quite keep up with Pacer, but he also had ordered less, so there was more time to enjoy what little coffee he had. He mustered the other two for a bit more now that all of them were sitting here.

 

From what it sounded like they weren’t quite as experienced as their powers would tell, but he still couldn’t see why he hadn’t heard of them before. Were they from out of town? Did they really never do anything big enough to make the news? He’d have to check again once he’d be alone. For now, he’d have to rely on plain old questions.

 

“So, what about you two? What big things have you been involved in? Fought any super-villains? “

Edited July 23, 2016 by olopi

[EternalPhoenix]

Pacer was not quite literally vibrating in her seat. Literally would mean she was using her powers, and this was just way too much caffeine intake for a 90 pound girl. Still, her words were running together and the little caution she did have with strangers had been thrown to the winds. “We’restartingatClaremontinthefall.” Slurp. Gulp. More caffeine, down the hatch. Yeeeeessssss. The second cup was gone, and this was fantastic. “Bro’sinthedormsalreadybutIcangohomewheneverIwant.” The thrill of overstimulating your body. Anything stronger either required a prescription or was illegal. She pulled out and worked a smartphone. “Selfie!” A quick picture later (Bonfire’s head was not exactly in the frame, but whatever) and she was posting it to Twitter. “HangingwithFreedom’sHOTTESTNewcomer #CoffeeBreak #SettingThePace” She held up the phone to show off her followers. It was not an insignificant number. “Name’sPacerbecauseIsetthepacefortheslowAKAeveryone.” She grinned widely. “BuzzedJohnnyRocketoncewhenIwasakid. NeverknewIwasthere.” This was not necessarily the real truth, but the truth as Pacer saw it.

 

Stalwart laid a hand on her shoulder and the other over the still full third cup. “That’s about enough, I think.” Pacer tugged and pulled completely ineffectually at his fingers, muttering various unintelligible remarks. “She is right, though, if unable to keep secrets.” Pacer kept tugging, Stalwart kept ignoring. “We are brother and sister. Twins, in fact. When I called her my partner, I meant my partner in being born.” It technically wasn’t a lie.

 

Pacer paused a second to add to this. “World’sgreatesttagteamrightouttathewomb.” She went back to tugging.

 

Stalwart let out a laugh, but did not relax his grip. “We haven’t done anything yet, really. My sister’s punched out her fair share of thugs, but we’ve yet to deal with any real supervillains. But we’ve had our powers from birth, so we know what we’re doing with them. Well, mostly.” He spared a glance for his poor addicted sister. “Every now and again there’s an interesting new wrinkle. Like how caffeine affects her. If I let her have the third one she won’t drop below the sound barrier for the rest of the day.” Pacer was already blurrily pulling. It was not helping one bit. His fingers remained locked around the rim of the cup.

[olopi]

PC

 

Now that was an interesting reaction to coffeine, alright. Some people got lazier, some more active, but nobody Cass was aware of accidentally broke the sound barrier just after a few cups. Cass just reminded himself to watch his coffee when Pacer was around.

 

Also, whoa, that twitter. By now it actually was kind of embarrassing Cass had not at least heard of Pacer. With that many followers there had to be enough mutual ones that it should’ve come up once or twice before. Maybe it was just bad luck. Besides, now there was a selfie up on her twitter, so it would probably mean more followers for Bonfire’s too. He didn’t use twitter as actively as other social media, but it would still mean more people watching him.

 

“Born with them? Sounds nice, even if I don’t envy the people that had to babysit you. That must’ve been … different. Let’s keep it at two cups, yeah. The sound barrier is something that was established for a reason. I don’t know which, but I imagine constantly breaking it isn’t so nice on everybody else’s ears. “

 

As a safety precaution Bonfire immediately emptied what remained of his own cup, drinking it all down in one go. He suddenly stopped, upon the noise of his phone vibrating. He grabbed it, phasing it through his pants, and laid it onto the table in front of him. A messenger app of some sorts.

 

“Looks like we’ve got a lead on the drones. It’s not gonna run away, but I imagine Pacer will, so I’m ready to take a closer look at this whenever. “

Edited July 25, 2016 by olopi

[EternalPhoenix]

Stalwart smiled. He was amused. “Babysitters. Oh, they were…interesting people all right.” Francine Simms, alias Miss Invincible, had more than a few contacts in the spy community. And it seemed half the planet owed Frank a favor or two somehow. So it was safe to say that whenever both Frank and Francine had to be away at the same time, someone interesting was going to babysit. “Oh, and don’t be fooled by her follower count. They don’t believe she’s the real deal.”

 

Pacer had perked up more, if it was possible, at the mention of spotted drones. “Peoplearedumb.” She made a few last tugs at her third cup, and then gave up. “Don’tmakesonicbooms. Toofast.” She stopped and hyperventilated for several moments. She was suddenly standing next to the table, flexing her fingers back and forth. “Canwego?”

 

Stalwart got up from his chair. “Yeah. Lead the way, Bonfire.” He finished his chocolate and tossed it in the bin. The bin moved half a inch. Stalwart looked slightly sheepish and refrained from comment.

[olopi]

PC

 

Bonfire stood up, his stance showing that he was ready to leave and also quite excited. He took a deep, audible breath, primarily audible due to the smoke first leaving, then getting drawn back into his head.

 

“Okay. So, I’m not gonna explain how he did it for a variety of reasons – mainly legal – but one of my friends managed to put a few things together. Security feeds, sightings, and some trace connection a goodie he built managed to pick up while I was chasing them. The signal controlling the drones seems to originate …. Not too far from here, actually. “

“North End of the Fens, south end of the Theatre District. And conveniently enough, that’s also where the drones usually appear first. Now, he wasn’t able to narrow it down further, so usually that’d mean a few hours of searching the tiniest clues, buuuut….”

 

His entire body turned towards Pacer, his intention was pretty easy to make out.

 

“… I think it won’t take even close to that amount of time today. “

“You ready for this? We’re looking for a place, probably somewhat remote or hidden away, full of computer equipment and probably more drones. The area’s not that big, so chances are it should be easy enough to find, if you don’t mind zipping around a few houses? “

Edited July 29, 2016 by olopi