Dex summoned a virtual keyboard with one hand and activated Groundhog. Within moments, Mongoose cursed loudly and sat down on the platform. "Clocks ticking... Let's leave him in peace while he works."

Gadget nodded in agreement and stepped off the platform. "We can recon the inside of Yuli's stronghold."

Dex moved through the air, toward the double doors. "Put us in real-time, Syntax."

[Initiating real-time, stand-by.]

The scene shifted slightly, the light changing to a pre-dawn dimness. No roving guards were visible; however, there were several drones.

Dex whistled softly. "Remotely manned security drones. We need to find the operator's jump capsule."

Gadget was already scanning the drone; he sent its schematic to everyone's hud. "Top of the line. We'll need to hack one."

[Scout Drone]

Propulsion: Rotary (4)

Weight: 12 lbs. magic

Armament: Single Barrel, semi-automatic with laser sighting.

Ballistics: 5mm AP rounds x 100

Max speed: 50 KpH

Visual Acuity: Infrared and Night Enhancement.

Thumper moved toward the nearest drone while she brought up a virtual interface. "I'll dampen its security, give it a maintenance issue, and then we can piggyback the camera feed."

Stiletto was already assisting the takeover; she shorted out a non-essential system before mirroring the camera feed to stream it to the T-6 Interface. The drone paused in its set path and hovered in place. "Someone's already looking at it. They have a killer response time."

Dex nodded while he prepared his pinging program. "I have to get me a few of these."

Gadget watched unconcerned while the other three worked. Despite being the size of garbage can lids, scout drones resembled flying arachnids. The industry commonly referred to them as spiders. The problem was that if there were this many of them in one area, there were also bound to be higher-tier drones. The thought had just passed through his mind when he spotted the new arrival. "Wonderful... Here comes big brother."

Dex turned toward Gadget and then traced his line of sight; a single larger drone rose out of a dome-shaped structure near the complex's center. "Dragon drone?"

Gadget nodded and followed Dex as he made a bee-line toward the dome-shaped structure. "If they have dragon drones, then it is probably accompanied by an air-defense system. This changes everything. Bringing up the dragon drone schematic." "It's fine," Dex scanned the schematic; three dragons would be enough to give an assault team nightmares.

[Dragon Drone]

Propulsion: Rotary (8)

Weight: 27 lbs.

Armament: Twin barrels, individual remote targeting.

Ballistics: 40mm Grenade x 12

Max speed: 80 KpH

Visual Acuity: Infrared and Night Enhancement.

Other than his initial glance, Dex ignored the drone and moved over the domed structure. From his vantage point, he could see its maintenance station. "Eight point recharging station with ammunition supply. Three more are visible from this vantage point."

[I recommend that you use the virtual Interface on the maintenance station.]

Nix nodded in agreement, not surprised to see that Syntax was taking a more hands-on approach; after all, v-Earth was her domain. "Good idea." He descended downward; most of the room was unformed to him. The only clear image was what had been available from the top. "Pinging the room, give me a resonance build so I can find an interior camera."

[Dextron, I already have control of all cameras inside of the compound. Updating interior map and schematic.]

Dex closed the virtual Interface and waited while the inside of the building slowly appeared in his view. "No blindspots; looks like we have just completed the interior."

Stiletto led Thumper and Gadget through the domed opening. "I've outlined the spider drones network. There are six of them; each one is partnered to a jump capsule. It looks like the scouts are placed in default sentry mode and are switched to manual during emergencies."

"Good job, Stiletto." Gadget opened the updated schematic. "Did we find the rest of the dragons?"

Thumper pointed to three other dome structures in the compound. "I couldn't ping their network without tripping security protocols. They have some serious ICE, but... it stands to reason that these buildings house the dragon drones."

Gadget highlighted the domed structures. "I think that's reasonable. We have to assume that each dragon drone has a dedicated jump pod."

Dex was listening to the team talk while he moved into the main building. "Are you able to update their cameras in real-time, Syntax?"

[Unfortunately, no. There is a 1.232-second discrepancy between what you are seeing and the inside of the compound.]

"I'll take it." Dex stood at the base of a grand staircase. There were doors everywhere; his ghost software was bouncing off of every piece of electronics it could find. Their mission data was nearly complete between Syntax's control of the security cams and the rampant pinging. "Where are the guards? This place can't be fully automated."

"Working on it!" Stiletto's actions were visible to the entire team through the PIP function [picture in picture] of the T-6. Initially, she had caused a feedback error on one of the rotor elevation controls. Now that it had returned to its docking station, she flashed the IR camera while masking it as a short circuit. As a result, it performed three complete rotations before going offline.

"Very nice, Stiletto," Dex complimented her as fourteen separate images were highlighted inside the compound.

[Optimizing thermal images. Yuli is sleeping in the Southeast bedroom on the second floor.]

Dex compared the images with the networked capsules. "Ten of those belong to drone operators. The other three should be part of her staff or security." "Victory is mine!" Mongoose's smiling face popped up on everyone's hud. "That was some decent lockdown software, but not good enough to stop me. The timer says twenty-two minutes!"

Gadget shared a glance with Thumper before retreating through the domed structure. "Let's head back. We can compile the new data and send it to the assault team."

Dex and Syntax were the last ones to board the navigation platform. Stiletto gave him a conciliatory pat on the back. "Don't sweat it, Dex. Twenty-two minutes is an eternity for an assault team."

"Can I get my gloves in purple?" Thumper smiled sweetly before using the controls to send them back to the hive.

Dex shrugged slightly before disappearing from the platform.

Nearly an hour later, the team was still updating the assault team's mission schematic. Gadget, Thumper, and Mongoose were all smiles as they occasionally poked fun at Dex and Stiletto.

"I could stand here all day and watch you smug bastards gloat." A familiar voice, filled with humor, spoke from behind the group.

"Quicksilver?" Gadget stared at the hive hacker, Thumper, Stiletto, and Mongoose mirrored his confused expression. "Why aren't you in Geneva?"

Quicksilver laughed loudly; her sky-blue eyes twinkled with humor. She hugged Dex close, both arms around the back of his neck. "You netted all four of them?"

Dex nodded. "Yep. They think they logged out of v-Earth and into the hive."

"Newsflash, guys..." Quicksilver kissed the side of her partner's face before continuing. "I'm in Geneva, and you're in the v'Hive. You should see your faces."

"I didn't break out," Mongoose's handsome face wore a deeply troubled frown.

"You didn't break out," Dex affirmed. Then, he deactivated the program, causing Thumper, Mongoose, Gadget, and Stiletto to vanish.

A few moments later, the Bottom Feeders exited the T-6 jumper, this time for real. Each of them wore the same alarmed expression. Groundhog bypassed their lockdown failsafe and effectively simulated logging off. By the time they returned to the round table, Quicksilver was back on holo.

"Fucking Da Vinci..." Mongoose's dark face looked sickly. "I don't ever want to test that again."

Quicksilver wore a smug expression, similar to the one the winners were wearing earlier. "I'm going to get some rest. We still have twenty-four hours to tweak our operation. So I'll check back in tomorrow." She waved at the team, still smiling at them when she cut communication.

"Fuck..." Thumper cursed loudly. "I'm low man on the totem pole again."

Stiletto's alarmed expression slowly turned into a much happier face. "See? Mess with the bull..."

Gadget's wrinkled face was sullen as he considered the possibilities. "Yuli will be in cyberspace; if she can manage to break out before the assault team grabs her pod, then she..."

"Will still be in cyberspace," Dex finished the sentence. "Syntax will be able to help with optimizing."

Gadget's wrinkled face showed the semblance of a smile. With the reward for Yuli, the sale of Armageddon, and the bank heist, the mission should clear a billion Euro. "Let's head to Dex's room. Bring Nova down so we can start coordinating our steps with the Secret Service."

Dex fell in step with Gadget as they walked toward his room. "We dividing the team on this one?"

Gadget nodded. "Quicksilver should only require minimal virtual support in Geneva; you can provide that. Meanwhile, the rest of us will set the stage for the assault team. But we won't go further until Quicksilver is clear and you've joined us. How long does Groundhog take to activate?"

"A few minutes should be plenty." Dex stopped at his door, pausing to unlock it before ushering the Bottom Feeders in. "You guys aren't mad at me?"

"I am!" Mongoose stomped past him.

"Me too!" Thumper tried to put on an angry face but failed miserably.

Stiletto pranced through the doorway like a ray of sunshine.. "Not me, Dex! When this mission is complete, I'm going to find me a kick-ass partner."