Before they went back to Athena's apartment that night, Mod, Arsenal, and Athena tracked down a suitable Fast-Response drone so Mod could hack it.
It was easier than he thought it would be.
Apparently, the biomech and drone patrols were following preset patterns. TINA hypothesized that most of her old systems were still down. In order to get those systems back up and running, Midas would have to keep current operations simple.
The biomech patrol that they'd run into before Manning Station was a standard formation—two mechs and three drones. But there were more Fast-Response drones in the city, so Mod's team were able to find isolated drones patrolling gaps in between the normal patrols.
Arsenal and Athena waited nearby while Mod followed just behind one drone. He leapt up to the top of a third story building, moving with mechanical silence. With Mod still out of sight, TINA was able to wirelessly interrupt the drone's transmission. Mod closed the rest of the gap and planted a small magnetized block on top of the drone. Another second later, Mod disappeared from view.
TINA took care of the rest. A swarm of nanites crept out of the block and into the drone's interior. They disassembled their transport block for raw materials, then assembled the true payload inside. Once connected, TINA could connect to her old systems.
Right now, she just wanted to know for sure which systems were currently running and what systems Midas was reconstructing. If she pushed too hard, Midas might discover the exploit and patch it. So for now, the plan was to disconnect again as soon as possible to preserve the exploit for later.
Once TINA had access to the drone, she mapped the drone's path. Then Mod used nanites to construct low-power wireless relays nearby. This way info could be relayed back to the servers in Athena's apartment. While Mod and the others retreated, TINA delved into the lab's systems.
"How long will it take?" Emmett asked as they skulked through the darkness of an alley.
"I should be finished by morning. I'm also tracking down Magus Rollan's communications. My bandwidth is still limited."
"And we're grateful for your help," Athena added.
Clara asked, "You're sure you won't get caught?"
"Yes. Midas is not at the lab, so the chances of being detected are negligible."
"Famous last words," Emmett muttered.
~
It was after 11 o'clock by the time they got back to Athena's apartment.
As grateful as Emmett was to have TINA helping them avoid detection, it was painfully slow getting around the city. Only a week ago, Emmett could've made it clear across the city in that amount of time.
He sighed. What was the point in having cyborg legs if he couldn't use them?
Clara nudged him with an armored elbow. "You did good tonight."
Emmett managed to return a smile.
Despite making it back undetected, none of the three supers moved to change out of their suits. Emmett couldn't shake the paranoia that a drone could have followed them. Athena was restless as well. She paced the kitchen, soda in hand.
Clara's helmet slid back, the links collapsing on themselves until it sat in a bunch around her shoulders. She grabbed a soda for herself and sat on a stool at the counter.
"So, your friend's a vampire?" Clara asked nonchalantly.
Athena stopped pacing and raised an eyebrow. "...Yes."
YOU ARE READING
Mod Superhero
Science FictionFor this cyborg, power is just an upgrade away. Emmett was used to being caught between college and his engineering internship, but when he gets caught between a powerful hero and an even stronger villain, he becomes collateral damage. Instead of d...
