Daughter of Zeus ✔

9.3

The steps leading to the sidewalk appeared much larger on her way out of the building—marble slabs stretching on and on.

Just another million steps to go, and I'll make it.

One errant thought, and her hold on the bots slipped slightly. She heard a mechanical whirring, the sound of a laser weapon being raised.

Too late. The code locked her out. Someone knew their system was being hacked, and they were fighting back with nerd-power. She had underestimated the bots' coding. Their combative capabilities booted up, and she felt a shift in their awareness.

The last of her control shattered, and nothing could reverse it. A bee stung her heels, somehow heating her shoe. After taking the last five steps as one long leap, she dove around the corner of the building. A blast of light followed her path, but it missed and hit the sidewalk in front of her, marking a deep scorch in the pavement, about an inch in diameter. The hole grew to two, three, and finally four inches. Then, the red ring faded and the opening on the sidewalk stilled.

In the distance, sirens blared, a sure sign of the Staties' response to the bots' alarm.

~*~

Three minutes later, Staties arrived on scene. They surveyed the break-in, which to them seemed like a couple of teens messing with the system. Their theory paled when a Sammie stepped on scene, informing them that she would lead the investigation. The Staties cleared away quickly. The Sammie's dark suit and quiet manner intimidated them. No one questioned her presence on a simple break and entering case, though it was odd.

Rather than close the case, the Sammie called the tech who maintained the bots. A Statie insisted to her that the things must have malfunctioned. No one triggered a mercenary bot and lived. Not often anyway.

Someone hacked the machines, the Sammie knew. Or so she was told.

When the tech arrived, he assessed the machines and couldn't figure out why they had misfired.

The Sammie pulled the tech aside, away from the Staties onsite.

"You know someone hacked your shit, right?"

The tech nodded, eyes wide.

"But you don't know how or why?"

The tech shook his head, but it was clear he was unsettled. Everyone knew an unhappy Sammie was a scary thing, and her furrowed brow proclaimed she was deeply unhappy.

Still, she allowed the tech to continue home without a mark of Un-diligent Conduct on his report.

The hacker could only be one person, and the Sammie thought she knew who it might be.