Midnight draped the industrial outskirts of Ironbound City in darkness. I crouched behind a stack of rusted shipping containers, my black hoodie pulled up to hide my face. Across a cracked concrete loading yard loomed the HiveTech storage depot.
It was a squat, windowless building of gray composite, crowned with antennas and security cams. A tall chain-link fence encircled the yard, topped with razor wire and lit by pale floodlights. Through the fence's gate, I saw a loading bay and a personnel door beyond. No guards in sight from this angle but I wasn't foolish enough to assume the place was empty.
A faint buzz in my ear resolved into Nyra's voice over the comm link. "I've got your position, Riv. You're about fifty meters from the fence. I see one camera on the southwest corner, can you?"
"Working on it," I replied quietly, pulling a compact signal jammer from my belt and tuning it to HiveTech's camera frequency. The jammer emitted a short-range pulse. The red LED on the nearest fence camera blinked off.
"Camera's down," Nyra confirmed. She was holed up in her arcade's back office, tapped into the building's network. "No alert triggered. You're clear."
Across the yard, a shadow detached from behind a delivery truck and sprinted low, Ash. He'd been waiting for my signal. In a flash, he reached the fence, cutting a clean opening with a handheld laser-cutter. He slipped through, gesturing for me to follow.
"Here goes nothing," I whispered. I patted Gizmo twice. The mechanical cat slunk forward, squeezing through the gap Ash had made.
Heart pounding, I darted across the open ground in a low run. The night air felt cool on my face, the distant hum of city traffic oddly muted out here. I reached the fence and slid through the cut in the chain-link. Ash crouched behind a parked van inside the yard, eyes scanning for movement.
He held up a closed fist: hold. I froze next to him, following his gaze. A lone security guard emerged from a door on the far side of the building, lazily making rounds. The guard, a burly man with a cybernetic arm visible even in silhouette, lifted a cigarette to his lips, oblivious to us.
Ash leaned toward me, lips close to my ear. "Give me thirty seconds," he breathed.
Before I could respond, he ghosted away into the shadows, circling to flank the guard. I kept perfectly still, hand resting on Gizmo's back. The guard strolled along the fence line, unaware.
In one fluid motion, Ash slipped behind him and struck. The guard crumpled without a sound.
Nyra whispered in my ear, "Holy crap. Did he just…?"
"Just knocked him out," I murmured, hoping that was true. Ash dragged the unconscious guard into a shadowy alcove and jogged back.
"One problem dealt with," Ash whispered, holding up the guard's keycard.
I exhaled, tension easing slightly. With the guard down and keycard in hand, our entry just got easier.
We moved to the side door. A keypad glowed beside it. Ash offered the stolen card.
I swiped it; the pad blinked green. A soft click sounded as the maglock disengaged. Ash eased the heavy door open, and I sent Gizmo in first. The cat's night-vision feed streamed to my wristpad; I checked the tiny screen. A dark corridor, no immediate heat signatures. Clear so far.
We slipped inside and gently shut the door. The interior corridor was dimly lit by bluish emergency lights. I tapped my earpiece twice, signaling Nyra we were in.
"Copy, you're inside," Nyra's voice came quietly. "I'm tapping their network… Huh. That's weird."
My brow furrowed. "Define weird."
"I see far fewer active systems than I expected," Nyra replied, fingers clacking faintly over her keyboard. "Maybe that update Ash mentioned is happening now? A bunch of security protocols are offline. Cameras, alarm triggers, mostly off."
Ash shot me a satisfied nod. "Told you, perfect timing."
It did feel like the universe was on our side, but I wasn't about to get complacent. "Nyra, keep an eye out for any system waking up or signals leaving the building."
"You got it," Nyra said.
We advanced down the corridor, Gizmo scouting a few steps ahead. Twice, I motioned Ash to halt as Gizmo's sensors picked up potential motion, both turned out to be automated maintenance drones trundling along, oblivious.
At a T-intersection, I held up my fist. Peering around the corner, I spotted a larger corridor intersecting ours. To the left, about ten meters away, stood a reinforced door marked with a glowing HiveTech logo and the words "Secure Storage."
Bingo.
"Nyra, how's that door?" I whispered.
"Checking... It's networked. Gimme a sec." A pause, then a muttered curse. "Door's on a separate circuit. Probably stays locked during their update. Can't open it remotely."
Ash pointed to a small access panel next to the door. "Manual override. Think you can jack it?"
I smirked faintly. "Watch me."
I nodded to Gizmo. He scurried to the panel and sat by it. Ash and I moved to the heavy door. I popped the maintenance panel open with my multi-tool, revealing wires and a standardized port. Perfect.
I plugged a cable from the port into my wristpad. Streams of code reflected in my cyber-goggles as I launched a brute-force hack.
"Going manual, Nyra," I murmured.
"I see it. I'll piggyback once you breach," Nyra responded.
For twenty tense seconds, my program attacked the lock encryption. At 73% completion, my pad beeped.
ACCESS GRANTED.
"Vault door opening… now," Nyra announced.
With a heavy thunk, the secure door's bolts retracted. Ash grabbed the handle and pulled it open.
Beyond lay a compact vault room lit by bright white LEDs. Metal shelves lined the walls, filled with hard cases and crates stamped with HiveTech serials. At the center, mounted on an anti-static platform, was our prize.
It looked just like Ash's holos: a black, fridge-sized console with tiny amber lights blinking along its side.
Ash let out a low whistle. "Hello, gorgeous."
A chill crept down my spine as I stepped into the vault. Something about the device made me uneasy, maybe just knowing Hive wanted it hidden. I unhooked my cable from the door panel and coiled it up.
"I'm in the vault system," Nyra reported. "Looping cameras… now. You're invisible if they come back online."
"Appreciated," I whispered.
Ash circled the storage unit, checking for locks or tethers. "Looks like it's just strapped to this base." He pointed to magnetic clamps at each corner of the platform.
"Allow me." I signaled Gizmo. The cat hopped up next to one clamp. I tapped a command on my pad and Gizmo's front paw opened, revealing a multi-tool. A tiny arc of electricity jolted the clamp's control node. The mag-lock released with a sharp snap.
Ash grinned. "Handy little guy."
Together, we released all four clamps with Gizmo's help on the electronics and Ash's muscle on the stubborn levers. With a final hiss, the device detached from the platform.
Ash bent his knees and lifted the heavy unit with a grunt, hugging it to his torso. I quickly slung a support strap under it, easing some of the weight. "Steady?"
He nodded, face determined. "Got it."
We shuffled out of the vault, Ash carrying the bulk while I balanced. Gizmo trotted ahead, then stopped. His eyes brightened briefly and he gave a hushed warning chirp.
"Hold up," I whispered, gently easing the unit down so Ash could rest it briefly. Gizmo had detected something.
Nyra's urgent voice crackled in my earpiece, confirming my fears: "Guys, the system update just finished, sensors are coming back online. And I'm seeing… oh no. Multiple signals just appeared on the network. Security's onto the door breach."
Ash cursed under his breath. "Time to go, now."