X-treme Measures

With the GridGuide overlay reduced to an icon in the corner of his HUD, Damocles knew one of the team had arrived even before the perimeter security scans alerted him to the fact. A burst of anticipation surged up within him, but he tamped it down. There was no sense flying off the handle now; they still had to wait for the others. But a slight tingle still kept his nerves on edge as he walked back up the hall to the entrance. He opened the door to find Lenilielle just outside peering around as if unsure she was at the correct location. "Good afternoon, Ms Lenilielle," he said, holding the door and gesturing her inside. "You're the first to arrive, though I'm sure the others will be along shortly."

On the way home from the meet, Digit stopped and picked up his Favorite chocolate candy's with peanut butter. He did not know how much he would need so he filled the bag. Then cashed out...

When he got home Ivy was waiting for him inside. She smiled and took the bag from her little friend. Looked inside as Digit he went for the chocolate milk. "Diiigit" she whined "Really...? A bag full of chocolate? "What" he said putting a cookie in his mouth and heading with his glass of chocolate milk to the drones grabbing a screw driver in the opposite hand then the milk. "I can afford it." She frowned "That's not what I Mean and you know it" He did not bother to look at her he knew she was scowling at him. "Up" he said to the drone, and it Immediately came to life. The propellers started spinning, and the lights started blinking, and somewhere on the Machine beeped in a pattern. It hovered in place as digit slid under it. And gobbled down his cookie...

"O...M...G!" Ivy said turning the corner into the small living room workshop "You finished it, which one is this, are they both done?" Digit slid from under the Roto Drone that hovered above him, and smiled "Yup Just gotta make one Adjustment to the Mercury Equilibrium systems and We're in the pipe five by five. Did you bring the Programs i asked for and the tools" She was making a bee line for the back bed room when she yelled "Of course my young Padawan their in the closet..."

"Well digit you have out done yourself" She said when she was done inspecting his other Roto drone. He was sleeping under the drone when she came out. The Drone still hovering over his limp body she sled him out and woke him up. "So whats your mission and stop crashing on your guest" "Sorry" Digit said "Cant say much sworn to secrecy. But I will say this. We got some kick hoop cyber guys, and gals. We got some spell slingers she's really cute, and we got a some other guy not sure what he dose... I gotta scan the map tonight, and I'm gonna get to know the closed network a little better after i close up, so thanks i already sent the money to your account." He was not trying to be dismissive she knew. But something was different about him... She decided to at least find out where he was going "I can get your drones a discrete ride to your meet if you need" she offers... "Sure" he said He Gave her a time and address and she said "Gotcha! the truck will be out side in time to get you there on time."She was good at secrets and that's all that mattered "Cool" Digit said "I owe you" He moved to let her out and then Packed his bag with the tools in the closet. Loaded the new programs on his COM, And finally Scanned the maps and Diagrams into his Com. He planed out his moves and loaded his Tasers He was a professional now and he needed some rest off to bedlam...

The next day at the appointed time Digit found himself waking to the sound of his Com beeping. It was Ivy "Get up your going to be late!" she said. He Jumped up and ran in and out of the shower. Got dressed in his armor Coveralls, and threw on his hard hat dawned his Goggles and summoned his two little pals Cog, and Crank. These two Particular sprites Where of the machine sprites variety. They would enter the device and run a diagnostic after which. They would be familiar with its Capability's and able to run it. The sprites came to his call buzzing around him. He felt there presence. They were with him. "Get to know them guys. These are your hosts for the day. Next eight hours, but don't stay there Just get to know them. You can play later kay.." The sprites Jumped in and jump out a moment later. Back into digits com Via a wire directly connected to the drones. The drones had no Wireless interface Digit Designed them to be hack proof The were controlled by Digits voice or by his little friends, So he Told the drones to get a move on to test them. The Drones did not move. "Up" he said the drones buzzed and sputtered to life Floating in place "Engage covert ops"and the light around the Drones began to bend creating a cloak of sorts , and the noise the drones made was much more quiet. "Follow" he said and the drones were right behind him. "Now I'm ready loaded up and ready to go" he bounced down the stairs and out the door "Open up the back" he said. And the delivery Guy pressed a button in the cab opening the back. Digit Climbed in the back and the drones followed. Then he said "Power down" and they did. He hopped out and said "close it up we're good" the driver did and opened the front for Digit. He climbed in. It took an embarrassingly long time to get in but he made it...

Soon enough he was at the were house. Again he hopped in the back. Wired in the sprites through his COM and waited for the rest of the team. The truck left him alone....

The girl was startled when the Johnsons guy opened the door that suddenly. “Oh, um… hi.“ She looked around a little insecure. „Yeah, they’ll be here soon.” With that, she stepped inside carefully. I shouldn’t go with strangers, she thought. Lenilielle looked at the guy. Was he nervous? She wasn’t sure. What did he plan? But soon enough Digit arrived, which Lenilielle noticed with a sigh of relief. “Hi there.” She greeted him.

Digit Jumped and almost pulled his Taser He had thought he was all alone had not even noticed the open door. HI! he said trying not to seem surprised, and failing...

He was glad it was Lenilielle, she was nice to him. "So who else is here Just us." and he looked at the man from the night before holding the door open, and nodded a quick greeting. he pointed to his drones one read one blue. They had names decal-ed on the side of them that read: Tweedel Dee 0007-4, Tweedel Dum 1008-6. The blue one had a sniper rifle attached to a mount and the red one Machine gun. They were intimidating to look at. He quickly handed her an RFID(I think that's the wrong acronym) tag. "Just to be safe you know" he told her. After she accepted it he said "Ok guys This is Lenilielle, please Register her tag for the safe targeting systems." then asked her "Stand still please." The drones sputtered to life once more lights flashing, beeping and buzzing, and floating in a circular pattern in close proximity and around Lenilielle. The sprites registered her in, but were curious about the world and people they were experiencing through the drones. They beeped in excitement. and the wind from there propellers was blowing the young woman's hair every where... during this time Digit introduced them "Lenilielle This is Crank." pointing to the one with a machine gun "And this is Cog." he pointed to the other trying his best to speak louder then the noise the drones were making. "There my very own Tactical support Drones." He said smiling and so very proud he puffed up his chest. The drones kept up there scan of Lenilielle all the while...

"Go ahead" Said he to her "Introduce yourself they can hear." He also did not bother to tell her she would be speaking with living Data. As there were sprites inside. Not so much trapped but unable to leave, until he wired them up again. He did not know what she would think. If she found out he had created the semi AI's himself he just was not ready...

“Erm… hi. I’m Lenilielle. Are they voice activated? Cool.” She looked at the drones curiously, a bit wary of the weapons. “I-I’m a friend. One of the good guys,” she made sure to tell them. Just in case.

“What’s in that bag? More drones?” She pointed at the bag Digit was carrying. “They’ll protect us, right?” Her enthusiasm was rather childish, which she did not notice herself.

"Yuppers They will protect us, wont you guys!" Digit replied quite enthusiastic himself. The drones Beeped and buzzed in response to his quarry in a positive manner. "And yes" he added "They will do anything i tell them to within reason of course.." and he noticed that she was a little wary of the weapons. "Hey guys pipe down will ya your scaring my friend..." The Drones beeped and buzzed in response the sound this time a little Depressed sounding. And they slowly backed away from the women and took up positions on digit's left and right rear flank. "Aw don't be that way. Here show Lenilielle your Stealth capability. Engage Covert systems!" he said smiling and rubbing his hands together. The drones beeped again and Then the ruthenium polymers embedded in there armor received minor electrical signals and began bending the light around the drones once more, and the noise they made seemed to all but disappear... "Eah, eah?" Digit prodded looking for more praise "And there loaded down with cool stuff like ECM, and mercury equilibrium systems and safe targeting. cool right i know..."

He looked at the bag she asked about "Oh this he said well like i said ill be taking care of the teams MT needs so i need tools plus if something goes wrong with them i need tools to fix on the fly last but not least i have my vest with spare clips for my uh Guns if you wanna say that and Candy Lots and Lots of candy Chocolate and Penut butter" he finished shaking his head up and down quite Happily...

Lenilielle moved left and right, trying to make out the invisible drones. “Wow. This is really cool.” She looked into astral space for a moment. But it wasn’t a spell. “I can make us invisible too. With magic.” She sounded proud. As usual when she was talking about her magic. „Chocolate?“ The girl asked bewildered. “You’re a sweet tooth aren’t you?” Lenilielle couldn’t help but giggle. “You know, you better tell the others it’s explosives.” Her grin became more mischievously. “It sounds cooler.” She winked at him with her blue eyes, unable to resist the urge to trick.

Digit Giggled too "Yeah your right" He said he knew when he was being teased, and you would think he Enjoyed it."It will be ok I'm sure they'll deal" He puffed up his chest, and went to pet the side of where he thought the drones were. To add to his tough talk, and went to lean on one but they were still in covert mode and was not quite there... Digit fell over! One of the sprites realizing its creator meant to pet it. Flew over to Receive affection. Hovering above him maybe even tried catch him, but it was to late. ker plunk! "Sigh!" Digit let out a puff of unbelief and frustration. "Disengage Stealth mode." he said in an embarrassed tone... And the drones complied beep boop....

The girl laughed when he hit his head on the invisible drone. But she quickly stepped forward to help him up. “This stealth mode works great.” She said with a giggle. “Is there any way they can be detected when in stealth?” Lenilielle swiped off dust from Digits back while he got his balance back. “Just don’t try to balance over some roof, ok?” She gave him a friendly clap on the shoulder. “For the acrobatic, we have others in the team.” She winked at him. “We just do our job and they do theirs.” Her initial nervousness was gone, thanks to Digit.

Digit smiles at the Jokes. His pride barley scathed. He looks up at Lenilielle "hmm? Oh I'm sure they will, yes indeed... Well what now shall we go in, and get out of the open?" as he walked in He explained about the drones, and the detection of them. The difference between detecting physically and on the net as a node. How these drones had no wireless access. So they cant be hacked on the fly. They neither receive nor put out wireless data. The only way to access them was with a cord if you want to change some thing i programed them to do you would have to be inside as a rigger iv removed that option.

He did not go into the sprite thing. How they were also in there waiting for someone to try, and controlling the Drones for him. How he could feel them and how they felt about things there proximity to him and such. That would lead to more questions and he had no answers yet...

Yesterday, after receiving the coordinates of the team from Digit, Red replied him: "neat! thanks buddy"

He wanted to arrive early at the meeting, but as usual he was almost late and had to run from the bus stop to the warehouse, he arrived quite windy and not too much on his guard, when he saw the drones, he had had a brief moment of panic, synaptic booster fired up, instinctively searched for cover and his right hand began the sequence of movement to draw his Ares P4 immediately realizing that it would probably be pathetic against the drones anyway, but then remembered that "yeah... Digit talked about some drones yesterday", he relaxed a little, seeing Digit and Lenilielle "(smiling) yo guys!... (looking at Digit) I guess those are yours?... impressive... "

Digit would have hit the roof if there was a roof to hit, he jumped almost out of his boots... Turning around to look at red "Yes these are mine..."he said puffing out his chest again. The drones turned in regard to the new man on the scene. And Digit remembered to give red an RFID tag "Here you go red this will let me know where you guys are in the building at all times Crank, Cog designate red safe target" then mumbled "So you don't get shot." and he smiled shall we go in then and he turned to their host still holding the door...

The two drones Circled and scanned Red. Beep, Boop, Blip, It almost seemed like they were talking to each other making decisions. But you know that should be impossible Digit never mentioned an AI. But these drones clearly were making decisions and communicating beyond that of the normal dog brain that came with drones. It was curious to say the least...

“Hi. We’re still waiting for the others. But we should go inside I think.” She just did that, going back inside to the Johnsons assistant. Now, with the other two runners with her, she wasn’t worried anymore. From inside the door, she watched the drones swish and swoosh around Red.

She had an idea. It was a bad idea, but irresistible. With her mind, she reached out into the world and pulled at the threads of the fabric of existence. She pulled and twisted the threads around Red, winding and winding until they seemed to run right through him, around him, away from him, rendering him invisible.

Spellcasting: (Improved Invisibility)Level 2 On Red Magic 6 + Sorcery(Group)4= 10dice (10d6. hits(5)=5) (2 Hits because of Level)

After she put the threads in place, she felt the pull of magic on her self.

Drain resist for Improved Invisibility Force Level 2 (F/2+1)+ extra hit= 2+3= Threshold 3 (11d6. hits(5)=5)

It happened in the same instant, the magic not stressing her mind at all. Giggling, she watched Red vanish from sight.

The drones lost site of there target and became alarmed "EEEEEEZZZZ!, Beep, Boop!" "Don't Worry" Digit said "My freinds invisible it's uhhhh? Magic hmmm? How to explain?" Magic did not surprise Digit though he knew so little about it. As a technoamncer he had preformed feat's some might call magic. Data disappearing from secured protected networks, data trails that simply vanish. Nothing any Hacker worth his salt could not do, but digit did it with force of will alone. He tried not to do it to much though it caused exhaustion the fading it was called. But the sprites had never seen magic they had only been in existence a couple of days. It was like trying to tell a starving baby you had no food. They just did not understand, and it alarmed them. As something like that might happen to there creator. They asked Digit "Beep boooop blurrp!" "Its like your cloak you use energy currents to bend light. Well she can do the same thing" pointing at Lenilielle "Tag 47-E" he said "can bend light amongst other thing's with magic. got it?" "Blipp, Beep, Boop." the drones responded in unison. Digit slapped himself in the face "NO! You can't do magic! Just well?" He looked to Lenilielle once more. "only special people can." He stated in truth it was more like "Specific people", but in actuality it was not Digits speech they understood. He was linked to the machine sprites on a Mental level, he could feel what they felt, and they could feel what he sent them as commands. Plus they understood technical stuff better then natural phenomenon.... "Bleeeep!" "Yes i did say you were special, and to me you are. Just listen if you forget it now ill get you some technical data chips on the subject. k?" "Bleep, bipp, Bleep" they agreed...

"Now to test my theory" Digit thought. "Crank, Cog! Scan for RFID energy signature 32-C!" And the drones started scanning the area. They quickly picked up the energy signature since it was in close proximity and they relayed the findings back to him "bleep, eeeerrrrrnnd!" "There we go, target acquired But, no life signs hmmm? There going to need a camera and sensor upgrade in order to deal with that kind of potent magic, but i guess it'll do for now...[color=brown]" then he looked at Lenilielle and said "Just don't go erasing people when the bullets start flying because if they can't see you they can't protect or not shoot you, just let me know what spells your gonna use. ill prep the drones for a change, we wouldn't want any accidents right? Oh and thanks for pointing out there flaws..." Then Digit and his drones went inside too "Coming Red" he said not knowing where the man was at the moment...

Yeah, sure

then as a joke he gently picks up Digit and lift him in the air "hey dude you're flying!" then puts him down after a few seconds.

After a long silent moment of waiting, looking at the Johnson's assistant (witch name I forgot): "Well sir I think we should proceed, I'm not sure when the others are coming,... if they are coming at all"

Digit was put down by red he made sure not to get alarmed. so as not to put the drones on alert... (again don't want any accidents right)When he was put down he said "Oh ha ha flying huh? yeah well next person wants me to fly for any reason is gonna get the shock of his life." He wiggled his arm a little and a Pulsar tazer weapon swooshed into his hands "eh" He asked waving the taser around. But he really could not see red so it was an empty threat...

Lenilielle giggled while she watched them fool around. This was fun. When Digit teased with the taser, Lenilielle let the magic fade and Red was visible again. “Don’t you wanna come inside?” She was still giggling. “The others should be here any minute now. At least I hope so.”