Chapter 45: Volume II: Chapter 12: The Heist

Chleo tapped him on the shoulder for the fifth time.  Will turned distracted from trying to translate Lute’s side of the conversation.  He made out something about Hornet Masters and a boy before losing concentration.

“What?” he hissed trying to keep his voice low.

“The blocker,” she whispered.  He gave her a confused look.  “The one for the square.  Mic isn’t here.  He’s probably out looking for us like last time, and he hates blockers.  Maybe we could… borrow it, and use it to keep him from following us onto the ship.  It should buy us enough time to take off.”

Will stared, mouth falling open. “You want to go now?”  Her eyes hardened, resolve shining.  He groaned.  “Fine.” Glancing down, he thought about the move needed to remain unseen. “But you fly.”

Gloves switched, they wobbled up to a squat, focusing on keeping the invisible board flat.  It was harder than Will imagined.  Chleo tightened her harness.  

“You can do this right?” he asked suddenly skeptical.  

She shrugged trying for confident. “I did it yesterday.” He relaxed. “On the fifth try.”  His stomach dropped.  Soon after the bow pointed down, and the board followed.

Chleo forced them into a sharp spiral once they passed the bridge, pulling up just before the water’s surface.  “See, nothing to it.”

He took his first breath since the dive began. “Right, nothing to it.”

They pulled up next to the stone from a few days prior, still shining clean from Mic’s air device.  Will touched his wristlet to the Seven Point Star.  Like before, a panel popped open.  Chleo detached the blocker with deft hands and clasped it to a part of her belt.  Without warning, she shot them forward under the bridge and toward the dock.

—————

Mic sat on the bridge reaching feelers out to his birds, using them as his eyes in the sky.  Chleo and Will were somewhere, he just had to find them.  He avoided the square not wanting his drones anywhere near a blocker, horrible little devices that should be outlawed everywhere in his opinion.

He spotted movement in the distance switching his attention to the bird patrolling the dock.  Pulling up a filter, he spotted the cloaked board.  Flying the bird higher, the kids appeared, heading in his direction.  He let out a sigh of relief, a reaction he learned from watching Dai.

“Good thinking, Chleo,” he said to the empty bridge getting up to meet them outside.  He would explain and hopefully they could all wait out the entire Lute situation on the ship.  Maybe he could teach them Boca Run and lose a few credits.  Chleo seemed to like her last shopping trip.  He wouldn’t mind funding her next one.

Mic stalked past the engine room and through the cargo bay, opening the ramp.  He used the bird to track their progress admiring the board’s design.  Happily, he noted that it cut the wind with thirty percent more efficiency, well worth the many arguments he’d won to reshape the body.  

“Mic,” Chleo yelled as they approached.  He waved them down. “Lute’s in the square, again.”

Good, one less thing he would need to explain.  They landed.  He noticed a familiar lump hanging from Chleo’s belt.

“What do you have there? You aren’t planning on bringing a blocker onto my ship are you?”

Chleo paled her hand moving to cover the device. “They said they needed your help.  I figured you wouldn’t go unless the blocker was gone.”  Lie.  He raised an eyebrow as Will’s pocket glowed green.  

“There are two lie detectors here, Chleo.  You’re going to have to do better than that.  Now, what are you up to?”

“Two?” she asked turning back from glaring at Will’s jacket.

Mic ran a thumb under his lapels pulling them tight.  “Some may even say I’m the best.” He winked.  Her brow rose.

“You?”

His shoulders fell under her skepticism.  “Yes, me,” he said with a pout. “Let’s try again.  Why do you have a blocker?”

Disappointed, he watched her glance back at Will’s pocket.  She was going to lie again.  “Really Mic, they’re surrounded by Lute’s supporters.  I don’t know what’s going to happen,” she said truthfully, if only by half, as she and Will edged closer to the ship’s ramp.  “We have the square’s blocker.  You can go help.”

They moved until they stood between him and the ship.  Considering he wanted them safely inside, he didn’t see the harm, but why were they trying so hard to make him leave?  Suddenly, a smile pulled at his lips.  Maybe they wanted to continue what he'd interrupted earlier.  The smile fell a little.  He should warn them to keep their activities in the crew quarters.

He opened his mouth to comment.  Chleo cut him off, “Mic, I’m sorry about this.”  She held up the blocker. 

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“Chleo what are you-?” He blinked understanding the threat. Anger replaced amusement through his system. “You know you need an energy source,” he said crossing his arms.  She pulled a solar charge from her belt ready to connect it.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” he yelled backing away.  “Let’s all be rational about this.”

“I’m sorry, but we have to find her,” she said.  Truth. Not that it did him any good. “We need the ship.”

His mouth fell open, trying to find reason.  None came.  “The ship?  So you brought a blocker?”  He threw a desperate shot.  “It’ll disable everything in its boundary.  You won’t be able to launch.”

She gave him an exasperated look.  “Mic, you said it was shielded from horn to tail.  No blocker in the ‘verse can take her down, remember? Try again.”

“Fine,” he conceded. “Chleo, we all want to find her, but going off on your own…” Her eye’s hardened.

“You all want to find her?” She scoffed. “I know where she is.  I told you, all of you, and you won’t even look.  We’re going, and if you want your precious little tech toys to survive, I suggest you start walking the other way.”

He froze, processing as she moved the charger closer to the blocker’s port. “You wouldn’t.”

“I am.”

“Chleo, please you don’t understand.  At least, let me come with you.”  She brought the charger closer.  He turned his feeler to the bird into a tether.  If the blocker activated, he would need a quick escape.

“So you can talk me out of it, or take control of the bridge?  No.  Leave, Mic.  I’ll fry every piece of tech you have if you make me.”  Truth.

He ground his teeth.  She touched the charger to the port ready to connect.  Turning, he ran, trying to get out of range.  Killing his body wouldn’t help anyone, just slow down the response to their little joy ride.  He had to get to his dad and Eelock. 

The air sparked and fizzed, the blocker’s only warning.  He dove, trying to go farther faster.  Landing, he squeezed his eyes shut curling into a ball.  The silence never came.

He cracked an eye.  Chleo and Will disappeared up the ramp, the active blocker left sitting on the dock.  One crisis averted, he sent a message up his new tether to the bird.  It flit off to follow orders.  He watched as his ship wobbled into the air, its engines sputtering before they ghosted.  

“Seriously?” The launch blasted too loud, betraying the pilot’s heavy handed thrust.  “Do you even know how to fly?”

~*~*~

Jack’s earpiece crackled to life surprising a flinch out of him.  Luckily, no one noticed.

“They took the ship,” Mic said in the suspiciously active tech,  “The kids, they took it, and I think they’re heading for-”

“Umbra.” Jack finished out loud interrupting the latest insult.  The others glanced at him in confusion.  “Well Lute, you have your wish.  The humans are gone.”  He clenched his teeth against an avalanche of worry.

“Really?” Lute raised an eyebrow.  

“Really, they took our ship and everything.” He caught Eelock’s lips thin into a line from the corner of his eye.

“How convenient.  And you?”

Jack glared. “What about me?”

“We want you gone, too.” The others surrounding Lute nodded their agreement.  

Jack stared, of course they wanted him gone, his daughter, Will, and him.  “Lute, we were friends growing up.  You gave me my first Beekeeping bag.” He glared, betrayal running through his veins.  “This is as much my home as yours.  Please, for old times sake, don’t do this.”

Lute took a step closer, looking down on him. “These are new times.” He sniffed in disdain.  “You are not welcome.”

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