“Here?” Quicksilver rested on one knee in the small gap between a pair of four-story buildings that started separately but then joined from the second level upward.

“Yes, where your left foot is. The first junction is also fairly close.” Dex hovered over her in v-Earth while Nova was temporarily tasked with monitoring guards from the platform several meters overhead.

Quicksilver pulled a gun-like object and placed it against the paved path between the buildings. “Clear?”

“It’s clear,” Dex affirmed. He was able to turn the lighting up since he was in a virtual space; however, Darsi was using a pair of specialized goggles that granted her night vision, among other things. He flinched slightly at the muffled sound from the silenced gun.

“The first buoy is set. How’s my placement?” Darsi holstered the device and waited for direction. The modified tool was something she and Dex had collaborated on while planning the job. It could shoot a projectile three meters into solid ground.

“Perfect, let’s nab the first junction before setting the second buoy.” Dex checked his pip (picture-in-picture) and noted that Nova was still on the platform. Since they were Tandem jumping, the two of them were sharing visual and audio.

“Two pair of roving guards converging on your location. They’ll pass within three meters of Darsi’s location.” Nova whispered, even though her audio had no chance of being heard by any guards.

Dex moved quickly onto the main path before turning back toward his partner. “Retreat three meters and lay down against the edge of the east building.”

“Got it.” Darsi moved into position and lay facedown in an area where the shadows seemed darkest.

Dex waited until the guards moved away; it left him with an odd feeling. Both of their positions and Darsi’s were being updated in real-time to his location in v-Earth. His collaboration with Syntax managed to create something incredible. “It’s clear. Move north around the corner of the building. The junction is housed in an insulated conduit.”

Darsi moved quickly into position and then stopped to access her toolbag. It only took a few seconds to drill a one-inch hole into the housing. She quickly clipped the relay’s clamps in place and inserted it until it was flush with the conduit’s surface. “Junction one is ready.”

Over the next thirty minutes, the team set four buoys and placed relays in three separate junctions. During that time, the guards came by twice. Darsi waited patiently near the basement entrance of the building they needed to enter.

“Wait for my signal, Darsi.” Dex moved through the wall of the building, stopping after a few meters. Since Syntax relied on satellite imagery to update v-Earth, the inside of the buildings were black, empty spaces.

Darsi nodded; his calm voice made her job much more manageable. “Standing by.”

Dextron used his data glove to link the four buoys that Darsi had shot into the ground. “Activating the buoys… All four are green. Here goes a ping!”

As if on cue, the blackness surrounding Dex started to fill up. Transparent walls, ceilings, and floors formed around him as the four ultrasonic buoys mapped out everything in the building. The transparent schematic was filled in with data lines, plumbing, and electrical wires within a few seconds.

Dex let the buoys ping a few seconds longer before shutting them off. “All set! Hard entry is a go.”

“I love it when you talk like that, Dex.” Then, Darsi started working on the manual lock while Dextron used his V-glove to create a virtual keyboard.

“The only data I was unable to access during my infiltration is located in this basement.” Until now, Nova had been too scared to add anything. “Hopefully, there’s something here.”

Dex readied his Exe and bridged them to hit all three junctions at the same time. “Soon as you’re ready, Quicksilver. I’ll send in my Apocolypse Exe.”

He scanned the lower level, quickly taking in every detail of the virtual space. “There are three sets of linked storage drives in the east corner. You have to approach from the west hallway. Two physical barriers are going to drop once I bring them in the end of days.”

Darsi smiled to herself while making a mental note to bring Dex on every mission. “The outside door is open. On your signal.”

Dex sent his door breakers into all three junctions and then pinged the buoys. The barriers in the west hallway lowered automatically, but building security shut down before it could alarm anyone. “Go! Starting the clock now! No matter what, we leave in three minutes.”

Darsi ran along the edge of the west hall, one hand dragging against the wall out of habit. The darkness of her path told her that Dex’s Exe overwhelmed both the primary and backup power. “That kid… He just kicks the shit out of everything.”

The first barrier was the standard flexible metal door that looked like it belonged on a storefront instead of a secret data cache. “The first barrier has a lock. Need a few seconds.”

Dex continued to ping the lower level to keep tabs on his partner. “Still clear.” He moved down the hallway past Darsi, who was busy with her lockpicks. “The second barrier is deadbolted into the floor with an electronic lock.”

Darsi tucked her lockpicks away and ran towards the second barrier. “Going to turn on the power to open them?”

“60 seconds…” Dex instinctively stepped to one side when his partner ran by. “Stop! The ventilation duct on your left connects to a lateral hallway with a normal barrier.”

Darsi used her handheld drill and removed the screws holding the cover on. Then, without pausing, she squeezed into the narrow passage, using her gloved hands to pull herself forward. “Tight fit here, Dex.”

“Maybe you’re retaining water.”

Darsi bit down on a smile and continued her progress. Within a few seconds, she arrived at the exit vent leading to the lateral hallway.

“Company outside; the roving guards will pass by in about two minutes,” Nova’s voice sounded tense as she focused her view on the approaching pair.

Dex glanced at the overflow pip and nodded to himself while his fingers tapped on the virtual keyboard. Darsi arrived at the second barrier and was already picking the lock. “Keep them in your view so I can monitor them.”

Darsi slid the second barrier open right when the mission clock hit 90 seconds. She took three quick steps toward the last door and tried the handle, nodding when it opened inward. “Shit…”

“Problem?” Dex instantly moved through the walls and arrived by her side. Immediately he discovered the issue. The linked storage drives had no outside connection points. “The access must be through the floor.”

Darsi nodded in agreement. “That fucks us, Dex. Not the good kind of fucking either…”

Dex let himself sink into the floor as he considered the options. “Cut the attachment points, and carry the drives. They only have four bolts; you can slice the wires, and we can go through it off-site.”

Darsi muttered a curse but quickly turned on her filament blade and began cutting. “This is going to be a bit heavy. It might be difficult to avoid the guards.”

“Don’t worry; my plan is already in place. Get the drive, retrace your steps, and let me know when you’re ready to exit.” Within a few seconds, he returned to the basement entrance.

Nova ducked instinctively behind the edge of their mobile platform, even though she knew the guards couldn’t see it. “Won’t they notice that the building is entirely offline?”

“Count on it.” Dex checked the time. “How we doing, Darsi?”

“Just exited the ventilation; I’ll be at the exit in ten seconds.”

Dex deactivated the buoys and triangulated all three junctions with his v-glove interface. “Coming up on three minutes, the guards are here.”

Darsi muttered a curse under her breath. She was confident she could escape easy enough if she weren’t carrying thirty pounds of circuitry. “At the door… Say when.”

Dex moved directly in front of the guards, watching them for the first sign of alarm. The one on the right stopped suddenly and grabbed the second guard’s arm. “Anyone mention that this building was coming off-grid?”

The other guard shook his head. “Not to me. Call it in?”

Both guards wore identical tan uniforms with a badge on the shoulder identifying them as Anodyne Cybernetic Security. Additionally, they wore a taser on their right hip and carried a holstered sidearm on the left.

“NVGs on… We’ll take a look and then call it in.” The guard calmly switched on his goggles, causing the lenses to glow light green.

“Close your eyes on exit, hug the left wall and hightail it to your entry point. Ready… NOW!” Dex used a kill-command to disable his Exe code instantly. At the same time, he accessed both guard’s NVG settings and maxed out the sensitivity. As a result of the sudden power return, the emergency lighting in front of the door flashed brightly, causing both guards to claw at their goggles. Before they could remove them, he dropped white noise into their audio feeds, maxing it out until his junction relays overloaded.

“Holy crap…” Nova watched as Darsi fled the scene; although the guards finally managed to remove their goggles, neither could do anything but lay on the ground clutching at their ears. “You were in both their audio and visual links? Fucking Da Vince…”

Dex appeared next to Nova on the platform, moving behind the controls to mirror Darsi’s retreat. She made it to the edge of the fence before the first alarms sounded off. “What now, Darsi?”

“I should be able to handle the rest. Could you stay in the air and guide me?

“You got it, Partner.”