17 [Robbery]

Haley had spent the rest of that day ordering materials and supplies under various alias's but in order to throw off anyone who might find the orders suspicious he scheduled them to be delivered at different times meaning that the establishment of his sanctuary was forced to become a long-term goal rather than one he could accomplish quickly.

Neglecting the materials that would be used to improve the aesthetics including lights and those that would be used to repair the structural integrity of the building he had ordered the following items which he deemed essential:

50x Work Drones, 'I'm not gonna do manual labour myself, now am I?' Not to mention the fact that he lacked time he didn't have the necessary skills to do so either.

1x Bed, 'Just because I'm living in hiding doesn't mean I can't live comfortably.' Haley thought smugly while justifying the purchase of this luxury in his mind.

1x Installable DNA Lock, 'The Iris Lock might not be easy to hack but it's not impossible; this thing deadlocks the moment anything unauthorised is detected entering its system and also if someone who doesn't match the stored DNA sequence tries to open it.' It was an essential item alongside his drones acting like guards to ensure his safety.

50x Laser Turrets (Or LT's for short), 'It was hard finding a channel that would deliver without asking questions, but the black market has items for everyone.'

Now admittedly the last order on his list was the most eye-catching which is why he had to resort to using unofficial means to obtain them as going through the official channel would require licence checks and identity verifications which would cost too much money to fabricate and were likely to have him placed on some watchlist somewhere.

Going through the black market was much riskier however it was easier to find a seller that simply required a drop-off location although finding one that wouldn't simply run off with your money after receiving the payment was much harder considering the black market had no official trade channels so to speak of. Everyone who sold an item on the black market would use their 'reputation' as the basis of the trade which is why Haley spent the good portion of the night scouring through several different black market dealers and their reputations before finally settling on the one that seemed most trustable albeit some customers had reported they had gone to the drop-off point only to find the local authorities on the scene cataloguing the 'misplaced' weaponry.

But, it was a risk Haley was willing to take to remain anonymous, as long as he designated some drones to guard the area and pick up the shipment the moment it was dropped off he could avoid being found.

'It'll be even simpler if the work drones dig a drone-sized passageway to the sewers from here and several across the city so my drones can move around without being discovered.' Haley thought as he looked at the rundown walls of his hideout, he was willing to bet that it was only a thin layer of earth between himself and the nearest sewer tunnel but such plans would have to wait until he was in he clear.

Finally, the remaining were miscellaneous items such as metals and walls which might seem insignificant however he wanted to create a true 'home' for himself which would mean separating the vast space he had to work with into several smaller rooms with specialised functions to keep himself organised.

"It'll take at least half a year for me to complete everything I want to have finished at least at a basic level, getting the items should only take a month or two luckily large orders of work drones aren't unusual so doing them all in one shipment wouldn't arouse any suspicion, in fact all I need to do is pick them up." He muttered with a yawn as he looked at the time, it was currently 5am and the site had told him he could pickup his shipment at 10, he had five hours to kill which after realising he promptly set an alarm for two hours before the pick-up time and began to drift asleep in his chair.

"I really need that damn bed." He muttered quietly as he tried to get more comfortable something which was almost impossible on a chair but after maybe ten minutes of shuffling, he was finally silent.

…

4 Hours Later

'Drone 3 and 4 are giving me a map of the area from above, no suspicious movements that I can detect with their sensors; should be safe.'

Haley was lurking in a back alley a few feet away from the centre he was meant to pick up his drones from, he had an hour to wait before his pick-up time so he was killing time by mapping out and monitoring the area with his drones.

It was truly convenient that he was able to assume control over the drones even from a distance now, he could see the world through their eyes; but despite how useful a mechanical body was he had no intention of giving up his biological one for the sake of his sanity at the very least.

Using their cameras he was beginning to draw a map of the surrounding city into his mind, despite having lived here for his whole life there were still many sections which he had never explored for example the area he was in now was nowhere close to his childhood home and even further away from his old apartment and university but despite this he kept up his guard to ensure that no one recognised him by chance.

'My death certificate was already published after all, if someone discovers me alive then there's no way I can avoid being found out by that fatso, I still have away to go before I can confront him. Patience is a virtue Haley…' He muttered in his heart as he waited, the clock was slowly ticked towards the appointed time.

"Hm?" Haley suddenly grunted in surprise, through the drones he could see a long convoy of cars converging towards his location, he was cautious but was certain that they weren't there for him so he stood back more into the shadows and zoomed in with his drone observations to look at the situation.

It took them simply a few minutes to be only a few meters away from Haley's physical body in the alleyway but the men in black who got out of the cars didn't as so much as glance in his direction, they all walked directly towards the doors of the shipping centre, through the drones he could see the guns at their hips as they walked into the building.

The man in front, bald and muscular build lead the way as he ordered who Haley assumed to be his men to guard the area, curiously the staff of the shipping centre pretended as if they didn't exist as they walked into the shipping yard and started to look through the crates one by one.

'Fuck, are they doing what I think they're doing?' He thought hurriedly, sure enough to expectations they began to unload the containers that they found 'interesting' items inside of, which included his supply of drones which caused the 'commander' to laugh while ordering his men to call the 'movers' to come collect the goods.

'What a fucking scam, the customer orders the goods and the shipping centre lets these guys 'rob' them and they probably give the centre a cut of the cash or hell they probably own the centre.' He thought angrily but there was practically nothing he could do but follow and try to find a time to take back his goods.

Silently he ordered one of his drones to return to him and descend next to him, it was just large enough and powerful enough to support his frame – he had replaced the blades on this drone with a hover-module a while ago just for situations like this, the drone easily supported his weight and lifted him into the air as silently as it had descended.

"I'll make you regret taking my things." He muttered as he watched them unload other crates as a vicious plan formed in his mind, "I'll also be taking some interest." He smirked as he watched silently from the sky.