57 Skeletons: 02

Against my will I kept the arm over her shoulders. I could feel the tension in her bones but I couldn't distance myself too soon. Since her head was down I watched over her in the hopes of deciphering whether she was hating or was just indifferent to my touch. Looking closely at her profile, I saw the tip of a blue line coming out her shirt.

- Hey, they are gone. No need to go all Blue Cyborg.

Smoothly, I tried to pull myself away to give her some air but her hand went back to my waist, locking me by her side. Something told me she wasn't feeling well. I never asked myself about the effects of B.F.S mutation on the human body.

- Are you okay? - her head was still down and the blue lines still showing.

- Yes, - as she turned her head towards me I could see the tip of a smirk on her lips. - Just don't bite me anymore, okay?!

With a deep breath she pulled herself up. No blue eyes or anything Bionic. Speechless either from hesitation or embarrassment, I remained silent and nodded towards the end of the street. My screen was vibrating, a sign that we were close.

More cadets passed us but no more officers. To prevent other surprises, we steyed near one another in case we had to cause another distraction. The streets started to get more crowded the longer we walked and the vibration on my wrist got stronger.

- We need to get behind those buildings.

My sensors were pointing at the other side of the street, by the broken bridge side. It was a safer area to be in but it would be problematic to get there without getting spotted.

The Officer signaled for me to follow her. We crossed the street and plunged into a wave of students. Their subjects were repulsing. How 16-year-olds could get that excited when talking about "blasting the heads of rebels" with their new guns.

By the time we got to a corner it was a dead end street for load and reload. Two Force patrols were parked with officers chatting. More people entered the main street coming from the buildings around. The vibration of my screen was at maximum level. The constant noise was making my anxiety go over the roof. It was the right time and we had to act quickly.

- What are they waiting for?

- Their guns. - She then returned to my side. We were standing by a very agitated coffeeshop. - When they leave we jump the wall.

- How lon-

- Get ready!

The way she bumped her hand on my chest even made me choke on my words. Two seconds later the official Force vehicles doubled the corner. On my wrist I felt a tight grip, with a one second delay I got pulled away from the wall and started to get dragged by the hand.

Halfway to the wall, she dropped my hand and ran. Already at the wall she positioned herself to offer me support to jump over. With a deep breath I prepared myself and took an impulse. When my foot touched her hand she didn't show any expressions of physical effort, didn't even flinch with my weight. Instead she boosted me up so high I didn't need to move one muscle to get to the top.

On the other side, I had just set my feet on the ground when a missile landed by my side. Her physical abilities were beyond me. She had just jumped a 4 meters wall on her own without breaking a sweat.

- Now what?

Opened in a map with a red dot on it, my screen was warning me about the proximity of the target. Two buildings down, right by another Force office. Leaning on my knees, I took a couple breaths before answering her.

- You tell me what kind of traps there are between this point and the next 3 buildings.

From inside the bag I pulled out a very cheap kind of drone. The thing was so small it fit on my palm with plenty of space left. It was the cutest thing. Made me think about the one I had back home, actually I had at least a dozen of those little guys, they were so handy.

Standing above me with arms crossed, the Officer watched closely while I programmed my toy.

- Are you going to- - mid sentence she stopped. Sometimes her expressions didn't match her words. One long blink later, she continued.- There are motion, heat and magnetic sensors on the outside. Fingerprint locks on the outside and on the inside. The airspace above the official buildings is restricted, except for Force equipment.

- The civilian properties? - just one tap on the head and the tiny bot spread its wings, ready to fly.

- They share the outdoors sensors but not the airspace.

Another tap and the mini drone was flying a few centimeters. I plugged another bracelet on my other wrist to enable the joystick projection. That kind of machine was used to fix big advertisement drones, the ones that broadcast on the skies without any surfaces. Whenever there was a problem they sent a "maintenance bot" to fix it. That way the ad didn't have to be taken down and the company didn't lose screen time.

- St, - the tone of her voice called my attention. - we have to be quick. I have no idea if they changed any of the protocols…

To tranquilize her I nodded and sent the drone away. To be safe I had to fly over the sensors with a big margin. On the streets, the sounds of people were still as loud as before we jumped. Lunch time lasted about an hour, that was plenty of time.

Unfortunately the mini drone had one flaw, speed.

Sitting on the floor with the Officer hovering over my head I guided the bot 10 meters off the alley into the sea. Even though she hadn't said anything I could feel the frustration on her breathing.

When we started I was relaxed, focused on the job but that lasted only until the way up. Out of my sight the Officer kept walking from one end of the alley to the other. Using all my inner strength I tried to ignore her crossed arms and the occasional loud sighs.

Deep breath after deep breath I avoided saying anything. Eventually I made it past the sensors and was on my way to plug into the spy drone that was used to attack Louise's house. Thinking about her made me go back to my unreasonable outburst. How could I do that to her when I was the reason she had to be locked in an apartment in a place that only brought her bad memories. It was too late for regrets, what was done couldn't be taken back.

- Okay, this is it.

- Hurry up!

- Easier said than done.

From high up, the rooftop looked like some nest for alien monsters. Dozens and dozens of drones of all sizes and functions lined up. On the other building the same image, the only difference was the Force logo stamped on each metallic alien.

Creepy ambiance aside, once the mini drone was poisoned it did everything on its own. It connected to the spy bot, uploading my malware to its system that way I had full control of it.

A job well done. On the other side of the wall, voices started to get closer. A few gunshots pop around.

- Are you done? - through her voice it was like I could hear her heartbeat speeding up.

- Almost. - time was running out. As fast as I could I typed in some commands to the drones and finished up what I came to do. - Okay!

There was no one around, still I hurried to pick up my stuff I left spread on the floor around me. Visibly stressed, the Officer kneeled to help me. While we picked up my tools I observed her, looking for any signs of the blue lines. Something told me that it was triggered by the chemicals on her brain.

Both of us finished up fast and I took a moment to breathe. We had succeeded. The sensation of danger was only caused by the Officer's anxiety. Getting up, I couldn't help not to let out a skeptical chuckle.

- St! - all of a sudden she shouted at me.

For a second I thought she had seen me laugh at her uptight behavior, then a hot burning sensation on the side of my head made me turn to where I felt the heat coming from. Nothing. Bringing up my hand to my ear, it was hot and sticky. I turned again to the other side. The Officer was punching the torso of a tall guy wearing armor.

- St, Jump now!