The Game

9 - Bending the rules

"Oh oops," I said out loud, looking directly at the drone. I was examining the very slight shimmer that made the... silhouette? Sure - I could see where parts of the drone were, that's what I'm getting at. I tilted my head, "Hey, is that..."

Then I moved as quickly as I could, and I managed to grab the drone. Warnings blared in my earpiece and the other drone was now watching me.

Dan raised his voice, "What the hell are you-"

"Calm down everyone!" I smiled directly into the camera, fighting to keep the drone still, "I need to take a look at this."

"WARNING, YOU RISK TERMINATION-"

"Shut the fuck up," I grinned, "This has a free cloaking device I intend to use."

"RELEASE THE DRONE NOW OR-"

"You said we can do whatever it takes to survive," I managed to pin the propellers up against the wall, so I was looking at its underside, "I'm following the rules word for word, idiots." I had found the battery, and I wedged my knife into where it was connecting. After wriggling it around a bit, I managed to unplug the battery completely, the drone flickering back into reality as it's propellers slowed to a stop.

~ ~ ~

Victor watched in amusement as the camera shook around on screen, Seeing the smug look on David's face as he said, "I'm following the rules word for word, idiots," Then after viewing the ceiling for a few seconds, the screen cut to black, displaying the words 'Signal lost' in white flashing letters. Victor directed his attention to the group of game managers who were freaking out by a smaller monitor.

"Sir, David Luther has damaged company property!"

"The fucking prick broke my drone-"

"You can't get it back online?"

"He cut the battery, of course I can't!"

"Sir, should we proceed to terminate him?"

Victor chuckled softly, "Nope."

"But, sir-"

"I fully realize what he as done, and so far, it's hilarious. Very entertaining." Victor raised his voice, "Show Dan Cutler's feed."

The drone that was meant to follow Dan now had its camera feed up on the big main screen. David could be seen unscrewing things with his knife, tinkering with wires here and there, but not actually cutting them. Victor pointed out, "Look there, he hasn't cut any wire, he just disconnected the battery. No damage, no consequences."

Dan's voice could be heard, "David what the fuck are you doing! They could have you killed for-"

"If they were going to kill me for this wouldn't I already be dead?" David replied, not looking up from his work, "Ah, here it is."

One of the game managers said, "Sir he's broken the rules-"

"Actually," Victor smiled, "He hasn't. I said at the start, 'Do whatever it takes' and this is him doing that. No rule strictly forbids touching the drones."

"But there is a rule for damaging them," the commander said from behind Victor, "What the hell is going on?"

David had connected the battery directly to something else, and smiled when the drone vanished in his hands. He looked over at Dan, "Found the cloaking device," He looked back down, peering at it, "Now how to... get it off..."

The commander growled, "Victor-"

"Hold on a minute," Victor smiled, "Let's see what he does - By the way, how's Dan Cutler's viewer status?"