We had only taken a few steps out of between the houses when we heard tires screeching, and surprisingly gunshots. Someone in a red car sped past us, and I think I caught him shooting out the back window at a black car. I definitely saw the drones following and circling each car though. Dan and I turned our heads as they drifted through an intersection, nearly crashing into a pedestrian and a car.
"Shit," I commented.
"Let's um, try to lay low, why don't we?" Dan smiled, as we walked the opposite direction.
"Yeah, sure, but how'd they get guns already?"
"They probably stole them... Which reminds me." Dan bent down as he walked, taking a sizeable stone from the side of someone's driveway, "You ready to break into someone's house?"
"Um, no," I smiled, "Not like that. Couldn't we do it quietly?"
"Recommendation," I heard from my earpiece, "Violence and excitement draw more watchers. Wit and jokes do not perform as well."
I sighed, "Okay, okay... So, throw a rock in a window hoping they don't have a security system and getting chased by the cops is a good idea then?" I paused, realizing, "...Wait." I searched my pockets, "Do you have a phone?"
"No, why?" Dan glanced at me.
"I might be able to hack into someone's security system and disable it before we break the window."
"Kay, great, but that's not that exciting now is it," Dan shot me an exasperated look, then pointed to the house coming up, "Let's go for this one."
Well... we do need food and stuff... and there looks to be no cars in the driveway, meaning nobody should be home. I guess... we rob the place? Yeah?
I nodded, though I wasn't happy about this, "Sure, if I could get a laptop that'd be great, I guess."
"You search for that and maybe some weapons, I'll grab food n' stuff. Oh and be on the lookout for bandages, kay?"
"Kay..."
Dan and I strolled up to the window, and he hefted the stone with his good hand. I glanced around quickly to make sure no one was watching, as Dan threw the stone. It sailed a short distance, and I flinched when the glass shattered... but there was no alarm. Dan backed up a bit as I peered inside, and I was surprised when Dan made a running jump through the window, clearing the glass shards on the ground and floor completely and rolling as he landed. Show off.
I gulped feeling guilty for doing this. Looking at my drone, I said, "Sorry to whoever's house this is..."
The window broke not very nicely, at least, not nice in the fact that just climbing in wasn't going to be easy. Thankfully, Dan tossed me the rock, and I cleared the windowsill for myself to climb in. Trying not to step on broken glass or graze myself on the window, I managed to climb in safely.
Of course, my earpiece beeped, "Dramatic actions are better to keep your viewers entertained. Try a running jump next time."
"Yeah, yeah," I grumbled.
Dan smiled slightly at me, already raiding the cupboards in the kitchen, "They telling you how not exciting you are?"
"I'll get used to it," I glanced back seeing the faint shimmer of our drones following us in through the window.
Then, I got an idea.
One drone flew over to watch what Dan was doing, while the other stayed by me. Perfect. I made it look like I was examining the little side table that was right by the window, but before the drone could move, I pulled the drapes on the window closed. The thing was cornered now.
"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?"
"It's... Nearly all the players previously watching David have moved to Dan, and David's ratings are actually overall higher now."
"Negligible loss of watchers, he hasn't damaged anything, he hasn't strictly broken any rules," Victor grinned, "I like this kid."
The drone flew closer as Dan walked over to David and said, "Dude, cut it out-"
"I don't think cutting or breaking any of this is a very good idea," David replied with a smile, gently wiggling his knife in certain parts of the drone, "So no, I won't cut it out."
"You know what I meant-"
"Don't you see the benefits of this? If I can get this out and keep it for a little bit, I can study it to see how it works. I might be able to improve it enough so an entire person can be hidden," David stuck his tongue out at his partner, "Duh."
Dan put his hands on his hips, "...I thought you were only good at hacking."
"In order to hack nowadays, you need to know quite a lot about hardware as well as software... plus I'm sure a bit of internet searching wouldn't take me too long if I'm not fully sure about anything - Come on, almost there..."
David, with a bit more gentle prying, managed to pop a small black box out of the drone, and slid the wires out as well without damaging anything. After glancing around quickly, David's eyes fell onto the camera of the active drone, and he smiled, holding out the box.
"Surely they don't mind if I hold onto this for a while? I promise to return it once I have enough info. I swear on my life... well, what's left of it anyway."
The commander growled, "He cannot be in possession of-"
"Oh come on!" Victor chuckled, "Let the kid have it, what's the harm in having an uncloaked drone following him around? If anything it makes watching him more exciting because then more people will recognize them faster, putting them at a disadvantage. Players can more easily locate them, meaning higher chances of combat - what's there that's bad about this?"
"Well?" David prodded, "How about the audience votes? That's what we're supposed to do right? Encourage audience interaction? So, people watching, should I keep this cloaking device for a while which might gain us a huge advantage later in the game, and possibly piss the game makers off a little, or put it back and have this be boring as hell?"
"Put up that poll," Victor said immediately, reaching for his computer, "Actually, I'll do it myself."
The commander stormed up beside Victor as Victor's fingers flew across the keyboard, "You can't be serious Victor, he is violating-"
"Nothing, he's violating nothing and is increasing his watchers and ratings, thus increasing your revenue."
Victor hit enter, and the status of the poll was shown up on the large main monitor. Answers immediately began filling up, the large majority voting for David to take the cloaking device. Victor smiled at the commander.
"There, you see? Even your incoming dollar signs agree with his decision."
The commander glared at Victor pointing a threatening finger, "Very well, you and this David keep your lives once more, but no more second chances. The next time either of you breaks the rules, your death will be swift."
"Well I'll have you know, commander," Victor gestured to the various game managers in the room, "It's my job to run this thing and keep track of the top players in this country. David didn't strictly violate any of our precious rules. He's increased his and Dan's viewer count dramatically - I honestly don't know why you're so pissed off. We're both just doing our jobs, David and I."
"...Must I remind you that you are both expendable-"
"Actually we're not," Victor smiled "You can't get David killed without massive lashback from the viewers of this oh so precious Game. His viewer count is too high now. You get rid of him, you get rid of a large majority of your dollar signs. And don't even think about getting rid of me, because the public is still all over my ass about how I won the previous game and am in charge of a large portion of this one. Plus, the idiots you hired for me to boss around can barely do their job with me here, let alone anyone else."
"Don't you dare think you can test my patience and get away with it, Victor."
Victor smiled as he watched the commander walk out of the room before turning back to the main monitor and leaning on the railing, "Nice work kid."
~ ~ ~
"Oh shit, that's freaky!"
"David, get that thing away from me!"
"Hold still!"
"Use it on your head, not mine!" Dan pushed away the active cloaking device again, his head and hands once again becoming visible, "Plus we don't have time to waste right now! I'll get the food you go get a fucking laptop or whatever. And plug that fucking drone back in before they kill us."
"Fine, fine..."
I quickly glanced at the battery, noting what kind it was before putting it back in the drone. The cloaking device could likely take a heck of a lot more voltage and increase the range of the cloaking effect. At least, that's my theory right now. I need more time to actually open it up and see how it works.
After using the knife to position and screw everything back in, I plugged in the battery. The drone blipped to life, and as soon as I flipped it over, it began hovering. I smiled at the camera as the LIVE indicator flashed back on, waiting a moment for the viewers to pile back over to me before I spoke.
"Sorry about that everyone, but now we're back up and running! No harm done, just got a free cloaking device. Now, let's get some more supplies, and I'm sure... more action will happen later..." I looked down, shaking my head, "We'll see how that goes with me, huh?"
"Quit cozying up to the camera and get looking for stuff," Dan said to me from the kitchen, "We've been here too long man."
I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, yeah, I'm on it..."
My earpiece beeped, "Excellent performance. Your viewer count has increased dramatically. Keep up the good work."
I smiled to myself, "Who woulda thought bending the rules was so easy? Or so rewarding?"
"You do realize you've now exposed yourself," Dan said, "Since your drone isn't hidden, other players can find us much easier when we're outdoors."
Oh... shit I didn't think of that...
I awkwardly smiled, heading for the stairs and looking down at the cloaking device in my hand, "Well, all the more reason for us to quickly figure out how the device works, right?"
Dan snorted, "Yeah sure, whatever, you just seriously handicapped us, that's all."
"Lighten up, if it comes to any combat we can split up and you'll still be alive because they'll go after me," I snapped. Dan didn't reply to that, he simply glanced at me. I then continued up the stairs, growling, "I'll be down in five minutes."