“Get down,” Brendan said. But Tina froze.
The small object stopped an inch from her face. Then it returned to Brendan. It looked like an oblong black hockey puck, about three inches long, its body sleek. He didn’t see any propellers. He tried to snatch it out of the air, but it moved too quickly.
“Someone’s controlling this thing,” he said. “It’s a drone.”
The drone circled around them. Then he noticed two more join it. How were such machines possible? They were virtually silent, with no evident propulsion system. But if they could move and navigate, they could also see. They kept swirling around in front of them.
Tina swung her pack at one. “We need to get out of here.”
Brendan set down his pack. He pulled out his second drone and switched it on. There would be no time to try to pilot it, but this one had the single-charge stun gun. It would be a literal shot in the dark. He switched the power on, and a green LED confirmed that the battery was full. Holding it out as if he were about to toss the machine into the air made the aiming even harder.
He fired.
The air snapped with an electric charge. One of the three drones fell to the ground. The other two stopped and moved towards their fallen comrade. Brendan ran forward and attempted to pick it up. One of the flying drones flew straight at him, striking him in the face.
“Ow!” It felt like getting hit by a rock. The next one came in from the side and hit him above his right ear. He stumbled. Tina was at his side, helping him up.
“We need to grab the dead one,” he said. He dove forward and picked up the downed drone. It felt warm, like a stone that had been laying in the sun. Both flying drones hit him again. He put one arm up to protect his head and felt something sticky on his hand. He was bleeding. Each strike that pummeled him knocked him off-balance.
Tina grabbed his arm. “Let’s go!”
He stumbled as he tried to run, then paused when he saw his pack and his own drone on the ground behind him. Then two more flying drones appeared. All four angled in his direction. He abandoned his pack and followed Tina down the side of the house past the garbage cans. He picked up a plastic lid and swung it. He struck one, but the other three got past the lid. One clocked him on the cheek, causing pain to explode in his mouth.
“What’s going on over there?” shouted the neighbor. A side light mounted high on the next-door house flipped on and a door opened.
The four flying drones paused in front of Brendan as if they were thinking. The light shined across their glossy black bodies. Brendan backed up towards the gate, the plastic lid a shield in his hand, the tiny drone grasped tight. The other drones hovered for a moment more before retreating up into the darkness.
8. Drone On
They stopped running once they made to the front of a mini-mart. Blue fluorescent lights shined down on a row of vending machines. A security camera watched the outside of the entrance.
“You’re bleeding,” Tina said. She went inside to get a cup of ice, some water, and a handful of napkins. From her pack, she produced a small mirror. He had blood from an abrasion on his cheek and a cut on his scalp. He could feel a rising knot beneath his hair.
“My backpack,” he said. “I left it behind. We’ve got to go back. My drone, my remotes, my tablet.”
“The neighbor heard us. We made enough racket that he might even call the cops. One thing at a time. You’ve got a good lump on your head. We should have you checked out.”
Tina pressed a napkin to his cheek. He winced.
“What were those things?” Tina asked.
“Drones, I think. But unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”
“You think Charlotte sent them after us?”
Brendan flinched when she dabbed another napkin on his scalp. “No way to know for sure. But if not her, then who? The headmaster? My dad? This is all too advanced for him. From what I’ve seen, these little machines don’t look like anything he’s ever built.”
“Let me see the drone you captured.”
Some store customers gave them hard glances as they came and left. Brendan understood that two kids huddling together, one of them bleeding, looked suspicious. But he didn’t want to wait. They had light here.
The drone had completely cooled down since he’d picked it up. On closer examination, he could see it was made of hard plastic. Its body was slender with two points on opposite ends, like a double-tipped arrowhead. There was some kind of venting on the side, perhaps for propulsion. It wasn’t completely smooth. His fingernail found a seam along the side.
He wanted his tools.
“Let’s head to the electronics lab,” Tina said as if reading his mind. “We can’t go back right now, but we can always text Charlotte later, and maybe she’ll give you your pack back.”
“But if the drone’s not hers, she’s the one in danger.”
Brendan took out his phone. “CALL ME,” he texted Charlotte. Then he sent Vlad and Soren a message to meet them at the lab.
***
It was early enough that the door to the science building was still unlocked. Leaflets advertising the school’s national science fair entries were plastered about, with a meeting scheduled for that very hour. A large group of people could be heard upstairs, but Brendan and Tina had the electronics lab to themselves.
Brendan had a headache. Maybe it was because of leaving his own drones, pack, and tablet behind. Maybe he had become a coffee addict and was suffering withdrawals, something he had mercilessly teased his mom about. He set up on a workbench and got some lights on the weird drone. They put on head magnifiers and leaned in. At first, Brendan was afraid he would break the little drone. But the more he moved it around and worked at the seam with a tiny screwdriver, the more he realized the plastic was as hard as metal. Perhaps the material was actually some sort of anodized aluminum. Soon he was applying as much force as he could, trying to pry the sections apart. It resisted his efforts.
“Could it have some sort of magnetic lock?” Tina asked.
“It’s possible.” He poked at every possible location on the slick body in case there was some tiny flush release he was missing. The craftsmanship was superb. It was as if the drone had come off of a high-tech assembly line rather than out of some inventor’s garage.
Tina tried to hand Brendan a hammer.
“Not ready for that yet. Let’s get some more eyes on this thing.”
Tina was poking around his project drawer. She held up some of the pieces of the dismantled glove. “You took it apart?”
“Yeah. Are you angry?”
“Not really. I just think it’s reckless to have it anywhere Charlotte can easily get at it.”
“I didn’t put all the parts in the same drawer. Besides, I think Charlotte is capable of making more of these things from scratch.”
Vlad showed up a few minutes later. He put away his earbuds and pocketed his phone. When he saw Brendan he asked, “What happened to you?”
Brendan told them about their run-in with the drones.
“That little thing? How does it even fly?”
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out.”
“Busting it open might break it. You’ve been prying at it with the screwdriver like a barbarian?”
Brendan nodded. “It might be dead. I have no idea if it survived my drone’s stun gun. If you have any ideas, let’s try it.”
Vlad held a hand out for the screwdriver. Then he took a second one from the tool drawer. With careful precision, he levered into the seams on either side and popped the drone’s case apart. Inside was what looked like a silicon board infused with tiny jet-black squares.
“Are those some kind of computer chip?” Tina asked.
“Not like any that I’ve ever seen,” Vlad said. He was about to touch the inside when Brendan stopped him.
“We don’t know what any of this is. Let’s take a video, and we should at least have gloves on before touching it.”
They found plastic gloves
under one of the sinks. The more Brendan examined the drone, the more uncomfortable he got. There were too many components missing. Nothing of what he saw was a processor or receiver or anything that explained the drone’s insane propulsion.
“What’s this thing using as a power supply?” Vlad asked.
“Maybe the black squares are the supply,” Brendan said.
“This is going to be valuable to someone,” Tina said. “We could make a buck by selling it.”
“I’d guess whoever sent them after us will want it back.”
“Then maybe they shouldn’t have had it attacking us.”
“Any of your drones still in one piece?” Vlad asked.
“I have a third one I was building, but it’s not finished. These ones took mine out somehow. What are you thinking?”
“We get your unfinished one working. That way if we get a chance we can find out where these little drones come from and where they go. If any of them are still active at Charlotte’s house, we follow them.”
It took almost no time assembling the drone with Vlad and Tina helping, even though Soren never showed up. The remote was rudimentary, consisting of twin control sticks with no bells or whistles, a transmitter, and an antenna. Tina suggested they attach her phone and track the GPS in case they couldn’t get the phone’s camera to continuously send footage. All they had left to do was install the housing for the battery.
Brendan’s phone vibrated with an incoming call from Charlotte. He moved to the far side of the lab, away from the others, and answered.
“Where are you?” he asked.
“Where are you?” she asked back.
“Electronics lab. But we were at the nurse’s house again.”
“I know. Brendan, that was stupid. Why did you go back?”
“Because I was worried. I wanted to check on you again. Look, I know you’re holding something out on us. I thought we were working together on keeping this situation in check. But you’ve closed us out. You have too many secrets.”
“I’m trying to keep you safe. You need to stay away from the nurse’s house.”
“Are these little flying robots yours?”
There came a pause. “What flying robots?”
“The little things that crashed my drone in the backyard. They also feel like a thrown rock when one hits you. They attacked us.”
“They were at Nurse Dreyfus’s house?”
“Just a few hours ago.”
Another pause. “You can’t go back there, ever. I don’t have time to explain it. You could get killed.”
“Tell me about the little drones.”
“As long as they don’t know about you, you’ll be fine.”
“They know about me and Tina both. It was dark, but they saw us. We knocked one down, but there were too many of them. And I dropped my backpack in the yard by the pool.”
“How could you be so stupid?”
Brendan felt the anger rising. “Because you were acting weird, and we never saw you. Tell me what’s going on.”
Tina had approached and was now listening. She mouthed, “What’s wrong?”
“You were off their radar, Brendan,” Charlotte said. “You were busy watching the building. Why couldn’t you have just kept—”
The connection went dead. He tried to call back, but it went to voicemail.
“Where is she?” Tina asked.
“Not sure. I thought she might be at the nurse’s house, but I don’t know. She was scared that we would be seen by whoever is operating the drones.”
“Maybe it’s some sort of ruse on her part.”
“Maybe. But we need to get my drone up and running. We have no way of knowing where Charlotte is, but we can go back to Nurse Dreyfus’s house and try to figure out where the little buggers come from.”
“You sure you’re up for it?”
Brendan touched his head. The bleeding had stopped, but it was tender. “Good enough.” Then he noticed Vlad was missing. They checked the lab but he wasn’t there.
“Did he go to the bathroom?” Tina asked.
Brendan was about to answer when he realized the little black drone was gone.
“He took it,” Brendan said.
“Why would he take it?”
They both tried calling and texting Vlad. Then Brendan texted Soren, who was supposed to be watching the nurse’s office. No replies came. Brendan hesitated over his unfinished drone.
“Leave it,” Tina said.
They crossed campus and headed first for Nurse Dreyfus’s office across from the gym. The physical education building connected to the locker rooms and various other staff offices. Nurse Dreyfus’s office was just inside the main doors. Soren wasn’t there, and the office was dark.
“Soren!” Brendan called down the empty hallway.
One of the coaches was walking in their direction towards the exit. “Everything all right?” the woman asked.
“We had a friend here this evening seeing the nurse,” Brendan said. “We wanted to see how he was doing. We can’t find him.”
“The nurse wasn’t in all afternoon, so I’d guess your friend didn’t make his appointment. He’s not in his dorm?”
Tina brought her phone out. “We’ll check there, thanks.”
“It’s minutes from curfew for the campus. About time to head back to your rooms unless you have family visiting. Good night, kids.” The coach left the building.
“They’re together,” Tina said. She showed Brendan her phone. She had her friend tracker on. Brendan kept his phone location switched off, but neither Soren nor Vlad did.
“They’re both at the Bean.”
They passed a handful of students still moving about campus. The restaurant was closed, with only a self-serve beverage counter still accessible inside. Small groups of kids sat in the outdoor seating area despite the growing chill in the air.
Brendan didn’t want to say what he suspected. It would be too much of a confirmation of their wild jokes and speculations. First Soren at dinner, and now Vlad. It couldn’t be possible. His mind raced. They needed a plan, but until he could confirm with his own eyes what he considered a ridiculous thought, he refused to make that mental leap. There had to be another explanation.
One of the security guards was at the campus boundary, speaking on the phone while sitting in a parked electric cart. They gave him a wide berth and hurried down the adjoining main avenue towards the alley that led to the Bean. A pair of skateboarders shot past them. The alley was quiet and dark except for the light coming from the coffee shop. The Bean usually closed by mid-afternoon, especially on weekdays, but Champ kept it open late on some nights. When the owner got rest was anyone’s guess. He had hosted a few open-mike stand-up comedy and music nights that had drawn decent crowds for such a small place, but this wasn’t one of those nights.
Tina froze as they approached the front of the shop. “No!” she said, her voice breaking.
Through the window, they could see Lucille standing at a table. Four boys were seated in front of her, paying rapt attention. Seeing Paul and Tyler there was no surprise. But Soren and Vlad sat next to them, intently watching Lucille.
She was holding the little black drone in her hands.
9. Buzzed
The Bean’s sign read “Closed.” No other people were visible through the glass, and Champ was nowhere in sight. Brendan was reaching out to open the door when his phone pinged. Tina almost collided with him as he paused to look at the screen.
A message from Charlotte read, “Don’t go in there. Danger.”
He looked behind him at the dark alley but saw no one. With his night vision ruined from the light inside the coffee shop, he could see little but the bright orange streetlights obstructed by the pet food supply store. If Charlotte was out there watching, she was hidden.
Brendan tried showing Tina the text, but she brushed past him and went inside. “No, wait,” he said, too late. She was already closing on Lucille. He followed her.
Tyler got up and blocked Tina.
“What did you do to them?” Tina asked. “Vlad, Soren, why are you even in here with her?”
Neither answered. Each wore a dull expression.
Brendan pointed to the drone in Lucille’s hand. “That doesn’t belong to you.”
“It doesn’t belong to you, either,” Lucille said. “What say we give it back to its rightful owner?”
Tina went to Soren and pulled him away from the table. “Let me go,” he said, trying to twist away from her. His shirt started pulling off of him as he clung to the table.
When Tyler moved towards Tina, Brendan grabbed him by the shirt and pushed him, knocking him back on the table. Paul jumped up and got Lucille behind him with the efficiency of a trained bodyguard. Vlad grabbed at Brendan but Brendan swatted him away.
Tyler recovered quickly. He clamped a hand on Brendan and didn’t let go as he got back up, nearly knocking the table over in the process. Brendan drove a fist into Tyler’s midsection. Tyler was ready for it. Brendan struck tensed muscle, and Tyler did little more than grunt as the blow landed. Then he trapped Brendan’s arm in the crook of his own and grappled Brendan into a headlock.
Brendan couldn’t move. The pressure on his shoulders and neck made it feel as if he were about to be broken in two. He tried to grab for anything to give himself leverage but could take hold of little except Tyler’s jacket. Tyler heaved Brendan up and slammed him to the floor. It knocked the wind from Brendan’s lungs. He felt himself going limp. The grip on his neck reaffirmed itself and now became a chokehold.
“You’re as pathetic as your dad,” Tyler said.
“Let him breathe. He’s turning purple,” Lucille said. She got down in a crouch and studied Brendan, an amused look on her face. “We’re looking for the headmaster’s ring. It wasn’t in your backpack, which means you have it someplace else. I don’t think it’s in your room. Someone checked. So, where’d you put it?”
The Supervillain High Boxed Set: Books One - Three of the Supervillain High Series Page 29