Introducing the Overseer drone: the next step in security and military evolution. Featuring a modular design, the Overseer has a feature for your every need! Choose from Security, Assault, Surveillance, and Pacification modules to build your perfect Overseer.

The Security model contains advanced scanners and an AI programmed for protection of property or personnel. This Overseer module is capable of monitoring situations and making decisions on the fly, and can call for backup from local police forces in the event of a robbery. Rest easy with the Security package!

The Assault model is designed to take, and give, a beating. Created for military applications, this model has advanced armour plating and enough weapons to destroy any target. The model uses our patented 'friend or foe' system to ensure battlefield casualties are kept to a minimum. On our side, at least.

The Surveillance model is perfect for domestic security and police work. Made to keep an eye on things, these models have the most advanced sensors of any Overseer, as well as 6 Watcher drones, to establish and monitor a wide area. The Watcher drones feature thermal and night vision, to ensure you always have a clear picture.

The Pacification model contains a variety of non-lethal options. Designed to aid the riot squads in their duties, each drone comes with tear gas, tasers, and rubber bullets. Note that the rubber ammunition can be swapped for live ammunition at the push of a button, ensuring the drone is prepared for any situation.

The UWC is proud to present this next step in technological advancement, and more models will be available soon. These drones are not just limited to government applications either, enquire at your local UWC compound to rent or buy drones for business use.

Excerpt from Overseer drone pamphlet

-0-0-0-

In hindsight, leaving so quickly may not have been the best idea. Kehre never had been great at thinking on his feet though, and there wasn't much point beating himself up about it. Now that he'd had a chance to think, there were a few ways he could recover from the blows his persona had taken. None of them were easy, make no mistake. But they were possible.

Still, all was no lost. Judging by what Otto had invested in him (and didn't that leave a sour feeling in his stomach), he probably wasn't going to throw it all away by telling all and sundry that his reputation was largely built on lies. That left the bigger question – why was Otto so interested in him? Sure, he may have been more efficient than the average bloke, and he liked to think he was smarter too, but that didn't explain the level of involvement.

When Kehre had started looking for something to get past the security systems he encountered, he was expecting an override code or a backdoor. What he had gotten was so much more valuable it wasn't even funny. If Otto was developing tech like that at 16… Kehre shivered to himself a little. Governments would cheerfully go to war for that kind of potential. Otto could name any price he wanted and have a fair chance of it being met. That he hadn't indicated he wasn't interested in money, but Kehre honestly wasn't sure what else he had to offer.

He didn't have any important connections, no special skills, and he was a small time thief at best, so it wasn't like he could have stolen anything of importance.

He cursed to himself. At this point it didn't matter what Otto wanted – his freedom was hanging by a thread. Damaging an Overseer was an automatic 3 year prison sentence by itself. He didn't even know what taking one out would be, as nobody had been stupid enough to try it. Chances were good he'd quietly disappear, vanishing without a trace. For good or bad, he was now firmly in Otto's pockets.

That was the whole reason he'd become a thief in the first place, damn it. He'd desperately wanted to chart his own course in life, to put it poetically. Growing up bouncing from foster home to foster home before being dumped in an orphanage had given him some serious control issues, to put it lightly.

He started rummaging around his pockets for his wallet. At least the pie had been nice.

Before he'd fully made it to his feet, a solid hand clapped him on the shoulder firmly.

"How about you sit back down, pal." The thick Texan drawl made the words difficult to make out. Kehre turned to face the voice, preparing to unleash a diatribe on it's owner before his brain caught up with his actions. The thick hand lead to an equally thick arm, which was attached to a massive body. Seriously, this guy made Bob Jr look downright petit. He was also wearing a suit that all but screamed 'secret service'.

"Official U-TAC business, please go about your day." Behind the mountain of a man, a second voice broke the silence that had fallen. Everybody in the small coffee shop froze, before scuttling for the door. Everybody avoided meeting Kehre's eyes on their way out, though some of them were feeling brave enough to mutter at him under their breath. The owner was all but glaring at him, which seemed a little strange. He didn't bother feeling offended, too busy trying not to throw up. Of all the bad ways his day could go, this was so bad it hadn't even made the list. It sat off by itself, right besides 'death'. At least death would mean this nightmare of a day was over with.

He was shoved back down into his seat with no discernible effort on the mountains part. The owner of the second voice strolled into view, hands in pockets. He too was wearing a suit, but in the effortlessly casual way any sufficiently cool person did. His features completed the package, with bright blue eyes framed by lightly tanned skin and a surfers tussled hair. He could have strolled right off the catwalk, or in from hanging out with some friends on the beach. It was an odd effect.

"Sorry to drop in on you like this Kehre, but we figured you would appreciate a more casual setting than us breaking down your door. My names Sam by the way, and this here is my friend Tank."

Tank grunted. As fluent in grunting as Kehre was, he deduced it could have been a greeting or a promise to remove his limbs. He gave it 50/50 odds. He also didn't miss the subtle threats in Sam's greeting. They knew his name, and they knew where he lived. It wasn't a massive stretch to guess they also knew about his… less than legal pastimes as well. Well, at least he wouldn't have to worry about what Otto wanted now, he'd be much too busy for the next few years. He'd always been curious about prison anyway, so it wasn't all bad.

He ran a hand down his face, feeling suddenly exhausted. "Look, I'm not going to waste time denying anything, you've clearly done your homework. Am I under arrest, or what?"

Sam raised one irritatingly perfect eyebrow. "Bad day?" He asked sympathetically. Reaching out, he snagged a chair, spinning it around to put the back to his chest. He looked Kehre up and down for a second before seeming to come to a decision. "Alright, I'll cut to the chase. We obviously know about what you do for a living. Thing is, we don't care."

Kehre looked at him blankly, too tired to bother with true shock.

"Surprising, isn't it? Truth is though kid, you're small fry. You are the rare kind of criminal that actually benefits the system. We've been keeping track of you for a few years now, and we've got a fair idea of how you operate. You never attack anybody, never carry any weapons, and pick your targets well. Anybody you steal from can afford the loss, and you never take more than you need. Savant stuff, really."

Kehre slumped a little in his seat. All this time… He'd thought he was so clever, thought nobody would be able to trace anything. Clearly he'd been screwed long before this stupid EMP thing.

"Normally, we'd just leave you alone. The crime figures may not look great on paper, but we've been cutting down on the more… violent individuals, and leaving the small timers. Every society is going to have it's share of ne'er-do-wells, but if we can limit it to the smarter ones everybody wins. Until last week. We know you were in the area of the… kerfuffle, shall we say."

Kehre could feel his heartbeat stutter, and fought desperately to keep his face steady. Knowing about him being a thief was one thing – like Sam had said, Kehre was small time. At worst he'd get a few years in prison, or maybe a hefty fine and some community service if he was smart enough. The EMP was a whole other kettle of fish. That was the sort of thing people disappeared for. And U-TAC was more than capable of making him disappear.

"Don't worry," Sam continued, "We know it wasn't you. Doesn't match your MO, not to mention the tech behind this thing… well, if you could get your hands on that, you wouldn't be wasting your time here."

Kehre's heart started beating again.

"Thing is, we've heard of a new guy on the scene. Goes by Otto. Know anything about him?"

Kehre's heart stopped again. Licking his dry lips, he made a gamble. Ignoring the whole EMP thing, Kehre really hadn't had much to do with Otto. Maybe, he could….

"I've heard of him, but can't say I have had anything to do with him."

It was taking every scrap of practice from the last few years of using a persona to keep his voice steady.

Sam looked closely at him, but apparently satisfied with what he saw leaned back again.

"Now Otto, he's a whole different ball game. We have distressingly little on him, which considering our resources says a lot. As I'm sure you can guess, we'd like to change that. Here is where you come in – we'll look the other way as you…. Do your thing, and in return, you give us everything you can get your hands on when it comes to this Otto kid, got it?"

Kehre considered his options for a second before clearing his throat.

"Look, like I said, I don't really have anything to do with Otto, so I might not be able to get very much, …"

Sam cut him off with a raised hand.

"Let me just correct a little misunderstanding here. You don't have a choice. We know you're a resourceful fellow, so I'm sure you'll be able to sort something out."

The 'and if you don't, people will wonder what happened to that nice young man we used to know' went unspoken. Kehre ground his teeth together. Not quite what he'd had in mind when he started down this path. He was being passed around like a chew toy at the moment, cornered by two powerful people at once.

Sam slapped the table and rose to his feet, mirrored by Tank. He casually tossed a 20 dollar bill on the table. "Don't worry about a thing Kehre. Just get us what we need and we'll take care of everything."

With that final, ominous statement, Sam walked out without a backwards glance.

A few minutes later, the owner of the bakery walked back out, and seemed taken aback to see Kehre still sitting there.

"So, uh, I guess they got the wrong guy?" He asked somewhat awkwardly. "Sorry for…. Well, sorry for that."

Kehre scowled at him.

"So are you paying with cash, or…?"

-0-0-0-

When he got home, he was only mildly surprised to find the door unlocked at a new jet black smartphone sitting on the bed. He thumbed the power button, and a short boot up time later was confronted by the home screen. Before he could explore the device any further, a text message arrived.

'Sorry that we seem to have got off on the wrong foot. You can have this phone as a token of our apology – and as a way to contact us when you find something. Regards, Sam'

The when he found something, not if he found something said everything he really needed to know about the message. The phone was obviously bugged, and just as obviously not needed to keep an eye on him. They had been in his apartment, and had all the time in the world to plant any cameras they wanted. That said, if he tried to find and get rid of them, they wouldn't hesitate to throw him in the slammer.

Not that it'd matter in the least if he did find them. This wasn't even a risk for U-TAC. He was a nobody. If Otto killed him, they didn't care. If he didn't get anything for them, they also probably wouldn't care, which wouldn't stop them from ruining his life.

Even if he did get something, they'd thank him all the way up to the police car, and then wave nicely as it took him to prison.

He clenched the phone tightly in one hand and resisted the urge to hurl it at the wall. The phone pinged in his hand again, startling him so badly he nearly dropped it.

'Break it and you buy it.' Read the message. Great. They were watching him even now. He held up his middle finger and waved it around the room.

The phone remained silent. Figures.

He sagged on to his bed, head in his hands. This was easily the worse things had been since he left the stupid orphanage.

He sighed gustily. Time to take stock.

Clearly he was stuffed no matter what he did, but that wasn't an excuse to give up. Once he got his head in order, he could look at his options – few though they may be.

Even when dealing with organisations as powerful as U-TAC, there were still weaknesses, proven by the fact that they didn't know he was the one who took out the drone.

Same with Otto. Ironically, Otto was probably the biggest problem at the moment. U-TAC had him over a barrel – they could arrest him whenever they wanted. The only real reason they hadn't was that he could be vaguely useful at the moment. If Otto even got a whiff of betrayal from him though, he wouldn't sit him down in a bakery to make thinly veiled threats. He just wouldn't wake up one morning.

Still, he had some time. No matter what threats U-TAC plied him with, there was little to no risk in letting him take him time. Waiting at least gave them a chance. He brightened a little. They had all but given him permission to keep going with his night job at least, so he wasn't in danger of running out of funds. Plus, he might even be able to hit some bigger places now he knew they were watching. He could always say he wanted to make a bigger name for himself so Otto would be interested, or that he was trying to find something to sell to him. Point was, he had a few options.

Course, Otto would probably be suspicious about him starting up again so soon – especially after his freak-out this morning.

Kehre massaged the bridge of his nose, a migraine building behind his eyes. Stuff it, he needed a drink. Time to crack open one of the bottles he was hoping to sell.

Striding over the cupboard against the wall, he yanked it open. Where the bottles were supposed to be sat a plain white note.

'We took the liberty of confiscating some of the contraband we found around here. Do you have a permit for this stuff?'

Bastards.

Bit of a shorter chapter this time. Despite everything being on lockdown, I've been surprisingly busy with work. Next chapter should be a fair bit longer – and Kehre will start being a little more proactive.

Updated 18/04/2020