Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

I don't know what the fuck Jericho's doing inside his workshop but I didn't think the need to arm the fucking door with explosives was the way to go. But yeah, Mr. Cuervo and I almost beat the shit out of him when we discovered that it was just wired with a fart bomb but to be completely fair, we shouldn't underestimate stink in an enclosed space.

"WHAT'S UP, BRO?!" Jericho, a.k.a. Ecko, came in for a huge hug before locking it in with a fist bump.

"Great, great! Mr. Cuervo and I were just wondering about our little—"

"Little? You're one funny dude, aren't ya?"

"Did you do it though?"

"Heh. Arming a hundred drones with 'wacky' putty? Arming it wasn't an issue, controlling it— well~ it wasn't an issue too but it's just a lot of fucking work, y'know? I had to make a program for each of their movements to go individually, by clusters of three, five, or ten, or like a big fucking unit once a target is locked on! You can control it manually too via a single controller or multiple ones if you wanna give your group the freedom to use them as they wish."

Mr. Cuervo was a little unconvinced, "Really~?"

I chuckled, "How lethal though?"

Jericho rolled his eyes, "Dude. A bit of C4's already too fucking much, why would you send a hundred or even a cluster of five against a single target? Ah— Scratch that, that's why you gave me the freedom to make them like that so you'd have the freedom to use them as you wish… But anyway, you drained my workshop of all my mats so you gotta replenish them one way or another, alright? Making drones from scratch ain't cheap! I had to DIY a lot of them too! Like 70%! And I haven't even started on the PipBoi! The workload's just too much!"

"Can't you just assign the easy stuff to other people—"

"Haah?! *imitates buzzer noise* Ain't no way I'm trusting them with something this delicate and volatile! Wanna blow the whole area?!"

"Okay, okay, I apologize for working you too hard but give me a rundown on how it works and how would we be able to deploy each one. And are they mobile? I mean, can we take it out on expeditions or is it just a home protection type of thing?"

Jericho glanced at me and for a moment, he looked like he wanted to choke the living shit out of me:

"I'm sure YOU'LL find a way to take them out but it's pretty hard to have a proper container for a hundred drones unless you're fucking prepared to hitch a trailer with ya. I'd really recommend this for a scare tactic or the last hurrah for a home defense but if you're taking this out, I'd recommend just a handful unless you're trying to clear a mega horde of sorts— Right! I forgot about the hover feature!"

"Hover feature?"

As soon as I asked that, Ecko dove back into his den, fished out a tracker of sorts, and stuck it into his forehead before going into an app from his phone. To our surprise, a small drone flew in silently and hovered around the tracker without making contact but Mr. Cuervo and I were several steps back because we could clearly see where the C4 was sticking out and one mistake would end our stories just like that.

Jericho started laughing, "C'mon, guys! I haven't even armed it! What are you two so scared of?"

"How'd you think we would know that?!/ Yeah! And for the record, I believe I told you to work on this in the workshop in the basement! Not in this one! What if you blow up my kids?!"

"Right! But our enemies shouldn't know that they're armed, right?!"

"Sure…"

Mr. Cuervo couldn't believe he got ignored, "Did you even hear a word I said?!"

"DiD I bLoW u uP??? HmmMMMM?!"

"Pfft…"

"One of these days…"

In any case, Jericho showed us more of this hover system of sorts, and right now, it was a pretty blank slate for a surveillance system. Because if we're just talking about surveying each of our guy's POVs, our body cams were already enough for that. However, this was a door to endless possibilities because one example was if the person "on the chair" needed to see more than the POV of the person the drone was hovering on, the drone could literally be the eyes to the back of its head, its temple, its crotch, etc.

'Like an extra set of eyes you can pluck out and survey the land or a fail-safe to a horde if you attach a sound system instead… or both..'

But yeah, modding our drones was definitely a story for another day but the two wouldn't believe me when I let them keep the drones I requested for their use to bolster up this place's defenses.

"A-Are you serious, Hermano?! This…"

"Duuuude! I did several all-nighters just to get this done! WHAT THE FUCK?!"

"Do you even have a regular sleep schedule?"

"No— Point taken. I'll give you that—"

"Hah! See what I mean?"

"Hermano, are you really sure you'll leave us those—"

I waved them off, "The C4 will be a hit in my reserves but this is one of those things you'd wish to not use but be happy to have lying around. You get what I mean? Besides, as much as I love to keep the prototype, I do want to make all of them uniform—"

"HAAH?! YOU CRAZY, BRO?! WHAT WOULD THAT DO?!"

"OCD, sorry…"

"Ah, fuck… Of course, of course… You're really gonna let us keep them?"

"For the nth time— Yeah, I'm sure. Trust me, you need it more than I do."

"Do you at least need the app or one of the trackers? It's very easy to do but it'll save you a bit of time if you base your designs on one of them?"

"That's—"

Then Jericho plucked the tracker from his forehead and threw it over to me, "Just take it, alright?! I already feel guilty about taking back the brick of coke and now you gave me a fun project then gave me all the spoils! Have at least that!"

"Okay, okay," I said as I pocketed the tracker he made before I stared him dead in the eyes, "If you start sending me weird shit because you'll know my exact address once we get home, I'll come for you, alright?"

"Prick! You think we're not bros, huh?! I'll come for you too if you I don't see my IGN in your prototypes!"

I chuckled, "So, that's what you're after, huh?"

"We're building a legacy, alright?! WE! Don't reinvent the wheel, make use of the tracker your buddy sent ya!"

Mr. Cuervo shook his head, "I thought we'd be square the moment you get back but it seems like I'm drowning in my debt to you…"

"Don't worry about it but yeah, I'd hate to say it but I guess I'm gonna leave Major Perez by your side and a few others to the family house. I'm thinking of splitting the cadets soon too but I'll let them stick together for a while and let them decide after a few weeks on where they want to stay in. Can you help me with that?"

"No problem, I'll be taking good care of them and I'll try to keep them out of trouble."

"And do put them to work as you see fit, but let them know that they're not untouchable. You can keep them out of trouble but there should be limits and standards to uphold if they're gonna live here under my name."

"Got it. So… You're probably leaving now?"

"I guess so, yeah…"