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Standing outside the brewery’s loading yard, H3x could hear her puppets moving quietly around inside, safely secured behind a locked door. She checked the neural hacking interface that she used to monitor them. There were 261 CyMS spread across three floors of the brewery, all ready to do her bidding.

H3x had been sleeping in a pickup truck outside, awaiting further instructions from Lady Rose. She had equipped the truck with a mattress and some food and had even found some bottles of pale ale lying around. Currently sitting in the back of the pickup, she reached for a bottle and levered the cap off with her knife.

"Got one for me?" said Gudu, emerging from a nearby alleyway. The brewery was only two minutes’ walk from Rose’s headquarters. 

H3x retrieved another bottle and handed it over. She had initially felt frightened by the tough Indonesian enforcer, but the pair had become quite friendly. It seemed to H3x that they were both a little more independent than the likes of Fei and Little Jenny.

"Anything from the boss?"

Gudu shook her head as she swigged beer. "How are your puppets?"

"Ready and waiting."

Gudu leaned back against the pickup. "You know, I was talking to Rhino earlier — about everything Rose has got stashed away. She keeps promising to make us multimillionaires, but, somehow, it never quite happens. She’s the one that controls the cash, the gold, the food, the guns."

"I guess."

"She controls the Red Dragons. So, she has the power," added Gudu.

"I guess."

"A bit like your army," said the enforcer, nodding at the door. "You control them. So you have the power."

----- 

H3x spent the rest of the day alone, reflecting on Gudu’s words. She had always been independent; never afraid to act if it was to her benefit. The more she thought about it, the more she resented Lady Rose, who did indeed seem to exploit her subordinates without ever following through on her promises.

My invention changed everything. If I can control the CyMS, why the hell am I sleeping on a dirty mattress in the back of a pickup? Why am I taking orders from someone not even close to being my intellectual equal? I could rule this whole damn city if I wanted to!

And then came an opportunity. The following day, Lady Rose decided to check on her nearby properties, and she needed some security to do so. To go along with Little Jenny, H3x used 20 of her puppets to provide a cordon. Each CyMS was armed with some kind of weapon: bricks, planks, lengths of metal scaffolding.

"This is very pleasant," announced Rose, adjusting the collar of a slinky scarlet coat. "I don’t remember the last time I went out for a walk."

H3x was stationed to her left, Jenny to her right. H3x kept the CyMS in formation with a few subtle hand gestures. On the side of her head, tiny blue lights flashed as her neural hacking interface did its work. 

They had already visited a bank and a gym, where Rose had sentries on duty. When they turned into a side street, heading for SUPER BUYS, H3x triggered the instruction she had programmed that morning.

The CyMS abruptly stopped and turned inward, all raising their weapons. As Lady Rose and Little Jenny halted, H3x backed away to give herself some space.

"What’s going on?" asked Lady Rose as she turned.

H3x was determined to stay cool, even though her mouth felt terribly dry. "I’ve been thinking. About control. About power. Seems to me that I have it now."

"How interesting," said Rose coolly. "And what exactly do you intend to do with it?"

Little Jenny didn’t seem too interested in the answer. She raised her TEK 9 and aimed it at H3x.

"No need for that, Jen," said Lady Rose, gesturing to her bodyguard.

Little Jenny reluctantly lowered the weapon.

"Well?" asked Rose, now walking towards H3x. "Or perhaps you haven’t thought all this through." She placed her right hand in the pocket of the coat.

"Hands where I can see them," ordered H3x, her voice wavering. Using the neural interface, she took control of a single puppet nearby. She was about to order it towards Lady Rose when the CyMS — and all the others — suddenly became still. Their heads dropped. H3x was beginning to realize she had made a terrible mistake, one that might easily lead to her death.

She couldn’t understand what had gone wrong with her control of the CyMS.

Lady Rose produced a small cubic device from her pocket and held it up. "From my new friends at Cynfo Tech. They know about the puppets — they’ve been working on a way to disrupt your program. It seems loyalties can change very quickly these days."

Little Jenny lumbered forward and gripped H3x’s arm, forcing her down onto her knees. "What shall we do with her?" 

Lady Rose prised a piece of wood from the limp fingers of a nearby CyMS and walked up to H3x. She thumped it into her palm, then rested the end of the timber on the hacker’s shoulder. H3x felt sure that the wood was about to smash into the side of her face. 

"We commend her on her ambition," said Lady Rose. "And ask her what she thinks will happen if she ever betrays me again."

"You … you’ll kill me."

At a nod from her leader, the smirking Jenny hauled H3x to her feet.

Lady Rose locked eyes with the rebellious hacker. "Good to see your judgment hasn’t entirely deserted you."

Next Story: 80. TMI the Matchmaker