Mike and Merlany continue to sneak through the alley when a garage door suddenly opens behind them. A chubby boy in a mechanic's overalls with freckles and black hair styled into a potdo smiles at them from the garage.
"It took you quite a long time. And my drone is gone now too. But at least you're here now. Come in before someone sees you," the boy rattles off pretty quickly.
“And who are you anyway?” Merlany asks skeptically.
"Where are my manners! They call me Skid. I'm a - i mean - the local inventor."
“Then you built the drone we followed!” Mike interjects.
Skid just grimaces.
"Hell no! I would never build such a pitiful display of scrapmetal myself. I hacked one of the city's surveillance drones, installed a control interface, rebooted the movement system and overwrote the access code."
“What are you talking about, little one?” Merlany interrupts him.
"Well, about the drone. Come in and I can explain it to you in more detail."

They follow him inconspicuously into the garage. Some combat vehicles, wheeled drones, aerial drones and robot prototypes are in here. Merlany asks, unsure what to think of this situation.
"So Mister chubby guy-"
"Skid!" the boy interrupts her. She rolls her eyes.
"So Skid, what's going on here. Why are you bringing us here?"
"I need your help! I watched your fight with the Ironfists with the drone. You could do it."

“And what exactly do you want from us?” asks Mike, perplexed by Skid’s performance, “What could you need our help for?”

Skid's expression suddenly becomes dead serious.
"This city is a shithole. Since Bradford's Gauntlets got here, there's no way in or out. Only his shipments of weapons and steel leave the gates. The whole area is monitored by his drones. Decent scientists like my father are held by him in his factory. Bradford must go, and the Black Bolts are my only hope at the moment."
Mike puts on an unusually serious face.
"We are no longer Bolts. The two of us are here on our own initiative to settle accounts with the Gauntlets."
Merlany agrees, nodding. Skid looks thoughtful, but quickly begins to grin again.
"Then we have the same goal - roughly speaking. I want to take out Bradford to liberate the city, and you want to satisfy your street gang bloodthirst."
“What are you talking about?” Mike interrupts him.
"Street gang bloodlust, you know, beating out teeth, frying folks to death with lightning and your other atrocities. Violence stuff, you know"
"Dude, we're not soulless killing machines."
Skid's voice becomes soothing and he waves his hands distractingly.
"Be that as it may! It would be best if you first disable the signal tower at the central station. If its protocols are reset, the input frequency of my machines can no longer be overwritten and paralyzed!"
Merlany looks at Skid questioningly.
"And what's the point of all this?"
Skid's eyes begin to sparkle as he scans his drones.
"That means my creations won't break straight away like the hacked drone did. And that in turn means we have a force of armed, AI-controlled drones on our side to fight Bradford. Then I can finally complete 'Project L' in peace."
Mike looks at Skid even more confused than before. Before anyone can even ask, Skid says, "Have you seen the PALADIN? 'Project L' is the solution to those things, but as long as the radio tower is interfering with my signals, I can't calibrate the controls properly."

There's a brief silence in the room until Mike breaks the mold: "If I understand you correctly, chubbster, we're supposed to infiltrate a guarded facility, break something there so that you can send out a robot whose sole purpose is to destroy the enemy's robot and to cause mass destruction."
"Correct!"
Merlany looks at Mike in shock: "This is insanity! Cut me out of this..."
But he just smiles, unimpressed.
"Sounds fun, we'll do it"
"Mike, have you lost your mind?"
"You wanted to fry these robot chickens, here's your chance."
Merlany crosses her arms and looks away from Mike.
"You're clearly deranged"
Meanwhile, Skid is digging something out of a drawer. He brings the two of them a micro-floppy disk with a label 'PC→Toaster' on it.
"All you have to do is plug it into the port of the management computer, then leave it in for two seconds, pull it out, and the whole signal tower will be completely turned into scrap metal. But I would hurry up and run away. It could easily happen that all the electronics in the building catch fire...", Skid whispers with his hand held up, "...or the entire building blows up half the block in a short circuit."
Mike looks at the disk extensively. This little thing is designed to disable a building, or worse.
"Of course, I have also prepared a reward for you. Nobody likes to work for free. Once the signal tower is gone, you will each receive 10,000 credits. The money should easily keep you afloat for 2 to 3 months."
"And where does the money come from? I thought the Gauntlets took everything here?" asks Merlany skeptically.
"I don't work for free either. I got the money from Bradford because I...eh"
Mike stares at him impatiently.
“Ehhhhh,” Skid stammers.
"Spit it out, smartass!"
"I sold him a few technologies. Exoskeletons, lasers and the... Well... PALADIN MK. I, the predecessor of the current model. But I didn't know what the weirdos wanted to do with the stuff."
Merlany puts her hand on her forehead and shakes her head reproachfully.
“Is there anything else we should know about this break-in?” asks Mike thoughtfully.
Skid scratches the back of his head.
"Well, you should be able to deal with the Exo-Force police - the guys with the rifles you saw - and the Ironfists, drones and PALADINS should be out without the tower. After that, we'll have to deal with Bradford's commanders to avoid complications. A handful of his best fighters, but we'll organize that when the time comes. Now the transmission tower has priority. You can even see it from here, just mingle with the people, then you won't be noticed. When you're done, just come back here, but make sure no one follows you. We don't need any uninvited guests"
Mike nods in agreement and grabs Merlany by the shoulder.
"Well, we'll manage. These Gauntlets get what they deserve."
Skid grins overjoyed.
"I can't thank you enough, but now get out of here. We've never seen each other if anyone asks. Because they'll probably kill me as soon as they hear my name."
"Okay, got it!"
Mike and Merlany leave the garage. The gate closes quickly.
“Well, let’s go to the damn transmission tower,” grumbles Merlany as they look at the tower in the city center.