Reggie double checked the coordinates to make sure they were in the right place. Even then he couldn't believe this was where this guy wanted to meet. In front of him was a cabin of sorts. Calling it a cabin was an overstatement. It was really a shed made of old boards that seemed to have been haphazardly put together in the shape of a building. It kind of reminded him of a clubhouse some kids would make together. The shed was no more than ten feet by ten feet and stood in a wooded area off the beaten path. Reggie was certain he wouldn't have noticed it if the coordinates weren't directing him here.

Reggie was surprised they made such good time getting here and since no one else seemed to be around, he figured they beat the mysterious stranger to it. "Looks like we were the first to arrive. I guess we just wait now." Just as he finished speaking, a rustling of leaves could be heard coming from nearby. Reggie, Hyacinth, Tegan, and Nel all turned in that direction ready for anything. After several seconds passed, nothing happened. Everyone relaxed slightly and a couple even laughed a little to themselves.

"Hey. You the guy with the documents?" The sudden break in the silence came from behind them causing them all to turn around simultaneously. Tegan had a small knife in her hand and Hyacinth had her staff at the ready. Standing a few feet away was what looked like a kid. They were barely as tall as Hyacinth and looked very young, though it was hard to tell with the hat on and the scarf wrapped around most of his face. The sudden movement of four adults seemed to surprise him and he tripped backwards and fell on his behind. "Don't hurt me," the boy squeaked out. This only made Reggie more certain he was a kid.

"You are the one running that website? You seem a little young. My name is Reggie and these are my friends Hyacinth, Tegan, and Nel." Each person nodded as they were introduced. Tegan had yet to put her knife away but had relaxed her stance once the kid fell down.

"I am not a kid, I am just short. You can call me Nico, I guess." Reggie gave Nico a hand which he accepted and pulled him back up to his feet. Nico brushed the leaves and dirt off his clothes then gestured for everyone to follow him as he headed to the shed. The inside looked just as haphazard as the outside. There was a workbench that Nico seemed to be using as a desk. There was an old computer and a few other electronics lying around.

Nico powered up the computer, which made Reggie wonder where the power was coming from. "Nico, how are you able to turn that on? Are you connected to the power grid somehow?"

"Nah, just have an old car battery with an inverter and a solar panel. Not the best but it works." Nico logged into the computer and pulled up a file labeled "lab". "This is all I have. I was able to get through their firewall a while back and grabbed anything I could find until the system kicked me out. I think they upgraded their security since then because I haven't been able to get back in." Reggie was impressed. Nico was able to do so much with hardly any resources.

"So you have internet access here, too?"

"Yeah." Nico sounded as if that much was obvious though Reggie didn't know how he was doing it.

"May I use the computer? I would like to see the files. I brought my laptop so you can use it to view my files." Reggie handed the laptop to Nico and took his seat. The files were very well organized and seemed to be much more comprehensive than what he was able to get. A lot of the files were from before the project began, including the original proposal and budget requirements. Reggie noticed there was nothing about safety, which was referenced in other documents. "Were you able to get the safety records this file refers to?" Nico looked at the document Reggie was pointing at and shook his head.

"I didn't get that far. Got booted too fast." Nico went back to reading the reports on the laptop. So the documents exist but weren't copied. Reggie really needed to get those files.

"So there is no way for you to get back into the system to get them?" Reggie was hopeful but Nico shook his head again as he looked down at the ground.

"Maybe if I had better equipment but I don't have money for that." Reggie was disappointed at first until he remembered his lottery windfall.

"So, if you had the equipment, you could do it?"

"Yeah, but it's not just a new computer. I also would need some other electronics and preferably a much quicker internet connection. Even if I had the money for all that, I would also need to upgrade my power system for all the new stuff." Reggie was beaming now. If money was the only issue, then this would be easy.

"Today is your lucky day, Nico. I am going to hire you to get those files for me, and pay for everything you need."

"W-What?" Nico was in shock. Reggie continued on anyway.

"I will cover all the costs, you just make a list of everything you need. You can get anything you need, don't worry about the budget." Nico was silent but his eyes were wide open as though he had seen a ghost. After a few seconds, he blinked and shook his head before responding.

"O-Ok, yeah. I will make a list." Nico seemed in a daze as he grabbed a notebook and began writing things down. As he wrote more, he appeared to get more and more excited as his pen moved faster and faster. He was still wearing the scarf but his eyes said everything Reggie needed to know. While he waited for Nico to make the list, Reggie went back to going through all the new documents.

***

Nico got the list done the same day but it took over a week to get everything delivered and installed. Reggie thought it would take longer since some of the things Nico wanted weren't easy to find, but it turns out when you can throw money at it things can be done pretty fast. The investigation at the Marlino Corporation was still going on and no new information had been released yet. By the time Nico's gear was up and running, the news had stopped reporting about the incident.

From the outside, the shack looked exactly the same. Like a stiff wind could knock it over at any time. The inside was way cooler. Reggie was pretty impressed with how it turned out. They upgraded the battery system, but the roof wasn't big enough to be able to keep it charged with solar panels and all the additional equipment wouldn't last more than half a day on the battery alone. When Reggie said they would have to add a connection to the power grid, Nico went on a long tirade about big government and how they use the power lines to monitor the citizens.

Once Hyacinth and Tegan were able to calm him down, Reggie asked for alternative suggestions. Nel wanted to use some sort of advanced magic that even Hyacinth had a hard time understanding but Reggie didn't want to tell Nico about all that yet. That was when Nico walked back in with an idea. "How about geothermal? The area has quite a few hot springs and I once heard about someone tapping into an underground heat source to power his garage. Maybe we could do something like that."

Reggie had heard of using geothermal heat for keeping a house warm but had no idea if they would be able to use it for power. "I guess it's possible. No harm in looking it up online, at least." Reggie was pleasantly surprised to find it was possible to generate power with geothermal but it was usually done on a large scale. This made him wonder how the guy Nico talked about was able to power his garage. "Nico, do you know how to get in touch with that guy that used it for his garage? Will probably be much faster than trying to figure it out ourselves."

"I can ask around. I heard it from some guy in an online message board for doomsday preppers talking about ways to power their underground bunkers off the grid." Reggie, Hyacinth, and Nel were not surprised by this, but Tegan was suddenly super interested in the conversation. She started going on about how important it was to be prepared and that it was a good idea to start stocking up on supplies "just in case".

"Ok, can you hold that thought a minute so Nico can find that guy? After that you two can go nuts and discuss the apocalypse all you want." Reggie made sure to keep Tegan from going off the rails with Nico before they got the information they needed. Tegan walked off in a huff after trying to glare Reggie into submission. Reggie was pretty sure that he was gonna get an earful from her later but didn't have time to waste. Luckily, Nico worked fast and got him the information a few minutes later before running after Tegan to rant about the end of the world.

"Do you think we should tell him about why we are doing all this?" Hyacinth was looking in the direction that Nico had gone a moment earlier. Reggie thought about it for a second before responding.

"I don't think we need to yet. I would like to wait a bit just to get to know him better. Also, I am not sure how he would take it, so best to hold off, I think." Hyacinth agreed, and so did Nel. Nico was a bit excitable to begin with so no reason to freak him out just yet.

"I am going to get in touch with this guy and see if we can meet. Anyone else want to come?" Hyacinth volunteered and left the shack with Reggie. Nel went to find Tegan and Nico to make sure they weren't doing anything crazy and said he would see them at home.

***

The geothermal guy's name turned out to be Gary, and he was extremely helpful. He invited Reggie and Hyacinth over right away and showed them his setup on the back of his garage. The garage was separate from the house and was never connected to power before Gary bought the place. He had wanted to use the garage as a workshop for his "inventions" as he called them. Reggie didn't ask about them for fear of being dragged into a long conversation about them that he didn't really want to hear.

Gary took them right to the "geothermal generator" as he called it. It just looked like a big metal box to Reggie, but apparently it did generate some power which Gary stored in a bank of batteries he made from several marine batteries. The explanation was very technical and Reggie couldn't really follow along so he just nodded as he listened to Gary tell them about it.

"Do you think you could make another one for us? We are trying to keep an outbuilding off grid and don't have room for solar." Reggie asked Gary if he could help them, once the conversation got to a natural pause.

"Yeah, I could probably build another one. I used mostly scrap parts I could get for free or could barter for." Reggie cut in before Gary went off on another story about finding parts.

"I can buy you whatever parts you need, so you wouldn't need to worry about any of that."

"Oh, then yeah, I could make another no problem. Would probably be even better than this one, too. I thought of some ways to make this one better but haven't been able to find the parts for free this time." Gary seemed pretty excited to make another one and started going on about how he would like to make his current one better. Hyacinth sighed heavily, though Gary didn't seem to notice. Reggie patiently listened again and waited for a good time to interrupt.

"Ok, how soon can you get me a list of what you need? I am hoping to get started right away." Gary told Reggie to wait a second and ran back around the garage to get something. He didn't actually say that was what he was doing but Reggie assumed it was that. He turned out to be right when Gary came back a minute later with a folder.

"Here is everything I will need to make it. I get excited about projects, even though I can't usually build them. I always make a parts list, though. Just get everything from that folder and I can build you one." Reggie thanked Gary and they shook hands before Reggie and Hyacinth left. They rushed out of there as fast as they could without seeming rude so that they weren't dragged into another long explanation about the parts.