In a shot of sparks and an agonized scream, the plan went to shit. Ellie watched, equal parts horrified and mesmerized at the play of lights beneath Gregori's skin as the nanites teaming through his synapses overloaded, crackling, the scent of burning flesh making her gag as her teammate slumped forward. His eyes were open, but the warm glint he always had for her was absent. Dead, he was dead, and the drones would be coming for them soon. Tempy and Jazz were still inside, stranded outside the vault door where Gregori was supposed to bypass the building security.

"What the fuck happened!" Tempy's voice screeched in her ear, adding to the panic Ellie felt squeezing her chest.

"He–," she swallowed, losing her speech for a moment, unable to look into his now blank eyes.

He'd winked and smiled at her just moments before plugging into the interface. He was always an incorrigible flirt. "He's dead, Gregori's dead."

There was a pause. Ellie knew in that silence Tempy was selecting and disregarding what could be said in the moment. There was so much to say. There was nothing to say. A final gig, one that would let them retire from the business, one that would let them escape this life, but it came with all the high risks, all the deadly little pitfalls they normally avoided to stay alive. Tempy could have reminded her of that, could have told her any number of things that wouldn't have made a damn big of difference to how utterly effed they were and how dead Gregori was.

"Ellie," her voice slipped through the mic, smooth and soft. "Ellie, I need you to finish guiding us in."

She closed her eyes at that, feeling the cool jolt of adrenaline and fear wash through her in a cascading tingle. It was what her nanites were designed for, though they had a more subtle influence than her partners. They weren't designed for the sort of interface work of this security system. There was a near definite chance she would end up fried as well...

Biting her lip to keep it from trembling, she gently unplugged the port, letting Gregori's weight fall on her. She allowed herself one moment, one personal moment, sifting her fingers through his dark hair as she whispered her goodbye. She let his weight slip to the floor, easing him down before she forced his lids closed.

Despite the overload that had poured through the port, it was intact, not even a char mark to indicate what it had done to her friend. She had a theory of what happened, how it went so wrong.

If she was right, there could be a way to avoid it. If not, well, she couldn't think of that right now.

"Ellie?"

She took a shuddering breath, her hand shaking slight where it hovered, about to plug in the jack to the port in her neck. "I'm coming."

She closed her eyes for the next part, praying to the gods of ancient technology to keep her alive through the initial interface. "Oh great Billy Gates, protect me."

Ellie held her breath as her nanites embraced the building interface, trickling around and through the defenses, getting a feel for them. She exhaled. It was the subtle nature of her nanties that kept the defense system from striking at her like an irritated rattlesnake. Her touch was feather light, flitting fast and near invisible through the system.

"I can't power through," murmured Ellie. She could see it, squatting in the brilliant corridors of the system, a hacker's trap, a dark pulse designed to feedback into an invading system and overload it.

There was no way she could sneak by it without setting it off, no way in through the defense system without dying. Which left Tempy and Jazz stranded. She could feel the security system activating, sending for the drones that would corner her friends. Ellie refused to lose any more friends on this damn gig. She may not be able to overpower the defense system but she could stall the backup. She sent her own subtle pulse, dampening the call. It wouldn't do much more than provide a delay. It was still an invasive enough maneuver the hacker's trap sprang. She could feel the dark pulse speeding toward her. Ellie yelped and ripped from the port. This was going to take some true finesse they didn't have time for.

They would have to take the long way in.

Ellie didn't stop to overthink it. She nabbed a portable jack and dashed from the truck. There was no point in over thinking it, they simply wouldn't survive if she failed. She pumped her arms as she ran, pushing hard, her slight form whipping around corners, through the halls that Jazz and Tempy crept through earlier with careful stealth. There was no time for that now. No time. They should run, vault be damned.

Gregori was dead.

Ellie put her head down, pulling another burst of speed she didn't think she possessed as she tried to outrun the truth. Her friend was dead. She would get them in that vault because he'd died trying. She would make these bastards pay for his death.

Ellie skidded around the final corner, eyes widening as she stared down dual barrels of laser pistols before Tempy and Jazz relaxed the grip on their weapons.

"What are you doing here, sprite?" Jazz hissed as his eyes darted around the hall. Tempy didn't bother asking. She knew the limitations of Ellie's nanites. Instead she glanced at the handful of wires in Ellie's hand, her mouth setting into a thin line of resignation.

"We could run," she said softly.

Ellie shook her head. "I can do this."

The older woman's nostrils flared. "If you sense a hint of danger, you pull out, understand?"

Ellie didn't bother to answer, knowing the woman wouldn't like it.

Jazz's eyes darted between the two. "You're seriously letting her do this?"

Tempy met his gaze squarely. "She either does it surrounded by friends or alone."

Ellie let the two scowl and grumble at each other as she plugged herself into the buildings system. Not the security system, that way was suicide and despite her stubborn resolution she'd rather survive what she was about to do.

She eased in through the network, letting her nanites flow out of her into the system, taking her consciousness with them. They spread, weaving a web at they went, gossamer, unnoticeable. She needed a back door, to find a part of the building's structure she could influence without tripping the hacker's trap. Something security wouldn't bat a metaphysical eyelash at for operating after office hours.

A smile twitched her phantom lips as she saw her way in. Her nanites swarmed, flowing through one unsuspecting corner of the building's meta-structure, tip toeing directly beneath the security system's nose. It was a lengthy backward process, one Gregori would have laughed at her for doing as she crept around the system, infiltrating every part as she went through her little back door, leaving a small piece of herself as she went.

The hacker's trap had given her an idea. When they left this place, she would leave a trap of her own.

After several agonizingly long minutes, knowing their time ran ever shorter, the vault door clicked and slid open.

"Go, get in and out, we have two minutes," murmured Ellie, splitting her concentration between the astonished Tempy and Jazz as her nanites began their retreat through the building's system. It was crucial she left with the same finesse as she entered, carefully retracing her steps as Tempy and Jazz hustled by her. Distantly, her physical body could hear them as they scooped cred sticks and gold bars into their duffle bags. She shut out their frantic activity, easing back, easy, easy.

Ellie opened her eyes, her skin still tingling as her personal nanites settled back into her body.

Well, almost all of them.

"We have to go. Now," she said, snagging Jazz by the collar as she went. Tempy didn't hesitate but Jazz would push to the last second. There were no last seconds. The drones were closing in on them. She could feel their proximity through the scattering of nanites still in the building system.

They ran for the exit but Ellie already knew what was waiting for them.

"Tempy," she said, gasping as she ran. "Don't leave me here."

The older woman jerked to look at her, her mouth opening to speak when they burst from the building. Drones surrounded them, the shifting click of readying weapons echoing through the nearly empty parking garage. They were seconds from death. Ellie smiled.

Gregori would be proud of her for this. It was also going to hurt like a son of a bitch.

She closed her eyes, reaching for the lacing of nanites she'd left through the building's internal system and set off her own hacker's trap. The pulse rippled through the system in an overloading cascade, slamming into the security system like a wrecking ball as it went. The drones sparked and wobbled seconds before they clattered onto the pavement. Ellie had time to hear them fall as her mind went blank. She felt Jazz catch her as she fell, hearing him call her name as sank into black.

Ellie came to in the back of the moving truck. She turned her head, glancing at the shrouded figure of Gregori on the cot parallel to her. She swallowed the lump in her throat.

They'd survived.

"Welcome back kiddo," said Tempy, shifting her weight on the edge of the cot. She reached over and ruffled Ellie's hair. "You left quite a mark behind. It will take them months to rebuild that system."

"They deserved it," said Ellie. Tempy nodded in agreement, her gaze rueful as they stared together at Gregori's still form.

"How did you bypass that bastard of a security system?"

Ellie couldn't help a grin, wishing she could share the moment with Gregori. "Nobody ever notices the janitor."

Tempy shot her an incredulous gaze. "You snuck in through the cleaning system?"

Ellie nodded. "The garbage disposals operated on secondary system but were still attached to the grid. It was a much longer route but the security system never considered them a threat."

Tempy's eyes were sad as she laid a hand on Ellie's shoulder. "Greg always said you were brilliant."

Ellie blinked away the tears in her eyes. They'd succeeded. They'd pulled off the job that would allow them to get out of this life. Almost all of them. "Can we bury him on the beach."

Tempy wiped a tear from her cheek. "He wouldn't have it any other way."