Author's note: It's another potential season two episode with unrealistic depictions of technology. At least I hope if the show went another season the Burners would get a little smarter about how they fought back.

Motorcity

Burners' Garage

Kane's latest broadcast came on just as Chuck was about to finish level twenty without a save point in sight. Reluctantly he turned his attention to the bombastic man on screen. Maybe this would be one of the times Kane accidentally dropped some useful information into his bragging and belittling. No such luck, by the time the broadcast ended the Burners were none the wiser about what Kane would do next.

"Would it kill him to give some details on how he plans to destroy us?" Mike grumbled.

"What, like a date and time instead of just 'Soon'?" Dutch asked.

Chuck looked back at his computer screen where his avatar had died in vain. "Someone should interrupt his life with stupid broadcasts sometime, see how he likes it."

"That's a great idea! People in Deluxe have no idea what it's really like in Motorcity." Julie said.

Chuck backpedaled. "Eh, I'm not sure I-"

"Of course you can, remember you hijacked his signal before," Mike nodded.

"I guess I can try something," Chuck said.

It looked like he wouldn't be getting back to his game anytime soon. When he'd said somebody he'd meant somebody else.

Chuck had hoped the other Burners would forget about it, but they hadn't. They were being infuriatingly helpful instead. Julie downloaded a file of frequency codes, Texas offered to be the star and Dutch got him a video camera.

"Can't I just use the camera from my comscreen?" Chuck asked.

"No, this has much better resolution. Your stuff is going to be on the 40 foot high screens in Deluxe City Center; you don't want it to look grainy." Dutch assured him.

"Gee, thanks." 40 foot high screens? As if he weren't nervous enough already.

Since there was no avoiding it Chuck decided to film something. He took the camera to the Friday night cruise and got some good shots, he taped Mutt on the test track and filmed a drag race on the cableways.

Then he just needed to put it all together and add some narration. He hated the way his voice sounded on tape. Was it really so nasal and high pitched? Maybe he could adjust the recording, and deepen it just a little bit.

By the day of the preview viewing he just wanted to stop thinking about his short film. He'd taken some time off fine-tuning his signal hijacking program to help Mike and Dutch repair Mutt.

Mike examined the car. "I think the front axel's broken."

"Of course, the front axel's broken; that's what happens when you drive over road debris instead of going around it." Chuck commented.

"Is it movie time yet?" Texas asked, bringing in a bucket of popcorn.

"Just waiting on the girls," Mike called back.

Girls? "You invited Claire?" Chuck asked.

"You're welcome," Mike said. Behind him Chuck watched 9lives pull into the garage. Julie got out and, yes, Claire was there too. Okay, now Chuck was nervous again.

"So what's this movie we're watching?" Claire asked. The gang settled down on the couch and Texas passed around the popcorn.

"It's Chuck's promo," Julie said.

"Really, Chuck made it?" Claire said, peering at him.

"Eh, Heh, heh, it's nothing really," Chuck said, queueing up the film.

90 seconds later it was over. Mike, Dutch and Julie applauded.

"That was really short. I barely started my popcorn." Texas complained.

"It has to be short. They'll probably cut it off before the end anyway," Chuck said.

"So what did you think, Claire?" Julie asked.

"That's it, really?" Claire asked sharply. She took a breath and then continued more gently. "Look, not everyone is interested in cars. You're not trying to impress other gearheads. You're trying to impress the people in Deluxe, right? And it's not like you don't have others things you could show: the waterslide, that neighborhood where people actually make vintage look cool, the restaurant plaza,"

Dutch perked up, "The Cablers' Settlement, the Heidelberg project,"

"The Motown shrine, the Ambassador Bridge," Julie said, continuing the thread.

"The pie rack at Antonio's," Texas chimed in with a dreamy expression on his face.

"Tex, stop thinking with your stomach. We're being serious," Dutch said.

"No he's right," said Claire. "You should highlight that. There are no desserts in Deluxe."

"Okay, so Chuck needs more footage," Mike said. "Julie can take him to get the shots, and Claire can go along as our Deluxe expert."

Claire side-eyed Mike. "Okay, fine. It's better than just hanging out in the garage."

"Great idea, Texas will come with."

"Nope I need you to, uh, help me replace the axel on Mutt." Mike said grabbing Texas by the collar.

"But they're getting pie."

"They'll save you a slice."

Chuck didn't know how to feel. On the one hand he was going out to see the sights with Claire (and Julie). On the other hand not only was his first attempt at a video a flop, but everyone expected him to make another one.

So far Claire hadn't said anything. She sat in the passenger side refreshing her lipstick while Julie drove toward Lake Erie. Chuck didn't know what to say either, so he sat in the back and went over the camera settings for the umpteenth time.

Julie was the one to break the silence. "So who'd you get to narrate?"

"Uh, that was me," Chuck said.

"Really? You did a great job disguising your voice," Julie said. "I never would have recognized it."

"Thanks," Chuck said halfheartedly. She'd meant it as a compliment; he might as well take it as one.

Two hours later they were at a street market. While the girls were at a vendors cart examining jewelry Chuck went over his new footage. He had to admit there was more variety now. However to pull it all together he'd need a new angle. He knew cars, but an entire city was more complicated.

The girls walked back over. "I need to take Claire back to Deluxe. Did you get any good shots?"

"Yeah, I think," Chuck said. He noticed Claire had a new pair of earing in her hand. "Those look nice." Did they? He had no idea but girls liked compliments right?

"Thanks, but I don't know where I'm going to wear them."

"Next time you come down here," Julie said, unlocking the car.

"Maybe. Today was like actually fun for a change," Claire said.

"Does this mean you're admitting to liking Motorcity?"

"Some of it. In small doses. But next girls' day we are going to the spa."

Finally Chuck had something worth broadcasting. Hijacking Kane's Morning Report signal wasn't that hard. He'd done it before. The problem was keeping Kane-Co from closing down all the screens before he finished. He made it almost to the end of his video. He'd had to code furiously to get that far. Next time would be even harder.

Detroit Deluxe

Pod 3756

Mary's thoughts had started to drift during the Morning Report, but she was jerked back to attention when a strange voice intoned, "This is Motorcity." Huh, it looked colorful, but dingy. Everything was in need a good scrubbing and better lighting. Why would anyone want to live there? Wait was that pie? How long had it been since she'd had pie, or anything with sugar for that matter? And was that pizza? The pirate broadcast cut off in a fizz of static. Mary stared glumly down at her breakfast food cubes.

Motorcity

Burners' Garage

"Everyone is talking about your broadcast. You've got their curiosity peaked at least. What are you going to do for a follow up?" Claire asked from Chuck's comscreen.

"I was thinking maybe I could do a profile on Mike or something," Chuck said.

Claire pursed her lips. "Bad Idea. People in Deluxe don't like him."

"Well maybe if they got to know him they would," Chuck protested. "He could tell his side of the story."

"Okay, I can't deny Mike has definite charm. When you're talking with him face to face he can get you to do all sorts of things, like store filthy cars in your pod. But if your main experience with him is that he's the reason there was that massive traffic jam on Thursday-"

"That wasn't our fault!" Chuck interrupted.

"Doesn't matter, you still got blamed for it. You say these broadcasts are about the Burners people will tune out."

Seeing his downcast expression she softened. "First you get people hooked; then maybe you can start adding in the good stuff you do down there. But ease into it. Now is Julie done yet?"

Chuck looked over at the bay where the rest of the gang was working on 9 lives. "Almost. Looks like they just need to finish fixing the smokescreen generator."

Claire rolled her eyes. "Just tell her to meet me at the party. I don't want to be late." And she signed out.

Chuck looked back over at the bay. He should probably help out. A minor explosion and a large puff of smoke enveloped the yellow car. Or he could stay right where he was. After all now he had to plan out broadcast two from scratch.

It was strange to Chuck that there were people who didn't like Mike. He was used to almost everyone liking Mike, and liking him more than they did Chuck.

Chuck had met Mike when he was bumped up from first to second grade midway through the year. Second grade was a little less boring but he was still the smartest kid in the class, and now he was the smallest as well. It was not a good combination. When Mike found out they were from the same pod complex he decided they should be friends. In fact Mikey had helped the whole class get along. (Everyone had called him Mikey then.)

Back then Chuck had been sure that Mike was cooler because he was older. That he'd be that cool too when he was bigger. He had grown bigger, taller than Mike even, but he didn't think he'd ever be as cool. Or as brave. Mike had had his whole world fall apart twice and was still brave enough to treat life like a game. Chuck had never known a great loss and was routinely terrified.

Sometimes it was hard to be Mike's friend. Chuck often felt he came off badly in comparison. Mike so was effortlessly good at everything. Even cars, which had been Chuck's thing first, but it turns out all the racing games in the world couldn't prepare him for actual driving.

Well, Chuck thought looking back at his broadcast transmitter, Mike wasn't good at everything. Computers were something Chuck was good at, better than anyone else. Maybe this was something he could do to help the team.

Chuck's second attempt was much less successful. He interrupted Kane's news of the week but the Kane co techs had upped their game and he couldn't hold the signal for more than a few seconds at a time.

So he was using it to add . . . commentary to Kane's news broadcasts. When Kane talked about how dangerous Motorcity was Chuck cut to some kids playing stickball. Kane bragged about his new generation of bots and Chuck showed some shots from last week's Robo Roundup. It was satisfying to watch Kane turn purple on camera, but it wasn't as good as a real broadcast and Chuck knew it.

Kane-co was blocking outside transmissions, but what if the signal came from inside? Next time Chuck could try to bounce it around the Kane-co system, and avoid the blockers at broadcasting. He envied the ancient hackers who'd had a whole world of networks to bounce signals off of instead of one city.

Motorcity

Thurman's living room

The high council of Raymanthia was having a rare OOC meeting to discuss next weekend's campaign when Chuck let it slip that he hadn't drawn up a plan because he was too busy with filming. His friends hadn't been upset at all. Instead they'd been enthralled.

"You're the one who interrupted Kane! That was epic!" Thurman said.

"Uh yeah," Chuck said sheepishly. He hadn't thought that when he'd interrupted Kane's broadcast it wouldn't only be people in Deluxe who'd see it.

"You should do something on us," Phillip added.

"I was thinking maybe I could shoot a little of the next war. But would people in Deluxe be interested in LARPing?" Chuck asked.

Thurman shrugged. "I dunno what people in Deluxe would be interested in. We left when I was like three. I think I remember riding in pod, but that's about it."

"Why don't you do a serial story instead?" Ruby asked.

"Great idea," the Oracle said. "A plot will make people interested. Cliffhangers will get them hooked."

"Make sure you have lots of adventure, and maybe some romance," Ruby said.

"I've got the perfect story," said the Oracle, and he began to spin a tale. The story was both intriguing and familiar.

"Wasn't that our campaign 2 weeks ago?" Chuck asked.

"No it isn't."

"Yeah, you just changed the orcs into grunt bots," Thurman said.

"What, no, shut up."

"I think I'm going to stick with documentary for now." Chuck said. "You know, show off the unique places in Motorcity."

"Oooh, how about the Wish Garden?" Ruby said.

"I used to go there when I was a kid," Sam piped up.

"So last week then?" Phillip asked.

The wish garden was a small patch of color where some dirt had been carefully positioned under one of Deluxe's building vents to take advantage of a few hours of sunlight a day. There was grass, bright yellow flowers and puffy white ones.

Ruby reached out and picked one of the white ones.

"Are you supposed to do that?" Chuck asked.

"Of course," she said. "That's how you get more. She closed her eyes momentarily (making a wish he realized) and then gently blew on the flower. It fractured, scattering seeds, and each floated back into the garden on a tiny parachute of fluff.

Dandelion, his memory supplied. He'd read about them before.

"Wait," he said, focusing the camera. "Can you do that again?"

Detroit Deluxe

Senior Living Center

Brian remembered dandelions. Years ago, before Deluxe, He'd had a house with a lawn. When he was a young man he'd hated the things, and ruthlessly pulled them out. Then during the long drought he hadn't bothered, glad to have any living thing in the yard. Now he found himself actually missing the weeds, the dirt, everything about his old house. It was funny how when you live long enough your feelings change. He looked around his sterile, clean pod. Of course, Detroit Deluxe had been for the best. He was too old and arthritic to care for a lawn now, but it would be nice to see to nature again outside of a film.

Motorcity

Jacob's Supermarket

Word got out that he was behind the Motorcity broadcast and for the first time in his life Chuck was popular. Unfortunately, it was the kind of popular where people wanted you to do things for them. So he wasn't too excited when Jacob told him he had a guest waiting at the store.

The woman waiting for him was gorgeous and glamorously dressed but when he got closer Chuck realized that she had at least ten years on his mother. His enthusiasm flagged even more.

Texas, on the other hand, seemed just short of squealing with delight. "Dude, it's Desdemona." When Chuck looked at him blankly Texas continued, "You know, from Love under the Dome."

"From what now?" Mike asked.

"It's this totally awesome soap opera . . . that I used to watch when I home sick. Just because it was the only thing on in the middle of the day, not cuz I liked it or anything." Texas tried to feign disinterest but he was still practically bouncing with excitement.

Chuck hadn't paid much attention to the Motorcity public access channels. They mostly broadcast static and ancient sitcoms. Apparently they also had some original programs besides the news.

"Hello," his guest said extending her hand. "I'm Martha Blake and I'm here on behalf of Love under the Dome."

"Yeah, Texas said you play one of the characters," Chuck said.

Martha smiled "I don't just play one. I usually play Desdemona Watkins brilliant neurosurgeon and devoted mother, but sometimes I get to play Diana, her evil twin, or her murderous robot double, or the clone the Watkins sisters Dr. Caligari grew in his lab. Oh, and one season I got to play Mona, her time-traveling great grandmother."

"That sounds complicated," said Chuck. Maybe he should start watching this show.

"Let me get right to the point. We'd like to broadcast the show to Deluxe." Martha said.

"It's not like I have a network. I'm just temporarily hijacking the Deluxe signal," Chuck protested. "I can only get a minute or two of airtime."

Martha's face fell but then she brightened up. "A minute would be fine. If people get a taste of Love Under the Dome maybe they'll want to tune into Access Detroit to see more."

"Would they do that?" Chuck asked.

Martha nodded. "We already have a few signal hackers. Marketing doesn't like it because they can't be targeted with ads, but an artist wants to be seen."

Chuck thought about what the Oracle had said about continuing storylines hooking people. Maybe this wasn't a bad idea. "Submit a thirty second sizzle reel, and I'll see what I can do."

Martha left happy. Chuck wished it were that easy to pawn off all the people who suddenly wanted to be Deluxe-famous. Could it be?

He looked around at the other Burners. "Guys, let's put out the word. I'm now accepting submissions for the broadcast."

"Short submissions." He amended. "5-10 seconds of what they think is great about Motorcity."

The request for submissions was more successful than Chuck had expected. On the bright side he didn't have to film as much. This was good because he was now spending all his free time sorting through other people's films. He'd gotten the rest of the Burners to help. Instead of spending Friday night watching a movie they were all going through individual shorts and occasionally putting good ones on screen.

"Another audition tape?" groaned Dutch. "Why would someone think the best thing about Motorcity is them trying to juggle?"

"We're not putting that in unless we do my sweet Muay Thai kicks," Texas said.

"This isn't supposed to be about you," Dutch said.

"Yeah, well you submitted art," Texas countered.

"It wasn't my art!" Dutch protested.

"Aww, look at the kitty," Julie interrupted them, enlarging the clip she was watching.

Chuck winced, and kept his eyes down.

Mike looked over. "It's okay, Buddy; He's full grown."

"He's adorable, is what he is," Julie said replaying the video of a cat playing with a box. "You have to use this one."

Chuck sighed and added it to the list.

Detroit Deluxe

Pod Plant C

Jose greeted Ernie as they took their places on the assembly line. He waited until the supervisor was had passed, and then he said, "See the Motorcity Broadcast this morning?"

Ernie nodded. "I couldn't believe it. I thought cats were extinct."

"I was always a dog person myself," said Joe. "I used to have a terrier when I was a kid. I wonder if they still those down there."

Motorcity

Burners' Garage

People didn't just have film submissions. Everyone had an opinion. If it wasn't on what Chuck was filming it was on how he was filming. He pretended to listen to Dutch lecture about static and dynamic camera angles. Finally Chuck said, "But it isn't supposed to be a movie; it's supposed to look true to life. I don't want to it to look like it came out of some Deluxe studio."

Dutch threw his hands up in the air. "At least use the tripod. You don't want to make people motion sick."

The alarms went off. Chuck looked at the display. "Bots over Foxtown."

Dutch's head jerked up. "That's a populated area."

"Okay team, double time." Mike called out and they piled into their cars.

A minute later Chuck sat in the passenger seat looking at the attack growing closer through the windshield. This was a familiar sight, but one he never quite got used to. "Wait, stop the car! You need to let me out."

Concerned, Mike looked over at him. "It's just a grunt bot attack, Buddy. You'll be fine."

That wasn't what he was getting at. "I can film it better from here." Chuck said, grabbing his camera.

"You sure?" Mike asked as he applied the brakes.

"You're going to be drawing their fire and I have a zoom lens," Chuck said. Now he just needed to get out of the car quickly before he came to his senses.

As Chuck watched Mutt zoom away he tried not to think about how he was now completely exposed. Sometimes during fights he doubted how much protection the glass and steel of the car would provide but now he didn't even have that. He was grateful for the tripod since his hands were shaking so badly he could barely attach it to the camera.

Bots shooting at buildings, Burners shooting at bots, from this distance you could almost pretend it was a fireworks display. Almost.

That was part of the truth too. This way of life was under constant attack.

He'd certainly got Kane's attention. The next Detroit Deluxe broadcast was about what a horrible, unsafe dump Motorcity was. There were even some shots of the city although most of it had been filmed in the safety of a Kane-Co studio and touched up with CGI. After it was over Chuck sat at the counter with his head in his hands.

"Look at this way. If Kane is directly responding that means he's worried." Mike said, trying to cheer Chuck up.

"And he isn't responding by trying to blow things up. That's progress" Julie added.

"But what am I supposed to say to that?" Chuck asked. "I can't say we don't have mutant rats because we do."

Jacob wiped his hands on his apron. "Abraham always was good at propaganda, even back in the old days."

"Do you still have any of that?"

Detroit Deluxe

Broadcast Studio

Kane ended the live portion of his daily news report, and gave a sigh of relief when the broadcast cut to commercial. Those Motorcity miscreants hadn't hacked in today. He was halfway out the door when it finally registered what his own recorded voice was saying. ". . . ample greenspaces for recreation and relaxation. . ."

He rushed back into the studio where he found the techs gazing at a picture of a much younger Mr. Kane on the screen. ". . .and with your pod you can create your own customized living space with a color scheme and décor to match your personality. . ."

"Don't just stare at you imbeciles. Shut. It. Down." Kane growled.

Back in Motorcity Chuck cracked his knuckles and leaved back in satisfaction. It had taken him all night to convert the old files, but it had totally been worth it.

Motorcity

Michigan State Fairgrounds

Most of the Burners were enjoying the Fair but Chuck had been recording footage all day. It was okay, it gave him a good excuse to avoid the thrill rides. He had even pulled off his first live broadcast. He was particularly proud of the timing. He interrupted a kanemerical urging people to work harder with a view of Motorcitizens having fun on the midway. Dutch was helping him was take down his equipment when the Duke interrupted them.

"You broadcasts are adequate, but if you want to take it to the next level you need star power."

"Actually, I'm trying to focus on the city not any one person or gang," Chuck said.

The Duke draped himself over the transmitter and leaned his head back. "Maybe I'm not making myself clear. You need me."

"You already have your own channel," Dutch protested.

"Please, that's just public access; a voice like mine is made for the big leagues, all the screens. Just think every living person could soak in the wonder that is moi."

Chuck repressed a shudder.

"I will graciously donate my time to one of your little shows, but I'll need at least an hour." The Duke continued, leaning on the transmitter and stalling any attempt by Chuck and Dutch to pack up and leave.

"The thing is I'm not running shorts because that's all I can come up with; I'm running shorts because they cut off my broadcasts as soon as they can." Chuck said. How often did he have to explain it?

Duke sighed, but got up. "I still think you're holding out on me, but if you prefer your little shows so be it."

Dutch watched the Duke leave. "How much more attention does he need anyway?"

The next day Burners were driving back from picking off a few bots when Julie's icon popped up on Mutt's dash.

"Hey, Jules," Mike said. "You manage to get off early today?"

"No, but somethings going on up here." Her cat eared icon swiveled to the passenger side. "Chuck, did you agree to televise a concert for the Duke?"

"What, no why would I do that?" Chuck asked.

"Well, check your feed because he's on it right now."

With a few keystrokes Chuck had the feed up. Sure enough his screen was filled with what looked like an impromptu rock concert. He tried to cut it off but he couldn't pin down the signal. His mind raced back to the day before. The Duke had been leaning on the transmitter. Had he taken anything? Chuck's own rerouting algorithms were being used against him.

The Burners redirected toward the Duke's territory with the Duke himself providing an unwelcome soundtrack. "The Duke's halfway into his second song shouldn't the Deluxe techs have been able to cut him off by now?" Dutch asked.

"Maybe someone on the staff is a fan," Mike suggested.

"They're tracking the signal!" Chuck cried. "Drive faster. we have to stop him."

Mike looked at his friend in surprise and then caught Chuck's expression and floored it.

Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Chuck mentally chanted as the Duke went into an extended bridge on his screen.

Finally, just as Mutt screeched to a halt on the Duke's driveway the music cut off. Chuck had a bad, bad feeling about that. There was a tightness in his chest he could no longer blame on the acceleration g-forces.

When the Burners piled in the door of his mansion the Duke greeted them cheerfully. "Perfect timing. Your little transmitter thingy broke. I need you to fix it so I can finish my set." He gestured to a camera hooked up to a computer system in the corner.

Chuck went over to the system, ignoring the loud argument his friends were having with the Duke. There was Chuck's rerouter. He halfhearted tested it. Nothing. It was useless now. The Deluxe techs had figured out its secrets. He wanted to burst into tears. He'd worked so hard. And now it was gone. He stood up slowly. "Let's just go."

"But he needs to know he can't take other people's stuff." Texas protested.

"That wouldn't fix it. I need to get back to my own system and run some tests."

Chuck trudged out the door. His teammates exchanged worried looks and followed.

After a silent ride back home Chuck tried to crack the system again. All of Deluxe's back doors were shut down tight. Eventually he gave up for the night. Maybe in the morning after some sleep and breakfast he'd have better luck.

He'd figure out how to get back in eventually. After all, the people of Motorcity still needed a voice. The people of Deluxe still deserved to know what was really going on.

Detroit Deluxe

Broadcast studio

The next morning Kane grinned as he started the Daily report. "I am pleased to announce that yesterday's airwave interruption will be the last of its kind. Kane-co has solved the problem like always. Now let's go to preparations for the upcoming Kane Day celebration." The interruption was quick, no more than two seconds, but the picture that flashed on the screen wasn't the Kane-co commons. It was Motorcity. Quick readers in the audience had been able to make out the words We'll be back scrawled across it. When the camera returned to Mr. Kane he was beet red and glared at his producer. "End transmission".