(No one had a preference, so I flipped a coin to decide.)

PROGRAMS OF BETRAYAL

Job 4: There and Back Again

Bentley's just starting to get bored when movement from the front of the hotel catches his attention. He's on high alert at once, wheeling to the edge of the roof and pulling out his binoc-u-com to get a better look.

Winthorp just left via the front door.

Bentley makes a face and uses his hover-pack to leap over the river. Everyone else in the gang is busy, so it's up to him to tail this guy. He doesn't want to leave—Penelope's still in there, and according to Otto, she takes every opportunity she can to sneak out. But keeping this guy from causing any problems is also high priority.

That, and it goes against everything Bentley's done for the past five years to leave an Interpol agent in the field and not keep an eye on them. Or have his phone bugged, his e-mails automatically forwarded to Bentley's inbox, and a tracking device placed inside his badge.

Tampering with Carmelita's badge took two months of planning and over an hour of surgical precision, but she hasn't caught them completely by surprise since before the vault job. Worth every minute. And he is never telling her he did it.

Winthorp waits for a pair of guards to lower the bridge for him, so Bentley waits for him to cross, then takes advantage of a passing boat to follow. There isn't much cover here, so Bentley stays well away, ready to dodge behind a scarecrow or a barn or whatever else it takes if Winthorp turns around.

But Winthorp—unlike every other criminal Bentley has ever tailed in the history of the Cooper Gang—doesn't check behind him. Doesn't look around at all. I mean, sure, the route he takes is downright stupid, and features him backtracking and going left then right, but it doesn't seem to be Winthorp trying to catch anyone as much as it seems like Winthorp is lost.

Good gravy.

Winthorp at last stops at the windmill nearest the safe-house. He beckons a guard over; the fox pulls a key out of his pocket and unlocks a small door in the base. Winthorp ducks inside.

Bentley uses the roof of the safe-house barn to observe, using his binoc-u-com to zoom in. "Based on the readings I'm getting, I believe they're using the windmills for power... but that one's giving off extra signals. That one's for communications. Now that's interesting." He rubs his hands together. "Be a real shame if something happened to it."

"Hey Bentley, I just left the guard house. Where are you?"

"I'm tailing Winthorp, Sly."

"Is he giving you any trouble?"

"I'm fine," Bentley says at once. Winthorp leaves the windmill and the guard locks it up behind him. "Can you take my post, though? There's still a chance Penelope will leave the hotel, and with the others still in the sewers, I'd rather be prepared."

"Sure, sounds fun."

Bentley taps the button that makes his wheelchair retract his binoc-u-com and continues tailing Winthorp. Winthorp leads him to the airfield, an area thick with guards... ugh. Bentley spends a truly ludicrous amount of time trying to dodge them, and succeeding, as Winthorp circles two of the buildings and actually climbs up the ramp before realizing it isn't where he needs to go and climbing back down again.

Bentley fights the urge to scream.

"Good thing you had me watch, Bentley. Penelope just came out."

Bentley gulps, loud enough to be heard over the microphones. "She left the hotel?"

"No, the castle."

"That's strange," Bentley says. "She was in the hotel last, and I was under the impression she wasn't being allowed out."

"Yeah, me too... I'm going to follow her."

"Right, I'll stay with Winthorp." Winthorp is currently entering one of those buildings. Bentley waits outside, eyebrows raised. It appears to be locked via a computer near the door, now isn't that interesting. Certainly something to check out later.

Winthorp leaves the building, and Bentley continues following. He goes over the bridge to the wooded area, with Bentley wheeling along behind... then towards town again, and into the central square with the well. Bentley's all ready to jump back on a rooftop and declare himself finished with surveillance when Winthorp circles around the well and leaves town again from the other road.

Winthorp has the directional sense of a squirrel playing with a pinata. But with less swinging.

Still, once he's back in the wooded area, he gets himself turned around yet again. Bentley eventually just hides behind a tree while Winthorp circles one area once, twice, three times, FOUR TIMES before figuring out where he's supposed to go. And then he backtracks again because of the wolf pack.

"Great Merlin's Ghost," Bentley mutters under his breath. "Sly? How's Penelope?"

"She's hiding from the guards more often than she's checking for followers."

Bentley lets out a low whistle. "That's..."

"Look, buddy, I don't care if she was brainwashed or what, I'm not believing it until we have enough proof that Interpol would tear up all their files on her."

That surprises a chuckle out of Bentley. Winthorp finally seems to have found his way; Bentley trails him up the path to the castle. "That's an awful lot of evidence..."

"Yeah, and I still wouldn't trust her. I've got your back, buddy."

Bentley nods absently, watching as Winthorp stops in front of the castle. Someone inside lowers the drawbridge, and he goes in. "All right. Are the others done in the sewers yet?"

"I don't think so. Why?"

"Winthorp's in the castle now. I want to keep an eye on him, but this may be my only chance to check out what was going on in the building by the airfield he was so interested in."

"Do it," Sly says.

"I agree," says Bentley. "It's worth the risk of leaving him unwatched."

With that, Bentley backtracks. Because Bentley actually knows where he's going, it doesn't take more than a couple minutes for him to wheel up in front of that building. He cracks his knuckles and sets to work.

Hacking is always relaxing, and just like—

Wait.

There's no 'Hello, Bentley' when he begins. There's no... this wasn't programmed by Penelope.

"What the—who did this?" Bentley demands as he tries to navigate. "My controls are reversed! The right analog stick moves and the left analog stick shoots now."

Hoo boy, this is gonna be 'fun.'

Whoever programmed this (Winthorp, maybe?) wasn't particularly creative. There's a large room with a switch protected by a firewall, but Bentley's dealt with that a million times. And there are defensive drones being released from all sides, fast ones, but they don't shoot or lay bombs or anything.

But there are a lot of them.

A whole lot of them.

A truly ridiculous amount of them.

Trying to get through this without shooting those drones is like trying to stay dry in a rainstorm by dancing between raindrops, and just as effective. It takes Bentley three times as long to make the progress he should just because he's being swarmed on all sides. No wonder they don't shoot or leave bombs: they'd only hit each other.

It's a good thing all Bentley has to do to finish is hit that switch, because by the time he's finished, he's spent longer on that hack job than he has any since he was a teenager. He shakes out his hands when he's done, glancing at the door; it pops open.

Finally. This had better be good.

Unfortunately, when Bentley wheels his way in, he sees that it is. In the worst way possible.

All four walls are covered in large blueprints. Bentley can read them. I don't have any idea how to read a blueprint, and most text is too small for players, but it doesn't need to be big. Half of them show images of Clockwerk; the few pieces of readable text on those are about the composition of the metal alloys, the types of gemstones needed to control such a creature, and a close-up of the hate chip. The other half are covered with blueprints of a similar design, but showing different species. Namely, foxes. But others, too: butterflies and snakes, badgers and polar bears.

One of Clockwerk's blueprints has a note pinned to it. Bentley wheels himself closer and reads it.

While you were undoubtedly correct that such a creature would terrify thieves, its motivation would render it just as much a problem for law enforcement.

Further, it can be defeated through any amount of teamwork, rare though that is among the criminal element. See the notes re: Scotland.

Lastly, the amount of hate required in the AI would render any attempts to control it useless.

Recreating this owl will have no overall benefit to our goals.

I will ensure Winthorp has the mouse make the appropriate programming alterations.

I would like to continue cooperating, as the immortality aspect is rather appealing, but if our partnership ends here, I understand.

Dr. (Scribble)

Bentley swallows hard and pushes himself away, wheeling instead to the center of the room, where there are several crates marked 'DANGER'. Bentley pries one open and peers inside: "There are enough weapons in here to start World War Three. And they're our time's weapons. What in all the world is going on here?"

JOB COMPLETE

Bentley wheels himself out the door, then pauses, wheels over to the computer, and starts tapping in a better lock—one that'll keep Winthorp from using the weapons he brought.

Available Jobs

Towers of Sewage

Mouse Trapped