The day before the heist, the boys spent their time separately from one another to focus on their own state of mind and any tasks that needed done beforehand. By tasks, these included running over the plan in their heads continuously until it was known backwards, remembering where the turn-offs in the tunnels were and walking the dogs. For the latter, Vagrant had decided to take Carla out with him on his walk as he wanted to share as much time with her as possible just in case something happened as Theo hinted it might. The city sky surrounding their home was dark and depressing but the light shared between them from their happiness, shielded them from being brought down to a shared melancholy. Their conversation was not particularly light but he didn’t mind because it was her voice in his ears.

“It’s so terrible,” Carla held onto her husband’s arm as they walked down towards the quay and the docks, “all those poor people. Why do these things have to happen?”

She was referring to another city being destroyed in this war between two nations that had descended into complete madness a few years ago. The usual story; one had wealth and the other wanted it so badly they’d go to the extremes to get it. Vagrant shifted his eyes towards the smog overhead. Not so unfamiliar to him, although he would never stoop to that level of villainy to get what he or his friends needed. One thing he hated about this world and its people; their need to destroy what they have for no good reason. Vagrant looked at his wife as she looked at him.

“They happen because people are greedy and take what they want.”

Carla sighed and watched Yvelt sniff around a barrel.

“But to murder all those people, surely there’s no good reason for that.”

Her words brought memories of his past into his head and he was there again; amongst the debris and victims of that senseless war. He scrunched his eyes shut as he stopped walking and exhaled slowly. Rumno stopped too and looked up to his master.

“Oh darling, I’m sorry.” Carla shook her head as she realised she’d brought his mind to his past and kissed him on the cheek as she tip-toed to reach. “Let’s talk about something else. How are Sebastian and the others doing?”

“And what is this?”

Bracky shook his head and pointed the screwdriver he was holding at his enquirer. Being a science-fiction nut had its uses for moments like they had planned. Not everything in comic books or films was completely nonsense, especially if they were going to be dealing with real robots in twenty-four hours. It was also helpful that Bracky was a dab hand with technology and had been fiddling around making gadgets for years with scrap metal or stolen computers to take apart. His most recent creation sat in the hands of Spider as he looked at it from multiple angles.

“That my boy,” the inventive man grinned and nodded, “is an electromagnetic pulse ... gun.”

Spider stared at his friend and nearly dropped the machine.

“What are we going to do with a gun?”

“Okay, not so much a gun but if you point this at something that runs on power... Look,” Bracky took the contraption back and pointed it at the lamp across the room from them, “watch this.”

Standing up, the creator held his design in outstretched arms and aimed at the lamp that was dimly lit next to his bed. His right hand’s index finger slipped down and flicked a tiny metal switch on the side, a strange noise emitted and the lamp exploded. A large plume of smoke erupted from the now deceased light and made its way up to the ceiling. Spider coughed a little he’d inhaled and tried to remain serious although the look on Bracky’s face upon seeing this explosion was one of a child wondering what they’d done wrong.

“I’m guessing it’s not supposed to do that.”

“In a word?” Bracky looked at his friend. “No. It just needs a little bit of work. No problem should be ready by tomorrow.”

Spider waved the remaining smoke away as he got to his feet and made for the door. He trusted this mechanic in the making and thought it best to leave him to get on with his creation’s error.

Ska sat in his own room in a derelict apartment, two rooms in total; a bedroom and living room with an en-suite kitchen. The toilets were shared and all on the ground floor which made life easy for him as his room was on the same floor. It was a complete dive and as he sat reading about rats and how to deal with them in person, he found himself dreaming about his ideal home. Far away from this tragic city and somewhere warm with preferably the woman of his dreams. Her curly brown hair that sat perfectly just above the waist. Her luscious brown eyes and ridiculously long legs all on the menu for this paradise in the sun. Her low voice whispering into his ear about all the things she’d want to do to him.... Ska looked up from the book and cursed at the mouldy walls; why had she turned out to be such a horrid person? Why did he always fall for the cruel ones? That harlot had tried to destroy his good friend’s relationship with Tiff. Ska got to his feet and looked out the window into the afternoon sky; the sun was, as usual, struggling to make it through the layer of smog over the city, but the rain had no problem.

“Oh yes! Oh!”

Scrunching his eyes shut, her lover pushed himself on and fought off the feelings of climax as they made love on her bed. It was a little before five in the afternoon, they had been lying together for a long while before they started getting sexual with one another. What better birthday present than a good screw, thought Tiff as she held onto Joke’s shoulders as he continued to make her feel alive. One thing she prided herself on was being good in bed, she wasn’t the best dancer in the club not the best looking but she knew how to make a man enjoy himself in bed. Or in a car. Or at the foot of the stairs, wherever; but only with Joke. He moved back and looked at her in the eyes as the penetration got deeper still.

“Happy birthday babe.”

Tiff smiled as she grunted a happy response and pulled herself up so they were both in a sitting position as the sex continued. Not far from the bed lay the cuddly devil, lying on its side and smiling a fuzzy grin at nothing in particular.

The night sky descended over the docks, the only lights in the sky were the flickering dots on the horizon of streetlights and passing cars. It was near silent as he stood and looked at his silhouette in the ocean water while it lapped against the concrete walls. Not far from him lay the bridge and the night watch brigade, complete with their armoured tanks and machine guns. Shaking his head as he turned to look at the warehouse where the hatch was, Spider found that he was thinking more about any problems tomorrow than what he would spend his share on. Something in the back of his mind told him that something was going to go wrong. Like when you have a premonition about something you just know won’t turn out right, like an exam at school. Walking away from the water and back towards the Industrial Zone to call in on Bracky to double-check his progress on whatever he was making; Spider spotted a lurking shadow at their apartment block. It looked female but he wasn’t sure however, he had a jangle up his spine as the nerves kicked in and told him who it was.

“Jazz...” He wiped his face with one hand in exasperation as he was in no mood for her. Ska had told him what he’d seen in the club when Joke and Tiff had left the group to go back to hers. What kind of person does what she did? He sighed as he realised his initial dread about Jazz had come to fruition and she was indeed a viper.

“Oh God it’s you,” was her opening line as he approached the front door to his friend’s place and stopped short to look at her, angrily. “I’m here to pick up Bracky.”

“You’re what?”

Jazz cackled at him and admired her nails.

“He and I are going out, not sure where but don’t wait up for him coming back tonight.”

Spider shook his head and cleared his throat as he took a step towards her.

“I don’t think so. We’ve got a big day ahead of us tomorrow and I don’t think he’d waste a night spending it with a tramp like you when he could be having a good sleep.”

It dawned on Spider that this was Jazz’s way of dealing with being rejected by Tiff, her way of perhaps getting even for being made to look ridiculous and he knew she realised that they all knew what she’d done. Of course they did, Tiff told Joke on the way home before Ska had a chance to warn his boy about the snake his girlfriend worked with. Joke had found it all rather amusing on the surface but Spider knew him better than that, he knew that inside somewhere he was furious. Not with Tiff of course, just with Jazz and Spider hoped their paths never crossed again for her health. Joke would never hit a woman though, so it was an empty threat in his mind.

“A tramp.” Jazz regarded him carefully, standing with one hand on her hip and the other hanging loose by her side. “Oh, so you heard about the club.”

Spider refused to waste any more words on her and started up the stairs to the door.

“She wanted it too. She only turned me down because Ska was there. Any other day and Tiff would have enjoyed it.”

As he opened the door, he listened to her continue to try and reason what happened with lie upon lie. Spider climbed the stairs towards the floor where his friends were and soon her voice became silent as he escaped the tones that echoed in from the street. He knew she’d stay there until Bracky emerged, if he was going to. Which he very much doubted considering the heist tomorrow and knowing Bracky, he would have probably fallen asleep over his creation. He had and was sleeping like a baby.