Look, another update! Here you go, new page for any readers out there. This isn't the end of the chapter, though it may seem like it. So keep watching for updates. :)
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“But,” Claire began, “we’ve already placed a claim against the boy. He’s been jailed and is currently on bail. I don’t believe we can do anything with him.”
“That’s true with the usually, but we have some different circumstances that we must make up for this time.”
“What’s that suppose to mean Boss?” Marek sighed, rubbing his temples. “Shouldn’t our job be done by now. This is a bit much over one little hacker in my opinion.”
“No one asked for your opinion,” Claire clarified with sharp precision, her face impassive.
“But you think this is weird too,” Marek shot back.
“Of course it is, but who are we to argue with the higher ups? We could lose our jobs nimrod.”
“Now, now,” the Boss smiled. “If you two stop for just a moment, I can provide you with the details you want.”
The two turned their full attention to the Boss.
“Now then,” the old man coughed slightly. “The boy you caught is indeed just one hacker disrupting the world we’ve built. Don’t take him lightly though. He’s not some naïve child. He has created various networks among the Underground and he has been using this to his full potential.”
“Are you suggesting he may be one of the Underground’s administrators?” Marek asked seriously, his face etched with worry.
“It’s very possible he is, or at least was. The Underground is very volatile. It changes every day, every hour, every second. It’s extremely secure, unknown to most, and overall dangerous.”
“Any network using things like DataScars is bound to be dangerous,” Claire agreed.
“That aside, this hacker has agreed to help us get into the Underground.”
“What!?” Marek and Claire exclaimed in disbelief.
“You two heard right,” the Boss continued, lowering his voice. “He has offered to get us into the Underground Network and take full control of his account as long as we release him, and pretend this whole incident was a mistake. He also asks for the ability to gain a new account. It’s really minimal if you think about it, considering what we gain in the process.”
“This is-“ Marek stuttered.
“-a great opportunity,” Claire finished. “But why are we needed?”
“You two were the ones who apprehended him. I believe they think you have a right to participate in this activity,” the Boss smiled. “This is your shot.”
Marek was too shocked for words. Claire however was already composed and heading down the corridor. Her heels clicked mercilessly again and again.
"Thank you Boss,” Marek stated shakily with a bow. “We’ll represent this sector well.”
“I know you two will be just fine,” he smiled, the wrinkles on his face softening at the gesture.
“Come Marek Hurry up. We don’t need to keep the Rep waiting on us,” Claire snapped without turning around.”
“R-Right,” Marek answered, bowing once more at the Boss.
“She’s a handful- “the old man laughed.
“You have no idea, sir,” Marek grimaced. With that, he turned and hurried after Claire, his strides matching the clicking of shoes. As he met up with his partner, he couldn’t help but think it’s only going to get bigger from here.
Here you go, page 11! Oh dear, a hacker was caught? It looked like an accident? A boy? Oh dear! I wonder who this hacker is and who those people are. Oh wait, I know. Hehe XP. Keep reading and watching for updates!
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“Well,” the girl began, “the list was generated at random consisting of anyone who visited this server. I’m afraid you may get doubles with all the overlapping of the maps and such.”
"That’s alright,” Claire said calmly.
Marek had walked to the printer and picked up the sheets of numbers and endless code. He was sort of happy this wasn’t his main job anymore. Actually playing the game was more fun then making it. He walked back to Claire, holding the papers neatly in his hand. The girl’s eyes brightened in recognition when she saw him, which caught Marek off guard.
“You…But that means- oh!” The girl stepped back and bowed at Claire and Marek. “It’s a pleasure helping you both, Arlette-dono, Sahrin-dono.”
“No need to be so formal,” Claire said with a smile. “It’s just Claire. Not, Arlette-dono.”
“R-Right,” Marek agreed. “There’s no reason we should stand out.”
“No reason!?” the girl exclaimed surprised, her cheeks blushing, “But you two are just, amazing! Apprehending a notorious hacker like that! The whole incident looked like a compete accident. I mean, it didn’t even stir up any rumors or such. That’s truly remarkable!”
Claire laughed. “Really, it’s nothing. He was just too careless.”
“That’s right,” Marek added, “he was too occupied with a few petty things and got himself caught. Really, how can you call a boy like that a hacker?”
“That’s enough Marek,” she waved a hand. “We have to get moving anyways.”
“Right.”
“Yes Arlette-do- I mean, Claire-san. Sorry to have bothered you two.”
“Not a problem,” Marek waved, following Claire.
“Thanks again,” Claire stated briskly and walked out the door, Marek beside her.
The halls were still the same as they left it, the lights, the humming, the clicking of Claire’s heels. It was amazing how popular the two had gotten for their success in apprehending a moral-less player. Even though it was their job in the first place, this seemed to really spark interests.
“I wonder how word got around so fast,” Marek began, not looking at Claire.
“What do you expect?” She didn’t turn around. “Things aren’t secret for long around here. You might as well get used to it.”
“It just reminds me of high school gossip.”
“That’s basically what it is,” a voice said from behind.
Marek jumped and turned around while Claire calmly looked behind her. The man was dressed in a suit, his white hair tidy, his back straight, his eyes grinning at the two.
"Oh. Boss. It’s just you,” Marek breathed a sigh of relief.
“Just me?” the man laughed. “Well you sure know how to make an old man feel better.”
“What’s wrong? Has something happening?” Claire implored.
“Oh no, nothing’s wrong dear,” he laughed. “Actually something’s right.”
“Right?” Marek questioned.
The old man nodded, leaning on his cane. “The representative of this sector wants to see you both.”
“The representative?” Claire stated surprised. “That’s very unusual. He’s usually always at Headquarters with the other representatives and the president.”
“Well, he actually needs to head back to HQ very soon with that hacker you two caught. He would like the both of you two accompany him."
Here you go, the first page of chapter 3! I bet you're wondering what happened to Dech'e. XD Keep reading and watching for updates to find out.
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Click, click, click.
The corridor was fairly long and narrow, illuminated by florescent lights and intertwined with the hum of fans and the murmur of people.
Click, click, click.
The figures were shadowed, their faces dark and indistinguishable from a distance. It was clear though that one was a women and one was a man.
Click, click, click.
“I’m not so sure about your calculations,” the man said to the women. She didn’t turn around and only kept walking briskly, her heels clicking against the floor.
Click, click, click.
“That’s your opinion,” she replied quickly, turning a corner and walking towards a brighter room.
Click, click.
“Well, yes. But do you think these people are that foolish? They’d surely catch on in a matter of time.”
Click.
“Again, that’s your opinion.” The women opened the door, not loosing stride, and was greeted by a large, humid, white room. The rows and rows of computer monitors blinked at her as their users stared seriously at them. You’d think they were preparing for a war…or something like that.
Three towering screens were placed at the front of the room, each suspended on the ever towering wall. On the floor programmers literally ran around, papers in hands, glasses crooked, faces twisted in urgency. The woman and man looked at the sight with utter pity.
“Hard to believe they only handle a small server,” the man said, looking through his glasses at the poor computer nerds-or rather, technicians.
“They have an event they have to cover,” the women said, heading down the steps, not even bothering to turn around. “This is their first and most of these people are new.”
Marek shrugged and followed behind slowly, glancing at several monitors here and there. “What are we doing here anyways, Claire?”
Claire was calmly shifting through several packages of data left on one of the tables.
“Claire…”
“You’re so noisy,” she stated without looking up.
Marek just gave her a sour look.
“Excuse me,” one of the programmers said quietly, walking up to Claire. “But is there something I can help you with?”
“No, I don’t think-” Marek started.
“Why yes there is,” Claire smiled. “I’m looking for your DG-76 Access Codes. We’re running our weekly tests today.”
"Oh, I see,” the girl said quietly and hurried to a nearby computer. “I wasn’t expecting you today. Sorry for the inconvenience.”
“I believe we should be the ones apologizing, but in any case.”
The printer hummed in the distance as the girl printed off the files.
Again, sorry for the lack of updates. Busy, busy. Well, here is page 9 of CONNECT. This is also the last page of Chapter 2. So happy reading! Comments are nice. :)
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“You two should just shut up,” he turned away, red faced in anger…or embarrassment. Probably embarrassment.
(!) laughed brightly, with Rose joining her. She glanced over at his, more or less, pissed off expression. “Look, sorry I said anything,” she giggled, extending a hand. “And maybe I shouldn’t have hacked your system…though that expression was well worth it.”
Dech’e shot her a murderous look that only made her laugh harder. She tried to stop her loud laugher, and plastered on a smile. “Anyways, why don’t we try something different? Instead of trying to kill each other, how about we attempt to be civilized.”
“I am being civilized.”
“More or less,” Rose interjected.
“Anyways,” Dech’e continued, sending Rose a look. “What are you getting at?”
She extended a hand. “I’m trying to stop you from killing me. Not to mention, you’re pretty handy to have around.”
In the background, Rose’s imagine flickered.
“Who the hell does this girl think she is?” [?] glowered at his computer, his VirtuTru still sitting on his head.
Outside the rain had become harder and the clouds had become darker. Even so, the sky lit up, claps of thunder shook the house. Too bad [?] was too involved to notice.
“I’m not your tool,” Dech’e growled, though his voice sounded a bit distant at the end.
“Of course you’re not,” she smirked.
There was another flash of lightning, and the sound of thunder was earsplitting. The street lamps outside, drenched in water blink brightly then went out, only to quickly come back to life once more.
“AHHH!” A thud against the computer desk.
[?]’s computer screen crashed into black, sending a fuzzy static sound through the room. It quickly flickered back on, reveling the screen it had been showing. This time though, one of the three figures wasn’t moving.
Dech’e opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly his eyes widened, his character’s image flickered, and he collapsed on the ground.
“Hey!” (!) called to the unconscious form.
“Dech’e!” Rose shrieked.
Too bad neither Dech’e nor his player heard.
I have the eighth page completed now. There's another non-existent name here. So for the time being, the character's name is (!). Yeah...enjoy!
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Dech’e coughed, blinking to clear his vision. The girl strolled towards him, a pair of twin swords in her hands.
“You shouldn’t attack someone like that,” she said innocently, looking at him with a less than happy expression.
“Bitch,” he huffed and quickly pulled his gun up, pressing the trigger. There was a gasp. The girl stumbled back, holding her left shoulder as blood ran through her fingers. Dech’e got up and aimed his gun at her again. “I’m not missing again.”
“You’re not such a welcoming sort of guy are you?” she stated calmly, straightening up. A slight pained expression was etched on her face. “You could at least address me by my name. Bitch is a little harsh.”
“Ok then,” Dech’e shot her a lopsided grin. “What’s your name hacker?”
“(!).” She didn’t hesitate. In a blink of an eye she was gone. Dech’e whirled around only to find. The razor edge of a blade ran through his shirt and across his skin. He slid back, landing roughly on the floor. Gasping as he held his bleeding wound. He quickly raised his gun and shot two rounds. The girl jumped and landed safely. Panting, she got up, holding her shoulder.
“Not bad,” Dech’e huffed, getting up.
“Same to you,” (!) replied. “You know, I’ll leave if you just give me a copy of the data you stole from me.”
“But then what would be the point of taking your data if I didn’t utilize it?”
(!) blinked in mild confusion. He has the data, she thought to herself. And he’s pissed and he wants to erase me because I hacked his system. Besides the fact that’s he’s acting like an obsessed stalker and/or pedophile, how else would he use my data?
Then it hit her. She didn’t get the chance to exit his SquareOne before she found her twin blades disintegrating in her hands. “What the hell!?” she screamed at him. “Don’t you want to be fair about it at least?”
“Hackers don’t play fair.”
True…she thought to herself with a dismayed twitch. He had his gun raised to her head, aiming right between the eyes. “Okay, so if you’re about to shoot me,” she sighed, looking him in the eye. “At least tell me why you’d waste your time trying to get rid of me.”
“You hacked my system,” he told her. “No one gets away with that.”
“Okay,” she reasoned. “Then you hacked mine and crashed it. Yeah, I call that even.”
“She’s got a point,” Rose jumped in, her arms shrugging.
Dech’e blinked and scratched his head. “Well...”
“Do you realize how much coding I’ve lost!” she snapped. “I left your stuff intact! I just wanted a copy of my data!”
“But your program crashed my DataScar!”
“Because you crashed my data!”
“…” Dech’e didn’t have a come back to that.
“Man you have some screwed up logic.”
“My logic is fine,” Dech’e huffed, replacing his gun in his holder. “Besides, you hacked into my SquareOne.”
(!) had a cat grin on her face. “So you were…jealous?”
Dech’e gave her a disbelieving, yet beet red, expression. “N-No! Of course not!”
(!) only grinned wider. “You were jealous.”
“I was not!”
“Yeah you were,” Rose sighed.
Here is the next page.
___________________________________________________ “But that’s how I am silly.”
He smiled back genuinely and closed the file. “You know where to send me right?”
“Don’t I always?” Rose smirked.
“Then you know what to do.”
“Alright, alright. But before you go, I found out a little more about the player you’re looking for.”
“You did?” he asked, his surprise obvious on his features.
“Yeah, she’s usually hanging out in the Players’ Corner in the town of Searith.”
“Okay, okay,” Dech’e replied distantly as he prepared to leave. “I’ll take care of her- wait what?” he did a double take.
“Yeah, the hacker’s a gi-”
“Wow, well isn’t this a fancy SquareOne,” a voice chirped brightly from behind. “I like it.”
Dech’e whirled around and looked at the girl standing in front of him.
“Who the hell are you?” he yelled in surprise.
“Me?” the girl flipped her hair back.
“No, I’m talking to the koala behind you!” he fumed sarcastically.
“Really?” the girl answered happily turning around.
“Are you sure she’s the one that hacked my system?” Dech’e hissed to Rose.
“I’m positive,” Rose replied, no longer smiling. She was eyeing the girl with a look that could only be described as one asking are-you-an-idiot-or-do-you-just-lack-a-brain.
“Tell me what you’re doing here,” Dech’e asked again, more composed than before.
The girl’s smile vanished. Her face was serious. “I’m here because someone crashed my system.”
“And how does this involve me?” Dech’e asked carefully, discretely reaching behind him and making sure his files were all closed.
“I traced it back to you,” she smirked.
“You don’t have any proof,” Dech’e replied calmly.
The girl’s smile broadened. “Really?” she grinned. “Then you wouldn’t mind if I made sure right?”
Dech’e’s expression hardened. This could be a problem.
“Well, I can’t let you do that.”
“Oh? And why’s that?” the girl cocked her head to the side.
Suddenly, Dech’e rushed her, fist aiming for her face. She dropped and swung her legs under him in one swift motion. Dech’e foot had barely touched the ground before he jumped back, landing with a skid towards Rose.
“Dech’e!” Rose called worriedly.
“I’m fine,” he replied, straightening up. “It’s more convenient this way. With this, no one will know who erased her player.”
“You’re so confident,” the girl announced, eyeing him with a grin.
Dech’e only smirked before charging again, reaching for the gun hidden at his waist. The girl’s eye’s widened. In an instant, Dech’e had pulled the trigger. There was a crash and a whirl of smoke rose among the walls.
“Where’d she-” Something shiny caught his eye. It rushed at him. He quickly realized what it was and ducked before the blade sliced through his neck. A heavy boot hit him in the gut and sent him crashing into a wall.
Here is chapter two! Just a note, pages don't start over with each chapter. Anyways, here you go.
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It was drizzling outside. The sky was a dirty gray and everything seemed to be looking down, faces hidden from the rain. It made no difference to [?]. It was just another excuse not to do anything but stay home, not that he really needed one. At school, anything he said was as good as a law. It actually had its good points, except it still didn’t keep crazy
He pushed open the door to his pleasant house. The water dripped off his now soaking head of hair. Everything was wet; his bag, his clothes, and him in general even though it was only raining a bit. It’s amazing what walking home in the rain does. Throwing his sopping backpack onto the floor, [?] kicked off his sneakers and headed up the stairs, loosening the choking tie around his soaking neck.
The creaking stairs were the only sound in the rather large house. Everything was clean and in place, as if no one lived there, which was pretty close to the truth. [?] stopped at the closed door marking his room. A neon pink sticky note beamed at him.
Business meeting out of state. Last minute. Don’t know when I’ll be back.
~ Love Mom.
“Of course,” [?] said to himself as he tore off the note and opened the door. He grabbed a towel hanging on his chair as he walked in and dried his soaking hair. Flipping on the computer, he glanced at the monitor springing to life. Even the flashing was more amusing than a party crowded with people.
“[?]!” The monitor flashed and filled with a clear blue color as the computer finished booting. Rose was smiling in the center, waving her arm in a greeting. She noticed him pulling on a t-shirt over his sweat pants.
“My, look at you,” she smirked.
“My clothes were soaking wet,” he explained sitting down at the desk.
“Getting to work already? How un-fun.”
[?] didn’t answer as he slipped his VirtuTru on. It was like opening a door into a bright meadow. The gray color of his walls were replaced by the bright walls of SquareOne. For some reason, it never got old.
“Would you like me to load up Dech’e for you?” Rose asked floating on her pedestal as [?] advanced towards her.
“Do you have to ask that?” he shot impatiently as he pulled up the files he had acquired.
“Dull and in a bad mood,” she giggled to herself as she retrieved Dech’e. [?] hardly noticed as he read what he had retrieved. Next to a picture of the player was basic information found in her profile.
[Data shown here…when we decide what that is…]
[?] form was quickly replaced by Dech’e’s features. He hardly noticed though as he shifted through the files.
“Dech’e,” Rose coughed, “you’ve been loaded.”
He waved a hand at her as he searched. She stuck her tongue out childishly.
“Don’t be so childish Rosella,” he smirked, noticing her less than happy expression.
Last page of chapter one. ;) Remember kind readers, no stealing. Ideas by [KS]. Written by [MR].
___________________________________________________ For the rest of the day, Mark resumed his immature, puppy like attitude, leaving [?] with yet another noisy day on his noisy island. The girls continued to swarm like a mob, well cult, or estrogen high bees. He was once again surrounded by too many people too many times at too many places. One thought did give a little more meaning to his forced smiles and straining kind voice.
That hacker is going down…
Page 4! Whee!
___________________________________________________ “You’re back at square one!” Rosella giggled, floating in her own little spot.
[?] blinked, letting the area focus. “I guess I am,” he said as he looked around at the familiar squares and clear-as-glass blocks in the walls.
“I got all the information saved. It’s ready to be accessed at any time.”
“Then load it up,” [?] commanded eagerly.
“If you haven’t noticed though, you’re not Dech’e at the moment.”
[?] looked down only to find the slacks to his school uniform. His beat up shoes were leering back at him against the glassy floor.
“It doesn’t matter right now. I’m curious about the files, not how I look” [?] replied without a second look as he pulled up the display and shifted through the newly acquired files.
“But you’re so cute. You should care,” Rose smiled as she began retrieving the files.
“Whatever,” was his reply as the information filled the screen.
“You know,” Rose said as the information began to gather, “this person seems a bit…different from the other hackers.”
“How so?”
“It seems that he or she uses a lot of text and number coding…”
“I don’t see how that’s any different,” [?] replied confused, looking at his strange friend with an expression to match.
“I don’t know,” Rose twirled a strand of hair with her finger, “it’s like they’re only using their keyboard or something. No VirtuTru or anything. There are missed typed coding here and there.”
[?] stifled a little laugh. “Don’t be ridiculous Rosella. Hacking without a VirtuTru? I’ve done it before and it’s almost impossible.”
“Almost,” Rose emphasized. “Meaning it’s possible.”
“I don’t see where you’re going with this,” [?] looked at her. “Does it matter? No matter what they use, a hacker is a hacker. I don’t care if it took them a minute to get into my system, or a year.”
“I was just saying,” Rose pouted. “Little details can be important.”
“Again, it-“
There was a loud ringing that bounced off the sterile looking walls. The display suddenly shattered and the walls condensed into nothing.
“It’s the bell,” Rose smiled. “I guess I’ll see you later!”
“But I wasn’t done!”
“You can look at them later. You wouldn’t want to be caught would you? Really, you’re becoming a bit obsessive over this person aren’t you?”
“Not obsessive,” [?] told the shrinking figure outlined with nothingness.
Rosella giggled and waved as she digitized into a little pixel of nothing.
The blackness of the formerly loaded SquareOne was now only a blurred image of the classroom. Quickly slipping out his drive and stuffing it into his pocket, [?] removed the head set and placed it back in its spot. Looking up, he saw Mark, arms crossed, glaring at him.
“What?” he asked calmly.
“You know what,” Mark snapped about as menacingly as a drenched kitten.
“Look, I’m sorry. But I’m really busy tonight,” [?] replied with a sigh, throwing his bag over his shoulders and getting up. “Maybe next time man,” he offered, trying to get Mark to move away from him.
“Fine,” Mark huffed. “But next time for sure!”
Page 3! Enjoy.
___________________________________________________ “Not here…”
“Found it!” The pillars of binary shattered into shimmering green light. Rose’s eyes resumed their normal, almost slow, flashing of numbers. She floated over to Dech’e display and placed a palm over it.
Processing request. Searching for profile G308087KL under search ‘Dirieam Arena One’.
“Good work Rosella,” Dech’e smirked, watching the data carefully.
“Two,” was announced from behind. The two were too busy to notice.
Request has been processed. Pulling up profile.
“Let’s see…” Rose said to herself.
Access denied. Profile breech – Fail Safe Mode Activated. The program will now terminated. Any unsaved data will be lost.
Dech’e and Rose’s eyes widened. Below the standard you-screwed-up sort of message, was a personal one.
Remember, do not hack into private profiles. Have a nice day. ;)
“The he-” Dech’e started.
Rose had bumped Dech’e out of the way as she furiously moved her fingers across the screen. The arena was crumbling now. The glassy looking ceiling evaporated into the shining black above. The walls crumbled into glassy data blocks, letting more black leak in, reminding Dech’e of his friend’s expression. Rows of seats that had been programmed in faded away like mist.
“I got into the profile. It’s all saved!” Rose waved at Dech’e, smiling as she digitized out of the arena.
“Let’s hope this person was worth all the trouble to reprogram this place,” Dech’e said to nothing in particular.
The rims of the floor fell in like dust. A shaking static covered Dech’e as he observed his hard work flying away. If only people would fly away from him. If only the people he knew would jump on their planes and leave his island.
“Whoever you are little hacker, you’ll regret hacking my system. I don’t need problems here. Problems are for real life, not this.”
“You’re just jealous there’s someone better than you,” Rose’s voice chimed from nowhere in particular.
“Either way,” Dech’e shrugged humorously. Then, like the arena, Dech’e shattered into the DataScar, looking forward to the night all the while.
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