“Ah… Issue with that. I checked the man like you asked, and he has a lot of important friends. So if we go knocking, we need to make sure we don’t step on any toes,” Fenric interjected.
“How important are his friends? Cops or robbers?” Vara asked, trying to distinguish which side of the law their target was on. Each option came with its own series of positives and negatives.
“Robbers,” Fenric responded bluntly before he started crunching down on something, probably chips. The thought made her simultaneously hungry and nauseous.
“Fuck!” Venom replied as she pinched the top of her nose.
“Well, I suggested that we just go knocking. If the three of us go together, then we can back each other up,” Vara suggested.
The call went silent for a moment. No doubt Fenric was trying to weigh up the risk factor of this particular job, and she didn’t blame him. Venom herself was trying to work out whether she was actually going to be able to do the work required. Her head was swimming, and her body ached. The latter wouldn’t matter, but if she couldn’t focus then she could end up fucking up.
“I’m up for it, but I won't lie, I’m worried about my own capabilities,” Venom said with a sigh. She had wanted to lie and tell them she was fine but had suppressed her natural reaction. They needed to be aware of all the risks.
“What’s got you worried?” Fenric asked with a voice full of concern.
“Just this mind haze. The physical shit I can deal with, but my head is fuzzy, and I keep losing focus,” Venom replied, tapping her forehead a little.
“Ok, this is going to sound like the most stupid idea, but go and take some painkillers and have a cold shower. Combining the two should help you focus for at least a while. Also, drop the heat in the apartment; helps keep your body on edge. It will suck ass, but no part of detoxing is going to be fun,” Fenric explained.
“Alright. I guess I’ll go and do that. Meet you on the Nexus in twenty minutes? Well, that’s as long as I don’t fall and die in the shower,” she said grimly as she downed the last of her coffee. The three exchanged goodbyes and cancelled the call.
Fenric’s suggestions seemed crazy, but at this point, she was tempted to try almost everything apart from taking the damn pill that her body was screaming out for. Turning down the house’s thermostat immediately started the air conditioning and dropped the ambient temperature down from cozy and warm to ‘glass-cutter-nipples’ degree. She stripped her clothes and entered the bathroom, glaring slightly at the shower. Fenric was right. There was no part of this situation that didn’t suck.
As she stepped under the ice cold spray, it took all of her willpower to stand there and not scream. A minute was all she could manage before she threw herself out and grabbed a towel. Wrapping it around her naked and shivering form, the thin slip of fabric did nothing. If the DTs didn’t kill her, then she was probably going to get finished off by the pneumonia this idiotic suggestion was going to cause. She was cursing Fenric out in her head when she realized it had worked. The clouds that had engulfed her mind were gone, at least pushed back for the moment. Fenric could live, for now.
Time was of the essence. She crossed through the house drying herself to the best of her ability before pulling on some sweats and an old baggy t-shirt. Right now it was comfort over looks. Sliding into the chair, she grabbed the Nexus Gateway’s wires and inserted them into her Neural Implant.
The transfer from reality to the virtual plain wasn’t as seamless as usual. After a week on NeuroPep, the transition was slow and unwieldy. ‘Maybe if I took it occasionally it wouldn’t be as much of an issue. Only once a week or so,” she thought. Quickly, she had to scold herself; it was the addiction speaking. As soon as the connection stabilized, and she was thrown into the dreamscape, all her physical woes drifted away, her aching body a thing of the past as her mind inhabited her pixelated avatar. It was such a relief.
::CausticBitch Connected::
-New Message - 11
-New Friend Connections - 3
-Shared Data Points - 19
-Group Invite - 1
Venom quickly scrolled through the new notifications, it was actually a quiet day for her. As she reached the group invite, she checked the participants. Recognizing Vara and Fenric’s online handles, she accepted the invite. Her avatar reformed in a new access point, one she didn’t recognize.
::JackMouse Connected::
::Fenris_Dark_Moon Connected::
Entering the access node, she found the avatars of her two friends. JackMouse was Vara’s online persona, a tall leggy blonde with an old punk style, multi colored hair, ripped clothing, and a ‘don’t fuck with me’ vibe. Whereas, Fenris_Dark_Moon, Fenric’s persona, was a large humanoid wolf with dark brown fur, pearly white teeth, and formidable claws. Then, of course, there was Venom in her Amazonian skin.
Venom took a moment to look around the access point. It wasn’t one she had used before. It could be Fenric’s home system or somewhere else entirely.
“Took your time, didn’t you?” Fenric’s digitized voice said in a joking tone.
“Where are we?” Venom asked, ignoring the comment.
“Due to the nature of the hack, I thought using a shrouded access point would be a safe bet,” Vara explained.
Venom was a little surprised. Shrouding access points wasn’t an easy job. It required hiding a data stream from anyone who could accidentally stumble upon them. If someone was actively seeking them, it would be easier, but it should still hold up long enough so they could escape or cover their tracks. Shroud points were commonly used for illicit meetings like theirs. They were extremely difficult to set up, and it didn’t seem like a skill that belonged in Vara’s repertoire. She was more of a data delver than a covert cracker.
“Nice work, Vara,” Venom said. There was something empowering about having her friends at her side, if only she had opened up about her issue sooner. “So, what did I miss while I was out?”
“Well, I shook the contact tree, and a few nuggets of information fell out,” Fenric said as he started to bring up pages of information, plastering the walls of the access points with them. “Our announcer is a fledging of the Order of Caine.”
“Order of Caine?” Vara asked.
“I’ve heard of them… why do I recognize that name?” Venom said, wracking her brain.
“The Order of Caine is a two-bit organization that’s against the rebel groups that are trying to oppose the Corporations,” Fenric explained. As more news articles started plastering the walls, Venom flicked through them while listening to Fenric talk. “Crazy little shit stains that would rather stay a part of this fucked up world instead of taking the risk for a better future. Fucking idiots if you ask me”.
“Oh my god… them. I remember now. Me and a couple others had to run a hack against them as they were trying to flag up SephNet in a few of the militant online groups. Talk about biting off more that you can chew,” Venom said with a chuckle as she remembered how her hack team had obliterated the opposition.
The Nexus was full of small, unorganized groups that opposed the corporations or vice versa. Keyboard warriors that thought they could change the world. Amateurs. They were constantly forming, breaking down, renaming, or merging, which made it difficult to keep track. The TechPit had an ever changing list to try and keep informed, but even having that many data delvers working on in one place didn’t guarantee accuracy.
“I probed their system a little when I was doing the tracking earlier, and it doesn’t seem like it will be too difficult. It’s probably a grade two system… at a push maybe three, but I wanted to be careful,” Vara explained.
The grades of system varied from a one to a ten. The White House and Pentagon were recognized grade tens whereas a standard home package was the simplest at a one. The Seraphim Network hovered happily around the grade eight mark thanks to the dedication of the company's hackers.
If the Order of Caine’s system was that low, it should be an easy bre
ak for the three of them, but it wasn’t without risk. One of Venom’s main concerns was Trojan systems. Nexus systems that appeared weak from the outside, but inside the grade was much higher. It was an easy way to capture or deter weak and inexperienced hackers. Their team was experienced, but there was always someone better.
“So the question is what are we looking for?” Fenric asked, the wolfish avatar pacing the access node. Venom brought up the code designation for the file she had stolen and sent it securely to the other hackers.
“Right, Fenric, you are the strongest Stealth programmer here, so you’ll be in charge of keeping us flying under the radar. Vara, I know your strength is in data delving, so when we’re in there, I want you to focus on finding the data at hand. Me, I’ll get us through the system,” Venom said, a feeling of confidence growing quickly. With their skills combined, they would succeed.
“What’s the plan if we trigger an alert?” Vara said quietly.
“If we trigger, we’ll have to protect ourselves as best we can. If things get too hairy, then leave. I don’t want you guys getting hurt for me,” Venom replied.
“We’re in this to the end, CB, so deal with it,” Fenric said proudly. “Now let’s load those programs and get ready to go before Caustic has detox brain again.”
Venom summoned up her program list and started loading everything she might need for the hack. It was better to have everything ready instead of screwing up because you weren’t prepared. Many good hackers had been taken down due to poor preparation, and she didn’t intend to be one of them.
Suddenly, there was a shimmer of pixels as another avatar formed in the center of the access node. Venom’s avatar dropped into attack position. Before them appeared a humanoid figure dressed in a shapeless, black, hooded cloak with a scythe that stood taller than him. Throwing open the cloak, the figure beneath was dressed in well shined black armor. Venom couldn’t help but smile as she recognized him.
::NexusReaper Connected::
“Little birdie told me that you were on a risky hack. Well, baby, The Reaper is here to play,” said NexusReaper cockily as he looked around the congregation.
“Who are you, and how did you get here?” Vara demanded. In the flesh, Vara was a nervous woman, but as soon as she slipped into her Nexus avatar, everything changed.
“He’s a friend,” Venom said quickly before the NexusReaper could open his mouth and say something about their relations. She wouldn’t put it past him to drop their interactions in conversation just to get her to blush. The arrogant hacker seemed to get a kick out of that.
“What she said, so want to give me the lowdown?” NexusReaper asked as he looked between the three assembled hackers.
Vara and Fenric looked to each other and then to Venom as if asking permission. She gave a subtle nod. Venom didn’t know much about NexusReaper, but with their interaction over the years, she had come to trust him. What brought him along was a mystery, but she was grateful for the assistance. It hurt her ego to admit, but his hacking prowess outstripped hers.
“Alright, let’s get cracking, guys. This system isn’t going to hack itself,” NexusReaper said in a chirpy tone. There was a nod of agreement from the group before one by one they disappeared from the shrouded access point and made their way through the data streams. Travelling with ease, they soon regrouped outside Order of Caine’s access node. Before them stood a large wall. It looked like simple brick and mortar with a barbed wire top, and there was a large door with a pin code and large guns protruding from the wall. Whoever had constructed this system had no imagination whatsoever.
Venom sensed the stealth program being constructed around them, which meant Fenric was doing his job. Now it was Venom’s turn. Flicking quickly through her list of prepared programs she activated her two strongest analysis programs. With four of them in the system, the chance of discovery increased, so they needed to work quickly.
The seconds it took for her programs to scan the perimeter felt like hours. She watched the strings of letters and numbers appearing on her task manager. Her eyes flickered back and forth, watching for any broken code, any links to nowhere. ‘Come on, come on, where are you?’ she thought as she prayed for a break in the system’s firewall. There had to be one, there was always one.
“We have a sniffer,” NexusReaper whispered.
“Already? We aren’t even in the system yet,” Fenric responded. The image of a guard dog was wandering the edge of the security wall. If it caught any hint of them, it would get the attention of the security, and then all hell would break loose.
“I’ve got it. Caustic, just focus on finding us a door,” NexusReaper said as a big fat juicy steak appeared in his hand.
Venom was flipping through different lines of code, checking each wall with different views, prodding them gently to see which would bend or break. She glanced over in time to see NexusReaper throw the steak and the sniffer program pounce all over it. What he actually used to subdue it, she had no clue, but if kept their asses hidden, she didn’t care.
As the time passed, Venom felt the pressure building. They were all waiting for her. Was it her brain being fuzzy or was she really finding nothing here? This was her specialty; she was supposed to be good at this. Changing to her secondary program, she flicked through the discrepancies until… yes… one she could use. Without a word, she indicated for her little team to follow. With the sniffer neutralized, this should be easy.
Venom activated her exploit program. She placed her hand on the wall, where she touched starting to warp and then melt, causing a hole to appear. Her programs were working to build an opening in the firewall’s weakness. Soon there was a hole big enough for them to use. They called her the CausticBitch for a reason... a caustic touch and a caustic tongue.
“Nice work, CB,” Fenric whispered as he slipped in before her, followed by Vara.
Venom slipped through the gap in the firewall followed closely by NexusReaper. With the firewall surpassed, they could finally see the extent of the system. The four hackers went silent as each of them made their own assessments.
“A high firewall to protect a subpar system,” NexusReaper scoffed arrogantly. “What a waste of money. They better have a more skilled hacker to back this up, or I’m going to be disappointed.”
“Vara, you’re up,” Venom said. The NexusReaper was one of the most arrogant people she knew, and she couldn’t help but wonder if that would be his downfall. Even though she had a team around her, she was still going to stay on high alert.
Venom checked over the diagnostic program she had been running since they arrived. There was something that caught her attention. Strings of code appeared out of sequence. Computer codes acted rationally, expected, rigidly, but not here. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but something was wrong. It could just be the DT making her paranoid, but she couldn’t risk it.
“Strengthen the stealth program,” Venom ordered Fenric, and all of the team’s heads turned to look at her.
“Why? This one’s holding strong,” Fenric queried.
“It’s just a feeling. Please, just do it,” Venom said. Even in the dreamscape, she swore she could feel her heart beating harder and faster in her chest.
“Alright. Give me a second… preparing a stage four stealth program,” Fenric replied, and he went silent as the shroud around them started to pulse and glow.
The dreamscape before them looked somewhat like a desert shanty town. A large no-man’s-land surrounded a series of temporary structures with what could be a lot of hiding places. Venom could make out multiple different sniffer drones skirting the buildings. That’s when she realized…
“This is a hive,” NexusReaper said with unexpected glee.
A hive was not good news. Hives were formed when multiple systems were forced to act as one. It was both a blessing and a curse. There was a higher chance of hackers finding a bug or rift to exploit to their advantage, but it also meant their programs would struggle with detection. When two dif
ferent scripts ran simultaneously, the anomalies constructed threw off data search and security detection programs. Not only could finding the data be harder, but they may not know if they had triggered security until it was on them.
“We really need to go carefully now,” Venom said.
The change of circumstance had caused a silence to fall over the group. No doubt, like Venom, they were frantically reviewing what programs they had prepared and adding any to the roster that they may need.
“Hive or no hive, I’m sure my heavy duty search program will cope with the code flux,” Vara said with a confidence that she always lacked in reality.
“You got enough steaks, Nexus?” Venom asked with a glance to the armored grim reaper beside her.
“Enough for a thousand hounds,” he responded with a confident grin.
“Let’s hope there isn’t a thousand and one,” Fenric said as the group started their way from the perimeter wall into the hive itself.
The open land between the wall and the hive was tenuous enough. Sniffer after sniffer combed the no-man's-land, hunting for intruders. They moved slowly as a group, and each time a hound grew close, NexusReaper threw a steak and watched as the pixelated dog bounded happily off after the bait.
Reaching the edge of the shanty town, Vara summoned her search program, which appeared as a nest of mice. The small brown creatures set off at a speed and slipped through a nearby window. The program would slip hopefully unnoticed through the system, looking for any sign of the file they needed. It wasn’t long until they returned…
“Shit,” came an uncharacteristic swear from Vara, “typically the data we want is in the core system. I count as many as sixteen firewalls between here and there.”
“Only sixteen? I almost thought we were in for a challenge,” NexusReaper replied sarcastically. “On a serious note, you guys sure you’re up for this?”
Caustic (The Seraphim Network - Everyday Series Book 1) Page 13
