"Just what do you think you're doing?" A voice behind me asked.
I jumped, slamming my netbook shut and turning 180 degrees. "Who the hell-"I demanded, shoving my netbook into its case, then slinging it over my shoulder.
"I'm Marcus." The man said, holding out his hand. "From Dedsec."
"Oh," I said, shaking his hand. "Hello, I guess. What are you doing here?"
He raised an eyebrow and nodded at the netbook at my hip. "Why are you hacking our servers?"
I shrugged, feigning innocence. "I don't know what you're talking about. There is free Wi-Fi here and I'm a student-"
He held up a hand. "Save it. We're not stupid. You almost made it past the firewall, but a friend of mine caught it just in time." He looked me over "You're good." I shook my head, beginning to walk away. "You're also an anonymous whistle blower inside of Blume.' I stopped in my tracks. "You're a double agent."
I whirled around and pointed a finger in his face. "Watch what you say."
He pointed to a camera on the corner. "Your cTos profile is hidden, however facial recognition matched you to your !Nvite account within minutes." He frowned. "We thought you'd be better at hiding your tracks."
I smirked to myself. "So to what do I owe the pleasure of meeting you?"
"I'm here to warn you." He said, turning serious. "Either leave us alone, or face the consequences."
"Good luck with that." I smiled brightly, then walked away.
*Inside the Hackerspace; Sometime later*
"How'd it go?" Sitara asked as Marcus walked down the long staircase.
"Fine." He shrugged. "We're just lucky Josh caught it. I caught a glimpse of her code, impressive stuff."
Wrench walked over, exclamation points appearing on his mask. "It was a girl?"
Sitara pushed him lightly. "Girls can code like bosses."
The exclamation points changed to question marks. "Did I hit a sore spot?"
Marcus shrugged and opened his mouth to say something when Josh shouted; "No, no, no!" Everyone rushed over as he frantically typed on the keyboard. "No, get out!" Suddenly all the screens went black and the power went out. Everything powered back on and Josh slammed his fist onto the counter. Just then a laughing emoji appeared on every screen and it flashed from black to white multiple times. Then rock music came blaring threw the speakers. Then a female voice came over the music.
"Perhaps I covered my tracks much better than you expected." The voice laughed, then there Josh shouted over it all.
"They're copying all of our data!"
*One week later*
I rolled over and grabbed my phone from the nightstand. One unread message. I opened my messaging app and just saw a location. "William Finn." It read, with the address following. I stood, got dressed and walked out the door.
I got there in about ten minutes and parked down the street, walking over to the building across the street. I spotted Marcus standing outside and he nodded to me. I walked over and he frowned deeply. "What do you need without data?"
"It took you long enough to find the number." I said, smirking.
He looked pissed. "There was over 750 lines of code! Most of it was bullshit that we had to wade through."
"And? "I asked, looking him over.
A woman came out from the store and stood next to Marcus. "It's impressive." The woman said. "You broke down our defenses. No one has done that before."
I raised a brow. "You another Dedsec member?" I asked.
"Sitara." She introduced herself. "Now, down to business. We want you to join us."
"Excuse me?" I asked. "Why? Because I hacked in so quickly?"
"Because we know you could be a valuable ally." Sitara said.
"Or a devastating foe." I countered.
She frowned, but Marcus spoke. "You're the daughter of the new CEO of Blume. We found your real name, and you address." He handed me a napkin with my information on it. "We can blackmail you if we need to."
I frowned and tore up the napkin. "Fine. I'll join."
Sitara smiled. "Good. Come on, I'll take you to the Hackerspace." She wrapped her arm in mine and pulled me down the street.
"I have a car." I informed her.
"Will walking kill you, rich girl?" She asked.
I frowned. "Possibly."