The hard rain hit my face as I walked through the dark streets of Chicago. My heels clicked against the cement in a rhythmic pattern that the beat of my heart matched. I could feel the unfamiliar cold of my knife pressed against my thigh held by my left hand then in my right hand was my mobile. I held both of them so tightly my knuckles felt like they were going to break, but the tight grip made me feel a lot safer. I also had a backpack strung to my back that I had tightly fastened the straps too so I wouldn't lose it.

I tried to stare into the distance but my glasses were so steamed up and wet that it was nearly impossible for me to see through them. I continuously tried to wipe at them with the back of my right hand but it did no good. Suddenly, almost causing me to jump out of my skin, the phone began to buzz in my hand and I lifted it to my ear quickly.

'Hello...' I whispered, a nervous quiver to my voice. The cold chill of the night was beginning to bite at my naked arms and legs. I'd been forced to wear a dress that barely covered my unmentionables simply to fit in with the rough area of town that I was currently in.

'It's me, have you made the drop yet?' My long time best friend's voice whispered quietly down the receiver.

'Not yet.' I gulped, trying as best as I could to mask the stutter in my voice caused by both the cold and the fear. 'I told you, Mel, you should be doing this not me.'

'We've done this too many times this month, if that security camera on fifth street sees me pass it one more time blume are going to start getting suspicious.' Melina spoke with sympathy in her tone which I was grateful for. Mel knew that I was never good at dropping off merchandise with clients, especially the one I was having to deal with today.

I sighed, I had no choice in the matter. It was a simple drop off, Mel had made it so just for me. Drop the bag, that I was clinging to on my shoulders as tightly as I could, into the large dumpster on the end of sixth street beside the new building site. Meet the client by the back entrance, get the cash, go home.

Sounds simple enough or at least that's what Mel continuously told me when she was ushering me out our front door earlier this evening.

'Are you close?' She whispered.

I pulled the phone away from my ear to use the back of my hand to wipe away the water on my glasses again, thankfully this time for a second I could see the dark stretch of road ahead. I stared ahead and sure enough, I saw the building site that had been abandoned for the night on the end of the road.

'Close now.' I gulped down as much fear as I could but still too much remained. 'So… This client, is he going to be open about seeing me or try and be sneaky about it?'

'He usually just comes right up to me and hands me the cash then and there then leads me around the side of the site. That way the camera thinks that he's paying me for another type of illegal product.' I heard Mel chuckle which might have warmed me right up usually but tonight there was no such luck.

My teeth were chattering, my heart was panting, I felt like I was going to puke up everything I'd ever eaten in my whole life and my breath was short and panted.

'Just keep calm, smile like you're happy to see him and it'll go down without a hitch.' Mel whispered when I didn't reply to her attempt to calm me. 'You'll be fine, Clark, I know you can do this.'

'...Thanks sweetie, I'll call you the second it's done.' I dropped my hand back down to my side as I saw the building right ahead of me, if I remembered correctly the large garbage bin was just around the side, it was unlocked which made it a common spot for the homeless to get but I'd presumed my client would have worked on keeping it empty while this meeting was to take place.

From what Melina had told me, the client sounded like someone I'd rather was behind bars (of course, she strongly disagreed.) He used to work for blume, a massive in scale company that created high-tech gadgets in the technology and security aisle, in fact he was one of the big guns that basically created the new security system that runs Chicago.

Perhaps I should say that it ran chicago, ctOS the security system they created has been down for several months now. No one really knows why but all the nerds online are saying its because of the "vigilante" trying to take over the world or something.

Anyway, back to this guy. He was some big hot shot who Melina says was responsible for the entire base code of the ctOS but then in 2003 they say he had some melt down and killed a load of people then went into hiding. I wasn't even in Chicago at the time, I was a little teenager living in freezing cold Britain with little care as to what was happening over here so I don't know the details.

Melina says that this guy is her hero, I say he should be in a prison cell but I barely know the guy and he buys the shit that Melina and I sell so I keep my mouth zipped.

I walked around the side of the building, staring down at the ground to avoid my face being recognisable in any street cameras and walk up to the large dustbin in the corner. I lift the lid, slide the bag off my shoulder and gently place it inside the bin, closing the lid firmly after.

So far so good.

The building beside me was four stories high with scaffolding going up another two stories higher, the building was going to be a large block of flats if I remember hopefully reaching as many as fifteen stories high.

I walked around the back of the building where the scaffolding was at it's thickest and careful stood at the gaping hole in the wall beneath the building, within the scaffolding. My legs were beginning to shake now and the fear was beginning to swell inside me again only this time even bigger, I didn't know how much more of this could take. My poor little heart was fit to burst, I wasn't cut out for this stuff.

I was still the teenage girl who spent all her time in her bedroom doing whatever the hell she wanted, staying away from people and society in general. I shouldn't be here, making illegal transactions with mass murderers even if I'm not a teenager anymore.

The rain began to ease up gently until coming to a stop a few minutes later. I waited a little longer, phone tightly grasped in one hand and pocket knife in the other. The knife was simply to make myself feel more safe, Melina assured me all day that there was no way that this guy would make a move to hurt me but I'm still not so sure.

A few more minutes later, I began to finally calm down having convinced myself that the client wasn't going to show up which would explain his tardiness. I'd arrived almost fifteen minutes late myself but it was at least thirty minutes after our intended meeting time now. Just as I was about to call Melina to tell her it was a no go, I heard footsteps in the distance.

The footsteps were quiet at first probably originating from across the road, a passerby maybe, but then they became louder and before long I saw a figure emerge through the darkness. I quickly took off my glasses, deciding now that not having them on was better than looking through the steam and water that clogged them.

The figure came closer and before long a large man stood over me, with a small grin on his face.

'You're not Melina so I'm going to presume you're the other girl right? Clark?'

I nodded my head softly, trying to well up all my courage so this guy didn't feel like he could walk all over me. 'The product is-'

The man's finger lifted and pressed against my lips quickly. 'Don't talk about it, I trust that you have done as I have asked. My name is T-bone. T-bone Grady.'

T-bone took my arm softly and pulled it up, he pried my fingers open before slamming a large heap of cash into my hands. He closed my fingers back over the money and I dropped my hand back down to my side.

'Six grand, as agreed.' T-bone smiled. 'Thank you for your services over the last month, I've been needing a lot more programming than I originally intended.'

'You're welcome.' I looked up at him, trying to put on the hardest eyes I could. 'But, we can't keep doing this forever especially in the same meeting spot or Blume will become suspicious of us both.'

'You're right. They're jumping at nothing lately hoping to catch as many hackers as they can find, I'll remember that the next time I call you girls.' T-bone took my hand and led me around the side of the building like Melina said he would, around the side we stood underneath a street light so I could see his features more clearly.

He was covered in hard wrinkles that looking almost like they'd been chiseled into his skin. He had dark brown hair that fell to his shoulders and a matching beard that was tied together with two metal rings to keep in place. He wore a short sleeve gray button up shirt with a black undershirt beneath. His jeans were ripped and covered in patch jobs then to complete the look he had on a white and gray cap with goggles over the brim.

'You and your friend have been very helpful to me lately, I hope to pay you back in more than just cash someday soon.' T-bone looked down at feet for a second but quickly realised his mistake and looked back up into my eyes again.

'There is no need.' I mumbled blankly. 'You have done more than enough, this is simply a business arrangement after all.'

'Of course… However, I was hoping that I could pay for your services again...'

'What is it that you would like? Melina and I are quite low on stock that you haven't already bought from us but I'm sure we can make it work. You'd have to give us a few days, of course, but-'

'I was thinking something a little more… unorthodox. What do the two of you know about blume?'

'They're the company that produced the ctOS, they basically own Chicago. We know what blume wants us to know, neither of us ever dived into any of their secrets if that's what you're asking.'

'Hmm, I'm not so sure about that, honey.' He smirked. 'But, if you're right then that's good. It means that you haven't been put on their little hit-list.'

'Hit-list?' I frowned. 'You mean-'

'They've hired a group of fixers that are going around and putting down anyone and everyone who tried to hack into the ctOS or blume corporation in the upcoming months to the big shut down. If you're not on their list then that means they don't know you exist- which is the type of person I need right now.' He smiled, he reached up and held my shoulder tightly and looked at me as if I was a friend, rather than a frightened little child like how I was acting.

'Tell Melina this or don't, it's up to you. But I need both of your expertise in order to hack blume one more time and get rid of that hit-list.' He patted my shoulder one more time before he turned away from me. 'You have to know… They've already started whittling down the names. They're being brutal, Clark, they're killing children in their beds. If you and Melina could help, you'd be doing the whole world a favour.'

With that, he broke into a jog and disappeared into the darkness. I heard the sound of the bin opening and closing a few minutes later then nothing.