A/N: Chapter Two, let's go!
More A/N at the end, just like the first chapter. I hate prefacing with lots of non-story related text, so this will probably happen a lot.
Anna stood just outside the coffee shop, frozen stiff from her apprehensions about entering.
It hadn't taken her long to discover the hacker's approximate location, she'd designed her security systems well. In the event of a breach, Anna's failsafes were designed to feed the offending hacker's computer the information it searched for, as well as a little extra. A nasty little bug, one designed to discreetly disclose to Anna the hacker's IP address. If the device had WiFi access, the virus would every so often bounce signals off of anything nearby capable of receiving the connection. All of this was for the sole purpose of pinpointing the location of the hacker.
Anna was surprised to see that the hacker wasn't in some other part of the country, or even somewhere else in the world. On the contrary, they were in the same city as Anna, within a few blocks of her apartment building. It had taken her all of five seconds to process this information and resolve to go confront them. She'd jumped up and shot straight to her closet, nearly tripping over the open chassis of an old desktop computer.
Anna hurriedly yanked out a simple grey hoodie and pair of jeans, hopping across her floor to the bathroom while trying to pull them both on simultaneously. Once she'd freshened up and ensured she looked at least somewhat presentable, she made for the door. After making sure she had her keys, wallet, and phone, Anna stared at the door the door for a good few seconds, doubt suddenly flickering through her mind.
It had been a while since she'd gone out into the world for anything other than the bare essentials for living, was this such a good idea?
No. Anna shook her head slowly back and forth, hoping to shake the doubts out of her mind with the motion. No, I have to do this. This person violated my security and they're gonna pay. When I find them I'm gonna…
It was at this point she realized she didn't really know what she was going to do when she found the hacker, but that didn't stop her from ripping open her door and tearing down her stairs at an alarming speed. With one final push Anna stepped out of her apartment building and out into the cool autumn breeze that blew through the city streets.
Only when she reached her destination did lingering doubts surface in her mind. Her phone was receiving information from her computer at home, actively tracking the hacker's location. It would need a bit longer to return an exact location, but the tracking program had narrowed down the search to this block, a small assortment of boutiques and a single coffee shop lining the street.
Doubt once more latched onto Anna's conscious, she hadn't been to a place like this in so long. Anna had barely been out in public, hadn't frequented social hotspots, hadn't talked to people beyond the necessary cursory interaction for buying food or basic living essentials, not since -
No, Anna chided herself once more. Quickly she quashed that thought before it could take form. She sucked in a deep breath, her cheeks puffing out a little in response. No, I can't think about that right now. I'm… On a mission. I'm going to find this hacker, and give them what for!
With that final bit of inward encouragement, she thrust open the door to the small cafe with quite a bit more force than necessary. The audible slam of metal against metal as the door smacked against its frame was enough to turn a few heads in her direction, but most seemed content to ignore the disturbance.
Anna mentally kicked herself for a moment before regathering her composure and letting out the breath she'd forgot she'd been holding. After a moment of collecting her wits, she strode purposefully to the counter, deciding getting a drink while waiting for her search to finish would do her some good.
Anna stood before the counter for several seconds before she caught the man standing behind it staring at her expectantly.
"Miss…" He began gently, his tone only slightly suggesting judgement on his part. "Can I get you something?"
Anna kicked herself once more before responding. "Yes, uh… What do you have?" She knew her nerves were showing, anyone with eyes could see she was out of her element right now.
The man simply pointed up, clearly indicating the large menu hanging above his head.
Anna could only cringe, which prompted the man to raise a brow and continue his expectant stare, his judgement more than obvious now.
She scanned the menu, surprised by just how many options lay before her. Once she'd decided, Anna returned her gaze to the barista. "You have hot chocolate, right?" What? Why did that come out as a question? Of course they have hot chocolate you just saw it on the freaking menu -
"Yes," the man replied, skepticism not even trying to hide itself in his voice. "Would you like one?"
"Yes please." Anna managed, willing her lips to curl upwards, hoping it at least resembled a smile.
If the barista noticed or cared for her attempts at being pleasant, he gave no indication. "Name?" His voice had lost any extra inflection by this point.
"Anna." She forced past her lips, still curled into her awkward attempt at a smile.
The man only nodded. "Five minutes." he stated, before turning to prepare her order.
Anna backed away from the counter, smile slowly fading. She tried taking a deep breath to calm herself, before turning to take in the cafe.
What she saw was standard fare for an establishment such as this, mostly a younger crowd, people in their late teens and early twenties. They were all busy either idly chatting or lost in the contents of their respective books or computers.
Wait, computers!
Just now noticing the abundance of mobile devices, Anna immediately took to analyzing their make and model in an attempt to distract herself from her social anxiety. She noticed that the majority of them were lacking in any real power, likely purchased for schooling or work. She knew most people didn't have needs for powerful computers like she did, but it was somehow refreshing to be reminded of it.
She had just finished scanning the cafe's denizens when something caught Anna's eye in the far back of the small coffee shop. Sitting on a table in the corner was an unusual specimen, matte black finish and small green symbol a stark contrast to the other computers around it. Once she realized what she was looking at, it took her only a few strides to reach the table and stare intently at the laptop in front of her.
"Whoa…" she breathed, lost in the piece of technology. She leaned in and examined it closely, appropriate behavior and etiquette cast aside in the face of the marvel in front of her.
"That's…" Normal words had failed her, so what spilled out instead was what she could manage, accompanied by animated hand gestures. "i7 Quad Core CPU, eight gigabytes of DDR3L, GTX Eight-Seventy M with three gigabytes of dedicated VRAM, Fourteen-inch QHD plus display…" Anna paused, needing a moment to bask in the awe that had struck her. It didn't take long for Anna's rambling to resume, though. "I mean, I know these things are horribly overpriced, but I've heard they're built like tanks to make up for it. The specs alone are awesome, but if what they say is true about the production quality I'd kill for one of these things…"
Anna had been for the most part staring at the laptop for the majority of her tirade, her gaze bordering on longing. Finished however, she started to look up at the person actually using the computer. "Where did you get -"
Twice in the span of less than a minute, Anna was floored.
Staring back at her over the edge of the laptop's screen was the most striking woman Anna had ever seen - It wasn't that she was over-the-top attractive, she simply just exuded this sort of natural beauty the likes of which Anna had never seen before. She wore an odd brown jacket perhaps a size too large, faded blue jeans, and a small black beanie rested atop her head. Her attire was questionable, but inconsequential. What mattered was her. Platinum blonde hair framed a gentle face, a cute nose centered between cheeks lightly dusted with the faintest freckles, lips curled into the most adorable little frown…
But what really drew Anna in, were the eyes.
Even hidden behind the rectangular-rimmed glasses settled onto the girl's face, Anna could see the two icy-blue orbs with startling clarity. She tried to find a color to properly describe them. Cerulean, maybe? It didn't matter. They were amazing, she felt like those eyes could bore a hole through her and see all the way to the deepest reaches of her heart. It was then she realized they were almost doing exactly that, right now.
Snapped out of her stupor she realized she had been staring at this incredibly stunning stranger for what could only be described as a wholly inappropriate amount of time.
Oh god, you were just leering at this girl. Leering. How long were you doing that? Oh, and the computer! You just approached some random person in a coffee shop and talked their ear off about their computer and then leered at them. Apologize! Gather your wits and apologize right now dammit!
"Oh my god I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to talk your ear off like that - I saw the computer and just-"
The girl across from Anna was staring back at her with a look of incredulity splayed across her face. Anna grimaced, but tried to continue.
"Oh god, This is awkward. Not you're awkward, but just 'cause we're - I'm awkward. You're gorgeous. Wait, what?"
Anna realized what had escaped her mouth and felt like curling into a ball and rolling right out the door of the coffee shop.
It was then that three things happened at once. The blonde girl opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by the barista shouting Anna's name, letting her know that her order was ready. Anna turned to look, mortified expression still plain on her face, but was stopped when her phone vigorously vibrated in the front pocket of her hoodie. Figuring the drink could wait a moment and looking for any distraction from her complete social failure, she pulled out her phone and checked to see what it wanted.
The notification text declared "Search complete! Displaying location."
A map of the block she was on appeared on the screen and quickly zoomed in on the coffee shop, indicating the hacker was inside. In response to the new information Anna quickly whipped her head around, scanning the interior for any possible suspects. It was only when the phone vibrated and drew her attention once more did everything click into place.
The hacker was within a few feet of her.
Slowly Anna returned her gaze to the blonde girl across the table, looking right into those icy-blue eyes.
"Y-you…"
Anna's voice failed her, but only for a second. Courage welled up in her chest.
"You're the hacker!"
What happened next was fast - Almost too fast. The blonde girl pressed a single key on the laptop in front of her and the thing started smoking, the acrid smell of burning silicon filling the air. Anna narrowly dodged taking a foot to the face as the blonde tossed the computer to the floor and vaulted the table in one quick motion. The other girl connected with the ground once more and sprinted for the door.
Anna was reeling from the sudden action, but still had enough of her wits about her to realize what was happening.
She's getting away!
The redhead recovered quickly as she scrambled up from the table and bolted after the blonde, having no intentions of letting her escape.
Anna burst through the door out into the street only a few seconds after the other girl, head snapping left and right trying to ascertain which direction she had gone. Spotting a brown coated figure fleeing far up the sidewalk to her right, Anna took off.
She realized rather quickly that the blonde was quick - She ran like her life depended on it. With some of the ideas popping into Anna's head, it just might.
The other girl occasionally threw a glance over her shoulder, checking to see if Anna was still pursuing her. When she saw that the redhead hadn't given up chase yet, she gained a small burst of speed and kept running.
They'd been running for a couple of blocks now, shouldering past pedestrians and either jumping over or narrowly avoiding any obstacles in their path - Anna perhaps slightly less gracefully than the blonde. It was at the edge of the third block that the blonde girl turned right at the street corner and Anna lost sight of her.
No! I have to keep her in sight - I can't lose her!
Anna barrelled around the corner but didn't immediately spot the blond. She saw it though - just a flash of movement as a shoe disappeared into an alley in between the buildings to her right.
Upon entering the alley she saw that it went about the length of the building and curved left at the end, a turn she could see the blonde taking now. Anna sprinted down the alley and took the corner herself, incredibly satisfied when she saw what laid before her.
The blonde girl was standing in front of a wall that looked almost ten feet tall, her back turned to Anna.
Yes! She couldn't contain herself - the ecstasy of victory flowed through her veins.
Anna was about to give in to the urge to gloat when suddenly the other girl spun to face her, breaking into another run - straight at Anna.
Anna put her hands up defensively and braced for impact, but was surprised to see the girl skid to a stop in her tracks, then angle in a quick reverse back towards the wall.
It was all Anna could do to fumble with her words in confusion.
"What…"
The blonde girl leapt from the ground and angled her feet towards the wall to her right, coiling up like a spring and then pushing off to grasp at the top of the tall wall blocking the end of the alley. Sitting atop the wall, she gave one look back at Anna before dropping to the other side.
Suddenly robbed of her victory, Anna dropped her hands to her side in defeat.
Well, shit.
A/N: Well, there you go. I'm trying something a little different with both of these characters, some of which can probably already be seen. Trust me - there's a reason for this. Once all is said and done I'll probably explain my reasoning, if it's welcomed. Other than that, there's not much else to say regarding our two favorite girls.
The story as a whole however, is another matter entirely.
I would've put this in the description, but I couldn't get it to fit without compacting the description itself to a degree I wasn't comfortable with. I could've put this in the first chapter's A/Ns, but I didn't want to distract from the content. Anyway, you probably noticed the 'M' rating on this story and I feel like this warrants explaining. I don't know exactly what all I'm going to do, because I like my writing to evolve as I write, but I do know I'm going to explore some darker themes in this fan fiction. (As I've already stated on Tumblr, I do have a middle and end already planned in a general sense) There's going to be violence, vulgar language, possibly explicit content, and some emotional turmoil that I hope I can convey well enough that it generates some feels. Anyway, enough necessary spoilers.
One last note: I'm a pretty big computer buff, with a heavy focus on hardware. I feel like I should put a disclaimer stating I'm not a hacker, but I do have some ideas about the practice. If anyone notices any errors I make in regards to this, please feel free to notify me in a review or by personal message. If it doesn't break the story, I'll probably make changes accordingly.
I'm sorry - That was a really long A/N. I just wanted to get all of that out of the way before going any further. Thanks for reading, have a great day!