Chapter 3: The Economics of The Madhouse
Hackers were misunderstood.
Or at least that was what Robin was reflecting on as he worked feverishly at the Teen Titans' main computer, trying to backtrace Anarky. But as good as Tim was, he knew Lonnie Machin was worlds better.
Robin was good, but in hacker speak, Lonnie Machin was grade-A, a wizard.
And as mentioned, they were misunderstood. Everyone thought of hackers as computer geeks breaking into computer systems. That was erroneous. TRUE hackers didn't damage anything. Their name came from the programs they wrote and designed, ones they "hacked together" to denote how the programs originally known as hacks were written quickly to serve a limited purpose. The worst thing a true hacker might do is take a program that computer people wished to sell and re-write as freeware, making it available to people at no charge.
People who broke into systems, for the sake of money or challenge or just boredom were known as crackers, for the "cracking the system" they did. That word was only used by people very familiar with computers though: to the average person, they used the word they had heard: hacker, lumping all of the com G's in one group.
Much like they thought that anarchy meant chaos and destruction, Robin mused, as he finished writing what was known as a kludge, a program written hastily in order to quickly accomplish a certain purpose.
Robin's purpose was to find Anarky's true lair. He hadn't heard anything back from Beast Boy or Raven, nor Cyborg and Starfire (and they should be almost there by now), but he assumed that while the place had good equipment, the heart of Anarky's plan lay elsewhere.
The kludge was to find that location. This was made a bit easier by the fact that whatever Anarky was planning was certainly very big. The bigger something is, the more loose ends are left dangling.
And considering what Anarky wanted, and the scope of the plans he had shown in the past, it had to be big indeed. That would have telltale marks. All Robin had to do was find them, out in the vast fields of cyberspace, the Blue Nowhere.
A daunting task, but one Robin believed he could do, and more importantly, KNEW he had to. If Anarky succeeded, it might very well lead to the birth of a better world…but much like mothers, people tend to forget how terrible the birth process actually is. Applying that metaphor to society meant the potential for terrible death and destruction. Robin would not allow that to happen for the desired goal equivalent of vaporware: something that MIGHT be real and might be better but also might just not exist at all.
The kludge was sent out. Robin backed it up by a technique known as phishing, which meant to hunt the Internet for information. Which Robin did, looking for the indicative marks that could lead him to Lonnie, hoping that Anarky was too busy with his plan and satisfied with whatever dead ends and traps he had set to keep too close an eye on anyone trying to trace him.
Sweat beaded Robin's brow. He hoped the others were having a better time.
*******************************
"Cut the blue wire! The BLUE ONE!" Cyborg yelled.
"THEY'RE ALL BLUE!" Beast Boy yelled back.
"Shit. How many are there?"
"Uh…1, 3, 7…sixteen!"
"FUCK!"
"I didn't need to hear that!" Beast Boy called back.
Beast Boy had been in battles against foes that could vaporize him into nothingness, he had been in battles with lunatics who wanted nothing more then to use his guts as tube socks, he had been in situations where any mistake made would result in one's air running out or one's blood boiling or one's brain being transmuted into peach flavored Jello.
And those had all been bad, but the past seventeen minutes had held their own insidious kind of hell, as Beast Boy worked to try and save the life of Raven. He had to. She couldn't leave the chair without causing the bomb to blow, and the chair was rigged so that her powers were blocked. And Anarky's damn scanners would keep anyone from arriving to help Beast Boy, and him from leaving to get help.
And worst of all, Beast Boy knew, deep down, that this was pretty much hopeless. Beast Boy didn't even known how to program a VCR, much less disable a bomb, ESPECIALLY considering how good Anarky was with machines.
But he didn't care. He didn't even give it a second thought. Who cared about ability? He had to do this.
As one final cruel twist, Anarky had left nothing in the scanned area that could be used as a tool. And unlike Robin, Beast Boy didn't have a utility belt of tools he carried around. He was stuck with his bare hands.
Oh wait, fate apparently had decided it wasn't being nasty enough. The final thing? Beast Boy had no idea where to begin.
Hence, he had wasted the first ten minutes, using several monkey species to unscrew various parts of the machine to see if anything leapt out at him.
No dice. Everything looked the same. And Beast Boy feared touching anything, lest it hasten the detonation or even cause it outright.
Which had almost happened anyway. Starfire and Cyborg had arrived as the timer reached the 17:00 mark, and Starfire had immediately tried to fly to Raven, her emotions making her forget there was a trap. If Cyborg hadn't shot out a grappling hook and grabbed her, Beast Boy was pretty sure he'd be dead right about now.
But he wasn't. One small bit of luck, he supposed.
So now here he was. Cyborg, being a machine, knew more about them then Beast Boy had. Standing at the edge of the perimeter (thank god for his scanners being able to pinpoint something like that), he had asked Beast Boy to describe what he had uncovered. Beast Boy had done so, and they had finally led to the device that was to the left of Raven's, slightly behind her. Cyborg had determined that the main trigger of the bomb lay in there. Beast Boy had managed to open the machine up, and he was now staring at the sixteen blue wires he had mentioned before.
13:39…
13:38…
"All right…don't panic Gar." Cyborg said.
Beast Boy didn't. He had passed panic a while ago. His furry face was damp with sweat, and he supposed he smelled terrible. But that was a small concern.
"Ok, what else is there? Any other wires?"
"No…some computer chips…and a bunch of gold…stuff. I can't really make it out." Beast Boy said.
"Ok. Ok, I think we can do this!" Cyborg said. "Listen carefully. I want you to strip the cover off the second, forth, and ninth wires from the LEFT. Hear me? From the LEFT."
"Ok, ok…" Beast Boy said, as he pulled out the second wire and turned into a mouse.
"Don't bite all the way through! Just the covering!"
"Sure. No pressure…" Beast Boy said, as he began to nibble.
********************************
Good news and bad.
The good was that Robin had finally gotten a set amount of information he could search.
The bad news was, it was very large.
His efforts had rewarded Robin with a long list of company names. Unless he was COMPLETELY off-base (and even Anarky wasn't THAT good), behind one of those company names hid Anarky's base of operations.
The problem was, Robin had no idea which one. There were nearly seventy names on the list. Checking them all out with his trace programs and kludge would take DAYS, and Robin had a feeling that Anarky wasn't going to wait that long.
So it was up to him to figure out which name Anarky was hiding behind.
And he wasn't making it obvious. In the past, when Anarky had formed dummy companies, he had used names like the Anarkist Foundation and Anarco. Not this time. Robin had started his quest with the three companies with A names, but they had revealed nothing.
Jericho Corp.
Yerveryer Limited.
Koth Records.
Sku Inc.
Cherry Falls Incorporated.
Mclene, Dryce, and Hatch.
Which one was Lonnie Machin's smokescreen? Robin was certain that some of these companies didn't even exist: dead ends for him to possibly run into. And others might have existed…just not in Jump City.
MBI Formating Inc
Chiatob Inc.
Gold-Lust Diggers Limited.
48000S Inc.
Candiacana Corp.
Microsoft.
Well, Robin mused with some much needed humour, he could eliminate THAT one.
But that still left dozens.
And time was running out.
****************************************
Robin thought HE was running low on time. He didn't know anything.
"Ok, done!" Beast Boy said. He had managed to strip the coating off the wires and had wrapped the second and thirteenth wire's exposed sections around the forth's ones. "Now what?"
10:22…
10:21…
10:20…
"Ok…if I've done the calculations right…pull out the tenth wire! The three interlinked wires will create a feedback loop that will hopefully make the computer think the timer has stopped, and they won't trigger the bomb!"
"Ok…here goes…" Beast Boy said, and yanked out the wire.
For one brief pregnant second, the timer flickered.
Then it kept going.
"FUCK!" Cyborg cursed. "Damn, it's even more complicated then I thought!"
"I hope you didn't think it was very complicated." Beast Boy said.
9:57…
9:56…
"Ok Gar, don't lose hope! Ok…think Vic think…"
Raven didn't know how she was keeping it together. She had calmed herself using meditation, of course, but even that could only work so much. Raven had stared death in the face before, but on this occasion, it was taking its sweet time. She knew that (god forbid) if the bomb did go off, she wouldn't have time to feel pain. But the anticipation, as usual, was a million times worse then the actual event.
But outwardly, she was calm. The same could not be said for Starfire, who was walking back and forth, biting her nails. Tamaran society had little, if any, stress sources like this, and she wasn't coping well.
"Ok Gar, I think I have it! Strip the cover off the end of the tenth wire, and then pull out the SEVENTH wire and wrap the two together. Then touch them to the original bundle. Hopefully that will cause the effect I theorized."
"Ok, ok…" Beast Boy said as he carefully stripped the coating off the tenth wire. Once that was done, he yanked the seventh wire out and did likewise.
8:49…
8:48…
"Ok...here goes…" Beast Boy said, and carefully touched the interlinked wires with the bundle.
The timer flashed.
It paused…
And then, as Beast Boy's mouth opened wide with horror, IT SPED UP.
8:27…
8:11…
7:58…
Starfire screamed, and Cyborg was yelling something, but Gar Logan couldn't make it out as he frantically tried to yank the wires back…
Only to find the flash that had sped up the timer had fused the wires together.
*****************************************
Robin's head throbbed.
He refused to give up, but he was worried that what he was doing was the equivalent of ramming your head into a brick wall: your head would give long before the wall did. For all his efforts, he couldn't find the door. It wasn't a needle in a haystack, but it was definitely finding the single red smartie in a bucket of non-red ones.
He'd tried letters from Lonnie's name, patterns that may have been formed from philosophers, and even tried the Microsoft one in case it was a ruse that Lonnie had hoped no one would ever expect.
Nothing, nada, nien, goose egg.
Robin leaned back in his chair and wiped his forehead with a nearby rag. And though he tried to fight it, self-doubt began to claw at him. He was the leader, and he knew computers. He should have been able to handle this. He should have kept Anarky from taking Raven in the first place. He should have contacted Oracle or Batman. Heck, maybe he should have gotten out of the other side of the bed this morning.
But he had done none of these things, as he closed his eyes, leaned back more, and brought the palms of his hands to his sockets. And because of that, he and his team and the WORLD may very well be screwed.
Totally screwed…
And then something connected in his brain, as Robin opened his eyes. He leaned back over the computer and began typing. He came across the name that had caused his epiphany and did the hacker equivalent of attacking it with a baseball bat.
"Come on, come on, come on…" he muttered as his kludge sifted through the data, looking for that telltale sign…
One of these things is not like the other…And broke through.
Robin's eyes widened slightly as the computer called up the information. This was no company database. This was a VERY powerful supercomputer.
And Robin had an address to go with its location. Once you knew what you were looking for, and where, the telltale signs became very hard to hide.
Robin logged out and shut off his computer in case Anarky had discovered his trace and attempted to retaliate. He had the address. Now he had to move.
"Not bad Lonnie." Robin said as he ran from the room.
Lonnie's front had nothing to do with screws or hardware. It was a phonetic thing. The front had been the short-named Sku Inc.
For two reasons.
One, the word sounded like "skewed". Which is definitely how Anarky saw the world viewing itself: through a view skewed by the "parasites".
And also, the letters itself. U for Universe, the book that had driven Lonnie Machin to his quest. And SK, Scudder Klyce, the author of the book.
Clever, clever.
Which caused Robin to pause in his running.
Anarky was far from a dummy, indeed, his brain was possibly at the level of Batman's. Which would explain how he beaten them so easily in their first encounter. He had probably spent a few weeks studying them, learning their tactics and tricks. If Robin went to face him alone, he had a feeling he would lose.
No. He needed a surprise.
And thinking about what Anarky had probably done, he had a grand idea, as he turned and ran down a side hallway.
***************************************
Looking back, Beast Boy had no actual memory of the event, of where he actually removed the two sets of wires by biting them with his teeth until they had come apart, and then somehow untangling wires seven and ten and shoving them back into the slots they had come out of. By some miracle, whatever had broken down reconnected, stopping the timer's increased speed.
But not the timer itself, and now it was down to under two minutes.
"Ok Vic…please tell me you have another idea." Beast Boy said.
1:34…
1:33…
"Uh…well…geez…" Cyborg said. In truth he had totally mined the depths of his knowledge, and he was fresh out of ideas on how to stop the bomb. "Well, there might be one more chance! Maybe you've messed up the switches enough that another jolt could sever them! But…I have no idea which wire that might be! I can figure it…"
"No time." Beast Boy said. "You say one of these wires might disarm the bomb?"
"Yes!"
Beast Boy sighed, and then he took a deep breath.
"Eeney, meeny, miney, moe…"
"ARE YOU KIDDING!?!?!?" Cyborg yelled.
"All we have left!" Beast Boy said, as fresh sweat broke on his face.
1:11…
1:10…
1:09…
"Catch a tiger by the toe...if he hollers let him go…eeney…meeny…miney…moe."
Beast Boy closed his eyes, and then he grabbed wire 12 and yanked it out.
A brief pause.
Beast Boy opened his eyes.
The timer was still going.
The crushing feeling that came over Beast Boy was something no person should ever have to feel. It was the terrible hopeless inevitability of a pilot watching his plane heading towards a mountain, the machine no longer working due to some unforeseen mechanical error, knowing that he and all his passengers were going to die and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it, and yet still wishing he could do SOMETHING, even as the mountain filled his view.
"It didn't work." He said.
0:58…
0:57…
"Gar." Raven said. There was something in Raven's voice that made Beast Boy look away from his work and up to Raven.
"Go."
For a second, Gar was uncomprehending. Then he realized what Raven was saying.
"No! I won't."
"Gar…you did all you could. Run. Maybe you can escape the explosion."
"I won't leave you behind!"
"You're not. I'm telling you to go. I don't want you to die because of me…go."
0:46…
0:45…
"Raven…" Beast Boy said, his arms spread hopelessly.
"Gar…this is my gift to you. Don't waste your life. And tell Noel…I did this willingly. He will hurt, and he will rage, but ultimately he will understand. Now GO! NOW!"
"But…"
"GO!"
0:32…
0:31…
"Raven…oh god…I'm so sorry…so sorry…" Beast Boy said as he turned away and began trotting away, his body still numb and not yet able to work itself up to full speed. At the perimeter, Cyborg watched helplessly. If he could have cried, he would have, but he no longer had tear ducts.
Starfire did it for him though, as twin tears leaked from her eyes, and then her mood suddenly swung violently from sorrow to anger.
"ANARKY!" she screamed. "HOW DARE YOU YOU…what was…HYPOCRITE! YOU PREACH NO FORCE AND NO FRAUD, AND YET YOU COMMIT SUCH AN ACT OF BANAL EVIL! YOU ARE WORSE THEN THE LORD! HE AT LEAST DIDN'T LIE ABOUT HIS INTENTIONS! I HAVE NEVER USED THIS CURSE BEFORE, BUT I WILL WITH YOU! YOU ARE A…!"
"STAR!!!!!!!!!!" Beast Boy suddenly yelled. "What did you just say?"
"What? Anarky is a hypocrite! He lays a bomb and yet says he believes in…"
"No force, no fraud…" Beast Boy repeated.
0:24…
0:23…
And Beast Boy turned around and made a beeline back towards the chair Raven was tied to, much to the shock of everybody.
"Gar! I said run! NOW!" Raven yelled, as Beast Boy crouched down where he had been working for the past twenty minutes, his eyes squinting as he looked at the timer and then back at the wires…
"GAR! RUN! I TOLD YOU TO GO!"
"You go, I go." Beast Boy said.
0:16…
0:15…
He claims that is what he believes. Beast Boy thought. But if he did, why did he lay this device? To do so would break one, but if that…it would break another! And if so how…why…
The timer entered its last ten seconds.
To hell with it. No force…NO FRAUD!And Beast Boy reached down and yanked all the wires out.
With a brief hum, the timer flickered, and then stopped at nine seconds.
Beast Boy looked at the glowing number.
0:09…
And then it disappeared. Anarky's masked face replaced it.
"Well done." He said, and then it was gone. A second later, Raven's restraints popped open.
Beast Boy finally let the breath he had been holding out, and then Starfire was over by their side, crushing Raven in a death grip, and then doing the same to Beast Boy, babbling how glad she was that they were alive and not dead.
"AIR KORY! AIR!"
"Oh, sorry!"
"Beast Boy…what in the hell…ah, who cares! MY MAN!" Cyborg said, slapping Beast Boy across the back. "You just cemented the top spot in my cool list for months."
"Oh? I wasn't there already?" Beast Boy said, as his body finally relaxed from the terrible stress he had been under.
"Gar, I do not understand…what happened?" Starfire said, looking at the computers.
"You did Kory." Beast Boy said. "Or what you said. Anarky preached a belief of "No force, no fraud." In that order. That was what struck me. In the end, I gambled on the fact that he might be willing to use fraud, just a little…as long as there was no force at all. And if there was no force, that meant there was no bomb."
"He never wanted to hurt me. He wanted to distract us away from his plan." Raven said.
"Which he is most likely carrying out now! We must contact Robin and stop him!" Starfire said.
"Geez. A bomb that isn't there, by a guy who shouldn't be putting anything like that there in the first place. What kind of business is that?" Cyborg asked, no one in particular.
"The economics of the madhouse." Raven answered.
And the Titans left the warehouse, already forgetting what had happened there, as teenagers are wont to do. That was the past. It was tinged by Anarky, but it was the past nonetheless.
But if they didn't move, the future might soon be his to dictate.
*************************
A small part of Anarky's computer beeped. He glanced over to it, nodded in satisfaction, and went back to work. So the Titans had figured out his trick. Good for them. He hadn't liked making them think their friend's life was in danger, but he had to keep them out of his way lest the parasites use them as puppets to derail the future. But they had succeeded in figuring it out, and even if they had, nothing would have happened when the timer hit zero. That was the important thing. Tricked they had been, but not hurt. Except for maybe some stress, but that was the stock in trade of their profession.
But in seven minutes, that might drastically change. Because that was when the elite's empire, for so long untouchable, would suffer a blow it would not be able to recover from.
The world would soon be his to give, back to the people who deserved it. They had slaved long enough.
Much like the Titans had slaved over his device, he supposed.
And then something occurred to Anarky. He quickly did the math in his head.
Nine seconds. The device had been stopped with only nine seconds remaining. But surely that couldn't be the case. Robin surely would have…
Unless…
The door behind Anarky suddenly exploded off its hinges, bringing a shaft of light into the dark room. Anarky, to his credit, only jerked a bit in reaction.
"Hello Robin." He said.
"Good day to you as well Lonnie. Though I suspect it won't be in a bit." Robin said, staying in the doorway, the light shining behind him and rendering him a silhouette.
"Sending your allies after Raven while you stayed behind to track me. Surely you understood the risk in that?" Anarky said, standing up, keying in one last command as he did so.
"It paid off, didn't it? Hell, Lady Luck even let me track you without you realizing it." Robin said.
Anarky's fingers clenched a bit around his cane.
"I don't suppose you've come to see the truth of my statements."
"No. Sorry Lonnie. It just ain't me." Robin said. Anarky sighed.
"So be it. I detest using force Robin, but the gift is within my grasp. No one is stopping me from giving it back. Not even you, Robin."
"Not Robin."
And Robin stepped forward, allowing himself to be seen.
His normal colorful costume was gone. Instead, Robin had on a skintight BLACK bodysuit, with a small red marking on the chest. The same red marking that was adorned on the skull-faced mask Robin had pulled out and slipped on.
"RED-X."
To Be Concluded!