The Love Hack by mariacomet
Author's comments:
Happy Thursday everyone. Welcome back to another installment of the Love Hack, a story that asks the question, 'How much longer till the Carmilla movie comes out?' This is your captain speaking and we are about four chapters away from the ending of the first arch of the story. I very much look forward to your comments because I had such a good time writing the end of this chapter.
As usual, thank you for all the comments. favorites, etc. It's such an honor to write for you and I appreciate all of the feedback.
Madypaker - That this story helps make your Thursdays brighter is one of the best compliments you could ever give me. I know what you mean about fanfiction. I go in cycles too. Like, right now I am re-reading a bunch of Faberry stories. It's been a while since I read that ship but I just suddenly wanted to read Faberry. Thank you very much for reading!
Guest - Thank you for the comment. Finishing is the plan. I have another 11 chapters or so fully fleshed out but I do need to get writing on the rest.
pFire274 - I'm going to be doing a double update the week of my birthday which is May 16th.
MuffinRamsey - Thanks for the you enjoyed the last chapter. Hopefully you will like this one just as much.
realJane91 - Well if you are going to sit on the edge of your chair, put a pillow behind your back because - comfort! you being invested in the story is really all I can hope for is a writer. I am so thrilled you feel that way.
wonderwall91 - Repetition isn't always bad. Like...eating more than one piece of chocolate. Technically, that is repetition but - I mean - it's chocolate. When someone comments a few times, I start looking for their feedback. Not that you are in any way obligated. It's more that it gives me a feeling of community which is a fantastic feeling. You are right about the EggMaster and getting sleep. And yes, she will. Soon. I would advise you NOT to approach sleep as Emma does in this story. Or approach eating the same way. Or computers. There's a list.
Guest #2 - Thank you for reading and commenting. I'm trying to consistently update once a week on Thursdays. Except for the week of my Birthday where I'll be doing a double update.
Chapter 9 - The one where Regina has a chat
Day 7 of Operation: Get the Scumbag Hacker
Emma didn't want to get her hopes up over nothing. She called her parents at 3:00 a.m. and they groggily came into a Skype call with her - pajamas, mussed hair and all. "Just...just tell me if I'm crazy. Does that look like an IP address to you?"
"Why would a RAT collect the hacker's IP?" Snow wondered aloud, rubbing at her eyes as she appeared on screen leaning over David's shoulder.
"Okay so...the RAT is embedded in a music video Henry goes to a website to view," Emma told them as she paced back and forth in front of her laptop. "The RAT is called StealthLoki and when they click the link to download the video -" Snow disappeared from over David's shoulder but joined the call at her own laptop a moment later. "It downloads, then when Henry clicks on the video to play it, it installs malicious software on his computer."
David nodded his head. "But it also actually gives him the video, and since that plays like a normal video, Henry or anyone that downloaded the file doesn't suspect anything is wrong."
"All of this is typical but I looked into how this RAT installs. On the first sign on, it creates an initial configuration file for the hacker accessing it a.k.a. Peter Pan. After the initial connection, it's supposed to delete the configuration file. It's supposed to but...that's an IP address, right?"
Emma hung over insanity, grasping the ledge of a cliff she'd fallen over. Every second he took, she felt as if another finger pried loose. She had checked the IP address. She couldn't be wrong about that, but the terror that she might have missed something small and obvious pushed her till she dangled, split in two between complete confidence and absolute uncertainty. She heard the clicking of Snow's fingers on the keyboard in the background but kept her eyes on David, awaiting his conclusion.
Finally, David shook his head, trying to believe what he saw. "Have you done a lookup on the IP address? It looks legit...did you see the user name hidden in the code here? And is that a password?" He motioned to the screen with both hands and gaped. "It gives his username and password?"
Snow started to laugh, not a full belly laugh but an extended soft laugh that made her eyes shine. David frowned at her image on his screen. Emma's emotions were a shook-up champagne bottle about to pop. The combination of weariness and the need to get a win twisted tighter and tighter inside her. She had to stop herself from snapping at Snow.
"What is it?" David asked his wife.
The smile did not leave her face. "LokiStealth is an updated version of a RAT that used to be called Thor's Hammer. The developers of Thor's Hammer put in a way for them to track anyone who ever used the tool - on the hacker side and the victim side. I mean, why give away their toys completely? Why not find a way to collect data on the people who buy their tool?"
David, catching on, grinned. "So you think that when they updated it to Lokistealth, they never removed that part of the code. No honor among thieves, I guess."
"My guess, Emma," Mary Margaret said cheerfully. "Is that the configuration file collects information on the person using it, and it's either sent to the original developer of the RAT immediately or it's something the developer can pull easily at will from any infected computer. You just can't trust anyone these days."
Emma's mind moved in slow motion. She didn't want to misunderstand. Another shoe might drop at any moment. A win could turn into a defeat so easily. "So when Peter Pan hacked Henry and stole information…."
"A small portion of his information was collected by the developer of the RAT."
"Let me see something," David muttered and refocused on his computer screen. "Emma," he called out a few minutes later. "The IP address traces to a latitude, longitude, postal code address, cable provider...it looks legit."
Emma breathed out, some of her inner tension easing. Emma didn't mean to cry. Hated to cry. Her eyes grew blurry with tears and she tried to stop it. "I got him?" she whispered as the tears felt down her face. "I did it?"
If David and Mary Margaret were really there, they would have hugged her and she may have, for one of the first times in her life, sobbed while someone held her. It was all going to be okay. She hadn't failed. Her breathing was ragged as she fought for control. She hadn't failed.
She sank into her chair, the relief flooding her in ways that stretched her out, made her feel distorted and like she might break. Winning shouldn't feel like it might break her more than losing did, should it? She just didn't have all that much experience with it. Didn't know what to do with it. "Am I panicking? I think I'm panicking. Shouldn't I be, I don't know, happy?"
"It's very emotional, Emma," Snow soothed.
"The day Mary Margaret and I got married? Best day of my life. But I was a wreck."
"He was a total wreck." Snow agreed.
"I stood up at the front with a Justice of the Peace, sweating like I was in 100 degree heat even though it was the beginning of October. I heard the bride's marching music, and I felt lightheaded. I saw her and one of my knees actually wobbled. It wasn't till she got up there with me, took my hand and said, 'I love you with all of my heart, David Nolan, but you're looking at me like you're going to pass out. It's kind of giving me a complex', that I relaxed." Mary Margaret came in the room David sat in and leaned down to kiss him. He pulled his wife into his lap and turned back to the screen. "People are complicated. Give yourself a break."
Since she met them, she had rolled her eyes at their various romantic displays hundreds of times. Deep down, she'd felt warmed by each and every one of them. They offered one another something total and pure, then they extended that shelter to include her.
"We love you with all of our heart, Emma Swan, but you look like you're about to pass out. It's giving us a complex," Snow added, a twinkle in her eyes.
Emma laughed, starting to feel okay. More than okay. She'd called Snow and Charming because for so long they'd been her nothern star. If they said it, she could believe. With Snow's gentle humor, Emma's confidence doubled and doubled again. Holy shit. Elation stomped all over doubt, sending it scurrying away. Her spirit zoomed around the room, flying in loopy loops.
"Virtual high-five," Emma said exuberantly and held up her palm to the screen.
"Virtual high-five," they agreed and did the same.
Emma leaned back in her chair. Solid ground returned to her, but she still couldn't think clearly enough to give herself a Pertential Score. "So what do we do now?"
"F.B.I." David said, the answer obvious in his mind. "They'll subpoena the Internet Service Provider, and if this is Peter Pan's home address then you have him. If not, you'd have a general location but….it would take a lot more research. Still, it's a very good lead."
"I need to talk to Miss Mills. I haven't told her yet. I needed to have you look at it first. I...thank you. Both of you. I'll talk to you later, okay?"
"We love you Emma," Mary Margaret told her.
Emma just nodded, not answering those words as usual. After she had disconnected the call, she just sat.
"Computer awesomeness achieved," she said quietly to herself and gave a laugh that might have really been a sob. She still soared through the room and up into the sky and she wanted to savor it for just a little longer. It was so, so rare. She breathed in and fresh air filled her lungs. What she'd done, this one thing, transformed her into someone better. Much better. It wouldn't last. But still.
It was the middle of the night, and it took her a few more moments to gather herself enough to go upstairs and knock on Regina's door. She didn't answer, so Emma, without thinking about it, opened the door and moved to Regina's bedside, gently shaking her.
"Regina?" Emma didn't think she'd used anything but 'Miss Mills' up until now.
Regina snapped to alertness, eyes opening fully and sitting up. "Miss Swan?"
"Hey," Emma greeted. "I have some news."
Regina leaned over to turn on the light and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Talking with David and Mary Margaret had settled Emma, but seeing Regina made her feel like a victor. She explained as best she could, trying to be careful of being too technical.
Towards the end, Regina closed her eyes and whispered, "Just give me a moment." Her chin wobbled and her shoulders scrunched up near her neck and she just looked so fucking vulnerable. It hurt to see Regina like that. Emma sat down next to her and debated what to do.
She turned toward her and quietly called, "Hey." Tentatively, she reached out and laid her hand over Regina's. Regina turned her palm so that their hands curled against one another. Regina's fingers were warm and soft. Emma's own felt dried out and cool. Emma tended to shy away from physical contact of any kind, but she squeezed Regina's hand and didn't second guess it. The touch completed something, like someone finishing her sentence. She should want to pull away. When her ex-boyfriend Neal held her hand, she could only stand a few moments before drawing back. It felt dangerous usually, uncomfortable, like wearing an itchy sweater on a hot day. Right now though, it made sense in a way very little in her life ever did. She didn't want to let go. Not yet.
"Does this mean that Henry's safe?" Regina breathed out the question, not opening her eyes. "You said we needed to do more but...is he safe?"
Emma swayed a little closer, almost touching their brows together but not quite. "Almost. We need to decide what to do next. And it may not be Peter Pan's home address. But almost."
Regina held on a little tighter. When she opened her eyes her expression resembled someone who thought she'd been deserted in the desert, a sand storm bearing down on her, and then suddenly saw a rescue plane.
"We did this, you know," Emma said. "Your idea…."
"Don't," Regina stopped her. "It's not true. You did this. You did." Their eyes met, Emma in the middle of trying to protest that she'd done this alone. "Thank you, Emma." The words on the tip of Emma's tongue surrendered and fell back. Gratitude could feel like a heavy weight slung over your shoulders, she observed, if you weren't used to it.
"So you do know my first name," Emma teased, trying to shed Regina's appreciation. It felt uncomfortable to wear.
Regina didn't respond, didn't lighten. "This is almost over?" she asked as if she needed to hear it once more to believe it.
"Almost." Emma paused, not wanting to bring up next steps just yet, but knowing she should. "We're going to have to make some decisions."
A slow nod. "I know." The bed shifted as Regina withdrew, pulling her hand away. "We should tell Henry." She abruptly strode out of the room to wake up her son.
Emma looked down at her empty hand, still feeling Regina's touch.
Something about sitting on Regina's bed started to feel weird when Henry appeared in the doorway. Emma sprang up and moved to the chair in front of the vanity instead. Henry didn't look like he cared where she had been sitting. Regina sat next to him and explained what she could then looked to Emma.
"We know a lot more than we did about Peter Pan," Emma said. "I know how he infected your computer. I know a general location where he is. It's not quite over, okay? But, we're halfway there."
"But it's not over?" He looked between the two women, unsure how he should react.
Regina wrapped him in her arms. "We're close, Henry," she told him. "We're going to stop him." Henry gave in to the hug completely, holding on hard. When he let go, he went to Emma and hugged her in the same way. Winning felt good, but this, the gratitude of a boy who'd had faith in her? Flying became zooming through the universe. Elation became a superpower.
"Is the F.B.I going to arrest him, Mom?" Henry asked, untangling himself from Emma.
"Why don't you go back to bed and Miss Swan and I will talk about the next steps?" Regina said, and laid her hand on his cheek.
Henry frowned, looking between the two women. The look on his face didn't bode well and Emma felt something in her begin to sink back to earth. "But, why can't I stay?"
"Because this is an adult conversation," Regina reasoned.
"I can tell the F.B.I what happened," he protested. "I can help."
Emma turned away from mother and son. Henry's request, no, his plea dug into her. He needed this. So many times in her youth what she felt she needed remained out of reach. She carried the ache of it even now. Well, the whole winning thing had been nice while it lasted.
"Henry, please. I need you to go back to bed now, okay? Emma and I will tell you more when we have a plan."
Henry's face twisted into a scowl. "This isn't fair. He did this to me, not you. He took pictures of me."
"I know he did and I know how scared you've been."
"No, you don't. You don't know anything." Teenagers could say 'I hate you' with their eyes so, so clearly.
Emma saw Regina falter for just a second, a slump of her shoulders before her chin jutted up. "Bed, Henry. Now." Henry stormed out and it didn't take long for the sound of his slamming door to reverberate through the house.
Emma winced. "So, did I mention we almost found the hacker? Yay," she joked dryly.
"Yes, that did turn quickly," Regina agreed. She paced to her bureau and arranged the photos and baubles there, her mouth pressed in a hard line. "He's going to think I'm a coward," she whispered.
Emma didn't want to witness the tension between Regina and her son. She already knew so much about them that she shouldn't, that she wished she could un-see or un-know. She preferred to keep people at a comfortable distance. "I think the kid has good instincts about the F.B.I.," she said, using the case to push them back to the arena of "business talk."
Regina turned away from the bureau, shifting gears as Emma intended. "Miss Swan, I believe we have discussed the need for discretion. The F.B.I. will care much more about my family's name than helping my son. I'd prefer to keep them out of it."
Emma stood and crossed her arms over her chest. "And I'd prefer to know Peter Pan's in a tiny little cell with a large man named Bruiser."
Regina rolled her eyes at her. "It's not that simple."
"It's not that complicated," Emma argued, and Regina gave her a death glare, motioned toward Henry's room and made a hissing 'shhh' sound. Emma huffed, but unbent enough to sit back down. "Okay, so what do you want to do?"
"With the information you have, what can you do?"
Emma tightened her jaw. "Nothing that will stop him permanently, and he needs to stopped."
"He does. I will consider turning over his information to the F.B.I - anonymously - after I am sure Henry's information is safe."
"Anonymously? Like - 'Dear F.B.I., I'd like you to know about this hacker called Peter Pan and all the wackiness in Never Neverland.' They'll think it's a joke." The answer seemed clear even with Regina's stubbornness about privacy.
Regina must have heard something in Emma's tone because her own became cooler. "Then I may have to settle for putting Henry first and, with any luck, stopping Peter Pan temporarily."
"How does putting Henry first mean not going to the F.B.I?"
"There are influences from my past I would rather not subject him to." Then more softly. "I know it's hard to understand, given what Peter Pan has done. But I have to make a choice - do I want vengeance or do I want my son to have the best life possible? If we come forward Henry's life will become a circus. The press will see to that. And if they don't then my moth - my family will."
"Maybe we could have you come forward and tell your story unofficially, but keep your name out of it officially," Emma countered. "David and I know people in the F.B.I."
Regina gave a dark chuckle. "And trust someone to do the noble thing when they could benefit from me and my family? Hope that the F.B.I is noble and good? Trust a stranger with my son's wellbeing? Life isn't a fairy tale."
Agitated, Emma shifted in her seat. "I'm a stranger who you just trusted."
"You were a calculated risk," Regina shot back sharply. "If worse came to worst, I am sure I could have found plenty of leverage on you, couldn't I, Miss Swan?"
Emma wasn't sure why that stung but it did. After all, this was a job and Regina had never claimed that she trusted Emma. Only that she needed her.
Emma gritted her teeth. "We have a responsibility to stop this guy." She struggled to keep her voice down, her hands curling hard on the arms of her chair.
"Not at the risk of my son." Regina spoke just as passionately, the tension between them ratcheting higher. She took a moment, drawing in a deep breath and smoothing her two piece pajama set as if it was a suit. When she spoke again, the tightness of anger was absent from her voice. "You said you discovered how Peter Pan infected my son's computer? How, exactly, did he do it?"
"I can explain that after we - " Emma started to protest, wanting to stick to the topic at hand.
"Miss Swan, please answer my question."
Emma sighed. "Henry visited a website about six weeks ago, probably looked a lot like a streaming video service. He downloaded a video - it was part of one of the Avengers movies. Deleted scenes. In the video, there was a RAT. Henry would have never known that anything was wrong."
"RATs can be embedded in videos," Regina repeated, looking deep in thought. "And what can RATs do again?"
"Lots of things. Control the infected computer. Steal data. Listen in, if there's a microphone. Execute other code to run on the computer to change passwords or whatever. Once you're in, everything on the computer, anything it can do is yours to control. You just have to code what you want it to do."
"You are an excellent hacker. If you had a RAT, you'd be able to code quite a bit, I would imagine. Could you use the same RAT Peter Pan did and change the code to do different things?"
"You're making me kinda nervous."
Regina was lost in her thoughts a moment before she gave a slow smile. "I don't know if we can stop him, but maybe we can slow him down. I think it's time I had a chat with Peter Pan, don't you?"
Eight hours later, an unknown man looked at his email with delight, noting that he'd received a large attachment from Henry Mills. He downloaded it and leaned back to watch.
But when he double clicked it, it wasn't Henry who was on his screen, but a woman with dark hair and angry dark eyes.
"I don't know who you are but I thought I should introduce myself. My name is Regina Mills – I'm Henry's mother. I wanted to…." She looked down a moment. "Appeal to you as a mother. And I wanted to better introduce you to my son.
"Henry is someone with a good heart. I know everyone says that, but in all of my life I have never met anyone as fundamentally good as my son. He believes that most people mean well. That most of the world just needs the occasional reminder to do the right thing. When he was five, there was a drive for underprivileged children at his school for Christmas. One morning, he came downstairs for school hauling this huge garbage bag – it was about half of his toys that he'd gathered and wanted to donate. That's who Henry is. That's the boy you've threatened to violate in front of his friends and expose to pedophiles. You already took the sense of safety that every child should have in his home. Now, nothing and nowhere feels safe. Every day has become about fear. Every moment his heart is filled with the worry of what you might do. And he feels – utterly helpless. I don't know if you have ever felt that kind of helplessness. When your life is that deeply controlled by someone else and you can't stop it. When it's like being in a nightmare you can't wake from. So, I am appealing to you as Henry's mother to think about the boy you are hurting. To consider the damage you might do to him." Regina Mills dropped her head and drew a deep breath.
"But, you won't will you?" She looked back up at the screen. "If you were capable of that kind of compassion, you wouldn't have tried to blackmail a thirteen-year-old boy.
"I've learned a lot this week about things like remote access tools and slaves. That's what you call the ones you have tricked into downloading your software onto their computer, right? A slave? And I've learned how you get slaves. How you can embed a RAT into just about anything, like….like a video. A video that -" she checked her watch, and a smile rose on her face that was a twisted combination of serenity and malice. "In let's say about five minutes should start to stealthily delete everything on your hard drive, and also let us track exactly who and where you are.
"Are you still paying attention? I would if I were you. When you started this with my son, maybe you didn't know who he was. After all, Mills is a common name. What were the odds that Henry was connected to one of the richest, most powerful families in the world? I am going to use that influence to find you and then I am going to slowly turn up the hell in your life. And you'll know how it feels to be helpless. Your job, your friends, your family, your car, your home – I am going to make it my life's mission to take everything and anything that means something to you. And I'm going to start with this computer. By now, the fan in your computer has been dead for about two minutes due to the worm in the RAT you downloaded. Have you tried to use the power button to turn this off? That probably won't work, and if so, it's because your computer has slowly been melting."
