Hello everyone! Here I am! It has been almost 2 years to the day that this was updated and finally it's here. I haven't written anything since two years ago, and now that I'm job hunting and doing things that bring me joy I came back to The code. I haven't written anything in all that time but my account was still active for those little moments that I could indulge myself in fantastic writing, so I saw all the comments that were left on the story in all that time. To all the people that took the time to write on a "dead" fanfic even though it had been so long, and even the PM's I got asking me for more, I thank you with all my heart, your support is a big part as to why I have descided to keep on going even though it has been so long.
I had this chapter halfway written when I published the previous one, so this has been sitting on my google docs for two years unfinished, it's finally not haunting my dreams any more! :)
Also a disclaimer I want to give: I haven't been writing in a really long time and I finished this in a creative burst at 4 a.m. in the morning, so it's possible that there are some typos and grammatical errors (english is not my first language) but I was so excited to share this with you guys that I couldn't wait!
I hope you are still as invested in the story as I am and that you enjoy it! Comment and review 3
June 5, 2017
For a second Paige couldn't breathe, the team, her family, was trapped in a facility that at the moment was full of bacteria of a killer virus, they were in danger. She felt herself start to hyperventilate and had to put her hand on Sam's shoulder for support, which made him turn to look at her.
"Paige?" He spoke looking at her with a concerned voice. "You with me?" He said looking straight into her eyes while holding her face, which forced her to look back at him. For some reason those green eyes were able to calm her enough to respond, so she did.
"Y-yes." She stuttered a little. "Sorry, just had a moment." She continued apologetically.
"No, it's fine." Sam responded quickly. "I lost you for a little bit and got worried." His voice was calm and soothing, like he was trying to calm a restless child, it was relaxing.
She kept staring at Sam since he was holding her face and when he realised she couldn't move he moved away like he had been burned.
"Sorry." He said as soon he had put some distance between them.
"It's fine." Paige answered with a little smile, his awkwardness was quite funny. "Thanks for keeping me calm."
"Paige are you ok!?" Toby's voice resonated in the garage.
The mission. For a minute the liason had forgotten the reason for her panic a moment ago.
"Yes! Toby I'm fine, I just had a moment." She answered as fast as she could feeling like crap for the time lost.
"Good because we are having a little situation at the moment!" Happy answered.
"Okey." Paige took a deep breath to settle her nerves. "Toby."
"TB is a virus that is airborne, so just breathing it or being close to someone who is infected makes the infection a high probability." He took a moment to think. "Lauren has told me that luckly the cells in this room are inactive, but could become active at any moment for being exposed to unfiltered air. There are two methods to control a situation like this, the UV panels on the ceiling or the air filtration system. For what I have gathered there's an emergency button at every lab in case there some issues with the samples."
"Have you tried that?" Silvester said with a voice that made clear he was not having a good time.
"Yes, it's the first thing we did, the systems are offline, I don't know why." The psychologist responded.
"The hacker must have done something to the system." Happy exclaimed the second her fiancee had finished talking.
"Then we need to reset the system to reboot the air filtration and kick out the hacker from the server." Sam said from his seat.
"How do we do that?" Paige asked, pressed for time.
"We need to find out the location of said server and reboot it manually right?" Toby asked following the conversation.
"Usually this buildings have separated air filtration systems so if an area becomes compromised the other sections aren't in immediate danger, so that's good news." Sly answered Toby.
Sam and Paige looked at each other and instantly realised that they weren't going to like the solution.
"Which is also the bad news." Continued Toby.
"Don't follow." Replied Cabe. "If it's shut off it's not in danger right?"
"We are in the danger zone, so we are stuck inside until the area is clear." The shrink followed.
"The standard cool off time is 48 hours." A femine voice continued, the scientist Laura. "So we're stuck here for two days when the samples will have for sure died or we need to get the system back online to open it sooner."
"Is there a manual way to force the air filtration to kick in? Where is the panel that controls it?" Happy asked.
"Let me check." Sam answered quickly. After a couple of seconds of checking the blueprints he saw what he was looking for. "I got it! It's next to the server room."
"We can get to it then?" Cabe asked, hopeful.
"I can't override the door lock of the room where you're in." Sam continued.
"Neither can I." Sly said, defeated. "And if we open that door we will be potentially exposed as well." He continued, sounding more panicked.
"Silvester is right, it's not a good idea for you to go out and expose yourself to the virus." Sam followed. "At the moment Toby and the scientists are the only ones with the high probability of infection, being with the samples. Since the other important rooms have shut off from said lab, you are not in immediate danger but you will be if you open the door."
"I'm not closed off, I can go." Happy said, nonchalantly.
"What!?" Toby exclaimed.
"The door for this room has a simple electronic lock, it's just a lounge with a couple of computers, I can easily hack it and leave and get to the override." She continued.
"Are you crazy?! If you leave the room you will be in a potentially infectious zone! The hallways aren't a restricted area!" He countered, panicked.
"You're already potentially infected, I'm not going to let you catch it stupid." The mechanic responded back.
"Happy the room you need to go is in the other side of the building, how will you make it?" Sam asked, looking for a plan.
"Is there a way to use UV lights? Toby, you said that UV worked with the virus right?" Paige asked from the intercom, remembering what was said earlier.
"Yes, UV lights are supposed to work it the situation, but I'm not sure how."
"I got it!" Happy exclaimed suddenly, making Paige and Sam jump. "The agent here has a flashlight for emergencies! We just need cellophane!"
"For what?" The liason asked, curious.
"To make a DIY UV light, it won't be as powerful as an actual UV light, but it should work for a little bit." Sly answered for the mechanic.
"That could work." Sam said quietly to Paige, a little bit incredulous.
"There should be something in here." Happy said, while shifting noises were heard in the background. "Search everywhere we need to find something with colored cellophane!" She instructed to her companion, they both started to look everywhere in the room for anything that could be of aid. After a little more rustling a "I think I found something!" Could be heard from the background. "Candy! Yes! That could work!" Happy's relieved voice could be heard. All the members of the team were able to take a breath of relief at her exclamation. She took the candy from the drawer and looking around he was able to find tape as well. After that she unwrapped a couple, took the blu-ish wrappers and strapped them to the flashlight lense with the tape.
"Done!" She said triumphantly while she tested it out. "Let's go!"
"Point the light at yourself the whole time you are in a potentially contaminated area, and…" Toby said, still unsure.
"I'll be careful." She ended before he could say it. "You stay here." she said pointing to the agent that was with her. "We might need the computer that's in this room and someone to operate it." I could be seen on the cams that he tried to argue with her, but Paige interjected before it got out of hand.
"It could be a good idea, just in case." She looked at Sam, that nodded his head to her in approval.
In the end the mechanic left on her own, in a mostly dark hallway where only the emergency lights were on. She closed the door she came out of as quickly as possible after her.
"I can barely see anything, I will need some guidance." She said as she carefully moved through the building, trying to find her way.
"I'm on it, Paige and I can still see you through the cams so I will be able to guide you no problem." Sam replied fast after her.
While Sam guided Happy Paige focused on the rest of the team, who were waiting without being able to help. Toby and the scientists decided to put all the possible samples in sealed containers to reduce risk of infection. On the other hand Sly and Cabe were stuck in the server room and she was able to see that the mathematician was starting to panic moving around the room, Cabe was trying to calm him.
"Silvester, we're safe in this room, we have what we need. When Happy is finished we will be able to leave and be ok." He took him by the shoulders to steady the restless man.
"Yes, you're right, we can't get infected here." Sly responded a little calmer, even though Paige could still feel his nervousness through his voice.
"Why don't you work on retrieving the archives that were stolen? That might help us to find the culprits." Paige said as relaxed and calm as she could, so she would transfer that feeling to Sly.
"Good idea, I'll do that." He responded in a little voice, he was trying to calm himself down as well.
The team were doing their tasks and Paige was there, at the garage with only the coms and cameras to be able to be with them. She felt so useless and stressed, the bile started to rise on her throat. She couldn't fall, not now. Sam was busy helping Happy, she needed to help Cabe keep Silvester calm and be aware of any problems that Toby could have.
Slowly but surely Happy was able to reach her destination, with a loud "I'm here!" Heard through the coms.
"Okay, now to override some stuff." Her tone was playful, mechanics was really her true calling.
"I have some extra information." Sly answered then. "The hacker is still on the server, if we don't kick him out we won't be able to fully override the air filtration!" Panic was starting to rise again in his voice.
"I will look into it Sly!" Sam said confidently, changing his attention to him. "You keep on looking for info!"
It then turned in minutes of intense typing for Sam, furrowing his brows more every second that he pressed enter on the keyboard.
"Damn it, he's good!" He said as he kept on typing. "I'm not giving up though!"
Some more time passed when Happy's voice could be heard again.
"Okay I'm ready! Tell me when."
"Not yet! It will reset again if you do it while he's in charge!" Sam exclaimed to stop her from acting.
Sam Wilkins was good, that was obvious, but R was able to counter every command he was giving him to kick him out. With brows furrowed he kept on typing feeling more challenged than ever, a new feeling in him.
"He's quite good, no doubt." Mark said next to him. He was following his movements as events unfolded. "We have what we need though, just let them think they saved the day." He continued with a smile that made Rhino shiver a little, he really was mad. "We need to prepare for the next step of the plan." He finished as he left the room, apparently not interested in the operation any more.
"Ok, I will wrap up no problem." R answered while he typed, glad to be able to finish the torment he was inflicting on the team.
With a little smile he typed the final commands, pressed enter and shut off the computer.
"GO! The hacker disconnected!" Sam exclaimed when he was able to kick him out of the server.
Happy wasted no time in executing the manual override and soon enough the vents started to make noise while expelling clean, filtered air. At that second Paige was able to finally sigh in relief, the team was saved. She looked at Sam, proud and put an arm on his shoulder. He looked back at her and smiled, which in turn made her smile as well.
"CDC has been called and are on standby, they will assess if the site is compromised and you guys can head out for decontamination." Sam said to the team. As soon as the doors opened everyone was able to get out of the facility and get back home.
As the team was on their way to the garage after thorough tests by the CDC, Sam and Paige could calmly look at what they had achieved and what they had on the hackers. It was then that Sam realised something.
"There's something strange." He said as he looked at the commands that were saved on his computer.
"What do you mean?" Paige asked, getting closer to maybe see something that would catch her eye, as she expected nothing did.
"There's something embedded in the last command that he gave, it looks like a message." He typed something and in big letters a new message appeared on the screen.
Good work, Mark says hi.
- R
Sam looked to Paige concerned, who in turn felt like the world was crumbling down on her the second she read the message.
This ended up on the longer side, I started writing and couldn't stop at all XD
I won't give a timeline for the next update because I don't want to shoot myself on the foot, but I will keep on going for sure ( I hope I update sooner than 2 years for the next one XD)
Again, thanks to everyone who took the time to write to me and comment, Carol Ballinger (I'm so grateful that you still keep up with me since almost the beggining, your comments always make me smile) and everyone who commented during 2020 and even who took the time to write me a PM (I'm looking at you railman).
You guys are the best!