A few notes: Hello, hello! Another day, another fic. YST/Matrix mini crossover inspired by an unfortunate hacking incident which happened to a friend :/. The movie is great, I loved the psychology and philosophy behind it! You don't have to have seen it to understand the fic, I hope. Continuing on: all characters belong to their respective owners.
101001
By RubyD
Part One
Hacking, a dangerous occupation. Those who boasted that they could break into anything were nothing more than inflated egos. The real hackers never bragged about cracking large codes or surfing through government databases for some light reading. They never knew when someone might just overhear them talking about it. So they kept quiet.
Hacking, the new frontier. Solve a puzzle and win a prize of knowledge. Solve enough and win a reputation. Solve too many and find yourself on the government's most wanted list for terrorists.
Hacking, Touma's new hobby. A smart boy with nothing to do, not even the homework which he had finished hours earlier out of boredom. Guess what? Nasuti just got a new computer.
You fill in the blanks.
It was late evening. The sky hovered in cool twilight with the sweet scent of dew grass. Crickets and fireflies were just starting to wake to sing and dance for the autumn moon. The stars were out, silent as they ever were.
Inside the mansion, Touma noticed none of this. He sat in the study, air stuffy, with the light from the screen highlighting his passive face. Then a yawn. The rapid but quiet tapping of the keys stopped for a second as he leaned back and stretched.
The Internet. The universe of numbers and codes - a mathematician's dream. The world where what you did, how you looked, or what you ate last breakfast in real life didn't matter. It's all in the presentation and disguise. Sign on, create an identity, and no one would be the wiser. If you knew how to travel the wires, you could go anywhere and be anyone.
Touma did just that. It was a useful talent; he was able to delete from his friends' student records the times they've been absent. He even got a free subscription to Movie House, who sent new releases to him twice every month. But those were small stuff - hardly a challenge. Tonight, he was trying to crack into government files.
After shaking the single empty soda can in disappointment, the teen continued. He had long since disabled the Cookie installed on Nasuti's hard drive. He surfed freely and without worry, having put in an undetectable connection.
Well, he hoped it was undetectable.
*Warning: If you do not have the correct password in 10 seconds, you will be disconnected.*
A flurry of tapping. Password solved. Next level of protection? Broken through. Even more codes . . . all cracked.
The files took time to get to, but he did it. Surprisingly not too hard. He scanned through the dry military reports and mediocre documents. Although interestingly enough, there were a few documents about the 'unusual phenomenon' that occurred in Japan. Five robotic suits sent from possible terrorists?
iPlease,/i thought Touma. Then an unexpected turn - of all the files, he couldn't get into one. It was protected by yet several more levels deeply buried in techo-jargon. Squinting at it in interest, he began to decipher the levels.
Suddenly a message appeared.
*MouX83: Yo, Byrd, what's up?
Touma lurched backwards, almost tipping the chair over, thinking for a moment that it was a government message. Reading it he sighed, recognizing it as one of his fellow hackers. The click of keys.
*BluByrd: Hi Mouse. Busy hacking the Gov. You scared me for a moment.
*MouX83: Sorry, man. Any problems?
*BluByrd: None so far, I'm just stuck at this one file.
*MouX83: Have you used your C-Access?
*BluByrd: Didn't work. Neither did the Random. I'll figure it out - it's not that hard.
*MouX83: How long have you been on? Better hurry.
*BluByrd: Shit, gotta crack before they ride me! Gtg!
A 'ride' meant a trace. A small timer had appeared in the lower left corner of the screen, counting down thirty seconds. *Tracing connection . . . *
He kept himself from panicking by typing furiously. Ten seconds later he was in, but the timer was still ticking. In the folder was a simple text document, only under 200 KB. What was in this that would have so many buffers around it?
Another message blinked on.
*Download Text File: M. Y/N?*
Seventeen seconds. Y! Touma punched in, getting ready to pull the connection.
*Downloading: 24%*
Thirteen. Hurry up, damn it!
*Downloading: 76%*
Nine! Move!
*Downloading Text File: M . . .
*Saved.*
*Do you want to check the file for viruses before disconnecting? Y/N?*
N!!
Touma cut the phone line with four seconds to spare. He sighed, resting his forehead on the cool table counter. Safe.
Rubbing tired shoulders, he decided to go get a can of pop from the kitchen before looking at the file. Feet gently padded out the door and down the stairs. The house creaked as it settled and he found the light on.
"Seiji?" he asked, finding him making a bowl of cereal. "What are you doing up?"
"I could ask the same of you," Seiji responded. "Just eating breakfast."
"Ah. At four in the morning?" Touma opened the fridge and took out a cold root beer. It snapped open with a hiss of escaping gas.
"And then I ask," he said, pointing with his spoon, "what are *you* doing out of bed?"
"Working on a project - nothing big." He hadn't really told any of his friends about his new hobby. It was something he felt that he should keep to himself.
"Must be. You've been up all night a lot."
"So have you."
"I have my own project."
"Oh, really?"
The phone on the wall rang before he could get an answer. Who would call so early? Seiji stood and got it on the second ring.
"Hello, this is the Yagyu residence," he said with his usual politeness. The blond frowned, and handed the receiver out to Touma. "I think it's for you."
Curious, the teen took it, sipping at the can. "Moshi moshi?"
"Hello, Byrd," greeted the male voice.
He choked on the drink and slammed it down on the counter. "Who?" he coughed.
"This is Mouse."
"Mouse?!"
"Turn around." He turned, and two men in suits suddenly burst through the kitchen door. They looked like government officials, dark glasses and all.
"What the Hell-?"
The men grabbed hold of the struggling Seiji, cupping his mouth so he wouldn't scream. His shocked violet eyes glazed over and closed as one of them emptied a needle of yellow liquid into his neck. They dragged the boy out.
"Hey, let go of him!" Touma shouted, dropping the phone and running after the men. Not paying heed to the chair in his way, he tripped and fell . . .
. . . And woke up, once again in front of his computer. He blinked in confusion, realizing where he was. A dream? Had it been a dream? Touma looked out the window, seeing that it was almost dawn. Weird. He must have fallen asleep right after downloading the file.
He sat there for a moment, debating on what to do.
Uncertainly, Touma stood and crept out into the hall. He opened the door of his and Seiji's room, squinting at the beds. Seiji was there, quietly sleeping and not at all looking like he had awakened during the night. The covers rose and fell with each calm breath. Feeling stupid, he shook off the paranoia and shuffled back to the study.
He slumped into the chair. Time to take a look at that file. What could be in it? Sitting around wouldn't achieve anything. With a click, he opened it.
The text opened and Touma blinked in surprise. The whole text - it was nothing but gibberish and symbols. Could he have made a mistake in the downloading? He checked and saw no error that could have occurred. It really was just a file of nonsense.
He scrolled down the document in defeat, thinking he had been on a wild goose chase. Then he stopped. In the middle of the gibberish were two words:
The Matrix.
iThe Matrix?/i he frowned. iWhat's that?/i
Then, the file began to disintegrate in front of his eyes as if something was eating away at it. It was followed by a loud and startling beep. The screen crashed, spiraling the room into darkness.
Damn, a virus. He must have downloaded a virus.
A single line of green appeared in the field of black.
*The Matrix.*
It winked once, twice, then flickered off.
Touma reached out to touch the screen, but froze.
There were two cans of soda next to the computer.
To Be Continued
So what did you think of the first installment? Does it call for another part? Feedback would be highly appreciated.