Author's Note: I'm sorry Firestone, I never addressed you before. Thank you for reviewing. I appreciate it.

Oh, Agent Sands, I probably won't get rid of Beck. She's Josh's love interest and, even though she was annoying, I think she had some importance to the story. Sorry to disappoint you, but at least we get to keep everyone else, right? ^_^

~

Chapter Six

Help from the Rat

~

Apartment. Undefined Location.

There was a harsh knocking on the entry door. Finch peered suspiciously through his peephole. There was a small grouping of FBI agents, heavily armed, waiting for him.

"Shit!"

"Mr. Finch, this is the FBI. We have a warrant."

Finch abandoned the door and immediately started to get rid of all and any evidence. This wasn't a drug bust. This was a computer conviction.

"Purge. Purge. Purge." he deleted every file on every computer.

Disks were tossed into the toaster, CDs tossed into the microwave, more disks thrown into the sink, anything and everything he could do. He took magnets and scanned his modems and hard drives with them frantically.

"FBI! Freeze!"

Finch turned, smiling as innocently as possible.

"Okay. I know these look like computers. Totally not!"

~

Another Undefined Location. Assumedly Washington D.C.

"Theodore Donald Finch." Purcell read dryly. "Carnegie-Mellon University. M.I.T. Worked and the Sun, Lucent, Rand Corp."

"My handle's 'Rat'. Call me 'Rat.'" he corrected.

"Sixty three computer fraud indictments."

"Sixty four." Finch corrected.

"Two convictions. This is strike three, Mr. Finch."

Finch frowned shrewdly. "Wait a second. You guys aren't here to whack me, are you? Cause I was really, really hoping to have sex before that happened."

"Yeah." Purcell stated apathetically. "I've been told by the FBI - who's database you crippled last year - that you are the best in the business. So you're about to be given a choice."

"What if I say no?" Finch challenged.

Zimsky stepped in, incredibly bored and disgusted with this sad display of human life. "Excuse me but, is this really the best we could do? I mean..."

"How many languages do you speak?" Finch asked in a defying way.

"Five, actually." Zimsky replied somewhat arrogantly, then proceeded to take a long drag from his cigarette.

"Well I speak one. One, zero, one, zero, zero. With that, I could steal your money, your secrets, your sexual fantasies, your whole life, any country, any place, any time I want." he raised his eyebrows. "We multitask like you breathe. I couldn't think as slow as you if I tried."

Purcell looked to Zimsky, interested in his reaction. The man was fuming.

"Do you have any idea-?"

"Okay, hey! Hey!" Josh came in, trying to prevent an unnecessary argument. He knew how to deal with kids like this. He didn't learn nothing from being a college professor.

Resting his chin on his knuckles, he circled the chair. "Let's just, lets give the kid a break." He turned as Finch pulled something out of his pocket. Josh sighed as others ran to retrieve it, or get Finch. One or the other. "Okay, its a phone. Just a phone!" he assured them. He kneeled down next to the seat as Finch pulled out a piece of gum and a comb. "Rat, we got a big problem. A lot of people are going to die. We need your help."

"What kind of help?"

"Information control." Purcell responded. Zimsky was rolling his eyes as Serge conceived this situation with interest.

"We need you to control the flow of information on the Internet."

"You're dreaming." Rat stated matter-of-factly. "Nobody controls the 'Net."

"Could you...with unlimited resources?"

Rat looked up at him after making strange sounds with his new little toy.

"You want me to hack the planet?" Rat asked in amazement. Josh cocked his head. Rat laughed as he dialed a number on Josh's phone. "He wants me to hack the planet." The number dialed. Everyone heard it. He blew his notes into the receiver, a few more dial tones, and then he tossed the phone back to Josh. "You've got free long distance on that phone...forever." Finch turned to face Purcell and the others. "Okay...if I decide to do this, I'm going to need an unlimited supply of Xena tapes, and Hot Pockets."

"Hot Pockets?" Purcell repeated.

"They help me concentrate."

Josh laughed. "Sounds fair."

Author's Note: Damn, this line by line pausing scene by scene crap is getting annoying. That and my parents think I'm insane. This better not screw up my DVD.

Sorry, I'm complaining. Still...only 5 more chapters till everything heads to my hands. ^_^ I already have some stuff written out. Hope you guys will like it.