Hey guys! Sorry I've been slacking with the updates, but life has been crazy lately. I promise to do much better in the future. Your comments are very much appreciated, so if you like the chapter, let me know! Enjoy ^_^

Marcus

"Like I was saying before I was interrupted," Cindy said, casually patting down the wrinkles in her dress. "You're a psychopath."

"This 'psychopath' just saved your behind," I muttered, distracted by the prying eyes of bystanders wandering nearby. We were in a shopping district, populated with small, family owned businesses, and there were a lot of loiterers outside the stores, enjoying the weather and hanging with friends. But there was tension in the air, I felt it the moment we emerged from the alley— the heat of their concerned stares made me uncomfortable. My bloody, puke splattered sweater, and Cindy's messy hair, and weary, tearstained face was really putting people on edge. We were drawing too much attention, it was time to move.

Cindy snorted. "Hah! You want a thank you for throwing me out a window and ruining my favorite sundress? No way, Sherlock. I could have died! And do you have any idea how much this dress costs? Huh? Do you—"

"Don't care." I took her hand and sped off down the street, away from the prying eyes.

I needed to find Cindy someplace safe to lay low. Earlier, she mentioned feeling as if she was being followed on the way to Sitara's place. Maybe she actually was being stalked, and led those fuckers who attacked us right to Sitara's doorstep. Did they want to hurt Cindy, or were they merely using Cindy as a means to locate Sitara? Who sent them in the first place? Who the fuck did we piss off enough to deserve being hunted down like this? Why were they targeting DedSec?

I had so many questions, but no answers. The most important question of all though— how did they keep finding us? Whoever was targeting us, clearly, they had a shitload of guns, and plenty of thugs willing to do their dirty work. These people were resourceful, and chances are, they had all kinds of intel on us, including where we lived.

Did they know about the hackerspace too? Possibly, but even if they did, all of our headquarters were heavily fortified, no one would be able to get in without the passcode. Someone could probably force the doors open if they were resourceful enough, and Lord knows these people were, but with the amount of security cameras and alarms Josh has set up around each one, we'd know if an intruder was coming from a mile away.

I couldn't take Cindy back to my apartment. More masked goons could be waiting for us there. For all I knew, there could be some tailing us now. I could take her to the hackerspace, they wouldn't be able to get in even if they tried. It was only a few blocks away too. She'd be safe there.

However, no matter how desperate or extreme the circumstances were, it was up to Sitara who was allowed in and out of the hackerspace. I had to check in with her before doing anything drastic.

The boisterous noise of police sirens was in the distance, the roar becoming louder and louder. Cops were heading this way. With the amount of attention we drew to ourselves, it was no surprise someone called the police. Or maybe Sitara's neighbors called them, the scuffle I had in her apartment must have been extremely noisy. Shooting that dude in his kneecap probably wasn't the best idea.

I had much bigger things to worry about than the police. With Cindy at my side, we made a turn into a wide, deserted alleyway beside a small Irish pub. There was a black SUV parked on the side, near the back door of the bar. I stripped off my stained sweater, discarded it on the ground and tugged my phone from my pocket.

I hacked the car, powering on the electric motor and releasing the electronic locks. We hustled toward it.

Snap!

The heel of Cindy's right sandal broke mid-stride. She yelped, falling onto the gravel, just before we made it to the car. Her knees scraped the ground roughly, drawing blood.

"Oww," she cried out in pain, clutching her foot, eyes watering.

"Shit," I crouched before her, wincing at the sight of her small bloodied knees. "Are you okay baby girl?"

"Does it look like I'm okay, Sherlock? It hurts!"

I reached out and opened the car's passenger door. Gently, I took her into my arms and eased her into the backseat. Once she was safely inside, I took the wheel and peeled off, carefully swerving out of the alley, and nosing into the chaotic, rush hour traffic. Multiple cop cars zipped past us in the opposite direction, tires smoking as they shot toward Sitara's building.

"I wanna go home!" Cindy shouted, kicking the back of my seat. "Ow, my knee!" She cupped her knees. "Why are we driving away from the police? We need to tell them what happened. They'll protect us—"

"You can't go home," I replied. "The police can't help us, alright? Just trust me on this."

"Why should I trust you? I don't even know you."

"I saved your life, didn't I? Doesn't that count for something?"

"You threw me out a window!"

"Damn, you still holding a grudge? When are you gonna get over that?"

"Seriously?" Her eyes widened with disbelief. "Um, I don't know… how about like, never?"

"I'll admit, throwing you out the window, even if it was for your own good, was slightly satisfying. I mean, you did tase me, after all. It's fair game."

"I'd do it again in a heartbeat, creep. You do know that throwing people in the backseat of your car against their will is considered kidnapping, right? If the cops catch you, you'll go to jail for twenty years. And that's the standard sentence. Kidnapping beautiful girls will land you like, double that. Trust me, I've done my research on this stuff."

"Really? So, your sentence is cut in half for kidnapping the ugly ones? Great, looks like I'll only be doing twenty years then—"

"Shut up!" She kicked my seat again. "You're lucky I forgot my purse at Sitara's place. I'd freaking strangle you with it if I could."

"Calm down, alright? Whether you like it or not, I'm trying to protect you."

"You saved me because you had to. Sitara would pop your fat nerd head like a balloon if something were to happen to me. And when she finds out about you tossing her beautiful, precious niece, who happens to be an internet celebrity by the way, out a freaking window, you can kiss your relationship with her good bye."

"Whatever," I mumbled. Arguing with Cindy was a waste of time, there was no getting through to her.

I let out a sigh of frustration as we slowly cruised along in the bumper to bumper traffic. My racing heartbeat gradually calmed, and the adrenaline pumping through my veins fizzled out. The pain from the fight I had shortly ago began to rear its ugly head.

My knuckles throbbed, and a burning sensation gripped my spine. Thankfully, it was bearable. I was used it, a hard day of running ops usually left my muscles sore. The discomfort was nothing out of the ordinary for me. But there stinging pang in my face and throat, and I didn't recall getting punched, or choked…

I stole a glance at the rearview mirror. There were gashes on my face and throat, most of them small and barely noticeable, but they stung like annoying papercuts.

Cindy was curled up in fetal position, the blood pooling in her damaged knees began to trail down her petite legs. I could hear her weeping softly between the aggravating noise of rush hour traffic.

"Cindy?" I asked. "You gonna be okay?"

Surprisingly, she didn't respond. For the first time ever, she decided against running her big mouth. It was weird. She seemed to be in pretty bad shape, physically and mentally. For a second, I actually felt bad for the brat. We had plenty of first aid supplies at the hackerspace, I could easily patch her up there. But first, I had to run it by Sitara.

Which was easier said than done. Every call I made went straight to voicemail, and trying to get in contact with her through the DedSec app didn't work either. I couldn't hear a thing on my end, just distorted, white noise and static. Something was jamming the signal.

Not a good sign.

Fuck it, I had to get back to the hackerspace.

I punched in the code to the hackerspace's metal entrance multiple times, which was pretty hard to do with Cindy in my arms, might I add, but the door wouldn't open. I waited and waited for what seemed like forever. Frustrated, I gave it a stern kick. Moments later, the entrance finally slides open, and Josh appeared on the other side.

His eyes widened at the sight of Cindy. "M-Marcus? What's going on? Why is she here—"

"Long story," I slipped past him, and quickly descended the steps into the hackerspace. I set Cindy down on the couch and knelt before her, inspecting her scarred knees. They were caked with dried blood, and yellowish pus. "Yo Josh," I called out. "Pass me a first aid kit."

I waited for a second or two for Josh to respond. He didn't respond however, silence overwhelmed the space. I stood, my gaze darted about the hackerspace in search for him. After a moment of searching, I eventually laid eyes on him, his body huddled in a dark corner near his desk, arms hugging his knees tightly to his chest.

I sighed. I really wasn't in the mood to deal with one of his panic attacks today, I had so much other shit to worry about already. Regardless, I needed to swallow my stress and frustration, and help him calm down. After everything we've been through, and all the times he's saved my ass due to his pure genius, I owed him that, and so much more. And Cindy's wounds weren't severe, she could wait a sec' while I tried to get through to him.

"Yo Josh, what's up man?" I asked, approaching him cautiously. "What's the matter?"

Lips pressed into a fine line, he merely shook his head.

I hovered over him and leaned down, laying a hand on his tense shoulder. "Talk to me. Whatever's bothering you, we can get through it together."

His bloodshot eyes glanced at me. "Give me your phone," he muttered, his voice deadpan. Despite how random his sudden request was, I handed it over without contest. Then, his gaze strayed to my phone, and he opened the Dedsec app. "The DedSec app has been compromised." Josh muttered, his fingers tapped away at my phone's touch screen keyboard. "They have access to our servers, Marcus. Our phones are infected. They know where we are, where our followers are, and they've even been listening in on all of our conversations."

My brows furrowed with disbelief. "How?"

"Someone uploaded a virus onto the app. They modified the binary with malicious coding, and masked the exploit as an update. Everyone who downloaded the update has been exposed."

"Like HaDoCk did with the Zombi2 virus?"

"Exactly like HaDoCk did, but with a lot less brains. If they were smart enough, they could completely reverse-engineer the binary, and pull our sensitive data, and even our source code right from the application. But they haven't, at least not yet. I don't know what they're waiting for. Maybe they aren't after our data, maybe they're only interested in tracking us."

"How long have they had access?"

"I don't know. But the update was released fifteen minutes ago. I changed the entry codes to all of our headquarters, and disabled the DedSec channel as a safety precaution. Two more of our members have gone off the grid since the beach massacre last night. That makes eight of us dead in less than twenty-four hours. They could be coming here next, Marcus. They're going to kill us—"

"Nah, stop talking like that man. They can't get in here, we're safe."

"What makes you so sure?"

"There's a big ass metal door separating us from them, remember? You changed the entry codes, right? So, if they try to break in, we'll see it coming. But we can't sit back and do nothing while they're killing off our crew, man. C'mon, let's clean the app, and rewrite the binary. We can get this shit done quick if we work together."

Muscles twitching with anxiety, Josh sprung into a stance, and pressed my phone against my chest. "I scrubbed your phone clean, you're a ghost now. Wrench and Sitara are at a warehouse in Marin, the coordinates are in your phone. Go and find them."

"But what about app?"

"I'll alert our users and let them know the app has been compromised—"

"Wait. Is there any way to trace back who's responsible for this?"

"It's feasible, but there's no guarantee, and it'll take time. I can focus on that instead, but at the cost of leaving everyone who downloaded the update exposed to the virus, possibly including Sitara and Wrench. Is it worth the risk?"

I furrowed my brows in thought. If we didn't publicly announce to our members and followers that our app had been compromised, we'd be allowing everyone to be tracked, and possibly killed. On the other hand, we'd have a shot at finding out who's been fucking with us. No more uncertainty, or mysteries— we could put an end to the paranoia once and for all, and make them pay.

"Find out who did this, Josh," I demanded. "Make it quick, preferably before people realize any foul-play. We don't want anyone exposed to hack longer than need be."

"I'll work as fast as I can. Oh, Marcus, there's something else I need to tell you," his bloodshot eyes stared into mine. "No one could've bypassed our security and hacked our app without any of us knowing. Whoever did this must have already had access to our servers."

"Right, but only DedSec members have access."

"My point exactly."

There was a moment of silence between Josh and I, as the realization of what he was implying slowly sunk in. "So, that means… we have a rat?"

Josh frowned. "We need to be careful, Marcus. We can't trust anyone, not anymore."

I sighed. If it isn't one thing, it's another. "Alright, I gotta go patch up Cindy. I'll head out to find Sitara and Wrench as soon as I'm done. Do you remember where the first aid kit is?"

"Check the lockers by the vending machine. There's bound to be one in there." He stole a glance at Cindy. "Wait, you're leaving her here?"

"Yeah, if that's cool with you. She might give you a little trouble, but you can handle it, right?"

"N-no," he stuttered. "I-I can't watch after her on my own. It's suicide—"

"Suicide?" I grinned. "Don't you think that's a bit dramatic? She's just a teenage girl man, you've survived far more dangerous shit than babysitting."

"I don't think you understand, Marcus. Teenage girls are the most dangerous—"

"Damn right we are!" Cindy's high-pitched voice boomed throughout the hackerspace. I turned around, and spotted her standing a short distance away from Josh and I. Knees still scarred and bleeding, and big, brown eyes smoldering with anger, she waved the sharp end of a small pair of scissors toward us. "Tell me where I am, now!" She demanded.

"I got this," Josh said. He took a cautious step toward her. "Um, hi, my name is Josh—"

"I don't care what your name is, creep! Now get back, before I cut you into several slices."

"Okay," Josh mumbled. Slowly, he huddled behind me for shelter, and clutched my arm. "Do something Marcus, or she's going to cost us everything."

I grinned. "Dude, chill out. It's just a pair of scissors."

Cindy glared at me. "Laugh while you can, four eyes. But I'll have you know, there's a reason why they tell people not to run with scissors. Last time I did, someone got hurt, bad."

"Y-you hurt someone?" Josh asked.

"Sure did. It was years ago, when I was a wee toddler. I made the mistake of running around with one of these things, and ended up stabbing one of my dolls, Debbie, right in the face. She's never been the same since." She pointed the scissors at Josh threateningly. "I'll do it again if I have to! Don't tempt me!"

"P-please don't…" Josh begged. "Don't stab us in the face, please—"

"Everybody calm the fuck down," I demanded. "Ain't nobody getting stabbed in the face, alright? Cindy, put down those little ass scissors before you give Josh another panic attack."

"No!" Cindy shouted. "Come and take them from me, dickweed. I dare you."

"Challenge accepted." I casually stepped up to Cindy. Feet rooted in place, she cringed, letting out a small yelp as I reached out and snatched the scissors from her hand.

I passed the scissors over to Josh. A drawn-out sigh of relief escaped him. "I'll put these back where they belong," he said.

I escorted Cindy back to the couch. "Sit down."

"No," she retorted. "You can't make me."

I sighed. She was really starting to test my patience. "Why do you have to make things so difficult?"

"Maybe because you kidnapped me? I'm hungry and tired, and my legs hurt. I wanna go home."

"It'll be much easier for me to treat your wounds if you sit down. Stop fighting me, girl. I'm trying to help you."

"Whatever." Arms folded across her chest, she plopped down on the couch, and kicked her feet up on cushions. "Do whatever you want to me. I don't care anymore."

I shook my head. When was she gonna get it through her thick head that I wasn't the enemy? Now that she was finally calm, I set off in search for the first aid kit. It was inside the lockers by the vending machine, just as Josh directed. I returned to Cindy and got to work on mending her wounds.

Although I was pressed for time, and worried sick about Sitara and Wrench, I made sure to be extra cautious, and gentle in cleansing her injuries. My hesitation caused the entire process of disinfecting and dressing her wounds to take a lot longer, but it was worth it. The last thing I needed was for her to get riled up again.

Once I finished cleaning and bandaging her knees, I grabbed a bottle of painkillers from the depths of the first aid kit. "You should take two of these. It should help with the pain—"

Slap!

Cindy swatted the painkillers from my hand. The bottle soared across the hackerspace, and collided with the wall. "I don't want your stupid pills," she grumbled. "I wanna go home."

My muscles tensed. I took in a deep breath and exhaled, in a desperate attempt to relieve my frustration. "Cindy, listen to me," I gazed into her eyes. "I know you wanna go home, but you can't, alright? There's some really bad people that are after us. We barely made it out of Sitara's apartment alive, remember? These people are resourceful, and ruthless. It's too dangerous for you to go home. But you're safe here, no one can hurt you."

She trembled, her wide, luminous eyes grew wet. "W-why do they want to hurt me? I didn't do anything wrong."

"I don't know, baby girl. I'm sorry." I smiled sadly. "But you're gonna be alright, no one's going to hurt you. I'm gonna go find your niece, okay? She'll know what to do. And when this is all over, Sitara and I will take you back home, and everything will be back to normal."

"You swear? Will I make it to prom?"

"Hell yeah, I'll make sure of it. You said you were hungry? I can pick you up something real quick. You like takeout?"

She sniffed, the proposition of food caused her face to brighten. "I like pizza. Scratch that, I love pizza. Especially when it's free."

"Finally, something we have in common. Okay, one pizza pie coming right up. Hold tight." I pulled away from the couch and turned for the stairs.

"Hurry back so you can find my niece!" Cindy demanded. "And make sure you order the pizza with extra cheese! Oh, and no pepperoni! I'm allergic to pork!"