Hi! Welcome to my Digimon fanstory~ Feedback is more than appreciated. I hope you enjoy it!

- In a dark place, two creatures talk to each other -

"Things are not getting better. No, this is an understatement. Things are getting worse faster than we predicted, and because of that, they decided to resort to... Extreme measures" says a creature with feminine voice

"What would that be?" asks a calm male creature

"They... Declared a war on them"

"That's rather… Extreme indeed, but... expected from your kin. But telling me that is not the actual reason why you came to see me"

"I'm against that idea"

The male creature lets out a gasp in shock. "What was their reaction to this?"

"I didn't tell them a thing, obviously" the feminine creature turns around. "All they wanted is me to foresee the future to guarantee their success in winning, but this is not how it works. There's not one path, nor one single answer. Knowing the foresight can drive someone insane if they think their interpretation for it is the correct one"

"Hm… You did foresee something then. Care to tell me more about it?"

"All I will say is that it's very catastrophic. Where? To who or to what?" she shrugs

"Okay. But that still doesn't tell me why you came by"

She shows an egg to him. "They created this using their holy data. Their plan is to send it to the Surface, so it can gather as much data as possible about that world and make the best plan to destroy them. But I don't think we should destroy a whole world just like that! We don't even know the details of the cause!"

The male creature nods. "I understand your concerns. So you want me to give a new birth to this egg and make it less-"

"No, no! If you directly modify the egg, they will immediately notice it! I want you... To balance it by external means"

"Wait, that would mean…"

"Yes, and I know you have the power to do it"

The male creature stares at her for a few seconds, shakes his head and sighs. "Very well. I favor your objective, so I will grant you what you wish"

Then, after some time, a different egg is handed to the female creature.

"Keep in mind that you are partially responsible for this. Have a safe trip" says the male creature

- One year later -

"It's finally time to go!"

A young brown woman - around 19 years old - in formal clothes rushes out of her office room. It is Tayna Bambadi, relieved that the work in the office ended. Her white braid swings from one side to another while she walks fast. She grabs her suitcase while her brown eyes scan the room, checking if she is forgetting something behind. She sees that her colleagues are still working and waves at them with a sincere smile on her face.

"Tomorrow will be the greatest day for you Ms. Bambadi! I hope you are excited!" says one of the colleagues

"I sure am!" she answers, "I hope you are excited as well! Remember, I don't make the team alone"

She then rushes to the elevator while the colleague keeps waving at her frenetically. There was something that she was looking more forward to than 'the greatest day': going home. The elevator opens, and in front of her is Gabriel Smith, the CEO of the company she works for.

"Oh, good evening, Ms. Bambadi! I didn't expect to see you still here" says Gabriel, with a docile smile on his face

"Ah!" says her, while startled by his sudden presence. "Mr. Smith! Do you need something from me? I don't mind staying for a little long-"

Gabriel sighs. "I really appreciate your hard work, but I will say that again: go rest, girl! You know what awaits you tomorrow!" He gives her a thumbs up.

She nods. "Thank you. See you tomorrow!"

She leaves the big building, Diamlock Tech - the fastest growing cybersecurity company of the decade - and walks to the direction of the train station, which is only 5 minutes away. The bright and colored neon lights in the city denounce that it's been dark for some time. The cold breeze goes through her body, so she gets her jacket and she wears it. She also puts on her earphones and plays a playlist of her favorite alt-rock songs, blocking all the noise a big and crowded city can offer. She arrives at the train station and takes her train just in time. She stands next to the door, the train is already crowded. While she waits to arrive at her destination, a little TV in the train plays an ad about a debate that will happen in a few days regarding cyber crimes and privacy. On one side, people talk about better and stronger online security regarding sensitive and personal data, making it harder to leak important data. On the other side, people believe that institutions like the police should be allowed unrestricted access to all data at all times. Their motto is 'if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear'. Their counter arguments to each other are usually 'that will make crimes easier and investigating harder' and 'we are going to totally lose our privacy' respectively. She sighs and thinks to herself. "I don't know why people are still in doubt about that… Hopefully they will realize that handing over their freedom is the worst choice of their lives before the referendum. Tomorrow we have to shift their opinion away from that nightmare"

After a full hour of commuting, she arrives in a decent-looking old building. She runs upstairs, unlocks the door to her apartment and removes her earphones.

"Solar System" She says, while turning the light on. "Boot up!"

The computer turns on, and a Sun-and-Moon face logo appears on the screen.

"Welcome home, Komet" says a male voice coming from the computer

Komet. The name she feels the most comfortable being called. While she is Tayna in the offline world, she is Komet online. Almost no one knows they are the same person, and hopefully for Komet, this will be the case for the rest of her life.

"Thanks, Sonne!" she answered, while changing her clothes. She wears her favorite violet sweater, which is a bit loose on her body. Then she wears a smartwatch and crashes down on her bed.

"I want to know about your day, Komet! You sound relieved" says a female voice from the computer.

This was Lua, and along with Sonne, they are Komet's AI assistants, which she uses to take care of her health, manage tasks, inform her of new messages and news and more.

"I will be honest, it was pretty tiresome, but all of that will be worth it" says Komet, very proud of herself

"It's a pleasure to hear that" says Sonne

"I'd like to know more about it!" says Lua

"Tomorrow is finally the time to announce and launch the first part of the project!" says Komet, while looking at the ceiling with a big smile. "If there's any access to these private data, the owner of the data will be immediately communicated, even if the access is done by, let's say, by the company that owns the data themselves or even the police. Besides, this will-". She pauses herself to yawn

"Komet, there are new messages for you" says Sonne

"Hm? From who?"

"Your mother"

Komet immediately jumps out of her bed and sits in front of the computer. "Lua, can you read the message?"

"Hi sweetie! Since you didn't answer the calls, I decided to send you a message-" reads Lua

"Ah, right…" thinks Komet. She checks her phone and sees the missed calls. "I forgot, sorry…"

"-about our current situation. Your grandma is finally properly housed again-"

"...after six years. Finally!" thinks Komet, alleviated

"-and this is thanks to our combined efforts!"

Then her 'mother' proceeds to talk about the specifics of how they did it, including overworking even more. Komet wasn't happy about that. Then the last part of the message was the financial report. Komet opens her Excel table to update the values. The table was about her parents' and grandparents' finances, which she created to manage their finances after her grandparents were victims of a big scam five years prior. Even though the authorities knew how severe the dimensions of the scam was, they weren't much help. No one was held accountable for the data leaking - thus no arrests ever happened - nor her family financially helped. Because of that, they had to deal with the big debt themselves. This kind of crime was becoming so normal that people started to rely on vigilante hackers to protect them and expose criminals. This is when cyber security companies and the police decided to step up. The population kept siding with these hackers for some time, but a tragedy changed that forever.

Komet updated the table. More than 70% of the debt was paid. Opening that table always made her heartbroken, but this time she is giving a small smile.

"Hopefully tomorrow we are gonna change the future for the better" she nodded to herself. "Sonne, voice to text, I will send a message to my mother"

"Why not a call?" asks Lua

"Unfortunately I'm still quite busy…. You know how my mother won't stop talking as soon as I call her… Really, I really would love to call her now…" she sighs "I will do it tomorrow after the 'big day', when everything will finally be done"

Komet proceeds to say the message for Sonne to convert into text. She gives quick updates about how she is doing well in her job, apologizing for not answering the calls and telling her how much she misses her and her father.

"May I ask something?" asks Sonne, after the message is sent

"Go ahead" says Komet, while rubbing her eyes

"It's about the project from this 'big day'. Isn't that going to backfire on you?"

Komet sighs

"Did you add some kind of backdoor?" continued Sonne

Komet shakes her head. "No, of course not! I can't give other hackers opportunities to breach the system. It's pointless"

"How are you gonna carry on with your investigation if you are trapping yourself then?" says Lua

Komet is a vigilante hacker herself, despite also working for a cybersecurity company. Despite that, she avoids targeting her own company for obvious reasons.

"Don't worry, I still have time! The launch party will happen in 17 hours". She walks towards a covered table. "Now, I need you two to leave for some moment, I want to-"

"Komet" called Sonne before being shut down "according to your current body activities, you are not in conditions to do things that demand such focus. I highly recommend that you take a rest"

Komet looks at her smartwatch, which shows her body activities and vital signs, yawns and gives a little smile. "You sound like my mother, you know? Except for the very technical speech, that is"

"I am fulfilling my role of taking care of you"

"I know… But what I mean is- You know, I've been feeling like you two are becoming less… Erm… Machine-y… and more like… Actually caring about me"

"But we actually care about you!" says Lua

"Ah! Please, don't get me wrong, I didn't mean to accuse you two of being emotionless tools- Aaaah, what am I trying to say?" she shakes her head quickly to keep her awake "What I really mean is… I don't care if you two are just AIs… You two are making me very happy. Thank you very much…!"

"If we make a full analysis of your body's vitality and general health in the course of one year…" Sonne proceeds to say things about her health back then and compares it to it now, but in a very technical way.

"Let me translate that for you! What he means by all that is that your well being and happiness increased since we started assisting you!" says Lua

"We are proud of this achievement" finished Sonne

Komet closes her eyes and gives a sweet smile. "Thank you for your company" she nods "I'm truly happy and grateful for having you. You two are…" she looks at the clock "Oh, crap! I really need you two to leave now. See you later! Solar System, shut down"

After shutting it down, Komet reaches out for her suitcase, then she puts her hand in one of the pockets and grabs something that looks like a pendrive with the logo of Diamlock Tech on it. The thing has a set of ten numbers on the little screen that changes to a different set every half minute. She then sits in front of the covered table and uncovers it, revealing a different computer, connected to different things. She removes the objects that were covering audio input and output. She opens a side software, created by herself, that helps protect her from being identified or conceal herself in some situations. Her manager, Gabriel, is aware of that and allows her to use it (as long as it's not against the company obviously).

"Of course someone tried to invade my system. Get lost" thinks Komet, while smirking. It was an attempt at ransomware, but it was so weak that Komet could immediately tell it was just a noob carelessly trying to be a badass. "You are lucky that I have no time now to get back at you"

She cleanses the threat, and then looks at the pendrive thing to see which numbers they are showing. She inserts these numbers along with her login name and long password, and then she uses a voice authenticator.

"AUTHENTICATION COMPLETE" appears on the screen. She now has complete access to the Diamlock Tech Network. She goes through the files related to her work. She has a list of ongoing projects, a few with a "finalized" checkmark, and one with a lock icon. She accesses the project of the 'big day'. Then she starts working on it. Actually, more like revising it, checking if everything is in order. She can't afford a flaw in her project, even if it's a very little one. It has to be perfect. No mistakes, no anything. Flawless. Even if there's a flaw, she's already thinking of a plan B, C, D. Everything should be predictable. She checks, rechecks and re-rechecks it.

One thing that she hates is that she can't get her AI assistants to help her, after all, they would be considered malware for the Network, and if she had to explain about them, they would find out about her hacking activity, since the assistants have illegal software on them. Another thing that she hates is the feeling that someone could be observing her at any moment. Maybe through the webcam, maybe they are listening to her by using her mic while she is in the network. She feels like she is working with a handgun pointed at her head, even though that isn't the case for the most of the time. One big problem is that she doesn't realize that her extreme cautiousness is making her more tired than normal.

Komet revises the project for about one hour, her vision gets a bit too blurry. She closes the network, shuts everything down, covers everything back and puts the computer back in the closet.

"Solar System, boot up"

"Komet-"

"I know, I know"

"Komet" says Lua, mimicking Sonne's tone

"Do you really want me to shut it down again?"

"In all seriousness now," replied Sonne, "you should take some rest now, you've been overworking a lot. Surely you didn't forget what awaits you tomorrow"

Komet puts on her casual shoes. "I can't go to sleep yet! There's one more thing I need to do, or I'll lose that chance forever. You said it yourself!" Komet raises her voice "it's a now-or-never situation!"

"I regret to say that, but you played way too safe. Now you put yourself in a bad spot. Maybe you should let it go before you get yourself in trouble"

"I still have time! I'm very close to the answer! You know how important this is for me! I'd rather lose my life than miss that chance!"

"Do not say that. Your life has more value than some information on a crime unrelated to you"

Komet abruptly stands up while her muscles tense up, punches the chair and raises her voice more "Shut up! A machine would never understand it!"

Komet quickly sits back down and puts her hands on her face. "I... I'm sorry, I didn't mean that…" She sighs in sorrow and gets up to get her wallet. "Please… Don't say it's unrelated… He was my friend…" she shakes her head. "I will get some coffee at the coffeehouse. I will be careful, I promise… Again, I'm sorry…" She gets to the door, commands Solar System to go on standby and then leaves, locking the door.

The streets outside are busier, after all, it's Friday. A lot of people talk at the same time, making it hard to understand any of them, but easy to see that they are having a good time. Komet puts on her earphones and dives into the crowd in the main street. The warmth of that area makes her forget it's actually cold, while the colorful lights of the signs guide people around. After 20 minutes walking while immersed in her thoughts, she smells the fragrance of caffeine in the air: she has finally arrived at her destination. She slowly enters the coffeehouse, and, fortunately, it's not that full. Probably because they don't sell beers there. Komet walks to the back of the coffeehouse to her favorite spot, all the way in the corner. As the waiter walks towards her, she removes one of her earphones.

"Oh, it's you! Would you like the usual?" asks the waiter

"Yes, please"

While she waits, she checks her phone, looking for news. She looks around to check if her order is coming, and she sees a familiar face. "Why is he here?" thinks Komet.

He is a tall guy around her age, with light skin and green eyes. He has reddish brown spiky hair with yellow locks, making it look like flames. Bigger locks fall on his shoulder on both sides, tied with a silver band. He wears a black trench coat over a small red shirt that shows a lot of his chest. His pants are a bit loose, intentionally making part of his underwear visible. Two other guys, which she doesn't recognize, accompany him, but the tall guy walks in alone like he owns the world. Komet covers her head and part of her face with her hood and lowers her head.

Meanwhile, an ad from the Diamlock Tech starts playing on the tv, and people in the coffeehouse make that their current subject. Of course, some people start to argue about the state of online safety. After some argument, they started to talk about crackers and vigilante hackers. They were more aligned about that: all kinds of hackers should be punished. Some people were more extreme, saying they should be tortured and killed.

"Isn't it nice to hear that?" says someone to Komet, in a sarcastic tone

Komet quickly turned her face to the person

"Did you really think I didn't see you here, Komet?" says the guy

"Drake" says Komet already serious, discreetly looking around

"Don't worry, I told them to wait outside" says him while putting an evil grin on his face

Drake is one of the Big Three from the well known hacker group The Dragons. This group was once the most influential hacker group. Their remarkable thing is that all members of the groups are named after different kinds of dragons. People that try to pretend they are one of them are not spared nor forgiven.

Komet gets off her chair. "I need to go"

Drake pushes her back to the chair. "Is this how you greet an old friend? How rude of you, huh! I guess you really became one of them, huh?"

Komet just looks at him seriously

Drake opens his arms. "Long time no see, miss bigshot! How's it going? Enjoying your solitude kingdom?"

"Get to the point"

"Awn, 'let's go down to business', huh?" Drake sits on the chair in front of Komet, and leans closer to her, using his hand to support his head "Soooo… I know you are up to something veeeery special tomorrow, and we all know how the competitors can be stones to your path to success. I'm pretty sure you would love it if some of them had some… Inconveniences"

"Nice try, but you know this is not the type of person I am. Now scram"

"Oh, trying to be the tough girl now? Maybe you are right. You are probably more like the opportunist type, right?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I am talking about you, bitch! Isn't that obvious?"

"Elaborate"

"As you wish, princess! You want to emerge as their heroine at all costs, right? You are trying very hard to get aaaaaall the glory to yourself while using others like stepping stones. I know very well that you avoid all kinds of contact outside your stupid office, and that's because you are trying to hide whatever dirty secret you have. You have no single human being truly to call a friend. All of that for what? To be the people's savior, isn't it? 'The perfect plan', is this what you call it? Gimme a break"

"What are you talking about? Are you stalking me?"

"What are you gonna do about that? Report me to the police? Well, you know very damn well you fucking can't, miss hacker"

"How come you didn't report me to Diamlock Tech yet?" says her while looking unamused.

"Are you kidding me? Don't play dumb! I know very well you can simply get back at me. Besides, unlike you, I have morals. I won't go around reporting my peers, specially my rival"

Komet inhales, and then exhales "Rival? You act like I'm your mortal enemy! What's up with all those random accusations anyway?"

"Are they really random?" Drake smirks and puts a magazine on the table

Komet looks at the magazine. It's on a page where the headline says 'The fall of a dragon'. It's an article about the execution of a hacker named Hydra for manslaughter. Hydra was the leader of The Dragons - therefore one of the Big Three - and the most respected hacker among all hackers. At some point, a lot of hackers believed he was innocent and used as a scapegoat to make the population hate on vigilante hackers.

Komet clenches her fist. "Why did you bring that up? What does that have to do with anything?"

"Isn't it a bit of a fortunate coincidence that not so long after Hydra was gone, you suddenly became part of Diamlock Tech?"

"Are you implying that I used that fatidical day as a stepping stone to join Diamlock Tech? Are you insane? You, of all people, know how much I respected and liked him! That was a big loss and we all felt that!" Komet looks at Drake disgusted "Look Drake, I understand that you are still mourning his death, but-"

Drake punches the table. "'But' what? If you liked him so much, why did you turn your back on him? On all of us? You weren't part of the Big Blackout. You were just gone, fucking gone, and when I heard of you again, you are on their side! The side where people want to see us dead"

"Stop that! I am not on their side!"

"Are you sure about that? Then why didn't you turn your back on them yet? Aaaaah, I know why. You want to get the best of both worlds, since you didn't actually quit hacking. You sure enjoyed your hiatus leaving us to burn, just to return gloriously and alone. Gotta work hard to reach perfection, huh?"

Komet shakes her head

"And for that you are willing to throw your friends under the bus to rise to glory, right?"

"I'd never do such a thing"

People in the background kept trash talking all kinds of hackers

"You hear that, right? The ones who accommodated you are endangered while you live like a heroine. What are you doing about it? Are we all really just disposable gadgets for your 'greater goal'? Or are you just the worst kind of coward?" asks Drake

Komet shakes her head. "No, this is not it…"

Drake puts an evil looking grin in his face again. "'This is not it'? What is it then? Hm?"

Komet stays silent.

"You are not coming clean after all, huh?" says Drake

Still silence

"Everything would be so much better if you were the one that died there-"

Komet quickly gets up. "We are done here"

"No, we are fucking not!" Drake holds Komet by her arm "Since this pathetic excuse of a person that you are is being rewarded for working on 'the perfect plan', then why don't we take the time to thank the people that helped you achieve perfection? I'm sure you won't just forget all those carbonized victims that started all this mess, right? They really wanted to be saved, but thanks to their sacrifices, you got a nice job! Perhaps you should also celebrate the last breath from Hydra while they injected that thing that took his life, because without that, you wouldn't be where you currently are, right? Aaaah, I guess their sacrifices were worth it for you"

Komet starts to shake. "Shut up!" She puts her hands on her head. The screams of innocent women being burned alive come to her mind. "T-that shouldn't have happened!" Then sees and hears Hydra saying the last words before getting killed. Her eyes start to tear as she yells "LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Drake sees Komet having a panic attack and chuckles. Then he realizes that the coffeehouse personnel are walking towards them. "Tch, you are lucky today. But remember that, Komet: I will make your life hell until your mask falls, then make you come back crawling to tell me what kind of loser you are and admit you're delusional. I can't wait when your castle crumbles down. I will be waiting for you, until then, I will be pleased to watch a worm like you suffer!"

As soon as Drake releases Komet, she runs away as fast as possible. Her heart races as she can't take those memories out of her head. She hyperventilates as she bumps into people without noticing. "Why… Why…?" She keeps running like there's no tomorrow. More tears start rolling down her face. She doesn't take her hands out of her head. People are yelling, chanting "die! Go to hell!". People are crying and screaming. She starts to feel helpless. "Why did that happen? Why wasn't it-"

"KOMET!"

Komet snaps out of her thoughts. She looks around and realizes that she was already back home, huddled in the corner of her room while sweating cold.

"I'm registering high levels of stress from you" says Sonne

"What happened?" asks Lua

Komet looks at her smartwatch and just shakes her head

"You said you would be fine, but you returned in a worse shape. I believe we have the right to know what happened to you" says Sonne

"Yeah! We very are worried" says Lua

Komet sighs. "I… I saw Drake"

"Drake? The same one that keeps sending you annoying messages at times? That dumbass from The Dragons?" asks Lua

"I think it's safe to assume it's him, and he probably crossed the line" says Sonne

Komet shakes her head again "That doesn't matter now"

"Did you teach him a lesson? If he made you feel that bad, then he deserved a lesson" says Lua

Komet gets surprised to hear that. "N-no, I didn't… It's not that simple"

"How is it not that simple? He damaged you, you damage him back"

"He is… Just a troubled old friend, that's all"

"As far as I know, friends don't hurt each other"

"Could you elaborate? From what I've learned, this is not a normal human response and conclusion to that situation" says Sonne

"I will keep it short, okay?" says Komet while still a bit in distress "His family was shitty to him, and The Dragons is where he could finally feel like a family. Hydra was like his big brother, and now that he is dead, his feelings are all over the place"

"I do not recall knowing who Hydra is" says Sonne

"Hydra, alongside Wyvern and Drake, was one of the Big Three - the three strongest hackers, therefore the leaders - from The Dragons. Drake is now the only remaining Big Three from the group. How come you don't know something as trivial as that?" says Lua, almost yelling

"I don't go after information that won't enhance my capabilities. We have already established that this is your job, because somehow you take pleasure in doing that"

"You sure sound like you are fun at parties"

"Is this sarcasm?"

Komet giggles, feeling a little bit better

"I like that you two clearly have distinct personalities" says Komet while giggling "Sometimes you two act like siblings, something I would never expect from AI assistants"

"Do not change the subject, Komet! How come you feel bad for an asshole because of a sob story?" asks Lua

"Let's leave that for another day, okay? We have something else to do before I go sleep"

"He is probably just salty because you have been getting a lot of renown lately. You are taking it too easy…"

"Komet, you know you should actually rest. I do not approve of your overworking" says Sonne

"It doesn't matter for me at this point, I am restless now. I can't sleep even if I tried. Some breaching is what is gonna calm my nerves now"

"I understand. Although I still don't agree with your position, I will do as you command. You shall proceed with the next steps"

Komet nodded. "Solar System, protocol 12 initiate"

The screen that had the Sun-and-Moon face on it changes to a dark screen. Then Komet starts typing a lot of codes very fast. She is checking up her system and seeing if there is anything infecting the assistants before she proceeds. After thirty minutes, she finishes the checkup and terminates protocol 12. She then goes to a different room, closes the door, wears a visor, and presses a button to boot yet a different computer. This one had two screens, and looked very fancy. A lot of cables are connecting the computer to different things. Komet then cracks her knuckles. "Sonne, Lua, are you ready? Then let's go, Team Twilight!"

Komet goes through different pages, types some codes, and goes through deep and dangerous places on the internet. She enters the Deep Web, then the Dark Web. She gets information that leads to a different way. Now it's time for some breaching. This will get her to her ultimate goal: know what secrets Don Werisley - the criminal related to the carbonized women, which got Hydra executed - tried to erase when willingly letting himself burn to death with innocent people. "I have to- no, I will get this done today". She opens a new software. Sonne and Lua are assisting her in all that. Hour passes, until…

"Bingo!"

Komet finds something very relevant. It is a person that Don Werisley kept in contact with very often. Certainly a crime partner, since the fragments of the message she found contains something suspicious, although she can't figure out what it is yet. "I will finally find out who that person is". It is one hour away from the sunrise. Komet presses the button to execute her code.

"Jackpot!"

It is finally the moment.

"I will finally bring justice to Hydra"

Her heart races. When she sees the name of the crime partner, her eyes widen in shock.

"No fucking wa-"

That exact moment, a black goo comes out of her screen, violently pushing her against the wall and holding her.

"WE NEED SOMETHING FROM YOUR BRAIN" says the goo monster, as it starts covering half of her face with goo. Komet panics and tries to scream, but one part of the goo stretches out and chokes her. The monster seems to absorb some energy from Komet, and then it says "YOU SAW TOO MUCH".

Komet tries to fight back, but the monster stretches three stakes from its body and stabs her. The goo starts swallowing her left arm. She panics harder, still trying to break free from this unknown creature. She looks down, and realizes that a red puddle was quickly forming under her feet. She couldn't move. She couldn't ask for help. She was helpless. She looks towards the screen. Tears start to roll through her face. Her vision starts to get blurry, and the last thing she sees is her screen shining brighter