by Nathan Howe
“What can I do for you?” I asked.
“Drake I’m sure told you we’ve been hacked.”
I nodded. “He did. I tried to tell him I’m no good with computers.”
Ron waved me off. “That doesn’t matter. I’m certain now that it is an Ardent or magic related.”
I had never heard of any Ardent being able to hack with their abilities, but that didn’t mean it wasn't possible. There were Ardents whose abilities made them incredibly smart in one area or another, that much I had witnessed. If that were the case, I wouldn’t be much use here. That still required a person more familiar with technology. It confused me to why I was even here.
“Okay. I guess I can see if it is an Ardent, but I won’t be able to stop the hack. I have no idea about computer security beyond loading some virus protection.”
Drake smiled. “You see. That’s the thing. It doesn’t matter how secure we are. None of our firewalls protect us. Nothing does. It acts like the hack is coming from the inside, by passing all our safeguards.”
“Does that make sense?” Ron asked.
“You lost me,” I said. I was a lost sheep when it came to technology. Went straight over my head. I tried to sound smart and reached for anything. “I guess you checked all the people here, and it’s not them.”
“We have. Even talked to a Cynosure Police. They mentioned you, so we looked you up.”
Great. Now the police were giving me out as a person to talk to. They must be getting desperate to tell people about me, or they didn’t take this threat seriously at all. I still wasn’t sure what they expected me to do. “What exactly is it you want from me?”
Ron stopped pacing in front of his desk that was messier than mine. He sat on the edge of it. “To find this person and stop him or her.”
That was easy to say, but not easy to do. Since I was way out of my element, I was a beat the pavement kind of guy. Sure, the computer helped some, but not like getting out and asking people questions face to face. It was different when you went out and got the information you needed first hand. This felt like a different beast altogether.
“I don’t know,” I said. As much as I wanted to help, this stuff frightened me. “This feels like something the Hero Coalition should be doing.”
“Please look into it, if they are needed, you can bring them in.”
He was desperate that much was clear. I vowed to help the people of Djinn Park. While I wasn’t directly helping them, in a roundabout way this would help, and if I'm completely honest, it was lining my pocket with some much-needed cash. Money I needed, so I could continue to help Djinn Park.
“Fine,” I said. “Can I hang around and watch Drake work? So, I can get a better feel of the working of your computers and what the hacker is doing?”
Ron nodded. “You can spend as much time as you want with Drake if it helps you find this person and stop the hacking. The hacker is taking us offline and stealing our money and our clients’ personal information.”
That wasn’t good. Stealing money was one thing, but taking people's personal information was bad. Identity theft was no joke and could ruin people’s lives. Phalanx wasn’t the largest bank around, but it was one of the main ones in Cynosure.
I turned to Drake, “Show me your office.”
We left Ron to himself to continue his private panic attack. The only way I’d be able to help him calm down was to find this hacker. First, I needed to prove it was an Ardent. Then I’d be able to figure out more. I wasn’t so sure it was an Ardent. Just because they didn’t find an inside person didn’t mean one didn’t exist.
I needed to keep all possibilities open at the beginning of the operation. We walked through the office that was home to the headquarters of the company, it was the tenth floor. The building was on the edge of the island that made up downtown. I made sure to look at all the employees that were at work.
Most paid little attention to me as we walked through the halls. A few did stare at me, mostly because I wore my usual outfit and that wasn’t standard office issue. Here, like every other office building, the men wore a suit and tie and the woman wore dresses or a suit.
We arrived in Drake’s office, it was small and cramped. I had figured being head of a department like Drake was it would be large, not as big as Ron’s but bigger than a large cupboard.
I watched Drake work for several hours, it was all over my head. He tried a few times to explain it to me, but that made it worse. Half way through I went along acting as if I understood it, and the information was helping. I didn’t have the heart to tell him it was gibberish to me.
“This has been interesting,” I said. “But I need to get going. I’ll do some research of my own.”
Drake nodded. “All right. Let me know if you need any more information.”
“I will.”
I neared the door to leave his office, and he slammed his fist the desk. “Fuck,” he said. “It’s happening again.”
I stopped in my steps the door open. “Right now?”
“Yes.”
I scanned the office, no one seemed to be up to anything fishy. They did look in a panic with concerned faces. I turned back to Drake and went to hover over his shoulder.
“Show me.”
He went through and showed that their servers were down, and several branches were being affected at the same time. The air in the room cooled, and I shivered. “You feel that?” I asked.
Drake shook his head. “Nope.”
I closed my eyes and concentrated like Ambrosine keeps telling me to do. This helped me focus on the magic, to better sense it and be able tell what was going on. It wasn’t easy for me to do this since I only recently started to accept the magic parts of me more. Sure, I always did when I was talking to clients, but that wasn’t the same thing.
The sensation was over in a moment, and when I opened my eyes, Drake was staring at his screen. His face red and his fist clenched. “Tell me you can stop this,” Drake said through gritted teeth.
It was an Ardent, and one using magic. “I think I might be able to help. Need to go talk to a friend. She should be able to assist me.”
That seemed to please Drake, “Thank you.”
I left the building and headed back to Djinn Park and went straight through it to visit Ambrosine. She was my go to for information on magic and the like. I’ve made the mistake of going to others first, and it was always a complete waste of my time. She was the one with her nose to the ground, so to speak.
I walked into her dingy store where she sold planets and herbal remedies. She made a healing potion that worked best on people like me, magic users. The bell over the door rang as I entered.
Ambrosine came from the back of the store where only she was allowed. At times, I wondered what she had back there. She was very tight lipped about it. Must be something special or dangerous, and perhaps illegal.
“Steve,” she said. “So good to see you. What can I do?”
“Working a new case,” I said. I reached her counter at the back of the public area and leaned against it. “Hacking.”
Her nose crinkled. “You’re dealing with computers, and you come to me?”
I laughed. “Not really either of our forte, but this one is using magic. I felt it.”
Ambrosine leaned in as well. She was an attractive woman (not that I needed to tell Jack that with him dating her). Her hair flowed down freely to her shoulders covering her face. “I still don’t know if I can help you.”
I stepped back. She had always been able to guide me or offer some sort of support. “You’re kidding. You got nothing?”
She shrugged. “Sorry. I’ve never dealt with computers. Don’t keep records of computer stuff at all.”
“Not even magic related?”
“Nope.”
I couldn’t believe my ears. She was a data freak when it came to magic users, at least usually. This caught me completely off guard. I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to continue investigating wit
hout her.
“Okay,” I said. “Uh. Guess I’ll talk to you later.”
Outside in the early evening, I was left with only one choice if I wanted to find information about hackers and using Ardent powers. I had to call the Hero Coalition, it made me queasy just thinking about relying on them for information or aid again. I still hadn’t had to do any official work for them, but I knew that day was fast approaching.
I reluctantly pulled out my phone and dialed Heldonhaft. He was the Ardent that worked Djinn Park, the only one that did on a regular basis, the rest avoided it. It was the worst part of Cynosure and was run by the Faith of the Withering. A group of thugs that dealt drugs and shipped stolen goods through the city.
“Hey,” Heldonhaft said.
“Need a favor,” I said.
“Figured as much,” he said. “I think you called one time not asking for a favor.”
“That’s not true,” I said. “I called twice to help with the cleanup.”
“Okay. Twice,” Heldonhaft said. “What do you need?”
“Working a case with hacking. Have an Ardent, magic-based one, hacking a bank.”
A whistle sounded through the phone. Heldonhaft was a bright young man from Djinn Park. One of the few to get out and make something of himself. “I’ll check the database for you.”
“Thank you,” I said.
I hung up and headed back to my office. The Hero Coalition database housed the information on all the known Ardents in the world. It wasn’t complete by any stretch of the imagination, but it was close enough. It might be missing some info on many of them, but it usually had at least a codename and powers. Though some weren’t even that good. I hoped it had more than that.
The next morning, I woke to my phone ringing off the hook. I was tired and drained from lack of sleep. Since the sight of the bodies in the Butcher’s lair that had been hidden beneath Djinn Park, I hadn’t been sleeping all that much. The smell of hundreds of decomposing bodies alone was enough to keep me up, but the sight of them was even worse.
“Hello,” I croaked. I didn’t even bother to check to see who it was.
“Morning, Steve.” It was Heldonhaft. “I have two names for you.”
I was immediately alert. “Already?”
“We have the best of the best,” Heldonhaft said. “You would know that if you bothered to come in and do some work.”
I grunted. “I will when Inflamed asks me to.”
Heldonhaft laughed. “I can’t wait. You were supposed to come in for an orientation last week.”
“I forgot,” I said. I hadn’t, I really had no desire to go to the headquarters and be shown around. I’d been there in my youth. Most Ardents have since they all required some sort of training whether they joined as an adult or not. Couldn’t have untrained people with powers. The bad part was that it meant the bad guys chased by the Hero Coalition very well might have been trained by them.
“Okay,” Heldonhaft said. “You got a pen?”
“Give me the names.”
“First one, code name The Viper. A hacker with a known location in midtown. The second one, code name Cyberhex. That one we don’t have a location.”
That was a shame since the name made me think it was the one that I needed. “Thanks, email me this if you can.”
“Will do.”
Slowly I got ready to go investigate the first one since it required less work. I didn’t think it would be the person I wanted, but I still had to check it out. I started up my decrepit computer and printed out the email with the information on it.
Thirty minutes later I was across town at the address I was looking for. It was a nondescript building that blended in with most of the other places in the area. Viper lived on the first floor of the building. I worried about going in and talking to the guy. If he was the person I was after and he put up a fight, we weren’t that far from Cynosure University, and it had tens of thousands of students. Class was in session too.
With caution, I entered the building and knocked on the door of his place. “Just a second,” sounded from inside. I heard banging and scraping before the door opened. “What can I do for you?”
It was a young man, barely old enough to live on his own. If I had to guess he went to the university here. He didn’t look dangerous at all. “Viper?” I asked.
He gulped and slammed the door in my face. Never a good start to a conversation. I pulled one of the swords from my back and used to open the door. It was sharp and did quick work.
Inside I was greeted with a mess to rival all messes. It was difficult to even see a spot of the place that wasn’t covered with some sort of trash. Empty cans of energy drinks, pizza boxes, and other fast-food bags were scattered about. It disgusted me to see such a place.
The Viper stood in the room with his hand frantically typing on his keyboard. “Stop,” I said.
“I don’t think so,” the Viper replied. “I’m not going back to prison.”
I groaned. “Look kid. I just want to talk.”
He continued to type, and two flying robots arrived in the room. I was certain he wasn’t the guy I wanted. It seemed he hacked with a superior intelligence. “Look, kid, I’m not here to get you in trouble. I’m looking for a hacker going after Phalanx.”
The Viper turned. “Not me. I’m clean these days. I swear.”
My eyes narrowed. “Why slam the door on me and bring out your little attack drones?”
“Can’t be too cautious,” he said.
“You know Cyberhex?” I asked. He might be able to help me. I had no clue what to do about finding the Ardent.
He hissed and turned back to his computer. “I won’t be dragged into this.” He hit a few more keys and the drones attacked.
“Fuck,” I said as one sent a stream of laser fire at me. I leaped to the right and slide on a pizza box. Narrowly avoiding the blast as the drones flew by. None of my tattoos were made to protect me from lasers, or even bullets for that matter. They were mostly for offense. I dropped the sword it was of little use to the drones. Most of my tattoos couldn’t be used here. The grenades would maim innocent people as would the Sig Sauers I had.
Instead, I grabbed the throwing stars and launched them at the drones. I connected with one but missed the other. I looked around the room, Viper had made a break for it. I wasn’t worried about him, at least not at the moment. I needed to get out unscathed and find the other hacker.
With Viper gone, I made a break for the door. I slid out of the room on something that I would rather not know and sprinted to the outside. The drone was hot on my tail. I needed to get away from any public place to actually attack the thing. Luckily, I knew a place not too far away that still hadn’t been repaired after the Spector attack.
I jumped into my beat-up car and gunned it. The drone didn’t care who it hit in its attempt to get me. It relentlessly fired at me while I tried to throw stars at it. I weaved my car in and out of traffic while people honked their horns at me. Curses were thrown at me, but at least the drone never hurt the innocent bystanders.
The car screeched to a stop in front of a lot that used to be an office building. The rumble was still on the ground, in some areas. Without worry I pulled the three grenades I had and threw one at the drone, it missed.
A shot from the drone hit my arm, and I dropped the other two grenades. I sprinted away. I hadn’t pulled the pins, but I still didn’t want to be near them. The drone for some reason fired at them and they exploded in a thunderous roar as I ducked behind a pile of concrete just in time.
I pulled the sigs and opened fire on the drone. In the distance, I heard both the police and Hero Coalition sirens going. They would be here soon, I just had to hold out until they arrived.
I poked my head up over my defense position, the concrete was all that kept me safe from this little drone. It really was a brilliant creation. Viper was a smart little bugger.
The sirens grew louder and louder until I was certain they were here. I poked
my head over and saw two uniformed Ardents. One in mostly pink looked up at the drone and flicked her wrist, and the drone was instantly crushed. She was called Gravitation Woman and, as her name suggests, could control gravity.
She made me look like a weak Ardent. I stood and walked over to her. “Thanks,” I said.
“You’re welcome,” she replied. Her flowing blonde hair rested on her shoulders and accented her angular face and pale blue eyes. She examined me and smiled. I’ll admit if I had been younger I might have been flattered, but I’m not a young guy anymore and she would exhaust me.
The Ardent next to her was one I didn’t know, “Hi,” I said. “Steve.”
He nodded and grunted. “Kraftig.”
He was the younger of the two and wore a blue and white uniform. His hair cut in a mohawk. “Oh. Wait. You worked with Heldonhaft on that one case.”
“I did.”
“You’ll need to come to the Headquarters to fill out some paperwork,” Gravitation Woman said.
“Okay,” I said and then sighed. This was one of the many reasons why I disliked the Coalition. While I should be out looking for this Cyberhex, I had to spend hours filling out paperwork that doesn’t matter in the larger scheme of things.
Jack howled. “I bet you loved going to HQ.”
Steve rolled his eyes. “Oh, it was great. But you already know that.”
“That’s right. That was when you came over for the replacement tattoos.”
Steve nodded. “You didn’t mention then that you saw Ambrosine.”
“At the time didn’t seem necessary and only mentioned now to have a more complete story. You know me, no detail left out.”
It was Jacks turn to roll his eyes. “Right.”
Both men sipped their whiskey and Steve pulled the half-smoked cigar from his right forearm and the matches to light it up. Even though Jack had seen Steve do this trick a thousand times or more he still got wide eyed when Steve did it.
“You know,” Jack said. “I don’t get why you have me tattoo cigars on you constantly. It has to be cheaper to buy cigars and matches than use my tattoos. Not to mention less painful.”