The Cyber Wars

[Smittyblack]

Agent Eva Martinez read the files laid out in front of her, dated August 22, 2034. “A new hacker, huh?” She brushed her long black hair from her eyes. “A new guy every day. When will these guys learn? Okay, Director, I'll get to work. This should be easy.”


"No," her director said. "Not for this guy. We have been trying to hunt this person down for weeks. It usually only takes a couple of days— a week at most. This hacker is very skilled, and very dangerous."


"Which is why you called me," Eva said with a smile, scanning the documents with the hardware embedded into her bright—golden, almost yellow— hazel eyes, saving the information as files in the computer integrated with her brain— upgraded beyond the average citizen brain-computer, courtesy of the FBI. "Not sure why you hunted him for weeks before coming to me, but don’t worry, Boss— I’ll get this guy arrested in a few days, tops."


The director nodded, with uncertainty in his eyes. Agent Martinez was one of his best, if not the best, agents, but he wasn't entirely sure that even she could catch this hacker.

_______________________________________________________



Danny grinned, typing away on his computer, preparing for the group's next attack. "How's this code look, guys?" He asked the group, pressing "Send" to send the file through their shared network.

"Wow," one of the other members of the group, Kenny, said. "I don't see a single flaw in your code. Amazing! Nice work, Danny!"

The other members concentrated hard, trying to find errors in the code, but they couldn't.

"Right, then," Danny said. "Looks like it's time to execute this program." He opened the file and watched, grinning, as he allowed his program to wreak havoc on the city.

[Wolfsong]

Andy stared at his computer a few minutes, bored. He'd been sifting through this junk for a week now, and he more than memorized it.
Sighing, he dumped the stuff and set to work on a new place he'd stumbled upon. He noted, with some interest, that there was a lot of movement about it today. Curious, he delved in deeper, sifting through this, poking through that. It was impressive, however, the codes here. His interest grew as he combated the first one. This was super stuff! Excited, he set to work, carefully teasing it apart piece by piece.
Then he found it, the critical piece.
With a few more minutes' work, he was in.
"Sweet." He leaned over, snagging a bag of chips off the desk, and threw one in his mouth as he started work on the next part.
This...was the most fun he'd had in a while. Too bad it'd be over soon...

[Smittyblack]

Eva had received the case a week ago, and she was still working on it, which was unusual for her. Usually, she solved cases in just days. But she couldn’t discover anything about this particular hacker. He’d covered his tracks too well, and the attacks just kept getting worse. Eva was becoming very frustrated. She had an idea to get the case solved, but she wasn’t sure about it-- a number of things could go wrong.

Finally, she decided to go with the plan.

"Director," she said into her earpiece. "Get Calvin Martin on the line."

"Cal— You mean—?"

"Yes. I think it’s the only way to solve this case."



______________________________________



”You must stay within a thirty-mile radius of the court.”

Calvin sighed as he looked at the motel with disgust. It was a place rats came to feed and only prostitutes and low-lifes came to stay. The filthy, battered– but still legible– sign out front was clearly labeled "Brenton Motel", named after the street it was placed on. It was two stories tall, with rooms on each floor, and the building went in a "U" shape to wrap around a pool in the back. The pool was a sickly green color, and the water was starting to become a gelatinous substance instead of a liquid, while a black wired fence went around the perimeter of the pool area. Nobody even went close to that thing, not even the rats. The rooms were in a state of despair; the tacky floral wallpaper was peeling, the white carpets were gray and the white ceilings were yellow. A person was lucky to have a bed not infested with fleas, lice, or bedbugs, or even clean sheets. The small bathroom that came with each room was in bad shape as well, with the pipes constantly backed up, the toilets looking as if they hadn't been cleaned in years, and a bathtub with the same kind of grime.

There was nothing Calvin could do. It was the only place he could afford at the moment with most of his accounts still frozen. And it was the only place within the thirty-mile radius rule he had to consent to. He wasn’t allowed to leave the boundaries, they would know right away by the small computer chip that he had gotten planted in the back of his neck as a part of his parole agreement. It could only be removed after exactly one year, the date his parole was up. He was stuck within the city of New York with no way out and no good place to stay until his accounts were given back to him. He figured that wouldn’t happen until after he was off parole and the police realize there was no evidence they could use against him to put him back in jail.

”There will be no technology that can access the internet in your household or in your possession at any time.”


Calvin had only one box to move into the motel. It was just a cardboard box with a few possessions they were willing to let him have back from his house that had been liquidated while he was in prison, due to his lack of house payments. Among those possessions was a small wad of money, which he had used to go out and buy himself a few books on the latest changes in technology and programming languages. They said he couldn’t have technology– they didn’t say anything about reading about the new technology. He had been in prison for three years; he had to catch up somehow.

He walked into the building and sat the box next to the grimy bed and looked around the place. If only he had the money, he could easily get the place at least looking better and be in livable conditions. He already had to find himself a job and keep budgeting the money was allowed to access to get food and other necessities.

”You will report to me every Friday at five o’clock and you will be subjected to random house visits that will require you to be tested for drugs and alcohol.”

Calvin didn’t even use the stuff. He hated alcohol and he didn’t have any interest in drugs. He worked only with technology, and now he wasn’t even allowed that. He would have to find a job as a waiter or a busboy since his college degrees were all technology-based.

He was a young man, in his late twenties now, and he was only five foot five inches and a rather skinny guy. He had messy, sandy blonde hair that was long enough to go into his eyes and sometimes irritate him a lot, but he never really thought about taking the time to get a haircut until it was too long for him to handle. His eyes were a deep blue, and usually the showed no emotion, but when it came to computers and programming they had a bright shine in them. He was a very intelligent man, but he made his business in different ways than what was considered to be moral or legal.

Calvin just grabbed one of the thick programming books and sat down on the bed to read for a while, until he figured out what he was going to do.

Just then, the telephone on the night table beside Calvin rang. "H-Hello?" Calvin answered. Who could possibly be calling him?

"Calvin Martin?" A woman’s voice said. It was a familiar voice. It was…

"Agent Eva Martinez?" Calvin said. "Agent Martinez, the agent who caught me and—"

"About that," Eva said. "The FBI is willing to make a deal with you."

"I’m listening."



((Sorry for such a long post ahaha. And that's without anything from Danny, heh.))

[Smittyblack]

Danny was typing away, creating another program, when he noticed something.

"Wha-- What's this?" He said. "Guys, look. Someone... Someone got into our file network."

"What?!" Kenny said, leaning over Danny's shoulder to see his screen. "No way... It better not be the FBI. We can't lose this soon."

"No, it's not the FBI," Danny assured. "The IP's-- It's a guy somewhere around here."

"Good," Kenny said. "In that case..."

"Let's fix the security hole that allowed the guy into our network," Danny said. "And then... Kill him. He could give information to the FBI and get us all incarcerated."

"Kill him?" Kenny said. "Whaa-- Since when do we-- I think we should recruit him to the group. After all, he was smart enough to find errors in our network– something none of us could find. We've all spent hours searching for errors in everything we've made, and this guy found one that got past all six of us. He's clearly talented. We should recruit him."

"Hm... Yeah, I guess so," Danny said. He hadn't stopped typing the entire time, and he quickly found the bug that allowed the person in, and fixed it. "And we have his IP, so I'll just run a little search," Danny ran the IP through the local internet provider's database, "aaaaand there we go." Danny read the results. "He lives really close to here. And there's his phone number. Perfect."

Danny made a throwaway Skype account and used it to call the person who'd gotten into their network. "Hope he answers... Hope he's willing to join us..."

[Wolfsong]

Andy was stunned when he was suddenly blocked again. Dang it...brow furrowed, he was about to start poking around again, when his phone suddenly started ringing. He glanced at it, noting the unfamiliar number. Debating a moment, he picked it up, tossing it between his hands. On the eighth ring, he opened it up and held it up.
"Tsunama here."

[Smittyblack]

"Yes," Danny said, with a program modifying his voice to be deeper and unrecognizable, just in case this guy actually was with the FBI. "Andy, Andrew Tsunama? I noticed... You trespassed into my computer network. That's a breach of security. That's illegal." He paused, thinking his words over. "Anyways, you found a flaw in my programming that I was not able to find. And that either makes you very dangerous, or very valuable. I have decided, you can join me, or you can die," Danny said bluntly. He decided to make it sound like he was the only person in the network, and not an entire group, just in case it was an FBI agent or something of the sort.

[Wolfsong]

Andy listened to this with a small smile on his face. Well! This was interesting.
"A job huh? Depends. What kind of work are you offering?"
He leaned back, waiting with a lot of impatient curiosity.

OOC - and...I gotta go. Good night smitty, see ya later!

[Smittyblack]

"There’s a new hacker causing trouble," Eva said, fingering her earpiece. "A hacker even more difficult to catch than you were."

"And?" Calvin asked.

"And," Eva said, "we need your help to catch him."

"And... the deal?" Calvin asked.

"You help us catch the new hacker, we set you free. Kind of. Not totally free, but freer than you are now. You’re still forbidden from using the internet and whatnot."

"Hm… But I can be a regular person in society then?"

"Well, seeing as how to most of society the internet is pretty big," Eva said, "not ‘regular.’ But, other than that, yes."

"Okay," Calvin said. "I guess I’ll do it. Beats staying in this disgusting hotel."

"Great," Eva said. "I'll be there to pick you up in a few."

"I'll be waiting," Calvin said, smiling, and hung up.

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Eva put her helmet on and mounted her motorcycle. The helmet’s visor immediately lit up and a holographic interface appeared.

"GPS," Eva said, "Brenton Motel." The interface rearranged itself to display a small GPS in the bottom left corner, just big enough for Eva to understand perfectly, while the rest of the screen cleared up for Eva to keep her eyes on the road.

Soon, Eva arrived at the hotel. She put her motorcycle key in her pocket and stepped off the bike, removing her helmet.

Immediately, the hotel’s various stenches filled Eva’s nostrils and she gagged, but she set her helmet on her motorcycle seat and continued onwards to the hotel anyways.

"Calvin Martin," Eva said to the concierge, flashing her FBI badge. "What room is he in?" The concierge lead Eva up to Calvin’s room, swiping his card in the door. Eva nodded in thanks and pushed the door open.

"Agent Martinez!" Calvin exclaimed, immediately leaping up from his bed and throwing a backpack over his shoulder. "Fantastic!" He said with a cheesy, overly happy smile and tone, then his voice went monotone to add, "Now get me out of here."

"In a minute," Eva said. "I rode my motorcycle here; no room for you. Some cars are coming for you."

“Some cars? I’m a hacker, not a mass murderer. What do you think I’m going to do?”

"I know you can't do anything," Eva laughed sarcastically. "Security measures or something. But let's wait outside. This place is disgusting."

Calvin nodded and followed Eva outside. Soon, two black cars arrived. A man got out of one of the cars and took Calvin’s bag, handcuffed him, and opened the back door for him.

"All right," Eva said. "I’ll meet you guys at the office in a few minutes." She got on her motorcycle and zoomed away.

Calvin watched through the window of the car as Agent Martinez sped away on her motorcycle.

"Hey," he said to the driver. "How am I supposed to put my seat belt on with these cuffs on?"

The agent sighed, unbuckling his own seat belt and getting out of the car to buckle Calvin's seatbelt.
Then he went back to the driver seat.

"Thanks, big guy," Calvin said. "Don’t forget to buckle yourself in, buddy." Calvin chuckled.

Soon, they pulled up to the HQ, or whatever the place was. The station, the office, Calvin wasn’t sure. The agent helped Calvin out of the car and walked him to Eva, then left with Calvin’s backpack.
"Whatever," Calvin said. "It was just clothes. So, Agent Martinez, what now?"

"Now," Eva said, "you follow me to my office so I can run you through the case."

Calvin nodded, and followed Eva into the building after she opened the door, scanning a chip in the palm of her hand onto the wall beside it.

There were counters on both sides of the doors. Security guards or something. There was an elevator at the other side of the room, with soda and snack machines nearby.
Eva lead Calvin into the elevator, pointing her gun at him the whole way up. “For security,” she said.

"Yeah, yeah," Calvin said. "I know. So, have you found anything out at all about the hacker yet?"

"Nope," Eva said. "None of my programs can find anything about him. It’s crazy."

"Yeah," Calvin said. "Especially since your programs traced me, and I thought I was pretty good... So he’s harder to trace than I was. Interesting. So, if he’s a better hacker than I, what makes you think I can find him?"

"Why shouldn’t you be able to?" Eva said. "And it doesn’t mean he’s a better hacker if I can’t catch him as easily as I caught you. He could be using different techniques or-- Adding any extra computer experts to the team will help us catch him."

Calvin nodded. "I guess that's true."

When the elevator doors opened, Eva looked at Calvin, then at the door, signalling for him to leave first. He understood, and listened. Then Eva stepped out of the elevator, close behind, her gun still pointed at him.

Eva lowered the gun, hesitated, then holstered it. “I don’t need my gun anymore. There’re hundreds of agents in here,” she said. “Try something and you’ll be dead within three seconds," she added, using fear as power over Calvin.

Calvin nodded, following Eva to her office.



_________________________________


Danny hesitated. "I'm sure you know, I'm a hacker with a lot of power in this city." He brushed his shaggy black hair out of his eyes. "And you already know too much, so I'll say it again: You can join me, or you can die. It's up to you."

[Wolfsong]

For a few minutes, he debating pushing this man's buttons to the max. His death threats Andy refused to take seriously, though he doubted he was lying about the hacker part, though major or no awaited ot be seen.
He paused a moment, then smiled. "Awaited to be seen" he had thought. Apparently his mind had already made itself up for him.
"Tell ya what," he drawled. "You pick a place to meet up. If I decide I like the look of you, I'll tag along." He wondered if playing casual was entirely a good idea. But then, until the tracer he had working located this call, he was grasping at shadows. It appeared to be located somewhere nearby, though. His curiosity was definitely piqued.
"So....one question." He glanced at the screen. "If I take this job...what sort of equipment do ya got?"
Just a little bit longer....aw, dang it. He studied the screen in agitation. The blocks were incedible. Sighing, he set to work again while he waited for the reply.

[Smittyblack]

Danny frowned. If I tell him what hardware we have, he could attack--

"I'm afraid that that is confidential information," he said, his voice still being modified by his program, making it deep and unrecognizable. "However, just know that it is most likely better than anything you have, unless you're with the government."

I'm not meeting anyone in public... Danny thought. Nice try, FBI. But I can still go with it...

"Okay, I'll meet you in public," Danny said. "Go to Wal-Mart. There are many people there, so neither of us can attack the other."


OOC- Sorry I didn't post all day until now, after midnight. :/
I was really busy. I'll try to post faster tomorrow. Or, today, since it's after midnight.

[Wolfsong]

Andy burst out laughing.
"Dude, whoever you are, you're paranoid! Attack you? Government, does that mean FBI? You're either in pretty awful deep, or you're just scared." Shaking his head, he replied, "But hey, I'm fine with Wal-Mart. See ya shortly." and he hung up.
Hestared at the wall a few minutes, thinking. Quite an interesting conversation, that was. Now he really was curious to see who the heck Mr. Paranoid was. Not that being paranoid was bad, mind you, particularly if you'd dipped your hands in the big stuff petty deep. Still, that constant join-or-die was melodramatic and silly. If the guy even showed, he would be sure to tell him that.
"Whelp," he said with a small smile. "Time to hit the road." His motorcycle was in the garage. If he took a few short-cuts, he'd arive in a few minutes. Grinning, he stod up and left the room.

[Smittyblack]

Danny laughed. No way was he going out in public to meet some unimportant kid-- not that Danny was much older, at twenty-- who happened to find a small bug in the hacker group's network.

He hacked into Wal-Mart's camera system and waited for the guy to arrive.

As Danny waited, he turned to Kenny. "So how's our program going?"

"Good," Kenny said. "We already stole $20,000 from people's PayPal accounts. With some minor adjustments, I think we could speed it up quite a bit."

"Excellent," Danny said. "Stop the program so nobody will be onto us though. We'll modify it and run it again tomorrow, on a new IP address."

This guy should arrive at Walmart any minute now... Danny thought, grinning as he watched the entrances of the store through the cameras.