Riley and Wrench were nearly through with the movie, when Josh hurriedly stood from his desk and paced over to Marcus and Sitara. "Shit shit shit shit shit…" He muttered, and they both shared a confused glance. Wrench paused the movie and stood to follow after him, Riley right behind him.
"Shit shit shit shit-"
"Hey, man, what's going on?" Marcus asked, expression rife with concern. Josh's shoulders were tense, and he clenched and unclenched his hands out of nervousness. Something was obviously wrong.
Riley and Wrench slowly approached as he started to explain in a breathless rush. "I was looking at our numbers, how many people dowloaded our app, how much processing power we had available, and that's when I saw it…"
"'It'…what 'it?' What?" Wrench asked, coming up beside the hooded hacker with Riley. She stood slightly off to the side, unsure if this pertained to her or not. She really wasn't sure what was going on anyway. Though, it appeared no one did either.
Josh let out a sigh, then answered. "A chunk of our followers and bots came from inactive or dead !Nvite accounts."
Riley saw Sitara's eyes widen, and Marcus held up a hand in both concern and to try calming Josh down enough to get more information from him. He seemed about ready to hyperventilate or something.
"Hey wait…so someone used a social media site to boost our numbers? Who?"
Wrench gently hit his shoulder. "And how many fucking accounts, man?"
Riley noticed Josh was swaying side to side in agitation, and Marcus' attempts to calm him weren't really working. She was guessing this was very bad.
"I don't know who, but it came from someone inside !Nvite. Someone with admin access, I'm sure of that. As for how many…" Josh walked closer to the laptop on the counter and typed a few commands, finally stepping back to reveal a pie chart that represented their numbers. 3/4 of it was green. The other 1/4 was…
Wrench's mask displayed two angry slashes, and he slammed his fist into the table. "Fuck me!" He shouted, throwing his hands up in the air and walking away. Riley stepped back, not wanting to get in his way while he was upset. She hadn't really seen him angry like that before.
The others gasped or groaned in realization that this was a potential risk. Marcus walked away with Wrench, trying to clear his head and look at this from an objective stand point. Riley chewed her bottom lip nervously, standing there unsure what to do.
"I'm sorry! Sorry, I didn't check. It's all my fault, I didn't check." Josh apologized profusely, but Sitara laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Josh, hun, it's not your fault."
"No, I didn't check!"
Riley walked over to join Wrench and Marcus who were in a better state of mind than Josh. She crossed her arms, trying to come up with theories. "Maybe someone in !Nvite is a fan of DedSec? They might be trying to boost your influence that way?"
Marcus shook his head, pacing a little. "Yeah, or maybe we're getting set up to get fucked."
Riley conceded that point, knowing it could also be the case. The truth was, none of them had any answers, only guesses, and they could only try to figure out the motives behind this strange discovery. The whole gang was nervous. She hadn't anticipated something like this happening to shake the whole gang's peace of mind.
Sitara had managed to calm Josh down a bit, but Riley could still hear him mumbling 'I should have checked' under his breath. The group formed up again, this time to discuss the problem.
"Look, there's no use debating amongst ourselves. We need to find out for sure."
Wrench pointed towards the lead hacker. "Marcus, I'll find you a way inside." He promised, walking over to the couch where his laptop was sitting. Riley debated whether he would appreciate her hovering while he worked, but figured he would tell her to leave if he needed space. She walked away from the others, leaving Marcus to try convincing Josh that he wasn't to blame for all of this. He honestly wasn't, but the poor kid really thought it all came down on his shoulders.
Wrench was already typing away once she sat beside him. "Is there anything I can do to help?" She asked quietly, seeing he was focus on his work. She was half expecting him to ignore her and ask her to go somewhere else, but surprisingly he gave her a full acknowledgement and nodded enthusiastically.
"Actually, yeah. Grab that other laptop over there," he pointed to one on his workspace desk, "and help me look through the information we have in Blume's servers. !Nvite uses ctOS, so there should be data to get us into the building somewhere there."
"Ok." She agreed with a smile, rising to fetch the laptop he specified. It felt good to be needed, even in some small way. Riley took her seat beside him again, and he got her into his system. He got the coding system all set up for her, then gave her the device to use. The both of them took their time in perusing the data that Marcus' ctOS backdoor afforded them, looking for anything that might help them get into !Nvite.
They searched for some time, before Marcus wandered over to where her and Wrench were sitting. "Have anything yet?"
"Uhh…nothing substantial, but we're following !Nvite's default security manual information, so we should have something soon here." Riley answered, offering him an enthusiastic glance.
"You off to check it out?" Wrench asked.
Marcus gave an affirmative nod, rubbing his hands together. "Hell yeah. We'll get to the bottom of this."
Wrench and Marcus shared a fist bump, and then the hacker jogged towards the stairs leading out of the hackerspace. Riley watched him go, slightly worried. None of them knew what was going on with these fake accounts, none of them knew what they were up against or even if something was wrong, but she had a bad feeling regarding this whole situation.
"What's wrong?" Wrench asked, noticing her concern. He stopped typing and turned towards her. She shrugged.
"Is he gonna be alright?" She gestured towards where Marcus had gone.
Wrench's mask showed his happy expression, and he waved a hand dismissively. "Eh, he'll be fine. Marcus has done this a thousand times."
"If you say so." She said, finally turning back to the laptop and continuing the search for anything that would help Marcus.
Riley and Wrench eventually found the default codes for !Nvite's front doors to gain access to the building without suspicion, but it was another thing trying to hack into the elevator to get to the CEO's office. It was specifically for her office, and only she had the code to get in.
"Fuck, it's not here." Wrench punched the couch's arm in anger. "I've gone through everything, but there's nothing for the elevator."
Riley wanted to say something to reassure him, to let him know he wasn't at fault, but she was beaten to the punch.
"Relax, I'll find a way in. There's gotta be an override code or something in security to get me in." Marcus said through the comm channel, sounding extremely calm given the fact that he was deep within the building of !Nvite. Any number of people could happen to stumble across him, but Riley thought he didn't sound fazed at all. Wrench must have been right. He probably had done this a thousand times before.
"We can try to help through security feeds, but looks like the CEO's office is on a separate grid. Once your inside, we won't be able to help." Sitara said from the table, her own laptop up and running as she tried pulling camera feeds from inside the building.
"Just keep me posted."
"You do the same." Josh said worriedly.
"I unlocked the elevator. Heading there now." Marcus said finally, and the crew breathed a small sigh of relief. Part one down, now they just had to figure out the purpose behind these fake accounts. Hopefully the CEO's computer would have the information they were looking for.
Several minutes passed, and then Marcus pinged the comm channel again. "Heading up to her office. I'm gonna get us some answers."
"Good luck, Marcus. We're with you." Sitara reassured, glancing around at the DedSec members still at the hackerspace. Everyone must have worn a nervous expression, because she nodded slowly and gave a weak smile.
They all just had to trust Marcus knew what he was doing. There was still room for error, after all.
There was radio silence on the comm channel for several minutes. Sitara tried getting through to Marcus after five minutes without communication, but there wasn't any response. The gang at the hackerspace began to feel like something wasn't right here. Riley, who was still flipping through the security feeds throughout the building to be sure there wasn't anything suspicious going on suddenly froze, her feed now showing the downstairs lobby.
"Uh…guys?" She turned her screen for the others to see. At least four police cars and a dozen policemen were locked down outside the front entrance, their lights flashing and sirens going off.
"Shit!" Sitara whispered. Just then, they heard Marcus come in over the comm channel again. At least he was alright. For now.
"Fuck. I got played…fuck!"
"Cops are surrounding the building, get out of there." Sitara relayed.
"Fuck!" He yelled, no doubt thinking things had gone from bad to worse. They could see him searching left and right, but standing in place, as if unsure where to go.
"Marcus! They're surrounding the building. Get pissed later and get out now!" Sitara demanded, an expression of both anger and fear etching her face now. They were all thinking the same thing. These cops were probably going to shoot on-sight rather than try to bring him into custody. He had to act now.
They all tried looking for an opening that he could escape, fingers tapping keys with precision and speed. Josh had tapped into the police's radio so they could see what information they knew. Riley, however, was feeling panicked. Her ops had never had this degree of danger for someone else's life. Sure, she took on a degree of danger posing as people she wasn't, but this time it wasn't her at risk. This time it was someone she knew. That was all the worse in her opinion.
"They've got the south and north sides of the building completely blocked off." Riley reported as Marcus tried finding an escape.
"West is your best bet." Wrench said over comms, joining Riley in finding him a way outside. "There are still cops, but nowhere near the amount at the entrance."
"Any backdoor that way?"
"No…" The masked man replied bitterly. "You might have to go through a window."
"I'm on the sixth floor!"
Riley had a feeling Wrench was going to retort back something less than polite, so she jumped in before he could. "You'll have to get to the first floor, then. There appears to be small offices on the west side, you could get out through there."
"Shit, how do I get there?" He asked, already closing the elevator door.
Riley's mind was working overtime, the adrenaline helping her think clearer. "Uh…scratch that, they've got most of the first floor secure. You'll have to go to the second floor. Think you can make that jump?"
"Sounds like I don't have a choice." He retorted.
Riley nodded, switching camera feeds to guide her way. "Alright, when you get out of the elevator, hook a left and go all the way to the end of the hallway."
The whole team provided updates on the progress the cops made in the building. By the time Marcus made it to the second floor, the police had cleared the entire first level and were beginning to proceed upwards. While they kept surveillance, Riley focused on getting him out of the building. "You're gonna have to hurry." She said as delicately as possible.
"Gee, thanks for the heads up." Came his sarcastic reply. Riley ignored the bitter tone, knowing he was just as stressed as they were.
"Ok, now take the second right, and there'll be a row of offices. The ones on the right should have windows that face west." She said, watching him do as instructed. Marcus ran to one of the middle offices and went inside. "Just uh, be careful on the way down."
There was silence, and Wrench switched over to a camera on the west side of the building. Riley leaned over and watched with bated breath, hoping her instructions would work out. The second floor wasn't a short fall, but Marcus was adept at parkour, so there was a higher chance of him making it without getting hurt.
A few cops patrolled the west side, but were far apart and sparse, considering there wasn't an actual entrance on this side. All of a sudden, the camera picked up on the edge of its range a figure running across the grass and towards the buildings opposite.
"He's out!" She called, gaining everyone's attentions. Marcus disappeared down an alley, and a few cops were running to try to catch up with him. The police radio reported the direction he'd gone in, but they wasted precious moments scrambling for their vehicles while Marcus was already out of sight. The few police that had been closest weren't responding, no doubt taken out by the hacker, and the others now had no last known location of where he was.
"He's just gotta shake the cops now." Josh said positively, already working on getting traffic cam feeds to see if they could find him.
Marcus evaded the police fairly easily. He stole a motorcycle going the opposite direction of the hackerspace, then abandoned it to hijack another car, driving slowly and inconspicuously to avoid any police attention. The others were relieved, but wouldn't feel totally comfortable until he was back at the base. Another fifteen minutes passed before he stepped through the door.
"Marcus!" Sitara called, meeting him at the bottom of the stairs for a tight hug. "Thank god you're alright. It was touch and go for a minute there."
The others crowded around him, relieved to have their friend back in one piece. Riley stood just behind Wrench, watching as the others greeted him warmly. Marcus eventually noticed her and brought her in for a hug as well, much to her surprise.
"Thanks for getting me out of there." He said quietly, stepping back from the embrace.
Riley nodded awkwardly. "Oh, yeah, no problem."
As the relief slowly faded, the reality of what happened began to descend on their thoughts once more. They all gathered around the table and Marcus relayed the information Dušan had told him.
"He's been playing us this whole time?" Sitara questioned in outrage.
Marcus nodded. "According to him, we've been the main driving force for ctOS' quick expansion." He held up a finger. "And…the fake account bots he created were all deleted."
"So, we're only working at 75% power now." Josh concluded. Riley saw Wrench's mask take on his angry slashes, and he pounded the table.
"Fuck! Fucking…fuck!" He yelled standing in agitation. He paced the area behind the table. Riley felt the same way, but was much more reserved in showing it. She sat silently, observing, one hand rubbing her temple.
"It's not that bad." Josh said, but Sitara gestured angrily.
"We look like a bunch of chumps!"
"God…fucking…dammit!" Next thing they knew, Wrench picked up one of the metal folding chairs and tossed it across the space, earning everyone's attention. At this rate, he'd start destroying precious equipment.
Sitara rolled her eyes. "Wrench, calm the fuck down! It's not helping."
He let out a breath, turning to pick the chair back up. "Yeah, you're right…it's not helping." He admitted, setting the chair back in it's place beside Riley and sitting back down aggressively. The brunette waited several seconds, before reaching over to touch his shoulder. He jerked his head up, but she tried giving him a calming smile, hoping it would do something. She felt utterly useless right now, but maybe this would somehow help.
Wrench's mask switched from the angry slashes to three dots on either side, and he looked down silently. However, he didn't push her away or tell her to stop, so she didn't immediately let go until his shoulders weren't as tense.
"Marcus, you got anything to say?" Sitara asked, looking over at him. Up until then, he'd sat silently, processing all of this.
Marcus looked around at the group with a solemn expression. Riley hadn't ever seen it on him before. It was…unnatural. He spread his hands and shrugged. "Well guys…I'll be honest with you. I genuinely don't have a plan…"
They all seemed to look away in disappointment, but he started speaking again. "But I got an idea and I don't know…just trust me on this one." They tried gauging his idea from his face, but he wouldn't give anything away. He stood, clasping his hands together. "For now, why don't we go home and get some rest. I'll tell you about it after we all have a chance to sleep. It's been a long fucking day."
Riley nodded and stood with the others, eager to go home after all that adrenaline had left her body. Pants was probably starving, and the sound of a shower was heavenly right now.
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