A few days after, Marcus and Wrench went off to infiltrate one of Tidis' electronic facilities to gather the parts for the EMP. He'd calmed down enough about the plan to actively participate in it without getting too grouchy, even offering to deliver Jr. to the depot himself. There was still a lingering animosity between him and Ray, but he was at least being civil. No more yelling, or threatening. Riley'd caught several dirty looks in his direction though, but she figured he needed some way to continue venting, and this was generally pretty low-key. It was tolerable.
Riley was glad he was pretty much back to normal. His easy-going confidence and teasing made things seem comfortable and routine. She, on the other hand, was still distracted and uncertain. The problem of her mother was still left unanswered, and it was pissing her off that she hadn't yet found a solution to all of this. Why was this so difficult?
While the boys were out, Riley had sat up with Sitara at the hackerspace working on their next campaign online. The hacker had noticed an unusual stagnation to their numbers and follower growth patterns, and had asked her to sit in and help investigate. Josh was at home, experimenting with various shrooms he'd purchased online, trying to find one that might help with his symptoms. That left only her and Sitara in the hackerspace that night.
"It's like the numbers just flatline after this last Wednesday." She said, squinting at the analytics of DedSec searches and download rates. Her head shook slowly back and forth, not comprehending what could be causing this.
Riley bit her lip, not wanting to put forth an answer because it might upset the hacker. But…well, better to get it out there, she supposed. It was beneficial to look at all possible variables. "I mean, the public might be getting desensitized to DedSec. We're in the news almost everyday now. They might just be, I don't know…tired of-"
"No, that's not possible." Sitara interrupted with a heated frown. Her fingers froze over the keyboard, looking her way. "DedSec's never been more popular. Our follower count is at its peak, but I know we can bring in more. People are starting to listen. I just don't understand the sudden shift."
The brunette backed off, holding up her hands defensively. She had a feeling Sitara's aggression was her own desire to deny that the brand she'd been working on for so long was losing it's foothold. Riley could understand, especially after everything with Bill and her investigation. There was no one else who could understand as well as Riley could. "It was just an idea, but…ok."
Sitara sighed, schooling her features back into a more neutral expression. She knew the brunette wasn't implying that DedSec wasn't what it used to be, but she couldn't help but bristle at even the mention. It wouldn't be fair by lashing out, though.
They returned to the analytics page, scanning all of the data for any sign of what was causing the problem. Riley pulled up a fresh Nudle tab and typed in DedSec on a whim. Maybe there was some sort of news article or blog page out there slandering their name? Hmm. She tapped enter and scanned the results that came up-
Except there were none.
The whole first page of Nudle didn't pop up a single site with the name DedSec on it. She double checked her spelling in the search bar, then navigated to the second page. Then a few more. Still nothing. The brunette was positive there had been a plethora of pages when she'd first started researching into the hacker group. Now…nothing? Really? That wasn't possible.
"Uh…have you tried searching our name recently?" Riley asked, trying again with a space in between 'Ded' and 'Sec.' Zilch.
"No, why?" The hacker glanced Riley's way, then began her own online search.
Beside her, the brunette waited for Sitara to see the problem herself, watching as the realization hit her. Eyes widened just barely, then a disbelieving shake of her head, the ponytail swinging side to side with the movement.
"Are you fucking…" She muttered, again typing something else into the search. "This is bullshit!"
"What could be causing this?" Riley asked, thinking Sitara may be more familiar with this problem.
"I think…" She paused, doing a few more searches before returning to the analytics page. "…this is some form of censorship. They have to be flagging anything having to do with us and removing the results that would normally show to the public. I can't see it being anything else."
"How are we supposed to fix this?" Riley gestured towards the screen.
Sitara leaned back against the couch cushion and stared up at the ceiling. Letting out a long breath, she turned to Riley. "We could try getting into the servers. There's an extension facility associated with Nudle that helps handle the search analytics." She brought up information on it, showing a map view of the building. It was small and nondescript, and looked to be off the edge of the coast.
"If that's all there is to it…" Riley started, thinking about it another moment, "then I could go."
Sitara shot her a surprised glance. "Really? Are you sure?"
She shrugged, not seeing it as such a big deal. "Yeah. I'd appreciate if you helped me out, but why not?" The rest of them had contributed to missions. Riley was no different. What gave her the right to sit back and watch the others do all the heavy lifting? It didn't feel right.
The hacker thought about it a moment, before a slow smile spread on her lips. She sent the brunette a satisfied grin. "Alright, sounds like a plan. You up for it now?"
She smiled, standing from the couch. "Let's go."
Riley slowed to a stop just up the street from the building. She didn't want to park right outside, it may draw suspicion. Turning off the vehicle and stepping out, she was careful not to slam the door. It was dark out, with very few people around, and she didn't want to draw too much attention to herself.
"I'm here. Any idea where the server room would be?" She asked through her earpiece, knowing Sitara was listening.
"Not totally sure. There wasn't much information I could find about this place. My guess? Check the lowest level first."
Despite having exuded the impression that she was confident about all of this, Riley was internally shaking. There was always the possibility that this could go wrong. She wasn't certain they wouldn't shoot first and think about arresting her afterwards. There was a deep, gut-wrenching feeling of apprehension in her belly as she walked closer to the building.
She let out a long breath, reaching the chain link fence that surrounded the property. Her fingers linked through a few of the gaps, staring inside with hesitation. Swallowing nervously, she looked around for anyone that might possibly be able to spot her. No one was paying her any mind.
"Hey, Sitara? I'm gonna be honest, I'm terrified of going in there." The brunette laughed to try easing her fried nerves. "Probably should have mentioned that beforehand."
The hacker laughed good-naturedly in return. "I'd be a bit more concerned if you weren't scared at all. Just breathe, and don't worry. You've got me here, so you're not in this alone."
"Thanks." She said in a breathless voice, feeling a bit better. "That's exactly what I needed to hear."
"Always here to help." Sitara reassured in amusement.
Giving one more glance towards the street, Riley slotted one boot through a gap and hoisted herself up, scaling the fence while being as quiet as possible. It rattled softly, despite her effort to keep the noise down, but she resisted the impulse to go faster. That would only cause more noise.
Eventually, she made it to the top and swung a leg to the other side. Descending was a bit harder, as she had to grip tightly so as not to lose footing and slip.
Glancing down, she judged the distance and fell away from the fence, dropping to the ground down below. Riley crouched, looking around in the darkness for any sign of patrolling guards or something. However, the outside was empty and silent.
She rose and snuck over to the back. The first thing she'd need is Sitara's guidance on the inside. They'd need to hack into the ctOS panel to get her that access. It wasn't hard to find, sitting unsecured on the back of the building. Hacking in wasn't too hard either.
A few seconds later, she heard Sitara come back over the comms. "Alright, we're in. I'll see if I can find the servers for you."
Riley snuck back around to the front entrance. A single light illuminated the area around the door, but that was it. It was probably for safety purposes, but it still made her a little nervous.
"I haven't seen anyone so far. Which is good, don't get me wrong. But it's just a little strange." The brunette mentioned while approaching the entrance. Her experience of video games led her to instinctively fear that there had to be enemies nearby. That was how things always worked.
"Maybe they only have a skeleton crew for late nights? Not too sure. But don't get too comfortable."
"I know." Riley said, testing the doorknob and wasn't surprised to find it locked. Dropping to her knees, she pulled out her phone. Inspecting the security panel, she found the manufacture number and started doing her thing. She wasn't as adept as the others when it came to raw hacking, but she was still proficient. Within a minute or so, the red light turned green, and she heard the lock click.
Pushing inside without a sound, she closed the door behind her. The room she entered was only dimly lit, but contained what looked like a security checkpoint. Riley froze, spotting a figure behind the counter.
The person didn't move, and after a moment, the still air was shattered with a loud, guttural snore. Her heart unclenched, and a nervous breath slipped through her lips. Moving quietly across the room towards the door, she slowly turned the knob and was happy to find it unlocked. Some security guard this guy was. Sleeping on the job and leaving the place open to intruders. Someone should report him.
This time, Riley peeked into the next room before entering, seeing a long hallway with several branching doorways on either side. Only half of the lights illuminated it, leaving some spots darker than others.
Distance talking could be heard, and she knew that from here on, things could get dicey if she wasn't careful.
"I'm gonna have to stay quiet from here on. But let me know if you see anything I should know about."
"I only see two employees on staff right now." Sitara mentioned quietly. "One in the server room downstairs, and another on the floor you're on. He's in the second room on the left. You'll have to get by him to get to the server room."
Riley didn't bother answering, not wanting to alert the man closest to her. She eased into the hallway, knowing that Sitara would tell her if she was at risk of being found. Keeping her weight on the front of her feet. She didn't want her sneakers squeaking on the tile.
"He's facing the doorway, but I might be able to distract him. Give me a sec."
She sat at the edge of the doorway, waiting for a signal. A small popping sound came from the inside of the room. "What the hell?" The guy inside muttered, then a chair scraped against the floor as he apparently stood. His boots thumped a few times against the floor.
"Alright, he isn't looking." Sitara said, and Riley rose from her crouch. She couldn't help but glance inside as she passed by, seeing the guy standing by what looked like a thermostat on the wall. He was reaching up to inspect it.
Heart beating rapidly in her chest, she made her way to the stairs at the end of the hallway. It felt like it was audible to anyone close by. How had the guy not heard the terror in her body?
"Relax, you're doing fine." Sitara reassured, maybe having seen the tension in her shoulders or the fear on her face.
Riley nodded, both to herself and the hacker who was watching through the security cameras. Taking it slow, the brunette slowly descended the wooden steps, praying they wouldn't creak. If they did, hopefully whoever was down here would think it was their coworker and nothing else.
The talking was coming from downstairs. She couldn't make out the words, but the voice obviously belonged to a male. There were pauses in between, so he was most likely on a cell phone.
Reaching the first platform, she peeked around the concrete pillar and spotted the man in question. He was seated in front of a computer, the screen causing her only to see his silhouette with the way she faced him. His cell phone was held up to his ear.
"If I had time to spare, then I'd go, but-…sweetie, work is how I pay the bills. I can't just not show up. They won't care if you're mom's sick. I'm out of vacation days."
Riley's lips pursed together, knowing that if she wanted that data, she'd have to take the guy out first. But if the person on the other line was alerted that something was wrong, they might call the police to her location. The last thing she wanted was a run-in with the authorities. Using his own talking as cover, she closed more distance and hid behind a large, cooling unit that sat against the wall. But she stopped and waited there.
"He's distracted. No need to wait." Sitara gently reminded, and Riley shook her head.
"Not until the call ends." She whispered as quietly as she could. "Don't want the other person to think something is wrong."
There was a quiet sigh on the other end, Sitara impatiently wanting to get her brand's name unsilenced again. Riley did too, feeling her nerves rise with every second she was in this place where she wasn't supposed to be, but this would be beneficial in the long run. The turtle always beat the rabbit, at least in the story books it did. She reached for her shoulder, where the billiard ball weapon that Marcus had shown her was wrapped, out of the way for mobility, but within easy reach.
The guy slowly swiveled in his chair back and forth, talking to who Riley assumed was his wife. "What? I'm not using this as an excuse to avoid her…alright, so she's not my favorite person in the world, but that doesn't mean I would stoop so low as to…hello? Sweetie?" He straightened, then glanced at his phone. "Dammit…" He muttered.
"Problem solved." Sitara chirped happily in the earpiece, and Riley rolled her eyes with amusement. Well, she supposed that was one way to do it.
She rose from her crouch behind one of the cooling units and approached behind him. The man was none the wiser as she straightened and lifted her weapon. With a few whips around, she sent it flying towards his head, and it impacted with a dull thud. He let out a strangled groan of surprise, but wasn't capable of much more than that as unconsciousness took him. The force sent him tumbling out of his chair and onto the floor.
"Nice one." Sitara praised in her ear.
Riley grimaced, hoping that his collapse wasn't loud enough to alert the guy upstairs. "Anything from the guy upstairs?" She asked, wrapping the weapon back around her shoulder and taking the man's place at the computer. The screen was already open to their database, so she wouldn't have to do any brute forcing.
"Nah, he's got no clue. You're in the clear now."
"Not until I'm home in my pajamas with a glass of wine." She muttered, searching through the system for anything pertaining to DedSec. It wasn't very user-friendly, clunky and hard to navigate. It seemed you had to be trained on it to really be able to use it efficiently. Still, Riley tried her best, finally finding the most recent entries into the programming.
"I think I've got it here…" The brunette muttered, eyes scanning through the entries one by one, until the name 'DedSec' jumped out at her. She clicked on it, reading the information that accompanied it.
"Yup. Looks like it took effect on Wednesday." She read back, then paused at the last bit associated with the entry. She scoffed. "Surprise, surprise…guess who put forth the request?"
"Well, if we're talking Nudle, I'm gonna go with our dear friend Mary Catskill." Sitara's tone left little room for doubt that Mary was anything but a friend.
"Bingo. And, if it's from her, I'm willing to bet Dušan's got some part to play in all of this too." Without too much trouble at all, Riley systematically went through and deleted all of the entries that mentioned DedSec or hacking in any sense from the list, effectively removing the censorship all at once. Crazy to think how simple it could be. Just a few keystrokes and you could have so much influence over the general populace. Scary stuff.
"Alright, just plant the backdoor and then get out of there." Sitara instructed, and the brunette stood from her seat at the computer, the unconscious employee still out cold on the floor beside her.
It took a minute or so to get the backdoor in correctly. Riley had never done something like this before and Sitara had to walk her through it, but they managed. The hacker confirmed that she was receiving data back at the hackerspace, and the job was done. Once that was accomplished, Riley did a self-check, making sure everything was in place, before heading back up the stairs.
She peeked out into the hallway, spotting the man walking in her direction. Maybe he'd heard some sort of commotion. She popped back into the stairway entrance, hidden behind the wall with wide eyes. "Sitara?" She whispered, asking for assistance.
"Already on it." Was her confirmation.
The seconds ticked by, the footsteps grew louder, and Riley scrambled to quietly unfurl the billiard ball from her shoulder, wanting a weapon handy if the employee reached her entrance. She trusted in her friend's skills, but every mission had risks they couldn't account for. And sometimes people made mistakes.
The air was suddenly pierced with loud music further down. The footsteps stopped short. "The fuck? Maybe this place really is haunted…" The guy wondered to himself, hastily backtracking the way he'd come to see what the commotion was. Riley peeked again and saw him duck into one of the other rooms.
"If you're gonna go, do it now!" Sitara suggested, snapping her back into action. Riley rose from the stairway and hurried as quietly as she could down the hallway. Her fists clenched when passing by the door the man had gone into, but there was no shout of surprise. He hadn't seen her.
Reaching the door at the end of the hall, she forced herself to open it slowly, remembering at the last minute that the guard on the other side had been asleep. The door eased open without problem, and she rounded the other side, closing it shut with little more than a quiet click.
"Oh, shit…" She heard Sitara curse in her ear, a split second too late to be of any use.
"Hey!" A male voice shouted right near her. Heart in her throat, Riley's head whipped to the left to see the guard, now awake, standing from his chair. "Who are you? You're not supposed to be here!"
Throwing caution to the wind, she booked it towards the front door. The guard, shouting for her to freeze and struggling to get around the corner of the desk, was now in pursuit.
The brunette burst through the door and sprinted as fast as she could around the side of the building towards where her car was parked. Daring a glance behind her, she saw the guard struggling to keep up, likely a little out of shape and not prepared to go on any sort of foot chase. He brought a radio up to his mouth and stopped running, watching as she continued on.
Huffing out her breaths, she reached the fence and scaled it with no care as to how much noise she was making. All she cared about now was reaching her get away car before the cops got on site. Her sneakers slapped against the sidewalk on the other side of the chains, and she took off down the block.
"I'm sorry, I didn't have my eye on the front. I was watching the guy behind you to make sure he didn't leave the room before you were out of there."
"Don't worry about it." Riley said dismissively. Everyone was human, and Sitara didn't have eyes on the back of her head. It was an honest mistake, and she was alright. At least, as alright as she could be. Her ribs were aching painfully.
Nerves going off like crazy, Riley found herself laughing to herself as she grew ragged in breath, finally slowing a bit when it was too much on her lungs and chest. The car was in sight, and she jogged the rest of the way.
"How does Marcus do this all the time?" She asked Sitara in fits of breath. The hacker laughed.
"He's pretty legit. Works out a lot in his free time." She finished in admiration. Riley smirked, hearing a bit more to that tone that Sitara probably intended. But, being the courteous person she was, Riley didn't ask.
"Gotta hand it to you, though. That was some quality James Bond-ing."
"Oh, you know me." She panted, throwing open the driver side door and clambering into the car, already hearing sirens in the distance. "I love to impress."
"Get your ass back here so we can celebrate."
As the adrenaline began to fade, Riley shook her head with a rueful smile. "If it's alright, I think I'm gonna head home and get some sleep. I've had enough excitement for one night."
Sitara chuckled. "Already? There goes my plan to have you sneak into Dušan's office tonight."
"No thank you." The brunette joked then held back the yawn that was beginning to come on. "Alright, well I'll leave you to it."
"Nice job tonight. Get some rest, you deserve it."
"Thanks. Will do."
Despite her claim that she was tired, Riley was still full of energy. After such a heart-pounding experience, it may be some time before she began actually feeling tired. She'd been able to put off thinking about her mom for most of the day, but now that she was alone again, it wasn't easy. Plus, even if she wanted to, Wrench wasn't around to talk to. Texting him while he was on a mission probably wasn't the best idea. She didn't want to distract him during something important or dangerous.
The idea of going home and just laying there, staring up at her bedroom ceiling, or even just watching a movie she'd seen a million times, wasn't appealing. Thoughts of her mother would ruin any peaceful mood she was in. Maybe it was time to stop putting it aside, hoping it would solve itself, and just sit down until she figured this out. For as long as it needed.
Riley hadn't made it home yet when she remembered the junkyard Wrench had taken her to before. It was quiet. Out of the way. Nobody around, and she could destroy stuff in the meantime while she thought. A good place to unwind and do a bit of soul-searching. Maybe that was why he liked it so much.
The brunette hoped he wouldn't be too upset if she used his secret spot for herself just this once. It wasn't like he'd specifically told her that she couldn't go there without him, and besides, he was away on a mission. How would he even know? The more she played with the idea, the more it felt right.
Acting on her sudden whim, she switched pulled suddenly into the left turn lane, heading towards the junkyard.
The junkyard looked largely the same as the first time she'd seen it. It took a little bit of effort to scale the fence without Wrench's help, especially after her adrenaline-filled adventure earlier, but she finally hopped over after a few minutes time.
The brunette used her phone's flashlight to find the path that Wrench had guided her down the first time, finally coming across the open space with the shed and the truck. She stood there, feeling strangely comfortable surrounded by junk and useless parts. It held a fond memory. The two baseball bats had been put back in the shed, and she retrieved hers from within.
The cooler night air helped to clear her head as she searched for trinkets to break. Watching for sharp edges and hidden spiders, Riley picked a few trinkets here and there, then brought them over to the center of the clearing. Placing them carefully apart from each other, she backed away and measured them up.
Her mind began to wander, to many things, all troubling. Was it wrong of her to consider bailing her out? Come on, it had to be a stupid idea. The woman had abused her for so long! Riley had been depressed for a long time afterwards. She'd had a lot of self-esteem issues, before deciding she wasn't going to take any more. It had changed a part of herself, not for the better.
Smash! The porcelain teapot shattered into dozens of pieces
The mother she'd known—the kind, caring woman who'd gone to all of Riley's games and recitals and field trips, who'd read her bedtime stories and guided her around the neighborhood on Halloween, who'd do puzzles all night long in the summers with her, who'd told her many times that she was the best thing that had ever happened to her—was that woman still in there somewhere? They'd both gone through a horrible trauma, and maybe this was just the only way her mother knew how to cope. Maybe she just needed some help to pick herself back up again.
Crash! The bat descended onto a headlight that had at one time been attached to a vehicle. The glass spiderwebbed and was indented inward, but didn't shatter entirely.
Yeah, but what had she done for her? Abused her, humiliated her, emotionally tore her to shreds as a teenager. Then after that, when she'd left that terrible situation, the woman hadn't even bothered looking for Riley. Did she even care? Hell, did she even still realize she still had a daughter somewhere out there? For all Riley knew, maybe she thought she was dead or something.
Bam! What used to be a sewing machine now lay in pieces at her feet. The plastic was dented in and broken, and the spindles which held the thread were bent and broken off.
But what sort of daughter would she be if she didn't at least try? Maybe her mother had tried to find her, tried to reach out, but Riley didn't know it? Was she betraying her family by letting her stay in prison? Did that make her just as bad as the woman she'd hated for awhile?
Crack! The plastic frame of a computer tower not sported a sizable dent in the top. A few more swings and it was bent and misshapen, before being unable to support itself any longer and fell over. Even after it was collapsed pathetically on the ground, Riley continued beating it with her metal weapon, working out all of the pent-up nerves and indecision she had in her body.
This left her panting in spent exertion after a few moments. Riley just…didn't know. There was always two sides to every story. Was she being a bad daughter by wanting to ignore her mother's side of it? Was it worth more to her sanity to keep away? Surely, she'd regret doing nothing and turning her back on the woman who had given her life. But what would it cost her?
"Welcome back, boys." Sitara called, as Wrench and Marcus stepped into the hackerspace. "How'd it go?"
"Jr.'s primed and ready, waiting for Tidis to pick him up at the depot." Wrench reported with a happy expression. "Should be able to activate him in a few days on the next scheduled pick up."
"And, I managed to snag a few extra parts, just in case we need them in the future." Marcus added, pulling out a few components from his messenger bag. Sitara nodded in approval at the both of them, relaxing deeper into the couch.
"Nice work. There's a few beers in the fridge if you'd like to unwind." She suggested, gesturing over to the mini fridge in the corner.
"Don't mind if I do." Marcus rubbed his hands together in anticipation, already on his way over. Normally Wrench was all for a beer when offered, but instead he turned to Sitara with question marks in his eyes, and she was willing to bet she already knew what he was going to ask.
"Did Riley go home?"
Of course. Sitara smiled and nodded. "Yeah, after helping me get rid of that stupid censor she was pretty tired."
"Censor?" Marcus asked from the fridge, twisting off the cap of his bottle. "What censor?"
She turned to look at him. "We found out Nudle had put a block on searches having anything to do with DedSec, so she helped me look into it. Long story short, she ninja-d her way into the off-site servers and installed a-"
"She what?" Wrench's mask flashed two large squares, then exclamation points.
"Don't make me repeat myself." The hacker raised a brow, not amused.
"I mean, I get that she helped you but…why was she the one going in there?"
Sitara shrugged, not seeing the big deal. "DedSec was being silenced. Our search numbers and download rates were dropping. Riley offered to help, and so she went to the server to erase the censor and install a backdoor. Everything went fine."
"Please, please tell me," he practically begged, hands pressed together and wide circles on his mask, "that you didn't let her go alone."
"Wrench," Sitara started, shaking her head and spreading her hands wide, "I was right here watching the cameras the whole time. She did fine."
"What if something had gone wrong?" He pressed, the circles flicking over to irritated apostrophes. "What then? She'd have been all alone with no one around to help."
Marcus stepped forward, laying a hand on her arm. "Hey, relax man. Sitara had her back. Besides, It's no different from her doing recon with you on a mission."
"Yes, it is!" He defended loudly, but was met with incredulous looks from both of his compatriots.
Marcus shook his head. "No, it really isn't. Riley's a part of DedSec just like the rest of us. No leaders, remember? She can do whatever the hell she feels like when she feels like it."
"But-"
Sitara stood, interrupting him. "You can't keep her cooped up here while you go and take on all the missions, Wrench." The hacker reasoned with a calming hand on his shoulder. "Riley wants to be helpful. And it's not like she's taking unnecessary risks or anything. She's smart about it."
Wrench shook his head, but his argument was quickly losing momentum. He knew that. Sitara and Marcus knew that. He'd fight it nonetheless. "She doesn't need to take risks to be helpful. It's safer here, and after what happened…" He trailed off, face turned towards the ground with three dots on either side of his mask.
Marcus sighed. Obviously there was still some lingering guilt about the whole kidnapping thing. "I understand, but locking her away isn't the answer. You gotta trust that she knows how to rely on herself too."
Wrench was quiet, finally nodding his acceptance. He didn't have to like it, but it was true. He couldn't dictate Riley's life, no matter how much he convinced himself it was in her best interests. And if he were being honest, his own reckless disposition was probably rubbing off on her.
After another half hour of smashing shit to pieces, Riley was worn out. Arms shaking with exhaustion, she slowly let the tip of the bat fall to the ground, dropping it entirely after a few minutes of standing there, staring at the destruction she'd caused. The ground was littered with broken glass, porcelain, plastic pieces, and even some metal bits that had flown off. The muscles in her legs feeling like jelly, Riley wandered over to the rusted pick up truck she'd sat on last time, opening the tailgate and hopping up onto it.
Just like she had that first night, the brunette lay back in the truck bed and stared up at the sky. The stars were just as dim and difficult to pinpoint as before, but it was the sky she was so used to. A few brighter out of the bunch stood out in random spots. One moving light slowly made its way horizontally across the sky. A plane.
Her eyes followed its path for awhile, until it was at the very edge of her vision and began to hurt her eyes. Closing them and shaking her head, she resorted to staring up straight ahead again.
What would her father do? Even after all this time, she tried not thinking about him too much. Time was the best healer, but it wasn't perfect and there'd always be lingering pain. If only he was still here. None of this would have ever happened. They'd still be one big, happy family. Riley probably would have gone to a respectable college in a field of study that would put her in a higher place in life, her mom and dad would still be happily married, normal people. The only thing she'd have to worry about was making it home for Christmas and Thanksgiving to celebrate, and she'd have friends and be well respected-
Riley stopped herself, realizing that she had that now. The friends she'd made in DedSec were the closest she ever remembered having. They respected her, wished for her wellbeing, and all looked out for each other. What more could she have asked for in a friend?
And Wrench…chances are, if things had turned out differently, Riley never would have met Wrench. She smiled, thinking that despite her childhood having been a shit show after the age of 15, life had a way of compensating for the bad with the best it could give.
The brunette sighed, realizing she had gone off on another tangent and wasn't focusing on the problem at hand. Her mother. It was no use wondering what could have been. Reality was her father was gone. This was only her decision, and the influence of a dead man shouldn't have any sway on it.
"Riley?"
The brunette was startled at the sound of her own name, and she sat up in a rush. Her first thought had been that it was the junkyard owner, come to see what all the noise had been, but it was only Wrench, slowly approaching her from the path back towards the entrance.
"Is everything alright?" He asked, question marks flashing on his mask before being replaced by a concerned expression. She let out the intake of air that had immediately filled her lungs at the thought of being caught trespassing where she didn't belong.
"Yeah, I'm alright…" Then, she frowned with a tilt of her head. "Why are you here?"
"When we got back to the hackerspace Sitara said you'd gone home." He explained with a shrug. "I tried calling on your earpiece, but you'd turned it off. So I…sort of…tracked your phone and saw the GPS pinged here."
"Why?"
Wrench looked off to the side in discomfort, rubbing the back of his head. "She told me you'd gone on a mission by yourself and…I got worried."
Despite her turbulent mood, she managed a small, tilted smile at his admission. He walked closer until he was standing in front of where she sat on the truck bed, legs dangling over the edge. "I appreciate the concern."
It seemed Wrench hadn't quite believed her though, because he shook his head. "Seriously, what is going on with you? Ever since we tapped into the satellite data you've been acting different."
Riley raised a brow, genuinely surprised. She thought she'd been pretty good at concealing the fact that something was bothering her. "I have?"
The hacker let out a huff, crossing his arms. "Yeah, like big time. You've been spacing out, keeping to yourself. You don't talk as much. And you've been really tired lately."
"Oh." Was all she could say. Maybe she hadn't been as discreet as she'd thought. Her gaze lowered, and she dipped her head down. A pang of shame sparked through her. Had she been bringing the rest of the group down too? Without knowing it?
The sad slashes returned to his mask and he gently lifted her chin with one hand, dragging her gaze back up to his. "Riley, please tell me what's wrong. Whatever it is, I want to help fix it."
She stared into his mask for a moment, before shrugging and glancing away again. "It's not anything you can fix, really."
"Ok, then what is it?" He asked.
"You have to promise not to say anything until I tell you everything, ok?"
He tilted his head, obviously confused, but nodded his agreement. Riley patted the spot beside her on the truck bed, and Wrench took the invitation, hopping up to sit nest to her. He watched her expectantly.
The brunette sighed, trying to figure out where to start. "When we went through the satellite data, it reminded me that I hadn't checked on my mom in awhile. I try to every month or so, just to keep tabs. Like I told you before." Wrench nodded, remembering their conversation on the rooftop.
When I did, I saw that she had been arrested for…a whole bunch of things." Her head shook tiredly, too lazy to name them all. "When it all comes down to it, I can afford to post her bail, but I don't know if I should."
She saw his mask change, but she held up a hand. "I'm not finished. Just…hear me out on both sides."
It flashed two equals signs in frustration, but he kept his word and said nothing, gesturing for her to continue.
Riley shrugged, crossing her arms and slowly kicking her legs back and forth to release some of her tension. "On one hand, she abused me for several years. That had lasting effects for a long time. And maybe some that still linger. I don't know…I just…don't know if I have it in me to forgive her for that, or if I even should."
She gestured with one of her hands, tossing it carelessly. "On the other, up until my dad killed himself, she'd been a great mom. I have so many fond memories of her as a kid. It's the only thing I have left of her, the memories. And a part of me likes to think that if I give her another chance, it could go back to the way it was. That maybe I could have my mom back…"
Wrench still kept quiet, though he looked like he really wanted to say something.
Her head shook minutely, and she stared down at her hands, which fidgeted nervously. "I've been trying to figure out what I should do all week, but…I just don't know for sure. I feel like a terrible daughter for not trying. At the same time, I'm tired of having to keep tabs on her, wondering if she was alright or not."
She trailed off, feeling tears begin to well up in her eyes. They didn't fall, but her vision blurred and her face flushed with heat. There was several moments of silence between them, nothing but the sound of the gentle wind to disturb the quiet. Finally, the brunette looked up at him with glassy eyes, searching for some sort of answer.
"What am I supposed to do?"
Wrench let out a heavy breath, and he gestured helplessly with his hands. "If you ask me, it shouldn't be your responsibility to make sure she's living the straight and narrow. I mean, she's your mother for fuck's sake. That's what she's supposed to be doing." He concluded logically.
The brunette shrugged. "Yeah, but…family is supposed to support each other when they're at their lowest."
"Riley," he started in a tired voice, "in what way has she done that for you since your dad died?"
The question caught her off guard. Her mouth opened reflexively to answer, but it closed after really thinking about it. The truth was obvious, but uncomfortable to admit. If she were being completely truthful, her mother hadn't done a single thing that family should do since everything had gone to shit. Riley had had to rely on herself since then, and nobody else. Sure, there'd been temporary friends and colleagues to help through shortly afterwards, but they eventually faded away and gone their separate ways.
The first tears started to fall, gently sliding down her cheeks. "She hasn't…" Was her answer, barely above a whisper.
"Family means continuous and unconditional support, not the occasional favor to pay." He emphasized, reaching up to wipe away the moisture on her cheeks. She took comfort from the roughness of his hands. They felt safe. Like home. "If she hasn't offered that to you in any way, why the hell should you give her the same courtesy?"
There wasn't a good answer to that, because what he said made total sense. And yet there was still the tiny, emotionally fueled and illogical hope that there still was a chance for her to change. A part of her felt the need to defend her, in some small way.
"She used to be good." Riley sniffled, wiping her nose with her sleeve. "Before my dad died, she was a great mom. Did all the things a mom should. She was my role model growing up, and she always encouraged me to do my best and strive for anything I wanted to do. And it was like that for 15 years…it's sometimes hard to believe everything that happened afterwards."
"Riley, she abused you. There's no fucking justification for that."
And that was the crux of the matter. "I know." She admitted, drawing her legs up and wrapping her arms around them. "It should all make sense. It should be an easy decision. But I still wonder if I'd regret letting her stay there."
He shook his head. "You need to stop seeing every argument from the other person's perspective. You'll never be able to justify your own feelings that way. It's not a bad thing to be selfish every once in awhile. Do something for your own benefit for once, without thinking about someone else." He advised, and she shrugged noncommittally.
Wrench sighed again, letting another silence sit between them. Neither looked at the other, both wondering what to say next. It wasn't exactly tense, just unsure. What else was there to say, really?
Riley was busy turning the wheels in her head, a small idea forming. Maybe it would help her decide, and also answer all of the questions she didn't know the answer to. "You know…maybe I should visit her."
Wrench looked at her quickly. "I don't know if that's a good-"
"Just hear me out." She begged, and he finally nodded. "I can see her face to face. I can ask her everything I want to know, and really get a judge on her character. Then, I can decide what I want to do."
"It could still come back to bite you in the ass." He reasoned with a shrug. "People like that are damn good at manipulating people into feeling sorry for them. And I…I don't want you to get hurt again because of her."
Riley nodded, but turned to look at him again. "Yeah, you may be right. But at that point you've just gotta trust that I know what I'm doing."
"It's not you I have doubts in. It's her."
She managed a small smile, reaching over to hold his hand in hers. "Wrench, just believe that I'll be ok this one time. That's all that I ask. I didn't suggest it so I could put myself in a situation where she could have the upper hand. I want to do this so that no matter what my choice is, I won't walk away from it with regrets for the rest of my life. Ok?"
Even with the mask on, she could practically see the argument wanting to spring from his lips. His mask changed into three dots on either side as he thought about what to respond with. She still held onto his hand, squeezing in reassurance.
He laced them tighter together, before finally giving her a single nod, and switching the mask back to Xs again. "Ok. I want you to know I'm not too enthusiastic about this plan, but if it's what you want to do, I won't stop you."
"Thank you." She said, leaning in to wrap him in a tight hug. He returned the gesture, wrapping her body in his own warmth. The wind had seemed to pick up, chilling her skin.
They shared this moment for as long as they could, before she pulled away and looked up at him once more. She smiled again. "I don't know if I've ever said it, but I wanted you to know that I'm really glad I met and joined DedSec. They are a type of family to me, and I'm glad we all support each other."
Wrench stared down at her, before reaching up to his mask. Riley watched as he took it off with care, setting it on the truck bed beside them. Her eyes took in his features again, relishing every moment they were visible, and she felt her heart clench as his hands reached up to cradle her face.
"Me too." He said, closing his eyes as the distance between their lips disappeared.
Riley rested one hand on his thigh for support, closing her own eyes. Wrench lead them in a slow, meaningful kiss that left her feeling so satisfied and fulfilled. It was all the reassurance she'd needed that he wasn't going to be deterred by her baggage. Other boyfriends had found it difficult to work around anything to do with her abusive mother and deceased father. But Wrench was obviously different.
His thumbs brushed away the last of the tear trails underneath her eyes, before his fingers slowly trailed back to comb through her brown hair. There was no rush, and even as the seconds ticked by, the kiss became no more heated than it had started as. This wasn't to fulfill any sort of carnal need, or feed the flames of desire. Rather, it was a promise not needing to be spoken, that the both of them would continue to support each other in whatever way they could.
Finally, both greedy for air, they separated, slowly gaining their breaths back in the space between them. Riley went back to hugging his chest tightly, the spiked vest be damned. He made her feel so safe and secure, she never wanted to let go. Her mind was put at ease, satisfied that she had a plan of action in regards to her mother.
And as her thoughts settled, so did the sleepiness that had been waiting for the adrenaline to wear off. She let out a long yawn against his chest, and he chuckled softly.
"Sleepy?"
"Mhmm." She muttered, barely loud enough for him to hear. He felt more than heard it. Gingerly, he unwrapped her arms from him and held her hands in his.
"Let's get you home."
ns 15.158.61.48da2
