Hacker's Last Code

[Guest]

Jason Aries jogged hurriedly through the back alleys of his home city. It wasn't his real name, but rather the one he programmed the I.D. Chip that almost all citizens wore now to make life easier. Still, few people knew his real one. It would be a damn shame that he wasn't going to be able to say good bye to all of them. His first love would have to do. If he managed get at least that right, his old, and best friend would get off his ass and make something of himself. It would have to do, he told himself.

Panic had initially given him strength and speed. Enough for hope to ruin his concentration. A delusion it was, and it hurt more for being shattered. Perhaps the person, the thing that was hunting him had did it on purpose. Fear gripped his heart, and his burning lungs made it hard to breathe. He wasn't the kid he used to be. A strange shadow passed over the light, and he darted to hide next shadowy old dumpster. Trash was still transported on the ground level, not on the upper levels of the city or the sky. The thing rippled in the air, passing him by. He didn't breathe. For once fear was working for him, as the normal nervous energy and movements. Thirty seconds went by, and his vision started graying before he took a long slow breathe.

He darted out of the alley, and strolled too casually down the shadowed streets. Jill lived close by, and he had to at least to try and get forgiven. His chest heaved up and down in the upscale sweat shirt and jeans. Somethings were just timeless, and somethings, like his life expectancy wasn't. He slipped on the custom shades. Unlike normal members of the high tech society, he was a sensitive, and able to compartmentalize his mind into a total immersion into the net, and still remain aware to the world. It was harder than it sounded, and the only way he had of tracking that bastard that was after him.

“Lots of work, little time.”

No time for a complicated trace, or setting up a man in the middle attack on the IP number he had managed to penetrate through five false trails. No, all he had was a brute force assault to find out as much information as possible and dump it in a makeshift encryption that only one person would know. Hopefully, he managed to remember the first time they laughed online, back when both had promise. Before, Jason was a professional hacker, and Ryan was wasting his talent as a bouncer in a low level bar.

“Better times.”

Jason had three blocks to go. Just three blocks before he would see the only woman had ever loved. The adage that is was better to have loved and lost than never had loved at all was a total lie. It made his life a self-made hell of recrimination and despair. She was married now, unhappily. It didn't matter, because Jason wasn't after any wild hopes of forgiveness, or too late confessions of undying love. He simply wanted to be able to rest in peace. Such a simple dream. The thing was back. It made eddies in the net, and no doubt the designer had thought it invisible. Operating like the old Ohio class nuclear submarines, it was actually quieter than the background noise around it, like a hole. It made things fuzzy around the edges, and Jason was one edge enough to notice it.

“Rat pack five, initiate.”

Jason wasn't the most creative with names, but it would distract the thing, sending sensor ghosts of him everywhere, even home. It hadn't noticed him yet, but if he acted calmly, maybe the mysterious thing tracking him would think he was a decoy. It make take ten minutes to pin, and it might take two. Either way, it should be enough. The internal map told him he was getting close, taking a right down Palm Avenue. He chuckled lightly. It had been a long time since this street had seen the light, let alone trees. The third level was a just a dark box, and he was trapped in it. The house was old, but well maintained. He stopped hiding under the hood, but left the glasses on.

Jason still had hope when he rang the door bell. It was strange that he was more afraid that she wasn't going to be there than his impending death. You would think something that had ripped a few of his friends apart would be more terrifying, but it was probably the fact that he knew he was going to die in the next ten minutes. He had no doubts.

He rang it second time, and tapped his foot impatiently. At this rate, he was going out in a blaze of glory instead of just fading away. The former would piss Ryan off, where the later would intrigue him. Jason didn't want anyone else going out like he did, and Ryan wasn't careful when he was angry. He giggled a little bit; Ryan was the Hulk when angry.

Jason hit the door bell for the third time, and waited. Over half of his decoys have been eliminated, and he was running out of time. He rapped on the door, urgently. It hurt his knuckles, as all houses of this age were built to withstand a serious amount of punishment. There was finally a response, and he heard some muffled sounds from within the house. The solid thunk of a dead lock being disengaged. A tired voice sounded from behind the cracked door.

“What?”
“Jill, it's me. I just wanted to talk.”
“We already did a long time ago. Go away.” There was the coals of anger still flickering there, but it was too long and too tired of a subject to give much heat.

“I just wanted to apologize. When it happened, I had no excuse. I broke a promise to myself. I had no right to ask for anything. I was just hoping for forgiveness, or redemption. Even if it's just lip service.” Some of the sincerity bled through and she opened the door farther. The net beeped at him softly, and he didn't notice.

“Are you still hung up on that?”

“You know me well enough to understand that if there is one thing I can't stand is failing myself. It gave me fuel. Made me horribly depressed and miserable without a friend in the world, but at least gave me the drive to do something. If nothing else, I just wanted to thank you for ever tolerating me in the first place.”

Her face softened, and some of the old vibrant vitality came back to her face. It made him smile. The internal beeping grew louder, still unnoticed. He shrugged his shoulders helplessly, and lifted up his palms. Jason continued in the calm, sincere tone.

“What can you do?” Jill managed a smile, and for a moment they both shared a moment of nostalgia. They had been a cute couple. The beeping became a loud continuous tone. Jason looked into her green eyes, seeing the promise and love they used to have. He mumbled to himself, “Why didn't I do this sooner?”
“What?” She was a little confused; Jason's face had turned sad and resigned.
“I was wondering why I didn't grow up sooner, do this before--” Jason noticed a spray of red across her face. There wasn't anyone to throw paint at the old, forgotten couple now.
“Why is there red paint on your face?” Her face was frozen in shocked horror. Jason looked down to the three metal claws sticking out of his chest. Suddenly he felt the pain as the adrenaline burst through his failing system. One hand shoved Jill back through the door, and a leg slammed it closed.

His attacker seemed shocked. A normal human being usually couldn't move with the pain of a ruptured kidney, let alone a severed spine. A smile appeared on Jason's face as a bloody froth appeared at the corner of his mouth. Normal people didn't have a complete network of EM ports along their entire body. His right elbow flew back and connected with something hard. Jason had to due serious damage or the assassin was going to kill Jill too.

“Can't let that happen.”Thirty seconds. Not much time to save the life of the one you love, or the world. He would have laughed if he could, instead of directing his failing muscles to swarm over the humanoid's thing's arm. The real damage had to be done via the 'net. Not a lot of time to inflict crippling damage to a machine, but if the he could at least disable the optical cloak...

Viper two. Tagged, tracing. The other arm lacerated his back, throwing him against the door with an audible thud. He ducked the followup, denting a three inch alloy-composite that was still used for military bunkers. He rolled under the thing's legs, mind lost in the 'net, staving off shock. Gotcha, asshole. Jason didn't notice the claw rip into the meat of his right leg.

God's Wrath, initiate. Apocalypse Now, initiate. The assassin looked even more startled as his stealth cloak failed, and it started sparking. Jason felt satisfaction as everything was going cold. Copy all, back up... UNM, main frame fourteen. He felt his last code initiate, as the assassin in experimental power armor tore him apart. Sirens were sounding, and it wasn't because Jill, who had collapsed from seeing her first true love torn apart.

The operative screamed his frustration, and slammed a claw into the what was a bunker door. Wet blood was thrown across the front of the house, splattering everywhere. Another punch dented the door, and he slammed it again, and again, slowly bending the frame.

"021, cease and desist. Operational security remains paramount."
The operative hissed, "The woman."
"PR will handle it. Return to base."