[Namida_☾]

Mark<3

[silvertogold]

mark ♥

[Kiaa]

Mark

[bakuraas.]

Res

[NE0N-UMBR30N]

mark, maybe res

[saraphena]

omg mark

[allu]

mark

[Alckatraz]

Name: Lucifer (light bringer)
Gender: Male

[petrify]

mark 0”:

[Knickknacks]

(moodboard by me- though I own none of the stock images used in its creation.)
name:: adrian gender:: male occupation:: perpetually tired intern

Alert! Server security compromised-

That was as far as Adrian read before flying into action, leaping back into his desk chair and keying out commands that would hopefully boot out the hacker that had wriggled their way through his security. His heart rate seemed to speed up, loud enough for him to hear it, thudding like a startled rabbit. Of course, after weeks of utter silence, someone would make an attempt on the servers in the five minutes he’d been away.

I should’ve known better than to complain about my job being boring- I jinxed it, Adrian thought nonsensically. He reached up to wipe at his forehead- when had he started sweating?- and nearly fell out of his swivel chair when the small speaker to the right of his monitor suddenly crackled to life.

“Hey, kid.”

Adrian gave an anxious, involuntary little yelp, one hand threading itself nervously in his short hair.

“H-hello?” He asked, his voice wavering. “Who is this?”

A short pause. A crackle of static. Adrian hesitated, itching to get back to work on getting rid of the hacker, that’s right, the hacker, Adrian, protecting Brightec’s servers from hackers is your whole job- but also frozen in place by… what? Shock? An inexplicable curiosity? A little of both, he decided.

“You can call me Neo,” the hacker responded, sounding completely friendly and cheerful, as if they were just exchanging names over coffee or something. Adrian felt almost lightheaded. I’m definitely going to lose my internship for this, he groaned internally.

“Say, you wouldn’t happen to have a private headset or anything, would you?” The voice continued thoughtfully. “Wouldn’t want to broadcast my presence here to everyone in the office, now would I?”

“That’s- wh- why should I listen to anything you have to say?” Adrian sputtered. “You’re a hacker, and my whole internship centers around keeping people like you out of these servers. Which, by the way, it’s probably too late for you to escape notice. I’m not the only one monitoring these servers, genius. An alert has probably gone up on every computer on this floor of the building right now. It’s only a matter of time before you’re booted out, anyways.”

“I guess that would be the case,” the voice- Neo- said slyly. “If I’d hacked into the whole server or anything. But I didn’t- your computer is the only one I’m visiting right now. Count yourself lucky.”

“Oh yeah,” Adrian said, trying for a laugh. “Being visited by a hacker is definitely a lucky occurrence. Just what did I do to receive this honor?”

“Hook up that headset of yours so we can talk privately and I’ll tell you,” Neo said mulishly. Adrian hesitated for a moment before grabbing his headset from where it was lying on the desk and fitting it over his head, plugging it into his desktop to hook up the audio.

“All right,” he said tightly. “Talk. Why did you decide hacking into the most secure corporation in the city was a good move?”

“You really know your way around technology, don’t you, kid?” Neo mused, changing the subject. “I mean- Brightec’s servers have always been secure and all, but that’s why you were hired, wasn’t it? To help shore them up even more? The personal protections you’ve got on your desktop are pretty wicked, I must say. Took me a good couple’a weeks to break through them.”

Adrian tried to ignore the stupid rush of pleased pride he got from hearing that. This annoyingly chatty hacker had just complimented him more than any of his superiors had during the whole tenure of his internship so far. It was… nice to be recognized.

“Of course, I’d be able to appreciate your talents more if you weren’t using them to help protect an evil empire,” Neo continued conversationally.

Adrian froze. Except for his heart, which jolted violently again. Adrian wondered if an excess of shock could really kill someone.
“What did you just say?” he hissed into the microphone of his headset.

“I called the company you’re working for an ‘evil empire,’” Neo said matter-of-factly. “’Cause it’s true. That’s the real scoop with this job of yours, kid. You know the saying, ‘if something seems too good to be true, it probably is?’ That’s the deal. A big company like Brightec- you didn’t think it was really all that benevolent, did you? That all their dealings were legitimate? Nah- they’ve been mining data, stealing it, and you’ve been hired as a pawn to help protect all that stolen info.”

Adrian pressed his paws to his temples, squeezing his eyes shut.

“Why should I believe you?” He said weakly. “For all I know, you could be lying so you can get me to help you with something… nefarious.”

Neo barked a laugh. Adrian winced slightly at the loud burst of sound.

“That’s fair,” Neo said, still chortling. “Can’t expect you to just take me at my word immediately. Tell you what- I’ll give you a couple days to think this all over, and a way to contact me if you decide you want to hear more. I understand this has gotta be pretty shocking. It is a lot to have thrown at you, I’ll grant. But I will say that I could really use your help. You know your way around tech as well as- or even better than- I do. And beyond that, you seem like a nice kid. I’d hate to have to go through you to take Brightec down.

“I’ll shoot you an email later today. If you decide you want to meet up, send a response and wait for me to contact you further. Don’t think about trying to trace it, though- I’ve taken precautions against that.

“I hope to hear from you soon, kid.”

And on that final note, Neo’s voice faded into a buzz of static, leaving Adrian with a headache- and a conspiracy to sort through.

Great.

-----
992 words.