Deus Ex Human Revolution: Shadow's Showdown

Chapter 2: The Archn3rd0

Head of cyber-security - Frank Pritchard's office.

Francis Wendell Pritchard, Frank, Nucl3arsnake, Archn3rd0, or just the boss. Pain in the ass, but there's one thing that must be admitted - he understands computers like no one else. He's rude to anyone, and his attitude lets, people know that they are not worthy even to look at him. At least that's what Laura observed during her relatively short stay at Sarif Industries headquarters. The exception to this rule are other computer geeks, whom he treats less harshly but they still are dumber than himself.

"Finally! Miss Werner herself!" He squawked unpleasantly with the voice of an old parrot, still staring at the computer screen.

"Hi Frank, I don't like you either." Laura paid back with the greeting. That was a part of their daily ritual. "But I have a little gift for you." She added, handing him over the blue file.

While Pritchard was enthusiastically flicking through the papers, Laura had some time to memorize his office. Computers, more computers and...even more computers. It is the simplest description of his kingdom. Pritchard had a decent server room here, which probably contained quite a lot of useful information. All that she needed to do was to learn the system well, then bypass its firewalls and at the same time fortify herself with one, redirect connections, let a worm into the system, break a few passwords... - she calculated in her mind. It is doable, a piece of cake. The server lights flickered rhythmically and froze. Frank cursed silently as he leaped up from his chair.

"This piece of junk crashes again." He muttered as he kicked the metal case and regretted it immediately afterward.

"Can I have a look?" She asked with a raised eyebrow as the boss bounced in place on one leg.

"Suit yourself. Although I doubt that you are smarter than me." He replied with a poisonous smile.

"This blue wire should be plugged in here, and the green one is redundant." She spoke more to herself than to him. "Try to reset." She asked.

Frank unwillingly returned to his chair and typed a few commands. He almost wanted to say "Didn't I tell you ?!" with that proud tone of his when the message "Connection restored" appeared on the screen. Laura was standing right behind him but didn't say a word. The black leather jacket with orange inserts on the shoulders and white on the sleeves squeaked unpleasantly as he moved. Pritchard fixed his white turtle-neck sweater and grunted. He didn't want to admit that she solved the problem, and simply thank her for that. Frank was too proud for this. An awkward silence floated in the air, repeatedly disturbed by the tapping of a pen on the desk surface. Finally, he tossed a new pile of papers on the desk.

"Why are you still standing here?!" He growled irritably. "Are you growing roots here or what? You have nothing to do?"

"I'm gone." Laura replied shortly with dissatisfaction, gathered the papers, and disappeared behind the door.

"You have to correct it for me by tomorrow, even if it may take you the whole night!" He shouted after her.