Vendetta

WIPE YOUR PROFILE

"You're scared. Why?"

I look over to Sitara as I fidget with my face mask. "I'm not."

"You seem like you've got the shits. Am I not mistaken?" Her tone is forward as I rub the back of my neck, watching Sitara key in the code to the base. "Don't worry, no-one's here."

I sigh with relief. Sitara looks back at me with a smirk as we descend the stairs. I flip her off in return, and she cackles. "Welcome to Mi Casa!" She announces loudly, holding her arms out.

In total awe, I step forward and twirl around, taking in the whole place. "This definitely does justice to all the video conferences we've had."

She snorts. "This is just a taste. Wait 'til we get you on the field." Her phone rings and she grabs it out of her pocket to answer it. "Yep."

"Sitara, it's time."

She instantly hangs up and grabs my hand, pulling me back upstairs.

"Where are we going?" I finally ask once we're out the door.

She turns back to me as she hops onto the nearest motorbike. "Your first 'mission'. Wanna pick this for me?"

I smirk and key the ignition. The bike starts and I hop on the back before Sitara speeds off. In only 5 minutes, we're outside a Blume Server Farm. Sitara stops the bike and motions her head over to a black van across the road.

"Oh, put this on." Sitara tosses me a patterned face mask. "Got you an upgrade—yours is too plain for me." I can't help but grin beneath my own black mask as I switch them around once Sitara is a few steps ahead already. Then, she knocks on the back of the van, and a guy in a green jumper opens it up.

"Who's she?" He asks, caution in his tone.

"Our third party provider, Elysium. No time for long introductions," Sitara rushes as she jumps in, pulling me up with her. I close the door after us.

"Showtime!" A robotic-like voice (most definitely modulated) sounds at the front of the van. I look over and find another guy wearing a full mask, spikes covering the lower half of his face with mechanical goggles that appear to 'blink' emotes and various eye expressions. When he sees me, O's take over the X's that are his electronic eyes.

"Hello."

"Wrench, El. El, Wrench." Sitara quickly introduces us as she and Josh move past him and get seated at a desk and two large computer screens on the left side of the van.

"Elysium," I finish, but Wrench still seems confused. "Your DedSec collaborator?... I've been working off-site in my own location for the past 3 months?"

"Oh! Yep. Got it." Is all he says before there's a few moments of silence between us, so I move past him and to Sitara.

"What's this?" I ask, eyes scanning over the screen.

Sitara turns back to me. "New guy. Calls himself Retr0. This is his first test. He passes? He's in."

"Sounds fun."

Sitara leans forward and grabs a mic recorder that's plugged into the hardware. "Watch and learn, El," she murmurs before holding the mic up to her mouth. "Consider this your DedSec initiation, Retr0. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to bypass Blume's security doors and get inside, then find and erase your personal ctOS profile."

"Whatever they have on me..." Retr0 replies, "is all bullshit—and I'm sick of getting harassed for it."

"All the more reason for a purge. We'll be watching."

"Try to keep up."

"By the way, we put this playlist together to set the mood. Hope you like it," Sitara finishes before setting down the mic and leaning back in her seat.