The Vigilante's Code (A Watch Dogs Fanfic)

7. The Caller

  Days have passed, and Aiden was spending more time at work.
Meanwhile, Eva was searching for more connection spots around the city, places that could give her access to the Chicago's network base. She was running around buildings, city malls, public places... she even went to the port.
Eventually, the police noticed a server breach. Her connection device was secure, but she needed to make sure she stayed out of sight.
Still, some other hackers around the area that had more advanced tech than hers, managed to trace her and ordered a hit.
As she took her phone out of her pocket, she noticed a purple-like notification "Hacking in process". She started to run from where she was to make the other hacker lose her connection, but unfortunately she tripped and fell on the asphalt, bruising her arm.
A man that seemed in his forties was walking by as he saw her. He walked up to help but noticed a phone laying on the ground. He picked it up, pressed a few buttons and canceled the hacking process. After that he helped Eva get up and dust the dirt off her clothes.
"Uh... thank you." She said as she looked at the man. She examined his clothes fast; he was wearing a small grey hat, a dark blue jacket with a grey shirt and a black vest, black trousers and beige shoes.
"You're welcome. You might need this." He handed the phone over to her and started walking away.
"Hey, wait a minute." Eva was scrolling through the phone like something got into her.
The man stopped and looked back at her.
"How did you do that?" She flashed the phone screen to him.
"Do what?"
"You stopped the hacking process, how did you do that?"
"Oh. It's just an old thing I know how to do." The man smiled.
"I need to know too."
"What for?" The man asked, all curious.
"Because I need to. It might help me later."
"You seem like a stubborn young lady. But why would you trust a stranger?"
"No stranger is a stranger to me. I'm not afraid of you." She slid her phone into her pocket.
"Well I'm not here to give any lessons." The man turned away.
"Hold on." She ran up to him. "I need the basics, I can pay you for it."
"I don't need cash. I need a service for exchange."
"What service?"
"I'll teach you, and in exchange you'll help me out with some stuff."
"Alright, deal."
"Also I don't mind hanging out with ladies." The man laughed.
"I'm not here for that."
"Oh, oh yeah. Right. We need to find some place private." He looked around.
"Not too private, I presume." Eva was deeply annoyed, but she couldn't do much about it.
"No. Of course not."
They started walking as Eva noticed that the man has a brace on his left leg. "Sorry for the question but uh..."
"Hmm?" The man looked at her.
"What happened?" She pointed at his leg. "It's okay if you don't want to talk about it, I'm just curious."
"Ah that was the consequence of some fucked up job, also one of betrayal."
Eva stayed silent as they walked towards a tall building, and she guessed that was where he lived, but she didn't care much about it. She only needed to learn how to block an unexpected attack.
He opened the door of his flat. "Sorry it's such a mess. I'll turn on my computer."
"No it's alright. Don't worry about it." She sat on a chair and looked around the place. By the looks of the apartment, the man was surely living alone for a long while now. Everything was turned upside down, clothes were laying on the floor, and apparently nothing has been cleaned there for ages.
"Hey." He walked towards her. "My name's Damien Brenks. How about yours, partner?"
"Partner? I wouldn't be so fast with that. My name's Eva."
"Beautiful name." He sat at the computer, typing in some digits.
"Thank you. Much appreciated." She smiled.
"Eva, look here." Damien pointed at the screen.
"I see, so that's how..."
"No no, not so fast." He started explaining the system's bypasses and blocking malware, and eventually everything led to how he could block the hack attack.
"Wow, that's amazing. You're amazing." Eva was pretty excited because she learned something new.
"And you learn fast. You remind me of my old partner, but still you're not much of a douchebag as he was." Damien smiled and turned the computer off.
"Hahah, what kind of person was your partner?"
"Stubborn, he knew how to handle the field work for me. He always got what he wanted."
"Familiar description." Eva sat on the ground and looked up at Damien. "What did you want me to help you with?"
"I need you to set up a video on a television for me, in a dirty old apartment packed with stuff. Also a camera. Because you seem very energetic and I can't do that on my own."
"It'll be done. Just give me the apartment's location and I'll go there right now."
"You do stuff for people easily. It'll be your weakness."
"Not really, Damien. I only return the favor to those who help me learn." She flashed a smile.
"I see." He wrote down on a paper for her the place where she had to go to.
As soon as she read it, she was on her way.

Meanwhile, Aiden was sitting in his car, dropping bugs in a few nearby places as his phone rang. It was BadBoy17.
"I've got something for you. We need to meet." BadBoy spoke to Aiden.
"Meet? I thought you never wanted to meet."
"I don't. But we need to meet. I'll send you the coordinates to where you can find me." And BadBoy hung up.
"I've hired Badboy before and he's always protected his identity. That's how Dedsec works. But now he wants to meet. That's unusual. I'll try to shake him off his game. Let's see what he's up to." Aiden said to himself as he approached the metro station.
When a screen flashed, he looked behind himself and saw a tatooed girl, probably in her twenties.
"Badboy17?" Aiden asked.
"Clara" she said.
"Clara.." He repeated. "You don't look 17."
"Do I look like a bad boy?"
"You look like a wild card."
"I hope I don't frighten you." she said as she started to walk around him.
"What, do you have a reason to frighten me?"
"Now you're being paranoid."
"Am I? Someone is fucking with my life, threatening my family and at the same time the myserious Badboy wants to meet. And he is a she. He is a lie!" He said with a violent tone. "Listen. I need to trust you, Clara."
"I wouldn't trust me if I were you. But here's a reason to listen. The text message you sent me? I know where to find him."
"Yeah, well we don't need to meet face to face for that." He said.
"No... We needed a face to face for this - You wanted dedsec system hacks?" she said, showing her phone to him.
"You got me in..."
"You should be nicer to me, I'm about to open your world." she said, holding her phone.
"Yeah, well, you're not the first woman to promise me that. Besides I've already opened it."
She looked at his phone so he gave it to her. She started transfering the data. "They do all their nasty work through this. And they don't know I have access." she said.
"You stole it."
She completed the data transfer.
"This is powerful. Just don't be stupid. You screw around and you get people hurt. Or worse." she said, holding his phone.
"Hm, well, I don't think you trust me." Aiden said as he lifted his hand towards the phone to take it.
"Give me a reason to trust you." said Clara.
"Alright." He said as she gave him his phone back. "The guy who sent the text. How do we find him?"
"We work together. You, with everything I just sent. Me, tracking his signal." she said, starting to walk towards the exit.
"You're not quite what I expected." He said.
She turned back and said: "And you're exactly as I expected, Aiden."

Later that day

Clara was calling.
"Hey. Am I talking to badboy or Clara?" Aiden asked.
"Let's make it easy. Voilà." she said, as she turned the voice-disorter program off so he could hear her real voice. She continued: "So we need to track your caller. But he's sneaky. He has bounced adresses through a ctOS office tower. Client services, employees and executives. We need to find a way into the system. You get me in, I get you his location."
"Okay, I'll attack from the tunnel,where they take deliveries. And hey, sorry I was -- rough before." Aiden said.
"I know what you are doing. Trying to intimidate me. Very textbook. Stepping into my personal space. The stare. Physical contact. You were trying to look for cracks. So did you find any?" she asked.
"Wouldn't you love to know." Aiden hung up.

A bit later, after he sneaked into the ctOS office, he called Clara again.
"I'm in the building. Can you see what's ahead?"
"There are more guards. Oh those hacks I uploaded to your phone -- It's a perfect distraction. You can disrupt the equipment of any guard in there." she said.
"Equipment like what?"
"Anything. Hack their phones, earpieces, explosives. Everything runs off computer chips these days."
"Okay, I'll try it. Find me someone with an unsecured laptop."
"Got one. Bradley Caughlin. Oh, no..." She started laughing. "He's a security director."
"Of course he is. Once I hack in, hack all the other devices and get out. It won't take long until the security spots the intrusion."
The hacks Clara gave to him were very useful. He managed to get to the offices and hacked that guys' laptop.
"Okay, I got you in." He called Clara.
"I'm searching now. Shit. The police are coming. You need to get out of there." she said.
Aiden got out of that building, sneaking past the armed cops and called Clara again.
"So, did you find the caller?"
"I got your mouse. The call was made from an apartament in The Loop."
"Finally." He said.
"Just be careful, Aiden. The way he bounced this signal around -- I think he wants you to find him."
"Well I certainly don't want to disappoint him." Aiden said sarcastically. "I'll leave him be for now. He's not going anywhere. He won't expect me intruding his private spot right away. I think tomorrow will be the perfect day for that. I'll give him some time of mines'."
"Are you sure he won't go anywhere?"
"Totally. I've got some other stuff to take care of now." Aiden hung up as he drove to his place.

Once he arrived, he called Eva.
"Hey, butter."
"Hey Aiden, it's been a while." She said.
"Yeah, I'm sorry. Work is exhausting."
"I understand."
"Can you come over for tonight?"
"Yeah sure, I'll meet you there." She said.