Ashes of Decoding

Into the Dark

Tapping filled the eerily quiet room, accustom to the teen who occupied the space. The room was dark, the only light illuminating from the many monitors that took up the large desk and peeling walls. Everything was neat and organised, only minimal wrappers of eaten wraps and burgers laying near the trash can that sat alone in the corner of the room. The teen took a large gulp of water, placing the thermos back down with a clank. He leaned back in his comfy seat with a long, heavy and frustrated sigh, lazily tapping away at the numerous keyboards that each hooked up to different monitors. He let out a large yawn, scratching at his messy hair and fiddling with the goggles that sat hidden in his mop of hair. A ding resounded throughout the small room, signifying that he had another email. He glanced down at his phone where the notification came from, reaching out a hand to pull it from its charger.

He opened the email and skimmed through the page, a lazy smirk taking place over his lips as a new glint shined in his wide eyes. He sat up, stretching his arms over his head and cracking his knuckles. He opened up a program on each of his monitors, tapping away on the once blank black boxes, now filled with green code and numbers. A hearty laugh left his lips as he pressed enter, the bright green words of 'ACCESS GRANTED' flashing upon all the monitors. The screens soon flickered to different files, criminal records being the most prominent of files seen. He sifted through them all, typing in name after name as he collected the files he needed. He glanced back down at the email and grinned, reading through the seven different files he collected. He soon shut everything down, grabbed his phone, black jacket and faux mask. He pulled the jacket on, stuffed his phone in a pocket, and pulled his mask up and goggles down.

Making sure everything was off, he leaped out the window, pulling a small gadget from his pocket. It looked like an ordinary coin, but held the properties of a hook shot. He pressed a hidden button, launching half of the small disk out, colliding with a building as he started to fall to ground. He pressed the button once more and felt himself being pulled upwards, towards the building he hit. His gloved hands and rubber soles connected with the building, softening his land and preventing any noise from echoing out. He climbing up the few metres to the top, before standing up and staring at the view. Artificial lights lit up the city, coating it in many different hues. He took in a deep breath, turning in the direction he intended to go. Taking a running start, he flung himself off the skyscraper like building and towards another. He kept this up, leaping from one building to the next, and using the small disk hook shot when needed.

He reached his destination, a small worn-down house in the district people stay clear of. A small stack of envelopes lay seated on a crate outside, the envelopes he came to collect. He grabbed them all, looked at the names imprinted onto the front of all of them, nodding to himself in confirmation. He quickly left, scaling up the side of a tall building cloaked in a shadow of darkness. He turned on a system in his goggles, fixing them so that they sat right on the bridge of his nose, the straps tucked neatly behind his ears. The system flashed to life, blue boxes of text filling up his vision before clearing, a small map appearing in the corner of his vision. He looked around, enlarging the map as he found the first district where three of the people he was after lived. He took off, silent as he boosted himself off the building's railing, taking the time to let his mind recycle through the email's specifications.

He reached the first house in a matter of minutes, slipping the envelope under the door before rushing over to the next house. He did the same with both other houses in the district, before taking to the sky again, feeling the cold crisp wind in his hair. Tracking down and delivering the last of the envelopes, he headed back to the email sender's place, seeing a stack of cash on the crate. He quickly flicked through, counting the money before disappearing back into the night, not caring about what information the envelopes he delivered contained or the reason why he was chosen for the job and not some simple mail man. But he didn't care. After all, as long as he got his money's worth, he'd take the job without complaint. He had to live, after all. And he wasn't about to steal or start pickpocketing random strangers in the streets for a single bag of worthless chips. He had a talent, and he was going to use it.