July 2nd, 2013 – 2:38am
From the other side of the car, Agent Hague coughed and waved the smoke out of her vision. The other occupant of the car, a young man with dark skin and a crisp black and blue suit, requested a pack of cigarettes and a lighter the moment he had stepped out of the basement.
He had not stopped smoking since he received them.
The man blew a smoke ring with Cigarette Number Four. Hague recalled the details of the old Arcade, the records of life-forms made from code who glowed bright with the energy of their dimension. The only sign of luminosity was when the man turned his head to glance out the window; then, Hague could see the gloomy white lines peeking out of the young man's collar.
"You won't get in trouble for it."
His voice broke the silence of the car, rough and abrupt. He was still looking out the tinted window, rolling the cigarette absently in his hands. "Beg pardon?" Hague asked.
"This probably isn't the sort of thing you're allowed to do, yeah?"
"I am authorized as far as Clearance Level 4--"
"--and everyone else who's opened the system has been more around Clearance Level 7? But you won't get in trouble for it." The man took another slow drag of the cigarette, then let it out. "How did you get the pass USB?"
Hague fidgeted with said object in her pocket. "Borrowed it from a friend higher-up, with a couple files too." She hesitated, then continued, "This was a matter of life or death for you, so I thought--well, you came up as an important in the system--"
"Important?"
"Something about the containing the ABRAXAS virus? I don't have that memorized. I usually deal with European micronations."
The man nodded slowly. "Fair enough. Any plans for me now?"
"Since you have connections in New York, we can set you up there temporarily until you can be sent to a new system or find a permanent place. We can have any files you request out of your home system within a day." Hague leaned forward. "Is that all right?"
"Not a problem, Lockless."
"Ah, it's Hague. Agent Nancy Hague?" She offered her hand.
The man looked down at her hand, then took it awkwardly in his gloved one without shaking after. "... Hague."
"And remind me, you're--"
"Eros."
Unable to get a real resolve from his handshake, Hague shook his hand a few times and then let their hands dropped. "Can I ask you something, Eros?
"All right."
"Why did you contact me?"
"A botnet named Sirefef gave me your personal information as payment of a favor."
A computer virus. Hague felt a rush of blood leaving her head. A computer virus? Who was this guy, really?
In front of her, Eros stubbed out the butt of his cigarette in the car's ashtray. "Don't worry. It wasn't a real network breach, only your desktop--but you should probably be more careful about the files you open on your work computer. I disabled Sirefef's ability to contact home. His stored data is just floating around cyberspace now. I knew I would get SHIELD to pick me up somehow, but I thought you should know."
Hague said nothing and watched Eros reopen the cigarette box. A computer virus?
This would be a long car ride home.
