Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Hacker Zi ❯ Part Five ( Chapter 5 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

DISCLAIMER: While Hacker Zi and its characters were created by me, some of the screen names were taken from actual people. Please DO NOT TRY TO CONTACT THEM. The story is purely fictional

Brandon looked up as the bell on the door made a noise. He moved to stand up, but after noticing it wasn’t a customer, he stayed in his chair. The man that had entered the store was average height, yet very slim. He had the usual appearance of a college student. His bangs were hanging in front of his eyes, and his skin was tan, even for it midwinter.
“Sup Virg.”
“Just the usual. Another slow day. What the hell are you doing here?”
“I do work here. Is it so unusual to see an employee here on their day off?”
“Not really, I’m kinda glad you’re here. Mind watching the shop for a few minutes?”
“Need the nicotine fix, huh?”
“You know me too well.”
The man shook his head, then moved behind the register as Brandon moved out of his way and entered the break room. A moment later he was walking through the back door, a pack of cigarettes in his hand. The man made himself comfortable in Brandon’s chair while he waited for a customer to come. Since it was in the middle of the day, during the week, there wouldn’t be a lot of customers coming. Most of the customers usually appeared at night, due to the fact that they either slept all day, or were too busy working.
Brandon returned a few minutes later, but his mood had changed. In his hand was his cell phone, which he was gripping tightly. A few seconds later, the phone was thrown at the back wall of the store. At first the man wasn’t going to say a word, but he felt he needed to break the awkward silence.
“What happened?”
“…..that bastard. The fucking store I had my dad look after was robbed.”
“Is your old man alright?”
“He’s fine. When I see that son of a bitch - “
Brandon paused. Two men had entered the store. They didn’t appear to be customers. One of them had dark black hair and bright blue eyes. He was a little taller than his friend, who was overweight. The two of them walked right up to the register.
“We’re looking for Brandon Morris.”
“Is this about the other store?”
“Ah, so you know why we’re here. I’m detective Cross and this is my partner, detective Cormier.”
“Lets take this in the back. Ryan, you mind sticking around and watching the store a little bit longer?”
“Not a problem.”
Brandon led the two detectives through a door behind the counter. In the center of the room was a table and four chairs. He passed the table and went to the small fridge behind it. He grabbed a can of soda, offering one to the two detectives. The man named Cormier accepted, while his partner declined.
“So, what do you need to know. My grandfather was working at the store, wasn’t he able to help you?”
“Well yes, and no. The robbers only stole five computers, and they didn’t take the money in the register. Because of this, we’re leaning towards the possibility that you made an enemy or two, and they decided to make the hit on your store.”
“So you want to know how many people I’ve pissed off.”
“To be blunt, yes. Have you recently made enemies with someone, or know of anyone that would want to do this?”
Brandon paused for a moment. An instant response would lead the cops to assume that he knew of someone. It was better to take care of this himself, than to get the cops involved. There was no telling what that bastard would do if these two got involved.
“…..I can’t think of anyone that would. A lot of my customers know a lot about computers and how they work. If someone wanted to get to me, they’d hack my computers, not steal them.”
“Well, thank you for your cooperation. If you can think of anything that may help, give us a call.”
Detective Cross reached into his pocket and removed a card. He placed it on the table in front of Brandon then stood up. His partner followed him out of the break room. After looking at the card, he stood and left the break room. Ryan was still there, sitting with his laptop in his lap. He wore a bored expression on his face. He looked up when he saw Brandon emerge from the room.
“How’d it go?”
“I doubt they know anything important. What are you doing?”
“Talking to a friend. She must have skipped school.”
“Skipped school….are you talking about a high school kid?!?”
“Yeah, she’s friends with that Vampire and ShadowWolfChaos. She knows about you too.”
“Does she know about them?!? You haven’t told her anything, have you?”
“I’m not stupid. She asks me questions, I give vague answers. Turns out Wolfy left a note for her.”
“What kind of note?”
“One that gave subtle hints about his whereabouts. You’re mentioned in it, I didn’t tell her much though…..”
Ryan paused. Apparently something had happened during his conversation with the high school girl. He waited a few minutes, then closed the lid to his laptop.
“What happened?”
“Those bastards attacked her computer. I told her to come here as soon as she could.”
“Why would they go after her though. The only person that would know who she was is Chaos. Unless a certain someone is jealous. Did she say who was attacking her?”
“Nope. But we can probably find that out when she gets here…..do you want your chair back?”
“Not really. You’re fine. I’ll get the equipment ready for when your friend gets here….does she know what you look like?”
“Nope. And I have no idea what she looks like either.”
“…..dumbass.”


Nick couldn’t believe the luck she was having today. After not being able to go to school, she had decided to use her time to try and find some answers. And what she got was a fried laptop.
She had been looking for clues in chatrooms, asking random people about Defiance. Up until now, she hadn’t found anything. But when she saw a chatroom named Sheer Defiance, her luck changed - for both better and worse. When she entered the room, she only saw two messages, something about a computer store. Then, all of the members left, with the exception of one, Unseen Fear.

Unseen Fear: …..my aren’t you the party crasher. What brings you here, Nick?
Zi: …..how do you know my name?
Unseen Fear: I can’t tell you that. But on behalf of Defiance, let me congratulate you on finding us. I suppose the hints left by ShadowWolfChaos gave us away.
Zi: who are you guys?
Unseen Fear: We’re fellow hackers, sick of the materialistic views of society. Our goal is to end that materialism. You’re free to join us, with our leaders approval, of course. I’m sure he’d love to have you with us.
Zi: you’re leader…ShadowWolfChaos?
Unseen Fear: In his dreams. He’s too weak….too attached to his possessions. Do you know what it feels like to be detached from your possessions? It can sometimes lead to insanity….but on the rare occasion, it leads to Defiance.

Unseen Fear left the chatroom. A moment later, Nicks computer began to be attacked. It must have been the members of Defiance. Before her computer was fried, Neo gave her directions to a computer store. She managed to memorize the address before the images on the screen were replaced by the words: Do Not Mess With Defiance.
Nick packed up her laptop and headed toward the bus stop. Before leaving the house, she called her brothers cell phone. It went straight to voice mail, so she left a message saying she was going to a computer store.
Twenty minutes later she got off the bus. She was still a few minutes away from the store. When she finally arrived, there were no customers, other than herself. Someone was sitting in a chair behind the register. Another guy was at the back of the store, looking through some boxes. The guy at the register looked up as she approached the counter.
“….Zi?”
“Are you Neo?”
“I didn’t expect you to get here right away.”
The guy at the back of the store walked up to the counter, a box under one arm. As he was setting the box on the counter, Ryan introduced him.
“This is Brandon, he’s the owner. He’ll be helping us fix you laptop. Brandon, this is Zi.”
Brandon looked the girl over. There was something familiar about her….but he couldn’t place it. The two of them shook hands, and then he moved the box to the floor. The girl removed the laptop from her bag and placed it on the counter. As soon as he opened it up, a message appeared on the screen.
“Shit…they really did a number on this thing. What did you do to piss them off?”
“I have no idea. I entered a chatroom, and this guy said a few things to me, then they attacked it.”
After scratching his head, Brandon grabbed his keys from behind the counter and headed toward one of the glass cases. He removed a rectangular box, then relocked the case. He returned to the counter with the box, and held it out to Zi.
“Your laptop could take months to fix, so take this.”
“I can’t take this, I don’t have enough money to pay for it.”
“….do you have a job?”
“Not really.”
“Do you know anything about computers?”
“I know enough. A friend and I built the laptop I was using.”
“That’s good enough for me. You’re hired. You start tomorrow after school.”