Log entry 6

Agent: UNKNOWN

Western Market district, Halcyon city,

Time: 0040 hours, Date: 20/04/2144

Status: Standby

"So Cyclops, what shall we do now?" Jason asked

That got his robotic companion to stop dead in his tracks and stare at him, with arms folded "I was under the impression that we were on our way home"

Jason rolled his eyes and continued "Come on, the night's still young, maybe we can pass into that new club- what's its name- Static Shock."

"Firstly, it's nearly one in the morning. And secondly, the legal age to gain entry into any sort of establishment like that is eighteen."

"Cyclops, I regularly go to underground gambling arenas and shady businesses, and your telling me that going to a club just because I'm underage is a problem?"

The robot paused "Fair enough, but you'd have to bring that point up with the bouncer, and I highly doubt he'll be very understanding." he replied "Plus, you told Arcemedes and Rose that you'd be back around mid-night"

Jason tried to think of a response but, damn, he had him there. On both arguments.

"Yeah, your right" he sighed in defeat "But let's pass through the district square. I want to see if I can get a hot chocolate or something"

Cyclops looked confused by this "At this hour?"

"Exactly," he replied "Nothing like enjoying the warm glow of neon on a peaceful night, while sipping down a kiwi blend."

The robot shrugged and followed.

The elevators and shuttles always screeched from the rush of another load of passengers, while the stairwells and walkways linked together like the very veins of the city. Shops and plazas were around every corner, their iridescent neon inviting anyone who passed to stay a while.

But, needless to say, somewhere as lively and confusing as this place, it was quite easy for someone who didn't know their way around to get hopelessly lost. Some often compared the Market district to a maze, but Jason had always found it as more of a labyrinth. Then again, weren't they synonyms? Fortunately, he'd spent a lot of time as a kid exploring every corner of this city and practically knew these districts like the back of his hand. Came in handy when you had to make a few hasty escapes from the cops

However, as they walked, something nagged at Jason like a papercut that had gotten splashed with lemon juice.

"The streets are clear" He finally said, glancing behind to see if anyone was there.

"Odd, I know" Cyclops agreed

This place didn't sleep. Never would there be a total absence of foot traffic along the streets. However, as the duo arrived at the district center, they finally found out why. A huge crowd had gathered and each head was turned to one of the many advertising billboards that hung from the surrounding buildings. On its own, that wouldn't have been so strange, after all, you saw a billboard advertising something around every corner, so of coarse a crowd might get entranced by some new gadget that could be pre-ordered, but what really made this interesting was that each billboard as far as the eye could see displayed the same thing.

A black scream, with the stylized word 'Revolution' with a dash in between the 'R'.

"The devil is this?" Jason said as he stared at one of the screens. Giving another observer a tap on the shoulder to grab his attention, he asked: "Hey buddy, you know what's going on?"

The man shrugged, "All the billboards just shut down all of a sudden and then that popped up." the passerby explained, "It's been that way for an hour now but the city's fixing it as we speak."

"Any idea who caused it?" Jason inquired

"Probably another hacker group trying to get acknowledged by pulling off some 'grand scheme'"

Jason chuckled at that "Yeah. Thanks for the info"

He turned and walked back to Cyclops who looked rather busy scooping through some data on the web

"Rumor has it that it's a hacker trying to let the world know he's alive," Jason said, waiting for him to respond. But after a few moments of silence, he decided to continue talking. "Anything on the net about this. Cyclops?"

This time the robot looked up and answered him "My apologizes, I was reading something"

"Must have been pretty interesting. Your not the one to get sidetracked by fashion blogs."

Cyclops shook his head, "No, it was not one of those ridiculous blogs, but it certainly was interesting." He said, "The city isn't saying anything about the incident."

"Figures. As long as they can keep it hidden from the public, they'll never admit to anything. Especially the thought of some guy behind a computer screen messing with their system."

Cyclops nodded in agreement, "While that statement is mostly true, what I really found interesting was that the city has apparently sent out a police search party for a suspect supposedly involved in this little incident"

Jason had to admit, he was surprised, "Seriously? But whoever it was that did this was a hacker, how did they get traced so easy?"

"Why do you assume it's a hacker?"

Jason looked his robot companion square in the retina, his face clearly broadcasting the message 'Did you really just ask me that question'. He rolled his eyes "Come on, who else could it be. You think some random guy's just going to open his computer and do that?"

In this technological game of life, hackers were the cheaters. Everything was on the web these days, from food store deliveries to High-society secrets, and if you were smart enough to know how to alter those bits of info to suit your needs, then you stood a pretty good chance of winning. But of course, in every game, there were enforcers who made sure everyone played fair and dealt with the ones who didn't. They made a life for cheaters a lot harder, but also a lot more fun. There's nothing better than a little game of cat and mouse.

"Well, you know the city's not so forgiving when it comes to cybercrime," Cyclops said with a simple shrug. "Maybe they'll be able to get away, maybe not. Anyway, it's none of our concern."

He took a moment to ponder the words but sighed agreement "Yeah, your right."

They left the district center behind and proceeded down the main road towards the Skyrail docking station when a thought suddenly came to his head

"Hey, Cyclops,"

The robot glanced over his shoulder at him

"If the cops are looking for a Blackhat in this district, then doesn't that mean that they probably shutdown the Skyrail system here?"

Cyclops stopped and digested his idea, then nodded his head in agreement "And they probably set up road-blocks in case the suspect attempted to leave the district before the patrols got caught up"

Jason groaned in irritation "So that means we've got to go stand in a line at," He glanced at his A.M.P.E.D "One in the morning for who knows how long." He scoffed, "To heck with that. Come on let's take the sewers"

"Agreed"

The back-alleys were the easiest and most inconspicuous ways of getting into the network of tunnels that ran below, but there was a trick to entering the city's underbelly- you had to know which man-holes would land you on the service platforms, and which would drop you waist-deep into sewer sludge

"We'll use the entrance near the district square." Jason said "Crowd should've dispersed by now, so we won't look too suspicious"

Cutting across the square, they entered the back-alleys ad began to navigate through towards the sewer entrance, but as they did, Jason faintly heard something that caught his attention.

He stopped for a moment to listen, much to Cyclop's confusion

"Something wrong?" He asked

Jason signaled for him to be silent then spoke: "Did you hear that?"

"What?" the robot replied

"I don't know, but it kind of sounded like groaning to me"

"Oh, that. My sensors picked it up but I disregarded it as just the noise of some machinery in the area"

Jason shook his head "I don't think that a machine-made that noise"

"How can you tell?" Cyclops replied: "You can barely hear it yourself"

Jason shrugged "Call it human intuition," he said and began to walk towards the sound, "Come on, let's check it out"

As Cyclops said, it was faint, but it seemed to almost...pull at him. The source wasn't far away, that he could tell, but no matter how close he got it was but a mere whisper until finally, he turned into an alley and nearly jumped out of his skin in surprise

"What the devil!" Jason gasped in shock

Standing in the alleyway, a naked woman stared back at him with blank eyes