Wandering the Capitol

[Sage]

Sage hadn't been feeling well for the past few days - light fever and chills being the predominant symptom. His head hurt like a bitch but taking a walk seemed to clear his head. For days he walked up and down the river while he worked. He'd shipped Nox a brand new high end computer with an ultra processor and a holo graphics card any would be hacker would have loved to get their hands on. Nox wasn't a hacker, but he used the same software that he did to find information quickly. Software Sage had designed for his own purposes which he'd given to Nox's sister and she tweaked it for their own purposes. Whatever the twins did for a living put Sage's algorithms through their paces and with Aurora's help he'd designed a fast and efficient way for anyone to search the internet and other databases for exactly what they were looking for.

Sage had installed the latest software for Nox and sent it to Moscow for the man to use. His last gift for Aurora. He would miss the blonde hair blue eyes wanna-be-hacker. She was a smart girl. And he missed talking to her - she at least understood half of what he said where as her brother would just nod and smile but he listened anyway. He'd learned that since he started working with him a little closer.

But now Sage was running diagnostics on some other company's firmware trying to bust through their firewalls. It was a good paying job - he'd been hired in as a consultant. He did make money outside of the den. The fresh air helped the headaches, but the scenery along the river was getting hold. So Sage hoped the yellow line and rode it into the Capitol.

DC was just as good a place to walk and hack as Alexandria was. He'd done this more times than he could count. Take a bench and stare at the pigeons on the street while he worked. Today though he wanted to walk. The parks and tourist areas were packed on the spring day, but not nearly as much as when it became field trip season for the schools around the world. The Smithsonian was still a huge hit but Sage hadn't been there in ages.

Cracking someone's firewall wasn't as easy as the movies made it out to be. For Sage it looked easy because he never touched a keyboard. He wasn't even sure he could type the code efficiently as he wrote the sub routines that did his job. So much of his own software was formed as he thought without really much effort on his part. It was like speaking English to the processor and it understood. It wasn't that simple of course - Sage had designed the responses himself. Grim had taught him everything he needed to know about computers. And Sage had picked up more as he learned his own system.

The tech wasn't new - it wasn't the greatest, but it was all he had to work with. Though he had been finding it a bit sluggish recently. It was nano seconds slower than before but it was noticeable to Sage. Sage wandered around DC paying only half attention to where he was going and what was around him - most of his attention was turned inwards while he worked.

[Sage]

Sage was wandering the streets but the pain in his head started interfering with his work. The nearest bench was his next target, but first he had to find his way back to one. A small map in his head displayed on the contacts he wore for such things. He rarely let the programs display anything unless necessary.

The nearest bench was in the part 3 blocks south of his current position. Sage turned around and started towards the bench in question. He could just stop on the street and lean against a tree, but the pain wasn't likely to subside quickly. This didn't feel like anything he'd ever had before. He'd had headaches most of his life because of the contraption in his head. But this was not like that.

His vision was almost blurred and it felt like his head was going to explode. Sage had no choice but to stop. He stepped out of the path of the rest of the walking commuters and leaned against a bus stop. He didn't look too out of place, at least he wouldn't have if he wasn't clutching at his head.

He could feel the stares of people as he bent over holding his head between his hands. No one stopped. He didn't expect anyone to stop - no one cared about a guy having a breakdown on the street. Most would avoid the scene at all possible. He didn't blame them. Sage sent a message to Sasha with his location. It simple said he needed help.


Edited by Sage, Sep 30 2016, 06:33 AM.

[Sage]

Noises were the first thing Sage was aware of, the soft hum of machines nearby was almost a comfort but he knew that beep hidden in it's mix and his eyes shot open. Blurry images came to his eyes even the processor couldn't clear the image as he tried to refocus before blinking several times.

A familiar voice spoke softly, "Sage, it's okay. Stay still." A warm hand was on his cold arm. He turned to look in the direction of the voice and saw those wonderful purple eyes and he smiled. "Sasha."


She smiled and nodded. "The doctors want to talk to you when you are up for it."

Sage nodded but he couldn't stop looking at the woman who had been more than a friend since he'd founded the den. "How long have I been here?"


"Just the day. But they are going to keep you. You have no next of kin, no emergency contact Sage. No one but me. What would have happened if you'd not called me?"

Sage couldn't really think. Everything was fuzzy. He shook his head. "I don't know."
He frowned. "You can get the doctor."


Sasha nodded and left the room. It wasn't long before a man clad in white and wearing a stethoscope and carrying a tablet with his file on it he was sure. Sage blinked up at the man who stood over him. "How do you feel Mr. Parker?"

"Pretty good right now. I'm sure that's due to the medication running into my arm."


"No pain?"

Sage shook his head. "No. You look upset so tell me what's wrong."


"Are you aware of the foreign object in your brain?"

Sage laughed. "My parents successfully implanted a microprocessor into my brain when I was five - so yeah I'm aware of it."


The man frown deepened. "The best we can tell is it's degrading. But without opening you up we won't know anything. And no one has this kind of experience in Alexandria. Mr. Parker, if it continues you will die."

Sage sighed. "What am I on now? I can't function like this. I need to connect to the internet."


Sasha stepped around the doctor and handed Sage the wireless dongle. "I took it out before they brought you in. I didn't want them to lose it."

Sage took it and blinked. He wasn't even connected and the usual apprehension was not there - they had him on some strong medication. "No one is opening me up until I find the person who's going to do it."


Sasha frowned. "They can't reduce the pain medication, Sage. It's that bad. Even with you unconscious it was bad. You'll have to do it the old fashioned way."

"Well shit."



Edited by Sage, Oct 4 2016, 07:42 AM.

[Sage]

Sasha insisted that he sleep. He had just woke up, he felt fine. But she insisted. Before he'd agreed she promised to retrieve his laptop. She'd seemed shocked when he told her he owned one.

The laptop was in a safety deposit box in the Bank of America. Sage told Sasha were the key was located and the pass code to get it just in case he was unavailable. He didn't need that laptop to hack into anything specifically. But that laptop contained some very specific information. Sage wanted it now.

But he had agreed to rest. So he closed his eyes and tried to let the dreams take him away, but nothing came. His mind was a fuzzy mess, he could barely think a coherent sentence. He didn't need to hack anything to get a name... he just needed the laptop.

A nurse came in and pushed a small button when she saw the Sage was still awake. "That should help."

Sage tried to say something but soon darkness encompassed him and there was nothing but emptiness of a dreamless sleep...

[Sage]

Sage groaned as he came around from the drug induced sleep. It didn't feel good to feel so out of it. He'd never done drug before, not even pain meds stronger than stuff he could get over the counter. He didn't drink for the same reason. It made him feel woozy and he didn't have control of the processor. Now he had nothing. But that was rather the point.

He blinked his eyes open and saw Sasha sitting there tapping away on her own purple laptop. Sage reached across the gap and caught her attention and she smiled at him. "Hey. How long have I been asleep?"


Sasha frowned. "Two days. Bryan and I have been taking turns sitting here." Sasha leaned down and patted the bag. "I didn't have a problem getting your laptop. I didn't know you had an archaic piece of crap."

Sage grinned. "Two apparently."


Sasha smiled and helped Sage sit up. "You sure you can do this by actually typing. Your hand eye coordination sucks!"

Sage stuck his tongue out at Sasha with a smile. "I'm not going to be hacking anything."


Sasha sat down the laptop on Sage's lap and opened it up. Sage swatted her hand when she went to turned it on. "I'm not helpless."
She smiled and sat down on the edge of the bed and let him work.

It took a few minutes for the laptop to boot up. It was old school, there was no holographic card and there was a gimpy amount of processing power, but he only needed to find data. On this laptop was every piece of research his parents had done on the thing in his head - including the living research partners who worked with them.

[Sage]

Looking for the right information was much slower this way. He thought about the files he was looking for and knew exactly how to write the code in his head to do it. He was formulating the algorithm in his head as he manually opened each file he thought might be the right ones.

The search he would have implemented would have opened the index of files he'd created when he'd destroyed all but this copy of his parents research. He knew it would come in handy one day - though he didn't expect to need the information contained with in. He only regretted that if all panned out the way he hoped that some other child was going to be subjected to the very same mistreatment he'd been handed.

Sage looked up at saw Sasha watching him. She smiled softly. "Not so easy being mundane is it?"

"I suppose. But that's not what's got me down."


Sasha wrapped a warm arm around his shoulders and pulled him in close to put her chin on top of his head. "I'm sorry this brings up bad memories."

Sage kissed Sasha's shoulder and pulled away. "I have to do this the slow way."


Sasha laughed. "You tagged each document and indexed it right? Do you remember those tags?"

Sage gave Sasha a look that said she knew the answer to the question. She laughed again with a great big smile. Sasha took the laptop from Sage's lap and pulled it on to hers and opened up the terminal window. "You can do what you are thinking here. You'll have to type it out correctly your stupid syntax errors won't cut it here like it will in your head cause you automatically correct without thinking about it."

"How do you know about my errors?"
Sage asked as he pulled the laptop back and started typing slowly at first, registering his fingers to his brain. He'd learned how to program on a real laptop - at the time it was the only way for Bryan to see what he was doing. They've since fixed that problem and Sage hasn't had to type in many years. But it was like riding a bike and soon Sage was tapping away at the keyboard albeit much slower than he'd have liked.

Sage found the files he was looking for and he pulled up the one with a cybernetisist that is parents had worked with. He was ironically based in Moscow. Sasha handed him her wallet and Sage sighed as he took it and dialed the number in his file.

The other side rang three times before a tired voice answered. Oops time zones, Sage thought to himself. "Dr. Marcil, I'm sorry to bother you at such an early hour, but I have an offer I don't think you want to wait on."


Sage pulled the wallet away from his ear as the man gave him an earful about the hour and offers that can wait until the morning. When he stopped yelling Sage put the wallet back to his ear. "I understand your dismay sir, but my name is Sage Parker...."
Sage hadn't even finished saying his name before the man sounded wide awake and was apologizing profusely for his behavior, but it was 3 am.

Sage grinned at Sasha this was going to work out...


Edited by Sage, Oct 5 2016, 05:51 AM.

[Sage]

The conversation with Dr. Marcil had gone precisely as Sage and anticipated it would. He was interested in the work done by Sage's parents. He would die for a look at what was under the hood. Dr. Marcil had concluded by saying if Sage sent him the specs and the schematics for the processor and the interface that he'd work on a retrofit to replace what was failing inside Sage's skull. That is if there was any hope in fixing it - the man said he'd try.

The price would of course be monetary with the additional incentive that Sage would hand over a copy of their entire project. Sasha had held his hand while he talked over the logistics. He'd fly out to Moscow, and stay indefinitely as they worked on fixing his implant. It would take time to fabricate a new one but they needed to see the damage first otherwise they couldn't know if it was repairable. This was all without any knowledge of what the implant schematics looked like. But in any case this was his best option.

Sage sighed as he'd hung up the call. Sasha pulled him close. "You'll be okay. Don't you have a friend in Moscow?"

Sage nodded. "Aurora's little brother."


"I'll contact him. You need to rest." Sage felt like he needed to rest, his head was throbbing and his body ached. A nurse poked her head inside and confirmed it as well.

Sage sighed with reluctance. "See if Nox will meet me there. I need you to do a few more things too for me."
Sage opened a note app on Sasha's wallet and started typing out all the things he needed her to do while he was sleeping. It was a long list of errands.

When he handed it back to Sasha she looked up at him wide wide purple eyes. "You really think all this is necessary?"

Sage nodded as he tapped the medication release button and knew that he'd be asleep in moments. "There is no guarantee they won't kill me to see how it works. That's what my parents were fixing to do."
The last part of the sentence trailed off into nothingness as Sage succumbed to the pain medication.


Edited by Sage, Oct 5 2016, 11:30 AM.

[Sage]

Waking up from the drugs was never a pleasant experience. Sage's mouth was dry, his eyes hurt despite the fact that they'd been closed. His head felt like someone had stuff it full of cotton balls. He supposed it was better than the pain, but he wasn't going to be able to function at all like this - if this was comfortable he probably would rather just shoot himself now. But first he had to try something - he was never one to just quit despite the odds.

His parents had never successfully implanted another person - he was their lone success story - their own son. He hated them for everything, but he didn't know what he'd do without the chip in his head either. It was a no win situation.

Sage lay still and pretended to sleep as the nurses came in and out. He rested but he had too much to think about and just the thought of thinking about things made him anxious.

Sage opened his eyes and sighed. He was tired of pretending and didn't care of the nurses scolded him. He had things to do. Things he wanted to do but he couldn't do any of it. He had to wait on Sasha.

A knock on the door made Sage look up and saw a friendly face smiling back at him. It wasn't Sasha, he wasn't nearly as cute as the blonde with purple tips. But Bryan was like family. "Hey."


Bryan smiled and sat down. "You are up this time. Sasha seems to get you awake but not me."

Sage frowned. "Sorry man."


Bryan waved it away. "She gave me half that list. I got the paperwork from the bank completed. All your funds have been transferred to an account in Moscow under the name Nox Durante. You sure had a lot of intel on him, setting it up in his name was a no brainer. One of your friends?"

"Aurora's little brother."


Bryan nodded knowingly. "It's a shame what happened to her. I know you'll miss her."

Sage shrugged. "It'll be easy enough to transfer back if this all goes well?"


"Of course. He won't even know it's in his name unless you die. Why are you giving it to him? The collective could use it."

"I don't intend to die, I want the money where I can easily get it."


"Whatever you say Sage. You are the boss." Bryan chuckled, Sage knew it was because of the way things had started out - he was his mentor and Sage quickly passed Bryan. But his friend continued. "Sasha was working on putting every asset in Alexandria into my name - including the ownership of the den."

Sage interrupted. "There is no one I trust more than you to run the collective. You'll get full access to the server room, but you will have to be vigilante. I won't be able to protect it for a while."


Bryan beamed with happiness. His eyes were bright and shining and Sage thought his friend was about to cry. "I don't plan on dying so don't get used to it. Did Sasha get a hold of Nox?"


Bryan shook his head. "She said he keeps pushing her calls to voicemail. He must be busy with something."

Sage rolled his eyes. "Get my wallet."


Sage pulled up Nox's contact and sent him a message "I need a place to stay while I'm in Moscow. I'm calling in that favor. Pick me up in two days at the airport KLM flight DL 9650 at 4pm. I need a reply before I leave." Sage made the message pop up immediately and request a reply or it would lock out all of Nox's wallet functions until he did so.

There was an near immediate reply "I'll be there. A simple message would have sufficed, Sage."

"You ignored Sasha."

"Unknown number. Being hunted by people. A bit preoccupied babysitting a baby godling."

Sage looked at the last message with curiosity. He'd find out what Nox did for a living sooner rather than later.

"That's done. Only thing left is to actually go now..."

[Sage]

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