I Am The Truth II

Chapter XI: Change of Plans

Niika waited carefully, staring at a blank document on the screen. She had hacked the zombie computer through an executable in the hopes that she would get a lead on the Wither's location. The Felina was deliberately waiting for the Necromancers to sense her presence.

"I know you're here," Niika typed. "I know you see me. Come on out."

She leaned back in her chair, her eyes not once looking away from the screen. Her text-cursor remained at the end of her sentence, blinking. She briefly rubbed her glasses and exhaled. 

She had been following the online path created by one of the zombie computers that had recently caused an enormous internet traffic jam between Ataraxia and Felora. This had happened a few times now, and it would always end with her engaging in a fruitless, one-way conversation.

"What is this-?"

"SHHH," Niika hissed, so loudly that Lucan jumped.

Lucan silently took a seat beside her, leaning in to see what was on the screen. Within minutes, he was whistling a tune to himself, not noticing that the already-tense Felina next to him was shaking with irritation.

"I will fond yoi," Niika typed furiously before exhaling. "*find you*"

"Stop making typos on a threat," Lucan commented.

"I'm trying my best, okay?" She snapped. "Not everyone passed their elementary typing exams."

She finally broke her stare at the screen to look at him.

"Why aren't you taking this seriously?" 

"I am," Lucan answered. "I just didn't know that you are so worked up over people blocking internet access. For all it's worth, you don't seem to be getting anywhere."

She scowled.

"This is how Kiyoshi has been maintaining communications with me," Niika snapped.

"So the Necromancers are doing you a favor then," Lucan said. "Even they knew how toxic that captain can get-"

"He is the reason why you aren't a homeless man, right?" Niika said rhetorically.

"I am still a homeless man," Lucan snapped, his turn to be annoyed. "He used me, in case that still didn't get inside your head. He may be fighting for a cause I can't grasp, but his methods suck, especially for people like myself and Eddie."

"You would rather continue living on the streets instead-?"

"The only reason why I haven't yet," Lucan cut sharply. "Is because I had to work in the RPEP-"

He stopped short. She didn't need to know that.

"Just focus on whatever it is you were doing," He concluded. "I shouldn't have interrupted."

However, she only stared at the screen. The only text visible was what she wrote. With an exhale, she closed the document.

"... you are right though," Niika admitted, mildly annoyed that this human had proved her wrong. "I haven't really gotten anywhere with this."

"So... now what?" Lucan asked. "Hacking zombies doesn't really serve a purpose, does it?"

"The Necromancers have always been one step ahead," Niika responded. "I can't take control of these zombies even if I hacked them."

"Destroy them then," Lucan suggested.

"That's what I do once I'm done," She replied. "I crash the operating system as I disconnect."