Changing With The Tides (A TommyInnit Au)

Chapter Nine: Security Check

Knock knock knock! The sound of someone at the door interrupted the movie that the fivesome had been watching. "Aww man! I can't believe you have to leave already!" Tubbo yelled, knowing immediately that it was someone from SBI coming to get Tommy. "Bye Tommy!" Ranboo and Hannah called from across the room, as Purpled headed over to get the door. He swung it open, and there stood Techno. "Time to go Tommy. It's kind of late." Tommy gathered his few things that he had brought with him, then started out the door. When Techno turned around to leave, saluting Purpled as he did, Tommy jabbed Purpled in the side and whispered, "Don't forget. I'll be there waiting!" And Purpled just smirked at him, waving goodbye. Tommy quickly caught up to Techno, and the events of the day started to take a toll on him. He needed to get up to his room quickly. Perhaps tonight was a perfect night to mess with his PC, or even to make his own equipment from scratch. He needed the quiet right now. So, he made up a quick lie. "Hey Tech, I think I'm just going to head up to my room when we get back. I'm kind of tired, and I ate with them." He said. That was a lie. He hadn't eaten since the breakfast that he ate when no one was looking, and he wasn't super tired, just socially drained. Even so, he must have been convincing enough, because Techno just nodded. "Sure, I'll make sure they leave you alone for a bit. Just make sure you get to bed at a decent time." Tommy nodded his agreement, knowing that wouldn't happen. He and Purpled would be up quite late on the roof, he was sure of it. As they neared the SBI house once again, Tommy sprinted up to the house, in the door, and up to his room straight away, prepared for a long, quiet, peaceful afternoon of tinkering.

In all his years of tinkering, he had never gotten the opportunity to work on something so big and complicated. The PC sat along the wall, and he was immediately drawn to it. But before he could take it apart, he had to decide what he wanted to change about it. He had a pretty good extent of knowledge on PCs, after all, it used to be his job, but back then he hadn't learned how to properly enhance it, nor had he ever considered doing such a thing. Now, the PC was just another test, another experiment to stretch his limits to the fullest potential. And honestly, it was just a passion project. He loved to enhance things, and once he knew the full potential of the technology before him, it wasn't hard to get hooked. But he had no idea what he wanted to add to the PC. Usually, it took anywhere from two to three days to brainstorming to finally come up with an idea that he liked, but right now, he didn't have two or three days. He had tonight. Because who knows how often he would have this chance again? A full afternoon with nothing to fill it but the promise of isolation while he worked. So, he asked the one thing that would undeniably have an answer. Henry, his hologram friend. He pushed the green button on his bracelet, and the hologram appeared immediately. "Hello Tommy!" The robotic voice from within the hologram called. "What do you need?" Tommy smiled. "Hello Henry. I just wondered if you would help me come up with ideas for enhancing a PC." Henry's face frowned a little in concentration. "Would you like to add a program or a physical enhancement?" Henry asked. "Hmm, I guess a program for now. As much as I would love to take it apart, it's going to take a lot longer than one night to take all those pieces apart, add my special touch, and put it back together again." Henry nodded, still contemplating the idea. "Perhaps you could add a second level of security, and later add a fingerprint scanner in the keyboard and mouse. That way you would be able to tell who tried to get into your computer." Henry decided. "Henry, you're a genius. I knew I made you for a good reason!" Tommy cheered. "You want to stay out and help me for a bit?" Tommy asked the hologram. "Yes, I will help you." Henry said, albeit robotically. "Alright!" Tommy cheered again. "First step, we add some security!"

After a long two hours of straight coding, Tommy and Henry had come up with a few stages of security. The first was a simple password. The program would ask for a password, and if it didn't match Tommy's password, it would ask them to try again. If the process was repeated too many times, it would lock the person out. If they got it correct, they would move on to the next stage, the picture stage. Four pictures would be shown. One of the pictures contained something important to Tommy, whether it be a violin, a computer, a bracelet, or more personal things, like a picture of the car his parents used to own, or his old house. Even his favorite color was one of the pictures. In order to pass this section, you would need to guess the correct picture three times in a row. The third and final stage that they had gotten to that night was actually a riddle. Tommy knew the answer, but it was something from his childhood, and not too common anymore. The riddle was: "What goes up a chimney down, but not down a chimney up?" The answer was an umbrella, which was confusing to some people. The two planned on adding two more levels of security later, but for now, this would have to do, although he was pretty sure no one would try to use his PC anytime soon since they didn't even know he had touched it yet. Still, better safe than sorry. Plus, it was time to open something that he needed to make sure no one would ever see. His private journal.

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New chapter! On Christmas day, your present will be an extra chapter, and hopefully a release date for You're Better Off Without Me. I hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you all later, yeah? Bye! <3