The Ponytail Stranger

Over The Wall

"I'm here, Jay, are you in position?" I say over the group call on our Tabes we had set up.
"Yep, I'm in position, Aaron." Jay said quietly over the call. I hover over the console, ready to press the button that will allow all security to be shut down.
"Kathy, have you hacked it yet? We dont have very much time you know. There going to notice soon." I whispered frantically.
"Yeah yeah just give me a second! Hacking a government facility's mainframe isnt exactly easy!" Kathy said, annoyed. I waited, it was silent but for guards passing by every so often.
"Got it. Go!" Kathy said, I heard her smash the computer and then book it out before she was caught. By destroying the computer, no one could access the security settings. I hit the button, and ran outside of the small control room. It wasn't the main control room, just a substation type of room. But it still had control over some security measures. More now that Kathy hacked the main control room console and destroyed it.
"Jay, I will give you the signal once I meet up with Neveah and Trevor." Kathy calles out, panting as she ran. I was running as well, I wasnt sure where I was going, so I pulled up the map on my Tabe. Kathy had been able to hack her way to get the map for us. Even highlighted are routes in different colors.
I turned right, and ran down until my next turn appeared. I turned left.
"Go. Jay press the button!" Nev said, I heard shuffling, she probably hugged Kathy. Then there was silence.
"Jay?" Kathy asked, concerned. Suddenly a new energy filled me as I ran, I sped up. The plan made it so that after me and Jay pressed the buttons we needed to press in the two subcontrol rooms, I would meet up with him by the one he was stationed in for the plan. But by the sound of it, something happened. He needed help. I ran as fast as I could, turning without hesitation. I finally reached the final turn, when I went around the corner I spotted the problem.
There was a guard, and he was talking to Jay. Jay seemed to look calm, and the guard did too. I hid behind the corner before either of them saw me. I waited a few minutes.
"Jay? Aaron? Are you there?" Nev said worriedly.
"Yeah, I'm here. Jay is talking to a guard. I think he has it under control though, just wait a minute." I said quietly so the guard wouldnt hear me.
I heard footsteps walking away, and peeked around the corner. Jay saw me, and the guard was gone. I ran to him and hugged him, sighing with relief.
"What happened?" I asked, he hugged me back.
"The guard found me, so I had to make up a stupid excuse so I wouldnt be caught. I told him my dad was grabbing something from the subcontrol room that he left after work earlier, and that my dad told me to stay here. He believed me, luckily." Jay said, squeezing me tightly.
"Are you guys done? Cause we need to go." Kathy said impatiently.
"Right, sorry." Jay pulled away from the hug and walked into the subcontrol room. I followed him, he walked straight to the console and scanned the board for the correct button. He pressed the button.
"Okay good, its open, now you guys need to go." Kathy said as I heard loud footsteps. They were running now.
"Okay." Jay said, but stood still, looking at the console.
"Jay?" I asked, he just put his index finger up to quiet me. He pressed a few more buttons, and then nodded in content.
"Alright lets go." Jay turned to me. I went to the door and opened it, he followed. I grabbed his hand and we ran together. I opened my Tabe and looked at the map.
"So..what were you doing?" I asked, taking a left turn to avoid a guard that was marked on the map.
"I am not just an artist. I used to hack alot of different stuff. I used to live in a tough net neighborhood. If you've ever heard of those. I was pretty young." He said, looking at me.
"You mean the neighborhoods who are completely run on technology, but somehow are still live in the past of how society works? I heard they are pretty harsh." I said concerned.
"Yeah, when I was in elementary school I lived in one of them. I moved here before 6th grade cause my mom got offered a job here, and my dad found a job here too." We stopped for a moment. I pulled my Tabe back up and looked to see if there were any guards near by. I saw that the coast was clear, so we began to run again. I dismiss my Tabe, and the pixels spread out and dissipate.
"When I lived there I really had to hold my own. Some people would fight, others would hide. A special few would use the technology to their advantage. I just happened to have found the last option to be more appealing. So I learned how to hack. Most of it I learned on my own, some of it I learned from the dark web. I got pretty good at it, I could hack into anything. I hacked into vending machines, grocery store security, even sometimes banks. I was never caught cause the Ember there is terrible." He shrugged lightly. "I still remember how to do it all. So I decided to shut off all access to all the doors. Only me, you, Neveah, Kathy, and Trevor can access any of the doors." He smiled contently, proud of his accomplishment.
"Wait..really?" I said surprised, I ran through the next hall, we were almost out.
"Yep!" He said cheerfully, his steps becoming slightly bouncy.
"That's awesome! That will make this alot easier." I smiled at him, then turned to the last hall. I ran to the door and put my wrist to the scanner. It scanned my Tabe chip. There was a long pause, dread slowly inched into my body. Then I heard a happy ding, and the scanner turned green. The door opened and we ran outside, and into the trees. Now we just had to wait for Trevor.