Hacker Academy

Going Home

"M-miss-" I try to choke out her name out of my mouth, but her gaze pierces me. I wish I had a smart plan that got me out of her home, a plan that often sparked in the protagonist in most action movies. I wish I had taken an Elective, like Karate or something. But as Miss Tag stares at me with pure fury in her eyes, my mouth flops open and I can only gape.

"You had better give a satisfactory explanation for this."

The subtle yet menacing way of expressing her displeasure and conveying the deep shit I was in could really only have been done by Miss Tag.

"I... I came to warn you."

"Oh?" Her eyebrows arch. Her lips twitch lightly in a hint of amusement.

"I overheard some students who wanted to overthrow your position as Hacker Number 2. They wanted to find some exploitive news about you, so I wanted to warn you..."

"Under my sink."

I rack my brain for an excuse. "No, I wanted to make sure." I suppose even a lame one will do for now. Anything to stall time and keep me alive.

"Who gave you authorized access?" She inspects her nails.

"Mr. Python."

She sharply directs her attention back to me. "Mr. Python and I are not on speaking terms."

You were just on the phone with him, I wanted to say, but I bite down the remark. Miss Tag ruffles her short cropped hair, and an agitated sigh escapes. A flutter of hope rises within me. Perhaps I've convinced her.

"Those students... could you take me to them?"

I nod quickly. My mind is blank. Where could I possibly take her? Perhaps the cafeteria. In the midst of students scurrying for dinner, I could lose her and make my escape. As my blood pumps to my head and the sound of my heartbeat fills my ears, that seems like the only logical decision right now. To the cafeteria. I only hope Cyber saw my missed call and cares enough to check on me.

I scramble out the small kitchen cupboard, just relieved to get out of the humid stench of secrets and guilt. I make my way towards the door, but I regret the decision a second too late as I hear a noise-shattering clang a distance far away. I feel an awful vibration in my head that makes me fall weakly to my knees. 

In agonizing pain, I muster a weak attempt to turn around and see Miss Tag smirking. She casually flips a small black device that courses blue electric light, and before I can compute what it is, she punctures a jolt of electric pain through my side. Everything fades to black.

The cold wind of HackCity wakes me up. I startle. I try to move, but my hands are tied behind my back with thick rope. I look around me to find myself on the very same skytrain I took from New York to come to Hacker Academy. This is the place where I first met Domain, but this time, I'm facing Miss Tag who has plastered on a hysterical grin.

"Oh Ada," she sighs in her melodic voice. "Just when I was warming up to you, did you have to start thinking for yourself?"

I falter, my throat feels dry. "W-what do you mean?"

"You were going to be my perfect accomplice. You were going to help me take down HackCity."

"Y-you work here," I say weakly.

"You were smart enough to know that I had some sort of connection to Mr. Python." She pauses for a moment. "I am his ex-wife. We used to live together in the world as hackers. When his parents found out, they demanded that I was kicked out. So he divorced me," she spits out. "When I found out I was pregnant, I went and told him. But he was already married to a useless woman."

It all makes sense now. Tag and Python were together. Perl is their daughter. Then after, Mr. Python married the current Mrs. Python and their daughter is Celestia.

"I know he means well, founding HackCity and hiring me at Hacker Academy. But I'll never forgive him for ruining our once perfect life." She looks at me. "I thought you would be the perfect person to help me in my scheme. But you turned soft on me."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

She smirks. "Did you think you were actually a good enough hacker for HackCity? You were only recruited for Hacker Academy for my intentions." She pulls up my student profile filled with my information.

"Living in the slums of New York. Parents divorced. Raised by a single mother." She swipes to the right and the screen disappears.

"Gullible. Naive. So craving, starving for recognition. It was so easy to make you look up to me, and you would've done anything I said if it wasn't for him." She clasps her hands together. Cyber pops into my mind.

"Now I know Hacker Number One has been flattering you by paying special attention to you. But don't be fooled. He only steered you away from obeying me by pretending to like you."

"Bullshit."

"Don't believe me? He's taken the job that I was going to offer you."

I think back to the private conversations that Cyber has been having with another woman. It was with Miss Tag. At the bar. Something about delivering something in time. Was he willing to beckon to Miss Tag's wish of ruining HackCity that he would only pretend to like me so he could take the job instead?

In all of my confusion and frustration, I wail, "But he likes me!"

"Don't flatter yourself. It's repulsive."

"You're the one trying to overthrow HackCity," I pant from the exhaustion of talking. The lack of air and dizziness is getting to me.

"It's for my daughter," she grits out. "I will do anything for her."

"HackCity is just a city of lies. And you're just the same. Perl would be better off without you."

She narrows her eyes. "Now I know I made the right decision of letting you go. I think you've stayed in Hacker Academy for long enough. Now it's time for you to go back and see your mother and sister dying."

My eyes widen and a strike of horror crashes through me. Mother. Sister. Going back to New York? Just as I scream in protest, Miss Tag pushes a button in the control centre. The doors close, and I'm whisked away back to New York. Where it all began.