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It would be an understatement to say that Sombra was great at what she does. She didn’t devote herself to hacking for nothing. The hacker built reputation from the ground up, and her work does not go unnoticed. Sombra made sure that she was the best of the best, and whenever someone attempted to challenge her, she was quick to put them down.
So when an anonymous message in a hack into her own system came, Sombra wasted no time to decode it.
Her sugar skull logo and purple screens were replaced with a different motif and screens of another color once the message was decrypted. In the middle of the hologram was a single application, and at the touch of it the hacker was immediately met with more malware and viruses. They weren’t hard to take down, but they were becoming a nuisance with how many came up.
With the final virus taken cared off, the screen is cleared.
[ UNKNOWN IS CALLING ]
> ACCEPT / DECLINE
Sombra accepted the call without delay as she rested her chin on her palm. Call it reckless, but at this point she wanted it over with.
The Talon operative took the day off just for this (taking days off at Talon were hell to ask for), and even then it was already late at night due to minor errands. She hoped that going through this trouble for one person would be worth it.
A white mask came up. The sudden flash of white blinded her.
“Yo,” you greeted, mirroring her posture but with a smug enthusiasm in contrast to her annoyance.
“I hope the DDoS attacks and Trojans weren’t too hard.”
The room was pitch black behind you. Faint computer system sounds and audios buzzed from your side of the call. A dim lightsource was set to the side with an angle to create a sort of dramatic look.
Maybe you had set it up to leave an impression, and she couldn’t help but snort at the thought.
“They were annoying ,” she replied.
“So, thanks.”
“El placer es mío. ”
She raised a brow.
“How did you find that pathway in my system?” she asked straightaway.
“What about it?”
“Others would usually send through proxy servers, maybe a waterhole attack or two, but you went through the trouble of source routing your code packet to mirror that of Talon’s—decent routing, by the way—which, by extension, means you tampered with Talon encryptions, a couple of government ICMPs, and my firewall.”
You hummed in thought, “You wouldn’t of opened my message if I had sent it normally.”
That’s true, she thought to herself.
“And, well… I’m not like the others.”
“Oh?”
Sombra waited for you to elaborate, but you only gave her silence, as if that would give her all the answers.
For a moment, she saw herself in you—someone with many tricks up their sleeve. Your aura was that of strong mischief; in conversations, maybe you would subtle secrets in cheeky banter for others to decipher, or you would easily manipulate others into getting what you want, things that she would do. If the both of you had met any other way, maybe Sombra wouldn’t mind getting a drink or two with you.
But you challenged her at her own game, and she was going to make sure that you played it.
“Well, it was a nice minute of getting to know you but,” Sombra started, bringing up her hand to show a screen with a red skull.
“If you don’t have business with me, I’ll just go and—”
You put your hand up. Sombra saw lines of interconnecting cybernetics on your fingers, like hers. Before she could say anything, hologram pads in your color appeared by the flick of your palm, and you typed with inhuman speed.
BEEEEEP!
The lock down system she brought up to use on you disappeared.
“I do have business with you,” you said, putting down your hand as you went to look at something else, probably another screen.
“Besides, how can you shut down my system if you can’t get to yours?”
You missed the bewildered expression of the other hacker as she tried to bring up her other systems, which all ended with an error sound and a lock with your logo. Even with an attempted override, the only things that came up on her screen was the same logo that glowed in your obnoxious color.
She had been hacked.
Sombra narrowed her eyes as you turned back to her.
“I suggest updating your software, amiga, it’s a little outdated,” you said bringing up one screen. It listed all her programs and systems, and beside each name on the list was “HACKED”.
“What do you want?” she growled.
“Information. Everything you have.”
She put up her middle finger, and you did the same.
“What makes you think I’m just gonna give it to you?” Sombra asked.
“It’s recommended that you do,” you answered.
“You want this now, hm?”
You gestured to the list, and Sombra watched as the “HACKED” labels on the list changed into loading bars. Another screen appeared across the list.
[ PREPARATIONS COMPLETE. ]
[ SYSTEM EXTRACTION AT 21.5402%. ]
[ SYSTEM WILL IMMEDIATELY SHUTDOWN AT 100%. ]
“¡Mierda! ” Sombra yelled, bringing up multiple screens around her and working fast to stop what you were doing.
Sombra hit many errors and reminders of your lockdown, but she was determined not to be out-hacked by a someone she didn’t know. Glancing by the video call, you had half the amount of holograms Sombra was using, but it was clear that she was getting somewhere based on the slight frown.
“It would be easier if you just hand it in, Sombra,” you said. At this point, neither of you were looking at each other but were now focused on your own screens and holograms.
Just as Sombra gained access, another part bit the dust. The hacker always made sure that her systems and applications were set with the newest technology and highest security, but (as much as he hated to admit it) whatever you had in your cybernetics was taking hers down like dirt.
“You’re an idiot if you even think I’m giving you a even bit of information,” Sombra snapped back.
Just as she looked at the screen, the both of you made eye contact.
[ EXTRACTION AT 54.6513%. ]
Sombra picked up her pace.
Digital clicks and system haptics came from both sides. Screens were brought in and out of view as you and Sombra worked to compete against each other. Sombra didn’t believe in gods, but whoever was looking seemed to be favoring her side as she was regaining more access, and you were starting to encounter some difficulty.
“How are you holding up?” she sneered through gritted teeth.
You gave her the same condescending look.
At this point, Sombra had pulled up more screens than she has ever had to use. Algorithms, source codes, servers—the hacker’s handled amounts like these before with no problem, but with time on her hands. At the rate she was on, her system was actually slowing down. Even her cybernetics were slightly heating; nothing that would cause anything, but the revelation was alarming.
As she flicked her wrist to alleviate some cramp that was coming up, and she heard a small laugh from the other line.
“Overwhelmed?” you asked.
“Be proud,” she said.
“You’re the first person who’s actually been more of a pain in the ass than me.”
[ EXTRACTION AT 87.7624%. ]
Sombra wasn’t sure what she did within the flurry of commands and sequences, but she caught sight of one small monitor that had been unhacked, as seen by the change of color.
Bringing the screen close enough for her to use but not for you to see, Sombra realized that it was one of her storage systems that housed a great number of programs that she made when she was younger, some of which she still worked on. As much as Sombra wanted to reminisce her first times in of making viruses and codes, time was not on her side as she hastily searched through anything that she could use to her advantage against you.
Click.
[ BLOCKED. ]
Click.
[ BLOCKED. ]
[ EXTRACTION AT 92.8735%. ]
Sombra sent out more one program and hoped for the best.
Click.
…
[ SOMBRA PROTOCOL INITIATED. ]
“Shit!”
Sombra watched as all your holograms turned into purple with her sugar skull. A sense of pride filled her because the tables were turned, and now you were the one fighting back. The pitch black background behind you suddenly lit up with a frenzy of information, and Sombra’s wondered where exactly you were.
“Overwhelmed? ” Sombra mocked, crossing her arms.
[ EXTRACTION COMPLETE. ]
“Wait—”
[ SHUTTING DOWN. ]
All Sombra’s monitors closed. She brought up her keypads, but all the commands that were inputted resulted in an error. Leaning back, she watched as you finished clearing out her program before slouching on your own seat. The both of you were left in darkness, only the screen of the video call illuminating each other.
The both of you sat there in silence, staring at each other. After a minute, the last of Sombra’s patience wore off as she pinched the bridge of her nose.
“What are you looking at?” she growled.
“Do I have something on my face?”
Sombra was caught off by a quiet giggle.
“No, it’s just nice to know I can still take your system down.”
After seeing the confusion in her face, you pulled up one file and swiped it away. The file appeared on Sombra’s side, and it contained multiple headlines.
❝ OMNIC CRISIS LEAVES THOUSANDS OF CHILDREN ORPHANED. ❞
“What made you start hacking?”
“What?”
“What made you begin your interest in hacking and cryptography?” you repeated.
“You already took all my data, it should be there,” she sassed, skimming over the old newsletter.
“Just answer me.”
The desperation in your voice was uncannily familiar, and something about it made her give in.
“It was… someone who I cared for,” she breathed out.
“They were the reason I started. We were both orphans, and they were my only friend during the crisis. They introduced me to the world of computer hacking with a beat-up laptop they salvaged.”
“Was the laptop a Orion GX-2100?” you asked.
She slowly nodded.
You sent one more file her way, and Sombra watched as it came up.
❝ MASS KIDNAPPING IN DORADO. ❞
“This was nearly a decade ago, why are you showing this to me?” she said, unable to contain her anger at the memories resurfacing.
“What do you remember from it?”
“That person I was talking about? We were in a gang, and a rival group that lead the kidnapping took a number our people—including them,” Sombra explained.
“Did they make a promise to come back?”
Promise me that you’ll come back.
I’ll be back before you know it.
Sombra didn’t answer.
“… I guess I don’t ring a bell anymore, huh?”
The mask was removed, and Sombra’s heart dropped.
“Hola, Oli. Long time no see.”
“… I thought you were dead.”
This time, Sombra opened up a laptop on her table. Since it wasn’t directly linked to her cybernetics, she was right in assuming that it would be still be functional. Looking through files, Sombra brought up another file and sent it back to you through the same server. She watched as the file came up in your hologram as multiple newsletters.
❝ HUNDREDS TAKEN AWAY IN HUMAN TRAFFICKING ATTEMPT. ❞
❝ AFTER FOUR MONTHS: ALL BUT ONE VICTIM OF DORADO HUMAN TRAFFICKING FOUND. ❞
❝ (Y/N) (L/N): ONE LOST TO THE SEAS OF EUROPE. ❞
“It’s been ten years, (Y/N)!” Sombra exclaimed.
“Everyone was found except you!”
“Oli—”
“They took you away!”
“—Please—”
“You never came back!”
“—Listen—“
“Everyone believed you died—“
“Olivia! ”
Sombra went quiet.
“I couldn’t afford to be found.”
You explained that in you were one of the first to be sent away. A notorious European company had bought you for your expertise in hacking, and after being debriefed you found out they planned for you to get them into many powerful companies and banks for their own benefit. You managed to escape before you were subjected into anything that would compromise your safety. You lived off hacking and programming, while also keeping a low profile so as to not attract attention.
“I really did try to reach you, but you were quite busy ‘hacking everyone’ and finding out who ‘runs the world’,” you said, your voice becoming quieter as you let on.
“I was—No, I am proud that you are up there, being the best of the best, finding out the truth of this world, doing all this…”
You rubbed the back of your neck, a habit that she knew you always did when you were upset.
“But I was also afraid that the girl I knew had forgotten me.”
“Idiot , how could I forget you?” Sombra hissed.
“Why wouldn’t you?” you said with a bitter smile.
“You were a natural at computers. Back in Los Muertos, you aided the revolution. You were the one that had managed to get into Commissioner Rivera’s system. You found the conspiracy and managed to fully wipe out your identity before they could attack…”
You held out your hand by the screen, and Sombra did the same.
“I can’t compare to you.”
You were in deep thought, and the longer Sombra looked at you, the more memories of your time together flooded in: the first time you had kissed in celebration of her first big infiltration, the day that you had asked to be hers just after narrowly getting caught by white-hat hackers, the day that you had first approached her by the alleyway with a laptop in hand, asking if she wanted to know how to do more with it.
“You never give yourself credit,” she laughed, shaking her head.
“You were the one who brought out my gift in hacking, then planned the whole thing with the Commissioner. You helped me clean my identity and pitched in the idea of a cybernetic graft… The only reason I was seen is because you brought me out.”
She put her hand down.
“You could hack into government facilities when you had that shitty laptop. You made programs and systems that many high-security agencies can’t even begin to compete with. You are the only person who can able to completely take down my system in a snap.”
When Sombra stopped, you looked at her in worry.
“Oli?”
“You… you were the only one I had.”
Her vision blurred, and Sombra realized that she was crying. She wasn’t sure when it started, but the more it settled in the stronger the tears flowed. Soon she was hunched over and bawling; all the years of waiting for you just broke right then and there.
It felt both good and painful to finally let it out.
“When you were gone, I-I… I did everything,” she sobbed.
“I hacked through government files about the year’s human traffic incidents, tracked all departing aerial and navy paths in Europe, sought out any transactions that even remotely lead to your name but…”
“Olivia, please look at me.”
A hologram appeared in front of her. Blinking away tears, she skimmed over the text only to realize that it was a file address.
“A pathway,” she said.
“Retrace it to its application,” you offered.
Sombra followed. The window with her old applications came back, and the system automatically highlighted one of the applications.
*ERES-MI-TODO.app
“It’s… the application that we made on our first anniversary,” she whispered.
“Do you remember how I asked you to be my girlfriend?”
“Dios mío, ” Sombra laughed.
“I was seventeen, you were eighteen, and we almost got caught by white-hat hackers sent by the government.”
You chuckled, “While you were redirecting them back and forth between the neighborhood’s servers, I was hacking into their system to lead them to a virus. We managed in the end, and just as we sent the last guy his way, I asked you on the spot.”
Sombra leaned forward, “Remind me again why you asked me ‘on the spot’.”
“Because if anyone planned to take on one us, they were going to take on the both us.”
She clicked on the application, and it opened up to a series of codes. The program itself wasn’t anything dangerous or serious, just a protocol that was personalized to each of your systems. Back in the day, the two of you used it to send each other information, messages, and even some funny videos. It was just a little getaway that the both of you used when you weren’t there for each other.
“Did you send me anything in the ten years you were gone?” you asked quietly.
Sombra looked down, “Like I said, I thought you were dead.”
“Well, I’m here now.”
The conversation was left at that. As much as her mind wanted to argue with you and to let out all the anger from being left, it wasn’t your fault—it was never your fault. The attack on Los Muertos was unexpected, and no one was prepared to be suddenly taken away. However, it was clear that the both of you held no real malice towards each other, and after a decade this was the most emotionally drained she’s been in a while.
“Could you check the source code for me?”
She took in a deep breath and nodded.
Pulling up the source code, you requested her to scroll through it. Sombra went down the sequence of coding in quick pace, smiling ever so often at specific commands and actions that brought up memories. Sombra also occasionally stole glances at you; you were going through the code yourself.
Once she got to the end, she noticed an extra line of text that hadn’t been there before.
> DEEP IN THE SOURCE CODE OF MY HEART, YOU WERE ALWAYS THERE.
Sombra hid her face in her hands, “You were always the romantic in this relationship.”
Tears welled up in her eyes, but this time due to the happiness that swelled up in her chest. It wasn’t a joke, you were really alive (albeit through a screen, one way of knowing you were well was better than nothing). When Sombra wiped away some tears to look at you, she was met with a very loving gaze. She could stare at you all day and never get tired, and you would do the same.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
“Damn it,” you cursed, turning away. Sombra frowned.
“What’s wrong?”
You brought up a red hologram
[ TRACKER ATTEMPTS: 132. ]
[ BLOCKED: 87. REROUTED: 45. ]
“I’m now holding more internationally-classified information than ever,” you explained, swiping away the screen.
“Staying online on a video chat isn’t recommended due to people possibly tracking our servers. I have to go.”
“But I don’t want you to go,” Sombra mumbled.
She knew it was selfish to ask for more time; not only did you take all of her information which was being sought out by many, but you most probably had the same, or an even bigger amount of data on your side.
But how would you feel if you suddenly meet your supposedly-dead partner after ten years only for them to leave again?
You smiled.
Sombra’s cybernetics lit up, and after opening her palm a small screen came up. It was a file of different ways to contact you, from encrypted phone numbers to personalized messaging applications made by you. On the top of the list was thd application; Sombra knew exactly which one to use.
“I’m more or less free on weekends. Maybe we can meet up?” you asked.
“When we do, I’m gonna make sure to give you a piece of my mind for doing all of this!” she threatened playfully.
You raised your hands up in defense, “Information is power, and I needed to get it someway for the line of work I’m doing.”
“You’d do it to.”
You’re always right , Sombra thought as she smiled.
She didn’t mind that you took her information; she knew that if you had asked her, only a fraction of what she had would be given, and even then some of the data would be tampered or changed either for the sake of your safety, or just because she wanted to have more than you.
“What is your ‘line of work’ exactly?” she inquired, watching as you worked away.
You gave Sombra the same silence at the start and a knowing smile.
“Some things are better left for another time.”
Sombra rolled her eyes as you gave her a two-finger salute.
“Bye, Oli. Te amo .”
“Yo también te amo .”
[ CALL ENDED ]
Sombra’s system started up again once the video chat’s hologram went down. The programmer went through the networks and servers that had been used within the exchange of the call, but all traces of anything that was sent was gone. None of her applications and systems were obstructed; if anything, all of them had been upgraded.
A pop-up message appeared.
[ VIEW UPDATE_LOG.txt FOR ALL CHANGES IN THE SYSTEM. ]
She closed the tab and proceeded to look for the file. Once it was opened, Sombra couldn’t help but smile at the first line.
> Thank you for waiting. - (Y/N)
“… Thank you for keeping your promise,” she replied, scrolling down to read on.