Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“We’ll meet you there, Prince.” Said Ro, as he logged off the call. Roshambo was one of the members of a notorious hacker group known as Team Awesome. They were behind many recent hackings in the Lifesteal City cyber-world. Most notably an event known as Medusa, where Team Awesome went on and disabled interaction or editing on many big websites.

And now, they were meeting up to discuss terms of an alliance with another hacker group, The No Pants People Party. The NPPP was another well-known group, though they were also very weak because they allowed any backdoors they made to be traceable. They combated this weakness though, with very good tracking skills, because of one of their generals, Spoke. Team Awesome wanted their alliance to, hopefully, exploit their tracking skills for their own gain.

Zam got up and closed his laptop. He went over to his closet and pulled a yellow hoodie over his shirt. He put on a black face mask and wore a paper crown. In the cyber-world he was known as Prince, he was relatively newer to the whole hacking thing, but proved useful very quick. For example, he managed to steal 100,000 hearts, Lifesteal City’s currency, from Pangi, a very wealthy man in the city, and give them to Roshambo. After that, he managed to join Team Awesome, gaining notoriety in Lifesteal quickly.

Zam left his apartment room and headed up to the roof of the building. Walking onto the apartment roof, he felt a cold wind running through the city. He saw the giant cluster of skyscrapers and tall urban buildings on the horizon, glowing blue and yellow in the cloudy night. He lived in the western quadrant of the city, which was as far away from the east quadrant, the one with all the skyscrapers and rich people, as you could get. He hated seeing how the wealthy ignored everything outside of their quadrant, and only cared about personal gain.

That was why he liked the cyber-world and Team Awesome. Because what they did wasn’t for themselves, but for the greater good of the entire city. The only reason they did Medusa was to preserve the city and what it sought to inevitably destroy. The hackers were the ones helping the city, not the political figures who claimed they were.

He took the hearts from Pangi because he was a tyrant. He took them so that Pangi couldn’t use them for his own gain. Even if society didn’t think so, they were doing the right thing. And he appreciated the few civilians who knew that.

He hopped down onto a fire escape on the side of his apartment building and then jumped down on top of a dumpster in an alley. He slipped out of the alley and kept close to the blue and pink glowing shop signs and buildings as he walked down the street.

He was to meet Ro and Mapic at a shop in the Southern Quadrant. He pulled up his sleeve and tapped on his wristwatch. His Holo-Watch’s hologram UI popped up and he pulled up a map. Thankfully, where he lived wasn’t too far from the Southern Quadrant, so he would be able to get there in about 10 minutes.

He saw a flickering pink sign with the words ‘SOUP SHOP’ on it, that was where they were going to meet. It was an abandoned soup shop, with dark-tinted windows. He opened the door and saw Mapic and Ro inside, talking about something.

“Oh hey, Prince!” Mapic waved. Mapic had fluffy dark brown hair, and eyes that seemed to be almost crimson. He wore a red and black gas mask on the lower half of his face, and a red sweater. He had some type of device, that looked like really weird horns, except they were dark blue and faded to cyan at the tips, on his head. It reminded him of the depictions of Warden sensors from an old urban legend he had heard ages ago.

Roshambo, on the other hand, wore a light-purple hooded shawl, with a black mask, and a black shirt and pants. His hair was a very light blonde, which looked almost white and covered one of his eyes. The eye he could see, however, was a very piercing green, which made Zam think it was an augment. The most surprising thing, however, was the device on his back. from his back, he could see many thick metal wires that all had white-gloved hands attached to the end of them.

“Hi, guys!” Zam greeted, “I feel like I might be a little underdressed,” He said, looking back at Mapic and Ro.

Mapic scoffed, “Don’t worry, I mean you can’t expect everyone to have the same complex devices that we have.”

“What are they, anyways? If you don’t mind me asking.”

Mapic glanced over at Ro, who nodded, “Well mine are sensors,” Mapic said, “Do you know the urban legend about the Warden?” Zam nodded, “Yeah, well it’s supposed to be those, it essentially allows me to just hear things from really far away. I mean I knew you were here like 2 minutes before you actually entered the building.”

Zam gulped, “Oh, that’s actually really cool.”

“I know right? It’s kinda overpowered, though.” Ro chimed in, “Mine are just extra hands that I can control freely. Not as flashy as Mapic’s, but pretty useful.”

“What do you mean ‘not as flashy’? That’s gotta be one of the flashiest things I’ve seen in a bit.” Zam laughed.

Chapter Text

They walked down a dark street. There were few lights in this area, and any that they saw were flickering terribly. There were heaps of trash and scrap metals everywhere. Zam could barely see where he was walking, and yet Mapic and Ro seemed to know this place like the back of their hands.

Ro said that they were in the ‘Palaios Tenebris’ area of the Southern Quadrant, the Old Darkness. It was an area that even the biggest gangs and groups of Lifesteal avoided because of how hard it was to navigate. Zam supposed that the eye augment Ro had and Mapic’s sensors could’ve helped them navigate this area.

Eventually, they took a sharp turn into an alleyway. Deeper into the alley, there were white lights attached to buildings, illuminating two figures in the darkness. Zam, Ro, and Mapic headed further in.

“We waited long enough!” A black-haired man wearing a black mask with white eye-holes, said. As they got closer, Zam could see that he was wearing a black hoodie with a rainbow lightning-bolt symbol on it, and rainbow headband. That was probably Spoke.

Next to him, there was a brown-haired man wearing a cyan mask that had a black bird beak, and black slits for eyes. He had on a sleeveless cyan hoodie, and black shorts. Both of his arms were silver gray, with blue lights and mechanical parts along it, arm augments. Zam also realized that he had mechanical wings on his back. This was Parrot, the lead general of the NPPP.

“Hello, Spoke and Parrot.” Ro greeted them. They waved back.

“You can sit over there while we discuss.” Parrot said, pointing to a heap of metal next to a building.

After they had sat down, Parrot asked, “Anyways what exactly do you want out of this alliance?”

Ro answered, “Help and materials, mainly.”

“Define help.” Parrot tilted his head, “We aren’t going to fight for you.”

“I know.” There was a beat of silence, “But I think we should at least have a non-aggression pact. You don’t have to fight with us if you don’t want to. But if we end up on opposite sides of the battlefield, you should at least not fight us.”

Parrot nodded, “That’s fair.” And he glanced over at Spoke, who nodded back, “But what do you mean by materials?”

“Anything really, hacks, devices, augments, and..” Ro paused, “I heard you guys are good at tracking.”

Spoke scoffed, “We aren’t giving you guys our tracking devices.”

“Makes sense, but if we have a common goal, help at least.”

“Maybe..” Spoke considered.

“Spoke’s our tracker so it’s more his choice than mine, it depends on on how he feels about it.” Parrot explained.

They continued to barter over the terms and agreements of their alliance. Before eventually, they had left the alleyway, and were leaving the Palaios Tenebris.

“Anyways, when you two get home, I’ll message you guys Spoke and Parrot’s contacts.” Ro told them.

“Who’s in NPPP besides them?” Zam asked.

Ro thought over the question for a few seconds, “I believe besides Parrot and Spoke there’s a guy named Rekrap, and another guy named Cube on their team. Those are the only people I know about though.”

“Are we getting their contacts too?” Mapic asked.

“I don’t think so, you could probably get them from Parrot or Spoke, if you needed them.”

After they had left the Palaios Tenebris, the three had gone their separate ways. Zam wondered what he was going to do when he got back to his apartment. Ever since they had ended Medusa, Team Awesome had laid low. Zam didn’t know why, and he didn’t like it either. He assumed that they were planning something big, but the inactivity gave him time to think. It gave him time to think about his morals and why he was doing all this. It also gave time for his trust issues to speculate about his teammates.

He wanted to believe that they were doing the right thing, because they were, weren’t they?

He wanted to trust his team, and believe that they trusted him, but with their recent silence, he couldn’t help but speculate.

These thoughts weren’t productive, and now he was home, so he could find something to distract him from his thoughts.

Though as he got to his apartment door, he saw that there was a letter slipped under the door. He opened the door and picked up the letter. Of course, a rent notice. His apartment wasn’t the best, so rent wasn’t that high. But ever since he had given Pangi’s hearts to Ro, he had been pretty low on money. Well, he read the paper, 780 hearts? They were probably over-charging, but he could probably make that money pretty easily.

Anyways, he headed into his apartment and opened his laptop. Checking the Team Awesome group chat, Ro had in fact sent Parrot and Spoke’s contacts, and he had gotten added to another group chat, ‘TA & NPPP’.

But then he saw something, he saw that he had a message from Mapic, “Hey Prince, I have something to tell you. Meet me in a call with Spoke on Thursday at 8 P.M.”

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Duping was really quite simple. All you needed was whatever you wanted to dupe, and a hologram interface. The code used to dupe was a long line of code that consisted of random symbols, and it was a mystery how it duped the items in the real world, but it worked.

Zam had paid off his rent and now just needed to get his arm fixed. It hurt like a bitch and had only gotten exponentially worse since Thursday. Painkillers no longer worked and the stinging had gotten at least five times worse. When he looked in the mirror, the black lines had only gotten thicker.

He estimated repairs would cost around 1500 hearts, and he started looking for repair centers close to him. There was one about 5 minutes from his apartment. He pulled his hoodie on, and left his apartment.

Zam realized he had never figured out how his arm got infected. Chances were it was an automated program that had just so happened to find his arm. But now that he thought about it, he could have also gotten it from exposure to someone with a virus. And he had been out with Team Awesome just a few days before getting the virus.

Parrot had arm augments, but they didn’t look infected. Ro’s eye didn’t look infected either, but then again Zam didn’t know that much about eye augments. It was probably just a program, after all, programs were the cause of 90% of all augment viruses.

As Zam walked to the repair shop, he checked his hearts, 2420. Since hearts were fully digital, he had to dupe other things, and sell those to get hearts. Not as efficient as if he were able to dupe hearts, but it worked.

Occasionally, it had crossed Zam’s mind if duping was something he wanted to do, but it had helped him enough that morals were a second thought, something rare for him. And Mapic, Ro, and Spoke had agreed to only dupe for private use until they had a target.

Arriving at the repair shop, he opened the door and walked in. A bell on the door rung as the person at the front desk noticed him.

“Hello!” The white-haired receptionist greeted Zam, “Do you have an appointment?” Zam shook his head, “Oh, that’s okay, sadly our mechanic is busy right now, so you’ll have to wait a minute.”

“That’s fine,” Zam said, taking a seat on a bench next to the door.

“What’s your name?” They asked.

“Zam,” He answered, the receptionist typed it into their computer.

20 minutes later, and a man with dark red-orange hair and oil-stained overalls came out of the back of the shop.

“Oh, we have another customer?” They asked as their eyes landed on Zam.

“I literally texted it to you, yes we have another customer.”

The man walked over and shook Zam’s hand, “Sorry about the wait, my name’s Bacon, and I’m the shops mechanic.”

Zam smiled at him, “The wait wasn’t a problem, really.”

Bacon smiled, “Great, anyways, we can head back now, get his name off the waitlist, Planet.”

The white haired receptionist, Planet, nodded, and Bacon led him back into the shop. The shop had a seat in the center of the room, and numerous tool boxes and mechanical parts lying around it.

“What’s the issue?” Bacon asked, picking up rogue tools and putting them back into a red toolbox.

“Arm augment’s infected,” Zam answered.

“Program or exposure?” Bacon motioned Zam over to the chair.

“Probably a program,” Zam sat in the chair, taking his hoodie off.

Bacon hummed in acknowledgement, pulling a stool up to the chair. He took out a few tools and began to work on Zam’s arm.

Zam grit his teeth to ignore the pain from both the virus and the tools.

“Have you heard of the new company that’s popped up downtown?” Bacon asked, starting small talk.

“No, what is it?”

“It’s called the A-P something, I don’t know. It was made by Leowook. I’m not entirely sure what it is, like an insurance company or something, but I’ve seen ads saying they’re accepting new members. I don’t know what you get from joining, but it’s like, really expensive to join.”

“How expensive?” Zam asked.

“It was like, 100,000 hearts, more or less.” Bacon shrugged.

“Damn, must have crazy pros then.” Zam said, thinking about how this might be able to help Team Awesome.

“Yeah, I’ve heard rumors saying they’re gonna try to like, take over downtown or something. I don’t know about that, but I do wanna see where it goes.” Bacon continued to work, neither of them saying much after that.

Eventually, Bacon finished working on his arm, putting the tools back into the box. He then grabbed a tablet from on top of a workbench.

Zam’s arm felt a lot better than when he arrived at the shop, there was still a bit of a sting, but there were no longer any black lines on it.

“The pain won’t be completely gone,” Bacon was focused on the tablet, typing something in, “Take a painkiller, and it should be gone. Anyways, your payment,” He looked up at Zam, “1625 hearts, most insurances accepted and payment plans available.”

“I can pay all up-front,” Zam said, “What’s your payment info?”

Bacon told him the payment information, and Zam sent him the money. He thanked Bacon, before exiting the shop, saying goodbye to Planet on his way out.

Immediately after leaving, he opened the Team Awesome chat, and texted them about the new organization in down-town.

A few minutes later, when he had gotten back to his apartment, he got texts back from them,

MAPICC: OH YEAH! The uhhh APO? I think that’s what it was called.

roshambogames: Yeah, the APO. They’re like, selling insurance, augments, and devices, I think. High quality stuff, as well. You get a crazy discount if you join.

prince: is the discount worth the join price, though?

roshambogames: Oh, probably not, but it’s still a crazy deal.

MAPICC: ooo ro we can easily get the money to join, should we like try to infiltrate them?

roshambogames: how though? the names Mapic and Roshambo are pretty recognizable

prince: would they recognize me?

MAPICC: REAL?

roshambogames: Prince you are a known member, they would recognize you.

prince: but what if i joined not as prince, but as myself?

roshambogames: That’s risky though, you could jeopardize your whole identity.

MAPICC: but, we could get some crazy deals on equipment! plus insurance, insurance is always good, isn’t it?

MAPICC: PLUS, if they do try to take over downtown or whatever (heard that one from rumors), having an inside member would be really good

roshambogames: ...that’s true, we’ll have to discuss this more later. Wait for more of an incentive to join.

MAPICC: ‘incentive’ big words rosham games

roshambogames: bro. what.

Zam turned off his phone and took another look at his arm, he would need to clean it soon, but he had more pressing issues to attend to. He opened his laptop and searched up, ‘APO’.

The initial joining price was 150,000 hearts, a hefty price for mere insurance, augments, and devices. Well, even with duping it would still be tedious to get that money, but he could do it. But as Ro said, he would wait. He would wait to see if the APO did anything against their goals.

But for the meantime, he pulled out an expensive computer part and a hologram interface.

Chapter Text

“ The APO, led by Leo Wook, is planning to put a digital web over the four central districts of the East Quadrant. They have promised free insurance benefits to all living in the area. Reporter Alicia, how do you feel about this development?”

Zam scoffed at his laptop screen, the APO had made their move. As the rumors said, they’re attempting to take over down-town, just in a less blunt manner. Plus, why offer free insurance to people who could easily pay for it? Why not bring that to the West or South quadrants? Just another thing to hate the rich for, I guess.

He closed the news and opened the Team Awesome group chat, they would’ve heard about this by now. And of course, they had.

MAPICC: okay @roshambogames they took over down town is that enough of an incentive for you?

roshambogames: yeah it is

roshambogames: @prince, you still up for infiltration?

prince: yeah, i am

roshambogames: Are you sure though? You’re selling out your identity to not only them, but us as well.

prince: i know, but i trust you guys, its fine!

roshambogames: ..okay then

MAPICC: i trust you too!

roshambogames: anyways i’ve gotta go do uh business stuff, so you guys can discuss it more alone.

prince: bye ro!

MAPICC: prince wanna call?

prince: oh sure

A few seconds later, Zam got the call from Mapic, he picked up, and they started chatting.

“Okay, you’re gonna need better clothes, and then I can get you transportation.” Mapic said over the call. Since they had gotten all the money ready earlier that week, and since they had officially decided to have Zam infiltrate, they just needed to get him ready.

“What clothes are you thinking?” Zam asked.

“Not anything too flashy, not like a suit, just something that’s fancy enough, y’know?” Mapic was posting different outfit ideas in their group chat.

Eventually, Mapic posted a picture of a yellow turtleneck with a black leather jacket over it, and Zam stopped him, “That one.”

“Really? That one?” Mapic sighed, “Right, I’ll get that to you, and then as for transportation.. I have a motorbike I can lend to you for this. And don’t worry, it’s not a bad bike.”

The two talked a little longer about the details of it before disconnecting. Zam sighed, he wanted to do this really, it was such a great opportunity for their team, and yet he was anxious. Maybe because he’d never been to the east quadrant before, and that was where he would meet the APO. Maybe because they and Team Awesome would know his real identity if they figured him out. Maybe it was the thought of having to play the part of the pretentious people he hated. But whatever it was, he had to do this, there was no backing out now.

But for now, he’d prepare himself to act the part he needed to, and wait for their team to set up the details of the meeting.

They had decided that Zam would meet with the APO next tuesday, and had already arranged the meeting. So now, Zam was going to his local post office to pick up the clothes and motorbike. Shortly, he arrived at the familiar brown brick building with neon blue lights. He entered to the man who worked at the desk, Poafa, greeting him while yawning.

Zam walked over to his box and opened it. Inside he found a bag with his clothes in it, and a folded note on top of it. The note read, “Hi prince!! here’s your clothes, btw the keys to the bike are in the bag. bike is behind the office. - Mapic” Zam closed his box and sighed. Mapic was careless putting both his and Zam’s names on the note, but the chance Poafa had read the note was slim. He said goodbye to Poafa, and left the post office.

Zam turned to the back of the office, and found a black and red motorbike waiting for him. Very on brand for Mapic. The bike looked rather expensive, and Zam was relieved to see it would probably fit into the East Quadrant. He hopped on the bike, and turned it on. Then he drove back to his apartment and parked the bike behind it, hopefully no one would realize it.

Now, all he had to do was wait.

It was tuesday. Zam rode through the western streets of the East Quadrant. He had just arrived in the quadrant, and it was already much nicer than most places he had ever been to. Of course, since it was further away from the central districts, it wasn’t as nice, but still clean. There was little to no trash or scraps on the roads and sidewalks, and very few potholes. Zam breathed in the air that ran through his yellow hair and leather jacket. Even the air seemed cleaner.

Five minutes later, and Zam entered the west central district of the East Quadrant. A chill ran down his metal arm, which meant he had just entered the digital web the APO put over the four central districts. The buildings here were much taller and more urban than the lower districts, and the roads even cleaner. The people walking down the street wore suits and fancy clothes, some carrying briefcases and heading to or from work.

he could smell the wealthiness of this entire district, and he hated it, but he would have to live with it.

Looking at his Holo-Watch, he realized he was almost to the building he was meeting at. He stopped on a street corner, and saw it. A giant skyscraper on the corner of the street opposite him. It had a hologram sign in front of it that read ‘APO’. He parked his bike, and headed to the building. He walked to the doors, the doors sliding open to let him in. Zam shuddered at the sudden cool he felt from the air conditioning. He was in a tall hall with glass walls, and at the end of it, there was a metal door with a speaker on the side of it.

He walked up to the doors, and in an artificial voice the speaker said, “What business do you have here?”

Zam responded, “Meeting to join the APO.”

The metal doors then opened, and Zam stepped inside. When he walked in, he noticed a white-haired man wearing a suit with a yellow tie sitting on a couch talking to a pink haired man Zam recognized as Pangi. Zam frowned, he knew Pangi didn’t know he was Prince, but it was still awkward seeing a man who you had stolen 100,000 hearts from in the flesh. The white haired man realized Zam had entered and walked over to shake his hand.

“Hello! I’m Leo Wook, and let me guess, you’re Zam?”

Zam smiled, “Yep, that’s me.”

Leo motioned to the elevator, “Well then, we can go to the meeting room. Pangi, you can join us if you’d like.”

Pangi looked over at them, “No, I’m fine, I was planning to go home soon anyways,” He waved to Zam.

Zam waved back, and followed Leo over to the elevator. They entered the elevator, and Leo clicked the button to the 4th floor. They stayed silent until the elevator opened again. Leo led him onto the floor, which was as tall as the first, but had a long glass table in the middle. There was a large hologram projector on the side nearest the window, and intricate designs on the walls. Leo walked over and sat in a chair at the end of the table with gold carvings in it. He motioned Zam over to a chair, and he sat down.

“So, you’re planning to join the APO?” Leo tapped the table. Zam nodded. Leo looked over at him, “So why do you want to join the APO, Zam?”

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

“Okay, this is actually so cool,” Mapic said to Zam as he swung around the black and crimson dagger, “Prince, thank you for joining that stupid organization.” They were currently in an alley in the West Quadrant where Zam had brought the dagger to Mapic.

Zam nodded, “No problem..” He took a deep breath and sighed, should he ask him about Parrot? No, they probably forgot, or something. It was fine, and he didn’t want his team to think he didn’t trust them, “Where’s Ro?” He asked instead.

“Ro?” Mapic turned around to Zam, “I think he’s selling duped stuff, y’know, gotta get that bag.”

Zam smiled weakly, “Did Spoke tell you that Parrot knows about me joining?” Mapic nodded, “Yeah, well what are we gonna do when he figures out I’m Prince?”

Mapic sighed, “Well, I think we’re gonna have to take down the APO at that point.”

Zam furrowed his eyebrows, “And how are we going to do that?”

“Well, we were planning to, like, wage war on them, and then destroy them.”

“Wage war?”

Mapic nodded, “Yeah, I know since you’ve joined Team Awesome, we’ve only ever done digital stuff, but this would be in real life. We would probably have to fight them to destroy them.”

Zam blinked, “But, I don’t know how to fight.”

“Yeah, I know. You could sit out, or we could teach you.”

“Well, I don’t want to sit out.”

From the way Mapic’s eyebrows raised, Zam could tell he was smiling, “I know. That’s why I said we can teach you.”

Zam looked around the building Mapic had brought him to. It was an abandoned warehouse in the West Quadrant slums that Ro and Mapic had repurposed into a training facility. The inside was outfitted with mats on the floors, and punching bags and other training equipment pushed to the side. There was a rack with a handful of simple weapons and devices with first aid kits next to it.

Zam still wasn’t sure if he was 100% onboard with Team Awesome’s plan, but fighting was still a useful skill to learn.

“Do you have anything to do today? Because you can go home and we can train later, or now, if you want.” Mapic asked after he had given Zam a quick walkaround of the place.

Zam took a deep breath, “No, I don’t have anything to do. We can do it now, I think it’d be better to train as soon as possible.”

Mapic made a hum of agreement, “Well first, we should probably practice proper form,” He pointed over to the punching bags.

An explosion tore through the side of the factory, it added an odd accent to the pouring rain outside. Sirens rang, as blue and red lights flashed, rapidly approaching the burning factory. Fire illuminated the sign in front of the building, the gold-accents in the words glowing, ‘APO MANUFACTURING’. Two people stood atop the wreckage, a crimson man with sensors atop his head, and a purple-hooded man with a glowing green eye, with mechanical hands stretching from his back.

A white limousine pulled up to the building, a man with disheveled white hair stepped out of it. His teeth were bared and the fire’s glow only made the hate in his yellow eyes stronger, “THIS IS WAR!” He yelled. The two figures atop the building disappeared, leaving the wreckage of a building in their wake.

Parrot took a chip out of the side of his bird mask. He put the chip into his computer, and watched as it uploaded the files. He opened a video titled “FOOTAGE-TUESDAY_DAY:165_2065”. Parrot watched as the footage from the NPPP and Team Awesome meeting started. He leaned forwards to his computer and turned the brightness up. He paused when he got a good view of Prince, the third Team Awesome member. When Leo had shown him a picture of the most recent APO member, Zam, Parrot thought he had seen them somewhere before.

He zoomed in on Prince, yellow hair, dark eyes. He pulled up a picture of Zam and compared them side to side. Even with Prince’s mask and hood, he could tell they were the same person. Parrot did think Zam’s background was a bit sketchy. But what was Team Awesome trying to do? Get equipment, or information?

He pondered it for a bit, pulling up messages with Spoke and Team Awesome. None of them had ever said anything about it, did they distrust him that much? Parrot supposed he couldn’t blame them.

But then, he got a message from Leo, “Team Awesome attacked.”

Zam took his seat around the long meeting room table he had met with Leo at just a few days before. He knew what they were meeting about, and he really didn’t want to sit around for it. His body ached from training, and he had to get up early for this meeting. But he had to attend it, he had to stay on the APO for as long as he could manage. He looked around the table, he recognized Pangi, and Woogie, but there was another person there he didn’t recognize. They had short fluffy brown hair and wore a black trenchcoat with a purple turtleneck. He had one green eye and the other had a purple pupil and black sclera and a black line running down their cheek. Ow, an augment infection , thought Zam. Leo was nowhere to be found.

The four of them sat in silence for a minute or so, until Leo finally walked off the elevator and into the meeting room. He took his seat in the head chair.

Leo sighed, “As you all may know,” He snapped, a hologram showing pictures of a wrecked factory belonging to the APO appeared on the window, “This factory was a large manufacturer of the goods we sell here in the APO. But, around midnight last night, two people,” The hologram showed a blurry photo of two figures Zam immediately recognized, “Mapic and Roshambogames, members of the notorious hacker group, Team Awesome, rigged it to explode.

A quiet hum ran through the members, and the brown haired man asked, “What does this mean for the relations between our two groups?”

Leo took in a breath, “That’s what we're here to decide. I, of course, do not want to let those criminals get away with this, but I am not the only member of this organization. So, I turn to you four, what do you propose we do?”

After a moment Pangi raised his hand, “I believe that Team Awesome is looking for a certain something, namely, a reaction. If we try to settle it diplomatically and don’t give them a reaction, this could get settled peacefully.”

A hum of agreement ran through the group, but Zam knew he couldn’t let that happen. Sure, he didn’t 100% want to go to war with the APO, but he knew Mapic and Ro wouldn’t let the APO settle this peacefully. Zam raised his hand, “Yes, but considering the nature of Team Awesome, there’s also a good chance they’ll just attack us again to try and force a reaction out of us. I believe the APO should have the materials to at least send them a message, I mean,” Zam looked over to Leo, “You’ve proven to hackers before that you’re a force to be reckoned with.”

Leo smiled, “Yes, I have. And that is true, there is a good chance we have more power than a hacker organization. Though, they are still formidable. Tell me, Zam, how do you propose we could send Team Awesome a message?”

Zam furrowed his eyebrows, silent for a few beats, “Could we lure them into a trap? Like, say we want to talk to them or something, and then arrest them.”

Leo thought about it, “Yes.. We’d have to be more careful than that,” Zam nodded, “But, theoretically, that would work.” Leo turned to the others at the table, “How do you guys feel about that plan?”

Zam saw Pangi ponder it, before he said, “Y’know, I think that might actually work better.” He smiled at Zam, “I do think that’ll work a lot better considering Team Awesome.”

“What do you think, Woogie and Subz?” Leo asked the other two. After a few seconds, the other two both nodded, “So we’re going with Zam’s plan?” Everyone nodded, “Well then, we’ll hold another meeting soon to iron out the plan.”

Leo sighed, exiting the meeting room, as he stepped onto the top floor of the APO building, his personal office. A few steps into the office, he froze. He looked to his left, spotting the brown haired man with a beaked bird mask leaning against the wall, “Hello, Parrot.” Parrot made a small wave back to him, “What are you doing here?”

Parrot sighed, “Leo.. I have some news to share with you,” He took off his mask, Parrot’s blue green eyes boring straight into Leo’s, “There’s a mole in the APO.”

Chapter Text

Zam sat down against the wall of the warehouse, taking a drink of water. Mapic sat down next to him.

“How much do you know about the plan?” Mapic asked.

“Our plan to take down the APO? Not much.”

“Hm. Well, essentially, we’re taking down factories. But only at the start, we start off by taking down smaller factories. This will wear down the public’s trust in the APO little by little. Then, once we’ve taken out three smaller factories, we go for the biggest APO manufacturer. Then, after taking out that factory, we go for the APO Web. Since that’s what we’re mainly trying to do, take down their control over spawn.” Mapic explained.

Zam thought about it, it was smart, taking out their reputation and products at the same time. For a second, Zam felt bad for the APO members, especially Leo, but he waved it off, he was too deep in anyways. “Smart,” Is all he commented.

“We’re taking down the second factory tonight, me and Ro.” Mapic looked over at Zam, “Do you wanna help us take down the third factory? Get some field experience, y’know?”

Though Zam didn’t want to give the APO any more chances of figuring out his identity, he could tell he was getting better at fighting, and was itching to actually use his skills, “Sounds fun. Could I help with the other two attacks, as well?”

Mapic hummed, “I mean, they’re pretty important events and I’d hate to leave you out, but are you sure?  Those are gonna be a lot more physical than most things you’ve done.”

“I know, I’m just itching to get out there.”

Mapic nodded, and then looked down at his wrist, “You’ve got a meeting in a few hours, don’t you? You should start getting ready.”

Zam looked at his watch, “Yep, sure do.” He pushed himself up from the floor, and made his way out of the training warehouse.

Zam took his seat around the long white table that had become uncomfortably familiar these past few days. The longer he played the part of wealth, the colder he became to the wealthy. Zam wasn’t that mad about getting found as the mole, if it meant he could get away from the stomach-churning sights of skyscrapers and corporations. He was never meant for this world, he was meant for his rollercoaster of a life, never truly secure no matter where he was, forever changing.

Zam looked around the table, they were still waiting on Woogie and Leo. Shortly after though, the two arrived, and took their seats.

Leo started the conversation, “So, last meeting, we decided that instead of trying to settle things diplomatically with Team Awesome, we would try to lure them into a trap, to send them a message.” Everyone nodded, “And so we are here today to decide how we will go about that. Any ideas?”

The group sat in silence while everyone thought, then Pangi raised his hand, “We could host an event that’s meant specifically to draw out Team Awesome. Like a party or something. I’m not sure how obvious that would be, but it’s an idea.”

Leo nodded, “I think that’s a great starting place. We still don’t know that much about Team Awesome, and what they want from us, so I think we should wait before coming to any solid conclusions, but I’ll keep that in mind.”

The others, including Zam, simply nodded. Zam was less focused on giving ideas, though he’d throw in a suggestion every now and then, in favor of noting information to funnel to his team.

The meeting continued similarly. People throwing out ideas and Leo noting them. Though eventually, the meeting ended. Leo decided they still didn’t know enough about Team Awesome or their capabilities and motivations. So they would wait until they made another move to decide on a plan. And Zam knew that move might come a bit sooner than they thought.

“How trustworthy is the APO really, if things continue like this? Will they continue to let hackers ravage their business? If the APO doesn’t deal with this threat, could it extend to the people of the upper quadrants? Is the APO Web safe, or does it provide any safety at all?”

Zam smiled, Team Awesome’s plan was going just as they wanted it to. He was watching the news footage of their second factory attack. It went much the same as the first. Appearing out of nowhere, the factory going up in flames in the middle of the night, and the people shocked. This time, though, Leo didn’t show up. Nothing surprising, he expected another attack to come, and not much could come from a public appearance, anyways.

Seeing another attack only made his itch to get out there stronger. But he would, their third factory wouldn’t be too far away.

Leo grit his teeth. He expected this attack, and it only made their plan clearer, he was now realizing. They planned to take out factories to chip away at the public’s trust in the APO, didn’t they? It was a smart plan, and it would only get better if they still had a mole in the APO.

Leo hadn’t heard anything from Parrot after he appeared in his office that day. And Leo wasn’t sure how much he trusted Parrot. Sure, he was the mayor’s son, but he was still a hacker. Maybe Parrot wanted to make Leo paranoid, to give Team Awesome an easier job.

Leo groaned, he hated this. It was just a waiting game. They had to do something , something that would make it feel like Team Awesome wasn’t just playing them. He had to take the upper hand somehow. But if he wanted to take the upper hand, he had to wait. Wait for their next move, and hope they would leak something that Leo could use. Leo had reviewed all the information he had on Team Awesome and his footage of APO meetings, but there was nothing. What was their goal? He couldn’t tell.

He had to wait, and wait he would. Patience is a virtue, after all.