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System/ First Phase: Error

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CODE III: THE TURNING POINT

[Several days later.......]

"Mashiro, were out of juice!"-Erika shouted from the kitchen.

"I know! I'll get new ones today!"-I replied from the bathroom.

I was taking a shower. I stepped out of the shower room and started drying my hair in front of the dresser.

"You should really get some sleep."-Len commented inside my mind, looking at my bloodshot eyes.

"Yeah, I feel dizzy."-I replied, trying to fix my messy hair.

Erika was staying with me for the last few days. Apparently, she had no family and was living by herself. She earned her money through outsourcing and credit hacking, which she was still doing now to help me.

We decided that both of us will provide money for our living expenses, no matter which way we earned it.

In the empty house, it felt nice to have someone with me, with whom I could trust and share my feelings.

It took some days, but Erika finally settled down, and started accepting her new life.

"How long you're going to take?"-Erika shouted again. Apparently, it was her turn to use the bath.

I wrapped my towel around my waist, and opened the door.

Erika eyed my wet body, and I realized that I wasn't wearing anything but a towel.

Erika suddenly noticed me looking at her, and she turned her eyes away, blushing.

I hurriedly closed the door and wore my shirt. I opened it again, and saw no one there.

I quietly moved upstairs, and entered my room.

"Guess she saw you naked...huh?" -Len laughed inside my head.

"Oh.....shut up!"-I groaned, and jumped on my bed.

Sleep came down on my eyes, and I drifted into the realm of dreams.

"Mashiro? Wake up!"-I heard a voice.

"What......"-I murmured in my sleep.

"It's already seven! Get up, you lazy fool!"-Len shouted again.

"What?!!?!"-I sat up, and looked outside. It was already dark.

Oh, Shit!!?!Shit?!! I forgot to buy the juice!"-I jumped off my bed, and hurried to the downstairs.

The whole house was dark, except for the kitchen area. I entered the room, and saw Erika working with her laptop.

"Finally decided to get up?"-she asked, not even looking at me.

"I'm so sorry! I forgot to buy your juice......I just....you....."-I couldn't finish my line, when she threw something at me.

I caught it before it could slam my face. It was a juice can.

"I already bought them."-she said, sipping from her own can.

"I promise I won't forget next time!"-I apologized, and she turned towards me.

"It's really all right, Mashiro. Just, buy me a drink later, kay?"-she smiled, and I again noticed how beautiful she was.

"Thanks."-I smiled back, and sat down beside her.

"What're you doing?"-I asked, looking at the computer screen.

"Doing some......JOB."-she answered, rolling her eyes.

I looked at her work for a couple of minutes, then stood up. I went back to my room, and brought my laptop down.

I sat down beside her again, this time, with my laptop.

"What're you going to do?"-she asked, looking at my arrangements.

"I am waiting for the next FM. It's going to be a big one."

"FM? Are you sure you'll get one today?"

"Yeah. I guess you can call it.....intuition."

"Uh-huh? And what makes you think that he'll have something 'big' for you?"

"Intuition....again."-I smirked, and she started laughing.

Suddenly, my phone rang. She looked at it suspiciously, and I shrugged.

I picked it up, and unlocked it. It really was an FM.

"Having fun, huh? Anyhow, be prepared. Install each and every one of the patches into Len, and make sure that you get enough sleep. Tell Faith403 to go to bed, now. Be prepared for all circumstances.

Remember, NOTHING IS CERTAIN."

"Huh.......that's all it says."-I said, worried.

"Can you handle it?"-Erika asked softly. Installing patches always made me feel exhausted, and installing all of them would be something....more dangerous.

"Len, can I handle it?"-I thought, and Len answered.

"I think you can, though if you try to use all of them at once, your brain may take significant damage."-he answered, just as worried as me.

"I think I'll be fine."-I shoved away my uncertainty, and calmed Erika down.

"If you say so. But don't push yourself."-she tried to smile, and punched my arm playfully.

"As you wish, mademoiselle."-I rolled my eyes, laughing. But even I knew it was a risky move.

Eventually, Erika gave me some alone time to think. I sat on the chair, thinking whether to listen to the mail or not.

"You know, sitting here won't help you."-Len suddenly spoke up.

"I know. But....I just need some time, okay?"

"Fine, but remember this-whoever is sending you these mails cares for you, or you are too valuable to let go. So, I think you should go with the plan."

"What if I don't wake up?"

"Then I'll die with you."-Len replied. I thought he was mocking me, but a long silence proved that he was serious enough.

I let out a deep breath, and connected the PC cable with the port behind my ear.

I started entering the necessary commands, and soon my vision became hazy. But I didn't stop, rather I kept typing.

"Mashiro, stop!"-Len shouted, but I didn't pay him any heed.

"Mashiro, you are way over your capacity! Disconnect the cable!"-his voice echoed again, but this time, he was pleading.

I was determined to keep going, to put my bet on myself. Eventually, the program got completed, and I closed the screen.

Something came out of my left ear, and I touched it. It was wet. It took me a moment to realize that it was my own blood.

I heard the door of my room opening, and saw Erika coming. But before I could say anything, I fell down on the ground, and darkness engulfed me.

[Few hours later......]

I opened my eyes, and saw the ceiling of my room. I tried to sit up, and a series of pain spreader throughout my body. My organs felt numb, and my throat sour.

"The hell?"-I murmured, irritated on my own self. I was surprised by Len's silence. Usually, he would have teased me by now.

"Len, did it work?"-I asked, rubbing my forehead.

There was no answer. I freaked out, and almost shouted.

"Len! Did it work?!!?! Len!!!!"

Suddenly, the door opened, and Erika stepped in. She hurriedly closed the gap between us, and before I could say anything, slapped me hard on the face.

"What......"-I couldn't finish my sentence, as she embraced me tightly, hiding her face on my shoulder.

"D-don't ever do this again! Do you hear me? Don't!"-she said, and I felt my back getting wet from her tears.

I put my hand on her arm, giving it a light squeeze.

"Don't worry. I won't do this again."-I said in a soft voice, and that calmed her down.

Suddenly, she realized what she was doing, and removed her hands, embarrassed.

"What happened to Len?"-I asked, also embarrassed.

"To help you take the pressure, he almost got depleted. He told me that he would go offline for recovering."

"OH. Guess I made him worried too."

"Did your upgrade work?"

"Lemma see......"

I waved my hand over my right ear, and my bio-eye started glowing, sending a light and creating a hologram on the wall.

I poked here and there, looked at some of the numbers, and then sat back, satisfied.

I waved my hand again and the hologram disappeared.

"I guess it did.....though I'm not sure."

"Now what?"

"Now we wait, for further instructions."

"FMs?"

"Yeah. That....and for Len. I need him to confirm the update."

"Guess you do. Well, I'll get going now. Get some rest."

"Hmm. Good night."

"You too."

She said, and left the room, closing the door behind her.

I stood up, and walked over to the dressing table. I looked at my own reflection in the mirror, and checked my eyes.

The human one was fine, when the other one was turning green to blue, and blue to green repeatedly.

It was a side effect of overpressure.

I sighed, and went back to my bed. I wrapped myself with the blanket, and closed my eyes.

Sleep didn't come so easily, but eventually, I became unconscious.

[Few more hours later......]

I woke up again, this time, feeling a lot better.

"Len, you there?"-I asked, fearfully. I was afraid that no one would answer, but soon my fears went away, as Len's mocking voice spoke up.

"No, I'm in Arizona, basking under the sun."-he teased, annoyed.

"I guess I made you worried, huh? Sorry."

Len didn't answer for a moment, taken back by my apology.

"Well, you are okay, and I didn't die....so, its all right."-he said after a moment of silence.

"Thanks. I owe you one."-I smiled. He didn't answer, but I felt like he appreciated it.

"Now, enough talking. Let's get to work."

"Work?"

"Yeah. There's a mail for you."

"Mail? You don't mean......"

I jumped off my bed, and ran towards the table where I kept my phone.

There was indeed a mail. I opened it with shaking hands. I almost dropped my phone, when I read the mail.

"Hack the American Military Facility. Use caution, and let Faith403 handle the fake IP and Proxy. Be careful, and, please don't get caught."

I gasped, and tried to reply it, even though I knew it won't work.

My phone started lagging, and turned off by itself.

I looked at the black screen for a moment, and then picked up my laptop from the table.

I rushed downstairs, and saw Erika sleeping on the sofa.

I started shaking her, and eventually, she opened her eyes.

"M-Mashiro? You shouldn't be downstairs......"

"The next FM arrived a few minutes ago."

Hearing this, she sat up, all serious.

"What did it say?"

I calmed my nerves down before saying the next lines.

"We need to hack the U.S.A Military Facility."

"Y-you are serious, aren't you?"

I just nodded, and she grabbed her head.

"Does it say....anything....about me?"

"Yeah. You are to take care of the fake IPs and Proxies."

"W-well, let's see what I can do."-she smiled weakly.

"You don't have to.....if you don't want to, you know?"

"I'll do it."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I was just freaked out for a moment. I'm all right. Lemma get my laptop, okay?"-she almost pushed me aside, and walked into her room.

She came out after a couple of minutes, her face washed up and laptop in her hands. She looked at me with her captivating eyes, and said-

"Let's do it."

In the next few hours, we took every precaution we could, every way we knew to hide.

Then, we started it. Our most important assignment till today.

Erika began her work before me.

She went through a lot of fake IPs, Proxies, and websites to cover her track, and then, she went to the official U.S.A Military Website. From here, it was my job.

"Len, help me, okay?"-I thought, hoping that the patches I installed earlier would be enough.

"I'll try. But, try to do it yourself."

I sighed, and started typing.

I kept entering codes and programs, breaking the firewalls one by one, at the same time, keeping mine up.

It wasn't an easy job, my head started aching from excessive use, and my eyes turned red due to the strain.

But it worked, with Len's help, I bypassed their defenses bit by bit, and after three long hours, I entered the main website.

"You did it!!!"-Erika threw her arms around me, only to be embarrassed and pull them back a moment later.

I smiled and started scrolling down.

Most of the materials on the website was ordinary things, files on soldiers and commands.

"Hey, what's that?"-Erika pointed at the file on the left corner of the screen.

I clicked on it, and to my surprise, it asked for a password.

"What the hell?"-I felt frustrated. After all this, I had yet to crack another password.

"It's a level 5 secret."-Len whispered in my mind.

"LEVEL 5?!?!"-I shouted loud, and Erika turned to me.

"Level 5? Mashiro...that's....top secret. We shouldn't poke around here. Let's get out."-she said, worried.

But my curiosity got the best of media started cracking the lock, well aware of its risk. Erika quietly watched me, but didn't stop me.

In a few minutes, the password was broken. There were several more files under that folder.

We took the first one, and found out about some materials.

"100 Kg Thermoniam, 50 Kg Uranium, 20 Kg Polonium......all of them are radioactive materials. What's with these?"-I murmured, and clicked on the second file. There was a video, and I clicked on it. It was showing live.

The first thing we saw was a giant machine, with a long barrel. The thing was situated on a beach. It looked like a weapon.

A few people appeared, along with a girl.

The girl was beautiful, and had long golden hair, which was tied up in an elegant manner.

Her eyes were deep blue, and she was an important figure, judging the people around her.

"Isn't that the princess of America?"-Erika asked, and I looked at her with confusion.

"America's princess?"

"Wait, you don't know her?"

"No...."-I replied, embarrassed.

"How come you not know about the person who controls half of the world?"

"Well.........."-I scratched my head, trying to figure out an answer. Not finding one, I turned to Len. His holographic form appeared in front of us.

"Well, Mashiro didn't see any interest in that. Apparently, he doesn't see any importance in anything besides hacking, and you."-he teased, and I felt my cheeks getting red.

Erika looked embarrassed, and decided to turn the conversation elsewhere.

"Well, anyway, that girl is Jennifer Hudson. The new ruler of America."-she notified me, and looked at me for more questions. And I had some too.

"What kind of girl is she?"

"Very intelligent. That's all I know. Let's continue the video, shall we?"-she gestured towards the monitor, and I started playing it.

[Video conversation........]

Jennifer: You sure it will be enough, Major?

Major: Of course, Your Highness. This bomb will change the course of the war.

Jennifer: Then we shall see, shan't we?

[Real life conversation between Erika,

Mashiro and Len.....]

"What war?"-I asked, confused. It was the first time I felt the need of knowing current affairs.

"America, Russia, Australia, and England are in.....uncomfortable situations right now. They may go into war anytime. And we may join them. It will be the starting of the third world war."-Erika replied, with worry on her face.

"So...this bomb will change its course?"

"Well...they claim that. Let's watch more."-she shrugged, and the video started playing.

[Video is playing......]

The barrel started heating up, and suddenly, it shot something in the air.

The camera focused on the thing.

It looked like a bullet shell, but were made of Thermoniam and Uranium instead of steel. Well, the tip and end of the bomb were made of steel, so the comment wasn't entirely true.

The bullet flew over to an island on the sea, and then fell down.

The light from the impact stunned us, and blinded us for a moment. When our vision came back, we saw a horrific site.

The island, or where it was supposed to be, disappeared.

No, it didn't disappear, it turned into nothing.

About 100 miles of water around the island (or its area) was boiling, and it was turning red.

Then, the camera refocused on the troops on the beach. One of them gave a signal, and a helicopter appeared in the sky.

It started hovering on the hot area, and dropped something.

We heard a scream for a moment, and saw a human falling into the boiling water.

The moment the water came in contact with the person's body, the person turned into a boiling lump of meat, and the next moment, the meat vanished.

I heard Erika running towards the bathroom. I didn't have such luxury, so I sat down on the ground, vomiting.

The video didn't stop, and I started hearing a conversation.

[Video conversation......]

Jennifer: It worked perfectly! (In a jolly voice)

Major: Of course, Your Highness. It was expected.

Jennifer: Good job. How many do we have with us?

Major: Apparently, we have a lot. With the Thermoniam Your Highness provided us, we can turn the whole Asia, Europe, and Africa into ashes.

Jennifer: Good. Then I'll provide you with more materials. All you have to do is keep making these weapons.

Major: Of course, Your Highness.

[Video ended......]

I kept looking at the screen, horrified, terrified and worried.

If America created such a weapon, then the whole world was at stake. Someone in my mind told me that I had to stop it, even if I didn't know how to do that.

The bomb disgusted me, and I hated it.

Suddenly, my phone rang. I picked up and found an FM.

It was weird, to receive a mail so soon.

I opened it, and a chill ran through my spine.

"The C.I.A is coming! Get out now! Escape to England. DO NOT take Faith with you. Send her away. The C.I.A knows that it is your house, so she should be safe. You have approximately twelve hours before they attack. Good luck."

Just at the moment, I heard a shriek over my shoulder. I saw Erika standing at the door, shaking. She saw the whole thing.

I took a deep breath to calm myself, and then looked at her face, before saying these words-

"WE.NEED.TO.GET.OUT.NOW."

[At the same moment.....near the beach where the weapon was being tested..........]

"Sir! We have a problem!"-a soldier came running out of the surveillance tent.

"What?"-the major asked, worried. He saw the princess looking at him, and became more tense.

The soldier took a deep breath, and spoke out.

"Somebody hacked our servers, and watched the whole process."

The princess's eyes became wide with horror and worry, as well as curiosity. Someone who hacked the U.S.A Military Facility must have been a great talent.

"Is it England?"-she asked the soldier.

"No, Your Highness. It was from Japan."

"Japanese Government?"

"No, not them, Your Highness. We tracked down the hacker. He was using a lot of fake IPs to hide his location."

"Who is it?"-the princess was losing her patience.

"A teenage boy named Mashiro Oshiba."

The princess was shocked by hearing that. She thought that some old man with experience did it, but being hacked by a boy of her age was shocking.

"Send the C.I.A and F.B.I after him. I want him alive, and under thirty hours."

The major and the soldier bowed, and started running towards their tents to spread the news.

The princess stood alone on the beach, thinking about the boy.

[At the same moments....in the British Intelligence Headquarter......]

"Your Highness, someone besides us hacked the U.S.A Military Facility. Thanks to them, they couldn't track us."-the soldier said to the girl sitting on the throne.

The girl had long light brown hair, which flowed down her back.

Her hazelnut eyes matched with her hair greatly, and her attitude gave out a sense of authority. She was indeed, beautiful and elegant.

She was the princess of England, Rosaline Garcia.

"Hmm. Who is this man?"

"A Japanese boy about your age, Your Highness. His name is Mashiro Oshiba."

The princess looked at the soldier with curiosity.

"My age, you say? Is the boy connected with the Japanese Government?"

"No, Your Highness."

"What is Princess Jennifer doing right now?"

"She has sent the F.B.I and C.I.A behind him. They are to capture him alive."

"Then we are soldier, going to make sure that Mr. Mashiro falls in our hands, instead of them. Do NOT harm him, that's all."

The soldier nodded, and went away.