The Ruler
It was late, a large storm darkening the sky further making it even harder to see anything. Not many people were up, and those who were had someplace to be headlights glaring past the one person’s window that simply had something to do.
The Ruler, wanted by many and avoiding many more. Her line of work arguably criminal and her methods even worse. Well, that’s what most government agencies would say to new recruits, those asking about the mysterious woman. Of course, they never really knew what she was after, just that she had to be stopped before she couldn’t.
It was a game of angels and devils, one side always trying to outsmart the other. The mathematical cat and mouse game. The Ruler working to do what she thought was best, and the Agents trying to stop her from breaking everything. It was a long chase, an infinite game that could continue on as long as time.
Silently the Ruler worked, tapping at her laptop lines of code filling her screen. It was just the beginning of everything, the search and the ultimate tracking of one single target.
Most people would never be able to go quite as deep, and even if they could it would never be nearly as fast. She could reach invisibility for long periods of time, keep everyone off her trail as she worked in the lawless land of hackers and technopaths.
Much to the Ruler’s advantage, she was both, able to connect effortlessly with the technology around her. She was one of the few that listened to the warnings and the dangers and worked around them to get what she wanted. She found the back door and when that didn’t work she picked the lock, or found another way in.
Reaching a depth that was supposedly unobtainable was the way she had made a name four herself, sometimes boasting that the Riddler couldn’t even reach her level. The chase was nothing anymore, the thrill of being in the deepest depths of the internet but still wanting to go further. She never once bothered to look behind her, it was too risky.
‘Criminals are not professionals. The best hacker you know - like the best lair you know- is not the best at what they do. Perhaps that means there is someone better than me, as I am known.’ The Ruler silently mused as she snuck into the shadows of the web. ‘Wouldn't that just be interesting? A more powerful being than I?’
Cracking the surface was the easy part, so was the dig to the bottom of all records. The hardest part of her work was the search, and even then that no longer took a lot of her attention. It was too easy, and perhaps that was what had her working on other projects, what had allowed her to be seen.
'Leaning in he smiled, taking hold of the hard drive with ease. She hadn’t noticed the movement, the warmth of his breath on her cheek distracting her, mind-fogging just long enough four the ping to go undetected.
“Thank you Shadow, it been a pleasure working with you. But really I must be going.” He whispered pulling back, flinching as a tight grip clasped onto his wrist. Turning, his breath trembled as the drive fell to the floor.′ She mouthed, turning to the tablet in her lap, mouthing the words as she typed them.
“Ma’am, there seems to be a problem. Static interruption, not like anything we have encountered before.” The small voice of the appropriately named Tiny called, startling her as he appeared on her screen.
As his name implied he was small, simply designed and loyal. He had been her first AI and was the base four all that came after.
“Alright Tiny, let me see.” She sighed, a small smirk playing at her lips. This was different, new even. The possibility of someone waiting for her was energizing. However, it was also equally terrifying, knowing that could hurt her work.
Turning to her laptop the Ruler let out a sigh. The screen was humming an early high pitch and was nearly white with feedback. It wasn’t news of someone waiting for them. It was a group of Jammers, alien bugs that ate everything electrical.
“Jammers. I can get rid of them, but the damage is already extensive. The likelihood of this not setting us back is very low. Tiny, get the squad to my tablet. I don’t want to lose a single one of you four to those things.” She hissed, shaking her head lightly. Thankfully they transferred over quickly and The Ruler quickly got to work fixing things and continuing her search.
