I can't believe I got myself into this situation.

Hunkered down in a bramble of bushes, I stared at the large building on the other side of the parking lot.

The sun had set hours ago and normally, I'd be in bed by this time. As I hid there in the dark, covered by leaves and thorny branches, I couldn't help regretting getting myself into this ridiculous position.

Just the day before, I'd found out that I had a long lost not-so-real twin, and after some discussions — that may or may not have involved a bit of violence — we'd finally come into an agreement. I'd help him out with 'a small matter' of his, and he'd tell me what he knew about the whole Jen affair.

To think, I actually believed him when he called it 'a small matter'.

Glaring at the culprit responsible for all of this, who was currently hiding in the bushes right next to me even though he didn't need to hide in the first place, I sighed heavily and shook my head.

"I'll ask you one more time. How do you expect me to break into that place? If you discount the fact that it's against the law, I still don't have any experience at all with these kinds of things. There's no way I can get in there without being noticed. There's even a guard right there!" I said and pointed towards the large glass entrance at the front of the building.

Through the glass doors, a large lobby with a circular desk in the middle of it could be seen. At the desk sat a slightly overweight middle-aged man with a cap and security outfit, leisurely watching a screen in front of him.

Alex scoffed at my side. "Bro, I told you I had a plan, didn't I? So calm down. I've done this before, and I've never run into trouble. All you have to do is follow my directions and you'll be in and out in no time — with no one being the wiser. 'Kay?"

"Wait, what you mean with that? How could you possibly have done this before? You can't touch anything. I thought that was why you needed me?" I said in a voice that felt just a tad bit too loud. Luckily, there was no one around to notice.

"I don't always need to do anything myself for things like this. Corporations like these ones don't always hire the best security. After some fishing for the name of some of the employees and then some phishing for account names and such—" He paused to laugh at his own joke for a second, before continuing. "—You've got all you need to accomplish what I want. You just use what you've found to encourage some of the employees to download a few files onto a USB-stick and stick it into the right computer, and bang! You're done. Easy as pie, right?"

I turned to Alex only to find my face almost directly next to his. I shuffled back a bit, before remembering that he wasn't actually there. Feeling slightly awkward, I spoke again. "So, you've been blackmailing people working at these companies to...Do what? Upload viruses into the computers?!"

He looked over at the entrance of the building as he answered. "Well, not only viruses. But essentially, yes. Although I'd say that 'blackmail' is too strong of a word in this case." He didn't seem ashamed at all with admitting it.

"You're basically a cyberterrorist! And you've been using my body to do all of this for years without my knowledge!?" Realizing that shouting probably wasn't the smartest thing to do right now, I lowered my voice.

"How can you be ok with this?" I hissed.

At this, he turned to look at me. "Hey, give me a break bro. First of all, I didn't have much choice in regards to using your body for it. That much should be obvious at least."

It really wasn't. I was about to point out the obvious error with that statement when he continued talking.

"Second of all, I don't feel bad about it because I only target companies and corporations that deserve it. The people that experiment on humans and things like that. People like those that kidnapped you and created me." He stopped for a second. This was the first time I'd actually seen him mad. Or close to it, at least. "Besides, I don't actually do anything to the people that I 'blackmail'. "He formed small quotation marks with his fingers. "I just threaten to. There's a difference."

"How is there a difference?! Don't forget that, by using my body and my computer to do this, you've turned me into a criminal! I could go to jail for this, and then it'd affect you too." It didn't seem like he actually understood what kind of position he'd put me in here.

"Relax. You don't have to feel guilty because you know you weren't the one to do it. Nor do you have to feel afraid. There's absolutely no way you're going to get caught for what I've done. Trust me, bro. I know my stuff." He said.

I didn't want to let it go that easily, but for some reason, I felt like I could actually trust him when he said I wasn't at risk. But that doesn't change the fact that he's basically a criminal. Although I guess I'm not one to talk — considering that I'm about to break into this place just to get some answers to my questions.

Besides, if they really are bad people, then this is more like vigilantism. Heroes do that kind of thing all the time and people don't judge them for it, so this might not even be that bad of a thing. As long as no one gets hurt.

"Bro get ready. The clock's soon 11:30." Alex nudged my arm and pointed towards the entrance. "The guard will go out for a 'break' for ten minutes and conveniently forget to lock the place. That's our chance to go inside and for you to do your thing. I've memorized the layout of the place, so I'll guide you. You don't have to worry about any cameras. As you might have noticed, the security at this place isn't really that high, so the recordings are handled by the guard — who accidentally just happened to turn those off for a bit." He smiled. "Like I said. Piece of cake."

I gave him a questioning look.

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"What?" He asked.

"I don't get why you need me for this. You said that you'd had the employees themselves do it at other companies, and it's clear that you've got this guard working for you too. So why don't you just ask him to do this instead of me?"

"Well, that's easy. Unlike other companies, most of the people that work here were relatively clean. That guard is the only one I've got something juicy on, and it's not that juicy, to be honest. I doubt it'd be enough to get him to just outright commit a crime like that. But it is enough to convince him to look the other way for a few minutes." He said, elbowing me and pointing towards the entrance of the building.

The guard had left his desk and was currently unlocking the glass doors.

"It's time. As soon as he's passed the corner of the building you'll have to run, so get ready bro."

I shook my head but didn't argue with him. While I didn't like it, I'd already decided to through with this. God, I probably was crazy.

Waiting for the guard to pass the corner of the building, I got into position. The moment I couldn't see the guard any longer, I rushed out from cover and ran across the parking lot towards the building's entrance.

My heart beat like crazy when I finally reached the doors. As I pulled them open, I realized that my hands were covered with sweat.

"You don't have time to stare at your hands right now. Unless you want to be labeled as an actual criminal, we have to hurry up and find a networked computer." Alex reached the doors right after me, his prodding helping me remember how pressed for time we really were. Pressing down my nervousness, I ran inside and looked around the lobby for where to go next.

"Just follow me from now on. I think I know where they have most of the PC:s." Alex said as he rushed down a hallway at the far end of the lobby.

After glancing at the clock that hung above the central desk like a lamp, I decided not to waste any more time and hurried after him.

He ran through the corridors without any hesitation and I barely managed to keep up with him. The oddness of having a hard time keeping up with a self-proclaimed AI without a body did not escape me.

As we ran through the corridors I spotted a few cameras which made me nervous, but I'd already chosen to trust that Alex knew what he was doing in this endeavor and there was no way nack now. Besides, I'd done some thinking of my own at least and was wearing a balaclava that covered my face. Although it made me look like a stereotypical robber, further enforcing my growing image as a criminal. I can't say I was too fond of it, but it was the best I could find on such short notice.

After running around the halls for about a minute, Alex stopped in front of a door and pointed towards it. "It's in there. Open it."

I did as he said and glanced into the room. inside, there were several rows of desks with identical computers on them. I went over to the closest one and turned it on. As I waited for it to boot, I glanced down at my watch.

Three minutes and fourteen seconds since the guard left. This might be cutting it close if I waste too much time on the computer. It took another twenty seconds, but eventually, the computer was done booting up. A hint of panic spread throughout my mind when I saw the display, however.

"Crap! Alex, we need a password to log in. How could we forget that?"

"You're seriously starting to hurt my feelings here bro. You think I wouldn't have thought of something that basic? How many times do I have to repeat that this isn't my first rodeo?" Alex let out an exaggerated sigh and pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. "Try this. Username: ElaAnd. Password: !KittyLove87."

Rolling my eyes at his poor acting, I typed what he said into the computer, and surprisingly, it worked. Still, wasn't the note a bit unnecessary?

"How'd you get that password?" I asked as the small circle on the screen went round and round, signifying that it was still logging in.

"One of the employees that work here has a tendency to reuse their passwords a lot. About the only thing that I couldn't get a hold of easily was her bank account." He said and shrugged his shoulders. "That reminds me. You really need to stop reusing the same passwords for your different accounts. You've made me want to tear out my hair more time than I can count. It's because of the naivety of people like you that my job is so ridiculously easy sometimes." He said. "I actually did this spear-phishing attack against a company a while ago, and there was this employee tha—"

"I get it. I'll do something about it. We don't have time for stories about your cybercrimes now." I interrupted him before he could get much further. "I'm logged in. What do I do now?"

He coughed into his hand and pointed towards the computer. "Ahem. Sorry. Just put in the USB and open the folder."

I did as he asked and opened its folder up on the computer. Inside, there was a single file. 'All_Your_Base_Are_Belong_To_Us.exe'

I glanced over at Alex. "What's with the name?"

He stared at me as if I'd just murdered a cat. "I can't believe you. I'm supposed to be the pretend-person who's basically lived inside a house his entire life, and somehow you're still the one who's been living under a rock all this time." He shook his head and clicked his tongue. "If we weren't in such a rush, I'd really tear you a new one. Just run the program, bro."

Not really understanding what he was going on about, I ignored his outburst and double-clicked the file with the mouse cursor. A pixelated picture of some kind of green-skinned cyborg with a purple cape blinked across the screen several times before disappearing. Then I Alex's voice beside me.

"Great. You can take the USB-drive out now. It's done what I wanted. We gotta hurry now. Time's running out."

I looked at my watch again and what I saw gave me a scare. Almost eight full minutes had gone by. I hurriedly pulled out the USB-drive and turned off the computer and started running out of the room. Signaling for Alex to lead the way, I held the door open for him and took off after him back the way we came. When we reached the lobby, I let out a breath that I hadn't noticed I'd been holding in. The guard wasn't back yet. That was good. Going up to the glass doors, I looked around outside. He was nowhere to be seen yet. Pushing the doors open, I then sprinted outside and ran across the parking lot as fast as I could, jumping over and hiding behind the bushes that I'd crouched behind not even ten minutes earlier. Not far behind, Alex followed.

Taking a last look around to make sure it was safe, I tore off my balaclava so that I could breathe easier. My heart was racing and I could hear the blood pumping in my ears. The incident over two weeks earlier was definitely the most nerve-wracking thing that I'd gone through, but right now, this wasn't too far behind.

I'd officially done something illegal. And it was of my own choice this time — not just somebody else using my body to do it. And all because I wanted a few answers that I didn't know how to get elsewhere. Not that I would have done it if Alex hadn't told me they were bad people, but still. He could be lying.

"Nice going, bro," Alex said with a wide smile as he hunkered down beside me. "I told you it'd be easy. Now, all we have to do is get back home and I'll tell you what you want to know. Sounds good, right?

Right as he finished talking, I heard a noise from behind. The hairs on my back stood up as I rose and turned around, ready to run away instantly if needed. I had expected to find the guard there — but it wasn't the guard.

I choked as I recognized him. I never thought this was when I'd see him next.

There stood a large man, the dark of night hiding most of his features. Despite that, his firm musculature was plain to see and he radiated an imposing presence. "Hey kid, it's been a while. Thought I wouldn' find ya this time, did you? Well, guess what?" He said, throwing a still-glowing cigarette stump in the ground as a grin formed on his face. "Gotcha."