I don't think any of us do, Nora thought, but kept her mouth shut. She pulled out a panel and sent an anonymous alert to the Black Guard. "Let's hope those cubeheads take these punks in. And I'll take that disc. I know where its owner is."
Cor chuckled at the nickname but nodded briefly. “Uhh… See I can't really do that. At least, not yet.” he said, a little nervously. “These two jackers corrupted the data. I’m guessing a code worm but… I can't be sure.” he admitted with a shrug.
"A data corruption?" She stepped closer to him, frowning. "What kind of data corruption? Complete restart, repurposing…?"
“Not sure. Didn't get a chance to look at it that closely.” he answered, looking at the disc for a moment before lifting it up to her. “You any good at this?” he asked.
Nora frowned. As a former Siren, she had much more experience with new discs than with old ones. Code wasn't really her thing - she was much more physical. Bit, however…
She looked at the other vigilante and pointed her staff at his chest, the tip inches away from his suit. "Before I answer that, give me the disc."
Cor raised a brow at the sudden threatening action. “A simple “no” would be enough.” he quipped, slapping the weapon away from his chest. “You want it, you can ask nicely.”
"How do I know you're not working with them, and this is all some elaborate trick?" she asked, then realised the words sounded crazy the moment they came out of her mouth. "Just give me the disc." She unrezzed her staff and put the baton back against her leg.
Cor didn't know whether to laugh or be insulted by the remark. “Why in the name of Flynn would I ever work with programs like them?” he asked, pointing at the unconscious duo. “I may do a lot of things that would get me… in trouble with the Black Guard but I don't take another program’s disc.” he pointed out, sighing slightly when she put away her baton. “I guess that's as nice as you're going to be.” he muttered before handing over Aya’s disc. “Let me know if you run into any encryption. I’m pretty good at cracking that.”
She frowned and held up the disc, probing into the code, but she found nothing. "Bit!"
Bit zoomed in and whizzed around her head.
"I need you to have a look at this." She held up the disc. "This guy thinks there's something wrong. Do you think you can find it?"
Bit bobbed up and down in the air. Yes.
"Good." She watched as Bit seemingly inspected the disc, then bumped against a piece of code. Yes.
"Here?"
Yes.
Together, they went deeper into the disc and found the code, which was a series of interlocking lines - a grid. It was different than the code around it, which was more haphazard, but still with a rhythm to the chaos. Nora sucked in a breath. She'd never seen anything like it before.
"Is it an encryption, Bit?" she asked softly.
Bit paused, seeming to decide, then flashed yellow. Yes.
Nora frowned and handed the disc back to the other guy. "It's an encryption." And I'm going to watch you so you don't mess it up even more.
Cor blinked in mild surprise when she called a Bit to check the code. He knew they were good but… meeting two programs with a Bit in one cycle? That felt like a rare occurrence though he wasn't going to say anything. He watched the orange caped program as she went over the code and recognized the encryption as soon as the grid-like pattern was revealed. “I can see that.” he nodded, taking the disc and starting to decode the information. “Looks like they added something…” he said as he made careful progress.
"Repurposing?" Nora suggested, but then she heard footsteps.
"That's probably the Black Guard," she said. "We should go."
“Could be…” Cor answered thoughtfully. “You know a place where I can work on this? I think I've almost got it.” he said, agreeing with the idea of getting out of the building before the Black Guard found them.
"I know a place," Nora said, glancing towards the two unconscious programs. "Follow me."
She led him to the other side of the docks, where few programs went, and found a sheltered, dark place in between two shipping containers.
Cor quickly but silently ran after her, eager to finish breaking the encryption and return the disc to Aya. He was satisfied with the secluded location and sat down as he began his work. “So, you do this kind of thing often?” he asked casually, though he was being a little quieter as to not draw attention.
"Occasionally," she answered brusquely, watching him work.
Cor chuckled at the cold demeanor as he revealed more of the corrupted data. “You’re fun.” he smirked, though his words held a hint of sarcasm. He really enjoyed messing with programs like her. “Got a name?”
"I could ask the same of you." Nora frowned, stepping a few feet away from him on the pretense of keeping lookout, but really, she was shutting down, her shields going up. She'd trusted this program too much already. If it weren't for the fact that she couldn't undo the encryption, she would have stolen the disc and returned it to its owner.
Don't let yourself get close, she told herself. It only leads to hurt.
Cor shrugged a little. “Fair enough. Most call me Black Light.” he told her, giving his more common pseudonym. He actually had a couple more just in case someone tried to double-cross him. Work as a hacker pirate was almost as dangerous as being in a gang. “I’m finished by the way. You might want to take a look at what those cubeheads almost did to Aya.”
Nora frowned and took the disc from him. "Later." If there is a later. "We need to get this disc back to its program."
“Ok. Let me clarify.” Cor growled with a glare. “When I said I was finished, I meant with the encryption. The corrupt data is still there. So you might want to have your Bit take care of that before you return it.” he said, obviously not trusting her either.
Nora scowled and held up the disc; she would have turned away from this program, but didn't trust to have her back to him.
"Do you think we can fix it, Bit?" she asked softly.
Bit zipped around her outstretched hands. Yes.
"Good." She and Bit started restoring the data, carefully taking out the corruption. When it was done, without a word, she rezzed in her lightcycle and zoomed away, still clutching the disc, Bit riding on her cape.
Cor shook his head at her attitude. He could understand it, sure, but he didn't necessarily like being on the receiving end of it. Though he had to admit that trust was a dangerous thing in his line of work. He sighed and stood up, rezzing in his bike and driving back to the bar. He really wanted to see Aya getting her disc back and what she was like.
Nora, who had taken a shortcut to the bar, walked in. A curiously blank-faced Aya was sitting at the counter, with her friend still clinging to her shoulders. A series of curious programs had clustered around them, quite a few of them worried.
Nora, who still had her helmet on, strode in, slipped through the crowd, and handed the disc to Aya's friend. "Here."
Aya's friend looked up, wide-eyed. "Are you sure it's the right one?"
Yes. Bit floated over to the disc and caused the code to come to life, revealing Aya's face. The friend had no reaction, her hands shaking as she put the disc back on Aya's back. "Here…"
A few tense seconds passed, and then Aya looked curiously up at her friend.
"Aya?" the friend asked. "Aya? Remember me?"
Aya blinked up at her. "Mari? What - what happened? I was…" Suddenly, she jumped up, panic taking over her face. "My disc! Someone stole my disc!"
"Shh, honey, we've got it right here," Mari said, hugging Aya. "Someone brought it back."
Nora smiled. This was the best part of vigilante work - seeing the good she'd done, the happiness she'd caused.
"Who?" Aya said, looking around, but Nora had stepped away already, melted back into the crowd, and changed back into her helmet-and-cape-free, Siren-clothed self.
Cor took all the same shortcuts to get back to the bar as he did to get the disc back and made it back just in time. He quickly changed back to his usual appearance and walked into the bar. He had to push his way through the crowd and smiled softly as he saw Aya acting and looking like a more normal program. He was tempted to call out to her but decided not to. They didn't even know each other.
Nora, Bit floating by her shoulder, stepped back into the crowd and spotted the same program from earlier. She hesitated for a split second and then went over to him, saying, "Looks like someone found her disc."