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  I needed to change , Walking into a meeting with a paranoid hacktivist while wearing an $800 Italian suit was a good way to get mugged, remembered, or both.

  I ducked into a Gap on 42nd Street and bought a black hoodie, a pair of dark jeans, and a baseball cap. I went into the changing room, unequipped the Essence of the Gentleman suit, and stored it in my inventory.

  Zip

  I looked in the mirror, I looked like every other college student in New York which was Unremarkable and anonymous.

  "Status," I whispered

  [Charm: 17 (Base)]

  [Buffs Removed: Suit Unequipped]

  [Current Funds: $11,500]

  I still had the Charm, that was my weapon.

  I checked the burner phone, Stan had sent the coordinates. A place called "The Bitstream." It was a LAN center in the Lower East Side, the kind of place that smelled of stale Red Bull and overheating graphics cards.

  I hailed a cab. "East Village, drop me a block away from 7th and A."

  During the ride, I formulated the plan. Identify Micro , assess the threat and retrieve the asset

  I couldn't shoot him, I couldn't beat him up

  I had to out weird him.

  The Bitstream

  14:00 Hours

  The place was dim, lit only by the blue glow of CRT monitors. The sound of rapid-fire clicking and muffled cursing filled the air. Counter-Strike was the religion here.

  I pulled my cap down and scanned the room. Rows of gamers, teenagers screaming about headshots.

  And in the back corner, secluded from the rest, sat a man who wasn't playing.

  He was typing furiously on a laptop that didn't belong to the cafe.

  He had messy hair, thick glasses, and a nervous tic in his jaw.

  [Target: David "Micro" Lieberman]

  [Level: 5 (Cyber-Intelligence Expert)]

  [Mood: Paranoid / Exhilarated]

  [Items: Encrypted Laptop (The Asset), 9mm Pistol (Concealed)]

  He has a gun, Americans!! I swallowed hard. My Poker Face kicked in, smoothing out my fear.

  I walked over, grabbing a chair from a nearby table, and spun it around to sit straddling it, facing him.

  I didn't say a word, I just sat there.Micro stopped typing. He didn't look immediately. His hand drifted toward his messenger bag on the floor where the gun likely was.

  "Stan sent me," I said softly.

  Micro looked up. He analyzed me.

  Young, hoodie and relaxed.

  "Stan is an idiot," Micro hissed.

  "He didn't tell me this machine was radioactive."

  "It's not radioactive," I said, leaning in.

  "It's worse, It's compromised."

  "I know what it is," Micro whispered, pushing his glasses up.

  "I broke the first layer of encryption. I saw the headers,Names and dates. 'Project Insight'. This isn't just a hit list, kid, this is an algorithm."

  Project Insight? My brain spun rapidly, that was the Winter Soldier plot. The helicarriers that kill everyone but that was supposed to be 2014. In 2006, it was now a baby file on a stolen laptop, this was way above my pay grade.

  "That's why I need it back," I said.

  "You're a smart guy, Micro, you know that if you have that file, they can track you and the hardware has a beacon."

  I was lying, the laptop was a standard Alienware and It had no beacon.

  Micro laughed, a nervous, jagged sound. "Nice try buddy , I swept the hardware, No bugs and No RFID. Just a clean machine with a dirty drive."

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  He patted the laptop. "I'm keeping it and I'm going to mirror the drive, publish the keys on the dark web, and watch the fireworks."

  [Quest Update: Loose Ends]

  [Obstacle: Micro refuses to yield]

  [Time remaining: 10 hours]

  I needed to touch that laptop. If I touched it, I could Inventory it. But his hands were hovering over the keyboard.

  "You don't understand," I said, lowering my voice to a conspiratorial whisper.

  [Charm 17 + Poker Face]

  "The beacon isn't hardware, It's quantum."

  Micro paused. "Quantum?"

  "It's SHIELD tech," I improvised rapidly. "Entangled particles in the hard drive platters. As soon as you decrypted the first layer, the state changed. They know exactly where this drive is. They aren't tracking a signal, David. They are tracking the state of the data."

  It was gibberish and Absolute sci-fi nonsense but Micro was a big conspiracy theorist living in a world of superheroes and aliens, he was like donald trump who believes he needed a nobel prize and the world is against him, To him, Quantum Spying was a terrifying possibility.

  [Skill Check: Deception]

  [Roll... Success.]

  His eyes widened and he looked at the laptop like it was a bomb.

  "That's... theoretically possible," he muttered. "If they used a qubit-based write sequence..."

  "Exactly," I pressed.

  "They are coming and Probably ten minutes out. A Strike Team, Rumlow or Maybe even the Winter Soldier."

  I threw names at him, names he might know from whispers.

  "I'm here to save you," I said . "I'm a broker and I clean up messes. Give me the drive. I have a containment unit."

  Micro hesitated, he looked at the screen, then at the door, then at me.

  "I need a copy," he said stubbornly.

  "I can't let this go."

  "Take a copy," I said. "Use a flash drive but do it now. Before the Quantum Decay triggers the failsafe."

  Micro scrambled, he dug a USB stick out of his pocket and jammed it into the side port. He started a drag-and-drop.

  Copying... 2 minutes.

  I watched the progress bar. I watched Micro's sweat drip onto the table.

  "Faster," I urged.

  "I'm trying!"

  90%... 100%.

  He yanked the USB drive out. "Got it."

  "Good," I said. "Now, the containment."

  I reached out. Micro pulled his hands back, leaving the laptop exposed on the table.

  "How do you contain it?" he asked.

  "Like this."

  I placed my hand flat on the closed lid of the Alienware

  Inventory

  [Item Added: Alienware m5500 (Compromised)]

  Pop

  The laptop vanished, Instantly.

  No smoke, no sound.

  It just ceased to exist in the physical realm.

  Micro stared at the empty table. He stared at my hand. He looked under the table.

  "What..." He turned pale. "Where did it go?"

  "Sub-space pocket," I said coolly, standing up. "Standard issue for Level 6 Brokers."

  I fixed him with a stare.

  "You have your copy. Keep it offline.

  If you publish it, they will find you. If you decrypt it without a quantum buffer, they will find you. Stay in the shadows, Micro."

  He was trembling. I had just confirmed every paranoid delusion he ever had.

  A man just made a computer disappear with a touch.

  "Who are you?" he whispered.

  "Just a guy doing a job," I said. "Forget you saw me."

  I turned and walked out of the internet café. I didn't look back.

  I forced myself to walk slowly, calmly, until I turned the corner.

  Then I ran.

  I sprinted three blocks, ducked into an alley, and leaned against a brick wall, gasping for air.

  "Holy shit," I wheezed. "I can't believe that fucking worked."

  [QUEST COMPLETE: Loose Ends]

  [Objective: Recover the Laptop]

  [Result: Success (Intimidation/Deception)]

  [Reward: +300 XP, New Title: The Spook]

  [Title: The Spook]

  Your lies are 10% more believable to conspiracy theorists and intelligence assets]

  I checked my Inventory. The laptop was there, safe in the void.

  But I had a problem, it was that Micro had a copy. I hadn't stopped the leak; I had just delayed it but Micro was scared now. He wouldn't upload it immediately. He'd spend weeks trying to build a Quantum Buffer or some nonsense.

  I had bought time.

  "Status," I checked

  Level: 3

  XP: 800/1000 (Close to Level 4)

  I needed to destroy that laptop or better yet...

  I pulled the laptop out of the inventory making sure the alley was empty. I turned it on, I didn't have the password, but I had the System.

  [Item: Alienware Laptop]

  [Option: Salvage?]

  "Salvage?" I asked.

  [Salvage allows you to break down an item into System Components or Data Fragments]

  "Salvage Data," I commanded.

  [Processing...]

  [Data Extracted: SHIELD/HYDRA Encryption Key (Fragment)]

  [Item Destroyed]

  The laptop dissolved into blue pixels in my hands, fading away.

  [New Item: Encryption Key (Consumable)]

  Use to bypass one High-Level Digital Lock

  "Useful," I nodded. "Way better than a used laptop."

  I was clear,no evidence and Stan was safe and I was safe, now, I had to deal with the real challenge.... Monday Morning.

  Monday. 07:55 AM.

  SHIELD Logistics.

  I walked in, holding a Starbucks coffee. I was back in my grey uniform. I looked tired, but happy.

  Supervisor Miller was at the door, checking badges.

  "Dick," he grunted. "You look better. The clams pass?"

  "Yeah," I winced. "Rough weekend, sir."

  "Get to your station. And tell Miller...uh, the girl, Jessica to stop smiling. It's creeping me out."

  I walked to my desk, Jessica was already there, pretending to sort files. When she saw me, her face lit up. She quickly looked down, biting her lip to hide a massive grin.

  I walked past her desk, I didn't stop, I just dropped a small, folded piece of paper on her keyboard.

  She unfolded it surreptitiously.

  It wasn't a love note, It was a receipt.

  From: The System Shop

  Item: Strawberry Lip Balm (Taste: Divine

  She looked at me, confused.

  I sat at my desk and winked.

  [Quest Generated: Office Romance]

  [Objective: Maintain the relationship without getting caught by Miller]

  [Daily Reward: +50 XP per stealth interaction]

  I cracked my knuckles.

  "Time to grind," I whispered.

  But as I opened my email, a notification popped up. A priority message not for logistics.

  TO: ALL AGENTS

  FROM: DIRECTOR NICK FURY

  SUBJECT: MANDATORY SECURITY AUDIT

  Due to a recent breach in sector containment (Code: The Ditto Incident), all Level 1 and 2 personnel will undergo mandatory psych evaluations and inventory checks starting Wednesday.

  My blood ran cold, freaking Inventory checks, they weren't checking my magical inventory. They were checking the physical warehouse inventory, the warehouse where I had stolen five laptops and filled the crate with manuals, it haven't been incenerated yet.

  If they opened Crate #404...

  I looked at the clock, It was Monday and I had 48 hours until the audit reached my sector, I needed to fill that crate back up with broken electronics before Wednesday, or Toby Dick was going to prison.

  "System," I thought desperately. "Do you sell broken laptops?"

  [Shop Search: e-Waste]

  [Result: 1 Ton of mixed electronic scrap - Cost: $500]

  I slumped back in my chair.

  "I love this game," I muttered sarcastically.

  "I really do."

  Authors Note:-

  Well a new chapter for my dear sexy readers

  Hope you guys enjoyed it.

  Now send ratings and reviews.