Virus. There it was again. What the hell was this thing?

Vix leaned over his four large monitors, his blurry eyes focusing on the five letter word that seemed to keep popping up all over the web recently. Maybe it was his mind playing tricks on him. His sleep deprived brain choosing to hone in on some rather arbitrary data among the sea of ones and zeros that he found himself bathing in for eighteen hours out of every twenty four. "You seein' this, buddy?" Vix's raspy voice mumbled out to the little floating grey blob that nestled in his lap. The duskull croaked out a hollow sound in response, floating up to the screen as to mimic his partner's behaviour. Vix was never too sure how much he understood, but they had been together so long that his pokemon had become a little miniature version of himself.

Vix was in the process of checking an online chat group. This particular group was formed by a division of economists employed by some old dinosaur of a tycoon. Their business? Cryptocurrency racketeering. Not entirely legal, though the legislation built around this was loose enough that they could get away with robbery. 'Buy this new Xcoin!' they would say. They would pay off prominent social media figures in the cryptosphere to ship their new currency. They would hold conventions and seminars, educating the gullible masses into giving away their retirement funds to buy something that only had value because they deemed it so. As they say, a pyramid scheme by any other name would smell as scammy. All the while, this crack team of economists had an exit strategy in the works, just waiting for their finely tuned algorithm to spit out the right time.

Vix wasn't invited to this chat group though, but he had made himself at home in the old tycoon's badly protected system all the same. He had the information here to save hundreds or even thousands from losing their money. Unfortunately for those suckers, he wasn't any kind of cyber robin hood. No in fact, he was taking the group for a ride. Buying into the currency and using his inside knowledge to sell before the exit strategy came to fruition. He was going to make another killing! Vix was one to bathe in the warmth of his own genius, his inflated self worth coming from the fact that he was financially successful despite his parent's advice to stay in school and get a job. 'Take that, mum and dad', he would often think, with a flavour of angst that he should have grown out of many years ago.

So why was he reading about this 'virus' in this chat? Vix found his way into one of the economist's emails, reading out some sort of invitation. An invitation to join the ranks of some underground group. Apparently this particular market specialist had been deemed shady enough to be head hunted by some full on criminal group. As much as Vix liked to imagine that he lived out the sexy secret agent lifestyle, this discovery was the most interesting thing that he had come across all week. Being the spider of the web, Vix was usually the first to find out about the things that passed through this realm, so naturally he had begun to hear echos of this 'virus' a long time before it had even made it's way into the social media public eye. But up until now it seemed like some sort of prank with no real substance. Maybe a marketing ploy that had crossed a few lines. But for some reason, this email sent a shiver down his spine. It seemed much more tangible when he was staring the purple skull graphic in the face.

"Let's see where you came from..." Vix's fingers danced across his keyboard, windows flashing across his screens. The isp had a much higher grade of security, but this was still no problem once you knew how the service was put together. Most people saw hacking as some sort of intense contest where your power level in tech skill would face off against the strength of a firewall. In reality, it was more like attempting to find a solution to a puzzle box. You try different things, see how the system reacts. Through trial and error combined with application of experience, you might be able to find the one window to crawl through. And once Vix found that in the city's internet service provider, he just had to make sure to leave that window open while covering his tracks and he would have access until a potential update. And even when this happened, he would simply start the process all over again.

"Bingo bongo!" Vix exclaimed, knocking his fizzy drink onto the carpet. The duskull made a crackling growl before picking up an old shirt of his and mopping up the mess. "Oh uh, thanks Dusty." Vix grinned, his eyes reverting back to their position on the bright screens. He had an ip address for the sender of the email. And what's more, it was just downtown. "We're going for a walk, Dusty!" Vix stood and stretched his legs, making for the door while his ghostly friend hovered after him in an excited way. That is, if there was a way to hover excitedly. Vix fumbled, trying to find the door handle in the dark, dank grotto. Opening his front door, Vix stepped out, exposing his white flesh to the unfamiliar feel of sunlight. "Ahh! It burrrns!" He jested, shrinking away from the light before turning to his pokemon to enjoy it's eerie chuckle. "Leme grab my gear and let's hit it."

Sporting a not so fabulous, not so inconspicuous attire, Vix strolled down the backstreets with Dusty in tow. He wore his black woolen cap and feathery overcoat, but had managed to leave his make-up kit at home due to his excitement. And then a sound from around the corner. "What's that?!"