"Hello old friend," Midii typed into the glowing blue box in a very highly secured deep dank corner of cyberspace. The meeting was taking place in a area of the turf that X12 had created for himself, sort of a business office for the hacker to conduct his affairs with minimal risk to his own security. ((A.N. It's the obligatory Babylon 5 reference; I have one in all of my fics.))

"Midii," the electronic caricature that X12 used as his working persona said in its synthesized male/female voice. There were a very few select people who really knew who X12 was, most of the rest couldn't tell you how old the hacker was or even whether he was even male or female (calling X12 "he" was simply for convenience). As a hacker of note, X12 was paranoid about security; his own to be precise, there were a lot of people in the law abiding authorities that would like to know who he was and what he could be nailed for.

"X12, it's been quite a while."

"It has. I assume you didn't get a hold of me just to chat with you; what is it that you need."

"I'm here to collect a favor." She replied.

"A favor? I do owe you a couple… what do you need and I'll tell you if I can help you or not."

"You're being cautious all of a sudden, what's with the shields X?"

"I'm not sure, but I think someone has taken a sudden interest in me… more than usual that is. Are you involved in something that could get me killed?"

"No more than usual; well that's not precisely true… I need you to do something for me and it's something only you can do. I'm sending you a pod-full of data and it's hot… volcanic even. You'll get the specifications along with the data in the file read/sodapop.txt. You have precisely sixty hours from the time you download the file in which to complete the task. But don't worry, it's work I'm sure you'll enjoy; you never could resist a worthy challenge."

"Right. After this we're even."

"Yes. After this, just make sure you get it done on time."

With that he signed off and Midii stretched out into a jaw-popping yawn. She'd been sitting in front of her screen for hours, the firey sunset had long since faded into dusk, then twilight and finnaly nightfall. The moon had risen over the horizon about two hours ago and had shrunk into the marble sized orb now in habiting the sky at the position ten o clock.

"No rest for the wicked," she murmured to herself. "Now to find my fall guy; or would that be too much trouble? I already have so much on my plate already, I'm not sure if I can get all the things I need to get done accomplished and have time to set up the top brass as well. Then again, a spy can never have too many back-up plans. I'll just compile a list of likely prospects and worry about it later."

Midii didn't take the time to think about how lucky it was for her that she was a former bounty hunter, all of the skills that had kept her alive and prosperous in her former profession were serving her well with a vengeance now. It was not at all uncommon for rival members of the top brass of the Consortium to post one anothers names anonymously on the Lists for bounty hunter hits. The less top brass there were, the larger the shares of wealth there were to go around. The location of their stronghold was unknown of course; not even Smith knew for certain where it was hidden. The likelihood of Midii finding where they all were was approximately slim to none. All that Midii could get would be some names but that would be enough to suit her purposes. Once she had a likely candidate all she would have to do would be to build up a plausible scenario and fake up some evidence. Even if she never played it, it would be a good thing to have an ace up her sleeve.

Sorting through the Lists was second nature to her, and even if she hadn't done any Hits for the past month she fell into familiar old habits with the ease of long practice. Although it was a task she could probably do in her sleep it still took a few hours for Midii to find what she was looking for, and another hour after that to sort through the list of likely prospects; discarding this candidate for not being a member of the top brass or that candidate for being completely unsuitable. At last she had her man; Tyrone Aerinson. He was a member of the top circle; young, canny, ambitious… he'd killed his predecessor for his position and was known to be a bit of a wild card. He would do nicely. And perhaps if she had the chance she'd stop by and relieve him of his troublesome head; he had been on the Lists for several years and his price was a fat one.

"Lessee here," she though as her fingers worked over the keypad at a furious pace, quickly assembling the incriminating evidence of mister Aerinson's betrayal. She was still enough a part of that world to understand all of its machinations. Innuendo wasn't really all that difficult to work with. Perhaps such things were the easisest weapons for a spy, spies were trained to look for opportunities where a word or an action or gesture could arouse suspicions, were trained to create just the right amount of truth sandwiched in between all of the lies to create the illusion of truth and cause someone to question themselves, to question others around them. She well knew that once the suspicion was aroused it was very difficult indeed to make it quiet, and in the right kind of person… Othello anyone?

She checked another item off from her list, got up for a good long full body stretch then began stretches in earnest to limber up for her next task. She still had yet to break into Ellison Pharmaceutical and remove the strains of virus that she had deleted from the computer earlier. It was about two in the morning, the perfect time for a little late-night roof walk. That little bit of theft and running reconnaissance on five of her target homes would she do before she called it a done task and headed to bed. She could sleep in late tomorrow after all before she got to the running of the rest of her reconnaissance. If she was really lucky, she could manage to slip in the virus to her intended targets in the same trip she intended as reconnaissance thus saving the need for a return trip. On the other hand, if she didn't do her homework first she stood the chance of getting caught and that wasn't really a risk she was prepped to take at that moment.

I think I had a lot less to do when I was merely a bounty hunter, she thought a little sourly. She'd never thought she'd look back on those days with any kind of nostalgia!

Trowa made his report to Une and they speculated about precisely what she intended to do with the list of names from the bounty hunter Lists; she really only seemed interested in one of them but the unexpected luck of having so many names of the ringleaders of the Consortium dropped into her lap was one gift horse Une wasn't going to complain about. They spent a few minutes speculating over Midii's plans over the line.

"You believe she intends to settle the score with the Consortium by going after the ringleaders?" Une surmised after he'd finished with his report.

"Her past behavior suggests that if she's looking on the lists, she hunting for bounty heads. It only makes sense considering the nature of her extorted service to the Consortium that she would want some form of revenge. I don't think she's one to take an insult and indignity like the one she's been dealt by them lightly. What I am uncertain of was that disk she took her time compiling and how the information she gathered figures in to her over all plot. Not all of the information she gave was factual and most of it was completely out of context. The Preventors does not have a "Project Alpha" and up until now has shown little interest in their internal affairs. The information she has gathered, and the way she has sequenced the order of it, would seem to suggest that they have had a hand in the Preventors' recent run of good luck."

"It appears our clever little spy has plans to create herself a fall guy," Une said with some amusement. "If, no, when this thing falls through, those boys of the Consortium are going to be looking for someone to take the heat… it looks like she's ready and willing to provide them with a target for their anger."

"Hm, yes. And if they're busy squabbling among themselves they're too busy to note her own actions," Trowa said with equal dryness.

"I like the way her mind works," Une said with true amusement. "I just wish I knew her whole plan. I'd hate to be blind sided with a surprise from that one. With this many people tap dancing around one another it would be easy for people to get their toes stepped on."

"If I may ask, why do you then let her continue to make moves on the game board? Why not simply bring her in, rescue her family, and have the Preventors continue her operation?"

"Midii Une is a rogue element, and right now we need her precisely as she is. Because she is still in training, officially she is not a Preventors employee and cannot in her current state be subjected to Preventors regulations. She is able to do things we by law are not allowed to do, she doesn't need to consider Procedural Due Process or warrants or mandates. In essence she has carte blanche to go in there and do whatever she has to do, overtly or covertly, to get the job done. The Preventors have to have this and that to pass through the sieve of due process before we're allowed to take strenuous action. As bad as it sounds, right now we need her exactly as she is, doing exactly what she is doing."

"Plausible deniability," Trowa stated flatly. "You're allowing her to act on her own so that just in case she is caught in a bad situation the Preventors can disavow all knowledge of her involvement with the Consortium and the plans we're now allowing her to get away with."

"It's the most expedient route," Une concurred.

Trowa restrained himself from making the unusually snappy remark that he thought Une just wanted Midii to do all of her work for her. The Lady was correct when she said it was expedient, Trowa could think of a more expedient way of stopping these events from unfolding.

"Why not simply cancel the fete? The Consortium would not be able to make its attacks in the first place if it had no event to interrupt."

"Twofold. One, we need the even to go through as planned because we need them to attack. We won't be able to justify the full scale bust I plan on holding shortly after the festivities unless we can show solid, concrete and indisputable proof that our actions have their reasons. Two, if we canceled the fete the Consortium would know we were on to them and would go to ground for a while, we might never flush them out if that happened and even if we kept Midii in her quasi-position on staff for observation they would eventually either grow tired of her lack of progress and terminate her or find a new way to use her. At least with matters the way they are we know mostly what she's up to, and what the Consortium has planned."

"Good points," he said. "She's changed into night-ops attire, I believe she plans to run her raid on Ellison Pharmaceutical next."

"Do you intend to follow?" Une inquired.

"Not right away. It's two in the morning and traffic is all but non-existent right now. She'd know right away if she was being tailed. I know where she intends to be, I'll catch up with her there. Hopefully she plans to call it a night after this escapade, how much longer can she continue with any level of alertness? She may get careless."

"If she does it's your job to see that she doesn't get caught."

"Rodger that. Out."

Trowa watched from his perch as Midii, wearing her old and familiar Shadowblade gear slipped out of her now darkened apartment and mounted her Kawasaki bike; speeding off into the night on a very quiet engine. Sure enough, she was headed in the direction of Ellison Pharmaceuticals.

It was a blocky three storied building the top two levels were cubic in shape the first floor was more rectangular. The first floor was the general pharmaceutical goods store, glass window wall full of advertisements, shelf upon shelf of over the counter drugs and general nutrition quack medicine. She cased the place from a distance, it had the usual business place weaknesses, windows that were easy to get in to, locks that could be easily picked… they'd even left partial lighting on for her. How very hospitable of them. No doubt they had security cameras casing the entire interior of the first story. Because of it's layout with the first story being slightly larger than the top two stories and the small flat roof having air conditioning and ventilation ducts access they had practically rolled out the welcome mat for her. She could do a job like this in her sleep.

I may wind up having to be able to, I'm still pretty tired. Maybe I'll stop in and pick up some caffeine pills while I'm here. The next few days are going to be real doozies for me and I'll need to be alert.

She took out her pen light located the external switch box. After jimmying it open she read the list of power connections and switched off a select few. The lights were still on but she was unobserved. Crappy security layout for this place, really pathetic. Midii felt almost insulted by having to perform such a cakewalk.

Don't get cocky, stupid! she warned herself. Just because this is ameture work doesn't mean you can't still get caught! With that admonition in mind she quietly scaled the fire escape, then glanced around from her vantage point to look for possible watchers. It was an upscale neighborhood but one never knew. Ascertaining that she was unobserved, Midii continued her task; loosening the nails holding the grate over the vent shaft she soundlessly popped the grate out and slid into the cramped metal tunnels. You'd think that designers would realize that vent shaft large enough to fit human beings were a big security risk, but in the interests of being cost effective (or at least perpetuating the movie myths) they continued to build them that way because that ventilation system style was cost effective for heating and cooling a building like this.

Using quiet suction cups on her hands she slid herself along the ducts on her belly so as not to make any noise. It wasn't long before she came upon a vent. She peered out through the cracks, and after making certain that the room was unoccupied, quietly pushed it out and dropped to the floor, landing lightly and noiselessly on her feet, then crouching low and looking around. The security cameras were off, but if there was even a guard patrolling the place she wouldn't have long. She ducked behind the nearest cover and wondered at her next option. She had walked into this one blind, she didn't know where the Lab was or where they stored their frozen viruses. It had been rather vain and stupid of her and it was likely going to get her caught. It was obvious that the lab wasn't on the first floor however; the back was all stock room and the front was the store. That left the top two stories as it was unlikely that this building had a basement… wrong area for a basement, none of the other buildings had one. For some reason, they just didn't build basements in this part of the country. So that left the second and third stories.

I could crawl back into the vent and take my chances that I'll find the duct that will take me where I want to go, or I could try the stairs. The problem with using the stairs however was that if there were any security guards they would also be using the stairs. Oh well, that was what she carried a tranquilizer gun for.

Without further ado the walked back to the door to the stock room, quickly picked the lock, and soundlessly jogged up the stairs.

Pay dirt! she exulted. The second story contained the laboratory and freezer units in which the biohazardous materials were stored. Her eyes fell on the cages full of rats used for testing nearby.

Awww, the poor things. I wonder if I could let them go and everyone would think the break-in was by some radical animal rights group. Twisty, I like it. Then another thought occurred to her. She was breaking into a pharmacy that tested out new medical drugs, if she let those rats go and they were infected with some kind of mutated virus or something she stood a chance of releasing the ironic equivalent of a Black Plague on this city.

No, better leave it alone, she decided. I'm already enough of a Typhoid Mary as it is without an army of plague-carrying rats on my list of credentials. She made her way quietly over to the tall stainless steel freezer units in one corner of the room and scrambled the key pad. The doors opened, she quickly made her selections from the list of code bars she'd copied down earlier, and popped them into a portable cryo-storage tray which was then put into her satchel for safe keeping.

She shut the freezers and her ears picked up the sound of running feet in hard soled cop-shoes. Midii quicky ducked behind a nearby lab sink and counter unit. The door was loudly shoved open and the bright beam of a flashlight was played about the interior of the room; she could hear the panting breaths of a badly out of shape security guard over near the door. Midii crouched in the shadow of the island unit and listened to the sound of his footsteps. Things were getting interesting; her heart rate was going up. She could just take care of things now and shoot him with a tranq dart, it wouldn't hurt him; but if he had friends or had already radioed for back-up itcould complicate matters. Best to play the safe route. She's just play "All-around-the-marigold-bush" with Porky the Rent-a-cop until he finally decided it was a false alarm and went to investigate elsewhere.

She had the song "Mexican Hat Dance" running through her head as the cop advanced into the room and passed right by her to check the rats cages. As Porky made his way over to the freezer units Midii moved without so much as the rustle of cloth to keep the island between herself and the pudgy one with his gun riding low and, Midii noted with some disgust, the crack of his ass showing from the edge of his low riding belt. There were just some kinds of cleavage that shouldn't be shown. She clamped down on her ridiculous urge to laugh at the thought of her landing a spit wad right on that target. It was so tempting. Even in the most serious of situations, she could be such a child.

Resist all temptation, she admonished herself, clamping down on her urge to snicker as she once again moved just out of sight. Here he was maybe five feet from her, but he didn't have the first clue that she was even in the same building as him. Porky hitched up his belt, then scratched his ass and snorted some phlem up his nose while Midi made a disgusted face. Really, how uncouth! He moved once more and she with him, he was headed back towards the door! His inspection complete, he was going to leave. Porky paused at the doorway and then let it rip with a long very loud fart. Midii put her face in her hands torn between silent laughter and disgust.

I've hit a new low point in my career, she thought.

As the door clicked shut behind him she thought

Ole! then hurried toward the window. She checked the sill for alarms just in case then unlocked it and pried it open. Sliding out then hanging by the sill she slid the window down until its was a crack, let go with one hand while the other finished shutting the window. Then she simply dropped to the roof of the first story. From there it was an easy leap to ground level and a jog out to her bike. She didn't bother feeling victorious about her theft. How could a woman feel victorious about a mission like that? It had been stupid!

Oh darn! she thought as she sped away on her bike. I forgot the caffeine pills