Lyon pounded up the stairs of the library, prompting glares and shushes from other patrons.

They did not see the emergency he was in. All they saw was a teenager dressed in a dark blue sweatshirt that was clearly too big for him and baggy black jeans. They didnt even register his soaking wet hair. Lyon didnt care if they saw him; he just didnt want them to be able to recognize him later, which is why he had the hood of the sweatshirt up. He carried a grey and black laptop bag that would easily blend in with a crowd, as well as a black backpack. Perspiration beaded on his forehead. He reached the top floor, the one that held all the reserved rooms for studying. Lyon never reserved a room. He just grabbed one. He went to the farthest one down and scanned the list. No one was due to have this room for another two hours. Perfect. He jimmied the lock with a few quick twists of his wire; the lock was old. He quickly went in and shut the door. Lyon pulled the blinds down on the giant window facing the street and covered the doors window with the paper in the room, put there expressly for that purpose. There was one light in the room, a shaded bulb that cast a dim glow over the room. Lyon dropped his backpack in the corner and pulled the laptop and tablet out of the laptop bag. He attached a small device, of his own making, to one of the laptops USB ports. This device (he called it the Identity Shader, hoping to patent it later in life) allowed him to hook into any Wi-Fi spot without them ever knowing he was there, even if it was password protected. Ever since 3/13, hosts of Wi-Fi spots had been able to see who was on their Wi-Fi and even look at anything on their computer. The laptop booted up within seconds, and the tablet was already open to the app he needed. He began to scroll through news reports in the area, hoping beyond hope that he would not see a picture of himself there. As he looked, his laptop automatically started up his internet and various other applications he usually needed. Eventually, on the Westbrook Gazette, Lyon found a blurry picture of his face, shaded by his hood, accompanied by a short article. Dang it! He knew the website would have minimal security, so it wouldnt be too hard to hack. He turned to his laptop and typed in the web address, while creating an alert on his tablet for any future identical photos with the other hand. Lyon could do that; focus a few things simultaneously without sacrificing efficiency in anything. When he finally got into the websites source, he altered a few things about the picture, including the colour of the sweatshirt and his hair. He also changed the face a little bit, lengthening the nose and widening the eyes. Lyon could have removed it completely, but he knew that would arouse suspicion. He didnt tweak the article at all because he knew this would result in witnesses doubting the articles truth. Lyon needed them to believe the article was real because he needed them to believe the picture was real. When he was done, his gaze wandered over to the right side of the page where there were suggested stories for the day. His eyes widened as he read the top headline. Drim Kapro Captured, it read. Lyon clicked on it as he released a pent-up breath. At approximately 10:23 this evening, Kapro, gamertag N3M0 was taken into custody by Scotland Yard. Chief Inspector Detective Larkin declined to comment at this time. Lyon skimmed the rest of the article, then leaned back and ran his hands through his drying hair. His eyes kept going back to the time of capture. Ten twenty-three. That was when He quickly switched screens and glanced through some emails. Bingo. If Kapro was captured then, this cant have been a coincidence.

Bee-boop. Bee-boop. Lyon froze as he glanced at his tablet. He pressed a button on the lower left-hand corner which caused it to move to another app that showed the hallway outside his room. He had set it up a few weeks ago when things started getting hot. Now, it showed four police officers walking down the hall, slightly crouched. They were all holding pistols. That was bad. Very bad. Only in special circumstances do the officers receive permission to use firearms. Lyon sat still for a moment, contemplating the best course of action. He slammed his laptop shut and thrust both it and the tablet into his laptop bag. As he slung both the laptop bag and his backpack over his shoulders, Lyon crossed to the window and threw up the blinds. Pity this faces a busy street, he thought as he opened the window and popped out the screen. He slowly climbed out and pulled the hood up on his face again. Lyon shimmied along the edge, hugging the sloping roof and trying not to look down at the pavement four stories beneath him. He had practiced this a few days ago, just in case. Boy, did I pick a good time to prepare. He continued around the corner of the roof until he reached the fire escape on the side that led down into an alley. He slid down the ladders and ran down stairs until he reached the bottom. He ran down the alley until he hit the huge building behind it. As soon as he ducked behind the library, Lyon ripped off the sweatshirt and tossed it in the dumpster. He took off the black jeans, which had tan pants underneath. He shoved the black jeans into the backpack as he pulled out a button-up shirt and an argyle sweater vest. Once he had finished changing, he turned his laptop bag inside out to make it an electric green instead of the grey and black it had been before. He also jammed his tan paperboy cap on his head. Once he had smoothed out the wrinkles in his shirt and pants, he strutted out of the alleyway and blended in with the crowd of people coming home from work. It took Lyon a little over an hour to get back to his home (a distance that would normally take 20 minutes) due to the paths he had to take to get away from police officers. Once he finally reached home, he quietly opened the door and crept in. He could hear snoring from the living room. Great, just great; his old man was home. This was going to make things a little tougher. Lyon started down the hall, stopping just short of the doorway to the living room. As his father inhaled, he quickly moved past the doorway, stepping on the few squeaky floorboards. From there, it was a breeze to get to his room. Ever since he had started hisexploits, he had had a keypad and thumbprint scanner installed on his bedroom door. He didnt want his dad getting in there. Lyon had also had the door replaced with a steel-enforced one, though it appeared wooden from the outside. His precautions didnt end there, though. Hed had the windows changed to bullet-proof glass and installed jammers around the four corners of the room, as well as sound-blockers (hed gotten them off the black market), effectively cocooning himself in physical and mental silence. No one could bother him here. The room was sparsely furnished, with a simple bed with a headboard on the far left corner from the door, and a dresser at the foot of it. Above the bed was a poster of the inside of a complex computer. Underneath the computer was text that read Got confused? On the opposite wall was a small frame of Lyons Rules, a list of etiquettes and chivalries he promised to himself that he would follow. In the center of the room was a large, dark brown, wood executive desk with papers and electronic parts scattered all over it. An executive chair sat behind this, swiveled towards the metal filing cabinet next to the desk. The chair and desk had been obtained

from a neighbor having a yard sale a few years back; the filing cabinet had been pulled out of an alleyway next to a dumpster. The walls were a light grey and the carpet was a dark tan. Lyon worked hard to keep the room immaculate, except for the desk. That was his workspace. Everything had its place, even though it was hard to see. As soon as he punched in the code and scanned his thumb, he slid through and quietly shut the door. He dropped the backpack immediately and carried the laptop bag to his desk, removing the laptop and tablet, as well as a few other accessories. He then returned it to the rack in his closet that held six other laptop bags of various brands and colours. Lyon went back to the desk and booted up the laptop, then turned away as he fiddled with a pair of orange headphones that hung on a hook above the filing cabinet. He hefted them in his hand a bit, deciding if he wanted to use these or just plug his mp3 into the speakers. Deciding on the speakers so he could better hear alerts and other sounds, Lyon hung the headphones back on the hook and pulled his custom mp3 out of his pocket. He had put it together a few years ago after studying different popular mp3s. He installed his own security system onto it that would fry the circuit board if the password was not entered correctly in three tries. And by correctly, it meant that your fingers had to be in the correct position on the back of the mp3 as well as punch in the correct number and letter password on the other side. Lyon was a little paranoid about others breaking into his stuff. As fast-paced guitar music queued up, Lyon sat down in the swivel chair and rolled up his sleeves, turning his paperboy cap backwards. He put on a headset with a small microphone, the kind that football coaches wear. Clickclickclick clack clickclickclickclick sounded in the room as Lyon typed furiously in a few different emails. After this, he opened up a game called Vefner Dracin. It was an MMORPG released a few years ago that took off with players all around the world because of how realistic it seemed. Vefner Dracin (or VD as it was called by the more experienced players) allowed players to change things and play with things in the world as if it were actually real life. It became a second life to many players. VD sprawled across many time periods and locations, from small medieval villages to gigantic urban settings. These provided an endless amount of playability, with constant updates. Gamers could interact with this world in a way that no other game had ever let them do. One could even crouch down in some grass and snip individual pieces or walk up to a brick wall and chisel out a single brick. One could go to a fruit vendors stall and slice a part of an apple off, and walk away eating it. One could go to the library and read real books, even ripping out pages he liked. There were a vast number of things to do, such as taking a job or simply wandering the world. VD was meant for PCs but had been adapted to other game systems as well. The company that had created VD licensed their product to a hardware company, Yakro Inc, which created a game system specifically for the game. The system, VDC (Vefner Dracin Console), ran it on even higher graphics and had the ability to hook up to a specially made chair that allowed the gamer to completely immerse him or herself in the world. No one knew why exactly the game was named Vefner Dracin. The most widely accepted theory was that there was a man who wandered around, who could give a player special abilities and objects, who could do anything he wanted in the game. He was a god of sorts within the game. Some believed that he was the founder of the game and the company. Lyons phone suddenly rang. He pressed a button to route it through to his headphones. Go, he said as he continued what he was doing on the computer.

Mr. Dracin? We have a problem, the woman said in a nervous tone of voice. He paused what he was doing. Is it about what happened last night? If so, Im already on it. Jacoby emailed me late with the details. Im in the game right now. No, its something else. It seemstheres been a breach in security at the Oadengroke Bank. The main one? The one on 4th Street? Lyon sent his character running through the streets of the Vijon City. The bank wasnt too far from where hed spawned. People started to turn towards him, and he could faintly hear ejaculations of Hey! Is that Vefner Dracin? Dang it. Hed forgotten to shadow himself. He put on a fake name over his with the press of a button and changed his appearance. To anyone watching, it looked like a glitch in the game. He had long ago prevented any screenshots ever being taken of his character, so that wasnt a concern. Lyon stopped short as he approached the bank. Despite the narrow city road, there was a thirty foot perimeter around the bank. The flaming bank. The bank with the huge hole in front. Though it was a game, the law enforcement treated it like an actual crisis. Important virtual items were stored in that bank. The law enforcement was composed of real players as well as in-game people. In order for the game to work correctly, there had to be consequences for committing crimes. Otherwise, someone could build up a company or a story, and have it plundered and destroyed. People who chose to be criminals in the game had to be careful about when and where they committed crimes. Their character would actually be put in jail in the game for a certain amount of time (depending on the crime). Lyon spoke angrily into his headset. It seems theres been a breach?! The entire bank has been blown open! When did this happen? The girl on the other end spoke quietly, apprehensively. At about 3:42, Sir. Jacoby tried to handle it, but when we saw the artifact had been taken, we thought you would need to be called. Lyon snorted into his headset, trying to contain his anger. He kneaded his forehead with his thumb and index finger, closing his eyes. You do realize of course, Haley, that this was our most important secret, correct? And that, if you cant recover it, you will be fired? Yes Sir. Haley spoke in an almost inaudible whisper. Over and out. Over and out. Lyon tore off the headset, slamming it on the desk. He got up and paced around his desk, wringing his hands and running them through his hair. He forced himself to calm down so he could think. Can Haley and Jacoby really handle this? I think Ill have to go in. The artifact was stolen. The artifact was stolen. This wasnt something Lyon could simply go into his games software and pull out. The virtual world didnt work like that anymore. There were certain things, like this, that were simply cemented in the virtual world. This type of protection had been started in order to thwart hackers who sought to transfer funds and other things into their virtual accounts by getting into the system. It had slowly become common practice. Now, in order to get something tied to the cybernet, one had to actually go in and get it. This was Lyons number one priority. Vefner Dracins number one priority.