It had been a long week for Access. He had spent the past week upgrading network security. It's not that he didn't trust Endeavor, it's just that one person's idea of enough, was never his idea of enough, and he really didn't trust Endeavor. Nothing personal, he really didn't trust anybody with his babies. He sat in the middle of his lab, spinning in his over sized chair, just like he always did when he worked. Holographic screens hovered all over the lab, some of them permanent fixtures, some of them projections of his powers, none of them really necessary, but it was all for nostalgia, he wanted something to root him down to his early days coding.

It was a light night for him, the last in his schedule of upgrades, and he had finished all but 3 separate firewalls, so it was no problem for him to open up one of his thought processes to the OpNet to join in on some friendly conversation. The chat room had been busier than usual lately, and sometimes it felt like it was the only socialization he received. Of course, he knew there were 8 others there before the he even made it to the site, and one of them he didn't recognize.

Root Access:Access
Password:**************************
>Password Accepted
New File:Contessa
Begin logging

Can't hurt to keep tabs on the Nova population.

*15 minutes pass*

Oh bloody hell, she's being held against her will and I had to open my big mouth that I could go get her, and I've even had the Interpol grant me permission...yay

Reaching down into his gut, he called forth the power that would let him grab Contessa. Circuit board print begin forming across his skin as binary code passed through his eyes. It was almost as if he was becoming a Processing Unit himself. He set his terminal down on the desk and reached his hand into it. Virtual space-time was now bending to his every whim and desire, control he only wish he could have in the real world.

*another 15 minutes later*

There were clues something had went wrong. The pounding headache could be one, the other could be the darkness he was in. Last he checked Rashoud facilities paid their light bill, but that might be giving too much credit to the project. The final clue was the fact he was chained to concrete support column in what he could best make out as an abandoned warehouse. The real problem Access was facing wasn't the fact he was kidnapped successfully, he would escape, there was no doubt in his mind, the problem he was having here was different and burned him on an emotional level. Somebody had simply outsmarted him for once, and it hurt.

(to be continued)