The Window

My first apartment in the slums was on sub-level 2 of a building with floors going from -3 to 18. I spent so many bad days in that dark smelly dump. Funny how looking outside of my half wall window on level 15 that was the first thing that came to my mind.

Sun was coming down painting the sky bloody red and lighter shades of orange, the pretty side of pollution. I preferred working during the night, it was quieter plus the lighting was better. Sitting on my desk looking outside to the sky above the buildings I was ready to start a long night when all of the sudden my door was almost put down by a skinny fella with long arms and blonde dreads, dressed like a ninja.

- Have you seen it?!- He shouted behind his mask, dropping the bag by the door after slamming it.

- Are you joking me? I've got to update that lock.- Every time I got a visit from Jake I was reminded to change my security code and every time he would make me forget.

- Dude, the Mask released a statement right in the middle of First street!

- That's already better than hacking traffic lights.- I turned my chair back to the monitors to try ignoring him and going back to work.

If I just let him talk my ears off eventually he would get tired and go to bed, in the meantime, pretending to listen was the best option. No that this, he was terminated to get my attention by going over to my station and speaking very loudly behind my back.

- We planted projectors on top of 4 buildings and he showed up in a massive hologram the size of the City tower!- He grabbed my chair, forcing me to look at him eye to eye.

- Are you done?

- Why are you always such a dick?- He finally let go.

- Habit.

Jake was 17 or something, we met in one of the Mask protests. He was very energetic, always engaged with the rebellion's business and acts. After a while I stopped going to the events, it was all too dramatic, the police were getting more and more violent and the movement wasn't going anywhere. I just wanted to take pictures to expose the cops but that got me a few visits which ended up with me dropping it.

- He was talking about the bill improving worker's payment and safety that the city Leader didn't approve.- soon he moved away and behind the shell I could see him going through my fridge.

- Don't touch my yakut, man.

- Also he called us out to go to the Leader's house on labor day.- The fridge door closed and I heard a soda can being opened.- I think he's planning an attack.

-That would be stupid.

- We gotta do something! The city Leader is a blood sucking parasite draining everyone's life! The assembly can't get anything approved these days.

At first the rebellion had no name. It was just university students protesting against the prohibition of cultural manifestations linked to the old world. The protests led to police brutality, which was very frequent and well supported by the Leader who ordered strong measures against the students. They fought back setting cars and banks on fire with bombs provided by the Trinity. These confrontations lasted for a couple of weeks until the protesters had to fall back when military back up arrived ordered by the Leader with free pass to reprimand every act of rebellion against the city. On TV it was like watching a war movie broadcasted live. They had choppers, an army of drones capturing everything from every angle possible creating a narrative where the police and the military were heroes protecting the upper Tier against anarchist terrorists.

Daily protests with the few rebels left were received with gas bombs, "non lethal" bullets that sent hundreds to the hospitals and then jail. They weren't winning, their opponent was merciless ready to use any means available to finish the rebellion. For two weeks the students resisted the military with the help of the Trinity, until one Monday morning the Force chief showed up on tv saying the terrorists were taken down before they could plant a bomb on the City Tower. He accused two kids of planning the attack, they were taken under arrest and sentenced to death within hours.

A terrorist, according to the City's constitution that was rewritten after the civil war, loses all one's civil rights not being considered a citizen of Tier-1. A simple phrase allowed the leadership to broadcast the executions of the boy's sentences to the entire city. Every screen was showing those kids being injected with deathly liquid while screaming between tears they were innocent. During the transmission, somehow the signal was hacked cutting to the video of two unidentified boys being tortured to death with electric sticks used by the Force. The video lasted 15 shocking seconds then a person wearing an ancient gas mask that covered their entire face showed up.

"We are going to unmask you." was all the masked figure said.

On the same night that mask was painted in every bridge, highway wall, alley in Tier-1. The video was on every billboard in the city, as soon as one was taken down it popped in another, same on people's gadgets. It flooded the city like a tsunami, getting out of the leadership's reach while they desperately avoided the subject, denying everything at all costs. Even though that image was on everyone's head no one ever came out as the person behind the mask. Since that day two years ago the mask's face was adopted by the rebellion officially. A group of people received information, dates or instructions sent anonymously, all encrypted so well the city intelligence never could trace it. The Mask comes and goes, dropping evidence against the police used by the students to press the assembly to get bills passed. However, the Leader never gave in. He arrested anyone preaching about the rebellion and they were questioned regarding information about the Mask. Bounties were given to whoever delivered the person behind the mask to the authorities.

Jake was one of the students who participated in secret meetings planning small attacks to the city, like the hacked traffic light that fucked me over the other week. They believe that anyone who associated themselves with any types of symbols tied to the Mask were enemies of the city. Often Jake's group gets beaten up for graffiting the logo, he is always among them. The boy is very passionate about the cause, too much for my taste, always bugging me to come to the acts. I had my share of electric sticks so I always refuse which makes him call me a camper every time we meet.

- You're such a camper. Let's go into the action, man!

- I have work to do.

- Same excuse.

- My life is still the same since you last asked.- From the look on his dark eyes he wasn't very happy with my answer.

- So what's the job?- he leaned back on my window while sipping from the can.

- Wife needs proof against the husband for the divorce.

Jobs like that were the biggest part of my income. Digging up people's online dirt for whomever paid more. All I had to do was hack the person's online address to have access to their conversations, images and online records. Everything was linked to one IP since all profiles were connected to the person's main screen, hacking into it was pretty easy. Per week I would do three to four of these jobs but it was very fluctuate. Some weeks I had nothing, that's when I reached out to some contacts and would do some freelance gigs to make up for the lack of work.

Didn't take long for Jake to get tired of lurking over my shoulder and lay on the single bed to sleep comfortably like he was in his own house. To be honest I don't know how we got to the point he could come into my apartment, hack my lock and just sleep in my bed. Just recently he got kicked out of the orphanage and probably had no place to go. I didn't mind him coming over, I worked while he was asleep and he would leave for the city pretty early so our schedules matched pretty well.