Fallen Bast*rd

Chapter One - Two years later

Willa 16 Years Old

“Come on…”

The final line of code compiled. And nothing exploded; that’s always a promising sign.

I held my breath as the programme ran through the last stage of Zero’s newest challenge. Lines of text scrolled across the screen, far too fast for me to follow, before the screen froze.

For three whole seconds, nothing happened. Then the encrypted folder on my desktop unlocked.

I punched the air. “Yes!”

A tiny text file appeared inside it.

Smug satisfaction warmed my chest as I opened the file, already imagining the look on Zero’s face when I told him I’d beaten his dumb test in under three hours.

The file held a single sentence.

ABOUT BLOODY TIME!

My smile faltered. “Arsehole.” Another line appeared.

ONLY TOOK YOU THREE WHOLE HOURS THIS TIME. IMPROVEMENT.

I stared at the screen.

He wasn’t even in the room, and yet he was somehow able to irritate me. I typed a response.

• I HOPE BOTH SIDES OF YOUR PILLOW ARE WARM TONIGHT!

MEAN.

• YOU DESERVE IT.

DEBATABLE.

I grinned despite myself and grabbed the can of ginger beer beside my keyboard.

The screen flickers. Once, twice. Then everything goes black.

My grin’s gone too.

“Zero?”

No response appeared. Tapped a key, still nothing.

The monitor was still on, but my desktop had disappeared. No terminal, or open programmes. Not even the little spinning wheel of death.

Just nothingness.

Then a single white blinking cursor popped into existence. Followed by a line of text.

H.I.V.E

My eyes went wide. No way.

Another line followed.

YOU’VE BEEN SELECTED.

My heart stuttered; every hacker knew of H.I.V.E.

They were our urban legend. Depending on who you asked, they were heroes, terrorists or a bedtime story programmers told each other to explain the impossible.

Nobody agreed on who they were.

Everybody agreed you didn't find H.I.V.E.

H.I.V.E found you.

A third line appeared.

MEMBERSHIP IS AVAILABLE.

My mouth gapes.

Then-

EVERYTHING BEGINS WITH A CHOICE.

Two more words appear in the centre of the screen.

YES

NO

I stare at them; there’s no countdown or explanation. No flashing graphics, just the choice.

The sensible me is screaming not to touch anything; the other me is excited that H.I.V.E have found me…ME!

The girl Zero once called a digital menace to society. The girl whose first hack made every clubhouse door play Barbie Girl whenever someone opened them.

The girl who two short years ago didn’t know the difference between a d backdoor and a bloody firewall.

I pushed away from my desk so fast my chair hit the wall.

I didn’t make a choice; instead, I ran.

Our house is located in the protected residential section of the Soulless Bastards compound, surrounded by the homes of past and present leadership.

Beyond them stands the clubhouse, workshops, garages, and dorm for prospects and single patched brothers; officers have suites inside the clubhouse, as do the club girls dubbed the Soulless women. They live at the other end in a dorm-style wing.

To the outside world, the site looked like a private estate, trapped behind high walls and security gates.

To me, it’s home.

I tore down the steps and across the compound, dodging two kids racing scooters down the middle of the bloody road.

“Slow down!” someone shouted.

“Can’t!”

“Fire?”

“Could be!”

That earned a laugh, but I couldn’t stop to see who it came from.

Family Day was already in full swing; smoke drifted from the BBQ pits behind the clubhouse, and music thumped through the speakers.

Prospects carried tables and crates of drinks, while the kids and dogs ran wild. Grown men who should know better had started a water gun fight.

Normally, I would have joined in with Georgie in tow.

Today, though, I barely noticed any of it.

Zero’s workshop door was open; I rushed inside without knocking.

He sat in front of three large monitors; one hand rested on the keyboard while lines of data crawled across the screens.

At twenty-one years old, Evan Blyth looked as though he should’ve been photographed lounging against a sports car, not a man who spent an unhealthy amount of time with dismantled tech, reading lines of code.

His blonde hair fell over his forehead, and his grey eyes remained fixed on the screen as I entered.

“You broke something?” he said, not looking at me.

“I did not.”

“Lies, you always do.”

“I got a H.I.V.E invite.”

His fingers froze over the keys. His breath slowed until the most noticeable sound in the room was the whirring of computer fans.

Zero looked, not a glance, more of a stare.

And the lazy amusement had fallen from his face so completely that my excitement almost died.

“I haven’t clicked anything,” I added.

“Good.”

Not the reaction I expected. I thought maybe he’d be shocked and sorta proud. Maybe even one of those grins he reserves for pizza.

But not this, not fear.

“You knew this would happen.”

His jaw tightened. “I knew it was a possibility.”

I narrow my eyes. “You knew they were watching me?”

“I knew they watched anyone with enough talent to be useful.”

Normally the praise would have pleased me. Instead, something cold twisted inside me.

“You’ve spent two years telling me they’re the best.”

“I said they’re powerful.”

“Same difference.”

“No.” He stood. “It really isn’t.”

I folded my arms. “You’re acting like I was asked to join a death cult.”

“I think I’d prefer that.”

“Zero.”

“No, Willa.”

His tone stopped me. Zero teased, criticised, and delivered insults with the same calm other people used to discuss the weather.

He barely raised his voice, and he used my name like a warning, ever.

I looked past him at the workshop walls, whiteboards covered in diagrams, strings of code and network maps. I’d seen it a hundred times.

Sometimes he explained them to me, and other times he told me to stop being nosy.

Today one of the structures stood out to me.

I stepped closer; the branching encryption tree on the board matched part of the invitation’s framework. Not exactly, but close enough.

My gaze travelled to another board. The naming pattern, layered access points—the way each route forked before circling back into the centre.

His fingerprints, everywhere.

“You… you built it.”

Zero said nothing.

“You built H.I.V.E.” I accused.

The silence lingered; outside, someone shouted for more ice. A child squealed with laughter and music pulsed faintly through the walls.

But inside the workshop, the air was stagnant.

Finally Zero exhaled. “I started it.”

The words hit harder than they should’ve. “You?”

“Yeah.”

“How?”

“Too much confidence and not enough supervision.”

“That’s not really an answer.”

“And yet it’s the most honest one I’ve got.”

I stood there staring. “You were a part of H.I.V.E?”

“I was H.I.V.E.”

The excitement I felt in my room turned into something I couldn’t name. He moved past me and shut the workshop door.

“I was fifteen when Drey and I started hacking together. At first it was fun, targeting dodgy companies or stupidly rich people. Anyone we decided wouldn’t miss it.”

“Robin Hood.”

“That’s how we saw ourselves.”

“You gave the money away?”

“Some.”

I c**k an eyebrow.

“Fine. We weren’t very good Robin Hoods.”

I snort, suppressing the laugh that almost escaped.

“Others joined,” he continued. “Most weren’t as skilled, but they played their part. There were ten of us in the end. We stole information from companies, then sold it to the competition. Siphoned money from less likeable members of society. Exposed secrets when it benefited us.”

“Curious, why H.I.V.E?”

His jaw clenched. “Hostile intelligence & Virtual Exploitation.”

“That’s somewhat dramatic.”

“I was a kid,” he grins. “I wore a leather wrist cuff.”

I snort. “Tell me you’re not serious.”

“I wish.”

The tension cracks, but only for a moment.

“What happened?”

“We got bold. Started making money, real money.” His expression darkens. “The kind that attracts people, you’d rather not notice you.”

“The Deep Dark.”

He nods. Zero has used that phrase for years.

Whenever I strayed and went to search places I shouldn’t, he’d warn me away from the Deep Dark. I’d always assumed he’d meant the dark corners of the web.

Now I understand; it was more than that.

“What do they do?”

“For your own good, I won’t answer that.”

“You taught me everything I know.”

“I taught you enough to keep you safe.”

You taught me how to get inside.”

“And now I’m teaching you when not to.”

I glance back at the compound, though the closed door blocks my view.

“You left. Why didn’t you dismantle it?”

“Yes,” his grey eyes harden. “I ask myself that every day.”

“But you could have. So why didn’t you?”

Zero looked towards his leather cut that hung on the back of his chair. The Soulless Bastards patch covered most of it.

“I already had another family, one I owed.”

“The club”

He nodded. “Aunt Ally introduced me to the club life long before I was prospected. And Gunner gave me a place here when I needed one. By the time I understood what H.I.V.E was becoming, I was tied to both.”

“You thought if you sank one ship it would sink the other?”

“I knew it would, so I left and left a way back in.”

I frowned. “What?”

“A door only I can find. I watch, catalogue what they do, who they deal with and where the money goes.”

“You’re waiting, for?”

“The right moment.” His expression turned cold. “To burn it all down.”

For a second, he was something I didn’t recognise. Not my teacher or the annoying older brother I’d added to the roster.

Something sharper, more dangerous. Then it disappeared.

“What do I do?”

“Click No.” He didn’t hesitate. That hurt more than I’d like to admit.

“That’s it? They’ll accept it?”

He nodded. “They always respect the choice.”

“Why?”

“Because I built it into our foundation. No threats, no pressure, and no punishment for refusing.” He leaned against his desk. “If they forced people, they couldn’t pretend they’re anything other than criminals.”

“So the choice is just something they use to make themselves feel better?” I roll my eyes “Pathetic.”

“Before you say it, NO. I know you could get in; that’s not what worries me.”

My frustration flared. “Then why?”

His voice softened. “Getting out is what costs you the most.

I fell silent. Zero stepped closer “You think the Deep Dark is where all the clever people live. It ain’t. It's the basement.”

“What’s in there?” I wait.

“The kinda people who’d smile while selling you nightmares. Willa, you don’t belong there.”

“I could.”

His reply was quiet. “I know, and I’m asking you not to.”

I trusted Zero. Not because he’s always right; he wasn’t. He’d once spent hours rebuilding an engine part before Gunner pointed out he’d been holding it upside down.

I trusted Zero because he’d never tried to hide his mistakes.

Every lesson he taught me came with a warning shaped by his regrets. And beneath every insult or sarcastic remark, he’d not once let me walk into danger without trying to shield me from it.

“All right.” The tension left my shoulders.

We returned to the house; the screen remained black save the two choices.

I sat at my desk. Zero stood behind me.

My cursor hovered over YES for a few seconds; I thought about clicking it. Joining H.I.V.E. proving I was enough, becoming part of the secret every hacker wished they knew.

Then I thought of Zero’s when I told him: not pride, fear.

I moved the cursor and clicked NO.

One final message appeared.

ACKNOWLEDGED

Then the screen went back to normal.

My desktop reappeared, and Zero’s challenge folder remained open.

No threats, warnings, nothing. Just gone.

Zero breathed a sigh of relief, reaching over me; he closed my laptop. “You done sulking?”

“I’m thinking about ignoring your advice.”

“You won’t.”

“I won’t”

“Good.” He straightened to his full height. “You’re going to family day.”

I groaned. “Do I have to?”

“Georgie will miss you.”

“She’ll live.”

“Swimming.”

“I’m sixteen, not five.”

Zero’s mouth twitched. “West will be there.”

“I hate you.”

“No you don’t”

“I strongly dislike you.”

“You fancy him.”

Gabbing the nearest thing, I hurl it at him; he catches the pillow one-handed.

“You’re the worst Yoda ever.”

“And yet you’re still here.” he tosses the pillow back. “Go be sixteen.”

Music and laughter drift through the window, and the smell of burgers and smoke fills my room. Somewhere across the compound I hear Georgie screaming my name, like she’d been searching for hours.

For now my greatest danger in the world isn’t the Deep Dark or the hacker bogeyman.

It’s trying not to make a fool of myself every time Weston Reeves smiled at me.