Chapter Text
007 meant it when he said he would quit hacking.
Well- He did. But now, in this hellhole? It was all he had left. He had quit hacking for over ten years- when he found C00lkidd on his doorstep, so small and fragile- so easily hurt if he did something wrong. He vaguely felt tears splash against the water of the lake as he reminisced.
And now, he HAD to. It wasn’t big things, merely teleporting and cloning. It wasn’t like he was manipulating and playing with viruses and corrupted code, code so volatile that admins rarely messed with it, when they did, they were extremely careful. But back then? 007 wasn’t careful. He played with the code like it was playdough, with no care for the consequences.
He was stupid. He was young.
And he regretted it all. Every single second of the day. Everything reminds him of his actions.
Seeing the other survivors, or even just the stinging pain in his hands that intensified as he used his gui to escape. The way his hands trembled constantly or where sometimes he could barely move his fingers correctly. The way he seemed to glitch and distort slightly for a few seconds after each death or teleport. Or even the way his hands had a faint gradient into red and black, which he hit. Or the way his scars seemed to glow. Not that he had many, most were acquired here.
In his opinion, he had done a good job hiding this. None of the other survivors seemed to notice, his isolatory nature helping with that. If they DID notice, then they didn’t care.
And a part of 007 was bitter about that, but he was mostly relieved. These were some of the lesser consequences. He was just glad they hadn’t gotten worse or progressed, considering his small yet constant use of the coolgui.
…
And what he planned to do would definitely make it worse. 007 wanted to do more for his team, to help. His clones didn’t distract the killers much and his teleportation ability was only for himself.
But what if he could change that? Maybe- just maybe, he could bend the spectres limitations, be able to teleport others.
There were rules the Spectre put in place, and 007 planned to break them.
He was a hacker once upon a time, and he never followed the rules then, so why should he now? He knew code intimately, like he knew the back of his hand.
He was rusty, yes, his memory was foggy and warped,
But he remembered most of how to code, and things tended to come back to him when he did something that reminded him of it. Sometimes.
He took a deep breath, looking around the docks, in case anyone was near. No one was. It was late, most of the survivors were asleep. He wasn’t. He could rarely ever sleep without nightmares, without memories warped to torment him.
And he opened the coolgui panel. It was long outdated and horrendously limited, the three options in the device staring back at him, like a mockery of who he once was.
He set to work, plunging his hands into the code and attempting to rewrite it, pain shooting through his limbs in hot bursts, heat growing in his hands, as if he stuck his hands into flames, but the hacker pressed on.
The longer he tried to code, the more it hurt, he could see his vision glitch, and he could feel his body doing the same. But he had to continue. If he did enough he could get everyone out of here. He just had to keep GOING.
It hurt so much. But it was working.
Something so simple shouldn’t hurt so bad.
But it did.
The spectre was trying to stop him, but he wasn’t letting it.
And then, he was finished. Reeling back, he gasped for air, pain radiating throughout his body in white hot bursts. He laid down against the wood of the dock, the cool night air hitting his face. The code was unpolished, potentially dangerous.
He couldn’t even test it properly.
Or.. could he?
He sat up, reaching to open his coolgui again, before-
Pure agony blazed through him, starting from his hands, intensifying as it spread throughout his body.
The ex-hacker bit back a scream, curling into himself as he tried not to sob too loud- his hands were glitchy and the gradient was so much more pronounced. Instead of the skin having a slight gradient to black at his fingertips, it was up to his elbows. This would be really hard to hide. But that wasn’t in his priority list.
Everything hurt. So, so much. It hurt to think. Everything was starting to blur together, tears cascading down his face as the pain got worse and worse, and then-
Everything went black.
______
When 007 opened his eyes, he found himself in the glass houses map.
A round had started. How long had it been-?
His thoughts were cut short as a scream rang through the air. A painfully familiar one.
Elliot was being chased. Time to test that update. He opened up his coolgui, tapping on the teleport option, before selecting Elliot’s name and typing in coordinates.
His eyes widened as he looked back down at Elliot. He wasn’t going to finish in time. Not unless..
He was pretty useless anyways, so might as well try and body block. At the very least he can do this if the code fails. Getting up on shaking legs- fear or lingering exhaustion from however long he was unconscious, he didn’t know. But he had one goal in mind. Ensure Elliot’s safety.
He quickly ran over towards the pizza man, pushing his legs as far as he would go. He could see John doe’s claw being raised- no. He wasn’t going to make it in time.
He was. He was. He had to. He had to go faster.
He could feel himself glitching. It hurt. His health went down by ten percent. He didn’t know why or how, but he found he didn’t care.
He typed as he ran, inputting the coordinates without a second thought. The furthest spawn away from their location.
He was still typing as he pushed Elliot out of the way, the others eyes widening as they clutched his side, bleeding profusely.
He was almost done typing as John Doe’s claw hit him, corrupted code solidified into flesh digging into his chest and shoulder as the other growled and snarled with rage, 007 letting out a strangled cry of pain.
He was done typing as he saw Elliot’s mouth open to say his name in shock.
“00-“
He clicked enter as he felt John Doe’s claw pierce his stomach with a sickening squelch, seeing elliot start to fade, as if a hologram, a confirmation of the teleportations success appearing on the coolgui panel as Elliot disappear, as his health hit zero.
______
Elliot yelled out the hackers name as he was pushed out of the way. It took him a few
Seconds to process who had pushed him out of the way of John does attack, and even less time for confusion to take hold. How, what, and WHY?!-
“00-“
He felt weird, as if his very molecules were buzzing, his vision starting to glitch. Despite the glitchiness, he could still see 007 getting attacked, John Doe dealing a final blow right as he suddenly appeared somewhere else.
“-7?!”
What. Just. Happened.