“DDOS.” Elliot looked at his screen while Link fished his phone from his pocket.
Someone was hitting their servers with a lot of requests for information, all at the same time. So many hits that the computers couldn’t keep up with demand. It was the equivalent of opening a billion browser tables at once, and then trying to let thousands of people play a game on that same computer.
And if it wasn’t fixed quickly, it was the kind of thing that could kill a game. Especially a game in its opening week that had most of the gaming world watching it.
“Luna has protocols in place.” Link thumbed through his screen.
Deep lines were etched into Elliot’s forehead. “They’re not working.”
This was awkward. I should go. Let them work. My feet were frozen to the floor, as I watched something worse than a horror movie play out in front of me.
“No.” The shift in Link’s tone made my blood run cold.
Elliot nodded. “It’s coming from…” Was that hurt on top of fear?
I knew how much this game meant to them, and the fight with Elliot the other day had driven that home, but this was different, and why were they both looking at me? “What’s wrong?”
“The attack is coming through your VPN,” Link said softly.
What? “But I’m right here. I’m not— I wouldn’t—”
“What is this?” Elliot demanded. “What are you doing to the game? Is this for another video?”
“I’m not doing anything. I’m standing here talking to the two of you. Hand to God, this isn’t me.” How was I supposed to convince them of that, though? Besides the fact that I’d always gone out of my way to keep their game from crashing, even if they didn’t like my methods of doing so.
I grabbed my laptop from my messenger bag and opened it. When I logged into the site I used to give me virtual access, my gut sank. “Someone’s in my account.” My fingers were already flying across the keyboard. “I don’t know…” My mouth couldn’t keep up with my brain if I was going to type at the same time. “I’m not the one doing this.”
But I was the one who could shut it down. I was only vaguely aware of Elliot and Link watching over my shoulder as I worked. Every time I shut the person out of one spot, they were in another. “I’m not doing this. I swear to you, this isn’t me.”
I couldn’t say anything else. I had to make this stop.
13/
link
Ihated the look of defeat on Fallyn’s face when she left us alone to work, and headed upstairs to her room. “This wasn’t her fault,” I said as her figure disappeared into the shadows on the dark second floor.
“It doesn’t matter that she didn’t pull the trigger. Someone else did this through accounts she created, and it happened because somewhere along the line, she was careless.”
I growled. This wasn’t the first time I’d heard this argument—when Brandon’s wi-fi was used to steal portions of our game code last year, Elliot blamed him, too. Even though Brandon hadn’t been the one to do the stealing.
At least Elliot was being an equal opportunity asshole.Swell.
He and I worked until two or three in the morning, with Luna on the other end of the line, to make sure everything was secure and that what happened tonight wouldn’t happen again. By the time we dragged ourselves up to Elliot’s bed, we were barely conscious enough to strip out of our clothes.
But falling asleep next to him, tangled up with him, was easy. As much as it always had been. Maybe even easier. Why hadn’t I ever thought about that before?
The only reason I was thinking about it now was because it was late, and I was getting too old for all-nighters.
In the morning, the faint smell of freshly brewing coffee drifted upstairs. Elliot’s groan told me he was waking up next to me.
“I think I love Mrs. Ria.” I forced myself out of bed. It was clear she was the one making the go-juice. “Do you think she’d marry me?”
Elliot’s laugh was dry. “She’s too good for you. And I don’t say that lightly. Given that you’re too good for the rest of the world, that’s a high bar.”
Though we hadn’t had enough sleep, what we did get seemed to have helped based on his mood. “We should give Fallyn a ride to the convention center. We’re heading down there anyway.”
Elliot’s silence was deafening.