Chapter 1: Alexander Creed
"So, what do you think?" A girl asked while playing around with her gaming chair via riding it around.
"It's just a standard bug." A man replied to the addressed question as he manipulated a computer monitor and its coding sequence. "Or maybe it is a virus."
"Great." The girl exclaimed in sarcasm. "Corona's already messing with my outside life. Now, I have to deal with a virus in my computer systems."
"Can you make sure it doesn't happen again?" The girl rolled her gaming chair towards the busy man and insisted. "You know Mr. Creed. It is quite troublesome to deal with all the delays to our plans and your spiked appearance fees."
"I've done this ten times that I have practically memorized this software's ins and outs." The man on the computer or Mr. Creed could only dismiss her complaints with his own complaints. "In those ten times, I distinctly remember telling you not to download those corrupted hentais."
"It's not my fault that I work with horny artists and besides, they help as a perfect guide to what we're doing." The girl defended herself. The tens of laptops, computers, paper, art materials, and graphics tablets in the room were enough to tell-tale what their group does.
"What do you mean by memorized the software after ten times? Do you have a photographic memory or something? If so, that is insanely cool." The girl's interest was then shifted to a much more intriguing topic in her opinion.
"I don't have that kind of memory, I'm just way too used with codes and commands and... Like I said before, try a more secure site even if it's subscription pay-based." Mr. Creed could only reiterate at the unlistening new generation. "Besides, why do you need those highly detailed anime styles on your animated porn? Why don't you try drawing on a style like Star vs Forces of Evil or Gravity Falls, then sexualize and porn the heck out of it?"
"A great suggestion for a forty plus old man." The girl had some lightbulbs from the man's questions. "Just like what my teammates said, you are a hidden artist disguised as a computer guy, Mr. Creed."
Mr. Creed didn't care much for her speculative words and just worked on getting rid of her program troubles.
"Mr. Creed, now that we're at this point in our conversation? Would you like to join my crew?" The girl took the opportunity and offered. "We, here at Jessica's Inked Porn, would beat hentai and be the American medium of animated porn. We could use a man like you on our side."
"Thanks but no thanks, Jessica." The man just unenthusiastically replied as he focused on the monitor while his fingers fiddled with the keyboard. "Great ambitions though, I feel that you would succeed and I await the day that I can find your work on the iffy porn sites."
Jessica didn't take his rejection to mind and just fantasized about her riches after her team can make her dreams happen.
She grew up in a porn-centric family in San Fernando Valley and had loftier ambitions than following her parents' footsteps on their unappealing jobs.
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Hours passed by with Jessica pestering Mr. Creed while he worked. After scouring the complex code sequence, he finally cracked the problem and did what he usually does with it.
"Fortunately for you, it is just a corruption that rearranges the command sequence, otherwise... it could have been worse." He ominously warned to get through to the girl. "Just delete this video and you'll be smooth sailing until the time you'd call me back because you messed up again."
"Yes sir!" Jessica gave a civilian salute and watched as the man took out a flash drive from his pockets. "Oh... Looks like I'll have a discount."
The man just replied with silence to give his agreement to her word. His collection and work ethics are already known to a repeated client like her.
After surgically separating the corruption from the main code by utilizing his technical skills, he stored it and transferred it to a bogey flash drive.
"Another one for your weird collection, I guess. How much do I get as a discount for that rearranging thingy?" Jessica muttered as she looked weirdly at the handsome-faced and middle-aged Mr. Creed having a hobby that should be reserved for glass-wearing geeks and nerds.
"Just give me 10 dollars and I'm off." He said while weighing out the flash drive in his hands. The true weight remained the same but it finally wasn't empty as it has a quirky thing inside it.
He felt like he captured an elusive Pokemon and stored it in a standard drive instead of a Pokeball.
The Jessica girl, on the other hand, was rejoicing from the insanely discounted price and gave him the exact amount. "Keep the change even if there isn't one."
"Alright. See you the next time you mess up and looking forward to your finished products." He waved to the girl as he headed to the stairs and got out of the animation-kitted basement.
Mr. Creed exited through the basement door and inadvertently pathed to the living room to see Jessica's parents.
"Hey, Alexander. Thanks for helping the little one out." John Barry greeted while his eyes unwittingly traced reminiscence. The man remembered Mr. Creed's grandfather's exploits and could only sigh.
"No trouble at all, John." Mr. Creed shrugged at the man's enthusiasm and gave a customary greeting to the lady with similarities to Jessica. "Nice to see you, Jane."
"It would be nice if you hung out more, Alexander." Jane greeted back and commenced the trio's little chat.
It was mostly about the past and how different it was from the now. It was strangely representative of how people their age were prone to nostalgia.
After that bit of small talk, he waved off and said his goodbyes to the Barry couple. Not far from the residence was where his relatively high-end SUV was parked and took that to drive off into the road.
Jessica along with her parents saw off the vehicle and she couldn't help comment. "It still weirds me out how a freelancing tech support guy can afford to keep that kind of car. Maybe he is part of some secret service where hacking and all those cyber stuff are on the play. Maybe he is an international criminal that steals millions through his computer and that rich but affordable SUV is a John Doe to mislead authorities of his stolen riches. Maybe he is a high-ranking member on the so-called Dark Web and being a tech guy is just a cover."
As far as she can tell, Alexander Creed was a man of mystery and intrigue. Her subordinates at Jessica's Inked also had the same warped conjectures and theories as her.
Her parents who were listening could only chuckle as they knew how tame the true story was compared to their daughter's imaginations.