Clarence entered his sky loft apartment, pecked his wife on the cheek, scruffled his children's hair and entered his office and sat down on his desk. His computer spread was a sight to be hold, but hell, he had the money to afford it. He logged in and started flipping through his e-mails. Spam, spam..more spam. He questioned why technological advancement still didn't prevent spam mail from coming in. It was even broadcasted on the air billboards.

After clicking through some business contacts, responding to a dinner invite from his co-worker, and deleting some e-mail about stimulating his life in the bedroom, he came across a peculiar looking e-mail. The sender was unknown, but the subject line had a tiny image on it.

A rose.

He clicked it open. It filled his computer screen. He tilted his head as the image appeared. It was a panda bear. It looked cartoonish, like an anime the young kids watched. The panda danced around on his screen for a few minutes, rolling and jumping. Clarence smiled, it was pretty cute.

Then the panda did something weird. It took out a laptop and started clicking away at it. After a few more minutes it put it away, waved, and poofed out of existence. Clarence didn't know what it was. Surely it was a prank e-mail from one of his friends. He clicked the X to get out of his e-mail, but the page stayed. He clicked again. Nothing. Again. Nothing. He tapped his screen, he paid tons of money to avoid lag and bugs, so what the hell was wrong?

Then his screen cleared. Turned dark, black, ominous. Then a text box appeared. And in light pink letters, it read:

[color=lightpink]"Hello Mr. Vero. Did I grab your attention? Good. Hope you enjoyed my little display.

Your computer is mine now. All your files, pictures, programs, every ounce of data on here is at my disposal now. If I were you, I'd reconsider putting all your private things inside a computer. As you know, once you put it out there, it's there forever."[/color]

Clarence adjusted his glasses. He tried clicking away, he tried turning off his computer. Nothing. The text continued.

[color=lightpink]"Don't bother trying to stop me. It's futile. I know all. I see all. I get all. I am here to fulfill the wishes of someone else. They paid me a lot to do this. I expect they wanted to compensate for the amount of hard work it would have required. Little did they know that it was child's play.

Anyway. In case you still don't believe me. How about some proof. You've been a bad boy Clarence. I am sure your wife wouldn't want to see this."[/color]

An image appeared of a naked woman, smiling at the camera. It was the woman Clarence had been having an affair with for a few years. He gasped lightly and tried to click it away. Still no use.

[color=lightpink]"She's pretty. I can see why you like her. She seems to have big...personalities. I also stumbled across this."[/color]

A document came on now. It detailed a report that Clarence forged, allowing him to pocket millions of funds into his own pockets.

[color=lightpink]"Is that how you were able to afford all this? You really got screwed over. Regardless, my job is not to embarrass you, stop you, or even harm you. No, my job is to warn you. To scare you. To show you how easy it is to have it all and lose it.

Now, the right thing to do would be to apologize to your wife and children, tell the truth, maybe even go to the authorities and tell them what you did. They may even go easy on you for coming clean, and I am sure you could get a good lawyer. Hell, one was even offering you help in one of those spam e-mails you deleted. I did you a favor and pinned it for you.

I wouldn't recommend getting the police involved in my hacking here though. That would just end badly for you.

Again, I cannot force you to do anything. This is all in your hands. Just remember something Clarence. I. Am. Watching."[/color]

The text screen cleared and Clarence was left there, speechless.

---------------------------------------

The authorities led Clarence away in handcuffs. The police techs investigated his claims he was hacked, but no evidence was there to show that. His computer was working fine and nothing was deleted. Instead, they found the documents detailing his extortion, his lying, and his scheming. They left the incriminating photos of him and his "lover" in private, but the wife found out regardless. She took the children away to live with her sister.

Clarence was forced into a police air car. He didn't know what happened. Where did his life go? Who the hell hacked him?

He turned his head at the billboard floating around, displaying a smiling woman giving a thumbs up, showing the latest prices at the grocery store. It clicked off briefly, and the same pink text lit up the sign.

[color=lightpink]"I warned you."[/color]

The advertising came back as Clarence was sped away to police HQ.

--------------------------------------

Vi flipped off her screen and took off her glasses. She got up, straightened out her Batman t-shirt and walked across to the window that overlooked the city. She gave a knowing smile.