Poker Face 2: No Dialogue
Prompt: No Dialogue
Universe: Future Unnamed Legacy
Word Count: 762
Notes: As with every other ficlet set in this verse, details may be changed.
There were people in the house.
Briefly, he considered not doing it. Not now, not with people here.
...Maybe not ever.
No. No, this had to end. They couldn't live in terror anymore, not him, not his little brother, not their parents, not anyone else in the family.
The voices all seemed to be coming from downstairs; from the surveillance they'd done, it sounded like they were in the kitchen. The information that he needed was most likely either upstairs or in the basement.
Upstairs would be easier, so he started there.
The doors were all too close to the kitchen. It was too likely that someone would hear him if he tried to sneak in that way. Therefore, he carefully climbed a column (his childhood of climbing trees had given him good practice) until he stood on the roof of the porch. One of the windows was open, so he used it as his door.
Once he was in, he found that he was in a bedroom. From what he'd learned, the office was two doors down the hall, near the top of the stairs.
He walked quietly to the door, then stood listening. All the voices were still downstairs.
Of course, that didn't mean the upstairs was empty. Someone could be sleeping, or reading, or working on the computer, or using the bathroom, or...well, there were any number of things someone might be doing that wouldn't make much noise.
He opened the door as slowly and quietly as possible, peeking out with one eye. The hallway was empty.
Fast or slow? He stopped a moment to consider. If he went fast, someone might hear him. If he went slow, someone might see him. He decided on fast, but not too fast, and he crept quickly down the hall, placing his feet carefully on the old wooden floor.
The office door was closed, but there was nothing for it. If someone was in there, he was caught no matter what. So he opened the door and snuck in, letting out a relieved sigh when he found the room empty. He closed the door behind him and looked around the room.
He smiled.
Someone had been stupid.
There were three computers in the room, and all of them were on. Maybe they'd been busy before they'd gone to lunch? Either way, none of them were locked down, which meant he wouldn't have to attempt to guess the passwords of people he didn't know at all, a rather useless endeavor unless they were truly idiotic.
As he looked at the first computer, he noticed that four files and an email program were open. He sat down and started reading the files.
And as he did so, his smile grew bigger. This was the information he needed, and it was all right there, waiting for him to find it.
Now how to get this saved? Printing was out of the question - printers were loud. But the email program...
He quickly attached all four files to a new email, addressed to himself, then realized there might be more information in the inbox or the saved folders or elsewhere on the computer. As he glanced through, he copied and pasted anything that looked possibly useful to the email he was writing to himself and attached even more files, hoping some of them might be useful. And when he was done, he sent himself the email, knowing that he would have the information waiting in his inbox when he got home.
Then he removed all trace of the email that he'd just sent, deleting it from the sent folder and the trash folder, making as sure as he could that it no longer existed on the computer at all. There might still be traces - he wasn't a computer genius - but there would be nothing obvious, and unless he was caught, no one was likely to think to do a deeper check.
His self-appointed task over, he snuck back down the hallway and into the bedroom (closing the office door and the bedroom door - best to make things look as similar to when he'd come in as he could). Then he climbed back out the window and down the porch column, noticing as he went that the voices seemed to be moving. Undoubtedly lunch was over and everyone was going back to whatever they'd been doing.
He'd made it out just in time.
But he'd made it.
As he left, he grinned. The information was his. Now to figure out how to use it.
Universe: Future Unnamed Legacy
Word Count: 762
Notes: As with every other ficlet set in this verse, details may be changed.
There were people in the house.
Briefly, he considered not doing it. Not now, not with people here.
...Maybe not ever.
No. No, this had to end. They couldn't live in terror anymore, not him, not his little brother, not their parents, not anyone else in the family.
The voices all seemed to be coming from downstairs; from the surveillance they'd done, it sounded like they were in the kitchen. The information that he needed was most likely either upstairs or in the basement.
Upstairs would be easier, so he started there.
The doors were all too close to the kitchen. It was too likely that someone would hear him if he tried to sneak in that way. Therefore, he carefully climbed a column (his childhood of climbing trees had given him good practice) until he stood on the roof of the porch. One of the windows was open, so he used it as his door.
Once he was in, he found that he was in a bedroom. From what he'd learned, the office was two doors down the hall, near the top of the stairs.
He walked quietly to the door, then stood listening. All the voices were still downstairs.
Of course, that didn't mean the upstairs was empty. Someone could be sleeping, or reading, or working on the computer, or using the bathroom, or...well, there were any number of things someone might be doing that wouldn't make much noise.
He opened the door as slowly and quietly as possible, peeking out with one eye. The hallway was empty.
Fast or slow? He stopped a moment to consider. If he went fast, someone might hear him. If he went slow, someone might see him. He decided on fast, but not too fast, and he crept quickly down the hall, placing his feet carefully on the old wooden floor.
The office door was closed, but there was nothing for it. If someone was in there, he was caught no matter what. So he opened the door and snuck in, letting out a relieved sigh when he found the room empty. He closed the door behind him and looked around the room.
He smiled.
Someone had been stupid.
There were three computers in the room, and all of them were on. Maybe they'd been busy before they'd gone to lunch? Either way, none of them were locked down, which meant he wouldn't have to attempt to guess the passwords of people he didn't know at all, a rather useless endeavor unless they were truly idiotic.
As he looked at the first computer, he noticed that four files and an email program were open. He sat down and started reading the files.
And as he did so, his smile grew bigger. This was the information he needed, and it was all right there, waiting for him to find it.
Now how to get this saved? Printing was out of the question - printers were loud. But the email program...
He quickly attached all four files to a new email, addressed to himself, then realized there might be more information in the inbox or the saved folders or elsewhere on the computer. As he glanced through, he copied and pasted anything that looked possibly useful to the email he was writing to himself and attached even more files, hoping some of them might be useful. And when he was done, he sent himself the email, knowing that he would have the information waiting in his inbox when he got home.
Then he removed all trace of the email that he'd just sent, deleting it from the sent folder and the trash folder, making as sure as he could that it no longer existed on the computer at all. There might still be traces - he wasn't a computer genius - but there would be nothing obvious, and unless he was caught, no one was likely to think to do a deeper check.
His self-appointed task over, he snuck back down the hallway and into the bedroom (closing the office door and the bedroom door - best to make things look as similar to when he'd come in as he could). Then he climbed back out the window and down the porch column, noticing as he went that the voices seemed to be moving. Undoubtedly lunch was over and everyone was going back to whatever they'd been doing.
He'd made it out just in time.
But he'd made it.
As he left, he grinned. The information was his. Now to figure out how to use it.