Day Zero

As of tonight, there are now four — maybe even five — heroes on the secure network we now call the “DarkR Web”. The network is designed with proximity encryption to cover the devices (including voice calls) of those with FOBs. I’ve even created extra FOBs just in case we find other heroes trustworthy enough to join the resistance.
 
I haven’t had a chance to debrief with the first group yet, but it doesn’t matter... The moment the final pillar was installed by Field Effect, the network came online as expected.
 
At that very moment the “Handler”, as I sometimes call it, shared some cryptic lines on my home-base device:
 
>SCRT: ehlo
 
>SCRT:thx no PwR
 
The text being in mixed/reverse order immediately struck me as odd. Was the Handler saying “Hello...Thanks...No Power”
 
So many thoughts were racing in my mind, but the most important was the security of the network. I typed back into the console:
 
“I didn’t build any backdoors into this network, except from my house. Are you in my house? Please confirm. On ‘Power’ - the devices each have a limited power source, why is more needed?”
 
In response to my queries, the fifth set of GPS coordinates appeared on the screen — again. It was the same as had appeared previously when I was first testing the nodes. The Handler repeated:
 
>SCRT: pWr no
 
Thinking to myself...if this person can hack into my own home network and knows the location of other supers but hasn’t “vanished” me and them yet, then it must be part of the resistance. After checking the GPS coordinates again, I typed this in response:
 
“This location is a hydro power plant. Need mission objective. Please confirm.”
 
The same GPS coordinates appeared again, but this time with a timestamp, similar to the ones that helped me locate Faust, Isobar, and Field Effect. The timestamp was for 5:08AM...tomorrow morning. Then, another curious line of text appeared on the console:
 
>SCRT: -join Cy for;next
 
Adrenaline pumping, I foolishly obeyed the command, not thinking about the potential consequences. I typed the command to add “Cy” to the network. But in seconds, the following error message appeared:
 
> Cy: The term “Cy” is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if the path was included, verify the path is current and try again.
>At line:1 char:1
>+ Cy
>+ ~~
 
Thinking to myself, maybe this is a network or a person we need to join, instead of adding *them* to our network. At a loss for what to do next, I desperately typed into the command prompt, “What is Cy?”
 
The response was immediate:
 
> for

In that moment, it clicked.
 
I typed the command to add “Cypher” to the network. The response hung on the screen, blinking softly:
 
> ...Working...
 
Hours later, as we were talking through the night on the DarkR Web, our small resistance was busy considering tactics for penetrating a secure hydro-electric power plant — the fifth GPS location. I was honest with the group, sharing that I didn’t quite understand why this fifth device install was necessary. I told them about the four coordinates being aligned with the locations I had previously chosen for the devices, but the fifth one I didn’t understand.
 
Then, for roughly two seconds, the network FOBs went quiet. My homes network console went offline and flickered back on. Someone was using the proximity audio encryption — but without one of the FOBs.
 
I assume everyone *with* a FOB heard someone talking faintly in the background, "Ok, ok secret, I'm near that facility now, I am about an hour early but wanted to scout out the area first...wait"
 
There was a short pause. And then the person directly addressed me:
 
"Mr Sharpe your programming skills are improving. My name..., is unimportant, you can call me Cypher. Secret wanted me to connect with your group."
 
I didn’t know what to say. To myself, I thought maybe “Secret” was the Handler giving me the coordinates. But considering that I’d failed multiple times at building and connecting the nodes, I responded cordially...
 
“Three years of prototyping and I finally created the working network...I’d say I’ve got some more improvement to go.”
 
But more seriously, I added, “None of us are operating on Zero Trust, but...who or what is ‘Secret’?”
 
After a few moments, Cypher responded:
 
“Secret is who we need to rescue from that facility, unless they get moved again. They may be moved unless we don't get to them by 05:08. I know you are trustworthy because secret led me to you, but other than that I don't know anything about you. How will I know who you are when we meet?”
 
I told Cypher that I would be covered in runes, anticipating that this mission would require the cosmic energy I refer to as the “Runeforce”. I asked Cypher a similar question in response — and an image appeared on the DarkR Web console. It was a superhero I’d never seen before. Black and yellow banded armor-suit, glowing red eyes and a red triangle near the brow of the forehead. A cord protruded from the back of the mask and swirls of what looked like electrical energy radiated from several directions.
 
I thought to myself, “Five. There are five superheroes on the network.”