It’s disappointing really. These Kine have it so good in this day and age. They were raised on 64-bit microprocessors and broadband. And with 5G and fiber optics becoming commonplace they literally lived on the web. And yet so many were still so ignorant of how it all worked, how their information society functioned. Like a fish that doesn’t know it’s in water.

Unknowing of the bigger fish swimming among them. He knows just how it works because he was there when it was built, watching the architecture rise up around him like skyscrapers. He knows the flaws in the foundation, the backdoors, the vulnerabilities. For God’s sake, people still use their personal information when they sign into public wi-fi.

Oh, the news covers it all the time. Big servers and big companies being compromised of all their client data. Spread over the internet like a tidal wave into the hands of people like Derek. Identity crime becoming so commonplace that it’s tolerated instead of treated like the epidemic it ought to be.

And now it’s a means to an end. Sitting at the local coffee shop with his laptop and mapping all the device addresses. All it takes is a bit of spoofing to fool the router and gain access to every precious file being sent across the wireless. No one takes notice, no one suspects, that is until the first smears of dirt show up on an untraceable email address a few weeks later with those pictures you texted your mistress or paramour.

It is an easy way to acquire funds, blackmailing unsuspecting Kine. They were more than happy to make Derek disappear with a few wire transfers. But much better leverage for acquiring Red currency.

He does his research, stalking them digitally to make sure his arsenal is complete, that the proper motivations are in place. And then in one fell swoop the email is sent, a hook with live bait.

They’re so emotional at first, begging, pleading. Sometimes Derek stretches it out, makes them wriggle, digging the hook only deeper until they’re helpless. It’s best when they think they’re invincible, making empty threats and fighting against the fishing wire. But they all break eventually. He has all their info, their dirty little secrets. There’s nowhere to hide and no face or name to place to their assailant.

Simple instructions. A rendezvous point in a deserted location. Come alone and unarmed. Sometimes they get spooked and Derek has to punish them later on, exposing them for what they are. But the obedient ones even agree to wear the handcuffs and sit in the chair. All they ever see is the Shadow and the prick of teeth on their flesh. Sometimes they come back all on their own, looking to experience it again...