The City Of Steel

The Magician (6)

Think, Y/N, think. There has to be something here. Collum's blueprints are still sitting on the table. I don't see any other papers.

Maybe I should try logging onto a computer. I pressed a random key on one of the keyboards, and the screen lit up.

"Hey, dolly? Whadda ya doin'?" Albert asked me.

I ignored him as I stared at the screen. What would Valentine set his name as?

To start, maybe Valentine? That seems basic enough. Then for his password, maybe he'd put something like "money"?

Money did not work. What else? His birthday? Maybe a fancy password? I won't guess it by doing something dumb like that.

I don't even know if the name is right. I'd be better off typing in gibberish. There has to be some sort of hint, right?

It wouldn't make sense to be in my blueprints.

That might be a dead end. What else? The door?

"Hey, dolly, you shouldn't go messin' with that-" Albert protested as I made my way to the door.

I grabbed onto the handle and tugged on it, only for the door to beep at me and the code entry next to the door to light up.

I let go of the handle and looked at the lock. A few of the numbers are more worn than the others. There's got to be some other clue around here, but that's a start.

The 3, 5, 7 and the 9. Great start.

I should keep looking.

"Uh, dolly?"

"Shut up."

"Alright," he mumbled. "But uh-"

"I said shut up," I grumbled as I started turning around monitors.

"But I found a-"

"What do you want?" I snapped at him as I turned around.

Albert held a tiny sheet of paper in his hands. He held it out for me to take it. "I have no clue what 5F and 49 means, but it means somethin'."

I took the paper from Albert. The two numbers are seperated with a comma, and have tiny 16s written in light ink to the bottom right. I flipped over the paper, only to read the strange word "VecTune." Why didn't he show me this sooner?

"Do you not see the 16s? This is hexadecimals." I explained to him.

"What-y-whats?" He leaned towards me as I examined the paper.

"Hex-a-decimals, it's a numerical system. I wonder," I looked over to the keypad. If I translate this to the decimal system, would the door accept the code?

Even if the door doesn't accept it, the computer might. I think I'll try the computer first.

I walked over to the computer and inputted "VecTune" in the username. I went down to the password and tried "5F49."

What kind of an idiot puts their password on a sheet of paper? The computer logged into the account.

"Hey, dolly, are you sure that you should go lookin' through another person's stuff like this?"

"Their fault. They left the password laying around."

The computer stopped loading, and I felt my stomach sink as I saw the home screen image. That's me. Why am I the home screen?

Albert leaped up from his seat and came over to me. He leaned over my shoulder and stared at the screen. "What da fuck?"

"That's what I'm wondering," I opened the search browser to check their search history.