The massive group of tired, sleazy young men and women stood stepped onto the docks of Leviathan Federation as barges sat on the water, swaying yet constrained by chains bound to the dock. Withdrawn from coffee and Bungle cartridges, the herds of interns began shuffling toward the roadway near the dock, entering hundreds of transport vans at once parked on the side of the road waiting for the interns to fill them. Once the vehicles were filled, they would drive to one of various Macrotel operation facilities within the Leviathan federation. Hastily donned in suits with average white button-ups and dress shoes, the interns were given forged identity cards with real citizenship information from Leviathan Federation and given instructions to take loans at certain banks at specific times with the information.
Daniel sat in the rear seat of a decent, fairly old car model rented by Macrotel for the mission. The car was driven by a GetThere transport agent, who was ultimately being commanded by Macrotel. Buildings and people passed by through the tinted windows in a blur as Daniel sat and watched, unable to occupy himself. He was nervous of the task he was required to do, and wondered if it was even the right thing. He didn't have much of a choice either way, however. If he even hinted that he wouldn't be capable of doing the job, he would most probably be located, taken, and killed by Maxwell Security. While the car approached its designated parking spot across the bank, Daniel gathered himself and rearranged his tie. When the car unlocked, Daniel opened the door and stepped out onto the sidewalk. He looked upon the bank, the windows gleaming in the morning sunlight. People donned in suits, flannels, and occasionally T-shirts walked the sidewalks, passing from cool, dark shadows into bright, glowing orange sunlight. Daniel walked down the crosswalk and up the stairs, carrying only a briefcase.
Daniel entered the sleek glass doors of the bank where a security officer nodded at him. He set his brief case on the table and the security guard approached him, before scanning his body and the briefcase with a handheld metal detector. The officer opened the briefcase and checked inside, before handing it back to Daniel and moving to an idle stance, crossing his arms across his chest. Daniel continued to the loan office and talked to the receptionist inside. He took a seat by a table stocked with magazines and read the weekly news while he sat and waited. A few minutes later, a lady in a dark blue suit came out of a door within the office and called Daniel in. Daniel stepped into the office and sat on the comfortable leather chair while talking with the agent. "So, what brings you in today, Mr. Hartwell?" the agent inquires, ready to get started with the process. He replies, stifling his shakiness, "Yes, I would like to take a loan. Specifically, I need a loan worth $20,000." The agent analyzes him briefly, before smiling and continuing: "Well, you've got the right place. First, can I get your name and some form of identification?" Daniel opens his briefcase on the desk surface and retrieves a forged passport, placing it on the desk before the agent. She grabs the passport and inspects it closely. She responds, "Hmmm. I'm going to need to see a proof of residency if you're giving me a passport, unfortunately. I can take either a billing statement, a mortgage statement, or some proof of transaction with a credit or debit card linked to your address." Daniel nods and says, "That's quite alright, I have a billing statement here, as well as my account details for this bank." He grabs a couple of documents from the briefcase and hands them to the agent. She grabs them from him and begins putting information into her work tablet, glancing up occasionally and adjusting her glasses. After a while of typing information, she shuts the tablet off and informs Daniel: "I'm going to head over to the billing department to get this settled, and I'll be right back with you shortly." She gets up and walks out of the room. Daniel listens for her to leave the vicinity, before sneaking over to her side of the desk and hiding behind it. He searches through the drawers before locating the desktop server. He grabs a small drive from his jacket pocket and clicks it into a slot on the server before pressing a button next to the slot. The button, at first dormant and gray, glows green as he presses it and the server begins to whir, before settling down. Daniel returns to his seat in front of the desk and waits for the agent to return.
Moments later, the agent finally returns to the room, shutting the glass office door behind her. She steps behind the desk and begins typing some more information into her tablet. "Alright Mr. Hartwell, due to the nature of this loan, we now need to collect some further details about what the loan is for. Do you have a description or explanation of the purposes the loan would be used for?" Daniel nods and tells her, "I have a business plan already written out. I'll hand it to you now. The business idea, in short, is a business that provides anonymous cell phone services to clients. Clients pay anonymously with cryptocurrency, and the business supplies cell phone numbers that can be used anywhere." He talks as he hands the agent his stapled business plan. She glances over the documents, seemingly impressed. "Well, Mr. Hartwell, this is sufficient information for a loan. It will be processed by tonight." She hands him back all of his documents, which he places into his briefcase before closing it. "Thank you for your help, Mrs. Kathy." Daniel says as he gets out of his chair. "Sure thing. Anytime you need help, just ask for me and I'll help you out." Mrs. Kathy replies as he walks out of the door. He continues across the marble floor tiles toward the door before walking down the steps back to the rental car, which is parked somewhat conspicuously in a dimly lit alley near the bank. He gets into the passenger side of the car and sinks into the aged, pliable leather seats. The driver suddenly speeds away as he enters, seemingly in a hurry. "We have twenty minutes to get the stuff burned and get back to base." the driver says in a frenzy. They continue down the roadway, gradually nearing the distant helicopter takeoff point across the city.
Halfway through continuing through dense urban traffic, avoiding pedestrians and bikers, the driver of the car veers from the path and starts taking a different route. As the car climbs over the hill, the driver becomes aware of a traffic jam and curses under his breath. He looks around before turning onto the shoulder and passing the jam quickly. Suddenly, a patrol car jumps behind them and flashes his emergency lights. This only provokes the driver to increase his speed, closely nearing other cars in the roadway and changing from lane to lane. The officer continues behind them, persistent on catching them. Daniel prompts the driver, "Maybe you should just pull over, man. We don't have anything on us." The driver denies, saying, "They've already withdrawn the money. Your fake identity is burned. That cop finds out who we are, it's the dog house. Now let me drive, please." Continuing down a Leviathan Federation highway, the driver uncovers a panel on the dashboard and presses a loosely wired button underneath. A retractable spike strip shoots from the back of the car towards the police cruiser. The strip extends just as it hits the roadway and right before the officer can turn his wheels away. The spikes puncture his rubber tires in an instant, causing his cruiser to turn and go airborne in a series of sideways flips. Its roof collides with the roadway, before it rolls over and back onto its exposed rims. The cruiser sits there, steaming, as the officer lay unconscious in the smoke of the engine. The getaway car continues down the highway further before taking an exit and slipping into the ironic safety of the slums.
The pair finally arrive at their destination: a run-down, seemingly abandoned garage building in the slums of the Leviathan Federation. The driver rolls the car into the garage and the worker inside closes the door behind him. The pair get out, before the driver motions at Daniel. Daniel steps over to the wall and faces the driver so that he can see Daniel's hands, face, and body. Daniel undresses from his suit jacket, tie, dress shirt, suit pants, and leather shoes, handing them and the briefcase to the driver, who sets them on a table behind him. The driver then pats Daniel down, before grabbing a new pair of clothes from the table and a wad of cash, handing them to Daniel. Daniel gets dressed in the new clothes, now clean from the grime of the job he just completed. He puts the wad of cash into his pocket as the driver begins to talk, "Congratulations, Daniel. You are no longer an intern of Macrotel; You will now be working under me for Patrogen Solutions, once you sign this contract." Daniel excitedly eyes the contract, thinking of how this could impact his life. Not only being paid, but good pay from a security company? This would be the change of Daniel's life, surely. Although it's a risky business to enter, it seemed to pay off well for Daniel. He grabs the contract from the driver and signs it, returning it to the driver. The driver hands him a business card with information and says, "We'll be in touch." The driver grabs the signed contract, getting back into his personal blacked out SUV and leaving the location. After the driver is gone, the garage worker lifts the car using large mechanical equipment and equips drones to begin disassembling it piece by piece. Daniel leaves the location and hails a taxi, heading back to his apartment in the city.
