The essential abandonment of government assistance had forced this unique neighborhood into a self sustained stranglehold. The residents showed their resilience by cleverly using their apparent lack of resources, developing an innovative system for a niche economy for itself with the help of the Bazaar and energy syphoning.
In an ironic twist, despite the violence between rival gangs in the neighborhood, Darkside had achieved something that the rest of the massive Neon District could not; coexistence. More specifically, all the rival gangs in Darkside had members who were Purebred and Hybrid within their own ranks. The apparent isolation from the rest of the city had aided in keeping Darkside residents from buying into the ideology of hatred between Hybrid and Purebred the way the rest of the city perpetuated society’s standards.
The trio eventually pulled up at a rundown building in a secluded part of the neighborhood. Caiden drove the car around the back. It was a winding, confusing road, especially in the dark. When they came to a stop, it looked like the area was completely inaccessible by foot or vehicle, because four large boulders were blocking the path. Caiden pulled out his holo-watch and initiated an encoded sequence. A hidden door emerged from under the boulders. It was a hidden driveway that led them under the rundown building. Caiden drove into the building as the secret gate closed behind them and blended back in with the environment. Caiden breathed a huge sigh of relief.
“Oh my god. What is this? Are you some sort of secret spy or something?” Hitomi asked.
“No, I’m just paranoid,” Caiden casually replied.
“What did you do to get this? How did… Where did you get the money? Wow, just, wow!” Nami exclaimed.
“Let’s just say, the money I make as a black hat hacker allows me to live outside the standards this society imposes on its people,” Caiden said.
The garage interior was accented by white marble floors with clear, white halogen recessed lights on the ceilings. Caiden grunted in pain as he got out of the car and walked toward a door with a blue LED lit panel. He showed his eye to the panel and the air locks on the door unfastened and opened. The twins were amazed at what they saw. It was one thousand five hundred square foot of fully functioning modern living space. Caiden referred to this secret apartment of his as ‘Home-base’.
It has white marble floors and soft blue polygonal light fixtures in the ceilings that illuminated the room. It was an open concept floor plan. No walls separated anything in the main living area save for the back wall of the kitchen. The kitchen had silver steel appliances, with precision cut granite counter tops and the cupboards were a stylish dark grey graphite material. The kitchen wall had a translucent backsplash which beautifully reflected the blue lights above. The sink was part of a large island in the middle of the kitchen which doubled as a breakfast bar and dining table. The island was flanked by two translucent stools for sitting.
Across from the kitchen was the living room. The step down that led to the living room was embellished by a soft white light that stretched across the length of the solitary stair. There were two large black leather sectional sofas. In the middle was a custom-made media apparatus, built to project a holographic screen in the middle of the room for watching television. Adjacent to the living room was a ceiling height LED display that ran the entire length of a wall, that was actually a live security feed, displaying everything outside the hidden condo. Beyond the kitchen was a short hallway which led to a master bedroom with an attached bathroom.
“I don't even know what to say,” Nami uttered.
“This… This is the first time anyone has ever seen this place,” Caiden said, grimacing from the pain.
“Oh my god, we have to do something about that wound!” Hitomi exclaimed.
“Follow me downstairs,” Caiden directed.
Down the hallway that led to the bedroom, was another door on the right-hand side with another blue lit LED panel. Caiden put his eye to the panel and the door opened to reveal a short staircase. Below, was an even larger area. It was a full blown multifunctional open concept space. To the left upon entrance, was a large control center of sorts. It housed a massive one-hundred-and-fifty-inch curved flat screen panel that was translucent when turned off. But once it was on, it could house more than twenty individual display screens if needed, to perform multiple tasks at once.
In front of the massive computer screen was a fully customized computer chair with a small rack for Caiden’s NeuraVisor and other accessories. The chair was accompanied by a sizeable crescent shaped control desk. The control desk housed a twelve-inch panel that generated the holographic keyboard for the computer. It was there, that Caiden worked his most complicated hacking requests. The entire network for the whole apartment was protected by an advanced system of dummy access points and a powerful firewall. The access points constantly provided fake Net Code addresses when surfing the web or accessing the wi-fi. He added to this by using a VPN service and international servers. This allowed him to search the internet and do what he would normally would do free of worry, since there was no one single source to trace.
Further along, was a miniature science lab setup, equipped with state of the art medical monitors, test tubes, microscopes, ultrascopes, a lab table, a medical bed, and a half dozen closets filled with equipment and other experimental accessories. The opposite side of the room consisted of a large training area with an extensive dumbbell set, training gear, a treadmill, two striking dummies, and a heavy punching bag. There was also a designated space for a small Zen area with a bonsai tree, indoor plant beds, and a mat
