Akashic_Tales Originals
Hades, Inc.: The Billionaire God of Death's Chaotic System
Chapter 10: Jinx Hacks Hell
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Jinx Black had been hacking systems since she was old enough to type. By age twelve, she had breached her school's network to change the lunch menu. By fifteen, she had accessed government databases just to prove she could. At sixteen, she had accidentally triggered a national security alert that had led to a very awkward conversation with agents who clearly weren't prepared for a teenager with multicolored hair and an attitude to match.
But hacking Hell's mainframe? That was a new challenge entirely.
"This is either the coolest thing I've ever done or the stupidest," she muttered to herself, fingers flying across holographic keyboards that floated around her workstation in Elysium Tower's tech lab.
The lab, her domain within Haiden's corporate empire, was a chaotic blend of cutting-edge technology and arcane artifacts. Quantum computers hummed alongside ancient scrolls. AI systems ran diagnostics on mystical energy flows. And in the center of it all sat Jinx, surrounded by screens displaying code that would drive most programmers insane, literally, as some of it was written in languages that predated human consciousness.
"How's it going?" asked a voice from the doorway.
Jinx glanced up to see Gabriel, the angelic intern, hovering uncertainly at the threshold. After the events of the previous night, the confrontation with Zadkiel, the revelation of a cosmic conspiracy, everyone in Elysium was on high alert.
"Slowly," Jinx replied, gesturing for him to enter. "Hell's security systems are no joke. Uncle H might be retired, but his firewalls are still active and cranky."
Gabriel approached cautiously, eyeing the screens with obvious discomfort. "Should I even be seeing this? I'm still technically Heaven's employee."
"Relax, Feathers," Jinx said with a grin. "You're a double agent now, remember? Besides, we're trying to solve a problem that affects both realms."
After Zadkiel's capture, Haiden had called an emergency meeting of his inner circle. The fallen angel's revelation about "The Mediator" and a buffer realm being constructed between Heaven and Hell had alarmed everyone. Luna's financial audit had confirmed massive resource diversion, and now Jinx had been tasked with hacking into Hell's mainframe to trace the data flow.
"Any progress identifying The Mediator?" Gabriel asked, perching on the edge of a desk covered in circuit boards and crystal shards.
"Not yet," Jinx admitted. "Whoever they are, they're good at covering their tracks. The encryption is unlike anything I've seen, it's like it evolves every time I get close."
"Divine adaptive security," Gabriel nodded. "Heaven uses similar protocols for the Book of Life."
Jinx's eyes lit up. "You have access to Heaven's security systems?"
Gabriel immediately looked wary. "Limited access. Very limited. And I'm not helping you hack Heaven, if that's what you're thinking."
"Not hack," Jinx corrected. "Just... compare notes. If the same entity is manipulating both realms' systems, they might be using similar methods."
Before Gabriel could respond, one of Jinx's screens flashed red, symbols scrolling rapidly across it.
"Uh oh," she muttered, typing frantically.
"What is it?" Gabriel asked, alarmed.
"Countermeasure triggered. Hell's system detected my intrusion and is... oh, that's not good."
The red screen suddenly expanded, the symbols coalescing into a face, a digital approximation of a demonic visage, all sharp angles and glowing eyes.
"UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED," it announced in a voice that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. "INITIATING SOUL-TRACE PROTOCOL."
"Soul-trace?" Gabriel repeated, backing away. "What does that mean?"
"It means," Jinx said grimly, "that Hell's security system is about to track my soul signature back to my physical location and possibly send something unpleasant to deal with me."
"Can you stop it?"
"Working on it!" Jinx's fingers moved in a blur, executing commands faster than Gabriel could follow. "But I need a distraction. Something to confuse the trace."
Gabriel hesitated only briefly before stepping forward. "Use my signature."
Jinx looked up in surprise. "What?"
"My celestial signature," Gabriel clarified. "It's completely different from a human soul pattern. If you can somehow merge it with your trace, it might create enough confusion to break the protocol."
"That's... actually brilliant," Jinx admitted. "But it could put you at risk too."
Gabriel straightened, a flash of true angelic resolve showing through his intern persona. "I'm already at risk by being here. Might as well make it count."
Jinx grinned. "I knew there was a reason I liked you, Feathers." She tapped a crystal embedded in her desk. "Put your hand here and focus your energy."
Gabriel complied, placing his palm on the crystal, which began to glow with soft golden light. Jinx quickly integrated the celestial signature into her countermeasures, creating a hybrid pattern that she fed back into Hell's security system.
The demonic face on the screen froze, its expression shifting from menace to confusion.
"ANOMALY DETECTED," it announced. "RECALIBRATING."
"It's working!" Jinx exclaimed. "Quick, while it's distracted, I can slip past the main firewall."
Her hands moved in complex patterns, manipulating code and energy simultaneously. One by one, the security layers of Hell's mainframe peeled away, revealing the core systems beneath.
"I'm in," she breathed, eyes wide with excitement. "I actually hacked Hell."
Gabriel looked both impressed and horrified. "Is that... souls?"
The screens now displayed vast networks of glowing points, each representing a soul in Hell's domain. They flowed through complex patterns, sorted and categorized by algorithms older than humanity.
"The soul allocation system," Jinx confirmed. "This is how Uncle H managed the afterlife, automated judgment and processing for billions of souls."
"It's beautiful," Gabriel said softly, surprising them both. "I mean, terrifying because it's Hell, but the design is... elegant."
"Right?" Jinx agreed enthusiastically. "The architecture is incredible. See how each soul maintains its unique signature while being integrated into the larger flow? That's genius-level programming."
She navigated deeper into the system, searching for anomalies. "Now, if someone's been diverting souls and resources, there should be a trace..."
Suddenly, all her screens flickered, then stabilized on a single image, a section of the soul flow where streams of light were being subtly redirected, siphoned away through nearly invisible channels.
"There," Jinx pointed. "Soul leakage. Subtle enough that the automated systems wouldn't flag it, but significant over time."
"Can you trace where they're going?" Gabriel asked, leaning closer.
"Let me try." Jinx followed the diverted flow, her expression growing increasingly confused. "This doesn't make sense. They're not going to Heaven or staying in Hell. They're being routed to... nowhere?"
"The buffer realm," Gabriel suggested. "Zadkiel mentioned a third option being constructed."
"But that's impossible," Jinx argued. "You can't just create a new afterlife realm. The cosmic architecture doesn't allow for it. There's Heaven, Hell, and various cultural variations, but they all fit within the established framework."
"Unless," Gabriel said slowly, "someone found a loophole. Or created one."
Before Jinx could respond, her screens suddenly went black. Then, one by one, they lit up with a single symbol, an ancient glyph that represented chaos in its purest form.
"Oh no," Jinx whispered, recognizing the symbol immediately.
"What is it?" Gabriel asked, alarmed by her reaction.
"That's my grandfather's signature," Jinx said, her voice uncharacteristically serious. "Chaos."
As if responding to his name, the symbol pulsed, and text appeared across all screens simultaneously:
**CLEVER GIRL. BUT NOT CLEVER ENOUGH.**
The lab's lights flickered, and a cold wind swept through the room despite there being no windows or vents. The holographic keyboards distorted, characters shifting into ancient symbols before reforming.
"Your grandfather is Chaos?" Gabriel asked, his voice rising in pitch. "As in, the primordial entity Chaos? The father of Hades?"
"Yeah," Jinx confirmed, already typing frantically. "Family reunions are super awkward."
**HELLO, GRANDDAUGHTER. PLAYING WITH DADDY'S TOYS AGAIN?**
"I'm not playing," Jinx replied aloud, knowing the entity could hear her. "I'm investigating a serious breach in cosmic security."
**HOW ADORABLE. THE LITTLE GODLING THINKS SHE'S A HERO.**
Gabriel backed away, his celestial nature reacting instinctively to the presence of a primordial power. "Jinx, maybe we should call Haiden..."
"No time," Jinx said, continuing to work. "If I can just isolate the trace before Grandpa crashes the system..."
The symbols on the screen shifted again:
**TOO LATE.**
All the screens went black simultaneously. Then, one by one, they rebooted, but instead of returning to Hell's mainframe, they now displayed what appeared to be a social media feed filled with memes.
Memes about gods, afterlife, and cosmic jokes.
"What the..." Jinx stared in disbelief.
**THOUGHT YOU MIGHT APPRECIATE SOME HUMOR. ETERNITY GETS BORING WITHOUT IT.**
The memes scrolled automatically, each one more absurd than the last. Zeus complaining about child support payments. Buddha and Jesus in a meditation contest. Anubis trying to use a modern scale for weighing souls.
"Is this... is Chaos sending us divine memes?" Gabriel asked, utterly confused.
"Looks like it," Jinx sighed. "Grandpa has a weird sense of humor."
She tried to regain control of her systems, but every command she entered just resulted in more memes appearing. Finally, she sat back in frustration.
"Fine! You win this round. What do you want?"
The screens cleared, replaced by a single message:
**DINNER. SUNDAY. BRING YOUR UNCLE AND YOUR NEW ANGELIC FRIEND. WE HAVE MUCH TO DISCUSS.**
Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the presence vanished. The systems returned to normal, except for one screen that continued to display a single meme, Hades looking annoyed with the caption "When your dad crashes your retirement party."
"Did... did the primordial entity Chaos just invite us to dinner?" Gabriel asked weakly.
"Welcome to my family," Jinx replied with a grimace. "Where cosmic interventions and awkward dinner invitations are basically the same thing."
She tapped her communicator. "Uncle H? We have a situation. And possibly dinner plans."
---
Haiden was not having a good day.
After the confrontation with Zadkiel, he had spent hours debriefing Detective Moon, trying to help her process the revelation that her consultant was actually the God of Death and that the murders she'd been investigating were part of a cosmic conspiracy.
To her credit, Kyra had handled it better than most mortals would. After the initial shock, she had begun asking surprisingly insightful questions about divine jurisdiction, afterlife protocols, and whether this meant she could expense holy water on her police reports.
Now, standing in his office with Luna, Aria, and a very agitated Cerberus, Haiden listened to Jinx's report with growing concern.
"Let me get this straight," he said when she finished. "You hacked into Hell's mainframe, confirmed soul diversion to an unknown location, and then my father showed up, crashed your systems with memes, and invited us all to dinner?"
"Pretty much," Jinx confirmed via the holographic projection. Gabriel could be seen hovering anxiously in the background. "Oh, and he specifically included 'your angelic friend' in the invitation."
Haiden pinched the bridge of his nose, a very human gesture he had adopted during his time on Earth. "Perfect. Just perfect."
"This could actually be useful," Luna pointed out. "If Chaos is taking an interest, he might have information about The Mediator and this buffer realm."
"Or he might be behind it all," Aria suggested. "No offense, but your father isn't exactly known for his stability or good judgment."
"None taken," Haiden assured her. "And you're right to be suspicious. Chaos doesn't do anything without multiple layers of purpose, most of them designed to amuse himself at others' expense."
"Like father, like son," Luna murmured, just loud enough to be heard.
Haiden shot her a look but didn't deny it. "The question is, do we accept the invitation?"
"Do we have a choice?" Jinx asked. "He crashed Hell's security like it was a child's toy. I'm pretty sure he can make us attend if he wants to."
"There's always a choice," Haiden said firmly. "Even with beings like my father. The question is whether the consequences of refusing are worse than the risks of attending."
"What about Detective Moon?" Aria asked. "She's involved now. Does she come too?"
Haiden hesitated. Bringing a mortal to dinner with Chaos was like bringing a match to a gasoline fight, potentially explosive and definitely ill-advised. Yet leaving Kyra out of further developments seemed wrong, especially after she had proven her resilience.
"I'll ask her," he decided. "But make it clear that attending dinner with a primordial entity is entirely optional and possibly hazardous to her sanity."
"Speaking of sanity," Luna interjected, "we still have the issue of Kim Sung-ho and the other potential targets. If The Mediator realizes their operative has been captured, they might accelerate their plans."
"Agreed," Haiden nodded. "Aria, coordinate with Ariel. We need celestial protection for anyone who purchased these 'salvation packages.' Luna, continue the financial audit, see if you can identify other operatives through the money trail."
"What about me?" Jinx asked. "Hell's mainframe kicked me out, but I might be able to find another angle."
"Focus on securing our own systems first," Haiden instructed. "If my father could break through Hell's security that easily, Elysium might be vulnerable too. And we can't risk The Mediator discovering how much we know."
"On it," Jinx agreed. "What about Gabriel? He kind of saved my butt with that celestial signature trick."
All eyes turned to the angelic intern, who looked simultaneously proud and terrified.
"Gabriel will continue his... unique position," Haiden decided. "Officially Heaven's observer, unofficially our inside source. And apparently now invited to family dinner with Chaos."
"Lucky me," Gabriel muttered.
As the meeting concluded and everyone dispersed to their tasks, Haiden remained in his office, staring out at the Seoul skyline. The city continued its bustling pace, millions of mortals going about their lives, blissfully unaware of the cosmic drama unfolding in their midst.
His phone buzzed with a text from Detective Moon:
*Still processing everything. Have questions. Many, many questions. Dinner tonight?*
Despite the gravity of the situation, Haiden smiled. Kyra's resilience continued to impress him. He texted back:
*Dinner tonight. And possibly Sunday with my father, if you're feeling particularly brave or foolish.*
Her reply came quickly:
*Your father as in... Chaos? The primordial entity? That father?*
*The very same. He's invited us all to dinner. Cosmic family drama at its finest.*
There was a longer pause before her next message:
*Will there be wine? I feel like meeting the grandfather of creation requires alcohol.*
Haiden laughed out loud, a sound that made Cerberus look up in surprise.
*Plenty of wine. Some of it might be older than human civilization, but it pairs excellently with existential crisis.*
*Count me in. I've already seen the God of Death in action. Might as well meet the rest of the family.*
Haiden shook his head in amazement. Most mortals would be catatonic after what Kyra had witnessed. Instead, she was making jokes about wine pairings with primordial entities.
[System Alert: Unexpected Development]
[New Quest: Attend Family Dinner with Chaos]
[Reward: Crucial Information About The Mediator]
[Penalty: Temporary Cosmic Awareness for All Attendees (including mortals)]
"Of course," Haiden muttered to the floating text. "Because dinner with Father wasn't stressful enough without your involvement."
The penalty was particularly concerning. "Temporary Cosmic Awareness" sounded innocuous, but Haiden knew better. For immortal beings like himself, Luna, and Aria, cosmic awareness was manageable, uncomfortable but not dangerous. For mortals like Kyra, or even lesser immortals like Jinx, it could be overwhelming, potentially driving them to madness.
Yet the reward, information about The Mediator, was too valuable to ignore. This conspiracy threatened not just Haiden's retirement plans but the fundamental balance between realms.
With a sigh that carried the weight of eons, Haiden turned back to his desk. If they were going to have dinner with Chaos, they needed to be prepared. And preparation, when it came to primordial entities, required more than just selecting the right wine.
It required contingency plans for reality itself.
As he began making notes, Cerberus padded over and rested his head on Haiden's knee, offering canine comfort in the face of cosmic complications.
"What do you think, boy?" Haiden asked, scratching behind the hellhound's ears. "Ready for a family reunion?"
Cerberus whined softly, all three of his spiritual heads somehow conveying the same sentiment through his physical corgi form.
"Yeah," Haiden agreed. "Me neither."
Outside his window, a small black cat watched from a nearby ledge, its eyes reflecting knowledge far beyond its apparent nature. Across the city, more cats gathered, sensing the shifting cosmic currents.
In Heaven, angels whispered about rebellion and reform.
In Hell, demons noticed their master's touch in the system once more and wondered what it meant.
And somewhere between all realms, in a space that shouldn't exist, The Mediator continued building their buffer realm, unaware that their plans had been discovered, or perhaps, counting on exactly that.
The game was changing, pieces moving on a board that spanned existence itself.
And at the center of it all was a retired God of Death who had just wanted some peace and quiet, a decent cup of coffee, and maybe the occasional board meeting to break the monotony.
"Retirement," Haiden muttered to himself. "Most overrated concept in creation."
Cerberus couldn't help but agree.