Two such opposed kings encamp them still

In man as well as herbs, grace and rude will;

And where the worser is predominant,

Full soon the canker death eats up that plant.

Romeo and Juliet Act 2, Scene 3

Antonio Fernandez Carriedo had always considered himself a decent man. He held the door for people, helped old ladies across the street and generally tried to be genuinely kind to everyone he met. His face was always lit with a happy smile and he cared deeply for his (rather small) circle of friends. Antonio Fernandez Carriedo was a decent man who had also happened to make horrible, horrible life choices.

It was these sorts of thoughts that occupied his mind as he sat hunched over a battered MacBook, fingers flying over the keyboard in a sort of desperate daze. Rewriting code and designing viruses was really nothing more than menial busywork for him and left him quite a lot of time to reflect on his life and wonder if there was a certain point he had gone wrong at or if he was screwed from the very beginning.

He plucked a tomato from the ceramic bowl at his side and munched on it. At least, while his spiritual bank might be practically empty his wallet was comfortably stuffed. Professional hacking paid well, after all, especially if you worked for one of the most influential gangs in the world.

Hacking hadn't really been his first career choice, per say, but he had considered it a serious hobby. At least at the beginning. Antonio really wasn't the sharpest crayon in the toolshed, but coding was simple to him. It came as easily as breathing and he took comfort in the fact that he was able to bend the thousands of little numbers to his will better than practically anyone in America. It was really his fault the gang had found and cornered him; he'd flaunted his skills a little too much.

So now he was stuck here, practically chained to his computer, endlessly doing small jobs that ripped off companies for sometimes millions of dollars. He'd really wanted to be a chef in his native country of Spain but the gang really hadn't given him much of a choice in that. Robbing people of their livelihoods didn't sit quite well on his conscience.

At least he wasn't alone in his misery. His two flat mates were also condemned to the same fate.

One was a fidgety man from Estonia by name of Eduard Von Bock. Evidently, he'd been rather infamous there though he viewed hacking as a way to make a living rather than a hobby. As soon as the gang had gotten wind of him, he'd been shipped straight over to the states.

The other was a Russian that made both Antonio and Eduard more than a little nervous. His name was Ivan Braginski and he outweighed both of them combined, wore a scarf even during the middle of summer and exuded a rather creepy aura. Plus, the fact that he seemed to enjoy hacking for the sole reason he was making people's lives miserable earned him no friendship points with the other two.

The three exchanged no words as they worked, though usually Eduard and Antonio would keep up idle chatter. This job was the most difficult one they'd had in months and it was taking all their skills to complete.

When they'd first gotten the memo, it had seemed easy enough. Just worm their way into the heart of a decently rich Italian company that bought and sold works of art by name of Vargas and Sons. They hadn't expected the number of number of precautions the company took against the likes of them. But Antonio was close to a breakthrough. He was sure of it.

He'd taken control of the company's heir's computer and was now slowly sifting through files in search of the password that would allow them access to the Vargas and Sons' private bank account.

"Now what do we have here, Lovino . . ." Antonio whispered, finding a folder labeled simply with the heir's name. Lovino Vargas. What a pretty name. He clicked on it to find it filled with a few other folders.

Tomato-based Recipes

That fucking German

Pictures of Cats (fuck you I like cats)

Painting Portfolio

Banking Information

Antonio blinked in surprise as he studied the folders' names. What an odd person this Lovino must be. But he liked tomatoes so he couldn't be all that bad.

His breath caught as he hurriedly scrolled back through the folders. Banking information. There it was. With a trembling hand he moved his mouse over it and clicked.

A dull noise sounded and a popup appeared on screen.

Password Required.

Antonio's grin faded slightly before he allowed himself to chuckle. Of course there'd be a password. Otherwise this would be far too easy.

He immediately went to his hacking tool belt; an extra bar he'd installed at the bottom of the screen. Smiling, he tried converting the popup to HTML format.

Nothing.

Frowning, Antonio went for another weapon in his arsenal. Strange. That tactic had always worked before.

After fifteen minutes of failed attempts, Antonio was ready to scream. It had never taken this long for him to hack something before. Never! But still that blasted popup stood strong. It was sort of like the little engine that could. Or rather, the little popup that would not fucking go away.

"Eduard, Ivan; I need your help," he growled, not taking his eyes off the screen. The other two looked up in surprise.

Eduard settled into the chair beside Antonio and pulled the MacBook onto his lap. Ivan stood behind him, resting a hand of the other's shoulder in a way that made him shudder uncomfortably. Antonio watched intently and started on his second tomato.

After half and hour, Eduard threw up his hands in disgust. "Fuck this! Ivan, you have to go."

Ivan quickly recovered from the shock of the normally mild-mannered Estonian cussing and plucked the laptop from his hands. He plopped down on the floor and began to aggressively program a virus that would draw the password up from the system. Antonio reached for his twelfth tomato.

The virus was destroyed before it could even get halfway there.

Ivan merely smiled darkly. "I guess we will have to try a more unorthodox approach, da?"

Antonio and Eduard stopped breathing. They half expected him to take out a pickax from under that huge coat of his and start attacking the computer.

Instead, he calmly clicked on the text box and entered the word password.

Time slowed to a full stop as the computer processed the password. The three men barely blinked, as if afraid it would cause the hard drive to reject it.

The popup box shook itself slightly, erasing the word. Angry red letters glowed at the top of the screen. Password incorrect.

And then below it: Would you like a hint?

"Yes! Yes! Click it!" Antonio practically screamed. Ivan shot him a concerned glance before clicking the text.

More words appeared. My greatest fear.

The three had about five seconds to express their intense disappointment in a cacophony of moans and groans before the door to their apartment was forcibly slammed open.

"Hey, nerds! Freedom's here!"

"Ugh, Alfred," Eduard whimpered as the three stared up at their employer from their vantage points on the carpet.

A bespectacled young man wearing a bomber jacket stood grinning in the doorway, hamburger in one hand and small American flag in one hand.

"So!" he shouted, "Russian, Mexican and smaller Russian; what's the status report?"

"Estonian," muttered Eduard. "I'm Estonian."

Antonio didn't even bother correcting him. Things were simpler this way. "We seem to have hit a . . . slight complication."

Alfred's face darkened slightly. "This better be nothing big. I've got a date with a hot British dude tonight and by no means am I missing it."

Antonio and Eduard shook their heads frantically. "No, no. It's nothing too big! Just something we have to find out how to overcome." Ivan just stared at Alfred's back.

Immediately, the American's usual grin was back. "Good, good. Now what seems to be the trouble?"

Antonio handed him the laptop. "None of us can get passed this password box."

His boss fiddled around with it for a few minutes, an expression of intense concentration gracing his face. At last, he raised his eyes to the hint, and then down towards the name of the folder. He began to grin broadly before spinning around to face the other three.

"Well, this is easy!" he cried. "One of you just has to get this Lovino Vargas person to give up the hint!"

They stared at him in disbelief.

"One of . . . us?" asked Eduard. "Don't you have people for that?"

"Yes . . ." said Ivan, looking troubled. "I am not so good with the . . . people skills."

Alfred smirked. "Well obviously it'd be the Mexican who'd be going. The Russian is too fucking creepy and the little Russian shits his pants at the thought of human contact. Besides isn't the Mexican as gay as a hummingbird? He'd have no problem getting close to this Lovino kid!"

Antonio didn't quite know how to reply to that. Humming . . . bird? What?

He clapped a hand on Antonio's back and the Spaniard had the sudden, unexplainable urge to attack him with his knees. "I'll arrange for you to become his assistant! Don't worry; I have friends within that company. It'll be no problem! Pack your bags, because tomorrow you're shipping out!"

And then he was gone, leaving the three hackers more confused than ever.

a/n I thought I'd put up the first chapter of the Hacker!AU before I get started on the next part of Don't Say A Word.

I'm planning on this to be a Romance/Drama/Humor sort of deal, Spamano of course. While Don't Say A Word has lots of focus on the side pairings, this is going to be pretty much all Spamano.

So, are you guys interested in reading the rest? I'd love some feedback! Thanks!