Keele stared at his laptop, typing lines of code furiously as he attempted his fourth take on a new program. The last three ended in an explosion, the fire system being triggered even though it didn't explode, and a small twister being created in his room respectively, but he wasn't one to just give up from a few little problems. He'd have it complete first, no matter what it took. No way was his best friend and rival going to show him up again. Not this time.
The console he was sitting by chirped, the screen on the wall informing him of an incoming call. Letting reflexes take over, he slapped the disconnect button and resumed his work. Now wasn't the time to talk to idiots. It chirped again and he responded in the same manner. After the third call in a row, it stayed quiet. Thinking he'd finally won some peace, he was proven wrong not two minutes later as the screen lit up without a sound of waiting for confirmation, and a girl's voice blared into the room as if the volume was set to the maximum.
"Keele needs to stop disconnecting Meredy!" It yelled, and Keele's chair fell to the ground with him as he tried to jump to the side in a panic.
Cursing and making sure his laptop was still in one piece, he stood back up and glared at the monitor. The girl with dark skin and purplish hair tied up into pigtails giving him a look somewhere between angry, amused and pouty. "Damn it Meredy, I was in the middle of something! How am I supposed to beat you if you keep interrupting me?!"
Meredy's face was all pout after his outburst. "Meredy can't help it if she likes Keele and doesn't want him to blow his hands off..."
"So you hack into my communications and..." He trailed off, blinking at her and lowering his voice. "...wait, blow my hands off? What are you talking about?"
Looking down and pushing a few buttons Keele couldn't see on the monitor, the screen split vertically, Meredy's face moving to the left side. On the right, a girl with a similarly dark skin tone and very short blonde hair appeared.
"Hi, Keele. Sorry about the interruption, but it really is important." She said, grinning nervously.
"Chat?" He stared for a moment, then scowled. "What did you do this time?"
Chat's face went a little red. "W-What do you mean by that?! You say that like I screw up on a regular basis or something!"
"Maybe not with repairs, but anything new you make has more annoying problems than a calculus class. What's wrong with this design?"
She looked off to the side. "Well, the wrist setup isn't as handy as I thought. Once I actually made one it turned out to be too heavy, the dials were in the wrong place and the only way I could figure out how to actually keep it from falling off was to permanently bind it to the wearer."
"It overloads easy, too. Boom. Bye-bye hand." Meredy added.
Keele's face paled as he looked at the one he had been putting together from Chat's schematics and was very glad he was more focused on getting the program done than the hardware. "Good thing you noticed that before either of us tried to use it. What's the new plan then?"
"Okay, going by what was wrong with the impact problems of the ball, and other issues on the wrist, helmet and glove prototypes, I think I finally got one that'll work like a charm." Chat explained, a steady clicking joining her voice. "I've been able to compact it down to the bare essentials, so it can give you what you're after and have no chance of the system itself exploding. Check it out."
A window popped up between the two faces, the schematic for a device that was shaped vaguely like a long, thin pendant that wouldn't even be as long as someone's hand. Keele raised an eyebrow at it. "That's it? It's tiny compared to everything else you've given us."
Chat gave him a cocky smirk. "What can I say? I'm a genius with technology."
"Oh yeah, that's why it took you this long to get it right." Keele muttered sarcastically. "I think you just got enough practice from the previous ones to actually know what the hell you're doing this time."
"You don't have to be a jerk about it." She grumbled, crossing her arms.
"Right." He said, focused on the schematics. "After your 'MON', 'PIP', 'MEGA' and 'YGO' prototypes, what crazy name did you give this one?"
Chat frowned at him. "I went with something simple this time... just to keep you from complaining. This one's called CAGE."
-----
After getting the schematics copied and a list of the supplies he would need to make Chat's new CAGE, Keele thanked them, before promptly hitting the disconnect button and resuming to work on his program. He didn't get more than three lines before someone knocked on his door.
Eye twitching and ready to throttle the first person he saw, he set aside his laptop, going over to unlock and open the door. When it slid aside, he was face-to-face with not only the last person he wanted to see, but one of the few people he couldn't try to strangle. The uniform made sure of that.
The security woman glared at him from beneath her green bangs. "You're causing problems again Keele? Can't say I'm shocked, but I am tired of dealing with you."
"Officer Orsted." He replied in an obviously forced polite tone, giving her a nod.
"Drop the formalities. We've got enough of a working relationship and history I think I can handle a first name basis."
"Alright, Farah." Keele folded his arms over his chest and returned her glare. "In that case, would you just tell me what circumstances have not only interrupted my work but also caused me to be in your very unpleasant company again today?"
She held up her hand, a pair of handcuffs dangling from her finger. "What do you think?"
Looking at them for a moment, he sighed. "Sorry, I'm not into that kinda thing. Try the neighbor." He said simply, before closing and locking the door on her. Not that it would do any good, it was the gesture that mattered.
The door unlocked and opened again, Farah walking inside as she pocketed her security access card. "Damn it, Keele. I'm in no mood to deal with your crap today! Just come with me down to the station and explain why there was a hacking alert from your residence."
"Hacking alert...? Oh for..." Keele rubbed his forehead, getting a headache. "I can tell you that without even leaving the room. Meredy did it."
"Meredy." Farah replied plainly. "That girl you're in contact with, who doesn't even live in the Inferia Complex, hacked into the Orbis Network's communications through your terminal."
"She knows how to fake a source location."
"My ass."
"Is lovely. Now are we done here?"
"Here, yes." Farah slapped a cuff around Keele's right wrist. "The Captain will settle this at the station."
"Damn it, I don't have time to waste with this bull- SHIT!" Keele yelled as he tried to step away, only to trip over some of the parts laying on his floor. He grabbed at Farah, but instead of stopping himself they both landed on the ground in a heap.
"You never can come quietly, can you?" Farah grumbled, pushing herself up and feeling a tug on her left wrist. The second cuff was latched onto it. She grinned. "Now you don't have a choice."
He looked at the attached cuffs and shrugged. "Alright, if you're that hell-bent on it, have your way with me. Just make it quick, I have work to do."
Farah scowled at him, stood up and jerked him to his feet. "Shut up. Ever since we were kids you've been making vulgar jokes." She said, dragging him out of the apartment and locking the door behind them.
"In my defense, you're the only person I make them with." Keele said, falling into step beside her as they walked down one of the residential corridors.
"I'm flattered." She replied, her voice overflowing with sarcasm.
"Don't get me wrong, it's not some kind of strange method of hitting on you, I only do it because I know how much it annoys the crap out of you."
She stopped, pulling on the handcuffs and forcing Keele to face her. "Why the hell do you like making me angry then?!"
"I don't. I just prefer you mad over depressed."
"Depressed...?" She thought about it for a moment, then turned and quickly started walking again. "My God, Keele... that's why? It's been seven years. I'm over that."
"Yeah, right." Keele said skeptically. "Yet your voice still gets shaky when it's brought up."
"Shut up." She muttered, keeping her eyes on the path ahead as they left the residential area and began passing through a central corridor lined with various shops and restaurants.
"You really need to figure out how to come to terms with it. I mean, I did... sure, it might have been easier for me since I never really got along very well with the guy, but Reid's-"
Farah rounded on him. "Shut UP! I'm on the job, not a social visit! You're being arrested, again, and bringing up ancient history! What part of 'you have the right to remain silent' don't you understand?!"
"I understand it fine. It's a right, not a requirement." Keele replied plainly.
"You irritating son of a-" Farah's curse died as the lights suddenly did, leaving them and everyone else in the corridor cloaked in darkness. A few panicked voices came from all around them and Farah groaned. "Now what?"
There was a flash of light and deafening boom as one of the shops further down the hallway exploded. Screams echoed through the corridor and after a moment of horror Farah bolted toward the resulting chaos, dragging the cuffed Keele along behind her.