Chapter 1

"Okay, it's official … I hate Jack Flash. I don't care who he was or what he did … but I freaking HATE his song!"

"Yah, sure … so why don't you quit playing the game?" A sarcastic voice responded.

"Yah right." The first voice growled. "I'm gonna beat the song and the game - just to prove that he's not so great." The girl the first voice belonged to grinned and returned her attention to the black Nintendo DS in her hands.

From the first impression given of the girl, you would probably never expect her to be a gamer, but she was. Lisa Arthur stood at five-foot-ten with curly strawberry-blond hair. Her body had taken on a very athletic appearance after her years of playing soccer and softball with her school's teams. Not only was she a great athlete, but she was a scholar too. Lisa had a straight 4.0 gpa and had been enroled in several online college classes. She was part of the student government and was known to be one of the nicest girls in the school. All of this was during her junior year in high school. Now, it was the beginning of her senior year.

What you wouldn't see, and probably never would, is that behind the "it" girl appearance Lisa maintained, there was a different girl. Only Erica, Lisa's little sister (aka: the sarcastic voice), knew that Lisa was deeply obsessed with video games and anime.

The siblings were in Lisa's bedroom. Erica was using her sister's computer while Lisa was playing the newest game she'd aquired, Elite Beat Agents. She'd cleared all but one stage on the game and the final level was ticking her off.

Once again, she looked at the dual screens to see the three elite beat divas, slumped on the ground in defeat. "Do I want to retry, review, or quit?" Lisa asked herself quietly. "I don't know …"

"Don't ya give up! Retry it!" Spin whooped and cheered as Lisa hit the "retry" button.

The agent sat in a black swivel chair in a room that shone with the light from the various screens that lined the walls. These screens showed people of every ethnicity playing the Elite Beat Agents game on their DS. Some of them were doing well, more of them were mediocre, but the majority was struggling with whatever level they were attempting. Spin had planted himself in front of the screen that was featuring Lisa's attempts, taking only a few seconds to glance half-heartedly at any of the other screens.

The automatic-door slid open with a whoosh. "Spin!" Agent J glowered as he caught Spin watching Lisa's screen intently. "You're supposed to be watching ALL of them, not just one."

Spin glanced between the higher ranking agent and the screen. "Awwww, dawg … but she's so close to finishing it."

J's eyebrows rose behind his shades in interest. "Who?"

"Uh … the game's registered to Lisa Arthur. According to this, she's had it for about …" Spin searched the screen.

"She's had it for almost two weeks." J interrupted. "I was in here when she first started playing. She went through Breezin' in two days. Has she been marked yet?"

"Marked? What are you talkin' ' bout, man?" Spin studied the various stats and symbols located at the bottom of the screen. "Is it this one?" He pointed to a small badge symbol with a question mark in the center.

J nodded. "Yah, that's it, but how can you not know about how to do all of this?" He gestured around the room.

Spin shrugged. "First time I was scheduled to serve a shift in here, I was called out on a mission and Missy covered for me. I haven't been assigned to work in here since."

"Are you kidding me? Ugh ..." The blond agent rubbed his forehead. "Okay, this is the RRC, or recruitment research center, you knew that much, right? Good. Now, these screens receive the gameplay data transmitted, via our satilites, from the various game-cards. We use the data to find potential recruits and monitor their progress. Marking a player sends a signal to the computer to gather all possible data about him or her, keep it updated, and keeps them on the screen the entire time they're playing, instead of showing the normal 30 second clips." J noticed Spin's smirk. "Don't just mark a lot of girls who you think are cute while you're in here. Marking can't be undone."

"J-man, I can't believe you would think of me doin' somthin' as low as that." Spin pressed a hand over his heart, feigning pain. "That hurts, man, real deep."

"If you were hurt as easily as that, you would have quit dreaming after Foxx a long time ago." J scoffed.

Spin made a face and glanced at the screens with a serious expression on his face. "Know what? You should leave. I'm gettin' distracted by all your hatin', and as you know, J, I've got an important job to do."

J chuckled and turned to leave. Same old Spin. As the door slid shut behind him, J glanced back to see Spin return his attention to the screen featuring Lisa's attempts. The older agent went along on his way through the hallway, smiling to himself.