*slinks into fic with head hung low*
I have no excuse. But I love this series too much to abandon it. After this story, I think the MSEA will take on the biggest horror of all: Twilight.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy, and I hope you review or edit the TV Tropes page.
~ Cookie VanDeKamp ~
It had been nearly two months since the party, and nothing major had happened. A few minor scuffled in shipping wars here and there, but nothing that seemed to indicate a fandom war. And yet, everyone was on edge. October couldn't forget what her mother said. Monday was still obsessively planning for disaster. Brandon couldn't forget his conversation with Jenny. And Tori couldn't stop waiting in dread for the major disaster to happen, as she already knew it would.
Then, finally, it did.
October had been in her usual weight-training session with Charlie when Aphrodite burst into the weight room, breathless and panicked.
"Boss, there's been a leakage."
October almost dropped her dumbbell on her chest. "Wh-what?!" she spluttered, once she recovered.
"Someone… someone hacked our system! Our computers are all totally useless!"
"Son of a bitch," Charlie cursed, getting up from her own weight press and headed for the door. She hated trying to fix anything technological (and it hated her right back), but she knew Gigi would need all the help she could get.
"Brandon and Tori are already trying to help Gigi fix things," Aphrodite said, leading her coworkers up the stairs to the control center. "Monday is trying to contact outside help."
"This isn't working!" Gigi said hysterically, typing up every anti-hack code she knew. "Whoever did this knew our system pretty well."
"But how would one of our enemies know our system?" Brandon said, peering over her shoulder. "They'd have to have an inside source!"
Gigi glared at him as something apparently occurred to him.
"…Brandon, that is the stupidest question I've ever heard you ask."
"Right…"
Charlie, October and Aphrodite came into the room, October immediately assuming her position at her desk.
"When and how did this happen?" she asked in her usual, militaristic tone.
"Just ten minutes ago," Tori reported like the good intern she was. "They must've been planning this for ages, because they managed to shut down everything."
"Dammit," October muttered. "Any ideas on what we can do to stop it?"
Gigi was about to make a snarky remark about how if she'd had any idea, she'd have used them by now, but Tori surprised everyone by saying, "If we can't fix the problem from the inside, maybe we could fix it from the outside."
"…What?" Charlie said.
"If I got on a separate bandwidth and tried to hack this system from there—which, in this state, should be fairly easy—, I could try to undo the other hack."
The senior Exterminators all exchanged uneasy glances. After the whole thing with Missy, they were all a bit wary at trusting an intern with such an important task. But what choice did they have?
Gigi took a deep breath. "…Okay."
"Okay, I got past your firewall," Tori said, balancing her phone between her cheek and her shoulder as she sat in a Starbucks, typing on her laptop so quickly it made other customers stare. "It looks like they've implanted a virus that lets them control your system from their location."
"Of course they did," Gigi muttered. "Can you get rid of it?"
"Maybe. Give me a minute."
"I may not have a minute to give you."
Tori continued typing, trying to look like she wasn't trying to save the entire internet so as not to attract attention.
"I can't remove it completely," she said.
"Fuck."
"But I can make it so you can access the computers again. You'll both be in the system, so you can reverse whatever damage the virus does."
"Go for it."
Her fingers flew across the keyboard, typing furiously, until finally, she managed to deprogram the block that was keeping Gigi out of the system.
"Try going in now," she said into the phone.
She heard some typing over the phone, and then some cheering and whooping (most likely from Charlie) as Gigi said, "You got us in!"
"I'll be back at HQ in a few minutes."
"I'm just saying," Aphrodite said, leaning against her desk. "It's pretty weird that a sixteen year old that claims to have no experience in this line of work knows so much about computers."
"If she wanted to make matters worse, she would have already," Charlie replied.
"Or she could be lulling us into a false sense of security." Everyone exchanged glances. Aphrodite let out a frustrated huff. "I'm just saying we should try to find out what she really wants! We know nothing about her, really."
October's hands were resting on her desk, her head bowed in thought. "She's right," she finally said. "I don't think she means any harm, but Aphrodite's right. We should talk to Victoria."
"Talk to me about what?" a voice said from the doorway. Tori had returned without any of them noticing.
Brandon glanced at Aphrodite as if to say, "Hey, it was your idea."
Aphrodite took a deep breath. "We were just… curious. About why you know so much about hacking and viruses and our computer system if you've never been in the Exterminating business before."
Tori sat down, drawing in a breath to calm herself. She'd known she'd have to answer these sorts of questions eventually.
"Where I'm from, computer hacking is a required course in school."
There was a pause.
Charlie spoke first. "What are you tal—?"
But she was cut off by a faceless figure appearing on the screen.
The Anonymous.
"Ah, my dear Exterminators!" the Anonymous said cheerfully, as if she were greeting old friends. "Lovely to see you again!"
"What do you want?" Charlie asked, jumping to her feet, always ready for a confrontation.
"Oh, don't be so angry, Charlotte, I'm just here to see how you all are doing."
"Bullshit! Get off our system!"
"But I can't do that now! I'm in the middle of my greatest work!" The faceless young woman typed a few things, and lines of code appeared on screens all around them. Then, pictures of birth certificates and IDs appeared.
"Oh my God," Gigi breathed, horrified.
The Anonymous was disgustingly smug. "That's right, Miss Monroe. With just a few lines of code, I can find out everything about you. Tell me, how was your stay in that homeless shelter before Octy here found you?"
Gigi's pale hand clenched into a fist, but she kept her composure. The same couldn't be said for Charlie.
"Listen here, you little Slenderman bitch," she said, grabbing the microphone to talk more clearly to the Anonymous, "I don't care what the hell you have on me, but don't touch anyone else's files."
"Oh, how noble of you, Charlotte. Same can't be said for you and Octy during your school days."
October and Charlie exchanged wary glances.
"A failed field trip that led to six casualties?" she said, sounding amused. "My, I'm almost disappointed in the two of you!"
October was shaking with anger, but her voice remained level as she said, "Gigi, cut the transmission."
Gigi was typing, to no avail. "I can't!" she said, sounding frustrated.
"And then we have the beautiful Aphrodite Adams," the Anonymous continued, pulling up a picture of what was undoubtedly a mugshot of a teenaged Aphrodite. "Imprisoned for three months for magical crimes in the Harry Potter universe!"
"Aphrodite?" Charlie said, clearly confused, glancing at her friend.
"I'll explain later," she said quietly.
"Sadly, I wasn't able to find anything on Mr. Freeman here," the Anonymous said, nodding towards him. "I guess he's just too nice. And as for Victoria… well, according to all sources, there is no Victoria Tate."
Now all eyes were on Tori.
Tori was stone-faced as she marched towards the computer. "This conversation is over," she said firmly, finally finding the cord she was looking for.
"Not quite—"
"Yes, quite."
And she pulled the plug.
There was silence, until finally Brandon spoke.
"Tori. Why couldn't she find any of your birth records?"
Tori licked her lips and finally forced herself to look at her mentors.
"Because, technically speaking, I haven't been born yet."