So just a little thing that bothers me about is when you put some symbols in to divide up scene changes and they see fit to delete those symbols. We'll see if they work on this chapter and if they don't then oh well you and I both know they are suppose to be there.
Just putting this out there, I'm not apart of the medical field in any way shape or form so any medical stuff in here is completely made up. I pass out at the site of blood so there's no way I'm gonna be a doctor or anything else medical. This is just me making guesses and hoping that they sound reasonable. So if you do have medical knowledge and wish to correct me then be my guest but don't be rude and there is a chance that I will leave what I have written the same because it works with my story.
So, here's to hoping you like this so far because I enjoy writing it!
"Every day may not be good but there is something good in every day."
"Well she's a firecracker." The older man stated with with a small smile.
"Shut up Jack." Director Thornton snarled.
"There's no need to be that way Patty I liked the girl, you know, when she wasn't insulting you."
"Jack."
"I know, I know human resources is still on the third floor. I was just stating a fact. That girl is definitely a firecracker. She looks fun and pretty from far away but when you get close you could get burned." Jack was still smiling like he had just won the lottery.
"Well, you aren't wrong," Thornton said with a sigh. "Cassie Palmer was one of our best until she was injured on a mission. She wasn't the same after that, angrier and yet terrified. She left immediately after medical cleared her and no one has heard from her since."
"Well it seems like first contact crashed and burned. Are you gonna try again later? Maybe you'll get better reception if you head to higher ground." Jack forced a grin but there was something hiding behind it.
"Just go and get whoever it is you had in mind Jack." Thornton closed her eyes in defeat and stalked off.
"Come on Mac, we've got an inmate to go get."
The young blond man rolled his eyes at his partner's antics but followed anyways. Those two would follow each other to the ends of the earth if need be. Of course there would be a little complaining, some sarcasm, and some carefully constructed plans in the nick of time involved. But they would both make it, alive.
Tears cascaded down Cassie's cheeks after the laptop was slammed shut. She couldn't believe the nerve that Pat, no Director Thornton, had. Thornton had been the one to rescue her at the last possible second of that terrible screw up of a mission. She had seen the damage caused by her failure and she knew of the consequences of that fateful day. Yet she chose to bring up Cassie's lasting wounds as if they had no hindrance on her ability to hack. Of course they caused problems! She had a knife jammed through her dominant hand causing severe nerve damage and several other wounds that hinder her in other ways.
Her mind raced a thousand miles a minute as she wondered about the poor men standing behind Director Thornton, the weapon they were so desperate to find, and who else they would get to do the job that she couldn't. Cassie opened the old laptop once again. Just out of a strange sense of curiosity she placed it in the corner, plugged it up, and left it on. Normally she left the laptop to collect dust in that same corner but for some reason she felt a pull in her gut that told her to leave it out for a little while longer.
Cassie sometimes for some morbid reason liked to question her sanity. Today was one of those days. She sat and wondered if it was healthy of her to limit her exposure to the delivery people who brought her food and other online purchases, the few online contacts she had acquired over the years, the self defense teachers she hired, and her landlord. There was a lot of online activity in that sentence. Cassie, while being unable to hack because of the precision and speed needed, could still use her damaged hand to type. It was just slow going, very slow. Her thoughts were becoming snappier from her lack of social interactions and when she did interact socially she found herself to be snarky, more so than usual, and angry. Sanity assessment part one complete and found lacking.
Cassie always was cautious even before the mission gone wrong but afterwards it was a whole new level of cautious crossing into paranoia. She found herself hating windows always seeing a person looking in on her or imagining them easily breaking one and getting into her house. So she put up bars on her windows. She ordered and installed multiple locks on every door in her apartment and always checked them four times to make sure that they were locked. Even after that she would still wedge a chair underneath the door handle, just to be sure. Sanity assessment part two complete and found slightly disturbing.
She had a minuscule knowledge of self defense before the incident. Afterwards however, she just couldn't stop learning new ways to fight so she would be prepared for anything. She forced herself to go out into public several times a week to learn from different self defense teachers and even learned how to shoot a gun and throw knives. Cassie had several guns and knives stashed around the apartment in the event of an attack and several baseball bats as well, just in case. Even after all this she still didn't feel safe. She didn't think she ever would again, not until the people who destroyed her were killed or put in prison. Sanity assessment part three complete and found pitiful.
She hated this but there was no help for her. The few people that she could talk to about this were in a different state. Some of them were not only in a different state but they were separated by a rather large body of water known as an ocean. There was nothing they could do. Nothing at all. Sanity assessment complete and found depressing.
Cassie with a sigh and a shake of her head decided to contact one of said friends. She knew that talking to him would provide her with some much needed clarity and as always she would get to joke with him about some theory that he had found. He always knew just what to say to provide her with the insight she needed and the comfort she craved.
Cassie pressed the call button on her usual laptop and waited for him to answer. He was almost always next to his computer and no matter what time it was he would always answer her. It was less than a minute before his smiling face filled the screen.
The two men are alone in a car headed towards the prison to pick up Riley Davis. The hacker that Jack had originally wanted to contact. The blond, Mac, sits in the passenger seat absentmindedly twisting a paper clip into some shape. The older man, Jack, is paying attention to the road but he constantly glances over at his partner.
"Jack, did you see how Thornton was with her?" Mac turns to look at him with a slight frown.
"What?" Jack kept his eyes on the road, hoping that Mac wouldn't continue with this line of questioning.
"Stop that. You know exactly what I'm taking about. I've never seen Thornton almost beg for someone's help. It just wasn't like her." He kept twisting the paper clip, bending it into shapes and then straightening it out again.
Jack sighed. "I didn't realize it until Patty said her last name." He paused for moment, debating on if he should just tell Mac or let the kid stew for a little while. "Cassie Palmer. Of course when I heard about her she was going by the name Nightingale. The best hacker in the business till four years ago she dropped off the grid. Not many knew what happened to her. Some people were suggesting that she'd been killed, others thought she'd retired or gone to prison. I knew a different story." Jack glanced at Mac before pressing on. "She was one of us. Cassie Palmer was Patty's partner. Cassie got grabbed and tortured by the men she and Patty were after. They had her for a day and half before Patty found her and not once did that kid break. That was the last I ever heard of her." Jack shook his head sadly and thanked God that what happened to Cassie hadn't happened to Mac yet and if he had any say it, it would never happen to Mac.
"We're here." Mac finally said after several minutes of sad silence. They had reached the prison to get their hacker, but in the back of their minds Cassie Palmer had dug her claws in and she wouldn't be forgotten as easily as that.
"Hey Jerry. How are y'all doing on the island?"
"Pretty good, unless you count the serial killer killing serial killers." He nervously laughed and then tilted his head sadly. "Why are you wearing that Cas?"
He was referring to her scarf and long sleeved shirt. You see Jerry Ortega had been friends with Cassie for years, even before the incident. He was one of the few people that Cassie let her guard down completely with and he always pushed her to show more of her true self with others.
"It was just one of those days Jer. I'm fine." Cassie forced a smile.
"If you were really fine then you would have waited for our usual video chat in a couple of hours. So, what's with the getup and the bloodshot eyes?"
Jerry despite his kind nature wouldn't take any crap from Cassie. He thought of her like a sister and even though he was pushy at times Jerry could bring back shards of the original Cassie. The Cassie before she put up walls of sarcasm and anger.
"I looked in the mirror this morning and all I could see was the scars on my neck, so I put the scarf on. Then, when I was fixing breakfast all I could concentrate on was the ones on my arms. I got so wrapped up in them that I burnt the pancakes. They were good pancakes too, chocolate with blueberries." Cassie trailed off looking deeply upset about her scraped pancakes. "So I decided to put on long sleeves and it helped for a little bit, until I made a craptastic decision to turn on my old laptop. That's when the day really went downhill."
"What's so bad about that old laptop? Did you see some of our discussions about aliens and secret government organizations from back in the day?" Jerry was rewarded for his efforts with a small laugh.
"No Jer, it was a video chat."
"Oh, it was from her wasn't it? That's what messed you up so bad Cas?" Jerry's expression fell before a light bulb went off in her head. "Cassie you are going to change out of that comfort blanket and into something that shows off those scars of yours."
She gave him and incredulous look and snorted. Jerry could see the anger boiling and hurried to explain his thought process.
"Cas, you're a survivor. That's why you have those scars. Others have been where you were and they didn't make it out. You did. You're a miracle Cassie and those scars of yours that you hate so much show just how amazing you are. You've told me before that looking at them reminds you about how weak you were. But that's not right. Those scars show how strong you were. You could've given up the information that they wanted but instead you held strong. Each scar should be a reminder of how tough you truly are and they should show the world that you aren't to be messed with. So don't hide them away, be proud of them Cassie. Be proud of yourself."
With that last sentence both Jerry and Cassie were in tears. If they were in the same room the two would have been clinging to each other. Instead Cassie just gave him a watery smile and walked off camera. Only to come back shortly after in a Carolina Tar heel's t-shirt, showing most but not all of her scars. Jerry smiled and blew her a kiss.
"There's my Cas."
"Only for you, Jerry. I'm not ready to be this exposed in public." Cassie shook her head fondly but smiled anyways.
"And I am fine with that. Progress is progress Cassie. Remember that for the future. Now what happened in this infamous video chat?"
"I was asked to hack a laptop so that they could stop the sale of a weapon. Before you ask I don't know what kind of weapon. Pat pissed me off before she could get that far and I said some things and then hung up."
"Weapon sales are not good," Jerry said, putting his head in his hands. "Let me guess, when you refused to help them she made an insensitive comment about your injuries. You fell back onto defense mode number three and attacked her character. You also most likely did this while she was in front of some colleagues." Jerry paused to scratch his beard. "How close was I?"
"Dead on," Cassie said faintly. "I still don't know how you do that. It's freaky and yet cool at the same time."
"It's a gift." Jerry smiled brightly. "So what are you going to do now that you can no longer ignore your old life?"
"I don't know. At this point I wish I could go back in time and never open that stupid laptop. You know they'll contact me again Jer. I'm back on their radar now and they won't lose me again. It was hard enough to get them to leave me alone the first time. Can you imagine what it'll be like now?" Cassie stood up swiftly and began to pace.
"You can't worry about what hasn't happened yet. What will you do if they contact you again?"
Jerry knew that there was only so many suggestions that Cassie would take at one time before she shut you down. The safest route was to try and guide her. Let her come to her own decisions and if they were way off the sane mark, then make a suggestion.
Cassie sighed and paused in her frantic pacing. She chewed on her lower lip before roughly putting her hair up in a high ponytail.
"That's the thing Jerry, a part of me wants them to contact me again. A part of me, which is larger than I thought it would be, wants to be back in the game. I have this stupid idea that if I got back on the job that it would make me feel safer because at least I would be doing something, instead of just sitting here being terrified."
"Then that's what you do."
"What?" Cassie's head whipped towards the screen.
"When they contact you again, because they will, you tone done the anger and you accept a minor job. When I say minor I do really mean minor because you need to be sure that this is really what you need."
Cassie smiled. "Thanks Jerry. You really are the best friend a girl could ask for."
He blushed a bit before saluting her and ending the call. Alone in the apartment once again Cassie closed the laptop. For some inexplicable reason she felt calm. For first time in four years Cassie felt peace about a decision. She had a hope shining at the end of the tunnel, now she just had to go for it and pray that she didn't end up splattered against a false exit.
Thank you guys so much for reading this chapter!
I hope you liked my little crossover that I shoved in there. Jerry and a few other interesting people will make more appearances.
I didn't list this in the crossover category because while the extra characters I use have an impact on Cassie they don't really interact with the others. I didn't see that as enough to warrant listing this as a crossover so be upset if you want but it was my decision.
Comments are greatly appreciated and I will try my best to reply to you in a timely manner. Comments also put a massive smile on my face.
Shout out to Gib for being the very first person to comment! You seriously made my day!
Any guesses on what other characters from different shows will make an appearance?
The first one to get the character(s) or the show right will get to ask me any question they want about this story and I will answer truthfully. In a private message of course, I can't spoil things for everyone.
Thanks again!