sorry NOT A new update,
halfed chapter 13 cause I didn't like how it looked on the same page together...This chapter happens in the same time frame of the Artie and Warren.
"GUESS THE KILLER?" Winner is in this CHAPTER. CONGRATS!
NEW YORK - 6:03 PM
.
.
Halfway across town, tucked inside an apartment above a crowded Hot Pot restaurant, a redhead busily tapped her fingers across a laptop. Though it probably sounded as if she was hard at work, today she was far from it. The screen was open to a forum.
FFCIS – FAMILY & FRIENDS OF CRITICAL INJURY SURVIVORS
Kid_don86 entered chat.
…
alwaysjisbon-bw
Welcome back, haven't heard from you in a while. How are things? :)
Kid_don86
hey :). I'm Ok, things are…
Claudia stopped typing and glanced out the neighboring window.
The sun was sinking over Chinatown and already the streets were alit with neon lights and people dressed for the evening. For fresh eyes, it probably seemed crowded and much too busy considering the fading day, but as she had witnessed rush-hours first wave, she could see that the bustle had slowed somewhat. Most people were home with their families at this time eating dinner.
Kid_don86
…Things are going aye'rite.
alwaysjisbon-bw
That's good 2 hear. How did your trip go? Weren't you going overseas last time we spoke? Tell me everything! :D
Kid_don86
omg…Cray-cray. The flight went good, perf actually (met MetaShark8673 WarCraft!), we booked at a almost not crappy hotel, I experienced my first NY pizza, slumber partied at a hospital…
alwaysjisbon-bw
Good, good…Wait, you did WHAT?
Kid_don86
Ok, ok. I lied a lil. We never really made it to the hotel cause we landed direct at the emergency room!
alwaysjisbon-bw
Whoa, oh my god, I'm so sorry 2 hear :( What happened? Are you ok? Are you still there?
Kid_don86
I'm fine, I dunno what or why but my mum passed out. The results haven't come back. *tearing out hair*
alwaysjisbon-bw
Hmm… taking that means she seized again?
Kid_don86
That's what I think.
According to Claudia's online persona, she was a Junior in High School, owned a dog named Sprinkles, lived in suburbia her whole life, and her mother was a journalist who was recovering from a near fatal car crash. Though it was probably morbid and a little weird, she'd started the account as a means of understanding some of the things HG had went through regarding her surgeries and coma. What began as something for research over time developed into something else entirely as she actually found herself bonding personally with some of the members and considering some of them actual friends.
alwaysjisbon-bw
zomg, is the rest of your family coming over too?
Kid_don86
eh…maybe. My cousin was here when it happened. She's like a big sis.
alwaysjisbon-bw
oh, I see that's a great thing then, you've already got part of your support systems there, now you just need the rest.
Claudia didn't respond right away as she was silently reeling over the fact that there was some the truth in sentence she had just written. She never had a sibling, not in the blood sense, but in the little time she'd gotten to know Myka Bering, it really did feel like being around an older sibling. She hadn't expected to bond in any way with the heiress at the hotel but once they got over their differences, they shared laughs, un-seriously bickered, and even spoke to each other as if they'd known each other forever. Apart from HG, it had been a very long time since Claudia had experienced that type of human contact. Admitting this to herself even, the bitterness of her reality returned and Claudia found herself re-entering that familiar old melancholy.
As warped as it was, sometimes Claudia wished that her online persona was her truth because in the real world…her truths weren't so shiny. She had no home and no family, for years her home was the ratty floors in abandoned buildings and gas station bathrooms. Her family, if it was one, was a parade of shadows that passed her along in the foster-care system. By the time she was twelve years old, she had experienced levels of abuse unfathomable by majority of the worlds people, whereas most children this was the age that marked the ending of childhood and their transition into teenage adolescents.
Nobody knew that she spent a year in juvenile detention center.
That her first sexual experience was with a full grown man five times her age.
That had she never learned to hack, she would've been working at the same pimps and drug dealers some of her foster siblings fell victim. Or worse.
Claudia rolled her shoulders, shaking away the ire feelings with the process and returned to her chat.
alwaysjisbon-bw
how are YOU doing? that must be very intense so far away from home
Kid_don86
honest?
alwaysjisbon-bw
yeah.
Kid_don86
I'm barely hanging. Everything is just getting worse and worse and…Nothings working.
alwaysjisbon-bw
did you ever look up that doctor I told you about?
Kid_don86
no.
alwaysjisbon-bw
why? he's like the best in the field!
Kid_don86
…he's not from here. He probably doesn't even accept our insurance.
alwaysjisbon-bw
so…what if you can get him to do it anyway? did you ask him? did you try?
Kid_don86
no I didn't try…but whats the point?
alwaysjisbon-bw
You never know, maybe he's nice he could help you anyway.
Kid_don86
I guess so.
alwaysjisbon-bw
*fingers crossed* hopefully it was just that, her fainting.
Kid_don86
I dunno…what if it's not?
alwaysjisbon-bw
That's why you keep hope alive.
Keep hope alive.
Claudia read the line twice to herself, her lips moving slightly on the second. She had all but signed off from chat when the door opened. Before turning around Claudia abruptly closed the forum windows, the sound of her mentors voice entered the room at the last click.
"Great, you already ordered." HG announced.
Time and space lost all definition, as before she knew it, Claudia was already across the room and crushing HG in a smothering bear hug. HG might've played cool and "no-touch me" all the time but this was a moment to ignore any protest of embracing she returned the embrace just as fiercely, her nose pressed into her young protégé's head taking in her scent – petrol and hand soap.
The redhead suddenly pulled free of the older woman then looked at her with indignant eyes.
"You left!"Claudia stated.
"And I came back." HG replied.
Those words sent a splatter of red across the techie's cheeks. HG's usually cool smirk eased into a somewhat fond smile at the image of Claudia roughly wiping her eyes with her wrist.
"Just so you know, I hate you so much right now." Claudia said, palms pressed into her eyes.
"Awww, you really were worried sick over me." HG teased.
"Shut up,"
Claudia dropped back onto her seat as HG hustled Myka into the room and double bolted the door beyond their backs. As she hadn't seen either of the women in nearly two hours, Claudia raked them both over skeptically.
"What took you so long?" Claudia asked, her eyes rolled between the pair then settled on Myka and she squinted her eyes, "That's not the shirt you were wearing."
Instead of responding, Myka collapsed on a chair her hands resting on her kneecaps. HG went over to the window and closed the blinds, she must've still been running on adrenaline as she pulled the cord too hard and nearly yanked it from the window.
"Had an accident." HG supplied.
"What?" Claudia sputtered.
"Ran into an old friend."
"Wait you mean that guy who tried to kill…whoa, what the!"
HG had dropped the dark jacket she was wearing showing that the shirt she was wearing underneath was covered in blood. Claudia's eyes were saucer round as she followed her mentor around the room on autopilot, HG was seemingly not paying her any attention as she uncovered a fresh stack of hand towels on the dresser beside the phone.
"How did you get all this blood on you?" Claudia asked.
"Long story."
"Oh god, oh god, you didn't kill anyone did you? I thought you said no killing?"
In response to that question, the bathroom door was rudely closed on her face. Claudia lingered infront of the closed door with her mouth open for a few seconds then she spun around to track back to her laptop. Instead of going to sit infront of it like she had intended, she stopped short of Myka's chair and leaned in to speak low.
"Did she do it?" Claudia asked.
From behind the bathroom door, HG's voice rang.
"Do we have any detergent in here?" she asked.
The redhead ignored her, her attention sole for the heiress. For some odd reason, Claudia noted that the woman's face was strangely green, like she was going to sick, and her eyes kind of off.
"She killed him didn't she?" Claudia repeated, this time her voice was a little shaky.
Myka blankly stared at her.
Claudia stepped closer into the heiress' space, and the other woman leaned backwards. Frustration colored the redhead's face, her palms twitched at her sides. She was considering ways to get the heiress to talk when the door popped open and HG stuck out her head.
"Claudia what did you do with the bloody soap?" she demanded.
"It's on the sink where else would it be?" Claudia snappily replied.
"As if I couldn't have possibly imagined looking there already," HG retorted just as snappily, her eyes briefly darted between Claudia and Myka then she gestured across the room with a tip of her head.
"Dinner will be making itself too?"
Considering they were rooming above a Hot Pot, it only made sense to order in. There was a spread just waiting to be heated beside Claudia's laptop.
"Yeah well, I wasn't sure when you'll get here so…" the redhead sheepishly trailed as the look on HG's face went completely blank. She awkwardly back tracked away from the heiress back to her space with her laptop and cookware. "…Now that you're here and all, I guess I'll get started on it." Claudia lamely finished.
"Yes, I guess you should do that that sounds like a marvelous idea."
HG was obviously teasing her again, but her tone was lacking its usual warmth and was leaning towards aggressive. The change didn't go unnoticed to the accomplice who cut her eyes at the older woman. HG appeared unfazed as she in turn the door slammed shut for the second time.
"Issues…" Claudia murmured.
Sighing, the redhead spun around and set to work on their DIY dinner. She turned on the pot to bring the broth to a boil and took the tops off the platters of meats and vegetables. After she finished, she scooted a bowl with a pair of chopsticks over to Myka but the heiress waved her off with a vigorous shake of her head and hands. The redhead rolled her eyes and shoved the bowl into her hands anyway.
"If you don't eat she'll flip," she hissed.
Myka's mouth moved as if she was going to protest, but nothing came out.
"Dude, seriously, what's wrong with you? What did she do?" Claudia asked, never one for patience her voice was stressed. "Was it that guy you knew? You still upset about that?"
The heiress shook her head.
"Look if you don't say it how the hell am I supposed to know? Look what if I jus–
"What if you just what?"
HG re-entered the room buttoning her shirt sleeves. She was wearing an eggshell blue button down with a pair of smart black slacks. Had she not had a gun shoved in the front of her pants it probably would've looked formal. She sat down at the cooker and sat the gun between herself and the heiress. Myka's eyes widened slightly but she pressed her mouth shut. HG unsnapped a pair of chopsticks and took the top off the pot. Fragrant steam rose, it smelled spicy and a little sweet. She gingerly dropped a few pieces of the thinly sliced meat into the broth then replaced the top.
"What if you just what?" she repeated.
"What if I just…" Claudia's eyes flickered over to Myka, the heiress shook her head. "What if I just showed you guys what I did with those files we got."
"Excellent."
As she was eating, Claudia wasn't sure if she was referring to the work or the food.
Claudia handed HG a tablet, the captor read it while finishing off a skewer of Mongolian beef. As Myka's stomach was still rollicking from the events prior, she found herself rudely staring at the woman in sheer disbelief.
How was this maniac casually eating dinner at a time like this?
"The notes were in there just like you thought, some of the files that were encoded were there too but you're going to need to crack those, and Myka found the originals of those Act papers with signatures."
"You know what, were you able to get images on the prints too? We worked too bloody hard on that program for it to have failed miserably." HG said.
Claudia swiped a page on the tablet and keyed something in.
"It's vague but I was able to pick them up. Myka and her dad's already in so whatever doesn't match must be his right?"
"Or his assistant, don't forget his middlemen."
Had she not read even a snippet of the documents, Myka was more than positive this conversation would've went over her head. As of now she could assume that the Act papers they were referring to was the Familiar Act and considering they just canceled out her father's involvement with the documents, she could only imagine there was a second entity they were going after altogether.
Myka cleared her throat and cautiously spoke.
"That guy, you killed him, he was in on this? He's a middleman?"
Claudia groaned, "You said no killing, you broke your own rule HG!"
"What else was I supposed to do? You saw, he had her by the throat!" HG said.
"But that didn't mean you had to kill him!"
HG's face tightened, "I did what I had to do, if you were in the same position you would've done the same!"
It took a moment but the meaning of those words clicked with the accomplice, her eyes flashed and she drew her hands to her mouth.
"Ohmygawd, he was the one who…" the redhead's eyes went round, "I swear I didn't know that was him, HG. I would've never sent her in there!"
HG rolled her eyes, though the motion was flippant, color had risen in her cheeks. The accomplice shook her head, her expression was numb.
"What was he doing here then? How did he even get here?" she asked.
"I'm assuming he was already stationed there. He didn't recognize Myka and he definitely didn't seem to get I was me, I think they gave him a side job of guarding the family jewels on his off days," HG said, she got a far off look in her eyes, "The job must've been getting to him cause he appeared to have went mad."
Claudia only half listening wrung her hands, "This is bad…" she said.
"You think?"
The longer she watched the twosome interact, the more Myka's shock wore off. Her own brain switched back into gear as she tried to refocus some of what she had overheard.
"But why? What's the point if there's already guards there? Let's not forget the fancy security system." Myka said.
"It's not so much guarding he's doing, he's acting as a lookout for someone none affiliated with the bank or even your father for that matter." HG replied.
The heiress blinked her eyes, "Oh no, wait, that means he's probably alerted somebody about what happened!"
"Probably darling? He already did. I'm betting any amount of money there's a second switch in that bank somewhere that one of his cronies pull whenever somebody visits aisle W13."
"But I still don't get it. I mean, no offence, it was the world's greatest junk drawer in there. The most important thing in there was the newspaper clippings, you could've got that anywhere." hearing herself say that, Myka's mind reverted to the images of Sam. The blow from seeing his picture after so long was still there, but now it just felt numb and almost as if she had imagined it.
Claudia wasn't good with people, but she could see the turmoil on the heiress' face and knew what it was about. She spoke quickly as a way to divert Myka's attention to elsewhere.
"Remember at the hotel I told you about how some oldschoolers get around hackers?" the heiress looked up at her, the move worked instantly. Claudia continued only briefly sending a look in HG's direction. "Though it sounds ludicrous, that junkdrawer is a massive part of the equation we're trying to crack."
"Okay….?"
"According to HG, the final resting place for a key component of her invention is hidden somewhere amongst those files."
Myka redirected towards her captor, "So that was your signature on those files! Something about a trident right? And the end of the world?"
Instead of responding, the darker woman silently doled out the soup. She added a few more veggies to the broth before reapplying the lid. Myka still wasn't hungry but watching the redhead wolf down some dumplings after dipping them in the soup, her stomach growled embarrassingly loud. The heiress snapped her own pair of chopsticks in half and gingerly wound the noodles. Her eyes were fixated on the other woman still awaiting an answer.
"I'm assuming your father is more of a burn after reading man, but his righthand man is more of a historian. Arthur Nielsenn?"
"Yeah, Artie," said the heiress.
Just saying his name bought a slight smile on Myka's face.
"He's my Godfather, our family attorney. He and my dad have been bestfriends since they were children."
HG nodded, "You looked up to him more than your actual father,"
The heiress blinked in astonishment.
"Your choice of profession?" HG added.
"Oh..yeah. I kinda spent a lot of time with him at the office," the heiress took on a shy smile, "When his assistant was off, he'd let me look up the legal dockets and re-order the paperwork for him. Tracy would make fun of me because I actually liked filing."
The dorky smile that developed across the heiress' face took HG by surprise, she lost her train of thought for a second as she stared at the other woman's face. As witness to the moment, Claudia duck her head behind her bowl to hide her own flashing eyes, whereas Myka was completely oblivious to everything to being lost in her memories.
HG roughly shook her head then patted a napkin to her lips. Her skin was flushed and she felt warmer than usual, she blamed it on the spicy food.
"Myka…Do you know who the Vulture and the Hawk are?"
Myka shook her head.
"In this world, technology is god. Men and women with deep pockets in this field can do a lot of miraculous things, and it is they who set the standards of progress for each generation." HG placed the tablet between them, there was a satellite image of a town. As creepy as it was, thermal imaging was showing what was going on in each of the houses, the people theirselves were totally oblivious to the intrusion.
"That in mind, the Vulture and the Hawk are tech rivals. One was raised by a genius but went on to use his smarts as a mean of taking over the world, the other was just an egotistical gentlemen who thought he could use it to cheat death. You know where your father fits in all of this?" HG asked.
The heiress bit her lower lip.
A part of her wanted to answer the question, just to see if her guess was right, but the other, as morbid as it was, wanted to continue listening to her captor talk. When she wasn't being crazy or overly intense, the woman had a way with words that was truly captivating.
Myka settled on a shrug. For a split second something akin to disappointment flickered across HG's face but she continued speaking nevertheless.
"This is the Vulture." HG said.
The captor flicked the tablet screen to enlarge an image then handed it over to Myka, it was of a man with hard blue eyes and thin lips seated in a wheelchair. He looked only a few years older than she was, give or take a decade.
"Walter Sykes, 42 years old, artificial intelligence tycoon. He caught a bad case of polio as a child that permanently took away his mobility. This tragedy became ground for his future operations as he started a firm that specializes in developing robotic limbs for amputees."
Some of Walter's inventions rolled across the screen, as Myka had interest to patent law she recognized a few from the books she'd read.
"He developed the Collodi's Bracelet? I always thought it was a group of researchers." she said, her voice incredulous.
The corner of HG's mouth went up, it wasn't so much a smile as it was a ironic smirk.
"He's a very private man with a lot of paranoia. To throw his enemies off his scent, he likes to use fictitious "teams" to patent his work,"
Myka gasped and said, "Is that even legal?"
"You're asking me that lawyer?"
The heiress eye's went wide, leading to a enormous smirk to grow onto her captor's face. Myka had already begun prepping herself for whatever ribbing was coming next, but HG sobered quickly.
"Strangely enough, the Vulture wouldn't even be the Vulture if it wasn't for him being mentored by these men," HG said, she flicked the image once again this time the screen filled with three men standing shoulder to shoulder. Though all of the men were several years younger, Myka immediatedly recognized it to be twenty-something year old versions of her father Warren Bering, her godfather Arthur Nielsenn and a man she hadn't seen in over a decade but was just as familiar.
"MacPherson? Myka sputtered.
Captor and accomplice shot her matching double-takes.
"You know James MacPherson?" HG asked.
"Uh, yeah…He was my mentor," Myka said, at the looks on their faces she uncomfortably scratched her neck.
"Is there something wrong?"
Instead of replying right away, the duo exchanged glances before HG carefully replied.
"He was your mentor? Your mentor for what exactly?"
The heiress shook her head.
"The summer I got into Harvard, I was accepted into this research program. It wasn't anything I was interested in really but my father insisted that I did it anyway, it was this thing about Biothermal engineering."
Nearly dropping her computer, Claudia jarred forward.
"You studied Engineering?" she gasped.
HG leaned forward, "Biothermal engineering, as in the study of harnessing earths byproducts to create energy?"
The heiress' nod led the two geeks looked at each other with mirroring astound.
"It was interesting but I just wasn't interested in it," Myka said, she casually shrugged her shoulders, "MacPherson was leading the research, I knew he knew my dad but he didn't treat me special or anything. I got to wear a labcoat and was given a grand tour of the facility with everyone else, I got to play mad scientist for a few weeks out of the year. Nothing serious."
The redhead did a quick calculation in her head.
"Wait, how is it you did this for a year if you were supposed to be at Harvard at that time?" she asked.
As they had had a chat about her school in the van just hours ago, it was impossible for Myka to hold back the edge of irritation in her voice."The lab was a few blocks from campus, so during weekends I'd intern at the lab. It was nothing big."
"What do you mean it was nothing big?" HG blurted.
"I switched majors before the year was out. I was unsure and it just wasn't my thing, it was either that or Business. And I decided to do neither."
"Huh?" Claudia said.
"My family has this thing, Business or Engineering, all Berings go to school for those types of degrees."
"But not you." HG clarified.
"I guess I broke the mode, my father didn't really like it,." a shadow passed over Myka's face as she dropped her gaze down to the floor, "Not that he likes anything I do really." she murmured.
As she was already worried about their kidnapping decision, hearing those words only made things worse for the accomplice. Claudia sat bolt up in her seat and with just using her eyes, tried to get HG's attention. HG seemed to be having thoughts of her own however as her brows were furrowed deeply and she seemed to be meandering along the edge of a rather complex idea.
"But you spent time at his lab," HG stated.
There was something peculiar about the tone of HG's voice, Myka looked over at the darker woman in askance. Her captor's jaw was set tightly and she was staring at her with unreadable expression in her eyes.
"Is there a problem?" Myka asked.
HG pushed her plate over and stood up, gun in hand.
Both hostage and accomplice watched as she stalked over to her discarded overcoat and dug out a bottle of pills. She poured a few tablets into her palm, gun still in hand, then popped them into her mouth. After crunching the pills as if they were candy, HG turned back towards them with vacant eyes.
"I don't think we'll be getting much sleep tonight ladies."
At that she loaded the gun cartridge and released the safety.
.
.
p.s.
JSYK…I'm in love with Shonda Rhimes brain.
p.p.s
I love, love, love CROSSOVERS.
*wink, wink*
SEE YOU ALL NEXT CHAPTER!
THANKS FOR READING!