Disney's Tinker Bell in Storybrooke
A Disney Fairies / Once Upon a Time Crossover
Season 1, between episodes 7 and 8

STORYBROOKE, MAINE

"Do you enjoy being useless, Sydney?" Regina scolded him over the phone.

"I'm not stupid," he replied. "Henry's and your medical information are safe."

She stopped dead in her tracks. The anger already boiling inside her nearly erupted. She had to rush into the elevator and close the door. "ARE YOU INSANE?" she yelled. "If anyone finds our information has been copied I'll be implicated."

"Not just yours, the entire hospital database."

"Explain yourself," she demanded. Their "man" knew he didn't want to put too much direct control over what was and wasn't erased. It might lead back to his employer. So the first thing done was to copy the entire contents of the offsite backup and put all that information in a safe place. The hospital. "He put bits and pieces of it on every computer and laptop in use there. It's hidden and can't be found except by him."

"Well he can't exactly put it back and say 'sorry,' now can he?"

That wasn't the end of his plan. The man Sydney used figured that one little girl would eventually be called in to undo his work. Penny Steveston. A sixteen year old genius that had been the bane of his existence for years. He was nursing a huge vendetta against her.

"Well, lucky for you she is on the case," Regina informed him.

"Yeah, he knows," Sydney told her. "He's been monitoring the hospital servers."

"So why does he hate that little pipsqueak? Not that I mind, I can't stand her myself."

Penny was a White Hat hacker, while the person behind the breach was a Black Hat.

Hackers are divided into three basic camps. Black Hat, Grey Hat and White Hat. Each pursues hacking for fun, profit or both. Black Hats do it to malicious ends like identity theft, stealing credit card numbers or just to watch the world burn by their hand.

White Hats do it for the benefit of the IT Community, researching security vulnerabilities in software and then quietly reporting them to the programmers and vendors so those weakness can be patched before they become widely known. White Hats are often paid for their efforts.

Grey Hats tend to embody elements of both Black and White Hat hackers. They will advise both the hacker community and the programmers, essentially pitting each side against the other, while the Grey Hats sit back and enjoy the show.

"In a few days I'll be reporting that an anonymous source overheard Penny Steveston saying she was planning something big," Sydney told the mayor. "That she was tired of being one of the good guys and wanted to earn her Black Hat street cred with a major security breach. All of that information that used to be on the hospital's servers will surreptitiously be found on her machines."

"She'll be arrested for the crime," Regina said, a smile coming across her face. "And her involvement in the recovery will be to ensure no data was ever actually recovered, throwing law enforcement off her trail. I guess you still are useful, Sydney. At least for one more day."

"Thank you, Regina." She could almost hear that big smile beaming on his face.

~O~

"Finally," Claire gasped as the last of the paperwork was finished. "We can go home now."

Home? Vidia thought. What is home in Storybrooke? Where do I live? These questions echoed through her mind for the first time since waking up in this human world. Back in Pixie Hollow, Vidia lived in the hollow of the sour plum tree that overlooked the pine forest where her guild resided. She had been living in self-imposed isolation after the attempted coup of the monarchy by Swift, Festus and their minions. No one lived near where she did and Vidia, despite finally becoming friends with Tinker Bell, enjoyed the isolation. It was always quiet and peaceful there.

"Where do I live?" she asked the queen.

The older woman stopped and looked at her for a second. Then she softened, as if reminding herself of something. "You live with us, sweetheart."

"I do?"

"Yes," the queen replied with a gentle laugh. "Your room is next to Tina's."

Vidia wasn't sure if that was going to be a problem. Suddenly she was about to be shoehorned into a situation where she would be living in close quarters with others. In Pixie Hollow, most everyone had their own individual housing. Only couples and best friends like Clank and Bobble ever shared a space. A fairy house was a large, one room living area. The bed, living space, eating area and workshop, if any, shared that one, large area.

Vidia then remembered what Lizzy's home was like. Several rooms under one roof. Dr. Griffiths lived in the main bedroom down the hall from where Lizzy's personal bedroom was. Downstairs were the common spaces and Dr. Griffiths' study. Would "home" be like that, too? Could she live effectively in a place shared by others?

She was led out and into the city of Storybrooke for the first time. She had seen it from above while inside the hospital, a view from a fourth floor window she still remembered vividly. The elevation reminded her of being aloft, flying on her fairy wings. Now she was going to experience Storybrooke firsthand at ground level. Would she see anyone else from Pixie Hollow? Could she navigate the roads and around the horseless carriages? Would she even know how to interact with these humans? How would they treat her?

The fast flyer turned human felt nervous again. Her usual cocksure attitude giving way to trepidation and anxiety. She, Tinker Bell, Queen Clarion and Lord Milori walked towards a boxy looking horseless carriage that, while it was different and possibly newer than Dr. Griffiths' automobile, it somehow looked old and worn down by use and time.

The tires were thick and had a large metal rim in the center, rather than a slim tire with spokes. The carriage had doors that could seal a rider inside. The back of the horseless carriage looked like a mouse cart for carrying things over long distances.

In fact, there were tools and implements in the back, but she could not readily identify some of them. The outside of this carrying space had high walls and several compartments, judging by what appeared to be small doors on the sides. The front and back of the horseless carriage was adorned with three letters: G, M and C. She had no idea the significance of those specific letters.

Vidia noted that many other such horseless carriages were sitting on either side and up and down several rows. They varied in shape, size and even color. That was the most peculiar thing about these carriages: colors. Why bother?

Her queen opened the door to the inside where a long bench like seat greeted her. Tinker Bell crawled in first.

"Okay, sweetheart, you're next," Clarion told her. "Need some help?"

Vidia remembered her injured hand, still in a grey splint that a nurse demonstrated could be removed and replaced easily. Apparently it used something they called "Velcro" to hold it together. Her wrist still throbbed a bit. This odd looking, boxy shaped carriage with no horse was set awfully high. It was difficult for Vidia to climb in using just one hand. She had to take up the queen on her offer.

She finally slid into the seat of the behemoth carriage. Tina explained that it was called a pickup truck. "It was designed to be used as a work vehicle, not a passenger truck," she added.

They made those, too? The flyer asked herself. Passenger trucks? Do they look like this? Or were they different?

"How do you get air in here?" Vidia asked, feeling strangely closed in.

"You can roll the windows down," she said showing Vidia the short hand crank that raised or lowered the glass on the door. "Also, we have air conditioning."

"Air what?"

"Air conditioning. It makes the air cold, like in the hospital," Tinker Bell explained. "It's great for hot days. The truck also has a heater to keep the cab warm during winter. And boy do we need it here in Maine. It gets cold."

The queen slid in from the other door and slammed it shut. She cranked down the window and Lord Milori stood by the vehicle to talk with her. "Thank you so much for everything, Hartley," Clarion said to him. "I can't begin to show you my gratitude."

"I should be thanking you," he replied, "for buying lunch today. Why don't I treat you and your girls to dinner at Granny's?"

"Oh no, I couldn't impose," Clarion answered, her face turning flush. Vidia knew why, Queen Clarion and Lord Milori were set to marry in Pixie Hollow. Yet for some reason, here they were acting as if they were just beginning to court.

"I insist," he said. "I'll meet you there."

Clarion looked positively giddy. Tinker Bell, for some reason, didn't appear very happy. Vidia couldn't understand why.

~O~

During the course of her investigation, Penny discovered that the culprit responsible had gone out of his or her way to cover their own tracks. The Cisco firewalls used to secure the hospital's internal network from the internet at large maintain a constant log of incoming and outgoing traffic. Those logs had been erased from the night of the breach, ensuring no one could track the internet address and locate the villain of this well executed attack.

What bothered Penny the most about this breach was why only some data was erased? "Why not all of it?" she asked herself. "Why not all of it for a single day? Or a month or everything?" Just random amounts of information from every RAID Array across different domains. Neither Emma nor Hartley had told her the entire story, but the little girl came to the same conclusion that Deputy Swan did. Someone had targeted specific information and had to delete more to make it look like a traditional security breach. Allen the network administrator assisting her confirmed her suspicions.

"Now that changes things a bit." It also meant that someone knew which file had to be erased. Although not an airtight conclusion, since Hartley had called her it might have something to do with his new girlfriend, Claire Kensington. She remembered that the older daughter was wearing a splint on one hand and concluded she was the one being targeted. But for just a simple injured hand? Why?

Then she remembered the motorcycle accident that had been featured on local news reports a few days earlier. Was it a hit? Did Storybrooke have a crime syndicate living within its town limits? Was there a ruthless crime boss leading a group of well dressed, but bloodthirsty men who went on rampages shaking down store owners and…. "Get a grip on yourself, Penny," she whispered to herself. "This is Storybrooke, not New York. Nothing exciting ever happens in this sleepy town."

The last truly memorable events she could remember were the clock tower starting to keep time again in late October, David Nolan woke up and reunited with his wife, and a mine collapsed nearly killing Henry Mills and Doctor Hopper. Then most recently Sheriff Graham had passed away. It suddenly dawned on her that things were happening in Storybrooke.

Penny thought intensely about what had changed recently. The only thing she could think of was the new Deputy, Emma Swan, a recent arrival. Penny could not remember that woman being in Storybrooke before October, when The Daily Mirror ran a cover story about her. She had crashed into the town's historic sign. No one ever visited this town, there was no tourism and certainly nobody simply drove through to get to somewhere else.

Things were beginning to change, she concluded. And they were interesting changes. Penny hoped that the future would finally be different from the past. No more rampant sameness.

"Would you excuse me a moment," Allen said, breaking the girl from her revery. "I'll get those Hot Pockets and Big Red for you."

"Thanks."

~O~

Outside the server room, Allen pulled out his cell phone and made a call. The person on the other end was a man with a distinct way of speaking. It was proper and showed great care in the words he chose.

"Hello, Mr. Gold? There has been a breach of the computer network at the hospital," he said.

"Is my equipment safe?" Gold asked of him.

"Yes, but data has been painstakingly erased."

"Was it due to negligence on your part?" his voice seemed calm, yet very angry underneath.

"No, sir. All common sense measures to secure the network were taken and then some. Whoever did this was a real pro."

"I see," Gold replied, those two words sending a wave of relief crashing over Allen. "And what makes you think that?" Allen's nervousness returned. He explained to Mr. Gold everything he had heard Emma and then later Penny tell him. From the fake Anonymous splash screen, the erased firewall logs, to the likelihood of it being a local crime.

"Both thinks that someone was trying to remove specific data from the servers."

"And whoever it was needed to cover their tracks by erasing more than just that bit of information," Gold finished.

"Yes, sir."

"Are my medical records intact?"

"Yes, they are."

"Excellent. Now tell me about this Penny who is working on my computer equipment."

Uh oh, why is Mr. Gold so interested? And will the mysterious hacker actually succeed in setting up Penny for this crime? Keep reading.

Thanks to everyone who has been keeping up with this story. Tinker Bell in Storybrooke has reached ten thousand views! You are amazing!