6.2 - The Girl Who Dreams in Code

We found the sender's apartment on the 29th floor of a skyscraper complex.

"Hold up," Elaina whispered as I was about to knock on the door.

She stepped in front of me, placed a hand on the door and focused her gaze on where she was touching.

"What're you doing?" I whispered back.

"Shh! Magic!"

I sighed. "What kinda Spell is it this time? Don't tell me you have X-Ray vision."

"Something like that. But that's a purely Abnormal ability, and I ain't an Abnormal."

"You aren't normal, at all!"

Elaina opened her eyes and backed away from the door. "Ok, she's in there. No weapons, no traps. You ready?"

"Yeah. Wait, are we breaking in? Can't you just use a Spell to open doors?!"

Elaina rolled her eyes. "What kind of universe do you think this is? There's not a Spell for everything, Jace! Now, follow my lead, okay?"

"But what am I supposed to d—"

Elaina took one step forward and her whole body phased through the door completely, leaving me alone in the hallway.

"What the—...Ela?" I whispered. "Ela?"

Just then, her left arm phased back through the door, grabbed my jacket collar, and dragged me forward.

"Wait...Wait, wait!" I shut my eyes as the door was about to smash into my face.

But I felt nothing.

"Jace? Hey!" Elaina whispered again. "Will you open your eyes?"

I did so and found myself in the apartment. Elaina held her right index finger to her lips and I nodded. She motioned with her head for me to look behind her, and she moved out of the way.

There, sitting in front of her desktop monitors was the girl—our person-of-interest—clicking and typing away as she looked from screen to screen. She wore baggy yellow jogging pants that almost reached the floor. Her legs were crossed, as her half-covered bare feet tapped the carpet intermittently.

Jace, can you hear me?

I blinked and turned to Elaina. Oh, telepathy. Been a while.

Yeah. She doesn't seem to have any security measures. Pretty strange, but that's good for us! We'll sneak up and restrain her. Sound good?

R-Restrain her? How, exactly?

Let me handle that. If she tries anything funny, can you make a trajectory to force her our way?

Uh, sure, I can try.

And try not to hit the monitors or towers. We might need them.

Yeah, I got it.

I put one foot in front of the other as quietly as possible, keeping my eyes focused on the girl. She giggled from time to time, and she seemed to be young—probably a couple years younger than Elaina and me.

As we stepped onto the carpet of her main living quarters, the girl suddenly raised her arms.

I froze in place.

But the girl simply exhaled as she stretched, and we continued forward.

Elaina and I were now halfway towards her when—

"Phew! Another drink..." The girl wheeled around on her swivel chair, revealing a white t-shirt with violet stripes on the sleeves, and immediately locked eyes with me.

"Um, h-hi!" I waved.

She jumped in her seat. "H-H-H-HEEEEH??!!"

The girl made a mad dash towards a dresser, where an unassuming pistol rested.

I reached out with my left hand.

"Jace!" Elaina yelled at me.

I did not want to harm the girl, and I noticed the red rug she stepped onto with her bare feet. I focused on the rug and made a pulling motion towards me. Immediately, the rug obeyed my command and dragged itself—and the girl—in our direction.

"Eek!" the girl shrieked.

Elaina followed up by weaving her hands, casting some sort of a Stunning Spell on her, and knocked the girl out cold.

She fell into Elaina's arms.

"Here we...go." Elaina said as she laid the girl on a sofa.

"What...did you do to her?"

"Soul Displacement Spell. Usually wears off in 10 to 15 minutes...uh, I think."

"I'm sorry, the what?!"

"Until then..."

Elaina raised her hands above the girl and the sofa. A light blue aura enveloped them for a few seconds before it dissipated.

"All right, great! I jinxed the sofa to prevent her from leaving until we're done asking her questions."

"Nice," I nodded, and I turned to the six monitors, curious.

I took the girl's seat and rolled up to the desk. On every monitor were four smaller screens that each displayed similar layouts—a "Client" window, a "Request" window, a "Timer" window, and a "Code Base" window.

On each of the three monitors to my left, the name "Hackathon" was spelled out in bright pink stickers.

On each of the three monitors to the right, the name "Heraldia" was spelled out in bright yellow stickers in a style similar to the pink ones.

"Hackathon," I read aloud. "...and Heraldia...Wait a sec...Ela, this girl...S-She's a criminal! Uh, and a vigilante, too! I-I guess."

"Huh?" Elaina raised an eyebrow as she walked up next to me. She rested one hand on the desk and placed the other on the chair. "Let's see...Hackathon...Heraldia. Client #825...Representative Gordon Monroe...Timer at 8 hours, 39 minutes, 24 seconds...And that code base is for...Deletion of 'Transaction Data?!' What the hell is this?!"

"I know these names—Uh, her names," I said. "Hackathon's known online as an unbeatable hacker, who can access any device in the world. No matter how secure or how old a device, she can break through to find out whatever she wants."

"And Heraldia?"

"That's, uh...I guess that's Hackathon's alter ego of sorts. But Heraldia's famous for being an anonymous vigilante who can recover any lost or stolen files. She helped law enforcement find some slippery bad guys from the Northwestern district a few years back."

"So she's...both a cyber-criminal and a cyber-vigilante? That's just crazy. But what's her motive?"

I took a few quick glances at her tech, inspecting their conditions. "Money, most likely."

"Money?" Elaina repeated. "How do ya figure?"

"Because money's how she could afford her systems and switch between different identities online. Multiple times, from the looks of it. I doubt this is her only residence, too."

"So, she's a fraud?"

"Sort of, yeah. But it looks like she's just a girl using her coding skills for her own gain."

"Hmm, so she must've pretended to be multiple people all this time. You think...What if she...?"

I caught on to Elaina's line of thinking. "The text message!"

"Right-o, Jace!"

I pulled the nearest keyboard and mouse to me, and I searched the first "Hackathon" desktop for any orders—requests that may have come from the Science Division.

Nothing.

I did the same for all "Heraldia"-labeled monitors and another "Hackathon" one.

Still nothing.

But at the last "Hackathon" computer, I found a client named "sci div.”

There couldn’t be any doubt.

I clicked on it.

There was a circular loading symbol that kept rotating, until—

All the monitors suddenly shut off.

"What? What happened?" Elaina glanced at all the monitors.

"I...I'm not sure," I replied, and I leaned down to check the towers. "Everything seems to be on still. I don't why they just shut down like thi—"

"Bio-Scan."

Elaina and I turned at the same time to see the girl now fully awake, sitting on the couch.

She sat with her legs crossed. "The mice and keyboards don't recognize your fingerprints. I coded them all to recognize only my touch...and to automatically run a Shut Down program, in case it wasn't me."

Elaina moved out of the way so I could also see her.

As soon as the girl met my eyes, she seemed to get a bit flustered, but then she kept looking from me to Elaina.

"Well," I began. "Enjoy your nap, Miss 'Heraldia'? Or do you prefer to be called 'Hackathon,’ instead?"

She made a pouty face. "My name's Lin, actually. And, to be honest, I'd much rather be called 'Hackathon,' if you don't mind. Just sounds cooler. Also..." She bowed at me. "I can't believe I'm actually meeting you in-person, Vector. I'm a huge fan of yours, uh...It's really nice to meet you."

Elaina stepped forward. “Unfortunately for you, we're not here for happy greetings, girlie. We found all this data on your computer here, and you've got a lot of explaining to do!"

Elaina folded her arms.

I could tell she was trying to look and sound tough, even though she probably knew next to nothing about this kind of tech.

I refocused on the girl. "Lin, we're not here to hurt you."

"I know," she smiled at me. "Otherwise, you guys would've done it already. So..." Lin moved so she could lie back on an angle facing us, resting her feet on the other side of the sofa. "...I can only assume you guys either want something from me, or you need me for some dead specific reason. If you have a job for me, I take cash only."

"Wow, what a brat," Elaina shook her head and placed her hands at her hips. "Acting all high and mighty like she owns the place."

"Actually, I do own this place, Ponytail. It's my apartment, sure, but I paid to own this exact unit in particular. You guys are the ones trespassing. Uh, except...except you, Vector, you're all right."

Elaina glanced back at me, then to Lin. "W-What the hell?"

I shook my head.

"Look, Lin," I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees. "We'd like to ask you a few questions about...something we think you may have been involved with."

"I've had a lotta clients, Vec. Specifics?"

"The Science Division. Ever heard of them?"

"I may or may not have."

"Really?" I folded my arms. "What's it gonna take for you to remember if you did?"

She eyeballed me, then Elaina. "Maybe tell your girlfriend there to lock herself in the bathroom so I can talk to you alone?"

Elaina immediately took a step back. "Oh, Lord and Lady—"

Ela, I've got an idea. I said in my mind. We can beat this girl at her own game.

How, man?

Can you make yourself go invisible?

Oooh, got it! Way ahead of ya!

Great. Heh. This time, you follow my lead.

All right.

"All right, fine,” I feigned compliance. “Ela, can you leave us alone for a bit?"

"What?! Y-You're kidding, man, we—"

"Just trust me on this. This won't take long."

Elaina glared at Lin, who waved at her mockingly.

"You heard him! G’bye-bye, Ponytail!" Lin said. "Enjoy the lavatory!"

Elaina pretended to stomp her feet to the bathroom and closed the door.