Hacking Hearts

[WhimsicalWriter]

A hacker gets caught by the police after being at large for two years. However, at the same time a brutal murderer has appeared and is terrorizing the city. With no other choice the police agree to not make him/her go to jail if she helps them catch him. She also has to work together with a young detective.


"Five minutes my ass." Paige muttered irritably under her breath. She glanced at the clock in the stuffy office for the tenth time and sighed. That police guy she had spoken to--she had to look at the nameplate standing proudly on the table to remember his boring name--had told her he would be back in five minutes to tell her what the deal the police wanted to make with her was. Lo and behold, eighteen minutes had passed and he still hadn't come back.


Her fingers tapped her arm impatiently, almost as if looking for a substitute for the laptop and keyboard that had been taken away from her. TO think, today had started out like a normal day. For her, at least. Woke up at noon, ate a quick breakfast consisting of ramen and an energy drink, and took her place in front of her computer and its several monitors. Her work for that day was simple; swap around some money in a few bank accounts. It sounded so simple that she made the stupid mistake of letting down her guard and not checking the bank accounts' backgrounds completely. Right as she made the exchange, a trap dropped open and attacked her system. Panicked, she had swiftly worked to save her computer, and had barely managed to keep from losing everything when the police showed up at her door.


Strangely enough, after being taken into custody Paige had been brought into the police station. Apparently they had already decided her guilt, but instead of arresting her, they had stated that they wanted to make some sort of deal. Before she knew what was happening she had been stuffed into this office and forced to wait.


Paige sighed again and slumped in her seat. She briefly entertained the notion of trying to escape, but quickly threw it away. After all, she was in a police stations surrounded by armed men and women, while she had no physical prowess to speak of. Of course that didn't mean she couldn't be sour about it.

 

[Hoax]

Blake fiddled absently with the edge of her shirt, a frown stuck on her face as she leaned against a wall. After being called to the police station, she'd assumed there had been a lead on the murderer case, but when she arrived she'd been told to wait. And so she waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, one of the officers had shown up. "About time. Why'd you drag me down here if you haven't gotten anything new on the case?" Blake demanded, a hand resting angrily on her hip. The officer held up his hands. "Sorry, sorry. But we have an idea. I'll explain on the way there..."


~10 or so minutes later~


"No." Blake said for what felt like the hundredth time. "I will not work with someone else, much less a criminal. The only reason I'm a good detective is because I don't have a dumb partner getting in my way all the time." The officer took a deep, sighing breath and opened the door to the office where the hacker would be. "Yeah, I knew that would go well… Oh well, here we are." He said, opening the door and ushering Blake in.


It was one of the more boring of the offices. Two chairs, a desk with a nameplate, a simple clock. One chair was obviously the officer's, and the other was currently occupied by a girl. She looked to be maybe a year or so younger than Blake. Short brown hair, brown eyes. Blake watched her fingers tap against her arm, and in the back of her head was thinking the girl's fingers obviously missed her computer, but tried to shut off her deductive mind for the moment. Instead, she leaned against the wall and crossed her arms, waiting for the officer to explain things to the hacker.

 

[WhimsicalWriter]

Paige turned her head to glance at the door when it opened, watching them with an indignant expression. In walked two people; one was the officer that had spoken to her earlier, looking as drab in his worn suit as ever. The other was a young female--especially young for someone who worked with police--with light gray hair. Clearly, the woman wasn't happy with whatever was going on, raising Paige's suspicions.


When the officer sat back down in his padded chair she finally turned her attention back at him. "So, mind telling me what the hell I'm doing here?" She demanded with no small amount of venom. While most of the animosity was due to her dislike of the situation, another small part of it was due to her frustration at not knowing what was going on.

 

[Hoax]

The officer opened a drawer and pulled out a file, tossing it onto the desk so the girl could see it. "There's been a string of murders. This seemingly uncatchable murderer is on the loose, and we've tried everything to catch him." He motioned to Blake with a hand. "This is detective Blake Shepard. She's been working on the case for a while, and will be helping you as much as you'll be helping us."


Scratching the back of his neck, the officer continued. "We know you're a computer hacker, but can you get information as well?" He stood up and leaned slightly on the desk, his hands flat. "Here's the proposal. We won't send you to jail, if and only if you help us catch this murderer. You'll be working with Shepard, of course. We'll give you all your equipment, but Shepard will be there to make sure you don't just run away."


He leaned back into his chair again, waiting for the hacker's response. Blake stayed where she was, but grit her teeth slightly to keep from saying anything. Before they'd entered the room, the officer had told her the orders had come straight from the chief himself. That put a slight damper on her whole refusal plan. Her eyes flicked briefly to the girl, and watched for her reaction to the deal.

 

[WhimsicalWriter]

Paige remained silent for several moments, mulling over the offer. Not that it was really much of an offer. There were only two major reasons for concern; one, she had to work with someone, and two, the fact that she would have to help catch an actual murderer. Dealing with criminals and unsavory people wasn't anything new. However, she had always been able to rely on the safety of being on the other side of a screen and remaining anonymous. If she was working with the police that would be much more difficult to do.


But the alternative was jail, which assured her choice. Going to a prison filled with people and torn away from her technology? Hell no.


"Fine. I accept. It's not like I have much of a choice." Paige reluctantly agreed. "Getting information is easy as long as you know where to look. So yeah, I can do that. But is it really necessary for me to have a babysitter? You already know where my house is, so it's not like I can hide out there anymore."

 

[Hoax]

The officer smiled. A weird expression to be added to the stuffy room. "Good. I thought you'd agree. The other choice is quite… Unsatisfactory."


"I am not a babysitter…" Blake muttered from where she stood, but the officer interrupted. "And no, Shepard will not be your babysitter. She'll be there to help just as much as you're helping us. You might be able to get the information, but will you always know what to do with it? That's what the detective's for."


The man frowned, then remembered something. "Oh, right. Shepard, this girl you've been glaring at for the last ten minutes' name is Paige, in case you were wondering." Blake looked at the girl with a look of slight distaste. "Nice to meet you. So, when do we start?"


Twenty minutes later, Paige and Blake had been moved to a new room, fully outfitted with technology (Including Paige's own computer, as well as Blake's), and were told not to leave until something interesting came up. "Start by gathering information. Find out whatever you can. Stay awhile, get to know each other." He said, waving a hand slightly before closing the door, leaving the two of them alone. Blake sent a quick look towards Paige, then sighed and sat down in one of the two rolling chairs in the room. "He always was a little lacking in the seriousness department. Though, I'm not really sure what I expected from a man who uses static to stick balloons to his head on a regular basis…" She muttered, half to herself.

 

[WhimsicalWriter]

The moment Paige stepped into the room she began to examine the equipment. While it wasn't nearly as nice as her setup at home, with a bit of customization it would work just fine. Her fingers lightly brushed over the keyboard; even though it had only been a few hours she had sorely missed having ready access to a computer.


"Balloons...?" Paige absentmindedly muttered, although most of her attention was on the screen in front of her. Settling back into the chair, she immediately set to work. Since it seemed she had been allowed access to all of the police files about the murder, she decided to start there. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to try to break into anything restricted yet.

 

[Hoax]

Blake's fingers flew over her keyboard, re-reading the files about the murder. "I don't know why I bother reading this… It's all the same." She muttered, sliding her chair over to another part of the desk and pulling out her own notes. Blake had always preferred her own notes to the police's speculation. They always missed and/or left out important things, so she basically ended up doing everything herself.


Flipping through the paper and scanning over the words, she was half tempted to crumple them up since she'd already pretty much memorized them, but decided against it. Can't be too careful. At least the hacker girl -Paige, Blake remembered- was quiet. Every time the chief fixed her with a partner, they always seemed to be far too chatty for their own good. Though, they might have only seemed chatty since Blake hardly spoke unless it was to herself while she was working.


Sighing and sliding back to the computer, she went back to work.


(Sorry for the late reply. I'm finally catching up on a few role-plays I haven't replied to yet)

 

[WhimsicalWriter]

Paige scanned over each of the important files. While she had never been a queasy person, she had to admit that this murderer sounded rather unsettling. Over ten victims and still no one had caught him? Either the police were really bad at their jobs or this guy/girl was much smarter than the average person. No wonder the police wanted her help.


Trying to focus on the words rather than the pictures, she made sure to take mental notes about the M.O. She had to admit, she was glad that Blake didn't seem like the kind of person to speak unnecessarily. Talking had never been Paige's strong suit. After finishing all of the documents she turned away from the computer for a moment to gather her bearings.


Seeing the victims had left her quite ill at ease. Seeing fake kills on police dramas was one thing; in those shows one knew that it was just fake. To see actual lifeless corpses, even if only from a picture, and knowing that they were once living people nearly caused the bile to rise in her throat.


(That's fine. Now it's my turn to apologize for this late reply. ^^; )

 

[Hoax]

Blake noticed Paige's reaction. "Hard to look at, huh?" She muttered, her own head starting to swim with bloody images. "Good lord. Haven't seen that one before…" She said, blinking a few times to clear her eyes of the onslaught of murder. She leaned back in her chair, taking a deep breath to try and clear her head.


"Find anything?" She finally asked, rubbing her forehead a few times. Lack of sleep for the past few days made each day harder, and added onto Blake's slowly growing quota of stress. Bloody police were frantic to find this murderer, and Blake was one of their main assets. And now Paige, the hacker. Blake still wasn't particularly comfortable working with a criminal, but what could she do? Plus, the girl seemed so… Young. Though, Blake wasn't exactly old and wise herself.


(Ahg, finally catching up on role-plays I've left behind a bit. Sorry ^.^)