Gigabytes and Guns; rated M

[Cleopatra]

Rated for language, attempted murder, and some perversion.

The camera was shaky at best, and it was focused on a young man with shaggy red hair who was glancing back at the person with the cell phone camera irritably as they walked down a long hall. "Do you have to record things constantly? Doesn't that wear down the batteries real fast?"

A second voice, somewhat accented was heard. It was the person carrying the camera. "I have to do all this for the posterior!"

The other boy stopped walking and looked back at the camera with a somewhat exasperated face. "Addie... I think you mean posterity."

"Whatever, does not matter."

"No, it kind of does."

A door opened and a young woman walked out, texting on her phone. She glanced up at the two boys and seemed somewhat surprised when the camera turned to her. “Uh… hi?” she asked, her voice showing her confusion.

“Oh!” said the voice behind the camera. “It’s Marcy MacFearsome!”

“Actually, it’s MacPhearson,” she corrected.

“You won the Unreal Tournament Tournament!” exclaimed the cameraman.

The other boy’s voice cut in. “Only because she managed to dodge that missile launcher.”

“You’re just angry that you missed her.”

“That was you?!”

The camera swung back to the redhead who suddenly looked rather pale. “Uh…”

“I was about to hit the world record for most kills in a single session, you asshat!”

“Uh…”

“I am gonna-”

In the background of the camera, another group of three young people walked around the corner, chatting amongst themselves. And then suddenly a door burst open from a side of the corridor and three men ran out. Gunshots were heard amidst the sudden screams of terror and the phone was dropped. The footage ended on a shot of one of the bodies on the ground, his eyes open in surprise with blood dripping from his mouth.

They cut off the video as another man ran from the room where the dead men had come from, and quickly ran down the hall. The video was rewound and paused at the exact moment that the man’s profile was caught on pictures.

“Alright, gentlemen and women. We have a vague profile picture that shows that the man is most likely Caucasian, cropped hair, either dark brown or black, other distinguishable features not caught on film.”

The man speaking was older, slightly overweight, and his wrinkles only helped to add to his air of experience rather than detract from it. The table in front of him held several other people, ranging in age from mid twenties to late fifties. One of the men, a younger one, with a serious look in his eyes, was focusing on the man’s face in the video. The older man continued speaking. “It has been confirmed that the three men killed were members or contacts of the drug ring suspected to run out of South America and the Bahamas, however nothing is known about the killer other than the fact that he is a killer. Most likely he’ll go after these kids again, of which there are six, and so they must remain in protective custody until either the man is apprehended or his boss is.”

“Have the kids identified the man?” asked the younger man.

“Negative, they ran as soon as they heard the bullets fly. Also they keep arguing over what the damn man actually looked like. Mr. Eisenkatz,” and here the younger man paid close attention to the man speaking. “You have been assigned to deal with these young people and protect them until this thing is wrapped up, understood?”

He nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“Good. Ms. Keats, we expect you to accompany Mr. Eisenkatz on this assignment.” Not waiting to hear her response, the man began to collect the files off the table, still speaking as he did so. “You will be sent the appropriate materials and given the equipment necessary to do your jobs, and now I expect you two to go in there and get whatever you can out of those witnesses. Try not to scare them too much.” He left the room without looking back, and sighed as he passed by the door to the room where they had the witnesses.

He could hear them shouting inside. “Those two are going to have a long, long trip.”

[Mary Sue]

Jennifer Keats remained motionless during the meeting. Her hard stare fixed on their superior officer as they went over the mission and the camera footage. When their boss dumped the kids on them, Jennifer's mouth fell open, then promptly snapped shut so that her teeth clicked. When they were alone, Jennifer gave her partner a glance then sighed and pushed her chair away from the table. Her legs dangled.

"Well then...let's go talk to them," she said, and hopped off the chair. She straightened her blazer, made sure her bun was perfectly in place, then walked across the hall with her head held high.

The room was full of noise. People Marcus didn't know where arguing and screaming. In the corner, a girl dressed as Zelda had sunk to the floor and drawn her knees in front of her. She cried into her white gloves, staining them with mascara. Her blonde wig rested on the floor beside her. Next to him, his little sister Lindsay sat on a metal bench, hugging herself, as she said "Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god." Over and over again.

Marcus himself had been struck speechless with shock and he sat there in silence.

Jennifer opened the door and frowned.

"Everyone quiet down!" She said with force.

[Cleopatra]

Kirk shrugged back at his partner as she gave him a look, and the two of them walked into the room where the witnesses were together.

It was, to put it lightly, a madhouse.

While Keats examined the three kids on one side, Kirk found him looking at the other three on the other side. The two boys were in the corner of the room engaged in a heated debate.

“It was YOUR goddamn camera!” shouted the redhead. “We’re stuck here because YOU just had to catch EVERYTHING on film!”

“So sorry that I wanted to catch criminal murderer!” shouted the other boy, a thick accent coming into his voice. “Next time, I let you die and dance away like Russian ballerina!”

“I can’t be trapped heeeere!” wailed the girl at the table. “I’m in a POLICE STATION! I have a PAPER to write for my graduate claaaass! My parents are going to KILL ME!!”

Keats’ command for quiet reverberated through the room, and suddenly all attention snapped towards the two people standing in the doorway. Kirk had to admit that they weren’t the strangest bunch of kids he’d ever seen… but they came close. They looked like a bunch of stereotypical nerds with the clothes that they wore. The one girl with the rainbow colored hair got a weird look for him. He couldn’t tell if it was a wig or not.

The kids all glanced at each other uneasily before he began to speak. “Okay, people, listen up. You are witnesses to a triple homicide and you have seen the perpetrator. I know this has been an unpleasant shock to your digitally acclimatized lives, but I would ask that you pull yourselves back from whatever little corner of your minds that you’re hiding in and help us out here by identifying the perpetrator of the crime. The sooner we get this ball rolling, the sooner we can get the unpleasant stuff out of the way.”

“Once we identify the guy,” the redhead began, “we can go home, right?”

“Negative.” Kirk didn’t even look up as he pulled out some books containing pictures of every known criminal to walk through the doors of the county jail in the last twenty years.

“What do you mean, negative?” demanded the brunette in a high-pitched, strained voice. “Why can’t we go home?”

“My visa works only as long as I have no criminal record!” wailed the accented boy. “I can’t go back to Croatia now! I am about to hook up with hot sorority babe in college!”

“You’re delusional, Addie,” snapped the redhead. “There’s no way you’re gonna score with her. Plus, she’s probably got like fifteen STDs!”

“You are just jealous she is interested in me, not you!”

Kirk sighed and rested his head in his hand, wishing he had brought some Tylenol with him.

[Mary Sue]

Marcus listened to the whining and the bickering and the when the FBI agents entered the room he listened to them shout over the kids until the short woman shouted for quiet.

Which lasted all of three seconds.

"Would you guys just shut up?" Marcus finally said to the boys. He rose from his seat and Lindsay stared at him with wide eyes.
"We're not criminals. WE didn't DO anything wrong! It was the shooter. That's the only reason we're here. So just shut UP and let them do they're jobs. The sooner they catch him, the sooner we can go home...right?" He looked uncertainly to Jennifer. She nodded stiffly.

"Once we're sure it's safe for you to return home, you may do so," she replied.

Marcus gave her a grateful nod.

"We need you to focus. To give us a clearer picture of this killer. Apparently, the victims were members of a drug cartel that-"

"You can't be serious!" Cried the hoarse voice of the girl in the corner. Even disheveled you could tell she had a pretty face. She wiped her eyes and a long streak of mascara striped across her face.
"I knew one of the men who was shot! He and my boss have been running booths at conventions for years! Drugs aren't being sold at the convention!" She said.

Jennifer motioned for Kirk to place the book of photos on the table.

"Your boss is being investigated as we speak, Miss Su Lin," she said as Claudia gave her a look of horror.
"Whether he has a direct connection to the cartel remains to be seen."

"Well this is PERFECT," Claudia replied and began sobbing again.

Marcus sighed.
"The guy was about...six feet tall....I think. He was white....almost pale...." He scratched his stubble that was coming in.

"He had a birthmark on his neck," Lindsay said finally, she stopped hugging herself long enough to gesture at the location on her neck. "Or a burn scar. It was pinkish."

"Like you paid that much attention!" Claudia sobbed. "We were all running for the exits as soon as the first shot fired!"

"Hey," Marcus snapped as Lindsay lowered her eyes. "Lindsay's great at taking in and remembering rapid moments. She commentates pro circuit matches and-"

Claudia's glare cut through him and he shut up.

[Cleopatra]

When the other boy in the room snapped at the rest of the group, they all froze. None of them spoke while he conversed with the female agent, but soon the redhead’s eyes began to narrow and he suddenly cut in on the other kid’s conversation. “Hey!” he said angrily. “Who the hell died and made you the king of the room?”

“How could you not know about the drug things going on?” demanded the brunette girl of the Asian looking one. “There’s been rumors for months that people made deals in the back when no one paid attention. That’s why they had so many anti-drug ads there! Plus all the extra security. Not that it helped much…”

“Also, there was no mark on the man’s neck,” piped in the accented boy. “It was on his jaw, right here,” and he motioned to the location with his hand.

The girl shook her head. “No, no, it was towards the back of his neck and it was a tattoo, not a mark.”

“A tattoo?” sneered the redhead. “You need glasses or something, because it was definitely like a scar from a big ol’ cut.”

“ALRIGHT!” Kirk’s voice echoed throughout the room. “First things first. We are going to introduce ourselves. Then after that, we are going to discuss what happened in civil discourse. I’ll introduce myself and we’ll go around the room like that. My name is Agent Eisenkatz, this is Agent Keats,” here he nodded his head towards her, “and we have been assigned as your primary guardians. Now, we’re going to be spending a lot of time together, so we might as well get used to it and stop all the fussing and moaning. You,” he pointed at the boy with the accent, who suddenly looked like a cornered rabbit. “You go first.”

“Me?” he asked weakly.

“No, the other kid with the foreign visa. Yes, you.”

“U-uh… I’m Adrijan Novak… Some people call me Addie…” he glanced around a little nervously and then continued. “I am a Study Abroad student from Croatia with a major in Computer Programming.

He and the redhead shared a glance and then his companion spoke. “My name’s Greg Wheat, I’m majoring in Computer Programming and I’m also getting a minor in Film Studies.” The rest of the group gave him a weird look before he said defensively “It’s a hobby!”

The girl sitting next to him rolled her eyes and spoke. “I’m Marcy MacPhearson, I’m a Graduate Student in Communications and, uh… I guess that’s it.” They turned expectantly to the person sitting next to Marcy.

[Mary Sue]

Lindsay was still rocking back and forth and hugging herself when they all turned to her. Her baggy hoodie suddenly didn't seem big enough, as the usually outspoken rainbow girl fell silent and shrank inside her jacket.

"My name is Lindsay Faraday," She said and pushed a red strand of hair behind her multipierced ear. The red contrasted brightly against the dark blue. "I'm a sophomore in high school and I Co-run a gaming channel on the internet." She then glanced up at her brother who sighed. "My name is Marcus Faraday. I'm a professional E-sports caster and I am the owner of AOE Games, the gaming channel Lindsay helps me run." He patted the press pass in his pocket. Before the shooting, he and Lindsay had been on their way to get a video interview with some big time developers. The money from the views alone would have been enough to get them through a month or so. That was when they had bumped into Claudia and decided to chat.

He turned to her then as she pulled off her second glove and tossed them into a pile with her blonde wig.

"I'm Claudia Su Lin, I am a college student. When conventions come up in the area, I also work as a booth girl and model," She replied.

Jennifer Keats tried to smile.
"Not then. Everyone's calmer now, yes? So lets see if we can try this again," She said.

[Cleopatra]

Kirk nodded after everyone was finished and looked around at all the kids. "Now, I know you're all understandably frightened and upset about what happened, but for this, we need you to be calm. Now, it’s apparent that you are having disagreements over what this person looks like, (he didn’t add his mental “Of course”) but we need to come down to a basic idea. So for your assistance, we have brought in numerous photos of all the convicts to have walked through our doors in recent years.” He tossed them into the middle of the table. “Look through those. If you find him, let us know. We’ll bring you some food since this may take a while.”

He stood up and motioned with his head to Keats to step into the hallway with him.

“How’ll we know how to tell you if you’re leaving?” asked Marcy.

“We’ll be back to check on you in half an hour.”

“If you’re getting food, I want pizza!” called out Greg.

“I want sausage pizza,” Marcy immediately said.

“I want a hot dog!” protested Addie.

“I want extra cheese too,” said Greg.

“No veggies on it!” added Marcy.

“I want a hot dog!”

"Thin crust, too!"

"No, stuffed crust"

"Hot dog!!"

"And get cheesy sticks!"

"No, cinnamon sticks!"

"Why does no one ever listen to me?!"

“If we can get some sodas that would be great!”

“But nothing diet, I want a regular coke.”

“I want a HOT DOG!!”

“Addie, shut up!”

“Don’t forget napkins, too.”

Kirk stepped outside and took Keats by the arm, pulling her with him. “Jen, I swear to god, I’m going to shoot one of them, I know it.”

The muffled sounds of arguing floated to them through the door. “Goddamn it, Addie, if you ask for anchovies on the pizza I will slit my own wrists!”

“I might do it for you,” Kirk muttered at the door.

[Mary Sue]

"H-hold on now! I'm a vegetarian!" Lindsay said, jumping to her feet. "Do you know how bad for you processed meat is?"

"I kind of want a hot dog too," Marcus said.

"But, Marcus! You said you were going to be supportive!" Lindsay snapped.

"I'm under a lot of stress, Linds! I want something to clog my arteries and hopefully give me a heart attack!" Marcus replied.

Then the door closed.

Jen rubbed her temples once they were in the hall.

"This is why I don't have children of my own, Kirk. You're still young....remember this experience. They turn into...those." She gestured at the door. "And before that they scream and cry and make messes, only they're smaller and more fragile!" She shook her head.

"I'll take care of lunch for the rabble, if you'll get started on the paper work. I'll join you once I'm done." She wasn't sure if he was getting the deal or not. She pulled out her phone and began searching the internet for places nearby that delivered.

"let's just focus and get this done. That means no killing our leads," She winked at him as she pressed the call button and held the phone to her ear.

"Ah yes, I would like to place an order for delivery..." She began.

[Cleopatra]

It had been eight hours. Eight. Freaking. Hours. And they were no closer to learning the culprit’s identities than they had been before. The six kids had gone through several albums of former convicts and not one of them seemed to strike their memories. They all said that they’d know them if they saw them again, so either they were lying when they said that or they really hadn’t found them.

“This guy looks like Luigi,” Marcy suddenly announced.

“Which guy?” Addie looked over her shoulder and shook his head. “No, no mustache. Don’t see it.”

“No, you have to hold your finger up like this,” Marcy demonstrated by covering the man’s upper lip with her pinky finger.

“Oooooh, yes, I see it now.” Addie went back to his book.

Greg was looking at the two of them over his glasses with an expression as though he wanted to hit them before looking back down at his own album. “Oh, hey, it’s a voice actor I once met!”

“What? No way. Which one?” Addie and Marcy went over to look at the photo. Greg held it out to them.

“Yeah, he was in Abominable Snowman Massacre IV.”

Marcy scoffed. “I can’t believe the franchise made it that far.”

Addie nodded. “The premise was very shallow. Not too interesting.”

“At least it was better than Sonic the Hedgehog.”

Marcy gasped in horror and stared at Greg with wide eyes. “YOU TAKE THAT BACK!”

He returned her stare with an arched eyebrow. “Why? It sucks.”

“BLASPHEMER!”

“At least I have good taste in games.”

“The gauntlet has been given!” Addie announced dramatically.

“Actually, it’s thrown,” corrected Greg, “but the spirit of it is right, yeah.”

Marcy scoffed. “Good taste in games? That’s rich coming from someone who barely ranks as a gamer.”

“What did you just say?!”

“You heard me! Your rankings in the competitions were pathetic at best!”

“If I had a rocket launcher-!”

“If you had a rocket launcher, you’d break it. You’re about as threatening as a rabbit.”

“What if it’s a rabbit like in Monty Python and Holy Grail? Evil man-killing rabbit?” asked Addie.

“Yes!” shouted Greg. “I am the man eating rabbit!”

“And games are Ye Holie Hande Grenade to you,” said Addie dryly.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the two-way mirror, Kirk stood with his face in his hand beside an older man who was staring out at the scene with a face that looked like it was a mix between utter boredom and exasperation. “They’ve been looking through those albums all night. I now know which convicts look like which video game characters in the entire tri-state area. We haven’t learned a damn thing.”

Kirk groaned. “I’m just going to ask for them to go into protective custody. This isn’t helpful and it’s just making me want to flood the room with gas.”

“Get in line,” said the other man.

“Alright, I’ll go fill out the paperwork. You watch them and make sure they don’t eviscerate each other with a spoon or something.”

“We should be so lucky,” the man said.

Within forty minutes, Kirk had the paperwork all together and went to seek out Keats. They both needed to fill out several forms in order to allow for the release of the kids into their custody so that they could take them to the safe house.

When he passed past the room he left the kids in he could hear them screaming about artistic license in fanfiction. He briefly considered burning down the house they’d be living in together. It’d almost be worth the chaos and conviction.