All of Them People

Kathleen came into lab with two cups of hot coffee and a few little creamer containers. She'd gotten a text from Jo, saying "get me some decaf now" just after 8am and she obliged. She'd heard about last nights hacking attempt, normally their tech team handles it without much complaints, except for Jo, she usually has a few plus or minus some curse words. Kathleen didn't really get all that stuff, she was more of a biologist, she could talk about biology all day. Walking into the lab was almost like walking into a beehive, except with people. A few people were sitting at the break table discussing last night's events.

"I bet it was someone else in the lab!" One exclaimed, making gestures with his hands.

"Yeah right, only Jo has that much skill here." Another commented.

"What about that other guy, uh, Damien?" The third asked, the other two only shook their heads and laughed. She continued past them, with a quick hello and got a small wave in response. Then she walked over to the guarded door, Sid was on duty today, not a scientist but a hunter from the main branch.

"I've got my hands full, as you can see, but my ID is on my lanyard if you would kindly swipe it for me." She asked grinning, her and Sid went back a few years so she could easily get away with this kind of jab. Other hunters were usually, less tolerant of those working in the lab.

"Don't expect me to do this for you everyday" He grunted, taking the lanyard from her and swiping it through the key pass.

"Sure, sure." She spoke sweetly, "the door too please?" He grunted again, and put the lanyard back over her neck before he opened the door. The lab was nothing extravagant, it was sparse save for necessary equipment. To her right was a small section, an office location, dedicated to the head scientist, and connected to it was an information storage, for files and reports. On her left was the tech support, computers and wires in a decidedly unorganized a5rrangement. Somewhere in the midst was an individual with a bright pink mohawk.

"Hey Jo! I've got your coffee!" A head instantly popped out above the sea of computers grinning.

"Finally!" Jo was a shorter woman, though the mohawk made her look taller from a distance. Katleen saw that today that it fell flat against the side of Jo's head.

"What, no gel today?" She teased passing a mug to Jo, who instantly tried to drink it. A few string of curses after and "why do make coffee so damn hot?!" before she answered properly.

"Well, I'm sure ya know but some wicked 'acker was trying to get into the system last night" She took another sip from her coffee, "An' he got past the first defense of code we had in ta' keep people out. Which ain't too bad, normal situation. Even Damien could handle a 'acker of that level. Yeah, yeah laugh it up. But then, he got past the second layer of code and boy Damien's eyes almost bugged out of his greasy looking head. Before ya know it I'm on th' computer changing it up making it trickier and I let Damien back to to work. And I swear less than an hour later he's back!"

Jo leaned back against the desk muttering into her coffee mug.

"You're awfully worked up about one little hacker" Kathleen said, "More than usual." Jo just sighed heavily, and Kathleen noticed the dark circles under her eyes.

"Yeah well th' bugger did it about five more times. Barley got any sleep las' night." Then she shrugged. "He was tryna get into the P.E.S.T. files, so I couldn't even let Damien take care of it. Lucky bastard."

Kathleen thought about that for a moment, there wasn't a lot of techs here that were on par with Jo, and this unknown hacker had almost gotten into one of their more highly classified files.

"He could be a threat."

"Ya, he's a pain but he could also be helpful." She downed the rest of her coffee "Could ya bring it up with th' head for me? After the last stunt I pulled I don't wanna ask 'im a favour"

"Of course, but..." Kathleen scrunched her face while thinking "well I'll try anyway."

"Thanks" And with that Jo was back behind another computer screen, Kathleen finished her own coffee and went to do her own work.

***

Adrien sauntered into the tall 10-story building, hesitating briefly in the lobby to wipe dirt off his shoes on the carpet. The building was pretty normal, shiny exterior which overlooked the lake, and interior that literally looked like any other office building, Desks and cubicles on every floor and those stupid potted plants were placed here and there. Probably to make the building less boring. He strolled straight to elevator, waving a hello the lady at the counter. He pressed the button for floor 6 and waited for the elevator rise. He honestly did not want to be here, typically he tried to avoid coming here if he could. It was just so stifling, but he'd been called over by Marco Alazraqui, a hot shot with more authority than Adrien wanted to admit.

After stepping out of the elevator he walked down the halls, to board room number 3. A simply set up room with a long oval table, chairs surrounding it and a screen on one end, but as he entered he saw two people sitting in the room. One was Marco, a stocky man with a dark complexion and brown curly hair. The other person he didn't recognize right away, he was young looking with spiky black hair and slanted eyes. Then it clicked, he'd seen him around the school. Passed him in the hallways, he was only a year or two below Adrien.

"Whats he doing here?" He asked immediately, narrowing his eyes at Marco.

"Don't be like that Adrien. We need you two to cooperate." He made a face that was probably supposed to resemble a puppy begging for treats but instead looked like he'd killed your aunt. "So why don't you sit down and I can explain." He then gestured to one of the many empty seats. Adrien remained at the door a few moments, then took one a few seats away from the other boy.

"Right, so I should introduce you two. Adrien this is Kal."

"I know who you are," Kal smirked, "Hot-shot douche bag. Grade 12."

Oh. Adrien did not like that tone of voice, but Marco cut in before he could voice his complaints.

"Well, that makes this easier." He clapped his hands together "Because starting tomorrow, you two will have to work together. As a team." He said look both of them in the eyes, like he knew it wouldn't work yet still expected them to figure it out.

"Great." Adrien grumbled putting his hands in his pockets. Like hell. He didn't need some tag-along.

"Each of you have different capabilities, and it would be a valuable if you two learned something from one another." This time he only looked at Adrien, and he felt kinda like decking him one.

"Yeah, well we'll see about that," Kal murmured into his hand and smiled at Adrien. Adrien scowled in return.

"Anyway, so I want you two to go to that blood bank on West-Side, see if you can capture a certain vampire." He placed two files on the table, one for Kal and one for Adrien. "The more specific details are in there, but I want to emphasize that this will be a capture. And until you both accomplish this, you'll be suspended from all other activity." Adrien almost swore out loud, suspended from all other activity? That was over top! But he didn't dare say that to Marco's face. Killing vampires was one thing, but making superiors mad at you was an entirely different ball park. He didn't like doing capture missions, and wasn't pleased at the thought of working with Kal, but he'd do it if he had to.

He opened the file, it stated the exact location of the 'blood bank', which was less of a blood bank and more of a black market for vampires and other supernatural creatures. As well, it had the details of the vampire in question from his looks, blonde and tall, to his speculated or confirmed ability. This one was speculated to have the ability to shrink or distort the attackers perception of the vampires physical build. It was going to be a pain in the ass, he thought, but he'd do it. And show the higher-ups that he was capable by himself and hopefully never have to interact with Kal again after this.

"Alright. Good luck you two." Marco said dismissing them both before scooting them out of the room. Apparently he had better things to do.

"Watch and learn Adrien," Kal chuckled, "if you can keep up."

"We'll see about that."