Let's Get to Know the Rules {Mia Keystone}

[Vincent Romanov]

Vincent had been a soldier since he was eighteen years old and while he was no longer a member of the Army, he never stopped being one. He had devoted his life to protecting those who could not protect themselves, whether it be within the confines of his own country or those of others. He wasn't some hippie like Sean or the others, he just believed in stepping up and being responsible with the powers he had been bestowed. World peace was a grand idea but a vain pipe dream. As long as there were human beings in this world, then no real peace would ever come. You could create an illusion of peace for a while, if one was strong enough to keep everyone else in check and that was what Vincent tried to do. He was head of security here at Hammel and while it wasn't easy, he took his job very seriously. These kids were only safe as long as Vincent and his team stayed on top of things, hence the reason he was here now, standing outside the dorm room of one of the more intrusive students.

Vincent didn't necessarily believe in suppressing the rights of others, but sometimes they needed to be monitored. Freedom of Speech was a tricky subject and one which needed careful interpreting. Some people believed that Freedom of Speech overrode a persons right to privacy and that couldn't happen either. Mia Keystone had been on Vincent's watch list for some time now and while he kept a watchful eye on her, this was the first time he had made a move against her personally. Technopaths like her were always a problem as they just couldn't resist poking around in Hammel's private files or the files of others on the grounds. Telepaths generally exhibited this sort of violation when confronted with so many minds around them, but they were just easier to get through to and make understand. These so called 'hackers' just didn't understand or care and so in those cases, people like Vincent had to intervene.

Dressed in his usual work attire which consisted of black slacks and a black dress coat with a white button up shirt sans tie, Vincent tapped his foot on the ground. The hard sole of his dress shoes echoed slightly down the hall, but he paid no mind. He wasn't trying to hide his presence here and no doubt, someone like Mia would have some sort of devices set up to warn her of would be intruders. Technopaths loved their technology and always had some of the most interesting gadgets around them. Hacking the Hammel security cameras wouldn't have been too much of challenge for Mia considering she could speak to them in a sense. Vincent was just here to evaluate Mia on his own terms and decide her threat level for himself. If Mia was just your simple hacker and just hacking for the fun of it, then no real harm done. Of course, the files which showed signs of tampering where personal files and that made Vincent nervous.

There was all sorts of groups and organizations out there who would pay top dollar for a comprehensive list of meta-humans. Anti-Meta leagues and sordid governmental institutions posed the biggest threats to these young meta-humans and if Mia was a part of any of these villains, then Vincent would take care of her. Of course, Mia could just have been compiling information for her own safety or curiosity and while this wasn't illegal, the means by which she obtained her information was. Hacking wasn't exactly tolerated anywhere in the world and Hammel wasn't too much different. They did their best to give their technopaths some wiggle room, but some walls just couldn't be crossed no matter what. So, with a heavy sigh, Vincent knocked loudly on Mia's dorm room door and waited.

[Mia Keystone]

It wasn't like Mia hadn't dealt with Hammel security before. It was bound to happen, when you had issues with authoritarian boundaries... and it just so happened such boundaries could be overcome with a bit of work. But Hammel's tech team were more than a match for her. She knew it, they knew it. So Mia had learnt to work around the Hammel system; the names of students and staff was not highly protected from those already a part of the computer system. Anything else she found, she got by scrounging around the rest of that huge abyss called the interwebs.

It stood to reason that, if Hammel had decided to keep a close eye on her, they may well have been checking her searches. While the bogies and honeytraps Mia threw up provided plenty of false trails, it was not unreasonable that someone older and with more experience would see through that and begin to notice the rather extensive searches Mia had been running on members of staff and the student body. Nothing harmful, but... well, most people did not like a relative stranger sorting through their dirty laundry.

Mia had never met the head of Hammel security before, but she'd pulled up his name and rank as soon as the unfamiliar face had appeared on the surveillance monitors she kept up around her room. She'd also started quickly backing up her encrypted files onto the external hard drives, as well as online dump sites. As a result, when the knock came she opened the door with only a little reluctance. The student's room was dim; the only real light source came from the glow of the monitors stationed around the room. Empty Reece cup wrappers were scattered around like plastic autumn leaves, and there was an empty bottle of Dr Pepper still sitting on the desk that took up a good third of the room.

Still, the door was only slightly ajar as Mia stood with her arms crossed, looking up (she always had to look up) at the somewhat intimidating figure waiting for her. Dressed in red jeans and a T-shirt telling anyone who looked that the best way to kill a zombie was to 1. Choose your weapon 2.Aim for the head and 3. don't miss, the short statued girl kept her face blank as she asked, flatly "Yes? What do you want?"

She was never really one for politeness, besides it was like... 11 am. She wasn't even properly awake yet. If he'd wanted tea and scones or whatever he could go try that Avery chick; she always seemed too nice to be fully human. While she waited, Mia chewed absently on her lip rings, eyebrows slightly raised.

[Vincent Romanov]

When the door to the room opened, Vincent took a long slow deep breath. The air wasn't exactly enticing and while it wasn't stale, it just smelt odd. Now this didn't turn him away by any means, after all, Vincent had seen the underbelly of hell in his service to his country so what was a teenagers dorm room to him. Not that he could see much of the inside of the dorm room, what with Mia standing in the small opening she had allowed him. She was much smaller than he expected, even though he had been through her school records and security photos. Each student and staff member here had such a record, for saftey reasons of course, even Vincent. For him it was just common place, but for some others it might seem a bit too watchful. Someone like Vincent, with his upbringing and devotion to what was morally and religiously right, didn't pose too much of a threat with all that information, but someone like Gabriel Underwood...well...they might just begin a new Nazi Germany.

Looking down at Mia, Vincent smiled somewhat crookedly. She looked like she had just woke up, which given the nature of teenagers, was a very likely situation. Her attitude matched her appearance, rough and less than desireable. Vincent wasn't the epitome of style, but he did clean himself up every morning. Most ex-military might have snapped back at Mia and her rather rude manners or even just pushed right into the room and while Vincent himself did fight that urge, he remained firmly rooted on the spot with that smile on his face. Technically the room here at Hammel were subject to search and seizure at any time, with the proper permission of course. With that said, Vincent could have just secured that little nice piece of paper with Claude's signature and skipped this pleasent meeting, but once again he chose a different road. He would give Mia the opportunity to deal with this situation first, to see just what she would do. Trusting him wasn't even an option for Mia, but then again, kids had a way of surprising you sometimes.

"Good morning sunshine," Vincent said more cheerfully than needed, "I would guess by now that you already know who and what I am, so I'll skip the long winded introductions. I also know for a fact that your no stranger to the security teams here so you know the drill as well. The one thing I will do different though, is give you the opportunity to set the pace this time around," he said, crossing his arms this time, showing just how comfortable he was with the situation. Vincent had no reason to be afraid of Mia, she was a technopath and had no real physcial means of doing anything to him, save bore him to death with all that tech speak. With another sigh, Vincent dropped his head a bit and then looked up and down the corridor he stood alone in. "I'm here unoffcially Mia, lets not force me to make it an official visit....Okay?,'' he said giving Mia more than a sublte hint. If he had to, Vincent would return in force and with every bit of authority he position gave him.

[Mia Keystone]

His cheer, false or otherwise, was jarring. Good cop without the bad cop just came off as mildly unstable, in Mia’s opinion. ”Don’t know what you’re talking about,” the girl said stubbornly, sticking her chin out when he suggested she already knew all about him. Fuck fuck fuck, what’s this about? Her mind was working fast; she touched the mobile in her pocket lightly, quickly streaming in a text to send to Jonah to tell him to delete their emails. They mentioned the H Files in there, didn’t they? Behind her, the three active monitors flickered to bluescreen as she checked them off.

There was another possibility... Mia’d never come across a request for information on a Hammel teacher from an outside source before. It hadn’t struck her as a big deal, after seeing the teacher in question’s past; he hadn’t exactly kept a low profile (a costume, seriously). Was he here about that? She hadn’t even put a trace on the requester’s IP address yet... But she was starting to think she should Mia’s intel came from within the school; the MSAD were way outside her area. She wasn’t even sure who they were, or their name. It was more an awareness that things had gotten, to be blunt, more real in the last few months.

Set the pace? ”Look, you guys were here like, a month ago,” Mia sighed, scratching the back of her head. ”I’m seeing the shrink like I was told, I really have no idea what’s going on,” this time she added silently. But she knew a warning when she heard one, so she pulled open the door and with a slightly over the top flourish, gestured him inside.

The blinds were, as always, down so natural light didn’t really factor into the dorm room. The blue and green from the blank monitors gave the whole place an underwater type feel, though Mia turned the lights up with a glance. There were two options to sit; her bed, or the desk chair. Mia took the bed.

”Ok, Mr?” she asked, still refusing to admit she knew Vincent Romanov on sight. Hey, she also knew his father had immigrated from Russia and what rank and squad he had served in the army, but that would just be showing off. ”Here I am. Here you are. Now,” though she didn’t smirk, her eyebrows twitched slightly,”sir, what can I do for you? Or what have I done. Whatever comes first.”

[Vincent Romanov]

Troubled kids, delinquents, whatever you wanted to call them, Vincent had dealt with them before. Scared straight programs in the military weren't commonplace, but they happened ever now and again, so this attitude from Mia was an all too familiar road. Where most of these kids got their disrespect for authority was beyond Vincent. Of course, it was hard for him to see from the other side of the street considering the warm family he came from. Unlike most, Vincent had a wonderful memory of growing up in Manhattan, despite the lack of money his family had. His parents always supported him in his decisions, even when his meta ability emerged. They never once cast him aside because of what he was or could do, and only sent him away to make him a better man. Whether Mia had warm thoughts for her family was her business, but the way she treated him was Vincent's business. So far, her attitude was rough, but nothing off the rails and nothing Vincent couldn't handle with a smile. Pulling over a decade in the combat service sort of made everything else in the world child's play.

Vincent wasn't sure how his security team had handled Mia in the past, well, not in the off the record sort of way. He had the detailed reports which always followed any security investigation, but they were sort of one sided. His staff were professional to a degree, but no doubt there were some who might abuse their authority when they knew Vincent wasn't looking. "Yeah, I know they were here," he said, as Mia sort of went over the top in her gesturing of a welcome, "but that was them and this is me," he said rather oddly, slowly entering into Mia's dorm room. He slipped his hands into his pockets, his eyes scanning the room in a fashion which screamed military. Vincent had been trained to always find the quickest way out of any room he entered and now did so without even thinking about it. He was conditioned and everything he had learned in his past life still lingered in this new one.

The room was just about what Vincent imagined it would be...albeit a bit neater than he expected. It was still messy, but not as bad as some of the other dorm's he had been in. The lighting was dim and the computer screens cast an eerie electric glow about the room. He squinted a little, trying to adjust to the darkness, but Mia obliged him some kindness and increased the lighting, with a bit of flair. Vincent smiled, "If I could do that I wouldn't keep tripping over my coffee table at night," he said with a light chuckle, trying to melt the ice queen a bit. Vincent might have been serious when it came to his job, but this was an unofficial visit after all. He was just getting his ducks in a row so to speak and really didn't have any proof to implicate Mia in anything. She wouldn't be the only technopath he visited today, but she was one of the most watched on his list.

Vincent chose to remain standing, he hadn't planned on taking up too much of Mia's time. "Mia....," he began, still holding onto that silly little smile of his, "I don't know what your doing behind closed doors, but I'm not stupid. Someone in the school has been accessing information at rapid speeds and in mass quantities. While this doesn't prove anything on your part, it still doesn't leave you off the hook. You've got a record....a long one. If your just putting together some sort of weird scrapbook, then fine," Vincent said with a shrug of his shoulders, "that's your business. However, I've got people to watch out for around here and I know for a fact that bad people are moving against Hammel and I need to make sure of just who and what you are.....Along with everyone else around here," he added, narrowing his eyes, almost as if accusing Mia of something. Vincent didn't like being a dick, but he had kids to protect and that was something he took very seriously.

[Mia Keystone]

With a slight roll of her eyes, Mia followed the suit into her room. She watched quietly as he looked towards her window, and was tempted to salute, or something. Was he carrying a gun? That would be kind of cool. ”And you’re the head honcho, right?” She scowled, winkles forming between straight black brows. ”If you’ve come to take my stuff, you’ll need the cavalry, or whatever.”

The tension in the air was lessened when he made a joke, and Mia could’t help but give a little satisfied smirk. For all that this guy was big, and taller then her (as was most of the population to be fair) he still bumped his shins at night. Mia had a habit of de-humanizing people who made her uncomfortable; making them into a faceless enemy that threatened her machines, and her freedom. Scratch that: Machines were her freedom. Without her computers, it would be like being blind, and deaf, and mute all at once.

But it was very human to trip over a coffee table.

Sitting down though, she had to look up. It felt sort of weird; it was bad enough having people tower over her when she was standing, this was ridicules. But it might mean he wasn’t going to be hanging around. That was a good thing, right? Mia’s eyes flickered to the slightly battered looking laptop on her desk, and then back to Vincent. It wasn’t a guilty conscience; Mia didn’t have one of those. But she was apprehensive; last time security got into her room she’d almost lost two of her backups, not to mention an external hard-drive she’d been using to back up Kaylee.

Having a tall military guy in your room was bad, but the weird smile made it worse. She couldn’t tell if he was angry or not, which was really just fucking annoying. Also, it was really hard not to make a smart remark when he left himself wide open with that I’m not stupid comment. Mia’s eyebrows rose as she listened to his little speech. ”Information is a really broad term” she said cautiously, then chewed on her lip rings as she thought about her record. Yeah, in four years she’d been visited on average about... maybe 5 times a year? It was a pretty good effort, in her humble opinion.

Bad people moving against Hammel? Mia’s ears perked up, and she glanced for a moment at one of the gadgets on her desk. The audio recorder switched on silently, ready to catch anything about these so called bad people. Then what he was accusing her of (Mia was paranoid, if there was a chance of her feeling accused she would) seemed to sink in. ”Wait, wait. I’m not some anti human zealot.” she started, feeling a little cheated. He was worried she was some weird extremist? ”And I don’t have weird scrapbooks.” that was strictly true; Mia didn’t believe in paper trails. ”I think those weirdos saying we need to take over the world are nuts. You’re seriously here because of that?”

Mia had forgotten, or blocked out, the recent sale of course. She usually did background checks on people she sold anything to but it had been enough money for her to just want to figure it out. She’d needed a new cooling unit sort of urgently too.

[Vincent Romanov]

It was an old trick, force the hand and see what happens. Vincent had no clue who was researching the metas here at school, but it was certainly someone within the walls of Hammel. Technopaths were top of the list as they would be the most likely, but in the end, it could just be a very clever run of the mill hacker. That option was lame at best considering the technopaths who kept Hammel's files protected on a daily basis. Vincent was useless in those sort of things as he was more of a hands on guy, but that was why he had subordinates. Vincent had grown tired of waiting and so he was going to ferret out the culprit the only way he knew how. Mia just happened to be the first name he drew out of a hat and if he was lucky, he might be closer to his culprit than he really knew.

Vincent's gaze drifted around the room from one electronic device to another his attention span already starting to grow smaller. Sure, he could turn a computer on, surf the net and send e-mails, but that was about the extent of his computer skills. The most technical he got was when he hooked up the surround sound to his big screen back at his apartment. If he was going to catch this hacker, he would have to make them nervous, make them start making mistakes and that meant pressing every technopath he could.

Mia's quick snap and even quicker defensive tone automatically drew Vincent's full attention. She was quick to jump to anti-human groups, after all, Vincent had only said bad people. He had been vague in his description on purpose, hoping for this sort of reaction. Why would Mia jump to anti-human factions so quick? Unless she had been approached by some already? Technopaths were in high demand and for good reason. In today's world, who better to have on your side? With everything run by computers and the world's dependency on them, it was a no brainer. "Who said anything about anti-human zealots?," he asked her with a quizzical little look, turning his body to fully face her now, "I mean, I could be talking about anyone and anything, but you jump straight to anti-human factions.....Interesting," he said, that annoying smile of his returning once again. The MSAD had been moving in the shadows and had been growing bolder in their actions, perhaps they were out recruiting more than just the older crowd now?

Vincent didn't tolerate anti-human propaganda on Hammel grounds or any other sort of negative propaganda. He had seen too much blood spilled in the name of every self righteous cause out there and would not have that foolishness poisoning any young minds here at Hammel. However, the town was free game for every weirdo out there, but how much time did Mia spend out in town. Was there a group here hidden at the school? Had some hate monger formed their own little regime right under Vincent's nose? "Somebody been talking to you or some of the others Mia? Maybe a guy? Young, tall, wears clothes that cost more than I make in year? Or...two girls....twins, really weird and like to finish each other's sentences?," he asked her, trying to provoke some sort of flight or fight response.

[Mia Keystone]

(OOC: ha, actually Mia was caught attacking a human within about a month at Hammel, because the kid was hurting one of her friends. something to use if you so wish ^_^)

"Don't use jedi mind tricks on me," Mia snapped as Vincent tried to turn her words back on her. "My family are all human and they haven't got an issue with me so I don't have an issue with humans." unless they try to hurt me or my friends. The idea of Mia being active in protesting anything was stupid; "I really don't care enough to do anything bad, du-sir."

Seriously; she didn't pick either side. Occasionally on line she'd say some inflammatory remark to get people fighting and being generally outraged, but that was about it. Things were working for her; even if metas were persecuted, her talents could be hidden as just a girl who was very good with computers. She definitely didn't care enough to join some random group of weirdos who wanted to blow shit up.

Man, she wanted to unleash so much ninja on this dooshebag.

Her eyes had taken in his disinterest in her equipment, and while it wasn't unusual it was something she always liked being able to notice. He'd not like it if she started using tech speak then.... these grunts were all the same, they never liked being made to feel stupid. Still, despite the urge to start speaking in binary to this guy, Mia's urge to piss him off was outweighed by her wish to make sure her stuff wasn't confiscated.

But this information about some twins.... or a young guy in an expensive coat (Mia rolled her eyes at that. How the fuck was she supposed to judge the cost of a coat?) was interesting. Very interesting. This was the first real bit of evidence she'd had about an organisation right here in Pilot ridge. And about two of the people who might run it. Still, if Vincent wanted a response he'd be disappointed; Mia's face stayed blank, except for one eyebrow arching. "I'm drawing a blank," she said flatly, "do they have facebook maybe? I don't talk to a lot of people face to face. Technopath, remember?" she pointed all around at the multitude of computers, "Computers. I do computers. So if they're ever on chat talking about the best way to crack a software program, then yeah, maybe I've talked to them. But if not, then no."

[Vincent Romanov]

You would have to be an idiot not to see the tension currently in the room. Vincent and Mia were polar opposites it seemed and had Vincent not been in the position of authority he was, he might have Mia standing toe to toe with him. Heck, if this confrontation kept heading in the direction it was heading, that might be the outcome as well. No one liked to be accused of anything, even if what they were being accused of was real. Something about authority and the human mind just brought about an ugly creature. Everybody liked to think they answered to no one but themselves, and like it or not, that just simply wasn't true. Everybody answered for every little action at the end and Vincent believed that without a shadow of a doubt. His strict religious upbringing had instilled that bit of insight into his mind at a young age and nothing now would ever teach him otherwise.

It was quick defense which made him smile once again. "Really? That assault and battery report I have sitting in my office tells me a different story Mia. Seems you assaulted a regular Joe not long after you arrived here at Hammel," he said with a smug look. What Vincent didn't say however, was that he doubted the assault was over the kid just being a regular human. Mia just didn't seem the sort to fall into the anti-human movement, not on purpose anyway. For all her pride, Mia struck Vincent as the ignorantly oblivious. She might be able to talk to any computer in the world, but he doubted she could hold a real conversation with anything flesh and blood. Slipping his hands from his pockets, Vincent crossed his arms, watching and waiting for some sort of reaction once again. Interrogations were fun, he always enjoyed them most of all. Vincent sort of had this way of poking people's buttons and judging from the tenseness of his neck, it seemed Mia was pretty good at getting under his skin as well. "You see, I don't think you have the same definition of 'bad' as me. That's the problem with people today, they've got this messed up vision of the world. Right is wrong and wrong is right and then there are some who think they can straddle the fence," Vincent said, his tone and face letting his emotions slip through. "Black and white....No gray. Just because one group thinks this and the other one thinks that doesn't mean one is right and the other is wrong. More often than not, both are wrong and are too stupid to see what's really right. So, please, I'll be deciding what's bad and what's not around here," he finished, clenching his jaw tightly.

Mia's smart mouth was getting to the point of being enough. Vincent demanded respect when he was on the clock and pretty much when he was off of it as well. He was raised to show his elders the respect they deserved and this went double for anyone in an authority role such as cops and teachers. This generation had no idea of manners these days and that put a chip on Vincent's shoulder. At some point in time, the world had just stopped caring about itself as a whole and began to play by the rules of the doing what one wanted. Yeah, sure, people had the right to be happy, but at what cost. When did so called personal freedoms become a reason to stop caring about the welfare of others? "This isn't some little game sweetheart. Like it or not, your involved in this confrontation between metas and regular people. You better start caring because I can promise you, there is some freak show out there who wants to see every one of our kind in a box with chains around our necks.....or worse. You start giving information to loose canons like the MSAD and your only going to make things worse. All the world wants is an excuse to snuff us out with a smile," he added, stepping closer to Mia, his arms falling to his sides. It was clear, Vincent was done being the so called 'good cop'.

[Mia Keystone]

That was too much. Mia jumped to her feet, standing at her not so impressive 5 feet, plus the extra inch or so from her combat boots. ”Fuck that,” she spat, hazel eyes blazing as her lip curled. ”Yeah, I jumped some stupid teenage jackass, and because he was a big strapping lad,” the words were bitter, “little old me had to have a bit of help. But that fucktard was hurting a student from this fucking school so don’t even try,” her voice was even and composed, but it was obvious a nerve had been touched, ”don’t try to tell me that makes me a fucking terrorist or whatever the fuck you’re trying to accuse me of.”

Deep breath, deep breath. Cold. Keep it cold.

Mia’s jaw set, her eyes like stones. She wanted so much to punch something, to create a virus and poison everything he had that used a program. But that wasn’t right. She needed to listen. To keep her cool and listen and record and understand so she could investigate. She could punch stuff later.

”Since you said please,” Mia smirked, then raised her eyebrows. ”You’re wrong, and they’re wrong, and you know what’s really wrong here? The fact you can accuse me of all this shit when you and the rest of the security team up here don’t seem to think we’re old enough or smart enough to knowenough to think anything but what you choose to spoon feed us.” She stuck her hands in her pockets, one grasping her phone. The buzz from its little computer calmed her down a little more.

If Mia knew anything about authority figures, it was that once they started to get mad, the best way to piss them off was to stay as calm as possible. Just stay still, stay even, stay cool baby. Keep her in a box? Fuck that. Sure, some people said that. Some people still said that about gays too. The crazies would say shit. Haters gonna hate. Then she head that last little bit and instead of staying cool, Mia froze. She hadn’t. She hadn’t sold that to... The girl blinked, once, and had to resist the urge to start chewing on her lip rings again. He was going to stop pulling punches? ”Don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t sell shit. You can see an enemy behind every bush but, hey, if it’s really that bad,” she spread her hands out, eyebrows arching, ”why don’t you enlighten me as to what exactly the MSAD is? And why, if they’re so very bad, you don’t tell us poor defenseless ickle kiddies about them?”

MSAD Mia turned it over in her mind furiously, trying to figure out what it was supposed to stand for. Still, she kept her eyes on the man before her, waiting to see if she’d had to move back in case he lost his temper. Was he going to expel her? That’d be an issue of national security, unless she moved to Switzerland. They spoke french there, right? She didn’t like french, but the food’d be good.

[Vincent Romanov]

Mia snapped back at Vincent like a rabid dog, causing his eyes to dilate and a small burst of adrenaline to rush through his body. Vincent was a physical guy, trained to shut down anything deemed a threat or danger to either him or those around him, so for just a second, his muscles tensed. Right now, he didn't have any stored up energy to fall back on, just his personal raw strength, but that was a moot point. Mia wasn't a physical threat by any means and while Vincent was primed to tear a hole in the wall, he took a long deep breath to bring himself back to the professional level Claude demanded of him. These were just kids he was dealing with and while some were a one man army, they still were just kids in the end. That realization was a turning point for a moment and Vincent pulled himself back from Mia, for both their own good. He straightened his jacket and forced a rough smile as he brushed his thumb back and forth across his bottom lip. Mia's wild eyes reminded him of the way his sister used to glare at him when he used to pick on here as a kid.

The usual crap lines came out of Mia's mouth, the same ones Vincent no doubt had thrown around when he was a kid thinking he was grown up too. Typical youth, thinking they knew everything because of all the so called technology and education they had. Each generation thought itself better than the last just because they had smarter toys. One day, Mia would find herself in Vincent's shoes, having some smart ass kid trying to tell her how outdated she was. Vincent had seen more of the world than Mia had ever read about it and he wasn't talking about the pretty side which you see on television and the Internet. No, Vincent had seen the world for what it really was and knew far too well what humanity was capable of, both the good and the bad. So when Mia stepped up her game and demanded some information, Vincent decided to oblige her and then see if she could sleep at night.

"Spoon feed you?," he asked rhetorically, scoffing in the process, "We've got kids here from all over the nation, kids who can't handle the normal confusion their bodies are going through at their age, much less the shock and awe of having the fact they have these off the wall abilities. Kids who don't have a family anymore either because they accidentally blew their house up when they their ability to create atomic energy with a snap of their fingers emerged, or because their family is so ashamed and afraid of them that they've disowned them. Kids who have to worry about what in the hell they are going to do with their lives once they are forced to make a path in a world that hates them and you get made because we choose to keep some of the monsters a secret from you. The last thing some of these kids around here need is more crap in their lives, crap which just might send them over the edge," he said, his tone still dark and angry. "The MSAD, is a problem for Hammel to worry about, not a bunch of kids. When and if you prove your capable of handling the bigger problems around here, then maybe I'll stop spoon feeding you. Until then, I suggest you sit down and eat whatever is served to you," he finished, perhaps being a bit more a dick than was necessary. Vincent sort of had a habit of speaking before he thought sometimes, especially when someone was pushing his buttons.

[Mia Keystone]

Mia was many things. Hacker, snoop, holder of the top score in Left 4 Dead 2 on her server... but she was not stupid. Nor was she able to take on a guy who had almost two feet on her. She backed up, though her scowl did not drop an inch as she shifted back slightly, making sure her cameras were working. If she was about to get hit (being Mia, it did happen sometimes) she was going to nail the fucker for it.

But he had some self control. As he turned his back on her, Mia exhaled and rubbed the back of her neck. Getting punched, while an occupational hazard when you had a smart mouth and zero interest in being civil, was never very fun. But the gloves were well and truly off now, and while there wasn’t going to be anything physical it was clear neither were paying much attention to things like feelings any more. If he ever had; Mia never really cared about that.

His speech was long, and it was essentially the same “there are people worse off then you’d think” shit she’d been getting for the last four years. She knew some of the kids here were worse off. Her best friend’s parents had made it pretty clear he’d be on his own once he was 21, and having researched enough of the teachers Mia got how much being a meta could fuck with your life. She might have even, well, had a life if wasn’t for her power that meant she just really liked computers so much more then people.

”Cry me a fucking river,” the girl snapped, ”I get mad when you accuse me of being part of something that, a) you’ve never told any student about and b) you seem to think us kids are too messed up to process. As for handling the fucking thing, you’ve been treating me like I’m already a part of it. Make up your mind, if you even have one.”

The annoying part was, if it wasn’t for the recent sale she’d made, Mia wouldn’t have been in the least flustered. But he’d already asked about that and while she would lie to her grave about it to this lug, it was obviously something she really needed to look into. If she had sold intel to a terrorist group... Mia’s philosophy on staying away from any possible consequences didn’t seem to... fit.

Fucking hell, Mia did not have morals and she would really appreciate it if some ex military gorilla would stop making her aware she might have to get some, fast.

[Vincent Romanov]

Vincent pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers and closed his eyes, his head already starting to hurt. Just what happened to kids once they became teenagers was a mystery to him and more than likely would forever be one. Arrogant little yard monkeys, the whole lot of them. How in the name of all that was holy did his mother ever keep from murdering he and his sister when they were growing up? He remembered his mother always saying she had gray hair because she had two kids running about her feet all day and now he was starting to believe she wasn't lying about all that. At this moment, Vincent wished he had some ability to make Mia's mouth snap shut, oh how sweet that power would be. However, Vincent would just have to let Mia rant until she was done and then see where to go from there.

Dropping his hand from his face, Vincent stared at Mia with a pained and tired look. He had already quit listening a few sentences back and was just now waiting for the noise to stop. It was easier training recruits in boot camp than trying to keep some order in a school. Hell, he would give his left arm for some normal chaos to happen right now, such as someone blowing up a science lab or something. At least then he would know what to do. Dealing with threats, things like bombs and out of control vigilante groups, those he could deal with, but a teenage girl....that was borderline impossible. An arch of the eyebrow might have indicated to Mia that she had said something of interest to him, but in reality all it meant was that Vincent was thinking about shooting her with some sort of stun gun. Sure, it would get him fired and probably a stint in the local jail, but man, would it ever be worth the price he would pay.

Finally, silence surrounded both Mia and Vincent and with a shake of his head and a sort of surprised look, Vincent realized Mia was done ranting and waiting on him. "I miss the days when you could beat a kid and no one even looked twice at you for doing it," he said rather forwardly, "This is why everything has gone to hell in a hand basket. No respect for authority or elders," he went on, narrowing his gaze on Mia, "I don't what your problem is Mia, or what makes you so defensive, but if I were you, I would evaluate my position a bit better. Smart mouth, quick temper at an accusation....That just screams guilty conscience," he said, moving away from Mia and toward the door of the room. Vincent stopped, reaching out and touching the handle of the door, looking back over his shoulder, "A final piece of advice Mia. I'm not a teacher here at Hammel by any means, and as a result I cannot give you detention or whatever the hell these hippies around here do to rule breakers, but I am the head of security and that brings a whole new level of punishment to the table. I can have your dorm gutted and locked up tight as a drum. If I perceive you as any sort of threat to Hammel's staff and students, I can confiscate any and all personal belongings, starting with your computers and in some cases I can have you tossed out into the streets," he said, mixing some truth with some lies. In his ten years as security, Vincent had never tossed any kid out and doubted he could without Claude's approval, not to mention most of the senior staff as well. However, Mia didn't know the full extent of Vincent's reach here at Hammel. "Enjoy your day miss Keystone," he said with a nod of his head and a smile, opening the door and leaving.

[Mia Keystone]

”I bet you do,” Mia scoffed, arms crossed as she glared. ”You like like you’re the sort who’d enjoy beating on kids.” He was threatening her.. he was trying to intimidate her, get her scared so she’d accept the crap he was trying to feed her. ”I have plenty of respect for people who deserve it,” she retorted, trademark scowl in place. A smart mouth and a quite temper? It didn’t take an accusation to bring that out of her; all it took was someone she didn’t know in her room. Add an accusation of supporting terrorists from exactly the sort of person Mia hated: one who seemed to think anyone under 27 was an imbecile, and yes, she was going to get touchy. Like angry pit bull touchy.

He was going... not a retreat, his head was still too high for a retreat. He seriously seemed to think anyone older then her deserved instant respect; clearly deranged. Respect had to be earned, by authority or by elders. Some huge guy in a suit wasn’t going to be given respect just because he thought he deserved it, and she sure as hell was not going to tell him anything. He was still talking; Mia rolled her eyes and tapped her foot with exaggerated impatience. Wait, had he just called Hammel’s teachers hippies? That was something to show someone if things got a bit uncomfortable.

Confiscate personal belongings? He could do that? Mia’s scowl didn’t slip an inch but her hands clenched into fists. Nostrils flared and eyes widened in rage as Mr Romanov calmly threatened to take away everything she used to communicate with the world. Tossed on the streets? Without her computers she’d be blind anyway. And she wasn't some abandoned kid who'd be left to run wild. He had to be bluffing anyway. Hammel hardly even expelled students; they'd chased down that fucked up memory kid to get him to come back. He'd never be able to get her kicked out over maybe selling something to someone she didn't know was part of a terrorist cell. But he was threatening her, he was very surely threatening her. ”Get the fuck out of my room,” she spat, but he seemed to already be on his way. She wanted to punch him in his smug, Russian face, but he was gone.

Mia turned, took a deep breath, then punched a hole in the wall behind her bed.