Are You There, Teagan? It's Me, Miles.

[Miles]

In his weeks in the Wesson, Miles had taken to technologically fortifying their defenses, anything from firewalls to their network, and thus the discovery of cameras a while back had been interesting. Deacon told him on Teagan, a hunter in Portland that got her start in Keystone as well. She was a prankster, apparently, so Deacon wasn't really phased when he found out about the cameras. But Teagan thought she had gotten away with it. Little did she know that Miles liked the occasional prank as well, and in her own way, Teagan had set herself up.

It wasn't hard to do some hacking and get into her network, at least the one connecting the cameras in the Wesson to those in the building where she stayed. True, she did have some defenses, some an ordinary civilian wouldn't be able to figure out, but when you had the software and hardware (for they were two completely different things, though explaining it would probably bore the person asking) Miles was now turning the tables, and watching these people in Portland. They were an interesting, dysfunctional bunch, but that wasn't his purpose.

It was mid afternoon, and a stream of light spilled through the window onto the floor, right next to his desk. His laptop was open, and he slid into the seat, after locking his door. He made sure his microphone that was built into the webcam was on, and then he opened Teagan's feeds. There was one in her own room, and luckily for him, Teagan was there, writing something at her desk. He grinned, and then hit a few keys. He didn't know if this would work, depending on the camera being used (and just go with me on this,) but he his combination of keys would switch her microphone on the camera, and it would essentially become a speaker. How loud it would be, or if it worked, he didn't know, he could only find.

Leaning forward, he grinned again before speaking. "Hello Teagan," he said in a clear, definite voice.

[Teagan]

A rare day of peace had fallen on the Portland faction. The past few weeks had ran nearly nonstop with hunts and training that had driven the group to exhaustion. So when no mysterious reports appeared in the morning newspaper or shady online stories caught their eyes, the group unanimously decided to take a day of rest and had thus scattered about to take time to themselves.

Unsure -and apathetic- about Yuki and Aiden's whereabouts, Teagan spent the day in her room reviewing tapes and audio she had recorded during the previous weeks. The hours she had devoted to the task had paid off in gold, and Teagan decided to include some of the best recorded moments in her monthly letter to Deacon. Having edited together all of the footage and burned it to a disc, she carefully sealed the cd in a protected envelope and pulled out a couple sheets of paper to begin the written portion of her task.

When she had reached about a halfway point, she leaned back in her chair and picked up the warm mug of coco sitting on her desk. The warm liquid put a smile on her face; it reminded her about good times at home. Teagan's mom brewed the chocolate mixture during the coldest nights and the family curled up on the couch under a blanket to watch a movie together.

Teagan closed her eyes as she relieved the memory. She missed her parents. Before all of the chaos happened, she had only been away from them for a weekend, at the most. So having no contact in over four months? Rough.

"Hello Teagan."

The unexpected voice caused Teagan to jump, her hot chocolate spilling from her hands. She groaned as she noticed that her letter was now ruined. Where had that voice come from? The door hadn't opened in hours, and her speakers were completely muted so any unwanted sound didn't compete with the soft jazz coming out of the radio on her right. Had something happened to her computer?

Ignoring the spilled drink, her fingers rapidly danced across the keyboard, giving the command to run an analysis of the system. Within seconds, the software had pegged a familiar IP address as having hacked into the programming of her microphone. Teagan lifted an eyebrow curiously. She had noticed a few weeks earlier that someone discovered her cameras after her firewalls had collapsed without warning. It looked like that someone had decided to pay her a visit. Good.

"Hello there, friend," Teagan replied carefully, grabbing a tissue from the edge of her desk to wipe up the mess in front of her. "May I ask who's calling?"

[Miles]

It was a similar setting in Keystone, with the weather getting colder, the business getting steadier, and the supernatural finally taking a day off, or so it felt. His room was nice and warm, the sun finally breaking through the clouds that had plagued the sky all morning. He was putting off his reading until later--a combination of literature and folklore, on top of the information that Art had been compiling since his initiation as a hunter. But now, now was time for some fun. Come on, the mind of a fifteen year old computer genius could only take so much book reading.

He flipped through her feeds, noticing that since his door was closed, she wouldn't be able to tell if he was in his room or not. Deacon was down at the bar, tending to some customers, and Art was elsewhere. Surely she would deduce that it was Miles, but why not try and play it off? She was writing away, and as he began speaking, she had lifted her drink. The following reaction was better than planned, though he did feel bad about causing her to spill all over.

He watched as she clicked a few keys on her computer, and after a few seconds, he too clicked a few keys. He had designed his own IP address masking system; it was crude, and didn't last as long as he wished it would, but it would make it seem as if his IP address was no longer on her network, at least for a minute or so. Enough time to convince her.

"But you know me well; it's Casey," he said, and then hit a key. A messaging system popped up on Teagan's screen. "Let's keep this conversation private, shall we?" he asked, typing away at the keyboard.

This is Miles, newest addition to Keystone. We've yet to meet, but I'd like to let you know that just as you're watching me, you provided ample material for me to watch you. He paused. Jeez, did he sound creepy. Nice to finally talk to you. I apologize for the mess.

[Teagan]

Teagan frowned at her screen, wondering what on earth was happening to her information. Disappearing, reappearing; none of it made sense. The voice appeared again, claiming to be Casey.

"Casey? Really?" she raised an eyebrow, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Uh huh, sure. "Private works for me." While they might be interested, this was not something Teagan wanted to immediately share with Aiden and Yuki. A chat window popped open in the right hand corner of her screen and she read the message with interest.

A new addition to Keystone? No one in Portland was aware of any other hunters joining any of the factions, but then again, the only way any of them kept it touch was via texting or Teagan's letters to Deacon. Contact was minimum; too much could get someone hurt. Curious as to what the newbie looked like, with a few strokes over the keys she view the live feed from the Wesson. She quickly shifted through the different cameras, checking for anyone using a computer. Deacon's task looked boring (per normality- he rarely did anything interesting when she checked the feeds), and Art was nowhere to be found. Where was the kid located? Analyzing the view of the upstairs hall, Teagan realized one of the doors was shut, barring her sight of its contents.

For the record, Teagan responded in the chat, don't try to pass yourself off as Casey. You sound like a little kid.

She stood up and dragged her chair to the corner of the room, placing it up against the wall. She climbed on it and reached for the power button on a camera hidden behind a poster of one of Teagan's favorite bands. She had installed a camera in her room not to monitor her own actions, but to ensure that Aiden, Yuki, or anything supernatural didn't dare to infiltrate her space. Apparently now that idea had backfired on her; this Miles had used it to spy in her room.

Teagan's face flushed. How long had he been watching? What had he seen? Obviously, he saw her spill the hot chocolate, hence his apologies for the mess. Her fingers quickly hit the power button; if she couldn't see him, no way in Hell she would let him keep seeing her. She returned to her desk.

Welcome to the team then, squirt. I'd like to warn you though; this wasn't the best way to introduce yourself. Instead of starting off even, you now owe me hot chocolate. Which I might interchange with tea, depending on my mood whenever we do finally meet. And for future reference? Don't touch my stuff, okay? I'm not a person you want on your bad side.

[Miles]

He knew there was no way that she would buy that he was Casey; hsi voice, while getting deeper as it would for the next few years, wasn't exactly that of a man. He also had never experienced any communication with Casey, not even through Deacon. Aside from the orders to go save him, Deacon and Art had hunted down everything else via media. Catch her off guard? Maybe. Work? Not so much. Not that he had really planned on that.

He couldn't see her facial reactions, for her back was to him, and at an angle. This made it hard to gauge what she reacted to, and what she knew already, but he kept going anyway. He was bound to find out through the conversation as it was. He watched as the windows for the different cameras flicked across her screen, and it would only be a matter of time before that camera pointing towards his room was repositioned ever so slightly to just look down the hall.

Yeah, well, you're not much older than I am, so look who's talking.

Suddenly she stood, and moved over to the camera in her room. He frowned as he saw a hand block the view, the fingers curling next to it, and then suddenly, it cut out. Two could play at that. Another firewall with a personalized encryption, and now the camera on his room showed a black feed. He considered giving it a loop, but he decided against it.

The street went both ways--what had she been watching him do, or Art, or Deacon? If he hadn't had ran that scan that day, he wouldn't even know about the cameras, and then what, who knew what she could have seen from any of the guys in the Wesson?

By the looks of things, I might be taller than you, so watch who you call squirt. Secondly, I'm fine with your demands. And technically, I'm not touching anything but my own computer, he countered, and I can play some pretty fun pranks, as well, with my machine. Bad lists tend to be mutual, no?

[Teagan]

No.

He.

Did.

Not.

Just.

Insult.

Her.

Height.

Teagan's eyebrows narrowed as she gave a death glare to the screen. This Miles kid -and her assumption was corret, he was just a kid- had just guaranteed himself a heck of a time at a future date. And, just for kicks, she might ask for tips from Yuki about malling someone to death.

We'll see about that, Teagan typed back, masking her anger. Good thing she had turned the camera off. Time to switch to a different topic. How are things over there? Art and Deacon doing okay? We haven't heard anything from you guys in awhile.

[Miles]

Without the views from the cameras, neither could see the other now, so when it came to her reaction about the height comment, he couldn’t see her. Dang. He waited for her text-based reaction, the text box on his screen now next to his music player. He scrolled through the songs, and chose one from a popular internet musical.

Finally, her response came and he scanned the words quickly. Changing the subject. He was pretty sure that counted as a win in his book. With a smirk on his face, he typed back. They’re fine. Deacon and Art have been a little busy with hunts, but nothing too time consuming. Mostly Deacon, though, since Art and I are still doing school stuff. He paused. That sounded normal, not like they were hunters. He actually was going to school, in fact, he had a short paper to write. Normalcy felt…well, normalcy now felt strange. Hunting was paradoxical.

Anyway, that was part of the reason I contacted you. It’s kind of boring around here, and Deacon has told me about some of the things you’ve done. I’m willing to…team up with you I guess, help you move your pranks here, and add a technological twist to it if you wanted.

[Teagan]

To hear that everything in Keystone had been going well and that no one had managed to hurt themselves pleased Teagan. Hunting tended to take extremely dangerous turns. She and Yuki had Aiden to teach them the proper survival techniques, but who claimed responsibility for Deacon and Art's training? Casey? As if. The farthest he had ever gone to help another person was to the cell phone in his pocket to send texts that ruined lives. Hopefully Deacon knew a lot more than he claimed. So she worried...sometimes.

Not to mention...after what had transpired in Seattle, Teagan felt a soft spot for the younger Rook. Her promised still remained: in no way, shape or form would the boy transform into his weathered future counterpart. Not on her watch. If she even heard one whisper about Art picking up a cigarette or Deacon letting him sip a bit of alcohol -just for the taste- Teagan would drive Aiden-style to Keystone and set the kid straight. Plus, one final question remained regarding information revealed that day. One that made Teagan question her emotions, a feat that rarely happened.

A single picture flashed in her head, as it had done daily since Portland encountered the elder Arthur Rook: a picture of Yuki, Aiden, Art, and Teagan on a trip to the park -or so it seemed-, posing for a shot of the camera. Normal teenage doing? Yes, with one twist. Art carried Teagan on his back, something she had never allowed anyone to do. Strangely, she her face had looked....happy. Content. She didn't pretend to understand what that meant. And then those comments Arthur and Aiden had made back and forth? The teen leaned back in her chair and sighed. The future was so confusing.

Glad to hear it. Keep things that way; you'd don't want to have to deal with supernatural idiots 24-7 like Portland does, Teagan sat up and typed, once again leaving out her true thoughts.

The next string of text made Teagan raise an eyebrow. Now that was a way for the bugger to redeem himself.

I suppose that if things are boring then it's my responsibility to spice things up a bit, no? Tag teaming sounds perfect. And... She reached over to her desk, fiddling a tape labeled "KEYSTONE" between her fingers. I already have an idea. Give me an hour to piece something together really fast. Assuming, of course, you can work that quickly?

A grin spread over Teagan's face. This was going to be epic.

[Miles]

Miles knew nothing of what had transpired for the Portland faction, because Keystone, well, nothing happened there. It was filled with tourists that got lost all the time, husbands that didn't understand their wives' drive to see the Presidents' faces carved into a mountain, wives not understanding the mechanics of their motor homes while their husbands were outside tending to the machine. The weather was going to get cold soon..and when he said cold, he meant cold. That would restrict their hunts, and keep them inside, though Miles wasn't much of the outdoorsy type.

I don't really get to deal with it anyway. They stuck me with books and no action. I mean, I guess I see the point, but still, they could use the help. Not that much happens here. He switched his song, and paused as someone walked down the hall. Art generally keeps Deacon from doing something stupid anyway, so no worries.

He grinned as she agreed to help. The Teagan slash Miles tag-team wouldn't be seen coming. Deacon might even think that Teagan was there without being there. Sure, I can work faster than that if you even need it. About an hour later, things were prepared, and Deacon and Art had no idea what was coming.

[Teagan]

By the time Teagan had finished editing the video, tears from laughter streamed down her face. In all honesty, she had expected Aiden and Yuki to check on her five minutes into her fit of laughter, but then again, she wasn't even aware if they were in the Tavern at all. Their loss-she'd show them later. Maybe it could serve as a way to lighten the evening.

Alright, the video should be in your inbox now, she wrote to Miles. Is everything ready?

Instead of waiting for an answer, Teagan pulled up the live stream from South Dakota. She found herself pleasantly surprised and impressed at how well and fast Miles had set up the bar in Keystone to fit their scheme. The room on her monitor was chocked full of people, Deacon at the bar and Art somewhere off camera. Ah well, the reaction of one of the Rook brothers would be satisfying enough for her tastes. Instantly she zoomed into the bar to ensure that her seat on the sidelines wouldn't inhibit her from viewing the show.

Every thing's ready on this end Miles, Teagan happily typed. Whenever you're ready, you've got the green light.

[Miles]

The afternoon had apparently taken a turn, and had dropped a few degrees. He had learned that when the weather was cold business either died or the bar became packed, and the latter had happened. Beneath him, he could hear the sounds of customers. Perfect. Teagan's plan would be perfect now, so getting everything ready, and using her own cameras to plan accordingly, Miles grabbed a projector, an investment he'd made with the remaining money he had for his own needs, and now it would be used for something else. Setting it up on the back table, where it would fill a nice portion of wall with the best clarity, he quickly slipped back out of the bar.

Once he had returned to his room, he sat back down in front of his computer, and searched through his programs until he found the one he needed--a hacking program that would link all the televisions upon connecting his laptop. Then it simply became a waiting game. He smirked--if Deacon tried to change the channel and shut it down, it wouldn't work. This was going to be great.

Once he received the file, he opened it, paused it, and then moved silently downstairs. He made sure to lock the doors before he started it, and then slid past a group of people to where his cable hung against the projector. With a connection here, a click there, and maxing the volume, the music video began playing--the song erupted through the bar, Barbie Girl by Aqua. On the screen, Miles watched in laughter as various scenes of Art and Deacon danced across, with some pretty embarrassing clips. Deacon was dancing like a fool behind the bar, Art kicked the soccer ball and broke the window, Deacon screaming like a little girl when Art stood behind a corner in the darkness. Art falling off the chair and landing awkwardly. This was rich.

[Casey]

Deacon forced a smile at the collection of drunks that hung onto the bar to keep from falling over. Some bunch of wackos can in hours ago and progressed to get two sheets to the wind almost immediately. So he grinned and beared it, like he always did. Turned out he wasn’t a half bad actor. Probably from years of having to tell his mother that dinner was delicious and he was to full for a second helping. The second he thought of his mother he suddenly got another reason to think of her. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up and he began to look around the room. He spotted Art in the corner, reading, but nothing else.

Art looked up and saw his brother’s expression. “Spider sense?” he mouthed.

Deacon shrugged and turned back to the clientele. He wasn’t sure why Art was down in bar. Kid had a massive head ache and a hard day a school. Not that he would tell Deacon what happened, but he knew the kid since he was born, he knew something had happened. Sighing he saw Miles walk down stares but got another round of shots ordered.

“Coming right up,” he smiled and grabbed the bottle of Jack. Stupid mirror behind him wouldn’t even let him have a private dirty look. As he was poor the tenth shot for the crew of fourteen he stopped and paused.

Barbie girl? What the hell? Was some one pranking the Juke box again? No. The juke box didn’t have a projector. He finished pouring the shots and wondered why Miles so desperately wanted to join the rest of his family. Evil thought but the boy was evil at the moment. Deacon decided to do the next best thing to killing him, since he didn’t want to go to jail, and that was steal his lap top and send him to his new grandparents house for the week end.
While his reaction was decidedly tame his brother’s was not. Art had his hand’s pressed over his ears and eyes squeezed shut. Good thing to in Deacon’s opinion because the boy would be mortified. As the people in the bar laughed their heads off Deacon’s expression grew more serious. Art’s jaw was clenched and he was shaking like he was in pain.

“Turn it off,” he breathed out quietly, but Deacon heard it clear as a bell across the noisy bar.

“Uh oh,” Deacon said and instinctively ducked behind the bar and covered his head. He had no clue why he was doing it but it seemed like a very good idea. One of the guys at the bar laughed about him hiding in shame a but was cut off.

“TURN IT OFF!!!!” Art yelled as the lights brightened and burst. Hell of a time for a power surge but it was lightening season Deacon reasoned, not even sure if that was true.

The lights above him burst and glass and sparks showered on his back and arms. A number of the patrons yelp in surprise and pain. The speakers cracked as they were pushed past their full capacity and failed. The projector…was now what one would consider an idea instead of an object.

It only took a few minutes to collect the money the drunks owed him and for them to leave. On foot thankfully.

“I’m going to bed,” Art grumbled and rubbed his head after they left and went up stairs. Deacon watched him go.

“So,” he said not even bothering to look at Miles, “I’m guessing you didn’t come up with this one on your own did ya?”

[Miles]

Deacon and Art were clueless, not even noticing the projector sitting on the back table in Miles' brief absence. This was going better than he had hoped. He figured that at least Deacon would say something to him, but he would thank those truckers later, if they even remembered coming to the bar at the point they were. The file played smoothly, he had to give Teagan credit on her editing. He found himself laughing at the clips along with the rest of the bar, glancing at Deacon and Art occasionally, when he saw Deacon duck down behind the bar. What the heck? Why was he doing that? He glanced at the door, knowing it was locked, so no one could be coming in. What was going on?

Suddenly there was a quick. high-pitched whining, and then several pops and shatters. Next to him, the projector popped as well, sparks shooting out from the machine, and smoke rising. Above him, more glass shattered, and his arms instinctively shot up and over his head as the shards tumbled down. People screamed, toppled their chairs over, and were gone--he didn't blame them. Miles knew better than to blame that on a blown circuit, if that was the case, the power just would have gone out, not demolished his projector.

After a few moments, the bar was empty, and Art was exiting the room. Bed? It was just barely getting dark out. Early to bed, early to rise....I guess... Slowly, he retracted his arms from above his head, catching a few scratches and shallow cuts here and there, glancing at the glass littering the ground. "What....just happened?" he asked aloud, hoping that maybe Deacon had some inkling.

He glanced up at his 'father' as he spoke, and shrugged. "Well, if the video had finished, I'm pretty sure she left some sort of signature in there for you. But..." he looked over at his projector again. Irreparable. Great. "If you'd like to say something to her, just give me the message and I can relay it to her, since, you know, the cameras in here probably short circuited." He wasn't about to jump on getting new cameras for her, either, but he'd check to see which ones were now offline back in the safety of his own room. "By the way, I didn't know you knew the lyrics to Miley Cyrus, Deacon," he said with a grin.

[Casey]

“Haven’t the slightest Squirt,” Deacon shrugged, “I’ll tell you when I figure it out. Mind giving me a hand?”

One of the biggest down sides of owning his own business, especially a bar, was if there was a mess there was only one person to clean it up. Two if Art was around, and since his brother was unavailable Deacon hoped Miles could help. Cleaning sucked, not having to do it alone helped slightly.

“There is only one child I can think of that fits your insinuation,” he rolled his eyes, “Do I even want to know how you met her or at least talked to her?” Grabbing the broom in the corner he started sweeping some of the glass off the ground.

“You can take over sweeping if you’re up to it so I can replace the bulbs before it gets dark,” Deacon offered before adding, “And it wasn’t Miley Cyrus, it was Taylor Swift. If you tell anyone that, you’ll be grounded.” He got a nice pile started and started to look for the dust pan.

“Speaking of punishments,” he said leaning over the bar, “Don’t even think you’re off the hook for this fiasco. Public humiliation or an attempt at is one thing, interrupting business hours is another.”

Deacon straightened back up and shot Miles a smirk, “How would you like to visit your new grandparents this weekend?”

[Teagan]

While Teagan expected a decent reaction from her mentor, the look on his face when it finally clicked for him completely flew past the bar of expectation. The pure, unfiltered shock forever captured in a not so flattering freeze-frame would probably hold her amusement as her desktop background for a good number of months. "This one's right up with the toaster on the brilliance level," she murmured to herself, barely able to contain her laughter.

With a keystroke she switched the view to another feed. Time to meet Miles. He wasn't difficult to locate -only one person in the entire room didn't have the physical qualities of an adult. A lone, small figure cleverly keeping low and in the background caught her attention instantly. Yeah, that'd be him. Short little thing, was he? Why the hell would he insult her height if he stood a tad above Teagan's level? This one definitely would be on the receiving end of some Teaganizing.

Returning to the original feed, she lifted an eyebrow as she noted Deacon's sudden absence. He had been there a moment ago. Where did a bartender run off to in a second's notice? ...ignoring the fact that said bartender doubled as a Hunter on the side, that action wasn't quite normal.

Right as her video should have arrived at the climatic moment (if she timed it correctly), the screen flashed black and an error window appeared. Teagan sat up straight, immediately alarmed. Where did the stream go? Dozens of commands failed to retrieve any information from the cameras, going as far to even claim they didn't exist. Unable to be located. Disconnected, one program hypothesized.

No. Way.

What freakin' happened to her cameras?

Miles, what's going on? Everything was running smoothly. What happened? Why are the cameras malfunctioning?

Teagan tapped her fingers impatiently on the keyboard, happy mood turned sour. Why wasn't the runt responding?