Claire sighed, her blond mane threatening to escape from its messy bun as she made her way to her small cubicle; her job in the IT department of Sharpe Industries sucked. It was just day after mindless day of repeating the same thing over and over again: “Have you tried turning it off and on again?”. The constant jokes and teasing from her insufferable male coworkers didn’t help. Nor did her social awkwardness. Oh well, she only had to continue doing this for a few more months, or at least until she had saved up enough money.

         Claire was born to a middle class family in Pasadena, a town on the outskirts of LA. Then, her father lost his job in a series of layoffs. He worked for Sharpe Industries, the very company where she had been mindlessly toiling for about six months. After he lost his job, in her senior year of high school, it didn’t matter that she had gotten into Stanford. She continued to live in Pasadena, just to work at the small electronics store her family owned. They had laid off two of their workers as well. Finally, 6 years later, having done nothing of consequence in her life, Claire decided that she’d had enough. She left the town and moved to La Jolla, determined to earn enough money to get a Computer Science Degree. Claire applied to Sharpe Industries, a biomedical engineering company. She had very few science skills, but computers were her home. She had enough skills to become a hacker, but despite considering “Hacktivism”, she went with the legal option. 

        The phone rang, the shrill beep-beep-beep cutting through her thoughts. 

        “Claire Monroe, Sharpe IT.”

        A male voice replied, seeming to be in a hurry. 

        “Hi, this is FBI agent Malcolm Hayes, I need your help.”

        “I’m sorry? What are you talking about?”

        “Come into the parking lot.”

        Claire heard a click, and the dial tone. 

        “Ok. Well he wasn’t very chatty.”

        Against her better judgement, she made her way into the parking lot before being stopped by a nondescript blue sedan. 

        “Hello Ms.Monroe, please enter the vehicle.”

        Claire opened her mouth to reply that she certainly would not hop into a strange man’s car, when she felt a sting on the back of her neck. Surprised, she reached up-and found a dart that seemed to be laced with something. All of a sudden, her limbs felt heavy. 

        “Oh no”, she thought before gently drifting off to sleep.

        Claire woke up in a starkly lit room. A tall African-American man introduced himself.

        “Hello Ms.Monroe. My name is Agent Malcolm Hayes. You may recall that we spoke over the phone.”

        “Um. Yeah, I think-I think I remember that. Who are you? I mean, why did you kidnap me? Do you want something from me? Oh my god! Are you on the run? Like some kind of……...wrongly accused FBI agent teams up with a hacker to clear his name! That would actually be kind of terrifying. I’m sorry I keep babbling. I will stop in 3....2….1.”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

        “Ms.Monroe, calm down. You are not in trouble, and I am not on the run”, said Agent Hayes in a placating voice.

        “We are in the S.T.R.A.N.G.E headquarters.”

        “What is S.T.R.A.N.G.E?”, she said, looking noticeably less frightened.

        “How do I explain this……...S.T.R.A.N.G.E stands for Strategic Technology Research And National Ghost Ecosystem. I know, I know, someone probably chose S.T.R.A.N.G.E, and tried to find cool words that fit with our theme, but-”

        “GHOSTS!? What is going on? I can’t-”

        And with that, Claire began to hyperventilate, her breath coming in short bursts. Hayes gave her a paper bag to breathe into.

        “Hey, hey. It’s ok, Claire. Breathe. Take a deep breath with me, ok. In, and out. In, and out. Please don’t worry, Ms.Monroe, the “ghost” in our name is a metaphor. It means criminals and organizations that are so impossible to find, they are basically ghosts. Basically, we investigate POI (persons of interest) and OOI. (organizations of interest) that have certain…….qualities.”

        “What, kind of, uh, qualities?”

        “Qualities that cannot be described by the science we know now. Women who can fly, men with superstrength. That kind of thing.”

        “Wow! That’s pretty cool. And terrifying. And how is that being kept from the general public...But, I’m still kind of wondering why you need my help, Agent Hayes.”

        “You are a hacker, correct? Or to rephrase, you have hacking abilities.”

        “Yes”, responded Claire, unsure as to where he was going with this.

        “There is an SPIT on the loose. A Super-Powered Individual Threat. Because of the fact that we don’t know much about them, or whether they work for any OOIs, we need to bring in someone from the outside, to assist. We were hoping that would be you. You will only need to hack into a few databases, and we will pay you double your usual salary. Do we have a deal Ms.Monroe?”

        “That sounds so cool. But I’d like to know what the risks are. And also what kind of powers this…...SPIT has.” 

        “The powers that he has are Phasing, aka the ability to pass through solid objects, Invisibility, and Enhanced Cognitive Abilities.”

        “That’s…..nice. How did he get these powers? And how did he get onto your radar? I’m sorry if I’m asking too many questions, but I need to know what I’m signing up for.”

        “Ok, but to tell you this I’m going to need you to sign an NDA. A NDA is-”

        “I know what an NDA is.”

        About fifteen agonizing minutes later, once all of the paperwork filled out, Hayes finally gave her some answers. 

        “The SPIT’s name is Ethan Baek '', he read from a yellowing folder. 

        “He was born in Korea, moved to the US at age of 1. Baek was a model citizen, valedictorian, volunteered at the local homeless shelter, etc.”

        “What does “he WAS a model citizen mean?”

        “When he was 23, Baek was arrested for theft. He stole from Sharpe Industries. He has been living in R. Douglas Penitentiary for the past two years. 2 weeks ago, two black-clad individuals broke into the prison, and helped him escape. One week ago, a man matching his exact description broke into a bank, stealing 40 million dollars. The police came, shot at him. He was grazed, and a small amount of blood was recovered. S.T.R.A.N.G.E analyzed the samples, and was able to confirm his identity, and determine the scope of his powers.”

        “Ok, fine. When can we start?”

        “We-”

        A loud crashing noise came from outside of the room, and Claire looked toward the noise. She slowly turned back to Agent Hayes, only to find a bullet in his skull. 

Author's Note: Thank you for reading, sorry for that last cliffhanger. This is a story idea I'm trying out, I'd appreciate it if you could leave a review.