Second Chances: Impulse

Chapter 13

"What's so important?" Joseph Carver asked when he entered the IT department of his company.

"Sir, we've detected a breach in our firewalls." one of his techs said.

"That's impossible. I've had at least a dozen people test it. Our firewalls are unhackable." Carver denied.

"Sir, we found a foreign user in our systems and they've managed to bypass all our defenses." the tech said.

Carver was trying to figure out who could've gotten through their security when he realized there was only one person who could've bypassed the security.

"Jesse." Carver mumbled.

"What sir?" the tech asked.

"Nothing. Keep trying to trace the hack. Find proof that someone hacked in." Carver said as he walked out of the department before pulling out his phone and called his driver.

"Meet me at the front of the building. I need to make a trip." Carver said.

Jesse was currently looking at jobs on her laptop at home, since she was starting to run low on the severance pay her father had given her when he'd booted her from the company and she was trying to find a job that wouldn't feel like an insult to someone with her talents, but sadly, Keystone didn't have a lot of fortune 500 tech companies. In fact, the only one in the city was the one she'd been fired from.

However, she was pulled from her thoughts when she heard the door open and was surprised when she saw her jackass father enter her apartment.

"Jessica Chambers McCulloch." Carver said to her angrily as Jesse sighed and got up.

"Sure, come on in dad. Can I get you a beer, or should I just call the police for you forcing entry into my home?" Jesse asked her father sarcastically.

"This is where you live now?" Carver asked his daughter.

"Well, I couldn't exactly keep living in my old loft after you kicked me out of the company. I had to start saving money, especially since I haven't had luck finding a new job yet, so my boyfriend offered to let me stay here at his place." Jesse said, since Wally's Keystone apartment was a lot smaller than the penthouse loft she'd used to have before she got fired from McCulloch.

"I did not come here about that. I came here because I know you hacked into the McCulloch mainframe." Carver said.

"And why would you think I would do that? Plenty of people out there hate you enough to try to do that." Jesse said, knowing that thanks to Kira, her dad would never find proof.

"Jesse, you're the only person who could possibly get passed the same security feature you designed." Carver said.

"I did not hack into the McCulloch mainframe. I've spent the whole day looking for jobs, since I'm running low on the severance pay you so graciously offered me when you forced me out of the company." Jesse said coldly and Carver took a deep breath.

"Look Jesse, just tell me how you got through our security so I can close up the hole and I'll let you come back to the company." Carver said, trying to be the good cop, though it was clear his daughter was not falling for that.

"Why would I want to work for you? I'd rather be unemployed than sell out my integrity to work for the man who's destroyed everything mom built." Jesse said.

"I'm carrying on your mother's legacy." Carver said.

"That's really funny coming from the man who I know is responsible for her disappearance. I don't have proof yet, but I know that you had something to do with mom's disappearance and I will get to the bottom of it." Jesse said.

"Jesse, let it go before something unfortunate happens." Carver said.

"Are you threatening me?" Jesse asked her father.

"More like providing a suggestion. One I also suggest you take. If won't tell me how you hacked into the McCulloch mainframe, fine, I'll let it go this one time, in honor of your mother's memory, but if you do it again, I will have you arrested." Carver said.

"Get the hell out of my apartment before I have you arrested for forcing your way into my home and threatening me." Jesse said as she shoved her father out the door and slammed it in his face, breathing deeply as she tried to control her anger towards her father. While she'd expected him to realize that she was the one behind the company hack, she couldn't believe that he had the nerve to come here and throw her mother's memory in her face.

"I will find out what dad did to you mom. I promise. I will get justice for you." Jesse said, trying to stop tears from falling from her eyes, right as she heard a voice call her name.

"Jesse." a familiar woman's whisper, causing Jesse to look around.

"No, it can't be. I'm hallucinating." Jesse said to herself.

"Jesse." the voice said again, this time a bit louder and Jesse looked around, trying not to let herself feel hope that the voice was who she thought it was.

"Jesse." the voice said and this time, Jesse could tell that it was coming from her bedroom as she walked in there and she was shocked at what she saw in her full length mirror.

Her mother, Eva McCulloch, was standing there, alive and well, in the well in the mirror.

"Hello Jesse. We've got a lot to talk about." Eva said with a smile, much to Jesse.

Just to clear things up now, Eva will not be the villainous Mirror Monarch in this story. At least not the way she was in the show. I've got a different plan in mind for her.