Steps

Step 13: Shock

Leah lay on the floor of the darkened server room. The light from the visor she was currently using seared brightly into her eyes, taking up her full line of vision with various types of information all displayed neatly in their proper places. Why in the world did Ray want a new visor layout when this one was already working just fine? Everything about this visor, from the code to the actual hardware itself was perfect, so why?

She was back in Starling City today to implement her skeleton code onto a test visor to see how everything worked out. It wouldn't take too long, just a quick upload, then probably an hour of two of testing. But seeing as the trains only ran at certain times of day, she'd been forced to come to Starling early. So she spent her time in a server room at Palmer Tech, just fooling around with whatever. Sure, she was still technically working, but there really wasn't anything for her to do here. Well, besides updating a server, which was what she was doing now.

Her phone buzzed, and she sat up and grabbed it. A text from... Ray? She reached up and touched the base of the visor mount, turning it off. The light fizzled out, and the holographic screen covering her eyes disappeared. God, every time she used the stupid visor, she was left floored. It was amazing. It was almost as if Ray had gone into the Grid or something and stolen the stupid thing from a program. It was so Tron-esque, it was insane. Her phone buzzed again, and she broke from her sci-fi daydream.

911, upstairs, my office, now.

Crap. She hopped off the floor and headed for the door.

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"The server didn't connect."

"Wait, what?" She walked over to the computer and glanced at the error message. "CRAP."

"Security update?"

"I FORGOT."

"I thought you excluded it."

"I DID. I swore I turned the automated update off. CRAP. Do you have a USB? I can fix it, but not here. I just need the code."

"Yea, hold on." He went to another section of the office and started going through a drawer. "This isn't.... you know.... a risk, is it? Possible information request leaks?"

"What? No, no, no. I just... I just have to fix it. I mean, yea, there is a risk, of course, but-"

"Ms. Elms?" An unfamiliar woman stuck her head through the door that led from the conference room. Leah froze and looked at her, wide eyed.

"Y-yes?" Leah squeaked. She reached for the mouse and quickly minimized the project file.

"Mr. Foster said he thought he heard you, and would like to know if you could come help him out for a minute?" Crap....

"Yes.. I'll, uh, be there in a minute." She smiled nervously back at the woman, masking her panic.

"I'll let him know. " The woman smiled and slipped back into the adjacent room.

"What was that about? You know Ned?" Ray rejoined her at the desk.

"You could say I'm his favorite." She rolled her eyes.

"Ned's got a thing for you?"

"No, I'm just really good at my job. I go in, get the job done, and get out. That's what I was known for... well, before I got moved."

"Go." Ray waved his hand in the direction of the door. "I'll transfer this. Don't keep Ned waiting." He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

Leah rolled her eyes and moved towards the door, mentally preparing for the onslaught of people. Conferences meant lots of people, and lots of people meant that she was prone to freeze ups. God, she hated people. All eyes would probably be on her as she worked. That thought alone made her skin crawl. She took another deep breath and started to walk through the door. That's when she saw him.