Isis grew increasingly uncomfortable as she searched the remainder of her things. All her cables, cords, and miscellaneous electronics were untouched. She had checked her Thinkpad laptop –capable of 4G LTE and both international GSM and CDMA—which had its SIM card intact by virtue of being a rare feature, was rendered inert. There was no signal. 

Everything indicated that this entire thing was part of something far more sinister. A kidnapping, perhaps?

But Isis didn’t care. By all means, this situation was interesting enough. What would be in store for them? Would they have to break out? Kill the kidnapper? Be subject to siege by a brutal US SWAT team? Have a fantastic battle a la Battle Royale? Her face broke into an unsettling smirk before she stopped herself. 

She instead turned her attention back to the group of people, and instantly regretted it. The little buggers were worse than before. She finally recognized a certain individual attempting to refocus the attention of the group –The popular Youtuber by the name of Jinx—but had obviously failed spectacularly in approach. Everybody’s attention seemed to be on the violent, chair wielding girl that had nearly clobbered two other girls. That bitch pissed her off. She had no self-restraint, no sense of control. Instead, she perpetuated unrestrained chaos, chaos that Isis neither instigated nor could control. 

Iphigenia slid a scalpel down her shirt sleeve and began walking towards Nova, with a concerned look on her face. 

“Please, calm down,” said the young hacker, approaching the openly violent girl. “This is neither the time nor the place.” She put her two hands on her shoulders, as if she were about to give a sort of man-to-man type of talk. But within her sleeve, she pushed up the surgical razor so that it barely touched the girl’s neck. It was subtle enough that nobody else but Isis and Nova would know it was even there. She leaned in closer to Nova, and whispered into her ear in a flat, monotone voice, making sure nobody else was privy to their conversation. 

“You’re a nuisance. Shut up or I can guarantee you will be found dead in a week in a dumpster. I don’t care about your life. I don’t care about your family. I don’t give two shits about you or anybody in this room, but you are pissing me off. Consider this a warning.” 

With that, Iphigenia smiled warmly, and gave a friendly pat on her shoulder with her hand before turning to the gaggle of people to the side, addressing them in a more animated, charismatic voice.

“Now, I think Miss Jinx over there has something to say. Let’s give her the stage, perhaps she’s figured out something useful.”