Manhattan, New York City.
“Are you ready for this?” Andrew asks as he helps Mia out of the limousine they rented specifically for the party, courtesy of their good friend, Dr. Paige Houston.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” she mutters in response, failing to hide a grimace.
Thing is, in Mia’s euphoria of inviting herself to what is most definitely the party of the year, and the immense preparation Paige has gone through to make her fit in as best as possible too, she has totally forgotten about her inability to effectively mix with people; but looking at the crowd of elegant, stock up, and well-dressed people flocking into the Manhattan Science and Technology museum serving as the event centre now, it comes flooding back and she isn’t so sure she can get through the party anymore.
Be strong, Mia, she tells herself and tries desperately to get her erratically beating heart under
“Are you sure this is the right direction?” Andrew asks Mia as they walk down a corridor in the deeper part of the museum that seem to have no end.“I’m sure it is,” she replies. “Jacob’s phone signal places him somewhere in this particular area. This corridor is where it’s strongest.”Jacob exits the hall immediately after his presentation, but Mia and Andrew wait for about thirty minutes before they begin to tail him; and just like they predict, he doesn’t leave the building straight away.Thing is, it’s relatively important for Jacob as the CEO of Alphatech to be available when the sale of the Technobots commences, and since he may presumably not want to mingle with the people who seem hellbent on meeting and squeezing every drop of the genius in his brain out of him throughout the party, he will need to go somewhere secluded but still close enough to remake a grand entrance if necessary withou
Robert sighs in content as he sinks into the chair adorning the front of the table of old computers present in the even older control room.Now, he knows that lazing on the job is unacceptable in Alphatech and will definitely get him fired- if not killed- if the big boss himself, Jacob Londermann catches wind of it, but the blonde twenty six-year old man can’t care less about that at the moment. All that matters to him then is that he's comfortable, and that's what he focuses on.Truth is, Robert has never been a party goer to begin with; his childhood days have done a great job of killing that part of him.For starters, he happens to be a very short man with an autism issue that makes communication with others quite a challenge.Secondly, although he won't be quick to admit it, he's actually of the more "weird" character, which may have something to do with his autism to be honest, but no one cares to find out. Autism is different from plain in
The vigour with which Robert follows the pinging dot on his map-pad is so intense that it almost seems to be coming off him in waves. Soon, he knows, he will catch up to his quarries and show them why they shouldn’t have messed with his boss.The fools don’t even know that the object with them doubles as a tracking device,he thinks as a big smile lits up his face.To be honest, he has to agree that the move is a stroke of genius from Jacob. He gives the teenagers what they so desperately wants, lets them go, and then use that infor mation they've acquired to trap them again. It's beyond genius even, he finds himself admitting.Just then, the map-pad begins to beep and the dot blink more rapidly, and Robert realises that he’s almost caught up with the kids.He turns the corner and comes face to face with Mia, but she’s the only one there.“I’ve been waiting for you guys for a while now,&rdq
Jacob can’t bring himself to believe that a well-organised event such as his launch party can go to hell just like that, but the truth is that it does and he is a witness to it.And it’s all because of that nuisance of a duo that's Mia and Andrew, he thinks, balling his fingers into a fist in anger. He doesn't know how but those two have suddenly become his nemeses; and they've turned everything horrible for him at every turn.To be honest, Jacob will never have been able to predict even in his worst moments that Mia will become so much of a thorn in his side, especially in light of the helpless and vulnerable nature he saw in her on their first encounter. Then she was young, malleable, easy to control for the purposes he wanted of her.Unfortunately, she has grown a little too quickly for him to control, and his lack of foresight at what she can, and have become is the reason why he's now bearing the pain in his heart; her little stunt at t
Somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Mia stares into the horizon as the cold ocean breeze whips across her face; a gentle reminder that winter isn’t far behind. It has taken a long time, and quite a lot effort, but she can finally say she has beaten Jacob fair and square; and now, she's ready to move on to her next target: Joseph Lewis. Finding Joseph hasn't been a walk in the park for Mia. The man is thickly hidden behind firewalls, shell companies, and general digital footprint animousity; and even with her Tekna ability out to play, following him ithrough all those veils still isn't easy. Fortunately, Jacob's data coin's information proves handy as despite the fact that the coin itself is a bait, and later destroyed, Mia is still able to make use of it- its source code, to be precise- to log on to and communicate with the other data coins in Alphatech; and by extension, use the company's servers and satellites to foster
Thing is, Mia has been able to find out beforehand that Joseph mounted motion sensors in the water. If they get too close to his base, they will run into the sensors perimeter and trigger them. With a little bit of Tekna magic though, Mia has equipped the ship with a software that can easily detect the sensors and thus, avoid them, which it just does. “Ladies first.” Andrew makes an exaggerated gentlemanly posture with a wide grin on his face as he points Mia below deck. “Enough with the drama already, Cameron,” she returns, deliberately brushing against him when she moves. Surprisingly, Mia realises that she sort of enjoyed the contact. In fact, for the past few days, she has been "sort of" enjoying various contacts with Andrew; and has been fostering cases for them too to be honest. Not healthy, Mia, she warns herself. Andrew should be the last person she wants to "enjoy." He's still the same guy that caused you trouble in high
A few days before Mia's arrival, Joseph is in his office doing his regular overseeing work when his office phone suddenly rings. A frown crosses his face as he takes a glance at the caller ID and sees no name or number on display, which isn't supposed to be possible.Thing is, all of Joseph's phones are tagged with a caller identification app that can hack into any signal- even military- and get him an identity, but the fact that it seems not to be able to work for this particular incoming call can only mean one thing: trouble.“Who's this?" he says cautiously into the phone.“Jacob Londermann,” comes the reply from the other side, “and I’m calling to help you, old friend.”“You!” Joseph grits his teeth so hard it's a miracle he doesn't lose one or two teeth. His heart gets torn between the feeling of anger at Jacob and excitement to hear his voice again after sixteen long years.However, a second lat
Jacob looks down at the endless ocean as the chopper flies past and marvels. No wonder Joseph decided to establish himself here, he thinks to himself, smiling. Truth be told, Jacob isn't that big a fan of waters, but this one feels different. Looking out, he can see that Joseph's choice of the Atlantic ocean is more than just for security. The sight of it actually fills one with an aura of power. Anyone will give anything to remain in the presence of that aura. But ocean thoughts aside, Jacob concentrates himself back on the simple reason why he's made the trip all the way to Joseph: he has Mia and he needs to get her back. Actually, it’s a plan that he has envisioned for a while. In fact, it’s the particular reason why he warned Joseph of Mia’s coming to begin with. Get Joseph to stop Mia and then take her away from him. He smiles to himself. Brilliant, just brilliant. “We’re approaching the building, sir,” the pilot’s voic