Chapter 1: A farewell to innocence.
Section 1: Genius.
"It may sound cruel, but there is nothing left for me to worry about, I am myself and I am not afraid to do what I think is right. Even if it means that thousands must suffer."
- Mac "Viper" Smith
-X-
Current time, Greater Toronto Area, Residential house, Siko Weston.
"Beep, beep!"
Awakened by the alarm clock, the figure hiding under the blanket began to move around. A hand then reached out of the coziness and grabbed the annoying thing.
Siko slowly climbed out of his bed, but he quickly widened his eyes just as the clock's pointer turns to 8:27.
"Shit!"
It's amazing how fast a human can perform when they are almost late. Siko took absolutely no time to get up and finish his quick breakfast, which was just a few pieces of cold bacon from last night's party.
After dressing up in his favourite suit, Siko says a final goodbye to his little comfy house, then rushed straight towards his car outside.
"...It is a good day folks! The traffics are fine throughout Highway 404, but be careful when you enter 401, there has been a car crash about ten minutes ago which may get you stuck for a while," The broadcaster said relaxingly, but Siko can't really feel relaxed right now. "Other than that, everything here in Toronto is looking fine!"
He's going to be late in a few minutes, and there is no way he can make it there on time.
Especially when he must get to the corporation through the darn 401.
20 minutes later, Downtown Toronto, OctoTech building, Siko.
Siko walks out of the elevator that has just reached the 55th floor, the second highest floor in this building.
"Welcome back to the research center, director!" As Siko makes his way to his office, the front desk lady greets him enthusiastically. Thank god Lisa is not around…
Just as he rushes to his door, a beautiful lady appeared right in front of him. "You are late again Siko, what is it this time? Traffic? Broken alarm? Or some other stupid excuse?" Lisa said calmly, but it only makes him feel worse.
"You know how much extra work I have cleaned up for you? I have to be here even earlier each day because I know you will be late." She continued.
"I…" Siko tried to explain, but Lisa quickly cuts him off, "You don't need to say anything, Mr. Director," She said sarcastically. "You are in charge of here after all, plus if you are someone else then I would be screamed at right now."
Siko signed, "Don't worry Lisa, you know how drunk I was last night from the party. Anyways, we still got some work to do, so let's get to it." He said quietly as he gets on his chair in his room just as Lisa moves out of the way.
"I'll be outside if you need me, just as usual," Lisa said to him as she leaves the room.
"By the way, I accidentally ordered an extra seat at Refton Restaurant tonight, interested to come along?" she whispered at an acceptable volume as she looks back at him upon reaching the door.
Siko doesn't know why, but he feels like she didn't do it accidentally. But he can't deny this request, he owes her a lot.
"Alright, send the time and seat number to me later on my personal phone." Siko replied, then turning his attention towards his computer screen as it loads up.
The beautiful secretary continues to leave his room, she feels like she's going to scream. She quickly walked away in a hurry after she closes the door. Siko watches her from behind as she tries to hide her smile, but he sees it anyway.
"Uhhh…" Siko groaned quietly, he knows his secretary's feeling towards him. Who doesn't like a successful young man, especially when he's full of potentials?
Siko turned off his monitor screen and looked towards the skyscrapers outside. On the highest one of them all, the one with the big orange label - "Weston Corp", a blue light shines out of the window of the top floor.
He picks up the binoculars on top of his table and pointed it towards the light. Even the reflection of the sun can't blow his vision through the glasses.
There he sees a cartoonish banner saying - "Good job! You are late again Siko!", and a woman with the same binoculars standing next to it laughing at him. He then took off his binocular and put it back down, and gave the blue light a middle finger. That was his sister, Selina Weston.
Then he returned to stare at the other skyscrapers, and soon his vision blurry as he fades into his memories.
He feels like he doesn't belong to this world, everything around him is so close yet so hard to reach. It's hard not because he can't do it, but because it is so easy to achieve something that... He doesn't even want to do it.
Turning his head at the photos framed on the wall, the one on the left is his family picture - His father Ben and mother Kala sits on the chairs as three children sit on their laps. The only girl in the picture must be his asshole older sister Selina, then the middle boy that is staring at the ground is him, and the younger one is his brother Scott.
Then there's the picture next to him, showing a younger him smiling while standing next to red hair girl wearing a Boston University hoodie.
Damn! He's pretty surprised, how long has it been? 3 years? 4 years? He recalls that day on the Boston Campus, that was when he published his first robot invention during freshman year, "heh." Siko smiled, he remembered how he met her under the tree while she was trying to figure out that Physics question.
After he gave her some tips and helped her with some other hardcore works, she decided to give him a free guide to the school. Realizing that he has nothing else to do, Siko obviously tagged along.
However, soon they both got lost together in the school next to the store area, where he learned that… Eliza? Or something like that... Has only been here for a week as a transfer student. They had a pretty crazy day around the store together (it was pretty much him screwing around with vending machines and stuff).
In the end, he was only called back to the bus that goes straight back to Stanford after the dinner hour. That's the selfie he took with Eliza under the straight light when he was ready to leave. He remembers how the shy girl asked him for his phone number in a hurry, only for him to realize later that he gave the wrong digits.
The girl in the picture has the brightest eyes, he remembers this part specifically, her eyes seem to tell a story on their own. Even looking at it now, he can see that she's going to places, she gives people the impression of a superhero like she was destined to help others.
Which is pretty much a fact, when they talk about stuff related to engineering or any area related to her in general. Eliza would speak with extreme confidence, and when they move on to terrorism for random reasons, she specifically said to him, and he still can't forget on this day:
"Trust me, one day I will make sure that none of them will remain standing, and I will end the last one myself."
It sounded awfully brutal for an engineering girl, but these words from her make him feel like it will become reality one day.
Years have passed, he finished Stanford's Ph.D. in engineering and published his world famous 'Exoskeleton mod 1', then he ended up in here. Hired by his best friend in University, they made the company so big that even he denied the position higher than the current one, the reason is too much work.
There's another reason why he chose to join his friend, which is a secret only between these two. It was to screw with his sister Selina. However, just as Jack, his best friend would always say, Siko has helped her a lot more than the number of times he has messed with her.
"Beep, beep!"
His digital watch started making annoying notices, signaling the time for a break. "Crap!" Siko said to himself, realizing that he has been lost in his memories for too long.
He quickly turned on his computer and started typing…
About 8 hours later, Downtown Toronto, Refton Restaurant, Siko Weston.
"Hey, Siko! This way!" Just as Siko makes his way into the restaurant, a familiar voice calls him to make his way towards the private section of the dining hall.
Lisa is there standing, she's wearing a rose-coloured dress and instead of her usual ponytail, her blonde hair is now spreading freely down her head, shiny under the white light of the hall.
She quickly walked over and grabbed a hold of him by his arm, then lead him to their private dining room.
Lisa walked over to her chair on the other side of this huge long table, and Siko walked towards his.
"Hey uh, How are you doing Lisa?" Siko nervously sits down, he doesn't know why he accepted the request this morning, maybe because of the nervousness in her eyes when she asked the question.
"That's all you are going to say?" Lisa replied with a smile, she looks absolutely stunning right now, especially her fine golden hair.
"Well, yeah I mean… You look really good right now." Siko said quietly.
"Haha! Thanks! Took me a while to get prepared." Lisa replied, her smile just keeps getting more stunning.
"Well, so…" Siko was about to continue this awkward conversation, but the sound of an explosion from the lobby has stopped him mid-sentence.
"Boom!", "Everyone get on the floor! Right now! Do not move!", "...", "Bang! Bang!", "..."
