"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" Caleb heard someone shout as he woke up the very next morning.
"Ugh, wha…?" Caleb said as he looked and saw a young boy around eleven years old with messy, black hair and raggedy clothing. "Oh, it's you. What do you want?"
"I was just going to tell you that Redmond and Danny are waiting for you outside." The boy said. "Should I tell them you're coming?"
"Is Isaac with them?" Caleb asked.
"Yeah." The boy said.
"Good." Caleb said. "Bring them in."
In a short time, the trio was brought into Caleb's lair and made their way towards him. The boy who led them in went up to Caleb.
"I brought them in." He said. "Just like you asked."
"Good boy." Caleb said handing him a pack of cigarettes. "This should do you."
"Caleb, you know I don't smoke." He said.
"Then buy yourself something useful." Caleb said. "Now leave us be while we talk."
"Yes, Caleb." The boy said as he ran off.
"So what can I do for you, my brothers?" Caleb asked.
"Don't 'brothers' us, you swine." Danny said. "We came here to discuss a change in things."
"A change in things?" Caleb asked. "I've never authorized a change."
"Not yet." Redmond said.
"You see, Prince Caleb, Red and I have been talking and we decided that your services to us have been…how do I put this? Less than adequate."
"What services?" Caleb said. "As my mercenaries, you're only meant to serve me."
"We want compensation!" Danny said. "Rewards for our indentured servitude towards you."
"And what makes you think I'll authorize that?" Caleb asked. "If you want goods so bad, take them. You want a bed at night, steal a mattress. You want a house to sleep in, kill a homeowner. You want a woman so badly, take one from the streets and make her yours."
"Why should we do that when you can do it for us?" Danny asked.
Caleb said nothing. He just walked over to his clothing and pulled out his knife vest. Quick as lightning, he put it on, drew out a knife and slashed Danny in the face. He then picked him up and threw him in the river. Redmond charged towards him, but Caleb pinned him down, jumped on top of him and slowly ran the blade of his knife down his cheek. He then grabbed him and threw him in the river alongside Danny. Isaac didn't bother to try and reason with him; he knew he was too powerful.
"So where were we?" Caleb asked.
"You know what, Prince Caleb?" Danny said. "You're right."
"Of course." Caleb said.
"I'd like to make another proposal, however." Danny said. "And it won't cost you anything."
"I'm listening." Caleb said.
"Tonight marks the release date of Zanbato Industries' newest technological innovation." Danny said. "They call it Scipio 2.0."
"So what do you want us to do?"
"Not us." Danny said. "Just you."
"Just me?" Caleb asked.
"You're going to sneak into the Zanbato Industries main building, hack into the servers and inevitably delay, or even destroy, the project."
"And why is this so important?" Caleb asked.
"We have reason to believe that the regime is using the project in an attempt to wipe South Paris off the face of the map." Redmond said. "You destroy the project; you become a hero to everyone."
"I'll do it." Caleb said. "But only to protect my people."
"Do you even know what you're doing?" Isaac asked. "Zanbato Industries is a regime-owned corporation that controls the digital infrastructure of the city. Breaking into it would be like trying to steal the Declaration of Independence in Fort Knox."
"Doesn't sound too bad then." Caleb said. "When do we attack?"
"Once the sun goes beyond the horizon, we'll go to the Tesla and make our way to the city center."
"Sounds like a plan." Caleb said.
Hours later, the four met up by The Wall and hopped in the Tesla. They drove through the back roads of the deeply wooded areas of North Paris until they reached the first signs of the city. Bright lights paved the road as pedestrians in formal attire casually walked along the sidewalks past larger than life buildings. Caleb just drove casually along the streets, hoping not to draw any attention.
"Artemis!" Isaac shouted. Caleb looked up and noticed a giant figure in the sky with a large spotlight. It was Artemis, the regime's personal aircraft used to patrol the streets.
"We'll hide in the mausoleum." Caleb said as they took a sharp left turn and crashed through a large metal gate and into a solid concrete building.
The building spanned for hundreds of yards across and on the top was an inscription:
MAUSOLEUM OF THE ETERNAL PATRIARCH WILLIAM DUNBAR III
"Glad we stopped here." Caleb said. "I gotta take a piss anyway."
He then ran inside the mausoleum until he came across a glass sarcophagus with the preserved body of the regime's first leader. He broke the sarcophagus open with his foot and proceeded to urinate on the corpse.
"Rest in hell, my liege." Caleb said laughing manically. He then went back into the car and drove until they reached the back end of the Zanbato Industries building. It was the same building with the eye-like symbol formed from the lights and the blue aurora in the sky.
"How much time do we have?" Caleb asked.
"Ten minutes." Danny said.
"Isaac, come with me." Caleb said. "You try and hack security while I sneak in to the mainframe."
"Yes, my Prince." Isaac said.
Isaac then placed a device on the keypad on the back door. The device searched through all possible codes until it picked the right one that opened the door.
"Alright, let's go." Caleb said as the two ran in.
Meanwhile at the top floor of the building, a board meeting was going on. The inventor of Scipio 2.0 was about to showcase his discovery to the inner circle and the other high ranking members.
"Without further delay, I'd like to turn this meeting over to our chairman, Mackie Jolivet." A woman said as the rest of the members applauded.
"Thank you." The man known as Mackie said. "Here with us today to showcase Zanbato Industries' newest discovery, we have the very man who brought upon its inception. The same man whose ancestor brought Zanbato Industries to its pinnacle of achievement with his own book 100 years ago."
Mackie turned to said man.
"Will Dunbar, ladies and gentleman." The rest of the members applauded as a young man in his early twenties gave a quick smile and raised his hand in greeting. He had a black tuxedo and had his back hair combed to the front.
"I thank you, Mackie." Will said. "I also have to thank for this my father: Our leader William Dunbar IV."
"How's he doing, by the way?" Mackie asked.
"He just finished radiation therapy and will be returning to the city in three days." Will said. "I also have to thank my uncle, my father's chief advisor and interim leader of North Paris: Hannibal Dunbar."
Will pointed to the man in question as the other members applauded. Hannibal, a well dressed man with a cane and white hair in a coif, just rolled his eyes.
"And lastly, I have to thank my baby brothers." Will said. "Theo and Jonah. Our lead strategist and brigade captain respectively."
A young man with black, curtained hair and sunglasses stood up followed by a teenager in a military uniform and a buzzcut walked over to his sides.
"I wouldn't be anything without my family." Will said. "They gave me the motivation I needed to revolutionize the modern world as we know it."
"I hope you fall down an elevator shaft, you prick." Hannibal said under his breath.
"Care to speak, Uncle?" Will said.
"No thanks." Hannibal said.
Back in the lower levels of the building, Caleb and Isaac were in close vicinity of their destination. Isaac shined a laser at a nearby security camera, temporarily disabling it. The two then ran up to the door at the end of the hallway and quickly made their way inside. They found themselves in a dimly lit room with a large, monolithic structure at the very end.
"Shhh." Caleb said as he slowly walked up to the structure, making sure not to trigger the pressure sensors, and removed one of the panels, revealing a series of wires and other hardware.
'This is bound to be booby trapped.' Caleb thought. He carefully browsed through the hardware until he saw one drive labeled 'Scipio'.
'Bingo.' Caleb thought as he carefully pulled out the drive and placed it in his pocket. He then pulled out another drive and placed it in the now vacant slot.
Caleb then placed the panel back on and slowly made his way out. Just then, he tripped and fell onto the ground, triggering the pressure sensors. The lights then went on as the alarm sounded.
"We gotta get out of here." Caleb said.
Back in the board room, Will was beginning to release his new technology when he saw a hand rise.
"Excuse me." A young woman said. It was the same woman who was at South Paris last night. "But what exactly is Scipio 2.0 meant to do?"
"Yes." Theo said. "I too would like to know about the specifics about this endeavor which you claim will revolutionize so much."
"Good question, my brother, and my fiancée." Will said turning to the woman after addressing his brother. "Scipio 2.0 is too powerful of an achievement to have any of its secrets leaked to those would be too ignorant to comprehend it. Once it goes into effect is when you can truly understand it."
He then pulled up his sleeve to reveal a type of wrist computer on his arm. He looked at the time and hooked it up so that his screen would display on the wall at the end of the room.
"Which is right…now." Will said hitting a button. To his surprise and to everyone else's surprise, the only thing that showed was a series of internet videos involving cats.
"What the…?" Will said as he began tapping furiously at his computer.
"What's going on?" Mackie said.
"Dunbar, is this some kind of joke?" One board member shouted.
"Why did I ever believe you could be even capable of any kind of 'revolutionary' feat?" Hannibal asked.
"Hannibal, shut up! I swear. I don't know how this happened." Will said still trying to address the problem.
"Well, fix it!" Mackie shouted. Just then, a hologram appeared on the table. "What now?"
"Sir, we've been compromised." The projection said. "Terabytes of data have been stolen from our mainframe."
"Do you have the thieves on pursuit?" Mackie asked.
"Yes sir. They're heading for the roof."
"Tell all your men to take the shortest route they can." Mackie said as he ran out of the room. "We're getting that data back."
Everyone else ran up to try to address the problem, except Will's fiancée who was rather amused by what had happened.
On the roof, Caleb and Isaac were already going over their next plan.
"What now, genius?" Isaac asked.
"Even if we die, the data dies with it." Caleb said. "Just follow my lead."
"Alright, freeze!" Mackie shouted as he and other security guards reached the roof and pointed guns at them.
Caleb and Isaac looked down.
"It doesn't have to end this way." Mackie said. "Come along slowly and give the data back."
"I don't think your boss seems to mind."
"You might want to rethink your statement." Mackie said laughing.
"No need to." Caleb said. "If it wasn't for my ancestor's book, William Dunbar Sr. wouldn't have stolen it to make Dunbar Publishers, Dunbar Publishers wouldn't have become Zanbato Publishers and Zanbato Publishers wouldn't have become Zanbato Industries."
"You're the descendent of Ulrich Stern." Mackie realized.
"Yep." Caleb said. "I knew about his fairy tales in the magical land of Lyoko. I wouldn't have guessed that this is what it would've led to."
Caleb then grabbed Isaac and leapt off the building. Caleb then pulled a cord opening a parachute.
"There's our ride." Isaac said pointing to the Tesla on the ground.
When they landed, the immediately hopped in and drove off at top speed.
"You survived?" Danny asked.
"You're surprised?" Caleb asked.
"No, but…" Just then, they heard the sounds of police sirens approaching and saw army vehicles riding alongside the Tesla.
"Fire at will." One of the officers shouted as army soldiers pulled out their rifles and began shooting the car.
"Hold on!" Caleb said as he made a sharp turn down a dirt road and made his way through the outskirts. At the same time, Will and his family were watching the pursuit on his wrist computer.
"What now?" Theo said. "I can't just send the entire army over missing data."
"I'll handle it." Will said punching in a few codes on his computer. "I'm calling in the Grand Army."
While the Tesla was driving through the outskirts with the police still on their tales, a bright spotlight shone overhead just as they were right next to The Wall.
"The Artemis!" Redmond shouted.
"Now we have the Grand Army to deal with." Isaac said.
Immediately, a series of ropes dropped down and dozens of armored soldiers dropped down and surrounded the vehicle; they pointed large, highly advanced guns at them.
"It's all over, you four." One of the officers said. "Place your hands in the air and come along slowly with the data in hand."
"What do we do now?" Isaac asked.
"I still have a trick under my sleeve." Caleb said. He pulled out a remote from the glove compartment and pressed one of the buttons. A trap door then opened up below the car as the car fell into the pit. The car then drove through a handmade tunnel right underneath The Wall and made its way to South Paris.
"Stand down." The officer said. "We can't risk an invasion. Not yet."
Back at Zanbato Industries, Will and the rest were dismayed over their loss.
"He got away." His fiancée said.
"Maybe, but at least we know who he is." Will said showing a picture on his screen of Caleb taken from the Artemis.
"What do we tell the public?" Jonah asked.
"Tell them that we're having technical difficulties that will be fixed shortly." Will said. "We will get that data back."
"How do you propose to do that?" His fiancée asked.
"That's where you come in." Will said as he turned to her and smiled.
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