Dear All,
Thanks to my faithful readers and special thanks to my reviewers! This chapter is dedicated to you guys who have kept me motivated to write. Currently on a roll – my muse appears to have woken up from the midst of hibernation. Hopefully he won't slip into oblivion again all too soon!
kensingtonkid : Be prepared for more shocks ahead! *Evil chuckles* I know this is extremely OCC. Thanks so much for reading and I do you'll like the rest of what I have in mind ;)
chris37: Is this fast enough ;)? Thanks so much for always being so encouraging ne! Sorry, I can't be really exact with regards to when Tsukushi appears coz I'm letting the story "write itself". If you think Rui's watch is hi-tech, you should see Shizuka's gadgets ;) I didn't elabourate but hers are meant to be far more advanced than Rui's coz he's in a pretty inert role.
ToinKs: Wow, thanks for commenting on both chapters at once! Really like your imagination – that's what I kinda picture Rui as well. Who knows what is going on in his head behind his expressionless face and certain weird behaviour? I am so enjoying trying to provide an explanation for his weird behaviour ;)
Lian: Hi! It's indeed been a while! Good to see you around and read you latest update as well. Hit the nail on the head you did i.e. about Rui being the outstanding pupil … … Thanks for dropping by :)
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Chapter 8 – New Talents Uncovered
I slipped like a small shadow into the hut, entered the cellar through the trapdoor and fastened it behind me. Within minutes, I was standing in front of the metal wall, keying in my own code number. The door slid open as soon as I placed my palm on the touch pad and looked up for the retina scan. I stepped into the doorway just as the computer announced my presence.
"Are you ill, Prof?" These words slipped out of my mouth as soon as my (figuratively) old mentor stepped out of his room to greet me. His light blue eyes were bloodshot and watery, and there was an unhealthy grayish tinge to his skin that I had never seen before. His clothes were rumpled as if he had slept in them for a couple of days, and his usually neat hair was in disarray. My eyes widened in alarm - he looked as if he was on the brink of a breakdown.
"I'm fine, kiddo," he growled. I frowned at his term of "endearment" but decided to let him get away with it this time round, as his unusually hoarse voice did nothing to reassure me about his state of health.
"I'm calling J to get you to a doctor." I turned and headed for the phone on the wall. The next moment, he was standing in my path, blocking my way.
"Look, I'm fine – it's not my health. Never knew you were such a caring boy," he said in a sarcastic tone. I decided not to rise to his bait as it was obvious that he was trying to anger me in hopes of distracting me from my purpose. However if I took his word that his health was not in danger, then the assignment allocated to him must be extraordinarily critical and stressful to render him into such a pathetic state.
"The assignment?" I asked looking straight at him. A crooked smile appeared on his lips, letting me know that I had caught on.
"What would I do without my little Stein?" He continued in his rather sarcastic manner. However, I caught a trace of emotions in his eyes that resembled worry, guilt and self-recrimination? Then with a rather abrupt change in manner, he told me to go into the library. I sat in the table across from him and watched him with narrowed eyes as he paced around for a few moments, running his fingers through his messy hair. Finally, he appeared to come to a decision as he sighed heavily and slumped into the leather chair.
"Look Stein, this assignment is extremely dangerous – or at least the sections I have managed to translate is flashing warning signs at us. It's top secret and anyone connected to the case stands a high chance of getting killed – especially us. I really don't want to involve you. I have tried to do everything myself but it's taking too long. The headquarters have insisted on my getting the best possible help i.e. your help. " He said quietly with an extremely serious look in his eyes that I had only seen on one previous occasion. That coupled with the use of my code name unaccompanied by jests, let's just put it that this situation had to be REALLY bad.
"However," he continued, "we will all understand if you choose to walk away. This will not reflect negatively at all on you. In fact, as your friend and teacher, I would advise you to walk away … … Yet, for the sake of humanity, I am forced to put this request through to you … … The choice is yours … …" He bent his head slightly as he massaged the bridge of his nose with the thumb and forefinger of his right hand. I recognized the sign of him being under extreme stress.
"I'll help … …" the words slipped out of my mouth before I was even conscious of my decision. What else could I do? Other than being under the normal delusions that each ten-year old boy has about his own invincibility, this was something I could do to repay the teachings of this man who had constantly put the welfare of mankind before himself.
He lifted his head and stared at me, a myriad of emotions crossing his face. Was that disbelief, gratitude, pride, worry, sorrow, shame and guilt that I saw?
"Thank you … …" he said softly.
"Please did you really expect me to refuse such a challenge?" I rolled my eyes at him in an exaggerated manner. "I could probably solve everything in half an hour!"
"Yes, I would like to see that." I was glad to see the return of his mildly sarcastic self. "By the way, the plan is this. Mrs Toudou will approach your father tomorrow about her friend giving her two tickets to a one week special training session conducted by this world famous musician … …." My eyes opened wide when he mentioned the name. "She will offer to let you tag along with herself and Shizuka. You three are meant to set off for "Venice" day after. Your father and mother will be rushing off to America on the same day, so they would be too busy to pay too much attention and would give their consent readily enough."
I was pretty impressed by his knowledge about my father's comings and goings. These guys were good. Everything went smoothly as planned without a hitch. After trying for hours to decode a paragraph allocated to me, I snuck home before daybreak, and pretended to be surprised when I was woken up by my father. After being informed of Mrs Toudou's plan, I was sent luggage, violin and all to the front gate where Mrs Toudou was waiting patiently in her car. Within an hour, I was back hard at work in my "schoolroom" with all my belongings.
It was almost dusk before I finally completed my task. I quickly skimmed through the passage to ensure that I had made no mistakes before sending it to Prof. I stood and did a few stretching exercises. Then I decided to take a breather and popped over to the other room. To my surprise, Prof was not working alone
"Ace?" I asked tentatively, recognizing the head of white hair and thin body that belonged to one of the top hackers in our organization. The computer whiz lifted his head and a pair of shrewd red eyes gave me a quick once over, as he finally gave me a slight nod of acknowledgement. I thought that was all I was going to get from the taciturn Albino when he suddenly commented, "you've grown boy."
That was hardly surprising. Ace first met me when I just started my training with Prof and was only seven. It's been a little more than three years and as they always say, little boys shoot up like young trees. He was upgrading the security on our computer systems then. I had found his presence and silence rather intimidating then.
"Good work, kiddo," Prof said, his eyes never leaving the screen. I nodded quietly knowing that he must be adding my paragraph to his masterpiece, and glanced over at their computers. Suddenly, a red light started flashing on Ace's screen and a warning sign came up. He stiffened and then spewed out a few choice profanities that made me cringe as his slender fingers started flying all over the keyboard.
"What's wrong?" From Prof's concerned tone, I figured Ace must rarely lose his cool in this manner.
"I touched one of their traps. They are now aware of our presence. Their entire team is going to jump right on our heads, I have to scram."
Prof sighed in frustration, "we were so close to getting the whole document too … …"
"Sorry pal, I can't handle all this myself. I need backup and that'll take time."
"What do you need?" I surprised them by speaking up.
Not pausing in his work, Ace mumbled, "someone to reinforce the protection on our system and send viruses to destroy any of their attempts to trace us, whilst I double back and distract them." I almost snorted in disbelief - that was all? Hell, I had been writing computer programs since the age of five – largely games I had to admit, but this was fully within the limits of my capabilities.
"Why didn't you say so earlier partner?" I said as I sat down at the next computer and linked my system with Ace's. I could tell that I had given him the biggest shock of his life from the way his fingers froze in midair for a moment as I started to create another firewall around our system. "Where did you store the viruses? I don't think I have time to create any."
"V drive under the folder 'Viruses'. Then the subfolder 'Trial Elimination'." I barely refrained from rolling my eyes. I should have known the answer before asking – Ace was not known to have one of the most systematic and organized minds amongst us all for nothing. His fingers had resumed their swift, almost graceful movements by now. He almost was playing the keyboard in the same way I played my violin.
In spite of the urgency of our tasks, I could not help but be fascinated by his skill. He was rapidly backtracking, eliminating evidence of his previous hacking attempts, and beginning to hit a few new but totally different targets simultaneously to confuse the enemy with regards to our real aim, making it harder for them to predict our next move. I never had any cause to doubt the "quality" of top agents in our organization, but even so, I must say that he definitely exceeded my expectations.
"Trial sensed from North," Ace barked out, watching out for me even as he went along his business.
"Aye aye sir," I was already sending one of the viruses off, beaming as I looked at the trail of destruction i.e. effects of my handiwork. Prof was already on the phone requesting for backup – I was really flattered at his apparent "faith" in my computer abilities.
"Wow," I could not help but be impressed by the destruction capability of the viruses and the way they rapidly followed the trail all the way back to the base, wrecking further havoc on the enemy's system. I kept it up for another five minutes, releasing another twenty or so viruses as I repaired the layers of firewalls that were breached. Then, the reinforcements arrived (or rather logged on to be strictly accurate). I was content to sit back and let the experts take over – it was starting to get draining because I was not trained for this stuff after all. I found myself staring mesmerized at Ace's screen as he finally managed to throw off the "scent" and a beeping sound confirmed the download of the entire coded document. Immediately, he signaled to the rest of his backups and erased his log, waiting for them all to sign off before he finally broke the connection.
Letting out a sigh, he leaned back against his chair as his long thin body finally relaxed. Then the red eyes swiveled to my face as he gave me an accessing glance, "you did good, boy." I glared at him in irritation – what was the problem with my over-aged colleagues and their obsession with the "kiddo"s and "boy"s? They would be employing a babysitter for me next. However, his next words made me sit up and take notice, "wanna join me? Think you have talent - I'll train ya." That was the longest sentence I have ever heard him put together. As his meaning hit me, I blinked and my eyes automatically slid over to see Prof's reaction.