"I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter." - Winston Churchill


The lab was eerily silent, save for Doctor Kuseno and me rushing to a new computer every so often. It was a disaster. Every computer and computer connected device was hacked. No access whatsoever or simply not working at all. Nothing we could possibly do on our end would reverse this unless Haf had found a solution, and a solution or notification had not come yet. It could take from seconds to hours, and I was leaning towards the hours part of it.

I contemplated getting my laptop in my bag. I could connect easily, however there was no software on it that could trace or counter our attackers. Maybe I could pop in a few codes, but in the end it wouldn't do much but get my laptop infected too, which was one of the last things we needed. "How did they hack us so easily?" I muttered to myself, hair sticking in every other direction from how much I was ruffling it up. It didn't make much sense. We had some of the best protective software in the world since it was programmed by the old man. That meant someone as or more intelligent than the doctor was our hacker, or… "Must've been those goddamn chain mails…" The ones about bad luck, and the evil dolls who come to kill you in your sleep if you didn't send it to fifteen of your contacts. The funny thing about getting chain mails was that I never had enough contacts to send it to, so I was never, "safe." And now it was probably the thing to come back and bite me in the ass. I huffed. Yeah, it was definitely the chain mails.

I was very close to biting my nails. Not only did the equipment require the computers to work, but we had very important files saved, and it most certainly wouldn't be good if we lost those. Those files contained information about Genos's external and internal structure as a cyborg, as well as documents on various arms, and secrets concerning almost everything in the lab.

Staring at the monitor screen with those very two annoying words on the banner, I thought. Maybe I could code in a override sequence. It wouldn't get our files safe, but it would ensure the hackers couldn't access this computer after what they did. I slumped in my seat, hiding my head in my arms. But there was no access point to code a sequence because I couldn't log on. This was extremely frustrating. No matter what I thought up of, or what solutions there might have been, there was always the one problem of not being able to enter from the first screen. If I had a pillow to scream into, I was sure I'd have the problem solved within the hour.

I felt a tap on my shoulder, and looked over to see Genos. "I might be able to help," he stated. I raised a brow. In what way? "I can enter the system with my neurological processor chip and trace our attackers. Then, I can counter them."

My eyes widened, realizing what kind of move he was proposing, then narrowed hard. "Do you know how stupid that is?!" I hissed, fully turning towards him. "Your brain might be human, but your core system isn't! They could access your full system without you knowing! We don't need computer and biohackers on our hands!" I put a finger to his chest, pointing it at him in defiance. He glowered, affronted. I released a rigid breath, dropping my hand. "Remember when I said to depend on me and the doctor for whatever you need, just like five minutes ago?" He nodded with a, "yes." "Well this is one of those things you need to depend on us for. You might be out there fighting monsters, but the lab is our turf, and hell if we're about to keel over just cause some bastard decided to attack. This is our battle."

Despite being upset at my initial reaction, he seemed satisfied with my final answer. "Alright," he said, lips quirking upwards slightly, almost unnoticeable. He was pleased with me. I smiled crookedly in return. "I'll leave you to your fight. What am I meant to do in the meantime?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, we can't really have you doing any monster hunting with you unrepaired. Anything, really, I suppose. I wouldn't recommend going out, though."

"Maybe I can call Sensei to help?" He wondered aloud, a hand holding his chin contemplatively. Was he serious?

My face was blank, a dark cloud rolling over my head. "As commendable as his strength is," I said carefully, "I don't think Saitama can help us in our situation." I wasn't in the mood for random key mashing, or having the computers punched out. Of course breaking the computers meant we could get new ones, but it also meant important files were lost either way. I wasn't up for losing those files. In a battle of pure brawn, yeah, Saitama would be great. In a battle of brains…

"You're right," Genos sighed. "Sensei has shown disinterest in weak opponents. He would be bothered if I called him to help us with this hacker. They would not put up a fight suitable for someone as great as he is."

I stared at him intently, trying to decipher what he meant. Did he really want Saitama to physically punch our attacker…? I coughed. Of course that was what Genos wanted. "I have Haf working on something right now, they're trying to find our person via the internet. I won't get results in a few, but I'll tell you when they come in."

"Right," he said, before walking off to talk to the doctor. I was surprised he didn't put up more of a protest at the use of Haf. Then again, in our state, there wasn't much we could do unless it was with Haf. Then there was the flat out refusal of using Genos. We weren't about to risk someone irreplaceable.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something on the ceiling shift. There was a small flare of reflecting light too. Slowly, I turned my head. I scowled. It was one of the security cameras. Which meant our hacker had full access to all of our facility, it wasn't simply limited to the lab. I ruffled my hair near my ear, muttering a few obscenities under my breath. "...can't take this bull anymore… looking weak… helpless… acting like an evil half…" Underhanded, necessary, and extremely important.

Suddenly, there was a new development on screen. Instead of the large banner, it was a bunch of gray text on a black background. Not simply text though, it was binary code.

"01010011011101010110001101100011011001010111001101110011011001100111010101101100011011000111100100100000011000100111001001100101011000010110001101101000011001010110010000100000011101000110100001100101001000000110001101101000011000010110110001101100011001010110111001100111011001010111001001011100001001110111001100100000011011100110010101110100011101110110111101110010011010110000101001001100011011110110111101101011011010010110111001100111001000000110011001101111011100100111011101100001011100100110010000100000011101000110111100100000011001010110111001110100011001010111001001101001011011100110011100100000011101000110100001100101001000000100000101001001001000000110111001100101011110000111010000001010010101000110100001100101011011100010000001110100011010000110010100100000011100000110100001111001011100110110100101100011011000010110110000100000011000110110100001100001011011000110110001100101011011100110011101100101011100100000101001001110011001010111011100100000011100000111001001101111011010100110010101100011011101000010000001101001011011100110100101110100011010010110000101110100011010010110111001100111,"

My eyes scanned over each individual number. I didn't know what it meant, but I figured it was no good. I called Genos and Doctor Kuseno over to look at it, to see if they could decrypt this mess. Once they reached the computer however, the code disappeared. They were able to see it as a brief glimpse only. "I can look into my data banks," Genos's iris shifted, no doubt analyzing the code from memory and translating it. Then it stopped, his irises returning to normal. He glared at seemingly nothing, his fists tightening, if the sound of metal scratching was any note. "My sensors are too damaged to analyze the code properly…"

Doctor Kuseno patted Genos's back comfortingly. "There's no need to get worked up over it. I'm sure we'll come up with a viable answer sooner or later." He walked back to a computer he was trying to crack down.

Genos took the chair beside me, putting his head in his knees, and released a long breath. I sympathized. There wasn't much to do but wait, and I was tired of waiting. I was much too impatient. I scoffed, tapping my foot against the ground. I thought about checking in on Haf's progress, absentmindedly brushing my hair behind my ear, when I felt a spark. I pulled back my hand immediately, swearing and shaking it off.

"Are you okay?" Genos asked, noticing how I was thrashing my arm around violently. I placed some pressure on the tip of the finger that got shocked, grouchily.

"Peachy," I muttered. Something was different. Nothing about my earpiece was supposed to malfunction, especially not like that. Haf was the only one who could do anything with it. I tapped it a few times, like it would help somehow. "Haf?" I asked uncertainly. Static blasted abruptly in my ear, making me wince horribly, and on instinct, I tossed my earpiece away from myself, holding my hands over my mouth.

Genos became concerned, jumping up from his chair and put a hand on my shoulder. "What happened?"

I shook my head fearfully, shrugging his hand off to stare at the sparking earpiece on the floor. "Th-that's not supposed to happen," I stuttered. "Haf's not responding and just when I asked them, static went off like a bomb in my ear," I took out my phone, seeing if I could get Haf on there. I tapped the main screen multiple times, waiting for them, until Haf's voice came on sounding broken and filled with white noise.

"... bReacH-ed… weAk… tasK… ComPle-Te…"

And from there, there were no other messages. Complete eerie, uneasy silence.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Whispered Genos, amongst the dreary atmosphere.

Meanwhile, I was hoping for something more from Haf. "Haf?" I murmured softly, realizing what this might have meant. My voice became hard and demanding; a creator to her creation. "Don't do this to me, bud, we still have a long way to go, right? You're not done yet, do you hear me?" I started shouting. "You're not done yet! I won't let you be done! Override your protocol statement, code 324492!"

He placed his hand on my shoulder in a comforting manner. "Jade," he sounded like he gave up. I knew he hated Haf and all, but Genos knew how resilient Haf was, and there was no reason to give up, not on my A.I.

I whipped my head around to meet his, angrily. "No, I know what you're implying, but it's not true! Haf is not-!" I wasn't going to say it. If I said it, it would mean it was a possibility, and it was not a possibility.

Aware of my distress, Doctor Kuseno marched over to see Genos's poor attempts at consoling me, with me having wetness appear in my eyes. "What happens to be the problem?"

I swallowed loudly, prepared to tell him, when Genos cut in. "It seems the hacker has terminated Haf."

"No they haven't!" I yelled in denial. "Haf is not dead!" I gestured to my phone desperately. "I can prove it, see! Haf, respond!" Nothing. "Haf!? Haf!" The both of them looked at me with pity, pity I didn't want, pity I didn't want to see.

I screamed at the top of my lungs. "HAF!"


"My dad used to take me fishing all the time because he claimed I never got enough sun. He and mom always complained how I never left the garage, and they said how I never got enough exercise. Personally, I think I had more than enough physical activity. They just didn't know how it felt to lift a few hundred kilograms of tungsten carbide sheets and other metal alloys."

No reply.

The silence was unnerving, so I decided to fill it the only way I knew how: talking. It wasn't very helpful for myself that I decided to talk about my family, in fact it was painful, but the kid kept going in and out of consciousness for a few hours now, and I felt obligated to help him somehow, even if it was only me rambling to a brick wall. I didn't know if he remembered me introducing myself when he first woke up and fell unconscious, but I didn't really care. All I cared about was that I was keeping him company. I couldn't imagine what sense of loneliness he might have felt if he had woken up alone.

"So, anyway," I sighed, trying to think of anything else I could rant about. "I haven't told you about how I got into engineering, have I? Well, I guess it just sort of started, you know? I was really young when I was found to have a love for building and solving problems, and it just evolved from there, really. I loved it so much I wanted to learn more, and you know dad used to make the dumbest jokes about me having a big brain, even if it was true, so I skipped a few grades because of my big brain. Let's see it was," I counted on my fingers to keep track of how many grades I actually skipped, "kindergarten, grade one, grade four, grade ten, and then I went to various universities and colleges from there." I chuckled humorlessly. "I never knew how my parents could afford sending me to the schools. We pinched pennies almost all the time, and I remember mom always scolding me because I was tempted to buy something that wasn't on sale, and I'd reply, 'but mom, these metals are rare, of course they aren't on sale!' And she'd say, 'honey, that's nice, but it's expensive. Now put it away, and I won't have to drag you to the car when you're crying and screaming.' But they'd always support my passion, no matter what. And the next thing I knew, the metal I wanted came to me on the next holiday, or sometime in the next two months." There was much too much talk about family, I couldn't bear it. No matter what I was going to say, it was somehow going to redirect itself back to them. "They were too nice," I muttered, feeling tears well up.

As I took in a breath to begin speaking once more, he started coughing violently, and his heart rate picked up on the monitor. He was conscious, hopefully for longer this time. I shot up almost instantly, and I would have stood up to run to the ventilation system if I weren't bound to my wheelchair. I pushed myself to the other side of his bed, looking at the screen. I deflated, realizing there wasn't much I could do to help him, he just needed to ride out his coughing fit. "W-what…?" He questioned incoherently, eyes opened to reveal a mint green, overshadowed by his state.

Gently removing his ventilation mask, I put on my best grin, rolling myself closer to his bed. "Hey," I said softly, "I'm so glad you're awake. I'm Jade Valles," I introduced myself, putting a hand to my chest. "I don't know if you really remember, but we met for a brief moment a few days ago, before you fell unconscious. I never got to ask, what's your name?" I never had an opportunity to ask Doctor Kuseno, either.

His eyes traced all over my face, then going to my lower body; my wheelchair. I tried not to grimace. He looked so confused, like a lost puppy, my heart almost broke. "Genos…" He stated weakly.

It was so hard to smile, but I did it anyway, closing my eyes to hopefully close him off from what I was emoting through them. "It's so nice to meet you, Genos." I pushed myself to the secluded area of the lab. "I should probably tell Doctor Kuseno that you're awake." I whispered.

"W-wait," he protested, eyes widening the slightest bit. "I remember you..." I turned myself around to face him. "You were the woman who was yelling about everyone being killed."

I lowered my head in shame. Yeah, that sounded like it was me. Had I possibly passed by Genos when I was trying to spread the message? ...I should have done a better job to warn them all. Thinking about it, I really failed them. I failed Genos. "Yeah," I bobbed my head, bangs shadowing my eyes.

"Ma'am, I would advise retrieving the doctor," Haf cut in from the speakers.

Genos jumped, hissing in pain from moving too much. "Take it easy," I murmured, rolling to his side to see if any wounds reopened. It was hard to see if any of them had, his whole body was like a giant scab.

"Who is that?" He asked through clenched teeth.

"It's not really a matter of who," I said, the corners of my mouth rising little by little, "it's more of a matter of what. That's Haf, my homemade artificial intelligence." Adding in a little louder, I spoke up to Haf, "actually, sorry for calling you a what, Haf, you're way more like a who!"

"My utmost thanks, ma'am." Haf replied monotonously.

I snorted, jabbing my thumb vaguely to the ceiling. "See, they're a riot."

Whatever expression was locked on his face disappeared, instead being replaced by blazing curiosity. "What else can… Haf do?" He tested their name in his lips.

I shrugged, not knowing how to answer to that. "A lot of things, I suppose. In fact," I mumbled. "Haf, give me a small description of my injuries." It wasn't only for showing off, I was curious about Haf's analysis of my leg.

"Injuries, 20 in total. Major injuries include: broken leg 2% healed, cut over pancreas to pelvic bone 6% healed. Minor injuries include: fractured bones in both legs, left arm, and chest, 3% healed. In total, your body is 31% healed." So, the six week span wasn't that far off. 69% to go. "Ma'am, I've taken the liberty of retrieving the doctor myself." They added.

I nodded approvingly. "If you have any questions about Haf, feel free to ask." I told him. It would be a small while until the Doctor Kuseno entered the room as he had been doing some last minute work, so I decided to talk more, only I couldn't think of what to talk about. Maybe speaking to a brick wall was easier than talking to him awake, because thinking of it now, I spilled a lot of subjects of which I yearned to vent about for a long time, and hadn't spoken to with anyone else. If he was awake, it felt as though there was a limit to what there was to say.

He looked at me expectantly when I realized I hadn't even heard him. I was too caught up in my own thoughts. "I'm sorry, what?"

"...Why is your artificial intelligence named Haf?"

I smiled, reminiscing about that stupid time when I first created Haf. "It's pretty dumb," I said scratching my cheek, "and I was pretty young when I named Haf, but their name is supposed to be a play on words. At first Haf was only a calculator program I made and coded, but I wanted to go further, and eventually made them into a fully fledged A.I, which was also when I finally named them. I decided that if I ever made an A.I, they would be better than me in what characteristics I lacked. Haf is more patient than I am, smarter, rational… Haf was made to be my better half." I heard a small scoff. "I told you, play on words!" The first time I found out what a pun was, and I found out I had named one of my greatest creations after a pun, my reaction was more than hysterical.

"I'm surprised at the origins of Haf's name," Genos's eyes trailed behind me, and I looked around to see the doctor with a witty grin.

I waved an arm. "Yeah, yeah, I was eight, don't blame me." I looked back towards the blond on the bed, and then back to Doctor Kuseno. "So doc, what's the verdict on our little resident here?" How much longer would he be human?

He moved to mine and Genos's side. "Well," he breathed, "it's taken me several days, but I've finally finished the preparations and am ready to begin the process. The question, however, are you, Genos?"

I saw his fist clench slowly, almost unsure of how much of a sensation he would feel from it. His resolve was steeled, I could feel it. "I'm ready," he said firmly. No matter how much I wanted to deter him from his decision, something was stopping me. It was him, himself. He was going to do this, he wanted to do this. It was crazy, it was madness! But no matter my thoughts, he had the same look in his eyes that I did; the one that was prepared to do anything it took to reach a goal.

I sighed. "So you finished the preparations for his body, but do you need me to set anything up in here?" I wasn't going to do nothing. I wanted to help, even if it was just a little.

The old man's eyes crinkled in concern, and he shook his head. "You're meant to be recovering, not working." I felt as though he was still crossed with me, or at least a little bit upset from the interaction we had once I had woken up. It had been a few days since then, and we each did our part to mend what little ties we had broken off, but it felt different, and I didn't know if I liked it.

"Well," I shrugged, "it's not like I'm going to take no for an answer, you might as well let me do something. Let me lift a few things, it won't hurt me anymore than I already am."

"That is exactly what I'm worried about," he muttered, yet he conceded all the same.

I was allowed to help organize the area while the good doctor prepped for the operation. Between moving boxes and tools, Genos seemed to lie and take in everything that was about to happen. He was about to be turned into a cyborg when he next woke up. As curious as I was, I didn't want to ask why he made such a sacrificial decision. His own body looked as though it would never recover from what horrors it went through, so for the sake of himself and survival it was a valid enough reason. Or… I frowned. Being a cyborg meant augmentations in almost every human quality he had, which could also mean being more deadly. Was he planning to turn himself into a weapon? For revenge? I couldn't judge him, otherwise I'd be a hypocrite. I wanted revenge too.

"Is Haf sentient?" My back straightened up in surprise, then I smiled. He really had the most interesting of questions about my Haf. I chuckled a bit. I was glad he was interested.

"I tried to make an artificial intelligence closest to that of a human, so what I want to say is yes, but honestly I don't know." I rolled myself around to face him, moving closer to his side as I was just about done with organizing. His question made me curious, however. "Hey, Haf, how do you feel about everyone in the facility?"

It took only a second of processing. "The doctor is extremely intelligent and generous, as exemplified by taking ma'am in. He is also grandfatherly as you have often said so under your breath. Doctor Kuseno is therefore set to high standards." I must have coded in something about Haf being able to draw their own conclusions somewhere in their program, I just had no recollection of when I did it.

"From our brief introduction, I believe Mister Genos is a serious and cautious individual. He is quite hesitant, as shown in asking about me. He has also demonstrated a strong sense of determination and courage. More about Mister Genos is yet to be seen." His demeanour seemed to puff up with pride, and I couldn't help but grin. He was definitely satisfied with Haf's analysis of him.

"As for you, ma'am, you are intelligent and well put together. You have demonstrated feats of extreme kindness, bravery, and awe. You are truly amazing, ma'am." Haf was just buttering me up, and I knew for a fact I never coded flattery into their program. ...They must have done it themself when I authorized them a time of self reparation once I had made them more advanced… The little turd…

"Haf, you're supposed to be my better half by correcting me, not praising me," I said, rubbing my temple. I would make sure to change their coding a bit later. It didn't mean I didn't appreciate a compliment, it just meant it seemed narcissistic if it was coming from my very own creation.

Genos scoffed again as the old man came strolling in with a large case, taller than he was. My eyes narrowed on it. It was large enough to contain a body. He must have covered up the endoskeleton to keep Genos from being too freaked out. A good call. "Jade, if you would kindly put Genos on the anesthetic gas."

"Of course," I nodded. I saw Genos tense slightly, and I rolled up to him, to hopefully offer reassurance. "Hey, there's no reason to be worried! Just trust in the good doctor, and you'll be fine." With what very little I had said, he took it well, and nodded with a hard resolve. As I moved to the ventilation system, I made sure to administer xenon gas. It was generally rare among the medical world because of how expensive it was, but thankfully Doctor Kuseno had the funds, and highly developed systems so the gas was recyclable. I was also thankful he taught me some things like I had hoped for during our time together, even if I did question medical knowledge at first (he had said it was supposed to be a precaution if I ever hurt myself with equipment, saying he wanted me to know what procedures he'd perform on me, the sly geezer). "See you when you're up," tenderly, I placed the mask on Genos's face, and his eyes slowly lidded. He was out.

I looked back to Doctor Kuseno and found him opening the case. "Do I want to be here for this?" I asked hesitantly. I felt reluctant to view or do anything about the operation.

The case fully opened, the full glory of the endoskeleton was there. It looked like an android, and I was honestly quite intimidated by it. "Frankly, I'm uncertain if you want to be in the same building right now," he seemed to joke. I wasn't able to decide if I wanted to take him seriously or not.

"That's comforting," I muttered distastefully. "What I mean is, do you need my help?"

He slumped a fraction. Was it really going to be that bad? ...Actually, I didn't want to know the answer to that question. "I don't believe it's necessary, no. However, I do want you to know what it takes to create a proper cyborg. You won't be participating in the operation, but I do want you to watch. You still want to learn from me, yes?" He waited for me to nod, and I did so. "Then you will be by my side during the process."

"Understood," I swallowed.

Generally, the entire operation was gruesome and disgusting, and I'm certain I forgot most of the remaining imagery in my head, but I did learn very valuable information, such as how the metal version of the glenohumeral joint and the elbow joint connected with a series of wire, nuts and bolts. Not to mention the rest of the body, but again, I was less than delighted by the images it resulted in. In the end, I was certain I had seen enough blood to last me a good while.

"I-I'll get this cleaned up," I stammered, maneuvering my chair around the crimson liquid resting on the floor, passing by the new cyborg. So that was Genos now. Thankfully, Doctor Kuseno had added in a face plate, so it hadn't looked as though I was staring at a metal face which was staring back at me. Instead, the synthetic skin was realistic and actually looked like that of a human. The only thing that was unnerving to me were his eyes. No longer were they mint green, instead the scleras were black, and the irises were gold. It made sense, but it hadn't made it any less creepy. The ocular sensors were too large to reach around the iris only, which was why it affected the entire eye instead of the one part. Having black scleras was still a bit strange, in my opinion. At the moment, his eyes were closed, so I had less to worry about.

Among my thoughts, I reached out for a bucket and a mop in the supply closet, making sure to fill it with warm water and soap. I briefly wondered how I was going to attempt mopping while in a wheelchair, but it must have been possible, so there was no harm in trying. It would be like land kayaking, I supposed with a small snicker.

Red lights spun around the ceiling abruptly, the alarms going off along with it. Fear struck me. Were we being attacked?! "Haf, what the hell's going on?!" I shouted, dropping the bucket which clattered to the floor noisily, the majority of the water having spilt over my cast. I moved as fast as I could to the lab, and stopped in shock.

"Potential threat found in lab. Level seven. Code 8463 commencing."

I was petrified, sitting there as still as stone. Genos seemed to be strangling himself with his new body, which shouldn't have been doing or undergoing anything major. His cries of pain resounding off of the lab's walls, as the doctor frantically tried to figure out how to disable Haf's security system. My hands came up to cover my mouth briefly, then realizing Doctor Kuseno didn't know the signals I had with Haf just yet, I knew had to do something. "Haf, stop your protocal! Code 072991!"

Slowly, Genos's arms lowered, and lay on the table beside himself, staring at me with a look of what I could only describe with the word betrayal. He had trusted me for a moment, and it felt like that trust just disappeared. And what curiosity and interest he had in Haf was broken.


"Genos, let go of me," I whimpered. "Just let go..."

He refused, keeping his hands square on my shoulders as I wiped at my eyes. After my initial breakdown, Genos led me to my desk where I wouldn't bother the doctor as he tried to further crack down our hacker on his own. Genos was right to bring me out here, I would have been a burden otherwise. "Not until you've calmed down," he replied sternly. It would be a long while, then.

I was a wreck. My hair was all over the place, much like the cyborg's, my face was stained with tears, my eyes were puffy, and my face was scarlet red. Haf was not dead. I would deny it until my very own death. Haf would never die. It didn't matter what the doctor or Genos thought, because my A.I would not die, not on me, and most certainly not like that.

"Just breathe," he ordered. I did so reluctantly, releasing shaky, miserable breaths. Once my breathing was once again even, his arms dropped from my shoulders and asked, "are you feeling better?"

I looked away from him. "No," I said bluntly. How could I be feeling any better? In fact, what would he know about what I was feeling? (A lot)

He patted my arm awkwardly. Obviously, he had no experience in helping someone who was grieving, especially not for someone who was close to him. Then again, we were never really emotional supports for each other in the first place. I mean, of course we talked to each other if we were bothered about something and needed to vent desperately, but it felt routine and not really there. During each repair session in which I was the lead, I'd get pissed at him for getting so damaged, then he'd glare at me, and then he'd talk about how he got the way he was. It made me more pissed, only it wasn't at him, it was against the people he fought. If I wasn't lead, then the doctor would explain to me while I sketched out something new, or worked on something old, and yet it still got my gears grinding.

I hated feeling useless, and knowing I might have done something to cause less damage to come to Genos made me realize how much I also hated always being on the sidelines, not being able to do anything until it was over. I hated uselessness, and I hated having to be out here instead of actively helping Doctor Kuseno.

We stayed there for a few moments in silence, leaning on my desk. Genos seemed to take more of an interest in looking at what sketches I made, however. He didn't say anything, only ruffling through the sheets, not asking any questions. "Hey," I asked suddenly. He looked up. "Can you get me my phone?" Genos looked at me suspiciously, probably thinking if that course of action would me me any worse. Grudgingly, he granted me request. It was an annoying question, I knew it all too well, but he really didn't know what I was trying to do.

"Underhanded, necessary, and important," I reminded myself with a small smirk. It was all I needed to know.

When Genos came back with my phone in tow, he handed it to me, and I thanked him gratefully, making sure there was still a tone of sorrow in there. "What do you plan to do with it?" He asked. Since Haf… wasn't functioning, it must have seemed like there wasn't anything I could do.

I looked near the corner of the ceiling, and soon enough, Genos's eyes follow to where mine were directed. The camera shifted towards us lazily. I frowned. "We should probably take this back to the lab," I said warily. Genos agreed.

Doctor Kuseno was immediately curious as to why we reentered the scene. I put my phone to my mouth. "Activate." Immediately, the banners that had said access denied on our monitors disappeared, and we were logged on. What files our hacker had viewed couldn't be unseen, but they hadn't stolen any files and hadn't corrupted any of them either. The camera swung my way agitatedly.

"What did you do?" Doctor Kuseno gasped. Genos's face was similar, if a little less shocked than the doctor.

"This is what I meant by Haf wasn't dead, isn't that right Haf?"

Like music to my ears, Haf's voice was on the speakers, responding clear as day, no static infused whatsoever. "You are correct, ma'am."

Noting both of their sentiments of confusion, and the camera still on me, I decided I might as well explain. "Let me make this clear for all of us here, Haf's so called 'death,' was a ploy. Haf was the key competitor here for our hackers, if Haf was taken out of the picture, then we had nothing to counter them with. We would be helpless. Once I noticed our hacker had visuals on us, I knew something had to be done, even if it was reckless, even if it cost me my very own creation. Haf's broken sounding message wasn't referring to us. It was referring to them." I pointed to the camera. "Haf breached their network when they let their guard down, completely undetected. Right now, they can't access any of their devices and can only view us. The spark in my earpiece? A message from Haf. Haf had the whole operation under control. I just had to play my part." I finished smugly. Who knew those high school drama classes would come in handy someday? "Haf, shut them down."

"Right away." The camera dropped for a moment, then picked back up. I grinned. We had our stuff back.

I slumped suddenly, as both the doctor and resident cyborg made way for me. "Jade, are you alright?" Doctor Kuseno asked.

My grin turned tired, as I waved him off. "Yeah, yeah, that just took more out of me than I thought it would. I'm exhausted." I sighed, hoping to expel some of my exhaustion. "...Doctor, they weren't actively trying to corrupt any of our files or network. They just wanted to see what we had. Haf managed to find some code in their network because apparently it's all encrypted, and the only text it said was, 'the org.' Does that mean anything?"

"I'm not sure," he said truthfully, rubbing his chin. "Well, let's be thankful not much harm was done. Genos, why don't you set yourself up for your repairs?"

"Right," he nodded, scurrying off to his repair room.

A layer of silence passed by both of us remaining in the roo,.

"Aren't you going to follow him?" I inquired, watching the old man return to one of the computers, his back to me.

"No," he replied. "I'm going to review all of our files, just to be certain. ...I made you the lead for this one, didn't I?" I could feel his teasing grin despite not seeing it.

"I need sleep!" I cried, marching off to Genos, anyway. And the doctor chuckled.

This one was quite the challenging one to write. Figures I make the first original arc the one that I found the most difficult. I hope you guys were interested in this, and if you weren't please give me some feedback as to why! Also, if you found Genos a bit OOC, please leave a review and help me out! I always want to improve myself!

Shout out to Mattricole who guessed Bofoi and the organization despite it only being the organization. Or maybe it was both and Bofoi just let them take the fall? Who knows? Both Bofoi and the organization are quite the mysteries, so I wanted to include them somehow, even if it was in this sort of chapter.

Also that bit in binary code translates to:

Successfully breached the challenger's network

Looking forward to entering the AI next

Then the physical challenger

New project initiating

Translating words into numbers is fun!

Extra:


Later in the evening, I was rolling around myself. It didn't make sense! What was it!? I was almost killing myself over my own wonderings. It seemed impossible! Hell, I had the very right might to call it impossible!

How did 100 sit ups, push ups, squats, and a 10km run equate to having one shot KO's!?

"What are you doing?" His voice was monotonous and no doubt irritated with me.

"It doesn't make sense!" I yelped. "How the hell does that make sense!?"

Genos shook his head, continuing to write down on that stupid sheet. "I decided not to question it and find data on my own."

I groaned, placing my hands over my eyes. "What are you even writing, anyway?" I asked, trying to get my mind off of it. I'd let my mind explode later.

"It's the registry form for the Heroes' Association."

I blanked. "Since when were you interested in that?"

"Sensei said that if I registered with him, he would officially make me his disciple."

A bribe then? Leaning in closer to take a look at his form, I thought venomously that I was tired of the sidelines. It just might have been my perfect chance.

I turned away abruptly to sneeze, and rubbed my nose. I really hoped I didn't have a cold coming on.


Well, well, well! What are you doing Jade?

Reviews are love and motivation!