14. The Weather Station
Alex Meyer and Vivie probably thought that Alex had gone loony, but of course, Alex knew exactly what he was doing. He couldn't suppress a grin as he booted the device up and inserted in the new cartridge that Smithers back in England had asked him to try out when he got the chance. Knowing Smithers, this would work- it wasn't the same Nintendo from when he was fourteen, it was better and had even better functions. It was almost enough to make him consider becoming a full-time spy- almost.
"It's a gadget that will let us see into the room," Alex explained. He liked how the gadget was smaller than the gadget was smaller than the previous model- he could carry it around.
"Sheesh, man, what would we do without you?" Alex Meyer whistled.
"Tell that to the world- maybe they'll appreciate me then." Alex rolled his eyes and studied the screen. "He's in the back of the house. We can go in."
"Viv, this is where we do the paper clip trick."
"This house looks really old..." Vivie remarked. "It's so easy to break into them that it's not even funny."
"Yeah, I know," Alex Meyer agreed. He fished out a paper clip and handed it to Vivie. Alex decided to see if he could find the other cartridge that he was supposed to test- the magnifier. If he had the facts straight, he would need it.
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"How many paper clips did you bring, Alex?"
"Enough- nothing to worry about." He watched her from behind. "Can you see?"
"Not very well."
Alex fished out his cell phone, which gave off a weak beam of light. Vivie grinned her thanks, and after breaking three paper clips, the latch clicked. She turned the doorknob, and the door opened. "Sweet."
"Rider, now what are you doing?"
"Well, if there are subliminal messages in the tape like you guys have been saying, then we're going to have to make sure of it, aren't we?"
"Without destroying anything, right?"
"I'm not stupid, Meyer." This time, Alex understood his biting sarcasm and wasn't intimidated by it. Instead, he chuckled. "He's probably got today's tape somewhere. There's got to be a way to get all that black stuff out and watch, well, look at it frame by frame. If that works out, we can take it down to the station and get him checked out."
Alex had to admire the plan. "It sounds good to me. What do you think, Viv?"
"I love it. Let's go."
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The room was messy- not an organized mess, just a complete and total soup of junk. It was dark, and Alex made sure that the volume was off as he pressed buttons, trying to locate what he was looking for. He checked the object locater function, which pointed him in the direction of a room that some human being (probably Andrew) was close to. They'd have to be careful.
"You guys wore black, right?" Alex asked, trying to not be reminded of the time she had worn black when he was fourteen. But the all-black thing was a good idea- and thankfully, he had remembered to borrow (well, borrow without permission) Luke's clothes.
"Affirmative," Alex Meyer replied. "Viv too."
"The room's the second on the right. Someone's in the room next door, so we need to be really quiet."
"Got it." They continued their journey down the hallway.
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"Dude, Tree Frog Bottles," Alex recognized, grabbing a couple and jamming them into the pockets of his pants. Alex Rider and Vivie copied his example as they headed into what appeared to be the broadcasting room.
"How do we know which tape was today's?" Vivie wondered out loud, pawing quietly through everything.
"Are there any labels?"
"No... wow, he's got a lot of tapes. I wonder how long he's been getting away with this. Isn't there more than one weather channel?"
"Good point, Viv... Rider, what are you doing?"
"I'm just counting the tapes... there's got to be at least fifty..."
"He's been on TV for two months and we never noticed?" Vivie shrieked. Alex clamped a hand over her mouth.
"Vivie!"
"Crap, sorry." She grinned sheepishly. "Well, we might as well just take one..."
"Wait, guys, I might be able to find today's," Alex Rider piped up, running the device over a tape. "This one's from May... one of the messages is, 'I'm the better weatherman.' Egotistical much?"
"Just find today's tape!" Alex hissed.
"Relax- I'm on it."
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There were definitely subliminal messages- the Nintendo was picking up all the text, and as he scrolled past the screens, he saw the different messages- "You can trust me," "I'm always right," "This is the only reliable channel," and et cetera. As he progressed through, the messages became more suspicious- "You don't have to listen to authority," "There's nothing wrong with murder," "After me, you're the most important person in the world." But it didn't explain what he was trying to do.
"I don't see a plan developing here- he's just putting everyone under a spell to make them think he's great or something."
"Where's tomorrow's tape? Can we jack that one?"
"I'd love to if we could find it... how do you think he gets the weather right?"
"He can influence it." Both guys turned in surprise to look at Vivie. "He's just like Aaron. He could make it snow tomorrow easily. That's how he can pre-record the tape. Ever since he took over, he's probably been controlling the weather to what's been recorded on the tape. Whatever the other guy is forecasting is probably wrong, so no one will watch him anymore- that's how he's getting everyone to watch and trust him. And since Texas weather is basically unpredictable anyway... the fact that he's been a hundred percent accurate so far has been drawing people in."
"Um, Vivie, that's great, but how do you know that?" Alex asked.
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Vivie shrugged innocently at Alex Rider's question. "Texas weather has always been impossible. I typed his name in last night and did a little research. It looks like he's about to hit the big time- we have to stop him, since they're debuting him for New York tomorrow."
"You would be a nerd and figure that out," Alex teased. "Rider, have you found tomorrow's tape?"
Alex Rider cursed, and Vivie immediately turned around. It could get really ugly here- Alex knew that much.
"Do you mind?" she testily hissed.
"Don't tell me what to do. I'll curse if I want to." As if to irk her, he did it again.
"Vivie-"
"No, Alex. I'm sorry, but I did ask you nicely."
"Guys, now is not the time to fight!" Alex interjected.
"Fine- I'll leave. You two men go ahead and do whatever you need to. I'm not dealing with this!"
Personally, Alex thought that she was overreacting but knew better than to say so. Antagonizing Vivie was a suicidal move- every one that knew Vivie knew that much. But at the same time, Alex really didn't want her to open that door.
"Viv-"
"Shut it, Alex." He saw why he was getting antsy when the door opened- Andrew Yzcheck stood there. He grabbed Vivie and would have grabbed Alex next, but Alex Rider seized him, threw him through the window, grabbed something, and was out of there and right behind Alex as he ran away.
