The following takes place in May, Freshman year at Gravity Falls, Oregon.

CHAPTER 1

THE SHADOW MEETING THE FLOWER

Present time: May Location: Unknown

There is a sound of loud walking on the floor as the well-polished and cleaned floor is being walked on by black shoes that are well dressed shoes, well-polished and the kind you could get from any high-priced business clothing store. But the person walking has a navy-blue general's uniform on with all the rank badges on his shoulders. The guy is in a mask which is technological as it is metallic with navy blue painting, there is nothing but a bright yellow orange visor that is now glowing extremely bright. There is an eagle symbol that is right above the visor.

This person comes into the door and there is an older teenager/young adult. His head is down as eyes are closed as he's in a state of napping. The man in the navy-blue uniform can see his face which has a lot of cuts and scars on it. He is chained and cuffed to a chair that is bolted down and is behind a medium sized steel table.

The man in the navy-blue uniform he walks toward the table and then gives the surface a hard slam and then the young man then stirs as he hears but also feels the vibration from the solid steel table.

Man in the Navy-Blue uniform says in an almost gravel barking tone, "Wake up, right now!"

The young man shakes his head coming off his nap he then reply's, "You better not tee me of after waking up or you're going to find something broken."

Man in the Navy-Blue uniform says, "You, still got fight in you good that is something I actually look for in most to all my troops."

The young man says, "You know you don't need to keep on the mask, I always know it's you Miles Mayhem."

Miles he says, "For now it's for my own protection, knowing you always love to try something."

Young man says, "Your right I do."

Miles he puts down a black computer laptop on the metal table, he is then turning on a console and says, "You know personally I don't enjoy torturing, for you I won't…. unless you give me a hard time that is."

Miles then comes to two of the high beam lights that are shining down on the young man and he has them turned off. Miles looks back on the young man's face which has a lot of scars from a lot of cuts inflicted upon him. Miles has a small sigh of pity from the sight and then puts down a file down on the table and opens it up. He takes out what looks like a photograph, and he then shows it in front of the young man's face. The young man doesn't look at it as his head is still turned away from him. Miles sees he doesn't want to be cooperative, so he puts the photo down for now.

Miles Mayhem says, "Alright, I'll get down to business, first I already know who you are and that is Darrien Macready, a.k.a. Crimson Talon, but also your M.A.S.K. codename Blaster.

Darrien then looks toward Miles after hearing this. Miles then looks at more of the file and then looks at Darrien and says, "Got to say Darrien you have one hell of a record; makes me a little envious as I wish I got into the game sooner as you've got one hell of a talent for trouble."

Darrien says, "Trouble is one of my art forms."

Mayhem looks at him and says, "It's a real shame that M.A.S.K. found you before I did, along with that scum bucket Gideon."

"Yeah, it is shameful that I worked for Gideon first instead of you."

"It is but beggars can't be choosers, anyway, let's get right down to the real business."

"I know you came for the orb; well, you won't get it."

"I expect that from you, but I'm not interested in that just yet."

Miles he then picks up the photograph and says, "I want to know about this girl."

Darrien, he sees the photograph and then looks at Miles and then has a small smile.

Flashback: Two months ago, March 1

Location: Gravity Falls, Oregon

Darrien has a black trench coat on, with a black mask that covers the lower part of his face. He has a black slip mask over the upper part of his face which he can see though giving his eyes a little exposure but the rest of him is unrecognizable. He then looks at an advertisement on his hand and it says the "70th Annual Gravity Falls Science Fair" and that it takes place on Saturday at the "Redwood Convention Center". He comes to the door to purchase a ticket and after he does and goes through security, he then enters the science fair.

As he walks by, he sees all kinds of inventions from someone trying to be the next big inventor and scientist. He looks at one invention which is on a model house that lifts and then when it hovers above the ground and then moves forward. And at another there is someone that has what looks like some radio-controlled rabbit that is jumping but then doing some back flips.

Darrien can't help but has a small smile on his face behind his mask but then he takes out his phone and then slides his finger to the program and it comes to a radar program which is tracking down a blip which is on some unknown power source. The blip leads to a display booth of another person. The name reads Candy Chiu. He comes to the booth and then looks and sees there is no one around; but his eyes come down on a display which he sees is a table sized labyrinth and on it there are what looks like humanoid two-legged toy robots which are placed strategically in different places of the maze. The robots look like little devils as they have little horns, crimson red coloring and their two legs have caterpillar treads. There is one other miniature robot which is regular humanoid but is all gold coloring.

Candy is just waking back after her break. As she comes back, she then sees this strange person in the black trench coat, hat, and mask over the bottom part of his face. But sees this person is looking at her invention carefully. Candy then comes to him slowly and says, "Is there something I can help you with?"

Darrien is then startled by Candy's presence. He then looks at her and he couldn't help but be a little stunned as he sees her despite the glasses, they didn't hide her beauty, in fact enhanced it in a way. He sees her from down but then up at her face which is an elegant one almost looks like actress Ziyi Zhang. He sees her eyes which are piercing as they are beautiful with their autumn color.

Candy says, "Um, is there something you want?'

Darrien is still a little stunned, but he shakes it off and says, "Oh um I'm a freelance reporter for the "Strange Logic" magazine I'm here writing an article on the fair and I'm covering many of the contestants; the name is Darrien Macready."

He extends his hand and then Candy looks at it curiously and she then takes his hand and shakes it. While shaking it she can't help but notice how firm but light his grip on her hand is and the warmth behind it.

She then let's go and then Darrien says, "And your name?"

Candy raises one eyebrow and says, "You know you can see it."

Darrien says, "I know but it's just polite."

"Man, your just old fashioned."

"Maybe but….

"I like it, Candy, Candy Chiu."

She then extends her hand again; Darrien sees it and takes it and both shake hands again. Both let go and then Darrien he then looks at the model set from the science booth, and he looks at Candy again and says, "Your invention here it captured my eye."

He then sees she's still looking at him strangely and Darrien realizes the outfit he's wearing.

He shakes his head and says, "The outfit, don't mind me it was kind of cold outside here let me just take this off, I'm getting warm anyway."

He removes his hat and black trench coat, and Candy sees behind it he just has regular jeans, and he has a black T-Shirt that has a graphic of the movie poster of the old movie "Blade Runner". Darrien notices she's still staring at him and realizes he still has his facial mask.

Darrien says, "And don't mind the mask, nothing sinister just have a certain condition."

Candy accepts the comment as it's plausible but her yes come down on his graphic T-shirt and how well his body fit with it, she can tell the guy works out as he is trim but can't help wondering what kind of muscle is behind the t-shirt.

Candy then shakes her head to snap out of her trance and looks at him and then says, "If you're concerned about me being nervous in some ways don't be I live in a town full of strange but I can easily see you're a fan of "Blade Runner".

"Yeah, I am it's my favorite movie of all time; I honestly wouldn't mind talking to you about it, but I need to focus on the matter at hand for my article."

"Yes, of course, my experiment I'll show you."

There is some sort of sensor platform with a chest harness attached, two wireless motion controllers shaped like gun handles, helmet with a big visor that covers the face completely, suit and gloves all on the machine. Darrien sees it and says, "This just looks like another Virtual Reality machine I've seen in video arcades."

Candy says, "Yes, it is however the program in it is different."

Candy looks at Darrien and says, "Can you please help me into everything.

Darrien goes along with Candy and is helping her put on the suit with a glove. He then helps her slowly slip on the helmet and then gives her both motion sensor controls. As she's in the machine automatically turns on as it has been programed to turn on to the optic reading the visor just gave her. She then handles the wireless controllers, and she presses one button on the controller near her thumb which is labeled on.

She activates it and suddenly there is some movement from the gold humanoid robot. Candy's display screen from her helmet is on and she sees the viewpoint of the robot. She then goes walking in place of the sensor both and as she does is the gold robot which is going through the maze. As it is going through the maze, she then sees a lot of the devil robot figures that roll toward her and are aiming their arms with guns muzzles.

Candy with her controls, she then holds out both her hands in front of her and she then pulls the trigger on both controllers which are both near her . From the devil robots there are discharges of light lasers, but Candy can evade as the gold robot runs and then she presses a button on her remote and the robot jumps and rolls toward a wall for cover. She then on her right remote has her thumb hovering over the red button. She then with the left remote then presses another button and then moves it to the left a little. Her robot then comes out of cover, on the screen from the helmet she looks at she then with her right presses a button and the robot discharges out a laser light from its hand and when the robot hits the others with that light they deactivate.

After they are all deactivated on one other side there are a group of other devil robots that roll on. Candy then turns that direction and ten on her right controller then activates something and then her gold robot then has two tiny toy missiles that shoot out from the shoulder and then the toy missile travels and hits but detonates a blue paint that covers them all. Candy then takes off the helmet and the gloves. She sees Darrien and notices behind the mask there is slight movement think she cand see is a smile along with his eyes that look interested.

Darrien says, "This is a marvelous invention."

Candy says, "I wouldn't say I'm the sole innovator as it's built and based on a lot of the scientific principles we've had for years."

Darrien says, "Is this going to be another toy line to make?"

Candy says, "This isn't just a toy line, it's a practical simulation."

She takes a step down and talks more. "It's a combination of both VR Technology and Robotics. The VR tech operates the robotic minds of these miniatures I built."

Darrien says, "What do these minds have."

"Mainly, just your simple micro technology and they obey the same principles in video games."

Candy looks at Darrien and says, "Um, have I simplified it enough for you.

Darrien says, "Yes, I have another question what powers them?"

Candy, she has one hand on her hip and says, "You know this conversation looks like it's going to be longer than I thought."

Darrien says, "Then would we continues this over lunch."

Candy is a little curious and says, "Are you asking me out on a lunch date."

"What no, just simply asking to have lunch and talk like regular people."

Candy looks at him and can see no deception or egotism and says, 'Well it's close to lunchtime anyway, you seem to be highly interested in science, besides you can use more material to make your article interesting."

Darrien says, "Science is one of the best things about my life."

Darrien looks at her and adds in, "But I'm also interested in many other things as well."

Candy says, "Are you trying to flirt with me?"

Darrien is then taken aback a bit and says, in a slightly nervous tone."

"No….no…just a fact about myself is all."

Candy comes to part of her display, and she then hangs a sign which says, "Be back in 30 minutes."

She then comes to Darrien and says, "Come."

Both then walk to the small food court and as both order and eat they talk for what felt like the longest time and was the first in many long conversations at the table both ever had.