by Luke Isaacs
“So, we have an online base of operation,” Rick was all business once more. “I have saved some break time hours from my job I can use for the meeting.”
“I can skip a class or two to attend as well,” Rania said.
“I guess I can use some UN credentials to evade Mr. Yu’s surveillance for a few hours,” Mario added.
“And I can replicate myself to be in two places at once,” Dana added in a mysterious tone.
“What? You can do the spirit double in real life?!” Rania yelled.
“Shh, not in real life, no,” Dana put her finger to her mouth, “but for an hour or so on VNet, yes. I’ve been practicing my new powers on the job, for the last three days and I have at least three new powers perfected now.”
“Anything else we can exploit?” Mario smiled at her.
“I can literally read minds now,” Dana said. “Even now.”
She winked to Rick who turned a dark shade of red.
“That’s unfair!” Rania cried. “All I can do is disappear… completely.”
She smiles wickedly and does just that to the shock of the other three. She materializes an instant later.
“Wow, and in real life no less, that trumps me!” said Dana before turning to Mario. “So, what can our big scary warrior do right now?”
“Just this,” he pointed to Rick as he reached for his cup of juice and incanted a curse. The supposedly unbreakable DuraPlex cup, made from a cheaper far more durable material than the plastic of the old days, shatters, showering him with juice and ripping his hand open in the process. Before anyone can move or even scold Mario, he puts his hand over Rick’s and cast Bless and Heal on the wound. To the amazement of everyone, the cut in his hand disappears in front of their eyes.
“You can heal Edward!” Dana said.
“I can if his father allows me,” he sighed. “I don’t think I can do much good unless I am with him in real life though. And this would be an impossibility given his father’s attitude towards us.”
“Wow, this was impressive,” Rania grabbed the hand of Rick before he can withdraw and added, “you could start a lucrative business healing people for huge amounts of DC!”
“I can’t and I won’t,” Mario said. “With power such as this I would immediately be reenlisted to the UN, and I am through with the machinations of war and military.”
“This is one of many reasons we have to hide our powers from everybody,” Rick said somberly. “Including loved ones.”
After a few seconds of pondering his words, Rania asked him, “So, what about you? What about your powers?”
“Erm, I think have some control over the elements,” Rick grabbed her teacup and holds it cupped in his hands for a few seconds. The liquid starts to boil and steam and then almost completely evaporates in under a minute.
“Now, that’s impressive,” Dana said. “And quite frankly very unsettling considering humans are 70 percent water.”
“I can also control electricity,” Rick said. “Meaning I can manipulate electrons and their pathways.”
“Meaning, with further control,” Rania said excitedly. “You could manipulate code over VNet! Brilliant!”
“So, from catching hackers for a living,” Dana said slowly. “You would become a hacker yourself.”
“And what’s wrong with that?” Rania jumps at her.
“I wouldn’t do anything of the like,” Rick intervenes before a fight can break out. “It would bring unwanted focus on me and therefore all of us. It’s not an option.”
“He is right,” Mario looks apologetically to Rania, “and you know this.”
“Whatever, it’s his life.” Rania shrugged and acted as if her reaction to Dana’s words never happened. “He should do what suits him, and only him.”
“Actually, I did think about using this talent for a short period and in a minor way,” Rick said. “To pursue our attackers and find out what exactly happened that day.”
“Which I think is the second reason you called us for this meeting, I’m guessing?” Mario said.
“Yes, and I have a third reason.” Rick fidgets a bit before continuing, “I missed you guys, more than I thought possible.”
“And the tough master of fire and ice turns mushy and soft in a second,” Rania said, then suddenly leaned forward and kissed Rick on the cheek. “Even though this ruins the tough guy, strong girl image, I missed you too. I missed you both as well and Edward.”
Dana laughed good naturedly.
“The tough guy, strong girl image can’t be ruined by love.”
She winked at Rania, who showed her tongue in a cheeky response. This elicited a storm of laughter from Mario and Dana, and a puzzled look from Rick.
27
“Jamal Yu is not the kind of person I want breathing down my neck,” Mehemet opened his call to Yee. “I want nothing to do with your suicidal vendetta against his son and the GodsRealm team. You can take back your soon-to-be worthless shares and shred all data communication between us.”
“I never took you for a coward,” Yee said in a measured voice.
“To you it is cowardice,” Mehemet answered the insult thrown by Yee, “but in all reality, this man is a God of VNet, he can destroy you as easily as he wipes his own ass.”
“He is just another executive type,” Yee mocked. “And you’re sadly mistaken if you think he’ll find my fingerprints anywhere in this whole affair.”
“You underestimate him, Mr. Yee,” Mehemet said. “Jamal Yu started out as a hacker, and he is still considered the best in hacking to this day. Not only that, he is connected in places you wouldn’t even imagine, with unlimited resources. He is very dangerous.”
“What do you want me to do?” Yee said derisively. “What’s done, is done, but rest assured, our tracks are covered completely, the UN hasn’t even got a lead. Why do you think this coder type could touch us if they can’t?”
“Listen,” Mehemet stopped Yee’s bragging suddenly. “Yu is not what you take him for, I have my own sources.”
“Still, he can’t touch us,” Yee insisted. “Dangerous or not, I also have my back covered by somebody very powerful.”
“I don’t,” Mehemet argued. “I am what I am because of my own cunning. I don’t have some unknown powerful player backing me up, and I refuse to share the risk with you.”
“A lie,” Yee laughs. “I am certain that you are backed by the same player or someone like him. Otherwise, you would not have been allowed to reach the echelon of VNet that you have.”
Mehemet remained silent for a few seconds before replying slowly to Yee.
“If your backer is the same,” he sighed. “Then you are a bigger fool than I ever thought. Our mutual friend plays for himself, and himself alone. If you are dragged under, he will just watch your demise with casual amusement.”
“No,” Yee smiles. “It’s not like that for me and certainly not for you. We are both serving valuable roles in his long game, suffice to say, we are both safes till his plan reaches fruition and I know enough of it to know that it’s still a long way from that.”
“I need to know more of this plan,” Mehemet demanded. “If I am in, I at least need to know my limits so I don’t step on his toes by accident.”
“Ok, but we would have to meet in real life,” Yee nodded. “Even the best security on VNet will not keep our conversations safe from him if we spark his attention.”
28
Edward appeared to be asleep in the pneumatic quarter gravity bed. Yet he was plugged into VNet through the same link to the online support line that guides the nanites mending his destroyed spinal cord.
He hated being awake and feeling the bursts of neural pain as his individual nerves were repaired. The heavy pulses were almost unbearable, and he was denied any pain killer because they might interfere with the work of the nanites.
Even though he was banned from GodsRealm like the rest of Valhalla Greatest through the direct command of his father, he could attend his VNet
studies and to spend as much time as he wanted to be logged in.
He took advantage of this. He used every spare minute once his studies were completed to develop the virtual HQ the team had finally agreed to. He had developed it from the ground up over the last year, perfecting its defense and improving its integration abilities before joining it to every available database in VNet. Not to mention making it stylish and comfortable to spend time in.
It now had a fully working testing and training ground for him and the team, and in simulation, he was able to call on at least a 100 low-level semi-AI monsters and characters from the GodsRealm, allowing him to hone the special abilities he’d gained through the coma.
His Dark Bliss had given him extrasensory abilities, and he was able to practice sensing primary emotions from dedicated AI he created for the purpose. He also probed fellow students while studying but he couldn’t be certain of the findings without asking them. That was out of the question as it would expose his secret. He needed his Valhalla Greatest teammates to test this new ability on them, and to discuss the accuracy of his talent.
He had also evolved his Fear Effect and was now able to maintain the effect for a whole hour as he studied, making students in the virtual classroom shirk and avoid him with unease bordering on fear.
A bonus of the effect was that those people affected were usually shy of approaching him even after he’d finished using his ability. Considering his new-found celebrity status, that was a sizeable achievement.
The final gift he discovered among his new abilities was that his unholy shout in real life would call rodents and crawling insect to the person he shouted at. One of the nurses caring for him in the mansion was quite nasty, treating him like an inanimate object as she flipped him over for his daily examination by the in-house computing unit.
She had waved off his complaint that it hurt, so he had shouted at her as she left the room. He was gratified to hear her screams as she ran through the sprawling Yu mansion, chased by rats and cockroaches. She hadn’t been back since.
He couldn’t wait to meet the team to tell them of his discoveries. He also needed their presence in his life more than ever, since his father had distanced himself from him completely since the nanite treatment began, to the extent that he had only come to visit Edward once in the last 14 days.
*
The virtual reunion of Valhalla Greatest came five days after the team met in the old cafe, and they were in for a surprise.
“Edward, this is amazing!” Rania moved through the virtual space, watching the colors shifting over the walls.
“This amazing show of color is quite catchy really,” Mario commented as he inspected the changing walls.
“The color changing is a byproduct,” Edward announced. “The security and cloaking protocol I used is the one causing the color shift, it makes it literally impossible for anybody outside this house to spy on us or even to register our presence.” He smiles. “Even my father’s algorithm to locate me stops at the boundaries of this house.”
“You call this a house?” Dana laughs. “This is a palace!”
“This can’t be just one terabyte of space,” Rick added. “It looks like at least to be three to five terabytes.”
“It is just one terabyte,” Edward said. “Only it is utilized right down to the last byte, a practice only employed by my father and his company in the entire VNet business world. One that I managed to catch onto quite fast when he explained the concept to me seven years ago. In those days he used to talk and explain things to me more.”
“I get that you have zero redundancy here then,” Rania said. “But isn’t this a little dangerous in case of any hacks or break-ins?”
“Anybody is welcome to try and hack into my creation,” Edward laughed. “Actually, I heard from Rania that you are an up-and-coming master hacker, Rick.”
Rick felt a little angry but didn’t know why. Maybe he wanted to tell Edward? He pushed aside the anger so he could put all his efforts into unraveling the security of Edward’s HQ from inside, an angle he thought he might not have considered.
After five minutes of anticipation from everybody in the place as they watched Rick direct very thin beams of light that only showed from certain angles, at the walls, ceiling, and floor, Rick laughed and conceded defeat.
“This is amazing, Edward. As impenetrable as you claim, the only area of weakness I could find lies in the doorway, but I think it can only be exploited when someone is allowed inside. I suspect you know that and have something built-in to prevent it though, right?”
“Impressive,” Edward smiled. “If I didn’t know that you never really studied coding, I would assume you are at least the level of my father, who is a uniquely talented coder. Now I now know that your matter-controlling abilities have grown considerably. I’m happy you’re on my side.”
“So, how did you guard against the vulnerability that Rick found?” Rania tried to sound casual and not so interested.
“I did a two-way system to safeguard this,” Edward explained. “First is biometrics. This place only opens to five registered biometrics, ours. I apologize, I got your individual bios by hacking your VNRS files. The second, of course, is that there is a one-of-a-kind AI that I created as a doorkeeper; it repels any attempt to mimic our biometrics through a very sensitive AI signature detector.”
“Meaning that any AI made to look like us,” Rania said, “would be detected.”
“And totally fry,” Rick added. “The security system has the most ruthless approach I’ve ever encountered.”
“I know this,” Edward said, his voice becoming low and angry. “I won’t sit by to see one of you suffer what I’m going through right now in real life. I will not allow harm to come to my family, ever.”
Rania, Rick, and Dana pulled back, suddenly fearful of their friend despite his words.
“Edward,” said Mario, approaching Edward. “Your Fear Effect is too much, even I’m feeling it and I’m supposed to be immune since I’m a holy character.”
Edward cools off fast.
“Sorry guys, it’s a side effect of my evolved abilities.”
“Formidable,” Dana said, in a shaky voice. “I think my real-life self needs a pants change.”
Everyone laughed nervously and Edward apologized profusely.
“Nifty trick rich boy,” Rania said, trying to break the tense atmosphere caused by the wave of terror coming off Edward. “Do you have any others?”
“Yes,” Edward smiled gratefully to her. “I can sense the emotions and desires of people.”
“Odin’s Beard! That’s even scarier than Dana’s mind-reading thing,” Rick laughed nervously.
Edward looked at him for a long time, then at Rania.
“Oh… I never realized!” Edward looks puzzled then shakes his head. “I don’t think I can’t even say it out loud.”
“Relax Eddie, boy,” Mario patted his back, “only two people here don’t know about what you just found out.”
Edward then sat beside Rick and said quietly, “She is totally not my type so don’t worry.”
Rick looks at him puzzled, then blushes a deep red when he realizes what emotion Edward has picked up from him. It doesn’t last long because Edward suddenly doubled over.
“Ouch! Please stop it, Rania!”
Rania materializes just behind him; her arm cocked as if ready to punch him again.
“I’m not interested in you either, rich boy!”
Rick’s avatar grows redder.
“Cool down kids,” Dana signals everybody to sit down, “we have very serious issues to discuss.”
It takes a minute or two, but everybody eventually settles down in the plush air cushions floating around the center of the inner room of their new HQ.
“Rick, why don’t you tell us about your investigation now?” Dana suggested.
“During the last two weeks, you all know that my talent for manipulating matter grew,” he said. “This eventually culminate
d in the development of my ability to hack without coding,” he paused for effect, “and I tried for the last five days to track down anything the UN pieced together, or the VNRS. The problem is, they are just blundering blindly with no clues. So, I had an epiphany just before arriving here.”
He stopped talking, apparently doubting whether he should disclose the next piece of information.
“Speak up weird boy,” Rania called him out. “Nothing is to be hidden from us; we are family.”
“Yes, Rick,” Mario spoke kindly, as though he gleaned a bit of what Rick was about to declare. “No shame among family members, son.”
“I know that it might seem invasive,” Rick started. “But it was the only route the UN and VNRS did not go. I accessed all your records… mine too.”
He stopped again and waits for the storm of protest to hit him. It doesn’t. In fact, Dana laughs.
“I guess we should disclose all of our shameful secrets to each other now,” she said. “Since Rick already knows them.”
“I didn’t mean it in that way at all,” Rick spoke fast as he waved his hands in front of him in denial. “I tried to avoid anything that might embarrass any of you! I swear!”
“Relax weird boy,” Rania said calmly. “Since the coma and the intimacy we shared in it, I often wondered about the time to share everything with all of you.” She sticks her tongue out at Rick. “It was only a matter of time.”
“I will start then,” Mario said in a sober voice. “You all know that I’m a retired veteran because of the injury, well, this is not entirely true. The day I got injured, I was running away from the battlefield — a deserter. When my commander O’Hara died, my last anchor to the war was severed. I lost the drive and eventually that same day, I lost my guts. The battle reports show my position 300 meters away from the rest of the platoon, and the fact is, the war ended while I was in the hospital and it was the only reason I wasn’t court marshaled for deserting my post. To the UN I am a disgraced soldier at most, a disabled person with no value.”