Chapter 38:

Ace stepped into the room, it was after school, and much to his displeasure, he had been asked to attend a meeting concerning the Inter-Academy Knowledge Tournament. He had not shown up at any of the others, but this was meant to track progress as well as give them information on how it would happen.

It was a large classroom, filled with people of various ages that were dotted around the room in their own groups. Some were talking quietly to each other while others were pouring over pieces of paper that most likely contained questions of varied nature.

No one noticed him as he came into the room, and he just walked calmly to the back of the room, and sat down on one of the chairs, pulled out a Noxia, and began to watch a video on various map spots that had great killing potential.

He was calmly watching the video with an earbud in his ear, when he heard the door near the front of the room open, and all the people quieten. Ace looked up, it seemed that the big dogs had come out. The people that were standing at the front of the room were the committee that had first 'invited' him to join. They were all standing next to each other, and the palpable atmosphere was thickening every second.

Then, breaking the spell they had cast, one of the boys that were standing began: "Good afternoon, as you well know, you have all been selected to participate in the upcoming Knowledge Tournament, each in various categories.", he smiled, and as if performing, he stepped back and another person - a girl this time, stepped forward, "The Tournament is split into various parts, there will be a separate test for each year group, and also a Global test, where anyone from any year group can participate, but obviously, the places are limited for each school equally.", and again, she stepped back and another girl stepped forward, "The goal is - as always, to win, we plan on getting the top spots for every test. This means that everyone who participates should aim to get the top spot, so that the five people in our school that participate in each exam all come out in the top five spots, anything less would be shameful.", and again, she stepped back while another boy stepped forward, however, this one had a remote in his hand, and as he pressed it, the projector switched on and on the board, a list of names under various headings was projected.

Freshman, Sophomore, Junior and Senior were at the sides, and at the middle was the Global heading. Each one had five names under each category, and as people read them, mutters were heard. The names had the year group next to them, so when people saw Ace's name under the global tab, and Freshmen next to it, they were more than a bit surprised.

The same boy began speaking, projecting his voice over all the whispers and mutterings, "Each exam can contain questions from any topic covered in high school, and the bonus questions will also include university grade questions, but this is only for the Global. For the others, it will include what is considered to be part of that year group's curriculum, and you will be sent a document with every topic that your specific test could ask you questions on, the Global could obviously encompass any topic."

Like clockwork, he stepped back and this time, Leilah - who stood at the middle of the file, stepped forward, "I wish you all luck in your studying, if you have any concerns or problems, now could be a good time, but you can also contact any of us through your Noxia. I hope you have a nice day." Then, she and all the people standing at the front of the stage left.

Ace stood up to head out, he had no intention to engage in any conversation with any of the people here, even if he had spotted Amy and Sophie in the crowd. He made his way directly outside the school, but he still managed to get ambushed, "I wasn't too bad was I?", Ace smiled and looked at Leilah, "I don't know, were you?"

She smiled back and took his arm, leading him to the car park, "Come on, I'll drive you home", she said so with a fervour that surprised Ace, giving him no time to argue. "Ok then, but wait, I have to ensure that my chauffeur knows he can leave.", she loosened her hold on his arm, and he contacted Veronica through his Noxia, she was his grandmother's secretary, so she had an account on the school's web, which was a big advantage to him. He informed her he would be making his own way home, and she quickly replied, asking him to stay safe and telling him that she had already contacted the chauffeur.

Ace smiled, amazed at the woman's effectiveness, he could only hope that he would be able to have such talented and resourceful personnel in the future. As Leilah saw him finish and put his Noxia away, she began pulling his arm again, and Ace could only smile at her childishness. If anyone had seen her, they would be surprised at the way she was acting.

Once they got into the car, Ace asked, "So, what is up?", Leilah smiled, "Ok, so as expected, the people are not happy you are partaking in the Global test, and the fact that you do not show up at any of the revision classes is only making them angrier. However, I told them that you were receiving private classes from me, so that seemed to appease them somewhat."

Ace nodded, it made sense to say this, no one would dare to refute her word, not if they wanted to have a good school experience anyway. She then continued speaking, "And about Zach… He was pretty amused by what you did in the meeting, and said that you should go to speak with him as soon as possible, which means that tomorrow, you go to him immediately.", she seemed worried at this, as if Ace would disobey her advice. "Don't worry, I don't know exactly who he is, but I have a good idea, so I won't mess around with him - too much.", she laughed at this, "You know, the people that can speak about Zach and to Zach the way you do and did are little, in this school, maybe 7 would dare.", Ace smirked, "What can I say, I am just that great."

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As Ace got home, he quickly changed clothes and used his private laptop, he had been practising making viruses and penetrating firewalls for a while now, and it was time to put his skills to the test. He had been messing around with the cybersecurity personnel in his mother's employment, not the ones that went to an office, but the ones that were good enough to work wherever they felt like it. They had tutored from when he was first learning to code, and seemed to treat him like a pet project. They knew who he was, they had all figured it out minutes within starting the lessons, but that just made it more fun for them.

Ace was not worried however, they would do nothing to him - they would not dare, for all their skills and achievements, Samantha had them by the balls in one way or another. Ace had no idea what she had on each of them, but it was big enough that they had been in her employ for years, and they had never even attempted to betray her.

Ace had been taught, and they were amazed by him, his ability to learn was amazing, and with his enhanced body, he would read and write code just as fast as they could, and as time went on and he got used to it, he would probably get even better. His potential was another reason, as of now, they were way better than he was, but in a few years, who knew…

Ace was going to try and hack into various files that should hopefully contain information on Zach. He had to be prepared for the meeting. He knew he was not stupid, so he cashed in a favour with one of the hackers in Samantha's employ: Bong. Bong would ensure to protect him if anything happened, he would step in with a code that would protect his location, network and computer so that he could not be traced and counter-hacked. This way, he should be relatively safe...