Chapter 84:

He had dinner on his lonesome, it was Christmas Eve, but Samantha had told him that she would have to be at the office. He was ok with that, it is not like it was a big celebration for him anyways. He had, of course, got presents for his close friends, which they would receive tomorrow, as well as one for Veronica, but that was it. There was nothing he could give to his grandmother, and he assumed that his recent accomplishments would have to be enough.

He did not really want or need anything, and so was not expecting much, however, when he finished his routine and went to have breakfast the next day, he was surprised at a large number of presents on his doorstep. His maids and butlers all had a holiday, and would come home to find presents for them and all their families, it was the least he could do to thank them for the amazing way in which they treated both him and the house.

He sat down on the couch, in front of the pile of presents, and got to opening them. He began by the present from Veronica, it was a hand-knit sweater, wine red in colour. It was quite nice, and above all comfortable, he put in on instantly.

He opened the presents from everyone, he had gotten presents from all his closest friends, cool or interesting things that he would be able to play around with for a while.

Then, he saw a present from someone that surprised him, Elene. She had not spoken to him since he had given her the painting, but he had assumed something had happened.

The package was a big box, which when opened, had a USB and a smaller box. The USB had a sign saying 'Plug Me In', so he did, he selected the video file on it, and opened it.

"Hey, Ace! I know it has been a while, that's my bad. I was away from home for this past couple of weeks, something came up, and I had to leave urgently. However, when I came back… I found your gift. It is… beautiful. I hung it up in my room, and every time I look at it, I smile. Thank you, you have no idea how much it means to me.", tears were now threatening to come out, but she held on with a smile, "I have sent you something back, which should hopefully arrive in time for Christmas. I wish you a happy holiday, and a Merry Christmas.", then, with one last smile, she hung up.

Ace opened the box, and there, he found an object wrapped in soft paper, more for protection than anything it seemed, and a note with it, which he read first.

"Hopefully, you have already seen the video, if not...DO IT! I tried to find something as meaningful as what you sent me, but I simply couldn't, instead, I found this. I have a friend who is interested in puzzles, I know you enjoy solving things, so this one should be fun to play around with. It is a figure made up of interlocking pieces of wood, the great thing about it is that there are a multitude of ways to potentially solve it. So, your challenge is this: You have to try and find every single one of the ways to solve it! I hope you like it, Merry Christmas, Elene."

Ace put down the letter, and unwrapped the paper softly, a prism made of wood appeared, however, it had pieces of wood coming out of various places, and it looked more like some weird star than anything. Ace put it down softly, with the USB and the letter.

He kept on opening presents, but as soon as he finished, he sat down on the couch with the object in his hands, and spent a few minutes playing around with it, then, once he felt good, in his mental notepad, he wrote: 'Elene Prism, Solution 1:', and got to work.

Ace had not had so much fun in a long time, the complex puzzle tested him to his best, he found the easy ways to solve it within the first 30 minutes, but after that, things got complicated quite fast. If it was not for the fact that he had to study languages, he would have spent the whole day on it. This had already become one of his favourite toys, and he let Elene know. He sent her a message, explaining the ways he had already found out, and the fact that he planned to spend many hours on it. He also sent her a picture, where she could spot something, in the core of the figure, in the most important piece, there was something engraved in beautiful calligraphy: 'Elene'.

He spent his whole Christmas Day on both the puzzle and on studying languages. It was one of the most fun and productive days yet. His grandmother had told him that they had hired a restaurant for dinner, so he was to get ready, they would be walking there, since it was a short trip.

He took a shower and got changed, into some blue slacks and a white shirt, with rolled-up sleeves to the elbows. He waited for his grandmother to come, and when she did, they exchanged pleasantries and then made their way to the restaurant.

It was a calm trip, guards following them as was customary, until, when crossing an alley, a drunken man, enraged by life and alcohol, attempted to grapple Ace to the ground, seemingly without a reason.

The guards had already pulled out their guns, but Ace was faster, he grabbed the man's wrist, and twisted it, while also kicking the side of his knee, snapping it towards his other leg and causing him to trip, once he was down, a knife-hand strike to the neck knocked the man out. All of this took less than half a minute, it had been a quick and clean takedown.

The guards came running, they had noticed Samantha's motion to not shoot and let Ace deal with it. They apprehended the man once he was down, and called the police. They took a short while to get there, and they handed down the person to them, there were CCTV cameras there, so there was no need for anyone to give their statements. They kept on walking to the Restaurant, and after a few minutes of silence, Ace asked, "Was he a plant?"

"No, I would not do something like that to you."

"I noticed the hand sign."

She sighed, and smiled, "You really are perceptive, but no, it was not a plant, however, I was truly curious as to what level you had reached."

"I am just an amateur, the man was drunk and harmless."

"I suppose…", they returned to their quiet ways until they got into the restaurant.

It was full of families, but the waiter took them to a private room, where a table for two had been set, with a glass screen that showed them a spectacular view of the city.

"I asked Veronica if she wished to come, but she was with her family."

"Good, she should be, I imagine you are quite busy now, with only months until the construction begins."

"Yes, however, no work talk, please, tell me, how is everything?"

"Good, my number of fans is growing fast, and I am done with Chinese, and already started with my second language, I should be finished with the rest of them right on schedule."

"Good, at what level are they?"

"Native, my accent is flawless, and I understand some of the more informal vocabulary."

"Good, I have plans for you to become my translator, I can speak most of those languages, but it would be a good experience for you."

"I understand, but remember, no work talk.", Ace said with a grin

"Ah yes, you are correct.", they spent the whole dinner talking about work.

Once Ace got home, a surprise awaited him, "Sir, I believe I have found what you were looking for."

"I understand, why was this not given to me when you got it?"

"I believe you will understand once you review the files."

Ace looked over them, and the more he read, the greater of a shock he found himself in, as soon as he finished looking over them, he encrypted them with Alfred's help, into the deepest and more complex encryption he could manage, and then kept them in a hidden folder within a virtual machine.

The folder was simply called: Grandma.