CHAPTER 2

5 years back....

Robbie and Sammy aka Robert Wein and Sam Koel had just passed out of college. While Robbie wanted to join military just like his father, Sammy wanted to become a businessman and earn lots of money.

But before they could go on to get their dreams, a serious tragedy struck. The Building where they lived in rent-controlled flats was bought by a rich contractor. They were being forced to accept compensation and were being forcibly made to leave their homes. Robbie and Sammy couldn't do anything as most of the flats were already empty. It was a master stroke. The Contractor had bought the super of the building and made sure that enough problems are created, forcing the tenants to either move out or exchange their flats for a better flat provided by our contractor. As a result, there were only 12-15 people living in the entire building. Most of them were happy to give up their crappy flats for nice flats. Robbie's mom didn't want to leave the flat as this held all the memories of her deceased husband. But all of Robbie and Sammy's struggle went in vain as no lawyer was willing to stand for them and so did their Neighbors. Overnight, they were forced to look for accommodation in the costly city of London.

As a result of this misfortune, they had to take a job in a small data firm as a data operator. The job came with basic accommodation, provided by their employer and so they took the job, as a temporary solution. Sammy used both of their compensation money from the flats to make some excellent share and property investments, resulting in a good and steady cash influx and gradually everything started looking good for them. A good job, a home and money to invest and save, Sammy and Robbie started to build their life back together.

Meanwhile, Sammy started his business with their combined money and made Robbie 50% partner in it. After a few months, the business started to reap benefits and finally, they were able to buy a flat for both of their families. Sammy's mom was single and so was happy to share the flat with Robbie and his mom. Sammy and Robbie's mom became best friends, removing Robbie's concern for his mom. He was elated to see her happy and started making plans to follow his dream for military when he realized that Sammy had got his dream to be a businessman fulfilled and now it was his turn.

A year later... 4 years back from present

It's been a year since Robbie had started working in the Dominic Data Control. By now, Sammy had already left the job and was running his business full-time. Robbie was preparing for his military fitness test which was after 2 weeks. Lowen, his boss was very happy with his hard work and had just promoted Robbie to the Server Room, which came with better pay package and shorter hours. Robbie was cool with it as he was confident that he will be joining military in a few months. Since the company had a veteran re-hire policy, he could come back to same position after serving his country and so he was still continuing in this job despite being rich now.

It was a very lazy day in the server room and Robbie was watching YouTube videos on advanced hand to hand combats when suddenly there was a loud beeping noise. He rushed to the terminal from where he heard the noise. It was a heating issue which was normal due to recent ongoing cooling system upgrades. After starting the fans and making sure the cooling system was running smoothly again, Robbie was about to go back to his desk when suddenly he noticed a strange purple blinking light inside of the wires. He moved the wires aside to see a small data snatching device connected to the server. The moment he touched it to examine, his walkie started screeching. He picked up the walkie and clicked on the speaker button. A shrill girly voice of a man said, "Don't remove the device and don't report this to anyone if you want your family to survive. You will be contacted shortly."

Robbie was now scared. He couldn't understand what to do next. The First thing he did was removing his fingerprints on it and left the office 1 hour before his shift end, citing severe head ache. On the way, he called his mom to check if everything was ok. After confirmation from her of her wellbeing, he became relieved. Suddenly, his phone started ringing. He picked up and that same voice (hereby to be referred as the Mystery Man) then instructed him to go to his favourite coffee shop and sit on his favourite spot. Robbie decided to go there, partly out of curiosity and partly out of fear but definitely not without backup. So before going there, he decided to call Sammy from a phone booth for backup.

Sammy: Hello.

Robbie: Hey Sammy. This is Robbie.

Sammy: Hey Robbie. How come you are calling in mid of your shift and from where are you calling?

Robbie: Will explain everything later. Just come to my favourite coffee shop but don't approach me. Just keep following me. Will explain everything once I know something myself.

Sammy: (In a worried Voice) is everything ok? You sound scared.

Robbie: That's why calling you. Just come here as my back-up. Pretty Please?

Sammy: Ok. Will be there.

Sammy discontinued the call and then made another call immediately. The person on the other end said "Hello". It was the Same Mystery man.

Sammy asked, "Are you meeting Robbie today? Did he find out?"

"Yes and yes", the mystery man said.

Sammy Replied, "I think it's time to induct him into ISSR".