[12] Sugar Rush Ride

"Oh, you seem so sure of yourself. It's as if you can already foresee its success. Are you sure it won't flop on you, hehe?" Gwen asked, humor dancing in her eyes. 

"Failure is not an option; it never had a say to begin with." Joe waved his hand in dismissal, a contagious, confident smile on his lips.

"I like your confidence. With such a declaration, who am I not to believe you?" Gwen turned her head to the TV. 

"So, when are you going to start?" She asked. 

"Soon. I could start today or tomorrow, but I've got other urgent matters to take care of," Joe replied while gazing at the TV. A scene of a cheetah chasing a gazelle in the savannah met him. 

"The gazelle's a goner," Gwen commented with certainty in her tone. 

Joe smirked while shaking his head. "I don't think so. The gazelle's gonna survive." 

The race between the two speedsters was still ongoing. 

"Optimism won't save the gazelle, Joe. We both know the cheetah is the fastest," Gwen countered with a cocky grin. 

"Do you think he'd win?" Joe casually questioned her, his eyes twinkling. 

"All day." 

"Haha, see for yourself." Joe shrugged and continued to watch the race, a confident smirk replacing his playful banter.

The cheetah was just a few inches away from the thick hind legs of its prey, and then it happened. At the last moment, the gazelle seemed to possess the spirit of Messi as it moved from left to right, slightly disorienting the predator. And with a burst of new speed, it widened the gap between itself and the cheetah. 

The gazelle went turbo effortlessly, leaving the cheetah to eat the dust. The cheetah started panting incessantly as it gazed desolately at the escaping gazelle. It looked regretful and frustrated. What a pitiful fellow. 

Gwen opened her mouth in shock and surprise, words failing to escape her mouth. 

"Throughout heaven and earth, the gazelle is the only honored one, Gwen," Joe laughed, a mocking grin manifesting. 

"That's useless BS. The gazelle had luck on its side." She hated losing, even when small, useless competitions were involved. 

"That's a lousy counterargument coming from you. Luck is also an important factor in survival. It's just like in real life. We may have outstanding goals and dreams, but the probability of achieving them will always remain indeterminable. We can't always get whatever we want." Joe placed a firm hand on her shoulder and gently squeezed. 

Gwen looked back at him with an inscrutable expression. She sarcastically asked, "When did you become so wise?"

"Have I been stupid all this time?" He quirked a brow. 

"Somehow." Gwen deadpanned. 

"Hehe, very fun, but it's not enough." He gave her a humorless smile. 

There was silence for a few seconds before Gwen asked an unexpected question. 

"By the way, has Peter ever reached out to you since that day?" 

Joe shook his head. "I haven't heard from him. Did something happen?" 

"Not really. It's just that Peter's been bunking classes lately. And when he's present, his mind always seems preoccupied." 

"Are you worried about him?" 

"N-no, I just tend to notice the peculiarities of others without knowing it. And Peter, our friend, has been acting strange." Gwen incessantly nodded as she explained. 

"Yeah, I guess, er, that's it." She gave him an unwavering stare. 

"How observant of you. Anyway, about Pete, he's someone you won't understand easily, even if you want to. He may be dealing with something personal." 

"MJ also hasn't been looking good." 

"Oh, that's interesting. Relationship problems, I guess."

"I thought so too," Gwen intoned. 

"I will talk with him. Maybe he needs a bro talk," Joe promised. He did this partly because Gwen had brought the issue forward and partly because of his innate curiosity. 

"Anyway..." Gwen slowly rose from the sofa before looking down at Joe. 

Joe recognized that 'look.' "A busy schedule, I guess?" 

"There are too many assignments, and you know that I don't like slacking off. How else can I top my class if I don't go plus ultra?" She sighed helplessly. 

Rolling his eyes, he said, "Just say you can't let my lazy ass defeat you." 

"I have never known defeat." Gwen cast him a smug one. 

Realization hit him when he heard those familiar words. Despite being the speaker, he understood that reference, but sadly Gwen didn't. 

'After all, the Elden Ring isn't a thing in this world,' he thought. 'Malenia would have been proud of her, but...' 

'You have never known defeat, right? Then wait to face the tarnished one,' Joe thought, not taking her proclamation seriously. 

"Before I forget, will you be free on Saturday this week?" Gwen hurriedly asked. 

"What's for the occasion?" Joe stood up and faced her. 

"Just answer the question, Joe." She crossed her arms and sternly glared at him. 

"Hmm, okay. I will make time for it," Joe smiled. 

"Good boy. My father wanted to have dinner, so you get what I mean?" Gwen tilted her head to the side. 

"So you want us to receive his blessings? Gwen, I didn't expect you to be such an elaborate planner," Joe mumbled, just enough for her to hear. 

"Joe? Seriously?" Gwen narrowed her deadly eyes at him, and after a few seconds, she burst into laughter. 

Joe listened to her adorable laughter before she stopped suddenly. 

'What the—' 

"That was awkward," she said while lightly punching his arm. Then she robotically turned around and headed to the door. 

With her hand on the knob, she gave him one last glance and whispered. "Don't forget to do the dishes!" 

"Roger that, momma!" Joe whispered back. 

As the door closed, Joe couldn't help but shake his head, a smile playing on his lips.

Then, he heard the door slowly creak open, only to see Gwen still there, and she was peeking at him. Literally and shamelessly eyeballing him. 

"Gwen? Seriously?" He facepalmed himself. 

"Yeah, Joe. I forgot to say goodbye," Gwen spoke with a straight face. 

"Go away, this isn't a horror movie. Shoo." Joe gestured for her to disappear. 

"You betcha," she chuckled before closing the door with a slight bang. 

Joe helplessly raised his arms. "Was that necessary?" 

After ensuring that Gwen had already gone through the peephole, Joe secured the locks. 

'She's a handful,' he thought as he entered the kitchen. He then cleaned the utensils they had used before going to his room with a cup of steaming hot coffee. 

He gently placed the cup on the table before settling on his gaming chair. 

"Now then, shall we begin?" He removed a key from his pocket and unlocked the drawer before pulling it back. There were a bunch of blank A4 papers, stationeries, and an unlabeled plastic bottle. Joe unhurriedly took the can that looked like a pill bottle and closed the drawer. He gazed at it thoughtfully before proceeding to open the lid. Inside, there were numerous typical amoxicillin capsules. 

He carefully took one capsule, observed it, and returned it to lie with the rest. 

He powered the rig on, firing up the RGBs into a frenzy as he glared at his monitor. The room was slightly dark and silent, with only the low hums from the cooling fans accompanying Joe. With the monitor coming alive, he logged into his account and looked at the usually stale interface of Windows 10. 

It's time to craft a custom OS for my own needs. Linux and Windows. This juncture is where I say 'bye bye'. 

With the extensive knowledge he had accumulated after playing around on the net, Joe was confident of creating his own Operating System. Programming had once seemed like a forgotten language of the gods to him, just like a person trying to decipher ancient hieroglyphics. It was initially confusing, but with time (plus NZT), he had become an experienced adventurer in the syntax jungle. 

What sort of nonsense will I share if one day I am suddenly asked to describe my programming journey? 

Joe found himself chuckling at the mere thought. If he told the junior developers and experienced seniors that he had magically become skilled overnight, they would consider it to be bullshit. 

Looking at the screen, Joe opened both Vim and Visual Studio Code in separate tabs. 

Tap! Tap! Tap! 

His fingers began pressing on the keys; the clicks sounded like a musical symphony, eargasmic, to say the least. Lines of written codes began flowing on the screen. He was developing the foundation of it all—a robust kernel. 

A few hours later, under the soft glow of the monitor's screen, Joe looked at the long lines of code on the IDE. It was the complete kernel code, and there was only one step left to do.

"Compile." With one tap, the compilation of the refined code began. Joe then checked the time and noticed that seven hours had already passed. It was around 9 o'clock. 

As the kernel code was compiled, Joe began cross-referencing between Nvidia and Intel Drivers. He wanted to design the required drivers for his new OS that wouldn't interfere with the hardware and overall architecture. 

The pill bottle lid remained open as Joe took another NZT-48 to prolong his work hours. He wanted to complete everything in one go. From UX design to implementing seemingly impenetrable security protocols, Joe went all in customizing an OS that was lightweight yet capable of housing the functionalities of both Windows and Linux. 

Eight hours later, Joe completed all the necessary steps and used one of his USB sticks as a bootable drive. Because Nexus OS is compatible with Windows, Linux, and many other operating systems, Joe didn't experience any issues during the fast installation process. 

Later, a logo showing an infinity symbol came into view, and Joe smiled since it was also customizable. He could change the logo to anything he wanted. 

The UI is so clean. How about I test the security functions, program compatibility, and repositories? 

I should also be on the lookout for unnecessary bugs if there are any.

Three hours later, a young man with dark circles around his eyes and a lethargic expression limply leaned back in his seat with his eyes momentarily closed. 

"There is still an hour left before the drawbacks hit me like an enraged African Buffalo," a soft sigh left his lips as he gradually opened his eyes. 

"The time is enough for me to tango with SHIELD!" His otherworldly blue eyes shimmered with insanity, and under the dim light inside his room, he looked menacing. 

He then stared at the empty coffee before shaking his head. "After this, I expect my body to shut down completely for prolonged periods." 

Within an hour, Joe had to find the vulnerabilities within SHIELD's firewalls and security encryptions. 

And if, theoretically, SHIELD didn't have any holes to enter through, he would create his own backdoor. 

Without dilly-dallying, Joe commenced his code-pianist journey. In just a few minutes, he accessed SHIELD's network and began monitoring for flaws and their defenses. Reconnaissance had to be done first.

Like a war veteran, he remembered to arm himself with a deadly weapon—a custom-built polymorphic code. SHIELD had its artificial intelligence system and a group of cybersecurity specialists who monitored its servers 24/7. However, it only made Joe feel highly exhilarated. He was in for a sugar rush ride. 

He thinly smirked when he realized that after a few seconds of bypassing layers of firewalls, numerous intrusion detection cyber alarms—landmines—were waiting for him. They acted as a wall between him and the classified information covering all SHIELD security levels. 

"I live for this shit..." 

Show me more, give me more, defend more.

The malware he had designed started infecting the alarm protocols and deactivating them as much as possible. 

"As expected..." Joe murmured as he bypassed the last layer of defense and swiftly began downloading everything. 

It was then that they noticed the anomalies in their network. But they were too slow.

... 

SHIELD HQ, camouflaged Heli-carrier, 

There was a lot of commotion in the main room of operations as the cyber specialists scrambled to identify the vulnerabilities their mysterious attacker had exploited. Multiple keystrokes were being made in unison, which only increased the tension in the room. 

Agent Maria Hill, dressed in a dark blue jumpsuit with the logo of an eagle on the shoulder, walked into the room. Her steps were quick, graceful, and calculated. 

"All the firewalls have been compromised. From sector I to VIII, I want all the breaches sealed with immediate effect before the director storms in..." Agent Hill issued commands, her voice laced with tension and urgency. 

Talk of the devil, and he shall appear. A black man with an iconic eye patch on his left eye entered the hall with a huge scowl.

"I am already here, Agent Hill. I heard an unknown attacker compromised our security protocols." 

"Yes, sir." 

The IT specialists momentarily stopped to gaze at the director. Fury noticed this and shouted with an angry expression. 

"Bitch, why y'all staring at? Never seen a red-blooded black man? Pick up your asses and try to locate that motherfucker!" 

An angry Fury was mean; you'd never want to get on his wrong side. The IT specialists immediately began to trace the anomaly. SHIELD had access to almost all communication satellites in the world. They weren't the most powerful secret intelligence service for nothing. 

"We must recover everything that has gone missing!" Director Fury felt his blood pressure rise. 

"Sir, we can't track him. Our target is everywhere," a young IT specialist stammered in awe. "They have rerouted their network traffic through innumerable layers of obfuscation." 

"He's good."

"What's your name, soldier?" Director Fury gazed at the young man stationed a few distances away. 

"It's Patel, sir." 

"Patel, do you think this is Bollywood?!" 

"N-no sir, I am from New Jersey." 

"I don't fucking care where you are from! Just do your damn work! Understood?!" 

"Y-yes, sir!" 

"Sir, I've got something for you," a petite woman with a neat bun loudly said. "It's a message." 

"I've got something too." Another person revealed. 

Director Fury and Agent Hill immediately moved to the closest station where the woman was. 

Fury's scowl deepened when he saw the text written in a custom pop-up window. 

[Howdy, Director Fury.] 

[How's your eye?]

As Fury and Agent Hill read the message, the rest of the room did the same. 

Someone in the room stifled a laugh after reading the message. 

Fury's vicious gaze immediately scanned the vast room for the culprit, but he couldn't find them. No one wanted to lock gazes with the one-eyed menace. 

Fury's face twisted in a grimace as he thought, 'This is SHIELD's second biggest embarrassment ever since Goose took out my damn eye.'

To save face, he wordlessly left the room. 

Agent Hill showed a tight-lipped, fleeting smile, which no one noticed before she began barking orders. 

"Use all the resources in our arsenal to find the culprit! We only need one clue to bring them in." 

…

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