Ace Student

"You don't know who Ada is?" Hailey gasped. She turned and continued walking away from the school with Storm 01 following behind her. "Oh right, you are from the Realm, the Weirs in the Realm only care about themselves."

Storm 01 nodded. "That's right. If the directress hadn't emphasized on it I wouldn't have even stepped foot in Zoda," he said, playing into character.

"God, I forgot how much I don't like people from the Realm... Why are you even following me?" She stated.

Storm 01 shrugged. "I don't know. I guess despite how annoying the people of Zoda are, I kinda find you fascinating, so I felt the need to see your invention that no one else will. Plus you owe me for earlier."

"Why should I show you? So you can knock off my creation and use it at the competition?" She stopped and veered around to face him.

Storm 01 throws his head back laughing hard. "Please, I could come up with anything I want if I wanted to."

Hailey eyes shift down to Storm 01's watch. "Like that wristwatch you are wearing?"

He quickly looked down at his glowing watch. "Oh, this was given to me by Mi..." he managed to cut himself short before the information left his mouth. "One of my friends, as a birthday present."

Hailey smiled. "And what's that light for?"

"Nothing important." He turned off the light and lifted his head to her. "So are you going to show me your tech?"

She remained quiet as if weighing her options. "Fine, come with me."

...

A few minutes later, they arrived in front of a small bungalow. Hailey dug through her pocket to bring out the key. She stopped after she had opened the door and turned to him. "Okay. I wasn't expecting anyone today so it's kinda messed up in there..."

"Come on, I'm sure I've seen worse," Storm 01 chipped in.

She breathed out and pushed the door open, holding it out for him to walk through. She shuts the door behind them and switched on a light that brightened the entire room.

Storm 01's jaw dropped out of shock. Hailey was more than right and he was wrong, he hasn't seen worse than what he was looking at. The room was worse than a mess. Scraps of metals and equipment were scattered all around the room.

Different strange-looking wires were wrapped on the chairs in the sitting room. There was a huge robot standing in the middle of the room with some wires connected to it.

"Is that…"

"Oh no, that's not what I planned on submitting. That is Suuhind, the robot I told you about."

"Suuhind?"

"Yeah," she smiled bitterly. "It's a mix of my mom and dad's name."

Storm 01 stepped a little closer to it. He placed his hands on it. "You made this?" He inquired, completely astonished.

"Yeah. Spend every last penny I had on that thing and it's still nothing compared to Ada's creation," she responded before she picked up an eye-glass from a nearby table and put it on.

"Wow," he exclaimed.

"Come on, what you want to see is in here." She pushed her way through the many wires on the ground to the front of a door. She inputs a passcode and it slid open, letting out a soft cooling sound.

"What did you say Ada and that Alicia girl did?" Storm 01 probed.

"Right. Alicia coded the flying mechanics of spaceships back in the day, and Ada's work is what powers the whole of ColdTech and anything a few meters around the building. God, she's so cool."

Storm 01 smiled mischievously. He now realized why Ada didn't want to enter ColdTech. She was famous and well-known by everyone in ColdTech.

She turned on the light in the room. "Err... I heard she's going to deliver a speech in this year's contest," Storm 01 disclosed.

Hailey swiftly veered around. "Really? No way, how'd you know about it?"

"It was... written in the invitation letter sent to the Realm. An ace student from our school will do the same too," he lied.

She smiled and finally got out of the suit she was wearing. "Yeah well, too bad I won't be able to meet her."

"What if I act like I'm registering and fill in your name instead, there's still like 45 minutes left..."

"No, you'll only put me in more trouble. And that's the last thing I want right now. I already have the nickname of the mad technician because I almost blew up half the school. I don't wanna add anything grade related," she stopped him immediately.

"Oh okay," he said, turning to look at some of the things in the room. "What is that?" He asked, picking up a small metal designed to look like the handle of a sword from a table.

"Click that button over there," she said, pointing at a small button on the side of the metal

He clicked it and the metal turned into a lightsaber. Unlike the one the agent used during his VR training were using, the one he was holding was not a metal surrounded by a beam of light. It was a metal that emits the beam. He tightened his grip on the saber and swung it a few times professionally. "It's light," he stated.

"I made that after watching a movie when I was 7. It's so mid that you have to charge it after a few minutes of use. Imagine if you were in battle with it."

"I'm sure if you wanted right now you could fix that problem, right?" Storm 01 dropped the saber back on the table.

Hailey smiled and tucked her hair behind her ears. They went for a few more minutes as she explained how and when she made other things in the room.

"Thanks, Andy. No one ever showed curiosity in my work before," she expressed.

Storm 01 quipped. "I'm only here to steal ideas remember?" he cussed under his breath. Though he was amazed by her work, he initially brought the idea of going with her so that he could dig deeper into Jacob like he was ordered to. But now that she just said what she did, he couldn't help but feel bad.

"I'm serious. Unlike others in ColdTech like the president that came from a wealthy family and can simply buy whatever equipment they need, I use scraps to build and therefore they turn out silly. You are the only one to ever ask to see them," she revealed.

"What about Jacob?" He questioned.

"Jacob and I don't hang out much. We only meet on campus and that's only when he needs something from me," she frowned. "Come on. Now the main event." She picked up a bag that was hung on the wall and strapped it on. "Are you ready?"

Storm 01 forced a smile and nodded. She exhaled and pulled down a rope by the side of the bag and a huge wing popped out from the bag.

"Whoa, what the hell is that?!" Storm 01 burst out in awe.

"I still haven't thought of a name for it, but it's supposed to allow the user to be able to fly," she explained.

She picked up a single-hand glove and put it on her right hand. "It's just like driving a car, but with a single hand."

She powered up the wing and in no time, she was gliding around in the air. After a few minutes, she landed in front of him with a lingering smile on her face.

"What do you think?" She asked.

"It's so cool. Just wow. That thing blew my mind away."

"I had Department H in my mind while I was making it. I thought that one day the Chief will notice it and take it for his agents, maybe make a few attachments like changing the metal so it can withstand bullets. Just imagine the agents flying around in what I invented. Dream come true."

"That would have been great." He stopped for a moment before speaking again. "Hailey, there's something I want to tell you."

*MEANWHILE, IN COLDTECH*

Sox entered the theater the contest was to be held. There were still a lot of minutes left but a lot of people were already seated, waiting for the competition to start.

[I think he turned off his watch too. I can't track his whereabouts] Percy stated through their comms.

Electro 28 didn't say anything, but they could feel the rage he was wearing through the comms.

[Should I abort my role and look for him?] Ada asked.

[No. We continue the mission without him. He'll receive proper punishment for his actions,] Said Electro 28

Ada laughed out loud. [Maybe he got scared and deserted. It's not like it is the first time he'd be doing that]

[Focus agent.]

Sox tapped her watch, trying to contact Storm 01 but it didn't work. The device the agents use will only send information to other agents if both watches are turned on.

She puts her hand down and proceeded to sit on one of the chairs among the crowd. She then clicked the side of her glass and it began to run a facial search through everyone in the crowd. It took only a few seconds and she found a match with the information she had.

"Found him," Sox reported. "Seat 189."

She stood up and began to push her way through the crowd to get to Jacob. Jacob suddenly turned in her direction. He immediately stood up and started running towards the exit.

Sox furrowed. "Target headed for the east exit. Does anyone copy?"

[Storm 02, remain in your position. 05, help 03 out] electro 28 instructed.

[Roger]

Sox chased after Jacob who bolted through the hall in the ColdTech building. He had no regard for anyone who was standing in his way as he tried to escape his pursuer. Sox reported to the others the routes Jacob followed, but surprisingly, he changes direction from whatever she muttered into the comms.

Jacob ran up a flight of stairs to the third floor of the building. Unlike the previous floor, there was no one there. He hid and waited for Sox to climb up the stairs before throwing a punch at her face. She staggered backward, leaving her entire body defenseless.

Jacob kicked her to the ground and pulled out a dagger from his back pocket, approaching her slowly.

[Sox, do you hear me?] Storm 01's voice rejoined the party.

[Wind up a window for my entrance. ]

…