Prologue (Pt. 2)

--- Maya ---

While her AI wasn’t necessarily the smartest one around, -something she completely understood, since true genius took time, trial, and (the termination of one’s enemies)- it was still fairly advanced by the average standards of the world.

As such one of the first things she sent it to do was to map out all of the nearby cellphones. (You have to love the fact everyone carries an wi-fi connective device in their pockets.)

Just on its own, this told her the number of people watching her, their general locations, and a backdoor into their phones all at the price of… (Two units of power.)

Not the worst use of power all things considered.

From there she had the AI go through each phone’s text history -including the ones everyone thinks they’ve deleted- before searching for messages with key words such as ‘kidnap the girl,’ ‘go to location X’ and other such typical minion orders. She then had the sender of those messages sent to her phone so that she could cross reference them to try and figure out the number of this little gang sect’s leader.

(And… got it for, three power…) She couldn’t help but grimace at the fifty-percent marker on her phone’s battery. (Going to be cutting this close…)

(You’re going to fail~)

She shook her head clear of those doubts, as she continued managing her AI’s activities through her COMP. “Just stay focused, you can do this.”

As she finally figured out which of the numerous phone numbers (probably) belonged to the gang’s leader, she reached the part of the plan that could (and would) bite her in the ass if her understanding of the situation was wrong. (Like usual…)

“NO!” She shook her head more forcibly this time, her long hair flying all over the place as she did so. “I’m not wrong!”

Pushing past the little voice telling her she was wrong, she had her AI pretend to be the gang leader’s number as it sent out a series of texts several of the gang members, warning them of a possible leak to the police and impending raid on the current building and for the more valuable members to flee while the grunts hold the -(imaginary)- line.

To one very lucky gang member she sent out a different order, one that said to take her and transport her to a second location where they’d hand her off to a couple of other members who’d secure her at an alternative -(and fictional)- base.

All of this she did at the price of… (Three more power… Meaning I only have two left…)

Knowing there was nothing else she could do at the moment, she hid her COMP once more, hoping that whoever was moving her did so by himself rather than with a few of her friends. In which case she was likely fucked.

“No! No, no, no, I have a plan, and I’m going to be perfectly fine.” She told herself as the wait began to claw at her already thinly stretched sanity.

If strained her ears she was able to hear people shouting and yelling on the other side of the door, as well as a number of pounding feet running around.

Eventually a man in a suit slammed the door open, before grabbing her by the arm and roughly dragging her out of the room. As they moved through the building she made note of the dozen or so men who had been guarding her.

(Isn’t this a bit much for one girl?)

She may’ve been smart, and a rare Deviant sub-type, but even she thought this many armed men was a bit much for a single fledgling M.A.D.

The gang member she’d manipulated into aiding her escape threw her into the back of a car and pointed a gun at her.

“Try anything and I won’t hesitate to shoot you, understand?”

She nodded, too scared of the gun aimed at her to point out that she was already trying something, and that with this kind of guard she was fairly certain she was deemed too valuable to risk shooting.

Unaware that these were her true feelings on the subject, her captor nodded back before getting into the front seat of the car and driving towards the location his puppet master (her) had given him.

As subtly as she could she pulled the COMP out of her pocket and used one of her last two units of power to have her AI create a brute force connection between the gangster’s phone and her COMP. Using this connection, she disabled all of the phone’s safety programs and charging restrictions, while lining up the phone’s processor to start running her Generator () function at the click of a button.

Hiding her COMP underneath her, she put on a frightened face -easy given the situation- and waited until her captor pulled over into a deserted parking lot a couple of miles from her home, but close enough to her testing ground for her to know her way back.

“Stay put, or else.” The gangster ordered, once more making a show with his gun.

Her eyes never left the criminal as he exited the vehicle, her thumb hovering over the button that would use the last of her COMP’s power to transfer her Function ()’s program, while keeping the actual information locked to her machine.

Now normally running a program off another device wouldn’t cause too much damage, beyond possible malware. That said, her program had two unique things going for it.

One. Her program was complex enough to need what was essentially a supercomputer to even process the first set of variables, and as such would produce a significant amount of heat in a lesser processor.

Two. The program in question was designed to generate raw electrical energy in whatever device ran it.

What most people would assume is that this would just recharge whatever device was running Generator (). At least until they checked the math and realized the device in question was producing enough electricity in a week to match a (weak) bolt of lightning.

It took a few moments, during which her captor noted something odd going on in her pocket, but even with the man’s semi-awareness her (ingenious) plan came to fruition as the criminal’s smartphone caught fire in his pocket.

(Aw, I was hoping for something more explosive…)

Not letting her disappointment slow her down, she quickly reached around the seats and unlocked her door before quietly bolting out the door in the opposite direction from the gangster.

(Just a little further and I’m home free!)

That thought jinxed her, as the criminal she thought occupied somehow managed to catch up to her and grab her by the edge of her hair, forcing her to a more than painful stop.

“Where do you think you’re going, bitch?!”

Instinctively defaulting to what little self-defense she knew, she turned around and immediately kneed her attacker in the crotch, forcing him to let her go, and leaving her free to smash the brick like COMP into his face.

Not bothering to see if he was down for the count, she turned and ran like her life depended on it, because she was fairly certain it did.

As the pavement moved beneath her feet the city around her began to change, slowly shifting to places she was more and more familiar with as she ran, hid, and panicked in a desperate attempt to get home while avoiding being seen by anyone.

But as she crested the hill to her street, exhausted, emotionally drained, and about ready to drop, she caught sight of the familiar two-story house she’d grown up in, she couldn’t help but smile.

With a sudden second wind, she ran for her house bursting through the front door with enough energy to send the door bouncing off the wall.

“Guys, guys I’m back!” She cried to undoubtedly relieved family.

“Ah, Maya, you made it back just in time for dinner.” Her father greeted her as he clearly tried to downplay the sheer amount of worry he’d experienced through the day with his daughter’s disappearance.

“Yeah, it was crazy day. I was kidnapped in the morning, and I had to use my COMP and this AI I made to manipulate the gang and then through my brilliant planning I was able to orchestrate an ideal opportunity to escape.” She babbled, trying to ease her father’s clear worry by explaining how she could take care of herself in this dangerous city. “I’ll admit it did get a little hairy when that one criminal caught me, but I was able to fend him off well enough to escape!”

Her father smiled, proud of his daughters daring escapades as he-

“That’s nice sweetie, I hope you had fun with your game.”

Something in her head stuttered. “My… what?”

“Your game? That’s where you’ve been all day, right?” Her father frowned before being dragged off by her younger brother tugging at his arm.

“But I was really… kidnapped…” She trailed off quietly, watching as her her family continue to bustle about the house as if nothing had gone wrong today.

(They… they didn’t even notice I was gone…)

Something in her broke at that revelation.

Filled with a sudden listlessness, she turned towards the stairs and started making her way up to her room.

“Maya,” Her mother called from below, showing a semblance of care, “Aren’t you going to eat, honey?”

“I’m uh, I’m not hungry…” She told her mom, as her stomach rolled at the thought of pretending she’d had a normal day.

Her mother frowned in concern. “Are you sure? I don’t think I’ve seen you eat anything all day.”

(That’s because I wasn’t here all day!)

“I’m fine.” She lied. “I’m uh, I’m just going to do my thing… in my room.”

“If you’re sure…” Her mother nodded, before her attention was dragged away from the woman’s clearly worn-down daughter and to whatever chaos her siblings were causing instead.

(She didn’t even notice… did she?)

Not wanting to think about it, she turned and slowly stumbled her way into the room she shared with her sister, before kicking off her shoes and letting her eyes drift between the TV where her game system was hooked up and her desk where a handful of metal bits and pieces were sitting in front of her laptop ready to be worked on.

(I… I feel like building something…)