We sat around that table and chatted all evening. After we were done and the servants carried the dishes away, Rosa stood up and excused herself to the washroom, asking that I show her where it was. Well, this is it, I guess. I imagined she waited until we were alone to tell me the real reason that she paid a visit, so I entered the washroom with her as well. We eyed each other through the mirror.

“Do you intend to assist me here as well?” she asked. I couldn’t help but avert eye-contact.

“I don’t mind assisting a beautiful woman like you anywhere, anytime,” I replied, trying to keep in character.

“Hmm, is that so?”

I leaned back onto the wall near the exit, “So, why did this dinner happen?”

“The meeting regarding you and David Cennet will be held tomorrow morning. I don’t suppose you wish to give me some listening device of some sort, do you?”

As she asked that question, it made me remember something I was supposed to give to Anna and Marissa. I had a few extra, so I decided to give her one. If she was to be on my side in this, then making sure she was safe would be to my advantage. “I do have something for you, actually. But,” I snickered, “not a listening device.”

“Oh?” she walked over to me slowly, “And what would that be?” she asked, giving me a stare in the eyes I didn’t quite understand.

“A tracker,” I said, removing myself from that situation, “it’s in the basement. I’ll go grab it.”

What’s she thinking? I wondered, but shrugged it off as her just being a tease. Once I got the devices and decided to return. Rosa was already back in the dining room, saying her goodbyes to Anna. I gave her the device disguised as a bracelet with a jewel. A firm press on the gem would send a message to my phone and allow me to track it. She thanked me, and promptly left.

I gave Anna hers and went to bed after.

The morning after, a message from Backslash came through in the software he designed. ‘I didn’t tell her anything. But she won’t shut up about it.’ I cackled. His mom, Hana, was quite the handful. There was more interesting information to be had in the group chat. Cryptic sent over some files. Apparently, she found out who Cennet’s bombmaker was. Harold Mason? ‘Cherry on top, hes in the teo bomb squad’, Cryptic’s message read. After a quick look myself, I confirmed she was right.

Hmm, now what do I do with this information? I knew I couldn’t tackle it recklessly. Ah, I’ll deal with that later. For now… I phoned Marissa and asked her where she was, then set off to meet her. The grounds of her university were littered with people. Am I in the right place? I wondered, slowly my pace to a crawl to ensure I saw ‘Library’, seeing that’s where she told me to meet her.

The TK’s camera zoomed-in to the building and confirmed my suspicions. It was indeed the library. She did this, didn’t she? I sighed. How was I to find her in that crowd? I checked my phone, and she asked me to simply land in front the library. She definitely did this…

The crowd went wild with cheering when I came into their sights. I let the TK land on the library’s roof and I slowly descended into the crowd. They made a little circle for me to land in, fearing contact the UGO energy emitting from my Grav.

The minute I turned it off and relied on the anti-gravitational plates, they swarmed me, not even giving me the pleasure of probably landing. Girls pulled me down, like quicksand I drowned into them. Luckily, I gave Z-21 and the pistol I had yet to name to the TK; I feared someone would’ve tried to relieve me of them.

A bunch of questions bludgeoned me once I got there. Mostly trivial things like age and if I had a girlfriend. The demographic of the crowd made me wonder just what sort of online persona the internet created me with. They were mostly young girls, and half of them were recording me with their phones. I politely made my way towards the library, and just before I could grace the small stairwell, a hand clasped onto mine. “There you are! Finally…”

Marissa placed her lips at my ear, “Fly me away,” she said, throwing her arms around my neck. I wanted to roll my eyes at her, but I held that urge in and obliged her. Once I held her up properly, those surrounding us moved away a little and I was able to fly off. Midway through the flight, she made it her business to record a little clip of us soaring through the skies. All this just to give her a bracelet, I tittered under my breath while she gave a silly face to the camera.

After showing her how to use the tracker, I dropped her off at a coffee shop and made my way to UGO to see the test data on the headgear and prosthetics I gave to them. Seeing the coats again was quite a nice change of pace. Just after ten o’clock, I was reworking some code for the headgear’s communication in the prosthetics to optimise small finger movements and how much pressure the user wished to exert in gripping force. Just when my brain reeled from a headache after thinking of formulae, my phone beeped. Rosa’s tracker was pressed.

At first, I didn’t pay it much mind. How much of a coincidence would it be that the very next day I gave her the tracker, something happened? I returned my concentration to the code running across the screen, only to be disturbed once again by my phone. Three more messages came through, telling me that Rosa basically pressed the button a bunch of times. That can’t be a mistake, I thought. “Tell Anna something came up,” I told one of the coats and rushed downstairs to the exit, promptly flying off.

Gripping onto the TK, I basically allowed it to go at a much faster speed than what Grav’s boosters allowed. Near five hundred kilometres per hour in a straight line got me to the scene in just a couple minutes. Rosa’s convoy was under fire. The vehicles to the front and back were ablaze, but not the one in the middle that Rosa was in. I took a deep breath, then had my TK drop me from mid-air. It began blasting the men swarming around the home secretary’s car with its cannons and I focused on getting Rosa away from there.

The car’s windows were busted from gunshots, so my voice could reach her even amidst the noise. “Rosa! This is Ugo! If you’re there, answer me!”

“U-Ugo! I’m, here!” she said, her voice broken in fear.

“Alright, everything’s going to be just fine! I’ll need to get you away from here! Just hold tight and keep your head below the windows!”

Bullets kept bouncing off my shielder. I tried opening the door, but it was locked of course. I stooped below the window and wormed my way toward the driver window. The gunfire coming from the other side of the car couldn’t be stopped by my shielder. If I stood up to see the armrest of the driver’s seat so I could unlock all the doors, I’d just risk getting shot through the opposite window. The TK had already dealt with near half the men, but I had to make it focus elsewhere. It took the other side of the car and placed its shielder up. That way I could stand and quickly unlock the doors. Once I got that out of the way, I let the TK continue to take down Rosa’s attackers.

Finally, I got the door open, and she crawled out, in the protection of both my shielders. In my stooped position, I ordered her to get on. “Grab onto me! Don’t let go, okay? You’re alright,” I reassured. Once her arms and legs were clasped around me, I flew off, guarding both sides with my shielder and heading right for where the TK already cleared a path.

We were out of sight in a few seconds and it would take me only a minute to find the nearest police station. Even when I walked her inside, she still clung to me and only stood on her own when a couple officers came to our aid. “You’re safe now, okay? Nothing’s going to happen to you. Let’s take a seat,” I guided her and she only answered with a nod every now and then. She was petrified and I was infuriated at myself for ignoring her call for help at first. Thankfully, she didn’t sustain any injuries. But her driver’s spilled blood on her face surely did some mental damage.

Once the officers came to us, I fixated my mind on those men who attacked her. “These gentlemen will take your statement. Is it alright if I go and–”

She grabbed my wrist with lightning-quick reflexes and simply shook her head.

“Okay. Okay, I’ll stay with you.”

“Thank you,” she muttered. When she gave her statement, I was right there in the room with her, hands still clutched together. The convoy she travelled with apparently had explosives underneath them. The men who acted as a firing squad all came out at the same time at that particular place. Someone was trying to kill her.

Eventually, she was able to return to her house with beefed-up security detail. She fell asleep after taking some medication. I was able to leave and return to the crime scene. The TEO wanted to take my TK as evidence. Esther Serrette closed her eyes and exhaled. “We need it to rule out your involvement in this.”

“My involvement?” I scoffed and had the TK fly right back to me, outside the crime scene tape. “This place is littered with cameras. Get the owners to share the footage.”

The minute the TK landed, they all pointed their guns at me. Something in my mind just snapped. Following my movements, the TK’s shielder energy formed after mine did. I brandished Z-21. “This is how you repay me?!” I snarled, and just then, my phone began ringing again.

“Anna…”

“Jared! Are you doing something crazy again?”

I laughed, and sheathed the Z-21. “I did, but everything’s fine now.”

“Are you sure you’re alright? The police are refusing to tell me anything! I hope you didn’t…” her words faded as did my attention to her. A hand resting on my shoulder was the culprit. I looked around and the hooded figure smiled at me. My heart dropped and my hand itched for Z-21, but attracting attention was probably a bad idea.

“What?” I asked Cennet.

“Come now, there’s no need to take such a derisive tone. I’m here on friendly business.”

“Give me one reason I should kill you where you stand!” I kept the phone to my ear, pretending to talk to Anna. She must’ve been addled as to my sudden change. But I couldn’t hide my animosity. Just seeing his face reminded me of Theresa and my parents. I wanted his head, badly.

He placed his hands into the pockets of his hoodie. “I have information that would prove useful to you, Jared.” After that statement, he walked off, disappearing into the crowd.

“Anna, I’ll call you back.”

A text message came through telling me to go to the parking lot north of where I stood. I obliged, leaving my TK with TEO Serrette. I’d rather they didn’t look for me. Breaking the corner, I saw Cennet once more.

“What’s this about?”

“Your girlfriend, Rosa Sorrentino.”

“The Home Secretary?” I became even more suspicious of him.

He smiled and pulled on the tip of his hat, “If you want her alive, you’d better stick to her like glue.”

“Is that a threat?”

“Pfft,” he held his laughter in. “What reason would I have to kill her? My prime targets are you, and, another that I cannot mention just yet. The reason I’m telling you this, is because if she were to die, my plans would be stalled.” He handed over a flash drive to me, “Do not trust the TEO, nor Michael Asher.”

“Why did you kill his daughter?” I asked the minute he mentioned the minister of defence’s name.

“Why? Because he imposed on you. We can’t have that, now can we?”

“But does that really give you a reason to kill someone?”

He glared at me enough to make it uncomfortable and suddenly chortled. “This misguided morality of yours, I look forward to meeting a Jared who has graduated such restraints.” He removed a hand from his pocket and suddenly stabbed me in the leg with something.

“Wha–”

Before I could ask a question, my eyelids began feeling heavy.

“Besides, she’s not dead,” he said. I barely heard it, but I made a mental note of it before I passed out. About an hour later, I awoke with an oxygen mask over my face in the back of an ambulance.

Before I could even thank the man, I checked for all my gear. Everything was in place, fortunately. I pulled the mask up a bit, “Take me to UGO Medical.” I told the man monitoring me. With some shaky movements, I placed my headgear on and checked my phone to see my body’s status. What the hell did he do?! My fingers trembled trying to find what I needed. It reported abnormalities throughout most of my body, but to me it only felt like slight muscle contractions and an increased heartrate.

What a foreign world this whole thing seemed like. Not too long ago I was the target of bullies; unable to fight back, but still in a somewhat protected bubble compared to all these catastrophic events taking place now. With Theresa around, I could’ve weathered any storms. Now, the beacon I clung to in order to ensure my sanity stayed intact was undoubtedly Anna Stone. Sometimes I couldn’t help but think that she didn’t deserve this. She didn’t need to be sympathetic towards some snotty rich kid who always found himself in harm’s way. She needn’t empathise with his hodgepodge of wilting emotions. Yet, I knew if she turned her back, Cennet would win, hands down. I’d become an individual so far away from anything I’d known that it horrified me even thinking about it.

Those thoughts afflicted me until I got to UGO Medical. I realised suddenly that there was a need to take the security of those I love to the next level. A shooting like that in broad daylight? I digested the folly of it as I had some time to wiggle around my own mind. Who would want the Home Secretary dead? The answer could be any number of people, but it had to be something that occurred recently. I just ruined that person’s plans. No doubt I’m on the radar now. Those thoughts reinforced the notion to ensure Anna and Marissa’s safety even more.

Finally, we arrived at our destination. The paramedics passed me off to the staff at UGO Medical along with a little checklist of my symptoms. I knew that UGO Medical was more of a research facility than an actual hospital, but they still had superior technology. And knowing Cennet, there was no way the hospital had a chance of figuring out the cause and formulating a treatment, much less a cure for whatever he did. Once the usual apparatus was hooked up to me, my symptoms subsided a little. Perhaps the numbing agent from Vasc did its work as well. I advised the staff who looked after me that I was stable after I took a more detailed look at the headgear’s reports.

I fell asleep after a while and awoke a few hours later. Marissa was asleep on my hand and Anna was off to the side, peeling some fruits. “That looks delicious,” I commented. Marissa woke up in a daze.

“Forget that,” she said and waltzed over to a nearby table, “I got you some real food!” She beamed, dropping a box of pizza on my lap.

“Rissy!” Anna was about to complain but changed her mind upon seeing the grin I sported. “Ugh, whatever. Anyway, mister. Do you have any idea what you got yourself into?”

My jaw paused from chewing the scrumptiousness that is pizza, “Nah. But when you say it like that…” I prompted for her to continue.

“The Home Secretary, Rosa Sorrentino. Just what is your relationship with her?” Anna eyed me.

Marissa placed a hand over her mouth and smiled mischievously, “Is that jealousy I smell?”

“It’s concern!” Anna snapped back without letting me out of her sight.

“I’m actually not sure what our relationship is. I don’t fully trust her, but we’re helping each other out.”

“Y’know, I told myself I’d give you your space to do what you have to do, but jumping in the way of ex-militants with assault rifles?!” She curled her fists up, closed her eyes and faced downward, “Dammit, Jared!”

Ex-militants? “How do you know they’re ex-militants?”

Marissa pulled up a news article about it. Guess who was reporting? Hana, with the TK in the background. I grunted, but as I listened, it was quite true. Throughout the article were several videos of the incident, all from different perspectives. Some of them focused on the TK, and others, on me. CCTV captured when the start of the attack began. Bombs, huh? Bombs were placed somewhere beneath Rosa’s convoy, but not on her actual vehicle. I somehow doubt they had difficulties getting one under her car. So, was this all to scare her? Is it to scare her from doing something or make her fear someone?

I pulled the equipment off me, “I’m going to visit her.”