Once Mark left the office, he met with Steve and Livia in the hallway. The three of them walked to the entrance while his friends asked about the meeting with the new homeroom teacher. Both of his friends were curious about why the new teacher called Mark to her office. Mark was reluctant to speak in front of everyone. He opted to move back to Regan's Point and use his private V.R. so they can speak at the snow cabin.
Once outside, Mark and his friends were surrounded by the security detail hired by the young man's parents. The group went through another scene, exiting the School and moving towards the luxurious sky-car. The young man questions the need for such a display. In his mind, it would be safer if no one saw him arrive or leave.
Meanwhile, Melly had been spending the day in A.M.S. She had recently finished the Nova Star tests for the day. The golden-eyed girl decided to go for a few sweets in The Waiting Room. As she was blissfully gorging on her treats, a voice popped into her mind. First, it was a whisper, then it intensified until she could hear it clearly.
The voice whispered, and the echoes followed in its wake. It was as if the voice came from a space with nothing to dampen it. "Hello, child... are you... Melinda?"
Melly looked around. The source of the voice was hard to spot at first. She was intrigued by this. That voice seemed to come from all directions at once. The girl focused on that voice, mentally filtering out all other sounds. With some difficulty, she figured out the direction of the source.
Her gaze fixated on a player with an unusual avatar. The female figure resembled a statue carved from a dark, glassy stone that lustered in the light. With the shine and opacity, the material resembled onyx. Cracks covered in gold adorned the surface of her skin. A white mask kept her facial features hidden, and her eyes shone with a golden hue. The dark figure was wearing a black hood that enveloped her form. On top, Melly could read the game ID, The Secrets of Nyx.
As Nyx closed the distance between them, Melly felt a mix of emotions coming from the player. Feelings of curiosity, wander, and longing clashed with anger, pain, and remorse. It was as if the feelings of three people were clashing together on a single being.
Melly handed one of her sweets as a peace offering. "Hello... Yes, my name is Melinda, but my friends and family call me Melly."
The dark figure grabbed her offering while looking at the golden-eyed girl. "Thank you, may I call you Melly as well? I want us to be friends."
Melly smiled. For some reason, she felt it was OK to talk to this person. The girl began to look for common ground with the player. "Do you Like Mechs?"
Nyx caressed Melly's face as if she were admiring a piece of art. The feelings she projected intensified for a moment. Then, the sensation suddenly stops as if her feelings were trapped behind a closed door. "I am sorry, Melly... I was distracted... What did you ask again?"
Melly suddenly understood that this person was like her. She was also able to do things that others could not. That was the reason the girl felt akin to Nyx. With a hesitant voice, she tried to confirm her intuition. "Are you... Are you like me?"
Nyx remained silent for a few moments. While her face showed no emotion, she spoke in a soft, kind tone. "No child. You are the one who resembles me."
A familiar voice suddenly stopped their conversation. Fran, Scarlet's assistant, came by to check on the golden-eyed girl when she saw her speaking with a stranger."Hello, Melly, who is your friend?"
The girl smiled at Fran. She wanted to introduce her new acquaintance. "This is my new friend. I'm going to call her Nyxy." But the moment Melly turned, Nyx was gone. She looked around, but the dark figure was nowhere to be found. "She was just here."
Fran looked around, trying to spot the person Melly was talking about. She was unable to distinguish the person Melly was talking to amongst the crowd. "Well, she probably logged off." The bunny girl made a mental note to tell Mark about the weird stranger.
Melly resumed her day. After a few hours, she met with her friends and decided to go for a few operations. Meanwhile, two golden eyes observed the girl from the shadows. Nyx had a mixed expression in her eyes, as if she had found someone she never expected to find.
Back at the snow cabin, Mark had finished relating the discussion with the New teacher. Steve, Alex, and Livia had been listening with undivided attention. For them, things were moving too fast. They had heard about Mark's secret for the first time yesterday, and they only knew about the system and the time regression.
Mark was selective in the secrets that he shared with them. He did not want the teens to get involved with the gangs. Besides that, the aspect was led by Specter, not Mark. Since only his grandfather and Jack knew about his secret Identity, his friends would be protected from the backlash if anything happened. Or so he thought...
On the other side of Berant City, a young woman sat in a dark room. Her eyes reflected the screen of a computer terminal. The fingers of her hands moved swiftly upon a keyboard. The typing sounds only stopped to grab a bite of the food by the side of the terminal, then she resumed the flurry of typing sounds.
On the screen, the medical files, school records, and other aspects of her target's life were shown. So far, she had found nothing of note to report. Her target was a snot-nose teenage boy with no real dirt on him. The guy didn't even smoke. A smile drew on her face after finally finding something to report.
Using an AI bot, she reviewed old medical files and compared them with recent samples. A beeping sound alerted the young woman to a discrepancy. Taking a better look at the data, she found something promising. There was a difference between the samples taken after the black site event and her target's old samples.
The modifications were subtle, but if you looked hard enough, you could spot certain discrepancies that hinted at genetic manipulation. The only reason the young woman was able to spot these was because of the AI. A human eye would have never been able to do this. She felt that the use of such expensive tools was justified.
The young woman grabs her comm-ad and dials a call. "Gin, Money Maker here, I got something that you may be interested in."
On the other side of the call, Gin was intrigued. Money Maker was one of their best cyberheads. Shoe would not call unless she had something to report. "I'm listening, tell me what you managed to find."
She lost no time in relating her findings. The young woman was savouring her reward as she spoke. "I found a discrepancy in the genetic code of the target. It is barely visible, but with the aid of one of my bots, I was able to spot it. I think this was done to him at the blacksite event."
Gin Felt like the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place. In his mind, he deduced that the black site event was the moment the teen joined the Conclave. With this new information, The Boss would be able to decide on a path forward. However, before he could call the Boss, another subordinate came with new information.
The man barged into Gin's room, blood splattered all over him. He was carrying a comm-pad displaying a paused video. Handing over the device to Gin, the man urged him to play the video.
Gin complied with the request. Holding the comm-pad with his left arm, he used his right hand to replay the video. The recording showed the armored man's speech back at the Vulture's nest. People were calling him Specter. Gin heard his speech about coming from the future and the warning of the impending war. He was reluctant to belive this claims. In his eyes, Specter was using the people's fear to fuel his ambitions.
Gin squinted in confusion as he saw Specter transforming a bunch of junk into a brand new hover-bike. He had to admit that there was no way for him to explain this. However, he saw this as a parlor trick. The action was not proof that Specter came from the future. It was a trick to convince the weak-minded to join his army.
As expected, the clip showed that hundreds of people were swayed by his trickery. He now had a gang composed of the Vultures' remnants, along with members from other gangs. A group this size would not be easy to deal with.
Gin saw the need for more information. Turning towards the subordinate who brought him the comm-pad, he inquired about the device's origin. "Where did you get this comm-pad?"
The subordinate answered immediately. "We collected it from one of the people we captured. he is being interrogated as we speak."
Before taking this to the Boss, Gin resolved to gather more information. "If he is still alive, bring him to me."
Mark had entered the Grease Monkey Workshop with his friends after their meeting at the snow cabin. Steve moved to the repairs control room. Alex was about to follow him, but Scarlet called her over. The two teens moved to The Waiting Room, apparently they decided to have a private meeting of their own. Mark decided to move to the design lab and review the testing data they had so far.
As he reached his destination, Mark found that the two groups of test pilots were in an unsanctioned competition. They wanted to see which of the two designs was better. Mark shook his head. Both mechs had different roles in combat, and it was not logical to pit them against each other.
In this format, the Nova Star would have an unfair advantage. It had tougher armor and a longer range. The only advantage the Outlaw had was its mobility, but a good marksman would negate that advantage. Unlike the Outlaw, the Nova Star was designed as a rifleman mech. One task the combat role performed was eliminating smaller threats, such as light harassers.
Mark watched the contest with amusement. As he predicted, the Nova Star test pilots won. However, the results were not as he anticipated. The Nova Star team took more damage than expected. The Outlaw testing group had developed a set of maneuvers that nearly negated the Nova Star's advantage. In the end, only one of the Nova Star limped out of the simulated conflict.
The result gave him a few Ideas on how to improve the Owtlaw. Unlike his McCain reaper. The light mech had attachment ports. He could use different attachments to improve the outlaw's performance. Mark decided to have a chat with the pilots; their insights will help with the attachment designs.
Meanwhile, Alex and Scarlet were seated in one of the corner tables at The Waiting Room. The two had been talking about the women that have been throwing themselves at Mark. Alex looked worried; her insecurities were eating at her. The girl found herself at a dead end; she did not know what to do.
Livia smiled. She was expecting this reaction from her. "Don't worry, Alex, I know what to do. She looks at the silent teen with a flame in her eyes and assumes a fighting stance with the rest of her body. She lets out a confident cry. "We have to prepare for War!"
Alex looked at Livia as if the girl had two heads. A text bubble floated near her blue helmet. "Scarlet, what are you talking about?"
Scarlet looked at her with a knowing smile. She placed her hands on her hips and adopted an inspiring pose. "My little grass hopper, don't give me that look. To all women, love is war!"
Since Livia had helped her with her date, Alex was inclined to follow her advice. The confidence projected by the lively teen infected her. In her mind, Alex was glad to have a female friend to depend on once more.