Chapter 9: Maeve & Luna
Friday went by in a blur, mostly because the bio teacher, Ms. Blanchar, was out sick today, so we had a substitute teacher who just made us watch an episode of Planet Earth II. I'd take that over a lecture any day of the week.
With my energy spared from being sucked out in the morning, I paid more attention to my surroundings, and I realized the news of QUALIA's breach into the corporations has made its way around the school. That's what everybody is talking about now.
I find it funny how whenever there is some mysterious news that no one knows the definite nuances behind, people start making the wildest speculations with seemingly all the confidence in the world.
During lunch, I overheard someone say QUALIA isn't run by humans, but instead an AI that has escaped from some machine-learning lab and somehow gained its own consciousness. And after seeing the wickedness of humanity, it decided to take matters into its own hands.
Wild, wild guess, so much so it's more like fantasy than speculation, and yet quite a lot of people sounded rather convinced by it, one of them was, of course, Brooke.
"That makes so much sense! That's why no member has ever been caught, because they don't exist!" She said.
I was obviously silent during that whole ordeal. I didn't need to be. I could have simply pointed out that machines gaining consciousness won't be a scientific possibility for another hundred years or so, if ever, or the fact that AIs can't exactly "escape" anything. It's not like they are caged up in a lab the way a monkey is, but whatever. I didn't want to ruin the fun.
Hanna had done her job, as well. I obviously couldn't get in touch with her at school, but I saw her results on the internet. Unfortunately, no embarrassing photos came out of Kimmons's account. I guess Hanna couldn't find any, and Joey was probably too busy handling the aftermath of the breach. However, Hanna did flood Kimmons's platforms with anti-capitalist caricatures, like those old 1900s ones. It wasn't quite what I had in mind when I said memes, and the public didn't really understand the irony behind it, but the gist was conveyed: Kimmons had gotten his accounts hacked, and it wouldn't be hard to imagine who was behind it.
That about sums up my whole day. School's final bell rang some time ago. Brooke had a violin solo recital, so I went on the bus by myself, which was a breath of fresh air. Not that I am finding Brooke annoying, but sometimes a little alone time is very important.
The elevator up to my floor is void of Brooke's babbling this time, and it's making the ride seem to take longer than usual. I'm not complaining, though. It just helps me savor the quiet moments even more.
I don't have any work school-wise over the weekend, so I can finally relax and get to work with QUALIA. Our operations go sensational in the media a few times a year, but in reality, a lot is getting done outside of the public eye all the time. The thing that keeps us most busy is protecting ourselves from bounty hunters, white-hats working for the authorities, and unaffiliated hackers who just want to take a crack at us.
It can't be helped. I am apparently one of the FBI's most wanted individuals, after all. You may ask, why am I aligned with those heinous criminals? Well, yes, it is true that I keep QUALIA's mission to be for the greater good, but that's rather subjective, also, I may have done a few things along the way that might not be considered "moral" as necessary means to an ultimately good outcome, which means I had to break a few laws here and there. It's unavoidable when one is involved in the hacking industry. The laws in place just aren't progressive enough to be able to catch up with the rapid advancements in technology.
Plus, it's probably not in the FBI's and CIA's interests to let an unchecked power run around and do as it wishes, reshaping society however it sees fit, like a loose God. I assume that even if I'm caught, I probably won't be serving any time, but instead, the news would be kept under wrap, and I will be forced to work for homeland security or something, using my followers to achieve their version of the "greater good".
What I am trying to say is that I am a good person, got it? There are countless people on the internet trying to say otherwise, occasionally including the government, but what are they going to do about it?
Eh, here I am going on rambling again. My original point was that our members are always under attack. Every operation we carry out exposes some weak spots to the world, and we have to make sure nothing comes back to bite us. That should take up my weekend.
DING. It's my floor. I step out into the carpeted hallway with a single flower pot as decoration. Quite meager, considering the flower is also badly withering, but it only stands as a statement on this floor's occupants, since it's each floor's responsibility to take care of their own flower. Evidently, we are not very good with responsibilities.
I walk around the corner into the hallway where the door to my apartment is, and I notice something strange, causing me to stop in my tracks.
There are two girls sitting at the base of my door, their backs leaning against it. One of them seems to be sleeping, her head resting on the shoulder of the girl beside her. The other, who has a strange shade of silver for hair, is staring off into the emptiness, apparently pondering over something.
I don't think I recognize them at all. Who are they? What are they doing here?
Upon a closer look, they both are around my age, but they aren't dressed like it. The two of them are in brightly-colored sundresses, the ones you would see either a six-year-old child wearing around the playground or an adult woman wearing to a dinner party. What's weirder is that their dresses are covered in patches of dirt, wrinkled and improper, and so are their bodies. Their faces and skin look like they just came out from a day at a construction site, a very odd feeling compared to their posh facial features.
"Um… excuse me?" I say and walk up to the two in the empty hallway.
The silver-haired girl snaps out of her daze and turns to me, while the other one continues voyaging in the land of dreams.
She stares into my eyes emotionlessly without saying a word.
"H-Hello?" I ask with a wave, prompting her to say something.
"Hello," a short pause later, she finally speaks, "Are you the owner of this apartment?"
"Huh? No, my parents are. I just live here," I say.
The silver-haired girl nods. "I see. Where are your parents right now?"
I feel like I should be the one asking that question.
"Uh, they are not home at the moment," I say.
The girl bobs her head slightly while shifting her eyes to the ground to think about something.
"Y-Yeah… anyway, what are you doing here? Are you lost?" I ask.
"Hm?" She turns back to me and shakes her head. "No, we've come to the right place."
What does that mean?
The girl gently taps her sleeping friend on the shoulder and whispers, "Luna, wake up, someone's here."
The eyelids of the other girl supposedly named Luna slowly open. "Hm, Maeve? What's happening?" She asks quietly while rubbing her eyes.
The silver-haired girl called Maeve points her finger at me, and Luna turns her head, lining up her gaze with mine.
And then she lets out what I can only assume to be a whimper as her eyes go round. Luna jolts away and clutches onto her friend's shoulder in fear.
"W-Who's that?" She asks timidly.
Am I that scary?
"The person we were looking for," Maeve says in a reassuring voice.
Hm? Do they know me? Was I supposed to be expecting guests?
"Um, is it okay if we continue inside?" I ask, "Other people might be coming through soon."
"Sure, and do you maybe have some food? We are a little hungry," Maeve asks.
"Yeah, I can probably whip something up with what's in my fridge," I say.
"That'd be great." Maeve pushes herself up from the ground and dusts off her already dirty dress, which, of course, yields no effect. She then helps Luna up, who steps behind Maeve's back and sort of cowers in her friend's shadow.
Weird. I take out my keys and walk up to the door.
"Are you two affiliates of my parents'?" I ask as I unlock my apartment door.
There's a pause. For an instant, the only thing that can be heard is the jingling of my keys.
"You could say that," Maeve says.
Ah, so that's what this is.
"Well, in that case, welcome in, then." I push open the door and hold it open for the girls, waiting for then to enter before me.
But the two of them aren't moving, not their feet, at least. Maeve raises her palm up to my eye level and makes a strange gesture.
Before I had the chance to ask what she was doing, the deep-blue irises of her eyes flash purple for a swift moment, and to my dumbfounded surprise, I feel my muscles starting to contract.
What the hell? Was that a spark of lightning I just saw jumping out of her fingers?
Also, what is happening to my body? What has she done?
There is no pain, but the feeling of my body being hijacked by an electric current is not something very pleasant, either.
Maeve's expression is still void of emotions, while Luna has hidden her entire face behind Maeve's back, sheltering herself from whatever is going on here.
My limbs are spasming. I can't move anything. My legs tense up, causing me to lose balance and fall backward without the ability to brace myself for the descent.
DOOK!
I feel a hard impact against the back of my head, and my vision turns black.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone