Submerge

|| Carlo

"I'll just complete the lock installment here and we're done." I told Adriano on the phone while I'm typing out some programming codes on my laptop, which is connected to a computer.

The laboratory itself is soundproof and spacious. This is perfect for 3 types of engineering work since 3 engineering students have 3 different specialties. We also installed a command center at the most hidden part of this lab and a subsidiary electrical room for all of the pieces of electrical equipment here, including the supercomputer. Yes, this room was packed with other rooms in the first place, designed as one of the backup laboratories if the major laboratories of this research center failed.

Adriano and I decided to upgrade this facility for we were the ones who were knowledgeable of mechanical and electronics fully. Axis doesn't know shit and for the ladies to focus on blueprints and paperwork. I know we could have at least Maryl around for biochem lab upgrade, but we insisted and just have her text the things she needed for research.

As of now, I'm in the command center, feeling nervous. I'm praying that I'll get this in one take. It's Saturday night, I shouldn't feel this nervous.

"We're at 90%. We can test the lock in a minute or two."

"Roger that. I'll end the call if it worked." he answered

I counted as I typed down the remaining codes.

"97... 98... 99... 100. I hope it works though."

"The moment of truth." he told me.

A few seconds later, he ended the call.

Phew, that was close.

"Glad it worked well!" Adriano greeted me as he approached me. "It's a great idea of yours to make an invisible sticker with a hidden barcode. It worked!"

We called it an invisible sticker for it looks like scotch tape pasted on the card. I used invisible ink to print out the barcode as well.

"I was actually having fear of getting caught earlier, gladly it went smoothly." I sighed deeply in relief.

"Ironic. You're a big fan of nightclubs and sleeping with different ladies, and you are surprisingly afraid of getting caught?"

That question made me silent and stare onto my laptop for quite some time.

He tapped my shoulder "Yes Mr. Giovanni Montecarlo Fulgenzio, are you alright?"

"That question made me feel scared for my life, not gonna lie." I told him while taking the cords connecting the laptop and the computer.

"Kidding aside Carlo, are you free on Monday? Around lunch break?" he changed the topic.

I turned the office seat for me to face him. "I have Differential Calculus class at around 12pm, why?"

"Let's take the three on a tour, and paste the stickers on their ID as well."

"Do they all have AXU-RC ID though? I mean, we do know that Maryl owns one."

"I bet they all have, AXU-RC can be made at admission's office upon request."

"But the real question here is..." Adriano made a thinking pose, with his fingers under his chin. "Won't the invisible sticker be detected upon entrance? I mean, we stuck the sticker above the AXU-RC barcode. Won't there be a conflict?"

"It won't." I answered. "I pasted mine before entering AXU-RC."

And besides, no one will know how we did it, we're future engineers anyways. Unless leaked, of course. I'm hoping somebody won't though.

I handed Adriano three plastic strips from one of the pockets of my jacket. "Regarding the stickers, kindly give these to them on Monday since I won't be able to see y'all."

He took those. "Sure, no problem."

-----

|| Reign

"Submerge in five... four... three... two... one."

The fifteen-minute timer started and we submerged ourselves with chains in both hands-on our backs, as well as our feet.

I managed to have my hands in front first; by inserting my lower body between my chained arms. It's harder to do such when your feet are also chained since there isn't much. I took the keys from the pool floor and unlocked the chains underwater. It's easier to unlock now; I unlocked the chains locking my hands first, then my feet.

My focus was tested here, I see.

When I finished, I immediately ascended from the 10 ft. pool by floating. Yep, 10 feet. This is the deepest pool of this school for it is needed underwater training.

"Coach, I almost had my bones break!" I teased.

"Good thing you and Ms. Liu only took seven minutes for this activity. Well done guys!" He congratulated has he turned off the timer. "Okay guys, we can now have a lunch break before our discussion." and he exited the swimming area ng college gym.

Maryl swam to the pool stairs to get up and I followed suit. She checked her one-piece black rash guard that she was currently wearing. "I thought this will rip while trying to be flexible underwater. Oh, fudge, there's one on the back part and it's kinda big."

"Do you have something underneath though?" I asked.

"Yeah." She took off the upper part of her rash guard and tied the sleeves around her waist. "I need to buy a new one. This one was from our senior high days."

"I was actually wondering why you were still wearing that one, although it's somewhat old and it got larger on you." I asked with curiosity.

"Yeah it got bigger on me, but it ripped during the lower flexibility test."

"Maryl, Reign, there you are. We--"

We turned our heads to the voice speaking, and we saw Ian and Axis froze from such unexpected sight; a woman in a black sports top and one-piece swimming suit, that is an actual official swimming uniform. Their faces seem like they haven't been in this swimming gym.

They're both in their main uniform of college-level; That male uniform with a black coat, navy blue vest, and pants, green necktie. How did they escape from the guards' sights?

"We didn't expect how toned you guys are..." Ian's flustered reaction.

"Eh? I don't even have much muscle mass." Maryl responded.

"No wonder why Maryl has a lot of sugar daddies." Axis teased.

Ian cleared his throat and his face is blushing.

Is someone like Donte Adriano Marco Martinenghi crushing on Maryl Juneaux Liu? Hmm...

"Okay moving on, our station is open for use already. We'll just have to buy spy cams at Divisoria." Ian changed the topic, which clearly distract himself.

"Divisoria dude? Are you sure?" I asked confusingly.

"Yes! When are you guys free? This Saturday?"

"I can go on Saturday." I responded.

"Me too." Maryl accepted with a nod and her arms crossed.

"All must go, alright? No talking shit." Axis warned.

"How about Carlo though, did you tell him?" I asked.

"Carlo is currently in his Differential Calculus class, but we already relayed the message to him." Ian replied.

"Poor thing, no lunch break." I lowkey teased.

"Well, we have lunch break but we haven't eaten yet." Maryl backfired.

"I thought you guys go to different colleges and differ in majors, but why are you attending the same swimming class?" Axis questioned confusingly.

"We were only excused once a month, it happened to be scheduled every first Monday. This is actually a part of our physical training and an ROTC requirement. Because of this, we are not required for PE classes anymore." I explained.

"There is such thing in this school?" Axis asked confusingly.

"Of course, but I know you won't participate anyways."

"So is there something more to discuss?" Maryl asked a sudden question to change the topic.

"If you guys are free, then we can take you to our main laboratory." Ian responded.

"Since it's still our lunch break, we'll just change to our uniforms. Be right back." Maryl told them and we swiftly took our own towels placed on the beach lounger for us to dry ourselves and wrap around us, and we immediately went to female's dressing/shower room.

We took our toiletries and main uniforms and entered in seperate cubicles for us to shower and get changed. I instantly got out after, and wore powder and red lipstick in front of the mirror. Maryl did the same upon exit, but she first fixed the strap of her Louboutin Mary Jane pumps. After, she put on some bb cushion and red watery liptint onto her face. She also fixed her eyebrows and wore her oval-shaped glasses. The main uniform of college women is also the same as men's, except we have a choice if we prefer a pencil skirt with a slit on right side or pants. For now, we are wearing pencil skirts.

While she was fixing her hair and doing her makeup, I checked my phone in the locker and I saw coach's text.

"Bitch, coach texted us." and gazed upon her direction.

"Hm? What did he say?" and she looked back.

"He said that classes are dismissed for there was a emergency meeting among PE professors."

"Really?"

"Yep. You should check yours later on."

Maryl went to the locker where her bag was located and organized for a bit before checking her phone.

"Oh right. We could stay at the laboratory as much as we could." and she took her backpack out of the locker.

"Let's see if we could sleep there." I took mine and we got out of the shower room together. We also took our IDs from our pockets while walking.

-----

|| Adriano

Was surprising Maryl and Lawreign a great idea? I felt like I was the one who got surprised. I didn't expect them to look different without their uniforms, especially Maryl. It was Axis' idea, the only theory I could think of is to prank them both.

Yeah, I knew them by name and appearance, and we had little to no interactions in the past, so maybe this is why Maryl's... I mean their toned body got me astonished. They look somewhat normal in their uniforms. Axis on the other hand, I tend to interact with him often because of my family's frequent dinner plans with the Salvatierras.

I first talked with Maryl last meeting, and that was our first official meeting as well. Her vibe is absolutely something. I wanted to get to know her more, but I think we'll be gradually and I don't want to bombard her with questions.

"You seem to be thinking something Ian. Was it about the fact that you shouldered the whole engineering department with this plan?" Axis asked, in which I presume has a different meaning behind.

"What do you mean? I wasn't expecting much anyways. I bet the machines themselves are easy." I answered quizzically.

"Okay okay, I'm sorry. You know how much of a dumm dumm I am when it comes to science subjects." he apolgized.

I sighed deeply and had my arms crossed. "Besides, there are 3 engineering students in our team. They are one of the smartest and the most reliable."

He nodded. "Oh right, point taken."

We were waiting for them to come out of the shower room and we're currently nearby the swimming area. It's been around 20 minutes and they haven't come out yet. Women do take a lot of time in their bathroom to make themselves presentable and confident, don't they?

"They're here." Axis said, with his gaze pointed at the shower area.

We saw Maryl and Reign in their uniforms approaching us, and it's my first time to see Maryl in her glasses. I have to admit, she looks cute. It's also my first time to see her in glasses, personally.

"Shall we go?" Reign asked us.

I took the plastic strips from my pocket and gave it to them and they looked at it confusingly. "Carlo made a restricted lock, and he ordered to put the sticker above the AXU-RC ID's barcode."

"Won't there be any conflicts?" Reign asked quizically, the same question I asked Carlo.

"Carlo said it won't. We can try when we get there." I answered.

They took out their AXU-RC IDs from their ID cases and attached the stickers above the bar code. They immediately returned the IDs to their cases. Axis just followed the instruction because he doesn't know what the heck we're talking about. We walked from the gym to Alexandra University Research Centre. It was a little far and Axis complained about why we didn't opt for a school golf cart ride. To be frank, I think his laziness is the reason why he isn't losing weight. I didn't hear a single complaint from the ladies, to think that they were wearing inches long heels.

We tapped the AXU-RC ID with the sticker on and we didn't experience any conflict. Everything went smoothly from AXU-RC entrance to our laboratory. We tested our IDs one by one to check if all of those stickers work. Axis was astonished of Carlo's work; he didn't expect that the simple plastic strip could do "amazing things", like opening a laboratory.

The testing was done and Axis asked "Carlo made all of these? Are you serious?"

"Was that surreal to you?" I answered. "You haven't seen the best part yet."

They roamed around the facility, and I can feel they were happy with the results. Axis was the least knowledgeable in engineering, so of course, everything seems like magic to him.

Axis and Reign were busy roaming around and checking some stuff and Maryl was scrutinizing the pieces of equipment at the command center. I approached her and stared at the computer screens.

"Do you like it?" I asked and stared at her curious face.

She crossed her arms and looked at me with an astonished gaze. "Let me guess, you made this, no?"

I shook my head. "No. Carlo installed all of the electronics and locks here. I let him because I can see his abilities, he's just lowkey."

She nodded, but I can see her expressions turn bland. "I didn't expect this. His skills are amazing."

I nodded back in subtle awkwardness and refocused onto the computer screens. "Again, Carlo is very lowkey with his skills, I know you know."

"I know he's great, but I didn't expect to be this shocked. How many weeks did he invest for this?" she looked around the area.

"1 week in total. He spent his free time in this facility." I answered.

I did help with the large parts, but Carlo deserves the credit. He did the motherboard and the details needed for these machines to work. And of course, to impress her with his work. I presume that she's into bad boys like him. I could be wrong, though.

Maryl nodded and sighed. "Anyways Adriano..."

"Yeah?" I gazed at her.

She looked back. "Axis told me that he might recruit Jinyoung for our team. Is it okay with you?"

Her expression changed. Is she worried about me?

"I don't care actually if he'll do. But personally, I can't trust Jinyoung." I answered honestly.

"Is it because of the rivalry?" curiosity ran onto her words.

"No. I'm getting a hunch that he's two-faced." I looked at the computer screens again and placed my hands in my pants' pockets.

"What do you mean two-faced?" she asked again.

"You're his friend, I won't spill for now, for you gotta see it for yourself. Or he has to reveal himself." I answered.

_____

章 5: Submerge

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