“Idiots, gotta do everything myself.”

  The angry voice of a familiar young blonde woman rattled Leon out of his thoughts, interrupting his peaceful break. Looking over, he suddenly looked eyes with her eyes, who noticed his presence in return.

  “Wow, I didn’t realize I would have an audience.” Jade Kotova, the GenoTech heiress, stated with faked surprise in her voice.

  Leon put on a wronged expression. “No fair. You stormed out without even looking at your surroundings.”

  She chuckled. “It’s not a habit of mine to check for something like that.”

  “Doesn’t everybody in high society care about their image?” Leon blurted out when his eyes inevitably fell on her clothes.

  She wasn’t wearing an expensive dress like everybody else at this party. No, on the contrary, her clothes couldn’t be farther from that.

  Jade Kotova wore a simple white t-shirt, short enough to reveal her belly button, with slightly baggy black pants followed by a pair of clean red sneakers. Her face was bare of make-up while her hair was gathered in a high ponytail with two braided strands tied within, similar to her look back at the afterparty.

  She looked like she was attending a casual hangout with friends as opposed to the high-profile party that was going on in the room past the corridor.

  Noticing Leon’s trailing gaze, she looked down at her own clothes for a second, her lips curling into a little smile.

  “Maintaining an image is for those who don’t have the charisma to replace it and to sate your curiosity, yes, that includes the clothes you wear as well.”

  “So much charisma?” Leon couldn’t help but smile as well. “Enough to not even consider business casual?”

  Grinning, Jade moved over to the section of the wall opposite where Leon was sitting on the bench, leaning against the wall with crossed arms.

  “I dress however I want, wherever I want.”

  “Going against society’s unspoken expectations?” Leon asked, his curiosity piqued. Jade shook her head.

  “You know, I don’t want to change my behavior because of society. I want society to change its behavior because of me.”

  Leon could only nod blankly. “I see.”

  Jade Kotova. The GenoTech heiress. A girl who has everything. Is that the type of headstrong personality that such a position brands you with, or is she the big exception?”

  “I’m Leon, by the way. We met before. Twice, actually, but I’m not sure if you remember.”

  “I know very well who you are, Leon Harper.” Jade’s words were spoken with a hint of seriousness, making him unsure what to think.

  Was she still angry at him for breaking her newest Android at that party? Maybe she wasn’t angry in the first place, like Trey and Tara said, but then what? The only two times they’ve talked so far, she wasn’t very delighted to see his face.

  “Tara said you sent that Android back to find out what’s wrong.”

  Jade nodded. “I did.”

  “So?”

  “So what?” She asked with one raised eyebrow.

  “Why did it act that way?” Leon didn’t let the matter go, making Jade shrug her shoulders, looking down in thought.

  “Some protocol in its AI software caused issues in its identity recognition. They didn’t find it until after my grandfather intervened.”

  His eyes suddenly widened. “Dr. Andrei Kotova?”

  “Yeah.” She looked back up at him. “He’s a true tech geek. Those Androids have been a project of his since lie, forever.” Finishing her sentence, Jade thought about something as she looked at his face.

  “If what I’ve been hearing about you is right, then you’d probably get along with him pretty well, there’s no doubt about that.”

  Leon’s face turned into a cheeky grin. “So, you have heard about me.”

  She shrugged again. “A bit. Rumors say you’re a pretty decent tech nerd.”

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  “Engineer and software specialist, please,” Leon insisted with a bland face. “It seems you’ve done some research. Did Tara’s words at the race track make you wary all of a sudden?”

  Jade scoffed before turning into a languid chuckle. “What? You’re implying I’m wary that you can actually build a car that can allow Treyton Grey to beat me in a race?”

  She looked at him with visible disbelief on her face.

  “Yes.” He replied.

  Seeing the serious look on his face, Jade was speechless for a moment, hearing that single word echo times again in the back of her head. A moment passed like that until she nodded, her expression now stained in determination.

  “Okay.” She paused for a moment, thinking about how to say what was on her mind. “I’ll tell you what. If you actually pull this off, create a race car that surpasses my personal skills in a race, I’ll tell you why that Android had problems with identity recognition after it came into contact with you.”

  “Why? You already said it was a protocol in its software.” Leon pointed out in confusion.

  “Yes, but not where that protocol came from,” Jade added, making Leon ponder.

  A protocol in its AI software. Might his dad be involved in that? Either way, the software itself is based on Project Phoenix, so it must have some connection.

  Leon shook his head a the thoughts erupting in his mind. “Alright. I’ll keep you accountable for that.”

  In return, Jade laughed slightly. “I always keep my promises, Leon. That is something you can trust.”

  “I take your word on that.” After finishing his last sentence, Leon looked into the corridor, hearing the loud noises of the party next door. With a sigh, he stood up from the bench.

  “Alright, I guess I’ll have to go.”

  Jade nodded.

  ‘Yeah, better not keep Tara waiting.”

  “How do you know I’m here with her?” Leon stopped, his gaze puzzled. He was sure he didn’t tell her.

  Jade rolled her eyes in return. ‘Duh, of course, because she told me. She’s one of my friends, stupid.”

  “Oh,” Leon nodded blankly. Right, there was something like that. “Anyway, nice talking to you, Jade.” He finished before pivoting on his feet, heading out back into the party venue.

  Jade, looking after his back with an absent gaze, nodded her head twice as his last words resounded in her head.

  “You too, Leon Harper,” She mumbled quietly to herself. “Just make sure Alpha Dynamics is not stabbing you in the back as they’ve done to so many others in the past.”

  ……….

  The following week, after the party date with Tara, Leon spent his afternoons on the race track, working on the car with Zoe while Trey tested it for performance and controllability by doing a mock race around the track alone.

  “These numbers don’t look right,” Zoe said as she pointed at the flat monitor. Trey was currently driving several laps around the track, so they could check the car’s endurance.

  Looking over, Leon narrowed his eyes, nodding. “The power is dropping too fast.”

  As Trey passed the starting line several more times, he soon came into the pit, stopping laps earlier than usual in his original car.

  “The battery is burned,” Trey mentioned as he pulled himself out of the car.

  Leon clicked his tongue in return. “We have much stronger electromagnets in the car and an additional G-suit system, which drains the power much faster than before. The standard battery module is not enough anymore.”

  “So we need a new battery?” Trey asked, to which Zoe shook her head.

  “This battery module is the only one available at this size and power storage. They’ve been specially designed to withstand the high demands that the maglev race cars demand of them.”

  Hearing her answer, Trey put his hands at the back of his head, turning away from them as he sighed. Meanwhile, Leon took a look at the empty battery at the back of the car, coming to a simple conclusion.

  ‘We need a different battery.” Leon said.

  “How? Are you saying we need to redesign a more efficient battery at the same size? We don’t have the time for that.” Zoe shot back.

  “Then we find someone who can do it. It’s just a more efficient battery for a maglev race car, nothing too complicated for the right people.”

  “Then who are you suggesting, Leon?” Trey asked in a serious tone. His friend had complete trust in him, not even thinking there might be a different way.

  “Well, “ Leon began. “The current one is designed by Fusioncore, so we just need them to design a specific one just for us.”

  “Fusioncore is a mega-corporation, Leon,” Zoe stated. “They don’t take unique requests like that from smaller companies, especially one like Tsunami Foods that is in another industry.”

  Leon wanted to refute her claim, but he knew she was probably right. Mega-corporations don’t just change projects based on requests of other parties, Leon knew that better than anyone. Alpha Dynamics is a prime example of that, with the department of development bei ng swamped with other projects.

  Naturally, Fusioncore wouldn’t just spend manpower and resources on developing a niche battery module for a maglev race car. It sounded simple enough, but it was far from an easy process.

  Racing batteries are extremely powerful due to supplying energy to all the systems in a maglev race car, especially the electromagnets. Those batteries alone can power an entire building for a long time.

  That’s why developing a new, better battery is not that easy. It takes time and is a lengthy process. Not to mention, racing is not among their high-priority list when it comes to development.

  Without the right incentive, Fusioncore wouldn’t even entertain the idea. That’s when Trey crossed his arms in thought.

  “I may have an idea.”

  ……….

  ‘In a perfectly balanced system, changing one variable requires one to change all variables. Otherwise, the system will break apart.’

  ~~Dr. Benjamin Harper’s Memoirs~~