Date: January 04, 2130

  Time: 6:24

  Location: New Delhi, India

  In the tallest building in New Delhi, a young man named Bhavin Himaan worked. He worked as a scammer, or he was manipulated to be. Keep reading and you’ll learn his whole story.

  “Himaan!” a loud voice echoed across the hallway, “You better get in here and explain what’s going on!” Bhavin rushed frantically out of the rooms next door, pushing his glasses closer to his face. He barged into his bosses’ office and dashed towards the chair.

  “I’m here.” he gasped, “What do you need?” His boss swiveled his chair to face him. “Himaan,” he grumbled, “do you ever do your job correctly?” Bhavin scratched his head with a guilty look on his face, “Look, sir. I promise I-”

  He was cut off by his boss’ hand raised up, “Himaan,” he continued, “you’re a hacker. Your talent is very much used in this society especially for this purpose. You need to make this establishment proud. You can’t give up your talent now.” His boss kept going on and on until Bhavin interrupted him.

  “Sir,” he whimpered, “I think it’s best if I get back to my work then.” His boss gave him a piercing glare but gestured to him to leave. Bhavin grabbed his papers and data and ran out hurriedly. “I wish I hadn’t been placed in this position.” his boss sighed.

  Bhavin ran back to his computer and cracked his knuckles, “Okay,” he mumbled, “Let’s do this.” Stretching his arms, he reached out and the sounds of clacking can be heard as bright green lights flashed on and off.

  ………

  The alarm clock started to jump all across the room as Céline ran behind it trying to turn it off. “You better get back here you little sh-” Lee pushed the door ajar trying to see what was going on, only to be greeted by an alarm clock tackling him. Lee screamed as he tried to take the large metal lump off his face.

  Céline ripped the clock off of Lee’s face which was covered in scratches. “Sorry,” Céline mumbled, “I was working on another project, and it flunked. Again.” She shut the alarm clock off and threw it into a pile of rusty, dented, broken pieces of metal.

  Lee picked himself up and just gave a small smile, “It’s okay,” he replied, “It’s time for breakfast by the way. Aria’s nearly done with the pancakes. You should come down.” Céline looked around seeing the mess in her room. The oil leaks, the broken metal scattered all over the place and her laundry on the floor.

  “I’ll be there in a second.” Céline sighed, “I need to clean my room a bit.” Lee smiled back and closed the door behind him. “Man,” he sighed, “I wish she would come sooner.” he walked down the stairs and saw Aria panicking. “The stove won’t turn off!” she screamed, “Help!”

  Lee rushed to help her out. He grabbed the burning pan and drowned it in water. A cloud of smoke clouded the area as Lee and Aria sighed. “That was close.” Lee sighed, “Do you know how to cook, Aria?”

  Aria looked at Lee with a frown on her face. “No.” she mumbled, “I can’t wait until we get that cook of our’s.” Lee looked at her with a confused look on his face. “We’re actually going for our intelligence right now.” he replied, “According to the boss, we need to get him first and then the rest.”

  Aria sighed and got back to the stove again, while Isabelle barged in, “Guys!” she yelled, “We’ve got a message from the boss!” Aria and Lee rushed out of the room, nearly bumping into Céline.

  “Why is the boss wanting to see us again?” Céline mumbled. Isabelle looked back and kept running, “I don’t know,” she replied, “but I know it’s urgent.” They entered a room that they’ve never seen before. The room was filled with flashing lights and metals of all sorts. In the middle, there was a holographic table flashing pale blue lights.

  “Are you there?” a voice came from the speakers. Lee recognized the voice immediately; it was Richard, their boss. “Yes sir.” he stood tall, the others followed suit. “Good to see that you’re all here.” Richard smiled, “Just, where’s David?”

  The others exchanged looks of confusion, Lee even checking the door behind him. “I don’t know where he is.” he muttered. “Probably asleep after driving for a couple hours.” Céline giggled.

  Lee sighed and went to check the cockpit where David was sleeping. He nudged him gently trying to wake him up, but it was no use; he was sleeping like a rock. “Wake up!” Lee yelled as he kicked him in the shins. David woke with a jolt and a scream. “Ow!”

  Lee scratched the back of his head, “Sorry.” he apologized, “David, we’ve got no time to talk. The boss is on the hologram table.” David jolted up to his feet and ran towards the door. “What are we waiting for then!” he yelled out.

  ………

  “Nice to see that you’re all here.” Richard said, “Now. I’ve got an important piece of information that I have to discuss with you all. Your stunt back in Rome.” the crew flashed each other guilty faces, that stunt they pulled in Rome would’ve caused them deadly prison sentences.

  “Your stunt, thankfully, was anonymous, so no one knows that the Space Exploration HQ was responsible for this misfortune. But because of the technology found in the office, they recognize your technological data input. Now, every country has upped their defensive structure and any suspicious person is meant to be taken down.”

  Lee stood up straight and spoke boldly, “We’ll stay undercover, sir. We won’t let you down.” Richard looked back with a stern look on his face, “You better.” The hologram faded away and the crew was left in the dark.

  “How are we going to pull this off?” Aria asked, her face filled with worry. “What we do now,” David announced, “is leave our equipment back at HQ.” Lee looked back at David with a face of confusion, “But we’ve got to grab the missing crew members before anymore paranoia is into play. How are we going to do this?”

  Céline coughed under her breath, attracting the attention of everyone else. “Luckily,” she announced, “I’ve solved our problem.” She opened the door behind her revealing a large garage. The garage was a bit oily, scattered with metal and a couple flickering lights, but in the middle of the room…

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “How did you build those?” David exclaimed ecstatically pointing at the two jet fighters in the room. Céline scoffed lightly as she knocked on the metal, “I built these in the spare time we had. They’re pretty firm, fast and require the least amount of fuel.”

  The rest of the crew looked at her with satisfactory faces. David stepped forward and gave the crew a plan, “Okay,” he said, “Here’s the plan:

  Once we’re done with retrieving Bhavin, we split up. Lee and I will take the main ship back to HQ in Toronto. Then, the rest of you will pair up and head for Osaka, Japan and London, UK. Everyone got the plan?”

  Everyone nodded as David ran out of the garage and towards the cockpit. “He was so uncoordinated at first.” Isabelle commented, “Wonder what kicked into him.” Lee knew how that happened, very well.

  ………

  “Okay,” Bhavin continued, “We’re in.” He typed vigorously, his focus sustained, his fingers and heart racing, his coworkers eagerly awaiting; he knew there was much pressure put on his shoulders.

  “Are you almost in?” his boss asked, “Cause we’ve got to keep this business sustained.” Bhavin didn’t answer, his mind still focused on the work ahead of him.

  People started to flock around his desk, with eyes filled with curiosity. Many people started to whisper in worry, but Bhavin continued on. “I almost have the money,” Bhavin sighed, “and we’re all about to be paid real good.”

  The people started to dance and cheer, their faces filled with joy. “You better not screw this up Himaan.” his boss pressured. Bhavin kept typing, ready to take the money, but then his mouse slipped and the IP Address was leaked.

  The crowd’s faces turned from joy to panic as the stakes started to sink in. People running back and forth sealing the doors and windows, packing and hiding their money and valuables and running for hiding spots.

  “Himaan.” the boss asserted, “Your action has caused our location to be known. You had one chance to take the role that you were supposed to take and you lost that chance.” Bhavin looked back with a look of guilt on his face. He blew it; he really blew it.

  Not long after his little stunt, a sound of banging could be heard at the front door. The employees ran towards a few nooks and crannies behind the desks as the door plunged towards the ground. “Is anyone there?” a man called out.

  The room was dead silent, not a noise was heard in the seemingly abandoned office. “Man,” the guy said aloud, “this cheque of mine, it’s filled with so much money, I can barely be able to make out the number. One, hundred, million-”

  The moment he uttered the word ‘million’, a swarm of scammers came to greet him. He held up his gun and handcuff launcher, “Okay,” the man said, “at least I know that there are scammers here.” He gestured to his team to search the rest of the office area. Soon enough, the whole scamming center was shut down, and the team was arrested. “It’s all your fault Bhavin,” his boss blamed, “It’s all your fault.”

  ………

  “Are we there yet?” Aria impatiently asked, “I can’t wait to ride these things.” Aria and Céline sat in one of the smaller jets that Céline had built. David and Lee looked at them with a couple tablets in their hands, “Nearly,” David mumbled, “We just got to do some test drives first.”

  He pulled the handle behind him and a large trapdoor opened from beneath the jet. With a scream, Aria, Céline and the jet were dropped down and out of the plane.

  “What do we do?!” Aria screamed as Céline reached for the steering stick. “We drive this thing.” Céline scoffed as she yanked the steering hard. Suddenly, their long plummet came to a halt. “Did you seriously do that?” Aria asked, looking at Céline. “What do you think?” Céline asked sarcastically.

  Aria looked out the visor seeing the large city of New Delhi. “Aren’t we supposed to retrieve the new recruit?” Céline smirked, “Just wait, we just need to warm up with this thing first.”

  She tugged on the steering one more time and it flew much higher. “Look!” Aria pointed. Céline looked at what was at the tip of her finger; a crowd of people in suits being led away by people who looked like they were part of the army. “How is your eyesight that good?” Céline wondered, “We’re up three thousand feet in the air!”

  “Never mind that.” Aria pointed again, handing Céline a pair of binoculars. Céline peered through the lenses seeing the new recruit, Bhavin. “Let’s go.”

  ………

  “You have the right to remain silent.” the guard announced as he led the flock of scammers through the streets. Bhavin looked down, feeling a bit guilty. He never meant for any of this to happen. He was just trying to make a living, but that living isn’t gonna last much longer.

  “Thanks a lot, jerk.” one of the scammers next to him mumbled, “Thanks to you, all our hard work and your pay is gone. Worst of all, you’re about to lead us to our death.” Bhavin’s guilt started to be way heavier than what he could handle, and soon he was falling a bit behind.

  “Stop this parade!” a shrill voice came from a couple blocks behind them. Bhavin turned to see two women running towards him, looking like they knew him. Bhavin looked worried but kept his place. The two women eventually caught up to him.

  “There you are Bhavin,” one of them said, “we need you.” Bhavin looked confused, but held his questions for now, “How can I help?” he said. The two looked towards each other and grabbed a small, metal key. “We’re here to break you out.”

  Suddenly, a soft ringing came from her ear. Bhavin looked a bit closer and saw that there was an earpiece in her ear. She whispered a couple words which he couldn’t hear, but the look on her face told him a bit of the story.

  “Okay,” the stranger muttered, “I’ll call you back David. Okay, Bhavin, turns out we’re not breaking you out. We’re here to free you from your sentence and in return, you’re coming with us. Deal?” Bhavin hesitated, but he agreed, “Okay,” he mumbled, “I’ll agree to your plan. Just tell me for what reason.” The strangers nodded and walked with him towards the parliament building.

  ………

  “Man,” Aria muttered under her breath, “Who knew a court case would take four hours to decide on a verdict?” Bhavin laughed, “And it paid off in the end right?” The group laughed together at their agonizing experience, “So,” Bhavin continued, “What was the point of your setting me free from execution?”

  Aria winked at Céline as she ran off to the alleyway. “The reason we had to retrieve you,” Céline said, leading him towards a giant, metallic ship, “You were one of the chosen candidates for being a Space Explorer for the Space Exploration Company.”

  Bhavin looked back at her with a look of confusion strapped to his face, “Why choose those extremely generic and typical names though?” Céline slapped her face, “I’ve tried complaining to the boss about that. Let’s move on shall we?” Bhavin and Céline trotted into the ship, gaping at the wide space in front of them.

  “Ah!” a voice exclaimed from the door in front of them, “Bhavin! You made it. I’m David, Captain of this ship. I see you’ve met Céline. She’s our mechanic. Let me show you around.” David grabbed Bhavin by the hand and yanked him across the room.

  “Man,” Céline said, “I honestly wonder what goes on in his head. Anyway, back to general repairs.”

  ………

  “Okay team.” David announced, “We’ve got an improvement on the plan.” He pushed Bhavin towards the group as he shyly pulled out the paper labeled, ‘Plan B’.

  “Because I saw a couple flaws with David’s original plan,” Bhavin whimpered, “I decided to tweak it a little bit. Since Isabelle is a wanted criminal, we should probably just keep her with David for now, just so we can’t draw more attention to ourselves.”

  The group nodded in unison looking at each other with faces of satisfaction, “Another thing, our set up for the trips to Osaka and London isn’t prepared to go that far. Céline, can you do more general repairs while we’re still here?”

  Céline sighed, but gave a nod as Bhavin continued, “We also need to pair the rest of the crew members with each other properly, otherwise the plan could fail. Lee and I will go to Osaka and retrieve the Scientist. Aria and Céline will go after our cook in London. Everyone got the plan?”

  Everyone nodded in unison once more as Céline left with a wrench in her hand, “I’ll go fix the engines now.” she announced, “It’ll take a couple hours nonstop, but they’ll be up and working tomorrow.”

  Bhavin stood in disbelief as the rest of the crew dispersed to do their own things. “Bhavin,” David walked up to him with a smile on his face, “I’ve never seen someone instruct a group of people so well.” Bhavin looked down at the floor, a bit shy that he actually did that, “You really think so?”

  David nudged him on the shoulder, “I know so.” he replied, “Say, while we’re here for the whole day, wanna get a bite to eat with me?” Bhavin’s eyes sparkled as he eagerly rushed out the door, “You’ll be ecstatic about the food here in India! The butter chicken is guaranteed to trigger serotonin production!”

  David sighed as he ran after him, his mind racing with the adventures to come.

  ………

  “Finally,” a large man announced, “We have the leader of this scammer society, Daivar Vikreta. Anything to say for yourself?” Daivar smirked as he started to count down, “Five, four, three, two…”

  Before he could finish his sentence, a bunch of men in hoods surrounded the horde of soldiers. The hooded figures grabbed their weapons and started a fight. The soldiers tried to fight back, but it was no use; they were completely outmatched.

  Soon, unconscious bodies lay across the stage. One of the hooded figures walked over to where Daivar was latched. “Daivar,” he mumbled, “I expected better from you.”

  Daivar smirked as he was unhooked from his shackles, “Maverick,” he chuckled, “my friend. It’s been a while. How’s the boss?” The hooded figure unmasked himself, his face bare for all the world to see, “Not bad. Not bad at all.”