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“Ok so the red wire goes straight to the power cell, The blue connects the red to the stabilizer, The Green…Uses the cell to power the stableizer… Ugh! Why can’t this just have an Off button!” Thunder yells frustrated.
Thunder leans his head back, taking in the high ceiling of the room he finds himself locked in. He lets out a long sigh, and turns his head back to the device in front of him. He has used a pocket knife of the only guard in the room, an oversight in Thunder’s opinion (Why only have one guard in a room with a hostage?), and pried open the keypad to the door keeping him in (another stupid decision but Thunder wasn’t complaining). Now if he could just figure out which wire to cut to power off the door before his captor came back. A Five minute window to escape.
“Why are there so many wires in the first place?!” Thunder says through his clenched teeth. He runs a hand through his hair, thinking. “Okay, Yellow powers the keypad, but also powers purple which goes to the alarm. I can't separate the stabilizer from the cell or else it’ll explode… and that’d be bad.”
Thunder’s too engrossed in his head to hear the sound of footsteps.
“Ugh! Stupid alarm making this more complicated than it has to be!” Thunder groans. Thunder head shoots up and he shuts up when he hears footsteps.
“Crud!” Thunder mutters, “Suddenly, exploding doesn’t sound like a bad choice.” Thunder looks through the mess of wires separating him from freedom. He can hear a voice but can’t understand what it’s saying. He probably could if he listened, but he needed to get out.
“Okay, think Thunder, think!” Thunder hits his fist on his forehead to emphasize each ‘Think’. He reviews the wires in his head again. He’s not usually this bad at this, unfortunately, stress is a terrible thing to work with.
A noise makes Thunder shoot his head up. He looks over to the guard only to see him unconscious, He didn’t want to kill him if he didn’t have to. Deciding that it was stress playing tricks on his senses he turns back to the keypad, finally he comes to a decision.
“Ok cyan seems to be the best bet.” Thunder thinks out loud and picks up the knife next to him. He reaches with the knife to the colored wire. He lines up and gets ready to cut it.
He feels a hand touch his shoulder and a feminine voice say, “Hey! Thunder!”
“AHHH!!” Thunder shouts in surprise. His surprise makes him stumble and fall backward landing on his back with a thud and a grunt. His frantic movements also cause him to cut several wires. Moments later a pulse of energy fills his vision before it goes black.
“Failure.” A deep, robotic sounding voice says in Thunder’s ear as the word appears in front of him in bold, red letters. Smaller gray-colored words under the red ones inform him that he died via explosion (Like he didn’t know that already). Two white boxes appear below those with one having a black colored ‘retry’ symbol and the other having a black X meaning quit.
Thunder reaches up and takes off his headset, squinting at the quick change in lighting. He sees a silhouette of a person but can't make out who it is with his eyes in their current state. His eyes adjust and he can see the identity of the person standing over him, Leaf Everwood-Glade. With a big grin on her face.
“That was quite the fall you took.” Leaf said, her teasing look not leaving her face as she held out a hand to Thunder.
“And who was the cause of that?” Thunder shot back with a teasing tone. He grabbed her hand and she helped him up. After he stood he took the headset off his head, “So, you mind telling me what that was for?”
“What?” Leaf looked confused, “Oh, did you not hear me?”
“Nope.” Thunder said, popping the P, “So, sorry if I didn’t hear your grand speech.” The last part was back to a teasing tone.
Leaf laughed, “Yes, how dare you miss my grand monologue! You shall learn to respect those who speak of the great dinner!”
They both started laughing even more before Thunder said, “I apologize dear sister, I didn’t realize the gravity of your words.”
Leaf chuckled some more at Thunder’s response before saying, “Come on, everyone is going to be wondering what that scream was.”
Thunder and Leaf made their way out of Thunder’s room. The room was littered with various consoles and games, some newer ones, and some older ones. Some of the older ones dating back decades. Though no one uses those ones anymore, too busy playing the newest and latest, Thunder enjoys playing older titles.
Leaf, being the ever brave soul she is, slides down the railing of the stairs leading to the ground floor. Thunder takes the normal approach and walks down. While the second floor contains solely the bedrooms of Thunder, Leaf, and their brother Florian, Thunder is met with a view of several rooms when he reaches the bottom, one being the doorway to the kitchen. Leaf doesn’t wait for Thunder and walks into the doorway with the familiarity of someone who has lived here all their life, which makes sense.
Thunder isn’t far behind, he may not have lived here as long as Leaf has, but after 6 years you tend to get accustomed to a house. So he follows Leaf into the doorway, when he turns the corner he catches a whiff of a bunch of spices that Thunder can’t Identify to save his life. He looks to the dining table to see it is already set with plates and utensils, food is slowly appearing on the table as people set down the meal.
“Look who decided to come down.” Florian teases Thunder when he sees him standing in the doorway.
“I would have come down sooner if I knew you needed help,” Thunder said.
“We were fine,” Lily replies from the dining table after setting down a bowl of fruit, “If we weren’t we would have sent Leaf to scare you sooner.” The last part was said with a teasing grin that made it clear where Leaf got hers.
“You should have seen him!” Leaf said as she sat down at the table, “His head shot up so fast I thought it was going to fly off!”
“And the thud we heard shortly after?” Silvia asked, sitting down next to Leaf.
Thunder rubbed the back of his head, where it hit the floor, “In my surprise I may have stumbled and fell backward.” Thunder shrugged, “I'm fine though.”
“Good.” Fern says, putting a hand on Thunder’s shoulder, “Although it’s a bit surprising that Leaf of all people snuck up on you.”
“Hey!” Leaf piped in with mock offense, causing Silvia to laugh at her expense.
“I was focused on what I was doing,” Thunder said with another shrug as he sat down at the table across from Leaf, Florian was seated next to him with Fern and Lilly at the ends, “Also Leaf didn’t tell me she invited you, Silvia.”
“I didn’t.” Leaf said, helping herself to a rather large serving of mashed potatoes.
“I did,” Fern piped in from the far end, “Is there something wrong with that?”
“No, I just don't know how I feel about my mom inviting my girlfriend over.” Leaf answered, taking a spoonful of food to her mouth.
“I don’t mind,” Silvia said, her plate a lot less of a mess than Leaf’s, “I like spending time with your family.”
“Yeah, I know.” Leaf said smiling.
The group ate in comfortable silence for a bit before Florian asked, “So what were you doing Thunder? Did Leaf disturb the Demon on a mission?”
“Oh No!” Leaf exclaimed dramatically, she clasped her hands in front of her face in a praying gesture, “Forgive my sin, oh great Demon!”
The room filled with soft laughter. The “demon” being his alias, The_Winged_Demon, during his missions as… basically a cyber mercenary, using his wide knowledge on computers to find dirt on shady doings within corrupt companies.
Thunder rolled his eyes playfully, “Ha ha. No, this time it was just Thunder-time that you caught me in.”
“And does this Thunder-time consist of?” Lily asked. Her plate was empty. After years of living here Thunder still doesn't know how this family always manages to eat so fast.
“Ember likes to make me escape rooms,” Thunder explains, “They make them tailored to my skillset and knowledge-level. This one has been giving me a hard time for a while, and I was pretty sure I would have gotten out if Leaf didn’t scare me.”
“Whoops, Sorry.” Leaf said, wincing.
“You're fine,” Thunder explains, “I say ‘pretty sure,’ but the only thing I was ‘pretty sure’ about in that situation was that it was a gamble.”
“That’s your specialty, right?” Silvia teases from across the table, “The Demon likes to take risks.”
Thunder laughs softly, then his head perks up to look at the clock, “Speaking of The Demon, I have something I need to do tonight.”
“What’s that?” Fern asks him.
“There's a showcase for Storm Software in about an hour,” Thunder explains, “I was hoping to get some useful info.”
“Storm? I didn’t realize they were on your radar.” Leaf questions, “You don’t talk about them much.”
“Yeah well, they're not exactly the most…involved in my life.” Thunder sighs. The added thought that he doesn’t say is “Not anymore…”
“That’s a weird way to put it.” Silvia says and Thunder silently curses his slip-up.
“I need to get ready.” Thunder stands up quickly and gets ready to walk out before he adds, “Thanks by the way, it was great.”
Thunder leaves the room and the people sitting there with concerned and curious expressions on their faces. Thunder walks up the stairs a bit faster than normal and reaches his door. He feels bad for just leaving, but he’s already second guessing his decision to go. He doesn't need a reminder of all the reasons not to go.
He changes out of his casual, Leaf dubbed, Thunder-wear to his more formal, again Leaf dubbed, Demon-wear. While The Thunder-wear consisted of a casual purple t-shirt and shorts or sweatpants depending on the weather, The Demon-wear consisted of jeans, a black t-shirt, and a purple overcoat that reached down to his waist. Not too nice or formal, but it was good enough for him not to be out of place in public events. It was kind of like making a versatile build in games, something he was great at.
He grabbed his phone and a set of items to make his journalist act look more convincing. He debated grabbing one of his portable consoles, but he doubts he’ll have time to use it. So with one last look at his outfit he walks out of his room.
As he walks down the stairs he hears everyone talking in hushed voices. Most people would eavesdrop, and in any other situation, so would Thunder, but this was a group who he trusted and loved more than anyone else he knew, which was hard to come by in his life. Besides, he already knew what they were talking about.
So before he started eavesdropping out of habit he called out, “Leaf! Mind if I borrow your bike?”
He walked over to the doorway to the kitchen and leaned against it as Leaf replied “When do you plan on getting back?”
“10ish, no later than 10:30.” Thunder answered.
“Then yeah, you're good.” Leaf said. She got up and said, “Let me get the keys.”
As she left the room Thunder did a little spin and asked, “How do I look?”
“Like Thunder, but more put together.” Silvia said with a hint of a teasing tone, “Seriously, how many purple things do you have?”
“I have to stick to a theme, don’t I?” Thunder teased. Footsteps on the stairs drew his gaze and he saw Leaf.
“Walking down the stairs for a change?” Thunder said, his teasing tone not leaving his voice.
Leaf laughed and tossed him the keys, “I’ll walk you out.”
“Kay, see you later everyone!” Thunder waved, receiving a chorus of farewells from the people at the table. Leaf reached the front door and opened it when Thunder came closer. They stepped out into the cool breeze, the sun getting low in the sky and turning it from the usual blue to more pinkish.
The two walked in silence for a few moments before Leaf asked, “Are you Okay?”
Thunder sighed, “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“I don’t think you are. You were acting weird at dinner.” Leaf countered, “Does this have something to do with Storm?”
Thunder tensed at the mention, something Leaf noticed, “It is! What happened with them?”
“I don’t want to talk about this.” Thunder sped up. But Leaf matched his pace.
“Thunder please,” Leaf pleaded, “We only want to help, we all know you went through hell, we just want to make sure you know you're not alone this time.”
“I know,” Thunder stopped, sighed, and hung his head, “I need to do this though, and talking makes it harder.”
“Or anything reminding me about her makes this harder.” Thunder thought.
“Fine,” Leaf relented, she clearly was a bit frustrated, “How about this? I’ll go back and tell them I couldn’t get anything out of you. But when you get back, please, talk to me about this.”
“Just you?” Thunder asked as they reached Leaf’s motorcycle. A sleek, plated cycle painted a dark forest green with black accents.
“If that’s what you want.” Leaf said sympathetically. Thunder knew she only wanted to help, so he sighed.
“Deal.” Thunder said as he hopped on the vehicle. He put the key in and started the engine, a low rumble followed.
“Okay, be careful Thunder,” Leaf sighed.
“When am I not?” Thunder teased. Leaf grinned and raised an eyebrow, she pointed at the helmet that Thunder had yet to put on. Thunder laughed, “Don’t answer that.”
“See ya, Thunder.” Leaf waved as she turned to walk back into the house.
Thunder put on the helmet and rode out of the driveway and called back, “See ya, Thorny!” He could hear a slight noise that he identified as Leaf laughing before all he heard was the low rumbling of the engine and the wind blowing in his ears.
Alone with his thoughts he tried to focus on the road leading him away from his home, and to a place Thunder didn’t want to be.
“She might not be there.” Thunder thought, but he didn’t believe that. Where else would she be? Why wouldn’t she be there? Thunder sighed.
He tried to focus on the wind, but quickly shot that down when he started drifting. It wouldn’t be good for anyone if he ended up as a splotch on the road. Plus, no one would let him hear the end of it.
So, he was alone with his thoughts, trying to convince him not to go, to turn around and stay home, with nothing to distract him, for the whole trip?
Maybe this was Hell.
Thunder slowed to a stop in front of the large building. It was a center that was commonly used for events like this one, it was only two stories but it took up a massive area. So much that it had four areas for reservations, and they almost always were for big events such as the showcase for Storm software.
Thunder has been here several times, Sometimes for events like this one, where he went for information. But he also came here for his own enjoyment. Games and companies he enjoyed used this place for their conventions as well, unfortunately, he wasn’t here today for one of those.
Thunder parked the bike on the far end of the parking lot, a poor choice on his part. Now he had to force himself to walk to the building and question why he was here in the first place the entire way there! He really hated himself, didn’t he?
With a sigh he put the wheel lock in place on the front tire, the same one he had gifted Leaf shortly after she got the bike, and walked toward the center.
“It’s just in and out.” He told himself, “Just get the information and get out of there. She’ll probably be too caught up in interviews.”
After what felt like an eternity, he stood in front of the large doors leading into the center. He took a deep breath to steel his nerves, and stepped through.
The room was full of booths and people. Thunder estimated around 30ish booths and well over a thousand people, too much for Thunder to make an accurate estimation. But the more people meant it would make him harder to see, and in this situation he was grateful for that.
With more efficiency than he would ever have again, he started to look at the booths. They were actually filled with some cool stuff, Storm software specialized in computers and devices more than the actual games that you played on them. However Thunder wasn’t really paying it enough attention to let it sink in. Divines, was he glad that he jotted down things at the booths, else this whole outing would have been a waste of time.
He decided that he would take a break from the booths and… snoop around a bit. He knew that this place had a second floor for more space, and he wanted to see what Storm was using it for.
With that new purpose in mind, Thunder walked to the back corner where the staircase to the second floor was. His curiosity rose when he reached the door with a guard of all things standing in front of it.
“This part is not open to the public.” His voice was deep, like voice changer levels of deep. Thunder gave the door a curious look and turned around. He was curious, but not dumb. He knew when he couldn’t get in somewhere. Clearly that was one of those places. Well, he could if he tried, but it would draw way too much attention, so it wasn’t worth it.
His feet were walking on autopilot while he contemplated what he would do next. This clearly wasn’t a convention that held secrets. What it did hold was a bunch of cool tech that they were working on and a person that Thunder really didn’t want to run into.
When a flash of dark cyan flashed in the corner of his eye his head shot up and his feet stopped. He looked ahead of him and what he saw made his breath hitch. A woman was standing in the middle of a group of interviewers, her posture relaxed in a way that made her look like she belonged there. Her icy cyan eyes sparkled in the light and her whole demeanor made her approachable. To everyone but Thunder that is, because his feet felt like they were frozen to the ground with ice that refused to melt.
Of course his luck would make him run into the one person he didn’t want to see! Of course, this was what happened! He tried to move, to do something! But he just stood there, his eyes not leaving the woman in front of him.
Skye Storm, heiress to Storm Software, and someone he hadn’t seen in over 6 years. She and him were friends a while back, but then life separated them. Skye needing more of her focus on her teachings of the company, and Thunder being essentially on the run. Contact between them stopped shortly before Thunder met the Everwood-Glades. And then the rest was history.
Skye turned her head to look at one of the interviewers who had asked her a question, and she saw Thunder. Her eyes widened so much that they were almost popping out of her head. Their gaze met for a moment, before Thunder spun on his heel and walked the other way. He almost ran, but that would cause too much of a scene. That was the last thing he wanted right now. What he wanted was to leave, now!
He was dodging through people fast enough to earn himself glances, but Thunder couldn’t care less. All he cared about was getting out of here. And when he saw the door to do just that, He b-lined to it like it was the gates out of hell. Which in this case, they might as well be.
He only made it a few feet, however, when he heard a familiar voice call out to him, “Thunder! Wait!”
“Damnit!” He muttered under his breath, before he turned around with a forced smile and said to the teal haired woman behind him hesitantly, “Hey, Skye!”
Her eyes sparkled and a smile spread across her face and she exclaimed, “It is you! I was worried that I was going crazy for a minute.”
“Well, I’m here so… you’re not!” He said a little less hesitantly this time.
“What are you doing here?” She asked, her smile not leaving her face. Thunder felt a bit bad for just going to leave, she clearly was excited that he was here.
“Oh you know, just looking around.” Thunder said and gestured around to the booths that surrounded them, “Quite the product lineup you’ve got.”
“Thanks, we try to be efficient.” She said and smiled at Thunder a blinding smile , “I’m sorry I just can’t believe you're here! After, divines what, 6 years?”
“Yup,” Thunder said, popping the P. “I-um, I'm sorry I pulled you away from what you were doing-“
“Don’t be sorry!” Skye interrupted him, “I’m the one who decided to chase after you after all.”
“Yeah, but I’m sure what you were doing was important.” Thunder muttered.
“Eh, it was just an interview,” Skye shrugged, “Besides, I told them I’d be back in a few minutes.”
“I guess you should get back to that, huh?” Thunder sighed again. For some reason, a small part of him didn’t want Skye to leave.
“Well, you could come with me?” Skye offered, and Thunder looked at her with wide eyes, “I’m almost done anyway, so when I finish maybe we could catch up?”
“Um… Yeah, sure!” Thunder said, and Skye’s smile grew. She gestured to him after her and he followed, jogging a bit to catch up to her. Soon he fell to step beside her and they walked to the back. Along the way they continued to talk.
“You know, journalism for you doesn’t surprise me.” She quipped.
“What?” Thunder asked, confused. When she gestured to his notepad he made a soft “oh.”
“You always liked figuring out the truth, nothing got past you.” Skye said and she chuckled a bit. Thunder almost told her that he wasn’t actually a journalist, but decided that it was better for her to think that.
When they reached the back where the group of people were, she smiled and told him to wait nearby, before going to finish her interview. He did what she said and waited. In times like this where he was just waiting, he would usually play one of his portable consoles, but even if he had one on him, he wouldn’t be playing it. He was too busy watching Skye. Someone who was only a memory ten minutes ago was now standing in front of him. Her hair was longer than it was 6 years ago, reaching down to below her shoulders. And instead of the dresses he was used to her wearing, she now wore jeans and a white blouse with a black blazer. She also felt more confident than the girl he had known before. The changes made her feel more, like herself, and Thunder felt himself smile at that thought.
True to her word, the interview finished after about 15 minutes, and with a goodbye to the group of people she walked over to Thunder, her smile not leaving her face as their eyes met again. Thunder couldn’t help but smile as well. When she reached him she asked, “Shall we?” Thunder nodded and they began to walk. To where, Thunder didn’t know. But he was surprisingly happy about the turn of events. A sight of a black suit caught his eye and curiosity nagged at his mind.
When curiosity won, he asked, “What’s going on on the second floor?”
“Demo tests for the new stuff,” Skye answered, when Thunder let out a soft, “Ah,” Skye turned to him and asked, “Want to see?”
“What?” Thunder asked, surprised, “Isn’t that for people who paid for it?”
“Yup,” Skye said. She grabbed Thunder's hand and started to lead him over, “But, I can get you in.”
Before Thunder could reply, they were already at the door. The guard looked at Thunder with a curious expression, but shrugged and opened the door when Skye waved him off. She gestured Thunder inside and after hesitating, he walked inside, with Skye shortly afterwards. Thunder heard the click of the door closing as they climbed the stairs. When they reached the top Skye opened the door and walked in, after hesitating again, Thunder followed.
“Whoa!” Thunder breathed as he scanned the room. Several large areas were bordered off and two people with headsets were in each one, screens around the corners showing the perspectives of the two testers. There were also workers monitoring the areas.
“You look like someone just showed you that they have magic.” Skye laughed.
Thunder turned to her and said, “You might as well have!”
Skye laughed again, “There’s an empty space in the back, we can try it out if you want?”
“Really?” Thunder asked, but then he felt something vibrating in his pocket. He reached into it and saw his phone with a reminder telling him that his time was up and he had to leave now if he wanted to be back before 11. Thunder sighed, “Actually, I have to get going.”
“Oh,” Skye’s expression fell. She quickly added, “Can I walk you out?”
“Uh, sure!” Thunder answered. They then began walking toward the exit, in awkward silence. Thunder wanted to say something, so he said, “Thanks by the way, that was cool.”
Skye chuckled a bit, “Yeah, you always had a thing for tech.”
“Yeah I guess I did.”
Skye cleared her throat when they reached the door, “So, where’d you park?”
Thunder pointed to the back, “The far end.”
“Ok, more time to talk!” Skye said with a smile, and they continued their walk. After a few moments Skye spoke again, “I hope you had fun?”
“Oh, yeah!” Thunder reassured her, “Of course I did. When do I not when I get into places I’m not supposed to be?”
Skye laughed as they approached the motorcycle that brought Thunder here. When Skye saw it she turned to Thunder with an eyebrow raised, but didn’t ask about it. Thunder reached the bike first and unlocked the wheel, he then turned to Skye who looked like she wanted to say something.
Thunder spoke first, “So… I’ll see you around I guess.” Thunder hopped on the bike.
“Wait!” Skye yelled, causing Thunder to jump a bit, “Do you want to hang out tomorrow? I know a good place for breakfast? You know since we didn’t get to catch up tonight?”
Thunder looked at her for a few moments, before saying, “Uh, yeah. Sure. Tomorrow morning works for me.”
“Really? Ok! I’ll- Oh wait, I don't have your contact.” Skye sputtered. Thunder hopped off the bike and walked over to Skye. They exchanged contact info and Thunder walked back, his mind racing just as much as Skye's seemed to be.
“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?” Thunder asked.
“Uh, yup!” Skye answered. She didn’t say anything for a few moments before saying, “It was nice seeing you again.”
“Likewise.” Thunder said with a smile. He put his helmet on and waved to Skye as he started the engine.
Before Skye turned around she said, “See you tomorrow!” She then started walking back to the building. Thunder watched her for a few moments. Before sighing and driving out of the parking lot.
The ride back was filled with conflicting thoughts and emotions. He didn’t know what he thought about what happened. On one hand it wasn’t nearly as bad as what he was expecting. Skye remembered him, which Thunder didn’t expect, and she invited him to breakfast? His feelings about this whole thing were hard to process, he sighed.
His mind flashed to Leaf and the deal he made with her. And suddenly, he was glad that she insisted he talk to her about this, because there was no way in hell he was going to sort through these feelings by himself.