°°° Tough Kid °°° • Aegean Crescent, Vancouver, Canada • -Whites Residence- In the master bedroom of the house, Dan White stood in front of a full body mirror as he knotted his tie. He was clad in his favorite royal blue suit and had a black silk brogues shoe on his feet. It was Tuesday morning and he had to take Andy to the Green Therapeutic Company. After Thursday, Andy was back to his usual self, although Ann still wasn’t fully sure, but the giant of a therapist, Mr. Greene, had assured her when he came to visit on Sunday evening. According to him, after the therapy today, Andy will be okay. If they wanted to still bring the child for more sessions, he had no issues as he would be making more money in the end but it wasn’t necessary. They could bring him around monthly for further checks, but he assured them that nothing was going to happen out of the ordinary. Just as Ann brought his jacket to him, his cellphone rang. He stared it for a while before picking up the call. “Hell
°°° Fears of a Father °°° On the way to the Green Therapeutic Company, Dan and Andrew were in silence, with Dan asking Andrew questions from time to time concerning his views and expectations of the new school they were transferring him to, but Andrew’s reply was always flat and nonchalant. ‘ "It definitely is his other self in control; this is not good," Dan said, shaking his head indiscernibly as he stole glances at his son from time to time. But I’ve been checking for the difference, and the other times the other persona came up, he tried to keep it under the covers, but this time around, he isn’t hiding it. Could it be that he has taken more control over Andrew? He’s this bold because he feels there's nothing we can do to stop him, even if he notices. Has it gotten that strong? Oh, God, I really need to get him sealed. Andrew doesn’t know about those hunting us; that means his other self doesn’t either. If he is this bold, it is safe to say he has mastered his abilities to a cer
°°° Plausibility °°°• Dual Infinity Headquarters, Vancouver, CanadaDan arrived his office and sat down in the black high back office chair, allowing himself spin around clockwise for a while, trying to collect and calm his thoughts.He had received a promotion which had brought them to Canada, a promotion to the position of head of the production department of the company, or at least this was what everyone else thought.Despite being promoted, he was the CEO of the Dual Infinity corporation.The present CEO was just a face, a representative covering the real thing, just like the headquarters were.The dome-shaped building with twelve floors above the ground floor only served as a cover for what was really there. There were five floors beneath the ground floor and basement, and the space they occupied was twice as large as the dome-shaped building above.¶¶¶¶¶¶¶After almost three minutes of rubbing his temples in silence, Dan stood up and walked to the file cabinet on the left side o
°°° Priority °°° The Green Therapeutic Company After a while of studying a number of books concerning the mind and brain in the library, then roaming the halls and accessible rooms and offices of the company, buying and stuffing himself with a lot of sweets, Andy entered his therapist’s office after he confirmed Mr. Gerald Greene was not working. It was pretty silent for the most part. It was almost like the awkward moment when a teenager gets the chance to be with his crush but suddenly realizes he doesn’t know what to say and an awkward silence sits over them like a stubborn rain cloud. With them talking about one thing or another that happened at home and future plans, “Can you ask the receptionist to cancel all your sessions for today?" Or perhaps you could ask another therapist who is available to take it for you."Andrew suddenly raised his hand from the book he was reading and made his request. “Hmmm?” Mr. Gerald was taken aback by the suddenness and nature of the question,
°°° Criminal Excuse °°° • Central Oakland, Pittsburgh, PA Warriors Domain Regional Headquarters The building was a modern low-rise building consisting of two floors. A third of the building was entirely covered in glass, glass with a green tint that gave the white of the office's interiors a touch of jade green from the outside. Outside the building, a black SUV had just come to a halt in the parking lot, and the doors opened to reveal Sarah, a short blonde-haired Asian American friend and former colleague, dressed in a blood red straight gown with heels to match her dress. She shut the car door and walked to the drivers side, where she waited for the "driver" to close his door.It was the not-so-chubby Latin American, Carlos Wilson, who was Sean Walker’s coach and employer. Carlos had been contacted the previous day after Sean did not show up at the tournament as scheduled without a heads-up from him to the organizers of the tournament. He had apparently been so hit by the news t
°°° Sealing the Deal °°° The discussion room was silent as Mr. Dickson made his decision and walked out. No one blinked or moved a muscle, as if they had been put on hold.After almost ten seconds, Carlos and Sarah looked at themselves in bewilderment. His response had baffled them; it wasn’t a response they had expected. “Mr. Dickson, wait a moment!” Sarah called out and ran after him with all her might. “All we are asking for is a scholarship, sir,” she said as she caught up to and halted the man. Back in the discussion room, Carlos was brimming over with anger, confusion, and hatred. If not for Sarah’s presence in the building, he knew that the news headlines for the following morning would be “Domain of Warriors Regional Head Office in Rumbles." Director of Affairs, Mr. Dickson Grant, found it "shredded.” “Mr. Carlos, you need to see this from our perspective." "The risks we will be taking with this,” Theodore started with an empathetic tone, but Carlos stopped him, shaking his
°°° Busted °°° The Green Therapeutic Company In the spacious office of the herculean Gerald Greene, Gerald sat with his client Andrew. They had been talking since before eleven o’clock and had kept discussing for over an hour into their session’s time. Gerald had mainly tried to explain the process of the sealing, but their discussions would seldom trail off to the nature of the Dual Infinity company or to the history of super-powered beings in their custody; they always returned to the topic at hand. "...in other words, the simplest and quickest way for Dad to initiate the sealing process would be to use me?"Andrew asked as they returned to the topic of sealing after another tangent. “Yes. See it as a simple, reversible chemical reaction. The compound or compounds that are formed out of a reaction between two elements in a reversible reaction can be reversed to recover the elements involved in the reaction. "Your personality and powers were products of the reacting events, and rev
°°° Humility °°° • Dual Infinity Headquarters, Vancouver, Canada The office of Dan White was calm as D, the android, worked diligently on the laptop on the desk. When someone knocked on the door, he was working on ideas and designs Dan hadn't finished.It was Dan’s secretary, and just as she walked in, Gerald, Martha, and Dan, with Andrew slung over their shoulders, appeared out of the window of his office. “Mr. Dan?” The secretary looked at him, then back at the android at his desk. Dan looked at her with tension in his eyes, then sighed with relief. “God grief. I forgot to alert D that we were coming. My bad.” "But, boss, we agreed you wouldn't use him again until you perfected his people skills," the secretary grumbled as she closed the door. Dan walked to his desk and laid Andrew on it, sitting beside him. "Grace, you need to calm down, all right." I mean, I don’t see how else I’m supposed to know if his people skills have improved without bringing him out to interact with the