The Crimson Phoenix

Gaining Internship from an idol.

Leo was dumbstruck as he took the card from him slowly. He was actually blushing. ‘so this is how it feels like to be acknowledged by your idol.’ He thought to himself. He could see the look of envy in Kelly’s eyes. Kelly was infuriated and she was steaming from her ears, ‘I worked so hard to get this man’s attention but you just asked a few dumb questions and you got an exclusive invitation from him!? This is not fair!’ Kelly thought as she was crying inside. She was a die-hard fan of Dr. Cartel and for that, she came all the way from Sunshine city just to meet him. Her jealousy was understandable.

Dr. Rory suddenly came from nowhere and whispered something to Dr. Cartel’s ears which made him surprised. He turned to the students and he apologized. “I’m sorry I can’t get to explain further as I have something to attend to. I’ll be leaving you in Dr. Rory’s care. Bye for now.” He excused himself and walked away. Their eyes followed him and Leo could see Kelly look at Dr. Cartel with burning eyes. Whether it was love or hatred, he had no idea. He put the card in his pocket and could notice Kelly taking serious glances at him. It freaked him out. ‘I hope this girl doesn’t appear in my nightmares. She’ll make them worse’ he feared. His nightmares were usually abstract and scary enough and Leo was already getting used to them, even though he still gets scared. Having Kelly inside them would give him an heart attack.

***************

Leo and Logan were at Molly’s house, playing Mortal Kombat in Leo’s room and they were doing it passionately.

“You just wait for me to kick you’re a$$!” Logan exclaimed. This was the tenth round that he would play against Leo but he actually hadn’t won any of them. Leo was just too good and he was having a hard time beating him. Leo scoffed,

“You wish wolverine… you wish.” He replied as he suddenly controlled his avatar to knock Logan’s avatar out. “You Win!” The game program which sounded like a deep male voice exclaimed. Logan was frustrated.

“Aww come on. This is your tenth win now. Can’t you even take it slow for me?” he complained. Leo was actually feeling high and mighty.

“If you wanna be as good as me, go and train.” He advised. Logan looked at him disdainfully.

“Just because I wanna be as good as you in games doesn’t mean that I should neglect homework.” He joked. Leo just laughed at him. Most of the games he played, if he was not No.1 on the global leaderboard, he was either in the top ten or top hundreds.

“It’s your choice.” Leo said as he got up from the floor and laid down on his bed. He was a bit tired as playing against Logan wasn’t an easy task either. They had been playing for about an hour now and the fact that Logan didn’t play as good as Leo did didn’t mean he didn’t put up a very good fight. He forced him to start getting calculative in the fight. Only those better than him in-game could make him do that. Him playing against Logan reminded him of his best friend at Sunshine city, Mason. Mason was basically the only person who could almost match him in games and that was why he and Mason were considered as the ‘Dangerous Duo’ in sports.

“Speaking of choices…” Logan spouted after turning off the TV, “What do you intend to do with the card you were given?” He inquired. Leo had actually been thinking about that. For Dr. Cartel to give him his business card, he definitely doesn’t just want to teach him a lot about Albertium alone. He could just post an article about that online and Leo could just read it.

“What else do I do with a person’s number, cook it?” He pouted jokingly and started laughing at his own joke. Logan raised a brow and shot Leo an unamused glance. Seeing this, Leo stopped laughing and got serious, “ahem… I’ll just call him.” He replied.

“Don’t tell me you just want to call him just to ask about the Albertium.” Logan queried in a disapproving tone. Leo tilted his head to the side, stared at him and made a full smile with his face. He was smiling weirdly and Logan was not feeling good about it.

“That’s exactly what I’m gonna do.” Leo affirmed out.

“Ugh,” Logan grumbled, “You are so boring…” he was about to start telling him how ‘uncool’ he was but he interrupted.

“It’s not exactly like that,” Leo said and he explained the motive behind it, “I want to know the properties of Albertium because of my project…”

“You mean the lightning energy trapper?” Logan asked lackadaisically.

Leo glanced unamusingly at him. “It’s called the ‘Lightning current absorber’…” Leo corrected, but then he pondered for a while and felt like Logan’s name sounded cooler than his. “But I’m starting to think that Lightning energy trapper makes more sense” He stroked his chin. Logan smiled and shook his head, then continued to listen as Leo explained.

“I want to know what Albertium can do so that’s what I wanna ask him. Who knows, I might just get a few pieces of the mystery of the gene breakthrough…” Leo hoped but Logan disagreed.

“If and I say ‘IF’ you were an intern, but you are not. You’re just a curious guy.” Logan said. Leo gave him another weird smile and this scared Logan. “Can you please stop doing that!? You’re freaking me out. I don’t wish to see that smile in my dreams.” He yelled.

“What if I could make myself an intern?” Leo suggested.

Logan raised his brows. “And just how are you going to do that?” he questioned.

“By creating an approving impression of myself and presenting it to him.” Leo answered. Logan smiled as he nodded. He felt where Leo was coming from.

***************

It was a Monday morning and Leo had to go to school. Leo didn’t wish to waste his time and since he couldn’t actually skip school to be in at THRL so he had to wait till when school had closed then he would go to THRL after that. He called Dr. Cartel and asked him if he could come by his office which he approved of willingly. Throughout school hours, Leo couldn’t sit still. He was nervous and excited at the same time and his legs kept shaking. He was so impatient and kept monitoring the clock, waiting for the time to be two o’clock.

“Why don’t you go ahead and turn the hand of the clock or fast forward time.” Edwards, a classmate of Leo, taunted. Leo smiled at him and went on with his work.

It was finally two o’clock and Leo was the first to leave the school. He went over to the THRL building by taxi and went in. He got to the beautiful receptionist table with two beautiful receptionist behind the desk and asked to see Dr. Cartel.

“Do you have an appointment with him?” the receptionist asked.

“Yes. Absolutely.” He replied. She then made the call and Dr. Cartel picked it up instantly.

“Sir, someone is here to see you.” She reported. There was a high sense of respect in her voice. It felt like she was talking to a superior.

“Who is it?” Dr. Cartel asked through the phone in his office. The receptionist covered the mouthpiece of the phone and asked Leo for his name which he told her.

“Leonardo Anderson sir.” She replied Dr. Cartel.

“Bring him to my office.” Dr. Cartel’s voice sounded instructive and the receptionist nodded and led Leo to his office.

“This way please.” She said, then led the way. Leo followed her into an elevator together with some other people. Dr. Cartel’s office was in the uppermost floor, given that he’s the CEO of THRL. The receptionist led him to his office door and knocked.

“Come in.” Dr. Cartel said when he heard someone knock on the door. Leo and the receptionist walked in. Dr. Cartel was standing near the floor-to-ceiling glass panes with his hands behind his back and watching the view. He dismissed the receptionist, “Thank you Angela.” He said.

Hearing that, the receptionist went back to her post. Leo greeted Dr. Cartel and just stood near the door, watching him. He didn’t want to do anything unless he was asked to, like sitting down. Leo looked extremely calm but deep down, he was a bit nervous. He looked around and observed the office. It was very spacious and grand. The long floor-to-ceiling glass panes received light rays from outside and illuminated the whole office. On the right side, was a couch and a table. On the left side was a drawer and shelf with files inside them. At the right corner, was a cabinet filled with colorful drinks. ‘This man sure does have a taste for furniture and design.’ Leo commended the place as he observed his surroundings.

“You know,” Dr. Cartel started as he was still looking through the glass, “When I was younger, I always wondered how to stop sickness around the world. I had this thought because I was a guy who always got sick most of the times. If exposed to too much dirt, I’ll get a bacterial disease, if exposed to too much cold, I’ll catch a flu, even though I’m wearing a cardigan. I was diagnosed with severe immunodeficiency disorder. You know what that means?” he asked as he turned his face to look at him, “It means that my white blood cells failed to fight against diseases. Ever since I learned about my predicament, I’ve always had the zeal to stop diseases. To elongate life, and make us stronger.” He sighed and he turned to sit on his grand chair behind his desk. “Please have a seat.” He motioned for Leo to sit.

Leo sat down and sympathized, “I’m so sorry about your predicament.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m better now. At least if I’m not exposed to too much dirt.” He said as he laughed. Leo just smiled.

“Now,” Dr. Cartel finally got serious, “Let’s talk business. I invited you here to show you more about Albertium, but may I know why you’re so interested in this element?” he asked.

Leo sighed, “I’m working on a project too.” He said. Dr. Cartel was surprised.

“Oh, please enlighten me. What’s this project about?” he inquired. ‘I was getting there’ Leo thought to himself.

“I’m trying to figure out a way to tap energy from lightning…” he said. Dr. Cartel opened his eyes widely in astonishment as he was not expecting something that big.

“You… are a very daring boy. Why don’t you leave that to the big brains like us?” he questioned.

“I… I’m not used to leaving things to others.” Leo said. Dr. Cartel smiled at him and held his chin like he was observing something. After what felt like forever of silence, he finally spoke.

“You don’t even have the right qualifications… the right knowledge to be able to pull this off…” He expressed his concern. Even though he actually liked it that he was daring enough, the project was still dangerous.

“I come from a family of mechanics but I want to take things to a whole new level. I’ve already read a lot of books on mechanics and electricity these days and I think I already have the knowledge to start but–”

“You don’t have the right materials to execute it.” Dr. Cartel interrupted. Leo shook his head.

“Well I’ve already executed part of the plan but all I need is an electrolyte that can take in that huge amount of energy and also the metal that’ll act as the electrode and basically everything that’ll get affected by the lightning. Even my knowledge is not enough to fully execute my plan.” He explained. Dr. Cartel pondered for a while.

“I like people like you. Leaving the comfort of your life to do something useful and daring… how about we make a deal?” He said. Leo was shocked and excited ‘Dr. Cartel wants to make a deal with me?! I’m flattered’

“What deal?” He asked anxiously. Dr. Cartel smiled.

“You work for me in the lab and I’ll help you with your project and also pay you. How about that?” He said. Leo’s eyes were wide opened. He couldn’t believe it. ‘I get to work for a legend!’ He thought. He was dazed until Dr. Cartel’s brought him back to reality. “Hello, what do you say?”

“I… I… I’m…” he stammered. Dr. Cartel raised a brow and smiled.

“Maybe I should give you time to think about it.” He said as rested his back on his chair.

“No… no… I mean yes, yes. I’m willing to work with you. It’ll be such a great honor to work with you.” Leo stuttered. He was still astonished and excited.

“Good. Congratulations on becoming an intern.” He smiled and offered Leo a handshake which Leo returned, “Now here’s a file on Albertium. You can review it and come back whenever you like. I’ll brief you further tomorrow.” He said as he handed him a file of the element. Compared to the Internet, this one has a more detailed description. He took the file, placed it in his bag and he and Dr. Cartel chatted for a while before Dr. Cartel assigned him to the mechanics department. Leo was excited and he began to work with some engineers in the department. They all felt he was a newbie and just someone interested in building stuffs but when they saw what he could do, they couldn’t help but acknowledge him. Leo liked it here and it felt like heaven to him but he was more attracted to the Robotics Department.

After working until nine o’clock at night, Leo went home and the excitement was still rushing through his body and he couldn’t wait till tomorrow. He also wanted to tell his friends at Sky Hills. His aunt already knew about this since Leo had already told her about it.