MYSTERY KID MICHAEL

*SMILE*

I was relieved but also uncharacteristically joy filled. I could feel Amanda's happiness through me.

*CLICK*

I opened my backseat door but the one directly behind the driver seat this time and I got inside then we drove off. *ZOOM*

After several minutes of driving i looked over at Brian with my eyes gazing at under his right ear, just above the neck and I noticed that there was no mark or scars.

Nothing was left behind from the Dot log chip implants which was bizarre because I mean i had one even as Amanda but he didn't and I found it very strange and contradictory with what I knew.

'hmm... maybe it's on the left side' I thought then I moved my head the other way to get a better view because the driver's seat neck brace obstructed my sight but there was nothing there as well

Brian's records that I had hacked into before making the jump showed that he had already gotten his chip implanted a couple months prior to my arrival in this time and there was even his log code in the record to prove it so i asked

"Um dad, your ear, you don't have any scars from the Dot Log's. Have you not gotten yours implanted yet?" I  moved my head and body back to form

While still driving with his eyes glued to the road and his left hand on the steering wheel  "Huh? My Dot log?" Brian said and used his right hand to feel behind his ear "scars?"

"Oooh, that you mean" He smiled "Well, specific workers at my office, board members especially haven't gotten their chips implanted yet, something about getting special chips for us and something like that"

*GRAB*

He placed his right hand on the wheels as well and slid them along the frames in a corky and playful fashion

"I don't mean to boast but It's suppose to have more security specs than that of your normal Log chips" Brian grinned

*NOD*

"Oooh, OK" i replied accomapied with nodding my head

I raised my hand and felt under my ear then rubbed the scarred skin 'That means my entering this body wasn't entirely my fault but because Brian hadn't gotten the Log chip implanted yet, which means the special Log chips must use an encoder which constantly changes it's identification codes and only the Black Box can identify which is the current code'

*DROP*

I let go of my ear

'I thought that the Black box only contained the hidden codes of the important personnel as I wasn't able to see them during my hack

*TSK*

'These security conscious bastards, just what exactly are they hiding? But wait... In the records i hacked Brian already had his chip so does that mean that Amanda's code must have been put there in place of Brian's for the time being until he had gotten his and like an idiot I didn't consider that scenerio. No wonder it was so easy for me to get the code off their mainframe that even a novice would have been able to do the same' I thought but by doing so I opened up more questions in my mind

Questions like why was Amanda's code used in place of Brian's in the first place and security encoding chips? Why would they need such a thing and who are they being secure from

"it couldn't be those people could it?" I whispered

.

We drove pass a construction site where they were building a GHA broadcasting tower which was already halfway done.

I pressed my head against and looked outside the window and got flashes of the not so terrible but also not so good but dark and grimy future I was coming from and how the tower changed over the years of neglect

"We're here!" said Brian

"What?!" I exclaimed and snapped from my trance as I had been lost in thought and stopped to notice my surroundings about two-thirds way through the drive here

We came to a stop and got out of the car and after all my years of seeking for answers I finally got to where I wanted to be and so there i was, the Global Health Agency's first ever Head Quarters.

In order to gain public favor the GHA opened their doors and let previously unassociated individuals join their ranks but that was just for show as what the people didn't know was that apart from the others who were introduced only one person was truly unassociated.

That person was Brian .A. Nevel and for whatever secret reason unknown to me but on the outside he was brought in to become a board member because of the relationship of his work which wasn't the case when i'm from.

With their foundation firmly in place and deep rooted into the ground the GHA no longer tried to connect with the public but just passing off information, quarantining areas and secrecy seemed to be all they're good for.

"Lets go in"

*STEP*

We headed for the entrance when all of a sudden it came to me like a sucker punch to the face.

An aroma so nostalgic I could remember my teenage years and the only thing in the orphanage I looked forward to aside from tech, hotdogs.

I hadn't had a good hotdog in years because of fear of contacting the pyrex 9 "virus" people stopped making meat based snacks and hotdogs just faded away.

*SNIFF* *TURN*

*TURN* *SNIFF*

I looked for where the smell was coming from and like the nose of a blood hound i found it, the hotdog stand was just across the street

"Bri- Dad" i tugged on Brian's left sleeve and we stopped moving

"What is it?" he asked

"Can we get one of those or two maybe?" I pointed at the hotdog stand across

"What? A hotdog?"

"Yes" i replied with a smile

Amanda must have also liked hotdogs as much as I did because there wasn't any contradictions being felt

"Well, i haven't had anything to eat today so I think that that sounds like a great idea, i'll get one for you and two for me, Okay? Stay right here and i'll be right back" Brian said then walked off and went across the street to get the hotdogs while i waited by the car like he asked.

.

I used the opportunity to scope out the area, the security guards outside, the routes through which people walked and all that spy stuff.

"Huh?" Suddenly my attention was drawn in by an out of pattern motion and it's cause was from kid at the middle of the walkway trying to talk to people but getting ignored and he looked rather rough.

*STEP*

Neglecting my promise to Brian I went in for a closer look.

*KA—BOOM BOOM* *KA—BOOM BOOM*

Electronic music playing loudly from a black stereo while the kid loitered

"Don't be...be...Heathen...Don't ...think that because you are satisfied that satisfaction is actually good for you..."

"Not this kid again!"

"How very annoying!"

"I just don't have time for this!"

The pedestrians complained and murmured

*SCOFF*

He chuckled

"...looks of scorn won't make my delivery any less valid than it already is" The kid said while moving from one person to another in the middle of the walkway.

He moved while getting within their personal space but also keeping enough distance not to make any physical contact no matter how uncoordinatedly they moved against his own movements, an impressive feat

"How can you let the fact that something is apparently good outshadow the fact that it might be inherently bad in more ways than is good, because it is what? it is unknown?" and off to the next person in a repeated cycle the kid rant on

.

"What are you supposed to be huh kid?" I made my approach and asked mockingly

I had gotten the closer look i aimed for.

*STARE*

White T-shirt covered in mild dirt, coffee brown shorts, messy brown hair and deep blue eyes with some red pigments in the middle, a cut on his lower lip and a bruise on his left elbow as well. Remnants of the security guards "help"

'if I didn't know better I could say that this kid looks a little bit like me when I was this age, well kids this age all look alike anyway' my mind drifted as I looked at the boy

"What are you doing ranting on deaf ears, are you stupid or what?" I supported my hands against my waist

I went on to look around him, on the ground a black broken stereo playing electronic music on repeat, half drank energy drink on top and to the side a worn out wooden sign with words written on it with yellow paint

"Griin Staples? What's that suppose to be your name, huh kid?"

I looked back at him, he was about 3 inches shorter and looked 2 years or maybe 3 years younger than Amanda.

*TURN*

He turned around to know who was talking to him

"What did you sa-?" He froze, had his eyes popped wide open as he stood in reverence.

As for the reason why i couldn't tell but it appeared his speechlessness and gaze was aimed at me, well Amanda at least, was this his first time talking to a girl i wondered.

"So what is it kid, Griin Staples? Is that your name or something else?" I folded my arms and raised my left eyebrow and on my face a well pronounced smirk

"Griin...? No...um, Prince it's Prince Michael, you—" Michael said still having the same expression of lost on him.

"What's up with you kid? Why are you looking at me like that? Its beginning to get old and annoying" I frowned

"You, ummm, How come I didn't notice you walk behind me? I should have... Who are n-no more exactly what are you?" Michael asked and I was taken aback and offended by the question

"What are you?" I echoed his words with a whisper

He continued "Your aura, it's all messed up like really messed up and strange, you seem like a kid but at the same time also something entirely different on the inside... What are you?"

*TSK*

"Again with the what are you, maybe the sun is getting to you kid, early morning sun madness" I insisted

"I—I have seen some strange things from being outside this building but you on the other hand are something entirely different"

I took a step backward. I was surprised, what exactly was this kid seeing and more importantly how was he able to see it, psychic?

"Auras? You have to be joking kid, what are you even talking about? You sound really stupid right now, you know that? I'm just a normal ki—"

"Amanda!" Brian came rushing and in the process spilled some sauce from the hotdogs

*STOP*

"What are you doing over here with this—kid, I thought i told you to wait for me over at the car"

"Is this your kid Mr?" Michael looked at Brian

"!!" Brian looked back at him with distain saying nothing back in return

"Are you sure about that?" Michael continued to look at both of us