"ORION? Why?" Cassandra asked. She felt nervous about what his friend just said. The last time she remembered that word caused his distress and pain. But, with his eyes filled with conviction, she hesitantly replied, "Are you sure about that, Markus? Do you really have to go back there? You've just said about something that kept you up for nights."
"Ahh..." Markus answered "I'm serious, Cass. If I don't talk to Louige-nii to stop this mess on its bud, things might get uncontrollable and many will suffer from the backlash."
"But, what can you do to stop this mess, huh?!" Cassandra raised her voice. She's trying to convince her friend to bail. Her eyes were filled with worry and doubt.
"I told you..." Markus closed the book and softly slammed his hand on it. "What I need is inside here and now I've figured it out. All I need is Orion's help so they can finish things up."
"Then let's get ready to go to Orion!" Dave said as he stood from his seat.
"You..." Markus said
"Don't dare say we don't have to... we have talked about it a while ago, haven't we?" Dave insisted. He pointed his finger to Markus' forehead. "This is not an exemption, my dude."
"I know, but this will get really dangerous. That exploding building is just a piece of what can happen. I don't want you to get hurt even more." Markus looked down and stared at his book. "You two should just go home and keep yourselves safe."
"If you won't let us come with you..." Cassandra gripped his wrist tight that Markus flinched. "I won't let you go."
"We'll kidnap you if you'll insist on going alone. Maybe, we can hide you somewhere and lock you up for a month." Dave's eyes were dressed with a sinister look.
"Kidnapping is a Crime, you know!" Markus exclaimed.
"And leaving us behind makes it the same." Cassandra replied.
Markus stared at his friends. They were all imposing and determined. He can't deny the fact that he wanted to come with him. Deep inside him, that is what he felt.
"Now that I thought of it, it's better if you come with me. I can protect you better if you're nearby my side." Markus said to them.
"We aren't stray kids, sweetcakes." Cassandra loosened her grip. "Just rely on us sometimes."
Markus smiled and took a deep breath. "Then, let's take the nearest route." He realized what he just said and he can't take his words back now.
"Saa, let's get going!" Dave and Cassy shouted with their hands in the air.
They went inside the mall to take a shortcut for them to reach the entrance hallway of the building. The entrance was facing the subway Station where the trains circumnavigate the whole city. From the mall, it will take them to cross 3 Zones to reach ORION.
While walking fast,
Markus took out the brochure from the cafe and used the blank back part to solve the given matrix using the formula from the book he just read.
"Find its determinant, then the minor, then the co-factor, then the adjoint and divide it with the determinant to find the inverse..." he repeatedly said to himself, breathing heavily for running their way. His wounds are weighing him down.
"Ne, Marky, what's all of that? Why are you repeating those words for some time now?" Cassandra asked catching her breath as well. "I'm glad I took PE class seriously. How 'bout you, Dave?" she looked at her friend, slowing down behind them.
"I need to remember this stuff. I left the book at the cafe so at least we'll make our pace faster. That book was heavy. This way, I'll still be able to solve this puzzle with the memory I have from reading the book." Markus replied, spinning his pen between his fingers.
"Amazing!" Cassandra said "No wonder you're Markus. "
"Ahh,, but it was really a troublesome thing." He replied, "I bet you wouldn't like it.."
Cassandra frowned knowing that her friend said something right.
They were almost at the center of the mall, halfway to the entrance/exit when the LED screen for ads in the middle of the atrium shined brightly and codes flashed from it like credits in a movie. Cassandra noticed what happened and she grabbed Markus on the arm, halting his pace.
"Ne, Marky, look.." She pointed to the hanging LED screen.
It turned into a black screen and a few seconds later, it flashed a message.
C O M E A N D F I N D M E
"Damn it... he knows where we are...I can't believe I'm being watched!" Markus grabbed Cassandra's hand "Dave, hurry up, we have to run faster!" and they run towards the exit.
"Huh? You know I hate every word that has -ER because it needs something more." Dave complained but followed his friends anyway, catching his breath heavily.
Markus knew that something will definitely happen. They ran fast as they pass few people while bumping on some of them.
"Why are we in a hurry, Marky?" Cassandra asked
"...we need to get out of this mall immediately." He answered, catching his breath.
"But why, Marky?" Dave asked, also catching his breath heavily.
"Something will blow up!" he said
"Blow up? You mean EXPLODE? Like what happened at the school?" Dave said, his voice started to panic "Then, we need to tell everyone. Should we ask for help?"
"Ahh... Save, calm down. He knows my move...and creating another explosion will slow us down. But we can't tell others of it! It will just cause panic." Markus stopped and faced his friends.
"But there are people here, Markus," Cassandra exclaimed. "Don't you care about them?" she stepped a foot forward and raised her eyebrow.
"We need to take a step ahead or else we're as good as dead" Markus argued. "At times, Cass, we can't avoid casualties."
"Can't avoid casualties?! How dare you, Markus.." Cassy said with an angry voice and escaped from her friend's grip. She scorn the lad and said, "We need to warn the others about it. You'll just let them get hurt because of your petty argument?"
"But that's not our priority!" Markus exclaimed. "He might get us before anything else happens-"
"He? Who's THAT he?" Dave added. He stood with his hands on his pelvis crossing his brows.
"I don't know yet, but, I know he has ways of knowing what I'm doing...Tsk, damn it.." Markus bit his lip in irritation.
"Markus, the explosion will-" Cassandra said with her voice shaking. "People are going to die!"
"We don't have to stir panic, Cass... let's leave them to the authorities." Markus tried to explain calmly.
"What? Would you let them die and get hurt? You're being mean, Marky! It's not like you!" Cassandra turned her back from them.
"Ahh, but, it's not my job to save all of them... my fight is not on the real world Cass, it's on the VIRTUAL world. That's why we have to get out of---"
The LED screen behind them blew up and the rest of the computers inside the mall started to malfunction. A chain of explosions happened.
The people inside the mall were startled and they all ran towards the exit. Chaos engulfed the whole building alarming the sirens inside and outside the mall.
"This is bad, we have to hurry up!" Markus said. "there'll be a stampede". He grabbed the arms of his two friends and they hurried towards the exit door he set his eyes on.
They ran past on the near café and their computers set themselves on flame. The CPU exploded so as the other units on that store. All other computers that were turned on in the mall exploded and shook the whole building setting panic.
The fire had started to engulf the whole building. Alarms rang and sprinklers started to rain inside the building. People ran frighten fast. There is enough stampede to flatten a child on their way. The lights sparked and suddenly, a loud blast happened that made a hole on the third floor of the building. Debris were falling and some people were buried under. Screams are all over the building.
"Look out!" Markus exclaimed.
He brought his two friends inside the nearest store to shelter from the falling debris. The three of them were gasping their breath as they sat on the floor of the store. Shouts and cries were wailing in the rampage.
"I told you! This is gonna happen!" Cassandra screamed, she slapped her friend on his face.
"Are you alright?" he asked them instead of answering her runts and minding the slap.
"Ahh... I'm alive" Dave said, brushing his head. "Bruised, but--alive.."
"We're safe tho..." Cassandra added she throw him a hug. "are you alright? "
"I'm fine. " Markus replied
They stood up and saw the damages and casualties on the open area.
"What had just happened out there?" Cassandra asked, "I mean, does it have to go this far?"
"The generator exploded due to a sudden change in the electric current sent by the different computer units that malfunctioned simultaneously. It was all connected on one source, that's why things happen." Markus explained
"Anyway, we need to get out of here!" Dave said, "You said you need to go to Orion, right?"
"Ahh, but seriously, I thought we might not be able to reach ORION in this manner. I have to start the search and put an end to this NOW." Markus replied.
"Marky? What are you planning to do?" Cassandra asked
He looked around and found the answer to his dilemma. He took one of the units that were displayed on the computer store they're in. He took the model similar to his own laptop he left on ORION before going to school. He opened the unit and started to activate it and programmed it the way he wanted it to run.
"Ne, Marky, you're stealing it!" Cassandra said "With the book you stole from the library, now this?! You're getting used to it!"
"With all this commotion, it doesn't matter. And if I will be caught, I will pay its price after we got out of this mess." Markus continued hitting the keys on the keyboard.
"What are you going to do with it?" Dave asked, still shaking from the incident.
"Isn't it obvious? I will find the hacker and defeat him to stop this whole thing! And I need a computer to do that. If I don't get the chance to go to ORION, I will just have to bring ORION with me." He answered with a grin drawn on his face.
"But how are you going to find the hacker, Marky?' Cassandra panicked.
"I have my own ways. I am a Hacker too, you know!" he said "...But I still need to have one more thing to do that." He added
"One more thing?" Cassandra frowned and looked at him sternly. "Were on this matter, Marky but I can't allow you to commit a crime and become a criminal yourself." Cassandra muttered "...you're becoming someone we don't know anymore..." she started to make her voice tremble.
"It's alright, Cass...I will not be a criminal, I promise." he held her shoulders and stared at her with all honesty in his eyes. "I've had enough of those accusations 4 years ago. I will still be the Markus you took care of for a long time... I told you, for this computer, I'm gonna pay for it soon. Besides, we don't have another choice." he assured.
"But!" Cassandra insisted, her eyes were filled with tears that were not falling.
"Ma...maa.. let's just leave it like this for a while Cassandra, let's trust Marky on this. You just said that we will support him, right?" Dave said. He looked around to scout for possible dangers.
"But you know...this is wrong" Cassandra tried to argue. She didn't waver in the staring contest.
"I know this is wrong, but we have to trust on what is going on in that brain cells of him." Dave defended "He has a lot to work on and we are the supports."
"I know..." she sighed and glared at Markus. "Just this once, okay?" Cassandra said
"Hai!" Markus answered, "Just this once."
"De, what was that you still need, Marky?" Dave asked. He squatted beside his friend and crossed his arms, all ears.
"We need to get to my house, I need the..." Markus said,
"The what?" Dave's eyes widen.
"The Phantom Algorithm."