Ronin was, for lack of a better word, indifferent to the machinations of a fellow mad scientist. He knew that's what he was, and that's what the Bureau wanted more than anything. Scientists and researchers who were just as willing to create unspeakable tools of death as they were a new kind of computer. Ultimately all he cared about was seeing his project move on to final stages.
He'd been planning to suggest he be the test subject from the beginning, but he was happy that Eve had suggested it. Ronin felt that it was somewhat conceited to be the one to suggest the project AND be the one to benefit from it.
Turning for the first time to Eve, he wondered how she was planning to make it work, but if she was already bringing up testing, she must have something up her sleeve.
Checking his watch, he realized it was still early in the afternoon, barely 1 PM.
and he'd already finished his calculations for the day. With no other projects, and his current task on hold until Eve could get back to him, he decided to head back to class and try and catch his last lecture for the day.
"Eve, I'm cutting out early, are you going to be ok here on your own?"
Without bothering to turn around as she responded, "Yup. I'm' going to be A. O. K."
Shrugging, he nodded an affirmative she wouldn't see and walked out and down the hall to a lift that would bring him to a place closer to his next class.
Counting off lift numbers, he found one he was happy with and got on, receiving a call as he did. Checking the ID, he was pleased to see that it was Lily, and answered when he got on. Outside communication was strictly prohibited in the halls and offices, but the lifts were all designed to look exactly the same as the normal ones that staff and students used, so it was permitted there.
Lily's face appeared a second after he accepted the call and he already knew there were problems.
"Who the HELL is Silas?" she yelled at him.
"Hello to you too Liliana," he replied, nonplussed by her sudden outbreak.
In response she just glared at him and said, quiet and stern, "Your room. Now." The call ended as abruptly as it had started and he sighed. So much for getting to his class for the lecture on quantum entanglement.
He realized at the same time that the lift he was on was one of the farthest lifts from his room. Sighing exasperatedly, he said, "Why can't she just talk to me via message like a normal person."
As the lift reached its destination, he started running towards the living quarters, he estimated he'd get there in about twenty minutes.
In that twenty minutes, he received fifteen angry messages and five calls from Liliana, all of which he ignored.
Reaching his room, gasping for breath, he went to open it and found that it was unlocked. Paranoid, he prepped himself for a fight and opened the door, his hand by his waist to swipe with.
On his bed, Liliana sat, sobbing uncontrollably, holding a good looking man that Daniel had never seen before.
He rubbed her hair and whispered comforting words to her and took her hand in his, watching Daniel out of the corner of his eye the whole time. Liliana only cried harder and held him closer to her and before Daniel could say anything, he kissed her on the cheek and said, "He's here."
Feeling annoyance raise in his chest, he contemplated hitting the man holding his girlfriend, but decided better of it. This man seemed...dangerous...and Daniel was NOT a fighter.
"What's this all about, Liliana?" Daniel said darkly.
The man answered in her place, "I told her about what you've been bragging to me about. The green haired girl with the huge rack, I believe is how you described her. Silas? Remember Daniel?"
Immediately recognizing what was happening, Daniel, his voice terse, said, "I suppose you're the one who picked my lock?"
The man nodded an affirmative and Liliana said, "So far, I think you should start explaining this girl before you go around making accusations, DANIEL."
Ronin snapped at the man and said, "First of all, I don't know WHO you are, but you'd better stop telling lies about me, or else."
Letting his threat hang in the air, he saw that Liliana seemed taken aback by his forcefulness. Similarly, the man stood and said, "I'm Joseph. That's all you need to know about me. Liliana, when you're ready for the lies to stop, you come to me."
Daniel glared at him and stood perfectly still as the man tried to force his way past. Seeing that Daniel didn't intend to move, Joseph glared back and walked around him, slamming the door as he left.
Sighing, annoyed, Daniel sat down at his desk and said, "You seemed pretty comfortable with him, Liliana."
Liliana scowled at the back of his head as he began rapidly typing and said, "You need to spill. Now. Joseph says you've been going to see this girl Silas when you SAY you're going to see Marcus."
"Yeah, well Joseph looks like he struggles to balance equations with a book of answers in front of him."
Tapping a few keys, the hologram projectors he'd designed floated and moved to project on the wall.
A student picture began showing and he said, "That's Silas. No last name apparently."
The girl had long black hair, a soft face and gray eyes that seemed to drip sarcasm. All in all a very pretty girl, though Daniel wasn't going to say that now.
"Let's start with why you don't take information from people who claim to know me. The girl he described was a green haired woman who was well endowed, and while this girl IS well endowed, she has white hair. More likely than not, he gave you a skewed description so you'd never be able to find her and give her trouble."
Liliana started to say something when he cut her off and said, "From what it says here, she's specializing in data creation and manipulation, the facilities for which are on the other side of the school from where we work."
Trying to start again, Liliana found herself cut off once more.
"According to this information, she's a new transfer, within the last month or so. She tested highly enough to warrant a mid-term start, despite the school's generally no-go policy on that procedure."
Trying to start talking one more time and getting cut off, she said, "Will you shut up and tell me what you're doing! What's going on!"
Turning and looking her in the eyes, he said, "You wanted me to tell you who this Silas person is. I'm doing EXACTLY what you asked me to do."
Glaring at him, refusing to break their stare-off, Liliana said, "You KNOW what I meant. Who is she to you! Why are you seeing her?"
Looking down and sighing, Daniel responded quietly, saying, "My point is I DON'T know her. I've never seen her before just now. I told you already, I was doing something for Marcus."
Liliana leaned forward and said, "Daniel, I NEED you to be honest with me right now. What were you doing for Marcus?"
Leaning back in his chair, he said, "Both Marcus and I have told you that I'm not in a position to talk about what I do for him."
"Yes. Yes you have, but right now I don't know who to trust. Joseph says you've been with this girl and you won't even defend yourself. What am I supposed to do here, Daniel?"
"You could trust me. After all, it's not like you went into your room to find me with another woman."
Liliana sat back as though he'd slapped her and said, "He was just being nice Daniel. I was crying, it's not like we were wrapped up under the blankets this time."
Liliana gasped hard as it hit him what she'd said, he glared at her hard.
"This time?"
Standing up to leave, Liliana blushed hard and grabbed her arm as she said, "If you can't even tell me what you're doing with Marcus, IF that is really who you're with, then what business is it of yours what I'm doing with Joseph?!"
He slumped down into his chair as she opened the door and he asked, "Did you sleep with him, Lily?"
Responding quietly, refusing to look at him, she said, "I don't have to answer that."
Tapping some keys on his computer, he said, "I guess I have my answer then, don't I?"
Liliana, whispered, "Daniel...please...it's not what you think."
Daniel asked darkly, as he started typing more rapidly, "Than what is it?"
Liliana walked back into the room to find Daniel staring at what appeared to be a faculty display of Joseph's record and said, "Daniel...how did you get that?"
Flashing her a look, he said, "I hacked into the records, it wasn't difficult."
Looking at him confused, she asked, "How...how did you know how to do that...the school's mainframe is supposed to be impossible to break."
Turning to her, Ronin spoke quietly, his voice dripping with something that filled Liliana with the sense that he was being deathly serious.
"Right now all that matters is this. You say that I don't understand the situation, that I'm thinking something wrong. So here's your chance. You tell me EXACTLY what's going on, or I make it so that Joseph will NEVER get a job in his entire life."
Liliana stared at him in horror and said, "What?! How!"
Ronin looked back at her, his face completely calm, his voice level and said, "It's not hard if you know how. The wrong marks, a couple of data packets placed in the wrong places and you're a pariah, Liliana."
So many people are drastically different when they're angry, or scared, or jealous, but Liliana had never expected this kind of change. Normally an focused, if quiet person, this change in personality caught her completely off guard.
"Why are you doing this, Daniel?"
Breathing in slowly, Daniel's voice slowly went back to his normal tone as he said, "There are two reasons. One, he's spreading lies about me. Two...I care very deeply for you, Liliana, very much so, and the idea of you...with someone else….it puts me in a weird place."
"You're willing to destroy someone's life over me," she asked incredulously.
"Willing and able."
Somewhere in her mind, she knew that this was wrong, but it filled her with so much warmth and happiness that she almost hugged him.
Breathing slowly, she said, "I didn't tell you because I didn't think you'd understand...or that you wouldn't want me anymore…"
Nodding, Daniel said, "What didn't you tell me?"
Sighing as she spoke, she said, "When I was still in San Francisco, he and I were...well, we did a bunch of stuff together. It was just fun for me...but I always kind of felt like he took it more seriously than I did."
Looking at her, Daniel stood up and hugged her close to him and said, "I was scared Lily. Scared that you were going around behind my back."
Letting her go, he kissed her forehead and said, "I don't care about what you did before me. Life happens, we live it as best we can and make the best choices we can. Some of us chase pleasure, some of us chase work, but ultimately, your choices are what lead you here to my arms, and I wouldn't change anything that happened before me because of it."
Squeezing him tight, she said, "I'm glad you understand…"
Smiling gently, he said, "But?"
Looking in his eyes and pouting, she said, "I'm still not sure about you and this whole Silas thing. I've known Joseph a long time, I don't think he'd do something like this for no reason."
Daniel was sure that there was a very obvious reason behind all of this, but he kept that thought to himself and said, "Then go ahead and ask her yourself."
Turning to his computer, he closed Joseph's profile and opened Silas's class schedule and said, "She's heading back to the Girl's living quarters, her room number is 5563. You can go see her if you want. You can also check my clearances. I don't have a clearance to go into the girl's quarters."
Tapping his V.U.I. open, he sent her a request to view his clearances, and when she opened it, she saw that he only had the most basic clearance level for the school, and only clearance to get into the boys quarters.
Satisfied, she said, "I'm going to go talk to her now...I'm sorry for all of this, Daniel."
Nodding, Daniel said, "I love you hun, sleep well when you do."
She smiled and responded, "You too."