Searching For Secrets (Part 2)

Austin/Vector's P.O.V.

When I stepped out of the teleporter, I realized something was seriously different about the room.

"When did that get here?" Tamra asked, pointing to the fifth transport on the platform. It looked exactly like ours, but with a different avatar on its screen.

"It seemed as if the platform automatically adjusted itself to fit this new pod," my best friend thought aloud. "But why?"

We all turned to V.E.R.A. expectantly. She answered with no hesitation. "The platform is designed to adjust and fit the fifth transportation pod in case of Giga's sudden return."

Trey huffed. "There's that name again. Giga."

I sighed, walking over to the other side of the computer table. I looked at my cyber-sister, staring at her with a deadly serious expression. "V.E.R.A., we really need you to tell us who this Giga is."

She stared at me blankly, like usual. "Need, or want?" She asked firmly.

"Need V.E.R.A.," Tamra confirmed, standing next to me. Trey and Parker stood on the other side of her. "If we don't know who our new teammate is, then the next time Megabyte strikes, could be our last. She's the only one of us who can fight the sentinels with their new upgrade."

V.E.R.A. straightened her back. "If that's the case, I can upgrade all of your suits to have them ready by later this day." She began typing on the computer at lightning speed, per usual.

"Stop avoiding the question," Trey said. "Who is Giga?"

She stopped, mid-type. "I cannot tell you; my coding prevents me from discussing Giga's real self without her command to allow me to."

"Oh come on," Parker urged. "You can defy your code for something this little like our new teammate's identity-"

Suddenly, V.E.R.A. smashed her hands on the desk. "No, I cannot! Revealing Giga's true identity is dangerous information and should not be trifled with. My code states that I may only discuss her real name when she reveals herself to you personally and gives me the word. Do not tell me to defy my code!"

Her eyes were clouded with anger during her rant, but immediately after they changed to regret. They widened and she cupped her hands over her own mouth. "I-I-I am sorry," she stuttered, for the first time ever. V.E.R.A.'s hands returned to the keyboard and she kept her eyes glued on the screen. "I shall continue with the upgrade. Time of upgrade completing is approximately 3.06 hours to..."

My attention no longer was focused on her words, or anything of V.E.R.A. at all. Instead, my gaze fell on the blonde next to me as she gently tugged on the ends of her sleeve every now and then. Her facial features were relaxed, her legs in a sort-of lean back and chill position as she rested her arm on top of one of the higher, sky blue table.

I took into account that her hair was pulled back from her peachy face by a simple skinny black headband, though it didn't prevent the later baby hairs curling right in front of her face. She didn't seem to mind at all, but it pestered me a little. It might've only blocked that little part of her face but it's still blocking those who pass by from seeing those sparkling dark emerald eyes. But that smile on her face, it seemed rather forced.

As I silently inspected her, I realized Tamra might've done this on purpose. Not for a fashion statement like she usually does for her vlog followers. Like she knew it was like this the entire day and decided to not let it change. It was like a mistake that she didn't mess with or fix.

So I made the decision to fix it for her.

Carefully, I reached over and pulled back that little strand of hair from her face, tucking it right behind her ear. She inhaled sharply and whipped her head over to meet my eyes. Hesitantly, I pulled my hand back to my side and stared down at my red Nike sneakers, my face burning from embarrassment. What was I thinking? I thought.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"How was school, you three?" My mother asked V.E.R.A., Parker and me as we walked into the kitchen. Parker usually comes over after school when he doesn't have any after school plans. We would either help each other with homework (more like he always helps me), talk about life, or play Cyber Guardians. V.E.R.A. now just helps tutor Trey or gets "human girl" lessons from Tamra.

V.E.R.A. nodded contently. "Our day went with splendidly," she lied smoothly. "And how was yours and the hospital, Judy?"

My mom sighed as she placed the another plate in one of the top cabinets. "Stressful, like always." She turned towards me. "Sorry Austin, but I'm going to have to do another night shift at the hospital. One of our doctors needs to take care of her son, the elementary prodigy with the broken leg I told you about."

I shrugged. It was normal for my mom to do this. "It's fine, mom," I replied. "Just tell her that I hope Henry feels better before his big debate."

"I will." She nodded and ventured to her room down the hall.

Parker tapped me on the shoulder. "How much homework do you have today?" He asked, both of us falling into step towards my room.

"Three assignments. Mr. Hansen is making our class write an entire essay on the important things of coding." I paused, stopping right in front of my door. Looking down at my best friend, I gave him a confused look. "Why am I telling you this? We have the same classes just at different times."

His face flushed. "I kinda finished them already..." he trailed off. But I let it go; I should've expected this from my nerdy bro. "Did the math assignment due tomorrow from now at lunch, the essay during my free period which is supposed to be completed a week from today, and I already read Fahrenheit 451 at least five times in my life, so I'm ready for Friday. But I'm not dropping any spoilers for you."

I playfully punched him in the arm and opened the door with my other hand.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After around an hour of 'doing' homework, I tossed my ballpoint pen down on my blue wooden desk and nearly slammed my face into my 2-inch thick math book.

"You know that no matter how hard you do that to yourself, with your strength, you're incapable of getting a concussion, meaning that you'd still have to do your homework?" Parker commented from the corner of my room.

I buried the side of my face in my arms laid upon my desk and looked over at him. There he was, in the corner of my room on a big red beanbag - which is kinda funny since he is so small - reading Fahrenheit 451, just halfway from finishing. I was too exhausted to even ask why and lifted my head up.

My eyes caught onto a bright red-framed picture of me and my friends on our first day of school. The five of us were standing in front of Alan Turing High, each of us showing our true colors. Trey in his basketball uniform, spinning his basketball on his finger; V.E.R.A. was still wearing a mixed-matched outfit from that day, paired up with a blank face; me being, well, me; Parker and his books and nerdy stuff; and Tamra.

Her hair was long and in perfect curls, which I had to adjust to after her haircut a week ago. Her eyes sparkled like emeralds in the moonlight, despite it being taken at around 15:00. She held her yellow phone case over her heart as she showed off her dimpled smile. A real smile.

My mind turned back to when I pulled back Tamra's hair earlier today. Her eyes were clouded, no longer having that sparkle like from last night during our team game night. Her laughter was so filled with relief and enjoyment, she was purely happy. But today, after the mission, she seemed to force everything.

But why? Why does she force her happiness and hide this stuff from me-

"Hey Tamra! When did you get here?" Parker said, breaking my train of thoughts. I was so startled that I fell out of my rotating chair, just an inch away from slamming my face into the edge of my desk. I came in contact with my fuzzy red carpet and a pair of smelly sneakers. I grimaced and quickly pushed myself off the ground to face my friend.

"Nice to see you're finally awake!" He gave me a mock smile and bookmarked his page. "By the way, you're crush isn't here."

"Tamra isn't here?" I let that question slip from my mouth. "I mean, she's not my crush. Not that I'm saying I have a crush." I began to ramble but stopped myself from continuing to a full-on rant.

Parker rolled his eyes and stood up. I realized now he was clutching a pastel green spiral notebook with electric green stripes. But I already knew that he hid a tablet inside of it, so it wasn't filled with only paper. "Anyways, I was putting up a list of people of who might be our new teammate."

"Did you put the Bionic Blade on it?" I asked, sitting back down on my chair as he settled onto the edge of my pale blue blanketed bed. "It was quite obvious with her equipment and agility."

He bit his lip. "Not exactly," he gave a so-so hand signal. "There is a 97.8% chance that Giga is the Bionic Blade, based on statistics and stuff. But even though we are almost certain they are the same person, we still don't know the identity of the Bionic Blade. So this list is titled 'Who is the Bionic Blade / Giga?'." He flipped open the notebook to the tablet screen and handed it over to me.

Who is the Bionic Blade / Giga?

1. Shari Li 📱

"Shari?" I wondered aloud. "Why her?"

Parker shrugged. "Well, she's really close to Tamra, so maybe she found out about Room 0 somehow. I really doubt it though, but she's the first suspect in mind."

2. V.E.R.A. (Carter?)

I snapped my fingers in slight realization. "That makes sense. She doesn't wish for anyone to find out about her identity, so maybe that's why she blew up earlier. V.E.R.A. might've felt left out of this so she might've became the Bionic Blade."

"Which is why your 'sister' is on the list!" My best friend exclaimed. But a second later, his face fell. "Though, number 3 makes more sense than candidates 1 and 2."

"Then why did you put her as number 3?" I inquired.

"For suspense and drama?" His shoulders raised along with his eyebrows.

I rolled my eyes at his antics and moved on to the last person.

3. Jane Carter? 💜🖤💚

My heart skipped a beat. My smile dropped from my face as I looked up at Parker. He was fiddling with something on his finger as he pressed his lips together with uncertainty.

"Why?" I whispered. He looked up and I spoke at a normal volume. "She's been missing for almost two years. Why-"

"Because after analyzing Giga's fighting techniques, comparing interests with Jane's and other stuff, there is an 82.5% chance that our Jane Carter is the Bionic Blade. Ergo, making her Giga, our new teammate. Besides, remember what V.E.R.A. accidentally slipped last night? 'Jane Carter was a great guardian' or something like that?"

I handed him back his tablet before I dropped it from all my shaking. I held my head in my hands, my mind mentally spinning. The signs, there were so many of them. They were so obvious that it seemed too unreal. My sister, the one who I thought was dead for 2 whole years, could possibly be alive and saved me from dying without me knowing.

My best friend sighed. "I know it doesn't seem likely but it is still possible," he attempted to explain. "It's just that, ever since last night, I couldn't stop thinking about Jane. I remembered all her hobbies, her talents, her memories. Then, it just... I dunno, clicked."

I bit my lip and lifted my head up from my hands. "We can't tell anyone until we gather more evidence that Giga is my so-called deceased sister," I decided. "Especially not my mom. She's already handling so much; who knows how she'll react to her own daughter that Jane is out there in town fighting criminals."

Well, I'm pretty sure my mom would be more proud than scared. I'm just making it sound like a bad thing. Of course, with my sister's "abilities", I believed Jane was more than capable when protecting the city.

He nodded. "Wasn't thinking otherwise."

Then I smirked at him. "Also, why did you put a purple heart, a black heart, and a green heart next to my sister's name?"

Parker's face turned red with embarrassment as he clicked a few buttons on the screen. "T-t-that's n-nothing!" He stammered, shutting the book closed.

I rolled my eyes once again; I wasn't oblivious to his crush on Jane. Of course, I became slightly overprotective of her after I found out but not too much or else he would've found out.

Ding! He opened his book and his eyes widened in surprise. "Sorry, my parents want me to come home for dinner and take care of my new cat, Trixy." He grabbed his backpack and began to walk out of the door. But he stopped to catch another smirk on my face. "Yes, I named my cat after the black cat that Jane found that one time. In memory of her, not because I like-like her."

"I never said anything of you like-liking her," I replied smugly.

"Gah!" He scurried out the door and left my house, slamming the bedroom door behind him. I got up from my chair and flopped down onto my bed chuckling to myself. Parker is a strange, strange little boy.