The box itself was a piece of technology used for storing the army's gear technology inside it would open up like an armory closet when activated standing against the wall
it looked so cool the two boys took pictures with them they couldn't show this to anybody though
Jhaesun went on his computer and made an online drop-box for their private pictures also discovering
Yonghwa's phone was filled with several calls from his enraged dad and messages with veiled threats of what happens to Yonghwa if he didn't come home
Jhaesun forwarded everything to Patricia to add to her case and deleted Yonghwa's dad contact information from the phone
blocked him from their socials accounts he now linked with his account as besties with Yonghwa's he extended his security encryption from his military phone to Yonghwa's
putting his phone under the protection of the military network nothing and no one inappropriate could get into his phone to bother him most especially not his father
"Yonghwa thees something I want to do with you," Jhaesun said when he was done
"what's that?" Yonghwa asked
"We are going to open something, I think we could put it to use right now I've been reading the manual on what they do,
It's called the ant pack we both have one, so we are going to open yours because you're not an official soldier,
so your Ants won't go online on the military command network you can use them just for your own needs get it?"
Yonghwa nodded "ok great"
" come on I will show you how to set them up" he took them to the computer desk and opened the pack it was filled with small mechanical robot ants
there were three different types, three little platoons, and they had a leader, an ant called,
the Controller Ant and
"what you will do is go on the computer and connect the controller ant like a USB device and a system will open that will let you input the mission parameters of what you want the ants to do" Jhaesun explained
"they have a nesting feature for long term infiltration the ants would be deployed and they would build a hidden nest near the target,
and from there would run operations gathering all information around the target including full monitoring of their daily activities
they could infest an office and take over computers and phones to tap into your communications they are essentially the perfect invisible spies
used to collect evidence and do all sorts of things without a soldier having to step foot in the place, all of it would be uploaded to the military from the ant's connection to military web network "
"wow these ants will prevent a lot of agents from having to go undercover I mean if we could start operations on all the bad guys in the world with these we could stop so many bad things whoever made these must be a genius," Yonghwa said peering at them in fascination
Jhaesun chuckled "a friend of mine made them you would have met him but you were sleeping when we picked up the gear its a guy named Fox he's a member of my dad's troop too
but he's a crazy genius computer tech hacker when he was young he got into a lot of trouble hacking into important places in the government
so my dad caught him and instead of making him go to jail he made him a soldier and he became an intelligence-gathering officer for the military,
he's the best of the best there isn't a single computer in the world he can't get into now he has the military network behind him,
and he had this idea of making a drone that could infiltrate and gather intelligence controlled from anywhere in the world, even his laptop or phone,
he could leave a nest of ants somewhere and see how much data they collect for how long before they run out of power,
I heard that was the problem with the ant was finding a battery or energy source that would let them run for a long period of time I guess they figured out what the problem was,
cause here they are now and what our tech scientist has been able to help him make is incredible
these ones"
, he pointed to a troop of the ants on the counter that looked a bit more special than the others
"are flying ants with video audio recording you can use them to take pictures they can also live stream to your phone or computer can be independently operated,
that means you can use them one at a time so that you don't wreck all your drones it can endure a number of conditions because it's a military tech, it must be able to be taken anywhere in the world in any conditions and still work so,
according to the manual, they are waterproof fireproof freeze proof it can record footage in turbulent air conditions, as well as underwater and underground the ant, can be used as an exploration device to provide eyes and ears anywhere the military needs them to go"
"so these dam ants are indestructible and unstoppable they can dig through the ground and build hidden underground operations bunker for themselves,
these are way more than a drone that looks like an ant, they took the ant concept to the whole new level
full ant behaviors so if you saw one in the wild you wouldn't be able to tell it's not a real ant,
it's not easy to destroy or get rid of it has the ability to camouflage and bond itself to objects like jewelry, you can wear a hidden ant on your person and control it from your phone,
use it as a tracking device on a person and can also monitor them from your phone two ants that are connected together can be used as hidden communication as well between the wearers"
"which means," Jhaesun said in summation "if you have one and I have one we will always be able to reach each other, we can talk to each other from our ant, we can also know where the other person is at all times
if anything happens and we get separated, I can track you and I will also be able to see and hear everything that going on around you ill be able to be with you, and I will come to find you and save you OK" Jhaesun said
"don't think I'm trying to spy on you or anything you can even spy on me too whenever you want to see me ill put it on your phone OK"
"Yonghwa say something! what's the matter? why are you crying?" Jhaesun asked
he had suddenly burst into tears and hugged him
"it's OK " putting his arms around him he hugged him and stroked his curls "I'll always keep you safe I'll do everything to be with you so you won't be alone again ever "
"thank you so much Jhaesun" he hugged him tightly
"youre safe now bunny it's ok I won't let anyone hurt you ever again it may seem stupid to be so cautious when you are here but you never know what might happen so whatever it takes to protect you ok?," Jhaesun said
"I trust you Jhaesun," Yonghwa said "I know you'll take care of me youre my hero you know"
he smiled "youre my very own marine"
Jhaesun's heart thrilled when he heard that he laughed "yes I'm your marine then youre my bunny "
"why a bunny?" Yonghwa asked tilting his head and his curls flopped like bunny ears it was so cute he made Jhaesun laugh
"Because you look like one" he replied ruffling his hair "look I'll show you"
he took him to the mirror on his closet door standing behind him he held Yonghwa's head and titled it making his curls bounce around
Yonghwa giggled "I really do resemble a bunny!" he laughed
tilting his head back the other way he began to bob his head left to right making his hair flop around in the mirror the two boys bursting into laughter
Yonghwa falling into Jhaesun's arms unbalancing he caught him in his arms lifting him up
gazing at his laughing face and sparkling brown eyes and flushed cheeks
this was how Yonghwa was supposed to be laughing and full of happiness always he preferred his smiles to his tears
he was going to fix him this entire summer he would take him for the summer of his life and then when he went home to Zypher he would be strong again
he would protect him he made the firm resolve to start training him seriously so he could learn to defend himself well
"Yonghwa will you let me borrow your moms necklace to put one of the ants on it for you?" he asked touching the pearl at his neck with a fingertip
"yes you can" Yonghwa replied giving his consent "also I have a necklace you can use for yours its one of my mothers"
"I will find something of my own" Jhaesun replied
"No! I want to give it to you my mom would want you to have it" Yonghwa said, "it's a simple silver crucifix necklace it's good for soldiers to have something like faith right?"
"yes," Jhaesun said "actually we have a lot of soldiers who wear similar things as good luck charms"
"then a good luck charm from me your best friend" Yonghwa insisted "please?"
"ok" Jhaesun agreed putting him down
Yonghwa went to get the necklace from his things with a happy smile he could give Jhaesun a gift and they could use it together to watch over each other he liked it a lot he liked Jhaesun so much his mom would surely approve
he got the necklace and came back
"it's here," he said holding the necklace in his hand the delicate-looking silver necklace with an elegant small crucifix on it draped across the palm of his hand
"wow that's really nice Yonghwa are you sure it's ok to give me this?" Jhaesun breathed holding it
"yea it's fine it's not super expensive jewelry my mother had some normal nice pieces she wore normally and then she had really fancy,
million dollars diamonds and jewels pieces my dad actually tried to steal them but I found them and turned them in before I left Zypher to Mr. Sawyer they were a part of my mom's estate,
my dad accused me of stealing them when I was like seven or eight they went missing and I was the last person seen near them so he said but when I trashed his bedroom and took my moms things I found them stashed in a bag I think my dad stole them and stashed them himself and framed me for it"
"I'm sure your grandmother will find out everything and settle things well in court she has no reason not to win the case," Jhaesun said
as they talked he was activating two of the ants and connecting them to their phones
"wait I want two more of the flyers," Jhaesun said picking up two more "we will use these to film footage and take pictures for our socials pages what do you think?"
Yonghwa's eyes widened "yah! that would be dope as heck cause they are tiny so"
yup we can take them anywhere with us all summer "
"We can keep them in our pockets with us if we can keep them in our phone cases," Jhaesun said "that will be their nest I will program it into them"
Yonghwa giggled this was going to be the most awesome summer ever they had cool bodysuits and top-notch spy tech to play with he couldn't imagine this kind of adventure in his life in Zypher at all