Genesis Sync

The pair wore shocked expressions at having the apartment door closed on them. It had to be known that Sarah’s identity was rather special and not only because she was recognised as the best human female player of their generation. So for a high school student to close the door on her was practically unheard of.

Sarah knocked on the door again before calling out, "My name is Sarah Lapis and I was sent here by Tia to find you."

The pair heard movement from the other side of the door before it opened again and John asked, “And why would Miss Tia send you to find me, Miss Lapis?”

Sarah showed a look of surprise as John clearly failed to recognise her name before her assistant asked, "So, you know Tia but not Blue Ice Queen?"

John looked at the assistant before saying, "First off, I have heard of Ice Blue Queen, as a story on Genesis News featured her, something about her killing her boyfriend and another woman after finding them in bed together."

As the pair heard his reply, the rude man looked stunned, while Sarah’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment as John continued.

"As for Tia, who doesn't know about the uniquely beautiful AI with the mesmerising voice."

***

Within the special space in Genesis that Tia had provided for them, the mother and daughter pair broke out in laughter at what John had just said, while Tia wore a small smile on her normally emotionless face.

"I can't believe he just said that right in front of her," Red Rose said while wiping tears from her eyes. “Honestly, I think he’s yet to realise exactly who she is, but maybe this will knock some sense into her regarding the men she ends up with in the future."

“We can only hope,” Fire Empress, whose real identity was Empress Alexia, said with a smile.

***

It took Sarah a few moments to gather herself before she returned to the subject at hand and said, "Mr. Michaels, Tia sent me here as her representative because she has some questions for you."

"Why could Tia not ask me herself? Access bands these days have communication, as far as I am aware." John asked since it was something they had learned about this in school.

"You are correct, and Tia did indeed try to contact you; however, she was not able to,” Sarah replied. “She believes it is because you have an obsolete model."

"Figured something was going on when the government official at the initiation looked surprised." John sighed.

"Can you tell me more about this?" Sarah asked.

"Sure," John shrugged before continuing, "When I went to collect my access band after my initiation, the government official who served looked surprised when he saw what access band he was to supply me with. He looked over at the head official, who just nodded his head slightly before turning away and after that the official dealing with me just carried on as normal."

"I see,” Sarah nodded. “Can you show me your access band so we can determine which model it is?"

After John nodded and lifted his wrist up, allowing the pair a good look. Sarah gasped upon seeing it, while her assistant's mouth once again fell open.

***

This Frank Hargreaves deserves the death penalty for what he’s done, but the question still remains about anyone else’s involvement,” Red Rose stated with a frown. ”Depending on how deep this goes, we may be forced to do a full purge of the Dawnscape City’s government officials."

Fire Empress nodded and was about to comment when they both saw the band John wore, causing her to instantly forget her original words and replace them with, "Fuck."

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on NovelFire. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"Is that what I think it is?" Red Rose asked, unsure of her own eyes.

"It is my daughter; it's a MK VI," Fire Empress confirmed with narrowed eyes.

Suddenly, Tia's voice spoke out, but it was not the usual blissfully sounding musical voice she used; this time it was so cold-sounding that both women in the room shivered.

"MK VI Access Band confirmed to have been given to subject John Michaels against the orders of Genesis AI Tia, as well as being in violation of the Genesis Article against poisoning an individual using Genesis. The punishment the human race receives shall be increased after discovery of this new information."

After hearing Tia's announcement, there was silence in the room; however, both women's eyes were filled with rage.

***

"Mr. Michaels, remove that access band right now," Sarah said in an urgent voice.

"Why?" John asked with raised eyebrows.

"Because it's poisonous, you idiot." Sarah’s assistant said.

John, however, figured it would be best to just ignore this man from now on and so did not even look at him and waited for Sarah to explain.

"That's a MK VI access band,” Sarah began. “They were all recalled and supposed to have been destroyed under orders of Tia. There was an issue with the manufacturing of that particular model, leading it to acquire properties poisonous to every race. Prolonged exposure can even result in death."

"Well, that's just fucking great, now what am I supposed to do?" John complained as he took off the access band before continuing. "If my ID and bank account were not linked, I would just toss this away."

"You can simply go to the local government office and get a replacement one." Sarah’s assistant stated in a condescending tone.

John stared at the assistant before asking, “Go to the government office and get a replacement? The same government that gave me a poisoned access band in the first place? Are you fucking stupid?”

And as he finished speaking, John once again slammed his apartment's door in the pair's faces.

"…" Sarah and the man had no words for the reaction John Michaels had just given them.

***

Inside Genesis, neither of them knew what to say after hearing John's response before he had once again slammed his apartment's door in their faces and no longer bothered with his guests. Both Fire Empress and Red Rose were seething in rage at what the Dawnscape City council had done and trying to think up a way to minimise the punishment they were about to receive from Tia.

***

"Did he just?" The rude man asked in shock before walking up to the shack and banging on the door, shouting. "YOU UNGRATEFUL PIECE OF TRASH, DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO YOU JUST SLAMMED YOUR DOOR IN THE FACE OF?"

No response came from the shack and the man was about to rage again when Sarah said, "Stop."

Before she could continue, John opened the door to his apartment again before saying in an annoyed voice, “Would you mind not breaking my door down? Do you have any idea how much it would cost to replace this?”

Sarah failed to respond to John's sudden question since he had emerged from his apartment topless this time, and her eyes could not help but wander over his chiselled chest. {Wow}

“What? Have you never seen a man topless before?” John asked angrily as he noticed Sarah’s stare. “I figured you would have seen your ex-boyfriend topless, or is the reason he cheated on you because you wouldn’t put out?”

Sarah’s mouth opened slightly as she heard John’s question and the rage in his voice. Though she honestly couldn’t blame him, considering what had happened to him.

"You ungrateful swine..." Sarah’s assistant started to say but was cut off as Sarah loudly ordered.

“STOP!”

"But, miss." her assistant tried to complain.

"I said stop,” Sarah repeated before ordering. “You have no idea what is going on here and every time you open your mouth, you're only making things worse. Now go back to the car and wait there."

The man did not dare to disobey, and after staring daggers at John, he left.

"My apologies about him; it seems I made a mistake hiring him," Sarah said apologetically.

"It seems you have poor judgment when it comes to men," John commented, causing Sarah’s eyes to widen in surprise as she asked.

“Pardon?”

"Well, there's that guy", John said while pointing at the man over his shoulder "Then there is your ex-boyfriend who cheated on you with another woman in your own bed. What else could that be but you being a bad judge of men?"

"So, you knew who I was all along?" Sarah asked curiously.

"No,” John replied. “Only after that rude guy mentioned Blue Ice Queen."

"Then why did you pretend not to know?"

"Because I don't believe you are who you say you are."

"Why not? Sarah asked as her eyes once more moved over John’s bare chest.

"What would Sarah Lapis, the human race's most famous female player of our generation, be doing in Dawnscape City?" John answered. “Dawnscape is only a mid-level city, so what reason could the niece of the Empress Alexia have for coming here to see me?"

"You sure know a lot; not everyone knows I am the empress's niece since I use my father's surname," Sarah replied in an impressed tone.

Instead of giving a direct response, John asked, "When you're at school and you're constantly bullied every day, where is the one place that those bullies are least likely to find you?"

"I don't know, where?" Sarah asked with interest.

"The library,” John replied. “Spend enough time in there and you're bound to pick up a thing or two. I just happened to read a book once about the family lineage of the Royal Family.”