Exodus: The Assassin's Path 2 A Family Of Geniuses

Slowly he trekked back up the stairs, his legs feeling heavy as the sudden adrenaline surge started to take its toll. "Just a quick peek," he paused on the fourth floor and exited the stairs. Straightening his clothes he arrived at 414.

Knock ..knock knock..

A few moments later the door opened, a tall blonde woman in her mid thirties stepped into the entry way. Talia Joki was a retired army captain, who use to work with the Army Core of Engineers. Her left leg was missing below the knee, she used a metallic prosthetic to walk. Her serious face broke into a smile when she saw Quinn.

"Heya Quinn! We missed you at dinner on Sunday."

Quinn had been having dinner with the Joki family every Sunday since he had moved in. "Sorry Tal. I've been a bit busy lately.. I won't miss the next one--promise."

She noticed the usual stoic teenager seemed a bit frazzled. "Quinn? What's wrong?" She opened the door wider and then pinched her nose. "Oh G.o.d, why do you smell like diesel fuel?" She was well aware of what diesel fuel smelled like from her days in the army.

"The power tripped and the generator came on. I didn't notice until it had started to run out, afraid I went right into panic mode." He voice was thick with emotion so he stopped speaking.

"It's okay Quinn, she's perfectly fine. Wait here. " She spun on her heels and went inside, a moment later she returned with a plastic bag. "Okay put your clothes in here." She handed him the bag.

"Um... hey, gonna look away or something?" His hands grabbed at the bottom of his s.h.i.+rt.

"Pfft... No way, an old single woman like me doesn't get out much," she crossed her arms in front of her rather bountiful chest while smirking at him.

"Right.. ...," she was a fine looking woman. Quickly he tossed his jeans and s.h.i.+rt in the bag and dropped it in the hallway.

"Nice.., " she tossed him a bathrobe and motioned for him to come inside. "Go check on her honey, you hungry?"

"I had a bit of takeout, but I could eat a little if it is something you cooked," he gave her a crooked smile as he started to feel normal again.

"Sweet talker...you know the way, I"ll rustle something up." She walked into the kitchen with a barely p.r.o.nounced limp. The smallest metallic click accompanied her gait as she opened the refrigerator.

Quinn ran his hands through his hair and stepped into the hall bathroom to wash his hands. When he was done he splashed some water on his face, staring at himself in the mirror. The color was starting to return to his face, but he still felt sick to his stomach. He closed the door quickly and bent over retching.

"Quinn? Hey.., " there was a light tap on the door. "Are you okay?

"Yep, I'm fine Tal. Just need a second." He rinsed his mouth out with water and stood up straight. "All better."

He opened the door to find Tal's worried face staring at him. "It's okay Quinn, go on and check. I was with her the whole time."

He nodded and turned down the hall toward the bedroom. The door was partially open, the ridiculously bright fluorescent green decor peaking out. Walking down the hall he noticed the pictures frames hanging in the same old places.

The first was Tal's graduation certificate from MIT. She was a bonafied genius. The second frame showed a small girl playing a flute on stage. The girl wore a bright green dress and looked quite comfortable playing. "Apparently super genius runs in their family," he mumbled before stopping at the last frame. A small girl of eight was hiding behind the legs of a 13 year old Quinn. They were both smiling and wearing identical party hats. "I remember that.. great cake!"

He sighed heavily as he walked into the room. A young girl lay on a very clean looking hospital bed, the steady drone of a life support system pumping in the background. There was a chair next to the bed, he sat down crossing his arms on his chest.

Renri Joki, a music prodigy, had been injured 2 years ago in an accident. She had been sitting in a cafe with her friends when a car had driven onto the sidewalk and smashed through the window. Renri was the only one injured in the accident. The driver who had pa.s.sed out from drinking, later committed suicide. Little Renri had never woken up, and still remained in a coma two years later.

"You look good Ren, probably should wake up soon if you can," he smiled at her. "I don't think all this sleep is good for your growth." He grabbed a book from the nightstand and opened it up. It was one of her favorite books, and so he started reading out loud.

An hour later Quinn left the room. Tal was sitting on the couch, a plate of reheated beef stroganoff in front of her. "See? Everything is okay." She slid the plate closer to him as he sat down.

"Thanks for the food!" He took a bite and then sat back, the plate on his lap. "What is with that suit Ren is wearing?"

"Hmm, it's the newest thing. Sends signals to the muscles to keep them active. It will prevent them from atrophying before she wakes up." Tal actually knew exactly how it worked, but she had dumbed it down for Quinn.

"Thanks for the easy explanation," he gave her a boyish grin. "At least you know I'm a moron."

She laughed and winked at him. "I'm use to your ways."

"Hey, you are a smart woman. Probably the smartest person I know." He sat up straight and while continuing to eat.

"Such sweet words, I like where this is going but whats your point?" She knew Quinn was practical, over practical even.

"There's a VRMMO called TAP, that's coming to the Exodus. It's an older game, one of the last holdouts." Quinn took a bite, closing his eyes as he savored the taste.

"TAP? I think I remember reading about it, still really popular isn't it?" She sat up and leaned over, "bite please."

"What? Hey this is mine," giving her a face he extended his hand and fed her a bite with his fork. "I was wondering if Ren might be able to activate a headset."

"In a Virtual environment?" Tal shook her head, "they tried something similar at the hospital, she didn't have enough active brainwaves to establish a connection."

"I'm guessing they used the new headsets, with all the safety protocols." Quinn looked at her, his face solemn. "The old headsets were different. They didn't protect from over stimulation, they interacted more with automatic brain activities, like heartbeat, breathing and emotions.

"Quinn... Those headsets are illegal." She placed a slender hand on his arm, concern in her eyes. "You aren't using one of those right?"

"No, but I do have one." Quinn had placed it in a box under bed. 'I don't know which game she played with it, but it's in good condition.

"They don't work anymore Quinn." Tal watched him eat, he had taken Ren's accident as hard as she had. He had become tougher, and more focused.

"Correction genius engineer, they don't work on the Exodus platform." Q smiled at her, she was smart so she'd piece it together.

Tal's blue eyes stared intently at him. "You want to try and use the old headset to bring Ren into TAP, before they convert to the Exodus platform."

"Worth a try right?" He held her gaze, it wasn't easy looking at Tal without wanting to help her. 'Ren deserves a better life, so do you,' he thought to himself. "We can't give up."

Tal smiled and nodded. "Never ever Quinn."

"I'll prepare two new headsets and the one old one. I'll have to manually input all the game data through a keyboard since the choices are usually decided by the user upon entry. I think the three of you would be lost trying to figure it out." He followed her into the kitchen and placed his gla.s.s in the dishwasher.

"Dad will be happy that you included him." She stepped close and wrapped Quinn up in a big hug.

"Mmm." He hugged her back. "What's the old b.a.s.t.a.r.d up to now that he's retired?"

Tal laughed, her bright smile instantly making Quinn feel better. "What's an old economist suppose to do? He is figuring out how to conquer the world of course."

She grabbed his hand and walked him to the door. "Thanks for everything Quinn, oh and keep the bathrobe, it looks super good on you," she gave him a wink before closing the door on him.

Quinn headed back to apartment and quickly showered off the smell of diesel fuel.

Quinn logged into his virtual cla.s.sroom. Being an Exodus Fodder was generally frowned upon, so he had made up a persona of hating VR to keep his cla.s.smates from inviting him anywhere. His teacher and cla.s.smates were convinced that Quinn was some sort of anti-VR outcast. Quinn often went out of his way to reinforce the idea.

His homeroom teacher was the instructor for their VR studies cla.s.s. It was an in depth look at the social ramifications of Virtual Reality. She was also a TAP fanatic and that's exactly what he needed right now. "I' wouldn't be surprised at all to find out she was an a.s.sa.s.sin, just listening to her talk is enough to kill us all."

Quinn looked around a bit as he sat down, about half the students had arrived already. There were no rules regarding avatars, so typically it looked like a cla.s.s full of weirdos. There was the horned guy, the mermaid, a d.a.m.n liger. How do I know what a liger looks like? Quinn s.h.i.+vered as he turned in his seat, watching that thing talk is creepy as h.e.l.l.

The cla.s.sroom slowly filled up over the next few minutes until finally the bell rang, at this time the teacher who had been standing outside, closed the door.

"Good Morning cla.s.s," the woman who spoke was east Indian. She was wearing some sort of middle eastern belly dancing garb. It was s.e.xy as h.e.l.l… and completely ridiculous.

"Good Morning Teacher." Quinn only mouthed the words as his cla.s.s returned the greeting. She always dressed in her TAP cla.s.s gear.

Quinn watched her as she walked around the cla.s.s taking role. After a moment she stopped in front of his desk.

"What are you thinking about Quinn?" She watched him with almond shaped eyes, a smile playing on her lips.

"I'm thinking you should put a sweater on Miss Sentac," he looked away before he gave into the temptation of looking through her s.h.i.+rt.

She put her hands on his desk, leaning forward as she stared at him, her full b.r.e.a.s.t.s pus.h.i.+ng again the flimsy top. Quinn could feel the jealous glares of his cla.s.smates stabbing into him.

"Um… really? Please back away and leave my s.p.a.ce. " Quinn leaned away from her while managing to find something interesting on the ceiling to stare at.

"You didn't turn in your TAP a.s.signment Quinn." He felt the smile in her words, she was a shameless vamp of a woman.

"Oh… was that due today? Hmm.. I guess I'll take an incomplete then." He finally stopped staring at the ceiling when she straightened out. "Good thing I did all the extra credit earlier in the semester."

"As your homeroom teacher I insist that you finish this a.s.signment." Her smile seemed sweet, but her words dripped with venom. "Today's world has gone virtual, your disconnection with this reality is inhibiting your ability to grow."

Quinn was able to keep a straight face, if only just barely. "One day I'm going pull the plug on all this virtual c.r.a.p and laugh at all you fatties walking around in your underwear."

"What was that?" Her smile faded as her eyes took on a predatory look. Two truths, no woman likes being called old or fat.

"I said I read the pamphlet you a.s.signed and will make sure to finish it today." He gave her a thumbs up as he leaned back in his desk.

The cla.s.s burst into laughter as he spoke. Quinn looked around in confusion. Even his teacher was struggling to keep a straight face.

"Today might be a difficult day to finish that a.s.signment Quinn."

"Oh? Why is that? I a.s.sure you, I am completely prepared," his tone made it seem like he was donating a kidney to a hated cousin.

"Hmm, I'll let you figure it out." She brushed a hand against his arm as she walked by. "You really are my favorite student Quinn," she whispered under her breathe as she walked to the back of the cla.s.sroom.

"Okay everyone, today is a free day to enjoy the TAP events. Please turn in all a.s.signments due this week no later than Friday…. For those of you using the School's Free 10 day trial accounts, the TAP pa.s.sword and user name is in your E-notes. Dismissed."

Quinn watched as she blinked out of existence, within a minute the rest of the cla.s.s had left also. "Yeah? Well touching me like that is hara.s.sment and … G.o.d this sucks."

"Log-Off"