"Finally, my personal toilet," Michael stared at the toilet bowl before him, grinning from ear to ear.
The toilet bowl mirrored a Horow T38L, with neon blue lights adorning its exterior, creating a spiral on both sides.
"I can finally get my privacy..." Tears glistened at the sides of his eyes.
Tears of joy.
He took in a deep breath. "...And can finally breathe as I do my business." A satisfied smile blossomimg on his lips.
He turned to the shower, the sight of it adding more light to his face.
Curious to see the rest of the room, he started his tour of the other parts, each bringing him a sense of joy, his eyes moistening in delight.
Finally, he had his own apartment.
Though not as luxurious as the Black Apple, it was okay — way better than the Beehive.
Using his reward money, he immediately paid off his debt; the balance 1,050,800 units.
Taking into account other necessities.
This was enough to rent an upper-class apartment — something like the Black Apple or even higher — but he knew his limits.
A million units was a lot, but not infinite, and thus he chose a middle-class apartment with a monthly rent of 4,000 units — ten times more expensive than the Hive, but it was okay.
Though not luxurious, it was practical.
"Finally..." He sat on the sofa, his hand brushing through its wool.
"No more overused ergonomic chairs." He stretched, laying comfortably on the sofa. Yawning in delight.
His eyes scanning his surroundings, admiring his one-bedroom apartment.
"Let's watch some TV." He turned towards the TV — two small rods between which a hologram screen appeared.
Remotely, he controlled the channels with his thoughts, pausing at an interesting news segment.
On the screen were Mayacorp mega aircrafts, hoisting the Lucy out of the scrapyard.
Blurred were the corpses of the Ironbeard pirates.
"How did you catch the Ironbeard pirates?" A female journalist asked one of the police officers at the site.
"I heard the ship fell onto T. Hill Town Square, phasing into the ground," she added.
"It was just a hologram they used as a diversion. They believed they could outsmart us, but we noticed them moving through the clouds and finally settling here," the police officer explained, his nose held high in pride as if he had discovered the ploy himself.
The unmanned Lucy had used its emergency energy supply to create such an elaborate escape plan, and if not for Mayacorp stepping in, they might have gotten away with it.
Mayacorp, who watched everything via satellite, quickly spotted the anomaly — the Nullnut neutralizing most of the camouflage abilities of the Lucy thus making it possible for satellite to track it.
If not for the Nullnut, the Lucy could have made a successfull escape but alas.
"The Ironbeard pirates?!..." Micheal stared silently at the screen.
"I almost died, but at least I got something in return," he looked at his account balance, smiling sheepishly to himself.
He hadn't almost died in vain.
"Wait, didn't Ironbeard say he was looking for me? I think he called me the creator of the CC," he thought to himself, remembering his last conversation with the guy.
"Have I created something?" he mused but couldn't come up with anything.
"I can't come up with anything though." He quickly sat up. "I should have his memories, right?" He tried to browse through his memory —fragments of Ironbeard's memories — remembering the excruciating pain he had to go through to obtain them.
"I can't get anything good; it's too blurry." Micheal gave up.
"I guess the reversal didn't work as well as I thought," he concluded.
"Well, whatever. Let's rest. I'll think of that later." He moved into his bedroom, his expression lighting up as he stared at the bed before him.
Finally, after arriving in T. Hill two years ago, he could now rest on an actual bed — not those uncomfortable chairs.
Elated, he jumped onto the bed, quickly falling asleep, the darn ads no longer bothering him.
Finally gone premium — with premium, he could have a premium sleep. No ads, just darkness.
....
Aether.
Tsukoymi Industries.
Seated around a large conference table were the major shareholders of Tsukoymi Industries, their faces ashen as they all stared at a projection of the Lucy hovering at the center of the conference table.
Ironically, despite being leaders of the world's most advanced industry in cybernetics, none of them had any visible cyberware on them.
"They have the ship, but what about the C.C.?" one of them voiced out.
" We don't need to worry about that.. Pakal wouldn't care about the CC," the only female present responded.
"How are you so sure? The CC is much more dangerous than that pirate ship."
"He wouldn't care about something pioneered by a college dropout," she answered rather politely, ignoring ther colleague outburst.
He response seem to make sense, as eveyone nodded their heads in agreement.
Pakal Tonalli only saw those on his level as a challenge.
No matter how bright the underdog was, it woundn't catch his attention.
An underdog was after all still a dog, at least that is what he believed.
From the very beginning, he was never after the CC, but the Lucy — a warship greater than anything he had created, a warship created by his rival, Tsukoymi Industries.
He gave the bounty for the Ironbeard pirates when he caught wind of their escape to T. Hill — his domain.
With the Lucy within his reach, he needed to get it, and Micheal had made all this possible.
"..."
"It might not be with him, but we still need to retrieve it. Its existence could lead to an international war if they find out we tried to create something like that," another expressed his worry.
"Yes, considering the destruction of those cyberpunks, that would mean the CC should be somewhere on the ship, or at least in the city," the female shareholder voices her thoughts, the rest nodding in agreement.
"Let's send some people to retrieve the CC,"
"But what about the Lucy? Won't they unlock the secrets to our technology?" The man who had spoken earlier couldn't help but ask.
"Let him have it. A child given a locked gun can't use it, even if it's loaded."
"..."
After a few more conversations, they adjourned the meeting, ready to put their plan into action.
Several people assigned the job of retrieving the CC, even though only two of them knew what they were actually looking for — the rest given only a description.
Hinata, a college graduate, and her professor, Joseph —Pioneers of Project Copy Cat.
Assigned their mission, they boarded the plane designated for T. Hill.
"Micheal, I hope to see you again," Hinata muttered to herself as she looked out the window.
________
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AN
Sorry for the dull chapter.