Deal with the Devil?

“You want to convert?”

The smile Adam was directing at me was unwavering.

“Yes, I do. All I require, my dear Ellie, is one simple condition.”

I sighed. Here we go.

“Once more, it’s Elysia. What do you want, Adam?”

He spread his arms as if presenting something glorious.

“I just want you to entertain me.”

I stared at him for a moment, uncomprehending.

“You need to be more specific than that. Do you want me to beat you in chess?”

Adam’s smile widened, and then he waved his finger while clicking his tongue. He truly is insufferably arrogant.

“I am aware that you could have won our game previously. There’s no point in having you challenge me there. Besides, if I just wanted to lose, I would just play against a computer.”

Indeed, I had been able to beat him before. However, the game was drawing too much unwanted attention, which Adam was clearly revelling in. Frankly, I had no desire to indulge. I wasn’t willing to lose, but a draw was an acceptable compromise. Those who act friendly on the surface while otherwise acting only with self-serving ulterior motives were detestable to me – those like Adam… or Michael.

“Then, once again, what do you want, Adam?”

“Rather than simple over the board chess, shall we play a game of tag?”

“… Tag?”

I was aware of the concept of the game, but I wasn’t quite sure how it was applicable in this situation.

“Simple, I will hide somewhere in Strait, and you will find me and tag me.”

What?

“Are you a child? Why would this be entertaining enough for you?”

Adam’s ever-repugnant smile only grew.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance, isn’t it?”

“What do you mean?”

The void contained within his eyes only seemed to deepen at my question.

“Humans are so boring. They eliminated our kind because they were afraid of our superiority.”

“You are a fool.”

At this point, I was fully confident that Adam was genetically modified. I’d had my suspicions from the start, but I had never expected him to have this obnoxious superiority complex. I had done some more research on the issue since my encounter with Mark, and it seemed he fit the mould of why the practice was banned in the first place. Genetically engineered individuals had an incredibly high rate of developing extreme antisocial personality disorders. Nonetheless….

“But, Ellie, you’re still willing to play, right?”

“… How do I know that you’ll keep your word? Belief isn’t something you can simply-”

Adam let out a loud, mocking laugh, and continued until some patrons of the library were glaring at us.

“Ellie, if you beat me in this, then the only possible explanation would be some kind of a god.”

He’s insufferably arrogant, but that did seem to be a sincere comment…. Truly, I felt like I was committing to a deal with the devil. Nonetheless, I locked eyes with him.

“Fine. Let’s play.”

“Excellent!”

Adam began to tap at a smartphone he pulled out of his pocket. How antiquated…. While I was wondering when and how he would pull this off, he abruptly walked over to the elevator shaft and opened the door. What is he…?

“Alright, Ellie. You have three hours. Later!”

My eyes widened, and even as I dashed to close the distance, the doors were already closed. I could only mutter in defeat.

“My name is Elysia.”

===

It had been a few minutes since Adam had begun his game with Elysia. Using his father’s company’s resources, he had already prepared a stage across Strait. Planting an old-school bicycle outside of the library, he immediately bolted once he left the building. He avoided train stations, knowing that they would be inherently unreliable. Instead, he had headed to a building a shell company owned and waited there. He could only grin giddily as he waited to see if ‘Ellie’ would pass his test.

… And then she found it. Fortunately, Adam had prepared an escape route through the window. After his desperate escape to the next building, he began to think through how she had tracked him. Adam began to think.

‘It wasn’t possible that she used geolocation on my phone or something of that sort, since I removed the battery. Then how? Well, perhaps she worked out my identity, and then tracked down nearby buildings connected to my family’s company in turn? No… that would be too difficult to do in that timespan. Unless she… I see.’

It was truly a flummoxing situation. Adam grinned. That woman he had observed weeks ago by borrowing the library’s security feed was certainly becoming more and more interesting.

“A fair duel indeed!”

===

I walked outside, looking from side to side and considering the location. I had essentially no information on Adam aside from knowledge of his awful personality, so there was no real way for me to deduce where he was. I glanced at my E-watch. It was a message from Lillia.

> Sorry, Ellie! I told a family friend called Adam about you, and it looks like he got a little too excited. Give me a call if you need some help!

Fortunately, I had a rather simple solution to the problem of finding where he was.

===

Adam’s next location was a park, entirely- … Elysia had arrived. Luckily, his cycling speed seemed to be faster than her running speed, so by mounting and moving off immediately he was able to immediately open the distance between them. Seeing her behind him, walking, he could only grin as he realised that she had given up on catching up to him.

===

Is he really going to make it this easy? I frankly couldn’t believe how stupid this self-proclaimed superior being was. There was no point chasing after him on his bike in public, given legal attitudes towards the genetically engineered. Of course, I simply needed Lillia, whose company owned security cameras across the city, to tell me where he was. I glanced at her updates, sighing as I moved to the train station to intercept him on his current course.

===

Adam glanced at the security camera in front of a club, before tacking immediately into an alley once he passed its range.

‘Based on the map of the area I memorised earlier, if I continued that course, another Bellon establishment wouldn’t catch me for about three minutes. As such, if Ellie thinks straightforwardly, she would assume I’m on course for the food service district for that time, plus some additional margin of error.’

Adam softly smiled as he mentally charted out his new course. He wasn’t bored, but if things continued at this rate, Elysia wouldn’t end up as much of a challenge. He sighed, irritated.

“Please don’t get too caught up in the chase to think about the end location, Elysia.”

===

As I looked at the map, I decided that the course Adam was on seemed suspicious, given the large gap between Bellon cameras on his track towards the food service district. If I committed to going to the food service district now, and it turned out he was trying to fool me, I might not be able to make up for the lost time. Additionally, the food service district was obviously full of Bellon clubs, so it would be a poor decision for Adam to head there, given that he knew my connection with Lillia.

I continued to stare at the map in front of me. After almost a minute of thinking, I came to a conclusion: there was no point in playing this game like a human. Certainly, by cross-referencing potential hiding locations with his sphere of potential travel with Lillia’s information on his company, I would likely be able to track him. However, once more, I felt as if engaging with him on his level was beneath me.

I began to pray.

===

It had been two and a half hours since the start of Adam’s game. Currently, he was sitting comfortably in an underground bar that he discreetly owned. He was enjoying a cocktail and checking updates on sightings of Elysia. While he preferred not to track her too extensively, as that ruined the fun, he had checked, as he was curious to see what she was doing. However, after his stunt with the course change, she had dropped off his radar, presumably staying in one location without cameras nearby. That was a reasonable action to take if she thought she knew where he was heading and wanted to corner him only after he arrived. However, it was also something that would only work if she was extremely confident.

‘Has she worked out my final location, or did she give up…? No, I’m sure she’ll find me.’

Indeed, at that thought, one of his subordinates informed him of something. Adam grinned widely. Elysia had arrived.