Chapter 36: Tech-Brats

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"To be honest... the serpent has never been a symbol of evil. It is merely a creature intelligent enough to survive the stories told about it."

The rain in Manchester always felt like a personal insult.

But from the floor-to-ceiling windows of this high-end Deansgate apartment, it looked almost cinematic.

Dark sheets of water streaked down the glass, blurring the amber city lights into an impressionistic smear.

Inside, the living room was a very specific kind of chaos.

Empty pizza boxes colonised the marble kitchen island. Neon-blue cables snaked across the hardwood floor in every direction, all feeding into a custom multi-monitor rig—assembled by someone with strong opinions and absolutely zero respect for cable management.

Takuya sat in the ergonomic chair with one ankle propped on the desk, monitoring scrolling lines of code with the relaxed focus of a veteran.

Without looking, he reached sideways, snapped a piece of crust off a cold slice, and chewed thoughtfully.

On the nearby sofa sat Hiroto, console controller in hand, his silver-white hair lit neon-blue by the glowing screens.

He hadn't said a word for twenty minutes. But that was fine. Neither of them felt the need to fill the silence. They had established that baseline around hour two of the operation, back when Takuya started narrating his own keystrokes out of sheer boredom and Hiroto simply turned up his game volume without a word.

Takuya took the hint and shut up. Hiroto kept playing.

They had figured each other out fast.

While his eyes stayed glued to the monitor, Takuya’s fingers slowed on the keys—just enough to signal he was about to speak.

"Caelum's sweep is running another pass near the southern transit lines," he said, his tone casual.

"Loop still holding?" Hiroto asked.

"Like a dream."

Takuya stretched his arms above his head. His joints let out a sharp crack.

"Coluber copied Viper's resonance signature back at the gym—exact biological frequency, complete data set."

He grinned, leaning back.

"We've been feeding that copy outward as a moving phantom trail ever since."

A brief silence stretched between them.

"Right now, Caelum thinks Viper is sitting inside a freight container headed west toward Liverpool."

Takuya pulled up a secondary display. The monitor flickered, showing a blinking red blip moving toward the coast.

"I tuned the phantom trail so it pulses like a suppressed signature. Caelum's systems are hardwired to prioritize fading signals over clean ones."

He smirked.

"They don't know it, but they're chasing their own assumptions all the way to the docks."

"Beautifully boring outcome," Hiroto said.

"I know."

Takuya leaned back with enormous satisfaction.

"I'm a Year 11 senior. I have mock exams next month. Why am I running covert ops for a Year 10 junior's black-market crisis?"

Takuya sighed, staring at the flashing code.

"Honestly... I’m still not sure if Coluber’s processing core can handle this kind of illegal network strain. A black-market lockdown is a different beast."

HISS.

A sharp, highly offended electronic sound erupted from behind the central monitor.

Coluber emerged from the gap between the screens.

Its chrome-silver body and neon-green circuits flared an indignant crimson, before settling back into an agitated pulse.

Its red optic lenses narrowed to lethal slits, aiming directly at Takuya.

"A black-market lockdown is a different beast?!" Coluber rasped. "You doubt my adaptability?!"

The crimson light on its chassis pulsed violently.

"I am a Co-Bios weapon! I rewrite corporate firewalls for breakfast! I maintained a live phantom trail across seventeen network nodes simultaneously tonight, and you are worrying about my capabilities?!"

Coluber snapped its mechanical jaw.

"Respect my Ghost Mirage! My code was built to thrive in illegal networks!"

"I mean—"

Coluber suddenly froze.

The indicator lights on its chassis blinked a few times, as if its processing core was re-evaluating the entire room. Its blazing fury instantly cooled down.

"...Wait."

Coluber tilted its head.

"Now that I think about it... you are right. Why am I doing all the heavy lifting for this junior's crisis?"

It pivoted its head toward the sofa with magnificent precision.

"If we are discussing actual capability and inefficiency, let us talk about the real freeloader in this room."

Hiroto looked up from his console.

"The Elap unit currently residing in our junior friend's chest..." Coluber said pointedly.

It let out a mechanical click of utter disdain.

"...woke up for approximately a piss-poor few days, and immediately returned to full hibernation. A decorative worm. Zero operational contribution."

Coluber's lenses flared one last time.

"The synchronisation truly does reflect the host!"

Hiroto considered this. "My core likes its rest."

"It is dormant."

"We're compatible that way."

Coluber let out a sound that could only be described as electronic contempt and retreated behind the monitor.

Takuya grinned, shaking his head. "You two are completely unhinged."

"Coming from the guy whose Co-Bios just monologued for forty seconds," Hiroto said.

Before Takuya could respond, the central monitor flashed crimson.

INCOMING SECURE TRANSMISSION — ENNEAD PLUME ENCRYPTION.

Takuya sat up straight. Smoothed his shirt. Ran a hand through his orange hair. He had approximately three seconds to reconstruct the persona of a composed, unflappable senior before the call connected.

"High command calls," he said, adopting his most unhurried tone. "Watch how a senior handles this."

"You're trying too hard," Hiroto said, not looking up.

"I'm not trying at all."

"That's worse."

Takuya clicked accept.

The screen split into a dual feed. Left side: Stuart, formal black three-piece, silver dragon brooch, expression that had never once in recorded history suggested anything was wrong. Right side—

Takuya opened his mouth.

Closed it.

Sitting beside the tactical layout was one of the most striking girls he had ever seen.

Silver-white hair arranged in an elegant bun with crystal hairpins. 

Deep navy velvet gown, gold constellation embroidery, sapphire earrings catching the light. 

The kind of effortless, aristocratic beauty that made the ambient temperature of a room drop slightly.

Takuya recovered his composure in approximately one second, leaned forward, and deployed his best smile.

"Ah—Stuart. I see the operation was a total success."

He directed the remainder of the sentence toward the right side of the screen.

"And your friend—a new asset? I must say, the McClary family truly keeps exceptional company. It's a pleasure to meet you, miss."

Stuart closed his eyes.

A very small, very quiet sigh escaped his lips.

On the right side of the video feed, the silver-haired girl's crescent eyes narrowed.

They became two extremely precise, extremely dangerous slits.

The aristocratic aura instantly evaporated.

"Fine company?!"

The voice that came through the monitor was a sharp, violently aggravated alto.

Viper's vocal adjustment was still in place. It meant Kyle's absolutely murderous expression was being delivered in a husky, feminine register.

Somehow, it was much more threatening that way.

"It's me, you absolute dumbass!"

SLAM!

Kyle slammed his fist on the desk. The camera shook violently.

"I almost suffocated in a corset for four hours, my ribs are bruised, and you're in there trying to flirt with me?!"

...

Takuya's smile performed a controlled demolition.

His face cycled through bewilderment, recognition, and finally—a deep, cellular horror.

The dark, oppressive aura came crashing through the digital frequency like a runaway freight train.

The monster junior.

"K—Kyle?!"

Takuya scrambled backward in his chair. He nearly knocked Coluber off the monitor entirely.

"Why—where did the hair come from—why are you wearing a—"

"The stylists!" Kyle snapped. "Stuart's stylists!"

His silver wig swayed aggressively as he leaned into the camera.

"And if you say one more word about the dress, I will personally use your Co-Bios as a skipping rope!"

"Hey!"

Coluber's circuits flared an angry crimson.

"This is completely unprofessional—"

"And if you say one more word," Kyle added, suddenly turning his glare sideways at his own chest, "I'm going to—"

He gritted his teeth.

"Shut up! I know what you're going to say, Viper!"

On the sofa, Hiroto had stopped pretending to play his game. His shoulders were shaking.

"Hiroto."

"I'm fine," Hiroto said, in a voice that indicated he was not.

"You're laughing."

"I'm coughing."

"It's the same thing and you know it—"

"Focus," Stuart said.

The single word cut through the chaos the way a scalpel cuts through noise—clean, immediate, and final.

Everyone settled. Even Kyle, who spent another two seconds glaring at the general direction of his own reflection before visibly deciding it wasn't worth it.

"Takuya."

Stuart continued, his tone returning to its usual operational frequency.

"The phantom trail—current status."

Takuya cleared his throat.

He resettled into professional mode, carrying the slightly dented dignity of someone who had just been screamed at by a girl... who was actually a boy.

"Running clean," Takuya reported. "Caelum has three intercept squads moving toward the Mersey docks right now. They'll reach Liverpool in about an hour and find nothing."

Stuart turned his gaze to the side.

"Hiroto. Your sequence."

Hiroto glanced toward the biometric status bar on the secondary screen.

The amber signal was steady—low, contained, no spikes.

"Dampening field is holding. No leaks," Hiroto murmured. "It likes to sleep, just like its host."

"Good."

Stuart's eyes moved across the digital layout.

"Maintain the loop for another six hours. Once Kyle's core stabilises and we complete the primary integration process, the pressure on the network should drop significantly."

A brief pause.

"Keep the lines clear."

SNAP.

The feed snapped shut.

Monitors immediately returned to their quiet scroll of green transit data, the steady hum of code filling the silence. Outside, heavy rain continued to strike the glass.

Somewhere across the city, three Caelum enforcement squads were speeding toward a freight container full of absolutely nothing.

Takuya slumped back in his chair, staring at the ceiling with the expression of a man reassessing every decision that had led to this moment.

"Right," he said eventually.

He reached for the pizza. Took a slice. Chewed in silence.

"Is he always like that?" he asked.

"Yes," Hiroto said, already back to his game.

"And you all just... operate around it?"

"You get used to it."

Hiroto turned a corner on his screen, his expression perfectly level.

"Give it another week. You'll stop flinching."

Takuya considered this.

"Coluber," he said, "pull up the Liverpool feed. Let's make sure those squads stay on the wrong track for months."

"Finally," Coluber said, emerging from behind the monitor with restored dignity. "Something useful. And don't forget to tell Kyle later that his muzzled Viper has to hibernate like Elap."

A brief silence descended.

"So it won't be tracked."

BZZZ—

A smartphone vibrated violently on the sofa.

Hiroto didn't even look up from his controller.

"Takuya, check that. Hands full."

"Lazy freeloader," Takuya muttered.

Leaning over from his desk, he swiped the phone. He went to tap the notification, but his thumb slipped straight onto the speaker icon.

"Hey... Hiro? I was just... well, the cafeteria food today was absolutely uneat—"

A muffled shout exploded in the background of the audio recording.

"Ohoo! Asking him out for the weekend already, Conny?!"

Jay’s voice boomed right next to the mic.

"Don't forget to wear something nice! Hiroto likes it when—"

"Shut up, Jay!"

Conny’s voice spiked into a furious, frantic shriek.

"I'm just asking about the dinner he promised! Kendl, tell him to—"

"Hey, don't drag me into this," Kendl’s deep chuckle echoed. "But for the record, Hiroto’s black card is probably—"

"I said SHUT UP!"

BONK.

A sharp, hollow thud rang out, followed by a brief groan.

The audio abruptly cut off.

Silence descended upon the apartment.

On the main monitor screen, Hiroto’s game character walked straight into a solid wall and died.

Slowly, Takuya lowered the phone. His face was darkening beneath his orange fringe.

HISS!

Coluber shot out from behind the screen. It aggressively smacked the back of Hiroto’s head with its metallic snout.

"Hey, what the hell?!" Coluber barked, poking him again. "A weekend date?! Are you serious right now, negative-hair?!"

The snake's neon circuits flared an indignant crimson.

"We're out here sweating over firewalls and you’re secretly locking in a romantic getaway?!"

"Ouch—hey, watch the paint job," Hiroto gritted his teeth, dodging the metallic snake. "We aren't even dating. They're just loud."

"Don't give me that! That was a whole wingman operation!"

Coluber wrapped its tail tightly around Hiroto’s controller.

"Takuya, look at this guy! While his Elap core is playing sleeping beauty, he's out here scoring weekend dates? The disrespect to our grind is unreal!"

Takuya crossed his arms.

He stared down from his workstation with pure, unadulterated judgment.

"Unbelievable. Why do you get a weekend date while my own romantic calendar is a statistical wasteland?!"

"I told you, it’s not a date," Hiroto sighed.

He tossed the controller aside and rubbed the back of his neck, his ears slightly red.

"Oh, save it, Casanova," Takuya rolled his eyes, tossing the phone back onto Hiroto's chest. "I haven't even held a girl's hand this term!"

Coluber gave one final electronic huff.

"Seriously! If that loud girl ruins my partner's clean track record—or his non-existent love life—this weekend, I am personally hacking your alarm clock!"

Hiroto picked up his phone, looking at the glowing screen.

A faint, lazy smile tugged at the corner of his lips before he slipped it away and picked his controller back up.

"Guess I'll just play again," Hiroto murmured, restarting his match. "Before my beautiful worm actually wakes up and eats you."

He glanced sideways, eyes narrowing slightly.

"You know Elapidae love eating other snakes, right?"

"Please," Coluber scoffed, retreating back onto Takuya's desk. "You venomous types are all hype and no muscle."

Its optic lenses pulsed aggressively.

"Try biting me, evil, and my constrictor code will snap your little worm in half before the venom even leaves its teeth!"

"Forget it, I'm tired," Takuya snorted.

Without turning away from his scrolling lines of code, he reached sideways with one hand. He grabbed the last cold slice of pizza and went straight back to typing furiously on his keyboard.

Outside, the Manchester rain continued to insult the window glass.

But inside the cramped, messy sanctuary of Deansgate, the lines were clear.

The phantoms were running.

The quiet rhythm was back.