Reward of Success & Difficult Situations

The Friday after the contest after school Lisa, Mary, Alison and Jean sit around the central table of the Robotics Clubroom as Lisa looks at everyone and says “So, we haven’t heard back yet about our prize yet, the schools office said they’d let us know when the funds arrive.”

“Is there any word on if someone might buy the design for our robot?” Alison asks curiously wondering if there’d been any interest expressed in the Robot they built together.

Lisa sighs with displeasure as she says “Sorry to say but there hasn’t been any yet, there are companies who have asked for demo videos but no further word from any of them yet.”

Everyone at the table looks disappointed at the news of the lack of movement regarding interest in their robot after the police returned it having closed the case of the attempted theft of the robots from the contest.

Lisa claps her hands together before saying “Enough doom and gloom over what was, on to what is and what will be!”

“Where are we on the Docking Bay and Module Swapping Bays for the robot?” Lisa asks while looking at Jean and Alison.

“I’ve got the designs for both systems ready to go, the two system types will be fully integrated and able to switch to any configuration once built.” Alison replies calmly while pulling up the design on her tablet and showing everyone an animated version showing how it’ll function.

Jean leans back in her seat full of energy and ready to work as she says “I’ve got everything I need to get the frame and other structural parts done later today, though Mary will have to help get the Bells and Whistles working.”

Mary pulls up a list of parts she needs to get the bells and whistles fully functional and ready for action as she says “I have most of what I need on hand and can make a lot of what else I need but in the name of keeping costs down these are what I need rubber stamped.”

Lisa nods affirmatively before pulling up the budget on her tablet and OKing the budget for the parts needed by Mary for her part of the work as she says “Then try to keep it within this amount, if you need more let me know and I’ll see what I can do.”

Suddenly a bell chimes multiple times from the school's intercom before a man’s voice says “Lisa McClure, please report to the Admin Office, repeat, Lisa McClure, please report to the Admin Office.”

Everyone looks at Lisa wondering what she did as she sits there confused as to what the Admin Office wants with her before getting up from her seat as she says “I’ll go see what they want, while I’m gone work on what we’ve discussed, while you’re at it, keep your wits about you while I’m gone.”

After leaving the Robotics Club Workshop Lisa walks through the near empty halls of the school, hiding her worry behind her poker face as she thinks “I hope this is just them calling to tell us the funds from the contest and not something more complicated.”

As Lisa passes the Computer room on the way to the Admin Office she sees the Computer Club President standing outside the Computer Room pretending not to look at her but with her eyes subtly following her.

As she passes the Computer Club President she almost thinks she hears her say “We’ll talk later…” but isn’t sure she actually heard it as she continues to walk toward the Admin office.

As soon as Lisa reaches the Admin Room Door she takes a deep breath before exhaling and knocking on the door ready to enter when the staff answer.

After a moment the voice of one of the two deputy headmasters says “Come in.”

Lisa steels herself despite the surprise of who’s voice just answered her knock before grabbing the door handle and entering.

The moment she opens the door she sees not only the school's admin staff but both the Deputy Head Masters and the Headmaster herself standing there with serious looks like they have something major to talk about.

Lisa mentally gulps at the sight of the three top faculty members in the same room all calling for her as she thinks “Oh boy, this isn’t just about the check.”

The Headmaster looks at Lisa seriously before saying “Shut the door then tell us, do you know why we called you here?”

Lisa shuts the door calmly on the surface before replying “I assume this is because of the events of the Robotics Contest my club was involved in last week.”

The Deputy heads stare at her pointedly like they’re trying to break her poker face with their stares as the Headmaster says “You can play dumb all you want but it won’t help you.”

On the outside Lisa is calm but on the inside she’s frustrated as she thinks “Quit beating around the bush and just get to the point already!!” before saying “I’m not playing dumb, there are several issues this could be about, stop being cryptic and just spit it out or I’m calling my lawyer to subpoena the point out of you…”

The deputy heads stand there stone faced from the shock that ANY Student would dare threaten the Headmaster in any context before the Headmaster, none too pleased by the way Lisa just raised the ante and put her on the back foot before saying “The school was notified by the Straff Clyde Police that you were instrumental in bringing down a tech theft ring, explain to us when exactly it was your club was authorised to fight crime.”

“We were not acting as Vigilanties if that is what you are implying, we merely followed the tracking signal from an anti theft device in our Robot.” Lisa replies keeping calm in the face of the direct accusation being levelled at her before saying “And before you decide to try any funny business regarding our clubs taking part in a Robotics Contest with Prizes I’ll remind you that our schools founder wanted creative clubs to be semi self funding.”

The Headmaster looks at her in utter shock that she’d any student would have it in them to make such blatantly defiant statements in the face of power even if said statements are true before signing and saying “Fine, I acknowledge that your club had the right to take part in the contest but the issue is you got involved in a chase after a group of fleeing criminals.”

Lisa calmly reaches into her pocket and pulls out the tracking device receiver and shows it to the Headmaster and Deputy heads as she explains “We weren’t pursuing fleeing criminals, we were staying within tracking range of our 4km range anti theft tracker, we were going to hand off the task to the police once they were on seen.”

“You couldn’t just wait for the police to arrive at the crime scene and hand them the receiver there?” One of the deputy heads asks pointedly.

Lisa stares directly at the woman and says “Are you a complete moron?”

The Deputy Head who asked the question glares at her as she replies “What makes you think you can ask such a question of a staff member without being suspended!?”

“Maybe the fact that the Police Response to the scene took more than 30 minutes and the thieves could have been in Springburn by then.” Lisa replies pointedly not hesitating to stab the Deputy Heads lack of awareness of chronically insufficient police resources for immediate responses to nonviolent outside of police patrol zones vs how long it takes to get across the city with light traffic before saying “The tracker has a 4 kilometre range tops and sends its signal in 3 second bursts once a minute, it prevents detection with bug sweepers.”

The Headmaster sighs before admitting “This is a complicated matter but this time we’ll drop it, in future make your trackers GPS Trackable to avoid these issues.”

Lisa nods affirmatively before saying “I will inform my Club Members to make such an upgrade next time we design a tracker.”

“If there’s nothing more to discuss I’ll be headed back to my club now.” Lisa states as she awaits confirmation that she can leave.

“You may leave, but we have been holding onto the check from your contest activities, we’ll deposit it in your clubs budget.” The Headmaster replies as she looks calmly at Lisa before saying “Before you leave, we’ve also received a few inquiries from parties interested in purchasing the Robots design, well done on your success, but you might want to watch that bite of yours.”

Lisa nods in acknowledgement as she turns and walks out the door thinking “This could have turned out a LOT worse, glad I didn’t need to actually call my lawyer as I doubt I’d get that subpoena.”

After leaving the room Lisa heads to the stairwell in the opposite direction from the one she came before looking out the window up at the sky as she thinks “What I wouldn’t give right now for a soundproof room full of breakable things and a rounders bat!”

“Great, now I’m all wound up and need to calm down before going back to the Workshop…” Lisa thinks as she looks at the sky trying to calm down despite the fact she’s so wound up with frustration she feels a burning desire to smash up some stuff no one cares about.

After several minutes Lisa manages to calm down before heading down the stairs and on the way stops by the student store and sends the girls a text saying “I’ve got good news for when I get back, I’m at the student store now, you girls want anything?”

While she’s browsing in the store Lisa hears her phone receive a bunch of replies which read “Jelly babies. Alison”, “Pringles, 1 tube of Wasabi and 1 tube of Curry please. Jean”, “A bottle of Oasis Summer Fruits please. Mary” and finally “a 2Ltr of Fanta please. Ashiro”

As Lisa gathers the things everyone requested in her basket she suddenly realises there was a name in the clubs messenger app that shouldn’t have appeared and double checks it before seeing a message from Ashiro in the messages leaving her standing there stunned as she thinks “DID SHE HACK OUR APP???”

A moment later Lisa gets another message from Mary stating “By the way, Ashiro’s here, she asked us to use the provisional Member System to let her message you. Mary”

As soon as she reads that message she quickly replies “Don’t scare me like that! Lisa”

“Guess I’ll add the Fanta to the list and ask Ashiro what she’s doing in the Workshop later.” Lisa thinks as she puts a 2ltr bottle of Fanta into her basket from the refrigerator section before collecting a bag of Cadbury Chocolate Buttons for herself and paying for the items and getting a receipt before returning to the Workshop.

Upon reaching the workshop she hears the sounds of Jean, Alison and Mary chatting and laughing with someone who sounds like Ashiro in the mix before opening the door and saying “I’m back and I’ve got what everyone wanted, also wallets out, I want reimbursement for the goodies up front.”

The moment they hear Lisa say she has the goodies they asked for Mary and Alison immediately get their wallets out quickly followed by Jean who gestures to Ashiro to get hers too.

After hearing the part about reimbursement Ashiro takes out her wallet too and says “Once I’m an official member I could get used to my club mates being so helpful.”

“Are the members of the computer club THAT unhelpful to each other?” Alison asks in surprise when she sees Ashiro’s face filled with joy and appreciation after hearing how helpful everyone in the Robotics Club are to each other.

As Lisa comes over with the goods she bought she notices Ashiro’s reaction and after putting it together with what she just heard and what she’s personally experienced she looks at them with a look of equal parts exasperation and humour as she says “Not surprising as you’d think given how I was treated when I wanted to speak to you that one time.”

Ashiro looks at her in surprise before giggling and saying “Yep, you’d get it, when I was icing that Junkrat, you were at the door talking to the Club President, doubt you got a toasty reception.”

“You can say that again, your club mates shut the door on me twice and I’m pretty sure your club president has been stalking me.” Lisa states with a look of dread remembering how badly she was treated and all the creepy feelings she’s had since meeting the Computer Club President.

Ashiro puts her hand on her shoulder comfortingly and says “I know your pain, that woman has me under constant surveillance, I had to use a secret technique to escape her last time, though this time I came with permission as I need at least 1 of you to come with me.”

After Ashiro says that everyone in the room looks surprised before Lisa says “Right, hand over the money I’m owed and I’ll get this business with Ashiro out of the way immediately.”

Ashiro nods and hands over the money she owes Lisa for the Fanta as do everyone else in the room before Lisa and Ashiro leave the room.

“Sorry to involve you in this, this situation could get a bit sketchy so brace yourself.” Ashiro states calmly as she and Lisa walk to the school's main door.

“What exactly does that mean, or do I want to know?” Lisa asks with a look of curiosity before continuing “Also, why are we headed to the main door and not the Computer Club Room?”

“You’ll find out in a minute, just remember not to freak out.” Ashiro says as they walk out the school’s front door.

As soon as they’re out of the front gate of the school Lisa and Ashiro suddenly get black bags put over their heads and put in the back of a car.

After being placed in the car they are told to behave and cooperate before spending several minutes driving.

When the car stops they’re pulled out and taken several metres from it before the black bags are pulled off revealing that they’ve been brought to an out of the way riverside walkway along a canal linked to the Clyde estuaries with the Computer Club President standing in front of them with two of her club members behind her.

The Computer Club President looks Ashiro directly in the eye and says “We, are Done, Done, do you understand?”

Ashiro nods confidently and affirmatively before saying “I never wanted anything to do with that stuff anyway, I’m glad we’re done.”

The Computer Club President glares at Ashiro like she has something venomous to say but holds her tongue and turns her attention to Lisa before saying “And you, this girl is no longer a member of my club, you can keep her, just never come near my club ever again.”

After saying that the Computer Club President and her group walk away back onto a bridge where their cars are waiting before driving off leaving Lisa and Ashiro standing there unable to leave due to a mix of Lisa’s shock at what just happened and the fact they don’t have a car.

Ashiro looks at Lisa and puts her hand on her shoulder comfortingly and says “You can relax now, they were never going to do anything to us, this was just their way of making a point.”

“If that’s how they make a point I don’t wanna know what they’d do if they wanted us to sleep with the fishies…” Lisa replies with a freaked out giggle as she tries to hold it together enough to attempt a poker face.

“Please pull yourself together Prez.” Ashiro replies calmly before looking down river and saying “I know where we are and there’s a nice place to talk over that way.”

Lisa composes herself and follows Ashiro to the place she was talking about as she says “Alright but I’d appreciate an explanation of what you got me involved in.”

After a few minutes of walking Lisa and Ashiro reach a building next to a bridge with a path up to it and head up to the building before taking a seat at the outdoor seats.

Once seated Lisa looks at Ashiro with a serious look and says “Now that we’re here, WHAT WAS THAT BACK THERE!?”

“It’s a bit complicated but I’ll explain as best I can.” Ashiro replies calmly before taking in a deep breath and exhaling and explaining “The Computer Club President has a Policy of Spying on opposing teams, nothing illegal just questionable.”

“If it’s only questionable then why the Drug Dealer Style middle of nowhere meeting!?” Lisa replies with a look of utter disbelief.

“Ah, that, she does that to make people not want to cross her, she watches too many TV Shows about gangsters and the like.” Ashiro explains calmly before saying “She also doesn’t want anyone knowing about her opposition research as it is so close to the line her club could get banned from ESports events.”

Lisa looks at Ashiro in utter shock before letting out a heavy sigh and saying “You could have just told me this was what you were wrapped up in, with your hacking skills she’d obviously want to keep you under her thumb.”

“Actually, I was under her thumb for my gaming skills.” Ashiro replies before giggling as she continues “I’m one of the top 3 Mei Players on the Planet and am skilled enough at other games to own most of the top 50 players on the planet, not to brag but I’m something of a beast in games.”

Lisa realising she’d thought more of the situation than she should have loses all strength in her body and just collapses on the table limp as 1 week old steamed lettuce from the realisation she’d been so tense for next to nothing.

Seeing how tired Lisa is after such a stressful ordeal Ashiro takes out her phone and calls a number and when the other person answers she says “Yoko, I’m in Kirkintilloch by the canals, I took care of that matter and need a ride back to school.”

“Yes, I know this was something I shouldn’t be pushing my luck with but it couldn’t be helped if I wanted out.” Ashiro explains to the person on the other side of the phone before saying “Can you save the lecture for when I get home, besides I have someone with me who will be riding back with me.”

Ashiro listens to the person on the other end of the phone for a moment nodding affirmatively before saying “My friend is rather exhausted, she’s had a stressful day so can you bring something to revitalise her?”

“I understand, we’ll wait right here until you arrive.” Ashiro replies to the person on the other end of the phone before hanging up.

After a few minutes Lisa pulls herself together and sits back up before saying “Sorry you had to see me like that, today has been rather stressful and I just let my guard down and got hit with a wave of fatigue.”

“That’s ok prez, I get the same after a heavy training session.” Ashiro replies calmly yet sympathetically before saying “I’ve called to arrange a ride back to school so feel free to relax until they arrive.”

“Thank you but I’m fine now.” Lisa replies calmly as she looks at Ashiro and asks “So who is it you asked to come get us?”

“One of my Maids.” Ashiro casually answers with a straight face.

Lisa looks at her completely taken aback by what she just heard and how nonchalauntly Ashiro said it before saying “You have ‘Maids’ Plural???”

Ashiro looks surprised for a moment before tapping herself on the side of the head with her fist while sticking her tongue out and saying “I forgot, normal people don’t have Maids.”

“You say that as though you aren’t a ‘Normal Person’ but you look normal.” Lisa replies surprised and confused by what Ashiro said about herself.

Ashiro looks at her calmly as she explains “When I say that I mean I’m rather far from normal due to my family circumstances, though I can’t tell you much.”

Lisa puts her palm in her direction while looking at the table dumbfounded as she says “Please, leave it for a time when I need to know, today has been crazy enough as is.”

Ashiro looks at her surprised for a moment then just nods and says “Ok, I can fill you in when you need to know something.”

“Though there is one thing I’d like to know now.” Lisa states staring right at Ashiro with a serious look.

Seeing how serious Lisa is about the question she simply nods and says “Ask away…”

Lisa’s eyes sharpen to a fine point as she looks Ashiro right in the eye and asks “Where did you learn to write code like that?”

Ashiro looks at her blankly for a moment before giggling and answering “If that’s all you want to know, I learned to write code from my Aunt, she’s pretty much a computer code goddess.”

Lisa looks at her closely trying to figure out if it’s true before accepting her answer as honest and simply says “If you’re this good then your Aunt might well be an all but literal god of computer programming.”

Ashiro bursts out laughing after Lisa acknowledges her Aunts Abilities before saying “I can tell already I’ll have MUCH more fun in the Robotics Club than I ever did in the Computer Club.”

Lisa joins her in laughing saying “You’re right, and the club will be more fun with someone like you who compliments our style!”

Just as the girls finish laughing a car pulls up to the entrance on the main road and a woman with green hair and eyes in a Maid Uniform with an Japanese Shrine Maiden Theme steps out and looks at the girls and shouts “Ashiro! Get over here and get in the car!”

Ashiro immediately gets up and gestures to Lisa to come with her as she looks at the woman and shouts back “Coming Yoko!”

“She’s your Maid?” Lisa states in surprise at the sight of the Maid that came to pick them up.

“Yep, her name is Yoko Mikasa, she’s been looking out for me since I was little.” Ashiro replies as the two of them head toward Yoko and the car.

As soon as Ashiro and Lisa reach the car, Yoko looks at them and says “Get in, I’ll get you back to school.”

Lisa and Ashiro get in the car as instructed and for several minutes of driving no one says anything until Yoko looks at Lisa in the rearview mirror and says “Thank you for looking after Miss Ashiro, though I am sorry to say you’ll be responsible for this tomboyish girl during club activities in the future.”

“YOKO!! That was going too far!” Ashiro replies visibly upset by Yoko’s comment about her being tomboyish.

“I’m prepared to receive a verbal scolding from the Masters if they see it as too much but please do remember how this came about.” Yoko states calmly while still driving perfectly.

Lisa looks at Ashiro and whispers “Is it alright for your Maid to talk to you with such disrespect?”

Ashiro just looks at her in surprise and says “Whispering won’t keep her from hearing you, she has really sharp hearing.

Lisa looks at Yoko’s eyes in the rearview mirror and instantly realises she heard every word.

“As for her tone, she’s one of my guardians while I attend school, only my family who live and work overseas can reprimand her.” Ashiro continues with a displeased look at how constrained she is.

When they reach the School Yoko let’s Ashiro out first but before Lisa can get out she grabs her by the wrist with a deadly serious look in her eyes and says “Please, take Very Good Care of Miss Ashiro, I may be hard on her but only out of concern for her safety.”

Lisa sees the honesty in Yoko’s eyes, as if they were the eyes of someone haunted by a dark history before saying “I’m the Robotics Club President, of course I’ll not let anything happen to one of my club members.”

Yoko nods affirmatively and as she lets go of Lisa’s arm says “Don’t let her be separated from that pendant around her neck no matter what and if she ever is call one of us Maids via the numbers on this business card.”

Before Lisa Exits the car Yoko hands her a business card with four numbers on it, each with a different name next to it.

“I won’t let it come to that.” Lisa replies as she closes the door behind her and begins to walk away.

“I hope you manage to stay true to that statement for Miss Ashiro’s sake.” Yoko says knowing full well Lisa can’t hear but saying it anyway as it needs to be said.

To Be Continued