Meanwhile, back in town...
The quiet halls of Cresthill High School buzzed with an odd mix of hormonal energy and mild academic disinterest.
On a normal day, Jake and Mike would have cruised through the morning half-asleep, occasionally waking up for something that sounded remotely like the word "science."
But today was no ordinary day.
Today, Rhea had arrived.
She walked through the front gate with the confidence of a shadow—quiet, smooth, and impossible not to notice.
She didn't wear flashy clothes or carry high-end gadgets.
No sparkly backpacks.
No neon shoes.
She was calm, composed, and slightly mysterious.
But what no one knew was that Rhea wasn't just any girl. She was a trained infiltrator from the Syndicate, handpicked by Nilgiris himself.
She had crafted an entirely fake identity through a custom-built program—complete with digital school records, a fake address, and even a believable excuse about transferring because of her father's job. She even inserted herself into the yearbook database with a retroactive three-year high school history.
It was all too perfect.
Yet, Rhea made sure not to overplay her role. She greeted her classmates with a modest smile, never too friendly, never too distant.
She fumbled slightly when taking her seat, making herself look endearing and a little nervous—textbook charm for a school full of easily impressed teens.
By lunch break, the boys were already in full competition mode.
"We only have one more year here," whispered one love-struck student to another.
"Within that time, I have to make her fall for me."
"Dude, back off. I already offered to help her carry her books. She smiled. That's basically a proposal."
In Room 204, Jake sat diagonally across from Mike, who was too engrossed in debugging a piece of code on his tablet to notice Jake zoning out.
Jake's eyes kept wandering.
To her.
Rhea sat two rows ahead, calmly listening to the math teacher explain imaginary numbers. Jake barely knew what day it was.
Rhea, sticking to her strategy, had decided to introduce herself personally to everyone, including Jake and Mike. She walked up to them at the end of class, her voice calm and casual.
"Hey, I'm Rhea. New here. Trying to learn names before they turn into faces I forget. You guys are...?"
"Jake!" he said too quickly.
"Mike," said Mike, without looking up.
Rhea smiled. "Cool. Well, see you around."
Then she walked away.
Smooth.
Unassuming.
Exactly as planned.
Back home, Jake was sprawled on the couch, eating fries so old they might qualify as historical artifacts. Mike was tinkering with code for the Lighthouse's security update.
Jake (grinning): "We should totally make a theme song. Like a cool intro for when we walk into a room."
Mike (typing furiously): "If it includes the word 'Null Frank,' I'm uninstalling you as my partner."
Jake chuckled and tossed a fry in his mouth. Then his phone buzzed. He casually glanced at it. And froze.
It was a message. From Rhea.
Mike didn't even look up. "Spam again? Another one of those quizzes that tell you what kind of vegetable you are?"
Jake (softly): "It's a cat gif."
Mike (finally looking up): "So?"
Jake (eyes widening): "Dude. This one understands me."
Mike (groaning): "Here we go again..."
Jake spent the next ten minutes interpreting the deeper meaning of the cat's expression. Mike pretended not to hear.
Back in the Himalayas...
Under layers of ice and encrypted satellite shields, Nilgiris leaned forward on his chair, eyes gleaming. He stared at a screen showing Jake's goofy smile as he held up the cat gif to Mike like it was a declaration of love.
Nilgiris (smirking): "Hook, line, and teenage desperation."
Asher gave a proud thumbs-up from across the room.
Asher: "Told ya. Girls."
Back at school the next day, Rhea continued her operation with subtle brilliance.
She laughed at Jake's jokes—just enough to encourage him, not so much as to raise suspicion. She asked Mike about his latest code but pretended not to understand the answer, triggering his inner teacher mode.
Jake started sitting straighter. Mike wore cologne for the first time in three years.
They even debated whether to invite her to see the Lighthouse. Not the actual lighthouse, of course.
Just a glimpse of the UI, maybe.
Or a rendered animation.
Something low-risk.
Meanwhile, Rhea filed daily psychological reports back to Nilgiris using hidden code inside innocuous TikTok videos.
Each like was a data point.
Every emoji was a variable.
Nilgiris was thrilled.
He gathered the syndicate for an update.
Nilgiris: "She's in. We just need her to uncover the Lighthouse's location and interface access. Once we have that, we can dismantle it."
Sariah: "And if she fails?"
Nilgiris: "She won't. She's too good. And they're just kids. Hormonal kids."
Back in town...
Jake received another meme.
This time it was a raccoon holding a slice of pizza with a caption: "This is how I feel after math class."
Jake melted.
Jake: "Bro. She gets me."
Mike: "I don't feel so."
He was right. It was emotional manipulation served via memes and meaningful eye contact.
But, least of it he knew.
And so, the game of deception had begun.
Though Jake was an easy victim, Mike had some suspicious. He was surprised by the non response from the Nilgiris and Special Architects, even after such humiliating defeat.
That too, for a second time.
They couldn't afford to lose anymore.
Still there is no information about them.
Mike thought, "Are they waiting for the best moment or are they have already begun any movements".
Jake and Mike, unaware of the new operation, was already part of it.
This time not pf programmes, or codes.
But in the conventional way, to spy into the enemy's space. And Rhea was no less a choice.
The teens had mastered the coding and algorithms. But in case of real life experience, they lacked behind.