The following morning, Jason was jogging around the compound, shirtless and in sweatpants. He was covered in sweat when he walked into the house. He grabbed a towel and wiped it off.
"Good morning, Sir" Aurora greeted.
"Good morning, Aurora. What's up?" Jason replied
"I'm as good as always, algorithms are running in perfect order. Anyways, should I wake Neo up?" Aurora asked.
"I'll do it myself." Jason replied.
Jason walked up to Neo' s room and opened the door. Neo was still asleep. Jason sat beside Neo and tapped him.
"Bud, wake up." Jason said.
Neo opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling for a second or two. He got up and ignored Jason and walked to the bathroom in his room.
"Okay, I guess we're playing ignore the father." Jason remarked.
Jason walked out the room and headed to his own rom where. Selena's clothes were on their bed. He remembered it was the dress he got her the week before and smiled.
He walked up to her in the bathroom. She was adjusting her makeup in her undies. He placed his arms around her waist and kissed her cheek.
"Good morning" She said.
"Mmm. Good morning" He replied lazily.
"Care to grab my clothes for me?" She asked.
"There's so much more we can do when you don't have them on." Jason said.
"Okay, I'll be late for work in that case so I'd prefer you grabbed them for me." She replied.
"I'll keep insisting, you don't have to work." Jason said.
"I know, and I'll keep telling you it's just something I love doing." She replied.
Jason let go of her and went to grab her clothes. He gave them to her and she thanked him and put them on. He left the room to go and check on Neo.
---
Neo was washing hands when Jason entered the room. Neo looked in the mirror and briefly saw the spectrum in his eyes and his skin on his right hand flesh sizzled. He winced. Jason heard it and knocked.
"Bud, is everything good?" Jason asked.
"Yeah." Neo said.
He walked out, wearing a black shirt and a red jacket on top. He wore a pair of camo shorts and a pair of red and black Jordans. Hiding the scald.
"Okay, I'm going to get your mom." Jason said.
Jason left to check up on Selena. Neo walked out of the room and even further, the house. The sunlight hit him hard. He hadn't felt it for a while while working in the workshop. He started to regain his vision. That's when he saw them, the numerous number of bodyguards watching his every move. They stood like statues in their suit and shades. Neo walked past them and entered the middle of the three SUV's parked in front of the house.
For a second, he forgot that he was Neo Dragone. The son of Jason Dragone, the head of the Dragone family and the most powerful person on the continent.
Shortly after he sat in the car, Jason appeared with Selena, Jason still not showing signs of going with them in his dressing.
"I think there's something up with Neo." Jason said.
"What is it?" Selena asked as they stood at the doorway pretending not to be talking about Neo.
"I don't know." Jason replied.
"That's exactly why you should put something on and come with us." Selena said.
"No thank you, I have way too many meetings today." Jason replied.
"Completely off topic, when were you going to tell me I was going to be a father of two?" Jason asked.
Selena giggled.
"When we get back, we'll talk about it." Selena replied.
Selena walked up and entered the car. Travis, the only bodyguard Neo ever took to sat in the front. Bthe cars started and they left the premises. Just as they left a Bugatti pulled up and a man in a suit got out. He walked towards Jason.
"Andre, it's been a long time." Jason said as they hugged.
"I know, I see you've fallen into the role of the father." Andre joked.
Jason laughed.
"You're seeing right. Anyways, how's Melissa?" Jason asked.
"We're in a good place, way better than before." Andre responded.
"You know something, it's the first time we have a meeting in 30 minutes and you're not even half ready." Andre said.
Jason grinned and they started walking inside.
---
The three SUV's pulled up in front of a fifty-three storey building. Selena got out in her magnificent white dress she stretched her hand out for Neo, who clung to it. Travis accompanied them into the building.
"Mrs. Dragone." A woman shouted after running after them.
Selena stopped and turned around. The woman stopped and started panting.
"Your jacket." The woman said as she lifted her arm which had the jacket on it.
"Are you new?" Selena asked.
"Yes, why did I do anything wrong?" The woman asked.
"No, but I prefer to just be called Selena, and I always keep a spare lab coat in my lab. So there's no reason to run after me with one. What's your name?" Selena said.
"I'm Anne." Anne said.
"Nice to meet you and good luck." Selena said.
Anne walked away surprised. Selena, Neo and Travis continued to the elevator. It was glass and they could see everything outside but no one could see them on the inside. They got to the fiftieth floor and they got out. They proceeded to Selena's lab. When she scanned her biometrics and keycard. The doors glided open.
A mist of antibiotic chemicals gushed. They walked in and the lights turned on . Selena grabbed her lab coat on the coat hanger and put it on. She went behind a monitor and started tethering things. Neo and Travis watched her cook.
After a minute or two,
"Neo get on the scanner." She instructed.
Neo walked up to an elevated part of the lab with a glowing base. It was cylindrical. He took off his jacket and shirt and tossed them to Travis.
"Ready?" Selena asked.
"Ready" Neo said.
Selena pushed a button and multiple glowing lights scanned Neo's body. For a couple of minutes. They stopped. Selena gestured to Neo to get down and Travis handed the clothes to Neo. Neo put them on.
"Are you okay, Neo?" Selena asked.
"I'm good." He replied.
He looked at his upper hand and noticed the scald earlier wasn't there anymore. He smiled to himself and wondered why she asked him whether he was okay.
"Why'd you ask?" Neo asked.
"Your dad is worried about you and you know how he is." Selena responded.
"I'm fine, mom." Neo responded.
The computer beeped and the test results came out. Selena stared at the screen for a while. Something was off
"Okay, everything's normal bud, just a lot of adrenal residue. I'm assuming it's because of the altercation between you and your father. Yeah apart from that everything's fine." Selena said.
She walked into a closed space, her actual office. She sat in her swivel chair behind a huge panel which was a monitor. The screen lit the moment she sat down and scanned her face and opened to her interface. The wallpaper was Jason, her and Neo at the beach with Neo at Jason's back. It seemed to be when Neo was about five years old.
She pulled up the scan report and started evaluating it. She looked disturbed even though she didn't want anyone to notice. Travis and Neo sat opposite to her but farther toward the wall. Travis pulled out his phone and opened his chat with a lady called "Jennie."
"Who's Jennie?" Neo asked.
"A special friend of mine." Travis said.
"Please don't I'm not a kid anymore. You guys are definitely dating." Neo said.
Travis grinned.
Selena's eyes briefly looked at them and she chuckled.
"Kindly stop before your mother thinks I'm spoiling you" Travis said.
Neo chuckled.
"Can I play 'you know what'" Neo said while lifting his brow.
"Sure, G-" Travis started as Neo shushed him
Travis gave his phone to Neo who started playing a military action simulator.
An e-mail popped up on Selena's computer. She read the sender name "Flounder" She pursed her lips and opened it.
There was a link to a government website. She opened it and it asked her for a mastercode. She stopped for a moment and typed in a code. "15-5-16" The document opened. It was a Dragone file.
She read under her breath
"The authorizer for the desert nuke was -" She stopped and closed the website. Travis caught a glimpse of her disturbed face.
"Everything okay ma'am?" He asked.
"Everything is alright, Travis" She responded. "I think we should get going." She continued.
She shut down the monitor and got up and packed her stuff as calmly as she could. A lot of questions flooded her mind. Travis picked up Neo's jacket. Neo was deeply into his game.
"Neo let's go." Selena said
"Gimme a second, lemme rush this dude." Neo said.
Selena looked at Travis and nodded. Travis lifted Neo and put him over his right shoulder. Neo laughed, still playing his game and they walked out.