1 Month Earlier

It was a hot summer day as Deacon sat in his backyard soaking his feet in a little kid’s pool minding his own business when a sudden torrent of cold water surprised him out of his reverie. Spluttering Deacon fell out of his cheap lawn chair and after rubbing the water out of his eyes he looked over to see a grinning seventeen year old girl with short chestnut hair sitting atop tan skin and hazel eyes, all within a six foot one frame that Deacon severely envied. His eldest sister by two years stood with an empty bucket of water as she giggled at him.

“oops sorry Deke, didn’t see you there.” Choked Delilah through laughter “maybe if you weren’t so short, I wouldn’t have splashed you Little bro.”

“and maybe if some of your height had went to your brain instead you wouldn’t be failing school stupid!” grumbled Deacon as he got up off his back.

“what was that you little dork!” Seethed Delilah as she started walking towards Deacon. Only, after two steps she tripped over a crack in the old pavement. Deacon tried to help but he then tripped over his chair and collided with Delilah and the impact sent both sailing helplessly into the small pool of ice-cold water.

“ahahahahahahah” came a soft laughing fit from the porch. Both Deacon and Delilah turned to find their youngest sister Adrian laughing on her crutches. Adrian had been diagnosed with an incredibly rare form of partial paralysis that stemmed from a deficiency of signals sent from the brain through her nerves. The signals sent were too weak to fully move anything past her midthigh which made walking incredibly difficult and impacted her dexterity in her fingers quite severely. Physically speaking however, she was almost identical to her eldest sister apart from longer hair and green eyes.

“Did you see this dweeb pull me into the pool with her because she’s too tall to see the ground underneath her!” exclaimed Deacon as Delilah turned and playfully pushed him back into the water as she got up and walked to the deck with a mysterious glint in her eyes.

“What are you doing Del? No, wait its not fair, I can’t run away, ahhhhh!” screamed Adrian as Delilah gave her a big soaking wet hug and carried her all the way over into the pool and sat down with her. Deacon tried to get up and escape, but Delilah latched onto him and yanked him back in.

“ha you’re too scrawny to get away from me shorty.” Said Delilah as she started to wrestle with Deacon. Deacon quickly squirmed his way-out using Adrian as a body shield and fled into the house.

Deacon quickly tiptoed his way through the house in that weird way everyone does when they’re trying to not get water on the floor and locked himself in the bathroom. Taking off his wet clothes he quickly towelled off and wrapped a towel around himself. He then looked at himself in the mirror and just observed for a couple seconds. Not an inch over 5 foot two, same chestnut hair as his sisters, and the same green eyes as his younger sister Adrian. Then Deacon’s gaze dropped to his chest, and like every teenage boy to ever exist he flexed. Instantly a grimace spread across his face.

“I need to start working out like now or let alone a girlfriend, I’ll be the loser of the class and have no friends when I start high school next week. At least I have a tan though.” Thought Deacon as he stared into the mirror. A few more seconds and he decided to make his way out of the bathroom and then he trudged up the stairs to his room. He closed the door behind him threw on some pjs and laid back to read ahead on his schoolbooks so that when the teachers inevitably bored him, he could come back with a quick answer and a quicker smirk. Then, just like that, the rest of the day went by and Deacon finally fell asleep with a textbook for the twelfth-grade curriculum on his face, and he was only going into the tenth grade.

The Next Day

Deacon woke up at six thirty am and started his morning routine. First, he showered then picked out a rather strange outfit for the day. It was distinctively science oriented, nice shoes, slacks, plaid button up, glasses, and a lab coat. Deacon then went into his closet and pulled out a science themed present about a foot long and six inches wide which he also sat on his bed.

“clothes…check, present…. check, phone…. check, alright that’s all I need. Time to go.” Mumbled Deacon. He then gathered all of the stuff on his bed and carefully put his lab coat disguise into his backpack overtop of the present. He then walked to his desk and opened an old journal sitting behind the computer and pulled out a key card on a lanyard that held a face suspiciously similar to his own, with a name that read Alvin Hadaway. Deacon observed it for a quick second noticing its special designs around the edges, modelled to look like electricity, and its background, a translucent picture of the Hadaway battery.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Alvin Hadaway was one of the most important scientists of Trinity Corp after developing the Hadaway battery. What the battery did is exactly as it sounds, stores electricity. Now many don’t understand why this is so important and argue that a regular AA battery stores electricity too. Unfortunately, those people would be quickly labelled as stupid. You see the Hadaway battery actually stores electricity, as in, stick it in and it will never drain away and it can be kept for a rainy day. This revolutionized a whole industry as now countries can trade electricity as a commodity. Even the green peace warriors love Doctor Hadaway for his inventions because now hydroelectric, solar and wind generated power are all a whole lot more viable. Alvin Hadaway is even called the father of a new era when it comes to technology, and somehow Deacon Delray a fifteen-year-old boy has his Key card for Trinity towers.

Deacon stashed the card in his backpack along with the disguise and present and quietly snuck out of his house grabbing his windbreaker as he did so and slipped into the garage where his bike was kept. As he rolled it out, he heard the front door open and froze. Deacon then winced when no one said anything and slowly turned around to face his mother.

“heeeey mom, what you are doing up so early ha ha” said Deacon weakly.

“Oh, I don’t know, I thought maybe Id get some fresh air when all of a sudden I see my son sneaking out with his bike.”

“Mom I can expl- “

“That’s okay kiddo, I know what’s going on your free to go, just be home by dinner time.” Softly spoke Deacons mother Elizabeth.

“Thanks mom I’ll be sure to be on time, see you later!” spoke Deacon as hew hurried away as quickly as he could without making it look like he was running away. He knew he had failed when he the quiet chuckle from behind him followed by some mumbled words he couldn’t make out. Deacon then jumped up on his bike and started pedalling away down the street at a quick pace.

1 Hour Later

Deacon parked his bike in front of the trinity building and slowly walked inside right as a large group of older students walked in. He quickly started to follow the group around and pulled out a quest pass like the one they were all wearing and tamped it onto his jacket. Deacon then pushed his glasses up and acted like he belonged, gawking at the pretty receptionist, and generally acting starstruck until a younger man in his mid twenties stepped up to the group and began to speak.

“Hello, are all of you the geo-science class from the university of Illinois?” mumbled affirmations confirmed his guess and then he continued on “excellent, my name is Daniel and today ill be your guide through the Trinity towers. First we’ll be going to the elevators just over there and we will begin in the underground floors where most of the labs are housed.”

As the whole group as let through the security checkpoint just past the front desk and lined up beside the elevators, Deacon was looking around.

“Alright four security guards behind me, and one at the elevators themselves, my path… hmm, lets go left after distracting the guard, there’s a stairwell right around the corner.” Thought Deacon as he made his decision. Deacon then started to slide through the crowd until he was right behind a taller blonde girl covered in makeup and wearing incredibly revealing clothes. But it wasn’t her looks Deacon was drawn to, it was the small good luck charm in the shape of a ball attached to her purse by a string. Deacon then used his body as a cover and made his distraction. He quickly yanked the ball of the purse an let it roll down the hall to the right, while simultaneously stepping to the left and extricating himself of the people. Deacon knew his plan had been successful when he heard the girls high heel shoes cracking against the floor at a run, and the security guards’ eyes all looking to the right-side hallway. Deacon quickly went around the corner and once he was sure nobody could see him broke into a low run to where he knew the stair well was. He quietly opened the door and once he was sure it had shut behind him, he opened his bag and put on his lab coat and attaching the key card to his lapel. He then began running up the stairs.

15 minutes later

Deacon looked at the door to the eighty second floor and was severely regretting not finding a way to use the elevator without being caught and judging by the wheezing sound they were emitting, his lungs did not appreciate it either. Deacon then unclipped the key card from his lapel and used it on the keypad by the door to enter the Hadaway lab. The lab where Doctor Hadaway himself works. From this lab came not only the Hadaway battery but also many other wondrous inventions, there were even rumours that the lab had a working cybernetic prosthetic prototype. Deacon went straight down the hall making a beeline for doctor Hadaway’s office which he knew was at the polar opposite end of the floor as the staircase.

“Kind of a weird design flaw, I mean what if the elevators stopped working and the building was burning down, the precious Dr. Hadaway would never be able to get out.” Wryly thought Deacon. He then continued on and walked right past all the scientists in the room, or rather all the scientist aides in the room. By the time the first aide realized that Deacon probably wasn’t supposed to be here it was already too late, he’d reached the door to Dr.Hadaway’s office. As utter horror started to etch itself on to the Aides face, Deacon shrugged off his backup pulled out the present within, wrenched open the door to the office and yelled

“ HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLD MAN, TOLD YOU YOUR SECURITY SUCKED!”