Chapter 7 TEENAGE BUDDIES

It's the year 2018. Rex woke up on a Tuesday morning, picked up his phone, and checked the time. It was 10 am. They painted his room blue and big, with a television set, a PlayStation console, and a lot of other stuff.

"Mom! Dad! I'm up!" He shouted, but nobody answered, showing they had already gone out to work. It was a regular occurrence for him. Since he turned 10, Steve and Sylvie ceased to have time for him, whether it was Steve being busy with FT industries or Sylvie with politics. He was 14 right now and had become taller than most of his peers. He was also really slender. He ran into the shower, got dressed in casual rough clothes, walked outside of the house, breathed in fresh air, and a young girl parked her bicycle in front of his house to greet him.

"Good morning Rex," the young girl said.

"Morning Nat," Rex replied as she got down from her bicycle and walked towards Rex.

"Isn't today just beautiful?" She said with a big smile on her face. "Won't you be going to FT industries today?" She asked.

"Why would I do that?" Rex said with a little laugh.

"Maybe to learn about your father's business, which you will one day inherit?" She said, giving him a stern look.

"Oh, come on Nat, it's a holiday!" Rex said. "Why still bore yourself with stuff about work and science? Aren't the A's you got last term enough for you?"

"I don't learn new stuff only to get A's in my result dweeb!" Natasha shot back. "I do it to build myself for my future and my life ahead." "And I advise you to do the same. You won't be taking over FT industries with your C parallel results." She said to him while Rex shook his head, laughing to himself.

"Hey Jimmy, water park?" Rex shouted at one of his mates, who was as tall as him but less built, and was on the other side of the road.

"Water Park!" Jimmy said. "See you at noon!"

"You got it." Rex said.

"Did you even hear a word of what I said?" Natasha frowned.

"Oh, calm down Natasha, you are 15! You're taking life wayyyy too seriously." Rex replied to her.

"By taking life way too seriously, you mean taking life seriously at all," Natasha said to him.

"I'm young and I just want to enjoy my young life and I suggest you do that!" Rex said. "Why don't you join me and the boys later at the water park?"

"As much as I'd loveeee to join you and your boys today, I have to go to FT industries and then later to the library." She said.

"Nerd's gotta nerd, I guess," Rex said, mocking her.

"Ha-ha. That doesn't hurt me in the slightest. After all, my mom said that words are powerless," Nat said. "You know, if you're not busy, you could join me at the library today-"

"Hard pass!" Rex interrupted her.

"Suit yourself, bozo." She said, jumping on her bicycle riding home.

Later that day at the water park, Rex is there with Jimmy, who he saw earlier, and two other guys of his age group, but slightly older. They were drinking alcohol, holding water guns while the other swap in the pool, engaging in discussion with one another.

"Rex the man, always doing the most for us." a guy holding a water gun said.

"Don't mention it, man, just me being me," Rex said, feeling very cocky.

"Hey Rex, why you not bring your girl? You guys were talking earlier." Jimmy said and Rex laughed out.

"Relax man, she isn't my girl," Rex replied. "And by the way, she went to the library." He added as another guy spat out his drink and started laughing.

"Library? On a holiday? What the?" He asked as the rest felt confused.

"I don't even know, man. She's probably preparing her A's for another school year that doesn't begin in over a month." Rex said.

"Was she always like this?" Jimmy asked. "I remember Natasha being cool in middle school."

"Oh, Nat's a real cool person when she isn't talking about books or other stuff!" Rex said. "Like she was all about building her future and other stuff and, in my head, I was like. "You are the son of Mark Toney, one of the richest scientists. Both our parents are rich and will leave a lot of stuff for us. Why worry?" He added.

"She thinks too seriously for a 15-year-old." One of the other guys, Collins said.

"I know, right?" Rex said sarcastically.

"Hey Rex, why don't you try this?" Collins said, passing a cigarette stick to Rex.

"I don't know... Ain't I too young to smoke?" Rex asked.

"You're also too young to drink, but here we are," Collins said back.

"Come on Rex. It's harmless!" Jimmy said.

"What about the phrase that smokers are liable to die young?" Rex asked, as discomfort filled his belly.

"Oh, don't tell me you believe that?" Collins said as the rest laughed hysterically.

"Hey server, one hookah pot!" Jimmy said, calling out to the server.

"Aren't you boys too young to smoke hookah?" The server asked sternly.

"What if we pay double?" Jimmy asked him and asked Rex for money, which Rex gave him.

"Don't speak about this!" Collins said to the server, who walked away and came back with the pot of hookah.

"Okay, Rex. Your move!" Jimmy said, signaling Rex to take a smoke while Rex was reluctant to do it.

"Come on, Rex, why are you acting like a wimp? You're not Natasha, you're the cool one." Collins said, and that triggered Rex, who took one big huff and puffed the smoke out.

"Woah! That felt great!" Rex said before he started coughing intensely.

"A minor side effect when smoking for the first time. Take more, you'll get used to it!" Jimmy said, and they all took turns smoking and drinking and swimming.

Rex arrived home at 9 pm that night with the back door and tip-toed his way up while half-drunk to his room when someone shouted at him.

"Where do you think you're going?" Steve asked, and Rex stopped. "Where have you been? You're home late." Rex walked towards Steve and Sylvie, sat at the dinner table with finished food, waiting impatiently for him.

"I went out with some friends. No big deal dad." Rex replied.

"No big deal? This is the third time in this holiday." Steve said while picking his phone up and showing Rex a picture. "Care to explain this?" Steve asked.

"How did you get this picture?" Rex said, surprised to see a picture of him smoking hookah from earlier.

"That's not important!" Sylvie said, standing up walking towards Rex. "What was going on in your head? How could you be taking hookah at your age?" Sylvie asked, looking directly into Rex.

"Oh, come on. It's just once. What's the worst that could happen?" He replied.

"What are you even saying, Rex? I'm not raising a teenage smoker in my house!" Steve said.

"You're not raising me at all," Rex said silently.

"You shouldn't have said that Rex, you honestly shouldn't have," Sylvie said

"Well, maybe if you told me at all that it was wrong, maybe I wouldn't have done it!" Rex shouted back at them.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Steve said to Rex.

"You both should stop acting like you care! Cause even if I smoked in this house. You both would be TOO BUSY TO NOTICE!" Rex said with anger growing.

"Rex! Don't talk like that to your father." Sylvie cautioned him.

"He doesn't even talk to me at all?" Rex said, and at that point, Steve had enough.

"GO TO YOUR ROOM. NOWWWWW!" Steve shouted at Rex, who angrily climbed up the stairs up to his room.

"Relax Steve, relax." Sylvie said as both took a seat.

"I can't take it. Why does he have that kind of attitude?" Steve said.

"You need to relax, okay? Rex is a teenager. He's going through changes." Sylvie said.

"It's just that... I don't understand why he's like this. I always wanted him to be well-behaved and intelligent, but he doesn't have that attitude." Steve said. "Not once has he asked to help me at work. He doesn't even study as much."

"I mean, he was really intelligent when he was younger, particularly in elementary school," Sylvie said.

"It's like ever since he got to middle school and now high school, he's developed a new behavior, a bad one. It must be these kids he's hanging out with." Steve said.

"Rex is growing, and he's learning new things. You can't stop that!" Sylvie said to him.

"I wish he'd learn new things about the company or science, especially as we aren't really at the best of positions," Steve said. "I don't know. The boy doesn't act like me at all. It's like there's too much of Mark in him."

"Really? Rex acts like Mark?" Sylvie asked, surprised.

"Well... A younger Mark, except without ambition." Steve said and he let out a vast sigh. "Why can't he be more like Mark's kid?"

"Natasha?" Sylvie asked.

"Yeah. She has good behavior, she's hardworking, she's intelligent, and she's interested in the company? If people didn't know better, they would think she's my daughter." Steve said and Sylvie nodded.

"That's a lot of praise for Mark's daughter." She said,

"I'm serious Sylvie. She has a real future in that company." He said. "Earlier today she was helping the junior staff connect some circuits, and she fetched parts, not to mention her asking questions throughout."

"Mark must've done a great job raising her," Sylvie said

"Oh, come on. We both know Mark can't properly raise a kid." Steve said. "It's definitely Zaynab."

"Well, they homeschooled Natasha for her first years and only read books, from what I heard," Sylvie said.

"Maybe we should've homeschooled Rex then." He said.

"Don't be too hard on Rex." She said, "He's 14 years old." Steve sighed.

"Maybe I am being too hard on him, but his behavior is something else. I didn't raise my son to smoke and drink before he turned 18."

"This is 2018. The world is changing, Steve. Go along. We didn't have Instagram and Snapchat in 1991 after all." She said,

"Mark has his current issues right now. As usual!" Steve said. "His ambition is growing too much, and it's making a lot of the staff worried. Just the other day, he suggested to one guy at the parts department to help him with nukes and we don't even produce weapons. You think he's planning a takeover?"

"Mark can be ambitious and sometimes overdetermined, but he's no megalomaniac," Sylvie replied.

"What would I do without you, babe?"

"You worry too much about Everything Steve."

"I guess you're right, honey!" Steve replied.

Rex, who was upstairs, had been eavesdropping on them this whole time. He entered his room, lay on his bed and sobbed; he thought of every time his father wasn't there for him, whether it was his graduation from middle school, his cup final in his school soccer team, or even his 10th birthday, Steve was never there for him because of work and he started crying more when he realized he has had no real fun moment with his father who was always out on one trip or meeting or project and his mother being a member of the Phoenix senate body had little time for him either, they provided all he wanted but that wasn't enough for him. A few minutes later, his phone beeped, and it was a text from Natasha.

"Hey Rex, just wanted to ask, if you're not busy on Saturday (which you aren't). Maybe you could come over to my place so I can show you something." The text read. Rex picked up his phone and texted back.

"If it's about books. I am not in." He replied and a few seconds later, he got another message from her.

"Relax Dummy, it's something cool you'd like to see." Her message read.

"Sure, I'll come, but if this is bait. I'm Raiding your room." He texted back.

"See you then!" She replied with 2 kissing emojis. Rex read it, smiled, turned his phone off, and went to bed.

The next day, Steve was sitting in his office in FT industries wearing a suit when a woman in a suit walks in to see him.

"Ah, Dr. Stella, wonderful to see you this fine morning," Steve said.

"Good morning Sir," Stella said.

"I'm very sorry about the abortion and what happened to your womb. I truly am. Wish I could do more to help." Steve said.

"Things like this happen. Maybe I'm not meant to have children."

"Why didn't you keep this child?"

"It's complicated...... Left for me, I'd have kept it." She sighed. "There's no way!"

"Don't worry Stella, there is always a way," Steve said as he called the bot-droid to bring them coffee. "Have your team come up with anything new to bring to FT industries."

"No, Dr. Fleming, but Dr. Toney mentioned something about us producing bio-powered blasters."

"Blasters?" He asked in shock, putting his drink down. "Why would we produce blasters? We don't produce weapons anymore."

"I'm not supposed to tell you this, but Dr. Toney has been secretly supplying weapons to Asians."

"Asian Military?" Steve asked.

"Asian nationalists."

"Wait. You're telling me Mark has been secretly funding terrorist groups?" "But why am I not aware?" He asked, holding his head. "And how did you know?"

"These are information that I honestly shouldn't be sharing but if you want to know, he doesn't send the proceeds to the company's PayPal nor does he use the company's name in branding but he uses equipment from the parts department," Stella said while Steve covered his face with his palm in disbelief.

"I find this impossible to believe. Who else is in with this?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't say anything more and, to be honest, I've said way too much."

"Well, I guess this will have to do. I'll have to find out some more on my own." Steve said.

"Please Sir, don't tell Dr. Toney, I told you this. I thought you knew all along." She said,

"Don't worry Stella, you have my word for this." He said.

"I should get back to work then," Stella said, standing up and exiting his office while Steve sat there confused, unable to fathom what he had just heard.

"Wait, Stella!" Steve called to her. "Can you get me one of those blasters for observation?"

"Only Dr. Toney knows the location of the blasters."

"Well, ask him. He already trusts you. You'll be doing this company a great favor." Stella nodded and walked out of his office. Stella walked along in FT industries. Bot-droids and drones were swarming the place with different men and women either in Lab Coats, suits, or factory wear. Stella got to Mark's office, knocked, and entered. Mark was having a conversation with the worker there.

"Yes Grant, we cannot inform Steve of this. You know how he'll be righteous." Mark said.

"But he's the co-CEO too," Grant said.

"Steve doesn't support the production of weapons, and especially not selling to nationalists." His gaze turned over to the lady in the room. "Ah Stella, very nice to see you."

"Dr. Toney, Dr. Griffin, Good day." She greeted them.

"How can I help you?" Mark asked.

"Well, I wanted to get one of the new blasters." She said,

"We already shipped those to Japan this morning," Mark replied.

"Oh... I wanted to inspect some things, like the accuracy of the lasers.

"I think there are some spares in the vault at the parts department, not this building. We censored the vault for obvious reasons," Grant chipped in.

"Are there Grant?" Mark asked in curiosity.

"Yes, Dr. Toney."

"Alright, Stella. Go to the vault, there you will see one. The password is Zaynab."

"Alright, sir." She said and left the office. Stella moved to the vault, inputted the password, and her eyes widened when she saw multiple weapons and ammunition that were being marked for shipping. She picked up the blaster, put it in the bag and made her way to Steve's office, knocked and entered.

"Here's the blaster Sir." She said, slamming it onto his table.

"Wow... This is impressive. I can't lie." He said, raising the blaster and observing it. "How does it work?"

"You get fuel from biodegradable materials and it's that fuel that causes the blaster to fire its laser. Certain containers act as bullets where we store the biofuel in case anyone needs a reload."

"Wait? So, he's using our biofuel technology to make weapons, which he sells to terrorists." He said in disbelief, still trying to digest all that he had seen.

"Thank you for this information Stella, you've been of great help."

"Always happy to help Dr. Fleming." She said as she got up and left the office.

On that Saturday, Rex went to see Natasha at her place. He knocked on the door of the house three times before someone responded to him, it was Zaynab, Natasha's mother.

"Ah! Rex, come in, please." She said as she welcomed him with a hug.

"Good morning Mrs. Toney." Rex greeted.

"Nice to see you. Natasha told me you were coming over. But you're so big now."

"Where is Natasha, anyway?"

"Well, she's upstairs in her room. Let me call her."

"Alright, ma'am."

"LILY! Rex is here, and he's waiting for you!" She shouted.

"I'm coming, mom," Natasha said from upstairs.

"Lily?" Rex said as he scoffed.

"She never told you? That's her middle name." Zaynab replied.

"Sounds charming though," Rex said slightly blushing as Natasha ran down the stairs wearing just a sweater and shorts and hugged Rex.

"Alright then. I'll go prepare two things for you to eat." Zaynab said as she walked into the kitchen.

"What's up, Laser brain?" Natasha said, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"Oh, I'm doing great...... Lily." He said.

"Don't call me that again, kid."

"Kid?" Rex said and laughed out. "You're only a year older than me."

"That's 365 days of wisdom over you."

"Yeah. Doesn't matter." Rex said as he looked around the place, admiring it. "Well, your place is cool as shit."

"I know, right? It makes me wonder why you don't come here more often." She said as she walked upstairs.

"I mean, we attend the same school. Our fathers are partners, and your place is distant from mine." He replied.

"Oh, look at you being smart!" She grinned as they got upstairs.

"And therefore you don't have friends." Rex fired back, and Natasha gave him a stern look. "You said you had something cool to show me."

"Yeah, just relax. We're heading there." She replied and as they walked, they came across a bot-droid.

"Mistress Natasha." The bot said.

"Hey KG-13. This is my friend Rex." She said as Rex stretched out his hand and shook the droid's metal arm.

"Woah. Your hand is heavy." Rex said, and Natasha let out a small chuckle.

"Mistress Natasha, you promised me you were going to oil my parts and upgrade my system today," KG-13 said

"Oh, sorry buddy, we were just heading to the lab. We can upgrade you there." She replied.

"Wait. What upgrade are we talking about?" Rex asked.

"My emotional intelligence is being improved and my EQ is being set to that of the current human," KG-13 said

"In simpler words, he's getting feelings," Natasha said.

"How can he have feelings? He's a robot." Rex asked, stretching out his hands.

"I don't like to be called a robot, it's very stereotypical," KG-13 replied as they walked towards a room that was locked with a 4-digit code. Natasha imputed 1991, and it opened, displaying a screen.

"What's the password?" The screen asked.

"Zaynab!" Natasha answered, and a black door opened, revealing a lab filled with different chemicals, mechanical parts, computers, and other equipment.

As they entered the lab, Rex looked at the place with awe and amazement.

"Holy Ravenclaw!" Rex said while admiring the place, which was unlike anything he had seen before. He didn't care about the scientific equipment, but the majestic nature of the room was a sight to behold.

"Like what you see? Natasha asked. "Well, your dad has one like this at your place."

"Not like I'd know, considering the time he has for me." He replied while rolling his eyes.

"Or you didn't care?" She said, mocking him.

"Can't argue with that either," Rex said with a little laugh on his face. "But this is amazing."

"As amazing as me?" Natasha said, moving closer to Rex.

"Almost," Rex replied as they held each other and looked into their eyes as if they were going to kiss before being interrupted.

"Sorry to interrupt this, but my system requires an upgrade," KG-13 said, and both of them broke free of each other.

"Oh, yeah KG. Just sit on that chair while I prepare the upgrade." Natasha replied and KG sat on the chair while Nat turned on a laptop and plugged a flash drive into it.

"Whatcha doing now?" Rex asked her curiously.

"I'm transferring the upgrade from the computer into this drive, then I'll plug the drive into KG."

"Why can't you just transfer the upgrade from the computer to KG directly?"

"And risk destroying my favorite computer or our house bot-droid? Hard pass."

"You could've said No." He said while Natasha removed the flash drive and they walked towards KG-13.

"Rex, I'll need you to put these restraints on KG. An upgrade tampers with his System and can cause him to lose control and become violent." She said,

"Great! Real great." Rex said as Natasha plugged the drive into KG.

"On the count of 3. Put the restraints on him." "1.2.3. Now!" she said as she plugged the drive in, but before Rex could put in the restraints, KG's eyes turned Red and it kicked Rex hard, sending him flying.

"Rex!!" she screamed as KG-13 powered down and rebooted.

"Upgrade complete," KG-13 said as its lens returned to normal.

"Are you alright?" Natasha said, kneeling as Rex held his stomach.

"I'm fine, just hurt a little," Rex said, and Natasha helped him get up. "Oh KG, you've got strength."

"Thank you. Can I get my parts oiled now?" It asked.

"Sure," Natasha said, and then she oiled KG's parts. KG got up and walked out of the lab. Rex was still sitting down. "Eat this. It'll help you regain strength," Natasha said, handing him a sweet.

"What's this?" Rex asked suspiciously.

"Buttermilk."

"Thanks!" Rex replied to her.

"I'm happy we got to do something together today, especially as I don't have many friends," Natasha replied

"Can't imagine why," Rex said. "But don't worry, you'll always have me." He added.