The Unrated

Alissa

"Are we almost there?" Alissa asks.

They had been driving for a while, and to Alissa, it felt like it had been hours. Oliver was going fast. No one told Alissa if they were close to their destination or not.

"Maggie, please tell me where we are going?"

"Sorry, Lissa, I can't. We are close, though."

Oliver has been quiet for the entire ride. Multitasking between driving and checking his phone.

"Oliver, you should marry your phone. You give it more attention than anyone should." Maggie says, reaching for his phone. Oliver slaps her hand away.

"No touch."

"I win, Lissa. I got him to come back to earth first."

Oliver rolls his eyes and pulls off the highway. They reach another checkpoint, show their IDs, and pull into a neighborhood. It was beautiful. Mini mansions lined the street. Each one screamed with personality. Alissa never got to go outside the Obsidian Zone before. Seeing other Zones for the first time was magical to her.

"Alissa, can you pick your jaw off my floor?" Oliver asked, laughing at her amazement.

"It's so different. I never thought about other Zones structures before. No apartment towers, just homes! That one has a lake in the back!"

"You poor soul," Oliver says as they pull into the lakeside home.

The house was something out of a storybook. It was a lakeside manor with vines going up the side. It was made up of a stone exterior and wooden frames. It had accent lights along the rim of the roof. It was like a resort.

"Who's house is this?" Alissa asks as everyone gets out of the car.

Oliver raises his hand.

"Really? It does not seem like your style."

"Ugh! Right? It was either this or a mental institution because, like hell, I was going to live in one of those apartment towers." Oliver says, locking the door and walking up the driveway. Alissa and Maggie followed him.

"Mom and dad were so pissed when he bought it. What could they do? Ollie never liked the apartments that the Obsidian Zone had. So he got this last year. His money, his choice." Maggie says.

Oliver puts his eye to a scanner. With a click, the door opened. "Make yourself at home, Alissa. I got to make a quick call. Magnolia, can you take Alissa to the living room?"

"Why did I not get a warm welcome?" Maggie asks with her hands on her hips.

"Hmm, because I like Alissa," Oliver says while dodging Maggie's punches. "Easy! I'll have Joey call the Guard."

"You wouldn't dare."

Oliver laughs and goes upstairs. "You know where everything is, Magnolia. Show Alissa around." He shouts from the top of the stairs.

"What am I? A real estate agent? Come on, Lissa, let's go into his wine cellar. I know where he keeps the good stuff." Maggie winks at Alissa.

Maggie drags Alissa to the wine cellar door.

"Can't we stay in the living room? I'm not even a big drinker," Alissa says.

"Hey, this is Oliver's way of apologizing for making us listen to his lame jokes."

Maggie tries to open the door to the wine cellar. It's locked.

"Why is it locked? It's never locked." Maggie keeps trying to open it.

"Sorry, Miss. Rose. Mr. Rose has strictly forbidden your access to the cellar indefinitely." Joey says from the speaker on the wall.

"The hell he did. Override!" Maggie kicks the door.

"I apologize, Miss. Rose. I can't do that. you're free to find some beverages in the kitchen."

"Ugh! That's it. I'm driving his car into the lake. That'll teach him."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Alissa said.

"Me neither," Oliver says, leaning against the wall, tapping away on his phone.

"Wine. Now. Open. Door." Maggie demanded.

"Nope. Ask. Nicer." Oliver says.

"Never!" Maggie says.

"So, not like I'm complaining about seeing your place, Ollie. But, why are we here?" Alissa asked.

Oliver stops typing on his phone. He stares at the floor for a moment. Thinking about something. "Follow me, lady and gremlin." Maggie already hits him. They both followed him into his office, which was filled with computers. In the middle of the room was a meeting table with chairs around it.

"Oliver, why so many computers?" Alissa asks. Every time she looks away, it seems like more computers pop up. "Ollie, you would tell me if you were a supervillain, right?" Oliver looks up from a computer and smiles. Not answering her question.

"He's totally going to destroy the world," Maggie says, sitting down.

"Thank you," Oliver says, sitting down as well.

"Not a compliment."

"So, what's the big secret?" Alissa asks.

"Well, I think President Young had Joey tampered with," Oliver says quietly. "I noticed the code changed last month. I'm the one who approves changes. Yet, this one slipped by me."

"Um. Is that bad?"

"It can be. Depending on who did it. That's how I found out that President Young moved up The Rating Games. Right after, he extended it so the Unrated could register. So, I looked into it and found out someone was looking into me. Someone is using Joey to spy on me."

Alissa looks at Maggie. "Yeah, I thought he was nuts too. However, after researching it, it is hard to ignore the signs."

"Hence, why I showed up at your apartment. I was sent by Magnolia, yes, but I had to see if you were being watched too. I was right to do so."

"Why? What did you find?"

"Your Joey was sending messages out to someone. Normally, Joey sends your data to a mega server offshore. It's like when a paper boat goes down a river. It only takes a slight obstruction for the boat to change course. You think the boat is still going to where you intended it to go. However, it goes somewhere else first. It will eventually get to its destination."

"Get to the point. you're boring her." Maggie complains.

Oliver rolls his eyes. "I don't want to think it is because they might think I told someone at the time. Maybe that is why they have been spying on your Joey's history. Sorry for all the secrecy."

"It's alright. You did what you had to."

"Thanks. However, that's not the worst thing I found."

Maggie's head shoots up at her brother. "You found something else?"

"Yeah, I found the plans for The Rating Games for this year. Also, the reason President Young really moved up the date for The Games. He wants to get rid of Ground Zero."