The Inventor

Chapter Five; "Three days"

"We have three days, starting today, to get this finished," You told him, crouching at his shoulder, "What have you got?"

"Absolutely nothing," Minho replied. The most he had done was emptied the crates out and sorted the useless parts into them. It was the afternoon of the next day and he had been at it all night, with help from you when you returned from the meeting. There were wrappers of crackers and granola bars filling the trash. He could respect now why you had him do this job because he saw first hand how busy you were during the day.

"Here," You handed him a bag with a sandwich and a bag of carrots, "Take a break, we're going to try something new after lunch and I'm going to need your help."

"Pretty sure you don't need my help," He muttered, but took the baggie nonetheless. You sat down on the floor beside him, eating your own sandwich.

You let him have a few minutes of peace before trudging on with the plan, "So, beetle blades."

"Aren't those the things that are used to spy on all of us and Nick specifically said to not try and confront?" He asked.

"Yes."

"Right, just checking."

"Good, we're going to catch one."

"Of course we are," He muttered unenthusiastically, "Why are we catching one?"

"Just think about it, they are these high-tech little robots who are able to watch us and project the recordings it gets to whoever runs this place. High tech parts, we could possibly find a way to look back at the creators, and I've been dying to get my hands on one since I named it."

He nodded and picked a weird piece of brown lettuce from his sandwich, "So am I just your evil henchmen or something?"

You thought for a moment, wiping your hands on your pants, "I wouldn't say henchmen, you're too cute for that. Maybe a sidekick? Sidekicks are always the pretty ones."

He felt his ears heat up, "I mean, I'm no one's sidekick."

"Then what do you think you are?" You asked, "I mean, I know you're more than a pretty face but I am clearly the mastermind here."

"I- well- maybe-" He huffed, flustered, "I don't know if you're complimenting me or insulting me."

"A little bit of both," You said with a smirk.

"You shouldn't flirt with your partner in crime, very unprofessional," He said with mock disapproval.

"I never said I was flirting," You countered, "I was just pointing out the obvious."

"So if you didn't just take me on for my pretty face, what other good traits do I have?"

"Well, if we look at this logically," You began, "You're the newbie, no one knows you, you haven't made any bounds with anyone. An ambitious, genius, attractive person comes along and messes with your head, catches your attention after they see that you are not one to back down from a challenge. They give you an offer a guy like you can't refuse, calls you pretty boy and flirts with you. You would naturally gravitate toward me because I'm the only one you know at this moment. You came up just at the perfect time. I call it, making a friend."

"In some countries, they call that manipulation."

You waved it off, "Tomato, tomatoe."

"He shook his head, "I was chosen for convenience, wonderful."

You rolled your eyes, "Look at yourself, you're built like a god, you're naturally stubborn and you didn't exactly cower when I said I could blow your head up. You remained level headed when you came up here, you observed rather than spoke. And you chose to call my bluff before you gave in to any sort of panic. If this goes as planned then I'm hoping to create a whole new job in the glade called the Runners, people who go out into the maze with the devices we are making. Nick will have to say yes if we get this accomplished."