Heart-Less

Chapter 15

-You have an incoming video call from [KILLUA, NIC]-

Ada hit the button and Nic's face popped up on the screen. As expected, Nic did not look happy.

"Ada Lim, do you know how hard it's been to get a hold of you? And time is totally of the essence. What if this video call got compromised?" Nic started.

Ada held up her hands. "I know, I'm sorry." She made sure to wince and look apologetic. "But the council was giving me so many problems, because they think that I tipped you off ahead of time. I mean, it's true, but what's the big deal, right? Anyway, don't worry, Pendragon told me the news. You're going to be part of the official delegation, right?"

Nic tsked. "That isn't the juicy news. Anyway, the line should be secure, but can you check your end for me?"

"I can try." It took Ada ten minutes, but she slowly went through the steps she learnt in her introductory course to technical wizardry and made sure there were no bugs. "Line's clear on my end. At least, as far as I can tell. If the hacker's good, then I might have missed it."

"Don't worry, I doubt any hackers from our dear motherland can progress beyond your skills."

"Hackers from home? What's this about?" Ada took care to sound surprised. Nic wasn't allowed to know that she knew. She had decided that, and she stuck to her decisions. However, a sudden pain to her head told her that traitor heart had changed its mind.

"Ada, you ok?"

Ada looked up.

"Yeah, sorry. Just a slight headache, because of the council thing. What did you want to tell me?"

Nic looked around her studio, leant forward, and whispered: "The president called for me. She wants me to be a spy for her. For the third country in the talks."

"The Magi? Why?"

"Because they're like, the only country that we're not on good terms with. Like, how messed up is that?"

"Are you going to do it?"

Nic smiled reassuringly. So far, she was buying it.

"Of course not," she said. "I'm going to have to pretend too, though. Because if not, I can't get anything uploaded to the Network. I need you to keep this quiet from everyone else, and see if you can help me think of fake info to give?"

Ada nodded vigorously. "Of course, I'll do anything to help. Anyway, isn't your show starting soon? You should go."

That was not the right move. Immediately, Nic's face changed from relieved to concern. "You want me gone? Is it because you already lost virality? I'm really sorry about that, I wish we could both be viral."

So Nic was bothered about that too. She shouldn't be, because Ada didn't care. Not for most of the day, anyway. It was only during the memory reviews that she sometimes saw a tinge of regret. Virality coming and going without her being able to enjoy or take advantage of it.

Ada put on a brave smile. "It's fine. One of us becoming viral is enough. I mean, it's not as though people would accept the mouthpiece of the official channel becoming viral. Just remember share those sponsorship goodies with me, ok?"

"Of course," Nic said immediately. "What's mine is yours and all that. So I'll talk to you after the show? I can't promise the next line will be secure though."

"Don't worry," Ada said. "You just keep on being viral and breaking records. I'll be here, watching the show and keeping quiet. No one will ever suspect that I know a thing."