HTH

Chapter Fifteen

Australian Consulate, New York City, 2021

When Jay walked up to the consulate building, his brain immediately download a floor plan and took a 3D scan of his surroundings. It cross-referenced both, searching for an hidden entrance into the building. There was an air vent on the roof, which could be accessed from climbing the south wall, where they were very little guards.

Jay made his way to the south wall and started to climb quickly. It did feel good to have a job to do, a singular purpose and goal to focus on. He scaled the wall quickly and broke the air vent, slipping in while trying not to get his suit too dirty. Dian had bought him a tuxedo to fit in with the crowd, which would be generous if it wasn't only so Jay could delete evidence from federal police servers.

Jay dropped down into a deserted hallway. He brushed some dust off his jacket and walked towards the main hall, looking around at all of the marble floors and pillars. This place is really nice, he thought.

The gala was already well underway. The consulate was packed, with diplomats from both nations coming together in attendance. He could hear many Australian voices, a sound once familiar but now was foreign to him. He also saw one of the guards from NyuTech Tower, presumably there to make sure he didn't try to escape.

Jay made his way around the edges of the hall, heading towards the elevator that lead to the server room, according to the floor plan. He tried to look as inconspicuous as possible when he slipped inside the elevator.

But, of course, someone noticed.

---

Ty and Vanessa were catching up with their old friend Patty when Ty noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

"Is that..." Ty said, trailing off.

Vanessa looked over Patty's shoulder at a person entering an elevator. Her eyes widened. Jay?!

Before they had a chance to get a clear look at him, the elevator doors closed. Vanessa and Ty looked at each other in shock. "Was that..." Vanessa asked.

"Couldn't be," Ty responded.

"What are you guys talking about?" Patty asked, very confused.

Vanessa turned back to her, trying to regain her composure. "Nothing, we just thought we recognized someone. Wasn't him."

---

Jay broke into the AFP servers rather quickly, and began to seach for the file on Dian. He found the tax evasion one by the AFP, and began the process of completely erasing it. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed another hit on the search results for Dian Nyugen. This one was a file from...Military Intelligence?? What does the Australian Army want with Dian Nyugen?

Jay knew Dian was watching what he was seeing, so he thought of a plan and acted quickly. He hovered his mouse over the other file, and then turned as if he heard a noise. He completely turned around, and while doing so blindly entered a command on the computer. The file was being sent to the hard drive on his chip.

Perfect.

He turned back around and saw that the process had finished. The AFP now had no evidence on their servers of Dian Nyugen participating in tax evasion.

---

"Good work Jay."

Dian was watching the live feed of what Jay was seeing and doing. Dr Baker and a technician were also observing.

Dian turned the the technician. "Let him get off the premises. Then terminate him."

He turned to leave when one of his pilots, bloodied and in torn-up clothes, entered.

"Jack! Where have you been? I called for you over an hour ago!" Dian took another look at the guard. "...what happened to you?"

---

Jay emerged from the elevator, back on the main floor, and was about to head out when he was suddenly pushed back into an abandoned hallway.

He turned around and to his amazement he saw Ty and Vanessa. He tried to turn around, but it was too late: they had already seen him.

Vanessa looked angrily at him. "JAY! What the heck?! You get kidnapped by some random billionaire, and now you're just sneaking around the Australian Consulate?"

Tyler butted in. "How did even get here? What happened?"

---

"You'll never believe this sir..."

Dian was very frustrated with one of his best men. "Spit it out Jack."

"I was attacked...by a girl. But she turned into a cat, and...I don't even know what happened really sir."

Dian rolled his eyes at Jack. "Whatever you're on, Jack, you need to stop taking it. Get back to work."

As Jack began to leave, the technician called out. "Mr. Nyugen! There's a situation."

Dian and Jack both looked up at the screen to see a young boy and girl hurriedly talking to Jay.

"That's her!"

Dian and the technician both looked in amazement at Jack. "What?!" Dian asked in utter confusion.

"That's her! The girl that attacked me and turned into a cat. She's right there!"

Dian contemplated this for a few seconds. "Y'know Jack, I may owe you an apology. Someone who happens to have stowed away on our flight with Jay, who just so happens to have some sort of superhuman ability, who just so happens to be talking to him right now...she has to be an enhanced individual as well. Another one of Bat'ko's experiments...Jay might try to come back here with his friends and foil his plans." He turned to the technician. "Terminate the subject now. We can't let him reveal our plan to his...super-friends, or whatever they are."

---

Jay started to explain. "Well, it's actually a really interesting story..."

And immediately collapsed.