Before the Rise

Chapter Three- Meeting Amanda

Chapter Three

            It wasn’t very far from his room to get to the room marked as Amanda’s office.  Birkhoff let out a deep breath, not sure exactly what to expect, but he imagined it wouldn’t be good.  He was still shaken by everything that had happened that day.  In the span of one day he went from top hacker, to a stupid mistake getting him caught by the FBI, and then getting rescued from a likely death sentence to wherever the hell he was now. 

            He tentatively lifted his arm to knock on the door.  “Come in!” a friendly voice greeted him.

            Opening the door, Birkhoff was surprised by the sheer difference between the rest of Division and this room.  The office was decorated like a home- beautiful artwork on the walls and expensive furniture around the room.  At a fancy vanity against the wall, a woman sat as she turned to greet him.  She was professionally dressed, manicured to a tee.  Her hair was perfect, her make-up perfect, she was completely put together.  You must be Seymour.” She got up to greet him, an exaggerated smile on her face.

            “I prefer Birkhoff.” He replied, without even thinking.

            “Okay.” She smiled again, “Birkhoff it is.  Have a seat.” She gestured to an oversized couch in the middle of the room.  I’m Amanda.  I am here to guide you on your journey with us.”

            “My journey?” Birkhoff felt sarcastic today.

            “I know it sounds strange, but the training you will receive here will be part of a journey towards improvement for yourself too.” Amanda sat down in a chair across from Birkhoff.

            Birkhoff had to stop himself from snorting aloud at the absurdness of that statement.  “Okay.” He managed to reply.

            “So tell me Birkhoff, if you are the notorious Shadow Walker, how did you get caught this time?
            There was a small smirk of cockiness that crossed Birkhoff’s face at the mention of his hacker alias that gave him so much pleasure.  It quickly faded at the memory of getting caught.  “I made a mistake.” He replied.  “A stupid mistake.

            “That happens you know.” Amanda smiled, “No one is perfect.”

            Birkhoff looked away.  It was a little unnerving that he had been with this woman for all of three minutes and she had already hit the nail on the head.  More than he was upset at the mistake he had made, he was more upset that he had made a mistake in the first place.  To be good at the hacking he had been doing, he had to be a perfectionist.  “I was up until then.”

            Smiling to him, Amanda replied, “It is okay to make mistakes.  Look at the bright side, your mistake brought you here.”

            Rolling his eyes, Birkhoff had to bite his tongue not to comment.  He was not quite sold yet on the fact that being in Division was a good thing.  “You’re not sure of that yet.” Amanda immediately noticed.  “That’s okay.  As you learn more about us, the longer you are here, you’ll start to see the good we are doing.”

            This time Birkhoff stopped himself from rolling his eyes.  He still didn’t believe it, but he didn’t exactly want to argue it either.  They saved him, so he did owe them in that way.  “So what am I doing here?” he asked her.

            Amanda smiled at his eagerness to learn.  Re-crossing her legs and taking a sip of tea, she replied, “There are lots of things you’ll be doing here.  As I’m sure Simon started to tell you, we do missions to protect the American people.”

            Birkhoff had a hard time believing that Amanda wasn’t giving him a very watered down version of the situation.  He could tell right away that his time with Amanda was not going to be pleasant and that he didn’t like her very much.  “So now what?” Birkhoff asked.

            “Well, I just want to start getting to know you a little bit.” She told him.  “Give you some of the rules.  There aren’t a lot of them here, but one of the main ones is that we do not want relationships.”

            A blush crept over Birkhoff’s cheeks that he quickly tried to hide.  “I don’t think that will be a problem.” He replied.

            “Nonsense.” Amanda smiled in reply.  “Just keep in mind we know people have, the need to connect, and that is fine, but we just don’t want any relationships to develop- they tend to interfere with missions and our goals and we don’t want to have to cancel anyone.”

            There hadn’t quite been an explanation of cancelation, but the way she said it caused a shiver down Birkhoff’s spine.  Even without an explanation, it was clear from the way she had said it gave a clear impression that cancelation probably equaled death.  He didn’t sense any problems coming; after all being a tech God didn’t exactly send girls running his way, and the fact that Birkhoff’s interpersonal skills were less than perfect made this a nonissue when it came to him.  “Okay.” Birkhoff replied.

            “Don’t worry.  We’ll work on your skills.  Even if it is not an issue now, it may be in the future.” Amanda tried to gain the trust of the young man.

            Birkhoff found himself conflicted.  What she was offering made him want to trust her, but just the gut feeling was there that he shouldn’t, and he couldn’t fight that.  There was something about her that was manipulative, fake, and Birkhoff couldn’t quite shake the feeling- or ignore it.  He figured he’d keep working with her, not give her a difficult time just to make things easier, but he wasn’t going to fully trust her, he would keep a guard up at all times.  “Okay.” He replied.

            “So tell me, how come you don’t have a lot of friends?  You’re a smart young man.  You’re not bad looking.” Amanda was curious to hear what the young man had to say.

            “I’ve just never fit in.” he replied.  “I’ve had different interests than the other people my age.  I just have never know how to relate to other people.”

            Immediately he cursed himself for opening up too much.  There wasn’t much of a reason to tell her anything yet.  He supposed it was for the best, if he gave her information she would be happy and if she was happy she wouldn’t question him.  “How do you feel about yourself?” Amanda asked him next.

            With a scoff, Birkhoff replied, “I’m brilliant.” He replied.  “I’m one of the best there is.”

            Amanda thought about that for a minute.  The young man didn’t seem to have a self-esteem problem; he just honestly didn’t seem to know how to relate to others.  She would have to work with him.  “Okay.  Well you will have plenty of practice working with the other agents to try to get better at making friends.  We’ll try to find out what we can do to help you out.”

            It seemed like an okay proposition, but Birkhoff wasn’t sure he would ever be able to relate well enough to others.  For some reason it had haunted him for a lot of his life, and really it had caused him to develop into a very private, at times very selfish person.  Not that he was going to come out and admit that to Amanda right away.  He had to make do some work.  “So when do I meet these other agents?” Birkhoff asked.

            Amanda glanced at her watch.  “Actually, you could head down to meet them in the computer lab.  It’s about time for their computer classes to start for today.  You’ve already met Simon, so I think it will be good for you to start there.  Why don’t you go ahead and head to the computer lab.  I’ll send for you when we are going to talk again.”

            “Okay.” Birkhoff got up and started to head out of the office.

            “And Birkhoff,” Amanda called after him, causing him to turn back as he got to the door, “Welcome to Division.”