Re: Life - Business & Technology

Chapter 113 - Going Viral

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Announcement: Please check the glossary/characters auxiliary chapter for updated concept art! 

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August 12, 2013

Sunday morning the following day, the Dalton Manor looked like a huge party never happened the night prior due to Future Tech cleaning staff starting work at the break of dawn.

Hailee was unyielding the previous night and desired to watch how her partner would take Yui before joining in the fun a few loud moans later.

The circumstance forced Vince to perform with double the effort overnight and left him in a deep sleep sandwiched between two stunning young women, befitting a CEO of his stature.

The sun was almost high noon and glowed a luminous ray into the bedroom's skylight windows. The three heard knocking on the door but were too exhausted and sluggishly woke Vince up from his slumber.

He could barely open both eyes and yawned before standing up and opening the door groggily.

The door opened and revealed Jessica, who decided to sleep over after drinking too much Soju last night.

Vince's eyes were still adjusting to the light and couldn't clearly see and murmured, "Why are you waking us up?"

Jessica blushed red as a tomato and realized Vince was utterly oblivious to being fully naked.

Before she could shout or run away, Jessica heard Hailee's voice from within the room asking, "Who's out there? Is it food?" another voice added, "Oh! Brunch would be nice!".

Jessica relaxed and calmed her nerves, saying, "Anthony, the creepy nethunter guy is looking for you. Also, stop baiting me into your orgy and put some pants on!" before storming off.

Vince finally recognized the absence of any clothing on his body the entire time he spoke to Jessica, felt a bit embarrassed, and yelled. "Sorry! My bad, my bad."

He moved towards his bathroom to take a quick shower before meeting Anthony waiting at the manor's living room.

At the same time, his young Korean-American friend rushed to her guest room and pondered, [What was he thinking?!], as she reimagined the awkward moment like a PTSD patient.

After freshening up, Vince chose to wear a bathrobe instead of wasting time on an entire outfit and headed downstairs.

He instructed the house staff to prepare breakfast for his two companions and the rest of the guests before speaking with his Cybersecurity Director.

The Filipino-American man in his early 30s browsed through his Hypervisor while waiting for his CEO and noticed a robed young man approaching,

Anthony stood up out of respect and said, "Good morning, Vince. I spoke to Leah at the penthouse, and she told me I'd find you here. I wanted to discuss a major mission recently performed by Future Security directly with you."

Vince didn't speak to Price and Anthony about Future Security often unless it was necessary and said in interest, "Alright, I have a bit of time before brunch, so what's up?"

Anthony pulled out an Infinity Tablet and showed Vince video footage of the Heavy Power Armors defeating the Syrian soldiers and snatching the fifteen warheads.

Vince was impressed with their performance but asked in confusion, "I thought Heidi hadn't completed the new armors yet, and we had to wait until 2014 until a field test?"

Anthony sat down and explained, "Director Price required a quick reactionary force and decided to send Felix and his Hammer team to secure the warheads in the cover of darkness. We got lucky intercepting them because one of the blast-type warheads is advanced enough to level a city block, not to mention the Sarin gas version."

Vince was relieved to hear Future Security succeeded in the mission and replied, "Thanks to your diligence, civilians won't have to suffer because of those warheads. Investigate them further and attempt to find their origin. The Russian involvement shouldn't be understated, they've been messing with us for a while now, and it's getting annoying."

Hailee and Yui decided to emerge from their sleep and entered the kitchen wearing bathrobes to find some water and food, oblivious to the serious meeting in the living room.

Anthony ignored the newcomers and said softly, "There were no witnesses left, so both the warheads and the armors are under no scrutiny at the moment. But General Dolan is on our side in case things go south politically."

Vince was surprised to learn Future Security was able to keep the Hammers from public view, thanks to primarily operating at night, and replied, "Good. Future Robotics and FT VR will have more time to refine the weapons systems before mass deployment and anyone else knowing about them. How's your work reviewing the general access for our blockchain outreach programs?"

Anthony was recently assigned a pro bono project by Leah, as required by the corporate bylaws. As all Future Tech staff needed to work at least 50 hours to benefit the less fortunate and society, Anthony was no exception.

He begrudgingly replied, "The blockchain voting platform's encryption protocols and public access satellite-data access node points are stable. Furthermore, Future Security has compiled legal identities from all 195 countries involved with Interpol and associated them to a dedicated NetServ account, so each person old enough within the system to vote should already be registered. Therefore, I approve the platform for beta testing with Kandahar residents or even in Ukraine for their upcoming elections. And I hear it's going to look messy."

Vince wasn't too happy about the unknown forces playing with him in the background but appreciated their effects, like Future Security partnering with Interpol and foreign intelligence agencies through the CIA.

Vince honestly said, "Have them start testing the voting platform in Kandahar for now, and thanks for your contributions to this non-profit initiative. My mom will be pleased to have that out of the way for new projects. Would you like to join us for brunch, Anthony?"

Hailee and Yui, wearing their revealing bathrobes, were minding their own business at the kitchen table as Anthony replied, "Maybe next time, Vince. I'll relay your ideas and orders to Director Price and Ms. Dalton. I'll see you at headquarters tomorrow!", before promptly exiting the manor.

The house staff served bacon, eggs, and other typical morning food before the other guests awoke from their drunken slumbers.

Hailee looked at Vince curiously while eating a piece of bacon and asked, "What was that about? He didn't look like a regular FS operator."

Vince chose to amuse her question and explained, "That was Anthony, the FCS Director. He's in charge of the nethunters and Price's second-in-command."

Yui overheard the conversation and commented, "Oh, nethunters sounds bad. Like naughty bad."

Vince nodded in agreement and said, "Yeah, like both of you last night. Naughty and unruly."

Before they could continue with the dirty talk, Jaden and Alice arrived at the breakfast table, clearly hungover from the party.

Jaden inquired, "Do you have nutrition fluid, like the ones Elon gave us on The Longhorn yesterday morning?"

Vince had a staff member bring a few bottles of the Future Med nutrition fluid to aid with his friend's hangovers. Though, it wasn't designed for such a superficial purpose.

A few minutes later, they were joined by Tom, Fortis, and two ZTA sisters at the dining area, and Fortis excitedly declared, "Southern college towns are the best, Vince. Thanks for taking me out here! So when can I check out the available AVs I can buy?"

Vince finished the last bite on his plate before replying, "I'll introduce you to Christian because of your interest in luxury AVs, but Future Tech also custom-designs CAVs, in case you want other options. Though, I suggest avoiding car manufacturer-brand AVs like Ford or Toyota."

Fortis considered his choices and decided, "I'll stick with Koenigsegg for now. So we'll head to the Tech Campus later, right?"

Vince wasn't sure what the other guests wanted to do and asked, "How will y'all spend the rest of your Sundays?"

Alice stopped eating for a second and replied, "Jaden and I planned to do an IRL livestream at Zilker Park, by the creek a few blocks from here. We'll check out the Tech Campus tomorrow."

Tom honestly commented, "I'll head back to the gym after eating, or else dad would get pissed if I missed my morning session. The party last night was crazy, so thanks for the invite, Vince!"

Vince was glad to show his friends a good time and excitedly replied, "No worries, dude. Thanks for the patience playing along with Hailee's impromptu music video."

Tom sincerely responded, "Come on, Vince. You gave me my first chance at pro-fighting, so keeping your girl happy with the video was the least I could do. How did it turn out, by the way?"

Hailee pulled up her Infinity Phone and checked the Instagram video posted under Future Records, 'Party Pop' music video. It had already garnered 150 million views when Oliver posted it the night prior.

His team returned to Future Tech HQ and produced the video with voluntary over-time media production staff, competitively compensated for their time like every Future Tech employee.

Hailee jumped out of her seat in excitement, then shared the post to everyone via NetServ message and excitedly shouted, "It's gone viral!"