"What?" I asked, my face completely blank.
"I said, I'm Zero," she repeated casually.
"No, I heard you. But how do you expect to react to that? You're a criminal—you tried to harm my family."
"Oh no, that wasn't . That was the guy who sent you the letter."
My mind spun in that mont.
"What, did you thinkhewould just show up and reveal himself like this?" she added, amused. "He's not that stupid. Anyway, I'm his girlfriend, and I run Zero-Org. Well, internally, we call itLiberation. And, by the way, I'm Ava. So forget about all that 'Zero' stuff—I just wanted to see your cute little reaction."
I narrowed my eyes. "How does it matter if it weren't you directly? Your organization paid the Abramov family."
Her eyes lit up. "Oh,oh, look at you. You've done your howork, huh?" She put a finger to her lips, playfully. "Yeah, my boyfriend told us to pay them. I might be the leader of Liberation, but he's the one who provides with everything I need. I need to listen to him, you know?"
"Alright, let's end it here. I'm calling the police. They'll interview you."
Ava's expression didn't waver. Instead, she put on a mock pout, crossing her arms as if I had just ruined her fun. "Oy. Police?" She widened her eyes in faux innocence. "I'm just a sweet, innocent first-year student at Florida University."
She sighed dramatically, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Special case, ho learning, citizen of Gainesville. The FBI could dig into every corner of my life. They won't findanythingon ." She gave a sly smile, leaning back as if daring to go through with it. "So, go ahead. Call them."
I didn't back down, not yet. There's always a chance, and for all her cocky deanor, Ava was underestimating the federal agents. My finger hovered over the dial. I pressed the numbers, 9-1-1.
But before I could go any further, Ava's voice cut through, calm, smooth, and unbothered.
"The other ti travelers," she said, "are Hu Jintao, Chairman of the People's Republic of China... and my boyfriend."
My thumb froze over the call button. I hesitated, then without even realizing it, I pressed the reset on my phone. The screen blinked out as I stared at her.
There was a smirk plastered across her face.
I slipped my phone into my pocket, hiding it from view. "So your boyfriend shares everything with you, huh?" I asked, keeping my voice even.
Ava tilted her head slightly. "Of course. He's not like you; he actually cares about his girlfriend."
"What are you trying to say?"
"I'm saying your girlfriend's a poor soul," she added.
I clenched my jaw, but I didn't comnt on this rage bait. "Why are you here, Ava? You built an entire new identity just to show up and fuck with ?"
She leaned in slightly. "Well, first of all," she hushed down conspiratorially, "it's very easy for us to create a new identity~." A sly smile crept across her lips. "But no, my boyfriend was thinking about working with you. And I had to test you a little before we made that decision."
"Seems like your boyfriend's a bit unstable. Sa goes for you."
Ava's smile turned sharper. "Oh~" she moaned. "You have no idea."
"How do you know about Hu Jintao?" I asked.
Her eyes sparkled with amusent. "Well, it's quite simple, really. Liberation isn't the only organization my boyfriend runs. He's pretty much taken over most of the dark web market, and one of those networks is really good at spying... So, we found out that Hu Jintao has been pushing hard for the USA-China alliance."
"And... I an, I'm not from the future, hehe," she said. "But my boyfriend said that it's the political change that started all the shifts."
'Until now, I wasn't sure if it was the USA politicians or the Chinese to start it.Now I know...' I thought.
I leaned back in my seat as I stared at her. "Give a good reason," I said, my voice low but steady. "Why did you target ? My company, my investnts, my everything. And why in the world did you suddenly change your mind?"
Ava didn't flinch. "You want a reason?" she asked casually, like I had asked her what she had for breakfast. "You're a threat to our ideology. If we left you unchecked, you'd eventually beco an obstacle for what we're working on."
"What ideology? What are you trying to do?"
Her expression shifted; there was an almost religious devotion in her eyes. "The four D's," she murmured, as though reciting a mantra. "Decentralized Governance. Decentralized Economy. Decentralized Legal Systems. Digital Nations.
That's the future. That's freedom. That's liberation, Jack."
'Bunch of clowns...' I thought, but I tried to keep my cool. "And now? What's changed? Why did you all of a sudden think about working with ?"
She gave a sly smile. "We realized that instead of a threat, you could beco an asset. If we work with you, we can direct that ambition of yours toward goals that benefit us both. My boyfriend... he sees potential in you. That's why we've changed our approach." She flicked her hair behind her with a quick motion.
"No need to destroy what we could use, right?"
I actually smiled right back. "Use ? Let tell you sothing. I'm not as stupid as you might think. The only reason you'd suddenly change your mind like this is because, for so reason, your plans didn't work out, and now you need soone to help you."
Her expression shifted slightly.
"And let's be real here." I continued. "You guys clearly don't follow your own ideology. You say you want people to be free, but pulling off cyberattacks and restricting my movents like you did is directly against that."
"Sotis sacrifices must be made," she replied. "We're planning a revolution. We want all governnts, banks, and corporations to go down. It's inevitable that people will die and nations will fall before we can make our ideology a reality."
'I really want to shove into her what I think about their ideology...' I thought. But it could put in a losing position. They would completely reject the idea of working with and instead double down on destroying .
I leveled my gaze at her. "What do you want from ? I need you to understand that I won't do anything that goes against my principles. I believe in freedom that guarantees happiness—not freedom in chaos."
"We're seen as cyber-terrorists by the governnts," she stated. "While they take us quite seriously... they think they will track us down eventually and lock us up. And they might be right. They have the military power; we... for the most part, don't."
"And countries closing off their internet networks is not our goal; this would only breed xenophobia and stop globalization," she added. "That's why we held off on the cyberattacks; we're shifting our strategy and need more influence at the top, along with more funds. With your knowledge, you could grow fast, and...
we know you're part of that elite club with billionaires and other influential people."
As I listened to this, I thought about the fact that the Freewinds club is basically what they want to beco.
I decided to answer rationally. "So you think I'm just going to jump into bed with your revolution because you say I can help? It sounds like a one-way street to disaster."
"We want you to be on our side," she said as she pulled a phone from her pocket and handed it to . "We'll contact you through this phone."
"You do realize the governnt is listening in on calls, right?"
"You must be joking." Ava laughed, a light, almost dismissive sound. "The SS7 protocol that phone services use is so easy to hack into."
Her tone suddenly shifted to a passionate one. "We have a system that uses temporary numbers and SIM card ICCIDs for each call. We reroute the calls through different service providers and we obfuscate the tadata. The only way to decipher it is with the algorithm used on this phone."
I looked between the phone and her, thinking about the benefits of just... going ahead with all of this. "Give two more of these and I'm in." I finally stated.
She smiled curiously. "What would you need them for?"
"Your spying network isn't as great as you think. You've underestimated . You probably know Immortal Investnts, since I work there, but what you might've missed is that I'm the one who controls it."
Her eyes widened. "Oh. wow. That's cool. That's even better. Good news for my boyfriend.
Alright, we'll get you two more tomorrow."
I stood up. "Now, I've got sothing to do, so I'll excuse myself."
I left the café thinking, 'Even if I work with them,I will never forget what they did to .'
I attended the rest of my classes and then headed ho.
When I arrived, Charlotte was already there, the security having seen her safely back.
As I stepped into the kitchen, I spotted Charlotte sitting at the dining table, her long copper hair falling over her shoulder as she scribbled in her notebook.
She looked up and lit up with a cute smile. "You're back, babe!"
But my face stayed serious.
Her smile faltered slightly. "What's up? Sothing happen?"
In that millisecond, I thought about what Ava told .
And then I said it.
"I ca from the future, Charlotte."
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