Chapter 11

                                    

                                          
The coding was reflected on the lens of Kenny's glasses as he typed the last commands to restore the account he previously hacked with a click of a key.
                          
"Done." 
                          
"Move!" His aunt stretched her arm to grab the laptop while the prepubescent stood from the chair as he saw his aunt type hastely on the device, revising her social media accounts and her work related applications and projects.
                          
Just as he was one step from leaving his father got in the way. A glare casted as he said two words, "You're grounded."
                          
"What?!" 
                          
"You heard me. Grounded! Meaning; no videogames, no smartphone, no electronics, no equipment and no dessert for you. Now hand it over!" Kent remarked, stern.
                          
"Oh come on!" Kenny groused. After he managed to persuade his aunt to not rat him to his mom. Now he had to relinquish his electronics.
                          
"I mean it! Hand it over." Kent extended his hand. 
                          
The pre-teen had two options: Give his hand held devices to his dad willingly, or take the risk of getting his things confiscated by force. 
                          
But since he wasn't a complete idiot, he complied. "Fine." Kenny grumbled as he took out his video game console out of his pocket and gave it to his father. 
                          
Not entirely convinced, Kent urged him to relinquish his other electronic devices. His firstborn rolled his eyes as he gave his smartphone and his MP3 player. Kent took the electronics and safe guarded them in a luggage.
                          
Me...grounded, on an aircraft 10,000 ft in the air. Nothing can get any worse than this. Kenny crossed his arms as he sat on a sofa with on leg over his knee.
                          
Kid, the trouble you've gotten yourself into is nothing compared to what's coming. The arcade guy pondered as he watched through the security cameras within his jurisdiction. An automated metal door creaked open and in the dark side a man came out as he features were visible.
                          
Mandy revised the application and searched for the document of her presentation had been eliminated from her folders. "Great, the presentation that I've worked on is gone. Now how am I going to tell Mr. Banks about this?"
                          
"About what?" Her boss heard her complaint as he walked to her with his daughter in his arms.
                          
Nah, screw it. Mandy closed the laptop. "My presentation for the conference is gone."
                          
"Ms. Mann, the conference ended a while ago." Her boss informed.
                          
"What?"
                          
"You were lucky that Gilligan showed his project in your place."
                          
"Great." Mandy let out a curved smile, though deep down she wanted to find her business rival and attack him. That prick.
                          
"You dodged the bullet this time Ms. Mann or I wouldn't be so jolly. If it wasn't for him, you'd be fired." Mr. Banks said it so casually it made her question if he was mentally stable. "For that, and for these muffins." 
                          
Mr. Banks held out a bag of a muffins labeled Mary&Juana's Muffins that his daughter gave him earlier. Apparently, there was marihuana laced on the muffins. 
                          
He offered to give her one but Mandy declined. "No thanks, I have to catch up on the paperwork that's been piling up." 
                          
"What's the rush? Relax. We're on an aerial cruise. Why get caught in the same routine when you can spend time with your family? It's better to enjoy the little things in life." Mr. Banks coaxed Mandy, while his little daughter embraced him. "I know what I'm telling you, it's not often I get to spend time with my family and if you haven't tried those muffins yet, then you're clearly missing out. Even Cindy likes them and I know how picky she is."
                          
"And it was delicious!" Cindy replied, dragging the s in to a hiss.
                          
"Maybe some other time. Have a nice day." Mandy let out a white lie before she grabbed hold of the laptop.
                          
"Likewise." Wilmer said before he looked at his daughter and played with her for a little bit.
                          
Constantine walked down the hall near a kiosk that sold vintage clothes and marihuana themed clothing as he overlooked Douglas give a smug smirk. The tall man noticed the glint of the shades and then turned to look behind his shoulder as he saw Doug and glared at the smug mook. YOU!
                          
Constantine backtracked and glared Doug directly at his face as the sunglasses reflected Contanstine's enraged glare while Doug smirked cynically. "If it isn't Douglas Donahue."
                          
"Long time no see, Constantine."
                          
"My name is Douglas Torres now, and I don't like your little friend snoopin' on my turf." Doug heard Constantine let out a scoff. "You see, I have a business to run here and I'm not going to let you ruin it."
                          
"Oh please, like you could ever run a business without slacking off all day." 
                          
"That's what you think pal, but what you don't know is that I'm selling happiness to the people." Doug stretched out his arms to display the goods. "Bringing smiles around the airship far and wide, starting with the consumers to the workers. Once they get a whiff from the spice of happiness, they'll fly so high they won't come down."
                          
Constantine grappled Doug's jumpsuit with his massive hand and yanked him as he examined Doug and furrowed his eyebrows while Doug maintained his careless smug expression. "YOU'RE SELLING WEED AREN'T YOU?!" 
                          
Doug kept the smug smile placed on his face.
                          
"So that's why the doc sent us to this dump. To stop sneaky rats like you and your crooked captain from transporting this garbage."
                          
"That's where you're wrong, Constantine. The doc was the one who sent me to take her down, but during my stay here I've grown to lile this place. Besides, we both know the old man has held a grudge against the old hag ever since she patented the project they'd worked on." Yes, they knew the story of how the first aerial cruiser got built, Vargas outlined and designed the aerial cruiser while Donahue implemented the powersource of the aircraft to make the aerial cruiser a reality before one of them turned against the other to patent it. Dr. Donahue was a roboticist and developer who majored in aeronautical engineering while Vargas was a wannabe architectural draftsman and graphic designer. Vargas took the credit and Donahue held resentment for her success and to plagiarize the models for the powersource. "He waited years to plot his revenge while it only took me a year to earn her trust. Consider yourself lucky that my boss sent me to watch over you. If she had sent someone else, you wouldn't be so lucky."
                          
Constantine gritted his teeth and snarled.
                          
"Think about it, if it wasn't for me, you'd be caught by now." As Constantine raised his fist to punch him, he heard footsteps getting closer. "If you don't want to raise any suspicions, I suggest you play along." 
                          
Constantine squinted at him and that unnatural pearlescent smile he let go of Douglas.
                          
"Would you like to buy our customized T-shirts for the price of $16.99? With a 65% discount you can get 2 T-shirts for the price of one. With a premium membership, you can have any product of your choosing to be delivered right at your door for FREE during your first year of membership. If you're not satisfied, feel free to try our new XXL beach shirts on the market. Limited time only." 
                          
Douglas picked out an extra extra large beach shirt before Constantine eyed at the marihuana themed beach shirt disdainfully.
                          
"Pheh! You're not worth my time." Constantine walked away from the infiltrated slacker. As if I hadn't had enough of Carlyle's idiosyncrasies for one day to deal with him too.