An idiot's adventures o.0

Micah Evergreen is a kid that has aged 12 and he is currently living in a middle-income family. Not much is known about him other than he is under constant surveillance by several criminal agencies such as Federal Bureau Intelligence and Criminal Investigation Agency. He has intelligence beyond average minors. – KIJ

Graham mused, " He is only 12 and already under constant surveillance…"

Oliver Green replied using rhetoric, "If he is nobody, would they invite dear Micah Evergreen to Genii Games?"

"Genii Games is an event inviting geniuses from all over the world to participate in a competition, that is trying to source for the crème de la crop within the group of geniuses invited," Graham replied thoughtfully.

"No – that is just what they want you to think, Graham. The real motive is probably to prove that genius or not, all human are the same." Oliver counteracted Graham's reply.

"Oh," This was all Graham could muster in a reply after the refutation by his charge, Oliver Green.

Twenty minutes ago, Micah Evergreen opened his mailbox and found a letter addressed to him. He opened it and found the contents within the letter. a little too friendly to be true. Nevertheless, the contents go on like this:
Dear Micah Evergreen, I am agent Zeus sending this letter of invitation to the Genii Games to you. The Genii Games is a game in which Geniuses from all over the world would be gathered to participate in our once in a lifetime competition to outwit the wits of every Genius! May you be the winner! For more details on how to join, kindly flip to the next page, thanks.

This is definitely a peculiar trap that is trying to ensnare me, Micah thought curiously, as he turned over to the next page to read up more information about the Genii Games.

"The words are definitely are –" before Micah could complete his sentence, someone behind assaulted him with an electroshock weapon, which zapped him unconscious in no time.

Currently, Micah regained consciousness to find himself in an infrastructure that he would not be able to afford using legal means. A majestic building surrounded with beguiling lights held in place by domes of various shape and sizes coupled with furnishing that is unparalleled and superior compared to those at his home. Nevertheless, he stood up and strode pompously towards the gargantuan dining hall, as though he was impervious to the spectacular renaissance architecture.

Suddenly a loud sound boomed throughout the entire area, projecting a certain speech by Agent Zeus: "Welcome Geniuses to the Genii Games, the one and only game that will only have participants that have intelligence over 200, I am Zeus, the agent, that will be hosting the first segment of Genii
Games, Outwit." 

A genius from Pakistan, Freed Abdul, made the following comment, which made a lasting impression in the minds of all the other geniuses (or Genii) afterwards: "This is Bullshit! If my father was here, I would have sent whoever you are, to the pits of the torture chamber!" 

"Wow that is certainly appalling, especially when that comment is from a fellow, civilised genius in this game." Oliver made a snide comment.

"I think he is suffering from a sudden lapse of Child Genius Syndrome, Oliver." Graham responded to his principal's comment.

"Ha-ha! Spare me your witticisms, Graham," Oliver crushed Graham's confidence with words of flawless simplicity.

"Outwit? What is agenda of this game segment?" Micah asked another fellow Genius while Graham was busy finding words to match the wits of his principal.

"You make my life insufferable sometimes, Oliver, especially to participate in this Genii Game. Your father was highly disagreeable to such an act of defiance," Graham matched wits with Oliver.

"Ah. Thanks a lot, Graham, for the compliment. I realized how this game, Outwit is played," Oliver defeated Graham with ease, as expected of a genius.

At this time, many geniuses were starting to regain their consciousness. Some geniuses woke up, muttering some unknown tongue while some just scanned the entire area, probably looking for an escape route. The others just confined themselves to a corner – to take some breather and observe all other competitors and analyse them thoroughly.

Agent Zeus projected his voice again: "My guess would be most of the geniuses that were sleeping are probably awake and would want to know the game and rules they would be playing indeed?" 

A genius from England, Fabio Squire answered Agent Zeus's question with a tinge of boredom: "Please get on with whatever you are trying to tell us, seriously, whoever you are."

Agent Zeus apparently managed to hear his comment because he continued with his longwinded reply: "Fabio Squire, one of the many geniuses that hail from England, a pesky technology hijacker using the pseudonym: Han Cure. To relieve your boredom, I would get straight to the point. There is a palmtop in every single one of your pockets and also all the technology that you had with you previously are not touched. Please kindly type G-A-M-E onto your palmtop for more information on the game you would be participating."

Minutes ago, prior to Agent Zeus and Fabio Squire's little showdown, Micah discovered the palmtop in his trouser pocket minutes and decoded and assimilated the palmtop's information into his thick and bulky multi-purpose phone. 

Micah's phone have functions that probably would prove to be a godsend in any situation, especially when you are in a competition that requires you to outwit others with only a phone, and a useless palmtop that only have superfluous information.

In mere seconds, the security encryption that protects the surveillances and building's readings had been compromised, as Micah use his phone to decrypt the AES encryption of the building. 

Currently, Micah repeated the readings of this building via his specialty – espionage work, "I see… Therefore, we are in a building known as United Technologies Corporation… We are located in United States, the capital city of Connecticut, Hartford. Coordinates of this place are 41.767°N and 72.677°W."

Freed Abdul overheard Micah's comment and agitatedly replied: "We are definitely not in United States –I am assured of this fact!" 

This fact was evidently acknowledged by Micah, who tapped into an ACME Satellite to confirm that credibility of the building's readings. The satellite- application on Micah's phone popped up this information: Untraceable.

Micah kept his palmtop into the large and seemingly bottomless pockets of his Jeans and re-read the information on the game again on his powerful phone. The information was: Trick your entire opponent into revealing the information that they have received such as where would you find food in the building etc. The information that you are holding is 'irrelevance or nothing'.

That is why, Micah decided to formulate a little plan such as revealing, that he knows the coordinates of the building to entice people to come over. 

Human beings tend to have a personality akin to those of the sheep and as there are a crowd of genii gathered here, manipulating their movements would be much easier due to large-scale herd's effect. The herd's effect is the tendency to copy others to ensure that you are not left out. This affects almost all humans on Earth, even if you are a genius.

This is Micah's plan A. With plan A, there would always be a drastic plan B, a backup plan, that Micah hoped that he would not need to execute it. 'Hope' often means having miracles on your side and sadly, miracles happen to be anti-social in nature.

Geniuses began to swarm over to Micah as they realised that he may be the guiding light to success for them in the first segment of the Genii Games.

The next part of plan A was to forge alliances with some (if not all) of the genii heading towards his direction. Micah popped the question: "Do you guys want to trade information to win this foolish game? Shall we form an alliance only for the sake of winning?"

There was a chorus of murmurings among the crowd of prodigies. A child prodigy among them approached Micah directly, ignoring the huge hocus-pocus occurring among the geniuses.

"My name is Alex Stockholm, a middle school student. Your name would be?" Alex introduced himself to Micah politely.

Micah answered amicably, "Mister Alex is it? My name is Micah Evergreen and I am also a middle school student."

Alex eyed Micah sceptically and asked, "You do have some information on this building, I would presume?"

Micah went straight to the point, as it would be pointless to beat around the bush, "Yes, Mister Alex. So you want to trade information or form an alliance?"

"I would prefer to strictly trading of information only, Mr. Evergreen." Alex answered promptly without a moment of hesitation.

"So would you please take out your palmtop, so as I would take out mine to trade information." Micah directed Alex.

"Of course, Mr. Evergreen, here's mine palmtop." Alex took out his palmtop waiting for Micah to trade his.

Micah took out his palmtop and traded for Alex's palmtop after prompting by Alex Stockholm. Micah took less than 5 seconds to analyse and comprehend the crux of Alex's information. He questioned Alex Stockholm to confirm: "So yours is about where is the food kept… in the kitchen uh?" 

Alex was shocked by Micah's question. He was startled by Micah's inhumanly fast perceptive aptitude to obtain information from a lengthy and wordy passage. Micah only received his palmtop at approximately 4.35 seconds ago!

Even in a state of shock, Alex managed to revert to his original composure within seconds and fired a question back at Micah, "How did you know?"

What Micah answered was slightly ambiguous and what normal people would deem as conceited, "Can't help it, I am a genius."

Alex controlled his impulsive propensity to reply and he went on immediately to check Micah's palmtop for information to be on par with Micah, 1-1. To his dismay, the palmtop displayed Micah's given information as, 'irrelevance or nothing'. Alex almost lost it altogether but being a genius, he thought of most (if not all) of the angles, on the various ways to synthesise this information. 

Alex decided to give it a shot, by assuming that this was all the information, Micah had. Alex formulated an impressively fail proof plan – it would either devastate Micah or tarnish the credibility of Micah. This would ruin all Micah's hope in trading of information or forming alliances. 

This would have been a good thing for Alex, if only Micah had not already thought of a counter plan to foil Alex's seemingly perfect plan. Micah loved playing, both Reversi and Chess, and he had never lost even once.

At this particular moment, Alex began to execute his plans by 'socialising' with every single genius in this game segment, Outwit.

Meanwhile, Micah was also executing his plan A, which was fortified using his current knowledge. He blended in with the crowd of geniuses, strutted as quietly as possible to the kitchen, and ransacked for food. 

Micah's plan A was to grab any dry store in the kitchen and reallocate it to another place and burn everything else in it, including the kitchen itself. After Micah had reallocated the dry store, he set fire to the kitchen, which was contained within the kitchen due to the fireproof door separating the kitchen from the main hall. This sent the entire kitchen ablaze with scorching flames. 

All the geniuses was musing at the blazing kitchen, probably contemplating when was the fire going to be doused by the sprinklers, which unfortunately, had been disabled by Micah beforehand. 

Micah made his move by speaking brusquely to all the other participants: "I have burnt all the food storage in the kitchen and set aside some dry store for myself. To whoever that require food for survival; if you need food, feel free to give me all your information or all awaits you is starvation."

That little speech had an astounding effect on all the other geniuses, slowly but surely the brunt of the speech is pervading their brains and they realised their only means of survival is to surrender their information to Micah.

Micah slowly walked towards Alex Stockholm and whispered into his ears "How the tables have changed, Mister Alex."

"He is a pretty good schemer, that Micah Evergreen," Oliver commented to Graham.

"I fully agree. This is what we call: you control the stomach, you control the person," Graham agreed with Oliver's comment.

"Humans are just so weak, just like me. Looks like I would be surrendering my information too," Oliver lamented on his debility.

"I would be accompanying you – in any case you would need to settle some people using brute force." Graham loyally replied.

Oliver questioned Graham rhetorically, "Are you suggesting that we use untowardly measures to such an intelligent kid, Graham?"

Graham, who has worked with Oliver for a very long period, had long established a basic understanding on the rationale behind such questions that Oliver asks. Graham replied, "I believe you already have, Oliver."

As Graham expected, Oliver indeed have plans to turn the tables. Oliver strutted briskly over to the moving genii crowd and simply beguiled them with these words, "If I were you guys, I would think twice about that person's promise. I am not sure he would even keep to its promise."

The crowd stopped, as if Oliver had enchanted them, they turned towards Oliver. Oliver simply added on, "That guy over there apparently cheated information from Alex Stockholm. I do not really think he is very trustworthy and would not renege on his promises. Besides, extorting the location of the dry store using force seems much more apt then trading precious information to him."

Alex knew a lifeline when there was one dangling in front of him waiting for him to grab hold of it. Alex made an impacting speech, "That guy, tricked me into trading my information of the kitchen to him for a useless piece of information. I think he is just trying to trick all of you into believing his ruse and giving your information to him willingly."

However, that speech only managed to retain a handful of prodigies. The others were making their way towards Micah. Apparently, before Oliver had made his decisive speech, Micah had already released false information to inhibit Alex's schemes. 

Moments ago, Micah spread rumours that his original information was actually the information of the location of the food's whereabouts. This rumours effectively destroyed the flowery speech that Alex had prepared in a bid to convince the crowd of geniuses.

Suddenly, the lights of the building flicked out and darkness claimed the building. Seconds later, the lighting in the building resumed their functions and the integrity of the light was recovered. The crowd advancing towards Micah stopped as they realised that Micah had mysteriously disappeared. Oliver made his move.

Oliver proclaimed loudly to the crowd of genii, which unnerved them, "All of you standing here are DOOMED!"

The crowd lay stupefied by that comment, as though doomsday had been fast-forwarded, which in this scenario, it certainly have this effect. Only a handful resiliently walked towards Oliver.

Alex Stockholm certainly did not like this. A new forceful and efficient adversary would be the last thing he wanted after facing Micah, whom triumph him successfully in an intellectual battle. He was one of the few handfuls of geniuses that headed towards Oliver.

At the same time,
while Oliver was executing his plans, Micah realised that he was tied and trapped in a dark and desolate room. He fired his anxieties at his masked kidnapper, "Who are you and why are you binding my hands and legs?" 

The masked kidnapper took out his mask and revealed a familiar face, which Micah recognised instantly. Micah queried for his identity, "You are, Graham one of the participant, isn't it? You are using foul means to win huh?"

"It's still a means to win, since you did the same by burning the kitchen," Graham answered stoically.

Micah glared scornfully at Graham and commented, "I see… You probably want me to reveal the hiding place of the dry store right?"

"Yes that would be appropriate, Micah Evergreen," Graham replied Micah emotionlessly.

"There's no dry store. I simply fabricated this tale to hoodwink the other prodigies into doing my bidding," Micah answered with so much conviction that any unknowing bystanders would have believed it.

However, Graham remained unfazed and quizzed Micah, "Hmm… Do you really think I would believe that half-hearted lie?"

"Probably not, but hopefully the participants in the hall are enjoying the sauna I have prepared dutifully," Micah answered with dripping sarcasm.

Graham suddenly looked unduly worried and asked Micah haphazardly: "What did you do?"

"Oh nothing, just playing with a little fire that's all," Micah playfully replied.

Without any deliberations, Graham dashed out of the room with a fire extinguisher in hand. While Graham was running out of the room, Micah was busy using his phone's miniature laser to burn the cords binding him.

Currently, Oliver was just trying to fire his fiery speeches when Graham suddenly rushed out of nowhere, holding a fire extinguisher. Graham was shocked to see that there was no fire. He was even more started to see Oliver unscathed with a face spelling a-n-g-e-r, that he would not thought he would live to see it. 

"Oliver, there is no fire?" Graham questioned his principal before preparing himself to endure one hell of a suffering from his principal.

"Firstly, there is no fire whatsoever. Lastly, you have utterly ruined my plans," Oliver spoke composedly.

"Oh, that's bad," Graham replied imperviously as the crowd of geniuses surged forward prepared to fight the man bulk and the scheming fox, Graham and Oliver respectively.

Alex used the power of suggestion to instigate all the geniuses into using force to coerce Oliver and Graham to reveal the location of Micah, whom apparently knows the location of the food. Only four people escaped its tenacity. They are Freed Abdul, Linda Quaint from Hong Kong, and Michael Jones from Israel and Cain Timothy from Malaysia.

"This is hilariously stupid; especially when all these geniuses are being manipulated like dummies, heeding the advices and suggestions of these perhaps more perceptive geniuses," Freed made a snide comment, which nullified the commotion.

All the prodigies suddenly stopped advancing towards Oliver and Graham; instead, they started to laugh profusely. One of the geniuses suddenly stood out among the crowd to clear matters up. 

He fired a thought-provoking question to Freed, "Oh, so we, the geniuses are the fools now, are we? Are we that dumb?"

"No, that's not what Freed meant, my dear." Linda gave a menacing glare to that genius.

"I see, you guys formed an alliance beforehand isn't it? Ha-ha!" Oliver simply added a rhetorical question.

"Yes, we did. Only you guys, the pathetic fools tried to mislead us. We just made use of the opportunity opened to us," That genius answered Oliver.

"May I have the pleasure to know your name?" Oliver asked a simple question.

"Sure, my name is De Vane Kruption." He introduced himself amicably.

Before Oliver managed to reply, Micah made his debut once again. The sound amplifier installed in the entire building boomed aloud. 

"You guys have undeniably lost. Give me the information that you people have on this game by forming an information chart containing everything that you have. I believe a flow chart or a mind-map can summarize all the information indeed? Based on the intelligence that you all must have, I trust that you guys would want to live?" Micah projected his voice clearly.

"I see. How did you use the amplifier in this building?" Oliver simply quizzed his palmtop.

Micah did not reply, instead a large projector started to unfold itself from the ceiling. Micah's facial features surfaced on the projector and the sound amplifier started to play again. 

"Hmm, you guys better hurry before your stomach takes control over your senses," Micah hurried them with a jovial tone.

The stomach of the competitors finally gave way, and adrenaline started to pump fast from their brains to other parts of their body. Even De Vane is starting to feel the wrath of his stomach. This is probably what people would call the revenge of the stomach. 

The geniuses started to work together to form a flow chart since now they cannot form a plan to deal with Micah, since his physically not even here.

Behind the scenes, Micah was having his dinner using the dry store that he had reallocated in the kitchen. This is probably the only place, which nobody would suspect and enter to find him, since technically he had burnt the kitchen down. 

At a different place, the different agents were having a discussion on the first game, Outwit. Agent Zeus was the first to voice out his idea since he was technically the agent-in-charge of it. 

Agent Zeus remarked on Micah's performance, "This is incredible. I have never expected a boy of 12 years old to formulate such an incredible plan just by having known where the food is located. Furthermore, he just accessed a few information on the structure on the building which was half-true and half planted by us, he formed a plan to win undetected. He is definitely worthy to be called a Genius!"

"Incredulous, a kid forming such scheming plans. Then again, if he was not someone of a certain calibre he wouldn't have his chance in Genii Games," another agent made a perfunctory comment on Micah's performance.

"The winner is almost decided in this game, why for call this meeting?" the third agent lamented.

"Obviously it is to decide the next venue of the second segment of the Genii Games, Miss Agent Velle," Agent Zeus counteracted her lamentation.

"Here are the blueprints for the next venue. It is also another dilapidated zone which cannot be traced by satellites," an agent wearing a SWAT uniform with Liam embedded as its initials reported.

"Oh, thank you for preparing such exquisite and illustrious information, Agent Liam," a fancifully dressed agent openly thanked Agent Liam for his helpfulness.

"You're welcome, Agent Sabrina." Agent Liam appreciated her thankfulness.

While the agents are conversing, Oliver and Graham were also having a little chat with Freed Abdul and Linda Quaint.

Oliver questioned them, "So, Freed and Linda is it? Do you guys want a little alliance?"

"You guys better make the right choice or else the end of life awaits you," Graham continued Oliver's speech gruffly.

Threatened by a human bulk is not something fun, especially when that human bulk is threatening to end your life if you make a wrong choice. In this case, the wrong choice would be rejecting Oliver's proposal to form an alliance.

Freed and Linda made their decision almost immediately, they agreed to Oliver's decision to preserve their lives.

Micah pre-empted dissenters among the group of genii he have in control and already created a counter plan way before the alliance was in place among Oliver, Graham, Freed and Linda. Not counting those geniuses that had already made an alliance beforehand, and two lone wolfs, Michael Jones and Cain Timothy.

Micah decided to exploit the building's goodness until the end. He projected his voice again, this time with an absolute threat, "I am getting impatient for waiting so long. In another 10 minutes, the dining hall would release sulphur dioxide that would end the lives of every one of you. Do not bother escaping from the dining hall, I have already remote locked every single door and entrance to the different rooms. There is NO escape unless you guys can expedite the formation of the flow chart?" 

This was the last straw and everybody decided to try all the doors first, to ensure that the threat was not some false threat to manipulate them. To their dismay, the doors refuse to budge regardless of the method they use – physically, mentally and technologically.

Resigned to their fates, the Genii including Oliver were losing their composure. The stalemate is over and now the odds are with Micah. With no other choice, they sped up the process of making the flow chart. Within minutes, it was ready and the genii discovered a shocking revelation. 

The entire message when formed into a sentence after breaking the words into basic-alphabets are as such: I am Agent Zeus, technically in-charge of this game, Outwit. I trust that once you guys read this, this game would have been at least be in control by a certain genius or geniuses. Once this first segment of the Genii Games is over, the winner or winners will receive the first-hand advantage on the rules and regulation of the next segment of the game, Banished. The segments of these games are already pre-determined, so do not worry it will not be never-ending. Enjoy!

Before any genius can claim that, they are the winner, Micah had already remote-activated the building's airflow system into releasing a potent sleeping gas, Sevoflourane. Within seconds, all the geniuses in the dining hall had been incapacitated. 

Furthermore, due to Micah's paranoid and cautious nature, he activated the airflow system in other rooms to release Sevoflourane too, which incapacitated a human that was lurking in one of the rooms. Graham Vicario, the bodyguard of Oliver Green.

Micah's theory that Graham was bodyguard to Oliver Green was affirmed when Graham rushed out of the room, past caring about whether his captive was escaping or not. Hence, he trusted his gut feelings that at least Graham would access one of the rooms in attempt to locate him and to hide from the sulphur dioxide if it happens to be true.

"This is too easy," Micah said conceitedly as he used his phone to download the information.

The winner indeed was Micah in the first segment of the Genii Games but also not without proof either. Oliver had planted six surveillance miniature cameras in the dining hall on his own to record everything that had transpired. The cameras covered all angles.

The geniuses and Graham finally woke up in the dining hall after being unconscious for a few hours. Agent Zeus must have detected their movement as he made an announcement using the sound amplifier, "In this segment of the Genii Games, Micah is hereby declared as the winner. Furthermore, for those who have been starved for several hours, we have prepared a sumptuous meal for all of your to sample and of course to eat. In perhaps another hour or so, we would be transporting you guys to our next venue to continue the next segment of the Genii Games, so sit back and enjoy the meal!"

Upon hearing that there was meal prepared, all the geniuses and Graham were past caring about their social etiquettes and made a beeline for the food. The food prepared for their meal was laced with potent sleeping pills. Hence after the geniuses and Graham consumed all their food, they fell asleep almost immediately. 

I have edited the incorrect grammar usage, structure and errors and vocabulary errors that I have committed on the process of writing this story. Enjoy!

"Michael Jones, isn't it?" Agent Belle scrutinised Michael.

"Aye, Mademoiselle. I am Michael, and you are?" Michael courteously replied.

"A perfect gentleman, aren't you? Wait till you hear the identity of the kid-nabbing felon." Agent Belle smirked and arched an eyebrow.

"Presumably some other highly perceptive geniuses and me," Michael questioned, "or do you suggest otherwise?"

"Do you have any idea, what am I rambling about," Agent Belle whined "Silly nonsensical kids, attempting to question an adult over some simple and mundane stuff."

At this point of time, Michael Jones was contemplating, on the reliability of this particular agent. Especially, over the matter of perception and intelligence, insulting a genius – of being silly, is just plain stupidity.

"Could you provide me with the information on the game, Mademoiselle, and cut the redundant small talk, please?" Michael played second fiddle, to the overly conceited, Agent Belle.

"Oh alright, Jones, use your palmtop and key in, exclusive information and log in to the database, using your name as the password." Agent Belle reluctantly agreed.

"Wouldn't people cheat if this info is pervaded in the arena?" Michael questioned Agent Belle.

"Nah, once you type in your name, the existence of this particular database would be wiped from our network," Agent Belle responded, "besides, even if we do not do so, I doubt a person of your calibre would surrender your advantage to your adversaries. No genius, in the right mind, would do so."

Meanwhile, Micah was busy calibrating the weaponry function of his bulky phone, as he had a suspicion that he would require its assistance soon. This round of Genii Games, would definitely be another risk, he had to venture. He received a SMS from his contact – Michael Jones, regarding the game-play of "Kid-Nab". A life endangering game it seems – Graham Vicario – the first felon of this round.

_______________________

A fascinating building of some sort was noticeable when the Lear Jets was beginning to land on to the airstrip that was flourishing with many assorted flora and fauna – even the rare black bat flower – grows here!

Oliver was busy thinking of a suitable countenance for Micah Evergreen as he is a worthy contender.

Once the group of genii had landed, they were hustled into the interiors of the building and archaic architecture that probably had monumental values in a prehistoric museum, greeted them.

The harsh gusting gales, was creaking the windowpanes and loud creaking sound could be heard. Suddenly, a sharp signal pierced the air as if a banshee had wailed and the group of geniuses muffled their ears, to prevent their eardrums from bursting.

The wail stopped, replaced with a sinister voice, "Welcome to the third stage of the Genii Games, I presumed that you all are fully recharged and ready to take on this round? If not, I am sorry, this round would, probably be your last."

"What are you talking about?" Pierre Lefebvre queried.

The voice replied, "This is a round of scheming, wits and annihilation. You would require all your energy to beat this game, or to survive it successfully. I would like to introduce five exceptional geniuses from another Genii Game to join your grounds. They are Sebastian Scrooge, Fry Kuwaiti, Adriana Ngoro, James Woodson and Charles Mansion. The game-play requires you to enter, "G-O-O-D-L-U-C-K" into your palmtop, to view it. Goodbye."

"I see, Graham cover me." Oliver ordered Graham, his bodyguard.

Graham knocked Oliver out with a swift chop to his neck, sparing no moment, to think. He apologised solemnly in his heart, for the drastic measure utilised – if he had not done so, Oliver would not be safe under his protection.

He was a felon in this game, and he needs to kill three-quarters of the genii here, to help his principal and him to survive. He upholstered his Beretta 93R, which has a selector switch and a foldable fore-grip allowing the pistol to fire triple-round bursts with each pull of the trigger at a cyclic rate of 1100 rounds per minute. Heads are going to roll in this battlefield, Graham thought. How wrong he was . . .

Micah's curiosity was aroused due to the presence of new competitors. He mused, "I wonder how worthy are these new competitors are?"

Meanwhile, in the 14^th story of this particular building, Agent Zeus was watching this game-play expectantly. He wished that the inactive groups of genii to be gone or annihilated – either ways, it is getting boring – and he wished for some dramatic showdown, to entertain him and his fellow arriving agents.

"So Alex, so who is the outstanding genius in this whole bunch of talented prodigies?" Sebastian questioned.

Alex pointed towards Micah Evergreen and named him as a potential contender. He also mentioned the prowess of Oliver Green and his trusty sidekick, Graham. He named Michael Jones as a lonely black sheep, which probably won the previous round due to conflicting issues between Oliver and Micah.

"I see, so I would need to liaise with Micah Evergreen first then, since I do not see OG." Sebastian analysed.

"What? Liaising with the devil's advocate is seriously a bad idea, SS..." Alex exercised caution.

"No can do, if we do not liaise, we would get eradicated by the felons. I trust that was the meaning of 'weaponry' that was in my game-play rules and objectives." Sebastian replied.

While, Alex and Sebastian were conversing, Micah was busy toying with his bulky phone. Micah is attempting to source for information on the five fresh new faces, for something feasible to manipulate. Sebastian Scrooge was his first investigation – Wiki sources claiming that Sebastian Scrooge had doctorate in Chemistry and Psychology – hardly plausible for a young child prodigy.

Two conclusions came to Micah's mind, first this prodigy is truly a masterpiece, hardly so; or this is a dutifully crafted alias to protect his identity, but from what? Micah took his chances with the latter, he began to investigate on Alex Stockholm instead, since Sebastian, and Alex had been chummy even though, this should be their introductory period.

He found multitudes of documentation but none was his designated searches. Finally, after spending five decisive minutes, he unravels Sebastian Scrooge's identity – SS or Shane Stockholm, the younger brother – of Alex Stockholm. Micah was marvelling over the ability of Shane Stockholm to remain an enigmatic brother of a prominent child genius cum businessperson.

To remain enigmatic for such a prolonged period, is a remarkable feat – one that is befitting of a Genius – indeed, Sebastian is the surprise element in this new game segment. Micah was busy revising his plans, – surprises are not his cup of tea – for this game segment. Suddenly, Bang! Freed Abdul died – one genius down.

_______________________

Micah was re-reading Michael's SMS for more information. The SMS from Michael went on like this: Micah do be careful, this game splits all the geniuses into protagonists and antagonists, with a minority being the antagonists. The antagonists are Felons, while the protagonists are as Potential Victims (PV). The Felons need to deduce the PVs' and take them down using any method possible – be it violence, knocking them unconscious or killing them –. The more PVs they take out, the more points the Executioner Felon (EF) would receive, through knocking PVs unconscious is 1 point, while brutal violence such as whipping or smashing PVs to death is 2 points, and killing PVs is 5 points. However if the PVs manage to retaliate and take out the Felons, they would obtain 15 points for themselves. Once PVs get 30 points, they would be able to get a safe house, for protection. However, only one person can stay in each safe house, and there are only 10 safe houses. This is the ELIMINATION ROUND. Good luck, Micah, Graham Vicario is the only known Felon right now, so take him out, since he is the hardest of all.

He set his phone's built-in particle beam weapon to maximum voltage of 10⁷ volts
for instant electrocution. A particle beam weapon is a weapon that uses a travelling wavelike particle accelerator.

In this kind of ion accelerator, it releases negative ions inside a cylindrical ion acceleration chamber which has an electrode that has an alternating electric charge of up to 1,000,000,000 (10⁹) volts inside it. Any voltage from 10⁷ to 10⁸ would electrocute any living being that were to be of discharge distance from the particle beam weapon.

Graham Vicario draws near, and Micah fires his particle beam weapon upon discharge distance. Graham was unable to react – his body started to contract uncontrollably – his blood pressure skyrocketed, his brain suffered a cerebral haemorrhage and his body concussed. One felon down, cause of elimination – electrocution – Micah gained 15 points.

Meanwhile, Shane Stockholm AKA Sebastian Scrooge swiftly dealt with his older brother, Alex Stockholm, a Felon. It was certainly swift – with a Seiunchin kata, a latent combination of  techniques to unbalance, throw and grapple, contains close-quartered striking, sweeps, take-downs and throws, which was shortened to a quick jab to Alex's pressure points – Shane was terribly sorry for it, but he certainly gained 15 points for his efforts. Seven more Felons remain, and 20 PVs are still around to remove them.

"Bravo, bravo, Mister Sebastian Scrooge," Micah applauded graciously, "or should I say, Mister Shane Stockholm?"

"Fascinating, that you are able to track my identity down, but I trust that Alex has at least that much of foresight, if none at all." Shane was unfazed by Micah's remarks.

"You seem to be distrusting of the opinions by your highly-strung brother, eh Mister Shane Stockholm?" Micah curiously questioned.

"No it is not that," Shane explained, "but rather, I highly disagree with his pathetic behaviour, such as wasting his intelligence on unprofitable businesses and having a high-profile, isn't that stupidity?"

"I share your view to a certain extent, however I am here to discuss a proposal," Micah propounded his views, "which I believe, you would not be able to reject, since it determines your survival."

"Let's just see about that though, Micah Evergreen, the self-conceited genius cum analytical mastermind," Shane coolly objected.

While Micah was busy with Shane, another event was unfolding in The Genii Games, arena. Pierre Lefebvre is currently attempting to assuage an unneeded conflict – internal uprisings – that brought down many other nations that are much more influential than the small bunch of genii that are in this place. He felt uneasy the moment, the Lear jet alighted, as if something ominous is going to transpire soon…

"Damn you Kermises Enders! You are a frigging FELON, ARENT YOU'?'!"

"Stop it Glenn. Your theatrical acts fail to amuse anyone." Enders composedly replied.

"You son of a sod – tried to remove me, didn't you? I am going to take you down!" Glenn slammed his leg into Enders, pivotal areas for reproduction. It missed.

"Your compulsive ways, aren't going to get you anywhere." Ender dodged another fisting from Glenn, and retaliated with a corkscrew knuckling into Glenn's abdomen. Glenn stood no chance at all.

Pierre Lefebvre responded to Ender's retaliation with a question, "Are you a felon?"

"No, I am a potential victim. Glenn's silly antics to frame me, was so beneath me, that I did not bother clarifying."

"Good and goodbye." Pierre Lefebvre, drawn his Swiss knife, and stabbed Ender, at lightning speed.

The knife failed to stab Ender. Ender did an upward thrust, which deflected it, and it only managed to graze his skin slightly. Ender, then swiftly dealt a spinning kick to Pierre Lefebvre. The force of the kick propelled Pierre to the other exit, of the building. It provided Ender a wide berth, from his assailant. Pierre struggled to stand.

"You still need more practice, to even assassinate me, Potential Victim." Ender commented.

"Wow that was, certainly a, spectacular performance," Shane Stockholm praised.

Shane did not even give, Ender, the opportunity to respond. He jabbed Ender's pressure points rapidly, winding the Felon out. Ender did not even manage to blink his eyes.

"It seems like, I obtained another 15 points. Sufficient points to obtain a safe house, to rise and shine." Shane sardonically replied.

Micah Evergreen responded, "Lives are certainly unfair, eh, Shane Stockholm?"

Shane turned and faced Micah. Shane questioned him, "Should I thank you for the knowledge then, Micah Evergreen?"

"Let the best man win, Shane." Micah replied. He let himself a 1-metre berth, from the Melee-fighting expert, Shane Stockholm.

"I doubt that your phone, have enough energy, to activate that hazardous laser again," Shane propounded.

Micah rhetorically replied, "Aye, or why do I need distance myself, from you?"

"You know what shoes are for, Micah?"

"To bring you to your grave, by walking, isn't it?"

"No, you are wrong. It is to make you run for your life."

Shane, removed one of his shoes, and threw it at Micah. Micah reacted immediately by completing a backhand stunt, that propelled him at least 20 cm apart from his original location. He thought it was a modified hand-grenade – into a shoe – and that it would explode upon contact.

As the shoe, loomed closer to Micah, Shane pressed his shock-resistant all-in-one watch. A thick smoke diffused, forming a smokescreen cover. Shane unshackled his heat-seeking homing knife, and flung it straight. It never missed before.

Micah was wrong for the first time. It was a remote-smokescreen shoe. He activated his phone's laser again, this time with a 10⁵ voltage, to drill a small, but deep tunnel, beneath him.

He did so and resealed the tunnel's using a specially modified, resistant, marble-like aluminium foil, which has micro-breathing holes, ensuring his survival.

His phone's energy is running low, after three consecutive usages, without recharging. He needs to end the skirmish with Shane soon.

The knife missed its designated target. It flew straight into another potential victim's heart – Cain Timothy.

"Oh well, it seems like I missed. Sorry teammate, Micah made you his scapegoat." Shane announced, "I will help you take revenge against that irritating tree, by charring it."

Shane clicked his watch, and it ejected a tiny, azure button. He attached it to the ground, and repeated this action, until the circumference of his area, 'buttoned-up' completely.

He ran towards the lift, and went inside. He clicked the button (S), for safe room, and waited for the lift door to close.

Before its door closed, he activated the buttons. The door closed seconds, before a fiery, red blaze, incinerated the entire platform of this arena.

Everything on the first floor of this building was either obliterated or burnt and charred. Debris blocked the exits and thick smoke eradicated the surreal architecture of this building.

Shane muttered, "I doubt that tree, would be surviving unscathed."

Micah felt a strong tremor, beneath the platform, that he was residing. The next instant, the ground began caving in, and his aluminium foil was, incinerated, within seconds.

Thick, black, haze, choked him out of oxygen supply, almost asphyxiating him.

He was, forced to tap into his phone's emergency power, to activate the oxygenation-converter. It was, created based on nanotechnology and an intimate knowledge of how Inspiration and Expiration (the respiratory processes of the human body) works.

Meanwhile, Shane reached the floor of the safe houses - the 12_th floor - successfully.

Upon reaching, he placed fourteen explosive, buttons, on all the fourteen buttons, of the lift, respectively.

He stepped out of the lift, and approached the attendant for entrée to the safe 'house'. After a long hassling between the attendant, he gained clearance, and entered the 'house'

Upon entrance, he moved quickly to the bulletproof interiors of the 'house'. He activated the explosives on the lift and a large 'BOOM', could be overheard.

Shane wished that the attendant would die, with the explosion... It is already a miracle for that obnoxious attendant, to find himself surviving their encounter, without becoming a cardio-vascular surgical test subject.

Then again, Shane reminded himself, that he should be as low profile as ever.

There should be surveillances all around this building and he did not want to slip-up.

He hoped that his pathetic older brother would have hid himself, from that explosion, back in the first floor. He hated to explain his brother's death, to his brethrens.

------------------

Alex Stockholm was at the 12_th floor, as the lift exploded. Hot, seething flames, blasted him to the white, eerie wall behind him. His attendant badge - Billy Bundy - detached from his ruffled uniform.

He barely survived the explosion. The fireproof counter of the floor protected him from the explosion. His body was not as lucky - he suffered third degree burns - on his arms and legs. His brain suffered a concussion, and he went into a coma, shortly after the near-death experience.

Agent Liam reported the current statistics on the Genii, "4 Felons is still in good-shape, and 10 potential victims' palmtops are still running, with their vital statistics on their ligaments still running. Hence we conclude that they are still alive and intact."

Agent Zeus commented, "It is an amazing and spectacular battle. The best part is, the Felons only managed to eliminate ¼ of these genii. The potential victims are the ones, who eliminated most of their teammates and felons. Shane was one of the few valiant ones. Micah was a disappointment."

"Let us continue with the game, until either side is, decimated,'' agent Angel ended their discussion.

Meanwhile, Micah realised that, he is, trapped on the basement - there was no more 'first floor' - and the lift is blasted – smithereens.

He guessed that the game would only end, when either side - the felons or potential victims – is wiped-out completely.

With no other choice, he took out his phone batteries and removed his phone's antenna. He placed ammo cartridges into the battery compartment and closed it.

He tilted the gun and pressed the Volume control of his phone. Soundlessly, a bullet was, fired and it lodged itself onto a wall filled with cracks. This bullet, dislodged the wall, and crumbled it, revealing a secret tunnel. His makeshift pistol is complete.

Oliver Green, woke up, and found himself in some sort of a enclosed cellar. There were all kinds of wine - red, white and ancient - here.

It almost felt like the wine exhibition that he had attended a few years ago, with his father, Duke Green.

He snapped out of his thoughts, and realised that Graham had betrayed him. He was going to make Graham pay, once he gets out of this hellhole.

Before he could get out, someone reloaded a gun, and stopped him. It was Micah Evergreen.

_________________________________

To be continued in part 2 ~ *I would be going on a 7 months hiatus, hope to see you people soon!*

The sky was littered with glittering, dazzling stars, coupled with an arching moon, hung upon the clouds. The breeze is blowing gently on my face, caressing my hair with rhythmic movements like the currents in the cascading river. The peaceful and serene moonlight shone brightly, while I was busy reminiscing a particular euphoric event.

In the past, I did not find the need to interact with people, especially those with low intellectual quotients, unless, if the need arises for me to do so. However, I managed to make some friends, who have similar foresight and thinking, giving me a form of distraction, from the ignominious bunch of classmates I had to face, everyday. As the old proverb goes, the empty vessels make the most noise and these classmates are axiomatic of that adage.

One day, the ridiculous bunch of classmates, who were of no help in improving the current society, decided unanimously to play a practical joke on me, the "smart aleck" of the class.

Apparently, their gossiping network has received first-hand news, on the new trial 'buddy' system – the system that pairs better students with weaker students, augmenting the school's grades. Of all the weaker students, they decided to incite and encourage my form teacher to pair me with Belle Lavender.

Belle Lavender was a living irony, as she is exactly contrary to her name, which depicts beautiful flowers. Furthermore, even if there was a fairy godmother conjuring magical clothing that is illustrious and glamorous for her, I doubt it would make any impact on her prominent figure.

Furthermore, even with the guidance of a couple of teachers, she could not even comprehend the fundamentals of mathematics, the BODMAS rule. Our teachers are at their wits end.

My classmates intrigue succeeded, and I was, paired, with Belle Lavender, the class reputed beast. This was the start of my wheel of nightmare and it was kick-started by the snide remarks by my ungracious and ignorant classmates who nicknamed me as the 'beauty'.

I was given the task of improving Belle's grades before the start of the mid-years, a seemingly impossible task, as I was merely, a self-motivated achiever with no stark measures to teach.

However, grudgingly, I started coaching her to my best efforts, such as attempting to give her guides and tips for expository writings, one of my fortes. As time passed by, my fear was that I had made no progress in my teachings escalated, as she was still failing her tests by an apparent degree.

It required many tries to, even attempt to sway her into interest in learning; it was certainly a prodigious tasks. Belle, even when she was interested in learning, took several days to understand the fundamentals of writing a good essay. My first thought at that time was, I am definitely unable to teach at such a slow pace, as I am not one who shows patience.

Thankfully, I had made some pretty intellectual and loyal friends who, stood by me and assisted me in the process of improving her grades. As the saying goes, a friend in need is a friend indeed, I am glad I had made friends with them. Through our concerted efforts to teach her, Belle finally managed to see the logic behind several mathematical problems and the knacks at writing a good essay, eventually improving leaps and bounds, and here grades went from a "D" to "B".

It was probably one of my most euphoric moments in life as I had finally managed to succeed in improving Belle's grades, something that even teachers failed to do so. It also made me realise the importance of friends, as it was only due to the concerted efforts of my friends and I that, I managed to accomplish the impossible feat of improving Belle's grades.

It was also through this historical event, that my dissenters, finally recognised my proficiency in my subjects was not just a fluke or through sheer memorisation, but rather through understanding and constant application of techniques.

However, as I proved capable in alleviating the grades of a failing student into a pass, the Buddy System manifesto was, made official and I was, made in-charge of delegating the pairs. This was also one of the happiest moments, in my childhood as it was the first time; I was, given a leadership role and position.

The calming breeze suddenly mutated into a gushing gale, which stung my eyes, ending my reminiscing of my past, telling me that I would need to get home quickly to avoid the incoming rain. Till next time we meet, my past.

 

Written by H.A.K.E.R

This essay is meant to be a guide for writers, especially from the primary school sectors, who aspire to be good writers. Enjoy!

 

The fight hastened, the skies growled in unison, trepidation filled the air. Aureter clashed blades with Germanicus mercilessly. Friendship forgotten, ties forsaken, these two men fought valiantly.

Aureter defeated Germanicus triumphantly. After ending Germanicus's life heartlessly, he escaped hurriedly to his comfort zone.

He thought it was all over after Germanicus's death, he would finally see the light of the day.

Little did he know that Germanicus, was merely a opening preview to the ominous and malevolent events that is taking place soon.

___________________

"Legionnaire Visage," Commander Santurian ordered, "what is the status over your perimeter?"

"The coast is clear, Commander!" Visage replied.

"Very well, we shall proceed onwards, to Rome." Santurian commanded.

"Commander, but attacking Rome, is a death wish!" a short and powerless Legionnaire voiced out his fears.

"Reynik, what blasphemy are you spouting!" Santurion answered that legionnaire's fears, "Rome is currently griefing over the loss of its finest general - the king's calvary."

"But, but -" before Reynik could reply, Santurion interrupted, "Enough! If you are fearful, you can stay here and pee in your pants! I appeal to brave warriors – FOLLOW ME!"

The commander's speech caused the legionnaires excluding Reynik, to laugh concertedly.

"I am merely concerned about this operation, commander. You do not need to insult me verbally. I am not a coward!" Reynik replied.

The legionnaires rushed onwards to Rome with their taciturn commander, with the intention of bringing it down.

The garrison guards, was incapacitated by the legion with little effort, as though they were made paper. They charged straight into the heart of Rome - the palace - the place in which Emperor Tiberius sleeps.

It was too easy for them - there was not even a soul - guarding the palace. Suddenly, Santurion felt his muscles aching and his body weary as though he had just fought a war.

The aching was relentless, and Santurion realised that he was slowly but surely, losing his grip on his horse... Visage and Reynik witnessed the fall of his commander and all their fellow comrades. They ran with all their might, fearing that they would suffer the same fate.

Their fellow comrades and commander became weak all of a sudden; some vomited blood and some had black pustules breaking out of them. Shortly after, they started to collapse, one after the other, as though they were dominos.

"What the hell had happened to our friends?" Visage pondered incomprehensibly.

"No idea... but look at Rome, it seems like Death had taken a liking to this place." Reynik replied analytically.

"No way, the citizens living here are entirely annihilated?" Visage asked incredulously.

"Probably not all," Reynik answered, "But the majority and the survivors had probably evacuated or escaped, just like us."

"Let us hurry up and report this to the General," Visage hurried, "I fear the imminent calamity, would wipe out our nation too."

___________________

Aureter reached home and found it void of joy and laughter. Paranoia, suspicion and fear attacked him unanimously.

He searched high and low, and found his infantile daughter - dead - her body surrounded by an army of black pustules.

The kitchen was emitting feint footsteps, which was subsequently, replaced with the slight movements of a chair.

Aureter, trotted slowly onto the narrow stairs, and advanced cautiously into a narrow doorway, entering a room with many pans and pots. He saw a familiar person, looking pale and frail - his love of his life - .

"Leila, what had happened?" He asked his serene wife.

"I-was-unable-to-evacuate-quickly-with-Meredith-sorry..." Leila stammered weakly and breathed her last.

"NO LEILA - You cannot die now - I need you..." He cried out, sorrowfully.

___________________

"So the Pandemic had finally spread to Rome?" Emperor Tiberius questioned his loyal subject, Ku Waite.

"Yes, my lord, Rome is currently experiencing political instability and turbulence," Ku Waite answered, "what would you do, my lord?"

"Since my general is assassinated, I have lost much foothold in my political stronghold," Tiberius asked, "what can I do in this situation then?"

"Use the power of the Imperial Cult, to claim that the gods have given you signs to prevent this calamity." Ku Waite suggested.

"Do you know what had caused this problem then?" Tiberius asked.

"It is probably due to the dirty and impoverished areas in our empire," Ku Waite, "I suggest we burn them all."

"Go ahead then, Ku Waite. I authorise you to burn them all, along with our neighbouring nations," Tiberius lamented, "I had enough of their tiresome meddling in our affairs."

"How many warriors can I dispatch, my lord?" Khu Waiti inquired.

The emperor replied, "Ask Pontius Pilate and Aureter, they are in-charge of our legions."

____________

To be continued – Chapter 2: Assassination and Annihilation

Credits: I had gotten my source of inspiration from a fantastic Good Friday play – and the history of Rome. Enjoy, I will be posting more on this yet, but definitely with a short hiatus due to imminent examinations. It has a lively plot, I believe, with war and all. The pandemic is merely the tip of the iceberg, and the death of the general of Rome, leads to another problem. Nevertheless, let me just stop here for now, to whet your voracious appetite to read more.

Note: For previous readers, there is a problem with names -> Arête and Aureter is the same character.

Sincerely,

H.A.K.E.R

 

 

 

For The Genii Games – Chapter 1: Outwit, Link, #part 1

When majority of the genii woke up once more, they found themselves in a different place. This place was entirely furnished and decorated with cuddly plush to paintings that comprises of beings that could exist only in fairyland; the entire setting was those of a dreamy and delusional outlook. Only one thing was out of place, a totem that could only mean antipathy towards any being from any universe.

Oliver was the first to be awake. He looked around the surroundings and immediately realized they are probably in the next location for the next segment of the Genii Games, Banishment. Even without the guide to this place, he deduced from the setting of this place, a banishing of a certain player, since there was an odd-looking totem placed here. That totem probably meant 'the banished one'. 'The banished one probably considered as one of 'the fallen one' in the Angel and Devil context also similarly in the setting of this place.

Oliver took out his palmtop which he had installed a surveillance program to monitor the situation in the dining hall during the previous game, Outwit. The contents played, was of no surprise to Oliver as he had anticipated the astounding skills of Micah Evergreen. Oliver also managed to have video info on the various agents face features through his camera and how the process on how Oliver and the other geniuses with Graham was transported over here.

However, Oliver did not expect Micah to come out from the kitchen, which Micah had previously burnt down. Oliver's loss was his carelessness, and he would not commit the same mistake again. Oliver went and stuffed several mini cameras onto the plush to avoid detection and to place a Wi-Fi interference bug behind a few paintings, to intercept wireless signals.

Meanwhile, Agent Sabrina whom is in-charge of this segment of the Genii Games was briefing Micah
on the ground rules and regulations of this game while alighting from the private jet that sent them to the location.

"This game, Banished, basically requires a vote comprised of the majority of geniuses which are the Angels in these game to isolate of a person similarly to those of the Angels and Demons context. The person being isolated would be considered the 'the fallen Angel'. There can be up to five voted fallen ones in the thirty-five contestants that we have in this game. There are up to 8 voting sessions, each session have up to 2 hours for all the geniuses to vote." Agent Sabrina paused for a breather.

She continued: "Whoever that is voted as 'the fallen Angel' would lose their voting sessions, instead allowing these 'fallen Angels' to choose any of the genius among the geniuses to become a 'fallen ones'. However if at least five 'fallen Angels' incidentally manage to choose the same genius among the crowd of geniuses to become a 'fallen Angel' they would be reinstated as an Angel and similarly all the Angels would become 'fallen Angels'. By the end of the game, if there are still Angels left, they would be the winner."

"So wouldn't the 'fallen Angels' cheat?" Micah asked Agent Sabrina doubtfully.

"Nope, because all the 'fallen Angels' would be isolated in a room with soundproof doors, to prevent communication if any and opaque a cubicle to prevent sign language communication; so it really would depend hugely on luck to get the same name all at once." Agent Sabrina clarified Micah's doubts.

"Oh, really, what a different and difficult game I have played in my life." Micah commented sarcastically.

Micah was actually feeling excitement and joy from this game; maybe because he will be competing against his intellectual equals and winning had never been so fun before. He entered the building to notice that the entire setting of the arena was a place befitting for intellectually impaired children, which is definitely not him.

Micah immediately approached a few geniuses that were wide-awake conversing to convince them on teaming up with him. Oliver was one of the few by a stroke of luck since he was conversing about banishing of the previous game winner, Micah.

"Hey guys, glad to see you all wide-awake after falling asleep for quite some time." Micah tried some ice-breaking techniques.

"Not glad to see you, Winner." A genius decimated all the ice-breaking speeches that Micah had prepared beforehand.

"I guess it would be obliging to know the name of you guys then?" Micah asked politely.

"I guess not, in case you involve us in one of your sinister schemes, which we cannot endure." Another genius rejected Micah's offer.

"Hmm, Look what we have here, The Genius, Micah!" Oliver taunted Micah.

"Wow, Thank you, Oliver Green. Where's your bodyguard that watches you constantly." Micah returned the taunting fabulously.

"Oh, his somewhere behind you, holding a scalpel preparing to chafe you to shreds if possible." Oliver replied in an as-a-matter-of-fact tone.

Micah avoided the blow which was meant for him seconds before it rain down on him by the man bulk, Graham. "This is hilarious, I am here with a proposition to win and you all want to play rough?" Micah commented on their performance.

"So what proposition would allow you to come forward to enlist our help?" This proposition was enticing, Oliver.

Micah knowing that Oliver is finally interested to hear the details, he continued his proposition. "This game would require people to be banished to win. The five banished fools must then vote in unison to choose the exact same contestant to be a fallen angel. This will change the stand of the entire fallen angel with all the angels stand. At the end of game, the remaining angels would win this round."

"I see, my guess was partially right then." Oliver commented slightly.

"I bet it's based on the setting of this place huh?" Micah replied in conjunction with the comment, Oliver have made.

"Yeah, I guess we have slightly similar thinking." Oliver answered wryly.

"Perhaps we have, Mister Oliver Green." Micah added on formally.

"Hopefully we are not being ignored by your inter-squabble cum proposition?" The two of the geniuses interrupted their conversation.

"He would definitely not
dare ignore you guys, Arête Rochelle and Miette Cornelius, both of you is considered essential for this plan." Oliver interjected with words of sarcasm.

"Oh, I know, definitely Mister Oliver." Arête blasted away with his understanding.

"That's good, or I may have to undergo drastic measures you know, Arête Rochelle." Oliver gave an understated and indirect threat to Arête.

Meanwhile, the other geniuses are also busy bonding up with each other, deciding on the scenario that will unfold in time. They started to devise a plot among themselves, possibly already knowing half of the game plan that would be going on.

"This is incredulous; we are brought into a season of Angels and Demons?" Alex Stockholm asked with feigned excitement.

"Yeah, Mister Alex Stockholm; probably one of the youngest entrepreneurs in the world, isn't it not?" Agent Sabrina made her startling speech using a Wi-Fi headset.

While, Agent Sabrina was busy giving out the game instructions, similarly using the palmtop that was give earlier but instead of typing G-A-M-E, they were required to type in D-E-A-T-H to get the instructions instead.

Oliver was busy thinking of a counterplot against Micah's schemes that was probably sinking into his group mates as the goes by. He, himself must be the only victor, thought Oliver who was probably suffering from Narcissistic Disorder.

Micah was trying to access to Wi-Fi around this place, to come into a shocking realisation that they wireless connection around here was intercepted by some unknown source; which he suspected was one of the players here.

The first round of Banishment finally started, as Micah had anticipated beforehand, he was the first to be voted as a fallen angel, a majority of 34 – 01, which is not surprising, as Micah had voted Oliver Green, on purpose.

Micah was, sent, to a secluded room, filled with opaque screens and a large projector screen, projecting the scenarios that were playing out. He was, in fact glad that he would not be involved in the whole hocus-pocus and there are no Wi-Fi interceptors around here, definitely.

Meanwhile, Oliver and Graham was busy discussing their plans furtively and intently. Oliver exchanged opinions with Graham, his bodyguard, "Someone actually voted me, that is ridiculously funny of him, that is of course I bet, its Micah Evergreen's way of joking."

Graham replied, "Oh, why is he making such a joke then, Oliver?"

Oliver simply shrugged it off and said, "Probably showing that he is not to be trifled huh?"

Graham exchanged his views to his principal, "I do not think that, Micah Evergreen, is a foe that simple; if he is, the world would be a much safer place for the majority."

"I agree with your viewpoints on this matter, Graham, it's just that what he is trying to accomplish with this joke, that I cannot understand his ideas coherently..." Oliver conceded to Graham his stumbling in Micah's logic.

"I guess, only time would tell us, eh?" Alex Stockholm interrupted their conversation abruptly.

"Eavesdropping is a bad skills, aren't it, Alex Stockholm?" Graham added malice to his reply.

"My bad, my bad, I am so sorry for eavesdropping... Just that I cannot help it, this conversation is so enticing till I cannot sit back and enjoy." Alex apologised, his words dripping with plain sarcasm.

Oliver just strutted off and approached two of his 'comrades', Arête Rochelle and Miette Cornelius, who have been pre-informed on the counterplot that Oliver had devised, partially of course. Oliver does not believe in revealing his entire plans and schemes to people, especially not to partnerships, and it did more good than bad to most of his schemes hence for his veiling.

"So are we ready for the initiation of the first plan?" Arête questioned Oliver curiously.

"Oh, definitely, Arête Rochelle, time to vote people down; first to go, Alex Stockholm, that ignoramus." Oliver replied casually.

"We have gathered around half of the crowd, to agree with this plan of ours, to ensure that they would not lose." Miette reported formally.

"Oh, that's wonderful news, bonjour?" Oliver chimed in feigned happiness.

"Arrivederci, Oliver Green, this is good news for our plans, isn't it?" Arête returned Oliver a round-a-bout retort.

"Bonjour, monsieur le, Oliver Green, I have a proposition to make. I am Pierre Lefebvre, hailing from France." Pierre Lefebvre cut into the squabbling between the trios.

"Nice to meet you too, Pierre Lefebvre; may I query about your proposition?" Oliver replied in perfect French.

"Yeah, I believe you are also aiming to win this game right? Why not we all win together and nobody would lose out?" Pierre answered Oliver, with an extremely innocent tone.

"I am not some kind of charity am I, Mister Lefebvre?" Oliver replied using a rhetorical question.

"I am not sure… I just thought that if everyone also won, we would be able to go to next round unscathed you know…" Pierre murmured his answered genuinely.

"If everyone could be a winner, there would be no competition and especially, there would be no Genii Games, you know." Oliver shattered Pierre's dreams cruelly.

"Enough of all this chatter, let's get on with our plans, Oliver." Arête interjected in their conversation.

"I have enough of this French kiddo anyways; let's execute our grand master plan." Oliver agreed with Arête indirectly.

Therefore, the second round of voting's was out earlier than the pre-determined time, 2 hours. Alex Stockholm was the fallen angel for this round as the voting was as such, 25 – 11, a shocker for some of these competitors that voted for people such as Oliver Green, Linda Quaint, Freed Abdul and some unknown names such as Guilford Christina and Levantine Corpus, a intriguing name.

Shockingly, Micah Evergreen also launched a vicious plot to win this game easily; first Micah chose people that are currently cooperating with Oliver to join the cult of 'fallen angels'. Hence, there was a special name announced through the system, Miette Cornelius was the unlucky one to join it.

"Damn that brat for trying to maim my right and left hand aides!" Oliver cursed Micah for removing Miette from the game.

"Don't be so emotional, sir." Graham tried to calm the raging Oliver from erupting.

"Never mind, I would just need a little more time to think of a new plan then." Oliver merely smiled at Graham's efforts to calm him.

"Oh dear…" Graham muttered under his breath, "When Oliver has that look on his face, all hell will break loose."

Just as Graham predicted, Oliver indeed had something up his sleeves that can cause something unprecedented to happen in this round of Genii Games.

Oliver projected his voice at loud as he possibly could, with his Adam's apple showing itself, "Guys, next round kindly please vote me as a fallen angel! I would love to sacrifice myself, just as Jesus had crucified himself to save humanity from their sins!"

That was a mass chorus of discussion going on among the crowd of genii, discussing the motives of what is he trying to achieve by using such charming words, which would have probably charmed a tiger, if there were one here.

Arête went straight to Oliver and fired him with queries on his sudden diversion in his tactics and plans, "Oliver, what are you trying to do here!"

Oliver just glanced at Arête stoically and replied, "I merely wanted to be a hero, that's all."

Even Graham was of the utmost shock by his principal's actions, especially this move that is extremely risky and may cause his principal to lose this segment of the Genii Games, unless his principal intended to… Nevertheless, Graham would stick to his principal until the very end and prevent his principal from getting hurt, which is his main priority in tagging along, as he is a bodyguard.

The crowd decided to trust the words of the sly fox, Oliver Green, as the third round of voting goes like this, 32 – 0, with all the votes going to Oliver Green, making him a member of the cult of 'fallen angels'.

What Oliver miscalculated or perhaps did not receive knowledge of, there was a projection screen and a sound amplifier in the isolation rooms and Micah Evergreen oversaw what had transpired in the game and had decided to tweak his plans slightly to accommodate to Oliver's decision.

Not only that, Alex Stockholm had also monitored Oliver Green waiting to pounce on him at the right time, only to his dismay, Oliver became a fellow 'fallen angel' too.

While, all the events are playing out one by one, the agents were busy too, discussing about the rate of transition that this game is going through currently.

Agent Sabrina was the first to deliver her opinions, "This game is going too smoothly and I can only guess who is going to be the winner in this round, especially when two of the crème of the genii decides to become 'fallen angels'.

Agent Zeus also conceded to the point that Agent Sabrina was trying to make by beating around the bush, "I agree with your statement, Sabrina, but do not forget that there are still aplenty of geniuses waiting to win this round of Genii Games and would stop at nothing, not even Despair can make them falter."

Agent Belle was not satisfied with the guessing games, "Agent Zeus and Sabrina, it's virtually impossible for them to be reinstated into Angels now even with the additional props we have provided the 'fallen angels' isn't it not?"

Agent Angel refuted Agent Belle's argument in simple retorts, "I Agent Angel, do not get what you, Angel Belle is trying to convey here. This game can be won by these 'fallen angels' indeed, in fact it is because that is a big loophole in this entire rule setting. There are only 35 players but rather 57 players can be in fact voted as becoming a 'fallen angel'."

"In technically, there means by the fifth round, all players would be 'fallen angels' because 35 players could already be voted as 'fallen angels' but would happen if this game was being directed by someone, to ensure that by the fifth round, a certain player would be voted by 5 angels simultaneously?" Agent Angel continued her analysis on the game play.

"OH! So that's how Micah would be using his skills to manipulate this game, once again?" Agent Liam answered excitedly.

"That's it; you sure got it quickly, Agent Liam." Agent Sabrina commented on Agent Liam's analytical process.

The Agents were partially right, hence only some portions of their predictions was right, furthermore since Micah had already ingeniously plotted a scheme that covered all angles trapping all his prey in one swoop, probably causing something more than just a slight shock to the participating prodigies.

In the meantime, the crowd of prodigies are discussing on, who to sentence to be a fallen angel for the next voting round. They had made a united stand to exile Arête Rochelle, since he was one of Oliver's aides and he may do more harm than good in this predicament.

Micah had recently made an important discovered of the true usefulness of the palmtop, something that was a given to all the contestants and decided to make good use of this knowledge. He sent a Wi-Fi palmtop signal to Alex Stockholm's palmtop, giving indirect instructions to Alex. The instruction was as such, "Kindly boycott this round of fallen angel selecting election, if you want to win this round of Genii Games."

Alex understood the instruction perfectly and decided to accede to Micah's request, as his desire to win this foolish game was stronger than his desire for revenge against him. His heart of vengeance halted for now, since revenge can take place at anytime, best to allow Micah to trust him foolishly giving him a change to backstab Micah later on.

Graham was definitely unable to join Oliver in the isolated room meant for 'fallen angels' only, because it was rules and Graham was one of the participants in Genii Games too, under a very special reason. Hence, Oliver had made a pact with Graham to select him as a 'fallen angel' too, so that he would able to aid him even though they would not be in the same room.

The results for the fourth voting session finally came out with all the votes tallied; the prodigies voted unanimously, that Arête should be joining the 'fallen angels' since he had cooperated with Oliver Green beforehand. Furthermore, Graham was, unsurprisingly chosen to be a 'fallen angel', which was pre-determined already by Oliver Green and Graham unanimous decision.

Micah's had finally executed his pre-finale plan; he sent an intimidation message specifically to Oliver Green, "Hi Oliver Green, I know that you are intercepting the wireless around here, preventing me from tapping into any surveillance networks indeed? If you are agreeable to kill De Vane Kruption as a means to win during the eight voting round, select Michael Jones to be a 'fallen angel' during any of the
voting rounds."

Similarly, Micah had used his palmtop to send a slightly different message, basically requesting the same thing from all the other 'fallen angels' the same thing, ensuring the success rate of his plans. The fifth voting round, also considered as one of the decisive rounds, which would overturn tables; a count of votes have attributed on Micah Evergreen, a vote count of 29 – 0 have been made, completely ensuring the fact that Micah would continue to be 'fallen angel'.

Furthermore, Micah Evergreen's plan worked and the 'fallen angels' been reinstated as angels once more; while the angels had now been all demoted as 'fallen angels' together with Micah Evergreen since he was voted once more.

While, Micah once again broke the records for the game records, the agents were also engrossed in discussing and watching on how the game is advancing.

Agent Sabrina commented on the advancement of this round of Genii
Games;
Banishment, "Wow, this Micah Evergreen is truly impressive huh?"

Another agent conceded, "Unbelievable! A mere child able to accomplish stunts such as these, I am truly impressed."

Agent Belle lamented, "Child Geniuses, what do you expect? Begging or sprawling on the floor and weep uncontrollably?"

Agent Zeus merely glanced at Agent Belle and replied, "You could keep your non-constructive comments to yourself, truly, Mademoiselle Belle."

Agent Belle did not start any unnecessary lamentation and retorting afterwards, only for a short period of time, which was actually contributing to the quiet and queer environment needed for analysis and checks on the progress of the game so it can be accountable to the higher ups, organising this fascinating game.

The four geniuses and one bodyguard was not very happy with the arrangement; such as being stranded on the game as the only five angels and required to feel the wrath of the fully enraged mob of geniuses.

"Oh great, let's all vote Micah Evergreen in the game, since it's him who had caused us such suffering. I have no doubt he would win if we do not do so." Oliver broke the silence, completely enraged that a swindler of a genius duped him.

Oliver Green may have erred from his original plans, but he would definitely not allow Micah Evergreen to have another shot at being the, winner once again. Just one humiliation would be enough for Oliver; he would definitely not allow his shot at winning to be a dream, once more. Reverse psychology would be the best psyching technique for all these bunch of geniuses that was in his team once again, Oliver thought.

Meanwhile, Micah Evergreen is keeping himself busy, devising another nefarious plot to be the winner once again. He may really need help, this time round; luckily, he already enlisted Michael Jones and Alex Stockholm, the backstabber's help beforehand already.

The game is nearing the end soon and what would the geniuses in this game do to win this round of genii games, Banishment; of course, knowing geniuses and prodigies, something unexpected and baffling is going to happen...

Oliver decidedly commanded his teammates to vote Micah as a 'fallen angel' regardless of the outcome, but what was Oliver really intending to do; it would definitely not be beneficial to the majority, indefinitely.

He had already predicted the outcome of his commandeering beforehand as, taking the personalities of geniuses into account; they would definitely not heed his commandment and that could serve as a basis for one final vengeance plot against another fellow schemer, Micah Evergreen.

While, Oliver was busy plotting, Micah was also busy devising a foolproof plan to ensure he would be included in the winning portion, even it means allowing the majority to win; the essence of the Genii Games is to ensure that you are never the loser, regardless of the cost.

The sixth turn of voting results is out at last, a tied score for all angels, 1 – 0. Furthermore, predictably the 'fallen angels' had voted unanimously for Oliver Green to become a 'fallen angel' which once again caused the 'fallen angels' and angels to switch once again, making Oliver Green and Co the only five 'fallen angels'.

Both Oliver and Micah had already predicted the outcome of the sixth round, and very well know that either the seventh voting round is a turn, which tables flip or winners determined. Micah had already pre-determined the decision of Oliver, and has decided to use reverse psychology to meet his target. As the saying goes, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, Micah would not back down from a challenge easily.

"Guys, are you all prepared to lose?" Micah simply asked the crowd of geniuses.

Micah received his reply almost immediately by a fellow genius, "I doubt so, but considering the way things are going, it may certainly be so, especially when you are a target for all five of the 'fallen angels'."

Micah simply scrutinised that genius and asked a rhetorical question, "Are you oxymoronic?"

"How could I be oxymoronic when I just gave you a perfect reply of best of both worlds?" that genius returned the questioning to Micah.

"Oh, that was not even a question, whoever you are." Micah deliberately ignored that genius's questioning.

"I am Douglas Sanchez, a fellow Swiss and you are?" That genius asked.

"I am Micah Evergreen, the winner for the first round of Genii Games..." Micah replied while pausing deliberately to allow his words to sink into every genius in this game.

His words apparently worked, as miraculously, all the participants are showing a mixed convulsion of emotions on their faced; some stunned, some simply baffled, some furious and some blatantly ignoring. Micah continued after this charade of emotions in perfect Swedish, "It's a very nice pleasure to meet you, Mister Douglas Sanchez."

The actions that Micah was displaying currently definitely set forth a snowball effect and before the end of the seventh voting round, you could already guess the results that will surface after it. As expected, Micah had secured a 'fallen angel' position due to the votes from the majority of, 25-0, a slightly lower than expected results.

Oliver Green had of course, defied human's regular abilities once again to think of a brilliant counter plan, to ensure a slight foiling of the original plans of another fellow schemer Micah Evergreen. He simply instructed his teammates in the sixth voting round; in the case they had all became 'fallen angels' again, they would stick to the original plan of theirs, which is to vote for another five random angels to become 'fallen angels' too.

This ensured the state of equilibrium later on, which he would need it to triumph Micah Evergreen, who had already positioned himself to the winning side. Oliver muttered under his breath, "This is so troublesome."

"The game is ending soon eh, Agents." Agent Zeus simply mentioned the inevitable.

"Of course, Agent Zeus, such a redundant fact, even I wouldn't bother mentioning." Agent Belle insulted Agent Zeus indirectly.

"Agent Belle, I thought I mentioned before about you giving constructive comments? Regardless, we will need to start on our planning details for the next segment of Genii Games, Kid-Nab." Agent Zeus counteracted Agent Belle's comment wistfully.

"Definitely we would need to discuss about this matter, Agent Zeus. Here are the blueprints for the next venue, which the next segment of Genii Games would be held." Agent Liam reported lawfully.

Displeased with Agent Zeus counteracting, Agent Belle retorted with malice dripping all over it, "Yeah, that's a constructive comment, Agent Zeus."

"Stop the bickering, Agent Zeus and Agent Belle; we are in the midst of an important discussion." Agent Sabrina disciplined unchangingly.

Both Agent Zeus and Agent Belle lamented on Agent Sabrina's disciplinarian action, "Yes, Miss Agent Sabrina, we hear you loud and clear."

Meanwhile the second segment of the Genii Games is ending soon, with six angels including Micah Evergreen, demoted as 'fallen angels'. The final voting round starts; two hours left before the voting round successfully ends.

"Let me see, what Mister Oliver Green is plotting in his devious skull." Micah lamented briefly while on his phone screen displayed surveillance of different areas in the game arena and isolation rooms.

"What kind of stupid and dumb game is this? THIS IS GARBAGE!" Freed Abdul cursed under his breath in the game arena, which was one-hundred percent caught on Micah's camera scope lens that he had placed in one of the plush toys in it due to paranoia, similar to Oliver Green.

Furthermore, it seemed like Oliver Green was making a toughest decision of his time in this segment of Genii Games...

He was contemplating whether to win this segment of Genii Games, which would definitely include Micah Evergreen or losing this game to ensure that Micah would also lose. Being a genius it took him shorter than a minute to make this decision, as usual.

Oliver stuck to the original plans that Micah Evergreen had meted out beforehand by sending the threatening message regarding the Wi-Fi interception problem that had surfaced beforehand. Oliver chose Michael Jones to be a fellow 'fallen angel' in the seventh round to show his regards towards cooperation in this segment of Genii Games, Banishment.

The other four 'fallen angels', Arête Rochelle, Graham Vicario, Miette Cornelius and Alex Stockholm saw this result, and immediately knew that the eighth round of voting results, who would be the unlucky soul to bring discredit to the entire bunch of prodigies in the voting arena now. Micah Evergreen smirked conceitedly behind the screens in the isolated room and briefly murmured, "Everything as according to plan now, time to play around with the information that I had received, plus formulate a new plan to win the next game."

The prodigies left in the arena was not very haughty now, knowing that they may lose anytime now, definitely did not help matters. All of them knew that they would most probably lose this match and had decided to pull a few schemers down with them; there were 24 people and with simple maths, eight 'fallen angels' once getting 3 votes would definitely stay as 'fallen angels' without fail.

The unlucky eight 'fallen angels' are definitely people that give them the strongest impression and that includes, Oliver Green, Graham Vicario, Miette Cornelius, Arête Rochelle, Micah Evergreen, Alex Stockholm, Michael Jones, Linda Quaint. This was all in-control by another highly proficient genius that had introduced himself beforehand, Pierre Lefebvre, an unnoticed and ignored innocent- looking genius.

Micah Evergreen had not wanted anybody else to win, except for himself, thus he used his phone to access the salt-encrypted voting systems that would prevent majority of hackers from tweaking the tallied voting scores.

Micah was no ordinary hacker; he was an internationally acclaimed and infamous hacker that had sold cross-country information to earn an income of more than a few hundred millions in less than six months. He had also deactivated Interpol files that were already amassing against him and all his alleged crimes to ensure that his work continues to be a secret and wonder.

Micah decoded the salt-encryption and replaced it with 13-logarithm Mash encryption instead, allowing him to decrypt the voting system and change the scores. The eighth voting round is finally out, and the scores are extremely baffling, even to Pierre Lefebvre who had devised a plan to pull down every single strong competitor that could pose a problem to him.

The scores go as such, 2-0 for nine players, which includes, Oliver Green and his bodyguard, Graham Vicario and his two aides, Arête Rochelle and Miette Cornelius, not forgetting, Mister Alex Stockholm the entrepreneur.

The other four players include Lyle Fond a Nobel Award recipient for engineering from New South Wales, Australia, Candice Chaperone a genius from Ireland, Shinichi Kenny from Japan and last but not least, Maida Mafeyas from Russia. Only two players escaped from the tenacity of being 'fallen angels' are Michael Jones and inevitably, Micah Evergreen who had the most foresight among all.

Micah's plan would have worked brilliantly, if only all five 'fallen angels' had voted De Vane Corruption. Oliver, realised that Micah Evergreen, was never that simple, decided to incite a mutiny among the 'fallen angels'. Micah Evergreen was voted by the majority 'fallen angels' to be their teammates, once again, ruining Micah's plan A.

The voting rounds were finally over and the second segment of Genii Games finally culminating, Michael Jones emerging as the winner for the second round of The Genii Games...

Agent Sabrina finally boomed her voice through the P.A. systems installed in the building, drowning out all the various idiosyncrasies that the prodigies were experiencing, not inclusive of Oliver Green who was busy – currently, mentally profiling his adversary, Micah Evergreen. He would not suffer another defeat.

"All the prodigies that had lost this match, I am extremely sorry to hear, since this game was particularly easy to win since there were several loopholes with the rules that we had meted out earlier to you guys." Agent Sabrina paused for breather.

"As according to the rules and regulations, since Michael Jones were the only "angel" left after the eight voting rounds, they are hereby the winner for the second stage, thus we would reward him with exclusive information for the next round of Genii Games, "Kid-Nab". With this, this round of Genii Games, Banishment, successfully ends." Agent Sabrina finished her announcement by sighing heavily unto the microphone before turning it off.

"This would not be the end of me, trust me, Micah Evergreen. Till the next round, we compete." Oliver muttered to Graham, as the agents came and escorted them towards the Lear Jets prepared.

"Let's go have some food first before any of our usual plotting, Oliver." Graham suggested to his principal.

"Anything, I would need to have some tiresome refreshment and food anyways." Oliver lamented.

"That's good to hear, Oliver." Graham replied positively.

Meanwhile, Alex Stockholm was busy messaging for assistance, using his phone: "where are you, SS? I need your assistance in The Genii Games. You should have received the mail already, so come here quickly!"

A reply came, "Alex, I am in the third round arena already. I was in the game with another group of intellectually impaired geniuses," and it ends.

Stay tuned to find out more, on the next game, "Kid-Nab", and find out who is the mystery person, Alex was messaging for help! =)

• To be continued in the next chapter, "Kid-Nab"