Chapter 138

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{Mathew Folics}

Mathew knew that he was what most considered a stick in the mud.

Then again, it might be more appropriate to call him a fossil.

A really old stick in the mud, so to say...

The point being, Mr Folics was perfectly aware that he had a frigid personality, a stern disposition, and very little patience for the concept of humour.

This being the case, it was always a great wonder to him just how he had managed to become friends with one Mr Oliver Green.

At first, the only logical explanation he could come up with had something to do with magnets, and opposites attracting, but that was quickly dismissed as nonsense...

Laid back, casually friendly, neutral, Oliver Green was the plain sort of man who never gave nor left an impression.

It admittedly took Mr Folics a long time to realise that Oliver's pleasant, nondescript personality hid a very sharp intellect and a frightening altruistic will.

How else could he have managed to sneak past the icy defences of Mr Folics? The most guarded loner in the history of antisocial conduct, and become his first, perhaps only, friend...

Yes, the most annoying thing about Oliver Green was definitely the fact that he was a meddlesome, manipulative do-gooder, and actually very good at hiding his little projects.

For instance, the time Oliver had turned their shared room at the university into an exotic animal shelter the one weekend, Mathew left it unsupervised.

Which Folic had been forced to clean up.

Or the time he hacked into a rival nano tech facility and planted a virus that corrupted all their data, screwing up fifty years of weapons research.

Again, it was Folics' job to clean up.

Or the time he fostered two troubled brothers in possession of some of the world's most advanced nanotechnology...and a lot of mummy issues.

A mess, Folics is still in the process of cleaning up.

And finally, the time Oliver Green stumbled upon Maddison Tramph.

A troubled teen with her heart in the right place, likely compensating for the fact that her head wasn't exactly screwed on straight. Always managing to give people the impression that they are somehow being toyed with.

She was interesting, simply because she didn't cower. Didn't withdraw, or guard herself against the giants around her.

Bravery, born from empathy and trust. She saw everyone as human.

To the supervisors of the Shrink Program, geniuses physically altered to be something superhuman, forbidden from leaving the facility without clearance from the government, it meant a lot to be treated as such.

And of course, with her clumsy antic's and animated expressions, she quickly became the source of endless amusement.

And all this contributed to Oliver Greens interest in her, but what really caught Oliver's attention was that she was someone who was never supposed to come to their attention.

Obviously an experienced fighter, yet she had never been expelled, never before fallen under the scrutiny of the law.

A trouble maker, who had never actually been in trouble.

Oliver found this odd. Became curious.

After all, the most logical reason not to see something that should be seen is because someone is hiding it.

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