Free Web NovelChapter 302: Vincent Lakewood I
Jake didn’t know what he was seeing.
He’d spent the last week worrying about his best friend like crazy, losing sleep over the thought that Scott was out there somewhere freezing, depressed, or worse. Yet here Scott was, chilling in a high-end rental apartment, eating a towering stack of fluffy pancakes made by a cute girl.
『That’s better than my life on a good day!』
Jake placed a hand on his chest and held back a wave of tears as a profound realization hit him.
『Mom was right... girls do make everything better.』
He nodded proudly to himself.
It all made sense now.
"Jake? Jake? Jaaake?"
A voice was calling his name.
Jake blinked out of his daze. He realized Scott had been calling his name for a while now while he was lost in his own world, daydreaming about what it would actually feel like to have a girlfriend.
He let out a quiet sigh.
"Shit..."
Some things were only meant for the imagination.
Looking back at his best friend, Jake finally found his voice.
"Dude! I’ve been worried about you like crazy! And so are all your girlfriends! They’re freaking out!"
Scott took another sip of his orange juice.
"I know, I know. Sorry about that."
He reached down, pulled a sleek laptop onto the kitchen island, and opened it.
"I haven’t just been sitting around, yunno. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to break Maya out of Ashgate Supermax. But I haven’t gotten any good ideas yet. The place is stupidly secure."
Jake walked closer, looking over his shoulder. freēwēbnovel.com
"How bad is it?"
"Bad."
Scott muttered as he typed rapidly.
"There are four heavily armed checkpoints before you even get close to the yard. A massive razor-wire perimeter fence with high-voltage currents, constant 360-degree camera surveillance, and automated defense turrets that will immediately shoot down any unidentified flying objects in the sky. Not to mention the automated inhibitor collars on the inmates."
Jake stared at him with deadpan face.
"So basically... it’s impossible."
Scott gave a grim nod and hit a final key on his laptop.
The screen brought up the entire architectural layout and security blueprint of Ashgate Supermax.
"Look at this."
Jake squinted at the complex technical schematic.
"What am I looking at exactly?"
"I calibrated the map data..."
Scott explained, pointing at the glowing screen.
"The green parts represent security blind spots, and the red parts mean the area is fully covered by guards, motion sensors, or surveillance. I was trying to find an opening we could exploit."
"We? You must be speaking French..."
"Focus."
Jake raised an eyebrow, staring intensely at the display.
"But... it’s all red though."
Scott nodded slowly. "Exactly."
Jake winced. "Oof. That’s brutal."
Scott sighed and closed the laptop halfway.
"But there’s a solution. Or at least, a starting point."
He reached for a remote on the counter and turned on the large flat-screen TV mounted on the wall.
Bright, flashy studio lights of a talk show.
Perhaps not a... rather THE talk show.
The Konrad Show.
Konrad Kain flashed a smile directly at the camera as he greeted the viewers at home.
[Welcome back, everyone! Now, I know what you’re thinking—’Konrad, why are you on my screen right now?’ Well, the fans asked for more content, so the studio executives felt it was only right to totally take away my free time and start doing these afternoon segments! Jeez, give a guy a break!]
HA! HA! HA!
The studio audience laughed hard.
Konrad chuckled along with them, waving his hand playfully before his expression turned focused.
[But seriously, folks, we have a lot to talk about. A week ago, Curtis Knox introduced us to what could very well be the future of superheroes. He called it Sage. They’ve already got a team of three elite heroes ready to make their grand debut at any moment! It’s truly amazing. America can finally worry a little less about its great citizens idolizing lawless, masked menaces like Nightwatch now that we have a new, trusted brand for heroes!]
The audience clapped and cheered.
Konrad raised his hands and calmed them down with a satisfied smile.
[Now, today in the studio, we are joined by a man who needs no introduction. He’s the top recruiter in Priority Solutions, boasting a 100% track record of turning small-time heroes into what you can only call megastars. Ladies and gents, I give you Mr. Vincent Lakewood!]
The studio went whistled and clapped.
The cameras panned and the studio lights fell sharply on Vincent Lakewood, who was dressed in an expensive suit and sitting gracefully on a comfortable leather armchair right next to Konrad.
Konrad smiled warmly as he leaned forward.
[Vincent my guy, welcome back. Tell me, how does it feel to be on the show again?]
Vincent adjusted his suit jacket and put on a really sad look on his face.
[Uhm, thank you, Konrad. It’s good to be here, though the circumstances are heavy. The last time I sat on this stage, it was alongside Pulsar... a hero who is incredibly precious to me. It’s just so unfortunate that she chose to cuddle with a dangerous terrorist, even after the Hero Agency and I explicitly warned her against it.]
[Mhm, mhm!] Konrad nodded solemnly,.
Still, you could see the excitement in his eyes.
He loved getting juicy, controversial details, and he knew an attention-devouring fiend like Vincent would say anything as long as it made the interview go viral, which would ultimately benefit the Sage brand.
Watching the screen, Jake shook his head in disgust.
"Wow. This guy’s a load of crap."
"Pssh, tell me about it..."
Scott held back his smile.
Back on the TV, Vincent continued his speech.
[Look, I don’t hate Nightwatch or anything like that. In fact, Sage genuinely admires a vigilante of that nature. But as a professional hero, you must learn to obey the law and make sacrifices for the greater good. A dark figure hiding in the alleys isn’t the best role model for all the bright-eyed children of this great country. So why would Pulsar choose to align herself with him? It’s possible she was romantically involved with him... and that’s a shame when you realize she was an ambassador for so many brands and a rising star in the hero industry.]
Vincent suddenly grabbed his chest and shut his eyes as if he were trying to hold back tears.
[We can do better! We must do better, so that other young, promising female superheroes don’t end up throwing their lives away in a supermax prison!]
Konrad instantly started crying dramatically and threw his hands in the air.
[Our country has fucking failed us!]
[Fax...]
Then Vincent realize what he’d just said and cleared his throat as he rearranged his act.
[AHEM! I-, I mean... terrible, so truly terrible.]
Scott stared dead at Vincent on the screen. His grip on the TV remote grew so tight that his hard knuckles popped like little balloons. Just a little tighter and the remote would be crushed to pieces.
Jake noticed this and quickly leaned over, managing to pry Scott’s rigid fingers off the device.
"Uhh... maybe we should watch sum’ else, bro..."
He hastily took the remote and changed the channel to a random sci-fi movie.
Scott cleared his throat and rubbed his face as he calmed his breathing.
"Sorry. Almost lost my head there. But what I’m trying to say is that before Officer Buffernickle got arrested, I had a little chat with him. I found out that Vincent has some confidential emails on his system that can definitively prove Maya is innocent. He framed her. So, I just have to get my hands on those."
Right then, Brigid returned from the open kitchen, carrying a fresh plate of steaming pancakes and a bottle of syrup in her mitten-covered hands.
She placed them sweetly in front of Scott.
To her, she is embracing being a true wife!
A wife was like a husband’s superhero, so she’d be killing two birds with one stone. This was her way of training to be a hero and perfecting her skills in taking care of the vigilante she dedicated a religion to.
She listened in on their conversation.
"But Vincent seems like a super careful guy, honey."
Brigid pointed out, tilting her head.
"Will it really be that easy to get those emails? What if he’s deleted them already?"
Trying to be helpful, Jake chimed in.
"Actually, even if he deleted them, there’s a computer whiz way to get them back. If you bypass the main server and extract the cached data from the hard drive’s unallocated space—"
"I WAS ASKING MY LORD!"
Brigid suddenly screamed at the top of her lungs.
Her cute face like scary like some she-beast.
The sudden outburst startled both Jake and Scott so badly they nearly jumped out of their seats. It was terrifying. To think a girl as cute and sweet-looking as Brigid could shout like an angry ogre chieftain.
Jake blinked fearfully and raised his hands defensively.
"Uhm... sorry?"
Brigid took a deep breath and let her anger slip away until all that’s left was a cheerful smile.
"Oh, it’s totally fine!"
She walked gracefully back to the kitchen.
Soon, she was behind the counter that meant she was also out of their direct line of sight. That angelic smile on her face burned off harshly.
『Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!』
She gripped her hair like she’d rip it off bit by bit.
『Fuck it all! I was supposed to be the ONLY one here with Lord Scott! I used my psychic powers to search the entire city for him, I found him first! Shouldn’t I be the one having this deep convo with him?! Why did Lord Scott have to betray me and call that Jake guy here?!』
She fumed like a madwoman.
『I wanted him all to myself! My plan was to get him stuffed on my delicious pancakes so he’d finally focus on the main dish right between my legs! I even got the high-res camera and the leather whipping crop ready so we could do a spicy King x Slave roleplay tonight! Dammit! Ahhh ♥️ what a night it would’ve been.』
One moment she was drooling from daydreaming and the next she was boiling with anger.
She got so utterly enraged that she grabbed the ends of her frilly apron and started chewing on them like a rabid animal, trying to rip the fabric apart with her teeth.
Hearing the strange noises, Scott called out from the living room.
"Brigid? You okay over there?"
Brigid instantly perked up and her face turned bright red as she shrieked back:
"NOTHING!"
Scott sighed sluggishly and turned back to his laptop.
"Sure. Whatever."
In the kitchen, Brigid placed a hand over her racing heart and exhaled a breath of relief.
"Phew... I thought he caught me."
A wicked, happy grin spread across her face as she reached into her apron pocket and pulled out a long, unbroken strip of condoms.
"Hehe, they’re still here... and my secret butt plug is still perfectly inserted and ready to go! So all that’s left is to find a way to get rid of Jake, and I can have my precious Lord Scott all to myself! Yippee!"
She clapped her hands and began hopping up and down happily in the kitchen, oblivious to the fact that the kitchen layout was completely open, and both Scott and Jake could see and hear her entire bizarre acts.
The two boys just watched her with a flat face and shook their heads pitifully at the trainwreck.
This girl might be in need of a psyche ward. freёwebnovel.com
Jake awkwardly tapped Scott on the shoulder and tried to steer the conversation back to safety.
"So... what’s the next step?"
Scott pushed his laptop aside.
"I already tried hacking into Vincent’s primary email to get the evidence, but it’s clean. So either he didn’t converse using standard emails like Buffernickle thinks, or he’s using a heavily encrypted burner email—"
"Which is incredibly hard to track."
A certain Jake cut him off as he nodded.
"If it’s a true burner email, he’d be using a heavily masked IP address, multi-layered proxy servers, and probably a zero-knowledge encrypted provider based overseas. To hack that, you’d need the physical device or the specific hardware token he uses to authenticate it."
Scott stared at him for a second.
"Yep. There’s that. Which means I’m gonna have to go for the worst option... approach Vincent personally and get the information out of him."
Jake blinked owlishly at him.
He leaned in closer to whisper something.
"What do you mean? Like... torture?"
Scott’s face completely squeezed up in disgust.
"No! Gross, Jake, no!"
He rubbed his temples.
"Sure, I am going to use any means necessary to save Maya, but torture is out of the question. I’m not that kind of person, and neither is Nightwatch. I’m not going to let Vincent playing dirty drag me down to those kinds of sick extremes. Simple as that."
Jake let out a massive, dramatic yawn. "Boring."
Scott glared at him. "Really, bruh?"
Jake laughed, waving his hand dismissively.
"Whatever, man. I’m just playing. Honestly, I’m just as pissed off as you are about Maya. She’s been our friend for the longest time."
A nostalgic smile crossed Jake’s face.
"Hey, do you remember that one science fair we did back in middle school?"
The memory made Scott chuckle as his tense shoulders finally relaxing. He took over the story.
"Oh god, yeah. Maya and I got into this argument about what chemical compound to use for our plasma volcano project. She insisted on using this sketchy, mildly radioactive element she found online because she wanted it to look ’authentic.’ We argued for like two hours straight in the empty lab, and then, right in the middle of shouting at each other, we somehow ended up having our first kiss."
Scott smiled warmly as he looked down.
"It was so unexpected, but—"
He suddenly paused when he noticed that Jake had gone completely silent.
Scott looked up and froze.
Jake was sitting there with tears streaming down his face as his lower lip trembled.
Scott blinked in surprise.
"Woah! Hey, man... do you miss her that much?"
Jake let out a loud, pathetic sob as he wiped his running nose with his sleeve.
"No, you idiot! It just hurts so bad to know that you were already getting game from Maya even when we were in middle school! Shit, dammit! I’m not even sure if I’m going to kiss a girl in the next ten years!"
Scott chuckle awkwardly and scratched the back of his neck as he looked away from his weeping friend.
"Ehehe... sorry about that, man..."
...
Night.
The air was fresh outside Le Petit Oiseau.
A high-end French restaurant in the East District.
Vincent Lakewood was practically walking on air as he made his way out of the building. By his side was a stunning blonde model Juliet he’d been dating. This was only their third date, but Vincent was already falling hard.
He was infatuated with her blue eyes and nice smile.
As soon as they stepped onto the dark pavement outside the restaurant, Vincent wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her in close.
Juliet let out a tiny shriek of surprise, followed by a soft and silvery giggle.
"Are you always this take-charge, Mr. Lakewood?"
She looked up at him through her lashes.
"Because it’s hot."
Vincent smirked and leaned down to plant a soft kiss on her neck that smelled like lilac and berries.
"Not as hot as when you reached for the check earlier tonight. Were you really planning to pay for a $5,000 dinner? Or were you just testing me to see if I was a red flag or something?"
Juliet shook her head with a gentle smile.
Her eyes were fully on him.
"Of course not. I know I said on our first date that I’m not interested in a man who can’t handle my financial needs. But... I’ve really changed my mind over the course of these last three dates. I’ve truly enjoyed our time together."
Vincent felt his throat go dry.
He swallowed quietly, staring at her beautiful face.
"Really?"
"Of course..." Juliet whispered.
Vincent leaned in close, fully intending to seal the charged moment with a romantic kiss.
"AHEM!"
A loud annoying cough interrupted the romantic mood like a brick through a window.
Both Vincent and Juliet irritatedly twisted their heads in the direction of the voice.
Standing a few feet away under the glow of a streetlamp was a young man. He was wearing a long black trench coat over a plain black shirt and matching pants. He wore a pair of glasses, and his notably long black hair was tied up neatly at the back.
That young man was Scott.
Vincent’s face instantly squeezed up in irritation.
"And you are...?"
Scott put on a calm, pleasant smile.
"Oh, come on, Vince. Don’t act like you don’t know me in front of her, okay? It’s embarrassing."
Before Vincent could even think, Scott stepped forward and grabbed him firmly by the arm.
"Hey! Let go—"
Vincent tried to violently yank his arm free, but Scott casually dug his fingers into a specific muscle cluster near his elbow.
Instantly, a sharp sensation shot down Vincent’s arm and the limb went completely dead.
『The hell?! I can’t move my arm! I can’t move my friggin’ arm! Did this guy just paralyze me?!』
Vincent’s mind went into a tailspin of panic.
Scott ignored the panic written all over Vincent’s face and smiled politely at Juliet.
"Hey there. Juliet Dunham, right?"
"Uhm, yeah. How’d you know my name?"
"Err, not really important, is it? Can I borrow your guy for a quick second?"
"Okay..."
"In other words, can you leave?"
There was some seriousness in Scott’s voice now.
Juliet looked between the two of them as her smile turned incredibly uncomfortable.
"Uh... sure. I’ll just go wait in the car."
She hastily walked toward a black Mercedes Maybach parked by the curb.
Scott watched her slide into the luxury vehicle and let out a low whistle.
"Damn. Where’d you get all that money, Vince? Was it a bonus for helping the Hero Agency frame Maya, or is it thanks to a nice new salary bump from Daddy Knox?"
The mention of those names snapped Vincent out of his panic and sent him to anger. He tried to pull his arm away again, but Scott’s grip was like a nutcracker.
"That’s none of your business!"
Vincent hissed, glaring at him.
"Let go of me right now!"
Scott’s smile turned utterly empty.
"Sure. I’ll let go if you agree you know who I am."
"I... I..."
Vincent swallowed his fear and grinned smugly.
"But I don’t. No offense, but I don’t make it my business to keep track of bastard randoms."
"Randoms?"
Scott repeated calmly.
That playful lightness was back in his voice again.
"Ouch. That’s quite hurtful. Maybe I should jog that memory of yours. You’re the reason Maya and I broke up after you brainwashed her with your corporate bullshit."
"Ohh... is that so?"
Vincent acted clueless and innocent like he was just slowly starting to remember Scott.
"Oh! Yeah, yeah, now I remember. You’re the trash loser with the psycho mom and the racist dad, right? You can just tell a product of divorce when you see one. Tch, you garbage piece of average shit."
Scott didn’t react.
He remained silent in that same manner and his serene smile hasn’t changed once.
Seeing no violent reaction, Vincent’s confidence flew.
He straightened his posture as much as he could with his dead arm.
"So... what can I do for you, buddy?"
Scott’s smile didn’t fade but he certainly did speak.
"Shut the fuck up, Vincent."
A cool, calm suggestion.
