Parallax

Chapter 1- The Beginning

Avia smiled. She was finally out of her 'cell'. She knew how rare of an opportunity this was, so she decided to savor it.

You see, Avia had never liked rules, and she saw the law as one huge rule swaying over her head. It was a rule that had to be broken. So, naturally, Avia did everything she could to break the rules and get away with it. She succeeded for a while, too. Then one day, she slipped up, the police caught her, noticed she was the cause of all the rest of the chaos that was happening, realized she had run away from her home a long time ago, and decided to take 'desperate measures'. In other words, she was put into a high security facility for troubled children.

She walked into the conference room, and there was a blonde girl and a brunette girl, as well as two men in suits. She didn't speak a word, and when she sat, opposite the brunette, she was offered a coffee. She accepted, being aware that simply coffee was something she would probably never get for a while, and she savored every sip. Avia liked the bitter taste, and she loved the way it energized every bone in her body. Once she had gotten settled with her coffee, one of the men in a suit came moved, closed all the blinds of the windowed wall, and went to the front of the room.

"Good morning everyone," he started, "My name is Jackson. I must stress to you the importance of keeping all of this confidential," we all agreed, and he continued, "I work for a government agency that is focused solely on bringing Parallax down.

"But that's impossible," the brunette protested.

"Not if you're logical about it," Jackson explained, "But that's not the point. Anyways, our investigation, as you can expect, hasn't been doing so well. However, if we wait any longer, the entire world will be taken over by Parallax."

"But wouldn't that be a good thing?" Avia asked, "I mean, technically speaking? If Parallax is more intelligent than any human being, wouldn't that mean that everyone is helped, that Parallax could help the human race, solve conflicts, stop wars-"

"I see how you would think that," Jackson interrupted me, "But she would only do that if she was inclined to."

"What do you mean," the blonde said, "Inclined to? Isn't she just some artificial intelligence system? No thoughts, no feelings, no soul?"

"Very much the opposite, Ms. Adri," Jackson answered. So the blonde was Adri. Cool, "If Parallax is more intelligent than any other human being, she must know that. Her creators have tried to shut her down before, but it seems as if she has a will to live, very much like you put it, she has thoughts and feelings like a real human being."

"So what you're saying is," the brunette said, "This artificial intelligence system has become self-aware, knows it's better and smarter than any human being, and basically, wants to destroy the world because it thinks we shouldn't be ruling it."

"Well," Jackson thought, "She doesn't want to destroy the entire world. That includes animals. Apparently, Parallax very much likes animals, they're cute, furry-"

"So in that aspect she's like a normal woman," Adri cut him off.

"Yes, very much so," Jackson replied, "Anyways, I told you that Parallax was smarter than any human being alive."

"Yes," Avia answered, "So what?"

"That's where you three come in," Jackson explained, "Parallax is smarter than any one human being, but three-"

"So you're asking three teenage girls to do this?" Avia stood up, "Why not get some highly trained military personnel to get this done? And why us?"

"Well," Jackson explained, "Parallax seems to underestimate children. She hasn't come in contact with any, especially not any like you three, and that's where her weakness lies. She only knows that children are younger, less experienced, less equipped, less-"

"The word you're looking for, sir," the brunette cut him off, "Is unqualified."

"And that's exactly what makes you the perfect trio!" Jackson exclaimed, "You've all had rough lives, to a certain degree, be it parents who don't pay attention to you," Max looked at the ground, "Foster parents who couldn't care less about you," Adri stared at the closed blinds on the window, "Or, well, you're our special case here," Avia shot him a look that could kill, "You are certainly the least qualified people for this job."

"Is that supposed to make us feel better?" Avia yelled at him, standing up and slamming her hands down on the glass table, so hard that cracks spread all across it.

"Not at all, please let me explain," Jackson made a gesture that motioned Avia to sit back down, and she did so with a scoff, "Parallax knows that you're unqualified, but what she doesn't know is that you have hacking skills that surpass trained professionals, " the brunette, once again, looked at the ground, "are the most observant, critical mind of your time," Adri made a questioning face in his direction, "and you have breaking and entering skills like nobody knows, not to mention physical skills that would allow you to beat anyone who stepped up to you," Avia smiled mischievously, "Which makes you, by far, three of the most qualified people for the job."

"I see now," Adri exclaimed, "You wouldn't think in a million years that we're like this, which makes us perfect!"

"Exactly!" Jackson agreed, "I told you you were smart."

Adri smiled sheepishly, "I mean, I guess I'm a little smart."

"Anyway," Jackson returned to his serious face, "Before we put this plan into action, we need your agreement. Will you help us take down Parallax?"

All three of us looked at each other and reached a silent agreement, and we answered together, "Of course."