Chapter 6

It didn't take long for Megan to get a reading on the girl in front of her, not that she needed that long to begin with.

Thing is, unlike the boys, the girl was an open book. Her thoughts and emotions were vividly on display in everything that she did. 

She wanted to be read, Megan deduced, perhaps even loved when she was.

A few minutes of professional psychological analysis and the first thing that made the headline about the girl was that she was fully aware of herself. She knew exactly who she was, superpower and all; and not just that. She was also well-aware of her feminism, her youth, and the role she had been brought to play in Olympus- whatever they were, Megan thought as she still hadn't quite figured that out yet- and how those things made her important to the organization.

However, even more than the self-awareness itself, the girl wanted everyone around her to be aware that she was aware and respect her for it even if she didn't do anything else to earn that respect in the course of their encounter.

Now, it wasn't that Megan was at all uncomfortable with the superiority attitude the girl put forward every chance she got. From her experience in the counseling firm, she actually understood that most millennial teenage girls tended to do that if they had it. But what she found somewhat unsettling was that that attitude had given rise to one vibe that was above all others in the girl, and one she would rather not have to deal with but knew it was inevitable: rebellion.

Whoever the girl was, she was a force of nature. If she wanted to make a statement, she would do so regardless of whatever it took, including but not limited to insensitively interrupting a conversation like she just did.

"Where are you coming from, Kei?" Dennis asked after the dust had settled a bit.

"From the lower levels," she replied, smiling like that should mean something to him. "I was trying to see how long it would take me to round the levels fifty times."

"And how long did it take?" Apparently, he knew that she wanted him to ask.

"Three minutes and a half." She held a smug smile.

"You're getting faster, Kei," he said, clapping his approval.

"I am, aren't I?" she returned and passed the smug smile to Adolf as if to state that she had just gotten one over him.

Watching the exchange, Megan realized that was probably not the first time something like that had occurred. Adolf would do something and Dennis would casually clap him like the pals they were, and then the girl, Kei, would zoom in, make a few notations to steal Dennis's attention, and he, knowing exactly what she wanted, would clap her louder even if he wasn't exactly feeling it, and then she would be pleased and rub it all over Adolf.

Kei always wanted Dennis's attention, he always gave it, and Adolf never minded it. That was their dynamic.

Just then, Kei seemed to notice Megan standing there for the first time; or pretended to. From what Megan had deduced form her personality, she strongly suspected the latter.

"Who's she?" she asked.

"That's Megan," Adolf replied, "D.'s friend."

"The director doesn't have friends, Adolf." She tutted like she was displeased in his ignorance of something so important. "What he has are minions. You know, like Genghis Khan, or Lex Luthor."

Megan felt that she should be offended at being referred to as a minion but when she looked to Dennis and saw that he hadn't even reacted in the slightest bit to the categorical remark that he was a megalomaniacal tyrant, she decided to let it go.

"Well, whatever she is to me, Kei, she and I will be taking our leave now," he replied and steered Megan in the direction they had come from to reach the open space. He pressed his wristwatch and a space opened in the ground to admit an elevator into the area.

"Goodbye, Meg!" Kei shouted behind them, as they went and Megan would have shouted back that her name was Megan and not Meg- she really hated hearing that nickname come from someone she wasn't familiar with to be honest- but by the time she looked back, the teenager had already zoomed off in the complete opposite direction to theirs and Adolf was the one left smiling and waving to her.

Megan returned the smile and wave before turning back to face Dennis squarely. "So, where to now, Director?" she asked. "Let me guess, next stop on the Olympus tour is a four-armed man."

"Actually, Miss Months, we're going to my office," he returned and she shot him a confused look, prompting a smile from him. "Well, you've been going round different parts of the organization throughout the day," he explained, "I think it's about time you finally understood how they all work together."