The heavy downdraft of the idling Quinjet swept across the private landing pad of the Osaka Continental.
A week had passed, and the time had finally come for Aleksander to leave.
He stood near the boarding ramp, a sleek duffel bag slung over his shoulder, facing the two people who anchored him to the world.
Koji adjusted the collar of his suit against the wind, looking at his son with a mixture of pride and quiet reluctance.
“Your new home in Riverdale is ready.
The construction crews finished the final security retrofits this morning.” Koji offered a small, knowing smile.
“It is a fortress, exactly as you wanted.
We built the mansion based strictly on your personal designs.”
Aleksander blinked, his brow furrowing slightly.
His Absolute Mind instantly cataloged every file, conversation, and data transfer he had executed over the past year.
He hadn’t drawn up or submitted any architectural blueprints to Koji.
Before Aleksander could voice the discrepancy, Akira stepped forward and threw her arms around him in a tight hug.
She leaned in close, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper over the whine of the jet engines.
”Cortana gave them to us,” Akira whispered, a grin evident in her voice.
“She accessed your private concept files and forwarded the estate blueprints to Father last month.”
Aleksander let out a quiet breath of realization, returning his sister’s hug.
He had hardcoded Cortana with deep ethical and empathetic algorithms, wanting her to be more than just a calculating machine.
Anticipating his needs and collaborating with his family behind his back to ensure his comfort was proof that the AI was evolving exactly as he had hoped.
”I see,” Aleksander murmured, stepping back.
He looked at Koji and gave a respectful, deeply appreciative nod.
“Thank you, Father.
For everything.”
”Stay sharp, my son,” Koji replied, placing a firm hand on Aleksander’s shoulder.
“And try to actually act like a normal teenager for once.”
”I make no promises,” Aleksander said with a faint smirk.
He turned and walked up the sleek metal ramp of the Quinjet.
Pausing at the cabin door, he looked back at the sprawling neon skyline of Osaka and the two figures standing on the tarmac.
He gave them a final, lingering wave before the heavy cabin door sealed shut, cutting off the roar of the engines.
Inside, Aleksander strapped himself into the plush leather seat.
The Quinjet lifted effortlessly off the pad, banking smoothly into the night sky.
Osaka disappeared beneath the clouds as the jet accelerated to Mach speeds, carrying the Ghost away from the underworld and straight toward the quiet, completely abnormal town of Riverdale.
The Quinjet descended smoothly onto a private, secured tarmac on the heavily forested outskirts of Riverdale.
It was the final day of summer vacation, the late August air clinging to the humid afternoon.
As the landing ramp lowered, Aleksander stepped down to find Mayor Sierra McCoy waiting for him.
She was a middle-aged African-American woman with a slim, elegant figure, her dark hair immaculate and her deep brown eyes calculating but warm.
She wore a long, dark-navy dress, with carefully applied lipstick and eyeshadow that gave her a polished, professional edge.
Morozov,” Sierra said, stepping forward with a welcoming smile.
Aleksander returned the smile, offering a polite greeting as they shook hands.
“I want to assure you that everything is ready,” Sierra explained as she guided him toward a waiting black SUV.
“Mr.
Shimazu reached out regarding your stay.
Your transfer to Riverdale High is completely finalized.
We are well aware that your intellect is far beyond high school or even university levels, and that this enrollment is strictly for your social development.
The principal and your teachers have all signed ironclad non-disclosure agreements.
If you wish to skip classes, you have full clearance to do so.”
“Thank you, Mayor,” Aleksander replied as they climbed into the back of the SUV.
“That makes things much easier.”
As the driver pulled out onto the main road toward town, Sierra engaged in a bit of trivial small talk, expressing her profound gratitude that the heir to Apex Industries had chosen to reside in Riverdale.
But as the town’s borders drew closer, her posture stiffened slightly.
She cleared her throat, clearly feeling awkward about shifting the conversation to business.
“While I have you, Aleksander, I wanted to follow up on a conversation I had with your father,” Sierra said carefully.
“We discussed the possibility of opening a small Apex Industries clinic here in Riverdale.
I don’t expect anything too grand—just some good medical equipment, perhaps a standard Apex Scanning Device.
It would mean the world to our local infrastructure.”
Aleksander didn’t say a word.
He simply reached into his jacket and pulled out his personal smartphone.
It was a piece of technology decades ahead of anything on the commercial market.
The device featured a vertical, rectangular orientation designed to fit perfectly in one hand, with starkly rounded corners and a completely flat, translucent glass-slab display.
The glass was housed within a thick, rounded, glossy black outer bezel, with a glowing cyan “Apex” logo prominently positioned in the upper-left corner.
Because the screen was transparent, the leather interior of the SUV remained partially visible right through the interface.
Aleksander tapped the glass.
The screen instantly lit up with a bright cyan and neon-blue holographic-style UI, data streaming seamlessly across the transparent surface.
He swiped a file upward, sending it directly to the Mayor’s secured network.
“It is already official,” Aleksander said casually.
“An Apex Industries Hospital will be opening here shortly.
It is going to have our full suite of facilities, including an Elysium Med-Bay.”
Sierra’s personal phone chimed.
She opened the official digital paperwork, her eyes scanning the blueprints and manifests.
She stared at the screen in absolute disbelief.
“The Elysium Med-Bay?” Sierra questioned, her voice dropping to a shocked whisper.
“It’s coming to Riverdale?”
Aleksander nodded, offering a calm, reassuring smile. Visit g.com for the full chapter.
Sierra looked back down at her phone, feeling like she was caught in a dream state.
She had assumed an Apex Scanning Device would be the absolute pinnacle of what her small town could acquire.
The Med-Bay was a global miracle; world leaders were currently fighting for access to it.
Suddenly, reality crashed back over her.
She looked up, her expression tightening with genuine panic.
“Aleksander, while I understand and appreciate your incredible intentions…
a machine like that is priceless.
We simply do not have the necessary municipal security to keep it safe.
Riverdale has quite a few nasty gang issues.
The Serpents, the Ghoulies—if word gets out that something of this value is sitting in our town, they will try to take it.”
Aleksander shook his head, his calm demeanor entirely unfazed by the threat of local street thugs.
“Don’t worry about it,” Aleksander explained, his tone carrying the chilling, absolute certainty of the Ghost.
“Apex Industries will handle the security details.”
Hearing the unwavering confidence in his voice, Sierra let out a slow breath.
Knowing that the multi-trillion-dollar corporation would be guarding its own assets made the knot in her stomach loosen, and for the first time all day, she felt slightly better about the monumental shift coming to her town.
While the black SUV slowed as it crossed the town limits, cruising down the quiet, tree-lined streets of Riverdale.
Sierra gestured out the tinted window, her mayoral pride bleeding through the residual shock of the multi-billion-dollar hospital deal they had just casually finalized.
She pointed out the local landmarks with a practiced ease—the sprawling, classic brick facade of Riverdale High, the town hall, and the buzzing neon sign of Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe resting on the edge of town.
Aleksander took it all in silently, his Absolute Mind passively mapping the street layouts, municipal camera blind spots, and tactical escape routes out of pure, unbreakable habit.
“Since tomorrow is the first day of the semester,” Sierra said, shifting her tone from a politician to a mother as the car navigated a quiet suburban stretch, “I wanted to offer a bit of personal support.
My daughter, Josie, is a student at Riverdale High.
She is highly involved in the school and knows the social landscape better than anyone.”
Sierra offered a warm, reassuring smile.
“If you need anything at all—a tour of the campus, a quiet place to study, or just a friendly face to help you navigate the hallways—please let her know.
I will tell her to look out for you.”
Aleksander looked away from the window.
For a fifteen-year-old CEO who had just orchestrated the execution of a thirty-year serial killer and cured John Wick’s dying wife, the prospect of needing a high school tour guide was objectively amusing.
But he recognized the genuine hospitality in the gesture, and having a well-connected ally inside an unfamiliar environment was simply sound logistics.
He gave her a polite, measured nod.
“I appreciate the offer, Mayor McCoy.
I have spent most of my life in laboratories and boardrooms, so this will be a very different environment for me.
I will be sure to introduce myself to Josie if I need any assistance getting acclimated.”
Sierra smiled, the remaining tension finally leaving the car as the driver turned off the main road.
The SUV slipped past the town limits and onto a secluded, private drive winding deep into the heavy woods, where Aleksander’s new fortress was waiting.