Chapter 405 - Sarah's birthday (5)

Aiden would never disclose that he is using alias 'Omega', but he sees that Sarah trusts them. For some reason which he could not describe, Aiden decided to trust this diverse group of strangers as well.

Everyone in the room froze when they heard him say: 'Omega'.

Even Sarah was surprised. She looked at him, and her expression was questioning his decision.

Aiden smiled and gave her a small nod, assuring her that it's OK.

Sarah relaxed a bit. She didn't understand why he disclosed his alias, but she knows that he did that with some purpose. She will ask him later for details.

"You can't use that." Lucija shook her head in disapproval.

"Why? Is it taken?" Aiden looked at the faces through the room.

Nick started laughing uncontrollably. It took him some time to catch his breath. "You want to be the captain, and you don't know that much? 'Omega' is a world-famous hacker. He is not in our group, but still... you can't work under his name. That would be equivalent of committing a sacrilege."

Aiden was amused. "Really? Can you tell me more about him?"

Nick glared at Aiden. "Why did you say 'him'? No one knows gender of the person behind that alias. And Omega is so awesome that only our Boss can be a match for godly skills that Omega has."

Sarah giggled and looked at Aiden. "You are enjoying this."

Aiden nodded with a devious smile.

Sarah saw that Aiden's head is swelling from Nick's words of praise and decided to stop it. "Let's not drag this... if both of you want to show your skills, there is no better time than now." Sarah stood up. "Nick, I look forward to see how much you improved. Aiden, I look forward to see some... godly skills." Sarah smiled. Part of her wanted Aiden to lose so that his ego deflates, but she knows that there is close to zero chance for something like that to happen. There is a reason why he is so confident. He has skills to back it up.

They went to the back room, which is another cave, more spacious than the previous one. That room is filled with several large desks lined up with various monitors and custom-made computers.

"You get to pick first!" Nick cockily gestured to the computers.

"Is it OK if I use mine?" Aiden smiled faintly.

Nick shrugged. "Sure, it will be your loss." Nick was confident that computers which Emir assembled are the most powerful. If Aiden wants to use some stinky laptop, it will be his disadvantage. So, Nick can impress Sarah even more.

Aiden looked at two laptops in his backpack and decided to use the one with black case and a silver 'Ω' sign on it.

"Ah, I see why you wanted Omega moniker!" Nick smugly grinned. "You are a fan!"

Aiden nodded. "You can say that."

Sarah was helping Aiden to connect his laptop to the network.

By now, Tereza already set up cameras pointing at Aiden's and Nick's screens and projector was showing both screens side-by-side on the wall, for everyone to see.

During that time Mishi was explaining to Aiden that there will be three challenges, once you are done with one, you can move on to the next one. Two out of three wins the match. That was the typical format how they battled each other. Everything was recorded, and after it was done, they would discuss the strategies displayed. It was like work-and-learn session where they exchanged knowledge.

As they were getting ready to start, Sarah moved behind Aiden and spoke softly in his ear. "Can you leave him some dignity?"

Aiden tilted his head to face her. "I can try." He kissed tip of her nose.

Nick saw Aiden and Sarah being so intimate and rage in him boiled. The only thing he wanted was to win and to rub it in Aiden's face. 'If I pull off a large win, Sarah will look at me how she looks at Aiden!' He flashed an overconfident smile that only fifteen year old can have and taunted Aiden. "Ah, I see that Sarah is giving you last minute tips? No one can save you now! I don't know what tactics you used to deceive her, but I will expose you. I will level you to the ground and then she will look at me! You will be nothing more than a speck of dust in her eyes! I will take that place next to her which belongs to me!" Nick defiantly lifted his chin.

Aiden's face darkened. He knows that even if he loses, Sarah will not abandon him, but the thought that this brat thinks that he can take Sarah away from him, enraged Aiden.

Sarah didn't need to see Aiden's face to know how he will react to Nick's words. She looked at Nick with a sad expression. She wanted to tell him to shut up, because even if Aiden wanted to leave him some dignity, that intention is gone. Aiden will show no mercy, not when someone questions his position related to her.

Nick saw Sarah's sad expression and his confidence grew even more. "Don't worry, Sarah! When you see my skills, you will see what a real man is!"

Mishi could not stay quiet anymore. Even without knowing anything about Aiden, he can tell that Nick is overstepping boundaries of decency. "What man? You are barely fifteen years old. Your attitude is disrespecting the Boss. Sit down and let your skills talk for you, if you have what it takes!"

Nick felt as Mishi's words slapped him silly and he didn't respond. He sat in the chair but continued glaring at Aiden.

Mishi did a countdown for the match of skills between Nick and Aiden to begin.

Everyone present focused on the images projected on the wall.

It didn't take more than few seconds for everyone to look at each other with astonishment. They were not sure if one side of the screen is playing in slow motion, or the other one few times the speed. Or maybe both. They all turned to the images on the wall and could not help but stare in awe. The only sounds were two people typing on keyboards over faint sound of computer fans.

In less than half a minute, everyone was aware that this was not a competition. It was not a friendly match. It was a one sided annihilation.

Nick was few steps away from finishing his first task when Mishi patted him on the shoulder. "Take it easy. No need to rush."

Nick grinned. 'Oh, yeah! I got this!' He assumed that he has no need to rush because he is so far ahead of Aiden. He glanced up and faced few pairs of eyes who looked at him. 'Are they sad? Is that pity I see?' Nick froze and lifted his head, facing Aiden.

Aiden leaned back in the chair with hands behind his head, his eyes were locked at Nick. He enjoyed observing changes in Nick's expression as he realized that he was utterly defeated.

Mishi was looking at Nick and felt sad for him, but he didn't know how to comfort him. "Take this as a lesson. Sometimes your opponent is just out of your league. On the bright side, you almost finished first challenge."

Nick frowned, still not able to accept that he lost. "How much did he do?"

"He completed all three." Mishi mumbled.

Nick thought that all his ships sailed away. He never felt this dejected.

Sarah saw Nick falling apart and felt sorry for him. Part of her felt as his mentor. She is teaching him for five years now. But they don't have sessions often, maybe two-three times a year, and some people learn faster than the others. Objectively, Nick's computer skills are above average, but compared to Aiden, he is just too far behind.

"Don't get yourself down." Sarah comforted him. "As Mishi said, use this to learn and improve. You are still young. I look forward to see what you will be capable off next time we meet."

Nick felt a bit better hearing Sarah's words. "Are you saying that if I improve, you will consider me as your partner?"

Sarah's mouth twitched. 'What's with this guy?' She does not want to hurt Nick's feelings, but it seems she needs to set things straight, and remove any delusions he might have. "No. I have a partner, and no matter how good you get, you can't take his place. No one can."

Aiden was happy to hear her words.

Marija was watching replay of Aiden's performance, and had to comment. "He is really an avid Omega's fan. He is using the same techniques as him... I studied few events where Omega participated, and I can tell you that this is almost the same. Even the tools he uses are..." Marija stopped talking and turned to Aiden. She stared at him with her mouth half open.

"No way!" Emir exclaimed.