Rise To Stardom - Chapter 235

Chapter 235: Confetti Falling
(A few weeks later…)

Kyle was reading the second issue of [Tech Wiz] to unwind after a stressful day at work.

With the reading lamp on his bedside table illuminating the comic book, he casually flipped over to the next page.

So far, so good, they’d been following the comic book’s plot closely, albeit the dialogues in the script were played up better and felt more refined in comparison.

After the destructive ambush at the science fair by Malakai’s alter ego– Professor Overclock– the next scene would show Nathan, coming to two important realizations as the cops and ambulance arrived on scene a tad bit too late tend to the injured.

One, he needed more answers to his ever-increasing list of questions, especially on what exactly what was going on with him.

Thankfully, he’d found a lead in the form of the cyborg whom had stolen the clearly important serum.

But more importantly, this lead, converged and pointed to the source of it all.

Horizon Tech itself.

Whatever it was they had done in the past, he was even more hell bent on finding out.

Secondly, surrounded by so many injured and a few fatalities at what was once a peaceful science fair, Nathan also realized that this incident, probably wouldn’t be the last.

Sure the government, cops and military personnel would do their best to investigate and apprehend the suspect, but…

…could they… really?

Nathan had seen the mystery cyborg and from what he had inferred, normal human weaponry, would probably do little to no harm him.

Hence, this gave way to a dangerous thought for the young man.

Him becoming a vigilante.

That way, he could easily tick off both checkboxes namely– Investigate Horizon Tech’s Past Experiments and Prevent Mystery Cyborg From Causing More Damage.

And so the next scene would follow up, with another series of montage.

In it, Nathan would be seen, sorting out and trying to understand the plethora of prototypes he had traced at the science fair, including the exosuit which he had later copied amidst the aftermath of the tragic incident.

At the same time, he would be shown deconstructing and reconstructing them to create what seemed to be a vigilante-like suit with a slew of futuristic, high-tech functionalities.

‘A nice little nod to the game here would be nice…’ Kyle thought to himself as he flipped to the next page.

He had already filmed all those scenes these past few weeks so he’d figured, using [Awake] as a soundtrack for the montage they’d make of it, seemed like a nice fit.

Hopefully, his fellow composers would also agree to it when he ran the idea through them.

As for Nathan himself, having completed the suit roughly a week later, he would then go on to take it for test drive.

But unfortunately for Kyle, most of the scene would require heavy CGI so only a small part of it which would be merged with the full thing had been shot as they’d need The Volume to complete the full scene.

And considering they couldn’t shoot the CGI intensive scenes until they were done filming all the necessary scenes that didn’t need it in New York, that was still two months away.

Flipping to the last page of the comic book where Nathan, took a courageous leap of faith by jumping off the edge of a building in an effort to test his prototype exosuit, a To be continued… text, ended the issue.

‘Ours differs slightly though…’ Kyle smiled knowingly to himself as he closed the book.

Placing the it on the bedside table, the young man then adjusted his pillows and prepared to sleep.

Hoping to lull himself to slumbertown by aimlessly staring at the ceiling, his mind tranquil, a random thought soon wiggled its way into his mind;

‘Come to think of it, Atlas hasn’t pulled any of their typical stunts and shenanigans, ever since we started filming…’

‘Hmmm… fishy…’ Kyle pondered, trying to figure out what the industry juggernaut, or more specifically, what Lex Harlow was up to.

Sure, the multibillion-dollar company was focusing most of their resources on filming [Fables & Legends] in Iceland, Ireland and England as at the moment but still, considering how much of a pest they had been earlier in the year, their quiescence had Kyle feeling slightly unnerved.

And for someone who had a penchant for trusting his gut instinct…

“We’d best be on our guard, just in case…” he mumbled drowsily, a hand reaching to turn off his bedside lamp as the gentle waves of slumber lulled him to sleep.

Yet, surprisingly and contrary to Kyle’s thoughts, the next two months of filming [Tech Wiz: Year One] swimmingly passed by without Atlas International, making a single move or doing anything remotely suspicious for that matter.

Truly, it seemed as if they, or maybe Lex specifically, had no time to deal with Kyle and his team due their own focus on making the live action adaptation of the all-time, bestselling novel.

* * *

Wednesday, 7th of September, 2022.

With all the necessary, non-CGI scenes sorted out in NYC, Kyle, having arrived at Canada the night before, made a brief stop at his office very early the next morning.

Considering he hadn’t seen the rest of his team in months now, he figured it was only natural he be courteous and give his greetings before heading over to his studio for filming.

What Kyle wasn’t expecting however, was a shower of confetti to rain upon him the moment he entered!

“HAPPY 24TH BIRTHDAY KYLE!!!” the entire room chimed in ecstatic unison!

From Oliver, to Owen, Gwen, Stuart, Jennie, Camille and Miguel, all of them popped even more confetti into the air as Kyle’s eyes widened in a mix of shocked surprise!

Yet, just before he could give a reply, someone began to descend from the stairs, a fairly large cake in her hands.

Slowly walking over to the young man as everyone else kept cheering and singing the birthday song, the ever-jocular Owen even blowing on a party horn with a similar party hat atop his head, Christina, unable to sign with her hands, soon arrived a few steps before him whilst slowly mouthing the words;

<Make a wish, Kyle.>

A bit mesmerized by her gleaming evergreen eyes that held, quite possibly, the purest form of warmth he had ever experienced till date, Kyle, slowly angled his gaze towards the candle-lit cake.

No one needed to tell him.

The cake was homemade.

He also didn’t need to be informed.

It was baked by the lady before him.

And to wrap it all up, Kyle, without anyone filling him in, could bet;

Christina planned this.

His team was probably way too busy to even remember their own birthdays, much less his.

So, at the end of the day, all the clues pointed to the beautiful lady before him.

And lo and behold, Kyle’s deductions were right on the money.

As a result, with the warmest of smiles he had ever mustered, Kyle obliged, blowing out the candles as his team cheered even louder.

A core memory was ingrained into Kyle’s memory with this incident.

A memory, that Kyle would always look back on and say;

I may not have realized it back then, but I think, that was the day I well and truly, fell for Christina Aubert.

*

Meanwhile, as Kyle, Christina and his team were celebrating Kyle’s birthday by cutting the cake, Lex, having seemingly left the young man and his team alone all this while, got informed by one of his web of informants that he was back in Canada, alongside the rest of the crew to film [Tech Wiz: Year One’s] remaining scenes.

In response to that info, the multi-billionaire CEO, currently lounging at a private island in the England which he owned, casually called up another number just after with a disposable smartphone.

And when the other end of the line picked, Lex’s voice, cool and measured, spoke;

“Remember that discussion we had last year.”

[About the small fish?] the similarly relaxed voice from the other end of the line replied.

“Yes.” the CEO casually confirmed.

[What about it?] the mysterious voice inquired.

“I need it burnt.” Lex affirmed, his tone leaving no room for discussion.

For a while, the other end of the line remained silent, to which a calculating Lex smirked slightly as he added;

“Blank cheque.”

No sooner had the other end of the line heard those words, a response was provided;

[Deal.]

With that, the transmission was cut off, almost abruptly.

And Lex?

He casually hurled the smartphone out the veranda, the innocent device, shattering into a million little pieces as it ruthlessly collided with the pavement from a 45ft drop.

…

…

…

As Kyle arrived at his Studio in high spirits alongside Oliver and Owen, his employees’ welcoming smiles and warm greetings here and there, further served to augment his buoyance.

Considering they hadn’t also seen their beloved CEO in months, it was only natural that they were similarly ecstatic to see him.

Having exchanged light conversations amongst them all that lasted a few minutes, the young star then made his way to the basement where The Volume was, his agent and his assistant trailing behind.

And of course, with little to do as of the moment, Carlos, Dahlia, Otis, Theo, Phineas and many other employees, similarly followed, curious to see their CEO’s acting skills in real-time.

Considering SpawnPoint Studio’s team of game devs were no more than 25 as at the moment, their numbers, did nothing to affect the efficiency of the film crew downstairs.

The basement where The Volume Technology was installed after all, was rather expansive, both in length and width, allowing for people to move about freely with no clutter.

And so, they quietly watched from the sidelines in intrigue as Kyle casually walked up to converse with Xavier, Sharon and Clint, all of whom had arrived earlier.

About two hours later, after a few reference scenes had been shot here and there, Kyle walked onto the set, fully suited up in the costume.

His employees, clearly excited at the sight of him in the exosuit, gleefully conversed in genuine glee. It was after all, their first time seeing Kyle in the suit up close.

All they’d had to go on with these past few months, had been screenshots from lucky fans on social media whom had been chanced to have been around when Kyle was filming some other scenes in New York.

Angling his gaze over to them whilst waving slightly though, the young star suddenly froze mid-wave, an interesting idea hitting him like a bolt from the blue.

Briskly, he walked over to Xavier, animatedly speaking to him and pointing to his employees at intervals, one that had The Director, noticeably intrigued after Kyle was done.

With a light nod of acceptance a few seconds later, Xavier had one of the production assistants, walk over to the group of curious onlookers, all of whom slowly widened their eyes in a mix of shocked excitement when Xavier’s message was eventually relayed to them.

And so, tightly secured with a dynamic rope with the help of the Stunt Coordinator and Stunt Team a few minutes later, Kyle, standing atop one of the multiple green walls which had been prepped for today’s scene, looked noticeably pumped.

Having already done a very brief section of this scene on a rooftop in NYC without the suit, finally, he would be filming the complete thing.

Nathan’s, or more specifically, Tech Wiz’s, leap of faith scene from the comics!

His employees were similarly full of energy, all of whom had suddenly found themselves as extras in the scene that was about to be shot.

With a brief look-over one more time, Xavier, signaled for all the LED walls to be lit by the cinematographers.

In an instant, the entire basement was encased in a panoramic view of multiple 3D skyscrapers, its simulated evening sun, casting a faint, somewhat euphoric glow across the length of the room.

And then, with a light smile tugging on the corner of his lips, The Director, gave his signature order;

“Lights… Camera… Action!”