I Pretended to Be Myself

Apocalypse smiled. "All those people outside the prison were shouting your name. Why didn't you ask how they knew it?"

Scott thought about it. Fair point.

He was something of a name in the hacking world.

The papers had covered his case from three years ago quite a bit.

Anyone who wanted to look him up could do it easily.

So he said, "Are you here to recruit me for your company too? I already told the others I'm taking a few days to relax before I go back to work."

Apocalypse shook his head. "No. I'm here to make a friend. My last name is Tang."

Scott didn't shake his hand. "Heh. I've seen enough business types like you. You say you want to make friends, but you always have an angle."

Apocalypse wasn't offended. "Why did you ask for an autographed photo of the Apocalypse King? Are you a fan?"

"At my age? I don't follow celebrities," Scott said.

"I asked for my daughter, Cassie. She's a huge fan of the Apocalypse King. She brings him up every time we talk."

Apocalypse smiled. "That's easy, then. I'll give your daughter a photo of the Apocalypse King as a gift for our first meeting."

"Hiss..."

Luis sucked in a breath. "I heard a photo of the Apocalypse King is worth tens of millions of dollars. You'd really give one away, man?"

Scott remained calm. "Luis, don't listen to him. Nobody knows what the Apocalypse King looks like. He could hand us a random stranger's photo, and how would we know if it was real?"

Luis saw his point. Clutching the money in his hand, he asked suspiciously, "This money... it isn't fake too, is it?"

"You'll know once we get into the city," Apocalypse said.

The three chatted on