The day dragged. Every lecture felt twice its length. Even lunch tasted like cardboard.By the time Vicky reached his office at 6:40 PM, he already knew what waited for him.
Rani appeared the moment he booted up the workstation.
Her red hair flickered like digital neon, the cool expression settling into something almost teacher-like.
"Welcome back," she said. "Training Night Two. Sit."
"I didn't even change yet," he muttered, dropping into the chair.
"You won't need to. Tonight's lesson is theoretical and observational. Physical drills come later."
"Great," he sighed. "I love theory."
"You will. If you want to walk into TCS without becoming a headline."
She brought up a holographic window — hundreds of still images, camera angles, access gates, guard rotations, intern movement patterns.
"Lesson One: Stealth is not invisibility," she said. "It is predictability management."
He blinked. "What?"
"Humans are predictable. Security systems are predictable. You must become the one thing neither expects."
"Okay but—"
"No interruptions," she said. "First: Disguise."
She displayed various employee archetypes — interns with backpacks, contractors in neon vests, visiting clients in crisp formals, janitorial staff pushing carts.
"You will NOT enter TCS as a visitor. They check IDs," she said. "You also cannot mimic an employee — their badges use encrypted NFC."
"So… what then?" he asked. "Jump the wall?"
"No," she replied. "You will enter as something all companies ignore."
A hologram of a man in a janitor jumpsuit appeared.
"…a cleaner?" Vicky asked, incredulous.
"Yes. Cleaners are invisible. Nobody remembers their faces. They open doors nobody monitors. They push carts that can hide devices."
Vicky raised his hand like a schoolboy."Rani, I don't know how to BE a cleaner."
"That is why you're being trained."
She continued mercilessly.
"Lesson Two: Digital Ghosting. You need a background that looks real, but leaves no trace."
Images of fake IDs, spoofed attendance logs, and forged routing slips appeared.
"You won't hack anything," she said. "I will. You will act like you belong."
Vicky rubbed his temples. "So… you're basically making me a criminal."
Rani blinked slowly. "At the entry level, yes."
"…cool."
She continued.
Meanwhile, at TCS Butterfly…
Rilu sat at her workstation on the 11th floor, reviewing internal metrics she technically wasn't supposed to access.
Interns didn't touch system logs.Interns didn't monitor uplink spikes.Interns didn't know what "foreign ping signatures" were.
Except she was very much doing all of that.
A colleague walked by."Rilu, break time?"
"One minute," she said softly, eyes never leaving the screen.
A strange data pattern pulsed in the logs.
The same two-second spike from last week's anomaly.Then a faint echo — a signature, almost like a "callback" but incomplete.
Her breath caught.
"Someone poked the network again…" she whispered.
She leaned back, thinking.
If it was the same anomaly…If the signature matched…If it was him…
She murmured under her breath:
"You're really trying to find me, huh?"
There was no anger on her face.No fear.Only a quiet curiosity.
And something close to recognition.
Back in the office — Training intensifies
Rani displayed a simulation of TCS's service gates.Large entry doors where vendor trucks and cleaning carts rolled in every morning.
"These are your points of entry," she explained. "Every corporate security ignores them. They check large items, not the people pushing them."
Vicky squinted at the hologram."But there's a guard. Won't he ask questions?"
"I will forge a digital order slip. You will say the following sentence, exactly."
Rani's voice shifted into a perfect Tamil accent:
"Cleaning assignment for Wing B. Supervisor asked me to cover the night shift."
Vicky's jaw dropped."You… can do accents?"
"I can emulate 230 voice patterns. Tamil-English hybrid is trivial."
"Show-off."
She ignored it.
"Now repeat after me."
He tried mimicking it.
"Cleee-ning assignment fur Wing B. Soo-per-visor—"
"Incorrect," she said flatly. "You sound like you're from a YouTube meme video."
"Give me a break!"
"No."
They practiced for fifteen minutes until he finally nailed the tone.Almost.Maybe.
Rani recorded it.
"We will refine your vocal output tomorrow. For now — Lesson Three."
More windows opened.
"Shadow timing."
"Huh?"
Rani slowed security footage to 0.25x.
"People cast shadows when they walk past bright areas," she explained. "If you walk in their shadow, their movement overwrites yours in peripheral cameras."
Vicky stared."…that's genius."
"Humans discovered this centuries ago. I am simply reminding you."
Meanwhile — Rilu steps outside for a break
She walked to the campus balcony, sipping a paper cup of tea, watching the city glow in the evening light.
Her friend Deepa walked up beside her.
"Hey, why do you look like you're calculating the death of Earth?"
Rilu blinked. "Just… thinking."
"About?"
She hesitated.
"Do you believe in déjà vu?" Rilu asked quietly.
Deepa snorted. "I believe in deadlines. Those are real."
Rilu smiled weakly, but her eyes remained focused on the cityscape.
She murmured to herself:
"It's happening again, isn't it…?"
But she didn't explain further.
Back in the office — Final part of training
Rani showed him a final list.
NIGHT TWO: GOALS
Learn disguises ✔️
Learn speech mimicry ✔️
Learn shadow timing ✔️
Learn janitor route planning ✔️
Learn "invisible behavior"
The last one confused him.
"Invisible behavior?"
"Yes," she said. "You must walk, move, breathe like someone nobody wants to notice."
"How?"
Rani stood still.Expression blank.Hands loosely at sides.Posture neutral.Presence minimal.
It was eerie.
"Try to copy me."
Vicky tried.He looked like a constipated flamingo.
"No," she said. "Relax. Stop posing."
"This is me relaxed!"
"Your body is screaming 'I am suspicious.'"
After twenty minutes, he managed to at least look less like a thief and more like… a sleepy teenager.
"Acceptable," Rani said. "Barely."
He slumped into the chair.
"I'm never going to master this in a week."
"You do not need mastery," she said. "Just enough to not die."
"…I hate how honest you are."
"You enjoy it," she corrected.
He sighed.Maybe he did.