Is this destiny?

Marija's fingers were flying over the keyboard. She is rushing and her code was not well organized, but that does not mean that it's not working.

"Ha!", Marija exclaimed when she opened the file, confident that she scored this point. One more to go!

She glanced at the overall statistics and her brows furrowed.

[File retrieved (and read): none

Code counts:

Marija: 1703 lines of code with 9834 characters

Oni: 1427 lines of code with 7125 characters

Vulnerabilities found:

Marija: 24 found

Oni: 26 found]

Time left: 2:28

Marija stared blankly at the numbers. Oni is leading in two out of three categories with less than two and a half minutes to go and… Why is Marija not having her point? She has the file.

"Mishi!", Marija exclaimed. "What is this? Where is my point?"

"I am not the one who assigns points. It's automatic.", Mishi responded.

"It malfunctioned!", Marija raged.

"Then we will debug it when the time runs out. I suggest you work on getting your second point because at this rate, you will lose.", Mishi said calmly.

Marija puffed her cheeks in frustration. She glanced at Oni and saw that she is smirking. Is something funny? Marija reminded herself to stay focused. She needs one more point!

There is no way that she can optimize her code to be better than Oni's in such a short amount of time, so she is left with finding issues. She needs two to tie the score and three to win. Yes. She will go with that. Oni is a newbie and her code if full of flaws. Finding three more will be a child play.

Marija glanced at the wall to confirm the time left for the attack phase and paused while watching Oni's screen projected on the wall. Is Oni removing encryption on Marija's file? Impossible!

"Marija… you are spacing out, that is not like you.", Emir reminded her.

"So far we were only going to crack the defense and the fastest one wins, so she can't stay focused…", Tereza said in a half-whisper.

"Shh!", Mishi reminded them to be quiet.

Marija gritted her teeth and continued typing like crazy…

Michael's hands were shaking as he looked at the time 6… 5… 4… 3… 2…

The statistics flashed with a change:

[File retrieved (and read): Oni

Code counts:

Marija: 1873 lines of code with 10134 characters

Oni: 1589 lines of code with 7925 characters

Vulnerabilities found:

Marija: 27 found

Oni: 27 found]

"Yes!", Michael exclaimed and jumped on his feet while throwing his fists in the air.

The screen showed final score:

[Oni: 2 vs Marija: 0]

(The tie in vulnerabilities found does not count)

Michael rushed to Oni and pulled her into a hug while everyone else looked at the score and detailed statistics in silence.

Marija balled her hands into fists and exclaimed: "The score is not right! I have her file!"

Oni's eyes sparkled from happiness. She won!

"Good job.", Sarah told Oni when she approached her.

Aiden also gave his praises. "I like your approach."

Oni grinned. "Sarah told me to use this…", Oni pointed to her temple.

"Why are you celebrating!?", Marija approached them angrily. "No one cares that I had her file first? It's a tie at best."

Oni raised her hand, indicating that she will answer Marija's questions. "You have a file, but that is not THE file."

Marija's face turned ugly. "What!?"

Oni went back to her keyboard and opened two locations side-by-side. "See? We had ten minutes for deployment of our solution on the server, and during that time I hid the file I needed to protect in the system files of the operating system. This whole time you were going after a dummy file. So, you have a file, but it's not the right one."

Marija frowned. "That is against the rules!"

"Actually… it's not.", Mishi responded. "The rule of the match said that you need to protect the file, but there are no instructions on how to do it. Other than having the file on your designated server, there are no other limitations."

Marija was outraged. "I lost because of technicality?"

Sarah shook her head in disapproval. "That is not technicality. The goal is to protect your data, and that is what Oni did. Stop looking for gaps when there are none. What Oni did is according to the rules."

Marija exhaled and asked angrily: "So… are you expecting me to leave now?"

Sarah looked at the other members of the Sigma army, silently asking for their input. She already knows that they are not big fans of Marija and her behavior, but she wants to know if any of them changed their minds. Of course, that will not change Sarah's mind, but she needs to know if the rest of the team is tight or are they easily swayed under pressure.

Tereza stood up and faced Marija: "Marija, you agreed to this match and the conditions. If you back out of this, I don't think I can trust you anymore."

Marija looked at Mishi, Emir, Petar and Lucija. "Do you all think that I should leave Sigma army? And abandon our plans for Ceresc Solutions?"

"Those are conditions you agreed on.", Mishi reminded her.

Emir stood up next to Tereza. "I don't need to remind you that we are doing sensitive work. Trust is more important than the skills. You agreed to this in front of everyone and if you decide not to honor it we will not be able to trust you."

Marija understood that they all expect her to leave. She sneered. "Are you not afraid that I will expose you after I'm out of this merry little gang?"

"You know things about us, but we also know things about you.", Lucija responded.

Petar held Lucija's hand in his and added: "As you know, we are keeping an eye on Nick, we will do the same for you. If we suspect that you are about to betray us, we will not hesitate to retaliate."

"Are you threatening me?", Marija asked under her breath. She could not believe that it reached this point of everyone ousting her and even threatening.

Sarah was happy that everyone made their stance clear. Now is time for her to take over.

Sarah narrowed her eyes at Marija. "It's not a threat. It's a promise. If you try put my friends or my family in danger, I will come after you. But if you leave and don't think of retaliating, you can continue your life without worrying about any of us."

Marija snorted. "Fine." She stomped toward the door.

"Marija…", Aiden called, making Marija stop in her tracks. "I am letting you go only because you have a history with Sarah, and she believes that you are smart enough to know what should not be said outside of this circle. One slip and I will find you."

Marija didn't respond. She didn't have anything to say. She was hurt and angry and she saw that no one wants her there and she decided to leave this place and… she will think about this later.

Sarah looked at Mishi, Emir, Petar, Lucija and Tereza. "If you have any objections or concerns, now is the good time to speak out."

"No objections.", Mishi responded. "Toxic people should be removed before they spread their poison to others."

Emir agreed with Mishi. "What would happen if tomorrow she has a disagreement with Lucija? Will she go after Petar in order to spite her?"

"We are all friends and it is normal to have disagreements. But to go this far just to make someone you don't like to look bad is not excusable.", Tereza added to Emir's point.

"Other than our identities, she knows about this place and out plans for Ceresc Solutions.", Petar voiced his concern.

"We will keep an eye on her.", Aiden assured them. "Ceresc Solutions are still in planning phase, so what she knows is not much. But even if she knows, we've got your backs…"

After clarifying few more points, they dispersed for free activities until lunch, with a plan to meet in the afternoon for another round of meetings.

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