Generation: Numbers
Date: 20. April. 2020
Features: Logan, Virgil, (mentioned Patton and Roman)
Word Count: 1,921
AU: Human; futuristic; kinda-soulmate
Warnings: small robbery scene, vague ending, unedited

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Logan had complete and utter faith in the system that determined the fate of mankind. A simple glance at his left arm he could answer any query pertaining to his life in an instant. The nano-tech that was embedded into the skin of every living human was amazing and intricate- granted, it wasn't without flaws; but loving numbers as Logan did, the inability for the nano-tech to reflect anything other than numerical data didnt mean anythin to him.

His bank account balance, his health, his debts, the birthdays of those he cared about- all of it was available to him with a simple double tap to his left wrist and then an audible command of what information he required. Granted, Logan was a brilliant man, a man with a best friend that was obsessed with the idea of soulmates. Said best friend had heard rumors relating to the nano-tech being able to predict your soulmate if you requested the appropriate information, but the problem came with translating the given data.

So, to entertain his friend, Logan translated the data for him- and for one other. Receiving the same results for those two led to a confusing moment for the young male, and so it was with morbid curiosity that he double tapped his wrist and spoke his request. You see, to put it into simple terms- Patton and Roman's data both came down to a base of 8. The final product for the code- all very intricate, but the defining factor that couldn't be duplicated was an 8. But Logan? The math and code didn't seem to add up right.

So he opened up a small business. For the rest of his university mates, he received the codes from their nano-tech and translated it. He found several people's soulmates for them- but his 0 went unmatched. His math wasn't wrong, he had translated the coding properly- but the number seemed to fester and push him toward insanity. He wasn't a fan of unanswerable questions.

Distracted by his growing coursework and the conundrum that was the soulmate coding, Logan nearly failed to realize he had a bill payment coming. Heading to the bank, he sighed as the nano-tech activated and sent a signal through the system- data tracking. His presence in the bank has been recorded and filed away, and his transaction activity was soon to be recorded as well. Logan walked to the line after grabbing the slip he needed, filling it out on the back of his wallet as he waited in the line- the worst part of going on a Friday, to be quite honest.

Suddenly, all hell broke loose. Lost in his bubble of filling in the appropriate paperwork, Logan failed to notice the small group walk through the door. A group that was wearing masks and that was quick to split up in an attempt to achieve their goal as quickly as possible. It took a few moments, but when Logan realized what was happening around him, he sighed and pocketed his belongings before stepping out of line. Glancing at the small group he chooses to approach the thinnest of the group. His body type was lithe, and his posture showed that he was uncomfortable.

"Excuse me?" Logan speaks softly, but firmly.

The person's shoulders tensed up and looked at Logan, Logan being slightly taller than the masked man the guy had to tilt his head back to make eye contact. "What are you doing over here?" He asked quickly, the terse way he spoke shaking as he tried to control his volume.

"I have a few questions I feel you could answer." Came the calm reply as Logan reached up and adjusted his glasses.

"I don't work here, dude."

Logan let out a soft chuckle, "No, I would think not. My question is how you and your friends are going to get away with this- your nano-tech was recorded entering the building, after all."

It was brief, but Logan caught a glimpse of the flash of emotion across the young man's eyes. The emotions that battled for control over the man's irises were strong but quick- a lesser man would have been knocked off-kilter for the rapid changing before the hazel eyes settled back into something more neutral.

"We all have our secrets."

"That's not inherently true." Logan was quick to respond, adjusting his glasses slightly, "I'm an open book if one cares to ask the questions, my best friend Patton and his boyfriend are even worse. They're more akin to those radio broadcasts you hear in stores despite wanting to block them out; so what are you?"

The flash of panic registered so fast that had Logan blinked he would have missed it- his gut instinct seemed to be right about thos guy. What his gut instinct was trying to tell him though? Logan still wasn't quite sure.

"You're not gonna drop this are you?"

"It's pronounced 'going to,'and I'm afraid not- something is telling me the answer is important."

"Something is-?" The other man gut himself off with a disbelieving chuckle before glancing around them, "Okay, I'll answer you on one condition- give me your wrist." Instinctively, Logan left his right arm only to have it waved away, "Your left."

As soon as Logan's left wrist was in the air within easy reaching distance, the man grabbed at his nano-tech. A simple double-tap activated the screen, but the man didn't speak just yet. Instead, Logan watched in awe as several swift movements brought up a window he had never seen on anyone's nano-tech before- and this was coming from the man who hacked them to solve the soulmate equation!

"Delete."

The singular word cut through Logan's thoughts instantly, bringing him crashing back into reality as he looked back at his wrist only to see his location data? The guy went through a few more screens before speaking again.

"Disable duration E minus thirty minutes." There was a pause as he read over the screen, "Confirm" Dropping Logan's wrist, the man looked around quickly before nodding, "Let's go."

If you were to ask Logan the next day why he followed the man, he honestly would not be able to produce a grounded answer. His instincts said to go- so he went; but he knew Patton would be at least semi-proud of him (for the listening to instinct part, not the following a potential criminal part). It was only a matter of fifteen minutes later, but Logan found himself sitting in a moderately busy cafe at a table in the corner, facing the man he had just followed out of a robbery.

"A journal." Logan blinked in confusion at the sudden words, "You said you were an open book? I'm a journal. I have all of the most personal information inside and I'm intent on keeping it hidden- so why didn't you want to let me?"

"Instinct said not too." Logan shrugged, startling another soft, yet raspy, laugh from the man.

"Okay Mr. Instinct, if you're such an open book- what do you do for a living?"

"On paper I am a full-time college student working through an advanced track in order to become a scientist with funding from whomever I please- off paper, I have a side job computing soulmate coding and 'matchmaking' all who seek such answers."

"You- how?"

Logan offered a small smile before gesturing to the other man's wrist, "May I?"

An arched brow was the initial response, but as the man hesitantly nodded and slowly raised his arm above the table; Logan reached into his pocket and removed a small notepad and pen. Holding the other man's wrist, Logan acti b.c ated the nano-tech and proceeded to work his own way through the system before producing a page of written code which he picked out the important bits and notated then on his notepad.

"This is the starting point." He stated, showing the other his notations before beginning the process of plugging the numbers into his first equation set, "That is followed by my five-part process to determine the root, base, and-" Logan paused to let our a hum, "I suppose you could say common factors but their a little more intricate and tricky than that."

The scratching of the pen on paper was only interrupted as he thanked the cafe worker for being over his tea. Minutes later, Logan sat back with a confused grunt.

"What? Is something wrong with my soulmate math?"

Logan couldn hear the anxious tone in the other's voice, but it still took a moment for him to be able to produce a voice of his own as he shook his head. "No, nothing is wrong." He admitted before tearing the page out and passing it to the other man. "There's your soulmate information, what you want to do with it is up to you now, though."

The man looked over the paper for a long minute, pouring over the multitude of equations written in nearly impossibly small handwriting. Logan simply slipped at his tea as he let the other stew over what to do. "What if.. I want to know who my soulmate is?"

"Normally, I would inform you of my fee and tell you that it may not be an immediate answer as I may not have the information in my database that matches your information."

The man narrowed his eyes, "There's an exception here though, isn't there?"

"I would be remiss to inform you otherwise."

"You know you have the information, but something is making you hold back. So you know the person well."

"That is quite true."

"What makes you hesitant about the answer?"

Logan exhaled a soft sigh as he used his pen to lower the paper the man still held vertical and pointed to a single digit at the bottom of the page. "You see this digit here? I have only seen this digit one other time. It is extraordinarily rare."

"How rare are we talking, Specs?"

"I have calculated the information for nearly 3,000 individuals and I have seen only one other person with a '0' as the final calculation for that particular information set."

"Would... would they want to meet someone like me?"

That question took Logan by surprise- and the answer he wanted to give was even more shocking to himself; however, Logan knew that he couldn't jump into this in the manner that Patton or Roman might. Taking a grounding breath, he offered a slightly teasing smirk, "Would you be less of a journal around them if you knew who they were?"

"I- that's-! You can't-!" The man paused and reevaluated his words before nodding slightly, "I would try."

Looking into the man's eyes for a moment, Logan failed to see any dishonesty or deception hiding behind them. So it was only a matter of seconds before he looked to his notebook again, flipping it over and turning to the new first page. "Third line." He stated simply before pushing the notebook to the other.

"Logan Roberts?"

As the man looked up from the notepad, he was greeted with Logan's smile and an outstretched hand, "It's a pleasure to meet you-?"

It took a moment before the man realized exactly what was being said and he met Logan's hand with his own, "Virgil- uh... Virgil Sanders."

"Now, my little journal, I believe I asked you a question back in the bank..."