Chapter 46 Standing Up For Yourself
Dream Rise House, Nature"s Harmony Neighborhood.
As Kiba/Zed was at the academy, the villa was now empty besides the humanoid droids who were carrying out the miscellaneous ch.o.r.es.
The first floor of the underground section consisted of the high-tech laboratory where Kiba would often visit for his body check. The Cosmic Spark gave him unrivaled powers, but he was afraid there might be side effects of fusing with such a powerful cosmic ent.i.ty. This was the reason he built the lab where even high-grade human experiments could be carried out.
The second floor of the underground section was also special but its security arrangement was on a different scale. Around hundreds of battle droids were constantly on the guard while the walls and floor were embedded with sensors that can detect even the presence of a tiny particle.
Dozens of droids were always on a scout to detect any unusual activity while the laser guns were ready to tackle any disturbance. One can say that the security arrangement was no less than a high-grade military base.
The reason for such a security arrangement was simple: the floor was the lifeline of the villa!
And what was the lifeline of the villa? It was Claudia! The artificial intelligence system responsible for helping Kiba in all ways possible besides managing the villa and the lab.
Thousands of high processing units were constantly collecting and a.n.a.lyzing data they received through various means. All the processing units had one thing in common: they were all connected to a single data chord. The data chord, in turn, merged with a large floating orb.
The orb has a radius of ten meters with various types of wires connecting to it besides the data chord. There were green inscriptions on the orb radiating light resembling electronic circuits.
The orb is covered by a golden force field, and if one looks closely, the golden color slightly resembled the golden lightning which was covering the wasteland yesterday! It wouldn"t be wrong to say that the orb enjoyed no less protection than the bunker reserved for the president of the World Government.
If the scientists from the World Government were to see this mechanical orb they would be beyond shocked. They wouldn"t be shocked by the advanced circuit diagrams or its ability to handle ma.s.sive data but by the composition of the orb!
The orb was made of Divine Particles! It has to be known that those particles are largely responsible for the current mutation on Earth. The science community believed the Divine Particles carried the secret to eternal life but now G.o.d knows how much of the particles were used to make the orb!
Back when Hank found very small traces of Divine Particles inside the metallic biscuits, he was incomparably excited. He has decided to launch an attack on Sky Fiend Group just so that he can get his hands on the tech by which Divine Particles could be retrieved back. Ultimately, Kiba rejected his proposal of coöperation since he felt a sense of crisis from Sky Fiend Group but Hank didn"t stop his pursuit. Even now Hank was concentrating the entire power of White Angel Corporation for attacking Sky Fiend Group. So one can imagine the l.u.s.t people had for the Divine Particles.
Yet so many Divine Particles were used to make a metallic orb! If the news went out then it would lead to a large-scale war. World Government and other mystic organizations would launch an attack on Kiba to get their hands on this...o...b..
Kiba might compromise on some things but he would never agree on giving away this...o...b..no matter what. Because this...o...b..was the source of Claudia!
She was an advanced intelligence agency with no form or body but this...o...b..was her brain. One can say this...o...b..was her very source of existence.
Some distance away from the orb, there were dozens of virtual screens focusing on the important tasks she was carrying out. On one screen, there was the image of Kiba"s "caretaker". Claudia was trying to track his origin so that Kiba can get his revenge on those who tried to kill him after he was born.
Another screen showed the live feed from the Royal Heart Academy"s security network. It showed Kiba entering the building where his cla.s.sroom was located.
Few of the other screens showed the activities of Agatha, Eva, Olivia, and many other women with whom Kiba had shared physical relations.h.i.+p! Not only them but there were screens showing details about Meghan and Carole with whom Kiba planned to form a relations.h.i.+p!
If Kiba came to know of this then he would be shocked! He could never imagine Claudia would carry out surveillance on women without his permission. While Claudia wasn"t able to spy 24*7 on this women, she was able to collect enough data for her to know that they didn"t carry nefarious thoughts against her master.
[[Everything is for his protection]] Claudia said to herself.
Two new virtual screens appeared focusing on Sarah and Daniel.
[[It is much more difficult than I initially thought. I will need at least 3 days before I can activate the plan for reducing the mess my master created.]]
-------
Royal Heart Academy.
Zed was walking towards the cla.s.sroom absent-mindedly when he suddenly b.u.mped into something.
"Ah!"
The sound of a woman"s scream brought Zed back from his absent-minded state. He saw a girl, in her early twenties, on the floor searching for her gla.s.ses. The girl was a brunette with a fair complexion. Her eyes were mesmerizing but now there were faint traces of tears in them.
"My apologies," Zed helped the girl in collecting her gla.s.ses.
"I-it is not your mistake. I was collecting my gla.s.ses on the floor..." The girl stopped in between as if she was afraid to continue.
Zed noticed her body was slightly trembling which startled him. He then looked around and saw a group of female students making warning gestures towards the girl. Some of them were even recording the actions of the girl through their mobiles.
"Bullying?" Zed mused. He could pretty much guess what has happened.
Zed focused his attention on the brunette girl again and finally remembered details about her. He didn"t have much impression of her but he knew she was in the same cla.s.s as him. As far as he could recall, she was a scholars.h.i.+p student in this academy.
The academy was reserved for the children of rich and powerful but to create a goodwill among the city residents, the academy offered few scholars.h.i.+ps to people from backward section provided they displayed exceptional talent in both academic and their mutant abilities.
"No wonder they are bullying her," Zed thought. The rich students were proud of their status so how could they stand to see a girl from a poor household enjoying the same benefits as them?
It was like how a prince would feel if he finds a beggar eating food on the same table as him. A prince might feel pity for a beggar and give him few coins of copper, but the prince absolutely couldn"t stand to see the beggar enjoying the benefits of the royalty.
"Th-thank you," the girl said after Zed gave her the gla.s.ses.
"Jessica, right?" Zed asked.
"Ah...yes," Jessica nodded her head nervously. She was surprised that Zed knew her name.
"If you allow others to take advantage of you, even once, then this cycle would continue forever. The only person who can help you to break this cycle is yourself," Zed said.
"I..." Jessica didn"t how to reply. She knew Zed has realized her situation which made her feel ashamed of her poor display.
The group of bullies also heard Zed"s words but they remained silent. They knew Zed was not someone they could afford to anger even though he originally belonged to slum. Now, not only was he rich but he was also one of the most talented mutants in the academy. The worst part was he has a good reputation in the academy with him often referred to as the perfect youth with no bad virtues.
"Let"s go," Zed told her. He didn"t give another single glance to the bullies again nor did he cared about the trouble they could create for him. If anything he wanted them to create some trouble for him so that he can remove some of his frustration on them.
"Where?" Jessica asked in surprise.
"Obviously to our cla.s.sroom unless you have an appointment elsewhere," Zed answered.
"I don"t have any appointment but.." Jessica"s gaze unconsciously moved towards the group of bullies. She was afraid they would get angry and bully her more severely if she left with Zed.
"If not then let"s go," Zed said with a smile.
Jessica noticed the group of bullies making threatening gestures as if telling her to not go with him. She was feeling extremely nervous and hesitant but just then Zed extended a hand towards her.
She took a deep breath and made her decision!