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Age Of Superhumans
Chapter 33: The Leviathan Part 3

Chapter 33: The Leviathan Part 3

The drive to the other side of the island city soon proved to be slow and quite long for the driver, as he suffered through the constant replaying of Nikolai's song, all while he sung along without reservation.

Having stayed with Nikolai long enough, this sight wasn't really a surprise to Riddick, so he chose to ignore it and instead focus on looking at the scenery as they drove to their destination. Every corner they passed and every road they turned into gave brand-new sights for Riddick to admire.

The architecture of the island city was quite unique, with most buildings made of the same dark marble-like material that gave it a unified look, as if it was all one huge complex. And despite the city being quite large, there was little to no people that could be seen roaming around the clean sidewalks and pavements. One would occasionally see a figure strolling around, but aside from that and the presence of other vehicles moving around, one would think that the city was without habitants.

Riddick wanted to question on this as well, but considering the fact Nikolai didn't take the initiative to explain himself, he didn't bother. Because he inwardly knew that eventually, the information would come to him, so there was no need to rush and concern himself with trying to know everything at the start as it would only become a tedious endeavor.

Soon, the car began to slow down, getting into a nearby street, which much like the other streets on the island city, seemed rather empty. Immediately the driver stopped, he quickly turned off the car just so the music would stop playing as he said, "We've arrived, sirs. Will you be long, or shall I wait?"

Nikolai quickly replied, "We won't be long, Slim. Just wait here."

Slim was inwardly disappointed to hear this but on the surface, he replied politely still, "As you say."

Having said that, Nikolai turned to Rick and nodded, as both of them proceeded to come out of the vehicle. As they did so, Nikolai came from his side of the car to stand on the pavement where Riddick had come out onto. Then he turned his attention to a three-story building labeled Hamilton Cybernetics in dark metallic letters with a unique logo below.

Nikolai stepped forward first and approached the building with Riddick in toll. It had automatic sliding doors, so the moment they got close, they slid open, and Nikolai and Riddick walked through, arriving in the lounge area.

Unlike the exterior, the interior was almost entirely white: from the marble floor, to the leather couches for guests, the receptionist desk at the far end, and even the elevators and flower vases present. Riddick only took note of this detail as Nikolai proceeded over to the receptionist.

Upon reaching there Nikolai immediately leaned over the counter and spoke without reservation, "I'm here to see Hamilton."

The receptionist, a woman in a short-sleeved office shirt and skirt also white in color, looked quite surprised. Her hazel brown eyes fell on Nikolai's imposing figure as she brought her hand to her medium-length red hair, locking aside some follicle that had been covering her freckled face, before clearing her throat and answering, "I'm sorry, do you have an appointment?"

Nikolai immediately shook his head, "Since when does Hamilton need me to set an appointment?"

Once again, the woman was confused, thinking that Nikolai was just perhaps a rude customer. However, she was only a staff member, and in Island City, a customer meant a contract killer, someone she didn't want getting on the bad side of. So, she calmly replied, "One moment."

After replying this, she quickly made a call and began saying, "There's someone to see Mr. Hamilton here. He says he doesn't need an appointment. Yes, that's exactly what he said. Okay, hold on." After saying this, she turned her gaze back to Nikolai and asked, "May I know your names, sir?"

To which Nikolai quickly replied, "Nikolai Rasputin."

A loud gulp could be heard from the woman the moment she heard that name, but she did her best to keep a strong face as she lifted her phone again to speak to the person on the other side of it, "Nikolai Rasputin. Yes, Nikolai Rasputin. Please send someone more qualified do that… I-I see…I understand," she fearfully muttered before turning her attention back to Nikolai, looking as if she was about to cry as she asked, "May I please have your proof of identity?"

As she asked that, she raised a small device and put it on the counter, adding, "It's simply protocol."

Nikolai sighed, stating, "Hamilton must really be doing well if this is what it takes to get to him."

Having said that, Nikolai, familiar with the device, put his finger into it, and after a few seconds, it flashed on, stating, "Identity confirmed: Nikolai 'Overwatch' Rasputin, former Leviathan slot holder."

Hearing the confirmation, the woman's heart had begun to beat faster, the fear in her mind at an all-time peak. At first, she was already fearful that a slot holder could kill her, after all, she was a staff member, and the consequences for killing her would likely be much less than the consequences of killing another contract killer. This was, of course, only her speculation.

However, with his identity now confirmed, she had an even greater reason to be fearful of Nikolai, whose reputation preceded him.

He ignored her trembling expression and the sweat beading down her pretty face as he asked in an annoyed tone, "Does my son need to confirm his identity as well?"

The woman gulped again, her mouth feeling incredibly dry as she tried to moderate a response, but no words came out. She then began hyperventilate, prompting Nikolai to stop giving her a hard time, "Relax, relax, I'm joking. Trust me, if I wanted to kill you, I'd have done it already."

Having said that, Riddick looked up at Nikolai from the corner of his eye, saying to him, "You're really a people person, huh?"

Before Nikolai could form a response, the nearby elevator to the right side of the reception desk quickly opened, and a man bolted out and skidded on the floor for a bit before falling down, dropping several documents he was holding.

The man, upon raising his head, showed his features composed of medium-length brown hair with a beard stubble to match. He also wore glasses, but his green eyes were still visible through them. Overall, had a rather tired-looking expression, and his attire, much like much of the interior of the building, was entirely white, apart from the lab coat that possessed some dark stains.

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The commotion surrounding the man’s entrance prompted both Riddick and Nikolai to turn his way, with Nikolai showing a smile and opening his hands as if wanting to hug the man, "Hamilton, nice building you've got yourself here. You're not trying to avoid me now, are you?"

Hearing Nikolai's question, the man quickly scrambled to his feet while shaking his head. "O-Of course not, Mr. Rasputin. How could I ever do such a thing to my benefactor? I owe you so much. Welcome, welcome! Can I get you something to drink? Something to eat? Fruit? Meat? The receptionist? Anything you want." The man was practically sweating bullets as he spoke, but Nikolai gestured him to calm down with his hands.

"Calm down, Jeffrey. I'm not here to strong-arm you."

"You're not?" Dr. Hamilton asked in a thick South Orientiean accent. This time, he sounded a bit relieved, hearing that Nikolai wasn't there to find trouble with him, though this didn't ease the fear he clearly still felt as his hands continued to tremble, something Riddick took notice of, making him wonder, ‘just what did this guy owe Nikolai?’

"I'm not," Nikolai confirmed, before turning his attention toward Rick. "That's my son."

Inwardly, Dr. Hamilton was in despair. ‘Oh dear God, there's two of them.’ On the surface, though, he showed a bright smile and walked over to Riddick to greet him, even going as far as to lower his head, "Nice to meet you. I've heard quite a lot about you from your father. All good things."

As Dr. Hamilton said this, Nikolai disagreed, "No, you haven't."

Dr. Hamilton felt like he was going to cry as he continued to shake Riddick's hand, correcting himself, "Ah, yes, no, I haven't. Must be thinking of someone else. Ha.. Ha..."

Riddick stared down at Dr. Hamilton, who couldn't even keep his gaze settled on Riddick, before turning away as Riddick broke the handshake. Once again, inwardly complaining, ‘Dammit, he's also scary. Why? Just why? In the next life, I shall have no debts.’ he thought to himself in his native tongue as Nikolai turned to face him and explain his reason for being there.

"Well I'm not going to take much of your time, I'm sure you're a busy person, considering how nice of a place you've got yourself here."

Dr. Hamilton laughed nervously, "All thanks to benefactor Rasputin, a thousand thanks to you and-."

Before the Hamilton could finish speaking, Nikolai cut him off, "Yeah, yeah, look, I need you to transplant my son's chip the same way you did mine."

Looking at Riddick and then back at Nikolai, Dr. Hamilton now got a rough understanding of why Nikolai had come to see him, and he promptly nodded his head, "Yes, yes, that won't be a problem. I've made great strides in that area of research, so he will have the best-."

As Dr. Hamilton was about to break into a ramble, Nikolai waved his hand and cut him off yet again, "I know you’ll give him the best. He's my son, after all. You wouldn't want to give him something of inferior quality, now would you?"

Dr. Hamilton gulped and quickly responded, shaking his head, "No, no, never, I swear on 1000 of my ancestors that-."

Once again, Nikolai cut him off before he could rant, "Yeah, yeah, good. Now that we've got that sorted out, I'll leave you to it. Just give us a moment."

As Nikolai said this, he began to walk toward the exit of the building and urged Riddick to follow. Riddick complied and began to walk side-by-side as Nikolai said to him, "Well then, little comrade, this is my last gift to you. The last piece you're going to need before you can really be adequately prepared to take on what being Overwatch will demand of you. Good luck."

Riddick nodded and simply said, "Thanks," in reply. Truthfully, he had a lot more questions to ask Nikolai, who he saw as a treasure trove of knowledge and experience. But he also knew too much dependency on someone else was bad. Considering the point at which he was in his life, Nikolai gave him an astounding opportunity; asking any more would simply be being greedy, and so he chose to keep his reply short and not ask anything else.

Nikolai inwardly knew that Riddick likely had more questions for him, but seeing him not ask, he felt pleased with the growth in his mentality. He brought his hand forward and placed it on Riddick's shoulder and smiled, saying, "Don't worry, as long as you stay true to yourself, I have no doubt that you will be successful." He then added, "I look forward to hearing about your endeavors little comrade," before turning to leave.

As he was doing so, Riddick was about to say something, but he stopped himself, instead just watching as Nikolai's figure disappeared through the doors.

Once Nikolai was gone, Riddick turned his attention to the worried doctor, who looked incredibly relieved seeing Nikolai gone. As Riddick walked back to the man, he even showed a smile as he suggested, "Follow me; we can get started right away, Mr..?"

"Riddick Rasputin. What a grand name; it echoes of glory and-" Before the man could break into a rant as a bad habit of his, Riddick cut him off, the same way Nikolai had. Though, he didn't do it as intimidatingly as Nikolai, simply saying, "Could we just go? I have other matters to attend to, and I wouldn't want to keep my father waiting."

Hearing Riddick say this, the fear that had slightly faded within Dr. Hamilton immediately rose up once again, as he nodded continuously and gestured Riddick toward the elevator. "Oh yes, yes, we wouldn’t want that. He is a very busy man. Come this way, follow me."

As he began to walk toward the elevator, Dr. Hamilton turned toward his receptionist and pointed to the documents he'd dropped initially when he fell, saying quickly, "Pick those up and give them to my secretary. And prepare a drink and meals for our guest, quickly, quickly."

"It won't be necessary," Riddick replied, rather matter-of-factly, leaving Dr. Hamilton no room to put across kind gestures or show hospitality. Riddick didn't need them, for he knew they were only given to him, mostly because of the fear Dr. Hamilton seemed to have for Nikolai.

That didn't bother Riddick, though, because he knew he had no reputation to lean on, and without Nikolai, even if he was a slot holder, he would've likely needed an appointment, like the receptionist had asked before. And who knew all along that would take, so even if the benefits came from the fake relation to Nikolai, he would gladly welcome them, for they would be the building blocks from which he would build his own foundation and reputation.

As the duo stepped into the elevator, Dr. Hamilton no longer tried to speak, instead just staying quiet and avoiding eye contact. He pressed a button leading to the third floor, and as the elevator hummed to start, he kept giving side glances to Riddick, who had been leaning against the side panels quietly observing. To say the ride was incredibly awkward for Dr. Hamilton would've been an understatement.

However, the elevator didn't take long to reach the third floor, and upon opening, Dr. Hamilton immediately rushed out and, with a wide smile, welcoming Riddick to his lab. "Welcome to my workspace!"

Riddick casually stepped out of the elevator, lacking the excitement Dr. Hamilton had. When he did so, he was met with a cybernetic lab, all white in color, unlike anything he'd seen before, from the quality of the material and furniture to the numerous advanced machinery present. Strangely enough, within this lab, there was no other person, and instead, droids that were in constant movement, performing various tasks.

In response to the doctor's enthusiasm, Riddick only said to him, "It's nice," in a neutral tone. This made the doctor unsure whether or not Riddick was being sincere or not. This was the first time Dr. Hamilton was meeting Riddick, so it was fairly hard for him to discern Riddick's character. He could already tell from the first floor that Riddick was different from Nikolai, and he was now beginning to see him as someone who's quieter yet intimidating.

That was part of the reputation Riddick wanted to built for himself, as he knew the less words he spoke, the less people would know about him. Given just how fresh he was in the professional scene of contract killers, it was imperative that he kept a low profile by displaying a character that was very hard to read and manipulate. Gaining reputation through his actions and not words.

Because of that, Dr. Hamilton was finding it hard to establish communication with Riddick, which he was truthfully trying to do, so that he could begin a good relationship with him, perhaps not one based on fear like with Nikolai. Unfortunately for the doctor, this desire didn't seem like it was going to come to fruition. He internally sighed to himself but kept up his smile as he gestured Riddick to follow him. "Come with me to the operating chair. We shall begin right away."