This chapter has been proof-read by: AnthonyL
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Upon exiting the laboratory, the Pen family were met by Lorenzo's assistant, miss Maeda Sadashi. The small woman closely observed the 3 handsome family members walking toward her with envious eyes. 'Beautiful people truly make beautiful babies~~' She mused to herself.
Lorenzo was 6”2, had black hair and blue eyes while Kneeko and Lucy both had long black hair and emerald green eyes. Measuring 5”8, the twins who were barely 15 years old, were already much taller than herself. Even though Lorenzo had a very masculine look, his children appeared to be more on the feminine side.
Maeda who was always in control of the situation couldn't help but feel a bit tense at the sight of the two twins. Anyone who saw them had this feeling deep inside of them, as if these two teenagers were not like the others. Be it their total lack of facial emotions, the way they conducted themselves or their almost too perfect appearance, people couldn't help but feel intimidated at the sight of them.
“Hajimemashite, Maeda Sadashi desu. Dōzo yoroshiku onegaishimasu”
“Nice to meet you, I’m Maeda Sadashi. Nice to meet you” Greeted Maeda before offering a 90° bow. Kneeko and Lucy stared at the woman without saying a word then looked at each others.
“74%” Suddenly said Lucy.
“No I would say more around 93%” Then continued Kneeko.
Ignoring them, Lorenzo then introduced his children to his assistant. “This is Nicolas, and this is Lucia. Please don't pay attention to their little games, that's how they get to... know people...” Said Lorenzo whose face was slowly turning complicated as the twins' discussion kept getting more and more revealing.
“But we know that father prefers big breasts... How could you come up with a number in the 90's?” Inquired Lucy to her big brother.
“It doesn't matter if the woman is a tiger wearing sheep's clothing. I can smell perverseness from here. Can't you sense the lack of stress even though she's in such an important position? I betcha we'll have to call her mom before long.” Then argued Kneeko while showing a confident expression.
“Ha! Now that you mention it... Okay okay 84%.” Eventually conceded Lucy.
“Excuse me but, what might you be talking about?” Curious, Maeda couldn't help but ask, but as soon as she did, Lorenzo interrupted and prompted everybody to get on board of the helicopter. “Let's talk later okay hehehe *awkward laugh* Come on board.”
Once inside the helicopter, Kneeko and Lucy sat next to each other on one side while their father and his assistant sat on the other side. Maeda tried to open up a conversation with the twins, but was met with their usual stoic and emotionless facial expressions, which made her decide to stay quiet.
After an hour of awkward staring at each other in silence, Lucy then broke the silence once again. “White.” She simply said while staring at Maeda with judging eyes. “Tsss, Sister still has a long way to go. Definitely black.” Confidently answered Kneeko.
“No way! Bhuuuuu I won't accept it.” Then Lucy leaned forward and pretended to tie her shoelaces but looked up under Maeda's skirt instead. Noticing what she was doing, Maeda quickly pressed her hands between her thighs, hoping to hide her panties but it was too late.
“DAMMITTTTTT!!!!!!” Screamed Lucy in annoyance. “893,298 to 259,660... Can't you admit that I am the king at that game...” Said Kneeko while boasting an air of superiority. “Bhuuuu*” Pouted Lucy.
Maeda was blushing from ear to ear, confused by these weird teenagers' behaviour and looked at Lorenzo for answers, but the man was looking out the windows and pretending to be elsewhere. 'Hooo, look at the pretty birds. I'm on a beach, I'm on a beach.' thought Lorenzo to himself.
A hint of annoyance could be seen on Maeda's face as she automatically attributed Lorenzo's lack of authority toward them as the cause for the twins' weird and rude behaviour. Luckily for them, their natural way of interacting on such an intimate level together, greatly helped make their twins role-play believable.
A few hours later, Tokyo came into view. Lucy was glued to the window, seeing all these modern things in person for the first time. Coming from a medieval world to the real modern world, Lucy couldn't help but break away from her usual expressionless facial expression.
“Woooooooooooo...... Waaaaaaaaaaa.....” Marvelled Lucy, as for Kneeko, he was excited to be back as well but was mostly annoyed by his sister's overly excited behaviour.
“You saw all that on the internet before. If you're to be my twin, you are not allowed to act like a vulgar primate.” Spewed Kneeko between his teeth. Hearing her brother's words, Lucy immediately straightened up and returned to her focused, yet emotionless state.
Seeing this, Maeda concluded that 'Nicolas' was the one running the show and was most likely the bad influence on his sister. A few more minutes later, the helicopter finally landed in front of a mansion built in the middle of what seemed like a private forest.
Kneeko was impressed. His father had apparently put his 2 year lead to good use. The group got out and walked up to the mansion's front door, where some domestics were waiting for them. “Welcome back mister Lorenzo” First said a blond haired, blue eyed European looking man wearing what looked like a butler outfit. The man then turned toward the twins and continued.
“And you must be Mister Nicolas and Miss Lucia. My name is Ivan, the head butler in charge of the Pen's mansion. Hope you find your stay comfortable and if you need anything please don't hesitate to call for me.” Gracefully said the man before offering a bow.
Kneeko and Lucy looked at the man, inspected him from head to toe then simply responded with a small nod. Ivan guided them to the large door and welcomed them to enter. Upon entering, 20 maids who were lined up on each side of a long red carpet bowed and offered their greetings.
Kneeko turned around to look at his father with a judgmental look, but Lorenzo only responded with a wink. Was he trying to say that these were his to play with? Kneeko then walked up to one of the maids who had beautiful black hair and brown eyes. From the way she looked, Brazilian maybe?
She wasn't too tall, had a cute ass and ample breasts. Kneeko then raised her skirt which made the woman squeal in surprise. Lucy was looking at the scene with an amused look in her eyes but Lorenzo quickly walked up to him and whispered to his ear. “I know what you are doing, but you can't pick among our employees. Anyway, try to remember that you are 15 years old.”
Tch* Clicking his tongue, Kneeko stepped back to his sister's side. “Apologies miss, that was rude of me. My name is Nicolas Pen, please take good care of me.” Then said Kneeko before offering a polite bow.
“My name is Lucia Pen, please take good care of me.” Imitated Lucy. A breath of relief could be felt from the employees after the twins' polite display but Lorenzo was worried. This behaviour was abnormal. What were they planning?
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Leaving that aside for the moment, Lorenzo then gave them a quick tour of the mansion before finally leading Kneeko to his private room. The room was big and contained a bed and everything a bedroom should contain, but also had more electronics than one could imagine.
Lorenzo walked up to a big shelf, holding a bunch of what looked like futuristic masks and explained; “These here are all the headsets of our competitors' VR.” Explained Lorenzo before turning his attention to the other corner of the room.
“This giant pod over there will be your future admin access pod to UnivR, our company's new VRMMO. It's still not publicly released, but you can already access it if you want to. Of course I understand that since you just arrived, you probably don't want to go back to a VR immediately.”
Annoyed, Kneeko turned his glare back toward his father and asked. “Stop with the unimportant stuff. How and where are they?” Lorenzo knew exactly what Kneeko wanted to know but was pleasantly surprised to see him care about them. “Don't worry, all 5 of them are already integrated into our new system. They are ready to be uploaded at anytime but we haven't experimented with that yet, are you sure you want to risk it? We can't make backups...” Worryingly asked his father.
“I swore to show them the world I'm from. We might not be able to afford other blanks, but they are over 10 thousand years old like me. Most human brains are empty anyway. I'll find the bodies, you do the rest.” Answered Kneeko with a seriousness that gave his father goosebumps.
For the rest of the day, Lucy and Kneeko behaved in a very polite way that made it seem as if they were the nicest teenagers in the world. Their behaviour was making everybody happy, except Lorenzo who couldn't help but see it as unsettling. They each took a bath and went on a television marathon until late at night.
To all the domestics, they seemed to be a happy, loving and almost perfect family. Just like that, a week went by during which the twins stayed glued to the internet, the television, went to an amusement park, did some shopping and even succumbed to Lucy's constant request to visit Akihabara.
When they returned home that day, the twins found matching school uniforms waiting for them on their beds. As soon as he saw this, Kneeko ran to his father with the uniform in his hands and angrily asked. “What's this? You wouldn't have dared...”
“Ha! They are finally ready. Did you try it on?” Asked Lorenzo while ignoring his son's visibly angry attitude. “Answer me!” Growled the handsome 15 years old Kneeko.
“Of course it's what you think. You and Lucy- Lucia are starting school next week. I can't have you work for my company without diplomas.” Nonchalantly answered Lorenzo. “You old fart! You can easily fake diplomas! WHY?! I have nothing to learn at a kid's school for fuck's sake! I know a lot more than the teachers themselves.”
Sensing his son's anger escalating, Lorenzo quickly leaned closer to his son and whisper. “Isn't it the best place to find proper vessels of your age?” He then said with a smirk on his lips. Hearing his father's words, Kneeko stood back a bit and pondered. “Meh, as long as it's not too boring I guess it's not a bad idea.”
Lucy who had been listening to the conversation and was already enthusiastically wearing her new school uniform, then barged in like a hurricane. “Yayyyyyyy Just like in the mangas! I will go to school with big broo weeee!!! And since we're in Japan you can't scold me for calling you onii-chan! Hihihihihi” Kneeko could already feel hell opening beneath his feet.
“Okay, before I lose my calm, let's talk business.” Seriously said Kneeko as he sat on the leather couch next to him. Lorenzo's expression turned serious as well and sensing the atmosphere, Lucy stopped jumping around and silently sat next to kneeko.
“Alright then. As you already know, our company name is PenCo, and the VRMMO resulting of my thousands of years of work will be called UnivR. Our VRMMO is obviously decades ahead of its time but more problems seem to come from that than advantages. The cost for example. Our headset are going to be 3 times as expensive as our competitors'.” Explained Lorenzo.
Hearing this, Kneeko began to rub his shin but silently kept listening. “Truth is, our company has ten competitors but only two worth mentioning. Dr3amSoft with their VR called Exodus and PopuliCo with their VR called Antharia world. For our expensive new VRMMO to be viable and make profit, we need to own 35% of the market. With that said, we would be in the green if we could kick Dr3amSoft out of business and take their customers. And this is where you come into play Kneeko. I know no one better than you to create chaos in a VR world.”
Kneeno leaned back on the couch and seemed to be considering his options. He had so much on his plate. He needed to find 5 vessels, graduate school and work for his father's company all at the same time. Anyone would have felt overwhelmed by all that but to Kneeko, this was heaven. That way, he wouldn't have time to get bored, hopefully.
“The Exodus VR you spoke of, it's the yellow headset in my room right? I might take a look at it tonight.” Lorenzo and Lucy then remained silent for a few minutes, while Kneeko sporadically giggled on his own. Even after thousands of years, Kneeko still managed to creep the two of them out in this type of situations.
“Knock* Knock* Excuse me, I brought you tea and pastries” Interrupted a shy looking maid who knocked and entered.
“Definitely white.” Then said Lucy out of nowhere.
[Later that night]
Leaving his father and sister to watch television on their own, Kneeko went to his room, locked the door and sat on his bed with a yellow VR headset in his hands. He noticed that his father had installed a data bypass and everything necessary to mess with some of their competitor's system's weaknesses.
How did they knew? Simple, almost all the current VR companies were using systems based on Alterlife's systems which had been illegally sold after the company's bankruptcy. The people who used to own Alterlife2 had profiteered from his father's death by selling his life's work to their competitors. VR companies had since then fixed the brain cancer issues and slowly regained popularity with the customers, but this didn't change the fact that all these VR were stolen, disguised versions of Alterlife2.
Their disregard for copyrights was going to be their downfall. Kneeko then installed a device in the bypass slot on the headset, laid comfortably on his bed, put the headset on and launched the device. The first thing Kneeko saw was a green background with what looked like yellow snowflakes falling around. Then similar to Alterlife2, what appeared next was the familiar welcome box.
[table=#003300]
WELCOME TO THE EXODUS EXPERIENCE
[/table]
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