Techno PoV
I run back from the military compound burning in rage. I ran so that I could burn my rage with my energy. It was only when I reached the door of the Virtual space that I was mildly winded only as if I had run quarter marathon.
The three years I was in Jail I didn’t have much in the area of exercise even when I had time in the sun. That space of time I had been deep in despair and wasn’t worried about my figure but now looking down examining my form I noticed how my previous somewhat skinny figure had bulked up a degree.
“Is it because of the feedback system?” I muttered.
Supposedly they were testing the 100% function but I doubted that, to reach 100% they need to pass all the 99.99% before it. We have probably been testing the limits of the system and each new patch brought an improved version improving the system.
I open the door and then let it shut before entering the real house and hearing familiar voices in the living room. As soon as I entered I saw the figures of Alex and Sarah who were playing a game of monopoly with Sasha and Pierce.
When I entered Pierce saw me and made the others look.
“Bro! Good time, come play, come play!” Sasha shouted and patted next to her.
I sighed and looked at her with a smile, “Not right now.” I said.
Instantly Alex frowned, “Did something happen, you’re pretty tense and seem irritated.” She said.
“Later.” I said waving her off and she frowned more. “Do you still not trust me enough to tell me your problems?” She asked.
My relationship with these two has grown to quite close and of the people I know they are ones I am most trusting. It helps that Sasha already called her sister while made things complicated at first.
I sighed deeply and rubbed my shoulder, “Well it's like this…” I say and begin explaining the entire story from the moment he entered into the room to when he left slamming the door.
At the end of the story I got up and stretched.
“Amazing… to actually spit in the CEO’s face. Forget friction, this is like making all out war with him.” Pierce said in awe.
Alex looked at me with complex emotion but then noticed how I was stretching. “Nathaniel, lay down on the floor, I’ll give you a massage.” She says and a small blush appears over her cheeks and nose.
Sasha giggled to this making her ears warm up but I just looked at the laughing little girl and she looked the other way ‘innocently’.
I grabbed a small pillow and dropped it down on the carpet so I wouldn’t be directly on the ground. Then I removed my shirt and laid down. At this point Sarah also started to blush but I never minded small things but yeah, the last seven ingame months was also followed by these days in the virtual space where they would always visit and these small interactions made it more comfortable for me to be around them.
As for the massage, her mother was a masseuse so she learned the trick which helps a lot because when I get overly emotional or stressed I would usually suffer from muscle and back pains which may be a side effect of the feedback system or just a biological reaction.
Starting from the shoulders she works the way down to my lower back but after seven months in the previous few times when she actually did this as the same thing happened and like the few times Sasha bends over near my head.
“Hey bro, when are you going to make Big sis my real sis?” Sasha asked and I looked at her out the corner of my eye.
Obviously a child wouldn’t be able to hold their voice back so even whispering I could feel Alex’s hands tense up and she starts to rush and I sigh before turning and getting up.
“Thank you for the massage.” I said and stretched which caused a great deal of my joints to crack then I bent to the left, right then forward doing basic stretches each of each caused my spine to losing up greatly and the massage helped a lot to loosen my back muscles but it’s a shame that Sasha always asks before she reaches the butt and legs.
“So did anything happen here while I was gone?” I asked the three.
They shake their heads since nothing happened and Pierce gets up and dusts himself off. “Well I have stayed long enough. I hope you all well and Nathaniel…” I look at him as he comes over and pats my shoulder, “It’s good to see you at least moving on a bit with your life.” He said and winked grinning.
He takes his things and I guide him to the door and after closing the Virtual space house I spot the three girls coming out. I froze momentarily because they came out in swimsuits. Sasha was in a childish one piece as was Sarah but Alex was using a pink bikini with white polka dots.
“Bro! Hurry up and go change so we can play in the pool a bit!” Sasha shouts and she runs off giggling while dragging Sarah.
I go and use the virtual space system to change my clothes to male swimsuit but with swiming trunks over it and a slack shirt before I exit and go over to join them.
Giovanni PoV
I sit down on my chair and take the cup with the medicine that my secretary prepared to help calm my nerves.
“For that little cretin to spit on my face I will make him pay.” I thought as I click on a file on the computer that showed the players of interest and Techno Gear appeared.
His most recent achievement appeared when he started to bring back the dead Treant and Dryad races.
“Wait…” I muttered and brought up a map and showed Techno’s name after he crossed the ocean. I move through the files and find the file that showed where my own daughter was located and the mark on the map appeared in the same location.
“Sir do you need something else?” The secretary asked.
“Yes, locate for me the last 48 hours of video feed from my daughters capsule.” I said.
The secretary nodded and with the laptop in her hands she began to rapidly type and after a minute a file opened on his computer screen.
I open the file and begin to jump about the video until I found the image that showed her upgrading her model but she was quiet for most of it speaking as little as possible. I frowned to this because there was apparent fear of him.
“This is enough, I will go visit my daughter at this moment, if it takes too long remark the next meeting.” I tell my secretary.
“As you wish sir.” She said and closed her laptop and left the room. I stand and walk into a side room attached directly to my office that held only the capsule.
I enter and using my right as her parent I connect directly into her virtual space. The house appearing before my eyes was subpar at best being only a small 1 floor house with a living room, dining room and kitchen and the bedroom. She barely spent her points to improve this poor excuse of a house that is better called a havel.
I hear voices from inside but still walk up and knock and then put my arms behind my back waiting and when the door opens my daughter stood before me with a smile but it freezes instantly.
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“Father…” She said and her smile faded.
“I need to speak with you.” I said and walked inside and sneered as I entered this house for poor that would fit a beggar best.
Inside the living room was a pair of twins, a tall brunette sat on the coach and a very large man that looked in his late twenties and would fit for that repulsive nonsense game of american football.
Bianca walks in beside me and forces a smile towards this group, “This is my father.” She introduced me the boy from the twins started in awe.
“Bianca! You never said you father was CEO of LIFE!” he shouted and her face twitches slightly as she makes a smile.
“Yeah, it… kinda never crossed my mind.” She said and pointed at the door to her room. “The bedrooms can block sound so we can go there.” She said.
“No need, I simply came because I need for you to do a task for me.” I said coldly.
“What task?” She asked.
I snapped my finger and screens with the image of Techno, all his bodies, appeared. “I want you to sabotage his efforts in the continent of the constructs. This brat had the audacity of spitting on my face so he will see the error of his ways.” I said.
Her eyes widen and suddenly showed apprehension.
“What’s with that look?” I asked.
“I… I won’t do it. I was finally able to let the past be the past! I will not bring it back.” She said.
“You… won’t? Who do you think you are to think this is an option?! This is an order! I’m not only your father but the owner of everything here! I can remove everything you own and transport you to the most desolate point of that ruined world and never let you come back out.” I shouted at her.
“I won’t do it! I already caused him enough problems!” Bianca shouted.
“Alright let's all calm down first!” Suddenly the woman said and walked beside my daughter.
“This has nothing to do with you woman, this is between me and my daughter.” I tell her.
“Not from what I hear, also this is something to do with the lives of people in the game so it involves us since we are part of her crew.” The woman said.
“Yeah! Bia is our friend so don’t go bullying her just because you're her father!” the girl from the pair of twins said.
“You all… leave now!” I said coldly but the large man on the coach stood.
“Father, I will not do what you want.” Bianca repeated what she said before.
“Hmph, as expected of you, in your rebellious stage you were nothing more then a slut I had to constantly pay people off to silence the scandals you always caused me. This even included helping you put that brat in jail just because you felt like making a scandal that didn’t exist. To make matters worst you even injure his brat of a sister. Getting rid of you for several years was a good decisi…”
SLAP!
“Don’t bring up the past! Do you even know why I was like that?! Do you think you're innocent in all this? You abandoned me and only cared about your precious company! Mother died and I suffered as a child and where were you?! You hide yourself under your work and didn’t even go to her funeral! More than half the things I did was for attention, attention you didn’t give, the rest… I don’t know!” She said in tears.
I feel the pain on the left side of my face, my rage that had built up from that insufferable brat burst and I slapped her back.
“You! You dare hit me! Your father! You want attention, fine, I will discipline you like I should have done all those years ago! Leaving you with those nannies were too good for you. I should have just locked you up in a room and let you to dry up!” I shout and slap her again but after the second slap my arm was grabbed followed by the scruff of my shirt.
The large man held me with an iron grip that held enough force to bring tremendous pain to my arms as he squeezed.
“Don’t… touch her! Even as her father, you think you can beat someone because you have money because you're some CEO of some large company just because you want?!” He said glaring at me.
“You’re a pathetic excuse for a father, no you're not her father because if you were you would have been present when she was suffering the most.” the brunette said while hugging my daughter on the ground.
“Throw him out Big Jace!” “Yeah toss him out like trash!” The twins shouted.
“Don’t think this is without repercussion!” I said glaring at all of them but I was suddenly shook by the large man.
“You should think the same thing when you are going to do something. Money will only protect you so much.” Jace said his arms tensed as he lifted me off the ground.
“P-put me down!” He shout.
He lets go of my arm and begins walking and takes me out by force from the house and then opens door of the Virtual space and throws me strongly out of the virtual space and slams the door.
Following that a notice appears saying I was banned from entering this Virtual space. My rage reached such a peak that I blacked out and was logged out where I found a few medical personnel. The safety measures of the capsule forcefully made me calm down but as I remember everything once I started to stand up I suddenly grab whatever I could and threw it and shouted before I walked out.
The medical personnel just got out of my way as I left the office.
“Cancel everything I have today!” I shout at my secretary without even looking and enter the elevator and left.
Jeopardy PoV
I stay in the living room sobbing into Gloria’s arms. She just sat there patting my head, Nene comes over and hugs me and does the same while saying “There there, it's alright now.”
Jace comes back after throwing my father out but remains quiet as he took a seat on the sofa facing us.
“Bianca…” Gloria called and I sat up still sobbing.
She puts her hand to my face and wipes my tears. “Let's go sit on the sofa and talk about it, you can tell us.” She said.
I just start crying more as I feel her warmed but soon we finally go sit down. The TV was off since no one felt like watching it now that everything happened.
“So… what exactly happened, he said something about you putting Techno in jail?” She asked.
I felt a deep sense of dread about this but I knew there was no hiding it anymore. “I… I did a lot of things I regret today…” I say and look up with tear filled eyes. “It’s fine, everyone has their own story and if you're regretting it then your feeling guilty and trying to do something about it.” She said.
I nod slightly, “This… VR town that i’m a part of is one of the towns that contains only Juvenile convicts. My father made an agreement with the government to allow them to spend their remaining time within Etheria and in exchange they will be part of test subjects for the Feedback system. Techno is part of it but he shouldn’t be.” I pause and take a deep breath filled with sobs. “Three years ago, I was still in one of my rebellious fits and… during that time I had wanted to bully him but he wasn’t the kind to take it lying down and would insult back. At that time… I don’t know why but I came up with the plan to make him fall into despair, make him feel worse than me. I paid some people to act as witnesses and with them we reported him for sexual harassment and assault.” I said and a this time the others were shocked. My voice began to tremble at this point, “When my dad heard of it he paid off all the court members and I think even the lawyer assigned to representing Techno. The case… was a shame but he was sentenced to 10 years. After he was imprisoned I went to him only to find him angry filled with hate but not in despair and I… I had another event happen where… the car breaks in his family car were tampered with and… it resulted in permanent paralysis of his sister from the waist down.” I said and began to cry again.” The others were in shock but even with tears raining down I sucked it up and continued. “W-when he… he learned of it… he finally fell into a depression that… that caused him to… stop speaking and react to anything. His eyes were empty of anything besides despair and seeing him the sight of him that I had expected was of him resisting but when I saw him.” I cover my lips and take a deep breath, “I saw myself and him overlap but then he became a more depressing image. From then that image of him was burned into me and I couldn’t sleep, eat or do anything peacefully. Regret and guilt filled me completely, I lost weight, my social life degraded to non existent and my studies were ruined and finally my father discovered and he put me here until Techno gets out.” I finished and grab a pillow and bury my face into it.
After a long time I feel a hand on my back making me flinch. When I looked Nene was there and she hugged me when I got up.
“You're a good girl now, you were bad but because you felt so bad that you changed. Now we have a nice gentle sweet friend.” Nene said.
Hearing her words something weighing down my heart seemed to be lifted and I couldn’t help crying while I hugged her.
The others looked and also softened up. Gloria hugged me as well.
“The story is… hard to hear but what I know now is that you're a sweet girl. Regret and guilt made you grow up and you only strive to help others now.” She said.
A feeling of hope bud in that ocean of regrets, to be able to have such good friends, I can understand how Nathaniel was able to surpass his trauma. With real friends anything that could appear.
“Bianca, you can calm down, with us you won’t ever need to fear that we will leave you!” Momo said.
Jace starts to laugh, “I’ve seen a few people that were the same. Some people that do those group talks in the jails, it's the same a a psychologist talk but there are always people that can only feel better when someone accepts them. Every one of them are good people that just made the wrong choices. Don’t be so hard on yourself, it's human nature to make mistakes but you will only be able to repent by learning from your mistakes.” He said.
I nod and smile, he looked tough on the outside but he was a nice man or a big teddy bear, intimidating but just a big softy. I hug the two girls and then kiss Momo on the cheek. “Thank you all… you don’t know how much… what you said means to me.” I said as tears couldn’t stop falling.
“Don’t worry, even if we live far apart we will always be friends.” Gloria said.
I nod and smile truly happy to have found such good people and friends in my life.