Hello there my readers! I come bringing chapter 3! This chapter was not put through a spell checker yet, so if you see any mistakes please point them out! Enjoy! And this chapter is quite the shocker! Sorry for those who wanted romance between-.... >:^)
-START OF CHAPTER 3-
LOCATION: UNKNOWN
DATE: UNKNOWN
*SWOOOOSH* The wind howls in a deep chilly winter night. Upseting the flawless blanket of snow, in the middle of a field stood a ruined building.
"She's pregnant...." One of the persons shrouded by shadows weakly says.
"Stay strong kid, it was to be expected.
You know you're not the only one which this happened to. Plus, these are harsh times for a man, you needed an outlet, and she was the same." Responds the other person that was walking along.
"What about the child?" The first person asks, his breaths becoming sharper, you could hear he was panicking.
*pat* "What do you mean [what about the child?]? We'll win this goddamn war and let your child live in a happy world." The second person patted the first persons shoulder, and declared those words with a stern voice.
*sigh*"Thanks Albert....I needed that. And you're right. I'm leaving this up to you...." The first person stops in his tracks and grips the second persons hand and shakes it.
"The Russians won't know what hit 'em." Grunts Albert. A stray light from a blinking half broken neon lights the night for one split second, revealing the faces of the two persons.
They were Neil and Albert.
Just as Albert was about to leave Neon stopped him.
"Wait....if it's a girl, what would you name her?" Neil asks, already with his usual smile on his face.
Albert, seeing that face, sighs in relief before putting on a thoughtful face.
"Selene, I would call her selene." Albert grunts, before turning back and walking away, not even looking at the expression on Neil's face.
"Selene, huh?....what a beautifull name. And a big coincidence....it seems like we still think alike, don't we, Big Brother?" Neil whispers while wiping away a tear from the corner of his eyes.
Neil stood still watching the back of his brother fade in the dark night. *step step step*
"Mister Neil, you'll catch a cold if you stay outside any more. We need to move, the enemies are about to find our location." A soldier appears from inside the house and hands Neil an overcoat.
Neil nods silently and follows the soldier inside the house. In one of the farthest back rooms, under a carefully hidden fake floor was a long tunnel with ages old torches to light the tunnel. After 15 min of walking, Neil hears a BOOM and the tunnel shakes violently, some torches even fall off from their holds. They start running.
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*GASP*
I wake up with cold sweat pouring down my forehead. I sigh as I rub my eyes, trying to snap out of that half in reality half in dreamland state. I slowly get out of my bed and head towards the bath.
I glance at the mirror, and I realize.....that I'm as handsome as ever. My smile widens as the image of my older brother rolling his eyes in exasperation pops in my head. I get naked and take a quick shower.
Afterwards I go to my living room, leaning back on my sofa and opening my TV.
"Ariel?" I raise my voice to the room.
"Yes, mister Neil?" Comes a voice from the speakers around my apartment.
Ariel is my personal A.I. that the UW has been working on for 5 years now. The finished product is already being used in military, I just snatched a copy for myself, plus another one, to stealthly plant in my brother's house.
My smile widens once again as I imagine my brother shooting up his house because he heard his A.I. greeting him.
That old dog....he managed to make his house more secure than my own... I did succeed eventually..... I sigh in relief when I think of my daughter who is with him.
"What's the status of Elite Unit Lorena?" I ask Ariel. I hear a ''Please Wait'' and the calming sound of a waiting song, it takes only 5 seconds when Ariel answers.
"She has been captured and is currently being held captive by Spartan Albert." Ariel responds in a slightly surprised voice. She's always trying to sound like a professional to try and impress me, she's still a kid in my eyes though....
"I see, it's to be expected...after all it's Albert we're talking about, hahahaha!" I shoot up on my legs laughing heartily, my laughter gets even louder when I get reminded of a special race of dogs from somewhere around Carpathian mountains called mioritic shepherds.
They, along with caucasian shepherds, are still being used in prison...
"Did he read the letter yet?" I ask, finally managing to calm down.
"Yes he did, we have yet to get a response....actually he just answered a few seconds ago. He says he accepts, but he isn't happy about you ''taking your sweet time'' as he worded it." Ariel responds.
"Did he find out that Lorena is his daughter yet?" I ask, with a little worry in my voice.
"...? Yes, he did. He only had one comment about that, [Thank you....and we'll have a talk about this later.]" Ariel diligently responds, confused at the sudden expression of horror on my face.
I swallow hard and restlessly look around.
"Ariel, ever since he responded, has anyone infiltrated the building?" I ask, fearing the worst.
"U-um, besides the staff nobody has entered this building." Ariel reports confused.
My face pales.
"Ariel....since when do we have staff?"
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I sigh, as I lean back on my chair. How am I supposed to break this down to the two happily chatting girls that are standing on the sofa of my living room.
How should I explain to them that one of them is my daughter while the other one is my niece...
"Really? So much happened ever since we last met!" Lorena exclaims while leaning back on the sofa and sipping from some juice.
"Indeed. It has been such a long time....too long." Selena sighs. "....what have you been so quiet about old man?" Selena suddenly looks at me, making Lorena look at me.
*sigh* "Girls...I have to tell you something." I sigh as I stand up and move to the sofa on the opposite side of them. Both Selena and Lorena had a confused face.
"You girls....are my family." I say, looking them straight in the eyes. They both were even more confused. I gave them a few seconds to let my words kick in. The first one to react was Selena.
"Wh-what are you saying old man. You know it's not nice to joke around about things like these" Selena says, looking angry and about to stand up.
But before she could do anything a voice resounds inside the house.
"He's not lying, you know...." A small voice is heard from everywhere. The next seconds were mayhem.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
I jump from my spot and immediately scoop up both of the girls and put them behind the sofa, while also taking my Glock 18 that I had stashed in my clothes and start pointing it towards an invisible enemy.
"U-uhm, I-i'm sorry for scaring you, I am Alice, an AI appointed by mister Neil..." Alices' voice resounds from everywhere again. I freeze up at the voice's words.
"Show yourself....if you can." I hiss. The TV suddenly opens and on the screen a little girl no more over 5 years old shyly peeks from one of the edges, half of her outside of the screen.
I can't see her expression since she's too far away. I relax and awkwardly go back to my place, both of the girls doing the same.
"Ok. I need some time to process all this." Selena declares while standing up, and then she starts pacing around the house. Lorena was quietly looking down, not letting out any sounds.
"Old man, you said we both are your family...if, if it's true, how are we related?" Selena abruptly stops and asks me. They both deserve the answers, so I answer truthfully.
"You are my niece, and Lorena,"she twitches and looks up at me " you're my daughter." I say.
They both stare at my face for some time, as if trying to find a lie on it. Selena starts pacing around the room again while Lorena looks at me in a daze.
"Then...wh....who is my father?" Selena stops again and weakly asks. She sits next to Lorena and she grabs her hand.
"It's Neil, the leader of the UW." I say, looking straight at both of them. Selena twitches at the name, something must've happened between the two. Selena begins muttering to herself.
"So you mean to tell me all those times....and I thought he was just a creepy stalker....." After some time of muttering, Selena's head snaps towards my direction, as if she just remembered something. Lorena has been quiet all this time, most likely still processing the information.....
"For how long did you know about us?" Selena stops again and stares back at me again. Lorena snaps out of her daze, and looks at my face, I could tell by the way she was intently starring that she was curious, but also afraid from the way she was griping Selena's arm, fear to know the answer.
"Only recently about Lorena, but I've had a hunch about you Selena ever since we met. It just recently got certain." I say as I hand her the letter that Lorena had with her. They both read it. After skimming through it's contents they put it on the table.
Suddenly they hug each other, I stand up and leave them some room.
I've never been good at dealing with crying women. Alice has also been tactfully quiet. I exit the living room and go inside the kitchen and start preparing some lunch. Soon aftrer I hear both of them crying.
Alice's voice resounds through the kitchen,
"U-um, it's nice to meet you Albert...as I've said before, mister Neil has appointed me to this residence...a-and also, I don't think it was a good idea to leave them alone.... " in a trembling voice Alice presents herself.
"Hello there Alice, nice to meet you too....and you might be right, but I can't pamper them all of a sudden. They've been strong all of their life, it won't be good for them to suddenly change. While it might sound harsh, it's not like I won't care for them. Only, I will let them gradually open up to me. They both grew up without a father, it would be too weird for them to suddenly be cared for with overwhelming love. At least in my oppinion." I sigh. I haven't talked so much since that speech I had to do.
"....I guess you're right...." Alice says before going quiet.
"So, Neil appointed you to this house?" I ask, thinking if I should punish him more, or the ''package'' I sent to his house is enough....
"Yes, I was brought here yesterday while you were visiting the doctors..." Alice says, from her voice I could tell she had mixed feelings about this situation.
"Hrmm.... what were your orders?" I ask, it's not like Neil would just put an A.I. in my house for no reason.
"U-Um, I was tasked with helping you in any way I can....." Alice says. This situation is getting more and more awkward, and I don't know what to do. I need a distraction, and I need it fast. Thankfully, the phone rang at that moment.
"I-I'll get it!" Alice shouts quite loudly and the phone stops ringing, instead from all around the kitchen I hear the voice of someone else.
"Hello, is this mister Albert?" The voice asks.
"Yes." I reply with a grunt.
"Wonderfull, excuse me for bothering you at this time, my name is Ray Jackson, and your 3 RoyalRoadL VR capsules have arrived, due to our policy you need to sign some papers-"
"I'll be right there" I cut him off, finishing up the food for the girls and washing my hands. "why 3 capsules?" I ask after drying my hands up.
"Oh, mister Neil Conner has informed us that a 3rd person will reside there, so we naturally added another capsule to the order, along with a modem that will allow your A.I. to enter the game with you." Ray, his voice sounding more amused to the last part, as if expecting me to freak out.
I put 2 dots together and-
"So, the company you work at along with our military has worked togethet to create fully self aware A.I.?" I ask. It wouldn't make sense otherwise. How would they know about her? How would they be able to allow her to enter the game?
"Y-yes..." Ray respons, overwhelmed by my on point deduction. " Um, the men that will install the capsules are waiting at your doo-"
"I'll be right there." I grunt, interrupting Jay again. I exit the kitchen in the 'little' hallway that binds the kitchen with the living room and one of the bathrooms along with a former storage room which has now been transformed in the room where the capsules will be placed, all decked out with a mini fridge and all the gadgets Selena said would be ''essential''.
Unexpectedly she was quite the gamer.
I open the door and immediatly see 3 buff men standing on my porch.
"Mister Albert?" One of them asks, lifting his cap to look at me. We're roughly the same height, but he's a little bit taller.
"Yes." I grunt, taking the tablet and pen he handed me, writing my signature on the white square on the tablet. He nods at the signature and signals the other 2 with his hand.
They begin walking towards the mini truck that was parked on the side of the road. I go back to the kitchen where the girls are already eating. It seems they got tired of crying. The letter is on the table in the middle of them. For those curious, the letter is written by 3 different people, both of their mothers and Neil.
"Well then girls, it seems that in 3 hours we'll be able to start playing. Who's up for a 24 hours tournament?" I ask with one of my rare grins. The girls looked weirdly at me, but it was to be expected. Why am I doing this? Well that's because we all need something to get our minds off from the current situation, and allow us to come back to it with a more rational way of thinking.
END OF CHAPTER 3