After stopping a runaway train with the help of my TK, I found myself walking through the tiled halls of UGO once again. I couldn’t stop thinking about what my father had said the day before. It didn’t take long for me to realise he was right about following my own path. And so, I succumbed to it, to this hero life, like it was an addiction.

I had a seat outside Anna’s office and waited patiently. Eventually, her meeting concluded and she motioned me inside. “Ma’am,” I greeted.

“Who? It’s ‘mom’, mister,” she corrected. “What are you doing here?”

I smiled, genuinely feeling proud to know her. “Well,” I sat her down and meandered behind her, occasionally looking out at the city’s busy traffic, “I kinda need Diana to help me build an army of robots, and I’ll need some financing to do it.”

“How many is an army? Give me a number.”

I leaned on her table a bit, “Not sure, but listen, there’s a list of schools here,” I showed her and began explaining what was going on.

“Five thousand?! God! That’s, a lot of materials, Jared…”

“Just give me how much you feel comfortable with,” I rubbed her shoulders, “it’s no biggie. Eventually, I’ll have to inform police and TEO, maybe even the army. So, I’ll have help.” I refrained from telling her about the TEO’s attempt on my life. Surprisingly, there wasn’t much resistance. She started me off with spare TS parts and then eventually had a truckload of them delivered to my lab near the pier.

Diana Ugo eventually came to my lab a bit later, a little confused about what was going on.

“Ma’am,” I said, gesturing her to take a seat so I can explain things.

“Ma’am? Do I look like a ma’am to you?” she gave me an attitude.

Sheesh, I chuckled, they’re turning into the same person. After explaining things to her, she agreed to help me assemble the TS. I was surprised to say the least. Usually, I’d get a straight ‘no’, but it wasn’t like that this time.

After acquiring my moms’ help, I decided to inform Rosa of Cennet’s ploy.

She flipped through the pages, put them down, then glared at me. “Is this a joke?”

“I hope so. But in case it isn’t…”

“You need my help,” she said, holding onto her teacup with a mixture of worry and tension. “How did you come by this list?”

I leaned back, “If I tell you, the person would get arrested. I’m not a fan of betraying the people who help me.”

“Yeah well,” she stood up, agitated by the news, “tell that to the TEO.” She then paused, and looked at me, giving her habitual long period of silence before speaking. “Jared, what is it you want me to do? I know you know there are protocols for me to follow, but I feel like there’s something you want me to specifically do.”

My hands were clasped together and only tightened as she spoke. “Yeah, um, well, no. I don’t know. In almost every crime of late that Cennet has committed, there have been either friends, family, relatives or whatever of Michael Asher or Charlene Jefferson in the mix. That can’t be a coincidence. If he can do that to people who aren’t relevant, then what can he do the ministers of education and national security?” I sighed, “What I’m saying is, we can’t rule out the possibility that he’ll target the home secretary.”

“You’re worried about me…” she revealed the underlying issue.

I eventually stood up, “Yeah, so, please, be safe.”

With that, I left. My mind was focused on preparation. In no time, I made it back home. Mom had already assembled half of one whilst I was gone. She was truly an amazing person in my eyes.

Before the day was out, we had put together a TS, all that needed to be done was to prepare its software and attach boosters running on UGO energy on it. We called it a day, or she did at least. I continued working into the night, tinkering about on how to make the booster integration as seamless as possible. By the time I’d gotten home, everyone had already finished eating dinner.

A servant was kind enough to reheat my dinner for me, so I ate, showered, changed clothes, then went right back to the lab and fixed myself a strong cup of coffee. That night, I slept in the lab.

When I awoke, it was to a phone call that brought my attention to an incident on the highway, causing a massive traffic pileup. I got there in just a couple minutes with the TK. A black SUV had gotten into an accident with two other vehicles. I’d assume it was a normal accident if it weren’t for the sea of bullet holes on the SUV. Whoever was in the SUV was clearly a VIP of some kind. Why the hell did Hana of all people call me about this? How’d she know? I wondered, but left the conundrum for later. I landed quickly, my shielder up and my TK neutralising the threats. It swerved in from the air, throwing, punching, shooting, and slamming the energy shield into its enemies. The ordeal was over in less than a minute.

I knocked the glass. An armoured vehicle? “Anyone in there?”

They knocked back, in fact, it wasn’t a knock, but a rather forceful and random pounding. My eyes widened when I realised whoever was inside desperately needed to get out. I swung around back and used Z-21 to cut the back glass. Some voices ushered someone to hurry and climb out. It was Michael Asher’s obnoxious daughter. Two other men in suits crawled out, running away with her immediately. I followed on instinct, then an ear-splitting explosion threw me over. My ear rang for quite a while.

Not the best way to start the morning, I thought. “Anyone injured?” I asked when my hearing somewhat returned.

“Y-yeah. I mean no,” she corrected, coming out of her stupor, “we’re fine.”

A news helicopter was incoming. I could guess who that is, I laughed a bit internally. The ‘Chanel 7’ logo on it washed any second thoughts away. The bird’s propeller beat down onto us. TK put up his shielders to block us from the harsh downforce. Jack jumped out before the damn thing even landed properly, his clothes rippling uncontrollably from the wind as he ran towards us.

The girl’s bodyguards immediately stood in front of her, so Jack irked a little, then focused the camera on me. Finally, the chopper landed and the engine was turned off, giving Hana her much needed silence. She encroached me and gave a little hug, “Can you tell us about what happened here?”

“Just a traffic accident,” I told her and her eyebrows twitched knowing damn well I was lying through my teeth.

“What about the bullet holes on the vehicle behind us?” she put the microphone back to me for an answer.

I shrugged, “I only arrived after the accident.”

“How was it you knew of this accident?”

Are you messing with me? I glared at her, trying to keep as expressionless as possible. She was the one who alerted me as to what was going on. Did she have so much faith in my abilities to lie? I chuckled mentally, remembering that the press were quite scary people. “A very good friend of mine told me because they knew I’d get here before emergency services.”

“Can we expect more of these heroic deeds, Ban?”

Did she just… I took quite a while to answer, not realising that my LocalHost username was something publicly known. I guess anything’s possible at this point. “I didn’t think you’d know that name. You’re amazing, Hana,” I complimented, but she kept the microphone at my mouth, seeking an answer to her earlier question. “I don’t know if I can call this a heroic deed. Anyone would help if given the chance. So, I guess, yeah.”

A sly grin crept across her face as Jack focused on Hana; they completed the report. This was how things went for the coming week. Quite random events and crimes with no evidence that Cennet’s warped mind was the perpetrator behind them. Several times a day, I stood in the midst of danger whilst protecting myself and saving lives.

Mom and I had only gotten to fully arm a team of eight TS at the end of the week. I sat down in the lab on a Saturday evening, watching the experience from TK upload into the eight androids. Somnolence ensnared me with ease; I’d been spending the past few nights without much sleep.

A rhythmic knocking woke me up; mom’s shoe hitting the floor as she walked over with a cup of coffee in hand was the culprit. “Morning, honey. Here,” she handed me the coffee, “tell me what you want me to do to finish these boys,” and tapped the leg of one of the TS. “Then go home. It’s been forever since Charlie and Anna saw you. And Marissa won’t shut up. I’ll be home soon.”

I could only nod my head every now and then, still in a daze waking up. I gathered my things and went home after having coffee, leaving the TK with her. A very slow flight home relaxed me, as if my body was conditioned to maintain composure in the air. I thought back to the very start of all this chaos. The car accident, TS shootings, faux-assassin, bomb threats, hostage situations and highspeed air chases. How did I survive? I wondered. The beautiful city before me was but an afterthought as I beamed through the lazuline skies. A chill shot up my spine thinking about all the close encounters. I’d been dancing with death, quite enthusiastically, as if a paper bag was over its face, shielding its identity from me. Or perhaps, there was a veil over my eyes, blinding me entirely. No, I wasn’t having cold feet about the situation. Instead, I was appreciating, yet condemning what I did from the eyes of retrospect. I really was an amazing person – a hero – and I only had just begun to believe it, something I probably should’ve done long ago. Yet, the truth remained I was likely the dumbest kid to look danger in the eyes that way, almost like I loved it.

A piercing scream shook me out of the internal dialogue between my conscience and my cowardice. Without a thought, I zoomed over to my house – the direction it came from, only to see Marissa barrelling down a slip-and-slide. Laughter from multiple mouths escaped, making me focus my attention to the veranda. Dad and Anna was there, along with a couple servants. Hana and her son, Backslash were present as well, not forgetting Jack of course. A few unfamiliar faces stood like statues at the wall and Rosa had somehow managed to show up. I wanted to wonder who got her to come visit and how, but those thoughts were frozen in place by the smiles of the Andinos and Serrette, sitting with Rosa.

They were certainly an animated crowd, judging from the number of beers and cocktails on the tables before them. Only joviality exuded them – even more so when I landed and they took notice of me – but I was the stake of killjoy, striking right through the atmosphere. My pistol was holstered at my waist, and that’s exactly where my hand hovered over for all but a couple seconds in reflex to seeing Serrette and the Andinos in such close proximity to those I love. But I quickly read the atmosphere, and instead, pretended to fix the EXO suit on my body. “Chaffing is a serious problem,” I joked, trying to dissipate whatever heaviness I must’ve joined the party with. Marissa was the icing on the cake to my attempts, running and jumping on me from behind, nearly making me fall over.

“Where have you been, you little shit?!” she ruffled my hair. “You haven’t been cheating on me, have you?!”

I moped, “I-I’m sorry, but I’ve been seeing someone else!” I said dramatically.

She gasped, jumping off of me and weeping, “Who? Who’s the bitch?!”

I pointed at Rosa, trying my best to maintain a serious face.

Marissa looked at Rosa, then back to me, “Okay, I won’t get in her face because I don’t wanna get life in prison,” she shrugged, admitting defeat and invoking a bout of cachinnation and banter in everyone. “Besides, today’s special,” she kissed me on the cheek. “Happy birthday, bro!”

My eyes opened wide, “Thanks!” I beamed. Let’s just pretend I didn’t forget.

I carried her over to everyone after she told me to “giddy-up” so she could get another drink. Anna was quite elated to see me in a non-business environment. I greeted everyone with smiles and hugs, of course doing the same for the Andinos and keeping what happened a secret. As I hugged Serrette, I thanked her for coming, then got really close to her ear to whisper, “One wrong move…” trailing off to let her extrapolate the rest of my threat.

“About that, we should talk,” she suggested. “In private.”

“Don’t know if that’s safe for me,” I snarled back with a smile on my face.

She sighed wearily, “We’ll be in plain sight. No worries,” we released each other finally.

Encroaching Rosa, I stopped then looked at her bodyguards, “Do I have permission?” I asked them.

She rolled her eyes and stood up, seizing the hug for herself, “Happy birthday, Ugo,” she said, keeping things classy in front of others.

“Thank you, Home Secretary,” I replied, honestly happy to see her, yet fearful for her even being in any TEOs’ presence.

“Please,” she scoffed, “today, Rosa is fine.”

“Oh?” I grinned, “Then I’ll hold you to that first-name basis as well.”

After some small talk, I hesitatingly went inside to freshen and change. Backslash followed me, changing out his clothes to go into the pool as well. He had trouble keeping up with my pace, ultimately failing to come back outside the same time as me. I was quite uptight about leaving the TEOs without constant supervision, and hoped to goodness that mom came back as soon as possible with the TK.

However, at some point, I’d have to let that go and just enjoy the day, but it looked like Marissa was way ahead of me. She tackled me when I wasn’t looking and we slid down the slip-and-slide, landing in the pool. The minute I resurfaced Backslash landed on me. Jack was laughing hysterically, recording every moment of it with a much smaller camera than the gigantic one he usually lugged around.

The day went along smoothly, with more and more people dropping in. It only marred my light of sight. I was so unabashedly peering over at the TEOs, that Marissa teased me about Rosa, whom she thought I had my eyes set on. Thankfully, mom and the TK came home in just a few hours, and I was able to relax a little more after I put the TK right next to where Rosa was.

Evening came, beckoning the departure of a few guests and the arrival of many. At least Rosa’s gone, I breathed a sigh of relief. Serrette left, and Ferris Andino followed soon after. Before long, there was no need to be on guard again as Samuel Andino upped and left.

The evening went smoothly. And with all that’s been going on, that made me worry more than I wanted to.

In the blink of an eye, my phone’s alarm went off; it was already morning. I ate with dad and mom since Anna had long since left.

Mom had a healthy scoop of eggs and eyed me at the table, “You’re about to do something really dangerous, aren’t you?”

I paused in my tracks; my fork was caught midway through the pancakes. I left it there and sat up properly, “Yes. Why?”

“Why?” she put her fork down as well. “Well, because…” she tripped up her thoughts. “The TS, if you use them, the public will know it’s an UGO technology. The murders that the TS committed would break UGO in half!” She claimed fiercely, but softly.

“Say it was stolen technology and it was never meant to be used that way,” I said, offering her a solution. “What’s the real reason you’re angry?”

“You!” she replied snappily. “Be careful, Jared!” She stressed, finally averting her eyes downward and letting her fists rest on the table, “I’m serious…”

I gave dad a gesture with my eyes to comfort her, and I stood up to do the same. “My mom gave me an amazing lab to make amazing things in, even when she couldn’t see how it would make sense. Have that kind of faith, and I’ll be just fine.”

Within all but a few seconds, Anna’s distress signal went off, alarming my phone. “Got an appointment,” I played off what the alarm really meant, “Catch you guys later! Love you!” I hurried outside, slipped my headgear and goggles on then bolted to UGO with my TK hot on my trails.

By the time I’d gotten there, security personnel were found murdered at their posts, not even getting a chance to move. The glass door and security panel were intact and working, so whoever went in that wasn’t authorised, clearly used someone’s clearance. Long trails of blood lined the corridor, clearly from cadavers being dragged. My heartrate steadily increased the more I continued. Finally going into the first room, I found that some TS and hired guns had a bunch of hostages cowering in fear, hoping that they wouldn’t end up like their dead colleagues right in front of them.

My shielder came up and my pistol destroyed the TS androids quickly. I hesitated at first. Despite having to kill others before, the thought of snuffing out a human life still ripped my conscience in two. Yet, what choice had I? If Anna sent that from the top floor, and there are enemies on the ground floor… Who knew how many damned bastards were scattered about the building? TK and I made our way upward, massacring through just shy of eighty stories. Thankfully, not every floor was littered with Cennet’s lackeys.

My body was laden in sweat and my breath was rugged by the time I’d gotten on Anna’s floor. My mind was wavering. Sure, I didn’t keep count – who would? – but I was certain that I’d just murdered more than one hundred and fifty people. My nerves were held together by the flayed strands of the sense of duty that ‘Ban’ had to get the people held prisoners in this building to safety, and Vasc. My mind inched closer and closer to crashing with each floor I went to.

Finally, I came around to the top floor, where Anna was. She was seated on her chair, sweat and snot pouring down her face. Only a couple seconds had gone by since my eyes had finally found her. That was all he needed…