Arc 18 - Confrontation

“I am Nazar.” He tilted his head a little and his smug grin widened. “Nice to meet you.”

And opposite him, the big man in charge of the Internal Order was about to collapse from fear.

His greatest enemy was standing before him with a smug look.

“Let’s talk,” Nazar said and a chair appeared out of nowhere. The big man looked around, only to see that Nazar had turned the atoms from the paintings into a chair.

The big man followed back to his chair without hesitation.

He had a smug look on his face too. He was toying with Nazar with a smile on his face. But he did all that behind the scenes, and now he is meeting his greatest enemy in person and he cannot hide his fear.

“What’s with the anxiety and fear?” Nazar asked.

“Not-nothing...”

“Let’s talk.” Nazar is still smiling. “So, who are you?”

There was no response from the person sitting opposite him.

001 was standing there confused. He had so many questions regarding what happened. For example, how did Nazar knew where their base was and how did he teleport in here?

Nazar looked back and said, “Oh, I see. You are not talking because of 001 here.” He waved his fingers and 001 vanished. “He is gone now.”

001 found himself back in the cafe.

“What…?” 001 said.

He looked around and he was in the cafe. With him, his sister and his mother were standing next to the table.

Back in the unknown location, Nazar was still waiting for his response.

“If you make me angry, I will kill you here.” For a split second Nazar’s smile vanished and his eyes lit with red energy. He only did this to intimidate his opponent.

“My name is Esma.” The big man replied.

“Tch.” Nazar clicked his tongue. “According to the changes in your heartbeat and looking through the world database, you are lying.”

“Wh-what…?”

“It’s a fake name.” Nazar paused for a little while. “I have met quite a few of you. A demon who went by the name of William Brown. An angel who went by the name of Noah Grayson.”

“But...”

The big man was now even more scared. It is true, he also has powers but after today’s display, he is even weaker than a mere clone of Nazar.

“So, who are you, really?”

The big man swallowed his negative emotions and found confidence. A temporary forced confidence that only exists on the outside.

“I will tell you that later, let’s talk about something else first.”

“Okay. That’s okay with me.” Nazar paused. “So, what do you want to talk about, ‘Esma’?”

“Let’s talk about what happened today?”

“Okay. I will tell you a long story.” Nazar said. “So, today I found out that you guys had the tech to kill me. I was excited and weakened myself by reducing my power levels. Once I was disintegrated, I collected each of my atoms again in matter of minutes.”

“But...”

“I saw that you guys had the tech installed in satellites, so I thought I would give it a try.” Nazar paused for a little while. “Plus, I got to see the crying face of my best friend. I am pretty sure she hates me now, but it was funny. So, it’s cool.”

“Ho-how did you manage to...recreate yourself in... much less time?”

“I have tried atom disintegrator before. Many times.”

The big burly man was surprised to hear that.

“I put my trust in you people and you disappointed me. I think you should dismantle ANT and ANTF as they are nothing but useless and failures. You should keep NSE. At least they did not fail. Anyway, these new weapons won’t even hit me with my vector manipulation.” Nazar said mockingly.

“Ah, that reminds me, how did you create these new superhumans?” Nazar asked a question that he should have asked a long time ago.

“We… created a from of pills that give each person powers for 24 hours.”

Nazar raised his eyebrows.

“Well, at least you are not a failure as the previous owner.” Nazar paused for a while. “So, how does it work?”

“The pill?” The big man went into deep thought. “I don’t really know... It was created by out science department.”

“So, you did not try any other cruel methods of experimentation?”

“Of course, not.”

“That’s good to hear.” Nazar paused. “Now, let’s talk about the last few days.”

“Huh?”

“What happened in the last few days?”

“Well...”

“I want you to tell me everything you did in the last few days.” Nazar paused. “I don’t want to force information out of someone. My methods… can be cruel.”

“I-I was not going to lie,” the big man said. “In the last few days, we got rid of all the big terrorist organisation around the world. Of course, there are some left which we don’t know about but we have taken care of the big ones… or rather the more visible ones.”

Nazar placed his hand on the armchair and then he rested his head on his palm.

“That’s it?”

“Y-yeah. That’s it.”

The big man’s assistant, whose name is Laura Marino, just left his office a few minutes ago. She was ordered by her boss, to activate the second phase of Superhumanity.

She walks out of the office and enters the elevator. Once she is in the elevator, she thinks back to what her boss really meant by Phase 2 of Superhumanity.

Superhumanity was a project created by Internal Order, which gave ordinary people superpowers. All they had to do was give them the pills, and they would have superpowers for hours.

The pills usually give basic powers such as strength, speed, flight or endurance. However, there are rare cases of more complex powers such as matter manipulation, energy manipulation, and weather manipulation.

The first phase of Superhumanity was the ANTF’s superpowered army. She doesn’t know what the phase 2 of the project is.

She thinks about what it is. She should know more than anyone else in the facility, but for some reason, she has never known that this project had a phase 2.

After the elevator reached level 1, she walked out of the elevator and then the building.

Once she left the main building, she walked for about 2 minutes and entered another building. This building was about 5 storeys tall and it was very close to the main HQ of the Internal Order. There were many reasons why the science building was so close to the HQ. But the biggest reason was that the HQ is surrounded by the dormitories of IO’s superpowered army. This location was chosen by the main boss because he wanted to keep this building close by for security reasons and because he visited this building frequently.

She entered the building. There was an elevator and a door.

Instead of taking the elevator, she opened the door and entered.

Once she opened the door, she found a massive room that was occupied with scientists and other workers creating things and experimenting things. The first level of the facility was used for the development of the pills. The second level is used for developing advanced technologies. The third level serves as a hospital. This ‘hospital’ is used to treat injured soldiers or look for side effects of the pills. The fourth floor deals with research. The research is mainly about how they can prolong the effect of the pills or how to their soldiers permanent superhumans. And the fifth floor is where they all visit to share ideas.

Once she entered the big room, she was greeted by an old man in a lab coat.

“Ah, Miss. Marino. You are alone today?” He spoke with struggle. He was very old, but he was also very smart.

“Yes.” Laura Marino, the main boss’s assistant replied. “Sir wants to deploy phase 2 of ‘Superhumanity’.”

The old man was surprised to hear that.

“How long will it take?” Laura asked.

The old man smiled and said, “It is ready.”

Laura wanted to say something but then stopped herself. However, the old man noticed.

“If you want to ask something miss, you should not hesitate.” The old man said.

Laura forced a smile on face and said, “Oh, it’s nothing...” She paused for a little while. “You know what, that was a lie. I want to know what phase 2 is?”

“Oh, that?” The old smiled and started to walk. Laura followed him closely. “It is the second phase of project Superhumanity. The first phase was to give the old test subjects of NSE powers. The second phase is to increase out numbers.”

“What do you mean by ‘increase our numbers’?”

The old man stopped and looked back. “You don’t have the clearance for that information.”

“Bu-but I have level 9 clearance, just 1 level below the boss, who is Level 10. And you and I are on the same level.” Laura spoke quickly.

“Then you will know that soon enough.”

As the old man said that, they heard the voice of the AI over all the computer screens and the loudspeakers.

“Initiating phase 2 of Superhumanity.”

Everyone looked rather confused. Only a few of them knew what was really happening.

Back in the HQ of Internal Order, Nazar was sitting opposite IO’s main boss.

“Did you force them into this program?”

“A-absolutely not.” The big man said. “We asked them if they wanted to join and they said ‘yes’. Some of them didn’t, so we found replacements.”

“Last question, I promise.” Nazar paused. “What did you to the world in the last 12 hours?”

“Huh?” Cold sweat started to pour down on the big man’s face. He started to tremble and shiver again. “Wh-what are you talking about?”

“When I woke up this morning, things were different.” Nazar leaned forwards a little. “Buildings magically appeared. Lost properties magically appeared or were magically fixed. People went back to their lives like nothing has happened. Business are operating again. News channels were operating but other TV channels have started their operations again. Temporary governments are formed.” Nazr paused. “This is a little too much to happen magically.”

“Wha-what are you talking about?” The big man let out a nervous and forced laugh. “The people are back to normal because of you. Yo-you threatened them and they got scared.”

Nazar showed a sign of disbelief. He rolled his eyes.

“How do you explain the change in the natural environment?”

“What are you talking about?”

“When I woke up this morning, it was not because I was no longer tired, but because it was the sounds around me. I used vector manipulation last night and turned off all kind of sounds and rays. However, this morning the vectors of the world were wrong. Wind vectors are wrong. UV rays vectors are wrong. Cosmic ray vectors are wrong. Sound vectors are wrong. Energy combinations were wrong. Matter combinations were wrong. Aura’s were wrong.” Nazar paused. “Did you use a reality warper?”

The big man laughed.

“Reality warper?” He continued to laugh. “We don’t have one.”

“Did you use Aria?”

Just as Nazar said that, the big man stopped laughing immediately. He gulped and swallowed his saliva.

“I did not notice it yesterday.” Nazar added. “In the last 12 hours, I had a lot of free time, so I analysed the situation from yesterday. I did not notice yesterday because I was a little surprised and angry, but when I went back into my yesterday’s memory, I found out that Aria’s power is reality warping. Also known as reality manipulation. A rare and dangerous power.”

“She has no powers.” The big spoke in a nervous tone. He was trying to hide it. “What-what if you used r-reality warping?”

“I will never allow myself or anyone to use a dangerous power like that.” Nazar said in a calm tone.

“Wh-why?”

“Reality warping is my favourite superpowers, but it is one superpower that I don’t want to have and I don’t want anyone to use it, either.” Nazar paused. “The reason is because, even the user change a meter of the reality, it will cause a rift in it that can never be fixed. The rift will allow for the possibility of beings from other realities coming here without any problem.” He paused again. “However, that is not the worst reason. The worst reason is that it can easily lead to the reality being destroyed completely if the rift gets bigger than it already is.”

The man in front of Nazar was speechless.

“I am taking Aria with me...”

However, before he could finish his sentence, he heard something. Something an AI voice said on the device in front of the man who sitting opposite Nazar.

“Initiating phase 2 of Superhumanity,” said the AI.

Nazar was both worried and surprised.

(Phase 2…?) Nazar thought. (What could it mean?)

Just as Nazar was about to ask the big man, he got his answer.

With a grin on his face, the big man said, “Phase 2 of Superhumanity means I will have access to more soldiers.”

“Who are the candidates?”

“Terrorist organisations,” said the big man in black suit with a grin on his face that looked like it will reach his ears.

“What…?”

Before Nazar could ask the question, he felt hundreds and thousands of rift being opened across the space-time continuum.

“Phase 2 of Superhumanity is completed,” said the voice on the device. It belonged to AI.

“Shit...” Nazar muttered.

He was about to teleport back, but he was stopped by the weapons in the room. First, a glass appeared around him. It should not be a problem, but a weapon was fired.

The room was filled with dozens of different kinds of ANT and some other weapons.

However, the big man did not use any ANT weapons but instead, he used something else.

He used sonic weapons. A weapon that can produce a sound so powerful that it will disintegrate anyone for a few meters. And all of the sonic weapons. All of them shot out at once.

It was a very high pitched and if a normal human could hear it, his or her eardrum would have blown to pieces and the effect on someone like Nazar is even greater. His enhanced senses and super hearing is making it worse.

Nazar finally felt real pain. He has not felt any pain in a very long time.

He covered his ears with his hands.

He could not think properly.

He looked at the glass around him and he knew it was bad news.

(The… same… one… from… before, huh?)

He is talking about a similar glass that the previous ANTF used on him last year.

“How does it feel?” The big man asked while smiling. He was proud.

(Calculating...)

Nazar looked around and analysed the weapons.

They would usually do him pretty good harm but this time, the damage was increased significantly.

Even in the pain, Nazar let out a smile.

(I have… not...felt… pain... in a…long time...)

He has enhanced healing factor that can heal him from any wound in less than a second, but he turned it off now.

(Calculating...) Nazar thought. (No wind… No UV rays… however,... there is… light...)

The big man watched while smiling. He did not notice that Nazar was smiling too.

(Calculating...) He looked around once more. (Light… calculations… completed...)

He was in pain but he did not even let out a cry. The only place that was in pain was his ears. A side effect of this was that he could not think clearly.

(Calculating...) Nazar gasped. (Vectors… are… changing…?)

The weapon might have looked like a normal sonic cannon but it was changing constantly. The vibrations changed frequently, making it harder for Nazar to place his reflection using vector manipulation.

(It… hurts… I should… use… my other… powers...) He stopped his thoughts in the middle. (But… I will… never get… another… chance to… feel...pain.) He smiled once again. (Pain… feels... good?)

Even in this pain, he could not help himself but be a little happy and excited.

(Calculating...)

(Sound vector… changes… accounted...for.)

After a few seconds he found this whole thing boring.

(Ah, this is getting boring.) He no longer found it hard to think. (Calculations completed. Light vectors - known. Sound vectors - known. Sound vibrations - known. Sound direction - known.) A broad smile appeared on his face as he lowered his hands from his ears. (Reflection - on.)

Just like that, all the sonic weapons were destroyed.

When he turned on his reflection, the damage from the cannons hit Nazar and it reflected of him with increased damage. After hitting Nazar’s reflection, it went back and hit the weapon itself, which caused the destruction of the weapons.

Nazar was still in the glass but now he knew it’s weakness. It could not withstand for longer if he increased his strength.

However, the glass lowered itself and it was not done by the boss of IO.

“Ho-how…?”

A bloodied Nazar walked towards him. His wounds healed and he used his matter manipulation to turn blood into air particles.

“Oh, that? I just wanted to play a little longer.”

“But...”

“You are wondering why your glass trick failed, right?” Nazar stopped smiling. “I could use my technopathy to mess it up because there was a hole in the glass. But I used the nanites in my clothes. There was an opening and it travelled there and took control of the remote.”

The boss of the IO was very scared right now, but he managed to buy Internal Order enough time to complete the phase 2.

The pills were transported to secret terrorist organisations across the planet and now IO had access to thousands of espers.

“I will be taking Aria with me...”

“Oh, you will not be doing that.”

“Huh?” Nazar sounded surprised. “Why?”

Just like that, Aria AKA 001 was teleported to the room where Nazar and IO’s boss was. She was standing next to her boss.

Aria had blue hair and blue eyes, and she is about 1.40 M tall. She looks like a 9 years old, but actually, she is the same age as Nazar. Even older by a few months. Due to suspended animation, she has not aged. She is currently wearing the same grey clothes as she does in her room.

“Nazar?” 010 said.

Nazar was surprised but he collected his thoughts quickly.

“I am taking you...”

“Who said anything about leaving?” 010 said without hesitation. “I love it here.” She paused for a while. “Wait, could it be that you are scared because I am more powerful than you?”

“Aria, don’t...” He was a little angry and a little sad now.

Before him standing was not the boss of a secret organisation but his little cousin who has been through a lot already.

“Get out.” 010 said. “GET THE F**K OUT OF HERE.”

Nazar looked down. A second later he looked up to her and smiled.

“I will be back for you when you need me,” Nazar said before vanishing into thin air.

Once Nazar was gone, 010 slammed her small fists into the desk.

Her boss got close to her and patted her on her back. “Why don’t we initiate Phase 2?”

010 looked up to him and said, “Are you sure?”

With a smile, the big man said, “Yes, I am sure. It is time for project Perfect World to move further.”