Chapter 9
2551words
"You disobeyed me" Nathaniel said. He walked over to me but I kept my head down. He then crouched in front of me, forcing my chin up with two fingers... his fingers were cold.
"Leave us," he said.
"What? Really?" Andrew asked, genuinely surprised. They always get to partake to my suffering. It's basically a group activity that they all get to enjoy, but... why is Nathaniel telling them to leave? What is he planning?
"Nathaniel, are you serious?" Sofia asked, she stood up from the couch. Her voice cracked slightly, I can tell sees nervous. Nathaniel didn't say anything. He turned to her slowly, his eyes darkened which sent a chill down Sofia and Olivia's spines.
Sofia swallowed hard. A mistake. She should've never asked such a stupid question, because Nathaniel never likes repeating himself. Without another word, she, Olivia, and Andrew walked out, the door closing behind them.
Nathaniel turned to me, his expression... I can't read it.
"You've grown bold in such a short time," he said calmly. "First the ID and now... this."
I blinked, confused. The ID? Hadn't he given it back to Mr. S'dala? I don't understand what he was accusing me. My thoughts were a mess. I opened my mouth to speak, but he cut me off before I could speak.
"Don't talk," he snapped. "It pisses me off when I hear you speak."
I don't know why his words still hurt me. He's been saying for years, yet... it still hurts. I clenched my fists, feeling the sting on my palms. The pain helped me stay distracted, helped me feel numb.
Nathaniel stood again, walking in front of the table and leaned back against it, crossing his arms again as he looked down at her. Slyvian kept her gaze on the floor, avoiding his eyes. She knew better than to meet his stare, it only made him angrier.
There was a time... though brief, when I thought he was charming. His confidence... his leadership... captivated me. But it was all an illusion. The boy I once liked is gone, and in his place is a twisted version of himself. What used to be admiration has now turned into a survival instinct for me.
"I should remind you who you need to obey," he said, walking toward her. "Lucky for you... I discovered something new about my powers. You already know I can manipulate minds... make people do things." He smiled, a grin that didn't reach his eyes. "But now... I can do something far more interesting. Something painful. And, you'll be my perfect test dummy as usual."
My heart raced as Nathaniel's hand hovered just inches from my forehead, his eyes narrowing as he focused. There was a twisted pleasure in his gaze, a hunger that sent chills down my spine. I could feel the pull of his power, and I knew he was eager to see just how far he could push me.
I forced myself to breathe, though the urge to run was nearly overwhelming. I had faced his torment many times before, but something felt different this time. There was a more cruel anticipation in his demeanor, and it made my stomach heavy. My thoughts spiraled, fear tightening its grip on me with every passing second as he leaned closer.
"My new ability," Nathaniel whispered, "lets me dig into memories. Real deep. The painful ones. The ones people bury. I can bring them all to the surface. And amplify them. Until it hurts so bad, you'll wish you never had a mind to begin with."
Then his fingers touched my forehead.
Instantly, it felt like a floodgate opened within my mind. The first wave of pain hit me like a sledgehammer. It wasn't just a migraine; it was an all-consuming pressure that seemed to drill into my skull, seeping into every crevice of my consciousness, raw, unfiltered, and agonizing. My vision blurred as flashes of my worst memories exploded behind my eyes.
My mother's voice echoed inside my head: "You're nothing but a burden. Just die already."
Each word felt like a physical blow, slamming against my chest. I could see my younger self cowering beneath the cigarette-scorched ceiling, lungs heavy with that bitter Nova-Cig smoke. I remember the isolation, the gnawing hunger, the nights I had to lie about the bruises that were on my skin. It all replayed in my mind, frame by frame... each moment is agonizing.
I wanted to scream, but I couldn't find my voice.
It felt like I was trapped in a broken mirror, each shard reflecting a different memory that cut into me. I clutched my head, trying to ground myself, but the pain kept building, growing louder and louder until it was deafening.
"Does it hurt, Slyvian?" Nathaniel's voice pierced through the agony. "It looks like it does."
He ran a hand along my cheek, slow and gentle... mocking.
I gasped through gritted teeth, struggling to catch my breath, let alone speak. My body gave in, collapsing to the ground as I curled up in a ball, trembling violently. I didn't cry out; the pain was too dense, too suffocating. My mind felt like it was shattering under the weight of it all.
More memories flooded in, my mother's boyfriends yelling and grabbing me, teachers humiliating me in class, Nathaniel's relentless cruelty. Each memory felt like teeth, tearing into my flesh.
Nathaniel watched everything with detached curiosity, as if observing an experiment. He tilted his head slightly, taking in every reaction, every wince and sob. His smile widened as he spoke gently.
He knelt down and whispered.
"Wanna know a secret? I love this. Watching you break over and over again. I love how fragile your mind is. How easy it is to tear you apart. It's adorable.
The words around me were distant echoes, slipping away as the torment in my head grew louder. I felt my grip on reality weakening, my consciousness fraying at the edges. My heart pounded wildly, and a sting filled my eyes, the tears spilling down my cheeks despite my attempts to hold them back.
The agony continued. Until-
It stopped.
Abruptly, the pressure disappeared, and I felt Nathaniel pull back. My body weakened. My eyes barely focused. I was trembling, drenched in sweat, my breath shallow.
Nathaniel crouched again, brushing my cheek softly with the back of his hand. Wiping the tears away from my eyes.
"That should remind you," he said, his voice calm, almost affectionate. Then he leaned in. "But if you disobey me again, I'll push so hard, you'll beg for your own skull to burst. Understand?"
I nodded, fear and fire swirling inside me.
No words came. I wasn't sure if I could speak even if I wanted to. I can feel my throat burning. My vision tunneled.
He stood, adjusting his sleeves like nothing had happened.
"Oh before I forget," he said calmly, "you'll meet me tomorrow after school at my father's building. Center of Prosperity Plaza. You know the one."
With that, he turned and walked to the door, but stopped, his hand rested on the doorknob. "Oh and wear something formal. I don't want you looking like street garbage in one of the wealthiest districts."
Then he was gone.
The attic fell silent.
I didn't move for a long time. The wooden floor beneath me felt like it was miles away. My body wouldn't stop shaking, and Nathaniel's words echoed faintly in my mind. I stared ahead, my gaze unblinking.
Yet, somewhere inside me, buried deep beneath the rubble of everything I felt, something... It wasn't strength. It wasn't bravery. It was just... refusal.
Heroes don't give up. That's what heroes are supposed to do, right?
Meanwhile...
In Panadamned City, heroes were busy saving civilians, chasing down villains, and responding to alerts across the metro zones.
Blinding Sun soared through the skyline, flying toward the Aelite Force Headquarters, an enormous tower rising above the rest of the city. The very first company in the world to promote heroes. Inside the building, heroes moved about and talked, some rushing out to help the innocents, others taking their break by getting their food served by robotic servants.
After nodding to a few familiar faces, Blinding Sun stepped into an elevator and rode it to the top floor, the command center.
The room was a row of glowing monitors and holographic displays, showing live maps, mission data, incoming reports, and villain profiles. Analysts sat at their stations, processing data in real time. In the center of it all stood Eris Sharpe, chief analyst and one of the best tech-hackers in the Aelite Force.
Blinding Sun's eyes swept across the room, nodding in recognition as he passed by a few analysts engrossed in their work. He was here for only one reason.
"Blinding Sun?" Eris raised an eyebrow. "Didn't expect to see you here today." Eris looked up from her screen, her sharp gaze settling on him.
"Nice job dealing with Velkon, by the way," she added. "Though his family won't be happy about it."
"Yeah, thanks, send the family some credlings, but that's not what I'm here for. I need a favor." He said, getting straight to the point.
Eris sighed and combed back her white pixie-cut hair, knowing already that Blinding Sun's request was going to be challenging, but that was what she liked. "Okay, what is this favor, hm?"
"I need you to look up a student for me. She goes to Cyrus Academy."
Eris raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "A student? Didn't know you were keeping tabs on the Academy. Since when do you care about schoolkids?" She leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms. "What's so special about this kid?"
He didn't smile. "My gut says she's important."
"And what makes you think that?" she asked.
"I don't know, I just know my gut is warning me," he replied, "and I can't ignore my gut."
She sighed as she pulled out a Nova cig from her pocket. "You and your gut." She said and smoked the cig.
Eris puffed out one ring of smoke before crushing the Nova cig with her hand. "I'll do it." She said as she threw the cigarette in the trash. She then turned to her screen, fingers moving quickly over the keyboard as she accessed The Aelite Force's vast database. "Let's see... Cyrus Academy, what do they look like?" She asked.
"She has long black hair. Gray skin. Black eyes... empty, they're basically soulless. Like something's missing" He said as he recalled the young girl staring at him with no emotion whatsoever.
"... Alright..." Eris typed quickly. A few seconds later, she found the match.
"Alright I've pulled up her file. The girl's name is Slyvian Blackbird." She said.
"Nothing too out of the ordinary. Top grades, quiet, no powers listed. No school issues. Huh. But... her home life's flagged. Rough home life, no parental involvement."
"Look into the parent's profile, maybe that's why my gut is telling me something." Blinding Sun said.
Eris pulled up only one file. "The mother, Melody Blackbird. We arrested her multiple times. Robbery and attempted murders, so maybe that's what you were sensing." She said as she pulled up more files. "Ah, she has a history of dating known villains."
Blinding Sun frowned. "What about the father? Pull up the biological father's file," he crossed his arms over his chest.
Eris clicked. Nothing happened. She tried again. Still nothing.
"Huh. That's weird."
"Try harder."
"I am." Her brows furrowed. "It's like the file doesn't want to open."
She began hacking into the file, bypassing encryption layers. But it was like the file itself was blocking all her attempts.
"What the hell? I never faced this before." She said as she continued to hack into the file. As the blinding Sun watched, he frowned as he now knew that his gut was telling him that he was right; something about Slyvian wasn't right, and it must be because of the biological father.
"Yes!" Eris said as she finally pulled up the file. But the second the file began to open, it triggered a self-deletion sequence. The code disintegrated on the screen. The file was deleting itself from existence on the internet.
"What the fuck?" She hissed, scrambling as she typed immediately to save the data, trying to freeze the process somehow.
Blinding Sun leaned in. "What's happening?"
"The file is deleting itself." Eris frowned as she focused.
"A file doesn't just delete itself, Eris."
"Yeah, I know, thanks for stating the obvious."
Eris gritted her teeth, her fingers flying across the keyboard as she tried to salvage whatever data she could. "I've seen files with high-level security before, but nothing like this; this feels... alive." She paused, staring at the flickering error message on the screen. "Someone doesn't want us to know anything about this guy."
"Who could have that level of security?" Blinding Sun muttered, almost to himself.
"Only someone extremely powerful or influential," she replied. She managed to catch a fleeting glimpse of an old, partially encrypted record.
"All I have is a name... barely legible. It reads I-o-u. There's no full name, no background information, and the rest is gone. Not even a damn picture."
Blinding Sun sighed, "Can you at least get a location on where or who might have hacked it?"
"Yeah hold on."
Eris' fingers typed over the keyboard as she tried to bypass layers of security protocols again, trying to trace the origin of the interference. "If whoever is behind this wanted this file hidden, they're probably monitoring my every move right now," she muttered. "But I'll see what I can dig up."
Blinding Sun, he could feel that whatever was happening , this was no ordinary hack or corrupted file; this was calculated and orchestrated by someone with resources and intent.
"Anything?" he asked.
Eris glanced at him, her brow furrowing as the screen displayed cryptic coordinates, glitching in and out.
"I'm only getting... fragments of a signal. Some of it's bouncing off a server in Black Waves City, but that's all I've got."
"Black Waves City?" He repeated, the pieces not fitting together at all.
"If this I-o-u person is somehow Slyvian's father, then we might be looking at a trail that someone has gone to great lengths to erase his file the second it's opened. I'm starting to think that this student's father could be a villain, possibly someone we've encountered before, but nothing specific comes to mind, and it just doesn't add up."
Blinding Sun straightened, "Great... keep the details between us for now. I'll go investigate Black Waves City myself when I get the chance."
Eris nodded. "Be careful. If someone's taken these lengths to keep the father's identity buried and not the mother's, then they'll definitely kill anyone who's trying to unearth it."
