It disappointed Vermont that although he could change the events of the Simulation; it didn't exactly break the Mind Control. Far from being depressed, however, he was positively curious.
There is a tendency in humans, almost biological, to think of what they could have done better in the past. It similarly delighted Vermont when he thought he could change the past mistakes or at the least act have satisfaction of "trying".
Despite being imprisoned in a Juvenile Detention Center, Vermont wasn't a big criminal at fifteen. He could work his memory to remember the crimes he committed, but it was a foregone conclusion.
"Oh~ Naa-icee!!"
A young boy's voice fell on Vermont's ear when he was cleaning up after Gou.
"Did you really kill him? You didn't look like you had it in you ~scratch,"
Paraya, Vermont's neighbour from cell B33, said as a matter of fact.
His tone beaming with confident and sarcasm, he scratched the skull tattoo on his neck as green eyes gleamed with excitement.
In the original history, Paraya would have slit Gou's throat using a razor blade and ran off with his minions, but this time Vermont had disrupted that order. Although Vermont stole his prey, Paraya was none the wiser.
"None of your business! Get moving before you too meet the same end."
Vermont rebutted as he slowly turned to glare at Paraya, and then turned again as if Paraya didn't exist. Complicated emotions riddled on his face.
'We are not the same.'
Vermont's bipolar attitude intrigued Paraya. He felt he had finally found someone interesting to play with in the bland prison, though Vermont thoughts differed widely. He didn't want to rekindle their past relationship, at least not until he really required Paraya's expertise in the future.
'Paraya Marks, 16-year-old, serving 3 years for homicide. He is a loner, suffers from IED, has abandonment issues, and fears intimacy. Started his hobby of slitting throat at 8 years old by operating on rodents, moved up to canine at 12, and finally graduated to humans last year with his father.'
Vermont's iterated Paraya's whole Kundli in his mind. He had no interest in current Paraya but knew of his past, present, and future like the back of his hand.
He vaguely recalled how both their lives intertwined with each other in the future-past, albeit unknowingly to Paraya.
With complicated emotions, Vermont's hate for Paraya reignited once more, but he forcefully reigned it under control. Parya's sadistic nature reminded him of his own sadistic father, and it was always a source of irritation.
Growing up in a poor lower-middle class family with an abusive divorced father and a disabled brother. Vermont didn't have a single wonderful memory of his childhood. His father was not only not a decent human but also a sadist that mistreated both his children daily.
His father was the reason Vermont could never achieve greatness despite having superior talents than most of his peers.
Paraya wasn't expecting hostility from Vermont. The shock was visible on his face, but he soon hid it behind a smiling mask. He was a Prison Lord and a psychopath. He had seen all kinds of criminal in that juvenile prison.
He looked at Vermont for a second and then at the dead prison guard. A mischievous smirk appeared on his face.
SLURP...
His tongue twisted and rotated as it licked his lips. The razor blade under his tongue shone for a second before disappearing.
"Get rid of him if you don't want a homicide investigation,"
Paraya turned to leave.
"… wait for a couple minutes though, someone would destroy the cameras ~hehehe. See Ya!"
Paraya didn't wait for Vermont's response and jumped off the second floor.
As he landed, a crater formed under his feet, and he pranced towards the only way out of the Prison. Coincidentally, the control room was also in that direction.
Vermont was speechless. The irony of Paraya's statement left him stunned for a minute.
'Paraya, the Blade Tongue, is advising me on homicide?' He grated his teeth in discomfort.
Taking a deep breath, he released decades' worth of resentment as he thought about Paraya's "tip".
Vermont wasn't sure what to make of the young Paraya that had committed no other crimes except killing an abusive father and skin a few animals.
He wanted to fight and beat the 16-year-old Paraya, but Paraya was too big a character of the future-past for Vermont to mess with at this stage.
From the earlier experiment, he knew the past wasn't constant. If he messed with Paraya, he wouldn't be able to sleep well knowing that a future 3-star level threat was after his life.
Although Paraya's Biohacker strength was above an unawakened Vermont. A budding criminal against a veteran that lived the last 4 decades on the battlefield was nothing. Despite the disparity in raw strength, he was confident that he could make a quick work of Paraya.
Paraya was both a curse and a blessing for Vermont. On one hand, he indirectly helped Vermont and countless people by establishing a safe haven for rejects of human societies. On the other, he was the reason he required such a haven in the first place.
Everything started when Paraya became a Ravett while running away from the prison. He gained immunity from past crimes and became a soldier, while the government made Vermont a scapegoat for Gou's murder to set an example.
One thing led to another and Vermont joined Anti-Human factions after breaking out of the prison. He worked against humanity for a long time because of his anger against the government.
Although he only did sabotage and steal missions against the Federation, he single-handedly setback humanity's progress by a century because of his actions.
"Hah ~sigh."
Vermont pushed aside the negative thoughts that were rising from Paraya's last statement.
'If I don't want to have a homicide filed against me, is it?'
He snorted at the cosmic prank being played upon him at the moment. Paraya, who was the sole reason how his life turned out the reason it did, was telling him how to escape homicide investigation?
"Leave it, it's better this way."
Vermont put Paraya's case behind his mind and planned his future actions.
'Let's see, investigate the simulation, gain a Reverie, awakening, fix this damn life, save my brother, and earn money. Too many things to do.'
A general outline of his future plan appeared in his mind.
"Why did I never realize how much of a mess I was in back then?"
Vermont readied himself. He checked Gou's body and picked up his access card and the baton.
"I hope you won't die so easily next time."
He glanced at the almost naked unconscious guard and muttered as he too left the scene. He had averted the first death flag that had caused his life to spiral out of control by saving Gou's life.
*****
( Office Of Intelligence Bureau)
( Somewhere in the hidden valleys of the Himalayas )
"What is happening to this world suddenly? Was there something wrong with the Hadron Collider?"
"… did they fail some experiment? ~crunch."
Slight tremors shocked the secret facility, but the General continued to munch on chips like usual. The hidden valleys deep in the mountain range of Himalayas had earthquakes now and then.
"Sir, we have received no news from our counterparts in other countries, but it looks like the war has taken a turn for the worst."
A petite female information officer in her mid-20s hurried to reveal the urgent information she had just received from her com device.
"... both the countries have stopped all their satellite services and completely disconnected themselves from the global network."
"What-?"
General Viraat almost fell out of his chair as he processed the information he just heard.
"… How in the hell can they do that? Don't they know it will cause a mass panic?"
"… What if the Council takes action against Earth because of their stupidity?"
SIGH-!!
"We are unsure what are the allies doing. But the situation is terrible. Our satellite has discovered high Radiation Signatures from both the countries and it is expanding rapidly-"
"Stop beating around the bush. Give me the full report."
General muttered with a distraught and defeated expression.
The officer seemed hesitant.
"that... Um... I believe they have used the Cataclysm-class Weapon."
"WHAT-!??"
"… Oh my Raam!! Only you can save us from this impending doom now."
The general exclaimed as he hung his head and prayed to Lord Raam to save the origin planet of humanity.