Over to Zack, later in the evening, he was lying on the bed where he shared his intimate time with Ada. He was wearing his overalls with the bed sheet covering his lower half. He stared at Ada.
She was wearing a white-furred robe and doing her makeup while looking at herself in a mirror.
Although she was turned away from him and focused on doing her makeup, Zack could not help but watch her beautiful self.
"Beautiful..." He said. Hearing that, Ada turned around.
"Oh? You're awake?" Ada said with a smile.
Ah shit...did I say that out loud?
Ada got up and sat on the bed beside him, which caused Zack's cheeks to flush red.
"So, how was it?" Ada asked as she folded her legs and rested her face in her hand while smirking.
"U-um...i-it was good." Zack stuttered. "I never thought I'd ever be this lucky."
Really...I never thought something like this would have happened to me.
"Aw, I'm glad that it was you as well," Ada said. "I hope we can share more good experiences like this."
They kept each other's gaze for a few seconds as they smiled at each other.
To think that Nathan was unnecessarily mistrustful of you, Ada.
"Oh yeah," Zack said, breaking the silence. "Do you know what happened to Olivia? She left with us, but now we heard nothing from her."
Ada's smile immediately became less bright after Zack asked that question.
"Don't worry about her, Zack. She's not important anymore." Ada said, maintaining her smile.
That response confused Zack.
"Hmm? What do you mean by that?" He asked, sitting up on the bed. "S-Shouldn't we meet up with the oth--"
"I meant what I said. Olivia's gone...and the others will be too."
A concerned expression quickly surfaced on Zack's face, which Ada noticed. She proceeded to caress his cheek.
"Don't you remember what I told you when we left the warehouse?" Ada asked.
* * *
After leaving the warehouse, Ada, followed by Zack and Olivia, went to her gang. They were met by Leon, Charlotte, and Nolan.
"Huh? Who are these guys?" Zack asked.
"Don't worry, it's my gang I told you guys about," Ada explained. "It's fine."
Leon's group looked at Zack with pure apathy unnerved him.
"Take Zack inside," Ada told Leon. "Olivia and I have to...go somewhere."
Olivia reacted with nervousness and confusion.
"Where are you going?" Zack asked. Ada smiled and touched his nose with her index finger, causing him to blush.
"Don't worry, Zack, I'll be back soon," Ada reassured. "You love and will always be there for me, right?"
Hesitating at first, Zack answered, "Y-Yeah." Which made Olivia more worried, as she knew Ada's tricks.
"Good. Then I'll always come back to you, Zack."
* * *
Ada did come back here...but not with Olivia.
"You need not worry about the rest of our 'party'. Olivia has been 'dealt' with, and the super soldiers will kill the rest of them."
Zack's face turned to extreme worry.
"Y-You did something to them?" He asked. At this point, Ada stopped smiling.
Is he somehow resisting my manipulation?
"Zack, you don't need to worry about those murderous criminals anymore--"
Zack immediately jumped off the bed and shoved her against the wall, resulting in a thud.
"You're saying I shouldn't worry about my friends!?" Zack shouted. "TELL ME WHAT YOU DID TO THEM!"
Ada looked visibly upset and stared at him with cold eyes. Then she started to chuckle.
"Ha...Hahaha. You want to know, okay...I'll tell you." Ada said. "I made a deal with the president and some military superiors to get me off the S-criminal list."
"Y-You what?"
"I told them about the location of the warehouse to make it easier for them to get rid of those criminals. Because of Olivia, I also told them about everyone's abilities, including yours. She was so ready to tell me too. Crying and hoping that I wouldn't abandon her since she was useful... too bad the deal I made entailed giving her up to the state in advance...haha." Ada chuckled.
As Ada explained, Zack became more and more distraught.
"But don't worry, I brought you to this mansion because I thought you'd be useful to me since you loved me so much...at least, I thought," Ada added. "The war on the criminals is probably going on by now, which is why I kept telling you not to worry."
"W-Why." Zack with a look of despair. "Aren't we all friends?"
"I would never be friends with that bastard, Nathan, and I wouldn't be friends with the ones that thought of him as the better leader than me."
"S-So, you betrayed...us?"
"It's not betraying if I never considered myself an ally to them."
In a burst of anger, Zack wrapped his hands around her neck and tightened his grip.
"Then if you aren't an ally...I'll just kill you!"
As he tightened his grip, Ada grabbed his hands in an attempt to make him release her, but he had the strength advantage, so she could only buy time.
"Haha...so, this...is what you're...going to do, Zack...after I went...out of my way...to remove you...from the danger?" Ada said in an attempt to talk Zack out of killing her. "I would...have never...hurt you...because...I love you."
Zack's anger started to wear off as her words were affecting him. He stopped squeezing her neck but still held her.
Good. Zack may be able to resist it somehow, but my manipulation still works.
"I'm sorry, Zack," Ada said sincerely. "I just wanted you and me to be safe, that's all...so please, don't...do this."
Tears ran down Ada's face as she pleaded with him. Feeling remorse, he let her go and stepped back. Ada rubbed her neck to soothe the pain and wiped the tears from her face.
Damn it...what she did was unacceptable but...seeing her cry was too much.
"Thank you, Zack," Ada said.
"Um, I'm sor--"
"Thank you, for being a fool."
"Huh?" Zack asked as Ada was looking right at Leon, who was behind him. Suddenly, Zack received a punch to the back of his head, knocking him over.
"AAHHH!!!" Zack screamed.
Without hesitation, Leon grabbed him and slammed his head into the wall. He fell to the ground, delirious from the impact.
"I heard some ruckus going on, so I thought I'd check," Leon said nonchalantly. "How dare you attack Ada."
"Took you long enough, Leon," Ada said.
Zack tried to get back up albeit slowly as he was still shaken up, however, Leon didn't let him, as he delivered a kick straight to his face. Leon then grabbed Zack and kneed him in the stomach, causing him to cough excessively.
"P...Please cough*...stop...him..." Zack pleaded to Ada.
"Ha, stop him? Are you out of your mind?" Ada coldly responded. "How dare someone like you lay your hand on me and then ask that?"
Leon continued by repeatedly punching Zack in the face, causing blood splatter and extreme swelling in his right eye.
"I generously helped you and then you tried to kill me." Ada continued. "You will not be forgiven."
Leon slammed him on the desk drawer Ada used to do her makeup and dragged his face across it.
"Hey, you're gonna fix that, you know," Ada advised.
"No problem," Leon responded.
He then threw him to the ground where he started to violently kick him in his stomach repeatedly. Zack started to cough up blood from the brutal beating he was receiving.
"You know what's funny, Zack?" Ada spoke. "You aren't the first man I've slept with, but you were the worst."
Zack looked humiliated at what she said, but Leon still didn't stop. He stooped over him and started to relentlessly and repeatedly punch him in the face. He did it so much that blood was flying everywhere. Zack's body involuntarily shook with every punch.
"Hmm...he's messing up the room too much. Let's finish this outside," Ada suggested.
"No problem," Leon said. Grabbing him by the shirt with both hands, Leon brought him out, with Ada following him. They took the elevator and made their way past everyone.
No one even batted an eye at the barely conscious Zack. Instead, they greeted Ada and Leon as they passed, with them returning their greeting, Ada being especially friendly about it.
Zack was brought outside to a nearby alleyway. Still grabbing his shirt, Leon shoved him against the wall.
"You should have been smarter, Zack," Ada asked. "Now, you're going to die."
Leon proceeded to take a pistol from his belt and placed it at Zack's head.
Although his right eye was swollen and he was barely conscious, Zack could tell that he was about to die.
With tears running down his eyes, Zack began to plead.
"I...I-m...so...rry." Zack weakly said, surprising them. "Please...don't...kill me..."
Right before Leon pulled the trigger, Ada stopped him.
"Wait a second," Ada said. "If you're apologizing, you should do it properly...prostrate yourself."
Hearing that, Leon immediately let Zack go, causing him to fall over because he was weak from his beating.
"Hurry up, we don't have all day," Ada said impatiently.
Mustering his strength, Zack kneeled and lowered his head in front of Ada.
"I...I'm...sorry..." Zack repeated. Ada couldn't help but smile, which quickly turned into a laugh.
"HAHAHA!!! YOU'RE SO PATHETIC, AREN'T YOU!" Ada berated him as she began to step on the back of his head, rubbing her heels on him. "YOU'RE SO USELESS! BOTH TO ME AND TO NATHAN! INSTEAD OF HELPING THEM WITH ELIMINATING THE SUPER SOLDIERS, YOU'RE HERE, ATTACKING ME, AND NOW APOLOGIZING FOR IT!"
Zack's tears began to drip down to the ground.
"TRULY USELESS! WHY WERE YOU EVEN BORN, HUH!" Ada asked with a sadistic smile across her face. With no answer, however, she removed her foot from his head.
"Heh...you can live. But don't let me see your worthless self again." Ada warned. "But knowing you, you'll probably just die in this war. Let's go, Leon."
"Alright."
They returned to the mansion, leaving Zack.
WHY WERE YOU EVEN BORN, HUH!?
Those words Ada said replayed in his head.
I've heard...those words...before.
Suddenly, the silhouettes of a man and a woman appeared in his memories. The words that Ada said were also being said by those individuals.
"WHY WERE YOU EVEN BORN, HUH!?"
"O-Oh yeah...them..." Zack weakly stated. With pursed lips, his tears began to flow more. "I...really am...useless."
Feeling humiliated, in pain physically and mentally, and most importantly, feeling used and betrayed by Ada, he began to curl into the fetal position.
"AAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!" Zack released an ear-piercing scream, bursting into tears.
"Come on, Zack, get up." The developer suddenly spoke, which attracted Zack's attention. Although his phone was in his pocket, he could hear the developer as it was on speaker and rather loud. "You gotta complete the game's mission, ya know."
"I-I can't...go back." Zack weakly said. "I won't...be of any...use...to you."
"Dang, your character development is about to go crazy." The developer said, which confused Zack. "But don't worry, I have a specific job that only you can accomplish."
"A...A job?"