Arthur was sprawled over his bed, thinking of the eventful day before. He learnt a lot and it was a lot to take in.
He got off from his bed and stretched, it was time to get ready for university. He did his daily routine and finally, after changing clothes he went downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast. He saw his mother standing in front of the stove, making eggs for him and his father who is going to wake up soon.
She looked at him and smiled; "Hope you had a good sleep. Come sit down."
Arthur returned the smile and sat down and chatted with his mother. After he got home yesterday night, he went to catch up with his mother. Expectedly, she was frantic for his wellbeing, and Arthur was happy seeing his mother after almost a month. He was yet to see his father though, he returned after he went to sleep. After finishing his eggs, Arthur got up and hugged his mother, and was on his way out.
It was 7 am and his first lesson of the day was at 10. The sky was a beautiful twilight, and off he went.
***
Near the edge of the town stood a mansion. Not much was known about it as it was handed down a family of reclusive rich people, they liked their privacy and did not even hire servants. But life did not treat them well. They soon lost their power and wealth, and left behind an abandoned mansion. No one in centuries bought it. It was too far from society and some old rumours were going around about the mansion, claiming it was haunted by the souls of innocent children that were sacrificed by the family. There was absolutely no proof of this, but nobody was interested in buying the mansion.
So it came to surprise to the British government when last week, an orphan bought the place and payed everything upfront and stated that he does not need the city council to check up on the house, he agreed on paying a hefty tax every year. They were bribed, in a sense, but they still wanted to keep checking on the orphan. They suspected the man was involved in some large-scale money laundering scheme, but when they focused their satellites on the house, they saw no activity and noted that the mansion was left alone.
They did not know however, that Niles purposefully made his new-bought mansion disguised to cameras, and that in reality the mansion and the area around it went under heavy modifications. He placed hidden cameras everywhere in the vicinity of his land and fixed the mansion, repainting it and rebuilding any part of it that did not survive, whilst reinforcing everything else.
It took him amost a whole week to finish up. 'Slow'. It took him that long in order to keep the government unaware of the remodelling. But now he was finished. Every room was properly furbished, keeping up the theme of medieval mansion whilst subtly housing high level technology. Every room fit in with each other, except for the basement.
The whole basement was encased in a box made of reinforced metal, with pillars to keep the ground from caving in. It was as big as the floors above it. Down here was where the true base of operations was. Multiple screens were scattered around. Some were keeping track of the locations of potential allies and potential enemies. Some had the news playing on mute. Some even kept track of stocks worldwide. And the rest had their own role to play. Most of the week dedicated to remodelling the mansion, the vicinity included, was taken up by the basement.
It was deep underground, linked to the main mansion via a hidden elevator which had multiple verification algorithms installed to keep people out in case they somehow stumble upon it. Inside the elevator was a dark-skinned man, wearing a plain black jumper, some grey jeans and white shoes. He looked at the white watch on his left wrist, and saw it was 7:24am. 'On time.'
Niles reached the basement and went straight to one of the monitors. He stared at it and remained in silence. He knew that buying a mansion with his identity was suspicious, but it was necessary. With the plans he had in store for the future, his future enemies would definitely find his residence, wherever it is in the world. He used his 'real' identity to buy this mansion and kept himself on the government watchlist on purpose. If his enemies found him and his mansion, they won't find the basement. He made it easy for them to find where he lives, so that when they come and search the places and find nothing, they'll assume that his headquarters are somewhere else. It's for that reason that he kept the elevator well hidden and implanted some very small false information in the government databases worldwide that link him to other places that he has never been to and never will go to. The mansion above is a facade, an illusion to keep the reality behind it hidden. He did not share the existence of the basement to Arthur, he was yet to know if he can be trusted.
Niles quickly glimpsed at another monitor, and saw Arthur on his way to university. He kept a blank face and returned to what he was doing.