Once you play god, they're gonna crumble one by one.
Then we gon' ride right into the sun.
Like it's the day my kingdom come.
Bebe we are gods.
-NewJeans
C A D E
"I love you," she said and stabbed me.
I knew she loved me, but why the heck she stabbed me?
Oh shit!
Blood.
That's when I heard gunfires and held the bloody knife in my hand.
This girl, she planned to kill me.
I had always doubted my girlfriend's mental health. Now I knew I should have taken her to a psychiatrist earlier.
My vision blurred, and I clutched at the wound, hoping to stem the flow, but my trembling hands were slick with blood. Each breath I took was a struggle.
My body became numb, and all I could hear were voices. I tried to move, but it was not helping either.
Someone yelled my name again. Before closing my eyes, I saw some figures around me.
Wait! Is that Vivene, and my father.
"Lock this girl in jail," a voice grumbled.
"Psychopath," another voice hissed.
I didn't know how he found me, but seeing him was a relief. He is my father, after all. A little girl ran towards me, not Vivene or Liliath; she was someone I had never met before.
Her small hand gently brushed around my wound, and for a while, the pain drifted away before I heard her speak.
"Wake up, Prince Charming."
And then I fainted.
"Oh, shut up! You were almost dead," stormed my father.
Here we go again, with our father and son old conflict.
His eyes filled with anger and disappointment.
Since the second my eyes opened, instead of providing me first aid, this man roared upon me, counting every mistake I had ever made since childhood, including living with my psycho girlfriend.
Not to doubt from where I got my anger issues and temper. I had always been a bad son to him, only to him. From the day we both lost the important woman of our life, our son-father relation got more messed up.
My mother, he never told me what happened to her. He lost her. And I had no regret to leave my father.
The reason for me being a spoiled child is to not have someone when I really need them.
"You never cared about me then, what matters if I die?" I was not going anywhere without an argument.
"I do, son, really do," he whispered more to himself but enough for me to hear.
"Then tell me where mom is." I raged and stood from my place, my wound started bleeding again.
Gosh, it fucking hurt like hell.
Watching me struggle to stand, Dad helped me to sit again.
He looked at me and called someone to aid my wound.
"Alia, Cade is bleeding again; treat his injury."
I groaned. A young girl. No, a pretty young girl entered the cabin with some gauze roll, scissors, and tape.
For a moment, I was not able to take my eyes off her for how beautiful she looked. Not until my staring session was disturbed by Dad's unwanted cough.
"And who's this little prick of yours?" it slipped out of my tongue. I didn't mean to call her this.
"Mind your tongue," my father grumbled.
"I'm Athalia." She gave me a pleasant smile and offered a handshake. I tried to move my hand ahead, but damn, it started hurting again.
She gave me a disappointing look and bent down to her knees, to treat my wound. I didn't let her touch it.
"Who is she?" I gave my dad a straight look, not messing with words and to tell who actually the hell she is.
"She is someone nearly like my daughter. It's complicated," he replied, and God swears, after hearing the daughter word, my blood boiled.
"And why the hell it's complicated?" I groaned, and Athalia flinched. Something inside me felt bad for acting like this.
"It's nothing like you think. It's a long story," said my father.
"I'm ready to hear."
"You are bleeding," he replied.
"Treat my wound," I ordered, to the half-kneeling Athalia in front of me. "But give me an explanation."
✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽
Okay. Fuck.
Why on earth am I feeling bad for someone?
After listening to everything he said, I am calm. Well, okay. And hell no, Athalia is not his daughter. Don't know why, but a feeling of relaxation went down my spine.
Never thought my father could be that kind to a stranger, but after everything, she is also a source of profit for him.
"I have some work pending, get rest after Alia cleans your wounds," said Dad, and I replied to him with a nod. I don't want more arguments; my half of the strength is already soaked up.
The room lightened after he left, leaving me alone with this little girl.
I closed my eyes and inhaled. I don't even know where I am; it's better to be with my father, especially after being stabbed and still not properly healed. At least he can provide me proper safety for a while.
Athalia comes close with a wet cloth in her hand. She gave me a small smile and wrung out the cloth in her hand.
"Do you want me to clean up your wound?" she asked me, beginning to sound really polite. I can't remember the last time when someone had been this polite to me.
She gave me a confused look after reading my expression. How can someone deny such politeness? I gave her a slight nod; all my problem is it's still hurting.
"Umm... can you. A little bit... umm lift up your T-shirt?" her words hesitated. It would hurt more if I lift my T-shirt a little, so I just took it off.
"What?" I asked when her face turned into amazement.
"Nothing," she shook her head and took a close look at my wound.
"What a mess," she murmured.
The contact of the wet cloth sent a shiver down my body. As Athalia's finger glided over my wound, I felt a string sensation and couldn't help but groan.
"Sorry," her face flinched by my reaction.
I gave her a sign to go on. After a few minutes, the injury was almost clean. She dipped the cloth again in the bowl; its water turned red because of my blood.
I muttered a quiet curse as the pain flared up once more. Her gaze met my blue eyes as she applied a cotton ball to my wound and began wrapping gauze around it.
Strands of her hair fell across her face, and I gently tucked one behind her ear.
Damn. Why did I do this?
A small smile appeared on her lips.
"It's nearly finished," she said.
"Where are we?" I asked, not having a clue about our current location.
She stood up, holding the bowl, once she finished tending to my wound. I put my T-shirt back on.
"Heli-bastion," she said, and then she began to walk. I followed her like a lost puppy, not knowing where else to go.
"Heli-bastion," I muttered in bewilderment.
.
Oh. Fuck. So, this is Heli-bastion.
I glanced around through the glass windows, and all I could see were clouds. Now, I've got a precise understanding of our location.
We're cruising at an altitude of 50,000 feet above sea level. In my father's precious agency's air-carrier. Global Unification Agency and Resource Deployment (G.U.A.R.D) operates as a covert international organization focused on maintaining global stability and security. It utilizes a combination of advanced technology, highly trained agents, and strategic intelligence to accomplish its mission.
The agency's primary objectives include threat mitigation, scientific research, crisis response, infiltration and espionage, international cooperation, and advanced technology.
This secretive agency operates covertly and was discovered by my family. Currently, my father and Uncle serve as its leaders.
"Here put this; it's going to be cold outside the cabin," Athalia handed me a black jacket.
She herself is dressed in a woolen hoodie.
"What happened to the Capita-Nova?" I asked. It seems like a lot has changed since I left. Capita-Nova was the capital ship of G.A.U.R.D.
"Oh," she exclaimed, casting me a nervous glance. "It got crashed in the Antarctic's ocean."
"No way. How?" It caught me by surprise; it might be the biggest mistake yet – the capital ship getting crashed. My father can't be this careless.
"Due to technical issues that proved unfixable, the board made a decision to relocate it away from civilian areas, and Antarctica was the best option we could come up with," answered Athalia.
We reached the mother wing, multiple people working on multiple computers. Can't believe they control the whole world from here, political parties, countries, and sometimes wars too.
An independent organization, which is not included in any politics, is mostly a threat to the government, but it never does something unless the board gives the permission.
I spotted Vivene, Nathan with my father, and Vi waved in my direction.
They walked over to where I was standing.
A few minutes later, a punch landed on my left cheek. Ah yeah, that was my best friend Nathan.
"You little shit, what makes you run away without telling me?" he growled in anger.
"Nathan, don't kill him," laughed Vi. She was the only one aware of my plan to leave the country.
He took a step back while still gripping onto my collar.
I took a moment to appreciate the view – a dark, cloudy night, and it was genuinely cold in this place.
"Where are we?"
"Antarctica," said my father. "The Capita-Nova..."
"Athalia informed me about it." So, that's the reason he approached me – just because he needed me to mess with his Agency's shit.
I knew he never actually cared about me.
"What do you want?" I asked straight. I won't risk my life for his shits, but if the problem is more significant, and my help is genuinely necessary, I'll consider assisting them.
"We need to extract all the cyber information from that airship," Vi stated.
"And I assume you're the only one capable of doing that," my father added.
"You have multiple high-tech engineers—" I began to say, but he cut me off. "Cade, you also know what you're capable of. Don't risk millions of people's lives because of that aircraft."
"And what do those millions of people offer me? I might prefer to watch the world burn," I replied.
He sighed and gave me a disappointed look, as if he knew what my response was supposed to be.
"Please, Cade, we wouldn't have disrupted your life if only Athalia could access that system," Vivene said, shooting Athalia a stern look. It turned out Athalia was also a tech engineer. I glanced at her, and all she did was respond with puppy eyes and a pout.
Cute. Wait, no!
And I found myself convinced.
"Okay. But only if I can have access to my old A.I assistant." I replied. "And I assume you haven't tossed it in the trash," I added.
After completing all tasks, my favorite voice greeted me.
"Welcome back, Sir."
C.R.I.S.A. I created her when I was only 14. No wonder why the world calls me a genius.
Crisa, ah, she stands for Cognitive Resourceful Intelligence System Assistant.
"Do you need more clothes to stay warm? It's going to be quite cold there," Athalia asked, gathering all the equipment.
"No, I don't feel the cold that much," I replied, and she gave me a glance as if I was lying. Of course, she was surprised – I was dressed in just a thin T-shirt and a jacket.
"Are you sure you can help me out?" I asked, unaware of her computer skills. She gave me a short nod. I wasn't used to working with partners; I preferred working alone most of the time or leading a team.
"Bro, are you ready?" Nathan asked, putting his arm across my shoulder.
"Umm, yes," I replied. It wouldn't be a difficult task for me to breach a high-security cyber system and collect its data, even if it's around a hundred or possibly even thousands of exabytes.
"The Heli-bastion will land in 10 seconds," a voice announced from the speakers.
"We should head to the lower deck," suggested Liliath.
Cold wind began to blow as the basement door opened slowly. I sensed a small figure behind me shivering from the cold. It was a dark night, with icebergs in the distance, and a crashed Capita-Nova lying in front of us.
The potential for millions of lives to be destroyed due to the information this ship held inside its systems was a heavy burden on my shoulders now.
Good. So, we are playing Gods now.