Zero

CHAPTER TWENTY

All living beings aware of what they are, and above all, of who they are, boast of being superior to most of the species with which they cohabit, believe that reasoning is a blessing, that they were touched and chosen by some deity, when in reality they were cursed, condemned to live in an underworld of torments that surpasses any physical torture; overthinking things, giving importance to the banal and prioritizing being right even over the most transcendent aspects, meditating to the point of being fed up with every possibility of life, instead of living it; they torment themselves with every mistake they make, thinking about what could have been, turning the past and the future into their personalised cages, and dare to feel proud of it, after all, they are so "rational and aware of reality" that they even choose their prison, and worst of all is that their blindness hides the hypocrisy that has become their way of life, because in the most crucial moments of this one, where their precious reasoning would be the perfect protection, it is when they give in to their most primary animal instincts, demonstrating what they really are, what they will never cease to be...


Silence. Quiet. Tranquility. Abandonment. These are all adjectives that should not qualify the "M" tower, much less the exact floor where Sermon Pinrok located his secret laboratory. Yet there was the pair, contemplating the lonely shadows, isolated from all See attention.

-You have to be kidding, on the way we had to dodge at least 50 SSBMs and here... Nothing! -Giuseppe complained.


-It must be a trap, maybe there are sensors or SSBMs camouflaged- replied the mother.


- Are there camouflaged SSBMs? -asked the young man, taking one hand to his chin.


-I honestly don't know what exists anymore- replied the woman as she shrugged her shoulders.


Naya stood on the shuttle and set out to enter the building. The vehicle was a few centimeters from the crater that led into the lab, a jump was the only thing that separated them from their target. The son raised a hand in front of the woman to cut her way, Naya didn’t resist, she wasn’t anxious to jump into a trap, Giuseppe didn’t even direct a blink, her gaze was nailed in the laboratory, she scanned the room with all the eye powers she found in her gallery; there were no traces of heat, no traps hidden in the walls, no SSBMs lurking in the dark, nothing. The woman watched as Giuseppe's eyes changed color as his pupils retracted and dilated, so she deduced with no problem what she was doing.


-I think it's actually abandoned.


- What if it's a hologram, or there are motion detectors? -the agile one asked.

-I also thought about it, but I used the gift of an energy sensor; there's nothing lit in there, not an ounce of electricity - the boy finally took his eyes off the room and stood up. -I'm going in.

-Easy boy –his mother stopped him- Giuseppe raised an eyebrow as a sign of discontent.


-Mom, if it's a trap, I'm more likely to make it.


-No, you're a tangle of explosions, lasers and destruction. If this is a trap you will put on such a big fireworks display that the See will see you through the clouds. I'll go, being quiet is my thing.


-But I can also be agile -replied the young man with a supplication gesture.


- I have made my decision! –Said the mother when she stepped forward -Agility is more than a simple gift... you take care that no one comes from outside.


The boy fell over the attempted gravitational sphere that the grandfather had made; they weren’t as comfortable as the real ones, but they served as a seat on the ferry.


As the mother maneuvered through the room Giuseppe followed her with her eyesight. His paranoia was triggered, he scratched himself with fury to calm his nerves, he was ready to jump to the rescue at any moment. Even though his mother was amazing. He moved around without making a single noise, hid quite well using the debris, the boy needed to use X-rays from time to time to find her, Naya turned every direction from time to time, analyzing every little detail of the building before taking a step. Suddenly her eyes collided with her mother's. Her mother was upset that he was watching her, his job was to cover her back, not to see her; the woman gave him an accusing look as he shrugged her shoulders and signaled for him to be careful that no one approached from the outside. Giuseppe reacted and gave a quick review of the abyss over which the buildings floated, with his improved eyes he could see farther and with complete clarity, even in the dim light of the place; several groups of SSBMs patrolled dangerously close by, but none headed towards their position. After getting bored of observing, he began to play with his talents to capture better what the squadrons were doing, it was interesting the amount of things he could do, he even had a kind of motion sensor that showed him mental images of the places where someone moved, including his mother, the captures were fast, like memories or vague images that blinked in his mind; he couldn’t appreciate the details but could understand what was going on, the boy felt a pleasant relief to be able to watch them all at the same time, although definitely the power had a limited range, which he liked to a certain extent; so many images in his head overwhelmed him a little. To complement his semi-omnipresence, the boy used his magnified vision to capture the movements of the farthest SSBM, gave each squadron a couple of glimpses, but then stopped at something that caught his attention: down there, about a kilometre away, one of his targets glanced back at him, staring at him steady and serene. No, he can't be watching me, I'm freaking out, it was said. The madness began to take hold of him, gaining more and more strength, a second SSBM looked at him and this was an alpha. On their left, less than fifty meters away, a squadron was heading towards their position, nothing more than a pair of eyes was needed to see the shuttle at that distance, but without more they turned around and diverted its course, more looks harassed it, through the mental images of the motion sensor could capture its harassers, who were quite a few. The ex-zero took a long sigh to calm down, he couldn’t be alarmed by simple assumptions, so an idea came to him: he backed away from the edge of the shuttle and took out of his load capsule a paper clumsily folded into squares, it was written in yellow ink up to the middle, and after noticeable signs that the cargo was finished, the rest was continued in black ink. The first ink was difficult to read when the sheet was white, but Noah was reluctant to use another color; since he was 12 years old he caught that fixation, saying that only yellow inspired him to write. Giuseppe had to get more out of those cards, because none contained the combination of powers he was looking for, finally, in the seventh attempt he found it: telepathy plus mental control, was the combination he needed to see, smell, hear, taste and feel the same as the other person, was practically possessing the other, unlike mental control that only forced him to obey, Giuseppe concentrated on his victim and imprisoned her with his gifts:


The water in the capsule was frozen and thick, he felt small electric shocks from time to time due to the multiple wires that connected the SSBM with his tendons, breathing was difficult, the mask barely provided the necessary Vrimid for each breath intake, the eyes burned; the image was notoriously digital; before being possessed the zero was using the robot cameras as eyes and had an excessive zoom fixed on the family shuttle, checking out what was more than obvious:


Oh no! -He said to himself as he released his prey- they know we're here.


Without thinking about being quiet, the teenager entered the room, his mother had only found the formulas (three of them to be exact) but she couldn't find the chips; Giuseppe activated his X-rays, and with the help of a fairly detailed memory that he had of the chip and some other gift, he compared all the objects in the room with it, managed to find them without much work, pounced on a pile of rubble and moved it to recover the devices of one of the drawers that had been imprisoned in the collapse.


Wow, that was easy -he thought. When he saw the chips he was surprised at the accuracy of his memory, every detail of the artifact was in his head, and it was obvious; with his present talents he could remember the moment they gave birth to him, only he didn't know it.


- What are you doing! -said Naya trying not to lose her sweet tone. The roof cracked; it was unstable and Giuseppe had altered the little balance that he kept.


-We've been caught, Mom, we have to get out of here now -the structure was quite noisy, but no one came near to see what was going on. Are they letting us get everything we need for the formula back? Maybe they want to replicate it too, probably with him they will try to create worse things than the HIPERTAG-thought the child while boarding the vehicle with his mother.


The woman turned the shuttle on as fast as she could, but the structure they had just abandoned collapsed and wrapped them in a nebula of dust which irritated Naya's supersensitive throat, inevitably this was attacked by an intense cough, the young man tried to get behind the wheel but in front of them an enormous blue light came on, and followed by a roar, the plasma ball rushed towards the vehicle. The shot was practically close range; too fast and surprising, even for Giuseppe, when he wanted to react the impact had already materialized.


- Is this Dad? -Noah said as he waved a little wire that had some sort of mother card soldered to the tip.


-Yes -exclaimed the man with his deep, raspy voice. Then he extended his arms for him to grab it but the boy was on the other side of the room, so he had to run to give it to him.


- Is there anything else you need? -asked the chameleon as he knelt beside Sermon, who worked on the ground. Noah was thrilled to see his father make one of those weapons he had longed to use.
-Yes -replied Sermon. Noah turned him to see expectant-. Quiet! -The businessman concluded without taking his eyes off what he was making.


The boy lowered his head and shrugged his shoulders as he released a disappointment groan.


- And light! - he spiked even more severely, for as he lowered his head the child covered the dim light emitted by his holographic clothing, he immediately straightened up and didn't say a word for a long time.


The whole building was dark, no wonder, there was no source of light due to the lack of energy in the tower, and as all the "windows" were actually screens that transmitted what was outside by means of a camera, the gloom was all that remained; if it were not for their shiny garments, they would not have been able to see beyond their noses. They were at least 15 minutes in the same position, the boy's spirits were slowly settling, the sudden excitement of making weapons with his father slowly degenerated into sadness and discouragement, aggravated by the memories of his brother and Goat. Time ran its course, merciless with the haste of the pair. Noah had managed to remain silent, it wasn’t difficult after remembering all the tragedy he had lived through. Suddenly his father made a complaint, the boy moved away instinctively.


- I can't do this! You can't see shit in this light! -After his tantrum was over, he threw the glove on the floor-. We will have to continue the operation without your mother's swords- the businessman turned to see the other object he had armed in advance; Giuseppe's super-strength gloves, the plan was to give them to his youngest son, but they would be more useful with Naya. You'll stay in the back Noah, the gloves will be worn by your mom.

-But...

- But nothing! It’s already decided -Sermon put the gloves in a load capsule and stood up. Noah couldn't stop thinking at a thousand an hour about how he could give birth to his father.


-Sermon put the gloves in a cargo capsule and stood up. Noah couldn't stop thinking at a thousand an hour about how he could give light to his father.


Sermon quickly scanned the things he left on the ground, making sure he didn't forget anything important, then nodded to his son and turned around, but shortly before taking a third step, a pink glow illuminated his back. The businessman turned with surprise; in front of him stood Noah with his arms and legs outstretched, he was the same as always, except that his skin shone pink, the boy's expression was satisfied with a smile from side to side, his eyes were open like plates, sparks of joy were thrown, it was difficult to decide which shone more: his skin or his gaze. He knew that food formulas did work, thought the boy. Sermon smiled successfully. An expression more difficult to see than the sun itself.


-Very well -congratulated the businessman, before continuing his factory work.


Noah was proud that for the first time his talent had been useful... not only that, but indispensable, he couldn't wait to see Giuseppe's face when he found out...


The blow came without warning; he had told his brother every detail of his life in the last 50 years, the feeling had been superimposed on reality, ignoring for a moment what had happened; it was as if for a moment none of this had happened, but unfortunately that moment only aggravated more the courage of the child, he felt crushed by a horrible feeling, he could not forgive him, not yet, but he really wanted it, how was it possible to love and hate the same person? And why did hate and pain feel more than love?


-Noah, what happened to the light? -The boy reacted, he had lost concentration and had stopped shining; it wasn't easy, he didn't feel the same as the usual change of colour. The light dominated the room again, but the same couldn’t be said of the boy's heart.


The explosion shook the sky, a cloud of darker smoke emerged from the dust, followed by a hundred bits of metal flying through the air. The impact had reached its objective, a dismembered and bleeding body fell into the abyss; it would end up being a big meat paste somewhere on Base. Giuseppe looked at the attacker surprisingly. That SSBM had shot his own partner! Or had he failed? But they were too close, he said to himself, although the cloud of dust probably disoriented him. However, the teenager wasn’t going to stay and ask him; one of his gifts was activated as a result of his desire to escape, a tentacle of flesh emerged from the back of his neck and connected to the ferry by piercing it in the ground; he could feel the mechanism of the car in his head and without turning the matter over twice he started at full speed. The nearby SSBMs flew towards him and started firing, the boy created a force field around the shuttle; a good amount of projectiles hit quite hard, it was clear that they didn't want them alive. Giuseppe was so worried that they wouldn't be killed that at first he didn't care where they were going; by the time he realized that they were going up it was too late, there were at least three hundred SSBMs behind them, he had to turn but it was impossible, he turned back to see his opportunities... something was wrong, and not exactly the predicament they were in; some SSBMs were being knocked down, it couldn't be the height, because the checkpoints were higher and worked well there; unfortunately for the boy his shuttle wouldn't do it, this was a simple grandfather's contraption. They couldn't keep going up, he had to think of something, fighting wasn't an option. What if he teleported the vehicle? But they would see him again, he replied. He had to become invisible, but at that moment he was already using two talents, he had to remove the force field for a second and the cannon shots wouldn't stop, but the engine would if they went up another meter.


The boy screamed to release the adrenaline, Naya was glued to her seat by the speed that the young man had managed to reach. The current of air hit the pair when the force field disappeared, a dozen impacts reached slightly the back of the shuttle, the pieces were detached just before Giuseppe teleported them out of the vehicle managing to escape the danger, but they had lost an important part of the shuttle in that impact. They were practically planning as they fell, they weren't going to get to the "O" tower in that thing, but at least they weren't shooting at them anymore.


- Giuseppe, we're falling, do something! -the mother alerted.


- Like what?


-I don't know, can you teleport us to the engine room of the "O" tower? Or psychically control this so that we stop falling? Or repair it with...


-Excellent idea -interrupted the boy. In a blink of an eye, using her supermemory, she visualized the engine room and teleported to it with everything and vehicle.
The impact was hard, fortunately the young man stopped all his gifts to fly out of the rattletrap with his mother in his arms. The ship was completely wrecked, but at least they were safe.


-Tell me we didn't lose the formulas -said the boy. The mother raised her hand with three bottle.


-Tell me we didn't lose the chips -replied the mother. Giuseppe put his hand in his pocket but only took one out.


-Maybe -said the gifted man with a nervous smile as he left his mother delicately on the floor-, but this teleportation thing gave me an idea. Wait here- the boy vanished. The mother kept the word in her mouth, abandoned in the completely dark room.


The first destination of the gifted was the ex-laboratory. Using his intangibility and the flight, he managed to replace the two chips he lost. Then he appeared in the control room of the "M" tower and turned on the lights. Let’s see if they find out in which tower are we, he thought; hen he repeated the process in the five remaining towers, leaving the last "O" tower, but when he arrived at the maintenance room he found his father and his brother.


- What are you doing here? -said the father.


-I came to turn on the lights -replied Giuseppe.


- Who told you you could do that?


-I improvised -said the son, and immediately turned on the power supply and without further explanation teleported the three to the engine room next to their mother-. I turned on all the other towers to disperse the SSBMs, so I guess that'll give us time. Here are the chips- he explained as he handed them to the father-, and here are the formulas -he concluded, as the formulas appeared in his hand with the help of his talents.


- Wow Gipi, it's decided -Naya congratulated, as he gazed at the hand where he was holding three vials seconds ago. Even Sermon looked satisfied. For his part Giuseppe could not help thinking that his mother had called him "Gipi" again after so much, it meant that he was no longer angry, at last things were going well.


The lights came on suddenly; it was time to start working. Sermon went to the synthesizer and to the geno-corporeal projector and began to do his thing. From time to time he would see the ship pulverized and make a disgusting gesture, but he said nothing, although he was concerned about how they would get out of there. After a few minutes, a large monitor adopted a charging screen that started with 5%.


-Well, all that's left to do is wait- said the man. He pulled out a load capsule and pressed a button on its side, a hologram listing with images what it contained was unfolded. There were several things, including super-strength gloves and Naya's sabers, but what caught Giuseppe's attention was a chest with a very peculiar lock: it was the one the grandfather had on his desk that day... Sermon selected the weapons and distributed them among the members of the family. Giuseppe could only keep the intrigue, he had to get that load capsule later.


It had been another three minutes. Time was eternal. The monitor was no more than 5% and the silence was even more uncomfortable than on the trip; that reminded him of his mother's words, he could take advantage of that time to break the ice with Noah.


-And... Why the flashy new tone? -Giuseppe asked nervously, taking advantage of the circumstances, for a moment. Noah smiled as if glad he noticed it, but then his face darkened and his skin returned to the pastel yellow it used to display.


- Do you really care? -the boy grunted.


-Yeah, why wouldn't I care if we're talking about you?


- So you care about me? ...How can I believe you?


What the hell's wrong with him? the older brother wondered. How could he answer that question? How could he answer any question if he would always end up questioning his word? What did he want he to say to him? The young man had remained silent, the youngest only looked at him accusingly. The mother watched them from afar, waiting for the moment to intervene.


- No answer? -asked the youngest.


It's not working as well as my mom put it to me, I don't get it, if only I could... read... his... mind.... Giuseppe knew it was wrong, but Noah wouldn't notice so he'd know what to do. It's time to finish to this  -he said to himself.


His gifts were activated, a thousand thoughts invaded the mind of the gifted, each and every one of them was negative: resentment, anger, rage, anger, disillusionment, doubt, distrust and... fear; what his mother had told him was a lie, the young man felt betrayed. Noah didn't feel protected, quite the opposite, he was afraid, he was afraid of the amount of talent he had, he was suspicious of spending time by his side, he blamed him for everything bad that happened; the emotion was suffocating, his heart shook to the slightest expression, his throat was so hard that he felt suffocated, he couldn't avoid breaking into tears and fell to his knees, the forces abandoned his body, he even began to tremble and hyperventilate, the mother ran quickly to his aid.


- What's the matter Gipi, are you in pain? -he asked as he held him with both hands trying to help him. Even Noah mobilized to intervene if necessary.


- Don't touch me! -The ex-zero shouted, jerking her away with one hand. You lied to me! Noah hates me, I scare him, I'm little less than a wild animal to him!


-No, don't say that, your brother loves you -she tried to comfort him as he approached to embrace him, but the boy pushed her and the woman fell out of a sitting position, and because of the sound he emitted it was quite hard.
- How can you try to go on with that lie? How stupid do you think I am? I read his mind! I felt all his contempt! He hates me!


- What do you mean, you read my mind? You can't do whatever you want just because you're powerful. You complained about the high levels of your school and you are worse than they are -exclaimed the youngest as he approached to help his mother.


-Giuseppe, what the fuck is wrong with you? How dare you touch your mother? -Sermon joined.


The boy was completely stunned, he saw his mother lying on the floor with a broken smile and her beautiful green eyes adorned with tears, his father and his brother shouting at him with looks of contempt. His brother's feelings kept spinning in his head and stabbing his heart. The room became a scandal, a mob against him, as if he were really a monster, and maybe he was. He regretted having hurt his mother, but his apology was drowned out by the screams of the two boys, he tried to get close to help her stand but Noah pushed him away. The noise grew so much that he became mute, disconnected from reality, trapped in his thoughts, his supermind could process all the information but he preferred to ignore it. A pile of thunders shook his eardrums as his gaze plunged into nothingness, the same question kept repeating itself over and over again, how did it all end so badly?


As the boy desperately searched for a solution, a click slipped through the thunderous noise, followed by an orchestra of heavy metal stamps predicting death. A cluster of babbles exchanged information and after a countdown both the door and the side walls exploded, the dust rose in a nebula and from this emerged a lethal rain of plasma that riddled the family. The shots hit a force field dry. The boy didn't seem to react; he didn't emit a movement or gesture, but he was there, his talents clearly manifested it by acting in his name, only that everything was happening very fast, he couldn't think clearly. The attacks didn’t cease, the force field began to crack and the family prepared to fight, but it was clear that they had a terrible starting position, as soon as the shield was defeated they would be shot without even being able to react, they needed to gain space if they wanted to counteract, but from their protective prison it was not possible, the energy barrier that protected them absorbed each blow and, due to its circular form, from time to time it diverted some, causing that some lost bullets were dangerously near the machines of Sermon.


- Giuseppe, protect the projector and synthesizer, if they receive an impact we can lose everything! -ordered Sermon.


I have already lost everything, Giuseppe thought as he watched his only protection weaken. Everything felt so unreal, seconds ago the boy was determined to be the hero of his family, life smiled at him and even his powers worked well; and out of nowhere an avalanche of horrors had buried him, he couldn't even process how they ended up in those circumstances. Everything seemed false, he was tempted to fade the shield and let himself be shot, so perhaps the pain would end... the thoughts ate the boy, leaving a stunned and useless body adrift.


The force field fragmented even more, they'd be lost unless Giuseppe reacted. An extra SSBM group joined and prepared their cannons, panic took hold of the family, but it was ephemeral because the new arrivals spread a burst of plasma that ripped apart the SSBMs who were riddled with the quartet, again they were attacking each other, what a while ago had not been a mistake, there were really two sides, the question was if any of them was their ally. When the gunfire ceased the number of opponents had radically decreased, the shield ceased to be in danger, there was a pause full of tension and uncertainty and then the confrontation between SSBMs began. Surprisingly the rebels outnumbered the faithful, and not only that, they seemed to be mostly alpha, there was no way they could be defeated. The shield was in precarious condition, but it had ceased to be a death trap, in fact, it kept them out of combat, which to some extent was good.


- Protect the family! -ordered one of the most equipped alphas and marked a perimeter around the force field that was barely standing- the backups will arrive! -he exclaimed triumphantly.


Backups? How many traitors were there? And why, in the name of Graviton, were they protecting them? The engine room became a real battlefield, blood was shed without mercy, screams and orders crossed from side to side, multiple weapons of various specialties met each other seeking to protect their bearer. The backups began to arrive on both sides, it was clearly noticeable the confusion on the part of the faithful at the See, for their part, the rebels knew their objectives well, it was a mystery how, at first sight all were equal, pleas for help were transmitted by the intercommunicators, but the See was conspicuous by its absence. The massacre was such that it was impossible to move without stumbling upon a metal casing. Finally someone gave in; the alpha of one of the squadrons ordered retreat. The rebels had won, and the monitor was already at 20%. The troops began to leave the tower, their enemies did not cut off their escape; little by little the silence grew stronger on the cemetery they had left behind. Only the few who feared the See enough to die for it continued to fight, one bullet or another from the crossfire finding its destination in the force field, until it eventually gave way.


As soon as they were free, the family took cover, keeping a considerable distance so that they could distinguish their protectors. Between the wailing and the crying of the fallen, a feminine voice arose that captured everyone's attention, stopping the fight for a few seconds, those who withdrew cut off their escape, the weapons froze in the act, the dying bodies endured the crying, instinctively each Zaykan paid attention to the announcement made by all the intercoms in unison:


"Got it corporal, your request for reinforcements has been approved by the high command, General Jürgen Molitor is on his way."


The excitement that invaded the room was everything but joy, even the faithful felt terrified, a HIPERTAG was everything but a help for the SSBM, and less in those moments in which it was not known who belonged to which side... death would fall indistinctly for all, the fight had become a nonsense, nobody dared to retake the battle, after all his angel of death would appear soon. Why to advance then his destiny? In less than five minutes his guest would arrive, the See would teleport him to the atmosphere of Middle and the thrusters of a HIPERTAG would be more than enough to reach any part of the territory in seconds.


A whistle cut through the sky, seconds later a projectile pierced the ceiling and pulverized the floor. The shipment had been delivered with extreme priority and urgency. An armor of white ivory came out of the rubble of the roof, after such an impact one would suppose that at least the user would be stunned, but it wasn't; a HIPERTAG pilot had already proved to be a tough opponent, but a pilot with armor on was a totally different thing, it was something like an army of pure level 10, which apart were kept drugged to suppress pain while inside the armor. The silhouette took two steps forward, shook the dust off its shoulders with arrogance and after walking around the place with her eyes it decided to talk.


-All right, which one of you killed Malcor Straud?