Book II – Chapter 9

 

“When the Imperium started off it was not the Empire it was now. It was a tiny planet, in a small sector, with less than ten thousand citizens. It wasn’t until the Battle of Korhal did we become a galactic power house. During that time we were still preparing for the war, so we were spending more time focused on building our empire than war. It was a time of great peace.”

-Excerpt from ‘Birth of the Imperium’ Chapter 2

 

 

“Ah shit. Leo I don’t know what to say other than I can reach his position in fourteen minutes with the new hyperdrive engines with your permission.”

 

“And I’m telling you no. Those engines hasn’t been fully tested yet.” Leo exasperated.

 

“Well then I don’t know how I’m supposed to save him! The data he sent me shows seven ships bearing down on them and we need to get to him quick.” Guy yelled.

 

Biting his lip, Leo came up with an idea.

 

“Send one Replicator Cruiser, if it works then you have the go ahead to take four ships with you.” Lao offered.

 

Seeing that he wasn’t going to get a better offer Guy relented. “Ok I’ll have the ship readied.”

 

Meeting point.

Prometheus.

 

“How long until they arrive?”

 

“ETA 55 Seconds.”

 

“Well the waiting is killing me. I want to try out these new tactics you came up with Ira.” Nathaniel said.

 

“Oh yeah I have a feeling it’ll be a hit. Once we have control of their systems it’ll be like taking candy from a baby.”

Nodding in agreement Nathaniel pressed his comm device. “Are the combat teams ready Paul?” Nathaniel asked.

 

“Ready and itching for a fight.” Paul’s voice responded through the intercom.

 

“Good cause they’ll be here any second.” Nathaniel said.

 

“Can you patch me into the communications transmission if there is one? Just in case.” Pasl asked.

 

“Sure thing, they’ll be here soon.” Nathaniel said.

 

“I hear ya, sir.”

 

As the ships were about to arrive they received a transmission from the Lions.

 

“You sure you want to do this?” Jason asked.

 

“Don’t worry about us.” Nathaniel smiled.

 

“Fine, it’s your funeral.” Jason sighed.

 

“Haha, you’ll sing a different tune once we win. Here patch into this frequency.” Nathaniel said.

 

“What’s this?” Jason asked.

 

“This is our cyber-warfare center. Patch into that and you’ll know where were moving, our attacks, and our ship-to-ship combat situation.” Nathaniel said.

 

“Interesting.” Annie said with a devious smile.

 

A short moment later seven ships came out of warp. Surprisingly they didn’t come out guns blazing.

 

“Sir, were being patched through to the Lion’s ship.” The comm officer reported.

 

“Let’s hear what they’re saying.” Nathaniel nodded.

 

“-you doing there Jason?”

 

“Well at the moment im a little confused as to what you, a pirate group, are doing with raiders and other pirates? I thought you worked alone Kakarov?” Jason asked.

 

“Well it’s one of those things of mutual interest. That and the 300,000 credit bounty on your head that was just released.” Kakarov chuckled.

 

“300,000? That seems a bit low if you ask me.” Jason said in mock horror.

 

“It is but most of us would do it for free. Seeing how you thwarted us on so many occasions. So seeing how were all were itching for a reason to go after you. This just gave us something to do.” He smiled.

 

“Come on now Kaka—“

 

“Enough! You won’t intimidate us to run away this time, you only have two ships against our seven. No matter how good ‘Annie the Angel’ is.” He yelled as he cut off the transmission.

 

As the line cut out Jason sighed.

 

Moments later the battlecruisers from the raiders and pirates moved in. the moment they were in range they opened fire at the Lion’s battlecruiser. Luckily the Lions were able to activate their defense matrix on time before the missiles hit.

 

“Move us in! Open fire with all available railguns and missiles. After that I want us to beam the capture team on to the ship in the back, it seems that one had the highest long range weapon capabilities. Take out their weapon’s and then proceed with plan Alpha-Charlie” Nathaniel ordered.

 

“Yes, sir” The men responded.

 

The Prometheus moved in and their railguns fired up and started firing at their nearest target. The Lions on the other hand had started maneuvering towards the other left end of the wave of enemies, trying to use the other ships to interfere with block the angle of fire. The pirated were ready for this though and were moving already to accommodate the movement.

 

“Sir, Capture Team is away.”

 

“Good! Release the drones have them focus on intercepting missile fire. Spin up the APBs and move us in position to–”

 

“Sir! Three more ships incoming! From our port side!”

 

“Damn it ok get-“

 

“Sir, correction 4….5….8 ships inbound from our port side.”

 

“Son of a—“

 

“Sir were being hailed! Authorization code…Murphy!”

 

“On screen.”

 

In the center of the Prometheus’ tactical display appeared none other than Murphy and Takiel with another man at their side.

 

“Hey there Commander! I got those mercs you wanted, then I heard you were out here with no supervision so I brought your new help. This is Commander Jerome Wilson leader of the Infinity Fighters. They’re former confederacy so they’re on your list of requirements.”

 

“Well you couldn’t have come at a better time!” Nathaniel smiled.

 

“Well I do try to do good work.” Murphy smiled.

 

“Pardon me but are we here to just extract you or are we going to take out those pirates and raiders as well?” The brown skinned commander asked.

 

“We’re going to capture and repurpose them commander. If you do well you get one of your choosing to yourself.” Nathaniel smiled.

 

“Oh I’ll take you up on that! Our ETA is in one mike.” the commander smiled.

 

“Affirmative.”

 

On the other end, Jason and Annie were having a hard time dodging missiles and laser fire.

 

“All forward batteries target Kakarov’s ship! He’s leading them so if he goes down they’ll scatter!” Annie roared.

 

“Annie! I just got word from that Nathaniel guy. He says he’s got reinforcements coming in. ETA thirty seconds.” Jason announced to her.

 

“Tell them to hurry up!” she yelled as she returned to giving the crew orders.

 

A short while later, eight battlecruisers appeared on the starboard side of the attacking raiders. To their surprise they weren’t after Jason and the Lions but were trying to save them! Seeing how they were fresh into battle but were outgunned and out manned, the seven ships began their escape. The fastest ship to begin its escape held Paul and his Capture team.

 

“Capture Team report!” Nathaniel yelled.

 

“This is capture team. Were in a corridor on the way to the engine room, I don’t think we’re going to make it. Request evac!”

 

“Helm get ahold of them and beam them out.”

 

“We can’t sir! Their defense matrix is up and interfering with the transporter. We can get things in, not out, sir”

 

“Damnit! Ok send in as many replicators you can direct into their cargo hold. Capture Team we can’t get you out, we’re sending in reinforcement, make your way to the cargo hold once you take control of the ship head right back for Deadman’s port! How copy?”

 

“We read—“

 

“They’re gone sir.”

 

“Damn it” Nathaniel yelled as he slammed his fist.

 

“Don’t worry Nathaniel, Paul isn’t a child and he didn’t become my second in command by not being capable.” Ira reassured him.

 

“I hope so Ira, I hope so.” Nathaniel prayed.

 

==============================

 

Olympus

 

On the Atlas, Guy was counting down to the ignition of the new hyperspace engines on the replicator ships. “Ready to go in Three…. Two…. “

 

“Hold it! Incoming transmission on the emergency channel. Decrypting. Playing message.” His helmsman said.

 

‘Guy, cancel that request for help. Full details to follow. Tell High Lord Leo were going to stay a few days extra. Eight ships well be returning to the Imperium in 13 hours. Recommend you get on with your mission. See you when you get back.” Nathaniel said.

 

“End of message, receiving full combat log and transmission data now sir.”

 

“That rat bastard. Scaring the life out of me send details over to the High lord and see if we get the green light.”

 

=-==–=-=-=-=-=-=-

 

Unknown Ship.

 

Paul shut the door and checked on his men. With him were eleven men, five who he had fought with for several years, six of whom were military vets from earth. The idea was to see how people with different training reacted to the CMC-400 suits.

 

“So what’s the verdict?” one of the men asked.

 

“Well we’re still in warp, so long as we can take control of the ship before it exits warp I think we’ll be ok.”

 

“and if it drop out of warp before we can capture it?” another asked.

 

With a dark expression Paul slid his finger across his throat. “Don’t let them take you alive.”

 

Realizing the seriousness of their situation they all nodded.

 

“Luckily we have help. Commander Nathaniel send over some replicators before they lost us. So if we’re lucky they’ll take control of some of the systems. Any of you Earthies got a way to interact with the replicators?” he asked.

 

“I do. I can do it now if you want.” One marine told him

 

“Good, what’s the status?” Paul asked.

 

“”They’re in the cargo hold multiplying. Eta 11 minutes before they move out. Says here that they’re going to seize the engine room then the bridge next. Says all life forms are hostile with exception to us. They’re set to kill.” He told them.

 

“Good, now it’s time to commandeer us a ship. We’re going to take the bridge first once the replicators move to the engine room. We’ll sync out attack with the replicators. Until then we rest and keep an eye out for patrols. It’s a good thing we took out their ship sensors.”

 

“Rodger.” They responded.

Navigation
Previous Chapter	Table of Contents	Next Chapter

Three days later

Leo stood in front of a press conference of over a hundred reporters, all eager to hear the new announcement that was happening today. With Leo’s track history they knew, when he talked and walked, the world listened and moved. Today’s press conference was being held at the ‘Lionheart Group HQ’, in their main conference hall. As everything was ready Leo began.

“Ladies and gentlemen thank you all for coming. I am Leo Miller, founder and CEO of the ‘Lionheart Group’. Today I am here to announce something that many have also announced but I am doing something much, much more. Today I am announcing that we have started a new branch of our Technologies Division. Today I hereby announce the start of Lionheart Space, with this new announcement come with many new and exciting things.

First off Lionheart Space will develop the world’s first interstellar ship. Combined with exciting new technology developed by all of our affiliates. Second is that with this ship we will begin recruitment of a team of engineers, technicians, and scientists as well to crew these new ships. Lastly we will also be developing colonization equipment for places like Mars, Venus, and the moon. Today I am here to promise these things… to take humanity into the real space age, in five years.”

As the words left his lips scores of reporters sprang up with questions, camera flashed, and security had to earn their pay. That day humanity changed and Leo Miller became the most powerful man in the world.

For the next five years the world would scramble on its feet to meet the demand for raw materials that Leo needed. Leo decided that he would not make just one little ship, instead with the remaining ZPMs he decided make two whole capital class ships with two ZPMs in each. Thankfully with the beaming technology installed in Eden he could fabricate duplicate versions of Eden with enough materials, which was what he was planning on first.

The way beaming technology worked was a marvel to those who saw it. In essence it allowed for bonding of elements at a molecular level. This was especially important when it came to structure and durability. However the beaming technology could only rearrange molecules, not restructure them. So all metals would remain the same, however he had the ability to make alloys. Through this new ability he was now able to make the most powerful alloy on earth, considering the lack of denser metals and more advanced alloys.

Leo considered the production of the ships to be not a big deal since with Eden, he not had access to time dilation technology. Although he couldn’t make advanced ones he could make basic ones. With the help of Eden their capability ended up being that it could slow time by a half, giving him twice as much time in a contained space. Combining the replicators that he had hidden away with this time dilation technology, he had a fearsome combination of miners, builders, and army.

With the replicators in charge of building they would take the alloys and build them into the future ships. Before this though they would need a lot more replicators. The replicators were all moved under the warehouse where Eden was given to Leo. Under the warehouse was a large storage of metals that they needed to swell their ranks. After a few weeks they had enough to begin construction on the two capital ships, which would aptly be named, ‘The Atlas’ and ‘The Prometheus’.

With the new technology came one problem, energy. All the new technologies required more advanced power generation in massive proportions. The beaming technology required a lot of energy, so much that if it tapped into any power grid on the planet it would cause massive power shortages. Luckily for them they had some ZPMs. With the beaming technology combined with the building ability of the replicators they were able build an efficient antimatter power generator. It took five of them to meet the energy requirements of the time dilation fields.

With the introduction of the new antimatter generators they now had a way to power their ships, along with their new weapons. The capital ships of two separate design, one was supposed to be a carrier, designed to carry drones, not the ones like the US military but advanced ones. These drones were similar to the drones from Atlantis, except for small differences. First being that weren’t projectile weapons, as in they didn’t kamikaze into enemies until necessary.  Second was that they shot very basic laser beams, strong enough to melt steel. Lastly was that they were each half the size of fighter jets and twice as mobile and fast.

Aside from drones the ships were built with new weapons technology as well. The D-33 Missile Launchers were created with the ability to fire different missiles through the same tube. Missiles had multiple payloads, explosive, puncture, and replicators. Next were C-3 Railguns, designed to fire 400 rounds a minute, with each round traveled at a speed of Mach 6.  Then there were the Plasma Beams, each required the power of six antimatter generators and took some time to charge up before it could be used. Lastly there was the development of shield emitters, truthfully though it was a rudimentary version of Asgard Shielding Technology.

The Prometheus spanned the length of 1500 meters, 500 meters wide and 400 meters tall. It was also equipped with personnel transport, drone bays, shield emitters, 12 rail guns and 2 Plasma Beams. In the ship drone bay five hundred drones awaited instruction while the personnel transport would be able to carry a total of 2400 colonist as well. The colonization tech that was going to be used was planned to be three fold. First was replicators building shelters out of materials they brought along, second was to build infrastructure depending on the planet, and lastly was to start production of raw materials through the use of replicators. With this he’d be able to secure a solid foot hold on the planet they planned on colonizing.

While Prometheus was the carrier, bringing fire and destruction to whoever stood in the way of the Atlas. The Atlas was the flagship, designed with thicker armor and bigger guns. The Atlas was the length of 2100 meters long and 600 meters wide, and almost 400 meters tall. The new flagship would be equipped with three shield emitters, 22 D-33 Missile Launchers, 42 Railguns, and 10 Plasma Beams. The Atlas would require almost 2000 people to crew, and several metric tons of supplies to keep them all happy. Lucky for them that the trip would only take a few days and that the colonies to begin producing food.

———————————————————————————

Nathaniel stood at the forward deck of the Atlas, in just five short years they had built two capital class starships. Each one costing easily in the trillions, luckily they were well funded. Those who were around him were the original security detail who joined Leo that day five years ago. They all decided in the end to join Leo, on his crusade to build an empire and save all of existence. They were the first to be inducted into the Lion Guard. As they stood there reminiscing about forgotten days they finally realized that the day had come.

“Who’d a thought that the disabled guys would end up fighting aliens and saving the multiverse?” His second in command Guy Fisk joked. Nathaniel laughed at the short stocky man, over the last seven years they all became dedicated to each other and to the cause.
Three years ago Leo informed them on what the future would possibly hold. First was going to the Starcraft universe, a place where war and veteran soldiers were common. Their technology and contact with the Protoss would be invaluable, along with the Terran technology. Leo’s biggest fear was the Zerg, he’d hoped he would be able to partake a peace treaty with Kerrigan but he had back up plans in play if things didn’t work out.

“So the first dimension were visiting has other humans huh?” one of the guys asked.

“Yeah but they’re kinda like Australia, sent all the convicts there. Then they decide to start their own space empire.” The guy next to him said.

Over the last few weeks every crew member and colonist was instructed to research their new home. Having already been prepped in the information they began formulating plans on how to create worlds for them to colonize in such a hostile universe. The answer came in the form of the time dilation devices. With enough power they could fast forward time for a split moment and have a millennia pass. The only problem Leo had with this plan was that it would require the loss of one of their precious ZPM.

“Hey boys!” Leo said as he walked into the forward deck.

“Leo! Glad you could make it.” Guy said.

“Like I would miss this!?” Leo exclaimed.

Today the Lion Guard would be having a celebratory toast in honor of their life on Earth. After tomorrow where the ships would take off, it was unlikely that they would ever return. That night they partied hard and Leo paid for it all. Tomorrow would be the launch of ‘The Atlas’ and ‘The Prometheus’. Leo was expecting a heavy turnout as he would be streaming from the bridge of the Atlas. As they partied the night away without worry, Leo and Nathaniel sat up passing what remained of the liquor back and forth.

“So Boss when you gonna propose to that sweet thing?” Nathaniel drunkenly asked.

“Hah! I was just thinking about *hic* it! Relax, I have a plan… Just don’t steal her from me!” Leo drunkenly replied.

“Never!” Nate said with a bad burp of alcohol breath, and like that the two passed out.

Three hours later they were all woken up and went to their quarters to sleep in preparation for tomorrow.

That morning at a press conference two miles from the takeoff site, stood Leo, Sadia, Sara, Nathaniel, Guy, and Michael. All of them but Michael were dressed in complete white uniforms with gold colored trimmings. As Leo took to the stage he announced that he’d signed over all of the Lionheart Group to Michael for the duration of ten years, when he returned the group would return to him as well. Next was that the ships would be out of contact for at least a year, seeing how they had sublight engines but not sublight communications. (Which Leo purposefully hid from the public) After which he said that one day he’d return, and bring the humanity back out with him.

Two hours later, on Board the Atlas.

“Eden, how are we on schedule?” Leo asked as he sat down on his control chair.

*All proceedings are on time, Take off will begin in three minutes.* The computer said.

“Open a comm channel to the Prometheus.” Leo told the Comms Officer

The Comms Officer was a blonde girl names Hayley who responded, “Comm Channel Open.”

Nodding to her Leo spoke, “This is Leo to Sadia, do you read me?”

On the other end Sadia’s voice was clear as a bell. “This is Sadia, what is it Leo?” she asked with a worried tone.

“Nothing wrong, just wondering how your preparations are going.” Leo said to her.

Letting out a small sigh of relief, “Preparations are on schedule, energy levels are green, pilots are ready, weapons are under stealth, and the dimensional engine has been linked to the Atlas.” She announced proudly.

Smiling at the proud Sadia, Leo responded, “That’s great news, once we take off and make it past the moon and enter hyperspace out past the moon we’ll jump.”

“I know Leo, we’ve gone through this already.” She exasperated.

“Good, see you on the other side.” He said as he motioned for Comms Officer Hayley to cut the connection.

——————————————————————————————–

“This is Trisha Nakamura reporting live from the takeoff site of the Atlas and the Prometheus. In just a few moments the two ships will rise from the ground where they’ve been hiding for the last five years. Nobody in the last five years has been able to sneak a glimpse, let alone get a picture out to the public. It seems that the time for the secret ships to come out has come.” She said into her microphone.

As her words ended the ground began to shake, in the distance to as far as far as the eyes could see the land seemed to open up. Some were afraid it was an earthquake, but as time went by the ground opened up more and more. Out of this massive hole, came the first ship, the Prometheus. Rising from the ground was the largest ship ever seen in human history. Slowly with its loud hum of antigrav and sublight thrusters, it slowly left the ground and reached the clouds.

As the Prometheus reach the clouds another ship came out from down under. The Atlas, rising from the ground was larger than the Prometheus! People around the world couldn’t believe that such a thing was possible. As the massive ships rose into the sky and left earth behind, all people could feel is a sense of accomplishment.

———————————————————————————————-

“Sir, we’ve reached the jump point.” Navigation Officer Simon reported to Leo.

“Good, open a channel to the Prometheus and the Atlas..”

“Channel Open.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our first point. We are about to take the first step into a new reality, all for a better future. Before all that, I just want to thank all of you, for supporting me. Without all of you this would still be a dream. Thank you.” Leo said as he cut the comm line.

“Eden, set a jump point in the Starcraft Universe. Post-brood war set one year after the retreat of the UED. Near the Umojian Protectorate.”

*Dimensional Jump Ready at your command*

“5…4….3….2….1…..MARK!” Leo commanded.

And like that the two capital class ships disappeared, from one dimension to the next.

END OF BOOK 1

Navigation
Previous Chapter	Table of Contents	Next Chapter

Inside the warehouse Leo couldn’t believe his eyes. In the center of the building was a computer that was a mix of Atlantean and Asgard design. It seemed to be a repository of some kind, with the combination of Atlantean knowledge and Asgard design. The repository was about the size of a tank except for two things. First being that it was floating in mid-air with some sort of anti-gravity technology, and that it was making only a slight humming noise. Second was that there was an actual interface that was in English.  (Ancient and Asgards were iffy when it came to interfaces.)

“Amazing isn’t it?” A voice came from behind him.

After catching all of security off guard they immediately swung their guns and pointed at this voice. Walking from the shadows came a woman, in white ceremonial robes and black hair.

“And you are?” Leo asked.

“I am Athene.” She introduced as she walked up near him.

“Goddess of Wisdom and War. A pleasure to meet you.” Leo said.

“No need, I have been commanded to be here so here I am. Lord Chaos has told me I am to explain to you what I have created and that should be enough. This is a combination of two great civilizations technology here. The ‘shows’ you watched and worlds you only dream of, their science is all here. The Ancient Database, which includes all their schematics, research, and ascension knowledge is all there. Next are the Asgard their same knowledge is here, as well as their genetic research and conscious transfer technology, which I recommend you do in the near future. All of that is there along with basic beaming technology, the interface there on the screen can also be activated by voice command.” She explained as she started walking around.

“I would have given you more technology but Lord Chaos said that this would give you enough of a head start to begin. Due to the way time works here and comparatively to the way it is when traveling the multiverse, Lord Chaos has told me to give you this.” She said as she handed him a metal box.

Opening the box he noticed a small countdown watch.

“The watch is counting down until the invasion. Do not lose it.” She said.

“Is that all?” Leo asked her, while still stunned at the level of advancement he had now.

“I would have given you dimensional weapons as well but those are bit out your realm of understanding altogether.” She sighed as she turned away.

“Build your forces quickly, time is short and we will need billions upon billions to fight for us to survive the coming tide. Good luck Herald.” She said as she disappeared from view.

As she left the security detail was left stunned, they had heard the story from Leo but considered it the delusions of a rich and powerful billionaire. After seeing that they realized that their eccentric boss was in fact telling the truth and was in fact going to be the savior of their very existence. They could hardly believe it, but there were a few who could. One such man was Nathaniel Quinn captain of the security team and former navy seal who had lost both his arms in combat.

Nathaniel was tall, with brown hair and brown eyes, but above all he was a man who believed what he saw, and from what he saw right now he believed Leo. A being had just gave Leo advanced technology from two fictional but real civilizations. Leo had given him arms again, given him freedom of mobility, and purpose again. Nathanial believed that Leo could in fact save them all. Leo in only five years had revolutionized the world in the way it thought, lived, and progressed, from homeless to world savior.  For Nathaniel and many others they could believe it, Leo would end up saving all of existence.

Leo stood there looking at the floating computer, imagining all the possibilities of this technology his brain was going into overload. What was his first move going to be with the impending attack? After a few seconds of silence he finally broke his silence.

“Computer Core. Status”

*Core Online, Beaming Capabilities: Available. Dimensional Engine; Available, Request designation for this unit.*, the core responded.

“This unit will be referred to as ‘Eden’ until further notice. What is Eden’s power unit?”

*Designation, Eden. Accepted. This unit is powered by one ZPM along with three standby ZPM’s for assisted functionality.*

‘Three ZPM’s?’ Leo could hardly contain himself. A single ZPM could take care of earth’s power needs for the next 1000 years.

“Eden will beam everyone here back to my place of residence, backyard.” Leo said.

*Acknowledged* Eden confirmed.

With that a flashing light blinded everyone in the building and took them to the back of Leo’s house, luckily the staff was off that day. Looking at the security that was there he figured that now was as food a time as any to start his army.

“All of you guys who have witnessed what just happened probably still don’t believe your eyes. I don’t blame you not one bit, but we are a little pressed for time. I need the best of the best to help me and you guys are exactly that. I believe you men are the best of the best. You are all men who have served for what you believe in with honor and commitment, and have given a part of yourself for that. I did my best to give it back and promised to not ask anything in return outside what we agreed on. Now I must break that promise and ask you all to serve again, not for good or bad, not for liberty or freedom, nor for family or friends, but for our existence. In a hundred years, every dimension of out known multiverse will be invaded. Some of you won’t be there, some of you will, but maybe your children and even your grandchildren will. I am asking you men to do what you’ve always done… to fight and protect the innocent.” Leo declared.

All around him the thirty men of his security detail surrounded themselves in thought. Considering the words of the man who held the most advanced technology on the planet along with the very foundations of human society. Nathaniel stood there wondering if he had anything to live for, he had no wife and kids so he didn’t really care about others. But he then remembered he had a little brother who had just gotten married, what about him? Was he worth fighting for? Was his future kids? These questions weighed on him heavily.

Navigation
Previous Chapter	Table of Contents	Next Chapter

Leo got his daughter back and when she woke up she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. She cried tears of joy seeing him again, apparently she was smart just like he was and had noticed that the famous rich guy had the same eyes she did. So she put two and two together and knew immediately. Unfortunately for her, her mom wasn’t having any of it and restricted her from contacting him.

After the hug Sara turned and hugged Chaos as well.

“Thank you for taking me to my daddy.” She smiled as she beamed at god.

“It was a pleasure young lady. Now be sure to behave and to take care of your daddy. You hear?” he said to her in a grandfatherly tone.

“Yup!” she cheerfully said.

As they began walking away Chaos called out.

“Wait! I forgot something.”

Turning around Chaos had a key in his hand and passed it to him.

“Take this and go to the address. You’ll find all you need there.” Chaos said as he turned and walked the other way.

Leo nodded and then left with his daughter and headed home with his guards, who by the way were oblivious of Chaos making Sara appear out of thin air. On the way home he hugged and told Sara how much he loved her and how he was so happy to have her back. She just cried and stayed in his arms and together they just hugged each other.

Back at home Sadia was cooking, even with all the money in the world, one thing she loved to do no matter what was to cook for them. Leo had let her know that his little girl was coming home and that they’d finally meet. She was ecstatic that the day had finally come, where she would finally become part of Leo’s family. Even though he’d repeatedly told her she already was, this was the last thing she needed.

As she was about to put her lamb into the oven she heard the door open. Her heart skipped a beat as she thought to herself, ‘Todays the day!’

Hurrying to put the food into the oven she heard them walk into the kitchen.

“Hey beautiful, I want you to meet someone.”

Turning around Sara saw maybe the most beautiful woman she’d ever seen. With the bronze skin that seemed to shine, hair that was tied perfectly, and eyes that made her feel safe, Sara immediately liked the woman.

“Sara meet Sadia, my girlfriend. Sadia meet my daughter Sara.” Leo introduced.

Sadia trying not to seem rude stuck out her hand to shake Sara’s hand but instead got a hug instead. Sara hung tightly around her neck and whispered into her ear, “Thanks for taking care of dad.”

Sadia choked up when hearing this while Leo on the other end had something in his eyes and had turned around. After a few seconds of quiet happy tears Sadia told them that dinner would be in a few minutes.

That night the three of them had their first family time in a long time. It was also when Leo told the two of them the truth, the truth about everything. Including who the man was, the wishes he had that were useless now, and the future. He told them about his duty now, he had to raise an empire or have all of creation fall to the invaders that were not even from their tree of the multiverse.

At the end of it all Leo was drained, Sadia wasn’t sure, and Sara thought it was all just a story. After they talked they decided it would be best to sleep on it and see how things were in the morning. That night Sadia had a dream, not one of the many nightmares with Yusef that she still had. No, this was her first encounter with a god. As she slept something pierced her veil of sleep, appearing through the darkness was an old man in a robe.

“Hello Sadia.” Chaos greeted.

“Who are you?” She asked.

“I have many names, I am the source, the origin, and the creator.”  He said.

“Then you are..?”

“Yes I am, but that is not why I am here. I am here to tell you that Leo wasn’t making a story up and that he will need your help.”

“My help? How can I help Leo? He’s a genius, I’m just a lucky woman.”

“Whatever you may think of yourself it does not equate to what he thinks of you. He will need your help, not to assist but to keep him straight. Without you I fear he will succumb to the vices of power. You will be there to keep him straight.” Chaos explained.

Sadia after the last several years had always remained on the side, never feeling it was her place to share the limelight with Leo. Although her life had done nothing but improve once she joined Leo, she felt obligated to give him herself in as many ways as she could. With Chaos’ words however she finally realized her position and finally felt that Leo wouldn’t toss her aside at a moment’s notice anymore.

“I see now what you mean. I will do all I can to help him, not because you’re ordering me to but because I love him.” She told him.

“Good. Now a fair bit of warning, the worlds you will visit will not be nice. So start combat and weapons training as soon as you can.” Chaos smiled as he faded away into the blackness.

The next morning Leo woke up to a serene Sadia sleeping next to him. He always enjoyed waking up to her warm body next to his, but today he had something to do. His first objective was to go in search of the address Chaos had given him. Leo called up the head of his security division and ordered a full detail in search of the address. Three minutes later he’d gotten all the information he needed on the place, then another fifteen minutes until they began driving. Took them an hour but once they were there Leo was slightly disappointed. The building looked like a giant warehouse and in front of the building was a for sale sign.

‘What is the plan Chaos?’ Leo wondered as he looked at the building.

His security detail led him to a door where there was a note.

‘Thumbprint Reader, Get your Boss.’

Chuckling at the note Leo pressed his thumb against the door and ventured in.

Navigation
Previous Chapter	Table of Contents	Next Chapter

“Where is my daughter?” Leo asked in a panicked frenzy.

“She is safe I swear upon the primordial powers. She is safe.” Chaos said to him raising a hand to try and calm Leo down.

Taking in deep breaths he asked the God, “What do you want?”

“Your help.” He answered plainly.

Leo was now confused, what would cause the primordial god, the ruler of all; to kidnap his daughter?

“Nox and Erebus have been… preoccupied so to speak.”

“What do you mean? I thought they gave me wishes to entertain them, then all of a sudden they have something else?”

With a difficult expression Chaos just said, “I guess preoccupied isn’t the right word. The correct word is…working, they working but beyond this realm of existence.”

“What? Why would they work, but not in this realm of existence?” Leo asked in disbelief.

In a deep depressing sigh Chaos considered his options. The universe would need a future champion and in telling him now, he would have to rise to that challenge. The fate of not only his children, but the entire multiverse could collapse and be changed from existence. If he didn’t tell him but used Sara as a hostage instead then he’d do it anyway, to give him a choice or not. That was the question.

Chaos tapped his chin and stared into Leo’s mind. Not the first time he’d done it but he had done it multiple times in order to attain a grasp on Leo’s character. He’d been doing it all year and finally got what he needed. An answer.

“It’s a long explanation but let’s deal with this first. If you agree to help me, I will give you your daughter back. However by agreeing you are making a deal with me, deals with me don’t get broken. So I will ask you, how much do you love your daughter?” Chaos asked him.

“I’ll do it, I agree just let her go!” Leo pleaded.

“As you wish.” Chaos said with a wave of his hand Sara appeared in front him with a flashing light. She was floating in mid-air with a look of serenity on her face.

“She’s sleeping and doesn’t remember anything about me holding her for the last few days. All she’ll remember is the fact I took her and brought her to you. She’ll remain that way until you hear your duty now.” Chaos declared.

Leo could only nod as he looked at his daughter floating peacefully.

“Good. Take a seat.” Chaos said with a wave of his hand allowing a table and chairs to appear.

Struggling to sit down Leo wanted to do nothing more than to take his daughter away and hold her. Yet he knew that wouldn’t work. As Chaos sat down he began to explain.

“You know the multi-verse is true and so you know there are other universes out there. The multiverse is like a tree, all with a single origin point, what you humans call the big bang. All is in a way is correct from your human understanding. Gods are sort of the creatures that inhabit the tree, we take some essence and in return we protect and maintain the tree. Understand me so far?”

“Yes.”

“Good, well what other people don’t know is that there are things… how would you say… other trees? Their existence is similar to ours but not as vibrant. If our tree gets taken over it’s sort of like a sale to get rid of stock to make space for the new stock. Everything must go…. Understand?”

Leo understood. If new gods came in and look over their multiverse, then all life would be removed in order to make space for the new life. The new gods would destroy everything that remembered the old gods. Then install a new society that believed only in them. Which begged to questiong…

“Is that what you were? You take over this tree?” Leo asked.

“Ah no. I am the original tender to this tree. When I spoke of taking over, did you think we were the only tree? Oh no there are other trees Leo. What we call the multiverse is but a single tree in the existence of the forest.”

“So what do you want me to do? How can I help you if I can’t even fight them?”

“Ah yes, your role. When multiverses are invaded the gods can only battle on their level. So mortals can only battle other mortals, gods can only fight other gods. We didn’t make that rule the Origin did. So in this case a god will normally raise empires and armies, and bring them into the tree to attack.”

“How long does out multiverse have?”

“About 100 years.”
“And how am I supposed to help? I can’t turn earth into a space faring civilization, galactic empire, and build a super fleet in 100 years. That’ll take that long just to get them unified.”

With a one sided frown Chaos sighed.

“That is true, but I don’t need you to lift earth into a space empire. I have a better idea, an idea I think you’ll agree with. All that time when you were a kid, when you watched those tv shows, read those books, and played those games. I know you wanted to change the story your way, a way for you to be the hero. Leo, I can give you the chance to visit your favorite worlds and let you do just that. I can grant you the ability to travel the multiverse in that way you can build your empire. Now as for other motivation -and I’m not talking about your daughter-. I will give you the chance to bring all you care about into immortality. I will grant you and your family godhood.” Chaos offered.

Leo looked at Chaos and inside felt a conflicting struggle. Should he do it? Was there a reason for him to do it? Of course. Would he want godhood? Yeah of course, assuming he survived. Did he want to see all the worlds he’d had a deep longing for? The answer to that was hell yeah. Leo wanted this except he had to think about his daughter and Sadia as well.

“Would I be alone? If I travel the multiverse. Will I have to do it alone?” Leo asked.

“Of course not” Chaos smiled.

“Ok then, you have yourself a champion. Now give me my daughter.” Leo said.

 

Navigation
Previous Chapter	Table of Contents	Next Chapter

Three days after Leo discovered that his daughter was missing for the first time used his security team for anything other than their job. He ordered them to nab his ex-wife and friend and take them to a black site where he would meet them. He told Sadia and she told him that he should not be violent, that he should remain true to himself. Making no promises he just nodded and went off.

The building they were being held at was a shabby abandoned building and deserted with no one nearby. Inside the two were tied up with a bad over their heads and locked to a chair. Entering the room Leo immediate noticed a smell, the two had pissed themselves and were on the way to defecating themselves as well. In the room were two guards, one with a prosthetic super arm and another with a prosthetic super leg. They were stationed at the door behind Leo waiting for any trouble.

Leo gathering his rage and trying to calm himself took off the bag off of his ex-wife’s head, then his old friend. As their eyes adjusted to the light, their eyes fell upon Leo and together they gasped. They had not seen Leo in over eight years and they had screwed him over so bad and had left him with nothing. Stunned and not saying anything he decided to greet them first.

“Hello Eliza… Tim…”

“Leo…?” the two addicts stammered.

“I see the money you two took from me went to waste.” He said as he started pacing around the room.

“Fuck you” Eliza spat and with that Leo snapped, with a quick hit he backhanded her giving a small cut on her lip.

“Hey watch it you asshole!” Tim yelled at him.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP! YOU DON’T HAVE THE RIGHT TO SAY SHIT!” Leo roared at the tied up man.

Cowering slightly Tim came to realize that this wasn’t the same Leo he took advantage of all those years ago. Recomposing himself Leo continued to pace again.

“I’m not going to waste time with you two, tell me where Sara is.” Leo demanded.

At the mention of her name the two pissed themselves again. The two nervously began begging for mercy and that crying that they didn’t have any choice.

“Stop! What did the two of you do?” Leo asked them while trying not to lose his patience.

The two looked at each other before mumbling something.

“I can’t hear you, speak up.”

In a mumbled voice Eliza whispered, “We sold her.”

It was at this point that they knew, they fucked up. Leo flipped and swung his fist as hard as he could into Tim’s jaw. The impact shattered his jaw and dislocated it all in a single go. Leo was about to strike again when one of the guards stopped him. For a brief second Leo considered killing the two of them, but in the end his conscience won out. As Leo was taking several breaths to calm himself, Eliza screamed at the brutal attack on her lover. At this point Tim was out cold, for good reason because if he woke up he’d be in for one hell of a pain trip.

Collecting himself Leo asked Eliza, “Who the fuck did you sell her to?”

Looking up at Leo is mass fear and panic she responded with a whisper, “It was some old guy, he gave us fifty grand for her. Said that no one would notice her missing.”

“FIFTY GRAND?! YOU SOLD YOUR DAUGHTER… FOR FIFTY GRAND!?!?!?!?” Leo roared at the fear stuck woman.

“WHAT’S HIS NAME!?” Leo demanded.

“I don’t know, please Leo you have to believe us. He told us to call him Chaos and that if we were smart we’d use fake names too.” She explained.

Leo froze at that name.

Chaos.

The Father of Nox and Erebus.

The primordial being that rules all of the cosmos, had taken his daughter.

After hearing this Leo stormed out after telling his guards to begin a search for the old man. Although Leo knew that the search would avail to nothing he still tried. He let the two captives go but in return he gave them ‘purifier’. A drug that was used on addicts to clear their system of addiction.

With the news of chaos Leo headed back to the place where it all began, underneath the bridge where he met the two. On his way there he brought along his remaining wish marbles.

Hours later he was underneath that very same bridge, the bridge where he agreed all those years ago to ‘entertain’ the gods.

“NOX!!!!!” he screamed.

“EREBUS!!!!!!!” Leo yelled into the darkness.

After a few minutes of nothing he finally gave up and took out one of his wish orbs.

“I wish for my daughter to be returned to me unharmed.”

Nothing.

“I wish Nox and Erebus to appear in front of me.”

Nothing.

Again he wished and wished and wished and wished. Yet in the end nothing came.  At the end of it all Leo fell to his knees and cried his heart out on the ground. Tears fell from his eyes, his very soul weeping at the idea of his lost little girl.

“I’m sorry, they can’t hear you.” A voice said behind him.

Leo in utmost urgency whipped his head back to see who was there. In front of him stood an old man, seemingly in his sixties. With black hair, in a black robe, and lastly with black eyes.

“Hello, Leo I’m Chaos.”

===============================================

For chaos imagine a more aged Snape from the HP movies.

 

Navigation
Previous Chapter	Table of Contents	Next Chapter

After all of that things flew by, five years later the Lionheart Group (owner of all lionheart companies) became one of the largest innovative group in the world. Leo had taken the world into new heights of science and technology and at the same time amassed a fortune unrivaled by anyone. That wasn’t to say that he acted like the typical 1%, he shared his wealth with as many as people as possible. Those who worked in his companies were given large benefits, good pay, and positive environments.

That’s not to say he only treated those close to his group good but he donated millions every year and had the best homeless relocation program in the world. He housed over forty percent of the homeless population in safe warm places. After all this he also began a charity campaign to not just house the homeless but to also help them. With his ideas after a few were cleared of violent histories did he start hiring and training new workers. He helped runaways who were abused and got them into schools, got addicts who wanted a new life cleaned up, and others who just needed a second chance.

As for schools he donated to school around the world and all while in the process began his own with revolutionary teaching methods. Some of which will staffed by the same homeless people he helped. Leo knew that with education he could make the world a better place, so all the teachers he hired were not the best per say. He wanted teachers who cared and who gave a shit about all their students, no matter what they thought of themselves.

After his charity work came the medical advancements he brought to the world. With Lionheart Pharmatech the development for the world’s first non-invasive body scan came into existence. It allowed doctors to mix x-ray, MRI, and CT scans all in one without having to make separate scans, all at minimal cost to patients. After all that was the emergency medical gel that was developed for soldiers and civilians for bullet wounds. After its release it had saved several thousand people across the country and was now being developed for use in Europe. Lastly with the use of nano-robotics (a precursor to nanites) the treatment for various viruses, funguses, and even cancer had begun to show up. For the first time in medical treatment did there seem to be a solution to diseases and sicknesses that were never thought of.

On the media sector, Lionheart TV became the world’s leading news station. For the first time in a long time people were given news that wasn’t so depressive and that provided news in an easy to understand way, accurately.  Over were the days of heavy propaganda from the governments across the world, with the exception of North Korea but nothing could be done about that. Leo made sure that the news was now presented unbiasedly which in turn changed a lot of views of western countries about other parts of the world. A main example is after two years of peaceful news reporting, extremism in America about race, sex, and even religion, radically decreased. On the other hand it forced all the extremist to band together.

On the industrial side, with a combination of Lionheart Technologies, Robotics, and Energies; most industrial factories now no longer produced any carbon footprint. Most if not all factories in America were repurposed with these new machines not because of the carbon footprint, but also for the dramatic rise in efficiency as well. As for energy, he owned the most efficient solar farm in the western hemisphere (being how it was run also by replicators).

With all this success came adversity. Critics alike accused Leo of having a messiah complex (no shit really?) and that with his views would cause collapse of the western world. They blamed the increase of runaways, crime and anything else they could on him. Yet with all that Leo didn’t give two shits about them. Say what they will the world was in a better place, the economy was up, crime was lower than it had ever been in over ten years, and people were happier all around.

However that wasn’t the end of his adversity, with his help to the world there were some that didn’t like it. First off were the politicians, those remaining despised him, he was educating people and they couldn’t have that. They launched targeted attacks on him, denouncing him, the ‘Lionheart Group’, and badmouthing his help. That ended up pretty bad for them, seeing how the people they represented weren’t being heard, ‘We like Leo, don’t say bad things about Leo’ was the general consensus.

Next off were the corporations, they didn’t like that Leo had taken up a foothold in nearly every industry known to man. Even more so they didn’t like that they also couldn’t do a damn thing to stop him. Those early patents they licensed from him way back in the beginning were now screwing them over. Since all the tech they had now basically required the crystal processor, they were shit out of luck in trying to stop him. That is if they still wanted to be in business.

Lastly were the extremist, this was the one thing that scared the shit out of Leo. So much he in turn created Lion’s Securities. A private military company that he owned that was equipped with the latest gadgets of Lionheart Technologies, Defense sector. The men hired weren’t your run of the mill soldiers, in fact they were what you’d call disabled. Soldiers who had lost arms and legs were immediately on the list of candidates. Not for their service but for what they stood for, to have lost something that they never thought they could get back.  Leo gave these men a chance first, with prosthetic super limbs. This technology gave men a chance a new positive outlook on life.

Now back to those extremist, Leo one year had gotten word that the two of the most extreme groups had come together and united on a common enemy, Leo. They were planning on attacking his home, office, and company locations. This was something Leo couldn’t let stand, so with some extreme consideration from him and Sadia. In the end Leo contacted his friends at the pentagon and an hour later he got word in the form of a single line. ‘It will be taken care of’.

With all this good and bad Leo still had not completed his only goal left, his daughter. After his rise to power as Tech guru he’d tracked down his ex-wife and friend. He’d sent numerous request to meet, talk, or even just see his daughter, all of which he never got a reply. As time went by the more nervous and anxious he’d gotten about it. Finally one day Sadia and Janice couldn’t put up with it anymore and pushed him into just going and seeing them.

Five days later he’d arrived in their neighborhood and saying he was furious would be taking him lightly. After some investigation he’d discovered the two fuckups had become addicts, and were barely functioning, let alone taking care of a twelve year old girl. Leo demanded a full investigation as he stayed around to look for signs of his daughter. After several hours of research he’d gotten what he wanted and sometimes the truth hurt. His daughter was missing.

Navigation
Previous Chapter	Table of Contents	Next Chapter

After the high of kissing his newly acknowledged love was over they both agreed to get some food. Sadia offered to cook for them, so that Leo could get cleaned up for his meeting with Janice. The fact that Sadia was here was definitely going to be something she’d comment on seeing he’d rambled about the woman for the last two months. Not caring he got into the shower and washed himself off of the hovel he’d slept at. Now that Sadia knew about his life he could now try to bring her out of the hovel and ask her to stay with him here.

Showering gave him some time to collect his thoughts -first time since he accidentally killed Yusef- and really reflect on himself. In 24 hours he’d killed someone in self-defense, recognized his true feelings for a woman he was in love with, and finally told said woman about his vast fortunes and his feelings for her.  In conclusion it had been one of the weirdest days since the meeting of Nox and Erebus.

Heading into his dressing room he got some clothes and got dressed. He put on his best shirt, pants, and shoes to entertain the beauty in his home.  He double checked his attire before heading to his study and getting his printouts of the new patents and future designs. With his box in hand he head out to the living room to see Sadia finishing up and plating the food, she’d made eggs, toast, and some peeled fruit. She turned and smiled at his presence in the room.

Setting the box near the sofa he went over to eat and together they held each other’s hands and chatted. Leo asked her to move in and after some reluctance she agreed to it, on the condition she got to go back and say good-bye to Alexi and his mother. Leo agreed got some cash as a parting gift for her to give them. As they chatted the morning away the sound of his buzzer came on. The buzzer was a notice that Janice was coming and that she was on her way up on the elevator.

Sadia became nervous at the idea of meeting one of Leo’s friends in the flesh.

“Relax, she’ll love you.” He reassured her.

“If you say so.”

When Janice got in she was a little surprised that there was a woman standing next to Leo. Not trying to be rude though she just greeted the two of them as relaxed as possible.

“Hello Leo, You didn’t tell me you had company.” She said out loud.

“Sorry Jan, I was a little distracted.” He said as he hinted at the fact they were holding hands.

“I noticed. Hi, I’m Janice.” She introduced extending her hand out.

“Hello I’m Sadia.”

After they swapped introductions, Janice and Leo got straight to work. She had brought over papers on the new companies being started that day.

Lionheart Technolgies
Lionheart Pharmaceuticals
Lionheart Pharmatech
Lionheart T.V
Lionheart Robotics
Lionheart Communications.
Lionheart Energies

All of which were being utilized to test out the technologies that the he developed and to help further his plan of massive proportions. On Leo’s side he handed off two boxes of patents that were to be filed on the experimental technology to be sent out. Of course before all this he’d had a chat with his friends at the military and was going to be green lit through the Patent Office. In the end it took nearly four hours for the work to be finished and for his signature to be written over a hundred times.

“Finally done!” He exclaimed.

“Yeah, Thank god cause I’m tired of hearing you whine.” Janice laughed as she packed up.

“I’m starved, let’s get some food.” Leo said.

“Well go wake up your girlfriend while I use the bathroom.”

Getting up from the table Leo headed off to find Sadia who was taking a nap from all the boring work they were doing. Nearing the room he could hear her thrashing around and breathing heavily. Rushing in, he quickly sat next to her and tried to wake her. Yet despite his best efforts she wouldn’t wake up, so he decided to try and give her a shake a little bit. It worked and as she came to she had tears flowing down her cheeks and red stuffy eyes.

“I saw him, he came at me and you weren’t there to save me.” She sobbed.

“I thought he was back and he was stabbing me over and over and over again, I’ve never felt so terrified.” She trembled in his arms.

“Don’t worry it’s all over, it’s going to be alright.”

“What am I going to do? I don’t know if I can ever let what he did to me go.”

Leo hugged her deeply and didn’t let her go. He understood the feeling of being trapped by your own nightmares.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be alright. Come on let’s get some food, my treat.” He offered.

She responded with a smile and a nod, and together they went back to the main room to join Janice. On the sofa was Janice was on her phone oblivious to what had happened. Hearing them she looked up to see a Sadia who’d been crying and immediately said.

“Leo! If you made that sweet girl cry I will flay the skin off your nutsacks!” she yelled.

“What?” Leo said in confusion.

“It wasn’t him Janice, I just had a bad dream is all.” She reassured the Amazonian on the sofa.

“Oh” she replied calming down.

“Well anyway let’s go out and eat.” Leo said.

Together they got left to go eat, but seeing how it was still early they decided to go shopping as well. Leo settled on a snack to hold him over until dinner while Janice took Sadia out to shop for some nice things.  Sadia after severe reservations on spending Leo’s money, decided to get a beautiful silk royal blue dress, a nice bracelets and a beautiful sapphire necklace. In the end she was secretly happy she was being spoiled silly.

At dinner she decided not to wear her hijab and flaunt herself for Leo. Although they never said it their behavior led to them being together ‘unofficially’. Though by the time the night had ended it was official in more ways than one.

Navigation
Previous Chapter	Table of Contents	Next Chapter

The next morning after Sadia fell asleep in his arms caused him Leo woke up the happiest he’d been in three years. Looking around he found Sadia snuggled next to him with a small smile on her face. He saw her for the first time at peace, in bed, and in his arms. The events of last night were a jumble to him at the very best. He was guilty that someone was dead, yet at the same time happy that his feelings for Sadia weren’t a delusion to him. Getting out of bed he caught the scent of her hair, it gave him an instant feeling of bliss.

The day was starting out good and now he needed it to get better. Today he was beginning some new projects and needed to see Janice at his apartment later. Since the inception of ‘Lionheart Innovations’ she’d made more money with him in three months than she did three years at her firm. The crystal processors were on schedule to revolutionize the technological world. Heading down stairs he got ready to head to his other apartment. He’d need a change of clothes after last night’s festivities and a long hot shower.

Before he could reach the exit of the room though Sadia called out to him, “Where are you going?”

This was the first time she’d ever asked this. All the other times she just told him to ‘Have a nice day’ but this was a first. This was because Sadia didn’t want him to leave, she felt at ease with him around.

“Why don’t you come with me and find out?” he proposed.

After a few seconds of internal conflict and struggle Sadia finally agreed to go with him. Smiling as she put on her hijab, she walked over to him and together they headed out. From the house they stayed at Leo took the bus downtown and got out in front of a garage.

“What are we doing here?” she let slip.

“We’re here for my car.” Leo replied as they walked past the security booth, inside they saw the guard sleeping being how it was still early in the morning.

“How do you have a car?” she asked him. For the last several months she’d only seen him walk or take the bus home and if he had a car why wouldn’t he drive home? These questions fueled her confusion as they got into the parking lot to only see that the entire lot was only filled with luxury cars. Sadia looked around as if it was all a bad joke.

“Leo! Don’t tell me you’re going to actually steal one of these! I thought you were a good person!” She accused as she followed from behind him.

Chuckling at her idea of him being a car thief made him smile. From his picket he pulled out car keys and unlocked the doors to his car. Walking to the other end of the lot they arrived as an all new Audi A8. Inside was all the bells and whistles for comfort. Leather seats with heating and cooling, with a massage feature installed was something Leo looked forward to when driving. At the passenger side he opened the door for a mystified Sadia with eyes darting between Leo and the car.

After Leo got into the car and got the engine on, he didn’t have to see her to know that her mouth was probably wide open under her hijab. Pulling out and paying a disgruntled guard and leaving a nice tip for him they set off.

“Ohhh.” She moaned as she nestled into the seat.

“What?” Leo asked slightly aroused.

“You didn’t tell me these seats has heating.” She said as she looked at him.

Chuckling he just kept driving, they were now on their way to his other apartment, which with his company’s growth allowed him a steady income and afforded him a good amount of luxury.  He had spent about 3 million on the apartment, then another half million on the most comfortable furniture, kitchenware, and vanities. As for its defenses, it was operated by replicators that were set to disable intruders.

The building was at the edge of the downtown area, in a place known as ‘The Regis Tower’. Pulling into the parking garage, they stopped at a security booth.

“Morning George.” Leo said to the sleeping guard.

Looking up from his nap, the guard relaxed when he saw Leo. “Hey there Mr. Miller. Welcome home.” He said as he opened the garage gates.

Driving in and parking in his spot, Sadia grumbled at the loss of leather heated seats. Though now she was now slightly wary of Leo’s mysterious car and this apartment in one of the most exclusive buildings in the city. Taking her hand Leo led her to the elevator where he scanned a card as the elevator began to move. On the way Sadia tried to ask Leo who he really was but couldn’t bring herself to do it.

As the elevator doors opened there was one door in the small hallway only there was only a small hole at eye level and no sort of keyhole or door knob. Walking ahead of her he stood in front of the door and looked into the small hole. After a second or two the door slid open to reveal what looked like a modern day palace.

All the lavishness surrounding her that she had not had in many months had taken her breath away. She looked around and with her rich past had made her appreciate all of the things that were in her presence. Finally she looked Leo in the eye and asked him.

“Leo Miller.  Who are you?”

Smiling Leo took her hand and led her over to the sofa.

“Take a seat Sadia.” Leo smiled happily. Today he could finally tell her everything. From there he laid everything out, from losing his daughter to his bitch wife, to his genius invention, his new vast wealth and his plans for the world. All she did was listen and ask a question here and there but in the end she gave Leo a bright eyed look under her hijab.

Looking down tired from the time it took to explain everything, he looked at his watch to see it was still before noon. Janice would be over at 1:00pm so he had some time until she arrived. Looking up he saw something he wasn’t expecting. Sadia had removed her hijab and was giving him a warm smile. Without warning she leaned over onto him and pulled him in. For the first time in nearly five years he felt a tenderness that he’d not felt since his before his homelessness.

The kiss wasn’t perfect by all accounts, but it was just right. Sadia was a modest lady, so for her to pull someone in for a kiss was already at the explosive emotion she felt for him. The pressure was not overly forceful, but it wasn’t gentle either. A wave of relief swept through the both of them as they relaxed after the initial kiss. As they looked into each other they felt a connection that neither had ever felt before, not with their previous spouses or anyone else for that matter. In a blind spur of the moment Leo had to say the bestest dumbest thing he’d ever say.

“I love you Sadia.”

“I love you too Leo.” She replied as they continued to kiss.

 

Navigation
Previous Chapter	Table of Contents	Next Chapter

Standing at the door was an ugly looking, pissed off, and crazy looking man. The most notable was that he held in his hands a knife about six inches long. As Leo looked at Sadia’s face, he recognized that look only as pure and utter terror.

“Yusef!” she shrieked if fear as she saw his knife.

“You little whore! This is where you’ve been, huh you bitch? With this piece of white trash selling yourself in a dingy house! You’ve gone so low as to sell yourself to pigs but won’t do it for real men. I should just kill you and then have this trash here fuck your bleeding corpse. Who knows maybe I can kill you without damaging your organs.” He fumed as he walked over to them with the blade.

Leo was in between then and put his hands up to try and stop the crazed yusef, but before he could try he attacked them. Leo in a split second pushed her behind him and put his body in front of the blade. The replicator layer could stop bullets up to a .45. A little knife would do almost nothing to him, at least that’s what he thought. The man seeing that Leo was now in the way decided to slash upwards towards his neck. The man however in his rage couldn’t really aim all that well and ended up way higher than that. Deep and serious the knife cut through a side of his cheek nearly cutting it all the way through.

It was at that point Leo’s adrenaline kicked in. leaned forward and kicked the man in the chest as hard as he could, throwing the man back. What Leo didn’t know was that since he was wearing the replicators as a sort of second skin it enhanced his strength for combat. The man was flown back and thrown back against the broken door that was hanging off by a hinge. Leo then rushed in to kick the knife away as he told Sadia to call Alexi. The man was now laying on the ground unconscious or dead, Leo couldn’t tell.

Sadia was shaken up and holding on to Leo with a fierce grip after she got off the phone. A minute later a confused Alexi came into the room, he looked at the man and them the cut on Leo’s face. Cursing in Russian Alexi pulled out his phone and called someone and spoke to them in Russian. After a few seconds, hanging up he walked over to Leo and checked on his face.

“What happened?” he asked.

“My husband, he found me and tried to kill me.” She explained before Leo could say anything.

“Fuck. Leo did you do that to him?” Alexi said as he looked into Leo’s eyes.

“Yeah, I pulled her out of the way and he slashed my face, then I got so pumped up I kicked him in the chest.”

“Hell Leo, you killed him. He’s not breathing.” Alexi said.

Stunned at the news Sadia looked at Leo in fear and awe, while Leo was starting to feel sick. He didn’t mean to kill the guy, only get him away. Leo was beginning to feel his gut wrapping itself in knots at the revelation. The tightness hit him, he was about to throw up when Sadia wrapped her arm around him and whispered to him, “It’s ok Leo, Its ok. Don’t worry everything is going to be fine.”

Leo looked around as everything went black. In the darkness he saw Yusef charging at him again, except this time he looked like a corpse. He has grey skin, black eyes, and yellow teeth. It was as if Yusef had come back from death and was searching for him. He felt cold, clammy, and like his heart was trying to run out of his chest. He ran from the walking corpse, but to no avail the corpse was catching up.

“NO!” he yelled as Yusef kept after him in the darkness. With the blade in his pale grey hands he lunged at him, impaling him in the heart.

Shaking he sat up in his bed with Sadia there trying to keep him calm. Sweat ran down his back and face. He could feel his heart sill beating like a drum as he looked around on the bed. The first thing he noticed was that it wasn’t the basement where he normally slept, he was an unfamiliar bed. The next was that he was with Sadia and seeing her without her hijab on. He looked at her and again he fell into a deep trance of her eyes. Falling deep into her eyes he finally calmed down enough to think clearly.

“I tried to wake you up but you just started thrashing around.” She whispered to him as she walked over her closet. Pulling out a towel she walked over to Leo as so he could wipe his own sweat away. “You passed out after you heard you… heard the news.”

Grabbing the towel Leo wiped his forehead and heck when he felt his whole body go cold. Feeling around him he noticed he made most of the bed damp with his sweat. He noticed that although the replicators were on his body they just let the sweat through.

“I hope you don’t mind but I had Alexi bring you upstairs, he said he’d ‘take care’ of the body. Whatever that means.” She revealed as she took a seat on the bed next to him.

“I see.” Leo said in a dead tone. He knew he’d killed the man in self-defense but it didn’t change the fact that he still did it.

His first kill.

“Leo, stop.” Sadia pleaded.

Confused Leo just looked at her as he tried to figure out what she meant. Before he could say a word though she explained things too him.

“Leo I know that look in your eyes, that is guilt. I know because every night I would look in the mirror and give myself that same look before I ran away. I know that look Leo but don’t blame yourself, he was going to kill us and you saved us.” She pleaded with him.

“Also I know what it’s like to take a life, I think it’s time I told you why I ran away.” She despaired as tear drops flooded her eyes. Leo sat in silence as he watched her fumble her hands around as if she had a nervous rub.

“It started two years ago, Yusef and I were married and happy with our lives. During that time my mother and father were still alive and quite wealthy after moving here from the Saudi. They were rich, his family was rich, so they weren’t worried about money when I was married off. Then one morning I woke up and I overheard Yusef screaming on the phone.

“His family’s money was tied to terrorist attacks in England where under severe pressure from foreign powers, froze his accounts. After that my life went downhill, my family had no way of contacting me and I had no way to contact them. From that day forward I was what people call ‘a slave’. With the money from his family frozen, Yusef became more agitated, violent, and abusive. In all that time he’d been pushing me to try and support him with my own assets, mainly my body. He wanted me to sell myself to his rich friends so he could have spending money. After he tried a few times to convince me, I knew it would get worse. So I ran away and used some of the money I had stolen from him. That day an old woman saw me crying my heart out, she came up to me and started talking to me, gave me a hug then introduced me to Alexi. That same day she offered me protection and had her son do it, and he couldn’t refuse her. He may be a gangster, but he has a good heart.”  She sighed as she continued her story.

“Did you know his mother lives three houses from here? You could never tell but he’d kill anyone she tell him to.” she said as she fiddled with her fingers, as she stared off to some distant corner of the room.

“Alexi protected me, his babushka protected me, and now so have you.” She cried, pushing her face into her hands and breaking down.

Leo just pulled her in and gave her a deep hug. Not one of lust but one of care. The kind of hug you give to someone who just really needs it. Embracing him broke her, it broke down her last wall of fear of Leo. The wall that had separated her from a relationship with him, that made her fearful of violent men, except that for the first time she met a man that wasn’t violent to her. For the first time in her life, she completely trusted someone other than her father.

With these walls broken down she looked up and fell asleep in his arms.

Navigation
Previous Chapter	Table of Contents	Next Chapter