Chapter 6: The Birth of Athena Faris

-----Deus POV----

"What are you doing so early in the morning, Venus?"

Gayara woke up feeling around with eyes partially closed when she saw a figure on the verandah. She can still smell milk chocolate lingering on the blanket, the sheets and the pillow. [ When did I become such a pervert?] she thought.

Seeing that Venus won't respond anytime soon, she decided to go about her morning routine. [ Oh well, I don't want her to go violent on me again like last night. I can still feel that intense pain on my private...ouch ] Gayara reflexively covered her private at the possibility of it ever repeating.

As it appears, Venus is facing the mountains while painting on a partially finished canvas. Paints and paintbrushes lay on a stand next to her.

"Maybe she's painting the mountain?" Gayara shrugged.

She fixed the bed and rushed to the bathroom to take a shower as she always does twice: one after waking up and one before sleeping. After showering, she brushed her teeth. She checked herself in the mirror 3 times, smelled her breath once and raised her arms to shave her armpits. [ Perfect! ] she thought.

Next, she opened the windows and put them on hold. Once she focused her view, she can observe even the slightest details in the forest: from birds feeding the hatched chicks, the dews falling from the leaves and the lake thrashed by Athena. *sigh*

*yawn* "I'm finally finished! That took longer than intended." Venus proclaimed to herself, feeling jovial, still daydreaming about something only she knew.

[ Speaking of Athena...] Gayara's trail of though wondered to the verandah. To her displeasure, she saw Venus had painted Athena garbed in her military outfit, the supermoon hovering over her forlorn expression as tear droplets of ice fell from her pale face. The scene portrayed the lake, icicles taller than an average man stabbing earth and water in an omnidirectional fashion. Trees had either split or have been scratched.

"You awoke to paint this, for what?" Gayara sourly asked, miffed by Venus's obvious satisfaction after painting another woman she just met. Gayara specifically came to greet her girl good morning, but now, she wants to go pester that woman for a fight. Her emotions are overpowering her rationality right now, she wanted to kill someone but Venus would certainly hate her for even thinking of killing people. As such, she wrapped Venus into her embrace, filling her mind with possessiveness to overcome the violent urges that are surging like big waves.

"Don't you think she's pitiful? To lash out to that extent, meant she had been bottling up all her emotions for a long time now," Venus replied with concern. She also had some questions in her mind after seeing Athena's expression of envy the day before, and also the disturbing data she saw on the system window is still on her mind. Although she had mixed feelings about Athena's hostility towards her, it was her nature to want to solve the problems of other people, not only for her self-satisfaction but so that she could ask justifiably about the questions cramping in her mind.

Status Update

Name: Athena Faris

Primary Gender: Female

Secondary Gender: Omega

Race: Human, Human Chimera

Ability: Fast Regeneration, Frost, Super Senses, Speed, Paralysis, Night Vision, Electric Shock, Super Strength

Occupation: Lieutenant General of the Military Intelligence Corps

Skill: Operational Intelligence, Counter Intelligence, Human Intelligence, Signals Intelligence, Imagery Intelligence

Physical Health: Healthy

Mental Health: Loneliness, Bipolar Disorder

Speed: 40 mph

Father: Diaford Dane ( self proclaimed )

Mother: Andromeda Faris

*system notification: Warning! murderous intent directed to the host.

[ What prompted her to act like that? Even if her military outfit indicates that she is from the intelligence corps, I only coordinated with someone of lower position than her.] Venus sighed, completely disregarding from where the envy could have stemmed from.

Venus deliberated whether to inform Gayara of the threat but decided against it, rationalizing that, " I should find out first as to why she is so adamant on killing me."

Venus returned Gayara's embrace mindlessly as if it were a routine now: rubbing her face into Gayara's chest. It was Gayara's turn to pick her up so that Venus can sit on her lap while facing each other, Gayara taking Venus's place on the chair.

Gayara couldn't help but think, [you even managed to concern yourself with her.]

Gayara remembered Athena's ramblings last night about not being able to see herself. But still, Gayara couldn't find what is so pitiful about Athena. To her, Athena is just as strong as her and not many could come out of a fight with her unscathed. On the contrary, "Athena is a proud individual. What other emotions could she possibly have?"

[ How can a sociopath understand? How can I make him feel empathy that he cannot even comprehend? ] Venus sighed in defeat. [ I'll just take it slow, I guess. ]

*system notification: reminding the host. No recent study or event has ever recorded of a cure to this condition.

Seeing Venus sigh, Gayara felt a loss in her heart, not knowing exactly what it is. But she didn't press on the subject too much, [ well, whatever my girl says is right.]

----30 minutes later---

Everyone sat in there own sits in the dining table, staring at their own drinks with their hands cupping them. Earlier, Shal offered them food and drink as soon as the three in the villa arrived at the same time which the maid found odd.

" Excuse me, may I know which drink and breakfast I can get for you?" Shal asked as she saw the guest who looked as though she has never eaten anything for the past 3 days.

"Milk with chocolate please and get me the usual boiled beans with fried smoked meat," Gayara said casually. [ I have come to like the taste of milk chocolate since it reminds me of my girl.]

Venus looked in the direction of Athena, waiting to see whether she would go first or not. Athena on the other hand is busy thinking, [ Gayara has never drank anything sweet before because they will get tonsillitis once they do. Why all of a sudden...] Then she saw how Gayara has a smile they never had before, plastered on their face like a sticker on a wall.

Since the dining table is near an open window, a gentle breeze carried the milk chocolate scent of Venus towards the direction of Athena. As it is, Gayara and Venus are next to each other, their backs facing the bright, open window. Even a lesser genius can guess the answer to Gayara's sudden change of preference. [Ha, this is so annoying! ]

Venus noticed Athena's inner turmoil and decided to ignore it since the object of Athena's hatred is her. Instead she politely offered Shal, "may I help you prepare breakfast, Shal?"

The maid shook her head, "young miss, I appreciate the gesture but this is my job so please accompany the young master in waiting." Shal has her own pride as a learned maid whose salary is way above others since she does a lot more than just housework. Shal thought, [ spying on the young master, assisting the madam, housekeeping...hmm. The point is that I'll feel incompetent if my employers so much as offer any kind of assistance.]

*sigh* "Ok Shal, may I have the same drink and dish Gayara ordered?" Venus was able to recognize the hint, thinking [ I didn't realize offering my help is like slighting the maid's job professionalism. I'll just check Gayara's preference on his drink and food then."

"Of course, young miss!" the maid replied, feeling relieved that Venus didn't insist, otherwise, she would not know what to do.

"Mine is fresh blood but I would prefer human ones that are of blood type B." Athena interjected as she observed the reaction of Venus, [ let's see how you can deal with that. After all, blood is your greatest fear!]

To her confusion, the unsuspecting omega is meekly typing on her phone rapidly as though invested in something of great importance. [ How can it be! ] Athena screamed internally.

*The Text Message

Mercuria: "I'm sad, Venus! Why didn't you invite me to your engagement?"

Venus: "Don't you know the reason why?"

Mercuria: "Don't use your shyness as an excuse!"

Venus: "I'm sorry, okay? I won't go to your engagement party as punishment."

Mercuria: "Why are you bringing up my engagement when I'm single or are you mocking me right now? Besides, even if you don't want to attend my engagement one day, I'll drag you from your house like a dog on a leash!"

Venus: No, I'm not! You didn't know but it was really dangerous last night, it had been a rollercoaster of events: We didn't get to sleep until 10:36 in the evening. Maybe it was for the better that you didn't get to go."

Mercuria: "So, did you get marked already?"

Venus: "No, why?"

Mercuria: I think you better get marked sooner than later. In this way, you can protect yourself from those creeps who have been pestering you!"

Venus: "Let's talk about this later. We have a rather special guest to attend to."

*End of text message

Gayara on the other hand is not that easy to deceive, "remember to put it into an opaque milk tea container with a straw. Also, don't get her any food."

"Yes, young master." the maid slightly bowed and left for the kitchen.

"Why not get Athena her food?" Venus asked curiously, trying to see whether Gayara was being polite or being rude like always. What she didn't know is that Gayara is taking care of her hemophobia. Venus's excessive attention to details led her to forget this crucial fact.

"No need for that, she can't eat anything remotely undigested." Gayara replied rather bluntly. From the corner of her vision, Venus could see Athena hide a small smile forming on her lips with the back of her hand. Athena thought, [ so they do care for me. ]

"What do you mean by that? I don't understand." Venus thought, [ then what else can she eat? Does it have something to do with her being a human chimera?]

It was Athena who explained this time, "apparently, I was born without a digestive system: no stomach, no intestines and of course, no anus." She seems to be lost in her own thoughts but it was not sadness that is reflecting in her red eyes, but reminiscence of a childhood long forgotten. On the other hand, Venus didn't know whether to laugh or comfort the very person who wanted her dead.

Venus knew it was a common occurrence for people who have gone through life as an experiment subject or people who are the result of the experiments to secretly go into hiding with a different name in a country away from Cosmos. And yet, like any other society, they are being discriminated against. As a result, majority of such people are not that into revealing who they truly are.

"As you can see," Athena touches a fang to show Venus the difference between a normal teeth and her teeth of course.

"I have the fangs similar to that of a bat and instead of a digestive organ, my epiglottis is connected to my enlarged blood vessels."

----Diaford POV----

+Underground Laboratory+

I was busy doing this research on microscopic machines that make even smaller machines. Machines that are capable of entering the human body to either fix it or run amok to destroy it. For some, they are programmed to mimic the functions of any cell in the human body. I have so many theories about its capabilities of which are:

*The Theories

1) The machine can do internal operations like removing tumors from the organ system.

2) kill specific cells that are harmful to the body.

3) Replace dysfunctional cells or damaged cells.

4) kill bacteria and viruses that enter the body.

5) give instructions to the organ system through the brain.

I was planning on putting it to a test today but those eyeliners Andromeda placed on my daughter just arrived carrying a corpse, "quis hoc tempore occidit?" *Who killed it this time?* I said, rather intrigued by the growing number of kill list by my two most successful experiment subjects.

That's right, Athena and Gayara are the only ones who came out alright unlike the others who outright died or turned out so ugly. Those two on the other hand are not only otherworldly in terms of beauty, but also able to pass of as normal humans.

"Athena, medicus." *Athena did, doctor.*

The maid answered, disappearing so hurriedly

that I knew Andromeda had warned them against me. [Was I that scary?]

[ Too bad, I wanted to slip some of my new invention into their systems and tell my daughter, ] "look! Athena. I have a present for you."

Then I imagine my daughter praising me, "Father! Thank you so much. You're the best!"

I also imagine myself bragging to her, "There's nothing I cannot do for my daughter. You just have to press specific commands and you can do away with them: blow them to pieces, cut of their organs little by little or override their brain."

Athena Faris, a baby born as a result of an experiment gone wrong. But in reality, she is my brainchild. Her mother was once a co-worker of mine who is obsessed about immortality as she had always been afraid of two things: ugliness and death.

I liked her a lot because we had the same passion for science but I knew it in my heart, that she loved herself more than anybody else. Knowing this, I offered to help her achieve immortality whilst devising a plan for myself.

Before long, she became pregnant despite being a virgin. She was furious then, but I told her that it was just a side effect of the operation. In truth, I tweaked it by taking advantage of her being an alpha which resulted to asexual reproduction.

Because of Andromeda's thirst for superior strength and power, she combined different genes containing the traits she wanted for herself. A few of the the animals she took the genes from that I could identify were the electric eel, jellyfish and the bat. There were a few more animals but she hid them from me. She became weary of me to the point of framing me , Diaford to be in collusion with another country.

Angry and feeling betrayed, I joined the Styx Organization of Eldram country as their chief scientist. A few months after that, I received from an informant about the news that the baby was born. As an adult, Andromeda had little to no room for growth. That is why the traits were instead passed down to Athena during the organogenesis of development.

"I heard that the baby died but then got revived thereafter. It was a miraculous moment but the Principal was not happy." The informant fed me information that I have asked him to keep an eye out.

"Of course she's not. Not only did she not get what she wanted, she unexpectedly gave birth to a daughter who looked exactly like her when she grew to 8 years old. The only difference is that, the daughter had everything she ever wanted. Not knowing who to blame, she came to loathe the daughter who took everything away from her."

Later on, Athena learned of my involvement with regards her birth so she fled Cosmos in hopes of meeting me. I was beside myself with joy when an eleven years old Athena came to me looking for shelter.

Until, she met Gayara at the military training camp.

Gayara was like no other: they did not die when they played with Athena, they did not hate Athena when they learned who she truly is and they are also like Athena in a way, different from the rest of the people.

I sent Athena in an errand to remind Gayara of their monthly check-up but when she came back, she had this gleam in her eyes that spoke of hope. I thought, [ Oh boy, you are still Andromeda's daughter after all. ]