Respect

Atlas rejoined his classmates and socialized a little. Eventually the school day was over, and Atlas and a few friends made their way over to a fast food place to hangout.

"What the hell happened today Atlas? Did you suddenly decide to bring back the demon you were our freshman year?" Luke lightly punched Atlas and shook his head.

Atlas chuckled and said, "I'm not sure. Must've been luck." All of his answers were very vague and held no actual information. Everyone heard what happened. But also everyone knew that Atlas never took school seriously.

He was well known for the way he put bully's down and how he shouldn't be messed with.

"Am I the only one scared about tomorrow? Everyone else seems so chill about it." One of Atlas friends named Jason said. When people were teleported to the Ultraverse for the first time, they were teleported to a somewhat random location because the technology was still not mastered. And there was plenty of risk involved with being placed in a new place surrounded by dangerous creatures.

"We'll be fine. Even though the place our teleporter is set to is pretty dangerous, the initial survival rate is 90 percent. We're not even bottom of the barrel at our school. Why stress now. Stress then." Luke teased.

Atlas watched them bicker while thinking to himself. He had heard of what the teleporter his school was assigned led to, and it was bad news. People proudly went in to spread humans control over the Ultraverse but the general death rate there was pretty high.

That was the biggest reason Atlas wanted to get his siblings out of this school. Only half of those kids would make it to their military service.

"Atlas you gotta be with me right? It's nerve wracking." Atlas was brought out of his thoughts by the question.

"You worry too much Jason. You're one of the better ones in our class you'll be fine. The first 10 percent to go are always the people who never trained." Atlas said simply. He didn't like worrying. It was a waste of time. If he had time to worry he would spend it becoming better at what he was worrying about. Or some other productive activity. "Wouldn't that include you though Atlas?" Jason raised an eyebrow with a smirk.

Atlas turned to look at him and smiled. "I'm different."

Atlas and his friends ate and chatted over a burger when something caught his attention. He saw his sister sitting with some other girls at the same restaurant.

Her beautiful white dress was covered in brown stains and she had clearly been crying. The girls tried to comfort her but looked largely unsuccessful. Atlas was tempted to stand up and see what was wrong but he had a feeling that was a bad idea.

As he considered it a duo of girls his sisters age, entered the restaurant. They made a beeline straight to her table. Atlas couldn't hear them from where he sat but he could tell it was hostile.

His friends had noticed how locked in he was on this groups of girls and recognized his sister. "Girl trouble is always so loud." Luke said. One of the girls grabbed a container of ketchup and tossed it onto Constance's dress. Atlas' fist slammed into the table as he stood abruptly. His show silenced the restaurant as he strode over to his sisters table his fist clutched at his side.

"Apologize." His voice shook. He always got shaky when he was really angry.

The girls looked at him and laughed. "Who is this? Your older brother Conny? He's so good looking, unlike you. What are you going to do about it pretty boy?" Their voices were haughty and annoying. In fact Atlas recognized them now. They were the daughters of some of the richest men in their area.

"Hey what's going on over here?" Two boys slightly younger than Atlas came walking up to them. Most of the people in the restaurant were students who were having fun after their last day of school before summer. And these two were kids Atlas recognized. "Lidia what's the problem here?" One of them said.

The girl hugged the boy and said, "This guy is harassing us for talking to our friend please stop him."

Atlas sneered and turned to the boys. "Hey bro your little sisters fucking with my sister. She sprayed ketchup on her dress and I can only imagine what else." Atlas' eyes were always a good tell of his emotional state, and the students were well aware that when his pupils shake someone was going to get beaten.

"Oh shit, Atlas?" The boy turned to his sister and smacked her across the head. He then forced her to bow and bowed along side her. "Apologize to his sister now!" The boy said. His friend went to the other girl who also seemed to be his sister and did the same.

"What, why? There's two of you and he comes from the same poor family she does. Daddy would pay off their family if you beat him up good." The girl pushed her brother away confused.

Her brother grit his teeth and said in a dark tone. "If you ever say something like that about their family i will convince father to disown you. There's two of us, but he's friends with every single person in the academy. Hell if I saw someone beating on Atlas I'd help him. Apologize to the girl, pay for her dress, pay for her meal, and Atlas' and go home. I will talk to you later. This is non-negotiable." The boy looked at his sister in a way only they understood.

She looked around and saw 10 or so other kids watching as if ready to engage in a fight themselves. She felt a cold sweat as her gaze passed over Atlas and even more so when she saw her brother side eye Atlas in fear. "Yes brother." She bowed deeply, apologized and left a large wad of cash on the table that was more than enough for everything.

Promptly she left the restaurant with her head down and feet shuffling. Eventually the silent restaurant took on noise as Atlas calmed down. "I'm very sorry about that Atlas she's just a kid I'm sure it wasn't malicious." The boy said to him.

His name was Zane and he was a year below Atlas. They had talked a few times and were friendly enough. "Do not tell me it was not malicious." Atlas looked down on him and took a step forward. "Someone better teach your sister some respect. Or I'll be teaching someone respect." Atlas placed his fist against the boys chest and lightly pressed it. The boy flinched and closed his eyes.

"I understand." He said. Atlas wouldn't fight an 11 year old girl that's crazy. But he had the power to make her life hell when she got to the academy as well as her brothers. And if he even felt so inclined he could have his grandfather do some shady government stuff to their family's business.

Atlas looked at the other boy who still stood with his sister. "Same for you."

Constance was silent on their walk home. Atlas wasn't prepared as a brother to deal with such a complex emotional spectrum. It was obvious that his sister was being bullied at school. And looking back on it he could see evidence of such things happening.

He should've been paying closer attention. His fist suddenly lashed out from his side and smashed into a metal pole denting it. Constance jumped and started frantically apologizing. "I'm sorry Atlas I know I'm messing up your name. It's just those girls were threatening to put father out of his job and I just-"

"Why the hell didn't you tell me!?" Atlas shouted. He didn't tolerate people he cared about getting hurt.

She recoiled in surprise and her eyes began to water. "I'm sorry I didn't wanna bother-".

"Are you dumb? You can't let those people push you around. And who the hell cares if dad loses his job. Grandpa could do 100x worse and he could get him a job in a second. I could've had a little chat with their older siblings and ended all of it peacefully." He ranted. His dreads hung in front of his face as he considered his thoughts. "But it's not your fault. It couldn't be. I should've seen it. I'm sorry Constance. Can you forgive me?"

Atlas felt his heart drop as he considered his role in this. Constance looked at her big brother with big teary eyes and wrapped him in a hug. Atlas held her head close to his chest and apologized profusely.

Atlas closed the door behind him as he followed his sister into the house. His little brothers dueled with little plastic swords in the living room but dropped them the second they saw Atlas. They launched themselves off of the couch onto their brothers back and giggled.

Atlas smiled and played with his siblings for a few moments before his father approached him. "Atlas."

"Yes."

"Your grandfather and I would like to talk to you."

"Alrighty." He quickly disarmed his little brother and lightly tapped him on the head with the sword. His father walked him to his room where his grandfather sat on his mothers makeup chair. The huge scary man looked almost comical in the pink seat. Atlas wouldn't dare laugh.

Atlas' father closed the door behind him and got his fathers attention with a cough. "Father. If you wanna go ahead." He gestured to Atlas. Milan, General of the 75th Cohort, slowly pushed himself off of the chair and lumbered toward Atlas.

Atlas only stood at a confident 5'10 while his grandpa, who looked like he was 30, was dwarfed by the 6'5 dark skin who's forearms were riddled with scars. "Atlas." He rested a huge hand on his shoulder. "I'm afraid tomorrow you will be going into your Ultraverse ceremony." His voice was deep and gravely.

Atlas nodded, "Yep, sounds good. Are you guys gonna give me tips or something what's this all about?"

Milan scrunched his nose. "You mean you expected to go into the Ultraverse. What the hell! Let's party before you leave!" Milan grabbed Atlas by his shoulders and began steering him out into the main part of the house.

His father stuck his arm out and said, "Wait. You understand that tomorrow your life will actually be at risk. It's not a game anymore where you can slack off and still get things done. Millions of people die in the Ultraverse."

Atlas pushed past his dads arm and sneered. "I get it." Suddenly his father seized him by the collar and slammed him against the wall.

"Do you? All this time you could've spent training hard you spent goofing off. I can't have my son die so early." He screamed in Atlas' face.

Atlas sneered and pushed his father off of him. "I'm more competent than you could possibly know. I'm almost tempted to become one of the best just to prove it to you. But I don't have to prove anything to you." Atlas snarled. His siblings were in the living room and their rooms and were unaware of the little conflict. Atlas didn't have to be the perfect older brother.

"Hey guys let's not spoil this celebratory day." His grandfather tried to step in but was waved off.

"Shut up father. I told you to not interfere in my parenting. An unevolved kid talking like he's hot shit. Show me then." Shane raised his fists and squared up to Atlas.

Atlas laughed and turned around. "I'm not fighting my dad. Can't you just leave me the hell alone. You're evolved there's no way I would even stand a chance." Evolved were people who've been to the Ultraverse once, while unevolved were kids 16 and under. Peoples bodies fundamentally changed when they entered the Ultraverse. They became stronger and faster. Their senses sharpened and of course they gained their ability.

Atlas heard shuffling behind him and gasped as a fist slammed into his back sending him skidding down the hall. He slammed into the wall and threw himself into the kitchen. His mother jumped at the sudden noise and turned around. "It's ok mom don't worry." Atlas weezed. He didn't need his mother crying in between another one of their fights again.

Except this fight turned physical. He pivoted to the side and was barely glanced by a kick that sent him flying through a dining room window. Atlas grunted as he pushed himself up. The glass shards clung onto some of his clothes. He was bruised and annoyed. "Are you serious dad? Is beating me up really satisfying your thirst to feel better?" Altas held his hands out to his side.

His father stepped through the window and rolled his shoulder. "My son will not be the first to die. I will not allow it." He shouted. At this point some neighbors were peaking out of windows as well as his siblings. Atlas looked at his little sister who watched him from her room, and back at his father who was trudging dangerously towards him.

"Was surviving those two strikes not enough proof. You would've killed half of my class mates!" Atlas turned and ran down his street. He wasn't gonna fight his dad in front of his sensitive mom and young siblings.

Atlas felt a disturbance in the air behind him and side stepped. A piece of brick he had smashed through flew past his head. His fathers ability was to manipulate objects that weighed less than him.

It wasn't a very good one, but it could've been worse. And the flying debris that flew at Atlas made him reconsider its ranking. "First claw." Atlas turned around a few blocks later and smashed a piece of particularly large debris with a Tiger k-move. His fist slashed into the brick smashing it.

Finally, he stood his ground and settled into his Tiger stance. His father laughed and matched him. "Tiger stance huh. I know it as well." He launched himself at Atlas and swung.

Each of his attacks were so powerful that Atlas was forced to use a k-move to deflect it. "Second Claw." His fist moved like a cat, skillfully using the punch's momentum to force it away. Atlas jumped off of the ground turning midair. "Third Claw." His foot smashed into his fathers shoulder pushing him back a few feet. They clashed a few more times in a flurry of moves. But no matter what Atlas wasn't even able to wrap his head around winning.

The difference in strength was monumental. Finally Atlas used seventh claw. The fight took a lot out of him. He had to put triple the energy into each move then what he had to do with the training simulators that made an opponent equal to the strongest unevolved.

Atlas jumped back from his father and entered his last stance. Seeing it, Shane found amusement. "Don't hurt yourself." He said. The final claw was a move that carried the user forward at an incredible speed but wouldn't allow them to change directions. Using it incorrectly or being inexperienced could result in tearing muscles and broken bones.

"Final claw." Atlas shot forward his fist slamming into the nose of his father smashing it entirely. Blood spurt from his face as he held a hand against his nose. He was surprised.

"What? How? You never train. I've practiced for 5 years before I could use Final Claw." Atlas stood with his back to his father and looked over his shoulder.

"I'm not going home tonight. I'll be at the ceremony tomorrow." He said. He felt a great sense of release come over his body. The last 4 years of intense and life altering arguing with his father had finally boiled over.