Chapter 22

-Knock! -Knock!

"Come in"

The door slid open and my dad walked into the room.

"Any progress?"

"Well she is still unconscious. Though I guess that is to be expected. I may have involuntarily hit her head a little too hard. Still she should be up in a few hours."

"I see."

I looked at my Dad and asked, "How exactly did things go on your side?"

"You don't know?" Dad asked

"I have been here ever since we came back." I said as I continued to keep a watch on Elsa.

After we escaped from that place, I brought her to our HQ's medical ward. Along with the other injured members who created the distraction outside the building.

Unfortunately 3 of them couldn't make it.

And I have been sitting here in this uncomfortable chair for the past 2 hours.

"Well things didn't exactly go according to your plan." Dad said

"Just tell me the result. I am in no mood to hear the whole story." I said

"Monster group, Virtuosos group and Starlight group...Each of their leaders are now dead."

"!!!"

"What the fuck?!! How?! We didn't plan that!" I exclaimed in shock.

In a single day 3 world rankers died. This piece of news will shake the entire country.

"Yes that's right. You didn't plan that." he said

I looked at him and the sly smile on his face revealed everything.

"Apparently someone leaked the news about the fight between these three groups to other groups across the country and a few of them attacked the Monster group's chairman after he beat the other two. Hahha"

This guy leaked the news about the fight to the other groups close to them as well and initiated a huge battle royale.

I am sure there were more groups who suffered because of this but he isn't telling me about that.

Damn this guy is nasty. He doesn't play by the rules at all. I mean I..I just feel so...so proud of this guy!!

"You know I am starting to like you more and more. You are much more sly and evil than I thought you were." I said and started laughing

"Well thanks for the compliment" he said and started laughing as well.

"Ugh!" 

Both of us looked towards Elsa as she opened here eyes with a little struggle and held her head as she sat up on the bed.

He blonde silky hair fell in front of her face covering a part of it and hiding her expression from us.

"Elsa"

I called out to her and her head snapped towards my direction immediately.

Tears slowly welled up in her eyes before she yelled my name and tried to lunge at me.

Before she could jump out of the bed and fall on to the floor, I arrived right before her and held her in my arms.

Seeing how things were, Dad decided to leave the two of us and walked out of the room.

Elsa on the other hand cried for a long time before I managed to calm her down and make her accept the fact that she is no longer in any danger.

I left the room for a while and called for the doctor for some final checkups before she is ready to leave.

Even though she had some fractures before, I made the healers here focus specially on her injuries even before they could heal the members of our group.

As a result, there really shouldn't be any problem with her physically anymore.

"Owen."

"Yeah?"

"The guy who kidnapped me. He said that you were the reason I was kidnapped." She looked at me through her side eye with her eyes shaking.

Now that she had calmed down, I bet there will be a lot of questions running through her head.

"Is that true?" she asked.

"Yes." I replied immediately

"But we will get into the details later. It wasn't on my orders or anything that I did that led to your kidnapping so rest easy. I will explain everything to you after you get discharged from here." I said.

"Where are my parents? W-why aren't they here? This is a hospital right? Why are you here instead of them?!....Where am I?!"

"Calm down! Don't try to make it out like I am your enemy. I am the person who risked his life to save your ass from that maniac. Who by the way, I hope it helps, is dead now. So there is no need for you to panic!"

I yelled at her in frustration.

I know that she has been kidnapped and all and is probably traumatised but I am not a therapist. I can't take handle this kind of thing.

Luckily before we could get into a proper argument, the healer walked in and checked her body's state properly with his ability and said that she was good to go.

***

[A few minutes later inside the Chairman's Office]

"Elsa. It is nice to see you again." 

Dad said whereas she just nodded her head in acknowledgement.

Dad had probably met her a few dozen times in the past few years and she was also well acquainted with him.

"I see form your reaction that Owen didn't tell you anything. Don't be so mad at him. He was just following my orders. He can be let's say a little insensitive sometimes."

"I am right here."

"That's true" Elsa said

"Again. I am right here!" 

"You must have a lot of questions and I will answer everyone of them one by one after explaining the basics about this new world you have become a part of now."

"New world?" 

"Yes. The world of the awakened ones. There are many many people out there who just like you possess supernatural abilities from birth."

"I don't think it's form birth. I am pretty sure they just suddenly appeared out of nowhere." Elsa said. 

She was finally getting answers to her questions and she listened to every word my father spoke with great focus.

"That phenomenon is known as awakening. It takes a while for the power inside us to develop and manifest. These awakenings usually occur during 4 to 6 years of age but we do have the basic foundation of that powers from birth. Very little is known about the origins of our powers and why we have them but what is known is that there is our ability core located very close to our heart that stores all our powers."

"I see."

"The world of awakened ones is a very dangerous one. You should know since you have experienced it now even before officially joining the ranks of an awakened one. We keep ourselves hidden from the public and civilians since it could be dangerous for us as well as others if our existence is known to them."

"Why is it dangerous the awakened ones to have their presence known?"

"Kind of like in the X-Men movies. There were a lot of powerful mutants but in the end they were feared and oppressed by the public and the government." I decided to chip in my 2 cents into the conversation.

"That is probably the most apt way to describe our situation. Though it is not as if no one from the public knows about the existence of awakened ones. It is just that they are the family members of the other awakened ones."

"So is it okay to tell my family about this?" Elsa asked instantly

It was clear that she was eager to tell her parents about her powers but had to push that feeling down and continue to hide that secret from them.

"Absolutely. Though I would suggest if you do that in front an awakened one so that they can help you explain everything to them." 

"I will do that. Just call me when you are about to tell them." I said

Elsa gave me a soft smile after hearing that.

"Moving on, in the world of the awakened, there are many groups all over the world who compete with each other for strength, money, influence, etc. Our group is one of them. We are called the Light Cavalry group and I am it's chairman."

'Show off.' I said in my mind.

"Why? I mean why do you all have to fight each other for that?" Elsa asked

"When someone has the power to take over the world. Do you think they will be able to hold in their greed? No. In this world there is no shortage of people dreaming to take over the world and dominate everyone else. This world is guided by only one rule and that is power above everything else." Dad said

"The people who kidnapped you were actually one of our rival groups called Virtuosos. They recently suffered a defeat from us and decided to kidnap you after finding out that you were related to me." I said

"Which is why to make sure that this doesn't happen in the future, I would suggest you to join our group." Dad said

"Huh?" Elsa asked

Her mind blanked due to this sudden invitation.

"I-if possible I would just like to continue my normal life like before. Sir." Elsa said

"That would have been possible if that incident hadn't happened but not now." I said

Her attention turned towards me and she asked me what did I mean by that.

"The incident where 4 men were found dead in an alley." I said

"!!!"

Elsa's body shook as she remembered that incident and the memory of that night replayed inside her head as she vividly remembered what she had done.

"Owen." Dad called me out for being so straightforward. But I feel like this is what she needs right now.

There is no point in sheltering her from the truth that is just another word for lying to her.

She needs to know exactly what her situation is so that we can prevent that from happening ever again.

"I-I am Sorry." Elsa said in a meek voice as she looked down on the ground.

"Nobody is blaming you. You did the right thing. If I was in your shoes, I would have done the same thing probably even worse. Heck I would have done that even if I weren't in your shoes and I had just found that they are those kind of people. So take it easy on yourself."

I patted her back as I said that. And this was also a truth.

There is no place for rapists in this world. They shouldn't even be given any chance to wiggle out of the punishment. They should receive punishment as soon as they are proven guilty.

"T-Thanks." Elsa said as she covered her face and started sobbing.

"Anyway. That incident is actually the reason you were kidnapped." I said

"What?"

"That place came under the Virtuosos group's territory and you came up on their radar after that incident. They had the CCTV cameras footage of you fighting them. The main reason to infiltrate their building was to get rid of this video from their servers and then get you out through one final negotiation. But things turned out a lot better and now not only that video is deleted, you are also safe and the Virtuosos group is no more." 

"They are no more? What happened to them..to that guy?" 

"Michael Hariss is dead." Dad intervened. "That's what he gets for messing with us." 

"Now. Although that video is deleted, it is obvious that a few people form their group will still know about you being the one behind it and if they spread rumours about it, you might be targeted again." I said

"Then..."

"Joining us will officially make you part of the awakened society and then we can use our power to refuse every claim they make. Since you will be part of our group, our group's reputation and fame will also get attached to you." Dad said

"So I don't really have a choice do I?" Elsa laughed

"You do have a choice." I said. "We are just giving you a suggestion. You also have a choice to join any other group you wish to or just continue with your life as usual under constant fear of getting kidnapped or worse. Either way I will save you so choose however you want to live."

"What..?" Dad glared at me for suddenly saying that we will save her no matter what she chooses to do.

And I get why. I mean none of our officials were very jazzed about rescuing a girl they don't even know about and who isn't even part of our group. 

They had also asked Dad clearly to make her join our group which was why he was being so pushy right now. 

'I am going to get a lecture later.'

"That is it for now. Tell me what you want to do by the end of the week." I said "I will call a car for you to drop you home. Take your time and spend lots of time with your family and oh..if you meet Emily or Mark don't tell them I am here. I didn't tell them about coming back." 

"Thank you." Elsa said as she hugged me before going out of the office with Ben whom I had called to drop her home.

She asked me to drop her but I had some things to discuss with dad so I had to tell her no.

'Now let's do this.' I said in my mind as I took a sat in front of my angry dad.