Chapter 20

I and Gerald entered the Restaurant.

"Welcome, Sir, tables for two?"

"My friends should be here, Claire?" I asked the receptionist.

"Oh, Ms. Claire did say two of them will be joining them, I will take you to them,"

The Receptionist asked someone to take over and she guided us to where the three were.

Ray was sitting in the direction where he could see me and waved his hands.

"That's them, thanks"

"No problem, sir."

We reached there and took our seats.

"Meeting's over?"

"Yeah, it took some time, how was the show?"

"Dude, you missed it, magnificent that's the word I would use," said Mike. This was his first time in Dubai and the light show as well.

I smiled and asked, "Ordered?"

"We ordered some starters, we decided to wait for you for the main course and dessert," Ray said.

I turned to Claire and asked, "What is that you wanted to talk about?"

Ray and Mike also turned to her as they did not know that Claire came to my room in search of me for something.

"No, just wanted to ask whether you will join for dinner or not," said Claire.

It seems she did not talk to Ray and Mike about the important issue she wanted to talk to me about. I thought she would have already divulged it to them, it seems not.

The starters came and we dug in and ordered our main course and desserts as well.

Mike was having the time of his life. Not always does he get to go out on trips with his friends and have delicacies like this.

Myself, Ray and Claire have come here before and there was nothing new for us.

Though Claire did take glances looking at me when we talked about my company, daily matters that we could not do today in the morning as we were all tired and had some other things that we had to do.

We finished our dinner and headed back to our room.

As we reached our floor, I could sense Claire whispering something to Mike and headed towards me.

"Can we talk?" She asked.

"Sure," I opened the door and she entered.

"Gerald, can you wait in another room, I have something in private that I want to ask Andrew," She requested.

"Sure, Ms. Claire," Gerald bowed and headed to another room that was vacant with no one staying.

Claire went and took a seat on the sofa.

"Drink?" I asked her taking a Bourbon bottle in my hand.

"No, water is fine"

I filled a glass with water and gave it to her. I took a seat opposite her.

She took a sip and placed the glass down.

"Since the day we all have been hanging out I have noticed many things about you"

"Many? Care to elaborate?"

"I will get straight to the point, the first few weeks you talked about the truth but after that, there were only half-truths in most of the things you said, like today when you said you have a meeting."

"I know there was a meeting" she quoted and I smiled.

"But I know it was not a company meeting as Gerald already told me he cleared your schedules for this trip and all of a sudden a meeting that you cannot skip occurs, I found that hilarious."

"Then when we talked about the new Vigilante or the Hero Helios is when you lie."

I thought I somehow managed to make sure I came out good when we talked about Helios but it seems all she saw were lies. Her ability is terrifying.

"You are him, aren't you? Better answer honestly because what you say will affect how I will see you from now on."

To say I was not shocked would be lying. Her ability and the way she connects the dots are just too great.

"Why do you think I am him?" I questioned her and answered her as well.

"I am not sure as well, a hunch, maybe a guess, and now that you asked me this, you are him. Why are you not defending yourself or saying you are not him?"

"Why do I need to when you will know the answer one way or another. If I say no, your ability will tell it's a lie and that would say I don't trust you. I trust you, that is something that will stay like this till the day I die or you betray me."

Claire relaxed. She was anticipating whether I would retaliate with something but did not expect me to just give her the answer.

"When did you start to have this hunch?"

"A few days after we started to talk about Helios. I had my doubts and I started to dig. And one day I was there in a place where I was able to see Helios in the sky. It was the day Helios saved the hostages from a suicide bomber."

"The important one was the Traders as he was only going after them and I also know that the heads of the Traders are here in Dubai or more specifically the Burj-Al-Arab and I learn just now what occurred there. The disappearance of many and burnt marks found. If I am not wrong the meeting that you had today was finishing them." She was saying as if she watched the whole show.

I asked, "So, you decided to confront me today."

"Yes, and the question that I wanted to ask was why and how you got this ability? And based on this I will ask another question."

I took a deep breath and started to explain.

"For how I got this ability, it was something given to me and I started to harness it."

I looked at her, waiting for her comment.

"Truth"

I chuckled hearing that, "Never thought we would have this game Truth or Lie"

She smiled as well.

"For why, well this will take me time to answer"

"We have time"

"First, when we have this ability or power, we all want to do something, some wants it to keep it hidden, some does not bother with it and live their life, some use it to be a hero, some use it to accomplish their dreams or goals and some use it evilly. I decided to use it in a way that protects people who are powerless to do anything. Of course, I do get something in return and that will be their recognition. It will either point me as a hero or villain. And I do get benefitted from this and I cannot say what that is and you have to understand that."

Claire was patiently listening and taking in everything I was saying. She nodded her head and I continued.

"Gerald knows about this as well and stands by my side and helps me in this and makes sure I never go the wrong path. He is the one I confide in."

"That is something expected." She said with a thoughtful expression.

"You will definitely have someone as a companion who will question you when you do something wrong and guide you properly. But I still can't believe you kill."

"Yes, I kill the ones who deserve it."

She did not know what to say, but I could see the worry in her eyes.

"If you were in your father's position and came to know of someone who will be a threat in the future, what will you do?"

She looked at me and sighed as she answered, "I will eliminate them."

"That is exactly what I did and I can say this with absolute certainty, the ones who I killed do not deserve life."

"I understand." As she could see the seriousness and knows that I was telling the truth.

I asked her a question, "Do you know HYDRA?"

She did not get why I asked this and said, "Why are you asking me this when this is something that most know?"

I gave her a knowing look and she now realized what I asked and was a bit shocked as she said, "You know about the World Council. I did not expect you to know of the World Council. And to your question, yes, I have read many documents through my father about them, things that never came out."

"What if I say they still exist?"

She was shocked when I said that and got up quickly as she knew what I said was true.

"No. No. No. How, how can that be possible?"

She sat down as she started to go through all the things she read about Hydra. I gave her time and drank some water.

A few minutes later she asked me knowingly, "Arnim Zola, right? When Shield was created, they recruited many scientists, and Arnim Zola was one, oh gosh."

She sighed not knowing what to do.

"Do you have proof? We can tell this to my father."

"Want to die with your family Claire?"

She who was about to retort with something stopped in midway.

"They have infiltrated into the world council?" She stuttered as she asked me this.

I nodded my head. I could feel the fear she showed and she was shaking.

"Calm down."

She did not hear me.

I released my Conqueror's Haki a bit to get her attention back.

She looked at me as if I was a king and then realized what she was doing and collected herself, "Sorry."

She took a deep breath and said, "I have helped my father a lot with my ability, of course, I helped him from the age of 10 and you could even say I was a golden light for him. I have read about all the atrocities that Hydra committed when they were active. The bombings, war, experiments I know all about it, and now you saying that they still exist just made me afraid of what they are doing now. Arnim Zola is a mad scientist and I can't imagine how he escaped from Shield's sight. Why they did not keep track of him at all times. They grew in the shadows without anyone knowing, they must have expanded in every part that I can imagine. And the worst is no one knows."

I raised my hand and stopped her from continuing.

"Calm Down. I know how many there are and I can't act right now. I need pure power to destroy them in one fell swoop. But other than Hydra there are many more threats that this world will face and threats that are lurking in the shadows and threats that come from space."

"What are you going to do?"

I got up and walked near the huge glass window as I saw the city of Dubai.

"I am going to create an organization, an organization that will have the ability to protect Earth from any danger, an organization that will be the shadow of Earth and never to be known to the world other than its members, allies, and enemies, an organization that will go to space to cover every part of the universe and conqueror it, an organization that will know the black, white, and grey lines of everything in the universe and creating an atlas for all beings to explore…"

I stopped as I smirked. I turned towards her she was looking at me as if I am going to do something that no one in their life could do but I could see her eyes glowing in anticipation for it.

"ATLAS, that will be its name."

*******************************************

Author Here!

This was an already written chapter that I was going to publish two days ago but I was not able to since I was devastated when I learnt the news of my grandmother passing away.

I will take a short break for a week or two, hope you can understand.

*******************************************