Section 25: Vladimir Diamante

"Vladimir? That name seems to be oddly familiar," I thought quietly as Vladimir and I exchanged sharp glances. Vladimir then dragged me away from Joel and his underlings. He seems to have lost interest in Joel because he didn't steal a glance at Joel at all, as if he's invisible.

"Take him to the cell," he added disinterestedly.

Joel didn't reply, he lost his will, he lost his facial expression. Vladimir's words seem to stab his chest or something. He refused to look at me and Vladimir.

"What are you doing!? Let go of Joel too!" I scowled.

Vladimir shook his head, he lowered his smile and talked to me annoyed.

"Do you want to befriend this traitor?" he asked cynically.

"Traitor, what do you-".

"Adrian told me everything, about what your friend said to him" Vladimir sighed disappointedly.

I looked at Vladimir questionably, I didn't get what he's playing at.

"Your friend Joel, told Adrian about the fact you killed an innocent civilian" Vladimir spoke with a smug expression.

My expression stiffened when I heard that words come out from Vladimir's mouth. Joel told Adrian about that? About the fact, I killed an innocent civilian. I peered my eyes at Joel, he lowered his gaze and avoided my eye contact. He looks pretty shocked too, he must have imagined that Adrian could keep his mouth shut.

"I'm sorry Aria, it's my fault" Joel frowned.

I sighed in defeat, Joel betrayed me, did he? Even so, I couldn't find any energy to yell at Joel. I know that Joel worries are normal. I just killed someone innocent anyway, it would be normal for Joel to fear me.

"Aria, are you angry?" Joel asked timidly.

I didn't respond to Joel, I'm not sure what to call this emotion of mine. I'm disappointed in him, but other than that I didn't feel anything.

"That's enough" I scratched my head awkwardly. "It's fine".

I'm too exhausted to even stay angry at Joel, I was wrong and that's final.

"Now, take him to the cell" Vladimir cast him away from my sights.

Joel didn't rebel back, it is as if he already lost all his will to fight back. Vladimir continued to drag me to somewhere I didn't know, his grip on my arm is tight. It's hard to fight back in that state. He led me to a balcony on the school's second floor. I saw around six or five people in the courtyard, practicing guns and martial arts.

"This is like a military school," I added.

"That's right, as the son of the late president this is what I'm capable of" he crossed his arm.

"The late president?" the flashback of that one president who got his stomach sliced by a knife popped into my mind.

"The president you saw during the Livestream is my father, President Ivan" he sighed. "He fell into the enemy's hand".

Despite knowing that his father is in grave danger, he didn't look panicked at all. On the contrary, he's relaxed.

"Why didn't you try to save him?" I asked in sarcasm.

Vladimir laughed cheekily, he patted my shoulder in a friendly way.

"Why would I save that wretched father of mine? I am against my father's movement, after all, I am against technologies" he smiled deviously.

So Vladimir is the leader of the resistance, the anti-technologies government movement. Now that makes sense. He already had his squadron and people who vouched for him. Hence why he had the manpower to make such a powerful base.

"So even if he's your father, you abandoned him?" I sharpened my gaze toward the cynical man behind me.

"It's all come to power, my father lost him so it is my turn to change the world" Vladimir smiled arrogantly. His posture stood firm, he then told me to follow him which I complied with. After we walked through the endless corridor, I saw the boy I saved in front of the hotel. He was inside a classroom, he practiced his knife movement on a wooden dummy in front of him skillfully.

He looks so young, probably around fifteen or fourteen years old.

"He's my ace" he added out of nowhere.

"Excuse me?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Kallen Hunter, he's the youngest of all and yet the most proficient of all" Vladimir smirked in arrogance.

Kallen moved his knife instinctively and aimed for the dummy weakness. There are two types of dummies in the room. The drone one and the human one, this seems very military to me.

"And this is where your role lies" Vladimir looked down at me from his tall height. He then kneeled a bit so that our eye levels are the same.

"What's your name, little girl?" he asked.

I didn't want to answer with my real name, should I reply with a fake or real name? Then again, I am powerless at this point. He should have known my real name from Adrian since he already knew about the incident with Ellis, is this man testing me? I decided to answer with my real name.

"Aria Schneider" I spoke with a growl.

"Ah, an honest girl as well! You passed the test!" Vladimir clapped his hand, amused.

He tested me, like a guinea pig in a laboratory. He wants to know where I stand, whether I am on his side or not. The fact that he even told me about Joel's betrayal was to make me stand on his side. This man is dangerous, he's that one person that I would avoid at all cost.

"You will be my new warrior for The Brave Frontier" he looked at me expectantly. "You have the capability as a soldier".

I shook my head in refusal, his offers didn't tempt me at all.

"I am nothing but an ordinary civilian, you're making a mistake for choosing me" I crossed my arm annoyed.

"So is Kallen" he added nonchalantly. "But I trained him well under my wings".

He opened Kallen's classroom door, the tanned teenager boy was surprised and immediately halted his movement.

"Sir Vladimir" Kallen bowed respectfully toward Vladimir.

"We're not in official training Kallen" Vladimir patted the boy's head. "You can call me 'father'".

Did he just say, father? This man is Kallen's father? They're nothing alike. Kallen looks like a normal American tanned teenage boy, while Vladimir is Russian, his pale skin is the only thing that differentiates him from Kallen. Their eye colors, however, are the same.

"You might be thinking that we're not alike physically" Vladimir shifted his hawk eye towards me while ruffling his son's hair. "But Kallen is my adopted child".

So Kallen is his adopted child, that would make a whole lot of sense.

"Now I want you to stay in my camp, you're a great asset for The Brave Frontier" he tried to convince me. "Sooner or later we will be able to find the mastermind and the once called Alpha City will return in its glorious state".

"And I assume you want to be chosen as a leader?" I asked Vladimir straightforwardly.

Vladimir looked somewhat shocked at first, but later he laughed loudly with a smug grin.

"My followers know that I am the best leader after my father's mistakes! Look at what he did to our beloved Alpha City!" he scowled in anger. "This is because father overestimates the technology's ability to the fullest! And now look at those crazy drones who killed and destroyed our home!".

He made a nice speech to encourage me, which of course I didn't care about. They could fight and do whatever they wanted as long as they didn't involve me in their political dispute. I'm not a fan of politics games. Then again, his followers followed him for a reason. I could see why he was chosen as a leader for the next president after President Ivan.

He had the aura of a leader, ambitious, resourceful, and more importantly strategic thinking. He knows his ways to attract his followers and how to recruit someone useful. However, something about him annoyed me.

I was curious whether his group was the cause of Nash's death and Ellis' horrid state. I remember clearly, the cigs mark on Ellis' skin and her trembled body, fear has seeped into her expression until the fact she couldn't think anymore. She was abused, not by a drone but a human being.

"Do you know someone with the name Nash? Or Ellis?" I raise a question.

Kallen's face froze when he heard the name Nash and Ellis, it was as if the teenage boy knew about what had transpired to the couple.

"Oh, that thief" Vladimir sighed. "He stole a medkit and hid it somewhere around the city, we're hunting them".

I widened my eyes, surprised about the information I heard.

"That couple stayed with us for a few days, but they're so weak! It makes me want to vomit! Especially that puny thief! He dislikes violence!" Vladimir shook his head in dismay. "He barely could brace himself to punch someone in the face, because he said violence is not the answer"

Vladimir gritted his teeth in frustration.

"What a naive boy" his grim expression made me shudder in horror.

"So, you killed Nash and abused his wife, Ellis?" I braced myself to ask that difficult question.

Vladimir widened his eyes, again he looked surprised with whatever I said to him.

"Isn't it obvious that the death penalty is the final answer for the thief who stole other things? My underlings accidentally spot him in an alley, he picked something from the ground" he peeved. "Our medkit stash, he hid it then used it for his wife".

I gulped as I listened to Vladimir's story.

"I decided that it's time for him to die, as for the wife, she should be grateful that she's alive" the Russian man laughed normally as if it didn't bother him. "Then you came, and killed her! Wonderful".

I clenched my fist in shame, I killed an innocent woman who just got abused by his underling. 'I am no different than Vladimir', that thought suddenly occurred to me. The fact that this man exists, makes him more dangerous than any drones I've ever encountered. Mankind's greatest enemy is in the end, mankind itself.