Chapter 72: New Identity

The simple line read in bold holographic letters on the screen:

"Registration confirmed. Welcome."

Huey stared at it curiously, his eyes glinting with a distant light. Hathaway noticed this and chuckled before retrieving the card from him. Huey was a little reluctant at first for whatever reason, but he let it go. Then he said in a slightly demoralized tone of voice, "...That's it?"

Hathaway chuckled again and turned around. "That's mostly it, I guess, but not quite," the professor said, paused, and continued. "With this, we've only recorded your DNA signature and linked the card with your identity. Now, no one else but you can use it. But there's still the matter of actually finishing the details of your identity, like name, gender, age, date of birth, and all that, etc. And after that, we have to infiltrate all these details into the database of Allan Fort to make it blend seamlessly amongst the many there already."

Huey listened and nodded from behind. Then he gave a thumbs up.

"I don't really get it, but you do you."

Just then, Hathaway said, "On that note, here is the main reason why I called you here now. I need you to finish up the identity card. I mean, it is your ID card after all. We'll also go through your background story to make it more plausible. Clearly, you can't reveal who you really are and how you came from a Red Rift."

Even seventy years in the future, security clearance and identity registration is still so much of a pain. Huey gave him an annoyed look that Hathaway couldn't see from behind, but as if he could feel the piercing gaze anyway, the professor chuckled as his fingers danced against his keyboard.

"Your blood was the beginning, but there's a lot more to do before your fake identity is complete and flawless enough to trick and bypass the database and security system of Allan Fort. Many have tried and failed in the past, criminals and immigrants who hoped to skip through Fortresses for crimes as if changing homes. The only difference between you and them is..." Hathaway said and turned around partially. With a small smile, he adjusted his glasses and added in a low voice, "You have me forging your identity."

'Isn't this old man becoming even more reliable?' Huey silently thought, while also cringing. What was up with the edgy way he said it?

But Hathaway wasn't bluffing either. The security system was nearly impenetrable, but as someone who designed the so-called system, Hathaway knew just how to get in and make use of a few loopholes he left intentionally.

Huey nodded without saying anything. He would only curse out the old man and make fun of him if he opened his mouth. Hathaway looked at him without turning around.

"So? Is there anything you'd like to be added to your fake background? Any name you'd prefer even using? A fake identity is never complete without a fake name," the professor enthusiastically emphasized. He seemed like he enjoyed breaking his own system and forging fake documents, Huey silently noticed.

Huey shook his head and stood up to leave, to the bafflement of Hathaway. In a mild and detached voice, he gave one last look at the professor before indifferently waving his wrist at him. "I'll leave the details to your judgment. You know Allan Fort and its system better than I do anyway. As for a name... I'll think of one. Then I'll take my leave for now." Saying so, he headed for the door.

"..."

Hathaway watched his back exit the room speechlessly with his lips apart. He frowned a little, then added in a small voice only he could hear, "But that's the best part."

***

Huey returned to his room and sat quietly in the center. To one side of him was a neatly folded pile of new clothes, brought to his room earlier by a caretaker. These were the garments he would change into for his trip to Allan Fort. Clearly, he couldn't approach the gates of the Fortress in the attire of the Ntuli Tribe and expect a warm welcome.

His face was completely still, and his red eyes stared blankly into the air. He sat on the carpeted floor, lost in thought as the seconds ticked by. Eventually, he moved, lowering his head. His left hand lifted, covering his face with his palm. Then his shoulders began to quiver.

"This is it!" he exclaimed. "A new identity! One where I can hide my true self and blend seamlessly into society with an entirely different persona! Oh, how exciting!" His red eyes glowed vibrantly behind his fingers, and a wide, unrestrained smile stretched across his face, revealing his intense excitement.

It was to be expected. The idea of adopting a new identity and blending into society while others remained oblivious was a dream for many. It was romantic! Huey had seen numerous shows and read books where the protagonist, for one cliché reason or another, discarded his old identity to forge a new one. There was even the trope of maintaining two identities at once, like an alter ego!

"Kukuku..."

Huey was finally presented with the opportunity to experience this for himself. He barely managed to contain his excitement while in the professor's office. He felt he had to leave quickly before he couldn't hold it in any longer, which was why he had exited.

Although the situation was slightly different this time, Huey would still get to adopt a new name and a fake persona while infiltrating society within the walls. He took a deep breath and exhaled, regaining his composure. A light smile remained on his face, but it soon faded.

"I still need to come up with a name and a personality," Huey pondered seriously, covering his face. But... he had a few ideas...

...

"Hi. Barry Allen, fastest man alive." Huey stood before a full-length mirror, offering a fine and friendly smile as he extended his right arm for a handshake. He then frowned slightly, withdrew his arm, and muttered to himself, "No, that won't work. What about—"

"Bruce Wayne. Millionaire bachelor." He said coolly, with a haughty smile and raised eyebrows before the mirror. He continued, "By day, I run my own multimillion-dollar company... but at night, I don the mantle of justice for my city. Justice!" he added in a deep voice.

"H-hi... Clark Kent. Unassuming journalist for the Daily Planet—" Huey, wearing black-framed glasses he had found out of nowhere, and with his long hair tied back and neatly combed, said with a simple smile—

"Like hell!!" He took off the glasses and smashed them to the ground with a huff. "Copyright will be an issue if I use those!"

He sighed with frustration and tugged at the cord holding his hair. The loose strands of his lustrous black hair fell back down his back like a waterfall. Huey stood before the mirror with a complex and solemn expression.

Then his face deepened with a frown. 'What am I doing?' he thought and clenched his fist. 'I'm just messing around,' he felt angry at himself.

No.

Ever since the beginning, Huey had felt this inexplicable anger and sadness for himself. He only realized this when he found his old home. His family was dead. His old town was deserted and destroyed.

And where was he? Maybe if he could have returned a little earlier... Huey was strong now; he could have been the one to protect them.

Huey wasn't optimistic enough to believe that the rest of his family might still be alive just because Shiloh was. So until he either met them or found their graves, he believed he had already lost them. He lost them the moment he left his home all those years ago.

He couldn't lose Shiloh too. He wouldn't let him go, now that he knew his brother was alive. Huey felt a range of emotions unlike any other. But he didn't explode or curse out in anger. Instead, he silently resolved, and Huey smiled. It was a soft smile, a sad smile... a small smile. His vibrant red eyes glowed brighter with an otherworldly crimson radiance as he stared at his reflection.

'I won't lose him too.'

He glanced at the black sword placed on the ground in the room, and as he turned, a few strands of his hair fell against his face. Huey frowned as he pushed them back. Then he let out a breath and smiled. This time it was his usual smile, arrogant and mocking. He stretched his hand and summoned his sword.

'A new identity? Why do I need that again?' Huey chuckled to himself. "Ah, yes. Because the professor insists if I want to get into the dome. But I'm getting in to find Shiloh, right?" he said to himself, seemingly asking his reflection.

The smile on his face widened with the edges of his lips curling and reaching the light in his eyes. Then Huey laughed. "I've decided."

...

"That fucking bastard..." A very peeved Lyra stood against a wall in the dimly lit hallway. She was in a change of clothes and donning a long black traveler's cloak, as she waited and cursed a certain man in her heart. She hadn't forgotten the audacity shown by Huey at the banquet and barely even had it in her to look at him.

'I should have roasted him to cinders if it weren't for that abnormally hard skin of his!' she growled, and wisps of flames combusted in her clenched fist. How could he bring a date and flirt with another woman next to her? For some reason, she was really incensed by this.

Lyra stood just outside Hathaway's office. The overworked, poor professor had asked her to come see him before they left to hand her a new ID card. She had lost the old one somewhere sometime ago, outside above ground, so Hathaway proposed he make another one for her. This wasn't as hard as Huey's because Lyra was already registered in the database of the Fort, so he only had to make a new copy of her old card, unlike Huey's, which was from scratch.

"Oh, Lyra. You're here already." As Lyra's thoughts wandered about the best and most painful way to deal damage to a monster like that sinful bastard, she heard his accursed voice. She expected him to come, but her expression still contorted with rage and embarrassment.

"Ah, you—!" She pushed away from the wall and turned to him. Just as she was about to start cursing him out, Lyra froze. Her eyes widened, and for a moment, all her rage and embarrassment dissipated like ash in the wind.

"Uh?" Lyra forgot the words she meant to say and stared at him in confusion. Huey was also dressed differently, wearing a traveler's cloak similar to hers, but that wasn't the reason for her reaction.

As if he hadn't noticed her reaction, Huey walked up to her and said, "What? Were you waiting for me outside? Thanks, now let's go in." He stood before the door to Hathaway's office while Lyra continued to stare. She tried to speak but stuttered. As if she were seeing things, Lyra shook her head vigorously and looked again.

But it was real.

"Are you coming?" Huey glanced over his shoulder at her with his usual teasing smile and walked into the office.

That infuriating smile snapped Lyra out of her daze but left her feeling confused. Despite her turmoil, she followed him and caught up. Still reeling from shock and surprise, she asked,

"What did you do?"

Huey looked at her oddly and simply said, as if it were obvious, "I got a haircut."

His long black hair had been crudely cut, now shorter and giving him a rugged roughish charm. Each time he smiled like that, combined with the intense light in his eyes, he gave off a rough impression that made Lyra's heart flutter for some inexplicable reason.

Huey relished her reaction, grinned, and turned around. "Hey, old man. You haven't written down a name yet, have you?"

Inside, Hathaway turned in his chair and began, "You mean the ID card? No, I—!" But just as he started, like Lyra, even the renowned scientist froze with wide eyes.

Huey dismissed the reaction with a broader smile and exuded a rougish charm as he approached.

"Good. I've got a name," he said.

Hathaway smiled. "I'm listening."

"Isn't it obvious?" Huey scoffed and laughed. Then he straightened up, chin high and eyes looking down at everything from above—a smile that sent chills to others and a bearing that was impossible to ignore. He stared at the professor with his red eyes, his presence palpitating with a thin smile, and spoke in a low voice.

"Huey Blade."

... End of Volume One: Huey Blade.

***

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

With this, we concluded the first book of RED: Swordsman in the Apocalypse at 72 chapters.

This has been long coming, initially I expected to end it at 50 or there about, but writing is a will on itself. That's what I believe, so I can never be too sure.

Thank you all for reading with me this far, and for all the support. I started this book on a whim, and had some very inconsistent updates at the initial time. But I enjoyed writing it, that was why I continued. I planned to drop it at Volume One on Webnovel if I couldn't get a contract, until I finally did. And I don't regret it.

Thank all of if you for the support with your comments, interactions, golden tickets, power stones, etc.

Now I'm going premium from 73 and I hope you continue to support me even then.

I've said to much. Don't worry, notes like this won't exist for premium chapters to avoid high cost.

So I'll be going on a quick break to sort out Volume Two: Allan Fort arc. I'm aiming for three volumes of RED, maybe four. Let's see!

Stone goals still remain below. Surprise me for my return!