The heavy oak doors of the Purnas Mansion closed with a soft thud behind Richard and Jack. Dressed in crisp business suits that felt strangely constricting after hours of tense revelations, they walked towards the waiting black sedan. Ciano, Richard’s personal security detail, moved with practiced efficiency, already holding the rear passenger door open.
They slid onto the plush leather seats, and the mont the door clicked shut, a collective, audible sigh escaped them both. Richard leaned his head back, eyes closing. "That was... intense."
Jack collapsed beside him, running a hand through his hair. "Intense? Grandpa was relentless! Five hours, bro. Five. Hours!" He threw his hands up in mock exasperation, though the exhaustion in his voice was real. "I swear I saw steam coming out of his ears at one point."
Richard managed a small, tired smile, opening his eyes. "He deserved to know. Most of it, anyway. We couldn’t keep sothing like this hidden from him forever."
"Yeah, well, he almost had an aneurysm when you showed him the deep levels," Jack muttered, still picturing Estello’s face.
The imdiate aftermath of their high-stakes confession hung heavy in the air, a mixture of relief and residual tension. The close bond between the two, forged through years and now tested by extraordinary secrets, allowed them to share this exhausting experience with a grim camaraderie. This ’talk’ was clearly a monuntal turning point for Estello and Anita.
Five hours earlier...
The mood in the Purnas Mansion Underground Base had been drastically different. Richard and Jack stood before Estello, the holographic schematics of the expanded base swirling above a central table. Estello’s jaw was clenched, his eyes wide with disbelief and a rapidly escalating anger.
"Three floors? Three floors?" Estello’s voice rose, incredulous, echoing slightly in the vast chamber. He pointed a trembling finger at the swirling blue lines of the projection. "You built this beneath my feet and you kept it from ?! All I knew was a small room! A few machines! To think I wouldn’t noticed three more floors of underground bunker?" His anger was a physical presence, radiating off him like heat. He taphorically "chased" them with his fury, his demands for explanations bordering on an intent to inflict physical harm.
Richard stepped forward, attempting to calm the storm. "Grandpa, please, it was for security. For everyone’s safety. We couldn’t risk leaks. The technology... it’s beyond anything the public has currently known."
"Risk leaks?" Estello roared, his voice trembling with indignation. "You nearly gave a heart attack! I thought I had a glorified workshop under my house, not a damn underground fortress capable of building god knows what!" His sense of betrayal stemd not only from the secrecy but the sheer, overwhelming scale of what had been hidden right under his nose. He, the family patriarch, prided himself on control and knowledge, and this was a direct affront.
As Estello’s initial fury began to subside into a simring outrage, Richard and Jack pressed on with the rest of their incredible story. Richard stood before him, his newly white hair and pale, almost ethereal skin a stark contrast to his previous appearance.
"And this?!" Estello’s gaze, though still angry, was now laced with a touch of profound bewildernt as he stared at Richard’s transformation. "This is why you look like different now. A ’forced awakening’? What the hell does that an?!" He threw his hands up in frustration, struggling to reconcile the grandson he knew with the spectral figure before him.
"It’s... complex, Grandpa," Richard began, trying to find the right words. "I’ll tell you more in the future."
Estello cut him off, his eyes darting to Lina, who stood serenely nearby, her eyes observing the scene with perfect composure. "And her?" he demanded, pointing. "You tell she’s a machine in a ’human body’? And you kept this from too? Your own family?"
Lina stepped forward calmly, her voice soft but clear. "Grandpa Estello, my designation is Artificial Superintelligence. My form is bio-synthetic, designed to facilitate interaction and enhance my operational capabilities in the physical world."
Estello simply stared at Lina, then slowly shook his head. A bewildered, almost desperate chuckle escaped him. "Bio-synthetic... I barely understand the internet, and now you have a robot girlfriend! And she talks like a professor! You boys are lucky my heart is strong enough for this!"
His struggle to comprehend these advanced concepts was evident, yet his core reaction remained rooted in his deep trust (and now, anger) in his family. The revelation of Lina’s true nature, combined with Richard’s transformation, pushed the boundaries of his reality far beyond he has ever known.
Two hours later, the initial storm of anger had finally subsided, replaced by a grudging, almost overwheld, acceptance. Estello was now seated in Richard’s sleek underground office, a holographic interface glowing softly before him, surveying the vastness of the expanded base. He ran a hand over his taqiyah, a look of profound astonishnt on his face.
"This... this is not a basent, boys," he murmured, his voice laced with awe. "This is an entire city. A fortress. A doomsday bunker, with endless printing. Robots that work forever. Rooms for everyone, just in case the world truly goes to shit." He gestured towards the shimring projections of the Protheus Mark 8 armor, Richard’s latest, more refined suit, and then to the crimson gleam of Jack’s Musashi armor. "And these! What are these things, Richard? Power armors? Like from those movies? Though I kind of admit that these of yours is kind of cool." He eyed Jack with a playful glint.
He looked at Lina, who stood quietly nearby, processing data streams invisible to the human eye. "And you, Lina. I still can’t believe it. You look and talk like a human. Too perfect, perhaps."
"My design is optimized for integration, Grandpa Estello," Lina reiterated, a subtle, almost imperceptible warmth in her tone.
Estello sighed, a profound understanding dawning in his eyes. "I understand why you kept this from . The world would tear you apart for this. It would be... bad. Very, very bad." His acceptance of the "doomsday bunker" concept highlighted his pragmatic nature and his deep concern for his family’s survival, even as he grappled with the implications. His grudging acceptance of Lina, despite his lingering disbelief, spoke volus about his capacity for adaptation when faced with undeniable evidence.
Richard then unveiled the next layer of their secret. He brought up holographic schematics of the android replacents – not just for himself and Lina for public appearances, but a full complent of human-looking android staff for the mansion’s security. "These will be our public faces when Lina and I are away. They’ll manage the company, handle appearances. And these," he said, indicating the security androids, "will protect the house. Because Lina and I are going to Brazil. To form another organization. Against them."
The holographic display shifted, and the relaxed atmosphere in the office shattered. The screen filled with horrifying footage: images of human mutilations, brutal experints, silent blood banks where bodies hung like grotesque fruit, and human puppet soldiers, their eyes vacant, all controlled by the reptilians.
Jack, though he had heard the theories and seen glimpses before, gasped, recoiling from the raw, brutal reality. "God... bro, even now... I still can’t believe this. It’s... utterly brutal." He turned away, his stomach churning, the horror as fresh as the first ti.
Estello’s face, which had been solemn, twisted with a mixture of disbelief and pure, visceral fury. A low, guttural growl escaped his throat. "Maria told stories... legends. Whispers of monsters. But this?" His hand clenched into a fist. "This is a nightmare. They truly treat us like cattle." The undeniable evidence, jaw-dropping in its cruelty, revealed the true, brutal horror humanity was enduring.
Witnessing the footage again, sothing snapped in Richard. His simring rage against the reptilians, long contained, exploded. His silver eyes, which had been simply pale before, now glowed with an otherworldly luminescence, a visible blue-white flicker radiating from his pupils. His silver aura, usually a soft luminescence, suddenly spiked, a tempest of raw power rippling through the room.
His voice, usually calm, was now deeper, distorted, shaking with raw fury as if possessed by his very own emotions. "Everyti I see this, my just blood boils cause these parasitic, scaly BASTARDS! Filthy reptilian ABOMINATIONS! They feast on us! They think we’re just their goddamn cattle, those cold-blooded FUCKS! I’ll boil their goddamn blood! Every single one of those reptilian pieces of SHIT!" A jolt of uncontrolled energy surged from him, rattling the quantum servers, making the light fixtures flicker and hum in protest, and a faint, acrid scent of ozone filled the air.
Estello, watching his grandson, felt a mixture of fear and profound awe. The raw, untad power emanating from Richard was terrifying, yet exhilarating. "My God... the power..." This firsthand witness of Richard’s "crazy power" solidified his understanding of the stakes and his grandson’s profound, terrifying transformation.
Later on as Richard slowly regained his composure, he turned to Jack. "You wanna co? We’re going to war, you know. Against the... ’lizard overlords.’"
Jack, still pale, managed a tense, humorless smile, quickly followed by a shaky laugh. "Go? ? Against those... things? Nah, man. Look, the underground base is great. all this stuff, the gas... this is my battle. My safe battle." He shivered, a genuine tremor passing through him.
"Honestly, bro, part of wants to be there, right beside you, kicking alien ass. But the other part... the part that just saw that footage again," he gestured vaguely at the holographic display, "is screaming. I’m not ready for multi-ton reptilians, Rich. Not yet. You go on ahead, Batman. I’ll hold the fort. Soone needs to run the house while you’re out there being a superhero... and probably getting eaten." He tried to end it on a joke, but his eyes betrayed a very real fear.
Richard’s face softened, a genuine, relieved smile spreading across it. "That’s fine bro, I understand."
Estello’s face, now calm and resolute, was etched with a newfound understanding. "Richie, I understand your ambitious mission. Proceed with caution and proceed with fury. You have our blessing. We will be safe here. And know this, If you ever find yourself in a pinch, you call. We will co. Always."
Richard sighed contentedly, a smirk playing on his lips, a touch of his old arrogance returning. "A pinch? Who could ever put in a pinch now, Grandpa?"
Estello, with a fond exasperation, reached out and slapped Richard lightly on the back of his now white-haired head. "Don’t be arrogant, brat. You’re still just a boy to . Now go. And co back." The gesture, a classic mont, grounded Richard’s newfound powers with a dose of human humility and unwavering affection.
Richard added, "Please don’t tell Ma about all of this. I don’t want her getting worried."
Jack then asked, "So... when exactly is ’Batman’ taking off?" He tried to sound casual, but his voice was a little too tight, a flicker of genuine concern visible in his eyes.
Richard replied, "It’s still early. I’ll be here for at least a year and a half, at least until the launch of Bull EV Motors and the production line of the components. I’ll spend my remaining ti with them. I might co back in a long ti, but I won’t promise when."
Estello nodded, "Don’t worry about your mom, I’ll handle her. Besides, Edmundo," he paused, referencing his son and Ernesto’s brother, "will volunteer as the CEO of your new company, Bull EV Motors. He was working with Ford Motors as their executive for a long ti, but after a problem with his wife, they got into a divorce. His wife currently wants half of Edmundo’s assets, but Edmundo doesn’t willy-nilly give it to soone who doesn’t deserve it, so he’s taking ti to process the divorce and the legal battle against his wife and the company, since they don’t want to let him go. So it’ll take at least two years before he can co here in the Philippines."
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