By the time Lucius stepped out of the building, it was already late into the afternoon. The sun hung high above the academy grounds, its heat pressing down against his skin as he raised one hand to shade his eyes. He squinted at the brightness for a moment, wearing a faint frown before lowering his hand and returning his gaze to the black SUV waiting near the entrance.
He was already looking forward to getting out of the heat when an unfamiliar voice came from behind him.
"Hey... Lucius."
Lucius turned around and found himself facing a white haired boy with a fohawk hairstyle, white eyebrows, and striking silver eyes. Strangely, he was dressed entirely in white, from his shirt to his trousers and shoes. Under normal circumstances, Lucius would have considered the outfit painfully cringe, but somehow the boy actually pulled it off well enough that he could not complain.
He looked around eighteen and wore a friendly smile that seemed almost deliberately disarming, the kind of expression that made it difficult to immediately treat him as a threat.
"Hey, I’m Silver..." The boy extended his hand for a handshake.
Lucius shook it while studying his face.
There was something vaguely familiar about his features, and after staring at him for a few seconds, Lucius finally said, "You look like someone I met yesterday."
"You mean Bruce? Yeah, that’s my big brother. He told me about you joining us, and I was really fascinated," Silver responded with a nod.
Lucius’s eyes flashed with surprise almost immediately, but the expression vanished just as quickly. So this youth was also an Ainsworth. Unlike Bruce, however, Silver did not possess that unreachable presence Bruce carried around him. He looked like every other young person Lucius had encountered. Yet there was something else Lucius noticed almost immediately.
Just like Bruce, Silver felt awfully vulnerable.
Lucius could tell that it would take only a little effort to crush Silver’s palm or even tear his arm from its socket. The realization made him stare at the young man for another moment.
Were all members of the Ainsworth family this vulnerable?
Lucius eventually looked past Silver toward a small group of three people waiting several meters away. There were two boys and a girl, all of whom appeared to be around his age.
Silver followed his gaze and quickly explained himself. "They’re my friends. Each of them is a member of the Big Four families, and we’re all interested in getting to know you better, but I’m more like the scout sent to test the waters."
Lucius’s eyes narrowed slightly. If all three of them were members of the Big Four families, then one of them should be a member of the Gates family, the same family responsible for the deaths of his parents and ordered his murder. The thought alone was enough to make his expression grow colder, but he quickly buried the reaction.
"I apologize, but I prefer to keep to myself," Lucius said politely as he released Silver’s hand.
Silver smiled bitterly, though he did not seem particularly disappointed. He had probably anticipated the response before approaching him in the first place.
"I understand... Well, just find me if you run into any issues," Silver said.
"Sure." Lucius gave him a dry nod before turning away.
The meeting ended almost as quickly as it had begun, with everyone going their separate ways. Lucius walked straight toward the SUV, and the moment he climbed inside, he noticed Skull’s eyes beaming with excitement from the rearview mirror. The man looked as though he had been waiting for this exact moment, and Lucius already knew the questions were coming.
"Drive first before speaking. The parking lot of this facility is not the best place to have this kind of discussion," Lucius said with a tired roll of his eyes before leaning back into his seat.
Skull nodded quickly and backed the car out of the driveway before speeding onto the streets. He remained quiet for several seconds, though Lucius could practically feel the questions building inside him.
Meanwhile, Silver returned to his friend group with slight amusement in his eyes. His gaze shifted toward Alex, the tallest member of the group, who stood at an imposing six foot four with long black hair tied neatly into a bun. Alex watched the SUV disappear down the road before speaking.
"He doesn’t seem to hate us," Alex Briggs said.
"But he doesn’t like us either. He’s just indifferent, like he was throughout the class..." Maya Gates watched the SUV speed away with a lustful gleam in her eyes. "I find it a bit sexy."
Maya was a brunette with sharp facial features that looked almost unnaturally perfect, as though she had gone through extensive cosmetic surgery to achieve them. Her body was equally balanced, with just the right amount of everything without anything appearing excessively exaggerated. Her eyes remained fixed on the disappearing vehicle, and the amused smile on her face made her interest in Lucius obvious. Get faster updates on novelping.com.
"Emotional numbness comes from years of constant trauma until the body goes numb as a defense mechanism," Dean Hall explained. "I’m certain he carries a lot of bottled up resentment toward the system that made his life difficult."
Dean was rather lean and slightly pale, with black hair gelled backward to perfection. His most striking feature was his perpetual dull yet strangely deep gaze, one that made people instinctively want to avert their eyes whenever he looked directly at them.
"Well... For the greater good of America, we must put our personal bias and lustful intentions..." Silver paused deliberately and glanced at Maya. She simply chuckled at the obvious jab before he continued, "and recruit all the talents of this new generation. Whether you like it or not, he may end up starting the fifth strongest family in the United States, and it’s in our best interest to have him as an ally before then."
Meanwhile, back inside the SUV, Lucius leaned against the door with his arms wrapped around his chest and his eyes closed. The hum of the engine filled the silence for several moments before Skull finally exploded.
"What do you mean you refused their friendship offer, are you insane?!" Skull blurted out. "Those were the new generation of the Big Four families, and you turned down their friendship request? Who the fuck do you think you are?!"
Lucius could not help but chuckle at the last question. The sheer disbelief in Skull’s voice made the situation almost amusing.
"This is not funny. I’m being real. Do you know how many opportunities you are missing out on just for making such a decision?" Skull snapped when he saw Lucius chuckling through the rearview mirror.
"Can my talent and current abilities get me all I need to become a great Guardian?" Lucius asked.
"Well... Yes, but..." Skull mumbled.
"No buts." Lucius cut him off and opened his eyes. "If I can get all I need with what I have, why must I reach for more at the price of my freedom? Or are you delusional enough to think a Dreg will be considered an equal when in a friend group who are equally rated S+?"
Skull fell silent. The question struck deeper than he expected, and for the first time since leaving the academy, he had no immediate response. He stared at the road ahead and quietly pondered Lucius’s words. Only then did Lucius shut his eyes once again.
They all seemed like nice people, but if there was something he had learned over the years, it was that looks could be deceiving. And even if they truly were good people, it did not matter much to him. His goal was simple. He wanted to build something tangible for himself and Lia while subtly exerting his revenge on the United States. He had no intention of allowing friendships, status, or promises of opportunity to interfere with that.
"By the way, I will come at odds with them when I finally decide to exert my revenge on the Gates..." Lucius added casually. "I can’t have that."
Skull shuddered at those words, his hands tightening slightly around the steering wheel.
For some reason, Skull suddenly believed that was the primary reason Lucius had rejected them in the first place. It was not pride. It was not arrogance. Lucius simply knew exactly where he intended to go, and he had no intention of allowing anyone from the Big Four to stand in his way.