Early the next morning, the simulated lights came on right on schedule, set to a soft dawn tone.
Leon rubbed his stiff neck and climbed up off the floor.
Sleeping long-term on a hard mat like this was no small challenge for a soft, out-of-shape wage worker like him.
He looked down and found that John had been awake for a while, sitting there cross-legged, his deep blue eyes fixed unblinking on him.
The thin blanket had been folded up neatly and set off to one side.
“Good morning, Leon.” The little boy’s voice was crisp, with a hint of obedience most people would never catch.
“Good morning, John.” Leon stretched and said through a yawn, “Getting up on time is a good habit for a hero.
How are you feeling today?”
John answered earnestly.
“I feel great.
I had a dream last night.
I dreamed I broke a lot of Mischief Cats’ legs and protected all the trash cans.”
Leon’s movements froze for a second, then he broke into a smile that was both relieved and helpless.
All right, looks like this kid’s dreams were filled entirely with the laws of justice he’d taught him.
The methods were still a bit brutal, but at least the target was aimed at those Mischief Cats and not indiscriminate attacks.
“That’s a great dream.
But right now, you have to get through today’s routine physical and tests first.”
Leon brushed the dust off his white coat and turned toward the airlock door.
“When I get back, maybe I can bring you spoils even better than an apple today.”
Hearing there were new spoils, John’s eyes lit up and he nodded hard.
Out in the corridor beyond the sterile room, things had already gotten busy.
Researchers in protective suits pushed all kinds of instruments back and forth, every face stamped with numbness toward the work and fear of that heavy metal door.
Leon had just gotten himself a steaming cup of fresh-ground coffee and hadn’t had a chance to take a sip before Supervisor Madelyn’s icy voice came over the intercom.
“Leon, bring your coffee and come to my office right now.”
Leon sighed and carried his cup toward the supervisor’s office.
He pushed the door open to find Madelyn sitting behind her wide desk, rubbing her temples, clear exhaustion under her eyes.
Her desk was piled with all sorts of encrypted files, and a few blurry photos had spilled out of one of them.
The photos seemed to show an old man in a loose robe, sweeping a hand through the air and flipping over an entire armored truck.
“Ma’am, you wanted to see me.” Leon calmly drew his gaze back and pretended he’d seen nothing.
Madelyn looked up and tossed a report down in front of Leon.
“Bob from logistics.
His finger snapped in three places.”
Madelyn’s voice gave away neither anger nor anything else.
“Doctor Sarah says a fracture at that angle was absolutely forced, broken by hand, and you were the only one there at the time, Leon.”
Leon didn’t change expression, the hand holding his coffee cup steady as a rock.
“Ma’am, I already submitted my report.
It was an unfortunate accident, John was trying to help him up…”
“Enough, drop the act, you’re not fooling anyone.”
Madelyn cut him off impatiently.
“I don’t care whether Bob lives or dies.
Even if John tore him to shreds it would only count as company property loss.
I didn’t call you in to listen to you recite your story.”
She stood, walked to the huge floor-to-ceiling window, and looked out at the busy underground base.
“The higher-ups are putting a lot of pressure on us.”
Madelyn lowered her voice, a trace of anxiety in her tone.
“That bunch of old die-hards in Europe have been getting active again lately, and they seem to have developed some new kind of space spell.
Vought’s superhumans are looking less and less impressive next to those strange, exotic abilities of theirs.”
She turned around, her gaze sharp as it fixed on Leon.
“We need John to mature as fast as possible.
We need him to be not just a weapon, but an obedient one, a perfect weapon we can throw onto a battlefield at any moment.”
Leon nodded, said nothing, and waited for the rest.
“I’ve gone over your observation logs from these past few months carefully, along with John’s attitude toward you on the monitors.”
Madelyn walked up to Leon and patted his shoulder.
“You’ve done better than I expected.
That little monster shows nothing but cold indifference to everyone except you, and yet he’s willing to eat what you give him, even to listen to those childish stories of yours.”
“I’m just trying out a new approach to socialization.” Leon smiled modestly.
“Whatever method you’re using, keep it up.”
Madelyn returned to her seat.
“As of today, you’re promoted to mid-level researcher.
Your only job is to take full charge of John’s daily contact and psychological guidance.
I want you to wipe out all those uncontrollable factors in his head and replace them with absolute loyalty to the company.”
Leon sneered inwardly.
Absolute loyalty to the company?
Once this kid grows up, it’ll be a sign of good temper if he doesn’t kill off every last one of you capitalists who treat him like a lab rat.
But his face kept that highly professional smile.
“Understood, ma’am.
Though, to do the psychological guidance better, I need more access.
For example, improving his meals, and providing some reading material and video resources from the outside world.”
Madelyn frowned, seeming to weigh the pros and cons.
“Fine.” A few seconds later, she nodded in agreement.
“But all materials you provide have to go through my review.
You’d better not stir up any trouble for me.”
Coming out of the office, Leon found the coffee in his hand tasted a good deal sweeter.
The promotion and raise were beside the point.
What mattered was that he now had a legitimate reason to brainwash John more deeply.
Around noon, Leon pushed a meal cart back to the sterile room.
When the airlock door opened, John was sitting on the padded mat, bored, squeezing colored building blocks into all sorts of odd shapes.
Seeing Leon come in, he immediately dropped the toy in his hand and stood up.
“Leon, what are today’s spoils?”
Leon lifted the metal cover on the meal cart.
The plate no longer held that nauseating green nutrient mush, but a steak fried until it sizzled with oil, with golden, crispy fries and a small bowl of vegetable salad on the side.
The tempting smell of meat filled the pure white room in an instant.
John’s eyes went round, and he couldn’t help swallowing.
He had never smelled anything so good.
“This is the special hero’s meal.”
Leon set the plate in front of John and handed him a knife and fork.
“Only a good kid who’s learned to control his power earns the right to eat real food.”
John copied Leon, a little clumsily cut off a piece of beef, and stuffed it into his mouth.
Rich juices spread between his teeth and cheeks, and that unprecedented satisfaction made the little boy’s eyes narrow slightly.
“Do the bad guys in the outside world eat food this good too?”
John asked, the words muffled as he chewed the beef.
Leon pulled over a chair, sat down, and casually crossed his legs.
“Yeah, the outside world is complicated.”
Leon watched John eat, his tone turning a little drawn out.
“The bad guys out there aren’t as simple as that fat man Bob.
Some of them can shoot flames out of their hands, some can vanish in an instant, and some only have to draw a few paper talismans to summon strange animals.”
John stopped chewing, a flicker of curiosity and wariness crossing his deep blue eyes.
“Are they stronger than me?”
“Maybe stronger than you for now, because you’re still growing.”
Leon rubbed his chin and looked at him seriously.
“But later, you’ll be stronger than all of them.
Still, John, there’s one thing you have to remember.”
John sat up straight at once, like a grade-schooler paying close attention in class.
“Power is just a tool.
What decides whether you’re a hero is how you use it.”
Leon pointed at John’s chest.
“When you face bad guys who use fire or magic, you can’t be afraid of them just because their power is great, and you can’t bully them however you like just because they’re weak.”
John nodded with partial understanding.
“I get it.
Whether it’s a bad guy who uses fire or a bad guy who does magic tricks, as long as they break the rules, I’ll break their legs.”
Leon opened his mouth, then swallowed the line about how some bad guys could still be salvaged.
Forget it.
Dealing with those gods brawling out there, without a heavy hand he probably really couldn’t hold the line.
As long as John didn’t kill innocents, then break a few legs, fine.
Vought’s medical department always needed something to do anyway.
After lunch, Leon didn’t rush to clear the dishes.
Instead he took a heavy tablet computer out of the bottom level of the meal cart.
It was a device he’d just requisitioned with his new access.
“All right, lunchtime’s over.
Now it’s afternoon study time.”
Leon tapped the tablet open, and a folder appeared on the screen.
“Today we’re not doing Puppy Hero.
Let’s take a look at what the outside world is actually like.”