Apocalypse Redux

Chapter 62: Understandable Reaction

Isaac froze, turned to a pillar of salt. Not literally, but he was so still he might as well be. And given how alarmed Bailey was acting, it was obvious. Fingers trembling, Isaac pulled out his phone and searched for his mother’s number in his contacts … it was blocked. He had blocked it during that night a long while back. The first time he’d let himself feel the repressed loss from that other timeline, the loss of humanity in its entirety. And then he’d basically blocked everyone and not even noticed he’d also blocked his mother in the process. That … wasn’t good.

And just like Bailey said, he’d moved and not yet left a forwarding address as he was still renting his apartment, he was just never there.

… that was probably something he should fix in the near future, but right now, it was quite literally the least of his problems.

Email would have been possible, but he’d stopped looking into his account once it had started to accumulate job offers by people trying to poach one of Bailey’s team members. Any member. It didn’t really matter which one, nor did their individual qualifications, especially as their research didn’t properly indicate which one of them had contributed what. People were simply desperate for any kind of edge in the race to turn the [System] into something profitable, and a member of one of the world’s most prominent research teams, the most prominent after tonight, was assumed to be useful in some way.

All in all, between him ignoring his email, blocking a lot of numbers, moving and focusing on the [System] research … he’d fucked up royally.

“Where is she?” Isaac asked hollowly.

“On campus, between us and all the reporters.” Bailey said.

“Can you ask her to head away from there, somewhere clear of the cameras … or anyone with supernatural hearing? I’ll meet her there, promise.” Isaac told him, still reeling.

“Of course.” Bailey nodded “Actually, she gave me her number ‘in case that kid realizes that there’s more in this world than his projects’. I’ll call her. Fair warning, there’s a whole bunch of reporters up there, but that shouldn’t be a problem for a [Rogue] like you.”

“Shouldn’t be.” Isaac echoed the older man’s words, still sounding hollow.

“Anyway, you’d best get going, I’ll tell her to meet you at that old statue of the globe.” Bailey nodded.

Isaac walked out of the room, activating [Stealth] for the first time in ages and going completely invisible. There were a bunch of reporters outside the door, but Karl had physically sealed up the staircase. They could get out, but the reporters couldn’t get in.

He went visible for a brief moment as he phased, using [Phantom Step’s] Level 10 upgrade to teleport right through the solid material and then repeating the [Skill] midair, appearing on the nearest building. Really, he could have just saved the mana for going invisibility.

He ran onwards, a blur as he leaped from building to building, until he reached the statue Bailey had indicated. As he jumped down, he went invisible. His mother was (justifiably) mad at him, no need to pour more fuel onto the fire by pulling what looked to all the world like a suicidal stunt. He’d live and it would be immediately obvious when he hit the ground, but that brief, heartstopping moment as he flew through the air … yeah, he really should be careful there.

From there, he walked into the clearest alley, still invisible, and waited.

An older woman, black hairs streaked with grey falling down to her shoulders in a ponytail, the same piercing green eyes he shared, and anger bubbling underneath the surface. That was his mother, alright.

Isaac emerged from the alley with trepidation, fully visible.

“Hi, mom.”

It was hardly the most intelligent of greetings, but what else was there to do? Nothing really, but take it on the chin.

She glared at him for a moment and he could barely stop himself from fidgeting nervously. A normal parent had only one chance get it right, only one chance to learn, at least for their firstborn. A kindergarten teacher, on the other hand … they’d have a lifetime of practice dealing with unruly children, which sadly prepared them for far more than just three- to six-year-olds.

“Isaac, what you did hurt me deeply.” she said flatly “I’ve been worried sick because after that one call, you never once talked to me over the phone, you never once picked up, and you weren’t at you apartment. You vanished of the face of the Earth right as the world became dangerous, as the news showed mass casualty events every other day. I thought you died.”

If disappointed looks could kill, the glare she shot him could have reduced a [Raid Boss] to ash.

“I’m sorry.”

Once again, there was nothing else to say.

She sighed.

“Godd- …” she paused, clearly biting off a curse.

“You got too focused on one of your projects again, didn’t you? First your studies, and then … this. Systemology. It keeps happening, then someone beats you over the head with a brick and you remember the rest of the world exists … until you forget again. That isn’t good, not for anyone.”

“I know. Adam gave me that particular talk, this time around …”

“But you didn’t call your family?” she said sharply “And who’s ‘Adam’?”

Isaac froze. He was currently talking himself deeper and deeper into the hole. While he was quite adept at doing this in political situations, but when dealing with his mother … all that went out of the window.

“That’s Professor Bailey’s first name.” Isaac told her “And I’ve mostly been partying when I’m not working or summoning.”

“Summoning.”

It wasn’t a question, or an accusation, just a flat statement.

“HAVE YOU GONE INSANE?!”

“No, I’ve …” Isaac sighed and looked around.

“You’re not getting out of this, Mr. What are you doing?” she glared at him.

“I’m making sure that there isn’t anyone nearby to overhear.”

“I get that you’re being careful, but that isn’t going to help much of anything.” his mother admonished.

“Actually, it is. I specialize in Perception, so I can tell there isn’t anyone close enough to overhear.” Isaac explained “Basically, there’s something we need to talk about, but it’s something that the team only suspects without having been able to prove it. It’s still not something we want to put out there in the world.”

Slowly, Isaac began to walk north, away from the major concentration of people near the team’s new worksite.

“The [System] seems to be a trap. It has so many hidden dangers, nasty traps that entice people to call powerful monsters into the world and get a lot of people killed. Like the LA incident with the Stormheart Gestalt. I was actually there, on the teleconference, helping to figure out what they were fighting. But as far as we’ve been able to tell, that won’t be the first or last such incident, even without things like this Event. I need to be ready for that.”

“So you do one of the most dangerous things you could possibly do?” his mother redoubled her glare.

“I have two thing to say in my defense. First of all, I’ve spent every waking moment learning how to best defeat monsters. Professor Bailey’s team excels at figuring out weaknesses and how to exploit them. Second of all, I’m really fucking strong.”

“Language.”

“Sorry, mom.” Isaac apologized “What I’m trying to say is that I’m very powerful due to training diligently. I’m being completely honest when I say I could now take down a Stormheart Gestalt like the one that attacked LA on my own.”

His mother just shook her head.

“Oh Isaac, you always have things you focus on, and then you forget about everything else. The rest of the world, people you love, yourself and your own wellbeing. First your studies to become an accountant, and now this. I could appreciate you trying to get a good job, and I can appreciate you working to save the world even more, but you still can’t do things like this.

“You’re my son, and I love you. I’d support you even if you wanted to go to Las Vegas to become a male stripper. I’d try to talk you out of it, of course, but if you were absolutely certain that was what you wanted to do, I wouldn’t stand in your way.

“The only thing I won’t do, I can’t do, is support you ignoring me. Why weren’t you at your apartment?”

“I kinda moved.” Isaac admitted “I moved and forgot to leave a forwarding address.”

“Da- … Isaac, I taught you better than that.” she sighed again. She’d been doing a lot of that, lately.

“Where do you live now, what’s your address?”

“I don’t really have an address … I kinda live in the woods.”

“You’ve gone camping for eight weeks?” she asked skeptically.

“No, I bought a property and build a house out of shipping containers my colleagues helped me get out there.”

“How did you manage to afford all that?”

“I won it in Vegas.” Isaac admitted.

“You …” she took a deep breath “You went gambling and won enough money to buy property?”

“I specialize in senses, remember? I memorized all the cards, then got a fat paycheck from the casino for helping cover up the new security flaws created by the [System].”

“So, you had time for that, but nothing else?”

“I also got a lot of funding for the research team.” Isaac admitted.

“Like I said, I can appreciate what you do here, but you need to learn to avoid tunnel visioning like that, and stop dropping off the face of the Earth for weeks and becoming a completely different person.”

“I know, and I’m trying. But that doesn’t change the fact that I have a new and very demanding job, complete with international travel. I promise I’ll call and stop by ever so often, but I don’t have that much free time.”

“I suppose that’s all I can ask for. But if you ever do something like that again …”

“Fire and brimstone, got it.” Isaac nodded “Now, there’s something else we need to think about.”

“And that is?” she sounded curious, now.

“Making sure you’re safe. Your [Class] is something like [Kindergarten Teacher], isn’t it?” he asked.

“Was that a guess or can you tell?”

“I have a [Skill] that lets me glean enough to make an educated guess.” Isaac explained.

“I see. You were right about my [Class], so what?”

“It means you don’t have any [Skills] for fighting, and given what I know about the [System], you’ll likely have to face a monster at some point.”

“So you’re going to try and persuade me to start summoning and killing?”

… and the glare was back on.

“No. I’ve got several Aspects and I’ll give any one you want. Dad, too. I’ve got some great defensive ones, including one that bestow the regeneration capacity of a Hydra or a Specter’s ability to phase through walls. And if you want to, I know people who could reinforce your house and the kindergarten to the point where even a Tier 5 monster would have trouble getting in.”

For the first time, her only reaction was stunned silence. After a long moment, she looked at him with astonishment.

“Aspects?”

“Aspects.”

“I don’t know if I’m willing to become part monster.”

Isaac held up his right hand, palm facing towards him, and phased it. It turned a pale blue and became translucent, the cobblestones clearly visible through it.

“I’ve seen people whose [Classes] partially turn them into monsters. Aspects … aren’t that. They’re more like a cheat sheet that lets you grab [Skills] that your [Class] doesn’t provide.”

“Just … give me some time, alright?” she asked.

“Of course.”

“Now you just have to show me where you work.”

“Absolutely not.”

Now it was Isaac’s turn to shoot her a glare and she chuckled.

“Is it really that embarrassing to have your mother show up at your work?”

“Oh, it absolutely is.” Isaac glowered.

“Besides, according to Professor Bailey, you’ll be working on this all through the day, I won’t interfere with that.”

“Yeah, so I have to go back to that …” Isaac cautiously said and took a careful step backwards …

“Hold it right there, Mr.” she said, freezing him in place “You’ll text me, tonight. And you’ll sent me a photo of where you live now.”

“Yes. Goodbye, mom.”

The two of them slowly split up and Isaac slowly walked back to the new building, emotions roiling. That had been oddly cathartic, seeing his mother in person again. Or at least, this timeline’s version, one he barely recognized anymore.

It had awoken a fierce protective instinct of not wanting anything bad to happen to his mother ever again. No longer content with merely saving them along with everyone else on the planet, he wanted to protect them, specifically. Hell, he wanted to wrap them in cotton wool and keep them away from anything even remotely dangerous, but that wasn’t realistic.

Yet it had also hurt. It had hurt more than anything else he’d ever done, even taking an [Acid Bolt] to the family jewel couldn’t compare if combined with every near death experience he’d ever had.

Yes, it had compounded his wish to save everyone, but it had also somewhat proven his point about not wanting to seek out people from the other timeline. They were so different from the people he remembered, changed by years of living, but they looked so similar. It was impossibly painful, and wasn’t that the understatement of the century.

He needed to deal with this, somehow. This sucked.

Isaac clenched his fists in anger, unsure just what he was angry at. The gods? The world? The [System]? Himself? Or was it just a general sense of impotence that boiled over into a thunderous fury?

Regardless, while it might not be the healthiest way of dealing with anger issues, he was in a position to take his feelings out on a bunch of monsters.

Now just to make sure his face didn’t scare the hell out anyone who saw him … [Hundred Faces] activated and he took manual control of every aspect of his face, carefully schooling his expression into something mainly neutral, with a tinge of contrition for good measure. A quick check of his reflection in his phone and … done. Monster punching time!