Four weeks later."Upper right!"
Daneel was already raising his arms to the right before the call even reached his ears. The twin in front of him had neither talent nor the element of surprise on his side, and over the past few days, it had been getting easier and easier to read what he was about to do.
Before completing the movement, though, he suddenly saw something that made him freeze.
"There it is! That d.a.m.n smirk is unmistakeable…but where is he going to send the punch, instead?"
He watched, patient, like a predator stalking its prey through tall gra.s.s. The signs of the twin shooting a punch to the right faded…and what replaced them gave him an opportunity that he knew he could capitalise on.
"But should I do it? Meh…f.u.c.k it."
The punch went for his stomach.
And his fist slammed into the twin"s face, and sent him straight to the ground.
There was a moment of shocked silence where the satisfaction of seeing the vile b.a.s.t.a.r.d eat dirt overwhelmed the dull throb in his knuckles. Then, his brother ran to see whether he was all right, and the wave of tiredness that he had been keeping at bay flooded throughout his body.
"Let"s continue tomorrow."
The twin was too busy trying to make his brother wake up to even listen as Daneel mumbled and began to walk towards the waiting enforcers. They had recently been switching up the sessions; today, the group combat had come first, allowing him to end the lesson in such a satisfactorily spectacular fas.h.i.+on.
Just as he reached the enforcers, a voice cracked through the air, making a bird that was resting on a bush near Daneel take flight.
"You got lucky! Mark my words, you"re gonna regret this tomorrow!"
Daneel turned around. For a moment, he was sorely tempted to say what was on his mind.
"I was able to do that a week ago…you"re lucky I care so much about keeping my real improvement secret."
He met the angry gaze of the unscathed brother with an intensity that had slowly been sharpened daily, since that moment when he had had to watch the consequences of his actions. In just a few seconds…the man cursed and looked away, and Daneel turned around to lead the way.
After reaching the Refinery, the enforcers nodded to him and left. Three weeks back, he had said to them that it was enough if they brought him to this spot. One of them had protested. And a glare had been enough to send them both running.
The old man was the one who noticed the change in him, the most. Before, there had been a slightly casual nature about him, one reminiscent of the original occupant of his body. Thrice already, Gerard had advised him that it was not good to always be so serious, but when Daneel had a.s.sured him that that wasn"t the case, the man hadn"t believed it.
Reaching a house at the very edge of the lane closest to the teleportation area, he walked to the door while thinking, "They don"t get it. They really don"t."
Bypa.s.sing the main entrance, he ducked to the side. There was dust everywhere, almost as if the house had been deserted for a long time, and after reaching the door at the back, Daneel looked around carefully to ensure that there was no one nearby.
The yard of the neighbouring house looked empty, but he still walked to the fence to make sure. Finally satisfied, he knocked thrice, softly, and entered.
"Brother?"
A weak voice greeted him. On a bed in the middle of the hall lay a child, his chest covered with bandages, the table nearby piled with plates.
"It"s me! How are you today, Jonas?"
"Much better!"
The way the voice perked up as soon as the speaker heard him made him feel warm all over. It didn"t compare to that which had filled his heart when he had first been called "brother", but still, it was close.
Two hours later, he was making his way back to the old man"s house. Each time he made this trip, he would always be filled with renewed zeal and vigor which he always put to good use by training even harder.
Reflecting on what had actually changed in these four weeks, Daneel felt that his hunch might be right. It was almost as if a shock had been needed to get rid of a final shadow of the previous owner of his body, and in many ways, it had been a transformative experience whose effects were still coming to light, one by one.
For one thing, the confidence with which he had begun the plan to study the Lord all those days ago had become a permanent thing. It suffused his thoughts, backed up by the wariness and care that he had inculcated after engraving the pain that others had had to feel because of him deep in his heart.
"Who could have known that such pain was even more excruciating than anything I could have been subjected to? I swear, I"m growing more and more curious about my real ident.i.ty as the days go by…"
The decision to help the tortured 12-year-old had been made the instant he had found out that the boy had no one to rely on. They had found him near the edge of the clearing around the tower, having crawled there trailing blood from his back and his fingernails, which had broken away while he relied on just his hands to move. It had been such a pitiful sight that Daneel"s heart had broken all over again, but hope had peered through the darkness in the form of an expression they had seen on his face.
His eyes had been leaking tears, but his teeth had been gritted, silently screaming defiance against the cruel world.
Gerard had identified the empty house. The food he had stolen from the enforcers had been more than enough to provide nourishment to the kid, as he had stolen away more than enough crystals to sustain him for a month, at least.
He hadn"t randomly grabbed the precious objects on his way out of the Refinery. He had taken some from each platform, using the system"s calculations to only steal away an amount that would go unnoticed among the modified records.
After calculating how much he had left, he saw that he was good for a week or less if he maintained the pace he was burning them at, now. His original estimates had been very different…but the results spoke for themselves.
"System, show me the progress."
[Progress to Tyro: 41%]
He still remembered how gobsmacked he had been when he had realised that the pace he was improving at was much, much faster than anything he had dreamed of. Without enough information, the system hadn"t been able to tell him the reason…but he had known the answer, anyway.
"It"s all about the mindset. Without being confident, I would never even have found these sparring partners. After deciding that I wanted to make the best of every moment…exceeding my limits became something natural."
He reached Gerard"s door with a smile. Hearing voices within, the smile broadened, and as he opened it and stepped in, the three at the table fell silent.
Reese was the first to get up and come forward. He hugged Daneel, and although he was surprised, Daneel returned the gesture gladly.
Sebastien only smiled and remained where he was, but it was enough for Daneel to know that the man was happy, too.
The old man was positively beaming. It was pleasant to see him so happy for the first time, and putting away his naturally selfish nature for once, the man poured him a cup of tea.
No one said anything. The atmosphere was pregnant with expectations…and sitting down, he directly broached the topic that was on all of their minds.
"I wasn"t joking. The plan is almost ready. I"ll need some help to finish it…so that"s why you"re here."
"I knew it! I knew he would-"
"Oh, we know how proud you are, Reese. You can rub it into all our faces later. For now, let"s begin."
Sebastien kept his eyes on Daneel as he spoke. When he was done, he nodded, and without further ado, Daneel launched into it.
"Gentlemen. Lord Burrow wants to make use of me to get back against my father. He is going to find a perfect opportunity to make that happen, but when he"s done, things will have turned out quite…differently than anything he could have imagined. Listen up! This is what we"re going to do…"