The Hard Way! Part 1/2

Amid many positive responses, some hungry wolves were eying this juicy meat. And because of these threats, Nathan arranged a room for himself in his company and started to live there until he was thrown out of "his own company" by "his employees".

What did he do wrong with these people? Did he deserve it for trusting them?

For starters, Nathan got many "generous" offers about his company's shares, partnership and of course, for his secret of making this almost magical steel. In the long lists of "generous" offers he received and declined was a "giant" named Black Tech Corporation.

The BTC delt in all kinds of things you could imagine. Be it technology, medicine and entertainment, you name it. This was the company that analysed and improved his products the most.

After hearing Nathan's rejection several times the BTC's CEO came up with a plan to destroy Nathan and took away everything he has. They bought and used anyone they could and the ones they could not buy with the money they used blackmailing, in short they used every despicable methods one could think of, and finally succeeded in what they wanted.

The biggest mistake Nathan made in his life was not that he made some "trashy" friends. The biggest mistake he made was that he trusted them too much.

Nathan was invited to a party by his "friends". He did not know that this night would be the night when his all "secrets" would be revealed to his enemies. Secrets that even an honest man like Nathan had not disclosed to anyone, not even to his closest "friends".

That night they insisted that Nathan should also drink some alcohol but Nathan refused because he never liked drinking that. When almost all of them begin to urge him, Nathan who did not have any friends from his childhood could only drink some of that bitter burning liquid rather than breaking their hearts.

After that, he could not remember what happened it was all blank to him. BTC's dogs that were disguised as his "friends" came forward at the moment. Pretending they were concerned about Nathan's well-being in front of others, they brought him to a separate room. After that, they injected Nathan with something they received from their masters.

"Nathan, can you hear me?" Owen asked.

"Yes!" Nathan replied in a flat tone without any emotions like he was in a trance.

"So, who is your best friend?" He asked again jokingly.

"You all are my best friends."

"Did you ever have a crush on someone? Gustave asked playfully."

"Yes"

"Whoa!"

"Amazing"

"Hahahahahaha!"

They were now convinced that the drug is truly amazing as they have been told. Nathan always hides it from them and told them that he never fell for any girl in his life.

"That's new"

"This drug is amazing!"

"Hey I need some of it too, I think my girlfriend is cheating on me. With this, I'll know what's exactly that bitch is up to" Jack said grinding his teeth.

"Ask Frederick yourself. I don't know about the drug, but you won't leave empty-handed for sure" Max said coldly.

"C'mon! Why bring Frederick in this? I'll just find another way." Jack said like he was saying "Why are you bringing your dad into this! It's cheating!"

Max ignored Gordon and continued "Okey then, let's start the real questions" Hearing Jack and Max's conversation, they all laughed and started questioning Nathan.

"Tell us all the secrets you hid from us!"

They asked him to tell them the secrets he didn't tell them before and he answered them all. They felt like they were listening to a fairytale. Awakening, Practitioners, Superpowers, Monsters and The Diary. They couldn't understand anything.

"Told you he is crazy!" Gustave said.

They thought Nathan is some kind of psychopath or delusional person and ignored all of this and focused on asking other things about him they did not know before. Soon they find out him to be like an open book, he was so clean that they started to think he was feigning and playing with them.

"How the fuck did he lived a life like that?" Owen said astonished. no drugs, no women, not one illegal activity nor any weaknesses.

"Hey! if our buddy here dies like this, won't it be like a slap on our faces?" He then turned towards Gustave and said "Call some girls, we'll do some nice and hot photoshoot for our friend here"

"Why are you asking me? Do you think I'm some kind of pimp?" Gustave growled at Owen. They both belonged to the intelligence gathering network of Black Wolf Mercenaries which also belonged to the Black Tech Corporation. They were always like cat and dog and never get along.

"Pimps are a lot better than you. At least they can satisfy me, what do you have? A monkey's brain in a human's body" Owen mocked jack calmly like this was a casual conversation.

"YOU! I'll show you who is what!..." Gustave jumped towards Owen, he tried to punch him in the face but a strong hand grabbed him from behind.

"Do you guys want to mess this up?" Max asked in an icy tone "If yes, then I'll leave. You two can do whatever you want but I'll report how unprofessional you guys were behaving"

"Okey Okey I was just pulling his legs" Owen said and took out his phone. At that moment Karla entered the room.

"You guys didn't finish​ it yet? Why it is taking so long? Others may suspect that something is going on here." She asked hurriedly.

Karla was not a part of Black Wolf Mercenaries like others but one of the people who gathered around Nathan after his success. Afterward,​Max approached her and offered a "hard to resist deal" so she joined them in this mission.

"Owen wants to do a photoshoot" Max replied annoyingly. He was not in a favour of these meaningless works.

"What photoshoot? Our task is already over and we should leave quickly before anyone noticed it" Karla reminded them.

"Ugh, so be it. Let's go then" Owen reluctantly gave up. He wanted to take some dirty pictures and blackmail Nathan later but time was tight. He tossed the recording device which contains Nathan's​ secrets to Max "Let's leave then"

Max grabbed the device and nodded towards others and Karla who was at door before leaving first. No one noticed that Max was behaving too coldly and he started to sweat profusely as soon as he left.

Max had controlled himself to his limits in there. No one was aware of how important this recording was. His hands were shaking as he grabbed the tape tightly in his hands. ''I have to deliver this safely as soon as possible!'' He thought while hurriedly leaving.

Others also left one by one until Nathan was the only one​ who was left in that dimly lit and peaceful room, sleeping soundly.

***

*BAM!!!*

"CHAIRMAN! Are you alright?" A young female secretary opened the door in hurry after hearing the noise and saw the chairman standing there blankly staring at the recording device on the table which was still playing. His chair was fallen to the floor and it seems that the noise she heard earlier was from that.

"Huh?" He snapped back to reality and immediately turned off the recording "Who gave you the permission to enter my office?" He glared at her and shouted.

"I-I heard- I'm sorry sir" She was going to explain herself but under Chairman's dangerous stare she hurriedly apologized and ran away from the office.

"Sigh" Elliot picked up the fallen chair and sat on it. "Hmm..." He was in deep thoughts. After some thought, he called his secretary.

"Call Frederick and tell him to come to my office as soon as possible"

"Sir, Mr Frederick just entered the building. I was just about to inform you."

"Okay." Elliott said as he hung up the phone.

After some moments...

*Knock-knock*

After knocking a young and handsome man entered the room. He had a solid body and sharp eagle-like shining eyes with black hair.

He was Frederick Caldwell, Chief of Black Wolf Mercenaries​ and Elliott Masson's right-hand man. He was famous for his cruelness in how he dealt with his opponents. Frederick had done many unspeakable things and brought many victories for his boss and godfather, Elliott.

He came straight to the chair on the other side of the table and sat on it without any permission like it was his home.

"Hey, boss! How are you doing?" He smiled dashingly and asked.

"Um... First, listen to this" He nodded and said to Frederick.

Elliot did not mind Frederick's rudeness rather he does not care about these minor things. Frederick was way more important to him and he was also one of his oldest and most trusted subordinates.

*Click*

Recording of Nathan's interrogation started playing... After a while.

*Whistle~*

Frederick was also dumbstruck by hearing about the book and its content. "B-Boss this... It can't be real can it?" He could not believe what he heard. He knew what it means to have that kind of book. It was like a "Jackpot!"

"Max brought me this personally. He is one of your men and you should know him better than me. Can he forge something like this?" Elliot asked Frederick because all of this sounds "too good to be true" and he was thinking about someone scheming against him behind all of this.

"Max wouldn't dare! He knows the consequences very well if he does something like this" Frederick said in confidence.

"From now on, I need you to personally handle this matter... I Want That Book No Matter How You Do It!" Elliot said as his eyes shined with greed.

"Okey~ rest assured! Anything else?" Frederick replied like it was already done in his eyes.

"I'll leave it to you, you have the full authority in this matter" Elliott said in a meaningful tone.

"Got it and consider it done! But... I was here for something else." Frederick hesitated.

"Go ahead, tell me what you need this time?" Elliott smiled at him.

"Uh... I was thinking that what about you give me that girl we captured a few months ago? Isn't it a waste to use her, a "premium material" in our experiments? It's just pure waste! You give her to me and I promise I'll return her to you after some time"

Frederick said it after a little bit of difficulty because he knew how hard was it to get their hands on that girl. But in the end, he could not control his lustful desires and asked for her.

Frederick was salivating at the thought of that girl. She was the most attractive girl Frederick had ever seen. 'Her body! her face! She is just perfect for me! I need her...!' He was carried away by his emotions as his eyes turned a little red.

Elliott knew Frederick better than anyone else. He was a person who does not care about money or status. His only desires were strength and women and Elliott used this to control him many times in the past as well. Elliott said after thinking for a while.

"It's too dangerous. She is one of the rarest "Natural Awakened" and she was using her powers in secret since she was a child. I don't want any accidents that could bring destruction to my company! You know what will happen if any word about her gets out."

"Boss! I'm willing to do "anything" to get her. You know about my strength, I promise you she'll not get out of my hands" Frederick raised his hands and showed Elliott his clenched fist as if he was holding that girl in his hand.

"Not her Frederick! What about that Hannah Lane you kidnapped? Don't think that I'm not aware of what you do behind my back. Do you have any idea how I have handled that matter? You didn't even care to look at her background before abducting her." Elliott scolded Frederick as he recounts his recent action.

"I'm telling you this again, if you didn't change your habits of doing first and thinking later you'll end up just like your father, Vincent! He also thought that he was the strongest and then what happened?"

At the mention of his father, Frederick got serious as he thought about his past life.

"Can you, not mention him in front of me? I don't even want to hear his name! He was weak and a coward, I'm nothing like him!" His hatred for his father was evident in his tone.

Vincent Caldwell was used to work for Elliott and he was also someone who did not care about who he was offending because of confidence in his strength. At one time he tried to kill someone he should not have and the results? He was visited by a group of mysterious and unknown people and... There was no "and". He just disappeared from the face of the earth. Even with Elliott's connections, he could not find anything about him. That was a wake-up call for Elliot as well. Like the saying "learn from other's misfortune" Elliot got a lot more careful than before in dealing with others.

Elliott had protected and raised Frederick since he was 14 years old and trained him for this position.

He did this not because he felt sympathy or responsibility for Frederick or anything but only because Elliot find out that Frederick was also one of the rare "Natural Awakened" and Vincent had hidden this secret so well that even he was unaware of this.

And Elliott was glad that he did that. Frederick had brought too many benefits to him and his company.

This was the main reason that Elliott had not got rid of Frederick despite him having a lewd and impulsive personality that had brought many troubles in the past.

"And about that Hannah you are talking about, I didn't leave any trails. Hehe, you know me" Frederick recovered from his serious mod very quickly and scratched his head like a child who got caught after stealing a bunch of candies.

"Sigh!" Elliott felt helpless. He did not know how Frederick become like this or how to make him understand.

"I can only give her to you after we are done with her."

"But-"

"That's final" Elliot said sternly. He was too tired of it.

'But after your experiments, she'll be just like a walking and breathing dead person!' These joking words never left his mouth because Frederick knew that Elliot won't give her up. In truth, he was just trying his luck. No matter how impulsive he was Frederick was never a brainless person. He knew how important that research was to Elliot and him also. He said with a long sigh.

"Sigh~ Okay I understand."

"That's good! now focus all of your attention on finding that book. If that book really exists then it will be hard to find it. If we got our hands on that book then no one can stop us from getting on top, not even those Kingpins that control our fates! There is a bright future ahead of us" As Elliott said these words their eyes began to dream of a "bright future."

Although the word "bright future" means completely different to both of them they both were sure that it will be way more different than now.

"And don't forget that someone capable of obtaining that kind of book would never have an ordinary background. Look into it and don't leave behind any trails"

"Trust me boss, I have never and will never fail you!" Frederick said with conviction and got up.

"I will leave then. Oh! I totally forgot to mention it! Three months later there will be a special auction and I was invited to attend it. There is awakening stones on the list they have provided, more than ten awakening stones at that! From low to high grades. I thought maybe we should bid for it? It is a very good chance to increase the strength of our Black Wolf Mercenaries." Frederick remembered the latest news he had received.

"That's... It is very tempting indeed and there will be a fierce competition, no doubt about that. As time goes on every organisation wants to have more Practitioners on their sides so auctioning awakening stones like this... I smell something fishy here" Elliot contemplate for a moment and replied to Frederick while frowning.

"We already have dozens of Practitioners in our ranks. We should just stay on the side and stay alert. Let's see what will be coming out of this"

Elliot never liked unnecessary troubles so he controlled his desires and refrained from meddling into things he should not.

"You are the boss! C'ya then" Frederick left the office after waving at him.

Elliot was in deep thoughts. Ten awakening stones! In the past, they even silenced anyone who finds out about those stones let alone auctioning them. The curiosity inside Elliot wanted to know why they are doing this and how it will change the future.

"What are you guys up to this time around?"

Elliot said as he closed his eyes and tried to understand and come up with an answer to his question.

...

***

After leaving the office Frederick called someone.

"Yes sir?" After some ringing a voice replied.

"Hey Jeff, I need you to do something for me…... His name is Nathan Wallace and lives in…..."

Little did Nathan know that this book, that he thought was his greatest asset and his greatest luck would be the reason of his destruction.

Such was life,

It was like a sin to have a teetune without the capability to protect it.

It was like a crime to be weak and poor in this society full of predators.

And Nathan was going to learn it,

"The Hard Way".