Chapter 128: The Morning After

"Hmm?" Olivia let out a sound as she slowly opened her eyes, only to freeze as she realized something.

She was neither in her room nor was she lying on a bed. Rather, judging from the beating heart she could feel, it was obvious enough that she was lying on someone’s chest.

Lifting her head slightly, Olivia realized she was lying on Liam’s chest, and although she was embarrassed, she kept looking at his sleeping face for a while.

He looked so peaceful right now.

She lifted her finger and poked his cheeks, getting a small frown from him, which caused her to chuckle.

Olivia then went silent and continued looking at him for a while before asking, "I wonder why you like me."

Of course Liam had claimed that it was love at first sight, but for some reason, she felt as if there was more to that.

Then again, she didn’t recall them meeting before the supermarket... perhaps it truly was just love at—

Olivia’s thoughts were interrupted when she noticed him stirring in his sleep, a sign that he was about to wake up.

It was too late for him to get off him, so she simply turned her head away from his face and pretended to be asleep.

Liam’s eyes opened to his ceiling before he noticed that Olivia was lying on his chest. With a chuckle, he placed a hand on her head and whispered, "It’s time to wake up, Olivia."

A faint smile appeared on Olivia’s face, but she kept her eyes closed.

Liam stared at her for a few seconds before sighing, "You’re awake, aren’t you?"

There was no response, so he gently poked her cheek. "Olivia."

"If you don’t open your eyes, I’ll kiss you," Liam added, and although her face turned completely red, she refused to open her eyes.

Perhaps even anticipating him kissing her.

Unfortunately, before Liam could get close enough to kiss her,

"Big brother, I just had the coolest d—" Eli’s voice suddenly interrupted, and the kid froze when he noticed their position. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Yup, I was about to—" Before Liam had the chance to complete his words, a pair of hands flew over his mouth, and Olivia quickly spoke up, "No, you didn’t interrupt anything."

Eli looked at the position the two were in for a while before shrugging and continuing his words, "I had the coolest dream, one where I had a giant Mecha and became a hero."

"Oh, and you were there..." He slowly realized as he looked at his big brother. "A villain attack?"

"It seems," Liam nodded, wrapping his hands around Olivia, who wanted to escape his chest.

"Are we still in the dream?" Eli asked, trying to summon his mecha again, yet nothing seemed to happen.

He frowned and held both hands out in front of him. "Come on..."

Liam watched him with an amused expression as he asked, "What are you doing?"

"My mecha!" Eli squeezed his eyes shut and concentrated even harder.

A few seconds passed; still, nothing happened.

"It won’t come out," Olivia couldn’t help but smile, "after all, we’re out of the dream now."

"I see." Eli’s shoulders dropped as he heard her words.

Liam chuckled again before he extended one of his hands over the couch and patted his head. "But it was all thanks to you that so many people made it out safely."

"You were so cool," Olivia added, finally letting herself be held by him.

Eli immediately sat up straighter, his earlier disappointment forgotten.

"I had these giant plasma swords, and they were this big!" He spread his arms as wide as he could. "And then I made cannons too!"

"Yawn~" A yawn suddenly interrupted Eli’s ramble, causing him to turn around. "Everything’s so loud."

"Big sister," Eli said, looking at Lea, who seemed to have just woken up.

Lea blinked a few times as she rubbed her eyes, still clearly half-asleep. "What are you guys doing up so early?"

"It’s quite late," Liam responded, "but given the nightmare everyone just experienced, it makes sense that we’ll all wake up this late."

"So that wasn’t a nightmare, huh?" Lea muttered, walking towards the kitchen, "Did the HA end up catching the one responsible?"

"Nah," Liam shook his head. "Your big brother took him out, freeing everyone... aren’t I cool?"

"..." Lea looked at him with a blank expression for a while before walking out of the kitchen with a tray that had multiple cups on it. "Coffee?"

Liam finally released Olivia, and she sat up, taking a cup from the tray. Liam also did the same, and so did Eli.

"I was also super cool," Eli stated. "I piloted a giant mech and saved a lot of people."

"Is that so?" Lea said as she took a sip of her coffee, "That definitely sounds cool."

Of course, she had noticed the giant mech running through the city, but she initially thought it was some new hero, turns out it was just their little brother.

Liam smiled at his younger brother before taking another sip of his coffee.

The conversation gradually moved away from the nightmare, with Eli continuing to describe his mecha while Lea occasionally asked questions about it. 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

Olivia mostly listened, occasionally joining in whenever Eli’s excitement became too much to ignore.

It was a simple morning.

After everything that had happened during the night, Liam appreciated that more than he expected.

He really was glad that the nightmare didn’t affect them too much.

Eventually, Eli finished his coffee and jumped to his feet. "Can we watch something?"

With a smile, Liam stood up and said, "Sure."

****

Meanwhile, within the abandoned city, in the Argent Ring’s base.

"So, Lucid," the holographic figure spoke up, "what were you able to find out about Zero?"

The sleepy man, Lucid, raised his head from the table, his eyes still heavy with sleep. "Not much."

"Is that so?" The holographic figure placed a hand on her chin.

"Hmm, but I did find out that a scientist who was previously from the HA was recreating beings from the Fracture Event," Lucid said in his lethargic tone.

"..." The holographic figure frowned as she thought of Lucid’s words. "He is not going to like this."

"He?" Quill, Argent Ring’s newest member, asked in confusion.

"Architect," Dune answered with a smile, "he’s the big man that stands all the way at the top, the creator of Ouroborus."

"Oh," Quill nodded in understanding, "so he’s like the biggest bad?"

"Well," Dune placed a finger on her chin, "no one knows, but I guess you could say that."

’I see,’ Quill thought to herself, ’seems he’s the perfect target.’

"It seems we have to move up our main task," the holographic figure interrupted her thoughts, turning to the man with long black hair. "Can I leave the task of assisting the lab to you?"

The long-haired man placed a hand on his chin as he thought of the request.

Assisting the lab meant a chance to get more Primagen ingredients, and there was no way he would pass on that chance.

"Sure."

"Next, we have to find a way to keep the heroes busy until more products are ready," the holographic figure said.

Quill lifted her hand as if some sort of student, pulling the attention of the holographic student, "may I handle that?"

"Alright."