Chapter 437: Reunion?

"Why don't you just try swallowing it, father?"

"...No."

"God fucking damn it, dad! Just swallow the goddamn thing so we can get this over with!"

"Why don't you swallow it since you seem to be so good at it!?"

"What the fuck, dad!? I haven't even touched a person's dick yet! Why are you always so inappropriate!?"

"Does that mean you have held another creature's penis, sister?"

"What? No!"

"It is okay, sister. I am learning from Paige how to be accepting of other people's beliefs and preferences."

"Why the fuck are you so disgusting!? I swear that Paige isn't a good influence on you!"

It had been a couple of hours since Riley gave the Guardian Force; but alas, not even a drop of Bernard's saliva made contact with the stone yet as he refused to do what Riley wanted him to do.

Instead, he had been studying the little stone; carefully and intricately as he even repurposed some of his machines— creating some sort of incubator that had several mechanical hands so that he wouldn't have to touch it himself.

He also didn't want a repeat of what happened earlier. When Riley handed him the stone, he didn't notice the problem immediately since he was wearing his armor. But as soon as he took a step, the power that his suit was automatically distributing to several parts of his body and enhancing his strength started to suddenly sag...

...causing him to almost break his whole arm, shoulder, and spine as the weight of the little stone finally registered to him.

He was too engrossed with everything that was happening that he didn't even see the 'over capacity' warning that his helmet's heads-up display was showing him ever since he held the stone.

Although his armor didn't let him reach the strength of Hera, it still allows him to lift and throw tanks as if they were just empty cardboard boxes— and so, for the stone to cause his armor to almost instantly lose power, it was heavy; extremely so.

Fortunately for Bernard, before it could reach the floor, Riley lifted it up in the air. And he did so until Bernard was able to build a case to place it in.

"Can the two of you keep quiet for a few seconds!?" Bernard could not help but raise his voice as he couldn't concentrate on the stone,

"I thought the two of you would have already become adults with everything that has happened and yet here you are, bickering like children."

"It's Riley's fault," Hannah rolled her eyes before she walked away and once again just started roaming around Bernard's large basement.

"Don't touch anything."

"I'm going to touch whatever I want," Hannah scoffed as she approached the spear that was displayed on one of the tables.

"...I wonder how I even survived you two," Bernard could really only shake his head as he turned his focus back to the stone.

"You weren't really around that much, father. It was mother that mostly took care of Hannah and me."

"...Yeah," Bernard whispered; his voice, lowering to the point that it became just a whisper, "I... wasn't really there much, was I?"

"It's fine, father. You weren't needed anyway besides the monetary value you added to the family."

"Pft," Bernard could not help but let out a small chuckle, before letting out a short but very deep sigh as he once again turned his eyes to the stone,

"You said you got this thing from inside someone's stomach?"

"Yes, father."

"Interesting. One would normally die if they swallow a stone that's equivalent to an entire airplane bus in weight," Bernard squinted his eyes as he looked at the stone, before turning towards the several screens beside him,

"The energy it is emitting is more than an entire nuclear power plant, much more. It also seems to be recovering any of its lost power since it's just fluctuating in a certain range...incredible. This could be used to power the entire country continuously and it would last for years before being completely depleted. But since it seems to be charging by itself, we could use it again... if only you had two of it so we could—"

"I didn't give that to you for the purpose of powering the city or anything else, father."

And before Bernard could continue to express his awe, Riley's words disrupted his thoughts.

"I gave it to you so that you will become stronger," Riley then said as he also looked at the Guardian Force.

"...But this would be better used in providing relief, Riley," Bernard removed his eyes away from the stone and the monitors, "It could also make our technological advancement jump to more than a thousand years. Its practical application is almost endless."

"Stop fucking pretending to care about the people, dad," Hannah returned from her small tour as she stood in front of the case holding the Guardian Force, "If you did, you would have quit your job as a hero a long time ago and just helped improve lives with your shit. But no, you created weapons for yourself."

"Because that is what was needed at that time," Bernard sighed before looking at his armor, "And what I have couldn't really be mass-produced."

"Just swallow the goddamn thing, dad," Hannah also let out a small sigh, "I doubt blank face here would let you help humanity anyway."

"...I will die if I swallow it. I am certain there are other procedures that need to be realized before I could actually be compatible with this thing."

"Then just put it in your armor," Hannah shrugged.

"That is also too dangerous," Bernard shook his head, "The energy it is emitting is too large to compress— it could explode with just one wrong move and cause an explosion that would probably more or less destroy half the planet."

"Oh, oh!" Hannah's eyes then turned wide as she quickly rush to Bernard and started tapping him several times on the shoulders, "Build a giant fucking mecha suit! Like V's, except as large as an entire building!"

"I will let you have it if you use it for something like that, father."

"...That will only be usable in a lower gravity environ— How old are you two again?"

Bernard's sighs echoed through the large basement as the recommendations and words of his children started to fill his mind. The only thing he could really do was try to listen to his own breaths so he would be able to continue to study the stone in peace.

He found, however, that he didn't really need to close his ears as Riley suddenly started heading to the exit of the basement.

"...Where are you going?" Hannah could not help but squint her eyes. She was about to follow Riley out, but Riley just told him that he was just going to get something from the house and would return immediately. And so, she just shrugged her shoulders before watching Bernard do whatever it is he was trying to do with the stone.

Not even a minute after, however, they heard Riley coming back.

"That was fast, what did you even— what the fuck even is that?"

And before Hannah could even ask her first question, her eyes quickly widened in shock to the point her entire head almost leaned back just from the sheer force of how fast her eyes opened.

"..." Bernard could not help but be distracted by how Hannah reacted, and so, he also removed his eyes from the stone as he turned around...

..only to see a white-haired, absurdly pale-skinned girl standing beside Riley.

"Introduce yourself, Karina."

"O... of course," Karina took in a small gulp, before taking in a deep breath as walking toward Hannah,

"My name is Karina. Nice to meet you, aunt Hannah."

"W—"

And before Hannah could even utter another word, Karina suddenly hugged her.

"I've always wanted to meet you!"

"...What?" Hannah wanted to pull away and move, but she couldn't really do anything as she just stood there petrified, "Riley... explain... now."

"I suppose she is my biological daughter, sister. Her mother is Katherine, you remember her, right?"

"Of course, I fucking remember, but what the fuck is this?" Hannah said as she pointed both her index fingers towards Karina's head.

"I already said that she's my biological daughter. Mother did something to accelerate and hasten her physical—"

"Grandpa!"

This time, it was Riley's words that were disrupted as Karina quickly pulled away from Hannah and leaped straight to Bernard, and hugged him as well.

"I've heard many stories about you from aunt Diana— wait," Karina then pulled away before looking Bernard straight in the eyes, "All this time I've been calling aunt Diana 'aunt Diana'... when it should have been grandma Diana!? What!?"

And then once again, Karina embraced Bernard, who also couldn't really do anything but just let Karina wrap her arms around him.

"..." Bernard also turned to look at Riley; but unlike Hannah, however, Bernard's hand slowly made its way to Karina's head... gently patting her hair as tears suddenly fell from his eyes.

And very soon, Bernard kneeled to the floor to return Karina's embrace as he started to let out a cry. Never once has he been able to feel Riley's hug, and he could not help but think that if he had just done more as a father, then maybe there could have been a version out there where Riley... would have turned out okay.

Karina had no idea why Bernard cried, but soon, she too, started to cry. The two continued on like this— and right when Hannah thought they wouldn't stop... another visitor suddenly arrived in the basement.

"Oh my, no one invited me to the family gathering?"

"...Mom?"