Leo raised his hand for Lily to see the hologram and after she finished greeting Jim, she asked, "Uncle Jim, can you tell me by what time could the base be ready? Me and my friends wish to visit."

Jim was surprised but thinking that it was some marketing thing from the company and replied, "Young Miss, I promise you that after two months the base will be ready and completely operable at full capacity of two hundred people. Then you would be able to visit."

Lily nodded and asked, "This time limit of two months is this something that you can achieve without any stress? We cannot cut corners just because I am asking you to, this base will be home to many people and we must make sure even if it takes much time. Plus the factors of physics in space vary to a degree I cannot yet understand. So, Uncle Jim, you take your time, but make sure you all stay safe and the base is good."

Jim was surprised, thought it was a test from Lily when, and Lily thought that Jim was just saying it to make her happy, when he said it was two months. The former smiled and replied, "Young Miss, with the speed we have I placed a considerable time to address any accident. Don't worry, we will handle it well."

The young lady nodded and replied, "I understand, thank you, please take care of yourself."

The call came to an end and then the young lady sighed before she looked at her father and said, "I hope you can tell him that quality is the priority. Imagine a bolt come off from the dome and all of a sudden everyone shrinks from extreme cold."

Leo chuckled and replied, "Where are you even reading all this from?"

Lily looked at him and rolled her eyes before she said, "You know that you send me to the best school of the city, right?"

The young man took her took her face in his palms and then teased her a little before the little lady walked away with stompy feet as she wanted to complain about this behavior from Leo. The young man chuckled at her, because he knew this little goblin was just posing hard.

...

The young man thought about the timing of the whole thing coming to completion, and then he suddenly thought about how it would be if he was to host the birthday of his twins on the moon? This was a novel fantasy for many people, and even though he knew that the world was coming to face a big challenge, but that didn't mean he should not celebrate what matters to him the most and if he could not cherish the present he had and feel grateful for it, he would not be able to handle the future at all.

Leo thought about how this would work while sitting on the couch. At this moment all he could do was think a little about everything that he wanted to do. After the basic list was completed in his mind, Leo stood up and walked over to his study. Alpha was busy doing something on the computer when Leo walked in. The young man was surprised and asked, "Alpha, what are you doing here?"

The robot replied, "Sir, we received a tip off that a group of people from the Awakened Society is trying to target the families of the people working in the Cardinal Group. They have targeted around two hundred people spread all over the country. I had to use the computer to locate them all and issue some warnings to make sure that the people pay attention and inform the security to come over and check things out."

Leo was surprised and asked, "Who is behind it?"

Alpha replied, "This is a group called, Order Of Nature. It started as a group several years ago, but gained traction and support from the people during the time we debunked corruption of the people in administration, basically, they rode the coattails and are now accusing the Cardinal Group of manipulating the business world and at the same time, committing crime against the nature. This is why they are going after the families of all the employees."

Leo's face turned cold, and he asked, "Do you know who is behind this organization?"

Alpha shook his big black head and replied, "I cannot even track them. They seem to have understood that we have the ability to identify their faces because they all have facial prosthetics on their faces. I cannot even pick up any digital chatter. As if they don't exist in this world."

The young man sighed and rubbed his forehead before he started pacing around and said, "If they come in to attack, we would be able to catch some of them and then track them all down. This process is a bit too risky but we gotta do what we got to do."

Alpha nodded and Leo said, "Inform the family that we are deploying guards in plain clothes. However, how did you find out about this?"

Alpha replied, "The security protocol requires us to keep an eye on the people who are related to the high level projects, during a daily check we found one same guy in the vicinity of two employee's family, and this person seemed to be a ghost, and so I have the whole thing a thorough check and discovered a lot of people were scouting the situation for the past week. Director Ellyse has been alerted and the top researchers and the likely to be targets have all been given a prompt reminder to stay inside while the security teams take action.

Many of the staff members have been asked to move in to the designated accomodation in the Cardinal Park, and as for the lower priority staff members and families, South Street security has been deployed to shadow them, if they notice anything suspicious, they will investigate it."

Leo nodded and said, "Fine, deal it how you will but make sure there is not casualty."

Alpha nodded, and went back to his work. In the meantime, Leo was surprised, and thinking about what was even going on. He could not understand how come some local citizens were trying to go against him. After fifteen minutes, Alpha finished handling the situation and then he went back to handle the other things while Leo slumped in his chair and began to contemplate. He was so lost in thoughts about how to prevent something bad from happening that he didn't realize the passing of time. Lily came over to the study and then she saw his state of mind.

She looked at Leo and then asked softly, "Baba, is something wrong?"

Leo turned back to face reality before he replied, "Yes, there is something going on but don't worry, I am fine."

Lily nodded and then the two of them went out to the dining hall for dinner. Everyone at home could tell that something was up, but since Leo didn't tell any of them, they didn't ask. As the meal was going on, Leo's communicator rang. It was from Ellyse, he picked it up and the lady said, "Sir, we have a situation."

The people froze, they all sensed the wind going cold. Leo asked, "What is it?"

Ellyse replied, "Those people from the Warriors Of Nature came inside the Fourth High School. The target they were trying to capture ran back inside the building, and locked the doors, these people ambushed the two guards and injured them seriously. However, the target has locked herself inside a classroom, with digital locks, but the entire building has been taken hostage by the activists. The police have secured the building but it is not possible to walk inside. The negotiator passed on a message, they want to negotiate with you in person or they threaten to kill the hostages by whatever means necessary."

Leo replied, "I am going over their to talk to them in person."

That said, he put down his spoon, and stood up from the chair, as he was about to head out, Snow said, "Love, wear black. You might need to get a little handsy tonight."

Leo paused and then calmed down before changing his clothes and then Lily came over and tucked a pair of brass knuckles to him and said, "Hide them in the waist belt, they will not check there."

The young man was shocked and asked, "Where did you learn this?"

Lily replied, "Oh well, it was all from a book."

Leo shook his head but he still placed the knuckles under his waist belt. After a few minutes, he went out of the house, hopped on his bike and then he rode away. Snow stood beside Lily and said, "I have no idea what he would do now, but I am sure those people will not have a good time."

Snow sighed and patted the top of her head. Then they closed the door and went inside the house.

...

Leo weaved through the traffic at a quick speed, and the city was brewing with the news. They all got to know about the sudden hostage situation in the school. At the moment, outside the police cordon, there were several parents and a huge crowd was gathered, they all wanted answers about the situation. Just then a black motorcycle stopped at a distance, and Leo took off his helmet, as he walked over. He was calm, and his steps were steady, his arrival had already gained a lot of attention.

The parents wanted to approach Leo, but someone cut them short to it, and a lady rushed up and reached out to grab his collar, but who was Leo Cardinal? He grabbed the wrist of the woman with a sharp grab, and the lady froze. In her other hand, there was a knife. Leo grabbed that hand as well, and looked at the cop in the distance, as he said, "Can you put some cuffs on her, or am I free to immobilize her in self defense?"

His cold and calm voice shocked the people. They didn't expect things to be like this. Leo looked towards the parents of the distance and said, "Your kids will be fine."

Then he shoved the woman off toward the cop and headed inside the barrier. His steps were calm, and the commanding officer stepped up as he said, "Mister Cardinal, I apologize but these people are really adamant, and apart from that one class where Professor Higgins is taking shelter, they have taken over several other rooms. In a total, there are over a hundred student hostages."

Leo sighed and then he clenched his fists before he loosened them and said, "Thank you captain, I am going in if you don't mind."

Then he turned around and slowly walked toward the door of the building, he could see a couple of people peeking at him around the corner, he walked over but then the man inside shouted, "STOP! Who are you?!"

Leo raised his brow and asked calmly, "Don't tell me that you don't even know the man you want to negotiate these things with. Are you a junkie?"

The man was shocked and he raised his crossbow but Leo's gaze had already mellowed the man out from fear that originated from his core. Leo asked, "Are you going to let me in or do you want me to do that myself?"

His tone and words didn't sound like a question at all. The next moment, he walked up to the door, and was about to use his leg to kick it in when a person with a mask walked out of the corner. He looked at Leo and chuckled as he said, "I didn't expect that the President of Cardinal Group would be so brave. Are you not afraid that I would kill you the moment you break through the door."

Leo smiled and tilted his head as he replied, "You don't have the gall to do it, girl."

The person was a little taken aback, it was indeed a girl behind the mask who was using a voice morpher. She quickly regained her composure and walked up to the door before opening it and then she said, "Come in, let's see if you have the gall."

Leo didn't even wait for her to finish before he had already walked over the threshold. Then he said, "Where is your boss?"

The girl raised her leg to kick him, but Leo simply took a step to the side to avoid the kick, and then he grabbed the imbalanced shoulder of the girl, twisted her right arm behind her back and grabbed her throat with the left hand. He looked at the nervous guy on the side, "Don't try anything funny, or I will really kill her before you can fire those crossbows. And if you missed, I promise I will cripple you before you can even think the world, 'Reload'. Now take me to your boss."

The guy was so shocked that he could not even breathe easy. The girl groaned as the pain shot across her arms and she yelled, "Fucking loser! Move!"

With that shout the person moved to the side and then led them through the stairs. Leo counted every person he passed with his eyes, there were not only holding the students in here, but also some staff members too. Leo could tell from the gaze of all the people that they would not hesitate in killing the people if they had to, but they were still too green, some of them were even shivering as Leo looked them in the eye.

After a few minutes, they climbed the third floor of the school building where they found the a young man sitting with three men around him. Apart from this man, they all wore masks, when he saw the girl being held by Leo, he was shocked, and then he chuckled before he replied, "I told you, if you underestimated him, you will suffer."

The girl wanted to speak but her throat was choked by Leo's iron clamps. The young man across them replied, "Can you let her go, Mister Cardinal so that we could talk?"

Leo looked at the man before he said, "You wish, boy. If you want me to release this kid, you better let go of all the people you are holding hostage."

The young man chuckled and said, "I apologize, I cannot do that. But please, would you rather let this girl go or shall I have my guys handle the situation."

Leo sighed, he applied some pressure on the spine of the girl he was holding as he choked her and then when she fainted, he threw her on the side without any compassion. He literally didn't care what these men thought and may be his actions angered one of the guys, they fired a crossbow bolt at him. However, Leo grabbed it in the void, and with a flick of his wrist, the bolt lodged itself in the thigh of the so called shot caller. Then Leo moved, within a few seconds, the punches flew and the three men on the floor were handled.

The only guy left was groaning on the ground and Leo asked, he as he crouched, "So, what did you want to talk about?"

The young man was shocked, he could not understand how Leo was still so confident. He gulped because the fear of the Death Gaze Daddy was beginning to take control. Leo asked, "You thought that if you targeted the people who work for me would get you whatever you wanted? Loser. Go to sleep."

He didn't even bother asking for his name, and knocked him out. The reason was simple because the cops would handle it.

After doing this, he rushed out and like a ghost, a black and gold streak became the last thing seen by the thugs. Brass knuckles were deadly business, each one of them ended up with a couple of fractures, and probably major ones. Leo didn't stop until he cleaned things up completely and then he headed back to the room where the teacher was locked up and then he knocked on the door and said, "Lesley, it's me, Leo, you can come out now. The situation is cleared."

Then after a couple of minutes, Leo moved downstairs and when he came out with the hostages, the captain rushed up to him with fellow cops and cordoned the media people who rushed up to him, one of the reporters asked, "Mister Cardinal, did you beat all those people so badly that they are all sent to hospital in an ambulance? Have you no humanity."

The young man sighed and replied, "Are you trying to show sympathy for those bugs who just held hundred people at the tip of crossbows and sword tips? Do you know that one of them was about to chop a twelve-year-old's hair with a wicked laughter on his face?"

His question shocked the people and Leo said, "If you want to raise concerns, do it, but if I found out that your cynicism caused harm to the society. Then please don't expect all of us to stand by and watch."