VILLAIN 04 : THOMAS

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Seven years before

Thomas never thought he would have to be afraid of his own son. Yet, here he was, fearing his wrath. And waiting for him to give orders.

It was hard to understand when he was angry if you didn't know him, but since he was so much like Amara, it wasn't a difficult job. His voice grew unnaturally low, and he emphasised on the most irrelevant words. He would never shout, or do anything rash. He would even smile, sometimes. But yet, Andrew was afraid.

Things had been hard at the Anthine's Web since Amara had finally been caught by Andrew and his secret society. Now, she was in the clutches of the FBI, probably being interrogated even as they had gathered in her office. As if it was his birthright, his son had taken over the place. He was giving orders to all the members, and he was doing it surprisingly well for a high school guy.

Leah and Thomas were covering up all the clues which could lead the FBI to them, but since their office was underground, they believed it wouldn't be very easy. Their electronic devices were untraceable. Amara had built up an almost perfect security system.

Yet, how Andrew managed to figure out its flaws, invade the place where the prisoners had been kept, and save everyone of them with the positivity machine he had owned, was a mystery to them. His son was mad that they had never told him about Andrew - he could've done something about that bastard before he could catch them. He was even willing to kill Andrew now.

What shocked him the most was how upset Leah seemed to be about the whole affair.

Leah was from a family where stuff like this was regular. He found it strange that she, of all people, would be so shocked. But being a father, Thomas thought he somehow knew what was going through her.

She didn't want him to get in this mess. He wanted him to live a normal, blameless life. Leah was a complicated woman. Anyone would think she would want her son to follow her footsteps, adopted or not. But she wanted him to avoid her path. She was afraid of what it would make him, if he would still be the lovable little boy she had nurtured.

The lovable little boy whose parents she had murdered.

"Dad, when would it be best to schedule the attack?"

The blunt voice broke his reverie.

"Which attack?" He narrowed his eyes.

"Oh, I suppose I didn't tell you. The attack on Andrew's secret base. I've asked one of the people to set a time bomb there. It would be a small blast, concentrated in a single region. It would kill everyone inside, but it wouldn't harm the surroundings much."

Thomas shivered. Amara had trained her successor well.

"Well, I need to track their movements properly. It's not clear when they meet and how. I've given some spies the work to monitor them, but they're a cautious lot. It'll be hard to get some relevant information."

His son nodded, eyes fixed on the screen.

"Unless we do that, I don't think it would be wise to imprison anyone once again. Plus, the game needs a lot of modifications. I'll be working on them."

The others had accepted him as their leader. He had a way of earning respect from a lot of people.

"What about Amara?" Leah asked. "Once you're done with Andrew, you have to get her out."

"Yeah, I will, but not before that."

"I've managed to hack into the FBI's database about the prisoners. I'll keep track of how they're treating Amara, and if she's being shifted."

His son nodded. "Yes, I'll need that later. Thanks, Mom."

Right now, all they were doing was following him and offering him suggestions. He was doing all the main work.

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Thomas was good friends with Andrew when they had first met them through Amara. He had realised that Andrew wanted to leave the Anthine's Web after Mark's death. However, he never said anything about it to Amara. He wanted Andrew to choose his own life.

However, he had never imagined that he would turn out to be such a hindrance after leaving. He was a fucking bastard. Thomas had thought he would return to his own life, work for some IT company or something. But no, he had to join the FBI and create a secret society of his own.

Thomas and Andrew had never kept contact with each other after the latter left, until this happened. Once Amara was captured, Andrew had sent him a message. I know you never liked her, he had said. Come to my organization. Help me. It's better than what she was doing.

Amara had given Thomas a sense of belonging. He used to work for a small detective agency previously. Then, he met Leah, who fell in love with him. Thomas still remembered those days fondly. Amara was impressed by his skills and gave him the honour of being one of the founding members of the Anthine's Web.

Though he was never as passionate about removing fear from the world as Amara and Leah were, he supported it whole-heartedly. After all, the world wouldn't hurt if some worthless scum was removed from it.

Andrew thought he would get help, wouldn't he? Well, he would get the exact opposite. He would get death.

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