The Rise Of A Porter

Right now, Arnold was in a workshop, which had been already equipped with the stuff he wanted. But he didn't cared about that as he finally had the time to process what he was told about the 'new world'.

Arnold had been maintaining a calm demeanor throughout the interrogation and his meeting with Nathan later on, but actually he was surprised that everything changed so much and to so soon.

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Arnold pulled a chair from the corner of the room and sat down before thinking about what he had to do next. He recalled parts of his conversation with Nathan...

ABOUT AN HOUR AGO...

"Huh, you really got that old in four years?" Arnold asked Nathan once he got the clearance to leave the base of the army but they were still inside the base.

Nathan looked a bit older than before, he now had a tinge of greyness in his hair as well as his beard. Even his beard was longer than Arnold could remember. He could also see the fine wrinkles that Nathan had near the corner of his eyes and cheeks. Arnold was genuinely surprised to see him age so much in such a small interval of time. But it all made sense when he said that Nathaniel had vacated his seat as the head of the family and Nathan now had to fulfill that post, and it was stressing him out. Arnold just smiled and took his hand for a handshake.

"And you look like you haven't aged a day." Nathan replied back with a smile on his face.

"Well I'm sorry to disappoint you then." Arnold said as he let go off Nathan's hand, "The briefing helped me out a bit but I still need to know somethings."

"The way I see it, it'd be weird if you didn't had any." Nathan withdrew his hand back.

"How's Nicole?"

"She's better than ever! She has been cured from Andrea syndrome completely but still she gets a bit tired after moving around too much."

While he was on his way to the East American military facility, Nathan had planned to tell Arnold the truth about Nicole's powers but when Nicole discovered that her brother was alive and that Nathan was going to meet him, she had forced him to promise not to tell her brother anything about her powers. It seemed a bit odd for her to request such a thing but Nathan knew better than to argue with someone who was stronger than Johnny himself.

"That girl... she never listens does she?" Arnold shook his head before before continuing, "I thought she would've matured a little bit to know better... guess I was wrong after all."

Although Arnold was relieved to hear that she was now cured, he couldn't help but feel a bit anxious to meet his sister after over a year, nope, after over five years. He told Nathan about his wish but to his surprise, Nathan had prepared a request for him beforehand.

"It's really low of me to ask a favour from you the moment you came back... but could you stay here for a bit and help the army to take care of the monsters as well as make some weapons for them to use?" Nathan bowed his head down in front of Arnold.

The military officials who saw this couldn't believe their eyes. One of the most powerful and influential person of their country was bowing down to this man? In this age, after taking over the reigns of the Black Family, Nathan was known to be a ferocious leader, someone whose words were absolute, but right now he was humbly requesting something from someone else. The officials quickly looked at Arnold whose face was totally expressionless. Just who the hell was this guy!?

"What?" Arnold blurted out after a brief pause, Nathan slowly straightened his back and stared at Arnold's expressionless face.

Nathan was intently looking at Arnold, hoping to see his reaction, but to his surprise, Arnold was completely normal. Apart from his initial reaction there was nothing else that Nathan could see.

"You see, the weapon industry as well as our resources related industries suffered a lot due to the fall out of the nuclear attacks and we desperately need someone who can manufacture quality weapons like you do..." Nathan continued to try and persuade Arnold, when Arnold didn't said anything he continued, "I know that you want to see your sister first, but there are some rules that one had to follow in order to gain access to and step a foot into West America, one if those rules stated that one had to show exceptional performance in their military career in order to get 'invited' into the western part of the country... it's a compulsion like the way it is in South Korea and even I can't give you a free ride through it." (Author's note: I'm referring to the military training and service that is compulsory for men in South Korea.)

What Nathan had told Arnold was... half true. He was right about the exceptional military service part, but what he said after that was a complete lie. He knew it was low for him to do so but he had to take care of an entire country so he had no other way around it.

But Arnold wasn't someone who could be fooled that easily... not anymore at least, and he quickly caught on to Nathan's false words.

"Seriously dude? If you're actually gonna lie to someone try to sound more convincing. You're a top level personnel of this new country and you actually want me to believe that you can't help me get past such a tiny obstacle?" Arnold said as he crossed his arms in front of his chest, "But I guess you're actually are desperate if you're lying so blatantly about it all just to convince me."

"You... got that right." Nathan laughed nervously before Arnold cut him off.

"You do remember who I am, don't you? You think you can force me to do something that I don't want to?" Arnold released all of his aura, that he had been suppressing since he woke up in the medical facility of the military base. "You do remember this, right?"

Even though Arnold only released his aura for a couple of seconds, the walls of the military base started shaking, it was too intense that even an alarm rang through the entirety of the building. Even the officials who were standing next to Nathan were frozen with fear, they wanted to reach out for their weapons but they were afraid to do anything that would piss off the man in front of them. Nathan on the other hand couldn't even move anymore. He was quickly reminded of the incident that happened inside the dungeon, all those years ago when Arnold saved Nina and the others from an ambush, only this time it was far worse.

"..."

"Looks like you do remember." Arnold said after suppressing his aura once again. "But since we're part of the 'family', I suppose I should help you a bit. So let's get down to business shall we?"

"...business?" Nathan was confused about Arnold's reply, after all, who does business within a family?

"Don't tell me... did you expect me to do it for free?" Arnold scoffed at Nathan.

"..."

"If you're going to force me into doing something, you better be prepared to pay the price as well." Arnold smirked.