Chapter 6: Chapter 6: Father

It's been a while since the second trade. Most of his time was used to reverse engineer the phone while the rest was being used to improve his body and skills. 

"Young Master, your instructor has arrived," Hiddle said . The shirtless young man was just done with his exercise and still sweating heavily. His skinny body hid a strong power as he was enhanced by trading items, but people inside the Manor could only saw him as a vulnerable kid that needed protection. 

Today he has a karate lesson. Yesterday was jiu-jitsu. He's been asking Hiddle to get him some instructor to teach him about martial arts. He did this to practice the new skills that he bought and as cover up incase he needed to show the skills in the future. 

Hiddle agreed reluctantly after Ryan flashed him his puppy-dog eyes a few times. He liked that Ryan was learning to protect himself but on the other hand, his young master's conditions was still undisclosed to the public. 

When the first lesson was in session, the butler's jaw almost fell but he kept a poker face. His eyes glimmered and he was entirely shocked inside when the Ryan started to learn as the kid is a natural-born martial artist!

The boy could grasp all the techniques that was taught easily. All his hesitation went out the window when he saw this. He's actively searching for a better instructor for the young man to learn from now. It's been going on for about 2 weeks, but he still couldn't find the Ryan's limit. He knew that Ryan didn't have any interest in self-defense before this and haven't been learning secretly before he went into the coma as he was with him his entire life. 

There's some skill that Hiddle arranged that Ryan didn't have stored in his skills databank. But his enhanced reaction time and sight made him adapted easily to the lesson. After all, this was just the beginner class. 

Other than practicing his combat skills, Ryan spent most of his time reverse-engineering the pear phone. Of course, he did it after transferring the 'data' inside it into his laptop. He has to compare the technology that was already released and created patents for the rest, but he still haven't submitted it yet. 

In the afternoon, 5 black SUVs are driven towards the Manor. Tim has a full security detail and even a helicopter following him and protecting him from any possible attack. When his father reached home, it greatly shocked the young Knight. His father in his memory used to drive everywhere by himself and definitely not like this.

Ryan greeted his father and his subordinate at the Manor door. "Hello dad, and…. all my dad's fellow....entourage?"

Tim hugged his son as soon as he got out of the car and muttered in a tender voice, "It's a good thing you wake up." His cold temperament melted instantly when he saw his son. 

The young man froze when his father hugged him. Even in his previous memory, there wasn't a time that he remembered his father doing that, except during his very young age. His father was an emotionally stunted, cold man. "I guess having his son near death puts things in perspective," he thought rudely. 

"After lunch, come to my study," Tim said in a low and baritone voice. 

Ryan nodded at his father's invitation.  During lunch, he and Tim just sat there awkwardly at the dining room table. If someone comes in, they could felt the cold air surrounding the two people. 

Half an hour passes, and Ryan followed his father like a baby duckling toward the study. Enduring his awkwardness, he politely tried to start a conversation with his father. 

"So dad, I've been thinking. I'm going to apply for college."

" I heard from Hiddle about that. It's very good that you're planning to go to university. But, you don't have to apply anymore." 

He gets a little defensive, "And why is that?" 

Tim smiled softly and said, "It's simple, you don't have to apply as you are already a student." Ryan esd confused. He was in a coma so how the hell did he get into admission? 

Tim noticed his confusion and explained, "You may be in a coma, but 'Ryan Knight' of the Knight family has never been out of the public eye."

"After that accident, I prepared a stand-in for you that finishes his high-school study, and now a student at New York University." 

"Oh," Ryan exclaimed monotonously. The son finally gets it. He was a little disappointed though. He wanted to get in through his own effort. 

The conversation became silent again. Tim anxiously looked at his kid's face to know what he was thinking. He was quite nervous about his son getting mad at him, but he didn't regretted his actions. As the stand-in  live his kid's life, there had been a total of 8 total assassinations at suppose-to-be Ryan. 

After a period of silence, the son spoke softly. "Why do you have to do that?" Tim was surprised as his son didn't have any trace of anger or any contempt for him. He expected to have to pacify his son before continuing their conversation. 

Tim took a deep breath and explained the overall situation to Ryan and why he had to do what he did.  

3 years ago, there was a breakthrough in the Knight industry that caused his family to be targeted by hostile forces. After a period of struggle, finally he managed to defeat the once-invisible enemy. 

He also spoke about the circumstances of Ryan's accident and many assassination attempts on his life, causing him to transfer Ryan to a private hospital under a false name. The only people who know that he was Ryan Knight in the hospital were Dr. Christine Palmer, the hospital director who was Tim's friend and the housekeeper, Hiddle. 

Ryan took some time to process the information. He then asked in a low voice, "Who are they?"

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Tim had a sharp look in his eyes and said. "The ten ring organization, or rather, a branch of it. "

Ryan was shocked when he heard the name. He knew that the ten rings were founded by Shang Chi's father, an immortal who has lived for a period of a thousand years. 

He also knows that during the early 90s, Manchu disbanded the ten ring, causing it to become a terrorist organization and the sort. These were from the movie plot, he didn't know about the comic plot. He just knows that Manchu is a major villain in the comic. 

"What was the breakthrough that we had?" Ryan asked again to piece it all together. He needed to know and prepared himself better for the future. 

Tim replied solemnly, "It was a design for a particle infusion technology. However, we cannot make this technology come true."

There was trace of unfairness and longing in his voice. He didn't tell Ryan all the details, but Ryan managed to grasp the key information better than he would have thought. Tim thought gratefully in his heart as conversation with his son had caused him to become emotional.  '... if it wasn't for Professor Whitehall, maybe our family would still be targeted.'

Ryan nodded  a few times while listening to his father's explanations. He knew the technology that Tim mentioned. It appeared in the TV series ; Agent of Shield, in Dr. Daniel Whitehall's experiment with gravitonium and the World destroyer project. Luckily he was a movie and TV series fan of Marvel before this. 

"After we become targeted, Brigadier General Hale helped our family, but in the process, we have to give the tech to the US army. It's now studied under Dr. Whitehall." Tim added, "She also helps us to know who our enemy was and helped us fought them. She is our family savior." 

Ryan became dreadful when he saw his father's expression. Dr. Whitehall, Hale, the Ten Rings. After he pieces them together, he then knew that this was never The Ten Ring's action in the first place. It was all Hydra's conspiracy. 

Slowly, he threw the matter to the back of his mind. As his father said, this incident was settled. Hydra thought that they were hidden from the world, so they wouldn't take further action after they have gotten what they wanted. His dad also had his revenge, so he'll be docile for now. His father also didn't have the plan to continue with the technology as it was worthless to the company. 

Ryan spent some time asking his father about various things. He had to admit that his father was a resourceful guy. His careful planning makes his family survived Hydra's action. Although he was manipulated in the ending, it was the best action he could have done inside the circumstances  

What was most important now was to prevent his father be brainwashed with hydras ideology. His father keeps praising Hale and Whitehall, making him felt the terror of Hydra.

'I really don't want to start my journey with being branded a Hydra family. From the looks of it, Dad hasn't become enthralled with Hydra. I should prepare myself, just in case.'

He was not the hero type. He didn't care about Hydra's conspiracy and worked himself hard to become the Destroyer of Hydra and the sort. Maybe if he was the true Ryan Knight, he w0uld have retaliated. But he's not the true Knight. 'I watched enough superhero movies to know that superheroes don't have happy endings. '

"About my stand-in. He must be good to survive the assassination.'' Ryan changed the subject. He admired the guy that had kept him alive for so long. Then, his father rubbed his forehead when thinking about it, calmed down the increasing blood pressure on his body and said with gritted teeth, "He is good. Good at ... making trouble and running away". 

Tim remembered the dreadful moment when his son's stand-in almost became a murderer. If he hadn't stepped in to handle the situation, his real son will wake up to a life as a wanted man. It happened in Europe when the stand-in hooked up with some female vampires. But he didn't need to tell his real son that. 

After a long conversation, Ryan steeled himself for his next statement. 

"When I go to college, I think that... I'm going to move out.." He hesitated to say this. He saw his father's face changed after he finished this sentence, but he needed to get it out. Staying at home all the time was suffocating. He was monitored every passing day. 

His father stands up from his chair and started to walk around in the study. "We'll revisit this matter when the doctor says you are fine." 

'I'm already fine though,' Ryan said in his heart. He didn't said it out loud as his father's emotional state was unstable. Maybe his father was reluctant to let him go. After all, he's been away for 3 years. (and comes back a different man.)

After saying goodnight, only Tim was left in the study. Hiddle walked into the room from the shadows and approached the Manor Master. 

"How is he?" Tim asked solemnly. 

"He's a bit more mature. And... Now he's taking the initiative to defend himself. Waking up after 3 years may take a toll on him mentally as he is confused by a lot of things," Hiddle told his assessment honestly.

Tim sighed. "I can see it in his eyes. His naivety is now gone."

He was afraid the kid will become like him. Cold and heartless. Atop his desk, there's a picture of a happy family inside a wooden frame. The father and mother was holding a newborn baby inside the picture. 

His mother died a year after he was born, because of 'sickness'. "Madeline, our boy is home." Tim hugged the picture after Hiddle left. Tears starts to fall onto the frame. Tim felt a big rock was lifted from his heart when he got the call that his son had woken up It all felt unreal until he saw his son with his own eyes. 

He misses his wife - Madeline Joyce Frank. He wanted his son to be more like his wife instead of him and he was afraid when he saw his own temperament in his son's face. His will be glad if his son followed his wife's characteristic.  Noble, Kind, and...Heroic. 

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