Chapter 108: Omnitech’s New Path

"Breaking news: Nathaniel Langley, son of Victor Langley was found dead in one of his houses, last night," the anchor reported, "according to medical reports, his death was caused by a sudden heart failure."He flipped the notes on his desk as he continued, "the cause remains unknown, as the reports revealed no sign of any foreign substance that might’ve been responsible."

"Police investigation is still ongoing as the lab runs more tests," The News anchor wrapped up before turning to another news, "on another news, the protests for the Langely’s to be brought to justice have escalated, with citizens demanding accountability for the several proofs of their alleged crimes."

"Public trust in the Langley family’s influence has been shaken further by this tragedy," the anchor’s voiceover continued. "Some speculate that Nathaniel’s death may not have been as simple as reported, though no evidence currently supports foul play."

The anchor looked up at the camera, with a somber look on his face, "police investigations are currently under way, but it seems the public is getting restless for answers. We’ll continue to provide updates as the story develops."

He straightened the papers in front of him before giving the camera one last steady look.

"This is Michael Cooper, CNN Morning News."

The screen faded to the network’s logo, the faint hum of outro music playing as the broadcast cut to commercial.

Dmitri leaned back in his seat, his eyes fixed on the small screen mounted on the back of the seat ahead of him, watching the news being reported.

He remembered waking up in his apartment, took his phone to call Nathaniel and remind him that he would be taking a vacation back to his family as he had informed a few weeks back.

But since there was no answer, he just left a message, took his passport and his already booked flight ticket and headed for the airport.

He was pretty shocked by the news, but at the same time not. He knew that the natural heart failure result was just bs.

Nathaniel must’ve offended someone he shouldn’t have, but who? Who was powerful enough to take down one of the Langelys and get away with it this cleanly?

"I guess it really is time for me to retire," he muttered to himself, thinking about his wife and kid.

There was this nagging feeling that something wasn’t right but since he couldn’t place a finger on it, he just shrugged it off, he couldn’t be bothered with anything right now, he was going to see his family.

------

Ethan smiled as he drove to the company, with Athena reporting that Dmitri’s flight had departed.

Killing, him was Ethan’s previous plan, but with the invention of the helmet, which he really should name by now, the plans changed.

Dmitri hadn’t wronged him in his previous life, maybe collected information on him but nothing beyond that...or that he knew of.

"Well, that takes care of that." Ethan said as he pulled up to the parking lot, got out the car and into the private elevator,

The elevator let out a ding as it reached his office floor and calmly walked in, reaching the door, he opened it to find a cup with his name on it.

Walking towards the cup, he picked it up, noticing that it was still hot.

Turning it around, he read: Congrats to us achieving a milestone, oh and good morning.

He smiled, recognizing that the handwriting was Lillian’s.

He knew she must’ve been exhausted from handling the company celebration of their paternership with google and the launch of Sentinel but she had still gotten time for this.

Ethan lifted the cup closer, the faint steam brushing against his face. He took a careful sip, the rich sweetness spreading across his tongue.

Hot chocolate.

Exactly what he liked. He walked behind his desk and turned in his desktop and started work on omnitech corp’s next step.

His fur thought was cloud protection, to lead on from the foundation that sentinel had already established or maybe even games but none of those presented the impact he wanted.

Yes, games were popular and there were lots of games that he remembered from the future that would shake the industry itself but he had to shelf that for now.

The idea of a game led to another idea, fully immersive virtual reality, that was basically an infinite SP glitch since the current work would be really excited for it and there’d be most who wouldn’t keep their hands off or know when to stop.

Just like a certain popular movie about VR games showed, but Ethan shelved this too. His reason for rejecting this one was personal, so was his decision for Omnitech’s next step..

Medical tech.

The reason was pretty simple, unlike the last life, he didn’t want to lose Maria in this one too.

So, despite logic pointing him in a different direction, he decided that OmniTech’s next invention would be a medical tech.

That way, he’d have an alibi if someone ever discovered the healing pod from the system.

Right now, he just had to brainstorm what he’d make to introduce his company to that field.

The next few hours were spent with just him scribbling down ideas and scratching them off over and over again.

He was so focused that he didn’t notice when Irina walked in, sat on a couch in the office and just started staring at him.

"You look hot when you’re focused," she suddenly commented, snapping him out of his thoughts.

Turning towards her direction, his eyes locked on a lady in a white suit with glasses that have transparent lenses on them, looking at him with a smile.

"How did you—" he wanted to ask but a memory resurfaced and he just shook his head and said, "forget it."

Before turning back to the paper and scribbling away. He knew Lillian was the one that might’ve let her in since they were in some form of cooperation right now so he didn’t bother asking how she got in here.

"Ignoring your company’s first guest is pretty rude, don’t you think?". She said in mock anger.

"Are you here on company business?" Ethan simply asked.

"Nope," she shook her head, "I’m here because I missed you."

Ethan stopped scribbling and looked at her, "Mrs Romanova, shouldn’t you be busy with the underworld stuff or making sure your brothers don’t recover from your last attack?"

"Irina," she corrected before adding, "and besides, I am busy.."

She looked at him with a sly smile before adding, "busy finding a king."

With a sigh, Ethan stood up and walked to a mini fridge in his office. He knew there was no way he’d win in convincing her to leave so he just gave up trying and asked, "what would you like to drink?"

"Hmm," she placed a hand on her lips, taking a thinking pose, "I’d rather eat instead."

"Eat wh—" he quickly realized the obvious trap in her words but it was too late. She was now looking at him with a grin as she replied.

"I’d like to eat you."

"Flattering," Ethan said, "but I’m afraid, I’m not on the menu today."

"Would the chef make an exception?" Irina teased, leaning back on the couch with her legs crossed, the light from the window catching on her glasses.

Ethan poured himself a glass of water, took a slow sip, and set it down on the desk before finally meeting her eyes again. "Only if the chef was desperate," he said flatly, though the faintest smirk tugged at his lips.

Irina chuckled softly, shaking her head. "You really do know how to ruin a lady’s fun."

"Or maybe," Ethan countered, returning to his chair, "I know how to stop myself from becoming someone’s game piece." He picked up the pen again and jotted down another idea, his voice calm but sharp. "You’ve got enough of those already."

There was a bit of frown on her face before she masked it and asked in a serious tone, "you really think this is just a game to me, don’t you?"

Ethan silently looked at her as she continued, "what do I have to do to prove that I’m being serious?"

Ethan’s pen scratched against the page, the only sound in the room besides the faint hum of the AC. He didn’t look up, didn’t answer, or even flinch at her words.

But unknown to her, one of his minds were focused entirely on her, but she had no way of knowing that so she just thought that he was uninterested in talking about it.

Irina’s eyes narrowed slightly, but the silence didn’t bother her as much as it amused her. She let out a soft laugh, almost to herself, and leaned back deeper into the couch.

"Fine," she said after a beat, her playful tone sliding back into place. "You don’t want to talk about me, then let’s talk about you."

"What’s the next tech you’ll supply us?"