Chapter 111 - 111: Welcome
Vega was standing with a subtle smile on his face. As soon as he saw Lucifer coming out of the lift, he started walking towards him.
"Welcome, Lucifer Azarel. Welcome to your real home— a place where you won't have to worry about betrayal as you had to amongst the humans," Vega said merrily as he reached Lucifer.
He reached out his hand to shake Lucifer's hand.
"Ah, I wouldn't do that if I was in your place. Not until I was suicidal, at least," Caen let out with a wry smile as he saw Vega do what he had attempted unknowingly previously.
"Little Lucifer can't control his decay powers. If you shake his hand, you would be at the receiving end of his S-grade ability. And I think you wouldn't want that," he continued as he warned Vega.
"Oh, so this is it," Vega muttered as he retracted his hand.
'I thought he could control his powers. I was wrong, I guess,' Vega thought as he looked towards Lucifer's hand.
"Anyway, as I was saying, Welcome… to your true family," Vega greeted Lucifer again while he touched his hand together to offer a different kind of greeting.
"I only have one family: my father and my mother. No one else," Lucifer replied grimly.
"Ah, of course. I didn't mean to imply that we were placing ourselves in their place. I just meant that we are going to be here for you like a real family. Like brothers…." Vega improvised.
Lucifer nodded his head softly but didn't say anything. Even though the words seemed sincere, he realized that humans were good actors. Not every genuine-sounding statement was the truth.
"Is he not here?" Caen asked softly.
"Raia? He is outside, dealing with some important matters with his team. There is no way he would have missed welcoming a new member to our family. Especially the one he was so excited about," Vega answered.
Lucifer seemed to not even be the least bit interested in Vega's words. Instead, he was more concerned about his clothes. He was still bare-chested.
He gazed towards Caen and said, "Shirt."
His single word reminded Caen that he had promised the kid to get him clothes. Vega, on the other hand, wondered what it was all about.
"Carl!" Caen raised his hand as he called out to the man who was standing in the back.
"Yes, leader," a long-haired man answered.
"Bring me new clothes from the storage in Lucifer's size. Be fast," Caen commanded Carl, who was a part of his team.
The long-haired man didn't ask a second time and instantly left.
"His clothes got destroyed in the battle with the Deltas. I promised to give him clothes here," Caen told Vega.
"Oh. It's nothing. We have plenty of clothes in all sizes," Vega let out as he understood everything. "They're all his now."
"Boss, why don't you introduce us to little brother as well?" a bulky man in the back shouted.
Vega turned back and gazed at the man who had spoken. It was all a part of Vega's plan anyway. He had told everyone how they should act to make a good impression and to seem more welcoming.
If it weren't that, the man would never have dared to speak before Vega, let alone yell.
"Right, little brother, while your clothes are being brought here, let me introduce you to everyone."
"I will start with myself. I am Vega Ozborne. I am the second in command in this place after Raia," Vega said as he introduced himself.
"Command?" Lucifer muttered softly.
'As expected, this place was no different. They also had hierarchy and commands where they treated the rest as slaves and ruled over people lower in commands,' he thought as he gazed at the hundreds of people who stood in the back.
They were no different, but he wasn't surprised. Even if there were no command, he wouldn't have trusted them. He had already made up his mind about not trusting anyone. Even if he saw a utopia or god himself came before him, he wasn't going to trust or lower his guard.
"Oh, you might be misunderstanding when I say the command. It only means responsibility. Not in the hierarchy. As the person higher in command, it's my responsibility to make sure that weaker ones are safe," Vega replied with a calm smile on his face as he noticed subtle discomfort on Lucifer's face.
He knew the adversities Lucifer faced and what impacts it might have had on his psyche. He wished to separate the perception of VU from the facility as much as he could.
Lucifer nodded without actually believing anything.
"I believe you already met Caen," Vega continued as he pointed towards Caen, who was standing on the side.
"Caen is a really great guy. He is fifth in responsibility," he continued, making sure he used the correct word this time.
After introducing Caen, Vega shifted his focus to Isona, who was walking towards them. "And she is-"
Before he could even finish his sentence, Isona took the lead and cut him off, "I am Isona. In responsibility, I am the fourth here," she said.
"And Vega, Lucifer just came here. Can't you do the introduction later? Have mercy on the little guy. Let him go to his room and rest. He can get to know others naturally later on. Don't make him stand for the introduction of hundreds of people," she continued as she smiled wryly.
She reached Lucifer and reached out her hand towards his head to rub it like a caring sister.
Lucifer watched the hand come towards him slowly. He squinted his eyes as he resisted the urge to fry the head of Isona with his black lightning.
He stepped back since he didn't wish to have her touch him. He even used his Wind Control to help his movement.
Within a second, he reached from the hand reach of Isona to ten meters away from her.
"Good movement," Vega complimented Lucifer's swift movement.
Caen instead preferred to fire back at Isona with his sarcastic comment, "See Isona? You are even annoying him like you annoy everyone here." A soft grin brightened his face.
"How could this be? Big sister only wished to love little brother and caress him," Isona said with a pout. "It must be your trick! You filled the ears of little brother with lies related to sweet and innocent me."
"Sure. Whatever you say. We both know the truth," Caen said as he rolled his eyes.
"Little Brother, did I do something wrong?" Isona asked Lucifer with a cry-like face.
Caen felt like vomiting as he saw such childish acting of Isona. Even Dion felt like slapping his face with his palm. On the other hand, Vega didn't know whether he should laugh or cry at Isona's tactics. At Least she was bringing a good fun impression to this place before Lucifer.
"I don't like anyone touching me," Lucifer answered grimly.
So many people had touched him, but none had the touch like his parents. The doctors, the scientists, they all touched him to use him. After he was out of the facility, it remained the same.
First, the waiter touched him to throw him out in disgust simply because he wanted food while looking poor. Then the enemies who touched him during battles.
He had never received affection in the last five years. He felt that it was better than getting fake affection like he was about to get now, at least.