Fate Online: Shadow

After the short and a little bit weird introductions.

Michael ended up being together with Rick and Dana, while Randy stayed with the rest as he became Dylan's wingman.

And the good thing was that he was a former soldier so they had a lot to talk about regarding military matters or anything of that sort.

"I didn't know you'd actually end up coming here! I was really surprised when I saw you walk past those doors!"

Dana laughed in front of Michael with a huge smile on her face and with her hands behind her back as she walked in the front and led the group to tour Michael around their home.

While Rick who was walking beside Michael could only helplessly smile looking at the actions of his little cousin who seems too enthusiastic for her own good.

'Don't tell she still hasn't gotten over Michael? Damn, that would be really bad for her'

Looking around the long corridor they are at, Michael saw a lot of paintings of nature, people who are probably Dana's ancestors, and animals on the right side including statues and armors from the medieval age.

And on the left side are large Victorian windows where anyone can see the beautiful backyard surrounded by a lush flora of flowers with beautiful butterflies flying around, and with tables and chairs scattered around the backyard that is covered in grass.

'I know that I'm rich but these people spent money on this house like it grows from trees'

Michael couldn't help but feel amazed. After all, the time that he entered houses of rich people even from his previous life can only be counted in one hand, so he couldn't help but feel amazed at how rich people could squander money on decorations.

'Wouldn't it be better if they invested it into a better security system where guns would pop out from walls or whatnot and shoot intruders? Well, that is if they actually exist though because I've never seen a security system like that'

"Hey! Michael! Are you listening!? Yaa!"

"H-huh? What?"

Michael was so deep in his thoughts that he grew startled that he jumped back by Dana's sudden yell towards him.

"Are you okay? You suddenly stopped and were staring blankly into space" asked Rick while he gave Dana a glare for yelling as the others who were still in the living room might misunderstand something because of it.

"Yeah, I was just thinking about something earlier. What were we talking about again earlier?"

Michael couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed because of what happened, so he could only laugh it off.

Hearing his excuse, Rick just dryly laughed and said, "It's fine, we're actually planning to bring you to a secret place that not a lot of guest are allowed to go to"

"Yeah! It's gonna be really awesome! I know guys like you would certainly love it!" chirped in Dana who looked somewhat happy...even now. Her positive energy doesn't seem to run out.

Michael was intrigued for a bit and said, "Really now? Lead the way then, I'm curious what this place is that only few of your guests are allowed to go"

"Yeah, we should, but don't ever tell anyone that we allowed you to go there, alright?" Dana quickly reminded Michael with a mischievous smile on her face.

"Sure, my lips are sealed" answered Michael with a small smile.

The trio then started moving forward with Rick leading the way, and along the way they bumped into a couple of few maids who were cleaning around.

And a minute later, the trio arrived inside a spacious room full of fun things, from a billiard pool, old arcades, game consoles and many more!

"A gaming room? This is the secret?" asked Michael a bit dumbfounded as he wasn't expecting this.

Rick chuckled and said, "Of course not man, this is just a cover"

After saying that, Rick went over to one of the arcade machines and started pressing the buttons randomly even though the machine isn't even on.

Click!

But then suddenly, there was a clicking sound from behind the machine as it got lifted a few centimeters from the floor.

"Whoa~ a hidden room" Michael raised an eyebrow when he witnessed that, and that there's even an amused smirk on his face.

"Hehehe" Dana gave him a V sign with her fingers looking incredibly proud when saw the amazed look on Michael's face.

'Is it his first time to see a hidden room? It would be fun to see his reactions later, hehe'

Dana couldn't help but feel a bubbling anticipation inside her while Michael felt weirded out looking at her expression right now.

Rumble!

Rick pulled the arcade machine to the other side, revealing a short passageway that would lead them down through the stairs with a door at the end of it.

Then the trio walked inside the passageway, and the entrance automatically closed behind them, enveloping the three of them in darkness before two light bulbs attached on the ceiling turned on and illuminated the surroundings.

Shua!

"Whoa~!"

When Rick opened the door, what Michael saw stunned him for a couple of seconds as he wasn't expecting that this hidden room is actually a place to store "those!".

What he saw was something he wasn't expecting for their family to have!

The place they had arrived at is actually an armory full of weapons of mass destruction!

There's guns everywhere that the eyes could reach, from the walls to the floor. There are weapons everywhere!

This place is literally a place that any man who loves guns would love to go to!

And there's even an old freaking tank sitting in the middle of the room that looks like it came from the previous world war!

'It's almost comparable to the Headquarters Armory'

Rick turned his head towards Michael and couldn't help but ask, "What do you think? Amazing, right?"

"Yeah, it's been a while since I've been to a place this big with all of these things around" replied Michael as he quickly stepped forward and started looking around.

"What!? You've been to a place similar to this before?" Dana couldn't help but shout when she heard that.

'So that's the reason why he doesn't looked that much surprised when he walked in'

Michael stopped and looked at the two cousins and dryly laugh, "Yeah~ he's a guy who loves collecting stuff like this"

'Well, it's not like I can just tell them that Zero has a large armory of his own too now, does it?'

'Anyway, are they finishing up upstairs soon? I really want to go back and play soon'

"Anyway, this is the reason why I asked you earlier to keep this place a secret, and as you've already seen, a lot of things in here can't be legally owned" Rick chimed in after placing an M16 back inside the cabinet before him.

"No worries, I'm not someone who blabbers his mouth around" Michael guaranteed as he doesn't really care anyway.

"How about we go back? You must be hungry by now"

Rick noticed that Michael doesn't seem that much interested anymore which disappointed him for a bit as he wanted to show off his knowledge about firearms, so in the end, he quickly brought up the topic of food.

"Sure, I'm feeling famish ever since" Michael laughed as he followed Rick out with Dana who pouted behind them before she hurriedly soon followed.

On the way out, Rick told Michael that this armory is actually meant for their private army.

Of course, in this era today, no one is allowed to own a private army except if you're a rebel.

So what their family did is that they set up a security company as a disguise for this and recruited a lot of retired and veteran soldiers.

And people who are in the know just turned a blind eye to this as it's not like their the only family out there who's doing the same thing.

But of course, not everyone can do this as they would need someone whose authority in the country has a lot of weight in his words, and that is their grandfather who is currently the last five star general of the country.

An old veteran from the previous world war who managed to live till today because he's still healthy and in his late sixties which came as a surprise to Michael as he certainly knew that old general as there's only one five star general that comes to his mind because he had a lot of dealings with that person back then.

In fact, Michael can say that at least fifty percent of his jobs came from that particular old man.

'I didn't think they are actually related to each other. That explains why their family owns this mountain that's in the middle of this metropolitan city'

'Well, I just hope Dylan doesn't embarrass himself when he meets that old man later'

Michael couldn't help but snicker to himself when he remembered that old friend of his.

'I don't know about his descendants, but the good thing is that the old man doesn't look down on someone based on their quality of life'

'Now that I think about it, he's one sly old man who kept dropping hints on me back then If I want to go on a date with one of his granddaughters, and by granddaughters, he couldn't have been talking about Dana and Allison, right?'

'And now, I actually met them in this life. Sometimes, you can only laugh at the threads of fate'