Stronghold In The Apocalypse

Chapter 6: Abrupt Change and Family

A red SUV can be seen speeding along a rocky trail surrounded by woods.

"Fuck this! Gaia screwed me over! Ahhh!!" Leo was seething in anger as he sped towards the highway.

Leo took out his phone and dialed his sister's number.

Tu ru rut ~ tu ru rut~

"I'm gonna kick your first ass if this is not important. I got kicked out in the middle of class because of your sudden call. If this is a prank. I'm gonna kill you" his sister's angry voice sounded.

"Sorry about that Aria but what I'm about to to say is very important so you need to listen well" said Leo in a very serious tone.

Hearing his brother's serious voice, Aria turned silent.

"Okay, what is it?" Aria said in an inquiring tone.

Leo took a deep breath and said " You need to leave your school and go to the supermarket and buy a lot of food especially canned foods which last longer and get a lot of bottled water, the biggest ones and make sure to buy a lot of rice too, like a lot of it. We're gonna need a lot food, alright?" John said in one go.

After a few seconds of silence.

"Aria?"

"Are you still there, Aria?"

"Is this a prank? Cause if it is, You're DEAD!!!" Aria's angered voice sounded from the phone that even Leo grimaced and got annoyed this time.

"SHUT UP!! JUST DO WHAT I'M TELLING YOU TO DO!!..... sorry about that. I got carried away, I'm already on my way there so we'll see each other at home. I love you. I'm hanging up" Leo shouted in anger but he realized that he got carried away and immediately apologize at the end. He even hurriedly hang up.

"He won't kill me if we see each other later, right?" Leo shuddered when he remembered that the former owner of this body never scolded his sister before this and always spoiled her instead and he was the one that always gets pranked by her.

"How overprotective"

Inside Sheffield University, Aria was standing dumbfounded as she looked at her phone.

"He had never raised his voice at me before" Aria released a sigh as she started walking towards the parking lot.

"If he's finally getting back at me from those pranks i did to him before, I will make him pay me double, no triple on the groceries if he's messing around this time" Aria said as she got on her car and drove off outside the campus and headed towards the supermarket.

As Aria did what she was told to, Leo in the other hand was speeding along the highway as he headed towards Sheffield.

"How will I convince them that the era of peace is coming to an end and will turn chaotic in 3 days" Leo pondered on how to properly tell his family that the world will face an Apocalypse and not look like an insane person instead.

"I'll worry about it when I get there" Leo sighed to himself.

"I would still be depressed and sulking in a corner about this sudden changed cause by that shitty person. Good thing the compensation made my mood a little bit better" Leo smiled as he accessed his Inventory and took out the Item that the system had given him as a compensation.

[Teleportation Stone - throw it on the ground and a portal directly linked to your territory will appear. Maximum of 10 people to transfer once a day. Usage: 5/5]

"No matter how good this Item is, its still a consumable item. The only good thing is, I don't have to worry about how I'll get back here when I rescue Amanda and the rest" Leo had a bitter smile as he tried to console himself with that thought.

After over half an hour of driving. He finally reached his destination.

"I'm here, *Gulp* " Leo swallowed out of nervousness.

Leo got out of his car and he immediately saw both his parents and sister standing in front of the doorway looking at him.

"Hey there parents, I mean mom and dad and...sister" Leo smiled and waved as he opened their gate and walked towards them as he gave both his parents a hug and when it was his sister's turn, he hugged her awkwardly.

"Come inside" said Leo's mother in a heavy tone as she motioned him with her finger.

Both Leo and Aria followed but Leo saw that his dad instead went and sat down on his chair in front of their house as he gave a Leo a helpless smile.

"This old man, you always makes yourself tough in front of the neighbors but you immediately turns timid in front of mom. Dammit, it probably runs in the family. I really pity the previous owner of this body, I wonder how he survived this" Leo cursed when he saw his dad didn't follow them inside.

The three of them reached the kitchen as her mother looks at him menacingly while her sister has that smile that looks like she's laughing at him.

"Care to explain all this? You made your sister cut classes and made her buy this groceries and a lot of them" Leo's mother said it all calmly.

"She's really angry this time when she talks calmly like that" Leo realized his mother is really angry and it made his back covered in cold sweat because he saw that the entire kitchen is filled with groceries.

"I can ex-" Leo wanted to explain but his mother cut him off.

"You should know that Aria is already in her Senior year and she needs to save money for her College and this happened. She spent almost all her money on this, you know"

"Still, it's a good thing she bought a lot even though I'm now being scolded by it. It's worth it" Leo thought within his mind when he saw how packed the kitchen was.

"Leo, are you listening to me?"

"Ahh, yes mom" Leo was jolted.

"Geez, this son of mine. I'm really not angry that he made Aria buy all this because both his dad and I didn't have time to buy groceries on how busy we are at the hospital this time and it's not like we can't pay for Aria's College fees but I didn't expect he'd make her buy all this though but it's your fault, you never came home for over a year now and this is what you do when you finally decided to come by. Let's see how you explain your way out this time" Mother smiled when she realized that her son was starting to really get scared of her.

"Why is she smiling like that!?" Leo was really terrified when he saw her mom smiling like that while looking all calm.

"So?"

"Uhmm..before I explain this, can you get dad here mom?"

His mother raised an eyebrow when she heard that but still called him over.

"Henry, come here at the kitchen!" yelled his mom.

"Yes dear, coming"

Leo shook his head when he heard the soft tone coming from his dad.

"Do you need me for something, dear?"

"Explain" she didn't answer him and instead look at Leo but his dad didn't get angry because of it and also looked at Leo with a questioning gaze.

"With this" Leo strode forwards and he sent a pack of instant noodles to his Inventory but in the eyes of the 3 people it just disappeared.

"Phuff! Ahahaha! Are you actually trying to explain your way out of this by a silly magic trick" Aria laughed loudly with tears in her eyes while holding her stomach. Even his mom chuckled a bit and his dad had a surprised expression for a few seconds.

"I-I" Leo's face turned red from embarrassment.

"Well, I admit. What I did was pretty stupid and why did I even do that in the first place?" Leo thought to himself at how stupid that was.

"Fine, I'll show you guys something that might shock or scare you guys"

"Yeah, yeah. Don't worry I won't laugh this time brother" Aria said with a small laugh.

Leo just glared at her and proceeded on "Armor On!" Leo raised his voice.

And Leo was instantly covered with a Suit of Armor as his parents and sister stared at the scene slack jawed at it.

A moment of silence.

"Wait, is that the Red Protector halo suit thing!?" It was Aria who broke the silence first.

"It is!" Leo said proudly.

"How did that suddenly appear from out of nowhere and where did you get it? Did you stole it or something?" asked his dad who had been silent up until now.

Leo looked at his mom instead if she's gonna ask too but it looks like she isn't and his dad had the same question in mind as she's just looking at him but this time with a more serious look.

"Of course I didn't steal it dad" after Leo said that, It at least made his parents breath a sigh of relief while his sister is circling around him with her eyes moving up and down gazing at the armor covering him with a pondering look.

"So how did you get this lump of metal or something then?" his mother asked softly this time but she wasn't able to hide the still worried tone behind it.

"You really shouldn't worry mom, I did not steal it. It just appeared in front of my door 2 da-yesterday inside a box and I thought someone was giving me a fridge or something but it wasn't though, that's it and It's called a Mjolnir Assault Protector or just Armor mom" Leo immediately came up with a passable excuse he thought trying not to make them worry and as the three of them started touching the Armor.

"And you didn't report this to the authorities?" his dad asked while he ran his fingers on the surface of the Armor.

"Yes! I mean no! I showed you guys this Armor because there was- hey! What happened?" Leo glared at his sister when the helmet suddenly disappeared and only an earpiece was left attached on his left ear.

"I just pressed this button here?" Aria tilted her head with an innocent look while the helmet appeared again when she pressed the button.

Shring ~ Tsuuk ~ Shring ~ Tsuuk ~ Shring ~ Tsuuk ~

The helmet would vanish and reappear then vanish again as Aria is seen repeatedly pressing the button just below the jawline of the helmet and Leo was just standing there with a rigid smile as his eyebrows keeps twitching and what annoyed him the most is his parents just standing there watching as they tried hard to keep themselves from laughing when they saw how stupid he looks right now.

"Aria! STOP!" Leo glared at his sister and probably the only thing missing right now is smoke coming out of his nose.

"Hehe" Aria had a cheeky laugh as she hastily hid behind her mother.

And his parents was looking at him with open mouths as they both thought "Did he just raised his voice on Aria? Did he finally grown some balls?" as they both never imagined this day would come. If Leo knows what his parents currently thought of him, he'd probably spurt blood saying " B-balls? Balls your sister!". Fortunately, he can't, as he'd probably faint from blood loss and anger.

"Cough* Alright, stop playing around especially you Aria, behave" Their mother said like she's finally grown tired of this farce.

"Yes mom" Aria said in a weak voice while acting innocently.

"What are you? 8?" Leo thought when he saw Aria acting like that while his mother rubbed her head smiling.

"Continue to what you were supposed to say earlier" his mother said and he saw his dad getting a chair for his mother to sit on.

"Seriously? Why do I feel like I'm in the court now and I'm the defendant here? Now, I'm still wondering how the former survived all this" Leo said with the edge of his mouth twitching when he saw both his dad and his sister stood on both sides of his mom as she sat there on the chair with legs crossed looking at him.

"The only thing missing now is for both of them to wear a police uniform to complete this ridiculous scene" Leo thought again.

"Why aren't you saying anything?"

"Ahh, yes. As I was saying..." Leo took off the Power Armor and started narrating a story he hurriedly made up on the spot and the 3 people just listened on with eyes and mouths opened wide with a story that can only be heard from an insane person or a person with a few loose screws on their head.