Prisoners of VR

"S-Sir," Karthik stared at Rahu with a maniacal gaze, "Can...can you try once again? The last attempt gave good results. I'm sure you'll succeed if you do it one more time."

"It's impossible," Rahu shook his head, "I don't have the energy necessary to attempt it. If I hadn't been injured, maybe I could have held on for a few more minutes, but I'm sorry."

"Besides," He stared at the doctor and turned silent.

"Rohit is dead, sir." The doctor sighed, "Even life support won't work on him now."

"That...how?" Karthik's gaze became blank as he was escorted out of the ward. He stared at the figure of his son being removed from the life support. Suddenly, Karthik broke free of the hold and pushed away the pair of nurses disconnecting the life support, "Don't you dare! My son...my son! He's not dead!"

"I won't accept this!"

"I won't!"

[Maintain life support until he calms down. It's not easy for a parent to lose their child.]

Rahu communicated to the doctor through a message. Upon seeing that, the doctor ordered the nurses to maintain life support. He then escorted Karthik to another ward where they placed Rohit. A faint stench began to fill up the room, but Karthik didn't seem concerned about that as he remained in a daze, muttering incoherently, "Rohit...my son...you'll live. I know you're a strong man. Don't give up..."

"He is experiencing rigor mortis," The doctor commented from outside the ward as he stared at Rohit's corpse through the glass window. He then looked at Karthik in worry, "It's dangerous to be next to a corpse like that."

"Doctor, we need to transfer the corpse." One of the nurses stated in concern, "It's a health hazard to keep him here like this."

"I'll try to convince him." The doctor sighed and entered the ward.

In the meantime, arriving at a room in Rahu's Virtual Space, Deepika glared with a disgusted expression, "Sir, did you really have to do that?"

"Why did you play with the emotions of a concerned parent?"

"Where did it seem like that?" Rahu tilted his head, "Do my actions seem hypocritical to you?"

"You were the one that killed Rohit. Shouldn't you have denied a meeting with his father? Considering your health condition, no one would hold you accountable. But you needlessly gave him hope and mercilessly crushed it by hastening Rohit's death." Deepika shouted, "Why did you do that?"

"Trying to revive his body indeed strained it further. So, my actions accelerated Rohit's demise. But," Rahu spoke calmly, "I was genuinely trying to save him there. Had Rohit been attached to life support right when his brain began to deteriorate, reviving him would have been possible."

"Why...go through all that?" Deepika glared, "Does it give you a power trip to play with the lives of people? Rohit might have been scum but you didn't have to juggle his life like that."

"Well, let's not argue needlessly. I don't have enough brain power to remain here much longer." Rahu pointed at Deepika and asked with a slightly angered tone, "If you have been in my position, what would you have done?"

"I would deny a meeting in the first place." Deepika articulated her clear stance on the matter, "That way, Rohit's parents wouldn't have felt any hope. It wouldn't have resulted in Anita's heart attack."

"The plunge into despair after clinging onto a glimmer of hope affected them stronger than simply facing the death of their son."

"That's a stupid way to deal with things." Rahu shook his head and chidingly remarked, "The doctors know my condition best. They are aware that I have more than enough strength to take action. If I refused despite that, why would they try to save me in the future?"

"Even if they remain tight-lipped about this, information would spread through the medical circle." Rahu sighed, "So, if I were to ever be admitted to a hospital in the future, none of the doctors would give their all to treat me. For someone in my field where chances of injuries are high, that's a death sentence."

"So, it's just to maintain a clean reputation?" Deepika spat out.

"Not just that," Rahu extended his hand and clenched it tightly, "I genuinely wanted to treat Rohit."

"You're lying," Deepika snorted, "You were the one that caused his death in the first place."

"Don't mistake my intentions," Rahu clicked his tongue, "If I succeeded in saving him, I would have still planted some fault in Rohit's mind to cause his eventual death a few days down the line. He's not someone worth living."

"But," He said when Deepika glared at him with killing intent, "Attempting to save him is a valuable experience. Even if I failed now, I have gotten a little better in the process. In the future, I'll have a better chance of saving someone that truly needs to live."

"That's my sole reason." He stared at Deepika, uttering calmly, "You may or may not like my methods, but that's how I am. Towards the well-being of honest citizens striving to live clean lives, I'm ready to lay down my life. But towards cancerous rats, I won't hesitate to end their lives."

"Of course, I'll maintain a virtuous attitude to fulfil my tasks."

"You...you have a serious God Complex!" Deepika muttered in disbelief, "You truly think you're worthy of judging the life and death of people?"

"I do," Rahu stated solemnly, displaying his absolute conviction, "And don't get me wrong. Every DOVA Agent is the same. After all, that's the essence of inducing changes to reality. Only someone with an ego big enough to truly believe they are a God can become a DOVA Agent."

He snapped his finger, causing a figure of Deepika to appear beside her, shocking her.

"Hello Deepika, I'm Deepika." The figure spoke, displaying a professional smile exactly as what Deepika had displayed towards Rahu when they first met at the airport.

"This..." Deepika was alarmed as she stared at the figure, "How is it just like me?"

"Now you understand?" Rahu said as he pointed at his uVR Earth that shone yellow, "This is Creator Mode, given only to employees of Pomegranate Corporation. Their task is to convert real-life objects into a 3D Model. The rays a creator uVR Earth can emit allows them to capture the mass, volume, density, structural composition down to the atomic level, gravitational fields, electromagnetic emission, behaviour patterns, habits, etc."

"All this allows them to create a 3D Model that's no different from reality. There is no limitation in what they can convert into a 3D Model." Rahu stared at Deepika, "Including people."

"Then this..." Deepika stared at her 3D Model in shock, "This is my 3D Model?"

"Not exactly," Rahu snapped his finger and caused it to vanish, "This is a mere model that only captures your appearance. It would take years to create a perfect 3D Model of a living being. But you see,"

He grinned, "It's still possible."

"A creator uVR Earth user can only create models and upload them to Pomegranate Corporation's database. They don't have any other abilities. But," He expressed an imposing aura, "A DOVA Agent can use them."

"If I wanted, I can use the 3D Model of you to interact with someone through Induced Reality. You see, I have all the means to fabricate reality. I can even make your 3D Model be registered in CCTV Cameras and other devices. It would be as if you existed in reality." Rahu continued as he observed Deepika's expression worsen, "Once I have your 3D Model, I can train it to do anything I wish. Moreover, I can train dozens of versions of the same model to perform a variety of tasks."

"And since time flows ten times faster here, in a matter of days in reality, I would have an army of you roaming society in all forms to affect the lives of hundreds of people." Rahu got up and gently patted a petrified Deepika, "It's not limited to you. I can do the same with any individual of my choice."

"A single thought from me can pretty much collapse society overnight. Similarly, I can disseminate any narrative of my choice through the people and skew their worldview. It's not like my abilities are anything special. Any decent DOVA Agent can do this. And in this Digital Era, we're more destructive than a nuke." He T-Posed, "And this is the reason we're valued as a strategic resource."

He slowly pointed at Deepika, "You commented that I have a God Complex, right?"

"If a God were to exist in this era, their abilities would be no different from a DOVA Agent's."

"You...this...how can..." Deepika was unable to formulate a reply, too stunned to speak. Even though the previous Chief was diplomatic in nature, now that she thought about her experiences with him, it always seemed like he wore a mask.

The Chief's gaze was as if he were a superior existence looking at inferior lifeforms. He did an exceptional job of hiding it. And even when Deepika witnessed it, she didn't think much of it. After all, as a Chief, he was in charge of an entire state. People in such positions indeed oozed authority.

But now that Rahu woke her up to reality, Deepika realised that the entire time, even the previous Chief had a God Complex, to an extent even stronger than Rahu. "But...weapons can still kill you."

"Sure, they can, but we can anticipate that." Rahu snapped his finger as a dozen Ligers appeared in the room, "I have trained each of them to be alert against a form of threat. So, before someone intends to harm me, I'll be aware of their moves."

'And now that I have a True Lifeform Liger, it'll be even easier to guard against such threats.' He thought.

"Then, how did you fail to sense the incapacitating agent..." Deepika shut up, sensing the over two dozen pairs of feline eyes on her at her words.

'That's because Manav is fully aware of my and my Liger's nature. He targeted our blind spot. But it won't work anymore since I have started to train another Liger towards that.' Rahu shook his head and concluded, "Anyway, it is the truth that I tried to save Rohit's life now. But I failed. So, let's wrap it up there."

"If you wish to question my methods in the future, always ensure to provide a better solution." Saying so, he disconnected Deepika from his Virtual Space and returned to reality.

Opening his eyes calmly, he gazed at Deepika's sullen figure, "The previous Chief kept everyone ignorant, as that's in his nature. But my methods are different."

"Since you promised to be my secretary, I hope you adapt accordingly."