Villain's Rising

“What happened when you were kidnapped?”

Not letting her genuine emotions show on her face, Rebekah calmly closed her eyes.

“Haa,” she heaved an almost silent inaudible sigh and began thinking.

What could she do in this situation now? She can’t lie, no.

Her father could hear her heartbeat, and she wasn’t confident enough in herself to be able to keep her calm while lying through her teeth about such a significant matter

She can tell them the truth. Yeah, after all, Sam did put her brother in the harm’s way.

But she didn’t entertain that thought much and discarded it.

Who was she kidding? She can’t tell him the truth.

For two reasons. First, what would she respond if her father asked something like, “Why didn’t you tell us sooner if you already knew Progenitor’s identity?”_.

Second, she still needed Sam to kill her father. That’s the only way she could achieve her dream life with her brother.

She wasn’t using Sam. They both were using each other. Her hands were also tied as much as his.

However, it’s also true that Sam was trying to cross boundaries. Rebekah wasn’t sure if she could keep him in check much longer.

She was sure that he got the sample of her family’s DNA from her blood. And she was also convinced that he created a Demon and infused him with her family’s DNA to enhance its capabilities.

Sam was definitely crossing a line. But as we’ve established before, Rebekah needed her.

She decided to confront him once all this was over. But how to lie to her father was the bigger problem right now.

Suddenly an idea hit her. A brilliant idea that would allow her to lie in front of her father and not get caught.

Clenching her fists, she dropped her head. Putting her best act on, she started shedding crocodile tears.

“Hic hic!”

Seeing her crying came as a shock for both Arthur and Anthony. They couldn’t remember the last time she cried in front of them.

“Reb, why are you crying?” Anxious, Arthur asked in a pretty concerned tone.

“What’s up, Reb?” Anthony joined in with a genuinely worried expression on his face.

Yes, that was her plan. On the surface, it might seem like a childish attempt to escape going to school, but at the core, it was efficient.

How? Because by crying, Rebekah would not only throw her father and brother off guard, but she will also have a good reason for elevated heartbeat rate.

That means her father would not be able to tell if she was lying based on her heartbeat because people generally have high heartbeats when they cry.

Not only that, but he would be too concerned to be reading any psychological or behavioral signs that would suggest her lying.

No matter how one looks at it, putting on an act of crying and throwing her family off guard was an intelligent strategy.

“The truth is, I remember them torturing me but don’t remember most of it! Hic Hic!” Sobbing, Rebekah put on an act that would put even the best of actors to shame.

And it wasn’t much of a lie. Rebekah did remember being tortured by Sam, but she doesn’t remember most of it.

Willburn family members’ body composition is quite unique. They can adapt to any stimuli, even abilities, as noticed by Sam.

Sam theorized that you couldn’t kill a Willburn for two reasons.

First, their regeneration is quite overpowered.

Second, they can adapt to anything you throw at them. Throw a nuclear head on them, and they’ll adapt to it by making themselves resistant to radiation and heat. Fight them with guns, and they’ll make their skin hard—stuff like that.

However, during the time their bodies adapt to the stimuli, they black out for a couple of seconds.

So since Sam was continuously exposing Rebekah to new harmful stimuli like radiation and poison to find out a weakness, she was constantly being blacked out.

Thus, she really doesn’t recall much of her torture process. She remembers being in pain, but that’s it.

“It’s okay. It’s okay, Rebekah, don’t cry!” Waving his hands, Arthur spoke.

No matter how strong of a Hero he was, he was still a father at heart after all.

“Do you remember how they kidnapped you, though? I remember watching CCTV footage of you going out of Academy City yourself.” Anthony questioned. Although he was afraid he would upset her even more, he needed to ask.

There were some questions that had been bugging him ever since. Like if it really was the Progenitor who kidnapped her, then how did she escape? Also, she seemed to be in possession of a Phasing ability. Where did she get that?

“I don’t remember that either! Hic Hic! Most of it is blank! Hic! I remember being hanged up on a wall and getting tortured by a man!” Wailing and shedding some more fake tears, Rebekah replied.

“You don’t remember? Dad, can the Progenitor mind control us?” Anthony shifted his gaze and questioned Arthur.

“No, it’s impossible. The training I made you both go through your childhood makes you immune to any kind of mind control.” Arthur confidently shook his head.

As soon as Rebekah heard her father mentioning their childhood “training”, her blood boiled in anger.

The training that he referred to was nothing short of torture. They were beaten day in and night out in the name of training. No child should have to go through that kind of torture.

According to Arthur, it was to make them immune to specific dangerous abilities.

Rebekah’s training wasn’t that hard compared to her brother’s hellish torture. She still remembers her brother returning to their room with a body full of bruises every night.

Her heart still wrenches to this day, remembering him like that in that state. That’s one of the reasons she decided to get back to her father.

She decided to kill him and return to their ‘home’.

“Then I think he used some other ability.” Anthony speculated while touching his chin.

“That could be plausible, yes.” Nodding, Arthur replied. “It’s fine. I’ll handle things from here. You two get some rest. And I’m sorry, Reb.”

After apologizing for upsetting her, Arthur left the room.

‘I’m sorry in advance too, dear Father. Sorry in advance for killing you.’ and