1 1. Grandpa Universe
Earth, Year 2020.
In a big hospital in New York, an old man was lying on a bed in the ICU ward. The ventilator was connected to his neck as he couldn't breathe on his own. The old man's name was Alexander Maxim Universe. He was known to be the smartest and the richest man of 21st century. Everyone loved him, the media had given him the nickname 'Grandpa Universe' due to his extremely kind nature to others.
His eyes were open, he was conscious but he couldn't move his body. The reason for his condition was a road accident. He could feel that his body was slowly getting weak and his days were numbered.
~Ah, it must be him.~ He contemplated the reason behind his accident.
He had lived a very tragic life. Born in 1950, his parents left him on the stairs of an orphanage. He spent his childhood with other kids like him, but still, without the warmth of parents, he became dissociated and kept to himself, reading books. He later found out that he was different from other kids. He was a lot more intelligent than an average child of his age. Still, there was one thing that he and other kids had in common. It was love for comics and fantasy novels.
Alexander grew up loving all the superheroes in those fictional stories, Superman, Spiderman, Captain America... He wished to be a superhero someday, but his higher IQ quickly made him realize that thinking that was an idiotic dream.
Eventually, 1 or 2 friends that he had got adopted. He also wanted to get adopted someday, but whenever a couple would come to adopt. They would ignore him like he didn't exist. Soon he found the reason behind it as well when he heard the orphanage warden talking to a doctor.
"There should be something we can do for him. All the couples who come here, distance themselves from him like he's a plague." The warden asked.
The doctor shook his head, "I'm afraid we can't. His hair are genetically white. They can not be changed. It's the stupidity of the society that they ignore such a good child."
"*Sigh* Then I don't think anyone will ever adopt him." Warden thought loudly.
After that, Alexander understood that there was no point in acting cute in front of couples anymore, he drowned himself in his studies and physical exercises to take out the frustration. By the age of 15, he had studied maths, physics, biology, botany, and chemistry to the master's degree level. He was able to do this by stealing books from bookstores, though, he hated doing that but he had no other choice as his pocket money was just enough to buy some cheap candies.
He wanted to go to college but knew that it was not possible. He or the orphanage didn't have that kind of money.
...
Year 1968, Alexander turned 18 and a letter with his name came in. He was surprised to see that, but then he noticed the logo on it and understood what it was. It was a letter from the US Army. He opened it and read the letter. The heading said 'ORDER TO REPORT FOR INDUCTION'. He understood he was getting drafted for the Vietnam war.
Alexander thought that this was a chance to change his life so he happily went to report at the notified place and registered himself.
To his surprise, due to his exceptional abilities in both physical training and some written exams, he was soon recommended for officers training. He was happy because the pay was more.
After 1 year of training, he was sent to Vietnam. There he used his knowledge to lead his men to many victories. He noticed that the soldiers were facing issues with the harsh jungle terrain, many of them fell due to malaria disease and not bullets.
To solve the problem he created a new ointment with the help of some indigenous plants and some other materials from the medical team. His ointment was a hit. The deaths due to Malaria decreased a lot. He did many more magical things like these, his new bait tactics were also very useful in fighting the Guerilla fighters.
With a field promotion, he quickly reached the rank of captain. For his exceptional bravery and unselfish actions, he was awarded the Medal of Honour. Though they still lost the war and Alexander already expected that outcome.
After returning from the war he continued serving in the Army, but he didn't leave studies. He completed his masters and also did a Ph.D. in Biochemistry. He also found his soulmate in those years. She was an Army doctor. He was very shy when talking to girls so it was mostly her taking the first steps in their relationship.
They got married to each other in 1980 and 2 years later, they were blessed with twin sons. But then tragedy struck. His wife was diagnosed with late-stage Lung cancer. She held on for a few more years and passed away in 1994.
Finally, In the year 1995, he retired from the Army as Brigadier General. He was being offered another promotion as the army didn't want to lose an asset like him but he declined. He had some other plans for himself.
He decided to open his own pharmaceutical company and named it Kindheart. After the death of his wife, he was devastated and vowed to make a cure for cancer no matter what it takes. Still, he didn't ignore his kids. They were his escape from reality. He loved them, cared for them.
His company also became a hit as he introduced a very effective medicine for Tuberculosis. He also made sure that he sold his medicines at an affordable price while maintaining a profit. With time he made many more magical medicines and the world started to call him the smartest man alive.
Due to his background, the media endlessly reported on him. His old life, his military days, made him even more famous. His business was growing well, the name of his company was spreading everywhere in the world.
Eventually, his wealth started to exceed his imagination. In 1999, he became the first person in the world to reach a 100 Billion mark. With so much money he decided to put it to the right use. He opened hundreds of orphanages around the world. Many kids from those orphanages would later grow and find jobs in his company.
He also spent a lot of time with the little kids there. He read books or watched movies with them. When his deeds became famous, people started calling him Grandpa Universe.
In his years of research, he did many experiments on himself. He wanted to strengthen himself like Captain America. Eventually, he succeeded but only in reducing the speed of his aging. He didn't get super strength or anything like that. He knew what a mess his discovery would cause so he kept it a secret and destroyed all the research materials.
His love for Superheroes was so great that he eventually bought Marvel and all the copyrights of marvel that other companies owned. He also wanted to buy DC comics but it was owned by Warner Brothers. So he bought Warner Brothers through a hostile takeover.
The media criticized him for being overconfident and said that he would lose money with this investment. But they were wrong, he succeeded. He not only personally selected amazing scripts but also created the world's most advanced 3d editing software and rendering farm for movies. He won over the hearts of movie lovers with amazing special effects and CGI.
After putting the movie company on the right path he went back to researching the vaccine for cancer. He was seriously amazed by the fact that making anti-aging drugs was easier than making a cancer-treating drug.
...
Year 2020.
After 25 years of hard work, he had finally created the anti-cancer drug, his drug could even cure the cancers in later stages. He was extremely happy as he was finally able to fulfill his promise to his wife.
He had turned 70 years old but because of his anti-aging, he still looked 50.
Today he was going to do the press release and tell the world about his new creation. He was also going to release the prices of the drug. He had decided that after releasing the drug, he was going to leave everything to his two sons, who were already directors in the company and spend the rest of his time with kids in the orphanage.
He was about to leave but received a call from the white house.
"Oh, hello mister president," he spoke.
"Mister Alexander, how are you, my old friend?" the President sounded too friendly.
"I am fine mister president, I was just about to head out for the press conference... you know about it already don't you?" Alexander happily replied while tying his tie.
President started to exaggerate "Oh, yes, yes... what a big, big discovery you have made, truly great. By the way, my friend, I need a favor from you"
"Oh, please, just say it, mister President" He seriously said.
"You know, you did such a major, major service to the nation by creating this, but I want you to not release this drug to the world and only release it to the good men and women of this great nation" the President shamelessly stated his demand.
Alexander's eyebrows furrowed hearing that.
"But mister president, this is my life's work. I have to release it to the world and that's the best thing to do as a human" he argued.
But the President didn't budge "no, no... believe me, my friend, you should not release it to the world, they are barbarians, not good people and they also want to harm this great nation"
Alexender felt anger for the first time in so many years.
"Oh, I get it now... you want to make this medicine a tool for your dirty diplomacy?... sorry but I can not stoop this low" Alexander roared.
"Wait, wait...my good friend..."
[Thud]
He hung up the phone and left for the press conference. He had recorded the whole conversation and stored it on the cloud. If anything happened to him then the audio would be uploaded to every major media website in the world, plus the chemical formula and steps to make the cancer drug.
...
On his way, while his car was crossing an intersection. A semi-truck jumped the red light and hit his car at a very high speed. The car rolled many times and finally stopped in an upside-down position. The car was bulletproof and had a strong body so he didn't receive many injuries.
"Hey, Sam. You okay?" Alexander asked his driver.
"Yes, Mr. Universe, I am fine," Sam weakly replied.
Just when Alexander removed his seatbelt to get out of the car. Another Semi-truck came and hit his car. This time, because he had removed his seatbelt, his body rolled inside the car like a ragdoll. He was severely injured. He could feel that his spine had been injured. Soon after the initial shock, the pain kicked in and he fainted.
Next thing he knew. He was in a hospital bed, not being able to move his body. He could hear everything around him but could not even move his head. Then a familiar voice came.
"You are awake father?"
Alexander recognized the voice. He moved his eyeball and caught a glimpse of both of his sons standing by his bed.
"We are sorry, father, but you didn't leave us any other choice" They spoke.
Alexander confusedly looked at his sons, he tried to speak but couldn't.
~What are you talking about son?~ he asked under his breath.
"So many times we proposed that we increase the price of our products but every time you denied it. We stayed silent all this time but not anymore." one of them said in a harsh tone.
Do you have any idea how much money we could make with this new cancer drug, we could be trillionaires, but you still want to sell it like candies" the other one added.
Alexander's breath started to fasten with each word his sons spoke. He couldn't believe that his own flesh and blood would do this to him.
Then his sons started to leave, "Rest in peace, father. We have asked the doctor to make sure that it's painless"
After saying that, they left the room. Leaving their paralyzed father alone.
Alexander had accepted his fate. He was betrayed by the ones he loved the most. He was sure that if his wife was alive then she would have regretted giving birth to these monsters.
~What would happen to those little kids in the orphanages now~ he sadly asked himself.
After a while, a doctor silently entered the room and injected something into the I.V bottle. Alexander knew that it was the so-called painless death. He just closed his eyes and waited for it.
He could feel his body slowly turning cold. But, surprisingly, he had a smile on his face. That was because the thin ring he had on his index finger had recorded everything. From the accident to his sons and the doctor poisoning him. He knew that as soon as his heartbeat would stop. All the data would be put online on an innumerable number of websites.
After 2 more minutes, he exhaled the last breath from his lungs, and with that, Grandpa Universe who was loved by the world was no more.
...
Alexander thought that he'd finally be able to see the afterlife, that is if it existed. But when he opened his eyes he found himself on a cloud-like floor. Everything around him was white. Except for the huge golden throne in front of him and the giant white-bearded man sitting on it.
"Welcome to the Hall of Judgement, my child." A warm and soothing voice resounded in Alexander's ears.
He looked at the big man in front of him. Alexander could estimate that he himself was as big as the giant man's eye.
"Are you God?"
____________________________
[A/N: This book has been completed. If you are interested, check out my new fic, Harry Potter: Blood of the Dragon and Naruto: Child of Chakra.]
