[Third POV, Year 2001, Eleventh Loop, 3rd of April, Nightime]
Meanwhile, Adrian was currently sleeping in his room. Sitting on the bed with a camera in his hand, our protagonist's father, Edwin, was reviewing what they recorded that day with a serious face, wearing the earbuds his son gave him.
'Maybe I should not show this last video to Laura.'
Just as he was pondering if he should delete the video, Adrian's mother, Laura, entered the room wearing her pajamas and holding a glass of water.
Quickly sitting on their bed, Laura looked at her husband while taking a sip of water, then directed her voice to him.
"So... what did you two do today? Took a stroll or something? You said you were going out today with Adrian."
Looking at his wife, Edwin selected a video on the camera and moved closer to her, intending to show her the video they got of the LRAD in action. However, before he could put it in a way so they could both watch, his wife took the camera out of his hands.
"Gimme that."
"Hey! Don't do that, we can b-"
"Sshhh! I want to listen."
"Ugh..."
Watching helplessly as his wife grabbed the camera, Edwin gave a sigh and gave up on getting it back. Meanwhile, Laura started watching the video, which was pretty short. It was recorded at the side, about a meter away from a middle-aged man. In it, Adrian's instructions were vaguely heard, and suddenly, the voice of their son bombarded through the camera, startling her.
"One and two, one and two, how do you hear it? Is everything alright? Make another OK sign if you hear with clarity what I'm saying; if you hear wrong, just wave your hands."
Quickly pulling the camera away from her, Laura turned down the volume, then looked at her husband with a bewildered face and questioned him.
"What the fuck was that? Why did it sound so loud suddenly? Did the camera break or something? Why is our son's voice suddenly appearing so loud? What is that thing in the distance?"
"Calm down, calm down. That thing is a machine Adrian made in his free time. He said it's called LRAD, standing for Long Range Acoustic Device, and it's what made it so you heard his voice so loud and suddenly. It's like a speaker, but he said — and I quote him, as I didn't understand very well: it's basically a specialized loudspeaker that produces sound at high power for communicating at a distance, which acts like a sound cannon, sending the sound in the direction it's pointing and limiting the dispersal, which makes it so that even at 50 meters you should be able to hear clearly."
Calmly but quickly, Edwin answered his wife's doubts — but more arose just as he responded.
"What the fuck do you mean Adrian made that?! He is only five years old! You are kidding me, right?"
"No, no, Adrian really made that. He kinda explained to me how it works. You know he's a genius, Laura, although I really didn't expect a Tony Stark."
"Tony Stark?! Tony Stark made an engine when he was 6 years old; Adrian made a SOUND CANNON! AND HE HASN'T STUDIED LIKE A RICH KID! He is only starting basic school! Yes, he is smart, but he never showed signs of doing something like this! It's not like we are Howard Stark and have the ability to teach him something like this!"
Somewhat scared and worried, our protagonist's mother voiced all her thoughts to her husband.
"Calm down, it's not a big deal. There is no reason to make a fuss. In the end, it's good that our son is that smart! Why would it be a bad thing?"
"I don't know! It's just — our son made a weapon!"
"That is not a weapon, Laura. He said it's for communication between boats that don't receive radio signals."
Hearing what her husband said calmed her down a little bit, but even then, her worries about her son were not easily shaken. Directing her gaze to the camera, she looked to the next video.
"Wait, I think you shouldn't see th-"
But before Adrian's father could convince his wife, Adrian's voice was emitted by the camera.
"Now, like we talked about in the car, with what we are testing this time, we will give one thousand dollars for your participation, and in exchange, you can't talk about it with anyone..."
Not paying attention to her husband, Laura put all her attention on the video. Quickly looking at the same man that was in the other video, this time sitting on a couch, hearing what her son was saying in the video gave her a bad feeling about it.
Zsssst
Suddenly, ten seconds after the man on the couch made a sign with his hands, a high-pitched sound was emitted by something her son was holding. The sound felt unpleasant to her, and the man on the couch slumped, as if a puppet's strings were cut.
Then, after five seconds, the sound stopped, and the video suddenly ended. Laura's face was currently blank; the glass of water in her hands slipped and fell to the ground, breaking into pieces.
Crash! Crack!
"Hey! Babe, are you okay?!"
"What... was that? He isn't dead, is he?"
Somewhat worried that the sonic taser worked on her through the camera, Edwin quickly reached his hands toward Laura's face in case she was paralyzed, as he didn't want her to get hurt by suddenly falling. However, Laura moved her face and looked at her husband. With a scared tone, she asked him, and Edwin answered.
"NO! He is not dead! Adrian said that it's a sonic taser, a self-defense device that works by sound. If you hear it, you would be paralyzed. Thankfully, it doesn't work through the camera, probably because the camera speaker can't replicate the exact frequency."
"THAT IS A WEAPON! ADRIAN MADE A WEAPON!"
Looking at his wife's scared face, Edwin tried to explain to her why their son made that device.
"He said that he did it so we can protect ourselves! He said that it's a non-lethal and easy-to-carry option. Yeah, having no control of your body sounds bad, but I think it's better than shooting someone."
Pulling a box and opening it, he showed the pair of earbuds meant for his wife.
"He said that we just need to wear these so we would not be affected by it. The effect of the paralysis only lasts at maximum 15 minutes — no side effects."
Looking at the pair of earbuds and at her husband's face, Laura spoke one more time with a trembling voice.
"Adrian... we always knew he wasn't normal... he didn't cry when he was born, he sometimes acts as if he knows something would happen, he knows what to say and how to act almost always, he acts as if he is holding himself in an unknown way. Then the gambling happened, his musical talent happened, and now he is making weapons?! Is this really our child?! What if... what if he is one of those monsters... like the ones in the news... those so-called... mutants."
Gripping with strength the camera she was holding and with tears going down her cheeks, Laura was currently crying and weeping at the fact that her son was, at least in her mind, a monster like the mutants that appear on TV.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author Note: So... have you seen a fanfic in marvel where in fact the mother fears that her son is a mutant? Like genuine racist type fear. Probably not until today.
This is why i made some efforts in explaining that the world sees him as some kind of genius, at least his father does, however now with what is going on in Laura's mind the family will quietly fragment.
Remember that this fic will be of MC growth and myself trying to make realistic scenarios.
Add to your library, drop powerstones and review the fic