ã€ŠThe Man in the White Armorã€‹


 Chapter 1: The Two Watches

    ¡°So, Brandon, where are you going after school?¡±

    It was the eighth, and last, period in Killian High School. Unsurprisingly, the students were getting restless. The teacher was still talking on the stage about some math formula, but only a few were listening.

    Brandon was among the few.

    Brandon Bai was an Asian American. He was tall, but the pair of glasses on him made him look more like a nerd than a sports player. He was listening to the teacher and taking notes. Hearing the question, he glanced at the one asking the question and shrugged.

    The one asking the question was Selena. A blonde, tall girl, Selena was almost the opposite of Brandon. While Brandon spent time and effort on this class, Selena was only in this for the credit needed to graduate. Even as the class continued, her mind was no longer on the course. Rather, it was on what she would do in twenty minutes when school is over.

    Seeing the lack of reply from Brandon, Selena wasn¡¯t insulted. She should¡¯ve expected it the moment she asked the question.

    Ever since the school year started, Selena has noticed Brandon wasn¡¯t like the others. While the others snapped out their smartphones any chance they got, Brandon was more dedicated to what was taught in class. She respected his determination, but she also hated how dull the man was.

    Meanwhile, Brandon didn''t care about what Selena was thinking. After all, Selena¡¯s opinions didn''t matter to him. The coursework at hand, though, does. To be honest, Brandon doesn¡¯t enjoy what¡¯s being taught in class. He found the math content to be confusing and even boring. But he had a job that he wanted to get into in the future, and it involved math. He had no choice but to force himself to listen.

    Finally, the bell rang, signaling the end of the class. Selena jumped off her seat like it was on fire. While some students ran for the door, Brandon carefully finished the notes and copied down the homework assignments due tomorrow before packing everything into his bag and walking out of the classroom.

    As Brandon made his way from the second-floor classroom to the first floor, he heard some noise. He wasn¡¯t going to check out what happened until he heard a familiar voice.

    He sighed.

    Brandon started breaking open the crowd and heading toward where all the chaos came from. It wasn¡¯t a difficult task. When he reached the center of the circle, a frown has found its way onto his face.

    Four figures were inside the circle. Two of them were tall boys with playful smirks on them. The third was a curved girl who was holding onto one of the boys. The fourth one was a small Asian.

    Jaison. Brandon¡¯s brother.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Even as Brandon asked, he knew the basics of what has happened. Regrettably, even he had to admit that his brother had some less than ideal characteristics. For example, he feels targeted easily. He also has a thin skin. They were in a public high school where students came from all backgrounds. It was certain some of them weren¡¯t as nice as others. While Brandon himself could ignore the foul words of those who he deemed unimportant, Jaison couldn¡¯t do the same.

    ¡°Brandon!¡± Jaison raised his chin at the other three. He was obviously furious. ¡±They called me a spy and told me to go back to Japan.¡±

    ¡°First of all, our parents were Chinese,¡± Brandon commented. He glanced around and saw a crowd forming. That¡¯s a problem. He didn''t want to waste time on unnecessary problems. He would rather learn a new coding language. ¡°Also, that¡¯s prejudice. I can sue you for racism.¡±

    One of the boys was slightly taken back.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have any proof!¡±

    ¡°What happened took place in a crowded hallway and you¡¯re telling me I don¡¯t have proof?¡± Brandon didn''t back down. ¡±Look. I have better places to be in. If you want to argue the legal issues, fine, but be warned my father is a lawyer. Also, I am planning to major for law in college and I have done quite the preparation. If you want to spend this time doing something else, be my guest.¡±

    The part about the law major was a lie, but Brandon was acting so confident it might as well be the truth.

    The girl and the second boy looked to the first boy, who was staring at Brandon. Brandon returned the glare. This was the benefit of living in a country like the United States. Words can be so much more powerful than physical strength. Judging from all the muscles on the boys, Brandon wouldn¡¯t be able to fight them off. Thankfully, he didn''t need to.

    The first boy backed off.

    ¡°Fine.¡± But before he left, he stared at Jaison again. His message was clear. This isn¡¯t over.

    The crowd started to disperse, somewhat in disappointment. Brandon turned and headed for the door. Jaison quickly caught up.

    ¡°You should¡¯ve sued them.¡± The younger Bai demanded. ¡°That will teach them a lesson.¡±

    Brandon sighed inside. His brother was a high school sophomore. He was two years under Brandon, but sometimes Brandon felt like his brother was behind him for more than just two years.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I told you. To teach them a lesson.¡±

    ¡°Why would I want that? I¡¯m not their parents or their teacher. It¡¯s not my duty to educate them.¡±

    ¡°But it will be really satisfying!¡±

    ¡°Yes. Satisfying. And what can I get beside satisfaction?¡± Brandon shrugged and the two reached an intersection. Brandon paused for three seconds and checked the traffic of the whole intersection before crossing. ¡°If I really sue them, it will ruin their lives.¡±

    ¡°Great!¡± Jaison¡¯s hatred for the three students was obvious.

    ¡°And chances are they¡¯ll come to us for retribution. What¡¯s the point? Why bring harm to ourselves for no reason at all?¡±

    Jaison tossed his hands into the air in frustration. He was more frustrated when his brother didn''t even see his gesture.

    ¡°But they¡¯re really bad people. They talk shit about a lot of my classmates behind their back. I once heard they call you a psychopath.¡±

    ¡°Ok.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean ok?¡±

    The two reached a crosswalk. It was a red light, but there weren¡¯t any cars coming. Jaison was about to cross when Brandon grabbed onto his arm and held him back. A few seconds wasn¡¯t worth risking his life.

    ¡°Brandon, did you hear what I say?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I did.¡± Brandon turned to his brother. ¡°Look. If a wild dog bites you, will you return the favor?¡±

    ¡°Uh...no?¡±

    ¡°Then why would you think exchanging punches with a bully is a good idea?¡± Brandon could see some bruises on Jaison. ¡°Those people are the very definition of cowards. They prey on those who are weak and shy away from those willing to stand their ground. If you allow yourself to be angered by them, you have dropped to their playing level. You need to learn to be unfazed by what they say.¡±

    That was when Jaison has had enough.

    ¡°Stop being so condescending! You¡¯re not in my class! Of course, they chose to back off when they saw a twelve grader! If you¡¯re put in my place, you won¡¯t be doing any better than I am! Don¡¯t act like you¡¯re any better than I am!¡±

    With that said, Jaison picked up the pace and sped down the road. Brandon stood in his track for a few seconds, silently going over what just happened. He quickly realized what he said might be too harsh for his brother. Then again, it wasn¡¯t exactly his fault.

    He only said what he thought was right. There¡¯s no fault in that. It wasn¡¯t his problem his brother couldn¡¯t handle it.

    <hr>

    Jaison ran straight home. His parents were away at work, but lucky, he had the keys to their family¡¯s house. As soon as he entered, he tossed his bag on the ground and ran straight down to the basement.

    He heard his brother walking into the room and proceeding upstairs, but he didn''t really care.

    All that went through Jaison¡¯s mind was the bullies. Mark. Dicken. Jasmine. The trio was like a gang in the class. They backed off today, but they would only be more aggressive when he goes back to class tomorrow.

    Jaison has had enough. Ever since day 1, the trio took pleasure in poking fun at him. He tried Brandon¡¯s approach. He really did. But after a few days of keeping a straight face, he finally decided he would stop being the victim. As he fought back, the trio took more pleasure in insulting him.

    Jaison didn''t know what he was looking for in the basement, but he did know he needed something he could fight back with.

    The basement was filled with random things. Some of these items dated back to decades ago since the Bai family has owned this house for a long long time. Once, Jaison¡¯s father found a pack of rats at a dark corner of the basement. The animals managed to live freely for years.

    Jaison¡¯s eyes landed on an old baseball bat. He picked it up and weighed it, but he quickly frowned and put it down. It was a good weapon, but there was no way he could bring this into school campus without the trio seeing it.

    He would surely enjoy smashing one of the bullies in the head with the bat.

    Slingshot. That could come in handy...

    Wood nail. If he could put this under Mark¡¯s seat...

    Suddenly, Jaison saw something. It was a pair of watches resting on an old wooden box. The watches were completely white, and there was just something about them that made Jaison¡¯s heart beat quicker. He walked over and picked one of them up.

    He ran his finger across the surface of the watch.

    The next second, Jaison¡¯s eyes went blank and lifeless. His body was still inside the basement, but his mind was at somewhere completely different.

    At this moment, Jaison found himself in the middle of what felt like a whole universe. There was no ground and there was no sky. He was just floating there in thin air. The boy suddenly panicked when he realized where he was, and that caused his mind to exit the universe and return to his body in the basement.

    ¡°Wow!¡± Subconsciously, Jaison wanted to toss the watch as far away as possible. But his logic returned. He has seen enough movies and tv shows to know this is usually how the main character gets sudden power.

    Maybe there is something with this watch that can give him the power to deal with the bullies in the right way?

    Jaison tapped on the watch again. This time, he felt a gentle pull from the watch on his mind, and he allowed the pull to do its job.

    His mind entered that universe again. This time, Jaison did his best not to panic. His choice was correct. He managed to stay floating in the universe.

    ¡°Nice!¡± Jaison gave himself a slight pat on the back before looking around. Perhaps it was because he was no longer limited by his physical body, but he could see anything in the universe, no matter how far away it was.

    There was a layer of fog that covered most, if not all, of the universe, but there was still a small area of open space. While it was no more than the size of a classroom, Jaison was happy to find out it wasn¡¯t empty.

    The first item he saw was what he could only describe as an armor. Just like the watch, the armor was white from top to bottom. A small screen was on its left arm. Jaison waved his hand, and the armor flew over. The boy ran his fingers along the surface of the armor as his eyes lit up in amazement. He tapped the chest of the armor, which snapped open, revealing an empty slot.

    If only he could take it out of wherever this is into the real world. Jaison thought quietly as he circled around the gadget. This armor would make him kick ass. Unfortunately, he didn''t think it was possible. That was when a strange message suddenly entered his mind. As if he was guided by a mysterious force, he tapped on the armor again.

    He felt something weighing down on his body. As he left the watch universe, he found something that made him want to scream in excitement.

    The white armor was not only outside the watch. It was also on him.

 Chapter 2: An Unexpected Approach

    Meanwhile, on the second floor, Brandon was working on a piece of fiction. It wasn¡¯t exactly one of New York Times Best Sellers, but it has still managed to earn him a few bucks. It would make him some more bucks if only one tenth of the followers could give him a dollar per month.

    Suddenly, with the corner of his eye, he saw a figure coming up the stairs. For a moment he thought he was having hallucinations. The stairs were made of wood, and they were older than he was. Even if a cat was to sneak up, it would raise quite the screeches. There was no way a humanoid figure could come up without putting any pressure on the stairs.

    But when the white figure was in front of him, he could only admit his eyes were better than he thought.

    ¡°What the¡­Jaison, is that you?¡± Brandon¡¯s hand was already on the emergency calling button on his phone. He didn''t know his brother had interest in cosplay, but if it wasn¡¯t his brother, then he was in some big trouble.

    Fortunately, the mask of the helmet suddenly flashed and seemingly disappeared, revealing Jaison¡¯s familiar face.

    ¡°Jaison...what is this?¡± Not an intruder. Good. But Brandon wasn¡¯t exactly relaxed. He had no idea how the mask disappeared. As far as he knew, his brother didn''t have the technology to make that happen.

    ¡°Brandon, look what I¡¯ve found!¡± Jaison¡¯s excitement could barely be held back. ¡°This is an armor! And this came from this watch! You won¡¯t believe it¡­¡±

    ¡°Ok ok. Start from the beginning.¡± Brandon frowned. He wanted to know what happened as well, and Jaison spitting out random things wasn¡¯t helping. Finally, his brother calmed down and told Brandon the whole story, from him going down to the basement to him receiving the armor.

    Brandon¡¯s face was blank. Unlike his brother, he wasn¡¯t nearly as excited.

    ¡°You said there were two watches.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Jaison tossed the other one over without any hesitation. He knew the other watch might include similar gadgets as well, but he didn''t find the need to keep it from Brandon. After all, they were family.

    Brandon tapped his watch and allowed his mind to be taken away. Seconds later, an armor covered him as well. But Brandon¡¯s eyes didn''t open immediately. Jaison watched as a white handle and a white gun appeared in Brandon¡¯s hands.

    Brandon¡¯s eyes snapped open. He tapped the handle, which transformed into a white blade.

    ¡°Cool!¡± Jaison exclaimed as he searched his own watch. He quickly came up with similar discoveries.

    ¡°These are weapons. Systematically manufactured weapons.¡± Brandon flipped the gun and the sword around, checking ever detail for clues. ¡°This is bad. This is terrible.¡±

    ¡°What? Bad? Why?¡±

    ¡°Because someone made these weapons. Someone so powerful they can store so many things in a tiny watch.¡± Brandon was already sweating as he realized the implications. ¡°Who are they? Where are they? Will they want these gadgets back? We have never heard of them before, which means they want to keep their presence a secret. What will they do with us?¡±

    Jaison smirked.

    ¡°Who cares? You worry too much. I found it in our basement and it has been there for at least twenty years, judging from the dust on it. If it belongs to someone else, why haven¡¯t they retrieved it already?¡±

    ¡°We should report this to the government.¡± Brandon quickly concluded as he put everything back into the watch.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I said we should report this to the government.¡±

    ¡°Are you crazy?¡± Jaison almost thought his brother has gone mad. ¡°These are things that are either from aliens or from the future! Why would we give them away?¡±

    ¡°Because we can¡¯t keep them.¡± The older brother was as calm as always. ¡±Unless we can keep this as a secret forever, there will always be people that want to take these things from us. Like you said, they¡¯re technology way superior than what we have. The government doesn¡¯t even let kids like us gave guns. Do you think they will let us keep two futuristic sets of military equipment?¡±

    ¡°But...but...but this is our chance to be iron man or green lantern or something! In real life!¡± Jaison wasn¡¯t ready to give it up. ¡°If anyone wants my watch, I will fight them off!¡±

    ¡°Really? Fight them off?¡± Brandon smirked as if he just heard the funniest joke in the world. ¡°With a piece of armor, a gun, and a sword? How long do you think you can stand against the Army or the National Guard? Actually, never mind them. A squad of SWAT can take you down.¡±

    ¡°Then we keep our identities secret! No one ever found out who Batman really is!¡±

    ¡°Oh for god¡¯s sake, don¡¯t bring movies into this conversation.¡± Brandon didn''t even want to describe how Batman¡¯s real identity would be discovered in a few weeks if it was in real life. The only reason no one saw who he was was because of plot armor, and he didn''t think he had the same layer of defense. The white armor felt powerful, but it wasn¡¯t quite at the level of the legendary plot armors. ¡°If we use these weapons, it will only be a matter of time before we are exposed. And if we keep them, we will be tempted to use them.¡±If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°Then what?¡± Jaison groaned as he returned the gadgets into his watch. ¡°We just call 911 and give my discovery to them?¡±

    ¡°Well, we can make a deal with the government and get something in exchange. Money. Privilege.¡± Brandon shrugged. ¡°But whatever it is, we need to tell mom and dad.¡±

    ¡°What? Why?¡±

    ¡°We need a lawyer and I have never had experience with dealing with the government. Also, it¡¯s not like we can keep this a secret forever.¡± Brandon declared. ¡°Meanwhile, don¡¯t mess with the watch. I don¡¯t want to see any extra issue pop up.¡±

    Jaison growled and returned to his room with his watch still on him. He shut the door and collapsed onto his bed. As he rested, he suddenly felt a wave of anger toward Brandon. Why does he get to tell him what to do about something he discovered? Jaison went to Brandon in good faith, but instead his opinion was ignored and he was bossed around.

    His eyes landed on his watch. For his entire life, Jaison has been nobody. He was 16, but he has never had a girlfriend. He didn''t have any close friend either. The most frequent thing his parents did was compare him with his much more high achieving brother. He failed at school, and he had no plans for the future, much to the disgust of his parents.

    This might be the only chance he has at getting something great done.

    And his brother just ruined it.

    <hr>

    Three hours later, Mr. and Mrs. Bai returned home.

    Mr. Bai was a lawyer. His wife was a doctor. It was almost the perfect match. As a result, neither Brandon nor Jaison had to worry about money much. Their parents have already promised to pay the tuition to whatever university they end up going to.

    ¡°Hello boys!¡± Mr. Bai declared as soon as he entered.

    ¡°Dad.¡± But Brandon was already waiting in front of the door. ¡°I need to tell you something.¡±

    The parents exchanged a confused look.

    ¡°What is it? You can tell us anything.¡±

    They obviously thought Brandon did something wrong and decided to come forward with it. This was a surprise, but it shouldn¡¯t be. Brandon was a teenager, and teenagers make mistakes.

    Brandon didn''t know what was going on inside the mind of his parents. He got straight to the point as he raised his watch.

    ¡°Basically, Jaison found two watches in the basement. We found a lot of things inside. High tech gadgets. Weapons. We should call the authority quickly¡­¡±

    ¡°Wait wait wait. Hold on.¡± Mr. Bai frowned and cut his son off. ¡°What watch?¡±

    ¡°This watch.¡± Brandon glanced at the watch in his hand. ¡°The one in my hand.¡±

    ¡°Brandon¡­¡± Mrs. Bai spoke slowly and carefully. ¡°There¡¯s nothing in your hand¡­¡±

    ¡°What? But?¡± Brandon glanced at his parents and realized they were dead serious. He wisely pulled back and covered his retreat with a smile. ¡°Oh. Oops. You know...I was just joking¡­¡± He laughed drily before making a quick escape.

    Mr. and Mrs. Brandon looked at each other, wondering if they should bring their older son to see a therapist.

    <hr>

    Dinner went by quickly. The family ate in silence. Finally, Brandon had a few hours to himself. He locked himself in his room before setting his eyes on his watch.

    So, he and Jaison are the only two that could see the watch. Why? He didn''t know and he didn''t care. The fact was that he couldn¡¯t get rid of this burden.

    Yes. Burden. Jaison might think the watches are blessings or gifts, but Brandon knew they were factors he had little knowledge or control over. The best thing to do with things he couldn¡¯t control was get rid of them. Well, that¡¯s not happening anytime soon.

    Brandon knew everything has its price. The watches could make them real life superheroes, but who knows what the price would be?

    His family? His friends? His future? His life?

    If it was up to Brandon, he would rather never see the watches and get on with life. Going to university and getting a pHD was something he could control.

    But the watch was stuck with him.

    He didn''t know if the armors were invisible to others as well, but he knew it wouldn¡¯t matter. If he gave the gadgets inside the watch to the government, the government would ask where they came from. If he tells the truth, people would wonder why he and Jaison were the only ones that could see the watch. If that happens, the best-case scenario for them would be living under surveillance for who knows how long. The worst case? Being abducted, imprisoned, and studied on.

    Brandon opened the watch again. Ignoring it wasn¡¯t an option. If the watch would indeed bring him trouble, then he needed to be prepared. With that thought in mind, he started going over the content of the watch. He had no intention of using them in real life, ever, but he also wanted to make sure he could if he needed to.

    The set of plain white gadgets looked cool, but something told Brandon it wasn¡¯t complete. It took him a few minutes inside the watch to find what he was looking for. A red crystal. He placed it into his armor.

    As soon as that happened, his armor lit up in a mixture of red and white glare. Brandon, inside the armor, suddenly felt everything changing. All of a sudden, his armor seemed to be an extension of his body. A single thought from him caused a layer of red shield to appear around the armor. Sparkles of red energy moved from his armor to his body, making him temporarily faster and stronger. It also coursed around his veins, mending anything inside Brandon that was less than ideal.

    An interface appeared in front of Brandon. The man was surprised to see it was written in English.

    ¡°Protector Corps¡­¡± He read a header on the interface. He had no idea what it meant. Thankfully, he had more luck with the rest of the features. One of the interfaces showed a hologram projection of everything within a one kilometer radius. Brandon easily located his father, watching tv, his mother, on her phone, and his brother, watching a Youtube clip.

    His right hand tapped on his left wrist, which he knew was where the interface controller was. A few taps on the controller got Brandon into his mother¡¯s electronic device without her having the slightest clue. Wherever this armor came from, it was able to break through security systems on Earth without even the slightest delay.

    There were more functions, but Brandon quickly took his armor off and returned it to his watch. He told Jaison just the presence of the armor would tempt them to use it, and it was true. He needed to control himself. If he went overzealous, he might reveal the armor¡¯s presence to ill meaning individuals.

    Brandon didn''t tell his brother to explore the watch as he did. He believed he himself knew how and where the limit was, but Jaison didn''t. If he started to explore the power of the watches, it would only be a matter of time before he decides to put them to practical use.

 Chapter 3: The Dirvin Family

    The next day, Brandon and Jaison walked to school again.

    ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you¡¯re going to give me your watch.¡± Brandon glanced at the watch on his brother¡¯s arm.

    ¡°Nope.¡±

    ¡°Fine. You can keep it.¡± Brandon didn''t feel like he was in the position to demand his brother to give up the watch. After all, he himself kept the watch. Hiding the watch or leaving it behind was like knowing you¡¯re going to fail a test and refusing to study for it. It¡¯s the actions of a fool. Jaison should have the watch if anything goes wrong. ¡°But don¡¯t use it unless it¡¯s absolutely necessary. Don¡¯t even open it.¡±

    ¡°Yeah yeah. I heard you.¡± Jaison sighed.

    The two parted ways inside the school. Brandon went to his classroom, ready for another day of learning. Selena sat down beside him. She looked tired.

    ¡°I went to sleep at 12.¡± She exclaimed proudly as if sleep deprivation was a badge of honor.

    Brandon didn''t even look at her.

    A shade of anger crossed Selena¡¯s eyes as she turned to speak to her friends.

    Meanwhile, Jaison was having it much worse.

    His first period of class was PE. Unfortunately, he was in the same class as Mark and Dickon. More unfortunately, as Jaison stood in front of his locker and changed, his two enemies walked up to him.

    ¡°Where¡¯s big brother now? Sue me? Huh?¡± Mark provoked. He was obviously trying to start a fight. ¡°Get back to your pathetic family and get out of my country you Asian scum!¡±

    ¡°Wow wow.¡± Jaison tried his best to stay calm and do what Brandon told him to do. ¡±Look...back off now or I¡¯ll file a complaint to the school¡­¡±

    ¡°File this you fucker!¡± Mark suddenly stepped forward and punched Jaison in the face, knocking the man over. The students around them were shocked, but they didn''t do anything. Dickon looked concerned at the sudden aggression, but he didn''t try to top Mark either.

    There wasn¡¯t any PE teacher in the locker room.

    Mark punched Jaison in the stomach again. His eyes were red. It was obvious he didn''t really hate Jaison but was rather using him as a punching bag to let out his own anger. Jaison tried to put some distance between him and the enraged bully, but he failed.

    Another punch almost broke his glasses. As Jaison felt his glasses sliding back and hitting his eyelids, he realized he has had enough. He could¡¯ve been blinded for life!

    Jaison turned around and returned a punch. He was smaller and shorter than Mark, but just before his punch landed, a white layer of armor appeared around his fist. His fist landed on Mark¡¯s arm.

    Jaison was still aware of the situation enough to remove the armor as soon as he made contact to keep it a secret.

    Mark didn''t see the white armor in the middle of the chaos. When the punch landed, it wasn¡¯t the soft counterattack that he expected from someone as small as Jaison. It felt like a piece of rock was smashed into his arm. A loud cracking sound was followed by his pained scream.

    Finally, a PE teacher was notified and found his way into the locker room.

    ¡°Brandon! I need to see you for a second.¡±

    Inside Brandon¡¯s classroom, a teacher knocked on the door and demanded to see Brandon. The older brother frowned. His teacher was reaching a critical point in his lecture. He really didn''t want to leave. Still, in a wave of ¡°he¡¯s in trouble¡± jokes from his peers, Brandon quickly stood up and joined the teacher.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. You¡¯re not in trouble.¡± The teacher replied quietly. ¡°It¡¯s your brother. He got into a fight and injured a fellow student.¡±

    This made Brandon frown even more. On one hand, he wondered what this have to do with him. His job, his duty, here is to study. It is the role of the principal, the dean, and the counselors to deal with what happened in school. He was Jaison¡¯s brother, but so what? It shouldn¡¯t be his problem.

    He only continued going after he realized Jaison might have exposed the armor in the fight. If that was the case, he wanted to be the first to know.

    They walked into the dean¡¯s office, which was already getting crowded. Dean Jones and School Resource Officer Carls were present. Jaison was sitting in the room with his head lowered. He smiled slightly when he saw Brandon walking in.

    ¡°Mr. Bai.¡± Dean Jones spoke up. ¡°I have called you over because your brother was involved in a fight an hour ago. A student was injured. We are trying to find out what happened.¡±

    ¡°What can I do?¡±

    ¡°Helps us convince him to tell the truth.¡± Officer Carls stated rudely. ¡°I have already called your parents. They¡¯re on the way here. We would like to know what happened before that, and he¡¯s obviously not telling what really happened.¡± A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    ¡°I was telling the truth!¡± Jaison exclaimed. ¡°He attacked me first!¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°How should I know?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know who attacked first, but I know you broke that kid Mark¡¯s arm. Now, I suggest you come clean now. If you do that, I won¡¯t arrest you.¡±

    ¡°Wait wait wait. Hold up.¡± Brandon suddenly frowned. ¡°Officer Carls. Were you present?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°So you don¡¯t know what happened.¡± Brandon glanced at the Dean and the other teacher. ¡°What right do you have to say my brother¡¯s lying?¡±

    ¡°You are brought in to help, not cause more trouble.¡± Carls was obviously pissed off by Brandon¡¯s words. ¡°Either start helping or get out.¡±

    That was when Brandon realized Officer Carls was obviously biased. It was as if he was trying to put the blames on Jaison. He didn''t know why, but it was certainly a problem. He glanced at Dean Jones. If he could see the bias, then so could the dean. Why he didn''t do something was a good question.

    He turned to Jaison. ¡°Tell us what happened again. Don¡¯t be biased.¡±

    ¡°Ok. I was in my locker, changing, and Mark and Dickon walked up to me. Mark attacked me...¡±

    ¡°Bullshit!¡± Officer Carls cut him off. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not the victim¡¯s responsibility to figure out why he was attacked, officer. It¡¯s the responsibility of the authority. In other words, it¡¯s your job. Since you¡¯re obviously not doing it, please be quiet.¡±

    Carls stared at Brandon threateningly. Brandon didn''t back down. Carls might be a police officer with jurisdiction in the school, but this is a world with laws. As long as he does things by the book, he was safe.

    Jaison continued on. As he finished, Carls glanced at Jones. The dean sighed. He had to admit bringing Brandon in here was a terrible choice.

    When he first heard Mark was wounded in a fight, his immediate thought was punishing the other party. His reasoning was clear. Mark¡¯s father was a multimillionaire. Why he decided to send his only child to a public school was anyone¡¯s guess. Still, he has been generous enough to give both him and the resource officer some donation. It doesn¡¯t pay well to be a dean. In return, Jones made sure Mark could do whatever he wanted without repercussion.

    Now Mark has been beaten up. If Jones and Carls still wanted their yearly cash, they needed to make sure his attacker was properly punished.

    But they needed to do it quickly and quietly. If this went public, it would take a lot more than a dean and a resource officer to put this down. The best way to do that was to scare a confession out of Jaison before his parents arrive. When Jaison refused to give in, Jones came up with the brilliant idea of using his brother to convince him. Let¡¯s just say it didn''t go according to the plan.

    ¡°I am sure interviewing a few other students can verify the story. That boy, Dickon, sounds like the perfect choice. It¡¯s an easy case.¡± Brandon tilted his head as he pressed forward, forcing a response from the dean and the officer. ¡°It seems like what happened here is pretty clear.¡±

    ¡°Hold on a second.¡± Suddenly, the door to the room was opened, and a man in suit and tie walked in.

    ¡°Mr. Dirvin.¡± Dean Jones frowned inside.

    ¡°You must be Jaison.¡± The man didn''t even turn to the dean. Instead, he stared straight at Jaison. ¡°Let me introduce myself. My name is Henry Dirvin. I am the head of Dirvin Pharma. In case you were living under a rock for the past fourteen years, it¡¯s a multibillion dollar company. Mark is my son, and thanks to you, he¡¯s lying on a hospital bed right now.¡±

    ¡°Mark attacked my brother.¡± Brandon stood up fearlessly. ¡°That is a fact. If someone is indeed responsible for what happened, it¡¯s you.¡±

    ¡°Excuse me?¡± Henry couldn¡¯t believe his ears. Did this kid just accuse him? Doesn¡¯t he know who he is?

    ¡°Your failure in educating your son caused him to be a reckless bully who takes pleasure in hurting people. Also thanks to your influence, he was allowed to keep doing it without being punished. You¡¯re responsible for what happened.¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re one of my employees, I would make sure you go to prison.¡± The threat was obvious. Firing wasn¡¯t even good enough for him.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have anything to be afraid of. I have only spoken the truth.¡±

    Henry suddenly burst out laughing. ¡°Truth. Truth! Congrats! You have more spine than half of my employees.¡± He reached inside his pocket and took out a checkbook. ¡°Tell me, how much is your truth worth? Ten K? Twenty?¡±

    Brandon¡¯s expression didn''t change.

    ¡°Stop disgracing yourself, Mr. Dirvin.¡±

    The man¡¯s face turned red as the weight of the rejection sank in. How dare he? How dare a mere teenager talk to him like this? He¡¯s Henry Dirvin! He has enough money to buy down the school!

    ¡°This isn¡¯t over.¡± Henry declared as he turned and walked out of the room. He has had enough. Brandon frowned at the threat. He knew how wealthy Henry Dirvin is. If he says he would exact vengeance, then he would.

    The room was silent for a few minutes. Jones and Carls knew there was no way they could extract a confession out. The awkward silence ended when Mr. and Mrs. Bai walked in.

    In the end, both Brandon and Jaison went back to class. Officer Carls let both he and Mark off with a simple warning. Wise of him. If he did anything more, Mr. Bai would have a field day in taking him to court.

    <hr>

    Mr. Dirvin returned to his sportscar in fury. He slammed the door shut.

    ¡°Where to, boss?¡±

    ¡°Get me back to my house.¡± The man could barely keep himself from screaming at the innocent driver.

    The car drove for twenty minutes before coming to a stop at a luxurious mansion. Dirvin got off the car and walked through the door. There were multiple men in suit and armor across the mansion.

    ¡°Get me Frank.¡±

    ¡°Yes sir.¡±

    Frank was Dirvin¡¯s right hand man. Known for his brutal and reckless methods, he was really efficient in using whatever means necessary to get the job done. Once, he dealt with a medical lawsuit by kidnapping the opposer¡¯s daughter and forcing him to give up.

    Frank arrived at the mansion quickly. He knew who he was: a loyal dog to Dirvin. Without Dirvin, he was nobody. That was why he made sure to do whatever Dirvin ordered as quickly as possible.

    ¡°My son¡¯s beaten up at school.¡± Dirvin declared openly.

    Frank didn''t answer. He didn''t know what his boss wanted. Mark was beaten up at school? It¡¯s not like Dirvin cared about his son. Hell, he beats his son on a weekly basis.

    ¡°I don¡¯t care about that boy, but I really don¡¯t like being disrespected, much less by a high school student. If my competitors hear about it, they might think I¡¯m getting weak.¡± Dirvin smashed his fist on the table. ¡°What happened requires retribution. There is a student at Killian High School. Asian. Name¡¯s Jaison. Find out everything about his family and do what you can to destroy it.¡±

    ¡°Yes sir.¡± Frank nodded and left without a single extra word. This wouldn¡¯t be the first time he commits a crime for his boss. Plus, he wouldn¡¯t necessarily be committing a crime. In a lot of cases, the power of money and influence could legally ruin someone¡¯s life.

 Chapter 4: Under Siege

    Brandon sat on his bed. He was reaching inside his watch. The fog in the watch remained, covering most of the content inside. Brandon tried to tap the fog and felt himself being bounced back.

    It has been days since the incident with Jaison. After what happened, Jaison seemed to be much more respectful to Brandon. In fact, it was as if he was admiring his older brother. Brandon didn''t think much of it. He only did what he, as a brother, should do. That¡¯s it.

    In the meantime, Brandon has continued to explore the contents in the watch. He has managed to make quite the discovery. For instance, he learned that it was possible to shift the form of the sword and the gun with just his mind. The handgun could also be a sniper rifle. The sword could be a dagger as well as a spear. In alternate modes, the firepower and function of the weapons vary. The science behind this was way beyond his understanding.

    He has also dug deeper into the interface. It took him a day to find out there was an AI in the interface that could help him utilize the interface better. Brandon simply called it Alpha Interface. He never cared for using fancy names.

    Brandon¡¯s watch included 3 orange crystals and 15 red crystals. After a few tests, he realized orange crystals contained much more energy than their red counterparts. They lasted longer when placed in weapons and armors.

    Aside from the set of gadgets, Brandon also found a lot of strange items. Whoever the previous owner of the watch was, he was a world traveler. Some of the items were obviously useful while others weren¡¯t as much.

    The sound of the garage door opening caused Brandon to exit his watch and go downstairs. His parents must be back, which meant it was time to help make dinner.

    When he reached the door between the garage and the house, he was slightly taken back as her mom entered, obviously distraught. He didn''t need to have an artifical intelligence to see that.

    ¡°Mom? You alright?¡± He frowned. As a child, it was his duty to help his parents however he could.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± Mrs. Bai bit her lips. Moments ago, she was fired by the hospital she worked in for a bullshit reason. She has worked there for over a decade, and as of a few hours, she was officially jobless. The transition from a member of the middle class to one looking for job wasn¡¯t easy. Of course, she would never tell her children that.

    Brandon¡¯s frown darkened, but he didn''t press forward. If his mother didn''t think it was best to tell him, then pressing forward couldn¡¯t do much. He changed the topic.

    ¡°Do you know if dad¡¯s coming home soon?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t¡­I don¡¯t know. But it shouldn¡¯t be long. I¡¯ll get the food ready. I don¡¯t feel like making food today so I¡¯ll probably just heat up some leftovers from yesterday.¡±

    ¡°Ok.¡± Brandon could see his mom wanted some time along, so he nodded obediently and walked upstairs to his room. As soon as he got to a private environment, he armed himself with the white arm pieces. He tapped the one with the mini-computer.

    ¡°Alpha, hack into my mom¡¯s phone and find out what happened today.¡±

    Brandon knew, just like his weapons, the computer probably could be controlled by his mind as well, but as of the moment he wasn¡¯t able to clearly convey a complicated idea to the computer without using words. It was one thing to imagine an axe. It was another to pose a detailed mission.

    Given the order, the mini-computer jumped into action. It might be the size of an index card, but it was stronger than any supercomputer on the planet. It punched through Mrs. Bai¡¯s phone¡¯s firewall and searched through every bit and piece of information and device contained. The AI automatically got rid of the unrelated data, combined those related, and formulated a response.

    ¡°Your mother has just being fired by the Howard Hospital for violating health and safety codes. Wait...there¡¯s something else.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Two seconds ago, your family¡¯s bank account has just made a transfer. $500,000 was moved to an alternate account without the approval or knowledge of your parents.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Brandon¡¯s eyes went wide open. That $500,000 was most of his family¡¯s savings. Unlike most Americans, his parents believed it would be wiser to save money rather than blow them away on useless pleasures. That money was the product of a decade of sweat and tear. Who could¡¯ve done such a thing?

    If his parents found out, it would be a heavy blow.

    ¡°Can you track the account the money is sent to?¡±

    ¡°Affirmative.¡±

    Ok. Brandon took a slight breath of relief. At least he wasn¡¯t completely useless against what just happened. Now that he had a few seconds to think, he realized something. There was no way all these bad news just came in at once by chance.

    There¡¯s someone behind this...someone that wanted to rip his family apart.

    ¡°I need to find my father.¡± Mr. Bai was a lawyer. In a situation like this, he was the perfect person to deal with the unknown adversary. Even with his watch, Brandon didn''t even consider the idea of stepping in himself. It was one thing to hack into his mother¡¯s account. It was another to take down a foe. Like he told Jaison, he didn''t want the wrong people to know what he could do.

    ¡°Alpha, call my father. Use my phone.¡±

    Alpha took control of Brandon¡¯s iPhone, which was lying on his table. The phone switched to speaker mode and started dialing his father¡¯s phone.

    The dial continued, but there was no response.

    ¡°Alpha¡­¡± Brandon was just about to issue another order when someone picked up the phone. ¡°Dad! Listen to me¡­¡±

    ¡°This is Officer Carrie Thornwood.¡± You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    ¡°What¡­¡± Brandon felt like he needed to stop being so easily surprised, but he just couldn¡¯t help it. He considered himself above most teenagers his age, but with everything that has happened, even he wasn¡¯t able to keep a solid face.

    ¡°What is your relationship with Mr. Jonathan Bai?¡±

    ¡°Uh...he¡¯s my father.¡± Brandon gestured toward his phone. It was meant for Alpha. Just as he hoped, Alpha understood what he wanted. It quickly got into the public website of the Chicago Police Department and looked up the name. There was indeed a match. Seeing the green check on the interface, Brandon turned back to the phone.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Is he ok?¡±

    ¡°Not so much. Your father has been involved in a traffic accident. He is being brought to the Howard Hospital right now via ambulance. I¡¯m sorry to inform you that.¡±

    ¡°Ok...we¡¯ll be on our way.¡± Brandon quietly ended the call. For a moment, he was really panicking. His father was in life threatening situation. His mother has lost her job, and his family was practically out of money. He acted tough in front of the school dean and resource officer, but he was, in the end, a high school student. He had no experience with situations like this.

    His eyes laid on the watch on his right wrist...

    Perhaps he might not be so hopeless after all.

    Brandon quickly ran out of his room and informed his family. Well, the rest of his family. Within five minutes, they were in a car, heading for Howard Hospital.

    <hr>

    ¡°The patient¡¯s situation has stabilized, but he needs immediate surgery.¡±

    Thanks to Mrs. Bai¡¯s familiarity with the hospital that has just fired her, the trio was able to reach the surgery room minutes after they parked their car.

    Brandon let out a small smile when he heard the good news.

    ¡°Well, then get him in surgery.¡± Mrs. Bai urged. She was in the doctor mode already. Hours of being jobless couldn¡¯t wipe out decades¡¯ of habit. She knew in a situation like this one, even minutes were precious.

    The nurse looked down, almost out of guilt.

    ¡°You need to pay the money first. You already owe the hospital the cost of the emergency treatment.¡±

    Mrs. Bai was taken back, paralyzed in shock. When she was the one bearing white, she would never demand a patient¡¯s family to pay before she operates on the patient. But she knew arguing could only lead to more time wasted. The nurse wasn¡¯t the one making the call anyways. She quickly left her children and ran toward the front desk with her debit card in hand.

    It took Brandon a few seconds to remember his family¡¯s bank account was just recently emptied. His expression suddenly turned ice cold. There was no doubt the one that hacked the bank account was also the one that got his father into the traffic accident. This was all part of his plan.

    Whoever it was behind the scheme wanted Brandon¡¯s father dead.

    Maybe that person was the reason these medical personnel insisted on payment before treatment. The mastermind knew they wouldn¡¯t be able to pay.

    The teenager¡¯s fist closed. Who would do such a thing? He didn''t think he had any noteworthy enemy, and neither should Jaison. Maybe it was someone with a personal grudge against his father? Lawyers don¡¯t get the best reputation.

    ¡°Look,¡± Mrs. Bai ran back. Panic was on her face. ¡°Something went wrong with my bank account...but I promise you, I will pay the money! Just perform the surgery first!¡±

    The nurse sighed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, madame, I really am, but it¡¯s not my decision to make.¡±

    ¡°I work here!¡± Mrs. Bai suddenly slammed her fist into the wall. ¡°I have worked here for twenty years, and I have never turned a patient away just because there was something off with his bank account! Perform the surgery now!¡±

    ¡°Madame, I will need you to calm down.¡± A security guard walked up from behind and touched his baton threateningly.

    Brandon knew a fight here wouldn¡¯t help anyone, so he held onto his mother and pulled her to a chair on the side. He turned to Jaison, who has been observing this entire event unfold in silence.

    ¡°I need to go to the bathroom. Watch mom and make sure she doesn¡¯t do anything stupid.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Jaison was confused, but Brandon was done explaining. He quickly left his family and headed into the hospital¡¯s bathroom. He entered a compartment, locked the door, and started to whisper to Alpha Interface.

    ¡°Alpha, give me a list of the items in my watch¡­¡±

    <hr>

    When Brandon left the bathroom, he was in white armor from top to bottom, not that anyone would see it. The armor cloaked him. He could still be touched, but visually, he didn''t exist.

    Just one of the many tricks the armor had.

    Brandon walked past his mother, who was arguing with the nurse. Jaison placed himself between the security guard and his pissed off parent. But Brandon didn''t stop for them. He opened the door slightly and slipped into the surgery room.

    Jaison rose an eyebrow when he saw the door opened and closed without anyone touching it, but his attention was quickly dragged back to the heated situation.

    A surgeon and two nurses were inside the surgery room, but Brandon wasn¡¯t here for them. His eyes quickly landed on the man on the bed.

    ¡°Dad¡­¡±

    Brandon could feel his heart shivering. Ever since he could remember things, his father has being standing tall like an oak. No matter how heavy the storm was, he could always react calmly and protect his children. Deep down, Brandon sought to become someone like that. Someone who wouldn¡¯t drop a sweat in the worst situation.

    Now the oak has fallen.

    Doesn¡¯t matter. I will take care of you now.

    Brandon¡¯s took out a tranquilizer from his watch and shot all three in the room. Of course. This wasn¡¯t the medieval ages. Already, Brandon¡¯s AI has found its way into the security network of the hospital, altering the surveillance footage of this room.

    When his tracks were covered, Brandon finally knelt down beside his father. He took out a green potion and slipped it into Jonathan Bai¡¯s mouth.

    At first, nothing seemed to have happened. Good. Brandon would do anything for his parents, but he realized if his father suddenly went from dying to perfectly healthy, questions would rise. The potion was designed to slowly heal a person. His father¡¯s return to health would still be surprising, but it wouldn¡¯t be an impossible miracle.

    That¡¯s the best for everyone.

    Brandon dragged the surgeon and the nurses to three chairs and laid them down. Half a minute later, the surgeon was the first to wake up.

    ¡°Oh my¡­¡± He was speechless toward himself. Falling asleep inside a surgery room was one of the most severe acts of negligence. Plus, the last thing he remembered was standing up. But he didn''t have much time to think. His eyes quickly landed on the computer screen with the statistics of the patient.

    ¡°That¡¯s...odd¡­Kim! Julie! Wake up! Wake up!¡±

    But Brandon didn''t have the time to deal with all the commotion. He walked out the surgery room and walked by his family. When he was going by Jaison, he paused and whispered.

    ¡°Jaison, tell mom I have to go somewhere. It¡¯s an emergency. Do whatever you have to do without me.¡±

    Jaison turned around and found nothing.

    ¡°Brandon?¡±

    ¡°Do it.¡± Brandon didn''t leave any room for question as he left his confused brother.

    What he did wasn¡¯t perfect. In fact, it had countless flaws. The surgeon and the nurses were definite loose ends. But this was the best he could do. If he was given sufficient time, he might be able to formulate a better time, but his father was dying. Taking some risk for the man who raised him and took care of him for nearly two decades was worth it.

    As he walked, Brandon clutched his fist.

    His father was safe, but this wasn¡¯t over.

    Someone wanted to destroy his family, and there¡¯s no way in hell he would let that go unpunished.

 Chapter 5: Siege Broken

    ¡°Mark. Get your ass over here.¡±

    Inside the Dirvin mansion, Henry Dirvin was sitting on a large leather sofa. His son was in front of him. The teenager that provoked Jaison into a fight looked like a bunny in front of his father. He still had plaster on his arm and leg. Even the slightest movement hurt like hell. But his father didn''t give a damn. Mark knew that as well as he slowly sat down beside Henry.

    ¡°Yes father?¡±

    ¡°Son, I need to tell you something.¡± Henry glanced at Mark and was happy to saw the fear and pain on his face. ¡°I¡¯m extremely disappointed by you.¡±

    Mark gulped.

    ¡°Really? Fighting a fellow student? Not only so, you lost? You pathetic bastard! What did I tell you about losing? What?!¡±

    ¡°Losing is never an option, sir.¡± Mark could barely contain his fear. In comparison, the pain on his arm and leg felt like nothing.

    ¡°Yes. Losing is never an option.¡± Henry looked at the plasters. ¡°If you are not crippled already, I will cripple you myself. Of course, crippling is better than what I have planned for the boy that beat you up.¡±

    Mark¡¯s eyes widened as he realized what his father was saying.

    ¡°The boy that beat you up...he made you look bad. By doing that, he made me look bad. And his brother¡­¡± Henry¡¯s anger could barely be contained as he recalled to the mocking look Brandon gave him. ¡°I will take everything away from them. Their family. Their fortune. Their future. I will see to it that they come to me, begging for mercy!¡±

    Beside him, Mark was already shaking. He even felt a sense of pity for Jaison and Brandon. To be honest, back in school, he only got into a fight with Jaison because at home, his father treated him so badly that he needed to let off some anger. He had no personal grudge against Jaison. Hearing that he would pay such a price for just defending himself even made Mark flinch. But the boy didn''t do anything, not even protest. He knew his father. When dealing with most people and things, his father was like a king. What he says is the law. More importantly, he had the power and the influence to back it up.

    ¡°I am telling you this,¡± Henry went on despite the turbulence that was going on in his son¡¯s heart. ¡°because I will die eventually, and when I do, you will be my hier. It¡¯s about time to teach you the real business.¡±

    ¡°You mean committing crimes?¡± Mark wanted to kick himself in the leg as soon as the words left his mouth. Would it kill to just listen?

    ¡°I mean doing whatever has to be done to reach your goal. If it means killing, then so be it. Frank!¡±

    Frank walked in.

    ¡°Mark, you know Frank. From now on, you don¡¯t need to go to school anymore. You will work with Frank to learn how to get things done for real.¡±

    Mark gulped again. He wanted to protest. He really do. The only reason he went to high school was because he insisted on it. To him, school was the only place where he could be safe from his father¡¯s whips and belts. But he was too afraid to say a word.

    Frank nodded.

    ¡°As for the Bai family...tell our friends in the CPD to take the older brother in. Drug dealing sounds like a fit crime for that arrogant kid...¡± Henry smiled as he imagined what Brandon¡¯s response would be like when he was charged for drug dealing. One thing for sure. He would no longer be so righteous.

    Mark lowered his head in guilt. Frank nodded again. Have a few dirty cops hide a bag of heroin in a teenager¡¯s bedroom shouldn¡¯t be that hard.

    ¡°Four lives for one argument? Is it worth it?¡±

    All three men in the room turned around at the source of the voice and found themselves staring at a white figure. The figure¡¯s face was covered, but his voice sounded familiar.

    ¡°You!¡±

    ¡°Yes. Me.¡± Brandon opened the helmet¡¯s mask, revealing his face. ¡°Is it worth it?¡±

    ¡°How did you get in here?¡± Frank glanced at the security cameras. He knew there would be at least two security guards on the other end. It would just be a matter of time before a swarm of armed men charge in and press this white figure to the ground.

    ¡°Through the front door. By the way, I disabled the cameras.¡± Brandon tilted his head. His voice was ice cold as he turned to Henry.

    ¡°There is no matter of life and death between us, and yet you want to destroy my family. Why?¡±

    Suddenly, Frank pulled out a handgun from his holster and took aim at Brandon¡¯s face.

    ¡°According to the Stand Your Ground law, I can shoot you right now.¡±

    ¡°I am unarmed. I pose no threat to you.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll see about that.¡± Frank smirked as he put more and more pressure on the trigger. Henry sat back in his sofa and didn''t move. He wanted to drag this process out, but somehow the boy was able to hear everything. He must be silenced.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Mark suddenly spoke up. Frank paused as the boy turned to Henry. ¡°Please, dad! We can¡¯t just kill him! I can convince him to stay silent about this¡­¡±

    He didn''t finish because his father slapped him across the face.

    ¡°Listen to me, son.¡± He grabbed onto Mark¡¯s hair and yanked him up. ¡°This is how life works. It¡¯s kill or be killed. You can either accept this and embrace it, or you can end up like that idiot over there.¡± He nodded at Frank.

    Frank pulled the trigger.

    Bang!

    Mark closed his eyes and felt himself shaking, but after a few seconds, he still didn''t hear the sound of the boy¡¯s body hitting the ground. He slowly opened his eyes.

    In front of him, Brandon¡¯s head didn''t even move. The bullet exited Frank¡¯s gun and was immediately stopped by an invisible layer of shield in front of Brandon¡¯s seemingly bare face.

    ¡°Just because you can¡¯t see something doesn¡¯t mean it doesn¡¯t exist.¡± When Brandon¡¯s mask disappeared, he didn''t really take it off. The mask merely cloaked itself. It was still there, and it effectively deflected the handgun bullet.

    ¡°What the¡­¡± But Frank didn''t know what it was. The boy just shrugged off a bullet with his face! What in the world is he? Stolen story; please report.

    Brandon didn''t give him any more chance to fire as he punched the man in the face. Frank wasn¡¯t defenseless either, but as he raised his arm in an attempt to deflect the punch, he felt a huge wave of strength smashing into him, sending him falling onto the ground on his back.

    The victor turned to Henry.

    ¡°I did some research on the way in. Dirvin Pharma is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the country. It is worth billions.¡± He looked around. ¡°You and your family live in the best houses in the country. You can get whatever you want. But instead of using this power to do what you¡¯re supposed to do, you are using it to sabotage people that you have a grudge with.¡±

    ¡°So what?¡± Henry replied as he tried his hardest to push the panic button on his phone. It should alert the CPD and dispatch a SWAT team to this location in twenty minutes. All he had to do was buy some time. ¡°This is capitalism, kid. I have money, so I have power, so I have the right to do whatever I want!¡±

    ¡°You are also a member of this society!¡± Brandon didn''t back down. ¡°You profit off this society, which means you also have the duty to abide by this society¡¯s rules and laws!¡±

    ¡°Ha!¡± Henry suddenly smirked. ¡°Really? Who told you that? Your lawyer father or your doctor mother? The laws and duties are only for the poor! Go on! It has been like this since the Civil War! There¡¯s a reason why the poor are sent to die in droves when the rich can find substitutes with a few bucks! This is the world of the rich, boy! Call the police on me! I can have an army of lawyers by my side in an hour!¡±

    ¡°An army of lawyers can¡¯t help you!¡± Brandon tapped several keys on his interface and pulled up a series of documents in hologram. ¡°What you did to my family isn¡¯t the first time you did something like this, is it? I have evidence proving that your pharmacy has published medicines that you knew were damaging to the users! This is against every rule in your industry! How do you think the public will respond? I can make your business empire collapse right now.¡±

    Henry suddenly grinned wickedly.

    ¡°You know what? I have been doing this for twenty years! Do you really think you were the first to find this out? Others have. Reporters. FDA agents. My own employees. But why haven¡¯t you heard anything about them?¡±

    Brandon bit his lips.

    ¡°Because I silenced them all! As you said, the Dirvin Pharma is worth billions. Just one percent of that is enough to buy all the major news networks and half the CPD! In fact, half of those people themselves were bought. As for the rest, well, it¡¯s pretty hard to expose me from six feet beneath the ground. So, by all means, go on. Send out the evidence. In the end, the police will come, but not for me.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible!¡± Brandon turned to his interface and started typing in commands. Henry merely sat back, unworried. Finally, Brandon received an answer that made him shake in fury.

    Everything that Henry said was true.

    Before he came here, Brandon traced the bank account his family¡¯s money was brought to to Frank, and then finally to Henry. At first, he couldn¡¯t believe it. Henry Dirvin is a businessman worth billions! Even if he¡¯s not all that respectable, he shouldn¡¯t be the kind that would murder people in cold blood either. Unfortunately, he was completely wrong.

    After that, his plan was still decent. Hack into the Dirvin network, extract all the evidence needed, confront Henry Dirvin, and force him to turn himself in. Whatever government agency that follows this case up will no doubt return the Bai family what was taken away from them.

    But now, his entire plan was scratched. Henry¡¯s influence was beyond his imagination. Just like he said, the power of money was near infinite. It was enough to convince a few people to deceive the entire society.

    ¡°Of course, now that I have seen what you can do, I feel like we can make a compromise.¡± Henry¡¯s eyes laid on Brandon¡¯s interface. He didn''t know what it was, but he did know it was able to access highly encrypted material with ease. If he could get his hands on that technology and use it on his adversaries...he wasn¡¯t a random boy with no backing. With his money and power, he could make sure the filths of his opponent be delivered to every corner of the world.

    ¡°Work for me, and I will forget about all your transgressions. Your family¡¯s saving will be returned. Your mom will get her job back. I can pay you a seven-digit yearly salary.¡±

    Brandon suddenly sighed.

    ¡°You know...I really didn''t want to do this. After all, this is not my responsibility as a citizen.¡± He suddenly knelt down and picked up Frank¡¯s handgun. ¡°But then again, it is my responsibility as a son and a brother to protect my family from people like you...at all cost!¡±

    He raised the handgun. Seconds later, a body hit the ground.

    <hr>

    Brandon returned to the hospital, where his family was resting. Mrs. Bai chastised him for quite a while for abandoning the family at this time of distress, but eventually, Brandon was able to turn the focus of the room to his father.

    Mr. Bai looked much better. He was still on a bed, but he looked much more cheerful. He even made a few jokes with Brandon and Jaison about how even a car couldn¡¯t kill him.

    ¡°The doctors have no idea what happened! They say it¡¯s a miracle or something¡­¡± Mr. Bai joked. ¡°although I heard a couple of nurses wonder why a lawyer who helps criminals go free is the one receiving the miracle.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure you deserve it.¡± Brandon did his best to put up a smile. He wasn¡¯t a fan of smiling. It was exhausting and mostly fake. But now, he was willing to do anything to make his father happy. If it meant putting up an act, then so be it.

    Mrs. Bai went on complaining. She wasn¡¯t normally the type of person that would talk endlessly about how unfortunate she was, but the woman has been through a lot in the past 6 hours.

    ¡°Half an hour ago, the money in our bank account came back. I knew it was some damn glitch! I should sue the bank after this!¡±

    Beside him, as he listened to the story, Brandon¡¯s eyes twitched. He had to hack into the bank account, bring the money back, and then erase all abnormal traces.

    Of course, that was just one of the many things he did.

    A distance away, a TV was playing NBC news.

    ¡°Breaking news! An hour ago, over three hundred files of evidence on illegal activities done by the Dirvin Pharma has been forcibly posted on all the major websites on the internet, including Google, Twitter, and Youtube. They include evidence that tie the head of Dirvin Pharma, Henry Dirvin, with over a dozen murder cases, as well as the fact that he has knowledge of the damage caused by the products of his company, including the infamous AHF1, but has refused to take action.¡±

    ¡°Henry Dirvin has been taken by the CPD from his mansion in Southern Chicago. Reporters say he seems to have passed out. He was found in the same room with his son, Mark Dirvin, and his employee, Frank Curbs. Mr. Curbs has passed out as well. Mark Dirvin was the only person awake, but he hasn¡¯t said a word to the media.¡±

    ¡°NBC news will follow up the story.¡±

    Neither Mr. nor Mrs. Bai paid any attention to the seemingly random news. They were too busy appreciating how everyone was safe. Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t the same with Jaison Bai.

    Jaison pulled Brandon to the side.

    ¡°Where did you go?¡±

    Brandon frowned. The smile he put up for his family disappeared in an instant. ¡°I don¡¯t want to talk about this.¡±

    ¡°You went to deal with the Dirvin family, didn''t you? Are they the ones that targeted us? Don¡¯t look at me like that. I¡¯m not stupid!¡±

    ¡°All you need to know is this matter is over.¡±

    But Jaison wasn¡¯t nearly satisfied.

    ¡°Why didn''t you tell me anything about this? We¡¯re brothers! Hell I found the watch you¡¯re using right now! I deserve to know what you¡¯re doing!¡±

    ¡°You had no need to know!¡± Brandon realized his brother was serious in this matter. ¡°I knew I could¡¯ve done this quietly, and I did...¡±

    ¡°And you think I will mess everything up? Is that why you told me to keep my hands off my watch when you are using it to literally play hero and fight crime? Do you think you know better? You¡¯re so hypocritical!¡±

    ¡°It is my duty as an older brother to protect you¡­¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need protection!¡± Jaison was almost screaming. A few nurses and patients looked at him in dissatisfaction. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t even be standing here if it wasn¡¯t for me!¡±

    The two were silent for a few seconds as they got ahold of themselves.

    Finally, Jaison started again.

    ¡°Henry Dirvin. Why isn¡¯t he dead.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the government¡¯s job to punish the criminals. I only give them all the evidence¡­¡±

    ¡°He got dad into a car accident! Our dad!¡±

    ¡°It is no excuse to break the law and commit murder.¡± Brandon sighed. ¡°I wiped his memory about our encounter, but that¡¯s it. Remember, Jaison, we are given powers that people of this world have never seen before, but if we treat that as justification to do whatever we see fit, then how will we be different from¡­¡±

    But Jaison has already heard enough as he turned and left the hallway, leaving Brandon alone all by himself to finish the sentence.

    ¡°...Henry Dirvin.¡±

 Chapter 6: The Men in Black

    Two weeks has passed since Mr. Bai got into the car accident. Since then, things have went better and better for the Bai family. The bank the Bai family used paid a decent sum of money in exchange for a promise not to sue them for their account glitch. Mrs. Bai got her job back after the manager that fired her was found out to have taken bribes from Henry Dirvin. Mr. Bai¡¯s injuries gradually recovered.

    Henry Dirvin was brought on trial. There was just too much evidence against him. If he still had the influence, then he might be able to do something, but Brandon was able to publicize enough evidence to bring down two third of Dirvin¡¯s minions. The rest went into hiding, praising their luck and wondering if whoever brought down their comrades didn''t have any evidence on them or was simply feeling merciful.

    Without support, Henry Dirvin was sentenced to a life in prison. Of course, that life might be dangerously short. Prisoners weren¡¯t exactly huge fans of businessmen.

    Henry Dirvin¡¯s mysterious descent from grace has, unsurprisingly, drew some attention. The public knew a hacker managed to not only get access to all the key information but also penetrate the defenses of most of the websites and keep that information up there. Armies of internet security personnel have tried to trace this cybercrime back to the perpetrator, but all of them have failed.

    Meanwhile, the real perpetrator continued to go to school. He saw what happened as a mere incident. Of course, things weren¡¯t as normal as he would¡¯ve liked. Jaison was annoyed at him, and he didn''t even bother to hide it. Last night, for the seventh time, Brandon has caught Jaison messing with his watch. He wouldn¡¯t be surprised if, some day, his brother would try to use the watch for something personal.

    There was nothing Brandon could do to stop it. He has tried to reason with Jaison, but the boy was determined not to hear a world Brandon says. What more could he do? Fight Jaison and take his watch away by force? That would really start a war.

    As of the moment, the class was given the opportunity to do whatever they wished. Of course, technically they should be getting ready for the test tomorrow, but both the teacher and the students knew that would never be the case.

    Brandon sat back and pulled out his textbook. He didn''t care much about history content. It was not related to his plan for the future in any shape or form. The only thing that mattered was the credits the class provided.

    As he was about to start taking notes, Selena walked over and pulled a chair to sit down. She glanced at what Brandon was doing with a sense of disdain.

    ¡°You know you¡¯re not going to need to know who Genghis Khan is to get a degree in Computer Science, right?¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± Brandon glanced at Selena out of politeness. He was in a good mood. ¡°But I do need plenty of credits to get a degree in Computer Science.¡±

    ¡°Is that why you¡¯re wasting time on this bullshit? For credits?¡±

    Brandon sighed. ¡°Please, Selena. If you don¡¯t want to spend time on this. Fine. It¡¯s your right. But don¡¯t stop me from doing this.¡±

    Selena smirked. ¡°Ever so cold, aren¡¯t you? Before you shut me down, just hear me out.¡± She stretched her neck. ¡°The credits you get for a 90 is the same as those you get for a 100. What score do you have in the class? 95?¡±

    ¡°98.¡±

    ¡°Right. So even if you mess up a few tests, you can still get a decent grade. Why don¡¯t you sacrifice a few points so you can work on something else? Something that really matters.¡±

    Brandon shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s not going to look good to fail a test.¡±

    ¡°Not going to look good? To whom?¡±

    ¡°Well, for my parents, of course¡­¡±

    ¡°And if you are indeed this cold looking badass that you¡¯re trying to be, why would you care what your parents want?¡±

    ¡°Ok¡­¡± Brandon bit his lips. ¡°you¡¯re just trying to provoke me.¡±

    ¡°Not provoking.¡± Selena held her hands up innocently. ¡°Just showing you some truth. You might be smart, but I have something of an advantage as an outsider.¡±

    ¡°Well, nice talking.¡± Brandon was clearly trying to end this conversation, but Selena didn''t let him.

    ¡°Oh I¡¯m sorry. Am I making you uncomfortable?¡±

    ¡°What do you want?¡± Even the man who stood tall against one of the richest men in the world felt a little stressed out. ¡°Trust me. I know who I am and what I want, so if you want to do some soul searching for me¡­¡±

    Selena licked her lips. She almost looked intrigued.

    ¡°I think you¡¯re not as calm and collected as you try to be. I think, deep down, you care a lot about what others think of you. That¡¯s why you¡¯re putting up this personal of a noble person who doesn¡¯t mess around with anything. I¡¯m assuming you don¡¯t have a girlfriend?¡±

    ¡°No, I do not.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    ¡°Relationships will distract me from what really matters...¡±

    ¡°Ok! That¡¯s bullshit!¡± Selena exclaimed. ¡°You¡¯re just afraid you¡¯ll get rejected or something if you try to go after someone! The best way to protect a relationship is by not having it in the first place. This way your ego will never get hurt! It¡¯s stupid, in my opinion, but apparently that¡¯s what¡¯s going on in your mind.¡±

    ¡°Well, that is...wait!¡± Brandon suddenly glanced at his arm. Selena didn''t see anything there, but she did see Brandon¡¯s expression changed drastically.

    ¡°Get down!¡±

    The next second, two figures crashed through the windows of the second floor building and jumped inside. They were covered by black from top to bottom. Both of them carried automatic weapons that resembled AR15s. They had silencers on. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

    ¡°Nobody moves!¡± One of them ordered with a stern voice.

    The classroom immediately went dead silent. It took the students a few seconds to fully comprehend what just happened. As soon as that was done, the class erupted in a wave of panic. Students closer to the windows tried their hardest to get further away. A few boys and girls started whimpering when they thought of what might happen to them.

    ¡°We need to finish this conversation at another time.¡± Brandon whispered to Selena. Even the blonde girl was frightened by the sudden change of event. Brandon could see her legs shaking.

    ¡°Get on the ground! All of you, come over here!¡± One of the men in black pulled a few desks to the side and opened up an empty space in the corner of the class. The students gradually gathered over and knelt down. As that was done, one of the men went to secure the door while the other kept an eye on the hostages.

    Brandon was among the crowd, but he wasn¡¯t as frightened. His armor and weapons weren¡¯t just for show. He quietly tapped the Alpha Interface, which started talking to him through a hidden earpiece.

    ¡°There are 64 intruders. They have taken over the entire school. Officer Carls is down. They have severed the school¡¯s communication with the outside world.¡±

    ¡°What do they want?¡± Brandon typed into the interface. A couple of intruders might be some hotheaded maniac, but 64 fully armed, organized men? This was a tactical operation.

    ¡°Their objective is unidentified. They have sealed off all the exits.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t you hack into their devices?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but I am unable to locate more details on this mission. Their planning and organizing must be done without using technology.¡±

    ¡°How¡¯s that possible¡­¡± Brandon paused. It was strange, but it wouldn¡¯t really matter. What¡¯s important now is to neutralize the threat.

    But at the moment, just before he could tap on the watch and arm himself, a thought entered his mind.

    If he fights now, then chances are he risks being exposed. What happens then? In the best case, he would need to flee to somewhere else. In the worst case, he would be targeted by the government and hunted down.

    He went to his default excuse.

    It¡¯s not his responsibility to protect the school...it¡¯s the polices¡¯. As long as the men in black don¡¯t try to kill him or his friends, it would be totally fine for him to just sit back and watch the show unfold.

    He didn''t have to do a thing. No one would know what he was capable of, so he wouldn¡¯t be chastised for his inaction either.

    That was when he remembered what Selena said. She announced that, deep below his mask of a cold, logical person, he was just someone who was too afraid to take risks. He didn''t agree with her and she said he never attempted a relationship because he didn''t dare to, but Brandon couldn¡¯t help but notice he was indeed afraid of risks now.

    He turned to the blonde and started whispering.

    ¡°Before those men came in, you told me that, deep down, I care too much about the opinion of others to take risks, and I need to change that. Any advice on how to accomplish that?¡±

    ¡°What¡­now is not the time!¡± Selena could barely believe what she was seeing and hearing. Ten minutes ago, when they were in a completely safe environment, Brandon tried to shut her off. Now, with two armed men in the room, Brandon wants to chat?

    ¡°Please! This is important!¡± Brandon pleaded.

    ¡°Eh.¡± Selena groaned. She really didn''t know what to say. All she knew was she needed Brandon to shut up. ¡°I think...basically, I think you don¡¯t need to pay too much attention to what others think about you or what would happen to you if you fail. What¡¯s the worst that can happen? Just pick a direction and go for it regardless of the price.¡± She hoped it was sufficient.

    Brandon nodded slowly. That made sense. But the question was what direction would he hold? What target would he choose? For so long, he used all types of responsibilities to justify both his actions and inactions. For so long, he didn''t really know what he was doing.

    Suddenly, he glanced down on his watch.

    Perhaps, as a student, it wasn¡¯t his responsibility to take action, but he was given this watch. He was given these powers. He always knew these powers come with a price. Maybe the price is just additional responsibility for him to carry out.

    Responsibilities...including taking down criminals.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± He turned to Selena. ¡°We should talk later.¡±

    ¡°No problem¡­¡± Selena was about to go on when she saw Brandon suddenly tapped something invisible. For half a second, he disappeared. Just as Selena brushed her eyes and thought she was hallucinating, he appeared again. Only this time, something felt wrong with him. The man didn''t say a word. All he did was kneel down and act like all the other students.

    Selena took a small step forward and saw his eyes. They looked lifeless.

    ¡°Don¡¯t move!¡± The guard watching the students warned Selena. Suddenly, he saw the students looking at him in horror. Wait, they weren¡¯t looking at him! They were looking at something behind him!

    The guard turned around, but not before feeling a stinging pain at his neck. He was on the ground before he could even see what was behind him.

    But the students saw it. It was a figure in full white armor, and he was holding a tranquilizer. The figure made a ¡°shush¡± sign with his index finger at the students before turning to the other man at the door.

    Selena was among the students. Again, she might be seeing things, but she thought the figure¡¯s eyes landed on her a little longer than the other students.

    ¡°What is it?¡± The second man in black turned back around and saw Brandon. ¡°What the hell are you?¡± He quickly lifted his rifle. His eyes were filled with fear and shock, but his body automatically did the right thing, thanks to his training.

    But it was too late. Brandon¡¯s tranquilizer disappeared and was replaced by a futuristic looking handgun. He pulled the trigger without hesitation.

    With the help of the Alpha Interface, a white energy blast exited the handgun¡¯s chamber and landed on the man¡¯s gun holding arm.

    ¡°Ah!¡± The man screamed and fell back, leaning on the wall. His weapon hit the ground. Brandon walked up and closed the door before turning to the man.

    ¡°Look,¡± His voice sounded mechanical. Another tool in the watch. ¡°that shot wasn¡¯t enough to kill you upright, but if you don¡¯t stop the bleeding, you¡¯ll be dead before this is all over. I can help with that. I don¡¯t want to kill you. I just need some information.¡±

    The man nodded slowly. Money was good, but it wasn¡¯t worth dying for.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know who sent me, but the boss does. He¡¯s the one that hired us. He¡¯s also the one that passes down the orders. If any of us know anything about the man upstairs, it¡¯s him.¡±

    ¡°Where is he?¡±

    ¡°First floor. Main door.¡±

    ¡°Ok.¡± Brandon nodded. The man has done his part of the deal, so he did his. A type of mending liquid was poured onto the wound. A small grin of relief found its way onto the man¡¯s face before Brandon knocked him out with another tranquilizer. If things go right, he should wake up in a jail cell.

    ¡°Keep the door locked. If he wakes up, punch him in the head a few times.¡± Brandon ordered coldly.

    ¡°But these men¡­are there more of them outside?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re all across the school, but they won¡¯t have time to come here.¡± Brandon took out another handgun from his watch. What he meant was clear. They would be too busy dealing with him to mind a single classroom. He quickly made his way out of the room.

    The students exploded into conversations. Some were about those men in black. Others were about who the figure in white armor was. Only Selena turned to Brandon. The boy was silent. Dead silent. She leaned over.

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t happen to know who that was, would you?¡±

    ¡°Brandon¡± didn''t say a word.

 Chapter 7: A New Foe

    Two guards were at one of the classrooms. Suddenly, their earpiece rang.

    ¡°All units, report! This is number 1.¡±

    ¡°2, in.¡±

    ¡°3.¡±

    ¡°4.¡±

    ¡°5.¡±

    ¡­

    ¡°31.¡±

    A few seconds of silence followed.

    ¡°32?¡± The first voice demanded. ¡°32, come in!¡±

    There was nothing.

    ¡°Who¡¯s closest to 32¡¯s assigned location?¡±

    ¡°We are.¡± One of the two guards replied.

    ¡°Check it out.¡±

    ¡°Yes sir!¡±

    The guard went toward the door, but just before that could happen, the door was ripped open, and Brandon charged into the room. He barely paused as he put two energy blasts into the two guards. His goggle had heat vision capabilities. The two collapsed immediately. Two kicks to the head sealed the deal.

    ¡°36? 36 come in!¡± The commanding voice heard the commotion as well. Brandon was about to leave the room when he remembered something. He quickly knelt down beside one of the fallen men and picked up the earpiece and placed it into his pocket. Alpha connected it to Brandon¡¯s armor.

    The man went from room to room. Go in, take out the attackers, and get out. Simple as that. Brandon had the element of surprise. He had heat vision goggles. He had energy pistols. Only a handful of the guards managed to fire a few bullets, but even they were quickly disposed of.

    For every classroom he liberated, he had a few braver students pick up the firearms and keep an eye on the door. Just in case.

    Eventually, the men in black realized something was really off with their plan.

    ¡°Fall back to the first floor! Take the rest of the hostages!¡± A movement like this would obviously give some of the hostages hope to flee, so a countermeasure had to be issued. ¡±Shoot anyone that tries to run.¡±

    The remaining forty or so men in black sprung into action as they hurried hundreds of students out of their classrooms. Brandon did his best to catch up to them, but he was just one man. Granted, one especially powerful man, but still just one man.

    ¡°Get down!¡± Brandon screamed as he turned around another corner and fired three rounds. This time, all the shots were going for the head. At a range this close, a dragged out firefight would certainly lead to unintended casualties.

    Police officers had the right to shoot to kill when they saw the need to do so. Brandon felt like he was in a similar situation.

    Two intruders were immediately brought down, but the third lived long enough to unload a string of bullets at Brandon. Brandon didn''t just tank the bullets. Ricochets are as dangerous to the bystander students as direct shots. Instead, he took out the melee weapon and formed a giant energy axe. The armor enhanced his strength and reflex. With the help of Alpha, he positioned the axe so that all the bullets landed on the energy part and were melted.

    ¡°Oh my god¡­¡± The third man was about to fire again before being put down for good by an energy round to the face.

    ¡°Return to your classrooms orderly! You¡¯re safe now! Go back and lock the doors!¡± Perhaps the three bodies on the ground weren¡¯t the most reassuring, but Brandon¡¯s cold, mechanical voice certainly was. The students gradually returned to the cover of classrooms. A few of them whispered words of thanks as they moved by Brandon.

    Brandon didn''t answer, but deep down, he had to admit this felt good. His hands gripped harder on his pistols as he moved past the crowd and made his way down the other side of the hall.

    <hr>

    In one of the other classrooms, Jaison frowned when he saw the guards started to move the students.

    This was unexpected.

    ¡°Where are you taking us?¡± He suddenly stood up from kneeling position and demanded. One of the men in black turned around in confusion, only to be punched in the chest. The students exclaimed. What the hell does Jaison think he¡¯s doing? Does he really think a punch from his weak, fragile arm could take down a grown, likely trained, man? Plus, there are two men in the room! What is wrong with him? Is he suicidal? If he is, then he should find a way to die without endangering everyone else!

    But the man being struck didn''t share the students¡¯ view. In fact, as soon as the punch landed on his chest, a stream of blood poured out of his mouth. His intestines were fractured. As he slammed into the ground, it was obvious, without medical treatment, he wouldn¡¯t live to see the daylight of tomorrow. Given the situation, he¡¯s probably dead.

    A shade of metalic white flashed across Jaison¡¯s fists.

    The second guard took a step and placed enough distance between himself and Jaison before aiming his gun at Jaison. A cold smirked was on his face. He couldn¡¯t wait to show this idiot who has watched too much movies what the price of being a hero in real life is.

    The next second his head exploded.

    Brandon popped his head into the room. His eyes briefly landed on Jaison before he issued the same command he gave to everyone else. ¡°Stay in the room and lock the door.¡±

    As Brandon left and the students started to barricade the door, Jaison¡¯s fist clenched together tightly. How dare he? How dare Brandon? That was his chance to shine! His only chance! And Brandon had to take even this from him?

    His fellow students looked at him like he was stupid. As far as they could see, Jaison would¡¯ve been dead if the white figure didn''t miraculously come in. Jaison turned redder and redder. He expected to be thanked by praises and hugs. Now, he was treated with mocking looks and silent judgment.

    Meanwhile, the leader of the attacker was almost as furious as Jaison was.

    ¡°Someone tell me what¡¯s happening!¡± He screamed into the radio, only to hear dead silence.

    ¡°Sir, we have lost contact with all the classrooms.¡±

    ¡°Pull our men back to the commons.¡± The leader finally realized whoever the resistor was, he was picking off the attackers one by one before engaging the main chunk of men in black. In that case, it would be stupid to keep letting that happen.

    Within minutes, thirty or so men in black retreated to the commons. The commons was a large space in the school that acted as the cafeteria. Over a hundred students were having lunch there were a dozen men in black jumped in and took over. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Brandon did his best and dropped two more bodies on the retreat. As he stopped for a breather, he suddenly heard the school radio system coming on.

    ¡°The person that has been attacking my men, listen to me! Whoever you are,¡± A deep, masculine voice spoke loudly. ¡°drop your weapons and go to the commons. If I don¡¯t see you in five minutes, I will shoot ten students by random.¡±

    A wave of exclaims could be heard in the background.

    ¡°Well, at least that saves me the time of hunting them down one by one.¡± Brandon rolled his eyes, trying to act optimistic. He started making his way toward the commons while reaching inside his watch and searching for something that could help him.

    Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks in front of a body.

    Resource Officer Carls.

    A bullet was lodged in his forehead. His eyes were still wide open in surprise. His handgun with in his grip.

    Brandon sighed as he knelt down beside the body. Carls tried to frame his brother, but looking at the body, Brandon didn''t feel any hatred toward him. He might have had questionable ethics, but in the end, when real danger comes, he still did his best to carry out his duty.

    For that, he should be respected.

    Brandon quietly closed the officer¡¯s eyes. He stood back up and made a promise.

    ¡°Your sacrifice will not be wasted.¡±

    With one last glance at the body, Brandon continued to make his way toward the commons.

    <hr>

    ¡°It¡¯s being three minutes.¡± One of the men in black commented. ¡°I will not be surprised if he¡¯s not coming.¡±

    The thirty remaining attackers had the commons completely fortified. At least a dozen guns were trained on the main entrance connecting the commons to the rest of the school building. Anyone that enters will be ravaged by a storm of bullets at a single command. Even if the mysterious attacker was some sort of secret government agent, he wouldn¡¯t survive the firefight.

    ¡°He should know this is a trap.¡±

    ¡°Of course he knows this is a trap.¡± The leader groaned at the comments of his men. He wasn¡¯t exactly in the best mood. Not surprising. ¡°He¡¯s bested half my team, for god¡¯s sake! But he doesn¡¯t have a choice. Unless he wants these students to die, he must come.¡±

    He waved his gun at the hostages in the room, drawing a wave of hissing.

    But one of his goons had a question.

    ¡°But, sir, how do we know he¡¯s a student or even a faculty? We have no idea who he is or if he really cares about these students! It might even be a she! Or maybe they?¡±

    Another man went a bit further with a sudden theory.

    ¡°Maybe he wasn¡¯t trying to save these students! Maybe some of our men tried to attack him and he was forced to fight back! If that¡¯s the case, he has no need to risk himself by coming here!¡±

    The team leader cursed under his breath. This was really the most confusing battle he has ever fought in. He has lost half of his team without evening seeing who his enemy was. As far as he knows, it might be an alien dog!

    That was when footsteps started closing in.

    ¡°Everyone, ready!¡± The leader ordered, throwing all the random thoughts out of his mind. What just happened wasn¡¯t the best example of military strategy on his part, but with any luck, his enemy would be walking into a crossfire.

    Over twenty men aimed their automatic weapons at the door.

    The students saw it as well. A few of them wanted to warn the unknown hero about the trap, but they were immediately silenced by a few punches to the face. Most students saw the wrong end of the gun barrels move toward them and decided to remain silent.

    That was when a white figure entered the commons.

    As soon as Brandon was seen, the crowd exploded into conversation. The handful of guards didn''t stand a chance in silencing them.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Iron Man? That¡¯s a metal armor!¡±

    ¡°But isn¡¯t Iron Man fictional?¡±

    Those are the movie nerds.

    ¡°It must be the military or the police! Maybe it¡¯s the newest armor or something¡­¡±

    Ok, that¡¯s a better guess.

    ¡°Aliens! There¡¯s no way that¡¯s earth technology!¡±

    Well¡­

    The men in black, on the other hand, didn''t share the same thrill by the students. The leader gulped. He has gotten what he wanted: he saw the enemy. But this only brought chills down his spine. He has a million questions.

    Who is this? What is this? Where did it come from? Why is it attacking them? Is it with the police or the government?

    He finally managed to force out an order.

    ¡°Drop your weapon!¡±

    ¡°As you wish.¡± Brandon opened his fist and allowed a round, metal object to hit the ground. As soon as it hit the floor, the object exploded.

    ¡°Grenade!¡± The leader in black screamed as he jumped for cover. Why anyone would throw a grenade at his own feet was a very good question, but he preferred to find out the answer in the safety behind five layers of cover.

    But the grenade didn''t explode into a wave of shrapnels or fire. Instead, it sent out an invisible shockwave that washed over every single person in the room, men in black and student alike. It knocked the conscious of all of them out of their body. For a moment, they could still see and hear things, but they couldn¡¯t control their body.

    Brandon was the only person not affected by the blast. As all the people were immobilized, he went into action.

    Two energy pistols appeared in his hands.

    The leader in black watched as Brandon moved from goon to goon, shooting them in the shoulders and putting them out of fighting status for quite a while. In less than a minute, all thirty of them were down. It was faster than slaughtering thirty pigs.

    At least pigs could flee. They could only watch themselves being put down.

    This was the worst feeling he has ever experienced. The anxiety...the despair...

    Finally, it was his turn.

    As Brandon walked toward him, the leader in black suddenly jumped to the side. Years of experience in the battlefield allowed him to regain control a little quicker than most people. He reached for a girl among the hostages. Maybe if he could get a hostage, he still had a chance¡­

    Nope. A shot through the arm he reached out made sure of that.

    ¡°Uh.¡± The leader in black collapsed on the ground. As he struggled to get up, Brandon walked to him and yanked him up. He quickly turned to the students.

    ¡°Call the police.¡±

    As half the students in the commons dialed 911, Brandon grabbed onto the leader in black and dragged him into a corner.

    He needed some information.

    ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    The man turned to the side.

    ¡°Why are you here? What value is there in taking the school? Were you trying to spread fear? Make a point? What is it?¡±

    An operation like this with this many attackers involved must serve a purpose. The funding and manpower needed was enormous. Brandon wanted to find out who is behind this and bring that person to justice as well. His experience with Henry Dirvin has taught him the price of not getting to the root of a problem.

    The man was still silent.

    Brandon frowned.

    ¡°You know, if this was me yesterday, I would just throw you to the police and get it over with.¡± He reached behind himself and pretended to be taking something from a pocket. In reality, he was using his watch. ¡°But things have changed. Someone showed me my responsibility, which happens to include dealing with people like you.¡±

    He returned his hand to the front. This time, he was holding onto a syringe. He jammed the syringe into the man¡¯s neck and emptied the content.

    The man groaned in pain as the drug entered his body and started taking over. Brandon was unmoved. If he wasn¡¯t here, only god will know how many people will die. Dozens? Hundreds? Someone who was willing to lead an operation like this doesn¡¯t deserve his sympathy.

    Finally, the groaning stopped. The leader in black¡¯s eyes turned dull and lifeless.

    ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re hired. Someone paid us $50,000,000. He planned out the attack and the retreat.¡±

    ¡°Who hired you?¡±

    The leader in back paused. It was as if the question triggered something. Suddenly, he started shaking violently.

    ¡°You did! You did! You hired me! How could I forget? I saw your armor! You hired me!¡±

    ¡°What? I didn''t¡­¡± Now Brandon was really surprised. He looked down on his armor before realizing something.

    The leader in black could only recognize his armor. In other words, another figure in a white armor, identical to his own, made contact with the leader in black and arranged this whole operation.

    That¡¯s bad. That¡¯s really, really bad.

    That means there is a third person with the watch and all the content inside. Not only so, he sent these goons to their school. Why? Probably because he knows that Brandon and Jaison also have the watch, and the attack was meant to be a way to test their strength.

    Brandon looked up at the security camera in the commons.

    If his theory was true, then his every move was under surveillance. His every word was heard. His every action was observed.

    His every thought...studied.

    Brandon gripped onto his handguns tightly before looking down and shooting the leader in black in the head three times.

 Chapter 8: Brandon and Selena

    ¡°Breaking news! The attack on Killian High School was put down by an unidentified vigilante!¡±

    ¡°Early today, a total of 64 men in black suit and equipped with automatic weapons charged into the Killian High School. They cut off all communication between the school and the outside world and took over 500 students hostage.¡±

    ¡°But before the police even heard about this, a figure described as ¡®covered in white armor and wielding energy pistols¡¯ appeared seemingly out of nowhere. He put down two attackers in one classroom before going down the hall. Students rescued described him as ¡®a white knight¡¯. The men in black were forced to retreat to the commons room, but the white armored figure attacked that location. According to eyewitnesses, the figure used a type of shockwave grenade and disabled everyone in the room before shooting and immobilizing the men in black.¡±

    ¡°Thanks to this white armored vigilante, this incident only left 18 dead. Most of them are perpetrators, except for one Resource Officer Carls. The mayor of Chicago has announced he would be hosting a ceremony in the name of Officer Carls.¡±

    ¡°Now, the question of the day is, who is this vigilante? Let¡¯s go to Captain Marshall of the Chicago Police Department. Captain Marshall?¡±

    ¡°Yes. This vigilante is equipped with extremely advanced armor and weaponry. According to information provided by captured perpetrators, the vigilante¡¯s armor is completely bullet proof. He is armed with shockwave grenades, energy pistols, and a type of energy based melee weapon that can seemingly shift forms easily. There is evidence that he was able to hack into the security cameras of the school and alter them. Perhaps people from the research departments may disagree, but I think it¡¯s safe to say these are technology far beyond anything we have.¡±

    ¡°Any idea who this vigilante might be?¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately, no. We have confirmed through cross-examination that this vigilante is neither a student nor a faculty. Likely, he is someone from outside the school. His reason to be presence in the school is to be determined as well. We are still tracking him down, but based on the technologies he has shown, I am doubtful if we can get results soon.¡±

    The reporter finally moved on to the most important question.

    ¡°Captain Marshall, what is the Chicago Police Department¡¯s stance on this matter?¡±

    In the television, Captain Marshall obviously paused. It took him a few seconds to respond.

    ¡°As the Captain of the CPD, I would advise against the vigilante¡¯s actions. Things ended up well in this case, but it could have been a lot worse. It is better to let the professionals take care of this.¡±

    ¡°But captain¡­¡±

    ¡°Well, that was the official response.¡± But Captain Marshall wasn¡¯t done yet. ¡°But personally, I say the next time something like this happens, go and fuck them up!¡±

    Brandon smiled. His brother, on the other hand, wasn¡¯t so happy.

    After the event, the police obviously called their parents. Things took a bad turn when Jaison¡¯s teacher told his parents what Jaison tried to do. On Jaison¡¯s end, he knew he would be fine. But on the teacher¡¯s end, Jaison was an irresponsible kid who tried to play hero with no regard to the situation.

    Unsurprisingly, Mr. and Mrs. Bai weren¡¯t so happy.

    ¡°You¡¯re not a cop! You¡¯re not a superhero!¡± Mr. Bai continued to lecture. ¡°If this happens again, you stay out of trouble! You could¡¯ve been killed, for god¡¯s sake!¡±

    ¡°I was fine!¡± Jaison groaned impatiently. He has been in this conversation with his parents ever since they left school. ¡°I told you, I had everything under control!¡±

    ¡°How? Pray tell!¡±

    ¡°Uhh!¡± Jaison screamed. He was truly furious by the situation. He couldn¡¯t tell his parents the truth, but in that case, his parents would never understand him. ¡°Look, it¡¯s my life! It¡¯s my decision!¡±

    The disappointment on his parents¡¯ face was obvious.

    Finally, Jaison has had enough. He turned and left for his room without another word.

    <hr>

    Brandon returned to his room.

    He knew Jaison was angry and confused, but to be honest, he had no intention of doing anything. Just like his parents, he believed Jaison did something unwise. Sure, he had the power to play hero, but he tried to fight using his own identity. If Brandon wasn¡¯t there in time, people would no doubt question how a random kid could take down two grown, trained, armed men. Combined with the white armored vigilante...all of Brandon¡¯s attempt to keep their identity secret would be lost.

    He made a poor decision, and what his parents said was accurate. Why would Brandon tried to do anything? It was up to Jaison himself to toughen out and realize what he did wrong.

    Plus, Brandon still had to think about the mysterious third person with the watch.

    For days, the aftermath of the attack on the school gradually unfolded. A one week break was given to the entire high school. Mental health professions were hired to work with students on trauma treatment for free. There was a bill in the city hall to place more heavily armed guards in school campuses. At the same time, the battlefield inside the school was being cleared. Countless technological personal were working day and night to evaluate the weapons used by both the men in black and, most importantly, the figure in white armor.

    Brandon¡¯s avatar¡¯s reputation grew by the days. Not surprising, considering this was the first real life superhero in history! For a moment, Brandon trumped any celebrity or athlete in terms of fame. Many students fell prey to reporters that seemed to have filled the neighborhood. As soon as someone at the age of attending a high school goes into the open, several reporters would be on top of them, asking extremely tricky questions. To these news workers, any tip about the figure in white could forge a full career.

    But Brandon wasn¡¯t paying too much attention to those things. He kept his head low and dug through his watch. The break he was given only made that easier. The boy was hell bent on working. From what he saw, the contents in all the watches should be relatively similar. That meant the one who had more control over his watch could end up having an advantage.

    Suddenly, the sound of his smartphone ringing brought Brandon back to the real world. He looked down. The caller ID turned out to be one Selena. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    Selena. Brandon hasn¡¯t seen her ever since the attack on the school days ago. She kept on trying to get in touch with him, but he kept on refusing. Moments after he talked to her, the figure in white appeared in their classroom! Sure, Brandon used an avatar to pose as himself, but now that he had the time to calm down and think about it, evidence against his case was stacked up high. It was obviously Selena was suspicious.

    His fingers closed in on the red button before stopping. Refusing to see Selena would only make her case. Plus, if she couldn¡¯t get an answer from him, she might voice her suspicion to the press or the government. Neither of which was something he wanted. He made sure there was no direct evidence tying him to the man in white, but sometimes, people don¡¯t need evidence to take action.

    The green call key was tapped.

    ¡°Hello Selena.¡±

    ¡°Hey Brandon! Can I call you Bran?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d prefer you don¡¯t.¡± Brandon silently kicked himself for being so impolite. She might have something against him! ¡°I mean...what do you want? Uh.¡± That was even ruder. ¡°You know what I mean.¡± He left out a nervous laugh that was as fake as fake laughs get.

    Selena acted as if she didn''t notice anything off.

    ¡°Yep. Well, I just want to talk to you about something. You¡¯ve got some free time?¡±

    ¡°...what do you want to talk about?¡±

    ¡°Just some speculations.¡± Selena grinned secretly. ¡°Meet me at the Starbucks down the street. You better be quick, because I bet that Chicago Tribune reporter down the corner will pay to hear my speculations.¡±

    Brandon groaned as Selena hang up. This was bad. This was really bad. Having a young, beautiful fellow student gain interest in you sound brilliant, but in reality, it would bring nothing but a liability. Brandon wanted to thank Selena for helping him see another side of himself and secure his goal, but he didn''t want to drag her into the fight between himself and that third watch holder. It would be messy. He didn''t know if he would be able to protect her.

    All he hoped was a face to face conversation could convince her he¡¯s just a dull, boring high schooler. Absolutely nothing to fascinate about.

    Brandon walked out of the room and made his way down the stairs as he made an announcement.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to Starbucks down the street. I¡¯ll probably be walking.¡±

    It was a Friday. Both his parents were out for work. Jaison and Brandon were the only two home.

    ¡°Are you seeing someone?¡± Jaison asked, not even bothering to come out of his room.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Brandon shrugged. ¡°Well, it¡¯s complicated.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡±

    A frown climbed onto Brandon¡¯s face. That was getting personal, but he thought Jaison was just being the typical annoying younger brother.

    ¡°Selena. She¡¯s a classmate of mine.¡±

    Before Jaison could ask more questions, Brandon walked out of the house.

    The trip to Starbucks was quick and uneventful. Eventually, Brandon saw the blonde girl sitting by one of the tables with her legs crossed. He sighed and walked over and sat down.

    ¡°How do I look?¡± Selena asked with a wide smile.

    Brandon couldn¡¯t help but let his eyes stick on Selena for a couple of seconds. She obviously did some homework for this meeting. A leather, tight jacket revealed quite some cleavage and shoulder. The makeup on her face were perfect. They were neither too much nor too little. Her hair went down on her back.

    ¡°Pretty good.¡± The boy glanced to the side. ¡°What do you want?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not polite to sit down in a coffeeshop without buying a cup of coffee.¡±

    Brandon groaned in slight impatience. He turned and saw the cashier looking straight at him.

    ¡°Fine.¡±

    A cup of coffee later, the conversation continued.

    ¡°You know...I¡¯m impressed.¡± Selena started with a bang. ¡°The figure in the white armor. If I didn''t know better, you¡¯re the last person I thought it would be.¡±

    ¡°Wow wow. Careful with the accusations.¡± There was no way Brandon would admit it. He estimated a fifty percent possibility the moment he admits it, Selena would pull out a recorder from her tight clothing and sell it to every major news firm.

    ¡°That¡¯s not an accusation. It¡¯s a statement.¡± Selena wasn¡¯t about to give up this easily. ¡°Remember our conversation in the classroom? When we were held hostage?¡±

    ¡°What? You know...it¡¯s a bit difficult to remember what I said when there are two gun wielding psychopaths...¡±

    ¡°You asked me about responsibilities and duties. What happened next?¡± She leaned forward. Brandon could smell her perfumes. ¡°Or should I say, who happened next?¡±

    Brandon leaned back.

    ¡°Look, assuming I am the so called figure in white armor, which I¡¯m not, why would you think I would ever admit it?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need you to admit it. All I have to do is present the evidence to the world and let the people decide.¡±

    ¡°Again, if I am the figure in white armor,¡± Brandon paused, weighing his words. ¡°what would I do to someone who threatens to betray my identity?¡± He tapped his temple. ¡°Didn''t think this out, did you?¡± He hoped that was enough to convince Selena to keep quiet about whatever theory she has.

    Selena grinned, but her tone obviously went softer. She didn''t think Brandon would really do anything to her, but she didn''t want to take the risk either.

    ¡°Fine. In that case, enough with the figure in white armor. I want to ask you something.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Be my boyfriend.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, no.¡± Brandon didn''t even hesitate to shut that idea down. ¡°Sorry. I don¡¯t have plans to have relationships yet.¡±

    ¡°Why not? It will be fun. I¡¯m sure you can trust me more when we¡¯re a couple.¡± Selena licked her lips temptingly. ¡°Wait a second...oh my god! Are you still a virgin?¡±

    Brandon¡¯s sigh was obvious.

    ¡°Look...I don¡¯t¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh my god! How old are you?¡± Selena acted as if she has just discovered a whole new continent. ¡°18? You are an adult now and you still haven¡¯t had sex? Do you know how odd that is?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t¡­¡±

    ¡°Wait...are you gay?¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Brandon decided he had to shut Selena down right here. ¡°I¡¯m not gay or asexual or anything. It¡¯s just that I¡¯ve made the cognitively choice to stay by myself. It¡¯s...it¡¯s better that way.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Selena looked like she was trying her hardest to hold a smile.

    ¡°Relationships are distractions.¡±

    ¡°Wahaaaaa!¡± Selena suddenly burst out laughing with not a single care in the world. Half the coffeeshop turned to look, making Brandon very uncomfortable. Finally, Selena went silent.

    ¡°That is the funniest thing I have heard for a while. What¡¯s next? Love is a weakness?¡±

    ¡°The fact is love can be used as a weakness against you...¡± Brandon suddenly paused as he realized something. If the third watch holder was able to find out where he goes to school, then he could also find out who and where his family are. Jaison might be able to fend for himself, but his parents were simply defenseless. If something goes wrong and that watch holder gets to them...Brandon made a silent note to do something about it.

    Selena sighed, wiping a drop of tear from her cheek. ¡°Oh Brandon Brandon Brandon. We have some serious work to do.¡±

    But Brandon has already had enough. He stood up and was about to leave when he remembered something. Reaching inside his pocket(watch), he took out an Emerald and handed it to Selena.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°A bribe? A thank you?¡± Brandon shrugged. ¡°Just keep it with you. I heard it has effects in maintaining the health of the bearer.¡± Without waiting for another response from Selena, he turned and walked out of the coffee shop.

    Selena ran her finger across the Emerald. Strangely, she felt so much calmer. A few parts of her body were aching. Now she felt like she was in a hot tub. Her mind went so much clearer.

    She looked up and glanced at Brandon¡¯s figure with a small satisfied grin.

    Brandon never gave a clear confirmation, but his actions speak more clearly than his words.

 Chapter 9: Provocation and Retribution

    Brandon was breathing heavily as he walked from Starbucks back to his house.

    The smell of Selena¡¯s perfume was still in his nose. Even as he walked, he couldn¡¯t toss the image of the girl¡¯s curves out of his mind. She was so cute. Her face...it looked so soft and smooth.

    A thought popped into his head. Maybe it wouldn¡¯t be so bad to spend more time with her...

    No! Brandon suddenly paused in his tracks and frowned. Something wasn¡¯t right. He tapped Alpha Interface and whispered an order.

    ¡°Scan my body for any sign of foreign substance.¡±

    The result came back quickly.

    ¡°There are no hostile foreign substance in your body.¡±

    ¡°But something is wrong with me.¡± Brandon groaned again. ¡°I am feeling things that I shouldn¡¯t feel¡­¡±

    ¡°Sir, what you describe match a substance called hormones. According to my information on human biology, it is¡­¡±

    ¡°Ok ok I know what hormones are! It¡¯s just that...¡± Brandon bit his lips in both embarrassment and frustration as he slowly continued to walk home. As he moved, he was deep in thoughts.

    For the past four years, he didn''t have much problem with dealing with girls, mostly because he didn''t spend anytime with them at all. He talked to them, sure, but it was always for business. Whenever they started talking about personal matter, he either zoned out or moved onto other things. Selena was the first girl that was attracted to him, and what she did was completely new to him. As inexperienced as he was, it wasn¡¯t a surprise he was attracted to her like a piece of metal to a magnet.

    He suddenly closed his fists. No matter what the reason was, he couldn¡¯t let trivial things such as feelings and affection get in his way toward the ultimate goal. Like what he concluded back in the school, his watch carried a sense of responsibility with it, and that responsibility included dealing with those who use this gift for evil. He would never let his own feelings get in the way of that.

    But Selena was so cute...

    Suddenly, he felt something in front of him. He stopped in his tracks. It was a little boy. He shouldn¡¯t be older than eight.

    ¡°Hey! What¡¯s up¡­¡± Brandon was about to do the casual greeting when his eyes landed on something in the kid¡¯s hand.

    A black handgun.

    ¡°Brandon Bai.¡± The kid spoke with an adorable, childish voice, but its content was more than sufficient to send chills down Brandon¡¯s spine. ¡°I bring a message from the Watcher¡­¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± Brandon asked with his hand on his watch, searching for his tranquilizer. If he could land the shot quick enough¡­

    ¡°You will pay for your treacheries. Your family will be shattered. Your love will be ripped away from you. All the fame and glory you are experiencing will be transformed to hatred and anger.¡±

    The kid¡¯s voice was slow and normal. What he was saying was quite the opposite.

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s just cliche¡­¡±

    Brandon tried to buy some time, but the boy wasn¡¯t leaving open any chances.

    As the boy finished, he suddenly raised his handgun to his own head, but Brandon was quicker. Before the kid could pull the trigger, a heavy dose of tranquilizer landed on his neck. His muscles were weakened. His firearm fell out of his hand and onto the ground.

    Brandon grinned slightly as he saw the look of relief on the kid¡¯s face. He took a step forward, ready to comfort the innocent child.

    ¡°It¡¯s ok. I¡¯ve got you¡­¡±

    And then the kid exploded.

    One second he was fine. The next second a shockwave that came out of nowhere ripped him to a thousand pieces and sent the flesh and blood flying in all directions. There was no warning. Brandon barely saw what happened when he was covered with pieces of a human body.

    His tranquilizer gun hit the floor.

    <hr>

    Brandon didn''t know how he got home.

    ¡°He put a bomb in the kid¡¯s body...¡± He whispered quietly. His eyes were dim. ¡°How could he...why¡­¡±

    Deep down, he was still trying to make sense of what just happened. Logically, he understood what happened. The so called Watcher used the kid¡¯s explosive end to send a message to him. But emotionally...who the hell would kill a kid in one of the most brutal ways possible just to make a point? Why? For what? Is it worth it?

    The last sense of logic with him prompted him to tap the AI interface. Of course, the sound of sirens closing in also helped.

    ¡°Alpha, clear the evidence.¡±

    As the Artificial Intelligence went to work, Brandon slowly climbed up the stairs. Jaison didn''t bother to come out and greet him, but Brandon no longer paid any attention to these childish grudges. He retreated to his room and collapsed onto his bed. His bloody clothes staining the snow-white sheets. His eyes were shut as his mind worked like a racecar. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    A child died. He died right in front of him and there was nothing he could do...the blood...the pieces of flesh flying everywhere¡­his heart shook at the message the kid brought him. The threat.

    If the third watch holder, the Watcher, was willing to do this to a random, innocent kid, what would he do to Brandon¡¯s family. Brandon hasn¡¯t even met or known that watch holder before, but that seemed to only be a one way thing.

    With fear and pain comes change.

    Brandon¡¯s eyes snapped open again. This time, all the negative emotions were gone. A part of his brain recognized that change must be made, and that was what happened.

    The desire for revenge scorched away tears of fear.

    The third watch holder, whoever he is, has become a pest of the world.

    He needs to be exterminated.

    Brandon exited his room with renewed confidence. He quickly found Jaison.

    ¡°Something is wrong. There¡¯s a third person with the watch, and for some reason, he wants me dead.¡±

    Jaison looked up at his older brother and smirked.

    ¡°It¡¯s just like the movies, right? Whenever a hero uses his power, there will be a villain with similar power. That¡¯s what happened with Flash, Arrow, Iron Man, Captain America¡­¡±

    ¡°This is not a game!¡± Brandon cut his brother off loudly. His casualness was starting to be annoying. ¡°Look, I will deal with him, but¡­¡±

    ¡°Why do you think he wants you dead?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Why do you think that third person is targeting you?¡±

    Brandon took a deep breath. That was a good question. ¡°Maybe he wants our watches.¡±

    ¡°Or maybe he thinks you¡¯re a threat.¡± Jaison stared at Brandon in inquisition. ¡°Either way, whatever the reason is, how did he locate you?¡±

    It didn''t take Brandon long to find out what the loose end was.

    ¡°Henry! Henry Dirvin! He has seen my face! I wiped his memories, but¡­¡±

    But if the third watcher has similar technologies as he does, retrieving those memories wouldn¡¯t be much of a problem.

    Brandon snapped out Alpha and issued an order. Within moments, it returned with bad news.

    ¡°Dirvin¡¯s dead. Medical examiner reports says his brain is completely fried. The third watch holder, the one who refers to himself as the Watcher, must¡¯ve gotten my identity from him. That¡¯s how he knew where to send his mercenaries.¡±

    ¡°You know, none of this would have happened if you could¡¯ve finished him off. Make it look like an accident. I don¡¯t think that Watcher guy can make the dead talk, assuming he does notice your little operation.¡± Jaison said thoughtfully. A hint of anger was in his voice. He tapped his finger on his chin and turned back to Brandon.

    ¡°Of course, there is no way the great Brandon Bai would listen to the opinion of his little brother. You always know best, don¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Brandon groaned impatiently. He already has too much on his plate to do this.

    ¡°Would it have killed you to tell me what you¡¯re planning before you go on an operation all by yourself?¡± Jaison¡¯s tone got more aggressive. ¡°Does it bother you that much to ask for help?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have time for this.¡± Brandon tapped his watch and extracted a red cube. ¡°This is the best defensive measure I found in my watch. Theoretically it is impenetrable as long as the energy is sufficient. Take this and stay with mom and dad. Keep them safe. The Watcher might want to target my family.¡±

    ¡°So you have been exploring your watch.¡± Jaison smirked again as he casually took over the cube. ¡°And you prohibited me to do that. How nice of you.¡± He saw Brandon leaving. ¡°And where do you think you¡¯re going?¡±

    ¡°Chicago City. My AI picked up a lead. Hopefully, I can track it back to the Watcher.¡±

    ¡°And then?¡± Jaison frowned. ¡°Are you going to give him a lecture and let him go?¡±

    Brandon didn''t answer that question.

    <hr>

    The Hellfire gang was just one of the dozens of gangs in Chicago City. They were involved in all sorts of illegal activities, be it drug dealing, murdering, or human trafficking. The CPD has deployed multiple attacks, but the gang has managed to evade the brunt of the forces with multiple secret hideouts.

    If that was it, Brandon wouldn¡¯t mind them. Perhaps he would take them out when he has time, but normally, it¡¯s the job of the CPD.

    But things took a 540 degree turn when Alpha detected a change in leadership in the gang that took the form of an armored white figure ripping the head off of the former leader of the gang. It happened to be captured by a security camera, which Alpha got into.

    Brandon didn''t know if the Watcher was just careless or if he wanted Brandon to find that lead on purpose, but he had no other choice but to pursue down this path. Right now, the Watcher is in the dark and he¡¯s in the open. He had to take back some control.

    The north side of Chicago was the most chaotic part of the city. Even the police wouldn¡¯t dare to venture in there alone. At least half the population were armed, and half of those people were mentally and physically ready to shoot someone. It was also the home of countless gangs that vary in size.

    Brandon slowly walked toward a warehouse. He knew it was the regular base of operation of the Hellfire gang. As he moved, his eyes landed on a corner. A couple of days ago, a headless body was lying there.

    Suddenly, two men came up to Brandon and stopped him. They were the very definition of gang hitmen. Firearms in pockets. Tattoos. Muscles. Arrogant smiles.

    ¡°You lost, kid? This is not a place for a kid like you.¡± One of them lifted his clothes, revealing a revolver in his belt.

    ¡°Oh please.¡± Brandon tilted his head. He didn''t want to waste time with pawns like these two. He was here for the big fish. ¡°Last warning. Step aside.¡±

    The two men exchanged a look like they heard something funny. The first man turned back. His smile was wider.

    ¡°Do you know who we work for? We work for the Hellfire! Now,¡± He pulled that revolver out and waved it. ¡°I was going to just let you go, but now, I want to rob you. Empty your pockets before I change my mind and decide to leave a few marks on your face.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, no.¡± Brandon shrugged before warping the armor onto him. He raised his energy pistol and shot both thugs in the leg.

    ¡°What? Sir? I¡¯m sorry...I¡¯m sorry! Please forgive me!¡±

    Surprisingly, the moment they saw Brandon¡¯s armor, both men started crying and begging for mercy. Brandon suddenly remembered one very important thing: these men have never seen the face of the Watcher. The armors in the watches were uniform. In other words, they took Brandon to be their new leader.

    Taking over a gang isn¡¯t a simple task. The Watcher must have shed a lot of blood. The former leader may just be one of the victims. There was no way the gang members dared to resist after seeing the terrifying white armor.

    The boy wanted to kick himself. This wasn¡¯t even that difficult to deduce, but he still failed. What he saw with the kid, the fear and anger it implemented in him, was causing him to make rash decisions without thinking them through. The desire for vengeance has overridden his cautious nature.

    He wasn¡¯t in his best situation right now. The wisest choice would be pulling back, but¡­

    He took another step forward. His decision was clear.

    No retreat.

    ¡°I am not your leader. I¡¯m just someone who wants him dead. Now tell me all you know about him.¡±

 Chapter 10: The Watcher

    Much to Brandon¡¯s disappointment, the gang members didn''t know anything more than what he knew. A couple of days ago, the Watcher stepped in, took over the gang, and transferred all the gang¡¯s balance away. He didn''t really do anything else, as far as Brandon¡¯s two captives could tell.

    Saying Brandon was disappointed was an understatement. It seemed like all the Watcher wanted from the gang was their money. Perhaps he has moved on already. The boy was about to leave when he suddenly remembered something.

    ¡°Alpha, give me the criminal background on these two people.¡±

    ¡°Ken. 24. Responsible for two cases pf murder and three cases of sexual assaults¡±

    ¡°Norman. 29. Responsible for three cases of murder and nine cases of robbery.¡±

    Brandon immediately changed his mind.

    It was one thing to be unable to deal with everyone. It was another to let a group of criminals roam free when he had the chance to make them pay for their sins right in front of him.

    ¡°Alpha, call the CPD and inform them of what¡¯s happening here.¡±

    Brandon quickly knocked the two injured gang members out before walking deeper into the warehouse. He wouldn¡¯t kill anyone unless he absolutely had to. That was where the police would come in.

    He wasn¡¯t armored at first. He didn''t want to scare the gang members off.

    A few other men saw Brandon approaching. It was obvious an Asian teenage student wasn¡¯t a member of the Hellfire gang. Normal pedestrians wouldn¡¯t have made their way so deep into the warehouse either. They quickly drew their weapons.

    ¡°Stop!¡±

    Brandon opened fire with his energy blasters without another word. He has already known enough about these people to know they didn''t deserve any sympathy.

    A man collapsed. An automatic handgun hit the ground.

    ¡°Barren. 19. Responsible for five cases of robbery and one case of attempted murder.¡±

    A bold, tall man jumped onto Brandon from behind. He was holding onto a Swiss army knife, ready to open up this maniac. Instead, Brandon elbowed him in the face. The man positioned his army knife, trying to stab it into Brandon¡¯s arm, but instead of the sound of metal cutting through human flesh, he heard the sound of his knife shattering.

    A flash of white appeared at Brandon¡¯s elbow before disappearing.

    ¡°What¡­¡±

    The man never got the answer to his question. Instead, he was hit right in the face. Blood oozed out of his nose while quite a few of his teeth came flying out.

    ¡°Jacques. 32. Former military. Responsible for five murders. One of the victims is an undercover police officer.¡±

    Brandon quietly added two more shots to the bold man¡¯s shoulders. Even if he survived this, he would be no more than a cripple.

    ¡°Liam¡­¡±

    ¡°Olsen¡­¡±

    Man after man fell. Every single shot from Brandon found its target. When the thugs tried to return fire, all of their firing seemed to have been deflected by Brandon¡¯s unprotected body. In reality, Alpha was constantly warping the white armor on and off of Brandon. Only an AI had such calculation power and rapid reflexes.

    Finally, the gang members started considering option B.

    A couple of them started eyeing the exits, but they barely made it past the first steps before coming into contact with a few white energy blasts.

    In the end, dozens of gang members laid on the floor, screaming in pain. Even if this was the entire Hellfire gang, it was the better half of it.

    Brandon stretched briefly and returned his blasters to his watch. He turned around, ready to leave the battlefield.

    That was when a condensed white energy blast hit him in the chest.

    Brandon was sent flying through the air before smashing into a set of abandoned machines. At the last fraction of a second, Alpha warped the armor onto Brandon. It saved his life.

    ¡°Uh!¡±

    Brandon got up with a mouthful of blood. The armor neglected the majority of the attack, but a fraction of the power still went through to Brandon¡¯s body. The watch granted Brandon access to countless high tech gadgets, but none of these gadgets enforced Brandon¡¯s body. Well, none except the armor itself.

    Even as Brandon stood up, his armor was breaking down the energy in its red energy core and feeding it to Brandon in tiny chunks. It mended his wounds and gave him the strength to face the unknown attacker in a decent mood.

    That was until a second shot hit him.

    Brandon fell back again, but he reacted very quickly. Before a third shot could land, he was already behind layers of cover.

    In the time of distress, Brandon closed his eyes and ran the situation through his mind. The energy rifles that come with the watches could switch form at command, adjusting the firing speed, energy exhaustion, and punching power of the weapons.

    What he was just hit with was a shot of maximum punching power. It was extremely energy exhausting and took a long time to get ready, but it certainly had the power. Even Brandon¡¯s armor couldn¡¯t shrug it off.

    As for the moment, Brandon and the attacker were in a stalemate. Brandon wouldn¡¯t dare walk out of cover, and the attacker has lost the element of surprise.

    The attacker knew this as well, which was why he switched the blasters back to handgun form. With each hand holding onto one blaster, he walked into the warehouse.

    Brandon walked out of cover as well with weapons in hand.

    Just like he thought, the attacker was similarly equipped as he himself was. White armor. Energy blasters. A red crystal was in the armor¡¯s slot.

    He frowned when the attacker started executing the gang members on the ground. The men begged for mercy from their new leader, but it was of no use. The attacker didn''t even stop.

    ¡°The Watcher, isn¡¯t it?¡± He spoke up, but the Watcher didn''t even look at him. His executions didn''t stop either. ¡°Listen to me! Hey!¡±Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    This time, the Watcher paused. He glanced at Brandon with slight disgust.

    ¡°Oh I am listening. It¡¯s just I don¡¯t give a damn what you think.¡±

    The mechanical voice sounded oddly familiar to Brandon, but he didn''t have time to think about it. Those gang members were guilty, but they should be put on trial and punished accordingly to their sins. He definitely couldn¡¯t just allow the Watcher to massacre them all right before his eyes.

    Two white energy blades formed as he charged forward.

    The Watcher backed off as he opened fire on Brandon. Two energy blasters, now in alternate mode, rained down a storm of white death. The stopping power dropped significantly, but the rate of firing complimented for that. Brandon immediately came under fire. His armor protected him from the blasts, but he was still held in place.

    Constantly defending was never the solution. With that in mind, Brandon suddenly tossed his left blade at the Watcher, forcing him to dodge to the side. The suppression fire halted for a second, and a second was enough for Brandon to change this battle from firefight to melee.

    The Watcher realized the situation as well. He quickly replaced the blasters with energy blades and stood up to Brandon fearlessly.

    Pzzz.

    The weapons clashed together as the two fought for control. Neither have had much experience with fighting, but both were able to use their personal AIs to analyze the move of the opponents and develop countermeasures. As a result, the dual looked like to master swordsmen fighting.

    In the middle of the battle, one of the Watcher¡¯s blades suddenly landed on an injured gang member, As a price, he took a strike to the chest plate.

    ¡°What¡¯s that for?¡± Brandon couldn¡¯t help but ask. That strike served no purpose and put the Watcher in serious danger. From what he has seen, the Watcher was decisive and ruthless. He was by no means a fool.

    The Watcher made a sound that Brandon could only describe as a snarl.

    ¡°Does that make you angry, Brandon?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°You claim to be almighty, but there¡¯s nothing you can do to keep me from giving these pathetic thugs what they deserve.¡±

    ¡°I never claimed to be almighty.¡±

    ¡°Wow. Is that why you think everyone else is beneath you?¡±

    Brandon frowned again. Are all people this talkative in combat? He didn''t answer but rather intensified the attacks.

    Pzzz. Pzzz.

    The blades clashed more rapidly. At one point, the two were just doing what their AIs suggested. If there was any bystander around, all they could see was a sea of white.

    ¡°Annoyed? Angried?¡± The Watcher obviously enjoyed seeing Brandon so helpless. Even as his armor was stripped away, he still found the time to head shot another man on the ground. Perhaps to him, angering Brandon was more important than physically hurting him.

    This was weird. It was reasonable if he was only trying to destroy Brandon¡¯s patience and calmness, but what he was doing was just excessive.

    It was so excessive that Brandon found an opportunity.

    Suddenly, he pushed the Watcher¡¯s weapons back before both of his blades were replaced by energy rifles set to maximum punching power. Fully charged, they sent two powerful blasts right into Brandon¡¯s foe.

    The Watcher stumbled back. His armor was scorched at the two points of connection. It was too close for the armor to fully neglect the attacks. Before the Watcher¡¯s armor and body could be mended, Brandon was already on top of him with blades ignited. He unleashed a storm of strikes.

    The Watcher did his best, but finally, one of Brandon¡¯s strikes landed on the Watcher¡¯s mask, cutting it apart. Before the severed mask could even hit the ground, a second strike went for the Watcher¡¯s heart.

    It was more than enough to pierce the Watcher¡¯s fractured armor and end the man¡¯s life.

    That was when a red shield formed around the Watcher.

    Brandon¡¯s blade was deflected to the side.

    That shield came from a red cube.

    Brandon looked up at the Watcher¡¯s face in shock.

    He was speechless.

    Half the Watcher¡¯s mask was cut off, revealing half of his face, and that was enough for Brandon to recognize who he was.

    Jaison Bai.

    His own brother.

    Brandon froze, but Jaison didn''t. The younger Bai leaped forward and jammed his rifle into his brother¡¯s chest. There was a fracture at that area. Jaison didn''t hesitate to pull the trigger.

    A condensed white shot went clean through Brandon¡¯s armor and scorched its way through his body.

    Brandon¡¯s back hit the ground. His mouth hung open, wanting to say something, but he couldn¡¯t. He physically couldn¡¯t.

    ¡°I assume you are wondering why I¡¯m doing this.¡± Jaison smirked, taking off the rest of his mask, revealing his entire face. He kicked Brandon¡¯s weapons to the side and knelt down beside his dying brother.

    Brandon stared into Jaison¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°You know, ever since I could remember things, you were always this giant mountain in front of me, blocking my path.¡± Jaison sighed and sat down. His eyes stared into a distance. ¡°Everytime I accomplished something, mom and dad would say ¡®don¡¯t be proud! Your brother did the same thing one year younger than you are now!¡¯ You were just perfect.¡±

    ¡°Once upon a time, I admired you. I admired how you handled things. I admired how you treated problems. That¡¯s why I came to you the moment I found the watches. I didn''t even think about keeping both for myself.¡± He smiled softly. ¡°How silly of me. When you took one of the watches for yourself, I didn''t say a thing. When you told me not to mess with the watches, I listened. I was pissed off, but I listened. I believed you know better than I do. After all, you are the big brother.¡±

    Brandon coughed. The energy blast sealed the arteries around his wounds and saved him from bleeding out, but a large chunk of his body was literally missing!

    Jaison continued.

    ¡°What happened with Henry Dirvin made me believe I did the right thing in trusting you. Sure, I wanted to blast that son of a bitch¡¯s head open, along with his dick of a son, but I understand why you¡¯re doing this. Things were resolved nicely. It¡¯s for the best.¡±

    ¡°Then imagine my anger when I found out that the entire time when you forbid me to use the watches, you were using them yourself. You told me all the crap about keeping this a secret and not being controlled by it, and then you yourself went on to literally interrogate and memory wipe someone. That person knows your identity and has tried to kill mom and dad, and you let him live?¡±

    ¡°That was a betrayal. What made it worse was that, even after the operation, you still refused to tell me about it. Am I not worthy to know? Am I too stupid or too rash?¡± Jaison¡¯s voice was cold and distant. ¡°Well, I wanted to prove myself to you. I can fight just as well as you.¡±

    ¡°So I hired those men to our school with the money taken from a random group of thugs I found in the streets. The plan was for me to jump out and save the day. I hoped that would be enough to show the world, and most importantly, you, what I am capable of.¡± He smirked again. Sadness was in his brows. ¡°That went well, until you decided to take over the role as the hero and save the day. The man in the white armor? Such a nice title.¡±

    ¡°But if you think that¡¯s it, you¡¯re wrong. While you were the hero, I was mocked by mom and dad and all my friends and teachers for trying to be a real life superhero. They didn''t know I could punch through walls! All they knew was I almost got myself killed by being stupid. Thanks to you, my big brother, I have become the laughing stock of everyone. You got the girl and the fame while I got nothing.¡±

    ¡°For days, I asked myself. Why should you get all the benefits when me, the person who actually found the watches, suffer in silence? I have more claim to this than you ever did, but now...how did this even happen?¡±

    ¡°The answer is clear: I was being too weak. If I was more decisive, more reckless, more brutal, more selfish, I would have been much more successful.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s truly a pity. If I realized it earlier, things would have been a lot easier. But no matter. It¡¯s not too late to start now.¡±

    ¡°I knew I could never take you if you move cautiously, I sent that kid to bring you a message and mess with your mind...to make you rash. He was nobody. I found him playing basketball in a random driveway. When I set him up to die, I felt bad, I really did, but I also know if I want to win, I can¡¯t afford to feel bad for others.¡±

    ¡°I led you here on purpose.¡± Jaison stood up, walked to a dying gang member, and stepped on his head and crushed it despite the man¡¯s pleas. ¡°I knew there was a camera there. I also knew you could never resist playing the hero and giving these criminals what they deserve. When you¡¯re eventually done with them...that¡¯s when you¡¯ll be the most relaxed.¡±

    ¡°And so I struck.¡±

    Jaison tapped his armor.

    ¡°I have to admit, you put up more of a fight than I expected, but in the end, you have shown how weak you are, and that¡¯s why you¡¯re going to die today.¡±

    He raised his rifle and aimed at Brandon¡¯s head.

    ¡°I will not do anything to mom and dad. As annoying as they are, they are the reason I¡¯m alive. But unfortunately, you are an obstacle in my path, and you must be removed.¡±

    ¡°Goodbye, brother.¡±

 Chapter 11: Triumph of Evil

    The moment Jaison pulled the trigger, Brandon¡¯s trembling hand rested on his watch. The next second, when a rain of white blasts landed, Brandon was already gone.

    Jaison tilted his head. Brandon escaped. He might be a problem in the future, but Jaison was not afraid. He knew that, unlike him, Brandon was weak. He lacked the will to do whatever has to be done to survive. This was how he was trapped and ambushed in the first place, and if he came back for round 2, this would be how he gets defeated again.

    He turned to the rest of the disabled gang members on the ground. These men knew what was about to come. They screamed and prayed and pleaded and begged, but Jaison acted mercilessly. All the voices were silenced one by one. When they were finally gone, the Watcher felt like he was one step closer to getting back at the society that has wronged him so much.

    Suddenly, sirens came from all around.

    Jaison smirked in bloodthirst.

    <hr>

    Selena walked out of bathroom in pajamas. A white towel was wrapped around her soaked hair. She has just had a nice, ten minute long shower, and the entire time, she was thinking about one person: Brandon Bai.

    The man in the white armor, as the media has grown to call it. Some have complained about the transition from ¡°figure¡± to ¡°man¡±, but recently evidence have shown the modified voice more likely came from a man than a woman. Plus, witnesses reported the armor was more masculine than feminine. ¡°Figure¡± was also very ambiguous, so¡­

    Selena didn''t care about the boiling media. She has gotten closer to the man in the white armor than any media ever could. At this point, she was already 90% sure Brandon was that man.

    Actually, make that 100%.

    That was what first jumped into Selena¡¯s mind when she turned on the lights in her bedroom and found Brandon on the ground. His white armor was shattered with a gaping hole in his stomach.

    Selena didn''t scream. His heart rate increased, but it was not of fear. It was of excitement.

    Wasting no time, she put Brandon on her bed. He has passed out and his wound looked serious. Calling an ambulance might not be in time. Plus, it would completely bust Brandon¡¯s identity. Even if he was saved, he would wake up into a world that might want to put him back down.

    Suddenly, her eyes landed on the Emerald Brandon gave her. Carrying it seemed to have the effect of refining her body. She hoped it would do the same for Brandon. She quickly grabbed onto the Emerald and placed it next to Brandon¡¯s wound. At the first few seconds, nothing happened. Just when Selena was about to take the risk and call an ambulance, the Emerald started to fade. It went dimmer and dimmer until it eventually disappeared in a puff of dust.

    Brandon¡¯s eyes snapped open. His wound has mended.

    ¡°Brandon!¡± Selena smiled victoriously, both because of her quick thinking and the current situation between the two. She has caught him! ¡°Now what¡¯s your excuse?¡±

    But Brandon didn''t respond. His eyes were opened, but they looked dead. Selena was concerned. With a much more serious look, she leaned forward and waved her hand in front of the man.

    ¡°Brandon? You ok?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Brandon¡¯s response was no more than a whisper. Suddenly, he remembered something. Turning to Alpha, he was practically screaming.

    ¡°Alpha, send the police reinforcement away from the warehouse!¡±

    He reacted quickly, but...

    ¡°It¡¯s too late.¡± Alpha¡¯s answer was ice cold. To provide additional information, it projected the video captured by a police bodycam in the air.

    ¡°Oh my god.¡± Selena gasped.

    Brandon was silent as he watched Jaison dismantle a dozen armed police officers. The handguns and shotguns were no use to his white armor. Jaison acted swiftly and expertly. Every shot or slash ended the life and duty of one officer. The officers stood their ground, but eventually, their panicked cries for help and rabid gunfire came to a stop.

    12 officers, killed.

    Jaison might have did the actually shooting and stabbing, but Brandon knew he was responsible for their deaths. If he never called them in...he has a part in this.

    Just like he has a part in what happened to Jaison. Jaison was his brother. His brother! How in the world did he not notice his change? The signs were so obvious! Jaison was practically screaming for help for weeks!

    The answer was painstakingly clear.

    Brandon didn''t notice Jaison¡¯s change because he didn''t care. He didn''t care about his brother enough to explain his thoughts and reasoning to him. He didn''t care about his brother enough to check up on him after his parents wrongfully accused him. He felt like it was his parents¡¯ duty to educate Jaison. This was the price of that false belief.

    On the side, Selena glanced at Brandon. She knew that, despite similar armors and weapons, the one that was killing the cops wasn¡¯t Brandon. She could also tell Brandon was in pain, but she didn''t have time to let him process.

    ¡°Who is that?¡±

    ¡°The Watcher. Another person with powers and assets similar to mine.¡± Brandon paused, debating whether he should reveal the true identity to Selena. After all, the two weren¡¯t exactly the closest. He didn''t know if he could trust her. Then again, without her, he would be dead.

    If she meant him ill, all she had to do was sit back and wait. Without Selena¡¯s Emerald, he would be gone already.

    He finally gave in.

    ¡°He¡¯s also my brother.¡±

    Selena frowned. ¡°That is...a lot of information to unpack.¡± She glanced at Brandon¡¯s wound. It has healed, but the blood on his armor and on her bed were still there. That would be a tough one to explain to her parents. ¡°I¡¯m guessing he did that to you too.¡±

    ¡°Yep.¡± If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°So he is evil? What are you going to do with him?¡±

    If it was another scenario, Brandon would¡¯ve defended Jaison from being called evil, but not this time. All he could muster was a one-word answer.

    ¡°Nothing.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Selena almost choked in surprise. Is he serious? ¡°What do you mean nothing? You need to launch a counterattack or rally some help or...¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s out of my hands now.¡± Brandon was clear. ¡°Jaison killed twelve police officers and he had no intention of hiding it. Sooner or later, the government and the military will get involved. If I try to get involved, I will be discovered and hunted down too.¡±

    ¡°So what do you want to do?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll go into hiding. If I am careful, neither Jaison nor the government can track me down.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t just run!¡± Selena exclaimed with widened eyes. ¡°You know how powerful you yourself are! If your brother can do this to you, then what can the government do about him?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure he¡¯s not invincible. Eventually, he will fall.¡±

    ¡°But what will be the price?¡± Selena leaned forward and stared into Brandon¡¯s eyes. Brandon might be the one with the armor, but she was the dominating figure. ¡°Don¡¯t forget, he¡¯s your brother. In your own words, he¡¯s your responsibility! You have failed him! Just because he defeated you once doesn¡¯t mean you have the right to just turn and run.¡±

    Brandon gulped.

    ¡°So what do you want me to do? Kill my own brother? There is no way I can take him alive.¡± He stood up and walked toward the door. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I really am, but I¡¯m leaving now.¡±

    Just he was at the door, Selena suddenly yelled something.

    ¡°You¡¯re a narcissistic asshole! You know that, right?¡±

    He paused.

    ¡°Deep down, you don¡¯t give a damn about duties and responsibilities. You only care about yourself and making yourself feel good. If you can make yourself look like a hero by carrying out the so-called responsibilities, great! But the moment things go wrong and you have to take some risk, you turn and run and give up whatever duty you claim you had!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s unfair.¡± Brandon couldn¡¯t help but find himself denying what Selena said. ¡°I am not running in fear. I am retreating because of perfectly logical reasons¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh please! Shut the fuck up and listen to me!¡± Selena walked to between Brandon and the door and blocked the exit. ¡°If you really want to do the right thing, then taking on someone who have blasted a hole in your chest will be as easy as gunning down a bunch of shooters whose weapons couldn¡¯t do a damn thing to you! This is about making a stand no matter the cost! Even if you fail, it will be better than doing nothing!¡±

    ¡°So tell me, Brandon, are you a real hero who truly values the duty that comes with your power, or are you just a hypocritical coward that runs away at the first sign of trouble?¡±

    Brandon sighed.

    ¡°I am sorry, but heroes have a tendency of dying, and I am certainly not a hero.¡±

    He gently but firmly pushed Selena to the side before leaving the room, leaving the blonde girl in fury.

    <hr>

    When Selena went to school the next day, she was still having trouble getting over what Brandon said. How could he just leave like this? How dare he? Because of him, a monster is roaming the city uncontested!

    She was in such a bad mood that even when the class bell rang, she was still wandering in the halls.

    That made her the first person to witness the events unfold.

    A figure in white walked through the front door of the school.

    For a moment, Selena thought it was Brandon, returning to apologize to her and ask for help against Jaison. That was when she realized the figure was shorter than Brandon.

    And then all hell was unleashed.

    Dozens of floating droids appeared around the white figure. They quickly spread themselves across the entire school. Charging through classrooms, they fired a round of warning shots before making an announcement.

    ¡°You have been taken captive by the Watcher. Remain in this room. Attempts to resist or flee will be punished by death.¡±

    Selena turned to the white figure in horror. The white figure walked toward her. As he was in front of her, he took off his mask, revealing a face similar to that of Brandon, only younger.

    ¡°Selena, isn¡¯t it?¡± Jaison smiled wickedly. ¡°You know, you¡¯re one of the reasons I am doing all this. Why does my brother get to have a beautiful girl like you? Well, no matter. He¡¯s dead now.¡± He gently tapped Selena¡¯s chin.

    Selena shook, but she didn''t dare to pull away.

    Jaison tilted his head.

    ¡°I suggest you follow me. Of course, you can try to run, but¡­¡± He turned around and set his eyes on another student in the hallway. That student was looking at the exchange in terror. Jaison pointed at that student. Before the victim could run, two droids turned to face it and fired two red blasts. When the boy hit the ground, he was no more than a piece of barbequed meat.

    ¡°Oh my god!¡±

    Selena wanted to throw up, but she was able to keep it down.

    Jaison turned and walked down one of the halls. Selena had no choice but to follow him tightly. There were eight droids around Jaison, standing guard. There was no way she could escape alive. All she could do was wait and see what Jaison wants.

    Jaison walked into one of the classrooms. The droids lowered their head in submission.

    ¡°Jaison? What are you doing?¡±

    Most of the students were completely surprised. Among them were three familiar faces. Mark Dirvin, Dickon, and Jasmine.

    All three of them were consumed by terror.

    They didn''t know what has happened, but apparently Jaison has taken over the school, as well as their fate. All three of them have frequently poked fun at Jaison, to say the least. They wouldn¡¯t be surprised if Jaison wanted to get vengeance.

    That was exactly what happened.

    ¡°Bring these three out.¡± The Watcher ordered coldly, pointing at the three bullies. His AI immediately complied and relayed the order to the droids. Six droids moved forward and aimed their blasters threateningly. The three shook in terror, but they had no choice but to comply.

    As the three left the room, most of the class took a breath of relief.

    But Jaison wasn¡¯t done yet.

    ¡°You know, I never liked this class. You, Mr. Isaac, are an idiot and a bully. You let the students with good grades do whatever they want and break the rules. For dumber students like me, you don¡¯t even try to help. Quoting my late brother, you have failed your duty. You, Jonas, you just want to show off your good grades...and you, Lauren, don¡¯t think I didn''t know the lies you spread about me. All of you make me angry.¡± He grinned. ¡°And all of you are going to die.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°No! Please!¡±

    ¡°What did we do to you?¡±

    ¡°What the fuck is that logic?¡±

    A wave of cries came from the rest of the class, A few braver boys leaped forward, trying to make a last stand, but Jaison has had enough. A single wave of his hand sent all ten or so droids in the classroom to open fire on the students.

    Selena watched in horror as the students were burnt through. Screams and cries covered the room as dozens of lives perished. In the end, after twenty seconds, all of the students were dead.

    The classroom was turned into a slaughterhouse.

    The three bullies were wetting themselves. If Jaison did this to the entire class, then what would he do to them?

    ¡°Why did you do that?¡± Selena¡¯s eyes widened as she demanded. Angry overcame fear. ¡°Those were just some small grudges! It¡¯s not worth killing twenty students!¡±

    ¡°Twenty students¡­¡± Jaison suddenly turned around and grabbed Selena by the throat and slammed her into a wall. ¡°is nothing compared to what I¡¯m feeling! I am a god! I am above all you pathetic idiots! Will you feel bad for crushing a line of ants?¡±

    Selena choked, but Jaison held her there mercilessly. Finally, just as she was about to pass out, Jaison released her.

    ¡°I will make myself very clear. I am keeping you around because you were dating my brother, and it pleases me to have you as a testimony to my strength. But for your own sake, don¡¯t treat this as permission to insult me. I am a deity, and you are just another pathetic human being.¡±

    He turned to the three bullies.

    ¡°As for you¡­¡±

 Chapter 12: SWAT Assault

    ¡°The man in white strikes again. Security cameras in Killian High School captured the image of a man in white armor walking into the school. It appears like he has, somehow, warped in an army of robots and sent them to the halls and classrooms. Wait...he has taken off his mask! Ladies and gentlemen, we are looking at the face of the man in the white armor!¡±

    On television in his new hotel room, Brandon watched as a TV host cast live what was going on in Killian High School.

    ¡°Facial recognition systems have kicked in! The man in the white armor is identified as Jaison Bai, a sophomore in Killian High School. What he intends to do in Killian High School is unclear. We are patching you to the reporter at Killian High School right now.¡±

    The camera shifted to a news reporter in front of Killian High School. In the background, countless police and SWAT cars were arriving. Police officers in full body armor jumped off and formed a perimeter around the school.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± The reporter said. ¡°We have just gotten news from the CPD that, last night, the man in the white armor just murdered twelve police officers in cold blood. There is also evidence tying him to the murder of the entire Hellfire gang, which had over thirty people. It is reasonable to believe the hero that has saved Killian High School is not as well-meaning as the last time he was here.¡±

    ¡°That is sad news indeed.¡± The host frowned. The story of the fall of a hero was always tragic. ¡°But what can he possibly want from the school that he attends every day?¡±

    ¡°All we know now is he is holding all the students inside hostage. Wait, are those gunshots?¡± The reporter suddenly turned around at a wave of sound of blasters firing. The officers behind him looked around anxiously as well.

    The host quickly changed the topic back.

    ¡°Does the CPD have any plan to neutralize the threat of our fallen hero¡­¡±

    Brandon sighed and turned off the TV. He laid back on the bed with his eyes closed.

    Was Selena right? Was he really a selfish bastard who only does whatever makes himself feel good regardless of the others? For his entire life, he tried to work by a system of duties and responsibilities, but perhaps he has been lying to himself after all.

    He sighed again.

    If he returns to Killian High School, he didn''t expect to come out in one piece. There was no way he could deliver blows meant to kill while Jaison would be more than happy to end his older brother once and for all.

    More importantly, if he won, so what? His identity would be exposed. People would know his deepest secret. He and everyone he cares about would be in danger.

    He would be made vulnerable.

    Was it worth taking all the risks and fighting Jaison, only to put himself in a bad situation?

    If he leaves, he would be ultimately free. Whatever happens with Jaison would be of no concern of his. His parents would be fine. They might be confused and feel betrayed, but they would be alive and well. If Jaison won, he wouldn¡¯t touch them. If the government won, they wouldn¡¯t do much to them after confirming they didn''t know anything.

    With all his powers, Brandon could do anything he wanted. He never had a chance with Selena, but he was sure he could find dozens other pretty girls just like her. If he wanted to, he could go to another school and complete his studies. If he wanted to, he could keep on putting down unjust wherever he saw them.

    Logically, the better choice was obvious.

    But something deep inside Brandon said no. Something in his heart told him leaving would be a bad idea.

    The dilemma was tearing him apart.

    He turned on the TV again. Only this time, he was switching through different channels. It¡¯s not like he wanted to find anything. He was simply trying to find something to distract himself.

    Suddenly, the screen froze on a certain Chinese TV show.

    ¡°Drawing Sword.¡±

    ¡°Even if you know you¡¯re facing the best swordsman in the word, you will still draw your sword.¡±

    ¡°Falling beneath the opponent¡¯s blade is not shameful, but if you don¡¯t even dare to draw your sword, that is shameful!¡±

    Brandon froze. The TV show kept on playing, but his mind was not on it.

    Jaison defeated him, once. That¡¯s a fact. But is that enough to break his spine once and for all? Jaison¡¯s powerful, but Brandon is not weak either, and Jaison was facing the full strength of the government. If he flees now, he would have admitted defeat, and that would haunt him for the rest of his life. If he fights, maybe he would die, but at least he would be giving his life for something worthy.

    Die standing over live kneeling.

    There were people counting on him. Selena. His parents. Perhaps even in Jaison, there was a small part of him that respected Brandon. If he left, he would be disappointing them all.

    Brandon took a deep breath. His white armor covered his body. He turned and walked out of the hotel room.

    He had a responsibility to carry out.

    Time for round 2.

    <hr>

    ¡°We move in two minutes. Squad one take the left exit. Squad two take the right. Squad three and four go in from the front. Squad five enter through the back. Security footage suggest Jaison Bai has some sort of robots with flying capabilities at his command. Proceed with extreme caution and use EMPs to deal with them.¡±

    In front of Killian High School, Captain Marshall was issuing orders to at least fifty SWAT members. These were the best men in the CPD, and at this time of distress, against an enemy with overwhelming prowess, they were called into action. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    ¡°And what about Jaison Bai? Last we heard, standard bullets can¡¯t penetrate his armor.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve brought in some tools.¡± Captain Marshall waved his hand. Five pairs of officers brought in five boxes. The men opened the boxes, revealing five large rifles.

    ¡°Anti-material rifles. Enough to punch through a tank.¡± The captain of CPD smiled. ¡°I had to request them from the National Guards. Now, get ready.¡±

    The SWAT members started checking their weapons and other equipment one last time. Five snipers, one from each team, grabbed onto the anti-material rifles and used whatever time they had to get familiar with them.

    Suddenly, a white figure came down from the sky and landed right next to Captain Marshall.

    It was as if a rock was thrown into a peaceful pond, a ripple was quickly formed. All the dozens of police officers at the sight drew their weapons and took aim at the white figure. Fresh sniper rifles were thrown into action. Reporters, as frightened as they were, ordered their photographers to turn their cameras to the figure. They knew it was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

    ¡°Don¡¯t move into the school.¡± The figure said quietly. ¡°Your weapons won¡¯t work against him.¡±

    ¡°Against you, you mean?¡± Captain Marshall frowned.

    ¡°No. Against him.¡± Brandon pointed at the school, where a white figure was standing in front of the window. ¡°There are two of us.¡±

    ¡°Wait...what?¡±

    ¡°There are two of us. We have almost the same powers. Our only difference is that I tried to help people while he tried to make himself superior to everyone else.¡± Brandon sighed. He really didn''t have time for this. Hundreds of innocent students and teachers were in that school, including Selena. Speaking of Selena, Brandon¡¯s heart suddenly fell. Jaison surely knew the connection between him and Selena. If he doesn¡¯t anything to her¡­

    ¡°Look, take off your mask.¡± Captain Marshall wasn¡¯t so quick to trust Brandon. ¡°How do we know you¡¯re not another trick by that kid?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t.¡± Brandon knew damn well there was no way he would expose his identity to the world just like this. There were cameras watching. ¡°I have a family. I¡¯m sure you can understand what will happen to them if my enemies know who I am.¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯m sure you can also understand why there is no ground for us to delay the attack.¡±

    Captain Marshall wasn¡¯t as arrogant and hostile as most government officials portrayed in films and tv shows. He didn''t try to seize Brandon or anything, but he still didn''t have enough reason to scratch the whole plan just because Brandon said so.

    ¡°Move in, men!¡±

    The five squads of SWAT teams started moving into the building.

    Squad three and four charged through the front door. They expected to come under heavy fire from the mysterious robots under Jaison¡¯s command, but instead, they proceeded into the main hall without much obstacle.

    That was when they saw three figures hanging from the ceiling.

    ¡°Oh my god¡­¡± One of the SWAT officers whispered.

    The three figures were Mark, Dickon, and Jasmine. At least they used to be. They were covered in countless bruises, burns, and cuts. Their eyeballs were missing. When a few officers went to check on them, they found out so were their tongues.

    It was safe to say they didn''t die quietly.

    ¡°They disrespected me, and they paid a price for it. People must take responsibility for their actions.¡±

    The SWAT teams turned around and found Jaison standing at the main entrance. His mask was done, revealing a cold smirk.

    ¡°What are your actions going to be, officers?¡±

    ¡°Take him!¡±

    The two squad leaders commanded, and immediately twenty automatic weapons opened fire on Jaison. The Watcher sighed as bullets bounced off his armor, not causing even the slightest dent. When the officers emptied an entire magazine, Jaison was still standing where he was. A pool of shells formed at his feet.

    ¡°I¡¯m curious,¡± Jaison wasn¡¯t going to strike anytime soon. In fact, he was playing with the SWAT officers like cats play with mice. ¡°it¡¯s no surprise I am bulletproof. There¡¯s no way your guns can harm me and you know it. In that case, why are you still making a stand?¡±

    He tapped his chin. ¡°I know. Maybe you¡¯re hoping to distract me long enough for your comrades to rescue my hostages.¡±

    The officers¡¯ expression changed. The next second, screams for help started coming in from the comm.

    ¡°Taking fire! Taking fire! We need assistance now!¡±

    Before the officers could do anything, the comm went dark.

    ¡°Something tells me you¡¯ll try a multi-pronged attack, so I decided to place a few explosives around the entrances. Of course, it¡¯s nowhere near enough to take care of all of you, but I¡¯m sure a swarm of droids armed with laser blasters can fix that.¡±

    His smile went even wider.

    ¡°Or, maybe you¡¯re hoping to rely on the new rifles you got from the National Guard.¡± Jaison flickered his fingers. ¡°You know, a 7 minute call is awfully long to acquire five rifles.¡±

    The officers were really panicking now. It was obvious Jaison, somehow, managed to hack into and eavesdrop Captain Marshall¡¯s communication with the National Guards. Jaison knew about the sniper rifles, but he was still standing here, right in front of them. The implication was simple.

    The sniper rifles weren¡¯t enough to threaten him.

    The officers knew they needed to retreat. If there was still a chance to complete the mission, they would still make a stand, but this was already a lost cause. No need to throw away lives for nothing.

    All of a sudden, both snipers in the two squads took aim with their anti-material rifles. They didn''t hope to kill Jaison. They only wished to knock Jaison off his feet and open up a way for the squads to get out.

    Bang. Bang.

    As they recovered from the recoil, the two snipers took a silent breath of relief. Their experience taught them the fact that they were able to send the bullets flying was a good thing. But their relief disappeared when they realized, after the two gunshots, Jaison was still right where he was before. The two bullets seemed to have just disappeared.

    The two snipers didn''t see what happened, but the rest of the squads did. Half a second before the snipers pulled the trigger, Jaison dodged to the side. The reflex of the snipers wasn¡¯t enough to react accordingly. The two bullets missed their target and hit the wall behind. Now safe, Jaison returned to where he was like nothing happened.

    A cold smirk appeared on Jaison¡¯s face.

    Two white energy blades formed in his grip.

    ¡°This is going to be fun¡­¡±

    Before he could even finish, a beam of white blast came from behind and smashed into Jaison¡¯s side, knocking him into a wall. The two squads were taken by surprise for the moment, but they immediately knew it was their golden chance to escape. All twenty of them went for the door.

    ¡°Brandon!¡± Jaison screamed as he got back up. He dropped the two blades. It was impossible to deflect a sniper blaster shot. Instead, he loaded up a sniper blaster, took aim, and pulled the trigger. The moment he pulled the trigger, another shot from Brandon hit him in the chest and made him shake slightly, causing Jaison¡¯s shot to deviate to the side.

    Before Jaison could get up, a third shot completely destroyed his chance to chase down the SWAT officers.

    Last time, Jaison ambushed him. This time, Brandon returned the favor.

    As the last officer got out of the school and back to safety, Brandon returned his sniper blaster back into his watch and turned to Captain Marshall.

    ¡°Look, Jaison knows I¡¯m here. The longer we wait, the more prepared he will be and the more likely he will harm the hostages. I have to go in now whether you like it or not.¡± He glanced at the police officers around him who were looking at him in doubts. ¡°You can either try to stop me, or you can work with me to evacuate the hostages. Your choice.¡±

    Captain Marshall paused before looking down on a computer screen showing dozens of body cams. Most of them were frozen. Those were from the SWAT officers ambushed and killed by Jaison.

    ¡°I have said this in an interview, and I will say this again.¡±

    He leaned forward.

    ¡°Go and fuck them up.¡±

 Chapter 13: Duty

    Jaison returned to the commons with all the fury in the world. Two droids in his path were brutally knocked to the side. Those students captured by him ran as far away from him as possible. They have seen how brutal Jaison¡¯s method could be toward those who annoyed him.

    Jaison didn''t waste a second to go to Selena and yank her up by the hair.

    ¡°Congrats. Your boyfriend is here to save you.¡± He smiled when he saw the pain on Selena¡¯s face. ¡°He must love you a lot. Honestly I thought he would just turn and run after our last battle.¡±

    Selena found herself smiling. That seemed to have anger Jaison, who punched her in the face, leaving a serious looking bruise.

    ¡°By all means, smile all you want. I hope you can still be this happy when I bring my brother¡¯s severed head to you.¡±

    With that said, Jaison turned and left the commons.

    <hr>

    Brandon stood in front of the three mutilated corpses.

    He heard footsteps coming from behind.

    ¡°They don¡¯t deserve to die.¡±

    He commented without even turning. At this time, this place, this could only be a single person.

    ¡°By human standards, maybe, but right here, I am the law.¡±

    Brandon sighed and turned back around, facing Jaison.

    ¡°When I dealt with Henry Dirvin, I had a chat with Mark.¡± Brandon voice was low. ¡°He apologized for what he did to you. He told me how his father regularly beats him up. He went to Killian High School to hide, but still his father ordered him to rough other students up, otherwise he himself would be punished. There were Henry Dirvin¡¯s eyes and ears all over the school, so Mark had no choice.¡±

    Jaison bit his lips.

    ¡°Why didn''t you tell me?¡±

    ¡°I tried to. Remember the time I tried to talk to you? The day after dad came home from the hospital? You shut me out. You have been shutting me down ever since then.¡±

    The two men in white armor stood there for a few seconds. Finally, Brandon looked up.

    ¡°It¡¯s over. If we fight again, I will not hold back. Put down your weapons and I will deal with the government. No more innocent people have to die here.¡±

    Jaison suddenly grinned.

    ¡°Put down my weapons and act as if nothing happened? No thank you, brother.¡± He swiped his hand on the watch, warping in two white blades in his hands. ¡°What happened with Mark was...unfortunate, but the thing is I don¡¯t give a damn. Now, are we going to fight or what?¡±

    Brandon sighed again before suddenly tossing something on the ground.

    Before Jaison knew it, a wave of electromagnetic wave exploded from where Brandon was and washed over the entire school. All the droids in contact with the wave immediately collapsed. Their circuits were fried.

    The students trapped in the classrooms were taken by surprise as their mysterious guards fell, but that surprise was immediately turned to overwhelming joy when several figures in black broke through the windows of every classroom. They turned out to be fully armed police officers. They secured the door while the students fled.

    ¡°You¡¯re just a distraction!¡± Jaison immediately knew what was going on, but he either didn''t want to admit being tricked or he simply didn''t care. ¡°Gotta say, I¡¯m surprised you¡¯re working with the government, given how dangerous you thought they might be.¡± He suddenly leaped forward. ¡°Or was that another lie to keep me from competing with you? Have you wanted to team up with the government all along?¡±

    Brandon raised his blades and deflect Jaison¡¯s strikes.

    ¡°I never intended to lie to you, I can swear that, but that is not a justification!¡±

    ¡°Oh shut up!¡± Jaison suddenly kicked Brandon in the chest, sending him falling back. Brandon could¡¯ve landed a cut on him, but he hesitated for a second, and that was all it took for him to lose the opportunity.

    But Jaison wasn¡¯t done. With more distance between the two, Jaison drew his blaster and shot Brandon in the chest four times.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. It¡¯s really fine! I will just take those sons of bitches back after I kill you! In fact, I might not take them back at all!¡±

    Brandon coughed before pushing on the ground and getting back up.

    ¡°Don¡¯t make me kill you.¡±

    ¡°Hahaha! Kill me?¡± Jaison suddenly jumped into the air. He never came down. Brandon frowned. It must be some sort of cloaking device. While his assets and those of Jaison were extremely similar, there were some differences. Maybe it was because the previous owners of the watches had their own preferences, or maybe the two explored their watches in different directions. Brandon had some cloaking method, like the one he used to save his father, but it was nothing at this caliber.

    ¡°You can¡¯t defeat me. You know why?¡±

    Brandon suddenly snapped around and threw a dagger out. The dagger bounced on the walls twice before sticking.

    Missed.

    ¡°Because you are soft! Even if you have your blade next to my throat, you can¡¯t deliver the killing blow!¡±

    Brandon turned to the direction where the sound came from and sent another dagger flying. Again, nothing.

    ¡°That¡¯s smart of you. A dagger sticking out of me can definitely give my trace off. Of course, that¡¯s assuming you can hit me.¡±

    Another two daggers hit nothing.

    ¡°Look at you! Waiting! Doing nothing!¡± Jaison¡¯s voice was so close up one second and so far away the next. ¡°If you¡¯re just gonna hold this pose, maybe I should go back to your girlfriend and have some fun with her, don¡¯t you think? I wonder if you can stay right there with your girlfriend screaming!¡±

    Brandon bit his lips. At this moment, CPD SWAT teams have infiltrated the building. He could sense some men heading toward the commons. Before long, they would take the hostages kept there out of this battlefield and to the safety of police perimeters.

    But that wouldn¡¯t happen if Brandon doesn¡¯t do something about the fifty droids that just appeared out of nowhere.

    In frontal combat, Brandon could mutilate these droids in seconds, but these droids weren¡¯t coming for him. They were going to secure the hostages. Brandon raised his weapon, ready to blast these killer robots to pieces, but before he could pull the trigger, Jaison jumped on him from behind. His white blade was lit up.

    Brandon¡¯s rifle fired. The blast hit the side, blowing a giant hole in the wall.

    He turned around as Jaison landed another strike on his armor, further depleting his energy storage. Even now, the orange crystal that powered Brandon¡¯s armor was getting dangerously dim.

    Before Brandon could retaliate, his attacker disappeared again, and so did the droids. Brandon could sense them heading for the commons, but he himself had no chance of pursuing. The moment he moves, he becomes vulnerable to Jaison¡¯s attacks.

    All he could do was warn his comrades.

    ¡°Captain Marshall, a group of droids is heading toward the commons!¡± He glanced around. ¡°I am tied up. Your team needs to fend the droids off for as long as it takes.¡±If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    ¡°Copy that.¡± Marshall¡¯s voice was hardly excited. Human police officers v.s. metal killer droids was never a pretty sight, but he, just like Brandon, knew there was always a price to pay in situations like this. Sometimes, this price was nonnegotiable.

    The bad news was quickly passed to the officers in the field.

    ¡°Move! Move! Move!¡± The squad leader demanded anxiously as he waved his hand fanatically. Twenty officers were spread across the commons, but they looked insignificant among hundreds of fleeing students. The students were trying to get out as quickly as they could, but there were only a handful of exits. It took a lot of time and energy just to keep the retreat in order and prevent a stampede from occurring.

    Unfortunately, that order disappeared when a red blast ripped the closed and locked door of the commons to shreds.

    Two officers at the door were gunned down before they could do anything.

    ¡°Provide cover fire!¡± The squad leader ordered as he and his men opened fire on the metal droids that were making their way past the breach. He was scared as well, but as soon as he put on this suit, he has received a responsibility. There were hundreds of innocent young lives at stake. It was something worth fighting for.

    It was something worth dying for.

    As the students ran and the officers fired, the droids continued advancing. Metal bullets bounced off them with little effect. Their return fire, on the other hand, were deadly. Advanced targeting systems meant that they, quite to the contrary of battle droids in Star Wars, never miss. Within seconds, eight officers were shot. With the droid blasters, shot meant killed.

    Among them was the squad captain.

    An officer took out a grenade. Just after he pulled off the pin, a shot came in from one of the droids and killed him. The grenade fell on the ground and exploded into a ball of shrapnel, killing two other officers and raising a wave of blood among the students.

    In the students, Selena watched as a piece of shrapnel barely missed her and took off the head of a girl in front of her. Sweat came down from her back. If she was a second faster, it would have been her head that popped like a watermelon.

    Suddenly, she reached a conclusion.

    ¡°We can¡¯t make it out!¡± She grabbed onto a boy in front of her and shouted. She was right. Already, the rest of the SWAT team, a handful of officers, were trapped behind their cover with storms of blasts landing all around them. It was only a matter of time before the droids turn around and either massacre the students or return them to prisoners.

    Selena didn''t know about the others, but she knew she couldn¡¯t go back to under Jaison¡¯s thumb. Jaison has made it clear that she would have a terrible fate due to her connection with Brandon. She wasn¡¯t going to try and see if he was feeling merciful.

    The boy in front realized the situation as well. His eyes widened as Selena turned back and picked up a rifle from one of the fallen officers and started firing at the droids. Once again, bullets bounced off the metal plating.

    The few last officers fell one by one. Finally, the SWAT squad was wiped out. The students tried to escape as quickly as possible, but even as their last protector fell, there were still at least thirty of them in the commons. In other words, there were thirty students under the guns of the droids.

    The droids readied their weapons. They were ordered to exterminate these hostages. The students knew this as well. A couple of the ones closer to the door pushed forward, trying to squeeze their way into the world of the living. Others simply stood there, waiting for the inevitable.

    Suddenly, Selena moved between the droids and the students. She has dropped her weapon, not that it would make any difference. Her arms were open as if welcoming death.

    Only death didn''t come. The droids never fired their blasters.

    Selena¡¯s smirk could barely be covered. She knew she made the right bet. The droids might be happy to turn the other students into corpses, but from what Jaison told her, Brandon was coming. Even someone as arrogant as Jaison wouldn¡¯t kill one of the few leverages he had against such a powerful foe. The droids wanted to take her alive. They must have.

    Of course, there was always the possibility she was wrong and the droids were ordered to kill everyone, but she was willing to go for it. There was no way she could watch dozens of her fellow students slaughtered without doing anything.

    ¡°Go!¡± She whispered while standing there.

    The other students started running as fast as their legs could carry them. The droids didn''t try to stop them. Their first priority was to take Selena. Eliminating the other students was just a side job. Finally, one of them fired a tranquilizer dart into Selena¡¯s neck. She could still see, hear, and feel, but her control of her body was gone.

    As she collapsed, she was glad to see the other students have fled to safety.

    Good.

    <hr>

    Jaison¡¯s blade clashed with Brandon¡¯s armor again. Brandon answered by throwing out another dagger. Again, it went into a wall.

    At this point, the walls were covered in Brandon¡¯s daggers. The situation would¡¯ve been ten times better if half of those daggers were on Jaison.

    Jaison exited cloak mode. A piece of orange crystal crumbled to dust between his fingers. He has already exhausted all its energy with all the cloaking and decloaking.

    At least that was some good news.

    But Brandon wasn¡¯t exactly in the best shape either. His armor was out of energy as well. He has ran out of daggers, and he was facing an enemy who has barely been struck.

    Plus¡­

    ¡°Look at that. Who do we have here?¡± Jaison turned at an entrance, where a dozen droids carried a blonde girl in. ¡°You know what the problem with loving someone is? Anyone can use it against you. Now,¡± He turned back to Brandon. ¡°give me your watch.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t¡­¡± Selena silently whispered. ¡°Don¡¯t do it¡­¡±

    Jaison was a madman. With a single watch, he was already willing to slap the government in the face and fill the school with corpses. What could he do with two watches unchallenged? Selena has never considered herself a self sacrificial person. In fact, she has mocked movie characters who have sacrificed themselves for the greater good countless times. But now, she really felt like she wasn¡¯t worth risking the whole world for.

    Brandon suddenly tilted his head.

    ¡°Sentinel battle droids. Are those S-1 types?¡±

    Jaison glanced at his battle droids.

    ¡°Maybe...why?¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± Brandon started backing off, ¡°the thing is, S-1s are just cannon fodder. If you have listened to your AI, you would¡¯ve known they were used in the billions to overwhelm poorly defended dimensions. A handful of them...not that much of a threat.¡±

    ¡°A handful of them is still enough to kill your girlfriend.¡± Jaison frowned. What was his brother thinking? ¡°Of course, they¡¯re nothing to people like us, but you¡¯ll never make it to them in time...not with me here.¡± He silently got ready. The moment Brandon tries to go for Selena, he would jump on him.

    That was when Brandon smiled.

    ¡°Oh no...that¡¯s not my point. My point is, they are just the basic Sentinel units, and there are hundreds of more superior types capable of massacring them...you found some units in your watch. What makes you think I didn''t?¡±

    Jaison¡¯s eyes widened. He turned to his droids, and what he saw made him want to scream. Four humanoid droids appeared out of nowhere and chopped their way through the S-1s with plasma swords.

    The S-1 carrying Selena was beheaded. As that droid fell, one of the four droids knelt down and kept Selena still.

    ¡°S-X droids. Slightly fewer in numbers, but far superior.¡± Brandon explained quietly. ¡°Also, your cloaking field...I also found a few sets of my own, which I put on my droids.¡±

    ¡°What¡­that¡¯s impossible! You let me take her?¡±

    ¡°I needed you to feel in control. This false sense of security will make you weak. Vulnerable.¡± Brandon suddenly tapped something on her arm interface. ¡°I needed to keep you here...willingly.¡±

    The next second, all the daggers Brandon threw into the walls went into action. They burst into waves of yellow energy, which formed a sphere around Jaison and started pushing in toward him. As the sphere got closer and closer, the space covered by the sphere was frozen in place. Air was frozen. Elements were frozen. Light was frozen. Space was frozen. Time itself was frozen.

    Jaison screamed, but his voice couldn¡¯t be heard through the yellow sphere.

    Brandon watched his brother as the walls closed in. He had no idea where his armor came from, but some of its abilities were beyond his comprehension. For example, how the hell did he saw Jaison through an area where light and time couldn¡¯t even pass through?

    Not that it was on his mind right now.

    The moment Brandon set foot into the building, he knew what he has to do. Jaison must be dealt with, but there was no way Brandon could bring himself to kill his own brother. After all, he was partially responsible for Jaison¡¯s descension as well. Killing him would be a cheap solution.

    That left one option left: Sealing him.

    It wouldn¡¯t kill him, but it was enough to imprison him for theoretically forever.

    Brandon has tools capable of sealing entities in his watch the entire time, but they took a long time to put in place and activate. That was why when Jaison started striking him down with his cloaking device, he only passive used daggers to retaliate. Those daggers contained the power of the Seal. By tossing them out, Brandon was putting them in place. Jaison tried to play badass and dodged all of them cleanly. It was a mistake on his part.

    As for Selena...Brandon could only say he was sorry. His four S-X droids have been following the Jaison¡¯s S-1s around the entire time. Brandon wanted Jaison to think he has won by having Selena. This way, he was more likely to ignore the mistakes Brandon made and remain in this battlefield. Brandon knew his plan wasn¡¯t perfect, so appealing to Jaison¡¯s arrogance was a must.

    What happened to the police officers was unfortunate, but he didn''t have a choice. He couldn¡¯t risk having his entire plan collapse and potentially doom thousands just to save a dozen lives.

    Jaison screamed again as he slammed his fist into the yellow power of the Seal, but it was of no use. The power of the Seal wasn¡¯t a physical force. As Jaison¡¯s armored fist dug into the yellow energy, he hit nothing. The energy, on the other hand, infiltrated Jaison¡¯s arm. Before long, the Watcher realized he has lost control over his arm. Even worse, the yellow energy was advancing across his body by the seconds.

    All he could do was stare at Brandon with absolute hatred.

    Brandon turned away. He couldn¡¯t bare to watch the rage in his brother¡¯s eyes. He silently knelt down beside Selena, examined her, and fed her a dose of antidote.

    As Selena got back up, Brandon turned back to Jaison.

    The Seal was completed.

    Jaison Bai was Sealed.

    He was victorious.

 Chapter 14: Aftermath

    The second attack on Killian High School ended just like the first one. The media talked about this for weeks. The police did some digging and cleanup. The school was stopped for another week. Students and faculties alike went to seek help from mental health professionals. A lot of people left. There have already been two attacks. Who knows if there would be a third?

    Brandon sat in his room quietly.

    After sealing off Jaison and walking out of the school, Brandon met up with a serious-looking man who called himself a representative of the President of the United States. The man referred to himself as Mr. Trent.

    The two had quite a chat.

    ¡°Mr. Bai. You know why I am here.¡±

    ¡°You are mistaken.¡±

    ¡°Your name is Brandon Bai. You and your brother received some sort of supernatural power. You are suspected to be related to the events with Mr. Henry Dirvin. Your brother hired a group of mercenaries to attack your high school, which you disposed of. Lately, your brother held an entire school hostage and killed over 80 people, including at least 50 police officers. Give me one reason why I shouldn¡¯t have you arrested right now.¡±

    ¡°Because I am one of the good guys. I am the one that ultimately stopped my brother. Without me, there¡¯s no telling how many more people would¡¯ve died.¡±

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean you will stay good forever. You have to understand: the government will not let a teenager whose mind is still growing to hold such power.¡±

    ¡°First of all, I am legally an adult. Second of all, Mr. Trent, you also have to understand something: You can¡¯t take my powers from me.¡±

    ¡°Really? I know you are powerful, but if it¡¯s between you and the United States military, I will bet my money on our guns anytime.¡±

    ¡°And how are your guns doing with your Department X targets?¡±

    ¡°Excuse me?¡±

    ¡°I know why you are here, Mr. Trent. If the government wants to take me by force, you would have cleared the surrounding and brought in the military already. No point in holding back after you have seen what my brother could do. You want to make a deal with me, so I took a peek into some of your top secret documents...¡± Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°That¡¯s illegal!¡±

    ¡°Once again, what are you willing to offer? Those vengeful spirits and murderous supernatural madwomen aren¡¯t going to stop themselves.¡±

    ¡°In that case, I will just be frank. The President is willing to clean up your mess as long as you work with us. You are not the first supernatural being in this world, and you will not be the last.¡±

    ¡°Using power against power. That¡¯s some X-men level strategy. I¡¯m in...on one condition.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°I work as a private contractor. I am not under the command of the government or the military. I don¡¯t take orders. You have a problem that needs solving, you call me, and I solve that problem for you for a price.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not standard protocol¡­¡±

    ¡°You have seen what I can do. Are you really willing to lose me for such a small detail?¡±

    ¡°I need to speak with the President¡­¡±

    ¡°Be my guest.¡±

    ¡°Mr. President...ok..ok I understand. That¡¯s a deal, Mr. Bai. I look forward to working with you.¡±

    Ever since Jaison showed his face in front of the world, Brandon knew the government would track him down sooner or later. It¡¯s the government, for god¡¯s sake, not SCPD in Arrow or GCPD in Batman. They¡¯re neither blind nor stupid. Working with the government was the best plan Brandon could think of.

    The path of war wouldn¡¯t work. Even if he could technically defeat the US military, which he probably could, there was no way he would raise his weapons against men and women who were just doing their duty.

    Total submission wouldn¡¯t work either. Brandon had no intention of following every command from someone. Thanks to the watch, he had both the right and the power to say no to that option.

    That leaves the private contractor route. Enough freedom for him and enough profit for the government. Plus, he never planned on stopping what he does anyways. Working with the government just made fighting those who have failed their duties much easier.

    The first floor was silent. Brandon closed his eyes. He could sense his parents sitting on the sofa, mourning the loss of their son. They saw what happened, but they had no idea what was really going on. All they knew was that at the end of the day, his son was not just killed but was also known throughout the world as a murderous psychopath. The government censored out most of the details, but there were too much chaos and too many casualties to act as if nothing happened.

    The people were easily fooled, but they weren¡¯t blind, deaf, and brainless.

    The Bai family was planning on moving to another city.

    Brandon didn''t tell his parents the whole truth about himself. After what happened to Jaison, there was no way they would allow him to do what he wanted to do. It¡¯s fine. He didn''t need their approval.

    His cell phone rang. Brandon looked down and saw the caller ID.

    Selena.

    He sighed and tapped the red cross.