Weak

"You don't know that, you are a martial?" Carlos said

Alan looked at him with indifference

"Oh, God!" Carlos sighed

"I was caught off guard by your ability" Carlos continued as he stood up, his eyes started glowing

"Now, you are dead!" Carlos shouted as he rushed towards Alan, with greater speed than the previous attempt

"Huh" Alan said as he swung his arm again to evade Carlos

But, this time Alan couldn't completely evade Carlos' attack, he had opened a cut on Alan's waist

"You are faster"

"I know"

Alan felt a little uneasiness in his heart, he felt incompetent

"I will take the offensive now"

Alan raised his hand up to his chest, he closed his fist, and pulled it back quickly

Suddenly, Carlos, who was standing in front of Alan, got pushed towards Alan, before he could even react, Alan landed a kick to his face, sending him a few meters away

"Nice tactic"

"Isn't it?"

***

In a room which looked like an office

"We got the final 4% stakes of the company by settling with Wu" A man said with a few documents in his hands

"Well done, give Travis a bonus for his work" An old looking man said with a grin on his face

"Sir, should we-"

"Yeah, let's kick that bastard's ass out of the company" The old man said with an exhilarating expression

***

Carlos and Alan stood face to face, both panting, and were drenched in sweat.

"You are good" Carlos said

"I know" Alan said before he rushed towards Carlos, the wind boosted him

Carlos simply swung his hand, hitting Alan's head, sending him a few meters away. Due to the long-lasting fight, Alan had gradually gotten slower, and Carlos had understood his repetitive tactics.

Carlos just stood there staring at Alan, after a few seconds he turned around and said "It's over, finally"

He then took out his phone, and dialed a number

"Please send an ambulance to the warehouse numbered 13 in the industrial region" He said

Carlos then dialed another number

"I found-" He said to the person on the phone before a scream interrupted him

"Die!" Alan shouted, as he threw a beer bottle towards Carlos' stomach, the wind enforced the bottle's speed

Carlos, who was startled by this, came to his senses as he placed his crystal hand in front of his stomach. In less than a second, the bottle had travelled the distance of about a hundred meters and was just in front of Carlos.

The bottle was just about a centimeter away from Carlos' hand, when it suddenly rotated, changing its trajectory and launching towards Carlos' head

A smirk appeared on Alan's face

Carlos' eyes widened, he couldn't do anything, but deep inside he had the urge to live

"No, I won't lose" Carlos thought to himself as he closed his eyes

The bottle had touched Carlos' barely grown facial hair on his chin, when suddenly the bottle shattered

An ugly cluster of small spikes of orange diamond grew on his chin protecting his face, while shattering the bottle. Once the bottle shattered and fell down, the crystal on his chin also turned into dust.

Carlos opened his eyes on hearing the sound of shattering, "Huh, the bottle didn't hit me?" he thought to himself

"Did I, crystallize my face?" He murmured when he noticed Alan who was standing in front of him, spat a huge amount of blood as he coughed

"Am, I this weak?" Alan thought, there was irritation on his face, and his eyes filled with blankness

Suddenly his eyes started glowing, with a moon blue hue, wind started blowing around him, and his hair moved with the wind. He coldly looked towards his target, Carlos.

Alan rushed towards Carlos, his speed was at least three times faster than what he has shown previously, before Carlos could even get a chance to react, he felt a punch on his right cheek, then a kick on his calf, then a punch on his left cheek which sent him a few meters away.

Carlos laid on the floor, when Alan appeared above him, and launched his elbow towards his chest, shattering his ribs. Alan was so fast that Carlos couldn't even comprehend what had happened in just four-five seconds.

He spat some blood, before he passed out.

Alan's eyes soon stopped glowing, and he also spat blood, he was not in a very good state either. He slowly walked out of the building, his eyes were locked on his hand which was painted with blood, and his face was full of tiredness.

There was only one thought in his mind, "I need to improve"

Once he was out, he heard a few sirens, and quickly escaped the scene, not wanting to be implicated. Slowly, he made his way towards his apartment.

***

"You are back?" Lucy asked as soon as the apartment's door opened, she was only wearing an over sized shirt from Alan's wardrobe, and was mopping the floor, her sight was locked on the floor.

"Yeah" Alan replied while panting as he threw his bag on the bed, then he looked at Lucy and asked, "Why are you still here? I thought you would have left by morning?"

"Yeah, but you know-" Lucy replied as she turned her head towards Alan, but stopped after seeing blood and injuries all over Alan

She quickly rushed towards Alan with worry in her eyes, "What happened!"

***

"So, you got into a fight with the bullies" Lucy said while applying medicine to Alan's knees

"Yea"

"Haizz, kids these days" She sighed

"You are a kid too" Alan said with a grin on his face full of scratches

"I am an adult"

"Understandable, so when are you leaving?"

"You really want me to leave, don't ya"

"Yeah, no one likes uninvited guests"

"I made fried chicken for dinner!" Lucy said completely diverting the topic of discussion

"Wait, Whe-"

"Let's eat!" Lucy said as she rushed towards the kitchen

***

After eating, Alan slept like a log, while Lucy looked at him with a gaze of indifference in her moonlit eyes.

The next day Alan went to school, and noticed that there were no bullies in the class today. "Peace is quite nice" He thought to himself

"Sup!" The boy who warned Alan earlier said

"Hi" Alan waved his hand, before he settled behind the boy

Alan had learned that this boy's name was Ajay.

"I am so excited, there are no bullies in the class today, and on top of that there is a Computer Science period today" Ajay said excitedly

"You like developing?" Alan asked curiously

"No, I am more into Cybersecurity stuff, but yea I know C and Python" Ajay replied with a friendly smile on his face

"You like to hack?"

"Basically"

"Can you hack my phone then?" Alan asked with a smirk on his face

"Of course" Ajay replied as he adjusted his glasses

"Is your phone iOS or Android?"

"Android"

Ajay took out his laptop from his bag, and started doing things.

"Unlock your phone" Ajay said with confidence as he took off his glasses

Without his glasses, Ajay looked pretty handsome, unlike the nerdy look he always has

Alan turned on his phone and quickly unlocked it, and as soon as he did that a video popped up on the screen, it was a music video.

*Never gonna give you up, Never gonna…* The song played

"Bro, you are too good!" Alan commended Ajay

"Thanks"

"Now turn this off"

"Wait…"

***

After school ended, Alan returned home after listening to Ajay's chatter over machine learning and how it's different from AI technology, he was tired.

When he entered his apartment, he saw that it was empty, and the keys were below the front door carpet. After learning that Lucy left, Alan felt a hint of loneliness in his heart, he sighed before he threw his bag and headed towards the washroom

After freshening up, he served himself some cereals and sat on his study table

"To think that she would leave without telling me"

Suddenly his gaze fell on a key lying on the table, the key had a green emerald like stone engraved on to it

"Huh, what's this?" Alan thought to himself

Alan didn't remember him having any key like this earlier, after thinking for a while, he reached the conclusion that it was Lucy's key, which she carelessly left here.

"Ugh" Alan sighed

***

In an office like room

A man sat on the sofa, sipping on his tea. Another man stood in front of him with a folder in his hands. Both these men wore formal clothing, but the man who was sitting, his clothes looked more expensive.

"Boss, I have a good news, and a bad news, which would you like to hear first?" The man standing asked in a polite tone

"Bad news, perhaps" The man sitting replied in a serious tone

"Sir, your nephew, Carlos, got into a fight with someone at his school" The man standing said

"Then?"

"Carlost" The man standing said in a serious tone

Suddenly, a smile appeared on the boss' face, which soon turned into wild laughter

"Carlost!" He said while laughing

"Which bastard, kick that punk's ass?"

"Boss, we don't know, but it was someone at Carlos' school"

"Look into it, we need to find who is this person, and if they are a threat or not" The boss replied in a serious tone

"Now, what's the good news?"

"Rumors are that, Lucy Almond is in town" The assistant replied as he adjusted his glasses