A Difficult Enemy to Deal With

Today, for the first time in a long time, Zac is out of trouble at Eastside High School!

Dario and his cronies were too busy with the incident of the previous night to take any interest in Zac, leaving this young man alone without anyone 'accidentally' bumping into him, playing pranks on him, or even going through his belongings.

Sean tried to talk to Zac about the laugh earlier, but he didn't act like a problem. He was a traitor but didn't act against Zac directly. The young Small spoke briefly with him, still pretending not to know anything but quick enough to find excuses to go and do other things away from such a person.

As calm and calculating as Zac was, he couldn't help but feel a strong resentment towards Sean now that he knew most of the truth about the last few months.

He went about his student duties for most of the morning until guard Allen approached him on his way out of the school after the last class of the day.

...

"Zac, can we have a word?" Roger Allen asked as he approached Zac with a rather complicated expression.

"What do you want, Mr. Allen?" Zac asked, not looking Allen in the eye but curious to know what this was all about.

He changed his path a bit along the long corridor leading out of the main school building, heading for a drinking fountain there.

When Allen saw Zac stopping for a drink at an unoccupied fountain, he replied.

"Earlier today, I was told to keep an eye on you. I don't know if you had anything to do with Dario's incident, but be careful. I won't be the only one watching you." Allen said worriedly, feeling that the problems around Zac would only grow.

"That's strange." Zac stopped drinking for a moment but continued to lean on the silver stainless steel trough in front of him. "I didn't think they would see me as a suspect. Dario didn't seem interested in me before."

"You're not. However, the person the group leader chose to deal with the matter wants to watch you for some reason. But nobody seems to believe that you've done anything." Allen said as he looked at Zac strangely.

In fact, he thought Zac might be behind such an incident. But he wasn't going to tell anyone, not even Zac himself.

After the death of two men who broke into Zac's house, Allen was more alert to this young man than ever!

"Who would this person be?" Zac finished his drink of water and looked into Allen's eyes, aware that no one remotely relevant was watching them at the moment.

"I don't know if you know him. His name is Kai Ellis." Allen said without hesitation.

He could be considered one of the many associates of The Vipers. He wasn't officially part of the group, but they paid him and had his 'exclusivity.' As such, he knew the names of some of the faction members, especially the red-haired guy who had already served The Vipers for at least 15 years!

Kai Ellis was famous within The Vipers. He was like the faction leader's pit bull and was involved in many of the group's actions.

He was considered respected within the faction, but he still had a long way to go to enter the group's line of succession, so knowing about him wasn't as difficult as knowing about the de facto leaders of The Vipers.

Zac stared at Allen for a moment in silence, unable to stop an ugly expression from forming on his face. "That bastard..." He muttered, clenching his fists.

"Do you know him?" Allen didn't know that these two knew each other.

"Unfortunately. That bastard is my sister's boyfriend." He said between his teeth.

Allen opened his mouth in surprise when he saw that Zac had already been involved with The Vipers in some way before Dario came along.

"That... Well, I don't know if that's good or bad." Allen commented, knowing that Kai was not good.

"It's bad, that's for sure, it's terrible." Zac turned away and made his way back to the school exit. "Thank you for the information, Mr. Allen. I'll see you some other time."

He left under Allen's curious and worried gaze while he couldn't help but wish for Kai's own downfall.

'Damned redhead!' He clenched his fists in anger.

He couldn't deal with Kai the way he had with Dario. Apart from the fact that he didn't know enough about the redhead to take him by surprise, there was a big problem that would make it very difficult for Zac to deal with Amy's boyfriend.

It was possible that Kai knew something about what had happened the day after Zac's apartment had been broken into. If this man knew something, then he could destroy Zac's life by framing the young man in some way.

Zac had gained superpowers, but he still saw his life as that of an ordinary person. He wanted to solve his problems and live up to the expectations of having a good job and, eventually, a prominent family.

He didn't think about living as a "superhero" or using his abilities to earn a living.

He wasn't willing to give up his freedom and future opportunities by dealing with someone who could incriminate him and turn the police against him!

As a result, he couldn't help but find himself at a crossroads, not knowing how to deal with Kai.

"Shit!"

With this problem in mind, he went to the martial arts gym.

...

"Zac, let's talk in my office." Instructor Bell called the young Small a few minutes into today's lesson.

Zac seemed quite stressed in his movements, and after yesterday's conversation with his sensei, Oliver couldn't help but try something different today.

Zac had gained powers, but he wasn't someone who was ill-bred. When called upon by an older person or an instructor, he didn't react inappropriately.

He stopped doing the moves from today's class and followed Oliver into the instructors' room.

"Is there a problem, Instructor Bell?" He asked as he stopped before the man who had just settled into a chair.

"Zac, tell me what's going on. You seem very nervous lately." Oliver got right to the point.

His master was much more sensitive than he was and knew better how to talk to his students. But even though he wasn't as good with words as such a guy, Instructor Bell wanted to get close to Zac and try to help him overcome the difficulties that kept him from living at peace with himself.

Zac remained silent as he watched the man's gaze, wondering how he could have noticed anything.

'No one at school noticed anything different about me. Not even Amy noticed anything.' He was curious, but at the same time, he didn't know what to say.

"I don't understand. Am I doing something wrong?"