Market Incident

Underneath the government's extravagant looking tower in the center of the city, was a large underground facility made entirely of a blue crystalline alloy.

The entire area looked like a lab, with people walking around in similar black colored uniformed with an emblem of a white sword on their breast pockets.

Inside a particular sealed area, several people were looking behind a glass pane at a woman who was bleeding profusely. Her eyes were dull and resigned to her fate. If Adrian looked at her, he would realize that it was the mysterious woman, who went by the name Shadowness.

A man with a white handlebar moustache looked at the woman with cold eyes. "Anything about Eucalyptus?" He asked his following assistant.

"It seems like this woman doesn't know about this Eucalyptus's origins, only that it is a man amd is extremely powerful. Our simulations suggest a super ability." The assistant replied.

"Super ability? Prioritize our resources to trace and extinguish this threat. I want everything about Eucalyptus known as quickly as possible." The man with the handlebar moustache growled. "As for this pawn, let the researchers dissect her."

---

As Adrian walked out after school, he quickly made his way to the training center. There he found Jimmy Orville sitting like a bored old man.

"Lad, where did you disappear to? I thought you got tired and quit!" Jimmy asked as he slapped Adrian's shoulder in jest.

"Something came up." Adrian replied with a smile. "Training slots open?" He asked.

Jimmy laughed. "Of course. Get into the ring, let's see how rusty you've gotten without a month's practice."

A couple of hours later, Jimmy looked at Adrian with a shocked expression. Adrian's opponent in the ring, his frequent sparring partner was also bewildered.

"What ginseng did you have?" Jimmy asked in gawking surprise. "Did you awaken an ability?"

Adrian smiled. "I had an accident of sorts. Seems like my reflexes has improved dramatically." He said casually.

Jimmy shook his head. "Reflexes wouldn't explain this. Your combat technique improved dramatically while sparring. This isn't reflex but perception."

Adrian smiled but didn't explain. Jimmy didn't probe either. After the end of training, Adrian walked out of the center, heading to the market to buy some supplies, when he came across a familiar albeit surprising individual.

"Hey Senior." The blonde girl said with surprise as she saw the sweaty Adrian picking some fruits in the market.

"Oh, Alice. You live in this area?" Adrian asked with surprise.

"Uhuh. I didn't think you lived near by as well! Did you just return from the gym?" Alice asked.

"Well, I take self defense training in a center not far from here." Adrian replied with a smile. "How are things in school?"

Alice looked at Adrian curiously. "You've been the talk of the school for the past few weeks. I heard that the maniac Cody tried to attack you and a large battle broke out. It even came out in the news."

Adrian just smiled awkwardly. "Well... it did happen."

Alice realized that the topic was an awkward one and struggled to steer the conversation elsewhere, when a loud crash reverberated in the market.

Two bulky looking men in ragged clothes slammed several crates of produce to the ground, making a huge noise.

"Take out all of your money, or face the consequences!" One of them said as his fist bulged muscularly and slammed into a wall, penetrating it like paper and causing cracks to radiate everywhere.

Adrian activated his ability and the world around him turned black and white. He observed the two mischief makers and noticed that both were ability users. However, the orbs within them were familiar. Red orbs, that reminded Adrian of the red crystal.

"More consumers of that drug?" Adrian wondered to himself secretly. However, his ability allowed him to see their weaknesses clearly. The ability gave the two individuals superior strength, but the bulking feature didn't apply uniformly on their body and their flexibility and directionality were hampered in the process.

Adrian was about to turn off his ability, when he noticed another person in the market. It was a teen, just like himself and Alice. Their orb was grey colored, yet there was a peculiar chain erupting out of the orb occassionally that returned back into the orb. Adrian instantly felt a flood of information about the ability, raising an eye.

"What a peculiar ability!" He murmured internally. The teen seemed to have the ability to mentally enslave others completely, turning them into a puppet. However, he could only enslave one person at a time, until the person died, and the teen had already enslaved someone.

The chaos caused by the two violent men caused several people to scream.

"I said shut up! Quietly take out all money and valuables. Don't mess around!" The second man yelled angrily, causing the screaming ladies to quieten immediately, paralyzed in fear.

Quickly, the two began collecting wallets and jewelry from the people in the market with desperate gazes. Alice looked at the two thiefs and was about to use her ability, when Adrian held her hand and stopped her. He made a small gesture, shaking his head almost imperceptibly to motion to her not to act.

The reason he stopped her, was because he had already seen with his ability, that the teen had summoned his mind slave. The next moment, a large man who appeared to look like a professional bodyguard entered the market. Without even any hesitation, he directly rushed towards one of the men and pounced on him.

"What the f...?" The man turned around in shock to see a man with a powerful figure jumping onto him and using a lariat without any care for his own life.

The man began madly punching the first thief with all his might, not giving him a chance to retaliate. He was clearly also an ability user and of the transformation type. His fists had turned into granite as they wildly and rabidly punched into the first thief's face.

The second one looked for a moment in paralyzed shock, before reacting and kicking the man away. It was at this moment at Adrian signaled to Alice.

Within an instant, bolts of electricity exploded out of her hitting the first thief whose face had been pummelled and gazed at the ceiling with shock. His both shook in for a good while, before the electric shock stopped. However, the shock didn't take him out. His face had turned angrier and he wanted to attack Alice. He struggled to get up, and limped towards Alice as the ordinary people began screaming again.

As Alice had only recently awakened, she was already out of gas herself, as she looked on in panic, as the angry thief walked over her with a charred body, when a brick suddenly slammed into his carotid below his right ear.

Suddenly, the thief screamed and his eyes rolled over, and he fell backwards, unconscious. Adrian, the one who had slapped the bulky man with the brick which had broken from the wall nodded. The carotid area was indeed this guy's weak spot.

Alice looked at Adrian in surprise. She didn't even notice him move. Meanwhile, Adrian turned to look at the bodyguard battling with the other thief as if they were in it to the death.