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.”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, 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.

----------------------------------------

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.

----------------------------------------

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.