“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?

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

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.

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

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.”