Chapter 3: Burst within

—S-12 building; Dotun City, Lanima Region

After Alex entered the S-12 building, when he saw what was happening on the first floor of the building, criminals took hostage of the employees on the first floor while the guards and officers can't do anything because the criminals have their laser guns pointed at some hostages.

"I haven't used mother's martial arts on anyone for many years now, my mother told me to use it for self-defense, I guess it's time for me to use them now, this is self-defense," Alex thought, reasoning with himself.

Alex put down his bag and then walked towards the criminals slowly to surprise them. Alex can already tell which of them is their leader by how tall he is, and because his mother taught Alex many things, she also taught Alex how to take down a bigger enemy, and Alex is not a scrawny person, he doesn't body build but ever since he was 5, his mother taught him every day nonstop, until his mother died.

When he got close to their leader, Alex grabbed his mask at the back and pulled it while he kicks his legs hard to remove his balance altogether, dropping him to the ground, back head first, knocking him out.

A few of the criminals saw this and then pointed their laser guns at him.

"Who the hell are you?!" One of the criminals shouted, asking him.

Because almost all the criminals are occupied with one hostage, they let go of them, giving the guards and officers of the S-12 building a chance.

"Guards!" Alex shouted, calling the guards and officers as he runs towards the criminal near him.

They all heard Alex's call and then charged forward, pulling out their Taser guns and started shooting at the criminals, electrifying them while Alex takes down a few of the criminals near him as best as he can.

Alex then got caught by one of the criminals at the bag, holding his neck and aiming his laser gun at his head.

When the guards and the officers went to him, they're too late; he already has his laser gun pointed at Alex's head.

"Nobody move!" The criminal demanded.

"Ow, the way he grinds his laser gun at my head is irritating, and I can't believe I didn't see him coming, wait…" Alex thought, he then notices something.

"We have you surrounded! Let him go!" One of the guards shouted, ordering the criminal.

"I have the hostage here. You don't have any say here, officer! Now! Move away! And my remaining friends out, get up, guys! Boss!" The criminal demanded, calling his friends and waking up his boss that's knocked out.

"Friends? Just because they were tased you'll abandon them?" Alex asked the criminal.

"Mr. Hugo, stay put, we're glad you helped us but that is very dangerous," one of the officers told him.

"I'm fine, officers," Alex said.

"Mr. Hugo? He's the new Director of this building, we hit the jackpot, didn't we? You even tried to lecture me about friendship, you see employees as nothing but tools," The criminal said, asking them.

"What the hell is this man talking about? Not all directors are like that, and I'm just new!" Alex thought, annoyed by him talking and grinding his laser gun at him.

The other criminals tried to get up but…

"Trying to get up? Wanna be tased again?!" The guards dared the criminals.

"Let them go or your Director's head will be blasted!" The criminal demanded from the guards and the officers again.

"No! Let him go or we'll blast their heads!" The guards shouted threatening to kill the criminal's friends..

"I don't know how you guys do this every now and then since I heard this happens often, doesn't it get tiring?" Alex said, asking them.

"What?" The criminal asked.

This does happen often but it's varied because, the S-12 branch is new, and the newer branches of Scope Enterprise are quick targets for criminals to hijack and demand money from the owner of Scope Enterprise, Mr. Scope.

After he asked Alex that, Alex pressed something underneath the laser gun, he then grabbed hold of the criminal's arm.

"Is he trying to blast his own head?" The criminal thought.

He then presses the laser gun's trigger to shoot Alex's head.

"No!" The guards shouted.

But when the criminal pressed the laser gun's trigger, nothing happened.

"Stupid person for getting distracted about our talking, he didn't even know I designed those safe buttons that only us employees of Scope Enterprise can press it, so when others unqualified use it, if we can, we can just press it, I guess there are some that aren't aware of it, or not know it's already been in many weapons of Scope Enterprise," Alex thoroughly thought after taking advantage of the criminal.

He then went behind the criminal while grabbing his arm, and locking his arm behind him. The criminal dropped his laser gun after having his arm spun behind him, Alex quickly caught it, and Alex then kicked behind both of the criminal's legs, making him kneel down.

"Oh right, I know this laser guns have a Taser button in it," Alex said, holding the laser gun and aiming it behind the criminal he is holding.

"Mr. Hugo, that's excessive, you might press the wrong button too," the guards said as they approach him.

Alex then pressed the Taser button and tased the criminal he was holding, of course, he let go so that he doesn't tase himself. But because these Taser guns are made by the Scope Enterprise, that doesn't happen anymore.

"You guys worry, I know how these guns work, of course, anyway! That's done," Alex said.

"We appreciate you for helping us, Mr. Hugo, but that almost became dangerous, especially for you, you just became this branch's Director too," one of the officers of the S-12 said as they slowly take the laser gun from Alex.

"Well, my mother taught me to how to fight, I'm also lucky I was the one that designed that safe button that locks the laser gun, next time, try not to let this happen, I've heard about this occurrence through rumors, I didn't care for it before, but I didn't expect it to be real," Alex said, giving the laser gun to the officer

"Right, the S-12 has been around for almost a year, we will definitely make sure this never happens again since that's how it goes, once a year or so has passed, it will quickly disappear for sure," the officer said, reassuring Alex.

"That's good to hear, officer, anyway, I don't really need any treatment so I'll be going to my office now," Alex said grabbing his bag that he left at the entrance.

He then quickly went up the building of the S-12. Because their building is an S-level branch, they use a newer elevator, called Levitator, it uses a very powerful type of magnets to control the elevator, it can lift 5000 kilograms, and the limit is 7500 kilograms.

But unlike normal elevators like B level to D level of branches uses, if it reaches more than 7500 kilograms, it will not just break down, it will slowly go down to the floor below, they have 2 minutes to reduce passengers until it goes down to the first floor.

"I'll never get old of this Levitator. It's so fast but it doesn't hurt us with its speed," Alex thought.

Alex arrived at the upper floors of the S-12 building since that's where his office room is because he's now the Director of the S-12 branch.

He put down his bag on his table and took out his laptop. He then headed out of his office afterward because he has a meeting with the S-12 branch's Administrators and Executives, immediately after he became the Director of the building.

Alex has to give a quick briefing of his plans as the new Director, celebrate his promotion, and choose his assistants, not just in name, but also those that will definitely be helpful for him.

He then entered the meeting room that was just across from his office room.

"Mr. Hugo, congratulations on your promotion,"

"Mr. Hugo,"

Alex offered to shake hands with the Administrators and Executives as they approach and congratulate him.

"I'm glad to hear that," Alex said as he smiled at them.

"I don't know why this is a bit liberating, I'll try not to question it too much," Alex thought, brushing it off.

"Alex, I heard what happened from the first floor, the guards are in a tight position too,"

"Right, I'm glad you're safe, we will definitely need to increase our security in the future," Alex's friend, Stacia said, worried about him.

"Even though I know that she's the reason I'm here, I can't help but feel angry I can only get her to the Operations Executive which is 4 steps behind my position, I would've wanted her to be beside me as my Assistant Director. But this is everything I could do for her since if she wants to get such a position, she needs to work hard for it," Alex thoroughly thought.

Stacia Thiwang is Alex's mentor in Scope Enterprise back when they were still in the D-38 branch, Alex may have been new back then and Stacia has been in the company—in D level branch, for 3 years now, Alex was the reason why they reached the S level branch and he's the one that pulled Stacia out of D level branch.

"It's still surreal for me that the one I'm teaching about the Scope Enterprise for 2 years became Director, even higher than what I've reached in this company alone, he helped me a lot, I can't be mad because he brought me here too, I've only dreamed of getting in S level branch before," Stacia thought, jealous not because of Alex's position but because of Alex's progress.

"I'll still do my best behind the scenes to get her to where she deserves to be because back then, she's definitely doing almost half the work of her superiors, I was the reason why she is here now, they're a bunch of annoying old men," Alex thought with his utmost support to Stacia, remembering the time they're still in D-38 branch.

"I'm fine, now! Shall we get to our seats? Do we have our food ready?" Alex asked them, as he heads in front of the meeting room.

"You really like your food, Mr. Hugo," Stacia said as she sits on her chair.

"Yet I'm fatter than you, I'm on a diet nowadays too,"

"Hahaha! Why do you think I survive going up here today? You, of course, need exercise too," Alex said.

They then moved forward with their meeting afterward, celebrating Alex's promotion and others more pertaining to Alex's new job position.

After a few hours, the other Executives and Administrators left, heading to their office rooms to go on with their jobs.

Since Alex's work starts 30 minutes after the meeting ended, he and Stacia stayed in the meeting room to clean up, just throwing some larger trash in the bin since they have their own cleaner in the building, they don't need to dust off the room and broom the floor.

"It's been a few minutes since we started cleaning, let me try and break the ice a little," Alex thought.

He heads close to Stacia to talk to her.

"I feel like I need to apologize to you, Ms. Thiwang," Alex said.

Stacia smirks. "Why do you feel that? You didn't do anything wrong to me, Mr. Hugo," she asked him.

Both of them are trying hard to call each other with formalities even though they're used to calling one another by their first name.

"I don't know. Because you've been in the company more than me, I got in a higher position than you, you were even the one that taught me in this company too, so, uh, I'm sorry about that," Alex said.

"Haha, that's nothing to be sorry about," Stacia giggled, "that just means you have more talent than me. You worked hard on it, while I'm just knowledgeable about the company, not as talented as you are, Mr. Hugo. Don't worry too much about it, you helped me be here, in an S-level branch, before, I've only dreamed of this, you know," she explained, reassuring Alex.

"Is that so?" Alex asked.

"I guess I did help her," Alex thought.

"You know what? To not make you feel bad, Mr. Hugo… I once told you to just call me Stacia after you managed to get us in S level branch, right? I thought you were used to it already? Why are you still calling me Ms. Thiwang?" Stacia asked him.

"Okay, I'll still call you that whenever we're around other employees and while we're working, it's still awkward for me, or maybe I won't be if you can call me just Alex too since I get even more awkward you calling me Mr. Hugo, I might collapse to myself if you continue that since I feel like we went back to when we first met," Alex explained, requesting Stacia.

"What?" Stacia thought.

Stacia smiles. "Hahaha, sure, Alex, how about we finish cleaning here, put these over that table," she said, giving him boxes of items they opened earlier.

"Okay," Alex said, he then grabbed the boxes and put them on the table that's close to the window wall.

Alex then looks over the window after he put the boxes there, but…

*hissing*

He heard some hissing to the left outside the S-12 building, Alex then looked over to the left, and what he saw shocked him.

"What!? A missile!?" Alex thought, shocked by it.

He saw the logo of the missile. "L"

Alex ran backward, "Everybody, run!" He shouted at the top of his lungs.

The missile then hits them, launching them back. They got hit by many debris.

—————

But fortunately, a failed experiment from Nansiga Province blasts a powerful wave around not just the Nansiga Province but the Dotun City as well, the people of the Dotun City didn't see this energy wave, only the people of Nansiga Province.

Alex was one of the people that got hit by this energy wave, which makes him autonomous after getting hit by the energy wave and the explosion of the missile, he gained an ability to control the things around them including the explosion, saving Stacia from getting hit by big debris on her head.

Alex then controlled the things around them long enough for everyone around the top floors of the S-12 building to evacuate. Alex was crushed by the debris.

Luckily, many rescuers from the Scope Enterprise's S-1 branch are able to rescue Alex, though many injuries, Alex was saved.