Chapter 5: Alpha?

Seth stayed quiet in Alex's mind for the next few weeks without interfering. He wanted Alex to be brought to the brink and have his mental state become extremely worn out and fragile.

Not for any grand plan but just because he wanted to see how low Alex could get before he would try to kill himself as well as build up his resentment.

'If an innocent person like him can turn into a villain just because of some light bullying and a sudden increase in power, that would be pretty easy. But there can never be too few villains in the world. And may need a pawn in the future.'

It took nearly another month before Alex was at his limit. It was in the middle of an attack in an abandoned warehouse. Although heroes were not too common, police still patroled and a hero would occasionally run or fly through the city since it was a major one. Thus, bullies need to be smart and careful.

'Why me? What did I do to anyone?' were the thoughts that kept running through Alex's head as he fell further and further into despair. Once Seth felt that Alex had fallen low enough, he made his move.

At first, nothing happened. Then there was a spark, then more. And the sparks turned into small flames. Unnoticeable at first, but the flames slowly grew and the boys noticed that their clothes were catching on fire.

They backed away hurriedly and screaming as they either pat down the flames if they were small enough or took off their clothes if the flame was too large before blaming each other for the flame thinking one of them had taken the bullying to the next step.

"Was it you, Barry? Did you set the idiot on fire?"

"Don't try and throw the blame on me. We all know that Billy is the smoker who carries 5 different lighters and one step away from being an arsonist."

"Shut up, you idiots! It wasn't me who did it!"

The group threw blame around while backing away from Alex. Soon one of them noticed some was amiss. He pointed at Alex before giving a shout.

"Look! He's not burning!"

The others looked over and noticed that although several parts of Alex's clothes were aflame, the flames were not burning him. Hell, they were not even burning the clothes.

This was due to Seth. He used his sword to only give Alex the ability to create and control small amounts of flames but did not make him fireproof permanently. This was done on purpose.

He wanted to give Alex some powers that would make him a tier-3 Alpha to ensure he got more than just the basic information but also did not give him too many powers. He did not know if Alex would be his last host so he wanted to save as many powers as he could in case he had a different host in the future and to prevent anyone from catching on to him too fast.

To be honest, Seth did not see Alex as a person or an equal. Alex was an experiment and tool for him. He was Alex to test his powers and what he was capable of in the world while also using him as a tool to get what he wanted and more information.

'Fire control and suspected fire immunity should get him a tier-3 status. If not, I will allow him to summon the sword so he has a better chance of it since he would have 3 abilities due to his metahuman gene.'

Alex noticed that the boys stopped raining blows on him and uncovered his head. He was stunned and afraid by the sight of the flames at first before he noticed that he did not feel the heat coming off of them.

Seeing the flames and not feeling anything from them, Alex was stunned for a moment before the thought crossed his mind and he felt a sliver of joy and hope appear.

'Did I really become an Alpha? Did I really awaken my gene? Please, God. Please let this really be happening and not just a concussion. Please tell me that you truly took pity on me and changed my fate.'

Seth read these thoughts and laughed silently to himself.

'I wonder how he would feel if he knew that it was not God that granted him these abilities but someone along the lines of the Devil?'

Thinking about it like that, Seth laughed once more to himself at Alex's fate. He knew that Alex would only remain alive as long as he proved useful and if he ever had the chance to escape, he would make sure to kill Alex to ensure that there was no proof of his existence.

The bullies saw that Alex was stuck in his thoughts and silently came to an agreement. They had two choices before them: kill Alex to silence him before he could grow and take his revenge on them or run and hope that with Alex's weak personality he would not take revenge even after becoming an Alpha.

Most figured they should do the latter and ran off while Alex was still distracted. Only one thought that Alex would not let them off so easily. This was Liam.

He used to be like Alex. Weak and bullied. But he got a growth spurt and started working out so he became larger. And with his new size, he took revenge on all his old bullies and became a bully himself.

All the other boys were still a bit innocent. They thought that most Alphas were heroes and would not believe in getting revenge. They had been brainwashed by the media into thinking this way.

Liam was different. He turned into a bully. He knew that getting power after being on the opposite end and getting your ass kicked, getting power would make one crave revenge and become a bully. And he knew that becoming an Alpha was the best way for Alex to become a bully himself.

'No! I have to do this. He will be just like me in the future!'

With these thoughts, Liam pulled out a box cutter and approached Alex.