CH8: NEARLY BUSTED
After break time, Max and his friends returned for the rest of their school lessons. Surprisingly, Miss Xin didn't show up to teach geometry. Max was getting more suspicious about his teacher. 'Perhaps my hunch was right. This chick's the real leader of the Four Armed Gang." Max was busy fantasizing about what he could do to Pharaoh and Miss Xin while the rest of the class was chatting and making noise. Since Miss Xin was their classroom teacher and she wasn't there, no one could tell them what to do.
" Hey Max," CJ called. "Mind we discuss all of this." The two boys moved to the furthest corner of the room so that no one could hear them and besides, there was enough noise in the room to drench out their whispers. " Is it really necessary to start this gangster stuff? Couldn't there be another way?" CJ asked.
" We already told you, bro, using a gang to take out a gang will send out a message to whoever tries to come here. Besides, you guys don't have to worry about fighting, leave that to me."
" Hah" CJ mockingly laughed. " Please, you don't have the body to take me down."
" Yes, I do." Max defended himself.
" Oh yeah. Prove it then. Pin me down and then we'll leave the fighting to you."
Max heard the signature *ding* in his head and opened the system panel.
[ Your strength has been challenged. Prove to your friend you're a suitable leader by pinning him down. Reward: Fire mutant capabilities will be unlocked.]
Max was overconfident in himself, thinking that he could easily pin down his rich friend. CJ stood up first and took off his jacket, revealing a well-built body for a boy his age. Max's confidence turned into shame because he had never seen his friend without his jacket off.
" You ready Maxy pad?" CJ asked as he cracked his knuckles.
" Bring it on, CJ." He said but in the back of his head, he knew he was going to lose. The two boys slowly inched away from each other, clearly not wanting to be the first to make a move. Every time CJ would try to grab Max, he would dodge swiftly. " Not bad, your dodging skills are great. Let's test your strength." CJ quickly rushed and grabbed Max by the shoulders.
He tried forcing his body down but Max was also putting up a fight too. Some students saw CJ and Max in the middle of their sparing session and started chanting * fight, fight, fight.* The entire class stopped whatever they were doing and surrounded Max and CJ making a makeshift ring. Sue also managed to catch a glimpse of what was happening and she was ashamed of Max. She knew very well that her slim friend couldn't beat the other.
" Go Max. You can do it." Few students chanted.
" Kick his butt CJ. C'mon." CJ, hearing the cheers, used more strength and pushed Max's body to the point where he lost his balance. CJ used his left foot and tackled Max, pinning him down. The rest of the students booed because they expected to see a fistfight, not some pinning gig.
" See Max. You can't even pin me down. What makes you think you can be our leader if we start the gang?" CJ asked as he offered his hand to help his friend up.
" Don't worry about that," He said as he stood up. He looked CJ in the eyes and said, "I'll become stronger and I'll definitely beat you with ease." His eyes glowed a bright red for a quick second before they reverted to their normal color.
" I'll be looking forward to it."
*Ding*
[ Congratulations. You have shown how weak you are. Your opponent doesn't think you're leader material. Reward lost.]
"Great, another demeaning statement from some piece of code."
It was finally time for the students to return home as the day came to an end. CJ left in his car while Sue and Max walked home. The strange thing they both realized was the increased number of gang members on the street. Some were coming out of shops while others were coming out of people's homes.
" Max, I hope you got rid of that briefcase. If they find you with it, you'll be dead." Sue whispered. Max didn't respond but instead just increased the pace. He walked so fast that he left Sue behind and some of the gang members were getting suspicious.
" Hey, you. Boy with red hair. Stop running." One gangster said. Max stopped in his steps and just stood there while the gangster walked to him with a bounce in his step.
" Wassup lil man. Why's you in a hurry?" He asked.
" I'm sorry sir. I didn't want to end up home late. My mom would get worried." Max replied with a small grin that crept its way to the corners of his mouth.
" Oh, so you was heading to your mama. Aight, head on lil man." The gangster ruffled Max's hair and went on to mind his business. Max ran back to his apartment block and quickly entered the apartment. He shut the door behind him and dashed to his bedroom, looking for the briefcase.
" Where is it, where is it, where is it? Oh damn it, where did I put that briefcase. Ahah, there it is." Max emptied his bag so that he could put the briefcase in and take it to the junkyard. As he was dumping everything from his bag onto his bed, he found a not folded nicely. Reaching to grab the note, he slowly opened it and saw some words written on it.
* I KNOW YOUR SECRET MAX AND I WANT IN. MEET ME AT THE WAREHOUSE DISTRICT OR ELSE I'LL TELL THE WEIRD FOUR-ARMED GUY WHERE HIS BRIEFCASE IS.*
Max screamed at the top of his lungs after reading the note. The components of the not made him pace all over his room wondering who could have known his secret. " Did CJ and Sue tell. Did they rat on me? Did someone listen in on our conversation?" Just then, someone knocked on Max's apartment door vigorously demanding they opened up.
" Oh crap. What mess is that banging on the door?." Max stuffed the briefcase in his bag and hid it in his closet. He then slowly walked to the door and waited for whoever was at the door to knock again.
" Yes, who is it?" Max spoke in an old lady's voice.
" Little redhead I know it's you. Open up." Realizing who it was and what they were capable of, Max opened the door and allowed the men in. The same gangster who told Max to stop running a few minutes ago was the one at the door only this time he wasn't alone. He was with a female accomplice who had black makeup under her eyes, red spiky hair that was shaved on the sides, and a black outfit with spiky bracelets.
" How can I help you guys?" Max nervously asked.
*Ding*
[ Manage to hide the briefcase and you shall be rewarded. Reward: Mutant capabilities will be unlocked.]
" We're doing a routine check, making sure ya'll are not hiding anything. Mind if we check around? " The man forced his way in before Max could respond. They checked the sitting room, the kitchen, and the dining. Then they went to the bathroom and Max's mom's bedroom. Max used the distraction to run into his room and hide his school bag. He figured if he left the room in a messy state, they wouldn't bother checking.
After the two gangsters checked Max's mom's room, they came to Max's room. Seeing Max sitting on his bed and swinging his feet like a little girl, they definitely knew this kid was up to something. " Whatchu hiding lil man?" The man asked.
" Nothing, just hanging out."
" In your room!"
" Yeap."
"Damn the people of this town are weird." The man and women saw the sorry state Max's room was so they checked a few areas and left the house.
"Phew, that was close."
*Ding*
[ Congratulations: Mutant abilities unlocked. Being a mutant without any mutant strengths sucks. Lucky for you, you've been given three abilities to use however you want.]
[ Choose one from the three:]
[ 1: Pyrokinesis. The superpower of fire: This gives the user the ability to control any form of fire whether they made it or not. This skill is mainly dependent on the user's imagination.
2: Firearms: This allows the user to cover their arms with fire. This can be handy when in a fistfight.
3: Fire walk: With a boost of fire, the user can move faster than the average mutant can however it strongly depends on the user's strength.
Max was pleased with the new skills he had but he had better things to take care of at the moment. He closed the system panel and went to the junkyard first so that he could destroy the briefcase.