The phone dropped, he didnt expect this reaction. When he mentions his dad usually anyone playing the hero would be scared. It wasnt the first time he did this after all, most would just run away while the more daring ones would just join them for some fun.
Heck he even had a few of the female 'heroes' ending up joining them in a different way. They probably thought they could meet the mayor if they did, he enjoyed the disappointment on their faces when they found out the truth.
"Umm, no I wasnt intending to scare you friend. Just that it would be more convenient if we pretend none of this happened right?"
He finished his sentence and looked at Alex expecting to atleast see him thinking about it. Instead he saw a worrying scene
Alex turned to Laura and told her to go ahead. She got his hint and looked a bit saddened, it would take an idiot to not figure out what he was intending to do she did not wish to see him change like that, she hoped whatever happened to him wouldnt affect him too much but she also knew that they would need to change.
Laura slowly walked to the store leaving Alex behind with a bunch of thugs. The one who recognized him had already been scared shitless. He tried to run but Alex just punched him half into a wall permanently damaging if not outright killing him.
Everyone else held their breaths in fear now, they didnt try to run because they already saw the results of that all they hoped was that they wouldn't be beaten up too badly.
'I swear daddy will get revenge for me, I just need to live through this'
the thoughts of the mayors son were simple, he was raised in a way that made him think of revenge as a necessity. He knew as the son of a politician that he could never let anyone look down on him or else he will never reach a high position. He would have the police cripple the guy infront of him if he was in a good mood and worse if not.
Unfortunately his thoughts were cut short. Alex turned towards the thugs with his own set of thoughts.
'I can let them live but that will only bring me trouble, there is no way these guys wont hold a grudge. He tried threatening me so there is no way he wont seek revenge. Eventually I will have to change. I need to be more firm. I need to change so that Laura wont have to, this app may bring us fortune but if I dont change then Laura, mom and dad will have to. Its fine if I take the burden of murder on myself, I need to for our sakes.'
Alex wasn't intending to kill anyone at first but when the thug threatened him with his father's position he knew that if he let them leave now, they would attempt to have revenge. Thinking of them holding their parents hostage and having their way with Laura, Alex knew he no longer had such freedom. They were not average thugs after all.
He made up his mind and made short work of these physically average thugs. He truly believed that he had to take this experience for the sake of his family.
He truly thought that since he had to change anyway, it would be better to use these scumbags. If he let them live they would probably do this again and at that time he wouldnt be there, he couldnt really follow them around right?
Imagine having your sister being raped or your father being killed for his money just because someone decided to let them go, if he was a normal person he would call the police and thats that but he no longer has such a luxury, he needed to be above the law if he truly wished to hold on to everything he had.
He held no right to judge whether they should live or not, perhaps these were just excuses but in any case for his sake and for the sake of his family these people could not live.
Holding these complex thoughts perhaps no one would truly understand he decided to erase their bodies too. He knew that if there was evidence of murder then the evidence of him being the murderer wouldnt be far behind.
Alex took out his digital gun, His aiming aids helped him aim at their heads and he shot. The bodies disappeared as if they were never there giving off an unreal feeling. He dropped his gun and looked towards the sky. His face had a stern look on it as if he came to terms with something.
He turned around and saw that the girl was awake, he was a bit busy with the thugs to notice that although the man was knocked out the girl wasn't. She looked horrified not just because of Alex but because of how the bodies just vanished. Alex helped her up and shouldered the unconsious man, he got a good look at his face and it turned out to be a disfigured version of Ted, The world was a small place indeed.
Holding onto his surpriseHe picked up his gun and led the girl towards a nearby bench, he put him down on a bench and told the girl to not talk about him. She nodded like a maniac because she was scared he might make her disappear too after all the police cant give him trouble if there is no evidence someone even died to begin with.
She managed to squeeze out a few words despite her fear and disgruntled appearance.
"Umm.. Thank you sir, for helping me and my dad. Could you help us once more? my clothes arent in the best shape and my phone was broken by those. people.
Can I borrow yours? My dad works at doodle and he can surely repay you."
She found it difficult to refer to the men who tried raping her, not only because of that but because she was afraid of the memory she had of them vanishing as if glitching out. It looked unreal and it looked to her as if they just got disconnected from a game. If she wasn't utterly confused and scared she might even hold thoughts about the nature of reality itself. Could it be a game? Could every atom be differientiated with a unique ID like in games?
Being the child of such a person she still had the ability to ask for help in spite of her fear.
Alex lent her his phone and thought about the time he would take to catch up with Laura. She made a phone call to an unknown number which didnt belong to the hospital or the police and gave him his phone back.
Alex nodded and then walked away, After a few minutes a car zoomed past him and stopped by what he assumed was the bench he left the two on.
He hastened his steps and got to the store, he walked around and found Laura in the meat lane and went up to her. They decided to experiment and Alex scanned the meat, It gave him around 100 Apts and he then scanned a few more for a total of 1000 Apts.
He completely forgot that he didnt own the meat and that he wasnt alone, to be fair Laura didnt realize it too excitement was such a thing after all you forget the long term effects.
A few security guards came up to him and with a stern expression dragged him to their office. Laura was left there thinking
'Of course you would get in trouble if you do it out in the open, foolish brother'
Not even realizing the fact that she too didnt stop him.
The guards stripped Alex to search him but found nothing, one of them smiled towards him and said
"There was also a girl with you right?"
He told a guard to bring her in too but Alex said.
"I would like to sue this store for using their authority to strip me for no reason as well as attempting to sexually harass my sister"
The guard was confident, he heard these threats plenty of times.
"This is just procedure we are making sure you do not have the stolen goods on you"
Alex too was confident. He couldnt get his sister get stripped by these perverts after all.
"And you found nothing, Please provide evidence that me or my sister stole anything before attempting to sexually harass us. You stripped me but found nothing hence I would like to sue you guys."
The manager of the store heard the commotion and came in. He asked what happened and one of the guards filled him in. He asked for the video to be brought in and played it.
"So the meat just disappeared when you waved your hand over it? Is this not proof enough? Bring his sister she must have it on him"
"And where in this video does it show me handing anything over to my sister? you stripped and searched me and found nothing now you just want to use this chance to sexually assault an innocent girl? Shame on you I will be calling the police"
Alex was actually furious, their claims were valid on him but to use this chance to satisfy their perverted desires was too much. He phoned up the police and the manager panicked. The slight guilt he had over stealing the meat completely vanished.
"Think carefully, when the police sees this video they will know you stole it."
"Stole what? You found nothing when stripping me."
The call connected and he called them over. The manager and guards couldnt do anything as they would be in trouble as the police is already involved.
A few minutes later the police came in. A fat female officer and an old man. The two asked both sides what happened and looked at the video and asked Alex.
"How did the meat disappear?"
"How should I know? I was already strip searched and they still wanted to strip my sister. I would like to press charges for sexual assault for that."
The police thought about it a bit and found it to be a reasonable claim, his sister wasnt even near him or the meat yet wanting to strip her could be considered attempted sexual assault. The video was suspicious too, how could something just disappear. The police thought that the manager and his guards attempted to corner these young guys and gave them a stern look.
"Is he telling the truth?"
The manager was tongue tied. He didnt lie but he obviously had done something.
"Well.. He obviously did something to make the meat disappear"
The police found out what they needed to know.
"So its true, very well you lot are coming with me, charges are stripping a victim and attempting to sexually harass his sister, A minor in the later case. The video is suspicious too, its too precise to be scripted but things dont just disappear in thin air it can not serve as evidence in such a case"
The manager grew fearful. The meat really had disappeared but where did it go to? His own men stripped this boy and searched him, they couldnt have helped the boy right? They were the ones starting this mess after all.
"Umm. Boy it appears were made a mistake, how about letting it go?"
Alex obviously didnt agree but even if he did the police would only add 'forcing silence' to their crimes.
"Then how about we settle it in private? No need to get the police involved."
If the police got involved even if he got out of jail his job would be gone, he agreed he went a bit overboard but the meat really did disappear.
"Ask my sister who you tried to sexually assault."
Obviously it wouldnt be as bad as rape but, attempting to strip a minor could still be considered 'intent to rape' after all. Forcefully stripping someone would be considered a rape attempt even if one truly didnt wish to go all the way.
"Sir, How about this, you can take whatever you want from the store for today its on us. Just forget this happened alright? You wouldnt want your parents to worry would you?"
Alex thought about it a bit and looked at the fat police lady
"Umm, what do you guys think? Will this trouble my family?"
Obviously he couldnt just say yes, it would mean he indeed intended to get the items and would make him suspicious but if he played it off as worry for his parents he could say yes.
The lady replied.
"They would have to come in as your guardians. His suggestion is pretty good if you dont want that"
Alex cautiously said
"So I should agree? Alright Mr. Pervert, I will be taking everything in this store please pack it up and help me transport it"
"Sir we cant transport so many items at this hour, would you have an alternate solution?"
Replied the manager, he hoped Alex would slip up and do the disappearing trick with the items but the reply he got was from the old police man.
"I can help with that, we have a police truck back at the office I can call over."
Everyone knew the goods wouldnt actually leave, no one can use everything here without selling it. The two didnt seem to be children of a store owner else they wouldnt be here but they still helped scare the manager into driving up the eventual money he will have to pay.
"Or perhaps the manager here could offer equivalent money? 200 grands seem enough"
This sum was probably the same as his yearly pay. He was startled and started sweating when Alex said.
"Actually, I have a friend who works in a large company and I am sure they can use all of these items."
The police guy got suspicious, Why would he reject money like that? Alex continued
"He works at doodle and maybe they can deal with these goods. Let me call him"
The police dispelled their worry, doodle wouldn't resort to such methods with such a small store after all pretty much all the money in the world passes through their services at some point.
Alex called Ted, he felt a bit bad for calling someone who needs to be hospitalized but he really wished to obtain the goods and saw no other choice.
The call connected and he could hear a female. He assumed it was his daughter and said
"Hello miss, is Ted alright? Sorry for leaving you guys alone earlier but I had to catch up to my sister."
"Umm, Are you the one who saved us earlier? How did you get my dads number?"
She had forgotten about her dads phone earlier due to the nervous confusion. It was still on him, he was just not able to use it. The thugs probably left it alone for that very reason.
"Umm me and Mr.Ted are work associates. Please confirm that with him whenever you can, I would like a favor. You see I got my hands on a large amount of items I dont know what to do with, could you arrange for them to be stored someplace?"
The other side of the phone was silent for a bit then replied.
"Dad has an empty warehouse you can use if thats alright? I'll come over please tell me where"
The girl was in a hospital nearby. She had rushed her dad to a nearby hospital because of his condition, still she thought she should help her benefactor as her dad was stable now.
Everyone waited in silence for 30 mins and a blonde girl who looked like she was in highschool came in with two black suited men. Typical bodyguard outfit thought Alex as he greeted her.
She was shocked to see the police and assumed something happened, she wished to interject on Alex's behalf but he stopped her and told her what happened.
The old police guy had already called over the truck, he couldnt back out now since he already offered.
The truck arrived a few mins after the girl and the girl actively told her guards to move the items to the truck, It was a giant 12 wheel truck but the girl was ruthless, she filled it up entirely thinking she was helping her benefactor. Soon the store looked like it was newly opened.
Even the furniture wasnt spared. The manager was seriously thinking whether jail was a better option because atleast that way he wouldnt owe his company so much money, still he could afford it, if he had his job and he could probably have it restocked in a week with his savings. The job was more important than anything else even if his boss is mad at him due to low sales.
He intended to use his own cash to sweep everything under the rug, perhaps he wouldnt get a bonus for a year or two but he as long as he had his job he could save up more cash.
He glared at the security guards giving them a look saying 'You guys will also have to fork over money'
They just gulped and stood there. The police was baffled too, they wondered whether all this was planned because the girl seemed too eager.
Even Alex who called her over looked shocked. He even felt guilty now because he had infact stolen the meat. He intended to get revenge for lusting over his sister but perhaps this was going too far? He decided not to make an enemy out of this blonde girl who didnt even spare the safe with all the stores earnings.
The whole safe.
The truck was filled and everyone except the store staff got on. Alex felt a bit guilty but he needed the points so he just got on. The girl guided them to a empty warehouse belonging to doodle.
The truck offloaded everything and Alex sent a few packs of beer with the police as thank you items. The two looked at each other and accepted the beer and got back on the truck, their own car was back at the store and they could retrieve it later, for now they needed a drink and thankfully they got enough to last them a month now.
The truck drove off leaving the three young ones behind. Alex said
"Thank you miss..."
She interjected
"Ashley"
"Miss Ashley. Is your father alright?"
She softened her expression a bit and said
"Yes, Thanks to you he isnt injured too badly. Do you learn kung fu? How do you know my dad? Are you his subordinate?"
The questions bombarded Alex and awkwardly said
"We are business partners, as for kung fu I guess you can say I know a bit of it?"
He obviously wouldnt go in details. After a quick chat she went back to her father, obviously still worried about him. Alex then scanned everything inside the warehouse at once, no point delaying it since Ted already considered him an immortal and would probably tell his daughter about him too.