Thomas walked on the highest floor in this building without even realising the danger he was heading towards. As he passed through a few corridors, he noticed that all the doors he met were closed and without a single sign on any of them.
That was indeed weird. And soon enough he had the feeling that he was lost again.
"He said to walk past three turns to the left, then one to the right. I'll then find the department I'm looking for… However…"
He was standing now in front of a closed door. But this time, there was something new there, a window on the side of this door. And there he spotted someone sitting inside, seemingly doing something.
As Thomas stopped in front of this place, that superhero noticed him, stopped what he was doing, and turned to glare back at Thomas in warning.
"Something seems off here," Thomas muttered in a low tone before clearing his throat. He was lost, and he finally found someone to ask about directions on this deserted floor, "excuse me, where is the…"
Just before he'd continue his question, the world around him changed!
A weird green light started to shine in long parallel threads that enveloped and covered the world around in no time. Thomas didn't need to think about this to know that the superhero in front of him was using his superpower, acting all aggressive and hostile, without even a warning.
"Hey, I'm just asking for directions…"
"Shut the hell up!" and before he'd even scream to justify what he was doing here, asking what was going on here, that superhero shouted back, in a weird anger.
Then the door opened, and more figures appeared. All were looking strong and vicious, all seemed like they were about to fight the deadliest enemy in the entire world.
Thomas saw lots of lights flashing all around, red, green, yellow, and silver… He saw lightning, fire, water, and rocks appearing and engulfing him without a warning.
"Damn! I'm doomed!" He saw all this and couldn't help but envision his death. He didn't do anything but come here to ask for directions. And that didn't deserve such treatment from any of them.
"Wait! Keep your hands away from him!"
Just when he lost all hope to get out of this with his life intact, even his voice vanished in the middle of all the noisy and flashy superpowers being used by the seven figures in front of him, he heard a familiar voice shouting in a loud and enraged tone.
"Trevor! Stay away from this! We finally caught a mole!" One of them seemed to not put Trevor in his eyes, shouting back while the lights started to form a tight net around Thomas, starting to slowly strangulate him "if you dare to move a finger, we'll kill you without hesitation, traitor!"
Thomas knew the last part was directed to him, and he didn't need to see the face of the one who said this to know he wasn't joking or fooling around.
"Mole? What mole? He is the newest member in my department! It is just his first day here. Stay back, hold back your powers, and let him go towards where he wants!"
But unlike what Thomas expected, Trevor didn't ditch or drop helping him. Instead, he heard Trevor's voice coming closer, as if he didn't fear such scary superpowers.
"He came here, looking suspicious! Even if he is a freshman, it doesn't mean he is above doubt!"
"He is looking for different departments to complete joining," Trevor didn't stop approaching Thomas, "and I bet he is lost."
"There aren't any freshmen departments here on this floor, and you know this, Trevor!"
"Stop this madness right away, Gan!" Trevor stopped just ten metres away from Thomas, and the latter could feel the net getting tightened up, almost cutting off any air away from him. The world was starting to get a bit dizzy, and he knew he was going to sleep soon enough and wake up in a place he never wanted to be at.
"I'm really lost! I received directions from Jax of the Finance department, you can go and ask him," at this critical moment, Thomas mustered up all the strength he could and shouted. And yet his voice came shaky and soft, like the voice of a dying man.
"You heard him! Go and check if he is telling the truth or not!"
"Tsk! No need," the next moment, the entire world brightened up as the net surrounding Thomas vanished. Pressure was removed and he could finally breathe normally. The next moment his body fell on the ground, and yet he never felt it.
"We all know how lousy and untrustworthy that youth is. Tsk! And here I thought I'd get the missing piece for my promotion…"
When things cleared in front of his eyes, Thomas could see at last the faces of those who were this close from putting him to sleep.
They were really taking this matter quite seriously. Thomas didn't know what brought such an intense response from all of them. He just came here, asking for directions, nothing more.
"Go, take this cub away. And make sure he stays out of trouble… Or else, next time I won't hold my men back," the one who spoke, Gan, was a young lady, around thirty years old or something.
But from the ugly looking scar that appeared on the side of her chin down to her neck and left shoulder made Thomas know she wasn't weak or easy to deal with, not the type to throw out threats like they were jokes or something.
"I'll make sure this won't happen again," Trevor gave Thomas a blaming look, sighed, before motioning with his head as he turned around, "let's go. This is the last place you want to come to in the SA."
"What was that all about? Huh?" As the two walked away from that place, Thomas felt his back soaked in cold sweat. He turned to Trevor who sighed and tiredly said:
"It's your luck I was here when all this happened. These folks… They never fool around, don't forget this."
"I won't, but…"
"It's all thanks to that damn Jax! If I knew you were going to befriend him, I'd better warn you against drawing close to him, tsk!" Trevor sighed again, before he grew slightly angry, "he always brings trouble to anyone seeking his help! He is totally untrustworthy, totally useless, do you hear me?"
"I do know this now," Thomas didn't hate Jax, but that youth already placed his life in danger thanks to his bad directions. And that made him quite wary of him, "did he do it on purpose or…"
"No, it's just him," Trevor shook his head, "he didn't mean any ill intentions at all. Or else, he would have been kicked away or even faced a much worse fate thanks to all the disasters he caused so far."
"I see…" Thomas knew his senses wouldn't be wrong, and he felt that Jax wasn't a bad person.
"That place back there is called the Vault," Trevor started to speak about what Thomas just went through, "there we keep all the highly classified documents, items, dangerous artefacts even. So, the people out there are quite vigilant. And it seems there is a fever here for that damn traitor."
"Traitor? Is it a villain?" Thomas didn't get why everyone back there acted in such aggressiveness. He didn't get what was unique and important about the stored things back there.
But he was more interested in hearing out the story of this proclaimed traitor.
"No one knows," Trevor sighed, "before you arrived here, three days ago in specific, an incident happened. Someone tried to steal something from the Vault and failed. Since then, everyone has been on high alert, acting like this."
"I see…" Thomas recalled the weird conversation he overheard before when he met Ellisa, "Are there any more dangerous places for me to avoid?"
He didn't want to experience such an intense situation again. He was just looking for the Resources department, nothing more.
"Aside from here, and Ellisa's place, then everything is ok," Trevor paused before adding, "stay away from this floor in general. This is the one dedicated for the heads of all the departments in the SA building, and the main office of that old man. What were you looking for by the way?"
"Resources department," Thomas paused, "I was told it was up here."
"No, it's two floors down, tsk! Damn that Jax! I'll have a word with him later."
"No need," Thomas sighed. If that was how Jax was, there was no value in using words or threats with him. People's nature wouldn't change, and Thomas was sure of this.
He decided to keep vigilant against Jax from now on, not trust anything this youth would say, no matter how confident he might seem.
"Fine," Trevor stopped in front of the stairs, "go down two floors and then walk to the right corridor. From there, count five doors and the sixth is the Resources department."
"Thanks," Thomas paused for a moment there, wanting to ask Trevor about the train incident but he refrained from doing so.
"See you in two days then," Trevor seemed to know what Thomas was thinking about. And when he saw this youth walk away without asking again about joining the train incident, Trevor felt a bit better about Thomas.
Thomas walked down the stairs, while thinking about the weird incident he got himself into. "It seems that Vault got something interesting," he recalled that Trevor mentioned artefacts. And that made Thomas recall the tip he got about one of these artefacts.
If all the artefacts were the same, very useful and unique, able to add more power to anyone, then Thomas would dream about getting more of these.
But when he thought back about how intense and dangerous his situation back then was, he dropped the thought almost instantly.
It wasn't good to risk one's life for something, especially when success odds were below zero.
"Tsk! When will I have such awesome strength one day?"
Thomas didn't get lost again, ending up visiting the Public Relation and Resources department. He met a nice-looking girl at the PR department, one who had a fine scar on her neck, covered partially with a good-looking collar.
As for the resources department, he met with a cold looking old man, one who gave him bad vibes.
Thomas collected his things, got three uniforms for his work, a backpack, and a badge that represented his identity as a superhero belonging to the SA department in this town.
Thomas then found his way towards the lunch area. It was a very spacious place, one that could accommodate hundreds of superheroes. And yet the place wasn't filled even with ten percent.
He found a few chefs waiting at a counter. Using his badge, he got a very nice meal, but it wasn't even close to the one he ate before at the mansion.
"What are you doing here?" As he just sat down to eat at an empty table, someone sat opposite him. When he saw who it was, he couldn't help but feel vigilant.
She was Ellisa, and she held her launch trail, filled with much better-looking food than his. Thomas didn't know what the general type of cosine was in this world. He planned to eat his meal and enjoy it, but it felt like fate was planning something different for him.
"I heard you were on the train that day," she suddenly said, picking a berry-like piece of meat with a fork, and placing it in her mouth.
"And?" Thomas told this tip only to Trevor. He inwardly cursed that man's talkative mouth. Not a few hours passed since he told him this info, and here that demon was sitting in front of his table.
Thomas knew this incident was taking the full attention of the SA and its department. Of course, Ellisa's interest in it wasn't a surprise, and he responded with such interrogation with a challenging gaze of his.
"I read the file, the one describing all the interrogation made that day. Your name was there, and it's futile to try and deny it."
"Who said I was going to?" Thomas picked a fruit that looked like a small ball with different dots and holes in it. It was blue in colour, with sweet fluid inside a hard shell. It tasted great, but he couldn't help but feel bad for his companion.
"You were with the mad demon…" she said, and Thomas didn't stop his fork and ate more of his food, "that dude is someone dangerous, pretty dirty actually. He should have hunted down a long time ago, at least getting expelled from the SA Villain Hunter department, like old Ben."
"Old Ben?!" Thomas didn't recognise the name. From the way Ellisa said it, he felt like he should have known him.
"The old man at the Resources department," she revealed a little about this cold man Thomas met, "anyway, I'm here to ask you more questions about the incident..."
"I got nothing else to say," Thomas interrupted her, even pointing the fork towards her face, "first I don't work for you. Second, there isn't an official interrogation going on, or an investigation you lead. Third, you and I aren't friends to begin with to speak together like this."
"You…" his straightforward way startled her, and he returned to eat his meal as if he said nothing.
"I already said what I know to the ones who were there at the station. If you need anything, you can return to my testimony in the file you have."
"Great, just fantastic," she paused for a long minute, then she looked up and down at him, as if she was sizing him up, "it seems you are a fast learner. Trevor didn't have more than a few minutes with you, and you ended up being a similar copy of him… Pretty useless and damn annoying!"
His fork paused while he was trying to control the weird rage that appeared when she threw that insult at him. At this moment, he started to realise how easily he grew angry, something that he didn't have before on Earth.
He suffered from anger spells, but they were always distant and related to very intense situations.
"Anything else?" Ellisa didn't continue her meal, and Thomas knew she just came here using the launch time as an excuse to squeeze any intel from him.
"I promise you that I'll dig this incident deeply," she slowly stood up, leaving the rest of her meal on the table, "and once I'd find something that points to you, I wouldn't let you off the hook that easily. You can have the rest; I lost my appetite."
She left while attracting the attention of everyone sitting and eating their meals here. Thomas looked at her, then at her empty seat before returning to eat as if he heard nothing.
Inside, he was feeling a storm brimming there. He knew he lied, and that was thanks to the threats of the mad demon. And now he got another threatening lady, one who was as deadly and dangerous as that demon.
"What the heck did I get myself into exactly?" he muttered while feeling more frustration at his lack of power, "I need to grow stronger… I hope my baby got more fruits from that accidental clash at the Vault thing…"
He turned his eyes towards his tree pot, recalling the intense moments he lived through back on the hands of the dangerous superheroes at the Vault department.
They used their superpowers freely, and there was a group of them there. Thomas finished his meal, didn't touch Ellisa's or even clean her leftovers. "Let her clean her own sh*t herself," he said it in a slightly loud tone, venting his anger without caring much about how she'd react if she heard these words later on.
He went outside, waiting for Jax to finish. He got a map of places he could rent, with prices marked over each spot there. But he wanted a guide with him.
Even if Jax wasn't quite dependable, he at least knew the town better than him. Thomas didn't wait for more than half an hour before many people started to leave the SA building.
Just minutes before they'd come out, lots of chariots and cars moved and came to a stop in front of the place. It seemed like they were waiting for the ones inside the building to come out and take them home.
Thomas got called by many, yet he didn't respond. He knew he could hire them to take him around the town, but he preferred to wait for his new friend.
"Did you wait for long? Sorry but I had to finish lots of things…"
Jax came out soon enough with everyone. He looked like he got out of a prison or something, jumping around and running with weird excitement on his face, "let's go, we'll rent one of these."
He didn't give Thomas any time to say anything, dragged him by the arm and headed towards the many chariots and cars there. They rented a chariot running on orbs, looking like an antique version of a car.
"You gave me wrong directions back then," once the two sat inside, Thomas said in a blaming way.
"Hahahaha, sorry about that," it felt like Jax knew what Thomas was talking about, "I got a shower of harsh words from my boss thanks to that. Sorry, but I got things messed up as I was quite busy as you can tell…"
He scratched the back of his head, giving Thomas a big smile while saying his lousy apology. None of this ever managed to correct his foiled image in Thomas' mind, and instead it made him look worse.
"Now let's speak about where you'll stay… Do you have anything in mind?"
"I got a map…" Thomas took the map out of his backpack, yet Jax grabbed it as he hurriedly said:
"No need to check it, I know of a fantastic place, one that you'll definitely love!"
"..." Thomas had a bad feeling about this, "don't end up with us losing the way there."
"No worry," Jax patted his chest, making Thomas more doubtful towards him, "I live there anyway. So I know the road there by heart, hahahaha!"
"You live there?" Thomas didn't know if this was a good or bad thing. But when he recalled that this youth spoke freely and uncontrollably about things in this world, missing lots of things that Thomas should know and didn't care about, the latter decided to give it a try.
Having someone like a walking library by his side would help fill any gaps. And Thomas knew he lacked lots of things.