Three days after the incident with the men sent by Dario, Zac left home after his sister fell asleep.
His sister didn't always sleep at home, but lately, Amy had been spending every night with Zac.
Zac didn't know if this was their new normal or if she was still too worried to leave him home alone at night.
Either way, after two days of planning to go out at night, today, he decided to go through with his plans and quickly put on sneakers and a jacket before quietly leaving the house.
It wasn't his habit to go out at night or even to hide, so Amy wasn't prepared to notice her brother's movement.
'Sorry, Amy, but I have to do this.' He glanced at the door before heading for the elevator.
The lights in his path and the security cameras stopped working as he walked, hiding his quiet movements.
But unlike before, this wasn't out of his control!
After three more days of training at the martial arts gym and at least 25 hours of meditation since the break-in, Zac now had much better control over his powers.
He still had trouble controlling his vision when he wasn't in the middle of a fight or a dangerous situation. Still, he had gained enough control over his electrical abilities to masterfully control electronics up to 20 feet away from him.
Passing the entrance to his building, where there was no 24-hour concierge, he made his way through the poorly lit streets of this poor part of the city.
Fleodip Place was a neighborhood of about 22,000 inhabitants, a predominantly residential area where lower-income class people lived. But like any residential area, some of the neighborhood's main streets had shops and recreational areas where one could find trouble at any time of the day.
Today, Zac was looking for trouble!
He hurried down the first street with shops near his house and soon found himself in front of a well-known bar in the area.
'It doesn't seem to be many people here today...' He looked inside the establishment and saw several empty tables, noticing the silence there.
Surely, there were drunks there, but Zac didn't want to start a problem. He wanted some idiot to come to him.
'The Nomad is open tonight.' He remembered a nightclub on the main avenue that ran through Fleodip Place and changed his route to go there.
As he walked through the dark streets, which smelled of garbage and urine, he prayed to the heavens that someone would get in his way and try to rob him. He even took out his smartphone and acted like a distracted tourist.
But nothing happened to him. Even when he deliberately dropped his wallet to encourage a group of drunken young men to rob him, he failed when they alerted him to his fallen wallet.
After 10 minutes of frustration, he reached the main avenue of his neighborhood, where the street lighting was much better, and cars passed more frequently than on the previous streets.
Zac stopped in front of a small two-story building from which he could hear the sound of loud music, but he could also smell alcohol coming from the place.
Some people were smoking outside the nightclub, while two guards were talking at the entrance.
"Hey kid, the cover charge is 40 Lunar Pennies." Said one of the guards when he saw Zac approaching them.
Kids Zac's age shouldn't have access to places like this. But they wouldn't be the ones to stop someone willing to pay from entering this establishment.
Laws didn't apply to everyone. In Fleodip Place, there was no one to complain to or make trouble for The Nomad because teenagers came and went from this nightclub daily.
Zac hadn't expected it to be so expensive to enter a place like this, and he couldn't stop himself from facing the two guards when he realized he didn't have that much money on him.
He suddenly felt as if the temperature around him had risen, and his face turned red. He hadn't thought that a place like this would cost so much. Forty Lunar Pennies was almost the tuition fee for Strength Titans.
Not having the money to pay for it made him feel ashamed, but he wouldn't force himself into this place. He wanted trouble, but not like this.
'Shit!' He clenched his fists in frustration as he turned to leave.
But as he did so, laughter erupted from The Nomad's entrance.
"Hahahahahaha, look at that idiot!" The voice of a young man who couldn't have been much older than Zac came from there.
"He wants to enjoy the best club in the city without having the money? Where did this punk come from?"
Two other young men who had just stepped out for a smoke and a breather laughed along with the two bolder ones while Zac stopped and looked down the street with his back to them.
A smile formed on Zac's lips as he suddenly felt his conscience at ease.
'God, thank you.' He turned slowly, the smile on his face changing.
When one door closes, another always opens!
"What did you say?" Zac asked as he looked at the men, who must have been between 17 and 19 years old.
The smiling, black-haired young man who had called him a punk changed his expression as he looked into Zac's eyes.
"Brat, do you know where you are? Turn around and get out of here, or you'll regret questioning me!" Said this black-haired fellow, who was about 1.9 meters tall.
The other three looked at Zac provocatively, eager to see this little shit run away with his 'tail' between his legs or do something more interesting for them and stay there to challenge them.
The guards and two other men smoking just watched the situation and said nothing. Only a fool would try to interfere in other people's affairs without having anything to do with them!
"Oh?" Zac smiled as he mocked. "Me regretting? Only because of you? With that queer tone of voice, I doubt you can take a punch."
"What did you say?" The young man took a few steps forward while his friends changed their behavior, some stepping forward with him while another put his hand in his pocket, looking for something.
"Are you deaf as well as queer?" Zac asked as he kept his hands in his pockets, waiting for these people to attack him.
"Brat, you did it!" The black-haired, handsome man said. "You're going home today with a broken nose!"
As he said this, the young man took a fighting stance and attacked Zac.
But he did not just move. As soon as he said these words, one of his friends put a knuckleduster in one of his hands and then advanced against Zac.
"Let's finish off this idiot!"
"Tsk! A lowlife like him needs to learn his place in the world!"
The four of them advanced while the people at the nightclub door looked at Zac strangely.
But Zac could only feel joy when he saw those four attacking him.
'Luckily, fate brought those idiots in my way.' He smiled as he waited for the first one to hit him.