Tin-man was almost thirty years old, yet seeing Alex mad. Drained all his confidence in him. He wanted to hide behind something to escape from Alex’s rage.

 

When things were getting worse, Thomas walked into the warehouse. He prevented Alex from going mad. 

 

Leo, who was on the sidelines, was disappointed by it. 

 

“You had only one job to do, yet you failed to complete that. I can see why Alex is mad. How long will it take to do a DNA comparison?” Thomas asked Tin-man. 

 

After saving him from his immediate doom. Tin-man was very cooperative with Thomas. He walked toward the test samples, making sure everything was in the correct order. He turned to look at the computer screens. 

 

“If everything went well, It would take at most four hours.” It was a definite answer from Tin-man’s side. He looked tired and weary, but he willingly began his work. He wanted to right his wrongs.

 

Alex who watched everything finally calmed down. Although it may seem like Alex was overreacting, it was not the case. He was doing everything he could to prevent the blood river incident. And he didn’t want any point of failure. 

 

He knew plans meant nothing in front of the radical change that will happen due to interaction with this world. In fact, his plans might go awfully wrong. So, he never thought everything would work out as he expected.

 

However, plans help him visually and organise the preventive measures he could take in times of dire need.

 

Like the time when Theia was kidnapped. Alex planned to save everyone by making a defensive barrier around the central stadium. Yet, it went awry the moment his enemy saw through his plan and took preventive measures. If not for Theia awakening at that moment, he would have had a hard time.

 

That was one of the cases when his plans acted against him. But, it was not all bad. 

 

Alex always had a backup plan to respond to most extreme scenarios and mitigate the damage caused. And his quick thinking was able to save many lives too.

 

When the amusement park incident happened, Alex was the first one to make a plan and respond. When he realised Theia and the kids were kidnapped, he made sure they would be safe even if it meant lying to Ethan about space-type superhumans. He concluded that Theia will get agitated and took preventive measures to decrease the damage caused by her awakening. Later it was proved to be the right choice. 

 

And when the Black Sun commander took over the central stadium, he was ready to use even the cyan ball, Sirius, to help people.

 

So, in the end. He learned that plans have to be dynamic. Responding to situations was as important as following a rigid plan.

 

And this time, Alex was not ready to make the same mistake again. 

 

To do that, he wanted Tin-man to complete the DNA comparison fast. He wanted to check something, hidden information that was not even explained in the novel Outerworlds. And if doubts become a reality, he knows his plans will become a joke again.

 

He wanted to prevent that.

 

–

 

Watching the busy Tin-man, Alex exited the warehouse with Thomas. They went towards the river banks. Leo was with them happily eating a lollipop that Thomas brought. 

 

Although Leo was moody and a little crazy at times. He was not the villain feared by the world yet. He was just a kid who was mature for his age. He was kind and caring to the people who loved him. And he wanted to live happily like everyone else.

 

He was normal in that aspect.

 

Then what made him a villain? If he was a kind and caring person at the core, what made him a villain in the novel Outerworlds?

 

It was not an easy question to answer even for Alex. What he read was a novel from the point of view of the main character, Edward. So, many opinions and biases came with it trying to cloud his judgement.

 

However, his thoughts prevailed in the end. He understood the situation and objectively evaluated the story and came to his own conclusions. 

 

When he read the parts where Leo appeared in the novel. Leo was always fighting for his own beliefs. He fought the main character and the world to prove that he, a person, alone can change the world if he wished. And he proved the point pretty well taking a whole city hostage. And if he wanted to, he could have destroyed the whole city. Yet he didn’t.

 

Leo as Dark-matter was crazy and his action seemed threatening and dangerous. That was why he was labelled a terrorist and later imprisoned after losing to the main character.

 

However, In the novel, what Alex saw was a misunderstood human being. Fighting against the world to prove to the world that he exists and his opinion mattered. And the way he chose to express it was clearly wrong.

But did he have any other choice?

 

When the world turned its back against him. And everyone who loved him died or suffered a fate worse than death. How could a person react rationally?

 

So he expressed his rage in the most shocking way he could. Turning the world upside down in a day. 

 

If he had not, would anyone have known about a person called Dark matter? Would anyone have cared to listen to his end of the story?

 

Alex didn’t know. 

 

That was why he saved Leo. This time, he wanted to listen to his end of the story. He wanted to stop Leo from experiencing future tragedies. 

 

After all, it was the future that abandoned Leo and as long as Alex was alive. That future will never come to fruition.

 

After exiting the warehouse, With Thomas and Leo, Alex boarded a boat. It was an old fishing vessel Alex commissioned. They daily visited the river moving across it from one place to another while occasionally stopping to mark the location using a GPS.

 

They did it daily while mapping the underwater vegetation. By using an algorithm created by Tin-man and a sonar coupled with a mana sensor. They could accurately sense the density of underwater vegetation and mana.

 

And by Alex’s reasoning. These places with a high density of underwater vegetation and mana have a high chance of being pods that house demons. And by that logic that fishing vessel was used to map the places demons were present.

 

It has been a couple of days since they began using this method to find demons. So, Alex now has a well-detailed map of the river Azha marking all the possible places that demons could be.

 

Although it took time to map it. Alex was sure that he could complete the map in the upcoming month. And that will help him find out the general location of the main body, an S rank plant-type superhuman who turned into a demon.

 

Leo, who was with them, watched the fishermen catching fish. He curiously watched the large fish that were being caught. His eyes glowed seeing them. 

 

‘Syndicate chicken is better, but fish is good too.’ Saliva formed in Leo’s mouth without him realising.

 

Alex and Thomas kept close eyes on the sonar to detect and mark any changes and Leo who was with them did as instructed and waited for them to complete their work.

Occasionally, the fishermen would come to Leo bringing him snacks to eat and juice to drink. Leo ate everything they brought with a satisfied grin making the fishermen happy. After seeing him for a couple of days, the cute silent kid had his own fan following now. 

 

The ladies that worked in the fishing boat especially liked the kid. So, they even began preparing special meals to satisfy the little glutton.

 

Leo enjoyed his outing more than anyone. He loved trying new and exciting flavours of food. He was happy.