Chapter 55 - Coo Coo

With the merchandise reclaimed, the service bot opens the main door to the store and holds it open for the three guests to enter before it.

Following the proper order of priority, Willy gets to go in first, followed by Lucas, and then Jonathan who still beats everyone else back over to the phone display he was at before. Finally, the bot enters as well.

Willy lies back down in more-or-less the same spot he was in before, now paying attention to the previously neglected Mind Flare chew doll. At least, he considers chewing on it as counting as paying attention.

The service bot brings the phone back over to the counter he used previously to attach the case, pulls some cleaning wipes out from a drawer nearby to wipe it down, and then performing the case-mounting process in reverse.

Lucas slowly wanders his way back over towards the designated sturdy phone zone, mind flooded with an atypical quantity of conflicting thoughts.

'Seriously though, not chasing after a moderate task is a bigger penalty than just up and killing someone? That feels pretty fucked up.'

[Well, if it's any comfort, moderate tasks generally would impact multiple people. In the instance of your so-called 'quest chain' with Jonathan it was because you were effectively saving everyone he would have otherwise killed had he continued on his path to becoming a proper villain.]

'Ehhh, I guess that makes sense. So that pro-whatever thing was because if the fire spread it would then hurt multiple people, that's the threshold for a moderate?'

[If you wish to simplify things, that is a reasonable bar to set. There are far more conditions than that of course, but in the crudest sense, it's not entirely wrong.]

'Huh... Now that I had a chance to calm down a bit, I just feel guilty for being thankful the penalty was small... Seriously, is this what Boss System wants its so-called heroes to be like?'

As Lucas has that thought he turns back around to look out the glass door in the direction of the abandoned corpse with a slight frown.

Something that normally wouldn't really register in his brain, but actually catches his attention right now, is the group of five pigeons currently loitering on the sidewalk where he was standing not long ago. More notably, the one pigeon that is staring directly at him.

'!? Wait, is Dan watching me?'

[...While I'd like to say it could just simply be normal pigeons, that is rather suspicious behavior.]

The voyeur pigeon has turned away and cooed at some of its compatriots, one of which flies off.

'Yeah, that's not some normal pigeons, what the hell?'

[Well, we didn't really notice them earlier, so they may have come to inspect the mess you made and happened to notice you. But, yes, it is strange regardless. I wouldn't be surprised if he has an information network throughout the entire city, the real question is whether or not he is actively watching you and Jonathan.]

'...I really hope he isn't, I don't even want to know what reason he'd have to do so.'

[Indeed.]

Not wanting the pigeons to think he's staring right back at them, he turns back around to watch Willy's toothy assault on the mini Mind Flare.

A few bites more and the service bot approaches Lucas again, holding out the electronic murder weapon to him, now stripped of the nanogel case. There isn't even the slightest hint of a crack anywhere on the device.

"Does that prove to be satisfactory, sir?" As the service bot's question brings Lucas's attention back to the world around him, he flinches briefly before looking down at the offered phone.

"Oh, uh, yeah... That's... Pretty good actually." Lucas accepts the offered phone and turns it over in his hands a few times, looking it over and seeing how it is completely undamaged, and still operates the same as before.

At some point during his examination, Jonathan has wandered over and is looking at it too, more visibly impressed than Lucas is.

Lucas absentmindedly holds the phone back out roughly in the service bot's direction, turning to face Jonathan.

"Ya pick out what you want yet?" Embracing his tried-and-true method of simply focusing on the present to ignore everything else, Lucas raises an eyebrow and directs all of his attention onto Jonathan.

"Yeah! Let's get this one." Jonathan beams a bit as he holds one of the largest screened phones in the area out towards Lucas.

"Yeah, sure." Lucas doesn't even look at the phone before accepting, turning to look at the service bot instead, who has set the sample projectile phone back into its proper display.

The service bot turns back around to look at Jonathan's selection, and if it was able to smile it probably would have.

"Very good, this is actually the most recently released model in the entire store, the latest of the line designed by Miss Calculated herself. There are multiple built-in storage options, the smallest starting at 512 petaby-" As the service bot continues its spiel, Lucas really can't be bothered to hear more tech talk.

"Don't bother, we'll just take whatever the largest one is. Are there different color cases so we don't mix em up?" As Lucas successfully cuts the sales pitch short, he leans against the nearby counter, veritably radiating his complete disinterest in the lowly plebeian options.

"But of course sir, I shall go fetch the available styles for your selection." As the service bot heads towards a back storage area, Lucas's gaze idly wanders around the store, trying to find something worth focusing his attention on.

Before the service bot has made it very far, Lucas has now noticed the display full of ultralight tablet computers a few wall segments away.

"Oh, tablets too? Hey, if any of your tablets have those nanowhatever cases I'll take 2 of whatever the biggest, latest version of that is too. You know what, make it three for the tablet." As Lucas continues casually adding an ungodly price value of electronics onto his list, his gaze goes back down to Willy, who has come full circle and is now giving faux Black Ash Snow toothy affections once again. Looking at Willy is what made Lucas decide on a third, thinking that perhaps he'd be able to use it.

Clearly, it is totally normal to buy the most expensive tablet possible for your dog that you've had for not even one entire day.

[Considering your apartment seemed to be stocked entirely with things that are well worn if not entirely broken, I'm starting to think that now that you have funds available, you are overcompensating.]

'Eh? You just noticed?'

[...That was a surprisingly direct response for the given accusation.]

'Dude, I've ALWAYS wanted to be able to just buy things I want without looking at the price tag. It's been like, a life goal.'

[...That's a questionable life goal, but frankly, not surprising.]

'Psh, everyone wants to be rich, it's not weird.'

[...I more meant it's a rather low standard.]

'Eh?'

[Did you forget you're a superhero now?]

'Oh, shit. Yeah, that is a low bar, isn't it?'

[...You could aim for something like being the strongest man in the world, or achieving world peace or such. Just not needing to look at the price tag when shopping is a bit... Anticlimactic.]

'Ehhh, those sound like a lot of work though.'

[…]

'What? Just being honest.'

[…]

'An animal sanctuary or something like that would be pretty cool though.'

[...Maybe it wouldn't be so weird for Black Ash Snow to keep track of you after all.]

'Heh, he can come to visit whenever he wants and tell them all about what good boys and girls they are.'

[...Even in a joke, you shouldn't be so... Casual... About befriending a supervillain to that extent.]

'Psh, you're no fun.'

[…]

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Lucas kills this chapter: 0

Lucas total kills: 7

Lucas deaths this chapter: 0

Lucas total deaths: 10

Lucas current GDV: 8.77 (+.01 +.01 = +.02 net change)

Lucas's fame level: 2.5* (Mostly just local)

Lucas's hero suspicion level: 1* (Only highly paranoid people)

Jonathan kills this chapter: 0

Jonathan total kills: 5

Jonathan deaths this chapter: 0

Jonathan total deaths: 2

Jonathan current GDV: 1.91

Jonathan's fame level: 1.75* (Just local)

Jonathan's hero suspicion level: 1* (Only highly paranoid people)

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Little character theater:

Jonathan and Willy are busy playing tug of war using the Black Ash Snow chew toy.

Lucas, mind now wholly focused on designing his dream animal sanctuary: I can call it... Paw Paradise.

427, mildly annoyed: [Seriously, you could do that as a hobby, would it kill you to be a bit serious for just a minute and consider a goal worth focusing on?]

Author, barely suppressing laughter: Now now 427, you know that if he was paying enough attention to hear you, he would probably say yes.

Mr.. Quacks, scoffing at the drab and dull gray distant relatives: Quack.