It turned out that Nick Adders was loaded, she sat next to him in the exotic car he’d driven all the way out to a small cafe in broad daylight. She felt severely underdressed for the moment. Her brown slacks and white blouse weren’t exactly the style of the century and now that she looked at him, he was wearing name brand, everywhere. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes, of course he was rich. He’d be one of the best equipped heroes in the future. Which left her wondering who exactly his father was.
She found that pretty quickly with a search on her phone. Jonathan Adders was the president of the family-owned Starhaus Furniture brand, high end and very prestigious furniture for the elite. It made sense why Nick was here, since Starhaus’ headquarters was in town. She set her phone down and glanced at him but he was so focused on getting where they needed to go that he paid her little mind. She looked down at her hand, he’d shaken it without a second thought and had given her yet another product for her warehouse shelf.
The real question now was how to make use of her products.
She experimentally drew on Heroic Strength and felt it surge momentarily through her muscles. She tried drawing on Light Step at the same time but didn’t feel anything.
So I can only use one at a time. Fair. Maybe that’ll improve over time. Other powers seemed to grow, though I never was able to figure out how to improve on my eyes more than a little in the past.
She put away Heroic Strength and tried on Light Step. She tried tapping her foot on the interior of the car and found that it didn’t make a sound. It was a low-grade stealth ability, then. Something in the same realm as her eyes.
Still, it’s useful.
“Here we are,” Nick said, drawing her out of her thoughts as she looked up at the office building and headquarters of Starhaus Furniture.
“Your father’s here?” She asked, incredulous.
“We have a private medical facility set up for him,” Nick said and got out of the car, hurrying around to open the door for her. She made a face but let him do it, no need to be rude. She got out of the car and followed him inside, passing a security checkpoint quickly with Nick’s insistence. Soon they were on an elevator and he was looking nervous.
“I can’t make promises,” Sonya said when he looked her way, “I’m sorry, but all this just happened a day ago, I know you’re excited but you should temper your expectations a little. Who knows what my limits are?”
He deflated a little but nodded, “R-right.”
The doors opened and they soon arrived at an innocuous looking door. The only thing secure about it was the pair of cameras above it. She glanced down the hall and spotted a door positioned so that if anyone unwelcome was spotted on the cameras, the guards could be there in a heartbeat without drawing attention to the room itself. Security used intelligently rather than with brute force, she liked this Jonathan guy’s style.
They entered what looked very much like a private hospital room, the entire space was meticulously clean and every surface shone a little bit with careful polishing, the sunlight outside reflecting on them. The lights were out above, giving the room a comfortable glow. Ahead of them she could see the shape of feet underneath a quilt and sheets at the end of a hospital bed. It was otherwise concealed by a curtain pulled around one side. Nick hurried around the curtain and she could hear him talking to someone in a low voice. She heard a deep, barking laugh and then Nick came back around looking worried.
“He’s willing to try anything,” Nick said, tugging at his collar, “But he’s not happy.”
Sonya looked him in the eyes and then glanced at the door, she would really rather not demonstrate her abilities again in front of him even if he had seen them before. Especially since this was an opportunity to test out another Broker ability. That’s what she figured she’d call it. She gestured to the door, “Let me talk to him privately, Nick,” Sonya said, “I’m sure he doesn’t want to make a deal about his health in front of you.”
Nick blinked, his eyes lighting up a little, he nodded with all the naivete he could muster and walked to the door. Sonya watched him go and shook her head, he’d left a powered person alone with someone he cared about. In the future, that was suicide. Now, though, in this early time, no one knew any better. Sonya let out a wistful sigh and walked around the curtain, stopping at the foot of the bed to look the old man in the eyes. He stared back unflinchingly.
“You’re a bit creepy,” The old man grunted. He looked to be in his mid seventies, his body emaciated and worn down by his condition. Numerous machines were attached to him and his white hair was thinning on his head. Even so, his eyes were like steel.
She smiled, “So I’ve been told,” She said, walking around to stand next to him, “Nice to meet you Mister Adders.”
“Jonathan is fine, you’re some kind of healer, right? I saw the news about you weird folk showing up yesterday, my son showed me his fire. Damn near gave me another heart attack,” He grunted, gripping his quilt. His eyes were firm, but there was fear there. Sonya’d seen it enough in the future to know it immediately.
“I’m not here doing this for free,” Sonya said flatly, “Your son practically stalked me to ask me for help.”
Jonathan grunted out a laugh, “Of course he did, what do you want?”
“He’s not listening, so what are you willing to give? Payment on my success, of course,” Sonya offered, she wasn’t sure if she had to be holding the guy's hand to broker the deal, but her instincts said no. They just had to shake after agreeing.
“I’ve spent almost a million dollars on finding a solution,” He groused, “I’ll pay you the same.”
A million dollars, just like that, she forced her face to remain neutral and inclined her head. “That makes sense, however if this works, it’ll be fairly instant.”
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He narrowed his eyes and smirked, “Two Million, I like you.”
Sonya extended her hand, “It’s a deal,” She said smoothly and he reached out to clasp hands with hers. In an instant she felt the connection with him and the latent potential hidden inside. The ability that didn’t awaken with Pandora’s Light, the ability that would be locked forever unless she gave it to him. Appraise.
She had to force her face to remain even as she reeled from that acquisition. The Gift of Youth? She could give someone youth? She swallowed and turned her attention to the broker option, but found additional text.
Broker Deal, she thought and words began to appear.
So if I have the product in stock, I don’t even have to actually draw on it, I can just use it as part of the Brokered Deal. She thought, restraining the smile creeping on her face. With this she would have money, more than enough to be comfortable. But that wasn’t enough for her, not by a long shot. No. She needed to fix this rotten world and make sure that the absurdities that had happened the last go around never come to pass. With this, I can do it with this.
Proceed.
Her phone chimed in her pocket just as green light began to fill the room. It blazed brightly for a moment before fading. The old man let out a ragged, coughing breath before taking another, his body stiffening and his eyes opening wide in wonder.
“I can breathe,” He gasped and with some effort sat up, “I can move! Even my jaw…” He trailed off and looked at Sonya with wide eyes, “You-”
“Just as was agreed, Mister Adders, nothing more, nothing less,” She tried to sound as confident as possible, even as her heart raced. It really works! It’s incredible! Now take the bait!
He visibly relaxed, “Nothing more?” His eyes narrowed. “What more could there be?”
This time she couldn’t restrain her grin any longer, she held out her hand to him.
“Another deal, then?”
–
Sonya examined her phone thoughtfully as Jonathan stretched next to her, he bent over a few times, touching his toes and clenched his fists, marveling at himself in the reflection in the window. It looks like the deal not only worked, but somehow it automatically took the money from the Adders and deposited it into my account. What can’t the Broker power do? She glanced his way and he turned to face her with a brilliant smile. Gone was the withered husk of a man that had been languishing in his bed. Instead, there stood a youthful man in his late thirties, dark brown hair and a smooth complexion. He looked very much like his son.
“You could have charged more,” He said with wonder. “There are people who would pay billions for this.”
“I could have,” Sonya agreed, still drunk on the moment, “But I’d never tried it before. Consider it a guinea pig discount.”
He barked out a laugh, “Reasonable too! You wouldn’t happen to have a Mister Chernovna, would you? My son’s available!”
Sonya raised her eyebrows and laughed, “I’m afraid he’s not my type,” She admitted with an apologetic wave of her hands, “Thank you though.”
His expression relaxed and then grew serious, “I assume you want me to keep the nature of what happened here a secret? It’s why you had my son leave.”
Sonya glanced out the window, catching the glow of her eyes in the reflection, “I plan on trying to keep a low profile for a while, build a small clientele, I think,” Sonya said, “I’m not sure how far I can push my gift, if I could make someone even younger. It’s only been a day since all this happened and already I’m making money off of it. I have a feeling bad things are coming for all of us, and I want to be prepared.”
“The monsters I heard about?” Jonathan asked.
“Yes,” Sonya said.
“If anything happens, can my family call on you again?” He asked.
Sonya considered it and then inclined her head. Let's try something out, she thought and extended her hand. “I will provide my healing to the Adders family in exchange for your silence on the matter of my abilities and identity, Mister Adders.”
He took her hand.
Proceed.
There was a sudden buzz of energy between the two of them and then, nothing. Even so she could feel that the deal had been struck. If at any time Jonathan called on her to heal his family, she would be required to uphold her end of the bargain. She wasn’t sure what the consequences would be, but she knew how it would affect him. He would choke on his words, just like she would choke on her lies. She would have to offer a similar deal to Nick too, just to make sure her bases were covered.
The now young Jonathan Adders looked down at his hand and marveled, he looked up at her as realization dawned in his eyes. She smiled at him and winked, “Till next time, Mister Adders. Hopefully in the future I will have more services to provide you.”
She stepped out of the room with a heavy sigh after that, she was exhausted, using her abilities like that had been more draining than she had anticipated and she needed to sleep something fierce. The memory of her destroyed apartment loomed up in her head and she groaned, she was going to have to crash at a hotel.
“Is he okay?” Nick burst out, jumping to his feet from a chair in the hall outside, startling her.
She rounded on him, wide eyed for a moment, before letting out a sigh, “He needs a few moments, but it was a success,” She said, placing a hand on his shoulder, “Wait until I leave, if you don’t mind.”
He looked at her incredulously but nodded, “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” Sonya said and held out her hand, “We need to talk.”
–
Nick watched her go, looking down at his hand, the door to the elevator opening and closing with her departure. He could still feel that strange tingling sensation. It was eerie. What had she done just now, to him? She’d told him that she needed to make a deal with him concerning her identity and powers, that he couldn’t speak a word about her to anyone. He’d readily agreed and then there was a zap through his entire body, he felt a tightness around his throat that faded almost as soon as it had come. Was her power really just healing?
He shook his head and hurried to the door, throwing it open and almost falling on his face as he saw his father. He looked like he’d jumped out of an old family photo.
“Dad?” Nick breathed.
“Nicholas,” Jonathan Adders said firmly, “We must never, ever, cross that woman.”