"I'm not sure what power you have, Mr. Stone, but it's definitely a powerful one." Ms. Jimenez had moved back to her side of the desk and was sitting down in her comfortable chair. "Not many can resist my ability at all, let alone to the level you just showed. It might have scrambled your brain if I pushed my power further."

"Why do you think I have a power?"

"Oh, come on, no need to be coy. You know I have one. My daughter has one too, but I'll let her tell you about it." She looked up in thought. "She's going to be happy with how well you did on resisting me, too. I can sense the pheromones as well, and let me tell you -"

"Whether or not I do, what makes you think I have a power." Ryker cut her off before she could go off in a direction he didn't want to explore.

"Correction," she said, then held up a finger. "I thought you had a power. Everyone is speculating and assuming that whoever survived the massacre had to have one. But now I know that you have a power. I've never met a baseline human who could resist any amount of power I use. Your ability to resist me is one of the best I've seen."

"I came here to try and get some help, not to be tested."

"I understand that. I want to help you, and I'm going to help. I just needed to know what type of help to provide. As I said before, if I owned the other stores, I might have discovered you earlier and could have given you more help."

The woman clearly thought that Ryker had possessed his power for quite some time.

"You wouldn't have discovered me."

"Why is that? Were you trying to hide?" she asked with a tilt of her head.

Ryker didn't know how much he wanted to reveal to the woman. She said she wanted to help him, but he also felt she had betrayed his trust by using her superpower to test him. However, with her revealing her own ability, she gave him a little of that trust back.

Ryker had a couple of options. He could walk out and forget about this store and the women he met inside. Then, he could wait to get his job back and do side work until then. He wanted to know what type of help she had to offer, though. She seemed to be implying more help than he had thought was possible before entering the store. She was a wealthy superhuman who probably held more power than Ryker assumed.

"It's because I didn't have power until yesterday," he finally said. Ryker couldn't ignore the amount of money and influence she most likely held.

"Yesterday?" Ms. Jimenez said in thought. "How is that possible? You're much too old to have just received a power. You're what? Twenty-two? Twenty-three?"

Ryker smiled. "I'm seventeen,"

Ms. Jimenez's face blanched at the revelation. She had strict rules on who she used her powers on and why, and she had just unwittingly broken one of them.

"I'm so sorry, sweetie. I hadn't realized that you were so young. If I had, I would have never put you through that. I feel horrible." The woman was clearly distraught about using her powers on a minor. She couldn't imagine if anyone had done that to her daughter at a young age. She decided right then that she would be even more cautious with its use, especially with people who could be younger than she realized.

"It's alright, Ms. Jimenez," Ryker said. "I'll be eighteen in a couple months."

"Please, call me Salma, dear. I insist." Salma immediately turned and tapped a few keys on her computer. A sudden, shocked intake of breath erupted from Salma. "You live in an orphanage?" She looked at Ryker momentarily, and he nodded.

"How do you know that?" he added.

"Your address is on file with the company," she responded with a few extra keyboard clicks. Ryker could see a pair of AR glasses next to her computer and associated cameras around the equipment, so he knew she was navigating the company's network the old-fashioned way for him. "I can't believe all this has happened to you in a day. You poor thing."

Ms. Jimenez completely changed her demeanor toward him once she found out he was underage and an orphan. She decided to do everything she could to help the young man, and she could do a lot with her power. She was in the process of transferring him over to her store and giving him a raise. She noticed the pittance his last manager had given the boy. After transferring him, then she would set him up with -.

She paused when she realized that she didn't even know if that was what he wanted.

"It is," Ryker blurted before realizing his mistake.

"Ryker? Can I call you Ryker?" she asked. Ryker nodded. "Can you read minds?"

Salma was staring at him intently, but she didn't seem upset. It was a useful power that was rare across the world. Those that had the power were highly sought after and well compensated.

"Not really," he said but didn't elaborate. Unfortunately, Salma just waited until he did. "I don't really know how to put it. Sometimes I can pick up on thoughts, but that isn't my power. It's a little bit more complicated than that."

Salma looked at the young man. She could sense his apprehension in telling her his power. He was emitting dangerous pheromones at a level where she knew he would clam up if she pressed the issue. However, she needed to find out one more thing, so she knew how much to keep from other people. With a power like his, the stronger it was, the more he would need protection.

"I won't press you to tell me too much. I know this is all new to you, and God knows you don't have reason to trust me after I tried to, er, influence you. But I need to know. Do you think it's more powerful than mind reading or less?"

Even though her demeanor changed toward him, there was no way Ryker would have told her if he hadn't heard her inner monologue. Although, since he did hear it, and he thought more protection would be nice, he would give her the information.

"I'm still learning everything, but I believe it's much more powerful."

She nodded, then clicked a few more buttons on the computer. "Something's wrong," she commented. "There's an issue with pulling you over to my store. I might have to get someone else to do it."

"Why would that be an issue?"

"That's the problem. I don't know why." Salma stopped working and turned toward Ryker. "I don't want you to worry about this, though. I'll take care of it. It'll take a little longer than I thought, but it will get done. You can trust in that."

"Okay," Ryker said with an affirming nod. "Is there anything you need me to do until then? I can still work if you want. My shirt is in my bag."

Salma Jimenez looked like she was about to cry when Ryker said that. She could just imagine him walking around everywhere with his work shirt in his bag, practically homeless. He had not only witnessed multiple murders the day before but helped to defeat the supervillain responsible. Yet here he was, wanting to work. Not for the first time, she lamented at what the world had become.

"Ryker," she said seriously. "I need you to take the weekend off and relax. You can come back on Monday when the store opens. I'll either have taken care of everything, or I'll make sure it's good by your next paycheck. You've been through so much, and I can't imagine how you're dealing with it."

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Ryker was feeling very uncomfortable.

"I can, more or less, sense your emotions. I can tell that you don't know how to deal with what I'm saying, and that's okay, but I want you to take the weekend and try to relax. Can you do that?"

“Yes,” Ryker managed to croak. His throat was slightly scratchy for some reason.

The two got up and exited the manager's office. Ms. Jimenez escorted Ryker back out of the building and to the front door. They had been in her office for a little over an hour. It hadn't been that long, so Ryker expected to see Maria still at the tech support counter when they left, but she wasn't.

There was a middle-aged man there. He had short brown hair with strands of grey at the side. He was in the middle of helping a customer, so he didn't spare the two a glance. Ryker got to the door and started to leave when Ms. Jimenez called out to him.

"See you on Monday, Ryker. Be safe and have a good weekend." Ryker turned and waved back. He didn't really know what else to do since he didn't know the last time someone had been so nice to him.

Outside, the air was brisk in the afternoon sun. Ryker took a deep breath of the crisp winter air and smiled. Walking into that store was one of the best decisions of his life.

As he walked through the parking lot, back toward the city tram, he enjoyed the sun shining brightly. The sky was a clear blue, and there was a gentle breeze blowing. Ryker thought he heard the sound of children laughing and playing in the distance.

"No, I don't," he said, but he continued walking to the sidewalk and enjoying the feel of the sun as he did.

He was happy with what he had already accomplished that day, and he even ventured to think that things were looking up for him, but he still had a few things to do. His tram ride back to his side of the city was just as enjoyable. Ryker had himself a protein drink to tide him over until he arrived. Before going to the internet café, Ryker stopped at a cheap Chinese food place and enjoyed some all-he-could-eat orange chicken, which turned out to be a lot with his increasing physique.

Full and content, he headed to the internet café to submit his work so he could get paid and to check the status of his other job request. He didn't think it would take that long, so he only paid for an hour of time, and he didn't pay for the use of the AR glasses. He splurged on food two days in a row; there was no point in paying extra for the internet.

If Ryker could go to the library and not even pay for the internet, he would, but it wouldn't let him use the Bounty Board sites he needed for registration and messages. The first thing Ryker did once he logged in was to upload and submit his picture of the ring and mark the job as done. When the person reviewed it, they would release the payment to his account.

Once that was done, he checked his messages for the other job he signed up to do. Although, after his meeting with Ms. Jimenez, he thought that signing up for it might have been a bad idea. It seemed smart at the time, with his future lying in the shambles of the destroyed Circuit City, but now it was different. Not only did she promise to fix it, but he was going to get a raise.

"I should have asked how much of a raise it'll be," he thought.

He had a message waiting in his inbox.

Dear Mr. Stone,

Congratulations! You have been tentatively selected to acquire the job request for a weeklong private investigation mission. To continue the process of acquiring the job, please be at the address listed below on Monday, February 13th, at 7 am. Failure to be at the appointed place will result in you no longer being considered for this assignment.

At the bottom of the email was the additional information talked about. Ryker checked the online map for the location. It was on the south side of the city in an area he didn't often go to. It was close to the tram exit, though, so it wouldn't be too bad. Although it was unorthodox to have a secondary meeting to accept the mission, Ryker kind of liked the idea. It would allow him to see if he wanted to do it. The time was early enough that he could check it out and still make it to the Circuit City before it opened.

However, how it was now, he was leaning toward not accepting the job. A quick email would be all it took. He waited to see if his superpower had anything to say about it.

….

….

….

Ryker responded to the message that he would be there at the requested time. When he left the Internet café, it was still early in the evening, although the winter sun was already low in the sky. Still, going back to the orphanage would just cause people, namely the director, to ask questions he didn't really want to answer.

With a smile to himself, Ryker thought of the best thing he could do with the remaining time. He would work out. He needed to test his limits anyway since they were increasing faster than he could keep up. The level of strength and endurance he displayed the day before was more than he ever had, and he felt even better right then.

So, he didn't waste any time; Ryker easily jogged to the nearest park.

The small neighborhood park he ran to was a neglected and forgotten place. It was a typical site in the city. People would come and dump their trash and leave their unwanted belongings. There was more than one homeless tent staked up around the area.

In the park were copious amounts of trash. There were old soda cans, broken bottles, and even a few things Ryker didn't want to mention. The grass that was there was overgrown with weeds and brown, and there was very little green anywhere.

The park had a playground for children, but it was so old that it was pockmarked with rust and highly dangerous. The swings were just rusty chains dangling from the cross pole, the slide was peeling, and the monkey bars were on its side.

There was a single picnic area for families, but it was covered in graffiti. The tables were chipped and stained, and the benches were broken. It was a depressing place that was no longer used as intended. It was a place where people came to forget about their problems, but it only made them feel worse.

Even though the park wasn't in great shape, it had everything he needed. He had a designated jogging path that included markers for every quarter mile, which was two. It wasn't as if Ryker needed a lot of space to work out, though. Of course, there were a couple of tents staked out across the running path, but he could easily go around those, and it shouldn't affect his time.

There were a couple of pullup bars and parallel bars for doing dips, although he wasn't a big fan of that exercise. He didn't need anything to check his pushups or the number of crunches he could do. He just wanted to get a good number of repetitions for all the exercises, then he could come back in a week or two and see if he had improved more.

His first test was to see how fast he was. He would time his quarter mile for his endurance. He had a stopwatch in his bag, but this was just another time he wished he had a bracer. For now, he would use what he had.

Ryker rolled up his proverbial sleeves and started his training montage.

"Training montage?"

♫ In anything, if you want to go

From just a beginner to a pro

You need a montage (Montage!) ♫

Ryker took off as soon as he clicked the start button on his stopwatch. He had already grabbed it, securing it in his grasp. The wind rippled across his skin as he ran. When he hit the quarter mile and the button on his stopwatch, it was sooner than he anticipated. He glanced down at the display and was shocked to see fifty-six seconds. Ryker was barely breathing hard.

♫ Ooh, it takes a montage (Montage!) ♫

"How am I hearing music?"

Ryker jumped up to the pullup bars and began to count. He stuck to proper form with controlled movement and no kipping. His session of pullups was so fast he could barely keep count, and it lasted longer than his quarter-mile run. He had set his timer for a minute, not really expecting himself to last that long, but he did and managed to do seventy pullups. As soon as he dropped down, his arms felt better. He even considered doing another round.

♫ Ooh, it takes a montage (Montage!) ♫

Instead of another round of pullups, Ryker switched to pushups. When the timer beeped again, telling him the minute was up, Ryker was at ninety. He didn't think his form waivered in the slightest, either. He did sit-ups and was at a hundred when his timer beeped again; he jumped up and punched the sky with a yell of excited empowerment.

♫ Ooh, it takes a montage (Montage!) ♫

With one last test, Ryker looked at the dilapidated playground for a split second, then sprinted toward it. He ran up the slide. When he reached the top, he leaped forward, hands outstretched; he slammed his hands down on the bar, giving him a little extra height, but he also kept ahold of the bar with one hand.

He gripped the bar tightly and spun his body around. Just as his feet struck down, he executed a flying cartwheel to his right, landing on a pole with another one twisting around it. He rode the twisty pole all the way down like a surfer hanging ten.

At the bottom, he jumped back toward the rickety playground. He used various parts of it to leap and swing his way back to the top. Once at the top again, he jumped onto the slide and rode it on his feet to the ground.

"How the hell did I do all that?" Ryker asked, breathing heavily.

♫ Ooh, there's gonna be a fight at the end of the montage (Montage!) ♫

"Wait, what was that last part?"