Gary always worked in the tech support department. It was by far the best area of the store to work in, at least as far as Ryker was concerned. Of course, Gary would never admit that. That was probably because, while it was the best area to work in, whoever worked the counter had to deal with the most irate and irrational customers.

Regardless, Ryker had been trying to get into that area ever since he started. He had proven to the managers that he possessed the technical ability to do the job. The store wouldn't even hire anyone without proving they were tech-savvy individuals. However, in the months since Ryker started, he had gone above and beyond in proving his ability in hopes of getting assigned to that station.

The reason Ryker never made it over to the tech support section was that he had a major problem. He had a smart mouth.

Ryker growled as he walked to his assigned area on the other side of the store.

He could grumble as loud as he wanted. Inwardly he knew it was true.

Still, Ryker stubbornly refused to admit it. After ensuring his area was clean, dust-free, and properly stocked, his first customer of the day approached. He was happy that the voice had actually given him some quiet time to complete his tasks.

Ryker was always assigned to the Cube Player department. Cubes were invented by a super originally employed by the CEO of Circuit City. The technology was proprietary to the company, so they were the only retailer that sold them. There had been a few close competitors over the years, but they all failed to live up to the Cube's ability.

The Cubes are a small marble-sized cube that is smooth to the touch. Holding one up to the light gives it a milky opacity. They are the only objects that can contain the data needed to play movies recorded by holo-projectors – another proprietary technology produced by Circuit City. *

The movie industry had a massive boom once the technology was created. Movie enthusiasts could watch a movie from literally every angle. It also created a boom in art and other areas of visual entertainment.

Ryker must have been getting better at dealing with the insertion of knowledge from his power because he barely flinched as it happened in the middle of his power's explanation of Cubes and their technology.

"Duh, who doesn't know what a Cube is? Why explain it to me?" Ryker asked under his breath just before the customer entered the area.

The Cube Player section was directly outside the home theater department, where no one really worked; they always let the customer experience it themselves. The Home Theater section's atmosphere was usually quite lively, especially when Ryker was working next to it. It was located at the store's back end, so the people who went there were either just browsing or needed something extremely specific.

Ryker looked up as the customer walked closer. She was a woman who looked to be in her early forties, with tidy brown hair, a buttoned blouse with large black stripes, and a sour expression on her face. Ryker could tell that dealing with this woman would strain his ability to prove the voice wrong.

"Good morning, Ma'am. Can I help you find anything?" he asked with a smile.

"I'm looking for a Cube player," she said, her voice clipped.

"Certainly, over here, we have a great selection," he began, gesturing to the display.

"I don't need your help," she said, cutting off his sales pitch. "I know what I'm looking for."

Ryker bit back a comment and a sigh. "Okay," he said. "If you have any questions, just let me know."

The woman ignored him and started looking at the Cube Players. She picked one up, examined it closely, but then put it back down. It was the best Cube Player on the market, without exception. Ryker nearly commented but knew his expertise wouldn't be appreciated.

Ryker's face turned pensive at what the voice had said. He was actually about to say something before, but his power hadn't steered him wrong yet with the little insights into people.

"This one looks good," she said. Ryker looked over her selection. She had chosen the cheapest one. None of the Cube Players were cheap, but that was the least expensive. He wondered if she chose it for the price or another reason.

"That's a great choice," Ryker said when no more information was forthcoming. "It has all the latest features."

"I'm sure it does," the woman said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. He didn't need his power to tell that. However, Ryker had to admit, he would have already said something and risked the woman's ire without the use of his power.

"Whatever," he mumbled in response to the voice's assertation that he would have messed up without it.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" The woman asked coldly. Ryker needed to learn to keep his answers to the voice internal.

"NO SHIT, SHERLOCK!" he yelled internally.

"I was saying that there is a one-year warranty for that model," Ryker thought quickly to come up with something believable. He was about to tell her about the features it came with, but the customer cut him off.

"I don't need a warranty," the woman said, rolling her eyes. She didn't believe for a second that was what Ryker had been trying to say.

"Just for the record, I don't believe that was what you said," The woman commented as she lifted the box with the Cube Player and started walking away. "And by the way, I'm not sure why they let you work here. You're too young to sell anything, not to mention extremely rude."

Ryker felt his face flush with anger. "I'm actually seventeen, almost eighteen," Ryker said. He managed to stop an additional scathing remark directed at the woman, but he had to say something. "And I'm a very good salesman. I've been working here for eight months, and I've never had a customer complain about me."

"Well, I'm complaining about you," the woman said. "You're rude, and you're pushy. I don't want to buy anything from you."

"Will that be all?" Ryker asked with what he was sure was too much snark. He regretted the comment at once.

The woman stopped and turned to look at him. "Yes, that'll be all," she said. "That will be all of your job when I complain to the manager."

The woman turned and stalked away, leaving Ryker standing there, fretting about the continued existence of his job. That was an utter disaster. He needed to get a hold of his power and figure out its limits before being out of a job and destitute.

Ryker stayed in his area and tried to be sly as he watched the woman check out. He was hoping that she wouldn't talk to the manager, but when he saw the cashier pick up the phone, then the manager enter from the back, he knew it was hopeless.

While the woman was raging to the manager, Ryker decided to head over to the tech support area and talk to Gary for a while. It might be his last chance as co-workers once the woman left.

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"Okay, I guess heading over there is important," Ryker didn't even bother to hide his answer. No one was around anyway.

The Tech Support section was devoid of customers when Ryker slunk over. Gary was sitting behind the desk on one of the stools in the area. Having a place to sit was another reason Ryker wanted to work there. Unfortunately, he feared that he wouldn't get the chance.

Random electronic parts were strewn about on the right side of the desk as if they had been part of a project but shoved to the side haphazardly in frustration. Ryker could make out a green fiberglass circuit board with lines of patterns of conductive metal. He could see a smattering of resistors, diodes, and other components. Ryker almost thought it made a face.

Ryker looked closely and realized that the voice was right about the pattern.

Gary was slyly looking at his Bracer again, but he was being careful, so he noticed when Ryker arrived.

"What happened over there?" Gary asked

Ryker thought about what to say and finally settled on, "I'm having a very complicated day."

"Yeah, I kind of noticed upstairs in the breakroom." Ryker thought he was talking about when he grabbed his head in pain, but it turned out to be more. "You seemed to be taking a while to answer whenever you said something. Like you were pausing and thinking, or maybe listening to something."

Gary was a lot more perceptive than Ryker had given him credit for. He still didn't feel comfortable revealing that he had gained a superpower, but he wanted to try and talk about the subject more since Gary had one.

"I'm okay. It's just a headache. I think I'm just really stressed out. I've been working two jobs and saving every penny I have for the day I need to leave the orphanage. I need the money, but I might have just screwed up this job." Ryker ran his head through his short hair. He didn't have to fake the stress he was feeling from his incident with the customer. It was just one more stressor on top of everything else.

Ryker suddenly thought of a way to maneuver the conversation in his desired direction. "I've been trying to get transferred over here in tech support, but I keep having trouble. As you can tell," Ryker pointed over to the lady, still visibly upset as she raged at his manager, "I have a talking-to-customers issue. The issue is I suck at it."

"Clearly," Gary chuckled.

"How do you deal with people?"

"Honestly?" Gary asked.

"Yeah," Ryker said and nodded for him to continue.

"I just keep my mouth shut," Gary said with a small bit of vehemence that surprised Ryker. He had never seen that side of Gary, which made him realize that he was probably more complicated than he assumed.

"Vehemence?" Ryker thought. "What would make him feel like that?"

Gary stared at Ryker seriously. Ryker decided to wait patiently for him to continue. "You have to realize that you are representing the business. No one here cares about you as a person. You want to be an individual, and you want people to treat you with respect, but this isn't the place for that. You're here to sell merchandise, not be respected. So, you know, you have to just bottle it all up."

"Damn." Ryker wanted to say more but was stunned at what Gary had just said. Gary was always friendly with him at work; he was even different before the morning shift. He wondered what had caused him to change.

"Don't take what I said too seriously," he said, realizing he was too blatant and wanting to cover it up a little. "It's a harsh lesson to learn, but everyone does at some point."

Ryker decided to plow forward with his questions. "It must be extra difficult for you, with having a superpower, too." Gary frowned at Ryker's comment. Thinking he had stepped too far, even though it was the subject he wanted, Ryker tried to backpedal. "Sorry to bring it up. I know you don't really like talking about your power."

"No, it's okay. It's not a big deal," Gary said reluctantly after a tiny pause, but Ryker could tell it was something Gary didn't want to discuss. Ryker knew he had a power, but since Gary never talked about it other than to mention its existence, he assumed it was a sore subject for the man. At least he used to; with the way Gary acted, he wasn't sure anymore.

"It does make it more difficult when the customers make it difficult," Gary said politically.

"What is your power anyway?" This was the decisive moment for the conversation to go in the direction Ryker wanted and to possibly get some answers about the situation. After discovering Gary's power, he could surreptitiously ask him for advice through the guise of curiosity.

Another reluctant pause. "I have a minor electrical psionics ability."

Ryker thought that power was amazing. He didn't understand why someone would be reluctant to talk about it.

"Perhaps he's hiding something," Ryker thought.

"That's a crazy awesome power," Ryker exclaimed, partly in actual excitement and partly to hide the surprise from the comment of his power. "Is that how you got the job? What kind of things can you do?" Ryker started getting excited, thinking about the possibilities. He could think of a million things to try with that type of power, especially while working in an electronics store. While his mind drifted, Ryker didn't notice how Gary's eyes shiftily glanced over to the manager before Gary answered.

"Shiftily?" Ryker thought as the voice pulled him from his reverie.

"The power helped me get the job, yeah," Gary said with a shrug. He didn't want Ryker to know how much of a part it actually played, but thankfully, it wasn't a lie.

What Ryker just heard through his superpower stunned him. Gary was lying about the extent that his power helped him get a job. Ryker asked the question assuming that Gary was hired due to how well he would do at the job. His power in a tech store was a perfect fit. But if he was lying, it had to be more than that.

With a power like Gary's, even if it was low level, he might be able to access the network. He could ensure he was the only one interviewed by changing or deleting other applications. Gary might even have been able to get hired without an interview. Ryker didn't know the extent of his superpowers. Circuit City had an extensive network and surely had areas that could be exploited if someone had the right abilities.

"So, what types of things can you do?" Ryker asked again, although his voice was listless and monotone.

Gary sighed. "I can control electrical currents through small objects. It allows me to access some data, sometimes manipulate it, and even absorb it."

As Ryker watched, he noticed that Gary's eyes flicked up and to the left briefly. It was a clear indication that he was making something up. Ryker tried not to show his observation, but Gary was also observant and didn't think it went unnoticed.

"Why are you asking about my power anyway?" Gary asked. He tried to be nonchalant with the question, but Ryker could sense a growing apprehension.

Ryker saw the question as what it was, a chance to change the subject. Ryker considered letting it all go, but with all the cryptic clues he was getting from his power, he couldn't help but press the issue. "Why don't you want to talk about such a cool power?" Ryker parried.

"It really isn't as good as you might think. If it was, I wouldn't be working here."

Ryker thought Gary had a point and wondered if he was looking at it wrong. There could be numerous reasons why Gary didn't want to talk about it. But deep down, Ryker knew he couldn't let it go. He wanted to be a hero and do something with his life. If he ignored the signs, especially those given by his own ability, he might as well not have one. Ryker hoped it was nothing, but he couldn't be sure unless he checked.

"I'm not sure, but it seems like you aren't telling me everything. Besides, with a power like yours, I would think this is the perfect place to work. You might discover that you can do a lot more than you assumed. I'm not sure what your power can do, but if I had it, I would do everything I could to check. Now that I think about it, it would be an especially fantastic job if my power was even better than I portrayed."

Ryker knew immediately after he said it, that it was probably one of Gary's secrets. He also perceived that he shouldn't have said it.

Ryker looked up, and he could see as Gary's eyes shifted. They took on a more sinister quality, and his usually jovial face had changed to a scowl. There were many things that Ryker didn't know about Gary, and they seemed to be all coming into the light due to his questions. One of those things he had no way of knowing was that Gary's power was more different and powerful than he let others believe. Another tidbit that Ryker didn't know was that Gary was using the Circuit City as a base of operations as the supervillain Circuit Board.

"You're the supervillain, Circuit Board?" Ryker blurted before he could think better of it.

"Fine," Gary said finally. "You just couldn't leave it alone, could you?"

Ryker realized he had made an egregious error in outing Gary's secret identity.

A spasm of electricity snaked up Gary's arm. The circuit board resting on the side of the table wobbled for a second, then snapped over to Gary and attached to his forearm. Without breaking eye contact, Gary reached his arm over and pulled the circuit board off. He then smoothly reached over and touched the phone, which was still surrounded by all the technical equipment.

Ryker was confused at what he was doing, but he quickly realized it wasn't good as all the lights in the building started flickering, then the security cage at the stored front lowered with a bang.

*The super who created the technology was a close friend of the CEO's son. After his power emerged, he began creating the camera technology to primarily assist in medical imaging and, eventually, industrial applications. The creator approached the CEO, and the technology was quickly put to good use. The CEO talked the creator into letting him handle the sales of the technology, which saw the entertainment industry using it before it took off in others.