Chapter 4

I had two ways to acquire Mana Stones, or in this case, a single Mana Stone. One would be to go in myself and get it, but that came with many complications. Still, I would do those complications because I wanted to see inside of a portal. However, the second way was to try and acquire one from a company that has obtained them or a hero scheduled to participate in a dungeon run. The latter was the obvious choice since smuggling one out for a massive reward was too tempting for most people, including heroes.

I went out of the city for this since the primary hero team in this city is at odds with me. While there used to be other teams, they've all been reassigned to other areas now that the Cosmic Trio has officially joined Team Pantheon. With their merger, they could handle all cases easily enough for one city.

I went two cities over to find a hero by the name of Jared Stragonoth, also known as Grip. He's a Rank B hero with telekinetic abilities. His signature move is to grab someone from a distance and squeeze until they pass out. In the case of monsters, he just chokes them to death or squeezes their internal organs. I chose him because of his mounting debts and past criminal record. He can easily pull a Mana Stone out of a wall while the rest of the party is engaged in battle and hide it until he clears the portal.

Paying the man, I slipped into a bathroom and donned a new disguise. I made myself into a pretty blonde boy, you know, the type. Blue eyes, wavy surfer hair, chiseled jawline, and shiny pearly whites. Then, I took out my Meta detector and played around with my aura until I was able to trigger the device. I'm pretty sure I got it right to reveal myself to be a high A ranker, but it wasn't an exact science to what I was doing.

I sent a photo of my new face to my guy to hook me up with a new name and background history, then took another look at myself in the mirror. Now for my clothes… I had nothing but suits, armored robes, and a suit of armor fit for a King. Granted, I can conjure clothes from the shadow ability, but they always come out pitch black. Guess I'll go shopping, all I need is some jeans and a T-shirt. Checking my phone I saw a new message telling me my new identity was done. I had him working on it for some time, and he just needed a photo. My new credentials popped up on my wrist phone. So, I'm a Ryan now. That'll work.

An hour later, I was ready to walk into the Meta Association to register as a new Meta. But right before taking the stairs up to the door, one of my rings got an alert: "Huh? Someone's trying to contact me." Finding another alley with no cameras or flying drones in the area, I saved my disguise into my ring of illusions and returned my looks to my real self. Then, I took my portable gate out and set it up.

Not even two seconds after activating the gate did a large dog leaped through and knocked me over, which is not easy to do, by the way, and began soaking my face with his wet tongue.

"Okay, Oden, get off me," I said while rubbing the sides of his face. Then Jessica walked through and laughed at me. "Funny, it's nice to see you, too."

She helped me up and then hugged me. I got the sense she wanted to kiss me, but I had dog slobber all over me. Using a quick cleaning spell took care of that issue and then she attacked my lips with wild aggression.

"You two are gross; get a room," Oden said, but we ignored him only because our tongues were busy at the moment.

"You happy to see me, or is that banana in your pants?" She asked.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

I magically conjured and removed a banana from my pants. "Just a banana," I replied, grinning. Then she socked me in the arm. "Ouch, and anyway, what's going on?"

"We wanted a break from hunting monsters every day and decided to come here and see what you're up to."

This might be perfect timing. Well, not perfect exactly, but if I get her to register as a Meta, then she can join me as a new team, along with Oden. I'll have her pretend part of her powers was to enhance her dog which in turn granted him new abilities and can speak. Plus, she'll still have the vampire strength and speed that most Metas have. Which brings me to an issue I hadn't thought of yet. What power should I showcase? I have laser vision, shadow powers, and, of course, tons of vampire-related abilities. But distancing myself from those should be considered. It'll be weird for a new Meta to suddenly have several powers of people who died recently.

I could do magic, but that, too, may raise suspicions because magic users all use a specific type of system. Trying to fake that would be exhausting. Hmm… perhaps I could do Superstrength and moderate speed and agility? That's common enough. But if I'm to be at least an A ranker, I need another primary ability as well. Oh, now that would be cool. I could do one of the earliest spells I learned and make it look like a solo power.

Lightning was always one of my favorite spells and one of the most powerful as well. Since I learned a lot more about magic, I have far greater control and can probably come up with several different uses for it. Shoot, I could probably fly with it. I can see it now, Ride the Bolt… yeah I can likely make that happen.

My only real problem will be with time management since I have a nightclub to run and a day job with the detective. Speaking of which, I really should get back to her. But right now, I need to get Jessica and Oden a place to stay and her papers in order. I took a quick snap of her face with my cell and sent a new message to my guy for false identities. "Okay, guys, for now, go stay in my penthouse, but please don't be seen downstairs yet until I get you new IDs." I opened a portal straight to my suite. "But feel free to drink from my private bar, and Oden, you can have one of the steaks in the fridge if you're hungry."

"I'm hungry."

"I just fed you before we came," Jessica replied.

"But he doesn't know that."

"He does now…"

"Not if you don't tell him. Plus, no takebacks."

"That's not how that phrase works."

"Is too."

"Is not."

"Guys! The portal is open, and it's costing me power."

"Sorry," she replied while kissing me on the cheek and then dashing through. Oden bound off after her.

Why am I always attracted to the slightly unhinged, dangerous ones? Is it because I'm also unhinged and dangerous? Nah, can't be. What stage was denial again?

Well, I will register tomorrow then. For now, I need to do some more shopping for Jessica and Oden. She'll need a wrist phone, and Oden will need food and bowls. Plus I need to find another place for them to stay. If I plan on having them join me on portal runs, then I'll need to keep them separate from this identity.

I switched back to my surfer boy identity and immediately felt eyes on me. I tried to look around like I was looking for my car, but really looking for who was watching me, but I didn't see anyone. I focused on my vampire senses, but there were too many people walking on nearby sidewalks to pinpoint where I was feeling this. So, I walked to my second car, which was a run-down beater, to play the part, and I drove off.

I hadn't planned on getting a new place for myself, but if I'm being followed, I might need to plan a little better. Plus, it would be a good idea anyway to have a few safehouses just in case. So, with that, I called up my realtor and got to work.

~~~

"Oden! He said one steak, not all four."

"I don't know how to count."

"Even if that was the case, I know for a fact you can count to one. It is literally the first number. Plus, you can read now. I helped to teach you, and I even taught you math."

"You don't know that. Maybe I was just pretending to learn."

"Oh, now you're a liar too? What happened to that doggy honor code you went on about?"

"Rule 15 section 4 states, always feign ignorance when food is involved."

"Wait, you have rules and sections? What are the rest of the sections for rule 15?"

"Section 1 is blaming the other pet for whatever got chewed up. Section 2 blames the mailman for why the garden got torn up. Section 3 is…"

"Ah ha! You can count! You're busted, mister!"

"Ruh-roh… um, ah, ruff ruff. Now, puppy dog eyes."

"It's not so effective when you say it out loud before doing it," Jessica said while glaring menacingly at Oden.