2:Now What?

Zephyr walked out the lobby of his luxury apartment.Armed with nothing but the suit he was wearing. A smart watch which held a vac suit for emergencies and a gun that he picked up. Now he was a free man, a poor man but a free one nonetheless.

He looked down at the weapon he held. He only grabbed it in the heat of the moment but boy was he glad he did. Zephyr owned 15 extremely high end guns each costing tens of thousands of kav, even if they were considered trash by interstellar level races. To him these were worth more then just a simple display item. 13 of his weapons had been destroyed by Zephyr in his stress relief shooting spree, one that his sister had tripped over and now the one he was holding.

The gun he picked up happened to be his FGK model 1 a hybrid Gauss and Laser rifle. Able to shoot rapid fire lasers or using the disposable ammo cartridges fire devastating armour piercing shots.It was also a collectors edition being the only one in existence, which he had to pay extra to get but boy was it worth it.

The collectors edition was made with a special alloy which could absorb the quantum energy around it when activated. Passively recharging the weapon and making it significantly more stronger and durable. Because it could absorb quantum energy though, the weapon was marked up nearly 1900%!The only downside was that the weapon was so powerful the heat sinks failed to catch up and as such the gun was prone to over heating

'Wait a second,quantum energy?

Quantum energy was a type of energy that was extremely abundant throughout the whole universe. Certain species who had the right genes could harness this energy to become a super. For humans it was only around 1 in 5000 thousand or so.

Becoming a super had massive perks.You could be strong enough to destroy cities or in some classes planets. Live long enough to have great-grandchildren and still look as young as you did 200 years ago.You wouldn't even need to eat or drink as simply absorbing it would fill your body with the nutrients it needed, which is a good thing since most food wouldn't be able to satisfy the nutritional requirements of supers.

Basically, everyone wanted to be a super and Zephyr did as well. Unfortunately, the test to see wether you could be a super was only accesable to cosmic level civilizations/business and above.

Zephyr's dad's business however KadVan & Sons was merely planetary level. Far from interstellar and even further from cosmic level.

Haah

He sighed to himself. Enough of pondering about supers. First he had to figure out how to make money to keep food on the table and clothes on his back.

'Hmmm, I could sell this gun, the value may have dropped but it should still go for a pretty sizeable chunk. Enough for me to get my bearings. '

And yet. Zephyr couldn't bear to depart from his dear guns. All 14 of his previous weapons were gone leaving only this FGK.

Maybe I should just find a job. Work as a cashier or something. But when he thought back to how he lived in luxury,he immediately declined again.

Perhaps something illegal?

No. He crossed that thought out instantly.

Argh. Was finding a job always this hard? Oh wait, Zephyr never even had a job.

Thinking back to it. Zephyr had nothing to offer anyways. His only skills were knowing how to manage a company, sharpshooting and how to determine the value of things.

What's a job that pays well, hires people with his skills and doesn't actually require much work. He thought long and hard for a moment.

Sigh

'There's no job like that, I should just give up'

He opened his watch and checked his balance

[Current Balance:94.17 Kav Credits]

Ouch.That was barely enough to get a fresh pair of clothes. He looked down at his suit. There was a few patches of burnt fabric from his stress relief session but otherwise he looked quite clean.Looks like he was gonna be wearing this suit for a bit longer

'Man a holstered rifle on my back messy hair that looks like it hasn't been combed ever and a dirty suit. I must look like a mercenary or a bodyguard or something else'

He walked a bit more.

'Wait. Mercenary? Of course! Why didn't I think of that earlier? '

He stopped in his tracks once again causing the people around him to stare.

'Mercenaries can make serious cash depending on how strong they are and they have extreme freedom plus they only have to take a mission of they want to.Another plus, they'll accept anyone who wants to join. '

Perfect. That ticks all three of his boxes. Now all that's needed is to sign up as one and make serious cash.

'Like hell I would do that!'

Being a mercenary had a high chance of death especially if you were a non-super which surprise surprise. Unless Zephyr managed to awaken his super genes he would probably die on his first mission!

'Fuck, what else is there for me to do'

A prostitute? Not to brag but Zephyr did look very good. With his short black hair that looked like it had never seen a comb and an extremely lean body with a face shape almost like a girl. In fact Zephyr had been hit on by multiple men his whole life who were unaware he was a guy.

Wait. Why was he even considering being a prostitute?

Screw that. What other jobs are there that would hire someone like him.

...

"Thank you for signing up to be a mercenary I look forward to working with you Mr KadVan. "

"Please just call me Zephyr"

In the end he actually just became a mercenary.

Haah

He sighed for what felt like the umpteenth time today. He had tried going around to see any job offers and they all almost flat out refused. It turns out that when you have no resume, no previous work experience, no skills other then sharpshooting and managing a company and looking like a disheveled mercenary. Many places wouldn't hire you.What a surprise. Why did he even bother

He looked over at the card he had gotten from the receptionist. On it was standard info like his name, age, gender and most importantly his strength level which sat at a solid F-.

Strength level went from Z all the way to A with a suffix of - or +.Zephyr being a baseline human who wasn't a super, never got genetic treatments or even exercised was at the bare minimum of F-.Not even F but F-.

He unholstered his FGK and stared at it for a bit.

'At least I have you'

He holstered it back and opened his watch. 11:07 relative planet time. Time to find a place to stay for the night.

...

Dammit. Once again the lack of money and his looks was being a serious hurdle towards Zephyr's new life.

He looked at the GPS on his watch. Three more hotels/motels within walking distance.If none of them let him stay the night he was gonna have to spend his night in a cold alley.

Ding

A bell rang as he entered the lobby of the third last destination.A hotel named Grandest Day.Each place he visited slowly got shabbier and more run down that the one he was at right now could barely even be considered on the same level as his first destination. Although considering he was at the 'slums' of the planet he didn't feel surprised

The place must have looked quite nice in its glory days. Evidently however, those days were long gone.The cleaning bots so run down two of them had a faulty wheel and were just spinning in circles. Another one seemed to mistake the wall in front of it as a hallway too a different room as it kept crashing into it and the last one on its side with its sides being indented.

He walked over to the receptionist. Who didn't even bother to bat an eye at him. Too immersed watching a figure dance from his watch.

"Hey"

No reaction from the receptionist.

"Hey!"

He said it a bit louder this time. The receptionist still didn't seem to hear.

BANG

He slammed his fists into the table. Startling the man and making him practically touch the roof with his head.

"How much for one nights stay? "

"U-uhm.80 Kav for the cheapest but if you have extra-

"80?! You've gotta be kidding me. Look at this place! You're telling me you think a nights stay here is worth 80 Kav?"

The receptionist seemed stunned by Zephyr's outburst. He looked around frantically, only to spot the gun Zephyr had holstered,widening his eyes

Zephyr immediately sported this. He smirked at him. Reaching his hand behind to grab it and slam it on the table.

"See this bad boy? It can burn a hole through your body and do it again 17 times over if I wanted it too. "

"Y-you can't thr-threaten m-me. I'll c-call the cops on you! "

Bingo.

He aimed the gun at the air and turned it on. Making it passively absorb quantum energy. Quantum energy, the energy of supers has a blue glow to it, not a lot but just the subtlest amount of a deep blue and it held a sort of aura to it. It made anyone seeing it want it. It beckoned people to it and all for a simple reason.

Evolution adapts living things to their environment. Quantum energy despite being literally everywhere in the universe was extremely hard to grasp.The density of quantum energy throughout the universe was very low and only when bunched up like this was it possible to see it with your own eyes.

Only when conditions were right would certain species have the super genes required to use quantum energy and even then not all members of the race could be supers. Even if you didn't have the super genes your body would recognise it and want to use it to become stronger. After all, there was literally no downsides to being a super.

"Recognise this energy?"

"Y-y-y-you're a super!"

He stuttered even more then before and fell back in his chair.

Zephyr learned over the desk and stared at the frightened receptionist. His hand still holding the gun although he had deactivated it.

"I-ill discount it!70 Kav!"

He turned the gun back on.

"60 Kav! "

He slowly pointed it at the cleaning bot which was on its sides.

"50Kav! "

Bzzzt

A purple beam shot out of the barrel and instantly struck the cleaning bot. Wearing a hole through it and the floor before eventually dissipating in the ground.

"40Kav! Please. I can't go any lower! "

He deactivated the rifle and holstered it onto his back.This was the benefit of being a super. You could just threaten a guy in broad daylight and no one would care. (Minus the fact he wasn't actually a super)

Alright then, time to visit the other two spots and see if they have lower prices. He would have threatened the earlier destinations but those establishments actually cared about their customers safety and had the money to do something about it.Grandest Day unfortunately, did not.

...

It was 3:07 a.m relative planet time. Exactly four hours after he had started his journey to find a place to stay for the night. He was supposed to be at a cheap rental apartment and yet as he slowly got closer his eyes practically told him nightmares.

CLOSED FOR RENOVATION

CALL FRANK MAYWEATHER

FOR MORE INFO

ESTIMATED FINISHED BY 31/4/2509

Graffiti covered the sign leaving him unable to read out the rest and from the date on the sign it had been a solid 10 years since this renovation project was abandoned.

Honestly, 10 years? He could understand if nobody updated the website or GPS to say it was closed if it was maybe only a year but a whole decade?

He looked at his GPS again. An hour walk to get to his last destination. He could wall thee to try and see if they had lower prices but at this point he was ready to cut his losses and go back the the hotel from before.

'Guess I'll go back to the the hotel just now's

With that thought in mind he made a 180 degree turn and started walking. Only to bump into some burly looking guys.

"Watch whereee yuuor waakling asrole"

The guy he number into slurred almost every word he said and judging by how much his eyes were dropping and his body stumbling everywhere. There was an almost 100% chance of intoxication or being high as hell.

'Whatever, I don't wanna to fight I'll just apologize and walk off'

"Sorry man I'll go now"

Zephyr felt an arm grab his suit collar from behind. He turned his head and saw one of the other guys who wasn't intoxicatited or high had grabbed him.

"Whats the rush lady? You look like you could use some money? "

He leaned in closer to Zephyr's head and whispered.

"And I could give way more then just money"

BAM

Zephyr instantly punched him straight in the face. The man stumbling back clearly not used to his advances not working. His face enraged and his nose bent to the left (courtesy of his earlier punch).

"Oh, you're gonna regret that. Boys! Pin her down. She needs to learn her place. "

Zephyr was tempted to unholster his gun a and simply shoot them all but he quickly removed this thought from his head. Laser weapons had extremely high penetration capabilities and if he simply fired it here not only would anyone in a large radius instantly see the fight because of the bright beam but they might try to rob him for it since anyone looking at it could clearly tell it was expensive.

Zephyr prepped himself. Tensing his legs, clenching his fists and taking as many deep breaths as possible.

A few seconds pass but none of the guys friends responded. Turning his head to look at them, he could see all three of them collapsed and snoring. (The guy who Zephyr would call thug 1) cursed before turning back to him.

"Useless fucks, I'll deal with you myself! "

Thug 1 instantly kicked off and started running with his hands out attempting to tackle him onto the floor where he would have superiority since he was heavier and bigger.

Okayyyy then. Zephyr was planning to run since it was a 1 versus 4 and there was no way he was winning but not that it's a 1 v 1 this was a whole lot more doable and judging by how fast he's running he was a regular human.

BANG

He side stepped and threw a right cross straight at his face... Only to miss and hit his nose again.

Thug 1 fell over again landing on his side. He glared at Zephyr.

"STOP HITTING MY FUCKING NOSE! THIS A GAME TO YOU? I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU! "

'I... really didn't mean to hit your nose again though'

Thug 1 instantly got up and threw a punch straight at his face.

Side stepping again, Zephyr tried to aim for his sternum this time. Thug 1 seemed to think he was going for his nose so he dodged down and then proceeded to get hit square in the face.

BANG

This time when he fell on the floor, he stayed there, groaning and holding his face. Third time really is the charm after all. Seeing the sorry state he was in however Zephyr felt kinda bad for him.

"Dude I'm really not trying to hit you in the nose but you keep just moving into my punches"

No response he simply just layed there and clutched his face.

"Oh and also I'm a dude by the way not a girl."

Thug 1 stopped holding his face which allowed Zephyr to get a good look at his handiwork and wow. He looked real ugly. His nose was crooked into 3 different directions and was bleeding, his left eye was bruised and swollen and his lip was busted.

"Fuck, shit, fuck at least I got beat up by a dude. They would laugh at me for the rest of my life if I got beaten by a woman."

Ignoring the casual sexism from him. Zephyr bent down and reached into the jacket that thug 1 was wearing.

Rustle rustle

"The fuck do you want from me? I'm already beaten"

Rustle rustle

Finding what he was looking for Zephyr pulled his hands out if the dirty jacket to reveal thug 1's smart watch.

"What's the password. "

"Piss off"

smack

He slapped him.

"What.is.the.password? "

"987654321"

Thug 1 lost his resolve almost instantly.Zephyr felt even more bad for him.

[Current balance:300.12 Kav]

[Are you sure you want to transfer 279 Kav to Zephyr Veppelin KadVan? ]

He clicked yes. He made sure to leave behind a few Kav for thug 1 though since he felt bad for him.

"You son of a bitch"

Zephyr ignored him,putting the smartwatch back into his jacket and started walking away. Checking his watch he noted the time was 3:19 a.m meaning that whole fight was only about 8 minutes give or take.

'I'll go to that hotel place from earlier with the guy I threatened,actually what was its name again? '