Putting the Team Back Again

Not that Michael was going to. He had never stolen anything in his life before, and he wasn't about to start stealing now even if he had no job and no money.

Soon to be no home as well.

This was New York City, and there were obviously plenty of opportunities for Michael to steal. Like for example, that Lamborghini parked across the road from him with no one around. The owner must be extremely bold to park such a valuable vehicle in this part of the neighborhood.

Stealing it was certainly tempting to Michael, and he only needed to touch the vehicle and it would be done. Through his power, the vehicle would be disassembled into pixels, allowing him to absorb it into his Domain.

Once it became a model for him to use, Michael could summon a copy whenever he liked. In his world or in the outside world.

It was that easy, and without anyone around to witness him, it was beyond child's play. But of course, Michael had to make sure that there were no cameras watching him. That wasn't too hard, considering with his newfound power, he could truly see the world for what it was and how everything was linked to each other.

Michael could see the underlying structures that made up the whole world, the entire infinite universe and more. It only took time. Time to discern and examine each structure that played a role regardless of how small.

In his mind, they were more or less systems. Individual systems that complimented each other, adding to the overall framework that was reality.

There was a system to calculate gravity. A system to calculate distance. A system to calculate velocity. A system to calculate acceleration. And so on. Quite many.

So many systems working together to operate the world and to ensure that the universe behaved like it should. Biblical God must have spent a lot of time programming each of the system to perfection.

Michael admired that, and he was following the same footsteps as Biblical God by making his world as real as the outside world. It was already real enough. Real enough to catch the attention of Deus, but it could be a lot more.

Far more.

Michael wasn't checking out the Lamborghini just to steal it. No. He was checking all sort of underlying systems that connected to the Lamborghini.

Most of the systems were inactive or on standby since the vehicle was just parking there. The systems would become active once the vehicle was on the move.

It was easier to examine the systems on finite object like a car. Connected objects like skyscrapers was very hard to examine. It gave Michael headaches since there were simply way too many systems being linked to each other. Tracing a single system in that tangled mess was enough to make him cry.

Debugging a program was a nightmare, especially when that program was reality itself. This was just an analogy, as the world was not some sort of computer program. Although reality was not some sort of matrix, it could still be used to compare.

Michael stopped examining the luxury car when his phone rung. He checked the caller before frowning and accepting the call.

"Sorry Linus. I haven't been able to answer the phone since noon," Michael apologized. It was because he was in another dimension. His phone did not work there, as there was no system to keep it working.

"Right. And here I thought that you were dodging my calls," Linus responded. "Anyway, where are you right now?"

Michael eyed the sky, finding the sun was setting. He had been too busy collecting bugs to notice the time. "Heading back to my apartment. If this is about what happen in the office. Don't worry about it, man. I have already found a new job. It pays well enough, and my boss doesn't demand me to take off my pants."

"You already found a job? Nice. Okay. Cool. Are they still hiring? Cause I'm currently looking for a job," Linus said.

"What? Don't tell me that you'd left because of me?" Michael questioned. That was very likely. It was just how Linus had always been ever since they were kids.

"Duh. Bros before hoes," Linus responded. "And besides, the bitch insulted you, so I insulted her back, and here I am. Jobless. You owed me one, and you're welcome."

"Yeah. Add it to my tab," Michael chuckled, "and sorry man, my boss isn't looking for another person right now."

"Huh? You know that was a joke, right?" Linus responded, but Michael knew better. Linus, for strange reason, preferred to work with Michael. Perhaps because they have been friends for so long and knew each other so well.

"But I'm hiring, so you want to work for me again?" Michael offered. "It will be just like old times."