Pay Day!!!

Jacob starred down at the screen in surprise, his eye brows rising as he moved down the screen. As he reached the bottom all he could utter as he looked at his pay were two words.

"I'm rich"

[Calculating Therapy Session for user [Phoenix]

Short Term Results found:

New mental defenses placed around mind. (Minor time line change) (Improved mental control)

Increased mental control of her powers with new defenses in place. (Improved power usage)

Increased friendliness with Anna Marie, hoping she can take Scott off her hands. (Stress reduced) (Happiness Improved)

Application for fast-tracked graduation filled out and sent to school. College prospects being assessed. (Peace of mind and happiness increased)

Long Term Results found:

Sound knowledge of mental stability and negative influences. (Major timeline change) (Solid mental stability regained, possibility of split personality redefined)

Acceptance of Childhood trauma and possible future struggles and responsibilities. (Major timeline change) (Increased happiness) (Mental stability increased)

Wariness and distance from Charles Xavier. (Major time line change) (Mental control increased) (Mental stability increased)

Complete and utter distance from Scott Summers. (Major timeline change) (Mental Stability vastly increased) (Stress vastly reduced)

Vigilance and wariness of multiple individuals and groups including:

Nathaniel Essex, The Hellfire club, The Shi'ar Empire, The Kree Empire and Emma Frost.

(Drastic Timeline divergence) (Improved Timeline progression)

Reconciliation and acknowledgment of host entity [Cosmic Phoenix]. (Drastic Timeline divergence) (Improved Timeline progression) (Mental stability vastly improved) (Vastly improved power usage and control) (Classification of Omega power level updated)

[Perfect Phoenix Host Perk – Unlocked]

Pay Reward: $6,941,000]

Jacob stared unblinkingly at the number before closing the app and putting his phone down.

He spent the next 30 minutes blankly starring at the TV before him, before picking his phone up again. Opening the [CONSOL] app once more, he navigated to the [PAY] section and went in again.

Clicking on the top message, he once more read it and confirmed that he had just earned nearly 7 million dollars!!!!!

Now to be clear Jacob had just earned $6,941,000 Australian dollars. This is based off the country where he currently lives and isn't given out in USD. Even if that was the case, it is still an astronomical figure!

What Jacob had just made, he quickly calculated to be more than what most small and medium business's make in a year.

Sure, they make such revenue, but all that money was PROFIT BABY!!!!

Now that he wasn't comatose, Jacob almost wanted to jump from the couch and scream out loud in joy. The only thing that stopped him was his common sense, annoying Neighbors and strict landlord.

If he got too many noise complaints he would be kicked out.

….

….....

…...

Something Jacob realized he didn't really have to worry about as he could afford a better apartment! Heck he could buy a house outright!

The smile wouldn't leave his face as he re-read the information about the session. Jacob had no clue how it was calculated, but he did note that there were a lot of long-term changes that would come about from Jean's therapy session.

That what must have given him so much. In the future it was unlikely that he would get such a pay day from her therapy sessions.

At the same time, he had no clue what a perk was but, [Perfect Phoenix Host Perk – Unlocked], sounded powerful and in general he could figure out a few things about what might happen in Jean's future if she continued her current path.

'Should I tell her about it in her next session?'

'Would the CONSOL app tell her anyway s, as it told me?'

Stopping for a moment to think Jacob finally got up and began to pace the room. He couldn't stop himself, he was just too excited!

HE WAS RICH BABY!

But at the same time as his mind continued to turn, more and more questions began to enter his mind such as....

'How am I going to explain where the money came from?'

'Do I get taxed on this money?'

'Wouldn't it look strange for a newly graduated business major to be getting paid 7 million up for a therapy business?... well without nepotism being in play....'

He had thought about it for but a moment before when he got the $10,000 the other day. But how the hell was he supposed to explain where all the money came from!!!!

There was being a drug mule, or high-level escort levels of money.

Then there was, running a drug cartel and cocaine farm in his basement levels of money.

Jacob was already above a certain level where it couldn't possibly make sense without some type of extremely illegal shit going on.

'Wait what was that message from the bank?'

Quickly scrambling for his phone Jacob picked it back up and went to his messages. Reading it over again he quickly made a call to his bank.

He was using one of the top 4 in the country.... well, the top 4 everyday banks. He wasn't too sure about the rich people's banks in the country.

'Would I have to worry about that now?'

*Click Click*

The thought faded to the back of his mind as he finally got through to someone on the help desk. It went extremely quickly though. Jacob had been on to the bank before, and he would have to admit, the customer service was shit. The automated messages before talking to a real person usually turned him off.

But today after putting in his unique account number, it had connected quickly.

"Good evening sir how may I help you."

An almost seductive, breathless, female voice sounded over the phone and Jacob had to look down at the number to make sure he had called the right place.

'Damn the banks have never sounded better!'

Arranging his thoughts Jacob spoke in his calmest voice.

"Hello, I was just hoping to inquire about the perks of my recent upgraded account."

The seductive voice replied once more, her voice more professional and inviting.

"Ahh yes, Mr. Robertson, there are multiple perks that come with the 1st level VIP account. To begin...."

Jacob strived to stay focused even though the female voice on the line was very distracting.

While that was happening, certain conversations were still on going in a certain Consol app.

*************************

In a brightly lit office, a man in a suit looked down at the laptop before him. With no one else in the room and the windows tinted so that no one could see inside, the man could finally relax his easy-going persona for a few moments.

His face turned serious, his eyes deep and foreboding as they stared down at the laptop before them. There wouldn't be another meeting for 30 minutes, something he had planned out days before hand to fit into his uberman sleep pattern if he needed to get some extra rest.

Gotham never sleeps and rarely did Bruce Wayne.

His mind was slightly distracted as he thought back to the recent reports on 'the cave' and its retrofitting. The enemy knew that it was the league's old headquarters, as well as an unused base. There was nothing left of value inside, until 1 day ago when the Flash and Super Man had sped in, bringing with them all the tech necessary to install the zeta tubes.

Once that was done, they could move from being secretive to full blow installation as they could transport everything required without raising any eyebrows.

As it was an old base and known, it wasn't monitored much anymore. Some of the ones that still did, like Waller, he could easily shift their sensor data and mislead any other reports to continue the façade that the base was unused.

Hopefully there wouldn't be any big waves in the nearby city that would draw attention. But Bruce just had a gut feeling that this wouldn't be the case. As such he had been working on countermeasures should any of the league's rouge's gallery want to attack their burgeoning team.

But his mind had drifted for a moment. It didn't happen much, but when it came to Dick and the other kids, he did worry a bit more.

Focusing back on his task, he scrolled through the chat logs of the [CONSOL] app. He had left a reminder to himself for when [Phoenix] was set to enter and then exit her therapy session.

One might wonder how Bruce knew Phoenix was female, how could he be so sure it was a woman?

He just had to looked at the opening remarks from [The Counselor], the mention of a husband was a big give away, but not certain. The immediate focus on this aspect from Phoenix another indication that they are more emotional and care deeply about such a subject. Men do not usually focus on such aspects, especially with the other small bits of information that can be gleamed from the counselors' words being of much greater importance.

'Likely a misdirection coping mechanism to hide from distraught or unsure feelings about the rest of the information. It did seem to entail about someone close to her and mind control or manipulation.'

Finally, in most mythologies, specifically traditional Chinese' ones, Pheonix's are depicted as feminine creatures; a yin to a dragon's yang. Though mostly speculation, combining the factors mentioned as well as the chat group being multiversal, it was 95% likely that [Phoenix] was a woman and 50% likely that she was of eastern decent.

Of course, the only real answer one needed when asked why Bruce was certain about a certain fact, would be, because he's Batman.

The main point was, Bruce knew the exact moment when [Phoenix] left her therapy session. Giving it an acceptable 2 hours in the chat group, and sadly seeing that no one had yet questioned her on said experience, Bruce was the first to make a move.

He needed to know what he was dealing with and once one person asked a question, the others were likely to continue the chat without major input from himself.

So, the first message of the day, as Bruce scrolled through the chat logs, was surprisingly sent by himself.

[Dark Knight]

(@Phoenix. What was the session like?)

Pa t reo n Notes:

Ok, I said stuff it an wrote this chapter super quick. We are at the point where we are between sessions, so it is a lot quicker to write when I get the time. See you guys start of next month.

Now about how much he was paid, before anyone says it's too much. In the end I decided that I would yes give him stupid amounts of money for his work. But there is a specific way I calculated it. Just so you know, the 'perk unlock', as well as 'drastic timeline divergence' are the reasons he is getting so much money. Perk alone I decide was 5 mill. Do you think I need a separate page which explains how I calculate or just leave it? Do you think this is too much to give? Let me know!

Ps. I like writing Batman, I have discovered.