Understanding. (3)

"He's not lying there." Sonny found himself saying as he agreed with Visuveus. "We don't have anything left to do that would require you or those three over there, so get changed and clock out."

"Understood." Visuveus acknowledged with a nod, before standing up and making his way to the changeroom.

After some time, as Visuveus was putting on his cuff links, Bryant walked in and right up to him, before staring at the ex con again. Much like earlier in the day, they just stared at each other but this time, it was Bryant who broke the silence.

"Why are you here?"

"…I work here?" Visuveus answered.

"…You confuse me. I don't understand you."

Bryant turned around and left, leaving Visuveus standing there, looking all kinds of lost.

"Right back at you." He said to himself before finishing getting dressed and applying his cologne. He made his way over to the table with the attendance sheets and began filling his in, before Sonny spoke from behind him.

"Don't hold it against him, Vincent. He's weird and stiff like that because of his past. Were you really piling up and lifting multiple boxes at a time? How did you do that?"

"I just know how to use my body." Visuveus said with a dismissive shrug. "I'll see you tomorrow, Sonny."

The tubby man just nodded and Visuveus left, making his way towards the bus stop.

"Why is everybody here so weird?" Sonny said to himself as he sighed.

Later that evening, in an average sized bar, the Dawn Logistics employees were seated in their usual spot, enjoying a meal and a drink. Suddenly, the trio of Natalie, Ryan and Morgannin appeared to have been rejuvenated to the point where one would question if they ever had been fatigued to the point of unconsciousness only an hour or so ago.

"But seriously, B!" Ryan slurred ever so slightly, clearly a little buzzed. "We all figured that you and Vincent actually would have had quite a bit in common."

"Why? Because we're both black?" Bryant quipped with a raised eyebrow?

"Well… yeah, but mainly because you're both big, tall, buff dudes."

"How weird is it that you can still see his muscles through loose fitting overalls?" Morgannin chimed in with a burp and a shake of the head.

"Right?!" Natalie said, joining the conversation.

"Those reasons alone are really weak for you to say something that could get you punched in the face." B said, his voice carrying a hint of menace to its usual gravitas.

"I also took your pasts into consideration. You were a soldier, and while we don't know just what he was, he comes across as very disciplined and almost… militant in a way."

"In what way? You haven't spoken to him or interacted with him in any way that could inform such a train of thought."

"Come on, B. We all see how he is almost robotic in his focus and his discipline, as if he was trained or some shit. Like you."

"I was a soldier, Ryan. Who knows what the fuck he is or was, what his motivations are or were, or where the fuck he's planning to go. I need to know this shit so I can plan and legislate accordingly."

"Why don't you just ask him instead of stewing in this like some oxtail in a stewpot?" Natalie asked, the alcohol progressively removing more of her filter with each swig.

"Because the time to ask hasn't arrived yet." Bryant answered as he got to his feet.

"Where are you going?" Morgannin asked.

"Home. Unlike you people, I actually have people waiting for me at home."

Bryant grabbed his coat and waved at the others without saying anything, before walking out and leaving them to continue with their evening. Meanwhile, a little later in Ms. Mubi's hallway house, the ex cons had finished their own dinners and those on cleaning duty were busy cleaning the kitchen and dining room. Visuveus had hung his coat up, and was wearing a rather strange ensemble of a suit with a kitchen apron and yellow rubber gloves. He was busy washing the dishes while an emaciated, clearly drug addicted man was beside him, drying them. Much like while at work, Visuveus was working while completely drowning out the noise around him. Once he was finished, he didn't even bother speaking to or fraternizing with any of his 'house mates' and quickly made his way to his bedroom, and shut himself in, locking the door in order to avoid having to converse with Ms. Mubi. Eventually, all the conversations and the noise died down as bed time crept closer, and as it came and went, Visuveus was still wide awake, staring out the window which had metal rods built into the wall. Midnight came and went, and his eyes were still wide open, and around twenty minutes later, he got a text notification.

'I know you're still awake.' Evan texted.

'I am. Why are YOU still awake?' Visuveus replied.

'I could have just finished up with a woman, you know.'

'You could have, but you haven't.'

'Hush. How was work? Did you use my sagely advice and guidelines to good effect?'

Visuveus just chuckled at Evan calling anything he said sagely, and then proceeded to tell the biggest Superhero in the city about his work day. For the next week or so, Visuveus' routine was about as mundane as it could be, with him going to work, checking in with Liyah, and just going through life pretty much on autopilot. One thing that changed slowly but surely over the course of the week was how he was being used at work, with Sonny and co. realizing that he was practically a fork lift all on his own. They ended up building a makeshift fork out of leftover metal and fixed it to a heavy duty harness, essentially turning Visuveus into a poorly constructed forklift. They tried to make it seem cool by referring to it as the 'Exo Suit' but that didn't take away from its poor quality. Just this small thing actually had a major effect and boosted their speed immensely. Owing to this, on the Friday of that week, Sonny called for a meeting since they had finished their work ahead of schedule. Everybody had already freshened up and changed into their regular clothes, and with the exception of the old woman, everybody was seated at the table in the meeting room.

"Now, I bet you fuckers are wondering why I called this meeting? Simple. Money. We need to figure out how to get more cashflow, because we now have an extra salary to cover. Now I won't lie, the fact that we've turned Vincent here into a forklift cyborg is not only impressive, but it has also helped us become pretty efficient on a super low budget. Let's see how else we can bring in money on the cheap! How else can we use Vincent to make us more money!?!"

Sonny practically roared the last sentence, and was breathing heavily as a result of getting overly excited. The trio looked at him with shock, while Bryant looked embarrassed. Visuveus meanwhile, had the same neutral expression as he always did, and as the original staff began brainstorming, bouncing ideas back and forth, Visuveus remained quiet and just observed.

'I wonder when this meeting is going to end.' He thought to himself. 'I don't want to give Mubi even the slightest chance to get some dirt on me.'

"What about you, Vincent?" Sonny asked as he snapped Visuveus out of his thoughts.

"What about me?"

"What ideas do you have?"

"That depends."

"On what?"

"On how much money it would take for you to start to consider more… dangerous jobs."

"…are they legal?"

"Absolutely."

"Will they make money?"

"They will. They'll just come with a certain element of risk for your employ—"

"I'm in. Tell me your idea."

"What the fuck?!" The trio screamed in unison, while once again, Bryant looked embarrassed.

"You three shut up!" Sonny boomed before looking at Visuveus and nodding. "The floor is yours, Vincent."

"I've noticed something these past few weeks that not only we are guilty of doing, but other couriers and logistics companies as well. We are pretty much based in the shiny parts of the city, and when we enter the… grimier places, we always stop right on the border of the areas where Hero response times become infinitely slower."

"Because it's dangerous there!" Ryan boomed.

"That's right. But if you lot think like that, then so do the others."

"Wait a minute." Bryant interrupted. "Are you suggesting—"

"Indeed I am. If we're willing to take the risk, the initiative will be ours. You all have Powers, yes? So at the very least, protecting ourselves should be possible."

"How would we do it?" Sonny asked.

"We focus on speed. Even in our advertisement or… what do they call it, 'Mission Statement,' we will emphasise that we're fast. This will also assist in giving us an excuse to refuse a certain number of packages, so we don't spend too long in one place."

"We can use the relatively small size of the team and lack of equipment as being by design for efficiency, not because Pop is a cheapskate." Bryant chimed in as he placed his hand in his considerably bearded chin.

"Oi!" Sonny barked.