Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Offer

We leave the room and walk out into the hallway. There were five doors that I could see, counting the one that we just came out of. There was one door at the end, and two doors on each side of the hallway.

Eve walked to one of the doors and opened it, revealing a… quite surprising scene.

The room was another bedroom, but it was nothing like the one I woke up in. There was a massive computer desk with about a half dozen monitors surrounding a single stereotypical gaming chair.

The room's lights were off, but instead it was lit up by the wide array of electronics. The lights seemed to give the room a faint blue hue to it.

There were anime figures and video game merchandise nearly everywhere I looked. I recognized a few of them, but a majority of them I had no clue where they were from.

The last major thing I noticed was the two flags hung up on the walls. A single rainbow flag, and a second flag colored blue, white, and pink. I'm pretty sure the first one is the pride flag, but that was about all I knew.

And finally, there was the sole inhabitant of the room. 

A young girl, probably about my age, was standing there with an annoyed face. Wearing a long sleeve shirt with a picture of an anime girl on the front, and jeans. If Eve was the definition of beauty, this girl instead would be the definition of cute.

She stood just slightly shorter than me and was downright adorable. She gave me that 'I must protect her' kind of vibe. 

She had short purple hair that went down to her shoulders, the color and style kinda reminded me of something out of those old cyberpunk movies. 

The other thing, that I tried not to stare at, was that she was missing her entire left arm. From the shoulder down. In its place was a shiny metallic robotic arm.

"Will it kill you to knock for once in your life?" She asked as she crossed her arms.

"Sorry Ghost, I-"

The girl, Ghost, sighed.

"Do we really need the code names at this point?" She said as she glanced at me with a smile. "Hi Jason, I'm Skye. Pleased to meet you."

"How do you know my name?" I asked with a frown and a quickly growing urge to run. "I haven't told either of you yet, so why do you know it?"

Her smile dropped and she fidgeted in place as she tried to find an answer.

"Uhm…uh...well uh…" she looked towards Eve who gave her a look of 'You caused this, you fix it'. Skye sighed and her head slumped down.

"Just follow me, it'll be easier to explain…" she said as she started walking towards the door at the end of the hall.

I tentatively followed along, and she opened the door to reveal a staircase going downwards. She took us down the stairs but stopped at the first door. 

"Further downstairs is both the storage and my lab," she started before turning towards the door and opening it. Revealing-

Wait a minute…

Is that the cafe!?

~~~~~~~~~~~

I was sitting down sipping on some coffee, as the two girls in front of me were finishing explaining why they lived above the cafe.

Apparently, they are the owners and not Tami. They recognized me once they took my mask off and realized I was one of their regular customers. Which was how they knew my name.

Tami was standing near our table, but was also apparently not a human either. She was a robot…

The same robot spider who zapped Eve.

Which weirded me out pretty badly. I didn’t believe them at first, but they went on to explain how she came about.

Skye built a robot ai capable of speech, and Eve put an illusion on top of it to make it life-like.

Needless to say, when Eve snapped her fingers and dispelled the illusion I was in quite the shock. She went from looking like a normal girl in a maid outfit to a spider robot controlling a body made of solid metal and wires. To think that the single barista I knew for so long was a robot the entire time…

I wouldn’t be surprised if I was still dreaming, the day just keeps on getting weirder and weirder.

Well anyway, the point is that these two started up the cafe to cover up their actions as vigilantes. They needed a safe place for Skye to build her tech and lab, so they settled here. 

Which I guess is a slight relief that I was captured by vigilantes and not villains. I'd probably be dead by now if they were villains.

Or turned into a human guinea pig.

But that about wraps up everything they explained. Now was time for what they wanted to offer me.

"We want you to join us." Eve simply stated.

Not what I was expecting...but it begs the question.

"...why?" I narrow my eyes as I ask. This feels slightly suspicious. "Why me? What could a B-tier thief like myself even bring to the table?"

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"Because, despite what you're trying to say, you're hands down one of the best in town at what you do," Eve said in a serious and confident tone. "Sure, you may be lacking in some areas, but with enough practice and Skye's tech, you'll be one of the best around. That I promise you. We're also lacking in someone who can actually fight, and you and your powers could help fill that role."

"Plus," Skye started, "we've been following along with your exploits, mostly through the media and the heroes' data file on you, and we believe you'd be a perfect fit in our little group."

"And just why am I considered a 'perfect fit'?" I asked with a cocked eyebrow. Though I am surprised at just how fast my popularity is growing. I expected the heroes to know who I was, but for even unheard of vigilantes to know me? 

Maybe I'm getting too popular…

"Also, how do you have access to the heroes' data files?" I asked with a tone of disbelief, "Can't imagine they'd let anybody, civilian or not, just waltz in there to take a look."

"Oh, let's just say I know a thing or two about computers and leave it at that." She said with a smug grin. "But to your first question. We know based on your victims that you follow a code. One similar to ours. Of only going after the worst society has to offer, whether they be greedy CEOs or evil gang leaders."

"And? I can’t imagine you want to hire me, just to go after small-time jobs like that?" I asked as I leaned in further, "What's your real target?"

I already knew based on what Eve said earlier, but I wanted confirmation before we continued.

“The Phantoms,” Eve said, her face twisting as if the words themselves were poison to her lips. I noticed Skye’s expression had turned dark, and she gripped onto her robotic arm with her free hand. “Probably, no, definitely the largest villain group in the city. They’ve got their little hands in just about every corner of the black market.”

Her hand formed into a tight fist, but she relaxed when Skye laid her hand on top.

“And we will stop them.”

I didn’t really know what to say to that, so I just nodded. They certainly have conviction, I'll give them that. 

“And my payment? What am I getting from this?” I asked. Eve straightened back up before answering me.

“A shared split from what we get from jobs, access to Skye’s tech lab and equipment, and a free room upstairs.” 

Well that was certainly a tantalizing offer. A roof over my head and new gadgets to play with? Safe to say, that was almost enough to make me agree instantly. Being homeless for so long will do that to ya, it's nearly enough reason to forget our rocky first encounter.

But the enemy they’ve chosen is what is holding me back from making a decision.

Who even does that? Who would willingly pick a fight with the toughest group in town? Surely this wasn’t out of the goodness of their heart, this had to be personal. The question was, what exactly was their history with the Phantoms?

Except it wasn’t my place to ask. At least not right now.

Did I want to willingly put myself in the crosshairs of villains, or continue sleeping on park benches for the foreseeable future? 

And that wasn’t the only problem either now that I think about it.

If I decline their offer, then suddenly I have two vigilantes that know my identity. They don’t seem like the type to send that info to the heroes, but it's still a possibility. And while I could do the same to them, it wouldn’t really do anything. Vigilantes are much more legal than villainous thieves like me after all. 

So I'm screwed if I accept, and potentially really screwed if I decline. Seems like the answer’s quite obvious to me.

“So, what do you say?” Skye asked with a friendly smile.

I took a deep breath and...

~~~~~~~~~~~

I collapsed into my new bed with a big sigh, as I stared up at the ceiling. 

What a day…

A smarter person than me would have declined their offer, their enemy was far too dangerous after all. That's not even talking about the fact they had me handcuffed and interrogated today. Even now I’m wondering why exactly I accepted.

Was it the offer of a new home? Possibly. Though I’ve been living just fine out on the streets so far, I'm sure that my luck would have eventually run out if I stayed out there. 

Was it for the money? Again, maybe. After several failed and unlucky heists my wallet has been near empty for quite a while. I desperately needed the extra cash at the moment.

But I don’t think either of those were the main reason I accepted. Though I think I have somewhat of an idea…

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at least a little interested in Eve’s powers. With those powers I could do so many things! Maybe I could even change my bod-

I shook my head. I can’t be thinking like that anymore, I buried that down long ago. Even if I could use those powers like that, it wouldn’t fit me…

Even ignoring that part, her powers still interested me. Especially since they are just complex enough that I would never learn how to use them on my own if I copied them. I’d need her to teach me how to use it first.

Which was the first thing I said when I accepted. That I would join under the condition that Eve and Skye teach me the ins and outs of their powers. Not that I knew Skye’s powers yet, but if she’s a vigilante then surely she must have something fun and exciting for me to copy.

Plus this isn’t just me being greedy either. If I learn their powers it would make me stronger, which would in turn help their goal. Even if- *yawn*- even if that goal is insane.

Guess I'm more tired than I thought. Might as well call it a night, I’m guessing now that they got a third member they will start being more active. So I imagine tomorrow will be just as crazy as today was. 

Hopefully not.

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