It was a few days after receiving his suit from Whisper, and about a week after his theft of the Oblivion Mask. Heroes were still on high alert and making things difficult when it came to choosing another high risk job. Neither he, nor Codex knew when the fervor would calm down, and if he had to guess at a reason: NAHA wanted to save face.
One of their highest profile heroes had the rug pulled out from under them, and their investigations led to nothing but dead ends. What better way to show that they had everything under control than to have their heroes be incredibly visible and looking for some massive show? They would most likely let a crime run its course up until the most visible, eye-catching moment. Which meant broken windows and half the property stolen and put into police evidence for an indeterminate amount of time.
As such, they focused on opening up the pawn shop, and were stuck in a dilemma. Employees. Codex was illegal and should never be seen by anyone, and he was just one man. The question was, who would be willing to work at a pawn shop, not ask questions about anything they might see, or question certain items or customers that come through the door?
The answer was so obvious it had taken them a few minutes to realize how simple it truly was; a college student. All he needed to do was offer a deal they couldn’t refuse.
Within a few days, one Danny Macelrei was their first employee. Danny was only a few years younger than himself, and of course just like with the oblivion mask job, he was using an alias. This time one with some actual history. “Thanks a lot for taking this position Dan.” He shook the grinning kids' outstretched hand before noticing the bags under Dan's eyes. “Need a coffee before we open?”
Dan’s grin grew even wider. “Thanks Mr. Glenmore, I’ll take you up on that.” I led Dan to the break room in the back of the store.
Starting up the coffee maker I gave Dan a look. “I’m barely older than you Dan, just call me Sal. The only reason I’m not in college myself is circumstances and a literal lottery.” I gave the room, and therefore the shop, a melancholic look. “A friend of my late mother used to own this shop before he passed. Didn’t even know I was in the will till the lawyers came knocking.”
“If you just got this place,” the machine binged and Dan took the coffee. “Then how do you have the funds to pay me what you are?” Dan was going to the Ferraday University of Business, and despite earning a scholarship, still had tens of thousands to pay off. Luckily he was a first year, going to college late after taking the time to earn the money for his first semester. Dan had been about to agree to a loan when he came across his help wanted ad for the pawn shop.
Dan admitted that at first he thought it must have been a joke. But then decided to take the risk since if it didn’t pan out, he could still get the loan. Now, his first installment was paid off and if he spent his paychecks wisely, would be able to afford an apartment of his own in no-time while paying his way through college. His musing brought it back around to Dan’s question.
“I won a small lottery a few months back. Still had no idea what to do with it.” He started making his own cup. “Of course, I’ve done work for a lot of people, so when this place became mine, I phoned in a few favors. Place is now stocked and I have a few guaranteed clientele who are spreading the word. As to why, well, I am never gonna go to college myself, especially now that I’ve got this place. But I’ve heard all the nightmare stories regarding tuition. So I thought, why not pay it forward? Simple as that.”
Dan gave him a look. “Sal, no offense but bullshit. No one is that altruistic. What’s the catch?”
He liked the kid. “Just your silence really. Speaking of which here.” He gave Dan a bluetooth earpiece. “I have a VI capable of scanning objects and determining their worth and any facts about them. It will relay the info through that.” Dan eyed him. Then just shrugged and put in the earpiece. “Great! Now let’s open up.” With that, Zodiac Pawn Shop opened its doors.
………………
As with all businesses, things were slow during the first week. A trickle of customers checked out the shop and thankfully, found it to their liking. The shop had everything that could reasonably fit through the front door, with little hidden treasures hidden in plain sight. Those were for the hardcore collectors out there, as each of those pieces was worth twenty thousand minimum in the current markets.
Of course, being a pawn shop, customers sold their own items and Dan got some real world experience with haggling. Codex, pretending to be a VI, acting as a crutch for him when he needed it. Then the inevitable happened the second Tuesday after they opened. A group of junkies came through the door as both he and Dan were helping customers.
“Everyone down on the ground!” The ski masks the four of them were wearing were crude, and it was clear that this was either their first robbery, or just incredibly sloppy. He held down the button underneath the counter as he slowly got on his belly. It was a direct link to Hero Hotline Radio, letting them know a robbery was in progress. He estimated a hero would get here within a few minutes, especially if the four amigos- BOOM.
“What the fuck?” Yep, Everything in the shop was behind glass capable of stopping a mid-tier strength based meta. Nothing military grade, but getting stolen goods back from the heroes and cops was a pain. Their crowbars and pistols won’t be getting past them anytime soon. “You!” Looking up he found that the one acting at the leader was pointing his pistol over the counter at him. “Open these!”
“Can’t.” He gave the crook a shrug.
“Can’t-” he cocked the hammer back on the pistol, completely meaningless since it was an auto. “-or won’t?”
“Can’t, already called the heroes.” He gave the so-called-robber a cheeky grin. “Secondary effect is the timed lock. None of the cases will open for another twenty-eight minutes or so.”
“Then what’s stopping me from blowing your brains out?!” The lead robber leaned further over to aim at his head.
“Would you rather have a few years or less with attempted robbery, or life with murder?” The look in the robber's eyes told him he hadn’t given it much thought.
“Dammit!” The robber swore and turned to his very nervous companions. “Take the wallets of-” the door banged in and in the frame was… a werewolf.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“Drop your weapons.” the beast growled at the robbers who were going through the three phases of the busted job: oh shit, nervous, and resigned. One by one each of them dropped the pistols, and police sirens could be heard from the abused door.
Thankfully, no one did anything stupid. Within a few minutes, the robbers were unmasked and herded into police cars. I was finishing up my statement along with Dan and the two other customers in the store when the werewolf changed into a more familiar form. Anthra, in a brand new costume. After dealing with Whisper, meeting Anthra was as easy as breathing.
She narrowed her eyes at him and he just quirked an eyebrow at her. “Can I help you miss…?”
“Anthra.” She looked over his shoulder at the store, so he took the time to admire her outfit. Her clothes weren’t the skin tight, revealing outfit that many female heroes wore, but that of a conservative and utilitarian. “Quite a nice place, how’d you earn the money for it?”
“Friend of my mothers left it to me,” he shrugged. “Is there something wrong?”
“Have we met?”
“I don’t think so,” he put on a thinking face. “Umm, unless you were one of the sorority members from the Science and Tech University. I cannot for the life of me remember all of them during that party.”
“You went to FSTU?”
“No, I worked as a contractor doing construction work for the sororities' patio. I entertained them enough to be let into their basement parties.” I stifled a grin at that memory. The best deflections were with truths after all. Sure enough, she had an uncomfortable look.
“Well, umm, never mind then. Sorry, you just seemed familiar for some reason.” The screech of a car stopping short had both of them looking up to see a news van in the nearest open space, the side door already open and a familiar reporter was skipping over to them.
The reporter from when I first fought Anthra… “Anthra! It’s good to see you again!” She practically tackled the smaller woman with a hug and he took the chance to step back. Dan was looking over and he just waved him back into the store. “You must be the owner!” He turned at being addressed, making sure to keep a polite distance.
“Yes I am. Sal Glenmore, pleasure to meet you.” He offered his hand, and she took it, a broad grin across her face.
“I’m Gale Stromes, newly promoted hero reporter,” she turned back to Anthra. “In no small part thanks to our interview, Anthra. Was able to bully the hell out of my boss with the amount of positive feedback! I’ve finally been cleared to do the work I want, and catching you in the act of an arrest on the first day is just providence! Let’s have an encore interview! And you Mr. Glenmore, stay right there!”
He stopped shuffling. Not expecting her to catch him wanting to go back to the store. Shit. He restrained the grimace as Gale Stromes drone was thrown up and the telltale recording lights turned on.
“Good afternoon Ferraday! This is your favorite Gale Stromes reporting from downtown! With us we have an encore interviewee,” She did a little flourish as the drone panned over to catch both Anthra and him alongside Gale. “Anthra! Tell us, what brings you here today to our busy little part of the city?”
Standing a bit taller, Anthra gave a shy little smile to the camera. “Well Gale, nothing as exciting as last time. With all the NAHA heroes working on their image, trying to stop the biggest crimes and disasters, it's us independent heroes cleaning up the petty crime closer to home.”
Ok, taking shots at NAHA, his respect for Anthra spiked hard. Although, the upgrade to her outfit pointed to having at least one sponsor or friend, which he would need to look into if she became a nuisance.
“And you Mr. Glenmore,” Gale whirled towards him. “ As a small business owner in our beloved city, how has NAHAs latest snafu and their response affected you?”
She really doesn’t pull punches. “Well, as you said, I run a small business. The only reason I have minimal damage to my store is my splurge on bullet-proof glass and HHR link.” He gave a nervous chuckle to the camera. “Puts me in the red for the next month, but it's already paid off so I’d say savings well spent.”
“How it affected me is a bit more complicated. I didn’t think my little shop would be tested less than two weeks after it opened. I did choose the slightly more expensive HHR link rather than the NAHA because of this snafu as you call it. A small town pawn shop isn’t high on their list of priorities at the moment.” This he was comfortable admitting, as a good portion of the small stores in the city had switched to the HHR over the past month. Connecting every hero, not just those affiliated with NAHA, the station had a stellar reputation despite its pricey subscription tag.
“With the big time names scouring the city for the insidious Mage Hand,” the spark in Gale's eye was honestly terrifying. “It’s wonderful that heroes outside the HHR have-” BOOOM!
An explosion rocked them as a mushroom cloud bloomed over the rooftops in the direction of the pier. “MOTHER OF-!” Gale exclaimed. “We will be cutting this interview short, there has been an incident at the pier which we will be covering shortly!”
Gale grabbed the bot out of the air as she rushed to the van. “Cris! To the pier! DOUBLETIME!” With a screech, the van blasted out into the street, making a sharp u-turn, cutting off a rival news van in the process and speeding towards the pier.
“Well,” he scratched his head. “That happened. What are- and you’re gone.” there were spiraling feathers leading up. raising his head, he saw a hawk flying towards the pier. “Could have at least said goodbye.”
Seeing as attention was swiftly changing directions, he shrugged and moved back into the shop, it wasn’t his problem after all. Dan was cleaning the glass where the would-be thief tried to smash it. Picking up the VR glasses he had dropped when the thieves burst in, he let out a sigh as Codex messaged him through the interface he usually used for appraisals.
[So, Drama Bomb decided to make an entrance and a statement. Every guy caught in the bomb thinks that the nearest female is their long-lost sister, while every gal thinks the nearest man is their stalker. Suffice to say, nothing is getting done till people regain their senses.
I’ll have to do a bit of digging if we want to figure out her goal.]
He suppressed a shiver. Spiders were one thing, but mind-fuckery was an entirely different beast. Thankfully, there was an unspoken rule regarding anyone with mental manipulation powers. Don’t. Kill. If it was found out, it would spark a Power Inquisition that both heroes and villains want to avoid.
Drama Bomb most likely placed a subliminal message to avoid any permanent damage so that the worst thing would be scratches and bruised bodies… as well as egos. Luckily, those with a strong enough willpower can shrug off effects and anyone with mental powers would barely feel a thing.
“I wonder who hired her,” Dan mumbled.
“What do you mean?” He had noticed while Dan had been working that he was smart, and had connected the dots that DB wasn’t spotted, which wasn’t her usual pattern.
“Drama Bomb has… pardon the pun, a very bombastic personality. When she does something, she makes sure to be seen doing it. Usually in an extremely over-the-top manner that few powered individuals can match. Yet, there’s no mention of her in the feed. No balloons in the shape of her face, no dance crew on top of a politician's face, nothing. Someone hired her to make a bomb.”
“Well good news Dan,” I clap him on the shoulder and give him a rye smile. “It’s nowhere near us. Which in my opinion, is the most important piece of info. If my brand-spanking new shop becomes embroiled in a super fight with heavy hitters, I’ve done something wrong.”
