a/n: I'm treating volumes one and two as different a different year from volume three, just because it feels natural, also i've really been enjoying library of ruina and ultra kill, two excellent games which i wholeheartedly recommend

September 5, 80 AGW, 5:30 AM

One of the latest mistakes I've made is with cybernetics, I chose to go for needing to be recharged with greater power over less power but never needing to recharge. When i made the decision it was the best choice, i had the entire power and wealth of Vegas in the palm of my hand and i could easily afford to keep myself powered combine that with not needing to sleep or eat, it actually reduced the daily expense i had to pay for in addition to making me more powerful than i could ever imagined. Now though things are different, nuclear power isn't a thing here and as such I have very few ways to recharge that don't involve a city wide blackout and frying my brain. Even with the power to my implants being on the lowest reasonable, still need to find a way to recharge and i can think of a few options

The first is figuring out how to tip into the city's grid, this is basically unlimited but if I go with it I won't be able to go far from a large town without a backup plan, in addition if someone figures this out the cops will be on my ass..

The second is to rely on dust, it's expensive and limited but it's a big amount of power in a small portable container. Expensive as all hell and possibly deadly if a stray round hits a crystal but guaranteed to work and portable, probably the closest I can get to nuclear.

The final is the most iffy and that's aura, apparently it's the 'manifestation of your soul' and while I still need to find a way to get mine unlocked, it could theoretically work if I found a way to convert it into energy. Probably impossible and probably a crime against nature but would be free and limitless, the most preferable but still a big if just for reasons of its possibility.

Still the cybernetics have distinct advantages most relevant for now is not needing to drink, eat, or most importantly sleep. I do still sleep, it's one time where I don't have to be alone with myself and helps conserve power but I always leave the sound recording, which can lead to some interesting revelations when you sleep in the same room as a super villain.

Cinder appears to be the leader of this gang and every night they check if I'm asleep, check the hallway, and check for bugs in the room before beginning to plot out how they're going to destroy beacon and claim some chamber underneath, even in another universe I can't help but wander ass backwards into trouble.

10:43 AM

The only way i can think of getting my aura unlocked is to find someone outside of the academy who has theirs unlocked and have them do it. Issue is that the only people who have an unlocked aura are associated with the academies or their enemies, very few are just third parties.

1:52 PM

Another issue is how few plants there are around here, i can make basically anything out of some scrap twenty bucks and a 2 foot plot of dirt but I've not got any space for plants. the closest thing to a plot ,the window baskets, are already being used for flowers by the staph and i don't think they want me growing broc flowers in the rose garden.

3:30 PM

Out of class and time to hit the town for some materials, the only question is who has dust and electronic parts used to generate power from it. The only people I can think of are the government or maybe the crooks executing these robberies I've been hearing about, and I feel like robbing the government is a bad idea.

If i'm going to be robbing a gang of crooks I need to know where they are and what they have in terms of security there. The second comes from the first and the best place to find crooks is to go where they are, shady bars with dubious at best clientele then just start asking questions and pray you don't ask someone who will try to kill you.

5 PM

This is a hell hole I've checked three bars as shady as i could find and none of them had anything on the dust robberies, finally i decided to just walk down a couple shady alleys and ask the most normal looking homeless man where i can find a drink in this town, five bucks later he pointed me to "the last chance" as shady a bar as there ever was.

Good news is that I look 23 and am 27 so I can get into bars like any normal adult, bad news is that this place looks like if the gammora fucked the ultra-lux, it's clean and tidy but its all colors and loud music. Just grab a simple bottom shelf drink and sit at the back of the club looking for people who stand out, in my experience people who stand out in bars are either important, crazy, or both.

Three people stand out and bad news is that they're all clustered together, a small chick with multi colored hair, probably dyed like the guy she seems to be with, some smug looking bastard in a suit and bowler hat holding a cane. Finally the proprietor of this establishment or at least his muscle, some jacked dude with a bat and in a lovely vest, looks similar to mine just three times as big.

The three are conducting some sort of business just that the music is making it impossible to tell what they're saying at this distance, I'll probably just have to wait for them to split and try to talk to them individually.

5:13 pm

Finally they split up, red and chick go one way and vest goes another, red and chick sit at the bar, time to roll. Hit the 'drunk at the bar' setting,(more useful than you would think) and kind of stumble over there and sit down a bit away from them, ask the barkeep for a drink and listen.

"Yes i know its a risk but with the dust the boss is demanding it's gonna have to happen"

"Yes i know that it's more obvious, that's kind of necessary though we don't have the manpower to hide it properly"

I glance over and the chick has a chalkboard with writing on it, it seems that she's either mute or has a sore throat, but mute seems more likely from the handwriting. Slide over a chair, tap the dude on the shoulder, slip the 'scroll' out of his pocket and hit him with "i heard that you fellas need help hiding something".

"Well yes but do you really think you're skilled enough to help us, we have very high standards" yep, unbearably smug.

I reach into my pocket and hand him his scroll "yes I do and if you give me a chance I can prove that I'm worth every penny i charge"

"So you can pick a pocket, I don't see much proof that you can fill a role that we don't already have filled" yea should have suspected this, nothings ever that easy and no one's trusts the guy that just picked their pocket

"Then let me see that scroll again, I can crack into it in less than a minute" at least if its anything like the governments records database

He hands it over with a smirk, probably has some powerful encryption on this shit but i would at least try, pop into it and start fishing for the password, 13 letters and 2 words hard but nothing i haven't done before. 49 seconds and 17 tries later I got it, for some reason he had it as Melodic Cudgel but who am I to judge, mine was just the day I got shot in the head.

"Easy, didn't even break a sweat" dude looks surprised for the first time in the 15 minutes I've been in the same room as him.

"Impressive you actually have unique skills, what's your name and rate"

"Just call me Daniel and if you are who I think you are then cut off the dust we steal."

"Deal welcome to the team Daniel my name is roman and this is neo, lovely to make your acquaintance."