Sell you a Bridge

by MalcolmTent6730

Have you ever gotten an email telling you you've won a free cruise? Or one for a work out that will get you ripped in ten days? Wouldn't it be crazy if those offers were legit? Well for Morgan O'Malley they can be. Spam becomes real life when his meta powers finally manifest. Hopefully the perks of the super life aren't false advertising.

2. Chapter 2

When we got up to the roof Artemis sat down on one of the milk crates and just looked at me skeptically. "A ninja? Seriously?" She was less impressed than I expected, but I still had some tricks up my sleeves to show off my skills. She seemed more bored than disbelieving though, like she knew tons of ninjas. "I mean, you could have learned normal martial arts or even magic if you wanted to go that way and you learned how to what, throw sharp stuff and hide in a corner?"

I scowled at that, feeling oddly defensive about my choice in how to use my own ability "Hey! I don't hide in a corner. I vanish into the shadows. Besides I'm a master at throwing shuriken now. I bet my aim is even better than yours is with that bow of yours." I buffed my nails against my shirt and arched an eyebrow at her in challenge. The resulting scowl was more extreme than I had expected. She clearly really did not like being challenged on her archery skills.

Her tone was arch as she stalked over to one side of the roof to start setting up targets shooting back over her shoulder
"Oh that's it. You're going down moneybags. Fine then, since you're so confident, it just so happens that I have some shuriken downstairs. I'm going to go get them and my bow and we're going to have a little contest. If I win you have to take me shopping." She completely glossed over the fact that she just happened to have shuriken lying around her house, and I felt it best not to ask about it.

There was one other glaring flaw in her little competition though "You seem pretty confident. But you're ignoring a crucial detail. What if I win?" I was pretty confident, I was a master of shuriken now. Limited as that single weapon mastery may be it was mastery nonetheless. I knew Artemis was a genius with the bow but I was pretty sure I could beat her. Plus if not buying clothes or weapons or whatever for a pretty girl wasn't the end of the world.

Artemis turned around, already heading for the fire escape to go get the shuriken but she paused. She looked pretty stumped. "I don't really know? What do you want?" Her eyes narrowed in warning "And in case you were going to ask I'm not going to suck your dick or anything. Regardless of how much fun a shopping spree would be I'm not that easy." I tried not to focus on the slight hesitation before she made that condition and just considered what I wanted.

I had to address one thing though "I wasn't going to ask you to blow me for losing a bet. We're friends. Not that you should take that to mean I wouldn't definitely have sex with you, but I wouldn't leverage you into it like that. That's skeezy. No, if I win...I want you to make me lunch on school days and feed it to me by hand in front of everyone. It has to be decent food and you can't rush it." I figured a bit of teasing would be something she could handle.

Her suspicious face actually split into a grin "Humiliation huh? Not bad, I didn't know you had it in you. Having to hand feed you in front of the whole student body is pretty much a nightmare. Fine, but I want a limit of at least ten grand on that shopping trip. Deal?" I shot her a grin and nodded and she headed down the fire escape to go grab her bow and arrows and the shuriken I was going to be using for this. I wondered what other weapons she had down there, I had a sneaking suspicion it was not a small number.

She was back within a few minutes and she tossed me a small black pouch that was a bit heavier than it looked. I opened the thing up to find a set of fairly well worn but excellently maintained shuriken. I paused for a moment at that thought, apparently I now knew how to maintain shuriken, which I suppose made sense what with the whole mastery thing. Regardless though these things were properly sharpened to a razors edge and would work perfectly for my purposes.

Artemis meanwhile had a dark green recurve bow. It looked worn from use much like the shuriken but equally well cared for, and the quiver on her back was made of excellent leather and bristling with arrows. Artemis was testing the string as she sighted on the makeshift targets on the other side of the roof. I knew enough about archery from school to know that you only kept a recurve strung like that if you used it regularly, so she was obviously in practice.

The targets were basic stuff, empy milk jugs and soda bottles she had placed at different elevations and at odd angles to make them more of a challenge to hit. Artemis drew an arrow from her quiver and checked to make sure the shaft was straight before stringing the arrow and drawing. The motion was smooth and quick, and expert three finger grip with one above the arrow and two below on the string and I could see the play of the muscles in her back as she pulled the string.

I tried not notice the way her archery stance tightened her ass in those tiny shorts but luckily she was entirely focused on the target clearly having decided to go first. She held the strong for a few seconds and then between breaths she released. Before the arrow was even a foot from the bow she had drawn and knocked another one firing off ten shots rapid fire and nailing ten different targets with about as much suspense as flipping a trick coin with two heads.

I heard a series of thunks as the arrows all found their marks and the fire rate was so fast it sounded like fucking rain pattering down. I wasn't looking at her ass anymore, I was gaping at the obvious mastery of the bow she had shown off. I'd seen her shoot at school sure, but it was always single shots at big stuffed targets down a small range. This was...like olympic level shit. It was a good thing I was confident in my powers or there was no chance in hell I would be able to avoid that shopping spree.

Not that I definitely would even with the master level skills, Artemis was a certified badass, I might still lose but at least it should be close. Still Artemis was a fifteen year old girl, being able to learn that kind of skill through actual training instead of cheating like I did was crazy. I couldn't help but let out a low whistle at the display. "That was pretty nuts, I have to admit. I can't say for sure I'm going to be able to top that, but I'm sure going to try."

She rolled her eyes at my bravado "Big talk, go ahead and show me what you've got moneybags." She gestured grandly at the wall of the storage shed on the roof that she had pinned the targets against within only a bit less than a single breath of time. " Even if you're a master of shuriken now you won't be able to do much better than that, I hit every target perfectly. The best you can do is tie with me, and I don't believe we set and draw conditions."

She sounded smug about that but she had missed one crucial point. My shuriken mastery came from a fictional style of ninjutsu that included crazy things like walking on walls and vanishing into shadows. Even the parts that didn't require me to use my points were still crazy compared to normal human beings. I opened up the pouch, feeling the rough untanned leather whisper against the razor thin shards of metal inside. The pouch was folded over itself five times and each side had the room for four shuriken. All in all there was twenty of the things. I withdrew enough of them that I could hold them between each finger and tested the weight.

It was a strange feeling, knowing something somehow but never having learned it. I understood every subtle nuance of the shuriken just by picking them up and I knew the exact arc they would travel when I threw them. This mastery thing was the real deal, and I couldn't wait for more of the ninja stuff I would be learning. I lashed out with one hand, four of the deadly metal stars whirling out into the air and then my second hand came up even faster and threw the other four with twice the speed.

The second group hit the first group changing their trajectory and deflecting off them to sink into a different set of targets than they had been aimed at, the second group meanwhile had been deflected directly into the original targets of the first group. I drew eight more and did the same trick again. Much like Artemis my shots had all been perfectly aimed, but I'd added an extra layer of showing off she hadn't.

As expected she knew that I'd won and was scowling at me. "That's so fucking cheap. You just watched a video! But fine, a deal is a deal. I'll make you lunches on school days and..." She scrunched up her face like she'd bitten into a lemon "Hand feed you in the cafeteria in front of everyone." She raised a finger at me in warning "But don't you dare use that stupid power of yours to learn archery. I WILL kick your ass if you do."

I threw my hands up in supplication "Whoa, don't shoot. I won't learn archery, I promise." I decided mentioning that archery seemed kind of pointless in the modern world when I could just take a thirty day sniper seminar or something was needlessly combative. But I did mean what I said, I had zero intentions of learning her craft. "Anyway with that out of the way what do you want to do? We could train again but even if my body feels better I don't think I'd learn as much if I don't take breaks."

She gave a grudging nod, clearly having hoped to kick my ass a little to air her grievances for losing on her home turf. "Yeah, you aren't wrong." She looked pensively at me. "Well maybe we can go get you some gear. Not necessarily a costume or anything if you weren't looking to get into that life, but your own set of shuriken would be helpful." She left me to think about it as she walked over to start pulling out the arrows and shuriken.

The broadheads she'd been using had stuck pretty deep into the targets so it took her a minute to work them all free, but it was clear she had plenty of practice doing just that. As for the shuriken before she could even try I was there, my mastery included retrieving the weapons so I was less likely to cut myself on the razor sharp metal. She shrugged and let me get the weapons out and put them back in the pouch which I handed back to her.

She ran downstairs to put the weapons away and change before returning to the roof in jeans and a t-shirt under a beat up grey hoodie. She looked excited to go "Alright so, weapons for you, I think our best bet would be the Narrows. You can get anything down there if you know where to look. Teague's is one of the best places to get metal weapons, the only still active Blacksmith in Gotham. Plus we can pick you up a sword. No way that won't be covered in your ninja lessons." I had to grin at that. She was speaking my language.

The Narrows were pretty awful, obviously. People call Gotham a sewer and a living hell but the Narrows is one of the few places where I could see what they meant. The Narrows wasn't...a normal neighborhood. It reminded me of those castles kids made in preschool out of the different colored cardboard bricks. Except instead of bricks the place was made of buildings. Whenever something burned partway down or rotted away they just tore out the broken layer and added a new one. Floor's made of brick sat on top of cinder block levels with wooden shingled levels on top of those.

It looked like someone had chopped up a bunch of buildings and pasted them back together all mixed up, except even worse because the upper layers were fixed on with wooden beams and held up with the construction equivalent of spit and glue. The only reason the Narrows even stayed together were that buildings were packed in so tight that the slapdash architects were able to stick beams between them so they could hold each other up. The streets were so tight two people could barely walk with their arms outstretched between buildings, which was where the name came from.

I expected to be hassled or menaced as we slipped down the street towards the shop Artemis was taking me to, but surprisingly no one in the Narrows bothered with anyone else. From the way people talked about this place it had sounded like you could get knifed in the kidney if you blinked too long, but mostly people were just in a hurry. Artemis saw my look and smirked leaning in to speak into my ear so I could hear her over the very packed street. "I know what you're thinking, it's not as bad as you expected right?" She waited for my nod and laughed "This is main, there are places around the edges of the Narrows where even hardened criminals won't go."

That did make sense, there was bound to be some more hospitable parts of this place and Artemis knew it well enough to bring me here to shop. I leaned in the same way she had, speaking normally since she wouldn't hear a whisper and a yell would have attracted attention. "So how do you know this place so well anyway? Is this where you got your bow?" Artemis tended to avoid talking about herself when possible, but she knew enough about me that I felt justified asking some easy non invasive questions. I figured just asking about her weapon was safe enough.

She actually flinched slightly when I said it, giving me a long struggling look, like she was deciding what to say before she nodded to herself, seeming to make up her mind. "My dad brought me. He took my sister on her thirteenth birthday and then came back with me on mine. My mom came with us too. That was...before. I've been back a few times since. Mostly on my own." She stopped, looking conflicted but eventually continued "My dad is...not a nice guy. Which I'm sure you figured out from the constant air of barely restrained violence that hangs around him. He's very...demanding."

It explained plenty of things about her skills, she didn't say criminal, but considering where we were I'd have to be a moron not to assume. Since she shared with me though I decided to share with her. She knew about my powers anyway. I leaned in a bit closer than before so I could lower my voice enough no one would overhear by accident. "My dad is Mario Falcone." Her head jerked back, her eyes widening with shock. I just nodded, returning to a more normal tone of voice, and shot her a wry smile. "So I know a bit about not so nice fathers. Not as much as you obviously, mine didn't stick around. But I kind of feel you there."

The stare she gave me was halfway between outrage and hope, with a bit of relief thrown in. I understood. I'd spent so much of my life not mentioning anything about him to anyone that getting it off my chest was a huge relief. I felt like a weight I'd never known was there had been lifted off of me. She bit her lip, exhaling sharply while still looking forward towards our destination. When she leaned in this time she kept her voice as low as mine had been and spoke a single word. "Sportsmaster." My eyebrows went up but she didn't say more, clearly having had trouble even revealing that.

I could respect the strength it took to admit that. In a lot of ways she would be much more of a target than I was. The Falcone's had been in Gotham as long as the Wayne's they had roots here. If someone found out who I was and killed me, dad would murder everyone he knew. Hell he would have to, you don't spill Falcone blood and get away with it. Artemis didn't have that. Sportsmaster might get offended and come after whoever killed her but he was just one guy. Being outed as his daughter was more likely to cause her murder than prevent it.

Finally we made it to one particularly unstable looking building. Each successive floor seemed to be wider than the one beneath it, creating a sort of inverted steppe pyramid though not quite as drastic a difference in the floor sizes. The door on the bottom was plate steel and was set into a wall made of thick heavy stone, like a castle or something. No wonder the lower levels didn't collapse with a foundation like that. Artemis, seeming glad to be done talking and obviously having confided in me enough for today started banging on the door in an odd rhythm. Three quick taps, two slow, four fast, five with a beat in between.

After the knock she waited in silence, not looking at me or speaking at all, I was about to ask what we were supposed to do when I heard a metallic groan and a loud clank from the other side of the door. The steel slab swung slowly open noiselessly to reveal a massive bear of a man. The man in the doorway had long flowing red hair and a huge bushy red beard speckled with the occasional burnt hair or bit of soot. It would have made most people look crazy or homeless but it just made him look...fiery.

He spotted Artemis and a big smile full of bright white teeth split his bearded face. "Well if it isn't my favorite little goddess of the hunt!" His voice was accented with a light but melodic Scottish brogue. "Did you outgrow your new bow already? You seem taller but I can hardly believe you grew that fast!" He flicked an appraising eye over me "Or perhaps you're here to buy some armor for your new boy toy?" His derisive tone made it clear I had come up lacking, clearly having decided I looked soft or weak. I wanted to protest but honestly compared to someone like Artemis he had kind of a point.

Hopefully not for much longer of course, Artemis was my only and therefore best friend. I didn't want her to have to deal with her criminal asshat dad on her own. Getting stronger to help take some of the pressure off her was my new motivation. She'd already been there for me more than anyone else besides my mom ever had. I was going to repay her ten fold for that loyalty. Which started with making the most of the few abilities I had or was going to have. I needed a sword and a set of shuriken, the best money could buy. I was a better shot than even Artemis was and that was just the beginning of my abilities.

The loyalty I felt for my friend was cemented even further when she stuck up for me to this behemoth "He's cool Teague. He's a friend. We were hoping to take a look at your special catalog. Not the top tier stuff of course, but some of the more high end merchandise." Her tone was businesslike and calm but she was very obviously making a point of movie the conversation past the issue of my...what? Qualifications? First impression? Whatever it was, Artemis said I was cool so I was cool apparently. Teague let out a booming bark of laughter and stepped back to let us in.

He slapped my back as I walked past, very nearly sending me sprawling "Sorry about that lad. Artemis is a smart girl but that da of hers is always nattering on with his nonsense, I live in fear that he'll fill her head with his stupidity and she'll get mixed up with more of his sort. If she says you're good people though that's enough for me." Artemis's grin was wider than I'd ever seen it, clearly she didn't get to hear people talk shit about her dad very often, but the blacksmith clearly had no compunctions about doing just that. I got the feeling Teague was the kind of person with whom wise men did not fuck.

He brought us into a stone room with red rugs across the floor in aisles. The walls were lined with glass fronted store counters and there were lanterns hanging from hooks spreading a dim luminescence across the displays. The low lighting caught the metal just the right way and it made the whole room sparkle like a treasure box. Teague saw my wide eyes as I took in the room and gave another laugh and a second crushing slap on the back. " A discerning eye I see. Aye boy, this is the finest collection of steel and more...exotic things in all of Gotham." He grinned and walked behind the counter, taking out a few boxes and setting them on the glass top.

The boxes were dark, polished wood and as he set them down he opened them, revealing gleaming weapons on beds of soft velvet. He gestured to a few pieces, knives and knuckles and various other hand held weapons. "These are the high end products like you asked. I kept the truly staggering pieces tucked away, you couldn't afford them in any case." He noticed my frown at that and laughed "Don't believe me? I'm one of the few blacksmith's on the planet that can properly work depleted Prometheum. A single throwing knife the length of your hand made of that stuff goes up to eight figures."

I was floored. I thought a million dollars was a lot of money but clearly I was swimming in a completely different pool now. I searched through the boxes and pointed out a box with about ten shuriken fanned out on a bed of blue velvet. "What about those?" They were oddly shimmery, like they were made of quicksilver, but they were still solid. They had caught my attention even over all the other beautiful weapons not only because they were some of the only throwing stars on display but because of their reflective sheen.

Teague nodded approvingly. "Good taste, those are made of an alloy of durasteel and palladium. They're light as a feather and deadly sharp. It isn't going to put a nick on some of the more durable metas but it'll shear through a foot of plate steel without much trouble and holds and edge damn near forever. Normally they would be among my pricier products but for Artemis I'll let them go for ten thousand a piece." I tried not to wince at spending a hundred grand on a small box of sharp metal things I was going to throw at people but I must have shown my hesitation.

Contrary to my assumptions Teague wasn't offended by my hesitance to spend so much. If anything he seemed delighted. "Ah, I see you aren't convinced lad. Fair enough it is a pretty penny to spend on such compact goods, especially for the uninitated. So tell you what. Why not try them out first, see if you like them?" I must have appeared confused by that because he roared with laughter and gestured to a door set off to the side. "We have a target range in the back. You can see how they feel in your hand." His smile was challenging as he raised a bushy red eyebrow. "So how about it boy? Want to show me what you've got?"

As we walked through the door into the back room it was like entering another world. The vibe in the front of the shop was very old world, like a weapon shop in the medieval era. This new section was very different in terms of theme, looking more steam punk or factory chic in design. Despite that it was obviously top of the line and incredibly pricey in terms of construction, I wasn't sure if Teague had made the back room himself or commissioned it but whoever constructed it had done an excellent job.

The target practice range in the back of the shop was...extensive. For one thing it wasn't a single floor, it was easily fifty feet high, clearly taking up multiple floors of the odd inverted pyramid-like building. Every single inch of the place was covered with training tools. There were long chains hanging from above, dangling out of the darkness like strands of web from some giant metal spider and each chain was hanging to a different length. The targets hanging off them spun and twirled freely making them even harder to hit. As we entered Teague hit a button and the chains began to move and swing retracting and extending as they moved.

Artemis had an excited gleam in her eye as she turned to shoot me a challenging smirk "Well? What do you think moneybags? Not bad right? This is where Teague sees what kind of tricks you have up your sleeves. He checks if the weapons are right for you and if they aren't he finds another one. I've even heard of him taking on custom designs if nothing in the store quite fits your style." She gestured grandly at the whirling cavalcade of shifting metal mania. "So, show him what you can do. Call your shot before you throw."

I decided not to try any of the crazy ricochet shots this time. Partly because of all the crazy motion and partly because I didn't own these yet and if I somehow fucked them up by slamming them into each other I'd have to pay for them whether I liked them or not. I picked a remote spinning target on the other side of the room and focused on the bullseye. There was a red letter and a red number printed on it so I could call the shot and I called "B7" and threw. I had to lead the shot and take all the motion into account and even my ninja skills weren't enough to compensate for all that the first time I tried. It got stuck in a target that swung into the path of my shot and stopped dead.

I cursed at the mistake but Artemis whistled. "Not bad. Only a few feet off on your first try." I must have shown my distaste for the miss on my face because she slugged me in the arm with a laugh. "Cool it Morgan, no one makes it first try. The patterns are randomized, every time you come in here you have to get acclimated to the movements. Even I don't make the first shot of a new session and I have the high score for archery." Anticipating my next question she held up a hand "And before you ask Teague rents this place out for weapons testing. Not just his own stuff you can use it to test pretty much anything for the right price."

While that was interesting I mostly ignored the last bit in favor of the first. If everyone missed then I still had a chance to make a good impression. I didn't know how this had turned from me being convinced to buy expensive weapons to some kind of test from the weaponsmith but I sure as hell wasn't going to lose. I could do three things with my new ninja training and I was going to prove they were valuable damn it. Artemis was a total badass and if I was going to have her back I had to be just as amazing. I was getting stronger from the powder but I needed the skills to match the muscle.

I let loose a second star, doing my best to not only lead the target and match the speed of the movement but predict a clear shot. I actually managed to hit this one, but I only caught the edge. I kind of wished my ninja skills all had the option to use points instead of certain ones having set costs but it was fine. I was a master, I just had to remind myself of that fact with a bit of practice to get used to my skills. I had been aiming for B7 again but this time I called a slightly closer shot "C8" This shot was much more on the ball and I actually hit the bullseye.

Unfortunately in order to get the hit I'd banked it off one of the chains and the shuriken were just as sharp as described. There was a loud crash as the one with the partly severed chain gave way and dropped to the floor with a crash. Despite that Artemis slapped me on the back "Dead center on the third try! Hell yeah, not a record but pretty close. You want to try again or take it up to level two?" She sounded energized by the game and I found that I was pretty pumped myself.

My heart was pounding in my chest and I was bouncing on my toes with excess energy as I nodded my head. "Hell yeah, level two, lets see it!" I was ready for anything, I was just getting the hang of this course and if random criminals could get it so could I! However after Teague pulled another lever I realized I had neglected to remember something. A lot of the people who came her were metas with powers specifically designed for things like this. The enhanced speed and randomness transformed a difficult task into a nearly impossible trial.

I decided to give the new level a try since I'd literally asked for it and the worst that could happen was that I failed. I tried another bank shot first. Sadly the crazy whipping around of the chains was on a whole different level, a flickering chain actually batted the shuriken away rather than it bouncing off. I shook my head, I had no way of making the shot here. I wrapped up the bundle and handed it to Teague. "I'll take them." Despite my ability to keep up with the crazy training system here these things were sharp as hell and would be damn useful. I promised myself I would keep training and get better with them, I clearly hadn't reached the peak of the skill.

Teague smiled respectfully "Smart boy. Not many men can admit their limits. That level isn't for people with human level senses or reflexes. Still being able to hit the target on level one marks you as among the best in world of normal humans." He leaned over and pulled a lever. The motion died down and all the targets stopped. Then Teague whistled and a shape came blurring from the darkness leaping up towards the targets. I raised an eyebrow when I realized it was a dog. The dog landed one one of the targets I'd hit leaning down to carefully pull the shuriken free with it's teeth.

The dog hopped from target to target, dropping the throwing stars from each one on the ground, as I walked over to start picking them up I heard Artemis squeal "Barnabas!" She ran over to where I was heading, I thought to help but the dog just leapt down from the last target to land in her arms. She started nuzzling the cute little thing, which looked like an Australian shepherd mix. She laughed delightedly as he started licking her face. Once I finished picking up the shuriken I walked over to the pair. She noticed me and looked up from being licked by the apparently supernaturally amazing dog. "So you're gonna take them?"

I snickered at her, laughing at the ridiculous picture of Artemis with her arms full of dog and face covered in slobber. I glanced over at Teague "Cute dog. That was a crazy high jump I'm impressed. I'll take the stars. I was also thinking of getting a sword, do you have any tanto?" I knew from reading when I was younger that ninja had preferred smaller weapons, katana and wakizashi were larger blades, the smallest blade you see in a traditional set of three swords was more their speed, the japanese version of a short sword or combat knife. I turned back to where Artemis was to pet the puppy "And yeah looks like, can you introduce me to this pretty boy?"

I almost literally fell over when the dog raised his head, opened his mouth and said "Hello I'm Barnabas. I appreciate the compliment, I do feel pretty most of the time. My fur is very soft." I froze in shock but the dog lowered his head, leaning out of Artemis's gasp towards me. "You may pet me if you wish to feel it. You were very polite even when you thought I was just a normal canine, which speaks well of you. And thank you for noticing how high my jump was, I train on the obstacle course daily to keep my stamina up."

I just stood there in shock for a minute, but Barnabas was patient, so I reached up and began to pet the dog. I had a superpower now and had seen some interesting things but this was...I never expected to meet a talking dog. Artemis didn't seem shocked, which made sense since she'd been coming here for years. Barnabas was indeed incredibly soft and as I scratched behind his ears he leaned into my hand forcing Artemis to readjust. I came to my senses after that "It's nice to meet you Barnabas and no problem the compliments were well deserved."

Teague was chuckling at my obvious shock but took pity on me speaking up to draw my attention back to him "To answer your question yes I can get you a tanto. I actually have a full set of swords made to go with those shuriken out of the same metal. I'll wrap up all three of them" He gave the dog a long glance. "You can have them free of purchase. You only need to pay for the shuriken." I clearly wasn't the only one surprised by that, Artemis looked flabbergasted. Teague just smiled at our shock "Barnabas is an excellent judge of character, he usually doesn't talk in front of newbies. There must be something special about you."

The big man gave a mysterious smile and turned to walk back into the main part of the shop to get the swords. I looked at Artemis who carried the dog closer to me with a shrug. "Never seen him give anyone anything as long as I've been here. But he isn't wrong, Barnabas usually doesn't talk to first timers. I didn't hear him speak for a year after I first started coming here, and I used to come back all the time. Teague let's me use the training room whenever I want because I'm his favorite." She gave a proud smile and then glanced at the dog inquiringly "You know why he would give away free weapons Barnabas?"

The dog licked her face again before responding "I suspect he noticed what I did. Your friend there reminds me a bit of his youngest sister, Del. They've always been very close. I was actually her dog for a while and you remind me of her somehow. I couldn't say how." He gave a roll of his head that somehow came across as the doggy equivalent of a shrug. "Anyway, he's going to be gone for a while getting those ready. In the meantime you may scratch behind the ear again, you have a knack for finding the right spot." I couldn't help but laugh at that and went back to petting the talking dog.

The next morning I woke up sore. Luckily I had my handy dandy muscle powder. But I felt...strange. I'd been so tired I went right to bed when I got home. We'd stayed at Teague's all day, Artemis and I trading tips on ranged attacks and weapons and trying out various levels of the training ground. I never managed a level two shot, and I couldn't do the obstacle course Barnabas mentioned even on level one. Despite having muscles I wasn't conditioned at all. Turns out muscle powder works like anaerobic exercise, which was highly unfortunate because it meant my lung capacity and cardio was still pretty terrible.

Speaking of muscle powder I had my morning shake, bit more definition not much size, I wasn't actually cut yet but I was getting there. I had the beginnings of a six pack now. I'd done my ninja training, which for today had been entirely based on balance and was most likely going to be useful as hell. But none of that explained the strangeness. I closed my eyes, focusing on the odd fullness in my body and suddenly I could see something. Floating behind my eyelids was a big red number twelve. Which was when I got it. My points, I hadn't used them yesterday and the energy kept building until it reached my max and kept going.

My powers were adapting to the way I saw them, which was weird, but useful. I decided not to question it. I had twelve points, time to see what I could do with them. I booted up my computer to flip through my emails and check what I could do. I had dozens of spam emails available, but there was another change, next to the name of each email there was a number. Any email with a number higher than twelve was written in red. I furrowed my brows. Was this a change from learning a skill that used my powers as fuel? Some of the crazy emails had absurdly high numbers, and some useful looking ones were a bit low.

After a bit of deduction I figured out a few basic things. Like I'd seen before the categories were, items, skills and abilities, and actual changes to reality. Items were pretty low cost mostly, stuff like the muscle powder or pills to make your dick bigger was usually between two and ten points. Stuff like super soldier formulas and mad science items were much more expensive with the latter going as high as a hundred points which would take about ten days of no points use at all to manage, and the former sometimes reaching into the thousands.

Skills had a wider range, anything that seemed natural or mostly natural like my ninja stuff was between five and twenty. I was guessing since any special skills in the ninja lessons were minimal tricks that only used a point or two they kept the price down. On the higher end of skills there were things like superpowers and magic, like with the crazy over the top stuff there being superman level strength and flash level speed or incredibly strong magical powers. Some of the magic skills were surprisingly low cost but they were all incredibly specific. Rituals or potions or tantric magic. I put a pin in those.

Finally there was the third category. Changes to reality. Most of the emails I'd had before were money stuff, which was usually pretty low cost, five to ten. I saw a few emails from a prince of some country that required me to send money to him and he would wire me back a massive profit, those I was surprised to see were around a hundred. I suspect that the act of actually creating a new prince in a country was a huge strain on reality or something. Whatever the case those were the cheap ones, things like good luck and creating a business to rival LuthorCorp were even higher.

I took out my notebook and compared the estimates I'd made when I discovered points to what was on the screen. I realized that some were on the nose but some of my estimates were woefully off. Looking at the screen I only had one thought. Thank god I had started slow and gotten lucky. I somehow knew if I'd tried to use my powers on one of these thousand point emails I would have been sucked dry of all my energy. I briefly wondered how the hell this had happened, but thinking back it was probably when I decided to make the point system.

My power could affect reality which meant it could probably affect itself. I was up to twelve points but it was around noon. I figured I should have more if I got ten a day. Since I was three points down I suspected it had used points to correct itself, It didn't appear to count toward my one email a day limit but I had no clue how I'd done it and doubted I'd figure it out soon. I debated turning my computer off and letting my points build up so I could get something amazing, but I had something pressing I had been wanting to look into. Housing. I wanted a new place to live stat.

I skimmed through all the emails that mentioned real estate. Most were training courses on how to start a lucrative real estate business. Oddly the point values differed. Some of them were like three or four points, some of them were dozens. Most likely the more effective ones were pricier. I scrolled past those to listings for roommates. Most of them were ads claiming to be horny teen girls who wanted a big strong man in the house, those were interesting but I lived with my mother so it mostly sounded awkward. I wavered slightly on the email about the sorority house that needed a man around to help them "relax" but finally moved on.

It took about twenty minutes but I finally found one that worked. An email advertisement for a starter home in an up and coming condo development. The email claimed that they were selling the first ten homes for the low low price of fifty thousand dollars with no hidden fees. Moreover it insisted the deal would only be valid today and that tomorrow the homes would return to the normal prices which started at upwards of four million. The reason this one caught my eye was the part where it said the first ten homes. It had a yellow green number eight next to the email header, well within my range, so I clicked the link to take me to the site.

As per usual the email vanished. I'd focused hard on buying two of the homes and I wasn't sure if it worked, but when the doorbell rang and I walked outside to check the mat I saw two envelopes instead of one sitting there. I picked them up happily walking back inside. Curious about how the transaction worked since the email had said I would be charged I rifled through the first envelope. I saw several documents, deeds, insurance papers and even a key, I finally found the invoice tucked neatly into a signed housing contract with my name written in my own sloppy signature.

The invoice said that I had paid via wire transfer and listed a bank account from...GNB. I opened my online banking account and sure enough I was missing a hundred grand plus in my account. A hundred from the condos and some extra for the weapons from Teague's. I dropped one envelop on the table since mom wouldn't be home for a while and took the second one with me up to see Artemis. I'd specifically found this email so we could both have a better place to live. She was my only friend and she knew my secret, of course I wanted her to come with me out of this shithole.

I considered multiple avenues of approach here, but I finally decided to just tell her. She knew her family best she would know how to convince her parents. Or at least her mother. I doubted Mr. Crock would turn down a free highrise condo. The building in the picture was right along the edge of the river across from Metropolis. Though with enough distance from the bridge that they swore there was no danger living there. Which of course was true. Because I'd made it true. Safest place in town.

I knocked on the door and when Artemis answered I asked her to come up to the roof. She agreed of course and we headed up to sit on our usual milk crates. When we sat down I told her about the developments in my powers and then about me moving and using an email to get condos in a better part of town. Her face grew remote and her jaw clenched but she forced a smile. "That's great moneybags. I'm happy for you. You deserve better than this place. Guess this is the beginning of your rise to glory huh? Come by to visit sometime. I'll miss seeing you around. I know we just started hanging out but it was kind of nice to have a friend."

Her voice was tight and a bit angry, but at the end it just became a bit sad. I just shook my head. "You weren't paying attention. I said I used my power to get CONDOS. As in two of them." I handed her the envelope with the papers and key. "Fully paid off. Only cost fifty grand, god I love my powers. It's on the nineteenth floor, right next door to mine. We would be neighbors." I grinned broadly at her. I expected her to be happy, but she mainly just looked a bit suspicious. I raised an eyebrow. "Unless you don't want it? I thought you'd be happy."

Her face was conflicted, like she wanted to be happy but couldn't bring herself to do it. "I can't take this Morgan." When I opened my mouth she shook her head. "No, I get it. You want me around, you have a crush, we're friends and you think I'm nice to look at. But I'm not going to be your kept woman. I like spending time with you, but if I let you buy me a house it's going to change our whole dynamic. I'd feel pressured to do what you want. I don't think you would use it to manipulate me, not on purpose, but there's a certain level of obligation that comes with stuff like this. There's strings, even if you don't want there to be."

I shook my head. "You're wrong. This isn't charity, or me being a horny idiot. My mom has been the only person I've had to count on for my whole life. When I told you about this it's because I was scared and alone and i didn't know what to do. I needed a friend, any friend, I needed someone to make me feel like I wasn't a crazy idiot having a breakdown or some future victim for a super criminal to use like a weapon. You helped me. You trained me. You kept me alive. I owe you more than any number of condos could repay"

She tried to speak but I cut her off "And I'm not even done. I still need you. I can't imagine doing any of this without you around. Without you to help guide me and take me places like Teague's and show me how to navigate the world I find myself in now. So you want strings? Fine. Help me survive. Be my friend and tell me when I'm about to do something stupid. Kick my ass until I know what I'm doing and keep me safe until then. Be my partner, hell be my bodyguard if it makes you feel better. Just be there. Please?"

She must have seen the desperation in my eyes, have sensed how out of my depth I was. This power thing was cool and fun but I wasn't an idiot. The reason I latched on to Artemis was because she was the only person I felt like I could even begin to trust and I needed help. I had no clue what I was doing and I was going to get myself killed. Seeing all that in my eyes Artemis sighed and rolled her eyes. She looked at the envelope and then nodded. "Fine. You'd be lost without me anyway. Now I just have to figure out a way to explain this to my mom." I winced. That made two of us.

We decided to tell our mothers together. Honestly any way we tried to explain two teenagers getting their hands on high rise condos would sound like a lie, the only real way we would be able to manage to convince them was to back each other up. Mrs. Crock didn't know about my old man's business interests and mom didn't know about Mr. Crock's nighttime activities so neither would think the other's child would be mixed up in anything shady.

We spent most of the rest of the morning trying to come up with a rational explanation for how it had happened, until finally deciding there wasn't one. Nothing we could say would make this turn of events make sense, so we wouldn't try. We would just claim we won a contest and as long as we stuck to our story they wouldn't have a reason to disbelieve us. Mom would call dad, and once he told her he hadn't done it and pointed out he didn't even know Artemis or her Mom, she would have to believe it.

As for Mrs. Crock she thought of me as a good kid, she wouldn't expect me to be mixed up with Lawrence's nonsense and would know Artemis wouldn't drag me into that. It also had to be stated that neither woman actually LIKED living in this dingy old tenement and probably wouldn't really fight too hard against the idea if given a reason to believe it. We decided to have Artemis's mother over for dinner at my place. That would give us a chance to talk to them and would make it impossible for Larry Crock to walk in halfway through.

Surprisingly Artemis had told me her dad actually didn't live with them. Her mom had been in prison for a while and when she got out and came home she kicked him out. However he still came by to train Artemis and Paula wasn't willing to fight him over it and maybe cost Artemis one or both of her parents as long as he followed a few rules. Larry was a dick, but he wasn't beat up the wheelchair bound mother of your child levels of dick, so he mostly abided by her rules as long as she let him visit.

Artemis admitted the rules about training weren't exactly restrictive, her mother had been in the same line of work as her old man once upon a time and she was, if anything, even harsher when teaching than he was, but she tried to curb his more bloodthirsty lessons so Artemis managed to get away with bruises and soreness as opposed to being forced to kill some hedge fund manager because he embezzled from the wrong shell company. I called my mom at work to ask and when she said yes I went to get started cooking while Artemis went to convince her own mother.

Mrs. Crock agreed easily enough, mostly because she was assuming this was a meet the parents dinner and Artemis and I were dating. I ended up making Lasagna, the ingredients for which I had delivered with my handy dandy debit card. I had to tip extra to get them to come to my neighborhood but hey, it's not like I didn't have the money. I picked up a loaf of french bread and some minced garlic and butter along with the pasta meat cheese and sauce. To my eternal shame as the child (illegitimate or not) of a family that owned an actual italian restaurant I knew absolutely nothing about making pasta sauce so I just bought a few jars of the nicest pre made stuff I could find.

Still, despite phoning in the ingredients in a way that would probably make my grandfather sneer in disgust the lasagna smelled amazing when I finished it. The garlic bread came out great too, and my timing was on point, because mom got home at around six (she was only working a single shift tonight) and Artemis and her mother showed up soon after. My mom came in and rushed to her room to get ready for company and I set plates out for our guests as soon as she came in but I was barely finished putting out the napkins on our tiny wooden table when the bell rang.

It was a strange feeling to hear that bell and not be expecting some kind of life changing power based nonsense on the other side, even after only a few days, but I was just as excited about this particular visitor. When I opened the door I saw Mrs. Crock in front of the door with Artemis pushing her chair. Mrs. Crock was wearing a nice blouse and a pair of slacks, but Artemis...well she must have seen the look on my face because she leveled a finger at me and hissed "Say a word and you won't be able to walk tomorrow." I choked back my response to her clothes and let them both in politely, welcoming them to our home.

I was having a hard time not laughing. My gorgeous badass best friend was dressed in a light green summer dress and a white sweater. Her hair was pushed back with a headband and she was wearing fucking maryjanes. I was so stunned by the absolute clash between her personality and her clothes that I wasn't even admiring her looks like I usually did. It was an active effort not to mock her for the Sunday school outfit. I sidled up next to her and gritted my teeth to keep from laughing. "Glad you could make it." As instructed I didn't mention her clothes because she actually could and would kick my ass.

Unfortunately for her my amusement was plain on my face. I didn't need to say anything to make fun of her. Her eyes narrowed with icy rage, though luckily not at me. "Mom wanted me to make a good impression on your mother. She thinks this is a meet the parents dinner and refuses to accept that we're just friends." She gestured down at herself in disgust "Apparently this is what 'good girls' wear." She made air quotes around the phrase. "I think she's expecting that dressing me like I just got done teaching a bible study class will offset the bad impression your mom may have got from my dad."

It was a valid worry, but in this case it worked for us rather than against us. My mom would be much less skeptical of Artemis if she thought she was a goody goody. She would obviously learn differently pretty quick after the move but at that point who cared. My mom came out of her room as Artemis pushed her mother to the table and lit up at seeing our guests "Oh, hello! It's nice to meet you Artemis, I'm Marie, sorry I was a bit late I just got off work. And Paula! So good to see you again, you never mentioned your daughter was so beautiful!"

My mom had put on a green cocktail dress I hadn't even known she owned and her raid hair was down in a riot of curls. Her green eyes sparkled with joy as she took in Artemis's outfit. Huh, looked like Mrs. Crock knew her stuff. I hoped that would make this next part easier, though I had a bit of a secret weapon as far as that went. I started plating out the food, getting a pleased smile from mom at my manners and a knowing wink from Mrs. Crock. It was funny, if this hadn't been so nerve wracking I would have been pretty mortified by their obvious attempts to match make, but with this next part coming up I couldn't be bothered.

After we were sitting I cleared my throat "So we have some news." Luckily there was no cheering or anything like that to interrupt so we continued "Artemis and I entered a competition online for a full ride to Gotham Academy. We were nervous about it and figured entering together would help take some of the pressure off. We wrote a pair of essays together and submitted them and we won! Not only a scholarship but housing closer to campus too!" I pulled out the envelopes and handed them each one, minus the billing statement with my account number obviously.

Artemis met my eyes and nodded subtly. We had decided rather than frame it in the vein of winning a house it should be something a bit more teen adjacent. There obviously was no scholarship, I was just going to pay
for both of our tuition at the most exclusive private school at the city. But Gotham Academy was prestigious, it would add some legitimacy to our claim and the more impressive schooling would be a big motivator for both of them to accept. What parent wouldn't be excited that their kid got into an Ivy League feeder school?

The switch from mild disappointment to joy hit pretty damn fast. They hadn't been expecting it but this was big news, and as they flipped through the envelopes and read about their new condos they were ecstatic. I had figured adding the essay contest bit would make it more believable, and if they asked to see them I would just claim we mailed them in to the competition. Luckily they were both so starstruck at the thought of us going to Gotham Academy we didn't even need our well rehearsed back story both of them were nothing but smiles at the idea.

My mom hurled herself across the table to pull both Artemis and I into a hug. "I am so proud of both of you! Artemis thank you so much for pushing him into this. I know my boy and he's always been a bit quiet and kept to himself. I always knew he was capable of great things but I didn't want to push. I just know something like this has to be because of you and I'm so grateful." She squeezed us both, and despite the white lie about where it came from I was thrilled to see her so happy.

Artemis meanwhile was beat red most likely at being thanked for being a good influence for the first time in her life, she was shooting me a panicked look from inside the hug as I made a laughing escape. Seeing her so helpless was pretty funny but I took pity on here and laughed, touching my mom on the shoulder. "Hey ma, don't you want to call and tell Vinnie and the girls at the bar? Might have to change your schedule around a bit with the longer drive?" Her eyes lit up and she bolted to the kitchen to dial her job.

Mrs. Crock in the meantime was...crying. Not like big gulping sobs but small quiet tears of pride. She grabbed Artemis's hand and squeezed it, speaking in Vietnamese but clearly telling her how proud she was. I almost felt bad about adding the essay contest thing now, because it made this a personal achievement and not a huge bribe that convinced the school to let us in last minute (I'd called earlier and settled our entry, which they thought was an anonymous donation from a wealthy patron) but I figured since my power was where the money came from it was kind of on me anyway.

Mom came back after fifteen minutes and we all waited and dug into the Lasagna together, which needed to be reheated but since it was Lasagna that wasn't a problem, Lasagna was always better the second time anyway. I popped it in the over for a few minutes while we enjoyed the garlic bread and the company. Mom and Mrs. Crock knew each other a bit but by the end of the night they were like best friends, and Artemis and I were both grinning like loons at how good this whole thing felt. We decided to make this a regular weekly thing and I considered it yet another thing that would make my life amazing.

Intro arc over! Next arc is already underway in the advance chapters, introducing both the new villains and the set up for the love interest

in the most recent chapter. As per usual five advance chapters are available on pat-reon around 10k words of total content that updates

daily so you won't need to wait between posts on here or sign up for QQ. You can find my pat-reon on that site /malcolmtent