For the Dragonbyte Retro Tech and Repair, it was like any other day. Which meant there were absolutely no customers. It was even the last day of summer before school started and still no one was wandering over to their little store. No last-minute dares or people coming to satisfy their curiosity.

  It did make it easy for the two employees that were there, the two who seemed to always be working there. Cassius of course, and his ever-present coworker Rory Lampros.

  Cassius was messing around with his phone as he typically did when the store was empty. Rory was just staring at the wall of CRT TVs lining the wall opposite the counter where they sat. He had been gazing at it without saying anything for at least an hour.

  “Hey.” Rory suddenly spoke, breaking the silence.

  His gaze still trained on the TV wall.

  “Yeah?” Cassius responded, not even bothering to look up from his phone.

  “Do you ever wonder…why we’re here?” Rory asked.

  “Like, in a metaphysical sense? Or why we’re here in this store?” Cassius asked back.

  He looked over to Rory for clarification.

  “Uh…Why we’re here in this store. Obviously.” Rory said, just a bit mockingly.

  He then shook his head and let out an annoyed sigh.

  “You think I’m smart enough to give enough of a shit to talk metaphysics?” He asked.

  “Rory, I never know with you. And you’ve asked me weirder questions, let’s be real.” Cassius asserted.

  “Seriously though! What are we doing here? This is a tech store that shouldn’t even exist.” Rory said, continuing his original train of thought.

  “Probably not.” Cassius shrugged.

  “I’m pretty sure the only reason this store is here is because Apex is over there.” Rory pointed out the window in the general direction of Apex.

  Cassius put his phone down.

  “Actually, the only reason why Apex is over there is because we’re over here.” He corrected him, mimicking Rory pointing to Apex and then pointing to where they were for emphasis.

  “Yeah, but that’s just it. What’s so important that they move in here to try and take this store out? Do they just want us gone or do they want another store location?” Rory asked.

  “Even if they were to succeed, which they won’t, then they would have TWO whole stores in this fucking plaza.” Rory said, holding up two fingers for extra emphasis.

  “Like, whoop-dee-fucking-doo, man. Great job Apex. Your goals are absolutely fucking pathetic and petty.” He grumbled.

  “PLUS! That’s another thing. They don’t need another store, but they keep attacking this dinky little store where nothing ever happens and rarely ever gets customers. Like, what’s up with that? I just can’t figure out what they fucking want with this store.” Rory rambled on.

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  “It’s pretty annoying that they do keep attacking. I like this place when it’s quiet and peaceful but those guys really like throwing a wrench into that.” Cassius said, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

  “Why do you like this place for that? Isn’t it kind of…I dunno, boring?” Rory asked.

  “It’s a nice break from my chaotic as hell friends.” Cassius told him.

  “Things get hectic when all five of us are together and I need a break from that sometimes.” He added.

  “Maybe you should just consider new friends if they wear you out so easily.” Rory commented.

  “My friends are just fine.” Cassius assured him.

  “And you choose to come hang out with me to take a break from them? I’m flattered.” Rory cheekily remarked.

  “Don’t flatter yourself too much.” Cassius quickly retorted.

  Rory frowned.

  “You hate me.” He sulked.

  Cassius rolled his eyes.

  “Okay, why do you keep coming here then?” he suddenly asked.

  The question stunned Rory. He was at a complete loss for words. The question had never come his way, and he had never put any kind of thought into it. Coming to the Dragonbyte was just a part of his routine, something he had been doing for so long that he no longer questioned it.

  “I’ll answer that for you. You keep coming here because the pay is nice, the AC is top notch, and even with those assholes at Apex trying to ruin things we have never had a stressful day of work. Ever.” Cassius emphasized his last word.

  “You know, you’re right. Even before you showed up, those losers were never able to succeed. It’s always fun fighting with them, actually. Plus, the pay is pretty nice.” Rory agreed.

  “I still want to complain about work. It’s my right to.” He tacked on.

  “You do like to complain.” Cassius chuckled.

  “But you know, it’s hard to argue that the pay here is really nice and honestly that probably makes it all the more worth it.” Rory said.

  “You fuckin’ know it.” Cassius smirked.

  “You know, I wonder if they ever would’ve succeeded if you hadn’t shown up.” Rory wondered aloud.

  Cassius shrugged.

  “Who knows, if they were doing that badly against this place without me here then they probably wouldn’t have ever succeeded.” He suggested.

  “Maybe…” Rory trailed off, scratching his chin.

  “Maybe we can launch an attack on Apex first now.” Cassius jokingly suggested.

  “MAYBE.” Rory scratched his chin more.

  But his face had shifted from a look of concern to confidence.

  “How far can you push your telekinesis?” He then asked.

  “Not sure.” Cassius shrugged.

  He was lying though.

  Cassius was in a unique situation where he possessed a few supernatural abilities. His telekinesis was something he used quite frequently when he was alone, and he knew exactly how far he could push it. His ability did have its limits but only in the number of objects he could lift. The weight of an object did not matter. It was extremely useful but quite odd that it worked that way.

  He had accidentally revealed his telekinesis to Rory about a year ago. An accident occurred while they were in the receiving area in the back. Rory fell off a ladder and Cassius instinctively used his telekinesis to catch him, preventing him from cracking his head open on the concrete ground.

  Rory was not the first to find out about his abilities, but he did take it pretty well.

  “You could still wreak some serious havoc if you were to just go in there and start flinging shit.” Rory said with a devilish smirk.

  “I could probably cause a lot of mayhem, but we’ll save that for a last resort. They’d have to do something incredibly heinous for me to go and reveal my power like that.” Cassius gave a wry chuckle.

  “Yeah…Not to mention the other consequences it would have if the whole world found out.” Rory said.

  “Yeah.” Cassius nodded.

  He crossed his arms and thought about it briefly.

  “I don’t think I’m ready for the world to know what I can do.”

  The thought gave him chills.

  “I don’t think the world is ready either.” Rory admitted.

  “Do you think you could do that little coin trick you can do?” he then asked, beaming a bit like a child in a candy store.

  “Yeah, sure.”

  Cassius used his telekinesis to float a handful of coins out of the tray underneath the counter. He made them gracefully dance over the countertop and then sent them out into the store. They flew through the aisles, danced on top of the CRTs, spelled out a few words in the air, and then Cassius made them spin into a coin tornado before sending them back into the coin tray.

  “Damn, it still blows my mind.” Rory laughed.

  He did a few slow claps.

  “It’s nothing.” Cassius shrugged.

  “Imagine if you were to do the dance with like…blades or something.” Rory said.

  There were stars in his eyes as he pictured it.

  “Yeah, that would be something.” Cassius chuckled uneasily.