Rory lightly smacked Cassius’ arm to get his attention.

  “Dude, check it out.” He said, pointing towards the front of the store.

  Cassius looked up and turned his gaze to where Rory pointed.

  “You gotta be kidding me.” He chuckled.

  They both saw the hover van sitting out front.

  The side they could see had an image of a dragon wrapped around a CRT TV and drawn on the screen of the television was the Dragonbyte logo and text.

  “It’s kind of awesome, actually.” Rory admitted.

  “Only kind of.” Cassius said, nodding in agreement.

  “I think the logo would look better on a beat-up conversion van.” He added.

  “What, like, one of those vans a guy in a band would drive? Like a van someone covers the back in carpets and blasts music from the 1980s while driving it?” Rory asked for clarification.

  “Yeah, exactly.” Cassius said.

  “That’s kinda weird man.” Rory shook his head in disappointment.

  “You just don’t see my vision.” Cassius shrugged.

  “I don’t know if I want to.” Rory said.

  Outside, the driver jumped out of the van. He walked to the front and leaned up against it. He slipped the cigarette that was resting behind his ear into his mouth. He then produced a lighter and very carefully lit it.

  “Ah, fuck. Shoulda guessed this would be something Armand cooked up.” Rory sighed.

  Armand was essentially a manager for the store even though that wasn’t his official title. He had the appearance of someone that was more suited to be a military sergeant than a guy managing an outdated tech store.

  “We should probably brace for anything.” Rory suggested.

  “Yeah, who knows what he’s got cooked up this time.” Cassius said.

  Then suddenly the back door of the van opened. Their other coworker Niko jumped out of it. He reached back in to grab a moving dolly and easily maneuver a large box out. It was suspiciously shaped like an old arcade cabinet.

  “Wonder what that is.” Rory commented.

  “Dunno but it looks big. Maybe he finally found one of those arcade cabinets he’s been looking for?” Cassius guessed.

  “There’s no fucking way.” Rory immediately rejected the idea, ignoring that the box was shaped exactly like that.

  Niko made his way into the store. He pushed the huge box through the door so hard that it didn’t even trigger the synth that was nailed to the ceiling which usually played a quick chime to let them know someone entered. He then pushed it through the space in front of the TV wall while completely ignoring Cassius and Rory. The two of them noticed that Niko had a disgusting look of pleasure on his face. They silently agreed with one another that it was better not to talk to him while he was like that.

  Niko pushed his way through the door that led into the back hallway. Once the door closed behind him, he was finally out of sight. Cassius and Rory tried to erase the image of Niko’s twisted face from their minds. Unfortunately, it was stuck in there.

  A few moments later Armand stepped inside.

  “Alright, you two. Out front. On the double.” He ordered.

  Cassius and Rory looked at each other.

  “Fuck.” Rory mouthed.

  Stolen story; please report.

  They got up and headed out front.

  Cassius gave the van a once over. It looked like a pretty standard cargo van that had been given a hover conversion and had slight modifications to the back that made it just a little larger. The exterior was gun metal gray and the actual hover wheels looked like someone’s interpretation of sci-fi wheels that went for style over function.

  “Would either of you like to guess what’s going on and why I brought you two out here?” Armand asked.

  “You just wanted us to see your new toy?” Cassius offered up as a guess.

  “Good guess.” Armand said.

  He then looked at Rory.

  “Uh, because you want our shift to be over early and you’re going to take us somewhere in your new toy here?” Rory asked, both sarcastically and hopefully.

  “Oh, yeah, that’s exactly it.” Armand started.

  “Shift’s over. I’m gonna take you and Cass here out to eat. We’re gonna go order drive thru somewhere and I’m gonna get you a nice big glass of SHUT THE FUCK UP.” He aggressively remarked.

  “Well, it was a worth a shot.” Rory said, unfazed.

  He shrugged while looking over at Cassius.

  “But no. It seems that Corporate has seen fit to increase our numbers here. For the first time in several years, we’ll be getting a new member of the store.” Armand revealed.

  “Cass has only been working here for two years.” Rory pointed out.

  “Cassius is what we refer to as an Important Asset, more valuable than a simple member of the store. His ability to quickly dispatch the enemy is unparalleled. His time here is more meaningful and therefore he stands in a category of his own.” Armand explained.

  Cassius laughed wryly.

  “It’s really not that big of a deal.” He said, trying to wave it off.

  “I really don’t need to hear you sing Cassius’ praises. Especially not out here in the heat. You could’ve just told us we were getting a new employee inside. Ya know, in the air-conditioned store?” Rory’s annoyance was making itself known.

  “Hearing announcements in the heat makes you remember them.” Armand declared.

  “I don’t think that’s how it works.” Rory countered.

  “Plus, there are some other things in the back that need to be moved out and immediately put on the shelves.” Armand added.

  He ignored Rory’s comment entirely.

  “Rory won’t like it, but we can move things.” Cassius chimed in.

  “Good. Get to work.” Armand said.

  Armand walked inside and headed towards the back. No doubt he was going to use the break room and stay there for a while rather than supervise the two employees that he was supposed to be managing.

  Cassius and Rory, meanwhile, looked inside the back of the van. Aside from the space where Niko and his box had been, the rest of the boxes were unmarked and all about the same size. Cassius jumped in and pushed a few boxes to Rory.

  “There’s no way you expect me to carry some of these when you could just use your telekinesis.” Rory said, sounding offended.

  “Now’s not the time for jokes, Rory. You pick that shit up, right the fuck now.” Cassius barked.

  “OKAY!” Rory panicked.

  He quickly stacked the boxes and headed inside with them.

  Cassius stacked several boxes and kept them stable with his telekinesis. Between the two of them they got all of the boxes inside in just a couple trips.

  They let Armand know they were done. He confirmed that everything had been moved and then took the van and parked it at the back of the building by their receiving door. He took off afterwards, he wasn’t going to stick around. He had even less interest in watching the two stock shelves than he had supervising them unpacking the van.

  They got to putting stuff on the shelves after they made sure he was gone.

  “So, a new recruit.” Rory said.

  “Wonder what kind of person we’ll get this time.” Cassius responded.

  “Maybe someone normal for once?” Rory chuckled.

  “I don’t think it’s possible for someone to work here and be normal.” Cassius said, straight faced.

  “That…That might be true.” Rory said, slightly surprised.

  He then paused to think about it.

  “Niko looks like he should be the frontman for a metal band. Armand’s an out of place jarhead. Ruby is a fucking delinquent, and I don’t know how she has a job here still. Xavier’s gotta be the laziest fucking employee I’ve ever seen. And Wesley thinks he’s the smartest motherfucker in the room but that’s only when the room is empty.” He rambled his thoughts aloud.

  “And then there’s us. You’ve got fucking powers and I…”

  He paused again, reluctant to say anything bad about himself. Cassius watched his whole internal struggle while mindlessly floating things out of the boxes and onto the shelves.

  “Well, there’s nothing wrong with me actually. I’m normal.” Rory declared.

  Cassius nearly choked hearing that.

  “Dude, if you’re normal, normal’s fucked.” He quipped.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?!” Rory cried out.

  “Saying you’re normal is definitely not normal.” Cassius said.

  Rory sighed.

  “Fine.”

  “What about Lyndon? You forgot about him.” Cassius then pointed out.

  “Lyndon is a criminal. Like, actually for real.” Rory asserted forcefully.

  “I think he might just be eccentric.” Cassius said.

  “Eccentric or not, that guy wigs me out.” Rory shivered.

  Even just thinking about it gave him goosebumps.

  “Man, what the hell is most of this shit?” Rory asked, changing subjects.

  He held up what looked like a small robot in one hand and a small box with some dials, a metal loop on one side, and a tall metal rod on the other.

  “That is an old console buddy add-on, and the other thing is a theremin.” Cassius said.

  He recognized both things instantly, knowing what they were thanks to his friends.

  “How the hell did Armand get his hands on these?” Rory asked, slightly in disbelief.

  “I don’t want to know, actually. Let’s just finish putting this shit on the selves.” Cassius urged.

  “Good point. Let’s just finish this up.” Rory agreed.