As Lucas continues expressing his displeasure at his severe limitations on romantic prospects, 427 tries to tune him out as hard as he can. Not that Lucas can even tell, he's far too wrapped up in stating his grievances.

By the time Lucas has smiled in response to sly looks from not one, nor even only two, but three different women, he's lost most of his momentum in his mental bitching.

'Eheh, the attention is pretty sweet at least.'

[…]

Jonathan has had greatly conflicting feelings concerning the attention he's been getting, ultimately settling on just being shy and awkward, surprising no one.

However, his attempts at trying to ignore all of the strangers triggering this mess of emotions make him outwardly appear cool and aloof, further increasing some of the amorous giggles directed his way.

Throughout all of this, Willy is simply having a grand ol' time.

When they're about eighty percent of the way to their first destination, the high-end mobile service store, 427 heaves a large sigh.

[After making it this far, I must admit I had high hopes, ah well. Alert; a new provisional moderate GDV task has been assigned. Please prevent the pending onset of arson in the second alley to your right.]

'Wait, what? Provisional?'

[It is not a full-fledged moderate, therefore the rewards are calculated at a minor level, however, disregarding the task would result in a penalty at a moderate scale.]

'That's bullshit. Boss System is bullshit.'

[…]

'Yeah, yeah. I got it already.'

As Lucas sighs out his dissatisfaction with Boss System, he elbows Jonathan to get his attention and tilts his chin in the direction of the alley where the quest is located.

Jonathan looks up to make eye contact through their sunglasses, nodding once. In the next second, he is gone.

Lucas starts rolling his right shoulder, beginning to head towards the alley. Not that he has to worry about it for very long.

After only a few seconds, Jonathan is walking alongside Lucas once again, now playing with a plasma lighter. He clicks the metal cap open and closed a few times before he clicks the button to light it, ending up staring at the purple high-voltage electricity arcing between the electrodes, clearly entranced.

Willy didn't even have a chance to give any reaction to Jonathan suddenly leaving until after he had already returned. He makes an inquisitive-sounding whine and then looks up at the purple plasma as well, equally enthralled.

[...Congratulations on completing your provisional moderate GDV task for a reward of .01 GDV. If you make a habit of doing that, Boss System may start issuing penalties that I cannot override. Even though you did technically intend on helping, your actual goals were hardly a challenge to guess.]

'Hey! You can't blame me for testing the system, yeah? Besides, the task is done, that's what matters.'

[Well... Yes. At least put a little bit more effort into attempting to help, once Boss System notices you trying to cheat your way through it will be much stricter overall.]

'Eh, all right.'

Once they eventually approach the entrance to the alley, Lucas can't help glancing over to check out the scene.

Lying motionless in a large pile of trash is an older teen in a T-shirt with a skull pattern on it, ripped black jeans, filthy black sneakers, and neon green hair. There are no clear signs of a struggle, nor any blood in the area. By appearances, he seemed to have simply decided that was as good of a place as any to take a nap.

'Ah, I can't tell from here, is he breathing? I assume that was the would-be arsonist.'

[Yes, on both counts. He's a non-powered individual. Jonathan had knocked him unconscious with a single strike before he even knew he wasn't alone.]

'Hah, attaboy. I almost wonder why it wasn't just a minor task?'

[Even though the villain in question was non-powered, and the task was completed very easily, if left unattended the fire could have proven problematic. Just a quick surface scan indicates that the trash includes a mix of combustibles as well as materials that would produce noxious fumes when exposed to high heat. Also, this is not even accounting for any potential damage from the flames themselves.]

'Oh... Well, yeah, I guess that makes sense, huh.'

As they continue their journey onward, Lucas keeps glancing over at the lighter that Jonathan has been playing with. Before long, he can't help himself anymore, eventually reaching over to hold his hand out, palm up, in front of Jonathan.

"Hey, lemme see that for a minute, that's pretty cool." As Lucas makes his request, he curls his fingers a few times in a beckoning gesture.

"Oh? Um, sure. Here you go." Jonathan's startled out of his ignition triggered reverie, agrees and hands over the hazardous toy.

Now it's Lucas's turn to fiddle with it in a very similar fashion to what Jonathan had just been doing, and he is equally entranced.

If it wasn't for 427 continually dictating each and every necessary variation to his steps apart from 'move forward' he would have walked into four different people in the last minute alone.

Most likely, 011 had been performing similarly for Jonathan when he was the one occupied by the clicky shiny purple danger.

[Ahem, Lucas. Stop. Please don't just walk into the closed door.]

'Wha? Oh, oops.'

Jonathan struggles to repress a giggle as Lucas barely stops just before colliding with the closed transparent door before him, leading to their destination. The barely contained snerk is just as wounding to Lucas's pride as if he had openly laughed.

"Okay, okay, fine. Here, you can keep it." Lucas surrenders ownership of the perilous plaything, closing the cap and absentmindedly tossing it in Jonathan's vague direction.

Once again, Jonathan needs to activate his powers in order to catch the projectile in time. He fumbles the catch at first, knocking it up in the air when he accidentally smacks it too quickly, but eventually catches the lighter and pockets it by the fourth attempt. He did at least continually prevent it from hitting anything other than his hands, but it's a good thing it wasn't something sharp.

Lucas simply stood by, enjoying the free entertainment with a good-humored smile across his face. Once Jonathan's finally all settled, he takes a step back and opens the door so they can enter the shop.

As Lucas holds the door open, he bows slightly and holds his other arm before him, open palm facing upwards, clearly indicating for his companions to go first.

Understanding the true priority order, Jonathan waits for Willy to go in first.

As the last-in-line Lucas steps into the store, his body isn't even completely inside yet when a nearby service bot has already begun to address them.

"Greetings, honored guests. How may I assist you this morning?" As the bot asks this, it is clearly directly facing Lucas, who is caught off-guard by the prompt address.

"Can I get, uhhh, the best phone that is the least likely to break, at least with a case on it? I don't care about the price. Oh, two of them." While Lucas makes the deceptively strict request, Jonathan can't help flinching at the worst transaction negotiations he's heard across all of his lives.

Fortunately, it is a programmed AI that is honestly going about solving the request, as opposed to some commissioned employee that might try to up-sell him the most expensive phone in the store, regardless of it fitting his needs.

Barely taking any time to process the request, the bot has already begun leading them to an area with numerous devices on display.

By the time the door has finished swinging shut behind Lucas, Jonathan is already holding a different phone in each hand. He simultaneously operates both of them with his thumbs, feeling out their responsiveness and oohing over the tactile feedback functions.

The service bot lets Jonathan play around as he wishes, quietly waiting for Lucas to finish coming over before beginning his sales pitch.

-----

Lucas kills this chapter: 0

Lucas total kills: 6

Lucas deaths this chapter: 0

Lucas total deaths: 10

Lucas current GDV: 8.8 (+.01 net change)

Lucas's fame level: 2.5* (Mostly just local)

Lucas's hero suspicion level: 1* (Only highly paranoid people)

Jonathan kills this chapter: 0

Jonathan total kills: 5

Jonathan deaths this chapter: 0

Jonathan total deaths: 2

Jonathan current GDV: 1.9 (+.1 +.01 = +.11 net change)

Jonathan's fame level: 1.75* (Just local)

Jonathan's hero suspicion level: 1* (Only highly paranoid people)

-----

Little character theater:

Jonathan, now dual-wielding a different pair of phones: Ooh, this one's screen even wraps around most of the back!

Lucas, wondering how he's even benefiting from using two at once instead of just testing one at a time: Seriously, it's not a race, kiddo.

Willy is completely content with lying down near Jonathan's feet, gnawing on the Black Ash Snow chew toy while the Josephine and Mind Flare dolls get to watch in silent, motionless horror.

427, unable to resist taunting Lucas: [Well, at least you're aware of the fact you're likely to break it.]

Author, chuckling: At least Lucas is self-aware about some things. Or he is just too lazy to have to walk out here again to potentially replace it so he's being careful. You know what? I'm pretty sure it is the latter.

Mr. Quacks, unaffected by materialistic worldly desires: Quack.