Going back to the House of the Cosmic Fist left Rick feeling heavy. He'd generally made his peace with the job for now, but stepping into the cheap strip mall and anticipating another day of clients was just depressing after spending so much time talking about the future with Melissa. They'd even sparred a bit, though only to get her combat core warmed up for future work.

His job at the gym had taught him a lot, not to mention supported their lives and gotten Melissa through high school. But now that she was graduating and wanting to support herself, it was definitely time to move on. Part of him was motivated to apply to more jobs, but another part of him was getting a bit discouraged by the whole process.

Still, he had to keep trying. He'd stay in this job instead of doing anything crazy, but his primary goal was considering all of his options. That decided, he shook off those thoughts and entered the gym.

"Morning, boss." Rick nodded as he entered and started getting things set up.

Jimmy didn't respond directly, just kept leafing through his magazine. His boss certainly didn't seem to care about stagnating, and if he rarely seemed all that happy, nothing much seemed to get to him, either. Rick couldn't see that life working for him, so he decided to venture a question. He thought there was a good chance that his boss would know something about the strange job posting.

"Do you know anything about the Central States Lucrim Authority?"

"Little bit." Jimmy answered casually, but his eyes stopped and he didn't flip any more pages. "Why?"

Rick realized that his boss was trying a bit too hard not to care. Did he know about the job posting somehow? It was too late to avoid the topic, so he advanced cautiously. "My sister just graduated and she said that she had some kind of offer with them. I know they're part of the system that distributes all the lucrim that's harvested, but I don't really know much more about them."

"Keep your distance. Anybody who's directly involved in lucrim distribution is playing for keeps."

"Maybe so, but they must have a reason for approaching new graduates. It could be a really beneficial position, right?"

With an irritable grunt, Jimmy set down his magazine and stared at him. "I mean it, kid, keep your distance. None of that bullshit about your sister. If you take that job with the Lucrim Authority, they'll chew you up and spit you back out as soon as you break. They might dress nicer than the thugs in the Underground, but I know who I'd rather cross."

So Jimmy not only knew about the job posting, he had strong opinions about it. Though his words had been meant to persuade Rick not to take the job, they actually caught his interest. He hadn't been sure the position had been worth following up on at all, but if Jimmy took it so seriously, it was worth researching further.

"You listening, kid? Don't take any more risks. Stay here and things will go better for you."

Rick made himself smile. "Better as in giving me another raise?"

"Don't push your luck." Jimmy grunted dismissively and picked up his magazine again, the conversation clearly over.

It had lit new curiosity in Rick, however. After sparring with two of his regular clients and a walk-in, he used his break to check his options. There were a few places he could call back and a few jobs he could submit his resume to, but they were more of the same. Most likely he didn't have a chance if they even called him back at all.

This drab posting by the Central States Lucrim Authority, however... it said nothing about qualifications other than fighting ability. Rick knew he was far from the strongest, but he was equally confident that he was competent. Most likely the job had nothing to do with direct violent confrontations, so it was possible that he was actually fit to do it.

On his next break Rick looked up a little more information about the local Lucrim Authority, but mostly just confirmed what he already knew. The Global Lucrim Authority controlled all lucrim harvesting and set policy, but it parceled out management of regions. Some were controlled by national bodies, others by corporations. Either way, they were serious institutions with strong ties to the GLA. Maybe he didn't have much of a chance, but it was worth giving a shot.

After work, Rick ran home and checked the information again. He had a few days until the first organizing date that was mentioned, so he spent them polishing his lucrima to a shine. Fortunately he had the day off, so Jimmy wouldn't get suspicious. Melissa wanted to spar regularly, but understood the importance of the opportunity and was happy to let him focus on it.

On the day itself, Rick pulled on the combat suit Granny Whitney had given him and headed to the location via bus instead of running like usual. For whatever reason, all the candidates were supposed to meet in a field on the northern edge of town, where suburbs faded into countryside. He'd expected to see something new set up, or some special entrance that wasn't visible online, but as far as he could tell, it was just a grassy field without any particularly distinguishing characteristics.

Just to be sure, he checked his phone before the bus left. Yes, this was the right place. He was twenty minutes early, but that was the closest time the bus came this way. Rick doubted that there was any lucrim technique hiding some massive structure, but decided to head into the field in case it was some sort of test.

There was a single tree in the field, an old oak that shaded a significant portion of the grass. When Rick approached, he saw that there was a woman lying underneath with her arms behind her head. She wore a light green pantsuit that blended with the grass a bit. It wasn't particularly flattering on her round frame, but when his senses approached her lucrima soul, he realized that she probably didn't care. He actually took a step back, checking again.

Unless he was mistaken, her generation rate was over 500,000 lucrim. It was hard to estimate rates that much higher than his, but all his experiences in the tournament had sharpened his senses. If she was packing that much power, no wonder she was so relaxed.

"Huh, you're early." The woman popped open one eye, looked at him, then gave a polite smile. He had a hard time judging exactly how old she was, most likely because she had a core that impacted her aging.

"I'm sorry, is that a problem? This was the closest time on the bus schedule."

"The bus?" She blinked a few times as if trying to get her head around it - given the level of wealth her power represented, she no doubt hadn't worried about that kind of thing in years. "Well, it's not a problem at all. Not so long as you're here to apply for the job."

Rick squared his shoulders. "I think I am, but the description didn't say very much."

"Most people have someone else tell them all the details, but I suppose it's nice to get someone who just wants to give it a shot." The woman sprang to her feet in a smooth movement that belied her size. "Since I'm already awake, I might as well get started. I need you to sign on this tablet, okay?"

She extended a tablet to him and Rick carefully read the fine print. Fortunately, there wasn't much. This meeting was just exploratory and he wasn't committing to anything aside from giving them permission to analyze his lucrima portfolio. That was standard procedure for most jobs, so he signed.

"Aaaand you're the first on the list." The woman gave him an absent-minded smile. "Do whatever you like until more people show up."

In case the meeting was going to involve some kind of martial test, Rick sat down and meditated for a while, going through his exercises that didn't expend any lucrim. Once it got closer to the actual time of the meeting, others started showing up. He opened his eyes to look over the new arrivals.

Most came in cars, some came in taxis, and a few flew in by themselves or on lucrim vehicles. Rick was surprised at how relatively old the group was overall, only a few looking his age. Their clothing varied widely, but he was struck by how many wore civilian clothes. He saw some designer clothes that probably cost more than all the second-hand clothing he owned, but not many combat suits.

Dressed in the one Granny Whitney had given him, he was actually one of the better prepared, though a few wore top-of-the-line outfits. None of them seemed weak, though, with generation rates in the 40,000 to 100,000 range. Worse, he thought they were disciplined cores, not just Birthrighters throwing around excess lucrim.

Many of them moved in tight groups, some looking like old friends and others seeming to meet for the first time. Did this job involve some kind of team component? No one else looked surprised by the location, and the woman had suggested that others had inside information, so it was likely that they knew things he didn't.

She ambled through the groups, getting everyone to sign on her tablet. Judging from her calm, everything was going according to plan. Then again, she might have looked that calm if the entire field was on fire around them.

Should he try to approach some of the others to learn more? Or would that be revealing his weakness? It looked like he was running out of time, because it was five minutes past the starting time, everyone had signed the tablet, and the woman in charge was ambling back toward the tree. Maybe it would be safest just to ask her, but then again, she might be the one evaluating them and asking might count against him somehow.

Rick was still trying to decide when he was distracted by the squeal of tires. He looked just in time to see a bright red car drive off the road into the field, skidding in a sharp circle and kicking up dirt before coming to a halt. As everyone stared at it, the door lifted upward and a man sprang out.

He was wearing a goddamn three piece suit. Rick didn't know much about suits, but it looked ridiculously expensive to him. The jacket and pants were jet black, but the waistcoat was crimson and the tie was gray. The new arrival strode out into the field, whipping off a pair of mirrored sunglasses. Beneath them he was only a few years older than Rick, with a lean handsome face and blond hair styled like he wanted to star in a K-pop video.

Everyone stared as he walked up to the official and grinned at her. "I need to sign something, right?"

"Yup." She pushed her tablet toward him, not showing the slightest flicker of surprise. As soon as she got his signature, she turned to walk toward the tree as if completely uninterested.

The others were all buzzing with interest and the new arrival just stood with his arms folded, clearly enjoying the attention. Rick would have hated him already if he wasn't just a bit baffled. Surely someone like that couldn't actually exist... right?

Only then did Rick realize that he had been so distracted by the spectacle that he'd forgotten to check the man's strength. Unfortunately, that ended almost as soon as it began. All he could sense was some kind of outer shell that obscured everything within. That shell alone felt like it was at least 25,000 lucrim, though, so the man wasn't all style and no substance.

All the buzzing was cut off as the woman clapped her hands, the sound resonating loud enough to cancel out all other sounds. She began speaking quietly, assuming that she had everyone's attention, so the group came in closer to listen.

"Thanks for coming, everyone." She looked around over the group blandly. "Most of you already know why you're here, but I'll say a bit in case anyone has the wrong idea. Our methods of harvesting lucrim from the atmosphere are far more than 99% effective. It's 99.999... well, a lot of nines. But no system is perfect, and on a global scale the lucrim that slips through is still a large enough amount that it can cause a lot of problems."

Nobody seemed very surprised by what she'd said, but Rick caught a few angry looks and wasn't sure why. He decided to ignore the crowds and focus on the woman - since she was in charge, he might be able to get more of a sense from her.

"The worst thing is that the problems are distributed randomly and inconsistently. That's why every branch of the Lucrim Authority needs special agents to deal with those problems. Make no mistake, it's dirty and unrewarding work. But since it gives an opportunity for excellence to rise to the surface, we have some incentives for all of you that could lead higher."

"Why now?" The question came from a muscular man in a tight shirt, his folded arms flexing in irritation. "You've rejected all my applications, then suddenly you just fling the door open to anyone?"

"There have been some anomalies in recent years, so we need to expand our ranks. But the details are both too complex for you and beyond your pay grade." She gave a bland smile and swept her eyes over the crowd. "Any other questions?"

Some might have wanted to, but no one spoke, a subtle presence holding them in place. Rick pushed back against it, since it didn't feel as strong as Teragen's presence, but it was much more subtle. He wondered if some in the audience didn't know why they kept quiet.

"All of you will begin as contract workers," the woman explained, "but your base salary will be supplemented by performance-based bonuses. To that end, we'll be instituting a merit-based system... starting now, actually. Your initiation will be by the Vice President, so while he gets the time to come here, let me just set up the system. You can talk amongst yourselves, I suppose."

With that, she turned away and pulled something else from her pocket - it looked like a phone, but felt like lucrim. A moment later a massive window of glowing aura appeared in the air, listing the names of everyone present, a time stamp, and point values. Everyone had only a few points, but...

"What the hell is this list judging us on?" One of the men in the crowd stepped forward, glaring at it. The official just waved a hand vaguely.

"Punctuality. One point for being on time, a little bonus for being early. It won't matter in the whole scheme of things."

But it did, because "Rick Hunter" was at the very top of the list, ten minutes before anyone else. A quick glance suggested that the top ten had received 2 points, but he'd been given three. Many of the competitors began to grumble to one another and look around, so Rick hastily skimmed to the bottom of the list: apparently the flashily-dressed man was named Damian. No last name.

"You were the first one." A young woman abruptly turned toward Rick, eyes narrowing. He vaguely recognized her as one of the earlier arrivals. "Who tipped you off about this system?"

Rick opened his mouth, then shut it, not wanting to draw attention to himself. But it was too late, plenty of the others in the field were beginning to turn toward him. Some just glared, marking him as a target, but a few stepped closer as if they blamed him for this. Worst of all, the woman in charge was ignoring them, apparently tapping out a message on her phone.

"I'm not going to be cheated out of this!" The angry man in the tight shirt stomped forward, glowering at Rick. "They always say this is about merit, then little rats like you find a way to buy merit."

That accusation made Rick grind his teeth, but he managed to swallow his anger. Getting into a fight would accomplish nothing. He wanted to refute what was being said and get all the attention off of him, but he wasn't sure what to say that they would believe. It had just been a dumb accident, and one point probably wouldn't matter, but...

"He took the bus." The smooth voice came from Damian, who had somehow moved to stand closer to them without being noticed. As all eyes turned toward him, he gave a smirk. "Judging from how stupidly early he got here, he didn't have a better method of transportation. Isn't that right?"

"That..." Rick cleared his throat, buying a moment to think, and decided to just go with it. "That's right. I just got lucky."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that. If you're really so miserably poor that you have to take the bus here, I don't think you really belong at all." Damian gave him a sickeningly arrogant smirk and Rick had to take a deep breath to stay calm.

"If that's true, you can prove it on the job." Rick turned away, but the other man flared with a dark red aura and sped around to appear in front of him. Despite his speed, not a single piece of his suit was even slightly undone.

"I think I'd like to prove it right here." Damian took a step closer so the two of them were face-to-face.

Around them, Rick saw that almost everyone was watching. He wanted to punch the man in his smug face, but wasn't sure if that would break the rules. The woman in charge was still on her phone even though she must have noticed. Damian grinned mockingly and leaned in further.

Then he winked, his smile shifting from arrogance to self-aware amusement. "Play along, okay?"

"Wha-?" Rick's response was cut off when he was punched in the face.