After some time spent in spoiled luxury, Lucas is lazily reclining in the front area for floor eight. Without any traces of Jonathan in sight, Lucas eventually asked a bot to go hunt him down.

\'Ya know, either that robot has better fashion sense than me, or it was someone else that picked the clothes out.\'

[I wasn\'t tracking Mind Flare at the time if that is what you are insinuating. Though he does have a whole team of designers staying here, so it wouldn\'t be too weird to have a person hand select it.]

He has an absentminded look on his face as he rolls the bottom hem of the shirt between his right thumb and index finger. The soft fabric is certainly a much higher grade than something he\'d expected to get for free. Also, the entire outfit of; a dark green half-sleeve shirt with a few colorful geometric patterns, beige linen-cotton blend pants, and soft brown leather loafers, is all merchandise he didn\'t see for sale on the first floor.

Just as Lucas is starting to feel impatient enough to want to ask another bot to try and find Jonathan, the drowsy young teen makes his appearance. Dressed in a black, white, and red color-blocked t-shirt, baggy black cargo pants, and red and white sneakers in a very classic style, he holds something clutched against his chest with both hands. Lucas\'s lizard brain is immediately curious as to what it could be.

"Oh, fancy seeing you here. I was starting to wonder if you decided to run off and be Mind Flare\'s sidekick instead. Whatcha got there?" In the course of saying this, Lucas shifts from being lazily sprawled out to the point of taking up as much space as humanly possible, up into a far more proper upright sitting position. Eyes shining with curiosity, he even leans forward a bit.

Jonathan makes a huge goofy smile, his eyes narrowing into crescent-shaped near-slits. Proud of his new friend, he holds out both hands, displaying the... Extremely normal yellow rubber duck.

"Meet Mr. Quacks!" The joy in Jonathan\'s voice is utterly unmistakable.

It\'s a struggle on Lucas\'s part to not double over with laughter. At least his curiosity is sated. 427, on the other hand, does not need to be so reserved. The laughter echoing in his mind doesn\'t help Lucas with resisting his own urge to laugh in any way.

\'This child... I can\'t even. What is this naming sense!? Shit, I should make him name the organization, it\'s bound to be gold.\'

[That is the exact opposite of what you should do, even if you want to put on an incompetent act.]

\'Psh, you\'re no fun.\'

A small puff of laughter still manages to sneak its way out of Lucas.

"Where did you even get it? Ahem, greetings, Mr. Quacks." Unable to keep a straight face while saying this, Lucas reaches out and musses Jonathan\'s recently combed hair.

Jonathan\'s cheeks puffing up a bit with a pout does nothing to improve his sense of maturity.

"All right, you. Let\'s take Mr. Quacks and go finish shopping, we\'re already not gonna have time for the grocery store tonight as it is." Standing up once he finishes saying this, Lucas leads the way to the elevator.

Jonathan\'s mood returns to its elevated state now that Mr. Quacks seems to have received implicit approval.

The athletic wear on the third floor receives as dedicated of a once-over as the first floor had, although cloth mountain Jr. pales in comparison to the original.

The lounge-wear gets a much more... Well... Casual approach. Though, it is by no means ignored.

Accessories get the most playful atmosphere yet. There no longer remains a single style of hat that hasn\'t been tried on by at least one of the two of them, paired with various sunglasses. With that bout of antics out of their systems, Jonathan ends up buying one of each of about half of the brimmed baseball-style caps. Lucas almost didn\'t bother getting a hat at all, but he ended up falling for a classic straw Panama hat. With a few belts, messenger bags, sunglasses, and three watches each later, they finally prepare to direct their fashion conquest towards the second floor.

As this floor\'s overworked service bot is nearing the end of its task, the employee elevator opens, letting out an unfamiliar man. Spotting the neatly folded mini cloth mountain Jr., he lets out a soft "Ah!" and comes over at a brisk walk.

Apart from the fact that his pants are tight enough to make Jonathan uncomfortable just by looking at them, he is dressed in a fairly normal, although of course fashionable, outfit. On the other hand, his curly ginger hair mixed with his caramel skin tone and brown eyes makes it seem that his heritage may be a bit more unconventional.

Once nearby, he pulls a business card out of his shirt pocket and flashes a bright smile. He maintains eye contact with Jonathan for a moment to make it clear he\'s acknowledging him before turning his attention to Lucas, holding the card out to him.

"Good evening gentlemen. My name is Mikah, and I\'ve come to speak with you on behalf of my boss, Mind Flare." While receiving the greeting, Lucas accepts the card from Mikah\'s hands.

\'Oh? That\'s a bit unexpected.\'

Mikah\'s expression softens a bit, his smile seeming more genuine now. "He wanted to take a moment and double-check that you weren\'t already registered with another organization before extending an invitation. It would have been rude to do so if you were simply unrecognized by him but already on an official roster, after all."

\'What? Oh, yeah. There\'s barely any solo supes, so assuming I was already with someone else would make sense.\'

Lucas is vaguely aware of how quiet 427 is being, almost seeming to try and reduce his presence as much as possible.

Mikah nods slightly. "Exactly."

Jonathan looks a bit confused while watching this one-sided exchange.

\'!!??\'

Mikah bursts out laughing and turns his head to face Jonathan, smiling as he tries to repress any continued laughter.

"Yes well, regardless, I wouldn\'t be doing much running anyway." As Mikah says this, Jonathan seems rather startled, but his look of confusion clears up.

\'!!??\'

Chuckling softly, Mikah waves a hand back and forth. "Sorry, I always try to make it clear right away, wouldn\'t want anyone to get mad at me once they find out later on, after all. Don\'t worry, it\'s just surface thoughts, nothing too invasive." As he says this, Lucas can\'t help frowning slightly.

After a moment\'s pause, Mikah seems to feel the need to further clarify things.

"Ah, don\'t worry about wondering if Mind Flare sent me specifically to test you or anything. I\'m simply one of the higher-ups that he trusts in general. Regardless of where your thoughts lean, I\'m merely here to pass on the invitation and to encourage you to think it over at your leisure. Showing that card to any of our store\'s service bots will also make you eligible for a discount, even if you have no intent on joining. Of course, the invitation is also extended to our young friend here, it just seemed by your previous behavior that it would be unnecessary to extend a separate invitation." Hearing Mikah\'s extended explanation, Lucas is visibly relieved. It seems Jonathan is also a touch pleased with being recognized.

"Oh, uh, thank you. It would generally be a bit weird for the big boss to go and personally invite random people, and I can\'t really think of anyone better suited for HR than a mind reader. So, yeah, makes sense." As Lucas muses this aloud, Mikah nods slightly.

"Just so. If Josephine were in today, she\'d be the one to come out to contact you most likely. Not wanting to make people uncomfortable and all. My apologies if I gave you a scare. Even if my ability makes people nervous, it\'s much more sincere than sending a random bot. No offense, 34." Seems Mikah can be a bit of a chatterbox, most likely he is used to having to over-explain himself to put people at ease.

"None taken, sir." At this point, the service bot has finished his task and seemed to not want to interrupt, and now it finally has an opportunity to speak. "If you would be so kind as to present the card so I may scan it, sir, then we can prepare your transaction for payment. Would you like everything delivered together with your previous purchase?"

"Ah, yeah, sure. Here ya go. Go pick out a few things to bring home for tonight and tomorrow Jon, we\'ll ship the rest." Lucas hands the card over to the bot, which scans it and hands it back, sets up for the scan for payment, yadda yadda.

"Well, it has been lovely to make your acquaintance. I hope you have a pleasant evening gentlemen. Please do consider our invitation, while most of our members are mental types mixed with various designers and artists, we do always strive for diversity. Now, if you\'ll excuse me." Mikah gives his parting, bowing to Lucas and then Jonathan in turn with a smile.

Lucas gives a nod in response, Jonathan looks up from poking through the neatly folded mini cloth mountain Jr. to wave with a smile and give a soft "Good bye."

A few moments after Mikah has disappeared behind the closing doors of the elevator, 427 makes a sound mimicking the deep exhale of a long-held breath.

[I wasn\'t prepared for him to suddenly show up like that. Thankfully, they don\'t seem to have any suspicions of system involvement. That could have been quite problematic. As much as I hate to say it, I might have encouraged... Pursuit of a rollback.]

Lucas gulps nervously while considering what kind of reactions the supervillains might have to discovering he is connected to Boss System.

\'You could have at least fuckin\' warned me that there was a mind reader in the building in advance!\'

-----

Lucas kills this chapter: 0

Lucas total kills: 6

Lucas deaths this chapter: 0

Lucas total deaths: 6

Lucas current GDV: 4.5 (+.01 +.01 = +.02 net change)

Jonathan current GDV: .76 (+.01 net change)

-----

Little character theater:

Jonathan is fiercely debating with himself as to which pajamas and tracksuit he wants to bring home tonight.

Lucas, still scared stiff: But like, you\'re suuure that they aren\'t suspicious?

427, fairly confident: [My scanning goes a bit deeper than his ability, such a suspicion should be fairly surface level if he was considering it. Mind readers are used to their ability being unique, so they rarely are guarded against it.]

Author, crossing their arms: Needs more Mr. Quacks.

Mr. Quacks, decisively: Quack.. (He gets the final word.)