"I didn't do anything against those two women. They were fans, and they wanted to team up. I told them I wanted to practice my class skills, and they willingly agreed. I'm not a nefarious person. In fact, I think I'd be a great addition to your team. Shinobi brothers!" Brody raised his fist enthusiastically.

  "Shinobi brothers!" Dusky shouted back before regaining his serious face. Maeve glared at her new companion and shook her head.

  "You won't be joining us, you manipulative asshole. What's going to stop you from using your powers on us? What's stopping you from using your powers on people against their will and making them do terrible things? Your power is dangerous and can potentially create such massive trauma that it will leave monsters in its wake after you're done with them. No… such power doesn't belong in this world. Not if I can do something about it. And trust me," Maeve had her spear slithered towards her hand, "I have something I can do about it."

  Brody gulped as he reflexively backed away from Maeve with his hands up. Before he could speak, Todd, the mad scientist, spoke up.

  "I think we should keep him." Everyone looked at Todd like he had no right to speak. "Look at your new interfaces, everyone."

  Adrian was waiting to check all the system stuff until he was done fighting for his life, but was intrigued by Todd's words.

  Party Formation is now active- You can now party with teammates.

  Inventory is now active- A dimensional space is now available to keep your loot. It's not unlimited, so don't take everything not bolted down. This isn't San Francisco. Upgradable.

  Inspect is now online- You can now gain additional information on an item, person, or etcetera! Can be upgraded.

  The Personal Interface screen is now online- You can now see your experience, spend free stat points, spend skill points, upgrade growth items, etcetera(what a great word).

  "That isn't how you're supposed to use the word etcetera…" Adrian continued to go through everything.

  "Yeah, what lunatic made this batshit AI?" Maeve muttered,

  "It was Chen," Adrian answered without hesitation.

  "... am I supposed to know who Chen is?" Adrian didn't respond to Maeve and continued reviewing everything. Maeve tsked and muttered,

  "I wonder if the Swords are still recruiting. Or at least the Conclave. Hell, I'd team up with the Funko Pops…anyone else really." She said, still hesitant on her new 'team'.

  "Hang on, look at the party features," Todd said again.

  "Not until we figure out what to do with Brody."

  Todd looked agitated at the exchange, "I'll just explain it. Once you're in a party with someone, there's no friendly fire. I could launch a fucking nuke at you guys, and you wouldn't lose a single health point. We're gonna exploit the shit out of this." Todd laughed like an evil villain before continuing, "And that means Brody won't be able to use his powers on us."

  "See! I would've never used my powers on you, beautiful people, anyway. You're like family to me. But c'mon! I received mental powers and was in a life-or-death situation. Did you really expect me not to use them?" Brody had a tear in his eye as he came up to Adrian. Todd interjected before Adrian could say anything,

  "I'd like to get this settled before we select our attunements. This group can synergize well in certain areas. Still, if Brody gets murdered excruciatingly while the two insecure women betray the Shinobi Brothers, I might have to change my attunement pick."

  "A lot to unpack in that one." Brody said, "I can pick a therapist-based Attunement to help everyone overcome the obstacles stopping you from becoming the best versions of yourselves." Brody took a mock bow, "I'm here to serve."

  One of Maeve's tattoos started glowing, but it wasn't the spear. A serpent began to form around her shoulders as she walked closer to Brody.

  "I'm not in the mood for your antics, Brody." The serpent made a lightning-quick bite towards Brody, chomping only centimeters from his face. "And I'm not in the mood to be belittled by an arrogant mad scientist. You say something like that to me again, and I'll end you."

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  Dusky decided to ignore the blatant threats on people's lives and moved the conversation forward.

  "Were the purple veins on Vegeta from you, Maeve?" Everyone was interested in the other magical tattoos on Maeve. Adrian counted 5 that he could see.

  "This is Sandra, the serpent. She can poison people, which will probably lead to a gruesome death for those who deserve it." Maeve said while looking at Brody. She was still running hot but managed to keep herself from committing any more murders.

  "Fascinating," Todd said, "this adds to the possible synergy of this group. Hear me out." Todd started to get his point across, "Dusky is a shadow assassin. Adrian is a stealth expert, Paige is an illusionist, Maeve knows poisons, and Brody here is a mind manipulator." Todd let that hang briefly before continuing, "Don't you see what this group's strength is? What this team is capable of?

  "And what do you bring to the table, Todddd. Seriously, you had the option to change your name, and you kept Todd?" Paige shook her head, looking down on Todd as much as she could, "I already question his competence."

  "Yeah, you’re the cliche smart guy who sucks at picking up social cues," Maeve said, busy with her newly acquired interface.

  "You misunderstand, Maeve." Todd said, ignoring Paige, "I'd supply everyone with the gear needed to make sure missions are successful." He smiled as he brought out a metal ball that plummeted to the ground without the slightest bounce. The ball started to transform into a futuristic skateboard. "Plus, I can make some cool shit."

  "Hmmph." That was all he got from Maeve, while Paige looked excited and inched closer to the skateboard with wide eyes.

  Maeve got up and walked over to Brody with Sandra on her shoulder. She stared daggers at Brody before relaxing her shoulders and sighing,

  “He can live… for now. But swear I’ll watch the life drain from your eyes as I stab you if you do one thing out of line. Got it, douchebag?”

  Brody nodded furiously and began to realize his life wasn’t over.

  They looted the place clean with the rest of the convention combatants. Cash's group took liberty with a lot of the loot, much to the dismay of everyone else. It simply wasn't worth the fight when everyone still got good items.

  When they made it outside, they didn't find the sky falling with aliens descending on the planet. The sky was still blue, Lake Erie was still there, and the streets of Cleveland were empty and depressing. Everything seemed normal. Paige pointed to a building that was on fire a few blocks away, with smoke rising in the distance, but the city stood.

  Wolff, the leader of the other larger group, expressed his dissatisfaction with Cash's group to Adrian's squad after the fight with the mini-boss. Wolff said his group decided to be called the Conclave of Cleveland while confirming Cash's group is going as the Swords of Ontario Street.

  "They are going to be a problem. We'll probably have to deal with them again on the outside, I know it. It may all look the same outside, but it's a brand new world." Wolff proclaimed.

  "A problem for another day, Wolff," Adrian said. "They didn't try to murder anyone who didn't stand with them, so there's that." Adrian shrugged, putting some newly looted items into a non-magical gift bag.

  "We'll play nice, but as you said, it's a new world, and we won't tolerate tyrants." Maeve added before her face twisted, "If Cash's group or any group abuses their power, then we'll hunt them down and touch ourselves to the tortured screams, laughing as they beg us for the sweet release of death." Maeve smirked at Wolff, crossing her arms, showing she didn't trust him either.

  "Uh, we're just a group that likes watching anime. Ruling the world doesn't sound appealing to us." Wolff said, trying to hide the fear in his eyes.

  These women are scary.

  "Anyways, we were hoping to become allies. Not sure if our paths will cross again, but I'd like us to leave here friends and not enemies."

  "You have friends in us, Wolff," Paige answered, trying to ease the tension created by Maeve.

  "We'll figure it out once we leave this place. Feels like we've been here for weeks." Adrian added.

  "And it's only been a few hours. Time flies when you gain magical powers from an AI and have to fight for your life against a bunch of toys. I'll see ya around." Wolff paused for a second. "Wait, what should we call your group?"

  "We're the Shinobi Bros!" Duskwalker shouted, jumping on Adrian’s back to ensure his voice was heard. Maeve bopped him on the top of the head,

  "Like fuck are we calling ourselves that! We should be something more like.. The Valkyrie and their Subservient Men."

  "That's shit." Adrian chimed in as Wolff regretted asking the question. Adrian eventually replied, "No team name yet, but you should know our description enough to piece it together if we don't see you."

  "Yeah… well, we gotta go." And Wolff left with more giddyup in his step than when he came.

  Making friends everywhere we go.

  Adrian didn't waste any more time thinking about their conversation with Wolff and opened up his new notifications.

  Quest: Stop the Funko Pops

  Objective: Eliminate all Funko Pops with a survival rate of 80%- Complete!

  Commencing reward. Standby.

  This was Adrian's first quest completion. Nexus never gave more than the bare minimum in terms of information, but hoped quest rewards didn't suck. He kept reading while waiting for Nexus to deliver his reward.

  Quest: Defeat Vegeta

  Objective: Defeat Vegeta- Complete!

  Bonus Objective: Defeat Vegeta without casualties- Failed!

  Bonus Objective: Defeat Vegeta within one hour. You know how these Saiyans are hard to put down- Complete!

  Commencing reward. Standby.

  Bonus Objective: Defeating Vegeta in 8 minutes.

  Bonus Reward: Early access to the Pre-Initiation Phase [II] Interface

  I wonder what kind of rewards I’ll get.