Not the Most Amicable Situation
The first commission went without a hitch.
Mike wasted no time as he completed the task. He couldn't tell if the destroyed weapons were the ones he carried yesterday, and he honestly didn't care all that much. It was just a moment of vain curiosity that died down.
Also, he finished the task faster than he'd initially anticipated as he hadn't deactivated his aura at his low output, allowing him to transport the destroyed equipment with relative ease.
The same was the case for his second commission. Though, it still took a bit longer due to the increased distance between the disposal site and the Engineering hub, which was a large area filled with all sorts of technology, bots, ships, and vehicles.
Moreover, Mike spent quite some time absorbing a bunch of dead cores, and to his elation, his theory about them being of a higher quality compared to what the biology lab used was accurate, as he managed to scrape up a few more decimal points, though he quickly reached his cap, not that he wasn't still happy with the result.
It wasn't until he was on his way to complete his third commission at the hospital/infirmary that trouble found him.
He was a few minutes away from the building when he felt a couple of not-so-friendly gazes on him.
Looking forward, he saw about five students standing in his way on the path. Multiple students were passing to and from due to how popular the infirmary was, but his instincts let him know that he was indeed being stared at with intent.
Without hesitation, he changed direction and used a side path that would allow him to get to the hospital at the cost of wasting time, but if he could avoid a confrontation, that would be preferr—
"Hey!" Mike kept walking as he heard someone calling out to him.
"Are you deaf? We're talking to you!" He increased his pace.
"What are you- HEY!"
He started jogging before breaking into a run.
He heard more shouts behind him, but he didn't look back as he sprinted down the path, his superior stats allowing him to easily outpace his pursuers.
Soon enough, he arrived at the infirmary entrance, and he let out a breath before turning slightly.
He saw his pursuers, four boys and one girl. They were panting slightly, all of them glaring at Mike angrily.
Mike let out a relieved sigh and entered the building. It was a gamble, but with how popular the infirmary was, he guessed that making trouble there was ill-advised, and it seemed like his gamble paid off, as the five seemed reluctant to enter.
Mike decided to complete his commission before anything else.
He arrived at the front desk, and the same chubby nurse from before saw him. She seemed to be watching something from a holographic projection on her watch. She perked up when he got close and smiled.
"You again? Do you need something?" She asked, her tone amicable.
"Good morning. And yes, I came to complete a commission." Mike explained, and her eyes widened briefly before she smiled.
"Ah, you were the one who took it? Hm. Alright, then. I assume that's why you have your ability active? Those pods are quite heavy, after all." Mike blinked, then he realized she was referring to the faint blue sheen around his body.
He was about to deny it, then he paused and just nodded.
'No need for her to know the real reason.' He thought.
"Great. Follow me." She called her partner over and asked them to cover for her as she led Mike deeper into the building.
They passed by several rooms and wards, with small bots moving around carrying equipment for the staff to use.
Eventually, they reached a back entrance and went through. There, Mike saw a bunch of hover transports that were quite large. Their back doors were opened to reveal several sleek pod-looking items that had a glass film on their front, revealing a space large enough for an above-average human to fit inside.
There were about 3 of them split between three transports, so ten per vehicle.
"I'll have the bots help you get them out of the transport." The nurse offered, but Mike shook his head.
"There's no need. Thank you, though." His words surprised her.
"Oh? I understand you may be confident, but those pods are extremely heavy. No offense, but they will be hard to lift, even for you." She said with genuine concern, and Mike grinned.
"I may not look like it, but I'm actually pretty strong." He looked back at the pods. "Besides, if I can't do it, then I'll just enlist the help of the boys then." He explained calmly, and the nurse tilted her head, and then she smiled.
"Tell you what, if you can carry those pods by yourself, I'll give you a 200 credit bonus to make your payment for the commission 500 credits. How does that sound?" At that, Mike's eyes widened a bit.
"I... That'd be great, but is that okay?" He asked, a bit worried.
"It's fine. The commission was originally intended to be done with the help of bots. If you can do without them, then I might as well." She waved him off, and Mike was genuinely touched.
"Thank you, Mrs..." He trailed off.
"Nora. Call me Nora." The nurse, Nora, smiled, and Mike returned the gesture.
He then looked at the transports, and deciding not to waste time, he went to the closest one and got in.
As stated before, Mike was pretty sure, so compared to the large pods, he looked like a child, and an outsider would be right to question whether his attempting to lift the pods was a good idea.
Mike guessed the reason Nora was even giving him the benefit of the doubt—as he could sense her doubt quite clearly—was because they were in a place where people had abilities, and she most likely assumed that his ability had to do with making him stronger despite his smaller frame.
He went to the closest pod and inspected it briefly. He wondered how it worked before he squatted next to it and fit his fingers under some grooves at its base. Once he was sure he had decent purchase, he heaved and lifted.
'Oh, wow, these are actually fairly heavy.' Mike noted with surprise as he actually strained a bit to get the pod off the ground. He still did it, but it took more effort than he'd initially thought.
He could sense Nora's genuine surprise as Mike got out of the transport, once more using his senses to guide him.
"Uh, where do I take this?" He asked, remembering that he had no idea where to take it.
"O-Oh! Just follow me... wait, can you see?" Nora asked with some worry.
"Yeah! Well, no, but I can tell where you are, so it's no problem." Mike replied, sounding upbeat, since he was.
"... Hehe, you're something else." Mike sensed Nora's amusement and smiled himself.
"Alright, stay close to me, okay?" Nora said, and Mike nodded.
"Lead the way."
What followed was 2 hours of Mike going to and from the transports, carrying pods with medium effort.
Luckily, it got easier the more he did it as he got used to the weight, and Cellular Recovery once more showed its worth as whatever exhaustion he could have felt was quickly alleviated.
By the time he finished, he felt like he'd just completed a nice warmup and not spent two hours lifting several pods that probably weighed more than a ton each.
"Wow, I'll admit, I didn't think you could do it, but you proved me wrong. Moreover, you did it in record time." Nora said, sounding pleased.
"I get that a lot, but as I said, I'm stronger than I look." Mike smiled.
"Mhm, I see that now. Well, a promise is a promise." Nora fiddled with her watch for a moment, then Mike felt his watch buzzing as the credits were sent to him.
"Thank you." He said genuinely. "And if there are any more commissions like this one in the future, don't hesitate to call me." He said, and Nora nodded.
"I'll keep that in the back of my mind. Well, I won't keep you waiting any longer." Nora was about to wave him off before pausing and smiling a bit mischievously.
"Oh, and make sure to greet that lady friend of yours." She said teasingly.
Unfortunately, or maybe it was fortunate, Mike thought 'lady friend' simply meant 'female friend', so the implications flew right over his head.
"Oh, you mean Theresa?" He thought to her strange reaction to his words in the elevator yesterday.
"Uh, that's a good question, actually." He scratched his head, unsure of how to respond.
Nora seemed to 'understand'.
"Ah, I see. Situations like that can be messy. Don't worry. Just give her time to sort out her thoughts. She'll return to you eventually." She said reassuringly, and Mike gotba weird feeling from her when she said that, but it wasn't hostile, sk he just decided to roll with it.
"Thanks, Nora. See you later." He smiled and waved before striding out of the infirmary/hospital.
'Ah, he'squite adorable. That Theresa girl got quite the catch.' Nora thought as she chuckled before attending to another student.
***
'Well, that went went.' Mike thought with some satisfaction. He believed he'd managed to get on okay terms with Nora, and he even got a bonus on his commission.
'At this rate, I won't be totally hopeless when classes start.' Mike mused as he walked on one of the side paths that led to his dorm that was oddly devoid of people.
That's when he felt it.
His slight smile slowly faded, and without hesitation, he activated the voice recording function on his watch just as several students appeared and surrounded him. Compared to before, there were twelve this time, and just like before, their gazes were less-than-amicable.
"Did you seriously think you could avoid us forever?" Someone stepped forward and said with a tone of pure arrogance. Their face an irritating sneer
Mike glanced their way and immediately recognized who it was, his eyes narrowing slightly.
Theresa's sister.