Beneath Two Drinks Tavern, a young man watched several screens within a small room. One wall of the room was filled with the flat-screens, and the screens would occasionally switch to another camera within the city. The young man was watching all of them. His eyes flickered between the screens at a speed most people would find impossible. For most people, it would be impossible, but the young man had a superpower. A weak, but useful power.

One of the screens caught his eye. The young man began typing on his keyboard, and the camera began to zoom in to the scene. The young man noticed two costumed personal talking to each other. The young man did not know who they were and made a quick check on his computer. The results came back immediately.

“Noticed Sapfire and Flicker discussing something on Bucks Avenue. A hero and villain. What are they saying? Are they star-crossed lovers? Is Flicker an informant? Something worth looking into.”

The young man made a quick recording before turning his attention went back to the other screens. He heard approaching footsteps. Even without turning around, he knew who it was.

“Hi, dad.” The young man said. “How’s your talk with The Sweet Fist?”

Jolly Bar just scoffed. “As if you weren’t listening in the whole time. I bet you even recorded the whole thing.”

“What kind of information broker would I be if I didn’t?” The young man forced himself to turn away from the screens and turned to face his father. “But I don’t know the man. You do. What do you think?”

“He’s not telling us everything, but that’s to be expected. Some part of what he said should be true, we just don’t know which.”

“You truly believe he found this strange mystical energy called Qi?”

“I believe that he believed he found this energy. Maybe there’s some scientific or magical explanation, but that’s not our job. We are just selling the information.”

“Information we can’t verify.” The young man argued. “For all we know, the Sweet Fist could be totally delusional. We could be selling fake news.”

“So what?” Bar asked kindly. “People used information brokers to get information they can’t get from the authority or the internet. They know they are taking a risk coming to us, and they accept it as the cost of doing business. Peter, no one expect our information to be on the up-and-up all the time. That’s not the job.”

Peter Bar turned back to the screens. He knew his father was right, but it was still hard to take. He always had a hard time understanding humans. Machines were so much easier. That’s why he needed his father.

“So, you are okay with us selling the information? I know The Sweet Fist was your friend.”

“He still is. That’s why he came to us.” Peter turned and looked at his father in surprise. The older man just laughed. “You don’t think a villain as experienced as Victor knows he was being recorded? Peter, he told me all that in Two Drinks Tavern. A bar that is owned by an information broker. He wants us to spread the information.”

Peter Bar looked at his father and could not comprehend why the Sweet Fist would do that. He was about to ask his father for the reason when footage from one of the screens demanded his attention. Sapfire controlled the flames and destroyed a van. The van blew up and Flicker turned incorporated, letting the destroyed van passed through him.

“Sapfire and Flicker began fighting on Buck’s Avenue. Was the discussion earlier on an argument, or were they discussing how to stage a fight for the cameras?” Peter made another quick note to himself. It might be worth something if he can find out that hero was staging fights. Things like that were still frown upon. “Dad, are you sure The Sweet Fist want this information to spread? If you are wrong and he take over the underworld of Velocity City, it could be trouble for us?”

“I am. Even if I am wrong, the fallout will be on me. He thinks I am The Finder. He thinks you are just a pansy. Let him continue to do so. An old-timer like Victor would never imagine an information broker being two people.”

It really wasn’t. Peter was the one finding all the information. His father just handles the business end of the job, but he wasn’t going to correct his old man. It just wasn’t worth the trouble. Peter slowly smiled as he watched the screens before him. Cameras, screens, information; they were so much easier to understand.