Lucas finally thaws enough to attempt to answer Miss Chievous’s question.

“Er… No..? It doesn’t have anything to do with you guys. Everything that has happened has… really been a bunch of coincidences. It, uh, honestly doesn’t have anything to do with anyone in particular… As long as none of you actively do something that gets in the way, it shouldn’t have any direct impact on you guys, I guess..?” Lucas’s resounding lack of confidence in his tone manages to even make him feel less sure about what he’s saying.

[Lucas, you really shouldn’t be giving any more information than is absolutely necessary... It may seem harmless enough to you, but who knows what they’ll come up with, based on the information you give them…]

‘Tryin’ to be mysterious didn’t help us any either though, yeah?’

[...Even still, try to be more careful.]

Miss Chievous and Miss Masher briefly look at each other with odd expressions. Both of them then look outside the elevator to double-check that no one is immediately in sight nearby. Satisfied with what they see, Miss Chievous nods at Miss Masher, who shrugs back at her.

Miss Masher then finally makes the first move to leave the elevator, looking around to ensure that no one was just out of line-of-sight around the doors. She turns to give Miss Chievous a thumbs up, then takes a few more steps away and stops to wait for them, leaving room for them to exit.

Miss Chievous looks at Lucas with an unreadable expression for a few moments longer before finally asking her real question.

“Well, if there’s nothing against us then… Is there any way that we can get in on it? It seems to be working ridiculously well for you, from what we have seen of it.” Upon Miss Chievous making this request, Lucas awkwardly opens his mouth and hesitates for a few seconds before saying anything.

"That… er, it isn't so simple… and, it's already bad enough that I dragged Jon into it… Uh, if the three of you are fine with sometimes helpin' a bit without knowing exactly why, I guess we could give you some of the money for it. I mean, that's all that you're really concerned with anyway, yeah?" Upon Lucas mentioning the fact that he’s the one who brought Jonathan into the mess, Miss Chievous doesn’t even try to hide her look of surprise.

By the time he’s finished speaking, her look of surprise has changed into a pensive expression.

[...You need to be more careful than that. Goodness.]

‘I mean, won’t Mary be too busy trying to figure out how it’s all related to really consider the fact that all we’re doing is just random ‘good’ things? And, it would only be for the really big stuff anyway, yeah? Like, if me and Jon get stuck after a few rollbacks, or if somethin’ will obviously be too big of a pain in the ass for just the two of us before we even start?’

[...There was no need to mention the fact you effectively recruited Jonathan yourself, though. But… yes, I suppose Miss Calculated would be too focused on finding deeper meaning behind what you two are up to, that the simple explanation of ‘doing good’ probably wouldn’t hold any weight in her mind. At least, short of her discovering information about the system. Even then, if she sees the two of you being chaotic often enough, she could very well decide to rule that out… The two of you hardly give a very heroic impression.]

‘Working as intended!’

[...You’re taking more credit than you necessarily deserve.]

‘HEY!’

Miss Chievous sighs and shakes her head, then starts to hurry out of the elevator upon realizing that the doors are starting to close.

Once she’s out of the way enough that Lucas can exit as well, she turns to look at him again.

“I can’t help but think that you’re getting more perks than just the cash… But, I guess it’s not surprising that it’s not as simple as just asking to join in… Do we need to prove our usefulness, or resourcefulness, or something? But, yeah, hit us up whenever you could use a hand, I can’t help but think it’s going to always be easy money, compared to what we’re used to.” As Miss Chievous is saying this, she can’t help snorting with amusement when Lucas gains a slightly offended expression when she says it will be easy money.

“Tch, forget you. Like we’d bother callin’ over the easy shit.” Lucas’s answer as he is walking past Miss Chievous in the direction of the main entrance to MF’s makes her laugh.

“Keep that attitude up, and Mary will just figure out how to get us in and take your job from you entirely!” When Miss Chievous taunts back, Lucas just rolls his eyes and snorts.

“Yeah, right.” Lucas’s blasé attitude makes Miss Masher chuckle a few times, whereas Miss Chievous outright laughs again.

‘...Tch, if only. Ah, crap, Mary’s going to really actively try to look into things, isn’t she? ...Think we can keep her busy with other shit until she hopefully doesn’t have the interest or energy to try to dig up info on the system?’

[In the short term, certainly. However, I highly doubt it would work for long. Sheer curiosity would take over eventually, without even taking into account the desire for profiting off of it. Besides, she probably would realize you’re actively trying to distract her before very long, which would end up incentivizing her further.]

Lucas somehow manages to fight back the urge to sigh.

Trying not to make it obvious that he’s in a hurry, Lucas is internally struggling to maintain a leisurely pace as the three of them walk out of the store. In an attempt to further reinforce this casual image, he even tucks his hands into his trouser pockets.

Between the various arrangements of racks and tables of merchandise, myriad product displays, and the steadily flowing traffic outside, none of the three of them have a clear view of the cafe that poor Jonathan is fighting in, even though there are the massive floor-to-double-height-ceiling windows surrounding the building.

‘...And even if Mary doesn’t find nuttin’ when trying to figure out what’s the deal with me and Jon, the act of her lookin’ for that info can be enough to tip off someone that does know… Even if she doesn’t directly admit why she’s lookin’ into it, it won’t be hard for some paranoid system-hater to put together the fact she started lookin’ after spendin’ time with us…’

[...Exactly. This may prove rather problematic. However, I wouldn’t go scrambling for a rollback until an issue actually arises. All three of their GDVs have improved perforce of your and Jonathan’s company today. If continued interactions lead to further gains, it may just be a matter of time until they join as well. We just need to hope that no one sets off any alarms before reaching that point.]

‘Oh yeah? So, do any of ‘em look like they’d get close anytime soon? You said earlier that, uh… Maria’s the highest, somehow, yeah?’

[Correct. They’re still all firmly in the negatives, but if these sort of second-hand increases continue, I’d say at least one of them will be joining us within a few years’ time. That is, barring you or Jonathan scheming to intentionally drag them in, which I highly advise against. The moment one of them joins, I’m sure the other two will know all about the system in short order. If they have any reason to believe you intentionally conned them into joining, instead of it occurring naturally, there could be some serious consequences if Miss Calculated takes offense.]

‘...You said there’s penalties for -1 GDV net loss in a day, yeah? ...Mary could totally make sure their actions hits -.99 exactly every day, couldn’t she..?’

[If she truly wanted to, yes, I’m sure she could. I doubt it would take her very long to get a firm grasp on how Boss System’s whims influence GDV gains and penalties, if she really put her mind to it.]

‘...Ooh, she could even do point fixing… They could power-level the one that’s in the system while the other two are hella villainous to make her super-powerful… Not gonna lie, I’m kinda curious what she’d come up with. Not that I wanna get stuck dealin’ with it.’

[Please, do not even joke about it.]

‘Tch, fine.’

Once they’re near the currently-shut double-doors that serve as the storefront, an idling bot nearby walks over to open the doors for them.

“Should I inform Mind Flare of your departure?” The bot swivels its head to look at them as it pulls one of the doors open, its attention eventually settling on Lucas.

“Oh, uh, no need. We’ll be back in a bit, just runnin’ over to get some snacks and drinks at the cafe over there.” Lucas was caught off guard, but he manages to answer convincingly enough.

“Very well. See you soon.” It proceeds to hold open one of the doors so the three of them may pass through, shutting it behind them once they’re all outside.

Standing on the wide platform stairs in front of MF’s Fashion Boutique, Lucas takes a deep breath, then finally looks directly at the cafe diagonally across the busy intersection.

His breath hitches when he sees the sorry state its storefront is in.

‘...Fuck.’

-----

Lucas’s total kills: 7

Lucas’s total deaths: 11

Lucas’s total assists: 1

Lucas’s current GDV: 17.43 [Recalculating...]

Lucas’s fame level: 6.0* (Local fame is completely maxed, he’s creeping up on minor celebrity status even on a global scale. Thanks, internet.)

Lucas's hero suspicion level: 2.0*

Jonathan’s total kills: 7

Jonathan’s total deaths: 4

Jonathan’s current GDV: 6.10 [Recalculating...]

Jonathan's fame level: 4.0* (Local fame is near-max, but everyone thinks of him via his affiliation with Lucas, and not often just for him, alone.)

Jonathan's hero suspicion level: 2.5*

Willy's fame level: 4.75* (Recently increased thanks to a new wave of memes featuring him and Mr. Quacks.)

Mr. Quacks’s fame level: 5.25* (Recently increased thanks to a new wave of memes featuring him and Willy.)

Supervillain social circle size: 15

-----

Little character theater:

Jonathan is basically asking for another bout of power fatigue, with how much he’s zipping around inside the front section of the store. More often than not, he’s a bouncing blur, only occasionally stopping long enough to taunt the medically-mindless menace into keeping his agro on him. At least it’s effective.

Willy has passed the twitchy-dream phase, and now has rolled over, managing to mostly pull the blanket back on top of himself. It’s hard work being a pup.

Lucas, freezing in place for a few more moments as he stares, slack-jawed: ...Guess we’re not gonna get full credit for minimizing property damage, huh?

427, seriously running calculations: [Well, certainly not FULL credit, but not as bad as you may be dreading. This is within the projected estimates, and he has successfully prevented any potential casualties, thus far.]

Author, smiling at the audience: Gee, do you think the sisters are gonna help out with this one?

Mr. Quacks and Quackette are inside the bakery case, on their third snack each, since not even the service bots staffing the area are paying any attention to them at this point: Quack!