The Beyonder Esper (A "The Legendary Mechanic" Fan Fiction)

Chapter 9: Reunion and Departure

Before everyone could disperse, Hal Taifeng motioned toward the six who had been on the stage. This was a call to meet, so one by one, the selected people gathered around the Beyond Grade A Super. Once all had arrived, an assistant appeared from behind Hal Taifeng and started handing out communicators. She had the appearance of a beautiful and stern secretary, with the addition of elven ears. Han Xiao's secretary quote came to Min's mind.

Speaking in his typical, elegant voice, Hal Taifeng spread an arm, using the other to hold his cane. "For your bravery and persistence, I will be transferring 1,000 Enas to your accounts. The other survivors will also receive compensation from me, but this is something extra."

Everyone, including Min, looked at each other excitedly. 1,000 Enas was a vast sum, more than most people's yearly salary. Even Kerlodd, the Grade C Godora Investigator that Han Xiao kidnapped and robbed, had an income only slightly higher than this.

Hal Taifeng bid everyone farewell before turning and leaving. These communicators were essentially mass-produced tablets with a slightly futuristic design, and though Min had seen them before, the communicator's design still made him feel disappointed. On the bright side, there were probably zanier communicator designs out there, so he could just buy those if he wanted one.

He turned the communicator on and was prompted with a login screen. As he did not know his account's username or password, he used a biological login option. One could use fingerprints, a retina scan, facial recognition, and many other ways to log in. These options could be calibrated in an account's settings and were optional.

The communicator's detector scanned his eyes before confirming his identity and giving him access to the account. It gave Min the option to sync device settings, but he declined. The previously tech-savvy kid's settings would probably confuse the now grandpa-like Min. So, he tapped the complete reset button.

Min looked at the blank slate of a communicator that he had and frowned. Since he wasn't the type to not ask for help in an effort to preserve his ego, he looked up from the communicator. But almost everyone else had run off! The only one present was Gin, someone he only had a cordial relationship with. They respected each other's space back in the Arena, but they were both free men now.

"Yo, Gin. Can you help me out? I'm a noob when it comes to these communicators."

While he would call himself a grandpa, this would not make sense in the Universe. After all, communicators had been around for centuries, so almost every grandpa was used to them by now. Gin nodded and stepped to Meng Min's side and helped him navigate the program store.

But the Elf thought back to Gin's story. Was he truly a Grade E Mechanic? It would line up with Gin's character information since it was all question marks when Min had last checked, but the paranoid Min always thought of every possibility. His question should be innocent enough, so Meng Min decided to ask.

"By the way, Gin... is what he said true? That you're a Grade E Mechanic native to this planet?"

"It's as His Excellency says. I downloaded the essential apps for you, so farewell. May we meet again in a better setting."

Min hesitated. It seemed like Gin was telling the truth, and the only way to confirm his gnawing suspicion would be to whack the guy. With the sight of Gin's shrinking back, Min decided that randomly assaulting someone was a bad idea, so he let it go.

As Meng Min returned to Damira, tens of spaceships flew above them. Residents were both arriving and leaving to pick up their loved ones. Many of those kept by the Arena had been local Baluk residents, after all. Though, some came to collect the corpses of the guards. They, too, had families.