Marius woke the others with loud claps, causing Varanelli to stir with a mumbled “can we go home yet?”

“You’ll be released soon,” Marius said. “But first we need to set up the training agenda for the next week or two.”

Varanelli, Spencer, and Srinivas stood at the insistence of Marius, each of them looking to be on the verge of passing out. “So the results of tonight’s exercise are better than I expected. Kendra only attuned as a teleotic, but the rest of you had more success. Erica is what we call a brute, capable of using both the kinetic and teleotic talents. Srinivas is a siren with the teleotic and noetic talents. And the star of the night, Mike, has become a paragon.”

Srinivas bobbed his head and muttered a “good job, Mike.”

“I will be leaving town for a time to recruit elsewhere. While I am gone, I expect a lot of training to occur. Mike, you will put in eight hours of solo training time every day. On top of that, you will meet with Erica and Srinivas on alternating evenings for four hours of partnered training.”

Mike’s mind-vasting covered over his exhaustion enough that he could instantly jump into the conversation. “You’re talking about twelve hours of training a day, boss. That’s not even possible with work.”

“You no longer have a day job,” Marius said. “I can arrange for you to make more money than you did previously.”

“Couple of problems with that. One: if I quit my job, it screws over Srinivas. Two: the IRS garnishes my wages and I can get in serious trouble if even one payment is missed.”

Marius threw his arms up dramatically. “You’re worried about tax collectors? What are they going to do, send a summons to appear in court? Have law enforcement officers put you in jail? Mike, other than a couple Angmari, I am the power on this planet. The world doesn’t know it yet, but it will.

“You have only two items to concern you going forward. First, not to disappoint your commanding officer. That’s me. Second, not to get caught by the Angmari. You won’t have to worry about that until we begin operating more openly.”

Srinivas groaned. “I am very much tired, Marius. And tomorrow it is sounding such that Mike is giving resignation. Can I go home to bed?”

“Very well,” Marius said. “Erica will train with Mike tomorrow night. Technically tonight, I guess. And the day after with Srinivas. Mike will arrange the training locations with each of you. I suggest keeping the seven o’clock start time. Off to bed with you.”

Spencer and Srinivas stumbled off into the night, then Marius walked with Mike and Varanelli towards her car. Mike took the keys off his roommate and served as chauffeur to get his two passengers safely to the apartment. Varanelli went straight to her room on arrival while Marius scribbled down a training plan on a series of sticky notes.

“For the immediate future, your goal is to maximize the amount of precursor you can handle. All the night lessons we’ve done should have given you a solid base to start from, but we want more power. Work all three talents in equal amounts to keep roughly in balance. You’ll figure out why that’s important on your own. Don’t get caught using superpowers unless you want an Angmari task force to murder you. The lessons with Erica and Srinivas are going to be more skill based.”

“About that . . . I’m not sure me and Spencer working one on one is a great idea.”

Marius leveled a finger in Mike’s face. “Remember my point about not disappointing me? My instructor would have killed you by now for backtalk.”

“Well, Varanelli won’t like it,” Mike said.

“That’s not in any way relevant.” Marius went back to his writing. “Just follow my instructions, Mike. I will leave you the thousand dollars I promised. When I return in a week or so, we will figure out what your cash flow situation is and set a budget. If you need more before then, you have my permission to steal small amounts so long as you don’t get caught.”

Mike accepted a book made of sticky notes and a wad of cash as Marius went out the front door. He found his bed and passed out within moments of releasing the nous vasting his mind.

Hours later, he briefly awoke to the sound of Varanelli cursing as she rushed about the apartment, late for work. He almost got up himself before remembering he was quitting his job. Mike drifted back to sleep and didn’t get out of bed until noon.

At that point, Mike drove into work for the last time. An exhausted Srinivas eyed him as he walked into the room they shared. “Marius gave you certain instructions, Mike . . . .”

“Relax, Srinivas, I’m just putting in my official resignation and cleaning out my desk.” He sat down at the computer terminal and typed up a brief email indicating that for personal reasons he had to quit his job without notice. He struck a ‘very regretful but has to be done’ tone. Then he sent it to Srinivas, human resources, and the director of operations.

Once that had been taken care of, Mike began packing his belongings. Not one, not two, but three mugs went into a repurposed garbage bag to be taken home. So did the plaque from the last employee picnic, where he had won the silly games contest. A lot of snacks went into the bag – protein bars, trail mix, beef jerky, gummy worms, wasabi peas. As he packed up, Mike began to suspect his beer gut may in fact be a junk food gut.

Srinivas finished up something at his desk and came over to inspect Mike’s work. “Be sure to take away notebook with drawing of Carl defecating in customer order.”

A giggle later, Mike patted Srinivas on the back. “Oh, I think I’ll leave that for someone to find. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

“Yes, we will do good training together.” Srinivas stuck out his hand. “Sorry to see you end career, Mike. I am hoping your new one bring you much success.”

Mike shook the offered hand. “Thanks, Srinivas. I will miss having you as a lunch buddy, but the rest of this place . . . not so much.”

“Do you really hold QA in low esteem?”

Mike shrugged. “I’m turning forty in another year, Srinivas. You’re great, but I can’t help but feel a bit like a failure when my boss is still in his twenties. This paragon thing is my last chance to make good in life. Let’s see if I can manage not to screw it up.”

“You will have bright future, Mike. Right now it is lunch time, though. Where do you want to eat?”