"Wait, wait, hold the phone. Do you own Musculo? Are you high? You live on Level One, dude." Ronny waved his hand in front of his face, dismissing the notion entirely.

Ryan blinked up at him, "Wanna bet?" Apparently, blood loss made the Titan sassy. 

So tired...

Ronny squinted at him, "What's the bet? I don't do vague promises!"

Ryan laughed, which turned into a bloody cough before he said, "That I can show you at least two shocking things tonight."

The teen deadpanned, "Dude, that's so vague, I can't even see the water, murky or otherwise."

Ryan raised his eyebrows, surprised even that hurt, and challenged, "Go into my room and turn on the lights."

Ronny lifted his eyebrows and shrugged before he spun on his heel and took a few steps into Ryan's room. Ryan heard the teen command the lights to turn on, and then nothing for a few moments.

Ryan struggled to sit up only to see Ronny slowly backing out of the Titan's room, his mouth gaping.

"There's one down," Ryan couldn't help but rub it in. At least his life was as shocking as he thought.

"Wahaat- what the hell happened, dude? Did your brother do this? Your fucking capsule..." No sooner had he said it, Ronny covered his mouth and winced.

Ryan stared at him, face blank and eyes half-shut, waiting. 

The blond teen squirmed in place, but Ryan was determined to belabor the elephant in the room.

"So...I might have heard more than I said?" Ronny scratched the back of his head and avoided eye contact.

Ryan sighed, "Whatever. Yes, my brother did that, and this," the giant waved his free hand at himself. 

"How about, in return for nosiness, you run in and grab my pants? They're by the capsule. I at least need some pants," tired from sitting up, Ryan lay back down despite the pain in his back.

"Ah, yeah, hold on," the teen scampered into the room to retrieve Ryan's pants.

Not that far off from my old bed...

Wait. Wait, wait, wait! Ronny took Ryan's old bed when he delivered the capsule, which was now a crackling wreck. The giant had nowhere to sleep!

Ryan sighed something that was turning into a habit, and shrugged to himself. If events went according to plan, the Titan might be able to deal with it along the way.

A few moments after, Ronny ran into the giant's room, and the teen returned, holding Ryan's black pants and shoes. 

Grateful for both, Ryan painfully struggled into the pants and shoes. Ronny turned around, giving the Titan some semblance of dignity. Once he was dressed, sans shirt since Ryan didn't want to ruin it, the giant encouraged Ronny to help him up.

"Just stay there for now. I've got something better." Ronny fliped his AR active again and started waving his hand around with a smirk on his face.

Bemused, Ryan sat against the grey wall, waiting. A few minutes later, a mag-lev trolley, the same Ronny used for deliveries, came hovering down the center of the wide hallway. 

After a bit of struggling, Ronny helped the Titan into the back of the trolley. 

"Are you sure you want to go to Musculo? It's a bit of a trek for nothing if you're crazy." Ronny rested his arm on the back of the trolley's pilot seat.

Ryan was too tired to answer, so he gave the teen a thumb's up. Ronny shrugged and started the trolley back toward the service elevators. The giant lay back in the spacious delivery box, reopened wounds bleeding into his lab coat. Without realizing it, Ryan drifted to sleep, lulled by the mag-lev's humming.

What felt like moments later, the giant felt a hand shake him. 

"Wake up, man! Come on; we're here. Time for your miracle." Ronny shook the Titan awake, careful not to move him too roughly. 

Ryan blinked, rubbing more dried blood away from his eyes, "How long was I out?"

Ronny shrugged, "I don't know when you fell asleep, exactly, but the trip took half an hour," the teen reached up to scratch his head, "As I said, it's a bit of a trek." 

Behind the blond was an enormous building covered in two-way glass panels. "Musculo" was written vertically in red neon letters from the top of the building to just below the entrance.

A long time passed since the last time Ryan visited one of the gyms, but it was still impressive to look at. The two-way glass, a luxury never seen on the lower levels, reflected the image of the bloody Titan inside the delivery trolley. Behind him, the rest of the businesses lit up the mirrored glass, painting brilliant neon colors on the building's surface.

It was like they all competed to grab more attention. The brightest peacock wins in the worlds of capitalism and animals. 

Despite his previous bravado, Ryan hesitated to leave the trolley. The flatbed delivery device somehow felt safer. The Titan reflected on the night, trying to stoke his anger again. 

"Hurry up, dude. You still have a bet to lose."

Ronny's goad broke Ryan's paralysis. Chastized, the Titan gingerly swung himself out of the trolley's bed. The blond teen stepped up to his side, supporting the giant's shoulder so he could get to his feet.

With the other student's help, Ryan managed to walk to the glass doors. A breath of relief left both of them when they slid away on their own. Musculo was open 24/7 because it was convenient for their high-paying clients. 

The student body itself especially abused the gyms in Apostle. Business hours were a thing of the past in the Stellar Age. 

A dark tiled floor with flakes of red matched the building's outer aesthetic as the two young men staggered into the lobby. Ten meters from the entrance, the attendant behind the counter, partially hidden by AR screens, stared at the bloody pair, wide-eyed.

Under the counter, the worker's fingers already drummed on the silent panic button like a machine gun's fire.

Ronny nodded his head at the check-in counter, to which Ryan grunted in agreement. The two shuffled over to the terrified attendant, who wasn't even trying to hide the button-mashing now.

Just before the two of them stepped up to the AR screens, a security guard rushed in to block them.

"Hey, you can't be in here! I need you to leave, now!" The guard, dressed in a navy blue uniform and holding his stun baton, barked his demands at the students. When Ryan looked up to meet his eyes, the guard's tanned face turned pale.

In front of him was a Titan. An injured one. The man could hear the U.A. knocking on his door already if this turned into an incident.

"W-why are you here?" The guard's voice was a little more amicable the second time.

Ryan snorted and pointed at the AR screens over the man's head, "I'd like to check in." I don't have time to explain myself to everyone right now.

Like most people, the guard tracked Ryan's arm with his eyes and looked up. Ronny, pressed to Ryan's side to support the Titan, huffed quietly. Ryan smirked when he heard it, recalling their interaction earlier.

"Check-in? Sir, you..." The guard trailed off awkwardly as he stared at the two of them. If the man excluded all the blood, the Titan was still shirtless, and neither of them looked like they could afford to go in.

Frustrated and getting tired again, Ryan stumbled forward. The giant stretched out his right hand, releasing Ronny's shoulder, and leaned into the guard's space.

Alarmed at the sudden invasion, the guard lashed out with his stun baton. The blow just connected when Ryan swiped his Com-Ring through the AR interface. 

Behind the guard, on the female attendant's side of the counter, her screen started to flash. 

Ronny ducked away from the scuffle and watched the guard's baton discharge against Ryan's ribs, but the Titan seemed unphased.

Truthfully, Ryan wasn't. The initial blow irritated his injuries, but the charge inside the baton wasn't enough to disturb his nervous system like a normal person's. Titan-grade stun-guns and prods once existed, but their use was forbidden outside of the military. 

The diabolical implements were once used to punish the Titans in the Intelligen Army, and many of the Titans were government officials now. The near-ageless giants resented their existence.

Plus, the damned things would fry a normal person in an instant. 

"Carl, stop! Look at this!" The attendant behind the counter screamed at the guard to get his attention.

Carl looked up and met Ryan's eyes far above his head. The Titan leaned over, hand on the counter, and stared back at the guard, waiting. 

Carl gulped and realized that he still held down the baton's stun button. Startled and frightened, he stepped away from the bloody Titan and side-stepped his way around the counter.

The attendant quickly pulled him over to her screen, pointing frantically. Carl read the information on the screen, his head switching back and forth to stare at Ryan and the screen. As his eyes tracked down the screen, Carl began to sweat visibly.

Unsure what they were reading exactly, Ryan asked, "Is everything in order?" His gravelly voice startled the two Musculo employees, forcing them to look at him again.

"Y-yes, sir...sir, I am so sorry for the misunderstanding..." Carl tried to apologize, but Ryan waved it away. 

In Ryan's opinion, he'd side with them if he wasn't the one living this crap. 

"Don't worry about it. I look like hell. It makes sense that you'd react that way," Ryan tried to hurry through the platitudes, "Take me to my office, or whatever can serve as my office." 

One of the first things Ryan learned from his brother was to speak with authority when people needed instruction. As part of their family's strict personal education, the lessons were skills developed in his formative years. 

In the early days, John only beat Ryan when he made a mistake. So Ryan learned to answer perfectly as his next defense after masking pain. The Titan put on the face he needed, one of a "Harringer."

"Of course, Sir! Right, this way." Carl, eager to make up for attacking the boss, jumped on the opportunity to direct Ryan to the branch's head office. 

Behind Ryan, Ronny was left gobsmacked once more. The blond teen blinked, sure he imagined things, and a Level One resident wasn't getting ushered into an executive office. 

Ryan then turned around and frowned at the teen, "You coming?"

Ronny jumped, "Me? Come with you?" He pointed at himself and the Titan.

Ryan shrugged, "I said I would show you at least two shocking things tonight if you helped me. Call me a sore winner." Something about the teen made Ryan want to keep him around. 

"You don't have to," the Titan tried to give him an out anyway.

Ronny paused, thinking to himself. After everything that happened that night, even before meeting the Scarecrow again, he figured anything could happen.

"Why not? How deep does the rabbit hole go, anyway?" The teen joked as he walked over to Ryan's side and supported him to follow the guard.

Ryan leaned on the smaller man and grunted, "Pretty deep, but just here and one other place tonight."

The trio boarded a posh elevator, and Carl sent them to the top floor. The guard continued to sweat nervously, replaying the tussle from before in his mind. The man was certain he would lose his job that night.

The elevator opened directly into another lobby. A black-haired assistant sat behind a much nicer desk outside a wall of opaque glass. 

As the trio stepped out of the elevator, the assistant lept to her feet, startled by the bloody Titan behind Carl.

Carl waved his hands to calm her down and rushed over. The two held a whispered conversation, but not so quiet that Ronny couldn't overhear words like "owner," "absent CEO," and some other juicy tidbits.

The teen glanced up at Ryan, intensely curious who the Titan really was.

Their conversation finished; Carl waved the two students into the office. Melissa, according to her nametag, opened the doors for the trio. 

As he passed her, Ryan stopped and asked, "Melissa, which line do I dial for the corporate office?"

Melissa jumped, not expecting the blood-stained owner of Musculo would talk to a mid-level assistant.

"Uh...line nine, sir!" The assistant was so flustered she bowed at the waist, blushing furiously and unsure how to talk to a CEO.

Ryan flinched, unused to people bowing to him as his family members might be. 

"Thank you," he tried to keep the interaction brief. When they were inside, Ryan assured Carl he didn't need anything else but to expect someone soon. When they showed up, he must bring them to Ryan quickly.

Carl saluted stiffly and left. 

Finally, alone, Ryan asked Ronny to help him to the desk. The Titan looked around the office after he eased into the executive chair. To his left was an entire wall of an aquarium filled with exotic fish. 

Whoever uses this office normally probably installed that to inspire grandeur in business clients. Regardless of his personal taste, Ryan admitted the aquarium was impressive. In front of the desk were two low-backed chairs, and behind those chairs were a pair of dark couches. Chrome finishings glinted on the frames of all the furniture.

Ronny ran to the nearest couch and jumped onto it face-first, only to bounce onto the floor and start coughing. The light from the aquarium cast a shadow over the teen from the couch.

"W-why the hell are they so hard?" The teen rubbed his throat and chest to ease the stiff pain.

Ryan shrugged, "They always are. Only this chair is comfortable. The rest of the furniture is designed to keep clients on their toes- and out of the office quickly." Unused to the opulence of the office, Ryan reached for the executive AR display.

"Why would someone buy such awful furniture if it's so expensive?" Ronny complained to his companion, his excitement somewhat stifled now that he knew the fancy furniture was uncomfortable.

Ryan cycled to the call option and dialed nine while he answered, "Branch managers typically work hard to get their positions. Then they work even harder to do nothing at all," the Titan shrugged at the teen as the line rung. 

His years spent at the bottom of his brother's pit only brightened when Ryan "shadowed" his brother to corporate meetings via AR streams. The colossus never believed he would actually apply any of his old lessons, and dialing a corporate office as the CEO was surreal.

After that, a man picked up the call, and Ryan busied himself acting authoritatively. At first, the giant had to prove his identity, but he demanded that the nearest financial officer be sent to him once that was made clear.

Ronny watched his mysterious Titan companion act like a CEO, puzzling over the mystery that was Ryan. 

Before Ronny encountered him that night, the two never spoke. As it turned out, the two students lived next to each other but had radically different schedules. Ryan was always gone to labs or work, so they never met.

But, Ronny heard of the Scarecrow from rumors. The "Ghost of the Science Department," the man was supposedly reclusive. At the level of classes the giant attended, few people actually encountered the Titan throughout his day.

He preferred it that way.

Yet here, Ronny watched the "recluse" boss around executives in the middle of the night. 

Does a disabled person own a cutting-edge gym brand? How is this real? Ronny chomped at the bit to ask Ryan more questions as the Titan finished his call.

Ryan sighed as he hung up before he looked at Ronny, "Okay, ask. I'll try to answer."

"How do you own Musculo and live on Level One? Why does a cripple own gyms? Why did your brother destroy your room? And finally, why aren't you going to a hospital?" Ronny rushed through his questions so fast he sucked air at the end.

Ryan thought about how he wanted to answer before he explained, "I can't say much about my family, but suffice to say that they are wealthy beyond imagination," Ryan continued carefully, "My...brother...is jealous, greedy, and a sociopath."

Ronny went to ask more questions, and Ryan held up a hand to stop him.

"When I came of age, I was supposed to receive a nest egg of companies and funds to start my life in the corporate world," the Titan paused, unsure what to say.

"Well, don't stop now. This is better than dramas." Ronny urged Ryan to continue.

"When I was young, my father was supposed to give me our family's...unique education. He gave up teaching me when I was four and handed the task to my brother." The Titan huffed and said, "He was harsh at first, but just abusive later. I wasn't born disabled." 

The teen's mouth hung open as he realized the implication in Ryan's words.

Ryan rushed to answer the last two questions, "My brother took my nest egg and put me under contract to stay at Apostle. Leaving Musculo in my name was just a slap in the face- he's always had the paycheque sent to his account."

"Okaaay, that's a lot to digest," Ronny sat in one of the chairs facing the desk and asked, "But, if that's true, why are you here?"

"To have a chance at resisting my brother, I need to be whole again. The only way to start that journey is to remove his physical threat. I need to receive an R.N.R.- the Rejuvinizing Nanite Rebirth." As Ryan stated his goal aloud, his nervous energy began to return, making his limbs shake.

Or blood loss, whose to say? Ryan chuckled to himself.

"And? Isn't your brother stealing all your money? The R.N.R costs fifty million credits, dude. Musculo is big, sure, but how are you certain they'll give you the money?" The teen started to make himself comfortable, slouching in the chair and putting his feet on Ryan's desk.

"I'm going to sign a contract with Musculo to receive a sufficient advance on my pay. In return, I will find a way to pay the sum back in the next twelve months." Before tonight the prospect of paying back the credits daunted Ryan, but his initial interaction with that streamer in Frontier Online gave him hope.

If Ryan could get back into the game, he might have a future, but first, he needed to give himself a fighting chance in the real world.

AN:

Thank you for reading the newest chapter! As always, let me know if you see a typo, and I will fix it ASAP!

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