Chapter 3

After Alva had gotten far enough away from that classless fellow, he started to ponder.

"Now, how exactly am I supposed to start my own business? Wait, maybe I'm supposed to use my superpowers to help me. But, what exactly can I use enhanced cognitive abilities for? Reading? No, no, no is this system calling me a nerd? I'll show it what a real nerd is!"

Suddenly, he smashed into a firm object. "Ouch! Where is this? "

He looked up at the large signboard on the building, on it were written, in large letters, LIBRARY.

It was a dilapidated, run down building that gave of a feeling of being out of date. Nowadays, libraries are no longer for the general public. They are usually large underground structures used as a backup storage for the information on the internet. If you really wanted a book, you could go to a bookstore, where you could have the book's information downloaded onto a paper copy.

This was the abandoned part of the neighbourhood, you only came here if you wanted privacy, or to carry out shady deals. Yeah, this was not a place you wanted to be at, no matter what time.

"Oh, just the perfect place to test out my superpowers,… if they can be called that."

He slowly walked up the cracked and filthy steps, that were broken off at some points, to the library wooden sheets? They looked like termites had eaten and reproduced all over them, he himself might have been dirty but, he was having second thoughts about putting his hands on those doors. They might even have an area of effect power.

Touch me and get HIV AIDS free! Just refer a friend. Exes don't count. He shivered as he thought of it. In the end, he just lightly kicked at one of the door hinges. The whole thing fell apart, as if it imploded. Immediately, Alva ducked and covered up his face and ears. He couldn't take any chances. Fortunately, the only things that came out of the wood was dead termites and carpenter ants.

As he walked in, he started to think, " I said I'd go into the food business but, I don't even know how to cook, and I have barely and skills to put to use. I'm not a doctor, some big time actor, or even an enhanced person with useful powers. How do I make money. I really don't wanna die yet. If I die now whoever finds me will probably think I overdosed on some kind of sketchy drugs. I don't mind overdosing but I will never allow someone to think I did it on sketchy drugs! I may be homeless but those guys on the street corners sell way better drugs than that. Ehem... not that I know anything about that.

Wait, I know how to plumb, maybe people need help with their plumbing? I could charge money for plumbing houses! Yeah, why didn't I ever think of this before? I've been on the streets for 6 years and couldn't think to try this out? A- am I really stupid? No, no, no", he smacked his face 3 times, " I have enhanced cognitive abilities", he screamed.

" Aye, shut up, I'm waxing my asshole over here!"

" Sorry", Alva shouted back, " damn Crazy Carl, he's been waxing that ass for three years straight, something must have gotten stuck", he mumbled, suddenly he heard the pitter patter of footsteps quickly approaching.

" No, it couldn't be, don't tell me-", the smell of dirty booty hole wafted over before he could even finish his sentence.

" Eugh, oh hell nawl, Carl get your dirty, booty waxing, hands away from me!!!, " as Alva turned his body towards Carl, he could almost swear he noticed, a light green wisp slowly drifting towards him in the wind, off of the hand that was slowly coming out of the crazy man's but cheeks and towards Alva. Before Alva could even think, he had started running towards a broken window.

" What did you just say about me? Huh?" At that moment, Alva could think of nothing more menacing than a crazy man with booty on his hands coming after you. He immediately jumped out of the window and bolted out of there. Staying any longer might be a direct threat to his life.

After running about a mile away from Crazy Carl, Alva noticed he was still broke, not poor. He had to get his bread up! On the other side of the street was his first prospect, an old styled house. On Mars, everything was futuristic, but here, it was like the backwater village you left for the big city never to come back. Earth was almost entirely neglected, save for some occasional donations that would end up in the politicians and people in power's hands.

He walked warily up to the house, as such a handsome guy, what if a cute lady wanted to snatch him of the streets and experiment on him? He knocked on the door loudly.

"Yes?", an elderly lady with silver hair asked with uncertainty as she opened the door, " Aaah robber! Robber!" Her high pitched screams were so loud her middle aged son in the other room could hear them.

" What ma? What?" A tall muscular man arrived quickly. He looked like he had street fights just for the sake of having them.

" Are you trying to rob my ma? Huh? Punk?" At this moment Alva had already started to fear for his life. He was a poor orphan. That was more than enough for the police to turn a blind eye. " No...no, I - I'm a plumber," he raised a wrench he had gotten from one of the junk heaps he passed by.

"Aye ma, get back, he's got a wrench, I guess I'll 'ave to teach im a good lesson. You don't steal from sweet old grandmas." At this point in time the muscular man, had already put his ma behind him and put his hands up in a ready to box fashion. Alva may not be very booksmart, but, he was street smart. He had already turned around, ready to bolt, when a hand, that felt like an iron gripped gorilla held him back.

"No, no, please, please, I wasn't trying to rob her... misunderstanding, I- It's all misunderstanding- Aaah." Alva had already been punched on the back of the head, he was having trouble keeping conscious. Just as he was about to get up, he was hit by a barrage of cannonballs the size of fists.

" Get him son! Get him! I knew I raised a good son, get him!" The old lady just seemed to want to watch the world burn. The screams of Alva lasted well over 5 minutes as he lay there beset by this vicious onslaught.

"One day, I'll kill that evil bastard! Can you imagine I wanted to run, but was dragged back by the ankles? The old lady even threw a wrench at me! My own wrench! The disrespect!"

Alva had finally managed to flee those vile evildoers, the reason he was able to escape was because he had kicked the old lady on her knee, her arthritis immediately came to the rescue. He didn't know what he would do without it. He could feel a lone tear in his left eye where there was still sensations. The rest of his body had been beaten to a pulp, even his little brother had been kicked once or twice. Almost all his body was numb, except his left eye.

He had gone to three more houses, but he didn't have much luck after the horrible thrashing by the old lady and her son. He looked like a sketchy hooligan that hadn't had a shower for weeks. He smelled worse after the thrashing- all sorts of juices were coming out of his body- The first one got so scared, she fainted, then the second one immediately brought a plasma gun. His aim was only bad because the smell coming of Alva was affecting his sense of direction, and the third one didn't even talk, he just took a baseball bat and started hitting blindly, like Alva was a piñata. Right now, all Alva wanted to do was to find a trash can and cry himself to sleep.

As he trudged slowly back to wherever he could find rest, he saw a chef hollering at one of his employees.

" Hahn? You didn't steal from me? You were the only one on the cash register this morning Fred. No one else and 200 jays just went missing? I took you of the streets, I wanted to make you something, any other hobo could do your job, but I still kept you. Why? Because I saw a boy who needed a chance, but what do you do? You steal from me just to pay for that whores expenses? You simp!"

The man in chef clothing was red in the face he was huffing and puffing like the wolf from " The Three Little Pigs".

" Get out I'll find any other hobo to do the job."

" Boss please, I won't do it again, swear!"

" This is the 4th time Fred, you don't get another chance leave.

" B-b boss," he was immediately shut down by the plump chefs hard look. He soon walked in and took his bag of stuff. He walked very slowly away from the restaurant. Every now and then, he would look back with his best impression of sad puppy dog eyes.

Alva walked up behind the fat chef and said, " Herro," the chef turned around and exclaimed in surprise, "Eugh, you look like you got stung by two beehives. What do you want? I'm not giving you any free food!"

" Oh no, please, I just wanted to tell you that I'm any other hobo."

" Huh?"

" You said you could get any other hobo on the streets to do his job," he pointed at Fred, " well good news, I'm any other hobo, don't mind my appearance, but, I clean up real nice, and I don't mind doing any work you give me."

Fred just stared at Alva, amazed at his shameless, I'm not even gone yet and you're already trying to take my job. What a vicious guy!

Alva didn't even bother to look him in the eyes. All men for themselves, Broke Boys Association (BBA). Represent!

" Well, really, there's no space for you, you know, no job openings."

" I just saw you fire that man over there and, luckily for me the job just opened, what wonderful news. So, when do I start?"

There was a big wide smile on Alva's face as he continued to talk, it was as if he couldn't see their weird stares or hear what the Chef was saying. He was determined to get this job!

' You know what, I've been meaning to teach that boy a lesson. If I don't show that I really mean it, he'll just go back to his old ways.' The chef had already come to a decision.

" You know what? Sure! You've got the job! You start tomorrow at 6 am. Don't be late."