Leaving the coffee shop and his past behind, Jon looked down at his phone and headed out towards where the cameraman association office in zone six used to be. As expected, it wasn't there and was replaced by another office....
United Networks.
'What is this...?'
Walking closer towards the posters to the side of the buildings, Jon started to read through the advertisements.
"No more human errors! No more cameraman meddling! No more mistakes! Trust in UNITED NETWORKS! Trust in the excellence of algorithmic-ally controlled robot cameramen, you may input your own preferences and setting and save it for future use! Hire one today for fifty percent off your first outing!"
This is new. Running his finger down the side of the glass, Jon couldn't help but let out a smile.
After what he has down himself, the entire landscapes of the cameraman profession in S Prime has taken a turn towards automation, precision control and mass manufacturing. Camera skills has apparently be relegated to an artistic hobby at best and....
This is only fair. When one cameraman goes down, another takes its place.
Such is the life of a cameraman.
When the entire profession goes down, another takes its place too.
However, there must be something else available to the cameraman that once worked tirelessly to be at various places. There are a few much smaller ads in forms of stickers underneath the banner of United Networks. Just because the majority of the field is replaced by robots doesn't mean cameraman will simply go extinct. It just meant the demand has become a lot smaller and now there are too many chefs in the kitchen.
Looking down at a few of the advertisements, Jon froze in place.
For the first time since leaving S Prime all those years ago, Jon had a hint of regret.
Did he really have to stoop this low....really...
Noting down the phone number, he walked away quickly, hoping nobody saw what he just did.
The only job left available for him is...Paparazzi.
Sending a text to the number stating his 'interest', Jon waited for a reply and headed back home. Pethant and Ally had returned around the same time, and Jon volunteered to cook for everyone while Pethant went out to fetch some of the ingredients.
'How-did-everything-go?' Ally asked, leaning against one of the counters in the kitchen as she watched Jon prepare to cook by washing the pots and pans, 'did-your-contact-tell-you-anything?'
'I...not much.' Jon said, shaking his head, 'the cameraman profession here is...'
'It-is-not-the-same-as-outside.' Ally finished his senteces for him before she came forward before she wrapped her arms around Jon in a warm embrace, and he realized he never quite wanted a hug like before.
Rubbing her fingers along the arms over his stomach, Jon let his head go back and lean against Ally's shoulder as he lets out a sigh.
'I-took-a-fighting-and-a-modelling-job.....' Ally said, running her fingers in circles after she reached for Jon's flesh underneath his shirt, 'and-I-saw-two-cameraman-being-just...cameraman-for-models.'
'Photographers?'
'That.'
'Yeah...'
'And-I-heard-something-else.' Ally continued, 'You-were-from-S-Prime-before-right...? Could-you-tell-me-what-happened....?'
The water runs from the tap still, and Jon's body tensed up slightly from Ally's question. She knew that this is a hard topic to talk about, but she feel obliged to at least help Jon open up. She knew from watching a few of the anime that being able to talk about one's trauma is an incredibly powerful tool for moving forward and healing.
'What did they tell you...'
'They-talked-about-an-angry-man-making-things-difficult-for-other-cameraman-all-around.....' Ally said lightly, hugging Jon even tighter.
'Maybe they were right.....' Jon murmured, the consequences of his actions now sank in slowly. Sure, back then, he just wanted to make sure whatever happened to Hannah will never happen again, and he never once paused to think about the profession that he is in, and how breaking every single rule taught in school during his rampage is going to effectively ruin the public's perception of his profession.
To be honest, he didn't care one bit back then, and that coldness is what is scaring the Jon of today.
He thought he had left that Jon behind, that Jon Borneat is dead in S Prime and only Jon Bo remained today. But...he can never tell.
'How-can-I-be-your-wife-if-I-cannot-share-your-burdens...' Ally whispers into Jon's ear as she started to gently massage his tense shoulders.
'Where the heck did you learn that? From some other anime you have been watching?'
'I-had-been-reading-books-actually-thank-you-very-much!'
Shoving Jon onto the sofa, Ally pulled up the library of modern massage techniques and started emulating the movements from behind.
'Sorry.....' Jon chuckled as he uses Ally's intervention to help himself relax too, 'I just don't want you to think of me differently after knowing what I have done...I really like what we have here....you, me and Pethant. I don't....'
'You-loved-me-the-same-even-after-I-fought-Two-Fingers-like-an-idiot!'
'Well...' Jon said, twitching to the side slightly as Ally applied a bit too much pressure to his traps on the other side, 'It...is different...actually...not that different.'
'See?' Ally leaned in close and kissed him on the cheek, 'I-will-make-you-fall-in-love-with-me! So-let-me-at-least-listen...'
Looking over to see the warm glow in Ally's eyes, Jon realized that it was the same kind of warmth that Hannah had years back. Jon was caught in the moment when Ally reached her hand around and pressed him into her breasts before warming her body up slowly.
'Hehehe-do-you-like-this?'
'Too hot! Too hot!' Jon pushed Ally away lightly before she crashed her body all over Jon on the sofa.
'So...promise-to-tell-me?' Ally asked, her body pressing against Jon's and she shaped her body to match the contour of his for optimum distribution of pressures.
'Ok...' Jon blushed now that Ally's beautiful face is so close to his, 'I will tell you everything after I got my job...'
'I-guess...I-can-wait...' Ally said before poking her finger into Jon's cheek, 'my-love.....you-are-blushing~'
'No I am not!'
Jon didn't realize that the Paparazzi agency had already sent him a reply until after dinner with the three. It appears that Jon is the only one still without a secure job title out of the three, which is rather ironic considering he was the one with prior experience in S Prime, but hopefully things will change in the next day.
Jon went to bed that night to see Ally there with him too. She jumped at the opportunity to cuddle with Jon, though he didn't mind it at all. It was a warm night of sleep and Jon felt more than replenished for what he has to do in the next day.
'My-love...' Opening his eyes when Ally is still clinging onto him like a sloth to a tree branch, Jon gave her a pat on the head before untangling his limbs from hers. She giggled slightly before turning to the other side and continued her sleep. Jon is fairly certain that sleeping isn't truly necessary for her to function, but it is rather something she wanted to do with him.
The instruction from the Paparazzi agency was for him to meet at the city park with his equipment ready for an assessment of abilities. Everything else is extremely vague, as he expected of the shady Paparazzi business. The majority of their job is about invading the privacy of celebrities and getting...
'....getting a spicy picture of the new girl, new professional hero who is about to be sent down to the outside.' The agency head said straightforwardly to Jon, as he turned out to be the only taking this assessment of abilities, 'you know how this works right? You get the pictures, you bring it back to me, and you get paid.'
'What if I need access to the inner zones?' Jon asked.
'If you are good enough, we will go through the channels to get you a journalist license that should allow you to travel around quite a bit.' The agency head said, scratching his head, 'don't get ahead of yourselves, rookie.'
'Ok. Where is she now?'
'FIND IT OUT YOURSELF!' The agency head shot back before standing up from the park bench, 'what is this...a quiz show?'
What a loser. Jon thought as the head walked away. Though who is he to talk in this scenario.
Dashing through the streets while keeping his eyes as sharp as a string of atoms activated, he memorized the appearance of the new professional hero as he dashed all around zone six. The only intelligence that the head gave him is that she liked to grab a coffee at one of the central area coffee shops every morning. Being one of the younger professional heroes, she is also only staying in zone six.
The professional hero profession in this world is extremely different from the profession in other literature, as in S Prime and S city, they are really just a well packaged special forces officer working in collaboration with the police forces. They all have to go through training academies and courses far more stringent than those went through by any ordinary police and they are the only one allowed to freely use their powers in situations as they see fit.
They are paid based off their performance in various missions as well as through sponsorship deals, though the stability of the income and amount varies so much that often times talented superhumans nowadays often prefer being professional fighters far more than being heroes.
The occasional hero that makes it are positioned around various police agencies as symbols to deter criminals and a public figure, where they are basically doing the PR stunts and not much else. For the few that couldn't quite find the market in S Prime, they are then sent down to S city in hopes of better luck.
However, Jon hoped that this isn't going to be another Beacon, as the Beacon case and the experimentation on superhumans is what started Jon down the path of investigating the RED BLOB. Parts of him wanted to believe that the RED BLOB is wholely independent of the RED compound that he dismantled all those years ago, but something tells him that the RED BLOB is actually an upgrade.
All Jon did back then it to tear away the weeds at the surface without addressing their roots, and it appeared that another industry sprung in its place not too long after he left.
Jon cannot afford to think about that right now. He is here to get a job, get paid and most importantly, get a license that will allow him to move into the inner zones.
His eyes catching a glimpse of the hero moving out of the coffee shop with a cup of cappuccino in one hand and espresso on the other, Jon maneuvered his body in mid air and slid behind a news stand smoothly. Leaning his back against the glass much to the annoyance of the stand owner, he pulled out and adjusted everything on his camera in nearly an instant.
Fine, all he wanted is a spicy picture, right.
Jon thought, as he walked out normally and followed the budding professinoal hero as she continued walking through the streets.
She made a turn into a dark alleyway suddenly, and Jon can already feel a dread inside of him.
He has a bad feeling about this ordeal.
Activating his eyes as sharp as a string of atoms again, Jon simply looked on from across the street, where the hero walked through a back door and headed into what looked to be an abandoned office building.
'You have got to be kidding me...'
With a slow jog, Jon crossed the street and followed after her. In the meanwhile, a few more pairs of eyes are locked onto him from even further down the streets.