My mind's been stuck on what Taze said for the past hour and a half.
I tried asking what he was talking about to get more information out of him but he wasn't going for it. All he kept saying was 'You'll find out very soon.'
"Dude. You should tell me what is happening in the future now. I refuse to get caught with my pants down and die a dog's death because of ignorance." I explained coldly as my annoyance grew as he ignored or went around my questions.
"I can't." He responded, only making my annoyance grow even more, "It's best you find out yourself and decide what you want to do once you find out. If I tell you what is to happen in the future you are more likely to die from the decisions you make from that point onward than you would if you were to find the answers yourself."
My interest grew even higher than my annoyance with his reason for not telling me. It's clear as day that Taze has taken an interest in me, he even mentioned that my appearance was a sign of the coming 'games' whatever the hell that even means.
"Anyway ignore that for now." Taze continued, pulling me out of my thoughts, "it's time that I told you about those who sit at the top of the power structure of Zone 3."
"Huh? I thought it was the gangs that you named that were the main powers of Zone 3?" I asked, completely lost on what he was talking about now.
"The gangs?" Taze chuckled as if he heard the funniest joke of his life, "Sure they run Zone 3, but merely the criminal underworld aspect of it, and even then they don't really run it. On paper, it seems that these five gangs are in control of all criminal aspects of Zone 3 which couldn't be any further from the truth. These gangs wear paper crowns, they are merely rulers in name."
"So if they are merely fake kings then who are the real ones pulling their strings?" I asked sarcastically, I already had a faint idea of who they are.
Taze turned back to face me once more sensing the sarcasm in my voice, "It seems that you have already figured it out huh? It's the ones who run the world and everything in it. The ones who control the lives of the mortals and strive to control the lives of all superhumans and all of humanity."
""Megacorps"" Taze and I both said at the same time.
Megacorporations. The biggest powers in the world, have more power than even the governments of first-world nations.
It's funny looking at how people predicted this dystopian future hundreds of years ago. Since America was a democracy and not a dictatorship corporations nearly had as much power as the government due to how much they were able to influence the lives of the general public. Everything we've ever owned came from a subsidiary of a corporation if not the actual corporation itself. When superhumans started appearing, these corporations started rising in power rapidly and began to reach levels never thought possible. America wasn't the only nation to fall when the global war started, multiple nations fell, and corporations gained power that surpassed the governments of the past.
They gave the strongest superhumans in their ranks and have a monopoly of high-quality superhumans. But it's not all smooth since just as with these gangs, all these corporations are at each other's throats but unlike with gangs, corpo schemes are a lot darker and sinister. They also tend to involve a lot more casualties than the usual gang war.
But nobody's gonna do anything about it. What can they even do? The board members of these corporations are all S-Grades and as for the heads of these conglomerates of power...no one knows, except for other S-Grades but even they don't dare talk about them.
It makes me wonder really...just how strong does one have to be to make S-Grades, beings who are at the pinnacle of power to cower in fear at the mere mention of them?
"Exactly." Taze nodded in agreement, "Most of these gangs that you see at the top are sponsored by corporations while the others are suppressed to make sure they don't disrupt the corpo established balance." He said before stopping in front of a bar.
"We're here." He said calmly with a sigh.
Looking up at the large luxury building with a purple neon sign that said 'Firmament' I was already impressed with the visual presentation but I knew better than to judge a book by its cover.
I learned that lesson the hard way.
"What is this place?" I asked.
"This." Taze chuckled as his gaze hardened and seemed to almost get lost in the allure of the neon sign that seemed to light up the entire street with its glow and enchanting buzz, "This is where you'll get your start, Dior. It's the place where all the contracts and jobs flow through. It's not just that as well, if you're lucky enough you might just be able to hear information that you shouldn't have and use it to your advantage to gain access to opportunities otherwise impossible to the likes of weak fucks like you."
"Oh, so you got jokes huh?" I said with a straight face.
"Not a joke Dior. What is said is nothing but facts. You're merely a newly ascended superhuman, you haven't even been one for a week yet. You're less than an ant, the only reason why nobody has tried to rob, kill or sell you is that you are with me. Look around you, you haven't noticed the gazes that have been locked onto you ever since you first stepped in here?" He asked with a sly smirk and narrowed-eyed.
Feeling the pricing gazes on my back now that I was paying attention to my surroundings I snapped my head back and locked eyes with all the human traffickers, drug dealers, pimps, and assassins that have been silently following me ever since I arrived here.
Rage filled my soul but that was slowly devoured and frosted out with a still killing intent that leaked from my eyes as I stared at every one of them making sure to remember their faces.
Some shivered and backed away turning back to whatever business they were having before focusing on me, some gave nods of respect and acceptance while some fools smiled in amusement and laughed at what they thought was a stupid act of defiance. There were some who were foolish enough to threaten me such as the contract killers who were making throat-slitting emotes with their hands or even pulling out their guns and aiming them at me.
There were even some pimps and sex traffickers looking at me with lust and desire, making my skin crawl.
Fools, all of them.
"I don't know if that was an act of bravery or pure stupidity. But either way, one thing is clear." Taze spoke with a smile as he walked through the revolving doors of the bar with me following closely behind him, "It seems that you will survive in the Criminal Underworld after all."