My Infinite Investment System

Northstar’s front doors admitted the supervisor’s clipboard first, carried upright like stolen battle loot.

Ryan followed before the man outside remembered clipboards were returnable, holding his bag over trousers that had finally stopped betraying him.

Inside smelled like dust, old citrus cleaner, and hot wiring.

The nightclub had been peeled rather than emptied, with pale rectangles covering the walls where screens used to hang.

Clipped cables hung over a dance floor built for six hundred people and currently holding three folding chairs.

Two of them were broken.

’Strong opening inventory,’ he thought, stepping around a bolt somebody had abandoned in the carpet, ’love a business with one and a half chairs.’

Mika shut the door with her heel, then kept her back against it until the repossession supervisor’s shadow moved away from the frosted glass.

Her public smile disappeared as she said, "Show me."

She tapped the edge against her thigh and clarified, "Whatever you saw on that case, whatever made you jump a barrier with no badge and funeral shoes, show me."

"The shoes have survived a difficult morning," he said, placing his bag on the stripped reception desk, "they don’t need this from you."

One corner of her mouth moved, then her left hand tightened beneath her jacket.

The gold window remained beside her face while he concentrated on its final line.

[Potential Found: Mika Santos]

[Immediate Need: Cardiac Regulator]

[Offer Support?]

[Target consent required]

The consent requirement gave the divine malware one unexpected trace of manners.

Ryan pulled the report from his bag and opened it to a photographed certification table, keeping the system window out of his explanation.

"Red seal means class-seven medical," he said, flattening the page, "the stage-effects code means somebody relabeled it before seizure."

She pushed away from the door, the clipboard losing its rhythm as she asked, "You got all that from six feet away?"

He indicated the distance between them and replied, "Eight feet, but the humiliation made my eyesight excellent."

Her eyes dropped to the page, then shifted toward the doors as metal scraped across the pavement outside.

"Say you’re right," she said, keeping her voice low, "what does the regulator regulate?"

Every trace of amusement left her face, while the fingers beneath the fabric spread protectively over her ribs.

She caught him watching and warned, "Careful," every trace of camera polish gone from the word.

Ryan lifted both hands and explained, "Your current dies at the wrist, the regulator gives it a safe route while the pathway heals."

Her chin rose as she asked, "You diagnosed me from one spark?"

He kept both palms visible and replied, "I recognized a failed route, diagnosis costs four hundred and eighty dollars."

She released a breath through her nose and admitted, "That was almost funny."

He returned to the report and replied, "It was a medical estimate, laughter isn’t covered."

The movement under her jacket eased, though her hand remained in place.

The supervisor raised his voice near the truck, while Ryan caught the words `new owner` through the glass and checked the system prompt.

Offer support looked harmless until a person imagined fourteen hidden pages and an arbitration clause.

’I have known you for seven minutes,’ he thought, looking at Mika’s hand, ’three of those minutes were extremely unprofessional.’

He tried to close the window, then glanced toward the core-scan page waiting on his phone.

[Offer pending]

He thought about the core scan waiting in his browser, since a divine system with unlimited gold decoration might manage one medical bill.

[Personal purchase rejected]

[Growth fund: No spending ceiling]

[Eligible spending: One verified growth need]

[Personal use: Prohibited]

[Target consent required]

[One unfinished investment per target]

[Support creates no debt, loyalty, access, or ownership]

The clinic still wanted four hundred and eighty real dollars, while his banking app remained at $900.17.

Unlimited did not mean his, and it was not a bottomless dating budget either, because the system had selected her damaged pathway rather than her face.

It would not buy dinner, rent, affection, or access to her body, while even valid help stopped at one unfinished investment.

"You look offended," Mika said, folding the clipboard against her chest, "did your invisible friend insult the shoes too?"

His attention snapped back as she lifted one eyebrow and said, "You keep reading over my shoulder, except there is no text on that wall."

He slipped the phone into his pocket and admitted, "I can’t explain that part."

Her mouth flattened as she replied, "Amazing, the unemployed stranger has a secret."

He moved the report between them and said, "Several, one is mustard-related and nobody benefits from opening it."

Mika turned her phone face down on the reception desk.

The quiet gesture changed the room more than her expression did.

"No cameras now," she said, moving close enough that citrus perfume surfaced through the dust, "tell me what you can explain."

He chose every word before releasing it and said, "I can make a growth fund pay the supplier for that regulator."

Her eyes went still as she replied, "You have nine hundred dollars."

He raised one finger and corrected her, "My account has nine hundred and seventeen cents, the growth fund has no spending ceiling."

Her eyes narrowed as she asked, "So you can buy anyone anything?"

He shook his head and said, "One verified need at a time, they have to consent, I get nothing for myself, and the money cannot buy debt, loyalty, control, or access."

She pointed the clipboard toward the street and said, "That case costs more than this building did when it still had chairs."

He watched the case through the glass and answered, "I know."

She studied his suit again, this time without humor, then glanced at the report and his empty badge clip.

Her attention returned to his empty badge as she asked, "Who sent you?"

He held her gaze and answered, "Nobody."

Her thumb pressed into the clipboard edge as she asked, "Who gets the debt?"

He shook his head once and repeated, "Nobody."

She stepped closer before asking, "Who owns the regulator?"

He pointed at her and said, "You do."

She stopped the eye roll halfway and said, "People don’t buy six-figure medical hardware for strangers."

He tapped the report and replied, "People also don’t fire auditors for finding nothing."

The line landed harder than he intended.

Her hands disappeared from the conversation as she asked, "What do you want?"

The obvious answer arrived with the memory of black leggings, a hard zipper, and his bag held over a generational low.

He buried the obvious answer before saying, "Permission to try."

Mika searched his face and asked, "No percentage of the club?"

He left both hands open and answered, "No."

She tipped her chin toward the regulator and asked, "No medical authority?"

His hands remained still as he repeated, "No."

"No management contract, personal appearance clause, exclusivity term, or quiet little sentence where helping me means you own every decision afterward?"

Ryan looked toward the exiting case and answered, "No."

Her chin lowered.

Her chin lowered before she added, "No access to my body."

Ryan kept his eyes on hers and said, "That was never included."

Something small changed around her mouth, embarrassment arriving too late to hide behind suspicion.

She walked to the reception desk and opened the clipboard, then read the repossession sheet from top to bottom.

Ryan let her have the silence, resisting every urge to rescue either of them from it.

Outside, a truck door slammed, followed by the electric whine of its loading rail.

The grey case was leaving.

Mika put one black nail on line thirty-seven and said, "You buy this exact regulator from a real supplier, ownership lands in my name, and you claim nothing."

He checked the moving case and answered, "Yes."

Her nail stayed on the line as she warned, "If it turns into leverage, I walk."

Ryan met her eyes and repeated, "Yes."

She held out the clipboard and said, "If I say stop, the whole miracle stops."

He took the lower edge and promised, "Immediately."

She looked toward the frosted doors, where the supervisor’s shape crossed with the case.

Fear made her shoulders square harder, as if a camera had switched on inside the room.

Then she faced Ryan again.

"One miracle," she said, holding out the clipboard, "not an owner."

The system answered before he touched the paper.

[Consent recognized]

[Choose supplier]