Chapter 1: Dead Man’s Rebate
"...The defendant is hereby sentenced to death."
The Judge’s tone held no malice, almost like he was reading a script.
The words crushed Nathan’s chest. He sat with his head down. His fingers dug into his palms until they ached.
He had high hopes before the trial started. His lawyer had assured him the case would be thrown out due to a substantial lack of evidence.
After all, Nathan hadn’t pulled the trigger; he was an unknowing accomplice who thought he was just giving his friends a ride.
A bystander, not a murderer. But reality was cold and the Judge’s gavel made sure of that.
A reporter’s pen scratched somewhere behind him, a cough from someone, whispers and murmurs from the gallery.
His lawyer, Greer, sat beside him. A public defender who had taken the case after hearing his story.
Two hours ago, Nathan had been on the stand giving his testimony. His alibi and the sequence of events that proved he was behind the wheel when the shots were fired.
Greer had rehearsed it with him several times and it was easy, because it was the truth.
What came out of his mouth was something else entirely.
He closed his eyes and replayed the memory.
---
The prosecuting lawyer’s voice had been calm, reasonable. "Why are you withholding the truth, Mr. Ledger?"
Nathan’s brow furrowed. "Excuse me? I’m not lying...I was..."
And then it happened.
A cold feeling crept over him like ice water from his neck to the rest of his body. His mouth opened and spoke like it had a mind of its own.
With each sentence he uttered, he destroyed his alibi and confessed to the murder.
It wasn’t stage fright or panic. In a world where superpowers existed, it wasn’t far-fetched. This was the result of someone’s power.
But whose?
By the time he was finished, the courtroom was silent. The Judge’s expression had shifted from confusion to something darker.
Nathan sucked in a breath like he’d been drowning. He watched the lawyer give a sly smile and a bow before returning to his table.
"I don’t know what came over you. You were supposed to be the victim here," Greer whispered, letting out a defeated sigh.
Nathan turned to look at the other table. The prosecuting lawyer, Raymond Specter sat with a relaxed expression, as if he knew this would be the outcome.
He sat near three people Nathan recognized, his friends. Leon, Jayden, and Zack.
The real culprits. They had smiles on their faces like they hadn’t just watched their friend get a death sentence.
The guards came for him after the gavel fell. Nathan felt the cool of metal around his wrists and legs before he could protest.
As they led him away, he scanned the gallery. Looking for one person.
Catherine Ledger stood in the audience with a defeated expression. Her jet black hair was disheveled, dark circles under her brown eyes.
She wore a faded oversized jacket that used to belong to their father and had seen better days.
Her eyes found Nathan’s. She was holding back tears. She had been with him through all of it.
The night of the incident, the officers showing up to arrest him, the long months of legal battle.
Seeing her like that made something in him shake. He tried to offer a smile but it came out weird because he was holding back tears too.
She put a hand to her chest, holding his gaze until the court officers led him through the door. Her face disappeared among the many bodies in the gallery.
---
The holding cell was the quietest place he’d been in months.
Nathan sat on the bench and stared at the floor between his feet. The metal was cold under his jeans. The walls were concrete, grey and smooth.
A single fluorescent light hummed overhead, flickering every few seconds. The faint smell of bleach and sweat hung in the air.
Nathan thought about his friends. The ones he called day ones were the same guys who got him a death sentence.
A slow breath escaped him as he tried to comfort himself.
They’ll go over the case. Maybe someone will see that Specter is a fraud.
Nathan tried to hold onto hope, to reject the notion that his fate was sealed. But those were idle thoughts, and he knew it.
He sat upright, curling his trembling hands into fists.
If only things were different...
Money. That’s what it always came down to.
Nathan thought about his father. A man who’d devoted his life to pleasing his mother, only for her to abandon them when things got hard.
He had done his best to care for his children, but the debts had stockpiled against them after he lost his job due to an illness.
The same debts that forced Nathan out of high school and made him start working as a delivery driver.
The ones that made his sister work part time even while in college.
The same one that made the three of them shudder whenever the landlord came at the end of the month.
Nathan shook his head. Behind his many thoughts, he knew there was something else that lurked within.
A truth he had never let himself admit. Tears welled up in his eyes but he blinked them away.
He let his shoulders drop with a long, slow exhale.
The only crime I’m guilty of is being poor.
Money meant his father didn’t have to work as a janitor. It meant Catherine could go to college without any hassle. It also meant he never would have accepted that job from his friends.
For all the many questions Nathan had in life, money was a fitting answer to most of them.
Fuck being broke.
[Ding!]
A sound like a bell chimed in Nathan’s ears. He angled his head to look for the source of the noise but found nothing.
Without warning, the space in front of him shifted. Golden yellow light condensed into a rectangular display like a holographic screen.
Nathan’s eyes widened at the sight.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZING]
[System Initialization complete...]
[Loading...100%.]
[The Solus Rebate System has bonded with the host.]
[Seed Balance Deposited: $100,000]
[Item Received: System Card]
A card materialized in his hand and a new screen appeared.
[The Rebate Feature triggers whenever the Host spends money on himself. Currency swaps, spending on others, and donations do not qualify.]
Nathan frowned at the screen.
A rebate system? Is this the work of someone’s illusion powers?
Almost as if reading his mind, a screen appeared with new text.
[This is not a drill.]
"Well, isn’t that just perfect," he murmured. He blinked but the screen remained.
He examined the card in his hand. It was coated in black and gold accents with his name engraved on it in fine print.
The numbers on it were all ones and zeros.
Nathan turned his attention to the system balance. He had never seen that many zeros in his life in an account tied to him.
’I’m rich?’
[Yes.]
He wanted to scream for joy but as his eyes drifted from the digital screen to concrete walls of the holding cell, a heavy weight settled on his chest.
What good is a hundred grand to a man who is going to die?
A sigh escaped his lips as he rested on the wall to get a view of the ceiling. He ran his hands through his blond hair, dragging them over his eyes and face before returning his attention back to the screen.
’Is the money real?’
[As real as death row.]
Nathan grimaced at the response. He raised the card up.
’What about the card? Where did it come from?’
[The System Card is a physical manifestation of the Host’s account. It can be dispelled or summoned and is untraceable.]
"Untraceable..." Nathan grinned.
He had other questions but a flicker of doubt crossed his mind. What if this was someone playing games with him?
’Can anyone else see this?’ He gestured vaguely at the screen.
[Negative. The system is visible only to the Host.]
Nathan read it twice. "So I can’t just buy stocks and trigger the rebate?"
[No.]
’So I can’t buy crypto to trigger the rebate?’
[No.]
’What about in-game currency like Tour of Duty?’
[Yes.]
Nathan paused for a moment. ’What’s the rebate multiplier?’
[Base multiplier: 2x. Applied to all qualifying purchases. Additional tiers unlock at higher spending thresholds.]
The screens faded into particles of light. Nathan looked at the card once, flipping it over just to confirm it was real.
An empty laugh escaped him.
He sat up straighter and willed the system screen once more to check the seed balance, letting it sink in once more.
[Balance: $100,000.]
Nathan looked at the holding cell. The concrete walls, the metal bars. Then back to the screen.
There’s gotta be a way I can use this.
[Solus Rebate System: Active.]
A/N : Thank You for reading. Please leave a Vote, suggest to others and add to library