Saponite seemed to be having back luck at gathering energy. The first two times he'd tried to do it unassisted, he gotten stopped by Knights and ended up with nothing. He needed to bring in some energy to start filling his quota, and fast. And he needed to be smarter about gathering it, so he wouldn't get stopped again. So he made a plan, and kept it simple. The simpler it was, the less likely it was to go wrong.

One evening after class was over for the day, he grabbed his coat and phone and headed out into the city. He made his way towards the busier streets, walking casually. The forces of Order wouldn’t be able to sense him in civilian form, so he stayed in it until he got close to where he wanted to be. Once he was near a suitable street, he carefully glanced around to make sure nobody was watching, then ducked into an alleyway. He tucked his phone in his coat pocket, then took off the coat and hung it on a handy doorknob. It only stayed there long enough for him to power up, then he put it back on. His jacket was the most notable part of his uniform, so hopefully covering it up would help him look more inconspicuous. Also, having his coat on was warmer.

He stepped back into the street and strolled along, hands in his pockets as he looked for a bus stop. He’d picked a street that was busy enough to have bus stops every few blocks, but not so busy that there would be people constantly hanging around it, even at this time of night. As he walked, he kept trying to sense if there were any Order auras approaching. Once he thought he felt one a while off, but he was heading away from it anyway, so he picked up his pace until he could no longer sense it.

The first couple bus stops were empty, but finally he spotted one that had someone sitting at the bench. Perfect. Saponite walked right up and sat down at the bench as if he were waiting for a bus too, being careful to sit about arm’s length away. He draped the arm closest to the civilian over the back of the bench, while he pulled out his phone with the other hand and opened on the internet, just to make it look like he wasn’t paying attention to the guy.

While he pretended to scroll through his social media feed, Saponite spent a couple moments making sure no Order individuals were anywhere near. Once he was satisfied, he slowly raised the arm that was being held behind the bench until his hand was about even with the guy’s neck. Then he started draining off some energy.

The next minute or two was tense while Saponite divided his attention between continuing to be aware of any approaching auras, draining energy, and keeping half an eye on the guy to see how he was reacting. Thankfully the guy didn’t seem to notice anything odd. When his head started to droop as if he was starting to doze off, Saponite stopped draining energy and let his hand fall, keeping the ball of energy out of site between his cupped hand and the back of the bench.

Now he just had to figure out how to get away with the energy, without anyone seeing it. He was still trying to figure out how to do that when the next bus pulled up, saving him the trouble. The other guy jerked awake, yawned, and climbed into the bus, apparently not noticing or caring that Saponite wasn’t getting on with him.

Once the bus had pulled away and was out of sight, Saponite lifted his cupped hand into his lap and smiled at the ball of energy. He’d done it! He’d finally managed to do something useful for the Negaverse! He tucked the hand into his pocket to keep it hidden, then stood up and headed for an alleyway. He needed to call for someone to bring him back to the Rift so he could turn in his acquisition.

(697 words)