Chapter 40 : Preparations (Patreon)

The view of a teen covered in bandages following a dark figure with some eldritch features in a building made of nothing but dark bricks, only lit up by a lantern in which burned a pure black flame, would probably confuse and unsettle most. Case in point, James had to admit that behind the Silhouette persona he felt pretty weird about the whole thing. He felt like he was abusing the kid's current situation to better his own, but at the same time, Sam didn't seem to mind.

"So, dark bricks."

"Yes."

"Everywhere."

"Yes."

"Seems a bit much."

"They are durable, easy acquire, and sufficiently artistically pleasing."

"Kinda emo looking."

"Says Techlord."

"Silhouette ain't better."

"It has finesse. Besides, I'm not the one who came up with it."

"Really?"

"Some thugs I scared away from my... Employees? Yes, employees. Some thugs went after them, I scared those and their leader came up with the name."

"Employees?"

"People I pay to do some work for me."

"About that, what's the pay?"

"Well, I pay the pair 500 Xerins a week..."

"You pay them WHAT?"

"I'm not from around here, so my understanding of the local economy is still questionable. Is it such a big sum?"

"The average guy in the main city probably makes 1500 Xerins a month, those in the nicer areas around 2000."

"Oh. That is quite the sum then."

"How did you even get all that money?"

"Tata, no questioning the origins. Mine, the money's, or the materials."

"Guess that's fair. So, what about my cut then?"

"The pair doesn't work full time, but they're two. So I was thinking maybe 400 Xerins for your work, with a monthly allowance of 500 to buy what you need to work?"

"That sounds... Fine. I could use more, but that's already better than my Vigilante gig."

Sam looked around, staring at the walls.

"Is this hallway really long or something?"

"Not as long as you think. You're just slow."

"I'm not slow."

"Sam, you just awoke from a three days long sleep after being hit by an explosion. The fact you're even able to walk in the first place is impressive, so a slight limp is nothing to be ashamed of."

"Don't call me Sam, call me Tech- wait, three days?"

"Indeed, three days."

"Guess there'll be nothing to scavenge from the wreckage now. Hell, my old base's probably empty..."

"Oh, do not worry. Your base may be lost but I sent a few of my minions to gather as much as they could from the mech."

"Minions? Didn't you say employees earlier?"

"They are... Two different groups. These don't want to be paid, they just want to live nearby."

"So your little 'safe place' talk worked on them?"

"Oh no, they're the ones who found me first."

"How?"

"We're in the sewers, Sam. There's always someone watching, listening."

"I told you, it's Techlord, not Sam. But the sewers? Guess that explains the smell..."

"You'll get used to it. Ah, here we are."

They had reached their destination, some sort of hall with multiple doorways yet no door. The area lit up by the lantern was pretty small, and oddly enough it appeared the light worked like a bubble. Past a certain point, Sam could see absolutely nothing.

"Uh... If you say so..."

"Come, follow me."

"Not like I have a choice..."

The room they entered looked like some kind of workshop if it could be called that. Different piles of various things, screws, nails, metal scraps, pieces of wood, and the likes, a corner with a bunch of tools, and here and there some half-finished constructions, from small armor to weird gadgets.

"This is our little crafter's room."

"Who... Who did this?"

A small furry head emerged from one of the piles of materials, carrying a screw between its teeth, and began looking around.

"Ah, here he is. Techlord, allow me to introduce you to Goliath."

The rest of the rating's body left the pile of screws and he ran up to James and Sam, sitting on his hindlegs once he reached them and taking the screw between his paws.

"A rat?"

"Yes, a rat."

Goliath looked up to the two humanoids, staring at Sam before quickly shifting his gaze.

"Oh, is this the one you brought back from the surface? Hi! I'm Goliath!"

"Yes, Goliath. This is Techlord, and he too will be using this room to build creations to help us."

"A talking rat?"

"Yes Techlord, Goliath is a rat and he can talk. Now, could you please focus and tell me what you think of this room?"

"It's... Not good."

"You don't like my workshop?"

"Listen... Goliath... This place is just an organized mess with a few odd projects you started one after the other, never taking the time to finish one."

"And it's... Not good? But Doctor Dandelion said that you should let your mind run wild!"

"Who the hell is Doctor Dandelion?"

"Captain Cyan's toolmaker!"

"And who is Captain Cyan?"

The rating stared why at Sam's face as soon as he uttered these words before shifting his gaze to James, helpless as his eldest adoptive son began to tear up.

"Why do I feel like I just committed a war crime."

Four furry figures rushed into the room faster than Sam could think and immediately hugged their brother, forming a cuddle pile that would have been adorable had it not been born from sadness.

One head emerged from the pile, with a lighter grey fur than the others, and stared daggers at Sam.

"What did you do."

"Nothing! I just asked who Captain Cyan was!"

The four recomforting ratlings gasped at that, even their usually stoic representative, Lucille, couldn't help but drop her jaw.

"You... Don't know Captain Cyan?"

James put himself between Sam and the ratlings, taking care to form a small tentacle to rub Goliath's back.

"Before this situation escalates any further, let me introduce everyone. Techlord, these are Lucille, David, Foudre, and Blanche. You already met Goliath. He's the one that's crying."

"But I didn't-"

"Children, this is our guest and newest employee, Techlord. He will now join Goliath as a tinkerer."

The smallest of the rats looked Sam dead in the eye.

"I will gut you."

"David, no death threats to our employees."

"He made Goliath cry."

"A simple misunderstanding. Now everyone, make peace and calm down. I'll get Mischief to bring us some sweets for you to snack on while we plan for what comes next."

Blanche perked up.

"I demand the hooligan apologizes to our sweet little Goliath."

"But what did I do-"

"Now now Techlord, apologize."

"Pff... I'm sorry, alright?"

Blanche looked unconvinced but Foudre nodded.

"Grudges between allies must be avoided."

"A very wise decision. Now then, I had hoped to have you make something before we would have a meeting, but since we're all already there..."

"No, wait. Give me five seconds. I may not like the place but the rat- I mean Goliath did a proper job organizing it."

The large ratling perked up at that.

"Really?"

"Yeah yeah. So, what do you want? A weapon?"

"It could be useful. Could you make something easy to use, effective and cheap to maintain?"

"Yeah, should be doable. Give me five minutes and it'll be ready."

"You heard that, children? Let's give Techlord some time to work. You could watch an episode of Captain Cyan until he's ready?"

""Yeah!""

The cuddle pile left as one into another room before Sam had the time to blink.

"I still don't know what the hell Captain Cyan is supposed to be."

"Do not worry about it. I'll leave the lantern with you, come join us when you're ready. While they watch their cartoons I'll prepare a little something."

"Uh, sure thing... Boss?"

"Call me whatever you want, so long as it's not something like Shadowlord or the likes."

Sam groaned while James chuckled as he left the room, leaving the technological genius to his work. Sam sighed before quickly gathering a few pieces of each pile of materials and setting them down in a corner of the room. Picking up the admittedly pretty good tools considering they were in the sewers of the slums, Sam quickly began to assemble the first thing he had in mind when he had heard Silhouette's request, only briefly stopping when a weird rumbling sound began but quickly ignored it. If it was important, his new employer would probably handle it.

_____

"You won't escape this time, Revenant!"

"Cyan! You think you got me cornered? Ah! You'll never be rid of me, Cyan. Until next time! Ahahahahahah!"

"Curses! He phased through the floor of the airship! Blue Boy, Green Girl, be on the lookout. Revenant never leaves without leaving a nasty surprise behind."

"Kids, could you pause the show? I think Techlord's almost done."

"But dad, we're only halfway through!"

"Tut-tut, you can pause it and catch up later."

"Fiiine."

"By the way old man, what was up with all that noise?"

"I was making a war room."

"Oooh?"

"No, that doesn't mean we're going to war."

"What's the point of calling it a war room if you don't use it to go to war? It's dumb. You're dumb."

"Pay attention to your attitude, young rat. Especially since we have Techlord now."

"About that, father. How are we going to house a human? You don't need anything and we don't need much, but him?"

"I'll keep on digging to expand the lair and make him a small apartment, at that point either he'll have to handle making some wild plumbing or I'll have to make some searches online."

"And the food?"

"A fridge, Larry and Barry will just have to come more often or bring larger quantities."

"And entertainment? We're already struggling with one phone for six."

"I'll buy a new phone. Or ask him to fix one of the two still uninfused ones we have."

"I do not think this will work out as well as you plan, father."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you didn't want him to stay here."

"It's... Father. You make a distinction between the person you are when alone and with us and the one you are with other."

"Oh, like a secret identity."

"Exactly, Foudre. And I think mixing the two isn't a good idea father. You can't be this 'Silhouette', calm, collected, and in charge, and at the same time sit down with us to watch Captain Cyan."

James was about to answer before he stopped himself, taking a moment to think carefully about Lucille's words.

"You're right. I can't be both at the same time. I can't be James and Silhouette simultaneously."

"See?"

"But I won't be kicking Sam out either. You saw how he was when I brought him in. Covered in blood and ashes. I felt like I was carrying a corpse."

"We can wait until he's healed and-"

"You don't understand Lucille. He's lost everything.

"Then you can give some money to buy back what he lost."

"You... You don't get it. It's not about the things, it's about... Argh, how do I explain it... Do you remember the day we met?"

"Yes."

"I was there for you. I want to be there for him."

"Why?"

"Because it's the right thing to do."

"No."

The rat's answer shocked James.

"What?"

"I said that wasn't the reason you did it. If it was, you'd let the other two stay here as well. You wouldn't need to use that Silhouette thing, you'd be honest with him. So, why do you want to be there for him, for us?"

"I..."

James took in a deep breath - or more accurately pretended to, considering his lack of lungs.

"Because no one was there for me. Sure, there was that homeless guy who tried to call an ambulance, but that's it. No one to hold my hand. To tell me it'd all be okay. To ease the pain. Just the cold feeling of my blood flowing out of my body. When I saw your parents' bodies and that spider going after you, it reminded me of how unfair things were. When I saw that kid in his burning mech..."

"... I see."

"You're right that I can't be both James and Silhouette at the same time, so I'll expand the lair and install some doors to keep my Silhouette stuff away from our family life, alright?"

Lucille didn't seem convinced, but in the end, nodded.

"... Alright."

"You won't have to interact with him if you don't want to, you know."

"I will. Because you need all the help you can get."

"Thank you, Lucille."

"Now then, didn't you say that he was nearly finished, father?"

"Ah, right. Let's go kids. Ah, it may be best if you call me Silhouette when other people are around, alright?"

"Roger that, old man."

"David, attitude."

_____ 

As they entered the war room, the ratlings took in the new decor. The place was big, even by a humanoid's standards, and was probably the largest room in the entire lair. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all made of black bricks infused with shadows, as usual, but they were a lot of additional upgrades. In the center of the room was a large table shaped like a circle, leaving a large hole in the middle. A dozen seats were positioned around the table, both the seats and table were made of black infused stone.

On the walls were engraved multiple maps, on the wall directly in front of the entrance was an approximation map of Zalcien, based on the maps available on the Internet despite the censorship. It showed a circular city plan divided into four quarters by major roads in each cardinal direction, with the North-Eastern quarter having an odd shape in the middle occupying more than half of it.

On the wall to the left of the entrance was a map of the sewers, at least the areas that James, the ratlings, and Mischief had explored.

On the wall to the right of the entrance was a map of the lair, with each room being properly labeled such as "war room", "storage", "workshop"...

And on the wall where the entrance was situated was an engraving of James' Silhouette persona, tentacles out.

"So? What do you think, children?"

They appeared to be mildly impressed, but...

"Ain't as good as Captain Cyan's base."

"David!"

"Admit it, Blanche, you thought the same."

"Yes, but I didn't say it. Have you no manners or respect?"

"No, I thought it'd be obvious by now."

As the brother-sister duo got almost ready to fight, Sam entered the room, carrying the lantern in one hand and a strange contraption in the other.

"So... That's the center of operations? Kinda empty, no?"

"Well, there are few of us, Techlord. And most of them are small."

"No, I mean the place. No decoration, nothing."

"There are engravings of multiple maps I could find on the walls."

"Is there?"

Sam approached the wall with a map of the sewers and looked very closely, his nose nearly touching the stone as he ran his fingers between the bricks.

"So, Boss, personal advice. Engravings in a dark room on pitch-black stuff? Bad idea."

"It's not like I have buckets of paint laying around. If you dislike it that much, find a way to improve it."

"Hey, I'm here to build gadgets, not become an architect."

"Well, speaking of gadgets, I see you finished your first order?"

James formed a tentacle and pointed to the thing Sam was holding. It looked vaguely gun-shaped, but a bit closer to a hairdryer than a weapon.

"Ah, yeah. A weak electrogun. Not much I could do with basic batteries but it packs enough of a punch to knock out a Coreless."

"So... It's a taser, then? One with a very good energy usage considering the size of the battery, but just a taser?"

"No, an electrogun. As in, it shoots bolts of energy. This thing is way better than a taser."

"Oooh, I see. How many charges does it have?"

"I dunno, a couple of shots? Hard to know with these batteries, you never know how used they are."

"And... Could you take out the battery and show it to me?"

"Uh... Sure?"

Sam began to tinker with the gadget until a lid opened and a small battery, the ones you would usually put in a toy or a weak flashlight, jumped halfway out. James carefully picked it up and, once he was sure it wasn't connected to the electrogun anymore, infused it with shadows. The process was quick and before Sam had the time to ask what was happening the battery had been replaced by a transparent black cylinder in which small sparks occasionally flashed.

Wordlessly Sam gave James the weapon when a tentacle approached his hand and James put back the newly infused battery into the electrogun. After having made sure the lid was properly closed and the weapon could be used with no issues, James aimed it at one of the stone seats and fired.

A small bolt of black electricity immediately left the weapon and hit the seat, the stone instantly getting covered by sparks as it began to fume. It took a few seconds before it stopped, the seat still fuming.

Sam, the ratlings, and even James - though no one would know thanks to the lack of facial features and body language - looked in shock at the result of the, well, electric shock.

"Did... Did you just electrocute stone? How?"

"Magic, I think. In any case, how many of those do you think you could make Techlord?"

"Half a dozen or so? The shell is easy, the real problem is turning the energy into an attack and finding enough energy sources to make it a viable weapon, it's why I never bothered making it a permanent part of the armor."

"Could you bring me the materials used to make one, please?"

"... Why?"

"I'm curious as to what would happen if every part of it went the same upgrade. Aren't you?"

"... I'll be right back."