•.Years later.•
I sat on the well worn chair, reading away one of the books Silco had provided me with.
He was working on his recent project, a strange substance that he called Shimmer.
In his words, this Shimmer would act as a fuel for mechanisms that would help out the people of the Undercity. They would help us advance.
He claimed it was too complex for me to help out on just yet, so I stayed on the sidelines waiting until I was able to do something productive; his orders.
I shut the book, sighing in boredom. My eyes traveled over to the glass pane that was a barrier between the murky waters and the base.
There, were the creatures Silco claimed to be magnificent, but to me they were a tad bit creepy.
"Gorgeous aren't they?"
I jumped, quickly turning around defensively only to find Silco.
"Jeez you scared the shit out of me!"
He sighed, heading on over to my direction and placing a rolled up paper on the desk.
"My apologies, care to help me out here with this design?"
I nodded, motioning for him to open up the paper.
There on the paper was displayed the basic sketch of a robotic limb, though very unfinished, and quite plain.
"This might be a bit of a jump, but if Shimmer turns out to plan, we might be able to power many more things with it. It won't be just for powering working machines, but something much more; functional limbs that could be weapons. How could that work?"
He explained, a look of intrigue written all over his features.
I digested Silco's words, scanning over the design to see what exactly I could pinpoint and modify.
Weaponry was never discussed, and I never thought it would be, but regardless I starting thinking.
"Since the Shimmer's purpose won't really change, and will act as a fuel anyways, there needs to be an even distribution of it. Here, the Shimmer is only powering the top of the limb. This would make the part stiff and not really functional in the way you would want it to be.
In order to be a functional weapon, it needs mobility." I stated, quickly grabbing a stranded pencil and beginning to sketch. "Add a few tubes here that transport the Shimmer front and back, and you'll have enough circulation for mobility, like a real limb that has veins which provide blood support. Crannies would need to be made so that the weaponry can be hidden and not in the way of daily function; simple buttons or levers that connect to the artillery with special wiring will be able to to release the munitions when in need... and they would work perfectly fine. Reinforce the tubing along with the fragile wireworks with compact metal for protection.... and you'll have a functional limb." Finishing the last sketches, you presented your work to Silco. "This would be the basic limb. The more advanced model would need to be connected to the owner's brain signals so that it moves like a regular body part; which can be modified later on once the Shimmer is finalized."
Tapping my pencil, I skimmed my work. There was still much more details to be added, but that was not what Silco had asked for just yet.
He nodded, revising the details and seemed to go over my words.
"Excellent work Y/n. You never fail to not disappoint." He remarked, smile displayed on his face. Returning the act, I nodded in gratitude.
"I try."
I stated, standing from the chair and stretching after being in the same position for far too long.
"By the way... how is the Shimmer going along?"
I queried, eagerly looking forward to the answer.
Silco perked up at my sudden question, and answered carelessly. "It's going along very well. Singed just needs to make more modifications so that they'll fit into machinery, and soon it'll be usable in perhaps a couple of months. It truly will make us all powerful."
I was in awe that the process was going very well. A few months ago, Silco was quite frustrated that his creation wasn't going very well. I couldn't cooperate much; knowing that I knew more of mechanical work rather than the scientific work Singed specified in. All I could do was help out with small things, but to Silco they were something. At least I think he ought to think it's something. That, or he didn't want me to know much about Shimmer, which was rather odd.
"Now, Singed requires my assistance. Don't do anything reckless Y/n."
And with that, as quick as he came into the room he exited. I sighed, tension slightly leaving my shoulders.
His presence was always one that put me on slight edge even if he had always been one to trust, but I always felt a certain fear, a fear that I couldn't explain. It was probably just a stupid feeling in the bottom of my stomach, but it was always a very valuable point of his to never stop at nothing, and sure did he mean it.
And sometimes I feared that he would use Shimmer for something else other than fuel, but I sure hoped not. Though it was definitely best to simply not think about it that much.
Tapping my fingers on the wooden desk, various ideas of what to do soon flooded my mind to get me distracted from my previous thoughts.
I mean, a little distraction couldn't hurt.
It was always worrying about the shimmer, or worrying about what Silco was up to.
I could continue to work... but I could also sneak out. He never specified I couldn't, I just can't do anything reckless. Is that reckless? No, its just going out to get a good view of the Undercity.
Seizing my small pouch of coins, I glanced over to the door, the same one Silco went through and decided to go through the other one.
I wasn't going to do anything reckless, right?
Right.
•. •. •.
Here I was wandering around in places I didn't know much of, but I think I knew how to handle myself pretty well. It was pretty sad, knowing how I used to know my ways through these streets when I was younger. But they all changed, and so did my past memories. Despite living in the Undercity, I had never gotten the chance to really witness it.
A surge of excitement coursed through me, but I knew I had to maintain my cool.
No normal person from here would have their mouth agape over stands with sellers.
Sure, I had been here before numerous times; but they were all under Silco's orders. I had to do exactly what he demanded, there was no time to simply observe my surroundings and I was never one to waste my time on doing so. Besides, none of his tasks were exactly ones that asked to look around.
So, I just kept walking, my eyes wandering over neon signs and mysterious market booths with peculiar creatures and such.
I stopped to observe a booth with tiny intricate figurines, each all unique in their own way.
An individual who I presumed was the vendor, was napping away on a rickety chair.
It seemed as though they didn't get much sales going on, knowing as people near here avoided this booth.
All the tiny items were still in stock, perhaps one or two missing.
"Excuse me, how much is this tiny fella?"
I queried, and immediately the individual jumped awake; their wide eyes frantic.
"Oh! Oh.. right. Uh, that's about 10."
They replied, calming down once they saw I meant no harm. I squinted, looking at the small figure and smiling. "How much time do you spend on these? They're so detailed, you make them look lovely." The person's rather pale face quickly reddened, "Uh yeah, nothing much. I take normally about 2 to 3 hours on these little guys."
I raised my brow, surprised at the extremely low price. "Ill take five."
I quickly chose those that peeked my interest, and emptied the pouch onto the table.
This was far more than 50, but they definitely deserved far more than that.
"Wait-! You forgot your change!!"
I was already walking away as they exclaimed such, but I quickly reassured them.
"Keep it!"
They definitely deserved the extra money, even if it was way more than what they asked for.
After all, I don't think I was willing to spend on anything else. I was content with what I had already.
I carefully placed the tiny pieces in my pouch, and put it back in its place. As I strolled along, I couldn't help but notice 4 figures seemingly wandering around quite suspiciously.
They had their eyes set on a booth with rather valuable objects, and it was as though they were waiting for the right time to snatch something and run off.
One of them was a kid, probably 10-12 with seemingly wide eyes and an excitement in them. She has powder blue hair that seemed to match her vibrant eyes.
Standing amongst her were slightly older individuals, perhaps around my age.
One was lanky with wild brown hair, he looked somewhat strange too. The other was rather tall with neater hair, goggles laid atop of his head. The last, was definitely most interesting.
She was extremely attractive with her pink hair and gorgeous eyes that were filled with the same excitement as the kid's; except of course not as noticeable as her's.
Not gonna to lie, I wanted to see how this turned out. And what better way to get up close to the situation? Be apart of it. It was nosy of me, but I couldn't help it.
I headed on over to the booth, containing my smirk as I pretended to look intrigued
"Excuse me, could you tell me more about this antique? I could have sworn I saw this before except cheaper..."
Immediately the vendor's eyebrows raised, and in a hurry he headed on over with a sense of confusion and anger.
"What? What do you mean- this is authentic! Never has been sold anywhere else other than here, and may I say that this price is rather reasonable..."
The man continued to ramble on, obviously lying about his 'authentic work', too distracted to notice the people in the back stealing most of his merchandise.
They managed to sneak away pretty easily, but the stunt could only go on for so long.
Now I had realized I wasn't paying attention, and the vendor definitely noticed that too.
He spun around, looking at his items and noticed several of them missing.
"Hey! Where did- YOU!"
But before he could turn to face me, I was already gone, sprinting to wherever my feet took me. A part of me really wanted to see what those people were up to, but that'd be too nosy.
The one thing I do remember of the lanes, is to never follow someone; unless you want a bruised and bloodied face.
And so I trotted along the strange alleyway, not really minding the fact that I was technically lost.
Though along my journey I felt strange, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up.
But before I could do anything about it, I was getting my face shoved against the concrete; my arm held to my back whilst the 'stranger' pinned me to the wall.
"Tell me what you want. I wont give it to you, but it sure as hell will keep me from beating you up."
Jeez.
"Can I not do a simple act of kindness? Is that not allowed here anymore?"
I spat out, wincing as she pushed my face further into the wall.
"See that's the thing. No one here does things out of kindness... they always want something out of it. So tell me, what the hell are you up to?" She breathed out.
"Nothing. Plain and simple. Don't you think I would've followed you all if I did want something, pretty face?"
I stated, a slight smile forming.
"But maybe you knew one of us would follow you, didn't you?"
"Nonsense! I'm not that smart. I'm just bored okay?! Besides, that guy is a scammer. He needed to get some sort of payback."
She finally let me go.
I composed myself, brushing off the dust from my clothing. I looked at her, holding out my hand. "Believe a proper introduction is nice. My name's Y/n, and you are?"
She looked me up and down with a look of suspicion on her face, and it took a few seconds before she clasped her hand with mine, giving it a shake. The look was quickly replaced with a smug smirk.
"Violet. But I prefer Vi."
"Like your hair?" I sputtered out, my eyes widening after realizing the stupid question I made.
She laughed, my face heating up.
"Yeah. Like my hair, very smart observation."
She joked, making me shrink back in embarrassment. "It was just a very interesting observation."
She rolled her eyes with a playful smirk.
"Now.. forgive me for being curious but, how come you're not either beating my face in or interrogating me?" I asserted.
A small chuckle could be heard from her direction.
"Why do you automatically assume the worst of me?! I may look scary but trust me, I'm not. Well not right now at least."
My eyes widened.
"No! No- not like that. I'm not saying you look frightening, it's just that well, the Undercity's got its way of handling things."
Vi contemplated for a second, nodding when it made sense. "I guess you're right. But you're not bad, so why should I be handling you like a piñata? Unless, you do want a few punches, which is fine by me." She quipped, a raised brow and the same prominent smirk apparent on her face.
I rolled my eyes, shaking my head.
"Absolutely not. I'd like to keep my nice face, thank you. But how do you know I'm good? What if this is all a facade, to trick you and do my evil biddings?!" I pressed, squinting my eyes to make me appear 'villainous'.
"Please. I had seen you a few minutes before our haste, since you were sticking out like a sore thumb, buying those little figurines from one of the merchants. Who by the way, probably hasn't had any customers before you."
I rubbed the back of my neck, suddenly feeling like a weirdo. "They're cute figurines." I mumbled. Vi made a slight 'psh' sound.
"Don't worry, I won't judge. I was probably the only one to notice you, since y'know I have these killer instincts. Though, you're not from around here are you? Just please don't tell me you're a Piltie."
I made a rather disgusted face.
"Oh god no, It'd suck ass if I were. I'm from here, I just don't get out much; work and stuff."
She nodded, beginning to lean against the alleyway's wall.
"What do you say I show you around? Won't hurt to familiarize the place before someone actually bashes your face in for thinking you're a Piltie."
She suggested, a glint of mischievousness apparent in her eyes.
I smiled, quite content that she proposed such a wonderful idea.
"Please. I literally got lost in this alleyway before you came."
"I'm your savior then? I wouldn't blame you though, I tend to have that effect."
I let out a genuine laugh.
"You wish!"
•. •. •.
After what seemed like an hour or so, Vi had finished off the 'tour' with a final visit; a terribly high balcony that practically loomed over the whole Undercity.
"Holy shit this is scary. How the hell are we gonna get down?!"
"Relax! I'm the master tour guide remember? I won't let anything happen to my dearest tourists." She replied, propping herself up against the railing as she gazed down.
Hesitantly, I did too.
"Woah. Okay yeah this is actually very cool."
"Told you so."
The people below seemed like ants, walking to wherever their destination was whilst I watched in awe.
The bright signs seemed to be harmonious when seen all together, bold and flickering beautifully.
"See that place over there? That's The Last Drop, where me and my siblings live."
I could finally see where she was pointing to, amazed at the amount of commotion there was around it.
"It looks amazing! What is it?"
"It's a bar. Our dad runs that place, his name's Vander. He's pretty cool, I'm sure you'll like him if you get to meet him."
I smiled, resting my elbows against the railing as I placed my face in the palm of my hand.
"Thanks for showing me all this Vi, you're really kind. I don't even know why you did this act of kindness to a complete stranger!"
She laughed.
"You seem nice, so I wanted to be nice."
It warmed my heart how kind-hearted she was even though I hardly knew her. I would make sure that I'd return the favor somehow, and that I'd treat her with the equal amount of consideration.
"Jee, I really appreciate all this. I can finally find my way back home without getting caught up in dead ends half the time." She hummed.
"Which makes me wonder.. why did you actually show me around? I'm sure it wasn't just to be nice." Vi let out a 'tsk' sound at your remark.
"Some secrets cannot be disclosed."
You rolled your eyes.
"Oh come on just tell me!"
"It wouldn't be a secret if I told you, would it?"
You scoffed, not being able to hold back the small smile that was played on your lips.
"Well, thank you anyway."
Vi smiled, a genuine smile, and nudged your shoulder. "Don't mention it Miss Outsider."
"What a fitting nickname."
"I know right?"
•. ゜★。・゜☆ .•