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Ascension Of Ashen Fiend: Chapter 1 Desk Jockey
🕑 Added 2022-08-18 01:50:25 +0000 UTCScreams filled the air as people fled from an unknown entity causing the mountain overhead to shake from the stampede. Those unable to keep up were lost in the horde and trampled to death.
Thane watched the scene unfold from several streets ahead as the mass of people running moved like a wave crashing against the stone tunnels as they tried to escape something.
"Thane!" The sound of someone calling his name made him turn around. It was his mother, her dark curly hair plastering a concerned face.
Without warning she grabbed his hand pulling him along as she shouldered a bag, holding all of their valuables. Thane struggled to keep up with his mother, his short legs already burning from the furious pace.
In what seemed like a few seconds the stampede had caught up to them and Thane's mother was almost swept up. But she dropped the bag and picked Thane up, carrying him in her arms.
Over his mother's shoulder Thane looked back in time to see the tunnel behind them explode in a cloud of dust and debris. From the hole in the wall a monster emerged, first came the head with a pair of pincers sharp enough to cut through steel. Next was the body covered in a thick ruby carapace that would deflect bullets as if they were pebbles.
As it climbed up the cave walls, the rest of its body emerged, supported by segmented legs which stabbed into the hard bedrock like butter.
Thane watched as the monster looked at the horde of fleeing people and Thane could almost see the hunger pass through its multifaceted eyes. The creature let out a horrible clicking sound before it dove on the mass of swarming people.
The air turned red as the monster killed indiscriminately, tearing people limb from limb. Looking away from the scene, Thane felt sick to his stomach as the smell attacked his senses.
As the screams became louder Thane covered his ears and buried his head into his mother's shoulder hoping her presence would bring him some form of comfort.
Thane suddenly opened his eyes as he sat up in fear. His body was covered in sweat and his chest was heaving. Thane sat on the edge of his bed and tried to calm his racing heart.
Looking outside his widow Thane couldn't see anything but darkness, knowing going back to sleep wasn't an option he decided to get an early start to his day.
Taking a breath Thane felt the familiar twinge of pain on his chest; it didn't stop him however as he pushed off of his bed and stumbled towards the bathroom. The section of wall hiding the room slid aside to reveal a small cubby only large enough to fit a sink, toilet, and a ray-shower.
The later contraption consisted only of a metal disc embedded into the ceiling that Thane simply activated with his PRD or Personal Retinal Display as he stepped directly beneath it. The disc opened, letting a beam of purple light bathe Thane in its rays.
In seconds Thane was clean from top to bottom. Any dead skin or dirt had been burned away by the light. Stepping out of the shower Thane wandered over to the sink and stared at his reflection in the mirror.
With thin but long dreadlocks, steely gray eyes with flecks of blue and skin with a color somewhere between dark chocolate and caramel, Thane might have been considered handsome. However the illusion was shattered by his skeletal frame and somewhat short stature.
Stifling a cough Thane waved his hand causing the mirror to open revealing a medicine cabinet, each shelf filled with pill bottles and other major and minor medicinal drugs. Thane grabbed a few bottles at random and let the multicolored pills spill into his hands.
Tossing the handful into his mouth Thane swallowed them with practiced ease. With a sigh, Thane grabbed a silver tube resting on the sink and undid the cap before squeezing a ball of putty-like substance into his hand. Which he promptly began to chew on, working the putty around his mouth to clean his teeth. When he was done Thane spat the now liquid into the sink, glad to be rid of his morning breath.
After getting dressed Thane plopped down at his desk which took up most of the small apartment and was littered with a bevy of wires, circuits and servos. Still delirious from his lack of sleep Thane lazily connected his PRD with the desk's Leyline and activated one of its many features.
Two mechanical arms emerged from the seamless metal surface and began sorting the various wires into metal boxes on the desk that Thane had already labeled.
Opening his PRD Thane looked at the list of orders he had, "Let's see…some basic corrupting drones, a few viruses, a complete rework for a plasma pistol. Why did I agree to that?"
Thane was only sixteen but he considered himself a prodigy in all things STEM, most of his days were spent in his apartment working on the various contracts he took from the lowest scum of Bastion.
The number of robberies, gang fights, and other nefarious deeds committed with Thane's equipment was a point of pride for the young man. Of course Thane was only able to stay so far removed from this life of debauchery because he was under the protection of one of the biggest crime lords in Bastion.
Thane had respect for the man mostly because he appreciated Thane's work and knew the value they presented. The crime lord also supplied the wide assortment of medicines Thane needed to stay healthy. In return, Thane would work his magic crafting weapons, gadgets without question.
Spinning in his chair, Thane rummaged around underneath his desk reaching past overflowing bins of scrap metal until his fingers brushed against a handle.
After a bit of struggling to free the weapon, Thane was able to examine the plasma pistol, "Let's see… the endothermic coils need replacing, but the exothermic coils are just fine. The barrel is a bit worn down…if that's not fixed, the bullets won't condense correctly. The gas chamber also needs some sealant."
As Thane muttered to himself, he pulled on a glove that strapped over his fingers, replacing his fingertips with screwdriver bits. With a simple command from his PRD Thane completely shut down the weapon through its Leyline, causing the many sections held by magnets to collapse back on themselves and revealing the many screws holding the weapon together.
Then with a blur of motion, Thane used his glove to remove each screw with ease, as the attachments on his fingers were mechanized automatically spinning when was flush with a screw head.
Whistling as he worked Thane exposed the bones of the plasma pistol, the gun was rather standard among the underworld. Instead of bullets, the weapon used compressed air in a specialized canister. Once it was, the gas was superheated into plasma that when fired would cut through almost anything in its path.
Only an hour later Thane was finished, the job took much longer than he thought as he took extra time to clean the components that didn't need replacing, "It's a pain being a perfectionist."
Still, Thane complained with a smile, as the sensation of a job well done had his body humming, opening up his contacts Thane found the gun's owner and sent them a ping telling them their piece was ready to be picked up.
Looking back at his contract, Thane saw nothing else that he needed to tinker on, the viruses and corrupting drones Thane made in advance and sold in bulk.
They were his best sellers by far outside of custom jobs, both the corrupting drones and viruses served very similar purposes. Every device in Bastion ran off of a central network and emitted a unique signal called a Leyline.
This is where devices like PRDs came in, they were perhaps the most revolutionary device in all of history. It was a small disc on the temple and concealed with synthetic skin. The device would then connect to the brain by simulating brainwaves, the retinas then acted like an old monitor connected to a PC. PRDs also allowed anyone to connect to any device with a Leyline, allowing them to control the device with their mind. Though a lot of people used passwords and credentials to prevent just everyone from accessing their property.
Thane's corrupting drones could bypass this security measure given enough time, however, they could only be used once before the deadman switch Thane had implanted caused it to short circuit.
While the corruptor drone only worked on one device if they were loaded up with Adrain's virus was when things got interesting. If a corruptor drone was equipped with a virus that caused any machine it touched to wipe its memory, that drone could hack one machine and install the virus, which would then spread to any other device tapped into the Leyline. Which included any auxiliary machinery or any PRD previously registered.
There was a reason why Thane took pride in his work, it was very well deserved.
