Armin and Aiden were strolling casually around the slums, chatting. As they turned a corner, Aiden stopped and pointed at something.
"Slum sliders!" The 10-year old turned to Armin with an excited look. "I haven't had these in months!"
The duo approached a makeshift hut on the side of a building, with a board attached to the top that read "SLUM SLIDERS - 18 CREDITS". Below the board stood a middle aged homeless man who was flipping patties on a dirty grill. Some slum denizens stood nearby, eating a small burger wrapped in paper.
"18? Last time, it was only 12…" Aiden dug into his pockets and pulled out a black card, which projected the number 13 through a hologram.
Neither Amy nor Aiden knew about the 5000 credits Jamie had, as he let Amanda take rein of the family finances, as well as the simple matter that he forgot. If Aiden had known, he would have asked them for some.
"Credits? These cards?" Armin pulled out a bunch of black cards out of nowhere, making Aiden give a surprised look.
"Yeah! How do you have so much?" Aiden grabbed one and turned it, seeing the number 38 be projected.
"I found them." Armin omitted the part where he picked them up off the attackers he killed while carrying Jamie back to the shop.
"Lucky! Let's have a bunch. 6 sliders please!" Aiden wasted no time in ordering.
Armin paid by tapping his credit card to the vendor's credit card, transferring the funds. As they waited for the meat to cook, they watched in anticipation, Aiden constantly gulping as his mouth watered.
"What's in this stuff?" Armin asked curiously. The vendor responded in a gruff voice.
"22% bird, 46% rat, 25% lizard, and 7% human."
"..."
"F-For real?"
"Mhmm."
Armin just nodded slowly, while Aiden still looked at the meat eagerly with a strained expression.
"Not going to think about it. Nope." Aiden muttered under his breath, wishing he had ordered less.
The vendor whistled a tune while the two boys stood awkwardly, just waiting for their food.
Soon, they had got their order, and wandered to a random street, deciding to eat their slum sliders on the hood of a broken car.
Aiden bit into the juicy burger, spilling some oil onto his cast. He ignored it and made a sound of pleasure. "Still worth it."
Armin bit into his own, his eyes watering. He immediately devoured the rest of the burger and wiped his eyes before Aiden even took a second bite.
"Uh… didn't I order 6?" Aiden tilted his head as he watched the purple haired boy unwrap another.
"Sorry, this is just the first thing I've had that isn't moldy bread in the last 10 years…" Armin sniffed as he halved the second burger with his mouth.
"Oh. Good for you, man. You should try Amanda's cooking, sometime." Aiden felt a pang of pity towards the boy nearly twice his age.
"I look forward to it." Armin sighed. "What were you guys' lives like to this point? How'd you become one big family?"
Before Aiden could respond, Armin spoke again. "I was just a kid that ate whatever to survive. I didn't even know I was a Wizard until my capture, I saw my ghost magic as something normal.
One day, I was walking when I smelled something delicious. I turned, and I saw two cops roasting a whole hog over a fire in the front yard of their headquarters, behind the gate. I wanted to go ask for some, so I broke the gate's lock with my magic and entered.
I walked over to the cops and asked to eat some of the hog. They didn't respond, so I took that as a yes. I conjured up a plate and dug my hands into the hog, ripping out a chunk. I was about to eat it, when suddenly there was shouting everywhere, and the cop next to me had pulled his gun on me.
I was scared, so I screamed. But that must have pissed off the cop, because he pulled the trigger and shot me in the shoulder. I black out, and the next thing I see when I open my eyes is that I'm surrounded by dead bodies.
Then I met him for the first time." Armin's fists tightened as his eyes turned cold, making some meat fall out of his slider.
"Griggs, the Dynamos leader. He slapped cuffs on me that suppressed my magic, tossed me in a cage and left me next to a bunch of generators. He treated me like a pet, no, he treated me like a slave for over ten years.
He was planning on selling me. I was doomed to forever be someone's captive. That is, until Jamie came along and freed me. That's why I'm here today."
He turned to look at the stunned Aiden, who was listening to the story carefully.
"You see, I never had a family. I was always alone, until now. That's why I want to know about you guys, about my new family. How did you guys become a family?"
Armin ended his tale with a burp as he tossed away the empty wrapper. Aiden looked at his hands and frowned when he realized that Armin had eaten another two sliders during his tale.
He crumped his own empty wrapper and tossed it over his shoulder before unwrapping the final slider. He swallowed before leaning on the windshield, looking at the sky. "Well, it's nothing much.
At first, it was just Jamie and me. Well, that's what he told me. The earliest I remember is being with Amanda and Amy at the shop, but according to Jamie, it used to be just me, him, and our dad.
Our mom was never present. I don't remember our dad either, he died when I was 2. Jamie says he was a kind and caring man, and that he loved us.
As for how we met Amy and Amanda, well…"
Aiden bit into his slider as he began to tell the story to Armin, taking himself to the past.
******
6 years ago, Old Orion slum sector.
"Repairs! Repairs! You sir, you look like you need something fixed. REPAIRS!"
In front of a mechanic shop that looked in a better condition than its present counterpart, a little girl stood in front of the open garage, calling out to passersby. She had red hair, green eyes, and wore dirty overalls that were too big for her.
"We fix antiques, trinkets, even cars! Come on, people!"
"Sis, just quit it already!" A younger girl with identical features popped her head out from under a car with a frown. "No one's gonna come by!"
"We need money to eat, don't we!?" Amanda shot back. "Now keep fixing the leak! That car's a 250-credit job!"
"But you're the mechanic…" Grumbling, Amy slid back under the car to fix the leak.
Hours passed, and Amanda got more frustrated at the lack of customers while Amy stopped working, kicking around a ball outside the shop.
Amy heard a group approaching and kicked the ball, watching it roll over to the foot of the person in front with a gasp.
"Amy~"
"David!" Amy screeched before running to hide behind Amanda, who stepped forward protectively.
David was an older boy with black hair, tattoos, and some facial hair. He stood there, looking at Amy weirdly.
His cronies stood around him, mumbling and laughing occasionally. He and his gang had been harassing the two girls for some time now, having a crush on the 10-year-old Amy despite him being 5 years older.
"What do you want this time!?" Amanda growled at him.
"You know what I want, just one date…" He rubbed his hands and looked at Amy who shivered.
"Just leave us alone!" Amy screeched.
"She's too young for you!" Amanda eyed a small pipe that was near her foot. It would be heavy, but she could swing it at the boy if he tried anything.
"We're both kids, I don't see the problem." He glanced at his cronies who nodded in approval. David sighed. "Look, I've been coming here the past two weeks, and still haven't got anything out of it."
"She doesn't owe you anything." Amanda grit her teeth and made Amy take a step back.
"Oh yeah? Well too bad!" David roared at the girls, making them flinch.
In a nearby alley, a boy with black hair and red eyes walked, carrying a smaller boy with identical features on his shoulders. He heard David's roar, frowned, and turned towards the direction he heard it from.
"I ain't gonna keep doing this if I can't get what I want!" David stepped forward as the girls stepped back, grinning menacingly. "I'll be gentle with her…"
"Aiden, wait here for a bit, will ya?" In the alley, the boy lifted his brother off his shoulders and set him on the ground, patting him on the head with a smile.
David pulled out a magazine and tossed it on the floor in front of the girls, the page opening to some VERY adult stuff. "Or not. I wanna try this stuff out with her!"
Amanda's eyes filled with horror as she saw the magazine, and immediately blocked it from Amy's view, who was starting to cry behind her older sister. "Fuck you! Stay away from my sister!"
David grinned, looked back at his gang, before turning back to the girls. He released a devilish laugh. "Not this time."
He approached the girls, who heard each step echo in their ears. The gang behind David moved closer as well, trying to encircle the two.
"Amy, run!" Amanda yelled, and her sister turned to run.
David was about to give chase, but everyone's attention was stolen by the sounds of rushing footsteps as well as a boy's yell.
"HEY ASSHOLE!"
Everyone turned to see a boy come out of nowhere, his outstretched fist crashing into David's jaw. They froze, watching the scene that looked like it was in slow motion, a tooth flying out of the bully's mouth.
The reactions were diverse. Aiden, all the way back in the alley, watched in confusion. The members of David's gang were filled with shock, then anger at the sudden attack on their leader. Amy watched with tear-stained cheeks, trying to process what she saw.
And Amanda stood there filled with awe, her green eyes meeting with the mystery boy's red. She felt a shiver down her spine as she realized that he was looking at her even before he punched David.
Time unfroze, and David fell to the floor, out cold. Shaking his fist with a wince, the boy suddenly turned to Amanda with a wide grin, his other hand outstretched.
"I'm Jamie. What's your name?"
She watched incredulously as the newcomer completely ignored the group of boys rushing him from behind. She replied, almost in a daze. "A-Amanda…"
"Amanda. I like that name." He giggled before yelping as he was tackled from behind, Amanda and Amy going to hide behind the car.
And thus, with the 12-year old Jamie's and the 14-year old Amanda's introduction, the members of the mechanic shop family met for the first time.