Powder already had a makeshift lab in the same complex as the gym and gun range that the group uses to train. The automatic boxing machine was interesting. Maybe I could use it as inspiration for my robot army. I couldn't help but let out a laugh "Mwahahaha!"
Mylo looked at me strangely, "What are you laughing about, huh?"
I just let out a twinkling laugh, far more innocent this time, and moved into my personal makeshift lab. He huffed and moved after me with a few of the items I had picked out. Everything needed to make Powder's devices were already here, and I had a decent amount of materials and tools. Vander got me a part of it, while me and the others got the other half from jobs or looting. I, or old Powder, had spent a lot of time rummaging through the scrapyard together with Littleman and that was one of the reasons we were so good friends. In addition to us both being around the same age. I had mixed thoughts about calling myself Powder and differentiating between me and Powder, but I figured that I just had to bite the bullet and call myself Powder. It wasn't as if I had another identity in this world, so for all intents and purposes, I was Powder.
The 'lab' was a combination of some sort of storage room that was decently large and a few offices without doors. After the two older boys had helped me carry up the gear, Claggor turned to me, "How about we go get some food from one of the stalls?" I was filled with nervous energy that I just wanted to spend using my new equipment to make my dreams come true. Claggor recognized the look and continued, "Oooor, how about we bring you some food?" I just nodded frantically. "Alright, we'll see you in a bit. Heheh. You enjoy your new toys." I had already ignored him and was skipping over to my new equipment.
Although I had already calculated the frequency the hex crystal had to be subjected to in order to transform into a stable state, I didn't start with transforming the hex crystals. Firstly, I secured them in a box filled with cloth, making sure that they were divided by metal dividers to not react with each other. When I knew they were all inert, I started with the stabilizing platform Jayce had made. I generally knew how it worked and how it was made, but I wanted to know exactly. The first step was opening it up with a screwdriver. The first thing I realized was that it wouldn't do as a final way to stabilize the hex crystals. It wasn't made for high-frequency rotations, but instead as a way to measure and test the crystals. I had thought it was made to stabilize the hex crystal, but apparently not. Still, I already knew how the final design of the stabilizer looked, and I even had two examples. One would be similar to the one made by Jayce and Viktor in the future, and another made by Jinx or future Powder. Both stabilizers worked similarly to magnetic arrays where the surrounding magnetic field was pressing in on the crystal and using that frequency to refine it into a perfectly round and stable state. Each version also had magical runes inscribed on them.
I used Jayce's experimental platform as a base and started to shape the surrounding metal parts that would be used as a sort of magnetic coil. It didn't actually work on magnetism, but instead on some sort of magic pressure that would shape the hex crystal without wasting any of it. Essentially it both purified it and refined it at once by forcing the crystal to change shape into an inert state that was far easier to work with than the volatile raw crystal. It took a while to not only get used to working with this equipment with this small body, but also to get the design the way I wanted it. I could have made a quick rush-job if I wanted to get this over with quick, but I focused on stability and reliability. With only seven hex-gems, I had to get everything perfect. The amount of energy in each hex crystal was never really explained in the show, but from Jayce's notes I had already figured out that they were self-charging from ambient mana. As long as they weren't used very intensively in a short period of time, you could use them nearly forever. Their rate of recharge might slow over time, but I needed more data to figure it out.
I didn't really register when Claggor came over with food, but when I found the cold food on a desk to my right I just ate quietly while finishing up my design. I had already shaped the metal, but the mechanism needed some work to be able to handle the rotation. To channel the energy from the hex crystal into the stabilizer I needed to connect thick copper wire to the clamp holding the crystal.
After another few hours, I desperately wanted to finish my project. Still, my body was shaking with tiredness. My mind was still crystal clear, but my body couldn't catch up to my mind at all. I had to get some sleep. It wasn't unusual that Powder slept in her lab, so I decided to do the same. I got something to drink from downstairs and used the bathroom while I was there. It was awkward to use the bathroom as a girl for the first time, but I tried not to think too hard about it. Afterwards I jumped into a makeshift bed in one of the offices. Vander's men were watching the building at all times, so I wasn't too worried about being away from the others. Not that VI wasn't downstairs working on her punching. I could hear her, but I just tuned it out as white noise. She could carry me to Vander's if she felt like it, but I just needed my beauty sleep.
When I got up and went downstairs to get a meal, VI stopped me, "Hey, Powder. We need to stay inside for now. Vander is trying to handle the enforcers coming down here. Alright?"
"Sounds perfect!" VI's somberness clashed with my great mood. "I'm almost done with the first step to my invention, so I need to go finish it."
"Hmm, alright. Remember to eat and drink, alright?"
"Of course, VI." I grabbed my meal. I couldn't even tell exactly what it was, but it seemed to be some sort of seafood soup that I sipped aggressively. Everything except my experiments just felt like obstacles standing in my way, and I wanted to get through right now!
After I finished my soup, I continued working on the mechanism that would make the hex crystal's energy turn in on itself. It was a relatively easy design, but it was difficult to make everything by hand. I had some tools, but no real precision tools and no real machining tools like one might expect on earth. If I wanted specialized tools, I had to make those as well. It would take too long. At least I had a hand-held welding tool. Otherwise this would have been practically impossible.
I fastened the last bolt into place and put the finishing touches on the rune engravings before sitting back with a satisfied smile on my face. My body was aching, but my mind was buzzing so hard that I couldn't help my joy. I grabbed one of the crystals and put it into the clamp. After a final check, and getting my goggles, I went downstairs. The noise and light from stabilizing the crystal might alert the others in the house, so I had to tell them. Our living situation was a bit odd, perhaps. We all had rooms connected to The Last Drop. However, this was akin to a safehouse we used when there was too much heat, in addition to being a workout gym/storehouse. Essentially, it was Vander's warehouse that had been made into a living space for us.
Mylo and Claggor were playing a card-game in the common room that consisted of the shooting range, boxing machine and a few tables and chairs. VI, however, was pounding on the machine. When looking at her graceful punches, and the massive power behind each one, I could fully understand how she would become a champion in the future. She had a natural grace and power that few could compare to. Her combat intuition seemed top-notch as well. While looking at her, my mind automatically calculated her moves, power, form, and what would be most efficient, and she was above 90% efficiency. That was insane for a girl who hadn't continuously analyzed her style through some outside measurements. Her continuous hits were above 1500 PSI while she maintained her fluid flow, which is on the upper level of a heavyweight boxer. And that is as a girl of 15 who still had a lot of growing to do. Absolutely insane.
"Hey, guys." VI continued punching, but turned her attention to me, "What's up, Powder?" Mylo and Claggor also stopped the game and looked to me.
"I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to be doing an experiment that might be loud and will give out a lot of light, so don't panic. I'm making sure to cover everything up so that it can't be seen from the outside, but I just didn't want you to be worried."
VI made a final punch and stepped back to look at me, "I'll join you to make sure you're safe." Mylo and Claggor looked at each other, shrugged, and joined us. I hesitated for a moment,
"Alright, but you have to wear tinted goggles if you are going to look." We all had a pair, so it wasn't an issue. Sometimes it was necessary in the undercity, especially if you were going places with a lot of light radiation or where chemtech had gone wrong.
We all gathered in the experimental room, where I made sure to point out "You can't interfere, no matter what. You might think that you know what's going on, or that something is going wrong, but I know better in this field. If the process is disrupted, it might cause an explosion. So, I repeat, no matter what, do NOT interfere with the process. If you're worried, you can go outside."
"Sure, Powder."
They weren't serious enough, so I walked up to Mylo whose response was too lackluster. The other two had just nodded their head. I poked him in the chest and emphasized while staring up into his eyes, "I'm serious Mylo. If you interrupt in some way, you will kill us all. Okay? I'll haunt you beyond death if you don't take this seriously."
VI hesitated, "If it's so dangerous, why are you doing it at all? Much less here…?" I just rolled my eyes at her and turned to my creation.
"This," I opened my arms as if to embrace the device "will revolutionize our technology to the point that we can take over topside completely. It will be so far beyond anything they have that they just have to roll over and take it."
Mylo sniggered, "That sounds great, jinx, but from your track record it'll just do nothing." He crossed his arms over his chest and gave me a daring look.
I decided I had enough of the talking, made sure everything was in place and turned the dial slowly up. Instead of slowing down when it started letting off blue light and particles, I increased the speed until the rotating blades turned into a blur. The gem started to rotate the opposite way, while the runes guided its purification. I still didn't know exactly which runes led to which reaction, but I simply copied the ones from Arcane the show and made sure they were congruent with Jayce's research and my own observations. They were for the most part, so I just made some minor corrections before implementing them. Based on this first try, I would get a better sense of exactly which rune did what. They activated in a specific pattern that I controlled, and each time the frequency and how the gem reacted change slightly. At first it floated up, then it span faster, then it starter emitting arcs of magic that further charged the device. Then it continued spinning and finally it began morphing shape. The whirring of the machine and the high-frequency spinning made a sound akin to an electric motor, which seemed to make VI and the others nervous, but they listened to my words and didn't interfere. Finally, I turned the dial all the way up, and soon it span even faster. The rough edges of the gem practically melted away as it was reshaped into a perfect sphere.
While the machine spun and started reshaping the gem, I realized exactly why the initial hex crystal was unstable. It was because it wasn't a single crystal. The so-called hex-gems were actually multiple smaller gems that were merged together. When pressure was applied to them, this caused friction between the different crystals and thus a reaction started. It was almost akin to pressing magnets of opposing polarizations together. Not exactly, since these poles could be next to each other, but the crystals would automatically react to other crystals and pressure. The process I used not only removed all impurities, such as tiny grains of sand, other compounds, and anything that might be stuck inside of the crystals, but it perfectly fused all of the individual crystals together into a sphere. It didn't take long before the gem was shaped into a stabilized state and the blue light died down.
I gently removed the refined hex crystal and looked back to see three gaping youths. "Wow, Powder. That was amazing. Did it work?" VI was first on the ball.
I held up the perfectly round hex crystal and smiled, "It worked perfectly, look!"
The blue orb was beautiful, but I wouldn't let any of them touch it. I knew it was very sturdy, as proven in Arcane, but I didn't want to take any chances that someone would get any ideas. Mylo's face had turned from a smug confidence to a resigned look. I think he loved lording his superiority over the original Powder because of a lack of self-confidence, so when Powder succeeded he felt like a failure.
Claggor just laughed at his look after picking his own jaw off of the ground. "Great job, Powder." Both he and VI came over and gave me a hug to celebrate. I carefully held the gem to my chest to make sure it was safe.
VI looked down at me, "So, what's the gem for? And where did you get them?"
"I found them in the lab we robbed and noticed the research around. After reading through his notes, I realized I could do what Jayce couldn't."
"Wait, Jayce? You mean that topsider? How do you know his name?"
"Well, he had it written in his journals. On every page."
The others laughed "What a self-entitled prick."
I nearly snorted, but held a hand in front of my face to avoid it.
After they finished laughing, I broke free from the hug and continued explaining, "The gem is a power-source. It has a lot of potential. This little thing has more power than a factory of chemtech combined. We can use it for a lot of things. Weapons especially. However, before that, I'm going to make some very important tools that will give the undercity the resources we need to get back on our feet." The gazes of the trio were simultaneously hopeful and doubtful. They likely still didn't believe that I could truly create a technological revolution. I didn't mind as long as they supported me.
"In order to really make use of the refined hex crystals – I think hex orb is a good name for it – I need more materials. Especially copper, iron, glass and mirrors. I'm sure we have some around somewhere, but if not then please get some from either Benzo's or the scrapyard. Could you help me with this?"
VI looked at the hesitating Mylo and smiled, "I think your proof of concept is good enough for us to spend a little time getting your materials. However," she looked back at me, "we can't go out to get the materials now because of the enforcers. We'll go through the storeroom to see if there's anything usable and let you know in a bit, alright? When it calms down out there, we'll try to get the other materials you need."
I couldn't help but sigh, "Alright, well… Thank you." I still had enough materials to start my projects with, but far from enough for real production. Still, I could make a few prototypes and workshop the designs. The most critical design was the super-computer. After thinking about the theory I read in Jayce's notes and the few books I managed to devour, I knew that I couldn't simply use the hex orbs as a battery to power up a computer. If I made a normal computer, it would be far too slow to be worth it. I would have to iterate for a few years before it became a really good computer, and that would have to include a lot of raw materials and production capabilities. What I wanted to do instead was to use the reality-altering properties of the orb to go straight to quantum computing. The orb had some sentience, as clearly displayed by Viktor's attempt at making a sort of computer/anything device in Arcane. However, Viktor didn't really recognize its sentience and thus couldn't shore up against it turning against him. I, however, already knew about this property of the orb and could thus work with it.
One of the reasons I was very confident about making a quantum computer was that the properties of the orb matched perfectly with what I needed. It could, in itself, already calculate various phenomena to manipulate reality. These phenomena were based on runes, but they were more like guidelines. They weren't strictly necessary for the orb to operate, only to operate in a specific way deliberately. If I could induce this way of operating through, for example, a runic keyboard, then I could continuously program the orb. In addition to doing that, I would use the light the orb gave off to mirror off on various points that would be affected by the light. The orb would control and track individual ions and ultimately cause the ion's internal energy state to go into a superposition of 0 and 1, allowing the gate to process multiple possibilities simultaneously. Each qubit gate could process four possible combinations of 0s and 1s simultaneously, while each additional qubit would double the number of combinations the gate could process at the same time. The exponential increase would let me do massive calculations with a small device.
When I considered the teleportation rings in Arcane, I knew that the ability of the orbs to calculate was massive. Essentially what Jayce and Victor were doing when they made something like the teleportation gates was to use runes to tell the dumb AI – or spirit – of the orb that they want a certain effect, for example 'Teleport incoming object to specific location x.' However, it was the orb that did the calculations of where every single atom was going to end up, and it did so simultaneously while not causing any damage to the teleported object. When that is scaled up to massive ships, it becomes obvious that the orb can calculate a truly staggering amount of information. At least, this is my working theory.
The process might be simplified because it uses magic, but it would amount to the same. If the orb is simply a conduit to 'talk' to the universe to order it to do certain things, then any computing device I made would simply be something that requested or demanded a calculation done by an external quantum computer which would then feed my device the correct answer in an instant. That possibility would likely work even better than what I originally thought, because it meant that its ability to calculate would be exponentially higher than otherwise.
While I daydreamed about the possibilities, I had already started planning my next project. Before starting that, however, I had to refine the other hex crystals into orbs. Having unstable hex crystals might not be good for my health in the long run, and I wouldn't need to use an unstable crystal no matter what. I put the next hex crystal into the device, made sure it still worked perfectly, and activated it. The trio had left the room long before, so I just continued refining one crystal after the other in silence. It didn't take long. Only around two minutes per orb. When I had finished with all seven, I went outside of my lab and noticed that a few crates had been placed there. I opened them and found a decent amount of raw material. The undercity was sprawling with various pipes that usually were copper, brass or iron, so it wasn't surprising that a lot of the boxes were filled with that exactly. There were a few vials of glass, and some mirrors, but not nearly enough for the real deal.
I sighed as I looked at the pile of pipes. I had to actually reforge the material to get anywhere, but I didn't have a real forge. Vander had a forge, but it was in the Lanes themselves and this warehouse was quite a ways away. No, I had to deal with this here. The only thing I could do was to use one of my torches to heat up the metal and recast it in a mold. I needed tiny frames to hold both glass and mirrors, in addition to a keyboard, mouse, and a computing cluster outside of the orb. Instead of going for a mechanical keyboard, I would use the light of the orb to concentrate into a holographic keyboard and a virtual mouse that would give me the ability to use the 'mouse' in a 3d space. Similarly, the same holographic technology would be used to give me a display screen. I didn't need to have a variety of colors in order to process data and make designs, so I didn't mind the blue color the orb already shone with.
When I brought out the rest of my welding equipment and the torches, I realized that it was…outdated. Instead of getting to start on making the prototypes, I needed to update my welding tools and make a few molds. I considered my options for a moment before I decided to make a welding tool that could also act as a potent weapon. By using one of the orbs as the power-source, I could make a laser that had the cutting power that Viktor and Jayce's laser displayed. Using a few runes, I could control its intensity and switch it from a tool to a weapon in a second. It would at least help me protect myself and my family if the enforcers came. With that tool and some sort of automatic aiming tool, I could decimate the enforcers. I could use the same automatic aiming for precision laser work. Yes! I love it when a plan comes together, and this tool would be a great multipurpose tool. I could even add different nozzles for different effects. One for precision cutting and engraving, one for melting metals, one for removing rust, and one for laser hair-removal. Yes, I was vain enough to use it for hair removal. I was used to shaving as a man, but the only shaving options here were shaving knives, and those weren't exactly safe around the privates or in areas like the armpits. I could use the laser to make sure the hair didn't grow back either, or cut my actual hair in a precise shape. Having leg hair when I grew up as a woman wasn't tempting either. It might also bring some business from the upper-class of the undercity to have the option to use a laser to remove hair and make sure it's gone for a long while.
I started with the lasers and torches I already had. They were clunky and inefficient, but I would change that. I dismantled them all, making sure to safely remove any chemtech inside, and looked through the various mechanisms. It was definitely doable. First things first, I made a chamber the orb could fit into. This was relatively easy. I just cut off a few tiny pieces of a pipe to connect to either side of the orb, and connected copper wires to power the rest of the device. Because the orb itself could produce enormous amounts of light, power the device, and control the light, I only needed to focus the light properly and add a section that could be controlled by the orb. The orb also acted as a crystal lens, so the only thing I needed to add were reflective mirrors in a specific pattern and use runes to inscribe different settings. I also wanted to add a scanning feature that would use harmless light to scan something down to the atomic scale and subsequently save it as a template. This would also be a tiny prototype of a dumb computer.
Using one of the other lasers I had, I cut tiny mirrors and placed them in the optimal spots. I didn't need to focus the beam too much, but the tiny amount of runes I knew of couldn't make a precise enough laser for my liking and thus I chose to split the light into multiple tiny lasers that would come together in an even smaller laser at the end. By giving the mirrors at the end the ability to rotate in angle and direction, I made it possible for the laser to work autonomously. The only thing I would need to do was to activate a specific setting that powered certain runes and the orb would do the rest.
After working on it for a few hours, I realized that I couldn't get the precision I wanted. I could get it to do straight lines and some simple designs, but I didn't have enough mirror shards to make it able to do intricate designs autonomously. Still, it worked. I made sure to add a safety rune similar to a safety on a gun that would activate the weapons-grade laser. Not that the normal cutting laser wasn't able to cut through people but the weapons-grade laser was far stronger than that. By my calculations it could likely cut through about three enforcers wearing armor if they stood behind each other or in a row. After that, it would still be hot but take too long to cut through the forth armor before the enforcer could react. Sure, it would eventually do the trick, but not fast enough. The normal laser I was going to use for cutting would cut through a few inches of steel at the highest setting, but taper off after that. I would always need some sort of metallic backplate when I used it to cut to make sure I didn't cut through the walls or the floor. The melter nozzle was also successful, but it was still small because of my lack of mirrors. It essentially split up the laser into a lot of tiny lasers that would heat rather than cut a material. My first impulse when it came to the handle was to shape it like a gun's handle. However, that would make it obvious that it was a weapon. Instead of going with that design, I made it look like a strange pen. The nozzle looked similar to a pen's tip anyway, and overall it looked like a chunky mechanical pen. This way I could pretend it was some sort of harmless toy or a simple pen and surprise people when it cut them in two or shot through their brain.
The aiming feature was a success, but it could still use a lot of improvements. When it came to using it as a weapon, the orb would calculate where it thought I wanted to hit based on where I aimed, and then it would adjust for anything I missed. So, for example, if VI was taken hostage and I had to kill the person behind VI, the orb would scan using a sort of passive 'net' of light, realize that I was holding the laser at an angle that was closer to the hostage taker's head, and realize that I was trying to track his head. Then it would automatically adjust the laser to the right spot, tracking his movements all the while, and shoot as soon as it was ready. It was far faster than manual aiming, at least when it comes to precision. The orb couldn't differentiate between friend and enemy, so I had to actually be generally trying to aim at specific things for it to adjust and shoot. Also, I was the one who actually activated the shooting function, but it would delay slightly while it adjusted the laser to make the beam connect. On the other hand, if I held the button down it would just shoot in a straight line without question. That way I could swipe it back and forth to cut multiple enemies at once. Powder's natural instincts for aiming, in addition to the automatic features and my superhuman brain made shooting instinctual and far too easy. Still, I didn't have the physicality to deal with a lot of enemies at the same time, at least if they came from different directions. The next step in my laser project would be to have a laser mounted to my back the same way Viktor has and use some sort of program that automatically senses hostility and shoots. That would have to be far into the future, because a lot of my other inventions had to take priority.
As I walked downstairs to test my laser, however, I heard the crash of someone being tossed through a window downstairs. It seemed like my intervention of not blowing up Jayce's house wasn't a big enough to change the reaction of the enforcers. Perhaps Jayce had admitted that we took some dangerous research materials, which forced the council to crack down in order to find it, or perhaps someone wanted there to be chaos in the undercity. Someone like Silco. I didn't know, but what I did know was that I had to either fight or run. If I fought right now, the whole undercity would be fucked, so I had to run. However, I couldn't leave the refined orbs to the enforcers, and neither could I leave the stabilizing device. I sprinted up the stairs two steps at a time, grabbed a backpack, and tossed in a few of the most important parts. The stabilizer, the orbs, and a few tools and parts I had made. It wasn't easy to carry with my scrawny frame, but I didn't have a choice.
Protocol for an enforcer raid was to escape. Jump out of windows and get onto the roof, then run across rooftops until we got to The Last Drop. We also had a few traps, diversions, and buildings we ran through to lose any pursuers. It was all necessary to remain outside of the enforcers' clutches. I just had to keep using different routes and rats-nests to hide while moving. The feeling of disgust burned on my tongue as I thought about running. Mylo, Claggor, and VI might be trapped, caught, or beaten to death if I run. I had already changed canon, so it wasn't clear if we would all get away. Thus, instead of running immediately, I sneaked down the stairs to watch the enforcers stride into the room like they owned it. Their air-filtration masks, uniform weapons, color, and armor made them all look the same.
"Search them," Marcus stood behind the grunts, watching as they closed in on my new siblings. Sure, I didn't really consider Claggor and Mylo my real siblings, but more akin to adopted big brothers. Claggor was always kind, but Mylo was annoying. The issue now, however, was that I didn't want the enforcers to put their hands on my siblings. Not to mention that they might have been tipped off that we were the thieves and thus arrest the trio downstairs.
The ominous clanking of the boots sounded as the enforcers walked up to the trio. Mylo instantly raised his hands, while Claggor took a bit longer to decide. VI, however, looked pissed. She was about to be searched by a man who instantly raised his hands to feel her up. Rage bubbled within me. The cumulation of my stress, wanting to test my new invention, wanting to protect VI and wanting to kill every enforcer in existence made me do something rash. Instead of letting them off, I put myself in the optimal position to put them all down, clicked off the safety, and fired. Four bodies slumped to the ground with cauterized holes through their helmets and melted metal flowing into them. It was too easy to even feel real. It was part of the undercity culture to hate enforcers, but no one really killed them in the undercity because it would bring down the wrath of the topside. In this situation, however, they were already coming down on us hard. They would beat a lot of people to death in their searches, and a few women would want to kill themselves after they were through down here. Me and my new siblings weren't about to join that statistic.
VI looked around like crazy to find the culprit, so I stood up and showed myself, "Hey…" Then I puked over the stair's railing. No matter how much I wanted to kill them and tried to convince myself it was for the better, it still felt disgusting to take a human life. VI rushed up to me and brought me into a hug, but I had to pat her arm to make her let me go.
"Careful, I haven't put the safety back on." That made her release me fast enough, and with a click the safety was back on. Mylo, on the other hand, looked like he was both over the moon and wanted to die. He loved seeing the enforcers get killed, but he glared at me something fierce. Claggor also walked over to me and stroked my back.
I just looked up to VI and let out my inner struggle, "S…orry about that. I just couldn't watch them force you into an awkward position or touch any of you."
My voice rose as my anger built up, "They came in here like they own the undercity, when they don't even belong here!" I spat on the ground to get rid of some of the foul taste.
"We'll talk about it later, Powder. Now we have to get moving before the other enforcers come to check what happened."
Unfortunately it was too late for that. A few enforcers had likely heard the clanging of the falling bodies and the subsequent silence. They came to check what was going on only to see four youths standing over the bodies of their comrades. Their weapons instantly went up, and soon a few rifles were peppering our direction with bullets. We were already in the stairway, except for Mylo, but the enforcers mainly aimed at us. Instead of trying to take this fight, we retreated up the stairs and jumped out of a window. There wasn't enough time for everyone to climb up to the roof, so we had to jump across a few pipes and get down to the ground level before legging it. Mylo was lagging behind, but he had exited from the ground level so he soon caught up.
The enforcers came running behind him. Instead of continuing the chase, however, they paused and fired at us. When I looked behind, I noticed that Mylo was laying on the floor in a puddle of his own blood. His eyes were dull and I realized then that Powder, and subsequently me, did see him as a brother. Maybe a very annoying brother, but a brother all the same. I got a few flashbacks to times he stood up for Powder against gangs and others in the undercity, and suddenly something salty ran down my cheeks, "Mylo!"
I wanted to stop running and turn around to kill them all, but VI had noticed my situation and just dragged me forward around a corner and boosted me up a roof. "We'll meet you at Vander's. Go!" My body instinctively obeyed, but my mind was raging. I desperately wanted to kill the other enforcers, and why shouldn't I?
I slowed my run to a walk, stopped, and turned around. I could just kill them. It wouldn't even be hard. The only hard thing would be to surprise them, but I could do that. The only issue was if I was bogged down from multiple angles, but I could at least take care of the few that chased after us and killed Mylo. Soon I was back on the edge of the roof. I was very careful in how I moved, and made sure to have my laser ready. Two of the enforcers had just gone past where I had climbed up the roof, while a third was ascending the roof at the exact spot VI had boosted me up. He just managed to poke his head over the edge before I instantly honed the laser in on his face and held down the button. A fraction of a second later he had a jagged cut going from his nose to the top of his head. His body fell limply backward and before it fell I already got an angle for the two enforcers who had ran past. I used the auto-aim this time and shot two shots in quick succession. Easy as pie. Two smoking holes in two brains. I looked around again. No enforcers had stopped to check on Mylo, but as I scanned my surroundings I saw a reflective glimpse from a rooftop a good measure away.
One second I was carefully watching my surroundings, and the next a bullet whizzed past my ear as I jumped to the left and aimed my laser at the sniper. A tiny delay and the laser honed in on the shooter. Zap. Another dead. That was far too close to comfort. My heart was pounding like a jack-hammer, and my head was filled with a mixture of joy and fear. The previous disgust was gone, replaced by a very intense excitement at finally sticking it to the enforcers who love to take liberties down here. I didn't even care whether or not they were family men or women, and not if they were good people either. They upheld a system that oppressed me and mine, and that was enough for me.
I didn't have time to calm my heart, so I just started running back to Vander's. A part of me wanted to loot the bodies, but I would be too exposed for too long. A single bullet from someone similar to the sniper could take me out. It wasn't worth the risk. The undercity was in an uproar, but after the violence behind us it seemed like more people had started attacking the enforcers. The issue with the enforcers weren't that they were too many of them, but that they were very scary individually because of their gear and training. Compared to hoodlums who cared more about money and their own skin, they made a far more effective fighting force. However, when you pressed hoodlums into a corner, they would bring you down to their level. In a direct fight, we had no chance, but they had come into our territory where we had the homefield advantage. A rioting mass had already beaten a group of enforcers to a pulp, and a few were beaten to death. It seemed that the force of the enforcers had been used too liberally and thus the undercity retaliated. Officially, the enforcers had no rights to enforce the law in the undercity, but they used their superior force to bully their way into our business and suppress us at every turn. It isn't strange that people would take this opportunity to stir up the people. I saw a few people with pink eyes, so it seemed like a decent amount of the crowds had been dosed by Silco's shimmer. I appreciated him, although I found his methods a bit distasteful. Not the gang and violence part, but the addiction to shimmer that followed. Still, my own recent experiences showcased exactly why drastic measures had to be taken. If you keep your head down, others will continue trying to make you keep it down, but if you burn a hole in their brain they won't be able to press their boots into your spine. At least not effectively.