A Cybernetic Life

by AxtontheMechanist

Choices

We headed with the strange, bearded man through the over-crowded streets, as the crowd parted before him, which gave us a clear walk through the claustrophobic, cobblestoned paths of Baltimare. Behind me, Trixie and Octavia chatted quietly, discussing their familiar like to classical music (Octavia still held on to her secret love of electronic music. How do I know, you ask? She mutters in her sleep. That is all).

Vinyl had her arms stretched behind her back, making a makeshift headrest behind her electric-blue haired head, as Hammerfist fiddled with his battleaxe (no innuendo intended. Go figure), rubbing off small, nearly unidentifiable scrubs and wads of dirt.

It was rather strange, however; I had my suspicions about this man, with his odd beard. I never trusted people with odd beards. Or guard insignias for that matter; but back to the story at my incredibly awesome metallic hand.

We quickly cut our way through the crowd, a sword of people that cut a swath through a horde of slightly annoying tourists. Unfortunately, something quickly stopped us; and by that, I mean a mob of large thugs with a small, rat-faced and repulsive little man in the middle. They barged past us, knocking all of us (apart from me and Hammerfist, who grabbed a fairly muscled one and threw him into a wall nearby, and walked over imposingly to question him), as I stabilized myself. The man who was leading us to the port bellowed in anger, drawing his sword and yelled something about ‘City Cobras’, which I guessed was the gang that had bumped into us.

As I noticed one of them running off with all our coin purses, and nodded to the others, I kicked my speed boosters into overdrive, and sped off after them. As getting through the crowd would be too complicated, I quickly rappelled up a wall, as quick as a dog toward some leftover food on the floor after a Sunday dinner.

Fortunately for my plas-connect pads on my hands (which could be utilized whenever I wished), I was quick to the roof, wall jumping multiple times thanks to the walls being made of oddly polished-off brickwork. It’s a good thing I played all that Assassin’s Creed.

After I reached a viewpoint where I could see the group of thieves from, I found that they were around a few hundred meters from my eagle-eyed position atop the high rooftop, kicking my boosters into ‘vroom’ mode (I am going to drown the guy that named that protocol. Seriously, stop laughing).

It wasn’t long before I had a eagle-eye view of the group of thugs, and began to calculate the way to get a jump on them, all the while as I kept up with them, a light blue blurry mist seeping out from behind me (out of small back vents that open up to deal with the chemical heat created of me using the speed boost; like a robot fart.)

After a few minutes, I jumped into the middle of the group, upon the small vermin man who quickly crumpled to the floor, as he hit his head and got knocked out upon the cobblestone surface. The other thugs quickly whipped around, with alarmed faces which quickly turned to sneers as they surrounded me, ready to shove or hit me. A few of them (there were six), had already drawn weapons, crude looking daggers that looked like they couldn’t bust a wheel.

I laughed and readied my fists as I went straight into combat mode, my eyes once more showing of the gruesome blood red they did the first time I turned into my more badass alter-ego. One by one, they were defeated beneath my fists of glory as they were felled like trees, slow and clumsy punches being out maneuvered by my quick AI reactions and lightning-fast blows, all which left steaming burns upon the poorly crafted black and green armor they had donned before heading out to thieve from citizens.

After what seemed like hours, my eyes turned back to normal as I gathered up the coin purses from the rat-faced man, making sure not to accidentally crush any of his bones as I also destroyed their weapons after gaining back the leather pouches and placing them back on my waist (which was easy, considering the crudely made daggers and shortswords were simply weak steel or strong iron/steel crafted blades.)

I jumped ahead of the crowd that had begun to gather, and landed on a rooftop, quickly dashing back toward the others, who smiled back at me from my vantage point. All except for the strange, bearded man who was leading us.

As I landed nearby and walked over, the crowd parting before me, he nodded and motioned for me to follow again and the group once more fell in line, traversing the streets again; toward the port we went.

Twenty minutes later, Baltimare Port...

Y’know I said that Baltimare itself was a beautiful city? Well, if you thought my description of the city was riveting, then the port completely blew it out of the water.

Boats had gathered aside the tiled masonry that divided each piece of the port from the other, great gargantuan glorious behemoths of wood that heaved to and fro in the calm waters as crews of men, women and an assortment of other creatures worked aboard. The waters were still and blue, twinkling beautifully in the sunlight, reflecting the image of those who stood over it.

Much like the city, a lot of people still worked along the walkways and streets that made exits and entrances to the port, as market stalls were already set up. They sold foreign goods; from Minotaurian metalwork to Zebrican gemstones, this port had it all and had earned its name as one of the best trade centers of the world.

“Alright” Fenrir snapped me and my friends out of our reverie, speaking in his low, rasping and neutral tone “Feel free to look around and spend your bits on what you feel is necessary. The journey will take 4 days upon my ship, 'The Prince’s Plan'. When you’re done here, meet me aboard there, say to the porters that you’re an honored guest and they’ll let you through without any trouble. She’s a big black vessel, four masts and giant sails, with the flag of a white crown and crossed daggers; you can’t miss her.”

He nodded, leaving us to our devices, but stopped for a moment and called back “You can call me Captain Fenrir, one of her majesties’ finer former warriors.” He chuckled darkly and walked off, black shoulder cape flowing behind his midnight black leather chestplate.

I nodded, as Octavia, Trixie and the others waved him off. When he was out of eyesight (lost in the trundling crowds, no doubt), we turned to each other and grinned widely.

What could possibly go wrong?

Author's Note:

Hey all! Again, sorry for the chapter shortness, schoolwork is piling onto me like a tonne of bricks and general free time is short, so this is all I could make today. Hey, a guy's gotta relax, right?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zero: Not if he had a recharge function.
Me: Shush. Sleep is for the weak.
*Zero mumbles darkly*
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Anyway, if you haven't already, don't forget to like and favorite (that is.. if you want *fluttershy whisper*), and please point out any mistakes that my wonderful (and slightly handsome. don't tell him I said that ;) ) editor, Fluttershy Auditore (many thanks to him) could have missed!

Keep those gears turning,

Axton

Comments

[Capt TeK]

Zero! Noooo!! You never say Murphy's Call! You're all doomed!!!

[Nightingalehound]

Nyahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!

[Tee Sion]

I predict that everyone randomly explodes into confetti...the end

What?! Zero asked for it

[TheFallenPoet]

3276808 What is Murphy's call

[Spiderlock]

Well buck they thought/said the magic words to screw yourself over