Sam's head hurt, a lot.

He groaned and tried to turn in his sleep but something was off. He didn't feel like he was in bed and, thinking about it, his head was not the only thing that was hurting, his entire body was in pain.

That's when he remembered the fight.

He snapped awake, surprising the tall lanky man that was carrying his homemade cybernetic armor-covered body, causing him to lose balance and fumble, barely catching himself as Sam escaped his grip, dropped to the ground and rolled to stand back up, his arms already in position and ready for a fight.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down kid."

Sam looked at the other man, much smaller and bulkier than the one who had been carrying him.

"You shouldn't do any fancy trick, I'm amazed you're even conscious after the beatdown you took."

"I had the situation under control."

"Sure, that fireball wouldn't have incinerated you on the spot. Larry, take care of him while I go check that no one's around."

"Sure thing Barry!"

Sam paid close attention to both of the men's movements, just in case either of the two had the bright idea to take him by surprise. He knew better than to let his guard down in the slums, no matter how recently he had arrived.

The small one, Barry apparently, rolled his eyes at his partner's optimism before heading further in an alleyway Sam was just noticing. His brain may have been slightly more shaken from his recent battle than he had thought.

Once that train of thought had started he couldn't get it out of his head. He had been completely outmatched. Sure, he had held his own against the henchmen but as soon as their boss got involved he got absolutely thrashed. Heck, even the henchmen curb-stomped him once they stopped playing nice apparently, given how easily they shrugged off any damage he had dealt previously. He was just a kid who knew how to throw a punch going after soldiers.

"So, what's your name?"

Sam almost jumped, he had so engrossed in his self-loathing that he hadn't noticed when the tall man - Larry if he remembered correctly - had gotten closer to him, bending his knees to be at eye-level with Sam, or at least as close as he could manage given Sam's helmet's lack of obvious slit or holes for him to see through, a very deliberate choice.

The look on the man's face was... Odd. He seemed genuinely curious and interested in Sam's answer, an undeniable child-like wonder shining in his eyes, something that was very strange to see on any adult living in the slums, especially one like him, with svelte features and a small goatee that seemed more at home on a small-time Villain than anything.

What should he do? Giving this unknown man his real name was a bad idea of course, even if he didn't have much of a life right now names were still a very important thing and considering his recent meeting with a magic user, the rumors about demons using people's names to enslave them came back to mind. No, giving his real name was out of the question. But his Vigilante alias should fine, surely.

"I'm Techlord, master of technology."

"Oh! So you made that armor yourself!"

This could be a trap. On the one hand, if he said no, then it's highly possible he would be deemed as useless and disposed of, but on the other hand, if he said yes then they could enslave him to force him to make more for them. Either way, it could end badly for him, but at least slavery could be escaped, not death.

"Yes. Why do you ask?"

"It's really cool. I wish Barry and I could make stuff like that."

"It's hard and requires a lot of time."

"Oh, I know. I had a friend who tinkered too."

Had? Better not investigate, otherwise he could grow attached to this "Larry" and be more manipulable.

"Say, it was really brave of you to save that guy."

Ah, now he was judging what were his morals, maybe he would try to recruit him to become some Villain or small-time criminal's little soldier. Not on his watch.

"It was the right thing to do."

"Not everyone thinks like that, you know? Even my brother, Barry, would have just left him there. He almost did."

What was he talking about? The other man hadn't interfered at all in his fight, he-

It hit Sam. Larry had stopped the mage's attack, and then Barry had protected his brother and Sam from her ire.

"..."

He had to say something, didn't he.

"Thank you. For helping me back there."

"It was the right thing to do."

Using his own words against him, eh? Nice move, but futile. Still, Sam should try to figure out what these two had planned for him, as well as who they worked for.

"So, what now?"

"Well, we drop you off at Pete's, he'll take good care of you, and we'll go on our way."

"Who is 'Pete'? I don't think I ever heard of him."

"Hm? Oh, you're not from around here, are you?"

Darn, it appeared that this "Pete" was a well-known local figure. Or it could be a test to figure out if he really was an outsider or not. Well, since today was his first apparition as Techlord, he might as well tell the truth.

"No, I'm from the Junkland."

"Oh, so that's where you got the stuff for your armor! But you must be completely lost around here, no?"

The Junkland, a place so large it couldn't be compared to a regular junkyard anymore. It was the place where everyone dumped all of the trash from Super fights, everything that was too broken to be recycled by the legit scientific Supers and not dangerous enough for the Union to lock in one of their vaults ended up there, and sometimes people too. It was an odd place to grow up in, another one of the areas that symbolized the divide between the regular Zalcien and its slums that was further North from the one they currently were dwelling, the Black Border.

"I am not lost if I have no destination."

"Oh, a wandering Vigilante then? It must be hard to take care of your stuff if you don't have a home."

Well, he did have a base but... Those questions were getting uncomfortable. Quick, he had to find a way to derail the conversation...

"So, you work for this 'Pete'?"

"Oh no, no one works for Pete. He does everything on his own with his wife, he doesn't want anyone else to get hurt."

"What does he do, exactly?"

"Oh, he's a baker! And a great pastry chef too!"

This... was not what he expected.

"A baker? What danger is there in baking?"

"Well, you can burn yourself with the ovens, get cut, crush some of your fingers with the machines..."

"I get it, minor stuff."

"He's also a Vigilante."

"He's a what now."

"A Vigilante, like you!"

"Why didn't you start with that?"

"He doesn't think of himself as one. He just says he's the friendly neighborhood baker, and that helping people out when they get mugged is part of a friendly attitude."

"It's... Logical. What does he do as a Vigilante?"

"Oh, his alias is Sweet Pete and he controls sugar!"

"..."

"..."

"...That's it?"

"Yes."

"That doesn't seem like much."

Larry winced at that, either hurt or offended for the man, but he didn't disagree.

"It's enough to help people around here. The real big shots don't come near unless it's for business and even then they don't stay long and they behave. The only things we have to fear are the goons and the monsters."

"Really? That seems... Almost safe."

"Well, with the Black Bank nearby and the Union not far either, the really dangerous stuff sticks to the heart of the slums."

He sighed.

"It doesn't mean it's entirely safe though, life is still harsh and people still get hurt. We just have less massacres than the rest of the slums."

"I see..."

This was surprising. Both the discovery of the relative safety of the Black Border, at least compared to the rest of the slums, as well as this lanky man's behavior. He had seemed childish at first but, even without taking into account Sam's paranoia, had shown to be perfectly aware of how bad things were. Usually one would imply the lack of the other, even among regular children.

"So... Who do you work for? You two don't seem like the type to handle yourselves."

"Ouch, that hurts. Believe it or not but it was actually just the two of us until very recently."

Yes, the plan had worked. People with a harmed ego are always more likely to give out information.

"Oh?"

"Yup, we just got hired earlier today. I'm so excited! It's the first time we'll get to work for someone and I'm sure the boss is really nice."

"Who is it, exactly, if you don't mind me asking?"

"We don't know."

What.

"Pardon me?"

"We don't know, he didn't give us a name and we've never seen him before. He doesn't look like any of the Supers we heard of either."

"What does he look like then?"

"I don't know."

"How."

"It was dark, he was covered in shadows. It was almost like he was one with them."

"Do you at least know if he's a Villain or a Vigilante?"

"Nope."

What was wrong with these people? Who would work for someone they have absolutely no knowledge of, including their morals, ethics, and goals? WHO?

"How did you end up working for someone you know nothing about? That seems... Highly unusual."

"He saved our lives, we offered to work for him, he said yes."

"So he's a Vigilante then?"

"Well, I think he saved us from monsters he was already fighting, since he showed up at the same time as they appeared, so..."

"Why were you-"

"Larry!"

Sam and Larry turned around to see Barry looking at them from the end of the alleyway, a very annoyed frown on his face.

"Barry! So, is the coast clear?"

"Larry, were you telling this complete stranger our private information?"

"..."

"Larry."

"Mayyybe."

"LARRY."

"What, he's nice."

"So was that guy giving away free candies."

Those two idiots were the ones to save him. If he needed any more proof that he was a failure of a Vigilante, this was it. He should have known better, how could a kid from the Junkland become anything useful. It was a land of errors and mistakes, and he was just another one of them.

"Anyway, the coast is clear so let's hurry and bring you to Pete's place so that we can go on with our lives."

"Very well, lead the way."

Maybe he should just go back home, if still could be called that. Give up on this whole Vigilante charade, go back to scavenging scraps, and try to make ends meet.

As they walked around another corner - their little walk being slowed down by Sam's limping form, his legs still hurting from his recent beatdown - they finally got to see their destination, a small little run-down shop with a massive window on the front, letting anyone look inside to see the numerous appetizing goods on display. The facade of the shop itself was clearly marked by time, covered in odd cuts and holes here and there, wooden planks providing improvised reparations on the parts that seemed the most damaged. Pink, white, blue, and red streaks of paint decorated the place, giving it an undeniable cheerful look compared to the rest of the green, black, grey, and brown buildings, though it would have looked more horrifying than anything if it had been placed within a normal city.

To top it all off was a little white ensign with the place's name written in pink on it: "Pete's".

"It sure is... colorful."

"Has to be if it wants to be seen."

Unlike all of the buildings they had seen so far, the bakery wasn't situated in an alleyway, instead, it was in a massive open area, offering Sam the most sunlight he'd seen in the past few days. They weren't in alleys anymore, no, they had reached one of the major marketplaces of the slums, a subdivision of the Black Border, the Black Block. Named after its black ground which, if viewed from above, looked like a perfect square if nothing stood on it - which, considering the nature of the slums, only happened in case of attacks, otherwise it was covered by stalls, trash, people, and the occasional corpse.

Pete's was located on the fringe of the Black Block, it was not the only actual shop building but it was definitely the most eyecatching one around, which to be fair wasn't hard to do when most of Sam's view was filled by a massive crowd of the slums-dwellers going on about their day, buying, selling, stealing whatever they could.

"I thought the coast was clear?"

"Eh? Ah, that's just the Black Block's black market. None of them would try anything on us. No, what I meant is that is no monster or thug around."

"What about thieves?"

"Kid, everyone's a thief when they're hungry."

"What Barry means is that they won't bother us. We don't carry enough to attract them."

"You two blokes don't but that kid's suit is looking fancy!"

The three of them turned around to notice a ragtag team of three mutants had snuck up on them, some kind of rat person, a lizardman, and a very pale androgynous human with somewhat translucent flesh, the gaps in his torn and revealing clothes allowing any passer-by to see the vague shape of his black bones.

Sam could clearly see how tensed up his two saviors were once they saw them, they obviously didn't have the means to fight off an ambush by three Cored.

"Jeffrey, Mark, Soluble. You're alive."

"Yeah, and not thanks to you!"

Wait, they recognized them?

"You all know each other?"

"Oh, Techlord, these three used to be our neighbors!"

The lizardman apparently was very annoyed by Larry's optimism judging by the snap of teeth that followed.

"Until these two idiotsss brought an entire pack of Sssicklersss to our home! They destroyed everything and nearly killed us!"

Sicklers? What were those doing outside of the Junkland?

"To be fair those were just pups, we weren't in that much danger-"

"Shut up Jeffrey. I'm not in the mood for thisss."

"Mark is right. Listen, as much as I want to melt down those ugly mugs of yours we're more interested in that kid's gadgets. We owe a lot of people a lot of money after your little stunt and I'm sure this thing could net us a couple of bucks."

"Soluble, we just had a terrible day and so did the kid. Can't we do this another day?"

"Jeffrey, do I care about their opinion?"

"No, you don't."

"See? So get out of the way and scram off, we'll teach you a lesson later. Now, kid, you're going to take this off and-"

As the pale and translucid humanoid approached Sam, a wall of white particles flew in from out of nowhere and stopped the mutant in their tracks. Sam didn't even have the time to wonder about what was happening before a tall overweight cheery man wearing white clothes and a pink apron appeared and stepped between the trio of would-be muggers and their group.

"Soluble, no fighting near the bakery."

"Pete, listen, these idiots owe us money and-"

"Sssoluble, shut up. Sssorry Pete, they jussst put usss through a lot of trouble and-"

"Mark is right! Soluble is just verrry tired, actually we're going home right now! Right guys?"

"Yesss, Jeffrey."

"... Fine. But this isn't over. We'll remember this."

That was it? Pete showing up was enough for three Cored to turn tail and run? Someone whose power was to control sugar of all things? Either they were more cowardly than he had thought, or...

"Thanks, Pete."

"No problem Barry. Still, what have you done this time?"

"We maaay have accidentally attracted a bunch of monsters and they ruined their hideout."

"Larr-"

"Sigh, well, what's done is done. Try to make it up for them later, alright? I know you don't get along but you're still at fault there."

""Sorry Pete.""

"Oh, and who do we have here?"

Now that the situation had calmed down Sam could get a better look at his new savior. Pete was pretty much exactly what you thought of when you heard the word "baker", with thick limbs and a chubby body, his waist being as wide as his shoulders, but with unusual short white hair with pink strands here and there, along with a recently shaved beard that appeared to follow the same pattern.

"Some kid who had the bright idea of fighting some guys from Wicked Witchcraft. What was the leader's name again Larry?"

"Rose I think, she said she even had a job for him if he wanted to."

"Rose uh? I don't see her all that much but her boys do show up from time to time. I'll tell them not to bother you anymore. But why did you try to fight them?"

"They were mugging someone."

The Super baker seemed surprised by Sam's artificially modified voice but didn't dwell on it.

"Do you know who?"

"Some kind of toad-"

"It was Burk."

"Ah, thank you, Larry. It was very nice of you, but-"

"I know, you're going to say that 'a child like me shouldn't meddle in the adults' business' or 'try to play Hero'."

"No, I was going to say you shouldn't have acted on your own."

"Well, I can't help it if no one's there to help me."

"Come on, don't be like that. Many novice Vigilantes that I know would kill to work with someone who can make this kind of gear, if you're the one who made it that is."

"I am, and I don't plan on becoming someone's pet."

"This isn't what I meant. I know how hard it is to start out, and I know no matter what I say you won't back down."

Well, that might have been true before today. But now, after seeing how hopelessly outmatched he was? He wasn't so sure.

"Uhm, if you don't mind Larry and I will be going. We have some stuff to do and I'd rather be done before night falls."

"See you later Pete! See you soon Techlord!"

The strange duo simply walked away, Larry waving widely to Pete and Sam as they began to disappear in the crowd.

"Don't get in any more trouble you two! Now then, Techlord was it?"

"Yes."

"What can you actually do?"

What could he do? He had salvaged scraps and wires and plastic and electronics, had created innovative gadgets without any professional help or training, had assembled all of it into a single suit of cybernetic armor he could wear, had trained to fight with and without it against monsters, had managed to fight his way through the Junkland to reach the Black Border on his own-

And failed at his first actual operation.

"-I can help train you if you want but-"

"Nothing. I can't do anything."

"What are you-"

"I thought I was good enough, I managed to beat a few monsters in the Junkland and thought I could suddenly be a Vigilante. Ha, fat chance."

"What do you mean?"

"I got absolutely destroyed by this 'Rose' and her men. These two idiots had to save me, and they somehow pulled it off."

"Oh, they're not the most impressive but I can guarantee-"

"And now you just chased off three Cored as if it was nothing despite your power being the ability to control sugar. I thought my inventions were great but nope, everything's totally worthless-"

"You stop right there."

Oh? The baker's cheery demeanor had finally stopped.

"First off, Rose and her boys aren't your average goon, they're the stuff the Union actually sends Heroes to fight, even if they're still Novices. I don't know what happened but the fact you can still walk is already impressive, especially if it was your first actual fight."

Well, at least he got trounced by professionals. But-

"Second, being Cored means nothing. Brandon on the other end of the market is a perfectly regular human but he still manages to scare off any would-be assailant on his own with pure technique and skill. On the same train of thought, never underestimate a power. Again, sometimes skill is better than brute force. Yes, my power is to control sugar and yes, it isn't the most impressive power around, but I found a way to make it useful and a genuine threat, although it took years. You're already doing way better than I was at your age."

Maybe but-

"Third, never let a single defeat affect you. You're an inventor, no? Then you should know we learn from our mistakes. A new recipe is always flawed the first time, you advance through trial and error. Even today some of my oldest tricks change and improve as I discover new ingredients, new tools, and new palettes with different tastes."

Okay, he was more familiar with multiple iterations of a machine than recipes but Sam saw what the point was. He was thankful for the message, sure, but there was still this nagging feeling in his head that-

"Fourth, don't listen to that voice."

Uh?

"What, did you think you were the only one with doubts? Everyone has it, no exception. Sometimes it's right, so don't totally disregard it, but not everything it says is worth your time."

...Fine. He would get over it. Why wouldn't he? He had already done it before, when he was working alone for hours on end, through the heat of summer days and the cold of winter nights. Yes, he was only caught off-guard, he didn't know what he would face here. Yes, he was going to get back on track, create something new and improved from what he'd learned to deal with those unforeseen threats, and if he failed he would do it all over again and again until he died!

But first, to save his future reputation as a cold and quiet Vigilante.

"...You are correct, thank you."

"Bah, don't worry, you aren't the first kid I see that wants to change the world and you won't be the last. Do you want something? It's on the house."

"...Do you have coffee éclairs?"

A few hours and pastries later, Sam was back in his hideout, a little abandoned crumbling house situated North of the Black Block, close enough to be considered of the Black Border and not of the Junkland but close enough to his old home for scavenging to be quick and easy, he had chosen the old bricked building because it had a large enough basement to hold his equipment and some of the scraps he found. It wasn't much but it was enough, he may not have installed defenses as thorough as the ones back at his home but no one would come snooping around in the area he had settled down, he was sure of it.

He took a deep sip of his coffee - thank the Nine he had put together a portable coffee machine in the Junkland and had brought his own stash, the thing that the locals called coffee here was horrendous - and began to draw blueprint after blueprint, tossing an occasional ball of crumpled paper into the bin whenever his desk was getting too crowded.

Finally, in the dead of night, as a mysterious creature fed on a poor unfortunate soul somewhere in Gaia's Garden, Sam had it. The idea that would solve all of his problems. His greatest creation yet. The machine that would help him take his revenge and protect the citizens of the slums.

He already had the perfect name for it, too.

The Techmech.