HardCored - Chatroom

MagicIsTragic: Wait, you serious?

TechnoGogo: Oh no. Think of the balance, James!

KillLaKrill: What balance?

(Mod)Seagullag: The balance between magic and technology, I assume?

The Silence: It is useless. Order is meaningless and quick to be discarded.

TechnoGogo: But my OCD!

Saray: You have OCD?

KillLaKrill: You sure you aren't just afraid that future debates with Magic will be two against one?

MagicIsTragic: It's not pretty to lie, Techno.

TechnoGogo: You're not pretty.

KillLaKrill: Oof.

The Silence: Swift, precise, lethal. An admirable execution, despite the uselessness of insults.

JamesIsInTheDark: Guys, I just said I began dabbling in magic. That's no reason to lose your mind.

Saray: Don't pay attention to the drama queens. So, how is it going?

JamesIsInTheDark: Oh, pretty good. It's been around a week now and I can do some basic stuff.

KillLaKrill: What kind of stuff?

JamesIsInTheDark: You know, things.

TechnoGogo: What kind of things?

JamesIsInTheDark: You know, stuff.

(Mod)Seagullag: I feel like I heard that one somewhere.

MagicIsTragic: What are you using? Merlin's Memoirs? Flamel's Files?

Saray: Wasn't Flamel an alchemist?

MagicIsTragic: Yeah, but he had a side gig as a magic teacher for a few decades. He was no practitioner but hanging around powerful mages for a couple of centuries rubs off on you. Plus, his teachings are among the most affordable ones. Don't need money when you can make infinite gold.

JamesIsInTheDark: I'm using Magic For Dummies by Maurice Dawn.

MagicIsTragic: ...

JamesIsInTheDark: It was cheap?

MagicIsTragic: That's the equivalent of saying you're a gamer while only playing match 3 games on your phone.

TechnoGogo: James, sorry my dude, but in light of your crimes I forbid you from having any fun for a day.

Saray: There are bigger crimes, Techno.

KillLaKrill: But none we the common folk can have an impact on. I'm with you, guys. Burn the witch!

JamesIsInTheDark: Please spare the witch.

(Mod)Seagullag: As a mod, it is my duty to enforce the law of this forum. As a gamer, it is my duty to turn a blind eye to what will follow.

JamesIsInTheDark: Et Tu, Brutus?

Saray: Seagullag! Think of your honor as a mod!

KillLaKrill: Ah! He is a mod, he has no honor.

KillLaKrill has been muted by Moderator Seagullag for 60 seconds. Reason: Disrespected a mod.

The Silence: Tyranny strikes again. We live in dark times.

TechnoGogo: Was that a joke? With Silence, it's kinda hard to tell.

MagicIsTragic: I feel like he's in a good mood today, so probably a joke.

The Silence: I have been informed that, for the following weeks, out of security considering the recent Nightsnatcher attacks, students who live in my area are to stay at home and follow courses online.

MagicIsTragic: That's good news?

Saray: Maybe he's happy to be safe?

TechnoGogo: It's because he can stay in his darkroom, isn't it.

The Silence: Yes.

JamesIsInTheDark: I hope for you it'll be quick. It may sound fun now but maybe it won't be once some time has passed.

The Silence: Shush.

JamesIsInTheDark: Uh guys, something is going on outside. Mind if I log out and go check it out?

Saray: You should go hide right away.

(Mod)Seagullag: You should check, but play it safe. Stay inside, it could be the Nightsnacther.

The Silence: Or worse.

James closed the forum's page and put the phone down, letting Blanche immediately grab it and bring it to the mechanical spider turned home cinema the ratlings used to watch their cartoons.

The last week had been, once again, pretty calm. As he had told his friends he had trained to use magic, he just hadn't specified how far he had gone. Oh, it wasn't anything incredible, just remote shadow manipulation and shadow bolts, but it was enough long-range for him to feel comfortable with fighting opponents with odd bodies, like Soluble, without needing to rely on his infused gun.

Gun which he took the time to take from its hiding spot behind a loose brick.

As he had told his friends, something weird was on. Though the various infused materials he had left in the sewers - the bricks of the lair, some odd pebbles here and there he had used to scout the waters or set up as make-do alarms, and even the infused rats - he could feel vibrations. Small, unnoticeable things, but they had a rhythm to them. It sounded like steps.

James quickly went to the place he felt the vibrations were the strongest, and on the way, he pinned down where exactly they were coming from...

The surface. Something's happening on the surface.

Barry and Larry ran through the dark alleys of the slums, followed by a group of twisting humanoid figures, shambling left and right, groaning as despite their odd postures they matched the duo's speed, and slowly, outpacing it.

"La- Larry, huff, how did- how did we even mess with these guys?"

"I don't know Barry! I don't know!"

Barry made the mistake of taking a glance at their pursuers. His face paled as he realized they were getting closer, and his heartbeat got even faster as he took in their morphology - oddly long limbs, asymmetrical body parts, bloated skin, bumps, scars, too many fingers, discolored hair, creaking bones, slowly opening wounds from which black blood flowed...

"Patcher. Those are the Patcher's pets."

"You sure?"

"OF COURSE I'M SURE LARRY, I CAN RECOGNIZE AN ABOMINATION AGAINST NATURE WHEN I SEE ONE! SO RUN FASTER!"

"Sorry, sorry!"

"I SAID RUN!"

"I'M RUNNING!"

Panting, the two tried their best to escape the shambling creatures that were after them.

They weren't fast enough.

At one point, half a dozen of the things jumped onto the facade of the nearby building and crawled on it, quickly catching up to Larry and Barry and cutting off their path. The two immediately stopped to avoid running into them and try to find another way out but in a blink of an eye, they were surrounded. As close as they were, the creatures' smell immediately assaulted the duo's nose - or more precisely Barry's, Larry's superior olfactory sense had been subjected to the rancid smell of rotting diseased flesh from the beginning of the chase.

Barry struggled not to puke, barely holding onto his lunch as the strange surreal and grotesque figures of the monsters began to approach them. Patches of skin of different colors, held together by hazardous stitchwork with no rhyme or reason, limbs that did not fit the bodies' frames, glassy eyes filled with pain, hate, madness, and hunger... Those things were undeniably the Patcher's work.

"I think this is the end, Larry."

"I'm sure the boss' going to save us."

"Not this time Larry. I don't think he even knows what's happening right now, so how could he save us?"

"You just have to hope, Barry."

"Well, I hope you're right."

The tallest of the abominations, one of the more heavily modified and less humanoid ones which had the body of some gigantic lizard on which had been grafted a harpy's and a huge monkey's legs, the arms of a man with a Sickler's scythe-like claws, and a woman's face, "enhanced" with a pale blue jellyfish's tendrils instead of her hair as well as on her cheeks, stepped forth, salivating as it gazed at the two.

"I hope you're right."

The abomination screeched, a sound that resembled the pained screaming of a woman mixed with the roaring of a dozen beasts, and pounced.

Barry closed his eyes.

Something passed near his face.

And he heard a scream.

Barry reopened his eyes and immediately turned around to check on Larry.

The abomination was quietly struggling, its neck entrapped in a large mechanical hand barely a few centimeters away from Larry's face. Barry let out a sigh of relief when he saw he was fine before studying their savior. It was tall, at least four times the size of the average person, and made out of different sheets of metal assembled with an oddly impressive amount of small led lights set in lines all around it. It appeared the core of the thing was the front half of a car, the glass replaced by even more sheets, welded to other pieces of metal from which a pair of simple humanoid arms emerged, as well as a pair of short legs. The white paint covering didn't improve its odd design but admittedly made it a bit easier on the eye.

All in all, the thing looked ugly as possible, was oddly proportioned, and looked like it was a miracle it hadn't already fallen into pieces. And yet it had saved them and was currently single-handedly holding a monster that could break down a house.

"FEAR NOT CITIZEN, FOR I HAVE COME."

Larry had stars in his eyes as he stared at the thing. Barry didn't share his childlike wonder, but he couldn't deny he was thankful someone had taken the time to save them.

"Uh, thanks for the save."

"WORRY NOT, CITIZEN."

The mechanical hand holding the neck of the abomination began to move, crushing the monster's spine before throwing its corpse at its fellow creatures.

"I, TECHLORD, WIELDING THE TECH MECH, WILL NOT ALLOW ANY CITIZEN OF THIS CITY TO BE DEVOURED BY MONSTERS."

Barry found the introduction a bit gaudy, but who was he to judge. Larry on the other hand had something else to say.

"Hey, you're that kid from last time! Glad to see the Vigilante thing is going well!"

"Wait, that's the same kid? The one in that weird armor that got trounced by those guys in leather suits?"

"PLEASE EVACUATE THE PREMISE."

The mech took a step forward.

"I HAVE MONSTERS TO KILL."

The two brothers didn't dally any longer and immediately fled, though Larry took the time to wave at Techlord on the way out. The young vigilante simply took a quick look at them to make sure they were safe before quickly stepping on a couple of monsters that tried to go after the duo as they ran, shaking the ground. No longer having to worry about civilians, Sam, alias Techlord, grinned as he pushed a button in his cockpit, immediately a long tube space from his mech's right arm, a tube which quickly began to launch fire at the shambling abominations as they all rushed at him.

Their flesh burned incredibly well, most barely taking a dozen steps before falling and screaming. Those that managed to reach the mech either got stomped by its feet or stabbed by knives that launched out of holes in the mech's body, a security measure Sam had developed just for this type of scenario.

It took only a minute for all of the abominations to stop moving. Sam took the time to burn each one's corpse before putting out the fires with a water-firing tube set up in the mech's left arm.

Inside the mech's cockpit, Sam was grinning. All of his hard work had paid off. This mech, although it had cost him a little fortune to gather everything required to build it, had managed to take out a group of monsters that he was certain must have been even stronger than the guys that had managed to beat him despite his armor. With this, he would be able to defend the inhabitants of the slums. He wouldn't have to worry about Villains anymore. He was on the right track to save this city from the corruption that had settled within.

"An impressive demonstration, I must say."

The Tech Mech turned around, through the different camera lenses set up all over it Sam got to take a look at the newcomer to whom this strange voice with a Draskian accent belonged.

"To make such a weapon with only items found in this area is a sign of great talent. If possible, I'd like to recruit you to our side."

Sam's eyes widened. What was he doing here? He shouldn't have been in this area of the city. Maybe he was confusing him with someone else?

"Tell me, Techlord, was it? Would you be interested in a position in the Blood Angels?"

No. There was no doubt. A Draskian voice coming from a cyborg of black metal containing a burning fire who worked for the Blood Angels.

"SUNBURN."

The cyborg chuckled behind his mask. His cold blue eyes stared intensely at the cockpit, his expression unreadable beyond that little laugh.

"WHY ARE YOU HERE?"

"Despite a recent gift, the Patcher considered we still owed him a favor. He chose to use it to have me fetch a group of escapees, unfinished projects who somehow left their cages. Escapees that you just annihilated."

Sam's heart skipped a beat. Cold as he was, Sunburn was no doubt mad that he had just ruined his mission. The Patcher would consider that the Blood Angels owed him an even bigger favor. If he agreed to work for them, maybe Sunburn would forgive him. But the Angels...

"I... I WILL NOT WORK FOR THE ANGELS. YOU BRING TOO MUCH PAIN TO TOO MANY PEOPLE."

The cyborg stayed silent for a moment.

"A regrettable choice."

Before he knew it, Sam's vision was filled with flames and he felt himself being thrown backward. Before his body had the time to react to what he was seeing, he felt the entire mech hitting something - a wall, the ground? He didn't know. All he knew was pain and fire. The metal in the cockpit was burning red and the plastic was melting onto him. Even his armor had become unbearably hot, scorching his skin.

Outside, the mech was burning, hallway stuck in an old bricked house. Sunburn simply stared at the rising inferno as ashes and smoke filled the air.

"It managed to take a hit. What admirable work. Such a shame such talent belonged to such a hotheaded fool."

The Draskian cyborg left the scene calmly, uncaring to the spreading fire. After a few steps, he stood still before suddenly two small explosions occurred beneath his feet, sending him leaping dozens of meters into the air. Soon he was gone, the only signs he'd been there being black marks on the ground and the burning wreckage of the mech.

The street was silent, aside from the roaring of flames.

Then there was a small grinding noise.

A manhole cover began to move.

A black tendril came out of the opening.