Larry and Barry looked nervously all around them as they entered their boss' lair. The light of their flashlight showed them nothing but walls of uniform black bricks. Not a sound was heard, only their steps on the similarly constructed ground.

"It's, uh... Unique, sir..."

"I think installing a couple of lights might be a good idea? It's pretty hard to see in there."

"Don't complain, Larry. Maybe the boss' allergic to light or something."

"Oh, right, sorry sir!"

They both heard a chuckle and, nervous as they were, instantly turned around, thankful to see it was only their boss who was catching up with them after clothing the entrance behind them.

Scratch that, closing the entrance behind them?

"No need to worry. It is planned, in fact, it will be on your next list."

"Oh, great sir! Heard that Barry?"

"Yeah, uh... Just to be sure, boss, we can open that door, right?"

"Oh, no, I'm sorry. I have yet to install a system for the door to be opened without me being present. Safety before practicality, after all. Especially considering the kind of creatures that roam these tunnels..."

Barry gulped at that.

"Yeah, right..."

Before he had any chance to ponder any further their boss passed between them, turning into a shadow on the ground to bypass their bodies. In a blink of an eye, he was back to being a solid figure, advancing further and guiding them into the depths of the place.

"Come along, now. We do not have all the time in the world."

"Right away, sir!"

"Yes, boss!"

Soon the shadowy figure of their leader was rapidly slithering - or was it gliding? It was hard to define without feet - forcing the duo to do a light footing to keep track of him. It didn't last long, for soon they were in a hall with multiple doorless doorways all around them. Their boss didn't stop, immediately entering the room right in front of them, a room inside of which Barry and Larry could discern another light.

"Guess this it, then."

"Are you excited to meet the others, Barry?"

"Yeah, let's say that."

The pair entered the room, and they had the chance to take a good look at their "colleagues", a group of small rats, four with varying sizes and shades of grey with a fifth albino one, another rat, this one much larger, black, around the size of the cat, with a claw of dark energy, and finally...

"Is that a mummy?"

Larry's question might have sounded dumb any other day, but this once Barry had to agree. A humanoid figure covered with dirty white bandages, tainted red in multiple places, and lit up by what had to be a cursed dark flame in some kind of lantern? Considering the aesthetic of the place, a mummy wouldn't be out of the question.

The rats were standing on their hind legs on a different seat positioned around some kind of hollow round table, as for the mummy it was simply sitting on one of the seats.

"I'm not a mummy you idiots, I'm... Wait, aren't you two..."

Their boss interrupted, turning into some sort of shadowy cloud to flow over the table and form back his body in the middle of the hole at the center.

"Everyone, allow me to introduce Barry and Larry. Larry, Barry, allow me to introduce the ratlings, Lucille, Foudre, Goliath, Blanche, and David, the leader of the Mischief group Polisson, and our latest addition, our new official inventor and tinkerer, Techlord. You may call me Silhouette. Please, take a seat."

Barry immediately tried to pull back a seat to sit on it but was surprised by the weight of it. It felt like he was pulling a slab of stone. Which, now that he thought about it, was probably the case. He put a bit more force into it before taking a seat, anxiously looking at the collection of oddities around him.

Larry, meanwhile, was too preoccupied to sit.

"Techlord? You're that Vigilante! Thank you for last time, by the way."

"Wait, the mummy's that kid?"

"I'm not a mummy! But what are you two doing there?"

Larry smiled as he casually took a seat next to Barry, only almost falling over when he was surprised by the weight of it.

"Well, remember our boss? That's him!"

"You two were working for this guy this entire time?"

Their boss - Silhouette, he had called himself - faked a cough to get their attention.

"I see you three are acquainted. I'm curious, though, what did you mean when you thanked Techlord for 'last time', Larry?"

"Oh, well, it's a funny story really, we-"

"We first met the kid when he had the bright idea to fight some guys from Wicked Witchcraft. Larry interfered, they spared us, and on the way, we were ambushed by Soluble - you know, the acidic slime thing - before we were saved by another Vigilante. We left the kid and went on our way. Later on, Soluble and their goons followed us here, and that's when you beat some sense into them."

"Is that all? Then why was Larry the one thanking Techlord, and not the opposite?"

"We... We may have been running away from a horde of Patchees a couple of days ago, and he may have fought against it to save us."

"I see. So, these two were the ones you saved before your mech was destroyed, Techlord?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much the story."

"Wait, the mech was destroyed? But you were doing so well!"

"Thing is, Larry, it's not the... You call those things Patchees?"

"Made by the Patcher, so yes."

"Well, it ain't the Patchees that broke my mech."

"Who?"

"Sunburn."

Both members of the pair were startled by that, Barry even more so.

"Wait, THE Sunburn? HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?"

"Your... Well, now I guess it's our, Boss, saved me. Then he offered me the job. And now here I am. Tada."

"Boss, does that mean the Angels want us dead? Because I'll be honest, despite everything you're an okay guy and you pay us a lot, but if the Angels and Sunburn want you gone I'm out."

"Barry!"

"Larry, we're just some guys. I'm not dealing with the Angels, and neither are you."

"I understand your fears, Barry. I assure you, the Blood Angels are not our enemies. If I'm correct, they think Techlord is dead and aren't aware that the rest of us exists."

"... Good..."

"But your story and worries do remind me of something..."

Barry didn't like where this was going.

"You are correct, Barry, you are merely humans. In this world of Cored and monsters, especially around these parts, you are defenseless. At the mercy of the first maniac with some powers that decides you looked at them wrong."

"And...?"

"This cannot be allowed to continue any longer."

Barry REALLY didn't like where this was going.

"How so, sir?"

"I have... Two solutions to the problem. Both should be effective, though I do prefer one over the other. Technically speaking, we could even do both."

"And what are these solutions, sir?"

"Techlord here had the time and resources to craft us two weapons. One that he will keep, and the other I wish to gift you."

"What kind of weapon?"

"Electroguns, though these have been... Let's say 'enhanced' by the boss. Pretty simple stuff, you use it like a gun but instead of bullets it fires bolts of energy."

"Thank you, Techlord. Based on his explanations I assume this type of weapon is rather known?"

"Oh, yes! Barry always said that it would be more impressive than a gun, but it's hard to recharge them."

"Hopefully, my modifications should solve this problem. I have another device that has been improved through the same method and it has never run out of energy so far."

Techlord perked up at that.

"The phone? That thing has infinite energy?"

"It isn't the subject, Techlord. Now then, I also mentioned another solution, though this one will be more... In-depth."

"What kind of solution?"

"Barry, Larry, take a good look at Polisson."

Both of the men turned their heads to stare at the large black rat sitting on the seat, calmly observing them in turn.

"You see, Polisson wasn't always this way. He was born and raised in a lab but escaped with only an increased intellect and some knowledge. His physical transformation is a more recent development. One I instigated."

"Boss... Are you saying... What I think you are?"

James calmly nodded at Barry.

"I can not only improve materials and items but also living things. It is easier if they are willing, of course. I call this process infusion."

Barry noted how their boss hadn't explicitly confirmed his worries. He had not used the word "transformation", but Barry didn't need to have gone to some fancy school to know what his words meant. He and Larry had been raised in the slums, after all. Throughout their childhoods, they had heard the horror stories and terrifying tales of things forever changed by the Transformation Aspect. People turned into mindless monsters. Things that would make the Patcher's victims thankful. Cities lost in a blink of an eye. An entire continent lost to the spreading blight.

Could they really work for someone who could do this kind of thing?

"Boss... Are you..."

"I am offering you the opportunity to go through the same procedure, yes. I do not know the effects it may have on a human, Polisson only reported a sense of unwavering loyalty, aside from that his mind supposedly stayed the same. Of course, the choice is yours."

What could Barry say to this? He couldn't just say no, there was no way he would let them walk away like that after learning he had such a rare and dangerous Aspect.

Deep down, he couldn't deny he wasn't tempted by his offer either. A chance to finally be more than a simple Coreless...

"Sorry sir, Barry and I can't accept."

"La-Larry?"

"It's very nice to ask us, but we ain't cut out for this. We're the little guys who do their thing, we're not meant to be as great as you."

"I see. Know that the offer still stands, if you ever change your mind. Though I will admit, I am thankful you refused."

"Really sir?"

"If anything had gone wrong or something unwelcomed had happened to you during the change, I would have felt responsible"

"Aw, thank you, sir!"

"Yeah... Thank you..."

"Now then..."

Barry could already guess his next words, "This is the point where I kill you, thank you for everything you've done so far.", he knew it. He felt it deep within his bones.

Something began to come out of Silhouette's chest. Barry distinctly remembered how he had suddenly pulled out a gun and fired at Soluble, putting the acidic slime humanoid out of commission with ease, sending them into an agonizing screaming session before their mind was overloaded with pain and just fizzled out. Was this how they would die too?

"Catch."

Silhouette threw something at him, Barry catching it with surprising ease. Oh, was this a trap? Some kind of grenade?

"Your new weapon, the electrogun."

"If I may sir, I decided to nickname this one the Black Bolter."

"And the black one?"

"The Dark Bolter."

"It's idiotic, Techlord."

"What? No, it's not!"

"Names are supposed to help differentiate the two. It would make more sense to call the black one the Black Bolter and the regular one the Shadow Bolter."

"I made them, I'm choosing the names!"

"You can't just-"

Barry cut the argument out of his mind. He was far too busy staring at the item in his hands. A weapon. A powerful one. One that, according to his boss, wouldn't have the recharging problem most models shared. Something supposedly improved through the same method as the one used in the gun that almost killed soluble.

"-what I'm saying, Techlord, is that you are horrible with names."

"Uh, boss?"

"Yes, Barry?"

"Thank you."

The shadowy figure chuckled.

"You're welcome. Now then, I have another important piece of news to share. Larry, Barry, your acquaintance Soluble is apparently forming a team to raid the sewers and kill me."

All of the individuals seated around the table looked at James for a few silent seconds before they all exploded at once.

"WAIT WHAT-"

"Fa- Silhouette, you can't just-"

"Don't tell me you're in danger-"

"Not our phone-"

"Oh great, Sunburn, and now this-"

"Master, we are ready to die for-"

"Oh yes tell me I get to kill stuff-"

"EVERYONE. QUIET."

The agitated people surrounding James all quieted down at once, though they clearly all were still on edge, legs, and paws shaking and eyes fleeing.

"I have a plan. A plan that will rely on each and every one of you. We will successfully repel this attack, and no one will dare go after us again."

David raised his paw.

"Yes, David?"

"Before you start explaining your plan, will we be allowed to kill?"

"If they use lethal force, you may use it in turn."

"YES!"

Techlord barely spared a glance at the murderous little rodent before he focused on his savior and employer.

"How long until they attack?"

"A few days, if I'm correct. I will closely spy on them to keep you updated."

"How do you spy on them?"

"Infused items have a connection to me. If it is strong enough, I can sense things through them. In this case, I can listen to Soluble's ramblings."

"What does Soluble have that's infused?"

"Their bones."

Somehow, Barry felt his bones getting itchy.

"What's the plan?"

"This place has always been a living place first and foremost. A metaphorical safe space. It's time to make it a literal one."