Chapter 4​

“You know I find it pretty odd that a thirteen-year-old girl is going out of her way to make a name for herself with the criminal element in this city as a career choice.” I say to my companion as we make our way down the hallway in a rundown apartment complex.

“What other options would I have? The school systems in the area are horrible so no future there, and don’t get me started on trying to live an honest life here. What I am doing is the best way to make a living here and if you’re really good, you can make it big.” she responds back casually to me, with me being thankful she didn’t take offense to me prying why she is so fixated on making a name for herself.

“Though I find it interesting how you still won’t tell me who your boss is. Don’t get me wrong, I get discretion, it’s just everyone who is someone here knows who everyone of importance is. Is it someone new to town?” she asks me as we go up a flight of stairs.

“And I keep telling you I don’t work for anyone. Why do you keep on thinking I work for someone?” I respond back testily as I am getting annoyed by her not believing me. The questions I don’t mind, it’s just the fact she doesn’t take me at my word.

She just looks at me and smirks, “If you worked for any of the big players in Gotham that would make it a big deal for me since the work I could get would help me a great deal,” she pauses as if contemplating what to say, “But I don’t think you do.” which gets a raised eye brow from me in response as she keeps going on with her conspiracy theories she has on who I work for.

“Someone had to have trained you. You knew how to conceal yourself well enough most people would overlook the blood and holes while making yourself quite the looker in the process.” At that last comment I falter on a step, making Jade’s smirk go into a full-on grin. Why the heck does that look familiar? Now that I think about it, she looks like someone I have seen before or knew maybe?

Setting aside how familiar she seems; I look at her with a deadpan stare at the possible flirting she is attempting with me. “No thanks, I don’t do little girls.” I say simply, causing Jade’s smile to turn into a frown. Even if she was old enough, her clothes don’t paint a pleasant picture now that I have a closer look and if I am getting it on with a woman, I would prefer her to be in clean clothes. That and more importantly it being a woman, not a kid.

Initially her clothes seemed decent, but with an up-close look they are somewhat dirty. Not as bad as the people I have seen so far especially since I can’t smell anything and they don’t have too many stains on them, but not far off either from the look of them. It explains the desperation she had to have to go out of her way to try and get a deal with some nobody like myself to help her get some equipment to make a name for herself.

As I think this, my mind is immediately bombarded with knowledge of a different kind I was not expecting after I managed to snag another star. This one was a bit of a waste, however not entirely at least. It seemed that it gave me the ability to ensure that any creation I make that is slightly intelligent or fully intelligent, will have some degree of loyalty to me as soon as they are activated regardless of their nature.

However, what makes this useful somewhat is that the knowledge it has granted me pertains to how I can maintain this either through care or just discipline. Though the part that throw’s me for a loop is that it makes me good at parenting? What?

Not like I intend to have kids anytime soon if at all. I always disliked the idea of having a kid myself, mainly because I found them incredibly annoying and grating to deal with. My dad always wanted me to carry on the bloodline but uh, I rather not have to deal with a chore like a kid. Well, that and the fact I always felt like I would be a really shitty dad. Now the last part I don’t have to worry about it, but I will still take a hard pass on being a dad.

As I stop reminiscing about my dad’s wishes and my own feelings on being a parent, I go back to my previous train of thought of not being attracted at all to Jade. Whatever Jade had going on in her head at my comment, I think she lets it go and gives me a pass as she goes back to the previous topic that had her interest. “Between being able to conceal yourself and how you can make the equipment I saw, all of that has signs that you work for someone.”

I can see the point she does somewhat have. Before I can make another denial, she cuts me off, “You would have to, someone like you even if you are a nobody would have most gangs trying to get you to join and if they can’t get you to join at least keep you around as a supplier and stay in your good graces if they are smart. You would be too valuable to pass up.” She says to me making me realize she does have a point.

I mean it’s obviously one of those cases that something appears to be something else than what it actually is. I have to give the girl this, she knows her stuff and seems experienced to some extent with reading people. That and connecting dots rather quickly. Between that and how she holds herself because the more I am around her the more I think that she knows how to fight. She looks like other people that I have seen and heard about in my old life.

My thoughts are interrupted as she speaks again, “The knowledge on being able to do what you did with your appearance you would have to be working for someone. Your appearance was something that someone had to of trained you to do and from what I know of the bigger players in Gotham, none of them know how to do what you did to conceal yourself.” she says driving another point home.

“Which is why I am so curious, who would have the knowledge and experience to teach you these things?” she says to me, the last part conveying just how curious she is with the gleam I see in her eye.

I take a moment to think about how I will respond but decide to just keep telling her the truth. “I will admit this, you are smart and made some very good points.” I tell her, acknowledging her skill, which makes her turn her head around as she is ahead of me, getting a smile on her face at the praise I gave her.

“But as I keep telling you, I don’t work for anyone.” I say casually, making her smile disappear as she gives me an inquisitive look before she turns back around as we go up more stairs. This girl had to have been down on her luck. I mean seriously, as smart as she is, and I know she has to be good at fighting the more I am around her and see how she holds herself, considering no one was trying to mess with her back on that street.

Though it also makes me wonder that as capable as she is, how and why is it that she is this desperate for work. After all, she had to have been desperate enough to follow a stranger like myself, but confident in her own abilities to fight me or run away. I don’t know what to make of Jade by this point, I mean she took the deal I offered her without hesitation, so she has to be in dire straits.

The deal I presented her with was helping me find a close by but cheap place to live that is somewhat safe. That and work with me on some less than legal things on the side. Though a major thing I am going to have to take care is getting myself set up with a identity here. After all, just because I have my ID doesn’t mean I am in the system in this world.

I of course didn’t say anything about the ID issue to Jade since I don’t want to owe her extra and then have to pay her back since right now it’s even between us on what we are gaining out of this. I mean come on its Gotham, if I give her an inch, she is going to take a mile.

While she helps me, I in return help equip her with my equipment and if it works out and I show that she can trust me, we can setup some jobs to do together among other things. The big one being as she has said multiple times, making a name for herself. Though one thing that I am grateful for is her having some connections, such as knowing the person who rents out the rooms from this crappy apartment complex and setting me up with a room to see if I am interested in it since apparently it was recently made available.

Jade has proven helpful at least and saved me a lot of foot work before I tried to go any further to the motel I was going to. Which in our conversation at breakfast she pointed out that in both the long and short term I would be better off with one of these apartments since it would be cheaper for me in comparison to the motel I was going to, since the motel charged for every night and the area was bad even by Gotham standards without the gang war. Of course, I tried to verify this with the phone, and low and behold she was telling the truth after seeing a few sites talk about it.

And with the gang war going on, as she pointed out it would get worse even with Batman and the cops trying to stop it, which would not only make the area I was going to even more dangerous no need to mention if I can make it there without getting shot up and if it’s even still in operation since this place is becoming a warzone. Which would get us plenty of work according to Jade.

The owner of the apartment building we are currently in, Jeb was his name, from what she told me rents out to pretty much anyone and doesn’t care about ID or anything of the sort. However, because of some of his ‘connections’, it’s generally peaceful besides the occasional bout of Gotham violence such as this gang war. It also helps that the man doesn’t say a thing and is Arnold Schwarzenegger’s wet dream of pure muscle.

So long as you pay in cash while making sure the payment is on time and don’t needlessly cause any trouble you should be fine. However, if not I’m pretty sure either he will break you, or whatever connections mister tall quiet and scary over there has will deal with you. Which was easy enough for me. I was also smart enough to not ask about what kind of connections someone would need to get most of the small-time gangs to leave this place alone.

And the amount I pay a month is dirt cheap. Though the more we walk around the more I can see why. Faded paint, rotting wood, constant creaks and groans from the wood floors and dust floating through the hallways everywhere. As I check over the area around me, my mind fails at a chance for another star. I am really going to have to get used to not getting something that I both want and need.

“Are you even listening?” Jade suddenly says next to me, making me blink in surprise as I was spaced out as we made our way to my apartment. I look back at her as she gives me a weird look.

“No, sorry. Was thinking about the money I had to spend for your meal.” I respond back to her as that was all I could think to respond back to her with as I fumble to say anything, making her face scrunch up like she just ate a lemon. Oops?

“Oh really? Well, I did just help you get a good deal for this apartment did I not?” she responds back with a snarky tone of voice.

“Ah there’s that teenage side of you I keep expecting to come out, was starting to wonder if I was dealing with some kind of midget that looks younger than what they are.” I respond back getting her to stop walking and just look at me as I stop and look back at her after my reactionary smart-ass comment.

I think I either just pissed her off or she is amused. Kind of hard to tell with her, and now that I realize it, I hope she is not angry. Rather not have to be the guy who is remembered for angering a thirteen-year-old girl and gets his ass kicked for it.

“Oh really, coming from you tall, pale and lanky? I was expecting you to break down in tears emo boy.” She responds back to me. At that I look at her with a straight face and just stare at her. She looks right back at me with a smug look on her face. Unfortunately for her I can’t keep the straight face and break down laughing, causing her smug face to turn into one of confusion.

“What’s so funny?” she asks me in a dry tone of voice.

I continue laughing for a moment as she keeps looking at me. After I settle down and manage to collect myself, “Sorry, wasn’t expecting the sass to be so strong with you. That was a really good burn you just did.”

Most people would get insulted by their appearance getting called out, thankfully my younger years cured that pretty fast in middle school and as I was always told don’t be ashamed of who or what you are. If you do, then that means you are not comfortable with who you are or are ashamed of yourself. Between that and me not really viewing the body I have now as my real self just made it so it’s like water sliding off me.

At my compliment Jade just looks at me with a dumbfounded expression looking like she has no idea how to respond to what I just said, though the laughing and cheery way of saying what I did helped. She stays this way for a while not knowing what just happened.

“Thanks?” She finally says of all things so quiet if I hadn’t been paying her so much attention, I would have missed it. This gets me to have a big shit eating grin on my face, making her look at me with a blank gaze and just looks away from me and focuses on getting to our destination. Aw, she is so adorable when she is confused and annoyed!

We continue the rest of the way in relative silence after that, besides the occasional tv we can hear as we make our way along with the dripping of water and flickering lights, at least the few that do with the others just being out or broken. I don’t think I can ever say this enough, but Gotham has got to be the biggest shithole I have ever seen in my life.

And I have seen Detroit, that says something. That city had a death capita from violence worse than the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. At least last I checked in the past few years. So, the fact this place has taken its place as the worst place I have seen says something. What is wrong with these people? Are they so downtrodden that they can’t even hope or imagine Gotham as a place worth making livable for themselves and their children?

“Before I forget, how long do you think it will take for the equipment to be made for me?” Jade asks me out of nowhere. I take a moment to think about her question, causing her to turn her head slightly so one eye is looking at me.

“Depends on what type of equipment you need, what you would like and if I am able to make it.” I say back to her.

She nods her head at this, as she continues to walk her body freezes in place as my power fires off just as we are finally getting to the corner hallway that leads to my new apartment. As I grab a star and maintain my grasp, I am caught off guard by what I gained from it. I now have a Halo engineer as an ally waiting for me in the workshop.

Well, that kind of makes my repairing skill with weapons redundant. But then again, it should be able to repair other things besides weapons and help me get some better tech going since it is a biological supercomputer. Though I now have a lot more options to make a lot of the ideas I have had possible.

As I continue to the door of my apartment as I see Jade waiting at the door looking at me. I hurry to not keep her waiting and get the key out and open the door and walk in. And by all that is good in the world, this place is a dump. There is dust everywhere, a thick layer especially on the hard wood floor with faded stains on it. This place desperately needs a professional cleaning crew or something. In fact, scratch the cleaning crew, it looks like it just straight up needs replaced.

We move further in looking over everything. It is partially furnished. If you can call this junk furniture. There is a coffee table in front of a couch overlooking the main room that is warped and the wood is split to kingdom come. The couch I wouldn’t even touch it out of fear of getting who knows what foul disease is infesting it. odd splotches of whatever was spilled on it doesn’t help my further growing disgust, and now I think someone was murdered in here with the stains being a faded red.

All the while I look this place over and Jade stops moving noticing my distressed body language. She just stands in the living room looking uncomfortable with a grimace on her face in contrast to the confidence she had before. She continues to watch my growing agitation at the state of this apartment as I continue to look around it.

However, I don’t take notice of Jade or what she is doing as I keep looking the place over seeing how much I am going to get screwed. Which if I were thinking rationally right now, I would realize that the rent for the place is way cheaper compared to where I came from. Jed doesn’t even do a down payment which I thought was odd, but I will take it.

In my distressed state of mind, I look over and see a bed on the wall beside the couch and coffee table. The bed doesn’t look like anything is wrong with it surprisingly besides the dust on it, however I wouldn’t trust that to save my life and as soon as I get a chance, I am going to have to clean this stuff, because I don’t want to waste the money I stole to buy new furniture or fix this place up.

I do see a door next to the bed and open it to a dingy dirty bathroom that I close the door immediately due to the horrors I just witnessed in there that will haunt me for life. Whoever lived here needs to face judgement for what they did to that poor toilet. I move back to the entranceway as I see the kitchen to the left of the doorway seeing a fridge with nothing inside of it, a counter to prepare meals and no kitchen utensils with no way to cook the food currently.

I stop myself from sighing in frustration and trying to make the image of that bathroom fried into my brain go away, making sure to remind myself on how cheap Jade said it was I told myself that I am getting what I paid for. And since she has a vested interest in making sure I am fine since she needs me as much as I need her, I trust her word on it being somewhat safe. About as much as I can trust anyone here as morbid as that is.

I head back to the living room once I managed to calm myself down after I had my little freak out and I take notice of Jade moving to the door as she is about to leave with a look of anger and resentment plastered on her face.

“Alright, you held up your end of the deal. Now what kind of equipment do you need?” I ask her, and I try not to laugh as I see the stupefied look on her face as her head snaps straight to the sound of my voice which makes me feel a great deal better already.

“Also, I don’t say this very often, but I am sorry about the little freak out I was having a moment ago. It’s been a long day for me.” I say to her not wanting to sever ties with someone who could help me get on my feet in this place. After all, I still need her, and she needs me. That and we had a deal.

I especially don’t like the idea of breaking my end of a deal when she did uphold a portion of her part of the deal we had worked out. Even if she did purposefully screw me, I gave my word. I have to keep it especially if I want to have a decent reputation around here.

She no longer has the grim look on her face and seems confused on what to think. “You’re serious?” she asks confused with something else in her tone of voice that I can’t quite place.

“Yeah, I was initially freaking out over the state of this place. However, I realized this is probably the best I could get for the time being. And you do have an investment in me, so I trust you to keep your word on it being safe for me.”

This immediately gets a noticeable reaction out of the girl as she perks up with a genuine smile on her face that doesn’t feel forced or fake. “Well, I’m glad you managed to see the good side to this. So, about that equipment?” she moves on to my part of the deal, looking at me expectantly having regained the confident way she holds herself as I look at her.

I realize that me calming down and apologizing to her actually seems to have given me a glimpse of the real her. She doesn’t come off as fake as she did before, like she is trying to appear more than what she is. Is that the right word to describe how she held herself before? Either way she seems a lot more sincere, though she still has a bit of that aloofness she had before, like she doesn’t want anyone to see the real her that she hides.

Hopefully, that got me a bit more in her good graces. After all, I need all the friends I can get in this place if I want to make it big here. At this point getting home is a pipe dream, so I might as well try to make the most of what I have and live the good life I never got to have back home.

That and not like anyone is waiting for me back home besides maybe a few friends I had online. Just as I finish that last thought and I am about to speak; I fail to grab yet another star. I am not as disappointed as I would be at that. Because I happen to have a Halo engineer at my disposal as an ally. That as far as I am concerned is invaluable, so at least whatever is doing this threw me a bone.

“Alright, what do you need? Do you need lethal, non-lethal, a mix of both? What types of weapons would you prefer?” I fire off several questions rather rapidly that catch Jade off guard judging by the look on her face as she has her eyebrows raised up in surprise. Before she speaks however, I continue taking pleasure in the surprise she has on her face at me catching her off guard.

“Do you need a gun, maybe a crossbow, or just plain bow and arrow? As for the close-range weapon do you need bladed or blunt?” I rattle off my thoughts as I bring my knowledge to the front of my mind of different weapon designs that I could make. She stays silent for a moment as she seems to be thinking with a contemplative look on her face.

“I think I will go with lethal. Some bladed weapons, preferably small and easy to carry without drawing to much attention. No guns, not my style. I would like some of those discs you have as well though, those have my interest. Ranged options I think are going to be off the list since they would be too difficult to conceal properly. Just focus on the close-range weapons.” She says slowly as she still seems to be thinking things through. I contemplate her request.

I’m surprisingly not to bothered by the idea of a thirteen-year-old girl wanting weapons made for her, or the fact I’m not bothered by supplying her with them. I know that if I really want to live that good life I want so badly, I need to do some horrible things and for once I am going to be honest with myself, I want this. Big deal if she kills some fictional people in comic book land. As that quote goes, you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.

Plus, I learned early on to care for yourself first before you go caring for anyone else. I need this in my life, I got shit on in my previous life. Struggling constantly to make ends meet and after watching my dad and uncle Furgus deal drugs to support each other and me when I was little and them eventually dying leaving me on my own, not even being able to afford a proper burial for either one of them.

Not that I could especially for uncle Furgus after that drive by shooting, his body was nearly unrecognizable. I refuse to have my life end the same if not worse. And what can get me I hope to that life, is the powers I have been granted. As those thoughts go through my mind, they also latch onto what she said about how guns are not her thing and preferring bladed weapons, all the while me feeling as if I recognize her yet again but can’t place why she is so familiar.

Seriously, who the heck is she? I know I recognize her from somewhere and someone had to of taught her how to fight. I mean come on, who is going to stick to close range bladed weapons in this place at her age no less.

As I think all of this, I don’t let any of my inner thoughts show as I continue on narrowing down what it is she is going to need. “Well about the discs that you are referring to, they are rather varied in comparison to just the one you saw. I have all kinds of them that I could make and if I don’t have one to your liking or what you need, I might be able to make it if I can get the proper materials. If you do, just for future reference make sure you run it by me that way I can let you know if I can do it.”

She gives me an interested look upon learning that about my discs. “The discs can go from something like a taser to knock someone out or full on lethal as a makeshift proximity mine or a thrown weapon, to one that can restrain someone with metal wire and cords to razor and barbed wire that can retract itself as it constricts someone while shredding them in the process as it’s pulled back into the disc.” That last bit of information gets both eyebrows raised at me.

Ignoring the look she is giving me I continue, “Now as for the bladed weapons, I may be able to rig something workable with a bigger weapon that can be made smaller so it can be easier to conceal.” I say this thinking of both Corvo’s sword from Dishonored and Agent Six’s swords from Generator Rex.

“But if you want that or not, I am going to need something more specific than a small, bladed weapon if the bigger ones don’t work out. I think it’s safe to say you definitely don’t want a fancy knife as your main weapon?” I ask, her lips quirk up into a small smile. And just as I get to see what I believe to be a sincere smile from her, my power decides to ruin the moment and to add further insult I didn’t get anything again. Suppressing my annoyance at having the moment kind of ruined I bring my attention back to the conversation at hand.

“The bigger weapon if you can pull it off I would definitely like, which I would prefer something more themed after Asian style weapons if you can do it. I would like to think you are capable enough to pull it off with how confident you are right now. Now for the smaller bladed weapon, a few throwing knives like the ones you have on your person would be nice.” She says as I nod my head at her requests which with my new knowledge and ally are very much doable.

Which I would like to think with myself and the engineer we should be able to go far beyond her expectations. Afterall, over delivering with her could cement me in her good graces. That will get me a potentially valuable ally if things work out for her in the long run, just as she gains a supplier and someone that can provide weapons among other things to her that are far better than what she could get from most other people.

“You sure you don’t want something like a crossbow?” I ask. She stops whatever thoughts that were going through her mind as she ponders my question.

After a few seconds of silence she responds, “The problem with that as much as I would like the idea of a longer-range weapon that can also be silent is that where would I keep it without it drawing too much attention when I am on the street with other people? Weapons like that are difficult to conceal without others seeing it.” she asks me, making a good point. However, with my knowledge and skills I can very much make that doable.

“Fair point, however much like the possible sword I could make you I will see if I can make it easier to conceal for you.” I tell her as she gives me an interested look, since it’s not every day you meet a stranger suggesting what I am right now and having the capability to make it very practical and possible, or at least the confidence that they think they can do it. After a moment of awkward silence as I think on some ideas on what I could do with that, it’s broken by Jade.

“So when can I expect it to be finished?” she asks. I take a moment to contemplate how long it would take me. With the new gains I have made power wise, I could easily do it now, but there are some things I want to do to really get myself established in this city besides the things me and Jade had worked out. Not to mention how weird it’s going to look if I just take a moment to make everything that she needs when I don’t appear to have the supplies necessary right now nor the tools on hand.

“How soon would you need it? Because I think I can do your order in little over a week, if I can get the supplies and materials quickly enough, I can have it ready earlier than that. The latest being Saturday of next week.” I tell her, which gives me nine days to work with since today is a Thursday.

“That works for me.” she starts moving to the door to leave but stops and turns around. “Before I go, let me give you my number.” she says to me, making me realize that I will need to contact her to let her know the order is done.

“Alright.” I hand her the phone I took off the man I killed earlier in the night, as she types on it and hands it back to me.

“Well, if anything pops up just let me know or if you have any jobs lined up you could use some help with. Also, don’t forget to go back down to Jed to finalize you renting the room. See you around Daniel.” She says to me as she opens the door to leave, she seems to be much happier as she walks out.

“Yeah, I haven’t forgotten about that, and yeah, see you next week if not sooner.” I respond back, as I remember I need to get into my personal reality if I want to get the money needed to pay for the room. As she leaves and closes the door, I go to lock the door, and then head for the door to the bathroom and take my key out and open the door to my workshop.

As the door opens showing the entrance hallway, I almost fall over as to what is waiting for me with its face staring right into mine. The Huragok. The thing slowly floats though the doorway into the room with me. As I look it over, it looks at me in turn then the room it finds itself in. I take in its appearance. It basically looks like almost every other engineer you see in Halo ODST, except real. It then looks back to me with its creepy worm like head with six eyes.

Not going to lie, I don’t really remember the up-close details of the engineers because I never really looked at the model of them, but now that I can get a look of one, they are not so pleasant to look at, this one doesn’t even have the armor plating the others had, in fact it looks like it’s naked of any of the stuff they wore in ODST. The bubble-like growths along the side of its roundish shell? Is it a shell? Between that and along with the fluorescent glow of parts of it along with tentacles gives a deep-sea terror type of vibe.

As I am looking it over while staring it down as I circle it, making it look at me passively as I do so my power goes off once more, and again I got jack diddly for it. Not that I am annoyed, since my attention is more focused on my ally, who is staring back at me in a nervous manner as it rubs its tentacles together awkwardly.

I take back what I said about this thing. It is kind of adorable, in a creepy sort of way. Not wanting to waste anymore time I decide to introduce myself. “My name is Daniel, and you and I will be working together for a long time.” I say to the engineer as I hold a hand up to it for a standard handshake. It immediately looks back up at me, as it just stares at my face with wide blinking eyes and then down to my hand.

It then blinks at it a few times seeming to be unsure of what to do. I guess I am more tired than I thought since I am trying to shake the tentacle of an alien who doesn’t even know what the gesture means. I take my hand back as the engineer is staring at me fully now, so I guess the handshake wasn’t a complete screw-up.

“So do you have a name?” I ask it. It then whistles at me. The whistles sound almost like the noises a whale makes. It continues to do so as I don’t even have a clue of what it is even saying. It does this to me for a few seconds before it notices me giving it a weird look.

“I do not have any clue of what the hell you just said. Do you have other methods of communicating besides whatever that was?” I ask it, making it stop for a moment.

Then its tentacles come up as it shapes them into different forms. Is it using sign language? I then realize that it is indeed using some form of sign language. What the fuck is my life anymore. An alien that knows sign language… I think? Never saw anyone use sign language in my life so I can’t really confirm that. I stare at it like it grew a second head, and I think it took notice as it stops abruptly as it looks back at me.

Then I remembered that I still have the phone I have been using to find my way around Gotham. So, I take it out and hold it out to it as I have an idea to help it communicate, as I do it stretches a tentacle towards it grabbing it from me then without any hesitation flips it open and starts messing with it. I just stand there waiting for it to figure out a way to get the phone to help it communicate.

Though I must admit, it is one hell of a sight to watch it work on the phone as it takes it apart rapidly with its tentacles then reconfiguring the pieces in so many ways so quickly, I can’t even keep up with it. “Hello.” I hear from the phone as the voice on it sounds like one of the text to speech monotone robotic voices.

“Nice job, very impressive. Now can you tell me your name?” I ask it.

“I am Lighter Than Air.”

“Alright, my name is Daniel. Can I call you Light for short?” I ask it wanting to not say such a mouthful of a name. At my question it nods its head at me. Guess its not much of a talker.

“Alright now that we have all of that settled, since you and I are going to be working together for the foreseeable future the first thing I am going to need you to do is make this apartment spotless, clean everything. Especially the bed and the couch.” I am probably being a jackass and an idiot using the organic supercomputer for the first time and it’s going to be cleaning my new crappy apartment as the first thing I have it do.

Screw it if someone finds out they can bite me. They didn’t see the horrors of that rest room, and if they did, they would agree with me all the way. As I think this, my power activates once more and this time I got something that further cements just how off the walls crazy the stuff that my power can give me is. Case in point, I just got myself a nice shiny supercomputer.

And not just any supercomputer, the Batman’s supercomputer, the bat computer. As nice as it may be, I am too tired to even attempt to mess around with it, so I am just going to deal with that when I wake up tomorrow. But first things first, putting down the money for the apartment.

“If you need supplies, they are in the area I found you in. Alright?”

It gives me a quick nod as it floats off with a trance like look in its eyes as it goes back to the entrance hallway to gather up what it needs to clean the apartment and fix anything if it’s broken.

“While you are doing that, I am going to get the money needed to finalize the purchase on the apartment and get everything settled.” I tell it, and looks back at me, “While I am gone, don’t open the door for anyone other than me, and above all else please don’t draw attention to the room such as making a lot of noise. And if someone does get in here and they see you knock them out or do what you have to.”

It gives another nod and goes back to getting the cleaning supplies that I stole as I head over to the plastic bag of money I got out of the safe as I count out how much I need. I have to do it a couple of times with how tired I am right now, once I get the right amount, I head out relocking the door just in case.

Going back down all the stairs and hallways is already getting pretty old to deal with considering how far I have to walk back and forth in this place which is made worse by how tired I feel right now. I get back to the front desk seeing the gigantic blond bowl cut man that is easily the biggest man I have ever met in my life. He just stares at me as I place the cash for the apartment on the table in front of him and he gives me a big intimidating toothy grin.

With his hand that easily dwarfs my own, places it on top of the money and slides it over and counts it. Once he is satisfied that the amount is right, he stands up and extends his hand to me for a handshake. I don’t hesitate to shake it both out of me being nervous of not wanting to anger this guy but also not wanting to show fear to him.

My dad and uncle both drilled that into my head when I was little when I was getting picked on. You never show fear, regardless of what you feel towards the other person. And above all else, stick up for yourself because your pride as a man will take a hit from that, if not never come back. Between that and the message that regardless of them beating you up, you won’t just stand there and take it, you will fight. That is the most important thing about that, is giving that message.

As I am remembering the life lessons they taught me, I am brought out of it by the insane grip from hell that Jed has. He gives one hard shake and goes back to sit down watching whatever foreign show he has on his tiny tv on the shelf next to him behind his counter. The guy has yet to even say one word, but I think that is a good thing.

I start heading back up the way I came, dreading all the stairs and walking it is going to take to get back up to my apartment. Once I am out of his line of sight I shake my hand, still feeling the slight pain from the squeeze he just gave it. I don’t think he even did that on purpose or to be mean, I guess he is a macho man or something?

Well, I will say this, that helped wake me up a little. Only a little considering that everything after that is a haze as I make my way back to my new home, not remembering all the stairs and walking. Next thing I know I am opening the door to my personal reality and make a makeshift bed of clothes. As I drift off into a blissful dream of days past of a better time in my youth.

The Angelroids and other constructs you make are not mere drones or robots - they are, each and every one, your own child. Whether or not you consider that true or care for them at all, your creations with any degree of intelligence or sentience will look to you as a mentor or parental figure, or just a dear friend when you first activate them. Regardless of its nature, they will enter this world with a degree of loyalty towards you, their creator. You know how to maintain this through care or the right mix of discipline and caretaking. This, incidentally, makes you pretty good at actual parenting as well.

Something of a surprise and most definitely an attention-grabber, a Huragok is supposed to be one of the members of the Covenant Homogeny and has normally been seen only in their presence. Yet Huragok, also known by those in the UNSC as 'Engineers', are primarily pacifistic and dedicate themselves purely to repairing and working on any technology around them. This particular one seems to have gotten lost and ended up deciding to follow you for the sake of making sure your technology was functioning. Aside from melodic whistling sounds that sound slightly similar to Earth whales, Huragoks communicate using either sign language with their tendrils or through text messaging thanks to their penchant of being biological supercomputers. Huragok are highly prized for being able to fix almost anything they touch, and you should expect a lot of questioning if someone spots you with one.

Now this is a must for the enterprising superhero a supercomputer composed of some of the most bleeding-edge hardware on the planet, capable of hacking into the vast majority of systems worldwide. It can process and transmit information far faster than nearly any other, and it has a number of forensic programs built in. Perhaps most notable is its capacity to analyze and reverse-engineer nearly any substance within the space of a few minutes and it will eventually prove its ability to do so when it provides the insurgency with the secret to the Regime's nanotech pills.