Hi-Tech & Lo-Life
Chapter 1: My Life in The 'Plex
Chicago city. The gleaming and pristine Arcologies of mega-corporations like Omni-Corp, Raotech, Nanodyne, and Virtual Interface in downtown formed an angular and crystal heart to the city. Beating and pumping to the tune of the international stock market; and surrounded by blight. A near eternity of land consumed in tight unending habitation blocks and the tenements of lesser corporations. Districts rife with corruption and poverty long ignored by the likes of Donovan Weston, sinking in pollution and vice. The man had spent a lifetime turned inward to the heart that was the financial district, amassing wealth and power in careful measured steps until he all but ruled the city, and it all but called him king.
Now, he lay resting on the bar, ensconced in a heavy brass urn.
"Oh Father..." Adrien sighed in genuine sorrow, as he stepped past the desk and across the room to look out the windows that served as a barrier to the outer gale, the whole horizon splayed out in the broken landscape of a city swollen and bloated. An entity already dead, but still alive. 'Not unlike the former president.' The young man thought as he glanced back to the urn before returning his attention to the window. 'His influence has not yet died with him.' Adjusting his short black hair and jacket collar with his reflection as well as straightening his designer shirt. "Did the say when they were expecting to adjoin Thomas?" He asked of his aid across the room, not bothering to look at the man.
"Yes sir, the invitation mentioned that they'd be meeting in the grand boardroom on the floor below us." The older man offered, skimming through the medical report. "Apparently they were notified of the emergency by someone close to your father, but we have no idea who. I shall start an informal investigation Mr. Weston? Informational leaks this high up the corporate ladder could be devastating to our integrity as a financial entity."
" I agree Thomas, thank you for taking care of it." 'They will be ended by their own glut of power and wealth. How typically tragic of humanity.' The telepath thought, keeping the notion private behind his barriers. "Would be so kind as to leave me with him? I would like to give him my goodbye." He asked softly before turning around and moving to the penthouse sized offices bar. His aide leaving even as he made the request, quietly shutting the heavy oak double doors to the room and waiting in the secretary's office. Still to be safe Adrien waited a full minute as he poured himself a Speyside malt scotch on the rocks, looking around the tastefully austere space. His father was a fan of deep, rich colours and the walls were a dark red with the floor done in some rare Brazilian wood that had cost a fortune, a deep almost rosy grain gleaming with cleanliness and a fresh coat of wax. The wooden centrepiece of the corporate logo, an Omega Symbol encircling a capital T dominated the woodwork. And for the most part Adrien approved, but he would not be sad to leave it behind. The floor would have to be redone to suit the new logo as well. The bar he was standing at was on the far side, one of only two walls, the other leading to the Secretary's office. The other two walls where made of nano-forged glass. Sound proof and able to resist the gales that associated such great heights as the top floor of the Omni-tech Arcology.
"You know father I feel I'm supposed to feel sad. All but heartbroken over your death, even after seven years after the fact. I should, I know I should! But I just... can't. I suppose I'm failing in my familial duty, but I honestly can't." He held for a pause as he swirled the scotch in it's glass and raised the lip to his nose to enjoy the rich texture before continuing. "All I can manage for you is this overwhelming pity. You were just a human, blind and ignorant to so much around you. You always wanted power father, but I'm the one who has it. I'm the one who was born with it. Mutation isn't what you thought it was. Or rather, it's what you knew it was, but were too afraid to admit." He said as he collapsed into the plush chairs behind the desk that had once belonged to his father and still facing his urn of ashes. Taking a sip of the whisky before continuing. "It is the next step. It makes man obsolete, and all your empire is built on compensating for us, trying to keep up." He explained to his patriarch, sweeping his hand toward the panoramic view. "More of us are born every year, and yes father I mean us. So you humans breed like rats, but serve only to propagate our numbers. You are jealous of our strength and abilities, so you develop cyber, bio, and nanotech to compensate for your limitations. You are envious of our mental powers so you create the 'Net, Neurocomputers, AI, and Headware to expand the cramped quarters of your small minds. Everything you have done, is a poor, inefficient copy of mutant capabilities. Your idea of business was focused on the preservation of a doomed species Father. It's time my company looked to the future. So here's to Omni-tech Father, for it falls with you."
He toasted, raising his glass in salute to the cold corpse before him and taking a draught of the scotch. "And here's to it's rebirth as PsyTech, the start of my empire." He toasted again, finishing the scotch with a gulp and pounding the glass on the desk firmly as he stood up. "It's all ready you know. There's a boardroom full of your corporate sharks just waiting for me to show up and tell them how unprepared for this I am. Laughable as the idea is. I'm truly sorry that the legacy you always wanted will be a footnote to my introduction father. But I can't stay to lay it all out for you, I have a city and company to inherit. Business partners to manipulate and detractors to blackmail." He apologized, somewhat dis-ingenuously as he moved to the door but stopped before leaving, turning back one last time to look upon the ashes of the man that had raised him, and set him up for greatness. Thus earning Adrien's gratitude if not respect.
"But let me assure you, it is something grander than you could have dreamed."He offered to the dead man in some small measure assurance for the deceased before opening the door and leaving the office and top floor all together, his aide immediately falling in measured stride not three steps behind him.
"Thomas, if you would be so kind as to draw up a draft of those contracts we discussed earlier. I think it's time for a change of scenery. Maybe New York?"
...
The 'Plex. It was a bustling, lively, colourful collision of countless cultures and identities. The streets where crowded with individuals of every creed, and belief, ethnicity and nation. Each talking, breathing and living. A world of colour and character inside a larger world of oppression and conformity. The inhabitants had taken their drab soulless hab blocks and given them life and colour. From the 'neon dawn' of the seedier districts, to the AR displays in the buffer 'burbs. A vanishing ring of the middle class separating Ultra-rich tightwad downtown from the fast and loose freedom of the slums. It was something Oren always loved when he finally got out from the Tunnelz. The vibrancy and thrum that only a mega-metropolis could create. The people moving through the streets and warrens of this venerable city like the lifeblood they were. Even late at night like now, there was always something going on. Seedier aspects took charge, though they never left during the day. The peddlers and prostitutes got bolder, the gamblers and drunks slinked out, and all through the 'plex you could practically taste debauchery and blood. Brothels and bars opened, clubs and concerts played, and all the while the people never stopped. It always was such a blessed and treasured relief from the stultifying life he led under Raotech, and the grating caution of the Morlockz. Well, most of them anyway. Him and some of his closer friends took great pride in bucking that trend.
Tonight it was just the four of them, slipping through artificial lights they had rigged through the Tunnelz and shadows flittingly. Eager to reach their destination and sow a little mischief downtown. Oren led the way, knowing the paths the best, his neon green sneakers silent against the asphalt and his duffel bag of spray paint strung carelessly across his shoulder and chest. His three friends were dressed slightly more conspicuously than he was in his blue shorts and black t-shirt. The details still easily visible to his augmented vision. The biomechanic iris of his Cy-Eye encompassing the majority of his surroundings in it's gaze.
Fenrir was loping easily just behind him. His bestial, canine features hidden under his dark hoodie as he ran with them, the muscle of the group. Across from Fenrir there was Echo, a thin and spindly girl gifted with empathy. She was only here to share in the mutual feelings of danger, mischief and excitement, and out of all of them, she probably found the Tunnelz most constricting. Bringing up the rear was Mason, Echo's older brother, more muscle and all around biokinetic brawler. He was out here in the hopes of finding a good fistfight somewhere along the way and to appease him, the three of them had promised to pay a visit to Twist to celebrate should everything go alright.
Right now though, they were ghosting along the branches off the Tunnelz, into the even more rarely used access pathways, following along the obsolete spiderweb of optical fibre's until they reached the nearby ladder. Raising a hand Oren motioned for the others to stop. "We're here. Sit tight and play nice while I hop up and check 'er out. Coast is clear we have fun, if the cat's home we fuck off like good little mice, corpsec's not known for their sense of humour. Register?"
"Natch" Fenrir grinned back wolfishly, pulling out a coffin nail while Echo edged around, picking up Oren's twinge of unease.
"Watch your back 'Ren, kay?" She muttered, Mason grunted in non-committed agreement.
Oren just grinned back and waved away their concern, already up a few rungs of the ancient steel ladder bolted into the wall.
"*Null sheen, now quit worrying and get your spray ready. This won't take more than a moment." He comforted strictly for the benefit of Echo. He knew Fenrir and Mason would have no issue with ruffling corporate feathers. Or Fenrir with spilling some corporate blood, he didn't know if Mason had killed anyone yet, and he knew Echo hated the thought of violence. 'I guess that's an Empath for you.'
He chuckled lightly under his breath as he climbed up into the grate and opened the access way for the exhaust systems of the Nanodyne Arcologies HVAC unit. Immediately on entering the actual shaft he began to sweat even in his simple black tank top, and blue shorts, the systems heavy with heat and moisture drawn from the superstructure they were breaking into. Shimmying deeper into the muggy duct. He had found this entrance once while exploring a while back and had found himself nearly complete access to the public sectors of the RaiCorp Arcology. Today he was aiming to slip the group into the mall district. A few city blocks worth of shopping malls, boulevards, arcades and restaurants. The duct he was currently infiltrating should lead him to a small and secluded intake grate. And after a few more minutes of climbing and navigating and he was there, Peering through the ventilation grate to see the equivalent of a back alley entrance to a Chinese buffet. He could tell from the smell of the dumpster beside the door. Even in the self sufficient Arcologies they liked to keep their trash problems out of view. 'Kinda futile a gesture.' Oren figured. "Now to grab the rest and mess with a few corporate heads." He chuckled, sliding back down the ladder.
"He's taking a little long don't you think Mason?" Echo asked, unable to suppress a twinge of worry she knew was her own. Her brother and Fenrir knew Oren could handle himself, and she knew it as well. She just couldn't ignore that little voice in the back of her head. As expected Mason gave only a half grunt in reply.
"Ah, just chill E, Tha' man won't be long he said." Fenrir offered from where he leaned against the hallway wall. The smoke from his cigarette idly drifting further down with the air currents as he took a puff. The cherry glowing merrily in the dim light.
"I know that Fen, I just can't help but feel like some thing's going to go wrong..." The young, diminutive empath mumbled, not loud enough for her brother to hear, but not quiet enough for the keen hearing of Fenrir.
"Yeah, and that's what me and this bruiser are here for." He grinned as he sauntered over, giving Mason a firm slug in the shoulder. Eliciting a grudging nod and smile from the silent Biokinetic. "Just stick with us and ain't nothing gonna touch you. 'Sides, I can hear him on his way back now."
True to form Oren slid out of the ventilation shaft back into the access pass-way, covered in a light sheen of sweat. "We ready to play boss man?" Fenrir asked, canine teeth displayed in a wolfish grin. Oren's reply was to grin back and toss his fellow mutant a spray can of black paint. "Bit of a climb, but well worth it. We all good to go?" He asked, hauling up his backpack full of spray paint. Fenrir caught the can and gave Oren a mock salute before heading into the HVAC shaft, Mason wordlessly following behind his bestial companion. Echo took a moment longer, flashing Oren a fragile and apprehensive smile, but a smile non the less.
They huddled behind the Chinese place's garbage as Oren opened up the backpack and distributed the paint. The makeshift leader of the ragtag little band handing out instructions with the aerosol cans. "Alright, Everyone know's the drill. Teams of two, stick together, tag what you can but be safe. We don't need Corpsec on us, and if they do catch on, run don't fight. You all got your comms?" He asked, waiting for affirmative nods from all of them before continuing. "Okay then, open channels at all times. They break into our lines were fucked anyway, but we should be safe. These areas usually have the lightest security. Fen, you're with me. Mason, goes without saying that you watch out for your sister." He ordered, getting an affronted look from the recalcitrant biokinetic. Having taken care of all that, they switched their comms to narrow band, set the frequency and parted ways. Echo giving him a more genuine smile as she immersed herself in the emotional high the others were slowly slipping into as she patted her brother Mason on a massive arm. "C'mon Mason, let's go paint the town red." She grinned, wagging her can of spray paint.
...
So I'd just like to apologize for the lengthy wait for a short chapter. This is just an introduction to two of the OC's and to get a feel for the setting. Expect a lot more grit to come, and more OC's to follow. I kinda like the limited viewpoints, going from one set of perspectives to the next, so I think I'll continue with it. Also, while I haven't selected all the OC's you can expect to see a lot of the ones I didn't pick filling out various and some times integral roles in the story. You can also expect a lot of secondary characters no one handed in just to pad out the cast. Don't worry though, everyone get's their share of the spotlight.