When people ask me what I do for a living, I usually reply with " Oh, just a standard clerk job at the Hinobi store. Nothing much." Lying is seen as a bad thing to most sensible people, but those poor fools would gawk at the sight of what I get to deal with every day. They call us the Glitch Techs, or well, those who know what we do behind closed doors and memory wipers. The only people who know what horrors are out there are those already in the field, working to keep a lid on that monstrous jar.
Only chosen people can become Techs. It doesn't take a degree or experience in hand to hand combat, but it does take a high gaming rank. I was chosen because I would wipe the floor in multiplayer on Rank of Fallen. My brother, Pierce, was chosen alongside me because he had the same power when it came to his game of choice: Technological Warfare. If you ask me, they low balled it for him to get in.
Anyways, the reason only high-ranking, or at least impressive, gamers are chosen is because of Hinobi's little secret with their high-end tech stored in about every home on the planet. Their technology might be known for its power and amazing gameplay, but it should be better known for how video game monsters can literally pop out of the screen and eat you alive. The games can range from a cute little app on your phone, to a full-blown zombie apocalypse first-person shooter. The glitches are hard to deal with because they can be of any type. Mappers can turn the environment into the game setting and trap people inside, and that's not even the worse.
We fight these glitches and trap them in our gauntlets to take back to HQ for processing. We then wipe the memories of those who encountered this beast and restore any damage. Plixel technology is powerful, perhaps too powerful for these reasons.
Personally, I wish they'd stop making their tech so easy to glitch, but they can't risk dumbing their product down because they're supposed to be the most advanced technology producer in the world. Being #1 comes at a price y'know.
The job is fun most of the time; I get to blast glitch monster like an AR game and get free gear with the XP I earn along the way. I've only been working here for a year, but I think I've done pretty well for being pretty new.
My name is Lucas Cain, and I'm a Glitch Tech.
The morning sun poured in through the window, the lack of blinds letting the beams hit my face at full blast. My eyes opened slowly as my vision adjusted. I looked to my alarm clock, sitting on the nightstand next to the bed, reading 7 am.
I got up, got dressed, and headed out. A Monday morning with the sun shining down couldn't feel more perfect. I might've still been tired, but hey, that's what I get for staying up playing ToonCraft all night. You'd think I'd stop playing games with this kind of job.
The commune to work was like any other day. The roads were pretty clear due to being so early, and the birds were singing a beautiful song. The music was enough for me to roll down my windows and hear a monstrous roar instead as my car flipped over.
The sound of glass shattering, covering the seats, and the sound of crinkling metal was barely heard over the beast's belly-filled bellow. My eyes slowly opened as I shook myself back to life. My car was totaled and so was the part of town the glitch was stomping through. Pulling myself out of my wreck, I looked up to see a large mole-like creature, reaching devastating heights, with small, yellow eyes picking up and scarfing down cars like a kid who had gotten hold of his sibling's snack bag. The gluttonous beast's belly glowed yellow with ear car It devoured.
" You owe me some shiny new metal." I grit through my teeth. My bracelet glowed as it unlocked itself, spawning plixels around it until it became a fully-functioning gauntlet. My eyes and ears were then covered by the visor that came with it. As I jumped to the ground, my clothes changed until I donned a grey and blue chest plate and armor plating that covered my white under armor. With a swipe of my hand over the gauntlet's screen, plixels flew out and into place to create a large sword.
The suit enhances all abilities including speed, dexterity, and strength, so running at the target with a comedically large sword had no effect on me. My feet carried me up the monster's back and my arms swung up as I made a single, but final blow to the mole's head, immediately turning it to plixel dust, a large "500" banner appearing over where the monster was.
Gravity began to work again as I started plummeting towards the concrete below. While I was falling, I activated my gauntlet's memory wipers, setting it to a long-range and resetting everyone within 100 blocks who witnessed the disturbance. 2,000 feet from the ground, I realized my grave mistake as I swiped through my gauntlet's weapons and power-ups; I'd forgotten to buy rocket boots.
The fear kicked in, adrenaline following, pulsing through my very soul as I began to panic. The poor people I just reset were about to witness me flail midair until I inevitably reached the ground. 1,000 feet. I looked around the town, trying to see if there was something I could grapple. Too fast. 500 feet. I shut my eyes, only a few moments before-
I felt a hit in my side and hands wrapping around my body, forcing the air from my lungs from the velocity at which I was falling. I continued to fall, but at more of a controlled rate until I reached the ground, but my body never touched the cement. I opened my eyes, my body still full of adrenaline, to see none other than the grade A a-hole himself; Pierce.
" Looks like that's another save from me. That makes ten." His eyebrow cocked up as I felt his hands leave me, dropping me to the ground below with a thud. " Look, Lucas, if you want to go around getting yourself into trouble, that's all fine," he said, his voice soft but fruity and strong, " but maybe you should look for a partner to help on missions like this. Looks like you need it."
His belly laugh was enough to make my stomach churn. As he began leaving the scene, my broken car caught his eye.
" It was about time you got rid of that old junk. The one good thing a glitch has ever done, and it's getting rid of your crappy excuse for a car, ha!"
I wish I was an only child.
Walking to Hinobi was less than ideal, but it gave me some time to think. If Peirce hadn't stepped in, I would have been mashed potatoes. Do I really need backup? I thought about it. I always went alone into missions, never really having a team for very long if there was a group assignment. I'd always gotten myself out of trouble, but this..This was a situation I don't think I could've walked away from on my own. He might've been right.
The portal above me closed suddenly, as it does every time I use it to get into the Techs' secret HQ under the Hinobi store. The white walls were bussing with life as Techs moved from task to task. Some were practicing their aim, others were experimenting with robotic exoskeletons. As I walked through the main lobby, I noticed how many Techs had a glitch by their side. A Garbile, a Ginko, and even a Zoom Kazoom. It raced past me, spinning me around like a cartoon as I attempted to catch my balance. The Tech it belonged to was a tall, umber-skinned woman, her puffy black hair in her face as she attempted to catch up to her glitch.
" Sorry!" Her voice had an Australian accent, hinted with American, as she had moved here a few months ago, and I had heard her name was Halima. She chased after Zoom and finally, after jumping on him, was able to get him to stop. I ran over to help them up. Halima grabbed my hand, panting heavily as she held Zoom in her other arm. " S-s-Ha-Sorry, mate. Kazoom here gets a bit riled up when he plays tag."
" Oh, it's no issue." I looked at the Zoom Kazoom as he had a big dumb smile on his face, embracing the hold of his keeper. " Say, I've been here for a while but I've never understood why you guys like keeping glitches around as..pets."
Her face lit up, " Oh! These glitches aren't just pets, they're companions! Zoom here, well he's my best bud. He comes on missions with me and sticks around in my gauntlet if I ever want to just hang out with him."
" But..Why? Why choose to befriend a glitch when there are plenty of people here who could offer a similar thing? It doesn't seem safe, really."
Halima's face dropped, but then she got an idea. " Alrighty Mr. Grumpy pants, you've never been interested in Companion Pets before. I'm guessing you finally had enough of your brother bailing you out of your glitch mishaps." Her smile spelled cocky.
My face grew red as I began to trip over my words, " W-what! N-no! Of course not, I'm just fascinated all of a sudden is all." But even with all the explanations in the world, it seemed nothing could cover up my truth.
" Look, mop-head, everyone here knows how you get yourself into trouble because you don't have a team. I mean, Pierce tends to like to talk about it a lot, so of course word would get around. Don't worry, bud. C'mere." Halima draped her arm around Lucas, " I'm gonna show you someone who can get you the perfect Companion Pet."
She led him throughout the HQ until they reached a door at the end of a hallway. " Let me introduce you to the Pet Tech."