Modern Age Online

“So, you stole evidence from an educational institute, got suckered into a job you’re not qualified for, and then set another educational institute on fire.”

“Well, to be fair, Vivienne set the school on fire. But only when she was possessed by a demon. Which is the important part you’re skipping over.”

*Quack*

“I’m skipping over it, because it isn’t as important. Now we have to hide your involvement in two incidents. Destruction of private property and stealing evidence! We are less than two weeks away from a city auditor sweeping through here and you think stopping the demons is important?”

Kaleb crossed his arms as he sat in his chair. “Yes! Given what Vivienne just found out. I think a demon invasion is more important than a few misdemeanors.”

He ignored the pitying looks he got from around the table. Jar-lock was shaking his head as Claire tried not to laugh. Abbey had slapped herself on the forehead and was now glaring at him. Two Gun snorted as he tipped his hat.

“Son, the classroom may be a misdemeanor. It depends on what you broke. But evidence tampering is a little more serious than that.”

Kaleb waved a hand dismissively. “Again, Vivienne set that fire while under the influence. As for the evidence tampering, they have no way to prove that. The sample was destroyed when Jar-lock did his spell, right?”

The big mage nodded slowly. But then he put his hands on the table. “I agree that what the Professor did was reckless, but he is also right. We can’t ignore a possible Demonic invasion.”

“An invasion we only know about because Vivi did a mind-meld with a puddle of demonic slime?” Farrah asked, looking up from her notes and raising an eyebrow.

Vivienne nodded. “I know how it sounds. But when we were connected, I saw what the demon is planning. Remember that puddle was only a small part of the whole. The rest of him is out there digging a damn planar tunnel into this realm.”

“I don’t doubt you.” Farrah said sticking her palms up. “But Demons are notoriously tricky. How do we know it didn’t show you something false?”

Vivienne opened her mouth to retort. But she quickly closed it again when she realized she didn’t have an answer. Everyone around the table fell silent as they considered what to do. Abby was the first with a response.

“It should be easy to verify right? According to Viv, the Demon is using the demon gang to siphon power from the roots of the magical tree-thing, right? So all we have to do is find another root.”

“Is there one at the Ainsley house? Is that why they were there?” Claire asked.

Vivienne shook her head. “No. That was a few errant gangsters doing something they weren’t supposed to. The memories are still a little jumbled, but I don’t think our Demon was happy with them.”

Two Gun Barked out a laugh. “Ha! He probably wasn’t too happy with them getting caught either. Lead us right to them.”

*Quack*

“Not right to them. We still need to find the roots of the tree. Then we have to stop the demons. I’ll coordinate with local law enforcement and get us some more bodies. The threat of an extra-planar being is bound to move the most stubborn of captains.”

Kaleb groaned. “Great. While we’re filing paperwork, the demons are out there hoarding magical power.”

D34d-I opened his bill to speak, but Jar-lock cut him off. “Actually that could help us. If they are amassing a ton of power in order to summon a demon army, they should be lit up like a Christmas tree. Magically speaking. All we have to do is scan for a huge mass of power.”

*Quack*

“Jar-lock, you and Vivienne get on that, then. Abby, Claire, and Two Gun can sweep our neighborhood. Farrah provide oversight. Professor-”

“I swear to god, duck, if you even think of benching me…” Kaleb trailed off as he clenched his robotic fist.

D34d-I narrowed his two large eyes, his feathers literally ruffling up. He quacked again and it took his translator unit longer than usual to translate.

“No, Professor. You are not being benched. And I’ll thank you to get that chip off your shoulder. You fucked up. Admit it and move on. The cops will come looking for you and they will ask about the STOLEN evidence. At that time, you will agree to any and all aspects of their investigation. Because if you don’t then the HLO, and by extension city hall, will shut us down. This city is a hellscape of rules, permits, and ordinances. We must navigate them if we want to work here. You don’t like following the rules? Then go Villain or maybe move out of Austin. But don’t be surprised if no one goes with you. We followed you once when your attitude burned a bridge. Do you think we’ll do it again?”

Kaleb sat in angry silence as the table absorbed the ducks words. It was Abby that got her words out first and they were shockingly close to what Kaleb was thinking.

“Hey, fuck you, duck. He didn’t do anything that bad and, like he said, no one is going to find the evidence. So how about you relax and go back to your damn office?!”

Two Gun raised a hand to placate the young woman as he added his two cents. “While I don’t agree with how it was done. The professor just got us a big case...again. Stopping a demonic invasion? Now that’s some high-tier gaming shit right there. If we wanted consequences and paperwork we would’ve stayed with the HLO. We formed this group to get shit done and that’s what the kid did.”

The others at the table nodded as the four-foot alien bird glanced around the table. Seeing he was out-numbered, D34d-I threw up his wing-like arms.

*Quack*

“Then on your own heads be it. I’ll go alert our police liaison in my damn office then. But when this shit blows up in our face, you can all hang with the lizard.”

With that the short player skidded his seat back and marched through the empty hangar and toward the office. Kaleb grimaced at the sound of the office door being slammed and sighed. Around the table everyone shared a few commiserating looks until Vivienne voiced a thought.

“Is he going to be an issue?”

Jar-lock shook his head. “Not like that. The guy is just a stickler for the rules. He’ll cool down soon.”

“Maybe. But he still didn’t give me a damn job. So if no one objects I’m going down to Under-Town to gather information.” Kaleb announced.

The others all glanced at him before Claire asked. “Do you think they are going to know anything?”

“Maybe not. But it gets me out of the hangar and I’ll feel like I’m doing something. Plus, it’s literally underground. So if anyone knows of a way to track people underground, it has to be the guys down there.”

“What about your forge workshop thing?”

“The kids have been handling that just fine. We’ll hit all of our production targets for the Brute Clan and the Brutes will take it down. So that’s pretty much rolling along by itself.”

“Are you going to be okay by yourself?” Farrah quipped.

Kaleb was sure she was only half-joking. But he gave her an answer anyway. “Please. I can handle Under-Town. I got friends all over the place down there.”

“Maybe. But keep your head down. You’ll be in hostile territory without backup. Our drones won’t work down there and you’ll be out of comm range.” Two Gun added as Claire nodded along.

“Guys. I’ll be fine. I don’t go looking for trouble, it finds me.”

“Which is why we want you to keep your head down. Even while you hunt down a lead.” Vivienne said.

“In fact, maybe I should go with you.” Jar-lock said.

Kaleb rolled his eyes. “Stop. Everything will be fine. Jar-lock, each of us is attempting the same goal. We are just coming at them from different angles. Let me work my magic in Under-Town while you do your stuff with the magic.”

Pensive looks cross each of his friend’s faces and Kaleb was sure he had convinced them when Abby spoke up again.

“I’ll go with him. Claire and Two Gun can sweep the neighborhood.”

Kaleb was already shaking his head when she finished speaking. “Abby, I don’t -”

“Yes, you do.” The hooded woman barked. “Each of us needs to work in teams for the foreseeable future. We don’t know if the Demon Vivienne merged with saw us or the hangar. So for now, we watch each others backs. We think we’ve got the upper hand, but let’s play it safe.”

Kaleb sighed. But as he watched the rest of his friends nodding along with Abby’s words, he relented. “Fine. Me and the shadow kid will sweep Under-Town, Two Gun and Claire can take the neighborhood. The magic couple can take to the library and investigate there. Farrah, you do your thing up here.”

All of them nodded and Kaleb thought the meeting was over, but Jar-lock turned to Vivienne and asked.

“Do we know what kind of demon we are dealing with?”

Two Gun nodded. “Yeah, anything you might know will be helpful.”

Vivienne closed her eyes and shuddered. “It’s some form of toxic or sludge demon. It comes from a plane which is in a permanent state of dying. Everything it touches turns to black sludge and rots away.”

Jar-lock rubbed his chin. “So it’s a type of corrosion demon? That narrows things down, actually.”

The table nodded, but Claire thumbed her armor while looking at Kaleb. “Will our armor hold against corrosion?”

“It should. It’s top of the line K-Tech stuff and it absorbs energy. There’s not a lot in the way of magical protection, though. So if a Corrosion Demon throws a spell at you, I’d get out of the way.”

“That would actually depend on the type of demon and the plane it’s from. I’ll know more after looking into things.”

“So I reckon we can call this meeting adjourned and get ourselves situated, right?”

Kaleb nodded as the others slowly joined him. Eventually they all stood and started walking toward their areas. Farrah finished taking notes and hurriedly stood. Kaleb caught her and asked politely.

“Could you make sure D34d-I gets a copy of the notes. Shit got pretty heated, but I don’t want him to be left out completely.”

Farrah smirked. “Don’t worry. The duck is good at adjusting. I’ll make sure he knows what’s going on.”

Kaleb gave her a quick thank you and rushed off toward his workshop. It being evening meant that the hangar and his workshop were virtually empty. The Hunter kids were back home, the Brute clan lizards were doing the rounds as guards, and Roy had gone home to visit his parents. Which meant Kaleb and Daivor had just enough time to build something useful.

Entering his workshop, he spotted Daivor sitting on the deck of his gnome home. The tiny bearded man was smoking a pipe and looking blissfully at the ceiling of the hangar. Kaleb tried not to snort as he saw the expression on the gnomes face and moved to his workbench.

“Please tell me your not too drunk to work, are you?”

Daivor sputtered a bit before he got up from his chair. “Of course not. I’m just enjoying the silence. Those kids have livened the place up, but they can take a lot out of gnome. Marie alone asks enough questions to fill a college course.”

The way the old gnome said college made Kaleb stand straighter. “How did you already hear about that?”

“Y’all ain’t exactly quiet. Did you really burn down a whole school?”

Kaleb shook his head. “No. Now get up here and help me expand the radius on my scanner.”

Kaleb threw the slim Moldi-Screen wrist imager on the desktop as Daivor swung up to his shoulder. The gnome screwed another cigar into his lips and glared down at the K-Tech branded device.

“I don’t know. You know how the rest of the K-Tech equipment reacted to tampering.”

“Explosively.” Kaleb blew out as he nodded. “I know. But we need a way to track some people and this is the best I got. I was thinking we re-code it to filter out different aliens or something.”

“So your plan is to profile everyone in Under-Town?” Abby’s voice said from behind him.

Kaleb jumped a foot in the air and yelped. When he landed he spun on the tiny woman and glared down at her. But she brushed him off as she moved toward his worktable. Giving a slight nod to Daivor on Kaleb’s shoulder, Abby picked up the scanner. Turning it over in her hand, she asked.

“I thought this was just a heat sensor or something?”

“Thermal imager.” Kaleb said absently. “I was hoping to find a way to filter out anyone who’s not a demon gang member.”

Abby rolled her eyes. “You know that the demons, as a gang, are just a collection of demon fanatics, right? Can’t you just scan for demonic activity?”

Kaleb grabbed his scanner and placed it on the bench. A menu opened up with a detailed schematic of the device. At least as detailed as Daivor and his skills allowed for. Kaleb blew out the schematic and looked over the pieces as he spoke.

“That veers too far into the realm of Magi-tech. I’d have to know what kind of imprint demonic activity leaves in order to scan for it.”

“So if you knew what you were looking for you’d have already found it?”

“Essentially. But… Daivor are you seeing this?”

The gnome slapped the side of Kaleb’s face. “I’m on your shoulder, dumbass. My view is pretty much yours.”

Kaleb ignored the hit as he waved a hand at the screen. “So the chemical composition of these wires looks normal to you?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Why didn’t I see that before? These wires are made from non-terrestrial alloy and they are transferring huge amounts of data.”

Abby sighed. “Will it help you find some demons?”

Kaleb blinked as he slowed his mind down. The discovery was neat, but not what they needed to do right now. Filing it away, Kaleb coughed.

“Ahem. No. Not really. But it is interesting and it may be helpful in upgrading this thing before we head to Under-Town.”

Abby nodded and sat down at a nearby stool. Pulling down her hood, she said. “Whatever, chief. I got nothing to do tomorrow. So an overnight gaming session won’t be too bad.”

Kaleb slowly began taking the wrist imager apart as he nodded at her words. Most of the others were going to do what they could and then log. Which meant he was the only one still in the game. So he had twice the amount of time to find the demons. Cracking his neck, Kaleb turned to Abby.

“This won’t take long.”

She nodded but said nothing as her eyes got the far off look of someone in their menus. Kaleb coughed awkwardly again and turned back to his work. But he felt he needed to say something else.

“Also… Um, thanks for having my back out there. With D34d-I.”

“Please. That damn duck has a stick up his cloaca. Sometimes ya gotta bend the rules a bit to play the game. The HLO has proven that they don’t mind hitting below the belt. So we can’t either.”

Kaleb nodded at her words and went back to work. Daivor leapt down to the table and began helping him disassemble the device. The workshop fell into comfortable silence as Kaleb worked on upgrading his tech. Carefully not thinking about how he was, once again, running toward trouble.