Bright, flashing light pushed against the darkness only for it to flood back like a tide. Only one place remained free of its touch, protected by the luminous cone cast by a single desk lamp. A young boy hunched over the workbench it illuminated, his face hidden behind large goggles. In his right hand, he held a metallic pen with an ultra-thin needle at the end. On his left, he wore a mechanical glove with different tools extending from each finger, two of which were holding a small device.

[Hey, Finn...] a tired voice called out to him. [Aren’t you gonna get some sleep?]

"Yeah, just a minute..."

A minute in this context was relative. It could be truly just one minute, or it might stretch on for a couple more hours. Jake didn’t like it when his human friend got so absorbed into his work that he forgets to rest. It only made waking up the next day more difficult, though one could argue it didn’t matter since the boy didn’t have school or a job to worry about.

"And done!"

Finn put down his tools and leaned back into his chair, pulling up his protective goggles. The corners of his mouth rose into a satisfied grin as he looked down at the results of his hard work.

To the untrained eye, it looked like a bug which had its guts spilled. That is because its outer shell wasn’t equipped yet, but doing so was the easy part, requiring barely any effort.

[Wait, seriously?]

Jumping up from his charging station, the yellow capsule popped out his limbs and ran over.

"Yeah, just give me one sec..."

The bug description wasn’t far off the mark, because the device does look like a bug. A small, robotic insect barely the size of one’s index finger, making it just a little bit smaller than Jake’s golden scorpion.

After equipping its outer shell, Finn connected it to a controller using a wireless connection to his MLP. The small robot came to life, standing up on its six needle-like feet. He made it walk around in a circle, increasing its speed a little at a time.

Done with the first test, Finn moved on to the next. He had the command, and the robotic bug’s outer shell opened up. A pair of paper-thin translucent wings from under it and seemed to vanish a second later. Right after, the robotic bug floated up in a steady line, not showing the slightest hint of instability.

The file Jake found in the depths contained the schematics for the small drone. After building it in his mind and determining it was safe, Finn decided to recreate it in the real world. All of the materials he needed were a part of the Gear Cult android he stole, so he had all the materials he needed from the start. His little build was a success, and Finn couldn’t be more proud of himself.

[Wow it turned out better than expected!] Jake seemed excited for a second, but his pixelated face shifted the next instant. [Now, how about you go to bed?]

"What? No!" Finn gave him the same frown. "We’re just getting to the good part!"

The drone itself was only half the work. To finish the entire thing, he would have to connect the drone to the internet. The schematics came with a link, but when he tried to Dive into it, Finn failed to cross the gates on the other end. From what he could find, the drone itself was the key, and by connecting it to the site, it would download something into its memory.

[Finn, we are too tired for this.] Jake said. [Leave it for the morning. Or noon. You probably won’t wake up until noon! Vik’s gonna be mad at you!]

"C’mon! Don’t you want to see what will happen?"

[I don’t! You shouldn’t have built this in the first place. What if Tomato Head heard about it!?]

Messing around with Gear tech was a very bad idea, especially with them having already antagonized the cult. But that’s the thing.

"I don’t care what he thinks."

Finn didn’t want to hear anything about that Tomato Head. He had already decided that the two of them no longer had anything to do with each other, so why would he care what that idiot thinks?

[C’mon, man, stop being a baby.] Jake began to sound rather exasperated.

"Whose side are you on?"

[The side of not getting into more trouble than we can handle.]

"Well, we wouldn’t know until we try!"

Everything had been prepared beforehand, so all he had to do was enter the command. The drone connected to the network, and it slowly came down, resting back on the surface of the workbench.

On his OAM, Finn watched as several screens appeared one after the other, each filling up with lines of code before disappearing. His field of sight cleared, and as seconds passed, it became increasingly more clear that nothing else would happen.

"That’s... that’s it?"

Just as he whispered the thought, the small, insect-like drone spread its wings and slowly floated up.

~[ ]~

Something felt odd about the way the noise went down. It didn’t vanish as if everyone suddenly went quiet. Instead, the gangsters seemed to calm down as they spoke to the stranger, their hostility disappearing with each word he said. Eventually, they let him through as if they forgot the reason they had blocked his path in the first place.

Dante kept his Absolute Awareness active, his perception enhanced just a little. He didn’t catch anything that would out the stranger as an enemy, even when he took the seat right next to him, but that in itself could be interpreted as a sign.

[Dante,he is a Level 1 Intermediate Genome.] Volcan said. [A pseudo-Genome, to be more accurate.]

Confusion froze Dante in place for a couple of seconds. Lowering the fork he was about to put in his mouth, he heaved a long sigh then looked to his left.

"Listen, if you want to do this, let’s take it outside." He said. "Repairing this place every couple of weeks is starting to get on my nerves.

A Level 1 didn’t seem like a threat, but not in this situation. One wouldn’t go into the base of a rising gang and sit with their boss for no specific reason.

"Lissa," He said. "You go home for the night."

"No no, she can stay." The stranger said in a relaxed tone. "I will have a shot of Vodka, if you don’t mind."

The Tenebrosan woman glanced at Dante, asking for his input. Receiving a nod in response, she grabbed a shot glass from under the counter and a bottle filled with a clear liquid. Once the drink was poured, she left the bottle on the counter and took her leave without Dante having to say anything.

Dante resumed eating as if to say he wasn’t keen on wasting food. The stranger, a man about his age or a couple of years older, picked the shot glass and downed its contents in one go before slamming it back on the counter. He picked the bottle next and poured himself another shot, but as he raised the glass to his mouth, he opened his mouth and went straight to the point. No introduction, no small talk.

"We want the Alchemist."

Watching him down the clear liquid again, Dante forked a piece of meat to his mouth.

"Of course you do."

A moment of silence settled between the two as the stranger poured himself another shot.

"I’m here to give you our offer. We will take the Alchemist and forget that you messed with us."

"Spare me the bullshit and get to the point already."

Dante didn’t think that whoever sent the guy would be stupid enough to seriously attempt threatening him. If they were in the know, it should be obvious that threats were more likely to backfire when dealing with him.

"Should I take that as a no?"

Heaving a sigh, Dante grabbed the vodka bottle and removed the cap. His bionic stomach allowed him to filter out the alcohol, so he never had any reason to hold back on the strong stuff. This time, however, he decided to let the booze into his blood, hoping to silence the headache that would soon arrive.

"I don’t know what ability you have, but if you think it’ll let you get out of here, then you’re dead wrong." He said. "Choose your next words carefully. They might be your last."

The stranger didn’t respond, continuing to stare at the last shot he had poured. He raised his head and swallowed it in one gulp, swinging his arm down. Before the glass could hit the counter, he came to a sudden stop, placing it gently. Spinning around in his stool, the stranger rested his back against the counter, placing his elbows on its surface. A sinister smile spread over his face.

"Alright, boys. You heard him."

The silence in the club was momentarily shattered by a dozen faint clicks.