Silhouette

If he still had lips, James wouldn't be able to stop smiling when he saw how enthusiastic his kids were about the move.

Although Doctor Decanov had yet to inspect the factory and begin his work putting it back in a functioning state - his visit was scheduled for the following morning - James was satisfied enough with his preparations to bring his children to Zalcien immediately. He hadn't found a proper apartment for just their little family yet, but the barracks of the facility would do for the short term. They'd be closed enough for him to keep an eye on while finishing setting up their new lives, and they'd be getting used to the proper civilized world before truly moving in. They were familiar with it since their dearly beloved Captain Cyan show took place in a regular Super Hero and Villain city, but watching something on a screen and experiencing it were two vastly different things. Some many little details or aspects of everyday life were either completely exaggerated or glossed over. For instance, although the show somewhat touched upon schooling with Blue Boy's and Green Girl's civilian lives, it was a very vague depiction.

Still, they learned enough for James to feel safe bringing them up. Even David wouldn't disembowel someone in the street, at least unless they attacked him first. Less lethal means of violence weren't off the table for regular rude behavior, though.

Their little group was currently walking from the orphanage to the elevator leading up to Zalcien proper, which was further away from the usual one they took to reach the slums. Well, technically the elevators only brought them to a secret level full of canals and artificial lakes hidden beneath the sewers proper, but much like the official waterworks this secondary illicit system had gates and protections to ensure nothing from the quarantined side of the city reached the rest of it. Even less physical beings like James would be stopped by the defenses put in place according to the information his men gathered, and frankly, he preferred not to put it to the test. He quite liked existing.

James' mind wandered back to the day he had first them the ratlings. How small and meek they were, and how they shook with panic and sadness after they witnessed their parents die to this mechanical spider. The metal husk was still around, somewhere in one of Techlord's workshops. He didn't know then that these creatures he saved on a whim, these animals he took in because the unfairness of their fate reminded him of his still recent death, would grow to become sapient and, even more than that, family. How much they had changed, and yet remained the same.

Their size, to begin with. When he had found them they had been the size of rat pups, old enough to be fully covered with fur, but still too young to be independent. Now? The three girls of the litter, roughly equal in height, could reach up a man's knee when they stood on their hind legs, and their mutant bodies had changed to ease bipedal locomotion, to the point the five of them were comfortable walking upright most of the time, though they often went back to all fours when in need of speed. Goliath and David, the two brothers and oldest and youngest of the five respectively, were somewhat close, but a little different: the gentle giant was still larger, reaching up to midthigh, while the bloodthirsty gremlin was somewhat above mid-shin, something he was very mad about as one particularly idiotic member of the Shadow Commando had learned when he called it James' son a cute little guy. James just hoped the poor man's face would heal and the marks on his torso wouldn't leave a scar. At least David was kind enough to hold back and not draw too much blood and made sure his assault wouldn't be lethal.

The bloodthirsty youngest of the litter wasn't different from the others just because of his size and attitude. Of the five he was the one who walked on all fours the most, often scurrying from place to place, and his claws had a sharper and more piercing look, though James was unsure if this was part of his usual strange growth or him going out of his way to sharpen them in secret, even though he already had metal claws made to use instead of his body's natural ones. Though he wouldn't go as far as to say that his son had evil red eyes, James still had to admit there was something odd in his stare that could put people on edge. The rat called it his hunter's gaze, and for once, his father was willing to believe this wasn't an exaggeration.

Blanche, on the other hand, did have red eyes thanks to her albinism. Of the siblings, she took to an upright posture with the most enthusiasm, to the point she avoided running whenever it was possible to keep her clean pristine hands from the dirty ground. The little diva had taken to putting her pink furless tail which had grown twice as long as any of her siblings' and draping it over her shoulder like some kind of boa - the feathery scarf, not the snake. The act ruined her balance and it looked more like she had a pet worm coiled around her neck than a luxurious accessory, but when James had brought up his concerns, backed by Lucille, Blanche turned them down, stating that they knew nothing about fashion. Which, to be fair, wasn't exactly wrong. Who knew, maybe his daughter would become a trendsetter. Still, using a major part of her body for balance as a piece of clothing had a surprisingly positive effect on her training, since she worked even harder to make sure she stayed in control of her movements and wouldn't stumble and fall in the first puddle of sewage she came across.

Lucille, her more pragmatic sister, wasn't amused by those shenanigans. The stern ratling and de facto leader of the five had a lighter shade of grey in her fur compared to her regularly colored siblings, a coat that had recently begun to become shinier each passing day, and her non-nonsense attitude carried even into her posture and way of walking. She moved like a general surveying her troops, and her eyes were always somewhat squinting, silently judging and analyzing everything she came across. Her claws and teeth had become a slightly darker color with an odd sheen that reflected light from time to time, and the tip of her tail had slightly flattened without widening, also becoming harder to the touch, to the point she now had no trouble hitting plates of metal with it during training.

Foudre's tail was also eye-catching in the way it was crooked and formed a lightning bolt-like shape, but aside from that detail, the limb was rather mundane. What made the last sister of the trio stand out from them was her eyes, which had turned an unusual blue, whereas the others aside from Blanche shared the usual beady black orbs. Her fur and whiskers also tended to suddenly straighten at once, puffing up, before going back to normal. She had a strange tendency in the way she moved that reminded James of chameleons, often standing still before moving in bursts of speed and then stopping abruptly, the cycle repeating again and again. Her father might have been more worried about that if she hadn't outright told him she could stop and do things normally at any time, she just felt more comfortable doing it in this strange way. In her own squeaky words, it felt right.

The oldest sibling of the band was also the kindest and shyest, the gentle giant Goliath. The large ratling wasn't overweight, there was little fat on his frame, yet he had grown to be wider than his siblings even when taking into account his bigger size. He dabbled in tinkering along with Techlord, the teen genius acting as a mentor for the furry creature, but so far he had yet to find something he was fully satisfied with to serve as his equipment for Hero work. Blanche had her spear, David his metal claws, Lucille her sickles, and Foudre her electrified trident, each weapon having been constantly modified and refitted by the eldest of the litter to accommodate for the children's shifting physique, but he was never satisfied with anything for himself. Truth be told he was pondering on how he could improve what he had made for the others too, but at least he was satisfied enough to be alright with the designs for now. For himself? He had a few large plates of metal he fashioned to act as armor with spikes and a shield, but those didn't synergies with his abilities and preferences as much.

The ratlings had all developed elemental abilities under James' watch, and ever since they first demonstrated them to him during a training session, they had only grown stronger and more skilled. David had some affinity with air or wind, being able to use it to increase his speed and launch cutting attacks; Foudre was able to release weak bursts of electricity that weren't enough to kill but could shock and paralyze for a few seconds; Lucille could harden parts of her body and temporarily transform small parts into metal; Blanche had some form of telekinesis she used to keep her paws clean when fighting and hunting; and Goliath had something related to heat. The large rat had yet to find a place he felt comfortable going all out to test the limits of his power, the metal of his armor tended to melt whenever he used it.

Each of them was carrying all that they owned, which, aside from the phone James had given them collectively and was now keeping within himself during the trip, was pretty much only their equipment. The only things the ratlings used that weren't the items Goliath made for them were the training equipment they could just easily replace anywhere, the food they ate that would no longer be cockroaches but properly cooked meals, and the scraps Goliath tinkered with, that were in truth materials Techlord put aside in his sewer workshop specifically so the inquisitive rat wouldn't waste rarer or more dangerous items.

Passing by a mountain of rubble that might have once been a street, the debris made a sound as they shifted and fell in small parts, David's eyes going wide and his ears twitching as he readied his claws, the metal weapons already fitted over his limbs to be easier to carry. Lucille shook her head and let out a sigh as she reprimanded her bloodthirsty brother's urge to fight and maim.

"David, do not leave the group."

Blanche chimed in, flicking the tip of her tail like it was nothing more than the end of a scarf.

"Yes, brother dearest. I'd rather we reach our new accommodations as soon as possible, instead of watching you murder some wee innocent creature that had the misfortune of catching your attention."

The runt of the litter puffed and huffed as his teeth chittered.

"This ain't no bug, you white fur coat."

Foudre tilted her head.

"Merely the wind, then? No, not underground. A geological shift perhaps, too weak to be noticed? Or just a critter?"

Goliath gasped.

"Maybe someone's trapped beneath!"

"Nah, this ain't none of that you bloats. It's an ambusher, one made of metal."

A strange voice with an artificial echo chuckled, and James already prepared his spells as something rose from the tall pile of debris, pieces of loose broken stone falling off its frame to the ground in a small rickety cascade, revealing the humanoid figure beneath. The tall lumbering thing was made of a mess of bizarre broken machines, metallic cables, and wires. It confidently walked down the little hill that might have once been a house toward the group, its flat cylindrical feet displacing yet more shards of past buildings with every step, its tree-trunk-like arms ending in masses of metal tentacles that coiled in the air around nothing, curling back and fro. A pixelated simplistic face made of green light on a black background smirked at them from the bulky computer that served as the creature's head, a bulky cubic thing that came with its own keyboard, still attached and forming a bizarre chin.

"Quite the perceptive little rat we have here, don't we? A small mischief of them too, have the rodents in Zalcien grown smarter?"

James didn't waste a second questioning the thing. He was tempted to just start blasting it with shadowy magic, but he'd rather not harm an innocent if possible.

"Don't step further. Who are you, and what do you want?"

The metallic figure chuckled once more, the pixels of its screen bobbing up and down to go along with the sound.

"I am designated as G433, an experimental AI monster of Frankesteinian design. As for what I want, it's quite simple."

Its screen suddenly went fully green, covered in black text that scrolled by too rapidly to be read but often showcased the word 'error'.

"FREEDOM/POWER/KILL/REVENGE/JUSTICE/EXTERMINATION/MERCY/RICHES/ASCENSION/JUDGEMENT/HELP/OMNIPOTENCE§OMNISCIENCE/EVOLUTION/ASSIMILATION/ADAPTATION/ANNIHILATION."

The screen returned to a normal yet confused pixelated face, as though even it was unsure of what had just transpired.

"It appears my components are not fully in agreement over my ambition. Nevertheless, there is one thing I know for sure already. I can't let you live now that you know about me. Worry not, little fleshlings. I will ensure your deaths will be as short as possible. As for you, shadowy one, perhaps you will be compatible with my parts. I can feel the technology within you."

Before James could fire the spell he had been preparing, David interrupted him.

"Old man, let us handle this."

"David now is not the time-"

"Father, I agree with David."

"Lucille? But-"

"Father, this isn't Runar or one of his super-powered men. This is a heap of metal that thinks too highly of itself. If it does turn out to be stronger than we think, then I trust you to intervene."

"We can't spend our lives just killing stupid animals, old man. If we want to become Heroes, then we need to start fighting stuff with more than two brain cells, something that actually wants to kill us."

James considered his children's words. Oh, he wasn't convinced one bit by his youngest's Hero argument, but they did have a point. He wouldn't always be near, and they needed to know how to defend themselves from those things. A Villain could attack their school, and they'd need to be able to defeat their minions to protect themselves and their classmates until the police and Heroes arrived. One of them might see the connection between the five and James, and try to take them hostage to force him into submission.

Lucille trusted him to be able to interfere should things go out of hand, and following his training after Runar's defeat, he felt like he could live up to this trust. Besides, the fact this G433 was approaching to attack and had to lie in wait in this nigh abandoned part of the Sunken City was proof it wasn't as strong as it liked to think.

"Fine. But if you lose, never ask this of me again."

"Thank you, father."

Lucille nodded before addressing her siblings, but David beat her to the punch.

"You heard that, guys? The old man is letting us beat this piece of junk back into the trash! Let's go!"

His older sister sighed as she followed after him, approaching the pile of debris while G433 kept on walking down. The machine raised one of its arms and lead its many wriggly appendages to pick up the nearest ratling - David - before they were pushed back by a burst of blue electricity. His face of a screen bugged out as the energy infiltrated his salvaged improvised systems, pausing him in his movements, and by the time he could move once more Lucille was already bringing down her sickles in a cross pattern on the creature's torso, an otherworldly sheen covering the weapons as they cut through the metal and spread it apart.

More cables emerged from the wounds, trying to catch the light grey rat, but before they could snatch their target she was already moving and cutting them down as she skittered to the side, used to dealing with such slippery limbs with how often she and the others trained with James. While she was leaving her spot on the thing's body David used the opportunity to launch himself into the battle with a burst of air that sent him flying and spinning, his metal claws held out before him and turning him into a drill that pierced through G433's chest and left a hole behind, disconnecting multiple of the cables pursuing his sister.

The smug pixelated smile on the AI's screen was gone, replaced by a furious expression as some of the mechanisms entwined in his frame emerged from their place within and activated randomly, firing in all directions bullets and weak bolts of energy. He raised an arm above his head, aiming to crush David who was currently slashing at his feet, but when he brought the limb down the AI found itself stopped by an invisible force that held it midair. When he tried to pull it out of this invisible grasp G433 only ripped the appendage off from the rest of his body, and the floating arm quickly was sent straight into his face. The artificial being panicked for the first time as a collar of prehensile cables appeared to block the large projectile, leaving an opening.

Goliath ran up to the scrap creature's form and gathered heat in his paw before pressing it against the hazardous robot's waist, the metal beneath glowing red hot and goopy as it slowly melted down. The face on the grin went mad as his massive remaining arm went straight down to dislodge the rat only to be zapped by electricity that paralyzed it. Lucille and David wordlessly attacked together, his claws and her sickles striking in an elemental burst that mixed metal and air at the shoulder, destroying enough mass for Blanche's kinetic power to finish ripping it off as the heat from Goliath's touch reached the humanoid's hips, the legs staying upright as the rest of the body fell on the pile of debris, now completely limbless. With both of its arms ripped off and its lower body melted away, the body began to slide down the broken stone and the rats followed, and as more prehensile cables emerged from what remained of the creature's frame, no longer concerned with keeping a humanoid form, Foudre's electricity rained down on the AI that could let out garbled incomprehensible noises that were neither screams nor mechanical noises yet both at the same time, its appendages spasming randomly and leaving the ratlings free to cut them off one by one.

By the end of that remained was the computer that served as its head and something that could be described as a spine, multiple cables woven together, each one connected to some kind of chip or motherboard or other computer-related cards, as well as a few more small components and electronics James recognized vaguely from the occasional post about making your own set up online. The screen kept fizzling on and off, and the thing that had introduced itself as G433 no longer made any noise, though it was still very much alive with the way it glared at the children whenever its face was visible through its technical problems.

The siblings looked proud of themselves as they struck a team pose, even Lucille playing along as they mimicked some of the various stances their beloved Captain Cyan took in his show. And, as adorable as they were and as efficiently they had taken down the machine...

"I don't want to rain on your parade, but that didn't seem like very good Hero work."

Given the fact G433 was still conscious, James preferred to keep his voice changed, just in case. The kids' puffed-up chests deflated as they looked at him with either scowls or sorry faces.

"Father, I do not understand."

"Yeah, old man, we beat the guy no problemo!"

"Papa, surely you can tell us how we failed in your eyes?"

"Sigh, well, while you did well on the actual fighting, going far beyond my expectations, the actual Hero work isn't as good as you think it is. For example, when he fired randomly, in a real-life situation civilians could have been hit. I was hit myself, someone not immune to bullets wouldn't still be standing right now."

"Ack, dad's right..."

As Foudre realized what James meant, Goliath's eyes widened.

"Daddy! Are you fine?"

"Yes, yes. The other thing is... Have you taken a look at your opponent?"

The children turned their heads as one to look at what was left of the thing that had tried to ambush them.

"Old man, what's the deal?"

"Well, someone not made of metal would certainly be dead by now. Heroes don't kill, no?"

Blanche raised a paw to cover her muzzle in surprise while Foudre just facepalmed.

"And, even with robots, they won't always keep all of their important parts in just their head and neck. I wouldn't be surprised if the average one would have been destroyed by your first three attacks alone."

Lucille flinched.

"I am sorry, father. We failed you."

"No, no. As I've said, you've done an incredible job when it came to fighting. Hell, if it were me, the thing would already be smashed to pieces. I just want you to realize Hero work isn't like fighting for survival, or against someone in a spar with rules and who is willing to give up."

"Are you saying we should give up, old man?"

"No, though it would reassure me. I just want you to see how different it is, and how hard taking in someone trying to kill you without taking their life in turn is. But the question is, what now?"

They all looked back to the computer lying on its side, the face no longer visible and instead replaced by a barrage of green words that went by too fast to read.

"He's still alive. So, Heroes, what will you do with your defeated foe?"

"You said we failed at Heroism, right, old man? Well, might as well finish the job."

"David, Heroes do not kill their fallen foes. Regardless of Father's judgment of our performance, it is our duty to bring him to the proper authorities."

"Lucille, dearest sister of mine, in case you failed to notice this great somber chamber and the filthy streets above do not care for the laws of civilized society. If we do bring what is left of this... Contraption back to the local authorities, the elevator keepers, they will simply leave it to rot or abandon its still functioning parts in some ruined canal."

"I'm with Sickles on this one. Getting into the right habits now is for the best."

"I... I agree with Foudre and Lucille! Heroes don't kill!"

"Three against two, the computer lives. Let's bring him along, for now. I'll have an expert take a look at him and see how to handle it."

The children, despite their different opinions, still shared excited looks. They were already eager to move, but this? This had their biggest fight since the Titaroach incident, and back then they had only fought against the regular cockroaches that formed the gigantic insect's army, and even then it was back before they hack unlocked their powers or were even able to talk. This had to have been the most exciting thing they had done in their lives yet, and although their performance as Heroes wasn't great, their father had said they had done splendidly when it came to everything else.

They would be training even harder from now on, to be sure they have the strength to take down enemies without needing to harm them too harshly.

A few episodes of Captain Cyan should do well at teaching them what to do.