Damian's eyes flashed sharply as he got ready for the day, turning on the water in the small bathroom, only to see no heat or mist.
The heater was broken again. He would have to complain to Building Management, which he was fairly certain was just a front for money laundering anyway.
But for today, like many other days, it would be a cold shower.
While he stepped beneath the freezing water, the small figure of Kitsuul covered its eyes with its paws, still curled up on the bed.
Then it peeked through its paws, curious, scanning the cramped and dilapidated room.
Damian was done quickly, shaking off the chill as he pulled on a black overcoat over his ragged black pants and shirt that were both worn thin from too many cycles through a half-functioning washer.
His body had grown. Not by much, but enough that the clothes clung tightly to the lean, hardened muscle underneath them.
With the silver streaks going through his dark hair, there was something both magnetic and handsome about him at that moment.
"Always stay invisible and on my shoulder the whole time, okay?"
He murmured to Kitsuul, who nodded with barely contained excitement as they were going out.
Damian passed by the cupboard, glancing at the off-brand cereal box with a robot's face and sugar cube puffs.
He shook his head and reached for his phone instead, sliding it open as he stepped out of the apartment.
While waiting for the elevator, he clicked on a contact and typed a message.
"Hey, where are you right now?"
The text was sent to Anastasia Veln, one of the few survivors of the massacre.
The sister of his fiancée.
She'd been there the day Vex Talon came to offer his twisted apology. She had lost consciousness that day as she was crushed beneath a wave of grief and fury so massive that it broke her.
Part of the reason they got that apology at all was because Anastasia worked as a Systems Analyst for ZENTHRA.
It had been excruciating for her. Weeks of returning to work at the very corporation that had helped cover up the deaths of her sister and family.
And now, Damian was starting to worry about her.
His worry became even deeper as her reply came almost instantly, despite the early hour.
"At the Riftstack Lounge. What's up?"
…!
The Riftstack Lounge.
A bar…in the earliest hours of the morning!
Damian exhaled lightly as the elevator doors creaked open. He stepped inside and pressed the button for the first floor as his eyes flicked to a crooked piece of paper taped to the panel of the elevator to the left.
"Beware of the cables on this lift if you weigh more than 300 pounds."
Another ridiculous warning. He shook his head and looked away.
On his right shoulder, Kitsuul perched with wide eyes as she soaked in every detail.
Damian's thoughts turned with focus again. He was heading to the Riftstack Lounge, to connect with Anastasia- the same woman now tied to the very Beast Corporation that had covered up the tragedy.
He was going to ask for her help in taking down Vex Talon…and everyone else responsible!
—
The Hollow Stacks stretched for miles. So many lived here that entire ecosystems had developed- bars, restaurants, entertainment centers, you name it. And it was all built from repurposed metal and desperation.
But the entertainment centers weren't for the faint of heart.
Damian had only heard whispers about the Riftspire Bordellos, where people could request Androids, Cybernetic Humans, or anything in between for pleasure.
He'd never been to one as he could barely stomach walking these streets unless he needed to before.
Now, he moved across cracked concrete lined with stacked buildings made from brick and scavenged metal.
Wires twisted from structure to structure like rotting vines, some broken and sparking dangerously as they let out sparks of electricity.
Flickering holographic billboards buzzed faintly overhead or hovered in mid-air, many of them glitching, outdated, and pushing ads for Cybernetic Implants that almost no one here could afford.
He was lucky to be one of the few humans who hadn't been altered.
With the rise of Interstellar Beast Masters, many had sought cybernetic augmentation just to grasp at a shadow of that power.
But the poor? They paid for underground mods that often went wrong- leading to infection, madness, or death. Sometimes all three.
HISS!
Steam hissed from rusted side vents as he moved through narrow alleys, lifting his coat to cover his mouth.
On his shoulder, Kitsuul bounced eagerly, its tiny frame jittering with wonder.
"Kitsuul!"
Its voice rang in his mind alone, high and bright as it pointed toward a group of kids within the alley shadows.
Damian turned.
Children in tattered clothes and glowing robotic eyes scurried along the walls, watching like predators and waiting to strike at those who didn't know how the Hollow Stacks worked.
He felt a pang of sadness and a sense of fury.
Most of them had unstable, half-baked cybernetics- metal limbs and glowing ear-ports that made them look eerie, almost inhuman.
But such things were the norm to see in the Stacks.
"Interstellar Beast Meat Skewers! Get the freshest meat in all of the Stacks!"
A cybernetic man with glowing neon eyes shouted from a street corner, pushing a modified food cart.
The meat was absolutely not from Interstellar Beasts.
Damian could guess what it was- cat, dog, or maybe worse. Whatever couldn't fight back.
The scent of something sickly-sweet and vaguely metallic reached him as he passed while he forced himself not to gag, he had bigger things to focus on.
"Kitsuul!"
Kitsuul even hissed towards the Vendor with her tails raised as she seemed to detest what he was selling, Damian stroking her fur as he went ahead, carefully moving past anyone coming in his direction as he made sure not to raise any bells today.
The Stacks were not a place to make any waves, with there being many ways to die in a place that only held those forgotten by the wealthy who lived in extravagant zones towering with Aetherborn Skyscrapers.
Here, one's life was not even measured in years- but mainly in Credits, Cybernetics, and Drugs.
None that Damian had much of as even for Credits, it had been some time since he last went to work!
He moved past all possible dangers as finally, he arrived in front of a large neon lit building with a flickering holographic billboard that read…
The Riftstack Lounge.