Solstice stepped outside his front door and took a deep breath, after a few seconds of some silent contemplation, he pulled out his phone and messaged his boss, Amelia Steele.
Amelia Steele, was the woman called a witch within the outskirts of Zephyr Heights, due to her profound capabilities in tech with only limited resources at her disposal. Amelia was about 1.6 meters in height, straight blonde hair, regularly wore jeans, along a white shirt that was underneath a brown rugged jacket, as well as composite toe work boots. She wore this getup even when she wasn't in a work environment, she rarely went outside her workshop herself being that she was a workaholic.
From what Solstice knew from being her apprentice, she was born and raised on the Central Continent, living humbly and eventually taking whatever savings she accumulated in her early twenties to head over to the Eastern Continent.
Within the first few months of arriving within the Eastern Continent, Amelia travelled to and lived in Zephyr Heights to pursue further knowledge within Zephyr Technical University, which was renowned for producing prominent figures in many fields. She had hoped to find that same success after spending a couple of years studying hard, but she found that life to be boring, and her student debt climbing higher and higher, she decided to drop out.
As far as the reason why Amelia was living in the outskirts of Zephyr Heights, she hadn't revealed that to Solstice yet, and he felt that Amelia wasn't someone who would commit a harsh enough crime to warrant that.
"Hey boss, sorry for not being available the past few days, I'll explain to you why I was absent once I'm at the shop, I'm on my way now."
Ava and Daemon stepped outside as well, they were surprised that Solstice was just going to leave them there with not much to do, so they asked to join Solstice on the car ride so he could help get them familiarized with the outskirts of Zephyr Heights a bit better.
Solstice put his phone back in his right pocket, strolling along to the right side of the house where his old truck was parked in the carport. He lowered the skeleton onto the bed of the truck and took some cables to strap it down, then he opened the door and sat in the driver's seat. Daemon sat in the passenger seat and Ava squeezed into the back seat directly behind him.
'She's probably swamped with work.' He lingered for a minute staring at the bright screen, waiting for a reply that didn't come. Deciding not to worry about it, he stashed his phone into his pocket. Solstice took his left wrist, which was where his microchip was embedded, and held it over the steering wheel, the vehicle recognizing its owner then started up.
The center display prompted him to enter the location that he was going to drive to, once he entered it, it asked for payment confirmation, a total of 47 credits. Most vehicles were electric powered, and they could receive wireless electricity through towers, inspired by the original Wardenclyffe Tower, although improved and finished. Of course, this power was not free, and required payment before someone could drive their own vehicle.
Daemon looked around in the truck which was kept in good condition. "This is our first time in a vehicle like this."
Solstice raised his eyebrow in curiosity, glancing between the twins. "Huh? How do you legacies get around then?"
"Hyper-tunnels." Ava said blankly, chiming into the conversation.
Solstice was at a loss for words. Hyper-tunnels were specially constructed underground subway systems used for travel only by the richest of people. Most Legacy families had the kind of money to use them, and even they had to be careful on how often they travelled using hyper-tunnels. For Ava and Daemon to be so accustomed to them, the Lazarus family has to be filthy rich.
"Aren't those ridiculously expensive to use even once?"
Daemon shrugged. "Not to brag, but our family has accumulated a ton of wealth over the years."
"Must be nice." Solstice felt very humbled.
"It is."
'Money rules the world.' Solstice cursed inwardly before backing out of his carport, he was heading north on Bolton Avenue, which intersected with Smith Street. Smith Street held the longest shopping district within the outskirts of Zephyr Heights, mainly containing small-time food vendors, general retail stores, the occasional decent restaurants, and much more.
Solstice hated driving to his job, as the shop was located all the way at the West end of Smith Street, close to the harbors. Because of this he had to drive on the bumpy old brick roads which he hated, and the fact that the roads were usually flooded with people who chose to walk, made it uncomfortable for him. Yet, this was the quickest way to the shop. If he picked a longer route he would have to pay more credits for the drive which, just like anyone else would, would not want to pay extra if he didn't have to.
Having some company for the ride did bring his mood up a little. He pointed out various shops and areas, telling both Daemon and Ava little bits of information about them, Daemon would ask some questions back while Ava nodded silently for the most part, only showing signs of genuine intrigue in the conversation when Solstice mentioned local clothing stores.
Smith Street was a relatively clean street, clean as in lower illegal activity in comparison to other parts of the outskirts. It didn't mean that there weren't places to be wary of, even with the robustness of this area, some criminals didn't mind being bold, so Solstice also pointed out a couple of alley ways and corners to steer clear of.
After about a twenty minute car ride, not so much due to the distance but simply from how flooded the road was with people, Solstice parked out front of his workplace. The building was one of the largest on Smith Street, but was also the bleakest, a solely gray colored exterior, with the only exterior color being a neon blue sign that read, "Steele's Workshop", above the doorframe.
Solstice walked right to the front door, held his left wrist over the chip reader that was attached to the wall right of the door, getting a confirmation which allowed him to open the door. He held it open and motioned for Ava and Daemon to enter, locking the door after he finally entered as well.
The front office didn't have much, there was a brown colored couch that sat along the right side wall, a desk, and a silver fridge with not much in it. Amelia didn't do much in the front office, and neither did Solstice. He made sure to always have some snacks and drinks available in the company fridge, which was really for himself since he was the only employee and Amelia rarely ever took anything.
Solstice spent no time and opened the door that led to the workshop, various machinery filled the space, Amelia Steele's office was located in the far left corner, the door was open. The sound of frantic typing could be heard as they got closer.
"Wait here." Solstice whispered to the twins, he wasn't sure if how his boss was going to react to his appearance, let alone that he let two people inside that weren't a part of the company.
Solstice knocked on the door to announce himself which spooked Amelia, whose attention was absorbed in whatever was on the computer screen.
Amelia swiftly turned around in her chair, sweat beading on her pale scarred face, she looked distraught. Amelia's blue eyes darted up and down Solstice. His boss was clearly stressed out beyond belief, which bothered Solstice quite a bit.
"Where have you been!"
"I would like to explain when everything has calmed down, what the hell is going on?"
"Oh my gods….we were offered a commission from Tomoe."
Solstice's face lit up with joy. "Wow! That's fucking amazing!"
Then he remembered that a shipping company as big as Tomoe, dealt with some of the largest shipments coming into the Eastern Continent, meaning that Tomoe would need their skeletons fast. "What do they need?"
"They want ten Model-ERS's due on the 11th this month."
Solstice's eyes widened and his heart dropped. That specific model was the same model of his own skeleton, without the gun modifications of course. This model was in good demand for shipping companies, construction, pretty much any industry that required continuous, hard physical labor. They could power themselves through kinetic energy conversion, and were particularly good at handling constant physical labor and unlike human workers, the skeletons didn't get tired.
"How many do we have already made?"
Amelia's eyebrows twitched. "I've made two, a third is almost done and we have enough parts for the fourth."
Solstice's jaw dropped. "Wha…wa…gods this is-"
"I've already given a call to Thatcher so get a move on you little shit!"
"Alright!"
Solstice bolted out of Amelia's office, hurrying both the shocked Ava and Daemon back outside to get in his truck as soon as possible. He entered the location he needed to drive to via the center display, paid with his own credits for the ride, and sped down the roads as quickly as could.