[IC] Steampunk: Technica-Autocrator

[Karos]

You all find yourselves in the Grand Mansion House of Earl Lightfeather, there is a ball going on and the house is looking its best. The chandlers emit a white light that glints off of the various glasses and crystals in the room. As you look around you can see that the house is opulently appointed, grand paintings cover several of the walls, and the centre of the ceiling is a vast glass dome set within the white marble structure of the house.

The place is packed with a vast number of people. Technocratic men in smart suits and waist coats dance with women of equal station wearing flowing gowns. A few of the wealthier meritocrats flock together around the edges of the room trying to stay out of the way. Whilst proles walk about serving drinks, maintaining various things and making sure that the guests are well looked after.

It is at this moment that you see on the upper concourse of the room Earl Lightfeather and his wife Lady Lightfeather, the two are standing resplendent in the latest fashions and are smiling at their guests. They are accompanied by a number of steamdroids each carrying a platter of drinks or the finest delicacies. With a wave of his hand Earl Lightfeather has the droids start to mingle with the guests, whilst slowly walking after them.

[rush99999]

"Let it never be said that the techies don't know how to throw a decent party" Jacoby commented as he followed the head butler around the edge of the ballroom. His battered grey suit didn't exactly fit in with the other guests, but it was probably better that passing through in greasy overalls.
"Wine sir?" a steamdroid asked as Jacoby passed it.
"Thanks but no thanks" Jacoby said "I need a clear head for what I'm about to do"
The droid nodded before walking off to find someone who wanted wine.
"I take it those steamers are working fine" Jacoby said as he looked at the steamdroids serving the guests.
"They are working fine" the head butler replied "The ones we need you to fix are in the droid storage room".

The butler led Jacoby out of the ballroom and into the room they were keeping the 6 malfunctioning droids in. "Their grip is too tight" the head butler explained "They have already shattered 16 glasses this week and none of our engineers know how to fix them. Having heard of your expertise, I thought you may be able to help, Mr Drexlehand".
"Please, call me Jacoby" Jacoby replied as he walked up to the droids "And don't you worry. I'll have these droids back to normal in no time". With that said, Jacoby began to work on the droids, whistling a duet with Sir Geoffrey the Impeccable, the small bird automaton perched on Jacoby's left shoulder.

[SayZun]

Ezekiel Chisel

Ezekiel would sip the glass in his hand as he looked up to Earl to give him a slight grin of recognition. He would then turn to hand the empty glass to his servant, a young prole he brings with him for protection and such. In the process he would roll his eyes giving a quick disgusted glance towards Earl.

"Is there something you have against him, sir?" The young prole would ask taking the glass only adding on to the number of things he was already holding for the Technocrat.

"Other than him being a huge kiss arse...no." He would reply moving through the crowd. "The fact that he even invited me to this 'party' is insulting."

"And why is that, sir?"

"Business, my boy. He needed some...protection."

"Does it have to do with that mysterious murderer that people have been talking about?"

"Of course. The man was scared shitless...aswell as some other colleagues of mine. Apparently he's going around killing other Wealthy people. I wish he'd try and take me on."

"Did you give him what he needed?"

Ezekiel would laugh grabbing another drink off a nearby droids plate. "Of course not. The man was offering much too light of a price."He would gulp down the drink in a single sip, before handing yet another to the boy. "The man probably invited me here so I could butter up and accept his outrageously greedy price. But let me tell you, Ezekiel Chisel is never easily persuaded."

"I guess women are an exception..." The young prole would whisper jokingly.

Ezekiel would chuckle in unison with the boy, patting him on the head in a drunken motion. "Would I be a gentleman if I let the lady sleep alone?"

The drunken Technocrat would dig into his pocket puling out his attached pocket watch. He would squint at the watch's hand before shoving the watch back into the pocket and taking his coat which laid on his servant boy's arm. "I need to meet with someone later. Come." He would put on his coat straightening the cuffs and adjusting his hat then start to maneuver through the dancing Technocrats as his boy followed in a quick haste trying to keep up.

[Javier]

"Kid, just nod to whoever as much as looks at you and don't try to say anything or to be funny unless directly ordered to, understand?"

The man was talking to a young engineer at the ball. The boy simply nodded, feeling somewhat sad for his 10th, or possibly 11th boss, who depended on the actions of a simple prole to maintain his position. You see, this man was under fire from his Technocrat superior for having faulty weapons produced at his section of a large dealership; so he thought that presenting this boy to him would provide some job security. The two quickly reached the man's boss and the man politely greeted his superior and spoke in a tone the boy could not hear, but he knew the conversation was most likely about him. After about a minute of talking the Technocrat approached the boy, keeping his distance somewhat.

"What is your name?" the Technocrat asked while handing his coat off to some prole who was under him.

"My name... Reggie" replied the boy; he never could get around to learning proper responses or the use of words like "is".

"I've heard quite a lot about your skills from Thomas," began the man, referring to Reggie's boss, taking a glass from one of the droids and taking a sip, "stick around, you two, for I will need proof of this boy's 'skills' after the ball has ended" he finished, before being greeted by other fancy-looking individuals, presumably his family, and then taking off with them.

Reggie didn't exactly like this man; he had this obnoxious tone to his voice and just acted so arrogantly, even towards Reggie's boss. As the man walked away, Reggie's boss walked up to him with the intention of speaking.

"You go over to that corner and stay there; and don't move until I instruct you to, are we clear?" asked Thomas in an angry voice.

"Understanded" responded the boy, to which his boss scoffed at before walking away (he never liked Reggie's limited language understanding and would often yell at him for it).

Reggie shuffled over to the corner and simply stood there fiddling about with his mechanical arms that were kept hidden within his overcoat. Suddenly, he looked up upon hearing something of a rather interesting nature. While Reggie had a hard time making out everything that these Meritocrats were saying, he managed to understand that there was some vigilante-type figure going around and supposedly killing the Technocrats who oppress the lower classes. Reggie smiled ever so slightly at this; you see, while he had never hated Technocrats he didn't particularly like them and always wished to have their power and assets, and this looked to be the beginning of an opportunity for him.

[ayzrules]

Cornelia Vernell smoothed out her freshly starched apron and surveyed the opulent ballroom. She felt a twinge of sympathy for the maids who undoubtedly spent hours upon hours cleaning and polishing and dusting the place. As it happened, Cornelia was not employed by the Lightfeathers, but merely "rented out" for the night-she was only working at the Lightfeather estate for this one event. Lady Enright had deemed the steamdroids of enough interest to ask Cornelia to observe. And, as usual, Lady Enright was offering about a month's worth of wages for this service. Cornelia was more than happy to oblige. Speaking of which, Lady Enright herself was somewhere in the room, but Cornelia was instructed not to seek her out because it would arouse suspicion. This whole situation was nothing new at all to Cornelia.

Cornelia was rather wary of being around so many wealthy men at one time, considering her past experiences. However, the ballroom was crowded with people of all classes and the servants' corridors were filled with people hurrying around, which provided her with some reassurance. And she supposed that she paled in comparison to the Technocrat women, who were dressed in silks and satins and in the latest fashions. No, she would be just fine.

Cornelia had picked up a tray of elegant champagne glasses from the sideboard and began to weave her way through the crowd, taking note of anything that was particularly interesting. The guests plucked the glasses off of the tray without so much a glance in Cornelia's direction, save for a few leers that she received from a group of young men. Cornelia was used to it, and simply ignored them. It was amazing how much Cornelia saw and heard; in the span of just five minutes, she learned that Adelia Rielly was having an affair with a Meritocrat, Stanley Bergab was a "cheating scoundrel", and Edward Grey was most likely going to send hundreds of proles to their deaths by involving them in a risky experiment. But none of that mattered to Cornelia.

Just then, the Lightfeathers themselves appeared, accompanied by a host of steamdroids that began to mingle with the guess in the ballroom. Cornelia keenly observed the steam droids; they were certainly good at doing their job. She spied a man wearing a gray suit and accompanied by the head butler moving toward the storage room for the steam droids. The butler mentioned something about fixing droids to the man in the gray suit, who stuck out like a sore thumb amidst all the elegance and grandeur of the Lightfeather mansion. Hmm, well that was new. Cornelia's mistress would certainly appreciate knowing that some of the droids were malfunctioning.

As Cornelia made her rounds through the room, collecting empty glasses as she went, she found that many conversations were focused on some mysterious murderer that had targeted the wealthy. She overheard a man that was most likely drunk tell his young servant boy that the Technocrats were "scared shitless" about the whole affair. Cornelia didn't think much of it, although she gave the prole boy a small smile when he looked in her direction. But she pocketed away the information anyway. It could be pertinent someday.

However, Cornelia felt her suspicion rise when she passed by a few Meritocrats talking amongst themselves about the same mysterious murderer. She inexplicably felt her heart skip a beat when they mentioned that Technocrats who oppressed the lower classes were being targeted; but she pushed her foolish burst of hope away. There was simply no way that one lone vigilante or murderer could change something so deeply ingrained as the social hierarchy. There was no way. It was impossible and utterly ridiculous, yet Cornelia felt her mind spinning in circles at the snippet of conversation she'd managed to overhear. Don't be so fucking stupid, Cornelia, she chided herself, plucking an empty glass out of a red-haired woman's gloved fingers. It was just mere talk and speculation; nothing concrete.

After her tray was emptied of the delicate champagne glasses, Cornelia walked out of the ballroom and made her way through the servants' corridors to the kitchen. She placed the empty glasses carefully in a tub of soap and water already filled to the brim with cutlery that needed to be washed, and thenwent back to the ballroom. She caught her friend Anne's eye as she walked, giving her a grin as they passed each other in the hall. Considering Cornelia's personality and the fact that she actively took bribes from her employers to spy on others, Cornelia naturally did not have many friends. Other servants were suspicious and wary around her lest she be assigned the task of spying on them . Cornelia thought that was the most insane thing that she'd ever heard-what Technocrat cared that much about proles? But she certainly was not going to put in the effort to dissuade the ridiculous notion, and she kind of liked having a reputation.

Back in the ballroom, everything was business as usual. Cornelia sighed and picked up a platter of eclairs. Time to find out more about these steamdroids.

[PatrickDrummer]

Once the drinks started to get served Samuel didn't waste anymore time. He made his way to the nearest servant who was walking around offering wine, and he took the whole bottle immediately drinking it while walking off. Of course the only reason Samuel had for coming was the free drinks not for anything else just the drinks. He had heard that Technocratic people had the finest wine and so far they weren't lying the wine he was drinking exceeded all his expectations. He stopped drinking the wine by noticing he was half way through the bottle already. At the same time he finally took in how many people had actually showed up to this thing.

"Whoa. Seems like this place is packed full, but it still feels roomy." Samuel said to himself. He then came to notice yet another servant this one seeming pretty young. "You over there!" he called out and pointing at the servant "Come over here will you!" By the time the servant came over he had quickly downed the other half of the wine.

"Yes you called for me?" the servant said.

Without speaking Samuel grabbed the bottle of wine the servant was carrying and replaced it with the empty one. "That will be all you can leave now." he said and just like before started to down the wine. After the servant left Samuel took a seat at the outta edge of everyone in seemingly comfortable chair.

[Karos]

After a few hours the various guests began to settle in. People drank, ate and chatted at their leisure and those who hadn't drunk too much danced to the music played by an automaton quartet that took up its place in a box above the ballroom. The servants bustled to and fro the whole time ensuring that the drinks kept flowing and so forth.

After another hour spent like this Earl Lightfeather and Lady Lightfeather made their way back to the upper concourse. There he met a steamdroid which tapped a knife against a glass to try and get the attention of the guests, to little effect. Earl Lightfeather scowled at the Steamdroid and it used its speakers to amplify the noise made by the metal and the glass. Once the guests had stopped the Steamdroid began in a mechanical voice 'Esteemed guests, ladies and gentlemen, your host Earl Arthur Lightfeather'. With this Earl Lightfeather stepped forward and placed his hands upon the marble balustrade before he started speaking.

'My friends, I am glad to see that you are enjoying yourselves. As you know I have paid for this little gathering of ours with the money I have made from the opening of my new mining apparatus here in Neoport. It is true that we experienced some set backs getting the mines up and running, and we did lose some workers'. 'Oh no, not proles, how shall we ever replace them?' interjected Lady Lightfeather, the crowed laughed uproariously, or at least the Technocrats did. Earl Lightfeather smiled to his wife before continuing 'However despite these early setbacks I can declare that project has been a great success, I've no doubt that some of you will want to invest in the venture, and I shan't deny you the opportunity. But before...'

The Earl never finished his sentence, for at that very moment there was a cacophonous explosion. The entirety of the left wall was blown inwards sending flying shards of marble, wood and painting shooting in all directions. The nearest guests were eviscerated instantly by the shrapnel or were mauled by the concussive force of the explosion, as were a number of unfortunate servants and steamdroids. The room filled with dust and smoke, and then the glass dome of the room shattered.

There was a loud metallic crunch and the sound of marble cracking. The various guests looked about themselves trying to get a sense of what was happening and then they saw a single figure dressed in black standing where the Earl and Lady Lightfeather had been standing.

The figure was tall and strongly built, it was covered head to foot in black robes. Over its face it wore a bronze mask with two blood red lenses, the mask was in the shape of an old plague doctors mask, the beak was a fine point and its surface was covered in shifting cogs and gears. The figures arms too were covered in shifting bronze and steel armitures, they seemed to automatically adjust to the wearers movements and were connected to two gauntlets that the figure wore over each hand. The figure stood immobile for a moment before looking down at the two figures on the floor, then the Steamdroid that had accompanied the Lightfeathers to the upper concourse swung at the figure from behind. Without turning the figure dropped low taking the Steamdroids legs out from under it before stabbing it in the chest with three long claws that appeared to manifest from the figures gauntlets. The steamdroid was out of commission before it hit the floor.

The figure swiftly retracted the blades and turned back to the Lightfeathers, it cocked its head to one side like a bird before stooping and picking up Earl Lightfeather by the collar. The figure hoisted Earl Lightfeather from the floor with no apparent effort and snapped out the three blades of its right hand gauntlet, the figure stared the Earl right in the face before speaking. The voice was heavily modulated by the mask it was wearing but its voice was also amplified so that all those in the room could hear its terrible proclamation. 'Earl Arthur Lightfeather, I find you guilty of oppression, decadence, persecution and gluttony. Your sentence, execution!' with that the figure brought up its right gauntlet driving the three blades of its gauntlet deep into the Earl's chest. The Earl coughed, spluttered before slumping in the figures grip. The figure withdrew its blades and then tossed the body over the Balustrade where it hit the floor amongst the guests with a loud thud. 'Let this be a lesson to all of you whom would oppress your fellow man.' declared the figure, before raising its left arm towards the ceiling and firing a grappler line that hauled the figure out of the room as swiftly as it had came.

[SayZun]

Ezekiel Chisel

As the man walked through crowd his attention would snap towards an explosion that sent debris flying throughout the party. A piece of marble would strike him in the head leaving a bruise on his forehead and sobering him up through pain. As Ezekiel came to realization of what was happening he stood in shock as he saw a black standing menacingly near the Lightfeathers. Guests would scream in panic as some stand in confusion and fear.

The figure would easily take out the steamdroid that attempted to stop him before picking up Earl Lightfeather by the collar and uttering something Ezekiel could only make out as 'guilty' followed by the figure gruesomely stabbing it's claws into Earl. Ezekiel stood in fear as he saw blood spurt from Earl's mouth and his body being tossed. Did that thing Kill him? Ezekiel would snap out of his frozen fearul state and quickly grab his steam colt out of his inner coat pockets. He would aim at the figure but would be too late to shoot as the figure grappled out of the room. Screams would be heard all throughout the manor and various people were running in panic after the events. Ezekiel would look at his servant boy who stood wide-eyed, tightly gripping onto the Ezekiel's coattail.

"Boy! Listen to me! Run back to the house and lock up, don't open the door for anyone."

The servant boy would nod in confirmation, his face still frozen in fear as he followed the crowd of running party guests. Ezekiel would move through fast moving crowd approaching to where Earl's body landed amongst the guest. "Look what you've gotten yourself into, Earl." He would whisper to himself before stuffing the steamcolt back into his coat pockets. Ezekiel would crouch next to the body, lightly touching Earl's throat feeling for a pulse. To no surprise, he was dead.

[DarkStar]

Lady Callaghan had been sitting as quiet as a wallflower should. Occasionally looking up to see the goings on of the party. She was lonely. Being a Technocrat was a waste of time to her. Very few of them got along with her and few still thought her opinions were anything but nonsense. Such was the life of a lady. She never had much fun at these. Mainly hoping that she would meet the few friendly faces that she knew. However that was as far from the case as possible. Earl and Lady Lightfeather were as aloof as could be. She liked the Earl. He had always been kind to her. Evelyn had been going to the Lightfeather estate since she was a little girl. Her parents were always climbing the social ladder and they had been one more rung. She used to make cakes in the kitchen with the servants. Of course that was when her parents were busy at their shooting parties. She even remembered being caught by him once and he simply gave a smile. So she was awfully disappointed by not being able to speak with them. Then again Lady Callaghan didn't really know what a real friendship was. It wasn't like competing families truly cared for one another bar keeping the proles down as an only common motive.

Evelyn curled up some at the side of the room. Looking around for friendly faces and as usual finding none. She had been nursing the small glass of champagne she had for hours and had been holding it blankly for almost as long when a pretty looking servant pulled it from her hand. "Excuse me miss?", she said softly to her. Wanting a little conversation. But she was exceptionally busy. Walking off just as quickly as she came to the kitchen. She had wondered if she had even registered that she was talking to her. As her social programming demanded. The second that note sounded through the ballroom she snapped to attention to look at the Earl and his wife. She gave a soft giggle when he talked of investment. She had indeed invested in the mine, however the dividends that were paid to her were funnelled straight into healing injured workers. Evelyn gave a little wave to him. Getting a small smile in return. Hardly noticeable to most people. THBOOOM!

Lady Evelyn was on the floor. She was so out of it she didn't know what was going on, barely able to move to her side to cough out the dust she had breathed in. Her flowing dress had been near shredded and she had more cuts and bruises then she'd care to think about. She gasped as she tried to get her breath back before hearing the deafening crunch as the glass ceiling was broken through. Wh...what is happening? she tried to think through to herself before she saw the omminous look of the dark figure behind the Earl. She whimpered softly. Was this the man she'd heard about. Why was he here? Why Earl lightfeather? She struggled to get to her feet in time to see the figure lift him by his collar. Her eyes going wide as those final...words left the mysterious mans lips. "Execution...". The young technocrat let out a cry. "NO! DON'T!", raising her hand to the Earl before three razor sharp blades peirced his heart and he fell to the ground floor unceremoniously. She looked at the body. Then raised her head to see him speak triumphantly at what he did. A lesson? What kind of lesson is this? He murdered a man in cold blood. Murdered so many servants...Her head was spinning but she could see many were badly injured.

She began to weep softly as she moved towards a servant girl who had quite a badly lacerated arm. Tearing her dress she moved to use it as a tourniquet. Getting a scathing look for doing so from the few upperclass whom weren't in shock or evacuating the building. A technocrat began to swear and shout at the servants whom were trying to tend to other injured servants. Demanding they tend to his suit. Having been mildly stained by his champagne when the bomb went off. Standing slowly she moved to him. Standing before him she steeled herself and said quite simply. "Leave or help.", before she took ahold of his neckerchief and pulled it from his coatpocket. Throwing it to a servant whom was desperately trying to stop the bloodflow of a friend.

[Javier]

Reggie was looking around, always keeping track of everything that was going on as he never wanted to lose control of the situation. This meant avoiding drinks, conversation, and even eye contact with people (not that they'd notice since he was wearing his goggles). After some time, maybe two, three hours (Reggie lost count), a droid had called for everyone's attention, announcing Earl Lightfeather, the host of this event. Reggie looked upon where the man was standing; Arrogance in the flesh is what Reggie had once heard one of his co-workers call this man. The thought of this nickname was rather amusing to the boy, as he chuckled quietly, as to avoid any unnecessary attention being drawn to him.

Earl Lightfeather stood proudly in front of all of his guests and began giving his little speech. He was saying something about how his new mining project had had a couple of setbacks or somehting like that, and then his wife proceeded to joke about how interchangeable and expendable the proles were. This comment angered Reggie somewhat, and what was worse was how much the other Technocrats were laughing with it; even some Meritocrats like Reggie's boss were laughing along. At this point Reggie had lost all interest in this man and simply looked back to his boss, who was leaning against the left wall of the place holding an expensive drink in his hand.

This was when it happened; just as Reggie opened his overcoat to cool down a little there was a bang. The explosion threw shrapnel around the room and nearly blinded Reggie, who was looking directly at the area of the explosion. Instinctively, Reggie poked his mechanical arms through the holes in his overcoat and got in a defensive position. It must be said, however, that this "defensive position" was more like Reggie clumsily going low and covering his head with his human arms while his mechanical arms pointed forward; not only that but he almost tripped while doing it. After a couple of seconds of holding this position and no damage being done to him, Reggie recovered and straightened himself out, looking around the room.

He looked back towards where his now-former boss was lying, almost torn apart by the explosion, That did not last long thought Reggie, referring to the amount of time he'd worked for this man. As the boy scanned the room, the noticed a dark figure standing where the Lightfeather couple stood moments earlier. This figure looked very dark, with a plague doctor mask and red goggles paired with black robes, bronze and steel armor, and two curious-looking gauntlets on its hands. Instantly, Reggie smiled; he was sure that this was the vigilante that people were talking about, the one who would murder these oppressive Technocrats, the one who would open a window for Reggie to get what he wants.

Quickly, the droid behind the figure attempted to attack it from behind, to which the figure quickly responded by going dodging and then scrapping the poor thing with claws that came from his gauntlets. The speed at which this shadow reacted was incredible to Reggie, who was never really an athletic person, hence the mechanical arms. The figure then picked up Earl Lightfether with little to no effort and looked at him. The figure then spoke: "Earl Arthur Lightfeather, I find you guilty of oppression, decadence, persecution and gluttony. Your sentence, execution!". Almost immediately after saying this, the figure plunged its claws into the chest of the poor man, killing him instantly. This simply captivated Reggie, who now saw this vigilante as more of a justice-seeking executioner.

"Let this be a lesson to all of you whom would oppress your fellow man" proclamed the figure, before leaving through the use of a grappler. Reggie simply looked at the place where this figure had stood in complete and utter amazement; amezement at how someone could be so brave and capable as to oppose these wealthy men and women. The boy walked forward, towards his former boss' dead body, poking it with one of his mechanical arms to inspect it. Once Reggie confirmed that this man was indeed dead, he turned back to where Earl's body lay and approached silently amongst all of the chaos and confusion. He quickly stood around, pretending to care about the Technocrat's death, all the while his mechanical arms collected pieces from the ruined droid that lay on the ground.

Once Reggie collected enough pieces, he retracted his mechanical arms back into his overcoat and closed it on the front. Reggie carefully walked around the dead and injured people towards the exit; he was in no hurry, considering that most people would be too worried with their own safety or wouldn't care enough to stop him. Once Reggie made it to the exit, he walked out and turned, looking into this collossal chaos that had erupted. The boy silently chuckled and turned back, with the intention of returning to his rather modest home, knwoing that, should this shadowy figure come again, it would most likely not hit Reggie since he was one of the "oppressed".

[rush99999]

When Jacoby had begun his work, the head butler had left to tend to other matters. When he returned he found Jacoby adding the finishing touches to the last steamdroid. "Any luck with the droids?" asked the head butler.
"I'm pleased to say that these steamers will have no further problems with their grip" Jacoby replied.
"We shall see" the head butler replied before producing 6 delicate wine glasses and giving 1 to each steamdroid. When each droid handled their glass without breaking it, the head butler nodded and handed Jacoby a sizable amount of money. "Earl Lightfeather thanks you for your assistance" the head butler said.
"If you need anymore help, drop me a line" Jacoby said as he packed up his tools "Come, Sir Geoffrey". With that said, Jacoby left with his pet bird automaton perched on his shoulder. What Jacoby hadn't told the head butler was that he had also installed Asimov's laws of robotics into the steamdroids' logic engines along with the command to install said laws into the logic engines of the other steamdroids when their human masters weren't looking. 'Let's see the Lightfeathers try to abuse their underlings now' Jacoby thought to himself as he entered the ballroom. The earl had just begun his his, so Jacoby decided to stick around and listen.

"Techie bastards" Jacoby muttered under his breath when Lady Lightfeather made her joke about the proles. But then the explosion happened. It all happened rather quickly, but Jacoby was quick enough to keep up. The sound of a steam droid being taken out of commission caught Jacoby's attention. He looked up at the Balustrade to see the intruder deliver the earl's sentence before executing him and escaping. "Well that happened" Jacoby said in the panic that followed. Jacoby then shrugged and made for the exit. The earl had deserved what he got, and wasn't about dither over the loss.

But as he reached the exit, Jacoby noticed Lady Callaghan telling a technocrat to help or leave before taking his neckerchief and giving it to a servant. The technocrat raised his hand to hit Lady Callaghan, but Jacoby caught his wrist before his hand could make contact. "Weren't you ever taught that it's wrong to hit a lady?" Jacoby asked the technocrat.
"Unhand me this instant!" the technocrat demanded.
Jacoby responded by releasing the technocrat's wrist, pushing the man backwards, and placing himself between Lady Callaghan and the other technocrat. "As the lady said before" Jacoby said "Help or leave".
"Now see here you..." the technocrat said before noticing the glares of the servants behind Jacoby. Knowing that he was outnumbered, the technocrat promised that Jacoby would regret his actions before leaving.
"Techie bastard" Jacoby said before he turned to Lady Callaghan with a warm smile "Are you alright?".

[ayzrules]

Cornelia was caught up in a flurry of handing out drinks and collecting empty glasses when Earl Lightfeather and his wife began to speak. A hush fell over the assembled crowd. He said something of a new mining endeavor-which Lady Enright had told Cornelia about before the ball-and his wife made a cruel, sardonic remark about proles. Cornelia felt anger rise up her throat, but she willed herself to shove it back down. Her back seemed to ache as she recalled the scars that would be there for the rest of her life. The Earl continued to speak, and Cornelia listened closely as she picked up a fresh platter of pastries.

And then...the world exploded. The far side of the room flew inwards, completely destroyed. Shrapnel rocketed through the ballroom and screams filled the air. Dust and smoke clouded Cornelia's vision as she stumbled away. There was a slight pause before the glass dome shattered, sending shards of glass flying everywhere. Cornelia barely felt the platter of pastries that she was holding drop to the floor. She was shoved to the ground as a Technocrat man collapsed on top of her. Pushing the man away and getting back onto her feet, dazed and bleeding from a few cuts due to the glass, Cornelia blinked several times and cast her gaze around the room. The figure that strode confidently in from the middle of the debris immediately caught her attention.

Whoever it was wore black robes and a bronze mask made of cogs and gears that never seemed to stop turning. A steamdroid attempted to attack the figure, but he-or she, as Cornelia had no idea who it was-viciously stabbed the steamdroid in the chest with three blades that seemed to come out of the figure's hands. Well, I'm sure that Lady Enright would like to know about that, Cornelia thought dryly to herself despite all that had transpired in the last minute or two. Cornelia spied her mistress standing in the corner, unscathed but shaken. That was good; Cornelia still had a job and she still would be able to collect her bribe.

The robed figure began to speak. "Earl Arthur Lightfeather, I find you guilty of oppression, decadence, persecution and gluttony. Your sentence, execution!" Then, the figure stabbed the Earl as well. Cornelia felt nothing after witnessing the gruesome event; there was no love lost in between her and any Technocrat out there. But she felt her interest piqued by the declaration the figure made right after killing the Earl-"Let this be a lesson to all of you whom would oppress your fellow man."

The figure was gone just as fast as it had appeared. He or she grappled out of the ruined ballroom, and Cornelia tried to see if she could find Anne or Lady Enright. She felt bruises forming on her side and ignored them for the time being. She'd lived through far, far worse than a couple of cuts and bruises. There were a number of people walking toward the dead Earl. Lady Lightfeather seemed to be paralyzed, immobile and gasping for air. Serves her right, Cornelia thought darkly to herself. Should've killed her instead of the damn Earl. Cornelia recognized one of the men standing near the Earl's corpse as the Technocrat with the young prole servant she'd heard earlier talking about the murderer.

Cornelia found Lady Enright in the same spot she had been in before the explosion. Cornelia figured that this was such an event where the policy of not being seen with her mistress could be ignored. "Cornelia, there you are," Lady Enright said. Lady Enright was a matronly, middle-aged woman with a sharp mind and greying chocolate brown hair. "I suppose that neither of us were expecting that." Lady Enright pulled Cornelia aside, lowering her voice so not to be overheard. "I want you to find the others and tell them to immediately head back to the house."

"Yes, ma'am," Cornelia replied softly. "Would you have me go with them as well?"

Lady Enright shook her head slightly. "No. I need you to stay and find out everything you can about what just happened. Forget the steamdroids; this takes priority. You will be handsomely rewarded for your, ah, services, as always."

Cornelia nodded. "Yes, ma'am," she said again. Lady Enright released her and Cornelia turned around, walking back into the fray. She searched frantically for Anne; sweet, kind Anne, the only one who would even speak to Cornelia. She spied her friend lying on the ground, unmoving, and hurried over.

"Anne, Anne, Anne," Cornelia whispered anxiously, kneeling beside her. Now that she was up close, Cornelia could see that Anne was bleeding badly. She'd had the bad luck to be directly in the explosion's path. Cornelia desperately felt for a pulse and breathed a sigh of relief when she confirmed that Anne was simply unconscious and not dead. Cornelia's fingers scrabbled clumsily as she took out her pocketknife from the front of her dress, disregarding all the rules of propriety, and cut a strip of cloth from her apron to staunch the flow of blood coming from Anne's chest.

Somebody abruptly yanked Cornelia's head back, and she found herself face-to-face with a Technocrat. "You," he ordered curtly, tightening his grip on her hair. "Get this cleaned." He thrusted a stained jacket into her hands, giving Cornelia once-over, his eyes pausing for a second at her chest. She recognized him as the man who almost struck a red-haired woman a few minutes earlier. Cornelia felt rage cloud her thoughts, despite her voice of reason shouting silently at her and the memories of her teenage years; who the hell did this bastard think he was, assuming that his fucking jacket was more important than her friend's life?!

Cornelia stared at him long and hard before dropping the jacket and turning back around. "What are you doing?!" the man demanded, pulling at her hair again. Cornelia felt herself lose control and shoved him sharply away.

"I'm trying to save my friend's goddamn life, that's what I'm doing!" she practically shouted. Fortunately, the other people in the ballroom were more concerned with the injured and the dead Earl than with Cornelia. She let out a breath of disgust and gingerly picked Anne up-which was not very hard to do, considering her friend's diminutive stature-and marched away.

[PatrickDrummer]

Samuel was sitting comfortably in his chair enjoying the wine when a steamdroid had grabbed the attention of everyone. It was because Earl wanted to make an announcement about his new mine. That was about the time a huge explosion had gone off, and caused Samuel to spit out the wine in his mouth and drop the bottle. His attention was then put at the black figure who took out two steamdroids and grabbed Earl by the collar. The figure then mentioned something about Earl being guilty and executed him on the spot. Samuel got up quickly and pulled out his rifle taking aim at the figure who was making his escape. Because of his drinking his vision was blurred a bit, and this made him think that the figure was in sight. But when Samuel fired he had missed by a lot only hitting a wall.

Samuel tried to focus in as much as he could, so his vision would clear up. He stumbled as he walked and eventually made it over to two technocrats (@DarkStar@rush99999). Once there he lowered on one knee to try and keep him steady "What are you two doing? You should be leaving along with everyone else." he said to the technocrats.

[DarkStar]

Evelyn looked the Fat Technocrat in the eyes as he began to raise his hand. She winced as she realised it was to strike her. Her eyes closed tightly. She opened them however not to find herself on the ground in pain but looking at an older brown haired gentleman having manhandled her foe and blocked her delicate mind from the situation. It was rather nice she had to admit. In response to his comment she gave a soft smile to him, "Do tell your father about this....I'm sure he'd be happy", a very thinly veiled threat to counter the one he made to the prole. Lady Callaghan knew how to apply social pressure, as well as financial to a certain degree. But the former was the greater power among the technocrats. They lusted after social prowess and pride before money. She gave a soft smile to him the same one she had just used so threateningly and curtsied gently, looking more out of place due to the torn, shaggy nature of her clothes than the fact she had just given a mark of respect to a prole. "I am quite good thank you. I do appreciate the help", she turned around to gaze on the tradgedy that had just befallen the party. "I will avenge the people who died here to day. Earl lightfeather was a good man and none of these people deserved to die for the quarrel he had.", in typical fashion for her class. She meant it. "And your name kind sir?", Evelyn asked gently outreaching her hand for him to take. "I must send word to the hospital. They can have personnel over here in minutes". Funny thing being not a single technocrat bar the Earl had died. "I just wonder how long till he comes after me too...", she said to herself softly as she walked over to the hole in the wall. Then pulled a small device from her purse, twisted the cap at the base four times and held it to the air and put a finger in her ear.

PHAWOOOMPH!

The flare went up quickly making noise galore, the twists had altered the amount of explosive and chemicals. Changing the colour and noise profile. Allowing her to scale the emergency notice. Quite the impressive little trinket, her mother made sure she carry it at all times. It was a message to the Emergency Medical Staff at the hospital. Well, their definition of an emergency was a technocrat being injured, but influence had it's perks. She could get the injured treated. Father would not be happy with the bills but they would certainly be paid in full. Pride before all, the family motto. It wasn't long before the message was relayed to the hospital and Airships were dispatched to the hall. Bringing with them the best medicine money could buy. My god she had some explaining to do. She brought the capsule down and looked to the flare in the sky, before looking back to the hall. A rather drunk, well dressed man quickly approached them after that. Looking at him she gave a gentle smile as he lowered to his knees. "Why yes good sir. But you are the one who needs to be leaving, I am sure that Lady LightFeather isn't going to appreciate the bullet in her lacquered wall", she giggled and pulled him up by the hand.

[SayZun]

Ezekiel Chisel

Ezekiel stood quietly as he thought to himself. As much as I disliked Earl, this timing couldn't have been worse. Whoever this person isn't doesn't understand what they're doing Ezekiel did not care too much for the obvious social hierarchy that was in place. He was pretty well off so he didn't see any reason to change or oppose it. Even so, this act is unforgivable. A vigilante like this could prove bad for the economy in place. Taking out powerful people will only lead to downfall and chaos in the future. Without the balance of power lesser citizens will be influenced to kill other wealthy men only leading to a civil war among classes. "Whoever this, 'vigilante' is must be stopped at once!" Ezekiel would say to the group. "They're only causing trouble which will escalate into something worse."

He would then escape the crowd walking towards the exit of the manor. "This vigilante has gone far enough. It's time I put an end to his spree." The technocrat would say to himself. He knew the only way to bring about the vigilante is by means of committing acts that would be seen as oppression. But how would I go about doing that?

[rush99999]

Jacoby smiled even more when Lady Callaghan thanked him. It was good to know that there were a few technocrats who would acknowledge the assistance of a prole. "Jacoby Drexlehand at your service" Jacoby said while shaking when Lady Callaghan asked for his name. Sir Geoffrey tweeted indignantly due to the lack of attention he was recieving. "And this is my avian automaton associate Sir Geoffrey the Impeccable" Jacoby said with a light chuckle. Once introductions had concluded, Lady Callaghan walked over to the hole in the wall and summoned the doctors. Jacoby walked over to the hole to join her in watching the flare before looking at Lady Callaghan. "I don't think you'll need to worry about that person coming for you" Jacoby told her, having heard her ask about the "You don't strike me as someone who would send their workers to their deaths and then laugh and joke about it at fancy parties".

It was then that Samuel arrived and told them that they should leave. Jacoby chuckled at Lady Callaghan's response. 'Lady Lightfeather is probably more concerned about the hole in her husband' Jacoby thought to himself. "We'll take our leave when the docs arrive, sir. Until then, we'll stay and help the wounded".

[Javier]

Reggie stood outside of the manor with a smile on his face, as he scanned around for anything he might want to do before heading home. Before this, however, Reggie heard footsteps and turned to see a man, a Technocrat to be precise, walking towards the exit. The man seemed to be mumbling to himself, in a rather troubled state, which showed to Reggie that powers might just be shifting and that the rich and powerful are now afraid. The boy didn't look at the Technocrat for too long before he turned and started to walk away. He decided that he'd walk to a store before heading home just to see if he could get any money for the parts he took from the destroyed droid. Once Reggie made it to the store, he looked around to see if there was anything he'd want to buy with the money he could potentially get.

Once the boy spotted a lighter and some bronze pieces and cogs that would be of use to him, he approached the counter. At the counter, Reggie poured out half of the pieces he had collected, expecting a price to be given to him.

"I'd say that's worth around 50 coins, considering the type of material they're made of" mentioned who looked to be the owner of this shop.

This price didn't please Reggie, as he had noticed that the grand total of what he wanted to buy was 75 coins, so he thought of adding a little extra detail for the owner to know. Reggie would also add half of what remained of the operating system just in case the man wouldn't be swayed just yet.

"These are parts of Earl Lightfeather's d-d-droid, the ones used for s-serving," began Reggie, noticing how the owner's interest seemed greater, "and this is a part of the operate system" finished Reggie, placing the extra piece on the counter in front of him. He struggled to find the words but it seemed that the owner understood Reggie just fine.

"Well, upon further inspection, I'll give you 100 coins; take it or leave it" finally answered the man, after thinking about it for a moment, putting the coins on the table for Reggie to count.

Once Reggie counted the coins and made sure that they were in fact 100 real coins, he stepped away from the counter to pick up the lighter and metal parts he saw. Reggie returned to the counter and placed them on the table along with 70 of the coins he had recieved, prompting the man to put them all in a bag for Reggie to take home. Reggie smiled at the man courteously before taking his leave, but as he walked out, the owner called out to him, "Hey kid, you should consider getting a dictionary!" Reggie simply waved to him in acknowledgement and walked out onto the streets.

Reggie looked satisfied with what he had acquired, but one thing started to bug him: maybe he should get a dictionary. Not that Reggie cared about what other people thought of him, but he did hate the fact that he rarely understood anyone perfectly because of his lack of knowledge of the language. The boy carried this thought all the way to his house, suddenly realizing that he probably would need to learn to read before actually getting a dictionary. This prompted him to decide that he'd save money starting then until he was able to purchase something of a proper education in English (which would probably be either a machine or someone who'd be willing to teach him).

Finally, Reggie saw the door to his house, it was a rusty door that looked very old but was still able to withstand a few more years before needing a replacement. Reggie opened the door and entered his home, closing the door behind him. The inside of his house looked more like a junkyard; there were metallic pieces everywhere which made it hard to walk, with the exception of two out of the three rooms which were the bedroom/bathroom and the kitchen, which, for some reason, had his little desk for building inside. Reggie took out the pieces he bought and the ones he took from the droid that he hadn't sold, and placed them on his desk alongside the lighter. He took out his little swarm of mechanical flies and weapon pieces and ammo out of his overcoat and placed them on the kitchen table, next to where he'd sit to eat.

The boy then proceeded to put a bit of food on his plate before sitting down to eat. As he ate, Reggie pulled out his small pouch, which had 30 coins at the moment, and looked at it for a second, before placing it next to the other stuff he had on the kitchen table. Reggie took bite after bite, looking at his plate intently, and noticing how empty it looked in comparison to what the Technocrats ate. This suddenly brought back the shadowy figure, the one who killed Earl Lightfeather, and what had transpired that night. His only thoughts were with the figure and the possibility of getting that plate of his fuller which came with the figure. "What a time to be alive" said Reggie to himself loudly with a grin on his face; he knew this was the beginning of a great conflict. This conflict would be bloody and many would die, but Reggie decided that he'd not be among the dead and that he'd thrive from this conflict.

[Karos]

'Indeed what a time to be alive' replied the Night Raven from his position behind Reggie.

Following the Prole had been easy enough, he hadn't exactly been surreptitious in his movements. For someone of his skill tracking the boy had been all to easy, and it was a relaxing pursuit that allowed him to simultaneously process the information gained from the hit. Firstly there was the matter of the Technocrat gunsmith the man seemed rash and hot headed, he'd certainly be one to pay a visit to in all due course. Then there was the Lady the one who had cried out, he recognised her as the daughter of the Callaghan's somewhat of a secret philanthropist as he understood things, he could probably leave her alone unless she proved a problem. Other than that the people there were nothing to worry about, a maid had caught his eye, as had an engineer and what he could only assume to be a drunk marksmen who had taken a pot shot at him.

Coming back to the matter at hand the Night Raven looked down at Regie, cocking his head to one side as he waited for a response from the small figure. 'You were at the party' he continued, after having waited for a brief moment 'I saw you watching me, you didn't seem repulsed like the others, why?'

[Javier]

Reggie ate away at his meal; he was enjoying it very much. Once his plate was empty, Reggie went to pick up his bag of coins again, when he had heard a voice behind him. "Ideed what a time to be alive" is what the voice said. Reggie, stunned, had his mechanical arms burst out from within his coat, but as he turned to face the source of the voice, his fear went away. The mechanical apendages has gone from combat-ready stiff to sort of floating there as Reggie saw that the person behind him was none other than that figure who killed Eearl Lightfeather at the ball. Reggie seemed rather shocked that of all people, this executioner would visit him, but Reggie knew that he wasn't there to kill Reggie; at least that's what he hoped.

Now that the figure was there, Reggie could get a closer look at it, allowing Reggie to identify the figure as a male. He looked a lot more intimidating up close, and also seemed very calm. Reggie wondered how he had entered his house without making a noise, but realized that this wasn't the time to ask questions like that. Suddenly, the man continued speaking: "You were at the party, I saw you watching me, you didn't seem repulsed like the others, why?" To this Reggie grinned, he grinned because he had gained the attention of the man whom he now saw as something of a hero, but, not only that, he also saw this vigilante as a chance.

"Why be repulsed?" started Reggie, turning to face the figure completely, "You are help to us and you can help take their power and give to all the rest of people" he finished, still struggling with speaking clearly, but he hoped that the figure understood him. Reggie stood up slowly, as to not come across as someone who wanted a fight with this man, and picked up his things to return them to his coat. Once everything was back in Reggie's coat, the boy went to speak again to the figure. "My name: Reggie, yours?" asked the boy. He was very frustrated that he wanted to help this figure and wanted power to shift to the people but he didn't know how to word it; stil, Reggie looked at the figure, his mechanical arms still out.

[PatrickDrummer]

Samuel took the lady's hand and was raised up before finally speaking. "I'm just looking out for the good folk especially if one is a technocrat. We certainly don't have much of them now do we. Besides what if that strange figure is after all technocrats wouldn't that put you in danger." Samuel said to women. He turned his attention to the prole who was also there "You just make sure she doesn't get killed I'm gonna try and get some answers. Also if something does happen just come looking for me it won't be too hard." he said so only the prole could hear. After that he started to walk off while only stumbling a little. Samuel was now outside he needs to try and find people who would know more about Earl than he did. His only problem was there were so many people scattering that he couldn't really know where to start.