The workshop’s lights flickered. Gi raised his head from the circle of books stacked around him, like some sort of nerd ritual, and blinked. His vision returned and his attention gravitated from figuring out crafting secrets to figuring out why the lights were throwing a tantrum.

“No way it’s them.”

They were supposed to show up one night and give a kicking you couldn’t forget. But a day, then two, then forever passed, and they were nowhere to be seen.

Gi couldn’t read or work under a light that glowed as consistently as the Exventilator did its purpose.

The problem couldn’t be an electricity shortage: the Electrical Tower behind Centercity provided so much that expanding Via Light ten times wouldn’t even give it a hit. The only reasonable explanation -- there was something wrong within his workshop. And he couldn’t blame it -- he’d moved into a decrepit place and turned it into a magical den of electronics and CHEK technologies through countless favors and years. It worked fine longer than most lunarists survived in The Sparks.

Gi walked to his working room and grabbed a bunch of tools out of his ever-expanding toolbox. Since he finished the Extensions for Ms. Rebecca’s grandma, the list of his equipment got longer and longer. And his bookshelves became heavier.

“Either a wire got cooked, the electricity changed up its makeup so much that it can’t transfer it anymore or a death-rodent munched through it,” Gi guessed the most reasonable possibilities and returned to the main room.

The flickering sped up and entered a pattern.

Cold streaked across Gi’s face and his head jerked rightwards.

A faint shadow moved under the doorway. At the same time, something banged on the wall, going around his entire workshop.

It was them.

“Oh Lord-- I mean Lords.” Gi smashed a button on a wall he’d installed two days ago. A laserpistol, held by a wire, popped out of the ceiling and aimed towards the entrance. At foot level, in front of the door, a thin laser appeared. By the time the banging had returned to the entrance, Gi started opening it, screwdriver in his left.

“Missed us?!”

The door flung open, throwing him three meters back. All the lights went out. His defense system failed. Two figures stepped in, their nerves, veins and eyes shining in the darkness.

“The Lords of Electricity.” Gi stood tall, holding the massive screwdriver in front of himself. “Huh, not really. I appreciated the vacation you gave me, though!”

***

Gi slammed the workroom’s door shut and held it in that position, almost crushing his shoulder in the process. One of Lords--Elektra--wreaked havoc on the rest of his workshop whilst Bolt tried breaking through his last line of defense -- a flimsy metal door.

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It banged, outlines of fists formed in the metal and sparks made it through the gaps.

Losing his credits Gi could afford, no problem, but letting them get away as the times before? No way. You make Gi pay -- he makes you pay.

Gi leaned in more, pushing with a part of his chest. Countless unfinished projects and experiments he’d learnt from the books scattered the floors. His toolboxes had fallen from the vault in the ceiling and let go of all his tools. The screwdriver in his hands had done nothing more than scratch the Lords and electrocute him a bunch -- he had to pick something else.

He needed a weapon that wouldn’t penetrate their skin to not shock himself again, and wouldn’t require a constant flow of electricity. That something would be a tool he hated to use but always had to. Something that he’d given up once he achieved new crafting knowledge. Then picked up once more as that knowledge deepened, redoing it.

Gi took a deep breath and waited, pushing back against the door. The banging stopped. He dashed to his toolbox. A second later, Bolt barged through.

The Lord, whose burly body’s skin was a disgusting mess of violet and maroon, outfit the typical clothes Workers wore, and face divided into two halves by two different shades, charged Gi, growling in his deep, cracking voice. Once the distance between them was less than the distance people had to back off from his experiments, a warning light blinked in Gi’s head -- he swung the new and improved Electro-Hammer.

“Sure, you need electricity,” he spoke with the tool as it connected with the Lord’s skin. “But you’ve survived such shitstorms that a few electricity-wielding villains are nothing for you!”

The collision flooded the workroom with light, rocked the ground, sent Gi hurdling into a wall, Bolt -- into the main room’s floor. As the ringing from his ears faded, Gi got himself out of the him-shaped crack in the wall and rushed out the door, swinging at Bolt again. Then Elektra--swift, tall and mohawk wearing--slammed him from the side.

Midair, Gi struck Elektra. The Lord of Electricity gained even more speed, his veins started flickering and grin reached his eyes. They both slammed into the floor, opening a three-meter-wide crater. Rubble flew everywhere and dust filled the air. CHEK screens filled Gi’s view, Elektra’s too, he guessed.

“We just want a little rent, nothing more, Gi!” The Lord of Electricity started pummeling Gi with punches, all of which shocked him with a weak charge.

No matter how fast Gi tried to dismiss the messages and defend himself, the warning screens flooded his sight. He couldn’t defend or put his fists in the right place. He struck the dirt they laid on. He had to.

Gi and Elektra were thrown a meter into the air. Gi’s twitching hand used the kinetic energy to uppercut Elektra’s jaw. They landed two meters apart. Gi stood up first out of sheer fury. And he was met with a jumpkicking Bolt.

Gi hammered the ground. Electricity flowed through his blood and his heart felt like it was about to rip in half. But the boost a meter into the sky allowed him to counterattack. The collision of the two unstoppable forces ended with them flying in different directions.

Bolt bounced off a wall with a shelf. And that shelf contained creditcoins. Thousands and thousands. Bolt’s disgusting expression turned into a bargain-winning one: he struck Gi with a gaze, pulled Elektra up, and grabbed as many credits as he could.

Gi held the Electro-Hammer high up, standing in one spot, watching them take most of what he had. The Lords of Electricity proceeded to wave a simple goodbye and run out of his door. He had enough energy to stand with a furious frown on his face and nothing more. No way could’ve he won if he attacked. After a day of dealing with customers, Gi wished to take the mask of a threatening craftsman off and collapse to the floor. Now, he did that in reality.

“They were never even close to being this strong,” he mumbled, wiggling on the ground in pain like a fried wire. “They could’ve never even withstood a single Electro-Hammer strike before, let alone one from my upgraded version. I guess the time I spent learning they used to level up…”

Gi’s consciousness was about to give in to sleep. Then a voice sounded outside the front entrance.

“Gi? Where in the world is your place?! Nevermind -- found it!”

“Tenshot, huh? Fuck, kid, you’ve got the best timing in the whole world…”