873X

Connor met Robert at the the Portal Center the next morning. There were ten different Portals, and Robert was standing next to the one that connected to 9.

"Yo!" Robert greeted Connor. Connor stopped and stared at him oddly.

"Y-yo?" Connor questioned.

"Hahaha, not used to greetings?" Robert laughed.

"That's a greeting?" Connor pondered aloud.

"Well, kinda. It used to be a common greeting in like, the early twenty first century." Robert answered.

"I see." Connor responded.

"So, are you really going to go shirtless?" Robert inquired.

"My clothes got ripped last night. Im too lazy to buy more." Connor answered simply. Robert stated at Connor and sighed. Then he began to take his red blazer off.

"What are you doing?" Connor questioned Robert's motive. Robert held out the blazer to Connor.

"You're getting stared at." Robert replied. Connor took the blazer and looked around. He was indeed getting stared at, by alot of women.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Connor waved and then put the blazer on.

"Hah, at first that's what you think. Then the stares turn to approach then, eventually, after quite some time, that turns to talks of an arrow." Robert sighed and patted Connors shoulder somberly. Connor looked at Robert in confusion.

"How does staring lead to talking about arrows?" Connor muttered to himself. Robert, hearing this, began to laugh.

"Hahaha, not actual arrows, I meant 'Marriage'. You haven't been out much, have you?" Robert noted.

"No." Connor answered. Robert dropped his smile and looked confused.

"No?" Robert asked.

"I Spent around ten years of my life in an orphanage here. It wasn't grand. They were shut down for something. I don't remember the details. Between then and fourteen, when I awakened, I remember nothing. Then four years as a Porter, constantly moving around, doing contracts. Now I'm here." Connor simplified.

"You know, details are important when telling a story bro. Does talking to people strain you or something?" Robert chuckled.

"Yes." Connor answered.

"Fair enough. Hey, I think we should start moving along. I got reservations at a great food place. So let's hurry up and get your money." Robert smiled and leaped through the Portal backwards.

Connor sighed and stepped through the Portal, immediately arriving in a new city. District City 9, compared to 13, was like day and night. Buildings rose far into sky, nearly touching the barriers.

The streets were bustling with ten times the activity, and the noise was rather obnoxious. After all, 13 was in what was Montana, and 9 was in what used to be New York.

"I prefer the quiet." Connor muttered.

"Its been awhile since I've been to Nine... It didn't change at all." Robert stated. Connor began walking towards the Asociation branch that had his payments. Luckily, it was right across from the Portal Center. Robert followed Connor across the street and unto the Asociation's building.

"Hello, how can I help you?" A well dressed man greeted from behind a desk.

"Connor W. Michael. Rank F. I'm here to retrieve my four years worth of Magia." Connor immediately answered.

"Give me just a moment...." The man brought up a holoscreen and began looking through names before clicking on one.

"Connor W. Michael. Yes we do have your due. But, as you are now eighteen, would you like to go through another screening to reconfirm your Rank?" The man asked.

"Its F. Let's Leave it at that." Connor answered.

"...Alright. It's not mandatory. You can always re-screen at anytime, for a fee, of course. Your funds are waiting for you through the vault in box Eight Seven Three X, just follow the signs. Here's the key." The man handed a small key to Connor and pointed him in the direction of the vault.

Connor followed the plaques leading him towards the vault. Once he reached it, another well dressed man stopped him, checked the credentials and the key and then allowed him inside.

The vault door was the same size as a normal door, but the vault itself was unnaturally large. It looked like a library, with row after row of lock boxes. There where hanging signs lettering the alphabet.

"Did that guy say 'X'? Good luck with that, I can't even see 'B'." Robert scoffed. Connor began walking through the aisles. The numbers on the boxes counted up to 10000 and then the next letter would take over. The rows towered above Connor by at least three feet.

"Who the hell is eight feet tall that they have to put boxes all the way up there? Can you imagine being four foot and your box is at the very top of the aisle?" Robert commented.

"I think they move." Connor replied.

"I'm sorry? What moves?" Robert inquired.

"Look closely. None of the boxes are actually touching. It's probably magitech. It's often found deeper in the wastelands of the zones. Its manufacturing method is lost to us, but it can be repurposed. It's very easy to reprogram the controls to do what you need it to." Connor explained.

"You can't talk normally, but you can lecture just fine... But how's it lost, if it can be programed? There's too many details omitted. How did they program lost tech into this many boxes?" Robert asked.

"They didn't. Some of these buildings were built before the outbreaks. This must have been a bank or something. Finding this much magitech is almost impossible. Magi tech is a small disc of a device that's as thin as film and has a ton of magic coding.

Though, again, no one knows what materials were used. They break very easily if dropped or bumped just right. If you find one, you can stick it to just about any inanimate or nonorganic object and program anything you want via a small magiscreen." Connor continued.

"Oh... how can you not do small talk, but when it comes to... this stuff, you're an absolute chatterbox?" Robert questioned.

"Its called history." Connor replied. He stopped in front of a row, the letter X was now hanging above them. Connor held the key up and slowly walked along the length of the room until a little blue glow emitted from the key and a lock box descended from the top and stopped in front. 873X.

"Wow, that's actually pretty neat. What is this, Hogwarts?" Robert commented with a chuckle.

"Hog what?" Connor looked back questioningly.

"Man, you know all about history, but nothing about Hogwarts? It's out of some ancient books and television. Real entertaining stuff." Robert answered in exasperation.

"Oh, if it's historically important I'll look into it." Connor stated and then opened the box. Inside was several fair sized pouches as well as a sealed envelope.

"Hmm?" Connor muttered and took out the envelope, after pitting everything else into Inventory, obviously unnoticed by Robert.

"What's that?" Robert asked curiously as Connor turned around. The boat floated back up behind him and slid back into its spot on the top rows.

"I don't know." Connor replied as he opened it and took out the holodevice. An old news article popped up in front of Connor, the headline read;

<District City 13 Orphanage Experiments

on Kids!>