A face covered by the brim of a solid black fedora rained tears as he stood at the fore of a large funeral procession; the body in the casket had, before his very eyes, sparked with the last remnants of electrical energies that powered the various implants that allowed the old codger to last as long as he had. A whopping three hundred some odd years. He didn't register whether or not anyone else has noticed the sparks of energy, that was the furthest from his mind. No, he had other things to worry about, namely the eulogy he was set to give at any moment. Ester, an elderly usher, had come to move him along, and almost instinctively he moved his right shoulder forward to remove her hand from his body. He loathed being touched, even more so now that his grandfather had passed, the usually charismatic young man had been a recluse to everyone that wasn't an executive employee at the company that he own owned half of. The young man moved, allowing others to pay their respects to the man who had become known as the Godfather of Human Cybernetics, improving quality of life through robotic enhancments. That was his motto, always his motto. Either way, he mumbled out an apology to Ester, who had come to them with pennies to her name begging for an augmented liver. They gave her one, free of charge, and she had been ever grateful. The procession carried on for several minutes, with everyone saying a few words to the deceased man. Customs. He had seen it at funerals before, people came and paid their respects either legitimately or for show. It wasn't hard to tell who was doing it for what reasons. It wasn't long before they motioned for him to come to the front, for the person next to him to whisper for him to put his game face on, the new half owner of the Raeym Corporation was needed to show the competition that they would not falter. The man was right, of course, their competition sensed blood in the water - they were there now networking with his new partners, spreading the wondrous news of their new innovations and patents. He stood up, brushing imaginary dirt off the Joseph A. Banks, three piece platinum edition suit he wore. It fit him comfortably, something that he had picked up from sitting under the proverbial learning tree of his grandfather. The suit and the man make each other, a symbiotic relationship. Steady steps took him to the podium, hushed murmurs followed him as his passed, whispered condolences from this he both knew and didn't. He could see the Ruby red roses and the deep blue tulips that hung as wreathes around the casket, the mahogany tomb looming like a single candlelit flame in an otherwise dark room. He took his place behind the stand, removed his hat and placed it down. His sky blue eyes, contrasted against his soft brown skin, he possessed a powerful aura that drew people to him - and as he stood there, quiet and contemplative, the crowd silenced their murmurs and waited for his words. After a moment, his words came, [B]The measure of a man can be taken when he attends a funeral, how he received his guests and how his guests receive him. For that, I must apologize to a long time family friend. Mrs. Ester, I treated you wrongly today, even on a day of my greatest sadness. May you ever find it in your gracious heart to forgive me for not being the man that my father and mother, my grandfather wished that I would be.[/b] The woman nodded her forgiveness. She had already forgiven him moments after the incident. [b]For the rest of you, my grandfather would be greatly amused by this turnout. Both by the outpouring of love, and by the underhandedness of his goes - who even now utilize his death as a way to curry favor with retailers, with the military, with the consumer. To many of you, he was Kaige Geoffrey Chamberlain the First, but to me he was always just G. He may have been a hard man to deal with, strict and hard handed, but for his family he would have moved the entirety of heaven to secure their happiness. And that was what he did when he started this company with Mister Phoenix Raeym. When they started the Raeym Corporation, their goal was simple. To improve human lives through the use of advanced robotics. But to G, his true goal was to ensure that his family was well taken care of. Unlike myself, he did not go to college and get a doctorate in bioengineering, robotics, mathematics, and a bevy of other fields, but by candlelight did he study the intricacies of the human anatomy and the deeper meaning of robotics while he toiled in factories. I stand before you today, Kaige Geoffrey Chamberlain the Third, the son of a deceased father and mother, reared by the man whose soul today ascends to heaven,a young soul chosen to undertake the career of a lifetime. Today, friends, family, and new competition, I stand before you as new 50% owner of the Raeym Corporation, where tirelessly we work to innovate new designs into human-robotic hybridization.[/b] Almost as if on cue, as if words were the final steps he needed to take his grandfather's seat, the supercomputer chip, trademarked and controlled by Raeym Corp., clicked on that he had a notification. It wasn't just any notification, he had become strangely accustom to the ticker tape feature at the bottom that alerted him of the ongoings of his company, but this one sort of burned into his brain it's urgency. The odd hieroglyphics, an alien language that he had seen etched in his grandfather's books appeared before him. [I] Emergency Council Meeting! [/I] He missed nary a beat, [b]Let us not dwell on the past. But look forward to the future, to a future where humans and robotics come together to advance humans to a stage where we are not inferior to alien kind, where we are not submissive to those of magical persuasions. We are human kind, Raeym Corporation is robotics, and together, we can make them one in the same.[/b]. What was once hushed silence erupted into a thunderous applause, and Kaige allowed himself just a moment to soak it in, before he turned his back and walked away. ---- Twenty-Five Minutes Later ---- The hustle and bustle​ of the funeral was past him now, the dark colors and sad faces were several miles behind. The soft swoosh of the elevator was the only sound that sang in his ears, and that too was about to end. Doors opened, and into a lofty fifty-sixth floor office of Raeym Corporation did he step. It was like his second home. His desk was covered in papers, information that pertained to both the Corp., and the others' affairs. An attack on a mine was situated at the top. Was that the reason for the meeting? He had remembered seeing strange people with his grandfather, but would they know that he was dead and that his grandson had taken his place in all affairs? All of them. His brain flicked through the files of the RaeKai chip, his own had been merged with the chip taken from his grandfather, giving his access to all passwords, files, and other computerized items of the company. He found the password and entered it into the locked file of his brain. In turn, a secret door opened on the far wall. Kaige adjusted the cufflinks on his suit and stood, walking towards and through the door. On the other side, one other waited - a man he had seen before, his chip informing him that his name was Odwin, a member of the Council of Gods. Kaige placed a hand on the seat before him, choosing to stand for the moment. [B]Sir Odwin, it is a pleasure to meet you, but a shame to do so under these circumstances.[/b] As he spoke, his chip connected back to his building, allowing him to operate as though his presence was still there. He could not have been the only one called to this meeting, and for that, he would wait. Others were bound to show, or were they in such dire positions that the attack on the mines, and the death of his grandfather were only the beginning?