Guldrin’s Gluttony: Family Bound by Speed & Food

Over the following weeks, the upgrades spiraled into something that felt like the fever dream of a tech enthusiast with no budget restrictions, 'Thanks NSA/CIA,' and that was precisely what it was. Chuck found himself perpetually drenched in sweat, second-guessing every wire he connected and every panel he installed. The kids, if they could even be called that, seemed to have an endless supply of ideas, each one more elaborate than the last, all under the guise of 'simple upgrades.'

The café-garage now looked like a tech-savvy dream straight out of the future. Customers who wandered in for coffee marveled at the sleek design changes; they had automated espresso machines calibrated with laser precision, tables embedded with discreet wired chargers, and a jukebox that now operated via voice command, synced to a database so vast it could pull obscure tracks in seconds.

Shiro had insisted on keeping the exterior quaint and unassuming, "It has to blend in, if we change too much, it would ruin the novelty." she'd said, but beneath the surface, the place buzzed with the hum of hidden technology.

Chuck couldn't decide what unnerved him more… The precision with which the kids worked, or the way they casually discussed algorithms that sounded like science fiction. Every conversation felt like a masterclass in advanced engineering, except Chuck was the confused freshman trying to keep up. 

And the books Guldrin would read were above even his head, let alone a teen no more than 15 years old; not to mention that one book was in a foreign language, and Chuck couldn't make heads or tails of it. He even took photos for records to bring back to Castle.

One day, while installing what Shiro called a "smart lighting system," Chuck accidentally tripped a circuit. The lights flickered, and a soft alarm tone chimed throughout the garage. Shiro didn't even look up from her laptop. "You're using the wrong configuration, Chuck," she said, her tone bordering on exasperation. "Input the alternate power routing protocol first."

Chuck stared at her, dumbfounded. "Alternate... what now?"

Guldrin snickered from across the room, where he was calibrating the café's new sales system. "Just do what she says, Chuck. It's not that hard."

'Not that hard?' Chuck thought, glaring at the kids. 'Sure, for a couple of wunderkinds who could probably rebuild the entire internet from scratch.'

The basement, however, remained the crown jewel of their operation. What had once been Dom's workout sanctuary and Jesse's tech corner now felt like stepping into the nerve center of a secret agency. 

The walls were lined with sleek, modular panels concealing cutting-edge servers and data storage units… The General had a field day assigning agents to line the servers with bugs, and hidden spy gadgets, never knowing these would be repurposed by the sneaky duo.

The room itself was climate-controlled, with vents softly hissing as they maintained an optimal environment for the machinery.

Chuck's initial horror at the scale of the project had given way to a sort of resigned acceptance. The kids knew what they were doing, he couldn't deny that. But every so often, as he screwed in another inconspicuous camera or linked yet another encrypted router, he'd mutter to himself, 'This is way too much for a garage. Make friends she said, make them trust you she said, but all I am doing is giving away tech, and learning just how scary these teens are.'

The most unsettling addition was the hidden escape hatch, beneath the floor tiles of what used to be Dom's weightlifting corner, Shiro and Guldrin had paid to have a concealed tunnel constructed. Chuck had initial misgivings, but after seeing that they had indeed bought the land that the tunnel led to, he had no reason to refuse to work on it. Customer satisfaction was the ruse, and he couldn't break the facade.

It led to an exit a block away, accessible only via biometric scans that Chuck had installed for them; of course, he added a few backdoors for emergencies. Chuck had spent two full days crawling through the cramped passage, grumbling as he installed reinforced panels and motion detectors.

"Why do you even need this?" he'd asked at one point, his voice echoing in the narrow tunnel.

"In case of emergencies," Shiro had replied, her tone so matter-of-fact it gave Chuck chills.

"Emergencies like what?" he pressed, only for Guldrin to poke his head into the tunnel and smirk. "You know, raccoons. Very persistent ones." He grinned, enjoying messing with Chuck while he fiddled around with his first creation: The MK. 1 Fishing Sword.

Chuck groaned, banging his head lightly against the tunnel wall. He couldn't tell if they were mocking him or if this was just their twisted sense of humor.

The perimeter upgrades became a source of endless paranoia for Chuck. The new motion sensors, wired into the café's automated systems, were sophisticated enough to track patterns of movement and distinguish between humans, animals, and vehicles. 

Guldrin and Shiro had insisted on installing a program that predicted potential intrusions based on behavioral algorithms.

One evening, as Chuck was finishing up the last of the sensor installations, a floodlight suddenly clicked on, illuminating a trash panda that had wandered onto the property. The sensors emitted a soft beep, and the system flagged the animal as a "low threat." Chuck stared at the screen in disbelief. "Low threat? It's a raccoon!"

"Exactly," Shiro said, her voice calm as ever. "The system works."

Chuck didn't even have the energy to argue anymore.

The most noticeable changes were hidden in plain sight. The café's new entertainment system doubled as a discreet surveillance hub. While customers saw nothing more than a sleek flat-screen TV and surround sound, Chuck knew better since he installed it. The screen was capable of accessing the garage's surveillance feeds, interfacing with the basement servers, and even sending encrypted messages.

One evening, Chuck caught Guldrin sitting in front of the flat-screen, casually scrolling through security footage on what appeared to be a gaming controller. "Is that... is that an Xbox controller?" Chuck asked, incredulous.

"Dual-purpose," Guldrin said with a grin, not looking away from the screen. "Wanna play Halo, or Glimmering Isles later?"

Chuck couldn't tell if the kid was joking.

Over the days of work, Chuck had learned that the number one MMO, one that even he played, and had taken the world by storm, was made by Shiro; it was a real shock. This game was the first game to allow real-world trading; it wasn't pay-to-win, but if you had the in-game currency, then you could sell it to a new player for real-world money. It was a revolutionary scheme, each transaction held a 1.5% surcharge that was funneled back to Shiro, and she was raking in the money each time. 

Despite the overwhelming complexity of the upgrades, the kids managed to maintain an air of nonchalance. Letty and Mia, though initially skeptical, seemed to accept the changes as the quirks of two prodigiously smart kids with too much time on their hands. Shiro and Guldrin had assured them that the new systems would help prevent anyone from 'messing with the family's business and would keep them safe'

The final touch was the café-garage's façade. Despite the high-tech interior, the exterior remained charmingly unassuming. The neon 'Toretto's Café' sign still flickered slightly, the garage doors still creaked, and the aroma of fresh coffee still wafted into the street. It was the perfect disguise, a blend of the old and the new, designed to keep prying eyes from looking too closely.

Chuck, sitting in the café one afternoon, nursing a cup of coffee, glanced around at the seemingly ordinary scene. Customers chatted, the espresso machine hissed, and Guldrin and Shiro sat at a corner table, their heads bent over a laptop. For a moment, everything felt... normal.

And then the flat-screen behind the counter lit up, displaying a live feed of a thermal signature moving across the roof. Chuck choked on his coffee.

Guldrin glanced up, a sly smile tugging at his lips. "Relax, Chuck. It's just a raccoon. Maybe we shouldn't have it set up to display on the Café T.V." He wondered out loud.

—

–

-

One evening, Shiro, Chuck, and Morgan gathered around as Guldrin stood in the middle of the lot, holding the Fishing Sword MK. 1 like a proud inventor showcasing his greatest creation. It was an odd contraption, somewhere between a high-tech fishing rod and a sci-fi blade. The "fishing" part was evident from the retractable line that extended from the hilt, while the blade itself emitted a faint hum, its surface crackling with static electricity.

"Ladies, gentlemen, and... Morgan," Guldrin began, shooting a glance at the smoothie-slurping man-child, "I present to you the Fishing Sword MK. 1, the pinnacle of my engineering brilliance."

Morgan leaned in, squinting at the weapon. "Fishing… sword? What, like for catching swordfish?"

Chuck pinched the bridge of his nose. "Morgan, please."

Ignoring them, Guldrin flipped a small switch on the hilt, and with a dramatic hum, the sword crackled to life. A faint blue glow traced along the blade, signaling the activation of its built-in taser function. "This baby isn't just for fishing or slashing," Guldrin explained. "It's for catching anything. Be it fish, cans, or... potential threats." He emphasized the last words with a mischievous grin.

Chuck squinted at the weapon, sipping his coffee cautiously. "You sure this is safe?" he asked, glancing worriedly at Morgan, who was fiddling with a drone and clearly not paying attention.

"Safe is relative," Guldrin replied, his tone entirely too casual for someone wielding a weapon that looked like it belonged in a video game.

Shiro, standing off to the side with her arms crossed, smirked. "He means no." Shiro, arms crossed and watching with an amused smirk, added, "It's also highly experimental. And possibly volatile."

"Possibly?" Chuck echoed, stepping back a few paces.

"Relax," Guldrin said, waving dismissively. "It's perfectly safe. Probably."

Morgan finally looked up, holding the drone like a trophy. "Dude, this is gonna be awesome. What does it do?"

Guldrin grinned mischievously. "It's a multi-functional tool. It can fish, slice, and, in a pinch, deliver a little zap."

Chuck's eyebrows shot up. "Zap?"

"Relax," Guldrin said, waving a dismissive hand. "It's just a taser function. Nothing lethal. I think?"

"That's what they always say before someone loses an eyebrow," Chuck muttered, stepping a little farther back.

Guldrin pressed a button on the hilt, and the line shot out with a satisfying *whirr*, the hook expertly snagging an empty soda can that was perched on a barrel. With a flick of his wrist, Guldrin reeled it in, the line retracting smoothly until the can clinked against the hilt.

Morgan clapped. "Okay, that's kinda cool."

Chuck nodded reluctantly. "Impressive engineering, but... what's the point?"

Guldrin smirked, holding up a finger as if to say, "Wait for it." He placed the can on the ground, flicked a switch on the hilt, and pressed a button. The blade sprang to life, glowing faintly as electricity arced along its edge.

"Now for the taser function," Guldrin announced.

Chuck took a cautious step back. "I really don't think-"

Before he could finish, Guldrin swung the blade toward the can. A sharp crack echoed through the lot as the electricity discharged, sending the can flying into the air. It landed several feet away, smoking slightly.

"That can't be legal," Chuck muttered.

Shiro tilted her head. "Technically, it's unregistered. So..."

Morgan clapped his hands like a child at a magic show. "Whoa! Do it again!" Morgan shouted, "That was sick!"

Chuck, however, looked less impressed and more alarmed. "You made a sword... that tases 

things. Why?""Because I could," Guldrin said, shrugging. "And because sometimes fishing needs a little excitement."

Absorbed in the excitement, Shiro chuckled and said something she shouldn't have. "He's been inspired by the Dominator."

Chuck frowned. "The what now?"

"Nothing," Shiro said quickly, her expression suddenly innocent.

Deciding not to push his luck and storing it away for later, Chuck turned back to Guldrin, who was now preparing for another demonstration. This time, he aimed at a stack of old tires. With a flick of the wrist, the line shot out, wrapping around one of the tires. He pressed a different button, and the taser function activated again. Sparks danced along the line as the tire wobbled, then toppled over dramatically.

Morgan let out a low whistle. "Man, this thing could totally take down a velociraptor."

Chuck groaned while rubbing his eyebrows. "Why is that your metric for everything?" He said all while inching further away, cautiously asking, "Okay, we've seen it works. Great. Amazing. Can we stop now before someone gets electrocuted?"

"Where's the fun in that?" Guldrin retorted, but he reluctantly set the blade down.

Morgan's eyes sparkled. "Can I try?"

"No," Shiro and Chuck said in unison, but Morgan was already reaching for the sword.

Guldrin, sensing potential chaos, stepped back with a faint grin. "Alright, fine. But don't touch this button." He pointed to a red toggle marked with a lightning bolt symbol. "That's for emergencies."

"Got it," Morgan said, immediately pressing the button. Guldrin watched with amusement as Morgan disregarded his words and touched the button; when given a button to not push, the human mind wanted to push it, and given Morgan's personality, Guldrin knew he would push it when told not to.

The sword roared to life, emitting a deafening crackle as arcs of electricity danced along its length. The wire, still attached to the tire, began whipping around wildly like a live snake. Sparks flew in every direction as the sword vibrated in Morgan's hands.

"TURN IT OFF!" Chuck yelled, ducking behind the nearest car.

"I DON'T KNOW HOW!" Morgan screamed, flailing as the wire wrapped itself around a nearby lawn chair and sent it hurtling across the yard.

Shiro watched the scene with a mix of amusement and mild concern. "This is why we can't have nice things."

Guldrin darted forward, his hands a blur as he wrestled the sword away from Morgan. "You're not supposed to press the red button, you idiot!" he snapped, flipping switches and twisting dials in an attempt to shut it down.

"Not good… Mistakes were made." Guldrin threw the sword as far as he could; which wasn't very far given its odd shape.

The sword, as it flew through the air, however, had other plans. With a final defiant hum, it unleashed a massive jolt of electricity that arced toward the garage's metal siding. The resulting surge caused the lights to flicker, and an ominous sizzling sound filled the air.

And then, everything went dark… Everything, buildings, streetlights, pretty much anything on the grid in the area.

For a moment, there was only silence, broken by Morgan's nervous chuckle. "So... that happened."

Chuck groaned from his hiding spot. "Tell me that didn't just fry the entire grid."

Guldrin, standing amidst the chaos with the now-smoking sword sitting inertly in the pile of tires, muttered, "Okay, maybe it's a little unstable."

Shiro finally broke into laughter, her normally stoic demeanor giving way to genuine amusement. "I told you it was volatile, but no, you said it was ready to be tested, reckless as always," she said, her voice tinged with mirth as she examined his burned hands.

"I prefer the term 'overenthusiastic engineering,'" Guldrin replied, trying to maintain some dignity.

The power flickered back on a few moments later, but no one cared about that; instead, they took in the aftermath, a scorched patch of grass, a melted tire, and Morgan holding what remained of his smoothie cup, now thoroughly melted at the bottom.

Chuck emerged from behind the car, his hair slightly frizzed. "Never. Again," he said, pointing an accusatory finger at Guldrin.

Guldrin grinned, unapologetic. "Oh, come on. Admit it, you're impressed."

Chuck opened his mouth to argue, but Morgan beat him to it. "Can I try it again?" he asked, reaching for the sword.

"NO!" everyone shouted in unison, even Shiro, who was still laughing.

As they packed up for the night, the Fishing Sword MK. 1 sat innocently on the workbench, its blade slightly singed but otherwise intact. Guldrin, undeterred by the evening's fiasco, was already scribbling notes for the MK. 2.

"I'm thinking I could add a laser targeting system," he mused aloud.

Chuck groaned as he put away the hidden cam-recorder he used to capture this experiment, all while talking out loud, "I need a vacation." He knew the briefing at Castle was going to be one to remember, the tech makeover was done, but he knew this mess was far from over.

(Give me your POWER, Please, and Thank You! Leave reviews and comments, they motivate me to continue.)