The tram glides out over the darkened campus, the Meridian Kline towers shrinking into a glow behind reinforced glass. Abby sits steady with the evidence drive tucked close, while Arthur faces her from the opposite bench, shoulders tight and hands shaking.
Arthur Blues
The access logs are real, Abby. I did not forge them. But they were tied to my credentials because someone knew my route through the system.
He swallows and looks down at his knees, as if the floor might offer a cleaner answer than her face. The tram rocks softly, metal wheels ticking beneath them.
Arthur Blues
I should have spotted the relay pattern sooner. I keep thinking I gave them a door.
Abby’s bulk fills the seat without crowding it, the drive secure against her body. Outside, the industrial lights thin into long bands of white and amber, sliding past the windows.
Arthur Blues
I can show you the exact handoff chain again, from the first spoofed session to the west tower subnet. If you want, I will walk through every step.
For a moment, the car is only engine hum and breath. Arthur lifts his eyes at last, cautious but open, waiting for Abby to decide whether this is an explanation or the beginning of one.
✓ Quest Accepted
Decide whether Arthur is a liability to the mission
✓ Quest Accepted
Get Arthur to prove his loyalty
“I dont need to see anything Arthur. I just need your word. I want you to be 100% hinest with me when you answer these questions. Do you want to keep working with me? Do you trust that our work is safe and good? And do you really love me like i think you do?”
FAILURE (Good Diplomacy, rolled -2)
Abby Stone
I do not need the details, Arthur. I need your word. Be honest with me. Do you still want to work with me, do you trust that what we are building is safe, and do you love me like I think you do?
The tram hums on, and Arthur goes still under the strip lights. He does not answer fast enough, which says more than his face does.
Arthur Blues
I want to keep working with you. I do trust the work, Abby. I trust the method, the evidence, all of it. I do not trust myself enough right now to pretend I have earned your clean confidence.
He lifts one hand, then lets it fall again, empty. The concession lands hard, but the tablets and files are not the thing he is trying to protect now.
Arthur Blues
And yes, I love you. That part is real. It is also the part that makes me afraid of saying the wrong thing to you and making this worse.
His voice thins on the last words, then steadies. In the window glass, the industrial lights slide past like cold stars. He is not proving innocence, but he is giving her something usable, a plain admission with no technical escape hatch.
Arthur Blues
If you want, ask me one question at a time. I will answer each one, plainly.
“I ask Arthur why he hid the truth”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +1)
Abby lets the silence do the work. The tram shivers over the track, and Arthur looks at her evidence drive instead of the window, as if the moving lights might give him a cleaner answer than he can.
Arthur Blues
I hid it because I was ashamed. I saw my credentials in the logs and I knew what it looked like, but I could not prove, in the moment, that I had not handed someone the door myself.
He swallows, then leans forward with both hands open over his knees, empty and visible. The confession is uglier than a denial, but it is also more precise.
Arthur Blues
I was trying to protect the work from panic, and from you seeing me fall apart before I knew the shape of the breach. That was my mistake.
Abby Stone
The delay was real. So was the confession.
Outside the narrow windows, the Meridian Kline towers shrink into a smeared line of cold light. Inside, the tram keeps its steady hum, and Sera Nadi's intercom patch crackles once, then falls quiet.
Arthur Blues
Ask me the next part. If you keep me on this mission, I will answer first and hide less.
“I keep him close and hear him out”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +1)
Abby shifts closer on the bench, keeping Arthur within arm’s reach as the tram rattles on. The evidence drive stays pinned against her, but her attention settles on his face instead of the towers fading behind them.
Arthur meets that attention without flinching. He sits straighter, then lowers his gaze briefly, like he is choosing every word before he hands it over.
Arthur Blues
I know I am asking for a lot. But I can walk you through every access handoff, every timestamp, every place my badge appears and where it stops making sense.
Arthur Blues
If I am guilty, I want you to see it in the record. If I am not, I want you to see that too.
The tram sways through a brighter stretch of rail. Reflections of both of them slide across the window, layered over the black drop outside.
Arthur Blues
I did hide the first hit from you. Not because I wanted distance, because I was afraid of what panic would do to us, and to the trail.
Arthur Blues
That was cowardly. But I am still here, Abby. Tell me what you want to know, and I will answer it plainly.
“All i want is you to help me send whoever trued steaking our wirk to prison for a long, long time. Then i will trust you with resuming our mission”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +1)
Abby Stone
All I want is your help putting whoever stole from us in prison for a long, long time. Then I can trust you with the mission again.
Arthur goes still, then nods once as the tram hums under them. The tower lights thin in the window, replaced by open rail and a colder dark.
Arthur Blues
Yes. I will help. I will give you every log, every route, every name I can prove, and I will testify if that is what it takes.
Arthur Blues
I earn this by staying honest, even if it hurts.
He reaches slowly into his pocket, then stops and holds both hands visible instead, choosing words over motion.
Arthur Blues
If my badge touched the chain, then I want the investigators to see the full path. If someone used me, I want that exposed too.
A soft chirp cuts through the tram speaker, Sera Nadi’s intercom confirming their route in a crisp burst of static before fading back to rail noise.
Arthur Blues
That is not trust yet. But it is a start, and I am here for the work, and for you.