The catwalk gives under their weight with a tired metallic groan, then settles. Below, the riverfront yard sits still, all rust, dim sodium light, and stacked steel.
Mara turns from the railing. For once, her face is not sharpened for command. It is open, unsure, almost shy.
Mara
When this is over, do you really think we can have something normal? Away from all of it?
She glances toward the tower base, then back to Buster, waiting without armor. The question lands in the cold air between them like a careful hand offered first.
Buster Jones
The tower is still there, but the chase has finally gone quiet.
A faint breeze moves through the grating, carrying river damp and the smell of oil. Mara folds her arms tight, then lets them loosen, trusting the silence enough to stand in it.
Mara
I am trying to believe in a life that is just ours. A door that closes. A table. No handlers. No masks.
She shifts a half step closer, giving Buster space to answer or simply stay beside her while the catwalk holds steady under a rare, gentle pause.
“I answer Mara honestly”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +2)
Buster lets the quiet sit a beat longer than the wind. When he answers, his voice is steady, plain, and warm at the edges. Normal is possible, if they keep choosing it, one day at a time, with no one else in the room telling them who to be.
Mara
That is more hopeful than I expected. I think I needed to hear it from you.
Mara lowers her gaze, then reaches out and touches the folded note she once set between them, as if checking that the truth is still there. The grated floor hums faintly underfoot, but the catwalk holds.
Mara
I do not want a perfect life. I want a real one, where I am not useful to somebody else every hour of the day.
Buster answers by staying where he is, close enough to be present, far enough to leave her room. His injured hand rests easy at his side, no longer guarding for the moment.
Mara
Then maybe we start small. A door that locks. Food on the table. A place where my name is mine.
Below them, the yard remains dim and distant, the tower base waiting in silence. Mara looks back to Buster with a fragile, genuine relief, and for the first time the question is not whether they can survive together, but whether they will choose to keep building.
“I go down to the tower base”
SUCCESS (Legendary Athletics, rolled +0)
Buster steps to the catwalk edge and lowers himself to the ladder rung beneath it. The metal complains under his weight, but his grip stays sure.
He climbs down in controlled, heavy motions, keeping one shoulder toward the tower and one eye on the yard below. The river wind tugs at his injured hand, but he does not slow.
Mara remains above, watching him descend with one hand still on the folded note. Her relief tightens into alert caution as the catwalk sways behind her.
Buster Jones
The base is directly below the catwalk.
Buster reaches the concrete platform at the tower's foot and steps off the ladder. He lands solidly, the old service access and bolted wall panels looming in front of him.
Mara
I see you. I am coming down too, unless you want me to stay above and watch the yard.
The tower base is now under him, cold and close, while the catwalk hangs overhead like a narrow promise. Somewhere beyond the barricade, the hunters stay cut off, but the route forward is open and waiting.
Quest Complete
Reach the radio tower base
New Gift: Signal Scout