The shuttered kiosk crouches beneath Transit Exchange Seven, its dead advertisements reflecting rain and broken neon. Routine cameras sweep past, blind to the insulated service alcove inside.
Euran keeps his back to the wall, tool case at his boots. His prototype hand rests beneath the kiosk’s dim counter while distant transit machinery vibrates through the floor.
Euran Cross
Mara’s still holding the arena, and we’re the ones walking into the cell’s meeting. I keep thinking that should bother me more than it does.
Euran Cross
This hand, the warnings, the jobs that vanished before they turned dangerous. How did you know exactly what I’d need, Selene?
He flexes the replacement fingers. Their quiet response contrasts with the old servos’ whine, and his grey eye tracks the kiosk’s narrow entrance whenever footsteps pass outside.
Euran Cross
Why does danger keep bending away from me? Don’t give me another clean answer. I can handle the truth, even if it makes the next few minutes harder.
A maintenance display flickers: fourteen minutes until the cleanup cell’s scheduled convergence. Beyond the kiosk, cameras continue their sweep while Euran waits, leaving the silence to Selene.
✓ Quest Accepted
Explain the concealed warnings and planning to Euran
“Ever heard the phrase don’t look a gift horse in the mouth?”
SUCCESS (Great Willpower, rolled +3)
Selene Nyx
Ever heard the phrase, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth?
The phrase settles between them, light enough to pass as shopkeeper banter. Euran’s grey eye studies her for another second, then the tension leaves his shoulders.
Euran Cross
I’ve heard it. Usually from people handing me something expensive and hoping I won’t ask where it came from.
He taps the kiosk counter once, accepting the deflection instead of pursuing it. His prototype hand catches a maintenance signal buried beneath the display static.
Euran Cross
There. The cell’s meeting point has a service entrance under platform three. No camera coverage, according to the transit grid.
The maintenance display updates without an alarm, revealing a direct path into the exchange and a clean exit through an archived freight corridor. The route is already open.
“Does Euran suspect I prepared the hand for him?”
YES (Likely, rolled 49)
Euran’s attention stays on the prototype hand instead of the service route. The maintenance signal reflects across its matte housing, outlining measurements only someone familiar with his failures would have chosen.
Euran Cross
You didn’t build this after my hand failed. You built it before. You knew what was coming, or you were preparing for me specifically.
He turns the wrist joint beneath the kiosk light, checking the neural port, actuator spacing, and grip response. Each detail confirms the suspicion he has been carrying since the repair bay.
Euran Cross
The fit is too exact. My old repair logs could explain some of it, but not the reserve cell, the calibration profile, or the way it compensates for my bad habits.
A train rolls somewhere above them, shaking dust from the service ceiling. Euran does not reach for his tool case. He keeps looking at Selene, wary but not betrayed.
Euran Cross
I’m not asking whether you meant to help me. You did. I’m asking how long you’ve been getting ready for the moment I’d need it.
Euran Cross
She prepared this for me. The question is whether she planned around danger, or around me.
“Does Euran suspect I prepared the hand for him?”
NO (VeryLikely, rolled 92)
Euran studies the prototype’s measurements, but the conclusion stops short of Selene. He suspects foresight, access, perhaps stolen bureau data, not that she built the hand for him personally.
Euran Cross
You had a source. Someone gave you the parameters, or you pulled them from a system nobody knew was watching.
His gaze shifts to the maintenance display, where the service route pulses beneath platform three. The hand remains evidence, but not yet evidence of her private preparation.
Euran Cross
That is the part I can explain. A bureau leak, a compromised clinic, a favor from somebody with access. Ugly, but possible.
The train’s vibration fades. Euran finally lifts the tool case, leaving the prototype secured beneath his sleeve and the deeper question unresolved.
Euran Cross
She knew what I would need. That does not mean she was waiting for me specifically.
Euran Cross
We can dissect the hand later. Right now, Director Vey has fourteen minutes to disappear, and I want to meet him before he does.
“I ask Euran to help stage a quiet approach”
SUCCESS (Fair Reasoning, rolled +2)
Selene Nyx
Help me stage a quiet approach. We use the service entrance, keep the cameras blind, and reach platform three without announcing ourselves.
Euran Cross
Good. You take the cameras, I take the route. No heroics, no sudden noise, and nobody gets a clean shot at us.
Euran opens the tool case and removes two compact signal shunts, a fiber probe, and a folded transit schematic. He works quickly beneath the kiosk counter.
Euran Cross
The maintenance grid gives us eight seconds between camera sweeps. Your timing gets us through the blind spots, and I can keep the service lock quiet.
Selene links her interface to the kiosk’s insulated maintenance port. Camera feeds flatten into harmless loops while the service entrance beneath platform three unlocks without an alert.
Euran Cross
There. We’re inside the route, and the exchange still thinks the corridor is empty. Stay close, and let the city make the noise for us.
They slip through the service entrance as a train thunders overhead. Euran seals the panel behind them, and the dark corridor carries them toward Vey’s meeting unseen.