The rented maintenance room above the shuttered laundromat smells of detergent, hot circuitry, and rain. Below, dead machines sit behind a locked metal grille; no pursuit follows them.
Euran sets the prototype hand on a stained workbench, then checks the narrow window overlooking the empty service alley. Mara remains behind at the arena perimeter, holding the line.
Euran Cross
We got clear. Mara has the archive. The investigators will want statements soon, but for one minute, nobody is shooting at us.
A secure municipal channel waits unopened on the room’s terminal, its blue indicator pulsing beside a sealed recorder. Euran leaves it untouched and turns back to Selene.
Euran Cross
How long have you been preparing for me specifically? Not the bureau, not the danger. Me. The hand was ready before I knew I needed it.
Euran Cross
She keeps saving me before I understand there is anything to survive. I need an answer I can trust, even if it changes everything.
Rain ticks against the vent housing. The prototype’s fingers rest open beneath the harsh work light, while the municipal channel continues waiting for Selene’s response.
“Answer me first.. you saw me.. I killed those two men. Did I.. scare you? Do you think any less of me?”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -1)
Selene Nyx
Answer me first. You saw me. I killed those two men. Did I scare you? Do you think any less of me?
Euran stays quiet beneath the work light. Rain ticks against the vent, and his repaired hand rests open on the bench between them.
Euran Cross
Yes. For a second, you scared me. Not because you could do it, but because you did it without hesitation.
Euran Cross
I do not think less of you, Selene. I think I finally understand that the danger around me was never the only danger in the room.
He steps closer, stopping with space between them. His gaze does not leave hers, and there is no accusation in it, only the weight of an answer he refuses to soften.
Euran Cross
They chose what they were doing. You made sure they could not do it again. I can live with that, even if I need time to understand you.
Euran Cross
You protected me. That matters more than whether I find the way you did it comfortable. And no, I am not walking away.
“You remember the first time me met don’t you? I had just been stabbed in the back by another.. coworker. The botched my job and rigged it to look like I was the mastermind. I was going to do down hard.. so I.. hyped my self up on injections.. and I.. cleared my traitors out.. my mind was.. so close to going.. I almost.. *I sigh unable to finish.* So I was hiding out in a random abandoned building.. and your drunk as stumbled in.. thinking I was a fixer so I. Do what I always do..”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +0)
Selene Nyx
You remember the first time we met, don’t you? Another coworker stabbed me in the back, botched my job, and rigged it to make me look like the mastermind.
The room’s circuitry hums beneath the rain. Euran’s expression tightens as he listens, his attention fixed on Selene instead of the waiting municipal channel.
Selene Nyx
I was going down hard, so I loaded myself with injections and cleared my traitors out. My mind was so close to going... I almost...
Selene’s account breaks off with a sigh. The prototype hand remains open on the workbench, its fingers catching the harsh light between them.
Selene Nyx
I hid in a random abandoned building. Then you stumbled in drunk, thinking I was a fixer. So I did what I always do.
Euran Cross
You helped me. Even then. You were carrying all of that, and you still saw a problem you could fix.
Euran Cross
I remember the building, the bad lights, and you looking like you hadn’t slept in days. I thought I’d found a fixer. I didn’t understand what I’d walked into.
“You don’t understand.. I.. You.. *Damn it I can say it. You give me purpose? You showed me that not everyone is a bad person after I started watching you.. oh now he can’t know that. I can express what my heart truly feels or if he’s interrupt my truth the same why. So instead I grab him and kiss him.*”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -1)
Selene Nyx
You don’t understand. I... you...
Selene catches Euran by the front of his shirt and pulls him across the narrow space. Before explanation can fracture further, she kisses him.
Euran Cross
Selene is kissing me. After everything, this is what she was trying to say.
For one stunned second, Euran remains motionless. Then his hand settles carefully at her shoulder, not pushing her away, while rain and circuitry fill the silence around them.
Euran Cross
Selene...
He draws back only far enough to see her face, his expression shaken but open. The municipal channel continues pulsing beside them, forgotten for the moment.
Euran Cross
I don’t know what you were trying to tell me. But I know that wasn’t nothing.
“*I pull back embarrassment flushing my cheeks. Damn he broke me. That not. Do Euran have any feelings for me?*”
Selene pulls back, embarrassment flushing across her cheeks. The space between them returns, narrow and charged, while the municipal channel pulses unheard beside the workbench.
Euran Cross
She thinks I might regret it. I do not. I am only afraid of answering her carelessly.
Euran Cross
Hey. Don’t disappear on me now. I’m still here.
Euran lowers his hand from her shoulder but does not retreat. His repaired fingers flex once, as if the new hand needs somewhere to put its uncertainty.
Euran Cross
Do I have feelings for you? Yes. I have for a while, I think. I just kept calling it trust because that was easier.
Euran Cross
You make me feel protected, challenged, and understood. That is not nothing, Selene. It is more than I know how to name tonight.
The answer settles between them without demanding anything further. Rain threads down the window, and Euran leaves the next move entirely to her.
“*Oh no she made her move it’s his turn. She looks deeply into his eyes. Feeling hesitant to try again.*”
Selene holds Euran’s gaze, close enough to feel the warmth between them but not closing the distance again. Rainlight trembles across his face.
Selene Nyx
His eyes stay on me.
Euran reads the hesitation in her stillness. His expression softens, and he shifts nearer without touching her, leaving the choice where she placed it.
Euran Cross
You don’t have to prove anything else tonight. I understood the kiss.
The municipal channel pulses again beside the workbench, blue light washing over the prototype hand. Neither of them looks toward it.
Euran Cross
And I’m not asking you to explain every locked door at once. Just don’t lock me outside it.
He offers his hand, the repaired fingers open and careful between them. The gesture carries no demand, only an invitation to remain.
“I’m a burned agent.. Euran. I should be dead.. I should have died.. that night. My job was my everything. I had no friends no lovers.. nothing family.. then you came in.. stumbling and bleeding asking for help.. and you talked to me like I was a person and not a mindless killing droid.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +0)
Selene Nyx
I’m a burned agent, Euran. I should be dead. I should have died that night.
Selene Nyx
My job was my everything. I had no friends, no lovers, no family. Nothing outside the work.
The confession leaves Selene exposed beneath the harsh work light. Euran’s offered hand remains between them, open and unmoving.
Selene Nyx
Then you came in, stumbling and bleeding, asking for help. You talked to me like I was a person, not a mindless killing droid.
Euran’s expression changes as the memory settles into place: the abandoned building, the bad lights, and a stranger who still chose to help him.
Euran Cross
I didn’t know what you were. I only knew you were hurt, and you helped me anyway. I’m sorry you had to survive all of that alone.
Euran Cross
But you’re a person, Selene. You were then, and you are now. Whatever the bureau made you do, it doesn’t get to decide what you are to me.
“No.. I was a weapons development agent.. and I did make your hand.. and I developed that military grade weapons that cyber psycho used.. that’s how I knew how to shit it down so quickly.. because I created it.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +1)
Selene Nyx
No. I was a weapons development agent. I should be dead. I made your hand, and I created the military-grade weapon that turned that operator into a cyberpsycho. That’s how I knew how to shut it down so quickly.
The confession strips the last disguise from the room. Rain ticks against the window while the prototype hand rests between them, proof of the work she kept hidden.
Euran Cross
You built the hand. You built the weapon. And when it went loose in that arena, you knew exactly where to cut it down.
Euran Cross
The person who kept saving me helped design the thing that nearly made me another disposable casualty.
Euran looks from Selene to the hand, then toward the sealed municipal recorder. His shock hardens into focus, but he does not withdraw the offered hand.
Euran Cross
Did you create the lattice knowing what it would do to people? Or did they turn your work into that after they took it from you?
Euran Cross
I need the truth, Selene. Not because I’m walking away. Because if Sorn still has copies, we need to know exactly what we’re dismantling.
“That’s they thing.. that weapon is how they framed me.. they must’ve found its pieces after I destroyed in my suicide mission to kill everyone that betrayed me.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +3)
Selene Nyx
That’s the thing. That weapon is how they framed me. They must have found its pieces after I destroyed them during my suicide mission to kill everyone who betrayed me.
The words settle over the rented room. Rain ticks against the glass as Euran’s gaze fixes on Selene, then drops to the prototype hand between them.
Euran Cross
You destroyed the weapon, and they rebuilt the frame from what was left. They turned your failed operation into their proof, then made me part of the cover story.
Euran Cross
She was trying to erase the people who betrayed her. They found the wreckage and used it to bury her instead.
The sealed recorder activates as the municipal channel recognizes Selene’s confession. A forensic index unfolds across the terminal, matching the weapon’s surviving fragments to Director Sorn’s authorization trail.
Euran Cross
That index gives us more than your history. It gives us the chain of custody. Sorn’s copies, the recovery team, and the evidence they planted are all connected.
Euran Cross
You were framed with your own work. Now we can dismantle the frame and make the bureau answer for every piece of it.
✓ Quest Accepted
Expose the bureau’s frame using the weapon’s chain of custody
“You know. This is very dangerous.. and not to underestimate you but.. it was a suicide mission for me before. I can see this through to the end.. but what I can’t see.. what I refuse to see is you getting hurt because of me.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +1)
Selene Nyx
You know this is dangerous. I can see it through to the end, but I refuse to see you get hurt because of me.
The confession leaves no room for the fixer’s usual deflection. Rain shivers across the window while the forensic index continues mapping Sorn’s chain of custody.
Euran Cross
You don’t get to decide that my life is safer without me in it. I understand the risk, Selene. I’m choosing to stay.
Euran closes the distance and places his repaired hand beside the prototype, palm open. The gesture is careful, but his voice carries no uncertainty.
Euran Cross
You were alone when they betrayed you. You aren’t alone now. If we dismantle this, we do it together, and we protect each other.
Euran Cross
I won’t pretend your past is harmless. But I won’t let Sorn use it to make you carry the whole war by yourself.
The recorder seals Selene’s confession beside the recovered authorization trail. On the terminal, Director Sorn’s name becomes the next actionable target, no longer hidden behind her ruined mission.
“If you take my confession and make it known.. there will be no hiding for me. And you implicate yourself with me by coming with me. You said you know the risk but do you really? I am dangerous. I am a liability with everything I know. If they know I’m alive either we will be hunted down.. or they will use you to force me to work again.. because if it wasn’t for you.. I would have gone cyberpsyco. You save my life the day you entered it. And for that.. I would give you everything.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -1)
Selene Nyx
If you take my confession public, there will be no hiding for me. Coming with me implicates you too. Do you really understand the risk?
Selene Nyx
I am dangerous, Euran. I am a liability with everything I know. If they learn I’m alive, they will hunt us, or use you to force me back to work.
The recorder’s blue indicator holds steady, preserving every word. Rain crawls down the window as the forensic index binds Selene’s confession to Sorn’s chain of custody.
Selene Nyx
If it wasn’t for you, I would have gone cyberpsycho. You saved my life the day you entered it. For that, I would give you everything.
Euran Cross
I understand that they can hunt me, threaten me, and use me against you. I understand you may be the most dangerous person in this room.
Euran takes the sealed recorder and places it beside the prototype hand. His repaired fingers close around its edge, steady despite the weight of the choice.
Euran Cross
I’m still here. You saved my life too, Selene. I’m not handing you back to them, and I’m not letting fear decide what you mean to me.
Quest Complete
Explain the concealed warnings and planning to Euran
Skill Upgrade: Persuasion Mediocre