The Burnt Egg shudders under the storm. The sealed blast door glows with rainlight, and the rear spine alarm keeps hammering the shop like a warning drum.
Broken Leg
If that spine cooks, we lose the Ash Bringer before the next sortie. Say the word, Naira, I keep working or I put the wrench in the door.
Marcus Black eye waits beyond the glass, broad shoulders squared, rifle-sized patience behind his silhouette. He lifts one hand, slow and deliberate, asking for entry without taking it.
Marcus Black eye
I came to talk, Naira Versta Nai. Open the door, or tell me through it. Either way, the war is already here.
The security panel blinks red. Inside, the cooling manifold holds for the moment, but every pulse from the rear spine says time is bleeding away.
Naira Versta Nai
The shop can hold one more problem, maybe not two.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure the Burnt Egg’s perimeter
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify Marcus Black eye
“i have broken leg work on my baby as i open the door look black eye in his eyes bluntly stating "i used to you trying to kill me why aren't ya in the behemoth of a mech with it's building sized sniper killing me from a city over?"”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled +0)
Naira swings the blast door control with one hand while the other keeps Broken Leg at work, and the seal groans up a crack to admit the storm's cold glare. Rain hisses against the threshold.
Broken Leg
I can keep the brace seated while you deal with him. Don't let him use that calm voice on you.
Broken Leg leans back into the Ash Bringer's rear spine housing, wrench biting metal, his shoulders moving fast and careful as the alarm keeps stuttering overhead.
Naira Versta Nai
I used to you trying to kill me, so why aren't you in that behemoth of a mech with a city-sized sniper trying to punch through me from miles out?
Marcus Black eye
Because if I wanted you dead, Naira Versta Nai, you'd already be a memory. I came alone, and I came walking.
Marcus keeps his rifle lowered outside the opening, rain running off the barrel, his stance steady but empty-handed of any move to force the issue.
Marcus Black eye
You really think I'd bring a siege frame to a door this small just to talk? Open it farther, or keep it there and hear me anyway.
Quest Complete
Identify Marcus Black eye
“looking at him i open it all the way saying "some jackass pissed you off royally if your here for any reason last i checked our spats cost this planet a city"”
SUCCESS (Fair Strength, rolled +0)
Naira hauls the blast door the rest of the way open. The seal grinds, then gives, and cold rainlight spills across the shop floor as her words land sharp in the threshold space.
Naira Versta Nai
Some jackass had to have pissed you off royally if you are here for any reason. Last I checked, our spats cost this planet a city.
Marcus Black eye
That is exactly why I am here. Cities are expensive, Naira Versta Nai. I am not looking to add another one to the ledger.
Marcus Black eye
I came because the next fight will not be clean, and I would rather face it with the woman who knows how machines die than pretend we still have time to hate each other.
Broken Leg
And I would rather you finish this conversation fast, because the rear spine alarm is still whining at me like it wants attention.
Marcus Black eye
He lets the rifle hang low and still, rain running off the barrel, then holds Naira's gaze like he expects the answer to cost more than pride.
The doorway stands fully open now, storm air curling around Marcus's boots and the shop's threshold. Broken Leg keeps wrenching inside the frame, while the spine alarm stutters on, waiting for somebody to choose whether this meeting becomes help or a trespass.
“i let him watch i hurry to fic my favorite child cursing the time wasted already i stop curst to have broken leg talk with black eye while i work”
SUCCESS (Legendary Mechanics, rolled +1)
Naira turns from the threshold and goes straight to the Ash Bringer’s rear spine, tools flashing in the rainlit dark. Broken Leg shifts half a step back to give her room, but keeps his hands in the repair bay, ready to follow her lead instead of Marcus’s voice.
Naira Versta Nai
The spine brace took the hit, not the whole assembly.
Her hands seat the brace, lock the coupling, and kill the worst of the chatter in the alarm. The stutter drops to a ragged, steadier pulse, still angry, but no longer screaming.
Broken Leg
Good. Keep that line steady, I can finish the rest from here.
Marcus stays at the open doorway, rifle lowered, rain tracking off his coat. He does not step in, but he also does not leave, and the whole shop feels the weight of that choice.
Marcus Black eye
I will wait where you put me, Naira Versta Nai. But if the perimeter is still open, every minute costs you.
Broken Leg looks up from the spine housing, then toward the door, wrench paused in one hand. He does not answer Marcus, he waits for Naira to decide whether the conversation stays outside or the shop does.
“"the use your fucken mech and watch it black eye you aren't and won't be the only fucker after me so if you're here on good terms the use your monster to keep my perimeter secure as fix my favorite child" i put everything i have into fix it best i can”
SUCCESS (Legendary Engineering, rolled +2)
Naira seals the housing cleanly, the last click of the brace cutting the alarm down to a hard, dependable pulse. The spine plate sits true now, no wobble in it, no fresh chatter in the machine.
Naira Versta Nai
Use your mech. Guard the perimeter while I finish fixing my favorite child.
Marcus Black eye
Done. I move where the line needs me.
Marcus steps off the threshold at once, rifle coming up into a ready carry as he takes the outer approach under the rain. The open blast door still drinks stormlight, but his presence shifts from request to cover.
Broken Leg
That does it, Naira. Spine’s holding. I can lock the rest if you want me on the bay.
Broken Leg tightens the final fasteners, then checks the seam with a quick nod. Inside the Burnt Egg, the rear spine is repaired, the perimeter has a watcher, and the shop settles into a tense, workable hush.
Quest Complete
Secure the Burnt Egg’s perimeter
Attribute Upgrade: Strength Fair→Good