Steam chokes the strike lane as the layered drop frame collapses beyond the bay. In the aftermath, the Burnt Egg shudders under forced cool-down alarms and the crackle of failing lights.
Naira Versta Nai stands at the mech threshold, Ash Bringer looming behind her. Broken Leg braces against a service rail, staring into the smoke where Marcus Black Eye waits amid the debris.
Marcus Black eye
You still do not see it. I drew them here on purpose. The Burnt Egg was never the target, it was the trap.
Broken Leg
You baited my shop and my people? If you had a clean reason, you buried it under a lot of wreckage.
Marcus Black eye
The Magos killers were coming for Naira either way. I forced the angle, because I needed her alive long enough to meet the real hunter.
Broken Leg
He is telling the truth, or enough of it to be dangerous.
Marcus lowers the rifle a fraction, not in surrender, but in restraint. Outside, the storm keeps chewing at the ruin, and the Sun Rays array dies down to a hard, warning glow.
The choice settles between the three of them, sharp as a live round, cooperate with Marcus and hunt what is coming, or put him down before he can turn the Burnt Egg into bait again.
“"either way your getting the fuck out of my shop and heading to your base cause you did good by me but i still want ya dead but fair is fair"”
SUCCESS (Fair Agility, rolled +0)
Broken Leg
You dragged us through hell, Marcus. If this is another lie, I will end you.
Marcus Black eye
Maybe. But the drop frame is ash, and the killers still come. I gave you time.
Naira Versta Nai
Time is all I needed. My mech is scarred, not dead.
Broken Leg lowers his weapon by a fraction. Marcus stands in the smoke, unreadable, while the Burnt Egg groans around the three of them.
The shop survived, battered and blackened, and so did Naira. Marcus Black Eye's manipulation left its mark, but the immediate danger had been bought off with blood and wreckage. In the ruined quiet, Naira remained standing with a broken machine and a hard-won breath of peace.