The transit car settles into a steady hum, the tunnel light sliding in soft bands across bent metal and tired faces. For the first time in a while, nobody is running.
Nahuli angles the data shard under his scanner, its surface throwing back thin blue lines. The readout flickers, but it stays stable.
Serafina
You look almost peaceful when you are buried in a puzzle.
Nahuli
Give him a minute. He earned it.
Serafina leans against the bulkhead, one hand still near the rear monitor out of habit. Zoya keeps watching the dark track behind them, but her shoulders are no longer locked tight.
Serafina
If you want the truth, I did not help just to be noble. I needed out, and you were better at making exits than anyone I have met.
Nahuli
That is the most honest thing you have said since we met.
Serafina gives a small, dry smile, then looks back to Nahuli. The car keeps gliding forward, quiet enough to hear the cooling fans and the faint rattle of the rails.
“"Its nice not to be chased for once. While you two may be used to fighting, I prefer to avoid it." Now that things have calmed down, I can take a good look at my scorched arm and try to repair my augments. "This was supposed to be a simple recovery mission. Now, we are gods knows where and my people are probably looking for me."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Engineering, rolled +1)
Nahuli folds his scorched arm closer to the light and works the casing open with careful taps of his multi-tool. The transit car hums on, a soft metal lullaby against the tunnel’s darkness.
His scanner catches a warped contact and a heat-stressed relay. He resets the timing, reroutes the charge path, and the error spikes vanish from the readout.
Serafina
That looks cleaner than it has any right to.
The last burned seam seals with a tiny click. Under the soot, the augmentation’s surface sits smooth again, with one fresh diagnostic line lighting green.
Nahuli
Simple recovery mission, yes. Simple is what stations say when they want you dead without paperwork.
Serafina
Your people, wherever they are, picked a stubborn engineer to lose.
Serafina pushes off the bulkhead and glances toward the dim front of the car. The tunnel keeps sliding past, indifferent and unwelcoming, while the repaired augment quietly purrs against Nahuli’s arm.