[img]https://i.imgur.com/4uuThLm.jpg[/img]


[img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/909715047918497815/1037211200871731300/Umbri_banner6.png[/img]


Through the roller door and away from the sun-kissed warmth of Shieldtown. The air here was thick with the scent of steel and dust. Fluorescent lights hung over tables strewn about with all sorts of limbs; hands, arms, fingers, an entire leg. Some resembled little more than bones made of metal. Others were more intricate, layered like muscles, and painted to imitate real human skin. A blacksmith hunched over a grindstone a few metres away, with a tattered apron over his bodysuit, his head of unkempt, ginger mane seeming aglow against the sparks. A heavyset woman walked past him, sighing as she wiped the sweat from her brow. 

[b]“Ugh. Screw Jean, I’m stuck here covering for his ass whilst the Big Man has his hoedown!”[/b] The blacksmith did not divert from his work, his eyes squinting from the sparks. [b]“Why bother? You’ve seen it yourself, Aegis wins every time. Where’s the fun in that?”[/b] he mumbled beneath his overgrown mustache. 

[b]“Hey. Hey, Graham! Where did you put the remote?”[/b] The woman shouted, having bolted over to a nearby, wall-mounted TV. Her voice was positively high with glee. [b]“Didn’t you hear that roar? Oh man, it sounded like Scarhide! We [i]need[/i] to put on the livestream!!”[/b]

The man's gaze flicked over for a second. [b]“I don’t think there’s one this month. Haven’t you heard 'bout what they found at the station?” [/b]

Umbri passed through the lively conversation. To her left were screens that shone with cyan light and looped various texts, spreadsheets, and anatomical charts. And to her right, a series of shelves, displaying all manners of cyberware floating in glass cases, a holograph of a human skull and some text flickering to contextualise their placement and function. Infrared eyes, reinforced eardrums, a replacement frontal lobe… and just over the corner of the shelf, a framed certificate of ethical business and licence, approved by the Texas Medical Board, dated all the way to 2030.

[color=#ffb561][b]“Here we go,”[/b][/color] Ako exhaled as she bent down and helped Umbri to a seat, in front of a table with a flesh-like arm that had been opened up and inlaid with chrome bits. Clicks followed as Ako opened up Umbri's harness, her brows knitting at some straps which had gotten tangled up. [color=#ffb561][b]"Koba! Come over here and help me out." [/b][/color]

A shape sauntered behind the wall, with limbs that reached below his knees. Thick, coarse hair grew around his hands, feet, and an elongated, simian face. He looked between Umbri and Ako, grunted, and lurched over to grab Temujin. The ninja flinched. [color=DC091C][b]"Careful, hey! Watch the spleen!"[/b][/color]

[color=#ffb561][b]“I’ll get you some sweet tea, okay?”[/b][/color] Ako said to Umbri, wiping the blood and sweat off her brow with a cloth. Koba set Temujin on a table across her, his back propped against the wall. The ape-man rapped his knuckles against the ninja's chestplate, then walked away. 

Temujin slowly turned his head towards Umbri. [color=DC091C][b]"I can't believe we actually made it here…"[/b][/color] He hesitated for a moment, then added, [color=DC091C][b]"...Good work. Seriously."[/b][/color] Still begrudging. Still sincere. [color=DC091C][b]"...And thank you. For not leaving me behind."[/b][/color]

Umbri tore her attention away from all of the Chrome surrounding them. To her, it felt like she was stuck in the Chrome equivalent of a meth lab. She pushed it down and gave him a drowsy smile.

[color=#A4303F][b]“Thank you,”[/b][/color] she returned. [color=#A4303F][b]“You saved my life. It might not be a big deal to you, you’re a Rogue and it’s just the job, but it’s - I would have [i]died.[/i] That’s massive. You know, even sharks stay by your side if you free them from a hook.”[/b][/color] She shuffled in slight discomfort, chin dipped. [color=#A4303F][b]“I don’t think I’m done owing you."[/b][/color]

Temujin scoffed. She could hear a smile in his voice. [color=DC091C][b]"That's generous of you. Most people never give it a second thought."[/b][/color] He glanced away, and his voice softened.[color=DC091C][b] "And I never expect them to."[/b][/color] Temujin stared into the distance, reflecting. A corpse slumped against a dark alley. A field of red and dust beneath a foreign sun. [color=DC091C][b]"I did horrible things for Ares. I don't remember them, but I… [i]know [/i]I did."[/b][/color] He scoffed again, more bitter this time. [color=DC091C][b]"I'm not naive. The lives I saved won't make up for those I took, especially…"[/b][/color]

Silence. Any further thoughts he had were stopped in their tracks. Temujin slowly lowered his gaze and shook his head. [color=DC091C][b]"...Hmph." [/b][/color]He buried those thoughts within him, and buried them deep. [color=#A4303F][b]“I have regrets too,”[/b][/color] Umbri said, knowing full well how pathetic an attempt to connect it must’ve sounded without the context she wouldn’t give. Her mistakes hadn’t been the result of being brainwashed by a tyrannical corpo. She glanced around the room of tinkers and tech that had Temujin sorted and asked, [color=#A4303F][b]“So who’s going to fix me?”[/b][/color]

Temujin stiffened. [color=DC091C][b]"I can't give you a name. But Ako knows who to call."[/b][/color] He bowed his head. [color=DC091C][b]"You didn't survive two Threshers, a train full of zombie Rats, and Lockdown for nothing. I promise you that." [/b][/color]

Ako returned shortly with a tray. On it was a sandwich and a glass filled with a honey-coloured, reddish drink. A collage of ice cubes and lemon slices floated near the top. [color=#ffb561][b]"Okay, my great aunt's Southern sweet tea."[/b][/color] She put the tray down and looked at Umbri with furrowed brows and a polite smile. [color=#ffb561][b]"How are you feeling? You must be famished."[/b][/color] 

[color=#A4303F][b]“... Yeah. Thanks.”[/b][/color] She took an unladylike bite of the sandwich and sculled the tea so ferociously it dribbled down her neck. Within seconds she was crunching on the ice. [color=#A4303F][b]“Did you call a doctor?”[/b][/color]

Temujin stared at Umbri, in a shock-still posture of disbelief. Everybody complained about Ako's sweet tea. It was more sweet than tea, yet Umbri downed it as easily as a fish drinks water. Ako gave a hesitant shake of her head. [color=#ffb561][b]"I called Aegis, the Alpha Rogue of Shieldtown."[/b][/color] She narrowed her gaze at the poison glowing in Umbri’s veins. [color=#ffb561][b]“There are loads of talented people in this city - craftsmen, mystics, medicine men… all of them live under the looming shadow of the Threshers everyday. But I wouldn’t trust just anybody to treat a wound that severe.”[/b][/color] Ako gestured to Temujin. [color=#ffb561][b]“Temujin and I, we’re little more than tourists around here. Aegis knows best.”[/b][/color]

Umbri made a face. [color=#A4303F][b]"Or he might call someone else."[/b][/color]

[color=#ffb561][b]"He would!"[/b][/color] Ako agreed with much gusto. [color=#ffb561][b]"But whoever it is will fix ya right up, no doubt about it."[/b][/color] Temujin glanced aside and mumbled,[color=DC091C][b] "Maybe we should have just asked Stake to suck out the poison… if you don't mind looking pale and batty by tomorrow."[/b][/color]

Umbri's neck almost [i]creaked [/i]as she turned back to him.

[color=#A4303F][b]"You son of a bitch,"[/b][/color] she snarled. All the sentimentality from about five minutes ago was dumped in a ditch. [color=#A4303F][b]"You got me to bring you [i]here,[/i] and the best you have for me is some guy who might know a guy?! This was your plan the entire time?! You used me!" [/b][/color]

[color=DC091C][b]"'Used you'?!"[/b][/color] Temujin snapped back. Ako backed off with an [color=#ffb561][b]"Oh geez"[/b][/color]. [color=DC091C][b]"Would you rather I leave you in Northbridge? The doctors there can barely run a bath!" [/b][/color]

[color=#A4303F][b]"Leave me in Northbridge. Leave [i]me [/i]in Northbridge? ON WHAT LEGS?!"[/b][/color]

[color=DC091C][b][i]"Ohh!"[/i][/b][/color] Temujin seethed. His arm stumps waggled in impotent exasperation. [color=DC091C][b]"Ako! AKO!" [/b][/color]

[color=#ffb561][b]"Don't yell at me."[/b][/color]

[color=DC091C][b]"Get me my spare legs, and I'll walk this hoo- this sex worker back to Northbridge RIGHT NOW!"[/b][/color]

Umbri’s jaw dropped. As her lips pursed back together, her anger evened out into a simmer. [color=#A4303F][b]“Ako, is it.”[/b][/color] She addressed her without taking eyes off him.

Temujin's mask was glaring right back at Umbri. Ako raised a timid hand. [color=#ffb561][b]"That's me… Temujin's long-suffering mechanic." [/b][/color]

[color=#A4303F][b]“Is there a room I can get a bath and somewhere to sleep? I want to rest before my hero gets here.”[/b][/color]

Temujin turned up his chin. [color=DC091C][i][b]"Your hero-?!"[/b][/i][/color] Ako straightened up with a smile that reached her eyes. [color=#ffb561][b]"Yeah, of course!"[/b][/color] She beckoned Umbri to follow, eager to separate her and Temujin before things went flying. [color=#ffb561][b]"Sometimes a deadline demands that we pull an all-nighter. We keep a couple of rooms just in case."[/b][/color]

[color=DC091C][b]"Wait!" [/b][/color]Temujin wiggled on the desk. [color=DC091C][b]"Get back here! We weren't done! YOU-!"[/b][/color] The cyber ninja fell forward, face planting off the workbench onto the cold, hard floor with a 'thunk'. He heard Umbri’s laugh bounce around the workshop on her way out. To her that was better than getting a last word in.