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After the successful campaign against the Fallen King, the main heads of the Threat Defense Strategy (T.D.S) Organization decided to let everyone take some time off and rest easy for a while, as they were certain in their research that the threat levels of the Overworld and the other realms would stabilize because of the Fallen’s defeat. Though most took a break, some high-ranking officials still worked tirelessly on improving security and higher detection for dangers that still lurk.
Once everyone was already debriefed about it, everyone sighed in relief, already retreating to their own habits and hobbies. One such person was Accelerator, who, upon hearing the news, quietly slipped away from the larger-than-life meeting hall and walked back to his room. He really only had one thought while walking from sector to sector, and that’s to not think and rot in bed for once. Well…at least, not before the routine maintenance check he does with his prized energy accelerator.
He entered his room and set down his weapon slowly, before quickly taking all of his armor off and changing into a simple gray hoodie and black pants. He probably should have done this in the armory, considering that his battle equipment was somewhat heavy. He’ll just have to rush it sometime later, he supposes. Accelerator snatched his weapon from the small desk where he put it a minute ago and left his room to head off towards the training.
The training grounds were quiet, and there were hardly any units using it after the debriefing, which was perfect. Accelerator just wanted to test his gun in silence and not have to put up with some of his colleagues talking and riling themselves up. He selected a simulation that consisted of a stationary test dummy and entered it. He got his weapon ready and started charging, until it accumulates enough energy. When he finally releases the energy…
“Aeooooowww..”
The plasma gun suddenly powered down and was unable to keep going. This should not have happened. He checked this just a few days ago and it worked fine! Maybe the maintenance crew wasn’t doing their job properly and broke something in the gun without telling him. Accelerator conjured up a bunch of scenarios in his head before trying to charge it once more, only to fail once the same sound was released.
Tsk, he scoffed. Where would he even get this fixed? Accelerator’s pretty sure the guys working in maintenance are taking a break, so no reason to call them right now. And even if they weren’t, he still didn’t trust them. He had to find some kind of fixer-upper or mechanic to fix this, or he won’t be able to sleep soundly for days without mourning the loss of what he considered his most prized possession. He scoured through the depths of his mind and like the flick of a light switch, he realized that his neighbor could probably help him fix it.
Accelerator exited the simulation, holding his gun with both hands like it was his baby. He sprinted off towards the hallways, exiting the training grounds, and around ten minutes of dashing later, he arrived to his room. That wasn’t his destination, though. It was the room adjacent to it. He moved the weapon to his left hand and was about to knock on the room’s door.
Engineer’s room.
…On second thought, he’ll just return back to his room.
It’s not like he loathes her. Accelerator and Engineer just have different ideals and goals… that clashed with each other. Them constantly arguing when a certain thing is brought up was already a little commonplace to the Hardcore units. Necromancer just goes silent when they talk, Brawler cheers them on, and Hacker tries to silence Brawler but to no avail. Accelerator’s sure it’d be a headache going through the various sectors of the Organization if more people knew. He’s somewhat thankful they’re civilized enough to keep it professional within the battlefield.
But, then again…that’d mean his gun wouldn’t be up-to-date and fixed. And that would mean he wouldn’t get to participate in combat and blast the enemies down. Yeah, there was a break; but he sensed that something big would be coming, and not being able to fight just makes him feel bad. With a heavy sigh and his right hand rubbing his face, he knocked on her door. Three heavy taps.
Somehow, he trusts Engineer enough.
The door opened to Engineer, whose hair and clothing was covered in black oil. She was holding a wrench and screwdriver, wearing some random t-shirt and pants, pretty casual attire like him. He looked in the room and saw a bunch of mechanical parts scattered all around the floor. Everything was messy. Somehow even messier than his cabinets. His focus shifted back to Engineer, who’s just staring at him with a ‘state your purpose within 5 seconds or leave.’ kind of look. Accelerator knows it every time he sees Brawler ask her if she has any more spare parts.
“Fix it,” Accelerator requested, demanded Engineer to do so. He takes off the wrench and screwdriver off her hands and throws it somewhere in her room, before forcefully pushing his weapon towards her.
Engineer narrows her eyes before speaking, and laughing in right in Accelerator’s face. Once she saw his serious and neutral demeanor that he always wore, her expression soured. “…You’re joking. You really knocked on my room for your little energy gun? And threw my tools?!”
“It’s not just a plasma gun, it’s my—” He bit back, before clearing his throat and calming himself down. “…Are you doing this because you can’t admit you can’t fix it?” He meets Engineer’s gaze again.
Engineer looked at him dumbfoundedly. “Of course I could fix it! I just have better things to do with my time instead of fixing your…energy weapon.” She looked at his gun in her hands, before murmuring something. “You wouldn’t even ask me nicely.”
Unfortunately for Engineer, Accelerator has a sharp sense of hearing, so, he responded back. “That’s what you wanted to hear?” He crossed his arms. “Alright. Please, Engineer, my savior, my goddess, would you help me in—“ His spiel was interrupted by Engineer.
“…Okay, that’s enough. Just come inside already.” Engineer ushered him in. Accelerator looked at Engineer, whose ears are now tinged with red and a slight creeping red appeared on her neck. She picked up the tools he threw to the floor of her room before closing the door.
They got to her workdesk and laid his broken weapon down amongst countless blueprints and scrapped mechanics of Engineer’s sentries. She quickly got to work and grabbed her goggles, starting to disassemble Accelerator’s energy gun. The way she was so precise, yet gentle with his gun made him question what she really thought of him.
Accelerator decided to plop down on her bed. The mattress was softer than his own. Then, he started talking to Engineer while she was working. “Do you get a lot of visitors?” He asks her, carefully looking at her room that’s seen better days. There was a picture frame of a younger her holding a sentry, looking so, so happy.
“Am I obliged to answer?” She spoke with an indifferent tone.
“You’re asking as well. Should I answer that?” He talked lazily.
“…”
“Not really. I only remember Brawler 2 months ago begging for scraps. Doesn’t he know there’s a bunch of that after our fights?” She shrugged, before getting a soldering iron ready. She’s already identified the root cause of the problem.
That got a small chuckle out of him. “Don’t blame him. He’s probably tired from jumping around everywhere. The look on his face says it all.”
“Since when did you get so empathetic?” She asked back.
“Never. It’s called being observant.” He answered easily.
The conversation stopped, with the only noise left being the decluttering that Engineer did with his gun. He stood up from the bed and started to investigate the clunks of metal on the floor. Some were neatly cut, and others were rusting. She should really get her stuff cleaned up. Engineer, even through her sharp focus, still heard Accelerator walking around.
“…Why are you checking my stuff?” She paused, before looking back at him, now crouched down to observe the pieces of junk in her room.
“How could someone not when it’s this cluttered? There’s a bunch of oil on these as well,” Accelerator took a small piece from the ground, oil still freshly dripping onto his palm. “My hands are stained.”
Engineer sighed, before looking at Accelerator’s face, still as bland as ever. She took a second to go back and set her equipment before going down to his level to see just how stained his hand was.
“It’s just a small stain. Just use dish soap.” She instructed, before holding his hand, getting more oil on her hand as well. Accelerator flinched at the warmth of her palm mixing with his cold hand. It doesn’t help that he felt her thumb grazing his countless scars from battle, like she was soothing him. He had to keep himself in check to not respond suddenly. Engineer took notice of this.
“Are you okay?” She asked him, looking at his eyes with care and tenderness.
“…Yeah. I’m fine.” He responded, though he avoided her gaze.
Just like that, Engineer went back to her workdesk and kept working on fixing his broken weapon. Accelerator could only sit down on her bed and stare at her, silently watching her tinkering. They didn’t speak after that, the room remaining silent aside from mechanical parts being assembled and junk being touched. Time passes by quickly when you’re concentrated.
Accelerator looked at the gray clock she had in her room. An hour had already passed, with the morning becoming the afternoon. He was about to ask her for a status on his gun, before Engineer threw it at him. He caught it, thankfully.
“It’s fixed now. Most of the problems boiled down to the parts of the weapon being outdated,” Engineer explained calmly, taking off her goggles and attaching it to her t-shirt. “…Were you always sitting on my bed?”
Accelerator shrugged. “Somehow, it’s more comfortable than my own.”
Engineer sighed, adjusting her hair and wiping off a sweatdrop from her forehead. “Just leave.”
“…Okay. Bye.” Accelerator followed her command, standing up from her bed. When he opened the door, he looked back to see Engineer still looking at him through the doorway, like she was waiting for him to say something. She firmly closed the door when she realized after a second or two that no words were going to come out his mouth.
He got back to his room and left the weapon somewhere on his desk again, near his armor beneath that he hadn’t returned to the armory yet. He lied down on his bed and stared at the ceiling above him.
He didn’t thank her.