"Alright...."
Void sank into the black leather with a slow exhale, a cup of cheap wine in hand. It wasn't fancy. It wasn't meant to be. It was just enough warmth to take the edge off the headache that came the moment he'd stepped inside the workshop.
Across from him, Marcus Ren lounged like he owned the place. Boots up on the low table, arm draped along the back of the couch, grin still stuck to his face like the crash hadn't happened at all.
Pahanin sat between them. His own cup rested loose in his hand, posture easy, expression unreadable, like this was just another evening of cards and bad decisions. Perhaps it really was.
Across them, Kaviss surveyed the man-shaped hole in the workshop's wall, a broom clutched in one hand, a duster in the other. He swept the workshop floors. Not lazily. Not casually. Diligently. Like the rubble had personally offended him.
He clicked his mandibles in sharp, unhappy bursts, another pair of his hands lifting heavy chunks of broken stone and tossing them aside with a grunt.
Kaviss paused once, stared at the hole, then clicked again like he was swearing in his own language.
Void watched him for a second, then slowly turned his gaze to Marcus.
"Explain."
Marcus laughed. "Bro, first of all. Your guy," he said, pointing his cup vaguely toward Pahanin, "is insane."
Marcus leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "I show up, right. I'm thinking its gonna be a boring lab geek. Instead, I find this silver dude and that angry Eliksni," he nodded at Kaviss, "and you know what they're doing?"
Void didn't blink. "Planning on breaking my walls?"
"Building a jetpack," Marcus corrected, proud. "Like, a real one. Not the clunky small burst, Titan stuff."
Void's eyes narrowed. "And you thought the best way to test it was to dive face-first into my walls?"
Marcus grinned. "Okay. So. We start talking, right? I'm telling him about my new sparrow engines, Kaviss is mumbling something stupid about 'weight distribution'"
Kaviss clicked his mandibles again, but Marcus kept going anyway. "And then Pahanin shows me the manoeuvring. The way it angles. The way the thrust is supposed to cut sideways without spinning you into a crater. And we're like, alright, cool. Tests on droids are fine. But droids aren't gonna fly that thing."
Void's stare sharpened. "So you volunteered and crashed into the walls?"
Marcus pointed at him. "Exactly."
Void shifted his gaze to Pahanin, slow and deadly.
Pahanin raised a shoulder in a shrug. "It's hard to find volunteers."
Void stared at him, moments away from throwing his cup.
Pahanin continued, completely calm. "And since you weren't participating, I was grateful someone did."
Void made a low sound in his throat that wasn't quite a laugh and wasn't quite a growl. He leaned back, wine sloshing a little in the cup.
"Why didn't you test it yourself?" Void asked, voice flat.
Pahanin turned his head and looked at Void like he'd asked him to walk into Hellmouth naked.
"It's dangerous," Pahanin said simply.
Void's jaw twitched. "So it's dangerous for you, but not for him."
Pahanin didn't even blink. "He volunteered."
Marcus lifted his cup like it was a toast. "I'm built different."
Void stared at him for a long second.
Then he let his gaze drift past Marcus, to the wall, to the smoking edges of the impact, to the pile of rubble Kaviss was still sweeping.
Void exhaled. "Okay, that's fine. That's...completely fine," he said, forcing himself to be calm. "Next question."
Pahanin hummed, his eyes narrowed instinctively, like he was prepared to defend himself again.
Void pointed at the hole. "Why is it always that wall?"
Marcus's grin returned full force.
Pahanin sighed and clicked his tongue, as if Void had made a rookie mistake. "Because the point of the jetpack is manoeuvrability."
Void's eyes narrowed. "Go on."
"If the user can't even avoid a wall," Pahanin said, "they can't use it in the air. They can't use it in a fight. They can't use it anywhere that matters. The wall is a test."
Void stared at him. "My wall."
Pahanin nodded once, like that was irrelevant. "A wall."
Void leaned back again and rubbed his forehead with two fingers. The headache pulsed behind his eyes, steady and familiar.
He looked at Marcus. "You owe me a wall."
Marcus shrugged, unbothered. "I'll pay you back in results."
Void stared him down, then decided he was going to snap if he kept talking about jetpacks.
So he shifted.
"Did either of you at least talk about the network project?" Void asked.
The moment the words landed, Marcus's whole mood changed. His grin turned sharp, like he'd been waiting for this question.
His eyes actually sparkled.
"Oh," Marcus said, leaning forward again. "Yeah. I saw it."
Void's tone stayed careful. "And."
Marcus spread his hands. "And you're insane."
Pahanin chuckled quietly into his cup.
Marcus looked between them, excited now. "No, seriously. That ring design. That subspace storage protocol. That's not 'cool tech'. That's a whole new market. That's a whole new power grid. That's… that's you changing the rules."
Void watched him with keen eyes. Despite his shenanigans, he liked the way Marcus' brain worked when he was actually focused. Loud, reckless, but sharp.
Marcus looked at Pahanin then, eyes narrowing like he was measuring him. "Also," he said, "someone like him would've been perfect back in the City network team."
Pahanin lifted a brow with a wry smile. His eyes flickered with a fleeting memory, "Really?"
Marcus nodded emphatically. "Wickedly smart. And annoying enough to argue with everyone until things work."
Pahanin's lips curved, "Shame I couldn't be a part of it."
Void's gaze flicked to Pahanin; he recognised that look. Void cleared his throat, signalling Pahanin to continue.
Pahanin spoke without looking away from his cup. "I showed him a bit of the design. Enough to get the idea across."
Void nodded. "Good."
He took a sip, then set the cup down on the table with a soft clink.
"It's nice that you've gotten the team going. Because I also managed to contact The Stoic," Void said.
Pahanin's eyes lifted.
Marcus's head snapped toward him. "No way."
Void nodded once. "He and his team agreed to join."
For a second, Marcus just stared. Then he let out a sharp laugh, like he couldn't help it. "Okay. Okay, what the hell. You're pulling people out of the ground now. The Stoic? He's been missing for decades. No one even knew where he went."
Void shrugged. "It needed to happen. So I found him."
Marcus leaned back, looking impressed for the first time since he'd crawled out of the rubble. "You must have insane connections."
Kaviss clicked his jaws again as he continued sweeping around the broken walls.
Void took another sip and let the warmth hit his throat before asking what he actually wanted.
"Something like that. I am slowly gathering all the personnel we might need. But I do have one question you could help me answer. Do you know where Wen Jie is?" Void said.
Marcus's grin softened into thought. He repeated the name quietly, like he was searching his memory by sound.
"Wen Jie…" Marcus murmured. He stared at the ceiling for a few seconds, eyes unfocused. "I don't remember much. I remember she was weird."
Marcus lifted a finger before Void could cut in. "Not just weird but like in a smart way. Like she'd say something that sounded pointless, and then three days later you'd realise she was right."
Void watched him, patient.
Marcus exhaled. "But if you want to find her, it'll be hard. She didn't stick around the same circles. She wasn't even the type to stay in the City and take credit."
Void nodded slowly. "So she vanished. Just like the rest of you?"
"Yeah," Marcus said.
Void's eyes stayed steady. "You got any leads?"
Marcus hesitated, then nodded. "I can try. I've still got a few old contacts. People who owe me favours. People who never forgot the network team, even if the City did."
Void's shoulders eased slightly. "Do it."
Marcus raised his cup like a promise. "I'll see what I can find."
Void nodded once, satisfied.
The workshop fell into a quiet rhythm after that. Kaviss kept sweeping. The wine sat warm in their stomachs. The hole in the wall still existed, but for the first time since the Moon, Void felt like the chaos in his life was turning into something useful.
Not peace.
But momentum.
Void leaned back into the couch, eyes half-lidded, and let himself breathe for a moment.
Then he glanced at Pahanin. "Please, fix the wall."
Pahanin smirked. "After I fix the jetpack."
Void stared at him.
Pahanin lifted his cup. "Priorities."
Void groaned again, but this time it sounded almost like a laugh.
-
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