Chapter 3: Chapter Chapter Two

Wolfgang awoke to find that his limbs, save for his left arm, were missing. He propped himself up against the sofa, then leaned forward and vomited on the floor. Ari rose from his position on the couch and climbed down beside Wolf, dropping his right leg before he started to lick the puddle of puke.

“Oh, don’t eat that bruv…” Wolf’s face scrunched up with disgust as he began to re attach his leg. “That’s rancid.”

“How ya feelin’?” Sabine asked with a smirk as she swung out of her cot and entered the freezer again. She emerged with another carcass and tossed it into the other room, which Ari chased after. “Go get it Ari.”

“Feels like my brain’s going to leak out my ears,” Wolf smirked as he fished around in the cushions of the couch. He pulled out his other arm and began to attach it. “You remember where I put my other leg? Why did I even…”

“Must have been quite a trip. What’s the point if you don’t even remember it?” Sabine tapped the wall to reveal a holographic control panel which she fiddled with for a moment. The light strips began to glow brightly before focusing a beam of light on Wolf’s vomit. When the lasers faded, the puddle was gone.

“It’s about the stories, Sabby, the stories!”

“Ah, yes, how could I forget the stories about you lying comatose in an alleyway, frothing at the mouth.”

“Yeah, it happens once or twice but you know, that’s life…” Wolf responded meekly as he hobbled around looking for his leg. “You were here too, why did I take my leg off?”

“As soon as you zonked out I called Sebille. I’m not going to sit here and watch you twitch about all night.”

A high-pitched shriek shot out of the bedroom as Sebille emerged holding Wolf’s leg. “The fuck is this doing in my bed?!”

“Wasn’t Ari sleeping with you?” Sabine asked Sebille. She was a slender woman, just short of six feet tall. She had flowing blonde hair with streaks of deep blue. Sabine giggled into her hand as Sebille tossed the leg at Wolf. “He must have brought your leg with him.”

“It’s funny, Kiki.” Sebille scowled as she went into the kitchen. “Do we have anything to eat other than that goop?”

“You got a problem with the goop?” Wolf asked as he stumbled to pick up his leg. He quickly attached it to his body and punched the concrete wall. A small panel folded outwards that Wolf began to puke into.

“Yes, it’s disgusting,” Sebille responded harshly before she kissed Sabine. “Good morning.”

“Morning. If you want something Vivian can always make it.”

“Oh, right. I forgot about that,” Sebille walked into the kitchen and began to tap the hologram on the wall. “It’s going to take a while to get used to having an ai.”

“Wait, you’ve got-“ Wolf let out one last dry heave before closing the panel. “You’ve got an ai?”

“Yup, one of the perks of…” Sabine tapped her finger on her lip and looked confused. “Which one should I use? Rich and famous, or close friends with Steiner?”

“Oh right…that virus musta scrambled my brain real good,” Wolf smirked. “I’d completely forgotten you’re a mugen pilot.”

“

mugen pilots,” Sabine corrected and pulled Wolfgang into the kitchen. The kitchen was a small room with a rectangular island in the middle. A silver box sat across from the island and rose from the floor to the ceiling. There was a hole in the front of the box for something to drop onto a platform. “Why did Seb use your middle name, by the way?”

“Our names are so similar; it just makes it a little less confusing.”

“So I can call you Kiki, too?” Wolf joked.

“No!” Sebille screeched.

“Relax, I wouldn’t be able to get used to it anyways,” Wolf replied as Sabine punched the metal box and two sacks of BJE flopped onto the platform. She began to consume one while she tossed the other to Wolfgang. “Steiner make it so you can just punch anything?”

“Yup. She knows me too well,” Sabine giggled before punching the box again. This time a plate with waffles and blueberries fell out.

“You’ve got no augs, right? How’s it know what you want?”

“The facility analyzes my brainwaves.”

“You’re not afraid it’s going to fry your brain?” Wolf smirked as he downed his sludge.

“Can’t be any more harmful than the shit you put in your head.”

“True ’nuff. Whatcha got planned for today?”

“I lied. We’re not going to start training. We’ve got to meet Steiner, then maybe I’ll show you around the facility and you can pick which mugen you want to try out first.”

“Hold up, I get to meet Steiner? You’re serious?”

“You don’t have to come, but I thought she might want to meet the newest member of my crash.”

“Crash is like…a squad?”

“Correct you are. It’s the name we’ve decided to give to groups of mugen. It just kind of…fits.”

“How long have you and Steiner been talking about this?”

“Few months,” Sabine replied as she headed toward the elevator again. “Come on, lets go. I’ll be back tonight, Seb, make yourself at home.”

“I love you.”

“I know,” Sabine blew a kiss as her and Wolf entered the elevator and began to ascend.

“That’s pretty cold.”

“What is.”

“You didn’t say it back.”

“She knows how I feel.”

“It’s nice to hear it sometimes, y’know?”

“It’s hard for me, Wolf. I don’t want it to be just another word. I want it to mean something when I say it.”

“I get it. But some people want it to be just another word, they don’t want that level of commitment.”

“I see.”

“Y’know, this has been bugging me. The teslaguard waved at you. How did…it know?”

“Biometric scan.”

“Right, shoulda known,” Wolf chuckled as the elevator arrived at the hangar.

“Take a look at the mugen while we walk and think about which one you might want to try.”

“Will do,” Wolf responded as the duo strolled out of the hangar and into the open streets. “The morning air smells so much cleaner in the upper district. Barely any smog.”

Sabine stared up at the pitch-black sky as they headed towards the massive pearlescent tower that was Steiner Industries. “Is there anything about the sun on the web?”

“Huh? Why?”

“I’ve always wondered what it might look like.”

“Nope. A few mentions of Shefira, a mechanical replica built by Leinhardt, but no one knows if it actually worked.”

“I wonder if it’s real…”

“Gotta be some truth to it. Who would make up a story like that?”

“Same people that talk about dragons.”

“Don’t get on this shit again, Sabby. Dragons are real!” Wolf exclaimed as they entered the massive structure. Teslaguards lined the walls of the building. Every surface was smooth and white, with holograms and data streams displayed throughout, advertising the latest SI tech. The teslaguards acknowledged Sabine and let the pair pass through to an elevator in the middle of the barren lobby. “Every myth, every legend, it’s gotta start somewhere. Sure, I’ll admit that they might all be dead now, but they existed at some point.”

“I refuse to believe that,” Sabine sternly stated as they stepped into the elevator. As soon as the doors closed, they opened again, revealing Steiner’s office.

“Wait a sec, did we just teleport?!”

“Yeah,” Sabine replied as she stepped out into the room. Wolfgang followed behind her.

“Fuck, I hate teleporting…”

“Why?”

“I don’t like the idea of having my atoms reassembled. Fucks with my head, y’know? Am I still me after that? Yeah, but not really.”

“You’re overthinking it,” Sabine laughed as she casually walked through the room. There was a massive crystal chandelier dangling from the ceiling which provided light to the area. The walls were white, much like the rest of the tower, but with oil paintings hanging off of them. They were self portraits of Steiner, each one seemingly at a different stage of her life. The pair’s shoes echoed throughout the room as they traversed the stone tiles. Steiner’s desk seemed very out of place. A slab of solid stone, lacking any sort of polish. Behind the desk sat Steiner. She wore a dark blue dress that fit her form perfectly with slits in the side to reveal her thighs. Her auburn hair spilled over her shoulders and onto her ample bosom. Her eyes were a piercing cyan, cold and sharp. Steiner’s skin was ghostly pale with a light blue tinge and it appeared as though a thin layer of frost covered her skin.

“Yo…Sabby…You never told me…” Wolf shoved his elbow into Sabine’s side. “Steiner was such a babe!”

“Nice and subtle, as usual,” Sabine put her face in her palm. “Good morning Stein, how are you?”

“This is why I hate men,” Steiner scowled. “I am sorry, that is not fair for me to say. The same thing can happen to women, it is just more common in men. Small talk is useless, I am assuming this is the first member of your crash?”

“Wolfgang,” Wolf extended his hand for a handshake. Steiner stared blankly at it.

“I refuse to touch you,” Wolfgang was beginning to think the scowl was a permanent feature. “Do you think you will be ready for the summer? What about the other two members?”

“Summer’s going to be fine. I can round up some amateurs to fill out the ranks at the Valkyrie.”

“What’s the Valkyrie?” Wolf interrupted.

“Exclusive bar, pilots only.”

“I guess that’s why I’ve never heard of it.”

“Yeah, probably. What do you think, Stein?”

“Does it matter what I think? Would my opinion change your decision at all?”

“Nope,” Sabine smiled. Steiner’s expression softened, if only for a moment, before returning to her usual scowl of disgust.

“Good. That is what I was hoping you would say. You may leave now.”

“Good talk, good talk,” Wolfgang commented. “Catch ya later Stein.”

“Do not speak to me in such a casual manner,” Steiner sneered.

“We still on for tea later?” Sabine inquired as the pair headed back to the elevator.

“Of course, I would not miss it for the world.”

Just like before, as soon as the doors had closed, they opened right back up again, revealing the lobby. The duo hastily exited the building.

“You wanna check out mugens or go to the Valkyrie first?”

“Mugens. Is Steiner always such a bitch?” Wolfgang rubbed the back of his head. Sabine gave him a light jab before responding.

“She’s not that bad, just give her some time to warm up to you, or even better, blow her expectations out of the water.”

“What are her expectations, exactly?”

“Absolutely nothing.”

“Oh…That sounds easy.”

“Yeah.”

The remainder of the trip was quiet, until just before reaching the hangar.

“You know, I did learn one thing from Steiner.”

“What’s that?”

“I didn’t know being talked down to could be so…sexy,” Wolfgang laughed to himself. The pair entered the hangar and Sabine stopped at a panel. She punched it, causing a hologram of a mugen to project from it.

“Browse through these, let me know if you see one you like.”

“Don’t need to, Sabby. Was browsing the whole time,” the hologram flickered for a moment before changing into a smaller mugen that had bladed arms. “This one. I want this one. I want to feel the scrape of steel. That clash of metal!”

“Uragiru, huh?” Sabine started walking and gestured for Wolf to follow. “Not the latest model, but it’ll do. Difficult to wield, but very rewarding if you can master him.

good in the one v one battles we have. His job in a crash would be…”

Sabine stopped to think for a second as they approached Uragiru. “Backline dive. Take out their recon unit, any isolated mugen, avoid team fights at all costs. We don’t win those with Uragiru in the crash. Play the numbers game. Get a pick, overwhelm them.”

“Uragiru…Sounds just like my style,” Wolfgang could barely contain his excitement as he clamoured up the ladder. Uragiru was only about two thirds the size of an average mugen. His frame was much smaller and the body was closer to the ground. “All the mugen I’ve seen are bipedal, are there any quadrupedal mechs?”

“Recon units, yeah, but they’re kind of boring…” Sabine drifted off as she grabbed the latch on the cockpit and lifted it open. “They just sit there and do recon stuff…It’s going to be a tight fit, by the way, these pits are only designed for one person.”

The pair climbed in and closed the cockpit door. Sabine stood while Wolf sat in the pilot’s chair. “I thought we weren’t piloting.”

“We aren’t, just thought I’d let you get a feel for it, show you some of the controls. How is it?”

“If I wasn’t so ’borged out, I doubt I’d be able to keep my hands steady,” Wolfgang laughed.

The cockpit was glowing dimly. Buttons and latches and levers and switches were everywhere except the panels that made up the front of the pit. Sabine flipped open a clear plastic protector and pulled out a small syringe.

“I don’t know where you’d jam it in but…somewhere that’ll produce blood.”

“Fuck, Sab, I should have known!”

“What?”

“Everything’s gotta be about blood…”

“It’s just not practical to use anything else....”

“If you grew up in the same place I did, you’d be just as pissed. The lower class is nothing more than blood bags to the upper class. You know, people go missing and they don’t come back. No body, nothing. Bet they turn ’em into vegetables just to keep sucking blood out of ’em.”

“That has nothing to do with me, or mugen, or Steiner, or any of this,” Sabine put her hand on Wolf’s shoulder. “But if you want to back out, you’re more than welcome to.”

“Nah, fuck it,” Wolf brushed off Sabine’s hand. “It just pisses me off how everything’s about blood.”

“We tried using other methods. All that smog in the lower levels? That’s the alternative. We tried to find another way. You save the individual by sacrificing the whole, or the other way around.”

“I don’t want to talk about this any more. I’m just getting mad for no reason.”

“It only takes a little bit, but the more mods you add on, the more blood he’ll take. Just…be careful not to bleed yourself dry.”

“I’ve got an insert in my arm,” Wolf pointed to a small hole near the bottom of his left shoulder that the needle would fit perfectly into. “What about you? I don’t see any track marks.”

“Steiner supplies me with synthetic skin to keep me from looking like a junky.”

“You certainly are pale enough…”

“Like a porcelain doll.”

“Huh?”

“Something Steiner says sometimes.”

“Weird.”

“Maybe. Once you insert the needle, this is the button-“

“No need, already integrated the owner’s manual into my system, downloaded the proper drivers, I could pilot this baby with my eyes closed. Literally.”

“And if you need to pilot manually?”

“Then uh…I guess I’m fucked, huh?” Wolfgang shrugged with a sly grin.

“When we start practicing, try to pilot it manually for a bit. It’s always a good skill to have in case someone cuts your connection.”

“Yeah, yeah. We ready to go to the Valkyrie now?”

“You sure made up your mind quickly.”

“What is it the youths of today say? Love at first sight?” Wolfgang laughed heartily as Sabine opened up the hatch and the duo stepped onto the catwalk.

“You no longer consider yourself a youth?”

“Nah. Twenty-two is old as fuck.”

“Thanks,” Sabine smirked.

“Didn’t mean it like that and you know it,” the pair descended to the ground floor and headed out of the hangar. “Why do we walk everywhere? Don’t you rich folks have vehicles or something?”

“Cardio.”

“Everything’s gotta be a workout with you…” Wolfgang sighed. “I keep thinking about that porcelain thing and it just doesn’t make sense. When I think porcelain, I think fragile, but you...”

“You’re thinking about it too much.”

“Have you shown her your abs?”

“Yeah. Steiner sees me naked all the time.”

“Wait what?” Wolfgang stopped for a moment before briefly jogging to catch up with Sabine.

“We go to the hot springs together every month, the spa once in a while, sometimes we bathe together.”

“Huh…” Wolfgang’s face scrunched up as though he were thinking intensely. “You think she’d bathe with me?”

Sabine stopped walking as she burst into uncontrollable laughter.

“Alright, alright, it’s not funny.”

Sabine regained her composure and wiped the tears from her eyes before she continued walking. “Sorry, it was that funny. You know, Steiner’s a virgin, too.”

“Wait, you mean…” Wolfgang’s eyes grew wide.

“No, idiot. She has no augments.”

“Really?” Wolfgang was confused. “But SI has amazing augs. Not the top of the game, but not bad either.”

“I asked her once and she said something along the lines of ‘I do not have a need for such mundane trinkets,’” Sabine made an awkward imitation of Steiner’s sharp voice.

“She talks funny.”

“I suppose it’s part of her charm, huh?”

“Ha ha,” The pair had arrived at the Valkyrie. It was a quaint little building tucked away in a corner of the upper district. Wolfgang tried to push the door open, but it wouldn’t budge. “What gives?”

“I said it was exclusive, didn’t I? You can’t just walk in,” Sabine punched the door.

“Is that your solution to everything?”

“Why waste time pressing buttons and flipping menus when I can just hit something?” A bright green light shot out of a small dot at the top of the door and scanned the pair, then the door lifted open with a woosh. “See? Instant access.”

“Alright, let’s check it out!”