Chapter Twenty-Three: Layover

Kansas City, the southernmost beacon of civilization in the Midwest Union. The frontier city is smaller than DFW by a significant margin mostly to my understanding (beyond the fact it’s not the capital of an entire country) because of its far different defence doctrine. Urban sprawl is tightly reined in for if the population density ever gets high enough, everyone is afraid they’ll end up like OKC.

I learned a bit about the Midwest Union’s way of doing things back at Trinity River, mainly because they’re the most prevalent employer of Combat Engines on the entire continent. There are no huge walls, no grand battle plans to follow in the Midwest. They prefer a more subtle approach, if you could ever call roving bands of police Mecha subtle, I suppose.

The second the skyline of the city came into view, my phone came alight with messages from Maribelle. I sent her a confirmation I’m okay, but told her I don’t really feel like talking at the moment as well. She was reluctantly okay with this, but told me to call her when I was feeling better. I know for a fact that wasn’t the wisest decision I’ve ever made but…

I’m still raw, and having to go through the process of explaining everything about how much I fucked up in a matter of three goddamn days to my best friend is daunting to say the least. It’s not that I won’t but… I don’t have the emotional energy to get through that at the moment.

Not long after getting into the city we arrive at a frankly huge depot littered with what seems like half a million different trains. As I sit there in the hangar car, watching people work, my computer dings as I get a private message. I pull it up, and am a little surprised to see it’s from Liam.

[The Conductor: Grim. I know there’s a lot unsaid between us at the moment, but know that I do not hold a grudge against you for what has occurred. For now, due to everything we ran into on the way here, we are suffering from a longer turnover than expected, namely one of four days. As of now, separate from the rest of the crew, I’m ordering you to begin your rest days in this city early. Attached to this message is your first paycheck.]

I blink, then in curiosity pull up the slip in question. I fucking reel from it, nearly falling out of my seat.

[dogged: why the fuck did I get a huge bonus?!]

[The Conductor: That is from my brother and I.]

[dogged: but… why?]

[The Conductor: The answer is simple, but it may hurt you more if you know.]

[dogged: Please?]

[The Conductor: The last thing we ever talked about was how few personal effects you had, and he vouched for giving you a bonus out of our wallets to help you get a foundation for yourself. It’s the least I can do to honor his final wishes.]

My heart clenches, and I have to clench my eyes for a moment to hold back some tears.

[dogged: I don’t deserve this.]

[The Conductor: Perhaps not. Perhaps he would hold a grudge against you for killing him. I cannot know, and I would rather assume he’d be kind in death than the alternative.]

[dogged: I]

[dogged: I’ll talk to you on monday. I promise I’ll make this up to you.]

[The Conductor: Perhaps you shall. I don’t count on it, so don’t go out of your way to do something stupid.]

I lean back in my chair, my mind incredibly numb as I stare at the ceiling. In my entire life, I’ve never had on hand more than even 1% of the amount of cash that they just dumped into my lap. All because of the kindness of someone I murdered.

Biting my lip hard, I then take a deep breath to calm myself.

After a moment of sitting there with a blank mind, I decide, fuck it. If that’s what they want, I’m not going to argue any longer. Grabbing my phone, I step out of the hangar car into the midday sun. I get a few doubletakes, but other than that nobody bothers me as I leave the work site posthaste.

It’s only when I’m about two blocks away when it strikes me that I have no goddamn idea where I’m going. I glance up at the skyline in the near distance, then shrug internally. I have four entire days to myself here, I might as well spend a little bit of time wandering to get used to it.

After a few corners turned I blink as I find myself before the Missouri River, the water looking incredibly inviting despite the knowledge that it’s probably polluted to all hell and back. Figuring that I might as well, I find a path down and start to walk along the water’s edge, following it until I hit a suspension bridge, at which I climb back up to ground level to take a better look at it. The engineering marvel is delightfully simple, a single huge triangle in the center of the bridge holding the entire thing stable.

Then I turn around, and raise an eyebrow at a rather luxurious looking building kind of kept deliberately separate from the rest of the city around it. It takes me a moment, but I soon figure it out when a pair of drunk well dressed strangers leaving the building walk by me, where upon one of them looks at me, flinches, then dumps some poker chips onto the ground.

Wait. Casinos are legal here?

Oh no, now I have a terrible idea that Maribelle would be so angry at me for. It would be so much fun though, and I kind of feel like I deserve it. Wait, what’s the drinking age in the MWU anyway? A quick check on my phone tells me that it’s 18, and I immediately know beyond all else that I want to try getting drunk for the first time tonight.

For a few moments I start towards the Casino, then pause when I remember the place’s patrons I passed by earlier. A glance down at myself tells me that I have to go somewhere else first. Figuring wandering isn’t going to get me what I need, I look for where I want to go on my phone, then start jogging towards the urban center in the distance.

Should I flare my boost to speed this up a bit? Fuck, I don’t know the laws here, it’d be fine in Texas but they might not allow it here. I’ll ask someone later.

As I get closer to the center of the city, the streets begin to fill up with more and more traffic, and more stores with vibrant signs begin to pop out and fill the world around me, surprisingly enticing now that I actually have money to spend. I manage to stay on track though, eventually stepping into a very elaborately decorated boutique, one highly recommended online: Melody’s All Inclusive.

Several of the people in the store flinch as I walk in, and a bit awkwardly I step over to the side to start looking.

Then someone clicks their tongue, and I look a bit to the side to find someone dressed in a comfy looking beige tunic and matching breezy slacks beneath a literally bedazzled apron, glaring at me. Considering their nametag states Melody, I figure they’re the owner of this place.

“No, nonono. Madam Engine, this simply will not do.”

Completely taken aback, I barely react as they step forward and take my hand, dragging me deeper into the store. We move to a rather small back section, filled with masks of all things. Melody stands there for a moment looking over what is definitely the most expensive ones they have, their eyes deep in thought, before they reach out to pull definitely the strangest option off to offer to me.

“Here, put this on, then push your DE into it and will it into a shape.”

Albeit a bit hesitantly, I do as they ask, and find to my surprise that the item shifts, changing into an unobtrusive black domino mask that sticks to my face by itself. My DE continues to be pulled into it as well, and my heart skips a beat as the boutique’s owner sighs in relief.

“Oh, that is so much better.” They put a hand on their hip with a grin. “I’d recommend keeping that on while you’re in the city dear, it makes it actually feasible to be in your presence.”

I gingerly reach up to brush my fingers against the mask as their words make what this thing is actually click. Once, not long after I met Maribelle, we were talking about how to handle my power and she offhandedly mentioned something called a DE Restraint, an item that used an Engine’s own DE to subdue their power. A quick search at the time found that they were illegal in Texas, mainly due to concerns about someone forcing one onto a female Engine to take advantage of them.

That doesn’t seem to be the case here in the MWU though, and this mask is definitely intended to be useful to the Engine themselves. While it is using my own DE to weaken my aura, the way its doing it apparently means that I can stop providing the energy if I want to. Considering how nervous the clerk still seems, its not strong enough to negate the effect entirely, but I’ll take what I can get.

I step over to a nearby mirror, running through a few different mask shapes before I decide on a much larger type. It completely covers my scar and the left side of my face, while thankfully leaving my mouth and nose unimpeded at the same time. I can’t help but stare at myself in the mirror with it on, noting how strange it feels for my image to not be dominated by my scar. I look like an entirely different person with this on, which…

Oh shit, I need to buy this thing, huh?

“How much?”

Melody blinks. “Pardon, do you mean for the mask? It’s quite a lot, but you should have a decently full purse as an Engine, no?”

I flinch as they hold up a price tag, and the Boutique owner frowns for just a moment before something seems to click for them. They proceed to smirk as they say, “If it seems like too much, how about this? It’s free, but with a caveat."

Narrowing my eyes, I cross my arms. “Elaborate.”

Melody gestures with their head, and I follow them into the center of the store. They throw their hands out to the side as they do a little spin. “As you probably know by now, I am Melody, and my Boutique has a little bit of everything.”

They walk over to the side, taking a set of moon-shaped earrings off a small rack. “I’ve gotten a bit of a reputation over the years that I’ve owned this place for finding diamonds in the rough, figuratively cutting them into shape, then letting them loose unto Kansas City’s high society.”

Melody places the earrings back down, then grins at me. “I think you, with the unavoidable but intriguing intimidation you put off, might be the next. Well, that is if you accept the deal I suppose.”

There’s a bit of a flutter in my stomach at the idea, and I almost just say okay, but I stop myself. Bad Minea, have some backbone!

Trying to seem unconvinced, after a moment, I ask, “What’re the terms?”

“I’ll cover 3/4ths of the costs for everything, but you have to take what I give you and do at least a bare minimum of advertising for me.” Melody taps their chin. “If you put up an act to make yourself seem like an ice queen, all you likely have to do is mention my name and people will put it together. That shouldn’t be too hard on you, I don’t think.”

Taking a breath, I look around, then find my eyes catching on the section of the boutique populated by good quality casual clothes. “I’ll do it, if you throw in some casual clothes that you recommend as well.”

They squint as they look me over once again. “Hmm. How about this? I’ll extend you the same offer for an entire fucking wardrobe, custom combat suit included, but you can only wear my clothes for the next, let’s say few years?”

I blink. That’s an insane offer right? Before I can stop myself, I utter,

“I’ll take it.”

Melody’s grin proceeds to stretch from ear to ear.

“Well, time’s wasting then friend! Let’s go sign a few things, and then I’ll get your measurements!”

Humming to themselves, they step off towards the back of the Boutique, and a chill runs down my spine. I did not take enough time to actually calculate out how much I’m about to spend, did I? Gods, Maribelle is going to kill me when I tell her about this, isn’t she? Well, I suppose she probably would have when she learns that I’m going to spend an evening at a casino anyways…

“C’mon girly, time’s wasting!”

I sigh as I move towards Melody. Too late to go back on the deal I guess. Maybe this won’t end up being so bad?

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