Chapter 242 46.5 Difficulty?

SHEN

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Taking a deep breath, Shen firmly gripped her [Manifest] as she pulled herself out of the pink goop. Her clothes almost didn't want to leave the gooey wall, but she managed to come out rather smoothly before she revealed herself.

"Wait... Shen?"

"I-I don't know what's happenin here, but I won't hesitate to try and fight ya," Shen declared, brandishing her wrench against the mysterious people along with her supposed companion. "You too, Shade. If you're thinking about betrayin us, I won't go down without a fight."

"You know this kid?" the yellow-haired man asked, clearly ignoring her threats based on the way he just pointed at her.

"Yeah..." Shade sighed. "She's our mechanic, Alcian."

Shen blinked as she kept up her defensive stance. So the stranger's name was Alcian. At least she didn't have to address him as a stranger for long. Still, maybe she should give them the benefit of the doubt?

"Shen," she introduced herself, partly lowering her wrench as she blinked at the man. Her eyes then roamed toward the blue-haired woman and the green-haired kid perched on her back. "Who're they?"

"Carbuncle," the woman nodded in acknowledgment. "Still, we should continue the pleasantries later. Right now, we're way too exposed, and I can already feel something looking at us from somewhere around here."

"Right," Shade intoned. "We'll have to maybe try and make our way out of the city. But first, we have to get my partner out of the inevitable mess he might be in right now."

Shen almost gasped as she suddenly remembered that Maruki was supposed to be with Shade right now. Looking around, however, she didn't see any sign of their tank being present on the premises. "Yeah... Where is he?"

"He's probably already.... Wait!-"

[*BOOM!*]

Shen flinched as a not-so-distant shockwave washed over their location. Looking up at the warehouse, the entire building itself almost shook to its very foundations, a beam of light shooting up into the sky for a split second before disappearing just as quickly. And from the way the brief pillar shone, she could already tell that it came from their missing tank.

"Dat's.... dat was Maruki," Shen couldn't help but whisper out, the whole situation somehow managing to make her head spin with how much was going on in such a short amount of time. "Shade?"

Looking at her nominal party member. His eyes widening, Shen didn't even manage to voice out her confusion when she saw that Shade had already run back inside the warehouse. She didn't know why, but a part of her wanted to follow him. That there was something in there where she would be needed for her services.

After all, if someone needed fixing, she was one of the few that could do it right.

"Shade?!" Alcian called out. "Where are you-"

"Go on ahead!" Shade shouted out from the door of the warehouse, his body already halfway back inside the burning building. "We'll meet up later! For now, I have an idiot to save!"

"Where are we supposed to go?!"

Alcian yelled out another question, but Shade had already gone deep inside the warehouse, leaving them alone outside a burning building that could easily go down on top of them if they weren't fast enough. Coupled with the fact that a sizeable crowd was starting to gather around them, Shen knew that they had already overstayed their welcome.

Still, that didn't mean she should leave her companions alone.

"If ya can, maybe try and find our [Rig] back in Port Decim," Shen instructed, her tone sounding far too mature coming out of her underdeveloped body. "That's if you're all planning on leavin this place once this is all over."

"We're leaving," Carbuncle darkly intoned. "There's no way I'll ever try and cooperate with these vermin, especially after what they tried to do to us."

Nodding, Shen watched them leave by the periphery of her vision as she then sprinted right into the burning pink warehouse in front of her. She still didn't know why she said those things to them and even offered them help, but it just felt like it was the right thing to do. That, and that kid kind of looked like she was going to be fun to play with.

Taking in a deep breath, Shen savored the last relatively clean batch of fresh air she'll get for a while before braving the hot burning smoke of the burning building. Already, the somewhat sweet smell from outside had been replaced with noxious black smoke as she coughed, her vision filled with fire and dark smoke even as she forced herself to try and follow Shade's lead.

"Shade?! Where are ya?!"

"Over here, Shen!"

Waving her [Fixit] around as if to dissipate the smoke, Shen followed the sound of their resident comms officer, going in deeper and deeper into the hot sooty depths of the warehouse. From what little she could see when her eyes weren't stinging, there were spilled-over vats of molten metal, orange glowing slag littering the floors in front of her as she tried to navigate herself out of harm's way.

Barely a minute after entering the warehouse, Shen's eyes were irritated enough that she had to use her [Manifest] to keep them from watering too much. She also used it to keep herself from coughing too much, forcing her lungs to keep inhaling the toxic smoke despite her chest starting to seize up on her.

"[K-Keep Working]..." she stuttered, tapping her wrench against her chest as she took in another deep breath. "Damn... Where is he?"

"Shen!"

Her ears peaking up, Shen followed Shade's voice. Eventually, she managed to find the man, and with him, a very beaten up Maruki whose armor she had just repaired already being bent and scrapped over in some places.

"Heal him!" Shade practically ordered, his arm slung around the tank's shoulder. "I don't know what happened, but it's not looking great!"

Her eyes narrowing, Shen quickly reared her wrench above her head. "[Fix]!"

With a resounding clang, her [Manifest] struck against Maruki's breastplate, a sheen of energy washing over him as his injuries disappeared before their eyes.

"W-What the-?!"

"Ask questions later," Shade quickly stopped him from talking. "Right now, we need to get out of here."

"R-Right!" Maruki shouted out, his shield being the only thing he had on his person right now as he raised it in front of him. "Follow me!"

Shen coughed as she watched Maruki lead the way without even so much as flinching. Even as the warehouse burned right on top of them, the heat and the smoke didn't even seem to affect that man as his glowing shield shone the way for them to follow. Of course, she kept casting her [Fix] and [Keep Working] on both herself and Shade as they sprinted behind him. Before they knew it, they were already back outside, and were currently surrounded by a group of people that clearly didn't appreciate their presence.

"Halt!" a random guy, probably one of the authorities by the way of wearing the same uniform as the one guy back in the port. "You three are going with us for questioning!"

Shen almost froze in indecision. Looking up at Shade and Maruki, the latter still had his shield up at the ready while the former's rose was glowing in his back pocket. From there, she knew that this was going to be a fight, unless Shade had other ideas based on how his [Manifest] worked.

"I'm sure we don't need to resort to that," Shade coolly talked, stepping forward with his hands gesturing in ways that reminded Shen of the upper class. "We were simply caught up in the accident. If anything, we would just like to get home and recuperate from our injuries."

"Absolutely not!" one of the men shouted at them. "This is a massive incident that an Intellect had personally taken interest in! You all will be-"

"Then how about this," Shade interrupted him, his rose glowing bright red as he spoke. "We say a few things about what happened, then you all let us go?"

Shen watched mesmerized as she felt a compelling urge to listen to him. He did make a lot of sense. Why not just let them go after they've given their testimony?

"I-I see..." the man in charge trailed off, his voice softening as he spoke. "You may all go as soon as you give your accounts regarding the accident."

The mechanic didn't know what happened next. She couldn't help but keep staring at Shade, her eyes glued exclusively on his glowing [Manifest] as her feet carried her towards him. She didn't know how long she had been walking, but by the time she came back to her senses, they were already by the outskirts of the city, with Shade worriedly looking at her like something bad had happened.

"Hey, kid, are you back with us?"

Shen blinked for a few moments, her eyes readjusting before she spoke. "Y-Yeah... What happened?"

"I had to put a bit more power into my [Charm] earlier, but we managed to get out," Shade explained. "I don't know where the rest of our group is, but I could only hope that-"

[*boom*]

Shen saw in real time how Shade's face sank as they all looked out at yet another explosion coming from the city. This time, it was near what looked to be a forest located on the other side of where they currently were.

"Oh great..."

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