The Scrap Knight Ch.12

“Well,” Elmcroft said through a chuckle. “Safe to call that an exciting afternoon, yes?”

Orlin refused to look up from his screens. “It’s not funny.”

“On the contrary my friend, it’s hilarious.” Elmcroft laughed. “Not everyday you see someone blow up the dump.”

Orlin grumbled, taking a keen interest in one of the many reports arrayed before him. Two days had elapsed since the incident at Gibson, and they had been busy. An endless parade of testimonies, inquiries, interviews, curious rubberneckers, and the beginnings of an extensive investigation into just who had screwed up the most. It was still unclear where the worst of fallout would land but it was beyond doubt that someone would be suffering for a debacle of this scale. Both men at the table had weathered their fair share of it, this being the first moment of peace either of them had enjoyed since its start.

“Oh, don’t be like that,” Elmcroft said. “It turned out alright in the end.”

“Barely,” Orlin closed the report he was reading. “It’s a miracle he wasn’t killed.”

“No, it wasn’t.” Elmcroft waved a hand at his friend. “You know as well as I do, the lad was perfectly safe.”

“Coincidence is not causality.”

Elmcroft leaned forward in his seat, a different flavor of smile on his lips. “It’s good to see you’re taking to it so well.”

“It?” Orlin asked, gaze finally shifting to his friend.

“Apprenticing the lad,” Elmcroft said, meeting the gaze undaunted. “We were all worried you were going full hermit on us.”

Orlin’s eyes flicked away, then back, lingering just long enough to be significant. Elmcroft was polite enough to pretend he hadn’t noticed, instead just sitting there, waiting to see how Orlin would respond.

“I can replace that door if it’s giving you so much trouble Nicholas.”

Orlin’s gaze shifted to the door sitting firmly closed in the wall behind them. For a moment it remained so before quietly sliding open to admit Nic into the chamber. He shuffled forward, making a point to look anywhere but at the two master techne.

“I was just, um-” he stopped, realizing no lie was going to be believed here. “Eavesdropping.”

“Might want to update your kit then lad,” Elmcroft said, a chuckle in his voice. “I’ll send you a few things, give Grey’s wards the old college test.”

Orlin shot Elmcroft a warning glance but was waved off as Elmcroft gestured to an empty chair.

“Come lad, sit, I’m sure you have questions.”

“A few, yeah,” Nic said, taking the seat.

His words were the epitome of understatement. As the person at the heart of this whole misadventure, he’d spent the last two days under the most intense interrogations of them all. An endless stream of people asking him floods of questions. Few of them had made much sense on their own, and his interrogators had offered no explanations in turn, leaving Nic quite lost on the matter.

“Indeed. What would you like to know?”

Nic considered the request for longer than he’d expected. A dozen options presented themselves, each vying to be the first asked, leaving him paralyzed with indecision. In the end, he decided to simply ask the one question that had started it all.

“Who were they?” Nic asked. “The Knight, I mean.”

Elmcroft smiled, a soft chuckle rumbling through his chest. “You picked up on that did you?”

Nic shrugged, feeling suddenly embarrassed. “They just, the way they acted, it just felt like that’s what they should be called.”

“Quite astute of you,” Elmcroft said. “And I’m afraid I don’t have much of an answer to offer.”

Nic looked up in confusion, prompting Elmcroft to press a button on his wrist. Images appeared in the air above the table, three-dimensional renderings of scenes with dates hovering above them. Each showed the armoured figure of the Knight, though no two were the same. Different materials, different shapes, and of course, different sizes, each as unique from one another as they were to the one Nic had fought alongside.

No two images were taken in the same place, instead showing an array of locations from warehouses to forests to a city street. Nic recognized some places, at least in passing, architecture or landmarks placing them all around the city. The Knight it seemed was a well travelled soul. And an old one if the hovering dates were anything to go by. The earliest Nic could spot was just over forty years old.

“I don’t understand,” Nic said. “They’ve been here before?”

“Twelve times that we know of, including your little run in,” Elmcroft said. “And many, many more in places beyond the Wall.”

Nic said nothing, letting that little tidbit digest as Elmcroft continued.

“To answer your question, we’re not sure what they are,” He gestured to the images. “Every attempt we’ve made to study or even just question them has failed. You remember that little vanishing act they pulled right before we found you?”

Nic nodded.

“Well, they have a talent for that. So far as we can tell the Knight, as you call them, can appear or disappear from anywhere, no matter what or who stands in their way. Wards, guards, physical barriers, doesn’t seem to slow them down in the slightest.”

“How?” Nic pressed. “Why?”

Elmcroft smiled, perhaps a bit ruefully. “There’s a sizable reward in it for you if you can figure that out. The only solid fact we have is that whenever they appear, something bad is about to happen.”

“Like the rats?” Nic asked.

“Exactly. No one had the slightest idea that those things were even down there, and they were growing fast.” He waved a hand to the room at large. “Could you imagine it? Giant aggressive rats with jaws able to bite through steel? If they had started spreading through the city-” He blew out a breath. “Well, people would have died, I can tell you that.”

Nic nodded again, following the train of logic, though he still didn’t fully grasp the destination.

“But, if it’s stuff like that which makes them appear,” He asked. “Why only twelve times?”

“And you stray back to the nub of the matter: we just don’t know.” Elmcroft said. “Sometimes they appear when everything seems fine and dandy, other times everything’s already on fire.” He sat back again. “And sometimes they just never show, even when you might expect them to. Feels completely random at the best of times.”

“There’s no rhyme or reason at all?” Nic asked.

“Well, there’s theories of course.”

“Blind guesses you mean,” Orlin cut in.

“Theories,” Elmcroft repeated. “But I’ll admit there’s gaps in all of them.”

“What’s yours?” Nic asked.

Elmcroft shrugged. “Some kind of bound spirit or advanced combat bot, running on old or faulty code that doesn’t always spit up a consistent result.”

“Speculation,” Orlin observed.

“Yes, yes, and it will remain such until they deem someone worthy to peek under the hood. But until that day, that’s the best we have I’m afraid.”

Nic sat in silence, considering the information in full. He turned to look at the images, examining the Knight in all their many ramshackle forms. It was strange to think they were all the same at first but the more he looked at them, the more he saw the same soul sitting beneath the armor. The thought brought a smile to Nic’s face.

“I think they just want to help.”

Elmcroft tilted his head, a questioning look in his eye. “Excuse me?”

“We needed help, even if we didn’t know it.” Nic gestured at the photos. “They helped.”

Both Elmcroft and Orlin were silent for a long while, considering the young techne with curious expressions. Then Elmcroft’s lips split into a small smile, and he gave a quiet chuckle.

“Maybe lad. Maybe.”

Nic felt his cheeks flush in embarrassment, though mixed with more than a little bit of pride. Before he could speak further, Elmcroft’s face lit up, a finger raising for pause.

“Oh, by the way,” he said. “This is for you.”

From his pocket Elmcroft produced a slim metal cylinder, dull grey in colour and one end sporting the prongs for a circuit connection. There were production markings stamped on the side, but Nic didn’t need them to know exactly what the device was.

“A power cell?” He asked, voice crackling with excitement.

“New model, fresh off the assembly line,” Elmcroft said. “Figured you wouldn’t be in a hurry to go back to Gibson anytime soon.”

He passed it over, Nic eagerly taking it in both hands. It was far lighter than he’d expected, exactly the right size for his redesigned rig.

“Thank you so much sir- I mean, Harry,” Nic said.

“You’re quite welcome,” Elmcroft said with a laugh. “Now, off with you, expect you’ll want to get that thing hooked up toot suite.”

Nic nodded, standing from his chair and sprinting for the door, shouting more thanks over his shoulder. In a flash he was gone, clattering down the stairs towards his room. Elmcroft waited until he was gone before turning back to Orlin.

“Good lad that one.”

Orlin glanced up from his screens, looking after his apprentice, the faintest ghost of a smile on his face.

“He has his moments.”

Elmcroft chuckled before continuing.

“I was being serious by the way, it’s good to see a bit of the old you back.”

Orlin went to snap at him but stopped, instead letting out a long sigh.

“Maybe,” he said at last.

“Oh, get that stick out your ass and just say I’m right. Lad’s been good for you.”

“Good for my mounting stress levels perhaps.”

“Well, yes,” Elmcroft conceded. “But what’s life without a little chaos?”

Orlin said nothing, his thoughts remaining his own.

“Besides, he survived a giant monster. How much more trouble could he possibly get into?”

The dull boom of an explosion answered, strong enough to rattle the windows. Elmcroft looked to the door in surprise, realization dawning slowly across his face. When he turned back to look at Orlin, he was met with a glare that could have easily killed a man twice his size.

“…huh.”

*

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