* * *

“So we’ve got a couple more hours. Which is great, cause we still haven’t eaten, but if he’s gonna message us about a delay, I wish he’d tell us why.”

“Eh, something minor probably came up. I’m sure my brother will tell us about it on the way there.”

Lance and Zimthose tucked their devices away, turning back to Vise. The Gremlin was still holding the pouch of crowns Lance had given him, and was waiting patiently for their attention again.

“I’ve got no idea what you wanted from these guys, but you’ve got time to talk about it now, right?” Zimthose asked, nudging the knight on his left. “Feel free to take your time. My job here is done, so I’m gonna grab some grub. I’ve got just enough crowns for a real meal.” With that, he turned to make his way out of the workshop.

“Seriously?” Lance asked, almost shocked. “I came all the way here with you, but you’re just gonna leave me behind?”

“Um…yeah?” Zimthose wouldn’t return his gaze.

“Can you at least grab me some food too, since I’ll still be here?”

“I’ve only got enough crowns to get something for myself from a street vendor.”

“And I don’t have anything left, because I just covered your tab!”

“Relax! The mess hall on the way to the Arcade does free meals for knights who have a mission lined up. I’m sure you’ll still have time to grab something to eat before we leave.”

With that, the Striker quickly headed off before he could hear any more protest. Lance let out a sigh when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Mighty strong will of you, to put up with that day by day.”

“You’re telling me.”

“I am. So take that compliment.” Lance nodded, and the hand on his shoulder dropped. “You said you had your own project for me, lad?”

“Well, I did. Until I paid off that brat’s debt. Now I don’t have anything to pay you for what I want.”

Vise pulled the pouch of crowns out of his pocket and tossed it back to Lance.

“Yous can have it back,” he said, with a wave of his hand. “And don’t worry, just tell me what you need. Free of charge.”

“Woah, what?” Lance asked, flabbergasted. “Are you sure? Why the sudden change in tune?” 

“Hmm…” Vise stroked the beard on his mask as he hummed for an answer. “Well for one, under normal circumstances, I’d have been more willing to take payment later anyways. But I was hoping to teach Zeem a lesson. I was about to take up his offer on collateral, until you stepped in.”

“Ugh, seriously? I knew I shoulda get quiet.”

“Aye. But you’re better than that. A heart o’ gold you got dere, Lance,” Vise said, tapping the knight in the chest with his wrench. “Don’t forget it. Don’t lose it.”

“Thank you, Vise. But you said that was ‘one’, so what other reason is there for changing your mind?”

Vise looked around, making sure nobody was around the workshop. The coast was, of course, clear; everyone was busy in the town square or the main part of the bazaar preparing for the celebration. He knew this, and yet his anxiety was still clear as day.

“Follow me.” Quickly, Vise ran over and jumped into the hatch he’d originally climbed out of. “And close the door behind you!” Lance reluctantly followed, pulling the panel shut behind him. The tunnel was tight and very dim, with only the glow of something a ways away telling him where to go. As he made his way forward, he ducked under some piping and stepped over tools, until he came out into a vast room.

“What…how…huh?” The cave, as it seemed to be clearly carved out of the earth, was half as large as Haven’s Town Square. The not-quite square room had walls that were bare rock, at times covered in sheets of metal, and loose wiring connected the flood lights strung about. One corner had a pile of broken weapons and armor, totally destroyed and beyond repair, while the corner opposite it had its own half-sized pile of equipment that looked brand new. Various devices Lance couldn’t begin to guess the purpose of were sprinkled about, most up against the walls and a few in the middle of the floor. At one of them, Lance could see a Gremlin in a rounded mask hammering away, the eerie grin and orange eye of his mask indicating it was none other than Punch.

“You didn’t think that up there was the whole of our workshop now, didja?” Vise said with a hearty laugh. “We’ll leave Punch alone for now. He’s mighty focused on making something for the celebration soon. Come, over here.” He waved Lance over to a much longer workbench than what was on the surface. He moved away some swords the knight didn’t recognize, brought out a pen and large blue paper, and gestured to it. “Now, I know you’re a Technician Knight, so I’d hoped we might work together on this project, rather than me doing all the work. Aight lad?”

“Are… you for real? Absolutely!” Lance said, almost jumping for joy. Then he reeled himself in. “Actually…damnit, if I weren’t pressed for time I’d love to. I have a few ideas marinating in the recesses of my mind I just need to talk to somebody about! But right now I just need an upgrade to my Slumber Smogger.” Lance pulled out the bomb and a few materials from his satchel, laying them on the workbench. “I figured an Unstable and added Zee Core, among other things, would help give it some more potency, as well as volatility.”

“You want a sleeping gas diffusal device to be…volatile?” Vise asked, bewildered.

“I want it to put them to sleep faster, and for longer,” Lance explained. “If giving them an impactful nudge to wonderland helps, by all means.”

“It would really just be throwing the gases in the target’s face more rapidly, but…it’s doable. You’d need more Sinful Brew for the extra Zee Core to dissolve into as well…”

“So you mean–”

“Aye, I’ll do it. Just give me a moment.” Quickly, Vise took apart the ball-shaped explosive device and examined its contents. “Hmm, this is already full of Zee Cores. If you want to add more, not to mention an Unstable Core, I’ll have to design a larger device.” Lance looked around at the workshop in awe again, and felt a nudge from the Gremlin beside him. “Go ahead, take a look around. Just don’ touch anything bigger than your palm. I’m sure you can imagine how delicate some tools can be, but the stuff down here can be downright fragile sometimes! I’ll just need a few minutes.”

With permission granted, Lance immediately set about looking at the workshop in closer detail. Dozens of tools lay strewn about: a drill that looked like a welding torch, a welding torch that looked like a drill, a screwdriver with twenty different head pieces fit into its handle, wrench-hammers, thwack-hammers, and what looked to be a hammer with a propulsion engine attached to it.

“Um, I know some of these tools seem questionable, but isn’t that one a bit much?” he asked, pointing to the rocket hammer.

“It’s not a tool,” Vise said, without looking away from his workbench. “It’s a weapon. Designed by a mighty nefarious Gremlin, at that. That’s the prototype I stole many years ago, in order to get him to move on to other projects. All the previous iterations of it blew up the test subjects who tried to wield it. Although, it might be useful as a tool if it were stabilized.”

Lance continued looking around as he listened, and quietly walked over to where Punch was working. He had what looked to be a medic’s Cautery Sword in front of him, but instead of the clean and straight edges as usual, one side of the blade had what looked like the teeth marks of a saw protruding from it.

What’s with people serrating their swords recently?

Without paying the knight any attention, the Gremlin reached over and grabbed what looked like a marble from a small bag on the workbench, and brought it under his mask. A loud crack echoed throughout the room, but the Gremlin paid no mind as he went right back to hammering at his sword. Lance picked out one of the marbles, not recognizing it. It was a smooth purple orb, a bit smaller than half his palm. Not wanting to risk breaking Punch’s concentration, he brought it over to Vise. “Is this…food? Or a candy or something?” 

“Aye,” Vise responded without looking again. “It’s a Rocky Core. If you come across a slime cube deep enough in the clockworks, their cores grow and harden to a ridiculous degree, but if you can crack ‘em, you’ll find they make for a nice treat. Usually.” 

Vise walked over to a large machine, easily three times his height with four thick metal pillars in each corner. He flicked a switch, and the new whir of machinery being turned on joined the mixture of sound already in the air. A dense platform connected to all four corners in the machine began to slowly make its way downwards, another pillar of metal pressing down on top of it. “A hydraulic crusher,” Vise said as placed the Rocky Core in the middle of the open space, and stepped back while the crushing device did its job. The dense platform met the core and stopped, the whirring of the machine growing more intense as it met resistance greater than the force it could exert. A moment later, the whole machine jolted as the core finally broke, and Vise flipped the switch again to turn it off.

“We Gremlins have jaws that exert just enough pressure to do that, but you Spiral Knights…well, you should save your teeth. Use some tools to break ‘em open,” Vise said, offering the cracked core to Lance. “But once broken, it’ll melt from the inside out, if you try to eat it.”

Lance popped it in his mouth, and as Vise said, the gooey interior began to melt almost immediately, the tart flavor a pleasant reminder he still needed to have lunch soon. “It’s…warm,” Lance noted.

“Of course it is. It takes a lot of energy to break a Rocky Core. But it’s only worth it if it’s pink or purple. Sweet or sour. The blue ones, eugh,” Vise shuddered, shaking his head. “Bitter stuff. Usually have to toss ‘em.”

“A lot of energy, huh…” Lance trailed off, lost in thought. He walked back over to the bag Punch had and grabbed a few blue Rocky Cores, bringing them back to the Slumber Smogger that Vise had disassembled, and began sketching something on the blueprint parchment. “What if… we do… this?”

Vise walked over and looked over the sketch Lance had quickly drawn up.

“Use two Unstable Cores? One to aid the Zee Core dissolving in the Sinful Brews, and another to shatter a Rocky Core? Hmm…”

“The Rocky Core could be just what we need for volatility. If we have the Rocky Core break immediately, the instant release could be exactly what I’m hoping for!”

“And it’s not an explosive chemical reaction, like your beloved blast-bombs…” Vise thought for a moment, stroking his mask’s metallic beard again. “Well, I did say the blue cores were mainly trash. If you use those, I see no problem.”

Lance gave a fistpump as Vise immediately began tinkering with the Slumber Smogger. In no time at all, the small and rounded device had grown half its size, but Vise had no issues doing just as Lance had requested.

“It’s done. Rather than a ‘smog,’ though, it’ll probably be more like a sudden squall of sleeping agent when you use it,” Vise explained. “I’ll transcribe what we’ve done for the alchemy machine. Then, as long as you have the materials necessary, you should be able to make as many as you need.”

“Yes!” Lance said, fistpumping again. “Thank you, thank you!” he shouted, shaking Vise’s hand. “Are you…sure you don’t want anything for this? What you said outside–”

“Ah, right. That.” Vise gave a sigh as he walked over to another tall machine. This time, he pulled on a latch, revealing–

“A fridge?” Lance asked, perplexed.

“Aye. Lunch time.” Vise pulled out some clear boxes with food in them, placing them on the nearby counter with a microwave, toaster, and oven. “Care for some Salamander Sausages and Devilite Sinful Brew? I know we just used it to make your new toy, but it makes for a mighty fine meal with the right meats!”

"So...soup?"

"Stew."

“Uh…sure," Lance said with a nod. Then he shook his head. "I mean, are you sure? You don’t have to go out of your way for me like this.”

But Vise said nothing as he went about making their meal. Lance awkwardly went back to touring the workshop, checking in on Punch and finally making his way back to the kitchen corner when Vise waved him over. While Lance ate in silence, Vise brought Punch a bowl of stew, and together the Gremlins ate at his workbench. Lance noticed their masks placed off to the side, and made a conscious effort to give them their privacy. No Spiral Knight, or Stranger he imagined, had ever seen the two geniuses without their masks, and Lance wasn’t about to be the first. As he finished, Lance made to excuse himself when Vise, mask back on, came over to where the knight had been eating and tossed him a few blue rolls of paper. After a moment had passed, he finally spoke up.

“You mentioned a ‘Project R,’ up there with Zeem,” Vise said, slowly. “That…the project shouldn’t exist. Not anymore. Not after I stole the blueprints and designs, and destroyed the prototype some twenty years ago.” Lance blinked in shock at this revelation, but said nothing. “The reason I won’t ask anything of ya for my work, why I’m being generous now… I worry that if this is the same Project R that I’m familiar with, then you laddies might be on your way to a suicide mission.”