“Nice of you to make it, Lance.”

“I don’t wanna hear anything from you, Zim.”

“Can it, you guys. Jeez, that break from you two was way too short.” A couple hours had passed since I sent my message to Lance and my brother, telling them our departure was delayed. It seemed the two of them had gone their separate ways as well at some point. Alas, upon our reunion at the Arcade, they immediately began bickering. “You got your gear, Zim?”

“Of course!” He gestured to his belt, where his Nightblade and Striker rested. “I also got my Shotty an upgrade, so look forward to that.”

“Fun,” I replied. “What about you Lance?”

The worried look on the Tech Knight’s face disappeared as he brought out a bandolier of new bombs. “Exactly what I wanted.”

“Good to hear.” We made our way past other knights on duty. Some on patrol, a few returning from their ventures in the Clockworks, and fewer still heading out on their own missions. We were coming up on the Emerald Lion gate, now stationed in the third position rather than the fourth. Off to the right, I could see the icon for the Golden Pawn at the next gate.

“So you wanna tell us why we delayed our mission?” Zimthose asked.

“...On the way, I’ll tell you what we know.”

“Same here,” Lance said, his hand raised. “I talked with Vise about some… sensitive stuff that you’ll all need to hear about.”

“I wouldn’t say you guys nerding out about how best to smack a nail is exactly ‘sensitive,’” Zimthose joked. Lance didn’t reply. 

We were heading towards a large monitor, glowing like an emerald green beacon with the shape of the head of a monstrous feline on it: The Emerald Lion Gate. Despite the term, there were no fences or bars constituting a gate to pass; it was more of a gateway leading to the elevators used to traverse the Clockworks. As we arrived at the gate, a knight with a massive backpack almost as large as their person was waiting for us.

“You boys are late!” Her voice echoed throughout the Arcade, bouncing off the cavernous walls multiple times.

“Sorry Kozma, we had some stuff to attend to,” I said, waving.

“Not good enough! Do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting?” shouted the Supply Knight. Kozma wore a Spiral Tailed helm, with cloudy white twintails protruding from the rear of the helmet. Her blue eyes showed no anger, and the smile she couldn’t hide betrayed her teasing nature.

“You say that like you aren’t just waiting here for most of the day, anyways,” Balldrick said.

“Oh, but I was waiting for you guys! The dozen other squads I’ve dealt with already weren’t even that interesting.”

“Mhm, sure,” Balldrick said dryly. But even he couldn’t hide a brief smile; Kozma just had a way with everyone she came across, with how bright, jolly, and silly she usually was. “You’ve got my Heavy Plate Shield?”

“Why of course!” Kozma dropped her backpack and began rummaging through it. It was less a bag than it was a leather crate filled to the brim; as a Supply Knight, Kozma was in charge of doling out equipment to knights who needed specific supplies, or holding onto specific gear for knights who had nowhere to store their own equipment. This meant that typically Kozma could be found either in the Town Square or Arcade, or wherever knights on duty could be found. It also meant that she could be carrying hundreds of pounds of supplies at any given time. That’d make for a weapon all its own, if used correctly.

Numerous shields, swords, and other equipment could be seen as she dug through her bag, until she finally pulled out a tall, slightly angular shield. It gleamed in the soft light of the Arcade, a dark red instead of its typical blue and green. She handed it to Balldrick, who glanced it over before pulling out a crown coin. 

“You don’t have to polish my gear every time I leave it with you,” he said, tossing the coin to her. Kozma caught the coin and gave him a wink.

“Aww, but I love it when you give me the tip each time.”

“Phrasing!” Lance hissed from behind me.

“Oh, actually,” Zimthose said, raising a hand, “any chance you’ve got some of those thingies Recon Knights use to basically turn into ghosts?”

“A Recon Cloak? You mean the device that takes two months straight of training to make sure you can properly function without seeing yourself while moving so you don’t make a sound, while carrying an extra forty pounds of equipment? That ‘thingy’?”

“Uh… yeah, that.”

“Nah, that’s not my department,” Kozma said with a dismissive wave. “That gear is solely maintained by the Recon Corp, and only knights with completed training can take one further than the Advanced Training Hall. Recon Rangers, Scarlet Scouts, and all that lot.”

Hmm, I wonder if Rhendon would have let us borrow one if we asked.

“Ah, well. Fine then. Got some munitions on you instead then? I could use some slugs to go with my standard buckshot, just in case.”

“Sorry,” Kozma replied with a shake of her head, “I only got these guys with green shells. I call them snails!” She pulled out a pouch at her side and presented a massive shell, designed to fit a higher caliber gun like Balldrick’s Tundrus. The only visual difference between it and the buckshot Zimthose used regularly was that they were green, not red.

“Yeah, that’s the stuff!” Zimthose said, reaching for the pouch. Kozma pulled it back, wagging a finger.

“You sure you need this? I’ve already got most of the supplies you usually request bagged and waiting for you by the elevator. With this, you’ll reach your allotted free munitions for the mission, unless you’d like to buy more.”

Running a full-scale operation into the Clockworks, sending dozens to hundreds of knights to explore an ever changing labyrinth, cost a lot of everything: personnel, money, materials, equipment, and especially time. To keep everything running, Spiral HQ had early on set in place a monthly limit on the hours a Spiral Knight could venture into the Clockworks, how much munitions and supplies they were given per HQ assigned mission, how much a mission earned, and what gear they could be loaned from the armory if necessary.

Balldrick, Lance, Zimthose, and I had crafted or bought our own gear, superior to what we might get from the armory for free. Munitions and supplies were another story, though, since those were constantly consumed each mission. Sure we could carry over whatever ammo we didn’t use onto the next mission, and occasionally the same could be said for other supplies like rations or meds if they hadn’t expired, but there would always be a need for more.

I glanced at Balldrick and Lance, but they both shrugged.

“I got everything I needed from Vise earlier. It’s brand new, so Kozma wouldn’t have had what I wanted, anyways,” Lance said.

“Oh!” Kozma said, holding her chest. “You wound me, sir! I promise I have plenty of goods to please any knight, if you would just give me the chance! Please?”

“Phrasing!”

“We’ll take it. If Zim doesn’t use it, I’m sure Balldrick will,” I said, interrupting the Supplies Knight’s exaggerations. “We’ll also take an extra ration each. There’s something… different about our mission this time around, so we may be gone longer than usual.”

“Sure thing!” Kozma tossed my brother the pouch of ammo, dug out four ration pouches from her backpack, and handed one to each of us. “You should have everything you need then, yeah?”

“Yep. Thanks, Kozma,” I said with a salute.

“But of course! Good luck, Wolver Squad,” she said, saluting back with a wink. With that, we parted ways.

As we approached the elevator, we found the pack of supplies Kozma had left for us. As usual, it contained four nutritional ration pouches, twelve red super-health capsules, eight blue remedy capsules, a transmitter relay beacon, some unprimed explosives, ammo, and four Sparks of Life.

We stuffed our extra rations in the bag, much smaller and more manageable than the Supply Knight’s had been, and Lance hoisted it on his back.

“All aboard, boys!” Zimthose shouted, hopping on the elevator. “Time to show you who’s the most sneaky-beaky-like!”

“That is not a term,” Lance said, shaking his head with a smile.

“Like he cares. He just makes up words as he goes,” I joked.

Balldrick was quiet as he got on last, walking over to the lever and dial placed against the back of the elevator. He twisted the cog-shaped dial until it clicked eight times, and pulled the lever. The floor jolted as four large fences shot up on each side of us, and we were on our way, descending into the Clockworks.