Once Again

Chapter Forty - Smoke

*external screaming intensifies* I WILL NOT PUT THIS ON HOLD!!!

There's probably a million typos, I'm so sorry ... I'll fix them tomorrow.

Smoke

"Nitro!" someone screamed, and both Echo and Braken flinched.

Echo looked up and saw Puppet stagger through the entrance, shoving two other Raiders out of the way. He was gripping his metal shoulder, and Echo could see a blood stain on his coat, dark, but noticeable. Machines didn't bleed ... did they?

"Nitro, I need help!" he shouted, his voice filled with desperation.

"What's so important that it needs me right now?" Nitro called back angrily.

"What do you think happened?" Echo murmured as Puppet ran to Nitro's workspace.

Braken thought for a minute. "Tristam."

Echo's heart almost stopped. "Come on. We'd better check."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, IT'S BROKEN?" Nitro shrieked.

"It's not like it was my fault!" Puppet protested, his voice high pitched. "Hey! That hurts - stop it!"

Echo shoved his way through the crowd to see, and caught his breath in surprise. Puppet's robotic arm was snapped at the elbow and had a few wires and things hanging out, and whenever he moved, it flopped around uselessly.

"Well, then WHAT HAPPENED?" Nitro demanded, hitting it with a screwdriver after each word for emphasis.

Puppet glanced behind him and winced as he moved his wounded shoulder. "Tell you later. There's too many ears here."

Nitro frowned and didn't question that particular matter any further. "Take off your coat and I'll see what I can do. Everyone else, get out." When nobody moved, and took a deep breath and nearly screamed, "I SAID GET OUT." That got most of them out.

"I'd better go," Braken mumbled, leaving Echo's side before he could answer.

Puppet took off his coat with a grimace and Nitro shouted something in angry, rapid fire Spanish. His harsh tone made Echo think he was swearing, over and over, and Echo was glad he couldn't understand it. "HOW DOES THIS EVEN HAPPEN?" Nitro shrieked.

"Sorry." Puppet shrugged and then yelped in pain. "It's not my fault, I promise. And it's lasted me five years - five years working, plus one year of uselessness, so I'd say it's lived it's life."

"I'm not making you a new one, if that's what you're asking. I worked my butt off fixing that piece of scrap metal and making Alyssa's. I'll just ... HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO FIX THIS?!"

"You made that when you were ten?" Echo asked in surprise.

Nitro glanced over. "Oh, hey. Didn't know you were in here. No, I made it work when I was ten. It was already built."

"He was the mechanical genius," Puppet said, trying to make a joke, though his eyes were haunted.

"Am," Nitro corrected. "I still am."

Echo remembered the extraordinary arm he'd made for Alyssa, and determined that he really was the mechanical genius. He watched him work for a few minutes, and even though he was frustrated, the Raider seemed to be making progress.

"Puppet, what happened?" Echo asked softly.

"Tristam," he said, confirming Braken's earlier suspicion. "Rogue's alive and going to recover. Tristam thought I was the only one in charge after ... that, so he determined he'd leave me alive, but teach me a lesson if I didn't join him." He winced again as Nitro sparked something. "Now I'm afraid he's going to go for Rogue, and I'm a sitting duck."