Braegar led them to the back of the shop, Aimsley keeping her steps regulated, and Jaime bouncing in excitement.

  “First time seeing it up close?” the chief engineer asked over his shoulder, looking at Aimsley. She nodded and looked at Jaime again. Her friend caught on quicker this time.

  “We saw it being delivered,” she said. “It was in bad shape then. It’s amazing how much better it looks now!” Aimsley could only nod her head in agreement. Before, Silent Joker had come in on a mage cart, most of armor torn away. Only one arm was still attached, the other one and one leg lay beside it. The other leg had been missing entirely. Most internal components were present, if a little worse for wear. Except the cockpit.

  There wasn’t one.

  In the service report, Silent Joker’s last mission ended with it being ambushed by a nesting drake couple. The pilot stayed back to give his company time to leave, but he himself was killed when the stone drake crushed the titan’s chest. While she wasn’t superstitious by nature, she had insisted on a whole new replacement cockpit as part of her sign-on. No one had fought her on it.

  They stopped beside the standing figure. The armor, newly remade and painted, held no testament to the beating it took on its final mission. Both arms and legs were present, and a new cockpit shown in the open chest. But none of that is what drew her attention.

  Aimsley wasn’t sure what it was, but there was an odd feeling she had being near Silent Joker. Not foreboding or dangerous, more of a sense of something being there but she couldn’t see it. It felt as though she were looking out over a ravine, knowing she could get to the other side but can’t find the bridge she knew was supposed to be there.

  “Hey, you okay, Aims?” Jaime’s voice pulled her back. She realized she had been staring at Silent Joker while wrestling with this odd sensation. She shook her head to clear it and smiled at her friend. She smiled back.

  “It’s overwhelming, isn’t,” she asked. “Being near your own titan. I mean, you trained with Imminent Discovery,” she clarified, meaning the titan she used at the Arcane Index. “But this is yours, basically. No one else will pilot it as long as you are here.” She sighed, a huge smile never leaving her face.

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  “Well, remember that we are the ones who will be putting it back together,” Braegar said, an amused tone in his voice. “So try not to bang it up too badly out there?” Aimsley just gave a good-natured shrug. It wouldn’t always be up to her. She then pointed at the catalysts in her void bracer, then to Silent Joker.

  “Oh, right!” Jaime started. “So, every pilot for Silent Joker has been a matter mage. Looks like you’ll be its first void mage!” She stopped, a look of shock on her face. “I mean, ONLY void mage! ‘Cause, nothing is going to happen to you.” She wrung her hands nervously. “A-anyway, You have two tier five matter catalysts, one in each arm.” She caught the pilot’s raised eyebrow. “Yes, each side has a swiftmetal reservoir and each tank can share between one another.” She giggled and said, “You’ll never need to worry about swiftmetal inside your titan!”

  A thought struck Aimsley at that moment. She looked at her void bracer, specifically at the black matter catalyst. She turned to Braegar and pointed at it then where the tanks would be on Silent Joker, then her arm. He stared for a moment, not getting it. Jaime, looked confused, as well. “Aims?” she asked, cocking her head to the side like a confused, grease-stained kitten.

  Frustrated, Aimsley now would be a good chance to try out her bracer. Channeling her magic, the purple catalyst began to glow. She took a step and leapt into the air, allowing her magic to lower her weight to almost negligible. She smiled at the gasps she left behind as she caught the scaffolding near the titan’s left arm. Scrambling on the appendage, she pointed at it again. This time, she was sure Jaime understood as she wasn’t pointing at the titan’s matter catalyst, but the tank near it.

  The swiftmetal tank.

  “You want to-?” she began, but cut herself off as she turned to Braegar. “Chief, where’s the scrap pile?” He seemed to have caught on as well.

  “This way,” he said and motioned to Aimsley. “Come on down. I’ll show you where the swiftmetal is.” He began walking away and she jumped down next to Jaime who was again, bouncing excitedly.

  “That was so cool!” she gushed as they followed the chief. “We got scrap and swiftmetal. Anything else you might need?” The pilot considered then tugged on the sleeve of her friend’s coveralls. “Huh? My clothes? Ah, come on,” she said, blushing slightly. “You can have anyone you want. Why would you want an ugly-,” she stopped when she saw her friend’s deadpan stare. Aimsley then indicated her cape, then the sleeve again and looked at Jaime with a “Ya get it now?” look. “Cloth!” she said, blushing even redder and laughing nervously. “Yeah, we have some spare rags around, I bet.” She hurried on, face still red.

  Aimsley just shook her head at her friend as they continued on.