The tone of the conversation had shifted considerably in a direction Liv wasn’t very comfortable with. Newton stares at her with something close to contempt, though it’s with an intensity that goes through and to someone else. Liv shifts uncomfortably . She didn’t ask if Elton had a brother. How could she know that would be important? Is it important? She could feel her mind short circuiting with the thoughts swirling around her mind.

  “Er,” Liv mutters slowly, an awkward smile spreading across her face. “Are ya related to Elton?”

  “Yes.” Newton sounds the word out, the single syllable dragging longer than needed. It was almost serpentine, a hiss with enough venom to kill someone. “That would be my brother.”

  “Then, uh, yeah.” Liv nods. No use hiding it now if she already asked.

  Newton scoffs, his examinations far less careful than before. He stares at the piece of tech like junk, open contempt on his features. “Just like him to sell this ancient swill on the market as if it were something worth using. Honestly, I don’t know why I didn’t suspect it as soon as I saw it.”

  Liv fiddles with her gauntlets, a small bead of sweat cascading down the ridge of her brow. She thought it was cool when it actually worked. Nervously, she pipes up once more, her awkward smile twitching at the edges. “Do ya know what's wrong with it?”

  Newton shoots her a glance through the side of his eye, a judgemental stare that makes Liv’s ears burn. A sigh trails from his lips, his hands repositioning the machine under his arm.

  “I will see what I can do.” With that, he walks back to his seat, his hand tapping on the right-hand arm rest. It shoots up into the air, Newton now far out of her sight.

  Liv slides her hands into her pockets, her eyes moving to scan over the items abounded about. She could sense Synth wafting off some of them, though the impressions she got were weak at best. Some of the stronger ones came from the seats perched high in the air. From what she could faintly see, Newton’s garb was standard procedure here, though the masks each had different eye lights. There were quite a few of them, though there were more desks than there were people to use them.

  Liv settles down on the floor, her legs propped up on the steps leading down to the indent. She closes her eyes, allowing the sounds of machinery and synth wash over her. They were on the threshold of overstimulating, though her tolerance for loud noises was higher than most. Over those, however, she can hear the sound of plastic idly thumping against flooring. Liv turns her gaze to the side, watching as the small toy elephant walks toward her.

  Zuri stops just before her seated form, those black eyes staring right at her. Liv stares back, her eyebrows furrowing with suspicion.

  “Fascinating.” Bruno suddenly pipes up, snapping Liv out of her impromptu staring contest.

  “Fascinatin’ what?” Liv questions.

  “I was simply amazed with the vessel in which this weapon decided to take shape.” Bruno clarifies. “I didn’t know toys were something one could be.”

  “Is that ‘sposed to be impossible or somethin’?”

  “Not that I’m aware of.” Bruno answers truthfully. “Though, I am not truly privy to the nature of my creation.”

  “Ain’t people ‘sposed to know somethin’ like that?”

  “Do you know you were made?”

  “Duh.” Liv responds, a proud smile gracing her lips. “Storks bring ‘em to Ma’s ‘n Pa’s. Everyone knows that.”

  Bruno doesn’t respond after that. Liv shifts her gaze elsewhere, her mind keeping her entertained for the time being. After a few minutes of waiting, Newton’s chair descends once more, the remnants of what once could be considered a minifridge in his lap. The shell is stripped completely and utterly, the delicate machinery that makes up its innards laid bare to the light.

  He slowly stands, screws plinking against the floor from his lap.

  “Well,” he starts, barely trying to disguise the disgust radiating from his voice. “It’s completely and utterly ruined.”

  Liv stares at him blankly for a moment, her mind numb with shock and appalled confusion. It takes her a moment to reorganize her rational thoughts with the new reality of her brutalized fridge. When she does speak, her voice is a higher pitch than she would’ve thought herself capable of.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “‘Course it’s ruined!” Liv gestures to the picked clean machine. “Ya skinned it!”

  “That’s hyperbole.” Newton rolls his eyes, dismissing her concerns outright. His pointer taps at coils buried deep in its surface. They’re cracked, long lines running down their small surfaces. “It was ruined before I touched it. The refrigerant froze completely solid– most likely in an instant. That caused the pipes to crack which, in turn, ruined the entire machine. I would assume an internal catastrophic failure, but I have no clue how or why that happened. From what I can tell, everything else was in working order.” His voice turns to a hum, his eyebrows knit up. “I would assume it was just because the technology is inferior, but I don’t think that's the case…”

  “So it ain’t fixable?” Liv questions, the small hope in her chest extinguishing, fully dying as Newton nods his head. Liv groans, running her hands down her face. “I coughed up so much for nothin’...”

  Newton furrows his brow, tilting his head to the side, momentarily overwhelming the expression of malice he held for the machine. “How much did you pay for a contraption like this?”

  “A lot.” Liv mutters idly.

  “A lot is subjective in this regard.” Newton responds. “A hundred? Perhaps a few hundred? I think that would be overpaying, though I could see it going for a little more if you bought it from my brother-.”

  He stops as Liv mumbles something under her breath, her arms folding tightly across her chest. He narrows his brow, leaning closer with a hum. She repeats herself, though it isn’t much louder.

  “If you want me to hear you, you’ll have to speak up.” He says, impatiently tapping his finger against his bicep. Liv tightens her jaw, an embarrassed weight sloshing about her chest.

  “I paid seven thousand, aight? Seven thousand.” She finally says, turning her head away. The crash of the now further broken machine falling to the floor exacerbates the look of shocked horror on Newton’s face. He moves his mouth in invisible words, unable to muster up the right sentences to say. This only serves to further embarrass Liv, a red hot flush flaming all the way down her body. “It ain't that bad! Already paid it off too!”

  “That’s worse, actually.” Newton finally manages to say, his hand running through his hair. “That fool, scamming people like this… Especially initiatives like yourself.” Newton’s eyes narrow, his eyes locked on the now completely destroyed piece of machinery on the floor. With a sigh, he hangs his head, his voice more modest than Liv had heard up until now. “On his behalf, I profusely apologize. He may be a moron, a cheat, and a reprehensible troll, and someone I don’t enjoy being around, but he’s still my brother. Please try to forgive him.”

  “Y-Yer fine.” Liv says quickly, her hands raising in front of her to calm the situation. The last thing she needed was… Well, whatever that was. It only serves as fuel for the embarrassment she felt at the current moment.

  “If you’re sure.” He pushes himself back up straight, his hands idly hanging at his sides .The two stand in relative silence for a bit, the awkward tension only growing. Liv just didn’t know what to say. She had, apparently, gotten scammed really bad. That sucked, but she wasn’t exactly strapped for cash. Hellfire handled most of her needs, so she only really spent money on rations for missions and experiences around the town.

  “So,” Newton finally says after quite a while of silence. “Is there anything else you need?”

  “Err… Nah.” Liv mutters. She didn’t really have a lot else to her name since her only large purchase was just destroyed.

  “I see.” Newton says, another awkward silence following it. The silence is broken by Newton once more, though he seems to adopt a more nervous cadence to his voice. “You are… Interested in my work, right?”

  “Hm?” Liv hums, her eyebrows furrowing as she cocks her head to the side.

  “My work. You think it's interesting, yes?” He reiterates, gesturing to the small plastic elephant still staring up at her. “You wish to see more of it?”

  “Oh. Yeah, it’s pretty cool I ‘spose. Why?”

  Newton nods his head, his posture relaxing ever so slightly. “Well, I think I have a proposition for you.”

  Liv cocks her head the other way, interest building with the mounting confusion. Newton takes her silence for interest, an assessment that wasn’t all too far from the truth.

  “Though I have some time to research, my materials to use are lacking. Simply put, I don’t have enough Synth Weapons to experiment with. If they’re not being affixed to a new member, they’re being used for more… Destructive experiments.” His words are laced with an underlying venom, his gaze shooting up to his brethren in the sky. “If you would help me gather some, though, I could craft you a new fridge.”

  “...Yer able to do that?”

  “I made some when I was younger. That’s how I found myself in the Initiative.” He crouches down, picking up the scraps of the fridge. “Elton helped me make them. If he weren’t so pig headed, he would’ve made a place for himself right alongside me; unfortunately, he only cares about the past. The future is of little consequence to him.”

  “Huh.” Liv nods to herself, mulling the proposition over in her mind. Most Synth Weapons went straight to whoever Liv and her team had to report to. There, it was presumably put into storage for testing or re-acquisition. The specifics were lost on her. They netted a bit extra on top of the check you always got for missions, but it wasn’t enough to make or break anyone under her care. Still, that only left one problem.

  “That's an awful kind offer,” Liv starts. “But I don’t really want a new one. I wanted to get it fixed ‘cause it meant somethin’ to me, but knownin’ I got scammed and knowin’ its beyond repair kinda makes me… Not want one.”

  “Ah.” Newton scratches the back of his head, a torrent of emotion passing along his face. After a while, he seems to steel his resolve, his hands clenching as he speaks. “If you don’t want that, there has to be something else you desire! My collection of items may be sparser than my brothers, but my heart is inventive to a fault. If it is within my capabilities, I will do my best.”

  Liv cocks her head to the side once more. What did she want? Comfort, obviously, and to prove herself as well. There was also the hope that she could save people from the fate she suffered. Materially? She wasn’t truly looking for anything. That’s when it strikes her, the old geezer popping into her mind; more specifically, what he owned.