Chapter 17: Pearl the Cable Girl

"Here's your pay for the job," Sveltson said, handing Mud a small stack of Lien. "I'll let the bounty office in Pike's Landing know you did a good job. At least, once the power's back on."

"Yeah, about that," Mud said, taking and pocketing the money. "I heard your mechanic got axed on the way here. How long 'till you can get a new one?"

"Well, since the CCT relay tower isn't up, we have to send someone up to Pike's Landing to get the message to someone in Vale, who may or may not be able to send a mechanic up to here," Sveltson explained, leaning against the door of the guardhouse. "I'm estimating... maybe a week or two, minimum. Maybe more."

"You don't have to wait that long," Pearl said. "I... I think I could try fixing up whatever's wrong at the hydroelectric plant. I might be able to."

"For a decent price," Mud added. "Apparently, kid's a bit of a tinkerer. I dunno for sure if she can fix up your power problem, but if she can, we might be able to have it done by the end of the day."

"Are you sure?" Sveltson asked. "You'll have to forgive me for not trusting two kids with the task of fixing up a generator that's powering the entire town. Especially since you two just came into town last night."

"What, you got any other options?" Mud asked. "It's either that or possibly spend weeks in the dark. And it's not like we can bust it up beyond 'not working'. At least, unless we actually try to bust it up."

"Uh, mister Cinnabar?" Pearl asked. "I do want to help the town, so if you would please let me take a look at the generator, I would be grateful for - "

"Fine, you've made your point," Sveltson said, shaking his head. "The hydroelectric plant's about two miles up the road. Once you get to the river, head upstream. You can't miss it."

"Anything else you can give us?" Mud asked. "Information about the place? Any tools we can use? I carry some stuff, but not exactly what's needed to fix a generator."

"There should be tools at the hydroelectric plant. Hopefully that'll have what you need," Sveltson explained. "As for any information, well, a big thunderstorm rolled through here a few days ago. We think that might've had something to do with the generator going down, but I don't know too much about the specifics."

"Sorry if I'm getting ahead of myself, but... shouldn't there be someone in town who knows how to manage and repair the generator?" Pearl asked. "If it's that important to Damstel, then someone should be making sure this doesn't happen..."

"We have a small team of engineers and technicians who work with the hydroelectric plant, but most of them are volunteers or amateurs, and they haven't been able to bring it back online yet," Sveltson said. "Additionally, our senior engineer, who might have been able to fix things up without issue, passed away recently. He worked a late night once keeping the plant's generator in shape, and then he got ambushed by Grimm on his way back. We've been trying to find a replacement ever since, but..."

"Damn. All your mechanics getting eaten up," Mud said, turning to Pearl. "At least you'll have me to escort you. You sure you can fix this?"

"I... I can try," Pearl said. "At least, I should be able to tell what's wrong."

"Well, that's half of the way towards fixing something," Mud said, turning back to Sveltson. "If we manage to fix that thing, you better have a nice stack of Lien waiting for us."

"If the lights come back on, I'll have it ready by the time you've arrived," Sveltson said. Mud nodded, stepping away from the guardhouse and down the street towards the northern exit of town. Pearl followed her, pulling her cloak tight around her body.

"So, uh, if that engineer who could have been able to fix the generator was ambushed and killed by Grimm, then doesn't that mean we might also get ambushed?" Pearl asked. "I'd rather not meet the same fate."

"Relax. If we get ambushed, I'll be ready for it," Mud said, patting the pistol at her hip. "No Beowolf or Ursa is gonna get within ten feet of us. Probably."

"I mean... I know you seem skilled, but you're just one person," Pearl said. "It would be unwise to go out to repair the line with only one person capable of fighting the Grimm. What if you were to get injured?"

"Relax, it'll be fine. I've done solo missions before, and those turned out pretty well," Mud said. "Plus, who knows, maybe you're good at fighting and you just don't remember. Or maybe you got some neat weapons hiding somewhere under there. If I built a robot like the one you're in, I would at least include some sort of gun or weapon or something."

"I... sorry, but if there is, I don't know how to use it," Pearl said, looking over her arms as she searched for any sort of seams that could be hiding a hidden weapon. However, she found nothing. "If we get into a fight, you'll have to defend us both..."

"I told you, it'll be fine," Mud said, looking back at Pearl. "You just worry about how you're gonna repair that generator. While I can do a little bit of maintenance and mechanical work, I don't know shit about fixing something like that."

"Uh... okay."

"Also, my offer still stands if you wanna learn how to defend yourself," Mud said. "Though I doubt you'll be able to learn enough to fight off Grimm before we get to the plant."

"I'll, uh, think about it," Pearl said. The conversation died down as Pearl followed Mud down the street, out through the north exit of town, and up the road to where the plant was supposed to be.

After a few miles of walking on dirt roads going up and down, looking over the hills surrounding them as they occasionally made small talk, the two girls found themselves at a wooden bridge crossing over a river. It was a fairly sizable river, at least several dozen meters across, and the waters seemed to run quite deep. Branching off from the main road was another path, smaller and more rugged but still wide enough to allow a vehicle to pass through. By the path was a sign that said 'Damstel Power Plant: Authorized Personnel Only!'.

"Uh, I guess this is the place," Pearl said. She looked upstream to see a large concrete dam built across the river, with a small building built beside it. Power lines sprouting from that building extended to electrical towers further in the distance, making their way back to Damstel. "And I suppose that is the hydroelectric plant. Should we go in, or..."

"What do you think? Considering we're supposed to be fixing the fucking thing, I'd say we're as authorized as you can get," Mud said, walking past the sign towards the plant. She turned back towards Pearl. "Come on, we don't have all day."

"Sorry," Pearl said, following Mud down the path towards the plant. "Sveltson said that there's a small team of engineers who are supposed to manage the plant, right? Maybe they can help us fix it."

"Eh, if they weren't any help fixing the thing before we came along, I doubt they'll be much use," Mud said. "Though if it ends up being a problem that needs manpower, then I guess they can help."

"That's probably true..."

"So, what's the plan?" Mud asked. "You're just gonna scan the place with your semblance and figure out what the problem is?"

"That is what I have in mind. If the current team of engineers is having trouble repairing everything, my semblance should be able to help them identify each and every problem that needs repairing," Pearl said. "And if possible, I think I should be able to help on repairs as well."

"You... do know how to repair stuff, right?" Mud asked. "I know you told me you fixed that lamp last night, but turning a lamp back on is a lot different from fixing a broken power plant."

"I... the me in my memories seemed to be quite adept at fixing things at a young age," Pearl explained. "I am not yet sure of how much of a mechanic I am at present, but if my past self is any indication, then I feel as if I will at least not be useless."

"Eh, I guess we'll see. Hopefully, we can still get some cash if you just identify the problems, even if you don't actually fix them," Mud said. As they got closer to the plant, Pearl saw a small pickup truck parked outside of it. "Huh, looks like someone's already here."

"It's probably one of the engineers that works with the plant, right?" Pearl asked. "I don't see who else - "

"Uh, hello? Is someone there?" Pearl heard someone call out as a door on the building attached to the dam opened. A short woman, though not as short as Pearl, emerged from inside the building. She looked somewhat older than Mud, though still young, and she was wearing a long-sleeved shirt, denim suspenders, work gloves, and thick-rimmed glasses. "Excuse me, who are you? The power plant's not open for visitors today..."

"Um, actually - "

"We're here on a job to help get the plant back up and running," Mud said, interrupting Pearl. "You one of the plant's workers? Anyone else here?"

"Uh, it's just me right now," the woman said. "I'm sort of a morning person, so I like to arrive early."

"That seems odd," Pearl said, . "If the town doesn't have power, everyone should be trying to get that fixed as soon as possible."

"Well, it's five thirty in the morning. Everyone else is probably in bed," the woman said. "Oh, where are my manners? I'm Auburn Rustworth."

"My name is Pearl," Pearl said. "And is it really that early? I suppose it's easy to lose track of time if you don't sleep..."

"Mud," Mud said. "So, what's the problem here? Guard captain didn't exactly fill us in on the details."

"About a week ago, a heavy storm passed through the area. Heavy rains flooded the river and did some damage to the dam, and lightning fried a lot of the electronics in the plant," Auburn explained. "We've managed to fix a decent amount of the problems, but there's still a few things that we're not sure how to fix."

"Like what?" Pearl asked. "Shouldn't there be someone here who knows how to fix it?"

"Well, before he was ambushed by Grimm, our senior engineer was the only one who really knew anything about the plant. Even after he died, the plant was running fine until, well, just last week, so we never got around to hiring someone else with the know-how to fix that sorta stuff, and..." the woman said, trailing off. "Well, here we are."

"Huh," Mud said. "So, if I'm getting this right... you're all inept?"

"I... guess you could say that. Most of the team is young and inexperienced," Auburn said. "I just recently started working here, so I've been trying to figure things out, but I don't know the plant well enough to figure out how to fix what's wrong. Like I said, our team's actually managed to fix up most of the damage, but we still haven't been able to get everything up and running..."

"Well, hopefully we can help to fix up the mess you and your coworkers left here," Mud said, looking past Auburn towards the dam. "So, what still needs fixing?"

"Oh, of course! Follow me," Auburn said, making her way back into the building attached to the dam. Mud followed her into the building, with Pearl following close behind. Through the door was an old-looking control room with a series of panels, lights, and buttons, with a staircase leading down to the dam itself. "This is where we monitor and operate the plant's functions. Of course, it's offline right now, but when it does get up and running..."

"So, I guess the generator itself is down there?" Pearl asked, looking down the stairs. "We were told something was wrong with the generator... could I have a look at it?"

"Ah, about that. The generator and turbine that produce the plant's electricity are actually in decent shape, since our team focused on repairing that first," Auburn explained, leading the two down into the dam. They entered a long room with a large cylindrical jutting out of the wall, which Pearl assumed was the turbine. It was connected to a great series of machines, though none of them seemed to be running at the moment. "There's some other problems that we need to deal with, though. For example, our biggest problem right now is that the storm seems to have damaged the control gates, and now they're fixed shut."

"Control gates?" Mud asked.

"They're gates that control the flow of water into the turbine. Normally, we'd be able to open and close them from the control room, but after the storm, they haven't been responding," Auburn explained. "They're in the underwater intake tube, so it's near impossible to check on it without any sort of diving equipment. We asked the incoming repairman to be prepared for underwater repairs, but considering what happened..."

"Underwater repairs, huh?" Mud asked, turning towards Pearl. "You think you could do something like that? Considering, well..."

"Um... maybe?" Pearl said, turning towards Auburn. "I think I can take a look at the control gate for you."

"Huh? How'd you plan on doing that?" Auburn asked. "You got diving gear?"

"I, uh... I don't need it," Pearl said, loosening her cloak and pulling its hood off her head. "I'm, well..."

"She's got a robot body. Far as I know, she doesn't need to breathe, so she won't need diving equipment," Mud said, tapping her fist lightly against Pearl's shoulder. "Plus, her semblance should work really well to check what's wrong with the control gates."

"A robot? That's... odd," Auburn said, looking over Pearl's body. "And you have a semblance?"

"Yeah, I, uh... I can read the structures of objects, kinda like blueprints in my head," Pearl explained. "If I use it on the control gate, I might be able to find out what needs to be repaired."

"Well, if that's the case, then let's head outside and get that control gate checked out," Auburn said, making her way past Pearl and back up the stairs. "I'll grab some tools you might need from storage, so meet me by the shore of the river."

"Uh... are you sure this is going to work?" Pearl asked as she tightened the rope around her waist. She looked down towards the river, at the spot in the dam where the intake tube was supposed to be. "I don't really see the point of this..."

"You might be able to work fine underwater, but if you somehow get stuck down there, it'll be hard for us to come and get you," Mud explained, tugging on her end of the rope. "This way, we can just pull you out if something goes wrong."

"But... how will you know if something goes wrong?" Pearl asked, stepping closer to the water before looking back at Mud. "It's not like you'll be able to see me in the intake tube."

"Just tug on the rope a bunch and I'll pull you up," Mud said.

"I guess that works..." Pearl said, turning towards Auburn. "Should I take any tools down there? To see if I can fix the control gate?"

"I think you should just check it out first. See what sort of problem we're dealing with," Auburn said. "Once you figure that out, come back up and I can give you the proper tools for fixing that problem."

"Okay," Pearl said, turning back towards the river. She tried to take a deep breath in anticipation, only to remember that her body wasn't capable of doing so. "Here I go."

"Good luck," Mud said as Pearl made her way into the river, going deeper and deeper with every step. The water was cold, but it didn't seem to bother her. After all, she couldn't catch hypothermia in her current body. As the water went over her head, she made sure to keep her mouth closed, though she wasn't sure if that mattered. Once she had made her way deeper down the river, she looked around, spotting a hole in the side of the dam through the dark and murky river water.

That must be the intake tube, Pearl thought. She slowly walked towards the opening, which was barely tall enough for her to stand in. Though she was heavy enough to sink to the riverbed and walk as if she was on land, it was still somewhat awkward to move underwater, and she was having trouble moving around quickly. As she made her way inside the intake tube, she realized something: she couldn't see a thing. Should I go up and get a flashlight? Or, maybe...

Pearl concentrated, reaching out and placing her hands on the sides of the intake tube. After a few seconds, an image of the intake tube began to form in her mind, as well as what lay beyond it. Though Pearl couldn't see, she could tell that the control gate was only a few meters ahead, right before what seemed to be the plant's turbine. With that information now in her head, she stepped forward, stopping in front of the control gate.

Now, let's see what's wrong with you, Pearl thought, placing her hands on the gate. An image of the control gate quickly began to form in her mind's eye, filling the darkness inside the intake tube as she used her semblance to search for any sort of problem. The mechanism for bringing the gate up and down seems fine, and the gate itself isn't damaged or anything, so... hey, what's that?

Pearl reached up, grabbing the end of what seemed to be a small log wedged between the gate and the mechanism that pulled the gate up. It was slightly smaller than Pearl herself and lodged in quite hard, holding fast when she gave it a quick tug. Maybe some debris from the storm Auburn mentioned? I guess that's what's causing the problem. I wonder, could I pull this out?

Bracing her feet against the control gate, Pearl grabbed the log, pulling at it with more force this time. Though it stayed wedged against the gate, it began to budge a little more, though not enough to remove it from its current position. If I just had a little more force... wait, hm. That might work.

Reaching down, Pearl untied the rope that was wrapped around her waist. Then, she tied it around the end of the log, pulling it tight to make sure that it would hold. She gave two quick, hard tugs on the rope to signal Mud, and the rope suddenly went taut, pulling at the log with much greater force than Pearl had exerted upon it. It jerked in place once, then twice, then the entire log burst free of the gate.

Yes! Pearl thought, feeling the gate pull upwards. Suddenly, she felt a strong current hit her back, sweeping her off her feet and pushing her down the intake tube. Pearl let out a surprised gasp that was muffled by the water as she flailed about in the darkness. Her hand brushed against something - the log, judging by the wooden texture - and she grabbed onto it, holding onto it with as much strength as her robotic fingers could muster. Opening the gate must have caused water to start flowing down the tube... hopefully, Mud can pull me out of here.

Reaching up with her other arm to get a more secure grip on the log, Pearl looked up to see the opening to the intake tube getting closer and closer as the rope pulled the log along. As she passed by the opening, she grabbed the edge of the tube, letting go of the log and pulling herself out of the current. She quickly made her way back above water and onto the shore, where she saw Mud pull up the log with the rope.

"Huh, the hell's this?" Mud asked, turning towards Pearl as she untied the rope from the log. "What happened down there? I get the signal to pull you up and I get some driftwood?"

"Well, uh... the problem was some debris locking up the control gate. That's what I had you pull out," Pearl explained, looking over her body. Though she was still wet, it didn't bother her too much. "I couldn't pull it out myself, so I got you to pull it out for me, though I almost got swept away when the gate opened up..."

"You could've just came up and got another rope, you know?" Mud said. "Don't wanna hear about you getting shredded up in the plant's turbines. Assuming they're strong enough to shred you up, that is. I dunno how strong your body is."

"Well, not stronger than you, considering you managed to pull out the log when I couldn't," Pearl said, looking around. "Where's Auburn?"

"She ran back into the plant when she heard the gate go up," Mud explained. "Probably checking to see if it's working or something, I don't know - "

"You did it!" Pearl heard Auburn shout. She looked over to see her running towards them from the entrance of the plant. "The control gate works! We should be able to get the turbines up and running now."

"So the plant's fixed? Just like that?" Mud asked. "Huh. I thought it'd be harder."

"Well... not exactly. There's still a decent amount of repairs to be made before the plant's back up and running at full capacity," Auburn explained. "But since the generator is working and we have water running through the turbines again, we should be able to provide Damstel with at least some power. It won't be stable, and it won't be enough to supply energy to the whole town, but it'll be better than nothing."

"I guess that's good," Pearl said. "How soon will you be able to get power to the town?"

"Now that the turbine's running, it shouldn't take too long," Auburn said, heading back into the plant. Pearl and Mud followed her through the door into the control room, where they saw Auburn tapping and flipping various buttons and switches as she looked across the array of lights and monitors. After about a minute, she took a step back and let out a breath. "Well, it isn't much, but Damstel should be getting at least some power right now. It's nice to get things back online."

"I'll radio in, check if it's gone through on the other end," Mud said, pulling a radio out of her pocket. Pearl watched her fiddle with it for a moment before putting it up to her ear. "Hey, Sveltson, this is Mud."

Some chatter came out from the radio's speaker, too soft for Pearl to hear.

"Yeah, we got the power up. Well, not fully up, but there should be at least some of it."

Some more chatter.

"What do you mean? It's supposed to be up and running," Mud said, turning towards Auburn as she set down the radio. "It is sending power, right?"

"Uh... yeah, it is," Auburn said. "Is something wrong?"

"I dunno, maybe," Mud said, putting the radio back up to her mouth. "Yeah, it's up. You sure you ain't getting anything?"

More chatter.

"Damn. Well, I'll see what we can do," Mud said, turning off the radio and putting it in her pocket. Then, she turned to Auburn. "They ain't getting power. You absolutely sure this place is up and running?"

"It... should be. I'm fairly certain," Auburn said, looking back over the various screens and lights. "Everything is indicating that power is being sent from this facility to the town. They're sure they're not getting power?"

"Sveltson seemed pretty damn sure," Mud said. "Maybe your readings are funky or something?"

"Some of the measurement instruments were damaged by the storm, but we made sure to repair them. They should be working," Auburn said. "We're sending power, but they're not receiving it..."

"Um... Auburn? I have a question," Pearl said. "If there was something preventing the power from getting to town, like a break in the power lines, would you be able to detect it from here?"

"Huh, that's a good point. The monitoring equipment is pretty old, so we would have trouble tracking something like that from here," Auburn said. "It's not unlikely that the storm might have taken down a power line. That would prevent electricity from reaching the town, even with the plant up and running..."

"So, what's the deal? We find and fix wherever the power line broke?" Mud said. "Doesn't seem that hard. Just follow the power lines until we find where it got cut."

"I guess that's an option," Auburn said, turning away and hitting a few more buttons. "I'll turn off the power and get you some repair kits, and you two can go repair the line."

"What do you mean?" Pearl asked. "Are you not coming?"

"No, I think I'll stay and see what else I can do to fix up the plant," Auburn said. "Plus, the power lines run over the fields, and there's a decent amount of Grimm out there, and... well, after the senior engineer got ambushed on the job, I don't really wanna chance an encounter with a Beowolf. But since you're a mercenary and all..."

"Huh. Guess I'll at least get to shoot something today," Mud said, turning to Pearl. "If we find the downed line, you think you can handle repairs?"

"As long as it isn't too bad, I think I should be able to fix it," Pearl said. She turned towards Auburn. "So, uh... how easy is it to use those repair kits you mentioned?"

"Oh, it's simple! It's basically just pulling the two wires together and using a special sleeve to hold them in place. Just make sure you ground the line before you start, since there might be some leftover juice in the lines and you probably don't want a few hundred thousand volts running through your body," Auburn said. "I'll go grab them so that you two can get going, along with some extra tools in case it ends up being more than just a broken line."

As Auburn headed downstairs to grab the repair kits, Pearl looked back out the door towards the power lines heading off towards Damstel. If I've got Mud to protect me from the Grimm, then I should be fine repairing the power line, she thought. Then we'll be able to get power back to the town. This shouldn't be too hard.

"Well?" Mud asked as Pearl approached the electrical tower. "What's it look like?"

"I don't see anything wrong, at least from down here," Pearl said, placing her hands on the base of the tower. She concentrated, and an image of the tower's structure appeared in her mind's eye, a four-sided crisscross of metal beams and struts that rose up high into the sky and suspended the wires that sent power to Damstel. After looking over it for a few moments, she stepped away. "Sorry, I, uh, couldn't find anything. We'll have to check the next one."

"That's fine. We still got, uh..." Mud said, trailing off as she looked towards the power lines trailing off into the distance. Pearl took the time to adjust the bag she had slung over her shoulder, which contained the repair kit and tools Auburn had given her. "Fuck, that's a lotta towers. And a lotta walking. Well, it ain't like we got anything better to do today, and we're getting paid for it, so..."

"Yeah, uh... I guess we should proceed, then," Pearl said as she started walking over to the next tower. She looked back at Mud, who was walking behind her. Though Mud carried herself in a fairly casual manner, letting her rifle droop lazily by her side as she hummed to herself, her eyes still darted about the hills and grasslands surrounding the two, presumably watching for any sign of a Grimm ambush. She occasionally looked behind herself, making sure that nothing would be able to sneak up on them. "Um... how likely do you think it'll be that we'll be attacked by Grimm? And what should I do if we do get attacked?"

"Well, considering they were able to build these towers and keep them up, this area probably ain't got too much Grimm. Still gotta be careful, though. Just stick with me and I'll take care of them," Mud said, checking over her rifle before going back to watching for anything out of the ordinary. "And you ever had an encounter with Grimm? I mean, I know you haven't since I met you, but you remember anything before then?"

"Uh... not really. I think I lived with my dad in Atlas... and I guess my mom, too," Pearl said, thinking back over what she could remember of her flashbacks. "I don't think I really had the opportunity to, well, encounter any Grimm."

"Makes sense. Not gonna see any Grimm if you're in the middle of the city. Means you got the better end of the stick," Mud said. "You said something about your mom? You remember anything about her? I know your dad's a scientist or something, but what's she?"

"I... I'm not sure. The only memory I have of her right now is when I discovered my semblance," Pearl explained. "But she seemed nice. And whenever I think about her... I feel somewhat warm inside."

"Yeah, I guess that's kinda how moms are supposed to be," Mud said. "The way things are going, I won't be surprised if you start remembering more about her and your life with her in Atlas. Maybe she'll be there, too. With your dad, I mean."

"I, uh... yeah, hopefully," Pearl said. "What about you?"

"Huh?"

"You, um, said that you were looking for your sister, right?" Pearl asked, turning back towards Mud. "What about the rest of your family?"

"It's... well, I guess it's mostly my sister. Dad wasn't around, and I didn't see my mom much. After she died, Resina did most of the work raising me," Mud explained, looking behind herself for a moment before turning back towards Pearl. "Guess you could say she was kinda my mom, in that sense."

"I... I'm sorry to hear that. About your mom, I mean," Pearl said. "Uh... if you don't mind me asking, what happened to her?"

"I'm not really sure. She was a Huntress, and she'd be away more often than she was at home. On missions or something, I guess. My sister took care of me when she was away," Mud explained. "Then, one time, she just never came back. Just left us back home to fend for ourselves."

"She just left you two?" Pearl asked. "Are you sure? How do you know she's not out there somewhere? Like, uh, your sister?"

"I don't really know myself. But Resina... one day, about a month after our mom left for the last time, it was like she suddenly knew. That our mom was dead, I mean. Maybe she got a message or something from somewhere, but I dunno," Mud explained. "From then on, it was just the two of us. Until we got separated, anyways."

"I... I see," Pearl said, turning back forwards towards the upcoming electrical tower. She looked up at where the power lines connected to the tower. Though she couldn't make out the details all the way from the ground, it looked to her to be frayed, burnt, and barely hanging onto the tower itself. "I think we might have found our problem."

"Yup. I guess it took a lightning strike or something," Mud said, craning her neck upwards. "You okay with climbing up there to fix it?"

"Uh, I'm not sure if I, uh..." Pearl started to say, pausing to look up at the top of the tower. It looked quite high up. Too high. And there were no stairs or ladders leading to the top; instead, a crisscrossing of steel beams and struts was all she could pull herself up on. "It's just, uh..."

"Wait. Be quiet," Mud suddenly ordered, interrupting Pearl. Pearl followed her command as Mud turned around, scanning her eyes over the fields and hills. She heard Mud swear under her breath as she turned back towards Pearl. "Something nasty's coming. Start climbing; I'll cover you from down here."

"But, I, um, I don't think I can - "

AWOOOO!

"You hear that? Sooner you get that repair done, sooner we can get out of here and away from all the Grimm that's coming," Mud said, pushing Pearl towards the tower. In the distance, Pearl saw a horde of black wolf-like creatures coming over a nearby hill, running through the grasslands towards them. "Now get up there!"

"Uh... I'll try," Pearl said, adjusting her bag and looking up at the top of the tower. She tried to take a deep breath to steel herself mentally, only to be reminded once again that she was incapable of doing so. Her hands were shaking as she grabbed the first strut, pulling herself upwards. Her own strength surprised her; even though she was completely made of metal, her arms were able to easily handle the weight of her body, allowing her to easily pull herself onto the beams and struts running across the length of the tower. She carefully balanced on the beam before grabbing the next beam above her and pulling herself onto that one, and then the next one after that, and then the one after that, maintaining a steady rhythm. Yeah, I can do this... just need to focus...

Then, she looked down.

"Ah!" Pearl cried out, holding on tight to the strut next to herself. Though she was only a little more than half a dozen meters above the ground, it felt like so much more. A feeling of vertigo ran through her head, and she clutched the steel strut beside her as she suddenly realized how thin the beam she was balancing on was. If I fall from here... or up even higher...

"The hell're you doing? You got a long way to go!" Mud shouted up at her before turning towards the quickly-approaching Beowolves. She raised her rifle, letting loose a hail of bullets that tore through several of the incoming Grimm. "Get climbing!"

"Sorry, it's just..." Pearl started to say, trailing off as her words were drowned out by the gunfire from Mud. She watched as Mud ducked underneath a Beowolf's lunge, then pierced its body with a burst of gunfire. Before its dissipating body had even hit the ground, Mud turned and shot another Beowolf straight through the head, causing it to go limp and tumble into the dirt next to her. A third Beowolf darted past Mud, leaping up towards Pearl. She gasped, freezing in place as she watched it fly up to her, only to watch as a bullet pierced through its skull and sent it back to the ground.

"Look, you wanted to help Damstel get their power back on, right?" Mud shouted up to her, reloading her rifle as more Beowolves approached her. "Then suck it up and get up there! Or are you so much of a coward that you won't do what you said you'd do just cause it's a little too high?"

"I... sorry, you're right," Pearl said, though her words were obscured by the loud bangs of gunfire and the howls of Beowolves. She looked up, tuning out the noises from the fight below her as she reached up again, pulling herself onto the beam above her as she continued her climb up the tower. After pulling herself up several more times, she felt a cold wind blow against her back. She nearly turned her head to look back down, but then shook her head. No point in it. What matters is climbing up to the top...

"One... two... three," Pearl muttered to herself, pulling her body up to the next beam above her. She didn't know exactly how high up she was, but the increasing intensity of the wind around her told her that she was pretty high. The broken power line was getting closer and closer, and a few more struts marked the distance between herself and her target. Pearl reached up, ready to get to the broken power line and start -

SKREEEE!

Suddenly, something pierced into the strut next to her hand, causing Pearl to flinch away and nearly stumble off the tower. As she recovered, she looked up and saw a large black feather embedded into the metal beside her hand. A large black bird-like Grimm, with a wingspan wider than the tower she was climbing and a cap of white armor covering its head and face, flew past the tower, screeching as it began to loop around.

"Uh, Mud? I need some assistance!" Pearl shouted, keeping her eyes on the bird Grimm - a Nevermore, if she remembered her Grimm names correctly. She glanced down for a moment, only to see Mud still occupied fighting the Beowolves from before, as well as a couple of Ursas that had joined the fight. Though she was able to fend off the horde of Grimm by herself, pushing them back with a barrage of bullets as she avoided each and every attack made upon her, it seemed that she was too preoccupied to be able to help with Pearl's predicament. Or she may not have even heard her; it was entirely possible that the wind had carried away her cries for help. Either way, Pearl was on her own, trapped on a thin beam near the top of the tower with the Nevermore circling back towards her.

I need to think... what can I do? Pearl wondered, keeping a hand on the tower to stabilize herself. Her mind wandered to the bag slung over her shoulder, and she reached down, unzipping and searching through it as she looked for anything she could use to fend off the Nevermore. Eventually, her hand grabbed something solid and metal, and she pulled a wrench out from the bag. As Pearl looked back up, she saw the Nevermore quickly approaching, raising its wings for another volley of piercing feathers

"Um... take this!" Pearl shouted, throwing the wrench at the approaching Nevermore. However, her current positioning prevented her from throwing with any sort of strength, and the wrench simply bounced off the Nevermore's skull without doing any damage. Despite that, being bonked by the wrench caused it to falter, throwing it off slightly as it flapped its wings and threw a hail of piercing feathers towards Pearl.

"Eep!" Pearl cried out as she closed her eyes, stepping to the side and hugging the steel strut next to her in an attempt to avoid the incoming projectiles. When she opened her eyes, she saw that while she had somehow avoided any feathers piercing into her, the tower around her hadn't been as lucky. Several feathers had pierced through the part of the beam where she was just standing, the force of their impact bending it inwards and causing it to snap. No longer held in place from one side, the part of the beam beneath Pearl began to bend downwards due to her weight, and she quickly reached up to grab the beam above her, pulling herself up before her footing gave way beneath her and sent her plummeting all the way to the ground.

SKREEE!

As Pearl pushed herself onto her feet, she saw the Nevermore circle around another time, ready to shower her with another barrage of piercing feathers. She knew that she wouldn't be able to repeat her stunt with the wrench another time; the Nevermore would likely be wary of anything she would throw at it this time. And with the sounds of gunfire continuing far below, she had no idea if she could rely on Mud for assistance. Pearl needed something else. She needed some sort of weapon -

"Father, could I ask you something?" Pearl asked, taking the blueprint from the table and making her way over to where her father was working. She put the blueprint on the desk in front of him, pointing to one particular spot. "What is this? You're installing some sort of... weapons system?"

"Ah, yes," Pearl's father said, adjusting his glasses as he looked over the blueprint. "It's a prototype that builds upon the energy weapons that many combat robots already employ, with greater power and efficiency than anything currently in production. It still does require quite a bit of energy, but I think the DustCore generator should be able to handle it."

"Father... I'm not so sure about installing weapons in this body," Pearl said. "If this is to eventually be mine, well... I'm not sure how comfortable I would be with such firepower in my systems. I... I don't even know how to throw a punch, much less use weapons as sophisticated as that."

"Well, it is unfortunately a necessity of the project. With the Atlas Military funding Green Ocean and our project, we have to make some accommodations in order to please our sponsors and meet their demands, or else we wouldn't have the materials or funding to do this in the first place," Pearl's father explained. "If it helps, I've designed it so that the weapons system hides seamlessly into your body. It'll be like it's not there at all, until you actually want to use it."

"I... alright, if you must add it, then I won't object," Pearl said. "But I'm still not sure - "

Suddenly, Pearl collapsed, falling to her knees as a series of painful coughs pushed up from her lungs and out of her mouth. Pearl's father shot out of his chair, kneeling down beside her. "Are you alright, dear? What's wrong?"

"Sorry, I... it's nothing. Nothing worse than before, anyways. The pain should go away soon, you don't have to worry about it," Pearl said, clutching her aching chest as she pushed herself up. "As I was saying, I'm still not sure about installing weapons into this body. I might accidentally hurt someone..."

"If you're sure you're fine, then.." Pearl's father said, trailing off as he went back to his chair. "And about the weapon system, like I said, there's not much I can do about it, though hopefully, Green Ocean or the Atlas Military could arrange some weapon courses for you. And perhaps you could integrate some of your own work into it, if you would like? You're already helping quite a bit with the design, and I could convince the higher-ups to allow some extra additions off the original plans, if it would make you feel better."

"I... I think I would like that. Thank you," Pearl said, taking the blueprint and making her way back to her own desk. Once there, she began brainstorming, scribbling up various ideas as she tried to figure out something of her own to add to the blueprints.

Something of her own to add to her future body.

"Weapons system online. Target identification module online. Thermogenic beam charging..."

As a robotic voice rang out in Pearl's head, she felt her right arm shifting, changing into something different. She looked down and saw her hand and arm splitting apart and shifting back, molding her forearm into a more cylindrical shape. An intense heat pulsated from her chest into her arm, but it didn't seem to hurt. As Pearl looked back up, she saw the Nevermore flying up towards her, ready to flap its wings and pierce her through with feathers. A red glow highlighted the Nevermore's figure, and a deluge of information poured into her mind about the Grimm hovering in the air in front of her, ranging from general information about its species to specific things like the Nevermore's estimated size and weight.

"Charge complete," the voice in Pearl's head said. Pearl raised her arm, now turned into a cannon, at the Nevermore hovering in front of her as she braced herself against the tower.

"G-go away!"

BWAAAAAAAAAaaaam!

Pearl didn't know exactly how she fired her arm cannon, though she assumed it was through some sort of mental command. However, what mattered was that she fired it, emitting a blinding ray of heat and light from her arm that burned through everything in its path. It incinerated the feathers flying through the air at Pearl before piercing through the Nevermore itself, leaving a charred, gaping hole where its head and upper body used to be.

"Ah!" Pearl cried out, stumbling back and toppling off the beam she was standing on. The recoil from the attack seemed just as intense as the attack itself, and had Pearl not been bracing herself, she likely would have flown clean off the tower. Instead, she managed to grab onto the beam she had been standing on with her left hand, hanging on for dear life. As she looked up, she saw the falling body of the Nevermore disintegrating into nothing. She gave herself a little mental cheer and looked up, ready to continue -

SKREEE!

"Oh no," Pearl muttered to herself as she spotted another Nevermore, larger than the first, approaching the tower. Whatever targeting system she had in her head once again highlighted the quickly-approaching Grimm in her vision, feeding her another deluge of information she didn't particularly need at the moment. She raised her arm cannon, mentally commanding it to fire -

"Error. Cooling down. Ready to fire in ten..."

- only for nothing to come out.

"I don't have ten seconds!" Pearl cried out, watching the Nevermore quickly approach. Instead of circling around and firing feathers at her, this one opted for a more direct approach, and she could only watch as it swiftly flew up to her, talons outstretched and ready to pluck her from -

Bang!

Suddenly, the Nevermore's head jerked as a bullet pierced through the underside of its neck, exiting out through one of its red eyes. A dozen more bullets followed, riddling the Nevermore with holes and making it screech one more time before falling to the ground and dissipating. Pearl looked down to see Mud at the base of the tower waving up at her, the area around her clear of Grimm.

"Thank you, Mud!" Pearl shouted downwards as she mentally commanded her arm to transform back into, well, a proper arm. Fortunately, it did so, and she used it to pull herself back up onto her feet. "I... I'm sorry you had to rescue me like that!"

"Don't worry about it! I'm all cleaned up down here!" Mud shouted back. "And what the hell was that?! I heard a loud noise and saw you blow up a Nevermore, the fuck happened up there?!"

"I'll, uh, I'll explain later!" Pearl shouted down to Mud. "I'm, uh, a bit tired! Let me fix up the power and get back down to you!"

"Sounds good!" Mud shouted, and Pearl began making her way up to the top of the tower, where the broken power line was waiting. Hopefully, she wouldn't have any more encounters with Grimm on the way up there.

"So you two helped out at the plant and repaired part of the power line?" Sveltson asked, looking over the two girls. "And if I call up the plant, they'll tell me the same thing?"

"Your electricity's back on, right?" Mud asked, pointing at the lights overhead. "I know it ain't back to full power, but that should be proof enough."

"And, uh, I think Auburn can vouch for us," Pearl said, adjusting the hood on her cloak. "She helped us at the plant and gave us the tools to fix the power line."

"Alright, give me a second," Sveltson said, turning around as he dialed something on his scroll. After a brief conversation, he hung up and turned back towards the girls. "Seems you two check out. Thanks for helping out the town, and lemme grab what I owe you."

"You're, uh, welcome," Pearl stammered out as Sveltson went into a room in the back, leaving the two girls alone.

"So, what the hell was that you did at the tower?" Mud asked, turning towards Pearl. "Didn't know you had any weapons in you."

"I, uh, didn't either," Pearl said. She raised her right arm, shifting it into a cannon. "Turns out, I kinda did, I think."

"Huh. Reminds me of what the Atlesian Knights have, with the whole transforming arms into weapons thing," Mud muttered. She leaned down, looking over the cannon and tapping against it once or twice. "So this fired off that big fuck-off beam?"

"Yeah. As far as I can tell, it emits a blast of extreme heat and energy," Pearl explained, shifting her arm back to normal. "It takes some time to charge and cool down, though. I couldn't use it against the second Nevermore, so uh, thank you again for saving me there."

"Don't mention it," Mud said. "So, how'd you figure out how to use it? People don't normally have cannons in their arms, so I dunno how it feels."

"I, um... I had another memory flash," Pearl said. "It was about my father. Apparently, he installed weapons in this body by request from the Atlas Military, or something along those lines. After that, I guess it all came instinctively."

"Huh. I guess if it's a part of you, it might just come naturally," Mud muttered. "So your dad made your body? Was it for Green Ocean or something? You said they have a lotta contracts with Atlas's military, so..."

"Yes, but not just my father, I believe," Pearl said. "I think I had a hand in its development as well. In a sense... I guess you could say that I made me. Or at least, this body."

"Huh. I guess that's not too surprising; you seem like a bit of a tinkerer already," Mud said. "Seen a decent amount of guys with robot arms and legs and stuff. Guess a robot body is just one step further. Wonder what happened to your original one, though."

"That is a good point. I remember mentioning that this body would be for me, but I'm not sure as to why," Pearl said. She strained her mind, trying to dredge up any other memories she could find, but met no success. "Sorry, but I don't really remember - "

"Sorry, things were kinda messy in the back," Sveltson interrupted, appearing once again from the back room with a wad of Lien in hand. He handed it to Mud, who counted it out before nodding and pocketing the money. "There's your pay. And thanks again for helping to get the power back up."

"You're welcome!" Pearl replied as Mud nodded again, and the two girls departed from the guardhouse, making their way back onto the street. "So, uh, what should we do now?"

"I was thinking a quick lunch before heading up north to the next town over," Mud explained, taking out the Lien and counting out some of it. She held it out to Pearl. "Here's your share."

"You, uh, you can hold onto it," Pearl said. "I'm not really sure what I'd use it for... and besides, I don't think I have any pockets."

"If you say so. Looks like I'm buying for both of us, then," Mud said with a grin as she pocketed the money. "How's barbecue sound? To celebrate completing your first job, and cause you barbecued that Nevermore with your arm cannon thing?"

"That, uh... I don't think I've had that before, but it sounds good," Pearl said, nodding. "Yeah, I'd like that."

"Alright! Let's see if we can find a barbecue joint somewhere around," Mud said, and the two girls set off into town.

A/N: And that's chapter 17! Damstel's power is back on, Pearl's figured out how to kill things, and the two girls can continue on their journey towards Atlas. What awaits them further ahead? Stay tuned!

Thanks as well to those who have read, followed, and favorited my story. And for those of you still reading, PLEASE don't hesitate to leave a review. I'd love to know what my readers are thinking, and any feedback, criticisms, and comments are appreciated. Have a nice day!