To Lyger 0: Awkward is definitely one way of putting it! They did just find Mecha-Man standing in the middle of their destroyed apartment, so…


"Fire and Rescue is en route; they will be there soon."

"Thanks, Amelie," Iron Maiden responded, after muting her suit's external speaker. "We've… got an unexpected guest here." Edging carefully through the gaping hole that had been blown in the side of her flat, Iron Maiden quickly scanned the floor for the most stable spot she could find before releasing the harness built into the back of Bandruí's suit and dropping her next to one of the many flowerpots that had been spread around the flat – the only one still intact. Bits and pieces of a dozen more pots lay scattered across the floor, leaving a thin layer of potting soil strewn about, along with the charred remains of the plants that had been growing in them.

Looking around the remains of what had been their flat, Bandruí froze for a long moment, swallowing hard. The sapling in her head dropped down into the potting soil on the ground, a few of its roots releasing from the root ball and spreading out through the topsoil. A couple of leaves uncurled, only to immediately curl back up, away from the still-flickering fire within the apartment. Finally, Bandruí sank down to one knee, pulled a few seeds from a pouch on her belt, and placed her hand in the flowerpot's soil.

Almost at once, a thin green stalk emerged out of the soil, releasing runners that trailed down the side of the pot and spread roots through the topsoil and ashes. The stalk extended up the wall until it reached the ceiling, the runners expanding exponentially until they covered the wall on either side of the hole, tiny roots digging into the wall through the weakened plaster. As it spread out around the room, the vine's main stalk hardened and turned brown, forming a latticework across the wall and ceiling. The floor creaked ominously under the combined weight of the vine's root system and the steadily-growing sapling. With a crack, the sapling's roots forced themselves through the floorboards and embedded into the wall beneath before it stretched higher and expanded its branches, pinning the floor and ceiling in place. The vine reached down through the floor and wrapped its runners around two support beams, which groaned and sagged under the weight.

Iron Maiden quickly scanned the room with her suit, not taking her eyes off of Mecha-Man, still standing in the next flat unit, frozen in place. A red warning light flashed on her HUD, indicating that the floor beneath her was continuing to buckle. Despite Bandruí's efforts to stabilize the structure, it could not support the weight of both her and Mecha-Man – not for long. A half-dozen white spots appeared within the floor in her thermal imager, and she activated her fire-suppressant foam, sending a steady stream at the closest hot spots until they cooled. Across the room in the kitchenette, Bandruí's vine snaked between several smoldering patches of the ceiling and crept down the wall until it reached the faucet. With a creak, the tap turned on, and the vine continued on, below the stream of water, catching it and directing it down toward the ground. A steady hiss arose as the water flashed to steam on contact with the smoldering embers of their kitchen drawers and floor.

"What is going on in there?" Amelie asked urgently. "Who is in your flat?"

"It's Mecha-Man, I'm afraid."

Amelie gasped. "Your father? Here?"

"His partner," Iron Maiden corrected her. "But if Mecha-Man is here, then my father can't be far away."

"What does he want?" Amelie demanded heatedly.

"I was just wondering the same thing," Iron Maiden muttered under her breath.

Bandruí reached out and scooped some of the loose dirt together, closing her eyes in concentration. A trickle of water from the kitchenette mixed into the soil, and moments later a small green aloe plant grew out of it. Sighing in relief, Bandruí pocketed several shoots from it before finally standing up. "No telling how much of that we'll need, after this. Could this get any more minus craic?"

Glancing past Mecha-Man, Iron Maiden tensed. "That woman's left leg is broken," she told Bandruí, reactivating her external speaker.

With a soft gasp, Bandruí held her hand out, and at once a shoot from her vine stretched out across the flat, under the couch, and through the debris covering the floor in front and behind the couch. Mecha-Man froze, his joints whirring slightly as he watched the vine move, and a surprised yelp sounded from somewhere behind him. Moments later, Bandruí let out a breath. "That should hold it – at least until they can get to hospital."

"Good." She nodded to Bandruí and called out across the room, "Now get her out of here!" Not taking her eyes off of Mecha-Man, Iron Maiden turned her fire-suppressant foam toward where the wall on the opposite side of the living room had been, extinguishing the crackling fire where her television had been. Plaster and wrecked furniture shifted in the other flat as Rob carefully dragged Jen's unconscious body out through the open door, the vines wrapped tightly around her leg plainly visible. Once she was in the hall, he grunted, hauling her up and slinging her over his shoulder before stumbling down the hallway toward the stairwell. Iron Maiden narrowed her eyes at Mecha-Man and folded her arms. "What are you doing here?"

Mecha-Man shifted slightly, facing her fully and kicking the what remained of the shattered wall boards over onto the couch, throwing up a spray of sparks from the cushions. The damaged couch collapsed under the sudden weight, spreading embers across the floor. Bandruí's tree flinched away from the embers as they touched its roots, and a thin stream of water dripped off of a vine, hissing as it hit the embers near the tree. Mecha-Man stepped forward, onto the remains of the destroyed couch, and Iron Maiden tensed, though he merely stomped his foot on several embers before they could catch on what remained of the carpet. "I suppose I'm here for the same reason you are," Mecha-Man pointed out, gesturing to the patches of fire suppressant scattered around the brunt floor. "I saw a problem, and I came to help."

"In the middle of an exploded flat, in completely the wrong country," Iron Maiden deadpanned, shaking her head. "You'll have to forgive me if I'm not exactly inclined to take your word on that."

Mecha-Man shifted his stance, and Iron Maiden's arm came up slightly.

"Look," Bandruí interjected, holding up her hand in a placating gesture and coughing against the smoke still filling the air. She pulled her nightshirt up under her suit, securing it over her nose and mouth, and took in a deep breath. "Look," she continued. "We're grateful for your help – if that's what's actually happening here. But from what my partner has said, you have a little too much history, both in Paris and here, for us to believe that you just 'came to help' without at least some evidence."

"Several ambulances are on the scene," Amelie reported. "Police are interviewing witnesses."

"Any information about the attack?" asked Iron Maiden over the communicator. "Did anyone see Mecha-Man before it happened?"

"I will let you know."

"So." Iron Maiden folded her arms. "Why should we believe you?"

"The way Iron Maiden tells it," Bandruí added, "the last time you were in London, you made a complete haymes of things and tried to blow the place up!"

"With thirteen bombs," Iron Maiden supplied. "Of which you only told us about twelve."

Mecha-Man looked back and forth between them and held up his hands in a placating gesture. "Look, me and the Engineer, we're not exactly proud of what we did last year," he told them. "Then, we felt backed into a corner, just a couple of guys trying to provide for our families." He fell silent for a long moment, and Iron Maiden cocked her head, her eyes narrowing suspiciously behind her helmet. He let out a mechanically-distorted sigh. "We did what we thought we had to do – but fortunately, you and your other partner sorted it out," he added, gesturing toward Iron Maiden. "No one got hurt that time… for which I am – we are incredibly grateful."

"So glad you approve," Iron Maiden told him drily. She folded her arms, eyeing his suspiciously from within her helmet. "But you still haven't exactly answered the question. I thought you'd gotten past that whole 'blowing up a city' thing back in Angola," she continued. "This isn't some of your handiwork, is it?"

Mecha-Man started, stumbling backward. "What? Of course not! The only reason we planted those bombs last year was so we could get away with some money to rebuild the suit and feed our families. Neither of us would intentionally try to hurt innocent people for no reason! Why on earth would we have come here and blown up an apartment building – especially this apartment building!?"

"'This apartment building'?" Bandruí's eyes narrowed suspiciously, and she gripped her tree tightly, holding onto one of its branches. "What's so special about this apartment house?"

Mecha-Man fell silent, looking back and forth between them.

Amelie hummed. "The police are still conducting their interviews, but they did report a witness who saw Mecha-Man hovering near the apartment house, at the same time that the missile appeared from somewhere down the block."

Bandruí straightened up. "Okay, so say that we believe you: maybe you weren't the one who blew up the flat." Mecha-Man shifted his stance slightly, and Bandruí leaned in closer, her mouth set in a thin line. "That doesn't let you off the hook. Actually, it raises even more questions."

"I can't really tell you any more than I already said," Mecha-Man answered. "I'm sorry."

Iron Maiden scoffed. "That is unfortunate," she agreed, her arm coming up a little higher. "For you. If you aren't going to answer our questions, we'll just have to assume the worst."

"Wait!"

Iron Maiden eyed him warily as he stood rigidly still, not even his head moving. A flicker of flame appeared from the half-wall separating the kitchenette and living room, and she jerked her arm out, dousing the fire with a blast from her fire-suppressant. "We're not going to wait forever."

After another moment of silence, Mecha-Man's body shifted positions, and he finally nodded his assent. "Okay. I can answer your questions."

"Why are you here?" asked Bandruí, folding her arms and turning her attention away from the tangle of vines creeping out through the hill to make their way along the outside of the building and shore up its structure. "What do you want in London?"

Mecha-Man paused for a moment but let out a distorted sigh. "We came here because we believed that one of the women who lived in this apartment–" he gestured toward the debris around him "–was in danger."

Iron Maiden cocked her head to one side suspiciously. "Oh yeah? Why would you think that?"

At the same time, Bandruí pursed her lips, her eyes narrowed. "Danger from whom?"