Snapping himself back to reality, Dr. Shortle got a good look at Neville.

He said slowly, "Hope, is it?"

"Ah, yes..." Neville blinked, unable to understand what Dr. Shortle meant by that. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"Ah, no. I mean, I heard a lot about you."

"Me?" Neville asked, pointing his finger at himself.

"Yes. You made the AI Compass, right?" Dr. Shortle shook Neville’s hands, "It had been a great help to our research to prevent mechas from getting lost in space."

"Ah, no, I was just lucky." Neville humbly reply shaking his hands back.

"There was no luck without hard work. You really worked hard."

Grayson had enough looking at their hands intertwined together. He had no choice but to grab Neville by the shoulder and pull him closer as he extracted their hands away from each other’s grip.

He said calmly, as if he didn’t do anything, "He’s really great and capable.

Dr. Shortle knew that Grayson was showing the dog-like behavior of every alpha to their omega. Therefore, he could only take the brunt of Grayson’s jealousy without a fight.

"Never mind that." Dr. Shortle said as he waved a dismissive hand. "So, what brings you to my domain? Social visit? I somehow doubt it."

"Repairs." Grayson’s expression changed, the casual amusement fading into something serious. "Noir sustained some damage."

Dr. Shortle had a quick change of expression, replaced by sharp concern. "Damaged? How grave was it?"

"Just some burns, burns, and stress. Nothing dramatic, but enough to need someone to take a good look."

"Show me." Dr. Shortle said as he moved.

He led them down a corridor toward what Neville assumed was a larger workshop space. They entered a cavernous hangar, its ceiling arching high overhead.

Various mechas stood in maintenance cradles along the walls. By the look of them, they were standard military models with sleek forms and very much functional.

Workers moved between them like ants tending to sleeping giants, their voices a distant hum against the background thrum of machinery.

Grayson stopped in the center of the open floor. His hand rose to his ear, touching the invisible device there that Neville hadn’t even noticed.

"Noir."

The word was spoken quietly in a low voice.

Grayson’s right leg flexed slightly, and Neville’s eyes dropped to follow the movement.

For a moment, nothing happened.

He just saw a black dragon tattoo, one that he had never noticed before, that was hidden on the back of Grayson’s calf.

Then Neville saw something moving.

The black dragon tattoo began to move.

The ink seemed to ripple, the dragon’s form twisting and writhing as if waking from a long slumber. It flowed down Grayson’s calf like liquid shadow, pooling on the floor in a spreading darkness that defied physics.

Neville unconsciously took a step back.

The shadow expanded with impossible speed, stretching outward across the hangar floor like spilled ink racing toward the edges of a page.

Then it rose.

Solidified.

And took shape.

The black dragon tattoo materialized into a fifteen-meter gleaming black metal before them in the span of heartbeats.

The mecha’s form was that of a dragon, rendered in sleek technological perfection.

Its head was angular and predatory, with sensor arrays where eyes would be that glowed with faint crimson light.

Its body was curved, powerful, covered in scales of overlapping nano-armor that seemed to move and flow even while standing still.

Wings folded against its back, each one large enough to cover itself with one wing.

A long tail curled around its waist like a hidden weapon. Its tip tapered to a point that looked sharp enough to pierce starship hulls with one shot.

The dragon’s chest bore subtle ridges that Neville recognized from his mecha customization experience. It seemed to be weapon ports for plasma cannons that were capable of concentrated fire.

Its claws were retracted but visible, each one the length of Neville’s entire body.

Noir, was it?

Neville’s mouth had gone dry. His heart was pounding with excitement

[Host,] Shelly whispered, her voice unusually subdued. [That’s... that’s really cool.]

For once, Neville couldn’t disagree.

Shelly hadn’t seen it unfold before because it was a quest zone, but no matter how much he had seen it (just three times by now), Neville couldn’t get enough of it.

The deployment had taken seconds to materialize.

"Wow, it was really massive," Neville breathed, the words escaping before he could stop them.

Grayson glanced at him and said, "I’ll take you up there some time."

Dr. Shortle, to his credit, remained unfazed. He just simply walked around the mecha with the practiced eye of someone who was used to regularly seeing such things.

"Burns along the left flank," he muttered, reaching up to touch a scorched section of plating. "Stress fractures in the secondary wing joints. Heat damage to several sensor clusters."

He looked back at Grayson, one eyebrow raised.

"This is far less severe than what you used to bring me during your active service. But it’s still surprising to see this level of damage in your civilian life. What exactly happened?"

"There was an incident at Azure Depths Aquarium," Grayson said nonchalantly. "A cleaning robot malfunctioned, and it resulted in an explosion."

Dr. Shortle’s eyes widened. "An explosion? At the new aquarium? That place just opened today, right?"

"I know. I’m sure it’ll be on the news soon. Consider this a heads up."

"A cleaning robot malfunction causing an explosion..." Dr. Shortle slowly said and then shook his head. "That shouldn’t be possible. The—"

His words cut off abruptly as he met Grayson’s gaze.

"Right." Dr. Shortle cleared his throat. "Right, of course. I’ll take a look at it later."

Neville watched the exchange carefully without saying anything.

"How long for repairs?" Grayson asked.

"Give me three hours, give or take. The nano-structure is also self-healing to a degree, but the burn damage requires manual fixing." Dr. Shortle patted one of Noir’s massive legs almost affectionately. "I’ll take good care of her."

"Got it."

As if remembering something good, Dr. Shortle’s expression changed. "Speaking of taking care of things... since you’re already here, and since Noir will be out in a matter of hours anyway, would you like to test something new?"

Grayson’s eyebrow rose. "New?"