Kire entered his lab and tossed the KABS cores on the same table he was working on his personal upgrades. He remained silent for a while before letting out a lonely sigh. The thought of Jaz being so close to death made him grit his teeth and ball his hands into fists. He quickly took a sharp breath and released the feeling from his body and ran a hand across his head, removing his bandana and ruffling his red hair.
"Man oh man... What a day." Kire groaned in annoyance, shrugging. "I guess I got more work to do. And here I thought we were gonna die thanks to lil' miss Vaylin."
But still, if Jaz made one wrong move I would've...
"Master Kire, shall I repair KABS?" Helga chimed in from within the lab. "It appears that Lady Jaz's core has been only slightly damaged. The repairs should take no more than an hour. Shall I proceed?"
"Yeah yeah... I gotta upgrade it anyways. Been tinkerin' with this Ki shenanigan and I think I've found a way to expand KABS's potential."
"Affirmative. Your new parts are ready for testing, Master. Shall I begin the removal process?"
"Yeah, also, when Mioi comes here to rest, make sure her bed is cozy, poor thing must be tired."
Kire removed his shirt and rotated his left shoulder. Three narrow arms came down from the ceiling, two focusing on the diamond centerpiece for KABS, and one drilling at some screws on Kire's left shoulder. Pieces of metals and screws fell to the floor, dislocating Kire's shoulder from the base with a loud clang and his left arm went completely limp. Grabbing a hold of his arm, he yanked it off with a mighty tug and tossed it in the corner of his lab where he kept all the scraps of recyclable metals. He hummed to himself, taking a seat as Helga carefully unscrewed more bolts at his shoulder base as he began to prepare his right arm for the same thing.
A fourth arm came down, revealing Kire's new arms, both in a shiny new black metal and lined with green cables that looked more like veins, particularly around the hands and fingertips. Helga's arms gracefully attached one arm while removing the other, zapping and drilling everything in place. When the left arm was properly installed, Kire wiggled his fingers and the green cables began to glow similar to how the energy flows within KABS. The very tips of his fingers were transparent, shimmering with an odd light. The man snapped his fingers and held out an open palm, a small hologram of a video feed he has in his lab, formed and floated above his hand. He controlled the size and sound with his fingertips and closed his palm to cut off the hologram.
"Guess it works like a charm, eh? This will come in handy. ...Hah, get it?!"
"Humourous."
"Well, at least I can take a break..."
Kire yawned loudly as he leaned back on the chair and closed his eyes, allowing Helga to work on his arms.
"I bet Vaylin was shaking in her boots when she saw how strong I got." Jaz scoffed. "Good, now she'll think twice before messing with us, especially me!"
Jaz walked to the room her father told them about and it was already set up like a nice cozy home, sofas and beds included, but not much else. There was a small sink and a towel rack nearby with a mirror. At least the room had a nice view thanks to the large window that took up the wall. Jaz stepped inside and giggled at how much of a showoff her father proved to be when it came to his technology.
"Heh, dad thinks he's showing off but this room is as plain as ever, like his sense of fashion." Jaz laughed before heading to the sink and, like the blood on her hands, washing the smirk off her face. She thought silently about the battle they had, specifically Junior's words. She cleared her throat and watched her burned hands heal up, her skin threading itself together.
"Hey Junior, uhh... mind if I ask you something?" Jaz questioned, drying off her hands. Her heart raced and her legs trembled slightly. "Back when we were fighting Vaylin, you said something... interesting."
She tried to avoid eye contact with Junior, knowing fully well her cheeks were red. Jaz eyed the lonely sofa that faced the window and strolled over to take a seat, viewing the stars outside. Her overconfident voice from earlier sounded more timid, hesitant about asking him the question.
"You said that I was the love of your life... That you only loved me. You sounded really serious when you said that too... Uhm... D-Did you actually mean it..?" Jaz immediately cleared her throat, struggling to bring back her confident persona. "A-And even if you didn't, t-the look on Vaylin's face was priceless! You should totally say it more often! Maybe she'll cry next time!"
Despite her cocky outburst, her laugh died down and she stared silently at the stars, almost waiting for his answer.
