With the help of the newly repaired Blue, Angel began building the Key once more. He had a lot he wanted to ask the Star Fragment, but he’d been in a perpetual state of wanting to ask questions for the last few weeks. For the moment, he just wanted to get back to where he’d been before Reave had set him back once again.

He worked piece by piece, drawing runes across the scrap metal and joining it together with Liquid Metal. The process was long and tedious, even though he’d done it once before. Alison and Tilly watched him with sharp eyes, but after several hours of work, their attention started to wander.

Angel couldn’t blame them. Rune crafting at this level was a boring process. He spent more time positioning everything so that it wouldn’t overlap in the wrong places than he did actually carving the runes.

Time passed quickly and the others traded off watches to keep the chopper in the air while they got some rest. Angel kept at the key, only dimly aware of his surroundings. When he grew too tired to continue, he rested his head in his hands and let sleep take him.

As soon as he awoke, he went right back to working on the Key. The cycle continued for several days. The girls watched him work for a good portion of the day, but they soon turned to speaking in hushed tones so as to avoid disturbing him.

Somebody tapped him on the shoulder. Angel blinked out of his reverie, finishing the rune he was working on and lifting his scribe. He wiped the sleep out of his eyes and raised his gaze to meet Silver’s.

“We’re here,” Silver said. “Are you just going to sit in the chopper until that thing is done? Or are you coming inside with us?”

“I lost track of time,” Angel said, rising to his feet with a groan and promptly tripping over them. He caught himself on the headrest of the co-captain’s chair. His legs had fallen completely asleep, and every single one of his joints was sore.

“I gathered,” Silver said dryly. “How goes the Key?”

Angel glanced down at the circular piece of metal in his hand. Several of the fake gems had been slotted into it already and runes covered its every surface.

“Close,” Angel said. “A few more touches and it’ll be done. Including a few tests just to make absolutely sure I didn’t mess anything up, there should just be a few days of work left.”

He slipped out of a door and frowned. “Isn’t the chopper going to stick out a bit?”

“Lilian said she could take care of that,” Silver said.

“Said? She can talk again?”

“Barely,” Silver said. “More like she can whisper, but it’s better than any of us could have hoped for. Even with accelerated healing, there are some wounds that don’t go away. She’s lucky she’s gotten anything back.”

“I might have to try to figure out if I can do anything about that,” Angel said, rubbing his forehead. “It’ll go on the list. Once I get some free time I’ll work on it.”

“Somehow, I don’t think that’ll be too soon,” Silver observed.

Angel grunted in agreement. Lilian had already used a specialized canister to reopen the path to the Reawakening base. He wasn’t sure when she’d gotten it, but he couldn’t be bothered to ask.

He and Silver headed into it and Angel deactivated the canister behind them, caving sand in on entrance and sealing it from the outside world once again.

Alison and Tilly’s voices rang out from the center of the base, where seven seats sat before a monitor. They’d taken two of the chairs and were each holding an artifact from the scrap room.

Lilian stepped out from her room, her hair wet. She raised a hand in greeting when she saw Angel and Silver.

“Just how long did you leave me in the chopper?” Angel asked.

“We didn’t want to bother you while you were so concentrated, and it was going to take me some time to get everything ready,” Lilian replied. She approached the monitor and snapped her fingers.

A face appeared on the screen, its hexagonal features focusing on Lilian. “Welcome back, Cowl.”

“Please retrieve the airship parked outside the base,” Lilian said. “Deliver it to the hangar.”

“Affirmative,” the face said. A rumble shook the floor and sent dust falling from the ceiling. It lasted for a few minutes, then faded away. “The chopper has been delivered.”

“That will be all for now,” Lilian said.

The face nodded and the console blinked off.

“That easy?” Angel asked.

“We had choppers too, you know,” Lilian said. “They’re all gone now, but there’s still a hangar. If there wasn’t a place to store airships, the Reawakening would have been found long ago. There’s a massive lift under the sand. It’s fully mechanical aside from its power source, so no magic to spot easily.”

“Fair enough,” Angel said. “I’m going to get back to work on the Key, then.”

“Good luck,” Alison said. “Tilly and I are going to try to make some weapons for us while you work. If we’re going to face off against the Reawakening, we need more ways to defend ourselves.”

“You’re right,” Angel agreed. “I can help after–”

“No.” Tilly shook her head. “You’ve already got too much to do, Angel. Stop trying to do everything yourself. Pass some of it onto us. Alison and I may not have your experience or skill, but you taught us enough to make some good Magitech.”

“I’m going to try to figure out if there’s any information I can get about the remaining Reawakening members,” Lilian whispered, her voice so quiet that Angel almost missed it. She gestured to the console. “There might be something we missed last time.”

“And I’ll stand here and look handsome,” Silver said. Everyone glared at him. “What? I’m not a Tinkerer and this isn’t my house. There isn’t much I can do.”

“I can think of a few things,” Tilly said. “Vanessa told me you trained her how to fight.”

“Buried Gods, not again,” Silver groaned. “Did she also tell her that I basically just beat the daylights out of her until she learned how to fight?”

“If that’s what it takes,” Tilly said with a shrug. “We can’t afford to be unprepared, Silver.”

“That’s Captain Silver to you,” Silver snapped. “If you want training, we’re doing this my way.”

Angel hid a grin and made his way to a corner of the room. He sat down, taking Blue out and activating the robot. A small pang of loss ran through him when it turned out without asking for a username, but he pushed it aside.

“Well then, Angel,” Blue said. “Shall we finish this?”

“I think it’s about time,” he said, lowering his scribe and getting back to work. The Reawakening might have won the first few battles, but Angel planned to win the war.