▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩
The first building Juri and Bastion came across after leaving the game room was a large, rectangular cafeteria. At Bastion's insistence, the two popped inside just long enough to explore the kitchen and vast dining area before heading out once more. The large shed labeled "Warehouse" caught their eyes next.
Juri glanced at Bastion, who shrugged. Cautious, Juri led her companion to the door--to her surprise, Bastion gently pushed her behind him and eased the door open instead, warily poking his head through the door.
"...Hello? Anyone here?"
Something crashed. Shoving Juri back, Bastion raced into the warehouse, slamming the door shut behind him. Juri let out a cry.
"Bastion!" Juri moved to open the doors...only to find them somehow locked. Heartbeat suddenly ramping up, she pounded on the door, nervous. "Bastion! Open the door!"
A moment--then the doors slowly slipped open, revealing Bastion alive and safe. "Sorry, sorry. Just wanted to be sure there weren't no gurriers lurkin' about. It's safe, come on in."
Juri let out a sigh, rubbing her arm. "Don't do that, you scared me half to death! I-I thought something terrible had happened!"
Bastion chuckled nervously, tugging at his bangs. "Ah...wouldn't want you to get hurt or anything. Didn't mean to scare you..." He paused, glancing over his shoulder. "Yeah...just a couple o' lads. One's workin' on something weird over there."
Frowning, Juri slowly made her way inside, noticing two young boys in the warehouse. One--another redhead--was seemingly freaking out in the distance, while the other--a young boy with messy black hair--toyed around with an odd-looking contraption near the corner, muttering to himself. Curious, Juri first headed for the boy working on the odd machine.
"What are you working on?"
For a moment, the boy didn't seem to hear her--when he looked up, he jumped, accidentally smacking into the contraption with his wrench. The jolt seemed to shock him further--the boy promptly began mumbling to himself again, fidgeting nervously.
"Sorry," Juri said quickly. "I'm Juri Himura. That over there is Bastion. Listen, things are weird right now but we're all going to be fine, okay? I know what to do. Um, I'm the Ultimate Big Sister and Bastion's the Ultimate Lucky Student. What's your Ultimate?"
The boy shifted, seemingly uncomfortable.
"It...b-bomb," he said quietly, focusing his eyes back on the strange contraption he was fiddling with.
Juri raised her eyebrow. "That thing is a bomb?"
The boy nodded.
Juri cocked her head, reaching out to brush her finger along the machine. With surprising speed, the boy's hand lashed out and smacked her finger away.
"Don't touch it!"
"Ah!" Juri withdrew her hand, clutching it to her chest. Bastion quickly came to her side, seemingly concerned. "S-sorry! I was just curious! I've never seen a bomb that looks like this before..."
"IED," the boy muttered, quickly returning to his work on the bomb. "P-pyrotechnic. Very sensitive."
"Oh..." Juri shifted. "R-right, I guess it's a pretty bad idea to just poke a bomb when I have no clue how it works." Hesitating, she asked, "is that your Ultimate? You make bombs?"
The boy shifted again, remarkably focused on his odd bomb. "Y-yes. Um, Vaughn Tornabene. Ultimate Bomb Specialist."
Juri peered at the bomb more closely, surprised by the steady motion of Vaughn's hands as he worked to twist an odd knob in place. She glanced up, noticing the shockingly empty state of Vaughn's dark brown eyes.
"Hey..." Juri took a deep breath, managing a soft smile. "Are you scared?"
Vaughn was quiet.
"Yeah...so am I. I know exactly what's going on here and it's not...it's not pretty." Juri shifted, then let out a sigh. "But listen, we're all going to be just fine. Here, why don't you stick with me? I know exactly what to do to get us all out of here, so you and your friend here can stay with me, okay? Everything's going to be fine. We have to head towards the gym pretty soon, but you can leave your bomb here and work on it some more after the announcement."
Vaughn returned to quietly muttering to himself, then suddenly sat back, placing his wrench to the side. Gently and carefully, he moved to lift the contraption and carried it to a nearby shelf, letting it rest on a relatively empty section of the shelf. Staring, he returned to get his wrench, wandered back to the bomb, and promptly began to dismantle it.
"Ah...you don't have to..."
"Oi, Juri..." Bastion's hand rested on Juri's shoulder, seemingly sympathetic. "Don't think he's the full shilling either. Best to let the lad do what he does."
"I still don't know what that means but I think it's rude so don't be rude," Juri chastised.
Bastion smiled awkwardly. "Ain't fully here's all I mean. Uh, but the other lad might need you." He gestured to the other redheaded boy, who was still freaking out. Biting her lip, Juri hurried to try and console him.
"It's alright, it's alright," she soothed gently. "I don't know if you heard, but I'm Juri and that's Bastion. We're going to be alright. You can stick with us. Um, what's your name? Your Ultimate?"