The Iron Skeleton

Chapter 17

Keira's forehead wrinkled. "Really? I can't imagine! Where I'm from, hardly anybody goes beyond one or two."

"Well yeah, from my understanding, you Commercians have a very career-focused mentality, right?"

"You're right."

"Well," he said, "I can only imagine a lot of people think family gets in the way of success in their career field, especially women."

Keira nodded. "And Klovania's more...family focused?"

"Yeah, our communities are pretty tightly knit. I mean, since we spend most of our time bound together in one town, possibly even for our whole lives, we'd better hope we can get along with those of our households and neighborhoods."

"That makes a lot of sense." she said as she sloshed her cup around.

"Yep." Brant squinted and turned his ear toward the door. "Is that Aaron calling?"

"I think so." Keira replied as she slid to her feet. "I guess we can go check."

The two rose from the bed, stepped through the door, and rounded a corner. They traversed another corridor before making a left turn and entering a dimly-lit storage room. Sturdy metal shelves lined the walls and bore up under the weight of Aaron's many gadgets and weapons.

Aaron's eyes darted between Brant and Keira as they entered the room. Then he cleared his throat. "So, I kinda figured that since we're gonna have to work as a team on this, we might as well have some transparency. What's everybody got to bring to the table?"

Brant frowned. "I have no clue what you're talking about."

"I mean like, I wanna know what firepower everybody's got, what gimmicks they have, that stuff."

Brant shook his head. "Your question sounds dumb still. Why don't you start?"

Aaron smirked. "Me? Well, that's a bit irrelevant, as I'm not going down. Sila and I are gonna stay up here and be on call to pick you guys back up."

"Then why's it necessary to ask about our traits or whatever?"

"For your benefit, not mine!"

Keira cleared her throat when her brother's gaze rested on her. "I guess I'll start. I've got a sniper rifle—"

"It's collapsible." Aaron added.

Ace narrowed his eyes at Aaron from where he sat atop a black barrel. "How's that relevant?"

"Because," Keira answered, "it can be concealed if need be, by putting it in holsters for much smaller guns."

"Cool." Ace said dismissively.

Brant coughed. "Anything else, Keira?"

"I also have a grapple gun, and can put up a decent fist fight too."

"Feisty." Sila said.

Aaron chuckled. "That she is, you're right."

Ace's brow furrowed when all eyes landed on him. "I've got stuff."

"I know that," Aaron said with a laugh, "but what stuff?"

"That's for me to know and you to not find out."

Keira smirked. "I know you have a machine gun, at least."

"Yeah."

Brant inhaled. "Well, as you know, I have above average strength, along with enhanced vision."