Chapter 4.2 Ekko, The Little Man

Sirion carefully entered the shop, closing the creaking door behind him. The room was larger than it seemed from the outside. The air was filled with the faint smell of oil and metal, mixed with the aroma of old wooden shelves. Shelves lined the walls, with mechanical parts, tools, books, and strange devices all haphazardly placed on them. The place looked like a strange mix of a workshop and a shop, but there was a soul to it.

Behind the counter stood an older man, broad-shouldered, with gray hair that had begun to fall out with age and was pulled back. Benzo's face was stern but calm, and his voice was firm as he spoke to the small boy standing across from him.

"You're in too much of a hurry, Ekko," Benzo said, looking at the boy over his glasses. His voice was hoarse, but it resounded loudly. "Mechanics aren't just about speed, they're about precision. A mistake can cost you your life."

Sirion recognized the boy instantly. Ekko. The boy savior. Seeing him here, alive, so young and energetic, was strange. He hadn't crossed paths with the main characters of the story yet, and this was the first time.

"He's still just a kid... I can't even believe that this boy will be the one to save Zaun," the thought flashed through his head.

Ekko, a boy of about ten or eleven, with bright white hair and a cheerful face, rolled his eyes for a moment, but quickly returned to the conversation. He was holding some kind of mechanism in his hand. The series had shown and told that he had a clear talent for creating inventions. And in general, he was quite a charismatic little man. It's no wonder that in the future, many people who were unhappy with Silko's policies in Zaun would follow him.

"But, Benzo, I've already checked everything! I'm absolutely sure that this thing will work!" - he said expressively, spreading his arms. He had a rather rich facial expression, in which quite a lot of emotions were mixed.

"Maybe it will work", - Benzo chuckled. - "Or maybe it will explode in your hands."

Sirion stopped, trying not to attract attention to himself. He did not want to interrupt their conversation, but at the same time he understood that standing idle for too long would be suspicious.

- Well, Benzo, at least let me try! I'm not a little kid, I can handle it! - Benzo sighed, as if resigned to the boy's stubbornness.

- Okay, but only under my supervision. If something goes wrong, you'll be scrubbing the soot off the walls yourself, - he said with a slight grin, handing Ekko some small mechanism.

- Thank you! - the boy took the device, quickly turned and ran out the back door, as if he was afraid that they would change their minds. On the way, he crossed Sirion's gaze and stopped for a second, but continued on his way from here. Benzo watched him go and only shook his head. He turned his gaze to Sirion, who was standing nearby.

- Are you looking for something, boy? Or are you just admiring? - Sirion shuddered, but quickly pulled himself together.

- Yeah, I'm looking for some materials. Cables, bolts, alloys… anything that might be useful for repairing mechanisms. — Benzo narrowed his eyes, looking the visitor over appraisingly.

— Hm, we have a lot of stuff, but I only sell to those who know what they're doing. I don't want my goods to cause some kind of explosion in the quarter.

— I understand, — Sirion lied, hoping that his voice sounded confident enough. In fact, he had little understanding of spare parts and mechanisms as such. Understanding came to him at the stage of Design and Engineering. Knowledge of the structure of mechanisms came to him only at the moment of creation.

— Well, let's see. Go to those shelves in the corner, maybe you'll find something suitable. — Benzo grinned.

"Just don't screw anything up. If I seem suspicious, it could end badly. I need to make a positive first impression." — Sirion nodded and headed to the indicated place. He tried to look confident, but inside he felt a slight tension. His sense of egoism played a role in it — to please the main characters.

The shelves in the corner turned out to be littered with all sorts of parts: copper wires, metal scraps, parts of mechanisms and strange devices, the purpose of which he could not even guess. Some of them were illuminated with a weak yellow glow — just what he needed.

"Finally!" — Sirion began to carefully collect suitable things under Benzo's attentive gaze. A small window with the names of the items appeared around the materials.

"Analysis of materials.

— High-temperature alloy — 1 unit

— Insulated cable — 1 unit."

After standing for a few more seconds, just in case, he chose a few parts — copper wires, a couple of gears, several mounting bolts and a small piece of metal alloy. He would definitely need them in the future. Benzo had already come closer to see what he was doing.

"And what are you planning to assemble from this junk?" Benzo asked skeptically, folding his arms across his chest. He wanted to make sure that the boy, who looked only slightly older than Ekko, his adopted son. He needed to make sure that the boy wouldn't blow himself up by putting all this junk together. Sirion pretended to think carefully about his answer and answered calmly:

"I want to restore one welding machine. It's damaged, and I need parts to fix the mechanism."

"A welding machine, you say?" Benzo chuckled. "Well, if you actually know what you're doing, that's a good start. Although I rarely see anyone here trying to fix something, rather than just break it or throw it away."

"It's easy to break, but fixing it is much more interesting," Sirion shrugged, feigning indifference.

"Okay." These parts aren't that expensive. All together, four silver gears. Benzo narrowed his eyes, but didn't argue.

Sirion nodded, relieved that the price was quite reasonable. He took out the money and handed it to Benzo. Three silver gears were quite expensive. Speaking of currency in Zaun. Despite all the hostility towards Piltover, they used the same currency: Golden Hexes, silver gears, and bronze Washers. One Golden Hex contained 10 silver gears, and a silver gear contained 20 bronze washers. Incidentally, Finn paid him about 10 gears and 40 washers for the completed task. In total, it came to 12 gears. Not bad money by Zaun standards, if you save and don't spend too much, you can live for several weeks, spending only on the bare necessities.

"If you need anything else, you can drop by. But know that I only sell to those who don't cause me any problems", - the old man warned, taking out a small box in which he had put all the purchased goods.

"Got it, I'll drop by more often", - he answered shortly, picking up a small box with spare parts. After standing there for a second, he was about to turn around, but put the box back. - "Um... my name is Sirion, by the way, - he said, holding out his hand for a handshake."

"Hm, Benzo", - the man said, shaking the outstretched hand. - "Sure, drop by, and show me what you're making there. It's nice to see young people from our city who understand what they're creating. Maybe you'll sell us something too, if it suits us."

"Thank you, well... see you soon," Sirion said awkwardly, picking up the box. Inside, he was dying of shame a little. For the first time in a long time, his introverted nature was playing up. He didn't know if he had presented himself correctly now and made a good first impression.

Sirion stepped out the door, clutching the box of parts tighter to his chest. His gaze immediately noticed a boy with white hair standing against the wall and looking at him carefully. It was Ecco. But hadn't he left through the back entrance to the back room when Sirion first entered the store? Most likely, there was another exit from there, otherwise it was impossible to explain how he ended up on the street. Although it was not surprising, Ecco was also from Zaun, he could have gotten in through the window. But what he wanted from him, Sirion did not know.

"Are you new?" the boy asked, crossing his arms over his chest and tilting his head slightly to the side. Sirion hesitated for a second, choosing his words. Ecco looked curious, but his eyes were full of unchildish caution. He felt a little awkward from such a look, children in Zaun were supposed to be careful and not trust just anyone from childhood.

"You could say that," Sirion answered hesitantly, trying to look as neutral as possible. "My name is Sirion."

"Ecco," the boy introduced himself, holding out his hand. He did it automatically, forgetting that his interlocutor had his hands full. As soon as he noticed the box in Sirion's hands, he pulled his hand away with a bashful smile. "You talked to Benzo. Does he know you?"

"Not really. Just a client. You just asked me yourself if I was new? I came for parts," Sirion explained briefly. Ecco walked around him, glancing briefly at the box. The boy seemed a little brazen, but not too much. He didn't want to steal from Sirion, especially on the way out of his own store, where he worked. He seemed very interested.

"Hm. I wonder what you're going to do with it. It's rare for anyone to buy things like that around here", - Sirion felt his hands tense up a little. He didn't want to attract too much attention, especially from a boy who probably knew half the people in the area.

"Nothing special. Fixing. An old broken mechanism", - he said, lowering his eyes to avoid direct eye contact.

"Fixing?" - Ekko said enthusiastically. He was too expressive of his emotions, which won Sirion over a little. Few people in his area expressed their emotions like that, even children. - "Wow, you know about this too? Cool!"

Sirion was slightly surprised by such unexpected and frank delight. Ekko looked genuinely interested, and his enthusiasm made Sirion think.

"Well", - Sirion was a little embarrassed, not used to such emotions from strangers, - "just a little. I'm not an expert, I just know how to fix things."

- That's cool! You're not much older than me, I almost never see peers who understand this like me! - It became clear to Sirion that the boy was just trying to make a new friend with similar interests. - I have a lot of things here that I've been wanting to fix for a long time, but I never got around to it, - Ekko said, clearly happy with this opportunity. - Can you help?

He literally felt the emotions of his interlocutor. This was a good opportunity to get to know the main characters' entourage better. However, he was not ready to take on someone else's projects at the moment and did not want to attract Finn's attention, who clearly made it clear that as soon as he suspected an attempt to escape from him, a quick death was the best outcome. But the sincere interest and almost childish naivety were somewhat surprising.

"I don't think it's a good idea," he answered carefully, "I'm just starting out, and I'm not sure I can handle anything complicated. And listen, Ekko, it's not exactly dangerous to start getting to know strangers like that, even if they're the same age."

Sirion tried to play the adult, since he was 18 years old, so he took it upon himself to mentor his younger friend.

"It's all bullshit", - the boy waved it off. - "Everyone here knows me, and they know that I'm good at judging people, you don't look bad. Especially since we're fellow citizens, we're all from Zaun. Well, have you thought about my question, will you help me?"

"Mmm", - Sirion mumbled, thinking about the question. Occasionally, between tasks, in theory, he could help him. He would still come to Benzo's store, since there were quite a lot of useful spare parts and materials there. - "Let's do it this way, Ekko, I might come to the store again this week for new purchases. We'll see, I'll probably be able to help you."

"Cool!" - the boy was inspired.

"Ekko! Little rascal, where did you go?" - Benzo's cry was heard from the store, who noticed the absence of his ward.

"Oh, damn!" - Ekko seemed scared. He looked at the door of the store and turned his gaze to his new friend. - "Well, I'll see you later. And I have to run back. I'll tell you a secret, I'm under house arrest for blowing up one of my inventions a couple of days ago. So I'm going to have problems now."

"Be careful out there, good luck to Ekko", - Sirion nodded, saying goodbye to him. Ekko became despondent, he hunched over and looked down at the ground. He headed towards the store.

"I'm coming, I'm coming", - Ekko said, opening the door, where a disgruntled Benzo was already waiting for him. He met his adopted son with crossed arms and a disgruntled look. He did not see the rest of the scene, because the door slammed shut.

After standing there for a few more seconds, he headed towards the elevator. On the way, he turned into one of the side alleys. Having found a relatively quiet place, he quickly counted the materials and moved them to the inventory, feeling how his heart began to calm down.

"Now we can go back."

He moved back toward the elevator, thinking about how to use the new parts for his next project.