//Sae: Unknown

Sae looked at Ahn, who was gazing forlornly at his arm on the table next to them. He had been acting a bit different since their interaction at Void Industries, more open. She couldn't figure out what the catalyst for such a change was, but she didn't mind it. Ahn was always secretive about his past and would try to conceal his feelings, but was slowly allowing himself to be more vulnerable. Sae was making an attempt to follow suit, but was unsuccessful. She still couldn't quite understand what exactly provoked emotions, or what they were useful for.

Footsteps rang down the stairs to the workshop.

"Hey! Girl!" Hephaestus' rough voice rang out. He rarely called them by their names, or even their numbers.

"What do you need?" Sae asked, a bit of irritation in her voice.

"I finished them!" Hephaestus replied, tossing a large bundle to her. She reached out to catch it. It was heavy, and made a clanking sound when she set it down.

She undid the drawstring to the simple brown bag and slid it off, revealing its contents. Two hip scabbards covered a pair of elegantly made hilts, each a perfect replica of the other. They were not mass produced; no manufacturer could make something this intricate or unique. The hilts themselves were works of art, each one custom fitted to Sae's hand shape and size, crafted carefully from a mix of carbon fiber coating and copper in the center.

She unsheathed the blades. They were black as night, seemingly absorbing the light around them instead of reflecting it, each made of an improved version of the metal used to create her old swords. They were perfectly balanced. Sae took a few swings in the air. The swords flew silently but gracefully, feeling almost like an extension of her own body. Hephaestus' craftsmanship was unmatched, as he had proven various times over the month Sae had known him.

As she held the blades, she noticed something strange about the hilts. There were a few tiny holes drilled into them, and seemingly some sort of mechanism was inside.

"I told you not to make them heat blades," she said disapprovingly.

Hephaestus frowned. "I take the time out of my day, no, my week, to make these beautiful weapons for your ungrateful hide, and the first words out of your mouth are berating them?!" He sighed. Sae wasn't paying attention.

"They aren't heat blades. I'm not hard of hearing, like yourself," he continued, casting a meaningful glance at her. "They're built to absorb thermal energy, whether it's hot or cold, a design I came up with myself." He smiled proudly. "Figured that might work well for you, seeing as you're practically a walking furnace when you want to be."

This caught Sae's attention. She scanned the blades. Sure enough, no electronics were to be found. How did the thermal design work?

She heated one hand enough to melt most metal, simultaneously cooling the other to near absolute zero. There was no noticeable change in either of the blades, but she could feel them absorbing the change in temperature. She would have to test their capabilities later.

"We almost have everything ready to reattach your arm, boy," Hephaestus said, giving up on getting thanks from Sae.

Ahn nodded, lightly rubbing his injured shoulder joint with his remaining hand. "Where are we going to have to go to get the remaining parts?"

Hephaestus stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Well, that's the thing."

Ahn looked suspicious. "What do you mean?"

"None of the companies in District 5 have them," Hephaestus said. "Even EDGE would have trouble recreating them, and at the moment, they don't have a reason to."

"So, what can we do?" Ahn asked, looking a bit discouraged. He had been fighting constantly with one arm for over a month.

"Did you forget, boy? There's a reason the districts are numbered. There's more than one."

Sae focused now. Never had she thought they would ever leave District 5; they never had a reason to before. Now that she thought about it, though, it made sense. If they ever wanted to truly break away from EDGE, that would be their best long-term option. The biggest issue, however, was that the other districts, while they had far lower crime rates than District 5, and usually had legitimate police enforcement, had problems of their own.

Districts three and four bordered District 5, and were separated by large concrete walls. Outside of the walls were long stretches of barren land, devoid of any life, save for the exiles of the Districts and the horribly mutated animals left.

To get to another District required extensive background checks and mandatory searches, both of which would be problematic for Sae and Ahn, as neither of them had IDs and both of them were living weapons. They would have to sneak in.

"So? Where are we going to have to go?" Sae asked.

"As of right now, your best bet is Three," Hephaestus said, heaving a crate of illegal plasma weapons onto a large table. "That's where all of the black market manufacturers run their businesses."

If anyone knew about the black market, it was Hephaestus. He earned millions of credits on every sale he made; his name was well-earned. The reason he wasn't in District 3 along with the other illegal weapons makers was because his work was so prominent, there was a ten million credit bounty on his head.

"When do you suggest we leave?" Ahn asked. "It won't exactly be easy to get in."

"Tonight," Hephaestus smugly replied.

"What?!" Sae looked at Hephaestus. The old man must have finally lost his mind. There was no way they could make the preparations to cross the border in less than a day. They needed three, at least.

"Don't worry," he said calmly. "Of course, I won't be sending you in without the proper means to get through." He often did things this way. If there was a problem, he would always find some kind of equipment to resolve it. If such equipment didn't exist, he would make it himself.

"What do you have in mind?" Sae stood now, looking intently at the short man, who had a sort of chaos behind his eyes. His plans, however unorthodox, almost always worked. He was, despite his light attitude and rough appearance, a genius.

Hephaestus held out a pair of IDs.

"Ahn and Sae Nakayama," he said proudly.

The IDs looked perfect. They were nearly indecipherable from the official identification cards given to District 5's upper elites. These people were allowed to carry weapons through to other districts. If it worked, they would be able to make it out without any trouble, even with their immense amount of weaponry.

"Old world last names?" Sae inquired. A Japanese name, no less. Hephaestus had odd taste. Japan had been erased from existence long ago in the fourth World War.

"Sounds good doesn't it?" Hephaestus grinned, oblivious to Sae's criticism. "Tonight," he repeated.

"You best get ready."