Ray kicked his foot up against the wall just beside the front door to his abode, propped up like a bouncer to a VIP club. Wrench had decided to take a quick detour before coming over, so he waited outside for his friend to arrive. It gave him a good chance to keep an eye out for any suspicious characters.

Only a couple minutes after he'd leaned back, just as he was about to light up a cigarette, Wrench walked around the nearby street corner. They waved to Ray as they quickened their pace, with an ice cream cone in their other hand.

"Yo!" they called out.

Ray nodded, stoic as ever. "Ice cream?" He put the smoke back in the carton.

"Cotton candy flavour!" Wrench grinned. "Dude, it's so good."

"Heh heh. C'mon." Ray opened the door and they both walked in.

Wrench was immediately bombarded by the vile scent of smoke. It wasn't just the entrance, either; the entire apartment smelled like an ashtray.

"Dude..." Wrench began, pulling their shirt up over their nose, "this place smells horrid."

Ray grunted. He stepped over to the living room window, brushed the burgundy curtains aside, and opened the window. "It ain't that bad."

"It's so bad."

"Hey. Been laying off since my man started staying over. Opening windows and shit. Better than it used to be."

Wrench grimaced, slowly uncovering their nose so they could continue eating their ice cream. "Oh yeah... you told me you had a significant other."

"Yeh. He's here right now."

"O-oh!" Wrench froze up. They weren't sure if they were eager or anxious about meeting Ray's new boyfriend. "I... I didn't know!"

As Ray tidied up the living room, Wrench had a chance to take a look around. It had been months since their last visit, but everything was still the same: kitchen on the left with a miniature dining table covered in magazines and empty take-out boxes, living room on the right with a leather couch and TV (somewhat cleaner than the kitchen), and a hall down the middle where the bedrooms and washrooms were located.

It was remarkably similar to Skye's suite, with some added filth. Maybe this is just a standardized layout? Wrench wondered.

They meandered around between the living room and kitchen, taking a good look at everything, quickly concluding that, no, nothing had changed at all.

Wrench glanced down the hall and suddenly found themselves in a staring contest with a half-naked remite: a human in every sense of the word, except their head was some kind of inanimate object. This one had a security camera for a head.

"Aah! Ray!" the remite exclaimed, darting off to a nearby room. "You didn't tell me we were having company!"

"Sorry. We're having company," Ray said.

"Well, gee!" He shut the door to the room he'd entered.

"Oh my god, Ray, you don't tell anybody anything!" Wrench looked away with a silly smile on their face. "That's your new ride?"

"Yeh. Name's Gyroloop. He's cute." Ray raised his voice. "Kinda squirmy, too."

"Am not!" Gyroloop shouted from his room.

"Am so!" Ray responded in kind, walking over to the kitchen.

Wrench laughed. Their nerves over meeting someone new were quickly calming.

They went over to the living room and plopped themself down on the lengthy couch that curved around the whole room. Opposite the couch was a huge, flatscreen TV, alongside two game consoles sitting beneath a mess of cords. And, just beside the TV was a laptop propped up on a TV tray table, and a cheap looking seat just before it.

Wrench generally didn't see Ray as much of a computer person. Gyroloop's computer, maybe?

"Want a beer?" Ray asked as he opened the fridge.

"I'm okay, thanks."

"Aiight." He pulled a can out for himself and joined Wrench in the living room before long.

Ray sat down and spread his arms out along the top of the couch. "Always good to be back."

"Yeah," Wrench replied, but without as much conviction. "I wouldn't have minded staying longer, but..."

"Yeh. Same." Ray cracked open his beer and took a swig.

"Yeah." Wrench nibbled around the edges of their ice cream cone.

A door down the hallway opened. Footsteps approached the living area; Wrench braced for impact.

There came Gyroloop, fully dressed this time around, in sweatpants and a white t-shirt with a flashy video game logo on the front. "Hi guys," he greeted them with a wave. "Sorry about that, haha... I just got out of the shower." Despite having a camera head, Gyro's voice sounded surprisingly human.

"No problem! I didn't see anything," Wrench lied. "Call me Wrench. Nice to meet you." They extended their hand.

"Likewise! The name's Gyroloop! Or, just Gyro." The two shook hands.

"Or, Fruit Loops," Ray added.

"Really!" Gyro put his hands on his hips and stared at Ray, lowering the shutter on his "eye" to form an angry expression. "I can't believe you." He was quite visibly flustered.

"Aw, don't be mean!" Wrench teased Ray, still smiling away.

"What? You love it," Ray said to Gyro.

"Not in front of other people...!" Gyro whined. He took a seat on the couch against the other wall.

"So, hey, you're into games, I see!" Wrench pointed out, looking for some form of small talk.

"Oh, yeah!" Gyro stretched his shirt out so it could be more easily read. "Have you heard of Warcell Abyss?" he eagerly asked.

"I haven't, what is it?" Wrench took a closer look at his shirt. The logo featured the head of a rugged robot general, and the game's title written beneath it in jagged, eroded text.

"It's, like, a platformer beat-em-up game where you play as a robot soldier and you have to descend down a giant military facility and fight bad guys along the way. It's honestly so cool; I don't think I can do it justice just by telling you, haha!"

"Neat!" Wrench wasn't much of a gamer, but still appreciated Gyro's enthusiasm.

Gyro relaxed back into the couch. "I haven't had much time to play recently, though. Work has been slapping me around left and right. This is, like, the only day off I've had in a week."

"Ouch. What do you do for work?"

"I'm the head of employee resources at Maroon!" he proudly announced. "I know Maroon kind of has a... reputation, but, honestly, it's a not a bad job. I love helping people, but it sure can be tiring sometimes..."

"His boss is a shithead," Ray added.

"Oh no." Wrench winced.

"Ah, well... my boss is... weird, I guess?" Gyro squinted. "He can be condescending sometimes... but he doesn't shout at me or anything."

"You're too soft, Loops. I remember those days where you came home in the dumps after a tongue-lashing from that fuck," Ray explained.

Gyro sighed and lowered their gaze. "I... guess there were those days too."

"Damn..." Wrench waited a couple seconds before continuing. "Hey... you know that incident at Maroon a while ago? The one here in Miyatama."

"Oh, yes?"

"I hope you don't mind if I ask, but... were you affected by that...?"

"No, thankfully. I work primarily at the headquarters in Era; I'm only here on a business trip. So, I guess I got pretty lucky."

"No kidding."

"It's... it still boggles my mind. I keep trying to make sense of what exactly happened there, but it's hard to wrap my head around. "

"Volons? What the heck even are those? Did Maroon make its own alien or something?"

"Well, uh... hmm..." Gyro quickly looked to the side and remained silent.

...This guy sure isn't very subtle, Wrench thought, inquisitively looking Gyro over.

"I ever see one of those freaks, I'll spin its fucking jaw," Ray declared.

Wrench raised their eyebrows. "Remember back when Maroon was just a space exploration company?"

"Yeh, now they own the whole fucking universe," Ray growled. "Fuck." He looked over to Gyro. "Not digging at you, bud, just don't like big corporations."

Gyro nodded. "I understand. If I could work somewhere else in the same position with pay this nice, I would, for sure."

"Maybe you'd have a better boss."

"...Maybe..."

Ray put his beer down and clapped his metal hands together. "Yeh. But tonight's not a night for moping! Got good company, just need some good laughs and some good food. Kick back, relax, play some games."

"That's right!" Wrench cheered, raising the remainder of their ice cream cone in the air.

"Let's order some grub." Ray stood up. "And some of those fancy robo-packets for Gyro."

"Uh, sure!" Gyro replied. "I think I can afford a treat."

"On me tonight. Put your wallet away."

"Aww...!" Gyro's expressions were limited, but Wrench could definitely read the happiness on his face. "Thanks!"

"You're still hungry?" They asked, quite surprised. "You just downed a plate of steak like an hour ago."

"So?"

Wrench's eyes grew wide. "Damn. I knew you were a big eater, but... damn."

"Feel like Chinese?" Ray asked.

"Ohh... I'm not too hungry, but... bah, fuck it. Get me some chow mein. With everything on it. But, uh, not too much though."

"Good taste." Ray walked over to the kitchen, picked his phone up off the table, and started dialing a number.

Wrench laid back into the couch some more while Ray dealt with the phone call. In the interest of avoiding an awkward silence, they turned and faced Gyro.

"So, I have a burning question. Okay, two actually, but we'll start with one."

"O-oh? Fire away!"

"How did a proper, high-ranking employee in a mega corporation hook up with that?" Wrench asked, subtly gesturing over to Ray as they quickly finished off their ice cream cone.

"Oh my goodness, right? I don't know what came over me," Gyro playfully jabbed.

"Hah! Like, how did you meet?"

"Well... oh boy. I should've known that would come up."

Wrench scooted closer, now extra curious.

"Okay, so, short version... I got in trouble with a couple guys... nothing too serious or big, but they were... kinda trying to rough me up? And... well. Ray, a perfect stranger, came and stuck up for me."

"...That's it? No juicy details?"

Gyro quickly got flustered again. "Well! Uh... it's... well, n-no, that's..."

Wrench stared at him with squinted eyes and a huge smile, with their head tilted against the couch.

"It's, just... it's embarrassing, is all!" Gyro stammered.

"Aw, it's okay. I'm just messing."

"Whew! Thanks, really, haha."

But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't even more curious now!

"All right, so, hey. Can I ask about something different?" Wrench continued. "I'll stop grilling you after this, promise."

"Haha, sure!"

They lowered their voice regardless of Ray's preoccupation. "Do you, perhaps... know something about what happened with those Volons at Maroon?"

Gyro froze up. "N-no, uhh... hmm... well." He paused for a few seconds. "I guess... I guess I kinda just overheard it, so... I suppose it wouldn't hurt..." He hummed a bit, twiddling his thumbs.

"You want special hoisin sauce?" Ray suddenly bellowed from the kitchen. "They got a deal goin' on."

"A thousand times yes... but just a small order, okay?" Wrench's mouth started watering, even if they weren't particularly starving.

"I'll get the extra jumbo supersized serving," Ray spoke into the phone.

"Oh, get fucked." Wrench laughed.

"That sounds really yummy," Gyro cheerfully commented. "I'm jealous!" The sudden shift in topic allowed him to quite visibly relax; his tone of voice and mannerisms betrayed his feelings very clearly.

However, Wrench wasn't going to let him off the hook that easy.

"So? So?" Wrench quietly began again, putting on an excited tone of voice. "What's the hot gossip?"

Gyro nudged himself a bit closer to Wrench so their legs almost touched. "So..." he started, taking a quick glance around first. "I heard Maroon was working on some project based in Miyatama called "Victor Capital Foundry." Since I live in Era, I didn't get to check it out or ask too much myself, but every once in a while I heard coworkers and employees mentioning it like some grade school rumour. I didn't think of it much, since Maroon is always expanding and buying out other companies, so... I thought it was probably some lesser establishment that Maroon assimilated.

Wrench couldn't help but notice how much Gyro used his hands while he talked.

"But, a couple weeks ago, I overheard - or, okay... maybe it was more like eavesdropping - my boss talking about Victor Foundry, and in the same sentence, he said "shapeshifting capabilities." So, I've been thinking... maybe that's connected to the volon incident that happened here...? Those things seem weird and crazy enough that maybe he was talking about them. Maybe they can shapeshift?" Gyro shrugged.

Wrench tilted their head and pursed their lips, deep in thought, considering everything Gyroloop just said. "Do I know your boss?"

"Probably not."

"Humour me."

"His name's Soma Jagson. Really secretive guy. I guess he's not technically my boss, but he oversees so much of employee resources that he might as well be."

"Hmm." Another brief pause as Wrench lost themself in thought. "Nope, I got nothing."

"I thought so."

"Although... all this sounds like, you know... sensitive corporate info. I know I'm a curious little shit, but, should I maybe not have asked?"

"...I think it's okay. Victor Foundry is a pretty common term to hear in there, so it's not some huge secret. Plus, Maroon's going to have to give some sort of explanation or statement regarding the Miyatama incident." He followed up with a small chuckle.

Wrench nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense to me. All right."

Gyro looked away for a few seconds, then looked back at Wrench. "But... I guess I would appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone that I told you that."

"Told me what?"

"Huh?" Gyro seemed confused. "Oh! Oh. Haha, good." He instantly looked much more relieved.

Ray put his phone down on the table and looked over at the two, smiling with his jagged mouth open, almost as if he was expecting a reaction from Wrench.

"Motherfucker, I ain't eating a jumbo supreme meal!" Wrench exclaimed, giving Ray exactly what he was hoping for.

"More for me."

"Yeah, okay, fair point."

Ray sauntered back over to the living room and sat down beside Gyro, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. "So! You guys wanna play somethin' while we wait?"

"Oh? What did you have in mind?" Wrench asked.

"Got a selection right down there," Ray explained, pointing down at the game consoles on the floor. "You into racing?"

"Sure, I could go for some. What games do you have...?" Wrench crawled onto the floor and began searching the pile of cords and game cases. "World Traverse 2299," they read out, picking up the case for a rally racing game.

"Old school! I love it," Gyro cheered.

"You down?" Ray asked both of them.

"Sure, yeah," they both answered.