"Greetings!" The suit of armour spoke cheerfully, it's voice was deep, rich and jovial, "Are you perhaps the paragon of justice I am meant to serve?"

Speechless Palm simply stared slack-jawed at the moving hexagonal pieces on the suit which vibrated as it spoke. AI perhaps? but they lacked the flamboyant personality that the armour before him showed. Not to mention that it radiated a strange energy which was clearly much different from the cold husks of the Nexus suits.

Theda suddenly doubled over next to him in a fit of coughing clutching her stomach, blood staining the black onyx floor of the MPF armoury. The body of the officer she possessed looked up at the barkeeper and muttered with gritted teeth, "Palm. We. Don't. Have. Much. Time."

He nodded numbly in response, bending down he began searching for some sort of switch to shrink down the suit. To his knowledge most standard power suits came with a more portable version of themselves, it helped with speeding up police response time. But, after varying moments of fruitless searching he inevitably ended up carrying the entire thing in an unwieldly fashion.

"I got it, lets go" the barkeeper spoke, looking worriedly at the gaunt and strained face of the spirit.

"Are you perhaps robbers then?' The suit asked vibrating in his arms 'Because I must warn you my friend, I will not hesitate to defend myself."

Palm who had begun jogging back to the entrance of the armoury stumbled slightly before he spoke hastily, "No, I'm that um, paragon thing you said earlier, I just um, came to save you... because... you were in... danger?" He then winced at his own lie.

The barkeeper felt himself being analysed by the suit which replied "In that case, I suppose we must make haste! But I must be certain about who you claim to be."

Palm shuddered at his questioning glancing back at his stumbling companion, why couldn't things ever be easy for him.

"Who was it that created me to serve you?" The armour asked, "Surely you must know, given that you had to contact her to call upon me?"

The question made him stop abruptly, as cold sweat ran down his back. The barkeep suddenly felt extremely stupid. Of course the entire endeavour wasn't going to work, he had broken into an MPF armoury what did he expect. Of course he could always drop the suit to go back for a Nexus one but the damage had already been done. Whatever it was that he just picked up was perfectly capable of attacking him, and if it identified him as a threat it would all be over.

It was as if someone had dumped a bucket of scalding water over his head. His insides heated up and his breathing began to quicken, He had been stupid to believe that he could ever be more than he was, and now he had been caught in the spotlight from a very risky plan. He should have listened to Theda and just taken a normal suit or better yet, he should have never let her trick him into delusions of grandeur.

Suddenly he felt a firm hand grasp on his shoulder, "Solaris." the spirit spoke in a dour tone. She then pushed him slowly toward the white corridors to hurry him up, while limping forward herself.

"Ah, I suppose you were speaking the truth then" the suit replied, "Very well, let us be off." It then folded itself inward creating a small white and gold patterned cube which lay harmlessly in the hands of a nervous Palm who slid it into his pocket. Multiple emotions clouded his thoughts but he pushed them aside, he would address them later.

Rushing through the still eerily empty space, the pair eventually arrived at the entrance of the facility, the security guard had been idly scrolling through their handheld device as they almost managed to slip past her.

"Hey! wait a second." The guard called out to the two, "Sir! What happened? where's the rest of the tech team? shouldn't they have left by now?" She had reached out to tightly grip the barkeeper's arm, talking down the ghost in the form of an officer. Her gaze boring down onto the possessed man.

"I don't know" the spirit responded coolly "They weren't on site so I simply decided to escort this gentleman back out, can you please let him go."

The security guards grip tightened, obviously torn between inquiring further and obeying a direct order from her superior but she eventually relented. "...Alright but I'm going to go check."

Theda nodded absentmindedly, to which the taller woman took off down the corridors further into the building. 'Huh.' Palm thought, 'Loyal enough not to question an officer but not loyal enough to stay at her post', although maybe making sure nothing weird is happening is part of her job description.

The pair then quickly left almost sprinting down the stairwell. Once they reached the bottom Theda immediately collapsed and began heaving and retching. After convulsing for a few moment's the policeman's jaw snapped wide open, out of the man's mouth however was not the last meal he ate, but rather the spectral visage of the blue spirit.

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Palm watched as the spirit violently shot up into the air gasping for breath.

'Ugh, that sucked.' Theda moaned wiping the corners of her mouth, 'It's normally a lot easier to do that.' The body from which she escaped lay sprawled on the orange dirt at her feet, unconscious but not dead.

The barkeeper who had somewhat grown used to unwelcome surprises at that point simply stared at his companion with a flat gaze. However for all his calm, his new suit did not share the same reaction.

"A being from the underworld!" It exclaimed from the inside of his pocket, "Quick my liege, put me on so we may slay it!"

"Unfortunately we can't" Palm replied amused, "She's a friend of mine." He then slowly pulled out the cube he carried, although he didn't get a good look at it earlier it crackled with yellow light which felt prickly as he held it. Also, did it say 'my liege' earlier? what sort of person was meant to wear this thing anyway? why would it call him that? These were all part of the many questions he had but never asked.

The cube was silent before flipping itself over to seemingly get a closer look at the groggy spirit which slowly floated away from the body and closer to the shrunken armour and it's supposed wielder.

'Palm you Idiot, why did you grab that thing' Theda huffed at the barkeeper as she approached, she seemed much more energised than she had been prior, 'It could be dangerous!'

He rolled his eyes at the irony of the statement replying 'Aren't you the one who suggested this whole thing? also this guy seems harmless to me, and can talk. That's got to mean he was the better choice right?'

The cube in his hand seemed to vibrate in agreement, 'Madame, I can assure you I exist only to protect and bear my carrier no ill will, harming him would go against the will of my creator!' the suit said.

After realising that the object had been addressing the spirit the duo stared at it in shock, thankfully shortly afterward it explained that it had a sort of universal translator built into it's systems meaning that it could understand even spectral speech.

Also, It had apparently 'Bonded' with Palm to hear his thoughts similarly to Theda which was cause for concern. Despite how much he was assured that it was for his safety, he didn't like the idea of more weird object's attaching themselves to him.

'If I had a nickel...' Palm thought tiredly, only to be interrupted by his ghostly companion.

'I suppose I did suggest it, but I thought it would go a lot smoother than it did.' the spirit sighed motioning him to follow her down the dirt path back to the rows of red housing dotting the horizon. Night was well underway and the road was hardly visible outside the meagre light provided from flickering lamps.

The barkeeper raised an eyebrow, 'What do you mean smoother? It literally could not have gone better, there was nobody there.'

'You don't get it, do you?' Theda replied, 'I was expecting resistance, I had come up with plenty good cover stories and alibi's to get us into the armoury. I was half sure we would have had to fight our way out.' She then paused grasping at the air in an exasperated fashion, 'But then nothing, no inspectors to meet, no policemen to assuage, it was a graveyard out there.'

'Maybe they all threw a pizza party across the street?' Palm joked, 'Nobody can say no to Tony's, he's the best half-Italian, half-artificial intelligence construct I ever ordered from!'

'Haha, very funny.' the spirit deadpanned, 'No, something else was going on in that building, we're just lucky that we didn't have to enter the main room to get to the armoury, who knows what would've happened.'

'I assume this was the danger you spoke of earlier my liege?' the cube piped up, causing the barkeeper to almost jump in fright. He had been alone with Theda a lot the past week and had forgotten that his conversations could now be heard.

'Uh, yeah I guess so.' Palm responded sheepishly, 'But to tell you the truth, I didn't even know it was as bad as Theda is making it out to be.' A half-truth at best, despite that there was danger Palm wasn't sure how much of it applied to the power suit he carried.

'Hmm' The armour spoke, before shortly turning unresponsive.

As they walked across the now empty plaza the night air blew throughout the region of Verdante chilling the barkeeper to the bone. He trudged slowly to the entrance, slowly making his way to the train station which he arrived at. Palm walked past dimly-lit pubs and hotels for residents and visitors to enjoy or stay in, heartfelt cheering and conversation still heard in some establishments despite the late hour.

He eventually strolled under the Welcome sign directly opposite the harsh bright light's emanating from the station. The colourful green sign which sprouted with large lush leaves and curling stalks standing against the dreary grey concrete.

Palm walked back into the familiar and cold empty hallways of the train station glancing down the platform, empty seats and railways greeted him in reply. He sat waiting for the Mercy expressway falling into his thoughts, the floating spirit settling down in the chair beside him.

'Why do you do that?' the barkeeper questioned, looking at his companion.

'Do what?' Theda replied turning to him confused.

'Sit down, I mean you phase through objects right? isn't that whole action kind of pointless?' Palm continued.

The spirit blinked before answering, 'Comfort? maybe? I think it's a mental thing I'm not sure.'

The barkeeper nodded asking, 'Wouldn't you feel the same regardless of whether you're up in the air or not?'

'I think it's just to help me feel as though I'm talking properly.' Theda spoke softly, 'Sometimes I'll be wondering if I'm doing the right thing in a conversation, following the right conventions and all.'

'Says the ghost that came out of an axe' Palm replied flatly, 'I'm not sure anything you do is following convention.'

'...Right.' the spirit responded 'I suppose so.'

They spent the next few moments in silence as they often did, watching as the stars dotted the night sky. Apparently there was a point in time where they were invisible due to all the pollution and toxic air, but such moments were in the past. Those who loved stargazing would eventually find a way to enjoy themselves in peace and as they did, so did everybody else. The current night sky only possible thanks to their drive to make it visible again.

Not for the first time in his life the barkeeper wondered whether he would ever be able to achieve something like that.

'We will Palm, I swear it.' Theda said smiling at him reassuringly.

'Thanks' he replied quietly.

Eventually the blazing expressway came to a grinding halt on the platform, cold pressurised air being released from it's doors. Watching as it opened Palm made his way into the locomotive ready to get home and go to sleep.