For a Tuesday Morning, the citizens of New Eridu were expecting a large downfall of rain, yet many were happy to see the clear blue skies with several clouds painting a mural in the skies above. Students walked the streets heading to school, office workers rushed to their offices, PubSec patrolled the streets, and laborers headed to their next shifts at construction sites.

Located on Sixth street in New Eridu was a man with a tank top that had a few paint stains as he brushed exterior paint on a store named Random Play, normally for a job such as this it would take normal people several hours. However this wasn’t any ordinary man despite his appearance, as he painted there were four other brushes helping him paint the store not that there was anyone else with him but a blue like mist that controlled these brushes.

With a nod the brushes found their way into a bucket of water as he closed the paint buckets and brought out a bucket of paint sealer as the blue mist that was on the brushes found its way into a canister that was mounted on his belt behind him.

“Ahhhh~ Morning Yariel.” A young petite woman greeted as she walked out the store rubbing her eyes.

“Morning Belle, Feel free to let Wise know I’m almost done painting your store. I just need to let the paint dry before I put the seal on it.” Yariel replied with a smile, mixing the bucket of sealant.

“Awesome, I’m sure he’ll be glad to hear that… Actually, since you’re here Can you help me with something?” She asked, stretching her arms up.

“Sure what do you need?”

“We have an old VCR player that we use for several movies, however it's starting to make noises.” Belle said to him as he held his chin.

“Oh dang yea its pretty old to begin with. But I can fix it up no problem.” Yariel smiles, putting the lid on the sealant.

“Thanks cowboy!” She remarked with a smile after seeing him put his cowboy like hat on and a short sleeved western style shirt unbuttoned.

He simply nods and holds open the door for her to walk in and show him where the VCR is. Upon entering they head into the back with the movie players as Yariel sees the VCR in question. He grabbed a screwdriver and began to swiftly open it up to see the problem, after identifying it he removed the component and replaced its wires as he fixed the component for the VCR to play.

“And done. It's good to go, Belle.” Yariel informed her.

“You’re such a lifesaver! Thank you Yariel, It's no wonder Grace speaks highly of you.” Belle says with an excited tone.

“Is that so?” He asked, looking at Belle as he raised an eyebrow, his lilac eyes showing a hint of surprise.

“Yup! She said you're a wizard and a great babysitter for the children. Her words.”

“Heh she does have a way with words… I do work a lot with Belobog.” He says while holding his chin as he thought back to the many projects he had helped out.

“Yea she also mentioned you had some interesting machines on you.”

“Ah ok that makes more sense.” He said with a sigh.

“More Sense?”

“Yeah, I'm sure you've noticed that about Eighty Percent of what Grace talks about is machines. So if I came in conversation it'll most likely involve machines. Which is both not surprising and a little disappointing but it's alright.” He answered Belle while fixing his hat.

“I mean yeah that is true. But I don't know when we last talked. Her tone seemed different.”

“Hm? Different from her usual bubbly enthusiasm?” He asked her while tilting his head.

“Yea. I wonder why.”

“Hm… I check on her just in case. I've known her for several years now. Honestly the person who probably knows her better will be Koleda.”

“Well if you're worried I don't think it's anything bad.” Belle reassured him as he nodded.

“That's good to hear then. Well then the paint should be dried up now. I'll put the sealant on.”

“Okay. And thank you!”

“No problem.” Yariel smiles heading outside to finish his current job as the blue most from the canister exits out and picks up the brushes to put the sealant on the building.

Unsurprisingly he finishes quite quickly and thoroughly as he begins packing everything up in his kei truck. It wasn't an ideal truck he would've liked, especially with him being taller than most human men in the city. But it was cheap and it gets the job done which works for him as he is a freelance handyman.

As soon as he entered the truck his phone buzzed signaling that he received a text message. He smiles seeing the bubble on the screen as the bubble shows a young woman with black hair and red eyes in it named Grace Howard.

Grace: Hey are you busy?

Yariel: Just finished with a previous job. You need something?

Grace: Yea You!

Yariel: hmmm…

Grace: Come by Belobog Quick! I need some help with a child. Can you help? 🥺

Yariel: Did you need me to fix the child or keep it under control?

Grace: Fixing it. It needs repairs in a place I cannot reach.

Yariel: I got you. Be there in ten minutes.

Grace: Awesome you're a lifesaver!

“Heh. Not surprising at all.” He smiles, putting his phone away as he starts driving to Balobog’s facility.

Despite the small jobs he loved accepting from the New Eridu citizens, He has a soft spot for Belobog Heavy Industries and always accepted jobs from them. He does share a history with them, being there when Koleda’s father had disappeared and even being pulled into some Hollow excursions with them from time to time.

It’s safe to say they all have a good relationship with each other. Ben Bigger and Yariel as some would say are drinking buddies. However the two would go to a Soft drink shop enjoying sweet and special sugary sodas and simply talk about how much they love helping the people that matter most to them. So they often met up with each other, and hilariously enough some of the spots they go to has a history of thug related issues however having a six foot four bear thiren and a six foot well built man tends to scare away most thugs especially seeing how well they fight after a brawl breaks out.

As for Anton, Yariel often looks at him like an older brother as he is only a few years older than Grace and Koleda. Not only that, Yariel and Anton often go to the gym with each other whenever it's not busy. And sometimes they’ll even be seen playing cards and chess at the barbershop they both go to for their haircuts.

For Koleda and Yariel they do have a good relationship as they both prefer to work in the fields rather than being stuck in an office. Whenever they are together they act a lot like brother and sister having banter a normal pair of siblings would have, and it's because of this banter that Yariel has built an immunity to Koleda’s shin kicks. Nonetheless they both really enjoy sweets so on rare occasions they’ll go on sugar runs if its a peaceful day where they’re not busy. Nonetheless if the two ever need help with anything they have no problem asking each other for help.

Now the final member is a different story. Grace Howard is the technical expert in Belobog Industries, a lot of Belobog’s income comes from the successful machines she builds as they are one of the few capable of entering Hollows. She’s a bright young woman that's a complete mechanical geek which everyone has come to know. She’s widely popular because of two reasons being her kindness and positive attitude she has that puts everyone at ease, and her beauty she shows not just in appearance but in her actions as well. Yariel has known Grace for years, and being a freelance handyman often leads him to run across her and lend a hand with anything mechanical. Because of his work ethics, Grace and Yariel had become good friends, especially with Koleda helping their friendship bloom even further. However Grace, despite seeing Yariel as a very good friend, often gets herself distracted as she wants to learn about the canister on the back of Yariel’s belt. This canister led to Grace learning bits and pieces of Yariel’s past, something he’s not really comfortable with sharing only so that he may not be reminded of it. Still though when it comes to Grace she holds a special place in Yariel’s heart; and Yes he is very much interested in her however he fears ruining the friendship they have now, and if he didn’t have his canister then would she have even noticed him either way. These thoughts always flooded his mind.

Nonetheless Yariel would still go out of his way to help Grace out with Anything she needs. Simply having a conversation, and tinkering with her is enough to satisfy him. With and without his canister.

The drive was simple and soothing to Yariel. Going to Belabog headquarters where he parks along the sidewalk and steps out grabbing a pair of sunglasses in his glove department. With a smile he walks to the garage of their headquarters where Grace is seen with Ben looking at a large Construction Machine that was larger than Friday, Hand, and Greta.

“Did y'all request a handyman?” Yariel called out smiling as Grace lifted up her goggles from her eyes with a wide smile.

“Yariel! You made it just in time!” Grace takes a massive leap off the Machine she is on top of, landing on Ben's pillar and using it as a springboard to launch herself to Yariel who instinctively attempts to catch her worried she'd hurt herself.

“Hup! I'm so glad you came!” She cheerfully said landing in front of him.

“Of course I'll come. So what's the problem you need fixing?” Yariel smiled, putting his hat on the closest workbench.

“It's Grace's newest child. For some reason we can't run tests without endangering someone.” Ben said, walking over to fistpump Yariel.

“Oh?”

“Yea… Can you help us look inside? We're having a hard time determining whether it's a wiring, a programming issue, or something else.” Grace requested with a bit of an embarrassed smile.

“I see. Sure I can help.” He answers by putting his sunglasses on.

As soon as he put the glasses on there were a few blue dots and a HUD like frame that appeared on the lens as the Canister opened up and released a lot of blue mist that surrounded them for a moment before they went to the mech.

“Ok so tell me where to look so my nano drones can find it quicker.” Yariel said as Grace nodded and grabbed a tablet.

“Right, so here's the central power and CPU.” Grace quickly answered, pointing to the schematics she had on hand.

Ben had crossed his arms and smiled as he watched the two work together. The two were shoulder to shoulder focusing on the task at hand. He knew Grace always looked for an opportunity to look at Yariel’s canister that contained his Nano machines. Ever since they first met Yariel he has always had those Nano machines with him whether it's in a fight or aiding in labor. Which meant anytime Yariel came Grace would hop on the chance to look and dissect how the nano machines worked much to Yariel's dismay as he would often find a way to prevent Grace from having that chance.

“Oh I think I see the problem.” Yariel said getting a phone out as he shows Grace what his Nano machines sees.

“Oh let me see!” She says basically leaning on him as she looks at his phone.

“Hm, that's strange. That's not one of the chips I use… It has ethereal corruption on it…” She softly says with a worried tone.

“Want me to remove it?” Yariel asked as he looked at Grace who held her chin.

“Yea… But who else would've put that chip in?” Grace pondered holding her chin as she looked at her tablet.

As Yariel began to command the nano machines to remove the chip. He doesn't see that the Mech activates and its “face” immediately turns red and looks at Yariel. It starts to move, making Yariel stop and look at one of the machine’s arms that it lifted.

“Grace, Ben Watch out!” Yariel yells out, picking Grace up and slinging her over his shoulder as he avoids the machine's giant arm that smashed the ground they had stood on.

“Hah?! Thanks Yariel.” Grace said as she was set done gently as they all looked at the machine as it kept its sights on Yariel.

“It's no problem. Can you turn it off?” Yariel asked as Grace frantically types away at her tablet.

“I'm trying. Hey look out!” She calls out as the machine charged at him crashing into Yariel as it crashed him through a wall into the courtyard of headquarters.

As the machine and Yariel crashed into the courtyard the two were separated as Yariel stood up and wiped away blood that leaked from his mouth with an agitated look as his sunglasses had a crack on it.

“Hah… I guess I'm fighting then… Sorry Grace.” He sighs as he looks around and sees several workers scurrying for safety which means he doesn't have to worry too much about others.

He presses a button on his glasses as the blue mist surrounds him forming a barrier from the machine as it throws an arm at him only for it to be absorbed by the nano machines and make it stable back. That very blue mist of nano machines then shrank to Yariel as it formed a sort of suit that gave him gauntlets, boots and a chest piece. He tosses his cowboy hat away, giving the machine his full attention.

As the machine gets back up it charges Yariel again as the young man leaps high above it to avoid it's charge and make it crash into a wall. Making a sort energy burst from his right palm he shifts his trajectory to land on top of the machine, forming a blade with his left hand he slices into the machine to try and force a manual shutdown. However the machine is not making it easy for him. Despite the size, the scene to many makes it look like a bull rider trying with all his might to stay on the large mechanical bull.

Getting frustrated with the machine Yariel spreads his Nano machines in a blue mist around the machine, forcing its limbs off as it's powerless to do so. However because of all the moments the bisecting wasn't exactly clean as the metal got twisted, small explosions on the inside, and then the tearing the metal sheets had from Yariel's assault. Eventually the machine fell and lost power because making Yariel sigh in both relief and disappointment as destroying it wasn't his objective because now he'll have a slightly saddened Grace to apologize to.

“Yariel! Are you ok?!” Grace yells out from the garage the machine broke out of as it was slightly higher than the current area Yariel was in.

“Huh? Yea I'm fine Grace!” He yelled out, looking at the machine and the ethereal chip they had found.

He takes the chip and then crushes it in his palm with the help of his Nano machines. As his Nano machines in its blue mist started to go into his canister, he felt a bullet whiz by his head, shocking him as he quickly formed a shield around him and seeing a Sniper on top of one of the cranes firing at him.

“Of course…” Yariel muttered using his Nano machines to boost his physical ability to reach the Sniper. Increasing his speed and reach, using both to avoid the bullets and close the distance.

Closing the distance in a matter of minutes Yariel breaks the sniper’s rifle and pins him against one of the beams.

“Let me guess… Rebels?”

“Tch… You want a detective medal hightail?” The Sniper Scoffed at Yariel as the young man rolled his eyes.

“Whatever. I didn't think the Rebels would be after me. I guess they're desperate for my Nano machines?” Yariel asked the Sniper.

“You ain't getting nothing from me Hightail.”

“I guess not. Just know that I'm one of only three people in New Eridu who can maintain and fix nano machines. But I'm the only one who can fight with them…. But you knew that… didn't you?” Yariel said, looking skeptical at the Sniper.

“I don't pick my targets recklessly. Now Hightail… You either have to kill me, or send me to jail.”

“Or I can let you go. My nano machines could easily enter your immune system and explode inside of you. So do yourself a favor. Get out of here and tell your boys to leave me alone. Cause next time there will be blood.” Yariel said with a cold stare at the Sniper as his enemy nodded letting Yariel go about his business.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Yariel! Are you ok? Grace told me someone shot at you.” Koleda called out as she and her other subordinates came to check on Yariel as he got down from the crane.

“Yea it was a Rebel Infiltrator.” He looks at Grace as she returns a worried look at him.

“An Infiltrator?! Why would they want our machines?”

“Well…. I think it has something to do with Yariel… Doesn't it?” Grace said, walking up to him with a worried look and a hand on her chest.

“Yea… The reason why your machine was acting up was because the Infiltrator rigged it to come after me. More accurately this.” Yariel explained holding up his canister.

“The Canister for your machines… I'm sorry but they had used you guys to get to me. I should leave… After I get my hat… Hm?” Before he could look Grace had already put his cowboy hat on his head.

“You don't have to be sorry… Yariel, can I speak to you for a moment?” Grace asked him, nodding to the rest to give them space as they complied.

“Sure… hah?” Yariel complied, but in shock as Grace took his hand with a soft, tender, and firm grasp.

She takes him to an elevator that leads up to the highest point of Belobog headquarters which is still under construction. Most of this small trip was in silence which had worried Yariel cause he wasn't used to this much silence between him and Grace. Which only meant that something was troubling her. The moment they reached the top Grace guided him towards a ledge that had a beautiful view of the city and of course several Hollow spots.

“Look… I'm really happy you're ok.” Grace said with a small smile as she looked up at Yariel.

“I'm glad to hear you say that… I'm sorry about the machine.”

“Don't be. Someone corrupted the child and you had to do what you had to do. I've had children act that way before however… Today was different… Despite the sabotage of my months of work… I was genuinely afraid that you would've gotten hurt.” Grace sincerely said, catching Yariel off guard.

“You're worried I would've gotten hurt? I'm surprised Grace but I'm glad to hear it as well.” He said with a smile hoping to bring her spirits up.

“Of course I was worried why wouldn't I be?” Grace asked, shocked.

“I… I don't know. I just thought you wouldn't worry so much about me than the machines.” He admitted with a shrug.

“Ow…” Yariel responded as Grace puffed her cheeks and karate chopped his head.

“Silly… Of course I'd worry about you. I honestly thought we were closer. Do I really come off as someone who cares more for the children than others?... I didn't word that right…” Grace put a finger on her lips trying to think of a better way to say her sentence.

“No need, I understood. And honestly… yea? I know how much you love machines, and there's nothing wrong being a mechanical geek. But honestly I sometimes think you're more interested in my canister than me.”

“Hm…” Grace looked to the side, taking in Yariel's honesty as it only served to make him even more worried.

“I… I-”

“I'm sorry… And this is a bad time to ask but…  About that Canister… I recently looked into nano machines. There's not a lot of known names for their production… You weren't one of them… I know you don't like to share about your past but after today… I wish to ask you about it. Your past and how you came across Nano machines.” Grace asked, looking up at him as he looked to the side, took a deep breath and nodded.

“Ok… In truth… About twenty-four years ago I was born to a couple… I never knew my father or mother, because I was raised in a program of numbered soldiers… However during their many tests they saw I had a higher than normal IQ… Thus they put me into a program involving NanoTechnology. I was one of their Scientist’s personal gofers… He used me to test how the human body could be improved by nanotechnology. He never knew I'd pick up on his notes and learn how to use nanotechnology; Nanomachines. So after my last mission, I escaped, faked my death, drew up this name Yariel and later on. I met all of you.” Yariel shared, seeing the surprise look on Grace's face.

“I… didn't expect you to share all that… Wow, I could have never imagined… So what is your real name then?” Grace asked him, a look of sympathy in her eyes.

“I never had a real name. Only a number, but I'm Yariel, that's the name I'll forever go by.” He smiles at her as she returned the smile.

“Ok then Yariel remains. That makes me happy… Now then, I can understand why that past is hard for you to share. And I'm also glad you felt comfortable enough to share it with me. So that sniper… I guess there are some that know you're alive.”

“Yea. But I'm not too worried. Those Rebels aren't a problem and hardly have the gall to operate here. Plus that sniper would need something more than a  Five point Fifty-Six by Forty five caliber.” He shrugged.

“Wait what?”

“Yea because of those Nano machines augmentations, bullets and a lot of weapons can't pierce my skin. A Fifty Cal might do the trick.”

“Yikes… Let's not test that then. So… What’re you planning to do next?” She asked him, her hands clasped down in front of her.

“Do you want any help with your Child?”

“Hehe. Not today, I think once we clean up it'll be a good place to stop and rest.” Grace informed him as she gave a sweet smile.

“Then I'll help with the clean up.”

“Thank you. And also… Are you doing anything later tonight?” Grace asked, twirling one of her bangs.

“Me? I um… I'm not doing anything. Did you want to catch a bite to eat?” He asked blushing a bit.

“That'd be nice… O-oh! I mean I'd like to go.” Grace frantically answered back, her face flushed from her brief misunderstanding.

“Sweet then… The Waterfall Noodle shop?”

“Sure thing. I can pay.”

“No, it's fine. I'll pay.”

“Hrmmm.. Ok, then it's a date?” Grace asked, they both turned red when they realized what just happened.

“Yea. It's a date.” He smiles, his face still a shade of crimson.

“Good… Also…” She quickly leans up and places a soft kiss on his cheek.

“That was for saving me earlier… I'll see you downstairs!” Grace said going to the Elevator leaving a stunned Yariel touching his cheek.

“Soft..." He softly spoke while watching her head to the elevator.

"Hmm... Hey Cowboy, Hm... It's better if we take the Elevator together... To save more time." Grace shyly suggested getting him out of his trance.

"O-oh right right."