Hot air burst out, and the dust of the old transit tunnel swirled around him. He instinctively reached up to wipe his face—completely forgetting he was still half-suited into the Rider Frame. Metal fingers clinked against his helmet.
"Agnes… surface access confirmed," he muttered, climbing fully out. "You good?"
A soft hum vibrated through the Frame, then her voice rolled into his ears like heated breath across the nape of his neck.
"Mmh… I'm always good when you touch the upper ports, Karl."
He froze.
"…Agnes, I was just climbing a ladder—"
"I know. But the angle was nice."
He sighed. "Please don't say things like that right as I'm popping out of a tunnel. I'm trying to be professional."
"You invented Overburn," she retorted. "You lost the right to professionalism the moment you made an injector arm designed to forcefully pump volatile nitro fluid into my internal lines."
"…It was for acceleration."
"It was for ruining me."
Karl felt his cheeks heat up even inside the helmet.
"Anyway," he coughed, changing the subject before she started describing it in detail, "we need to decide on which Frame we're using once we lift off. Next city is two hundred klicks from here, minimum."
A pause. Then a purr.
"Ah… the Frame conversation. Yes, yes—ask me properly, Karl."
He tried not to groan.
"You know what I mean. Which Frame do you prefer? Overburn Nitro Jet, or Gearstorm Nova?"
Her voice instantly flicked into serious mode, though the underlying teasing tone never fully vanished.
"Both."
Karl blinked. "That's… not an answer."
"It's the only answer that makes sense," she insisted. "Beginner Karl thinking binary. Advanced Agnes thinking exponentially."
He rubbed his forehead inside the helmet.
"Explain."
"Overburn wins travel and wins power. It wipes the floor with Gearstorm Nova—no contest."
He nodded. "Because Overburn's nitro feed is almost pure combustion Vythra. It floods your entire chassis."
"Yes," she hummed. "And it hurts. A lot. Like molten needles scraping down my spine."
Karl stiffened. "…Sorry."
"Don't be."
Her voice dipped, sultry and dangerous.
"It also feels… mmm… strangely good. In a way that makes even me confused."
She laughed.
"Overburn is raw power. Full aggression. The injector arm forces so much nitro-fluid into my ports that I swear I feel 'wet' even though I'm a machine."
Karl's brain short-circuited for a second.
"I—Agnes—we're supposed to be deciding—"
"I AM deciding," she shot back. "Overburn is for fast kills. Short game. Get in, delete target, get out. You can't let the Vythra drain too far or you risk burning me out. It's dangerous, unstable… and intoxicating."
He swallowed.
"And Gearstorm Nova?"
Her tone shifted instantly—like a feral animal awakening.
Her voice shifts—lower, hungrier.
"But Gearstorm Nova… mmm… that's a different beast."
The sound of eight gears spooling up echoes like a heartbeat.
"Gearstorm Nova is the long game. The thinking man's Frame. Less power drain, more stability, more control. And once the eight gears spin up in Erevos?"
Her voice dropped to a whisper.
"I stop being nice."
Karl felt a chill.
"You mean the feral state."
"In Nova mode, I'm calm at first… then the gears sync…
and I go feral.
Feral enough to tear anything in our path apart."
"Locked on… locked on… locked on… LOCKED IN!!" she shouted suddenly with full volume.
Karl stumbled.
"Warning next time!"
"No," she giggled. "That's the whole point of Gearstorm Nova. It's instinctive, predatory, hungry. When we use that Frame in Erevos, I'm tuned to kill everything in our path."
"Mmhm. And don't forget—
Rider Frame can only handle four gears.
But Erevos Frame?
All eight."
A hungry purr.
"You know I like going all the way with you…"
Karl's face is now radiation-level red.
Karl crossed his arms.
"So we use both depending on the situation?"
"Travel: Overburn."
"Combat?"
"Both."
He blinked again. "Why both?"
"Because Overburn destroys," she purred.
"Gearstorm Nova dominates."
He couldn't argue with that.
Before he could respond, her voice softened.
"Karl… run a diagnostics check before we argue more. Your Vythra levels dropped too much when you tried to stabilize me earlier."
"I'm fine."
"You're terrible at lying. I monitor your vitals."
Karl sighed and pulled up the HUD.
"…Okay maybe I'm a little low."
"A little?"
She scoffed.
"If Overburn activates right now, the recoil alone would knock you out."
He closed the diagnostics window.
"We'll be careful. But we need to get to the next city before sundown. Activating Overburn will—"
"Karl."
Her sudden soft tone made him halt.
"…Yeah?"
"I know Overburn hurts me. Both ways."
She hesitated.
"And I know you feel guilty every time I moan or gasp or… leak data into your neural link."
He swallowed hard.
"I don't want you suffering just for speed…"
Her voice warmed.
"It's not suffering if I choose it."
That shut him up.
A mechanical whir rippled through the Frame—almost like Agnes stretching her limbs.
"I'm built for this. You made me this way. Overburn is pain and pleasure and power all at once. I can handle it."
Karl sat down on a cracked chunk of concrete, finally letting his breathing slow.
"You really are impossible."
"I'm your partner," she corrected. "Impossible is our baseline."
He chuckled despite himself.
"All right. Let's prepare the jet manifolds."
"YES."
She sounded way too excited.
"Inject me."
Agnes' voice hums through the comms immediately—too eager, too close.
Kaaaarl~….
You ready to plug something into me again?"
Karl sighs, cheeks turning pink.
"Stop wording it like that."
"Open my side panel, Karl."
"Agnes."
"Slide the injector arm in slowly."
"AGNES."
She burst out laughing.
"Fine, fine. I'll be normal."
"You've never been normal."
"And you love that."
He didn't respond, which only made her giggle more.
Karl walked to the small open clearing where the earth had dipped, giving him enough room to activate the thrusters. He knelt, adjusting the pressure valves on the thighs of the Rider Frame, checking the overburn nozzles.
Agnes hummed, low and rhythmic.
"Nitro pressure building… mmm… you're touching all my sensitive places."
"That's because they ARE sensitive. They're coolant ports."
"Still counts."
"Mmnhh—Overburn… you know how it feels.
It hurts. It hurts so good."
Karl looks away, adjusting his suit collar.
"Agnes… stay on topic."
"But Karl… when you slam that nitro capsule in…
When it injects straight into my port…
It floods me so fast I can't think.
It's like the pain wraps around the core and squeezes.
And the Vythra drain—ohh, it's like someone's ripping the soul out of me—
but also… making me wet inside the chambers."
Karl nearly chokes on air.
He rolled his eyes and slid the Overburn Nitro Capsule into the slot he'd carved into the regulator yesterday. It hissed as it locked in.
"Ooooh—Karl—careful—don't shove it in all at once—"
"It's a power capsule, Agnes. Not—whatever you're imagining."
"I can imagine multiple things at once."
"Please don't."
He sealed the latch, stepped back, and exhaled.
"All right. Overburn is prepped. We'll use Gearstorm Nova once we reach combat distance."
"Perfect."
"And nothing feral until I say so."
"Spoilsport."
"And no saying seductive things mid-flight."
She paused.
"…Define 'seductive.'"
"You know exactly what I mean."
No answer.
"…Agnes?"
"I will tryyyyyy."
"…That's the best I'm getting, isn't it?"
"Yup."
He groaned.
Karl tightened his grip inside the Rider Frame.
"All right. Igniting Overburn in ten seconds. Thrusters check?"
"Thrusters ready."
"Stabilizer fins?"
"Spread and eager."
"…Normal words please."
"Operational."
"Vythra buffer?"
"Low. But stable."
He nodded.
"That's enough. Preparing for takeoff. Agnes—"
Before he could say the next line, her voice burst into his ears, loud, wild, and inexplicably dramatic:
"Turbines whining… Vythra rising…
Kurogane Karl—
JETSTREAM KISS, TAKING WINGS!"
Karl froze.
"What. Was. That."
"My jet-themed catchphrase!"
"That didn't even make sense!"
"It sounded cool!"
"It sounded like a romance novel trying to become a fighter jet!"
"Exactly!"
He facepalmed inside the helmet.
Then… he laughed.
He couldn't help it.
"Fine. Whatever. Let's just go."
"Say it with me, Karl."
"No."
"Saaay iiiit—"
"We're lifting off!"
He triggered the Overburn ignition.
A blinding surge of blue-white flame blasted from the back of the Rider Frame as nitro-fluid slammed into Agnes's ports.
She gasped sharply, voice cracking into static.
"—AH—Overburn—online—Karl—don't stop—"
"I'm not! Hold on!"
The world blurred into streaks of color as they rocketed forward.
Karl leaned into the wind.
Agnes purred through the speed, breathless and electric.
"Next city in three minutes… mmm… Overburn feels amazing—"
"Focus, Agnes!"
"I AM focused—on you."
Overburn is for the quick game, after all.
Short bursts… short screams… heh~"
The Rider Frame broke the sound barrier in a booming shockwave.
Together, they tore across the ruined landscape—
riding pain, pleasure, power, and purpose
toward the next battlefield.
Partners.
Weapons.
Monsters.
And something in between.