After more idle chat, Amy left, still smiling. She said something about catching up with the others, her coat over her arm, an echo of the scene when she first left with her tiger tattoo so long ago.

The bell over the door jingled, then silence.

Tanya stayed sitting for a minute, watching the inky water swirl at the bottom of her rinse cup. It had gone nearly black. She sighed, pushed up from the stool, and started cleaning her gun.

Disinfectant first. Needle out. Wipe, check, disassemble. She ran a cloth over the cables, even though she'd done it twice already. No point rushing—she could feel the fatigue setting in, slow and heavy.

By the time the workstation was cleared, her hands were shaking. Not much, just enough that she noticed. She flicked her Interface open.

Vitality: 6 / 30

"Shit," she muttered. "Didn't even make a new tattoo."

That was a lot of drain for a modification. She supposed it was pretty transformative for how the tattoo worked, but still. Closing the display, she sat down, elbows on her knees.

Back when they were finishing off the shop, the recovery time wasn't much of a problem because she could just move on to repairs, ditto with back when there were constantly monsters to fight. But now? What else would she do today except work on tattoos?

No point in fightin' it, I suppose… Unless.

Ishita's tattoo came to mind—the Prosthetic Tanya had made for her. She pulled up Ishita's Interface and scrolled down to the Ability.

• • •

Vital Wellspring Stores 20 surplus Vitality gathered during recovery periods. Though recovery speed remains unchanged, accumulated vitality can be reinfused into Wielder's system to replenish drain within Vitality maximum.

• • •

Tanya whistled. 20.

She must have been putting a lot of effort into growing it, but even at base, it was 3 Vitality that Ishita didn't have otherwise. Even if one of those was used for Summoning it, it would still be a net positive.

Tanya grabbed a fresh page and switched her design overlay on. The faint blue shimmer danced over the paper, waiting for her to start.

"Alright. Intent: Vitality storage."

She wrote the words at the top of the sheet, then started sketching.

First design: a box. Something closed, simple, solid.

Her overlay flickered all kinds of different boxes in and out. It took so long to find what she needed.

She focused on just how much Vitality it could store, trying to weave through the mess of words. None of it seemed very specific. She needed some way of seeing easily if her methods were succeeding.

Deep within the options was a drop-down called Efficiency.

Scan: [Storage Efficiency: 4%]

Result.

Tanya quietened the rest of it, focusing just on the Storage Efficiency.

She looked at Ishita's Prosthesis, looking at the Interface through her Overlay.

Storage Efficiency: 64%

She wondered how low Ishita's started and delved into the Overlay further. A few layers down in the pop-up explanation boxes, she found her answer. This number wasn't at its current level of efficiency like she'd first thought. It wouldn't grow to 100. This was instead its maximum potential, and Ishita's had been 64 since the start.

She squinted back at the box.

Storage Efficiency: 4%

So that was a very bad design then. She wanted to be as close to 100% as possible.

She wrinkled up this page, condemning it to being thrown in the bin beside the counter.

"Too literal."

Her second design was an injector, like a syringe feeding back into the body. That way, it was more directly about what it was storing.

Storage Efficiency: 6%

She pondered the design, clenching and unclenching her hand to try and picture how Vitality would even exist in a design. It didn't really feel like a liquid that could be in a syringe, maybe more like a gas?

She tapped the pencil against the desk, thinking of Ishita's hand again.

It was obvious. She should start with a prosthetic; that's what worked well last time.

She tried sketching a similar outline—a palm, open.

Storage Efficiency: 10%

Maybe it was in the henna? She added that element in.

Storage Efficiency: 10%

Tanya huffed, leaning back. Why didn't that work when it's the exact design that worked for Ishita?

She drew some more hands, getting more and more frustrated each time. What made Ishita's hand different?

She needed it for one—it was replacing a real hand.

Tanya wasn't missing a hand, but she could make something necessary.

This design was a bottle of tattoo ink, black and sparkling.

Storage Efficiency: 23%

It was better, but not enough. She looked between Ishita's prosthesis and the new ink bottle, trying to work out what she was missing.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Her mind wandered back to her and Mrs Eceer's conversation. She'd called it The Holy Spirit.

Tanya drew a metallic cross, curious.

Storage Efficiency: 3%

Tanya was shocked. That was the lowest so far.

She wondered if that would work for Mrs Eceer. Her Overlay wouldn't let her imagine tattoos on other people without them being there.

Crosses aren't very me, she supposed.

She looked down at her sketches—boxes, prosthetics, and crosses didn't feel like her. Ink did more, but even then, it was a tool she used up.

"What holds the soul then," she murmured, "if that's what we're playin' with?"

She flipped to another page, drawing something simple. A rose with a single thorn. It was one of the first tattoos she'd ever done, on her nan.

The Overlay presented:

Storage Efficiency: 72%

She blinked, checking again. Same.

"...No way. Wait, hold on…"

Tanya looked down at the hunting knife in memory of her dad on her wrist.

Storage Efficiency: 91%

Then another on her sleeve and another. None of them was lower than 60.

She scanned one of her test doodles.

Storage Efficiency: 6%

Then back to her arm.

Storage Efficiency: 76%

She frowned, half in disbelief, half in realisation.

These ones, the old ones, weren't System-made. They were her work from before. The ones that meant something. She'd made them with intent and attached them to memories, with all the reasons people used to get tattoos.

She drew one to see if it could be replicated: Patch, her childhood dog. She'd been thinking of getting a tattoo of him before the apocalypse started. His ears were wonky, tongue out, always happy. He'd been her lockscreen on her phone for so long, she drew him easily. The overlay flickered.

Storage Efficiency: 79%

Her chest tightened, not quite a laugh, not quite a breath.

"Alright," she said softly. "So that's what you like, huh?"

She didn't know if she meant the System or herself.

Tanya flexed her fingers, looking at her arm. If she could anchor Vitality in the tattoos that were already part of her, then maybe she could extend her limits without risking collapse.

She rolled her sleeve up properly, setting her tools in order.

She'd barely unwrapped a new needle when the bell over the door rang.

The door swung open, and the cold came in with it. Tanya blinked, expecting some quip from Olena or maybe a newly referred client.

Instead, Mrs Eceer swept through, coat buttoned to the neck, scarf tucked in like she'd marched straight out of a church meeting. Her glasses fogged from the temperature change.

"Ah," she said, voice clipped and bright, "I thought I might find you here."

Tanya relaxed a little. "You could've knocked."

"I did. Twice." Mrs Eceer unbuttoned her gloves, looking pleased with herself in a very teacher-after-an-exam sort of way. "You'll be pleased to hear I've finished recalibrating the wards. They will no longer let Bosses through."

Tanya straightened in the chair. "Finished-finished?"

"Yes. I've found a way of preventing bosses from slipping through the larger breaches entirely."

"Bloody hell," Tanya said, then caught herself. "Sorry."

"I'll take that as gratitude." Mrs Eceer smiled. "It took some work, but the answer was quite simple in the end—energy absorption. Every time a monster brushes the perimeter, the wards siphon a trace of its energy. That extra charge strengthens the barrier's containment. The more they test it, the harder it becomes to break."

Tanya stood up properly now, heart lifted. "You're serious? We'll never have another monster in here breakin' the parlour?"

"Unless they send something stronger at us. My next plan is the estate, but with time and effort, I should be able to expand it, bridging the gap between the two warded systems until they're one large one." She tsked. "This would be far easier with another Bunker Wizard."

Tanya half shrugged. "Legacy Classes seem to be increasing, who knows?" She paused, the full realisation setting in. They were actually safe for now. "Wow… You actually did it."

Her mind went back to the first time Mrs Eceer had shown her the wards. Who'd have known they would reach this point?

Mrs Eceer inclined her head, pleased. "I'll accept tea as payment."

"Give me five minutes and I'll make a pot."

Before she could move, a hiss of static broke through the back-room radio. It sat on the shelf where she usually kept spare inks, the green light flickering. She hadn't heard it in a long time; the wards made smaller groups unimportant for reporting.

"Tanya Angelo."

The voice was smooth, clipped, with that kind of expensive edge that didn't match the crackling channel.

Tanya walked over, picking it up.

"Adder," she said, instantly cautious. "Been a while."

Mrs Eceer shot her a look but said nothing.

"Apologies for the intrusion," Adder said. "Thought you'd prefer to hear this from me before it spreads. A boss has appeared near Fellows Street. Four more bosses are set to appear within the Whitechapel sector."

Surely if they were that imminent, Adam would have told them. "You're sure?"

"I wouldn't risk contact otherwise."

"How do you know?" she asked, sharper than she meant to.

"That isn't part of the pact."

She exhaled through her nose. Typical. The pact only pertained to things that would keep her and those she cared about safe.

Adder hesitated. "Do you require assistance?"

The formality in his voice made it sound less like concern and more like an obligation. Tanya knew the Estate had been training hard, and avoiding gang contact was always preferred.

"No," she said. "We'll manage."

"How?"

She smiled, even though he couldn't see it. "That wasn't in the pact either."

There was a pause, then a low chuckle before the radio clicked off.

Mrs Eceer folded her arms. "You trust that man far too easily."

"I don't," Tanya said. "But he's good at stayin' alive, which means his info usually is too."

Before they could unpack that, the door opened again. Ishita stepped in, breathing hard, eyes wide.

Her usual calm was gone. She looked between them, then shut the door behind her. "The first boss has spawned."

"It's fine now. Mrs Eceer fixed the wards. They can't come through."

Mrs Eceer nodded once, but Ishita didn't relax.

Ishita said quietly, "The coordinates Adam saw have shifted. All five of them—spawned right next to the estate."

For a moment, none of them spoke.

Mrs Eceer was the first to move, adjusting her glasses with slow precision. "That would make sense. They've realised we've been preparing to fight them separately. Grouping them increases their efficiency. Collective awareness."

Tanya rubbed her temples. "The first one too? That one was supposed to be way up in Edmonton." She looked to Ishita. "How soon?"

"The first one's active already, south side. The others are dormant but stabilising. They look like they'll appear at the same time. Six days." Ishita swallowed. "People at the estate can hold one, maybe two. Four will overwhelm them."

Tanya jumped to her feet. "Do we need to go?"

Ishita shook her head. "They've got this one. It's the weakest of the four."

"How'd you know?"

"Adam levelled his Ability."

There wasn't time to be proud of him.

Tanya's stomach dropped. She looked down at the sleeve she'd rolled up, the half-cleaned equipment, the sketches of her new Vitality ideas.

Six days were all the time they had before four bosses tore through Whitechapel's walls.

"How many tattoos can I give in six days?" she muttered without meaning to.

Ishita caught it. "You're thinking of fighting?"

"I'm thinking of helpin'. If I can boost Vitality storage for the defenders, they won't burn out as fast. And if I can adapt mine—" She stopped herself, glancing between them.

"You don't have to," Ishita said. "I wanted you to know, but… It's not your neighbourhood."

"Fuck that," Tanya spat. She thought of Amy and the other teenagers coming back from getting their Classes. She thought of Adam and Marjorie and all the other faces she'd passed going over there. There were so many survivors there, more than anywhere else around her, she knew. They would survive.

"If we've got six days, I want to see how far I can push it. Every bit of energy helps."

Ishita nodded slowly, the tension still visible in her jaw, but she smiled. "I'll brief the others. They're holding for now."

"And you?" Tanya asked Mrs Eceer.

She huffed. "Need you even ask?"

"Olena? Boris?" Ishita asked, hopefully. The more higher-level people they could get, the better.

Tanya nodded, imagining the area as a map in her head. "I think they'd help anyway, but they definitely will because the area is near their workshop."

Mrs Eceer rested a gloved hand on Tanya's shoulder. "We'll need every head we've got thinking on this. I'll start wards around the estate. I could maybe get them protected from lower-level monsters before the Bosses appear."

"That would be helpful," Ishita said. "There are often smaller monster mobs appearing at the same time to divert attention."

"I'll need a better understanding of the area," Mrs Eceer said.

Ishita nodded. "I'll take you."

"Tanya?" Mrs Eceer said at the door.

"I'll stay here. Gotta increase my tattoo output."

"Godspeed."

The two women left, and the shop fell quiet again.

Tanya sat back down, staring at the designs spread across her desk and the tattoos on her arm. She readied her tattoo gun.

Six days.

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