Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

PubSec's main HQ on a warm Saturday evening could be paradoxically classified as two things, chaotic and ordered.

Chaotic in that two overworked desk clerks were expected to handle thirty plus people in the space of ten minutes or risk their queue going out the door. Chaotic in that old ladies coming to report their missing cats had to hurriedly make way while cops in tactical vests barged past them, dragging restrained criminals in with them. Chaotic in that outside the front doors, a squad of armored security officers piled into a van, reports coming in of a minor Hollow emerging in the suburbs necessitating a rapid response.

Amidst all of this hullabaloo, Justin Bringer was the one shining beacon of Order on the floor that day. His march of soldier-like precision carried him across the PubSec logo adorning the lobby floor. Heavy steps echoing over the din in a slow rhythmic fashion.

His very presence seemed to calm and soothe, civilians pointing at him and whispering, criminals in cuffs glaring at him and averting their gaze when he made a point to stare back. The room volume seemed to drop a few decibels as he completed another circuit, his resting spot ending up being the corner of the lobby next to a random trash bin.

Out of his pocket, he took a single lollipop out, unfurled its wrapper and plopped it into his mouth, swishing it side to side and letting an artificial strawberry taste embrace his taste buds. He knew people were still looking, he didn't care. Attention meant nothing to him.

The people called him the “Hollow Hero”. He just called himself a police officer. Was jumping into hollows to rescue Civvies not expected of him? Just because he was usually the first one there most of the time did not make him special, it meant he knew a job needed to be done and time cannot wait.

Nevertheless, the now iconic pictures of him emerging from an active fissure carrying a little girl in his arms had made for headline news. In no time, he was fending off requests for interviews, dinners with politicians and a PR department who wanted his face on every recruitment poster in Eridu. Fan sites with his mug on it sprung up across the Inter-knot overnight, every crime he played a hand in solving making for another exciting discussion on forum threads and feeds.

As he sucked on his one treat for the day, his eyes trailed over the lobby once more, making a point to ignore the one little Fox Thiren child sitting on a bench waving at him trying to get his attention (He was never good at talking to kids). He didn't even know what he was looking for, this was supposed to be his coffee break.

A small voice at the back of his mind called out gently. Justin, you wannabe jarhead, why don't you take a nap at your desk or go to a noodle stand or something. You more than earned it!

Justin squashed that thought immediately and threw it into a mental jail. He never did downtime, even when he went home to his single bedroom studio apartment in a particularly glamorous part of Midtown. His evenings at home usually involved reading books about the history of Hollow Exploration, essays on Elite members of the Ethereal horde and pinning tabs to a map of the Capital, hoping to somehow discern a pattern of Fissure appearances that the military and TOPS somehow missed.

He didn't burn out, he thrived. His childhood spent crossing the wastelands hoping to reach civilization had taught him that the Ethereals will never take a break, never retreat, never let up, not for one second. Every day was paid for in blood, every kilometer they outran the creatures snapping at their heels was paved with the sacrifice of countless brave men and women. He was made to do this, so why should he stop? How could he stop?

These were the thoughts that went through his mind as he surveyed the lobby for a final time, his lunch hour was finally up and a desk full of reports and requisitions awaited him at his desk. There was a sudden amount of new fissure formations today, three since this morning, minor ones, no Ethereals stepping out of them thankfully, but each one did require inspection and measures taken to cordon them off so no civvies looking down to their smartphones would blunder into one accidentally.

As Bringer walked back to his desk, walking around a group of office Bangboo’s carrying boxes of donuts, and logged onto his desk terminal. The first thing he noticed was that over twenty emails marked high priority had appeared in his inbox in the last hour. “What in the….”.

As he perused them, the contents gave him major cause for concern; five more minor fissures had formed in the last hour, some in really high-risk locations. A hospital out near Moondusk Boulevard, two in the vicinity of Helios Academy and two randomly across some apartment blocks close to the Janus quarter. Randomly, several members of the Exaltist cult were arrested in Memorial Park, raving about a “prophet” being sealed underneath the square, somehow. Lunatics.

Dropping the last one from his mind, Bringer wasted no time sending high priority messages to all off-duty personnel in his precinct. “Prep for emergency deployment, remain on standby until further notice. Potential Ethereal incursion.” Similar messages calling for clarification were sent out to his Military contacts as well as a few old drinking buddies now working under TOPS. The more info he had, the better plan he could draw up on the fly if the situation called for it.

But this was the last city, Eridu, too much was gathered in one place. The combined remnants of Humanity had coalesced here, the old divisions of the Old Civilization having long since been done away with when the Hollows first emerged. There was no threat they could not handle, between PubSec patrols keeping the streets safe, TOPS researching new technologies to neutralise Ethereals and an uptick of trained independent Hollow Investigators operating in the last year alone, the thought of a major incursion sneaking up on them seemed extremely unlikely…..

Right?

================================

As the last chittering Ethereal fell to the floor, crumbling into purple dust, Bringer turned around, covering the bloody gashes on his arm with his hand and limped towards the nearest wall. His legs were beginning to buckle under the constant stress of the last few hours. He half slammed his body against what used to be a side wall for a music shop, posters for DJ’s and idol groups plastered against it. Its front didn't exist, the warped nature of the hollow he was in having erased it completely.

His radio continued transmitting updates, the emergency channel having broken down into several overlapping messages as people kept talking past each other.

“This is 12th division, we have been pushed back to the intersection at Kowloon and Lilygate, we have taken heavy casualties, where are our-”

“Rescue Command, this is team 7 calling on all frequencies, we are still searching the subway tunnels underneath the stadium, no update on that missing girl, is there anyone nearby who could-”

“KEEP THE DAMN CHANNEL CLEAR, COMMAND IS ABOUT TO TRANSMIT AN UPDA-”

“...with the rate that the newly dubbed ‘Hollow Zero’ is expanding, an executive order has been given to detonate fourteen of our Shiyu towers. Our hope is that the chain reaction will stop the wall advancing any farther past-” *click

Bringer turned off the radio, despite some reluctance. There wasn't any point listening now, it was all just a distraction from his situation. Namely, that he was well and truly fucked.

Hollow Zero had emerged a mere 20 hours ago. In that time, the entire Capital area had been consumed by it, with an estimated twenty thousand people still trapped in the emergence-zone. As the military engaged the Ethereals pouring out of its surface and the companion fissures across the city, PubSec had been drafted in for rescue operations, armed squads braving the fissures and leaping into the endless maze of misshapen streets and alleys in hopes of finding the lost population. Out of the ten-man squad he went in with, he was the last man standing, the rest having been killed or lost in the chaos.

As he sat against the broken, cracked wall behind him,he made a decision. He took out a tape recorder, one he usually kept on him in case he ever needed to take a statement, and spoke into it. He honestly forgot he had it, still carried on his person when a Fissure suddenly expanded in the middle of HQ’s lobby, and a massive Ethereal clawing its way out towards an unexpecting crowd of stunned onlookers. It was a miracle anyone left that building alive…

A brief summary of what he had done and what he had accomplished. If another rescue team ever came by or, goodness forbid, some more civilians who had lagged behind the evacuation, at least someone will know he went down fighting, as he always knew he would.

“....I’m probably not getting out of this Hollow, but at least this tape recorder still works. Let’s say these are my last words.” Bringer murmured through gritted teeth into the recorder.

He had given his anti-corruption gear to a small group of survivors and had mentioned where the exit was…roughly, he refused to hear a word of protest as he practically shoved them in the general direction he knew an evac point had been designated.

“.....so I’m not in good shape.”

As he spoke his last will and testament into the recorder, he surveyed his surroundings, he had counted ten dead Ethereals felled by his marksmanship, he felt a tad annoyed that the bastards dissipated to nothing upon death, he figured the sight of the policeman surrounded by the bodies of his lifelong enemies upon his death would have made a powerful image.

Something he could leave behind even in death, inspiration.

“Unfortunately, we came up against a horde of Ethereals right after that. I rushed over to fight them off and tried to save the civilians but….”

He felt the telltale signs of etheric corruption beginning to take hold, little twitches at the tips of fingers, odd aches and pains… no not pain, more like a bee somehow buzzing underneath your skin and it won't stop vibrating itself. He knew in the next while these symptoms would keep getting worse until…..

“In the thick of all the fighting I turned back…and realized that I was somehow alone - nobody was behind me.”

Bringer regretted not saving a bullet for himself, just a little, he would normally never consider taking the coward's way out but the thought of becoming the enemy and a threat to the city he vowed to protect…..

“Luckily, I managed to defeat the Ethereals. But the wounds and corruption I sustained in doing so should be fatal.”

Bringer pondered for a moment, realizing he needed to put a bow on his cause of death as much as possible. He did not want to become a mystery PubSec would waste resources trying to solve.

“I don’t mean to cast the blame at all here, and if any of my colleagues ever pick up this cassette, I hope that nobody is ever held accountable. It’s just human nature. It’s normal. I just…..I just have a few regrets.”

As Bringer went on, he noticed the somewhat serene environment he had found himself in was being disturbed, he suddenly heard…….growls? Something….rasping? Getting closer. He could have sworn all the missing civvies were accounted for when he was with them so who……?

“Hmm? What’s that over there ....”

Placing the direction the sound was coming from, Bringer turned his head to the left, down the alley he had found himself in and then his world ended.

lookatthisohyeswecanseeitohhowlovelyitisquitewonderfulcanyouseeityesyoucantheworldneedstoseeittoojustinbringerdoyouwantthistobeeveryoneitcertainlycanbeyoujustneedtoembraceitthehollowherocanbringforththemiracleandrefinealltohislikingthewidlneedstoberefinedtheworldneedstoberefinedtheworldneedstoberefinedtheworldneedstoberefinedthewolrldneedstoberefinedcanyouhearuscanyouseeusweareyourfriendstheholesmustopenthepalehandrisesthepalehandrisestheholesmustopenthemiraclecanbegiventoallthecreatorcanrefineitthecreatorcanrefineyouthecreatorcanrefineyouthecreatorcanrefineyouthecreatorcanrefineyouthecreaTORCANREFINEYOUTHECREATORCANREFINETHECREATORCANREFINEYOUTHECREATORCANREFINEYOU

……

……………

………………………..”heh.”

……………………………………..

Bringer took the sight before him in, a slow smile spreading across his face. He thanked the Creator for showing him this. Just how meaningless his efforts were up until now, he was doing this all wrong. Mankind needed this, it needed this to survive. Everyone was hurting, imperfect, missing something. It was all unclear and vague, their meaningless lives devoted to something as worthless as “survival”. But this was the answer, this was the key. Human, Thiren, Oni, it made no difference, all can share in this miracle. It existed for all and all you needed to do was reach out, yes, just reach out.

“I……I’ve seen a miracle.” he said, the recorder still picking up his voice.

Bringer stood up on shaky legs, his eyes looking up in wonder at the miracle before him. As if in sudden understanding, he nodded his head to it and turned around. He knew where the exit was, he knew he had nothing to fear from the touch of the Hollow, as much as that fear was now unfounded.

“Yes, that thing is right. So long as humanity is in constant conflict against the Hollows, we’ll never be able to grasp true power.”

As he marched, he began to plan, he was a Hero in the eyes of the people, they would listen to him but wait would they? They would call him crazy if he described what he saw, he would be thrown into a mental asylum for even suggesting it. No, he must be smart, there were others like him, yes, others must have seen this, he just needed to reach out, like the Creator had done to him, and connect.

“Only by embracing everything…..It’s the only way. Only by embracing this power….can everyone survive.”

With a mirthful giggle too low for the recorder to pick up, he raised his arms in his stride and his voice with it.

“O Creator, please grant me this….!”

He now looked forward to meeting his comrades, his real comrades. The ones who will reshape the world with him. He just needed to reach out. The ignorants will see one day, they will see refinement for what it is, the next stage of evolution. He idly remembered he had the recorder still in his hand, as he thumbed it off, he pocketed it. It was useless now, why would he keep it? Yet he pocketed it anyway, yes. If he ever wanted to show someone the kind of idiot he used to be, yes, he would just show it to them.

He'll stick it away somewhere and someday someone will find it and understand the kind of fool he used to be. A very deep part of him wanted that for some reason, that deep part was now in mental jail, for the rest of his life. This was the new Justin Bringer now, a refined man. The old Justin Bringer will never return. As that part of him screamed in his head and demanded to be released, he just chose to forget. A raggedy child standing in a wilderness hiding from Ethereals? Poor demented brat. He was running from his salvation. He wanted to grab the child in the past and toss him to the Ethereals, so he can experience their blessing and avoid wasting 30 years of his life fighting the friends he would have never known he had.

As the fissure he somehow knew was there expanded, a perfect monument to order, part of a pattern no mere mortal can comprehend, Bringer stepped through, happy as can be.

Chapter Text

Nicole DeMara did not fight, she danced. With a refined grace only possible through years of investment, self-care and overconfidence, she flew backwards through the air, letting the Ether blast from her trusty briefcase/cannon propel her with the sheer force from its launch. A gigantic ball of compressed Ether energy sallied forth from the barrel, landing squarely into the middle of a crowd of Ethereal mooks. The compressed blast exploded with a roar, leaving a gigantic neon sphere where it was, loud chattering screams and loud booming filling the air.

“Have a treat!” Nicole shouted in joy. Swinging her floofy thick highlighted pigtails over her shoulder as she turned to address the battle ensuing behind her. “Do you guys see that? THAT’s the kind of energy I want from all my employees!”

Two other members of the Cunning Hares were also making rent that day, Anby’s sword flashed with raw electricity as it cut down a sword wielding Ethereal, Anby wasting no time in rushing towards her next target. Meanwhile, Nekomata relied on her claws, cutting down whole groups of minor Ethereals in the space of seconds with fast rapid swipes.

”Gotcha boss! Grace and elegance!” the cat Thiren shouted back with enthusiasm. Nicole smirked back, glad for the energy of the Cunning Hare’s newest recruit. In the few short months since she joined, Nekomata has made herself right at home, her skills having been a huge boon to the team.

“And a bigger drain on my wallet….”  Nicole thought to herself. While she always made sure her employees got fair pay, the addition of a fourth member to her family had made money tighter and her usual scams and tricks had not been enough to get around that fact. She needed to reduce her debts, fast and the collectors of those debts had been hounding her daily.

“And speaking of debt collectors..” Nicole took a look around the wrecked construction yard they were in, looking for her current employer. Hiding behind a small piece of masonry, the unmistakable ears and electric green eyes of a Bangboo peered out, looking directly at her. In response, Nicole flashed a quick v-sign and a sultry wink at Eous, the Phaeton siblings' trusty Bangboo.

“Proxy~, just you watch, we will have this extermination job done in no time~.” Nicole shouted, her seductive tone adding an emphasized lilt at the end of every sentence. In response to this the Bangboo, who Nicole knew was livestreaming the fight back to a certain video store down on Sixth Street, waved back with a stubby little flipper…before suddenly pointing it in alarm at something over Nicole's shoulder.

“NICOLE!” An electronic voice rang out from the Bangboo’s speaker mouth. “BEHIND YOU!”

Instincts kicking in, Nicole spun around fast, Ether cannon at the ready and already aimed at the target. Where she had stood a second ago, a gigantic muscular arm covered in etheric corruption had smashed the ground, leaving a gigantic mark on the tarmac. The large brute Ethereal it belonged to had raised its other arm, readying to swing at where Nicole was about to land.

“Tooooo slow cutie!” Nicole shouted smugly, firing off several more smaller blasts into the brutes ‘face’. As it reared back in what could be assumed as pain, Nicole readied herself again. This thing was all brawn, no brain. As long as she stayed one step ahead, victory was assured.

Nicole suddenly sprang forward and before she collided into her opponent, she leapt, using the creature's arm still stuck in the ground as a makeshift foothold to bounce off on, the combination of which meant she was clear above the things head, about to land behind it. She smashed her thumb on the trigger on her cannon’s handle, already charging a large blast aimed right at the Ethereal’s ass. This was over.

In the instant before contact was made with the ground, Nicole realized her balance was slightly off, her legs in not quite the right position for a proper landing. While this fact appeared in her head, the result did not occur to her until it was too late, she landed on her feet with her ankle in the wrong position causing leg muscles to flex in the wrong direction and so….

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!!” A mighty scream reverberated throughout Hollow Zero.

In the following minutes, other Hollow Investigation teams, miles apart from each other, made simultaneous emergency calls back to Scott Outpost, asking if some terrifying new type of Ethereal had recently manifested.

========================================================================

A knock on the door woke Nicole from her slumber, her eyes opening to see an oldceiling fan lazily swinging overhead. She pushed herself up off of the couch and made to move her leg off before suddenly remembering the cast on her left foot, the momentary twinge of pain punishing her for forgetting. With a tut of annoyance, she breathed in and called out. “Who is it?”

“Your favourite loan shark.” was the reply that came back through the closed door. The tone was unmistakable and its owner obvious.

“Oh, Wise! What…..what are you doing here?” Nicole sat up fast, her back now against the couch cushion she was using as a pillow. It was rare for one of the Phaeton twins to stop by the Cunning Hare's homebase slash office slash house. Was it time for her weekly debt guilt trip from the twins already?

The door handle turned and the silver, messy hair of Wise, poked in around the door, his gaze scanning the dim room, faintly illuminated by the evening sun through a blinded window. His eyes had then adjusted enough to see Nicole plopped on the couch, facing towards him. Nicole was in a rare state, he thought, little to no makeup on, her pink highlighted hair clearly unwashed and done up in a ponytail. Her usual outlandish wardrobe was instead a simple black and white polka dot nightshirt, long enough to reach her knees.

“I was just running some errands while Belle is minding the store.” was his simple reply.

“...And you decided to come here?” Nicole said, her gaze quickly taking stock of the office, as she spoke. It was, frankly, a mess. Noodle cartons left on the coffee table, binders scattered across the one desk at the back of the room, the less said about the kitchen unit in the corner, the better…

“Is that a crime? Can't I visit a friend at her home?” Wise simply replied, opening the door wider so he was now fully in the doorway. He did not come straight in yet, waiting on Nicole to give properpermission first. Wise was a bloodhound when it came to debts but at least he knew his P's and Q's, Nicole thought to herself.

“Uh uh uh!’ Nicole replied, leaning forward and wagging a finger at him. “The office of the Cunning Hare’s agency! This is a work office during daylight hours and you're the one who came in unannounced, you're supposed to make an appointment!”

Wise simply crossed his arms, a slight grimace crossing his face as he continued to look around. “Oh, this is your office? I thought it was some abandoned lot you guys happened to squat in this week.”

Nicole crossed her arms under her chest, trying to re-assert some form of control in the conversation. “First of all, rude. Second of all, the state of this office does not reflect the excellent work ethic and results that the Cunning Hare’s provide.” Her voice had turned to a more business tone, the kind saved for whenever she needed to haggle a business deal. With luck, her current state would not undercut that too much.

Wise simply rolled his eyes and shrugged. “May I come in?” He already took a slight step forward, already predicting the answer. Nicole and the twins went a long way back, almost family in a way, she wouldn't say no unless she had a very good reason to.

“Of course, how could I possibly say no to our most treasured client~?” She replied, her voice switching to the tone she saved for whenever one of the Phaeton twins was annoyed with her. She pulled her nightshirt down a little to cover her legs some more and, as a side benefit, cover her cleavage a bit less.

Wise slowly walked in, a small bag of shopping in his hand, he surveyed the office as he moved forward before stopping to lean against the arm of the couch, close to Nicole’s leg cast. The thickly applied cast covered her whole foot and covered a good portion of her lower leg. He nodded towards it. “How is it doing?”

Nicole smiled politely and replied. “It still hurts a little if I hit it off anything. I can walk as long as I don’t apply too much pressure on the leg, see?” She moved the cast up and down in the air, taking care not to let it actually touch anything. “It'll heal itself in 3 or 4 days. I'll just have to be careful until then.”

“Which means you're still out of action until then, and maybe for a while afterwards.” Wise simply replied, his tone frustratingly neutral. That was his Proxy voice, the tone she heard when Wise rang the office up to request the Cunning Hares for a job. Of course he has business on the mind. Nicole thought. She put her hands together in a business like fashion, again, treating this as an actual negotiation.

“You know from experience that Billy, Anby and Nekomata are more than capable of handling any jobs you send over. My absence will not affect the end result, just the quality of the conversations.” Nicole said, referring to the usual back and forth she and Wise usually had during a mission. “The Cunning Hares shall always be ready for whatever commission you send over.”

“Uh huh……” Wise simply said. Nicole could not quite place it but, tone aside, there was something different about him today. He was looking straight into her eyes, as if trying to unearth some deep secret that was hidden inside them. In truth, she found it kind of intense. Mercifully, he switched subjects. “ Are you well on the medication front? I can go grab some painkillers or something from the store really quick, call it an investment from your "favourite" proxy.”

Nicole blinked a few times as that statement settled in her head. As nice as the offer was, she was very much aware how Wise was with regards to her financial debts so adding to that would be counterproductive. “ Oh Thank you, thank you Proxy ~!” Nicole half-talked half-sang. “The pain is annoying but I’m actually covered just fine, Anby always makes sure we are stocked up. I do need them though, I can’t even do my morning stretches anymore!”

Wise’s face scrunched slightly, processing what he just heard. Nicole simply shrugged back. “I can't be showing weakness in front of my clients, can I?” she said like there was no contradiction at all.

“....aren't I a client?” he replied back.

“Well, I also like to think of you and Belle as family as well so that’s different. To keep my business afloat I had to lie! It's very painful, I can't even go outside!” Nicole leaned back onto the cushion, her arm raised to her forehead like some swooning princess in a tacky bedtime story. Wise wasn’t impressed but he put the shopping bag down and rustled through it anyway.

“Fine, fine, take this with some water then.” He walked over to stood next to Nicole on the other end of the couch, forcing her to look up at him. He held out some store-brand painkillers and a can of energy drink. “It isn’t exactly the best thing to drink with this but it should but it should give you a kick.”

“Thanks….” Nicole said, taking the can and the pills. What was his game, playing nurse all of a sudden? She swallowed the pills and took a large gulp, thankful for something that wasn’t water for a change. Anby was always insistent on having Nicole drink water as opposed to cheap soda when she was ill, to the point she was sick of it. She noticed Wise had not moved from where he stood and the difference in height was unsettling, that,and getting a face full of his crotch if she turned her head in his direction.

Finally, she got impatient and looked up at him again, wondering why he had not moved. As she was about to complain about personal space, Wise spoke first, his gaze sweeping the room.

“Dang Nicole, you live like this?” he said simply. Nicole blinked as she took that in, shocked at the change in subject. She looked around the room, her hopes that the living space not being noticed dashed.

Wise continued. “For a girl as glamorous as you, I thought you'd have the interior decor to match. This place is a bit.....unkempt”.

“Hey, now! I'll have you know I'm not the kind of girl who goes for those frilly, flashy, fancy places. My place is... minimalist. It fits my aesthetic.”

“Clearly.” Wise said, looking down and making a point to gaze at the makeup she still somehow found time to apply on her sick bed. She still had found the time, to apply eyeliner, pink lipstick  and not to forget the multi-colored manicure that looked freshly applied.

In response to that, Nicole stuck her tongue out. “Bleeeh! Even at her worst, a girl's gotta make the effort to look good, you know. And by the by, SOME of us do not have the luxury of working from home and decking out their workspace with exorbitant things like rare movie collections! What do you want me to do, mount an Ethereals head on the wall?”

Note to self, Nicole thought. Ask Anby if anything from the Hollows can be mounted on walls, it would look GREAT on our socials.

“At least my place has running water.” Wise said, taking a seat on the nearest fold up chair. “Do you guys have to use an outhouse or something?”

She scoffed. “We have a toilet, dummy! Just…not a proper shower…” Nicole admitted that somewhat sheepishly. Just as Wise smirked and raised a single eyebrow, she continued. “We have hot water, it's just a case of filling a tub.”

“Can.....you do that in your current state?” Wise said, dropping the snark and sounding strangely concerned again.

“Well….no, Billy and Anby are the ones who would do that for me.” she stated.

Wise immediately jumped on that. “And I know for a fact they have been double booked on Hollow Investigations for the last few days to make up for your absence. So you mustn't have had a bath for a few days.” He waited a few seconds for Nicole to reply but she just crossed her arms and looked away, a blush creeping onto her face that she could not hide.

“Do you want me to fill a tub for you or something, while I’m here?” As Nicole whipped her head around and stared wide-eyed at him, he raised his hands in placation. “Just ...trying to be helpful, Proxies need to look after their agents as well.”

“Uh…huh. Y-you're actually going to do that for me?” She was embarrassed at the idea of getting pampered like this, but at the same time, the temptation of a nice, warm bath after being stuck on a couch for the last few days was hard to resist..

“Yeah yeah, I like to think I did something.” Wise stated matter of factually, which frustrated her more. After a few moments pondering, she sighed and gave in.

“Well, then... thanks... I guess that would be good for me. Just don't run the water too hot. I don’t want third degree burns to go with the cast!” She smirked back at him, trying to regain her composure.

“Even when you're sick, you're so bossy….” Wise said with an eye roll that was almost audible.

After a couple of minutes of Wise trying to figure out how the sinks worked in the apartment (why the hot water only came out of the cold tap was beyond him), a large metal tub was finally filled and placed on the tile floor of the small built-in kitchen in the corner of the apartment/office.

“OK.” Wise finally said to a waiting Nicole, who was watching him over her shoulder unsubtly the whole time while pretending to read a magazine he had brought with him. “Tub’s ready. You're able to uhhhh, undress and climb in at least…right?”

Wise had just realized the kind of awkward situation he had now found himself in. Nicole gave him a suspicious look as she simply stated: “I can handle undressing myself just fine, Wise.”

And with that, she eased herself off the couch and with agonizing slowness, scooched over to where he was standing, coming face to face with him, trying to maintain some dignity as she moved.

Wise didn’t buy it for one second.

“....I’ll wait outside, call me if you need any help.” And without waiting for her reply, he marched to the door.

Nicole had a perplexed look on her face as she took that in. She turned to look at him leaving and called after him.

“F-fine... if you must. I'll call you... if I need you...”

He waved his hand without looking back and went outside, closing the door behind him. He then parked himself down sitting against the door. After a moment of taking in the evening light gently illuminating the alleyway the Cunning Hare's office was hidden in, he took out his smartphone and opened up the Inter-Knot app.

=====================================================================

“Hey!........Hey!”

Wise started when he realized the shrill sound was not coming from his phone, which was playing the latest Astra Yao music video, but back from inside the office. Nicole.

“Y-Yeah!?” He piped up to the door behind him, getting ready to stand up.

“Can you…uhh…come here for a moment?” A weak sounding reply came back.

Wise eased himself up, preparing himself for whatever nonsense was probably about to occur and stepped back inside, making sure to keep his eyes shut and his head pointed away from the direction of the kitchen. “What is it?”

The sounds of water sloshing heavily carried through the door followed by the last thing he wanted to hear. “Can you…….uhhh…give me a hand with something?”

Oh for….

“You know some guys charge for this sort of thing, right?” Wise replied, trying to combat the redness he felt creeping onto his cheeks, hoping to heaven it wasn’t noticeable.

“I'll make it worth your time! Just help me out this once, okay? It's hard enough doing stuff properly with this damn leg!” She said, light splashing sounds accompanying her. She was probably beckoning him forward.

With a grunt, Wise maneuvered himself around the furniture and bags of trash towards the kitchen, and then to where he guessed the tub was, using his foot to feel it out.

“There, there, park yourself down there.” Nicole’s voice rang out in front of him. It was close. “When you do, open your eyes... and don’t try anything funny!”

Wise knelt down and opened his eyes. Thankfully, he was facing Nicole’s back, her head looking at him over her shoulder, watching him like a hawk. He was exactly at her six o'clock, so no chance of seeing anything X-rated. (Not that Wise wanted to, particularly). The awkward moment was alleviated somewhat when Nicole raised her hand over her shoulder towards him, large yellow sponge in hand. “Sponge.”

“So I see.”

“Back. Wash. Please.” Nicole said with a scowl, lightly tossing the sponge over to Wise then turning away quickly. Wise missed the catch and ended up with a wet patch on his trousers as a result. He caught that her face was red, though that had to have been the heat of the bath, surely.

“Seriously? You have some nerve, asking the person you owe a giant debt to to wash your back, yeah?” Wise said as he began to get to work. He took great care not to actually touch her back with his hand, the sponge as a soft shield. It sounded juvenile but he knew Nicole was not above trying to screw with him so the less skin contact, the better.

Nicole let out a little shiver as the sponge touched her bare skin. “Well, just know if you try anything, you’ll lose those hands, hm?” Nicole, hopefully, joked. Despite her best efforts her voice betrayed the fact she was in a flustered state as well. Reap what you sow. Wise thought in response.

Needing to regain some semblance of dignity, Wise decided to strike back. He suddenly scrubbed harder. It was punching down at the disabled somewhat but Nicole had it coming. He scrubbed hard, like he wanted graffiti removed from a wall.

“Damn it, be a little more gentle! Your hands are rougher than sandpaper...”

“That's the sponge, you airhead.”

“Yeah, and your hands are the ones holding the sponge, genius. No need to press down so hard. I am a delicate lady who takes great care in-”

“Do you want this or not?” Wise half-shouted. After a second, he sighed.  “God, Belle as a kid, was never this bad.” He went back to rubbing gently again, his point having been made.

“Awwww, were you a good big brother to Belle growing up?” Nicole said, half teasing, half-sincere. Wise knew Nicole grew up in an orphanage, so she knew she must have been no stranger to doing the same. “Did you have to wash her at bath time? Shampoo her hair and make sure the suds didn’t get into her eyes?”

There was no reply from Wise. She figured he was replaying memories in his head at the moment. After a few moments of silence, she spoke again. "..It was tough, wasn’t it? No one to depend on but yourself. I know how you felt.”

“Yeah. Belle is a lot more mature now but back then with just me……well, sometimes I think it was a miracle we ended up where we are.” He thought back to those times with Belle, all the learning she had to do with just him to look after her. Their mentor, Carole, helped a lot when she showed up in their teens, providing support that they had lacked. He tried not to think about his actual parents.

Some things were best left alone.

The awkward silence continued, Nicole realized she had stepped into an awkward subject. The bad kind of the awkward. The Twins didn’t talk much about their lives before the Old Capital’s fall. Any mention of it in casual talk before resulting in an abrupt change of subject, from both Wise or Belle.

She leaned back in the bath, leaning onto Wise’s hand as it worked. If he was to probably raise his head slightly he could probably see her legs extending out of the tub. She wouldn't complain. Let it be a subtle apology to him…..and something to get his mind distracted.

“You're doing well by the way, it does feel nice.” Nicole said, the mirth back in her voice.

“.....In that case, maybe I should charge for this.” Wise said, his snark returning to his voice gratefully.

“Ha! I'll pay you extra if you help me wash my hair next~” She replied, her grin could almost be heard. She was starting to enjoy the attention and the return to normalcy. Suddenly, she turned her head further around to look at him, her torso with it. Realizing he was now getting into dangerous territory, Wise shut his eyes immediately.

“You can open them, you know. I don't mind you looking a bit... hehe~”

Vile woman. Wise thought, wondering how much he could see. That thought surprised him and was immediately squashed.

“I’m not giving you anything resembling blackmail.” Wise simply stated back, fighting the blush moving to his cheeks.

“Pfft, please. I'm not the type to do that~. What do you take me for, some underhanded villainess? Besides, I'm sitting here in a tub of water, completely naked. You think I'm in any position to judge you, my carer for the day, for looking? It's an inevitability in your job!” Nicole’s head was still turned towards him, the source of her voice dangerously close to his face. He could feel her hot breath pushing onto his mouth. He leaned back, embarrassed.

He then turned his head away and with eyes still closed, swallowed a lump in his throat he had just realized was there. He then heard the bath water slosh some more. Nicole was probably adjusting her legs. He thought back to an Old Civilization film he found in an attic box once where an attractive actress crossed her legs in front of the camera, giving her onlookers a very lewd peak as she did so.

Wise audibly huffed. Not even film trivia can distract him from this stupid situation right now. Nicole laughed after a moment.

“You're cute when you get all huffy like that." Nicole purred. "But on that point, I do need my hair washed, like, really badly. It is a state and, well, I could probably at least handle some in-person client meetings in the next day or so. Can you help a girl out, oh mighty Phaeton~?”

Before Wise could muster resistance, he felt something plastic and light touch his hand, grasping it, it could only be a shampoo bottle from the shape. With a sigh, he opened it and squirted some on his hand. Without thinking, he lathered it between his fingers and raised it towards where he estimated her scalp was. He could hear Nicole slightly adjusting herself, subtly guiding his hands towards her hair where he could……he could….

“Wait….. it's your leg that's hurting. You should be able to raise your arms, why am I….?” Wise’s voice began rising in growing rage. Thankfully, Nicole was back to facing away from him though her hunches were now raised slightly, fearing what came next.

“.....OK, I might have exaggerated my helplessness a little. You were just so eager to help and I figured you would enjoy-” Nicole started. He could imagine the nervous smile on her lips.

“NICOLE!” Wise finished.

His arms grabbed her scalp and in his fury he called upon all those years of bathing his sister when they were toddlers and scrubbed his hands in with all his might, pushing downwards as he did so.

“AIEEEE!” Nicole screamed as she sank downwards. Her fingers scrambled for Wise’s hands.

========================================================================

On the porch door of the office, Nicole leaned against the door-frame, a heavy blush on her face. Her arms were crossed as she glowered at Wise, who stood facing her outside, the only two people in the cramped alleyway where the Cunning Hares office was situated.

He was blushing as well, not even bothering to hide it this time. Wise had seen a little bit more than he planned of Nicole as the result of their little altercation, once his annoyance settled down, he had realized they were now in an officially embarrassing situation. He had stormed outside and let Nicole get changed back into her nightshirt. It said a lot that she risked being seen in public like this, just to come out and have this little staring match with him.

“Your bedside manner leaves a lot to be desired” Nicole started after several agonizing seconds.

“I do believe it's also frowned upon for patients to mislead their carers and place them in awkward positions for their own amusement.” Wise sniped back.

“I was just having a laugh.” Nicole pouted, the tension having eased off her face. “I dunno, maybe it was nice seeing this paternal side of you as opposed to ‘Oi Nicole, where my money?’’” she finished with a somewhat exaggerated impression of Wise her hand outreached for imaginary stacks of Denny bills.

Wise tutted and then looked away. “I don’t like seeing someone helpless, I just wanted to help. We ARE friends Nicole, your shitty business practices and attitude aside.”

Nicole uncrossed her arms and began twiddling her thumbs, clearly unsure on how to proceed. “Sorry, it was just, interesting to see you being so……..you really didn’t have a nice childhood, did you?”

Wise pursed his lips in response but kept looking away. “Supporting your sister when you're a bad day away from poverty wasn’t fun. I always tried to help our neighbors out when we could, never knew when we had to rely on their charity just to stay fed…”

Nicole smiled sadly at that. “The most infamous proxy in New Eridu has a great big heart, I knew that already but nice to see all the same.” She raised her hands up, like she was surrendering. “I’m sorry again, I let myself get carried away. Being cooped up for so long made me a little bit crazy, not that it excuses all this.”

Wise looked at her again and exhaled in resignation. “It’s something we will look back on and laugh at.” he said. “You look after your own as well, I do know you don’t pay your debts often enough because you're so busy looking after your employees.”

Nicole sighed and nodded. Hollow diving was a dangerous business, she always fussed over Anby’s injuries and made sure her gear was always in good shape. Nekomata was new to heavy duty Hollow Diving, so she tended to take more hits than average. Bandages and anti-corruption meds were always needed after a heavy job. Not to mention Billy, his mechanical body meant repair jobs were always exorbitant as his parts were absolutely not common on the market anymore.

“It’s a miracle when I can pay you, you know. It’s like raising kids honestly.”

Wise chuckled a little at that. “In a weird way, we are just kind of like single parents aren't we? Looking after our family.”

Nicole smiled back. “I hear some guys are into hard-working single moms with messy hair and unkempt clothes. That's your kind of thing, Wise? I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.” She winked at him, causing the warmth in his face to return. He closed his eyes and shook his head slightly as if to try and cool off.

“Keep dreaming Nicole, I still expect an installment on your tab next week.” Wise said, trying to regain the upper hand.  “You also owe me for this little nurse thing you had me doing, I’ll be sure to find a nice bit of busywork you could-”

Whatever he was about to say got silenced by a sudden soft pressure being forced on his lips, he opened his eyes in shock and sure enough, Nicole was leaning on him, kissing him.

Huh.. . Wise thought.

Nicole pulled away and smirked at him, a seductive look evident in her eyes. Her arms were wrapped around his shoulders, leaning on him for support for her leg. Wise noted that his lips now somewhat tasted like cherry. Must be her lipstick.

In a breathy voice and warm air pushing onto his mouth, Nicole started speaking. “I think that makes us even on favors, I’ll TRY to get that payment to you by next week, OK? If not…well, I’m sure I can find some alternatives~”

She eased herself off him slowly, letting her form rub against him a little. Another little treat for her favourite Proxy. She turned around and hobbled back through the door. With a little wave and a wink, she closed it, leaving a very confused Wise to stand by himself, alone in the orange hued alley.

“Oh, what the HELL, NICOLE!?” he shouted after a minute of processing. His shout echoing across the alleyway, reaching the streets beyond.

Chapter Text

Zhu Yuan stepped out of the shower, towel draped over her shoulders and the ends hugging her bare chest. After a long beat, in the height of summer, the need to wash off was her first priority, her Police uniform with its tactical vests covered in straps may as well have been torture for her.

Although the locker room was unisex, the hour of the day meant someone else being in here as well was rare. She was lucky that her shift started early and ended early, meaning she could avoid her co-workers and their not so subtle leers at her. She didn't think herself a particularly attractive woman, but she knew some of her male humanoid co-workers were of a certain “boys will be boys” mentality and were better off avoided.

Qingyi, her short, android co-worker was absent for once. Her subtle, almost human passing body never really had a need to shower, it was better for her to go to a car wash more so than a bathroom, as she liked to joke. Nevertheless, she usually accompanied her and Seth to the locker room at the end of the day, if only for the company.

As she paused a bit to exhale, letting the heat of the warm shower evaporate off her body, she took a moment to unwind a bit and let the stress fall off of her. She would be happy to get home tonight and put her feet up, maybe rent a video from…..

The Twins, The Proxies.

Her feelings on that matter still wrestled in her head. While Belle and Wise both had apologized to her in their own way and they now had a stable, if somewhat stilted, relationship for the moment, she still felt there was a lot left unsaid on the matter. HQ clearly thought it was a good idea to keep Phaeton close as a potential asset as opposed to arresting them like any other Proxy. She, on the other hand, alternated between wanting to forgive them and wanting to strangle them, it was a complex situation.

With these thoughts on her mind, Zhu Yuan opened her locker, a small compact orange one that started from her waist up, to reveal-

“Think fast.”

Before she could process it, an entire human arm shot out of the locker and wrapped its hand around Zhu Yuan's throat, the arm ending at where the shoulder would begin, long and slender but surprisingly dextrous, this was clear to Zhu Yuan when the arm wrapped itself around her neck, functioning like a horrific snake made of human flesh.

Zhu Yuan tried to pry it off her neck but the arm was like a vice grip, the closeness of it to her head meant she could hear the whirring of motors underneath the smooth, clear skin. As she fell over onto her butt in shock, she realised who the arm belonged to.

“Qing……yiiiiii..” Zhu Yuan croaked out as the arm maintained its grip. Not enough to choke her but enough to make it painful and hard to talk.

Her eyes went back up to the locker and was not surprised to see a young face looking down at her from inside the locker, dark blue twintail hair spilling out from it slightly as the head inched itself closer to the edge for a better look.

“Gotta be quicker than that, Zhu Yuan.” Qingyi said nonchalantly, her face neutral but the robotic eyes conveying a sense of smug satisfaction.

This was the third time this week.

======================================================================

Zhu Yuan walked down the crowded corridors of HQ, large stacks of paper work stacked in her arms. The latest Astra Yao concert was playing tonight and already, people were illegally parking all around Lumina Square, some with the gall to it right at the sidewalk outside HQ.

Every page of paperwork she carried was a written report of someone's bad driving, meticulously typed out and illustrated in exact detail. She took even the little jobs seriously. She was the model of a Police Officer, or so her superiors said to her on particularly good days.

This example she presented was promptly deflated as something caught her leg, sending her toppling forward onto the hard tiled floor. The sudden impact caused her papers to explode out in front of her, scattering all around in a shower of fluttering white sheets. Amidst the exclamations and “oohs” around her from officers and civilians alike, Zhu Yuan looked over her shoulder to see the cause, Qingyi's left leg, and just her left leg, stretching itself out as a tripping hazard.

As if noticing it had Zhu Yuan's eyes on it, the leg straightened back up, hopped on its foot to pivot towards her gobsmacked face then kneeled slightly as if bowing.

“Gotta watch your surroundings, baby reindeer.” Qingyi's voice rang out in front of her, Zhu Yuan looked back up at where she was going to see the rest of Qingyi, pole staff in hand as a makeshift crutch and a frustratingly know-it-all look on her face as she gazed down on her.

Zhu Yuan groaned in frustration and drop her face to the ground.

This was now the fourth time.

======================================================================

Zhu Yuan hurried inside the taxi, her shift went longer than usual, necessitating a rare lixury for her as she wanted to get home quickly so she would have even a modicum of free time left tonight. As she clicked in her seat belt, she absentmindedly listed off her address to the driver, in front and leaned back a little to let herself unwind. But then something at the back of her head clicked and she suddenly realised a very real possibility.

As if in answer to her unspoken fears, the driver's head suddenly snapped around unnaturally in a hundred eighty degree turn, revealing them to be Qingyi, wrapped up in a heavy duster coat and a large peak cap hiding her distinctive twintails.

“A criminal knows your address now, do BETTER!” The Android woman said with a sudden shout. Zhu Yuan shrieked and scrambled to unbuckle her belt, only to realise she was too slow as Qingyi’s arms sprang out independantly from her body, over the drivers chair and leaped towards her defenceless form.

Number five.

======================================================================

Zhu Yuan collapsed at her desk, the week behind her and the last agonizing hours ticked away on the wall mounted clock above her head. Evident bags under her eyes, she was thankful this was only happening near HQ. Qingyi's pranks hadn't reached her home. Yet.

Realizing she needed a pen, Zhu Yuan opened her drawer, and with no surprise, Qingyi’s head greeted her, her small head tucked almost perfectly on the drawer, her hair framing her like she was some kind of ornate gift of someone beheaded.

A beat of silence passed as they both stared glumly at each other.

“It seems silly, I know.” the head said, almost ruefully. “But I just want to make sure that after all the stuff with the Proxies and Bringer, your head is still in the game.”

“Uh huh.” Zhu Yuan simply said in response. She then slid the drawer closed, her hand slowly reaching around to the drawer handle and with a twist of her wrist, she clicked it shut. She then stood up, took a breath and walked away, the coffee machine sounding like a nice place to stand by and just exist at for the rest of her shift. She took no notice of the muffled voice coming out from her desk as she walked away.

“Uhhhhh, Zhu Yuan? Are you still there? My body is nearby, could you help direct it to my head? Hello?”

In the large bullpen of PubSec HQ, a headless body stumbled around, trying to desperately find its head. None of the officers around it chose to notice.