Chapter Text
3 days later…
“Alright, guys. Good work. I’m cutting control now that PubSec’s here. Remember the backstory!”
Belle cut the manual connection to Eous, the bangboo taking over to play a simple damaged carrot holder as they had discussed with Belobog. The remote optical feed was maintained by Fairy, however, allowing the proxy in the hot seat and the two others flanking her to watch the aftermath playing out at Pioneer Memorial Square.
“Ah,” Miyabi observed the officer that approached on screen as she sipped a cup of tea, “It’s Zhu Yuan.”
“…That’s the officer that you had me lie to about Officer MewMew being an otter, right?” Wise mused aloud as he recognized the tall officer with red streaks in her hair.
A pair of red suddenly side-eyed him. An ear flicked once.
“…Lie?”
“Er…” Wise sputtered.
“Guys, hush!” Belle chided as she leaned forward.
They watched Koleda lie somewhat convincingly about Eous’s presence, then eavesdropped on the officers inspecting the giant ethereal that had absorbed Belobog’s construction machines. Then they watched a broad-shouldered inspector arrive.
Miyabi frowned.
“I don’t like that man,” she said simply.
“Huh?” Belle asked, “Why?”
Her ears simply flicked toward the screen with her head. Sure enough…
“You see Zhu Yuan, it’s good to be vigilant as a public security officer, but the election is just around the corner,” said Inspector Bringer, voice certainly not low enough for Eous’s state-of-the-art audio sensors to miss, “If we reveal the presence of an unknown monster in the Hollows at this stage, my election… uh, I mean, the citizens will be put in fear!”
Oh.
Miyabi’s ears bristled. Wise didn’t need to translate it for Belle, judging by her sister’s growing frown.
The inspector cleared his throat, “We must investigate the matter thoroughly first.”
“Rest assured,” said Zhu Yuan smartly on the screen, “We’ve requested the collected evidence be given to HAND for expert analysis—“
“What?!” Bringer yelled loud enough that the stereos registered the feedback, “It’s been given to HAND?!”
Miyabi’s eyes narrowed. Then Wise’s. Then Belle's but only probably because she noticed the other two doing it.
“That’s… sus,” Belle observed, “That’s sus as hell.”
Miyabi stayed silent as the Inspector continued to make a fool of himself unknowingly right in front of one of HAND’s chiefs.
“Wise?” the thiren asked.
“Yeah?”
“The fake PubSec uniforms those mercenaries wore on Sixth Street,” Miyabi queried, “Yanagi wasn’t able to find out anything without overstepping jurisdictional boundaries…”
“We, including Fairy, didn’t find anything super useful, only that the shipment that was stolen was authorized for transport by someone pretty high up,” Wise admitted.
Her eyes narrowed even further.
“That’s good enough,” Miyabi declared, “I am having Section 6 take over the case.”
“But—“ Belle began.
“But nothing,” Miyabi said, “If Bringer is intent on stalling, I will have Yanagi fabricate some excuse, either through a leak or a jurisdiction dispute.”
Belle turned to Wise, but saw no measure of resistance and sighed.
“Between the response time and Bringer’s odd behavior, something doesn’t feel right…” Wise said as he thumbed his chin, “So I’d rather take the risk of having it with Section 6.”
“It will still likely have to be transferred from PubSec to HAND, given it was initially called in as a PubSec emergency,” Miyabi admitted, “But at least this way you two will still have some degree of access.”
“But wouldn’t that just make you guys look sus too?” Belle asked, “I mean, like the ‘you’re catching on’ type way?”
“Then perhaps our assumed enemy will notice, and in doing so reveal themselves,” Miyabi said.
“I guess…” Belle said, “Still, though… the NDA?”
“Belle, you two are my proxies. We have a formal agreement, yes, but the spirit of said agreement… has changed,” Miyabi said, eyes drifting toward the brother for a telling second, “And I find I have done very little to honor my side of this agreement thus far.”
She then pursed her lips, ears flicking twice.
“And it’s also not like Section 6 doesn’t have its own interests in this arrangement,” Miyabi pointed out dryly as Bringer assigned Zhu Yuan what was some extremely menial busywork dressed up as a monumental duty, “Speaking as the chief currently watching an anomaly case getting poached in real time.”
Her expression mirrored the brother’s, who wore the slight, terse frown that usually appeared when discussing matters such as ‘Carole Arna’ and the ‘Old Capital.’
Something was afoot, and Belle was more than willing to hedge her bets on her brother’s hunches.
Still… the sister suddenly snickered.
“Oh please, I’m sure certain parts of my brother would beg to disagree.”
“Belle.” “Belle.” Two voices deadpanned at once.
"Also, while we're on this topic," the sister continued too sweetly, "Can you please, PLEASE stop doing it in the shower-"
"BELLE WE DO NOT-." "BELLE."
"Correction. Based on audiometric data triangulated to the second story washroom, Second Manager and Prime Asset have engaged in-"
Tailless flew sheath-first straight into the monitor Fairy was using to deliver said statistic, prompting both Wise and Belle to stare at the destruction and then back at the flat-eared thiren. Not that Wise particularly blamed her.
“Assault and battery. Assault and battery,” Fairy repeated, “First Master, I have been attacked. This is a prime opportunity to extort monetary favors from a government official.”
Belle’s grin widened at the flustered fox.
"...I'll pay for it."
Wise coughed. Luckily he was saved from having to recover the fumbled conversation by Miyabi’s phone pinging a text message from a sender with tomatoes as their profile pic.
“Hmm,” Miyabi mused as she traded her tea for her phone, “It seems this will be easier than expected. It’s Zhu Yuan.”
“You 'know know' her?” Belle piped up.
“Yes. From Police Academy. But I wasn’t going to involve her for obvious reasons,” Miyabi mulled, “It seems she’d like to involve us herself.”
She flashed them her phone screen, showing a quick screenshot of the ethereal crime scene with the caption “Up ur alley???”
Miyabi had already responded with a simple thumbs up emoji.
Belle turned to the HDD.
“Fairy?”
“Yes, Master?”
“Can you build a case profile on one Justin Bringer, pretty please? Everything you can find.”
“Of course, Master. Shall I flag promising material for blackmail purposes?”
Belle grinned. The couple shuddered.
“Do you even have to ask?”
“Belle,” Wise said carefully, “I thought we said we weren’t using our Fairy powers for evil.”
Belle rolled her eyes.
“It’s not evil if we don’t use it,” she defended simply, “Sides, if Bringer is evil, then it isn’t evil when we dox him, right Fairy?”
“Correct,” chimed the HDD proudly, “Two negatives indeed make a positive.”
Wise sighed. Miyabi did too, which made him feel a lot better.
Every day he thanked whatever greater power was out there that Aria somehow turned out normal.
The errand run to grab their new driver’s licenses was... eventful.
For one, Belle almost got run over by a car.
Thankfully a timely tackle dive by a PubSec officer prevented the worst outcome. Another soundly stopped the out-of-control vehicle with her staff, but it was still quite a fright.
Then Wise realized who had come to their aid... and once again reaffirmed his budding faith in the religion of anti-concidence-ism.
Zhu Yuan and Qingyi. The very same officers that had responded to the Pioneer Square incident they had overseen a few days ago.
Wise was as concerned as any good brother would be watching his sibling almost get flattened. Then, when the officers were busy trying to extract the driver from the crashed vehicle, he sighed.
“This is definitely karma, you know?”
“Shut it shut it shut it,” Belle quipped, “I was almost turned into roadkill, so you can take your karmic consequences and shove it.”
There was some accident paperwork to fill out, which the proxies completed promptly.
"Wait..." Zhu Yuan said, tightening her brow at Wise.
Wise broke the mental glass on his mental 'in case of police interrogation' alibi box.
"You're the otter guy!"
...Nevermind.
Cue easygoing regular dude smile.
"Oh, right. We've met before," Wise said, "And, for the record..."
Wise looked over his shoulder for fox ears. When he didn't see anything, he completed his sentence.
"Cat."
The officer puffed up with a surge of personal vindication.
"I KNEW you were just being nice!" she accused lightly, straightening the paperwork in her hands against the hood of her patrol car.
"To be fair, I was with THE Hoshimi Miyabi," Wise defended.
Zhu Yuan blinked, then her vindication was replaced by realization.
"You're the boyfriend, aren't you?"
And that was how Wise found out Miyabi did in fact talk about him to other people. He just wondered why it had to be a cop...
Wait, Miyabi technically was a cop...
Damn.
Since Belle had abandoned him to talk with Officer Qingyi, Wise managed a laugh.
"We weren't dating at the time, but yeah, that's me," he admitted outright, "How'd you know?"
"Figured something was up when she changed her profile picture... given she must have allowed someone to take said picture. " she mused, "Props, it's very cute."
The officer suddenly shook her head.
"Sorry, sorry, I'm blabbing on the job. Don't mean to hold you up," Zhu Yuan apologized, "Pleasure to meet you. You're free to go."
"No problem," said Wise, "And if you're ever by Sixth Street, please feel free to stop by Random Play."
The proxies bid farewell in order to get their licenses before the office closed. As soon as they were back in their car, though...
"You won't believe what the important task that Bringer gave them was," Belle said flatly, propping her feet on the dash as they pulled onto the highway.
"Don't do that, it's unsafe," Wise chided, prompting the sister to suck her teeth as she sat normally, "And what is it?"
"Flyer duty. Literally flyer duty. On Sixth Street," Belle said, "For a public safety seminar."
It was clear she was insulted on the officers' behalf based on her clipped tone alone.
"No, you can't dox him. Yet," Wise said, "But clearly he doesn't want those two on the case."
"I'm pretty confident in thinking that anyone in cahoots with the Fox is good at their job," Belle said, "So I'm not super surprised."
"The Fox has a name."
"That's three syllables instead of one."
Wise would've rolled his eyes if he wasn't changing lanes.
"Plan?” he asked instead.
Belle mulled to herself for a few minutes.
"Let's check in with the officers when they show up at the Street tomorrow,” she said, “At the very least we can help them out given they saved my bacon. Angels?”
“…I don’t think Nangong would help PubSec hand out flyers unless Hollow Zero was reaching New Eridu.”
“Point.”
Wise just nodded, settling into a cruise rhythm as he turned up the radio.
“…I still think it was karma.”
Belle would’ve thrown something at him if he wasn’t driving.
She didn’t care how stressful their work-life was, where was her karma for having to listen to their absolutely terrible shower habit at 6 every other morning, huh?
Well, at least this afternoon was ending on an active note.
"Stop!” Zhu Yuan shouted as she rounded the corner pistol drawn, “Or I'll shoot!"
The officers had utterly failed in recruiting attendees for Inspector Bringer’s seminar, even with the two helpful video store owners’ aid. They were actually getting ready to pack it up back to the station when the local noodle shop owner had come running asking for help.
One angry truck driver, a confused bangboo, and several loose gooses (literally) later, Zhu Yuan now found herself chasing a fleeing man down a sidewalk — the prime suspect for both today’s and yesterday’s vehicular incident thanks to what they deduced was an EMP emitter.
Zhu Yuan's warning went unheeded as the suspect continued toward the alley.
"Hey!" Qingyi shouted.
The shorter officer's thrown canister hit the back of the suspect's head, sending him stumbling into the alleyway and out of sight.
"Get back—!”
Zhu Yuan’s order halted when a sudden thud shook the pavement and a dust cloud billowed from the alley. They shared a look and a nod before continuing, turning the corner to find the suspect’s arm in the firm grip... of a short pink intelligent construct standing in front of the entrance to a Hollow.
"I’m sorry," the construct said in a female voice, "I can't let you do that, Mr. Suspect!"
"Let... me... go!"
The suspect clicked the button in his right hand again, causing Qingyi to wince from what was obviously the EMP pulse device. The other construct's optics flickered for a second, but otherwise she remained unfazed.
The suspect’s eyes widened at the construct’s firm grip.
“Wha—?”
His attempt to click the device again was halted by a sharp strike from Qingyi's staff to his wrist.
"OW!" He sputtered, dropping the device’s remote, "You broke my hand! You bitch—!”
Zhu Yuan quickly took the suspect from the good samaritan, shoving him onto the ground and pressing her knee into his back as she produced a pair of cuffs.
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be held against you."
As Zhu Yuan read the man his rights, Qingyi folded her staff with a spin as she approached the newcomer.
"Thanks for the assist," she greeted, "Miss, I assume?”
The construct confirmed with a nod.
“Are you alright?" she asked, tapping her own head to indicate she meant the EMP.
"I'm fine," the construct said, "I'm built to withstand... worse."
"Aria! Are you alright?"
The shorter officer turned to the alley entrance to see two girls running toward them.
"Hello. This is a crime scene. So if you could-"
The girls ran straight past her, toward the construct that Qingyi presumed was their friend.
"You just flew off," the girl with black twintails complained, grabbing the construct by the hand and dragging her back toward the street, "And you dropped your ice cream."
"Wait, Nangong-"
"S-Sorry, officers," the other light green-haired girl said quickly with an equally hasty bow, "We have to get to dance practice."
"Yep," said the black-haired one, "Good job with the arrest!"
Qingyi blinked and suddenly they were gone.
"Aria. Huh," she murmured, filing the name away, "Hey, Zhu Yuan, did we need Pink to make statements?"
"Too late now," Zhu Yuan said, "But we got what we needed."
Another two silhouettes skidded into the entrance of the alley.
"Oh, you got him," Wise said, "Nice job, officers."
Belle gave a thumbs up.
“Hey, you two," Zhu Yuan greeted, pushing along the handcuffed culprit, "We'll take this guy to the precinct for questioning. Can't say much other than that though. Active investigation."
The captain hurriedly led the perpetrator down the street to her patrol vehicle. Qingyi lingered for a moment.
"You guys know of a group of three girls? Gym clothes. Lot of pink?" she asked, "One of them is an intelligent construct and helped us catch the perp."
"Oh, them?" Belle said with a... kinda weird laugh, "They're idols-in-training at 404, but they like helping out the neighborhood."
"You know them?" continued Qingyi.
"They're in the store a lot," Wise said, "Renovations at the clubhouse and stuff."
Whatever Qingyi was about to ask — and she always asked when someone ended a sentence with 'that stuff'— was interrupted by her partner.
"Qingyi," Zhu Yuan shouted, "Let's go!"
"Coming, coming!" she shouted before turning back to the siblings, "We'll be back shortly. Tell the truck driver and that bangboo not to go anywhere just yet."
Wise nodded. Belle gave a quick salute.
Qingyi waved goodbye and jogged off. She joined Zhu Yuan just as she shut the door to the back of the patrol car, luckily a block away.
“…Don’t you think it’s odd how well connected those two are?” Qingyi asked as she slid into shotgun.
“It’s a small neighborhood community. Clearly it’s pretty tight,” Zhu Yuan said as she started the car, “Besides, the brother is dating Hoshimi Miyabi. Seriously, how bad could he be?”
Qingyi withheld the urge to point out that fact made the video store owner even stranger. Instead, she did another comb or three through her memory data as Zhu Yuan turned up the volume on the dispatch radio.
Crime-stopping idols. Video store owners who were very good at finding birds. An entire neighborhood very clearly boycotting a PubSec seminar in solidarity against the Inspector…
At least when they came back to settle the situation, the neighborhood had changed their mind about attending the seminar. Even if it was out of appreciation for their own efforts over their superiors.
Nonetheless, Sixth Street was definitely filled with some memorable characters.
Belle fell into the HDD seat, slumping over as the office chair spun in a circle.
"Ok. So. Everybody hates this Bringer dude."
"Hate is a strong word," Wise said, "But yes, it was surprising how many of our neighbors don't seem to hold him in high regard."
The chair continued spinning.
"Are we going to the seminar tomorrow?"
The big doe eyes being flashed in his direction told Wise exactly what she wanted, given his sister was allergic to lip service by public officials.
"...I'll go make an appearance," Wise conceded, "But you're manning the console in case something goes wrong."
Part of the offer was because he felt bad that she had almost been run over by a car. The other part of the offer was because he felt bad about... the other thing.
"Yes!" Belle said, pumping her fist as the chair spun anew, "Freedom!"
The door suddenly opened, and in strode a certain Void Hunter in a green jacket.
"Phaethons," Miyabi greeted calmly, "Do you know why I received a panicked text from Sunna apologizing for fleeing from law enforcement?"
"Long story," said Wise.
"With ducks involved!" Belle added.
Her ears tilted curiously.
"We can do the five minutes later," Wise said, "Though it might take a little longer for the whole story."
"I look forward to it," said Miyabi as she threw her jacket over the couch, "I bring requests for the cookout this weekend."
"And how many are from Soukaku?" asked Belle.
"17 of the 20."
Belle snickered, "Classic."
The evening passed uneventfully, thankfully. Miyabi found the whole ordeal amusing and had already assured Sunna that PubSec was unlikely to be busting down 404’s door anytime soon.
Wise arrived at Lumina Square the next afternoon to a bustling sight. Even so, it took him little time at all to find the two officers he was looking for.
"Greetings, officers," Wise observed, "Quite the crowd you've pulled in today."
"Manager," Qingyi greeted, "No sister today?"
"She's feeling a little under the weather," Wise easily lied, "She sends her regards, though."
"Please, tell her thanks again. And all the other residents of Sixth Street that couldn't make it," Zhu Yuan said, looking out over the crowd of people, "They really pulled through. Even invited people from other districts, too!"
Wise smiled, "That's Sixth Street for you. Stick your neck out for them, they'll stick it back out for you twice over."
For once that was a complete and utter truth. And he knew that firsthand.
Wise exchanged a few more minutes of small talk to try and alleviate Zhu Yuan's pre-talk jitters. Then he mingled with the few residents he recognized before posting up at a far wall with enough view to see the whole venue.
He thought he was in the clear. Then he noticed the two PubSec officers of interest quietly excuse themselves toward a quiet alley. Given Zhu Yuan was the officer fielding audience questions, the proxy knew immediately something was up.
So, of course, he tailed them. It was quite easy to stay out of sight given the perimeter wall.
Three minutes later and he knew they had a problem.
"Ten minutes might not seem like much," Zhu Yuan said to Qingyi, "But if someone's lying in wait with an EMP emitter, it'd be enough for them to snatch the evidence."
Wise's phone was immediately out and texting the situation room chat consisting of himself, Belle, and Miyabi.
It seemed like everything that had been happening the past few days was, of course, linked to a Hollow Raider plot to steal the evidence unearthed by Belobog. And that meant it was now Phaethon's problem no matter how far PubSec already had their hand in the pot.
Miyabi's phone immediately pinged back the automated message she had set whenever she was in a Hollow. Belle, however, was quick to respond.
B: Angels?
W: Angels.
B: Calling now.
Wise let his ear catch a little more of the conversation.
"Not only that, I'm worried about something else," Qingyi said, "The evidence recovery schedule was only decided recently and the route inside the Hollow was top-secret..."
Great. A mole. Yanagi was going to be thrilled.
"I'd rather head into the Hollow myself."
Wise's quiet tapping froze at Qingyi's words. That... was going to complicate things. Especially if they ran into the Angels.
He began running through options in his head as the two officers began a back-and-forth as the Inspector's car rolled into the PubSec lot. The sudden tidal wave of camera flashes were not helping his concentration.
"Worshipping an underserving deity is sycophancy; failure to act when action is needed shows a lack of courage..." Zhu Yuan murmured, "You said it yourself -- an officer needs to be sure they're doing the right thing."
And that was when Wise walked away from his hiding spot and toward the place he had parked his car, having heard all he needed to know Zhu Yuan was probably also about to join her partner in Hollow diving, seminar and career implications be damned.
He was all for PubSec heroics, but not when they intersected with their heroics.
There was likely only one option, and while he hated it with every fiber of his proxy-being... it was probably the only one that was operationally sound for the extremely short timeframe they had.
Consider the cover already blown and get ready to pick up the pieces afterward.
W: Qingyi and Zhu Yuan going in.
B: Fuck
B: Fairy cracked the carrier coords already.
B: Still want Angels?
W: Yes. We need the speed.
W: Tell them to cover their faces.
B: NG not gonna be happy with masks.
Wise scowled. It wasn't really going to make much of a difference given they had already been seen by the officers.
Then he remembered something. Something that was currently sitting on his desk.
W: Belle, this is going to sound weird, but I think I have something that can help.
He could only pray it was enough to get them halfway out of the mess they were about to get into.
"C'mon, Sunna, you can do it! One more!"
"No way! My arms, they're dyyyyyyyyyyyyying!"
"It's the last set," Aria said, "You can do it!"
Nangong excused herself from the composer hanging off the pull-up bar and her moral support intelligent construct to glance at her ringing cellphone. Well, her ringing burner phone. She picked it up immediately as soon as she read the anonymous number off the screen - Phaethon's number for the week.
"Hi, Manager~" Nangong cooed, immediately causing the other two girls to pause. It was only them in the 404 rec-room turned private gym, so she put the phone on speaker, "Uh, we're in the middle of strength training—"
"Urgent commission, possibly related to the incident at Canvas St. Station," the voice on the other end interrupted.
Sunna dropped off the pull-up bar. Aria was already listening over her shoulder.
"Can you fly in ten?" the proxy continued, "We'll be paying you direct out of pocket. Double the usual rate."
Nangong would've smiled at the profit margin, but she instead frowned immediately at Belle's— No, Phaethon's business tone.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. We can talk shop after," Nangong said, twirling her finger at the other Angels who immediately hustled out of the room to start prepping, "Where we heading?"
"Grab your stuff and come straight to Play," Phaethon said, "This is sensitive. I need to brief you in person."
Then the proxy hung up.
Nangong pocketed her phone as she grinned.
Hollow work provided a much better burn than a pull-up bar ever would. Even Sunna would agree.
"Ah!" a voice came from their locker room, "I'm still so soooooore."
...Probably.
Zhu Yuan poked her head out of cover, only to pull back immediately when an arrow whizzed by her face.
This... was not a good situation at all.
Actually, to hell with it, this was straight up FUBAR.
The evidence carrier was indeed empty by the time they arrived. What wasn't empty were the various weapons currently being unloaded in their direction by their Hollow Raider ambushers.
Qingyi stepped halfway out of cover, her service pistol firing in a sharp, quick rhythm as her arm snapped mechanically to the raiders aiming automatic weapons. Her targeting ensured each of them received a round to the head until she clicked empty.
"I'm out!" she announced, holstering her sidearm as she unfolded her bo-staff.
"Take mine!" Zhu Yuan shouted back, loading what was left of her ammo into her own firearm.
"No, you don't have a fallback!" returned Qingyi as her staff started sparking, "They've totally surrounded us. Unless we can somehow distract them, we're stuck here."
The staccato cracks of gunfire started once more, which meant the raiders apparently had plenty of personnel to replace the ones Qingyi had just dispatched.
"This isn't good, they've totally surrounded us," Qingyi muttered, "Unless we can somehow distract them, we're—"
She was cut off when a raider suddenly crossed the threshold into their elevator, crowbar raised. He was immediately put down by three debilitating blows to the chest, courtesy of the construct's lightning-fast staff.
Zhu Yuan wanted to tell herself it wasn't lethal, but given her partner's aggressive approach against their ranged adversaries... she knew better than to hope.
"If we can't think of a way out, I'll go distract them so you have a chance to get away."
"What!?" Zhu Yuan sputtered, "What the hell are you talking about!?"
"I'm made of metal, I can take hits," Qingyi deadpanned, "And I'm a lot less valuable to them than you are."
Zhu Yuan hated every single, stomach-churning implication of that statement. She channeled it into the next short round of gunfire she blindly fired out of cover to buy them some time.
"It was me who insisted we investigate inside the Hollow," Qingyi continued, "You wouldn't even be in danger right now if it weren't for me. Besides, I'm not human—"
"And I'm going to cut you guys off right there."
Both officers’ eyes darted straight to the distorted voice that had exited their comms.
"This is an encrypted frequency," Qingyi barked sharply over the gunfire, "Identify yourself!"
"I'm a proxy hired to help you," said the voice, "Someone very interested in getting that evidence where it is supposed to go."
The officers shared a look, then nodded. There were no other options.
"Alright," Qingyi said, "What's the plan?"
"I'll create an opportunity for you. Just follow my instructions!"
Zhu Yuan narrowed her eyes, "But what about the enemy—"
"Leave that to us."
Before Zhu Yuan could ask the disembodied proxy what they could possibly do in this situation, the brakes on the elevator platform holding several of the enemy gunmen suddenly gave out.
"What!?" the other raiders shouted as they turned to the sound of plummeting screams. Then, there was a flash of pink and the platform the raiders were on exploded.
"Where the hell did that come from!?" another raider shouted.
"Look up! It's fucking Phaethon's An—!"
A second flash rocked the platform before gunfire could resume, this time kicking up a cloud of dust and pulverized concrete.
"Now! Go!" the voice commanded.
The officers did just that, taking off through the improvised smokescreen and doubling back the way they came.
"What now?" Zhu Yuan said as she sprinted.
"12 o'clock. Jump into the fissure!"
"What fissure—"
Zhu Yuan's vision blurred in and out as she felt a jolt of vertigo and suddenly realized she wasn't where she was a second ago.
Again, the officers exchanged a brief nod, then continued their sprint. Sure enough, the raiders were sprinting through the fissure right after them.
"There they are! Don't let them get away!"
Arrows flew past them. They didn't care about that. Then the gunfire started again.
"Another fissure straight ahead," the voice announced as Qingyi put her spinning staff between Zhu Yuan and the bullets.
They threw themselves through the portal. Then again and again.
"They're closing!" Qingyi barked.
"Got a plan," said the proxy, "It might be risky, but I'm sure you can do it! You aren't afraid of heights, are you?"
After a seven-second brief, they jumped through a fissure hidden in a portable toilet... and found themselves balancing high atop a construction crane. Qingyi immediately grabbed Zhu Yuan's drag handle, stabilizing her with her internal gyroscopics.
"Crazy. You're crazy," Zhu Yuan muttered, struggling to balance as she tried her very hardest not to look down.
Maybe not as crazy as their pursuers though, who continued their advance inch by inch as they clung to the crane. One of them raised a crossbow.
"Proxy—!"
"Hi, officers~"
Two girls with wings, one with black hair and another with green, flew up from below the crane. The green-haired one pointed what looked like a megaphone toward their pursuers.
"S-SORRY!"
The shout-turned-sonic-blast ripped across the construction crane, knocking loose the Hollow Raiders as the two girls suddenly swept low. They caught them swiftly, throwing them roughly onto nearby rooftops from high enough that they were definitely rendered unconscious from the fall.
"Hey!" one of their winged saviors—the one with black hair—shouted from below as she pointed to the base of the construction tower where the proxy had told them the last fissure was, "You should jump now! Unless you want to climb down?"
Zhu Yuan exchanged a very, very hesitant nod with Qingyi and together they leapt from the crane. She preferred not to think too hard about their descent, only really coming to after they threaded the iron needle into the fissure that spat them out safely on a nearby rooftop.
The human officer shakily rose to one knee, "We're saved..."
"Well, hero," Qingyi muttered, "Now that you've saved us. Do you plan on making an appearance?"
A scarfed bangboo quietly stepped out from behind a nearby crate, standing with its stubby arms behind its back.
"Alright," the same distorted voice from their comms said from the bangboo, "We can finally talk!"
"You're that bangboo from Belobog!" Qingyi recognized immediately, "Wait, no, there's no way an ordinary bangboo would be as capable as you... let alone hack into our intercom and send a full independent agent team to support a clandestine operation..."
Then the construct remembered the name the raiders had sputtered before being blasted.
"Phaethon..." Qingyi murmured, "You're Phaethon."
"That legendary proxy?" Zhu Yuan said, "I thought they were neutralized."
"Yep, that's me," the bangboo said, "I'm Phaethon."
"And we're their angels~!"
The three girls from before touched down before them. Despite their branded active wear and the cheap cloth masks covering their lower faces, Qingyi immediately recognized them.
"You three," she said, "From the alley?"
The girl with black hair immediately ripped off the mask, tossing it off the side of the building. "Well, these were totally useless."
The girl with light green hair did the same (without the littering), immediately transitioning into a bow again, "Y-Yes, sorry, officers!"
The girl with pink hair... fizzled? And then she wasn't a girl at all.
"Er... nice to see you again, officers!" greeted the pink construct that had caught their previous perpetrator with a small wave. Aria, the officers recalled.
Then, any further conversation was interrupted when the black-haired one suddenly thrust something in Zhu Yuan's direction.
"Our manager said to show you this before I, air quote, incriminated myself. Typical helicopter parent, you know?"
The legendary bangboo proxy raised a tiny fist, "I am not the helicopter parent! That's my br—"
Phaethon's audio feed abruptly cut off, then was replaced by a much more mechanical voice.
"Connection interrupted for operational security purposes. Resuming connection in 5, 4—"
The announcement went unnoticed as Zhu Yuan instantly recognized what the girl was holding: a small silver-and-gold object that glimmered in the hollow sun.
"Is that... a hairpin?" Qingyi observed, "What does it mean?"
Zhu Yuan frowned, "It means they really want that evidence to get to HAND... and that we don't ask any more questions."
Qingyi blinked. It was such an un-Zhu Yuan thing to say that her processors had to catch up to what her partner said.
"Wow," the black-haired angel said as she looked at the pin, "Manager, can I keep this? Maybe I can get free boba~"
Phaethon cleared their throat. The girl went suddenly silent.
Qingyi suddenly connected the dots from Zhu Yuan's reaction.
"So an illegal proxy has the protection of the Hoshimi family," Qingyi said, "How interesting."
Zhu Yuan didn't look particularly happy about that being voiced aloud, but she didn't say anything more.
"So. Your names? If we're going to be working together for the time being..." Zhu Yuan asked the agents in front of her.
"Well, you probably already know my name," the construct named Aria said.
"But if you think we're gonna give you our real names, think again," the black-haired girl said, sticking her tongue out at the officers. "Page 173."
"Nan-" was as far as the green-haired girl got before a hand slapped her mouth closed like a lid.
"I'm aware of page 173, the urgent bystander recruitment clause without verification," Qingyi pointed out, "But we need your names to communicate clearly."
"Hmm..." the black-haired angel mulled, "Call me Suriel. You can call her Remiel. Aria, uh, you can be Johiel. If you want, I guess."
"Fine," Zhu Yuan said before turning back to the bangboo, "Proxy, the enemy is well-prepared and has the advantage in numbers. What's the plan?"
"Don't worry, between the Angels and our expertise, there shouldn't be too much of a problem," the bangboo said, "We'll just use the Hollow against them if we need to."
Before they moved out though, the bangboo spoke once more.
"Oh... and one other thing," Phaethon said, "The Angels don't kill... so if you need to make that decision, that's on you."
"Noted," Zhu Yuan said, "We wouldn't ask that of you even under the worst of circumstances."
Remiel in particular breathed out a sizable amount of relief, though Zhu Yuan did notice that Suriel's shoulders relaxed a bit. Johiel/Aria... remained unfazed at least outwardly.
With Phaethon's navigation, they reached the site of the evidence very quickly. Between two intelligent constructs, piecing together what had happened took no time at all and the gang quickly found themselves on the trail of their missing evidence.
"PubSec!?" a raider sputtered as Zhu Yuan dove out of a portal right into the entrance of their hideout, "The fuck—!?"
"Lights out!" the officer shouted as she spiked a cylinder on the ground and covered her eyes.
"Flash—!"
BANG!
To the raiders, several blurry figures suddenly poured through the very same portal. Some were knocked out by oversized bludgeons. Some were tasered. Some just straight up ran away.
"Get the mech!" one shouted before being bonked on the head with Remiel's large hammer.
The mech he was referring to made itself known, a repaired and jury-rigged PubSec Sweeper drone that lumbered out from a nearby tarp.
"Uh..." Johiel stammered, "Should I—"
"Scrap it!" Zhu Yuan shouted.
The pink construct floated a few feet off the ground as she pulled back her arm, hardlight bow forming. The bow grew larger and larger until it was almost taller than she was, then she loosed the large bolt of plasma held taut between her fingers.
One extremely large explosion later, it was raining sparks and bits of metal. Wisely, any thug that remained had their hands as far up into the air as they could manage. There was no time to make official arrests, so the officers allowed Johiel to shoo them off with a faux bow draw.
It was a little anticlimactic, but soon enough they were standing in front of their crate of missing evidence.
"The assailants that blocked our path earlier likely haven't figured out that we've outmaneuvered them and retaken the evidence," Qingyi observed, "At this point, all we need to do is get out of the Hollow and we're safe."
"There's an exit nearby," Phaethon informed, "I'll take you there."
Aria could carry the whole crate by herself, so it took them only a few minutes to find extraction.
"Phew," Zhu Yuan said, "There. The exit is just ahead."
The bangboo paused. The Angels paused a second after it.
"Well, it's been a pleasure working with you two," said Phaethon, "But... if you two aren't in a hurry to arrest us today, we'll be on our way."
Suriel huffed, "For cops, you're pretty chill. Can't say the same for your other compadres in blue though."
Remiel suddenly elbowed her. Suriel elbowed back.
"Don't worry," Qingyi said, "I don't want to burn any bridges, it's bad karma."
The bangboo seemed to lurch slightly at the word karma. No one commented on it.
"Thank you for your help, Phaethon, you're free to go," Zhu Yuan said, "I would ask how you know the Hoshimi family... but I have a feeling you aren't willing to share."
"Nope!" The bangboo happily confirmed, "Good luck officers!"
The bangboo raised its little arms, letting it be scooped up by the black-haired angel.
"See you around~" said Suriel, "Hopefully not anytime soon, yeah?"
Then the three angels took off and were gone. Just like that.
"...I figured it out," Qingyi suddenly said.
Zhu Yuan blinked, "Huh?"
"Who Phaethon is," the officer construct stated obviously.
“Who?”
Qingyi suddenly smiled, “Not telling. Since you’ll probably be finding out soon enough anyway.”
“Qingyi!” Zhu Yuan complained, pushing the crate of evidence toward the portal.
“It would be bad karma for me to tell,” she stated matter-of-factly, “Besides, it’s bad practice to look a gift horse in the mouth.”
“But you literally just did!”
“Hence, not telling.”
“Ugh! C’mon!”
Qingyi just hummed idly to herself as she stepped through the Hollow exit. Zhu Yuan allowed herself one huff before she followed.
Zhu Yuan was going to pry it out of her, more out of personal curiosity than anything professional. But first she would have to survive the epic dressing down she was probably going to get.
She just hoped Inspector Bringer would understand…
He would, right?
“So, now what?”
The HDD chair spun, “I don’t know.”
“They saw the Angels’ faces. They know Aria’s name. They know they work at 404. It’s literally a matter of time.”
There was a little stretch of silence. Then another person spoke, this time from the couch.
“I have a suggestion.”
It turns out, Justin Bringer did not, in fact, understand.
It also turned out that Zhu Yuan was not able to pry Phaethon’s identity from Qingyi’s cold, construct hands.
Which meant Zhu Yuan’s net record was 0-2. 0-3 if she counted getting formally reprimanded by the precinct over their efforts to secure the evidence.
Oh well. Nobody said doing the right thing was easy. And now she definitely knew where right was… and where it certainly wasn’t.
What was unexpected was the text message from Miyabi inviting her and her partner to a cookout on Sixth Street. She wanted to catch up before they shipped back out to their home precinct.
Miyabi and the words ‘catch-up’ and cookout were an odd combo, but she hadn’t seen her fox-eared friend in a while and it would be a nice distraction from this lousy stretch of events.
She accepted without much preamble. Qingyi as well, surprisingly enough.
So here they were on Sixth Street (thankfully not in uniform this time), standing in front of the video store that the address Miyabi had given them had led them to.
Of course, they were completely unsurprised at who came to greet them at the closed store door.
“Ah, officers, happy to see you again,” Wise said as he motioned for them to come in, “Miyabi told me she invited you guys.”
“Thanks for accommodating us,” Zhu Yuan said quickly, “Seriously, I know Miyabi can be very abrupt with… uh, decision-making.”
Wise laughed, “You’re telling that to the wrong person, y’know that.”
“Right. Boyfriend,” Zhu Yuan corrected herself with a wince, “Was this cookout her idea?”
“She just wanted steak and one thing led to another,” Wise said plainly, “It’s her second favorite food, y’know?”
“Checks out,” said Zhu Yuan. The Void Hunter was a fox thiren after all.
“Hello, manager,” Qingyi said, greeting him with a slight bow, “Thank you for your hospitality. Is your sister feeling better?”
“Er… yeah!” Wise said, “She’s up top with everyone else.”
“Up top?”
Echoed Qingyi curiously, “Then lead the way.”
Wise led them to the store’s roof deck and soon the officers came face to face… with the entirety of HSO Section 6.
“Yanagi! Is it done yet?” loudly asked the blue oni straying toward the charcoal grill that had somehow been brought up here.
“No, Soukaku, be patient,” chided a spectacled woman who had a fiercely locked hand around the younger girl’s shirt collar. Zhu Yuan actually did recognize her as Miyabi’s intelligence officer.
“Thanks for keeping the food safe, Yanagi. Shouldn't be too much longer now!” shouted a very not sick Belle from behind the grill, the bangboo-printed apron she wore making it very apparent who was running this show, "Wise, help me out!"
"Grillmaster calls," Wise said, bidding a very temporary farewell to attend to their dinner. Zhu Yuan didn't blame the blue oni, whatever was on that grill smelled very good.
“Hey, hey, women of the hour are here!” Announced another man with a laid-back smile. Harumasa Asaba, if she recalled correctly, seemed to be pacing a path around the roof to avoid the traveling plume of grill smoke whenever the breeze picked up.
Qingyi chuckled under her breath. Before Zhu Yuan could interrogate her or anyone else for that matter, a pair of fox ears entered her vision.
“Ah, you made it,” Miyabi said, “I was thinking you wouldn’t come.”
Zhu Yuan would’ve greeted her with a hug if it weren’t for the plate of sliced melon the fox already had in her hand. Some things never changed.
“Of course I came, need to get my mind off work so this is... nice,” Zhu Yuan said, “It’s so nice to see you, though.”
"You were reprimanded, weren't you?"
It was clear that Qingyi was now trying her best not to outright laugh as Zhu Yuan startled, the shorter officer dodging a mini-scolding as she went to chat with Yanagi. Miyabi popped another piece of melon into her mouth.
"How did you—"
"It was part of the case transfer report given to me when he took the evidence," Miyabi explained.
"Oh," Zhu Yuan said, suddenly a bit crestfallen, "I was hoping you wouldn't find out about it."
"Mmm... do you remember the graduation message you wrote for me?" Miyabi asked, "'May you become the pursuit of true justice, the sharp blade of the law slicing through the wickedness of the night's sky.'"
"Al-Alright! There's no need to shout. Someone might hear you."
One of her ears twitched. Zhu Yuan figured it was because she suddenly raised her voice.
"My apologies. It's just... This message really means a lot to me. And I want you to keep it in mind."
"Don't use the melon lollipop analogy," Wise said as he swung back into their conversation, "Just say true justice is hard."
Her ears twitched twice at the video store manager.
Wait... was Hoshimi Miyabi pouting?
"...I've improved at analogy-making-training. I was going to use a different one."
"Sure," Wise said, offering a paper plate with a thin slice of seasoned steak on it, "Taste test."
Wordlessly, they exchanged plates.
"Ah, I don't think I've introduced you two yet," Miyabi said.
"Oh, no need," Zhu Yuan assured, "The managers have been very helpful over the past few—"
"Zhu Yuan, meet Phaethon. Phaethon, Zhu Yuan."
Zhu Yuan blinked. Wise sighed. Zhu Yuan blinked again. Miyabi popped the small piece of steak in her mouth, then flashed the video store manager/proxy (!?) a thumbs up.
"Very good."
Then Zhu Yuan's brain, the same one that got her through police academy with honors, started churning.
The video store managers were present during the entire ordeal, start to finish. Phaethon was unnaturally knowledgeable about their identities and their purpose in the Hollow.
The video store managers were embedded in Sixth Street. Phaethon's chosen agent team was also embedded in Sixth Street.
One of the video store managers was dating Hoshimi Miyabi. Phaethon had a Hoshimi hairpin.
...There was a scarfed bangboo handing out paper plates. Phaethon had a very similar— oh who was she kidding!? It was the same exact bangboo!
"There's no need to shout," said Qingyi, who sauntered back toward them with a knowing look, "I knew you would figure it out... eventually."
"I'm not shouting!"
Miyabi's ears flattened. Zhu Yuan covered her mouth apologetically.
"Sorry we couldn't be up front with you, officers," Wise said, "The current legal status of proxies being what it was..."
Zhu Yuan didn't answer immediately, doing another audit of her memories.
They hadn't... exactly lied to them. At any point really. And they had helped uphold justice even when she herself was having doubts.
True justice. The justice that got people in trouble, as she had recently just found out.
Zhu Yuan sighed.
"Were you going to tell us if Miyabi wasn't?"
"Probably," said Wise, "You guys knew too much anyway and the, uh, Angels aren't very anonymous."
"For the record, I'm not going to let that reprimand stand," Miyabi chimed in as she took her melon plate back from her boyfriend, "It's ludicrous that the precinct would deem it necessary to censure you for action taken with probable cause."
"I'm already working on it," Yanagi piped up, now restraining a drooling, increasingly feral Soukaku with two hands instead of one, "I'll need to get your side of the story before you leave today— Soukaku, please!"
"STEAK! STEAK!"
Zhu Yuan was about to protest. Then a phone alarm suddenly rang.
"Five minutes," Wise said.
"Five minutes?" Zhu Yuan repeated.
"That means we stop talking about work," Miyabi said simply, "We'll explain the rest of our arrangement later."
As if on cue, three girls suddenly touched down on the patio. Three familiar girls with wings.
"Manager~!" 'Suriel' announced, only for her eyes to widen when the Angel's gaze met the police officers, "Ack! It's the cops! Abort, abort!"
"Run!" "Sorry, officers!"
The angels then leapt back off the roof despite Belle's shout to wait.
Wise shot Belle a look.
"You forgot to tell them, huh?"
"I'm busy, ok?" the sister countered, flipping a steak in her defense.
"I got it, I'll grab 'em," Harumasa said, leaving his drink on the railing as he cleanly vaulted over the roof after the three girls.
"Hey, wait up!" Qingyi suddenly shouted as she leapt after him, "I wanna stretch my legs."
The shorter PubSec was gone before anyone could tell her that she would probably just make things worse.
Zhu Yuan glanced in the direction they left, "Uh...Should we..."
"No," Miyabi said, brushing shoulders with the proxy, "The Angels' affairs sort themselves out. Usually."
"Emphasis on the usually," Wise added amusedly.
Right. Boyfriend.
Wait...
The captain suddenly remembered she had a much more important question of a certain category now that she wasn't on-duty. And one that suddenly dwarfed all others.
"Wait, so how did you two meet again?"
The couple exchanged a look and the part of Zhu Yuan that was still Miyabi's classmate became very, very interested.
It turns out Belle was the proverbial, unashamed, borderline archival goldmine about the Wise-Miyabi relationship, and Zhu Yuan felt happy for Miyabi no matter how red the Void Hunter was turning.
The fact she was taking PTO now was all she needed to know.
Still, that didn't change the fact that Zhu Yuan knew there was one 'true justice' that had to be enacted.
"I can't believe you lied to me about Officer MewMew," Miyabi deadpanned at Wise, "Our relationship is founded on a lie."
"Hey, look, it was a different time," Wise defended, "I didn't know you!"
"...So you were afraid of me?"
"Yes! Er, no! Kinda!?"
Zhu Yuan laughed at the utterly betrayed look the legendary proxy leveled at her. They were 'even' now.
Eventually the Angels were coaxed back out of hiding, managing to return before the resident black hole ate all of the food, and the cookout began in earnest.
It was a pleasant evening... even if the two officers were not able to escape before Section 6's analyst handed them two very beefy manila folders. And not beefy in the steak way.
Suddenly Zhu Yuan cared just a little less now about reprimands and proxies and jurisdictions.
The 70-page NDA definitely begets a little professional quid pro quo.