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He’d taken the job out of necessity. He needed the money, and there were openings. He’d heard the rumors about the missing Subway Boss, of course, but he’d dispeled them, as he was not a superstitious person and he was not here to gossip. He was here to fund his apartment and eventually get the hell out of Dodge.
Until now.
It had happened sometime last week. He was thankful he hadn’t worked many shifts around the guy yet but damn he was creepy. His brother, the first Subway Boss that he’d done his job interview with and reported to every now and again, was… something. He was always smiling, never seen without that smile. It felt wrong, somehow, looking at him and seeing him just smiling all the time. He wondered if maybe the man just couldn’t do anything else. He was blunt, always got to the point, and was rather odd with his mannerisms and his constant moving around, like he was constantly on 11 and about to vibrate out of his own skin, but hey, that wasn’t his business. He kept his head down, did what he was supposed to, and left every night at exactly 6 o’clock. He wasn’t here to gossip. And, the guy seemed fine enough, so it never really bothered him.
And then the other one showed up. He was the perfect antithesis of the first. He wore black where the first wore white, frowned where the first smiled, talked where the first used expressions. And they were identical, almost. The second one had a little beard and bags under his eyes, like he’d seen some real shit.
There was some weirder stuff, too. He always had a weird Sneasel on his back. He talked to it and it responded like it understood him. He was polite in speech, but his looming eyes almost glowed under the shade of his cap, like he’d been irradiated at some point.
The white one always clung to the black one. He only ever talked to his brother by choice. They were constantly at each other’s hips, even a week after his reappearance. He wondered where the dark brother had been, but that wasn’t his business. He wasn’t here to gossip.
He’d heard the rumors, though. That he’d been kidnapped by Zoroark. That he’d been in hiding because he’d seen something in the tunnels. That he’d needed a break from his brother. That he hit his head. So many rumors.
It wasn’t his business. He wasn’t here to gossip.
It wasn’t until he was performing routine maintenance in the tunnels that his curiosity had been truly piqued, in the form of a goddamned heart attack. He’d been ensuring there were no breakdowns on the track and had heard footsteps behind him, and he’d just assumed it was another Depot Agent, as no one else came down here. A soft light followed them. “Laura, that you? How’d you suppose I should finish that proj-”
“My apologies, sir, I am not Laura. I am Ingo.”
The voice was so loud in the enclosed space and it had reverberated in his head. He’d whipped around and just seen two glowing eyes in the dark tunnel and he’d dropped his flashlight. The man, Ingo, had apologized, quieter this time, and had retrieved the fallen object and handed it back to him. It was then that he’d seen that it was the Subway Boss, the dark one. He’d never talked to this man before. The Chandelure that he knew that both brothers battled with floated behind him in the dark, illuminating the space with a soft purple glow.
“I-uh, thanks. You here to check the tunnel too?”
“You could say that. I have been re-familiarizing myself with the tunnel system to better ensure I know locations by heart instead of by map. One can never run too many safety checks!” So he did that thing like his brother where he spoke in exclusive train lingo, too. Did these guys have hobbies?
“Snea.” A small head popped up on the man’s - Ingo’s - shoulder. It was one of those weird Sneasel-looking Pokemon. It prodded Ingo’s cheek with a claw, leaving a purple mark. “Sneas.”
“Yes, little one, we will continue on our track shortly,” Ingo chuckled, obviously not caring about the poison on him.
“Boss, ain’t that poison? Uh. Do you need medicine? Of some kind?”
Ingo looked at him with those piercing, glowing silver eyes. “I have grown accustomed to the poison and it hardly affects me anymore. I have spent a long time around this variety of Sneasel and unless they were intent on hurting me, none of them do.” What the hell did that mean? That he was just immune to poison now?
The Chandelure chimed at the man, tapping his other shoulder with one dark arm. Ingo reached up and patted the ghost-type on its glass body absentmindedly. “I should take my leave, as my passengers are growing impatient. Good work down here, in the meantime! It is lovely to see the Subway still running optimally after so long. Oh, my apologies, I never asked for your name.”
He’d just stuttered out his title. He didn’t even remember if he’d said it right.
“Well, it is lovely to meet you, sir. I am sure you are more accustomed to Emmet, but please do not hesitate to ask me if you need anything. Now, all aboard!” He did the point-and-call that the white brother did and marched off down the tunnel, disappearing into the dark with his two Pokemon. That had definitely been the weirdest interaction he’d had with a human being in a long time. He wondered if he should tell anyone about it. The guy was nice enough, after all, even if a little stiff. He seemed to have the same problem as his brother where he just could not do anything other than frown. And he was polite and he seemed to think through his words where his brother was blunt.
Well, he decided, it wasn’t his business. He wasn’t here to gossip, after all.