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Keqing can feel the vein bulging out of her forehead.
It throbs as she ducks into the right wing corridor of the Gemstones and Jewellery exhibit at the Liyue National Museum of Art, an unwelcome reminder of how poorly things have been going for her all day.
Strike one: she had woken up late this morning, having forgotten to set her alarm the previous night after accidentally falling asleep on her couch amidst piles of case files and takeout boxes. She probably would have slept well into the afternoon, if it weren’t for one saving grace – her neighbor’s car alarm blaring out and startling her into a frenzied rush to get ready for work.
By the time she had pulled into the precinct’s parking lot, she was nearly thirty minutes late. Which, normally, wouldn’t have been a big issue, given how laidback Chief Zhongli was, but it felt damning to her. Her, Keqing, who had only ever been late twice. Once by twelve minutes, when she was fresh out of the hospital, and the whole hobbling-on-crutches thing had rendered her physically incapable of moving in her usual efficient manner. The second, unfortunately, today.
As if coming to terms with her own tardiness wasn’t enough of a punishment, in her haphazard scramble to shower and get dressed as quickly as possible, Keqing had also forgotten her hairpin on her nightstand. And in her mind, the loss of her beloved hairpin was tragic enough to count as strike two, no matter how temporary their separation.
Three cups of coffee later, she had barely just settled down, having finally ingested enough caffeine to soothe her jittery nerves before everything was shaken up again with the arrival of a calling card. Nondescript and almost so easy to miss, but Keqing would recognize it anywhere.
That subtle off white coloring. The tasteful thickness. The neatly scrawling, looping handwriting. And most irritatingly, the signature spritz of perfume clinging to the paper.
Strike three.
One look at the card was enough to send their whole department into a flurry of movement. Keqing had legged it over to her car, pausing only to yank the seatbelt over her before peeling out of the lot.
And now she’s here, weaving through glass exhibition cases, trying to find her way through this maze of an exhibition hall before time runs out. She can hear Ganyu’s voice calling out to her from a few rooms away, but she can’t afford to slow down.
She skids around a corner before finally stumbling into the Great Hall. At the center of the room stands her target, back turned and slowly rising upwards on a levitating Geo construct platform. There’s a gaping, punched-in hole in the ceiling that definitely shouldn’t be there.
Keqing grits her teeth. “Ningguang!”
Ningguang pivots slowly, turning just slightly so that Keqing can see the sparkling ruby necklace draped across the palm of her perfectly manicured hand. She flashes Keqing an alluring smile.
“Inspector,” she says, looking so disarmingly innocuous and un-villainlike that if Keqing squints a little bit, she might just forget that the woman in front of her is currently stealing. The angel-like slow ascent into heaven really adds to the illusion. “You look quite happy to see me.” A subtle lift of her hand draws Keqing’s attention back to the necklace. “Or perhaps you’re looking for this?”
Keqing declines to answer. “You won’t get away with this,” she snarls, but even she doesn’t believe it. With every passing second, Ningguang continues to get further and further away, and Keqing has to lift her head higher and higher just to look at her. It’s already too late.
Ningguang laughs. “Is that so? I believe I already am, though.” Keqing can hear the mirth in her voice. “You and your little police friends certainly took your sweet time, even after I was so kind as to send a note.”
Her eye twitches. “You sent that card less than an hour ago.” It comes out like a flimsy, accusatory excuse. Keqing supposes that’s exactly what it is. The museum’s Board of Directors is not going to like that excuse.
“To keep the perfume’s fragrance fresh, of course.” Ningguang waves her hand dismissively. “Please try and be reasonable, Inspector. I’m doing my best here.”
Keqing mentally runs through the very short list of what she can possibly do at this moment. She has two options. She can shoot Ningguang and risk dropping a necklace worth several hundred of millions of mora from more than ten meters up and pray that it doesn’t shatter. Or she can do nothing and watch Ningguang escape through that godforsaken hole in the roof.
Keqing weighs her options. She doesn’t think her annual salary would be able to cover the liability on that necklace. She’s also, admittedly, a tiny bit uncomfortable with the thought of killing Ningguang. As aggravating as the woman is, she’s never actually physically hurt anybody during her heists. Luckily, she’s saved from further contemplation when Ganyu and Hu Tao burst into the room.
“Keqing, where is she–” Ganyu cuts herself off when she catches sight of Ningguang.
“She’s floating away,” Hu Tao supplies unhelpfully, half a beat late and sounding a little too amazed for a cop witnessing a crime being committed.
Keqing groans, massaging her temples. “We’re too late. She’s getting away again.”
“Yes, I am.” Ningguang says coolly. She smiles at Keqing again, mockingly, right before she passes through the hole. “I’ll see you next time, Inspector.”
Keqing has no choice but to watch her go.
It’s only 5:12 p.m. when they return to the precinct, even after hours of clearing up the crime scene and interviewing the museum staff. Ningguang had been brazen enough to steal in broad daylight, but they still weren’t able to trace down where she had spirited away off to.
Keqing groans as she sinks into her chair, forehead making a thunk against her desk as she slumps forward. “Why is she doing this to me?”
Ganyu pats her shoulder consolingly. “Don’t take it too personally, Keqing. No one’s been able to catch Ningguang before, not just you. It’s not your fault she got away today.”
“I just don’t understand,” Keqing complains. “It’s bad enough that she’s always one step ahead of us, but she could just take the stuff and go. Why does she always take her sweet time and provoke me? It’s like she wants me to have a brain aneurysm.”
“She never pays any attention to us.” Hu Tao sidles up to her with a shit-eating grin. “I think she’s taken a liking to our dear Inspector.”
Keqing glares at her. “She likes getting a rise out of me, is what. And I always get there before you do.”
Hu Tao raises her hands with a shrug. “I’m just saying what I see. I know sexual tension when I see it.”
“It’s not sexual tension,” Keqing scowls. “She’s my nemesis.”
“Declaring someone your nemesis is a pretty gay thing to do. Back me up, Ganyu.”
“No comment,” Ganyu says, but Keqing can see the corners of her mouth lifting slightly.
“Not you too,” she grumbles.
Ganyu offers her a half-apologetic smile. “Maybe it’ll be easier for you to catch her eventually if she really likes you.”
Keqing sighs as she closes her eyes, dropping her head back onto the desk. The coolness of the wooden surface feels comfortingly grounding. In the background, she can hear Hu Tao cackling.
If only it were that simple.
Keqing gives herself one day to mope about her terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. After that, she steels her resolve. She’s done being jerked around by Ningguang. She’s done playing this stupid cat and mouse game. She’s done with writing pages and pages of reports after each incident.
She is going to catch Ningguang next time, even if it kills her.
Next time comes a month and a half later. Enough time for Keqing to start jogging everyday in a desperate attempt to work on her stamina. Any edge she can get, any second she can shave off while running after Ningguang, is something she will take. Keqing has never felt so determined in her life.
The latest calling card is a bit unusual. Previously, the cards have always appeared on the same day the crime is committed. The Liyue Metropolitan Police Department usually receives a one to three hour advance notice that Ningguang is going to strike, because apparently it is imperative that the perfume stays “fresh,” or whatever the woman had said. Keqing doesn’t think she can fully appreciate the art of being a phantom thief.
This newest card has arrived a whole two days in advance. As if to taunt Keqing, Ningguang even writes out the exact date, time, and location of the robbery.
This should be more than enough time, the card says. Don’t be late, Inspector.
It’s also the first card directly addressed to Keqing, which makes it so much more personal. To add insult to injury, the card clearly still smells like perfume. Keqing belatedly realizes that it doesn’t matter how early Ningguang sends out the card as long as she receives it soon after. The perfume only needs to be fresh when Keqing reads it, not when the heist happens.
Her ears burn with humiliation as she recalls Ningguang’s flippant remark, playing her for a fool. So the thing about the perfume was a lie. Of course it was. Knowing Ningguang, it’s probably precisely because she wants to see Keqing run around like a headless chicken that she sends out those cards on short notice.
Ningguang is going to regret underestimating her. Two days is plenty of time to mobilize more than enough forces to surround her by land and by air. Keqing is not above using strength in numbers. This time, she has a plan.
It’s a familiar scene. Keqing is running through another museum. Her forehead vein is throbbing. Ganyu and Hu Tao are far behind her, trying to catch up.
Today is different from last time, however. Today is better. She had gotten a full eight hours of sleep last night, and woken up early. She is armed with the presence of a hundred plus other operatives working with her. She has her trusty hairpin. She has a pair of handcuffs.
She is ready to arrest Ningguang.
Keqing finds her in the same way she did last time. On a floating platform, treasure in hand. This time, it’s an uncut diamond. Keqing doesn’t stop running, charging ahead towards Ningguang even as she rises higher.
The sound of her footsteps alerts Ningguang to her presence. Turning to face Keqing, the smile on her face clearly shows that she was anticipating her arrival.
“Inspector,” she beams. It feels insincere, somehow. “How lovely to see you again, although I’m afraid you’re a little too late. Although I must admit, it’s rather cute how hard you’re trying to catch me right now.”
Keqing doesn’t bother responding. She has to save every last breath for the final spurt. When she’s finally within accurate throwing distance of Ningguang, she unclips her hairpin from her head and flings it at her. As she expects, Ningguang nimbly steps aside to dodge, eyes narrowing to identify the sharp projectile.
In that split second of distraction, right as the hairpin whizzes past Ningguang, Keqing teleports.
It happens in slow motion. One moment she’s on the ground, the next, she’s weightless for a brief instant. It’s just enough time for her to slap the other side of the handcuffs she’s bound to her own wrist onto Ningguang’s arm, then snatch the diamond from her grasp, before gravity takes over and they’re both plummeting off the platform.
Keqing quickly realizes two things. First, it’s not possible for both of them to get out of this situation completely unhurt. Having someone cuffed to you makes it very hard to minimize fall damage properly. Second, they have about three seconds before they hit the ground.
She acts on instinct before her brain finishes comprehension. Pulling Ningguang into her own body, she wraps her arms around the other woman to secure her. Faintly, she can hear Ningguang yelling something, but it’s drowned out by the rush of air and blood in her ears. Keqing flips them so that she is on the bottom, and braces herself for impact. In mere moments, her back hits the floor, and a sharp pain immediately shoots up her shoulder.
It’s not as bad as she expected. At least, Keqing doesn’t think she’s going to die, but a bone is definitely broken. Maybe multiple. But she doesn’t have time to dwell on it because the second she opens her eyes again, she sees Ningguang’s cursed platform looming above them. Ningguang must have lost control of it at some point, because it’s hurling towards them at a terrifying speed.
Keqing can’t see clearly. She’d hit her head so hard that dizziness and nausea threaten to consume her. Her whole back is radiating pain, and her arm is broken. Even so, she shoves Ningguang off of her and sits up as best she can.
“What are you–” She ignores Ningguang’s protest and pushes her away.
“Get behind me,” she yells, and has just enough time to see Ningguang’s eyes widening in understanding before she whips around. Her consciousness is slipping away, but she has just enough presence of mind to crawl over the other woman so that she’s between Ningguang and the platform.
She closes her eyes.
This is probably it for her. In a few seconds, she is going to be pancaked into the floor, but if they’re lucky then at least Ningguang might have a chance fo survival.
But the impact never comes.
Keqing feels Ningguang’s arm shoot past her right cheek, fingers splayed out forcefully as a golden circle of lights dances in her palm. As if on cue, the platform shudders to a stop, Ningguang regaining control of it at the crucial moment.
“Keqing, what were you thinking?” Keqing can barely make out a pair of piercing red eyes staring worriedly into her own. Can barely keep her eyes open at this point, really.
“Stop grumbling, I saved you, didn’t I?” She rasps out.
“You could have been seriously hurt!” Some neuron in the back of her mind registers the anxiety tinging Ningguang’s voice, but she doesn’t have enough energy to dissect why it’s there right now.
“I am hurt,” she groans. “But you aren’t, right? Win some, lose some. And I got you.” She grins weakly, raising her handcuffed arm as high as her broken bones will allow. “You’re under arrest, Ningguang.”
Something indecipherable flashes through those vermillion eyes. “Must you be so insufferable right now? This isn’t the time for jokes. I don’t know what I’d do if–”
“Then don’t do anything,” Keqing huffs, closing her eyes. “Just shut up and let me rest a little.”
Uncharacteristically, Ningguang doesn’t have a snarky response for her, only a deeply dissatisfied sigh, so Keqing takes it as her win and lets herself finally succumb to the exhaustion and pain. The last thing she remembers is Ningguang catching her as body crumples, cradling her in her arms with an unfamiliar gentleness.
When she comes to, she is laying on her back on the ground. Ganyu and Hu Tao are anxiously hovering over her. Somewhere nearby, she can hear a paramedic team setting up a gurney.
“What’s going on?” She croaks. Even speaking hurts right now.
“We heard screaming and ran over, but when we got here all we saw was you laying unconscious on the ground.” Ganyu’s brows are furrowed with concern, and for a second Keqing feels bad about making her friends worry. “What happened, Keqing?”
“Where’s-” Keqing struggles to breathe. “Where’s Ningguang?”
Ganyu’s frown deepens further. “I think she got away again, but that’s not what matters right now. We’re taking you to the hospital.”
Weakly, Keqing scans her surroundings. To her right, the paramedics scurry about. On her left, her arm lays by her side limply, the handcuff still attached to her but now unlocked on the other end. She tries to wiggle her fingers and finds that she can’t move anything. The diamond she worked so hard to save is, of course, nowhere in sight.
She sighs. Of course Ningguang would leave her like this. She supposes it’s too late for regret.
“Uh, Keqing?” Hu Tao’s voice worms its way into her head. Keqing grunts in response. “This is probably not the best time to mention it, but you have something on your wrist.”
Keqing glances down at her arm more closely and immediately balks at what she finds. Pressed onto the inside of her wrist, on the skin underneath the cuff, is a pristine red lipstick mark.
“What the fuck is this?” She hisses. She stares at it for a second, not quite able to believe that it’s real. What kind of lunatic kisses a badly injured unconscious person and then leaves, just like that? And why would Ningguang even kiss her in the first place? It’s so ridiculous that she can’t help but laugh, barking out each breath sharply as much as the pain allows.
Two paramedics swoop in beside her and tell her to stop laughing, it’s best if she stays still. Keqing waits obediently as they strap her into the gurney and start to wheel her away.
She failed to catch Ningguang, but Keqing’s certain that they’ll meet again. She has no doubt that Ningguang will continue to be a nuisance, goading and taunting Keqing every chance she gets. But strangely, it doesn’t seem like such a bad thing anymore.