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Oh, this is very bad.
Fu was looking for the laundry room.
It's supposedly here on the basement floor. Fu has been told there's one on every floor, but each one he happened across was occupied, despite it being so late at night. He supposes it makes sense. The Cleaners tend to get back from their jobs pretty late.
“En…Enjin…?”
Fu turns around. There's no one else here. He turns again to make sure, and still, again, he's the only conscious person in this hallway. Probably on the entire basement floor, honestly.
Enjin is face down on the floor by the wall.
He's chewing at his lip. It can't be that he fell asleep. He wouldn't do that on purpose, but maybe he had one too many drinks? No, no. That doesn't really align with the type of guy Enjin is. Besides, Fu has concluded he prefers cigarettes over alcohol.
So what even happened here?
What should he even do?
He shifts a bit closer, until he's maybe a foot away. He crouches down next to him. He's definitely breathing. It's slow and regular like he's asleep. He squeaks out his name again, but he doesn't get any sort of indication that Enjin can hear him, or even knows someone else is there.
He's tempted to rouse him, he even has a hand partially stretched out to touch him, but he hesitates. He doesn't want to wake a sleeping person he hardly knows anything about.
“Enjin…please wake up…” he squeaks. This is just terrible.
He sits on the floor, his eyes shining with the frustration of being totally without any ideas on what to do here. He tries to get a closer look at Enjin, but he doesn't see anything super out of the ordinary. It's not like he's pale, or something that would make Fu think he's unwell. He doesn't seem injured, either - in fact, he's wearing clothes that Fu has seen him in on his days off.
What happened?
“I can't just leave him here…but I don't know what to do…” Fu mumbles to himself.
He hears a groan.
What do you mean, you don't know what to do? You should get someone to help.
Hii's voice.
“I should, but what if it's…you know…he sleeps here on purpose, and I just don't know about it…”
It's possible, right? Fu has never seen Enjin's bedroom. Maybe he doesn't have one. Maybe he sleeps here, in the hallway of the basement floor, because the floor is cold.
Is this guy a fucking dog?
“No…no…” Fu mumbles.
You are such a fucking dunce. It's unbelievable. Go find someone to help him.
“I don't even know who to look for…it's so late, everyone's asleep, probably…” Fu mumbles. Anyone on Enjin's team would be a good choice, but how likely are they to believe an Ex-Raider, and follow him unprompted into the basement floor past midnight? They would rather throw him out of the front door, probably.
But what's the other option? Do nothing?
He huffs. No. That can't be what he does.
He can do it. Enjin obviously isn't conscious enough to give him any directive, so he has no other choice, right? There's lots of options. Wake him up. Get somebody. Yell until someone hears him. Leaving him here would have worse consequences than doing nothing, right?
Or would it be better to just sit here until he wakes up?
Fu bites his lip.
That wouldn't require any major decision making.
But what if it's the wrong call? What if something is actually really wrong? He hadn't considered that.
What if he dies?
Are you stupid?
“No!” Fu shouts. He quickly covers his mouth after realizing how loud he was.
Just checking. Seem pretty stupid to me.
Fu scoots against the wall, sitting perpendicular to where Enjin is laying, pulling his knees up to his chest. Enjin isn't in any danger, he's pretty sure. He's breathing normally. No blood, no illness that he can see. Maybe he just fell asleep here. Maybe Fu just needs to wait.
Sitting, waiting and doing nothing is his speciality. And it seems like a pretty okay option for the time being.
Fu thinks he's registered about three hours as having passed until he sees Enjin's form start to shift.
His whole body stiffens. He stays against the wall for a second. He crawls a little closer, his head tilting as he sees Enjin's face start to shift toward him. There's a deep groan before he speaks.
“Nn...? Fu…?”
Fu just blinks several times as Enjin squints to try and figure out who he's looking at. He tries to give himself some leverage, an arm against the floor to get himself up, but he gives up about halfway through and ends up lying on his back instead, staring up at the ceiling and the dim, flickering light barely illuminating the hallway.
“Where th'hell am I…?” Enjin manages to say, but honestly, his words are so slurred into each other that Fu has trouble piecing his question together right away.
But he can answer confidently. He can do that, at the very, very least.
“In - the hallway, sir!” he barks.
“I told ya’ t'drop the sir crap…” Enjin groans, pressing a hand up against the side of his head. “Must've…gah…”
Fu presses his lips together, realizing he's already messed up by speaking too loud.
He gives Enjin a minute to gather himself, as he quietly observes their surroundings, suspiciously for a few seconds. He sighs soon after, rubbing his hands over his face with what sounds like an annoyed groan. Fu wonders if maybe he remembers what got him here.
“C'n ya’ help me up?” Enjin asks him, and Fu obeys immediately, taking Enjin's arm to give him some leverage to pull him up into at least a sitting position, which seems to be enough for him for the time being. He's still squinting, and his hand travels up to the same side of his face as before.
“Did you…are you hurt…?” Fu asks meekly.
“Nah, j's…fell on my face, I think,” Enjin mumbles rubbing the side of his face. “When'd y’find me? What time's it?”
“Three…hours ago…” Fu mumbles, trying to recall exactly when that was. “It's…it's almost four in the morning, I think, but I haven't gone to check, it's just a personal guess -”
“Don't tell me you've been sittin’ here the whole time…?” Enjin asks, his brow furrowed.
Fu mumbles an apology instead of admitting to it. Did he make the wrong choice?
“It's fine, just…y’could've left me. This happens all the time.”
What happens all the time…?
Fu lifts his head up again to look at him, hoping that maybe Enjin will tell him, because he's afraid to ask. Maybe it's an invasion of his privacy.
“Guess ya’ couldn't have known that, though…” Enjin says with a heavy sigh. “Jus’...do me a favor and don't tell anybody. Yeah?”
Fu blinks at him. “Don't…tell anybody?”
“Right,” Enjin says, “I don't need anyone worryin’ about me.”
Fu feels his chest get tight. That seems wrong. Sure, Fu didn't see whatever happened that caused him to get here, and he doesn't have any clue what could have happened, but surely it's not any normal thing that would cause a person to be unconscious for this amount of time in the hallway.
Fu purses his lips as he helps Enjin off the floor. It's an order, he has to obey.
“Yes, Zanka Nijiku, sir -”
“Stop callin’ me by my whole name. And aren't you the same age ‘s me? Why're you callin’ me sir?”
Zanka is really scary. He's tall. A lot of the Cleaners are tall, but Zanka is his age, which makes it a lot scarier than anyone else who is taller than him. He's loud, too. Again, not much different from the rest, but there’s a coldness in his tone that Fu is terrified of. It's all just a really bad combination.
“Scary…” Fu mumbles.
Rudo shakes his head. “Nah, he's just an asshole.”
“The fuck?”
Fu isn't sure how he ended up in the garage, anyway. One of the Supporters was showing him how they load up the cars for missions because he wanted to help, be useful instead of sitting around, but he didn't know where to start, where to get involved.
Rudo, Riyo and Zanka are all here. The former two are dressed in uniform, with Zanka in casual clothing. Fu remembers hearing about him supposedly still recovering from injuries Jabber dealt him. Fu shivers at the idea that a person survived an encounter with Jabber to begin with. It adds to his scary points.
“Nothing scary about him. If anything, he's probably scared of y-”
“Why don't I just-”
“C'mon, boys.”
Oh, the redhead. Riyo. She's way scarier than anyone he's met here with the Cleaners. Her glare is probably enough to kill him, so he makes sure to completely avoid eye contact with her. His eyes shoot down to the garage floor. Unfortunately, he did catch a glimpse of a seemingly sweet, I'm going to kill you if you move the wrong muscle smile on her face.
One of the Supporters ushers Fu back over to what they were doing, and he feels the glares of all three of them against his back. Zanka ends up following. He was helping load up cars too, much to the dismay of other Supporters, who have been repeatedly reminding him he's not supposed to be lifting anything.
He feels Zanka watching him as the Supporter explains to Fu everything that goes onto the vehicle first-aid kits, which are a lot more extensive than he would ever think they needed to be. Tourniquets, activated charcoal, suture material. There's even tubes and scopes for what he can only imagine are for emergency intubations. These Cleaners seem to be prepared for anything. They're so admirable.
The Supporter instructs him to lock and close the medication box after handing him a key, and the pressure of Zanka staring him down is apparently too much for him to handle, because the key he tries to insert just ends up hitting right outside of the key hole. Five times.
“What's up with you, huh?” Zanka bites.
Fu shrinks, this time, successfully locking the box.
“What were ya’ doin’ so late that y'er so tired ya’ can't focus? You don't even have ta’ go on jobs,” Zanka tells him, his teeth grit while he talks to him.
Fu is definitely very, very tired, and he's surprised Zanka picked up on that. He didn't think any of them were paying much attention to him at all.
“Don't be so mean,” Riyo chides, her tone playful.
“I'm not bein’ mean,” Zanka grumbles under his breath.
“I was…well, I found somebody…”
Fu squeaks. Maybe he shouldn't have started to say that. He tried an excuse first out of instinct, but he remembers he wasn't supposed to share details. He was ordered to not share details. He's the worst ever. What does he do now?
Just tell them. Holy shit.
“Found somebody?” Zanka repeats, visibly frustrated, Fu realizes when he turns around. He's leaning against the vehicle.
“In the hallway…” Fu continues, so quiet he can hardly hear himself.
Enjin very clearly told him not to tell anyone, but there's no harm in explaining his situation to Zanka Nijiku. He's only explaining why he's not focused. That's all. Maybe they won't ask questions.
“You found somebody in the hallway?” Riyo asks. She's staring straight into his soul. Zanka's arms are crossed over his chest staring him down right along with her.
Of course they're asking questions.
Idiot.
“Yes…and I…I waited for them to wake up…” Fu mumbles. Rudo looks confused about this interrogation. “For three hours…”
Zanka raises a brow.
“So…that's why I…”
“Who, Fu?” Riyo asks.
Fu totally shrinks when he hears Enjin walk in, and Riyo and Zanka's expressions tell him that they completely understood the message. It only takes Rudo a few seconds to follow.
“What's goin’ on out here, huh?”
“Same like usual, slacking and wasting time,” Riyo teases. Zanka seems to take this personally, taken aback that she would even say that as a joke.
“What're you doing out here, guy who I explicitly told not to lift anything?” Enjin says, a brow raised with his gaze in Zanka's direction. He seems to sort of ignore Fu's presence. Fu tries to get a good look at his face. He looks completely exhausted, and the group seems suspicious, but they keep quiet.
“Not lifting anything,” Zanka mumbles dejectedly.
“Don't worry, he's not,” Riyo says. “We were just showing our little ex-Raider our first aid kits.”
“We…?” Rudo mumbles, but his reply seems to go unheard.
“Oh, well, don't stop on my account,” Enjin says, waving them off before he wanders over to the other car.
About half an hour passes. The Supporters helping Fu finished giving him the run-down on stocking and preparing their vehicles, and he was able to do it sort of successfully. It's a lot of information, but he wants to be helpful, he wants to do it correctly. He's useful. He has to be, or else, what is he?
They prepared two cars for this job. Enjin is taking Riyo, Rudo and a pretty sizable group of Supporters. Zanka, apparently, still isn't allowed on jobs.
Fu wanders back into the garage with a stack of cleaning towels that he was asked to put in the racks, and when he re-enters, there aren't any Supporters left. He hears them talking, but nothing stands out to him until he puts away the towels.
“Dammit,” Enjin huffs, “can't drive.”
“Can't drive? Why?” Fu hears Riyo say.
Fu shifts over, feeling his heart drop. Something is definitely wrong.
He's staring at his hands, and it looks like Riyo is quietly waiting for a response that it seems like she isn't going to get.
“Enjin?”
He doesn't respond. He's totally zoned out. Fu is very quickly realizing that whatever is going on is related to how he found him last night.
“Come on, let's sit you down, yeah?” she says, taking his arm and trying to guide him down to the floor. Enjin obliges, but it's very clear to Fu that he isn't all there. His eyes aren't focused on anything.
Riyo makes sure he's leaning against the car once she's able to sit him down, and she says something to him again, briefly waves a hand in his face, all for nothing, apparently. He doesn't react to any of it, and there's a sudden tension in the air. Fu assumes he's about to pass out, but the reactions from the other two make it seem like it might be worse.
Zanka's brow furrows. “Is he -”
“I'm pretty sure,” Riyo nods. She's able to move Enjin so that he's laying on his side, and still, he doesn't fight back, doesn't say anything.
“Should I get Eishia?” Zanka asks. He sounds nervous.
“Probably a good idea,” Riyo says, laying her hand on Enjin's shoulder. She says something to him again, but Fu doesn't hear it.
“I'll go. I saw her earlier,” Rudo insists.
Should you even be here for this? You're just in the way.
Fu has a hard time discerning his personal inner voice from Hii's, and right now, he can't tell the difference.
Zanka's posture is completely different from before. His air of confidence has more or less disappeared, completely overtaken by what seems to be fear, an expression of anxiety Fu didn't think he'd ever see on a person like him. His breaths are so fast that it makes Fu wonder if this is an appropriate reaction. Riyo doesn't seem that nervous at all. He's confused.
“Zanka?” Riyo says, peering over at him, “you don't have to stay. I've got it, yeah?”
Zanka's eyes dart nervously between Enjin and Riyo, like he isn't sure he believes her.
“Go find Eishia,” she tells him. “Go with Rudo.”
Zanka is clearly hesitant to leave, taking a few steps backwards before he commits and leaves the garage in the same direction Rudo left. With apparently perfect timing, Fu’s eyes trail back to Enjin’s practically unconscious form, and everything clicks when he notices Enjin’s limbs start to twitch. Then jerk.
A seizure. That's what's happening.
He's never once seen something like this in an environment where there's people making sure that the person suffering is okay. This is only something he saw as a side effect of poison, thanks to Jabber, so he has no idea what he would even do in a situation like this. Most of those people died as a result of the poison, anyway, so can a person even survive a seizure?
“I'm giving you a job, got it?” Riyo says. Her voice is stern, and she keeps her hands firm on Enjin’s arm and shoulder to keep him on his side.
Fu squeaks. “A…a job!?”
“Right. An order. See the clock? Keep track of when this started. And stop counting when the convulsions stop.”
“Yes! I can do that!” he barks back, his eyes shooting over to the crooked digital clock hanging over the doorway to the garage. He tries to account for the fifteen seconds or so that have passed since it actually started.
This is good. He can do something to be helpful. Rudo and Zanka are both looking for Eishia, and Riyo can’t focus on the clock because she’s holding Enjin in place.
“And take off your hoodie. Put it under his head,” Riyo tells him, carefully shifting one hand underneath the side of his face in the meantime, likely so he doesn’t hurt himself. Fu takes off the hoodie faster than he’s ever taken anything off in his life, and folds it twice so that there’s enough cushion under his head. He holds his breath, concerned with how tightly Enjin's eyes are shut.
Fu’s eyes flick back and forth between the clock and Enjin, and after a few minutes, he starts to worry if this is something that should even last multiple minutes. Riyo doesn’t seem concerned, but he’s also gotten the impression that she’s very good at hiding her true feelings, so it’s hard to say if it’s on purpose or not. No one files back in, which has to be some sort of crazy coincidence, considering how many Supporters are supposed to be going on this job.
Riyo’s choker rings, and Rudo’s voice checks in.
“Riyo?”
“Can’t find Eishia?” Riyo says back through her choker.
“No, I don’t think she has her choker on,” Rudo says. “Zanka’s checking the basement floor and I’m gonna look in the storage unit.”
“Okay, it’s fine. She doesn’t have to be here before it’s over,” Riyo insists.
“Are you sure…?”
“I just want her to check him out after,” she says.
“Okay. We’ll keep looking.”
The connection stops, and Riyo stays where she is, keeping her focus. Fu thinks this conversation might be confirmation that this isn’t a fatal thing, or even dangerous at all. It sounds like it’s something that’s happened multiple times, enough for her to have this figured out - the timing, the cushion under his head, keeping him on his side.
Several more minutes pass. There’s a few times where Fu thinks it’s stopped, because the convulsions aren’t as intense, but they pick back up just as quickly. They're even so violent at times that Riyo has trouble holding him steady on his side. He definitely would have hurt his head if Fu's hoodie wasn't there, and he probably hurt his head last night, now that he's thinking back on it. Some Supporters start to file in, and Fu can hear a few gasps from behind them, and one of the older Supporters even kneels beside Riyo, offering her assistance.
There's shouting from him, too, intermittently. It scares Fu every time, and it echoes through the garage. He can't really make out words most of the time, and he can't tell if it's involuntary or not, but each time, Riyo makes some attempt to comfort him. It's okay. You're okay.
“How can I help you, miss Riyo?”
“It’s okay. He’s fine,” she says, so casual and convincing despite the scene in front of them. Riyo asks if the Supporter maybe knows where Eishia might be, and one behind them speaks up and says they do. She directs them to tell either Rudo or Zanka where she is.
The older Supporter stands up and tells the rest of them to keep their distance.
It is really difficult to see him like this. These Supporters likely know him a little better than Fu does, and maybe it's ever scarier for him, but it's scary enough for Fu to see someone who he thinks is as cool as he thinks Enjin is brought down like this. Completely vulnerable, too.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the convulsions stop completely.
Fu lets go of his breath.
“Okay. Time?” Riyo asks, gently rubbing Enjin’s shoulder.
“Eleven minutes, twenty two seconds and -”
“That's all I needed,” Riyo says. “Good, so you're useful for something.”
Useful is not a word that has often, or ever, been used to describe Fu. He knows there's a completely uncontrolled wobbly smile on his face.
Riyo turns her head to face the group of five Supporters standing behind them, all looking completely terrified by what they’ve witnessed. These seizures must be a common sight for her, but it seems like these Supporters have never seen a seizure in their life.
“He's okay,” Riyo insists, “I know it looks scary, but it’s just something that happens to him sometimes.”
“Eleven minutes seems like…” One of them mumbles quietly, apparently overhearing Fu’s count.
“They're typically that long,” Riyo says. “He’s not epileptic.”
Eleven minutes does seem like a really long time for a seizure, but Fu isn’t familiar with epilepsy, or causes for seizures outside of epilepsy and poison.
“So,” Riyo says, turning her head to Fu and lowering her voice.. “Enjin was the one you found in the hallway?”
All Fu can do is squeak. Enjin told him not to tell, but he didn't really put any measures in place to make sure no one found out.
“And…what time did you find him?” she asks. She sounds really, really scary.
Fu blinks. The Supporters don’t seem like they’re overhearing the conversation, but they’re definitely staring at him. Judging.
“What time did you find this mysterious person in the hallway?”
“Two…two in the morning…maybe two thirty,” Fu says, lowering his head. Clearly it’s information she needs. Important to Enjin’s safety. Right? She’s demanding the information of him anyway. He can’t refuse.
“So two of these in twelve hours, huh?” she says quietly, turning her attention back to Enjin. “Wonder what's….going on with him…”
Fu hears Enjin groan quietly, tension flooding into his expression for a few seconds before it relaxes again, this time, closing his eyes intentionally. Riyo’s rubbing his shoulder, a little more rough than before, on purpose.
“Sorry, you gotta wake up,” Riyo tells him.
“Sorry it took us so long,” Rudo says, appearing back into the garage, with Zanka and Eishia behind him, and the Supporter who must have helped them locate her.
Eishia starts to mumble and apologize profusely before she kneels down next to Enjin. She and Riyo both carefully lay Enjin on his back before Riyo stands and takes a few steps back to stand with Zanka and Rudo. Fu does the same, standing a bit further away.
“Don't worry so much. You know he has these all the time,” Riyo says, a hand on Zanka’s back.
“I know,” Zanka mumbles, his arms crossed defensively over his chest, keep concern in his expression as he watches Eishia examine Enjin.. It doesn't seem to have comforted him at all.
More people have gathered in the surrounding area, and Fu wonders if the word has probably gotten around from the search for Eishia. The garage isn't a place that isn't free of foot traffic, though. There's Supporters staring from a distance, some wandering closer once they recognize who it is, it seems. Fu recognizes Gris among them. He approaches Riyo right away after peering over Eishia’s shoulder, asking her things like how long was it, what happened right before.
“Aren’t these…usually caused by, like…” Zanka says quietly.
“Yeah,” Riyo says quietly. “I don’t know what happened. But apparently Fu found him really late last night after one, so…whatever triggered that one is probably the same thing that triggered this one.”
“I’ll talk to him about it when he’s back to himself,” Gris says quietly.
“He won’t tell you,” Riyo says.
Gris sighs. “I know.”
At least Rudo looks as confused as Fu feels.
Eishia’s head turns to Riyo, who walks forward and kneels beside her, apparently telling her a few things about Enjin’s condition. It doesn’t seem like anything bad. Fu can see him trying to blink himself awake, not totally there but there enough to understand he’s laying on the floor.
“F’ve m’s,” Enjin mumbles, trying to get ahold of Riyo’s hand once she’s beside him. She takes it, squeezing it tight.
“Nope. Where are we?” she asks him, leaning right over his face so that she’s all he sees.
Enjin groans. His eyes drift around, squinting for a few seconds before he decides an answer. “Gar’ge.”
“Correct! And, what’s today?” she asks.
“M’nd’y,” he manages, a hand drifting up to his face and rubbing at his forehead.
“Good! And, who’s not supposed to lift anything for one more week?”
“Z’nka,” he answers.
“Ding ding!”
“Why ‘m I always the butt of your jokes?” Zanka grumbles, inching a little closer to Enjin with Rudo close behind him.
“G'me five min's,” Enjin groans, his eyes now focused on Riyo.
She shakes her head. “No way, big guy.”
“I c'n drive af'der five min's,” he insists with a whine.
“Nope, you can't.”
Enjin groans.
“Such a bad example, you know?” she teases, ruffling his hair. “Lay here for a few minutes and then we're moving ya’.”
Fu is glad he's okay. This could have gone really differently. He's glad that this time, everything seemed to work out in his favor - he didn't make any mistakes.
“Thanks for your help,” Riyo says, appearing next to him suddenly. Fu's eyes are as wide as they've ever been, surprised by her presence, but she's kind of smiling normally. He thinks. “Glad you can follow directions.”
Fu nods fervently. “I'm…glad I could help!”
Made yourself useful. Didn't think that was possible.
Fu is biting back the urge to smile.