Chapter Text
"To say the truth, reason and love keep little company together nowadays."
-William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream
See, it's not exactly like Martyn planned to be kicked out of places. Ostracized? Sure. Judged? Maybe. It wasn't that often that he tried to advertise himself as a good and moral kind of guy. But lately, it seemed like he was slowly gaining a winning streak on being kicked out of places. Or, as they called it in the workforce, getting fired. He was working the third job he had ever had in his life-a fast food place he had never bothered to remember the name of-when he had gotten called up to his manager's office and in less than a hour, fired and left out on the streets. In the rain.
And he didn't have an umbrella.
April showers bring May flowers. Yeah, right. Martyn stood in the middle of the sidewalk for a while, simply glaring at the back door of the restaurant. They hadn't wanted him to go out the front door in fear of staining their reputation, not that a place who served far more calories than needed in a single french fry than most people had ever eaten in their whole life had much of a great reputation in the first place. It was only when the rain started to soak coldly into his ragged shoes that he started to walk back to his apartment.
It was a stroke of luck that his path naturally passed by the local corner store that had withstood the test of time since Martyn was dropped off into the city as a fresh adult, perhaps even longer. The tiny red lights of the open sign were fading and trash drifted past the sidewalk, but he found himself drawn to the place. A flyer was plastered to one of the giant windows and he peered to look at it.
NOW HIRING.
Martyn clicked his tongue and shrugged his shoulders to himself before walking in. At the very least, he'd be able to get out of the rain for a bit.
When he walked in, the store was a ghost town except for a cyan-haired man that leaned against the cash register. When he saw Martyn walk in, his strangely perfect eyebrows shot up. "Looks like someone forgot to bring their umbrella."
"Never had one." Martyn stretched and rung the bottom of his t-shirt out, causing the other man's face to scrunch. Pretending like his nerves weren't about to choke him, he confidently walked up to the countertop and looked the far taller man in the eyes. "Gimme a job application. Or an interview with your manager. Anything." When the worker's expression didn't change, he sighed and slumped. "Listen, I know I don't look like much, but it's been a long week. My ma's in the hospital, my dad's gone off and is probably wastin' all of our money on gambling. I really need this, so please, have it in your heart to give this young man a chance."
He was completely lying except for his tone of sincerity. Being a sad man abandoned by his family was a much more compelling story than being fired for his mischievous tendencies and pick-pocketing. Martyn clasped his hands together and brought up the saddest expression he could muster. The worker blinked at him for a second before lifting a hand to his face and laughing.
"Oh, I like you! What a tale! If I was anyone else, I think you would've reeled them in hook, line and sinker." Martyn hesitated, entirely at a loss. Nobody had ever reacted like they were…impressed with his deception abilities. The other man grabbed something behind the counter and threw it at him. Martyn caught it instantly and looked down. The gold of the object shimmered in the light as he realized they were keys. "I'm Scott. And I'm going to be entirely honest with you-" He switched to leaning forward on the countertop, the long nail of his pinky finger nearly knocking over the basket of Chap-Sticks and tiny bottles of hand sanitizer. "-I don't get paid enough to not accept help. So don't worry, I'll call up our manager and inform him of your new position."
"What-" Martyn gaped like a fish. "You're-you don't even want a look at my resume?"
"To work here? Darling, I think even a dog could work here if they tried. Come here tomorrow morning and I'll let you know your new schedule and give you training, or something." Scott leaned behind the counter once again as he grabbed a large green umbrella and handed it over to him. "And if it rains again, I don't want to see a single speck of water on you. I'm not cleaning these tiles every day."
"Okay!" Martyn managed as he slowly backed out of the store, clutching the umbrella to his chest like it was a baby. "Alright, er, thanks! Have a good day, Scott!"
It was only when he had made it down the block that he realized he hadn't remembered to tell Scott his name. It was fine. He'd remember to do it tomorrow on the first day of his new job. He quietly pumped his fist in celebration.
Maybe life could be kind sometimes.
⋆˙⟡
It had been a full month of working at the corner store when he finally realized Scott hadn't come in to work in a while. It had started slow, with Martyn picking up more and more shifts until he basically worked at the corner store full time. It left him with plenty of time to entertain himself considering that he had learned on his second day of working that the manager didn't actually work inside the store. The only way to contact him was by phone call or email, which worked for someone like Martyn who preferred to be left unsupervised at all times.
But then Scott had stopped coming in entirely. When Martyn called up his manager to ask what happened, he could hear the disappointment in his voice. "Scott seemed to decide he was too good for this job and started abandoning shifts or calling out sick, especially at night. Eventually, I had to make the difficult decision to let him go. I apologize for not telling you earlier." With that, his manager hung up. Martyn could guess that he was probably going back to bed considering the early hour.
He was on his own now.
Martyn tapped his fingers on the counter to the beat of the muffled music that spilled out of their only speaker in the building. He could hear the quiet hum of the freezers as they did their best to keep the Gatorade and beer cold. There was laughter outside, likely from a group of teenagers on their way to celebrate surviving another year of high school. Maybe they were walking with each other or maybe it was only a couple making their way to the bus stop to plunk their coins in the front of the bus, trusting that they would make it to their destination. They would sit down at the local pizza place and discuss the futures they had with each other, the potential in their careers and adventures to be had with their friends.
Tomorrow would be the first of June.
Martyn sat down on the plastic chair he had dragged in two weeks ago and watched as the corner store continued to be the same as it always had been.
⋆˙⟡
It was always a great day when Martyn was able to end his shift at two P.M. It only happened every once in a while, when the store's foot traffic got too slow to the point that even his lazy manager had to agree to cut him loose for the afternoon, but when it did it was amazing. Martyn couldn't help but have a little bounce in his step as he slung his black tote bag over his shoulder and turned off the store lights, officially closing it up. He peeked inside as he closed and locked the door, ensuring his work was completely done. The only light left in the store was the dim blue glow of the giant box that held the ice cream treats. As it should be. Martyn thought proudly to himself as he started to make his way home.
A couple of people were out and about on the sidewalk, piquing Martyn's interest. A old man slowly walked his puppy, the tiny creature far too impatient for the pace the elder was going at. A couple of tween girls were running down on the other side, purple bags and blue phone purses swinging around their shoulders so wildly that Martyn feared they would fall off. Briefly, he imagined walking across the street and offering to help pick up the bags when they eventually did fall, then quietly pocketing a dollar or two from the spilled contents. Ahead of him, there was a white-haired man with strange looking ears holding hands with a lanky woman. As Martyn watched the couple, he noticed that the woman looked like she was trying to keep her distance from the man. Every time she got an inch away from him, the weird man instantly pulled her back to being close. His chin was practically in her neck and Martyn could see the lines of tension in her shoulders.
Martyn frowned. Something's not right. Before he could make a plan to confront them, the two stopped on the corner and the weird man pressed the crosswalk button. In the same second, a wavy dark haired man appeared from the corner and stepped in front of the pair. Martyn stopped himself, quickly looking for a place to hide. He spotted the alleyway nearby and slunk through it, eventually popping out on the other side. With just a quick look over the building corner, he could see the three of them properly without them ever noticing.
Now that he was closer, he could see the dark-haired man's silver cross earrings shimmer in the afternoon sunlight. His outfit consisted of a casual black denim jacket along with a plain white shirt and jeans, yet with how his body language was presented Martyn could easily mistake him for a formal businessman. He watched as Cross-Earrings talked to Weird Man, their voices slowly rising in volume as the other man got angrier and the woman appeared to get more and more afraid.
"-mine, you have no business dealing in my relationships-"
"-sir, I just want you to calm down and allow yourself to come with me."
"I decide-"
Martyn watched as the white haired man's eyes (oh, gross, they were a weird red color, was he high?) got wider and his grip on the woman got tighter. If the situation kept escalating, someone was going to get hurt. Cross-Earrings was clearly trying to get them separated from each other. If he thought Weird Man was also off his rocker, then he trusted his judgment. Hm. Weird Man's pockets were practically bursting with random things and within those pockets laid an excellent plan. Quickly, Martyn took a breath and grabbed a flyer plastered to one of the many lightpoles that lined the sidewalk. It was from a furniture company advertising free kitchen chairs or something boring like that. He smoothed out his shirt before breaking out into a run.
"Oh my goodness!" He yelled loudly, skidding to a stop in front of them and panting like he had just run a mile instead of a few feet. He leaned over for effect, wiping his brow and clutching the flyer in his hand. Based on the silence around him, he had caught all three of them off guard. Good. He held out the flyer, a bright grin breaking out across his face. "Oh, sir! You're just the type of person I've been looking for! Newly wed, right? Did you recently buy a home in the area?" Weird Man took a few steps back as Martyn purposefully encroached in his space, holding the flyer so close that it obscured his vision.
"Uh, n-"
"That's wonderful!" Martyn laid a hand on the man's shoulder (oh geez, this guy should invest in a heater instead, his skin was fucking freezing) and let him be distracted by the point of contact while he used his free hand to slip a wallet out of his pocket. "You see, my company's having a great deal on kitchen chairs. Guess the price?" Weird Man let out a low growl.
"I don't have time to play these games, we're bus-"
"Free! Free, I tell ya! Listen, with the economy these days, it doesn't get much better than that." Martyn shifted to touch the other shoulder and in turn, slipped more goodies out of the other pocket. "All you need to do is sign on this here flyer, and we'll get ya all good and set up for life! That's right. For. Life." He bumped into the man as he walked past and snatched up a few crisp dollar bills. Dang, Weird Man was loaded. Then he turned around to look at his audience. "But of course, I understand if you don't want to. I mean, the boss is gonna have my head, but I'll be alright. I think." He sagged and let himself crinkle the flyer in his hands. "I mean, my kids aren't gonna get any money to help 'em go to school…and the wife isn't gonna be too happy either…"
"I'll sign it," Cross-Earrings spoke up. Martyn whipped his head up, his shock not an act. He watched as Cross-Earrings procured a pen from his jean pocket and signed something on the paper. Martyn forced a big smile.
"Oh, thank you! Thank you! My wife…she'll be happy I kept my job, I'm sure of it," Martyn let himself ramble as he looked down at the flyer, curious to know the stranger's name.
Instead of a name, there was only a sentence carved in beautiful cursive.
Run now. I can handle this.
Martyn steadied himself and did his best not to react as he finished his big talk, Weird Man clearly irritated as the woman stared at the ground. "Well, Big Chair appreciates you lot for contributing to our industry!" He gave a salute and a wink before walking past them and across the street.
Unfortunately, that was the exact moment a few dollar bills floated out of his now-stuffed pockets. "Hey, wait a minute! Are those mine?" Weird Man yelled, forcing Martyn to look back and gulp. I think I might've messed up.
"It was good meeting you all! Remember to never trust a Martyn!" Martyn shouted back as he broke into a sprint, ignoring the eyes of onlookers. He could hear the shouts of Weird Man in the distance and when he dared to sneak a glance back, the man was already catching up.
It was fine. He could lose a tail. The only thing that mattered was the fact that Cross-Earrings was safely escorting the woman away, hopefully to a much safer place than the city streets. As the stranger began to walk away, his eyes moved to stare at Martyn. They were a dark brown and Martyn figured that if he looked hard enough they would contain swirling pools of chocolate.
He wondered if they would ever meet again.
⋆˙⟡
It took him a full hour to lose Weird Man-who, despite his general weirdness, was dastardly good at keeping track and on pace with him, for whatever reason-but when he did, he instantly pivoted towards home.
As he maneuvered himself through the final sidewalk and across the empty parking lot, he found his thoughts drifting back to Cross-Earrings. Weird Man was strange, but Cross-Earrings had been downright mysterious. From his sudden appearance to his calm handling of the situation, Martyn would've thought him a spy.
Unfortunately, this was the real world. Spies were a rare thing, not hiding in plain sight like James Bond. Martyn kicked a torn piece of water bottle plastic to the side as he prepared to jump the wired fence. Meeting a spy would be really cool, though.
It felt good to help out regardless. Martyn was a thief and a deceiver, but being a creep had never been on his list of personality traits. Honestly, the creepiest he had ever been was when he had end up staying in Legundo's apartment for hours while trying to kidnap him into a movie night. Of course, he had forgotten how long hospital shifts were and ended up stuck there waiting for far longer than planned. Martyn chuckled to himself as he passed by the dumpster that never got taken out and climbed up the rusty ladder that never got cleaned. It had been a fun moment when he finally revealed himself as Legs entered his own home, the shock nearly taking the older man to his knees.
The joy of the moment faded away as Martyn finally ascended the ladder and slid through his window that had been broken ever since he found the place. He had forgotten to drag the curtain over to hide the gaping frame and he silently cursed himself. As he dropped off his tote bag on the foldable plastic table he had first bought a year ago and had hauled up the ladder himself, he started to empty his pockets and amass the stolen treasures into a pile. A driver's license, work ID, tons of cash and a tiny plastic bouncy ball that had clearly come from an arcade fell out in rapid succession. He let out a startled laugh at the ball before picking it up and throwing it at the door. The ball thwacked off of the bricks that had been sealed in the front and back of the door to prevent squatters by some stuck-up landlord years ago, then came to a rest at his feet. Martyn picked up the ball again and continued to bounce it as he filed away his new riches into their respective plastic drawers. His drawer of treasures was where he kept track of everything and he loved it.
If he was lucky, he'd be able to contact George at the park and sell the ID and license before Weird Man set out a search on him. It was unfortunate that Weird Man had gotten such a clear look at his face, but he hadn't gone into the conversation in the mindset of protecting himself. Honestly, the money was just a small perk compared to being able to save someone's life.
Martyn ditched his day clothes and switched into his pajamas. It was a bit soon to rest, but he had to wake up early for his shift the next day. As he did, his mind drifted back to the stranger. Where would he go to try and protect the woman? What would he do after? Would Weird Man search for either of them? Who was that stranger?
His back hit the mattress and he sighed. His questions would do him no good by now. All he could do was hope that the woman and the stranger had gotten away and were safe somewhere.
He had done his part, so it was time to rest. He closed his eyes and fell into a dreamless sleep. He had work tomorrow, after all.
⋆˙⟡
It only took two days for his last question to be answered.
Martyn wasn't doing anything important when it happened. He had gotten bored (as per usual) so he had decided to pull up his shitty phone and make funny faces into the camera. He had just started to try and twist his tongue into a clover shape when the bell on the door went ding! He whipped his head to look at who entered while also trying his best to not look like he had just been about to try and twist his tongue and probably end up hurting it. Aw fuck, too late, his tongue was out and the customer was already inside.
Then he froze.
It was Cross-Earrings.
He had a serious expression on his face as he looked around the corner store. Then he popped back outside and pulled the plug on the blinking red OPEN sign. "Hey!" Martyn shouted, watching as the man walked calmly back inside and shut the door. "Listen, I know we kinda had a moment yesterday, but ya can't just come in 'ere and start vandalizing!"
"Oh, great. You remember me." The man smoothed his black jacket before turning around and pushing the huge ice cream box towards the door. "Do you have security cameras?"
"I mean, yeah, but-"
"How many?" Martyn blinked before pointing to the area above him.
"Just that one. My manager can't be bothered to add more. But seriously, dude, what's going on?!" Cross Earrings didn't answer before he lifted a hand up towards the camera and shot something out of his wrist. In less than second, the red light on the round camera glitched and then fizzed out. "Dude!"
"Abolish Veylocke," The man answered as he went back to pushing the ice cream box. When Martyn gave him an exasperated look, he shrugged. "If you're going to yell at me I figured you'd want an actual name."
"I'm gonna call the police." Martyn crossed his arms, trying to appear as intimidating as possible. Not that the police had ever cared about him in the past.
"You're not. And don't." Abolish finished putting the ice cream box in front of the door and put his hands behind his back. "This is important. I need your help. But we have to be secure. Do you have a back room?" Martyn hesitated.
I need your help.
"…Yeah. Follow me. It ain't much." Martyn waved a hand and started heading towards the back room. Abolish followed him closely as he unlocked the door and allowed him inside. Once they were in the tiny room (it was more of a closet, really) Abolish started inspecting all of the walls and floors. Martyn couldn't help but stare at him.
"…What are you doing?"
"Looking for bugs." Abolish leaned down to inspect under a shelf.
"Why are you looking for bugs at a time like this?! I mean, you might find some good spiders, but that's really it-"
"No." He could hear a strain in Abolish's voice. "Listening devices. Bugs."
"Oh." Whoever this guy was, he was pretty serious. Martyn shut up and sat himself down on one of the two plastic chairs in the small room. They were uncomfortable, but it was better than before he had started working at the store. Back then, there had been such a lack of seating arrangements that it had actually started to drive him insane. He waited for Abolish to finish as he watched the single lightbulb in the room flicker above them. Martyn would probably have to pay out of his own pocket to change it soon. Or maybe being in the dark wasn't so bad. Then he wouldn't have to see the ugly and peeling drywall every time he wanted to pretend he wasn't working.
It took several minutes for Abolish to do a full inspection of the room. Then, just as Martyn was starting to question his life choices, the guy sat down in the other plastic chair with his hands folded together. "Martyn Woodhurst. It was scarily easy to find you." Martyn felt his mouth go dry.
"How do you know my name?"
"Well, firstly, you shouted out your name to the entire street the other day. Second, I work for an organization I cannot disclose the name of to you. We have the resources at our disposal to find out these sort of things." Abolish leaned forward. "In fact, civilians like you wouldn't typically be involved in these matters. But I don't have much of a choice as I'm working…independently of my employer this time."
"What, you work for the FBI or something?"
"No. Even I did, I couldn't tell you. But the point is, I can't do this mission on my own. I've decided to seek outside help and after yesterday…I think your street smarts could be of some use."
"You mean you need a scoundrel," Martyn muttered. A nobody. A non-liability. A small frown flashed across Abolish's face and disappeared just as fast.
"Sure. I don't like bringing someone like you into these things, I want to be clear. You are at a risk. You also might have to sign a contract or two just to be safe." Martyn made a face at that. "But before you agree to anything, let me show you what you're getting into." Abolish pulled a sleek phone out of his pocket. Martyn watched curiously as he pulled up something on it then faced it towards him. It was a dark video of an street. Abolish reached around the phone to press the play button and turned up the volume.
Martyn couldn't help but let out a strangled sound as he watched Doctor Legundo walk down the street, completely oblivious to the scruffy man in jeans and a dark hoodie that followed right behind him. Abolish paused the video, a cool look on his face. "Is something wrong?"
"Am I about to watch my friend die?" Martyn clenched his fists.
"You know him?"
"Yea-yeah, we met awhile back." It had been after he'd accidentally ingested poison and Cleo ended up dragging him to the hospital and he got taken care of by "her good friend, the doc", but he didn't need to mention that part. "We hang out on Friday nights sometimes. Do some Wordle and chess." He also didn't bring up the fact that they hadn't done that since Martyn had obtained his new job.
"He isn't going to die. But I need you to forget he's your friend. In order for this to work out, you have to have no conflict of interest." Martyn could tell Abolish was being serious, so he clamped his mouth shut and pressed the play button.
"Lookie what we got here. Rich, rich, rich man. Doctor's coat and everything." A deep and grating voice echoed out from the phone as the man finally made his presence known to Legs. Martyn sat on the edge of his seat as he watched the two creeps and the doctor exchange conversation, then let out a loud cheer when Legundo socked one of them in the face.
"Oh, damn! Got 'em right in the jaw!" Martyn jumped out of his chair, gaze fixated to the screen as he watched the fight go on.
"I thought I told you to be objective," Abolish remarked dryly, making no move to stop him.
"Yeah, but I keep forgetting the Doc's got hands!" His joy dimmed a little as Legs got sliced 'n' diced, blood spilling onto his white doctor's coat and making it look far more horrific than just a stab. The video stopped there, the red line going no further. Martyn sat down in slight shock.
"You see, that's an example of what I've been able to catch on camera, which is very little. The two men in that footage? They never wanted money. They were planning on killing your doctor friend regardless. He got lucky that he had a friend nearby to help him get patched up, but in most of my reports, the others haven't been so fortunate." Abolish opened his phone again and showed a long spreadsheet to Martyn. "Doctors, educators, engineers, coders; all murdered by the same type of person, or rather, collective. Unfortunately, despite my efforts, I've only narrowed down who's at the top to three suspects. I've weaseled out basically everyone else in the collective, so the recent cases have been entirely enacted by the leader on their own."
"And when did you do that?"
"A week ago. This footage is from before that. In fact, I have reason to believe those two were the last ones I had left to subdue." Abolish put his phone in his lap. "I cannot stress how much I don't want to do this. But I need help. I need at least one more person working with me or else more people are going to die. Important people are going to die. And if we don't figure this out soon, they might try to go after your friend again."
"Cleo." Martyn suddenly realized. "They're a psychology professor. Another friend of mine," He clarified when Abolish gave him a puzzled look. "Both of them could be next."
"…You have a lot of personal ties in this. Maybe I should-" Abolish tried to stand up but Martyn instantly grabbed his arm.
"Hell no! You think I'm just gonna walk out and go on with my life when my friends could be dead soon? If I sit on my butt and do nothing, then their deaths are on me," He spat. "If you don't, I'm just gonna investigate myself. And if I die 'cause of that, that's on you."
Abolish stared. Martyn glared. Abolish held out a hand. "Then it's settled. Give me your number and I'll text you the details of where I want us to meet next. It's going to be at this time tomorrow." Martyn took his hand in his own and shook hard.
"Sounds good to me, partner. Sounds good to me."
⋆˙⟡
Man, what did he get himself into?
It was the first thing Martyn thought as he walked towards the structure that was clearly a parking garage. It was in a pretty run-down section of the city, where nobody went unless they didn't want to be found. There was plenty of construction tape on the parking garage, a clear attempt to ward off any and all pedestrians.
Martyn promptly ignored their futile efforts and jumped over the tape.
Kudzu grew in swathes on the walls of the garage and there were several broken-down cars littered about that nobody had remembered to come back and get. He navigated through the area carefully as he tried not to think about the fact that he had called in sick earlier in the day and his manager had just barely believed him. He tried to ignore the feeling that he should be doing something else.
"Mr. Woodhurst." Abolish materialized out of thin air from behind one of the concrete pillars. Martyn nearly let out a scream but managed to swallow it down in favor on focusing on the disgust that just rose up in him.
"Ew, gross. Just call me Martyn. I'm no formal guy." He raised an eyebrow at the dingy space. "Is this where the magic happens?"
"Martyn," Abolish conceded, nodding his head. "Just…come with me." Martyn dutifully followed him, swallowing the bouts of fear that kept hounding him. He was going to help a strange guy figure out a murder case. He could get targets on his back. He could be killed. Abolish led him into an elevator and Martyn forced himself to speak before he burst.
"Are you sure this elevator still works?"
"It does." Abolish leaned over to press the number pads in a specific way. 33145. Martyn committed it to memory as the elevator shuddered a few times before going down. "I've used it plenty of times. Nobody will find us here." Martyn tried to not let that statement freak him out as he impatiently waited for the elevator doors to open. When they did, he let Abolish step out first to ensure there were no tricks.
The room was brightly lit and the walls were made of concrete, much like the garage upstairs. A large purple couch was pushed up against the side and in front of it was a giant corkboard. It took up most of the main area and had little wheels so it could be rolled around easily. There was a TV, a clean desk with a laptop perched on it and a tiny kitchen setup with a microwave and fridge to boot. Martyn couldn't help but whistle as he walked around the space.
Regardless of the whole spy-detective-criminal catcher situation, this guy made bank.
"Nice man cave."
"It's a hideout and I don't live here," Abolish suddenly spoke up from where he had sat himself down at the desk. "It's a temporary area I constructed in this city so I can continue to keep an eye on things without my organization knowing where I am. Typically I just live at the headquarters."
"Yeah, the headquarters of your secret spy organization that clearly makes a shit ton of money. Spare me some, would ya?" Martyn couldn't help but joke.
"You'll be paid well after we finish this. It's the least I can do after dragging you into this situation."
"Oh." Martyn didn't know what to say after that, subconsciously tugging on his long sleeves. "Er. Thanks."
"It's nothing." Abolish pointed at the board. "Now, read over that. It has plenty of information and it'll get you caught up. Then, we can discuss it." Martyn went over to the board, ignoring his anxious and racing heart. The corkboard had tons of paper plastered on it, from magazine covers to print outs of articles to pictures of people Martyn didn't recognize. Some of them were clearly murder scenes and were sorted out by pink, blue and purple wasabi tape. Based on the key that had been written in cursive on a sticky note, the colors indicated what type of employment the person had. He had expected to be uncomfortable as he inspected the snapshots of murder scenes, yet he felt nothing but cold detachment. He only felt a bit sick as he imagined Cleo and Legs being next.
There was only three pictures that stood out from the rest. The word SUSPECTS was tucked right above them. All three suspects were smiling in their photos and one even looked like a college ID picture. (Not that he had ever gone to college. It was too expensive.) Overall, the information was overwhelming at best and terrifyingly detailed at worst.
"I've narrowed it down to three suspects," Abolish stated, suddenly leaning over Martyn's shoulder. Martyn let out a startled yelp, nearly knocking the papers off of the board.
"You're a quiet one, aren't cha?" Martyn panted, straightening himself out. Abolish merely shrugged and went back to the board.
"All of them have not had plausible deniability in their backstories and alibis. If we catch them in the act, it'll be easier to prove their guilt to the court." Abolish tacked up a picture of Legundo. "Which is where you come in. For now, I want you to keep an eye on your friend."
"He passes by the corner store every morning on the way to work." Granted, the corner store wasn't supposed to be open around that time, but he could go early and watch him. "He probably passes it on the way home as well. Cleo usually stays in their home since they're an online teacher, so I'll just have to visit every so often."
"Cleo is a second priority, then. They're far safer in their house than Legundo is walking outside and going to the hospital….how frequently?"
"Just about every day, honestly. He's a workaholic freak."
"Every day. Right. I'll stop by the hospital a few times during the day so we can cover all of our bases. If either of us see something suspicious, we call or run back here immediately. Especially you, since you're in far more danger. I've been trained to handle attacks but you haven't."
"I could visit here and you can train me," Martyn suggested. "Just in case. Plus, that means we can meet and exchange info on the case, right?"
"Exactly." Abolish gave a curt nod. In less than a blink, he was back at his desk like he had never moved away from it at all. "If you can excuse me, I have to keep investigating using what I have. Feel free to...hang out." An awkward expression crossed over Abolish's face at his last sentence, causing him to turn away and go back to his laptop.
"Thanks, but nah. I got an early shift tomorrow since I took the day off for this." Abolish turned around again.
"Isn't there other employees?"
"Not really. I think there's one my manager keeps in contact with for whenever I'm out, but I'm the only one who works full time. I don't mind it much." He shot a faux salute to Abolish as he walked backwards towards the elevator. "See ya soon! Hope neither of us are killed!"
Abolish's following sigh was so loud that Martyn could swear he heard it through the closed elevator doors. It got a good chuckle out of him, lightening his mood.
He would fine. Everybody would be fine.
⋆˙⟡
Martyn woke up to his alarm at four A.M. and instantly groaned. Why, why, why did doctors have to wake up so early? He hadn't even remembered getting up this early for school in his youth. The universe sucked.
He managed to drag himself out of bed and walk all the way to the corner store, unlocking the door and going inside. He made no move to turn on the OPEN sign, instead busying himself with preparing the corner store for the day ahead. Martyn restocked the shelves and cleaned up the aisles (okay, he was supposed to do all of that during the closing shift, but he had to kill time somehow), constantly glancing behind him to make sure there was nobody passing by the store. He had just started to wipe down the freezers' glass doors when a bit of movement outside caught his eye. Martyn snapped his head towards the window and watched as Doctor Legundo walked down the sidewalk.
Bingo.
Martyn waited a minute for the doctor to pass by before slinking outside and following him down the street. He wouldn't go all the way to the hospital; he still had a job to do himself, after all. But Martyn had to make sure he was okay.
As Martyn followed the doctor down the street, he craned his head in every direction, on the lookout for any signs of dark clothing or suspicious characters. There was barely anyone on the street at this hour, minus a car or two passing by. Eventually, Martyn figured he had gone far enough and rushed back to the corner store just in time for their official opening hours.
As he entered the store, his anxiety did not decrease. It was going to be a long next couple of days.
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It was surprisingly easy to get used to the new routine he had started for himself. Martyn would wake up…well, slightly less early than he had on his first attempt of keeping track of Legundo. He'd make it to the store just in time to see Legs walk by and then follow him for a bit before continuing his shift as normal. Then, at the end of his shift, he would head over to the man cave to inform Abolish of how it went. After the third time, Abolish had informed him that checking in every few days or even just over text would suffice if nothing big had happened.
Despite this, Martyn kept coming back every afternoon. It was better than sitting alone in his apartment for hours on end or getting so bored he'd end up causing a public disturbance in the city. Abolish was a reserved man, usually spending his time within the man cave typing away on his laptop. Martyn didn't mind the silence, knowing that he could fill it with ease. He ended up having entire conversations with Abolish, the other man only nodding or speaking little in response, but he never seemed to be annoyed enough to actually kick Martyn out.
If Martyn wasn't in a talking mood, he'd often spend his time relaxing on the couch-he had figured out it could be turned into a bed, but it felt a little weird to lay down on it if that was where Abolish often slept-and staring at the case board in the middle of the room. If he felt adventurous, he'd end up attempting to microwave food he had snatched from work. Abolish hadn't spoken up about it until Martyn had nearly tried to put an aluminum foil wrapped hotdog in the microwave. The man had grabbed it out of his hands and looked at it with incredulity.
"Take it out of the foil before you put it in the microwave. That could've caught on fire."
"Oh, really?" Martyn laughed a bit as he took the hotdog back, sans the foil. "Whoops. Sorry, 'Lish, I don't use a microwave that often." Abolish had simply sighed and went back to his work. No yelling, no telling him to get out, no berating for his stupid mistake. He didn't even reject the nickname. Martyn had stared at the microwave for a bit, feeling…odd. Abolish was quiet, yes, but…he seemed to not mind him and his boldness. It caused a little smile to appear on his face and it stayed there the whole afternoon.
When it had been about a week of his new routine, Abolish approached Martyn with a knife. Naturally, Abolish holding a knife was fucking terrifying, so he nearly ended up running the opposite direction and back up the elevator. Only the calm look on the guy's face locked him in place. "I should've done this earlier, honestly," Abolish started. Whenever Abolish did speak, Martyn always felt like he had been thrown into a conversation that he was supposed to know the details of already. It was disorienting, but he could appreciate the forwardness. "If you do end up coming across our suspect and getting into a mess, you're going to need to know how to get out of it. That's why you're going to be practicing-" He pointed to a mannequin that hadn't been there yesterday that sat poised next to the couch. "-your knife abilities on that test dummy."
"Oh, hell yeah!" Martyn took the knife in his own hand. It was a simple kitchen knife, no crazy gadgets or doohickeys attached. Still, it wasn't every day someone gave him a knife. In fact, in his last line of work, he had been specifically banned from using knives after he had decided to create a knife wedding that ended in one of the knives being thrown as the bouquet and nearly sliced his manager's face in half. He could feel Abolish's grimace as he watched Martyn's expression change into a more devious one.
"…And you're going to be specifically practicing the moves you are instructed to on this diagram." The agent revealed a paper in his hand that had been previously hidden behind his back. Martyn started to deflate a bit as he looked at the diagrams on the page.
"Do ya really think I can't handle a bit of knife freestyling?" Martyn made a couple cheeky jabs with the knife in his hands. Abolish raised an eyebrow at him, saying a million things without speaking a single word. Martyn sighed loudly and made his way over to the mannequin. "If I get injured, I'm gonna make you pay for my hospital trip! And then you're gonna have to explain to the Doc how I stabbed myself!"
"Oh, I'm sure." Abolish responded as he went back to his work. "You're a lot of things, Martyn, but completely stupid isn't one of them. You know why you need to practice correctly." Martyn grumbled before looking at the paper and starting to practice his moves.
It was really annoying when Abolish had a point.
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wood boy: hey cleo how u doin :)
wood boy: we haven't talked in forever soooo…everything ok?
clebert: martyn!! woah! i can't believe you're alive….someone shout it from the heavens! he lives! and yes, everything is well
wood boy: its called the grave that is employment :/
clebert: u work at the corner store now, right? i have to visit you sometime
wood boy: how are the students?
clebert: …you idiot. it's summer. and i don't handle the summer classes.
wood boy: oh
wood boy: ok its not my fault my parents made me go to a really fancy college where u have to go basically all the time or they'll execute u
clebert: brag all you want rich boy you're just like the rest of us. a loser ;)
wood boy: yeah i'm blocking you now goodbye
clebert: oh, next we will all have to shine your shoes when there's a speck of dirt on them! the horror!
wood boy: lalalalala i can't hear u
Martyn let out a chuckle as he turned off his phone and looked at the ceiling. It was raining outside, so he had sacrificed his umbrella towards helping keep his entire livelihood intact-aka covering his open window. He had called in sick again today. There was no way he was going outside in that mess.
Suddenly, his phone rang. Was Cleo calling him to talk more? Martyn frowned as he went to pick up his phone. It was an unknown number that he hadn't filed away in his contacts yet. "Yallo, Martyn 'ere. What's up?"
"It's me. Abolish."
"Oh! Abolish! Why you calling? Did something happen to Legs?" Martyn asked as he stood up from his mattress and shuffled over to the little sliver of the broken window he hadn't been able to cover. A light sprinkling of rain dusted onto his face as he stood near it, his eyes gazing out into the empty parking lot below.
"No, no, nothing like that." Abolish seemed…quieter. Martyn grew concerned. "It's just…you didn't come in today. And when I stopped by the corner store, someone else was working there. I figured it'd be inappropriate to visit you in person for this, so I-"
"You know where I live?" Martyn's heart jumped up in his throat. He took a step back and looked around his apartment, the apartment he didn't even really live in. He had skillfully dodged the police for a while, but if Abolish had somehow figured out his address, then there was no telling who knew. If Cleo knew-
"I don't!" Abolish's voice cut through the phone, followed by a cough. It was clear he hadn't intended to be so loud. "But you have to understand, Martyn. I have access to a lot of resources. If your address is publicly listed somewhere, it wouldn't take me long to find it. If I needed to." Abolish emphasized the last part. "Hence why I'm calling instead of showing up at wherever your living space is."
Publicly listed. Martyn was connected to faux addresses, fake backstories, the works. He had used his pickpocket abilities to pay someone off in order to do it long ago. Abolish wouldn't find him. Nobody would. His shoulders sank in relief. "I'm not at your man cave-"
"Hideout."
"I'm not at your man cave because of the bad weather." Abolish went quiet for a bit.
"There's bad weather now?" Martyn couldn't help but snort.
"Yeah, dude, have you been outside in the past ten hours? It's been rainin' cats and dogs." On the other end of the line, he could hear the familiar elevator beep as it went up a floor. If he strained his ear to the phone, he could make out the sound of Abolish's footsteps on the concrete.
"…Oh. It is raining. I haven't been out of my hideout for a bit."
"Do you seriously stay there all the time?"
"There's not much else for me to do. We're in a holding pattern for now. Still, why are you not at your job? It's not bad enough to not take public transportation or drive."
"Bus fee's too expensive. Have you seen what they're demanding people to pay these days? And I don't have a car. I prefer to walk." Liar, liar, pants on fire. His brain screamed, and it sounded weirdly enough like Cleo. He shook the thoughts away.
"…So you're staying inside your home?"
"Yep," Martyn popped the P sound as he paced around his apartment. "It's all good. I needed an excuse for a day off anyways. And you should do the same. Go get ice cream or something. Bye, 'Lish!" He singed just as he abruptly hang up. Then he collapsed onto his mattress. Why did Abolish care so much anyways? When the whole case got straightened out, they'd probably never see each other again.
Maybe he just had a nice soul like that.