Chapter Text
The first thing the Intern learned about working at Animal Hospital was that nobody smiled.
Well, some did.
Patients could smile. But usually that meant they had too many teeth, too many eyes, or were about five seconds away from devouring some poor soul.
The staff, on the other hand, rarely smiled.
Not the Secretary, who always looked one inconvenience away from collapsing face-first onto his paperwork. Not the Head Nurse, whose tired eyes had permanent bags beneath them. Not even the Paramedic, who whistled while patients were screaming on fire.
So yeah, no one really smiled.
The Intern pushed through the front doors, feeling excited beyond belief to start another shift in hell.
If they weren’t so broke, they’d find a different job.
The rabbit sighed and absentmindedly lifted both hands to their neck, fingers wrapping around it in a choking motion.
“Intern?”
The rabbit immediately ceased, releasing their fingers from their neck and looking up.
The Head Nurse, a white-spotted cat, had turned away from her conversation with the Secretary. She stared at the Intern tiredly with a trace of suspicion.
“What were you doing just now?” she asked.
The Intern’s smile widened.
“Oh! My neck was just a little itchy. Allergies, you know?”
The Head Nurse looked unconvinced.
The Secretary snorted.
“You’re a weird one.”
And you’re observant. Wonderful.
The Intern kept smiling anyway.
The Head Nurse eventually sighed, rubbing at one of her temples.
“I’m so glad this shift is over. Thank you for coming in a little early, Intern.”
The Secretary nodded in agreement.
“There’s no leftover patients from the last shift. We managed to get everyone discharged.”
The Intern internally sighed in relief.
That made their job significantly easier.
No half-finished checkups. No twitching patients left in rooms. No mysterious puddles of slime to clean up.
A good start.
The Head Nurse and Secretary finished clocking out, gathering their things.
Before leaving, the Head Nurse absentmindedly turned back toward the rabbit.
“Hey, Intern. Will you be alright working alone?”
The Intern opened their mouth.
But they never got the chance to answer.
“Don’t worry about them!” the Secretary interrupted. “There aren’t any patients right now, and they won’t be alone anyway. Secret Agent’s coming in.”
The Head Nurse blinked.
“Oh.”
She seemed to remember something.
“Hm. I suppose you’re right.”
The two of them headed toward the doors.
“Have a good shift!” the Head Nurse called.
“Try not to die,” the Secretary added.
The doors slid shut behind them with a soft hiss.
Silence settled over the hospital.
The Intern stood in the middle of reception.
“…Secret Agent?”
They had heard the name before.
A lot, actually.
Mostly in whispers.
Apparently, Secret Agent could spot an anomaly from across the room. Apparently, they carried a gun. Apparently, they had once shot a Mimic before anyone else had even realized it was there.
The stories changed depending on who was telling them.
Some said Secret Agent had worked at Animal Hospital for years.
Others swore they had only appeared a few months ago.
The Nurse had even claimed they didn’t sleep.
The Intern had no idea which stories were true.
But they did know one thing.
Everyone talked about Secret Agent like they were some kind of ghost.
The rabbit glanced around the empty lobby.
The lights flickered.
Some machine beeped.
The coffee machine gurgled.
Maybe they are a ghost.
The thought made them snort.
No, that was ridiculous.
Probably.
Still…
They’d never actually met Secret Agent before.
Not once.
Which was odd.
Animal Hospital wasn’t exactly a huge workplace. Everyone ran into everyone else eventually, even the Intern, and they hadn’t been working there very long.
Yet somehow, despite hearing their name countless times, the Intern had never seen them.
Curiosity prickled at the back of their mind.
The rabbit wandered behind the reception desk and leaned over the counter.
There was a clipboard sitting there.
Someone had scribbled the upcoming shift schedule onto it.
Their eyes skimmed down the list:
Secretary.
Head Nurse.
—
Intern.
…
Secret Agent.
The name had been written in sharp, neat handwriting.
The Intern stared at it for a moment.
Then they smiled.
Well.
This was gonna be a fun shift.
⸻
The hospital fell quiet again.
Not truly quiet, of course.
The lights still buzzed overhead. A vent rattled somewhere in the ceiling. The coffee machine let out an occasional burble, as if it were digesting something.
The Intern drummed their fingers against the reception desk, waiting.
Then stopped.
They heard footsteps.
Slow.
Measured.
Thump.
Thump.
Click.
They perked up immediately, ears standing tilting upwards.
“Oh! That must be—”
The lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
The footsteps stopped.
The Intern leaned over the counter, peering into the dim hallway.
Nobody.
“Huh.”
The rabbit frowned.
Had they imagined it?
Another soft thump echoed from somewhere farther down the corridor.
Then another.
The footsteps had somehow moved.
The Intern squinted into the darkness.
“…Hello?”
No answer.
The security cameras monitor behind them crackled with static.
The rabbit jumped nearly a foot in the air.
“Oh, that’s never happened before.”
The screen flashed white for a split second.
When it returned to normal, the hallway camera was empty.
The Intern frowned.
Then a voice spoke from directly behind them.
“It’s dangerous to keep your back to the counter.”
The rabbit yelped.
They spun around so quickly they nearly knocked over the coffe pot.
Someone was standing on the other side of the check-in window.
A fully black cat stared back at them.
Pointy ears.
Black vest.
White collared shirt.
A tie so perfectly straight it looked ironed into place.
And his eyes.
Bright yellow feline eyes, thin and sharp.
The Intern had absolutely no idea how they had gotten there.
They hadn’t heard the front doors open.
The hallway seemed empty.
The cat simply watched the confused bunny.
Calm.
Silent.
The rabbit blinked, nervously fiddling with the strings of their hoodie.
“…You appeared out of nowhere.”
The stranger tilted their head ever so slightly. The Intern’s mouth twitched at the oddly cute gesture.
“No, I walked here.”
“Oh.”
The bunny paused.
“Well, you walk really quietly.” Intern tried again akwardly.
The cats ears twitched minutely.
“Thank you.”
The rabbit’s smile widened in realization.
“Oh! You’re Secret Agent, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Hi! I’m Intern!”
“I know.”
“Oh.”
The rabbit’s ears twitched.
Did everyone know who they were?
That's a little unsettling.
Secret Agent glanced toward the door beside the reception desk.
“May I come in?”
“Oh! Right!”
The Intern nearly jumped.
They hurried toward the small side door that led behind the counter.
There was only one problem.
The handle wouldn’t budge.
The rabbit frowned.
“…Huh.”
They jiggled it.
Nothing.
They tried turning it the other way.
Still nothing.
A little harder.
Nothing.
Silence settled over the lobby.
The Intern laughed nervously.
“Haha. I promise it worked yesterday.”
The Secret Agent watched them.
The rabbit put both hands on the handle.
Twisted.
Pulled.
Pushed.
The door remained firmly shut.
“Uh…” The Intern grunted. “Are you holding the handle on your side too?”
“…Not holding.”
“Oh. Good.”
They paused.
“…I think.”
They gave the handle one final, desperate yank.
The door swung inward so suddenly that the rabbit stumbled backward with a yelp.
The Agent reached out on instinct, catching them by the front of their hoodie before they could hit the floor.
For a brief second, they simply stared at each other.
The rabbit’s nose twitched, catching the scent of the paw still clutching their hoodie.
Huh.
He smelled nice.
Weird.
After making sure the bunny wasn’t going to fall, the Agent slowly let go.
“…Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
For someone everyone described as terrifying, he’s surprisingly polite.
The rabbit straightened their hoodie.
“So, uh… that was embarrassing.”
The Secret Agent gave a small shrug.
“It happens.”
“Does it happen to you?”
“No.”
“Oh.”
The Intern’s ears drooped.
Then immediately perked back up.
“Well! Come on in!”
The Agent stepped behind the counter.
The rabbit couldn’t help but notice how he immediately looked at everything.
The clipboard.
The cameras.
The coffee machine.
The stack of patient forms.
Even the corners of the room.
As though checking that everything was exactly where it was supposed to be.
As though he expected something to be wrong.
The thought made the rabbit tilt their head.
Interesting.
After surverying the room the cat stared at the intern.
Not rude.
Not angry.
Just… studying.
The Intern resisted the urge to wave a hand in front of his face.
“Do I have something on my face?”
“No.”
“…Is my fur messy?”
“No..?”
“…Do I have green slime on my shoe again?”
Secret agent paused looking down at Interns feet.
“…No.”
“Then why are you staring at me?”
The Secret Agent blinked once.
“I’ve never seen you before.”
The rabbit brightened.
“Oh! Me neither.”
“…Yes.”
The Intern wasn’t entirely sure what that response meant.
An awkward silence settled between the two animals.
After standing still for a second, the Agent reached into his vest pulling out some mechanical device.
The Intern’s eyes widened.
A scanner.
The little device hummed softly in his paw.
The rabbit leaned forward.
“Ooo, is that an anomaly scanner?”
“Yes.”
“Can I hold it?”
“No.”
“Can I look at it?”
“No.”
“Can I—”
“No.”
The Intern huffed, turning away to hide the smile tugging at their face.
Fun to tease.
As they silently snickered, something caught their eye.
The scanner.
Its screen flashed.
Just once.
A sharp, red pulse.
The Agent froze.
For the first time since he’d arrived, his expression turned serious.
His gaze swept the lobby.
The empty hallway.
The reception desk.
The dark corners of the room.
Then...
he looked directly at the Intern.
Not through them.
At them.
The rabbit’s back stiffened.
Their smile nearly faltered.
Oh shit.
That can’t be good.
The Intern suddenly had a very bad feeling about what the scanner had shown.
For one horrible second, instinct screamed at them to run.
Instead, they stepped closer.
They tilted their head and leaned in, trying to peer at the screen.
“Huh? Did it do something? That’s so cool!”
Silence.
The Agent didn’t move.
The yellow of his eyes seemed brighter somehow.
Then the scanner’s screen went black.
A heartbeat later, it flickered back to normal.
The Agent slowly slipped the scanner back into his vest.
The tension in the rabbit’s shoulders eased.
“No.”
“Oh.”
The Intern smiled.
“Aw, man. I would’ve loved to see it in action.”
The Secret Agent continued staring at them.
A long moment passed.
Then he said quietly,
“…You’ll get the chance.”
Something about the way he said it made the rabbit’s ears twitch.
The overhead lights flickered again.
Neither of them looked up.
Finally, the Agent turned away from the Intern.
“The shift is going to officially start in three minutes.”
The rabbit blinked.
“Yeah?”
“So let’s make a plan for the shift.”
The Intern played dumb on purpose.
“Oh! We’re working together?”
Secret Agent eyed the bunny confusedly.
“Yes, it says in the shift schedule.”
The Intern hurried around the desk, nearly tripping over their own feet in excitement.
They caught up beside the Agent, keeping close to his side.
For a few moments, neither of them spoke.
But the Intern, never one to stew in silence, asked, “Do you carry the gun all the time?”
“Yes.”
“Have you shot a lot of anomalies?”
“Yes.”
“Have you ever shot a person?”
The Agent glanced at them.
“No.”
“Wow! You must be super-duper skilled with the gun to have never hit anyone else!” Intern said their voice full of praise and amazement.
The cat looked away.
His ears lowered slightly, an expression the Intern couldn’t decipher.
A moment passed.
Then, so quietly that the rabbit almost missed it..
“…Mmm.”
The grumble sounded strangely cute, at least to the Intern’s ears.
The Intern glanced at him.
The Agent’s expression hadn’t changed.
But his gently swaying tail betrayed him.
The rabbit smirked.
They knew how to butter people up.
It came in handy when dealing with unruly patients.
“…So,” the rabbit said brightly, “what’s our plan?”
The yellow eyes shifted toward them.
And, for the briefest moment, the Agent looked almost amused.
“First,” he said, “we wait for the patients.”
A distant bell chimed somewhere deeper in the hospital.
The shift had begun.
The Intern smiled, a wide smile.
This was going to be a fun night.
Beside them, the Secret Agent looked toward the darkened hallway, tail twitching once.
“…I hope so.”
The rabbit looked up.
“Huh?”
“Nothing.”
A fun night indeed.