Nero laid back in his bed, staring at the ceiling. For once, his apartment was empty, but sleep wasn't coming. It was too quiet for him. Maria hadn't shown up in class today. He pulled out his phone again, fully opening the messenger. He clicked the lock button on the side of the phone, watching it go dark as it rolled back up. He got up from his bed, scratching at his head.

"Fuck!"

There was no one to hear him yell, but he yelled anyway. He tried to slip his shoes on, but had to fish out the heels of them after just shoving his feet in didn't quite work. He slammed the door behind him as he went out, venturing out into the calm midnight air. He went down the empty stairs, down into the sparsely filled streets below.

He looked around, letting his mind wander as he tried to let his feet take him around. He looked at the other people walking around him, watching them look away if their gazes met. They were all hunched over, shutting out the world around them.

He watched each of them walk past, until he locked eyes with a girl, looking a little younger than himself, maybe still in high school. She wore a simple white sundress, with wide straps going over her shoulders. Her hair was jet black and shining in the many street lights. She watched him with a blank expression and even stopped walking entirely. A long bandage was wrapped around her right arm, from the hand right up to the elbow.

He looked away, but it was too late. The girl was walking straight towards him, with her eyes locked on. He couldn't help but look back again.

"You are outside," she said.

Nero didn't respond, unable to think of a response to such a simple statement. He opened his mouth, ready to let out a half-hearted 'yeah', but stopped.

"We did not expect this. Why are you outside?"

She had continued the conversation for him. He latched on to that 'we' she had used. He didn't want to go for that immediately. Instead, he settled on a safe option.

"Do I know you?"

"No, you do not know us."

Others were walking around them, some giving sideways glances while others made it a point not to.

"You have created a problem for us, Nero."

"How do you know my name?" he said, not waiting for his brain to catch up this time.

She tilted her head sideways in response, a perfect thirty degree angle.

He decided to repeat his question. "How do you-"

"You are Nero Satou. We stole your phone and read your name."

Nero reached down into his pocket, feeling the familiar object between his fingers. It was still there.

"What do you mean? I still have my phone."

"Yes. We returned it."

Nero started walking backwards, half a step at a time. His mind started racing through the possibilities of how dangerous this person could be.

"Stop," she said.

Nero stopped in place, his foot halfway touching down behind him. "What do you want from me?" he asked.

"We want to talk."

"Who is we?"

"We are we. This is us."

"Where are the others?"

"There are no others. It is just us here, wandering without command."

"What do you mean?" He couldn't quite connect the dots of what she had said.

"We were told to go away. So we did. We were curious about yourself, however. We intended to knock politely. Would you take us back to your apartment? The street is not a very suitable place for a conversation."

Nero didn't move, trying to think of a way out.

"Should we take the lead?" she asked, already stepping around him.

He followed along silently as they walked back towards his apartment. It wasn't long, as he had barely gotten two blocks down the street. As they went up the stairs, a light bit of rain came down onto the street before fizzling out a few seconds later. He held open his door for her, watching her walk past him.

Now that he had a visitor, images of the filthy room he had before flashed through his mind, with the piles of cans on the floor and the mounds of clothes on the bed. They disappeared, as the inside was clean, free of the debris. He hadn't managed to mess up Don's housework to a meaningful degree yet. He went in behind her, letting that anxiety leave him.

"Nero."

He waited for a follow up for a few seconds. "What?" he said, not getting one.

"We want to know why you continue to live."

Nero let his eyes dart around, trying to think through what that meant. It didn't seem to be 'Why don't you just die.' He decided to stay silent. He sat down on the foot of the bed, watching her stand.

After an agonizing forty seconds, she said, "You don't have a power. You show many characteristics of chronic depression and have no hope for the future. Why do you continue to live?"

"You can't just ask someone that."

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"Why?"

"Well why do you continue to live?" he snapped back, thinking he was clever.

She paused for a moment, continuing to stare into his eyes. "We would be sad if we died, but we don't understand why. We are just a tool. We cause so much pain in the lives of others. We have no happiness, and yet... We don't want to die. We don't understand it. We have not been the same since he died."

"So why did you come here?" he continued, trying to get the conversation off of that landmine as quickly as possible.

"To understand you."

"You know. I think no one in this city really understands me. It's pretty lonely at the bottom."

"You caused an issue for us by having that friend. You still say you are lonely?"

"Oh, you had something to do with that? Kidnapping Maria?"

"Tangentially."

"Can you talk like a normal person? I don't know anyone who says things like 'tangentially' like that."

"No. We are not a normal person. We just came here to talk today. We bear no ill will." She gave a very brief smile, a gentle smile with her eyes closed, returning it right back to a blank slate.

"Fine. Do you still need me to answer your stupid question?"

"Yes."

Nero let out a sigh. "Because I don't want to die. I put so much effort into getting here. Why would I throw away my progress over a setback like this? Maybe I'll even find something to make me happy. Maybe I'll just move back off the island and be just a normal person. Sure I mean sometimes I get into a rut and... stay there... but that's just a thing, not who I am. Forget it, it doesn't matter."

She stood there, staring past him, her eyes fixed on the horizon.

"Does that answer your question?" he said, getting off the bed.

"Yes."

"I have a question for you then."

"Very well."

"What happened to Fetter?"

"We can't tell you."

Nero frowned. The answer felt like she knew something.

"Fine, what's your name?"

Her blank expression melted into a slight smile. "Alcina. Would you like to see the night with us?"

Nero looked down at his hands and balled them up into fists. He wanted out of this uncomfortable situation, but he couldn't bring himself to risk it. He had no power to say no.

***

Cyrus Rogers slammed the slim phone down onto his desk, causing the screen to wrap around the edge of the desk before coiling back into the case. Ira and Arnold sat in front of him, with quite a bit of space between them.

"The mayors are making their moves. The useless trash in District 13 haven't done anything for us, and the IMB is still on high alert. We can't move our extra products like this, and Joseph made a fucking scene as extra icing on the cake. Ira?" Cyrus said, rubbing his temple with his hand.

"I apologize for being unable to watch him, however regarding District-"

"I don't want to hear excuses about how he performed the infiltration correctly. The mission was a failure. Both of you are here, because despite being my two hands, you failed me. I've spent the last two days trying to clean up this mess. The operation in District 13 is costing us tens of thousands, and the fiasco at the campus has halted our main profits."

"Sir, if I may, our involvement at the campus hasn't been-"

"I don't want to hear it Arnold. That doesn't solve the issues at hand."

"Yes sir."

The wall of screens behind Cyrus flickered for a moment. He dragged his hands down his face, pulling his eyelids down for a moment, before letting them snap back up. "Where's Alcina?"

"She left, as you told her to," Ira said.

"Goddammit. I needed her here for the meeting."

"We could relay information to her through one of her bodies," Ira suggested.

"Call one of them in here. Actually, wait, I've got it." Cyrus clicked a button on the underside of his desk, lowering his head towards it. "Send a janitor to conference room alpha."

"How do you know you'll get one that's one of Alcina's?" asked Ira.

"I know. I always know. It's how it goes. It'll just work out." Cyrus said, slapping his hands down on the desk to punctuate his sentences.

"Cyrus!" Ira yelled, standing up with a grinding screech of her chair against the floor. "Stop with this idiocy. You are not omnipotent."

"I just called for someone, it's not that serious."

"That's not what I'm saying and you know it."

"I've done so much for you, and this is how you repay me?"

"Listen to yourself before you become a fool. I am not as young as I once was."

Arnold shrunk back in his chair, looking at Ira with wide eyes. Cyrus locked his fingers together, resting his eyes behind his hands.

"I... see," he said, dropping his hands flat against the desk again.

Ira sat back down, pulling the chair in behind her with her foot. "Your power is a bonus, not the basics. Remember that. We can't solely rely on it."

They sat there in silence for a few seconds, until a knock at the door broke it. An older man, with a silver mustache entered the room, dressed in a dark blue worker's outfit. He pulled a yellow cart behind him, loaded up with cleaning supplies.

"Alcina?" Cyrus asked.

"I guess? I was told you needed a janitor. There is some sort of a connection between us. Is that what you wanted me for?"

"I see," he said quietly. "Where is your main body? The girl."

"I wouldn't really call her a main body, but she is shutting out information to the rest of us right now."

"That's possible?" he asked, surprised.

"Only the one way. She will receive whatever information you want her to. It's weird for me to think that everything I think goes to her, but... that's enough of this old man talking."

"Okay." Cyrus cleared his throat. "Alcina, I'd like for you to return here as soon as possible."

The janitor's face went blank, a bit strange with the character of his large mustache. "No."

"Why not?"

"We are showing someone our favorite spots in the city."

"What do you mean? Who?"

"We don't want to tell you. Goodbye."

The man shook his head vigorously, shrugging his shoulders before it mellowed back to his normal slouched posture.

"Alcina!"

"Cyrus," Ira said. "I don't think we should be forcefully interrupting the girl's date."

"I don't think a girl like that could go on a date," said Arnold, trying to rejoin the conversation.

Cyrus locked eyes with Ira. "I've been getting too hasty with my plan. I feel like I need to get it done as soon as I can. That at any moment, it could all come crumbling down."

"It's never too late for you," she answered.

"It will be. Eventually."

"Then we really need to think of a proper plan," she said. "We can't throw out any of our assets just because it's convenient."

"Fine. I'll consider the actions outside of my power to not be a complete failure so far."

"You already have a plan, don't you?" Ira said with a smirk.

"You know me so well."

"It has been fifteen years. It wouldn't be right if I didn't pick up a few of my own tricks."

"We have three pieces of the puzzle so far. I still can't figure out quite how to get it to all work. I want to get the IMB off our backs, and keep them off. I know they have their elections coming up soon, and that woman, Sharp, is a ruthless cut-throat in politics. I think if we throw her a bone, we'll have the time for her to chew on it."

"What is your plan, sir?" Arnold asked.

"Get our friend in District 13 a reward for his services. Let him unify the district. Then let the IMB try and deal with it."

"You want to use him as bait?" asked Ira, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"If. If he does well, it will be all he wanted."

"And if he doesn't?"

"Well, then that's as far as he went."