"Agent Johnson!" Director Sharp's voice rung out through the cubicles.

Grant stood up rapidly, sending his chair spinning around behind him. "Yes sir!"

"How's your case going?"

"I'm making progress. The fake wall was gone last time I visited-"

"Good. I saw you contracted a private investigator. You still haven't heard from Fetter Young?"

"I have not."

"Hmm." She looked past Grant, darting her eyes between the papers on his desk. "You are getting a special assignment. I want you to find out what happened to one Dr. Joseph Mendele. We have a lead on him in District 12. The rest of the info has already been sent to you. I expect resolution today."

As soon as she finished talking, she abruptly walked away. The rest of the office quickly returned to its quiet murmurs.

"Fuck..." Grant groaned quietly to himself.

Instead of sitting back down, he left the building. The sun was high in the sky, beating straight down on him. A few people walked past, but no one gave him a second glance. He pulled out his phone, and quickly dialed Fetter.

"Hello?" he asked as soon as he heard the pickup.

"Yeah?" Fetter asked back.

"I just got assigned something ridiculous. I'm going to need your help. We might not even be enough though."

"What the hell is it that we might not be enough?"

"Mendele."

Fetter paused for a moment. "What the fuck?"

"Yeah I know. I wouldn't be able to touch him on my own." Grant took off his suit jacket, really feeling the midday sun now. He tucked in under his arm.

"Why were you assigned this? That's basically suicide."

Grant started walking down the street, towards the shuttle station. "It might be a punishment. Nero got in trouble last night. I pulled a seniority card and got him off the hook. Turned out Director Sharp was there in person interrogating him."

"The bitch was with Nero? What'd he do?"

"He was on his way back from District 13 I guess. He got caught at the border, on the District 12 side though, so it should be fine."

"It's still a bad idea to be on her radar."

"I know." Grant switched which side he was holding the phone on. "I know, but right now we need to focus on Mendele."

"He fucked with my brother. Of course I'd help you. We still get the bounty, right?"

"Yeah. Agents can claim bounties. You should know that."

"I don't know. You said this was a punishment."

"I'll quit if they do that. I like money, but I also like being alive. I'm getting on a shuttle now, so I'm gonna let you go. I'll call you when I get there. South side of District 12."

Before getting an answer, Grant hung up the phone. He glanced at the clock in the top corner before putting it back into his pocket. He made his way into the shuttle, carefully moving his huge frame around the crowd.

***

Nero bolted awake as he heard the sound of his door shut. Through his bleary eyes, he spotted a shape moving, and then a wave of adrenaline hit him. Standing inside his apartment was Alcina, staring at him with her blank eyes. She was still dressed in her simple white sundress, with her sleek black hair. She looked like a ghost, staring at him in the dark. His body was telling him to run.

"What are you doing here?" he asked quickly as he tried to calm his breathing.

She stood there until Nero stopped hyperventilating. "We wanted to talk to you."

"Why are you in my house. I was sleeping. You almost gave me a heart attack."

She tilted her head. "Your heart rate is indeed increased, but you do not seem to be experiencing arrhythmia."

"That wasn't literal. Why did you come here?"

"We've been sent to do something dangerous, and we are afraid."

"You are afraid? Aren't you like super strong?"

"Yes. That's not why we are afraid. We have been told to join with another person."

"Are they stronger than you or something?" Nero threw his blanket to the side as he rubbed his eyes.

"No."

"Sorry for the mess."

He shambled over, kicking over a couple cans. Then tried to start picking them up. Alcina, seeing this, let her tentacles out behind her. They moved around along the floor, tapping against the trash, causing it to vanish into white flakes one can at a time.

"What are you doing? You don't have to clean."

"We are simply putting it somewhere else."

"What? Where?"

"An empty space."

"I'm sorry, I'm derailing what you were talking about."

"No. We'd like your full attention before we continue."

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Nero sat back down on his bed. "I'm listening. I'm listening."

"We are afraid." She stared at Nero, waiting.

"Here." Nero patted the end of the bed next to him. "Come sit down. It's awkward for you to just be standing."

She moved over, and slowly sat down on the bed. "We don't know how we will change if we do this. We can feel it happening already. We hate it. It's not what we want."

"Then don't do it."

"What?" She tilted her head. "We need to. We cannot be normal if we don't. We can't..."

"Will you really be normal if you do?"

She looked down at the floor. "No, but it gives us a chance."

"If you succeed at fixing whatever you think is wrong, are you sure these changes won't be permanent? Like, that's something super important."

"We don't know."

"Why did you come to talk to me about this anyways? Do you not have anyone else to talk to?"

"We... do. We did not want to talk to her about this. It felt wrong."

"And talking to me didn't? I don't get it. You barely know me."

"We do barely know you. It's because we barely know you. We do not have to stay around you. We do not have to worry about what you think. We have no risk. We just wanted to... talk, to tell someone."

"I'm not doing so well myself."

"Why not?"

"My friend's father died yesterday. While I was visiting her."

"We are sorry."

"You weren't involved." Nero stood up from his bed, stumbling over towards the fridge. "Do you want a soda?"

"Yes. We would like one."

Nero quickly fetched two green cans from inside the fridge. After handing over to Alcina, he popped his open and took a long sip.

"This is rather cold," said Alcina, switching her hands out with tentacles to hold the drink.

Nero sat down next to her again. "Her brother was the one that did it."

"What?"

"Killed her father. It was her own brother. I can't really understand why someone would do that. Why would they do something so terrible to someone that loves them?"

"Maybe he did not feel loved." She looked down at the sealed can she was holding.

"Are you not going to open it?"

She looked at Nero for a moment, before reaching in front of her with her hands to pop open the can. Using the tips of her fingers on the can, she guided it towards her mouth and took a small sip. "It's very sweet."

"Do you think Jack cared about you?"

"That is rather sudden to ask."

"I was just thinking about it because you said maybe he didn't feel loved. So do you think Jack cared about you?"

"Yes. He certainly cared for us."

"Do you miss him?"

Alcina sat still for a while. "We do not know. Your friend, the girl, is it Maria Rodriguez?"

Nero let out a awkward chuckle. "Yeah. I guess you do know who that is."

"So you were out in District 13?"

Nero didn't answer.

Alcina took another sip of her soda. "She is in a very dangerous position."

"I know that. I don't like it, but I know. There's nothing I can do about it."

"Do about what?"

"Keeping her safe."

"Would you not just kill anyone who threatens her?"

Nero jumped a little bit, spilling a bit of soda over his fingers. "Whoa! Where did that come from?"

"Do you want to protect her?"

"I mean, yeah."

"Then you should protect her. What else would matter?"

"That's not how you should act. You don't just kill people. That will just get you in trouble, or kill someone that didn't need to die. It's just wrong. Why would you... Forget it I'm not going to try and convince you."

She looked at him with a hint of earnest. "How else do you protect someone?"

"You just like... You- I don't know. You prevent the harm from coming to them, I guess? I don't know."

"Then go do that."

"I can't." Nero dug into his knee with his fingers.

"Why not?"

"I don't have any power! I just can't do that."

"Why would you need a power? You have other people to rely on." She sipped on her soda again, still looking at him with the same flat expression.

Nero let out a sigh, slowly turning it into a groan. "I'm sorry," he turned to Alcina, "but I think that you should leave now. I want to be alone."

Alcina paused, seemingly stunned. She lowered the can of soda to her side, and slowly, almost dramatically walked to the door. "Goodbye Nero. Thank you for talking to us," she said before stepping out.

Nero was left alone with his thoughts. He immediately regretted his decision to kick Alcina out and was almost berating himself over it. He threw himself backwards onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"I shouldn't have had that caffeine."

***

Ricardo slowly opened his eyes. He was on a bed, in a off-white room. He recognized it immediately as one of the patient rooms in the hospital. He turned his head over, letting a warm towel slide off his forehead. A woman was sitting in his room, dressed in a simple white blouse and tied back purple hair. The sleeves were rolled up, showing off her scar covered forearms. She was holding a book, elegantly propped up with just one hand as she slowly flipped the pages.

"Ira? Is that you?"

She was missing her bodysuit and signature cloak, but her jawline was just as sharp. She gave a smirk in response. "Good morning." She shut the book with a snap.

"What happened?"

"You succeeded, mostly. You got a few broken ribs, quite some blood loss, and a concussion. I'm glad you didn't end up in a coma."

"Where's Sebastian? What are you doing here?"

"Dead. He's currently sitting on the third floor."

"He is?"

"And I'm here taking care of you. No one else here wanted to."

"Where's Maria?"

"She left a little bit ago. Don't go chasing after her." She held out her hand, pressing it down against Ricardo as he tried to sit up on the bed.

"You aren't in good condition. We don't have Joseph to patch you up for free, so you have to recover the slow way. I might not be a doctor, but I'm prescribing a few days rest at least."

"I need to start working on the town. I can't just sit around resting."

"Yes you can. There's nothing you can do right now anyways. You think you are going to claim territory or anything like that?" She stood up, tossing the large book onto the counter in the corner with a thud.

Ricardo looked around with a frustrated grimace. "So what are you doing here?" he asked.

"Trying to keep you alive, I already said that."

"No, I mean, like, why?"

"There's nothing for free in this world. Why are you helping me? What do you have to gain from it?"

"I don't need to gain anything. I felt like I should, so I am. You got a problem with that? Punk?"

"Help me up." Ricardo held up his arm towards Ira.

"What? Why?"

"I need to pay my respects to Sebastian."

She paused for a moment, falling into thought. "Alright," she answered, before reaching around him to pull him up from the bed. He stood up, with Ira pulling almost his entire weight.

Once he was standing, he realized just how tall she was. Ricardo was just about average height, but he had to look up to see her face. She was about eight inches taller than him. Her arm looked soft, but once it was wrapped around his back, he could feel that it was packed with muscle.

"You better have something good to say," Ira said, walking Ricardo out of the room as his legs almost gave way under him.

"You alright?" she asked him, catching his slack.

"Yeah, just stood up too quickly and it hit me. Give me a second and I think I can move on my own."

Ricardo steadied his breathing, letting the dizziness pass by. Then he slowly raised himself up and let go of Ira's shoulder. They went up the stairs, passing by a woman who avoided eye contact on the second floor. At the third floor, Ira led him down the hall a bit, and finally into a door.

"Here we are," she said.

Ricardo stepped inside, immediately spotting dozens of carved trinkets and fake flowers scattered around the floor. A picture frame stood right at the foot of the bed, with a sketch of Sebastian's face drawn with a gentle smile.

"Of course everyone else loved you," Ricardo said.

He knelt down and picked up a wreath from around the picture frame. It was just made of orange and yellow paper, neatly folded into the shapes of flowers.

Once he set the wreath back down, he looked over at the bed. Sebastian was lying there, with the same gentle smile spread across his withered face. Ricardo couldn't help but see their last moments together, standing there together.

"I'm going to make sure to keep my word. I will change this place. I will make it better. Rest well, Father."

Ricardo stood up and walked back to Ira, returning back to his room.