Silence. One of them was speechless from confusion, the other one from indignation—along with a healthy dose of suspicion.

As a bona fide culprit of a home invasion, that awkward moment resulting from being accosted by the owner gave Milanor a period full of contemplation.

"Ahem... Pardon my intrusion?"

And he decided to take the first action.

He mimicked being an elite concierge serving a VIP in a luxurious hotel, then followed his words with an amiable "Are you the tenant, Miss?"

Milanor, you see, was trying to blow the tension by acting like a gentleman.

"You think polite words will excuse you that easily?" It didn't work. He needed a change of plan.

The girl's hand seemed to move under her cloak, likely to pick something up from her pocket.

"Ah, I mean no harm!" Milanor quickly raised his hands. For Plan B, he learned early on that making yourself look vulnerable could work in lowering tension as well. "I am in need of shelter," he admitted truthfully.

Honesty is best, as they said. Especially when you were the guilty one. It could reduce your sentence.

"Shelter...? That commotion outside?" She seemed to be aware of the men running around the district. "...You with them?"

"Uh, no. They do want my company, but I prefer not to indulge them."

"Whatever. Get away from my desk," she warned while approaching him. "And get the heck outta here." The suspicion from before turned into a reproaching glare.

"Wait, calm down!" Milanor implored. "I just need to be kept hidden here until they give up on me, okay? I'll pay you, how about it?" Sensing another failure, he readily abandoned the honest policy.

"Captain, you are in no position to promise payment or reimbursement whatsoever," Miledi came up with the completely unsolicited fair warning, which wasn't completely fair for everyone involved.

"I'd find a way to pay her back someday...!"

"It is not a good manner to pledge anything without any form of backing."

The duo started bickering again in hushed voices.

The girl stopped her approach after she heard Miledi, "Captain...?" she said, scrutinizing Milanor.

"Ah, well, I'm—" he tried to explain himself, but before he could a blaring beeping sound could be heard coming somewhere from the girl. Beep Beep Beep. It sounded like an alarm.

"Huh—!?" The girl herself looked surprised. Before he could ask what was wrong the door to the room was blasted open. BAM! A bunch of menacing shade-wearing dudes was standing outside the wrenched door.

Milanor quickly deduced the situation and tried to shield the girl, walking around her to put himself between them.

It was clear they didn't intend to have a peaceful confrontation, so he once again gripped the gun in his holster. However, the guy in front of the group took no step into the room, instead, he picked something up from behind him. It was a round, small metallic ball.

Shock grenade?! These guys are the real deal! Milanor panicked. It was not something a plain group of underground hired goons could have. These guys were professionals.

Milanor's body moved on its own. He spread his arm wide and made himself as big a target as he could. It was all unconscious action. The object he tried to protect? The still turned-on holotab directly behind him.

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He could see the girl was trying to do the same. But unlike him, she turned her back to the grenade. Better stance, he supposed. Still, for reasons only they knew, they both decided that protecting the darn thing was of the utmost importance.

Wait, I can do something about this! He struck an epiphany. Or rather, he remembered that he had himself equipped with just the right gadget perfectly suited to deal with the situation. 'To err is human,' having the occasional lapse in judgment, more human still.

Milanor activated his instantaneous molecular shielding masquerading as the belt of his pants. It provided brief protection against attacks of electromagnetic nature. A faint blue membrane flickered in front of him, and he closed his eyes.

Bzzzztt!!!

The grenade pulsed with a blinding light, delivering a dangerous amount of electricity around the room. The shield deployed protected Milanor and the girl though, as well as the area directly behind them. The rest of the room was trashed.

Seeing that their target intercepted the attack, the men finally stepped into the room, brandishing their guns. Milanor returned back to his senses and grimaced.

"Ah, whatever!" He raised his left arm and activated the Burst Jammer integrated into his PAW that he had used as a lock-picking tool earlier. It operated similarly to the shock grenade, only way weaker and briefer in effect, but blinding them and disabling their guns for a few seconds was still a tremendous advantage.

An intense light flashed into the men's eyes and they staggered. Milanor used the chance to dash toward them and pulled his close-quarter weapon, a plasma-layered blade. It was disabled due to the jammer, but Milanor didn't really want to maim them over this anyway, so he used the blunt edge.

"Guuh!!"

"What the—!!"

They were surprised at the fierce resistance. Milanor smacked the first guy in the center, right in the stomach, doubling him over. Then, he caught the second guy's arm right beside him and pulled hard. Milanor hit the back of his neck when he stumbled, knocking him out.

It might be a surprise to see him being so capable of self-defense, but people need to remember that Milanor was actually an experienced spacer. He even once had a stint at a private military company. Subduing armed attackers was well within his faculty.

Back to the fight, only one of the men was left standing in the room, while the last one was still outside, standing guard. It seemed their sight had recovered. Milanor tackled the closer man while he was still confused and then elbow-dropped him when he fell down.

The fella outside finally stepped into the room. Milanor took advantage of his low position to rush toward his legs. Startled, he attempted to kick him, although his effort just made it easier for Milanor to grab his leg. The man easily fell over once Milanor pulled, and he casually bashed his head afterward, knocking him unconscious.

"Alright, now only..." Milanor slowly turned around to address the first dude he attacked, who should still be crouched down and clutching his stomach.

Kick! A painful sensation raced through his abdomen, and Milanor was knocked backward. "Guh!?" He crashed into the wall of the room.

The first tango Milanor struck had recovered and kicked him hard. He was apparently one tough dude, and Milanor regretted he didn't put more force into his attack.

What was that about him being good at self-defense? Well, people do make mistakes here and then, even professionals. Still, it could be said that Milanor, unfortunately, made quite a lot one today.

Without saying anything, the man approached him and grabbed the collar of his clothes. His strong hands gripped his neck in a chokehold. It was obvious what he was trying to do.

"Gaaah!!" Milanor struggled to break free, clawing with his own hands to release the death grip. His consciousness was starting to slip away, when...

"Go, Lynx!"

Who's Lynx? he wondered through his foggy mind. In the corner of his vision, Milanor saw the girl throw something with both of her hands. A ball perhaps. It was larger than the grenade from before, and it glistened with a silvery sheen.

Thunk

The ball whacked the man's head and bounced to the floor. Being that it was large as his head, it was brazenly impressive that he didn't seem to be in much pain. As suspected, the man was a somewhat hardy fellow. Probably thick-headed too. Loosening the grip he had on Milanor's neck, he turned around to check what hit him.

"Heh?" scoffed the man seeing the ball rolling around near his feet. But as he returned to strangle Milanor again, something unexpected occurred.

The ball transformed. First, it grew some...things resembling legs, then an animalistic head, two cute triangular pinnae, and lastly a slithery tail.

Put more simply, it changed into some sort of animal robot. An animatronic.

W-Was that, a giant ass metal PokéBa— Milanor didn't manage to finish his notion before the animatronic released a disconcerting sound like the buzz of electricity. Sensing imminent danger, he saw sparkles of lightning inside its open mouth.

It was aimed straight at the man. Or rather, at them both. Two-in-one, catch 'em all, double snag, et cetera.

And it was super effective!

...

So for the third time in the last hour or so, a shock pulse rattled this inconspicuous room hidden under the bustle of the Asteroid City. Though Milanor wouldn't be the one to realize this, as he regrettably fell unconscious along with all the assailants.

Regrettable indeed.