I stared at the giant teddy bear laying in the corner of the living room, completely unsure how I felt about the thing. When I started giving out the ID tags to the local stuffie production team, they were so thrilled they gifted me with one of their prototypes. I didn’t think much of it. I just passed it on to Issi and put it from my mind. Then it happened again. And again. Soon I was receiving the first version of every type of bear being produced.

When I complained to Jane, she just looked at me and told me that ‘you can never have enough bears’. This was when she was mad at me for filling the shelter with extra bears, so I lost my only possible ally in this, and since I was unsure how to reject their generosity, I just let it continue.

The latest model was a life-sized version of Bob, complete with plush combat armor and piledrivers. It was so large and awkward, I could barely carry it. On one hand, I knew Issi would love it; on the other, if I didn’t put my foot down soon, the residence would be swimming in more bears than my garage.

I stared at the thing for a few minutes, trying to decide what to do with it, when I received a call to my augs. It was a familiar number, but not one I ever expected to see again.

“Helen, what a surprise,” I started. “Did the Family finally reinstate your phone privileges?”

“Teddy! My favorite undercity frenemy! I’ve been in therapy, not prison,” the woman chirped back.

“Same thing, as far as I’m concerned,” I grumbled. “Why, may I ask, are you calling?”

“Because Mirage has asked for my help investigating something, and you were the first person I thought of when he explained the situation,” Helen said in a far too friendly voice.

“Bullshit!” I yelled before realizing where I was. Thankfully, the kids weren’t around.

“It’s true! I take it you haven’t been keeping up with the news. The strikes in the southern industrial zones? I thought you’d have bears everywhere by now,” Helen said.

“Just because I send them everywhere doesn’t mean I can monitor every little thing that happens,” I growled. “Only a select few bears can be fully active at one time. The rest run preset orders and only update me when there are antithesis or when they’re attacked.”

“Pity, what about those squirrels of yours then? Do you still have them spread all over the undercity?”

“What the fuck is this about? I feel like you’re intentionally dancing around something, and I’m already tired of it,” I practically yelled.

“Why… I’m talking about the safety of our entire city, Tedward. I wouldn’t bother you for something minor,” Helen said sweetly.

“I already have a headache,” I mumbled. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the intentional, systematic breakdown of our city’s systems by some insidious ne’er do well,” Helen explained theatrically.

“I’m hanging up now,” I said.

“Hold on a minute!” Helen snapped. “This is a lot less fun if you don’t let me milk it.” She sighed. “Zetta has found evidence of someone trying to sabotage the city. They’ve been fucking with everything from the bureaucratic systems to corporate bottom lines. Mirage thinks that whoever is behind it all is currently agitating the workers and causing unrest in the southern industrial center, and he’s asked me to investigate. As much as I hate to admit it, I could use your support. You’ve got the tech to watch for unusual activity while I talk to the people involved.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Why you? Why not Squiddy or Bright? Why does it have to be you?” I growled.

“Because I know the area, and everyone else is currently running around trying to keep the city from falling apart,” Helen explained. “You and I are independent agents, unknown factors. We can investigate without attracting as much attention as a Family agent.”

“Speak for yourself. I find wandering around with an eight-foot-tall, teddy-bear-shaped force of destruction usually attracts a lot of attention.”

“Look, I’m trying to be serious here!” Helen snapped. “I know you don’t like me, but I’m not asking for the world. Just a couple days of your time providing surveillance while I walk around talking to the locals. Once we identify the agitator, we’ll be done.”

“I still don’t understand how you convinced Mirage to trust you or why helping the corps with their labour issues protects the city. It all sounds pretty suspicious to me,” I said.

“Like it or not, the corps are the lifeblood of this city. They not only employ the majority of the citizens, but they also handle all the city management and pay for the PMCs. Look at all the chaos that’s happened since Global Rare-Earth fell,” Helen explained. “If the corps go down, the city goes with it.”

“And Mirage let you off your leash just because he was worried?” I asked suspiciously. “That doesn’t sound like him.”

“It was more that we struck a deal between the two of us. I was going stir crazy being under constant surveillance while being forced to attend those fucking mandatory therapy sessions, and he needed an outsider to investigate. If I prove I can be trusted to perform some simple jobs, he’ll lessen the restrictions on me,” Helen explained.

“Now THAT sounds like him,” I admitted.

“So, will you help me?” Helen asked.

I thought about it for a while. I didn’t really want to help Helen, but I didn’t like the idea of leaving her alone during the investigation. “Fine,” I said.

“Wonderful! Thank you for trusting me,” she replied brightly.

“Oh, I don’t fucking trust you. I’m doing this to keep an eye on you, to make sure you don’t try anything while you’re ‘investigating’,” I said.

“Well then… I guess that’s also fine,” Helen replied. I could tell by her voice that she was surprised by my declaration. “As long as you provide me with situation reports while you watch, I can live with that.”

“Wonderful!” I said, mocking her tone from earlier. “Where and when are we starting this investigation of yours?”

“I need a day to prepare, so first thing Wednesday. I’ll meet you in Sector Eighty-Two’s market. We should be far enough from the industrial district to avoid attracting any attention from our quarry,” Helen suggested.

“That’s fine, I’ll see you then,” I replied before cutting the connection.

I sighed and collapsed onto my couch. The absolute last thing that I wanted to do was babysit Helen for a few days, but if Mirage was desperate enough to use her in an operation, things must have been pretty dire up top. I’d have to ask Sharron the next time I saw her.

“Nyx, what do you think? Are things as serious as she claims?”

The situation in the city does seem abnormal right now. I’ve cross-referenced all the major incidents that have been reported by the news outlets with the situations beforehand, and the data points to someone manipulating these events for their own ends. I don’t have enough data to establish if this person is local or working for an external source.

“Great… just when I thought things were getting better around here, someone shows up and wants to burn everything down,” I grumbled. “I hope Helen is able to identify the culprit before things get any worse.”

Doubtful. In previous cases where the authorities were able to arrest the agitator, they found the person was independent, and there was no trace to a third party.

“Can’t you just pretend there's a chance?” I moaned. “I really don’t want this to turn into a thing.”

There is a chance. It’s exceedingly miniscule, but it exists.

“You’re terrible at providing emotional support,” I chuckled as I rolled over.

But you did laugh, Nyx pointed out.

“Shut up”