Chapter Text
“Welcome to Lobotomy Corporation, Anastasia. My name is Laverne Miller. I am the Captain of the Training Team Department.”
Laverne walked towards Anastasia and extended an arm to the newbie, palms open.
“Nice to meet you, too. I look forward to working with you, Cap’n Laverne.”
Anastasia and Laverne exchanged handshakes like how Noah did. “Now that settles it.” Laverne yawned. “Drop the formalities, you can call me Laverne. I’ll call you Annie. Your name’s a chore to pronounce.”
“...Come again?” Anastasia questioned her sudden change of demeanor after their handshake. That wasn’t something she’d expect from a senior.
“We also have someone on board also named Anastasia, but we call her Anya instead. It’s because pronouncing her name is a chore too~”
“Uh… Huh.” Anastasia thought her captain was way too casual for one.
“Anyways~” Laverne walked past the group, stopping by a place that seemed like an armory of some sort. There were several clothes and weapons around it. “Anastasia, come on here for a bit.” Laverne’s hand waved. “You two stay and wait for a bit, okay?” She pointed her finger towards the rest of the group before entering the armory.
“Alright Annie, wear these. You should get changed in the closet nearby.” Laverne flung a set of armor towards Anastasia. As Laverne threw it to her face, it felt as light as a feather, despite the metal plates all around the piece of clothing.
Anastasia was holding a suit where its fabric was primarily navy blue accented by a creamy gray, and the armor plates being maroon in color. Anastasia was also given a baton in the shape of a cross, adorned by a skull in the middle. Something about the weapon felt divine. It took mere seconds for Anastasia to get dressed, leaving out the closet and armor with her new gear.
“Alright, now we’re all set!” Laverne headed for the hallways, simply by walking forward.
“Hey, wait a sec!” Laverne’s abrupt walking caught Anastasia off-guard. “Give me some time to take a look at myself, at least!” Anastasia was desperately trying to match Laverne’s pace. She was merely walking normally, yet she was so fast.
“Nuh-uh. Every second counts at Lobotomy Corporation, dearie~”
“Ahahah… You get used to it. Miss Laverne cares about her juniors deep inside.” Noah moved beside Anastasia and chuckled. “There’s a reason I’m in the Safety Department now…” Noah genuinely respected Laverne, so she wanted Anastasia not to doubt her from her laid back personality. Finn, with little to bring to the table as usual, was simply there tailing the two. His mouth was still shut. He held both of his palms, cracking some of his knuckles.
“Noah, dear, you flatter me a lot, but can you drop the Miss? You’re speeding my aging process! It would be sad if I become an old woman and never get married… Oooghh…”
“B-But I only called you Miss! You’re still my former captain after all!”
“No, no! Drop the formalities! They make me feel like a thousand years old!”
“It’s not that easy to drop common sense and respect! Miss is also used for younger people!”
“What? Do you think you’re exempt because you’re trying to make me think I’m a 𝓵𝓪𝓭𝔂?”
“Ahaha…”
“…Aha… ha…”
Noah let out small chuckles because of Laverne’s exaggeration in tone. Finn chuckled along as well. It was not because Laverne’s jokes about geriatrics or the silly tonal changes were funny, it was because Noah was laughing. He wanted to remind her he was still there, socializing with her in his own way.
They passed by another agent who was beating a bunny-shaped dummy to death, if it was ever alive. Her weapon was a bludgeon with a bouquet of eyes in the middle, adorned by horns with flowers on it. Anastasia thought it looked pretty vile.
“Hyaah!” The agent kept piercing the dummy, not paying attention towards the group that entered. “I’ll have to get better… So that won’t happen again…”
“Yoohoo! Corby, if you would excuse us, can you make way for Annie? I’m a very busy woman, so show her what you’ve learned, okay?” Laverne waved towards the new agent, with the latter sighing.
“Please, Laverne, I want to be stronger!” The agent tried not to lose her focus, doing other methods to damage the dummy. ”So that won’t happen anymore! I can’t really let people inter—”
“Ops!” Laverne’s finger landed on her lips. “Sorry about that, Corby’s not in a good mood as of late.” Laverne turns back to Anastasia, shrugging. “Be patient with her.”
“Corbinian. Don’t care about telling my surname to you if we’re all going to die.” Corbinian pushed Laverne away.
“You’re not going to be on my way, aren’t you?” Corbinian glared at Anastasia. She didn't seem to approve of her new co-worker. “If you’re in the way, you affect everyone else. Capiche?”
“Huh. Alright.” Anastasia nodded, she didn’t really have anything else to say about such behavior from another co-worker, especially when her experiences so far were pretty good. This occurrence did confirm her earlier suspicion that not even the Wings have a friendly work environment either.
“Alright, Noah, I’ll leave the things to you~ I’ll be tending to the other stuff myself for now, mmkay?” Laverne walked away, with a genuinely confused Anastasia doubting her legitimacy as a Team Captain even more.
“Anyways, this is a Standard Training-Dummy Rabbit. This is what new hires deal with to get used to E.G.O. and stuff. E.G.O. gear is the fancy stuff we use and wield, which makes us different from clerks and stuff, the ones you see running around too busy minding their businesses. We’re getting sidetracked though, let’s get back to what Mi— Laverne is trying to teach us.” Noah eagerly showed the ropes to Anastasia, and brought out a railgun that was barely as big as she was. Anastasia noticed this weapon when they first met, but seeing it in action is something else. How she carried a weapon of that mass was out of the question, moreso, does the Head allow ranged weapons of this size?
“Oh? It’s actually easy to wield it.” Noah talked as if she could read Anastasia’s mind, when it was obvious to know what new hires think from their faces as they see her weapon. “So first of all, you use these weapons to deal damage against the abnormalities we’ll be fighting today. They’re usually contained but… they would go out a lot when things go wrong. It’s a common occurrence here. And—”
“Just get to the damn point, Noah!” Corbinian yelled.
“Y-Yes!” Noah stanced to charge her railgun, pointing towards the rabbit dummy. As the large matchstick on her weapon ignited by itself, Corbinian moved away.
—BOOM!!!!
An explosion followed, flashing the hallway with a blinding light. The embers from the weapon’s impact ate away the metal and rubber off the training dummy. As the softened metal melted, the stench of burnt meat started to fill the room as well. It was a stench that overloaded one’s sensories that their brain felt fried.
Soon enough, the ear parts of the rabbit-shaped dummy revealed a pair of shoes, then as it got lower, it revealed the legs then…
—Thud.
“Ah…”
Now that the majority of the rabbit dummy dissolved, Corbinian’s eyes widened at the sight of what was unfolding. It contained… a human body. Their eyes were wide open, and there were innards and viscera scattered towards the floor. Whoever stuffed this body in, it was tasteless that his wounds weren't cleaned or closed. The blood was still fairly red in color. This corpse was fresh.
“What in the world…” Anastasia’s eyes widened. The least thing she expected was a dead body stuffed in a training dummy, especially if it was a fresh one. She was already suspicious about this Wing earlier, the corpse confirms it. It was as dangerous as the Backstreets around here, probably even worse.
“Don’t tell me…”
Corbinian was staggered, eyes going dull. Her hands were shaking. She started muttering to herself.
“Poussey… He… Yesterday, we had a conversation about coffee… We were debating if peppermint was a decent flavor or not. I said peppermint sucked as a coffee flavor. After we suppressed that damned beast, I took a break and tried peppermint coffee again. It wasn’t that bad. Maybe I should visit him soon… We have a lot of things to talk about…”
Corbinian grinned as her murmuring kept on, gesturing the tip of the mace towards her own throat. “Hey, wait! You shouldn’t do that!” Anastasia was alarmed, grabbing Corbinian’s weapon away from her. Corbinian refused to let go and insisted on putting the weapon against her own throat. “Your life matters! You shouldn’t end it!” Anastasia tried to make some sense to her.
“Hey, you’re new here, right…? You need to clean… You can see it too, right…? Just get a mop and a bucket… Everything will be fine…”
Corbinian ignored Anastasia’s pleas, still eversmiling. Noah taps Anastasia’s shoulder. Her voice raised in urgency.
“Annie! Please smack her on the head!”
“...Are you kidding me?” Anastasia turned from Corbinian to Noah. Her face clearly could say she can’t fathom what she just said. Moreso, why did she suddenly start calling her that too?
“N-No! I swear, just trust me!” Noah shook her head. Her voice had a few blocks in it. “I promise!”
“If you say s—”
Anastasia raised her cross-shaped mace as a start to help Corbinian out, only to be interrupted by the sounds of gunshots.
Finn had a hard grip on his pistol that had someone’s skin flayed off their face, wearing such expressions.
“Finn, wait—”
—Bangbangbangbangbangbangbang.
Finn didn’t even need to pull the mag out to reload. He kept aiming as if the bullets were infinite. Blood pooled out of Corbinian’s mouth, but she was somehow calming down.
“Finn, wait, stop!” Noah tackled Finn, pinning him down the floor. “Geez, didn’t I tell you that your weapon is a double-edged sword against panicking agents?”
“Ah… AAAAHHH!! M-My bad! I’m sorry!” Finn cowered, dropping his gun. He was covering his flushed face from making such a rookie mistake.
As he did, Noah faced Anastasia again. “I know you have many questions, but I’ll explain them all later, but for now, please use that on her, Annie!”
“Alright, I got you!” Anastasia smacked Corbinian’s arms away with her cross-shaped mace, flinging her weapon away from her. “I’m sorry, Corbinian—” Anastasia swung her weapon against her head. Surprisingly, it didn’t cause a concussion. Corbinian was hugging her knees.
Anastasia smacked her even more. The weapon didn’t feel like it collided with her body. It felt strange as if she was just slapping wind, despite her head being her direct contact. Anastasia wondered how people would think if she did this outside this Wing. This entire suppression was awkward. Corbinian slowly lowered her arms the more Anastasia swung her mace.
“This is crazy…” Worry embodied Anastasia's face as she watched Corbinian collect her breath. “Is she going to be okay?”
“She’ll be—” Noah tried to talk on Corbinian’s behalf.
“I’m fine. I simply need a moment, the regenerators will do the work for me. I’m still alive.” Corbinian interrupted Noah, perfectly calm and collected like she wasn’t trying to kill herself earlier.
“That’s great then.” Anastasia wiped sweat off her face.
“Anyways, Noah, what the hell did we do to Corbinian earlier?” Now that Corbinian was taking a break, Anastasia could make the moment to express how she was unable to fathom everything that just transpired.
“About that…”
Noah took a seat on the metal floor. Finn and Anastasia sat along too. Finn was right beside Noah, while Anastasia was in front of her. Noah took a deep breath before explaining.
”Our weapons and abnormalities have different methods of inflicting damage towards us. For example, my weapon and Corbinian’s inflict RED.” Noah displayed her railgun in a standing position, showing its full glory. “These are the most straightforward ones, dealing the physical damage as we all know it.”
“And your weapon deals… WHITE damage!” Noah pointed at Anastasia’s skull mace, with the latter resting her hand on her chin to ponder about her weapon. “They’re more on the mental affliction type of damage. They strain your brain, too much exposure to it can lead to insanity where you do unimaginable things. Our weapons, however, manipulate brainwaves to be the countermeasure against mental stress!”
“Huh, I see… Kind of like the Reindeer Pack from R Corp.?” Anastasia was trying to grasp the ropes Noah let her reach, with the latter nodding enthusiastically.
“Spot-on!” Noah clasped Anastasia’s hands, her eyes shining. “I found out about R Corp. because the Red Mist saved one of its captains when they were young! And, and—”
“N-Noah, I know you’re happy, but as Laverne said, every second counts in Lobotomy Corporation.” Finn sighed with a smile, patting Noah’s head. He usually appreciated it when Noah talked about her passions, but now wasn’t the time to do so.
“Ahahaha… I’m sorry about that, let’s move on to BLACK damage. It’s a combination of both physical and mental strain. It’s also used for panic situations, but not optimal as it’s physically harmful.”
The last particular line was a dagger to Finn’s chest.
“Noah, I-I’m s-s-s—”
“No, No, it’s okay, Finn! You only meant to help.”
Noah tried to reassure him that everything would be okay. She would pat him like how he did earlier, if she wasn’t half his height.
“And for the final one—PALE. Well… To be honest, I don’t know anything about it and I have never seen it live! It’s damage to the soul I guess? That’s pretty vague, but everything happens here.”
“Anyways, I think that’s about it, I guess we need to get moving now that the regenerators probably healed a bit of Corbinian’s wounds.” As Noah rose, her gaze caught Corbinian already up, walking towards the remains of the training dummy.
“Poussey… So he really is gone, huh…” Corbinian took a glance at Poussey’s battered corpse before looking back at her co-workers. “I’m never going to get used to this. I said a lot of things about seeing you all as a burden earlier, yet I ended up being one… I apologize.” Corbinian’s shoulders were low, her gaze fixated on the floor. “To be honest, I still wasn’t over it. We were having so much fun talking yesterday, then he was feasted on by a beast after. It was something he called an angel, too…”
“Angel…? Don’t you mean the…?” Noah tilted her head.
Sirens blared out of the blue, interrupting the conversation between the group. Crackle. A mechanical, yet chirpy voice rang throughout the facility.
“Abnormality D-02-107 has breached containment. As the Manager, it is your duty to suppress it!”
“Speak of the damn devil.” Corbinian had no time to waste. She stood up, setting off to find the abnormality. Everyone else followed.
Anastasia, Corbinian, Finn, and Noah made their way to the hallway. It seems like they made it in time as there isn’t any carnage for now.
“...ROBERT?!”
Anastasia’s voice raised. She had to blink several times. A small dog with a snow-white coat wagged its tail as it sensed the presence of the agents and clerks surrounding it. It really looked like Robert… not until Anastasia saw its muzzle.
The dog completely looked like Robert sure, but the muzzle looked so flat, as if it was smacked swollen with a heated frying pan.
“...I almost got… got.” Anastasia’s lungs unloaded a bit of weight.
Corbinian took some steps forward towards the puppy.
“You.”
Corbinian’s voice got husky. Her hand was clenching her weapon so hard that she would probably wound herself should her nails reach her palm.
“I hate you, you damn mutt. You know what? You’re not even ugly. You’re fugly. And that’s not enough. You’re so stinky, nasty, and foul that I bet your bitchass mother considered you a runt the moment you were born. Unpleasant or repulsive, especially in appearance. Do you think you’re big sh*t because we feed you A4 Wagyu everyday and treat you like royalty? No. You’re unattractive, ill-favored, hideous, mid, unsightly, displeasing, nasty, and vile… And even so, I can’t justify my rage with mere words.”
Corbinian dropped every synonym for a particular word she possibly could. This left a lot of surrounding employees’ jaws hanging, agents and clerks alike.
“That’s not how you treat cuties like him! I’m reporting you to PITA!!”
“You can do some positive reinforcement training so it would be more used to doing good deeds, y’know? Shrimple as that.”
“He’s our angel!”
“...!”
The agents who were supposed to be suppressing the abnormality were glaring daggers at Corbinian for committing such blasphemous acts against such a helpless little baby. Corbinian remained unfazed until the last line took her attention.
“He’s a hungry widdle angel, don’t you agree Corbinian?”
The words of Poussey, her fallen co-worker, reverberated throughout her mind, clenching her mace even tighter. Veins were trailing all over her hand and forehead.
“He’s not an angel…”
Corbinian grabbed the little pup by the head, transferring the wrath-filled eye contact from her co-workers to it.
“He’s just a gluttonous piece of sh*t! We feed it A4 Wagyu beef everyday, when it could’ve been ours? Yet it insists on killing and feeding on people? There’s only one thing this mutt deserves.”
Corbinian threw the little thing mid-air as if it was a ball. She swung her horned mace towards its body. As soon as her mace collides with its nimble body…
“HOME-f*ckING-RUN!”
The impact of her mace was enough to send it flying towards the high ceiling. Lights flickered as the puppy’s body bounced towards it, shards of glass from the lights got stuck on its body.
“Hauurff…” A pained, heartbreaking whimper resonated.
“Hey you, fire that thing!” Corbinian points at Noah.
“Y-Yes!”
Noah aims her railgun against the poor thing. The giant match on it ignited on its own, enveloping the already mid-air puppy in a large, explosive impact. Its once snow-white fur is now charred black. As it fell to the ground, it ragdolled like some desert’s tumbleweed. The puppy in its pathetic state whimpered as its eyes were wide and shiny from tears.
“POOKIEBEAR!!! NOOOOO!!!!!”
An agent with long, blue twintails ran to its rescue. Her eyebrows were wrinkling together as she hugged the roast puppy. “Are you okay my widdle boyo?” She brushed its soft, fluffy fur. She felt forgiven for her sin of being unable to save it in time.
Clouds in the shapes of cute dogs covered the agent and the pup. The agent’s legs were seen dangling. A blood curdling scream and a thud was heard right after.
“AAAAGHHHHH!!!” The agent fell after the puppy bit her arm off, when mere seconds ago, she was just sitting, hugging the puppy. Streams of red flowed from the agent’s shoulder, where the arm should’ve been.
“No way… Is this really our angel?”
Chatter spread all over the agents and clerks seeing the spectacle.
“Hey, aren’t you supposed to be helping? If you can’t help, then get the hell out of here!” Corbinian raised her voice against the flock of employees, enraged that they weren’t doing anything for the agent that was injured by the puppy.
“I feel like I’d do a cardinal sin if I have to hurt it!”
They all spread out like flies with their weights on their chest. They refuse to hurt the cutest and goodest boy in the world.
“What a bunch of puss*es.” Corbinian clicked her tongue.
”It’s all your fault! You should’ve treated it nicely!”
The twintail agent’s teeth clenched in a mixture of pain from the pup’s attack and her thousand suns of blinding fury towards the current suppression group.
“Please, get away from that th—”
Corbinian tried to argue back with the agent, until she heard some stomping. The group looked in the direction of the dismembered agent. Noah’s, Finn’s, Corbinian’s, and Anastasia’s mouths, in that particular order, gaped wide at the sight of what they’ve seen.
“You’re right. It’s—”
“—really—”
“—darn—”
“—ugly.”
They were all flabbergasted over the juxtaposition of its cute face and its body where it seemed like it had 25 years in the gym and nanotechnology.
I’m sorry Robert I mistook you for this… creature. Anastasia slid one palm to her face, shaking her head so lightly.
“Ruff!”
Its front paws-turned-fists clenched, dropping towards the agent who treated it like a celebrity earlier. Corbinian attempted to jump and tackle the agent away, but—
*Splurt.*
Crushed like a bug, Corbinian’s left leg instead took the impact. “Ghkk—…” She tried to stifle away the pain. She was not going to let this dog put her in shame anymore. Corbinian outstretched one of her arms to reach for her weapon. Her arm was going numb from the pain and the loss of her blood. That wasn’t stopping her from fixating her gaze on her mace.
Let me inflict pain on you, for one more t—
“—o..ah!!! …ire!!!!”
Corbinian’s senses were dulling even more as the blood loss is taking a toll on her, but Anastasia’s voice rang—
—BOOM!!!!
A loud explosion interrupted Corbinian’s flow of thoughts, with the giant puppy whelping after. Its fists finally let Corbinian free, although her leg remained crushed. The puppy was staggered, wobbling backwards as its eyes were stunned by the explosion’s flash. Its large arms tried to grasp air to reclaim its balance, only to end up burying itself in debris.
Anastasia dashed throughout the mess they made in their department’s hallways, jumping to rescue Corbinian and the crazy dog-lover agent.
“Finn, cover for the other one. I have my hands full with Corbinian!”
“A-Aye!”
Finn ran for the twintail agent to haul them back to a safer place, but the giant puppy collected itself. Its attention was all over the little flower Finn’s armor had.
“Rrrrruff!”
It rubbed its fists against the metal floor, making its way to pounce on Finn, like the beast it was.
“sh*t!”
The puppy attempted to squash Finn to kibble. Finn leaped backwards to avoid its attack.
“Too slow!”
Finn made his way towards the other wounded agent, helping Anastasia haul the injured to safety.
Noah ignited her weapon, pointing it against the puppy, but charging it took a bit of build up and time. While Finn was hauling the injured agent away, the light on Noah’s weapon caught the puppy’s attention.
“AH—!”
It slapped her with its giant fists, sending her flying against the wall.
Finn heard the collision between some force and the walls, turning back. He saw Noah downed with his own two eyes.
“How dare you…”
Finn’s teeth and fists both clenched. He leered at the puppy, shooting the ceiling to get its attention. As planned, the puppy looked in Finn's direction.
“YOU’LL PAY!!”
Finn charged towards the puppy, raining stray bullets at it. His gun didn’t need to be reloaded so he didn’t stop pulling the trigger. The bullets tore through the puppy’s skin, followed by a pitiful whimpering. This unfazed Finn. He was dedicated to taking it down.
The puppy pounced towards Finn. Luckily enough, its slow startup made predicting its moves easier for Finn. He flipped away from its pursuit again.
“Finn…?”
Noah finally collected herself from the impact.
Finn’s grin reached his cheeks the moment he saw Noah was okay, but she was still collecting herself. He thought he needed to make her proud. The puppy’s failed attack caused it to flinch with its head lowered. It was vulnerable with its head within human height range. Finn mag dumped the puppy. All the puppy did was shake its head frantically to defend itself, and whimper like the pitiful thing it’s supposed to be.
“I’ll never forgive you... Neverforgiveneverforgiveneverforgiveneverforgive—”
Finn was not stopping shooting the puppy’s face, point blank.
“Sorry for the wait, Corbinian and the other guy’s doing fine now. We should focus suppressing the abnormality before it—”
Anastasia returned to the room with such a spectacle in her sight. Finn was not giving the puppy some space. She walked towards Noah’s direction.
“Hey, I’ll borrow this.” Anastasia heaved the surprisingly light railgun. The matchstick ignited once more.
“...Huh?”
—BOOM!!!!
After that loud explosion, she sent the puppy unconscious. The same clouds from before cloaked the puppy, reducing its form to an egg.
“Did we get it… or did it get us?” Anastasia was catching her breath, the exhaustion was sinking in now the hallway fell in silence.
“Yay!! We did it, Annie!” Noah shook Anastasia’s hands in excitement.
“Aha… AHAHAHA!!!! Serves you right!”
Finn couldn’t contain his laughter at what the puppy became, but his victory was short-lived.
NYAAAOOOOWWW!!!
“...What the hell was that?” Anastasia heard Finn’s loud ringtone.
“Ahh— Ummm—” Finn’s grin shrunk. His eyes were looking anywhere but his co-workers’ eyes. “I made my r-ringtone loud so if I get a message or call from Noah, it would wake me up so I wouldn’t miss it but turns out I ended up burdening everyone around me because it’s so loud, it’s obnoxious haha.” Finn’s voice was mach 20 fast.
“That’s not the ca—” Anastasia’s arm extended towards Finn. The latter turned and walked away.
“I’m sorry. I’ll go to work now.” He ran towards the containment room he was called to work for.
The clerks hauled the egg. They were walking towards the same direction Finn ran to.
“Man, he didn’t even let me finish. I only got caught off-guard by his ringtone. It was a cute one.” Anastasia watched Finn walk away, before facing back at Noah.
“I-In any case, we should move to the cafeteria. I asked some guys to move them somewhere safe. They said they’re there now.” Anastasia set off with her hands clenched in her pants’ pockets.
“Roger.” Noah nodded, taking a few leaps to catch up to her.
“About Finn…” Noah thought that they’d chat a bit while on their way. “He pushes himself too hard for a new guy, and I’m honestly worried about it…” Noah scratched the back of her head. “He's been doing so well ever since we first met since umm…” Noah paused. Her index finger was on her chin as she gazed upwards. “Ermm… Since… Uhhh… A week ago…?”
“I see. Now that you’ve mentioned it… He was with us the whole time, but he didn’t even talk much.” Anastasia pinched her chin as she looked downward. “Hmmm…”
“I’m worried about that, too.” Noah chuckled nervously. “He doesn’t really get along with the others much. Others told him that he’s way too slow, even for a new guy. I think it’s because people from the Training Team got promoted and transferred to other departments approximately 3 to 5 days after they joined. But he’s been in the Training Team for a while, and I’m still the only person he talks to…” Noah’s gaze was focused on the surface. “I don’t know what to do sometimes.”
“Hey, Noah. I know I just joined here, but I’m sure he’s grateful despite everything.” Anastasia leaned near Noah, patting her shoulder. “I’m sure your efforts will be something that’s going to help him significantly. I mean, he’s still fighting even though he’s been stuck in the Training Team for a while. Plus, he’s not the only factor. We have a slacker for a department team captain.”
“Aha… M— Ermm, Laverne isn’t really that bad!” Noah raised both her hands up. “I think she needs some time before she trusts new members.
“But thank you regardless. I’m honestly worried about Finn a lot, but hearing that lets some weight out of my chest, though… Things always get better when you talk things out after all.” Noah’s eyebrows angled upward, but her smile didn’t fade. “Some things do take time after all.”
“Mhm.” Anastasia nodded. Noah’s smile and relief gave her chest a fuzzy feeling. “What matters is, you did your best.”
On their walk, Anastasia and Noah met more employees, agents and clerks alike. They’re way past the hallway where they suppressed the puppy abnormality.
“Hey look! That cricket-deer thing was really grating to work on, but at least I got a pretty flower!”
“Good lord, there’s so many reports and documents. The new puppy isn’t even helping! If only he wasn’t so cute…”
“I’ll definitely go fishing in U Corp.’s Nest after this.”
Chatter filled the hallways as usual. For a place where someone got dismembered earlier to the point people fled, it sure was lively around here.
One thing that made this Wing different, people from the Backstreets weren’t this communicative with each other. Anastasia thought to herself as she observed her co-workers. It’s one thing she appreciated about this place.
“Ack, I know I taught you a little trick way back, but can you not pull my hair every damn time you go out?” A purple-haired agent grunted as a tiny bird pulled and tugged his cowlick.
“...Looks like a failed positive reinforcement training.” Anastasia kept her voice low. She didn’t want the poor stranger to hear it. “Maybe it’s going to teach him to be a great chef.”
“Ahaha… That’s the Punishing Bird. It goes out if we leave it alone for a while, but it’s relatively harmless. It pecks on everyone it deems sinful.” Noah took a good look at the purple-haired agent, slowing her pace down. A few seconds after taking a good look, she walked back to her usual pace.
“Is the guy being punished for his wee ass haircut? I heard that this sort of haircut is a way of discipline with strict parents in the Nest.” Anastasia inquired.
“Hey, enough already! It’s been five seconds now! Leave me the f*ck alone!” The purple-haired agent shooed the bird away, with the latter still pecking him. All is in vain.
“...Maybe we should help him?” Anastasia’s eyebrows rose.
“It gets worse if you do something about it, according to seniors. I think it’s best if we leave him alone, he’ll be fine…” Noah’s feet moved forward fast, away from the struggling purple-haired agent. Anastasia picked her pace up no problem.
“Oh, Annie, by chance, I’m curious about something.” Noah continued talking to Anastasia as they walked.
“Yeah, shoot.”
“Who’s Robert? You yelled that name out earlier.”
“Oh, that’s my neighbor’s dog back in the Backstreets. I played with him before I left.”
“...”
“...”
“...”
Noah’s jaw dropped. Only their footsteps filled the room for a minute.
“R-Robert…? Why would you give a dog a human name?” Noah’s astonishment finally sunk in, as an honest reaction to that information. Her voice was shaky and her brows were arched. She was about to burst out laughing while being flabbergasted at the same time.
“Figures.” Anastasia hid her right hand in her pocket as she twitched both of her shoulders.
“Hahaha! That’s so funny though!”
“Right? It’s a little awkward.”
“Wait, wait, Annie, can you tell me what’s your favorite food?” Noah’s eyes were shining.
“Now that you mentioned it, I don’t really think about it. If I had to choose, I like bread the most, because it’s really versatile. And—”
Noah and Anastasia talked about random trivial topics for minutes. Then minutes of talking and yapping grew into hours.
Turns out, they’ve been walking in circles for a while.
“This facility is a maze!” Anastasia scratched her head.
“I-I swear, the cafeteria was… this way…” Noah’s pace was starting to be sluggish. She felt her legs turn to jelly from all this walking.
“Kept us waitin’, huh?” Corbinian greeted the two girls. Her arms and chin were resting on the chair’s backrest. Both of her legs were locked against the chair’s stiles, as if her left leg wasn’t crushed earlier.
“Give… me a… break man…” Anastasia was still catching her breath.
Noah was also doing the same. She immediately took a seat at the same table Corbinian was sitting at.
“Ahhh, finally…” Noah sat as if she was melting to the chair.
“You were promoted to the Safety Team and you still haven’t memorized your way around here?” Corbinian’s voice grew stern and prejudicial.
“A—” Noah’s mouth opened in response to Corbinian’s snarky remark.
“Haha, I jest. I’m glad you’re all alive. You should’ve seen your face, Noah!” Corbinian smirked, letting all the tension in her voice out.
“You’re so mean…” Noah’s eyebrows were rising upwards. Her eyes were shiny and moist.
“Snrk— I’m sorry.” Corbinian snickered at Noah’s pitiable face. “I’m doing better now. The other agent you brought here earlier went on her own. Her name’s Dexter by the way. Dexter Hartmann. She can’t believe her little angel betrayed them. She had her own villain speech over it. She was like—”
“I see… so in the end, cute things will just betray me, huh.” Dexter stomped, rising from her seat. It was swift enough to make the table and chair move. Corbinian’s eyes were wide open.
“So be it! I, Dexter Hartmann, will be the cutie for myself!” Dexter’s right hand was on her hip, with the left on her chest. “I will defeat that treacherous little creature in terms of cuteness! I’m not going to let anyone betray me anymore!”
“I will be the embodiment of cuteness!!!” Dexter clenched her fists. She raised her arms as if she was uppercutting the air, then her right leg rested on the chair she sat on.
“I’LL BRING JUSTICE TO WHAT CUTENESS REALLY IS!!!!”
“—and she ran away after. At the very least, she learned her lesson, I guess.” Corbinian shrugged.
“...Good to know.” Anastasia couldn’t really make anything out of what Corbinian told her about Dexter. “All is well, that’s what matters.” Anastasia sat along with Noah and Corbinian. She felt as if her muscles finally found solace. She pulled the chair onwards.
“By the way,” Now everyone’s seated, Corbinian turned from locking the chair’s stiles with her legs to resting her left leg’s ankle on her right thigh. “Where’s that guy from earlier?” Corbinian took a better look at her co-workers as she rested her left elbow on her raised left leg, then leaned her cheeks on her clenched fist from the arm of the same side.
“Finn? He’s…” Anastasia’s elbows were about to rest on the table, only to be interrupted by some loud door slamming. Instead, her palms were on the table.
“EVEN AFTER ALL OF THAT, WE’RE STILL FEEDING IT A4 WAGYU!!!!” Finn’s back was bent, with both his hands holding his knees. He took some time to catch and collect himself.
Every single employee who was in the cafeteria glared at him. Silence filled the room, as if he stopped time.
“Ah— S, Sorry…” Finn lowered his head. He didn’t want people to burn his face and his voice to their memories where he made feeding A4 Wagyu to a puppy everyone’s problem. He dashed quickly towards the table where his group was. As he sat down, he slumped as his face met the table. He doesn’t even want to talk about it.
“There, there…” Noah’s hand slid down his back thrice before tapping it. “You’ve done well.”
A clerk with a notepad took a detour to their empty table. “Good day! Anything you’d like to get?”
“Four cups of peppermint coffee.”
“...Huh?”
Anastasia was swifter than a second to drop her orders, following a wide-eyed Corbinian with her jaw dropped.
“You talked about it a lot earlier. I got curious to try it out.” Anastasia replied. “It can’t hurt to try it out.”
“At least wait for the others to make their orders too.” Corbinian’s tone raised slightly over her surprise.
“...Corbinian Williams. My name is Corbinian Williams.” Corbinian fixed her posture and both her feet were at last on the floor. “It’s nice to meet you, Annie, was it?”
“Anastasia. Anastasia Nikonov.” Anastasia sighed, knowing that people are getting used to the silly nickname her captain gave her.
“But I guess you can call me Annie if you want.” However, she’s grown some fondness for the nickname. She extended her hand, offering a handshake. “Nice to meet you, too.”
“About earlier… I’ve been thinking about it while waiting for you guys to deal with that mutt. I know I was in the middle of losing it, but everything I said was true.” Corbinian clasped both of her hands and took a deep breath.
“Poussey was the first guy to talk and befriend me when I first came here. We would have coffee every morning. I liked my coffee plain, but he would always get peppermint coffee. He would always bug me to try it. You get the picture. Yesterday was the day I finally tried peppermint coffee, the day he was waiting for. His eyes were shining like a fool. I gagged because the mint mixed with the sweetness of sugar and the bitterness of coffee tasted like a mess. The coolness of mint contrasting the coffee’s temperature didn’t help. Little did I know, that was the last time I’d have coffee with him. He was killed and his stomach was torn by that mutt.” Corbinian constricted her hands with her own fingers, cracking her own knuckles.
“It shocked me. It shocked me to the core that I’d no longer see him again. I tried peppermint coffee one more time so I could recall the times he was alive. Peppermint coffee… didn’t taste that bad for my second try. But he’s gone. He’ll no longer be there to talk about it with me.” She loosened her grip on her own hands, placing her palms on the table.
“You know, Corbinian. These are my own thoughts about it.” Anastasia straightened her posture as her eyes focused on Corbinian. “I’m pretty sure Poussey would be happy now that you’re talking about his passion for peppermint coffee with others. He still lives, somehow. Even so, you saved many more people, like Dexter out there, because of the time you spent with him. I’m sure his death isn’t in vain, thanks to you.”
“Haha, what a cliched set of words.” Corbinian sneered. “But I admit it, it feels really nice now that I’ve landed some scratches on that thing, and see it suppressed without anyone dying. After that… I swore to myself.” She gazed at her own palm. “I’ll keep on beating abnormalities like that. I bet many other people in this place also want to feel free the same way as I do.” She clenched her palm, as if she grasped the oath she made.
“That’s the spirit.”
As Anastasia cheered on Corbinian’s resolve, a tray of four cups was placed on their table.
“Here are your four cups of peppermint coffee.” The clerk bowed.
“Thanks.” Anastasia took a cup, followed by everyone else taking their respective cups.
Anastasia takes a sip of the coffee. “Hmm, not bad!”
“Oh!” Noah tried the coffee out as well. “It’s nice! Nothing really beats a fresh cup of coffee after a long day after all!”
Anastasia’s and Noah’s excitement over the coffee put a faint smile on Corbinian’s face. Their joy was almost infectious. Finally, Corbinian took her turn to sip her cup.
“Peppermint coffee… is really good.”
The warmth of the coffee melted the weight off Corbinian’s chest, exhaling all her bottled feelings away.
“Thank you for today, everyone.” Corbinian smiled.
Finn took some sips as well. A few seconds later, he was fidgeting his knee against the table. The table was rumbling from each time he shook his legs. He was trembling and shivering, and the coffee wasn’t even cold.
“...Too good, maybe.” A drop of sweat trailed down Corbinian’s cheek.
