The Security team is run by Samuel, with Haru as the second, and Nicolas as the new kid.

Chapter Text

Nicolas was new to the Security Team, but he'd already learned a few things. What had he learned first? All Abnormalities were different. When he was a young boy in the city, all he had heard about Abnormalities was that they were strange monsters that you could get energy from. But when he joined Lobotomy Corp, he learned that they were more complicated than that. Some were trees made of skin and eyes. Some were faeries. Some were mysterious soldiers inside of a pink heart.

But the one Nicolas worked with was a cute little girl.

Laetitia looked like she was no more than eleven years old. A lot of employees said she was creepy, but to Nicolas, she looked lonely. She'd giggle when you made a joke, she'd show you her drawings, and she'd tug on your sleeves when she wanted attention. In truth, you could barely tell that she was an Abnormality. He wouldn't have been able to tell himself if he didn't know what to look for. He didn't believe he'd ever seen her blink. Her skin was unnaturally pale, and her hair was grey with dark pink on the edges. She was the most human Abnormality he'd seen - but he would have been a fool to think she was human.

Nicolas sat on the floor with her as she drew with her crayons. The way she moved was very strange to him. When Nicolas waved at someone, his arm moved fluidly back and forth. But when Laetitia waved at him, her arm moved mechanically through the air with sharp movements. The same was true of her drawing, with the way her eyes glided across the page, and the way she bobbed her head back and forth as if following a strange song in her head.

After a moment, she slowly put down her crayons. She tugged on his sleeve to get his attention, and pushed the crayon drawing towards him. He looked at it with interest, curious about what the girl had drawn this time. Her drawings were always strange, and this one was no exception. It showed a field with a sun and trees. In the drawing, Laetitia stood in the field with Nicolas and... What is that? He squinted at the picture. Standing right behind Laetitia was a large, black creature with many eyes and four jagged legs. The way she drew it made it look oddly friendly, despite its massive teeth.

He pushed aside his worry, not wanting to offend her. "That's really good!" he said with a smile. He reached out and ruffled her hair, earning a small giggle from her. After a moment, he pointed towards the large black creature in her drawing. "Who's that though?" He asked hesitantly. Laetitia pursed her lips and seemed to think for a moment before writing a single word above the creature with her black crayon.

'Friend.'

"Ah, my bad." Nicolas said this calmly, despite the rising tension in the room. Something about that... thing messed with his head to look at. He needed to read more reports about her afterwards, to see what more he could find out about her and her friend.

Speaking of that.

"Well, I've gotta go now," Nicolas said as he stood up. Laetitia gave a small frown and nodded. After a moment, she folded up the drawing and held it up to him.

"What, for me?" She nodded again in response, and with a smile, Nicolas took it and put it in his suit's pocket. He smiled at her, and after a moment of silence, Laetitia suddenly moved forward and grabbed him in a hug, one that was... surprisingly strong. Nicolas' eyes widened for a moment in surprise, before he very slowly reached down and patted her head. He felt her pat his back, a motion that made him want to laugh. But after she did that, she released him with a slow, mechanical motion. He smiled at her one last time before leaving. And as he left, he saw her wave towards him as a goodbye, her hand swinging back and forth.

He stepped into the elevator at the end of the hall, letting it slowly carry him to the Security team hub. As he stepped out at the bottom, he waved at Yangchisu and greeted her. If he'd been paying just a little more attention, he would would have noticed the worried look she gave him as he passed, looking at his back curiously.

Finally, he stepped into the hub. Samuel was passing an order to Alex, who walked out immediately. That was how Samuel had trained his team - they followed orders without a second thought. Nicolas knew he was still the noobie to the Security team, but he didn't want to be seen that way. So, he walked straight towards Samuel and saluted.

"At ease," Samuel replied stiffly, almost sounding bored, and barely even seeming to notice the salute. "You done with Laetitia?"

"Yes sir," Nicolas replied with a nod.

A slight smile reached Samuel's lips. "Good. Take a break kid, you'll have more duties before you know it."

With one final 'Yes sir,' Nicolas started to walk off, ready to pull out the files on Laetitia.

"Nicolas."

The tone Samuel used caught him by surprise, and he turned around quickly towards his commanding officer. Samuel usually looked serious - in fact, Samuel never wore any other kind of expression - but this time, there was worry in his voice, and a hint of fear was in the bald man's eyes. Nicolas swallowed air in concern.

"Yes?"

"Don't move a muscle." Samuel then nodded towards Haru, who had a similar look of concern on her face.

"Ma'am, get the pliers." She nodded quickly and ran off, fishing through a drawer with frantic motions. Nicolas looked back and forth between Samuel and her with a look of confusion and terror.

"Samuel, what is it? What's happening?" Samuel didn't reply immediately, instead scratching his bald head and circling Nicolas, as if he was examining the younger employee. Nicolas resisted the urge to turn around, and let Samuel look him over.

"Did you touch her?" Samuel finally asked, seemingly ignoring Nicolas' question. Nicolas thought for a moment. He... he had, hadn't he? He'd patted her head and let her hug him. In truth, he'd treated her like he'd have treated a child.

"I... I'm sorry sir, I-" Before Nicolas could finished, he heard a slew of curses from Samuel.

"Kid, what the fuck is wrong with you?" Nicolas winced, and could swear he felt something on his back twitch.

"Crap, it's already active." Samuel scratched his head again, then took the pliers from Haru's hands. "Stay still Nicolas." He felt the hard metal pliers press against the back of his EGO suit as Samuel did... something.

"Haru..." Nicolas started slowly, then swallowed air again. "Am I going to die?" She gave a chuckle.

"No, you'll be-" Samuel interrupted her before she finished.

"At this rate, yes, yes you are," he growled. "Because when I sent you in there, I told you that you were not supposed to touch her under any circumstances. And now there's a bomb on you, so congratulations Nicolas! You're a fucking idiot."

Nicolas didn't know how to respond. A bomb? A BOMB? What the... WHAT? Nicolas gave a distressed whimper and held himself still. And then, the... something on his back started to twitch again, this time very rapidly. He could swear he heard growling coming from it.

"Shit!" Samuel suddenly dropped any regards of caution and tugged it as hard as he could with the pliers. Nicolas felt a boot press against his back and push, and with a sudden release he felt the strange object get pried off the EGO suit. Nicolas fell face first onto the metal floor with a thud. Haru quickly helped him up, and he immediately turned towards Samuel to see what was on him.

Held in the pliers was what looked like a little heart. It was only as large as his fist and covered with what looked like tiny spines and a strange kind of goo. Samuel held it as far away from him as possible, and after looking at it for a moment more, Nicolas could see why. It was shaking in his grip, as if it was trying to break out. And from a little hole in the heart's front, Nicolas could see a cluster of eyes.

With his teeth gritted together, Samuel threw it on the ground and had his rifle out in a heartbeat. In the next moment, the barrel was pressed against the little package. He pulled the trigger. Red blood sprayed from the heart, blood that was just a little too brightly colored. And the last noise Nicolas heard from it was a noise that contained anguish, pain - and rage.

Silence reigned in the room. Samuel took slow and heavy breaths, and slung his rifle onto his back. Haru looked across the scene with a tense expression. And Nicolas' mouth was agape in horror.

Haru spoke up first. "They normally don't act up that soon, do they?" Samuel shook his head.

"They never have before. The damn thing must have realized we were pulling it off." Haru nodded slowly, but Nicolas didn't say or do anything. He simply stared at the bloody heart on the floor, which had been attached to his back moments before. Slowly, he took a step back with his shaky legs, his eyes still focused on the bloody heart.

As soon as Nicolas moved, Samuel's eyes snapped onto the younger man, a look of pure rage in his eyes. The raw fury in that look made Nicolas jump in shock. The Security team captain marched forward grimly. He roughly grabbed Nicolas by the collar and lifted the smaller man into the air. Nicolas gave a small yelp, but gave no attempts to break the grip.

"Are you fucking INSANE?" Samuel snapped - no, yelled. "Are you a preschooler that just found a shiny new toy, or are you a god damn employee? Because right now, you certainly don't look like the latter." Samuel's fury and intensity was immeasurable. Nicolas was more terrified during that moment than he'd ever been of any Abnormality.

Samuel opened his mouth to speak, to continue his rant, but a gentle hand fell on the captain's shoulder. Both Nicolas and Samuel looked towards Haru. Normally, her eyes were mostly obscured by her hair. But a calm, almost warning look was aimed at Samuel. She shook her head slowly, and Samuel seemed to... deflate. With a heavy sigh, he dropped Nicolas, who landed on his feet shakily.

"Kid, you don't have any more work for today." Those words surprised Nicolas. He turned towards Haru, but she had already moved back to the sidelines, with the other observers. "Think about today, and don't fucking forget it. Because we can't afford 'next times.' Because if there is a 'next time,' somebody's going to get shot. Or eaten. Or disintegrated. Or in your case, blown up." Nicolas winced again and whimpered, but nodded.

"Yes sir. It won't happen again."

Samuel sighed and started to walk off, before almost stepping on the bloody heart on the floor. He swore under his breath, then pointed towards Nicolas.

"Nevermind, you have another job. Clean that up, then burn it." He didn't need to be told twice. When Samuel left the room, Nicolas was already on the floor, scraping up the bloody pile of gore.

I guess I know what Laetitia's friend was.

After a moment, Haru knelt on the floor next to Nicolas, a smile on her face. "Congratulations," she said. He almost thought it was sarcasm, but she said that in one hundred percent seriousness. She meant it. He raised a quizzical eyebrow.

"I'm... sorry?"

She chuckled. "Sammy yelled at you. You've been initiated." She stood up, patted him on back, then left, leaving Nicolas even deeper in his confused haze.