second chapter up sooner than expected

When the elevator slid to a halt and the door opened to reveal the shop, Eridan had expected it to be just as loud and annoying as it was earlier. When he stepped out, the shop was void of people.

"Asshat in the shop! Dirk! I'm occupied." Eridan heard from an open red door with a blue door frame on the wall to his right.

"Fuck! Sollux I'm busy too here! I can't leave this alone, It'll short circuit!" From another door, neighboring the red and blue one. This door, stained with grease and scarred with scratches in the metal.

"Shit! Fine." Sollux walked out, shoving a screwdriver in the back pocket of his jeans, wiping his hands on his black t-shirt. "This better be good. I have work to do." Sollux went to a towering tool storage mounted in the wall next too the saws and yanked it open, grabbing a wrench and shoving it into his back pocket next to the screwdriver.

Eridan hadn't moved but a few steps before Sollux turned around and noticed him.

"Oh it's you again. What do you want?" The day didn't seem real to Eridan. Maybe once he got his assignment, it might sink into his head that he'd get used to dealing with these people.

"I'm here for my assignment." Stated Eridan plainly.

"Aw, shit, man. Fine. Just, don't leave until FF gets back. I don't want to be responsible for two people out in the field while I'm knee deep in encrypted data from the 1980's." Eridan gave Sollux a quizzical look. "Right, right, new. Uh, FF is Feferi Peixes. I'm her handler too. Right now she's undercover in Syria."

Eridan knew better than to ask about things, so he kept silent and stood straight. Sollux scratched the back of his head.

"Files." Muttered Sollux. "Wait there." He disappeared back through the door he came out of. A minute later exactly, he came out with another manila file, which he then handed to Eridan. "Alright. file has all you need to know about your job. We'll be sending you to Ukraine to break into a terrorist operation and kill the leader. I want you to wait to leave until after Feferi's come back. Until then, you can talk to Aranea or Jane about keeping yourself busy. Now get the fuck upstairs, I have work to do." With that, Sollux waled back through the red and blue door and kicked it shut behind him.

With a sigh, Eridan headed back upstairs to drop the file off at his desk, along with the other one. Since Aranea was still busy hollering orders into her Bluetooth, Eridan went back to the ground floor to speak with Jane.

When the door slid open revealing the store, it was a flurry with people. Jane stationed at the customer service counter and Roxy dancing through the people like leaves on the wind, pointing out this and that, chatting up bargains and generally being an uplifting force to people's day. Or at least, that's what Eridan observed of her. He walked up to Jane, she eyed him curiously.

"What can i help you with, Eridan?" Still a bit uncomfortable at being called by his first name, he told her of his misadventures after she had left.

"So you're here to help us run things on the floor, huh?" Out of all the things that went through his mind that morning before he got there, he'd never would've imagine that he'd end up with a green polo, attempting to assist people. And never would he have imagined that people could be so utterly stupid.

Later in the evening, when there was no one left but them, Eridan ended up sitting on the counter with Jane and Roxy talking about training.

"So you were selected, yeah?" Roxy said, breaking out a flask, that Eridan assumed was hidden in her cleavage. Jane eyed the flask with distaste but said nothing about it. "Right Janey, we all get selected. From some sort of fucked up selection process. Then branded by the damn government with numbers. Our records are stamped by those numbers, you know? And the higher ups, that's how they keep track of us. Don't even use our fuckin names." She put an arm around Eridan, offering him a drink from her flask. Eridan shook his hand in negative reply. He wasn't much of a drinker. "Suit yourself then." Said Roxy, taking a gulp and re-capping the flask. "What's your stamp then?"

To witch Eridan gracefully replied, "What?"

"What's your number, bozo?"

"Oh, 27303."

"Wow, Janey tell 'em!" Jane let out a sigh and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

"My number was 2755."

"Right, right and my number was 91507." Roxy began swinging her legs. "Now that we're all intimate with our numbers, tell us about yourself, Erick."

"Eridan." Jane corrected her.

"Eridan." Roxy repeated, smiling at Jane.

"Like what?" Asked Eridan, thoroughly bored and picking at his nails.

"I dunno, like, girlfriends!" Roxy's voice danced when she spoke, the kind of voice you could listen to while she said anything about anything. Eridan supposed that's why he hadn't already left to go back up to his office yet. He gave her a look. She held up her hands. "Or boyfriends, I don't know your life."

"Roxy," Started Jane.

"What Jane, I'm only tryin' ta' have a little fun here. This guy is new meat, remember? I'm tryin' to get the grease!"Roxy replied.

"Nah, I ain't got nothin' back home waitin' for me. The way I see it, it's better that way." Eridan said to Roxy.

"Aw that's sad." Roxy let out a heaving sigh. "Jaaaaannnnneee." Roxy knocked her head against Jane's.

"Roxyyyyyy." Jane smiled. Roxy planted a quick kiss on Jane's lips. Somehow, Eridan wasn't surprised.

"So how's a come you're out here workin' with us and not on the assignment you were supposed to get today?" Roxy asked, turning back to Eridan.

"Sollux doesn't want to handle two agents in the field with all the work he just got." Jane replied for him.

"Oh so Sollux is your handler, eh?" She nudged Jane with her elbow. "Eeeh?" Jane rolled her eyes. "Say, why don't you come out with us tonight?" Added Roxy.

Eridan saw no reason to deny her request.

"Sure why not." Like the day could get any weirder.

"Alright! Someone who'll actually go drinking with me!" Exclaimed Roxy.

"I go drinking with you." Said Jane flatly.

"You don't drink." Replied Roxy.

"I drag you home all the time."

"Why I love you!"

"Damn straight."

"Never straight." Roxy booped Jane's nose.

Eridan cleared his throat.

"Right! Okay, just slip back into those fancy ass clothes you were in when you got here this morning and we'll take you to the best bar this side of the continent!" Roxy hopped off the counter and headed through the Employees Only door.

Jane smiled. "She's a hand full."

To which Eridan replied, "Yep."

"Well we better get going, she'll come back and get us if we don't" Said Jane with amusement.

When they had all regrouped, they headed out the front door just as the sun sank with it's last waves of red falling below the skyline. Jane locked the front doors and they were headed off.