Pseudotree's fanfic
Disclaimer –I do not own ROD the TV
Summary –(Slight AU) Junior, due to his power of intangibility, ends up in many, MANY embarrassing mishaps throughout the series. And by "mishaps", I mean that the poor boy goes through things when he... shouldn't.
o
Chapter 2
He ran.
It was late in the evening, with the shadowy pre-night partially illuminated by the street lamps and the stars, silent despite a certain figure's bullet-like movements.
"…Not cold." murmured Junior, the winds passing through his neutral face.
He had no reason to rush, for the young agent was simply ordered to become familiar with the main parts of the city in preparation for the upcoming missions. But at some point during the walk-through of the long, quiet alleys Junior was compelled to jog, then sprint, and then gradually pick up speed until…
He ran. The various infrastructures around him blurred and the boy felt as if he was in a dream world, away from everything sans the sound of the night's breeze, the slightly burning intakes of air, the pitch blackness ahead of him.
A sudden swish caught the corner of his eye, and the lad turned. To his left he saw a pack of white, large beasts bursting out from the roofs of a tall building –a curious sight, which Junior began following to investigate.
Even with his ability to phase through solid obstacles combined with athletic pumps of the legs, he still had trouble catching up with the rather agile beings jumping from houses to houses. Upon getting closer he found, to his barely-noticeable surprise, that they were carrying various house-hold items –drawers, couches, coffee-tables… the whole works.
Thump.
Hastily tied up, to boot.
A small padded sofa fell from one of the creatures' back and onto the ground. The entire pack seemed to have noticed this as all of them simultaneously flinched, and a pair of them ran back as if to retrieve it –followed by a very tall woman.
Considering the suit she wore, her hair style, and the distance between them, the mysterious, agitated lady's gender probably should not have registered to the young agent. But-
"Oh, no- I really don't have time for this!" muttered the raven-haired woman, panting heavily as she rushed towards the fallen furniture –her half-undone dress shirt fluttering teasingly.
Finally getting a good view of his targets after partially immersing himself into a nearby wall, Junior noticed that something was off. The large creatures at the woman's side seemed rather inorganic, rigid edges running across their bodies and adorned with very thin facial features (such as near width-less earlobes). Almost as if they were made of-
"Paper?" he whispered as the lady began to mount the sofa back.
This was certainly quite an unusual find, and likely to be something his superiors want reported in full detail. Reaching inside his pocket, Junior pulled out a small pen-shaped camera and pointed. She was unsuspecting. She was busy minding her own business. S-she was close to a street lamp, so the brief flash shouldn't be…
Click. Click. Click. Pressed were the tiny buttons in the sweaty palm.
Finishing up, she mounted on one of the beasts herself and left in a hurry. After making sure she was well out of range, the young agent stepped out into the air and let out a breath.
"…I should go back." Junior murmured after a look at his watch.
He felt an odd feeling of apprehension about this, which confused him with its completely illogical presence –He knew the collected data needs to be handed to Miss Wendy. He knew that getting some sleep is important as sudden assignments may be handed to him. He knew the best course of action after all is done for the day is to return-
'…Return…?' he trailed off.
Walking out of the streets towards the makeshift base where his guardian was waiting, he pondered quietly while drinking in the sensations of the peaceful night once more, for the last time… until much, much later.
The rows and rows of shelves were everywhere in the underground bookstore, the articles contained within various in shapes, size, purpose, and age- some almost a century old, some merely a few days. But all that went on in the mind of the small girl who walked among them was-
'BOOKS! They're EVERYWHERE!' thought Anita in dismay, passing them by (or tried her best to, anyway) in a manner reminiscent to a soldier tiptoeing across a mine field.
Deciding to sit down on a nearby cart (making sure none of its contents touched her in the process), she let out a short sigh and cursed for having to look for Nenene all by herself. Oh, SURE her sisters would actually do anything to find that woman in a bookstore district! Anita just hoped that Michelle doesn't try to clean out everywhere she visits.
'Well, at least I know that Nenene's somewhere in here…'
A shuffle turned her attention around to the right. Only a few steps away stood a kid around her age, a cap on his ('He's a boy, right?') head placed as if to obscure the face and facing one of the large shelves.
'That's strange –I didn't hear anyone else coming in here…' she pondered. Then, a small envelop that she couldn't remember seeing on the floor a moment before caught her eyes. 'Did he drop that? It's right behind him…'
Getting off the cart and picking it up, she announced to the young man- "Hey! I think you-"
The contents of the little paper container fell from under it as the boy turned around, and Anita's eyes widened instantly the moment they hit the wooden tiles below. Her surprise wasn't really generated by the unexpected drops, but rather from the image depicted on one of the three photographs.
'…Maggie…'
"…It went through…" the young man murmured below, and then faced her with a nervous look.
'…Maggie's nape and chest, zoomed.'
He opened his mouth as if to say something, but seemed to be at a complete loss.
'…STALKER!'
"Y-you…" she began, backing up considerably. "Wh-what are you, a pervert?!"
The capped teen blinked confusedly.
Thoughts coming together more coherently (but no less angry), Anita continued heatedly while reaching inside her sleeve cautiously. "J-Just what are you doing with a picture of my sister's CHEST?! Are you one of those guys who follow older girls around and-"
"…My camera…" he said in a low whisper. "…was set focused before I used it…"
"That's just BULL!" she spat out, and the lad in front of her flinched. "When I finish kicking your lying ass to a bloody-"
Anita then noticed a sudden change in the boy's expression, which looked as if he noticed something interesting on her face. Unnerved, she pursed her lips in discomfort.
He then briskly moved towards her.
Taken aback, she reflexively tried to sprint backwards and tripped, landing heavily on the tiles and raising a cloud of dust.
'Wha… what's he doing?' thought Anita with a hint of panic as he drew near, and clutched onto a sheet of paper drawn out and ready. 'I-if I hold this up to his neck at just the right time, then…'
A graceful swoop, and his face was right in front of her.
The girl's breath hitched, and when she felt his arm brush against her side, a foreign sensation crept up and spread throughout. He's not… he isn't going to…
An immersive "…Hmm." was emitted from his mouth as he picked up a rather thick book beside her, scanning it intently.
Anita's face was the epitome of incredulous as the girl stared, then broke out a short, nervous chuckle. "H-ha… a book?"
"Anita?"
Her head rotated towards a shelf behind her, and a woman in her 20's emerged from the wall of novels a moment later. "Huh, it was you. What're you doing on the floor, brat?" she asked with her arms crossed.
The girl's first reaction was to fire back an insult that would have made the entire parent population in the vicinity jam their children's ears shut, but then she remembered how her posterior ended up on the dirty wooden flooring. "Nenene! This perv-" she turned, only to find that the boy, the book, the photos, and even the envelope that was in her hand, was gone, without leaving a single trace.
"What the- that kid was right here! H-he stalked Maggie and…and…" she trailed off, face flushing.
Nenene raised an eyebrow, and replied in an amused tone- "A stalker? At the back of a bookstore? With you down on the floor? Oh, my dear Anita-chan!" hands flew onto hips, head shaking left and right. "You've been peeking at Michelle's romance novels when no-one else was around, weren't you?"
She exploded.
Junior was just outside when the unholy torrent of expletives boomed and shook the very core of his soul. He has never before felt so glad to be a Deep.
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IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE
Thanks again for reading, everybody! And remember that you can feel free to criticize any mistakes you see in this story. The third chapter will probably come out earlier (like, a couple of days or so earlier) than the scheduled date (a month from now).
Also, here is a little alternate ending for this chapter that keeps bugging me (due to Junior's behaviour sort of not fitting in with the rest of his portrayals in this fic).
Alternate ending for chapter 2
Junior was just outside when the unholy torrent of expletives boomed and shook the very core of his soul. And this was when the boy realized that he has never felt so glad to be a Deep... as he pocketed the photos protectively, almost letting the Gentleman Book slip.
For research, of course.
