Hey guys, welcome back. Thank you all for continuing to read my story that I have made. I suck at writing an intro so I'll just get on with the story.

...

...

...

The cherry of the cigarette fell into the ashtray. Captain Scarlet took a drag and looked at the bruised scavengers in front of her, she sighed as she rubbed her eyes.

"I send you two out on a high value hunt and before you two get back I get a phone call from Ironwood himself." She took another and leaned forward onto her desk. "I was thinking it was going to be him saying the hunt went on without a hitch. But no." She sighed as she slumped a bit forward in her chair. "No he tells me that I have to tell the both of you to forget anything about seeing a mystery man disappear out of thin air. And forget that Atlus military had any sort of doing in this whole hunt." Falling back into her chair she let out a sigh.

Tilian sat there listening to every word that she had to say. While his partner was looking at everything in her room trying not to make eye contact with her; for all he knew she would snap the second he looked at her.

"Do you have any idea what's going to happen now?" She asked the two of them. They remained quiet and shook their heads. "Atlus is going to call me every single day asking me questions if anything has leaked out, and that you two are keeping quiet." She pointed at them. "They're also going to be checking up on you two making sure you haven't said anything." She took the last drag of her cigarette and put it out in the ashtray. "Atlus wants to keep this quiet, and if words get out there something bigger going on it's our asses in the frying pan." She pointed at Tilian. "Especially if your name gets out." She stood up from her desk and began to pace behind it. "The public is already not so welcoming to your kind. Now imagine if they found a proto was hunting a proto when all of a sudden they found out the mission you were on had to be kept quiet."

Tilian thought about it and he agreed it would not have been good if they found out. "As for you Alex, your name would be tarnished as scavenger." He grimaced at the thought of that. "So we need to stay quiet till I hear otherwise." She sat back down and lit another cigarette. "Alex, you can leave. As for you Tilian, we need to do your test."

Alex got up and put a hand on his partner's shoulder. "I'll be out there where it's safe." With that he left Tilian alone in the room with their captain. Tilian turned back at his captain and he saw her pull out the needle. He sighed and reached for the device.

Tilian walked out of the room rubbing his ear. His partner was across the hall dumping the rest of the bag of chips into his mouth. Some fell to the floor and he wined. He looked around before reaching down and picking up the scraps off the ground, putting them in his mouth. He put the last chip in his mouth when he saw a familiar pair of shoes come into his line of sight. He slowly followed the shoes up the legs finally reaching his partner's face who was blankly staring at him. He quickly shot up and wiped off his shirt and straightened himself out. "How much of that did you see?"

"All of it." His partner quickly answered back. He got angry and cursed at himself under his breath. Alex, dragged his hand down over his face and looked at Tilian. "You do not say a word to anybody. You saw nothing." He walked away from the office and Tilian followed. "Forgetting about what just happened, what did the Captain say to you?"

"She told me that everything looked normal." Alex waved his hand in the air.

"I'm not talking about your test." He walked backwards as he talked to Tilian. "I'm talking about our pay. We did our job besides the you know what."

"Right well." He looked at his partner. "She said we'll be paid in full since we did complete our job." His partner gave a small fist pump. "And she told me to keep an eye on you." Alex, happiness faded.

"Why?!" Tilian just shrugged his shoulders and kept walking. "Don't know, didn't ask, though." Tilian stopped and pondered. "If I had to guess; it's because you like to spill info to make yourself look better for the girls you like to"talk" too." His partner raised a finger in defense but quickly took it down.

"Yeah, that's fair." He turned around and got into the elevator. "I mean, besides to keep an eye on me, what else did she say?" Alex pressed the button. "Anything about some proto she wants us to look at next, maybe a-"

"Ting!"

He looked over and saw his partner flicking a coin into the air. He just sighed and kept on talking. "Maybe a few rank proto for a few solo hunts to keep us busy." His partner kept on staring at the floor level.

"She said she'll let us know. She wants us to keep a low profile for a couple of days to make sure some things have calmed down before we get back out there." Alex watched as Tilian flipped the golden coin up in the air for it to land perfectly back into his partner's pocket. "She also wants us to file a report saying that it was just us there."

"You gotta teach me that sometime man." The elevator dinged and the doors opened to a sight Tilian didn't want to see.

"Well, Hello there Alex." Cullen looked at Tilian. "Hmph. This your latest catch Alex? I'm not surprised you didn't just kill him. Less hassle bringing a dead body than a live one." Alex rolled his eyes.

"Shut it Cullen. Not in the mood for your jokes." Alex and Tilian pushed past the giant scavenger.

"Oh come now. I'm just havin' a bit of fun, you know how I like to be." He smiled and leaned against the elevator. "Besides, don't you think you'll be better off without him? I mean." He gestured to Tilian. "Look at him, he's young. Plus he's one of those things." They could both hear the disgust in his voice. "He's no better than any other proto. He hunts his own kind without any remorse, don't you think that's a little strange."

"One of those things? Don't you refer faunas to that too?" Tilian asked their elder scavenger.

Cullen shook his head at the young proto. "No, no I don't hate the faunas. At least the ones who know their place." Alex shook and head nodded to Tilian to come along.

"Just do me a favor and leave me and my partner the fuck alone." There were a few things Alex hated more than bad people. When people talked bad to the people he liked, especially his partner. That was on the top of the list.

"Just let me know if you ever need my help to kill him." Cullen stepped in the elevator and the doors began to shut. "I'll be waiting on your call Alex." The door closed and the source of Alex's anger was gone. He huffed and sat down at his desk.

"You didn't have to do that." Tilian said as he sat down next to his partner.

"I know it's just." Alex put his hands on his head and leaned back into his chair. "I don't see why you don't just tell him off. They're tons of things I can think of just because he has a gap the size of the ocean between his teeth."

"Because if I did I would just make things worse for myself. Look around." gestured Tilian. "I'm already hated enough here as is. I take tests after every hunt to make sure I don't turn rogue." Turning his chair he looked at his partner. "I'm already on this ice here. If I do anything remotely bad I get turned in or killed." Alex looked at his partner. He wanted to argue back but he knew he was right. Alex himself was even given orders to watch Tilian with a close eye. Even went as far as to kill him if necessary.

"Well that's still bullshit. They don't know you like I do. Sure you can be cold and not really friendly."

"Thanks." Tilian said. Alex lifted a finger into the air

"I'm not done yet… but they haven't worked with you. I have. You may not have been the easiest partner I've had to deal with. But as the months have passed you I saw that you were actually a decent human being." He poked his finger into his partner's chest. "I've got your back anytime you need."

Tilian didn't say anything. He just turned to the screen in front of him and began to type away at the holo screen as he filled out his report. Alex just smiled as he turned to his own screen and typed away. "You're welcome, buddy." The minutes passed in silence as they both typed away at their screens trying to complete the report so they could get home for the night. Slowly the office they were in became more and more quiet as people began to leave for the night. Tilian stretched and yawned as he sent the report up to the Captain. Alex did the same as he got up. "Welp I'm all done on my end how bout you?" Tilian just nodded and got up. There were only a few people left as they both got up for the night.

As they waited for the elevator Tilian reached in his back pocket and pulled out a card. "Before I forget. Here's the lien I owe you." Alex looked surprised and grabbed the money.

"You know I was joking when I said that, right?" Alex refused to grab the money from his partner

"You saved my life yesterday. Who knows how much more fight that proto had left in him. You took him down before he could cause anymore damage." He put the money in Alex's hand and closed it. "I don't know how to say thank you. Just take this as a sign of it." Alex was stunned at his omission. He never expected Tilian to do anything like this. He just nodded his head and took the money without saying anything else.

Neither of them said another word as they were leaving the building. They got outside and Alex began to walk in the opposite direction then where Tilian needed to go. "And just so you know." Alex turned around to look at Tilian.

"I wouldn't have anybody else with me on hunts. You're effective, accurate, you get the job done." Alex just turned back around and kept walking. He knew Tilian didn't want him to say anything back. He kept smiling to himself as he walked alone.

People lined the halls as Tilian stepped inside of his building. They all gave him looks as he walked past them and climbed up his stairs. Loud music could be heard from the top of the building as Tilian climbed the stairs. When he got to his door he saw the usual slander and dents on it as he unlocked the door. The people sitting next to his door talked to each other as they watched him walk inside.

Once he closed his door behind him all the loud music and chatter was cut off. Tilian's apartment was sparse at best. He had a small kitchen area that was connected to a living area with a table at the end of the room. The only thing that was separating his room from the rest of the apartment was a small half wall.

He sat down at the table and turned on the tv. He never watched anything that they had on, he just kept it on the news for the background noise. Turning on his scroll he began to look for more possible targets for him and Alex to look for.

Tilians life consisted of nothing more than what he was doing. He wasn't one for going out; especially for socializing. Every time Alex asked him to come out he always turned them down. There were rare occasions where Alex would come over and have some drinks but Tilian never drank with him.

"In other news. The criminal Roman Torchwick has evaded the police a number of times and they are having trouble locating him. If you have any-" Sound stopped coming out of the woman's mouth as the tv was muted. He put the scroll down and walked up to the tv. Studying the video of Roman on screen Tilian began to have dejavu as he watched his movements. They were over exaggerated and over emphasized. The self confidence was pouring from him as he carried himself in the video. "Son of a bi-" Tilian line of thought was cut short as his buzzer rang.

Walking up to the holopad next to his door he pressed the button. "Hello?"

"Hey it's me!" An excited female voice said through the pad. He let go of the pad and unlocked the door. There stood a redhead girl wearing scantily clad clothing. He let her inside and locked the door behind her.

"Sorry I know you like scheduling and all that but I knew you would be home right now so I thought why not." She swayed her hips as she walked over to the table. She turned around and leaned against the table pushing her chest out more. She saw the confused look on his face and she smiled.

The scroll vibrated, catching the attention of the working girl. She grabbed the scroll and looked at it. "What's you got here mister?" She saw all the wanted proto's on his screen. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Naughty boy." She closed his scroll and sat it back down. "Don't you know never to bring home work. It can cause you so much stress. Luckily." She gestured to herself. "I'm here."

Pushing herself off the table she made sure to put extra sway in her hips as she walked up to him. She stood on her toes as she leaned against him and gently held the side of his face. She turned his head to the side and gave a small life. She saw the bruises and how his half of eye was blue from a busted vessel.

"You know I love a man who has some battle marks on him." She kissed the bruises on the side of head and pushed off of him.

"Is today that day?" Tilian asked. She nodded her head as she kept smiling at him. "I'm sorry, I must have forgotten."

Shaking her head she walked over to his bed. Along the way she took off her shirt and threw it on the ground. She turned around, kissed the younger man and sat him down on the bed. She pulled away and Tilian watched as she exposed herself to him. She sat down on his lap and she began to kiss Tilain who reciprocated.

...

...

...

Yes I know lots of slow chapters, I'm building ok. Anyways I hope y'all enjoyed.