Prompt: "You're safe now."

Furious would not even begin to describe Phil's state of mind.

To say Quackity and him were close would probably be an overstatement. But they had worked together for a fair bit, and over the years Phil had built a begrudging sort of respect for the man. They might not see eye to eye in many regards, Phil still admired Quackity's work ethic, adaptability, and willingness to take risks. He'd been a good friend to Wilbur once, perhaps even a friend to Phil himself.

And he had rewarded them for their goodwill by stabbing Phil and fleeing into the night.

There was a part of him that still could not fully condemn Quackity's actions, wanting to chalk it up to desperation. Times had been tough lately, with rising taxes and failing harvests making gold more direly needed than ever before. Phil had plenty saved up, but Quackity was still waiting on his lucky break. Grasping at straws. It would drive anybody to make dumb decisions, perhaps.

A much louder, more volatile part of Phil wanted to kick that bastard's ass into next week.

Phil had been lucky. Or perhaps whatever little moral fiber Quackity's cloth was cut from managed to hold up in the end. The wound was shallow and nicked off into his flesh, bleeding a lot but not even being serious enough to require stitches. Wilbur and Tommy had the fright of their lives finding Phil like that, slumped against the wall and clutching his side, water from the overturned aquarium soaking into his pants. But they had been able to dress the injury quickly enough. Phil would be fine in no time after a health potion and a nap.

Techno was another matter.

They had taken him. And the fact that Phil had no clue what their next step was frightened him.

At least it seemed to him Quackity was not enough of an idiot to believe the stories about mermaid flesh granting immortality, so they needn't fear he'd cook Techno up into a nice stew before they managed to track Quackity down.

But would they try to find somebody who was dumb enough to buy into the scam?

Phil did not like working against the clock, especially when he couldn't even get out of bed. Wilbur told him to stay put, that he would work his connections while Phil rested and healed enough to help once the action went down. As much as he hated to admit it, that was probably their best bet. Quackity had many friends and even more people in his pocket for the right price. They couldn't waste time on a wild goose chase.

It's just that Phil couldn't get the sound of a shoe crushing bone beneath its heel out of his mind.

What if they got there and Techno was already dead?

"You can't think like that," Tommy told him. "We're going to get him back. We won't let them get away with this."

"Where did you inherit that optimism from, I wonder?" Phil mused out loud. "It definitely wasn't me."

"That's all me, bitch!"

"I'll tell your mother you said that when she returns," Phil said lightly. Tommy scoffed. When he puffed up his cheeks like that, he looked even more like Kristin.

Tommy was right though. They wouldn't let Quackity get away with this.

Almost an entire day passed before Wilbur finally came with the answers they were looking for. Quackity was indeed planning to sell Techno, just like Phil had expected him to. Going to the capital was definitely not what he had in mind though.

His ambition was another thing Phil used to admire in Quackity.

"Fundy has the backbone of a wet piece of paper," Wilbur said, watching Phil struggle upright and out of bed. "Quackity should have known better than to work with him."

"Yeah, well, if it plays out in our favor I'm not complaining."

Wilbur hummed his agreement but then gave him a critical once over with his eyes. "Are you sure you should be out of bed?"

"If you're thinking about telling me to stay put, forget it."

"I'm not." Reaching over to the cane leaning against the wall beside his wardrobe, Wilbur threw it for him to catch. Phil hadn't used that old thing in ages. He only needed it when his pains flared up, which happened less and less since he stopped doing as much fieldwork.

"Thanks." There wasn't anything Wilbur could say to change Phil's mind and he must know as much.

Facing Quackity down in that alley, Phil was glad to have the cane with him. Their hurrying had made sharp pangs of pain erupt down the muscle, resulting in him leaning heavily on it for support. Still suffering the echoes of blood loss made it that much worse.

"Do tell me where you think you're going, Quackity."

The man in question stopped. For one moment, shock was all Phil could read on his expression and it gave him a vicious sort of pleasure. Ever the actor, Quackity returned to passively observing him a moment later, already taking a step back.

The sound of footsteps stopped him. Wilbur and Tommy were bringing up the rear.

Quackity was smart, but he was trapped. And trapped often meant dangerous.

"You're sure we can't talk about this?" he tried, no more than a distraction. Deciding on the course with lesser obstacles, he shuffled forward again. Phil leaned on his cane more, blocking the way.

"You stabbed me."

"Clearly not bad enough to kill you," Quackity said jovially. "I'm glad about that, by the way. I didn't- didn't intend for it to go that fucking sideways." Everything about that statement reflected it to be the truth.

And Phil could not find it in himself to hate the man before him.

He was simply pathetic.

"You have something of mine," Phil said. "I'd like it returned to me."

"Alright, alright. You got me, okay? Let's not make this a bigger deal than it has to be."

Quackity was so close now there wasn't more than an arm's length between them. Phil could see the jar he had clutched in the crook of his elbow. Techno wasn't moving.

Phil refused to draw his gaze away from Quackity's face for more than a blink though.

He wouldn't make the mistake of putting any trust in this man a second time.

"It's all yours." With a slight tilt of the head, Quackity started to outstretch his arms. Phil did not drop his guard.

Quackity clicked his tongue, annoyed. Perhaps that's why Phil wasn't exactly surprised as he stepped back and threw the jar instead.

In hindsight, Phil would consider it a small mercy that Quackity hadn't hurled it straight into the fucking wall. If he'd done that, Techno would be dead. And perhaps he was still giving Quackity too much credit if he thought that was the exact reason why that didn't happen. Phil could take peace in knowing that even Quackity wouldn't be that cruel.

Those thoughts all came later though. At the moment, all he cared about was the glass container making an upward arch into the air and Phil dropped his cane to catch it when it fell down again so it wouldn't shatter all over the cobblestone. Which was clearly what Quackity had expected him to do.

Using that brief moment of distraction, he pushed past Phil and out the other end of the alley, running like a cat after somebody had stepped on its tail. And only a few paces ahead of Wilbur and Tommy, who reached Phil barely a second after he managed to save the jar.

His damn heart must be going a mile a minute. That was much too close for comfort.

Phil held it up to his face. Techno was unconscious, as he feared. Or maybe that was a good thing considering Phil couldn't imagine being tossed around like a baseball would do the injured mermaid any good. He seemed to be in a bad state.

"Did he just fucking-" Tommy cut himself off in anger as he stared at the corner Quackity had disappeared around.

"We'll deal with him later," Phil said. He could care less about where Quackity would scurry off to, what hidey hole he was despicable enough to call his own.

He cared about getting home and making sure Techno would be okay.

"Fuck that!" Before Phil could react, Tommy was off. Giving chase, not content leaving things as they were.

Wilbur reacted in surprise, as if this wasn't typical Tommy impulsivity in action. "I guess he disagrees."

"You should probably follow him before he gets himself in more trouble than he can fix. I'll handle this." Phil couldn't bring himself to be angry. Maybe Tommy could exact some retribution for them both.

"We'll be back soon." Wilbur squeezed his shoulder before taking off.

Picking up his cane from the ground, Philza started to shuffle his way home. Every movement hurt, but he couldn't let that slow him down. "You're safe now," he said out loud. The chance that Techno could hear him right now was pretty slim. But he still couldn't stop himself. "You're fine, you'll be okay. We're going home."

Or maybe he was simply trying to reassure himself.