a/n: Nagi plays Poirot on the walk home.
Editing? Tenses? Ha ha ha, no.
All the good things belong to Monolithsoft.
Hope pounced on the subtle shift in Nagi's attitude. "You know Dr. Pelias? Then he's..."
"New Los Angeles owes him more than I can tell you," Nagi said, his voice clipped, his face stony, speaking not so much to Hope as to an unseen disaster barely averted. Hope couldn't think how to respond. They were at the end of the side alley, facing the Mim Center. All that was left was to cross the bustling Division Drive, avoid being smacked by a skell or fawned on by Nagi fanboys, and the Maintenance Center would happily swallow Quincy up, returning him charged and healed and bitterly empty.
Nagi hitched Quincy a little higher and turned his sharp eyes to Hope. "What was the timeline for this man getting so injured?"
"I don't know how long he's been ... feeling for the person in question," admitted Hope.
"Not that," Nagi said dismissively. "We're concerned with his current damage. Work backwards. When did he start losing his power stores?"
Hope thought carefully, ignoring her initial misunderstanding. "He was quiet in BLADE Tower, and restless before that. Quiet leaving the mim center." Nagi had grunted as she spoke. She reviewed the past few hours and said with concern, "Do you think, if I had made him sit and listen, when I was explaining his situation I mean, it would have helped?"
"Probably not."
Nagi's comment didn't feel reassuring. "His skin was cold even then," Hope realized.
"Already in an emergency state leaving the MMC," Nagi agreed. He wasn't done with his questions. "Before that? Was it on his chart? Or," and here Nagi paused, "did they call you in as the possible respondent to his emotions?"
"Secretary!" sputtered Hope.
Between them Quincy snorted. "Asked that already. Too easy." He sagged with a small sigh.
Hope felt a slight chill along the back of her neck. It could have been the total mortification, but she was afraid it was Quincy's body failing again
"His chart? You must have been offered it when they called you in as a Mediator," prompted Nagi.
"We were actually on a mission together. Two weeks, Lake Ciel. Quincy was collecting water samples. He wasn't sleeping well," she admitted.
Nagi had made satisfied "hmms" as she explained. "One more question: did your team have Interceptors?"
"One," she said, by now totally mystified.
"I've heard enough. What this soldier needs is 12 hours in bed, but his own will work well enough." He started to march them towards the barracks. Hope wanted to sag as much as Quincy, from sheer relief. She promised herself that she would catch a nap, a very small one, as soon as they had Quincy safely tucked in.
The walk was a long one, even longer than the morning when every step had felt like a step closer to an execution. The three of them were doing their best to shuffle Quincy to the barracks, but Quincy was almost no help. After the fifth stumble, he muttered, "You take the feet, you take the shoulders, let's go." He sagged a little lower, but the other two ignored him.
"Buck up," commanded Nagi, and to Hope's amazement Quincy managed to straighten significantly. She could feel a growing chill along her arm where she supported him however. She clutched him tighter. Now that Nagi had decided that Quincy could safely be allowed home, a thrill of worry pinged in her brain. "Maybe his mim is compromised..."
"This soldier is the unhappy victim of a string of bad luck, not inherent faults," Nagi pronounced. He had turned his eyes ahead to navigate the distance but he paused a moment to glance at Hope. At the sight of her faint frown of concern, with an added mumble of uncertainty from the soldier in question, Nagi set himself to easing their worries.
It wasn't selfless. Nagi smiled invisibly to himself. He'd enjoyed reading dry detective novels in his limited free time. An indulgence, of course, but he admired how the threads would be gathered neatly at the end. He'd always secretly wanted to show off in the same way. "Working backwards we can see clearly how Quincy reached this state," he pronounced. "Beginning at the end, we know that both BLADE Tower and the MMC are shielded from the atmospheric charging normally available within New Los Angeles. Too many unique and delicate processes. He's been starved since he woke up, with the briefest moment of fresh air in between. And not the freshest area at that."
Hope nodded along with him. People always called the alleyway chilly, and she realized that was true in more than one sense.
They had reached the barracks. The front entrance opened without Nagi having to lift a finger. Even the doors of NLA were Nagi fans, especially ones that were originally part of the escape ship.
"The brief time spent outside wouldn't be able to restore his power levels, not if they were already that low," continued Nagi as they moved graceless through the empty lounge.
"So Dr. Pelias' treatment drained him and no one thought to check," Hope said.
"Possibly. It's just as likely that our friend here was already approaching power failure." Nagi frowned. "Pelias has saved several citizens but..." Nagi paused to choose his words carefully, then shrugged when Quincy accidentally lurched forward. "Pelias' work can be sloppy."
"Oh, dear," murmured Hope.
"He relies on others to complete his work. A valid expectation, in a sense. A check of power levels should be routine."
"I think that might have been my fault. I allowed Quincy to be discharged too hastily." Hope thought that might be something of a fib. She and Quincy had been somewhat desperate to leave at the time. It had felt like a reprieve, to be honest.
The elevator opened with a whisper of gears that sounded much like a dreamy sigh, no need to push a button to call it. (Nagi was long past being surprised by this in the slightest. Vandham was overly amused by his little additions.) Hope did have to select Quincy's floor. "It's the same as mine," she explained.
Nagi continued his explanation as they rode the happy elevator. "The true misfortune can be traced back to your mission. Lake Ciel is poorly covered by the broadcasts from the away stations. If he was working in the lake water itself, no combat or skells, he would get zero additional charging. Spore fog?" he asked abruptly.
"Yes, quite a few times. I think he worked right through it."
"Making matters worse. I would also assume that the petalose symptoms probably increased his power requirements and reduced his ability to eat or sleep."
Hope had to agree. She hadn't been sure but it seemed to her that Quincy was always finishing dinner, finishing breakfast, but she had never seen him actually eat.
Nagi brought up his final point, trying not to expose his deep smugness. "Finally, the Interceptor. I have had the opportunity to go on away missions with some of them. At night they tend to be ... clingy." Hope made a silent squeak of agreement. She remembered the way that Gwin was cuddled up to Quincy in his sleep. Was that only this morning?
The Secretary was still speaking. "The away mats provide the standard 3 hour charge, but only barely," he pointed out. "Add a second lonely body to the mat and they fail to charge either sleeper in that time, not fully, not by half. And if this young man was only getting the minimum sleep..."
"... he was continually undercharged," finished Hope. "But wait, no. We had the long flight home. Quincy's skell should have restored him, at least partially."
"He's a Curator, correct? I would wager that his skell is also adapted to limit energy output, in order to protect the samples," Nagi said, knowing that his wager was safe. He was VERY pleased with this whole performance.
They had reached the floor and started the extended march to Quincy's room, really only a matter of a few dozen steps. Quincy couldn't remember his code, of course, but the other two knew quite well that Nagi could override the lock, no problem. The door yearned to obey him. Nagi stretched his white gloved hand towards the pad, a mere formality (for the door, a benediction).
Hope blocked him with her own hand, slapping it flat against the panel. "We can't go in there!"
a/n: In the drafts, Nagi thinks, "Poirot, eat my shorts." In the drafts, Vandham has read too much Hitchhiker.
Also, HOW WE FEELING, XENOBLADE FANS?! Why yes I finished the 3 dlc why do you ask.
Next up: Say it with me. THERE WAS ONLY ONE BED.