Trigger: POV

"I have no idea how to take what I just heard." It was the quite perplexed reply Red gave me, when I decided to explain my situation with the Wolf.

It was a mix of happy and angry I didn't know could be achieved.

Hod WANTED me to just stay in the Main Room of Training, wanting to minimize whatever… me things could happen around Abnormalities.

The Manager and Malkuth decided to just have me work on Red, despite what Hod said. I'm a bit disturbed that THE MANAGER made an active decision to have me work.

I looked at the Magatama hanging from my neck and the duo of spiders on my shoulder. I'd expect him to agree with Hod after all that happened.

Red was leaning her back against a wall while I was using my coffin as a chair. Taking a closer look at Red's face, I noticed that the shadow her hood manifested was less prominent now. It was still hard to see her face but not impossible anymore.

Speaking of her face… from the glimpses I got, it has a lot less scars to the point it can actually be called a face. A chocolate brown eye… well sometimes. It was usually yellow and red, but when she was calm, it became chocolate brown. Auburn short and wild hair, and still a LOT of scars.

Like the claw mark on her left eye, it was kind of badass to look at.

Overall, she is… younger than I thought, but the scars make her look older than she is. Pretty sure she is younger than I am.

"Well, he sees me as his eternal rival now… for some reason." I said with a shrug while she looked at the ceiling.

"I'm more offended than angry by that." Red said with what sounded like confusion.

"Be happy with that, I'd like to NOT have a violent rival." I sighed at the end. It was annoying to put up with the usual stuff life throws at me, now a giant wolf was added to the mix.

Usual, huh...?

I haven't seen any of those… what did Management labeled them as?

Ordeals, right.

No Ordeal has shown up yet, that was… good?

At least, I hope so.

Red shook her head, "Too late, he is also your problem now… good. Now I can actually ask you to help me with him without feeling weird." I quirked a brow at that.

"How long have you been thinking about that?" I was honestly a bit curious, mainly because this was quite a big change.

She would have probably taken my head off if I asked about it the first time we met.

Red shrugged, "After our last talk, it had been bugging me… you could say I could use someone watching my back." Sending a smile her way, that she seemed to find annoying… her loss I guess.

A thumbs up was my response, "Well, you can consider your back watched, nothing is taking us down." Red looked away and by the swirl of emotions I felt, she was… embarrassed.

I just made a lot of progress with her… and it feels really good.

"I will choke slam you." She threatened with a growl. Alright… no more smile.

I hummed at what I heard, glancing at the spiders on my head, Peter threw a web string that latched them to the roof before launching themselves towards it. What a nice swing.

I move my neck side to side, getting a few pops in return before stretching my arms, "Sounds interesting, wanna test that theory?" She gave me a funny stare… and then her patented eye smile.

A vicious look, it suits her, "You're on." She kicked off the wall and cracked her knuckles. We both took two steps forward, we sized each other up for a moment.

I glanced at the side with a bored look… right before throwing a right haymaker that she ducked under. From that position… she'll throw a sweep.

Dashing in before she could even begin throwing her leg out, she changed her footing and sprang up with a right uppercut. I moved my head to the side while throwing a hook right over her arm.

She retreated her arm back, using her elbow to push my arm to the side, before grabbing my shoulder.

I narrowed my eyes and pushed my body into hers, preventing her from sending a knee to my stomach. She moved out her arms, trying to push me away.

Pulling back and throwing a left punch directly at her face, I managed to raise my right palm

to block a kick, while Red crossed her arms to block my punch.

We both jumped back and stared at each other for a moment. I think it's time to switch strategies.

Right foot forward, and arm down in an L shape, I kept my left fist just below my chin. Time to give this some practice.

Red stared at this, "Aren't you right-handed?" She asked with what I'm guessing is a frown.

Responding with a nod and a smile, I made a 'come at me' gesture with my left hand, "What? Did the sudden shift scare you?"

She growled out and went for a kick, which I blocked with my right arm. A punch, the result was the same. Then she went for a right punch that I deflected with my shoulder. This is what I found in the book Dakota gave me that could work wonders with Primal Impulse.

Even if the name, in my personal opinion, is a bit dumb. The Philly Shell… who is Philly anyway? It was a defensive stance, made to parry blows, deflect them or just block them. It was tight and could deal with mostly everything.

I saw her weight shift again… an axe heel kick. I moved in, my right arm moving fast upwards for an uppercut while she was mid-kick that I blocked with my left arm. She ate my uppercut with her face, throwing her head back and dropping her on the floor.

Huffing at that, I rubbed my arms a bit, "You hit really hard." I said with a small smile, I felt those blows more than I cared to show.

She moved up and thanks to what I just did, I managed to get a clearer view of her face. The punch must have loosened the cloth on her mouth, the one designed after teeth, she has even more scars there. The more prominent one being three claw marks diagonally moving across her mouth.

Before she could speak, I grabbed the cloth and put it back in place, tightening it a bit more than usual. She gave me… a long stare.

Coughing in my fist, I gave her a shrug, "You were never comfortable showing your scars." She kept staring at me before removing the cloth and throwing it at the camera, effectively blinding the Manager.

"...Tch, damn it. You wormed too much into my life." She clicked her tongue and said that while looking away from me.

A smirk formed in my mouth, "I had to be very stubborn to pull that off." I offered my hand, which she hesitantly took.

The room flashed, and I frowned at the timing, "Sometimes that thing just goes off at the worst times…" I groused, while Red gave me a strong slap on the back.

"That's just how work is sometimes, now get out of here… Partner." Smirking, I had my butterflies block the camera while she put back on the cloth on her mouth.

I left with a big smile on my face… that turned into a frown. Still no Ordeals…

Dakota was leaning against a wall to my left, her eyes narrowed and moving side to side, "Shit… none of those things have showed up. I'm starting to get tense." I walked up to her and nodded.

"Yeah… it's too convenient. Really has me wondering if this is just a calm before the storm." Saying that, while leaning against the wall next to her, she threw a look at me.

"At least this isn't your fault. This time, I mean." She sent a smirk my way, to which I rolled my eyes with a smile.

"Sure, sure. Thanks for the book, it's pretty useful." I said, while my butterflies pulled out the book from my coffin, before putting it back in.

She stared at that, "It was a gift, dipshit. No need to thank me for that."

Shrugging, I sent my own smile her way, "Pretty sure you know that's not how I do things." Scoffing, Dakota looked at the ceiling.

"Yeah… still not sure how you are even a thing, and I think that finding out is just not worth the headache." Plainly stating that, she glanced at the left.

"I'm also going to ignore the fact you did it again… twice." I glanced at the top of my head where Peter and Parker were perched at, and Yang the pendant hanging from my shoulder.

"I don't even know how I do it anymore." I said with a nervous smile. This time it just… kind of happened.

Dakota threw me a befuddled stare, "What the fuck?" I could only offer a shrug in response.

She sighed and shook her head, "Whatever, I think you should go back to Training…" She groused, and I gave her a pat on the back while walking past her.

POV Change: The Manager

Hmmm… looks like embarrassing the madness can give results, good to know. I sighed while leaning back on my chair, days are… LONG for me.

Having to constantly pause using T Corp technology would do that to you, trying to constantly check everything is in order and double check Trigger because he is Trigger, check on the Abnormalities he's specifically dealing with and send orders to the Sephirah when things are on pause.

I'm just one man… with one mouth, so I simply send orders to the Sephirah, who can process them faster and have them work it out. Which doesn't always work… along with the pause.

Angela say's she has no idea what it is. Actually neither does Yesod, but while it can pause, it can do it for only so much time, and sometimes it just fails.

Which means the resetting functions MAY also be in peril, something I just didn't need in my life at all…

Adding stress to my ever worsening situation, no Ordeals have reared their head in. One might think that's a good thing, I think that whatever voice spoke to everyone is planning to commit a felony.

Hod is also apparently insane enough to give Trigger a WAW tool Abnormality and just have him do something. You don't plan with Trigger, you plan around him… and now he is basically immune to White damage.

Another thing I didn't need in my life…

Yesod has asked me to… allow him to take Trigger to someone called Gebura, to try and cut the strings of the tool on Trigger's neck and separate them. I agreed to that.

Malkuth instantly demanded to go along, and really, I just agreed to that. There was no reason to start an argument.

Alright… I don't want Trigger to go back to Training just yet, gotta need a bit of planning before we do that. So I'll keep him occupied with work on another Abnormality.

Pressing a button, I leaned into the microphone, "Trigger, start Insight work on Punishing Bird." That will hopefully not cause anything too crazy to happen.

That's what I'm telling myself to not lose my mind…