Belle

Belle stood helplessly before a street full of broken rubble while Belobog employees carefully scouted through the debris. She'd quickly been informed by Koleda that one didn't just dive into a pile of rubble in panic because there was a very real danger of accidentally killing anyone who might be trapped underneath the jumbled puzzle of rock and steel. Utilizing heavy equipment like their large machinery was out of the question for the same reason. But Wise in his bangboo was out there, being too light to cause any danger and the Eous unit's sensor suite gave Fairy a means to analyze auditory data for signs of a buried survivor.

"You're sure his transmitter is dead?" Belle asked for the fourth time, but she couldn't help it, she wanted a different answer. She wanted Lycaon to suddenly realize he'd turned off his communicator so Fairy could hack into it again and confirm his location. But so far, it was a fool's hope.

"If mathematics allowed it, I would report a surety of over 100%, Belle," said Fairy. Her AI voice was as evenly monotone as ever, but it was impossible not to infer snark from that statement.

The hollow had broken open almost an hour ago. The H.I.A. was alerted and had immediately deferred investigation to PubSec, so PubSec was sending an officer to file a report- another bureaucratic necessity of the city state. But Victoria Housekeeping was sending no one. Fairy had scrounged up a number (probably gleaned from Lycaon's communications, Belle suspected) and Belle had called it, intending to inform them of Lycaon's missing status.

"Von Lycaon is missing?" said the operator in a dreamy voice, mildly interested. "What manner of ethereal was it, please?"

"Some kind of giant stone golem," said Belle, her throat tight.

"A stone golem?" said the operator with a dismissive tone. "Do not worry, my Lady, he'll show up. And in the future, please kindly refrain from using this line. This is a staff only number."

The call went dead.

Thirty minutes with no Lycaon later, Belle still felt a mixture of relief and anger at that operator. She'd seemed sure Lycaon would still be alive, but all the same... Was it really okay for them to be that nonchalant about this situation?! They could be wrong! Lycaon might be under that rubble right now!

Belle could only stare out over the rubble with clenched fists and wish she could again hear Lycaon say-

"Lady Belle, may I be so bold as to request that you remove yourself from the middle of the street. You are far too exposed."

Belle turned to see Lycaon leaning against the door frame of the nearby building. He clearly was not leaning to strike a pose, but because he needed the vertical surface to help hold him up. One of his cybernetic legs was missing: his right leg truncated in a fuzzy stump without a knee; his right arm hung limply, there was a strange shape to that shoulder; and one of his tank top straps was torn away and his shirt hung down, exposing a long, intermittent abrasion across his chest, the fur and flesh scraped away and bloody across the breadth of his abdomen.

"Lycaon!" said Belle, mouth agape.

She ran over to him in relief and excitement, but due to both his injuries and their fresh relationship, she hesitated and stopped before him and clutched her hands together and stared up into his face in relief. He wasn't dead, thank goodness! She hadn't lost him! But- she'd certainly caused him to go through quite the wringer. She bit her lip and ran her eyes over his injuries.

"Oh, Lycaon… I'm sorry…" She felt like these injuries were her fault… But no.. wait, actually… now that she thought about it: They were his fault for not listening to her! Belle felt a pang of anger at Lycaon but she managed to suppress it.

"Superficial wounds only, Lady Belle," said Lycaon, motioning her into the building doorway next to him, his eyes scanning the surrounding rooftops. "They will not reduce the quality of my service, I assure you."

He attempted to straighten his curled up abdomen, visibly winced, but forced himself upright all the same.

"Lycaon, you're missing half a leg."

"A trifle, only. But it did make climbing down the stairs of this building to be a rather arduous experience. I will request a replacement to be delivered presently."

"I- I see," said Belle, not knowing what to say to that.

She realized he needed to tell Koleda that the object of their search had already found them. She put in the call to Wise who would pass it on. Lycaon requested to use her communicator, too. She handed it over so he could call his headquarters, presumably for a delivery of a spare leg. Meanwhile, Belle heard Anton's voice over a distant megaphone announcing Lycaon's safe return. A cheer went up from the searchers and then almost immediately the big machenry roared to life and Belobog's real work began in earnest.

Belle's eyes returned to Lycaon's wounded body, her hands reaching out instinctively, but hesitating with better judgment. "Your chest…"

"A scratch," said Lycaon.

Belle watched a rivet of blood flow along the outline of one his lower abs, the dam of some fresh clot having failed.

"Your arm…" Belle thought it looked really painful. It was protruding from his shoulder so oddly.

"Simply out of joint, I think," said Lycaon hopefully. "I fear I made a rather poor landing on the rooftop. I will endeavor to do better next time."

Belle stared at him. Do better next time. Surely, this man was absolutely absurd.

"Lycaon, we're going to the hospital."

Lycaon's ears flattened against the back of his head though his facial expression remained impassive. "There's really no need, Lady Belle."

Belle ground her teeth, her relief at seeing him alive was rapidly turning into frustration with what she thought was 'mocho' stoicism. "You can't move your arm, Lycaon! What do you mean there is no need!?"

Lycaon's eye met hers and then slid away. She felt the heat of her anger turn up a notch as she realized he was trying to think of an evasion. How could he be this stubborn about this?!

"Mister Lycaon!" came Ben's voice. "It is good to see you in one- er.. Good to see you upright!"

Belle turned to see Ben, Anton, and Koleda walking in their direction. She heard a soft sigh from Lycaon and he was taking on a more professional, upright posture (though the corner of his mouth was grimacing ever so slightly.) He actually was in quite a bit of pain, Belle was sure, but he was devoted to his facade.

Lycaon greeted the Belobog crew formally, received their congratulations and expressions of relief, and then, of all things, Lycaon apologized for taking so long to announce his presence. "I fear my communicator escaped my ear during my landing."

Ben Bigger was frowning, eyeing Lycaon's injuries. "Yeah, and your right arm escaped that socket, too. I can take care of that if you want. Keep you away from human medical staff who might not understand, you know?"

Lycaon seemed interested. "You are a medic?"

"I'll leave you to it," said Koleda, uncrossing her arms and departing to the street.

Ben nodded to Lycaon. "Anton and I, both. Required training for us. This is a relatively common injury in our work. Bear thirens are not well known for their balance on small surfaces, but we are tough and know how to land- usually. That arm of yours… you came in hot, probably headfirst, and your roll went slightly wrong, right?"

Lycaon blinked. "Were you perhaps a witness of my failure, Lord Ben?"

Ben chuckled. "You being alive means you didn't fail, Mr. Lycaon. But no, I did not see you. Just I have seen quite a few of my bears land that way and end up in your situation. Anton and I can set you to rights, if you want."

Belle thought Lycaon might be hesitating, but she was rapidly losing her patience for his commitment to his own.. What? Toughness? Self-sufficiency? Whatever it was, it was stupid. It was time for her to use her power in their relationship.

"Lycaon," said Belle firmly. "Let them help you. Consider it an order from me."

Lycaon's eye flickered over to her and it looked somewhat pained. Belle did not feel any sympathy at this moment, regardless. Turning down such obviously needed aid should not be tolerated.

"As you wish, Lady Belle," said Lycaon finally. "Lord Ben, your expertise in this injury would be most welcome."

"It's going to hurt," said Ben with empathy.

"I know," said Lycaon.

Ben nodded. They found a chair for Lycaon to sit on and Ben stood behind Lycaon's head while Anton took up position near the dislocated shoulder. Ben gingerly touched around the edge of Lycaon's collarbone. "The socket is a lot more human-like than the ursine, Anton, so use the human angles."

"Right!" said Anton.

"Are you ready, Lycaon? I'm going to be the one to hold your head," said Ben.

Belle's brow furrowed. That wasn't something she'd expected to be necessary. "Hold his head?"

But Lycaon was already nodding in an affirmative to Ben. "A good choice, Lord Ben. Please do not spare your strength."

Lycaon then looked at Belle with some obvious concern. "Please stand further back, Lady Belle. I fear I may become somewhat… uncivil during the procedure."

Belle took a step back, wondering now what she had gotten Lycaon into. Ben leaned over him and gripped Lycaon's head in the curl of his arm. His other hand pressed down on Lycaon's forehead. Meanwhile, Anton put light hands on Lycaon's dislocated arm and nodded at Ben.

"Forward, then slowly up, Anton," said Ben. "Go."

Anton shoved at the back of Lycaon's shoulder blade and Lycaon jumped and let out an animalistic snarl that made Belle jump in shock. Lycaon's face was transformed to a more savagely canine expression than she had yet seen: his lips were curled back, revealing fangs, his eyes open wide in the sockets, pupils fully dilated. Ben grunted and his shoulder's moved with the effort of holding Lycaon's thrashing head in place.

As Anton began to move Lycaon's arm upward while out straight, Lycaon's struggles intensified. His remaining metal foot scraped on the floor and it was obvious to Belle that Lycaon was desperately trying to bite both Ben and Anton, his jaws opened and snapped closed repeatedly, but Ben kept his arms securely in and below Lycaon's chin and his armbar kept the wolf thiren's head in a sort of prison cell that protected Anton nearby.

The snarling grew more intense and Belle could sense real bloodthirst in it. It sent goosebumps up and down her neck. Lycaon wanted to rip Ben and Anton to shreds right now, and only Ben's strength contained him. Belle began to understand Lycaon's general reluctance against going to a hospital. Human doctors would have to sedate him, if they even knew that they needed to.

With a final tug and push, there was a soft pop and Lycaon's body jerked and then relaxed. Ben let his head go and gave him a pat on the good shoulder. Lycaon was breathing heavily and seemed slightly dazed, but relieved.

"You got a lot of shoulder muscle, bro," said Anton, cheerfully. "Surprised you even managed to dislocate through that pile of steel."

"Thank you," said Lycaon with a deep breath. "For the assistance."

Belle watched him raise his arm experimentally and flex his large hands.

"Be easy on it for a few days... See a specialist if you notice lasting symptoms… I imagine you know the usual? Not your first time?" said Ben and he seemed satisfied when Lycaon nodded.

Ben then looked over at Belle.

"You look a little spooked, Miss Belle," said Ben. "Don't worry. It's perfectly natural for a wolf thiren to react like this when their injuries are being seen to. We ursines do it, too. Some others do, as well. We can't help it."

"I- I'm not spooked!" said Belle, her cheeks warming even as her mind's eye saw again the snarling, fanged, bestial expression on Lycaon's face from moments ago. It was a dramatic difference from the calm dignity that he usually exuded. "Just- I suppose I've never seen thiren first aid before."

Ben grunted. "Mostly the same as human first aid, just an occasional extra step. Thank you, Anton."

"Of course!" said Anton who then wandered back off into the street, presumably to see to his own work crews.

Replacing him on the inbound were two PubSec officers. One was a thin, male, furless thiren of some variety with white hair. Belle was unsure if he was cat, canid, or perhaps some kind of racoon thiren? But she was absolutely sure it would be impolite to ask and terribly rude to get wrong- so she resolved to not worry about it. The young man seemed to be following in deference to a much shorter, much more recognizable officer with absurdly large green pigtails.

"Why is it that when something happens, it's you two?" said Qingyi.

"Constable," said Lycaon with a tired voice. He struggled to stand up on his one foot, but Qingyi waved him back down while Ben Bigger frowned in concern at PubSec's arrival.

"Officer Qingyi!" said Belle. "What are you doing here?"

So far as Belle knew, the Belobog operation was approved, but the gray legal areas surrounding in-Hollow operations was always an area of anxiety for Ben and Belobog. He'd told her as much after previous missions.

"Routine response, I assure you," said Qingyi with an expression for Belle that clearly indicated she was not here for anything routine. "This is Junior Constable Seth Lowell..."

The male thiren stood stiffly and saluted like someone who practiced everyday in front of his bathroom mirror. Both his ears and tail stood upright.

"And he will collect statements from the Belobog people," continued Qingyi before pointedly looking at Ben Bigger. "I would like to speak with Mr. Lycaon and Ms. Belle privately."

Ben gave Belle a concerned look but Belle knew what this was about. She nodded and gave Ben a small smile. He seemed somewhat relieved and left with the thiren named Seth, presumably to go around and interview Anton and the others.

Qingyi stood with her hands behind her back until Ben and Seth were well away. She then closed the door so that they had this abandoned building lobby to themselves. Belle unconsciously moved over to stand near Lycaon's char.

"Before we get to whatever happened here," began Qingyi, taking out a cell phone. "I'm just curious if you both realize what you've done to the Inter-Knott today? You're both a sensation."

She held up her phone screen with a bored expression on her face. It was open to the front page of a celebrity gossip page and it had a scrolling montage of Belle and Lycaon's earlier walk through Sixth Street. The headline ran: Whitefox's new secret lover?! "That's not even me!" he claims. But IS IT?!

"And it's all over the place," said Qingyi as she put away her phone and Belle, blushing profusely, took out her own cell to see for herself.

Her own phone's breaking news feature was literally exactly that same article. Belle scrolled quickly through a few others and Qingyi was right, the story was absolutely everywhere. Everyone thought Lycaon was this Whitefox and when Whitefox advised that Lycaon was not him, the reputable sites speculated on Lycaon's superb cosplay, but the really trashy sites asserted Whitefox was lying to cover up his infidelity to so-and-so.

Then Belle found articles focused on her own face: Who is this woman? And how did she seduce Whitefox?. Belle clicked on it, skimmed over several paragraphs of total fabrications, blushed at a few things that maybe she wouldn't mind making true, and then she saw the related articles suggestions: Top 5 Sexy Thiren Men You'd Totally Go Inter-Species For and also: I didn't think I was a furry, BUT… and then there was a closeup shot of this Whitefox person.

"I'm not a professional bodyguard, or anything, Lycaon," Qingyi was saying sardonically to Lycaon as he sat there bleeding. "But getting all of New Eridu familiar with Belle's face is an interesting strategy."

"It was a regrettable miscalculation, Qingyi," said Lycaon. "I need to better keep abreast of popular culture, it seems."

Qingyi gave a small smile. "Perhaps. But what is done is done and I suppose it's your problem, anyway. So let's move on to why you both are here. I was very surprised to see you both. What's your link with Belobog? Why bring Belle into a hollow? My precious little data pinata."

Lycaon glanced briefly at Belle. He was deferring the answer to her, as it involved her semi-illegal proxy business. Belle took a deep breath and settled a serious gaze on Qingyi.

"I'll tell you everything if it's off the record," said Belle. "I don't want to talk to Constable Qingyi."

Qingyi smiled. And was Belle imagining things, or did Qingyi's green eyes flicker? It reminded Belle of a TV switching channels.

"Done," said Qingyi, taking a chair of her own. "I'm not PubSec now. Just the friendly state spook you know and love, yes?"

Belle wouldn't go that far, but she nodded and told Qingyi about the signal traced out of Zhu Yuan's tablet computer and into this hollow. Qingyi immediately frowned and leaned towards Belle, suddenly very interested. Belle revealed her own actions as a proxy to Belobog (but not Wise's, whom she did not mention at all). She also did not mention Fairy. Anything Fairy did, Belle claimed that she herself had done.

"This hacker who tried to stop you," said Qingyi, "Did they name themselves?"

"No, but the executable file planted in my system was called 'daemon'."

Qingyi sat upright in her chair and her eyes opened wider. "Daemon?! You're sure?!"

Belle was interested in Qingyi's reaction. "I'm sure. Why? Do you recognize the word? Is it a name?"

Qingyi settled back down. "Never heard of it. And you beat it? This 'daemon'? You won?"

Bullshit, thought Belle. "Yes. I got it off my HDD and that's when the server stack exploded."

Qingyi was quiet for a moment, her fingers tapping on the arm of her chair. "You're sure this 'daemon' didn't remove themselves after accomplishing their mission? You beat it? Through your own actions, Belle?! A human?!"

"Yes. I did it," Belle swallowed. What's with the human comment? Maybe she should temper her claims a bit. And ask Fairy what she might have learned about this daemon thing during her fight with it.

"Or at least, I think I did," said Belle quickly. Paused. "It all happened so fast. I don't remember it clearly."

Qingyi stared at her with half lidded eyes and her fingers continued to tap. "Fine. Then what happened?"

Belle narrated her experiences up to her escape jump with Ben Bigger.

Qingyi turned her attention to Lycaon. "So: You killed the hollow source yourself, Lycaon? This twenty story stone golem the workers were raving about? All by yourself?"

"It wasn't fully formed," offered Lycaon as a tepid sort of excuse. "I had a good idea of where the core might be, and I was lucky enough to be correct."

"Uh-huh," said Qingyi, her expression half-lidded upon Lycaon now. "How'd you do it?"

Lycaon resettled himself in his chair. "Nothing impressive. I simply used one of my prosthetics as a remote detonation device. I can move well enough with three limbs, if I must, though it is hardly dignified to do so."

"Of course…" said Qingyi. "And so you left the leg, went to the roof, set off the bomb, and jumped?"

"Correct. A very basic operation. I leapt down to the roof of this very structure, in fact. My other prosthetic I held in my hands and used the jets to slow my descent somewhat. But my landing was not as precise as I would have liked..."

"Well-" said Qingyi blandly. "Do better next time, I guess."

"I will endeavor to do so, Lady Qingyi."

Qingyi sighed and stood up. "Well. I'm not sure what to make of all this, but I'll look into it."

"Look into what?" said Belle.

"All of it," said Qingyi vaguely. "But could you two please lay low for a couple days? Belle: Dr. Ray says you'll need to come see her in two days anyway. It will be time to let out your first batch of juice."

Belle didn't much like that phrasing, but she understood. "Fine."