Wise and Belle looked at Eous with horror on their faces.

They had watched back what they missed the morning prior, mortified to see the beating he took under the assumption they were simply retrieving the last machine.

"It's fine, you two, I handled it." Eous reassured.

"We. We handled it." Koleda was beside him, arm wrapped around his shoulders.

"Yeah, we can see that, but how can we not worry about you when stuff like this keeps happening?" Belle's voice was slightly raised despite the company in the room.

"I mean, I get it—"

"Eous, hear her out." Wise interrupted.

"Take a break, Eous. At least two weeks. We know you recover from these things, but even Fairy wasn't sure what would happen if you went overboard. And now you've got another... power to worry about."

Belle gestured to small marks under his eyes in the shape of slits.

"It'd be kind of cool if they were another pair eyes." Wise shrugged, clearly being less worried than his counterpart.

"Wise, come on. I'm all for his Sci-Fi power ups, but not when it costs his wellbeing."

Koleda glanced at Eous to see whether or not that was the case last time, and he nodded.

"This guy's straight out of a pop culture series. Can't place my finger on the name though. Think it has a Z." Koleda commented.

"Are you alright, Koleda? Hospital have good news?" Wise questioned.

"Oh, me? Yeah, no corruption at all. This guy ate it all." She gestured to Eous, who was teasing Belle with a sculpture of herself made out of his new purified crystal powers.

She snatched it away from him with a glare, but made sure to stuff it in her pocket.

"You still got that thing I gave you, right?" Koleda asked Eous.

He flashed an external hard drive from behind his ear like a magic trick, grinning from ear to ear. Koleda rolls her eyes and turned back to Belle and Wise.

"That's the external memory unit from the prototype's logic core, right? I remember you guys mentioning that." Belle responded.

"There may be some clues left within the external memory unit, but my dad used a special encryption process, so we have no way to read the data inside." Koleda nodded to his siblings, making him toss the hard drive over.

Wise caught it with a hum. "I hate to ask, but can you help?"

"No need to be so polite after everything you've been through with Eous. We'll handle it." Wise nodded with a smile.

"Great, I'll leave it to ya. I have a meeting with a supplier, so I'll be heading out."

"Bye, Koleda, good luck with the project!" Belle parted.

Koleda gave a nod before nudging Eous' side and slipping out the door.

As soon as Bangboo Six closed the door, Belle sat in her chair with a deep sigh.

"We have to start getting up for his commissions, Wise. That was far more brutal than the Butcher."

"Eous has evolved even further from facing hardship. He has become the apex predator." Fairy's demeanor since the fight was the exact opposite of the caution she displayed.

"Well, I don't know about that. I was getting destroyed once it got the machines together. I feel bad for Grace... she didn't get to even say goodbye before it corrupted them." Eous rubbed his arm, slowly accumulating electricity by accident.

"Watch the voltage." Wise warned with a chuckle.

"Sorry, sorry. This one's harder to get used to." He clenched his arm and let the electricity surge back into his body.

"Ether and Electricity... you're becoming overpowered, bro." Belle teased.

Eous shook his head rapidly. "I still couldn't have beat that thing myself in that state."

"Fairy—"

"Already on it, assistants."

"Have... we been demoted from siblings?" Wise mumbled in annoyance.

"The most cost-effective and successful solution for deciphering the hard drive is hiring the hacker 'Rain' from the Inter-Knot." Fairy deduced. "This person has done business with Nicole of the Cunning Hares and fits our current needs."

"Oh, I know of her. She's a first-rate Proxy when it comes to cracking encryption." Belle replied.

"Well, Nicole would never pass up to covering her debts. I'm sure she'll love that deal." Wise stretched in his chair before slumping back into it.

"I'll leave that to you two. I need fresh air." Eous yawned as he left the office.

•

"Eous!"

He flinched as he walked out of Tin Master's shop, nearly dropping his latte in a panic.

He looked over and saw Zhu Yuan jogging over with Qingyi following behind her, a big grin on her face.

"Hey, Zhu Yuan, Qingyi."

"Have your siblings filled out the questionnaires we gave them? Will they be attending the seminar?" Zhu Yuan asked almost desperately.

"Oh, yeah." Eous took out two pamphlets from his jacket and handed them over. "Glad I remembered these."

"Wonderful! If it weren't for you three, we wouldn't have recruited a single participant yet." Qingyi revealed bluntly.

Zhu Yuan frowned in embarrassment, but saw Eous didn't seem to mind her 'failure.'

"No one on Sixth Street wants to go to the Seminar? This place is usually pretty communal..." Eous took a sip of his latte before smiling. "Any way I can help? I've got the day off."

"Now that you mention it, there is something I'd like to ask you." Qingyi replied, showing her clipboard to him. "Some of the residents on Sixth Street only registered their names, but didn't fill in their addresses. Do you know where they live?"

Taking a second to go down the list, every name was familiar to him. He nodded waved the two forward.

"Yup. I've got this." Eous began walking down the street. "We don't get a lot of interaction with PubSec, so if you two randomly show up on someone's doorstep, they may think you've got a warrant."

The two wanted to refute that wasn't the case, but thinking about it from the other perspective made that a likely assumption.

"So you two leave this to me. Surely my charm will turn this campaign around—"

•

"Damn, you guys have really bad P.R..."

"Wh-What? They all said no, too?" Zhu Yuan looked up at him from the table in shock.

"Yup. Not brag, but as the general fixer around the block, I assumed at least even one of them would do me this favor, but no dice." Eous took a seat between them at the coffee shop.

"The conference hall can fit 300 people, and at this rate, it'll be half empty!" Zhu Yuan whined, throwing her head back.

"It's a shame many of the residents here are from his previous precinct." Qingyi commented.

Eous took the final sip of his latte and sighed. "More of that Hollow Hero stuff? The guy must've had a real scare back then."

Zhu Yuan let out a groan and slumped into her chair. Eous felt bad he couldn't help any further and rubbed his arm.

"The Inspector saved her life once. Not being able to accomplish what we'd hoped, on top of seeing him come under fire... Does it make you feel worse?" Qingyi turned to her and saw a deep frown.

"Yeah... If Bringer hadn't rescued me in that Hollow back then, I wouldn't even be here, let alone be a Public Security Officer. I understand he's no longer the hero he used to be, but can someone who gave up his anti-corruption gear to a child be a bad guy?"

Eous felt even worse since the sentiment the residents had was shared by him. It was pretty obvious the man had changed, but whether his intentions with his publicity stunt were positive for the public was something he'd yet to understand.

"Sure, he's had some dealings with TOPS, but it's inevitable when many of our devices are jointly with them— A-And besides, doesn't he always say he lacks sufficient authority to make changes?"

"Zhu Yuan, if he means what he says, he'd do what he can with what authority he has now... Does he?" Eous asked with a frown.

"Worshipping an undeserving deity is sycophancy. Failure to act when action is needed shows a lack of courage." Qingyi added, sparing Eous an impressed glance.

Zhu Yuan began to pout since she found truth in their words.

"There may be many different ways to interpret Inspector Bringer's actions, but only he knows whether he has a clear conscience. If his deeds were pure, even if he's misunderstood for the time being, things'll work out in the end." Qingyi elaborated.

"Officers!"

The two and Eous turned to see General Chop rushing over in a panic.

"General Chop? Is something wrong?" Eous asked in hurry, shooting up out of his chair.

"I-It's hard to explain, but just now there was a crime committed! It's a stalemate, please, you have to take a look!" He began to pant heavily after running over and forcing out his plea.

"Lead the way." Qingyi stood up just as quick.

•

Eous stood back from the scene as Zhu Yuan and Qingyi questioned a Pegasos Logistics delivery driver, Gael, about the situation.

A delivery truck was clearly parked but still running in the street, but the doors to the back were opened.

According to his testimony, when he was calling a client, he heard a thud from the back and saw his cargo flying away.

Ducks... for whatever reason.

Who he spotted at the time was a Bangboo, Give Change, from the 141 Convenience store.

Contrary to Gael's testimony, Give Change was feeling nauseous as he walked by and rested near the truck, where the door to the cargo was suddenly flung open with a loud noise.

"Woah, what happened here, Eous?" Belle asked walking up behind him with Wise at her side.

"Well, supposedly theft? Maybe vandalism since they released the cargo and didn't take it allegedly. Not sure."

"Zhu Yuan and Qingyi are on the case?" Wise mumbled.

"Stopped by for questionnaires. Gave them ours and then this happened." Eous added.

The crowd was slowly begging to disperse, leaving sight of Qingyi investigating the truck and Zhu Yuan talking to Gael.

Belle and Wise paced over to Zhu Yuan to further assess the situation, but Eous yawned and walked away with a blank stare.

"You understand the situation, Partner?" Fairy asked as she flew out from his jacket.

"Yeah, I think I know where he went too. But we've gotta head back to the store first, I left my phone."

"Partner, I can answer any calls or messages..." Fairy flatly stated.

"Not for that, we need it to send a picture of the ducks whereabouts. Belle and Wise will get the gist." Eous jogged over to Random Play and slipped inside.

"Ah, yes. I forgot we can scan for heat signatures with your new evolution, Partner. Convenient."

"Don't question the plot..."