Nova gets captured by a mysterious organization! What will they do to him?

[*******]

Nova’s eyes fluttered open, rubbing his eyes to find himself in a strange place. It was dark, save for the dim glow green cylindrical lights in the blurry distance. His faint reflection could be seen, along with that same greenish light pouring from under him.

“What…?”

He quickly realized he was contained in some kind of glass tube, pressing his paws against the thick glass as he tried to make out what was beyond it. He saw a figure, a familiar figure. Two braids of blue and green.

"Uday…?"

"Oh, hey Brewster." She said, though her tone made it clear she wasn't going to be that friendly with him. "You're up?"

"Uh huh…what am I doing here?"

"Well, since you're here in our custody, I can tell a bit," Uday began. "Your bounty messed up with our plans to get some information."

A memory sparked. "You mean…those papers Lu Yi found?"

"Fortunately, we did have a backup plan. Sending it across the internet was risky, but it was sufficient enough."

"Um, sorry but…who do you mean we?"

“That would be me.”

A woman wearing a straightjacket of sorts and golden egyptian-styled embroidery approaches the glass cage. Though her eyes were obscured by a purple visor, he could feel some kind of visceral interest bore at him. Nova took a step back, as far as the glass container could let him. He had a bad feeling around her. Not only that…his heart rate spiked, breath quickened, and a very bad feeling clawed at his stomach.

“You sure he’s the one?” the woman turned to Uday.

“He’s definitely the Anomaly. He’s physically the same, though I saw it myself. His weapon is different from our records. That’s…never happened before…”

“Interesting~,” the woman in the straightjacket mused. “You’ve changed, Brewster. Then again, I’ve been told you’re not exactly him…but I’ll call you Brewster anyway, you’re still him after all~, at least physically.”

“I…” Nova could only choke that word out. The feeling of an unexplained fear had him at a chokehold. “Wh…Who are you?”

“Aww, you don’t remember me?” the woman mused, pretending to be hurt. “I’m Kara, Brewster. You and I have been associates for quite some time. Don’t you remember that~? All the good times we had?”

Nova didn’t answer. He didn’t want to answer. It felt like if he did, something terrible would happen. He shrunk down as much as he could, as if to hide. But she stared at him the entire time, a sort of inescapable feeling closed in on him.

“Well, I guess we’d need a complete reintroduction then, or perhaps a…walk down memory lane,” said Kara, venom bled through her chuckles. “Oh…that would be lovely~.”

The next words came out of his mouth, quivering. It was an act of self-preservation, an admittance of truth under the hopes that it was all a misunderstanding.

“I-I’m not who you think I am…”

“Oh Brewster, it’s not a matter of who you are. You’ve already made up your mind last time when we were around.” said Kara. “It ended with quite a bang, if I recall. But even with all that fire and brimstone, that doesn’t sever the ties you have with me.”

“What…?”

“I’ll admit, we’ve yet to see if there were any long-term effects of the creation of artificial Espers. I guess you can call this a checkup, if you want~.”

Nova didn’t answer. Kara sighed and turned to Uday. “Get him ready. I want to get results before Anesidora can get his hands on him.”

“Yes ma’am.”

[*******]

"Oh gods…"

Lu Yi groaned, rubbing his face as he stood next to a Union ops chief while they filed out a report. A crowd surrounds the entrance to an alleyway that had been soaked with a great deal of water, squared away by police tape.

“And this happened because…you left him?” asked the ops chief.

“We just parted ways, he said he needed some time to himself.” Lu Yi emphasized that part. “I just didn’t think he’d be captured right after.”

“Okay…” the ops chief took notes. “I’ll personally send this to the Union Board of Investigations. We’ll find Brewster soon.”

“No, it's alright. I have something else in mind that can help.”

The ops chief glanced at Lu Yi but otherwise dropped it and left, leaving Lu Yi to stay with the other curious bystanders who only talked of rumors and false conversations. And as he stared at the scene, Lu Yi picked up his phone and dialed a certain number.

"Larkspur Detective Agency, how may we help you?" The monotone voice of a clerk came through.

"I've got a case that needs solving. And I'm willing to pay a lot to get it done as soon as possible…"



Nova cooperated as much as he could. He knew he had no relation to these people, but he also knew that Brewster had some kind of association towards them. However…it was the feelings stirring in him that told Nova that whatever it was, Brewster was not in any sort of good condition. The entire time they put wires and measuring apparatuses on him, he saw himself turn into something more like an ICU patient that was barely clinging to life in his small body.

And as he looked, two emotions prevailed: Stress, and emptiness.

He didn't know where the emptiness came from, and Nova felt like the stress may just be coming from himself. But there was that feeling that something was lost here. Something…important.

Brewster lost something important here…wherever he is, at the hands of these people. The numbers and measurements of various machines flash all around him as Kara paced here and there to record notes.

"My my, it seems you haven't changed one bit Brewster~," Kara mused. "I'd say you've gotten a bit worse. Has your alcohol dependency increased?"

"I'm trying to quit..." Nova said meekly, though Kara kept going like he never said anything.

"Heart rate, stress levels, well that is to be expected. You aren't yourself, Brewster," Kara started. "But these Waves…"

She stood before a similar instrument Nova had seen when he was back at the Union. The numbers and graphs made no sense to him, but Kara seemed to scribble her notes even faster than before.

"I had to make sure that what happened to Embla was similar enough to you. But this? I'd say it's completely different!"

"How's it different…?"

Kara seemed to acknowledge Nova this time. "Well, I had to look into Embla's medical records for preparation prior to your arrival. Your condition is very similar to hers, though she's more far gone than you are."

Nova didn't like the sound of that…

"Though ever since that False Resonance, as the news is now calling it, I've been wondering how your condition would be different from hers. And then it got me thinking..."

Kara turned towards Nova, causing him to sink into the hospital bed. She leaned in, and Nova could feel her eyes darting around behind her visor, as if expecting the answer to explode from some part of him beneath his skin.

"What would happen to a completely normal human when they're put into the body of an Esper? Am I correct?? Is that what you are??"

“Y…Yes…" Nova had to admit the answer in fear of the fanaticism.

Toxic chuckles poured from her lips. “Well, looks like this will be interesting. I have to see you in action for more research purposes.”

“I…I shouldn’t…they said I’d lose control…”

“Oh, that’s alright…”

Nova felt relieved at first, thinking he would be let go. But then her hair…which curled like the tail of a scorpion, held some kind of device at the end of the stinger. It looked like a shoulder pad of sorts with vials of liquid sloshing in cylindrical vats the size of sample tubes.

“You won’t have to do a thing once this is administered~.”


There were times when Brewster would rabble rather loudly during car rides–he especially remembers the longer ones. Nova gave a change of pace where he’d talk occasionally and wasn’t as vulgar as Brewster. But now…the ride without them was…deafening. Even with the music he played, he seemed to expect some kind of interruption, anticipating it even. But it never came–he would have to look to the passenger’s seat just to remind himself that he’s alone for the time being–and the novelty of silence had quickly weaned off.

Even though he knew that the Union was going to investigate, he didn’t trust their adherence to policies to tell him of their progress, their evidence, and other things. Rather, he had to go somewhere else, somewhere far from both Gyrate and Graywater. He’s heard of the Larkspur Detective Agency and their proficiency with cases of many kinds. And he’d rather be part of the investigation than just waiting in the sidelines.

And as Lu Yi went further and further to the fringes of Grandis, he felt the cold before seeing the snow. It was a good thing that he brought a thick jacket, because he knew it was going to get colder. As he drove further and further, the land of muted color spectrums slowly and steadily became a blanket of white. And as he wiped the accumulating snow off his windshield with the wipers, he saw it.

Raine’s Wall

A massive towering wall that went on for miles, protecting Utgard from waves of Miramon ever since the Starlight Miracle had come to be. Just a mile or two from the wall was a dual drawbridge system, where one could properly enter Utgard across its ice-ridden lakes. The drawbridge was up, and a man at a cramped terminal greeted him.

"ID?"

Lu Yi gave his ID to the man, who inspected it and returned to his terminal. He spaced out, and not long after, the drawbridge was lowered, along with the second one.

"You're good to go."

His credentials were given back, and he thus drove across the lake. He turned his head to occasionally glance at the ice and Norse inspired seafarer craft, eternally stuck in the frozen waters. And before he knew it, he found himself in Utgard. The dullness of Graywater was present in the form of a light winter all around. The building style was different, likely due to being designed for acclimation towards the winter climate. Lots of brands he recognized, along with brands he didn't.

However, he saw the one establishment that he was looking for.

Larkspur Detective Agency

Lu Yi donned his thick sweater and braced the cold. The chill bit him as he stepped out of his car and locked it. It wasn't long of a trek, just across the street. But it was better than going in the cold in a T-shirt. He stepped through the door as an alarm bell rang, meeting the clerk.

"Welcome to the Larkspur Detective Agency, how may we help you? Do you have a case you need to solve?"

"Ah, right, sorry. I was on the phone earlier and just decided to come here instead." Said Lu Yi, chuckling at his own befuddlement. "Is it okay with me to join the investigation?"

"It can certainly help shorten our time investigating."

Lu Yi looked down to see a short cat man looking at him. And Lu Yi knew who the cat man was, the very owner of the agency, Tevor.

However…that was not what came out of his mouth. It was a bit embarrassing.

"You're kind of like Brewster, but shorter."

Tevor's brow raise was the meanest raise he's ever seen. "Excuse me?"

"Sorry, it was only the height," Lu Yi apologized. "My friend, Brewster, was captured by some people. I need you to help me find him."

"Brewster? Brewster the Blaster, you mean?His reputation precedes him."

Lu Yi coughed a bit, mainly just to remember that Nova is still Brewster. He doesn't know if talking about Nova will help in this case.

"Yeah him. He's a bit of a handful, I…still care about the guy though."

"Very well…let's get this investigation going. Follow me to the back, I'll need some pointers."

[*******]

Nova was happy that he was at least not treated like a slave. He was given a thick sweater to ride the cold and the light snowfall. Uday and Djoser, the bull guy, are there as well. Uday seems to be tagging along, and Djoser is the one that’s making sure he doesn’t escape. However…

"Do I really need this collar?"

It was a bit heavy and made of metal, matted with leather. However, a single empty slot was seen, placed where the jugular would be located.

"Oh, it is very necessary for what l want from you." Kara’s sweater was just a bigger version of her straight jacket. At least, design-wise. “You see, Brewster, we recognize all the parts of what it takes for an Esper to transform. That’s how we made you, after all.”

“M-Made?”

“Oh yes Brewster, your body was made into an Esper through artificial means. Of course, we did have to take measurements of your progress to make sure that you were going to turn into a proper Esper. Tissue and blood samples were constantly taken for testing. And though the Union did not have proper instruments at the time, secondhand accounts and the first ever artificial Esper trials did confirm the presence of an Esper Entity merging with their human host is needed to trigger a full transformation.”

“Th-The Union did that?”

“No one is spotless Brewster. But it’s thanks to you returning that I can finally continue some tests that had to be postponed since your…early leave~.”

“Wh-”

Nova couldn’t answer as he felt Djoser’s hands suddenly keeping him in place as he set an ampule in the slot of his collar. He winced as he felt a quick jab at his neck from an unseen needle as he felt the contents of whatever was in that ampule being pushed into his system.

“Agh…what was that?”

“A little something to help speed up the process~.” Kara mused. “We’re almost there, so you’ll have time to let that course through your system before your trial run begins.”

[*******]

Lu Yi stepped into a room with Tevor, a room with a long table and a row of chairs with cabinets on the walls, and cork boards with photos, newspaper clippings, both pinned together by tacks and connected between one another through strings. Though there is also a particular velvety looking sofa, something that would usually be seen in a typical therapist’s workspace. Tevor proceeded to sit on one side of the table, whilst Lu Yi took the other.

“I’ve been keeping tabs on the news so I read that Esper Union Weekly had sent out a missing person’s section regarding Brewster.” As Tevor said this, he pulls out a cut piece of a newspaper article, showing the photo of Brewster used and his details. “The crime scene alone entailed that whoever captured him was an Esper. Not only that, eyewitness accounts said that he was following a person and having a conversation with them. Though the details of that are unknown as of now. Is there anything you know that can help in this case?”

“Well…”

Lu Yi wondered whether to tell about the whole False Resonance situation, but he felt that was unnecessary. However…if he lied, or even omitted the truth, then he might go to prison for that. Even then…the Union didn’t make him sign any nondisclosure agreement either. However, that information wasn’t relative for now, so he stuck with more general details.

“Well, for one, I can confirm that there are many people that would want to kidnap Brewster.”

“How many?”

“Well…some people just want to haul him somewhere no one can see to beat him up for being a jerkass to them.”

“Sounds like Brewster made a lot of enemies.”

“Yeah, he’s just like that,” Lu Yi confirmed. “Of course, I try to keep him out of trouble but that doesn’t stop him. Besides that…there is one time where it got pretty serious.”

“Serious how?”

“Well…it had to deal with the Shadow Decree,” Lu Yi began. It was a rather open secret for those in both the Union and other certain jobs that the Shadow Decree exists, a faction that had split off from the Union to pursue supposed enlightenment of Esperhood and bring a new era of evolution. “Brewster is apparently an artificial Esper, made by them in one of their experiments. He escaped twice, I was there when it happened the second time. When we broke out, he blew up whatever records he had of himself.”

“I see…” Tevor said as he wrote the information on some sticky notes. “An assumption can be made that the Shadow Decree may have captured him a third time to regain their lost data.”

“I’ve thought so too. But there’s also…the False Resonance.”

“What does Brewster have to do with the False Resonance?”

“It’ll take some time, but it all started when…”



It took some time, but the group had gotten to…wherever they were. Nova couldn't really tell. Wherever they had come from, it was pretty isolated. Snow and ice for miles, all in freezing cold. Though, Nova could see that they're at some edge of a frozen wasteland that went on for miles. Some weird structures stuck out of the ice, he could figure it was Nordic.

"Um…what are we doing here?" Asked Nova.

"See that up there?"

Kara's scorpion ponytail pointed to something in the sky. Nova realized it was a Miracle, with a strange symbol on it, a bit different to the one in Gyrate. A rune of sorts…

"A Miracle?"

"Yes, the Starlight Miracle," Kara said with amusement. "Utgard is in a special position, you see. Caught before two Miracles. It's only through Raine's Wall that Utgard remained intact."

Something glows around the Miracle. Nova's eyes widened as he saw colors and shapes form, and stone moving to the mirage of…almost like a rainbow.

"What is that…?" Nova could not hide his childlike wonder.

"That's…how Miramon are formed," Uday said as she broke her silence, though she also seemed curious. Nova can only think about the colors before him. “Divine waves permeate all things. Those that don’t find a person eventually become Miramon.”

“Whoa…” Nova’s awe turned into a wince of pain, a headache suddenly came to him for a brief moment as he put his paw on his head. “Ow…”

“Every once in a while, these Miramon attack Utgard,” Kara continued. “In a sense, you’re doing a bit of community service to prevent an incoming Miramon attack, and I get some new data in exchange~.”

Nova felt nervous as he watched the Miramon form from the Waves, and he had a feeling he wasn’t going to like what might come next. “Um…I’m not gonna have to fight all of them, do I?”

“Of course!” Kara’s smile was wider than ever as she pulled out her own glass slate phone. “Don’t worry though, we’ll make sure you come back in one piece.”

He gulped, there was no real way to run from his situation. They’re all watching him…even then, he’s pretty sure he can’t run very far without them catching up. Lacking in confidence, he drew out his revolver and slowly approached the Miramon. He didn’t realize they came in different sizes and shapes, some of them looked like coral from the ocean, others looked like flowers. The biggest ones are the monsterss, the very same ones that he remembered facing against when he first came to this world.

Still…the group of Miramon is pretty small, he can take care of it. Hopefully…

Nova slowly approached the Miramon, but it seemed like they noticed him first. The flowers turned their heads towards him and made a surprisingly freakish noise at him as he reeled back.

“What the-?!”

He didn’t even finish his sentence before the flowers flung something at him, a projectile. Nova scuttled back and focused once more, aiming his revolver and firing at the glowing plants. Holes appeared as his powered bullets ran straight through them, though he noticed that the purple plants seemed to take more hits than the others before going down. Heck, the green ones seemed to barely take any effort for him to eliminate.

“Are the purple ones stronger or something?!” he called out to his captors, hoping for advice.

“No, that’s just your inherent Wave Type,” Uday answered. “They’re color coded, you’ll figure it out!”

“I don’t think–OOF!!!”

Nova was hit in the stomach and sent flying into a pile of snow. He picked himself up and realized the monsters Miramon were now after him, each one of the three colors. His intuition was fed with new information, his revolver aiming at the green monster and rapidly pulling his trigger finger and handling the recoil as much as he could. The green Miramon fell into a hole-riddled mess just as the other two were upon him. He scrambled out of the way, running as fast as his little paws could take him as he gained distance again and fired upon the orange one until it too crumpled to the floor.

The last one, the purple Miramon, its head flashed a menacing color before sending a blast of Wave energy at him. Nova didn’t have enough time to react as it exploded in his face, sending him severely meters away once more. He coughed, his insides hurt, his body hurt a lot…but he could still move. He felt something drip from his mouth as he wiped it without a second thought with the sleeve of his thick sweater…only to find that it’s blood.

He didn’t have the time to comprehend it as the purple Miramon was suddenly upon him. The creature roared as he was tackled to the ground, laying on his back and the revolver flying out of his hand. Its lance-like arms moved down to impale him, but Nova rolled out of the way and resummoned his revolver before firing at the sides of the violet beast. Each bullet left an impact, a crater the size of a human’s fist. And yet the Miramon still stood as it came after him once more. Nova ran, turned back, and fired some more shots at the Miramon before tripping as a result of running and aiming behind him. He tried to pick himself up, but the shadow of the creature was already upon him. In that moment, he felt some part of him accept his fate…until…

Something like the sound of water surrounding him.

And he felt a sharp force pinch at him, at his back. That must’ve been the lanced tip of the Miramon’s arms, but he was protected by…something.

“Uday!” Nova could hear Kara’s hissing. “You’re interfering with the results!”

“He won’t give any results if he’s dead.” Uday stated. “I’m just keeping him alive.”

Nova didn’t really comprehend that, instead, he got back to his feet and started unloading bullet after bullet into the Miramon with his powers. The adrenaline rush from his near-death experience gave him a sudden acute awareness, moving in and away from the Miramon’s range as his trigger finger kept pulling the trigger of his revolver. The Miramon was a deformed mess, its face and body riddled with craters and yet it still stood, giving chase. Nova cursed and grit his teeth, simply wanting the thing to be dead and gone.

“I nearly got killed by this thing. Why won’t it go down?!”

“More…”

“Damn it!!!”

Nova switched back to his weapon’s default form and poured power into the next shot. A ball of pure Wave power suddenly burst from the gun’s jaws and straight at the Miramon’s chest, lighting the area up with a cacophonous explosion. When the flames died, a huge hole was in the Miramon’s chest as it finally succumbed to its wounds.

“Guh…” Nova panted, leaning on his own gun to support himself.

However….

“GAHH!!!”

A migraine struck him like thunder, holding his head with a hard grip. Dancing lights and colors could be seen as he forced himself to look. More Miramon were forming, all around him. He glanced up to the Miracle as it gave no answer, and yet, Nova already knew it was the culprit. He cursed at his situation, at his realization that these members of the Shadow Decree had just thrown him at a suicide mission for test results. He cursed and cursed and cursed.

“Shit shit shit!! Why is this happening to me?!”

“More…!”

“I didn’t ask for this!! They’re making me do this impossible bullcrap!! I can’t take on all of them!! Unless…”

“More!!”

“Unless I have…!”

“More firepower!!”

“More firepower!”

“MORE FIREPOWER!!!”

“MORE FIREPOWER!!!”

“RRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!”

“Holy…” Uday looked to Djoser. “Are you seeing this?”

“His weapon is…changing…?” Djoser’s comment held just as much confusion. “Again??”

“Ahahaha~!” Kara let out a burst of laughing amusement, as she seemed preoccupied with her fingers rapidly typing out words for her notes. “So this is evolution!”

What was happening to Nova could only be described as such. Nova himself felt his control sink, becoming once more a passenger within himself as both mind and body became occupied with...the thing inside him. The powers within him fluctuated, changing and morphing into something new. His gun growled and snarled, its jaws unhinging as he could see the barrel change and morph as more barrels emerged adjacent to it, forming a circular pattern. Deep within, Nova realized that his gun had evolved into something like a gatling rifle of sorts as the entity inside him heaved the weapon, just in time for the Miramon to all form and come charging at him. “Nova” aimed the new weapon, and pulled the trigger.

GGGGGRRRRRRRATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!!!!


A spray of orange streaks of power zipped across the wasteland and straight through the Miramon. Nova could feel the constant pushback the weapon was generating, and yet somehow the thing controlling him had such a greater amount of control than he had, tanking the recoil like nothing. Rows upon rows of Miramon fall flat onto the floor, dissolving; and through all of that, Nova could feel something like a high from seeing all that destruction by his own hands. The stronger ones kept going in spite of the holes that were riddled through them as “Nova” growled with emotions between frustration and excitement swirling within him.

“More firepower!!”

“More…firepower…?”

“More firepower!!!”

“More…firepower…!”

“More firepower!!!”

“More firepower!!!”

“MORE FIREPOWER!!!!”

“MORE FIREPOWER!!!!”

Nova’s awareness of himself petered for a moment, but he started to figure out what was happening. Whatever the entity wanted, it seemed they both needed to have some kind of agreement. However, he didn’t have much time to let that idea sink in as power fluctuated once more. He could feel his face turn into a wild unhinged smile as his gun’s barrel began melding back together into four big cylinders. The gun had evolved once more, and yet at the same time, Nova felt that his own awareness petered off again for a longer period.

In that moment…he wasn’t really himself per say. It’s more like…he was ceasing to be for the briefest of moments. He didn’t know what to do, but he was scared, terrified. And all of a sudden, the space that he seemed to occupy within himself felt like a prison, a box he was shoved into. He wanted to scream, bang his nonexistent hands against the box, but Nova was constantly in a whirlwind of emotions. Pleasure, adrenaline, his finger on the trigger, it all combined to create a sense of a persistent high that made his efforts to break through sluggish and meek.

“Stop…stop…..stop…” he pleaded to the thing controlling him.

But there wasn’t any response, not in the midst of everything that was happening. Nova only watched as the entity within him sidestepped a blow from the Miramon with ferocious speed, aiming the gun point blank at its side before pulling the trigger. A wave of dopamine coursed through his system as he witnessed the entire torso disappear and what remains dropping to the floor. Two more came in attempt to surround him, but “Nova” jumped and thrust his gun at the Miramon’s head. He landed on its shoulders just as the jaws clamp around the head, suddenly acting like a remote as the Miramon swung wildly at random. The other Miramon was forced to contend with its controlled ally, but the ferocity and wildness overpowered it as the oether’s lancing arms sink through the other Miramon, dissolving then and there. With the other eliminated, “Nova” simply pulled the trigger, its head exploding before the barrels as he jumped off and let out a long sigh.

The entire winter wasteland was silent once more, and “Nova” looked to his captors with disdain.

"You…you're all-"

The entity didn't finish his sentence as he felt a sting hit his shoulder. He tore it off to reveal a dart from a dart gun…which Djoser had.

"...Fuck…"

And the last thing he remembered was everything just going black.

[*******]

Lu Yi looked at Tevor as Tevor looked at him with a hard poker face. Soon, his little muzzle let out a slight exhale as the poker face broke.

"You know how insane you sound, right?"

"I speak the truth." Lu Yi swore.

"Yeah…that's the thing," Tevor cleared his throat. "By your body language, you indeed believe in what you are saying."

"I…well, I don't have any way to really prove it to you."

"I am an Esper detective, Lu Yi. I have solved cases that are much weirder than yours," Tevor began. "I want to make sure that what I am getting into is not some weirdly elaborate hoax that wastes my time. I mean…how can one Esper, Brewster especially, be related to the False Resonance?"

"You really think Brewster's the kind of guy to be this smart enough to make a rise like this?"

"No," Tevor seemed amused at the notion. "Even if he weren't drunk half the time, he couldn't in his wildest dreams make something like this."

"Then you understand?"

Tevor's silence pressed his lips before he spoke. "Give me one reason. You did say that the Union was on the case as well, so give me one reason why I should intervene."

Lu Yi thought back to his own experiences with the Union, and how they dealt with things. It was true that they had the greater good of mankind in mind. Though…it was sometimes hard to see it that way. They had people backing them, and that meant there were policies, laws, and regulations that they had to follow. Lu Yi disliked that concept, all the means to enact justice being held back by corporate tape.

“Word will eventually come out about Nova’s nature,” Lu Yi started. “The Union knows, the Shadow Decree might know as well at this point. Nova is proof of things that we have only seen in fiction. And he’s already breaking a lot of rules by simply…existing in our world.”

He took a deep breath, so as to not get too emotional. “Brewster’s already been through a lot before Nova came around. I don’t know where he is, or what he’s doing. But the way I see it is…if things go the way they do, their lives might end up being worse for each other. When they switch back, and if they can switch back, Brewster may end up wrecking Nova’s life in his world, and…Nova will have turned Brewster into a lab rat again in ours. It was always in the back of my mind, but I didn’t think it would happen. But with the Union’s attention on him and the False Resonance being possibly connected, I’m having my doubts. I need your help to keep him out of the hands of anyone that might want him for…whatever reason.”

Tevor’s silence filled the room, looking down at nothing in particular. He took a deep breath and sighed. “You made your case sound more insane than before.”

“I know, I-”

“I’m doing it. For triple pay if this ends up being right.”

Tevor extended a hand, and Lu Yi only stared at it. But he only smiled and shook it.

“Deal.”