Chapter Text
Day 3 and no sightings of Arkha Corvus at all. Tamsy knew the man was just cooped up in his office, contemplating whatever matters he had to think about.
Tamsy felt his body bristle with annoyance every time he thought of Arkha, his rejection and their complicated relationship only added fuel to the fire.
But it doesn't matter.
It was midday, and Tamsy had something to do.
“Hello, Semiu,” he greeted, the woman nodded in his direction, “any updates with the information broker?” He asked with a small smile on his face, she adjusted her glasses.
“Mhm, they made contact and got the info. They’re headin’ to Amo’s location now, around the town you visited the other day.” She said without a second thought, not looking away from her porn mags.
“...I see,” he replied, “since they’re going to where Amo is now, it wouldn’t hurt to give her her boots back, would it?” He questioned, tilting his head a little to really sell the kind act.
Semiu looked up, “nope, I got your request, you can go take them from the boss’ vault. I know you know where it is,” she said with a slight smirk on her face.
“Oh my, it seems like your teasing never ends, Semiu.” He chuckled, raising a hand to cover his laugh.
She waves her hand playfully, dismissing him.
Tamsy smiled and thanked her, walking towards Arkha’s room and opening the door.
There’s no one inside.
He makes his way towards his bed and opens the bottom drawer of the left nightstand.
It isn’t a vault, nor does it have a password, but that’s the deception of it. Arkha’s entire room is the vault. No one can enter without Arkha’s explicit permission, save for Semiu who can bother him at any time.
Tamsy takes the boots and makes his way out the door, casting one last look at the room.
It’s larger than everyone else’s, with a double bed and nice furnishing, large bookcases on the sides and even a desk with a lamp.
However, it’s devoid of any personal items, giving no clue to what Arkha Corvus’ jinki is, his personal feelings, or any insight to who he really is and what secrets he holds.
He scoffs and makes his way out of the base towards Amo’s location.
By the time Tamsy arrives, everyone else minus Riyo is there.
Rudo is the first to notice him, and the look in his eyes instantly makes him put his guard up.
His eyes were wide with something lingering behind them, something sinister. Internally, Tamsy was thrilled.
“Ah, you all made it back sooner than expected,” he notes, walking towards the group.
Rudo replies, “yeah, the south gave us a ride back…” He pauses, “why are you suddenly tagging along?” He asks, eyes still wide as they stare at Tamsy.
“Filling in for Riyo, besides,” he looks down at the bag in his hands, “I figured another familiar face would help Amo feel better.” He said softly, everyone nodded and Rudo looked at him.
“You’re a good guy.”
Tamsy smiled harder, “why thank you, Rudo.”
Ha! Fooling this kid is easier than taking candy from a baby!
Eventually, they found the entrance to the cellar. A tiny square trapdoor that leads underground.
Enjin and Rudo speak to each other, noting how attached Amo was to her boots and how she couldn’t have made her way here willingly without them. Tamsy stands right behind them, overhearing their entire conversation.
Rudo speaks about how the information broker, Kuro, called it a place where Amo ‘is being kept’.
Coming to the conclusion that yes, Amo was indeed kidnapped.
Tamsy speaks up, “I’ll go in first, the person who took her might still be there. I’m sure you’re all still tired from your trip-”
“No, I’ll go first.” Rudo interrupts him, fists clenched, “if the kidnapper is there, I just have to punch them.” He says angrily, walking first down the flight of stairs with purpose.
Tamsy eyes him intensely.
Eventually, they all make their way down and come to an empty stone hall that leads to a large cellar at the very end.
Rudo rushes to it, peeing through the gaps to see Amo there. Chained up and hopeless.
He’s shocked, “Amo..?” He calls out in disbelief.
Tamsy watches with a frown under his sleeve, seeing their heartwarming reunion was sickening.
The girl lifts her head, light finally coming back to her eyes as she begins to cry and call out to Rudo.
“I found a lever!” Tomme announces, lifting it up as the gate follows, letting the group into Amo’s cell.
They all rush towards her and free her from her chains, instantly forming a circle around Amo to gauge her well being. Which was obviously not great.
Tomme finds out that Amo hasn’t eaten anything but water for days, and Enjin comments about how it would be faster to take her to the Cleaner’s base.
Amo and Rudo hug each other, well it’s more like Rudo is lifting half of her body from the ground and Amo’s is too weak to reciprocate it properly.
Tomme wonders outloud, “this is awful, who did this to her?” She looks at Amo with a sad look in her eyes, sympathizing deeply with the girl as if she didn’t try to kill them all a couple weeks ago.
As Rudo keeps her body close, Tamsy walks up behind him and Amo notices him.
Her eyes go wide, “you! You came to rescue Amo too..” She says gratefully with tears in her eyes, looks like the damn book worked!
Tamsy hums, “rescue? Oh no, I only came here to give you these.” He sets the bag down and pulls out the boots from them. “You need them, don’t you?”
He sets them to the side, watching as she bursts into tears and thanks him, crying into Rudo’s shoulder. With her eyes squished into the boy’s body, no one else could see the twisted grin plastered on the blonde’s face.
What a stupid girl.
Back at HQ, Tamsy was walking towards the infirmary where Amo was recuperating knowing that Rudo would be there too.
By the time he got there, the two were already absorbed within their own little world as neither of them noticed his presence.
He stands there, not bothering to announce his arrival or disturb their heart to heart.
Amo starts to tear up, “I can’t do it anymore..! I can’t go through that again!” She cries, desperation and misery was heard through her voice.
“I can’t stand the fear that I’ll disappear and no one will ever know,” she continues, “that’s why, Amo was so happy. You came for her.” She admitted, switching back to third person, tears streaming down her cheeks and her face scrunched up revoltingly.
She thanks Rudo a bunch, showing him her pitiful face.
The boy is obviously stricken with the blatant show of emotion, feeling sad and despair through her.
He sets his hand over hers and squeezes it tightly, letting silence envelop them for a moment.
“Who in the world could have possibly done such a thing?” Tamsy questions sympathetically, finally making his presence known.
The two stare at him for a second, shocked. Then, Rudo starts yelling at Tamsy on the same noise level as Delmon.
“TAMSY!? WHEN THE HELL DID YOU GET HERE!??!?!”
“I’ve been here for a while, hmm. Interesting. You rascal, Rudo,” he teases, a playful smirk on his face.
“I’M NOT!” He snaps back, red in the face.
Tamsy chuckles into his sleeve, looking between the two teens as they’re both flushed and embarrassed. Well, it’s mostly Rudo who’s embarrassed but Amo was simply still red from crying.
The blonde questions Amo about her captor, and all she remembers is a long haired woman, nothing else.
Fuck yeah it worked!
He reasons with Amo on why she couldn’t remember, being deprived of ample nutrition and being stuck underground with no sunlight would have a drastic effect on her memory. He assures her that she’ll probably remember more once she’s healthy.
He smiles kindly.
Tamsy pushes himself up from crouching, standing at his full height then turning to Rudo,
“Rudo, did you find out anything about the Watchman Series?” He asks, a bit worried if the information broker told Rudo anything about his involvement, or if he himself knows anything about Tamsy.
Rudo responds in a low tone, “I asked him where to find the choker maker, but he didn’t know.”
Tamsy was genuinely surprised, Kuro didn’t know? Seriously?
I bet Rudo wasn’t happy about that… He muses, hiding behind his sleeve.
However, once Tamsy looked at the boy’s face, he knew instantly.
Oh. He’s lying. LOL.
His brows were pinched slightly and his eyes were too large, he did hear something!
Rudo’s body was too rigid and he spoke robotically, as if he’s about to shit himself.
It was honestly really sad to witness, the poor boy was quaking in his boots.
Tamsy felt embarrassed to even see him like this.
Deciding to leave Amo alone to rest, the two leave the infirmary. As they walk down the halls, Tamsy asks Rudo what his next goal is, to focus on the Watchman Series or to look for Amo’s kidnapper?
In a way, this was Tamsy testing Rudo. He eyed the Sphereite heavily.
Rudo looks down whistfully, wondering why the kidnapper did it and how the Raiders had no idea who Amo was, concluding that the shoes weren’t what they wanted but instead to just make Amo suffer.
His eyes were downcast and he probably felt very conflicted, but Tamsy offered no comfort. Only insight into why they did it, being Amo’s enemy, getting payback, etc. It’s just how it is on the Ground.
Tamsy gets in the elevator, a faint smile ghosting his lips.
“If you want to find the kidnapper, I won’t stop you. But you do have more pressing things at hand, don’t you?” He says, “The Sphere and Ground are connected.”
Hell, why don’t I give him a clue?
Tamsy muses internally, “the hint you need to get you what you want… Might be lurking closer than you realize. Well, in any case, I’m rooting for you, Rudo.” As he takes that information in, the elevator door starts to close and Enjin calls for him around the corner.
The boy lets out a nervous thank you and runs down the hall.
He watches him until the door fully shuts.
What an interesting night.
As Rudo walks towards where Enjin is, he pauses, turning his head back to where the elevator was.
Did I tell Tamsy about the Watchman’s Series?
It’s morning. And there would be nothing else that Tamsy would love other than some peace and quiet to match the morning aesthetic.
However, his teammate thinks otherwise.
Team Eager is being sent on a job to clear some trash beasts that have been roaming too close to a densely populated town, recently, they even tried to eat at the barriers.
Now, normally this wouldn’t peak Tamsy’s interest at all, however the very act of eating the barrier rather than butting into it like usual shows signs of intelligence within the beasts, recognizing that the barrier around the town is what’s stopping it from killing the people that are safely tucked within that barrier.
It’s interesting to Tamsy, years of evolution and it’s only now that they develop a small fraction of intelligence? Impressive for such trash.
Thus, the mission’s severity is to be considered as they’re highly violent and Semiu suggests that the present members of Team Child could accompany them if he’d like.
He agrees, thanking her as Semiu calls Bro to ask if they’re available to go on the job.
And during all this, Delmon is screaming at the top of his lungs.
“I CAN’T BEAR THE THOUGHT OF BURDENING CHILDREN LIKE THIS!!!” He screams, angered at how young children like Dear and Guita have to fight against trash beasts as if they aren’t a part of the Cleaners and have an obligation to fill.
Tamsy sighs, “IF ONLY I HAD MORE POWER!!!”
“Shut the fuck up!” He snaps back, “I’d say your volume is powerful enough, Delmon.” He nags, which doesn’t stop the man from shouting even more.
As the blonde tries to get the other man to lower his voice, Semiu notices Arkha making his way towards them.
“Finally decided to get out of your office and stretch your legs?” She teases, the man ignores her and greets everyone.
She sighs, “took ya four days, and ya still have paperwork waiting.”
He smiles sheepishly, “sorry about that, Semiu. Sometimes I just need some alone time to process my thoughts,” he says casually.
However, as he gets closer, Arkha locks eyes with Tamsy as they stare at each other with such intensity.
It has been 4 whole days without seeing each other since Arkha rejected Tamsy.
The man’s eyes look empty, yet full of mysteries.
“Looks like someone took the shoes out of my vault.” He says slowly, staring the blonde down, “does this mean Amo has them now?”
Ha, is this asshole accusing me of theft?
Tamsy frowns, “I don’t appreciate your use of the word ‘took’, boss. I got Semiu’s permission.” He retorted, already fed up with Arkha’s behaviour.
Semiu eyed them both, sensing the unspoken tension between them, “he did. Even put in a formal request saying it would probably help the girl feel better,” she explains. “And plus, you told me I could let someone have the shoes as long as they were in the Cleaners, so I authorized it.”
Arkha stayed silent for a second, then flashing an easygoing smile.
“I did say that, thanks Semiu.” The woman nods slowly and Arkha turns back to the way he came from, “if she’s feeling better, then it’s all good.”
As the man makes his way down the halls, he stops and turns halfway, staring right at Tamsy with a mischievous glint in his eyes. “I’ll need to speak with her personally soon, oh and Semiu, would you ask Rudo to come see me in my office?”
The cleaner side eyes the man hard, a nasty frown fighting its way to make itself known upon his face. He settles on a neutral line, glaring at Arkha’s disappearing figure.
His stare is reciprocated through Arkha’s tattoo on the back of his neck, he knows it can move and close just like any other eye, but it just keeps looking at Tamsy, as if stripping him naked of all walls and barriers. Leaving him vulnerable.
As if! Now I’m just pissed!
That scheming fuck! He sent me out on a mission far away from HQ to prevent me from eavesdropping!
On the inside, Tamsy’s annoyed beyond measure, he’s missing a huge chance to learn more about Corvus’ intentions and the information broker!
Arkha would probably ask Rudo what he learned, what he wants to do now, and Tamsy wants to know. Rudo didn’t give him a clear answer the other night and now he’s had time to think it over.
There’s so many ways their conversation could go! And with Amo.. Well, he doesn’t care much. That memory altering spell worked and she’s practically a deranged mess, a colourful mix of mental ailments.
As Team Child approaches, Tamsy smiles gracefully, putting back on his angelic, benevolent act as they leave HQ to fulfill their mission.
As Arkha sits in his office, he sits in his chair and caresses the book he took out. It’s old, dusty, and incredibly worn as it’s been on the Ground for ages.
It’s useless, to be frank. All of the important passages of the relationship between the Sphere and Ground are gone and all that is left are broken sentences and a desperate curiosity that needs to be fulfilled.
As he shifts over to look through his window, Arkha reflects on his conversation with Rudo. He basically poured out a portion of his heart to the boy, revealing the true reason for the Cleaner’s existence and admitting to his usage of his fellow cleaners.
He’s a horrible man. Using people while they wholeheartedly put their faith and trust into him.
Rudo made a beautiful speech, naming himself ‘Rudo the Cleaner’ and not ‘Rudo the Sphereite’. He promised to keep fighting with him, for him, and most importantly, not regretting using him.
His heart aches at his words. Many people have died under his jurisdiction, be it civilians, supporters, or Cleaners. Arkha does feel the weight of their lives, their suffering. He regrets every single injury and death he witnesses. He regrets much in his life.
But Rudo’s words have deeply swayed his heart, even making his tattoo shut its eye and cry, reflecting his true emotions that he couldn’t show.