(A/N) I'm not writing the whole pov section on chapter one, too long and I'm about to pull for a new character. So on with the show!
Seeing the entire footage, I was already feeling suspicious about the entire thing.
When Nekomata mentioned a family heirloom, not once did she ever mention it. What supported my theory even more was when some of the members in the gang were about to call out to her.
She was hiding the entire story, but with Nicole doing the commission, I couldn't do much.
"Well, we now have a better idea on the situation, and I have to admit, Nicole is sticking to her motto." Belle commented.
"But you can't blame her for sticking to it." Wise said with a nod, seeing that the conversation was getting off topic, I decided to step in.
"Getting back on topic, Nicole is helping you find a family heirloom, correct?" Nekomata nodded her head at my question and pointed at the screen.
"Thats right, but things happened, a-and Nicole sent me here to find you guys, they're still in the blast zone."As Nekomata finished speaking, Fairy spoke up.
[Master, the news channel is broadcasting information that is connected to the commission.] Fairy then switched the monitor to the news channel, showing us the location on where they are loading the train.
"Welcome back, we are now live as the last Vision Corporation train, is about to depart and travel through the sea end hollow." The screen showed a metro station, showing the staff boarding explosives.
"It's been reported this self-driving vehicle is loaded with the last batch of explosives required for the demolition." The screen then switched to a digital map, showing the trail it will follow.
"Upon arrival of the train, Mr. Perlman, who is at the surveillance point, will personally coordinate the detonation." The map then showed the location to where Perlman will be at.
"Only after confirming that everything is in order, Mr. Perlman will evacuate with the technicians and return to the command center, within the city." Hearing that they are already loading the final train, Nekomata was the first to react.
"Ahh, the last train is about to leave, we need to get in the hollow, before the cunning hares are blown to bits!" Both Belle and Wise began to think, while I was focused on another matter.
"Seems with how quickly they are boarding the explosives, they want to earn their keep as soon as possible." I commented, knowing that if they do well, they'll be paid well.
"That's true, but we can't just ask them to delay the train, we'd get arrested." Wise said, placing his chin on the palm of his hand.
"And we can forget about PubSec, the second we tell them, the cunning hares will be exposed as hollow raiders." Belle said with worry.
"Then why not intercept the train in the hollow?" I asked, everyone then turned towards me.
[Notice, I was about to suggest the same thing.] The three of them soon understood why I suggested we intercept the train in the hollow.
"Right, the company said that they'll have a private channel, blocking out the rest of the world!" Nekomata said with a smile.
"And with Fairy, we can make a safe route for you guys to intercept it mid-way." Belle said with excitement.
"Now that we have an idea on what to do, we just need to send you guys inside." Belle then turned to Fairy as soon as Wise finished talking.
"Do I have to go with Eros?" Nekomata asked Belle, who still smiled and nodded his head.
"Yup, but don't worry, he won't drag you down, he's good with a gun." Nekomata then turned to me, forcing a smile on her face.
"Great, glad to have you with me." She said and held her hand in front of me, as soon as I took it, I felt my entire body stiffen.
I couldn't see it before, but now that I held her hand, I could feel something clinging to her, red mist began to waft into the air.
However, I didn't let my face change at all, I kept smiling as if everything was fine, so they wouldn't worry too much.
'It seems there's mania in the hollow, or, there's a sinner within the hollow.' I thought, this was both a good and bad thing.
For now, I had to focus on getting on the train, so I made my way to the lockers that Belle and Wise had, and took out my things.
"Fairy, can you get the real-time location for the train?" She asked. Fairy began to show a loading symbol, signifying that she was already trying to trace the location.
[Affirmative. Calculating a safe route to the target.]
"By the way Eros, will you be taking Hella and Hecate, or just one of them?" I then hummed at the thought, since this only requires a small team.
"I'll be taking Hecate, if I brought Hella, she would most likely expose us." I could already see the three of us walking through the hollow, and the second her dress gets dirty.
FLASH BACK
Hella was sitting down on the a table, and was chewing on a burger, until a staff member walked past her with a bowl of soup, the staff accidently bumped onto the table, and a single drop of soup fell onto her dress.
"OH YOU ****** *** ***** *** ******* **** ****** I'LL STICK IT SO FAR UP YOUR *** *** ****** *** ***** YOU'LL BE PISSIN BLOOD!"
FLASH BACK END
"The staff member was traumatized that day." I said to them, causing them to stand on the other side of the room.
"Uhhh, t-that's for the best then." Belle said with a nervous look on her face, she was trembling at what I had told her.
"Anyways, I'll take you three as close as I can to the hollow, so get what you need, and meet me in the back." Wise then left the three of us in the room.
"Well, I'm not wasting time, uhh, which one is Hecate?" Nekomata asked me.
"You called for me?" Nekomata screamed at Hecate appearing from somewhere and jumped towards Belle.
Causing the two of them to tumble onto the floor, Belle groaned from the sudden weight, and her arms and legs were sprawled out to the sides.
"A-ah, I'm sorry, let me help you!" She grabbed both of Belles arms, and pulled her up, paying her down to remove any dust that landed on her.
"I wish to apologize for scaring you, I wasn't my intention." Hecate apologized, Nekomata.
"I-it's fine, just… just don't do that again." She tried to act like nothing had happened, but failed horribly.
TIME SKIP
As Wise left the area, Hecate, Nekomata, Eous, and I made our way to the hollow, once arriving in front of it, I pulled out my phone and sent a message to Belle, letting her know that we had arrived.
"Alright, now that we're here, Fairy already mapped out the route we need to take to reach the control center." Belle, who now took over Eous, began to lead us.
As the four of us made our way inside, I felt the familiar shift of space, but I then pushed the feeling aside and soon landed inside the hollow.
I looked to my side to make sure that Hecate was fine, and saw her standing normal, with no problem.
"Did everyone make it in okay?" Belle checked on us, making sure we're not sick.
"I'm good, what about you Eros, Hecate?" Nekomata asked.
"We're fine as well, Belle, if you could lead on." Belle nodded with confidence in her eyes and turned around, running forward to lead us.
"So, you two remember the plan, right?" Nekomata asked us as we followed Belle from behind.
"We make our way towards the control center, changing the route and force the train to enter a tunnel, where it will slow down enough for Belle to hop onto the top, letting her enter the train." Hecate explained.
"Once inside, Belle can cause it to break down, giving us time to find the cunning hares." I finished.
Soon, Wise joined in the conversation, speaking through Eous, it was weird, but still useful.
"Just giving you guys a heads up, we can't seem to locate the dead end butcher, so be careful, you don't want to face that thing." Was all he said and remained silent.
As we continued to run, I noticed how the hollow was quiet, no ethereal's attacked us.
"Keep your guard up, I don't like how quiet it is." It didn't take long for the sound of a loud roar to echo through the hollow.
"You just love attracting problems, don't you?" Nekomata asked me, dragging both me and Hecate behind some rubble.
"I don't attract, they follow me like an online stalker, wanting to kidnap me and marry me." This caused both Nekomata and Belle to look at me.
"You can ask me later, now's not the time." I hissed, son, the sound of footsteps were approaching us, getting louder with each step.
The four of us peaked out of the rubble, only to see the dead end butcher.
Its body was reaching close to well over fifteen feet, with its entire upper body was covered in stone, I couldn't see the core anywhere.
It then turned towards where we were hiding, but we ducked back behind the rubble just in time, avoiding its gaze.
Seeing nothing, the dead end butcher gave one final roar, we had to cover our ears from how Lou it was, and soon began to walk away.
"That's was so scary, and the ether pressure, that was too much." Nekomat said with fear, her entire body was stiff, with her hugging her knees.
"Hey, it's okay, it's gone now." I placed my hand on her head, gently stroking her, like how I would stroke a cat.
Nekomata leaned into my touch, and began to relax, followed by the sound of purring.
'I'll have to thank Thistle for teaching me on how to calm a cat.' Nekomata soon realized what she was doing and pulled back.
"U-uh, thank you, but don't do that again, it's not nice to touch a cat thiren without their permission." She with her back facing against me.
"I'll keep that it mind." I smiled and turned my attention to Belle, little did I know, Nekomatas tails were swaying side to side.
'It felt nice.' She thought, and remembered how calm and gentle my hand felt when trying to calm her down.
"Nekomata, you there?" Nekomata then jumped at hearing Belle, who was staring at her with concern.
"Y-yeah, sorry about that, just worried about the cunning hares, Nya." Belle patted her leg.
"Don't worry, we'll save them." The four of us then made our way to the location, and we soon saw the command center.
"Alright, we're here, give me a second to activate the override protocol." Belle entered the command center, soon, three large slots opened up.
"So, in order to switch the route, we need the three data cubes, like that one." Belle pointed at a cube that was covered in wire markings.
"Alright." I made my way towards it and began to carry it towards one of the slots, once I had placed it in, the cube lowered, and the slot closed.
"One down, two to go." I said to the three of them with a thumbs up, both Nekomata and Belle returned a thumbs up. While Hecate only nodded in return.
"Alright, the last two are this way." Belle called out to me and began to lead us towards the remaining two data cubes.
Only to stop when we saw a large train car blocking our path, I looked to the sides, only to see some sinkholes, leading down to what looked like an underground tunnel.
"Belle, are you sure this is the right way?" I turned to Belle, who only stared at me.
"Yes, but judging the damage around it, it looks like it was thrown and we can guess who threw it." The three of us could only shiver in fright.
"Nekomata, think you can cross it?" Nekomata turned towards Belle and nodded.
"Yup, but when it comes to talking you with me, that's too much for me, sorry." She said while shaking her head.
"What about Hecate, can't she have nightmare blast the doors?" Belle asked me.
"If chief ordered me to do that, I will." Hecate replied, I on the other hand shook my head.
"With how quiet things are, we'd just be alerting any ethereal's that are close by." The four of us began to think, soon, someone called out to us.
"U-uh, excuse me." The four of us then looked at where the voice was coming from, only to see the train girl.
"A civilian? What are you doing?" I asked the girl.
"O-oh, m-my name is Corin, are you investigators from the hollow investigative association?" Asked Corin.
"Yes, that's right, why are you here?" I asked Coring, while mouthing to the other three to play along.
"R-really? Great, I work for a house keeping company, a-and I was separated from my companions when we encountered a dangerous ethereal." She began to explain.
"I don't have a carrot, so, can lead me to the exit, please?" I turned to Belle, who only shrugged.
"Well, if we want to, we would need to get passed the train car, but with no opening, we would need to turn around to find another path." Belle said.
"But we don't have time, we need to figure out how to get the doors open." Nekomata pointed out, that was until Corin spoke up.
"Oh, I can open the doors if you would like." She said, Nekomata ears perked up and she soon stood in front of the doors.
"Really? Then please, open up the doors." Nekomata said with happiness, only to pull back and covered her ears.
"Yowch, what's that horrible noise?" She asked, I then approached as well, leaning close to the doors, only to hear the sound of something revving.
Hearing this, I widened my eyes and dove backwards, avoiding what looked like a large saw blade.
"Eros, are you okay?!" Both Belle and Nekomata ran to my sides, while Hecate stood in front of us with her hand raised.
Meanwhile, the saw blade cut through the metal like butter, and soon, the doors fell forward, nightmare soon appeared swatting the two doors to the side.
In front of us, stood a young girl no older than sixteen, she wore what looked like a maid outfit that reached her knees, with her hair being a pale green color.
Her hair was tied with two ponytails, with a maid headband on top, and finally, the large saw that she used to cut the door was in her hands.
"Phew, my aprons okay." She said to herself, only to remember that we were in front of her.
"N-nice to meet you investigators, I sawed right through it." The four of us only stared at Corin, who was bowing in front of us.
"Uhh… nice to meet you as well." Was all I could muster at the moment.
[Wow, she's so cute, its a shame that she's so shy, if only they made her more social, well, better than meeting that poison lady, I swear, how does she make those poisons? Anyways, sen those power stoners to show support, I'll see you all next time, Bye Bye!]