With Caelus and Phil
Both of them can be seen watching the entire thing from a distance, seemingly bored with everything. Ever since Caelus and Phil tailed Soldier 11, nothing seems to be happening.
She always stops to communicate with the mole and Caelus; no Ethereal had tried to attack her, and no sign of the mole's allies was seen. It didn't help that they were not connected to their comm, unable to hear anything while watching the entire mime show.
So, what did they do? Caelus goes back, focusing on fixing the old W-Engine while Phil reads his notebook out of boredom.
"...you still trying to fix that grandfather clock?" Phil can't help but ask.
"Yeah, I'm about to reach a breakthrough," Caelus says as his eyes scan the circuit inside the machine. "What are you reading, by the way?"
"Just a note," Phil says. "Final Exam is on the horizon, gotta get high grades for scholarship and all..."
"Ah, got it," Caelus nods before they both focus on their business.
"Are you two serious?" Trigger's deadpan voice can be heard through their comm.
"No offense, but when you're on a bodyguard duty, but nothing has happened, you tend to do something to cure your boredom," Caelus says with a shrug. "Besides, we don't have any professional training, so you should lower your expectations."
"...why do you even accept the job again?" Trigger mutters.
"Money," Caelus and Phil say shamelessly before the latter freezes. Did he just get infected by Caelus' shamelessness!?! How did it infect him so quickly!?!
"..I feel like this is a mistake," Trigger says before turning off the communication.
"..." Both glance at each other before shrugging. Before they could continue with their business, Phil's ears perked up.
"Soldier 11's on the move again," Phil says before pulling out his device, and Caelus picks him up.
"Which way?" Caelus asks as Phil points to his left. Caelus simply nods and starts moving.
"Wonder what kind of conversation they're having," Phil mutters.
"Your big ears can't catch anything?" Caelus asks with a raised eyebrow.
"She seems to have taken the mission very seriously. She's been whispering through the comm the entire time." Phil explains.
"That's the point, kid. We want to prevent any possible information leaks." Trigger response. "We had to make sure every possibility is considered, including a Thiren with super hearings."
"...that makes a lot of sense," Phil grumbles.
"Can we at least know the current status? How's the mole react to the bait?" Caelus asks.
"From what I heard, he was suspicious and didn't believe that the Proxy Soldier 11 brought was the actual Phaethon," Trigger says.
"...is that why Soldier 11 has been running around the Hollow aimlessly doing chores? To prove that it's Phaethon who guides her?" Caelus asks while continuing to tail her. "Geez, she has a lot of patience. Where was it when she discovered us tailing her?"
"This is an official mission from the higher-ups. She can't risk screwing things up. While you, on the other hand, were not something she would worry about screwing up," Trigger explains.
"Good to know that I was just a nobody," Caelus deadpans.
"That's not what I meant, and you knew it," Trigger retorts with a similar deadpan tone.
"Right," Phil says as Caelus turns right, which leads him to enter through a rift. As he walks through it, he ends up standing on top of a ruined building, right as Soldier 11 walks towards the building.
"We need to hide," Caelus exclaims before grabbing Phil and going into hiding in one of the pillars along with piles of broken wooden boxes. As they hide, Soldier 11 can be seen entering the floor while glancing around before putting down some sort of device gently.
'That must be the transmitter...' Caelus thought as Soldier 11 pressed her left ear and whispered something. 'Don't make a single sound...let's not make a single sound...'
Unfortunately, fate is a cruel joke as dusts start entering Phil's nose and he tries so hard not to sneeze. Caelus widens his eyes and immediately covers Phil's nose, attempting to dampen the sound. Not risking the chance, Caelus did an extra measure by pinching Phil's nose and mouth before he sneezed.
Good news, Phil's sneeze didn't make a single noise. Bad news, their movements caused one of the wooden planks to fall. This made the duo freeze in horror as Soldier 11 glanced in their direction, specifically the pillar they were hiding behind. She narrows her eyes before slowly approaching them.
Both boys start to panic as they had zero idea what they do before Phil remembers something and pulls out a device. Without any time wasted, he pressed the button on the device and covered Caelus' and his own mouth.
As Soldier 11 glanced at the back of the pillar, all she saw was a pile of broken boxes and wooden planks. Soldier 11 narrows her eyes a bit before walking down the stairs. As she's gone, the pile's surrounding flickers before revealing Caelus and Phil, who let out a sigh of relief.
"That was so close..." Caelus mutters in relief before looking at Phil. "Also, a cloaking device? You're really impressive..."
"I-it was just a one-time use..." Phil mutters. "Honestly, it was a complete gamble on my side. The device was still an experimental, and I haven't tried it yet..." Phil glances at the device and tries to press it again, but no reaction.
"Ah...sorry," Caelus rubs the back of his head sheepishly.
"Don't worry too much about it. I can still make it to the university. I got the schematics drawn on my notebook..." Phil waves it off. Before they could tail her, Phil heard something approaching.
"Caelus, we gotta hide." Before Caelus could respond, Phil dragged him into the back of the pillar once more, and they watched as a few people in military gear walked out. This confused Caelus and Phil as they had no idea Soldier 11 or Trigger called backups. But when they pick up a comm and speak, their eyes widen in shock.
"Sir, we're on the trail. Could that information broker be trusted? That she's a spy sent by the Defense Force?" The person asks.
"It's better to be safe than be sorry," A familiar voice can be heard from the other side of the comm, and Caelus instantly recognizes him as Mr. Mole, the antagonist of Soldier 11's agent story. "With how chaotic things are with the info broker and their personal grudges, my identity could be spoiled like it was a charity. I'd rather make sure things are safe on my side."
'Ah, fuck, I forgot that one particular detail. It's how they figure out Phaethon's fake identity, Crimson Twilight,' Caelus thought before summoning his bat.
"Phil...I need you to disrupt their comm for a short moment. Do you think you could do that?" Caelus asks as Phil smirks a bit.
"I can do you one better," Phil says before pulling out a weird-looking canister. "A short-ranged EMP. Enough to disrupt their comms and their tech. Ironically, their guns are Ether-powered technology."
"Great, then it'll make shit easier," Caelus grins before gripping his bat. "Now!"
Phil activates the EMP before tossing it right at the group of people. Upon hitting one of them, the EMP explodes and starts disrupting their tech. Before they could start panicking, Caelus had started playing whack-a-mole with them, bashing his bat at their head and knocking them down swiftly.
"Geez, you look like you're playing whack-a-mole..." Phil pauses before snorting. "Ironic, given the mission is to catch a mole."
"Well, human heads are mostly their weak spot. It was like a walking target, begging to be hit," Caelus shrugs before grabbing one of the comm. "Oh, also, you should grab some of their weapons. I mean, they're much better than scraps, right?"
"...why didn't I think of that!!?" Phil exclaims before facepalming and groaning. "Great, I left my crates back in the apartment."
"..." Caelus didn't say a word as he put all the weapons into his inventory, which, from Phil's perspective, looked like it disappeared in thin air.
"...seriously, what can't you do?" Phil asks in a deadpan manner. "First, the bat summoning, then the exploding powers, and then, the flaming spear, what did I miss?!"
"...honestly, a lot," Caelus says, which gains a disbelief look from Phil.
"Just how much!?!" Phil exclaims incredulously.
"Yes," Caelus says, causing Phil to twitch his eyes.
"Do you know how little that explains every bullshit you show?" Phil asks.
"I know," Caelus says as Phil slaps his paws into his own face before dragging it down with a groan.
"Oh, whatever. I don't give a damn anymore..." Phil mutters as Caelus continues to put the weapons away before giving the comm to Phil.
"Here," Caelus says before he attempts to contact Trigger. Thankfully, the comm still works as Trigger picks up immediately.
"What's wrong?" Trigger asks.
"Yeah, so...I found out that there's some sort of personal grudge between the info broker in the underworld. And apparently, this personal grudge risks Soldier 11's disguise, and several men from the rebel team had tailed Soldier 11 for a while, reporting what they saw back to this Mr. Mole." Caelus reports, and he was greeted with silence for a few seconds before Trigger letting out a sigh of relief.
"I swear to gods, Shephard needs to explainthings," Trigger grumbles. "Did any of them report about you?"
"No, we took care of them quickly," Caelus says before looking at the unconscious men. "They're all out cold...are we just gonna leave them there?"
"...I'm sending some soldiers to take care of them. Phil, send the location to the contact I sent," Trigger says.
"...no offense, but how do you even operate a computer or anything similar?" Phil asks in disbelief, trying to process how it is possible as he receives the contact. Isn't she blind?
"That's because I did it for her." A cheery voice can be heard from the other side of the comm, startling Caelus and Phil. "Hi, this is Seed. Nice to meet you two!"
"...Seed, did you forget what I told you earlier?" Trigger asks in exasperation.
"...nope," Seed responds before giggling again, earning an exasperated sigh from Trigger while both boys sweatdrop.
"Anyways, you should go back trailing Soldier 11. Nice job reporting about the informationleak." With that, Trigger turns off the comm. Both boys could only sigh, feeling like the day had just gotten longer.
To be Continued