Work Text:
Thump, thump, breathe in. Thump, thump, breathe out.
Jay felt the twigs scratch his skin all over, as he crawled through the dense forest as fast as he could. He tried his best to not think about everything in these woods. Humanity created cities so that they could live separately from all the creatures. Why was he stuck with all the spiders and mosquitos now? He couldn’t get distracted. He needed to keep focused on running and breathing. He can’t lose the rhythm.
Thump, thump, breathe in. Thump, thump, breathe out.
Why were forests so loud? It was the middle of the night. He knew most of the nose was probably coming from him. Every step he had left sticks cracking under his feet, and he knows he scared some animals that almost ran into him, hissing and squawking. He can’t lose the rhythm.
Thump, thump, breathe in. Thump, thump, breathe-
He felt the tug on his foot, stuck under a root. He expected to fall. He didn’t expect it to cause the earth to disappear from below him.
He hit the ground, his knee smashing into a rock and some stone flew into his left eye. He hears laughter. He’s been here before.
What the fuck? No, he hasn’t. He’s an agent of The Administration. Why would he ever be in this situation.
“Pfft, really, Nadakhan? This is all you can do? Is this your amazing new strategy to break me since everything else failed?!” Jay felt himself call out, rolling to his right side to cough up some blood.
What was that name? Nadakhan? He should call for backup. He’s just supposed to be in charge of realm reassignment. Not whatever this was. Or maybe he could use this for his escape. No more Administration . Just him and his…Just himself.
“I’ve already brought your injuries back to how it was where we left off. Although, I seemed to have forgotten to bring an eyepatch for you this time. You know what to say if you want me to help with that.”
“No, thanks. I’m done playing pirates.” Jay looked off into the distance, needing to find an escape route. He could see a body of water, glistening in the distance. There seemed to be a pirate ship, bobbing up and down, but that was ridiculous. He was in the middle of a forest. This place did not have enough room for a pirate ship.
“You seem confused. I might be able to help clear things up for you, if you so wish.”
“Ha! Do you think I’m stupid. We defeated you once. Why wouldn’t I be able to do it again?”
Jay tried to roll back onto his back, but as soon as he did he was face to face with some guy with too many arms. Nadakhan. He was back. He escaped from the teapot.
Nadakhan snarled, but before he could do anything, Jay panicked. No one from The Administration seemed to be around. He was probably sent off on a solo mission and he knows all this stuff from one of the folders filled with files he had to sign off on. He could quickly just-
A crack burst through the air. He felt all the electricity that had built up, leave him. The armed guy above him was gone.
One. Two. Breath in. The Administration probably shouldn’t know about the four armed guy.
One. Two. Breathe out. That would need too much paperwork if Jay came clean about it.
The decision was practically made. No one would know, except him and the arm guy.
He lifted his hand to block the sun - Sun? It was the middle of the night, minutes ago. Jay, don’t ignore me, please, we need to know what’s going on, please, where is everyone? Nadakhan was just here and - and allowed a small spark to pass around all his fingers. Heh. He giggled for a bit, before he lost it with laughter. He had risked it with his powers, but it did pay off. Time to find this guy and take him in.
He sat up, quickly, looking around. The shock couldn’t have sent him that far, but somehow the guy was nowhere to be seen.
Jay reached up and found a branch that could hold him, to pull himself up, without putting too much weight on his right leg.
The guy probably wasn’t real. Jay just needed a break. He reads one of the files he’s supposed to read as a manager and he starts hallucinating? This practically confirms his theory that work is bad for you.
Jay looked back at where he had seen the water. He could swear he still saw the faint outlines of a pirate ship. Except he wouldn’t swear on something this improbable. Leftover hallucinations from work were normal, probably, and would go away with some Jay and video game time.
Reaching for his walkie-talkie, he looked around one last time. Something was off. Maybe it’s just him using his powers, but that didn’t normally make him so uneasy. What was the file he read about for this mission about again? Probably wasn’t important. He would’ve remembered if it was, his brain had so much space for new knowledge.
He brought the walkie-talkie to his mouth, and hesitantly turned it on. “Backup needed for Agent Walker. Location unknown.”
There was a few seconds of static over the radio before a response. “Backup was already sent your way. You weren’t supposed to be on this mission, Agent Walker. Do you understand how much paperwork you need to do to explain your actions?”
Jay rolled his eyes, carding his hair back, thinking back to the file. “I was sent this file about a guy. I think I knew him from before, he seemed familiar.”
“We have an extraction team ready, Agent Walker. It’ll be okay. You won’t have to worry about the folder anymore.”
“No, maybe I should look into this guy. His name was Colt or something, maybe he can-”
“The agents will return you to the Administration. Do not concern yourself with this. We will dispose of the file.”
“This is why I love my superiors” Jay whispered to himself, scoffing and putting his walkie talkie down. He slid back down against the tree he had used to pull himself up, closing his eyes to allow himself a bit of rest.
He woke up in his office. His right knee was weirdly sore for some reason, as if he had hurt it somehow. Real question was what clumsy mistake did he make to endanger himself without having to fill out ten endangerment forms.
He chuckled to himself, stretching out, before reaching for his controller to turn his monitor on. It was Thursday. He swore it was just Tuesday yesterday, but sleeping through a whole day wasn’t the biggest waste of his time here. He should sign off on at least one file to show he’s fulfilling his managerial duties though.
He spun his chair around to face his piles of files, and grabbed the top one off the tallest pile, flipping it open to spin back to his desk. Teapot of Tyrahn. Huh. Sure, he can sign off on a random teapot being sent to the Wyldness. His work was done for the day. Now, it’s just him and Prime Empire.