What Myles did in his spare time was hardly a concern for Astrid. They’d talked a fair bit after he’d saved her freaking life against Joule. She owed him as much, and supposed that this wasn’t her brother after all, and that the awkward sibling tension was mostly a figment of her imagination. But he was still… similar to Myles, and that wouldn’t change. Talking only gave him more opportunities to fuck with her, act like a smartass, and recently, help himself her badge to take pictures of everything under the sun.
“If I’m gonna help solve this mystery, I need information,” Myles touted, waving Astrid’s only means of communication around like a pocket knife. “Which means we have to take unsolicited photos of everything we can. Who knows when it’ll come in handy!”
Astrid, who’d grown increasingly frustrated in her attempts to follow him, wasn’t so sure. Taking photos of lampposts and the remnants of the moon and destiny tower from afar were hardly investigating. His most recent endeavor—spying on Cream and Puff—was somehow a step up and a step down at the same time, and he hadn’t come up with anything substantial anyway. Fool.
“Just,” in one swift motion, Astrid snatched the badge from one of his tails, “let me see that back, alright? Ask next time, sheesh.” Scrolling through the gallery made her eyes pop. “Dude, there are thousands of pictures here!”
She got to deleting the extraneous ones (most of them were; she’d have to worry about it again later) while Myles harrumphed. “What? You took a dozen. And you weren’t even investigating, you were just posing with your friends. You think battling is everything?”
“We don’t even know if there’s anything to investigate!” Astrid shot back, realizing that wasn’t entirely true. She’d hoped to get a better look at that strange Mewtwo ever since she’d heard of its capture. Giovanni could take a hike for all she cared, but maybe this strange creature desperately trying to be her stupid brother had a valid reason to be here after all. “…Okay, you know what, take this, and take essential pictures. You already know where I’m going. After you get them, I want you to process them so I can take them to someone and ask them a few questions. They need to be quality. Can you do that?”
Myles took the badge back and pursed his lips. “But of course. And hey, you’ll credit me, right?”
“Sure thing.”
That was the end of Myles’ objections, though Astrid had to hold in one of her own when she heard the camera click away yet again, probably capturing nothing of interest off in the distance. She hated how their conversations usually spiraled like this, but at least it had eased up lately. At least this was a brother she could coexist with.
What a thought to have. She shook her head and swallowed the sour taste in her mouth, raising a paw to open the lab’s doors before flinching back as it opened for her. Seemed they’d arrived during business hours.
They made their way down the flights of stairs, Astrid dead-set on progress while Myles lingered back here and there to take more probably-illegal pictures. Astrid couldn’t wait to explain why her gallery looked the way it did should someone from Cibus gain access to her badge. She supposed if anyone would do some hacker shenanigans like that, it may be Chip. Go figure.
“Hey,” she called in greeting at a familiar face: the one who was still a Mudkip. “Nnnnnate, right? And Rocky, and Chip?”
The Blacklit Mewtwo looked far too peaceful. He’d escaped the radius of her ill-timed blast when they’d fought on opposite sides weeks ago… she supposed she was grateful for that. The creature hardly looked capable of making its own decisions, and she didn’t think Giovanni was the type to allow for such a liberty anyway.
“Wow,” was all she said as she ran her eyes over the numerous bulbs and curves along its body. Myles quietly began snapping pictures.
