“Yeah?”
She waved him closer, and they stepped off to the side so she could whisper to him, “Miguel’s ex is in the Entertainment Division. I plan on rotating everyone, but I need you to make sure he doesn’t go there. I don’t want any drama.”
His face screwed up, and he nodded in commiseration. “Yeah, that’d be bad. I’ll make sure to meet him on the first floor if we’re going to meet for lunch or something.”
Miguel was his best friend, and they sometimes went looking for each other to meet up for lunch. Neither had been in the Entertainment Division yet, so it hadn’t come up before, but if Miguel’s ex was in the building, he really didn’t want them to come in contact. Fur would definitely fly.
Tasha patted his shoulder, jerking her chin toward the set of turnstiles that led toward the Entertainment Division. “Thanks, Em. Let me know if you have any trouble with the security team in Entertainment. They seemed like a good bunch, but one or two seemed distracted. Keep an eye out.”
With a final nod, he loped off toward the elevators, then thought better of it. The Entertainment Division wasn’t the largest building, but it wasn’t the smallest either. But fifteen floors wasn’t bad, and he wanted to work off some energy before having to do his rounds. He pushed into the stairwell, listening to make sure he wouldn’t be crashing into anyone before bounding up them. He was nearly at his destination when someone came rushing into the stairwell. Emmett had no time to stop himself and accidentally tackled the guy, wrapping himself around the person’s smaller frame to prevent him from getting hurt when they crashed into the wall.
A strangled, “Oomph,” escaped the person as they bounced off the wall, but Emmett was quick enough to right them before they both fell.
“I’m so sorry. Are you alright?”
He stepped back, only to come up short. He knew that face. For the second time in a day, he’d literally run into the human who looked and smelled like he was close to a panic attack. Their collision seemed to shock the worst of it out of him, but he still looked pale and kept shooting worried glances over his shoulder.
“Hey. You okay?” he asked again, putting his hand on the guy’s shoulder. The human jumped, spinning back around, and looked just as shocked to see Emmett as Emmett was to see him.
“Oh crap. I swear I’m not doing it on purpose.”
Emmett snorted, “Didn’t think you were. You alright? I ran into you pretty hard.”
That would teach him to run up the stairs at near full speed. If Tasha found out about this, she’d hurt him. And he was not interested in fighting her. She played dirty.
Luckily, the human didn't seem injured, and he didn’t sway on his feet or anything. Still, Emmett gave the guy a good sniff to be sure.
“W-What are you doing?” the human squeaked.
“Checking for injuries.” He tapped his snout when the human looked up at him wide-eyed. “I could smell a papercut from half a mile away.”
“Oh, um… I’m fine,” the human replied awkwardly, taking a step back. He looked at the door to the floor he’d been on again, and the scent of fear filled Emmett’s nose. Emmett frowned.
“Are you in danger?”
Whipping his head around, the human looked up at him again with a worried expression. “What? N-No…”
That sounded weird. It wasn’t quite a lie, Emmett would be able to tell if it was, but it was almost as if the human didn’t know how to answer. Figuring it was better to find out for himself, he opened the door to the thirteenth floor and poked his head in, looking around and giving the hallway a good sniff. He smelled plenty of supes, but he didn’t pick up on any emotions that might make him think someone was going to attack.
He looked back at the human, who was trying to look around him into the hallway. “All clear.”
“I, uh… Thanks…” the human muttered. He seemed to steel himself before heading back out of the stairwell and down the long hallway. He hesitated outside an open doorway, and Emmett was curious enough to follow him, peeking around the doorframe with the human to see into the room, which was also empty. He looked down at the human, who looked up at him in surprise. He wasn’t overly tall for a human, probably aboutaverage, but that meant Emmett was at least a foot taller than him.
“Are we looking for someone specific? Or are you playing some kind of game?”
Blinking rapidly, the human looked confused for a second. “Who plays games at work?”
Emmett shrugged, stepping around the human into the room. It was an equipment room, cameras stored haphazardly on shelves, boom sticks tucked into the corner, wires overflowing from boxes, and more Emmett couldn’t even name. He looked around curiously, then back at the human, who finally got brave enough to enter the room, heading for one of the boxes to paw through it.
“What are you looking for?”
“A few things,” the human explained a little awkwardly. “One of the servers is down, so I thought I’d try to find a new power supply to start, but I’ll bring some replacement parts too just in case.”
Emmett nodded in agreement. “Sounds like a smart plan. Did something spook you in here or something? Why were you hiding in the stairwell?”
“Uh…”
A commotion in the hallway drew Emmett’s attention, and he looked toward the door just as a big demon with a scowl on his face stomped into the room. He looked around, spotted the human, and growled, “Find it yet?”
