As soon as the siblings saw the news, they put two and two together.
"Wise, contact Nicole and the others, NOW!"
"On it!"
Jumping into action, Wise whipped out his phone and dialed Nicole's number while Belle ran to the HDD system.
"Fairy, you specialize in hollow exploration, right?"
"Yes. I can analyze Hollow environments, map out pathways, predict enemy movements, and find rifts or exits."
Belle's eyes narrowed.
"How long would it take you to generate a carrot?"
"That would depend on the size of the Hollow, but if you're referring to the recently spawned companion hollow, it would take me a few seconds, Master."
Despite hearing a literal world-altering estimate, Belle didn't allow herself to be impressed.
"Fairy, how long ago did the hollow appear?"
"According to the HIA's data, it's been approximately 2 hours and 36 minutes."
Belle bit her lip.
"Do you have access to New Eridu's medical records? Can you search for somebody's Ether Aptitude?"
"Affirmative, Master."
"Then do it! Search for the medical records of Illya-"
Belle froze, realizing that she didn't know his family name.
"Forget it- Search the database for the name 'Illya'."
"500 results."
"Filter out all results that don't match the following descriptions: Male, Brown hair, age 23, brown eyes, and right-handed."
"..."
The AI went silent for a moment, agitating Belle.
"Fairy! Hurry!"
"Master, there are no results that match your criteria."
Belle blinked.
"What? Are you sure you checked properly??"
"Affirmative, Master."
Racking her brain, Belle grit her teeth.
"Then apply the same filters and search the Interknot!"
"Beginning search. Please wait."
A loading bar appeared on the wall of the television screens behind the HDD system, the progress appearing to be painfully slow.
Another wave of frustration washed over Belle, a scream building in her chest.
Thankfully, Wise rushed back into the staff room with the first bit of good news Belle had heard so far.
"I just got off the phone with the Cunning Hares; they're on their way now."
Letting out a sigh, Belle logged onto the HDD system, prepping Eous for the work ahead.
Seeing this, Wise frowned.
"Belle? What are you doing?"
Casting her brother a passing glance, she continued her work.
"I'll sync with Eous this time. Back me up."
Wise gave her a concerned look.
"Are you sure? The last time you synced with Eous was when we first started-"
"I'll be fine, Wise. It's not like I've forgotten Teacher's lessons."
Seeing the resolute look on his sister's face, Wise silently relented and began to help Belle prepare Eous.
With the Phaethon siblings working in unison, it didn't take long for them to finish.
While working on the HDD, Belle glanced at the security feed.
"Wise, when are the Hares getting here?"
Her brother frowned.
"When I mentioned that it was urgent, they said they'd come as fast as they could."
"Illya's already been in there for 3 hours, I don't know how much longer he can last in the Hollow."
Wise glanced at the time.
"It's already been that long? Did Illya mention how high his Ether Aptitude was?"
"No, in fact, I don't think he ever even told us his family name. I had Fairy search for his medical records, but she couldn't find them. Right now, I'm having her search the Interknot for any info on him... But-"
Belle pointed at the progress bar on the TV screens without looking up.
Following her gesture, Wise couldn't help but frown.
"That's... pretty slow."
"Tell me about it."
As the bar began to approach 98% completion, the lights in the staff room flickered, causing Belle and Wise to look up in alarm.
"Master, according to my estimations, I have consumed 3000% of your average weekly electricity usage to conduct this search. Do you still wish for me to proceed?"
The siblings winced at the astronomical number.
Glancing at the progress bar, Wise asked in a pained tone:
"If you were to complete the search, what would the electricity costs be?"
Fairy paused for a moment.
"About 600,000 Dennies."
Wise gave Belle a grave look and sighed.
"Looks like we'll be crashing at Illya's place for a while... Well, assuming that it survived. Fairy, proceed with the search."
"Yes, Master."
The siblings watched as the bar began to trickle forward, a full minute passing before it reached completion.
"..."
"Fairy? What did you find?"
The normally chatty AI was unusually silent, something that alarmed Belle and Wise.
"I have only found 1 result dating back 7 years ago, but it is too heavily protected for me to access."
Belle frowned.
"What do you mean protected?"
"The file itself was buried in the Interknots Deep Database, lumped together with another file titled: 'Eridu's Founding Report, Key Players in the Suppression of the Catastrophe', and both files were guarded by a firewall too advanced for an AI of my specialization to crack."
Wise smiled wryly.
"... Looks like we weren't the only ones keeping secrets."
A complicated expression blanketed Belle's face, but before she could vocalize her thoughts, the sound of screeching tires came from the parking lot.
Glancing at the security feed, Wise let out a sigh and grabbed Eous.
"Let's leave this for later. I'll bring Eous to Nicole and the others while you start preparing to sync."
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Sprinting out to the parking lot with Eous, Wise met up with the Cunning hares.
Stepping out of the driver's seat of a horribly parked van, a pink-haired girl with comically large gozongas approached the proxy.
"Proxy! What was the emergency you were calling us about?"
Slightly winded from the brief jog, Wise plopped Eous beside the Cunning Hare's van and caught his breath.
"I don't have enough time to explain in depth, but tldr, one of our friends has been stuck in the hollow on 16th street for the past 3 hours, and we need you to get him out."
Nicole's eyes widened.
"Wait, seriously?! The one that broke through level 4 containment???!"
Wise nodded.
"Yep, that's the one."
Moving fast, Nicole grabbed Eous and leaped into the driver's seat.
"Call me so you can fill me in as I drive. Since it's urgent, we'll discuss payment later~"
Wise's eyebrow twitched.
'You still haven't paid us back for earlier...'
Not wanting to cause any further delays, the Proxy nodded, taking out his phone as he ran back into Random Play.
-------
"Nicole, can you guys hear me?"
An engine roared over the line, the noise loud enough to make Wise flinch.
Putting the phone on speaker, he set it down on a nearby table.
"Proxy? Yeah, wecan-"
Before she could finish, however, a terrified voice cut her off.
"NICOLE, DON'T YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING A BIT TOO FAST?? YOU RAN AT LEAST 3 RED LIGHTS!"
A monotone sigh carried over the line.
"... Billy, don't distract Nicole. Since she's a bad driver, even the smallest distraction could cause us to crash."
"Anby, Billy, shut it! Ahem~ Sorry about that proxy, you were saying?"
Wise, who was working on something next to Belle, cleared his throat.
"As I already said, a friend of Belle and mine got caught up in the expansion of the Companion Hollow on 16th street, and we need you to get him out. Since the Hollow only spawned a few hours ago, we're still working on getting the Carrot data. Thankfully, though, it looks like we'll have everything ready by the time you guys get there."
"Roger that!"
Belle cast a passing glance at the phone screen.
"ETA?"
This time, Billy spoke up.
"2 min-"
SCREEEEEEEECH
"Never mind... we've just arrived."
The corner of Belle's mouth twitched.
"Never thought I'd see the day Nicoles reckless driving actually saved a life."
Wise smiled wryly.
"After seeing you drive, Nicole's doesn't even seem-"
Unfortunately, Wise was stopped before he could finish his sentance, cut off by a projectile flying at his head.
"One more word, and the two of us are gonna go on a road trip around the outer ring when this is all over."
Belle pouted and turned away from her brother.
"Plus, Illya said my driving wasn't even that bad..."
Wise deadpanned.
"Illya's drives like a Kamikaze pilot."
Instinctively opening her mouth to retort, Belle quickly shut it after realizing that her brother had made a very valid point.
Not wishing to press the matter any further, Belle grumbled and typed in a few more lines of code on the HDD, refusing to meet Wise's gaze.
"Proxy's, we're right outside the Hollow!"
The sound of Nicole's voice caught their attention.
Letting out a sigh, Wise looked at his sister.
"Are you sure this is a good idea? You got motion sick and threw up all over the HDD last time you synced with Eous..."
Belle coughed into her fist.
"Ahem~ ignore my brother. Nicole, you still remember what to do right?"
"Of course I do! Hey, Billy? Could you bring over the Proxy's bangboo?"
"Gotcha boss!"
Wise gave Belle one last look.
"If you make another mess, I'm not cleaning it up."
Rolling her eyes, Belle pointed a not so friendly finger at her brother.
"Work your magic little guy~"
Belle's gaze flickered back to the HDD screen.
"Looks like Eous is in position."
Drawing in a deep breath, Belle leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, pushing a red button by the computer.
'Please be alive, Illya...'
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(A/N: Got my power supply fixed~)