"Oh gods, what did I do?"

The words tumbled out of Nen's mouth before he even understood what was going on. It was a good thing to, because about half a second later realisation had dawned, and he completely lost all ability to speak; and maybe a little bit of waist down bodily function control as well. Here he was, minding his own business, showing up a little late to meet the "new guy" - how great was it that Nen wasn't the new guy any more?! - because he'd been finishing up errands in the office and because Emelie had asked him to grab her a caf on the way down; and suddenly there was a blaster aimed up the stairs at him.

Not just any blaster, either. Well okay, the blaster wasn't all that significant, but the arm holding it was. That arm was attached to one Vhiran Antilles, who had the rare distinction of being one of the earliest people that Nen remembered meeting. Not because Vhiran had known him when he was just a tiny Nen instead of an adult Nen, mind you: more because of the whole amnesia, not remembering anything about himself prior to a few years ago thing. Vhiran had been one of the mercs, or bounty hunters, or crooks, or whatever the heck it was that he did, one of them, who Doctor Arlan had known and done whatever it was that he did back then, and just - it was just really weird, okay?

But then relief came all of a sudden, on the far side of a flinch as Vhiran Antilles pulled back on the trigger and sent a bolt of energy racing up the stairs. Partly, the relief was because the bolt was clearly stun energy, and while that wasn't exactly unpleasant, it wasn't typically fatal - not unless you were suffering from a heart condition, or had a really weird allergy or something. The other, arguably more important part, was the fact that the bolt didn't hit Nen at all, but rather clattered into the thigh of Atton Kira, the other man who'd just entered, buckling his leg beneath him and sending him tumbling down the stairs.

A huge sigh of relief escaped from Nen, hand clutching his chest as he slumped against the stairway railing.

"Gods, Vhiran," he muttered, loud enough for his voice to carry down the stairway. "I thought you were gonna shoot me!"

A pleasant smile perked it's way onto his face. "Ello, by the way. Good to see you, an' all that."

Wait, hang on a minute.

Nen's eyes widened. Realisation dawned.

Vhiran Antilles just shot someone.

Why were people getting shot?