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Chapter 1 -Xhaustion-

Hello hello!

First off, THANK YOU FOR 1k FOLLOWERS! I'm still surprised every time I see it smh.

Anyway, This one's been brewing for a while and I have a decent amount pre-written, tho I will say it's a touch tamer than my other fics (violence-wise) and probably (BIG PROBABLY)(as in probably not) a lot shorter. It is, however, a whole lot fluffier, but no less angsty.

We're starting off at 5877 words here, Ima try to keep it in the lowerish range because I'm notoriously bad at overwriting.

(Also publishing two (three?) stories at once is totally going to stab me in the back eventually but thats a problem for future Blizz)

Oh and yeah, all the chapter titles will have X puns in it.

You're welcome.

Guardian had more than a million and a half things to do. He had genomorphs to find, evil scientists to arrest, suffering creatures to liberate, and then all the legal matters that the Justice League was happy to lend a hand with, but it all was laid on him in less than 12 hours.

Currently, he was walking through the more modern looking sub-level 27, to oversee some dangerous chemicals getting transferred. Cadmus would have no need for them now, he would make sure of it.

His mind was abuzz with unrelenting activity, a heavy weight on his shoulders that made him want to sit down for a while. He couldn't do that though, Cadmus needed all the help it could get and he was determined to make Cadmus become what it had always meant to be. Being overworked was not uncommon or unexpected, but it was not quite welcome either. Still, a distraction would be nice, a break between all the paperwork and fixing what Desmond ruined. So when a small G-Gnome stepped into his path and seemed to want his attention he didn't dismiss the brief distraction.

"Hello," He told the small gremlin, stopping completely in the hallway to observe.

The little gray creature hobbled too and fro, occasionally going around Guardian's feet. The man was amused, as the small being seemed to be playing, it even pulled a small chuckle out of his chest. Then he realized the creature kept going back to a certain direction then came to circle him. His blue eyes narrowed and he looked on the G-Gnome in new light.

"You've got something to show me?" He asked, an undertone of seriousness edging in, hoping that alone would deter any wasting of his time. The creature hunkered in its odd crouched form, this time pointing off to the direction it had been walking at. Apparently it was at least somewhat important, he didn't think the small G-Gnome would further jaunt if it wasn't. It was odd it wasn't using its telepathic powers, and he held no prejudice against the creatures for what they did, but he couldn't say he wasn't glad the little beast didn't invade his mind. It was still odd though, no one really told them to not use their powers of mental communication, this little guy was either observant and smart or he must be unable to use it somehow- which considering the nature of how Desmond ran his lab, Guardian didn't think a powerless G-Gnome would have been considered useful and resultantly terminated. But here it was, making little noises, trying to inform him of something.

"Alright, lead the way." He was sure the chemicals could wait, he definitely didn't mind a distraction, especially if it was important.

The little being moved off, leaping oddly as it traveled on the ground with Guardian following behind steadily. They came to the elevator, in which Guardian rose an eyebrow. "On a different floor? How important is this?" He mumbled the last part mostly to himself, but once inside and the floor selected he was already too curious to back out.