Know the enemy of thy enemy

Leo and I have been texting a bit lately. He said I could publish the results for posterity.

- Me: So, I've been wondering about ARC...

- Leo: Okay

- Me: So, first of all, why didn't they pay more attention when they thought I had one of those monsters in my watch?

- Leo: You mean the Manufactured Newborn? Newborn larvae usually leave for the Towering Realm after they absorb some materials

- Me: What does that even mean?

- Leo: What that means is, the hive mind that controls your watch usually has its larvae leave for the home dimension, where its true form is

Basically, if ARC thinks you might possibly have one of them in its larval form, and you don't give it to them right away, they can just consider it a messy situation in the making

- Me: "A messy situation?" Isn't this "Newborn" supposed to be really brutal?

- Leo: Ordinarily yes, although for some reason your watch didn't seem to get the memo

- Me: But they didn't care about the possibility that it really would be part of the Newborn?

- Leo: They were busy, and like I said it would usually just suck some stuff up and return to its own world

That's why I don't really like ARC

They *prioritize.*

- Me: So you're saying they were willing to have an unknown amount of my neighborhood get totally demolished by a monster because they were busy?

- Leo: Pretty much

Here's the real kicker, you know what they were busy with?

- Me: Do I want to?

- Leo: I can tell you if you do

- Me: Okay, I'll bite... what is it?

- Leo: They think AMU is a front for another cult

The Archive, they're called

They obsessively collect materials related to the Fears

- Me: The Fears? That sounds... ominous.

- Leo: I keep forgetting how little I've told you yet >_>

Those are monsters, like the Manufactured Newborn, that some people think are embodiments of fear itself

- Me: …

- Leo: The Newborn is the Fear of the Future

- Me: That makes a lot of sense, actually...

So wait, why did you say ARC was trustworthy if they'd let me die because they were busy investigating some cult?

- Leo: Well, once you're in with them, you're in, right?

So, if you're just going to go over and give them this watch, they don't mind, they may as well take it and see what they can do to get rid of it

But if you don't give them the watch, no point in trying to pry it from you, right?

- Me: ...Oh.

- Leo: Anyway it's not like the government is funding ARC very much, like that agent guy said
They already have STAB, after all
- Me: STAB?
- Leo: Yeah, the Supernatural Threat Analysis Bureau
Anyways, this is also the deal with my relationship with Robin
We used to be dating until she joined ARC a few years ago
- Me: Oh, she's that Robin? Huh... that makes a lot of sense, actually.
- Leo: Yeah, I never told you why we broke up because it's so Fear-related
- Me: Yeah... hm.
What do you think KRAKEN want with the watch, anyways?
- Leo: I don't know
And that's what scares me.