By the time the elevator had opened, Rika had let out a low whistle, eyes automatically locked onto the guard Shizuka had recently dealt with. Stepping out and looking ahead, Shizuka was engaged in opening a really crude door that seemed to contradict how ‘advanced’ this Empire was supposed to be. In a very casual manner she had stood over the fallen guard and looked to his communication device, strapped instead to his chest rather than the ear. She had vanished from thin air, but the device she eyed had raised itself as if manipulated by some poltergeist-related force, and was tossed to the ground before being crushed with much enthusiasm. With Rika reappearing just after the device was destroyed, she made her way after Shizuka, who was busy staring at some strange object in the middle of that room. The heat was ridiculous and nearly enough to make her fan herself, but what drew her attention other than the unnecessary amount of pipes and wires that came to one source was the fact Shizuka had fallen backwards out of surprise. Scooting away fearfully, Rika approached the glass tube herself and peered over it, left hand loosely on her hip. [b]“What are you so spooked about?”[/b] she asked, moments later being met with the she same sight Shizuka did. [b]“…Oh. You know I knew the Empire were scumbags but using a young woman to power this piece of shit complex? At least make it look nice.”[/b] 

Rika’s approach to the situation was informal but in truth she was disgusted by the discovery. No trace of fear was evident on her face, only concentration in these gross temperatures. The core of these places were actual living beings, quite the opposite of advanced computer intelligences and power sources. There was a monitor and a thin little holographic keyboard right beside it, obvious tools to release the captive or probably help monitor some nonsense about power levels. Placing her right hand to it, she noted how hot it was, running it from top to bottom. The first instinct was letting the girl out, but she was part of a team now, and the situation wasn’t so dire that she didn’t make a call without them. [b]“I see what’s going on here.”[/b] Rika began, looking back at Shizuka before turning around and sitting herself on the tube. [b]“Let’s give ‘em a call.” [/b]

Retrieving her badge from within her jacket and unzipping the entire thing while she was busy, the blonde had begun to reach out to Ace until Rika had remembered something: Ace was very mediocre at making decisions. [b]“Nope.”[/b] Quickly canceling it before it had the opportunity to trigger, Rika had not gone to the pretty boy, but instead the young Chinese girl Lin. She’d be blunt; that dick who buttered her up only to set Shizuka on her, and Ace for not stopping this from happening, still pissed her off a little. Shizuka was a sweet little dork but she hated decisions she got no say on, and because of that she’d make them regret the decision they made until a time came where she believed them even. [b]“Come on sweetheart…”[/b] she mumbled, waiting.

~-~

Lin’s attack was avoided purely by chance, something she found great displeasure in witnessing. Any indication of defiance against Ryoko was turned into pure horror once Minoru had, in Lin’s eyes impossible, been unable to avoid the attack when he would have had the better chance between Ryoko and himself. The factors in her head ran off and she didn’t mean for them to, but she prided herself on control when it came to fighting. The boy collapsed in flames after a scream that caused Lin’s heart to stop, unable to do little more than process the fact she may have just severely injured the wrong person. Responding to Ryoko didn’t matter any longer; Lin found herself growing a little weak and queasy. Before an emotional overload of denial and pain hit her, the man had been dispersed of flames and shot right back up, apparently unharmed. He was healthy enough to shout out a chant against Ryoko, and this was just after a blade of light had torn past her and towards Ryoko. The girl looked over her shoulder, finding that man Coriander there. Upon closer investigation, it seems he had killed another man to get here, and looked entirely too proud after doing so. The true horror was what he said afterwards: Coriander was of the Empire once, and by that announcement was not only a liar, but also relished in violence like Cerden obviously did. Lin knew that Ace hadn’t known of this fact because he had refused Cerden because of his affiliation, and that was ignoring his lack of concern for the lives of others. That made Coriander no friend of hers, and likely not Ace or Shizuka’s once they knew. 

Sidestepping out of the way, Lin was in a corner of the room, keeping her eye on both Coriander and Ryoko. She was essentially stuck in a room with a woman who’d want to torture her, and a man who had been lying to his comrades the entire time. To her, there was little to no difference. Her back was not going to be kept to any of them; whatever happiness she should’ve felt at that strange man being okay was completely overwritten by this new discovery. Ace hadn’t come, which means he was either still watching upstairs or was on the way. A vibration to her left thigh had alerted her to an incoming message, and retrieving it with a careful eye on the two in the room with her, she had opened the channel as she was taught. She hardly grasped the concept of talking from such a long distance, but Shizuka was helpful in showing her how to do it before they left. If only the people back in China could know things like this existed, but in her heart Lin enjoyed the traditional way of communication over this breakthrough in human convenience. [b]“He-hello?”[/b] she whispered.

[b]“Yo, Lin, it’s me. What’s going on?”[/b] Rika chimed in quite casually.

Lin was still looking between Ryoko and Coriander, staff in her right hand and idle, but the fire in her still heating up. [b]“A man was in trouble and I went to help, but that’s not important right now. Coriander is – [i]was[/i] with the Empire.”[/b]

Rika looked to Shizuka with mock surprise on her face, eyes gradually widening and mouth parting as if this was some huge revelation. Coriander was with the Empire? Oh no! [b]“…Wait who’s that again?”[/b] Rika’s face readjusted to normal, as if the conversation had not been taking place neck deep in an enemy’s fortress. 

[b]“Coriander …the… the other one with us.”[/b]

[b]“Oh, that guy? …OH, THAT GUY!?”[/b] Rika snapped, standing up and looking suddenly miffed. To think that the very guy who set her up out of a trust issue was in fact the guy who was with the Empire before, rather than her. The irony was not escaping her; she looked to Shizuka, wondering if she knew about this, but the look on her face told her a different story. Well, that pretty much confirmed that no one had known about this little detail right there. Ace wouldn’t have had any reason to keep this from them, so that effectively made Coriander the one who needed someone following him. [b]“Hold on a minute, I’m calling Ace.”[/b] She warned Lin, dialing Ace back up again.

Lin awkwardly listened to some weird dialing tone as the deadlock continued. That strange man was back on his feet as though nothing had happened, and beyond the pair she could see someone was tied against the wall looking very weak and beaten. In her haste to save one man, she had been completely unaware of the presence of another who looked much worse off. Hoping that the man she hustled here to save before and Coriander would provide a better distraction than herself, the young girl ran to the other end of the room, keeping her eyes on Ryoko and Coriander, scowling at the former and expressing full disappointment in the latter. Once she had reached the man against the wall, she had carefully set down her staff and brought her hand to the shackle of his left arm and closed her fist around the chain. Rapidly generating heat to that first, she was hoping to weaken it enough to crush in one strike. 

Ace had picked up, but before Lin could respond, Rika was ahead of her. 

[b]“Oh, hey Ace, how are you? We’re fine, everything’s fine down here. Say, did you know that that pretty boy was with the Empire before? So while you were busy doubting me, you had one of them right under your nose this entire time. Tell him how you know, Lin.”[/b] Rika had said quickly and firmly, making the situation very awkward for Lin to place herself in. Blinking a couple times and hoping this wasn’t going to get out of hand, she spoke into the badge. 

[b]“He …he ran in here and said ‘Let’s see how much you’ve changed since I left, Ryoko’ and—“[/b]

[b]“You hear that Ace? So meanwhile Shizuka’s down here and of course she’s adorable in her own silly way, but you got that smug asshole up there with you. Remember when he told me that trust was hard these days? You remember that right?”[/b]

[b]“I remember!”[/b] Lin chimed in with a little enthusiasm, surprising herself.

[b]“Thank you Lin. See? Lin remembers, do YOU remember Ace? You didn’t trust the right one and now look at where we are. I’m down here finding out the core is actually a young woman and I call Lin to find that out. So the next time you give me shit, just remember that your so-called best pal She-man up there was with the enemy before--”[/b] Rika paused. [b]“…Shizuka says hi Lin.”[/b]

Lin blinked and yanked the shackle that she was superheating, but wasn’t physically strong enough to do it with ease. She needed someone here to help, unless the man could do it himself. [b]“Um …hi Shizuka.”[/b]

[b]“She misses you.”[/b]

[b]“I …miss her too.”[/b]

[b]“Don’t worry you’ll see her in like …I don’t know, five, ten minutes? Depends on how bad things are gonna get when we let this girl out. For the record Ace, I hate you way more than I did before. Talk to you guys soon.”[/b] With a click, the three-way call had ended, leaving Lin stunned at the discovery Rika didn’t seem to be too surprised about. A woman was the core of this place? Pocketing her badge again, she placed her now free hand on the other chain that bound his right arm and heated it as well. Placing her left foot against the wall beside him, she tried to pry it off, but only succeeded in straining herself. It was no good, she didn’t have the physical strength to do this, and the chains weren’t hot enough yet to allow her the chance to do so. They were starting to glow red, indicating a point of weakness she created. Either this man could do it on his own, or she needed someone physically strong or good with a blade to slice through them. 

[b]“ACE!”[/b] Lin cried out in a panic. [b]“I NEED YOU!”[/b] the facility was large, but if Ace was nearby then she hoped he would hear her plea and come running. He was good with a blade, and could free this man. If what Rika feared was true, then this facility might start acting weird without the core. People powering factories? It drew many questions, yet those answers would need to wait. Drawing confidence that maybe, just maybe, that strange man would cover her, Lin still tugged against the chains with the hopes of freeing the stranger. 

~-~

[b]“God, the nerve of those assholes. Shizuka, how can you stand that guy?”[/b] Rika shrugged her shoulders and rolled her eyes, placing the badge within her jacket’s inner pockets once again. Wandering over to the monitor and still very flustered with that little bit of news, she grit her teeth and grumbled to herself over the stupidity of the situation. Come back with the disc, have someone tag along with you. Be a former soldier of the Empire, you’re fine. The lack of investigation into the members of this group was laughable, and while she knew Ace wasn’t technically the real leader, she wondered what that man was doing sitting on his ass with all this going on. He was old, sure, but being a leader hardly recognized age. Either you were cut out for managing resources and lives, or you weren’t. After a very short period of searching, she found what she was looking for: Emergency shutdown procedure. 

[b]“When she gets out of here I’m thinking she’s going to be royally pissed, so get ready for anything.”[/b] Rika muttered to Shizuka, before entering the key and waiting to see what would come from her action.