Saber's world was almost entirely focused the moment the food was placed down on her plate. Yes... yes, there it was... the aroma reminded her so much of Shirou's excellent cooking... it was an example of traditional Japanese cuisine. Saber's hand almost blurred as she swiftly ferried food from plate to mouth, and was immediately encountered by an intensely blissful flavor. Yes... this was what she desired. The texture, the taste, it was perfect. The chef for this establishment was surely incredibly experienced, there was no way to deny this! Her hand swiftly traveled between plate and mouth. She failed to notice Nono's visible reaction to the mapo tofu, nor anything else. Saber was entirely focused on her meal. In about a minute, which was to say one and a half plates of food later, Saber finally paused to react to her surroundings. Gintoki appeared to have ordered something sweet... Nono was rather flushed. Had she ordered something spicy? Preparing to return to her meal, a thought began to nag at the King of Knights. Yggdrasil was secured. Technological systems, magical wards, unauthorized teleportation was locked out of the tower, and the entryways were monitored carefully. How could the infiltration by Shadow Eternity forces have occurred? It was a rather serious matter, and she was certain Yggdrasil's internal security forces would be investigating, but... "... How could Shadow Eternity have entered this tower for their attack?" she could not simply leave the matter unaddressed. Saber had to at least attempt to discover what had occurred... Meanwhile, from the back of the restaurant, though the crowds of people, a chef's hat bobbed. The wearer was apparently small, as they could not be seen through the crowds. All that was visible was the hat. Marisa twirled one of her chopsticks between two fingers as she listened to Kakine's explanation. She sure was pretty ready to join up with some travelling companions. That way she could go and boast to Alice about the whole thing! The moment her food arrived, she prepared to dig in... but paused when Kakine offered her the headset. As she commonly did when it came to small objects, the Perfectly Ordinary Witch snatched it away and turned it over in her hands, investigating it. "Awesome!" exclaimed the small blonde. "This is one of those things that the outside people use to talk to one another when they're far away, right? I've wanted one but there was never any I could find nice and fast!" This was to say that there was no-where for her to easily steal it from, but they didn't need to know that. "Heh, thanks! This is pretty kickass..." It swiftly vanished beneath her hat, before she proceeded to tear into her meal, shoveling it into her mouth rapidly. For now, all was calm. The Leader knew that her team had perished on that planet, and thus others had to be sent... if there had been any survivors, she did not know of them. It was not an end she had taken lightly, no... Death should not be so pointless. Suffering, pain... it was not her intent to cause such needless things. In some cases the ends had justified the means, but the deaths of those attempting to excavate the coffin were worthless, and the thought of it weighed on her. Had she known such dangers lurked on the planet, she would have sent a more powerful force. For the moment, she simply ran one hand across the cylindrical tank that stored Dead Master... yes, it wouldn't be much longer, at least. Not much longer until the end she truly desired could finally be met. The UMMA would surely be destroyed. "... Cinder Fall," she said, turning away from the tank. "You have business with me?" The Strike Team's progress was slow and careful. They were swift to check their corners. They had to balance the crucial nature of their mission with ensuring that they did not run into any situation without assessing it first. After all, it'd be no good if they all got killed. However, the captain was confident this wouldn't be the case, and Sato specifically practically radiated confidence. Reynolds radiated a desire to light things on fire. Johnson just wanted to get this mission done safely. All of this was a bit muddled when a shutter suddenly slammed down in front of them. After a brief moment of shock, the captain sighed and glanced back at her team. "Sato, you know what to do," she said. No need to panic, after all. The Japanese woman was practically giddy as she hurried over to the shudder. It would take her a few moments, but she'd have it assembled soon enough. "I'll have it nice and lit up real quick, captain, don't you worry!"

Hanako soon found herself following behind Guts, having nervously agreed to help him scour the library in search of a certain kind of book. Of course, Lilly would have done it herself, but she could not read. She nervously eyed Guts' stump as they entered the library, and he began taking tome after tome, occasionally asking her questions about which was the oldest and what material they covered. The pair soon assembled a stack twenty high on occultism, mystics, and dark magics. Mister Guts had odd tastes, she considered. "W-well, I guess I'd better-" she turned to dash off before a powerful hand caught her wrist. "Oi. We're not done yet. What's this word?" he asked, pointing to a page with his stump. "...T-the." "And this one?" "Mystick?" "And this one?" "Mr. Guts... can you read?" she asked, nervously. Guts stared at her blankly before answering, "No, why?" "B-but, but everyone can read, can't they?" "Maybe in some stuffy building full of academics and scribes. The rest of us have bodies we can put to use." Guts replied. At this, Hanako's eyes drifted back down to his missing hand. "But...." she began. "You think this is a problem? Slap a magnet on this and an injury like this is no problem. An injury can't bring you down if you don't let it. Got it?" Hanako's eyes lit up. This man, missing limbs, and etched in countless scars, was something else. She sat down next to him. "The mystic arts are..." she began, and together the two began to read, until the Sun sank low on the horizon.

Yggdrasil, was home to plenty of weird sites, what with it hosting an agency sworn to guarding various laws of somewhere in the Multiverse. It was here where Gwendolyn Ashworth was sitting on-top of the shoulders of Sir Garret, a bulky humanoid robot, with shield attached to his back, and his sword hooked onto his right side. This time, the shield was not hooked the lower levels of the skirt. The frills of her dress were pressed against the back of the machine's head-plate, as Gwendolyn kicked her heeled feet back and forth. "Attwatter." The Queen spoke up in a soft voice as she tilted her head to the right as she glanced at her knight, a gaunt man with a newly graying beard, and fairly lengthy hair. He stared at her directly in the eyes, even though she was on the shoulders of her robotic knight. "Yes your Majesty?" She smiled at him as she wagged her finger. "What is the status on our coffers?" Sir Attwatter glanced down at his boots, and adjusted his bandoleer full of syringes of a variety of different liquids and compounds. After a brief check he returned his glance back at his Queen. "W-well you see Your Majesty." He spoke up timidly,"The majority of your personal funds wer-" She raised up her right hand as she glanced down at him, "I am aware of the status of my funding. I was speaking of the card coffer." Sir Attwatter blinked as he spoke up again, "Well, the funds there are still availab-" She clapped her hands and gave a smile to Attwatter. "Delightful. I'll need to be more frugal in maintaining our coffers, but must appear lavish to attract needed recruits. Though of course, without even a most basic compound within the sector to call my own." Gwendolyn puffed out her cheeks and frowned. "Attracting promising people will be most difficul-" She paused as she noticed a grumbling in her tummy. Sir Garret spoke up,"Statement: Your Majesty appears to be lacking in essential nourishment. Our co-ordinates are near an establishment of serving nutrients. Suggestion: We head over there." Attwatter gave a meager nod, "As long as it is affordable, as we must make sure our Majesty has the necessary resources." Sir MacCabe scratched at the tip of his pompadour, before reaching back and giving a quick tap to his rocket launcher. "If'n ya don't mind Your Majesty, I again ask why yer on-top of ol' Clunker there." Gwendolyn glanced to her left and looked down at Sir MacCabe, before giving a cat-like grin. "Well, I do not have a litter, and my feet grew tired. You wouldn't want your Queen fall down and get scraped up would you?" MacCabe simply accepted it with a nod. " "No Your Majesty, no we wouldn't. Itchin' fer blastan though." She glanced down and gave a nod, "I'm sure you are. But I need to work on the plan to regain what belongs to me, before we go in guns blazing." Gwendolyn glanced down at Garret and poked his metal head. "Now could you take me to the Restraunt?" Sir Garret marched towards the restaurant as the other knights followed suit. "Affirmative."

RAT-A-TAT-TAT BANGBANGBANGBANG PEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEW KROOM-KROOM-KROOM-KROOM The barrage hadn't stopped when the Beat Rider's armor liquefied. And among the lasers and nebulous Toku fireworks, there had been real bullets and plasma bolts- the result had been predictable as Takahara went over to the Rider's smoking body, blood pooling on the floor around him as he reached down and took the Rider's lockseeds. The manager was going to be PISSED. But, as usual, the patrons were already putting together a "hush money" jar. Takahara smiled and clapped his hands as he motioned for the mooks to keep firing until there was nothing left of the Beat Rider's body but swiss cheese. "Right! That's the superpower of teamwork. Let's get that Evil Organization paperwork filled out! Call up old friends if you've got 'em."

Nothing. Hours of listening to this girl stammer through pages, and Guts still hadn't found what he wanted. Yawning, he stared out the window, and the setting Sun. His neck twinged. "Could it...." he said to himself. Hanako stopped reading as Guts got up, and tore a bandage off his neck, turning around to look at a wall mirror. "Shit." he said aloud, the kind of swear where you have to emphasize every sound. "Mister Guts, what's wrong? Mister Guts?" Hanako asked, following the man into the halls. Guts barged into a closet, rifling through various shelves, then putting on an apparatus, giving him an iron mimic of an arm. Next, he heaved a slab of iron over his shoulder. "Is there somewhere really secluded near here?" he asked. "There's the equipment shed out in the field, but-" "I'm sleeping there tonight. Don't come in until dawn." Guts said, marching down the hall. Hanako watched after the man as he left, pulling the face-egg out of her pocket. As his aloha shirt grew smaller down the hall, she couldn't help but feel the lights around him growing dimmer, until he finally turned a corner and disappeared from sight.

Steve, Freddy Fazbear's The sound of the New-U Station is nothing new. After all, it's used for interdimensional travel as well as digistructing your body post-mortem. However, where Steve appears is not a place he recognizes. It looks to be a toilet stall, with one very bewildered user. "Heyoo!" Steve says to the timid-looking masked man. "It seems that this is quite an odd place. Where is it that I am right now?" "EEE. YOU ARE IN FREDDY FAZBEAR'S. WE'RE A BIT BUSY AT THE MOMENT, SO IGNORE THE MESS. EEE." At this moment, Steve notices the bullet-ridden corpse at the man's feet. "Ah yes, the "mess". Say no more, I know how that works. Kinda wish I didn't miss the fun. So then, I think I should probably take a look around. Get some explanations for why I got spit out here." "EEE. KEEP YOUR MASK ON. JUST A WARNING. EEE." Bidding farewell, Steve begins to move out of the restroom.

Hanako awoke from her troubled dreams with a start. For a second, she thought she saw an eye, but it must have been the last snippets of some nightmare, she decided, as she rubbed her eyes.
"....Mister Guts!" she said. Not bothering to change from her nightgown, she stepped into the halls. The Sun was only just rising from the East, so that meant.....
That meant she could see him again.

"I-if only to find out what he was up to," she told herself, descending the stairs. Along the way she bumped into that bespectacled boy, carrying an armful of books and candles. He only gave her a suspicious look before dashing off. The burnt girl continued onwards, until she made her way to the sizable equipment shed.
"...Mister Guts?" she called, giving the door a few knocks. It creaked open, having been knocked loose on its hinges. Guts sat inside, leaning against his wall. Though he was now asleep, small bags ringed his eyes. That oversized sword rested sideways on his lap, and his clothes had rips; some of his wounds had reopened, no doubt from overexertion. Moreover, the room itself had taken tons of damage. Gouges marked the walls, the equipment was all broken, and the window itself was shattered. Shafts of light had entered the inside.
"Mister Guts... what did you do?" she asked quietly, sitting next to him. With a trembling hand, she reached out, and felt his iron one. Somehow, it felt warm. Placing one hand over it, she sat down next to the burly man, leaning against his hard, muscular arm, and looked around the room. Hanako had a sneaking suspicion this man was some kind of werewolf. Still, there was something about this man, she thought, something she wanted to be.
Resting her head on his shoulder, Hanako's eyes gently shut.

"Going once... Going twice... Three times... and the first of Sunflower Lockseed is SOLD for nine hundred Zenni to Blueberry, from the Planet Trade Organization! EEE!"

As Steve exited the bathroom, it seemed there was a spirited auction going on over the dead guy's stuff. A Shocker Grunt on stage was holding up one of the lockseeds. alligator-like humanoid came up to claim the device, laughing and putting a few gold coins in a jar labelled "Hush Money." There was grumbling among the minions.

"Don't worry boys, don't worry, plenty more where those came from, EEE! Sunflower Lockseed number two! now, this won't get you a fancy suit, but it'll get you a monster just the same!"

Several different types of grunts were ready this time, going into a vicious bidding war.

Meanwhile, Takahara and Vamp sat at a table, drawing up what seemed to be a corporate presentation.

-Lucas-
"... I feel like there's someone else in... uh... Yggdrasil... that I know, but I'm not sure... I feel like I should know them. I think I know where they are," Lucas said, leaving the proper amount of money and tip for the waiter, and leaving the restaurant.

He looked down the ship and went to a general area, a place that connected most sections of the ship to everything, and he looked. There was a boy in a blue suit, with thick glasses that was about as tall as Lucas there. 'That was the somebody' Lucas thought. The kid looked right back at him, and approached, offering a handshake.

"Hello. My name is Jeff, Jeff Andonuts, son of Dr. Andonuts, believed to be the greatest scientist there is," Jeff said, and Lucas remembered Dr. Andonuts from the Chimera Lab back on the Nowhere Islands.

"Hi, Jeff. My name's Lucas," Lucas said.

"Nice to make your acquaintance, but I'm afraid I'll be leaving soon. This unknown place seems a little risky to wander alone," Jeff proclaimed, walking back in the direction of a spaceship that looked like it was ripped right from a Saturday morning cartoon or a comic strip.

"What's that?" Lucas inquired, and Jeff replied "This here is the Sky Runner. It's made out of a steel and aluminum alloy on the outside, and can travel across countries in minutes, even having the possibility of multiversal travel. It's still a prototype, my father still has to fix the vast amount of complications with it, such as only being able to travel between two universes to having the occasional probability of exploding... strangely enough, when it does explode violently, it hardly ever hurts those inside. Would you like to come back to Winters to see what it's like if you haven't been there?" and Lucas simply nodded.

He boarded the ship with Jeff, and they got to a safe location to warp back to Winters, and they did so, but it ended up in Summers instead... strange. Jeff took the flight controls and steered the spacecraft northbound, and Lucas waited.

"NononoNONONONO!" Jeff exclaimed as the Sky Runner began to plummet out of the air, right above Threed, crash-landing. It flung both Jeff and Lucas forward, and both were knocked unconscious. When Jeff and Lucas both woke up, Jeff asked "What in the world could have happened? I-I was piloting it quite well until right then..."

Masaru Takahara - Yggdrasil Restaurant District

Masaru simply observed the kid in the stripy top run away from the restaurant all urgent-like. Wasn't crying, so he guessed that the fellow with the Bokutou was not being an ass. But it was a shame.

Having actually managed to finish scarfing down his protein-rich lunch without even noticing, the martial artist chose to get out of his seat and wander over to the man; maybe with a bit of luck he'll learn something from him. And he won't laugh in his face at his goals. What was it about 'strongest in the multiverse' that made people crack up, anyway?

"Hey." He said to the man, taking the initiative. Which is another way of saying it could have been rude, but... well. Nobody said Masaru was known for his conversational tact. "...You look like you can handle yourself."

Of course, it was only at this point that Masaru realised that maybe he wasn't setting a good first impression. Of course, he was always looking for a challenge, but most people weren't. Most people thought more about not getting into needless fights.

"Ahem. My name's Masaru. That kid that just left... d'you know him?" He asked, scratching the back of his head. "I've seen him before, somewhere..."

Gintoki paid no mind to Lucas as he left, instead deciding to focus entirely on his meal. It seemed strange, mainly because eating it repeatedly never let him get tired of the taste. Even if it was just a single serving of jello, being able to have this much power in a single bite... What the heck was this fruit in the first place? As he was about to take another bite, though, Gintoki noticed someone approach him- seemed like a punk from back home, to be quite honest. But he wasn't one to judge, seeing as how he didn't do many productive things back home either.

"Nah, didn't exactly know him. If you're wanting to remember where he's from, try looking at some of the games down at the arcade a few floors down." he said absentmindedly to the person before going back to his meal.


Dio stared at the little Witch as she latched onto his leg and sighed. Even if this... Thing was an anthropomorphic black hole, having such a demeanor only confused him. But Charlotte alone probably wouldn't be enough. Recalling the World, Dio continued walking down the hallway in search of more backup. Maybe one more person could work...?

As he continued contemplating things to himself, he remembered that Giorno had entered SE a while back after besting Diavolo... And, for some reason, had brought Polnareff's soul (now stuck within a turtle) with him. He couldn't fathom the reason, but the inevitable clashes that he had with the disembodied French idiot weren't exactly conducive to any sort of progress.

"...Charlotte. Is there anyone else in the base who can spare some time to deal with this issue?" he asked, turning his head down and smiling at the Witch.


Kakine blinked and sighed at Marisa's actions before forming another earpiece in his hand and attaching it to his ear.

"You put it on like this, and you flick the switch to turn it on and off." he said, going through the motions as he adjusted it on his ear. "I want to do a preliminary check before anything else, though, so you I ask you to put it on and not shove it under your hat like that? needless to say, it might get damaged or you might lose it while flying or something.

Sighing, Kakine looked at his meal once more before flagging down a waiter and requesting that his meal be put to take-out as it was. The waiter took his noodles and, nodding, went off to go fulfill his request. A minute or so later, the waiter came back, this time with a container holding Kakine's food. Thanking the man, Kakine placed his food to the side and waited for the others to finish their meal and whatnot.

Nono, Restaurant District, Yggdrasil

Whilst dealing with her taste buds being on fire, Nono noted what the rest of her friends were doing, the taking, and how they enjoyed their food. Saber certainly was enjoying herself, practically glowing as she ate each dish. She didn't seem to be any closer to stopping, as usual, but it was certainly amusing to watch.

The gynoid stopped then as the question was brought up, running through several situations as she hummed, finger poised on her chin. It was a conundrum, given her knowledge of Yggdrasils defenses, as well as the events of the fight in question. There were several options that presented themselves, and she quickly went about narrowing them down as she stopped eating.

"Well," she began. "They could have discovered new technologies that we can't defend against yet." Not the best news, but if it were simply new technology then it would just be a matter of finding something to counter it. The multiverse was a big place, so it was very much reasonable that they could have discovered new devices not yet covered by their present defenses, and it was certainly something covered by high command.

But there was another reason, one she was more hesitant to voice. "Or....they had help from the inside." One could never discount a traitor in their ranks, though the thought of it was chilling. But Nono was confident that Onee-sama would know what to do.

---

Misaka 10032, Client World Macross

Misaka observed quietly, eating her meal as she watched Marisa receive the earpiece. She had to wonder how exactly the Witch had been unable to locate a similar device elsewhere, given the prevalence of the technology, but she had to remember that not all worlds were as advanced as Academy City, so the technology might not be as prevalent.

She fell silent, finishing her meal which left her feeling quite satisfied and not hungry at all. With dishes empty she rose then, picking her stuff back up as she looked over at Kakine and Marisa, running through a mental checklist. They were still stuck here until the portal was fixed anyway, so they would have to find something else to do.

"'That meal was satisfactory,' Misaka says with her hunger eliminated," Misaka told them. That said, she turned and walked off, intent on exploring more of this world while they had the time.

---

Cinder Fall, Shadow Eternity HQ

Cinder arrived to find the Leader fawning over that capsule she had so recently recovered, the one she hadn't really bothered to tell the rest of them about. It was one of those things Cinder found herself wondering about, what it was and why she needed it. She planned to find out the answer to that, but for the moment she gave it a glance before turning her attention to their illustrious Leader.

"Not in particular," Cinder replied, practically purring as she answer the question directed her way. "I just felt it worthwhile to talk to you. For example, that there." She gestured to the capsule. "What is it, and why do we need it?"

the corners of her mouth turned up in a smirk. "If you're willing to say, anyway. Hearing the objectives of our Leader beyond the simple destruction of the UMMA."

Guts stirred awake, and felt something on his arm. That girl had followed him here. He pushed her off, causing locks of hair to fall out of place, revealing various burn scars.
It made sense to Guts. She must have been a war orphan, taken in by these scriveners. War orphans were relatively common in Midland. Still, she had it better here than most places, not that it mattered. Guts stood up, shouldering his sword. If the Brand was going to be a problem again, he'd have to leave tonight.
Hanako's eyes cracked open just in time to see that Aloha shirt walking further away.

Saber contemplated the suggestions that Nono had made for a moment, mulling them over. A new type of technology seemed the most likely. The King of Knights was not exactly the most versed in technology, but she had a decent enough understanding and guessed that it was still being developed rather frequently. However, unauthorized transit should have made it harder for the woman with the katana to escape… The second option was possible, but it was not something the blonde girl liked to consider.

“… If there is a traitor,” she began, her expression hardening, becoming far more cold, “They deserve nothing less than the harshest punishment that can be granted. To do such a thing would be one of the deepest possible acts of dishonor.”

Saber paused for a moment and continued with her meal. The warm, delicious food helped to distract her from that thought… certainly, she did not like to contemplate such a possibility. However, her contemplation was torn away from her entirely when the restaurant’s chef approached.

The girl was tiny, looking as if she shouldn’t even be out of elementary school. And yet she had the characteristic chef’s hat and the full outfit. When she spoke, her voice was cheerful and light.

“Ah, I was told there were agents!” she said, happily. She swept off her hat and bowed low. “Thank you for attending my restaurant!”

Meanwhile, it was possible that the sight of an ‘All-you-can-eat’ restaurant would catch the eye of a certain dethroned royal and her knights.



Marisa paused at the end of her meal, blinking. It had managed to vanish in seconds, given the pace she had set. Oh, yeah, it was probably good to do a check when it came to this kind of thing… Swiftly, she lifted her hat up and reached beneath it, pulling out the earpiece. She mimicked Kakine’s motions, adjusting it and fixing it on carefully. She flicked the switch, then grinned and gave the boy a cheerful thumbs up. “EARPIECE O-oh hey wait where’s she going?”

The cost of the meal was slammed on the table, before Marisa hopped to her feet. Misaka was just kinda walking off all of the sudden… maybe following her would lead to some place where she could steal everything. That’d be pretty awesome if it was the case!



The Leader glanced up at the capsule. Gently, she ran her hand along the capsule, and the outside of it shimmered. Within, suspended in what seemed to be some sort of faintly blue-tinted fluid, was the slender form of a deeply pale girl. Dead Master was nude, though her modesty was preserved by a pair of circular life-signs monitoring devices connected to the sides of the capsule with a series of tubes. Her hands, either covered in some form of armor or simply black claws, gently twitched. Her green eyes were shut tight, it was clear she was not conscious.

“… My intent for her is simple,” The Leader began. Her mask made her face unreadable, but it was clear her gaze was fixed on the girl. “She is to be my witness. I wish for her to see the fruition of my plan and the destruction of the UMMA.”

Armor buckled into place, straps tightened, and bags were secured. Guts chained the Dragonslayer into place. Donning his tattered black cloak, he became the black swordsman once more.
Guts had until sundown to find something of use in the library, or else he'd need to set out traveling again.
"Hey, you!" a voice called behind him. Guts turned to see that bespectacled man once more.
"I know a way to help you. Follow me." he said, ascending a star case. Having few better options, Guts followed. What awaited him on the school roof was an intricately designed series of circles, runes, and candles, spanning the entire rooftop.
"What is... Are you a wizard?" he asked.
"Don't worry about what I am. I know what you are: an agent of masculinity. I don't know where you came from, but this should send you on your way." With this, Kenji produced a bottle of whiskey, and pulled the top off with his teeth. He took three manly gulps, and smashed the bottle on the ground. The air seemed to distort, and the air smelled of electricity, until a rip in space tore open, revealing an empty black space.
"...Thanks, kid." Guts said, and stepped forward.

"MISTER GUTS! WAIT!" a voice called. Hanako stood behind him, legs trembling.
"I... I wanted to give you this. You dropped it, right?" she asked, presenting the face egg.
"That's not mine." Guts said, opening his bag to reveal a differently colored Behelit. He plucked Hanako's from her fingers, and tossed it far off the roof.
"And those aren't anything you want to get involved with. If you find it again, don't pick it up." he said.
"I..... that's not fair! Just going off, and... and..."
"Don't even think about it." Guts turned back around, and stepped through the portal. "If you stick with me, everywhere's a battlefield."
Hanako's eyes struggled to keep focus as he stepped further inside. The darkness around him seemed hungry, as if tormented faces and covetous hands tried to suck him in.

"Go home."

The portal shut, and the chalk lines disappeared in a blast of off-colored fire. Kenji produced another bottle of whiskey, taking a swig before passing it to a boy with messy brown hair.
"Kenji, what just happened?"
"Men's rights activism, Hisao. Men's rights activism."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hanako slowly locked her bedroom door, and sat down at a desk, trying to process what exactly just happened. Who exactly was that man? How did he vanish like that? These thoughts were interrupted by a tap at the window.
She looked outside. That egg was sitting on the outside sill. She opened it, and pulled the object back inside, clutching her only memento of that man in her hands.

"I think... I think I should meet that man again someday." she said, smiling as she looked at the sky. Outside, the Sun was rising on a new day.

Guts - Fujimi Academy

A portal ripped open in space with a sound like the exasperated moans of the dead, and out stepped Guts. He arrived on the rooftop of another building, similar in architecture to the last building. He guessed it must have been some new academy. Still, the Sun suggested it was still morning, and this would be a good vantage point to survey the area. Looking down, he spotted someone rattling the front gate. It must have been some beggar.
Guts placed an armored boot on the ledge, and looked around the surrounding world; this one had lots of houses, and some kind of city nearby. He was still lost, though, stuck on the roof of some academy he had no use for. At least the Brand wasn't stinging.

Her Majesty of the Noble Ashworth name frantically and eagerly pointed at the restaurant that stood before them. "All you can eat!?" She smiled ear to ear as she glanced down at Sir MacCabe, "Do you know what this means!?" The heavily armored pompadour man gave a shrug. "Gonna get grub that'll be-"

Gwendolyn interrupted, "We're gonna be dealing with adverse selection. Sir Garret doesn't need to eat, but more likely than not we are going to have to pay for his seat. So more likely than not, we'll be charged for the full four." She shook her head as her long white flowing locks flew from side to side. "But that isn't the point. What matters is we can beat the system." Sir MacCabe just stared at his liege incredulously, not getting her point. But Sir Attwatter gave a simple nod. "Yes, that we can your Majesty."

The robotic knight focused its visual receptors on Sir MacCabe and spoke up. "Statement: Sir MacCabe does not realize the economical benefit we can achieve in this. While it is not moneta-" Gwendolyn began ineffectually slamming her hand against the robotic knight's carapace.

"No, I'm going to explain it, you aren't!" She continued to smack at Sir Garret "Statement: Order received. I shall not explain." Gwendolyn paused as she glanced at her hands, slightly reddened. "Oooowwwwie! Owwww!" Sir Attwatter immediately turned his attention to her, "My Majesty, you shouldn't do such things. We can't have you hurt yourself."

Gwendolyn continue to frown in pain when she noticed that Sir Attwatter was startled as she immediately changed it into a soft smile. "Sir Attwatter your concern is kind, and yes my actions there were in fact foolish. At least I got that out of the system before engaging with negotiations. If I did that in Court, it would be an embarrassment to Ashworth name! It could scare off potential forces that I would need to recruit." She shook her head again.

"Now then, I shall explain as all the members of the court do not realize what a situation we are in." She raised her right index finger as she spoke up. "The adverse selection comes from undesirable results for the company, when they access to different information, than the consumer. Buffets are perfect examples of this. They have the standard rate of let's say X, for all you can eat. However, if more undesirables show up the rate would have to go above X because they'd lose money. If they eat exactly X they retain a stagnate zero. Oddly, most people who go do not consume beyond X, but under it. Normally for other corporations you can do say, screenings to test to see if they will be profitable to you. But for a Buffet it isn't really possible to do that. So what we need to do, is eat the amount of food beyond X, possibly save it if we have access to mobile refrigeration, so we get the most benefit for our money."

Sir MacCabe just gave a slow nod to Gwendolyn. "So, you're just saying to eat a lot?" Gwendolyn paused as she huffed out, "I liked it better the way I phrased it. ...Hmph! As long as we, as a group, eat more than X, then we should be fine."

And so the organization headed into the establishment, ready to 'play the system' for the Queen.

Steve surveyed the events currently going on with some minor amusement. All that he had in his pockets was Pandorian dollars, which are hit by constant inflation, so he doesn't join in the bidding. He notices various faceless goons that he's never seen before. Not much is out on Pandora other than the dust, natural wildlife and other bandits, and he doesn't particularly like any of them.

Steve noticed two people - if they can be called that - sitting off to the side, busy with something. Maybe they can give a better explanation to what's going on. "Heyoo!" Steve exclaimed as he moved over to the duo. "I seem to have found myself in a bit of a quandary. I have no idea where this place is, nor what this place's meaning is. Perhaps you could illuminate me on the locale?"

That mask was familiar. Takahara had a brief stint at Atlas and Hyperion, where the bosses would continuously bitch about bandits. They tended to be... justified in their complaints about the Pandoran criminals. Of course, they were more or less forced into the lifestyle due to the absurdly murderous conditions on the planet. Kind of like that last world Takahara had been stuck in. The older man in the black mask

"Well, judging by the outfit and smell, I'm guessing you're from Pandora. I'm just going to say you're a long way from home. This is a Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria on Earth. You're not even in your home universe right now. Since you're from Pandora, that's the good news. The BAD news is that New-U stations can work across multiversal boundaries. If you die... you end up on Pandora again."

Takahara looked concerned for the Bandit. Pandora SUCKED. Heck, working a cushy job at Hyperion had sucked. But that was because Jack was a maniac after those Bandits from Sanctuary scarred him physically and mentally. But he knew the worst part. All of those bandits were once just regular joes driven to desperation when abandoned by the corporations they worked for. Sorta like him right now.

"...Hey. You're ex-Dahl, right? Office worker? My name's Takahara, and I'm starting up an Evil Organization like the old days. You want a job that makes money hand over fist and gets you a way off Pandora?"

It didn't take long for Steve to consider the option. Anything that would help him off of that god-forsaken rock.

"I believe that sounds like a splendid idea. It would be nice to find a place where you aren't in constant fear of the wildlife, your "fellow" bandits, or the occasional Vault Hunter coming in and blowing your brains out. I've personally felt that last one and trust me, it is not a very pleasant experience. And I am fairly well known as one of the more..... reasonable people out there. If you need some weapons, I know a fellow by the name of Marcus. He is a shrewd businessman, but he means quality.... most of the time. Do you mind if I look about? Dahl made the New-Us before Hyperion stole the technology; I might be able to set myself up one here, so I could have a waypoint between the two."