When Dr. Moller entered the room, Ashley immediately snapped to attention, her full focus shifting to the director of G.E.M.I.N.I. operations in Pax Septimus. Two items were announced, the first being that Betty had just been cured of the last vestiges of her vampiric thralldom, a major accomplishment, if ever there was one. However, the second item was a bit more concerning. Apparently, Mika had captured a person of interest, and from the non-verbal clues Dr. Moller was providing, the director wanted Ashley to oversee this individual’s interrogation. It wasn’t exactly something she had a great deal of experience with, if she was being perfectly honest, but she supposed it was yet another sign of the trust the enigmatic director had in her.

“Understood,” Ashley confirmed with a nod, before heading for the interrogation room, her mind running through all the myriad possibilities of who she might find waiting for her there, even as she seamlessly shifted into her esper form.

One of the nice things about having your top secret HQ located near a police precinct was that you could share resources. Parts of GEMINI HQ and the police station were linked together, which allowed GEMINI to make use of the interrogation rooms. Convicts could be brought to the police station and then agents could meet them without revealing their base of operations.

The interrogation room wasn’t nearly as interesting as the ones Ashley had seen on TV. It was a small brick room with a table dividing the room in half. One side faced a wall, which was where suspects would sit. The other side was for the interrogating police officer, and also faced the door. There was a tiny window that allowed someone in an observation room to look at the ongoing interrogation. It was barely the size of Ashley’s head.

Binky was peering through the small window when Ashley entered. She whipped around as soon as she made her presence known. ”Take a look. This is what Mika brought back.” When Ashley looked through the window, she’d see Sovereign and Mika in the room together. ”Fritzi had me do a little digging on her. She calls herself Sovereign and doesn’t have the tidiest background. She was a loan shark and loves money more than anything else in the whole world. On the other hand, she’s been very agreeable and is so transparent with what she wants, I can’t imagine her pulling the wool over anyone’s eyes.” Binky sighed. ”She claims to have encountered Oros. I’ve more or less just been spectating this um, discussion Mika is having with her. I was instructed to follow your orders, but my advice would be to relieve Mika soon. I think we’ve had enough bad cop for an entire evening.”

”Did you even see Oros’s little sister?” Mika narrowed her eyes on Himiko. ”Maybe you were lied to. That’s all you and the people you follow are capable of doing.”

Leaning back in her chair, the front two legs of it off the ground, with her own legs propped on the table. Himiko let out a yawn as she rocked back and forth, balancing herself from tipping over as she turned her gaze towards Mika. “Lied to? People that I follow? I hate to break it to you Puddy, but I don’t follow anyone, I only follow one thing, and one thing only if I have not made that clear yet, I’m after things of value, objects, treasures, money and rare collectibles” Letting the chair fall back to the ground as she took her feet off of the table.

Leaning forward, planting her elbows on the edge of the table as she laced her fingers together in front of her masked face. Golden eyes glowing as they peered over them towards Mika. “As for Oros’ little sister, and whether I’ve seen her or not, well that all depends on perspective…but she does exist if that is what you are worrying your little furry head about…” letting out a little amused laugh at the end. Finding Mika’s personality to be quite funny with her pure agitation and impatience. Starting to develop a soft spot for the feline esper, despite her stubborn refusal and their earlier battle.

Outside the interrogation room, Ashley couldn’t help but frown as she watched the scene before her continue to play out. On the bright side, Mika didn’t appear to have physically assaulted “Sovereign”, as the Knight of Tomorrow had initially feared based on Dr. Moller’s vague remarks, but the interrogation really didn’t seem to be getting anywhere fast. It definitely looked like it was time for a change in tactics, but Ashley was still unsure about the ultimate objective to be achieved, and it was imperative she knew that information before she took any action of her own.

“Yes, I think it would probably be for the best if I took over,” the Knight of Tomorrow replied to Binky. “But what, exactly, are we hoping to discover here?” she inquired. “And how did Mika come across her in the first place?”

”Mika encountered her on a routine patrol this morning.” Binky explained. ”She attempted to bring Mika to St. Bianchi’s church, apparently at Oros’s request. She also seemed to insinuate that she was Oros’s little sister. Our goal is to discern if Sovereign is a threat, and if what she says is true. Oros having a sister is highly suspect, but if she approached Sovereign for help it could mean something.” Binky stepped away from the window. ”We’ve noticed that there have been some espers that have been growing in power at an exponential rate. We’ve noticed it in the GEMINI squad, and even Betty has demonstrated abilities far beyond a first time esper. It’s curious that Oros wants to get Mika to go to a location, but it might suggest that Sovereign is a person of interest as well. As Finn has taught us, Oros has a complex relationship with GEMINI. If Sovereign is being even partially honest, this could lead to something big.”

Mika pointed at Himiko. ”Call me ‘puddy’ one more time, speak one more riddle, and I’ll have to smack you until you start making sense!”

“I see…” Ashley murmured, her mouth forming a thoughtful frown even as she heard Mika clearly reaching her breaking point in the chamber beyond. “Guess that’s my cue,” the Knight of Tomorrow noted with a weary sigh.

Opening the door, she took a step forward.

“Pardon the intrusion, Agent Cerberus,” Ashley began. “But I think it might be best if I took things from here.”

Himiko let out a laugh as she was clearly smirking behind her mask“Oh, what's the matter? Not enough nip this morning to keep you from being a cranky little kitty?”Golden eyes shifted towards the door as someone new and unfamiliar to Himiko entered. “Need reinforcements so soon? Can’t handle me on your own huh? Every time we try to talk you always try to scamper off and call in support, but worry not Puddy, I’ll be there for you when you need it” Waving Mika off with a nonchalant gesture of her hand. Giving her a little wink as she stuck in one last jab before Mika could leave the room and let the newcomer take over.

Focus now on Ashley as Himiko took a good look, scanning her from head to toe as she sized her up. She leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms and started to hymn quietly as she kept her gaze locked on Ashley. Collecting her thoughts after a moment's time “So, what are you supposed to be? The expert interrogator? Are you going to break my fingers? Maybe bust a knee cap? You stick out like a sore thumb with that bright neon green and that white, though maybe that means your one of those bloodless types, would be a royal pain in the ass to dry clean that outfit if you get blood on it during every interrogation, though I s’pose we have something in common with our style preference” Pausing briefly as she leaned her head over to the right side as she squinted.

“I know puddy was having some trouble with the process, but I don’t see the need for you to be here honestly speaking, I’m going to give you the same answer that I gave her, unless of course you intend to ask different questions then the same ones she kept repeating, intrigue me, give me something fresh to work with….” curious as to why they had sent Ashley in to take over for Mika. Though Himiko surmised they had some other plan in mind, and wanted to try a new approach in hopes of a breakthrough.

Mika’s eyes slowly shifted over to Ashley. ”Good luck.” And with that, she stepped out of the room. Now it was just Ashley and Himiko, though it wasn’t unreasonable to assume that Binky and Mika were watching from the other room.

“I’m Agent Orion,” Ashley replied to Himiko’s question as she took her seat. “As you may have noticed, Agent Cerberus isn’t exactly a people person,” the Knight of Tomorrow explained with a small smile, wisely choosing not to address the freelancer’s various other quips. “And we thought it might be better if you interacted with someone a bit more personable. As for my questions, I’d primarily like to know how you first encountered Oros, as well as if she mentioned why she wanted you to escort Agent Cerberus to St. Bianchi’s. Also, since you seem to value financial compensation above all else, I’ll talk with my superiors about arranging some form of remuneration for you if you choose to cooperate with us,” she added.

Letting out a sigh as she hung her head, Himiko gave a shrug “In this particular case, you could say the first time I met her was during a operation to fetch some stolen water from a bunch of cultist, after she dismantled that cute as a button friend of yours, after helping Finn, I was able to learn about how to locate Puddy, as I have told Puddy before, Oros isn’t the type to give out information about her reasoning, she told me what she wanted, then she left, but not without taking a arm as a bit of payment, I’m sure she has her reasons, but she won’t just volunteer those reasons, she is a bit mad, as the name suggests…the only thing that matters to me that is Puddy comes with me to St.Bianchi’s, though…..” bringing her right hand up to her chin as she rubbed it in thought. Judging Ashley to be far more reasonable, patient and agreeable then her feline friend.

“If you are promising some kind of compensation as well, I s’pose I could work with you on some sort of deal that would be agreeable and profitable for the both of us, as long as it doesn’t interfere with meeting with Oros at St.Bianchi of course, what do you say….agent…Onion was it?....Whatever, that's not important….sooooo about that financial compensation you mentioned….” A bright glow in her golden eyes as she extended her right arm and hand across the table holding it out towards Ashley. If she didn’t have a mask on, she wouldn’t be able to hide her greedy little grin. A sense of giddiness rushed through her. Eager to come to an agreement, wanting to keep Ashley to her word with a handshake. She couldn’t believe her luck, it felt like everyone was willing to just throw valuable rewards at her. Just the mere mention of potentially having something to gain filled her greedy heart and soul with utter joy.

Ashley simply stared at the extended hand with an impassive expression. Clearly, this young lady enjoyed getting a rise out of people with her various juvenile antics, making her probably one of the worst people for the high-strung Mika to interact with. Yet, the Knight of Tomorrow wasn’t about to play along with the greedy freelancer’s games.

“As I stated previously, potential compensation will only be offered in the event that you provide your full cooperation,” Ashley replied, her voice calm and cordial. “And on that subject, what exactly did Oros offer you to gain such steadfast dedication on your part?” she inquired. “I imagine it must have been quite substantial.”

Himiko kept her hand out for a moment longer, before finally retracting it with a laugh. “Oh, a tough bargainer eh? Fine, we can do things this way if you prefer…” Leaning back into her chair, propping her feet back onto the table as she crossed her across over her chest. Settling her thoughts and trying to keep her greedy joy to herself, before answering Ashleys question.

“As for what Oros offered, I don’t know what she intends to give me, but that is part of the excitement of the deal, not knowing what the reward can possibly be, waiting on the edge of your seat as your adrenaline and anticipation grabs hold of you. Waiting and wondering just what reward you are about to receive, what possibilities, what surprise that waits in store for you…..I’m sure you can understand that concept at the very least, that is what gets my blood pumping, you must have something that does that for you? So what gets your engine revving, eh Agent Onion?” Her giddiness still not leaving her, thoughts of what potential reward she could get from Oros rushing through her mind. It almost made her mouth water at the potential profit that was at stake.

She doesn’t even know what her reward will be? an increasingly bewildered Ashley wondered. This woman clearly has even more issues than I initially assumed…

“The thought of this troubled city finally achieving a long-overdue peace,” the Knight of Tomorrow replied in an even tone. “But let’s return to your deal with Oros. To confirm, she didn’t even tell you what your reward would be, yet you still agreed to work for her, and were so persistent in completing the assignment she tasked you with that you went so far as to allow yourself to be taken into government custody. You do realize that Oros the Mad is a Depraved, or dark web esper, correct?” Ashley continued. “Simply associating with her is enough to place you on multiple watch lists, and as her name suggests, her sanity is highly suspect. There is a very good chance that her purpose for having you bring Agent Cerberus to St. Bianchi’s is to employ her as a ritual sacrifice, leading to not only her death, but quite possibly yours as well. I fully understand your obsession with the accumulation of items of great value, but I wasn’t aware you were so eager to throw your life away for the mere promise of possibly attaining them.”

Snapping her fingers before pointing towards Ashley “There you go, finally someone is willing to spill their desires other than myself, that is an honorable choice, one that I can respect as something to desire, that is far more than I can say about most ” Giving a curt nod of her head, satisfied with the answer she was given. Falling silent as Ashley returned the conversation back towards the deal she had made with Oros, bobbing her head as she went along.

Laughing as Ashley finished what she had to say “Well, that is part of the excitement, who knows what I might obtain in return for working with Oros, whether it is good or bad, the risk is worth it if you ask me, I have this gut feeling, something deep in the pit of my stomach that tells me Oros won’t kill us, Oros doesn’t seem the type to do things the long and arduous way, if she wanted either of us dead, she would have already come to collect on that wish” Rocking back and forth on the two hind legs of her chair as she paused in thought. She may be driven by pure greed, but she made calculated decisions based on gut instinct and logic. Though it was clear that Ashley did not understand her thought process.

Letting the front legs of her chair hit the floor as she leaned across the table. Her golden eyes peered deeply into Ashley’s. Judging and reading her reactions, her potential thoughts, gauging what Ashley might say or do next. “You never know what you missed out on, if you never take the shot, life is far more interesting if you are willing to break the shackles of normality, of fear, of hesitation. Whether she is considered a dark web esper, one of the depraved, or even completely insane, that does not mean that I’m also all of those things, I have calculated the risks, and the risk are worth the potential gain, I figured you Gemini folk would want to get every chance they could to learn more about Oros, but if you worry so much about what might happen, you will just keep spinning those wheels with no end in sight” Sharing her thoughts on the matter at hand, she understood Ashley’s concerns. But those concerns and those risks only upped the ante for Himiko. Which only gave her more anticipation and excitement to find out what the reward was going to be.

At first, Ashley couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Was this woman just as crazy as Oros? Risking so much just for the promise of some nebulous reward was completely insane. That said, it also meant that manipulating her would be a rather straightforward process. As long as the Knight of Tomorrow offered the greedy freelancer some vague form of compensation, she would do practically anything, regardless of the danger to herself.

“Perhaps you’ve heard of the saying, ‘Who’s more foolish? The fool, or the fool who follows them?’” Ashley replied. “You claim you’re not completely insane, yet you would also willingly risk your life, or at the very least possible imprisonment, all to attain what might very well amount to nothing more than a previously-chewed piece of bubblegum,” the Knight of Tomorrow added, not even attempting to hide her skepticism. “I’d say that doesn’t exactly paint a picture of someone in full possession of their mental faculties. However, you are correct about our interest in Oros’s activities,” she continued. “And with that in mind, I would like to propose a counter arrangement. You provide us with viable intel on Oros the Mad, and we will provide you with a suitable reward.”

Sighing as she shook her head, a frown spreading across her face underneath her mask “There is a difference, I’m greedy, extremely so, it's in my nature to obtain things that are rare, that have value, regardless of the risks and the costs, that is not what I’d call insane, if the reward is as lowly as a previously-chewed piece of bubblegum, that of course isn’t worth the risk, or worth being desired, but by that same logic, the reward could be more valuable than any other treasure currently known to the public, this is Oros we are talking about after all, sure it's a gamble, but it's a gamble that my gut tells me will be worth the extreme risks and my gut is hardly ever wrong when it comes to this kind of stuff” Trying to dissuade Ashley from the notion that she wasn’t thinking. That she was just as insane as Oros. Himiko was a lot of things, but insane was not one that she would consider for herself.

“As for Oros activities, that is easy enough I s’pose, after all most of what you seek is just under your noses without any of you ever realizing it, but if you are willing to provide me a suitable reward, I’d be willing to help obtain viable and valuable intel on Oros the Mad, as I mentioned to Puddy before, you lot are just spinning your wheels in the wrong direction, taking blind shots in the dark, all this time without even knowing that Oros even has a sister to show for your efforts” Finding it a suitable deal if Ashley was willing to go through with it. Himiko was surprised by just how much GEMINI didn’t know about Oros. She figured a big organization like that would surely have dug up some dirt on such an important figure. Especially since she was one of the Depraved and had already caused issues for Finn who was amongst the ranks of GEMINI.

Great, back to the sister thing again, huh?

“Forgive my skepticism, but I highly doubt you and Oros are related,” Ashley replied. Of course, anything was possible, it was just extremely unlikely. “Unless, you mean that in a metaphorical way, as in, you’re a member of her cult,” she added, giving Himiko a pointed glare.

“Careful, with a look like that you might cut me…plus if you keep that look on your face, that pretty face of yours might get stuck like that forever, didn’t your parents ever warn you…” Briming from behind her mask “I’m not part of any cult, and especially not of her cult, as for being related to Oros, well that is an assumption you have made yourself about my knowledge of her little sister, though I won’t confirm or deny that assumption, it’s much more fun that way, but if I was to be her little sister, I have my own agenda and my own goals completely and totally unrelated to anything that Oros the Mad desires'' bemused by Ashley's response and her skepticism. Himiko had finally pushed the right buttons and gotten the desired reaction she sought.

“I see,” Ashley replied. “It would seem I misunderstood your earlier insinuation to that effect. In any case, I believe we’re done here,” she added, rising from her chair. Heading to the door, she stopped for a moment to look back at Himiko. “Thank you for agreeing to cooperate with us,” she told the freelancer, before stepping out of the room.

Giving a wave of her hand as Ashley left “Done so soon? Tell Puddy I said hi, and as for helping it is my pleasure….”

When Ashley returned to the monitoring room, Mika was glaring through the one way glass at the girl on the other side. If her stare was any colder, one might be able to see their breath in it. Binky on the other hand turned to Ashley as soon as she returned.

”Thanks for dropping by. We don’t have any proper interrogators since Sam left, and the police aren’t really qualified. You did a good job.” She quickly glanced at Mika before approaching Ashley. ”Between the random sleep spells on Finn and this redirection on Mika, Fritzi wants to start getting to the bottom of these attacks. The question is do we trust that Sovereign is being honest and, if so, is it safe to give her what she wants?”

“I think she’s telling the truth,” Ashley replied after a moment’s thought. “Although she doesn’t currently seem to have much information to provide,” she added with a disappointed frown. “As for what she wants, I think simply a vague promise of future compensation is all it will take for her to fully commit herself to a task. And even if she’s lying, and Oros did tell her what she’d be receiving in return for her services, she should still be useful as a means of gaining further intel on Oros’s activities.” Lowering her voice, she continued. “That said, keeping Mika safe should be our top priority. Whatever Oros wants with her, I doubt it’s anything good…”

”The doctor has all the details, but she wants to start investigating these leads relatively soon.” Binky folded her arms. ”Sovereign has made her stance clear. One option is to send a squad along with Mika and her to make sure everything goes smoothly. I doubt we’ll get Sovereign’s cooperation otherwise. Do you feel that’s too big a risk? I’m curious how you would handle this situation if it was up to you.”

“Sending in a squad to serve as backup would be my suggestion as well,” Ashley replied. “Although they would have to conceal their presence until such time as they were needed, and that would depend upon the ultimate goal of the operation,” she added. “Would it simply be an intelligence gathering mission, with the response squad on hand in the event Mika was placed in danger, or would this be an attempt to capture Oros herself?”

”Most likely this will be an intelligence gathering operation.” Binky concluded. ”At present, we don’t have the manpower to deal with a target like her. Not when we’re spread so thin. Stealth has proven to be relatively ineffective against her in the past. We believe she has some sort of divining magic to tell when such threats are approaching.” She made her way down the hall. ”We can discuss this further with Fritzi. I’m sure she has more details she wishes to share.”

Once Binky was out of the room, Mika turned to Ashley. ”I’m not afraid. You don’t need to keep me safe.” She looked back out the window. ”But I don’t trust her.”

“She’s an amoral mercenary,” Ashley replied. “It would be foolish to put much trust in someone like that. But if we know what motivates her, we can hopefully use that to exert some measure of control over her, at the very least,” she added. “As for your safety, while your lack of fear is commendable, with the possible exceptions of Binky and Dr. Moller, no agent currently active in the city is capable of fighting Oros one on one. If she does turn hostile, I want to ensure we don’t lose another agent,” the Knight of Tomorrow explained.

Mika spun around to face Ashley. ”Really now?” She bit her lip as she made her way past Ashley. Their shoulders touched, but Mika just shoved her way past. ”Mom always said you guys were her friends. She thought you had her back.” Mika pushed her thumbs into her waistband while she walked away. ”I’m not going to make her mistake.”

Ashely inhaled sharply as Mika’s words struck her like a sudden punch to the gut. “We…!” the Knight of Tomorrow began, before giving voice to a defeated sigh. _{“We tried…”} she whispered, her shoulders slumping and head facing the floor. _{“We tried…”} she repeated bitterly, hands clenching into fists and eyes glistening with tears, even as Mika continued to walk away.

By the time Ashley returned to the briefing room, she had shifted back to her mundane appearance, but although she had composed herself following her minor altercation with Mika, it was clear to see that her demeanor was considerably more somber than it had been when she’d departed for the interrogation room. Sitting down in a chair near the back of the room, the bespectacled young woman focused her gaze upon the floor, her bowed head displaying a visage of mournful contemplation.

Could we have done more to save her? she wondered. Could I have done more…?

Over and over, she forced herself to replay the horrific scene in her mind, the desperate battle on the rooftop amidst a torrent of hail, frogs, insects, and blood. The last moments of Agent Breacher’s, of Su Fang’s life. Yet despite all her efforts, she couldn’t find a course of action that would have prevented her comrade’s brutal fate. Things had just happened so fast, their foes had been several orders of magnitude above them in power. Indeed, it had been a minor miracle that no one else had perished, that they had ultimately won…

This isn’t like a cartoon show… she reflected bitterly. Sometimes you can’t save everyone… Taking a deep breath, she refocused her gaze on the brooding Mika, the sight of the girl’s own anger filling the Knight of Tomorrow with renewed resolve. But I can sure as hell try…

---

When Marrie arrived at The Great Escape, she would be treated to a lively atmosphere. There were some things that she had just grown accustomed to because of how commonplace they were. Mary and Regina bickering had pretty much become background noise at this point. One liked to offend, and the other liked to be offended. Or at least that was how it felt. Elroy was speaking with some important looking espers, and everyone else was talking amongst themselves. There were definitely fewer freelancers here compared to pre-diver times, but their numbers were starting to creep up again. Unlike the true factions, lone espers would always be drawn to places like Pax due to the opportunity for a big payday. If anything, the chaos was only going to make things more appealing to thrill seekers.

Something Marrie was less accustomed to was being approached as soon as she walked in the door. Brittany, her supplier, walked up to her as soon as she stepped. She was even wearing a proper robe today instead of the bikini she wore when tending her cauldron.

”Just the person I wanted to see!” Brittany tended to be a little gruff in her shop, but that was not the case now. ”Business has been great, and we of the merchant’s guild would like to treat you to breakfast! So order whatever you want, because the guild will cover it!”

”Just in time!” A girl in a detective costume came flying through the front door. She nearly ran into Marrie, but put the breaks on just in time. But was unable to catch her hat before it flew off her head and bumped into Marrie’s back. ”Terribly sorry, chap! I got excited when I saw your bike outside. Naturally, I used my brilliant intellect to deduce that you made your way in here. We have much to discuss.”

Brittany laughed. ”Well, I’ve already offered to pay for her meal, so you’ll have to wait until later to speak with her.”

”Is that so?” The detective placed her hat back on her head. ”Well Marrie, you can sit at my table and I’ll pay your tab. Deduce the funds right out of my wallet. Not only that, but you can provide me with vital clues to my investigation!”

”Are you trying to impede my business meeting?”

”Are you trying to impede an investigation?”

The two glared at each other with contempt.

Marrie, for her part, was beginning to regret not having come up with a proper Codename before coming to Pax. Or even yet, for that matter. She was also decidedly not used to people acting like she was anything uncommon, and was starting to fidget slightly at both the unusual treatment and the electricity that seemed to be in the air between the two other girls.

”Uh… thank you, both of you. There’s really no need to pay for me, though.” She looked around somewhat sheepishly as she spoke. ”If there’s nothing that has to be kept secret, we could all just talk together and go over what you both want, right?” Though if they did both want to speak privately, she wasn’t quite sure how she’d handle the social calculus of keeping them both happy.

”Business meetings are all about strategy and tactics, and I wouldn’t want our detective here to walk away with insider information.” Brittany folded her arms and turned away.

The detective did the same. ”I also feel that the details of this case should be kept confidential for the time being. I will not discuss the details with just anyone!”

Elroy glanced past the giant man sitting at his table to see what this new commotion was about. Naturally, said giant looked over his shoulder at Marrie. When he spotted her, he stood up and strolled over. The detective and Brittany moved off to the side as he approached. ”Are you Marrie Knight?”

Yes indeed! I am the massive idiot who gave out her real name as an esper!

“Uh… yeah, yes. You have discovered my true hidden identity, I guess…” Was humor a good coping mechanism? She supposed that her psyche and subconscious weren’t the type to have camaraderie with her left brain, so it probably didn’t matter. At least she was too busy in her current state of self-deprecation to actually be intimidated by the man’s size.

The large man raised an eyebrow. ”Was I not supposed to say your name out loud? I did not realize it was a secret. You will have to forgive me.” He got down on one knee, which made him about Marrie’s height. ”I am Raphiel the Righteous Hearted. You contacted the Inquisition and told us about Trisha’s abduction. You mentioned a ‘Hand’ in your-” He looked to the ladies on either side of Marrie. ”Ahh, I did not realize you were in a discussion with Brittan’s Super Sleuth or the merchant’s guild. I do not want to keep you, but I have a few questions if you can spare the time.”

Oh. Oh. ”Oh, no, that’s fine. I’m just being melodramatic about not having a codename. Sorry.” She took a few seconds to try to remember if she’d ever contacted “The Inquisition.” If she had contacted them about Trisha… That was Pac-a-Fist. Was this about- She was overwhelmed once again by guilt from what had happened with Justin. But she’d worked as hard as she could to try to make up for that, and she knew it. She pushed down the feeling. ”If you’re talking about the abduction, that was quite a while ago and I’m really hoping things are settled with Justin being… deader. Please don’t tell me you’re here because he’s come back somehow.”

She glanced at the two girls who had first gotten her attention. ”If things have to be private, that’s fine too. I’ll be happy to help both of you in a minute if that’s something I can do. Do you mind if I finish this talk first though? Stuff relating to that vampire sort of takes itself to the top of my list, sorry.” There was genuine remorse in her voice as she apologized; she really did want to help them if she could, and she felt bad brushing them off like this.

”Of course!” Brittany said with the sweetest smile Marrie had ever seen. Marrie also noticed that Brittany was sweating like she was in front of her cauldron again. ”We’ll just wait our turn!” The two had become awfully cooperative and backed away.

”I appreciate your attention.” He folded his hands on top of his knee. ”Elroy filled me in on Justin’s fate. While I had intended to arrive in time to help, I am happy to see that Trisha has recovered and the vampire is slain. In some ways I envy younger espers like yourself. You’d like to think that as you become more powerful you can change more, but your responsibilities grow with you. My trip was delayed a full week because the pope refused to sign off on it. Alas, I returned too late to help Trisha.” He looked out the window. ”But it looks like there is still much to be done. Tell me, Marrie, what is your feeling about the state of Pax Septimus? I was quite surprised to hear that the one who contacted us was also there when Justin appeared again.”

Grateful that the two girls had acquiesced, Marrie turned her full attention to Raphiel. The state of Pax… ”I haven’t really seen the city in any state other than one where people like Justin are around. I pretty much got here, ran into cults, screwed up with not being able to stop Justin… Spent a long time trying to make up for that, and now I’m back to fighting cults and watching people get massacred. So I’d say that it’s a pretty terrible state, but it sure seems like that’s just the ‘normal’ for the city. Honestly, I’m surprised anyone lives here who isn’t an esper or a monster.” That pretty much summed up her experience, didn’t it?

”That is troubling news. I had heard that there was a lot of unrest in Pax Septimus, but to think it was this bad…” Raphael rubbed his chin in thought. ”Marrie, something is wrong with this city, and I do not think it is all the work of some organized monsters. GEMINI’s chief concern is keeping the businesses open so that they continue to generate tax dollars, and thus need to do so efficiently. Maverick Alternative sympathizes with monsters, and I hear they are funded by individuals from the middle east. Most Freelancers are here to line their wallets with cash. I do not believe there is a strong motivation to fix the problems that plague Pax Septimus.” Raphael stood up. There wasn’t a single esper in the room that he didn’t tower over. ”Well, I have taken enough of your time for now. You’ve contacted me before, but you may do so again if there are any more developments.” He looked over his shoulder at Elroy. ”I have a feeling you’re one of the good ones.”

And with that, Raphael departed. The two girls from earlier approached Marrie afterwards, but did so carefully.

During this round of propositions, Marrie’s phone beeped. It seemed that she had received an E-mail from the Inquisition. Why did she have a feeling this might be another job offer?

Marrie, for her part, wasn't quite sure what Raphael's deal was. He was right, definitely right, that GEMINI wasn't worried about the people. If Maverick was funded by outside groups, sure everything needed funding, but that was a way to get control over someone. She didn't quite care where the money came from, so much as that it was an outside force from Maverick itself. And if it were another government... She had at least one friend in Maverick and felt like she had another in GEMINI, but a few good apples don't unspoil the bunch.

Then the Freelancers. Sure, she was one of them and was one because of the money, but she at least hoped that Raphael was also correct about her being one of the "good ones," in spite of her mind saying otherwise. All of this running through her mind as Sammy and Brittany asked their questions made her head spin.

”Are you okay?” Brittany’s ears twitched.

The detective nodded. ”That fellow had an intimidating aura. Or maybe it was his size that was intimidating? It’s difficult to deduce.” Her eyes shifted side to side. ”But introductions! It is as Raphael said, I am Brittan’s Super Sleuth! But most simply call me Sammy. I had a bit of a proposition for you.” She placed her hands together. ”I’m looking for something of a Watson to my Holmes. You seem like someone with an ear to the ground, and having you in my employ would make me very pop- um, happy! Yes, very happy!”

Brittany stepped forth. ”And what I would like is for you to not be anyone’s sidekick and head my advertising campaign! Did you know that only 25% percent of Freelance espers use supplemental equipment on their jobs? We need to arm the other 75%! And we can do that if if you tell everyone how instrumental your supplemental equipment was in bringing down the Diver and besting Justin!”

For Sammy, the idea wasn't bad. Helping a detective would be a chance to hopefully help a lot of people. On the other hand, it would likely limit her ability to do missions from Shimr if they weren't mysteries. As for Brittany, helping her would likely mean a lot of income, but less time to actually do things that mattered beyond that.

But she had caught Sammy's slip-up, and Brittany's "arm all espers" idea wasn't really on Marrie's list of great ideas. "I'm sure that-" An idea struck. "Actually, wouldn't you both get more out of helping each other with that than from me? If Sammy uses your items to solve cases, that would make them more well-known and drive traffic your way, right? And if Brittany makes useful items for investigations, wouldn't that make your job easier? Plus, who better to figure out market trends than a someone who likes solving mysteries, and who better to keep an ear on things than a store owner? I guess a barkeeper, maybe, but still."

"Besides, I don't know what kind of rumors are going around about me, but I'm not really... That great. I barely did anything in the fight against the Diver, and any popularity I might have is going to be fleeting. But the merchant's guild and Brittan's Super Sleuth are only going to grow in fame, right?"

The proposition holders glanced at each other. ”You’re not wrong.” Brittany was the first to speak. ”But you’re a hot commodity right now, kid. Your ability isn’t as interesting to me as your reputation. You attempted to assassinate Justin, put in work on the whole Betty/Pac disappearance, and stared down Oros the Mad during the water truck fiasco. Either way, it’s one hell of a step up for someone new to the area. There’s a reason why companies rotate their respective celebrities. It’s all part of good business!”

”It is as the merchant worded it. We may be popular elsewhere, but not on this side of the pond. Something that became too evident when I had to explain what a crumpet was to a bloke.” The detective spun her magnifying glass. ”But if you do not wish to be my Watson, then I suppose I can make due with some devices. It’s not really what either of us wants though.”

”Gack-” an undignified sound came from Marrie’s mouth. She didn’t know people even knew that she was involved with things like that. ”I… I’m really sorry, but the best I can do is try to help when I can, and I don’t think I’d be able to help as full-term as you two probably want. If I mess up again as bad as I did a few months ago, I need to be able to focus on trying to fix it. I’m… pretty confident, given my track record, that I’m going to screw everything up again somehow. I don’t want to take either of you down with me when I do. I’d be willing to help when I can though, but I don’t think it’s great to try to leverage popularity that I don’t deserve to make better business, if that makes sense?” Marrie bowed her head. ”I really am sorry, I just…” She waved her arms in the air somewhat, trying to signify the things she’d mentioned. ”All that.”

”That’s a no, then?” Brittany pouted. ”Well, whatever. If you change your mind, the offer stands.” She turned around to walk out the door, with the detective following close behind. ”Interested in some supplemental equipment?”

”I’ll have a look..” Sammy cast a glance over her shoulder, but said nothing as she disappeared through the threshold of the door.

Elroy had more or less been keeping to himself this whole time. He hadn’t even made eye contact with Marrie until just now. His plate was nearly empty, save for half a sausage link. ”You’ll get used to it, mist girl.” Was all he said before digging in again.

The mist girl simply sighed, and pulled out her phone to check her email.

I believe it is in our best interests to limit the amount of time we are seen together. While you have a reputation already, I would hate for you to be targeted by some unscrupulous sorts on account of you meeting with me. I have always been a careful man, but I hope my vigilance does not come across as paranoia. There is far more good than bad in Pax, but the bad can be exceptionally cunning.

Please continue to keep me informed. While my E-mail is open to you, you may also contact me through the missionaries deploying aid throughout the city. While they aren’t espers, they are all assistants of mine and know what espers are.

No signature, but it wasn’t necessary.

Despite having upset two seemingly nice people, and having met perhaps the most intimidating esper she’d yet seen, Marrie had at least succeeded in her initial goal... Her nightmares were out of her mind for a while.

^{No funny banner this time, fam.}

With everyone present, the briefing could begin post haste. Fritzi stood beside a projector screen that had pictures of both St Bianchi Church and Dante’s on it.

”Alright agents, we got Binky back, but GEMINI isn’t quite at full strength yet. Timekeeper is still passing out in piles of sand, and Oros the Mad has taken an interest in Cerberus. The latter wouldn’t normally be an issue, as she’s more or less treated GEMINI as a neutral party in the past and the Hand is a far more immediate danger for GEMINI operations. However, she’s recently attacked Timekeeper with the intent to kill. She can’t be left to her own devices.” She pointed at the screen beside her. ”We will be splitting up the GEMINI squad to tackle both issues in one night. Some of you will go to Dante’s, where there should be some lead as to what’s ailing Timekeeper. All of this started after he encountered a succubus there, and it’s becoming increasingly apparent that Dante’s has something to do with it all.”

”Meanwhile, an esper known as Sovereign claims that she has to bring Cerberus to St Bianchi Church, where she claims Oros the Mad is waiting for her.” Binky’s eyes wandered onto Finn. ”We suspected it was a trap, but between Orion’s interrogation and reports from the water truck incident, it seems that she ‘drove off’ Oros by making a deal with her and got further details about Cerberus from one of our own agents.”

”Against my better judgment, I’m letting Timekeeper join everyone for these operations. After the deal with the Diver, I’m unsure if I’ll be able to field enough freelancers for two full operations. Tackling these issues separately is not ideal either. If Oros is expecting us, I’d just as soon not have her change her mind and meet us at Dante’s. That said, the goal of these operations should be apparent. We need to go to Dante’s to see about slaying the monster that’s cursed Timekeeper, and we need to go to St Bianchi Church to learn more about Oros’ motivation. That said, we haven’t formed much of a battle plan yet. We haven’t looked into Dante’s and Sovereign was dropped on us very recently.” Fritzi looked at Ashley. ”Speaking of, what was your read on Sovereign? Can she be trusted to keep Cerberus safe?”

“I would say she takes the stereotype of a money-obsessed mercenary to the furthest possible extreme,” Ashley replied with a small frown. “I get the feeling that she’d fully devote herself to any possible task as long as some form of reward was waiting for her at the end of it. As for her keeping Cerberus safe,” the high-tech heroine continued. “I’m not sure I would trust her to do that, or anything else, especially if we weren’t offering her some form of compensation.”

”We are going to be hiring freelancers for these operations. Are you advising against letting her tag along, even if she’s paid to be there?”

“Well, if that’s the case, then I suppose it would be fine,” Ashley replied. “I mean, she was the one Oros tasked with bringing Cerberus there in the first place, and as long as we have some form of support on hand in the event an extraction is needed, I don’t think Cerberus will be in any additional danger than would otherwise be the case. That said,” the Knight of Tomorrow added. “If freelancers are available, I’d suggest having them compose the entire support team for the St. Bianchi op. At the very least, they’re slightly less likely to be perceived as a threat by Oros, as opposed to a team including known G.E.M.I.N.I. agents. Plus, it will allow us to put all of our admittedly-limited resources into investigating Dante’s.”

Fritzi smiled. ”Now there’s an idea! It also lets us keep Timekeeper’s situation on the down low. Meanwhile, the freelancers will jump at the chance to brag about having a close scuff with our mad esper.”

Mika scoffed. ”Really? You’re sending me out there by myself?” She looked between Fritzi and Ashley. ”Her file claims that she can see the future. I doubt she’s going to be fooled by a bunch of freelance espers. Not to mention she’s already attacked us once. It would be more suspicious not to send me in with some backup.”

Fritzi chuckled. ”You’re so animated today. I don’t see how Oros’s abilities invalidate Orion’s strategy. It does allow us to pool our resources into one operation, and if Oros is less inclined to ‘look’, we’re less likely to be discovered.” She placed a finger on her chin. ”Though if we’re trying to prevent her from looking, maybe it would be good to give you a little bit of help. Any volunteers?”

”Oh! Me!” Angelie threw an arm around Mika’s neck and gave a thumbs up. ”I’ll be Claudia’s backup! If Sovereign or Oros try anything, I’ll make sure they regret it!”

Mika sighed. ”I don’t like it, but she’ll work.” Angelie cheered before hugging Mika.

And here I thought she didn’t need any help… Ashley mused, doing her best to suppress an annoyed scowl. While she was glad Ellie would be looking after the feisty feline, the angelic agent was as distressingly far from subtle as one could get, and Ashley only hoped that her addition to such a delicate situation wouldn’t backfire catastrophically…

”I don’t anticipate Dante’s having any hired espers, so this arrangement should be fine.” She turned to the rest of the GEMINI espers. ”We have a floor plan of Dante’s, but have little information on what else you should expect. To our knowledge, they do not appear to be affiliated with the weretiger mafia. It should just be temptation and dream monsters like the succubus Timekeeper encountered. Did you have any more questions?”

“None at the present time, ma’am,” Ashley replied.

Finn shook his head. ”Nothing else I need to know at the moment.”

Estelle blinked, then shook her head. Nope, she definitely didn’t zone out for a moment there.

”In that case, we’ll prepare for deployment immediately. It shouldn’t take more than a few days to get the freelancers we need.” Fritzi shot a smile at everyone. ”You’re dismissed until then.”

With the local G.E.M.I.N.I. branch’s rather alarming lack of agents at the forefront of her mind, Ashley had resolved to talk with Dr. Moller about an idea that could potentially aid with recruitment. While G.E.M.I.N.I.’s numbers in Pax Septimus were few, the city also boasted a sizable pool of freelance espers, and since Finn had started his Esper “career” as a Freelancer before joining up with G.E.M.I.N.I., this was obviously a vast resource just waiting to be tapped. As such, Ashley had proposed a public relations program in which missions would be posted on Shimmer that would pair a freelancer with a G.E.M.I.N.I. agent, who would both promote G.E.M.I.N.I.’s benefits and gauge the freelancer’s receptiveness to the possibility of joining the organization.

Having received the doctor’s approval, Ashley had wasted no time in putting her plan into action. For this initial trial run, she decided to focus on a seemingly omnipresent issue- the goblin swarms that continued to infest the city’s sewers. Although she had expunged one nest of the creatures alongside Agent Silhouette a little over a month ago, it had readily become apparent that this had merely been the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Still, the goblins were a fairly low-level threat, and so would serve as suitable adversaries for this test case.

Upon posting the details on Shimmer, Ashley was pleasantly surprised to find an interested party almost immediately. After confirming the date, time, and location of their meetup, Ashley had prepared a few items she knew from experience would serve them well, namely, a pair of nose plugs for both herself and “Noble Spark”, and a clip light for the freelancer, in the event he didn’t have one of his own. Now, as she waited near the manhole cover, Ashley couldn’t help but wonder what kind of person this “Noble Spark” was. She was in her esper form, although in such a secluded and mostly abandoned part of town, it was unlikely many would take notice. Still, it should allow her partner to be able to spot her more readily, or so she hoped.

For at least one Freelancer, the posting on Shimmr was quite appealing. A chance to work with a G.E.M.I.N.I agent and take out the proverbial trash cluttering the sewers of the city? Count Noble Spark in. It was impossible for him not to know of them, but up until now he hadn't really had any direct exposure with them, mainly due to him not liking the idea of red tape or restrictions getting in the way of enacting justice and also a bias against governmental agencies brought upon by many years of unchecked comic abuse.

Perhaps I will imagine the Suicide Squad less when thinking about G.E.M.I.N.I after this?

Or so was his hope approaching their rendezvous location in a less lively part of Pax Septimus.

Fortunately for Ashley, Noble Spark had not forgotten his phone this trip, learning from his last job, and so she didn't have to wait very long until she noticed some blonde guy wearing a goofy jacket and shades beelining towards her with a big, confident grin and an eager spring to his step.

He stopped shortly before reaching her, giving her a once over. He had to admit she appeared much closer to a comic book hero than he did. But it only caused his grin to widen in appreciation rather than jealousy. "A noble form befitting a classic superheroine! Surely you must be the GEMINI agent Orion," he prompted, letting her confirm before continuing. "I am Noble Spark, a wandering champion for justice and, today, a slayer of goblins! I look forward to fighting these despicable creatures together with you!" he extended a friendly hand for her to shake.

Catching sight of a rather dashing-looking figure that almost certainly had to be Noble Spark, Ashley was quickly taken aback by the young man’s compliment on her appearance. “O-Oh, um, thank you,” she stammered, a hint of crimson coloring her cheeks. “Y-You present quite the heroic appearance yourself,” she added after regaining her composure. “And yes, I am Agent Orion, the Knight of Tomorrow,” she confirmed with a nod, taking the offered hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Noble Spark. Thank you for agreeing to accompany me on this mission.”

Well, one thing was sure, he definitely had a positive attitude. However, Ashley couldn’t help but wonder if his bravado was simply masking a notable lack of experience. Yet, whatever the case, she’d find out soon enough.

“We’ll be entering the sewers through here,” Ashley explained, pointing to the nearby manhole cover. “But first, I have some equipment for you that should prove useful,” she added, opening a pouch on her utility belt and retrieving a clip light and nose plugs. “I can generate an adequate amount of illumination myself, but it’s always a good idea to have a backup light source,” the Knight of Tomorrow noted. “Also, as you might have guessed, the smell can get pretty strong down there, so I’d definitely recommend making use of the nose plugs.”

After they finished their handshake, Noble Spark accepted the nose plugs, but didn't take the clip light, instead tapping the one attached to his shoulder with a finger to draw attention to it. "I have my own source of light, but these noseplugs are very much appreciated, Knight of Tomorrow! Rest assured these will not be forgotten!" he expressed his gratitude. "I must admit in my haste I had forgotten to consider the stench that would be prevalent within these dark depths."

He approached the sewer grate Orion had pointed out, stopping when a particularly strong whiff of what was below hit him. He avoided wincing in disgust, and took a step back, looking back at Orion as though his nose wasn't crying out in despair. "So these goblins I have not encountered yet in my time as a Freelancer, but if they're anything like they are in comics and games, I can only expect success with such a prepared ally at my side! In any case, I am ready to dispense of these pests whenever. Is there anything else to consider before we begin?" Noble Spark asked, poised to remove the grate.

“Well, I believe it would be prudent to at least briefly go over our capabilities,” Ashley replied. “For example, I am most proficient at mid-range combat, with mystical abilities focused on direct damage, protection, and healing,” she explained. “Also, from what I have learned from my last encounter with them, while goblins are fairly weak on their own, they are quite adept at ambush tactics, along with employing traps to weaken stronger opponents. Therefore, we should proceed with caution.”

"Ah, then we will make quite the dynamic duo! My speciality happens to be close-range, and my powers facilitate me being there. I can move around the battlefield as quick as a bolt of lightning, and keep the pressure up!" he informed, making quick gestures with his arms as if to sell his swiftness to the GEMINI agent. He listened to her explain goblin tactics and nodded in understanding. "I see! Yes, they skulk about in dark places so such cowardice makes sense! In that case, I shall have to watch my step, but I'm sure with an experienced goblin slayer in our midst, that should still prove simple enough!"

Once more, Ashley did her best to keep from blushing at Noble Spark’s overly-embellished compliment, but despite her valiant efforts, her cheeks continued to redden. She also couldn’t keep a small giggle from escaping at her partner’s flamboyant speech and mannerisms. “It sounds as though we’ll synergize quite well,” the Knight of Tomorrow noted with a smile upon regaining her composure once more. “If you don’t have any further questions, I suppose we can head down now,” she added, moving over to the manhole cover.

Descending into the depths, the pair activated their clip lights and cautiously proceeded forward. So as not to make themselves too obvious a target for any goblins potentially lying in wait, Ashley ensured that her light’s beam was canted downwards and advised her partner to do the same. As expected, the sewer tunnel was filled with rotted refuse of various sorts, but although the sight was less than pleasant, their nose plugs thankfully kept the worst of the malodorous smell at bay. It wasn’t long before the sounds of rapid movement reached their ears, along with a high-pitched screeching. However, it sounded less like a war cry, and more like a scream of panic. Soon enough, a terrified runt of a goblin rounded the corner ahead of them, its reedy arms raised high. Screaming its head off, it ran past the pair of espers as if they weren’t even present, obviously terrified out of its feeble mind by whatever had prompted its flight.

“W-What the…?” Ashley stammered in response to the unexpected sight, her energy shield and techno wand raised in preparation for an attack that apparently wouldn't be coming. Eyes wide behind her green visor, the Knight of Tomorrow watched as the goblin continued to flee down the tunnel.

There were many other creatures that could have taken residence in these sewers that were far higher than mere goblins on the food chain, but a closer look at the fleeing greenskin’s tiny, malnourished form revealed that its hunter was likely something quite a bit different. Seemingly unnoticed by the goblin, a stick of dynamite protruded from the waistband of its loincloth, and in the tunnel’s darkness, a flickering spark could easily be seen making its swift passage towards the end of its fuse…

An instant later, a loud detonation reverberated down the tunnel, coupled with an angry burst of flame as the goblin was violently blown apart. Although the explosion generated by a single stick of dynamite wouldn’t normally be very large, the fact that the sewer was filled with flammable gasses meant that the ensuing firestorm was a considerably greater threat to the two espers observing the goblin’s demise than would otherwise be the case.

“Get behind me!” Ashley instructed as she raised her shield to block the brunt of the incoming torrent of flame, before conjuring a larger green energy bubble to completely cover the pair. The next few seconds were harrowing, to say the least, but when things had settled down enough for Ashley to take stock of the situation, she was pleased to see that neither she, nor Noble Spark, had even been slightly singed. “Well, that was certainly unexpected,” the Knight of Tomorrow noted with a relieved exhale. “Are you all right?” she asked her partner.

Noble Spark stood up as he tried to make sense of what they had just seen. After a moment of simply staring at the site of the explosion, he spoke up, "I was not expecting the goblins to be THAT different!" he exclaimed, stepping out from behind her. He scrutinized himself to be sure he wasn't injured and then smiled at her. "I remain unharmed thanks to your protection. Thank you. Now..." he turned his attention from where the goblin exploded to the direction of the corner the goblin had rounded, his confident demeanor a little less intense. "...all jokes aside, what sewer-dwelling beings make use of dynamite? Perhaps someone else took it upon them to exterminate them?" he wondered, punching his palm shortly after. "Well, suppose we'll just have to see."

Hoping he wouldn’t have to hunker down behind her shield again, he took point once more, stepping past Ashley, moving quieter than he had before. It seemed he intended to take this a bit more seriously now that explosives were a potential issue.

“My thoughts exactly,” Ashley agreed in a low voice when Noble Spark brought up the possibility of another party hunting the goblins as well. “Based on what we just saw, I think it’s very likely that another esper, or group of them, got down here before us, with the same idea we had. With that in mind,” she added as she resumed her slow advance. “We should still be on our guard for any additional unexpected surprises, especially since there’s a non-zero chance that whoever planted that dynamite stick might also be hostile to us as well…”

Since she was sure no other G.E.M.I.N.I. agents were at this location, whatever other espers might possibly be in the sewers would either be Freelancers, or members of Maverick Alternative. Needless to say, encountering the later would be far more problematic than the former. As such, Ashley was thankful that Noble Spark had chosen to take the lead, the freelancer hopefully providing a less threatening first impression than an obvious G.E.M.I.N.I. agent like herself.

Proceeding around the corner from which the goblin had first appeared, the pair were greeted with the sight of a sizable hole that had been blown through the tunnel wall. A goblin’s scrawny, blood-spattered body was draped limply atop the pile of rubble at its base, a combat knife protruding from the back of its head. It appeared that, like the first goblin they’d encountered, this one was in the midst of an attempted escape, but he clearly hadn’t made it as far as his companion. What they had been trying to escape from was now finally visible beyond the gaping hole. At the center of a torch-lit chamber, and surrounded by dozens of charred and mangled goblin corpses, was a female goblin, savagely smirking as she drove her sword through the back of the last remaining goblin, even as the pitiful, emaciated creature feebly attempted to crawl away.

A closer look at the still-grinning goblin girl revealed that she was markedly different in appearance to the other goblins that littered the chamber, seeming to denote that she was perhaps a member of a different breed or tribe. That would certainly provide an explanation for the brutal, single-handed slaughter she had just concluded, Ashley reflected. Regardless, she was obviously a powerful fighter, and so the Knight of Tomorrow assumed a combat stance, ready to respond to any attack at a moment’s notice. However, the next few seconds saw the potential for impending combat swiftly diminish…

“Dere!” the goblin girl declared with obvious satisfaction. “Dat should be da last of ‘em!” Then, oversized ears twitching as she registered the approach of the two espers, she snapped her head towards her visitors, her grin shifting into a look of surprise. “Oi!” she yelped, before relaxing considerably. “Oh, crap… Ah ‘spose yer ere ta deal wit dees shiteadz, too, huh?” she asked, pointing a thumb at the piles of corpses surrounding her. “Welp, az ya can see, ah’ve already taken care o’ dis lot,” she added with a toothy smirk. “But if ya like, ah’ll split em’ wit ya, a third fer each o’ uz,” she offered, taking a more relaxed pose as she rested one hand on her sword’s hilt and the other on her hip. “Whadaya say?”

Noble Spark clenched and unclenched his fist in anticipation of the upcoming fight as he rounded the corner, spotting the remains of another goblin and a giant hole presumably made by dynamite. Then, of course, came the bodies of the goblins deeper in that had seemingly been caught in the blast. But standing in their midst was a single female goblin, delivering a coup de grâce to what appeared to be the last goblin of the bunch.

"That's... not how this was supposed to go," Noble Spark muttered in obvious disappointment. His grin faltered as the wind seemed to be taken out of his sails, and glanced at his GEMINI partner with a look that said, "What should we do now?" But if that wasn't enough he also spoke those exact words to her.

As he stepped forward to get a better angle into the hole to see if maybe they had missed something, he accidentally alerted the goblin girl to their presence. Instead of instant aggression like Noble Spark was expecting, the goblin instead seemed to understand why they were there and even offered an even share. That was the most surprising part, honestly.

He stepped forward, though there was still decent space between him and the goblin. "A-a generous offer. But I'll pass..." Noble Spark declined with a strained smile. He motioned to the carnage she had created. "You're clearly much 'more powerful'-" he emphasized that particular observation. "-than the rest of these guys. I wouldn't dare deprive you of the reward, miss...?" he prompted her for a name.

“Ya can call meh Elzy,” the goblin girl replied. “An’ it’z cool if ya don’t want any o’ deez guyz,” she added as she began to pluck serrated combat knives from several of the goblin corpses and place them in her belt. “Dat juz meanz dere’z more fer meh!” she declared, licking her lips.

For her part, Ashley simply stared at the small creature with a look of complete bewilderment. “Are… Are you going to eat them…?” she asked, not even trying to hide her disgust.

“Dat’z right!” Elzy confirmed with a big grin. “Dey may not look like much, but if ya know ‘ow ta cook ‘em, dere fuckin’ deliciouz! Oh, ya mind tossin’ dat over?” she asked, pointing to the knife embedded in the goblin sprawled across the hole in the wall.

“O-Oh, um, sure…” Ashley replied, squatting down to yank the blade free. “I, um, don’t usually assist monsters,” she added, although for whose benefit, Nobel Spark’s, Elzy’s, or her own, it wasn’t entirely clear. “But you don’t seem hostile, and you did wipe out these other goblins, so…” With that, she threw the knife at Elzy, who skillfully caught it between her thumb and two fingers.

“Monster?!” Elzy chuckled as she stowed the blade. “Ah ain’t no monster! Ah’m human! Dis ‘ere’z juz mah esper form!” she added, spreading a clawed hand and gesturing to her green-skinned, goblinoid body.

“Oh! So does that mean you’re a freelancer?” Ashley inquired. Elzy could have also been a Maverick, of course, but since they didn’t like harming monsters, and she had just finished slaughtering a goblin nest, the Knight of Tomorrow didn’t think that was particularly likely. At least, she hoped it wasn’t…

“Yup!” Elzy confirmed, eliciting a mental sigh of relief from Ashley. “An’ Ah’m guessin’ yer both wit GEMINI, huh?”

“Just me, actually,” Ashley corrected. “Agent Orion, Knight of Tomorrow, at your service,” she introduced herself with what she hoped was a friendly smile.

"I must commend your adamantine stomach, Elzy. I do not think I would have even dared to try!" Noble Spark chuckled. "As for introductions," he puffed his chest out proudly. "I am Noble Spark, Voltaic Knight of Justice, and also an aspiring goblin slayer. I can shelve that dream for the time being for a fellow Freelancer though," he smiled, though it was clear he was still a bit disappointed at the missed opportunity.

“Deemz some fancy namez ya got dere,” Elzy noted with an amused chuckle. “Maybe ah should start callin’ m’self ‘Ellraizin’ Elzy da Goblin Slayer’?” she reflected. “Den again, I dink dat last bit’z already taken…”

"I don't suppose you happen to know of any other nests?” Noble Spark inquired.

“Not at da moment,” Elzy replied. “Dis wuz prob’ly da only one ‘round ere,” she added. “Dhough ya might ‘ave better luck on da uver side o’ da city.”

"Quite unfortunate. But not surprising," Noble Spark replied with a resigned smile.

“Well, thanks for taking care of this one,” Ashley told the goblinoid esper. “It really goes a long way towards keeping the city safe.”

“Tell meh about it,” Elzy replied. “Deez gitz’ve been fuckin’ ‘round wit all sortza placez up top,” she added, pointing a finger towards the ceiling. “Dat’z why ah come down ere’ ta git rid o’ ‘em from time ta time,” she explained. “So no need fer da danks, even if dey are kinda nice ta ‘ere,” she told Ashley with a wink.

“U-Um, y-you’re quite welcome,” Ashley stammered in response, somewhat taken aback by Elzy’s playful teasing. At least, she hoped that was all it was… “I, uh, guess we should probably get going,” the Knight of Tomorrow added, turning to Noble Spark. “I’m sorry we didn’t really get a chance to work together all that much,” she apologized, although if she was being honest, she much preferred an uneventful patrol to encountering an unexpected threat of significant power level. “That said, I wouldn’t be averse to teaming up again, if the opportunity presents itself,” she added with a smile.

Noble Spark shook his head. "No need to apologize for something beyond your control. As a Freelancer, such a possibility was something I dismissed as unlikely, so if anyone is to blame it would be me for not encouraging us to be earlier birds, so to speak," he shrugged, pretending that wasn't exactly how he saw this situation. Of course, Ashley's hope for another chance to work together was immediately reciprocated, with Noble Spark grinning widely. "Neither would I, Knight of Tomorrow! In fact, I almost expect it! Rare is such an anticlimactic teamup not eventually followed by a more fulfilling one in a later issue!" he laughed. "If not for that reason, then also because I owe you for the quick thinking earlier. I admit my ability to no-sell explosions isn't my strong suit."

“It was my pleasure,” Ashley replied. “After all, what kind of defender of the imperiled would I be if I didn’t protect my own teammate?”

With all his talk of comic book heroes, Noble Spark greatly reminded the Knight of Tomorrow of her younger brother. Indeed, with how greatly the esper state could change one’s appearance, there was a not insignificant chance that the freelancer beside her was actually someone around Adam’s age. If so, then Ashley supposed going along with his comically heroic banter was far better than to reveal her desperate need to keep what had happened to Su from happening to anyone else who had been placed in her care.

“And I agree,” she added with a confident grin. “When next we unite, the evildoers of Pax Septimus will rue the day they chose to make this city their home!”

As she watched the two espers depart, Elzy smirked and shook her head.

“What a pair ‘o dorkz…”

The Golden Platter Casino.

They had missed the boss, but had caused some damage. At the same time, however, Dr Moller hadn’t issued any particular order to handle the Casino afterwards, and the Pax Septimus Police Department was occupied or corrupt. Normally, any associations with monsters would lead to a post-operation investigation, followed by the closing off of the institution. Here though?

Estelle, in her civilian clothes, on her day off, decided it was best to take a look and see if the Angel’s shootout had done anything in the long-run of purging this place of sin.

And it seemed like it had worked well. Maybe too well. As tough as The Golden Platter Casino looked on the outside, it had been reduced to a pile of brick and mortar. A building that stood a century collapsed less than a week after the operation. It was the weekend, so there was no one here. But there was a bulldozer, excavator, and a few dump trucks parked beside the rubble.

Being an outsider, Estelle was not privy to what usually happened to operation zones in Pax. Gemini’s espers were vastly outnumbered by their monstrous counterparts. Once Gemini left an area, the organised monsters would return to the area to take what they could. And if not the monsters themselves, then the homeless or a criminal body would do it for them. In extreme cases, the area would be sold to a developer, who would begin “developing” the area sometimes hours after sale of the property. Getting permits to overhaul a location in the historic district should have been next to impossible, or at the very least time consuming.

But the police weren’t the only ones that were corrupt.

Mika stood beside Estelle as she surveyed the scene. While Mika tended to accessorise herself when going to school, she didn’t do so here. Just a t-shirt and some cargo pants. She was wearing her badge-covered backpack, but that would have been a pain to strip down. "’Oh yea, I thought I saw something online about this." Mika pulled on her straps. "’They say someone broke in and messed up the place after they closed. They’re going to build a vintage highrise, whatever that is."

“Vintage highrise…”

Estelle folded her arms, trying to imagine what exactly that would look like. A castle? Or a solid brick-and-mortar apartment-slash-hotel to match the surroundings. A strange thing either way, but stranger still was that every other GEMINI agent that she had met in Pax Septimus was younger than her, some by a great degree. As in, they were all too young to even vote, and most of them couldn’t even drink.

Certainly they could all still fight though.

“Wonder who’s doing the developing. Considering what hit Pax Septimus, you’d think that rather than tearing down the buildings that were still standing, they’d focus on rebuilding what had already fallen.” A finger placed itself against her chin. “Good way to bury evidence though.”

"You don’t say?" The rubble itself had been sorted. All of the brick and stonework was in one pile, while there were two smaller piles for steel and what had to be an “everything else” pile. Mika walked up to a rock and pushed it with her heel. "’This pile of metal is worth a lot of money. The homeless are going to pick through this if it just sits here. The smart thing to do would have been to take care of the metal before the weekend. They have the trucks to move it." Mika punted a stone. "They have so much money they can afford to leave it out here. Meanwhile, we just barely scrape by." Mika turned to look at Estelle. "We already know this was the work of monsters. Why are we here?"

“You didn’t need to come,” Estelle replied. “I’m just not used to these kinds of loose ends.”

It was a day off, after all. She honestly had no clue why Mika herself had decided to tag along for the visit, while the only reason that Estelle herself decided to take a look was because she was on the paranoid side of things. From fighting monsters-of-the-week in her youth to hearing about continent-spanning organisations of monsters during her training, it had been enough of a jump to disorientate. Perhaps it would’ve been better to play ping-pong or volunteer at a soup kitchen or something. Perhaps she could just hole up in the dormitory and veg out on some Youtube videos.

But no, she was here, taking pictures of the machines, of the signboards tied to the rented fence. “I’d like it if we took the tiger’s head rather than the tip of their tail. ‘Specially when so much of Pax Septimus’s population is vulnerable, and even more so because those weretigers would be hunting to replace what they had lost. And I didn’t really do much in the last operation either. So yeah. Here I am.”

"’Did anyone do a lot?" Mika folded her hands behind her back.

“You did a lot, didn’t you? Saved the teller, took down most of the guards, got us the password?”

"Well…" Mika averted her eyes. "I also hurt the teller, and I don’t think I got as many of them as you-know-who and her gun. But I guess I did more than most." She looked back at Estelle. " That’s not important now. I forget that you’re not from around here. You’ve probably been in more operations than me. But not more operations here. I’ve been in twice as many operations as you have." She held out two fingers to help Estelle visualise the difference between their experience. "I know I’m not smart, but I don’t see a loose end. We didn’t go in there to kill Tony, we went in there to get Binky back. Cutting off the head sounds good, but there will always be a head to cut off." Mika raised an eyebrow. "You don’t seem like the head chopping type though."

“Eh…I haven’t really been to more operations than you either,’ Estelle replied. “They transferred me here on probation after I graduated from their training facility.”

And her work in her childhood didn’t really count either. It didn’t exist on the same extremes, so it wasn’t worth mentioning.

"...Oh." Mika averted her eyes.

“And yeah, the operation is done. I’m just talking about a separate thing here, Mika. It’s not that I’m saying we messed up in what we did, it’s just that I’d want to do more to help out the people here, you know?” Estelle shrugged. “Just because there’s too many to cut off in a lifetime doesn’t mean it's meaningless to try. And maybe I don’t look the type, but that’s just because I’m selective about it.”

"Okay." Mika eventually brought her eyes back to Estelle. "I’m not that smart, but if you want to help people… You need to know something." She folded her arms. "It doesn’t matter how strong you are, how smart you are, or how unkillable you are. If you’re an esper, you’re going to die. I don’t know how it is elsewhere, but none of us are going to get old. The bad guys have more money, people, and power than we do. That’s why we have to kill as many enemies as we can. Because anyone we leave will just make things harder later on."

“Kinda grim, huh?”

Estelle folded her arms. For a teenager, Mika’s outlook on having superpowers leaned towards the more pessimistic side of things, didn’t it? It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, of course, but from her own perspective, it wasn’t all that good of a thing either. “Well, if you’re human, you’re going to end up dying anyhow. Looking at the statistics of premature deaths around the country is pretty depressing, after all.” It wasn’t like there was anything left to examine of the demolition site at this rate. She patted the younger girl on the shoulder. “But the statistics aren’t all that bad either, and Pax Septimus is an anomaly as well. Not like the rest of America’s in flames here.”

A pause. A ham-fisted approach to changing the subject as they strode away from the remains of the casino.

“What do you do on your days off anyhow, Mika? Catch up on homework?”

This caused the girl to squint her eyes, as if she really had to think of what she did. "Uhh, I watch shows… I read comic books… Play with dolls… I have a colouring book too… But I haven’t done anything like that for a while now. Homework isn't that hard either." She glared at Estelle. "Are you sure you’re new at this? The way you ran up those stairs was like you’d done it a hundred times."

“Huh, kinda nostalgic. Don’t think I’ve even thought about stuff like that for…” Estelle screwed her face together, eyes flickering up to the sky as if her memories could be found in the clouds. “...maybe twelve years now? And as for the stairs, well, did that for four years, after all. Gotta catch the bus, even if the profs don’t care if you’re late or not.”

"You’d know better than I would." Mika was just a teenager after all. She wasn’t old enough to look back on her highschool days with the rose tinted glasses of nostalgia. Nor did she long for the days when friendships came easy and life was more simple. Though given that Mika was an esper, the days of things being simple were over. "You don’t do anything for fun then? Or just not stuff like that?"

“Eh…back in the training facility, I’d go out bowling or to the movies with my friends during off-days. Maybe some baseball if we could get organized enough for it?” She tucked her bangs behind her ears. “And further back in university, we’d all gather up in the same dorm for Smash or Mario Party. Maybe the swimming pool or club activities depending on the day.”

Estelle furrowed her brow further.

“Was busier during my teenage years though. And I just moved to Pax Septimus right after the Holy Diver landed, so…” She gestured. Empty streets, empty buildings. “Not much to do here. Unless you know some local secrets you could introduce me to, Mika?”

Mika shook her head. "I’ve only been here a month or so. I go to school, then I go home." She shrugged her shoulders. ”But that was when-" She swallowed. ”I spend a lot of time at HQ now. No reason to go home anymore." After a short pause she added: ”It’s fun to look in garbage cans though. Most of the time it’s just junk, but people throw away good stuff sometimes."

“You dorm at HQ then?”

”I sleep on the couch in the break room sometimes. But if its a school day I drive home to sleep." HQ technically had room to hold a few GEMINI espers, but most of it was dedicated to other facilities such as monster containment cells and Fritzi’s ever expanding lab. Fritzi was probably the only one who spent the bulk of her downtime at HQ and likely had a sleeping quarters somewhere. Mika reached into the garbage can and pulled out a magazine. The cover had a vibrant image of a star exploding. ”Did they give you a home yet?" She flipped through the pages.

“Huh, latest copy o’ National Geographic,” Estelle said, peering over her companion’s shoulder. “They pay me enough to cover my rent. Got a flat out on the edges. Don’t exactly want to be on the clock 24/7, after all.”

"You don’t need to be on the clock in order to encounter a monster." After flipping through a few pages, she shoved the magazine in her backpack. In doing so, a pair of scissors and a bottle of glue nearly jumped out. But it just took some shifting to make everything fit. "Maybe I’ll go finish up my homework. What are you going to do?"

“I’ll walk you back then,” Estelle replied, smiling at Mika. “In case you encounter a monster on the way.

"It was just an observation!" Mika turned her head away.

As for what I’ll do after…”

Drinking with her underaged colleagues would be a bad idea, wouldn’t it? And she wasn’t sure she liked the vibes she got from the Freelancers in Pax Septimus either. Would be even more disastrous if she went out drinking with the Doctor.

“...maybe I’ll raise a goldfish. Know a pet shop that’s still running?”

Estelle’s sudden decision caused Mika’s head to pop up. "Uh, yes. You wouldn’t think so, but this place over here is doing really well. I don’t know why, but I like animals, so I think it’s nice." She pointed ahead. "Just a bit further this way. It’s not far from the casino."

After walking a bit further, Estelle and Mika were able to enter “Tall Tails.” One of Pax Septimus's many businesses that utilized a tiger mascot.

---

@Ponn@Majoraa@ERode

The goal of the operation was to get to the bottom of Finn’s curse. This was very much an investigation rather than a man hunt. But this was also a known monster den, and the Gemini team had to be prepared for anything. That said, it would be far easier to conduct an investigation if everyone wasn’t on high alert. How they would proceed was left up to the agents themselves, with Ashley helming the team again.

A floor plan of Dante’s wasn’t even necessary. The windows by the roadside gave everyone a good look inside. Finn would recognize the place instantly. It was just as worn down as the last time he saw it, with the checkerboard floor peeling in places, along with the paint on the walls. The overhead light wasn’t adequate to light the place up, but there were enough neon logos of beer companies to bathe the place in hues of green and red. It was a man cave in every sense of the word. Even with so many windows to peer in, very little sunlight entered Dante’s.

What might have surprised Finn was that the place was packed. A bunch of bikers had shown up and nearly every seat was filled with someone wearing black leather. Twenty of them were big heavyset guys wearing cowboy hats. Each had a red handkerchief tied around his neck and would periodically scream “Yehaw!” loud enough to be heard outside the building. Then there were about ten tree spirits, or something similar. They were all wearing wooden masks and had bodies that were overgrown with plants. Despite this, they also had some animal features poking through, like a few feathers here or a tuft of fur there. But they were also wearing a lot of black leather, it just didn’t contain their plant-like growths. Then there were about five mage bikers, who wore studded leather suits and purple capes over them. Their faces were just eyes floating in a sea of inky darkness. The last group was what appeared to be five high school girls, who had no business being in a place like this on a Wednesday afternoon. They were all sitting in a booth in the corner looking at their surroundings.

Standing behind the counter was Dante himself. He had ditched the beard, but still had about two-hundred pounds to drop before he was a healthy weight. He was laughing at something some dryads at the bar told him, but then his face ran cold. He looked straight at Finn’s position, even if there was no direct line of sight to him. Then he sighed.

Getting discovered this early was never a good thing, but that was also one hell of a hint something was amiss here.

---

@Vertigo

Maverick Alternative had been keeping its head low since the Diver was vanquished. But even before then, the freelancer community had turned its back on them at a critical moment. As much as freelancers liked to pretend that their views on the monster problem were unique, it became increasingly clear that they would always side with power and money. That was something Gemini had in spades.

Or at least it did.

The Diver’s brief appearance did a lot to upset the scales. Many Freelancers were killed, and GEMINI’s forces were scattered around the city. Tentions were escalating, but it was becoming easier and easier to convince monsters to come live in the Bastion. It would not be freelancers, but an army of friendly monsters that would enable Maverick Alternative to take back the city. But an army of a thousand monsters started with just one, and the next one was right in Ciri’s sights.

There had been word of a golden dragon lingering around Pax Septimus. Once a proud and industrious race of alchemists, their number had been reduced to just a few. It was thought that they had all left for other realities long ago, but one wandered the streets of Pax Septimus.

His disguise wasn’t good, but he would be a valuable addition to Maverick’s forces. Only issue was that he was extremely flighty, and would need to be captured by force. If the reports from the water truck recovery were to be believed.

The dragon man sniffed a dumpster as a smile crossed his face. He flipped the lid up, and flies scattered in the wind. There on top of a pair of dirty shoes and a wet tarp was a half eaten burger. It had fermented in the dumpster’s fumes for a few days, and the blue cheese was starting to look a lot more blue. The dragon only hesitated long enough to lick his lips. He reached his arm into the dumpster and shoved the burger into his mouth. He wore a look of utter bliss as the stale bun flaked apart in his mouth.

Maverick espers didn’t plan their operations the same way GEMINI agents did. They had simple objectives and didn’t complicate things with long battle plans. It was up to Ciri how she wanted to handle the situation.

---

@The World@Nakushita@TaintedMushroom@FamishedPants

Another day, another paycheck. Gemini was hiring a few espers keep agent Cerberus safe from Oros. It wasn’t clear if this was a meeting or what, but the pay was good. Just an escort mission that possibly involved a brush with the mad esper.

St Bianchi Church had seen better days. No one’s exactly sure why the old structure went into disarray. Maybe the church simply went on hard times as people stopped paying donations. Maybe cultists and squatters took over the place, only to leave once the building degraded. Maybe there was a scandal involved. Either way, the outside made it look like there wasn’t a whole lot going on. Though maybe that was what made it a good hideout for a mad esper.

The front door was barred shut and rusted over. It wouldn’t have been impossible to get through, but it looked like one of the stained glass windows had been shattered. That was probably the easier way to get access inside.

"Huzzah!" Angel flew through the window, carrying Mika bridal style. As soon as she landed, she whipped around and pointed her SMG at her surroundings. "Nope! No ambush here."

”No ambush yet.” With a groan, Mika pushed herself out of Angel’s arms and straightened her back.

"That’s true, Claudia! We gotta be on our toes here! We’ll inspect the room as soon as everyone else…." Her voice trailed off once she looked at the center of the room. "What’s that doing there?"

With an exception to the circular shape of the church, there wasn’t a lot that separated it from others of its kind. But in the center of the room between several pews was a large generator. It wasn’t making a lot of noise, but it was running. Aside from the broken window, the rest of the place looked clean and tidy. The exact opposite of what one would expect from a place that was being used by cultists or homeless people.

Not ten seconds in and already something felt off.

Just one look at Dante’s, and Ashley could tell that she and her team had their work cut out for them. Roughly thirty potential hostiles versus three agents weren’t particularly good odds, especially when one of the agents could be incapacitated by a dream entity at a moment’s notice… Maybe not all of the diner’s patrons would be hostile to them, but quite a few were clearly monsters, and thus wouldn’t be too thrilled with a team of G.E.M.I.N.I. agents stopping by. The team members were currently in their civilian forms, so as not to draw any undo attention, yet it seemed that such a precaution was entirely meaningless, as Dante himself appeared to have already detected their presence. Well, that was unfortunate. On the bright side, he didn’t seem to be making any aggressive moves in preparation for an attack, but then, with such a massive numerical advantage, did he really need to?

“Maybe we should have waited until after the place closed for the night…” Ashley muttered. “This was supposed to be a fact-finding mission, but if they know we’re G.E.M.I.N.I., we’ll have one heck of a fight on our hands the moment we walk in there,” she observed with an annoyed frown. “Needless to say, if that happens, we can probably forget about acquiring any useful information on Finn’s condition. So, instead of a frontal approach, let’s head to the rear entrance,” the Knight of Tomorrow suggested. “You did say that was where you first encountered the demon, correct?” she asked Finn.

---

"I mean, we're not exactly looking for a fight either, right?"

Estelle peered through the windows, not really bothering to count out just how many people were inside that packed monsters' den. She wasn't exactly comfortable with walking in while untransformed, but on the other hand, they had practically been ordered to come in untransformed too. Dr Moller wouldn't toss them into a suicide mission like this, and the GEMINI weren't in a position of strength within the city when it came to the ability to really put pressure on people. It came with being vastly outnumbered and outgunned. If Binky was here, it'd have been different, but since she wasn't here...

"I say we just walk in through the front. If the rear entrance was locked, it'd be a worse look if we broke in." She turned towards Finn. The brown-haired boy was literally just that, a boy. Pax Septimus was all sorts of crazy, but Espers did skew younger, at least in their starts. "What're your thoughts though? You know Dante, don't you?"

---

---

A light evening breeze rolled down the street past Asher carrying scents of the city, exhaust fumes, a slight hint of garbage on the breeze even. Asher frowned slightly, surprised by that since he’d not gotten the impression that Pax Septimus was a dirty city. A light screech filled the air momentarily cutting through the clashing chords and screaming vocals from Asher’s earpods. Asher turned to survey the dump truck that had just backed out of an alley he’d passed just as the engine started to rumble and the stinky truck trundled down the lane.

A smirk crossed Asher’s lips as the slightly garbagy smell departed with the truck and he took a deep breath of the cool evening air, just him and the exhaust fumes now. Fishing through his pocket for his cell phone Asher quickly hit pause on his music and scrolled to shimmr to double check the address of the job. All the details matched up, and a large church loomed ahead.

St Bianchi Church stood before Asher in all its run down glory. Better days had certainly been long since gone as far as this establishment was concerned. Asher merely grumbled, he’d never cared much for churches, or religion for that matter. Usually he joked that entering such a premise might result in him catching alight. Suppose today would be the day to test that. Asher surveyed the outside a few moments longer, taking in potential entry points and judging them against the amount of effort they’d require.

“Windows, back way maybe…,” Asher mumbled aloud before his eyes finally settled on the front door. “On the other hand…”

Asher was a simple man and in most cases he preferred the direct route.

Sigh... Was this fate? The job mentioned a possible run-in with Oros, which was... conflicting, for multiple reasons. On the one hand, she wasn't sure what went through Oros' head, at all, but especially when it came to interacting with her. On the other, Oros seemed to at least tolerate her. On the other-other, she anticipated that if things went a certain way, then Oros would probably try to call in the favor from not killing that guy who saved her. The other-other-other hand held the thought that she really didn't have any conflict with Oros. And this was mostly just a mission to make sure things didn't break into a fight, which was at least somewhat beneficial to her.

Of course, helping GEMINI was a mixed bag too, and she'd rather be helping Maverick if she had to choose between them, but they hadn't posted any jobs that she felt qualified for recently. Plus, now she had to wonder about the Inquisition and their opinion on monsters, which she had to assume was not particularly generous towards them. She sighed again and got on her bike.

By the time she arrived, transformed into Esper state, someone else was already there. Something, at least, since it looked like it could easily be a monster itself. Maybe they were friendly, but the chances of GEMINI caring about that were low.

"Oi!" She had to shout somewhat from a few yards away to avoid startling the guy. "Monster, Esper? And why are you here? No worries regardless, but I should warn you that this place isn't going to be great for monsters pretty soon." She checked her phone's clock. "Or already, actually. But if you're an esper..." The thought that he might be a cosplayer crossed her mind, but if he were, his effects were immaculate. "Then are you here for the convention or are you lost?"

Was that good enough code, good enough obfuscation? Did it matter at this point? Would a regular person even be able to show up to a place Oros was supposedly at?

"Convention? Ah! I had no idea!" A voice suddenly called out from a bit behind Maria. The owner was none other than the boisterous Freelancer and comic enthusiast, Blustin Noble Spark. He pulled out his wallet, tipped it over and nothing fell out. "I would have brought some money along had I known!" he chuckled. "Maria, wasn't it? Haven't caught too many familiar faces in an operation in my career. Most times it's a one-and-done thing, huh?"

Turning his attention to the metallic being she had been speaking to, he examined the figure without any attempt to hide the fact. After a minute, he grinned wide and nodded. "An Esper... or... hmm... yes, a named opponent at the very least! Such character design would not be wasted upon a mook! Your name, is it perhaps... 'Deadeye'?" Noble Spark asked, looking at the guy expectedly, then to the church momentarily.

I wonder if it's too early in my career to be dealing with someone like Oros? Eh, what are heroes for if not beating the odds?

---

Asher was initially confused, a quizzical look crossing his face. This was only amplified by the arrival of another boisterous fellow who loudly proclaimed his confusion at the idea of a convention before making a reference towards Asher as a potential foe, guessing that his name might be 'Deadeye'. Asher couldn't help but be amused, throwing his head back as he started cackling, which sounded mostly robotic in his Esper form and likely didn't help with the image he was giving off.

Abruptly Asher hawked and spat a small globule of fire almost like one would a loogie. Flashing a grin at the two newcomers he pointed at himself with his thumb, "Name's Dead Head. Bit new 'round these parts. Now I don't know nothing bout no convention, reckon I might be in the wrong place if that's the case. But I also reckon that's just not the case, unless there's two St. Biance's churches. As for named opponent, well I could always appreciate a warm-up round but I don't think I'm the reason you're here so I'd imagine there's actual business to be getting to right behind that there door."

With that Asher redirected his attention back to the door, deciding quickly on his plan of approach.

"Now unless there's an objections, I'm fixin to go 'knock'." Asher said, nodding in the direction of the large rusted shut difficult to open door that just seemed to be asking for the business end of Asher's size 12.

"What the fuck, already?"

Well, here he was again. With the back up of Ashley and a new face, Estelle the Witch Hunter, Finn finally has the opportunity to investigate the starting point to his curse. And to find out whether or not Cherno-Baph and Amanda were just figments of delusion or real demons who had taken advantage of the boy's fatigue to communicate with him, curse or not. The fact that he couldn't even trust his own mind was concerning alone but Finn's grim curiosity actually wanted to see what comes out of this involvement.

I mean, they have been genuine with me so far. Shockingly. Just as long as no one else finds out there shouldn't be any issues...

The thoughts hadn't stopped running laps through his mind yet, the longer he'd have to wait. Was it eagerness, or an attempt to rationalize?

That'd have to come later. With a steeled expression the boy took a glance over through the diner's windows. Well. Why wasn't he surprised that there's been no changes to it? He could give his parents the benefit of a doubt, or perhaps consider that Lydia hadn't gotten his message about convincing them to help renovate, but honestly that'd be a damn miracle if they acknowledged him.

For once.

Finn's brows rose in surprise once he counted how many patrons were inside at the moment. Asides from the group of civilians inside, that many possible fighters? Against the three of them? In that Tiny-Tim of a goddamn diner? This is gonna be tricky-

The boy flinched when he locked eyes with Dante. Oh god. Oh god, oh god, oh god- He knows he's back?! And he had a bad feeling as to how.

_{"Th-That's him."} Finn quietly spoke up after the other agents asked for his input. His eyes never broke away from the line of sight. "I killed a- Some weird bog man? A-A succubus that was working here. He- He must've seen me revert back before I left somehow!" But he didn't see him, just the human waitresses. Unless they were also monsters somehow? Did they rat him out to their boss?? He was trying his best to remain composed, but Ashley and Estelle could tell he was getting anxious. There was too much he didn't know. Way to fucking much. Take a deep breath. "He knows I'm here and I know he cursed me so let's just get this over with."

He was practically anticipating a bar fight breaking out. He stepped up to the front and opened the door.

@FamishedPants@BrokenPromise@The World@TaintedMushroom


It had taken Sovereign far longer to reach St.Bianchi's then she had expected. But with the whole interrogation back at GEMINI HQ and having to wait to finally be allowed to leave. It had taken up far more of her time then she had anticipated. She when she finally did get out, she had a lot of little things to take care of to get prepared for the operation.

By the time Sovereign arrived on the scene, she could already spot someone she didn’t recognize trying to kick down the front door of the church. The other two however, she recognized them from the last operation she took part in. It seemed GEMINI was taking as much precaution as they could, hiring a good number of Freelancers to help supplement their numbers.

Even so, Sovereign had her doubts that even with numbers on their side it’d make things go any easier. Oros was a tricky one to deal with,and if she wanted to get violent it wouldn’t be very pretty in the end. But she supposed it was better then doing nothing at all about the situation.

Sovereign however had something else in mind as she approached Noble Spark from behind. “Just the man I was looking for….” Placing a hand on his shoulder as she came up beside him. Leaning her face close to the side of his right cheek “Sooooooo….about that comic….I had to deal with those tightwads at GEMINI HQ so I wasn’t able to follow up on getting my payment from you….but I figure now is as good a time as any….” her voice stern but quiet, eyes of gold full of greed. Having not forgotten about what he promised her during the last operation in order for her assistance.

Glancing over towards Marrie and the new comer “It looks like GEMINI is running out of agents if they are bringing in all of us at once, though it will be nice working y’all again, though…..I don’t believe we have met yet….Mr.Hulk Smash I take it? You may call me Sovereign…hopefully ole Oros doesn’t mind you bashing down her door” Introducing herself to Asher while she had the time. If he did manage to kick down the door, it would make her life a lot easier. She didn’t fancy trying to get in through that broken window.

She figured Puddy and whoever she brought along as a bodyguard was likely already inside by this point. There also wasn’t a doubt in her mind that Oros was waiting and watching from afar. Though what Oros wanted with Puddy, Sovereign hadn’t a clue. But whatever profit she could get from someone as infamous as Oros was sure to be worth the risk she was taking.

@Ponn@Majoraa@ERode

Dante continued to stare in Finn’s direction. His eyes only moved to the others when they took turns looking through the window at him before consulting each other… right out in front of the diner. It was difficult to discern what they were doing, but given what happened the last time that boy showed up, it wasn’t hard to imagine what was coming next.

”Something the matter, handsome?” The dryad at the counter turned her mug in her hands.

”Just some tough customers.” He pointed at her glass. ”Want a refill?”

”Would you?” As soon as Dante took her cup, her sister elbowed her.

”Verna! That’s your fourth one! How much more mead could you possibly drink?”

Verna rolled her eyes and nearly fell out of her seat. ”Well, I’m not going to let those fat boys in funny hats drink all the mead.”

”Well if that’s how you feel, how about you pour me Two, Dante.”

”Of course.” He kept glancing up at the window as he filled more glasses.

Pax Septimus was a depressing city, but some areas were worse off than others. Most wouldn’t picture a vintage diner as a place that served alcohol. But mead didn’t require a chef, and the markup was higher for that than anything else Dante could serve. Not only that, but it was only the odd sorts that ever stopped by here anyway. Families had long stopped coming to Dantes, and it was pointless to continue to try and appeal to them. No amount of renovating would bring them into the darkest corners of the city.

Which made it weird that there were a few teenagers sitting in the corner. But Dante didn’t didn’t care. So long as you didn’t murder a waitress or something extreme, he’d serve you as long as you had the cash.

And speaking of murderers, The door rang when Finn pushed the door open and stepped inside. None of the patrons looked up from their glasses. They were too busy talking amongst themselves or trying to yell “Yehaw!” louder than any of the other cowboys in the joint. Any eye contact that Finn got could be chalked up to being purely coincidental.

Save for the glare that Dante was giving him.

”We’re at full capacity.” He said with a growl. Then he looked out the door at Estelle. ”And we serve alcohol on the premises. You should find some other place for these children to eat.”

---

@The World@Nakushita@TaintedMushroom@FamishedPants

If you were to jump into a chat room on Shimr and ask the freelancers why they chose to work alone, you’d get all kinds of answers. Some would say GEMINI and Maverick Alternative have oversimplified the monster problem. Others would go on and on about the perks of being an “entrepreneur.” A few more might say they really liked the freelance community and wouldn’t want it any other way. This might paint the picture of a group of conscientious, intelligent espers who would go on to solve the world’s problems one mission at a time.

That did not carry offline.

Not one bit.

They had been given a diplomatic escort mission that involved coming in contact with one of the strongest espers in the world. But with few exceptions, Freelancers were among some of the most thoughtless, confused espers in Pax Septimus. The mission itself was just a suggestion, and the mission area, even if it was a hundred year old church, was merely a playground.

The VIP and their one GEMINI escort went through the side, but Asher decided he wanted to enter through the front door. There were people around that could have tried to talk him out of it, but they either realized the futility of their actions, or were more interested in seeing what happened next. You could never be sure with freelancers.

The metal door held strong, but the wooden barricade couldn’t take the heat. The doors swung open and slammed against the walls of the lobby. Bits of burnt timber littered the stone floor. If Oros didn’t know they were here, she did now.

The lobby itself was a small space, with two more sets of double doors at either side of the room, and another pair of doors at the far end of the room. The freelancers could hear some shuffling on the other side before those doors were kicked open. Angel stepped into the room with her gun drawn.

"Thought you could-" Angel look at all the freelancers before lowering her gun.. "Oh! It’s just you guys. I thought for sure a fight had started."



Mika wasn’t sure what she thought about the Freelancers. She had heard Fritzi talking about them, but it didn’t sound very good. Then again, she was thinking about appointing Ashley as the head of the unit, so maybe Fritzi’s judgment wasn’t as iron clad as Mika initially thought. But this was not a good sign. There was no sign of the freelancers following them in. They had to know this was an escort mission. Were they patrolling the outside? Looking for traps around the perimeter?

Was that explosion a trap going off?

Before Mika could say anything, Angelie was already soaring ahead, gun in hand. It was pointless to try and stop her. She’d just be wasting her breath. Instead, she just ran after her.

As soon as Angilie got to the front most doors, she kicked them open and aimed her gun at whoever was on the other side. Only to lower it moments later. When Mika arrived by her side, it was apparent what had happened. She suppressed the urge to groan.She was familiar with Sovereign, and had seen Marie the day the Diver attacked, but was mostly unfamiliar with everyone. Mika had her concerns about the freelancers, but in the back of her mind, she had hoped that being paid to do a good job might entice a more professional behavior. But it seemed like Fritzi was right again. Begrudgingly, Mika needed to internally note that Angelie thus far was handling the situation the best.

"Did the door look at you funny?" Mika had already been introduced to everyone as “Cerberus,” so there was no reason to do it again here. It wasn’t like any of these Freelancers respected authority anyway. They probably chose this life because they didn’t want to be told what to do, were antisocial, and couldn’t fit in with a faction even if they wanted to. Perhaps she had been too hard on Ashley, or maybe it was just in an esper’s nature to be selfish all the time. "Oros hasn’t shown herself yet. If I trusted her, I’d say she was waiting for us upstairs. But I don’t, and she could be trying to ambush us." she pointed over her shoulder with her head. "We should check out the area before pushing ahead. Unless you were told to take me to some place in particular, soh-vern?”

Despite being the team’s ostensible leader, Ashley found her suggested course of action being rejected by both Estelle and Finn. Indeed, much to the Knight of Tomorrow’s dismay, the later not only ignored her inquiry, but began walking towards the diner in a shell shocked daze, while muttering about having killed a succubus and how Dante was the one who had cursed him. “Wait…!” Ashley called to the team’s youngest member, while reaching a hand out to hold him back, but before she could stop him, Finn had opened the front door and entered the diner.

Great… Ashley sighed mentally. There was no going back now…

Walking through the door behind him, Ashley saw Dante’s less-than-pleased acknowledgment of Finn’s arrival, although none of the other patrons seemed to have taken any interest, much to the Knight of Tomorrow’s relief.

“Um, my apologies, sir,” Ashley spoke up, finally close enough to place her hands on Finn’s shoulders with a firm grip. “My cousin said he lost something here a short while ago, and my friend and I agreed to help him look for it,” she explained, giving Dante what she hoped was a friendly smile.

---

Ah, guess they should've stuck closer to Finn, huh? The kiddo was definitely on the not-good-vibes side of things right now. Neither Ashley nor herself managed to stop the youth before he moved to push the front door open and immediately earn the bartender's antipathy. And if Finn was confident that Dante already knew who he was, then Ashley's own paper-thin lie was only going to hold up as well as a tissue did in a toilet.

But should she play along with the lie anyways? Or would that be insulting? On the other hand, how direct could they even be, considering how they were all in their civilian forms right now, without any magical masking to hide their identities? Estelle folded her arms and furrowed her brow, before letting it all out in one long sigh.

"If you're too busy right now though, we can come back later. Or maybe give us a phone number we can call you with?" She gestured towards the children she was apparently chaperoning. "I wouldn't want to disturb your business more than necessary, 'specially during peak hours."

Which kinda felt like a lie, going by her current affiliation with GEMINI, but if Dr. Moller could hold back on the kill order, then Estelle herself was fine with that too.

Marrie almost sighed, though in relief or exasperation she wasn't sure, but caught herself. She was so worried about not letting the cat out to normies that... Oh well. It's not like Oros wouldn't have known they were coming anyway. Then came the redhead, who started with guns pointed at them but seemed to recognize them enough to put them down, which was nice. When Cerberus came around too, Marrie recognized her from the Diver incident. Not a lot of memories from that, but she at least remembered that she had been there too.

"Honestly, I- ... Hmm." Did it matter? Marrie wasn't here to give advice, or to pontificate about what she thought she might understand about Oros' personality. She was here to try to keep everyone safe, even if she was only payed for the GEMINIs' safety. So she shrugged and allowed Apexer's chain to fall from around her arm inside her sleeve, at about three feet of extension. She really didn't think she would have a chance in a fight, but who knows if Oros would even be the enemy here? With her luck, it'd be some sort of animal-based gang that lived in the building and subsisted on the flesh of those stupid enough to enter it. Probably mantes, this time. Actually, would they even eat outsiders? Don't they eat their mates?

A few seconds after that thought her focus... came back into focus, and she... focused, mostly, on the mission.

@Ponn@Majoraa@ERode

Dante’s ireful “welcome” wouldn’t go unnoticed. At least he wasn’t moving to get rid of them yet. It’d be poor for the business if patrons had to watch him murder the three of them, Finn guessed. The boy reeled himself back and opened his mouth to say something until he felt Ashley firmly grip his shoulders. No doubt she was holding him back from doing anything reckless. He glanced over his shoulder to look at her incredulously. Would a fib like that really work here? Dante already knew why they were there, why he was there. But if they’re gonna keep things cordial, might as well.

And then Estelle said something about them leaving. Hell. No. Not that Finn didn’t trust where she was going with that idea, but nothing would stop the diner owner from being more prepared to fuck their shit up if they left and came back later. The other two agents may not understand his reasoning but to hell with it, it’s better to get this over with now before this gets any worse!

Finn shrugged out of Ashley’s grip and approached the counter.

”Hell-o again.”

Dante looked at each of the agents in turn. Ashley’s lie was obvious, but she had been able to pick up on the fact that Dante was not making any aggressive movements. Furthermore, he had a group of teenage girls at the back of the diner. Clearly he wasn’t turning them away because of their age. This was a covert conversation where both parties were required to extract truth from the lies they were telling each other.

This made Estelle’s remark somewhat troublesome. She had mentioned coming back later, but also that she wouldn’t want to disrupt his business at peak hours. Was Dante supposed to interpret this as a threat from some monster murdering agents? Would his business get disrupted if he didn’t comply?

And then there was Finn…

”Didn’t you hear me?” Dante stepped up to the counter until his fat stomach seeped over the edge. ”We’ve already made arrangements to speak later, why have you come here now?”

Aha. Finn shot him a knowing smile, before he glanced aside and lowered his voice enough for Dante to still hear. _{”Unfortunately I’m supposed to be here on business. Keeping the fact I’ve been cordial with you guys hidden from the other agents hasn’t stopped them from coming here to investigate the source of my curse. I don’t really want things to end up in a bloodbath so, if you’re alright with me just asking a few questions, that’d be appreciated.”}

”And I suppose you did everything in your power to prevent them from finding out?” He growled. Unlike Finn, Dante wasn’t being so quiet anymore. ”I told you that we would get this taken care of. What else do you need to know?”

”Whatever kee-”

”Eyyyyyyy!” A cowboy by the counter pointed at Finn. ”This li’l bronco here given’ ya troubleeeeeeee?” He slurred his words.

”Everything is under control.” Dante gave the drunk a sideways glance. ”Enjoy your drink and butt out of this!”

”Yeaaaaaaa, but I can woop ‘em good if ya need me to, I can give em an ol-”” And then he swung his arm and splashed the Dryads sitting beside him.

”Gah!” One of the dryads, not looking too sober herself, swung the back of her hand at the cowboy’s head. With a crack, he stumbled backwards into a table seated by more cowboys, and spilled their beer all over the floor.

”I see how it is.” The cowboys started to stand up one at a time and cracked their knuckles. ”The Dryad Biker gang thinks it can tussle with the Cowboy Biker gang, huh?”

”Any day of the week, ‘greenhorn.’”

”...The hell did you call me?!”

And just like that, a bar fight ensued.

The cowboy gang might have greatly outnumbered everyone else, but they had also done most of the drinking and had a hard time differentiating between the dryads and everyone else. Fighting erupted all over the diner, and no one was safe. Even the schoolgirls who were minding their own business found themselves cornered by some of the cowboy thugs. And if they’d stoop so low as to attack some defenseless girls, they would certainly attack a babysitter and the two children she was looking after. The gemini agents were set upon on all sides, and Dante’s shouts of annoyance couldn’t rise above the sound.

And neither could Finn’s tired sigh.

”Fucking knew it…” He mumbled, ducking down soon as all hell broke loose. He rummaged through his pockets for his grimoire to quickly transform.

”Someone get those girls out of here before they get hurt!” He called out to his fellow agents, pointing over to the corner they were in. ”Minimize injuries if you can, but don’t let them overwhelm you!!” The Timekeeper snapped his head back towards Dante, silently giving him an apologetic look.

Ashley frowned when Finn forcefully slipped out of her grip and approached the counter, a frown which only grew when Dante and the boy began to have a rather concerning conversation. Although Finn’s whispered side of things was hard to make out over the din of the diner’s myriad other patrons, Dante’s considerable volume made his words ring out loud and clear…

Already made arrangements…? Ashley wondered, her concern growing as each new piece of information revealed itself. Did Finn make some kind of deal with him he never bothered to tell us about?

That thought alone was troubling enough, but things only got worse when one of the cowboy bikers offered to “help”, only to start a chain of events that culminated in an all-out barroom brawl…

Fuck…

With a sigh of tired resignation Ashley shifted to her esper form just in time to hear Finn (now Timekeeper) snap out orders to rescue the group of girls in the establishment’s far corner.

And here I thought I was supposed to be the leader… the Knight of Tomorrow grumbled to herself.

Although she might not have wanted the position, it had nonetheless been assigned to her by Director Moller, and Ashley couldn’t help but wonder what the point of having such a role even was when everyone on her team simply ignored her. That said, if potential innocents were in danger, the Knight of Tomorrow wasn’t about to just idly stand by.

“I’ll clear a path!” Ashley announced, before aiming her techno-wand at the line of four cowboy bikers in front of them and firing a wide pulse of neon green energy. With any luck, it would incapacitate them enough for the trio to pass by.

Yet, even as she did this, the Knight of Tomorrow couldn’t help but wonder if the four girls really needed rescuing. When one really thought about it, the odds of them being nothing more than a quartet of mundane schoolgirls were slim at best. Indeed, it was far more likely that they were monsters or espers, which meant that not only were they capable of handling themselves, but they would also probably be less than pleased about a group of G.E.M.I.N.I. agents trying to “save” them…

---