Archius slammed the duplex apartment door behind him. Slumping back against the door, he groaned with a strained expression. The moment passed. His facade faded, and he got back up. His emotionless stare pierced even his own eyes as he looked in the mirror beside the door. Walking down the hall, past the kitchen area, he entered the living room.

Sitting still in the living room was none other than Kazuki, slowly repairing his railgun, components hovering, as drones tended to his exospine and wounds. The place was moderately large, and best of all the place was practically free. His black button-down shirt was unbuttoned to allow the drones to reach his scars. His face made no emotions visible.

Kazuki's eyes shot to Archius, noticing how messy his sharp, earth green hair had become and the fact that his neck and face were covered with kiss-marks.

Kazuki paused… "Should I even ask?"

"Friends from university," said Archius, tired, "One of them has a loud mouth in the net-industry, thought I could harvest some information from them."

"Oh…"

Archius stretched his arms and shoulders. "I have five thousand informants on this planet alone, and none can tell me about any suspicious merc activity - except for us, of course."

"I see," said Kazuki, his eyes skidding back into place. Despite his emotionless face, he had an air of worry around him. "Went badly?"

"Yes? No? I got more than what I wished for… So, what's been going on since I've been gone?" asked Archius, grabbing a chocolate bar from the counter and biting into it.

"Is it that obvious?"

"Yeah."

Kazuki slowly stood up, loud mechanisms snapped into place as he twisted to face Archius. Drones continued to repair him as he glared at Archius. He could see the dozens of scars, marks, scorches, burns, cuts and stitches that covered his muscles and skin - a collage of human made messes, including the burn mark from his chest to cheek.

"Eliza's been locked in her room the whole day," said Kazuki.

"You think she off'd herself?" asked Archius. Kazuki stayed still, grabbing a scorch-fruit from the table and lobbing it at Archius. He caught it and threw it back at Kazuki, hitting him in the head as it bounced off. "That's a no, then? Alright."

"What happened while I was out of action?" asked Kazuki, placing the fruit back in the basket. "And do not lie."

Archius sighed, leaning against the wall. "Fine, I let Sato handle Eliza whilst I handled the fallout"

"Hmm, and what a great job you did." Kazuki's face turned into a scowl, though his muscles barely moved, Archius could tell. He took a step forward. "Alright. But Eliza still has unfinished business with Lilly. I'm… not suited to motivate her."

"So you want me to do it? Why me?" asked Archius, smirking at Kazuki. "She'll spin back, she always does."

"Because you're the best liar I can trust," said Kazuki.

"Hmm…" Archius let off a wide smirk at his assertion. "You worry about her too much. Sure… I could lie to her, make her feel all better in her head and get her up on her feet."

Despite his words, Archius had an air of distaste within his voice, he could barely hide it. Because he shared a permutation of Lilly's assessment on her. Eliza does her best, but she's a child at a table of killers.

She's unsuited to this. And worst of all, she's annoying to deal with. She gets in the way of Kazuki; she's naive; she's a burden for the AGENCY. Archius has no love for her, no care. She's a side-thought for him, but her becoming more of a focus is becoming ever greater of a problem for him.

"Just… nevermind. Do it," Kazuki ordered Archius.

His face formed a care-free smirk, turning away. "Fine! I'll clean up your mess." But at the end of the day, Kazuki's request weighed heavier than her transgressions. Plus, doing this for both Kazuki and helping Eliza? It'll earn more points with both of them; to do it or not was never in doubt.

"Wait, Archius." said Kazuki, Archius turned back towards him. "Why do you even help me? You could easily find yourself a better job."

Archius groaned, "Yeah! You're an incompetent socialite, a total fucking nerd, an air-head and an emotional idiot. But you're the brother I chose, alright? Plus, someone's gotta put you back together after every mission."

Archius let himself smile for once, showing a more latent side to him. If Kazuki asked for help, he would always answer, after all he's the only person he has left.

"Thanks," said Kazuki. He was definitely worried about more than just Eliza, Archius noticed. The way his eyes slowly flickered off to the side gave it away, even if he maintained composure.

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He might as well give him some respite, Archius thought. "Stop worrying, Kaz, this will all be over soon enough."

Strangely enough, Kazuki nodded. "This will soon be over," he repeated to himself. "Yeah…"

"Kaz… Got something you want to spit out?" Archius asked.

Kazuki's eyes skidded up to meet Archius'. "Maybe…" He paused, then continued, "Yeah. I have been having dreams recently. It's made me wonder: just what am I?"

Ooh, Archius thought, this has gotten very interesting. "What do you want me to say?" he asked. "Murderer? Contractor? Merciless mercenary? Wait… how about this: friend?"

Kazuki nodded, accepting his answer. Archius knows that the answer was far from just being a friend, Kaz was the only 'family' he had left in this galaxy.

Kazuki really was the only one left. But thinking back on it gave him no sense of guilt or regret, all that can be accomplished now is for the mission. Someone must bleed, and it better not be him, he thought. Fuck morals, those qualities get people killed.

Archius walked up the stairs, over across the balcony and into the hallway leading to Eliza's room. The lights were dimmer here. Approaching her door, he saw the name 'Liz' holographically-engraved onto it.

He slapped himself as he formed a neutral face. Neutrality would be the best to deal with Eliza. She understood fake amiability from being a member of the new-gen nobility, so she was never the one to falter to intimidation. There was a fine line he had to tread, a line he'll meet. He gently knocked.

No response. Strange, he thought, she's never the type to refuse guests. Maybe her optimism finally crashed down to reality. He knocked again.

Archius uttered in a soft but commanding voice, "It's Archius. Can I come in?"

Not a single word was uttered. Rolling his eyes, he placed his hand against the tap-screen against the wall as the door slid to the side seamlessly.

He entered. The room was dark, with only the hovering lava-lamp providing any large source of light. Archius flicked the dim-lights on as the room was lit up with a white hue. She was cowering under the duvet. Her room hadn't changed since he snooped around in it. The desk in one corner, bed embedded into the wall. Built in dressers and cabinets beside the bed along the wall whilst a massive bookshelf encompassed the wall connected to the door. A whole display of awards was beside her desk, with holo-posters, most being a random assortment of things.

But the most striking thing of all were the notes. The holographic messages written on every surface of the wall. It creeped Archius out as motivational messages and commands were all around him.

"Eliza." said Archius, "Mind hearing me out?"

No reply came. Archius grumbled. Was she sleeping? Well, he better make sure she wasn't. Grabbing an empty bottle from the desk beside a sleeping AI visualiser, he underhanded it at her. It bounced off with a groan.

She shuffled around in her bed. Archius continued, "I won't force you to look at me. I just want you to listen, alright?"

A slow nod moved the duvet covers. Archius leaned backwards against the desk. "For a newbie, you're doing good, but what happened back there was your fault. If Kazuki wasn't distracted—"

"I know." Eliza mumbled.

"Nothing can change the past. But," Archius' eyes lit up with colour, fake emeralds that shone an aura even Eliza could feel, "There is something you can do about the present. The present is malleable. You can mould it into what you want. You know this. Remember back during the NATs mocks? Kazuki got a higher score than you and you spent the next three weeks straight studying… Fucking hell you two were competitive back then…"

He allowed the information to sink in as he paused. The breaks in his talk allowed her to reminisce. The apology is up to her. Manipulating her was easy, a mixture of guilt, redemption and closure made sense for someone so obsessed about the past.

"You're unstoppable, Eliza," Archius mused, he'd need to provide some vulnerability, "I know the feeling. I used to work as an actor, as you deduced. Some bad stuff happened and I had to pick myself back up. Feels like shit, doesn't it? But you owe Deltastring an apology. And remember… Riharia would've liked you to get on with them."

A moment of silence followed, as Archius turned to leave the room. He could hear shuffling from the bed-sheets. "But who am I talking to…?" Eliza asked. Strange question, Archius mused, just exactly who was she talking to?

"Archius, come on! Did you forget me already?" He let off a slow chuckle. Archius placed his hands in his pockets, trying to shove the question away.

"No," Eliza mumbled. "But you… was everything a lie?"

"No," Archius lied. "Think of it as half-truths, people never show who they really are to others, best to think of it like that, right?"

"But… was the Archius I knew just that? A half-truth?" Eliza asked.

Archius' eyes glanced to the side, hiding behind a gentle smile, something he felt slowly fade. Was it a half-truth? Archius thought through it for a quick second, it wasn't a lie, nor was it the full-truth. "Well, nah, that's just me," said Archius. "I might have Iris-knows-many facades, but that one? That one's real; like I said: best to think of it that way."

"So… we're just shoving this under the rug, then?" asked Eliza, "I just wanted to know… who are you?"

He paused, coming up with a thousand differing tunes that could answer that. Friend? Ally? Enemy? He could be anything she wanted him to be, but that wouldn't satiate her thirst for knowledge; she wanted to know who he truly is. She seems trustworthy enough to know some tid-bits. Plus, if she trusts him, he can harvest even more information off her.

"Fine!" Archius grumbled, pretending to be annoyed. "My name is Yousef. Both me and you've been Kaz's friend for a bit, me 'n' him were put together by design of whoever-the-fuck-comes-above-us, and the rest is history. And all I am is a cheery, over-the-top university drop-out."

"And that is all?"

"I'm just a university drop-out, one that has select skills." He failed to mention that said skills include blackmail, espionage, torture and manipulation… said skills he's using right now.

No response came from Eliza. Archius slowly turned back towards the exit. He told her… some things. His real name never bothered him, if anything: having a fake name suited him. He could use his real name as a trust-chip to buy people in. And he told Eliza what she wanted, he wasn't lying, but he's so much more than that… He was Kazuki's spymaster, the cream of the crop of intelligence operatives, but yes: he is a university drop-out, a cheery one. He was never just that.

"I'll… try to wrap my head around it," said Eliza, through the duvet cover.

Archius quipped back, "Don't, we're friends, aren't we? Does it really matter if you only knew one side of me?"

He could feel Eliza's warmth. It was done, the seed was planted. The foundations were made. He turned and left the room. All that was left is Eliza to reignite herself.