I felt my face pressed against a desk, I struggled to sit up, it felt like my body wanted to sleep a little longer.

"Heard the library became an Urban Nightmare, means they're going to be more of a threat now" I heard Tsuki's voice, I thought she was talking to someone else but when I finally sat up I noticed she was looking at me. "We should attack before they become the star of the damn city"

"N-No...it'd be pointless, the more we wait the more books we can get" I saw her cross her arms on a chair, looking at me from across the room.

"The whole point is for revenge, not the books, and even if it was, what kinda book would you want?"

"Leo's"

"...yeah...figures" She uncrossed her arms and walked over to me, setting down the music player I just used. "I got more info on this thing, as long as you don't panic while using it, it'll allow you to sleep in peace without seeing any horrors, so only use it if needed...and don't abuse it alright?" I grabbed it and put it in my pocket.

"I understand"

"Hey Oliver, why didn't you just attack the library when it first appeared?" Tsuki sat on my desk and awaited a response.

"I..."

"Are you starting to feel some remorse for them? No, that can't be the case, I know you still hate Hod"

"I just couldn't...I...wasn't ready, physically, or mentally" I got up from my desk and looked at the TVs mounted on the walls, showing the facility's cameras. "Anything happen while I was out?"

"Nothing really, we had one break out" I looked over at her. "No worries, it wasn't anything major, just that stupid bird again."

"Right...How about that blob? The one that came from that thing" I still refused to say it properly...it didn't deserve the name...it surely melts though.

"Still existing...hey Oliver, have you heard about the index?"

"One of the fingers right? In my opinion, they're psychos who're part of a cult, those stupid prescripts"

"So you do know about them...have you seen how bizarre some of them can get?"

"Yeah, I was given one before" I only followed them until they got to the killing aspect...and eating stuff that would kill me.

"You're not dead though" Tsuki began sorting different abnormality folders as we talked.

"Ironically one of their prescripts told them not to kill me...saved by the thing I hate you could say."

"Really? I thought they were ordered to kill you if they found out you didn't follow them."

"No, and even that, they only know because the prescripts tell them someone disobeyed their orders...hell, if the index pop up in my fixer office, then we know damn well why they're over there." I wouldn't be surprised if the index even appears here, they seem to always know where people are...well, at least if I'm here I'll have the backup of hundreds of employees...then again, they are a finger, so I can't exactly underestimate them. "Hold on, why are we talking about them?"

"One of our agents saw a few index people sign the invitation, we do have insider intel after all." I looked at her in disbelief.

"You have some of our people in the index?" She nodded, then continued talking.

"They're safe as long as prescripts are handed out, they're a messenger so fighting isn't common for them, but we still watch over them, so don't be worried about their safety."

"Still...to think you have people...wait, do you have people in all of the fingers?"

"No, sadly not, we only have people in the thumb and the index, though, we had our numbers in the thumb dwindle, thanks to their egotistical rules" ... "You can probably guess what happened, but our insiders have been getting picked out after we had to bust in one of their meetings to protect one of our agents" She shook her head. "How can people follow those rules, half of the time I'm sure they're made up." she took a breath "You know...there's a small little outpost that the thumb has, one of our insiders are there so we know how they're set up, we can take them out if you want, unlike the original Lobotomy Corp, we're a lot more stocked with weaponry...to be fair we did steal most of them, but you know."

"Wouldn't that get our insider killed? Or at least make them more skeptical since they're the last one alive?" Tsuki smiled.

"Not exactly, we're gonna do something that will make them more...higher in the hierarchy, we'll fight them but then we'll act as though our insider beat us, saving some of the Soldatos in that outpost, not only will we be able to get some of them, but we'll also get our insider into a higher position."

"I...feel like they have some rule that'll go against that, then again, they also just don't care about their subordinates, so it might not do anything...but...getting some of the thumb members will be advantageous for us, so, if we do, do this, when are we doing it?"

"...I mean, you are the leader here you know, it's your call, whenever you see fit, if you want my personal opinion though, I suggest we do it soon, we ended the day a bit ago, so we don't have to worry about abnormalities breaking out."

"Hmm...who do we have availab-

"You know who, Me, you, Shina, Ao, Taylor...of course you can stay if you want to, we shouldn't have our manager getting killed in the first few days."

"I'll go, I wouldn't feel right if I just sat and watch everyone risk their lives for my cause, even if they believe in it as well. We have to remember how strong they are, if I can go to change the tide, then I see no reason why I won't."

"Well, get ready then, I'll get the others" She walked out of my office before I could say anything...I couldn't even say when we're doing it...I walked back over to my desk and crouched down, I was in my manager outfit, yet, under my desk I saw a box with a rifle hanging from the bottom of the desk...I think we all know what they were. I took off my jacket and took out the coat, it's blue and unique design made me remember it well. I wrapped it around myself, putting my arms through the slots, I looked up at the rifle, it was held on by two clips, I undid the small little bolting that was on it and took it off it's hanging stand. Holding it again, even after just a few hours was hard, but I felt a sense of belonging when I held it, instead of thinking about the lives I've ruined with this weapon, I began thinking more about the lives I've saved and will save, I'm no longer constrained along long corridors with people in front of me, instead, even with this new LC, it's more open, the chance of me actually hitting an employee or one of my co-workers were slimmer than they've ever been. I put the strap around me and stood up while four people came in, Tsuki again, Ao, Shina, and Taylor.

"Well then Oliver, let's get to it" Ao held a rifle, it looked like one of the thumb's rifles. Tsuki had that blade whip of hers again, the one that slowed helper down a drastic amount. Shina held this taser-looking thing, although it still had a blade on it. Shina looked at me, then down at his weapon.

"Cool ain't it, stole it from one of those W corp guys" He moved it around "They're really into electrical items."

"Trust me, their electric fetish is better than what their singularity is" I spoke aloud, they all looked at me confused. "Oh...have any of you taken a Warp train?" They all shook their heads.

"Hell no, why would I use something from another corp?" Tsuki spoke.

"Well, their singularity is a lie, it's not instant transportation, instead, they use the singularities of many other corps, they put you on the train and bring you to another rip in time, they'll put you there for years and years on end, driving you insane as it's impossible to die. Then, when it's all over, they erase your memory and put you back together after you've been tortured in many different ways. The only way you can get on safely? Get a first-class ticket"

"Hold on" Ao leaned against the wall near the door. "How do you know then? If they erase your memory"

"You know how colors aren't allowed on the trains?" They all nodded. "Well, I was on the train once and I just so happened to be on the same one where a color snuck in, it was long and painful, struggling not to go insane, but that color kept us all in check and even trained us to fight, so, the minute the cleanup crew came, instead of mangled corpses all over the place, there were over a hundred trained killers to take them all out, it's supposedly the reason they started teaming up with R corp"

"So, you were trained by a color?" Taylor sounded curious.

"Well, I barely remember what they thought me, I don't even remember their name, though there was one color that caught my attention recently"

"And that was?" Tsuki folded her weapon, attaching it to a belt around her waist,

"The Purple Tear, I heard they also have the power to travel through dimensions, or time...or whatever it was...still, they interested me...nevermind, we should get on with the missio-" Tsuki, interrupting me, held out this bracelet. "What...is that?" It had this weird feeling to it, like the souls of the damned were in it.

"We found a way to mimic the power of the library, you know, to take abnormalities buffs? Of course, it's not as strong as the library's, we could only mimic a fraction of what it's capable of... and these bracelets allow for it, of course, if you want it to be max power, you need to understand the abnormalities more...which means interacting with them"

"...so be it then, I'll...'interact' with them when we get back." I put the bracelet on, it felt a bit uncomfortable, but nothing I couldn't deal with. "Alright, let's get with dealing with the thumb" I slightly grabbed a part of the outfit I wore a moved my hand forward while letting go, puffing out the cloth a bit, it felt like it was sinking into me...Der Freischütz...It's hard to pronounce...not for some, I presume...I wonder how many other agents have killed their co-workers on accident thanks to this...I'll be careful this time...I promised myself that.

"Then away we go!" Ao led the way while we followed behind him, after leaving my office we headed for the elevator that would lead outside. There were two elevators, one for leaving the facility, and the other for moving around the facility, this place was really one replica of the original L Corp...It still doesn't feel right... We all entered the elevator, the other three were talking about the fingers, making up random theories about them, I on the other hand...a not intended pun...was just listening.

"Where do the prescripts even come from?" Tsuki's question caught my attention, more because I wondered, were the prescripts some higher being, or just some bastard on the top, wanting to get his competition killed...then again the prescripts are vague...One if I recall was marrying some brunette girl...then killing another guy if he waved at you with a specific hand...what purpose does it serve, as they just kill random people...though that may just be what it looks like from the outside, maybe, for all I know, they're actually killing specific people that benefits them.

The elevator came to a halt, making a quiet yet noticeable creak while a jingle muffled it. I waited for the four of them to exit the elevator as I was in the back. When we exited I started remembering what city we lived in...if this was the last city in the world, I'd take my chances in the outskirts if I was an outsider, it'd be better, and a quicker death than what this place can do. It's so hard to believe there are schools in this place for children...hell, I'm surprised there are children...the only reason I lived in this city was because an L Corp agent took care of me when I was young, taught me everything I needed to know, which included going against the fingers...every finger had some terrible thing about them, the index and thumb show that.

"You know I just realized something" I spoke out while looking at the sky. "I still need to do fixer work, if my office just randomly disappeared, it would be a bit suspicious, especially since I've done work with the fingers before" I looked back down at the others.

"Right, what grade were you again?" Tsuki took a notebook out.

"Grade 1, if I recall correctly, though some friends of mine called me a color" Tsuki looked up from her notebook, she was writing something...or drawing, but seemingly stopped after I said my grade.

"Har har, nice joke"

"I mean it, remember, though I don't remember everything, I was trained by a color, I was also trained by an L Corp agent, worked for the corp as well, survived that nightmare, and dealt with my fair share of distortions" Tsuki went back to her notebook, seemingly scribbling something out. "I mean, I've also got Shina and Ao working for me as well, and they can hold their own, if we all combined our strength into one person, I think we'd be beyond the power of a color"

"Though, there's this office that keeps taking our work, though I don't think they realize it, so there's no need for conflict" Ao spoke.

"What office was it?" Tsuki leaned on the wall to the entrance as she kept writing, I was able to get a peek at it. The notebook seemed to contain different fixers, including us, some thumb members were also there, but they had an X on them, they were probably killed.

"Mos...Moses? Was that it?" Ao looked at me.

"I think it's somewhere like that, whatever power that woman had is pretty strong for a fixer, being able to see distortions before they even come out" Tsuki had noticed I was staring at the notebook while I talked, she seemed more relaxed and realized she hadn't shown me.

"It's different fixers who catch my interest, they seemingly also have something wrong with them."

"That's a way to say we've got problems" Shina fiddled with the taser weapons he had.

"It's not like I'm wrong...nevermind, you guys can tell me later, let's get going" She closed her notebook and put it in her pocket...I'd guess it'd be more accurate to call it a little journal, the height of it was about two hands worth, and each page side was one and a half. "The Thumb's little outpost isn't far from here, we can have a slight jog and still be early" The insider agent was getting ready herself from what I heard in the elevator, yet it would make the others skeptical if they stayed put, so we're on a timer.

We began the light jog to the outpost, yet this weird tingling started near my wrist where the bracelet was, it was like people were mumbling in my ears, but by the time I tried listening to them, they disappeared, though the tingling was still there. After I regained my focus I noticed the outpost, there were two walls that we crouched behind, Tsuki and I crouched behind the left-most one, while the other three, Ao, Shina, and Taylor, were behind the other one, the right-most one if you will. I looked at my rifle, thing better not go rogue. A hand came into my view, holding a bayonet with a hook on it.

"So you don't have to shoot when we're nearby." I took it from Tsuki, and although it was hard to get on, it eventually attached. In the distance, a door could be heard opening, I peered over the small wall and saw two people walking beside each other. Looking at the place, it looks less like an outpost, and more like they were kicked out and had to survive themselves, there were more tents than buildings. I heard something dissolve to my right, when I looked back at everyone, I saw them all pick up some page with an abnormality's picture on it.

"the hell is that?" I whispered as I lowered my head back down.

"As I said, we copied it from the library, we don't know why their powers come from pages, but it's how we get it regardless, just tap your bracelet." I did as she said, after pressing my bracelet three pages appeared, and above it showed 'Emotion Level I'

Three abnormality pages appeared

"Request"

"1.76 MHz (Unstable)"

"Eye Contact (Unstable)"

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

None of them said what they did...was this that thing Tsuki mentioned, about how we couldn't get everything the library could do...there were images though...I didn't care about any of them besides for Request...Der Freischütz was on it... I already have their gear...why not the page.

"Oliver" Tsuki got my attention before I could pick "These things go away after a fight, unless it's a fight right after another. How you fight changes what pages you get as well"

"Right" I took the request page, it dissolved and its essence went back into the bracelets while the other two vanished.

"Ready you two?" Taylor called for us, a bit too loud actually. We both nodded. Right after though Tsuki handed something to me, it was a picture, I assumed it was our insider so I don't accidentally shoot them. They were blonde, wearing the typical Thumb clothing for the Soldatos, they did have a small hair clip on their hair. I put the picture in my pocket. And in a few seconds, Ao, Tsuki, and Shina went through the opening in the walls, while Taylor and I hopped over our respective walls, both of our weapons were ranged after all. I raised the magic bullet and fired a shot, piercing through both of the thumbs walking beforehand. They were still standing though, these people were clearly stronger than the employees at L Corp. I noticed my bracelet turning on with a screen on it, but the only thing was "Emotion Level I" and then a color appeared, Green, it happened right after I shot them... and they seemed to be more staggered than any other people I've shot before...maybe it was just a stronger shot.

Tsuki rushed the closer one while Taylor shot the other guy in the ankle, causing their aim to worsen, the shot from the person Tsuki was rushing slightly grazed her ear but she was able to wrap that electrical whip of hers and shock the guy, after holding him there for a few seconds he stopped moving and dropped onto the floor. Shina stood on the other person's neck and extended his taser into a baton, jabbing them until they stopped moving. I looked over to see what Ao was doing, to see him choking someone out, and after they kept resisting he ended up stabbing them in the throat...right we're here to kill them, after around five seconds they stopped moving, and Ao let them drop onto the rocky floor. I looked back at the other three. I noticed their bracelets had three green bars on them. Well, Tsuki, Ao, and Shina had that, Taylor was like me with only one bar. I noticed something when I shot them though, they had this symbol above their heads, which the others seemed to not notice, it was gone now though. Another shot rang out and we all took cover separately, I was still near the wall so I jumped back over, I didn't know where the others were though. The gunfire continued, yet the second I heard it stop I stood back up and aimed my rifle over to where the noise was most obvious, many Soldatos stood there, some were rushing over to cover to reload, I on the other hand don't have that problem. I lined up the shot to hit three people at once, however I could only get one in the head, the others were moving to fast, and I only managed to graze them, four green bars appeared on my bracelet and they then disappeared, the bracelet flickered for a second then it changed. 'Emotion Level II' It showed the faces of Tsuki, Taylor, Ao, and Shina instead of the bars, they all had one thing in common, they all had a I next to them, most likely symbolizing one, it must've meant I was waiting for them to reach Emotion Level II as well. I felt energized after reaching two, like any stamina I lost came back.

"There's one back there!" One of the thumbs pointed in my direction, seeing the blue hue trail that came from my shot. The thumb who pointed me out seemed to be more kitted out, with different clothing, he must've been a higher-up, and looking at the others who were all behind cover, we all agreed to leave her alive. I ducked back down as a shot cut through my cheek, it burned that was for sure. I tried getting near the wall to hear if anyone else was reloading, yet, when I looked at the wall, I noticed I saw the same symbol before, yet I saw it through the wall. The symbol was above the people who I shot before, except they were alive this time, and the symbol moved wherever they did. So I decided to be cheap...no, it's being careful. I crouched back a bit and held the rifle on my knees. I aimed below the symbols a slight bit a fired, just like I hoped the shot pierced through the wall and seemed to hit the guy as I heard him shout in pain, until I heard something crack, my bracelet updated again Tsuki's I changed into a II.

I could only really hear what was going on, yet when the fire went from me towards where Tsuki finished the guy, I rose up again, the other symbol was gone, I guess it only affects one person I shoot. If everyone needed to be at II for something else to happen, then I needed to help the others gain those bars, it seemed to increase when we kill someone, or damage someone severely with a single attack. A thumb member was charging towards Ao, who was the farthest away from everyone. I did my best to aim, yet only hit the guy who was charging Ao in the arm, which pierced through their chest a slight bit before they fell over from the impact. Ao jogged over and stomped the guy's head in, splattering blood and brains across his shoes. It was a blunt attack Ao did, yet, it shouldn't have easily splattered like that, and he was a lot slower than he normally was, it must've been the page he picked. Ao's I also changed to II, the other two already had four bars, and from what it looked like, only one more was needed for them. Shina seemed to get someone while I wasn't looking and gained the II status. It was just Taylor now.

A shot pierced through my arm, forcing me to get down and take cover...I was too zoned out, and in this city...and soon in that library, zoning out means death, yet, you can't plan if you don't place your focus on it... I decided to try something. I took off the bayonet and tossed it in the air, I raised my rifle and shot it, putting a hole in the handle, but it launched towards one of the thumbs. I peered around the corner and saw the thumb the knife darted towards dodge away from it, losing their balance. Taylor charged and tackled them to the ground, he took the knife that was flung earlier and tried stabbing the thumb member, the thumb used their hand to take the stab instead as it tried to impale them, I rushed over and used the rifle as a bat, and swung it at the thumb's leg. The thumb screamed in pain and Taylor ripped the knife out and stabbed the Soldato again, this time in the heart. I noticed a thumb aiming at us. I was about to shout at Taylor to get to cover, but time slowed, and three pages came up to my face with the words above them all being

Emotion Level II

I also saw four pages on the bottom, each with my group's faces.

Ao had one named Chained Wrath...it was weird though, that one has a II on it, can our kit go past the Emotion requirement for the pages?

Tsuki had Love

Taylor had Thorns

and Shina had Prey

Ao was the only one with an Emotion Level II one, I'll ask him about it later.

"Courage"

"Ruddled Welts"

"Metallic Ringing"

Those were the three I was given, I decided to take Courage and Immediately I felt envigorated and safe. I dove and tackled Taylor as time started up again, the bullet hit me, but it only dug into my leg a slight bit and the pain was only slightly there. We both stood up and ran over to where the others were, the two of us crouched down and took cover with them.

"So, where's that insider of yours?" I looked at everyone, waiting for an answer, one that I didn't get.

"She should've been out by now" Tsuki sounded worried, maybe that woman from before was her, maybe she turned against us.

"Hold up, Oliver!" I looked at Ao, he pointed at the wall we were hiding behind, but in a specific direction. "They have an effect on them, I can see them through the walls." I guess I wasn't the only one who could do that, but I was the only one able to shoot through walls. I sat up and followed Ao's directions, he moved my rifle slightly lower and to the left. "And fire!" I pulled the trigger and shortly after three green bars filled my bracelet, indicating I got them. There was something I noticed when aiming, above us were explosives, set on weak scaffolding of the outpost, the five of us noticed it together.

"I got an idea!" Tsuki wrapped her whip-like thing around the pillars to the scaffolding and yanked it down. The explosives started coming down on us, there were only three, but they seemed pretty huge. Ao, Shina, and Taylor grabbed them and started rolling them over the small wall we were behind, a few shots hit them but it only caused minor sparking.

"All yours!" They ducked down while Shina called for me. I peeked over to see where the explosives were, the thumbs around were dispersing away from them, but a majority were still near it. I aimed and shot at the leak the explosives had, it didn't explode, not yet, but a fire did start, Tsuki jumped over the small wall and began running towards the fire.

"What're you doing!?" I was going to provide covering fire as I thought she was going to attack them, but running through the fire seemed like suicide, and yet, she ran through it with no problems, no pain, no nothing, not even her clothing was affected. I saw electricity through the smoke and the glow spun around, and a chain reaction started hitting and surging through the thumb members until almost all were unconscious, or dead. There were only four other thumb members standing, the leader woman from earlier, and just plain Soldatos. Their weapons were nowhere to be found, but that didn't mean we could rest easy. We all grouped up with Tsuki again, she saw the pissed-off look I had.

"One of the abnormality pages makes me immune to it, so it's fine" She just shrugged it off.

"A warning would've been nice" We all surrounded the remaining thumb members, none of them said a thing to us as we approached.

"So, you already found them huh?" Tsuki chatted with the leader, I found it stupid to just admit there was an insider, but when I looked into one of the tents, I saw a bed pooled with blood...of course, they'd know. The leader just spat at her while mumbling something I didn't understand. Tsuki brushed it off. "Oliver"

"Yeah?"

"Can I borrow your rifle for a second" The other three were confused.

"I can shoot them myself you know" Although I said that, I was still handing her the rifle.

"Of course you can, I know that" Tsuki shot the three Soldatos who put up slight resistance by trying to stab us with knives, and when it came to the leader, she seemed to accept what was coming, however, instead of shooting her, Tsuki flipped over my rifle and swung it towards the leader's skull. The sound that came from the impact was loud, and the leader seemed dazed by it, just as much as we were all startled by it. Tsuki without hesitation readied herself again and swung from the left side this time, I wasn't even being the one being hit yet I still heard ringing, red mist started filling the air, as blood began pooling from the woman's head. No one said anything as Tsuki just kept swinging, again, and again, every time she did another green bar appeared on her bracelet until it reached the maximum one. She started slowing down her swings when the leader stopped moving...either that, or because her head was already mush and indistinguishable.

"You done yet?" I took the musket from her hands, she was breathing heavily...or maybe I was hearing wrong...I felt a bit nauseous and dizzy, it could've been my breathing...was I too warm? my arm felt warm...

"Yeah...I am" She let out one more breath and stood up straight. "Seems like our girl turned against us...either that or they assigned her somewhere else."

"Which is more likely" Taylor began speculating "Honestly, she may have just been scared, it is the thumb after all, you could have your tongue cut, your eyes gouged out, your limbs ripped off, yet they'll keep you alive to suffer the consequences. I wouldn't blame her if she just went 'fuck this, it isn't worth it"

"It's a plausible answer, though they should've just came back to us if that was the case, it's not like the thumb restricts movement." Ao countered Taylor's argument.

"Either way" Shina spoke out. "We should get looking for them, if they did turn on us, then we only have a certain amount of time before they start talking about the new L Corp." I heard a small click, I looked down at my bracelet and saw the bars and Emotion Level had reset, I guess there's a timer for how long we can be out of combat.

"Right, if that really is the case we only have a little while, but we shouldn't rush just based on ideas" Tsuki, Shina, and Taylor began walking somewhere, me and Ao followed, but I kept him behind a bit to ask a question, well, I did after holding my head, trying to steady myself.

"Ao"

"hmm?" He looked at me.

"The Abnorm pages, you started with an Emotion Level Two page, how?"

"Enkephalin I assume, after all, I still feel its effects on me, sometimes I still see or even hear things that no one else can, maybe that gives me some connection to Abnormalities, I mean, it does come from them after all." I guess that made some form of sense. "Hey Oli...vr...are you alright?" I began to lose my footing and hearing, I was dragging myself at this rate. I began to hear this rythmic dripping, one second, two seconds, and it dripped...one second...two seconds..drip. I looked down and noticed my left arm bleeding...oh right...I did get shot...twice...or was it three times? "T...ki!...Ina....lor" I could hear Ao calling for the others...at least I assumed he was. I began leaning forward yet I came into contact with something, someone was holding me up...an arm shot...shouldn't be doing this much...even with being grazed...it shouldn't...be making me feel so tired...Then I began hearing it...not the fact that the others were calling my name...but the melody from that music player...it was so welcoming...like a warmth I had forgotten.

"O...i...er" I felt the warmth of my own bed...I wanted to be back there after all this...then again...anything is better than dealing with these distortions...

"Oli...er" Anything is better...than trying to get some pointless revenge.

"Oliver!" I jolted up from my be-...wait...this place...was so familiar...I felt something pumping into my arm...I looked to my right and noticed an IV connected to me...and the familiar voice that brought me awake...I looked over to where it came from, from my left...Leo...Leo was sitting on his chair watching over me, and Shina was leaning on the doorway, not saying a word, just like back then.

"Leo..." I could feel burning in my eyes...

"Oliver...are you alright? You went back to the old L Corp...something bad must've happened then" Was my mind trying to comfort itself?...why...why was it working too.

"Leo...I" I couldn't say anything...yet I could feel pressure on my left arm.

"You keep saying my name, what's with that? You know...the phone you gave me was for protecting me right? so why didn't you use it when you needed help?" I...

"...I...don't deserve it"

"Don't think that's right...you did your best after all...I know...you tried your best...but" What was he on about...no...this was a dream wasn't it? This wasn't reality..."But...no...what am I saying, if you really tried your best, then I would still be alive, if you actually even tried a slight bit, no one in that facility would've died" I could hear my heavy breathing...the entire area around me was distorting into a jumbled mess...though I was still in my bed, the area became the Lobotomy Corporation...the original one, not the one we had now...I was up against the wall of a corridor just like I was in my room...yet in the distance I saw it...that thing was coming towards me...her melted blobs that follow her joining her in their approach...I could hear sobbing below me. I peeked over to my left and saw a younger Leo crying there...My memories were becoming a mess, and the longer I was in this dream scape the more they became messy, and the worse this pressure on my left harm became...when did Leo really die? What was the real reason he died...did I really try like I keep being told...Leo...I wanted to change things...I wanted to protect you like I promised I would...was Hod really at fault...or was I at fault?...That thing got closer...nearly on top of us...no matter what I wanted to do...I couldn't protect Leo...nor could I back then...

Right before it started ripping us to shreds, I jolted up again, and figured out what the pressure on my arm was from. Tsuki bandaged up my arm while Ao supported my head, the other two were keeping a lookout as we seemed to move into an alley...I guess that thumbs would've realized who killed there soldatos if we didn't move. Tsuki had a thread in her mouth, I followed it down to see a needle near my arm...oh...I can assume she stiched it herself.

"Therm youm go, fimed up right bemore he wakes up." The thread in Tsuki's mouth made some words a bit off, but fine enough to understand. She took the thread out her mouth and cut it, putting the rest in a first aid kit right beside her before putting it in her bag.

"Told you he'd be fine" I heard Ao talking behind me, sitting me up. Tsuki stood up and extended a hand out.

"Come on, we should get back to the L Corp" I grabbed her right hand with my right and let her help me up. I could feel tugging on my left arm, the stitches weren't perfect from what I could feel. "Don't stretch your hand out, we don't need you becoming a cyborg like most in the backstreets"

"I don't intend to either" I let go of her hand and felt my arm, I could feel where the stitches were through the bandages, bandages which were already a small bit stained in red.

"Right, imagine if our manager died a day after he was appointed, it would've tanked our plan." Taylor was right...it wasn't just me who wanted to take the library down now...I already knew this...I just need to remember it.

"Yeah...so...what now?" The others seemed confused.

"What now? What now!? What happens now, is, you're going back to L Corp and rest" Tsuki answered my question...though with a not so preferable answer.

"Bu-"

"No Oliver, I agree with her, that arm shot shouldn't have knocked you out, meaning something else is going on, and until it heals, which at most will take a day, you're not going on missions" Just a day for this?...what extra things did they put on it to make it heal that fast? Or...I heard my bracelet click again like before...there it was, they must've attacked more Thumb members and used those pages to heal me...

"Thank you" I blurted it out without realizing it, they all smiled though...seeing so many people happy including myself was a pretty rare sight in this city...but it surely was a great sight.

"No problems...well...actually dragging you hear was bit of a problem...especially with that new thing you have...well I guess more fo changed thing." I was confused on what Ao was talking about, he was looking behind me...the Der Freischütz was what I assumed he was looking at. I swung it around over to my chest...it was nearly entirely different, instead of blue, it was nearly all yellow, and I could hear this small hum, and beneath it was this wave of sounds...sounds that almost resembled human speech, but wasn't quite there yet...from the reactions of others, or, more the lack there of, only I could hear it.

"Yeah, we jumped when it changed all of a sudden, we thought it was gonna explode...though it makes me wonder, does the musket think of you as a color as well? I mean, the yellow has to mean something right? Otherwise it would've stayed blue. I guess you weren't lying when you said some friends considered you a color...who knows, maybe Der Freischütz considers you one too."

"Har har, Der Freischütz isn't even around, nor are they even in our facility...at least I know of." I looked at the musket more, the bayonet was back, and now the attachment was a part of the weapon, seeminglessly being a part of it at that, the whole design was pretty different too and a floating yellow sight was above it, whenever I moved it, no matter how I moved it, the sight would always be in a spot where I could aim accurately without tilting my head.

"Well...the only other thing I could think of is...you're creating your own E.G.O" E.G.O...I'm sure we all know what that was at this point Der Freischütz's musket...the thing I was hol-...the thing I used to hold was his E.G.O but making my own?...I guess it wasn't impossible...but, I'm sure others should've had it other than me.

"Oliver will have time to think about it himself back at the Corp, we should get going before the Thumbs get here" I agreed with Shina, and with that I returned to the Corp alone without anything happening, I did however pass by a few index members three of them, one looking insanely robotic, and the other notable one with long hair, so long one of their eyes were covered. Another person I came across waved at me with their right hand...I just passed index members, so I ignored them, she seemed a bit pissed...her prescript must've been the same as one I heard before...'wave at someone and if they wave with their right hand, kill them' too bad I would've killed her if she tried it, I guess this was my way of sparing someone...I think. I entered the Corp's elevator and noticed Burns was in it with me.

"Manager, you've returned...alone..." Did I not tell him to just call me Oliver?...no, my memories got jumbled during that time, i must've confused it with telling Leo.

"Yeah, I got hurt and the others didn't take no for an answer, not like i tried resisting much." I felt my left arm again, the bandages hadn't gotten more bloody, the bleeding from the stitches must've stopped.

"I see, well, just focus on resting, we've handled everything today"

"So I've been told" Burns seemed proud of himself, must've been a long day of working. I got off the elevator when I reached my floor, agents were walking about as we had put rooms in the Corp itself, so agents could easily be waken up if an emergency happened...it's optional of course, but provided safety for those being hunted by syndicates or any of the fingers. I made it to my office and sat in my chair, looking at the wall of cameras. I opened my desk to find that music player that I was given before...I was tempted to listen to it...so tempted that I couldn't resist, I put the earbuds in and pressed play, it was a different song this time, but still gave this sense of saftey and nostalgia, and unlike last time where it went rogue, it remained peaceful, and I drifted off to a peaceful sleep, laying on my desk.