When I woke up again, the melody coming from the music player had begun to dwindle, but just like it was intended to do, I was able to rest peacefully, albeit I was a bit dizzy when I first woke up...then again, i haven't eaten anything in a while. I rose my head slightly, just enough to get some bearings on my surroundings, and the first thing I noticed was a small little food bar near my hand, attached to it, was a small little note with varying types of handwriting, though I could only read one due to it being the most clearly written one.

It isn't much, but we took notice that you weren't eating

...though I have to ask if you even noticed it yourself.

Regardless, when you're up for an actual meal, me and the others

found this neat place...and no, it isn't that expensive

-Shina

I had only begun to realize now, that I never really knew their full names, not like it mattered, I don't know anybody who has the same name as them...though it's probably because we've killed them on missions...nah. My drowsiness went away and I was able to stand without swaying, I appreciated the food and all, but I really wondered how the mission went. I looked over at the camera wall and saw employees working on Abnormalities. I've been here for a decent while now, yet it still feels unreal, the original L Corp was gone...yet it still looked and felt like the original...of course like I thought, it did feel unreal...but it gave this sense of belonging, like I could change everything with this place. I took the small food bar and unwrapped it, eating it while I watched everything through the cameras, after I had finished I left the office and headed down the elevator, I felt uneasy, it was really quiet in the hallway to the elevator, but then again, all the agents were working, that or sleeping, it didn't make it any better knowing that though. Taking another elevator after I left the first, I made it down into the facility. I saw clerks moving about, moving boxes and files. Agents were moving about, carrying either the kits that Tsuki had, or E.G.O gear from the things they had worked on. One of the agents came up to me, they seemed slightly worried.

"Oliver!" She walked up to me

"What's wrong" I saw a few agents run past behind her

"It's not a major deal...but you know the ordeals that were at the old L Corp?"

"They're here, aren't they?" She simply nodded. "It shouldn't be too bad, we're more kitted out than the old L Corp, let's deal with it, alright?"

"Yup" She took the spear off her back and joined the rush with the other Agents, she seemed a bit childish, but if she chose to join us, then I can't judge. I adjusted my rifle and joined the other agents, one of which turned around and when they saw me, they smirked and then continued looking forward. In my head, I heard some murmuring until it became clear speech.

"One day, a question crossed through my mind. Where do we come from? We were given life and left in this world against our own volition." It was too familiar, and the words were drilling into my head, and from what I could see, the other agents heard it too. I thought for a bit, then remembered, Green Dawn, right, that's what it was.

"Everyone! Make sure the Clerks are protected!" I ordered the Agents, some seemed to understand and started to head back to where they were. "Everyone else, I'm sure we all know this Ordeal"

"Those...mechanical things right?" The Agent sounded unsure.

"That's right, so we can't let them kill anyone...and if they do, we run away...one of their attacks seems to traumatize people, and we can't risk that."

"Understood!" All the agents spoke together, I guess the others trained them well before I got here. We entered, yet, another elevator to get to one of the other floors, there really weren't many departments yet...just like L Corp, we'd have to expand over time.

"The upper floors are clear, everyone focus and regroup on the lower sector" I heard Tsuki's voice over the intercom, guess I missed her when I left my office. When the elevator arrived I noticed blood over the walls...I...damn it

"They shouldn't be hard to kill if we keep our distance, half of you!" I looked to my left, on their IDs were their stats, the left of me seemed to have the more, Abnormalitiy dealing type of stats. "Go make sure the Abnormalities don't escape. And the rest of you" On my right were employees who had better weapons and stats to kill any escapees...or in this scenario, Ordeals. "Follow me" The left side of me ran out and went to the sides of the hallway, checking, and making sure the rooms in the abnormalities's rooms were stable. The rest of us began moving forward, and making progress through the halls, I stood in the front, after all, we know what my rifle does...though I wonder if anything changed. We turned the corner and saw a clerk running towards us, with one of those mechanisms following it. "Move!" I motioned the clerk to move, they dove behind us and held their head down. "Open Fire!" I heard many weapons and rifles click as the guard was disabled. I fired off a shot, making sure no one was behind it, yet I could barely see the shot line as an array of bullets came flying from behind, the machine was torn down into bits and sparks came flying out of it.

"Goddamn! These ordeals are pushovers!" One of my agents were getting cocky, so I decided to mess with her.

"Well, if they're so much of a pushover, then deal with them yourself, without the extra firepower" They seemed to back down "None of you should get cocky, the only reason we can operate is because everyone works in unison, if even one falters, we all do, so make sure you're in top shape"

"Understood!" That was the only word I heard from the barrage of sentences that came after.

"Let's keep going then" We continued moving forward, a few scattered robot parts were around, but it seemed like they were slowly fading from existence...really, why'd this place also have to mimic the terrible things in L Corp as well... We were nearing a corner when a clerk was thrown at the wall to our left, with one of those machines rushing them with a spear-like hand. "Open Fire!" We began to fire at the machine just like before, yet before any average bullet could hit it, the machine whipped a shield out...guess it's not an entire copy of L Corp's ordeals. I started rapid firing with my rifle, hoping to hit some coupling that held the shield up, but nothing came from it. It did however distract it long enough for the clerk to drop to the floor and run at us while taking quick breaths. What we were doing now reminded me of R Corp, purging anything in the way, only...only we actually protected agents and clerks.

"Oliver, here, you guys can use it better than me" The clerk placed something next to me while I kept firing...when I looked down to look at it I heard something burst, so before I could see the item placed beside me, I noticed the machine had been lit on fire.

"Hey, how'd you do that?" One of the agents behind me seemed hyped up.

"I...don't know" The robot was moving around, trying to move its claws behind it to stop the fire. Then another thing burst, only this time is was something in the machine, as a part of it exploded and landed face-first onto the floor, ripping itself apart with the shield on its way down. As the problem was dealt with, I looked down at what the clerk put down earlier. It was this weird...I don't know how to describe it actually...it...was so abstract looking, yet it looked like it attaches to something.

"Umm...what happens if it kills you?" An agent knelt in front of me while looking at the contraption.

"You guys wouldn't do anything to kill me" Was what I thought...and spoke...it was what I believed. I grabbed it and clipped it around my ankle, and immediately something felt off...in a good way, but I didn't know what it did...I would do my best to be careful...whatever that means for me...I hoped I would get to use it...but the alarm that had been blaring without me noticing stopped, and the facility turned to its normal colored walls.

"Oh...well...our bad Oliver, guess we didn't leave anything for you to try it on" An agent turned the corner and spoke to me, seeing me kneeling on the floor, clipping the thing onto me.

"Well...I could always do it somewhere else" I stood up and kept the item on my leg.

"Sure you could, though I have to ask, have you been at your fixer office in a while?"

"No...why"

"Well, just thought you should, considering the fact that people may get skeptical that a high-grade fixer just vanished"

"The syndicates kidnap people all the time, I would be no different" I shook my left leg a bit, the thing clamped down a bit hard, but not enough to cut circulation.

"Yeah, but then there'd be bodies at the very least, everyone knows you wouldn't go down without fighting"

"Eh, Shina and Ao seem like they could take care of my office themselves."

"Not Tsuki and Taylor?" The Agent in front of me, the one talking to me, seemed a bit panicked.

"No, they don't really kill much, at least not enough to be a fixer"

"Really? Tsuki at least seems like one considering she bashed a woman's head in."...Everyone seemed to perk up when they heard it.

"Really now...how would you know that?" I looked at her, full-on eye contact.

"Ah! Shina told me"

"But Shina went in Oliver's room, dropped something off, then left the facility" One of the agents spoke up...

"Really? I thought he did...maybe it was Tsuki herself who told me"

"But Tsuki also went into Oliver's room, then left once she realized he was asleep, and if I'm correct, she didn't go into the elevator...so she's still in her office most likely" I didn't even know she had her own, but it made sense all things considered...I noticed that the agent began to walk backwards...hang on...an agent who was a thumb spy...a female...I looked down at her weapon, it was a different variation but a thumb's rifle regardless. It seemed like everyone had the same idea. I slowly began reaching for my rifle, if it came down to it, I'd shoot her. Once I grabbed onto my rifle I flicked it up but before I could pull the trigger I had something thrown into my eyes, causing me to hold my face in pain, while recoiling back.

"Damn it!" I audibly sounded pissed off, but my voice was slightly muffled under the amount of footsteps that ran past me. When I recovered I looked up to see all the agents chasing after her. I noticed she was heading down a certain path, the one to the elevator. I backtracked, going to the other elevator on the other side, when I reached it however, I realized I didn't know what floor she was going to.

"She's going up!" I heard...very faintly, one of the agents yell over to me...going up...but to where...she wouldn't dare go outside where we could easily open fire on her without injury...it'd have to be somewhere close quarters...the offices?..yeah. I quickly pressed the button to that floor and waited with my rifle ready...only to put it away once I remembered how compact the floor was...for all I know I'd pierce through a wall and shoot someone by accident. After about a minute I arrived to the floor. It was hard to see, but the elevator on the other side of the floor was open.

"Ah, Oliver, what brings you here?" Burns was beside the elevator door...if only you could be at the other one.

"The thumb spy that turned on us, she's on this floor" Burns seemed to get serious, taking out a radio, and speaking something into it, something I didn't understand. I guess his entire army of security knows the language...or code. "I'll get looking" I told Burns before sprinting off further into the floor, agents began exiting their rooms or offices and began searching. I noticed a blood trail...it was a one way hallway...meaning that this was the only way out and in this part of the floor. I called the others over. "Half of you keep searching, the other half, watch this hallway" They all nodded as we began listening for anything. It wasn't really a blood trail, more like small little scratches of blood on the corner of the wall. I began walking through the hall, this time with my rifle in hand, the floor began to become more spacious when I turned the corner, misfiring wasn't much of an issue currently...for now. I continued walking until I heard a thud. I ran over to the noise, making sure to watch my back every now and again, and to also be as silent as I could.

"Auugh!" I heard Shina in pain, I turned another corner and saw the agent again, pressing her thumb into a wound in Shina's shoulder. "Fucking kid!" He took out a taser, but before he could use it, and before I could shoot her. The agent flipped her rifle around and with a thud, slammed the stock into Shina's leg, forcing a reaction of locking his legs and falling over. She began sprinting towards me, she was fast that was for sure, and her movements...just looked like all her bones weren't solid...but she was clearly human, she bled, she talked, and had reactions of one...meaning she just had something terrible happen to her...I had this minute of hesitation...was it really justified to kill her...I mean, I think she turned on us...but we put her into a scenario where she might be forced to. Before she reached me however, a door swung open, almost hitting me in the face, and while my vision was blocked, I could hear a loud thud. A leg curved around the door as the leg moved right, closing the door shut, and there stood Tsuki with a metal bat, standing over the girl.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"Well, that's that" Tsuki's bat turned into her normal kit, and went inside of this small rectangle box on her wrist...it looked impossible, the metal bat dissapearing, and going into that small box...then again...I've seen way worse...I don't know why I'm surprised by that. I saw Shina limp over, with his right arm over a hole in his left shoulder, it wasn't near his heart, so he should be fine.

"She's got some aim, I'll give her that" His breathing was a bit abnormal, but nothing to panic about.

"Yeah well, she can explain everything later...I'm sure threatening her with the abnormalities should be easy"...it was then i learned how ruthless Tsuki could be, bashing someone's head in is brutal...but it was at least somewhat justified...torturing an agent with an abnormality however was new to me. "I think using a certain one would...change everything...if you catch my meaning"...that thing, it was one hell of a power source, but it guaranteed death. "Don't worry about it killing her, we found something that makes people immune to red type damage" I may be wrong, but I had an idea of what the types of damage do, I think red meant damage that would cause bleeding, white damage meant mental damage...but the other two were unknown to me. "Of course, she'll still feel it, but she won't die from it, just be in massive pain the longer it goes on...and don't worry about it staying closed, like I said before, the abnormalities are slightly weaker than L Corp, so Zayin abnorms are easily counterable and that includes we can change anything, we can actually open it now, which is why we don't really have to get power, we just abuse that abnormality, it hurts sure, but when people know they aren't in any danger, they willingly do it." We stood there in silence for a few seconds...she still wasn't moving.

"Did you actually knock her out that badly?" Shina looked up at Tsuki.

"I didn't hit that hard" Tsuki looked at the rectangle box she had on her arm "Maybe this makes it stronger." Tsuki turned and looked at my rifle, before looking at me. "By the way...have you figured out the real reason it changed?"

"Yeah...about that...it set one of those ordeals on fire" It took a second for my words to set in.

"Wait...it...doesn't normally do that though" Tsuki spoke.

"You don't say" I said sarcastically, I was getting a bit hungry actually.

"Looks like you got it handled" I felt a pat on my right shoulder, then a figure walked past me. Ao walked over to the girl and knelt down near her. Before looking at Tsuki and I. "Shina, Oliver, Tsuki, how about the three of you catch up while grabbing something to eat"

"Catch up?" It's not like I've left this building for a year.

"I'll join you three later and bring Taylor, I mean, I don't think we really celebrated Oliver's birthday correctly"

"That's the worse excuse I've ever heard" Shina walked over and walked past me...for someone saying that, it's kinda funny to see him still getting ready.

"Right..." Ao stood up and stretched a bit. "Well, I'll grab some agents and work with them to create some holding area, honestly Tsuki we should've expected people to double-cross us eventually"

"I guess I should've" She seemed a bit down

"Having a massive group just means more people could betray us, not saying we should monitor every single person, but we should be more skeptical of the things they do" I took another look at my rifle, I was still confused about it, has there been an E.G.O taken from another E.G.O, and even then, don't you have to summon it...or have a certain emotional break for it to appear...and yet this is just here...not going away...or anything else. Maybe I was wrong, I don't know much about E.G.Os after all...I didn't even know if this was an E.G.O...E.G.O...E.G.O I've said it so much it's starting to get on my nerves. "Now, if you all are paying for me then I don't mind getting something to eat." I said with a smile on my face, it was clearly a joke but no one went against what I said. I entered my office and sat down, I felt a bit sick...maybe taking the elevator a bunch of times in one day was getting exhausting...or maybe I needed fresh air...actually the air in the city isn't really fresh...well, technically it is...but...no you get what I'm saying, I don't need to explain it more than I already have.

When I looked at the cameras I saw some clerks moving mechanical parts, and some of them with boxes...I didn't really have clothing to go out with...tch how does that even relate to the clerks...maybe I thought that because the clothing they wear could pass as something formal...was this even formal?...I could I would change my outfit sl...actually Der Freischütz's jacket was pretty formal...but the pants weren't...I'll just put something o-...right, I'd have to go to my fixer office for my clothing, before this place I practically lived there after all...I got off from my chair and walked over to the elevator, when the doors started closing I saw the agents dragging that girl from before. Someone stuck their hand in the door, causing it to open, two agents walked in and stood to the right of me. We went to their floor first, I didn't mind of course, it's nothing to be petty about. The agents talked with each other, talking about how annoying some of the abnormalities are to deal with...I can surely agree there...when we got to their floor I noticed it was being built, I looked at the buttons and noticed a new one, the buttons, instead of numbers, had symbols, if you could think of the floors from the old L Corp, you'd know what floors were here now...Last I checked, we only had the control department, yet this showed the training department...more departments, more abnormalities...more casualties...more... everything. I wasn't going to focus on it right now, I'd come to visit it later. For now I pressed the button that led to the ground floor, as in, outside.

After about a minute I was there, back into the horrific city that this place was

"Right...my fixer office..." It's been a hot minute...I had a hard time remembering where it was. I saw an agent leaning on the wall near the elevator smoking something, I walked up to her, hoping she would know. "My bad, but I got something to ask" She looked a bit annoyed, but she motioned her hand in a way that said, 'keep going' "Right...do you happen to know where my fixer office is?" She look kinda dumbfounded, she took whatever she was smoking out of her mouth and stomped it out.

"You're tellin me, that a grade 1 fixer, doesn't even know where their own goddamn office is?"

"Well, I know the general area, just not exactly"

"Fucking hell" She looked down at some small piece of paper. "really?" She mumbled to herself. "Alright...let's go" I was confused at first, until I noticed the paper was a prescript. She got off the wall and began walking. "Come on!" She said in such a demanding voice I thought I was gonna die. She noticed I was looking at her prescript. She raised it and summarized it "Basically, I need to help until a certain something happens, and you, fit the description" So, she wasn't an agent, just someone wearing clothing that my people do.

"Alright..." I decided to go along with it, I needed to get to my office anyway, and hopefully, she didn't lie about the prescript, cause if she didn't, then she isn't allowed to kill me, otherwise the index may come after her, so I'm at least, somewhat safe...if I'm right that is. We walked through the city, we were at least going in the general direction of my office.

"So, L Corp is back huh?" She spoke in a hushed tone as we walked by people.

"In a way..." I noticed that one of the shops in the backstreets closed down...Pierrs? No, it looked like it had been run down for a while now... I heard a lot of shady stuff about them, but it was never my place to deal with them, a fixer does what a fixer is told to do. Walking through the streets became an eyesore, and the smell as well, I also had this nagging feeling I was being watched, no, I was certain, was it a syndicate member? Or maybe the index finally decided it's my time to die for breaking a prescript. "Let's take a detour"

"What? Yeah and go further into the backstreets? No than-" She stopped talking and noticed something behind me. "Shit...alright, fine, lead the way" Both of us took a detour through the alley swerving in and out of them in an unpredictable pattern.

"So, did you see who they were?" She looked at me confused

"You're telling me you noticed them without seeing them at all?"

"I've just been doing this for so long, that I can tell when I'm being watched."

"Well...they weren't the index that's for sure, but they did seem related to W Corp...though, I don't think it is, they have better things to deal with than two fixers." Ah, there we go, she's a fixer.

"What happened?" I was referring to what better things they had to deal with.

"Some people on a warp train disappeared, and people are starting to figure out what W Corp really is, so I heard they went to the library to find books to cover it up with... as you can imagine, they haven't returned...so, yeah, don't think they're alive anymore." She leaned against a wall, the alley we were in split into this square-like area, with four exits. She took a cigarette out and lit it. "Want one?"

"I don't..."

"Right" She continued with her smoking while I sat down near the wall, opposite from her. "So, why're tryin to get into the library?" I paused for a bit...yeah...

"There was someone I was close to...they died in L Corp...it's not really a certain book I'm looking for...I just wanna kill those who caused it"

"Seems like we have a similar goal...I haven't talked with them in a while I guess they were too invested in their job to talk with me...either that or they were already dead by the time I tried to contact him." She had a somber expression. "Well, seems like I'll be willing to help you for the long run, I'm not trying to kill anyone in the library, but if it's an option, then I wouldn't mind" She took a puff and breathed for a bit before continuing. "Heh, did you know there's a group that uses smoke to deal damage to others?"

"What? That seems stupid...though...the smoke war did exist"

"Exactly, though I don't know if they're related, it seems that those who're in the smoke get hurt more easily...though people like me, people who smoke, actually deal more damage with it."

"That seems kinda like a loop in the system"

"I didn't make the rules of the world...well, the rules of the city, who knows what's beyond the city, beyond the outskirts...I wanna try someday"

"You mean...try and see what's beyond the outskirts? I heard there are a lot of high threat level abnormalities there" She took one last puff and then stomped out the cig.

"Well, many people wanna be in a nest, hell people will kill others for it, and honestly, I'm tired of being sheltered by a community and my own family, if I die and become a monster than so be it"

"Even if it means suffering for all eternity?"

"I'll cross that bridge when I get there, I'll get the books of R Corp and other books that tell me about the outskirts so I can better prepare"

"Seems like you got it all planned out" I stood up and walked towards one of the alley exits.

"Yeah, I've been doing this for a while now...what're you gonna do when this is all over?"... "Come on, you don't really think much do you"

"I...never really thought about what comes next...I guess because I've always just been disappointed when I did try."

"I see...well, come up with something right now...fighting...even just living is a lot easier when you know what your end goal is...well, after goal"

"I..."

"You can't think of anything? Settle down with someone, keep being a fixer, create a better L Wing? Nothing!? Really?"

"I'll cross that bridge when I get there" I said it sort of mockingly. "Let's get going, my Cor-" I heard footsteps walking towards the alley, I looked into the exit I was beside and saw a few soldatos walking towards us, eventually standing face-to-face with us. I had my rifle...but there are a few of them...actually, since I'm a grade 1 fixer, I should be able to talk with them...actually they'd have to listen to me, behind the soldatos came a Capo. "What do you guys want?" could it be they know we killed some of them, but I don't recall leaving any of them alive, besides for that double-crosser. The Capo stuck out their hand for me to shake, it was a bit risky, but knowing their hierarchy, I shouldn't be killed. I took the Capo's hand and shook it, they seemed pleased.

"We are not here for much, if anything we were passing by"

"Through an alley?" The girl who I was with wasn't falling for it.

"Yes, we heard there were...I guess you can call them distortions, yes, we were here for a distortion. A fixer pointed us at it in hopes we can deal with it." She didn't seem like she was lying, maybe she was telling the truth. "Although I feel like the name could be different, it was named The Fallen Defender"

"Never heard of it" I crossed my arms.

"Of course, not it is relatively recent" She looked like she was pondering something when one of the soldatos she was with made some motion. "You may speak"

"Yes Ma'am, I was just thinking, This person here, both in fact, are high-grade fixers, and are very skilled in taking out syndicate members" It was in a way, a compliment, and a warning that we killed a few of them. "So, I was thinking...maybe...we could bring them too?" The Capo looked at me, was she waiting for some response?

"I can't, I have other pressing matters" It was a lie in some form.

"Understood, well, we'll be in district 13 if you change your mind, I'm sure finding us wouldn't be too hard" She waved us off and continued walking "It was a pleasure meeting you in the flesh Oliver" I felt a small shiver.

"That person was...odd" The woman with me spoke her concern "It's not that weird she knows your name considering your grade" Ahh, right, of course I'd be known.

"Yeah...let's get to the office already" And to think I just wanted a change of clothes.

By the time I realized where my office was, I noticed it was also in district 13. I took out my keys and opened it...I've only been gone a few days, and the place was destroyed, shelves and desks knocked over, and tech was smashed in.

"Well, what a greeting" She joked as I looked around the office. I heard soft groaning in a closet room, I opened it up and was greeted by someone who looked like they lived in the backstreets. I raised my rifle before noticing they were covered in blood. "What the hell?"

"What happened here?" I knelt in front of them.

"The...p..prescript...told me....to...to protect this office...and destroy all the files...if someone got in..."

"Who was it?"

"They...gave me...a prescript...I...I followed....it...didn't...I...so...why......why...is it...so...warm....?" They slouched over before they stopped breathing. I looked over at the woman with me.

"They followed the prescript yet still died...and..." She took out her prescript.

"Could it be someone's faking them?" I laid the person down.

"I...maybe, but the person who's faking them seems oddly obsessed with you and your office"

"I noticed that too, yet, why would they ask to protect it then? And not just wait there?"

"Maybe, the index wants you dead, but the person who's faking the prescripts wants you to be protected, after all, it wouldn't be the first time someone faked the prescripts, but it would have to be someone who's incredibly steady, and had seen the prescripts before"

"I'd be surprised if a single person hasn't seen a prescript."

"fair enough" She took a look around the office. "So, what type of files do you have that need to be deleted?" I stood up and faced her.

"Nothing really, we barely keep files, and most of the ones we actually keep are reports of the distortions we dealt with."

"So, what do you think they meant? Did they want to destroy traces of distortions?"

"I doubt it, there shouldn't be a need" I went through one of the knocked cabinets, everything was still there.

"So...either the guy didn't listen, or there are files you don't know exist."

"Hold on..." I stood up and walked back over to where the dead guy was. "Why were they here of all places?" I looked around, then noticed a small hole in the corner of the room. I laid down near the body and looked into it, there was this small switch, I reach over and flicked it with my thumb and index finger. I heard rustling as a box fell on my head. "The hell!" I jolted back up while holding my head, I looked over at the shelf as it moved over to reveal a staircase, even though my office was on a higher floor, it seemed to spiral down.

"Well, it's a part of your office...you first" She stood aside from the staircase with an arm towards it.

"Sure..." I readied my rifle and began walking down the staircase, the woman followed as she put something in the middle of the staircase.

"To keep it open, we don't wanna get trapped down here"

We continued walking down until everything whisked into a pitch-black abyss