Mia landed in the arena, the waves of despair hitting her as soon as she left her ship. She walked past the hero groups straight in Zach's direction.

"Zach." She said calmly. "You have a lot to answer for."

Zach just let out a defeated sigh. He couldn't fight it. Was there anything to fight?

"Yes, Mia." He let out. Not a shred of emotion in his voice.

"Now then." Mia said, glancing around the arena and walking up to Willow.

"Vannana. Status report."

"Currently, only one missing. Cassandra, from the Miracle Scouts."

"So no deaths?"

Caoimhe and Capri ran out from the hallway.

"Adebayo died!" Capri shouted out.

"What?!" Mia turned around, trying her best to retain her composure.

"There was some kind of blinding light in the hallway, and Adebayo got shot down by whatever made it!"

Mia made her way to the hallway, being greeted by Adebayo's corpse.

"His partner, where is he?"

"He went to get Cassandra's boyfriend." Willow replied.

"I'll call him to get back." Rodrick said, pulling out his phone.

"Now then, while they deal with that, Zach." Mia commanded. "Your house, if you please."

"It blew up in the attacks."

Mia put her hand to her face to try to conceal her rage.

"Find a hotel room, then."

Mia strided through the halls. Everyone walking past knew to get out of the way as Zach slowly walked behind her. Once she found an empty hotel room, she went inside it and instantly set two chairs across from each other. Zach locked the door behind them, and sat across from her.

"You are going to explain everything." Mia said calmly. Both knew the calmness was a façade. At any moment, Mia could explode into a fury that could end with a destroyed hotel. And it's not like her reasons wouldn't be justified.

"Where do I start?" Zach asked, trying to be a pillar of calmness in this moment

"You bastardized a tournament that the Skyspace has cherished in a poor attempt to flush out the Legion, and what do you have to show for it? A destroyed city, a possible danger to the Skyspace, with one member of a top hero group dead!"

"Yes, that's true." Zach nodded.

"And that's all you have to say?" Mia asked. "Not to mention, the only possible salvage of this situation was the fact that I managed to take out some of their ships when I was trying to see what happened."

"Wait, you did what?" Zach asked, jerking upright.

"Destroyed their ships." Mia repeated calmly. "Don't worry, they left Cassandra in plain view so that I wouldn't destroy her ship. Although I suppose that means anyone important was on that ship."

"And you're fine with that?" Zach yelled. "There were people on that ship!"

"Legion members, Zach."

Mia's voice cut through whatever point Zach was going to make.

"Unless, of course, you want to defend those terrorists."

"I do, actually."

The fury in Mia's eyes flared up for a brief moment. Her body tensed up for a brief second with her hand on her sword, before she returned to her neutral position.

"Go on."

"Cassandra and I were talking about this. The Legion kidnaps children and turns them to soldiers to attack the Skyspace. So if we save and contain them, there's a good chance we could undo at least some of the brainwashing."

"So you want to just allow Legion members back into society? Have you given even a moment to consider what could happen? Imagine if Legion members from Saoloro were allowed back in. Those two boys still in comas? I can't imagine their families would be happy. And Sangaria? Luminita would be begging for her own downfall."

"Well, it wouldn't be all at once. We interview them, monitor and attempt to integrate. And if it works out, we can let them back in. It'll be hard, and maybe some are too far gone. But if we get one person back, I'd consider it a win."

"Until everyone lets their guards down and they take a housing ship back to their leader."

Mia got up and tried to walk out of the room.

"Hold it."

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Mia turned around already looking frazzled.

"The weapons turned out to have people in them."

"Excuse me?"

"The spear and axe broke. Both of them had people inside them. They claim to have come from the old world two hundred years ago."

"I see." Mia said. For all she witnessed today, it sounded the most casual.

"Wait...you didn't know, did you?" Mia just left in silence, and Zach followed. Not being able to follow up without causing a scene.

Zach saw Freyja out of the corner of his eyes, sighing to himself as she followed them through the hallways like a puppy in desperate need of affection.

Mia went back into the arena where the others were waiting. Samuel was back, albeit on his knees next to Julian. His head in hands, trying his best to comprehend what happened.

"Do you…want to see the body?" Julian asked, patting him on the shoulder. Roxanne stood over them both, trying her best to add some words of kindness.

"Why would I want to see that?" Samuel said, his head jerking upright to meet his eye. He let out an incomprehensible scream of pure anguish. Mia looked to the ground in shame, looking into the hallway where the event happened. A beam of pure light, according to Freyja. Although she didn't see it from the inside of the hotel. Any thoughts about who could be behind it, currently unimportant.

"Everyone!" Freyja announced. "I know that today was a tumultuous affair, but I do think now is the most important time to decide where to go next."

"Can it not wait?" Fiorella asked, turning her neck to face her. Her glare attempted to cut through her, but she remained undeterred.

"The Legion isn't waiting, so I'm afraid we can't either." Freyja said back. "Right, Mia?"

"Correct." Mia nodded without a look of approval. "Now, It's somewhat likely that this attack has emboldened the Legion, and they'll attack again sooner rather than later. So, I'm quickly dispatching everyone here to protect a grand's weapon."

"Hold it!"

Mia looked forward to see Hikaru pointing a finger of accusation, with Einer and Jade standing behind them.

"We're the weapons you're trying to protect!"

"Excuse me?" Freyja asked, before the realization of the finals popped into her mind.

"Was one of you the spear?" She asked, pointing an already wilted finger back at the trio.

"Me, yes." Einer replied through slanted eyes. "The girl here was the gauntlet, and the other one here was the axe."

"Well…I…I suppose we could make the case that..."

Mia lifted up a finger.

"Exposing things of this nature at this time will cause instability. It's the last thing we need right now. I promise we can come up with a solution later, but I ask you co-operate for now."

"The compromise being the freedom of those you trapped in weapons."

Mia didn't respond, merely changing her gaze over to the heroes.

"Now, the Lumps are going to protect ShiShi. The Stone Queens, Bestemia. Kerobons, you're on Roperia. Battlestorms will be back in Lux. The rest of you, take breaks if you need them. Now then, rest up for tomorrow."

The arena emptied out, minus Freyja grabbing Willow by the hood. The heroes grouped up in the empty hotel canteen for one last plan. Julian arrived inside first, unleashing a primal scream as soon as he entered the room. With nothing to take his anger out on, he knocked a wooden chair to the ground and began stomping until two of the legs were broken off it. But his legs turned to jelly, and he flopped to the ground.

"Dammit…fucking dammit." He wept.

Samuel silently nodded alongside what he said. He sat on the chair opposite the one Julian wrecked and began staring at the ceiling. Trying to grasp even the vaguest idea on what to do next. Everyone else was awkwardly glancing around, looking for even the faintest answer of where to go from here.

"So…what's the plan?" Rodrick asked, turning to Roxanne.

"You think I know?" She whispered, trying not to fall into the same state as Julian.

"I…have to get her back." Julian shakily stood up, going toward the door leading outside, being stopped by Fiorella.

"You mind repeating that, Julian."

"I said I'm getting her back!" He roared back, prompting Fiorella to press a finger against his forehead.

"I know where you're coming from, darling. But I'm not letting you kill yourself."

"Come on, Julian." Roxanne said, tugging his shoulder to try to get him away from the situation. "Look, we'll figure something out.

"Shut up!" Julian yelled at her, trying to contain even more hateful energy. "The fuck would you know about this, huh?"

"Julian…she was my friend, too."

"Friend, yeah. This is love I'm talking about here. You know, that thing you can't seem to feel?"

Roxanne took a silent step back, not showing any real emotion to the outburst. Just observing as Julian became more and more unnerved. Fiorella turned him to face her.

"Okay, mister Julian. I think it's time you take a step back and-"

"Shut up!"

Fiorella backhanded him and watched silently as he fell. He faced the floor, trying to gather his mismatched thoughts into something slightly coherent.

"I need her back!" Was all he could manage to say through tear stained eyes.

"I understand that, but you need to think beyond that for a second. The only way we're getting her back is in a strong enough attack with the Grands backing us up. Besides, they said something about needing her alive. So we should have at least a little time."

Julian perked up at the reminder, forcing himself to his feet.

"Yo, axe guy." Julian said to Hikaru. "Did you ever try talk to Cassandra while you were in the axe?"

"Uh…no?" Hikaru replied, giving a confused look to Einer. "I could kinda sense Einer and Morna's presence, but didn't feel anything else."

"So maybe that's Cassandra's connection!" Julian yelled. "She has some power to connect to the weapons, and that's why they need her!"

"But how would they know she has that?" Rodrick asked.

"Okay…but if the power is something like what I'm thinking, then her being brainwashed and able to control the weapons they have could be pretty severe. Meaning, it's better to get her back now instead of later."

Fiorella looked around to find anyone willing to talk sense into this man, but nobody answered her plea.

"Listen, Julian." She sighed. "If you can give me any method of doing it without anyone dying, no, getting any sort of injury, I'll hear you out."

"I think I got something." Samuel added. "If you tried fighting off the Legion, then you'll know that like, five percent of them knew what they were doing? And that's being generous. So if we go in, we might be able to avoid any of the big names, at least for long enough to get Cassandra and get out."

Fiorella stood in thought. He actually made a good point.

"Okay, hold it." Rodrick said. "I'm not letting you go through with this. Because if some of you go on this mission, we all suffer for it. Okay?"

Julian stared at him like he wanted to kill, but didn't say anything.

"I get it, it's been stressful for all of us. But I think we should just go to bed. I'll try to talk ShiShi into launching an attack, and I recommend you all do the same.

The lumps walked out of the room, and the Kerobons followed. Stone queens afters them, and then the weapon trio. The rest all left at different points.

Roxanne lay in her bed. The room was pitch black, and she was trying to get some sleep. But she was also listening. She kept her head to the bottom of the bed, closest to the wall. She heard footsteps, and some hushed whispers. She got her shoes on, she didn't change aside from that. She slowly opened the door, and Julian was talking to Samuel.

"We're just getting a snack." Julian said, glaring at Roxanne. "Don't worry about us."

Roxanne closed the door, waiting until she began to hear the sounds of shoes against carpet. When she opened the door and saw nothing but empty hallways, she made her way out of the hotel. She walked out into the streets, and towards the space where airships were. Julian and Samuel stood of front of the Miracle ship, and she snuck in while they looked towards Capri and Fiorella making their appearance. There was talking amongst them, and only Capri turned her head slightly as she opened the door, not passing much heed. Roxanne hid in the bathroom as the four went into the ship. After a little more conversation, the engines started.

Cassandra, we're coming.