“Their story is kinda fucked up,” Emily commented upon being caught up with the situation.

“You met Vienna, she doesn’t do anything in half-steps,” Shouri said, rolling his eyes.

Once more Shouri and company found themselves sitting in the lap of luxury thanks to one Elijah Klein.

“Much like our Mr. Klein,” Shouri added, shooting a side-eye at the Klein heir.

“Why Mr. Tomoshibi, I haven’t the faintest clue to what you refer,” chuckled the other Maestro.

“Shut the fuck up Klein,” grumbled Shouri and earning a shoulder rub from Pacifica.

“So what the terra is even our plan in the first place? Do we know where these goons are holding out?” Albarich asked, foregoing his manners to kick his feet up on the coffee table in front of him.

“Based on the information we received from the Saitou siblings and Ms. Althea, their last base of operations was abandoned,” Elijah read off of his tuner.

“They’re smart fuckers, that’s for sure,” Zino commented.

“Did we waste our time coming here then?” Rebecca asked, raising a brow.

“Not at all,” Shouri spoke up. “Because they’re in this city. The story Faith and all them told us yesterday was in some slums outside the Quiretteh metro area.”

“How the heck did you figure that out?” came Rebecca’s next question.

He flashed the map on his tuner. “They said very specifically they visited the Gran-Quire Mall, which after some quick searching was an abandoned mall about an hour or so outside of the Quiretteh city limits, considering they were probably pinching Resonators out of the slums in the area, the math checks out,” Shouri explained.

“Okay, but why would they be here of all places?” Rebecca went back to the pressing matter.

“Because it’s the last place we’d look for him, or more accurately, the last place anyone would look for him,” Shouri replied. “Also Faith and Althea have been on Ryo’s trail. So bare minimum we get Ryo,” he added the more realistic element of the explanation.

“Oh, Vienna told you,” Pacifica realized.

“Vienna told me, yes,” Shouri confirmed.

The large group finally went silent as they processed the information.

Shouri took the opportunity to take inventory. With everyone gathered so far they had four Maestros, eight Resonators, and one Natural; of which Shouri was a (by his own admission) decent hunter, and Emily was a semi-finalist in a national-level tournament. At least their six Resonators were powerful, he could be confident in that.

Zino was a monster all on his own – Shouri could attest to that personally. With Elijah’s training, they had to pose at least some threat at this point. Probably not on his or Emily’s level, but at least he felt safe enough allowing Elijah to come with.

Kaira was also quite strong from the second-hand accounts Shouri had gotten about the jackal. Colette could probably use some work as a hunter herself, but this was one of the few times where a busted Resonator made up for their Maestro’s deficiencies.

He also had to consider the additional Maestro and two Resonators in Faith, Althea, and Vienna. He had personal experience with Vienna as her acting Maestro. Faith being her true Maestro spoke to the older woman’s abilities. Plus based on the story they told, Althea reflected a Fortissimo from Whistler. They’d be great assets for sure.

That did leave Miro, who was at the most risk for serious injury. Even in the best-case scenario where the only threat was Ryo, Miro still lost horribly no matter what the match-up was. Shouri committed to having the Natural handle logistics or something non-combat-oriented.

Anyone else he couldn’t be confident in their strength or just didn’t want to get them involved. He briefly considered phoning Pacifica’s parents about all this but he didn’t want to risk exposing them to Feroce. If it was possible he’d run in there by himself to deal with it and not put anyone at risk.

He knew none of those gathered would let him get away with that though. They’d follow him right into the fire. It was better to have some form of strategy and use his resources wisely rather than go in haphazardly and expose them to even more danger than they were already in.

…

Wait…

“Since when was I the one leading this?” Shouri wondered aloud. Everyone stared at him.

“Uhhh…” Emily wasn’t sure how to answer.

“You’re not on my payroll anymore, Mr. Tomoshibi,” Elijah reminded the boy with a soft chuckle.

“I just always assumed this was your thing?” Colette offered. “Was it not?”

“Shouri is the correct leader for this plan,” Miro added.

“You got this bossman,” Rebecca grinned.

“You’re always the plan guy, I don’t know why you’re surprised,” Pacifica said with a titter.

“I guess I’m not the only one following you into hell, huh Sho?” Taika said, squeezing his hand tightly.

Shouri sighed but cracked an uneasy smile. “I hate all of you.”

----------------------------------------

“Are you okay Sho?”

The boy opened his eyes finding his trio of Resonators standing before him, all openly wearing their concern. They had since returned to just their little quartet in the MA Office they were staying at. His loyal trio had noted his relative silence and sullen demeanor ever since their discussion earlier in the afternoon.

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He closed his eyes once more. “Tired,” the Maestro finally spoke. This didn’t ameliorate their concerns, and he knew it. “Just a lot right now,” he mumbled.

Next he knew, he found himself suddenly pinned by his three partners.

“You’re not alone, Sho,” said Rebecca.

“We might not be good at planning but we’re here with you,” Pacifica added.

“Talk to us,” Taika chimed in.

The boy considered what was on his mind for a moment. “Is this right?” he asked. All he earned were three confused expressions. “Are we in the right here?”

“He’s hurting Resonators,” Taika said.

“Probably for kicks,” added Rebecca.

“If we’re in the wrong, then it’s the world that’s wrong.” Pacifica asserted.

Shouri nodded slowly.

“I’m sorry,” he said suddenly.

“Huh?” More confusion.

“About Vienna. I didn’t say anything about her to you all for so long,” mumbled the Maestro.

“Sho, it’s okay,” Pacifica said.

“That bitch is a handful,” Rebecca grumbled.

“We get it.” Taika smiled.

Shouri sighed, he wrapped his arms around the three girls and held them tightly. “I don’t deserve you all…”

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The next morning Shouri found himself awake and ruminating. The whole situation bothered him. Had it not been for etude, he doubted his ability to get a restful night's sleep. He did consider calling Priscilla, but not knowing if they would be more exposed to danger than they already would be kept him from committing to it. What he did know is by the end of all this he was going to get so chewed out, maybe even decked - he'd deserve it.

At that thought, another came to mind.

“Fuck,” he cursed.

“What’s up Sho?” Pacifica asked, also awake.

“Need to text Vince,” he said.

“Huh?”

Pacifica, though wondering what her Maestro had in mind, rolled over and retrieved her tuner from the nightstand, passing it off to its owner.

The otter watched the boy thumb up a quick text and send it off.

Me: “Let me know when you wake up, need to talk.” 8:19 AM

“Why?” asked Pacifica.

“Because-” Before Shouri could finish his thought, the tuner began ringing (waking up Taika and Rebecca in the process). The boy sat up prior to answering the ringing device, not wanting to take the call while supine.

“Surprised you’re up,” Shouri greeted the other Maestro.

“Had a long night, what’s up man?” Pacifica could hear Vince ask from the receiver.

“How’s Mila doing?”

“She’s the best! Thank you so much for trusting me with her. I promise you didn’t make a mistake,” Vince gushed, earning a smile from both Shouri and Pacifica.

“I’m glad.”

“Why did you really want to talk, man?” Vince asked in a more serious tone. “I doubt it wasn’t just to check in.”

Shouri was disarmed by that – he wasn’t used to serious Vince. Regardless, he pressed on. “Some shit is about to go down. We’re going to try to arrest the guy who is forcing Resonators to become Feroce,” Shouri told the other Maestro.

“When and where?” Vince asked immediately – his tone maintaining that un-Vince-like edge.

That didn’t surprise Shouri. Mila probably felt the same way as her new Maestro as well – she wouldn’t need convincing when Vince broke the news to her.

“Quiretteh, couple days give or take,” Shouri told the other Maestro.

“We’ll be there tonight.”

Shouri remained quiet for a moment. “Thanks,” he decided on.

“No, thank you for telling me.” There was a pause. “That bastard is gonna pay,” the younger Maestro growled, once more disarming Shouri and Pacifica.

“Text me when you get here, call if I don’t respond,” Shouri advised.

“Of course, see you tonight.”

“See ya.”

And with that, Shouri laid back into his pillow. As usual, his trio snapped to his sides and clung to him.

“Good call, bossman,” Rebecca spoke up. “Mila isn’t just strong, she’ll be immune to becoming Feroce if exposed.”

Shouri nodded. “That was the thought. I’m not sure of anyone else who is not only strong enough, but with the immunity factor,” he mused. “It makes our list of allies distressingly small, but we’ll have to work with it.”

“Who else were you thinking about?” wondered Taika.

Shouri took in a breath before laying out his thoughts.

“Cera and Saul, but I don’t know if they have the immunity factor, nor if they’d care.”

“Makani and Rynda, but again, immunity factor, and who knows where they’re even at right now.”

“I wouldn’t want to involve Lina and the others in this at all, though I know at least Amika would rush over here if she knew.”

“What about mom and dad?” Pacifica asked.

Shouri hummed in thought. It was supposed to be Priscilla and her Resonators at that conference, not him. But…

He shook his head. “Immunity factor. Besides your mom is usually busy with stuff, no idea what she gets up to.” There was another aspect to it all: he was confident in his friend’s strength

Pacifica nodded. “Yeah…”

“Anyone else we’ve worked with we didn’t work with long enough for me to have any idea if they’d be suitable for the job,” said Shouri.

Silence fell back to the room as the three Resonators considered their Maestro’s words.

“Rebby,” Taika was the next to break the silence.

“Yeah?” replied the fire fox.

“Wanna spar?”

“Huh? Uh sure.”