"Well that was easy." I comment offhandedly while examining the large metal crate that I had seized from the cultists. Disappointingly easy in fact. After all the hullabaloo that The Voice raised about this mission being some kind of point of no return, I was expecting at the very least the equivalent of a boss fight to claim the mystery mcguffin. Instead the only opposition I had was a pack of half-dead humans, angels and demons. Say what you like about Fate, it did not discriminate in its hiring practices.

I scrutinize the seal that had been placed on the crate. Its just a thin piece of paper bearing a rune painted in blood that had been pasted over the lid of the crate. The rune however positively blazes with magical energy. No matter how I pull, I can't get the seal off nor do I make any headway in opening the crate. I give the crate an experimental punch but other than sounding like a gong, the crate remains completely unmoved by my efforts.

"That seal was created by drawing from the blood of Fate's lackeys," The Voice explains distractedly, "Just as their faith was unbreakable, so is that seal. The only way to open the crate is to bring it back to the hub where I can isolate it from Fate's influence."

"You alright there?" I ask, "You don't sound particularly happy with our win. We did just seize the doom of this world from your rival, you know."

The Voice rasps, "Its not that. I am monitoring the Crossroads presently and the constellations have been going completely out of control the moment we launched our attack on Fate's place of power."

I raise an eyebrow, "So? That's something we had been expecting right from the start."

The Voice rumbles back, "The moment we launched our attack, Fate made a big move at the Crossroads, attempting to pull the Hero and everyone connected to him into yet another alternate route. I suspect this is part of a contingency plan laid by Fate in the event that its place of power was under threat. What worries me is whatever this alternate route is, it has become highly unstable. It is as if the route has failed to trigger properly but Fate is nevertheless trying to brute force it through."

"Isn't that great news for us? What good is a contingency plan if it doesn't work?" I query.

"Whether it is good news for us has yet to be seen." The Voice says, "The instability in the route is being caused by the riot you had incited at the Six Trees District. The riot has prevented certain preconditions for the alternate route activating from being met. Fate is currently frantically juggling the constellations about, trying to work out an ad-hoc solution to this problem."

"Still sounds like good news to me." I reply, "What are these preconditions you are talking about?"

The Voice pauses for a moment, considering the possibilities, before answering my question, "Inspector Scott has to remain as the Hero's bodyguard when the alternate route is triggered. Also, the Hero's attitude towards Heroine Naiberg's father has to be at least at neutral level. The riot has prevented either of these conditions from being met, though the reasons for that are unknown to me. Fate has nevertheless opted to initialize this alternate route despite the unpredictability caused by the latent instability."

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The monorail begins to slow as it nears the station that services the hub. The Voice continues, "At any rate, this is an issue that neither of us can deal with at the moment. We should concentrate on what is before us, the mystery item. Once we have secured our victory, we can worry about Fate's retaliation."

I grunt in agreement and heft the crate up as the doors of the monorail open. I move through the monorail platform quickly and soon reach the control center of the hub. Dropping the crate to the floor, I see that the rune on the piece of paper has already begun to fade away. I easily tear the paper off and flip the crate's lid open.

What I see in the crate is a badly damaged device of some kind. Rectangular in shape, its metal exterior had been marred by blast marks, no doubt caused by the explosion at the warehouse. The device has a pair of prongs made out of silvery material mounted on one of its ends. Was the mystery mcguffin meant to be attached into something else?

I remove the device from the crate and pry off what appears to be its "lid" in order to see the interior. Whats inside is a bewildering array of cables and electronics that I can't make head or tail out of. I have no idea what this device is meant to do, but one thing is clear. Its obviously broken. The Voice had been freaking out about this piece of junk all the while?

"Transmigrator," The Voice says in a tone heavy with tension, "do you see a small round sphere located within that systems regulation unit?"

Is that what this thingy is? I check again. "Nope. Nothing like that." I answer.

"Check again." The Voice insists.

"Still nothing." I say.

The Voice rasps harshly, "The codex. Where could the codex be! Did Fate's lackeys leave it behind in its place of power? Impossible. The only thing I am sensing is the object in front of you. Transmigrator, tear that crate apart, there might be a hidden compartment in it."

I duly oblige and rip the crate in half. Still nothing. Did we just get played? Just as I am ruminating on this possibility, I hear an alarm go off at the hub terminal. I go over to check and note that the terminal is reporting a case of .. flooding?

"Hey, are you seeing this?" I call out of The Voice, "The sector you said Fate's base was located is letting in water right now."

"How is that relevant?" The Voice responds irritably.

"It means that there is another exit at Fate's base." I grimly state, "When we launched our attack, the cultists probably flushed what you are looking for into the ocean. The goons we put down were likely just a diversion to keep us busy."

The Voice grows increasingly agitated in tone as it rumbles, "I checked the schematics for that sector. There is nothing but solid armor on the exterior. Fate's place of power has no other entrances or exits."

"Explain the flooding then. The water must be coming in from somewhere. All this means is that the schematics you had relied on are wrong." I say.

The Voice remains silent and minutes pass. It hits me all of a sudden while I am waiting for The Voice to say something. This is it isn't it. The point of no return. The event that changes everything.

Suddenly, The Voice exclaims, "I have it!" It immediately seizes control of the hub terminal and real time footage from an aerial drone fills the screen. The drone focuses on what is probably a midget submarine roughly twenty meters in length. The submarine has surfaced and beside it is a speed boat painted in the colors of SOPO. The SOPO officers, still dressed in their ridiculously elaborate uniforms, are busy removing several bloodstained bodies from the midget submarine until one of them comes upon a small package carried by one of the corpses.

Upon finding this package, the SOPO officers dump all the corpses back into the submarine and zoom away with the package in their possession. Well, that answers The Voice's question then. Now what?

"The submarine. Fate has been using the submarine the same way I use the black cab. How could I be so blind?" The Voice mutters.

The Voice finally steadies itself before announcing, "Transmigrator, a crisis situation has arisen. Your intervention is required."

Of course it is. Of course it is.