Located southeast of Citidale was the Trashsite, a secured military base storing older technology and equipment no longer in circulation. There were fewer artifacts in museums than weapons at Trashsite, a poignant mark on the value of things in a world at war. Two guards towers extended out from a bunker located at the edge of the base, a road leading up to the mesh gates denoting the entrance. Behind them were the four large warehouses that kept old mech models, defunct super weapons, and out of date firearms.

Out in the plains of the dry lands and off-road, the stolen military truck sat behind an outcrop. With her scarf on and the back doors opened, Luce stepped out - her hair flailing in the strong wind - and carried Marble to the ground. The gnome had a new flat steel panel slapped across the side of its body, under which was the wireless emitter and chip. From inside the truck, Shou poked his head out and handed her a flash drive. He, like the rest of them, was wearing the standard military brown overalls.

"Here's Reggie's A.I. Please be careful, little buddy. I don't want to lose my big buddy."

Marble spun around itself.

Luce opened the panel and inserted the drive. "Alright, Marble. Just as we've trained. Head toward the signal. Once you're done, hide, and we'll come and pick you up."

The gnome spun once again in confirmation and headed off towards the base. After a hundred meters, its shell picked up enough dust from the surrounding to blend into the landscape, camouflaging and disappearing into plains. After Shou returned into the truck, Luce managed to track Marble for a few more minutes with her naked eyes before the distance completely engulfed it.

Luce let a sigh escape into her scarf. She was worried. The plan felt rushed and there were too many unknowns. But most of all, she worried about Adelle. And Josh, of course. Adelle and Josh. She half wanted the E.M.P to go off, just so she would know the situation happening on the other side. She felt helpless not having any news to go by.

Climbing back into the truck, she found Shou back at the driver's seat, already head tilted away and half asleep. Miu sat in the back, tracking Marble's movements on a laptop.

The later chuckled, "I can't believe you managed to steal this truck." She looked up to Luce.

Luce waved the notion away. "It was nothing. There's no need to talk about it."

"Nonsense!" Shou suddenly shot up, turning around in his seat and hugging the headrest to look back at them. "It was amazing! The best story ever! All you did was walk up to the-"

"We," Luce quickly cut in. "Are never going to talk about it."

Miu began, "But-"

"Never! Shush!"

Shou shrugged. "Your loss. With a tale like that, we could have made you famous. You should have seen the look on your face when you climbed onto the roof and-"

"SHOU! SHUT UP!" Luce yelled and the other two laughed. "Is this what it's like working with you two?"

"Oh yeah," he admitted. "We are very easily stressed out people so we use humour to cope with the seriousness of our situations."

Miu added, "Or at least Shou does. I'm just here."

Luce shook her head. "It's like someone changed the tone of the script from serious to comedy in here, or have you two forgotten the world might be ending?"

Shou replied, "I only do seriousness once every hour or, if you want to count in books, every ten pages."

Miu added, "Or when he's alone. Because he has abandonment issues."

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"Who in the world counts time in pages?" Luce asked.

"Educated people," Shou replied confidently. "Educated people, that's who." He turned back in his seat and leaned back to relax.

"Wow," Luce said.

Miu chuckled. "You should have seen him when we first met. He was such a snob."

"As opposed to now?"

"Now? He's just a really unfunny asshole. Much better than a snob."

"Are you sure this is something we should say with him here."

"Oh, Shou's already asleep." They turned to the man in the front seat who was already snoring lightly.

"Huh. Fascinating," Luce mused. The man continued to show powers incomprehensible. "So how did you two meet?"

Miu looked up from her computer, her eyes lulling around the back of her head in search of the memory. "We used to be a part of this parkour group called the Star Trekkers."

"That's a really corny name."

"We were young and stupid. Get over it."

"But can you still parkour?"

"We never really could," Miu admitted. "We sat around talking about it more than actually practising it. You know, it looked really cool in the movies and all that but was much harder in real life. Back then, Shou was one of the cockiest person I've ever met. He'd always shout himself out as a genius for coming up with these ridiculous plans and calling himself a genius. Sincerely, not the joking way he does now. But then the accident happened."

"What happened?"

"One day I was doing a run and being generally stupid and unsafe, as all teenagers do. Accidentally stumbled out onto the road and he pushed me out of the way of a truck. He lost his leg."

Luce looked at her stunned. "I'm... so sorry." Trying to lighten the mood, she chuckled. "I never took you for the careless type. Or Shou for the selfless one, for that matter."

Miu gave a small smile and nodded. "I guess we are the positive sums of our greatest failures. But Shou, he's always been selfless, even back when he was a giant ass. When I asked him why he would sacrifice himself for me, he just shrugged and laughed. Never asked for thanks or favours. He might seem childish and selfish, but he's one of those people who if they say a line's been crossed, we should listen. Kind of like Adelle."

"Yes," Luce agreed.

It was true that Luce had gotten close to Adelle in the beginning to make use of her powers for the Titan Rangers, but as they got closer she realised the elf was much more and that she was destined for something much bigger than their little organisation. Her thoughts drifted back Adelle and Josh. They two could handle themselves, sure, but somewhere in the depth of Luce's stomach, she felt unease.

The pair spent the time talking, mostly about what other changes had happened on the continent while Luce was away.

A ping from Miu's laptop brought them back to their attentions.

Miu's fingers clacked away at the keyboard. "The wifi relay just signalled back. It picked up on the intranet."

"How long will it take to get us in?"

"Not long. Almost instantly." Miu banged at the back Shou's seat. "Wake up! We're on."

The man jolted awake. "Right! Right! Let's roll!"

Luce climbed over to the passenger seat as Shou started the truck and they drove off to the Trashsite.

Shou asked with a yawn, "Shouldn't we wait awhile before going in?"

"No," Miu replied. "The longer we wait, the more time they have to discover the infiltration." She started passing the wigs to them.

Shou swept his hair back and set into a brown ponytail while Luce wrapped hers into a short blue. Behind them, Miu placed hers into a streaky blonde.

As they drove up to the front gate, two soldiers in gas masks walked out with rifles in their arms. Their truck slowed and Luce could hear her heart beginning to slow. She was starting to get into the mood of adventures and she hated the fact that the excitement calmed her more than actual serenity. The truck braked next to the two soldiers and they walked up to their windows which Shou rolled down. The smell of rusty Taint immediately floated into the compartment. But as long as the check was kept short, they should be fine breathing it in. Probably.

"Identifications," the soldier at the driver side said.

Miu and Luce passed their IDs to Shou who handed it over to the guard. The soldier walked back to the guardhouse to scan them in. The cards were theirs from their time in the army to allow them to be scanned, but the photo and names had been replaced with fake ones that were overwritten by Reggie in the database.

"So," Shou began small talk with the other guard left on Luce's side. "Nice weather, huh?"

The female guard replied, "It's the same weather as it has always been. Hot."

He laughed. "That's the joke."

After a moment of thinking, the guard nodded, pointed a finger gun at him and chuckled.

Shou looked to the back seat at Miiu and stated, "I'm so good with ladies." The latter stuck her tongue out at him.

The first guard returned to them. He stood outside the window for a moment, finger tapping the trigger of his gun. Finally, he looked to Shou. "Shun Takeru." Then to Luce and Miu. "Jacqueline Fertilans. Amaya Sayuri."

He stared them over and Luce could swear she could see his brows raising under the mask.

Finally, he said, "You're cleared." He handed their IDs back to them. "Welcome to Trashsite."