Marivo, the location the Lillies are, along with the hunters. The Journal closed, pressed together by a hand. The current possessor of the Journal, a girl just a bit younger than Lee was at the time of writing. She leaned back on her seat, sighing after reading up to that point.

"Seems we got our lead." She looked out the window, the crew was in space, aboard a massive ship, amongst the stars and pieces of rocks in space, planets scattered about also took a smaller part in the space present. She got out of her seat and headed over to someone's desk, tapping on it. "Hanabi!" After not getting a response, she slammed her fist on the table, getting an immediate reaction of her jumping up.

"W..wha, where are we" Hanabi, someone with red hair and a red jacket, she never bothered putting her hair up even if it went down halfway her back.

"In space, like we were two hours ago"

"So...why wake me up?" Hanabi rubbed her eyes before looking up at the girl.

"We found where we're going, Marivo, it's not too far away."

"Should I get Dev and the others?"

"I'll handle the two, you can get Dev and Maiko" The girl left Hanabi to it, as she herself, went into a room labeled S.U. Upon entry, she could see a machine at the backend, to the left of it was a high-end PC, with four monitors, one of the monitors being on, and showcasing a simulated mission. She took a seat at the PC. She was the creator of this device after all, seeing how well it's doing is her job. She looked at the screen and saw her two teammates going through a mission.

"Why the hell did you fight that!" The guy in the blue jacket yelled at his fellow teammate who also wore a blue sweater.

"Seems they're having fun" The girl mumbled, raising her hand she pressed a key on the keyboard, after pressing a few more the machine started up, loud, bright, all words that can describe how the machine is presenting itself. A bright light appeared at the center of the machine, the blue sweater one almost tripped over, while the one with the dark blue jacket stood firmly as they were transported into the room. "How'd the simulation go?"

"Get Random a leech"

"Hey Rose" Random, it was their actual name, not a random name, but quite literally named "Random", it's caused confusion on many occasions, but those used to it end up confusing those that aren't.

"If we gave Random a leach he couldn't be helpful" The man in the blue jacket adjusted their tie after Rose's reply to his request.

"Did you need something Rose?"

"Need you two at the front, we have a lead, Marivo is the planet, it's been ages so I doubt we'll get exactly what we need, but it's something, Maruki, you mind getting Len? Hanabi already has the other two"

"Not at all" The dark blue jacket man, Maruki, set off into the ship's hallway to get his search going. The two, Random and Rose, headed to the command center, the very front of the ship, where they were greeted by Hanabi and the people she got. Dev, someone who doesn't have a single pound of skin or hair showing as they wore a heavy mask on their face, and their body was protected by heavy armor coated in all black, he was the tallest of everyone by a whole foot and half. Maiko had a shine through her hair along with a tied up bun at the very back, her jacket was the brightest being a type of a lighter grey.

"We finally have our mark?" Dev spoke, his voice sounding like gravel.

"Mhmh, took long enough" Rose walked to the very front, taking a seat at the General's desk. She swiveled around till she faced the window, it soon becoming a screen.

"Marivo seems to still be inhabited after all this time...quite a lovely place actually from these photos" Maiko described the planet. "A whole city spanning half the planet as well"

"It's not that big of a planet, makes sense" Hanabi started munching on a food bar halfway through the conversation.

"Well while you're there" Len and Maruki walked in the room, Len, the eldest of the group, in his 40s, tended to the kitchen to ensure it was as efficient as it could be. Len walked up to Rose's desk before placing a list. "We need more stuff"

"Don't you have enough?" Rose turned back to face Len.

"We did have enough, but it seems our pantry had a hole in it." It didn't literally, everyone knew what Len meant by that, some even faced towards Hanabi as a response.

"I'm still growing alright!?"

"You're always growing...no wait, we're all growing!" Maruki quickly snapped back at Hanabi's statement.

"..." Dev didn't have a desk of his own, he wasn't staying forever, only temporarily did their goals intertwine.

"Whatcha thinking about Dev?"

"It wouldn't be best for us all to go, or even take this ship" Looking at Maruki's desk, he looked at the photos of the place that was being projected at everyone's workplace.

"Yeah, they're the Lillies, and those hunters too, that is even if they stayed...regardless we need to be careful...we'll take a ship in the hangar" Was the response that Rose gave.

"That would be for the best" Dev tilted his head slightly in agreement.

"Maruki, Random, Hanabi and I will go" She tapped something on her wrist, marking everyone she mentioned before a new team formed in their HUDs. 'Ground Team' "Rest of you can stay up here with the other Guardians and watch over the ship" She twirled her finger in the air, symbolizing the ground team to start following. The four went to the hangar, filled with dangerous ships that must be handled carefully when under construction or repair.

"General Rose!" The Guardian saluted the girl, though they were older and around longer, yet, they respected her regardless. "What brings you by the hangar?"

"Can you get us a ship? Not with much, we just need to touch down on the planet for a bit."

"Understood, just a moment Ma'am!" They bowed forward before running off.

"Thanks" Random responded in Rose's stead. Rose was more focused on the planet, even from space it looked grand, faint colors of lights could be seen.

"Alright" It didn't take even a few minutes for the Guardian to return. "We got a ship for you"

"Fast as always" Rose smirked in accomplishment

"You'll be taking the ship in holding 2-4F" They pointed at the ship to help guide them to the right place.

"Thanks for the help, come on crew" Random followed closely behind Rose, Hanabi and Maruki gave a quick nod to the Guardian as a thankful gesture. The ship wasn't small, but not spectacularly large either, it was perfectly tailored for the purpose they needed. "Take your seats, and let's take our bets on how this is gonna go" She sat on the pilot's chair, a new menu on her HUD appearing showing multiple diagnostics of the ship, the others sat in seats in the main part of the ship, bars came from above them to keep them in place while the ship was flying.

"We're getting into a fight is my bet"

"Of course it is" Maruki looked at Random who was on the other side of him.

"I just hope everything goes smoothly" Hanabi was closest to the cockpit of the ship, she looked out the window as well, mostly worried about this ship not being prepared for what may happen.

"Everything well?" A Guardian spoke through Rose's HUD.

"Yup, we're good to go, nothing wrong"

"Alright, be careful, and take care" Rose pulled a lever after the ship was released, only a moment later did the ship blast out of the hangar and towards the planet. After a minute of flying, the door of the ship where they had entered, had a screen appear where the briefing appeared, along with Rose talking.

"Keep in mind why we're here, this planet, if nothing has changed all these years, is filled with Lillies and C Hunters, as such, we get in, we find their main B.O.O, get our lead, and get out, anything else is purely optional." There was a pause. "Except for Len's shopping list, understand?"

"Yup yup!" Everyone responded the same way. The screen changed but not going away, instead a blank profile picture that spoke to the team.

"Your ship is unregistered in Marivo's systems, identify yourselves, now" Rose turned on the mic to the radio.

"Identifying sign, 'G.O.T.T-01'" Silence, until it continued.

"What is this unannounced visit for?" Rose sighed, the sign wasn't a lie, however would she have said it fully instead of an acronym...this would have gone much worse.

"A supply stop, we've been in space for a bit now"

"Understood, your landing space is glowing now" Minutes passed as the group entered the planet's orbit, the fast travel turned into a slow descent as the shiny, bright city that they had assumed awaited them, in reality was more of a dystopian, where it looked like a city with tall buildings, yet the quality of them was akin to the slums. Rose soon landed the ship on the designated spot they were assigned before everyone got out from their seats, the door to the ship going down to act like a ramp to the very clearly unmaintained landing pads. It didn't take long before the planet's guards walked up to the ship either.

"Move aside, we're here to inspect the ship" Rose's neutral expression swiftly changed to be more annoyed.

"Oh fuc-" Maruki covered her mouth before more issues could arise.

"Be our guest" He put on a fake smile as the guards walked past them. Once they had, he let go of Rose. "Listen, I'll stay back and make sure they don't mess with anything, you three get to it"

"Good luck" Random waved Maruki goodbye as the three went without any further resistance. The smell of smoke was the majority, smaller smells made it worse, and the smoke somehow became preferable over the others quickly.

"This place is horrible..."Hanabi complained to the others.

"We'll get used to it...hopefully" Rose shifted her eyes elsewhere as she began thinking more. "Oh right, while we're here, better get that shopping list settled." Like before the others followed closely behind, even more now that a crowd had begun forming along the streets. The two left it to Rose to get stuff on the list, as all the street vendors seemed to be overly hostile. "Too costly considering the normal bags are double the size" Rose began to argue with one after they had their prices nearly triple the rate of normal.

"If you don't like it, it is none of my concern, I am just making an honest living, and this bag is bigger than retail"

"An honest living, bigger than retail? Pal you think I can't see that discolored trash?" The vendor quickly feigned ignorance, even switching to another language, however, after a few sentences from the vendor, there was a small click from Rose as she started speaking in that language too, being much more than a fluent speaker of it. After a few more sentences the vendor banged their fist on the table.

"If you do not leave now, I will call for the guards" Random stepped up after the vendor spoke.

"Wouldn't do much good"

"Tsk...half price"

"Still more than retail."

"Half price...of retail..." Random and Rose continued to stare the vendor down.

"Fine" She put down a few credits before taking the bag. The rest of the supplies went off without a hitch, no struggle, no haggling, no deceiving. Rose desummoned it all, course, her space was limited, but it was better than carrying it normally. "Now all that's left is to sneak in" Rose made sure she spoke quietly, there were people all around the place.

"Yeah...the sooner the better" Random looked around too. The place has a new feeling, suffocation. The three made sure to move quickly through the crowds, if they were separated, it was only a minor issue, reaching the objective took priority. Hanabi was the first to make it, placing her hand against the wall to rest.

"Took you all long enough" By the time Random and Rose had made it, Hanabi had fully recovered from the energy wasted to reach here.

"Long enough? How did you get here this fast?" Hanabi took out her staff, bringing it down to half size.

"People tend to move when something is hitting their back" Soon after she desummoned it like before.

"Can't just go whacking people you know" Rose knew the habit would continue, however this way she can't blame the others for not giving a warning prior. "Nevermind...the lead is most likely in this building, as such, Random, be my guest" The door they were at was locked, but forcing their way in wouldn't be very difficult. Random pressed his shield against the door, after a charge, a blast knocked the door off its hinges and onto the floor inside. The three went in but not before peeking around the corners of the room, no one, but there were many pieces of machinery deactivated.

"You got it Rose" Random gave a thumbs up to Rose as she leaned on the wall, the other two would get to looking around. Something appeared in front of Rose, not the HUD, but not a menu either, instead, a panel filled with complicated numbers and words. Hacking things of course was much easier now, it didn't even require anything to be on. Hanabi and Random made their way through the building encountering an elevator on the way, any button wouldn't work, they waited, but nothing, this elevator couldn't be influenced. "Well...what now?" Hanabi peeked out the elevator, no staircases.

"Step aside" Random followed the suggestion, standing just out of the elevator. Hanabi's staff reappeared bursting through the door at the top of the elevator. Getting up was easy, all that was needed was the staff to boost themselves up. "Oh come on..." Hanabi had come to realize just how tall the building was, the top floor was a long climb.

"Let's get to it!" Random had already begun the climb with an enthusiastic attitude, Hanabi could only sigh before she joined him, although that in itself is an overstatement, as she could barely keep up.

While the two climbed, Rose was still at the first floor, she clicked away at the panel, tapping her foot on the floor to keep focus at the near endless resistance that the facility had against any outside intrusions. When she had breathing room, she took another look around the area, the door they had just knocked down, it would definitely be noticed later on, hopefully they were gone by then. The machinery, stuff in a factory, yet not soley that, heavily armored robots, similar to the armor Dev wore but more akin to a prototype. 'what're they working on...?' Rose thought to herself, it could be many things after all, mining robots to go against pirates and the intense heat of most planet cores? Military drones and machines to go against people like them? It was hard to decide if she should bother hacking into them, it could just be a waste of time, and the risk of alarms only made the choice harder. 'It'll be fiiine' She thought once more, yet that thinking was broken by something moving in the corner of the room. She got a few minutes every time she reached a breathing point in her breakthrough, however it was only a matter of time before the next onslaught came.

Rose let out a breath before closing the panel, it was better to check the immediate issue.

"Hey, I know you're over there, no use hiding now" There was no response, yet Rose was sure of it, someone was there. She walked over, clearly annoyed, she summoned her sword and aimed it at the pile. "I'm not repeating myself" Once more, Rose was bothered by the lack of a reply, or even a sliver of movement. She kicked the boxes away and was promptly greeted by someone lying down, their face tilted to the side, their eyes dull and lifeless. "What the..." The words came out mostly as a breath, this body just moved something a moment ago, and here it was, now a husk. She flipped her sword so the hilt faced the body instead of herself, she jabbed forward, most of the body didn't move, however, the husk's lips quivered momentarily.

Rose crouched down, soon getting on one knee while she inspected the body, it was alive, somewhat, just barely, after gritting her teeth she decided something, it was more strain, more pressure on her, but it was better than leaving this husk to die here of all places. She sat against the wall before bringing back her panel, splitting it to two, whenever there was downtime she'd work on keeping them alive, at least that was hoping they had some tech in them.

"You can hear me right? Here's hoping you're not useless"

Hanabi and Random had eventually made it to the top, Random rather unfazed while Hanabi was catching her breath, both were in shape, however climbing was very much out of her skillset.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"How're we even bringing the lead down? What if they're a person?" Random shrugged as a response. "Fantastic" With no more spare time Hanabi forced herself to trudge through the exhaustion and get moving.

Hanabi: How's the hacking going?

Rose: Currently resurrecting a corpse

Maruki: I know I'm meant to focus on the guards...but seeing as they left, what the hell are you talking about?

Rose: There's a husk here, working on them whenever I get breathing room

Hanabi: isn't the whole point of the breathing room program so that you could not be in pain?

Rose: Well, If I don't do it, who's to say all the robots here won't? I don't need a husk that can't feel pain attack me.

Hanabi: If you decide to do it, then I won't contest any more...you didn't answer my main question

Rose: Good, far enough that the alarms won't trigger if a guard hits a button

Hanabi: Alriiighty

"That door meant to be open" Upon hearing a guard the two slid into cover behind very expensive decor. The guard started running past them, Hanabi smirked before using the force of her staff to knock over the expensive decorations, shattering it.

"Ah! N-no...oh no no" The guard rushed over, not even seeing Hanabi move elsewhere.

"I told you before! We don't run in here! Now who's paying for that!?" Hanabi looked over to Random before they both nodded, Random with his shield, Hanabi with her staff, slammed their weapons down onto the heads of the guards. knocking them to the floor and probably putting them in a coma for an unspecified amount of time.

"Fufu~" Hanabi hopped over the unconscious body and begun heading down the hall. "Random, this door is probably where they are." The door was locked upon checking the handle.

"Seems we're busting in!" Random readied his shield again.

"On three then, one, two, and three!"

Rose was still downstairs, she had gained more breathing time.

"Alright, onto hopefully not a murderer" She moved the main panel away and went to the secondary one, it was much simpler, no resistence or alarm systems, allowing an easy breakthrough. Minutes passed before the previously a husk man started coughing up a storm. They tried to stand. "I wouldn't try that, you just came back."

"Where the hell am I?" They clearly sounded panicked, and a greater look could estimate they were in their very early 20s, nothing higher.

"Some factory...why don't you know?"

"I don't know anything!"

"..." Rose just looked down at the man.

"I mean it!...my memory...I think someone wiped it" Rose was ready to comment on it, but then understood something. 'He had tech in his brain...only way I could revive him...not too far fetched to say someone's memory was wiped'

"Let's believe you for now, do you even recall your name?"

"I...don't..." Rose sighed.

"Can you even do anything?"

"I still have some skill with guns...good pilot too" Rose considered things for a moment before responding.

"You're with us then"

"Huh?"

"You prefer I leave you here to die? Need I remind you, you were just dying a moment ago."

"o-of course not! Who...are you anyways?"

"Rose, General of the Guardians for the time being"

"You look like a kid!"

"I can disable your brain again if that's preferred"

"I retract my previous comment then"

"Good"

Hanabi and Random after a few tries, busted through the double door into the main room, bullets immediately flew at them so they slid back against the walls.

"Any ideas?" Hanabi looked at Random, he was about to move until she spoke again. "That's not just running into gunfire?" Random crouched back down. "Figured...actually...Maruki was just getting here..." After some time in her HUD, Hanabi took out a laser pointer, revealing as little skin as possible, she aimed out the window of the room where the gunfire was coming from, she turned it on and off multiple times.

Maruki: I see it, standby

After a moment, the window shattered. Breaking through the window was a baton, it released a charge of electricity before Maruki himself warped on top of the weapon. The other two rushed in, Hanabi swung her staff, hitting a guard into the wall before slamming the staff down on the top of their head, Random, using the blades on his shield, threw his, stabbing into a guard before exploding. Maruki, seeing a chance, primed a kick and slammed his leg into the flying guard who just got hit with the shield, but before they could be sent back at Random, Maruki curved his ankle and slammed his foot down.

"We good?"

"Yeah...but...what angle did you have to throw your baton in here?"

"That over there" Maruki pointed to a high structure. "I just warped multiple times"

"You made sure to use the device and not the magic right?"

"I used the device, last I need is to be scolded by Rose while dying." The three looked around the room. There was a laptop, that was everything, no hidden door or device, no flash drives, Only the laptop.

"It's locked too..." Hanabi looked defeated. "I guess Rose has another job..."

"I got it" Hanabi thought Random was going to hack it, instead, he just meant he was holding onto it.

"Right...guess we go back down. The trio, seeing they have nothing else to do here, went back to the elevator, descending by using the lines in the middle. It was much faster than climbing, and they soon returned to the factory floor.

"Guess we'll just call you Mo"

"I'm fine with that...better than being called a husk...or john doe"

"Much better" Rose looked over to the elevator as the two returned with Maruki now with them. "Find anything?"

"A laptop, locked though"

"Better than nothing...we got a newcomer too"

"Well, welcome aboard!" Hanabi gave a warm introduction.

"Yo" Random raised his hand in a welcoming gesture.

"We gotta get going, you at least remember how to walk right?" Mo nodded at Rose's question. "Then off your ass, we don't have much time to spare." With aid from Maruki, Mo stood up, and the new member with the four started sprinting off. Two minutes after they left, the alarms went off.

"Thought you got the alarms?" Hanabi looked at Rose.

"I got all the buttons and lasers you triggered, I didn't get the manual input, I did get the robots though, the ones that looked lethal at least"

"Good enough!" Random commented. A crowd started forming at the building, it was a clear issue that these 5 unknown strangers were running away from a building that had blaring alarms.

"Hanabi, mind getting the ship started from here?" Rose looked back at her while they ran, she nodded and opened her HUD. "Mo"

"Hegh!?"

"You said you can pilot stuff right?"

"Y-yeah?"

"Hopefully you flew something similar to our ships." The five ran onto the landing pads.

"Hey! It's them! Where are our bots!?" Rose flipped them off with her middle finger before the crew went into the ship.

"Mo, you're up! Better not be lying!" Feeling the pressure from Rose, Mo sat in the pilot's seat.

"Alright..." It was somewhat familiar to Mo, though some buttons were unfamiliar to him. Rose's sword turned into a rifle as the four began firing at the guards. After the ship started up, Mo pulled the lever, causing the ship to take off, the door slowly closing.

"Back up!" The four shuffled back as the door fully closed, taking their seats, with Rose taking the second one in the front. "You managed well"

"I surprise myself"

"That massive ship far off" Rose pointed through the glass. "That's the main ship we're in"

"Wouldn't that be an interstellar ship then?...and this is a shuttle?" Rose paused.

"I don't get into specifics" She leaned back into her seat. "We'll be flying for a while...if you got any questions...I wouldn't blame you for asking them."

"Well...who exactly are you all?"

"We're guardians, people who help out others all across multiverses, though currently we're looking for a lead, there's a lot going on nowadays" Rose looked out the window, thinking about past years. "Before I forget, I'm Rose as you now, the red-haired one is Hanabi, the dark-blue jacket one is Maruki, and the last one is Random"

"Random what?"

"That's just his name, Random, it is his name, don't question it"

"Alright...What is the lead meant to lead to?"

"To a faction, they're a part of the Lillies, but not many people know of them...hell we don't either, we were going to investigate somewhere else as well, though that one is a lot more...quiet?"

"Right...well, why are people your age handling this?"

"We need everyone, simple as that, if you can fight, you're needed...we don't force people...but we really need everyone"

"It's that dire huh?" Rose nodded.

"People are fighting one another for little reason, our home dimension is hanging in there, and corruptors are at an all time high and risk."

"So that's why you made me one of you so quickly" Once more, she nodded.

"We can't afford to put every single person through some program."

"I get that...one last one for now...why are the Lillies the enemy?"

"They started a virus on earth...killed a bunch of people, almost the entire planet cause of it...now they're traitors, and with new powers they just do whatever they want, all cuz some god's script"

"So a cult"

"Not exactly, but I see where you get that from." The shuttle had entered the ship, touching down in the hangar. "Aaaand we're here" Rose stood up, stretching. "Welcome aboard" All five of them walked out of the shuttle.

"Welcome back General" A few of the Guardians waved at Rose.

"Rose" One Guardian however, walked up to her.

"What is it?"

"We can't stall the investigation anymore"

"I'll handle it"

"Understood" The guardian ran off back to work.

"What's that about?" Mo questioned.

"We had to hold off an investigation for this mission, to just get a laptop though..." Rose was clearly bothered by this, yet it wasn't anything she could change.

"Well...I'll just try doing my best to make it worth it"

"I guess..." Rose tapped her foot. "Maruki, Hanabi"

"Yes Rose?"

"Mind watching over Mo while I do some work with the laptop?"

"Not at all" Maruki agreed to it, seeing no reason not to.

"Well, take care." Rose ran off, Random seemingly taking his own route too.

"Must have good luck Mo, your first day involves an investigation" Hanabi did a small gesture with her hands, glimmer and shines appeared above her.

"Is it really right for someone like me to tag along?"

"If anything it's better" Maruki looked of elsewhere, more focused on the hangar's crew. "You have no bias, no prior information, meaning, you may find important things we accidently consider useless"

"I see..."

"We won't go immediately, there's someone else we gotta see." Maruki led the way, the other two still following. "Before you ask, her name is Maiko, she ain't some prodigy, but she's certainly great at...convincing...people to stop slacking off"

"And how so?"

"She'll drain their blood out" Hanabi pitched in.

"She sounds...lovely..."

"Heh, just do your job and she is" In the hallway they took a right, entering another massive room, similar to the hangar, however, the area the ships left through was replaced with a massive window. Many half done things hang from the ceiling, not abandoned, instead, a more efficient way, 'if the ship were to get attacked, it's better to have multiple weaker weapons than a single one' was Maiko's logic, it had worked many times, it would continue to as far as they knew. On the sides were different things, more wearable, or manual operation type of things, mech, armor, anything in that category. "Maiko!" Maruki shouted upwards, Maiko sat on a seat suspended by heavy chains.

"Back so soon?"

"Rose should be sending the report"

"Right, no need to question the new guy then"

"Won't do much good anyways" Mo responded. Maiko pressed a switch, promptly making the seat she sat on descend till it was just barely above the ground.

"Right, I see it now, so, what do you want from me?" She stood up before scavenging her pockets, upon realizing they were empty she looked in a direction, slightly irritated.

"We need to continue the investigation...so we need a car"

"Can't you just warp?"

"No uplink, we'd be warping randomly"

"And your previous car?"

"..."

"Hanabi?"

"Well, we may have had a little incident, that...completely wrecked the car"

"...so that was the junk that rolled in that day...huh" Maiko looked around the room. "You still owe me you know for the previous repairs"

"Come on Maiko, you can settle just this once"

"I have before, you still owe me money"

"Fine...how much?" Maiko looked up to the mess that used to be a car.

"850,000"

"Bullshit"

"Say it all you want, I think you forget how expensive the cars you get are, and how much I keep fixing it for free"

"Alright, alright" A massive hit to Maruki's bank account was processed as he paid off his debt, along with a bit more for the new vehicle.

"We're even now, so, since there's no uplinks, should I have the AI lead the way?"

"If you can spare it, yeah" Maiko nodded before whistling.

"Hallow's crew! Need an G-Interceptor"

"Alright Maiko! We'll have it down in a bit" Hallow's crew, practically Maiko's main assistance in keeping the place running, got to work instantly, pulling on chains to bring the main body down before getting the wheels in.

"Anything else before I get back to my project?"

"We'll be on a planet with mostly humans, as such..."

"Guns, alright, you know where the armory is, bring back the guns in one piece and I won't charge you a penny" Maiko got back on the seat before it ascended again, without even waiting for an affirmation, she got back to work on her project, something that took up a quarter of the whole room.

"What's your preference Mo?" Hanabi was already at the armory, taking a look at all the wares.

"You already trust me with a gun?"

"Can't really afford not to, you expect us to baby you all day?" Maruki on arrival leaned on the counter.

"Eheheh, newcomer not used to all my wares ay?" Though that wasn't what they were talking about, Mo, when he did look at the weapons, realized they looked nothing alike to what he was used to, even with his limited memory. K-Car, Voltage-U.B, just a few weapons on the back wall.

"We're not taking anything heavy Ozzman, just checking a scene."

"Even investigators need their protection, at least a look at my smaller wares should suffice" Maruki got off the counter as Ozzman grabbed it, it was connected to a hinge, pulling it away revealed more guns of the smaller variety, handguns, hand cannons, the sort.

"L.P-Pistol for me" Maruki said it in a certain tone, a dull tone, one that makes anyone understand this phrase has been repeated many times before.

"M.F version for me"

"I'll...just take...any really" Ozzman took out another L.P-Pistol for Mo.

"Be sure to bring em back, they cost a pretty penny."

"Hehe, of course" Mo tried smiling, although anxious. Mo took one more look at Maiko while they headed to the car, she was working intently on a panel of whatever machine project she was doing, all he knew is that there were many wires, control boards, and an empty slot in the center. They soon entered the vehicle, Mo sat in the back behind the driver seat which soon got occupied by Maruki. Anything outside the car soon became a blur, and just as fast, they were on the streets of a city at night. "What the hell!?" Mo almost sunk into his seat from surprise.

"I would say to relax, but all things considered...yeah" Maruki started the engine before the drive began.

"Drive carefully"

"Look who's talki-"

"So...um" Mo interjected. "You four...that Random guy, and Rose, you all friends or something?"

"Me, Hanabi and Rose knew each other way before Random, Rose and I were bunker kids, and we met Hanabi almost instantly after we escaped . Random was a friend of a friend, think we met about...one, two years ago?"

"...and you all do this now?"

"Heh, not much of a glow up right?" Hanabi looked at the mirror on her side, seemingly bored. "Sadly we're not really prodigies of anything like other DTs, we just trudge along, Maiko is the exception, a bit of Rose too, Maruki and I just get lucky most of the time."

"Some cases we pull off cool things"

"Yet they're still sending you to investigate a crime scene?"

"Yeah...weird world...oh! Speaking of the crime scene, here" After maneuvering through his HUD and driving steadily, he handed Mo a summary of the scene which he promptly read. It seemed like an attack on a company, most of the outside burned, and apparently, no one saw anything that happened. Mo put away the summary, there wasn't much more conversation until they had reached the scene.

"There you all ar-" An officer at the scene spoke towards the group, the building behind them, the one burned, still stood upright, yet the outer walls had been burned heavily. "Who's the new person?"

"Mo, not a long story but one I can't be bothered getting into" Maruki gave a direct answer, seemingly enough for the officer.

"Well, if they're with you, I won't bother questioning it" The officer returned to their clipboard, the three went inside and were met with a scene. Unlike the outside, the inside was rather unburnt, but that wasn't for everything, some specific parts have burned and every, every few feet there was a corpse, but they clearly didn't die from burning though that's what the burn scars would lead you to think.

"Well, we got one main thing to think about" Maruki crossed his arms as he looked down at all the bodies. "Did the burning come before or after?"

"Why does that matter?" Mo asked.

"It matters a lot actually, if the burning came before, why would the arsonists go back in to kill them? Shouldn't the fire have done that? If the burning came after, then it may have just been done in hopes it'd hide the bodies...or whatever evidence was left behind"

"I see..." The three began to look around, there wasn't much to search for, most computers were broken and those still alive were password locked, papers had been burned to ash, there was one thing however that stood out. Maruki crouched down

"Gloves" He looked up at one of the officers inside with them, they swiftly handed Maruki some, with that, he grabbed it and put them on before picking up a piece of shrapnel.

"A PC may have just exploded from the fire" Mo tried giving a reasonable answer, Maruki turned over to the ones lined up, they only shut down from burnt wires, the cases and monitors were fine.

"Doesn't seem that way" He inspected it further. It was from something that had glass, a bottle maybe? or something else...

"I'd say it's a molotov but...all the windows show glass breaking ou...hang on..." Hanabi, speaking aloud realized something.

"We noticed it too" An officer stood by window, it seems they were also thinking about why it was out, not in. Maruki put the glass back down, trying to put it exactly how it was before.

"Why throw it from the inside?" Maruki stood up, looking for anything else. "Hanabi, mind getting Rose for those PCs?"

"Alright" Hanabi went back to the computers, ringing up Rose.

"Rose here, whatcha need?"

"There's a locked PC...could ya...you know, work your magic?" There was a pause.

"The one you're close to right now?"

"Yup!"

"One moment then"

"They may have been running away..."Mo threw a theory out.

"I...actually agree...That would explain why the corpses have cut marks along with the burns...but we need proof for that, why would they be running away?"

"If the PCs have that info we'll be waiting for a bit" As though jinxing Hanabi, the PC turned on with the password lock screen gone and an empty folder saying 'You're welcome' in the center of the desktop.

"Well there we go." The three walked over, Maruki was the one who navigated the computer, being the only one wearing gloves. "I do find it odd it's the only surviving PC." Maruki clicked around, browser, bookmarks, leaving the emails for last. "Nothing seems out of place here...just a bunch of stuff the company worked on" Maruki clicked the trash, once more, nothing out of place.

"What's that?" Mo pointed, there was an incredibly small arrow icon.

"How the hell did you see that" Maruki had to get close to the screen and squint to just barely see it, he clicked it, and was brought to a whole new category of emails.

Subject: Notice

Recipients: M

"M, there's issues, CIF are catching on, along with the corp themselves, I'll be heading your way tomorrow" Maruki quickly checked the date, it was sent a few days ago, this investigation opened up the day after, along with when the burning happened. "It's only a matter of time before they know where we went, so be ready" The rest of the emails has already reached their maximum time in the trash bin, automatically being deleted.

"Well...they seem to have left by choice" Mo backed up so Maruki could stand.

"Maruki, Hanabi, come back to the ship whenever you can, I got in the laptop."

"We're not done here yet..."

"huh?" Mo didn't understand the random comment.

"Rose called us back, we'll just try to get a lead using what we got. The two headed out, with Mo waiting slightly before following.

"We'll do our best here" An officer spoke to them, Maruki sent over the email along with a few theories the three had, they entered the car soon after and returned to the ship, it was just as disorientating to Mo as before.

"Welcome back" Maiko was still working on her project, she had moved since their last visit, but was overall in the same area just as before. "Rose wanted ya, but you probably knew that already"

"Yeah, she got into the laptop"

"Good for you guys, take care" They didn't put back the gear, they kept it when they would leave again soon after. It was a walk to Rose's office, they didn't frequent it so it was difficult to locate, but they managed eventually.

"You're all late" Rose was typing away on the laptop, course, she had gloves on.

"You don't call us here often" Maruki took a seat at the other side of the desk, Mo stood, Hanabi took a different seat.

"The laptop has as few things...a weird looking map" Right beside her, a projection of the map appeared, it was odd, it was heavily dumbed down, showing no mountains, ocean, lakes, it was mostly shapes, but it was certainly a map. "People named M and O, and some menti-"

"You said M?" Hanabi cut her sentence short.

"Yeah"

"On the PC you got into someone sent a message to M, about meeting them after being paranoid we were catching on. May have been O sending it"

"May?"

"There wasn't a sender section, and all the other emails didn't too" Maruki adjusted himself.

"Hm...well, only one facility meets the description, the one in the belt of New Min's planet"

"...it got one so soon?" Rose nodded at Maruki.

"Lillies, could be those cannibal guys too"

"Guess the CIF haven't made a name for em yet?" Hanabi crossed her legs after a moment of sitting.

"They're cannibals, we ain't giving them a fancy name, all I know is that they wear some sorta outfit like a corp, complete grey, some mask with a symbol, sounds like a cult but I don't see them pulling off rituals"

"Don't jinx yourself" Mo made a comment.

"Right, right" Rose leaned on her hand. "Anyhow, this facility seems to be inactive, abandoned by the CSF after that war, so it would make sense for them to reside there, because of that, Random will be assisting this time around, better than having him investigate." She tapped her other hand on the table. "You're free to go, take care" Her HUD appeared, along with a faint sound from a ringtone, it seemed to have been from a show, and enough to fluster Rose. "Out!" The three swiftly left.

"Seems we got our next op" Maruki adjusted his jacket.

"Guess I'll still be tagging along?" Mo asked.

"Course, we're not letting you wander on your own for now"

"So!" Hanabi clasped her hands together. "We'll meet in twenty!" Mo followed Maruki, Hanabi went on her own, for now they'd rest, the next mission wouldn't be so easy.