"There's no way this is happening-."

"It's happening, Meiko," David cut Meiko off. "I figured Griff was involved with you when he mentioned your name, but it didn't occur to me how involved he was with you."

"How much do you know?"

"Enough to know that Duodecim wants him."

"I guess that makes sense," Meiko said, thinking about it. "Did they come for you, too?"

"They questioned me," David answered. "Was someone else involved?"

"I dunno if I can tell you," Meiko said. "I don't even know if I can trust you."

"Then trust what I'm saying; Griff is in danger, and whoever else is associated with Duodecim."

"Fine," Meiko said. "It's a girl named Akira Fujita. She followed Griff the other day and they tracked her on a camera."

David nodded. "We'll try to figure something out with her situation."

"Now why don't you tell me what it is you're doing here, armed with a pistol, and coming to meet me out here?"

"Because we need your help. We don't have enough resources for what we're up against."

"Fine," Meiko said, realizing she was up against a wall herself. "So what about Griff?"

"We'll meet back at my home and we'll pick him up."

"Fine," Meiko agreed, and stepped closer to David. "But if you're lying to me, I will make sure to end you. Griff's my friend, and I'm not putting my friends in danger."

"Listen, Meiko," David said, "I'm doing this because I have Griff's safety in mind, first and foremost. I've been keeping this a secret from him for his safety. You have to understand that, right?"

Meiko stared in his eyes, and felt as if she could trust him.

"I'll be sure to tell you and Griff everything."

"Fine," Meiko said, holstering her pistol. "By all means, lead the way."

"Get in your car," David requested. "And be sure to keep up."

Meiko got in her car, and waited for David's car to drive out first before she would follow behind him. She didn't like any of this, and the fact she had told David anything, including information about Akira, she hoped it wouldn't cause issues in the future.

Though in Akira's case, she wondered if it could get any worse. Akira was already involved with the team by proxy of having sat in the same car. Meiko worried it could potentially get Akira involved further than what she already knew.

But that didn't matter now, she had to drive behind David and meet back where Griff was. She wasn't looking forward to any of this.

Once Meiko had arrived behind David, she got out of her car. David left his vehicle and invited her inside the house.

She took a good look at David's car. It was a much nicer car than hers, but she couldn't really compare that, considering hers was a junker from years ago that came cheap for her. David definitely had someone paying him decent money. She wondered if Griff ever suspected David of being part of something bigger than he let on.

Meiko walked into the house. It was a nice home, and looked like it had plenty of memories tied to it for Griff. She took a look at some of the photos that lined the wall near the entrance, mostly with photos of a younger Griff. He looked innocent and vulnerable, and seemed to be happy then.

David waved for Meiko into the hallway. He stood in front of a closed door. Assumedly, this was Griff's bedroom.

David rapped against the door.

"Griff, are you up?" David asked. "I'm coming in."

"Yeah, I'm up," I said, "what's going on?"

David pushed open my door, and stepped inside.

"We need to talk. Get dressed."

I looked up at him, and then I looked behind him. Meiko was standing there.

"Whoa, what's she doing here?!"

"Don't freak out," Meiko said, "it's okay. David knows."

I looked over at David, and he gave me a look, one that said, "she's right."

I put my hands over my face, and then looked back up at the both of them again. Yep, I was definitely awake.

"How much do you know?" I asked.

"Enough to know your involvement with Meiko isn't just you two going to movies regularly," he said. "I've got my theories, but we'll talk about that later."

I guess it was only a matter of time before he'd figure out what was going on.

"Get dressed," David said again. "And pack your stuff. Enough to last you a week or so. You've got twenty minutes."

David stepped out with Meiko and shut my door. I got up out of my bed and scurried to get my clothes on. David didn't seem angry, but I got the feeling he was uneasy about all of it. I guess I couldn't quite blame him; I was keeping a secret from him. I just wonder how he found out.

Once all of my clothes were on, I had packed a few extra sets of clothes, more than enough to last a week.

I went back to my bed and reached over to grab my phone. It wasn't there. The charger was still sitting by my bed, however. I grabbed it, and walked out of my door.

I looked over at David as I walked out. He had my phone in his hands.

"Sorry," David said, handing it back, "but I couldn't let this go on any longer."

"Why exactly did you sneak into my room and look through my phone?"

"Because I knew something was up," David answered. "I kind of had a hunch in the beginning that you were up to something when you mentioned Meiko's name originally, but I didn't think you were directly involved with her."

"How do you know who she is?" I asked.

"Well, that's a long story," David said, looking over at Meiko. "But I know her secret, as I'm sure you already do."

I rubbed the back of my neck, almost feeling embarrassed more than anything. I shot Meiko a look that read, "sorry."

Meiko shrugged. "At this point, so long as we can trust you, I'm not against getting support."

I wasn't sure I could trust David, not anymore, anyways. The fact he had all of this hidden away and kept secret, I didn't know what to think.

But then, on the other side of it, here I was doing the same thing and keeping secrets. So maybe he couldn't really trust me anymore either. I didn't really know what to think about it, not anymore.

"Look, we're going to need to get going," David pressured us, "the longer we stick around, the bigger the chance of something going wrong."

"And what exactly could go wrong?" I asked.

"Well, we just need to leave," David said, and turned to leave through the front door. "We'll take your car, Meiko. We can talk on the way there."

Meiko nodded.

"We're going back to your base," David ordered. "Only us three."

I assumed from that statement that David had more people he was in contact with. It made sense, but so long as it didn't mean any of this went public, it meant we'd be okay. For the time being.

As we got into Meiko's car, David looked at me. I was sitting in the backseat.

"I'm sorry I kept this a secret," he apologized.

I looked down and then back up at him.

"I'm sorry, too. Maybe now we can find out what both of us were hiding."

"Then I'll go first," David said as Meiko started the car.

"I guess I want to ask why you took my phone in the first place."

"Well," David said, letting out a sigh, "I had gotten a visit from a couple of Duodecim agents. Don't worry, I got them to leave without saying anything, but they wanted to ask about your involvement with something a month ago. An incident you might recall."

"You figured it out from there, didn't you?" Meiko asked.

"I did, and I needed to get into Griff's phone. I debated on just cloning your phone's identification card and seeing who you were talking to that way, but I wanted to keep away from your life. However, after those two agents had visited, I made the decision to see what was going on."

"So you looked through my phone, huh?"

"Yeah, sure enough I saw you were in contact with Meiko, but the one that surprised me more was seeing Miku's name."

I gulped and looked over at him.

"Guess I'm not very good about keeping secrets, am I?" I said.

"You're not," Meiko jabbed, "but that's probably why David wanted you to pack, isn't it?"

"It is," David said. He then added, "what surprises me is that I didn't know you and Miku got together."

My face turned red in embarrassment.

"Great," I said, "now I know I'm really bad at keeping secrets."

"Not like it's a shock," David said, "you seemed to talk about her like she was the greatest thing to happen to you."

I almost wanted to punch David in the arm, but Meiko started laughing. It certainly broke the tension for the moment.

"Guess I wasn't the only one," Meiko added.

"So now that it's my turn," David said, "I'm curious as to how you managed to get Miku back."

I looked over at Meiko, then back at David.

"It's a long story," I said, "and I don't think you'll want to believe it."

"I've got time," David said, "and besides, I've seen some things you wouldn't believe."

Meiko looked at me, a look of affirmation on her face, one that said, "tell him. It's not like we can hide it anymore."

So I explained to David what happened, how I managed to meet Meiko, how our underground base is home for everyone there, and how we've been conducting things in secrecy, and how we've been using Interspace to achieve our goals.

David seemed to believe me, because he didn't object to any of it. Instead, he just took in what I was telling him. It was weird to see someone believe you over something you almost struggled to believe yourself was real.

"So, that's how you did it," David said. "Can't believe I've been beaten to the punch twice now."

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

"Well," David said, "that base was actually one of the missions I had to undertake a few years ago."

"You knew about it?" I asked.

"If you thought you were the only group that knew of its existence, I'm afraid you're mistaken. It was something we were searching for years ago, but all of the records of its existence were wiped clean. I'm shocked it managed to survive all of these years."

"Jeez," I said. "Makes me wonder how it got discovered then."

I felt like Gumi would be the person to ask about that, but I'd keep it a secret from David for the time being. I still couldn't tell what it was he was after, but if he really was intent on helping us, I couldn't turn him away. Not like I had a choice at this point, though.

"I guess I'm a little embarrassed," David said. "My own nephew beat me to the punch. Do you want my job?"

I cracked a smile at that remark. Even if everything was kept secret for years, he was still the same David I grew up with. I had to remember that.

And maybe, to David, I was the same Griff to him. Maybe.

Miku lay in her bed, relaxing before she would inevitably doze off. She was almost excited by the idea of trying out the simulator. She debated on doing it in secret or if she should tell Gumi.

She didn't see why she couldn't do it herself. In her mind, she was already being tested and thought it was okay to deviate from the plan, she might as well do something that would benefit everyone. It felt like the team could use a pilot if they ever needed a way out of somewhere.

But Miku also felt like the reason she wanted to do this was for selfish reasons. She wanted to see the sky for herself from inside of the cockpit, and wanted to soar above everyone else. She knew she wanted that more than anything else.

She lay in her bed, thinking about the sky, and cuddling her stuffed bunny toy. She found her eyelids close, and drifted off to sleep.

She would wake back up, however, at the sound of an alarm.

"Everyone to the Operating Room, now!" Gumi ordered over the intercom. Miku jumped out of her bed and headed straight for the elevator. Luka left her room as well, and looked at Miku. Both of them were still in their pajamas.

"Any idea what's going on?" Miku asked.

"No," Luka said, a concerned look on her face, "and I haven't seen Meiko come out of her room. She never came back inside of the base after dropping Griff off. I'm worried."

"Yeah, hopefully that's not what this is about."

"I don't see how it could be anything else, though," Luka said.

"True," Miku said, "hopefully she's okay."

The elevator opened, and Miku and Luka walked out quickly to

the Operating Room. Gumi was sitting in her chair, as usual. What wasn't usual was the footage from the hidden camera.

"Looks like Meiko caught someone," Gumi said, "look."

She was escorting someone who was wearing a bag over their

head. The person looked like a tall male that was well built.

"Any idea who he is?" Luka asked.

"Not sure," Gumi said, "but Meiko must have caught him

snooping around is my theory."

And then Miku noticed who was behind Meiko.

"Is that Griff? I thought he was already back home."

"I guess not," Luka said. "We'll need to be ready. Whoever

Meiko brought back looks like he could be trouble."

This was weird, but they couldn't question it; Meiko had someone in her custody, and she was bringing that person here.

"Better hope she has a good reason," Luka said, "but she's being careful this time. We'll wait by the elevator when she gets in."

Miku nodded, and stepped out behind Luka. The elevator was already on its way down by the time they stepped over in front of it.

"Wish I could have changed," Miku said, looking at her bare feet, "not sure I want to get serious when I have barely anything to wear."

Luka nodded.

The door pinged open, and Meiko, holding her captive by his arms, escorted him inside.

"Uh, hey guys." I said, awkwardly. "Surprised to see me back so soon?"

Miku looked over at me, and then back at David, who still had a bag over his head.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"Who exactly did you bring back?" Luka asked.

"We'll explain," Meiko said, "we're heading to the Operating Room. Don't worry, he's a friend."

Meiko ripped the bag off of his head. David grunted, and looked over at the two girls standing in front of him.

"I take it you two are Griff's friends," David said.

"Do I know you?" Miku asked.

"No," David said, "but we've met before, and I know all about you."

Miku and Luka looked at each other.

"It's confusing, I know, but I'll explain everything."

Miku and Luka nodded, and we walked into the Operating Room. Gumi sat at her chair, her eyes trained on David as we entered.

"Griff's uncle?" Gumi said. "Why exactly did he show up?"

"Surprised you knew that," David said.

"I kinda know everything," Gumi shot back, "it's my specialty. Though I don't know why you're here, or why Meiko led you in here."

David looked around the Operating Room, and then back at Gumi.

"I'm here because I want to help you," David answered. "And so does the organization I work for."

"Well, that's wonderful," Gumi said, sarcastically. "I'm sure we can just trust what you're saying."

"If I wanted you captured, I could have just as easily set this up as a diversion."

"Fine then," Gumi said, "since Meiko trusted you enough to bring you down here, my question is how you and your organization know about us."

"We had an informant. Someone who wanted our help. Things went sour and we had to pull back. We managed to free all of you before, we just didn't have time to get everyone."

Meiko raised her eyebrow and bit her lip.

"What if I don't believe you?" Gumi asked. "I remember being freed, but I don't remember seeing anyone."

"I believe him," Miku spoke up. David looked over at her, surprised.

"Go ahead, Miku," Gumi said, "I'd like to hear why."

"I remember when I woke up I was in a new home," Miku explained. "I also remember being given a piece of paper that said everything was being taken care of, but what I didn't understand was how I got there."

"You remember where you woke up?" David asked.

"My apartment," Miku answered. "Was that your group?"

"Yes, we set up everything. After we learned what your name was we gave you the 'Mika Holloway' cover. It was only supposed to be temporary. You weren't supposed to be there as long as you did."

"And why was that?" Miku asked.

"Something happened," David said. "It was my call, and I held off on moving you.".

"You held off on moving her, why?" Gumi asked.

"Because of Griff," David said, turning to look at me.

I looked at him, a little surprised, and also a little embarrassed.

"I got quite a grilling by my bosses," David mused. "But I don't regret it."

"I guess it's starting to make sense, then," Luka said. "Would it be fair to assume that the reason you're here is for Griff as well?"

"That's correct. Once I figured out Griff was involved with something dangerous, I felt like I needed to step in."

"So," I asked, scratching my head, "where do we go from here?"

"I'll have to make a call to my group. From then on, we'll have them move in and take over operations for this base. We'll move everyone here to a secure location where you will all be safe-."

"You're moving us!?" Meiko interjected, slamming her fist into the wall behind her. "You can't do that to us!"

"That was our intention from the start. Once my team moves in, we'll have you moved to a secure position."

"I refuse," Meiko protested. "If you think I'm going to let myself be taken away anywhere secluded again, you have another thing coming."

"I'm sorry, Meiko," David said. "But you'll be taken care of. It's a safe place."

"Safe place, huh?" Gumi said. "With Duodecim still after us, I doubt it wouldn't take them long to find us. The only reason they haven't found this place was because it's off the grid. I shouldn't have been able to find it, but I think someone wanted me to find it. They'll track us down in the open."

"But you'll be far enough away, and you'll be protected," David argued. "You won't have that guarantee here."

"That's the issue here David," I said, stepping in, "we've got too much here to just 'give up.'I do, Meiko does, Miku and everyone else, too."

Meiko gave me a slight smile. I couldn't break the promise I made to her.

"And we can't sit by and let Duodecim do what they have done go unnoticed," Luka said. "You saw what they did to get to Miku. They'll do the same to us if we let it. This is our only chance to fight back."

David turned and looked over at Miku.

"I assume you're also in agreement to keep this going?"

"I already voiced my issues about Griff being part of this and running the risk of getting hurt. He's part of this until the end, and I'm not going to walk away from it either."

"I see," David said. "I guess I underestimated how tight-knit this entire group is."

"Besides," Gumi lit up, "the moment you try to take us, I'll shut down the entire facility. Wipe every program off of it. I'll make the supercomputer inoperable."

David squinted at her, and furrowed his brow.

"I think that's an easy decision to make here, David," I said. "Gumi will do it."

David threw up his hands, knowing he'd lost, and let out a loud sigh.

"Alright, then my team will be here tomorrow. I'll be sure to include that you'll be working with us instead of being taken elsewhere. I hope you realize the crap you're about to put me through."

Though David sounded a little frustrated about the ordeal, a gentle smile slipped from his face. I wondered if he preferred this outcome. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happy with how it turned out either.

"Alright," David continued, "I'll be taking my leave, then. As for you, Griff, I'll need you to spend the night here. More than likely you'll be here for a good long while."

"What about you?" I asked. "Are you going home?"

"Seeing as we came in Meiko's car, I'd like to ask if I can borrow her vehicle until morning."

Meiko took out her keys and tossed them to David.

"It needs more gas," Meiko said, "and if you wreck it, I'm coming for you."

"Don't worry about it," David said. "I'm pretty responsible."

"One last thing," Gumi said. "If you're bringing others, we have another entrance through a storm drain that your team can use. It would look less suspicious if you sent them in through there. We'll have someone come out to escort as best we can. Seeing as how you've forced our hand, we're hoping we can trust you."

"Rest assured," David said, "we're doing this to keep all of you safe. Just keep low until morning. We'll have everything set by then."

Everyone nodded, and David left the facility.

"Well," Luka said, "certainly a fine mess we've gotten ourselves into."

"I'd yell at Griff," Meiko said, "but we both know he didn't cause this."

"It's been a big shock to me," I said. "Only yesterday did I think David was a normal guy, and now I come to find out he's a secret agent? Next thing you're going to tell me is that espionage runs in my family."

"It might," Meiko said. "Considering what you're doing now."

"It's in my genes, then. At least now I don't have to keep secrets from him anymore. The one I'm worried about is Akira."

"Well, for now," Gumi said, "Akira can't really give anything away if you're hiding under here. Duodecim's agents are still going to try and hunt you down the best they can. They won't try to hurt her, but I wouldn't mind recruiting her into the fold if it means we can keep her safe."

Meiko punched my arm lightly. "You're bringing so many new friends to our house, Griff. Do you think they could bring some for a potluck, too?"

I rolled my eyes.

"Well, regardless," Luka said, "we'll need to be up bright and early tomorrow for what's coming. I'd say all of us should get plenty of rest. I know I was in the middle of my beauty sleep before the alarm went off."

"I'm with you there," I said, yawning. "I could use some sleep."

Gumi nodded, and dismissed all of us. I grabbed my bag and walked out.

As I stepped into the hallway, I commented on Miku's attire.

"Luka wasn't kidding," I said, "you're still in your P.J.'s"

Miku looked down at her pink sleepwear, and shrugged.

"It was kind of a rude awakening, but at least I'll be able to get some sleep."

I walked with her to the elevator, and we chatted for a bit.

"It really bugged Meiko that David said you'd all be taken to a safe location," I said. "I worried she was about to punch him."

"Meiko's pretty scared of that, I noticed," Miku said. "Do you know why?"

"She doesn't like isolation," I said. "She hates being down here to begin with, but she's got her reasons to stay, too."

"That makes sense," Miku said. "I don't really like the idea of being locked up again either, as you can imagine."

"Not a life I'd like to live," I said. "I used to be a recluse, and I think I hate the idea of ever going back. But having met you, I don't think that'll happen again."

"I don't think it will, either," Miku said, with assurance in her voice.

The elevator dinged and I walked her to her room.

"I promised Meiko I'd help get her friend back," I added. "I don't think she wants to give up on finding him."

"I get it," Miku said. "Meiko helped you rescue me. I guess you have to return the favor."

"If it weren't for Meiko, I'd probably have been captured myself."

"Well, it didn't come to that. I'm glad you had her to help you."

I looked at Miku and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "And I'm glad I have you, too."

Miku giggled, and blushed before she gave me a hug.

"Goodnight, Mister Darhen," she said, opening her door.

"You as well, Miss Hatsune. If you need anything, my room is right over there."

I pointed to my room, and she nodded with a smile before closing her door. I walked down the hall to my room, and opened the door.

I hadn't seen the place in about a week, but it was still my room, and it was going to be my permanent residence until things changed, so I guess I had to get used to that fact. Lucky for me, I kinda liked it here.

I hadn't noticed it before, but a terminal sat on a desk to my right. It had a blinking blue light on it. I went over to check it out.

A message was sitting on it from Gumi.

"Hey Griff, figured I'd send this now to you and get your private messaging terminal set up. I've left a detailed operations manual around in case you want to hop back into V.R. or want access to more of the recreational facilities. Meiko doesn't think it would hurt to get some extra training in. I've also left information on how your terminal works. I'd suggest looking it over."

She left a file for me to download. I decided I'd read it over later, and took myself to bed. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day, after all.

I woke up the next morning with a knock at my door, and Meiko's voice telling me to get up.

"Company is on its way, Griff," Meiko said. "We're getting ready to let them in. Get dressed."

I stood up and opened my door.

"Mornin', early bird," Meiko said. "It's about 7 A.M. and we're heading up to the Operating Room. Everyone will meet you there."

I nodded, and shut my door to change into my regular t-shirt and black jacket and jeans. Once I was done, I stepped out into the hallway and headed up the elevator into the Operating Room. Everyone was most likely waiting for me there.

When I entered, everyone was crowded by Gumi's chair. Meiko and Miku nodded at me.

"Welcome to the party, Griff," Gumi said. "We're about to let your uncle and his friends in."

Gumi invited me to look over the plan she had laid out.

"I'm having them enter into the base through the sewer system, the same one Meiko brought you into when you came here. I'm hoping we can keep a decent cover as they'll be dressed as maintenance crews."

"You think it would raise suspicion if they came in another way?" I asked.

"The less suspicious things look, the better."

I nodded in agreement.

"Now, I'll have Meiko meet up with the group, and I guess we accept the risks of letting an outside group into our base. I want to ask one last time, however, that we all agree this is okay?"

I looked over at everyone else around me. It seemed like they all agreed to the risks, but I was the last one who had to say anything.

I nodded. "I still feel like I'm processing the fact that David kept his involvement hidden all this time, but that's a personal issue. If they're here to help us fight Duodecim, then we're going to need that support."

"Well," Gumi said, "I just hope we're making the right choice."

"Alright," Meiko said, "I'll meet them at the entrance. Everyone else is on standby."

Meiko stepped out, and we all waited with great anticipation.

About an hour passed, and Meiko had come back, with the sounds of heavy boots following behind her.

"So," David said as he stepped in, "we've arrived."

Behind him stood about four other men as they all stepped in, one by one. The Operating Room felt cramped to begin with, but now it felt like I was going to have barely any space to move around with all of them here.

All of them were dressed as sewer workers as they entered, and they all wore serious looks. It worked as a decent cover considering where they were entering from.

"It's plenty cramped in here, so I'll make it quick," David announced. "In a few hours, we'll be joined by our medical and engineering team. Find your quarters and get yourselves settled. We've got a busy day ahead."

The other men nodded and stepped out into the hallway.

"They'll be finding their own sleeping quarters," David said. "My group doesn't have the resources to get an entire team out here. This is all we're getting. I got an earful for all of this, too."

"Your bosses were that upset?" I asked.

"I told them about Gumi's ultimatum. They didn't see a point in fighting it."

I looked over at Gumi, who had a wide smile on her face.

"Regardless of the decision, it was made with that in mind."

"So," Meiko said, "you're in charge?"

"For the time being," David answered.

"And I heard something about engineering and medical teams?"

"Right," David said. "It was decided to have engineering look into the facility. As much as I'd imagine you've looked it over, Gumi, I think they all want to make sure everything is still working."

Gumi nodded. "I wouldn't mind having the extra help. Might be nice to talk with people who speak my language, too!"

"And the medical team?" Luka asked.

"Right," David continued, "the medical team will be led by Dr. Clarke. I've worked with her since I've been part of this organization. She specifically wanted to sit down with each of you and conduct psych evaluations before you continue with your operation."

All of us nodded in affirmation.

"Now," David said, "I'll have my team review what you've done so far, and we'll help formulate a plan going forward, especially concerning Interspace."

"Sounds fair," Gumi said, "I'll give your group whatever it is they need to research Interspace, but we can't take too much time."

David nodded.

"Finally," David said, "we recently learned of another person who has become involved with your group."

I looked at everyone, and then back at David.

"If you mean Akira," I said, "then yeah, she got involved with us because of me. I wasn't being careful."

"Unfortunate," David said, "and that's what we'll be discussing as well in the briefing. We may have to bring Akira into this base as much as we can while keeping Duodecim off her."

"You aren't thinking of taking her from her parents, right?" Miku said.

"That's up for debate, but if Duodecim knows about her involvement, they'll continue pressing on her until they can use her as leverage."

"Fine then," I said. "If it means she'll be safe, I think that's all anyone cares about."

David nodded, and turned his attention to Gumi.

"Where would be a good place to have a briefing?"

Gumi perked up.

"Aside from here, but since it's only four others, I'm thinking we could make use of the V.R. training room if you want to have people look over our plans."

"Whatever works," David said. "If you could come with us to help explain everything, I'd appreciate it."

"Sure thing," Gumi said, "I take my payment in carrots. In fact, Griff here still owes me, so you can pick up his tab."

David looked over at me, and I shot him a look, saying, "it's a long story."

"Then I'll take my leave," David said. "Before I go, though, I did order some food from a restaurant, so dinner is on me. It's the least I can do for all of your cooperation in all of this. I'd like to be able to at least give you guys a decent meal while I'm here."

We all looked at one another and gave an affirmative nod. Gumi and David went down the elevator. Once they were gone, I looked over at the other three.

"Gumi certainly seemed excited to give information to our new friends," Meiko said.

"If we've got this as our new support network, I say we make the best of friends with all of them," Luka suggested. "We're lucky Griff is related to the one leading this entire thing."

"Speaking of Griff," Miku said, looking at me, "how do you feel about all of this?"

I shrugged. "It's going to take a while for me to see David as more than just my caretaker. But I won't let it get in the way of our work. That takes priority over everything else."

"You don't need to act stoic about it," Meiko said. "If you think David being here is going to be a bad thing, you should take it up with him."

"I kept this a secret from him, and he kept a secret from me. We both had our reasons. Doesn't seem fair to judge him on it, and besides, he really seems like he wants to help."

"Fine," Meiko said, "but just remember our mission comes first, not David's."

"Don't worry," I nodded, "I haven't forgotten."

Meiko nodded, and Miku looked at me quizzically.

"Things are starting to move fast," Luka said, "I'd say we try to rest up the best we can."

"In that case," I said, "I might head back to my room. Not feeling super tired but there's a bunch of stuff Gumi left for me to read over."

"I might do the same," Miku said. "I had something I was reading before all of this."

"Anything interesting?" Luka inquired.

"Nothing really, just Gumi's dockets, and maybe some other stuff, but that isn't important."

We all headed into the elevator and rode it down to the sleeping quarters. We stepped out to see the men that came in with David were already gone.

"They move quickly," I said.

"Kinda have to," Meiko said. "They felt like the military. Seemed to have a pretty decent organization from what I could tell."

"I always have to wonder," Miku added, "were you trained for military work or something, Meiko?"

Meiko looked over at Miku, a little surprised.

"Sorry," Miku said, "didn't mean to offend you."

"I'm not offended," Meiko replied, "just a little surprised about your question, that's all. But to answer your question, I did a fair amount of combat training back over a couple of years ago in Duodecim's facilities. Didn't they have you do that?"

Miku shook her head. "Not really, at least, not really what would qualify as 'military' training. What about you, Luka?"

"Same as Miku," Luka said, "though I recall having training that involved crowds and sneaking. I assumed all of you had that same training. Huh, now I'm wondering…"

Luka trailed off, and Miku and Meiko looked at each other.

"Makes me wonder," Meiko said thoughtfully, "just what exactly did Duodecim build us for?"

"I feel like we could ask that forever," Luka said, "and we'd probably end up nowhere."

"Well, if you want my opinion," I said, "I thought all of you were built to mimic people in the real world. Isn't that why they gave you names and humanoid bodies to work with?"

"Well, sure," Meiko said, "but it still doesn't always feel that way, I guess. If we were supposed to mimic humans, why lock us up in captivity? Why limit our access to almost everything?"

"Sorry," I said, shrugging, "you guys had a lot to go through. I can't even imagine what that must have felt like."

"Hopefully you won't ever have to," Meiko said. "But that's for another time. I'd say we all get some time to relax before things get heated again."

Meiko was right. The more any of us dwelled on questions we didn't have answers to, the more confused we'd probably feel.

"Alright," I said. "I'm heading back to my room. You guys know where to find me if you need me."

Everyone nodded as they all headed back to their quarters. I wondered what tonight was going to look like with a full base being operated now. Probably a lot busier, that's for sure.

Psych evaluations, engineering experts, and my own guardian helping lead the charge against a major security company. What next, I wondered. Maybe I'd come to find out that I was an android all along, too.

Yeah, right. I laughed at that idea, though it did make me wonder what that must have been like for Miku and everyone else. It was a strange thought, but one that I couldn't really ignore. I don't really remember much from when I was an infant, but I doubt anyone really does. Was it the same for Miku? Does she remember the day she was brought to this world? What did that even feel like?

It must be so strange, too, to be created artificially and to mimic that of humans. For what it was worth, the people who built her managed to copy the human mind perfectly. A perfect copy that could set foot in the real world without anyone noticing.

I laid in bed and looked at my ceiling, and thought about it a little longer. If Miku was built to mimic humans, why not let her lead a normal life? Something didn't add up to me. Or maybe, there was a hidden motive behind what her initial creation was. Something that she nor any of the others knew about.

No matter what Miku was underneath her skin, I was still in love with her, and I'm sure she knew that. I just wish there was a better way I could help her.

After all, Miku changed my life, so I was in debt to her, and I wanted to pay back everything I owed her. Even if that meant putting myself in danger.