"Hey, Mom? Dad?" I said, walking into the living room with a small set of papers in my hand.

"Yes, Akira?" Mom asked me. "What's going on?"

"I'm not in trouble or anything, if that's what you're wondering," I said, shaking my head. "Though, you might probably not be happy with me because I waited so long on this."

Mom and Dad looked at each for a second and I showed them the paper.

"So, there's this retreat the softball team was kind of going to do for Winter Break…" I muttered. "Kinda didn't think I'd hop on it, but the girls on my team convinced me to."

"Did you think we'd say 'no?'" Dad asked me.

"Kinda," I shrugged. "But they told me I should try. So here I am."

Mom and Dad looked it over, seeing the details of the trip. My heart raced as they read it over. Both didn't say or comment on anything as they usually did. They were the type of people to read things thoroughly before giving their thoughts.

"I don't know," Mom said, "are you sure this will be okay to do?"

Dad disagreed. "I think Akira is old enough that we shouldn't be keeping her back from something like this. You see that, don't you, Ayane?"

"I do, but… What if she gets hurt?"

"It's a softball camp," Dad said, "with the school's supervision, it looks safe. So long as Akira agrees to follow the rules, I don't think she's going to get hurt."

"And you know I wouldn't do that," I said.

Keep it together, Akira, I heard myself think.

"I just wish you had told us sooner," Dad said, "this is a week from now. I'm surprised they're still leaving the application open."

"Sorry," I apologized. "From how it sounded, my team really wanted me to go."

Mom and Dad both signed their names to it, and I grabbed the paper.

"I'm sure everything will be fine," Mom said. "And I shouldn't worry about sending you off to something like this. It will have plenty of supervision, I'm sure."

"We did agree to this, dear," Dad reminded her, "we shouldn't be keeping Akira down."

Mom nodded, and sighed. "You're right. Just please promise me you'll be safe, okay?"

"I will, Mom, I will."

I took the signed paper back to my room, and stuffed it into my backpack, and pulled out my phone to call Griff's uncle David.

"Hey, it's me," I said, "they signed it."

"Good," David said, "we'll have your dorm set up and ready to go. Just keep your head down until then."

The call ended, and I looked at the paper I just got my parents to sign. A permission slip for a trip away from home for my softball team. All of it paid for, all of my expenses taken care of, and it was so last-minute it seemed like I had already missed the deadline to sign up. But my parents just signed it without question.

I sighed, realizing what it was I was doing, and sat back against my bed, and felt guilt well up inside me. I knew once I would take off for this so-called "retreat," there was a good chance I wouldn't be coming home for a while. I was violating my parents' trust, lying to their faces about where I would be going.

Keep it together, Akira, I repeated to myself.

I agreed to this, after all. To join this group. If that meant I had to make a hard choice like this, then I shouldn't have said yes in the first place. But I did, and that was it. I had to keep my word.

I got to work packing up my stuff, knowing I'd be bringing more than just a change of clothes that would last me a few days. A lump formed in my throat, and butterflies swam in my stomach. I knew I wouldn't be coming back home for a long time.

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

I sat in my room after a long day of training for the upcoming operation that was only a few days away. Tomorrow, we would be allowed to relax and rest before jumping feet first into another dangerous situation. After the situation with David using me as bait a week ago, I was glad I was only training for a while.

I laid on my bed and kicked my feet up on the small table next to my bed while I fiddled around with a tablet that controlled the atmosphere of my room. I tried to go for a cool, calm feeling by making the lights a dark blue color, and set the noise to sound like a busy city street. At least then I was reminded of home again.

I relaxed a little, feeling my aching muscles start to relax, and took a sip of a bottle of water that sat next to my feet. Letting out a relaxed sigh, I stood up and walked myself to the bathroom for a shower. I felt like a sweaty mess after today.

I let the water patter against me as I relaxed, washing myself off, and caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. My muscles were a little more toned now. I looked like a different person, but my face was still the same. With the same messy black hair and blue eyes, I had a hard time believing I had a body like that now.

But that was me. I was Griff, and I could see my training start to really pay off if it meant I was able to bulk up the way I had. So for all of the trouble we had to undergo, I was happy to see some real progress for once.

As I stepped out of the shower, the water turned off automatically, and I walked closer to the mirror, clearing my hair from my face. One thing I had noticed was that, while I looked the same, my hair was starting to grow out. I managed to keep it somewhat straight, but it was starting to reach down to my neck in length.

I mused to myself that after this was done, I would try to see if anyone would be willing to give me a haircut. Miku probably didn't mind my hair growing so much, but I did want to shorten it. Something about it being this long made me look girly.

I brushed my teeth, threw my sleeping clothes on, and got myself ready for bed, but as I stepped out of my bathroom, I heard a knock on my door. I could only wonder who would still be up this late wanting to come talk to me.

Sure enough, standing in the hallway was that familiar teal hair, tucked into a ponytail this time, and her welcoming smile.

"You have the best timing, you know that?" I commented.

Miku clicked her tongue and pointed at her ears. "I kinda know when you finish showering. Advanced hearing."

"Crafty," I said. "Was there something you needed?"

"I was maybe thinking of inviting you out for a walk tonight."

"A walk?" I replied. "Like, up top? But won't we get in trouble if you step foot outside again?"

"We don't need to do that," Miku shook her head, "it's in the simulator. I wanted to show you something there."

I tilted my head, looking a little confused.

"We mostly just do combat simulations in there, though. Unless you want to walk through a warzone-"

Miku waved away my concerns, and pointed inside of my dormitory.

"Go get changed. I'll meet you down there."

I agreed and shut my door. No backing out of it now, especially when I was curious enough to see what it is she wanted to show me. Could the simulator actually do more than just combat training? I remember doing obstacle courses and other things, but never past that. Then again, I never tried for anything else, either.

I threw on my jeans, t-shirt, and jacket, and walked out of my room towards the elevator. The dark hallway was bathed in bright light as the elevator opened. It was enough to wake me up.

I stepped into the elevator and sent myself down towards the simulator room. Once it arrived, I stepped inside to see Miku had already prepped the simulation pods. One was closed, the other wasn't. She was already inside waiting for me.

Instead of ruining the surprise and seeing what it was she had in store, I crawled into the egg-shaped pod, and rested against its comfy padded seat. The low hum of the simulator whirred as the door closed. The red triangular-shaped mask deployed, and I affixed it to my mouth. The green diodes started blinking, and I pressed the switch to activate the system.

I was brought back into the familiar grid as the pod loaded the simulation. A dark sky covered over me, and houses lined up on an empty suburban street, with cars parked in driveways, houses with people moving about in them, and street lamps keeping the path lit for you to walk along.

"There you are!" Miku said from behind me, and tugged at my jacket.

"Hope I didn't keep you waiting that long," I said apologetically.

"Nah, not at all," she said, "you're not the type to keep a girl waiting."

"Heh," I grinned, "so what is it you wanted to show me?"

"This," said Miku as she spread her arms out. "All of this. A nice walk in a little suburban neighborhood. It's pretty isn't it?"

"Reminds me a little bit of home," I said, looking around. I noticed at points that vehicles would pass by, but there weren't any drivers inside. Stranger still was the fact that the houses would have residents open the doors, but they looked more like shapes and silhouettes rather than actual people.

It was a simulation, no doubt about it. Ignoring it did leave a sense of comfort, however. The sounds and smells of this place still felt real, and even the look of the houses and the lights were matched perfectly, but there was still an inky void further ahead if I looked hard enough.

"It's different from what I'm used to," I commented.

"Sorry it isn't the real thing," Miku said. "I saw this one night and thought you would like it, though."

"I do," I smiled, "it's a nice gesture to bring me in here. I still didn't know the simulator could do this."

"I found it one day when I decided to shirk flight training."

"Ah, I get to find a good date spot?"

Miku looked over at one of the houses and sighed,"I guess I wanted to go outside for a little."

"I understand," I said, "being underground might drive you a little crazy."

"I love going to the surface," she said, "but you know that's out of the question now. This is the only place that could maybe fulfill that."

Miku let out another sigh, and looked at the empty street.

"It's not enough, is it?" I asked her outright.

Miku shook her head. "No. No it isn't. At first, It all looks so pretty, and then you get close to it, and then you realize this place isn't real. None of these houses are real, nor are the people. I can get away with anything here without any consequence!"

Miku walked up to a red car that was parked by the sidewalk, and kicked it, leaving a dent and a scratch in the paint. No alarm. The car just sat there.

"Nothing happens here," she said.

I looked up at the sky as I saw the false stars twinkling.

"It feels hollow to you, doesn't it?"

"Just like the rest of my life," Miku said, her expression dour. "I can come here and make a world of my dreams, fill it with everything I want where nothing bad can happen, but I know it's all fake. The food isn't real, the people aren't real, the place isn't real…"

Miku looked back over at me, her eyes mournful.

"And if none of this is real, who's to say I'm even real?"

"I'm sorry," I said,

looking down.

"Sorry for what exactly?

If anything, I should be sorry that I dragged you into all of 're in so much more danger because of me."

"You didn't 'drag' me into anything," I corrected her. "I chose to follow after you when you disappeared."

Miku didn't seem to want to admit that was the case at all. She looked at me, gazing in disbelief.

"I know you think you should blame yourself for all of this, but the fact is, Miku, I'm here with you. I'm here because I chose to be here."

"And you chose to be here because of me," she said, swallowing a lump in her throat. "It feels like we keep having this talk, don't we?"

"We're going to keep having it until we figure something out," I said. "Not that I mind. I care about you."

Miku just laughed and planted her elbows on the car she just kicked. She rested her chin against her hands and looked up dreamily at the sky above.

"We're a team," I added, "and the both of us need to work together if we're going to fix anything. I'm nowhere near perfect, and I won't pretend to be. Everyone here is so much stronger than I am, I feel like I'm dead weight. But you all keep me around anyways."

"The rest kind of have to," Miku looked at me, "otherwise I'd raise a storm about it."

"I know you would," I said, getting closer to her.

Miku looked back up at the night sky and I joined her as well.

"It's nice looking even if

it is a simulation," I said.

"Would be nicer if it were the real thing."

"This feels plenty real to me," I said, and hopped up on the car's hood. I scooched over

and patted the spot next to me. "Come on, we can stargaze together for a while before we need to go back."

"Alright," Miku said, climbing up next to me.

Sure, all of this was fake. I wasn't going to deny that, but the moment was real. The girl next to me was real. ButI understood a bit of what she meant by this feeling hollow. Miku wanted more than life was offering. Who could blame her? She was stuck in a secret base, having her existence covered up, and was forced to stay quiet while everyone else went on about their business. At this point, had things really changed at all?

"Thanks," Miku said, sliding closer to me, and putting her hand on my chest.

"Don't mention it," I said.

Miku let out a happy sigh, and stared at my chest for a little bit.

"Your heartbeat is relaxing," commented Miku as she rested her wrist against me.

"Is it?"

"It's you. Just hearing your rhythm, it's like you're talking to me."

I smiled at her and went back to looking at the sky.

"We're pretty different," I said, "but I like that we're also a nice match for each other."

"I'm just happy I found someone who would accept me," Miku said.

I looked back down at her, looking at the teal tuft of hair that was lying against me. This girl meant so much to me that I was willing to go through a literal warzone to get her back. Of course I accepted her. But I didn't care if Miku was a robot or not. Because the reality was that she was the only real friend I ever had that I felt truly understood me. And I wondered if that was why we got along so well. Both of us were lonely and isolated, and somehow, by pure chance, ended up together.

"I love you," I said, smiling.

Miku giggled, and pulled my hand over into her grip. Her fingers felt soft and delicate, and I felt myself start blushing from her gesture.

"When this is all over," Miku said, focusing back on the skies above, "I hope we'll be able to see the real thing."

"I still owe you a dinner date, you know."

"You do. I still haven't forgotten about that."

"Maybe I can try to convince David to let us leave for a little while to go somewhere

together. Problem is after what happened with Akira and I last week, I'm sure he's going to be apprehensive about it."

Miku didn't say anything, but I saw her expression changed to the one she usually gets when she starts scheming.

"Don't worry," Miku said, "I'll think of something."

Part of me felt concerned, but another part felt like I was so used to this at this point, that

I would let Miku do what she wanted. Unless I wanted to be assaulted by puppy dog eyes again. She was always so good at pulling that off and making me follow along.

We gazed at the stars for a while. We may have had a big undertaking coming up, but at least we were allowed to relax for a little while and put that aside. So I opted to do just that.

In a day's time, we'd be taking off for the Beehive, and would be on our way to rescue Kaito. And that would be when things would really start to get interesting.

Miku and I sat inside of the simulation for a little longer, almost falling asleep in each other's arms.

"Should probably head back," Miku suggested, "your eyes are closing."

"I wouldn't mind sleeping here. It might be a nice change."

"Sorry, sleepyhead," she said, poking my nose, "but you need to head back to your quarters so you'll actually have good sleep posture. It isn't healthy to sleep in a chair like the sim pod has."

"Right," I nodded, forgetting what it was I was using to hang around in this place.

It was a shame, too. I was sort of looking forward to sleeping in the same bed as Miku. I guess it would have to wait, considering we weren't actually touching each other to begin with. It was just a set of feedback systems put in place by the sim pod to make it feel like we were touching.

And when I thought about it like that, I started to really understand why Miku was so sick of it. I hoped one day we could venture out into the real world again, and see the sights we wanted to see.

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

"Everyone here?" Gumi scanned the room. "Good, then it looks like we can get started. I know all of you have been antsy about getting started on this, but I'm happy to announce that today is the big day. I hope all of you are prepared, because we're going to pay the price if we haven't trained for this."

"What makes you say that?" I said, my arms crossed. "Expected us to start mellowing out?"

"Not even a little. I know you've all been hard at work. And I'm confident we will all pull this off."

Gumi pulled up the plan on her computer, and all of us fixed our gazes on the monitor.

"We're sending a small team; it'll be Miku, Meiko, and Griff. This ensures we have less of a chance of getting caught. And we're going to need that edge if we're going to get inside of the drone hub."

Blueprints appeared for the appropriately named "Beehive" base. It was a sprawling station with multiple floors to it, connected by longer, much smaller, rectangular rods and pylons. A large, spherical orb sat at the middle of it, indicating that must have been the center of the entire operation.

"It's a large facility, and that makes it kind of a maze to navigate. But what you're looking at is the very heart of Duodecim's entire operation on Interspace. It's multipurpose, designed to deploy drone squadrons wherever their A.I. designates it. The drones go in and out of hangars. Dependent on the drones it sends out, be it for mining or for reconnaissance, the base is equipped to deal with plenty. And believe it or not, it's been here for about nine months or so. The A.I. has been self-sufficient, and only has a relatively small team keeping tabs on it within Duodecim. The only reason no one has gotten close to it is because of the clustered asteroid field that the facility surrounds itself in."

"This is starting to sound like you figured out a security flaw, then?" Miku asked.

"I do," Gumi said, "and that happens to be where your skills as a pilot come in, Miku."

Gumi panned the blueprints over to a specific hangar.

"Right about here," Gumi said, "there's an incomplete hangar that the maintenance drones are currently putting together. There's little to no security detail on the construction work. Guess the A.I. thinks it'll take care of that part. Plus, it has the asteroid field clustered around it, so virtually nothing can get in without having to navigate that."

"Sounds like a flaw, alright." Luka commented.

"Surely. They'll be armed with engineering equipment, but if it just so happens there's an electrical E.M.P. discharge on board the ship you're flying in, and it also just so happens to detonate in a wide enough range-"

"I get it," Miku said. "You want us breaking in the only open hole they have open. I've gone through the documents too, you know."

"Right. I mean, there are other doors you can break in from, but we're not here to debate what your approach is. This is the only way that we can make it look like an accident and not raise the alarm."

Gumi pulled the screen back.

"There's no telling what the inside looks like, so I can't exactly help you navigate until you find your way in. I'll have to map everything as you go and make guesses until you can find your way towards a terminal to get me an up-to-date floorplan. And then, once that's taken care of, the real operation can begin."

Gumi recentered the blueprint again, and focused on one of the larger structures of the Beehive.

"There was a large protected shipment that had arrived during our conflict over the Dome a few months ago. Thing is, I already know what it is, and that's the real reason for this operation in the first place: to recover the last known created Vocaloid unit, Kaito. And we're going to need him. Considering Duodecim already has an army this big, I wouldn't put it past them to start actually using it for full-blown conquest. We're going to need all of the help we can get in the coming months if we're going to stop them. Especially considering they're slipping into places. If we sit around any longer, who knows what else they might try."

"Would certainly let us know what they're doing," David finally spoke up. "I'm going to say this once, and only once, but your safety is important. Do what you have to do, but be careful. The last thing I want is to lose someone in a rescue operation. Putting this together has been a pain already."

"Alright," I said, giving a short laugh, "I'll try not to get captured just for you, David."

David shook his head. "Just be careful. I know you've been through this enough, Griff, but it's still dangerous."

Dangerous like you used me for bait, I said to myself, but relented on making such a snide comment to David.

"Right," Gumi continued,"the plan is set then. The real issue, once Kaito is broken out, is the actual exit strategy. That's kind of what I've been afraid to get to."

"Can't just take the way we came out?" Miku asked.

"We could try, but I'm more worried about that being sealed off."

"That means everything is set," David announced, "get yourselves changed. The scanners will have you move to the Stargazer base. We'll handle takeoff. Get going, and good luck!"

All of us nodded, and went to our respective posts.

Our gear was set, our weapons were checked and calibrated, and our armor was working at max efficiency. Once we were ready to go, we headed towards the hangar from the Stargazer elevator. It was odd seeing the base full of other staff that were part of David's group, but it was also nice to know we were being taken care of. Having our own mission control was nice. It also allowed Gumi to keep an eye on things back at the base without needing Lisa to do all of the extra work.

Inside of the hangar, everything was already being prepped and ready to go. A gantry crane held the ship we would be flying. It was equipped with two cannons at its side, and a large circular device at its back. Presumably, that was the E.M.P. that was created to disrupt the drone teams, but I didn't expect it to look like an explosive. I trusted Gumi, but at the same time, I hoped she actually planned everything through before throwing us into it.

We stepped out into the hangar as Miku eyed the Duodecim aircraft that was refitted to carry new defensive equipment, as well as the pulse bomb designed to short out the security inside our landing point. It looked good, especially for the damage it had taken initially when we first got it.

"It's not a hypersonic fighter craft, but it will keep you alive if things get out of control."

"You'll get to spread your wings," Meiko said, "I think that should be good enough."

Miku nodded and smirked. "I just hope it's fast enough. Dodging incoming fire is a lot harder when you're slow."

Meiko climbed aboard the rear entrance as Miku approached the front of the ship.

"Only enough room up front for the pilot," Gumi said. "Sorry, Griff, no riding with your girlfriend up front this time."

"He could sit on my lap," Miku teased.

"I'll take my chances in the back," I said, putting my helmet on. "Keep the offer open, though. Christmas is coming, after all."

"Sure thing," Miku said, a smile on her face. She slid her helmet on and opened the cockpit to climb inside.

I stepped off into the dropship behind Meiko.

"Guess we're really doing this," I said as I sat down in the dropship.

"Not all that long ago it was you and me doing something similar," Meiko said.

"Yeah, though, the last time we did this, you asked me something before takeoff."

"Oh yeah?" Meiko said, leaning back. "And what was that?"

"Well, it was you asking me if I was ready to see Miku again, so, I'm gonna ask you if you're ready to see Kaito again."

Meiko just laughed. "As if you needed to ask."

"Hey, I was a nervous wreck wanting to see her. I still couldn't believe it when it happened."

"I remember," Meiko said. "To tell the truth, I don't know. I just want him back."

"Good answer," I said.

I looked at Meiko, wondering what she was thinking underneath that helmet she wore. Ever since she had gotten out of the repair bay, it felt like she had been training for this day since. She was waiting for today, and now that we were finally doing this, she didn't seem to want to buckle on it. It was motivating, and I felt like after everything the two of us had gone through, I was willing to help her meet that goal.

Miku started reading her checklist, letting us know we were about to take off. She tried to sound like an airline pilot before takeoff.

"Lights are green across the board, and I've got my flight path marked. Ladies and gentleman, this is your captain speaking, and I'm wishing us all a comfortable flight on Air Miku today."

The ship's engines activated, and the craft shifted forward on to a takeoff pad. Two latches that deployed underneath the craft guided it where it needed to go within the hangar.

"Looks like we're about ready," Miku advised everyone. "I'd say strap yourselves in. The takeoff is beginning in a few moments. It might be bumpy!"

I took a deep breath, and waited for everything to initiate.

"This is control," Gumi said. "Stargazer base is reading your craft. Everything is set and ready to go. We'll unlock your docking clamps from here. Good luck everyone!"

I took a look out the window of the craft, and saw the clamps disengage.

"Miku," Gumi said, "takeoff cleared. Go right ahead."

"Roger," Miku said.

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Miku pushed the craft forward without a moment's hesitation, and we took flight. Before long, the mountains we were carefully hidden under were gone, and we were heading towards the sky, right towards a funnel where we'd exit out and see Interspace for the first time. I felt nervous but excited by what it would be like. Did it even look like space at all?

Once Miku approached the funnel, I finally had an idea of how big it really was. The diameter of the entire entrance seemed to be a hundred miles long at least. You couldn't tell if there was another ship nearby or not. That helped to keep out of sight, for sure.

The funnel was a short flight through, like we were breaking the atmosphere. The curved walls were lined with gridlines, and the further we went in, the darker the area got. And once we got through all the way to the exit, we saw it: Interspace.

Interspace looked nothing like outer space. Far from it. It had a deep blue color to it, not a pitch black. It was nothing like outer space. There weren't stars in the sky, no sun that we were orbiting. Bright beams of light in the distance shined and shimmered. It was beautiful, mesmerizing. I almost couldn't believe what I was seeing.

"So this is it," I said, unable to really process what it was I was seeing, "Interspace."

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Miku said. "Pictures can't do a place like this justice. What we're seeing, this is the real thing. It's like we're the first astronauts."

"I'll admit, it's something," Meiko added, her eyes fixed on the window outside.

I kept my eyes glued to my window, watching as small round objects floated in the distance. I assumed those were other colonies. Other places you could go if you traveled to them. They looked so far away. If only we didn't have somewhere else to be.

"Estimated time of arrival to the Beehive is three hours," Miku said. "Flying as fast as I can. Rest up, you two. It'll be a little while."

I laid back, letting the low hum of the ship wash against me as I tried my best to relax before we'd land. Then, Operation Beehive would begin.

And I wasn't sure I was ready for the real thing.

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

I stepped into my bedroom and put my bag down. The moment I laid down on my bed I felt exhaustion wash over me. I ached all over, and I didn't really do anything different than I normally did. Just routine softball practice. Same amount of laps to run, with the same amount of energy I usually put into our practice skirmishes. So why was I so beaten down today?

I knew why, I just didn't want to admit it. It was because tomorrow I would be leaving home, and I wouldn't be coming back for a while. Everyone else acted like it would be another day of practice, but I knew I wouldn't be. I wouldn't even be going to school tomorrow.

I was told to meet David at a spot away from my school, where I'd get into his vehicle, and would travel back to the underground base. For some reason, and I still don't know why, but David was adamant I become part of their group. Which is why I was supposed to lie to my parents and completely abandon my school life.

I know. I sound really upset about this. To tell the truth, I felt more confused than anything. Between the fact I was allowed to know this secret existed at all, and the fact I wasn't immediately silenced for knowing about its existence. Griff and everyone else was trusting me with this secret, knowing I could blab about it at any moment.

I walked over to my closet, and looked for the secret bag I had been packing for the last week. I figured I'd do one last look over everything before I'd leave tomorrow. I still had so much I hadn't unpacked since we moved here, and here I was again, packing up to go elsewhere.

I opened up one of my boxes with "clothes" written on it. I dug through seeing if there were any shirts or pants or anything else I wanted to bring with me.

A lot of these clothes were unfamiliar to me. Mostly regular blank t-shirts, a set of gym clothes, some jeans, shorts, and… An old uniform. It hit me then and there that these weren't my clothes at all.

These were Satsuki's clothes. I dropped them and immediately closed the box in a panic. How did Satsuki's clothes get in here? Did we misplace these when we were moving? My mind raced to figure out how this happened.

But I could ask that question all I wanted. It was clear that in front of me was the box of clothes that belonged to my deceased sister. I opened it again to make sure I didn't just imagine that. But sure enough, the moment I opened the box, Satsuki's old school uniform sat inside of there. It was like I was being stared at by a ghost.

The uniform was black and white and dark blue. The necktie sat on the collar of her old jacket, folded against it. I picked it up and looked at it.

"This was yours, huh?" I asked her as if she was in the room with me. "All of this was yours. And it was left behind."

I slumped over and pressed the necktie against my chest, feeling hot tears stream against my face. It had been a while since I thought about her, but now that I was seeing her clothes, it all came back to me in an instant, like a floodgate had opened.

"I'm so sorry, Sis," I said, trying to sob as quietly as I could. I worried Mom might hear me, and the last thing I needed was for her to see what it was I was doing with all of this. I kept the tie close, and let it all out as I thought about how she and I grew distant in the months leading up to her death.

Satsuki was a smart girl. She was brilliant, even. With so many doors open to her that she seemed almost perfect. The way she'd walk with confidence. The charisma she carried that made people pay attention to her. Her smile and her laugh. All of it. And she was my sister.

And now she was gone. And all that was left were the clothes she wore, the photos and videos we had, and the memories I carried. She didn't deserve what happened to her, and I don't know why life was so cruel, so sadistic, that it would take someone like her away.

But as I sat in my room and let the tears in my eyes clear up, I realized I could still have Satsuki with me in some way. I grabbed the tie, and tucked inside of a safe spot inside of my bag. Satsuki was going to be coming with me. That way I wouldn't feel so homesick. At least, that's what I told myself to make sure I could leave without feeling too guilty.

And Satsuki deserved to go on an adventure like this. After everything that happened, at least she could come along in some way. Even if it was dangerous. And something told me this was going to get very dangerous in the coming days.

I just didn't know what was coming my way.

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

The dropship approached the Beehive's hangar. We could tell we were getting close the moment Miku started bobbing and weaving through the rocks that appeared around us. We were definitely close now. All we had to do was navigate the man-made asteroids, and we'd be right in front of the enemy's doorstep.

Miku engaged the thrusters, and the ship spun. I felt my stomach churn and my heart race as she shot between the rocks around us. Her flying skills were important for the first part of this, and once we got through, we'd be inside of the giant structure. It was hard to pay attention to that, though, with how fast we were navigating this, and that my vision couldn't adjust properly from all of the shaking.

"Sorry!" Miku yelled over the radio, "but if we're going to make it there, I need to move fast."

I couldn't respond, I was just holding on whatever could help keep me from moving. I gripped my seat with the MAG-gloves, and held on to the seat's safety harness, but I still felt like I was going to disconnect and fly into something. And not because I wanted to.

Meiko didn't seem phased by it. She kept herself still against her seat, like she was a statue. I envied her, mostly because I felt like I was going to fly out of the ship's window, and couldn't seem to stop moving.

Eventually, however, the ship slowed, and the rocks started to dissipate. I took a second to catch my breath, and Miku let out a gasp at what it was she was seeing.

"Look outside!" She said, and I turned to see what it was she was seeing.

There it was: the Beehive. This massive structure that encompassed Interspace. It was a huge, intimidating creation. Massive pylons attached gigantic cubic facilities to one another, while a gigantic circular structure sat in the middle of it all. Small transport ships floated between, going to and from each cube. Whatever was being handled here felt nothing short of excessive, and considering it was Duodecim: that spelled trouble.

The Beehive had a distinct jet black color scheme, with the main center being a flat white color. Blue and yellow dots twinkled between each component of the hulking mass, and moving parts alternated slowly, as if it were a working body. Its size was intimidating, and I wondered how Duodecim managed to keep from being seen all this time.

"Miku?" Gumi radioed. "Miku, can you hear me?"

"Go ahead," Miku replied. "I just got us through the asteroid field. Was a little tense. I think Griff is still picking up his organs."

"That isn't funny," I said.

"Everything is looking good," Gumi said, "I'm directing you to the hangar under maintenance. From there, you'll need to find a way for me to get access. Should be easy enough."

"Oh, good," I said, "does that mean I'll have time to clean up after I almost lost my dinner?"

"Let's focus on our objective," Meiko said. "Kaito is inside of that beast."

"Careful now, Meiko," Luka said, "we don't need you destroying the place to find him."

"Hey, it would be easier on us if she did," I said, "at least then Duodecim would know not to mess with us."

"That's not my point," Luka said. "The last thing we need is for this place to go into lockdown. Just be careful, okay?"

"We'll be careful," Miku said. "We're coming in close to that hangar. I just need to fly in."

"Throw the switch and prime the charge, yep!" Gumi said, rather enthusiastically. "The ship should keep you safe from the blast. I made sure of that."

"Got it," Miku said, "I'll have it ready when we land."

Meiko stood up as the ship flew closer to the landing bay, which was marked "Bay 042" in giant orange letters.

"Guns ready," Meiko told me, and signaled for me to stand up as the ship started its landing sequence. "They're probably confused about why we're landing here."

I grabbed my rifle and stood up next to her, and checked to make sure it was loaded and functioning. Racking the slide back, the gun powered up.

"Are you doing alright?"

"Why are you asking me that now?" Meiko sneered.

"A few months ago, you know, with how you took that beating. I wanted to make sure you were really ready for this."

"I'm repaired, aren't I? That isn't important. What we're doing here is."

I didn't press any further. Meiko was focused on this, and didn't care what happened so long as we accomplished our main goal of recovering Kaito. And that seemed to be all she cared about. Not about herself, but only about getting to that point.

"Alright," I said, "I'm right behind. Ready to go."

"Just stick close to us. We'll take care of things."

I breathed in, relaxed, and readied myself for what was coming next.

"Got it," I said, confidently. "Let's do this."

Miku landed the ship inside of the hangar, immediately catching the attention of every maintenance drone inside. I peeked out the window and saw two drones. They were colored black and bright yellow, reminiscent of caution tape. They were different from the security drones with their bodies thinner, and more exposed. Some of them floated in the air, while others walked.

"They're getting curious," Meiko said, "where's that discharge, Miku!?"

"One second…" Miku said breathlessly. "Here we go!"

Miku flicked a switch and a loud hum picked up as the ship shook, and sparks flew everywhere. Our radios gave off feedback for a second, and switched off automatically. Everything outside dropped to the ground, and the rear door to the ship dropped open.

Miku got out of her chair, grabbed her gear, and piled in behind us.

"No way the security didn't see that happening," Meiko said, "let's duck and cover and find us that map."

Miku and I nodded at her, and followed outside into the hangar. Dead drones lined the floor as we sprinted to find a place to hide. Equipment sparked and sizzled.

"Well, nice to know it worked at least," Miku commented, faking enthusiasm in her voice.

Meiko didn't respond to her comment, but instead ran over to an exposed hole that one of the drones was working at. The flooring hadn't been installed yet, and Meiko decided to hop in there without thinking.

"If it works," Miku said, "let's go."

We followed behind Meiko and furthered into the facility. Up above, the sounds of drones communicating with one another could be heard as their boots stomped against the metal floor. It seemed the security had arrived on the scene. If there was a way out, the one we came in from wasn't going to be it.

We crawled further into the maintenance access system. The walls felt tighter, and the air started to feel heavier. Sweat started dripping inside of my helmet, and my suit warned of an "increase in environmental temperature." To compensate for it, it used energy to cool me down the best it could, but it didn't feel like enough.

"You doing okay, Griff?" Miku asked from behind me, concern in her voice.

"Hot as a sauna down here," I said, my chest feeling tight, "the sooner we get out of this mess, the better."

"Well, quit complaining, and move it," Meiko barked.

I shook my head. I would have retorted at her, but it wouldn't have done much. She was leading this whole thing, so it was better to follow her lead instead of fight her. Miku said something under her breath that I couldn't hear, but it sounded like she was responding to what Meiko said.

It may have been hot, but the tunnel started to cool off the further we got. The near countless wires started splitting off into different directions, and the narrow tunnel widened out. Eventually, we found a support pillar beneath us, and crawled down towards it. The sounds of heavy machinery echoed against the wallx`s of the facility.

As I exited the tight space, I held on to the pillar as the loud whirring of machinery grew louder. Down below, glowing blue mounds sat in large vats, transported on a conveyor belt. One after the other, multiple glowing containers traveled by. Further down, a massive chasm that led deeper into the facility. It looked bottomless.

"Is that… Data?" Miku said as she peered over the edge next to me.

"Looks like it," I said. "Must be grabbing up resources from somewhere. Just where are they-"

Meiko cut me off. "Doesn't matter. Prep your wingsuits. There's an observation window over there. See it?"

The structure next to the conveyor flashed a few times, highlighting its location.

"Any idea what's inside?" Miku asked.

"Likely a terminal," Meiko said. "Is Gumi connected to us yet? Or are we still out of communication with her for the time being?"

I tried to send a message, but something was restricting us.

"Not a good sign," Meiko said. "We stick to the plan like we agreed."

"Right," I said, "get to a computer, find a map. Should be easy enough."

Meiko clicked her wrist and deployed her wingsuit. Without hesitation, she jumped off the platform and glided down towards the top of the structure. I watched as she hooked on to it with her MAG-gloves. I gulped a little bit, and then looked over at Miku.

Miku stepped back, giving herself a running start, and jumped, doing a majestic flip in the air before deploying her wings. I rolled my eyes watching her. She was showing off, but I guess you could do that when you had confidence like hers.

I followed suit, and jumped behind her, feeling the wingsuit deploy around my arms. As I made my way down, Meiko readied her rifle, and hung above the window. She looked ready to break into it, and take out anything that might be in there.

I landed, and Meiko went ahead and breached. Her impatience was starting to get to me. I understood what this meant to her, but she needed to stick with us instead of pushing further ahead. We had plenty of time, and the element of surprise was still ours for the moment.

"Area's clear," Meiko radioed. "No one's home."

I nodded at Miku, and we moved to the observation area. As we crawled in, pieces of the smashed window fell down into the chasm below.

"Creepy," Miku commented, crawling inside. "Is this place run by ghosts or something?"

"Doesn't matter," Meiko said, and walked up to the terminal, looking through the directory.

I kept my weapon ready in case the security decided it needed to investigate a broken window in one of their observation posts. It wouldn't have surprised me considering the fact there was already an accident up above in one of the under construction hangars. Or maybe it wasn't important, and accidents were common in a facility this big. It was a likely possibility, but we had to consider all our options here.

I looked up at the pipes that ran through the ceiling, and then over at a nearby door. The lights on it were red, indicating it was locked. I waited cautiously for it to turn green, and for a security team to come walking through the door. They'd probably be expecting us. Maybe they knew we were here, and they were looking for the perfect opportunity to round us up.

"Got it," Meiko said, "found ourselves a map."

"Oh, good, any idea where we are?" Miku asked, looking outside the observation deck.

"Assembly and Production," Meiko said, "Now if I can just download it…"

"I can take care of that," Gumi chimed in, "not to worry everyone! I'm here to keep an eye on you once again."

"Oh, Gumi," Miku said, "everything was just so quiet without you."

"Glad one of you missed me. If you could be so kind as to connect to the terminal with your Watcher, I can patch in from here."

Meiko did as Gumi requested, and synced the map with the rest of us. Gumi went silent for a minute or so, and then returned.

"This place is expansive. I'm surprised they've been able to hide it here for this long."

"Looks like they're mining resources," Miku said, her eyes still fixed on the conveyors below. "It's creepy."

"That's a word for it," Gumi said, "the resources are being mined from nearby colonies. Other-Earth was one of those colonies, but they've been pulling from other places."

"Nothing good can come from this. That's a lot of resources they're mining."

"We have our map," Meiko said, "do we need anything else from here, Gumi?"

"No. I've got access to the facility from here. So long as they don't detect me and lock me out, I'll be able to do everything from here."

The locked door changed from red to green, and opened. Red light poured in, and we took off further into the facility.

"Just be careful," Gumi warned, "this place wasn't built for people to navigate."

Tell me about it, I thought.

Now that we finally had Gumi inside of the facility, she could see everything. It made it a heck of a lot easier to navigate the labyrinth that was the Beehive. If we were lucky, we could get to Kaito without running into a drone patrol on the way there.

"Careful now," Gumi advised, "there's a party of drones that are overlooking the next area. Plenty of security. Keep your heads down."

We moved through the hallways and found ourselves at another door. Wasting no time, Meiko opened the door, and all three of us moved as fast as possible into nearby cover. At first glance, about ten drones were overlooking something below.

Sounds of heavy machinery crashed against the walls of the facility. Beams of energy dispensed with high-pitched drilling sounds following. They were building something here, and I could imagine what that was: was it weapons, more drones, vehicles? All three? All that was being processed through here was the material from the other room. The glowing cubic matter was being molded into something, taking the shape of something like liquid.

"Not a surprise they have an assembly line here," Meiko said, "they're probably building an army."

Miku just stared at the machinery as it grabbed the material and processed it. She seemed to be fixed on it. Her head followed the track as the liquid went down the line. She stayed silent as she watched it.

"Hey, eyes up," Meiko ordered, "we have no time to waste. Come on."

"Right, sorry," Miku said, and looked at me. "This place just reminded me of that dream I had."

"I can see why. Look the same?"

"About the same. No Kallen here, though."

"That's a plus."

We climbed up on the support pillars and navigated past the Duodecim drones that oversaw production. They didn't ever look up at the ceiling while we worked our way across the facility, which was fortunate for us. So long as we kept quiet and didn't make any noise up here, we would be in the clear. Though it would be hard to make a sound that competed against the noise the processing equipment was making, but still. We had to use everything to our advantage.

Gumi pinpointed where we needed to go once we pushed on further ahead into the Beehive. A large chasm sat beneath the processing line.

"Down there, you'll find what we're looking for."

"Easy enough," I said, "just glide on down, right?"

"Not exactly," Gumi said, "the area where Kaito is being held is under tight security inside of a giant egg-shaped structure."

"Close to the assembly and production area?" Meiko asked, her attention to the area below.

"Looks like it. I guess it makes sense if Duodecim was building something valuable, they'd want to move it there. In this case, it's something they brought here."

"And we're going to bust in there," Meiko said, "then let's get down there. No time to waste."

Meiko disconnected from the ceiling, and jumped straight down into the chasm below. I shook my head, looked at Miku, and followed suit. If this was the fastest way to Kaito, we were going to use it.

Down we went, further into the Beehive. On our way to certain doom, probably. As much as I didn't want to be a pessimist about it, something about the slow fall down further into the belly of the beast made me feel tense. It wasn't the fall itself that was doing that, either. It was just knowing what was going to be after this.

And I wondered if we'd make it out of here. We had gotten this far. All we had to do was break in, get Kaito back, and we'd finally have the team together again.

Once down at the bottom of the shaft, the yellowish light that bathed the facility started to fade away and became more blue. The pit we had been sailing down started to curve and narrow. It was ominous, and felt like an entirely different place entirely. The loud machinery was replaced by a low, ambient hum. It wasn't loud, but was still audible.

We stopped at the bottom of the shaft, activating our MAG-gloves, and took a look outside of the hole.

A large, egg-shaped structure sat ahead of us. Blue lights blinked against its deep silver case, and patrols of drones walked around in patterns, ensuring that if anyone had infiltrated the facility, they wouldn't get any further.

"This is going to be rough," I said. "They've got this area locked down."

"Wouldn't expect anything less," Meiko said, her eyes locked to the egg in front of her. "He's in there. We're so close I can feel it."

"Let's not be hasty," Miku said, "if he's in there, the last thing we want is to let this facility lock down."

"It's already locked down," Meiko said, "all we have to do is bust him out and we're home free."

"We still need a way out of here," Miku said. "Let's not be hasty. We've been flying blind for the most part, but at least now we know where he is."

Meiko took a deep breath. She looked ready to go down there herself and fight every drone to get to Kaito. I knew Meiko was restless, but if she put herself in danger like that, she'd jeopardize everything we'd work for, and I knew that was the last thing Meiko wanted.

"I think I have a solution for you," Gumi interjected. "Sorry for the delay, but I was getting everything in place."

"What do you mean by that, Gumi?" Miku asked.

"I had an idea while you were all gliding down there. I wouldn't just send you into this without a plan of my own now would I? There's one slight problem here if I do this, but it might be the only choice we have."

"And what would that be?"

"I'll be locked out within a few minutes if I tamper with anything. They will find me, and I won't be much use to you aside from navigation."

Meiko looked at us, and replied to Gumi. "What are you saying we do?"

"I'll shut off the communications and disengage all functions to this area, forcing an emergency evacuation protocol. The only way I can do that is to cause another accident, which is risky on its own, but once I do it, that's it. I'll be kicked out and have virtually no way back in unless you find another access point for me."

"Looks like we don't have much of a choice," I said, looking at everyone else. "What's the plan?"

"We do it," Meiko said. "If it means we get to Kaito, then I'll trust Gumi on it."

"Me too," Miku said. "If it means we can take him back, we might as well do whatever it takes."

"Alright," Gumi said, "I will still have the facility map. Once he's out, I'll direct you to the nearest escape route."

"Our weapons are ready," Meiko said, "be prepared in case anything goes wrong."

I gulped, checked my rifle, and waited patiently.

"We got this," I said, "we got this."

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

I checked my bags over one last time, making sure I had everything I was going to bring. David had told me to pack as much as I could without raising suspicion. A week's worth of clothes, a couple of my handheld game consoles, my phone, hygiene products, and my sports uniform were all coming with me. I kept an extra set of gym clothes as well. Mom and Dad offered to drive me after school was done, but I told them the bus would be leaving after school was done.

Breakfast that morning was a little heavy. I felt nervous because I was going to be going away for a little while. I was nervous, and felt like they were going to find out what it was I was really involved in. The fact they weren't suspicious already was a miracle. I just needed to keep cool until I left that morning.

"So," Mom said, sitting down next to Dad and drinking her tea, "this is it, huh?"

"Yep," I said, "I'll be going with the rest of my team for a week. Y'know, practicing for softball."

"It's nice to know you're taking this so seriously," Dad said, drinking his coffee. "I remember when you first started playing softball after we moved. You're really moving up in the world."

"That's me," I smiled nervously, "your little athlete."

"That you are," Dad said. "When you get back, how about we take a trip of our own, too?"

"Sure," I said, "I'd like that."

"We could go somewhere together as a family," Mom said. "Since you'll be on winter break, we could stay a few days in that amusement park. Would that be good?"

All this they were throwing at me the day I was about to leave. I felt my cheeks start to redden, and tried my best to hold it together.

"Dear, you're embarrassing her," Dad scolded Mom playfully. "Akira isn't always the best at being the center of attention, you know."

"I know she isn't. But look, I'm sorry I kept you away from something like this for a long time. You're growing up, and you should have a chance to live your life."

"Mom," I assured her, "it's okay. I'm going to be fine. I'm just glad you agreed to let me do this at all."

"We're just proud of you, that's all," Dad said.

"Thanks," I said, finishing my breakfast. "So once you drop me off at school, I'll be leaving for the retreat."

"Yes," Dad said. "Are you ready to get going?"

"Packed up and good to go," I said.

Packed up and good to go. Yep. I was leaving alright. It just didn't feel real to me. I was actually going to leave home for a while. For how long, I wasn't sure. It probably would only be for a week. Like that permission slip said. And then I'd be back home and relaxing once this was over.

That sounded good. I just needed to get dropped off at school and cut class and leave for David's car for him to pick me up. Part of me wondered why I agreed to this, and then another part remembered it was because of the things I knew that no one else did. I agreed to work with this team, so I had better get used to following their rules. I made my decision, so I had to stick with it.

And I was going to stick with it. No matter what.

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

The facility that housed Kaito was surrounded by catwalks. It stood above a dark floor with wires running every which direction. It was almost like an ocean of cables that fed around it. Energy traveled through each cable, running along a fixed path to power pylons that shot up into the ceiling. This seemed excessive for one prisoner.

We crawled along underneath the pylons, getting as close as we could to the aptly named "Egg," and would wait there until we gave Gumi our signal to create a distraction. Even if it meant cutting off her access to the facility, we would be able to crack this thing open and get him out.

The footfalls of the drones above us clanked against the catwalks. We were quiet, but it seemed there wasn't any suspicion raised since our arrival. Something felt off, but maybe they did take the ship that arrived as an accident and nothing more. All of this was business as usual.

"We're close," Meiko said, latching underneath the Egg. "Get into position and Gumi will flip the switch."

Miku and I nodded in affirmation, and latched on next to her.

"Gumi," Meiko radioed, "we're underneath the Egg. Do you have your distraction ready?"

"I do. All of you hang on tight!"

Gumi went silent, and suddenly, the facility shook. The power pylons sitting near the Egg started rattling, and then sparks began to fizzle out of them. Whatever it was Gumi was doing, she was causing as much trouble as she could throughout the facility before she was kicked out of it. It was almost scary how quickly she worked to get something done like this.

The drones took up combat positions, and moved to investigate the malfunctioning pylons. Then one of them detonated, and shook the entire facility with it. Gumi wasn't kidding when she said she was making a distraction for us.

"Alright, go!" Meiko ordered us, and pulled herself up from the pylon.

She grabbed at a drone that was running by, and pulled it over the ledge. It fell down into the dark pit below with a loud crack. Meiko pulled out her gun, and opened fire on three more drones, landing each shot without missing.

"What are you two doing?! Come on!"

Miku and I climbed up, and pulled out our guns. Most of the drones were disoriented, trying to regain their balance, and trying their best to assess the situation. All three of us circled around the Egg, keeping our weapons ready and navigating it the best we could. Another explosion detonated, and shook the already unstable catwalks we were walking on.

"Better hope Kaito is in there!" Miku screamed, "or we're doing this for nothing!"

"He'll be in there," Gumi assured us, "just get in there! I unlocked the door to the Egg before I was locked out, but that's it."

"Their communications are down, right!?" I shouted.

"For now. They'll be sending security down here to investigate the explosions, but they have no idea you're in here."

Meiko didn't say anything, and instead battled through the drones that led to the entrance of Kaito's enclosure. A door sat between us and about five drones. Meiko was like a bulldozer pushing through them, leaving no hesitation in her assault. She was only intent on seeing Kaito, and that was it. She stopped using her rifle, and resorted to just using her fists and boots to break through them.

The drones didn't last long either. Even if they were created to have a better reaction to emergencies, they weren't perfect. They still got knocked off balance like any normal human would in a situation like this. Meiko added to the problem by being as strong as she was.

She punched, grabbed, kicked, and wrestled the drones, decimating their numbers. Throwing one off the ledge, then stealing its gun to shoot into another. When she was out of ammo, she swung the rifle around like it was a giant club, smashing the head of a drone into pieces.

Miku and I fired on the drones that were trying to circle behind us while Meiko pressed forward. With the facility still shaking, I was having trouble fighting back, but luckily for me, Miku managed to take the load off, focusing fire the best she could, and hitting each drone.

I felt sweat dripping off my forehead under my helmet. The tension was building, and I worried if we'd actually get out of this alive. I looked back over at Meiko who had destroyed every drone defending the entrance to the Egg.

"We gotta move!" Meiko shouted. "He's in here!"

Meiko pressed the button to open the door, and dashed inside. Miku and I took one last look, noting that the guards posted here were all gone now.

"They'll send another team down here soon," Gumi advised.

With little time to act, we moved into the Egg. Meiko was already ahead of us with her arms at a door, prying at it. She put all her strength into it, and ripped the door open. As Miku and I caught up, white light poured out from the room, and all three of us ran inside.

Sitting in the middle of the room with a white jumpsuit on with cables running into the back of his neck. His arms and legs were slotted into large cylindrical devices, and his eyes were closed. He looked like he was sleeping.

Meiko wasted no time, and pulled the cables out of Kaito's neck. His eyes opened immediately, and he blinked, looking at the girl in front of him. Meiko stared at him, and took her helmet off. It was a familiar scene that played out in my head when we had rescued Miku.

"Meiko!?" Kaito said, his head shaking as if he was awakening from a dream. "It really is you, isn't it!?"

Meiko didn't say anything, and instead pressed her lips against his, and wrapped her arms around his waist. She held on to him as long as she could before pulling away from him.

"Does that answer your question?" She asked, her angry demeanor seeming to have faded away.

"I can't believe it, you really did come back for me."

"We had to," Meiko said. "When we found out you were here, we did everything we could to find you."

"'We?'"

"It's a long story," I said. "Sorry to cut your reunion short, but we need to get Kaito out of here."

"We all need to get out of here," Miku said, "let's not forget that part."

"And I have just the solution for that," Gumi said.

"And what would that be?" I asked.

"Climb," replied Gumi.

I looked at everyone, and then realized she meant the Egg.

"There's a way out up there?"

"Less likely to be spotted at least," Gumi said. "It will lead you to a nearby outbound shipping structure. Just need to go through some more tight corridors."

"But Kaito doesn't have MAG-gloves," I said.

"He won't need them," Meiko said. "He's riding on me."

I chuckled a little bit, though I knew she wasn't joking. It was the best way we had out.

"Better start climbing," I said, "I'd rather not be here when the reinforcements arrive."

"And miss the party?" Miku said. "Come on, Griff, they're here to see us!"

I shook my head, and thought now wasn't the best time for jokes, but I knew Miku was trying to lighten the mood a little.

Just a little longer, and we'd be out of here. Home was close, and I was looking forward to some rest after this was over. Maybe a hot meal. Or a walk with Miku in the simulator. All of that sounded nice, but I'd have to wait until after this was over to be able to enjoy that. It wasn't much longer now.

Gripping against the Egg, all of us started climbing as sparks sputtered around us from the destroyed pylons next to it. Gumi did some real damage to this place. I was glad I didn't have to work here.

We climbed up into the ceiling as the reinforcements started pouring into the room. We were getting close to the end, and I felt my heart race with anticipation as we headed closer to the location Gumi had pinpointed.

One by one, we crawled through the ventilation, including Kaito. He led behind Meiko, with me behind him, and Miku behind me. Despite having been in captivity for so long, Kaito was still able to keep up with Meiko. I was having trouble moving as fast as those two, but I did my best to keep up.

"Just keep crawling," Meiko said, "we're almost to the end. I can see some light up ahead."

I wanted to start cheering, but I contained it. It would have to wait until after we made it out of this maze of a facility. And with how close it was, I figured I'd wait until only after we had escaped to celebrate.

Meiko found herself at a vent at the top, and pushed it open before crawling out. She pulled Kaito up, and then offered her hand to pull me out. I waited for Miku and pulled her out behind me.

We were standing in another hangar, but this looked more like a storage facility. Gantry cranes stacked metal crates on top of one another. Other cranes would pick up crates, place them on a train, possibly to be sent off to other locations within the facility.

"Finally," I said, breathing a sigh of relief. "We're getting out of here?"

"That you are," Gumi said. "Before I was locked out, I reprogrammed one of these ships to take off and send you back home. It just needs your input and it'll be ready to go."

"Alright," I said, "can't wait to finally be home."

"Me too," Miku said. "You're awesome, Gumi. We'll be home soon!"

"Of course, now I'd-"

Suddenly, Gumi was cut off as the Beehive's intercom made an announcement.

"Intruders of this station, this is Agent Shin speaking. I'd like to personally welcome you here to Duodecim Security's largest assembly factory. By now you're probably wondering if I know where you are. To answer that: yes, we know you're in the Outbound Delivery Station. And we also know you hacked into one of our ships with the intent of breaking out of here with it. And we also know you have our property with you. The moment you caused that little distraction of yours, we kept our eyes on you."

My heart sank as he taunted us. I looked at everyone, and realized this was too good to be true.

"This can't be," I said, "did they really do this just to corner us?"

"Gumi," Miku said, "are you hearing this?"

"I am!" Gumi said, scrambling on the other end. "This isn't good. I need to find you another route out of here. And I need to find it fast."

Agent Shin continued: "I'm not without honor, of course. You have five minutes to lay down your weapons, put your hands behind your head, and surrender to Duodecim's forces that are currently converging on that location. Should you decide otherwise, we will use lethal force."

Meiko shouted and slammed her fist into a storage crate.

"We were so close," Miku said, dread in her voice, "They risked all of this just to trap us like rats."

"Not quite," Kaito said, pointing over to one of the storage pods that sat over at one of the walls.

"What's this?" Miku asked.

"Looks like a shuttle pod," Kaito answered. "When I was brought here, I saw drones get loaded into these things."

"Oh, oh!" Gumi lit up. "It won't be the most comfortable, but you'll at least have a way out."

"We don't have any other option," Meiko said, opening one and immediately climbed inside.

Kaito and Miku filed in behind, but then I noticed something.

"How do we launch it from there?"

"Well," Gumi said, "I can always… Launch it from here."

Everyone paused, slowly realizing Gumi wouldn't be able to launch the pod from her side. She was locked out from the emergency security lockdown that was in effect. She didn't have access to any of the controls, and the only way any of us could launch it was through the manual launch system that sat next to the pod.

I dropped my head, realizing what it was I would have to do if everyone was going to get out of here.

Miku looked back at me, and then inside of it. We both must have come to the same conclusion because it looked like the "quick delivery" would mean that we'd be moving at speeds faster than my body could handle. Not to mention, it didn't seem to have any life support systems onboard. Not that there would be considering this wasn't made for humans to use.

"One of us needs to launch it," I said to everyone. "I don't think I can ride on this one."

"You're right," Miku said. "We need to find another way."

"There's no time," I said, shaking my head. "You all need to climb in there and get out of here."

"But what about you?" Miku said. "We're not leaving you behind!

"And I'm not letting you get captured again!" I argued back.

Miku just sat there, her visor staring at me. I knew the look she was giving me under it, but I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if she ended up captured again because of me.

"I can't survive in that environment," I explained further. "This doesn't have life support, and I don't know if I'll be able to take the speed we'll be launched at."

"But we can't leave you behind!" Miku repeated.

"I have to bypass the lockdown, and you have to get out of here as quickly as you can. The faster, the better."

I looked over at Meiko and Kaito, giving them a look under my helmet. One that said, "you know what to do."

"It's the only option we have," I said. "If we delay any longer, they'll find all of us here. It's better for most of us to escape than none of us."

Miku looked back and forth between me and the pod.

"I love you, Griff," Miku said.

"I love you, too," I said, trying hard not to let the pressure get to me. At that moment, I felt like I was going to start crying, but I had to stay strong. I was making a decision here to stay behind. Sometimes that's how things worked out. It just turned out life gave me the short straw this time.

I closed the hatch and pressed the button, disengaging the release mechanism, launching the pod out into Interspace. I sat there, knowing that my only ride out of here just left, and any other option I had was gone. Could I run? Sure, but I think Shin meant it when he said he'd be using "lethal force." I could hear the drones making their approach. There wasn't a point in trying to fight back. Surrender was my best option.

I set my rifle's safety to "on," and placed it on the ground. I took off my helmet and laid it next to my rifle. Placing my hands behind my head, I wondered if that Agent Shin would actually keep his promise, or would he just put a bullet in me and that would be it.

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and let my anxious heart think about everything I'd done up until this point. Was I really about to face death? There's no way they'd kill me, especially if I would offer a valuable source of information. But I kept thinking how I almost died before at the hands of Duodecim's own drones. I didn't know if this would be any different.

The drones appeared with their heavy footsteps clanging against the hard floor. About twenty of them had surrounded me with their weapons trained on me. All of this for one guy. And here I was.

"Seems like you're the one causing all the trouble here," a voice said from within the crowd of drones. I kept my head down and let him approach.

"Shame the others got away. But at least we have you," he said, standing over me.

"So let's see who had broke into our facility and-"

He picked my head up by my hair and looked at me.

"Just a kid," he scoffed. "Strange. I could have sworn they said you were older."

I didn't talk, but it seemed that he knew that I wouldn't.

"Sorry kid," he said, "but you'll be coming with me. Your friends left you behind."

He shoved a needle into the side of my neck, and I fell over, losing consciousness immediately. My vision blurred, and my body fell over, weak. I could only make out one last sentence from Agent Shin before everything went dark.

"This is Shin. Intruder secured. Bringing him back now."