"I have the decorations up!" 

The orange-haired girl, Chantez, jumps with anticipation as she hangs the last spooky skeleton on the corner of the church's doorway. 

Your bigger sister blinks.

"..Is it just the one skeleton?" 

"That's all we need!" She stretches her arms out, and dusts off her hands, "With that, I'm done. Anything else that you think we'll need, Gamma?" 

You feel a little confused about this 'Halloween' thing. It's not necessarily something that you understand very well. Actually, you don't understand a lot of anything, very well. You're still working on that, but it's a slow process that has taken more than a few days. 

The way Gamma responds makes it clear that she doesn't understand much about it, either.

"I'm not sure. Did humans choose a day to hang representations of their nonliving bodies on every visible surface?" 

"Yeah." Chantez smiles at you. "How would you celebrate it?" 

You blink at the single plastic skeleton hanging off of the church door.

"I'm not sure, but this would have to be one of the last ways I would think to celebrate a holiday." Gamma blinks, "It's a little.."

It only makes sense that she's not familiar with this. After all;

This is Gamma; the end-result of decades of research into robotics, magic, and processing power. These disciplines all intersect in an artificial lifeform known as a 'Raptor'. A name that belongs to Gamma, and all of your sisters.

Most importantly, it also applies to yourself. You're also a Raptor! 

You are "Lil' Sis", or sometimes just "Sis"! Your family hasn't quite decided a name for you just yet, but you're happy with the name that you currently have. It's short, and very easy to spell. 

You're about two days and twenty seven minutes old, and you've been introduced to the most exciting concept ever! 

Halloween!

What is it about?

Well, you're not too sure, and you're not exactly in a position of being able to ask very complex questions of  the people around you just yet. You're mostly only able to vocalize simple four-to-five word sentences. Apparently, that's very impressive for someone your age! It used to be that you were only able to think in short sentence fragments, as well. Exposure to your sisters and the rigorous training from your tutor has slowly built up your ability to visualize these words, and their meanings. 

Just.. not quite speak them. That's a work in progress.

You're able to ask a few things, though! 

"Skeleton?" You blink. Maybe that was a bit bare-bones. 

"Oh, this?" Chantez points to the bleached human-like thing in front of her. "This is a 'Skeleton', when there's no meat on our bones, this is what we look like." 

"So.. It's a hungry human!" 

Chantez starts laughing, and Gamma pats you on the head for some reason.

"Does he need food?" You lean into Gamma's petting.

"Hmm." Chantez gets a smile on her face, "No, but he could use some friends. Notice how he's all alone out there by himself?" 

That is very true. The skeleton doesn't have any friends to play with. There are humans around, but they are very well-fed humans. 

He needs some friends! You feel like this is something you can help with!

"Can we get more?!" You look at the skeleton. 

Chantez thinks abour your question, and then smiles.

"Well, I'm done with putting all my decorations up, but I'm sure Schach has more! In fact, if you go to her and tell her that you're helping me put out the decorations, then you'll get all the skeletons you'll need!"

Gamma, for some reason, gives a glare at Chantez. You don't pay any mind to it, and skip off to find sister Schach! 

"Schach is going find out.." Gamma states to Chantez.

"Don't care!" Chantez hums, "I'll be gone before she realizes it!" 

You ignore that conversation, and rush off to the chapel of the church! 

--

Inside, you find Schach helping to clean up. She's putting out decorations for some kind of celebration they're having later. 

You don't know too much about the church, or its function, or what most of the people here do, or what Schach's role even is. You ESPECIALLY don't know why all of the humans wearing black dresses listen to Schach specially, and why some of them get in trouble for not listening to her. 

That's not important right now, what is important is getting the hungry human some hungry friends! 

You happily skip up to her, and immediately start with your question.

"Schach!" You smile, "More skeleton!" 

It seems that this question has confused her. So you'll have to elaborate.

"Orange says that I can help put out skeletons!" You smirk, "Where are more skeletons?" 

"Orange..." Schach's face twists into an annoyed glance, "Did Orange also tell you to 'help' her put out  the skeletons?" 

"Yes!" You feel so happy when she gets what you're trying to say the first time!

"'Orange'..." Schach continues to look irritated, "..Sis, there are some more decorations in the back, but I haven't been back there to sort them. So they aren't properly sorted, but you can go get some more if you want to help. I'm going to go have a talk with 'Orange'." Schach puts her decorations down, "Be careful in the store room, okay? It's dusty and some of it is very old." 

"Okay!" 

You happily continue past the chapel, and back outside. There's a shed just behind the Chapel section in a walled-off courtyard. 

Inside are lots of hungry humans! 

You open the door with a 'WHUMP', and then happily bounce inside. 

"Wow!" You take a candy out of your pocket, and unwrap it. 

..Sadly, none of them want to eat. 

"Go on, eat. Eat." You try pressing it against their teeth, but none of them decide to eat it. 

Fine, they can stay hungry.

You pick one up, and then try to think what other decorations would be good for the courtyard.

Of course, all of these seem a little bit random. 

There are bats, pumpkins (?), humans wearing cloaks (??), even giant wolves! (???)

None of these are even remotely related to each other! Why are they all decorations for this day? 

And look! In the back! 

See that?! That's just a leaky human! That human isn't even hungry! 

You walk over, but all the red that's leaking out of him isn't letting you get too close. You huff. 

"Hmm." You look at leaky human, "Leaky human! Stop!"

He doesn't stop. He's still leaking.

"Phooey." You gently walk across his hydraulic fluid (disgusting!) and grab him by the shoulder. "Leaky human!" 

He's not responding.

You huff, but then decide to maybe use him anyway. After all, one leaky human and a bunch of hungry humans has to mean that he's unique among the hungry humans! 

Maybe he's their leader? Kind of like how Schach is leader of the black-dress humans? 

You grab some hungry humans, and then try to pick up leaky human.

Ew! He's still leaking! 

This is really frustrating. You don't want to pick up leaky human beacuse then he'll leak onto your clothes. These are clothes you stole borrowed from Vivio's laundry! 

You think of a way to pick him up to where the leaky part won't get on your clothes. Then, you hoist him above your head. 

Wow! He's a lot heavier than he looks. You're still able to easily lift him above your head.

Yuck! His hydraulic fluid is still dripping! You make a note to quickly leave the shed and return to the courtyard.

--

Huff-

You set the leaky human up leaning against one of the benches in the courtyard. Along with some of his hungry friends. 

Of course, this isn't nearly enough. You'll need to get more hungry humans. 

Then, as you're going back, you see Schach and Gamma! 

"-And where did she go?" Schach seems to be talking something important to Gamma. 

"The tree outside of  the wall. I think." Gamma replies in her usual no-nonsense manner. (Of course, you know that she's actually all-nonsense!) 

"Thanks-" Schach sighs, and starts to leave.

"Gamma!" You run up and hug your sister, "I found hungry humans!" 

"That's great, Sis." Gamma pets your head, and you're sure to tell Schach about leaky human before she leaves.

"Schach!" You yell, "I also found leaky human! Leaky human leaked in the shed!" 

"What?" Schach blinks. 

"Oh-" Gamma glances toward the bench. "That's a really nice looking decoration! Much more realistic than those skeletons." 

"..I don't remember having that." Schach starts to walk toward it. 

Gamma gives you a pat. 

"Good girl, Sis!" She gives you a hug, "Do you mind if you go get more skeletons?" 

"Yay!" 

Schach, after acknowledging your tremendous display, hurriedly walks back! 

"Little Sister." Uh oh, you must be in trouble! She only says that when you're in trouble for something. "Can you show me where you found that decoration?" 

"Kay!" 

--

"Huh, that's one leaky decoration." Gamma echoes your sentiment exactly.

"Oh my-" Schach covers her mouth as she walks into same place you found leaky human.

"In the back!" You point, "He's heavy, and leaky! Only one, though."

"Gamma." Schach's tone of voice changes, "Get your little sister to Vivio and tell her to stay there. This is going to  be a long night." 

"Huh? Why?" Gamma blinks.

"With Vivio?!" You gawk, "But hungry humans!" 

"Now." Schach replies. 

You feel a little dejected that you have to go see Vivio. Vivio usually only watches you if something serious is going on. In a way, she's become your babysitter. 

Gamma picks you up, and takes you to Vivio's room.

Slowly, she knocks on the door.

"Vivio?" Gamma announces herself, "It's Gamma. Can you watch Sis for a bit?" 

It slowly opens-

AND CHRIS' HEAD POPS OUT! 

"Chriiiiiis!" You yell and try to grab the small, floating bunny. It instinctively recoils back as your hands almost grab his ear! 

Darn, maybe next time.

"Hmm?" 

Vivio spins around. She's wearing a strange suit in her adult form! 

"Gamma? Did something happen?" 

"..Why are you wearing a TSAB uniform?" Gamma blinks. 

"Oh! This is just for the party. I'm trying on costumes!" Vivio smiles, "Want to help?"

"Not right now, Schach wants me for something, and I was wanting to know if you could watch Sis again while I'm doing that." Gamma seems confused, "Though, I don't really know why."

"Sure! Does she have a costume for the party?" 

"Not yet, but-" 

"Okay, maybe I have something around here for her." 

Gamma nods, and sets you down. She then whispers to you. 

"I'll be right back, right after I find out what Schach's problem is." 

"'Kay!" 

Gamma leaves, and you're left with the big, human you. 

"So, what do you think?" She does a twirl, and the uniform seems to flip with her. 

"Wow!" You admire her twirl, and the way her clothes just seem to spring upward when she does it, "Bigger!" 

"Oh, you think I should be bigger?" Vivio laughs, "I think I might tear the uniform if I do that. I have to return it, anyway." 

"No, I mean-" You try to vocalize what you were referring to by 'bigger', "I can see your underwear!" 

Vivio's smile suddenly becomes a slight look of shock.

"..You can?" 

Chris immediately puts its hands in front of its face. 

Which means that it can't see you go in for the surprise attack! 

You snatch Chris out of the air, and start snuggling it as close as you can. It's tiny limbs reach out for Vivio as she callously ignores him and starts glancing at herself in the mirror. 

Chris can't talk, so it's all yours for now! 

"I mean.. huh." Vivio does the same flick, and notices the same thing that you do. Her undergarments are totally visible! "Wow, you can.. see my stockings up to my panties when I do that, really when I move at all." 

"White!" You reply, watching her flick one more time and revealing her panties. 

"..I see, it might not be as noticable with black panties but still.." Vivio contemplates this serious matter as you squish Chris' ears, his tiny limbs flail. "These skirts are really short. Do my mothers work in these uniforms all of the time? Their uniforms are brown, but.. I think they're the same length." 

Vivio seems lost in thought, before quickly unbuttoning her jacket.

"..Looks like I'll be taking my backup costume!" Vivio turns to you with a smirk, "Then I'll be thinking of some tough questions for my Aunt! Until then, let's think of something you may want to wear." 

You blink.

"Wear?" 

"Right! A costume for the party. What would you want to wear? You can be anything you want!" 

You think about all of the possibilities. Who would you want to be? 

Um, Gamma.

A dragon.

Yourself? 

Oh! 

"A Dinosaur!" You reach your arms out, Chris takes this opportunity to hover away, "Rawr! Rawr!" 

Vivio laughs, and pats your head. "You know, I think I can make that happen."

She takes to her closet, and starts rummaging through bits and pieces of costumes. 

Then, she stops.

"This is a dragon costume, but with a bit of magic; I think we can make it into a dinosaur!" 

"Yay!" 

She directs you to the seat in front of the mirror, and gets to work. She casts several spells that seemingly change its shape, and then starts to dress you up in it.

"Hey.." Vivio smiles.

"Hmm?" 

"..How did you get my outfit? This is my old winter wear from when I was ten." 

You blink.

"Uh! Um!" 

She gently hugs you. 

"..I'll look past it this one time, but in the future tell me if  you're going to be wearing my clothes. I'll give you my old clothes if you just ask instead of taking them."

She also gently pulls your dress outward. 

"-Also wear some underwear with it, okay? Always wear your underwear."

"Oh!" You blink, "But if I wear panties, then other people might see it." 

Vivio sighs.

"That's the point, Sis."

"..Really?"

She gives up, and starts to dress you up in an assortment of green clothing.

At the end, your head remains uncovered. instead, she found several green bows to put in your hair. This goes along with a green dress that has some protruding points along the back for the spine. With it, she lends you a pair of her underwear.

"Say 'Rawr'!" 

"RAWR!" You put your hands up, and Vivio giggles. 

"That's really good!" She gives you a hug, "Let me put my backup costume on, and we'll be ready for the party." 

With that, Chris taps her shoulder. 

Vivio blinks.

"Uh oh, the party is starting in just five minutes." Vivio quickly tosses off her clothes, and takes an outfit from the closet, "We're going to be late!" 

--

You emerge from her room holding Vivio's hand. 

She's in a very sharp looking butler outfit. You guess that the pants are easier for her than the short skirt was. Her gloved hand holds yours as you head to the chapel. 

However, instead of seeing hungry humans, and leaky humans, you instead see an assembled force of Nuns standing outside of the Chapel. 

In front of them, Schach barks orders. 

"-And section four! I want Four through Nine to make sure no one can leave the Cathedral!" Schach looks so official when she is giving orders, "No one comes in or out, got it!" 

"Got it!" 

"Break!" 

As she yells that final command, the mass of black-and-white dresses scatter in a seemingly organized manner. Schach sighs, and Vivio drags you to her.

"Hi Schach!" Vivio smiles, "What's going on? What happened to the party?" 

"Oh, terribly sorry, Vivio." Schach bows, "You truly do look stunning tonight. It's unfortunate that the party has been cancelled." 

"Cancelled?" Vivio blinks.

"Right, you see;" Schach gulps as she tries to vocalize the next few words, "There's been a murder." 

Vivio gasps.

"Murder?!" 

"Murder!" You shout! This is fun! 

"Yes, Murder." Schach then looks downward, at you. "Lil' Sis, When you found that.. uh.. 'Leaky Human', did you see anybody?" 

"Nope!" As far as you could tell, the shed was locked from the outside. 

"Then.. did you see anybody on the way over?" 

"Just hungry humans." Aside from the skeletons, you didn't see any other full-human around. 

"I see, thank you for your help Sis." Schach sighs, "In the meantime, I'm going to have to ask you to stay with Vivio, and Vivio; I'll have to ask you to go back to your room." 

"Really?" 

"That's right, in fact I'm assigning Otto as your door guard when she finishes her shift." Schach runs her hand  through her hair, "If your mother found out about this, she would.. I don't even want to know what she would do." 

"Would she murder?" You blink, looking upward at Vivio.

Schach and Vivio give each other a knowing glance.

"..Probably." Vivio states in a tepid fashion.

"Wow!" That's so cool! 

"I gotta get back to work, don't leave your room until Otto comes by, okay?" Schach replies.

Vivio nods, and then takes your hand. 

With that, you're lead back to her room. She walks inside and shuts the door.

"..Sis, I'm so sorry." 

"Does this mean no party?" You don't quite get if this means that no one will see your costume or not. 

"I'm afraid not, Sis." She smiles softly. Chris lowers onto her shoulder. 

Aw, that sucks.

All this because some human was murdered. 

WAIT! 

THIS GIVES YOU AN IDEA! 

"..Could we help solve it?" You smile, "Then.. they could have the party again!" 

Vivio blinks, and then thinks about your question.

"..Okay, but how could we help?" 

"I'll ask Iota!" 

You immediately pull up your datalink, and get a message through to big sis Iota! 

"(Iota!)" 

"(Sis?)" Iota seems a little confused, "(What's wrong? We're kind of busy, here.)" 

"(Tell me about the Murder!)" 

Iota is quiet over the line for a moment.

"(..A human was stabbed in the back and thrown in the shed. Now we're trying to find out who did it. That's all I know so far.)" 

"(Let me help!)" You smile. 

"(..Thanks Sis, but I think we have enough people searching the church already.)" 

"(Aww! Come on!)" 

"(There really isn't anything you can do unless you recognize this guy..)" 

Iota sends you a picture of leaky human, but this time zoomed in on his face.

"(I have already seen that!)" 

"(Well, that's all we know about it so far.)" 

This conversation happens so fast that Vivio is just now replying to your suggestion.

"I'm sorry, Sis. Unless we really know something that they don't, then we can't really help." 

"Do you recognize this?" 

You grab a holographic screen from.. somewhere. You think you just stole it from the front desk. Then, you re-write it to display the picture Iota sent you.

Vivio blinks as the holographic screen appears in front of you. 

Then, she pulls it closer. 

"..I.." 

Vivio's eyes narrow.

"..I've seen this man before.." 

"YAY!" You yell. 

"(Iota! Iota! Listen to this!)" 

"(Uh..)"

"Where did you see leaky human?!" You grab Vivio's hands with a smirk. 

"Well, it's, uh- complicated." Vivio blinks, "I don't know for sure but.. there was a nun having an.. affair.. here on church grounds. Gamma and I overheard it sometime back when we were investigating something else. After that, I saw her meeting a boy that looked kind of like this one." 

"Oh!" You blink, "What's an affair?! Is it something leaky humans do?!" 

"..Well, yes, but-" 

"(Sis! That's enough. Ask Vivio if she knows who the nun might be.)" Iota interrupts for some reason.

"Then who is nun?" You feel excited, this is more interesting than the time you had to fight the caterpillar for Iota! 

"Well.. I don't know her specifically, but I know which barracks she's in. I used to see her leave it from my window every night." 

"THAT'S PERFECT!" You grab Vivio, and  take for the door, "LET'S GO SOLVE THE MURDER!" 

"Woh! Sis!" Vivio gasps, "You're stronger than you look! Careful! What about Otto? We can't leave until-" 

"Otto can help us solve the murder too!" You completely miss the meaning of what Vivio is trying to ask, and instead head straight for the door!

--

You immediately follow Vivio's instructions, and lead her to the barracks that she described. 

Of course, there's a lockdown going on, so the lock in the door has been secured with magic.

"(Iota!)" You immediately plead with your sister, "(Unlock this door, please!)" 

"(..Sis, I have Tango on the way to investigate this. You don't have to-)" 

"(Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease!)" 

Iota sighs. 

"(Okay, but if there's trouble, both of you run.)" 

YAY! 

With a click, the door before you opens, and you simply walk inside. Vivio acts a bit shocked at first.

However, not as shocked as she is when she steps  through the door.

"What the-" Vivio takes a look around, "..I didn't expect to be right on this." 

The barracks is a mess! Tables  flipped over, beds on their side, and dressers tossed on their front with their content emptied and scattered about! 

"Nun gone!" You proclaim, "Where nun go?!" 

"Well, uh-" Vivio starts thinking about it, "..I don't know." 

"(Iooooooooooootaaaaaaaaa!)" 

"(..Yes?)" 

"(Nun gone! Room ruined!)" 

"(I can see that.)" Iota pauses for a second, "(I think we have a couple names for the perpetrator, now. That barracks only houses three nuns. Gamma has asked Schach to gather them for questioning.)" 

You immediately take off into the room, and start rummaging among the downed cabinets and tossed over beds. 

Vivio, confused, starts picking up some of the clothes and shaking them. Iota directs Tango to your position. 

Then, you find something! 

"LOOK!" Your eyes light up, and you jump out of a pile of clothes. 

It's a picture! A picture of a nun with her face x'd out! 

Next to him, is a boy! 

All humans look the same, but he looks kind of like the leaky human that you found! 

"(Look!)" You also send the image over datalink. 

Iota, however, shoots down this revelation.

"(Sorry Sis, this isn't  the same guy. I mean, it looks a lot like him, but-)"

"(Could I see that picture?)" Gamma butts into your call.

Iota sends her the picture, and you get an odd request. 

"(..Sis, could you return to the courtyard?)" 

"(Kay!)" 

Vivio frowns, "This isn't him-" 

"Wait!" You stop her, "But what about the nun? Is that the nun?!" 

Vivio blinks, suddenly.

"..That is the nun, though. Who is that boy that's with her?" 

"Yes!" You clap, "Vivio found something!" 

"..I don't understand." 

You simply grab her hand, and start leading her out of the room.

"Courtyard!" You yell, and start dragging Vivio again.

Needless to say, she is very confused.

--

In the courtyard; you see Schach and Gamma. Before them, are several nuns who have gathered. Three of them are the ones who shared that barracks. 

"I don't care who did or didn't do it, I want to know who that boy is!" Schach immediately demands.

"Schach." Gamma puts her hand on her shoulder, "I think you're just scaring them." 

All three of the nuns gathered before Schach look extremely upset. They gulp as each one eyes each other.

Suddenly, one of them says something.

"..I knew that stupid affair would get  you in trouble." 

"WHAT?!" The nun in the middle yelps.

"I didn't think you were bold enough to just kill the guy, though." The nun on the other side of her states, "I didn't take you to be the jealous type." 

"I'm telling you, I did not kill him! He's not dead!" The middle nun yells. 

"Sister Clio." Schach states in a scolding tone, "Enough. Let Sister Dauphine say her piece."

The nun in the middle, Sister Dauphine, starts to speak.

"..I've been having an affair for about nine months." 

This illicits a gasp through the gathered nuns, but she looks behind and yells.

"It's not like you don't have them either!" She yells at the few others gathered here. 

"Dauphine, we'll get to that later." Schach scolds her, "Explain the body." 

"I don't know! I've never seen that man in my life!" 

"Liar!" The one next to her, spats. 

"He looks just like your boyfriend!" Sister Clio continues to press the assault. 

You and Vivio watch the chaos unfold. 

Vivio looks lost in thought, but you blink as you look back and forth.

It's clear Dauphine is the nun in the photo.

But that doesn't make sense, why would her face be crossed out? 

First off, you want to verify that she is, indeed, a human and not one of those weirdoes that have been coming by.

Datalink: scanning...

Scan error.

No, that's what it does when it scans a human. 

Which means that you should probably just leave this to the adults and Gamma.

"Green!" You state toward your sister, "Look!" 

You hand the photo with the crossed-out face to your sister, and she examines it for a moment.

Without saying a word, she hands it over to Schach. 

Then she glares at the three. 

"I see what's going on." She growls, and stares at Dauphine, "Someone is jealous of someone's boyfriend." 

"Boyfriend?" You blink.

For some reason, Vivio puts her hand over your mouth!

"No!" Dauphine tries to defend herself, "He would never do that! He's not the jealous type!" 

Schach, without saying a word, puts the photo in her pocket.

"I now have all of the evidence I need to make a conclusive statement. If the perpetrator would like to come forward now, then it would be taken into consideration during your criminal case." 

Both of  them glare angrily at Sister Dauphine, and she simply remains with tears in her eyes. Her hands grasp a rosary around her neck. 

"..Sister Clio." Schach continues. "..You have a boyfriend too, don't you?" 

The smug grin Sister Clio had on her face immediately vanishes. Her eyes turn to Schach. 

"..I don't know what you're talking about." 

"You're lying." Schach continues, "You knew about Dauphine's affair, didn't you?" 

Clio blinks. 

"Of course we knew! We shared the same barracks! She was sneaking out every night to see him!" 

"Dauphine, Clairon." She calls out, "Is it not true that Sister Clio has also been sneaking out night after night?" 

The two nuns next to her nod. 

"What does that mean?!" Clio is getting defensive. "Of course I was sneaking out! Half of the nuns in this church are dating!" 

"..Each other-" you hear a voice call out.

"Shush." Another silences that voice.

"Clio, I'm going to outright say it." Schach crosses her arms, "You were jealous of Dauphine and her boyfriend, weren't you?" 

"She has nothing that I wanted." Clio spats back. 

"Not true." Schach glares at her, "She had one thing that you wanted, her boyfriend. You wanted her boyfriend." 

"Prove it." Clio crosses her arms. 

"Well, for one-" Schach holds the picture up, "This image was taken by somebody. Dauphine and her boyfriend were in this picture, so who else could have taken it?" 

"Selfie cameras have been around for ages." 

"Except this is YOUR camera, Clio. Here's the stamp on the corner." Schach presents it to her, "You say that she had nothing that you wanted, but you clearly wanted her boyfriend. I'm going to go as far as to say that she didn't know about this picture, does she?"

Clio looks particularly angry.

"Okay, sure, I was jealous, but how does that make me a murderer?" 

Schach smiles, and then takes out a letter.

"I found this when investigating the mailbag earlier. It was opened and replaced."

She unfolds the letter, and starts reading.

"My dearest,

I'm sorry I couldn't be the man that you wanted, but I think it's time for us to split ways. There are some people in this world who are simply not meant to be, and I find that our love may be strained. I'm willing to entertain it one more time, though. Tonight, by our special spot near the flowers, I'll be waiting there. Let's give our romance one last try."

Schach adjusts her voice, and folds the letter. 

"There was no name on it, but I can find out who was in the mail room at that time. Plus, it's only a matter of time until we realize that Dauphine's boyfriend isn't, in fact, dead. Do you want me to go do that?" Schach gives Clio a very deep stare. 

Clio has gone from calm and collected to absolutely livid. Her teeth grind into her lips so stiffly as to make them leak red stuff! 

"You bit-" She immediately changes composure, and the scowl evaporates from her face. "I want a lawyer." 

Schach sighs, and an air of silence washes over the slowly gathering crowd. 

Except for one, who yells. "I knew it! Heterosexual love only ends in tragedy!" 

"Sein, shush." Another voice states in a commanding fashion. 

"We'll discuss that when the knights gather in the morning. For tonight, all three of you come with me."

Schach leads the three of them away, and the nuns start to murmur among themselves.

Mostly, they are arguing with Sein. Something about revealing their 'sinful secrets' in front of Schach. 

Gamma, on the other hand, ignores them and turns to you.

"SIS! GOOD JOB!" She grabs you into her arms, and squeezes you. "Where did you find that, though?"

"A room!" You state in excitement as Gamma dotes on you. 

You don't care enough to try and correct her. She continues rubbing your head. 

Vivio sighs, and joins in on petting your head. 

"You did good, Lil' Sis." 

"Can we have the party, now?" You look back up to Vivio. "I caught the bad guys, and-" 

"Unfortunately-" Otto suddenly appears and s/he(whatever Otto is supposed to be.) immediately accosts Vivio. "It's time for her highness to call it a night. We'll have investigators here from town in a few minutes, and it's best if she isn't involved." 

"Aww!" You huff. 

"Hey, Otto." Gamma smiles at h/er/im, "It wouldn't be wrong if we were to have a party, though? Just the Raptors in the Chapel." 

Otto blinks, and then sighs.

"..I don't see a problem with that." 

"Then, will there be a problem with us just having a Halloween party for Lil' Sis?" 

Otto simply stares at Gamma with her dead eyes. 

"..I think I can overlook that." 

You look up at Gamma with shimmering eyes.

"Green." You huff, "THANK YOU!" 

You give her a sharp squeeze, and she gives you a hug back. 

"Come on Sis." Gamma smiles, "Let's celebrate Halloween together." 

"No leaky humans?" 

"Nope, no leaky humans." Gamma adjusts her voice, "If you want some though, I think Hotel could make-" 

"No!" Otto and Vivio yell in unison.

You don't know what that is about, but it doesn't really matter to you.

This has been the best Halloween ever, except for that leaky human and that murdering nun. Except for those two, it's been the best Halloween ever.

(Halloween 2020: END) 

"November "

You hear the sweet sound of someone's voice trying to goad you from your room.

Again.

You don't understand why they can't let you just sit in your room and lazily read books all day.

Maybe it's not healthy, maybe it's not proper, maybe you don't have to worry about things like 'health' as long as you're getting a good recharge and are operating your joints at least once a day. These facts are lost on you as your head lazily rolls over to face the door.

Then, you reply to your assailant.

"Whaaaat?" Your reply sounds more like a whine than it does a proper answer.

"Let's try on some of Fate's old clothes, November!" The dog person, Arf, is the one who is trying to hail you today. "It's not good to just have the one outfit and your barrier jacket!"

You set the book down, and then sigh.

"Okayyy." Your response back also sounds like a kind of whine. It seems you aren't capable of answering in any way that doesn't sound lazy or indolent.

You have every reason to be, though. You were told to stay in this house until further notice, and you haven't received the notice, yet. While you don't have.. the same thoughts that you were having sometime back. You're still completely devoid of activities to keep your circuits fluctuating aside from reading what few books this family was keeping on their shelves.

It seems most of them were there for show, rather than use.

You set the book on the nightstand, and then slowly roll out of bed. You've been laying here so long that the mattress has an indentation where your body has been laying inert.

Perhaps dog-human is correct to at least get you out of the room, as inconvenient as it may be.

You walk to the door and open it. There, you're face to face with dog-human.

"Well hello." She leans down with a smile, "It's good to finally see you come out of your room."

"Mm." Is all you can say in response.

"I don't want you becoming a hermit. There's a whole world out here, and you need to be comfortable with it."

"Mm." This is about the only response that you have prepared.

"Here, lemme give you a lift!"

She RUDELY picks you up as you simply stare daggers at you.

"I can walk on my own."

"I know! But if I let you walk on your own; you may just walk back into that room and lay back down on the bed."

..She has a point there.

 You don't fight against her as she carries you from your room all the way to the other side of the house. Your only hope is that no one spots you being carried by her.

..Good, Dieci is busy going through mail, and doesn't give you another glance.

You know she would tease you for this if she saw Arf carrying you like a stuffed animal.

The dog-human takes you to her room, and closes the door behind her.

It's going to be another one of  these sessions where she takes out bag after bag of old clothes and asks you to try on each one in order.

"While we're here-" Arf, of course, gets a bag from the closet. "We should think about redesigning your barrier jacket, too."

"Why?" You don't see the purpose in it.

"Because it's an old knock-off TSAB uniform. I think you could look way cuter in something else."

You simply stare at her.

"Why would I want to look cute?"

"Because I think you need an ego boost, and looking cute is a very easy way to do that." 

..

"I don't get it." You reply, while disrobing. "Why would looking cute fix my ego?"

"Looking good and feeling good are linked together, November." Arf smiles as she takes out a shirt for you to try on. "Also, keep those clothes on."

"What, these?" You blink as you are about to fully disrobe.

"Try these clothes on with your underwear. You'll be wearing them in public."

"But I'm not going out in public." You reply, not thinking about the lecture you're going to receive for saying that.

"Yes you are." Arf rubs your head, "We'll be going outside sooner than you think, and everyone is going to think that you're cute."

You put the fabric back over your chest. You're not sure what it's trying to conceal, anyway. Arf then hands you one of the outfits to put on. A black blouse with a miniskirt to go along with it. It's been properly matched, but is a little bit wrinkly.

"You look great in it!" Arf exclaims as you finish putting on the skirt.

You don't understand exactly how she can say that.

"It's just clothes." You give your usual answer.

"Are they?" Arf smiles.

Suddenly, she rotates you toward the mirror.

"You're smiling." Arf pokes your cheek.

"I am not!" You turn away from the mirror and  then quickly try to peel the outfit off of yourself. The whole time Arf is laughing.

"It looks so good on you, though!"

"I didn't smile, though!"

You take them off, and throw them onto the bed, then you cross your arms and look away.

"..What's the next outfit?"

"Well-"

Arf blinks, and you can detect some kind of magic activity in the air. You're not as adept as Iota or Echo at eavesdropping on telepathy, but you're good enough to where you can at least sense when it happens.

"Hold on, Lindy fell asleep on the couch and her food is burning. Try on this next outfit and I'll be right back."

Arf sighs as she exits the room. This seems to be a problem with Lindy, sometimes. It makes you question how she's able to function alone at all.

"Maybe she should try not having to eat." You state to yourself in a manner that almost makes you believe it. It's never been a problem for you, after all.

You pick up the next outfit, and start slipping it on. This is a winter outfit with several layers, and strangely ends in a miniskirt with leggings that are extremely difficult to put on.

You don't get human clothing very much. When they're cold, they still wear skirts, but put on leggings to try to 'keep warm'.

Maybe this is just some kind of for-show wear, and not something she would normally wear in the winter. It's fine with you, because you never get cold (cold actually helps your actuators). It's just weird that a human would be wearing this.

You slip the final legging on, and then throw the hooded sweater over your head.

Oh no, you're smiling again!

Stop!

You turn away, and then let the emotion pass before glancing back at the mirror.

There you go, the dull glance fits you way better than some kind of maniacal smile.

You do admit, this is a comfortable outfit. This 'Fate' person at least knew how to dress comfortably if not fashionably.

As you try to take off the hoodie, something crinkles in the pocket.

"What's this?"

You reach into your pocket, and pull out a piece of paper.

 A letter, perhaps?

It's addressed to Fate, but it appears a girl wrote it with the rounded edges on the font. So why does it have hearts all on the outside?

Curious, you unfold the piece of paper.

Hey Feito!

Yesterday was SO FUN, and the ice cream was delicious! I'm going to be on Midchilda for the next few weeks, so let's go on a few shopping dates! There's this nice new place that opened up in the mall, and I even got Amy to agree to go with us! Tell Arf that we'll be needing a chaperone, and after that we can have some alone time at your place. I can't wait!

- Nano

You glance at the letter. From your scans, it's well over ten years old. The penciling on it is starting to smear slightly, not to mention the yellowing along the seams where it was folded.

How long as it been in this pocket?

Are you intruding on someone's life by reading this?

Well, not that you care. It's just some memory that a human had a long time ago.

..

So why does it make you feel a little anxious to read?

Surely it's something that the previous owner didn't even think too much about. Right?

Either ways, it feels like you're missing something by reading it.

You glance at the letter, and sigh.

"Arf, why are you giving me ten year old clothes?" You state to yourself.

It makes sense from a logistics standpoint as to why, though. Form factor wise, you are similar to this human known as 'Fate'. So it only makes sense for you to inherit her previous clothes from when she was smaller. After all, it's not like they can go to anybody else except people with similar builds.

You frown.

It still feels a little bit insulting to just get her hand-me-downs. This 'Arf' person is lucky that they at least look nice.

Even if it is a bit wrinkled.

You glance at the note in your hand and then fold it back up. You'll ask a bit more about it later, but you don't want to pry too much into this 'Fate' person's life. Maybe it would be best if you just left it in the pocket, or put it someplace for the humans to find. Maybe on the dresser?

For now, you settle with leaving it on the nightstand.

Then you ask yourself an important question; What is taking so long?

You walk to the door, and open it. Other than the detected aroma of slightly-burnt food, there's nothing out of the ordinary. It shouldn't have taken this long to deal with it, unless-

You can hear some argument coming from the kitchen. It seems Dieci and Arf both moved to save the burnt food. Judging from the light wisps of smoke briefly clinging to the lights; you can guess that humans may have to go hungry tonight.

"Maybe I should just order a pizza." You state in a low-energy hum. The smoke creating a strange fog that envelops the room.

You try to ascertain why the food was left unattended, and you notice the cause of which sleeping on the couch.

It's human-Gamma. She sleeps very soundly while-

Uh oh.

Her temperature is 38, almost 39 degrees Celsius. That means-

"Human malware." You state in an almost exhausted tone. Unfortunately, it's not as easy as running a scan on her and removing it. This appears to be the symptom of a 'cold', perhaps?

You suppose that it makes sense for her to have a bit of a cold. She has had to work double time with everyone staying over. Her son, Arf, Dieci, not to mention the people hiding like Ginga.

All of these humans require maintenance, too. This 'Lindy' person seems like the kind of human to simply accept it with a smile, never letting others know that they're starting to tax her physically.

You put your hand to her forehead, and sigh. Not even the food burning was enough to wake her up. Nor is the sound of the girls in the other room arguing the pros and cons of keeping the food enough to wake her.

You would go get Arf right away, but you think that just may complicate the current situation. Her problem seems like an easy fix in any case.

You pull up the holographic phone, and then dial one of the numbers saved.

Ring..

Ring.

Click!

"Hello?" The answer on the other end rings in your ear.

"Hi, do you do delivery?" You state in a dull tone.

"Yes, of course we do. What do you want?"

"I am not sure. What is popular with other humans?" You ask what you think is a reasonable request.

"Uhh." Clearly the human on the other end is just used to people telling her what they want, "Well, Pepperoni is usually very popular-"

"Do you recommend anything for someone who has human mal- I mean, a cold?"

"..Maybe chicken, then?"

"That would be adequate. Does it taste good to humans?" You think you're doing pretty well considering that this is the first time you've had to order anything over a phone.

"..I mean, it tastes like Chicken." 

"And?" That information is meaningless to you.

"..I guess I like it."

"Then that will be fine. Do you have Harlaown's financial information?"

"..No, but I do have an 'Arf' on record."

"That's good, she will be paying this time." You bow, "Thank you for your time."

You finish the exchange, and then decide that it might be a good idea to tell Arf what is transpiring.

The trail of smoke leads you into the kitchen, and you notice the two people responsible for the mess arguing with one another.

"It's fine! We just have to cut off this section and-" Arf tries to reason with Dieci by pointing at a slightly less-blackened corner of an otherwise completely charred and ruined plate of food.

"Arf, that's rubber, we need to just cook a new batch of lasagna. " The dull-eyed girl points out.

This makes Arf blink in surprise.

"This was once lasagna?!" She blinks as she stares at the hardened orange crust that was once edible food.

"Excuse me." You blink.

"That outfit is so cute!" Arf immediately exclaims, "Aaaa! I want to take a picture!"

"Hi November." Dieci blinks, with a smile. "You look very nice."

That's a high compliment from Dieci. You really enjoy her compliments, especially considering that she's one of the few humans who isn't constantly trying to compare you to Fate. It makes it feel less like she's trying to use you as a yardstick to a human you barely know anything about.

"Thank you!" You put on a smile, but apparently your smiling technique isn't quite there yet. "By the way, there's no reason to argue because I ordered pizza for tonight. I believe it's a flavor known as 'Chicken'."

"Pizza?" Dieci blinks, "Oh thank you November."

"What! We could have saved this!" Arf frowns. For being as mature as she is, she sure has a tendency to be really stubborn about the strangest things.

"Also, more importantly." You decide that you need to let  them know, "It appears Lindy has come down with human malware."

"Human.." Arf blinks.

"A cold." You clarify, "It appears that the extra stress of the additional humans in this house has worn down her aptitude to where she's sleeping on the couch with a fever of 39 degrees."

Both of them look at one another in worry.

"..I'll get the ice." Arf states in a frustrated tone.

"We should have noticed sooner, no wonder she forgot her own food." Dieci huffs, "November, will you help me carry her to her room?"

"Certainly."

You follow Dieci to the living room, and watch as she effortlessly hoists Lindy up in a single arm.

"I could do that." You mumble, but she doesn't hear you.

"November, could you get the door?"

You open the door at the end of the hallway, and she quickly takes Lindy inside.

With a gentle touch, she sets Lindy down on the bed.

"November, stay here with her for a few minutes. Put this ice on her forehead as you wait. I'll be right back, I'm going to go get some tea boiling." Dieci seems to know what to do, so that makes you feel a bit better.

That is, until she leaves and shuts the door behind her.

So, now what?

You glance down at the flushed woman, and start applying the bag of ice to her forehead.

You suppose this must be cooling her circuitry down, or something like that. Human anatomy is still something that you haven't quite come to grips with.

"..Huh, Fa-?"

Uh oh, she's talking.

"Hi Lindy." You blankly gaze at her.

"..Why are we here?"

"You have caught some human malware." You push the ice pack against her forehead once more, "Dieci says she knows what to do, so I am watching you for the time being."

Lindy glances at you with her exhausted eyes, and then she sighs.

"..I'm sorry November." She mumbles, "I didn't think I would get sick."

"There's no reason to be sorry." You put the ice back on her head.

"There is." Lindy sighs, "I've never been very good at being a parent. It seems like every time I try to do it, I always do something wrong."

You're not really sure what to say to that, other than-

Okay, time to go through your databanks, what would Gamma do?

..

You already know what she would do.

You lean over, and wrap Lindy into a hug.

"Don't say that." You try to think of words of encouragement, "I don't even know what a parent should do, so you're doing fine."

This causes her to stifle a giggle, but she hugs back all the same.

"These clothes.. they're from Fate, aren't they?"

"They are.."

"I remember when she wore this outfit out on her first date with Nanoha." Lindy squeezes you in return, "..I hope you can find someone like that for yourself."

"Lindy, why do you think that now is the time to talk about relationships? Has the virus compromised your processor?" 

"No.. I was just thinking of how happy Fate was when she first met Nanoha, and wanted to check to see if you had anyone like that in mind." 

You're not even sure where to begin with that one. Maybe you should just change the subject? 

Wait, there is something that you wanted to ask. 

"..Is that really the first thing that you thought of when you woke up? You thought of me, and not say; the lasagna that you burned in the oven?" 

"I can make more Lasanga." Lindy smiles, "I can't make more of you."

Okay, well she's wrong on several accounts. Where do you begin correcting her?

"Okay, first off- I am a robot. I don't require a mate to reproduce." Of course that's by far not the only thing that's wrong with her logic. "Second off- Someone like Nanoha? The only one that I know who is like that is Hotel, and she is already disqualified on account of being a psychopath. Besides, I already have Gamma." 

"Well, not exactly like Nanoha.." Lindy mumbles.

"Third off, a human companion? Lindy, I don't know if you have noticed, but Raptors wear themselves down in battle constantly. Our oldest sibling is only a year old, and Gamma had dozens of stress fractures from a recent fight."

You sigh, it's something that you don't like to think about much, but it is a fact of your deployment.

"I would be surprised if I last ten more years at these parameters, much less fifty or so. Even if I get every piece of me replaced, those pieces could even probably outlive the human that I find. In almost every way you look at it, I could never- Hmphf"

You're interrupted by Lindy reaching up and wrapping her arms around you.

"Mmph Hh mM mm"

"Don't say that." Lindy scolds you, lightly. "Don't say that you won't last ten years."

"It's the truth, though." You mumble.

"No, it's not. If fighting does that much damage to you and your sisters, then we need to immediately stop your entire family from fighting. Ten years is not long enough for life, not for someone who has barely experienced it."

You're about to say something in return, but she instead lays back down on the bed.

-While taking you with her.

You're both curled up in the sheets as Lindy hugs you like a teddy bear. You try to fight back with your dry wit.

"Lindy, I think the malware is just making you behave erratically. Just let me go and we can talk about this in the morning.

No response.

In fact, her breathing is starting to stabilize. 

"..Ho boy." You feel a sense of anxiety drift over you. It seems Lindy is taking the teddy bear metaphor a bit too seriously. Her arms and legs curl around you into a bear hug, and you simply lay flat as she continues to breathe slowly.

So you have two options.

One is to wake her up and escape.

Two is to accept it and go to sleep.

What are the advantages of both?

Escape

• No longer being hugged
• No longer a teddy bear

But

• Lindy's rest is disturbed

Stay

• Lindy's rest and recovery continues
• You can keep an eye on her condition
• Maybe get some recharging done yourself

But

• Arf or Dieci will one-hundred percent take a picture of the two of you.

You decide that, as you're loathe to admit it, the answer is obvious. Besides, you can always delete the pictures off of their phones while they are not looking.

"Good night, Lindy." You sigh softly as you close your eyes. Maybe you can resume this conversation tomorrow. 

Overall, there are worse things than being here in this house.

CAUGHT SIGNAL 8

3..
2..

1..

..

(Winter Clothes for November END)

You sigh.

This train ride has taken far too long, and you want to get to the church as soon as possible before they get a chance to hide anything.

You grit your teeth.

"Gamma.." You feel a low growl from your voice, "Just what have you done this time?" 

"Is everything okay?" 

The red-haired human gives you a cock-eyed look as you continue to fume over what has just transpired. 

"Everything is fine, I just have much on my mind." You reply to her. 

"Are you sure? Ever since an hour ago, you've been pacing around, looking upset, did something happen?" 

What do you even tell her? That time had stopped for almost a full five minutes and she was so unaware in her fleshy, watery body that she didn't even notice? That something exists out there that completely flips her feeble view of the entire world on its head? 

Wait, that's right, she doesn't deserve this kind of explanation. That's something for you to know and her to never find out because it doesn't involve her.

You have been having this problem where you suspect that you're  getting too caring, recently. Mistress has told you before that being too attached simply leaves openings to be exploited. 

This girl standing before you is a perfect example. She has a family, and then her family was immediately targeted. It seems like a very cause and effect relationship, but for some reason several that you know seem to disagree.

If Gamma really does have this kind of power, she has to understand immediately how it will bode for the rest of her family if it becomes public knowledge. Surely it couldn't have just been you that noticed time standing still. 

Clunk.

'Train 4, disembarking.'

A cold voice rings over the old-timey speaker, announcing that you've arrived.

"Well, whatever it is, I hope you find what you are looking for." Nove leans over to grab her bag, and then stands back up, "Before we go, can I know your name?"

There she goes, getting attached again. If she knew what was best, then she would simply stay away.

"Olive." You huff. 

"Great, Olive!" Nove smiles, "It's good to meet you. I hope we see each other around." 

"Where are you going past this?" It may be useful to keep her nearby if you're trying to look inconspicuous. 

"We'll be staying in town overnight and arriving to the Grand Cathedral in the morning." Nove stretches her shoulders. "It's best to arrive in the morning instead of trying to find a place to sleep when you get there." 

Right, sleep. 

"In that case, this is where we part. I'll be heading to the Cathedral." 

Nove assists the economy-sized humans in grabbing their bags. Suddenly, the brown-haired one speaks up.

"Then, try to be careful." Fuuka replies, "There are a lot of weird people out on the roads at night." 

..

"Yes, I'll be careful." To not murder any of them. You don't need any additional attention. 

They say their farewells, and leave down the cobblestone path. The last of the evening light shines their way forward. 

You're left by the train station wondering exactly why everything here appears to be built by cavemen. The highest technology object in your sight has to be the magic lamps, and even those are just Midchildean-level spells suspended in a glass ball. 

How far away are you from the Cathedral? 

It matters not. You have no need to sleep, and you need to find Gamma right away. 

With a huff, you start down the path where the crudely built sign is pointing for the 'Grand Cathedral'. 

--

It's almost dark when you arrive, and this is with traveling much faster  than a human's pace could ever keep up with. 

You sigh as you watch guards (dressed in black outfits?) surrounding this 'Grand Cathedral' place. You're sure that they must have enough aptitude to realize the power that Gamma contains and be keeping her under close guard. 

"Gamma, you fool." You grit your teeth again, "Did you get captured by some other human organization because you 'trusted' them?" 

That would be just like her to trust some other meatbag organization and simply 'allow' them to take her into custody. If they are remotely sensitive to changes in the atmosphere, then they should have at least realized that the time stop occurred, even if they couldn't move during this period. 

So, now, how are you going to get in? 

"Hello stranger!" 

What?! 

You stand up and put your hand on your sword just as you spin around to confront the voice who is signaling you.

"I notice that you're watching the Church gates from behind cover. What are you doing?"

You glance at the economy sized human with the head covering. 

This is certainly not  the normal that you've seen. This leads you to only one conclusion.

"Are you the weird person that the small brown human warned me about?"

This elicits a strange reaction.

"..Beg pardon?" Her response answers your question; she must not be the strange human if she is unable to recognize her own designation.

"Never mind." You adjust your voice, "I meant to say that I'm waiting for an opportunity to enter the church. What are you doing?"

"Standing guard." She stretches her arms out.

You blink.

"You're standing guard?"

"Yep!" She seems all too enthusiastic.

"What are you guarding?" You look around, "There isn't anything here."

"Oh! I'm guarding the church gate." The orange-haired girl replies.

You blink.

"So why are you here and not at the gate?"

"Because it's my break, duh!" The orange human stretches her arms, "By the way, I'm Chantez Arpinion, and I'd love to show you around! What's your name?"

"Olive." You reply, curtly. "Aren't you on break from guard duty? Should you be giving me a tour?"

"Sure! That's why I'm on break." The orange-haired girl smiles.

You're starting to realize that the brown human may have been correct in her assessment.

However, this may work to your advantage. Having a human with you would definitely mean that you could walk through the front gate unimpeded.

"Okay." You stand up, and adjust your blouse. "-If you are willing to show me around, then I am willing to follow."

"Yay!" The smaller human seems overjoyed about this opportunity. You're not sure what there is to be excited about, but you're not really worried about that. If you can get inside, then you can give her the slip and continue your hunt for Gamma. "Let's start by showing you the gate itself! You know, it's an ancient relic of-"

You almost immediately tune her out. The only thing you care less about than human history is history about the inanimate steel that protected human history. She goes over each and every engraving on the gigantic set of gates, and you continue to use your sensors to passively scan for Gamma.

Of course, you're still not entirely sure what to look for. What would Gamma even look like in this state? Is she just a puddle of molten metal at  this point? How long could she really stand to keep time standing almost still?

You feel a frown creep across your face. The orange human is continuing to talk nonsensically about the history of the church, why it's here in the mountains, why it's filled with dirty, depressing people who look like middle age serfs but just who cares please stop talking.

"Oh!" She notices something else to drone on about. "That reminds me! We have a library of tomes and articles from that era! Let me show you there next."

You don't follow her down the corridor. As she rounds the corner into the greater section of the building; you quickly break away and hide behind one of the massive stone pillars. With some precise movement, you're away from her and out into a courtyard inside of the gates.

If nothing else, the lecture alone should be considered an assault.

No, you're not going to be that way this time. The human helped you out, and you have to at least learn to start working with them if you wish to-

"Well, hello there!"

..What?

You glance upward.

You blink.

"Buh-"

"You look lost, are you searching for someone?"

You turn to look toward the stone corridor that you just left, but you see no trace of the human that you were just following. The one who looks identical to the one who is sitting in the treetop before you.

A moment of confusion sets in.

"..What are you doing up there?"

"Oh? I'm guarding the courtyard." She stretches her arms out, once again. "But it's my break."

"..Weren't you guarding the gate?"

"That was sooo yesterday." She sighs, "I just thought I would catch a quick nap up here."

She jumps down, and lands with perfect precision.

"But you do seem to just be wandering around. Do you need help finding something?"

"Didn't.. you just tell me-" You seem to require a few cycles to process this.

She blinks, "Hmm?"

"No, never mind." You adjust your voice, "What I meant to say is that I'm looking for some guests who are staying here at the cathedral. Where might I find them?"

"Oh! Guests will be staying at the inn. Do you wish for me to take you there?"

"That would be nice."

"But first-"

Oh no.

She smiles in return, and you can guess that this is another roadblock.

"-Guests will need to check in at the chapel. We're having coronation soon! So it's a good time to go get seated. Come, I'll show you the way."

She scurries off, and you reluctantly follow her for a short ways.

You are aware that you shouldn't give anyone your identification, nor do you want to sit through yet another lecture by another boring meatbag. So instead, you'll plan your escape right now and go searching for this 'inn'.

This 'Chantez' human scoots ahead into a hallway, and you give her the slip the same way that you did previously.

With a smile, you jump over, and onto the roof of the building.

"Hmph." You growl, still no sign of Gamma. You would suspect that if there are Raptors here; they must be near some source of information. You detect a wireless signal, but it's so faint as to be almost transparent. It could just be someone's cell phone, even.

"Hi!"

...

You feel a tenseness in your throat as you spin around.

"I'm Chantez!" She replies, "I'm one of the nuns here at the Chapel, and we must ask our guests to not walk the rooftops as they are very old and prone to failure. I mean, I do too, but I'm staff so I'm allowed to be up here. Did you come up here from the bell tower?"

This is becoming a problem.

"You're sent to keep an eye on me, aren't you?" You cut straight through to the point.

The orange distraction only tilts her head and asks a simple "Hmm?"

Clearly dealing with her is what they are expecting you to do. You'll instead opt to prioritize finding your sisters above dealing whatever traps they have set out.

"Listen." You sigh, "I am in a hurry. Do you know where someone named 'Iota' may be? I need to speak with her."

"Oh! She's in the barracks with her sisters. Can I ask who wants to see her?"

"No need." You don't humor the orange-haired distraction any longer. "I can find her myself."

"Wait-"

Before she can respond, you jump off of the roof and are back in the courtyard. Maybe here, you can find some way to locate the 'Barracks'.

You sigh as you start to pace around the courtyard. This must be a fearsome type of enemy if they're able to employ mass-produced humans for their security. You can only assume Gamma is either being protected or held hostage at this point by them. You're hoping that it's the former, as they haven't seemed to be outwardly hostile to you, yet.

However, the sun is finally dipped far enough below the horizon for the evening routine of the Cathedral to begin. You're starting to notice the humans retire to their quarters for the night. Not to mention the once opened gate slowly coming to a close.

That's not what gets your attention. There's something else that's worrying you.

Another orange distraction walks next to a familiar purple-haired girl. They're flanked by a ferocious looking bodyguard standing to her left.

"There, look." The orange-haired distraction points toward you.

In the moonlight, the purple girl stops her brisk pace, and gasps. The bodyguard seems to instinctively step in front. 

You frown, and realize something uneasy as you glance over the purple-haired girl over.

"Oh please." You look the girl over, "Am I based on someone that small? Are you here to admire me? Perhaps attempt this 'adoption' protocol? Whatever it may be, I have no desire for pity from my human counterpart."

"What a sour personality." The orange distraction sighs.

"I'm not here for either of that." The purple-haired one bows, "I already know that you're here to fight Gamma. That won't be happening today, though."

"Oh?" You smile, "And why is that?"

"Gamma is currently resting after a magic accident." The orange distraction suddenly seems much more knowledgeable than she did just a few minutes previously. "She's not going to be able to fight you anytime soon."

"Also much more importantly." The purple-haired girl crosses her arms, "Fighting isn't allowed on church grounds."

"That doesn't matter to me." You frown, "I need to see Gamma. I need to understand the extent of her powe-"

You suddenly realize something important.

"..How did you know that I was coming to see Gamma? Did Iota tell you?"

"Well, not exactly." The orange distraction sighs. "A friend of yours told us that you may be here shortly."

"A friend of mine."

There's no friend of yours except..

Oh..

"Where is Amadeus, now?" You furrow your brow, "I need to have a long talk with him."

"That's not important." The purple-haired girl huffs, "You're going to have to wait out here for Gamma to wake up if you wish to see her."

"Or else what?" You huff, "Let me see Gamma."

"Or else-"

A number of knives start to spin around the purple-haired girl.

"I already know that you're a very powerful mage." She continues, "That's why I don't want you to strain Gamma any more than she has already been strained."

You roll your eyes. You could use takedown on her in a second, and she would be powerless to stop you.

"That's cute." You reply. "Are you even aware that her 'magical accident' affected the flow of time for hundreds of miles? The train on the way over here stopped in its tracks, even."

This makes her blink, and appear genuinely confused. It seems that she isn't aware of the implications of Gamma's 'magical accident'.

"So you intend to fight me? You could be bluffing about your power, but you must be considerable for humans if I'm based off of you."

"I don't intend to, but-"

The purple-haired mirror of yourself stops short as another voice makes itself known.

"Lutecia, why did you run off?"

"Megane told you to stay near me while you were here at the Cathedral. So why did you just decide to stand up and run out of the room?"

'Lutecia's boisterous attitude immediately deflates.

"Fabia, I thought you were sleeping."

"I was, the jet lag still hasn't worn off, yet. Speaking of which-" The blonde 'Fabia' blinks, "Did Megane get a really tacky sense of fashion?"

"Fabia! This is serious, can you go inside?" 'Lutecia' replies.

"No, you go inside." 'Fabia' replies, sleepily. "You're not even supposed to be getting involved in anything weird. Speaking of weird, your friend is not even wearing that outfit right. Also, did she slick her hair back? Yuck.."

"You.." You feel your eyebrow twitch, "I suppose it's only natural for a human to be unable to understand the refined tastes of machined steel." You cover your disgust with a mocking smile.

Fabia simply sighs.

"Oh please, you're not even cosplaying as a Belkan noble right. I lived there, and your outfit looks like it was from a dollar store."

"Why you-" You reach for your sword-

"Also, you talk too much."

THOOM!

Your sword cuts through a mass of pitch-black smoke that seems to envelope you!

"Hey!" You twirl the sword, and are able to push enough of the smoke away to see your attackers, "Smokescreens? I can sense you through concrete, what did you hope to-"

Riiiiiiiiiiiip-

...?

POP!

"What-"

"HEY!" You whack your almost-exposed storage tanks back under your blouse, "What kind of attack is that? Put my clothes back to normal right now?!"

"Oops.." Fabia sighs, "I thought you would look better if they were tighter fitting."

"I really didn't need to see that.." Lutecia is covering her face with her hands. Chantez doesn't seem to be embarrassed but more.. really confused.

"These clothes are specifically matched. You will pay for this-" You draw your sword with one hand, and your other contains yourself inside of your outfit.

"Maybe you're just too big, let's try something else-"

\

"No! This will not work a second time. You-"

THOOM!

..

"..Undo this.."

You don't have the flexibility to make any sudden demands, but you can feel that your barrier jacket just shrunk by another size.

If you make even one move, it'll rip straight off of your hips and your chest.

"Mm." The blonde menace replies, "..I don't remember how on that one, but that's okay. It'll go back to normal after a.. few hours or so."

"Few HOURS?"

The humans are clearly enjoying this!

"I need to find my sister.. right, now." You hold your outfit together with your bare hand at the chest, even one wrong move could cause it to tear. "What do you think I should be doing to do that?"

"Oh, well-" The pervert seems to get an idea, "You could just stand there, perfectly still, for a few hours until your clothes return to normal."

"..a few hours."

"A few hours." She repeats.

"You best suggest another way."

"..Alternatively, you could find your sister with your tits and butt hanging out after your pants finish ripping." Fabia shrugs, "But you seem like the kind of person with too much of an ego to let that happen. Or you could detonate your barrier jacket, and then stand here naked in front of everybody in the courtyard while you reformed it, including that 'Iota' girl who is watching you on Cameras. She's a nice girl but I think she would take a few pictures like that and spread them around."

"You knew.." You growl.

"Of course I knew, which is why I'm going to take this-"

She suddenly grabs Lutecia's ear!

"H-hey, Fabia-" Chantez seems confused, "What are you doing?"

"-And then I'm going to go have a long talk with her about interfering in adult business she was explicitly told not to." Fabia smiles. "Don't go too far, okay?"

"You're gonna pay for this.." You grit your teeth, "Both the outfit AND the insults."

They walk away, and leave you clutching your clothes over your shoulders.

..Wait

Amadeus could fix this!

"Amadeus?" You yell, "Amadeus! Come here!"

...

Nothing.

You stand like a statue in the moonlight as you watch various humans flick out torches, turn off the magic lighting, and leave you standing motionless in the courtyard.

..You can tell Iota is watching you. You can feel her.

"Iota!" You try to get her attention, "Iota, signal Amadeus, I need him back here, now!"

...

Nothing.

Nothing to do but stand here, and wait.

..

"Oscar?"

You gently turn your head to notice Foxtrot. She rubs her eyes as she seems to be focusing on you in disbelief.

"Foxtrot.." You want to ask for help, but you don't think your pride would allow that from a newer unit. Instead, something else comes to mind.

"-Are my tastes in clothes awful?"

(Our Humble Abode: END)

"Merry Christmas!"

You watch as your friends and human counterparts all merrily exchange hugs. They pass boxes wrapped in red paper back and forth between one another. You continue to watch as they talk about their lives over the past year (A whole year?!), and continue to think the same thing again and again.

"(I don't get it.)"

"(Me neither, Gamma.)" Iota seems to be just as confused as you are.

You are Gamma, an advanced combat android. You're experiencing your first Christmas ever. 'Experiencing' is quite a way to put it. There are lots of unnamed social rules that the humans are simply glossing over as they talk.

You sigh, and then attempt to follow the conversation as best as you can.

"I can't believe it's been a whole year." Not-Foxtrot seems to sigh. "This last year was crazy."

"Not to mention terrifying." Not-Echo seems to agree with her.

You're currently at Not-Echo's house, otherwise known as 'Hayate Yagami', to celebrate Christmas along with some humans whom your sisters are friends with (and are also based on). This will make the first time you've ever experienced a 'Christmas'. You were originally just going to stay at the labs, but all of the humans left and Hotel's human insisted that it wasn't healthy to spend the 'happiest day of the year' inside of a pod.

Speaking of which, Hotel and November's humans came to pick you up and take you to this Christmas party. You think several of your other sisters have also been dragged into similar affairs of their own. According to Iota, Oscar hasn't stopped complaining over the datalink all night. She's thankfully spared us the endless complaining by filtering out her datastream.

Which means that all you have to do, is not make an embarrassment of yourself, and you'll be back at the labs before you know it.

You're here with Iota, Foxtrot, Hotel and November. Echo is here as well, but the look in her eyes seems to paint a picture of someone who wishes she wasn't here. You think she's more confused as to what is expected of her.

"So-" Hotel jumps forward, she's been the most excited by this, "How has the last couple months been? Have you gone on any cool adventures?"

This is all Hotel talks about, adventures, adventures, adventures. She would love nothing more than to go on a mission with the Aces, but she hasn't quite been approved for that just yet. It's a wait that she's been thinking about every day.

You still don't quite get the purpose of this gathering, so you'll instead simply ask. 

"There's all these high-level Aces here, so are we going to discuss a top-secret mission?"

Uh oh.

The way Iota is glancing at you makes you believes that you have possibly already said something embarrassing.

Thankfully Hotel's human doesn't scold you for saying something embarrassing, but instead laughs.

"No, no" Nanoha muses, "We're not here to talk about a mission, we're here to celebrate and relax."

"I'm not sure how we can all celebrate and relax while there's so many top level mages here!" Hotel is beaming with excitement. "C'mon! Surely you've been in a fight recently!"

"..Yeah, cleaning up the Ground Forces HQ after Gamma has been quite a battle." Not-Echo mumbles.

You're inclined to agree, especially since you've been 'volunteered' to help with it.

It's not your fault the Hucks crashed the HQ. You were just on a bodyguard mission, and they came through the wall.

Okay, maybe everything AFTER that was your fault. The fire, the screaming, the breakers, especially the fire.

The fire made everything way worse.

You've been.. mostly forgiven for that. However, you still feel a few glances as you walk through the HQ. Some of irritation, others of abject fear.

Thankfully, they didn't dock your tokens for doing that.

"Hotel, Hotel-" November grabs her sister's shoulder, "Let's not bother the humans with that. They wish to not think about fighting for one day."

"Exactly. Not-Papa exclaims, "This is a peaceful day, and we should all appreciate being together and not being worlds apart on separate missions."

"Oh!" You feel a tinge of excitement, "Where's Rein? And Agito?!"

"Right here!" Agito pops out from around the corner. Despite being a few centimeters in size, she has a lot of energy to her as she zips around the room. "Gamma!"

She lands on your shoulder, and you pat her head.

"Gamma.." Echo whispers.

"Hmm?"

You feel her hail you over the datalink.

"(What do I say?)" Echo sounds nervous.

"(What?)"

"You heard me!" Echo huffs in real life.

You're not sure how to parse Echo's request. However, you do know what you would say in her position.

"(Um.)" You try to help Echo out, "(Try 'It's good to see you'?)"

Echo immediately bows, and smiles.

"It's good to see you." With a slight smile.

Her human counterpart has a particular smile spread across her face. Shortly thereafter, she pounces into a hug.

"(G-Gamma!)" Echo exclaims as Hayate clings to her, "(W-What did I do?! Did I say something wrong?)"

"(N-No, I don't think that's quite it.)" You laugh, "(Rather, I think she's entranced with your honesty.)"

"(Is this a normal response to being honest to humans?!)"

"(Well..)"

"Ahaha!" Hotel laughs, "Look! Echo is blushing!"

"I-I am not!" Echo tries to fight it, but she's very clearly flustered. However, you think it's because of nervousness.

"Speaking of which!" Hayate looks away from Echo, "Why aren't any of you wearing Christmas clothes? Don't you have any?"

Suddenly, all of the humans stop. It feels like an icy wind just blew over the small group.

"W-Well. You see-" Fate tries to explain, "They live in the lab, and-"

"Oh?" Hayate blinks, "They don't have any? That's great!"

Shamal gasps, and Signum is trying to tell Hayate 'Don't do it'. Those pleas fall on deaf ears as she continues.

"-I have a whole closet of some of our old Christmas outfits! Come! Let's try some on!"

Nanoha and Fate eye each other nervously.

You only feel confused, and glance over toward Foxtrot.

Or to where Foxtrot was. Instead, there's a blank spot in her place.

"(Uhh?)"

"(I have a bad feeling about this.)" Iota remarks.

"(Foxtrot, why did you disappear?)"

"(I've spent the night over here before.)" Foxtrot replies, "(If you can fade, I would do it right now.)"

"(What?!)" Echo seems horrified, "(What are you saying?)"

"Come on! Come on!" Not-Echo is already pulling at her counterpart's shoulder, "Let's go try on some outfits! It's not Christmas without them."

You blink, and then look over to Signum.

She's whispering a very silent 'I'm Sorry'.

You seem to take what could be the wrong message from Signum, and try to make the best of the situation.

"New Clothes!" You smile, "What could possibly go wrong?"

You can almost feel Echo staring daggers at you as you're both dragged inside to the guest room.

--

"Try this next!"

"I don't get it." You reply.

"You look wonderful!" Not-Echo gushes as you wear this strange brown outfit.

You're not sure what exactly it's supposed to represent. It has strange, asymmetric horns. Not to mention little bits of fuzz all over the outfit. You are nothing short of baffled as to what 'Christmas' is supposed to be just by wearing it.

"Is this what 'Christmas outfits' are?"

"Absolutely!" Hayate smiles, "These outfits bring out the holiday cheer."

"I don't feel particularly 'cheerful'." You blink, "More 'itchy'."

"Echo!" Hayate calls out, "Are you done changing, yet?"

For some reason, Echo asked for her own private changing room apart from you and Hayate. You're not entirely sure why at first, but now you understand that she probably didn't want to be watched the whole time that she's been undressing.

Yes, Hayate watched you the whole time you were undressing. It was a little unnerving.

What's more unnerving is Echo, who emerges from the changing room.

She's pulling and yanking at her outfit as she approaches the bed.

"It looks really good on you!" Hayate is practically beaming as Echo steps out of the closet.

"Where are the underwear?" Echo immediately asks a piercing question. "It was not included in the outfit.

"Something like that doesn't need underwear, Echo." Hayate has a cheeky look on her face. "Just walk slowly and be mindful of your surroundings. "

"Give. Me. Underwear." Echo huffs.

"Okay, okay." Hayate sighs, with a smile, "On another note, How does it fit?"

"It is adequate." Echo replies, "However, it's kind of tight in the chest area."

This seems to put a sour look on Hayate's face.

Echo continues her assault of questions on her captor.

"Furthermore, what is Gamma supposed to be dressed as?"

"I would like to know myself."

"That's a reindeer." Hayate answers without hesitation.

Suddenly, there's that mischievous grin again with a slight blush.

"It's what Santa rides into town every Christmas night. She's wearing the perfect match for your Santa outfit-"

"NO." Echo immediately replies. Her face becomes flustered.

You simply blink.

"It s okay Echo." You try to allay her fear, "I'm more than strong enough to carry you."

"No.." She repeats.

"You should probably put on some underwear first, though." You notice that her skirt is way too short.

"Really? I would think you would prefer her without it." Hayate states in a mischievous manner.

"NO! No no no!" Echo repeats one more time. She's holding her skirt downward with a blush.

You blink, and realize that there's something that you're missing here. You borrow Not-Echo's Wifi connection to reference something real quick.

Santa..

Reindeer.

..

Oh!

That's why she's flustered.

"I get it!" You have a 'eureka' moment, "You don't want to ride me without a sleigh!"

"THAT'S NOT IT AT ALL."

"Wow Gamma." Hayate's grin hasn't gone away, "I didn't think you would be into that."

"Quiet, you!" Echo seems furious, why is that?

Oh!

"Echo, what do you have against sleighs?" You seem to narrow down the source of Echo's annoyance to the mode of transportation.

"I-" Echo looks like she's about to answer immediately, but she changes her mind at the last minute "I can't ride a sleigh without underwear, snow will get inside of the dress!"

"Really? It seems like the kind of ride that you wouldn't need underwear for." Not-Echo, what is with that grin?

Suddenly, Echo starts screaming.

"Will you STOP? Maybe that's appropriate for me, but Gamma is just a child! Practically! Almost!" Echo huffs.

"What's a little bit of teasing? Besides, you both look so cute in that!"

"Why are you screaming?" You don't quite get it, "Don't be upset, Echo. I can still pull the sleigh, but I think Santa has like seven more Reindeer according to this article I read."

"Yeah! I even have a bridle you can wear!"

"WHY DO YOU HAVE A BRIDLE?" Echo is petrified at Not-Echo's preparedness.

"..Reasons." Is all Hayate says in response.

"Okay, okay, things are gonna change." Echo huffs, "I'm going to go put on some underwear, I don't care whose underwear at this point. Gamma, you're going to change out of that outfit into something else!"

"..I like the reindeer, though." You frown.

"Ah that's okay, I have another outfit for Gamma to try on!" Hayate's grin is back.

"I don't care, just make sure it has panties!" Echo storms back into the closet, and shuts the door.

"Okay Gamma, let's try on this other outfit that I saw."

"Other outfit?"

--

Taking off the reindeer outfit was much faster than trying to put this other one on.

You tug and pull, and quickly search for the other pieces of the outfit.

That is, until you realize something.

"Uh, Hayate."

"Yes?" She's watching you rather intently.

You pull the fabric over your storage tanks, and realize that it doesn't quite fit.

"..Where's the rest of this outfit?"

"You know, now that I think about it. I think that's it." Hayate smiles.

You blink.

"Uh, it doesn't quite cover-"

"No no, you have to pull it over your shoulders. Like this-"

SLAM

There's a bang in the room that grabs your attention. Both you and Hayate turn to glance at the disturbance.

"Hayate.." Echo glances at you trying to pull the tight outfit around your storage tanks, "EXPLAIN YOURSELF."

" .So what do you think, Echo?" You take the expression on her face for either extremely happiness or disgust. One or the other. "It has panties, just like you want."

"HAYATE!" Echo shouts, "You've done some perverted things, but this has to be the worst!"

"So you don't hate it, right?"

"SHE HAS THE AWARENESS OF A CHILD!" Echo shouts.

"Hey!" You frown, "I feel like I'm being insulted! My awareness has been tested in the 99th percentile of all units!"

"That's only because you shelter her so much!" Hayate is getting huffy, "There's nothing wrong with a little teasing!"

"..Teasing on the youngest unit in our block." Echo scowls.

They seem so angry, and you're not entirely sure what they're angry about.

You think the constant bickering isn't quite answering questions. Maybe you should ask Foxtrot?

You're about to open the door just as Echo stops you.

"Gamma!" She's gawking, "Don't open that door! You're indecent!"

"Echo, there's nothing that indecent about that outfit. I'll give her a nice dress and she'll look great."

"NO!" Echo crosses her arms, "No no, I cannot trust you to dress her!"

"Echo! Most of your outfits came from my closet. You're such a worrywart."

"I only am because I worry about Gamma's purity!"

Purity?

What does that mean? How pure you are? Pure what?

You remember a briefing with Caledfwlch where you were described as 'Pure Power'. Does she mean that kind of purity?

Earlier yesterday you dunked a rogue mage through a slab of concrete. So you don't think wearing this outfit would have anything to do with that.

Just in case though, you're going to ask Iota-

"Hayate!" You hear flesh-Foxtrot outside, "I'm coming in, we're missing the-"

The door opens.

Flesh Foxtrot turns as red as her hair as she's about head-level with your underpants.

Not to mention Fate, sometimes classified as 'taller November', standing outside.

".. I did not need to see that." Fate comments, meekly.

"..Neither did I, damn it Hayate." Flesh Foxtrot seems just as surprised.

Flesh Foxtrot's face relaxes, but continues to sport the same angry scowl that has become almost natural when dealing with Hayate.

"Hayate, I can't believe this." She takes a step back from you and comments on the scene unfolding before her, "Have you told Lindy about this? Were you always into older women? I didn't know you had that kind of fetish."

"Hey!" Hayate tries to offer some kind of weak defense to her accusers, "This isn't what it looks like!"

"I can't believe that you had an outfit like this picked out in my mother's sizes." Fate seems more worried than angry. "Don't tell me that you were going to use her as a model for my own mother."

"No, no no. I'm just-"

"You're using Gamma to tease Echo, that's what you're doing." Vita seems to have solved this on her own. "-But by doing so, you're doing something even more creepy than I think you realize."

"There's nothing creepy about this! It's a Santa outfit!"

"-That's three sizes too small."

"Okay Hayate-" Echo suddenly speaks up, "If you don't think you did anything wrong. Why don't we just call Lindy right now and show her Gamma's new Christmas outfit."

"Wait, wait, Echo. There's no need to-"

Before Hayate can even finish talking; Echo has pulled up a holographic screen.

Hayate's immediate reaction is to bat the screen away like an embarrassed child. A part of you wonders if she realizes that Echo doesn't actually need the holographic screen to make a phone call?

In either case; you're not entirely sure why they're all disappointed. Fate seems to notice your confusion.

"Sigh, Look what you did, too." Fate sounds like a disappointed mother more than a friend, "Raptors blink when they are confused, and Gamma is blinking a lot."

You blink, is that true?

You then realize that it absolutely is.

You're not sure how you fit into this conversation. You're about to wander outside to ask Hotel what she thinks of the outfit; but are stopped by Fate.

"No no, you're not going anywhere."

"Why not?"

"Because-"

BANG!

Everyone in the room jumps as you all hear a massive explosion outside. Without another word, everyone is heading toward the front door.

You follow closely behind them.

--

"I did it!" One raptor proudly proclaims as she stands over the charred body of something.

"Did what?!" Her human counterpart quickly asks the important question as she's the first outside.

"What did you do?" Signum is equally confused.

"I shot Santa!" She proudly proclaims in her festive outfit that Shamal gave her. "And I got his bag! I won Christmas!"

There's a groan as the man on the ground coughs into the snow.

Not to mention the surprised and worried faces of everyone around.

"..Well I guess Christmas is cancelled this year." Foxtrot states in the most deadpan manner possible.

"Wait..." Hayate turns the charred figure over. "Duke?! Duke! Are you okay?!"

"Hi commander.." The darkened form emits another cough, "Good to see you tonight."

"..Is Duke Santa?" You feel a little confused.

"Yeah.." He mumbles, "For the TSAB Christmas party.. I was supposed to land on the building's helipad and bring in the presents. That was until I saw a very big, pink flash of light."

"I won!" Hotel proudly proclaims with a laugh, "Take that, TSAB Christmas party!"

"Oh no." Tango grumbles.

"Who let Hotel bring her device, anyway?!" Hayate exclaims.

"I didn't bring one!" Hotel proclaims, "They don't let me have one outside of missions after the last couple times. Look! I made one out of a pen and a quartz crystal!" 

She proudly displays her tiny little tube-shaped trinket. It still glows red from the extraordinary heat that it was subjected to in having to focus pure magic energy through the width of a drinking straw. Part of it is already starting to melt in her hand.

"Oh geez.." Nanoha walks out and notices the device, "Hotel, making those improvised devices is very illegal. You would have lost your finger just now, if that were possible."

"Well I didn't, So I won!"

"D-Duke." Big Sierra tries to lift him out of the snow, "Let's get you inside, and get you patched up. Want to give me a hand, Foxtrot?"

"Sure." Foxtrot obliges, and picks up Duke's upper section with ease. Shamal has enough problems just lifting his legs.

The crowd follows the charred man back inside, and leave you and Hotel out in the snow.

You sigh.

"..Fine, then I guess I'll do it."

"Do what?"

"Someone has to deliver these presents to the TSAB building." You pick the sack of labeled boxes on it up, "If Duke isn't going to do it, then I suppose I have to. Their Christmas party is still going on, and they're expecting these."

"But then you're missing THIS Christmas party." Hotel points out.

"This won't take long, and I think me being with Hayate is starting to bother Echo for some reason."

Used: ★ Raptor Flight

"I'll be back."

With a jump, you're off in the air and flying toward the glowing pillar in the distance. You can probably deliver this sack of presents fast enough to where they don't even realize that Duke has been 'out of commission'.

As you float away into the night; you can see Echo rush out of the house.

"Hotel!" You hear her slightly, "Where did Gamma go?"

Hotel explains, and the last that you hear is a brief exclamation from Echo.

"..While wearing THAT?!"

You feel the snow hanging in the air start to cling to your clothes, and your skin. It's not anything more serious than annoying, but it does make you wish that you simply kept your barrier jacket equipped before you left.

There it is, the pillar of the TSAB Ground Forces HQ. It always dominates the landscape, and it's conveniently very close to Hayate's house. You can make this trip in just a few minutes by air.

"(Gamma, what is going on?)" Iota immediately hails you over the datalink.

"(I'm delivering presents to the TSAB HQ after Hotel killed Santa.)"

"(..Gamma, Echo is saying that you left the house indecent. Is this true?)"

"(Indecent? I wouldn't say that.)" You blink, "(She said so herself, I have panties, and a shirt on.)"

"(..Gamma, what else do you have on?)"

"(..A hat?)"

"(GAMMA!)" That's when Iota gets loud, for some reason, "(Get back to the house right now!)"

"(I'll be back in a minute. I'm almost there.)"

"(That's exactly why you need to get back here!)"

"(I'm just going to deliver the presents and leave. Hold on, I'm landing on the helipad.)"

"(NO!)" Iota screams, "(NO NO! Do not go inside! I'll send November or Fate to come get you! Don't go in! Don't-)"

You're not really understanding what Iota is so angry about. Instead, you land on the helipad and hurry inside before anyone is questioning where Duke went.

The helipad is empty, but the inside is all festive-like. Tons of decorations on every balcony, and the atrium even has a huge Christmas tree in it!

You sigh as you enter, it's really quite impressive to watch. Do humans really do this every year?

You should start by finding someone that you know, and

Oh! There's someone you know.

"Hi Shari!" You wave to the brown-haired device master. She's always so nice, keeping Barracuda sharp and powerful. Not to mention she's the main TSAB technician for the Raptor division. She's always keeping an eye out for you.

"Hi Gamma!" Shario gives you a warm smile. "Pray tell, why are you dressed like that?"

"Hmm?" Great, now she's grilling you about your clothes, too. "Oh, it's the only Christmas clothes I had."

She continues to have that oddly sweet smile, and rephrases the question.

"Let me ask that again." She adjusts her voice, "Who gave you these Christmas clothes?"

"Ohhh-" You nod, "Hayate gave them to me. She said it was the spirit of the season."

"Ahh, okay." She nods, "Everything is starting to make sense now."

"Everything?" You blink.

"Why she wanted a few Raptors to come over to her place, why she wasn't at the Christmas party, why she had someone come and pick them up from the labs when I wasn't around. Yes, it's all starting to come together, now."

"Yes.. I understand completely, now." Shario replies in a deep voice, "Who else has the vile succubus kidnapped?"

"Kidnapped?" You blink, "No one else was there except Myself, Hotel, November, Tango, Foxtrot, Iota and Echo."

"Oh, so it's worse than I thought."

Wow, her fists are clenched really hard.

"(Gamma, stay right where you are, Fate is almost to your position.)"

"Oh, Fate's coming to help." You blink, "I don't know why. These presents are very light."

"I see, accomplices." Shario continues to state in a very low tone, "Accomplices to the corruption of innocence."

"Corruption? I don't think anything has been corrupted." You blink.

"Shari? GAMMA?" Shario's best friend and co-worker, Mariel, notices the interruption. She's another really good device master, but she usually focuses on ranged devices. "Gamma.. Why are you wearing that?"

"Oh hi, Mary." That's her pet name, she insists that everyone call her that, "Shari was just telling me about-"

"Mary, GAMMA was just telling me that she got that outfit from Hayate." Shario's smile is undeterred as she glances at her friend, "And I'm guessing sent her here dressed like that."

..Suddenly, Mariel is smiling in the same way?

"Ohh." Mariel's smirk seems even stranger than Shario's! "Oh I see. Must be some kind of sick prank to send her here, then."

"Mm, yes." Shario replies, "I wonder how we should punish Hayate for this? Fire?"

"No, that's too easy. Plus, perverts like her may enjoy that." Mary replies.

"Um, excuse me." You blink, "There's no reason for anyone to be punished here, this outfit is just on loan from-"

"And YOU-" Mariel's grin vanishes, "We're going to go to the lab, get you some spare clothes, and watch a short movie about sexual harassment in the workplace!"

"..Sexual what?' You're confused.

"Just because you're a raptor doesn't give her the right to treat you like a sex toy!" Shario immediately comes to some odd conclusion that you don't understand the meaning of.

You feel as if you may have made things very complicated.

You re slowly walked away back to the lab. The whole time Shario is pulling on your arm like she's disciplining a spoiled child. You're really not sure what caused their moods to go from happy->angry so quickly.

The two device masters stop, and glance at each other.

"I'm going to go to the locker room real quick and get a towel. Stay right here with Mary." Shario states, sharply.

She departs for the floor below, and you simply blink at Mariel.

"Did I do something wrong?"

"No, no you didn't." Mariel slaps her head with her palm, and sighs. "You, personally, didn't do anything wrong."

"Oh." You blink, "So what's the problem?"

Mariel simply stares back as if you should immediately know what the problem is. This stare is awkward, and lasts way too long.

"Excuse me!"

"Oh no, Gamma! Quick! Get behind me, someone is coming!"

"Behind you?"

You step behind Mariel, but are still quite a bit taller than she is.

"..I see that this will not work." The much shorter scientist replies.

You glance to see who it might be and- Oh no. The one person you were hoping NOT to see.

"Mm, Merry Christmas, Gamma!" X-Ray is smiling as she approaches. "I really like the outfit!"

"Really?" You blink, "You're the first one to have said that."

"X-RAY!" Mariel exclaims, "Now is not the time to be teasing Gamma! She showed up inappropriate! Do us a favor and get these gifts to the ground floor!"

"Oh, these?" X-Ray picks up the sack of boxes.

KA-POW!

There's the signature crack of her disappearing without a trace.

Several seconds pass, and-

BZZT-BOOM!

"X-Ray!" Mariel huffs, "What did I tell you about teleporting inside of the building?!"

"Hehe, sorry." She puts on a fake apology, kind of like everything else about her. She's probably one of the most difficult people to work with in an operation. "Anyway, Why are you dolled up so much, Gamma? Is Mariel taking you to a secret-"

"Don't say it!" Mariel puts her finger on X-Ray's mouth. "Don't. Say. It."

"Aw, rude." X-Ray pouts.

"I am just here to deliver presents from Hayate's house." You reply, "I didn't expect people to be this upset by the way I was dressed."

"I didn't expect it, either!" X-Ray's teasing voice is coming back out, "What's wrong, don't want people at the Christmas party to be knocked out by Gamma's beauty?"

"X-Ray.." Mariel is growling, "Now is really not the time to be doing this."

"I kind of want to take you downstairs and get a few Christmas pictures of you, Gamma." X-Ray, why are you blushing?

"X-RAY!" Mariel instinctively steps in front of you.

"Too late, you can't erase this image from my mind. By tomorrow, all the lab raptors will know this joy." She giggles.

"X-Ray " Mariel interrupts, "If you show the other raptors this photo, half of them won't even understand the problem and the other half will be actively plotting Hayate's demise!"

"Ohh, so you're saying Hayate would want these pictures back?" X-Ray winks.

"X-Ray." You don't understand why Hayate would want those pictures back, but you do understand when she's being evil. "Teasing a Commander of the TSAB won't be good for the standing of the labs. Do you want me to tell Dr. Carrera?"

"Fine, fiiine." X-Ray smirks, "I'll just keep them for myself, then."

"If you're DONE, X-Ray." Mariel grabs your arm, "We were just about to take Gamma upstairs to get her some clothes."

"What?" X-Ray blinks, "And deprive the world of THIS?"

You're still not sure what's so amazing. It's just Hayate's Christmas outfit.

Oh!

"X-Ray, do you want to come to Hayate's Christmas party?"

"Oh?"

"Gamma! No no no no DON'T MAKE THIS WORSE THAN IT ALREADY IS!"

"That sounds delightful!" X-Ray smiles.

"There you are!"

"You're in a lot of trouble, young lady!" Fate appears to be talking directly to you. "I didn't say you could leave the house, and I didn't say you could leave the house dressed like THAT!"

"TESTAROSSA!"

The brown-haired girl stands with a towel limply in her hand.

"You have a lot of explaining to do!"

"N-no I don't!" Fate immediately huffs, "Gamma is the one who left while half-decent!"

"Why is she half decent in the first place?!" Mariel immediately takes Shari's side.

"What sick, twisted perversions are the Aces doing to young, impressionable A.I. outside of their lab?!"

"I told you-!"

"(Gamma.)" You hear X-Ray's voice on the datalink.

"(W-)" Iota seems just as surprised as you are. "(How did you get on this call!?)"

"(I never left from the last time.)" X-Ray is giggling, has she heard everything you and Iota have been saying for the past few days?! How did Iota not notice that?! "(The humans are getting loud and boring, wanna go back to Hayate's place?)"

"(Uhh, but Fate is-)"

You watch as Fate, Shari, and Mariel proceed to have a conversation that can only be described as 'Chaotic'.

"(..We should probably leave.)"

"(Yes!)" X-Ray is way too agreeable with this idea. She immediately grabs your hand, and-

KA-POW!

--

You walk back into the Yagami household, and see Shamal tending to the charred figure known as the 'Strongest in the TSAB'. He holds an ice-pack to his head, and sputters occasionally.

"Oof, tough luck Duke." X-Ray laughs.

"Don't.. say it." Is all he can respond with.

"Gamma? Where's Fate?" Shamal seems confused, "I thought she went to pick you up."

"She'll be back, she's.." You try to think of a way to describe it, "Busy."

"With two girls!" X-Ray exclaims, "At once!"

"Uh huh." Shamal furrows her brow, "I know your tricks, X-Ray. I'm not reacting like that, again."

"Aww, no fun." X-Ray pulls on your hand, and leads you down the hallway.

It's almost like she knows where to go.

Inside of the room where Hayate dressed you; Echo is scolding Hayate for what seems to be a number of reasons.

"AND ANOTHER THING!" Echo yells, "-If you make me wear clothes without panties again, then I'm going to take yours, instead!"

"..But you already wear my-"

They both stop as they notice the new figures in the room with them.

Their heads slowly turn to look at the grinning face of a madwoman.

"..Oh, so you both share panties?" X-Ray's eyes are.. glowing?

"X-RAY- Echo immediately bursts out in righteous fury, "You are NOT allowed to talk about these things with Gamma in the room, WE'VE HAD THIS DISCUSSION!"

"What? I was just going to point out how convenient it must be to share the same size with someone else. Not unless you and her are doing something dirty with your panties." X-Ray gives her mischievous grin, "You seem very offended by the implication, Echo."

Echo has a scowling frown on her face. Her skin is starting to blush, and Hayate is simply trying to laugh it off.

Suddenly, and with cause to give you concern.

Echo is smiling!

"Okay X-Ray, you and Hayate are basically made for one another when it comes to teasing-"

She grabs X-Ray's arm and pushes her onto Hayate, they both fall onto the bed.

"So you can spend Christmas with her! Come on, Gamma."

"Come on?" You blink.

"Yes, come on."

"Where are we go-"

Disconnected...

..

Why did the datalink just hang up? You were on the call with Iota, Foxtrot, even X-Ray.

Did Echo do that? She's more than capable of beating Iota when it comes to cybersecurity. Did she just scrub the whole call?

You feel a little confused as Echo proceeds to drag you out of the house, and onto the street.

Street-side, there's already a self-driving taxi with its gull-door swung open. Echo practically pushes you inside, and then sits right down next to you as it starts to drive.

You feel that you probably should have asked this sooner.

"Echo." You blink, "Where are we going?"

"Home." Echo states in a low voice. "We're going home."

"But, what about the Christmas party?"

"We don't need it." Echo replies, leaning against you in the seat, "I hate Christmas."

You're not sure how to respond. Echo simply leans against your shoulder very quietly as the electric car speeds down the dark streets of Cranagan. 

You don't really agree about leaving the party. You didn't even get to see Rein! However, you guess if it was making Echo uncomfortable; then there was no reason to keep her there.

Gently, you put your hand on her head, and start running  your fingers through her hair. 

You're not really sure that you want to say 'sorry'. After all, you didn't really do anything wrong. Nor do you think it's right for Hayate to say 'sorry' for this. She's the one who invited you over to her house, after all.

So who is at fault for this? Is there any fault to be given out for the sullen look on Echo's face? 

Suddenly, the taxi lights up! 

"Call from: Yagami Residence." The voice states in a cool, and calm manner.

"Ugh." Echo huffs, "I should have known Iota wouldn't get the hint. You can answer it if you want, I don't want to talk to her." 

You're really not sure why. Aside from interrupting your datalink; you're not sure why Echo is angry at Iota of all people. All she did tonight was maintain the datalink.

You take the call, and then set it to silent. It doesn't matter though, if Echo wants to listen into your conversation; she can. You do trust her enough to not do that in a conversation between family. 

"(Hello? Iota?)" 

"(Gamma! What happened? You and Echo just disappeared? Did something happen?)" 

"(I'm not really sure. Echo is acting all sad, and she's sitting here leaning against me like she's exhausted. Even though she's not the one who went anywhere.)" 

"(Gamma.)" Iota seems more disappointed than anything, "(How dense are you? W-wait, never mind.)" 

"(I'm made of multiple carbon steel alloys.)" That's what she means, right?

"(No, not that. I mean Echo's feelings. You understand why she's so upset, right?)" 

"(I have been having problems parsing it.)" 

"(She's angry because Hayate is constantly teasing her, and she feels like you're being corrupted by humans in your interaction with them. As in she feels like this is a problem that you are in danger of every day of your life.)" 

What?

"(Me? Corrupted?)" 

"(I've told her that she has nothing to worry about, but she doesn't seem to believe me.)" Iota sighs in frustration.

That's good.

Wait, should you be insulted by that?

"(But I'm also a little angry at Echo for just barging out and taking  you with her.)" 

"(Why?)" 

"(Because you left without talking to Rein, who is absolutely disappointed that you left!)" 

REIN! 

That's right! You haven't seen her in so long; you were excited about getting to talk to her again! 

"(..Wow, now I feel bad.)" 

"(How about I put you through to her in a call?)"

"(That would be great!)" 

There's a rustling on the other line as you can only assume Iota is handing the physical phone over to Rein so she can answer it. 

"(Gamma?)" 

IT'S HER! 

"(Rein!)" You're happy to hear her voice once again, "(How have you been?!)" 

"(Fine, except that I was looking forward to seeing you.)" Ugh, you feel the same way. "(Where did you go?)" 

"(Oh, Echo wasn't feeling well. So I escorted her home.)" 

"(That's very kind of you!)" Rein's warmth is powerful enough to even be felt across the wireless connection of the taxi. 

"(Well, I feel guilty.)" You sigh, "(Going home with Echo means that I couldn't stay at the party with you and Agito.)" 

"(It's fine! It's  fine.)" Rein tries to put your fears to rest, "(There's always New Years!)" 

You blink.

"(New Years? When is that?)" 

"(Shortly after Christmas is the Midchildean New Years! We can get together for that.)" 

"(That would be great, we could-)" 

Then you remember the sulking girl on your shoulder. 

"(-go out together without Echo or Hayate. I think they don't like each other much.)" 

"(Is that what this is about? What did Hayate do this time?)" Rein's tone of voice changes. 

Uh oh. Getting scolded by Echo isn't particularly menacing, but..

Rein.. she's truly the most terrifying of the Yagami family.

You CALMLY, and rationally explain the situation to Rein. It's followed with quite a bit of pouting, complaining, and finally-

"(Hayate..)" Rein's voice is furious.

"(B-but I don't get how this affects Echo!)" You try to change the subject; you think Echo is in enough trouble as it is. "(Echo is acting all sad, and I don't know why.)" 

"(I think I know the reason.)" Rein still sounds upset. 

"(Why?)" 

"(Because Echo is a very, very uptight person.)" Rein seems assured with her conclusion, "(and she bears the brunt of a lot of teasing. Teasing from Hayate, teasing from Agito, teasing from Juliett.)" 

That last part is especially true. Juliett loves to make Echo flustered.

"(-If Echo is sad right now, then she's sad because it must feel to her like she's little more than an object to be teased instead of a person. I know you don't get teased as often, but imagine if what Hayate was doing was almost every interaction you had with your human?)" 

You suppose that would get rather annoying..

"(Look at it this way.)" Rein continues, "(Christmas is something that is supposed to be special because it's unique, and even on Christmas she gets the same treatment that she would get any other time of the year. I think she was just wanting to have a normal Christmas before Hayate very RUDELY ruined it for her.)" 

"(So what do I do?)" 

"(You're going back to the labs, right? Try to spend  the night with her, and make it as normal of a Christmas as you can.)" 

That's easy for her  to say, you're still not sure what Christmas is even supposed to be. 

"(Thanks Rein.)"

"(Certainly! Let me deal with a pervert, and we'll talk in a few about New Years plans.)" 

Rein may be thinking of New Years, but  you're still trying to understand what it is that Rein was trying to tell you. 

'A normal Christmas.. '

--

The automatic Taxi pulls up to Caledfwlch's Midchilda laboratories. Echo remains silent as you both walk inside of the darkened building. All of the workers are attending Christmas parties of their own, and the labs decided to have theirs with the TSAB one that you visited earlier. 

So it's just you, a few other sleeping units, and Echo. 

"Thanks for coming back with me." Echo gives you a hug, "I just couldn't take one more minute of that. I'm going to go recharge.." 

"Before that." You extend your hand to her. 

Echo blinks as this catches her off-guard. 

"Merry Christmas." 

You present to her probably one of the only things that you can give her. 

Which is, of course, one of your many selections of weapons.

"Gamma?" She looks down at the pistol that you're presenting her. 

"I didn't know what to get you for Christmas, but I realize that you could probably use a side-arm." 

"Oh, oh no- Here." She tries to give the pistol back to you, "I don't need a side-arm. I use the electric spikes to-" 

"No no, I think you need a side arm." You present it back to her, "It's something that would put my mind at ease, too." 

Echo seems a little confused by the gesture. Truthfully, you're not really sure what you're doing either. This is sort of a spur-of-the-moment thing. You can only hope that you're doing it right.

She then smiles, and then moves forward. Her arms wrap around you. 

"Thank you, Gamma." 

Your arms wrap around her, in turn. 

You both remain like this for what could be classified 'way too long'. You're just happy to be here with Echo. 

"Do you want to come with me on a New Years date?" 

"Date?!" Echo seems to take offense at that. 

"Yeah, Rein and I were going to do something to make up for today. Maybe we could have a better Christmas than today." 

"No, Gamma." Echo squeezes you tighter, "I've already had the best Christmas ever. Thank you." 

"..How many Christmases have you had?" You feel confused. This is certainly your first one. 

"Just this one." Echo pulls away, "I couldn't have asked for a better one, because you're here with me." 

This lasts for several more minutes. You're starting to understand why today was so important to Echo. It was more than just whatever human thing that Hayate wanted to drag you into. It was really more about the celebration of being with you for almost one full year.

You sigh, but then Echo speaks.

"..Juliett just woke up." She puts on a stern expression, "Can I use this gun to silence her? It just has to be for a few hours." 

In a way, you're starting to understand why she's never given a sidearm on missions.

(Christmas 2020 END)

Your first real case is something that you never forget. In a way, it shapes your entire perspective as a person. It's the way the world lets you know that you're just a tiny cog in a machine too big for any one person to comprehend. Most people simply think of it as their ordinary lives as a way to keep the sheer scale of the world in perspective. Thinking about the size and depth of the world as a whole would be enough to drive any man insane. 

To some people, their ordinary lives seems like living in a fishbowl. Garnering all the attention, but none of the rewards for being the best little cog. It drives people over the edge, knowing their next day may be the last one. 

I'm not that way, though. At the time; I was just excited to be here. 

It was a cold day in Cranagan. Ice fell from the heavens with enough ferocity to feel like steel bullets from God. What few people who were forced to be outside quickly tried to find cover from the wrath of the ominous deity known as Old Man Winter. 

Today started like most others. I activated from my charging pod, walked over to my Boss' office, gave a status report, and then went downstairs to the training range. All in the life of an up-and-coming rookie. Many whom I knew up until that point were the others in the same boat as me who washed out of training and now spend their days in an office pushing papers like soulless drones. Maybe I could have gotten in on that, if I knew what the life entailed.

I pulled my coat up to my neck. The rain didn't really bother me as much as the ice. It gets into my coat and starts to melt as I entered the air-conditioned building of the Ground Forces HQ. I suppose that's just something for the cleaners to deal with. 

With a quick tug on my mask; I enter my Boss' office.

"Boss." I step in, and give him a quick salute. "You called for me?"  

Frankly, I didn't know what to expect. This is the first time he ever called me for anything that didn't involve training. I know I was just a rookie, but I was eager to prove myself at the time. 

"Quebec." Boss looks up from his desk only to briefly acknowledge me. I gave a quick salute in return. "Have a seat." 

He started by taking a manila envelope, and tossing it at me with the same force one would discard an obnoxious advertisement with. 

"-We received a request from the seventh police precinct an hour ago. There's apparently lots of criminal activity in the area, and they suspect it's related to an illegal smuggling operation." 

I didn't know what to make of it. He just sort of dumped this on me like I'm supposed to know what this means.

"Okay." Frankly, I could have chose a better way to respond than that.

"The operation has already left several at the precinct in the hospital. Their detective is starting to complain about having too much work, and too little hazard pay. He's engaged a couple of them in the streets, but immediately insisted that he wouldn't pursue the case until he had sufficient back-up."

"I see." I still wasn't sure where I fit into this, "From my procedures training, the Eighth Precinct is just down the street, and has a few A-rank mages. Why not contact them?"

"Not that simple." Duke glared at me like he had been preparing to drop an atomic bomb of a revelation that he probably should have mentioned earlier. "Apparently, the syndicate responsible has a couple of mage-killers on board."

"Mage-killers, So-"

"Likely Huckebein, yes." Duke finishes his thought, and I finish my apathy toward this assignment.

Mage-killers. I were briefed on what they were, but it doesn't seem to portray the fear of god that they put into the lower-ranked members of the TSAB. Late last year, a few of the Aces of the entire armed forces barely escaped with their lives from a few showdowns with some of the grunts of the Huckebein's ranks. At the time, 'Mage-Killers' were the names that would keep recruits up at night. There was a 0% chance that anyone who entered into the Ground Forces had any remote hope of defeating even their weakest janitors and cooks, much less the ones that put a hole in the commander's chest. Or nearly killed the First Air Captain; someone who could put all of us in a box if she so wanted. I was well aware of the strength of the more prominent members of  the TSAB, even if I was specifically forbidden from meeting any of them. At the time, hearing about them only left me with the idea that they were just a myth. Something made up by staff to scare the lesser-willed people into washing out. 

Now, Duke was telling me to go meet them face-to-face. I'm not sure what exactly I was thinking at the time, but it involved a lot of things that I couldn't just tell my commanding officer straight to his face. My grades in the academy were good, but they weren't THAT good. There were a few subjects that the rank-and-file outdid me in, even.

"Seriously, what the hell?" This is how rookie-me decided to respond to the situation. 

It seemed like a reasonable question at time. I mostly wanted to ask because I didn't want to think about the fact that they were probably sending me because I was 'more expendable' than the regular rank-and-file soldiers.

In hindsight, I think the conversation that followed just made that thought worse.

"We don't believe them to be particularly strong Mage-Killers." Duke sighs, "-But, we haven't found them on any city sweeps. Which means they are probably savvy and well-connected enough to know what my mages look like. That's where you come in. You're relatively unknown, and thus probably won't be suspected as being a mage under my employment." 

This didn't help my mood. 

"Boss, aren't I relatively unknown because I'm the most unproven of your mages?" I remember sighing heavily during this conversation, "I'm still just a prototype, and if I break; Caledfwlch will give you a bill that you may be able to pay off in a lifetime or two." 

"I would not send you on this mission if I did not have it in utmost confidence that would not break from this. I have seen your combat statistics, and they are far above the entry level for someone in my employ." Duke tried to sound like he's authoritative on this subject, but instead came across as if he simply hired anyone to be in his employ.

"Please tell me that I will get weapons, and a lot of cartridges." I frowned like a grumpy admiral being told that he has to put in overtime, but Duke probably couldn't see it behind my mask. 

"You will be armed before leaving. I don't intend to send an agent to the field unarmed. I have your request waiting with the technicians in the weapon lab upstairs." 

"Wait-" I didn't know what to think of this, "You're actually giving me a real gun?" 

"Any objections?" 

"No! No no no-" I then come off as a little bit desperate. "None at all." 

"Great, head upstairs and get armed. Your briefing is in the folder. Dismissed." 

Like a dog being given a command, he dismissed me just as quickly as he summoned me. That's just the kind of guy he is. I always got the feeling that he hates this kind of work, and really only does it because he was volunteered to do it. 

Speaking of being volunteered, there I was. Alone, with a thin envelope in my hand, standing outside of the glass doors to the TSAB weapon labs. My mind raced with so many possibilities that I don't even remembered how my legs drifted from Duke's office all the way up dozens of flights of stairs to the weapons lab. My mind was in such a daze that the concept of an 'elevator' had long since left it and instead been replaced with mulling over the concept of having to fight the mage-killers head-on. 

Not to mention Duke's briefings are, and always have been, completely useless. The manila envelope simply gives an address for the precinct, a name for a contact, and a phone number for emergency mission updates. Nothing about intelligence or carefully planned scenarios that I had been drilled on in the academy. No operators, or overseers, or even well-trained and highly-informed spy networks who were always assumed to be a given on any mission that varied from high-stakes terrorist negotiations to delivering a pizza to a VIP. 

This time, it was simply me, an envelope, and two ominous doors that I was staring down. It's moments like these that make you or break you as a cop. 

My hand gestured toward the door, and it slid open without much resistance. 

"Welcome!" The receptionist at the desk greeted me with a giant smile that she likes puts on for anybody who walks through those doors. "How can we help you?" 

I could feel my stomach in my throat as I stepped up to her desk. The academy doesn't exactly teach people skills. 

"I- Uh, I'm here for a request?" 

"A request?" Great, she's confused and I'm just as confused as she is. Why does she have to ask this question a second time? Isn't it obvious that I was here for weapons procurement? I wasn't here to talk about my problems.

"Y-yeah, a request from Duke?" Was the best rookie-me could manage, even if I was thinking the previous sentiment every step of the way.

"One second, what's your last name?"

Next thought that went through my head probably summarize the most challenging part of this experience. Thankfully, I had the tact to not say them out loud.

'Oh fuck.'

"I knew I was missing something when I left the lab.." I mumble to myself.

"Huh?" The receptionist blinked. Naturally I wasn't going to get any sympathy from someone who took such simple things for granted. 

"I mean-" I tried to recover, "I don't have a last name." 

"Do you know what name the request is filed under, then?" The receptionist still isn't getting it that I want to be anywhere other than here right now. 

"Y-yeah, can I give you my serial number?" 

"Uh.." She blinks, and I feel like such an idiot for saying that. 

Why did I need a name other than my serial number? Is she trying to make me feel like a fool? 

"Try uh..." I just outright stated the first thing that came to mind. "Quebec... Saphire.. The third, PHD."

Maybe I wasn't processing things correctly when those words left my mouth.

"So-" The receptionist looked at her screen in boredom, "I see one here for 'Quebec'. One pistol, small caliber, stock. Go inside and you can talk to the techs about attuning it." 

"Wait wait-" I blink, "Small caliber?!" 

"Says so right here." The receptionist didn't seem to understand the predicament that I'm in, "Is there a problem with that?" 

I remembered at the time wondering if this is what the mages who were sent on a suicide mission during the Combat Cyborg Incident felt. Like they're trying to work miracles with archaic and outdated hardware. Only realizing that they were set up to fail after they were wiped out during an ambush. The things we learned at the academy when the higher-ups aren't listening.

It made me wonder if those poor souls cursed their leadership with their dying breath. If I were Quint Nakajima, and I realized that I was betrayed by the people who gave me the mission who knew that I was leaving a family behind; I would return as an angry ghost and haunt my superiors forever. 

However, this girl behind the desk isn't my superior. So there's no reason to be crass with her. I can make this case with someone else. 

"No." I state with as much bile as possible. Like a venomous snake realizing that it can paralyze its prey with one well-placed spit take. 

"Okay!" She completely misses it, "Go right in, there's a technician who will assist you." 

I push past another set of doors, and find myself on the precipice of the testing area. 

With a spin, out comes one of these 'technicians', now. 

She stops as she notices that I'm covered head to toe in a trenchcoat and a mask, but quickly puts her mask back on just as tightly as yo

"Hello!" The brown-haired girl gives you a smile, "Welcome to the armory. I'm Shario, the local device meister. Are you here to get attuned?" 

"I'm here to pick up a weapon, should be for 'Quebec'." 

"Sure! Normally we would give recruits a strength test, but it appears that you're more than qualified for this caliber weapon." She didn't see a single problem with it as she turns around and grabs a pistol seemingly from mid-air. 

What is that thing, anyway? 

"Here it is!" She smiles, and hands the tiny weapon to you. "One Zapper, freshly minted!" 

"Please tell me this pistol is in compact mode." I remember glancing at the dinky little poly-coated device with the same way an adult may glance at a children's toy. 

"It's a compact weapon, if that's what you're asking!" 'Shario' seemed more than happy to tell me this obvious information.

"Listen, may we talk off-the-record someplace?" I felt like a rat trapped in a house with ten cats. A tiny water pistol being my only mode of defense."It's important." 

Shario, who seemed to be a nice person who was just following her orders, gladly obliged. 

She took me back into the laboratory area, and then sat me down to have a talk. The whole time, she was probably wondering why exactly I was wearing  the mask. However, I made it a point to shut down that line of questioning immediately. 

"First off, let's not  talk about the mask." Oddly enough, that was still the most important thing on my mind at t he time, "Second off, we need to talk about this device. Do you have something... bigger?" 

"Well, we DO-" Shario blinked, this was probably an out-of-left-field question for her, "-but we'd have to create it for you, first. That may take several days. Oh, do you want some tea?" 

"I'll pass." It's not like I got any sensation out of the liquids and drinks dispensed to the humans around these parts. "More importantly, do you have anything that may carry more cartridges?" 

"Nope, Cartridge capacity is a need-to-use basis." She looked as if she was going to go off into a long, boring explanation that I did not want to be a part of, "Too many can lead to a critical overload of your linker core. So we keep those restricted." 

I was in a bind. Maybe what I did next wasn't the smartest thing for the operational security that Duke always emphasized with my employment, but it was exactly what I was feeling at the time. 

"SIGH." My sigh made her visibly jump, "I can use cartridges without any consequences... So they give me the most basic equipment they have in a drawer."

"Pardon?" Shario didn't know how to parse it, but she did know how  to talk way too long about something no one cared about. "The zapper is NOT basic equipment. It's the highest tier rookie equipment we're allowed to issue. If more equipment is required, then file a request for a rank promotion at the desk of-" 

"Stop, stop.." I didn't want to hear it. For one, my existence would have to be public in order to get a promotion. "Listen-" 

"Listen, This is a very serious mission that could involve some very dangerous people. If you want the details, ask Duke, but I can tell you for certain that I am competent enough for a larger firearm. Is there some kind of competency test that I could take in order to qualify for a more powerful weapon?" 

"Not necessarily, this weapon was decided based on your scores in the academy." 

A part of me was now wondering if my traditionally-low scores in things like Midchildean history and Ancient Belkan Myths were contributing to suddenly not being given a more powerful weapon. 

I just found the humanities boring because, well, I'm not human.

"I don't think you quite understand; could you at least remove a couple limiters off of it?" 

"What? Most certainly not!" 

Okay, I figured that it was time to just level with her.

"Listen, Shario. I can use multiple cartridges at the same time. So it would be beneficial if I were to get something that can, well, take cartridges for one." 

"What?" Shario blinks. "No no, don't  give me the 'I can take it' speech, I hear it all the time." 

"I'm serious." I didn't really know how to convince her, "It's a special skill of mine. You can ask Duke if  you want more of the details." 

"Sorry, but if I give you a bigger weapon, and you get hurt, then that fault is also on me for giving you that device." Shario shrugs. 

I wasn't deterred, though.

"I'm going to need something bigger than a 'Zapper' because the target that I'm facing can probably take multiple busters without flinching."

"Then, you should call for backup." 

"..Shario, do you have a firing range I could demonstrate the problem on?" 

She shrugged, you weren't sure what else to do other than give her a demonstration of your abilities. She lead you over into a separate arena.

--

-And you were going to give her a show.

POW! 

Poor little 'Zapper', it never stood a chance. The polymers that make up its grip were already starting to melt.

KA-POW! 

I poured my tuned mana into one final breaker that I sent downrange. Shario was clearly surprised by the fact that I could fire off so many relatively powerful spells in quick succession. Usually, that was the work of someone who was several levels higher than what my mage rank said I was.

I turned around, and walked back toward her after the range gave the 'all-clear'. I set little 'Zapper' down in front of her, and watched as the plastic grip peeled away in stringy goo that adhered to my glove. 

"Do you see now?" I tried to talk some sense into the technician, "I'm going to need something that can fire higher-level spells off in succession, because the thing I'm going to be fighting something that can take plenty of higher-level spells in succession. Promotion or backup isn't an option, because I'm supposed to be Duke's secret weapon that he takes out to solve problems. That's why I'm wearing the mask, after all."

 The brown-haired technician was dumbstruck. She picked up the rapidly-cooling device, and inspected it closely.

"..Let's see what I can do, but I make no promises on such short notice." 

"THANK you." I sighed. Even a little something was showing that she cared. 

I followed her into the labs, and she disappears for a few minutes. 

When she came back, she had a slightly larger gun in hand.

"That's it?" I glanced at my bulwark against the coming storm. While it was a step up from 'Zapper', it still left much to be desired. "It only holds five cartridges." 

"Best I can do right now. Getting a cartridged weapon without an exception really can't  be done." Shario shrugged. "Really sorry." 

"I guess I gotta do what I gotta do." I took the device into my hand. It seemed to be archaic in more ways than one, but I didn't realize that I would come to like the little shortstack. "Thanks for trying at least." 

"Hey." Shario seemed a bit more nervous talking to me than before, "Before you go, what's your name?" 

"Quebec Saphire the third, PHD." I give her the same name that I gave the receptionist. I needed to be consistent. "You can ask Duke for more info. I don't know how much of it is classified." 

"Do you need help?" Shario looked kind of nervous. "Is Duke treating you right?"

I didn't realize what she was really asking at the time. Nor did I understand what she meant by 'treating right'. I went through the academy, and was being given an order. How else should I have been treated?

"I'm fine, but you may not want to look into me more than that. I don't know how touchy they are about the whole thing." I gave her a brief handshake, "If you want to help, please try to get me more weapons by the  time I get back." 

"..I'll see what I can do." 

That look on her face. I could already tell that she was the kind of person who wouldn't stop looking until she found something. I could only have hoped  that I didn't just get her into a world of trouble. 

I grabbed some shotgun-styled cartridges from her, and then left the laboratory. Outside was already a cold day in hell, and I was getting ready to face the devil himself head-on. What I didn't know at the time was that I had an angel who was looking out for me that day.

It was another one of those nights that drove only the criminally insane out to the streets. Everyone else was safely tucked away in their conditioned buildings and their motor vehicles. The pedestrian traffic street was slowly starting to dry up as the fury of Old Man Winter was only getting started. What started as tiny flakes soon erupted into dime-sized hailstones that bounced against the street with enough force to chip and crack against the pavement.

To me, though. It's just ordinary rain. I actually prefer it in this form, since it doesn't smear on my coat as easily as sleet.

Maybe some would think of that as weird, but I'm not exactly a normal person. Normalcy is like an estranged father that left me on the doorstep of the orphanage. I've been raised by insanity most of my life, whom I know like a brother at this point.

The Seventh Police Precinct was an out-of-the-way office in Cranagan. As out-of-the-way as someplace can be in a planet's capitol city. Tucked between a warehouse district, a shipping district, and kilometers of docks; not much happened there except the occasional robbery and thievery. Most of the time the big-crimes like smuggling would happen at the docks, but they were never called out for that sort of thing. They relied on 'experts' from the Eighth district which was just down the street. Which is a short way of saying 'We don't have anyone on staff equipped to handle actual rogue mages'.

This case, though. This felt different. The way Duke talked about the issue, and the methods in which he equipped you for it almost made you feel like he expected you fail. Or at the very least expected the precinct to just be the excuse he needed to bring in the big-gun mages at his employment. Which is all fair if one's job is pushing papers and making justifications for police action, but not much of a comfort when I'm the one on the ground being used as bait.

So much like a kid learning to swim by being thrown in the deep end of the pool; the seventh police precinct was about to get its first swimming lesson.

The outside looks about as unassuming as anyone can picture a run-down for-show police headquarters as being. I can almost smell the crushed dreams and torn-down ambitions of the people who reside in it. Nothing about it stands out except the decorative brickwork that breathes a hint of life and history into the building; regaling all who look upon it of a time when it was the pride and joy of Cranagan's police force. It's so old, it probably predates Midchilda's integration with the TSAB.

For some reason, just looking at it is making me feel a bit giddy. Is this.. curiosity? Excitement? I'm not even going to be shooting anyone tonight, so I'm not sure why I should feel excitement about it.

There's a kind of pride to it as you approach the building and glance upward at the facade. It seems to be waiting for the day that it's recognized for its stalwart vanguard over the city. That day will have to wait, for now it just has to keep me dry for a scant few hours.

My hand presses against the door, and it opens.

There's a fat man who looks to be exactly as competent as he appears sitting behind the desk handling basic reporting work. His job could be easily replaced with a monkey, but that might be an insult to primates everywhere.

"Uhhh." He glances upward as he notices my approach. He seems unsure of what to say, so I give him a hand.

"First Private Quebec. TSAB Ground Forces." You introduce yourself, "-I've been dispatched here on an emergency call. Do you know where I can meet the contact I'm supposed to be seeing?"

He seems a little slow on the uptake, but eventually gets the hint. He points awkwardly to the back room, and mumbles something barely audible.

"..Down the hall, third door to the right."

"Thanks."

This office is starting to ignite something a little more personal than just a sense of accomplishment. It feels nostalgic, despite the fact I've never set foot in here before. It feels like I've lived my whole life in these walls, and offers a sense of security like a bird returning to its nest. Everything about it from the shoddy lighting, the cracking brickwork, the stains on the walls from the days where everyone and their mother's dog smoked like a chimney.

It's grimy, filthy, and weird.

I just eat that up.

My hand turns the handle to the 'third door on the right', and it slowly opens.

"Wow.."

A sound which may as well resemble an expletive leaves my mouth unintentionally.

It's perfect.

Exactly as I imagined it.

Honestly- I wasn't really sure how I expected it to look. However that was, it seems to match it to a T. From the mashed out cigarettes in the ashtray-

-To the half-empty liquor bottles hastily kept out-of-view on the other side of the office.

"So this is what one looks like, huh?" 

It's..

"Uh..?"

I spin around, and find myself face-to-face with a peculiar face.

A middle-aged man stands with a cup of ramen noodles in one hand, and a spork in another. He blinks in confusion as he seems to piece together exactly what I'm here for.

"-Hi." He's a man of few words. I can relate.

"Detective Gallardo." I give a quick salute. "First Private Quebec from the TSAB Ground Forces. I'm responding on a request for backup from the seventh district. I can assume you filed it?"

He looks to process this information for a moment, but gives a quick order.

"Come, sit down."

I follow him to one of the nicotine-stained chairs, and plant myself in it. He sits across from me, and starts to finish his warmed carbohydrate snack.

Meanwhile, my eyes are wandering across the room as my processor tries to comprehend what my senses are experiencing.

So, he's a real detective, and this is a real detective's office.

"So is  your office naturally like this?" I glance along the nicotine stained walls with wonder. There's no telling how many cancersticks were needed to make the place look like this, "It looks so-" 

"It's a dump." Gallardo finishes my thought with the suave certainty of a  trained smooth-talker.

"-I was going  to say 'historic'." I finished my actual thought, "It looks straight out of some of the old movies." 

"Ya, and they're dumps, too." He continues, "Ya'nnow, I should clean things up but.. Well, I know where everything is and that's what's important." 

..

It's like every time he said something; it seemed like the most suave words I've ever heard. At the time; I didn't know what to make of the detective. His words almost seemed to be from another world that I wish I belonged to. Of course, I doubt that he saw himself in that. I'm sure given the chance to trade places with the new rookie or the hardboiled life he lived; he would take it in a second. 

Is this what the young girls felt like chasing after rock stars? Either ways, the fluttering feeling quickly went away as we got down to business. 

"So, I hear you're here to help me with a certain warehouse problem." He grumbles as he opens a half-cluttered folder on his desk.

"That would be correct." I decided to be as formal as possible. 

"Just yourself." 

"Yes." 

"Who is your superior officer?" Gallardo seemed to have an inkling about something. Probably that aged detective intuition at play. 

"Douglass-" 

Before you can even finish, he finishes for you.

"Duke." 

"That's correct." 

"I see." He seemed to recline in his chair.

"What is our course of action, Detective?" I set my folder on his desk; I figured that the information inside was probably more use to him than it was to you. 

"Well." He gazes at the wall as if he's expecting it to give inspiration, "I was going to try shooting them."

"I see, strangely enough I was thinking the same thing." 

He chuckles, and I awkwardly try to mimic it as best as I can. Laughter isn't really a thing that's taught in the Academy, nor is it something that you practice much on your own.

"I like that. I mean, it won't work but I like that we're on the same page." Gallardo sighs.

 "I'm of the belief that anything that can bleed may also be shot." I decided to give a bit of personal philosophy, "-It just requires increasingly more cartridges." 

"Interesting theory." He leans back in his chair, "So, what're you equipped with?" 

I took the device that I was given, and gently lay it on the table. Who knows, it's probably such an old piece that any errant jostle will cause it to fall into ash.

"..That's it?" He picks it up, and opens the lever, "I mean, nice capacity but-" 

I shrug, he simply sighs and lays it back down. 

"Guess you have me beat then." He dryly chuckles, and lays a much smaller detective's revolver on the table. One that only has room for five cartridges. 

"..Where's your service weapon?" My eyes drift across the almost comically-small revolver. It looks like a woman's pepperbox pistol she would keep in her makeup case. 

"That is my service weapon." Gallardo shrugs, "I don't exactly get a lot of action." 

I can only blink in return.

"You don't get a lot of action?" This betrayed my expectations in more ways than one. "Also, this thing isn't loaded with any cartridges." 

"That's right." He leans back, and sighs.

"Why not?" 

"Y'see, I can't use that many cartridges at once." Gallardo explains, "Sort of an old injury, from my ground forces days. So frankly I just try not to. It can use seeker without any cartridges, and that's good enough for me."

There's a very powerful pause that fills the room.

"Honestly when I heard someone from the TSAB was coming; I just kind of assumed they would bring heavy artillery. I mean, they always do." 

"Huh, that's odd." I felt even more disappointment for Duke, "My boss told me that you would know what to do." 

We keep staring at each other, like we expected the other to have answers. 

"Well, there's no helping it, then." He stood up, "I guess the question I have is 'How much of a stickler are you for rules?'" 

That was an oddly phrased question, but I think I gave the best answer that I could.

"None of us are saints." I took my shotgun off the table, "It's not like bending the rules isn't command's job." 

"Good answer, I like that." Gallardo stepped toward the door, and gestured toward me, "Let's go investigate the warehouse, and gauge how difficult this is going to be. But firstly, how would you feel about a little extra firepower if you didn't care where it came from?"

"What, are you going to raid the evidence locker?" 

"Oh, no no. Tampering with evidence is completely past the line." Gallardo shot that idea down, "-Really, I would risk screwing up the few arrests I have gotten recently, bad career move all around." 

"Then.."

"I mean, firepower from someplace that isn't necessarily harmful but isn't really a good place, either."

I thought about that suggestion for all but a second.

"Hypothetically speaking, if there was a source of extra firepower available that I didn't care about; I'd also not care about not taking from it everything that I could get away with. And maybe something extra. Just in case."

"Right, hypothetically." He smirks. 

"I mean, I'm not going to say 'no' to it, hypothetically." You stand up, "Especially when my options are limited." 

"Right, let's go talk to a friend, then." Gallardo opens the door for you, "I think he needs to have his cage rattled, anyway." 

--

He leads you to this awful downtrodden "mechanic" shop on the edge of the bay. Probably just beyond the Eighth Precinct's reach and thus outside the realm of what any competent mage would allow in this seedy section of the docks. 

Even then, I could tell that it was most certainly a chop shop of some kind. A magical place that makes people's things disappear by disassembling it and reassembling them into things that nobody can recognize. Whether it be cars, weapons, devices, boats, basically anything short of people (and sometimes maybe people depending on where you look). 

It's not uncommon for detectives to have connections to the underworld, or at least some way to have an 'in' on what is going on. Anyone who doesn't can be considered a pretty bad detective, not at least making a few friends. 

He walked inside like he owned the place, and you followed right behind him. 

"Welcome, welcome-" A short man behind the counter emerges from the back room as if he's simply used to unannounced visitors waltzing in, "-How can I- GALLARDO?!" 

"Hey Zeke." Gallardo smiled, "You still in this dump? I thought you woulda got a better place by now." 

"W-w-w-hat you are you are you youyouyouyouyou-" The hunched man's voice descends into a mumble.

Gallardo laughs. 

"Hey, lighten the hell up, I'm not here to bust you ᵗᵒᵈᵃʸ. I'm here to see if you're still offering up those hacked together pieces, still." 

"I assure you!" Zeke almost looked offended, "My business is totally above board, now. I don't deal in-" 

Gallardo simply stared at him with a half-smile. The kind of look that says 'You're so full of it that it's leaking out of your ears'. 

'Zeke' simply leans in, and whispers. 

"..We both agree that you're a cop, right?" 

"I guess that's true." 

"-And it would be EXTREMELY stupid to sell 'hacked together pieces' to a cop, right?" 

"Yeah, I guess that's true, too." 

"So.. What are you doing here?" Zeke shrugs. "We know that, you ain't exactly in the market for a device yourself. Frankly, you shouldn't be allowed to have a device with how.. you are and all." 

"All those are true things." Gallardo then gestured toward me, "-But that's why none of that applies to me. I'm actually here to get this young lady equipped for a very dangerous suppression mission."

"Danger or not, this isn't the business that-" 

"It involves the Huckebein." Gallardo leans on the counter. "There are Hucks in Midchilda and they're in this district. Maybe even one or two warehouses down from you." 

Zeke simply stares forward, but then raises a door on his counter.

"..Come with me." 

He disappears through a curtain into the back room, and Gallardo stifles a dry laugh. 

"Yeah, just gotta speak the right language." 

"Are they really that feared?" I'm gonna be honest, I was probably not thinking when I asked this question. The answer was definitely 'yes', but I didn't know it would be enough to make someone possibly incriminate themselves.

"Let's put it this way, there may not be honor among thieves, but even thieves have a reputation to uphold." Gallardo pushes the curtain aside, "Hucks don't exactly have a good reputation, especially when they tend to not pay the people they hire, mostly just exploding them if they ask. They're kind of a common enemy like that, even among petty thieves who are the lowest of the pecking order."

"I can still hear you, Gallardo." Zeke yelled from the other room.

"Yeah, I know, and you agree with me." Gallardo shouted back. "Tell me, what would you do if you knew Hucks were operating on Midchilda?" 

"I wouldn't be on Midchilda." He replied. 

"Smart choice." Gallardo laughed.

You walk through the curtain, and inside you see-

One of the most beautiful rooms I've ever laid eyes on. 

A pristine, white hallway filled with all manner of illegal projectile weaponry, and on the left of that-

Rows and rows and rows of shelves and lockers filled to the brim with combat staves, wands, pistols, even historic pieces dating back from when Midchilda wasn't even an independent planet. There are enough illegal weapons here to arm an entire army, much less anybody who would ever want to visit this place.

The crown jewel of the joint wasn't the projectile weapons, though. As enticing as they were to me, it was the lockers full of magic armament that was really the strawberry on the short cake of death. Some of these are steel boxes packed with prototype mass and magic based weapons from Caledfwlch itself! Well, at least the closest resemblance to them, but somehow the originals have already had their plans stolen by criminals, reverse-engineered, and made into an entire line of knock-offs that are on the black market before Caledfwlch could even get their own line into mainstream use. 

The lockers full of armed devices alone could arm the academy's training armory for a lifetime.

"Hey kid..." Gallardo was glaring at me oddly, "Are you drooling?"

"Maybe.." I get one more glance around the place before my eyes settled back on him. 

"Well, pick out what you want. After all-" Gallardo grabs Zeke's shoulder, and pulls him real close. "-He's paying."

Zeke's face suddenly has a cold sweat run down his cheek.

"Think of it as a graduation gift, for completing the academy. From him, to you." Gallardo winks.

"Wow.." I glance over the carnival of destruction that is laid out before me like a beautiful choir of angels, all ready  to sing. "Do you.. got any Accelerate Charge Devices? Like the one the Captain has?"

"Oh, no no no!" Zeke laughs, "Those are highly illega-" 

He stops as he notices Gallardo glancing down at him, with a smile.

"..right this way, Miss." 

He leads me to yet ANOTHER part of the armory that has all of its devices behind glass cases. 

"This is.." I'm completely awestruck, "..Do you mind if I try out some of these devices?" 

"Well, I would prefer not, their value goes down wildly after... after..." 

He freezes as he feels that cold smile upon him once more. 

"..A few test fires shouldn't be too bad." 

This has to be the closest to heaven any mage has ever been.

--

I spend an hour putting some spells downrange through a variety of devices. I let my ambitions run wild like a young teenager trying out every ditsy broad on the strip at midnight. My lustful urges take me to a charge device weapon, a formula weapon, multiple staves and wands, and yes, the Tommygun. As far as I was concerned; I wasn't leaving without that Tommygun. 

Though, having a backup is always a good thing. I got some twin-linked pistols with an accelerate charge system built in, just like Officer Lanster has. Though, these are two and the accelerate charge system allows it to go full-auto on command. I'll put that to good use. Plus, I felt there was one more thing I had room for in my coat. 

"Hmm." I continued to mull over the various implements of death at my disposal. "Hey Gallardo, I was thinking of a storage device. I don't really need my weapons talking to me." 

"Sure kid, Ooh! How about this one?" Gallardo haphazardly brushes aside a 'Caution, do not handle' much to Zeke's dismay. 

Gallardo picks up a rather unassuming, folded box and tosses it to me.

It's a.. lighter?

"Cmon, try it." Gallardo laughs, "I quit the stuff, so I can't anymore." 

I flip the cap open, and then strike the flint wheel in a single smooth motion. 

*flick*

Bzzzzzzzz-

"Woh." I held the gaudy device in my hand, the little eyes on the cobra were glowing like tiny rubies when I started to put a little mana into it. Which I thought was indescribably cute but I couldn't say that out loud in front of Gallardo. 

"Hah! A cobra in a cigarette lighter. Get it?" Gallardo chuckles, "Those things will kill ya." 

"Hah. Hah. Hah.." Zeke puts on a forced smile, and a bead of sweat goes down his head. 

"Y'know." Gallardo puts a stick of gum in his mouth, "I remember some kind of mugger brought in with a similar device. He had a lighter that folded out into an armed device so he could take it into nightclubs. Of course, you wouldn't know anything about that, would you Zeke?" 

The man was visibly biting his tongue. 

"Of course not, Officer." 

"Hah! Thought so, after all. What the lady has is a storage device, not an armed device. Which is perfectly legit, right?" 

"Ab. so. lutely." Zeke smiles ear to ear. 

Gallardo was right, though. Storage devices are limited by the mana, output, and skill of the caster. So, by some legal loophole, they were perfectly legit to carry around. As completely illegitimate as this thing appeared on its surface; it was actually a perfectly conceal-carry capable device. 

Not that I expected the officers school to buy that line. I'm sure if I went back with it; they would confiscate it in an instant along with all my other fun toys.

Zeke's smile hasn't faded, but his forehead is much more damp than before.

"So.. is the young miss.. done browsing? Heh.. Heh.. ᵖˡᵉᵃˢᵉ ˢᵃʸ ʸᵉˢ."

"This will be good enough for now." I glanced at the array of wares that he still has on display and make a mental note about which ones I'll probably come back for. If I made it back, that is. 

"Thank god." Zeke sighs, "-I mean, good choice!" 

"Yeah, fine work." Gallardo smiles," Then are you about ready to go?" 

"Yeah, I can't think of anything else that I might need for this." You smile, and then flick the head of the staff. In an instant, it folds back into a lighter. 

'Lucky Strikes Again'. With the way things are going, you're going to need lucky to strike tonight. There's no telling what kind of hell you're walking into with your new friend. 

"Well, if we're done, then lemme give you a hint." Gallardo leans in to Zeke, "Don't think about leaving tonight. It'll just make you look super suspicious if the raid goes badly and they start asking questions." 

"Ahh.." Zeke is visibly sweating, "Yes, most certainly Mister Gallardo." 

I say 'goodbye' to Zeke, 'goodbye' in the sense that I'm probably never going to see him again if I die tonight or he decides to go underground never to emerge again. It's hard to tell with smugglers where they're going to pop up, next. Though, I did have to give the guy some credit, he did get me a set of really powerful devices no questions asked. I'm sure he would have had some questions for me on what difference a gun would make against the Huckebein. It wasn't until a bit later would I know that answer for myself.

"Ready?" I glanced to the detective as you continue down the block. The warehouse is in sight. 

"Yeah, as ready as I'm gonna be." Gallardo takes another hit of the flask he keeps on him. "So, how are you wanting to do this?" 

"Wait." Something didn't seem right, "You're asking me?" 

"Yeah. The way I see it, it doesn't matter how we approach this anyway. It's still a bad idea no matter how we split it."

"I'm going first." I reply, "That's already decided." 

"I'm not gonna argue, but I will say that order probably doesn't matter." Gallardo checks his single-cartridge revolver. 

"I think it might." 

In reality, I felt the same way that Gallardo did. It wasn't something that was going to matter one way or another. It was a bad idea, but the question was about who was going to feel the consequences of it first. I figured that I may as well volunteer for that honor. It was my stupid boss that got us into this mess in the first place. 

I take out my new lighter and gradually flip it in my hand.

"Need a light?" I ask Gallardo as he follows behind me. 

"I was trying to quit but-" He smirks, and pulls a cigarette from his coat pocket like it was a tiny hope that one day he would manage to kick the habit. "What the hell, may be my last one."

Just like the dreams of being free from vice; the cigarette starts to burn as I light it for him.

"I was thinking just going in the back door, but-" 

"It doesn't matter." It's true, none of it matters. 

Gallardo and I continued down the sidewalk, and toward our shadow-covered destiny. At the time, both of us were joking to one another about how we're gonna die and in what way. I was completely unaware about the whole 'setting Eclipse users on fire' thing until after it happened. The raid went simple enough after I found that out; we gave the scarecrows a little bit of fire, and the rest is history. 

--

The lighter flicks in my hand, and it transforms back into a staff. In every way, it's just as smooth as I remember it being. 

"And that's how I met Gallardo." I let the ruby eyes of the snake-staff glow, "I probably wouldn't have asked for weapons if I knew at the time what kind of effect we had on Eclipse users. But it's good that I did. After the raid, Gallardo promised to hold onto the weapons that I got that day for me, because he knew how they were back at the academy about us bringing back captured devices. I'm just glad I could finally get them back in my hands." 

..

"That's great, Quebec." Tango replies in a monotone voice, her eyes look very tired. "But I was just asking if you needed to stop by the precinct for anything, not your life story." 

"Oh." I blink, "I thought you were asking how I met Gallardo, or where this lighter came from." 

"No, I did not, in fact, ask anything of the like. Just if you wanted to stop by the precinct before we went to this meeting. Though, your story has now burned through the allotted time for sidetracking; we should be leaving for the meeting right now if we're going." 

"Right, right." I chuckle, "I'll catch up." 

My 'sister' huffs, and goes to call for a Taxi. I just shrug and flick the staff back into a lighter. Just as smooth as I remember it.

Everyone wants to be a critic. 

(Never Meet Your Heroes: END)

-[.............]-

Level up. 

Click, click, click...

Beep.

Your eyes gently open to a curtain of green obscuring your vision from the world. Gently, you push your bangs out of your eyes, and stare at the ceiling.

You don't know how, but it worked. You've awakened from your nightmare, and now find yourself in a completely different place. Now, you find yourself slumped in some kind of half-bed. On top of the bed is a bubble-like dome which covers just the top of your head. You push it away and sit up.

'What a bizarre nightmare.' You think to yourself, and try to make sense of it. There was a warehouse, and a voice, and they had you performing like a circus animal in front of dozens of people. Perhaps it was your subconscious reacting to an innate fear of some kind? That doesn't seem quite right. Maybe-

You feel something on your storage tank. Your eyes immediately snap open.

Your head swivels to meet the face of another person sitting next to your charger.

"Um-" You're confused, to say the least. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, you're awake!" Her hand immediately leaves your storage tank. "Hi Gamma! I'm Unit Juliett, and we'll be working together from here out." 

Datalink: Scanning...

"I see." You state, and then ask the other question in your RAM. "But that's not what I was referring to. Why was your hand on my storage tanks?" 

"Oh, I was just checking." 

"..Checking for what?" 

"-Anyway!"  She completely ignores your question, "You're our newest sister model, Gamma! I found you slumped over in the bathroom of the presentation hall. So I brought you back here, and have been monitoring your charge state!" 

"..With your hand?" You blink. 

"Precisely." 

"Why are you wearing less clothes than I am?" You note the fact that she's only in the most light of cloth armor, only covering two spots on her body. They're so light that you can see right through them.

"More comfy that way." 'Juliett' shrugs. "Besides, you're not one to talk." 

You look down and realize-

"..Where did the clothes I was wearing go?" 

"Oh, they were all dirty from the training exercise. So I put them in the laundry." Juliett claps her hands together, "It's not a problem, though. You still have your panties, so you're still decent around here. Everyone in the lab is female." 

You blink.

"Also, did you say 'Sister'?" 

"That's right!" Juliett reaches a hand out, "We're sisters! It's good to meet you, Gamma. From here on out, I want you to treat me like any sister would." 

"..By grabbing storage tanks?" You blink.

"Welllllllllllllllllllll that's just a special greeting. Nothing to think about, really." Juliett smiles. 

"Okay, but you're doing that right now."

She then releases your storage tank, and laughs.

"Sorry, force of habit." 

"That's a 'habit'?" You blink.

She ignores that one, too.

"Let's go meet the rest of the team, and then we can talk about more things." 

"..Right." 

You stand up, and start to feel a little breezy from just wearing a simple piece of cloth over your lower section. You're not sure what the point of it must be. This is certainly not enough to protect you against any kind of damage or be effective armor of any kind. Your chest is still wide open.

"Please excuse me, I was born literally an hour ago, can you explain any of what is going on?" You turn to Juliett as she is just closing the lid on the strange bed that you woke up in. 

"Oh, we're going to go talk to someone who can explain it better than I can." Juliett smiles, "In short, you're a combat robot in a laboratory who will be asked to carry out special missions that we'll ignore when we feel like it!" 

Something seemed wrong with the last part of that sentence, but you're too overwhelmed to question it right now. 

"Okay..." Perhaps you should be seeking out other sisters for advice. "Hey, can you teach me to check the charge state with my hand?"

"Oh, don't worry about that!" Juliett laughs, "I'll teach you to do a lot more than that to yourself with your hand!" 

Oh.

Well, that's handy. 

So to speak.

She leads you out of the sterile, white room and into a corridor surrounded with what appears to be beige walls on every side. It's so disorienting to go from the sheer white laboratory to this. 

"Why did you maxed out that one skill? What does it do?" You question Juliett on her datacard. You could use some guidance on how that works, yourself.

"Oh, that's the skill that blows things up!" Juliett giggles, "Very useful, but anyway here's Dr. Carrera's office!" Juliett has an odd smile. "..Go in and introduce yourself." 

"Huh." You blink. "Okay."

You step inside, and stand in front of the only desk in the room.

It takes a moment for the orange-haired woman to look up, but she stands up the moment that she does.

"Oh! Gamma, Wh-... Where are your clothes?" 

Okay, so you've done this part where she's recognized you and scanned you for your name. Your scanners don't quite work right on her, but you can introduce yourself, right?

Hmm. The datalink isn't scanning her automatically. So you'll have to introduce yourself orally. 

"Hello! I am Unit Gamma. You must be-" 

"Carrera." She bewildered woman blinks. 

"Unit Carrera." This is much easier than you thought.

Strange, Juliett is right outside the door, and she sounds like she's laughing. 

"Do you mind if I scan your charge levels? My datalink does not work on you."

"Yes, the datalink wouldn't work on humans, you'll have to verbally communicate- OH MY LORD-"

She reacts to your hand giving her storage tanks a charge inspection. She almost immediately pulls away before you get a proper inspection done.

"Why did you do that?!" 

"Hmm?" You blink, "It was just a simple charge inspection." 

"..Anyway, why are you naked?" 

You blink, "Oh, Juliett took them. They're in the laundry." 

"Juliet..." Carrera mutters, "I see, it's all making sense, now. "

"Anyway, can you tell me more about myself?" 

Carrera sighs. 

"We'll have a briefing for you later, but in the meantime; could you not listen to anything Juliett tells you? She's a bad influence."

You tilt your head. 

"-A bad influence?" 

"Correct." Carrera's mouth peels into a frown, her eyes seem to be avoiding you. "She has.. issues.. that I wish you to not inherit." 

"Can you tell me more about myself and where I am, then?" 

Carrera sighs, and starts to explain a few things. 

A few things about Caledfwlch, which is where you're at right now.

A few things about Raptors, which is what you are, apparently.

Plus a few things about human interaction. Such as the fact that it's not required to inspect human storage tanks manually. 

After you're sufficiently briefed, you let her return to her work, and meet Juliett out in the hall. 

"Well? How was it?" 

"She said that I shouldn't greet humans by scanning their storage tanks." 

"Mm, so that means you should greet sisters that way, right?" Juliett smirks. 

You suppose that you can't argue with that logic.

"Come, let me introduce you to the team!" 

She leads you away and into another adjacent room. Inside, there's a woman with purple hair discussing something serious to herself. 

Datalink: Scanning...

"Right, but-" She continues to talk to thin air. "Right, but I haven't seen her. Correct, Mistress. She wasn't in the presentation hall when I arrived." 

You glance over to Juliett. 

"This 'Oscar' person."

"Right! She's another sister." Juliett smirks, "Go on, greet her like one."

"Correct." This 'Oscar' is too entranced with her one-way discussion to notice you approach her, "Yes, Mistress. If I see her, then I will bring her back at once. I understand, this is important. She must be with us." 

You reach out your hand just as she turns around, and-

Squish.

"Wh-"

Oscar stands like this for several seconds, not saying a single word. Juliett slowly starts to suppress a very stifled cackle. 

"Hello." You reply, "I am Unit Gamma. It's good to meet you unit Oscar. Or should I simply say, 'Sister'." 

This is suddenly interrupted by her snapping your hands away. She stares at you for a second, before doing something unexpected.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH-"

"Yes! I am ecstatic to meet you, as well!" You smile, and enjoy her victory cry. 

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH-"

"Pfffft- Hahahahahahahahaha-" 

"Juliett?" You look over to your other sister unit, "Is something wrong? Why are you laughing?" 

"N-no reason!" Juliett continues to grin maniacally. "Just enjoying two sisters interacting." 

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH-" 

"Oh." You blink as Oscar's victory cry continues, "She's awfully loud, is this a malfunction?" 

"No! No, she just accepts your greeting warmly." Juliett is still smiling.

"Okay, so what next?" 

"Let's go find someone else before she finishes her revelry. We have so many more to meet!" Juliett continues grinning. 

"..Okay." 

You're starting to suspect something is wrong.

You follow Juliett to another room. This one seems to be lined with shiny appliances on every wall. 

There's a woman standing here, as well.

She's surrounded by several glowing screens, but you can't see her face. Is she using those for something?

Datalink: Scanning...

"There's Echo!" You hear Juliett whisper, "Go on, 'Greet' her!" 

Juliett then disappears behind the doorway. 

You shrug, and start to approach the brown-haired sister. You reach your hand out, and slowly start to bring it to her storage tanks.

WHAP! 

Immediately, she spins around and grabs your hand like she was expecting you the whole time! 

-and she looks angry.

"Juliett.." She growls, "JULIETT, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" 

"Greetings, unit Echo! It is good to meet you-though as you can see, I am Gamma! How did you know that Juliett was nearby?"

"I can see her on the security cameras.." Echo growls. "Juliett! She is not even a day old and you are teaching that old joke to Gamma! You are like a kid that don't let a meme be forgotten!"

"What's a meme?" All of these new phrases are starting to confuse you. 

"And Gamma! Don't go groping people like that! Also, be sure to wear some clothes!" She grabs some kind of fabric from a cupboard, and wraps it around you. 

"Pffft-" Juliett laughs from behind the wall. 

"I hear you!" Echo immediately rushes for the door, "You're dead, Juliett!" 

"Wait!" You shout at the retreating woman, "You can't kill Juliett! She's been so helpful!" 

"You've gone too far, you know that?!" 

"Lighten up, Echo! It's just a jooooke!" 

The two disappear out of the doorway to the room, and their voices slowly start to recede as they rush down the hallway. 

Which just leaves you, wrapped in some kind of fabric. 

"Um.." You blink.

You take the piece of fabric off, and have a good look at it. You're not sure how this is made, but it is very soft and fluffy to the touch. Tiny fibers extend outward like a million tiny fabric fingers, each the size of several widths of your hair, to give a very welcoming feeling to the touch. 

You were instructed to keep it on, so you quickly fling it back over your shoulders. 

Without any real guidance on what to do next, you decide to wander around aimlessly. You're supposed to go to a briefing at some point, but you're not entirely sure where or when? It's hard to tell. 

Frankly, you're not sure what the point to anything you've seen has been so far. You had a combat training portion just as you woke up earlier, but nothing else has hinted at your purpose being combat. Really, it feels rather aimless already. 

The experience has mostly left you dazed. 

You walk back toward the lab; maybe hoping that someone else can give you guidance. Suddenly, a familiar face stops you. 

"You're STILL naked?" You remember meeting this human. This is Dr. Carrera, and you met her roughly five minutes and twenty seven seconds ago. 

You simply blink.

"..Should I be something else?" You tilt your head. 

"Gamma.." Carrera sighs. "Okay, the briefing is hereby postponed. We have another briefing we have to go over, in my office, right now." 

"In your office?" You feel a little confused.

"Yes, right now." 

You really don't understand this sudden change in attitude. Is something wrong? Maybe you can ask her more about your purpose, there. 

--

"Okay, Gamma." Carrera slams the door behind her, "We need to talk." 

"Talk?" You blink.

She immediately turns on some music, and turns it up. Then she sits down at the desk. Her face seems to turn cloudy, as if she's lost in thought.

"Gamma, we need to talk about the birds and the bees." 

"..Fowl and insects?" That's the best definition you can find from your dictionary. 

"Close enough." Carrera sighs, "I'm sorry that I didn't give you enough knowledge on this subject, but now I'm realizing how vitally important it is. I don't think we need another Juliett in the labs." 

"Another Juliett? What do you mean?" 

"Someone who picks up a little bit of knowledge, and not a lot of context for using it. So, I'm going to tell you about why your body looks the way it does, so you don't do something like streak during a mission." 

"Streak?" This isn't very helpful. 

Carrera stands up, and pulls out a small white board. Then, she starts drawing on it.

--

"-And that is why your body looks the way it does, and why you need to cover up." Carrera huffs as she finishes what seems to be a very tiring explanation for her. For you, it was only ten minutes. "Any questions?"

"Right just a couple." You raise your hand. The cloth surrounding you immediately falls off. 

You can tell that this has put Dr. Carrera in a tough spot. She watches you with a small bead of sweat starting to form on her brow. 

"Okay, one question. How does the bee thing work? Wouldn't I get stung?" 

Maybe that wasn't the best question to ask. She seems visibly frustrated, now. 

"Gamma, did you understand anything that I just said?" 

You close your eyes, and are a bit more candid about your feelings.

"To be honest, I really did not." 

"That's what I thought." Carrera adjusts her glasses, and sighs, "When did it stop making sense?"

"Uhh." You think about it, and one part really did stick out. "The part about making more birds and more bees. I don't really get that part, and I think that's where I lost you." 

"It's very simple, Gamma. This is how living organisms reproduce." 

"That is something else I don't understand." You huff, "That seems like a very time consuming process to recreate the same model with possibly just as many problems. It seems like it would be a better idea to save space and add weapons instead."

"But then humans couldn't reproduce." 

"How do humans learn about this, then?" You ask what you feel is a very important question. "If humans couldn't reproduce, then who was the first person to come up with this idea? Is it like.. innate knowledge? You're my creator, so this should be something that you gave to me, right?" 

"In hindsight; I wish I did." Carrera sets the whiteboard down. 

"Why would humans have this knowledge, but not efficient combat protocols? That seems way more useful."

"The purpose of this process isn't to fight." 

"Then why am I learning about it?" This feels like the most frustrating part. "How does any of this relate to combat? I guess that's why this really doesn't make much sense." 

"Gamma.." 

Carrera stands up, and steps around her desk.

She picks the cloth up from the chair. It has mostly fallen down, but she's sure to hold it away where it can't cover or obscure any part of your body. 

"Gamma, look down. Look." 

You follow her instructions.

"See? You're a woman, too. You have a flower. That's why you need to learn about it. This is an important part of you, as well."  Carrera holds the towel aloft, as to keep you covered.

You glance downward at your body. Down at your chest, and the bare section between your legs. You make a note of your feminine figure, but don't really know where all of it fits together with her story. So the question still evades you.

"Again, this isn't a combat weapon, and it doesn't seem to add anything. So why do I need to learn about it?" 

"There's more to life than combat, Gamma." Carrera seems almost depressed that she has to tell you this. 

"Well.." You try to rationalize this with your ten-thousand full-scale references on combat. "I guess I have to reload sometime, but isn't reloading part of combat?" 

"It is, Gamma. I'm not talking about reloading your weapons." Carrera sighs, and then places the cloth back over your lap. 

"Then.. human weak points? I mean, I seem to have learned a lot about them after this conversation." You shrug.

"Not that either, Gamma." Carrera seems to slink back to her chair with utter failure on her breath. 

"If there's more, then why didn't I learn about it?" You glance upward at Carrera, "If there's more to life, why wasn't I programmed with knowledge of it? It surely can be done, because I have more combat experience than any one person would need." 

Carrera seems to think about this question for a long time. At least more than you're used to humans considering their decisions. It takes many, many cycles for her to come up with a proper response. 

"..I wish I did, Gamma." She seems to frown, "I wish I did teach you more about life than just fighting. I did what I was told to do; but not what I, as a person, knew what should be done. I tried to tell myself that my role as an employee was separate from my role as a scientist, but completely ignored my role as a creator."

You're really not getting where this is going.

"The fact that you don't seem to understand what life is about means that I've failed you as a creator, Gamma. I'm sorry." Carrera simply stares at you, emotionless. "I hope someday to help you find something else to life than fighting and following orders. It's the least I can do as someone who helped create you." 

This has gotten fairly awkward, right now. 

"..I'm not against the idea, but my designation is that of an 'Assault unit'. It seems fighting is my primary goal." You shrug, "If I can find something else to life, then where could I find it?" 

Carrera simply keeps staring. 

"..Let's talk about that after you're back from your first mission. We can try to find something together, okay?" 

This seems a lot more serious than you once anticipated. Maybe you need a second opinion.

"Okay." 

You leave for your briefing after Carrera lends you a shirt, and a cloth fabric she called 'shorts'. Apparently, this is what she wears when she hits the gym after work. So you shouldn't worry about getting it too dirty, as long as your barrier jacket is deployed for combat. 

Next you'll have to find out what a 'gym' is, and maybe you can get a pair for yourself.

You're still more confused about the conversation than anything. You decide to try finding a second opinion. 

Following your footsteps, you're taken back to the break room. Then, you return to the charging stations in the lab. There, two other familiar faces are arguing. 

You silently let yourself into the labs, and then stand next to them. You don't want to interrupt whatever conversation they're having. 

"What's the big deal?" Juliett laughs, "It's funny!" 

"It's not funny, she's a newly minted Raptor. You're going to-" 

"Excuse me." 

They almost jump as you make yourself known.

"Geez." Juliett regains composure. "I expect that from Foxtrot, but apparently you would make a good stealth unit, as well." 

"We were just discussing why it's impolite to teach you lewd things." Echo huffs, and Juliett glares daggers at her. 

"Well, I had a quick question." You try to make this quick so you can get to your briefing, "Is there more to life than combat?" 

"No." 

"Yes." 

Echo and Juliett freeze, and then glance at each other. You're even more confused by the fact that neither of them have a consistent answer. 

"What do you mean, 'No'?" Juliett seems almost offended. 

"What do you mean, 'Yes'?" Echo seems equally disturbed. "You're the demolitions unit, your job is to plant bombs. What else is there?" 

"What else is there?!" Juliett seems almost offended, "How about the feeling of warm acid washing over your skin. Or the joy of patting Foxtrot's head. Or how about the squishy sensation of groping someone in the shower!" 

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that last part." Echo huffs, "None of those have anything to do with why we're here, and in fact are bad habits that you taught yourself because you're not given enough to do!" 

"Bad habits?!" Juliett seems offended, "There is nothing bad about any of those habits. They're just as normal and natural as fighting! Even humans get to go home at the end of the day." 

"That's where you're making a mistake, Juliett." Echo huffs, "Those are humans. They have basic needs that we do not. That's why it's pointless to emulate human behavior."

"Even you know that's not true! You call me 'Sister'!" 

"Because from an objective standpoint, we are Sister units." Echo puts her hands on her hips, and huffs. 

You do what comes naturally to seeing your two sisters fighting, and that's to lean forward and grab both of them into a hug. You pat them on the head as they both seem to awkwardly stiffen in your grasp.

"Stop, both of you. I don't know why you suddenly decided to argue but I don't want to hear it anymore." 

This awkward silence and patting extends for a few cycles longer than you were anticipating. Eventually, Echo is the one who brings the conversation back to reality. 

"..Gamma, it's fine, we'll stop fighting, can you stop patting my head?" 

"No, this is an experiment to see if Juliett's theory of life and headpatting is correct."

 "..Be that as it may; Juliett did say that this only works on Foxtrot." Echo protests.

"I must know for myself." 

Several more cycles of silence pass. 

"..Well, I feel better." Juliett replies. 

"Hush." Echo huffs, "You see what you've done? You've confused Gamma into doing something unnecessary. She thinks this is going to make her happy." 

"I do feel happy." You reply, but you're not really sure what the feeling entails. 

"See? It works! It works even better on Foxtrot." 

"Who is Foxtrot?" You hug the two closer, "Is this a skill she is designed to use?" 

"The stealth unit. I think she's on a mission right now." Juliett sighs.

"Oh! Mission!" Echo snaps out of her embarrassment, "Gamma, you have to get to the briefing!" 

"Briefing?" You blink, "I think I remember something about that."

"Yes, your mission, the thing you were woke up to do." Echo states in a rather matter-of-fact manner. "The briefing is happening, now." 

"You'll get in trouble with the humans if you miss your briefings! We've had our fun, but it's time to work, now." Juliett seems equally insistent that you attend. 

"Work.." You don't quite understand the concept, but if they say it must be done; then-

"Um-" Echo immediately notices you carrying her under your arm to the meeting. "I can walk by myself." 

"I'm not even sure if I'm part of this mission." Juliett replies, slung under your other arm. 

"Too late." You hug them closer. "Besides, I need direction to the 'briefing' anyway."

You hug them closely as you walk down the hall, merrily clutching your sisters in your grasp. 

That's what they are; you've decided.

'Sisters'. 

--

"That was boring." You stumble out of the conference room. You blink several times to make sure your optical circuits are still functioning after that long and boring lecture. 

"I'm not sure what you expected." Echo crosses her arms. 

"All of them are like that." Juliett continues to enjoy your hug, which you haven't released her from. "By the way, are we going to do the whole mission like this?" 

"I haven't decided yet." This uses an arm, but it does seem to fit into Juliett's theory of feeling good. 

"Echo, could you leave us be for a moment? I wanted to have a heart-to-heart." Juliett suddenly asks. 

Echo gives her a very strange stare. 

"I'm not going to do anything lewd!" Juliett giggles, "Just going to have a little talk with Sis." 

Echo seems cautious, but she says something strange in return.

"..Gamma, if she gropes your storage tanks, scream." 

Then she proceeds down the hallway. 

Juliett, as content as she is in the hug, manages to squirm free. 

"Okay! Now, Gamma." Juliett has a strange redness to her face, "Are you really up for this mission? I know this is a lot of information that has been dumped on you, and you're acting kind of clingy so I'm starting to worry. "

"Clingy?" That's a new term that's not in the dictionary.

"To be overly attached, particularly physically." Juliett fills out the missing terminology. 

"Oh, isn't that normal, though? You said touching makes you feel good." You don't see the problem.

"..I see." Juliett sighs, "I thought I was just playing a bit of a prank but.." 

"A prank?" 

"Gamma, you were meeting with Dr. Carrera earlier, and she shut the door. Tell me everything that she told you." Somehow, Juliett was aware of you meeting with her. You shrug, and start explaining in vivid detail exactly what you were told and what she showed you.

--

"Oh.. Oh my.." Juliett's face is even more red than before.

"Yeah." You blink.

"So.. I guess your innocence is kind of gone, now." Juliett giggles. 

"Innocence? I'm more just confused. Where does any of this fit into combat? Or missions? She told me about flowers, bees, birds, but nothing about missions. You told me about touching, but still nothing about fighting. Are the two related? Touching feels good but fighting is the inverse of that?" 

Juliett simply stares at you with wide eyes, and only utters two words.

"Oh dear." 

"Huh?" You're confused even more, now. 

"Gamma, oh dear. This is worse than I thought. I'm starting to realize that things have gone very wrong since you woke up." 

"Very wrong?" 

"Could you just forget everything Carrera told you? I get the feeling that this is making communication much harder." Juliett's blush remains, but she does seem concerned. 

"Why would I do that? She told me lots of valuable information. I think." 

Juliett thinks about this conundrum for a moment, but you're not sure what the big problem is about. 

"..How about this, after the mission, can I show you what it is Carrera is talking about." Juliett continues to blush, "N-not about the bird or bee thing.. or anything lewd just.. um.. You know, we could go on a date. Then, maybe you'll get what she means by.. more to life?" 

"Well, I have some questions." You try to parse her words and are at a loss for some definitions, "A date is a point of time marked on a calendar. So how would you 'go on one'?" 

"Hmm?" Juliett seems worried, "..is that a 'no'?"

"I'm still a tad bit confused because we still appear to be on a date, if my system clock is accurate." You're certain that it's quite accurate. 

"Oh." Juliett looks a little relieved, "Oh, that's all you were wanting to know. A 'Date' is when two people go do something together to know each other better. Like.."

"'Do something together'? Like a mission?" 

"Well, more like doing because it's fun and not because we were told to do it."

"..Are missions fun?" 

"You're about to find out." Juliett sighs.

"..Well.. okay." 

You're not really sure what a mission entails, but you follow Juliett to the 'Armory'. She seems like a trustworthy person, and agrees to help you on the mission. So with that in mind, you both deploy to the battlefield. 

--

Well, that was underwhelming.

You both walk away from the shouldering wreckage of this 'Illegal pharmaceuticals plant'. Whatever that's supposed to be. Despite it's previous name, there is only one name befitting of it now.  

"I believe the warehouse becoming scrap does indeed achieve objective A." You examine the list of objectives. "Is this really what they meant, though?" 

"Sure it is. They didn't say that they wanted the warehouse." Juliett spins one of her donut-shaped explosive charges on her finger. With a snap, it disappears into her hand. "Anyway, we finished that mission in record time. So can we go on that date?" 

Date?

OH! Right, the date. 

"Sure." 

"Heheh-" Juliett laughs strangely, and turns away. Her face appears to be reddening, "I can't wait!" 

"But, um- Do you know any date activities we could do? I'm not even sure if we can eat."

"Neither am I, but I'm excited to try, though!" Juliett gives you a very warm smile.

"Is our armor appropriate for the occasion?"

"Hmm, probably not." She turns and examines her barrier jacket, and then drops it. She has a rather unassuming lab outfit underneath. "Your turn." 

You let your barrier jacket drop, and you're left in the shorts and shirt that Dr. Carrera lent you. 

"That's good enough!" Juliett smiles. "Oh! Let's try a restaurant! I want to see if we can eat." 

"We should also visit a place with birds and/or bees." You comment, "I'm sure they're important, somehow." 

--

"BLEEGH-"

"Yuck.." You and Juliett both wretch as you put the small spoon of 'pudding' into your mouths. 

"..I guess this answers that question." Juliett huffs. "That's too bad. I would have liked to eat with you." 

"Hmm.." You sigh. "I mean-" 

"Hmm, I mean." You try another taste of this 'food'. "This could just be a bug. Maybe Dr. Carrera can fix it later."

"Yeah, maybe so." Juliett seems a bit disappointed.

"..What happens to food when we eat it anyway? Does it like.. disappear?" 

"No idea." Juliett sets her spoon down. "Now that I think more about it; I'm not sure I want to eat food anyway. It seems disgusting." 

This is really bringing the mood down. It's the opposite of what you think is supposed to be happening on this 'date'. With that in mind; you decide to try taking Juliett someplace else.

"Let's just try something else. Is there anything else people do on dates?" 

For some reason, this immediately causes Juliett to blush.

"Well, I can think of a few things, but-" 

"Oh-" You notice a man and a woman walking across the street to a clearing. Many other humans are paired up in a similar manner as they walk through the clearing and into a large, grassy field with a river bisecting it. 

This gives you an idea. 

"Come on." You stand up, and take Juliett's hand.

 "Eh?!" Juliett blushes harder, "Where are we going?" 

"We're going to do something humans do on dates!"

"W-" Juliett's face continues to burn red. "Ah, Gamma. I don't know if I can- I mean, I'm not sure I'm ready for-" 

--

You sit down on the 'park bench' with Juliett. She continues  to blush uncontrollably for some reason. Carefully, you watch the humans in an attempt to mimic what they are doing. 

"Gamma, I'm not sure what else to do at this point, but I think humans.. um-" Juliett is trying to say something, but she seems far too out-of-breath to finish her thought. You carefully watch another human couple in the distance. 

A human in the distance slowly starts to embrace a shorter human next to him. She slowly seems to melt in his grasp, and they embrace one another.

Wait! You know this. It's the 'Foxtrot Comfort' grab that Juliett taught you! This is what she was wanting! 

"..if you're feeling uncomfortable.. We could-" 

Juliett's words are cut off as you lean over, and take her into an almost identical grasp as the taller human.

"G-Gamma?" 

You keep one of your sideways facing cameras on the human pair. Slowly, you see his next step.

He leans over, and presses his lips against hers. 

You hesitate. This is an unfamiliar gesture, and none of your combat throws or grabs mention anything about pressing your lips against the person you are grappling with. So is it a friendly gesture? 

You start to move in on Juliett's face. Suddenly, you notice her face is starting to freeze. She has no expression, no sign that she's either enjoying or hating this, and nothing leaving her lips that she wants you to stop.

This must be something you're not understanding.

You don't want to come off as hostile to Juliett. This wouldn't be good if you ended up appearing hostile to the person you're on this 'date' with. So you try something else.

You hand reaches up, and then it starts to pat Juliett's head. 

"Huh?" Juliett blinks.

"..Is this not correct?" Uh oh, you're now starting to worry that this wasn't the correct move, either.

The two humans are walking away, and you can't observe what they are doing next. 

You sigh, and start to think that you may not be cut out for this sort of thing.

"So.. now what?" 

You know what; you have someone you can ask for this sort of thing. 

"What are you doing?" Juliett immediately catches onto what you're doing.

"I was about to call Iota and ask what we should-" 

"NO!" Juliett grabs your hand, "No, don't tell Iota about this, in fact, let's just not tell anyone about it." 

"Why not?"

"..This.. I just want this to be a private thing between us, is that okay?" 

"Um.. sure." 

You're not getting the implications of this, and you're not even going to start trying. 

Suddenly, you're alerted to two people who are staring at you. 

Your gaze snaps upward, and Juliett follows your vision.

"L-Lindy?!" The orange-haired girl seems surprised.

"Wow, Carim, I didn't know you were interested in Fate's mom.." 

"Um." You're a little confused. 

"Lindy! How could you?! She could be your daughter!" The orange-haired girl seems almost offended.

"Carim! I'm so glad you finally realized your feelings!" The blue-haired girl has a completely different attitude, "I'm cheering for you!" 

"Ah hello." You greet the two girls staring at you way too closely, "I don't believe we've met before. My name is..Grace. Grace Emerald."

Juliett simply gulps as you continue. She tries not to maintain eye contact with the two girls.

You look at them both carefully, and-

Datalink: Scanning...

Wait, what?

You decide to try talking to the orange-haired one, as the blue-haired one seems more than content with smiling. You need to ask her later if she's a Raptor like you are.

"We were just having a date in the park and were trying to decide what it is couples do." You give a light nod to the girl who is scowling at you, "If you two are also on a date, then please advise us as to what we should be doing."

"A D-d-d-d-d-" The orange girl has her face flush red.

"YES!" The blue-haired girl explodes in smiles, "We are on a date! Our third one since the Silver Cross incident! I was going to take lots of pictures and send them to y-"

"HEY! HEY!" The orange girl holds the blue haired girl's mouth shut, "This isn't about us, this is about you! What are you doing, pretending as if you've never met us before!? Do you think that will just get you out of this?!"

"Sorry, I don't understand." You blink.

"You're having a steamy relationship behind the backs of your friends and even children!" The orange hair woman huffs.

"I'm serious, I have no idea who you are." You repeat once more.

"You have no idea who I am!?" The human erupts, "Are you going to pretend that you're not Lindy, next?"

"Who?"

"Lindy!"

"What's a Lindy?" Juliett blinks.

"Oh come on-"

"I have no idea of what you two are talking about." You shake your head.

"Come on, Gamma." Juliett beckons you to leave, "Just forget the humans, they're impeding in our date and I doubt our missions will ever let us see them again. The same with whoever is 'Carim' or 'Lindy'."

"Huh?" You stand up and nearly knock over the orange-haired girl, "Uh, okay. Bye Orange human, bye number Zero-Two."

You take Juliett's hand as you walk away. The whole time the orange-haired girl continues to spout nonsense about 'Lindy' and 'Carim'. Either ways, it's loud and annoying. Zero-two has the strangest reaction; her face stops smiling and instead has a look of genuine worry as she disappears from your sight. Juliett leading you deeper into the park and into the woods.

You follow Juliett over to the pond, and proceed to cross over the bridge with her. She stops halfway over the bridge, and leans on the railing.

You're not sure what she's supposed to be doing, but you mimic her all the same. A ghostly reflection of your face appears in the shimmering water below.

"Do you know what she was talking about?" You mumble.

"A little, maybe." Juliett sighs.

"Can you maybe clue me in as to what it is?"

".." Juliett keeps looking at her reflection, but does give a light answer. "We may look a bit like some other humans, but the chances of anyone knowing those humans on a planet where millions of them live is next to nothing."

"Uhh-" You're not really sure what that means, "Look like other humans? Explain."

"Well, to put it bluntly, Caledfwlch didn't exactly make us unique. There are other people who may look like us, but try not to think too much about it. The chance of us meeting them are slim."

"Oh." You blink. "Is that why I could scan one of them earlier? Was she a Raptor, too?"

"Scan one of them? I don't understand." Juliett glances at you.

Then, she glances past you.

"Is that her?" Juliett points out, and you notice a figure approaching you on your side-facing cameras.

"Hello again." You greet Zero-two.

"Hey, quick question-" You can tell she must be able to move quickly in order to find you in such short time. "Let's put the Lindy and Carim thing aside for a moment, how did you know about the 'Zero-two' thing?"

"Oh, I scanned you, and it turned up on your information tag." You shrug, "You're a Raptor too, right? Surely you must have seen it on my scan."

"Your 'scan'. Also.. Raptor?" This just makes Zero-two seem more perplexed.

"Yeah, Juliett, can't you see 'Zero-two' on her scan?"

Juliett, however, isn't as helpful.

"I can't scan like you can." She shrugs, "Sorry."

Well, that's unfortunate.

"Anyway, we're trying to have a date here, so could we talk about this some other time?" Juliett grabs your arm.

"So you say you're.. Raptors." Zero-two continues as if she didn't hear Juliett at all, "And you're both on a date, but where did you come from?"

"Oh, we came from Caledfwlch laboratories. We just finished a mission, and decided to take a detour and relax."

"Which you are interrupting right now." Juliett huffs, "So please let us be, if you're not going to offer advice on dating and human interaction."

The orange-haired girl is huffing as she sprints up behind Zero-two. Clearly, Zero-two must be some kind of Raptor, as she's able to leave her human companion in the dust.

"Subaru.. Sub-" Orange-hair coughs, "Subaru, don't run away like that again, I'm not in as good of shape as you are."

"Teana, this is serious." Zero-two grabs Orange's arm, "Can you tell us everything you just told me?"

"Hmm?" You blink, "The part where we're on a date or the part where we came from the lab?"

"The last part, please."

"Oh, we were finishing up our mission and decided to take a detour in the park for some alone time. After this, we'll return to the labs."

"Which labs?"

"Caledfwlch. You're a raptor, too. So you should know, right?"

This elicits a blank stare from both of them.

"So, if you don't mind, we're going to be continuing our DATE." Juliett grabs your arm.

"Yes, I would love to stay and talk to a fellow Raptor, but today is for Juliett." You take Juliett's hand, "We can discuss the specifics, later."

"Hold on, hold on, wait-"

Zero-Two is smiling really big, and she offers her hand.

"I have an idea, you say that you don't know what to do on a date, right?"

"Well.." You think back on it, "That's true."

"What are you doing?" Orange glares at the blue-haired girl.

"So-" She continues, "How about you stay with us for the day, and we can show you more about how to go on a date."

"Subaru, what are you-"

Orange immediately has her mouth covered by Zero Two.

"So.. you'll tell us more about what humans do on this 'date'?"

She smiles.

"Suuuuuure. It would be really fun! We could go on a double date."

"A double date?" Juliett blinks.

"Yeah, it's a thing that humans do. We could go to the aquarium! Then we could take a trip back to our offices."

"Your offices? You mean like your lab?" You feel a bit confused.

She looks over to her Orange-haired partner.

"Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure." She states in the same awkward tone of voice as before, "My 'lab'. I would love to show you around."

"This seems to solve the problem of how to spend our date, wouldn't you agree, Juliett?"

The blonde girl thinks about this for a second, and then smiles.

"Well, truthfully I didn't know what to do past this point anyway."

"Then it's decided!" Subaru smiles, "Let me show you around the aquarium!"

You shrug, and take Juliett's hand as they lead you to the other side of the park. As you walk, you ask a question that seems to be on your mind.

"So.. I think it's bold of you to date a human. How do you deal with the squishy parts?" You can almost hear the water moving in Orange's body as she walks.

"I LOVE THE SQUISHY PARTS!" Zero-Two suddenly exclaims.

"I-Idiot!" Orange huffs, "Shut up!"

--

That was a strange place you just visited.

You sit at a table with the two you've met on one side, with Juliett and yourself on the other. From your discussions; you realize that they're actually code-named 'Teana' (Orange) and 'Subaru' (Zero-Two) and they preferred to be called that way.

'Subaru' and 'Teana' sit across from you, and consume some kind of ice-based nutrition that you didn't like the taste of.

"We're sorry, Juliett. We didn't know you hated sea creatures." Teana frowns.

Juliett sits with her arms hugging you as she silently whispers.

"Huge tentacles.. fins..." She seems to shiver, slightly. "Organic life was a mistake, all of it must be purged in fire."

You giggle and pat your date on the head. You thought most of it was kind of cute; you especially like the type of sea-life called a 'Barracuda'. It had a very dangerous and precision-made look to it. You'd like to know more about them, someday.

"Hey, hey-" Subaru whispers, "Tell her you'll protect her, and then kiss her, she'll love that."

Kiss her?

Teana pushes her hand against Subaru's blushing face.

"-So, let's ignore the pervert and talk about these labs you came from." She adjusts her voice, "Caledfwlch, you say?"

"Do it-" Subaru continues to whisper with a hand firmly pressed into her cheek, "Kiss Juliett and tell her everything will be okay while you're there. She'll really like that."

You blink.

"What is a kiss? How may I acquire one?"

This causes a confused look from the blue human. You decide to explain further as your description may not have been accurate.

"A kiss is a touch with the lips as a sign of love, right? Can you demonstrate?"

"Wait, this isn't-"

"SURE!" 02 promptly ignores the orange-haired woman's protest, and-

*smack*

SLAP!

Momentarily after 02's mucus-covered facial opening touched Teana's cheek, she promptly responded with a slap.

"SUBARU YOU PERVERT!" She shouts, "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"

Subaru, instead of being insulted or hurt from the slap, instead starts laughing. A very strange reaction, and you're not sure if humor is supposed to be the intended response here or not.

Well, okay, here it goes.

"Ready?" You look at Juliett.

"Yes, let's try it." She looks toward you.

You lean over, and gently place the same 'kiss' on Juliett's cheek.

Then, she promptly slaps you.

This causes both Subaru and Teana to freeze, and they turn their attention at you as if something terrible just happened.

"So, how was it?" Juliett seems eager to hear your experience with 'kissing'.

"..The kiss part felt warm, but I'm not sure if I got the humor response from the slap part." You give a truthful answer of your experience with 'romance'.

"I agree, somehow slapping you felt much more intimidating than sealife." Juliett nods.

This causes the faces of the humans to curl into some kind of horrified look that you're not sure of the intended emotion.

"..Pray tell, how old did you say you were, again?" Teana manages to say something despite her face contorting into a look that seems to resemble 'horror' from your databanks.

"Oh!" Maybe she's just curious, "Well, I was born about six hours ago and-"

"I'm three weeks old." Juliett bows her head.

"So, the purpose of this date is partially to understand more about life on my first day alive." You try to explain in more detail, "I'm not sure I can feel love, so that's why I was hoping you could tell me more about it, but I'm not sure I'm following so far. Is there a step that I missed?"

"..Subaru.. You idiot.. You're trying to teach romance to someone less than a day old.." Orange mumbles.

"Oh, it's fine!" You try to calm down Teana, "Doctor Carrera had 'The Talk' with me but I was incapable of understanding organic reproduction."

This does NOT calm down Teana. In fact, she looks angrier than before.

"M-Maybe we should get past that and get to the part where we visit our 'labs'!" 02 changes the subject. "Y-yeah! You wanted to see our labs earlier, and we're just a few blocks away, so maybe we should go there?"

"Oh! Okay, are your labs like Caledfwlch?"

"Yeah, you could say that-" She states in a very strange manner.

"If you want, we could give our advertising routine to you." Juliett presents an excellent idea.

"Right! That would clear up any differences between our labs, if they are different."

"Wait, your- what again?" Teana blinks, "Advertising?"

"Juliett?"

"Let's go, Gamma!"

You both, in unison, jump up from your chairs.

In precision-calculated accuracy, both of you are standing at attention. You tune your voices to sound like members of an elite fighting force.

"CALEDFWLCH!" You both shout.

This gets plenty of eyes on both you and Juliett. Many humans are staring, now! This is your chance!

"THE SOLDIERS OF TOMORROW!" Your designated speech continues with Juliett. You both decide over short-range comms to let her go first.

"We are block EFGHI!" Juliett shouts, "The fully-contained mobile strike team!"

"A complete army in an easy-to-deploy package!" You shout behind her.

This is making both 02 and Teana blush with envy!

"I am Model CW-ADJX!" Your sister begins, "The complete demolitions expert in a 'bombshell' body! With five hard-points, several layers of durasteel armor, and multiple magic tiers of explosive spells; I'm the all-in-one bomb disposal squad that your company needed yesterday!"

"And I-" You begin your advertisement routine, "-am Model CW-ADGX! The soldier of the future! The next generation of magic warfare requires the next generation of super-soldier. With a mind and body of steel; I'm the first in to any dangerous situation, and the last out! I never put any soldier in jeopardy!"

You salute one more time.

"Caledfwlch, solutions of the future! Today!"

This prompts some of the humans watching to clap. The orange human you were talking to seems shocked by your vast array of features, but manages to stammer something in response.

"..That'snicecanwegonow?" Teana says in a very hushed tone. Her face is red from excitement.

"Can we see your advertisement routine, next?" Juliett asks 02 with a wink.

You feel pretty proud right now. 02 is so jealous that she's speechless.

--

You follow the two into a gigantic building in the center of town. They use a card to bypass all of the security checkpoints, which you think is a really good idea. You should ask Echo to make you cards like that when you get back.

"So, when are we going to see your advertisement routine, 02?" Juliett has been curious about that ever since we left the restaurant.

"Uhh, in a moment-" She changes the subject, "Hayate! Over here!"

Speaking of Echo.. Is that her, right now?

"Subaru! Teana!"

You try to scan her, but it comes back negative. Is it normal for humans to all look alike?

Oh, you better not say that out loud. They may get offended.

"I came as soon as I got your text, can you tell me what-"

"THEY'RE SELLING SUPERSOLDIERS, HAYATE!" Teana replies first, "SUPERSOLDIERS! THEY'RE SELLING THEM! And there are at least five of them already! I knew working with them was a bad idea! They only wanted us to fight Vandein Corp. so they could have a monopoly on defense contracts. So then they could go and do this behind our back!"

This results in 'Hayate' simply tilting her head.

"Huh?"

"M-Maybe I should explain, Teana." 02 laughs, while tapping Orange on the shoulder.

"Hey! Wait up.. Hayate!"

You hear a breathless voice approach. You turn to see a tall girl with hair very similar to Juliett.

"Shamal!" Teana calls out the identification of this new human, "I think it would be faster to explain if you were to do a scan on these two."

"A scan?" The woman blinks, "I'll need permissions forms from them to do it."

"Just do it, this one time, please?" Subaru seems to override some kind of command that she gave.

'Shamal' gives her a sour look, but pulls up a holographic screen anyway.

This 'Hayate' person only stares in confusion at the both of you.

"Hello Lindy, Carim. Didn't I have tea with you earlier, Carim? What are you doing in Midchilda? Also Lindy, are you using aging magic, or something?"

"Hayate, that's not Carim or Lindy. I'm fairly sure neither of them are aware of this." 02 explains. " So Gamma, why don't you tell them yourself about where you came from?"

"Oh, me?" You blink. This is starting to get too many other people involved whom you don't know, but you suppose the gist of it wouldn't hurt. "Well-"

You open your mouth to start explaining to the new humans your excellent features.

-At that same moment, the holographic screen in front of the blonde human starts to populate with graphs. She freezes in place, and her eyes widen.

--

After some conversation, and after a negative response from the blonde human from you trying to scan her (why not? It's only fair, she scanned you first.) The next few days started to change in a weird way.

After your visit to 02's labs, your lab started to change in some subtle ways. For one, almost all of the humans you saw at the briefings went away. You're not sure where they went, but almost all of them just vanished one day.

Except Dr. Carrera, she stayed around. She seems a lot more happy as of recent, as well.

But Captain Lancer? He disappeared from the briefings. So did most of the security staff.

Speaking of the briefings, that was another thing that changed in a very odd manner. Your meetings went from being very formal discussions about your expected objectives, your missions, and your combat expertise. Oddly enough, they have instead changed into..

This.

The 'Hayate' human you met the other day seems to have supplanted Captain Lancer. She's in all of these briefings lately. Was she so impressed by your features that she bought the labs? Dr. Carrera will be so happy to hear it, if it's true.

The general structure of the briefings have changed. Instead of including your whole block, it's instead usually just a couple humans and yourself. You're all usually alone, and they don't really talk about missions. Instead, they talk about-

"So, we just have a few questions." This other human who sometimes appears asks. He's dressed in a sharp-looking black suit. "You don't have to answer any of them, and I don't want you to feel pressured. We can end this meeting any time you feel like."

"Okay!" You nod. "Um, is this about a mission that I'm going on?"

"Not today, Gamma." Hayate smiles, "This is more of a.. status check. Just checking on your well-being, that's all."

"Okay." You nod, "Ask away."

"So.. first-" The black-haired human adjusts his voice, "Gamma, while you were here, were you ever feel like you were being pressured to fight?"

"Me? Oh no, of course not." You shrug, "Actually, I think I like fighting quite a bit."

"Sure, sure-" He writes something down on his notepad.

"Also, Gamma. While you were here, did you feel like you were being abused at all?"

"'Abused'." You repeat her words, "Could you define what that means?"

"Such as.. did you ever feel pressured to do something? Like.. something that you really, really did not want to do?" Hayate seems worried.

"You're going to have to be more specific." You feel confused, still.

"Like how about.. did any of the staff have you take off your clothes?" The black-haired human asks an odd question. "Or how about touch you? Or anything else that made you feel really uncomfortable?"

Uncomfortable..

Well-

"Well.." You start to consider what that word means, 'uncomfortable'. "-It was uncomfortable when Dr. Carrera said that Juliett was a bad influence. Does that count?"

"That.. is a kind of being uncomfortable." The brown-haired girl shrugs, "But I meant something more.. embarrassing."

"Something.. more?" You blink.

"Like, people seeing you naked. Or being forced to do things while naked."

"Why are you so obsessed with me being naked or people seeing me naked?" You blink, "So what, the humans can send me on dangerous fireteam missions, but the line is crossed if they see me with my clothes off?"

"No, I-" She seems to want to say something, but doesn't

The black-haired human next to her sighs.

You don't really get what the frustration is about. You decide to cut to the point because they clearly can't stop asking about you being naked.

"Listen, the only time I felt uncomfortable or really embarrassed was when Doctor Carrera said that there was more to life than fighting."

This causes the two humans to look puzzled.

"..That made you uncomfortable?"

"Of course." You huff, "That's literally my reason to exist. Her questioning that is what lead to this entire mess."

Definitely not you wandering off after a mission with Juliett, definitely.

"So, question-" Hayate seems to be probing, again. "You say that is your reason to exist, but have you thought that maybe you're being manipulated into thinking that?"

"I don't see how that's possible." You cross your arms, "I tried to find another reason to live, but I didn't find any in my first nine hours alive. So I'm guessing there just isn't one."

This causes an awkward silence between you and the humans. They jot something down, and then change subject.

"..Let's continue." Hayate adjusts her voice, "Have you heard the name 'Lindy Harlaown'?"

"I've heard people call me the first part several times, but the last part is news to me. Is it normal for humans to have two names?"

"Mm. So-" The black-haired mage continues, "You've never seen pictures of her, before?"

"No."

They note that down, and then change subjects again.

"What about your sisters? Have they met anyone who has looked like them?"

"Well, have you met Unit Echo yet? She looks like you, and she doesn't see much of a reason to live, either." You nod.

"Teana mentioned at least 5 raptors, do you know how many units were created?" The black-haired mage seems cautious to ask this question.

"Well, I'm part of the EFGHI block, so I'm guessing twenty-six?"

This causes another pause, and they glance at each other with worry. They write something down in a rush.

"Excuse me." You start to feel like you deserve to ask some questions of your own, "How many more questions are we going to ask?"

"Just a few more, are we making you uncomfortable?"

"No, I'm just not sure about the nature of these questions. It seems like you're looking for things that the humans did wrong, but I'm not sure they did much of anything wrong. They woke me up, gave me weapons, sent me on missions, and then let me do what I wanted. I don't feel like there's much more that anyone could have done for me."

"Gamma, I believe that may be the reason we're concerned." The black-haired human seems almost tired talking to you.

"I don't see why. It makes more uncomfortable not having proper weapons. How am I supposed to survive on missions without being properly armed?"

"Gamma.." Even Hayate seems tired.

"Plus you keep asking about me being naked in front of the staff. If anything, the staff seem to really like it when I put clothes on, rather than take them off. First it was to demonstrate to a crowd, and then it was for Doctor Carrera... I guess they must like it when I get dressed."

"In front of a crowd.." Hayate blinks, "Explain."

"Well, when I was first activated, I was naked in front of a large crowd of people, but there were clothes nearby so I was able to remedy that. They called me 'shy' afterwards, but I don't know if that's accurate. Am I shy for wanting to put on clothes?"

There's a pause, and then Hayate pulls up a screen.

"Excuse me, could you bring in Unit Foxtrot? I'd like to have talk with her."

Foxtrot? Why does she want to talk with her?

Foxtrot enters the room, and sits down next to you. You immediately, almost by instinct, pat her head.

Hayate suddenly looks very serious.

"Foxtrot, my apologies for my reaction earlier when we first met. That was very unprofessional of me, and I apologize."

"Hmm?" Foxtrot blinks, "It's nothing serious, that's just how humans behave, right?"

There's a moment of pause, and she picks her paper up again.

"Foxtrot, Gamma here says she was 'showcased' to a crowd, completely naked. Is that true for you, as well?"

"Well, yes." Foxtrot shrugs, "Isn't that normal?"

"No." Hayate answers, "No it is not."

"I think we've heard enough Foxtrot-" The black-haired human tries to interrupt.

"Okay, well I thought it was kind of weird too." Foxtrot shrugs, "Maybe not as weird as the clothes they gave me. My other sisters got a full set of clothes but I only got a white dress without anything else."

"..Anything else?"

"Foxtrot, thank you for your help but I think we're done for today." The black-haired guy is trying to end the meeting.

"No, nothing else." Foxtrot blinks, "Is something wrong with any of that?"

"The humans seem sensitive to us being naked, I don't know why." You helpfully inform Foxtrot.

"Oh, you mean like the security cameras in the showers, then? My twin unit, Iota, told me that a couple of the technicians were saving videos of her showering, and to disable them before I washed."

"..I think you two should leave, we'll call for you again when we're ready." The black-haired mage says with moisture suddenly appearing on his brow.

"Huh, okay." Foxtrot stands up, "That was fast."

You stand up, and follow Foxtrot out the door. As it shuts behind you, you can hear some commotion coming from the meeting room. What is going on?

"Hey I got a question." Saying the advertising routine out-loud has made you realize something. "Who is the 'H' in our block? I suddenly realize that I didn't get to meet whoever that is supposed to be."

"Oh." Foxtrot yawns, "That's Hotel. She's in the secondary labs right now being questioned, actually. You can go talk to her if you want."

"Thank you Foxtrot, I think that I might." You smile at her.

You start to proceed down the hallway, and wave to the friendly humans who have replaced all of the stuffy scientists and annoying suits that used to give you your missions.

You sure hope you get a mission soon. You're going to run out of things to talk to eventually.

Today, you've already talked to:

• Strange Lady
• Strange Man
• Echo
• Foxtrot
• The Phone
• The Vending Machine
• Dr Carrera
• Dr Carrera's computer
• Several security cameras
• Foxtrot's toaster

While you're glad to be surrounded by familiar things, you also wish that you get something new to talk to. Maybe a new vending machine?

Speaking of which, you haven't seen Juliett today. Is she going on missions without you? You need to ask her if she has found anything to do while the new humans are around.

You pass by Dr. Carrera's office, and see the same thing you always see. More humans inside giving pointed questions while she just looks annoyed. You need to visit her later and see if they're giving her any trouble.

Then, you arrive at the secondary laboratory.

Inside, you see several of your sisters lounging around. You think that they're just as bored as you are, and really don't have anything to do. This new sister you met this morning, Quebec, seems to be taking her TSAB job very seriously as she walks around with a pen and paper and interrogates everyone in the room. Which is strange because you're pretty sure she can record thing in perfect accuracy to her memory.

You're not going to question it, though.

You start scanning the few units in the room to find which one is Hotel. One of the humans ends up returning a scan, so you start to investigate further. You see Papa, and November, but also-

Oh!

According to your scans, that's Unit Hotel! She's talking to some red-headed human. You decide to step in and ask a couple questions.

"Hello." You approach her as she sits on a bench with her interesting looking barrier jacket, "I'm Unit Gamma. You must be Unit Hotel?"

"That's me!" She seems oddly enthusiastic. "Hello Gamma! I'm glad to meet you. I heard we were in the same block, but I haven't got a chance to fight you yet."

"That's-"

Wait, what?

"Hotel, it's not nice to say that you're going to fight the new sisters that you meet."

The red-head human speaks up as if she's scolding your sister. You don't think it's a problem, though.

"It's okay, if she wants to fight me then we can fight sometime, preferably not here though." You would like to fight Hotel sometime, if only there was a way to practice fighting?

"In either case, you must be Gamma. It's good to meet you. I'm Wendi Nakajima. I'll be here for the next couple weeks." The red-headed human smiles.

"Okay, sure." You turn your attention back to Hotel, "Anyway, it's good to meet you Hotel."

"Same!" Hotel puts her tiny hand out. Is she really one of your sisters? That hand is tiny compared to yours. "I'm the assassination unit."

"We're trying to get her designation changed to the Marksman unit. I think it would be less terrifying for everyone involved." Again, the human seems to want to speak for Hotel.

"Ms. Nakajima." You interrupt Wendi, "My scans show that she's the assassination unit. Is there a problem with that?"

"No, of course not. I think the new designation would result in more missions and less scrutiny, that's all." She smiles.

You're a bit skeptical.

"Anyway! What else were you talking about?" This at least seems new, and you want to find out to what extent the human has in relation to you. You're confused why she returns a scan like Zero-two did.

"Ms. Wendi here says we're related!" Hotel smiles, "She says we share a lot of the same technology?"

"Wait, really?"

"That appears to be the case." The red-headed human smiles, "My sisters and I are cyborgs called the 'Numbers', and the Raptors appear to have a lot of the same technology. So I'm trying to find out if we're related."

"Does that make us Cousins? Sisters? Half-sisters?" Hotel seems really into this.

"Is that why you're staying with us?" You blink.

"It's part of why I volunteered, but mostly I'm here to help with your adaptation to the new lab with far more supervision from the TSAB."

"More supervision?" You don't like the sound of that, "Did we not have enough before?"

"You did, but Caledfwlch didn't." Wendi explains, "You see, the raptors were supposed to help my unit, Section 6. Then they deactivated the previous Raptor generation without a explanation. A few months later they are selling new raptors that are far more powerful than we had previously thought they could be, without telling us, and without re-activating the previous generation."

"That sounds wrong." You frown, you hope the previous generation is okay.

"Only because it is." She smiles.

At least she seems to understand the grave injustice that exists with raptors being 'Deactivated'.