A swell of music caught the redheaded young man's attention as he walked down the long hallway that was the european Black Order's HQ. The fellow scientist who was helping Cross carry paperwork to the other science division paused mid step.

"Ah, that must be the new exorcist everybody has been talking about. I heard she transferred here from the American Branch HQ," the russet-eyed man said to his redheaded compainion.

Cross turned his head to listen better. With his ear angled towards the music he could make out the distinctly muted tones. Something in the way it reverberated off the walls was… different from ordinary singing.

"Parasite type, right?" He asked, recalling a tidbit of conversation over the earlier meal. He'd taken his work in with him during lunch at the cafeteria again, and had only noticed a word or two of the chatter while he was only half listening.

Gossip was fine and all but he'd been focusing on some complicated concepts that wouldn't be left alone until they were understood. His personal projects had to be worked on in his own time, since the Black Order had given him more than too much work on their own time.

Dominic shifted the stack of files he was carrying and Cross took that motion as a clue to keep going on their walk. Dominic continued his earlier comments as they neared the next division. "Yeah, parasite type vocal cords or something like that… Maria and her Innocence… Marta Carta I believe. When she sings, it's said that she has the ability to control minds, both people and akuma's alike."

Cross gave a low whistle, "That sounds useful."

As they were, in their usual way, Cross or Dominic made some obscene remark that made the other laugh in a dreadful fashion.

"We'll get our chance to met her soon enough. I bet Tiedoll will take over showing her around, since he'll be here at HQ for a while until he recovers."

"No doubt he'll bring her in to the cafeteria of dinner… but…" Dominic paused for the length of a breath as he thought to himself, "They'll probably ask us to study her Innocence. So we might see her before dinner."

Cross shrugged in reply, since by that time the two of them had already made it down to the lower level science devision and research facility.

Boss Chief Arminé was there to greet them, as if sensing the two of them with a Fresh Blood Radar that she used to rope less-exhausted scientists into her clutches

"Cross, Dominic, are these the files from the finders in the south? The pair who are checking out the lake that glows at night?" Arminé asked, and practically swept them into her office… which was little more than a desk completely overwhelmed with papers, books, and files.

Cross eyed the escape route and wondered how quickly Arminé could run after him. He didn't get far in that thought when one of the other worn down scientists gave him a look that said "Try to run and you will regret it," as both a warning and a threat.

Cross huffed when Arminé didn't even give him a chance to choose if he'd take that risk or not. She practically pushed them into another adjointing room, determined not to let her prey escape. Cross was even more annoyed at the fact that her other captives were all too eager to help their demented captor herd the new ones along, as if the hope that the new blood might lighten the load enough for the tired ones to finally get a moment of break time.

"This is the newest set of Innocence to choose accommodators," Arminé said as she hurried them to a table on the side of the room. The room was full of tools and materials for the creation of Anti-Akuma weapons. Cross felt whiplash at how quickly she changed the topic, as if she didn't care about their task of delivering paperwork.

"It's our task to refine them into weapons. You two," she gave the newbies, cross and dominic, a pointed look, "take Rosko's team," she finished, pointing to a ragged looking 'dirty bastard' that Cross took immediate dislike of.

Dominic looked like he was going to cry.

"All I wanted was to go to bed after we finished the paperwork," he whispered brokenly. Even Cross felt sympathetic for the fellow scientist. Bed was a luxury that many of them never had the time to enjoy.

"Chin up, good lad, we'll be done in no time with this extra help. I've heard good things about you and your friend's/partner's skilled abilities, boy." Rosko said to Dominic, patting the man on the back. This dirty bastard's attitude was far too chipper for Cross's tastes, though Dominic seemed to cheer up at the prospect of getting this over with, and showing off his talents no doubt, so that he could potentially still get some sleep in before next shift.

"Come on, Cross, let's get this finished so we can go to bed!" Dominic said shamelessly and made a show of rubbing his hands together. He seemed to do some quick calculations in his head while he rolled up his sleeves. "If we hurry we could be done with an entire hour of sleep left," he said with a hopeful gleam to his eye.

A young man was the first of the two new accommodators to need them to fashion an Anti-Akuma weapon. He'd been recruited by a general with loose innocence, so it had yet to take any shape or form yet. Dominic took the task of creating an anti-akuma weapon along with the old man who was visiting from the asian branch.

The second accommodator was a young woman. She seemed pale after Rosko took the feather-engraved dagger from her and set it on the table in front of Cross. They set to work, sometimes discussing the designs as they took the merely decorative blade that the Innocence had joined with, and turned it into a powerful weapon..

True to Rosko's word, it didn't take long with the extra pairs of skilled hands. Between the four of them the small craftsmanship skills shared easily and they were done with in a couple of hours. Practically nothing compared to some of the tasks that the scientists were often goven.

Cross handed the lady her new twin daggers that expanded in size and shape like twin scythes. Names would be given later, but for the moment Cross only had one thing on his mind. His main concern was sneaking out before Arminé decided he was awake enough to take another shift. The ex-priest redheaded scientist didn't have the energy for that.

Once glance at his friend told him the poor man was a lost cause. Dominic was already sleep-standing at this point. Cross took off at the earliest sign of an exit, knowing all too well that the effort to stir the fellow scientist from his daze would bring too much attention to themselves.

He'd get shit about abandoning the man later, but since his friend would have honestly done the same, Cross didn't feel guilty about leaving the man to fiend for himself. At this unholy hour of the night it was every man to fiend for themselves.

"No harsh feelings," he said under his breath after he'd made it halfway down the hall and the taste of freedom was sweet on his lips.

Freedom taste like trouble… or should he say Tiedoll. Damn it, the exorcist with the puffy hair was yet another one of those people Cross would much rather avoid when tired.

Really, he'd try to say some mushy stuff about taking care of himself and whatever the damn he pleased because to him, Cross was some scientist who… seriously, of everyone here at HQ, Tiedoll was the one who would show interest in all of the people as if they were humans and not pawns. For a tired, grouchy, cross Cross, he couldn't care less. He kept on walking by.

Tiedoll actually seemed so distracted that he didn't take notice of Cross at all.

Huh. Cross, having decided not to tempt the fates, made a dash for his room and slammed the door shut behind him as quickly as possible.