A new day has arrived, as the older sister, Yang Xiao Long, woke up to the sight of the bright sun, beautiful green leaves, and of course, her sister sleeping next to her. The two are very lucky to be living outside the city, in a place yet to be touched by the Combine harvesting machinery, where Remnant's true beauty lives on. Yang is starting to stretch to get ready for the day, eventually going to scout ahead to see if there are any lingering patrols left. According to her estimation, it should be near 7:30 AM, when the patrols are officially recalled back to the city.

And as expected, no patrols to be seen. Yang sighs, and heads back to wake up Ruby to continue their trip back home. Upon returning to the tree where Ruby was sleeping however, Yang would find a note lying next to Ruby. Picking it up to see what reads on it, she is a little confused as to the contents of said paper.

"This is Entillites One, Sigma Three. Meet me at the plaza in three days. Burn this paper upon reading it, and remember the code phrase: 'Tau is as beautiful as Lambda'."

Confused, Yang pockets the paper, now deciding to wake up Ruby. She shakes her a little, as soon after Ruby jumps up and looks around her frantically.

"I'm awake, dad! I'm awake!"

"Well, you're awake, but I'm no dad."

"Ugh... I didn't sleep all too well. Sorry."

Ruby apologized for her late wake up, as she too did some stretches to wake herself up. Once done, the two continue their journey to their home, only after taking the bags with them. The journey was uneventful, save for a few close encounters with some peculiar looking mines: must have been left over by the Combine years ago. Green light in the center, with some pistons attaching it to the ground. But, they avoid the mines successfully, as they now hit a small clearing, where they see a wooden house, and a man with short blonde hair, who seems to be watering some plants.

Ruby starts to pick up pace, before turning into a wind of rose petals, and appearing just behind the person, hugging him from behind. The man almost skipped a beat of his heart, that's for sure.

"We're home, dad!"

"Oh, hey Rubes. We were expecting you to arrive yesterday around 9."

"Sorry dad, we kinda had to hurry up because they moved the curfew..."

"Again? That's the fifth time this month it happens. Well, at least you're safely back."

The man said, as he finally got up onto his two feet, and properly turned around to face the two girls he calls their daughters, only after Ruby had let go of him. Once the three were done with their greetings, they entered the house, as Yang and Ruby made their way to the kitchen to set their bags on the table.

Back in City 12, specifically the monolithic tower looking down at the other buildings, we see a woman sitting at her desk, looking through some files on a monitor. Her white-bluish suit makes her hard to miss, especially when its in contrast to the dark colours the Combine have. She sighs, and decides to look at some recently de-classified documents that she didn't have access to previously. Inside one such document was a video, which she decided to play, and see what it holds.

Footage of a place vastly different from Remnant is the first thing the woman sees. Order on the streets, a serene sense of calmness, and a man, speaking in favour of unity, mankind's unity. This intrigued her, and decided to watch more of the video. She sees the same man again and again, both on the screens identical to the ones they have here, and in person. And he seems to be... brokering peace with the Combine, as far as she can see. This is very intriguing, indeed.

But it soon after cuts to glimpses outside of the orderly and calm setting she viewed previously, to see elements of nature on its last legs: water masses drained, lands left barren, wildlife mutated. This quickly became a little worrying for the woman, as she continues watching. Soon after, it shifts focus from showing her the nature of this mysterious place, to open combat. Combat between the organized and recognisable Overwatch Transhuman Arm, and the brave but foolish men in jumpsuits with embedded bulletproof vests, with the sign of the Lambda on their shoulders. It shows the two forces fiercely clashing, weaving victory and defeat for both sides, death and destruction where ever they fight, and a side of the Overwatch the woman hasn't seen. A side that is devoid of humanity, a side that is hellbent on punishing these wrongdoers to the extreme. But alas, before she can see any more of the video, an emergency pop-up had appeared on her screen. She shakes off the feeling she had, and immediately took a look at the pop-up.

"Merlot Industries... no, that can't be right, they were shutdown years before the occupation began."

The woman was in disbelief, but its all there, on her screen. And the message reads as follows:

"Site Delta has been destroyed. Requesting site Upsilon near City 12 to continue experimentation. Administrator Ironwood has authorized these experiments, so worry not about his approval, miss Schnee. -Doctor Merlot"

Winter Schnee, acting Administrator of City 12 was looking at the message for a solid three minutes. She had heard of Merlot Industries, and learned that they ceased to exist after the... 'issue' at Mountain Glenn. But, she needs to write a response to the sender, so she gets working on it immediately.

"Site Upsilon will be constructed as soon as possible, with the best protection City 12 can offer. Start transporting your assets as soon as you can. -Acting Administrator Schnee"

Once written and sent, Winter looks back at the video she was watching. A few seconds of thinking later, and she had decided to close it. Her attention is now needed elsewhere. She leaves her office, and heads to the lower levels of the Citadel, as the monolithic tower is known as. On her screen however comes the distorted image of... something, before it disappears, and the screen returns to normal.