A/N: Happy Holidays to everyone reading this! Guess I got back pretty quickly on this, huh? Thanks to XxHellShadowXx for her Mew and alien submissions, and to sakuuya for taking an interest. Since I'm getting this chapter up with a few open spots left, I'll still take submissions for the Eastern Seaboard Mews-I still need a Second, Techno, and Coordinator for the team, and a Combat Specialist for the aliens.
Back inside the base, in the Mew locker room, Ichigo shucked out of her uniform. The locker room was originally intended to be storage for equipment, uniforms, and the like, but over the course of three generations of Mews most of those things had migrated to the Mews' rooms. These days, the locker room was more of a communal cleanup and decontamination space.
Lettuce and Zakuro had claimed the showers almost immediately, Zakuro to wash off the chimaera's blood and Lettuce to get rid of her coating of soot from her ray-guns, which had exploded shortly after the fight was over. Berry had just returned from delivering tissue samples from the dead chimaera to Ryou and Keiichiro and was busy removing her boots. Pudding had miraculously managed to stay clean, and the smallest Mew was helping Mint clean chimaera blood off herself. The bird Mew hated getting her wings wet and avoided showers whenever possible, preferring to use a washcloth.
Ichigo dropped her filthy uniform into the laundry hamper and waited patiently for one of the showers to come open. She didn't mind being naked in here—all of Shirogane's cameras had been removed, and all of the Mews knew exactly what the others looked like unclothed. Her tail swished behind her as she grabbed her towel from the rack and hung it closer to the showers, within easy reach.
Abruptly, the water in Zakuro's shower cut off, and the wolf Mew stepped out amid a swirl of steam. Her long, violet hair looked black with water and clung to her skin. She grabbed her towel and pulled it around her body, the plush fabric clinging to every curve, and padded across the floor, completely unfazed by the cold concrete.
Ichigo slipped into the shower stall and turned the water on. A stream of warm water cascaded over her skin, beating against her ears, drenching her in seconds. She hummed with pleasure and reached for the shampoo.
Shirogane Ryou was fortunate that all six of his girls were clothed when he barged into the locker room fifteen minutes later. Zakuro was seated on one of the benches, with Mint perched behind her braiding her hair. Ichigo was in the process of helping Lettuce with her signature double-braid, and Berry fended off an overeager Pudding, who evidently wanted to join her 'sisters' tradition of doing each other's hair. As one, they looked at him in the doorway. Ryou gulped. He'd designed and trained all six Mews, but it was still intimidating to have them all staring at him at once. They were…intense, even quiet Lettuce.
"We've got an incoming transmission from the east coast of America. Ichigo, Zakuro, I need you in the Briefing Room now," Ryou said.
As per usual, Ichigo sassed him. "And what do you need us for, Shirogane? Can't handle it on your own?"
Ryou suppressed a groan of frustration. "It's a conference, Ichigo, and that means Coordinators, Heads, Leaders, and Tacticians. Now."
"We're coming," Zakuro said simply as Mint tied off her braid with a ponytail holder. She stood and walked to Ryou's side. The Coordinator glanced at her sidelong. Zakuro was the oldest and most trusted of his Mews, but none of the others were anywhere near as enigmatic. His blue eyes locked with her violet ones, and he wondered, what are you thinking? What goes on in that mind of yours, Zakuro? Ichigo groused unhappily about the change of pace.
"Minto-chan, can you finish Lettuce's braids for me?" the Lead Mew asked over her shoulder as she joined her Coordinator and Tactician in the doorway.
"No problem, Ichigo," Mint replied, settling behind Lettuce.
Leaving the other four Mews to their own devices—they would probably just go back to bed for a few more hours' worth of sleep—the trio headed down a flight of stairs to the main hub of Headquarters.
The Tokyo Headquarters were located in a custom-designed underground bunker just outside the city proper, set under an old café that had gone out of business a few years before the First Contact. They still used it sometimes as a meeting room when scientists from other branches came to discuss future plans for the project. The headquarters itself was designed with three floors. The uppermost was primarily supplies and storage, along with the Mew's locker room. The Briefing Room and living quarters were on the second level, and the lowest—and largest—level had both the labs and the training rooms.
Ryou pushed open the door to the Briefing Room and heard the Mews gasp in shock. He wasn't surprised. They were his newest team, after all, and the old team had fallen apart slowly enough that Ichigo and Zakuro weren't quite used to all the duties and responsibilities of being the Leader and Tactician. They'd certainly never seen the Briefing Room lit up like this before.
Keiichiro had set up the projector in the center of the room, and various lenses projected live-stream images of other teams of Mews from around the globe. The Head was on his own personal screen, making eyes at the Head of the Eastern Seaboard Mews, a young woman named Rei who had been his classmate in college. Trying to ignore his Head, Ryou scanned the screens. Small text in the corner of each image, written in English, told which locations were represented. Most bases were accounted for—except, oddly enough, the Greenland Mews, and Moscow Mew Mew had decided to show up. Keiichiro flipped a switch, and Tokyo Mew Mew went live.
"Hey, Rei, is everyone here who's gonna be here or do we have to wait? I'm getting really frickin' bored," the Eastern Seaboard's Lead Mew asked impatiently, brushing her dark brown bangs out of her eyes. She jammed her hands in one of the front pockets of her military-style jacket, managing to look both irritated and anxious at the same time.
"Calm down, Rei's talking to her boyfriend. She'll look up in a minute," said her companion, a Mew with violet-streaked black hair. The ESM Tactician looked worried, green eyes darting back and forth like she expected an attack. Ryou's curiosity was piqued now. What on Earth was going on over there?
Rei looked up from her chat with Keiichiro, a little startled. "Oh, excuse me. Yes, I think we're ready to begin."
"Then we should hurry up, yes?" That was the Leader of Moscow Mew Mew, a large girl with polar bear DNA. "Greenland Mews are requesting backup, and as closest headquarters Moscow is required to help."
Ryou sighed inwardly. This was going to be a long meeting, he could tell, and English always gave him a slight headache—but it was a requirement, the second language all Mews, Coordinators, and Heads had to learn to communicate between bases.
"We're forgetting protocol, everyone," Keiichiro said simply. "All teams must introduce ourselves before the meeting can begin, and the 'host' team goes first."
"Alright, I'm Mew Currant, Leader of Eastern Seaboard Mew," the girl said, amber eyes flashing.
"Mew Amu, Eastern Seaboard Tactician," said the other Eastern Seaboard Mew.
"Nishina Rei, Head of Eastern Seaboard Mew," said Rei. "Our Coordinator is trying to deal with the situation that led us to call this meeting, so he couldn't make it.
The string of introductions ran around the room, going surprisingly smoothly considering the irregularity of this sort of meeting- most Mews never met others who weren't from their home country. They went in order of arrival, so Tokyo Mew Mew went last.
"Mew Ichigo, Leader of Tokyo Mew Mew."
"Mew Zakuro, Tactician."
"Shirogane Ryou, Tokyo Mew Mew Coordinator."
"Akasaka Keiichiro, Head of Research and Detection."
"Now that that's over with…" Mew Currant grumbled, "We've got a situation over here."
"What sort of 'situation'?" asked one of the British Mews. They were right across the Atlantic, so most problems from the east coast of the United States washed up there.
"We…um…lost one of our Mews," Currant said sheepishly.
"Greenland Mews are losing Mews right now and will lose whole team if Moscow Mews do not get there in time," grumbled the polar bear Mew.
"She's not dead, just missing," Mew Amu said coolly. "We suspect the Cyniclons captured her."
"They used different tactics here," Rei said. "Instead of targeting our base, they made a run through the Catskill Mountains, dropping chimaera along the way, and left before our Mews arrived on the scene."
"I'm asking you guys to keep an eye out for her," Currant said.
"Can we get a visual of this Mew?" Keiichiro asked, leaning forward intently.
A picture replaced the visual of the Eastern Seaboard delegation. The Mew pictured was a tall, slim girl, with long platinum blonde hair, a lock of which hid her right eye. The left one was a brilliant ruby color. Massive bat wings were folded behind her back.
Currant's voice came out of the speakers. "That's Mew Calliope, one of our Aces. She disappeared right in the middle of the attack, and our A.I. detected at least three chimaeras pretty close to her when her GPS transmitter cut out."
"What sort of transmitter was this?" Keiichiro asked. Ryou knew that look. That was the look that meant his Head was interested, or on the trail of an idea.
"The S-2103, with last year's updates," said Rei. The visual switched over to a small chip, a few millimeters square. "All our Mews have them implanted at the base of their skulls. They're designed to cut out like Mew Calliope's did if the Mew dies, but when we investigated the area—nothing. No body, no evidence that she'd been killed."
"The chimaera's deaths certainly weren't Calliope's style," Amu put in. "However they died, it made a huge mess, way bigger than she could have done with her blade."
"Blade?" Ichigo asked.
"Think Star Wars lightsabers, only claymore size," said Currant. "She'd not the cleanest fighter, but Calli doesn't blow things up like that."
"Hmmm," Keiichiro said. "Anything else?"
"A set of unfamiliar boot prints, 26 centimeters from toe to heel. Whoever it is seems to have walked in and out within ten minutes of the chimaera's deaths. The only sign of Calliope's footprints are toe marks where she probably landed before the chimaera attacked her. Anything could have happened to her, since wherever she went she didn't walk," said Rei.
Ryou contemplated this information. A Mew, capable of flight and trained for battle, disappearing with no reason and without a trace—this made no sense to him unless she went rogue. He'd never seen a Mew go rogue before, and he'd been at the Tokyo Headquarters from the very beginning when his father and mother, both talented genetic engineers and researchers, had received a government grant to begin the Japanese branch of Project Mew. But he'd heard of rogue Mews at other branches—one would simply be unable to take the strain of near-constant fighting and snap, attacking her home base. Most rogue Mews were terminated quickly, though a few survived long enough to behave exactly like the Cyniclons and harass the base. Rogue Mews were top priority.
Just as the thought crossed Ryou's mind, the Sydney Coordinator asked, "Could she have gone rogue or something?"
"No way!" Currant exclaimed. "I watched one of the last generation go rogue, and she was broody for days before she snapped. Calli was just fine."
Rei nodded in agreement. "Mew Calliope is one of our most well-adjusted Mews. I doubt going rogue is what happened.
"So," said the Moscow polar bear Mew, "You have no clue and are wasting precious time talking while Greenland Mews die like dogs at North Pole. We are leaving now, thank you for wasting our time." The feed from Moscow cut off. Currant sighed with relief.
It was only then that Ryou realized that the Antarctic Mews hadn't shown up either. That wasn't unusual, since their Earthnet linkage could cut out at any minute during a snowstorm, but it made him wonder. If the Greenland Mews were fighting Cyniclons at the North Pole, was the South Pole facing a similar assault? He reminded himself not to worry. The Antarctic Mews were a tough, hard-knock crew—and only on their second generation, since the aliens had difficulty killing them.
With the exit of the Moscow Mews, the tension built. Other teams looked ready to log out too, with the Mews yawning if their time zone was during the night, or looking impatient to be somewhere else if it wasn't.
Rei seemed to sense the mood, because she said, "Thank you all for turning in. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but if you could keep an eye out for Calliope it would be greatly appreciated. We'll see you later."
The feeds cut out one by one, until the projector displayed only blank white on every wall. Ryou turned to his Mews. Ichigo looked puzzled. Zakuro looked contemplative.
"What do the two of you think?" he asked, directing his question mainly to Zakuro.
"I have no idea," Ichigo said. "Why would a Mew just disappear like that?"
"Perhaps she decided she wanted to leave," suggested Zakuro. "Even a well-adjusted Mew enjoys alone time sometimes. This Calliope girl will probably return to her home base within a week. We won't have to worry about it here."
"Let's hope you're right," Keiichiro said. He glanced at his watch and his jaw dropped. "Goodness, 1:27 in the morning? You girls ought to get to bed; Ryou and I planned the weekly assessment for this afternoon.
Ichigo's eyes went huge. "The assessment?! I'm going to be too tired to pay attention tomorrow at this rate! Come on, Zakuro-san, let's hurry and go back to sleep!" The feline Mew turned tail and sprinted for her bedroom. Zakuro followed at a more relaxed pace, pausing in the door to wish Ryou and Keiichiro good night.
As they left, Keiichiro turned in his chair to face Ryou. "What do you think about all of this, Ryou?"
"I think it's a little suspicious. Who went through the clearing after the fight? Who killed the chimaera? Where did this Mew go, and why did she disappear?"
"Do you think she left on her own?"
"Probably." Ryou sank down in his own chair, cradling his head in his palms. "This is going to be a huge problem, isn't it?"
"Who knows?" replied Keiichiro. Coordinator and Head sat quietly together, thinking of the days to come.
A/N: Foreshadowing! By the way, I gave a few basic ideas for Mews from other bases if anyone wants to flesh them out a bit. See you next time, and don't forget to send me your OCs-they'd make a better gift than anything else! ;)