"Well, that was fast."
"See? I told you it wasn't that far."
Losira, Reimu, and Yukari climb out of the Aventador as Losira watches the vertical doors close shut.
"Mitsuwa Marketplace...so they do have Japanese-style shopping malls here," Yukari notes while adjusting her hat.
"Doesn't have to be Japan to have Japanese places here. It's America we're in, especially here in Cali," Losira responds, leading them into the mart's automatic sliding doors. "The food court is this way."
They enter the nearly-empty food court, which is entering its last hours of operation for the day. There, in one of the tables closest to a noodle shop, sit two men about the same age as Losira. One is wearing a dark gray trench coat, navy blue track pants, some bandages around his forehead, Bose headphones, and a black visor, while the other has on a blue t-shirt with a logo consisting of an M4A1 and an AK-47 and characters ST6 printed on the back, army jeans, sunglasses, and earbuds. Upon seeing Losira and company, both men turn in their seats and wave at them.
"Yo, Losira!"
"Sup, you two. Miss me?"
The guy with the sunglasses stands to high-five Losira as they greet them at the table.
"These the gals ya mentioned, right?"
"Yup, they're them. We haven't eaten anything, so let us grab something first."
"Oh yeah, 'course. We're waiting on our food too-"
"Order number 7011, your meal's ready!" the noodle shop worker behind the cashier calls, with a tray of kitsune udon.
"Oh, there's mine. Lookin' forward to this~"
As the sunglasses man gets his food, Reimu and Yukari seat themselves on wooden chairs across from the sitting boy in the visor.
"Yo, whaddya two want? It's on me," Losira offers, pointing at the menu that is plastered onto the bamboo at the bottom of the shop. Reimu and Yukari turn to select their dinners.
"Ehhhh...I'll get the teriyaki udon," Reimu chooses.
"The seasoned shabu shabu and beef combo for me," Yukari says cheerfully, looking forward to a delicious dinner.
"Mkay, it'll take a few minutes." Losira takes their orders and approaches the counter to place them. The guy in the sunglasses returns to their six-man table and sits next to his buddy.
"Yo. Intros, intros, right? I'm Sanford, he's Deimos," Sanford thumbs to his right, and Deimos silently tips his visor. "You're the two Losira mentioned, huh?"
Reimu nods. "I'm Reimu Hakurei, and she's Yukari Yakumo. We're friends, and we've come here from Gensokyou."
Deimos speaks in a low but soft voice. "Gensokyou? That other world we've heard about from Losira from time to time? So there really are people over there, huh."
"Predominantly humans and youkai, but there are other populations, yes," Yukari answers.
"You a youkai, or human?"
"I am youkai. My companion here is human."
"Interestin'. Nice ta meet you."
"The pleasure is mine."
Losira slides into her own seat next to Reimu, who sits in between Yukari and Losira. "Why don'tcha eat up? It's gonna get cold, ya know."
"Hey, man, it ain't polite ta just start eating in front of guests," Sanford retorts, raising his sunglasses to perch them on his eyebrows. "And of all people, you should know that, you're the one who brought 'em!"
"Yeah, yeah, fuck you too. Alright, lemme do proper intros 'cause you two suck at 'em."
"Lolwat? We do better intros than you, Mrs. 'Kill-On-Sight-Because-That's-How-I-Meet-People'!" Deimos spits sarcastically, but Losira smoothly ignores this.
"That's Sanford, that's Deimos. That's what their ID handles are as well. They're two of the guys from Seal Team 6, which, like I told you, is the team I work with to get the Beta Blocks."
"You told 'em 'bout the Beta Blocks, right?" Sanford asks to double-check.
"Duh, asshole, ya thinkin' I'm some third-rate amateur 'r somethin'?"
"Whoa whoa whoa, no need to take it that far." Sanford feigns surprise at Losira's biting words.
"You'll get to meet the rest of the team later, but these two're the ones who agreed to meet us out here. They usually work together for most jobs anyway, so it's fitting. Hey, when're you two gettin' a marriage license?"
"Uh, Losira, lemme just remind you this is Cali we're in right now, they don't recognize gay marriages just yet," Deimos says while facepalming.
"Well then just move outta state and you're fine, aren't ya?"
"We'll be getting one as soon as you let us have a threesome," Sanford points his disposable wooden chopsticks at Losira.
"Yeaaaaaah, no, asshat. Besides, that'll ruin the point of you getting a license."
"That's the goddamn point."
Losira sighs. "Sorry that the people I work with are complete retards, you two," She apologizes, shrugging with a flair. "They're in the military, so it's too bad they don't meet girls too often, ain't that right?"
"Dude, Losira, you're not seriously forgetting about Kane or Lauren, are you?" Deimos shakes his head in disappointment.
"Ha, ha, ha. Look, I know how to laugh without really meaning it, guys. You bloody fail at sarcasm, Deimos, you need to work at it."
"You're English now? Why're you throwing English insults at me?"
"What does that have anything to do with being English?"
"Never mind."
"Order numbers 7012, 7013, 7014, and 7015, your food's ready!"
They bring their food to the table. The girls all mutter "Itadakimasu!" as the boys silently dig in.
"So what've you boys been up to? We haven't talked in weeks 'til I hit y'all up for tonight."
Deimos slurps on some udon. "We got shipped over to Brazil, had to clear up some biker gang shit going down in the Rio. It was gettin' to the point where seventeen-year-olds were pullin' Glocks on random bikers on the damn highways, not giving a single fuck, ridiculous crap like that."
"That's how you know they ain't professional gangsters! Who the hell mugs people for their hand-me-down bikes that they probably only got for a hundred bucks at some shady-ass dealer? I was jus' shakin' my head the entire time we were there, man!" Sanford bursts out laughing. "But yeah, the sitrep down there was real bad when we came. Apparently, some of the police officers got fed up with 'em bikers that they jus' started takin' authority into their own hands; if they saw anyone try to pull of any grand theft auto shit, boom, shoot 'em dead."
"I bet those bikers didn't like their guys gettin' shot by the police, then?" Losira holds some smoking hot Korean barbequed short ribs in her chopsticks.
"Hell no. The government almost had to declare martial law on the cap. Mind you, the bikers only operated out of the Rio, so it wasn't like a national thing," Sanford replies.
"How long did it take you?"
"A week to dig out the bikers, half of another to eliminate." Deimos says coolly. Losira whistles.
"Nicely done."
"Whoa there, you ain't one to be dishin' out complements now, are you?" Sanford feigns surprise at Losira's uncharacteristically kind words as she glares him in disbelief.
"What the fuck was that? I say you did a good job and you're actin' all surprised? Is this what I have to work with?"
"You realize just now, after like, eight years? Damn, girl, thought you were smarter than that," Deimos snorts, and Sanford is unable to contain his hoots of laughter.
"Fine, I get it, fuck you two." Losira gives a small hmph! and fakes a pout while gnashing her teeth on her short ribs and fried rice. Sanford glances over at Yukari and Reimu who are listening to their conversation intently.
"So you said you picked these two up 'just the other day'...what exactly did you mean by that? You didn't elaborate very well, ya know, that call you gave me today wasn't very clear."
"Okay, I'll say it only once more, you dumb dipshit. Last night, I ran into them while grabbin' that Beta Block Lauren tipped me off on -"
"Oh, speaking of which, you have that Block on you right now, right?" Deimos interrupts.
"Yes, I do, don't fuckin' interrupt me, jerk."
"Just checkin'."
"So yeah, I got the block 'n dragged these two over to my place 'cause I noticed they've got energy signatures."
"When you say energy signatures, you mean ones like ours, right?"
"Yeah, except theirs are a lot more developed than yours' because they're from Gensokyou, where they use magic on a daily basis."
Yukari interjects. "Reimu here is an exception, as she does nothing except eat rice crackers and drink tea in her shrine all day."
Reimu nearly crashes her face into her bowl of curry rice as the men chuckle. "Says the bitch who gets her ass handed to her whenever we spar! ! !"
Yukari uses her superior height to stare down at Reimu smugly and threateningly. "Oh, but those are but only danmaku spars...I do not believe we have battled using our true powers...?"
"You can't beat a Hakurei shrine maiden and you know it! You've even admitted it yourself!"
"Perhaps not your mother or your previous, more accomplished predecessors. You, however, on the other hand, are irrelevant."
Reimu narrows her own eyes in the same manner as Deimos whistles and mutters "Damn, she just called you irrelevant".
"Irrelevant, huh? You sure you don't want a tombstone on your forehead the next time you go to sleep? I conduct burials too, in case you forgot."
Yukari ignores her smoothly as she centers her attention onto the members of Seal Team 6.
"Losira here has merely introduced you to us as members of this group named 'Seal Team 6', but nothing else. Perhaps you could elaborate more on this subject for us, as we have done the same?"
Sanford, apparently a fast eater, downs the last of his udon soup and chases it with a chug of water. "Yo Deimos, should I tell 'em now or wait 'til we get to base?"
"Your call. If this place was packed, it'd be a problem, but there's basically no one here if you speak low. I'll scan for any eavesdroppers."
"Losira?"
"You can give 'em the basic rundown, but leave the shit for Lauren and the rest of the gang to explain."
"Hmm..." Sanford leans back on his bench and crosses his arms, thinking about how much he says is appropriate. He then sits up and leans forward.
"I got it. So, as Losira's already told you, we're Losira's business partners, in all technicality. Me 'n Deimos're part of a branch of the US military called Seal Team 6; I can't divulge our specifics, but that's all you need to know anyway. Seal Team 6 is composed of people like Losira - we've all got some kind of supernatural power that sets us apart from normal humans. Naturally, 'cause of that, the government wants us to go after highly classified business that they can't ever have their military go after because if they did ask that, our government'd actually show the public that they really are nothing but a bunch 'a crackhead idiots."
"Like Losira? Then why isn't Losira part of your team?" Reimu asks, slurping on some Coke.
"Personal reasons, I can't tell you that, sorry. If you really wanna know that, you're better off asking the girl herself, since if I say anythin', she's sure to rip my balls off."
"You got that fucking right, faggot," Losira growls, her voice tinted an unusual shade of harsh, much more than her previous banter.
"Point proven. Anyway, that aside, our role in this whole Beta Block business is basically to aid Losira here as much as we can in collecting these Beta Blocks, receive them from 'er when she does get 'em, and research 'n analyze them, whatever we can do to learn more 'bout 'em."
Deimos also speaks out in his usual low, quiet but dominant voice. "Superfluously, our objective is to learn the full potential of the energy source that we've dubbed 'serenity' so we can further implement it into our technology and society. For example, we're aware of the medical possibilities of serenity, since you can have someone with a major energy signature, or 'Majors', heal an injury, no matter how severe, if they manipulate the serenity using their own signature."
"I showed them that when I healed Yukari's hand after she got shot there," Losira says.
"There you have it, then. Stuff like that is what we want to know. Obviously we've already known enough about it to generate fuel out of it for our cars, heaters, 'n electricity, but it's not all that serenity can do. Theoretically speaking, serenity is all that humanity really needs. It's basically a God resource. No matter how fast we use the stuff from our Alpha Block sources, it generates right back overnight. We don't know how it replenishes so fast, or how it ever replenishes in the first place, but it does. Its efficiency is near perfect, and I really do think that if we know a lot more about it, humanity's set for eternity, at least until our Sun blows the fuck up." Deimos takes a long drink of Sprite. "And that's exactly why I'm worried. It's gotta have drawbacks, even if we can't see them yet. There's no such thing as a God resource, no matter how much serenity seems to be one. Me personally, I'm studying this to know the negative consequences of us using this thing."
"We believe that we know what those negative consequences of serenity are doing," Yukari says.
"You think so?"
"To put it briefly, in Gensokyou, there is a border that acts much like your ozone layer here on Earth that her ancestors and I have created to separate Gensokyou apart from this world and protect it from Earth's influences. Recently, it has shown signs of deterioration in some places at rates that are much higher than the norm, and worst of all, we cannot repair it from Gensokyou."
"Which is why you're here with us, I'm guessin'," Sanford says.
"That is correct. We believe that serenity is what's causing the Dai Kekkai, the name of our border, to degenerate. We, in working with Losira, are hoping to receive your cooperation as well."
"Heh. Normally we wouldn't work with randos, but Losira did tell us that you two were exceptions. Jus' gonna throw that one out there, nothin' 'gainst you two," Sanford clarifies.
"Rando?" Reimu looks confused.
"Don't worry about it, Reimu, he's an idiot," Losira mentions casually, finishing the rest of her meal.
"Anyway..." Sanford gives a false smile to Losira who returns it with a "bitch please" glance. "I'd tell you how far we've gotten on our research and fill you in on more info behind this Beta Block business, but here's not the best place to do it, even if there ain't a lot of people around. Can't take the risk of someone overhearin' us. Besides, since you'll be working with Losira for what I'm guessin' is an extended period 'a time, it's better off you meet the rest of the team so we all get to know each other a lil' bit."
Deimos stands up from his seat. "I'll agree on that. Losira, let's continue this back at base. You know the way, right?"
Losira also stands, chugging the rest of her soft drink. "Yeah, still do, how'd I forget? Oh, you two, just leave the trays here, the people who work here'll clear 'em for us." Yukari and Reimu nod.
"Right, right. C'mon, Sanford, get up, gotta get back to work."
"Yeah, yeah..."
Everyone gets up.
"Losira, hold up, I gotta give you the slip 'bout somethin'," Deimos nods at Losira.
"Oh, is it that?" Sanford, quickly becoming serious-faced, immediately gets up and walks over to Losira with Deimos, who nods back.
"You two, could you leave us alone for a quick minute?" Losira asks the girls.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure..." Reimu says, and she and Yukari wander away from the food court, strolling slowly through the grocery section of the Japanese marketplace. Losira, Deimos, and Sanford watch them walk away, and once they are out of earshot, Deimos speaks first.
"Losira, it's about your brother."
Losira's left eye immediately widens.
"He says he wants to see you again."
"When?"
"Just anytime, he said. It's not urgent," Sanford mutters, pulling out a small black logo-less tablet and fiddling with it. "Though, I don't think we need to tell you what happens if you don't visit him when he asks."
"..."
Losira's usual fierce, assertive facade is gone. A strangely pained one, instead, takes it place, like a bull in a china shop.
"Dude, Sanford, fucking shut up, you know how serious she takes this."
"I know, I know. Didn't mean to act the asshole here, but considerin' what he did before when Losira was busy..." Sanford shakes his head. "Don't wanna have to be in charge of the cleanup crew after that fuckin' mess again."
"He's still alright as usual, right? Nothing out of the ordinary?" Losira asks, almost meekly.
"Nope, nothing's wrong. Not right now, anyway," Deimos says, pulling out a pack of Marlboros and sticking a cigarette in between his teeth.
"Dude, don't fucking smoke inside, asswipe," Sanford scolds.
"I'm not even lighting it, dude, chill, fuckface."
"I'll visit him tomorrow, then," Losira concludes. "C'mon, they're waiting for us."
The three of them also exit the food court. "But isn't it a bit too early for him to be asking to see you again, though?" Deimos ponders. "Normally, on average, you'd only need to see him every two weeks or so. But the last time you visited him was three days ago."
"Dude, it's not like this hasn't happened before," Sanford shrugs. "I mean, it's David we're talkin' 'bout here."
"Does it fucking matter how often he asks me to come?" Losira growls, almost as if in pain. "All you two dipshits need to worry about is to let me know whenever he wants me to come over, and I'll be there no matter what. You two know full well that if I could, I'd fucking live there if I needed to."
They exit the automatic sliding doors. Losira spots Reimu and Yukari hanging by her car and waves at them, and they wave back. "I'll follow you to base with 'em. Let's make this quick, we're all pretty tired already, now that we've eaten dinner, on top of us going through eight straight hours of shooting."
"Yeah. We'll see you there, then," Sanford calls to her as he and Deimos, who pulls out their car keys and a lighter, walk away to the opposite end of the lot. "By the way, Deimos, when're you ever gonna kick the damn habit, bro?"
"None 'a your business, fuckface."
"You're gonna kill me 'cause 'a secondhand smoke in ten years!"
"You'll be dead by then."
"Doesn't that concern you? !"
"I wasn't aware that it was supposed to."
Losira bursts out laughing, catching everyone's attention.
"The fuck's so funny, bitch? !" Sanford hollers across the near-empty parking lot.
"Hahahaha...noooooothing, except for the fact that you just got fuckin' TOLD! ! ! ! !" Losira giggles her way back to her own car as Sanford gives her the bras d'honneur.
Some twenty minutes later, Losira's Avendator and Deimos' sleek white Nissan GT-R pull up to the driveway of an empty-looking plot of land occupied sparsely by a few guard towers, electrical fencing, a sizable plot of gardens and cultivated plants, and portable trailers. A baseball field, lit with floodlights and erupting occasionally with a roar of cheers, is hosting a baseball game. As the GT-R rolls through the parting electric gates, the Avendator stops next to the guardhouse, passing by a sign.
Defense Fuel Supply Point; San Pedro.
Authorized Personnel Only.
Trespassers will be charged with Federal offenses.
"ID please," the uniformed guard, dressed in military fatigues, sternly says to the driver of the Avendator through the open window of his guardhouse. Losira points at her eyepatch on her right eye.
"Olly olly oxen free."
The guard immediately ducks under his desk and reappears with a black stick resembling a flashlight. He shines it onto Losira's eyepatch, and a faint outline of the yin-yang that is painted onto the leather is revealed.
"You're good to go, Ms. Losira. Have a good evenin'."
"Same to you."
The gate reopens for the Avendator, and she pulls through and follows after the now-distant GT-R.
"What was that?" Reimu asks, curious to know of their exchange.
"This is a military base, one of many posts that Seal Team 6 operates out of around the world. Because in case shit goes down and the lives of my comrades or mine are at stake, we've vowed to disassociate from one another; this means that I don't have a proper military ID, so in order to get in, I say a certain passphrase to the guard, and whoever's on duty'll shine that light on my eyepatch. That flashlight's a radiation detector, and my eyepatch has traces of alpha radiation," Losira explains quickly, driving onto the gravel and parking next to Deimos's Nissan. "If anyone tries tracing my connections, they won't have an ID to work off of."
"But radiation? Is that not dangerous?" Yukari points out.
"The amount that's on my eyepatch is hardly anything; normal humans can easily handle its close proximity, so don't you worry 'bout that." Losira throws her gear handle into parking and hits the brake, pulling her keys out. "Let's move."
The women exit the car, and Sanford and Deimos, the latter taking one last drag on his cigarette before flicking it perfectly into a nearby ashtray, wait for them next to one of the portable trailers.
"Welcome to the San Pedro Fuel and Supply Depot! I'd give y'all a proper tour of the place, but we're on the clock right now," Sanford cheerily states, leading the group into the trailer, whose interior is neatly furnished as an office.
"What's with all these gardens? Are you guys growing your own food here or what?" Reimu asks, looking around one last time before closing the door behind her.
"We oftentimes have high school kids and volunteer groups that're local who come down here every week 'r so to take care of endangered plants and animal species 'n shit. That's why you can see greenhouses in between some 'a the fuel towers, 'n them gardens jus' outside," Sanford replies, glancing here and there around the office. "Now, where was it..."
"Don't tell me you fuckin' forgot already, douchebag," Losira growls, annoyed.
"Dayuuuum, girl, chill out for fuckin' once in your life, I got this!" Sanford fakes exaggeration at Losira's attitude as he approaches a temperature gauge in the corner of the office. Opening it, he presses a combination of buttons, causing the gauge to beep quietly. "Alright, get on, it'll be goin' soon."
"Er...huh, what?" Reimu and Yukari are confused as Losira, Deimos, and Sanford huddle together on the carpet.
"Oh, that's right. Will the platform fit five people?" Losira asks.
"Only way to know is to find out," Deimos mutters. "You two, scrunch up next to us and hope you don't hit the edges."
Not knowing what they mean, Reimu and Yukari stand on either side of Losira as the temperature gauge behind starts beeping very loudly. After five beeps, the carpet beneath their feet shakes and sinks. The small square plot of carpet that they stand on elevators them down some thirty feet below, and the floor above shuts after them, perfectly disguised as just a simple stretch of ordinary office carpeting.
"Fascinating..." Yukari whispers as small fluorescent lights illuminate the small elevator floor underneath their feet. Reimu, however, is a little more defensive about the situation.
"So this is your base?"
"Basically, yeah. Like I said, though, we have lots more, not just this one," Losira responds coolly as the narrow elevator slows to a smooth and comfortable halt. The sounds of a short burst of steam blast for a split second, and the wall before the group parts in half and reveals the enigmatic facility below the military supply depot.
"What the...?" Reimu, finally captivated by the sight before her, is unable to finish her thought.
The elevator doors close behind them to immerse everyone into a borderless and spacious room in which it is impossible for a normal human to differentiate where the room begins and where the room ends. The room itself is pitch black, yet everyone present in the room are clearly and easily visible, as if light is present thirty feet below the surface above. Surrounding them from all sides, even underneath them, little white specks, some bigger than others, dot the landscape, but most notable are the big bodies that hang in relative close proximity to the occupants of the room.
The solar system.
As Deimos, Sanford, and Losira proceed further into the room, Yukari and Reimu cannot help but to stare in astonishment around them. They watch as they pass by Mars and its two oddly shaped moons, and Reimu reaches out to the planet, half wondering if the projections she is witnessing are actually tangible, and to her complete surprise, her finger bumps against Mars and causes it to bounce away from her.
"Cool, isn't it?" Reimu turns to see Losira gazing at her a little ways away. "I had the same reaction when they showed this to me as well. Seeing that I'm an astronomy freak, this's like a dream come true. C'mon, you can check 'em out later."
Losira leads Yukari and Reimu to the central command post in the center of the room as Jupiter sails lazily past them over their heads. As they approach the Sun, holographic outlines that they have seen from afar from the elevator entrance materialize fully into human bodies. Six of them, to be precise, some seated on floating asteroids, some standing, and at least one sitting on Haley's comet, riding it 'round and 'round the Sun.
"There they are! Cool, isn't it, this room? We put a lotta time into it, watcha think?" Sanford asks them eagerly.
"It's wonderful...how did you make this?" Reimu wonders, still partially gawking at a dark-skinned, tall and well-built man in his early twenties sitting on one such asteroid, who chuckles back at her.
"Took long time, I assure you. Not easy task, not at all." He speaks in a heavy Indian accent. Losira claps her hands to get everyone's attention.
"Okay, ladies 'n gents, icebreaker time, so y'all gotta shut up."
"Ooohhhh, ooohh, I love icebreakers! It's so fun makin' everyone feel so awkward!" the bubbly pale-blue haired girl whirling around on Haley's Comet cheers.
"Goddamn it, Kane, get off Haley for fuckin' once!"
"No, screw you! Haley's mine!" The girl riding Haley's Comet flips Losira off and continues to gleefully roam about the room on her trusty cosmic steed amidst everyone's laughter. Losira, shaking her head, disregards her as she continues talking.
"Alright, everyone, these're the girls I told y'all 'bout. Reimu Hakurei-" Reimu waves - "and Yukari Yakumo." Yukari gives a short nod. "They'll be workin' with me for a lil' bit, and I'll have 'em explain their part." Losira turns to the girls by her side. "Reimu 'n Yukari, from left to right-" Losira quickly rattles off names as her finger traverses the astronomical landscape - "Sanford, Deimos, Lauren, Big, 'n Chuck." The team wave their hellos at the newcomers. "And that stupid idiot up there is Kane."
"Shut up, you're just jealous Haley's mine and not yours, sucker!" Kane calls from high above. Lauren clears her throat and speaks in a delicate voice, as if her vocal chords are literally made of the world's finest silk.
"I feel we will be here for some time, so may I entertain you with some tea and cake?" Lauren asks their guests, and Reimu instantly nods, suddenly unable to resist her craving for tea upon hearing the word.
"Show a little more patience, Reimu," Yukari says disdainfully, but Reimu pays no heed.
"They offered it to us, what's your problem?" Reimu counters as Lauren reaches out at the stars behind her and plucks one such dot from the black cosmoscape and pinches it on two ends using the fingernails of both thumbs and index fingers, stretching it out and turning it into a command prompt panel, complete with a keyboard and holographic mic. Quickly typing a few command lines, Lauren taps it twice, and the panel constricts and disappears, reappearing in two copies before Reimu and Yukari.
"You may choose your selection of refreshments from those panels," Lauren explains with a light smile. "They should arrive immediately."
Yukari taps on grape tea and a slice of cream brulee, and Reimu selects cranberry tea and a slice of cherry cake. Upon confirmation, the panels disappear, and holographic outlines of their refreshments weave quickly into realization. Within seconds, two saucers, two teacups, two salad plates, and two slices of cake float as if in zero gravity in front of Yukari and Reimu.
"Wow...that's awesome..." Reimu cannot help but say this aloud as she takes her small cake fork and digs in. Lauren giggles, pleased that the system is working flawlessly.
"When we first established this outpost, we knew we had to make it some sort of permanent base since Losira lives pretty close by," the rather short and spectacled Chinese-American whose name Losira had indicated as Big elaborates with a hint of a Mandarin accent while leaning back, his body also appearing as though he is floating in zero gravity. "We decided to take our sweet time with this base, and the result turned out kinda like this."
"It's honestly overkill, though," Deimos mutters, clicking his tongue. "We could've used all the serenity that we dumped into pimpin' out this room for our research."
"It's not overkiiiiillll! ! ! ! ! ! You can't replace my Haleeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyy! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !" Kane's voice saunters down from above, and Chuck, the well-built Indian man, gives a hearty burst of laughter. Deimos simply shakes his head in disappoint while Losira applies her palm to her forehead.
"I'm actually considering asking you guys to get rid of this stupid base just because Kane's fucking obsessed with that comet," Losira complains.
"Why you heff to be mad, Losira?" Chuck chuckles as Kane again screams at Losira, threatening to ram her with Haley's Comet should Losira suggest such an outrageous order again. "See, she have fun. We spend lots of time on base. It okay for us to enjoy sometime. It simple, no need for anger."
"But like, how does this room even work? And Deimos mentioned you used serenity to build this base or something like that?" Reimu asks, her mouth partially filled with cherry cake.
"Allow me to explain; as Big has stated already, we constructed this base with Losira's residence in mind," Lauren says. "At the time, Beta Block trafficking was beginning to develop, and we capitalized on its development by having Losira acquire Beta Blocks from the start. Because there were not very many Beta Testers in the beginning, Losira was able to accrue quite a stockpile of Beta Blocks, which we used to research serenity. We realized that serenity possesses the power to enable technologies decades, possibly centuries ahead of our current generation, and using our knowledge, we converted quite a bit of serenity into a usable energy form that we could all manipulate and used it to build this room." Lauren gazes at Kane as the latter swoops here and there on the comet. "Of course, that does not mean we know all that there is know about serenity, but if we can accomplish something of this magnitude with what little we do know about serenity, the technological possibilities are limitless, just like the universe."
Lauren points at their food.
"For example, the food that you have ordered is food taken from our pantry above us in one of the storage facilities on the depot compound. This system, if commanded to do so, will use a bit of serenity to transform the food's essence from the pantry into serenity and replicate the original cake and tea's essence, which is what are you are eating now. This solar system, which is the theme of our little home here, is a reinterpretation of modified serenity energies that we have been able to refine and manipulate."
"Would it be accurate to say that this room is an illusion, then?" Yukari asks.
"Not necessarily, no," Big interjects. "Everything you see here is in fact real; there's no optical illusion or some other dumb trick we're trying to pull. It's the power of serenity that makes this possible. Including the fact that Haley's Comet is about to crash into the Sun." Sure enough, Kane accidentally rams directly into the Sun that is hanging in the blackness just behind Big and topples onto the invisible floor while Losira laughs gleefully. "Just goes on to show you what serenity can really do, even if this solar system gig's just a model in the end. You think we should donate the code to an astronomy museum or something? Maybe an exhibit down in LA?"
"Awwww, heeeeell no, Big, we ain't a charity organization or nothin'! We gotta make some fuckin' cash money off our work!" Sanford exclaims, and Big simply sneers at him condescendingly.
"I don't want to hear that from the only person who didn't do jack shit for the code, so if we ever do take your advice and sell the code, I'm making sure you don't see a single penny of what we get, fuckin' gwailo."
"What the fuck, I thought you're Mandarin, not Cantonese, dipshit!"
"Does it fucking matter? You're white, I'm chink, deal with it, cracker. That sound better? Or does backwater hillbilly redneck fit the bill better?" Big snickers as Sanford's left eye twitches like mad. Lauren softly chuckles.
"Please excuse their banter; they usually don't get along."
"Since when have they ever?" Losira says.
"In work, they get along fine. No hostility. Work matter lots," Chuck explains.
"Well, no shit, I'm not gonna let that asshole fuck up any of our ops," Sanford retorts.
Big sits up, scratching his spiked hair and tapping his right earlobe that is pierced by small studded earring. "Whatever, bro, and sorry to crash the party, but could we get to business? I don't think I recall this turning into some tea party, no offense to either of you." Big nods at Reimu and Yukari.
"Okay, for reals this time, don't fuck around on Haley," Losira calls to Kane as she gets up and rolls over next to Big. "Who wants to go ahead 'n be professor for the day?"
The members of Seal Team 6, the logo on the back of Sanford's shirt also printed on the Sun, glance at each other.
"Well, fer starters, let's have the guys who're actually workin' with the shit talk, y'know?" Sanford points out. "Someone, volunteer before Losira shoots somebody."
Losira slaps Sanford's right shoulder with the back of her M1911. "You really think I'd do that?"
"If you hit me with your fuckin' gun, you'd shoot me, too!"
"Fine, you're the one exception."
Kane screeches wildly as Sanford rolls his eyes.
"Movin' on, someone? Deimos 'n I're only in charge 'a collectin' the shit, y'know."
"Don't group me with you, dumbass, I work on the coding and the lab work, too," Deimos snaps.
Lauren clears her throat. "W-Well, perhaps we should ask our guests their situation? Losira did tip us off about their predicament, so we should do what we can to help given the circumstances."
"I'll explain, since it'll save time; they can fill in the details where you ask," Losira says, stowing away her pistol. "Basically, they're from Gensokyou, that other world Earth's connected to that I told y'all 'bout. Apparently, Gensokyou's protected by a barrier called the Hakurei Dai-Kekkai that Yukari helped build with Reimu's ancestors; the Dai Kekkai protects Gensokyou from Earth's influences, though from what they've told me, some stuff slips through randomly here 'n there. But point is, their Dai Kekkai's disintegrating, and they think our usage of serenity here on Earth's got somethin' to do with it."
A brief silence as the team digests Losira's account.
"Please explain this barrier's manner of disintegration," Lauren requests, her face stone-cold serious.
"There are holes that are thinning in certain areas of the barrier," Yukari says.
"Any noticeable patterns or anything we must know about?"
"None; the areas of effect are purely by random, and at the current rate, the Dai Kekkai will shatter completely by collapsing on its own weight within half a year."
"That is rather urgent, then. What should happen to both Gensokyou and Earth if the Dai Kekkai is to fall?"
"Gensokyou ceases to exist, basically," Reimu juts in. "I'm a shrine maiden at the shrine that's in charge of the border, so in other words I'm directly involved with the barrier as well. I know for a fact that if the Dai Kekkai's gone, Earth will overwhelm Gensokyou's residents with science and other stuff like that."
"But how exactly will that happen?" Big asks, pushing his glasses up.
"I'd imagine Gensokyou will basically break apart immediately since it's been dependent on the Dai Kekkai for over the last century by now," Reimu remarks. "All of the residents there will be thrown straight into Earth, and all hell'll break loose since youkai that live there usually eat humans, more often than not. But while I say that, humans here have more than enough power to wage entire genocides against the Gensokyou populations. Not even our magic can compete, possibly just because of the fact that there's virtually no magic in the atmosphere here to support magic in the first place."
"But from what Losira say, you can still use magic, yes?" Chuck asks slowly.
"Yeah, but not to the point where that's all we need to rely on."
"Oh okay, I understand."
"Tell me, when have you first spotted signs of the Hakurei Dai Kekkai's breakdown?" Lauren asks Yukari again.
"Several weeks ago."
"There's a definite possibility that serenity's fucking up that barrier of theirs," Deimos quietly asserts, grabbing attention. "Personally, I don't find it surprising if it turns out serenity's got some sort of adverse effect that's gone undetected until now since it's been building up for the past few years that Earth's been harvesting and using serenity."
"Then I believe it is appropriate now to inform you what we currently know about serenity, so please listen carefully." Lauren clears her throat once more. "Serenity is not just an energy source - it is also a substantial magic source that somehow manages to retain its magical composition on Earth, in an environment that does not allow for the existence of magic."
"Losira has already informed us of this," Yukari nods. "She had healed a gunshot wound in my right hand using energy from the Beta Block she had captured on the night of our meeting, and no matter how strong an energy source is, it cannot have healing properties if it does not have some sort of magical component."
"Oh, I am sorry to interrupt, but Losira, before we forget, do you have the Beta Block with you?" Lauren turns to Losira, who reaches into her black business coat and pulls out the dully shining jewel, tossing it underhanded to Lauren. "Thank you kindly, your payment shall be pending shortly."
"Thanks, ya."
Lauren, after analyzing the jewel, lets go of it gingerly, and it levitates on its own again and lazily floats about around the sun as if caught in its orbit.
"So yes, we have determined that serenity is in fact magical energy."
Reimu leans forward. "But how do you guys know that for sure? We use magic on the daily back home in Gensokyou, yet we weren't even able to ascertain that, even if our powers're downgraded a lot. Can you people use magic too? Is that how you know?"
"Uh, yeah, 'course. You couldn't tell? I mean, you've been hanging out with Losira for the past day, right?" Big says, a little confused. "Doesn't her eye tell you anything?"
"Big, you know Losira not show eye, right?" Chuck mutters disappointedly.
"Oh shit, right...forgot. But yeah, we've all got some trait that can pass off as magic or whatever occult shit you believe in."
"So you all have powers, right?"
"Yeah, but it's not like we'll show yaaaa~" Kane drawls while leaning against the sun like a cat curled up in front of a lit and cozy fireplace. "Maybe if you watch us fight you'll find out, and hopefully you won't be fighting uuuussss~"
"Hush, Kane," Lauren says. "Now, has Losira explained how the Beta Blocks do come to be?"
"She has told us that they drop in random areas every so often, but nothing beyond this," Yukari says.
"Beta Blocks are byproducts of Alpha Blocks. When the government facilities that are built on the Alpha Block sites mine serenity, the residual energy that is released from the harvesting bleeds into the atmosphere and travels the world on high-altitude wind currents and space currents. During that time, the energy acts like rain in that once enough of the energy is gathered, it becomes too heavy to keep its high altitudes and drops down to the surface at random times and locations."
As Lauren speaks, several stars drop down from above and morph into panels displaying photos of the serenity harvesting facilities and diagrams of Beta Block behavior.
"They disappear naturally within 24 hours of their arrival, but only if no human comes into contact with them. This suggests that the Blocks somehow depend their existences on human proximity, perhaps human energy or essence. Normal human beings can see and interact with the Beta Blocks, but they cannot sense their presence from afar. Those with magical backgrounds or magic energy signatures will, however. There have been no documented reports of negative health consequences of humans being exposed to serenity for extended periods of time, not even on Alpha Testers who have been handling serenity on a regular basis for the past few years."
More panels pop up, with more diagrams and charts.
"However, this is pure serenity we have been talking about. We are aware of two methods that can be used to process pure serenity: Progression and Regression. Progression Processing is what is used to convert serenity into fuel sources as alternatives for gasoline, natural gas, coal, et cetera - Processed serenity virtually has replaced every single fuel source that the world had known and used before serenity was discovered. The second method, Regression Refinement, is an alternative method that no one is supposed to know about. Only four federally funded groups are aware of this refinement method, and one of those groups is us, Seal Team 6."
"Regression Refinement?" Yukari leans forward, deeply interested too.
"Regression Refinement is what is sounds like," Big speaks, taking off his glasses and breathing on them to wipe them with the bottom of his shirt. "While Progression Processing turns serenity into a usable form of fuel, we reverse serenity's magic energy signature into its previous form."
"Serenity has a previous form?" Reimu asks.
"You know how serenity can't be sensed by normal humans? The reason for that's because serenity is diluted magic energy. Processing serenity causes the magic in it to fade away, allowing it to be pure fuel energy and no magic. Refining it, though, does the opposite: it strengthens the magic that serenity contains, eventually turning it into pure magic."
"Pure magic..." Yukari frowns at the implications.
"And the only way to refine serenity is to have people like us, people with magic energy signatures and can manipulate magic essence in some way. If you've got some sort of supernatural power, you're qualified to refine it. You two can do it too, if we tell you how."
"Refined serenity is much, much more volatile than unprocessed or processed serenity. Our tests have shown that animals, including rats, mice, and hamsters, gain human-like cognitive skills and elongated lifespans; however, upon sustained exposure to refined serenity, all animal subjects' brains automatically shut down, the longest lasting no more than three days. It seems that refined serenity is strictly meant for humans."
"Wait, meant for humans? What do you mean by that?" Reimu asks.
"Here's the context for it: we're the ones who figured out the refinement method," Deimos says in his usual quiet voice, chewing on some watermelon Dubble Bubble. "Naturally, since we're milfags, other secret service intelligence agencies and groups around the globe wanted in on our dirty lil' secret. Then came our experiment with one of the dudes from the SAS - since our government trusts Britain pretty closely, both governments green-lighted our collaboration, but we said that if they wanted to work with refined serenity, they'd have to volunteer a human guinea pig for our testing. A bloke named Gaz volunteered, and we had him carry around a necklace of refined serenity in an emerald for two weeks."
"The results?" Yukari asks.
"After a week, Gaz started to gain enhanced senses; he originally wore glasses and had pretty bad eyesight, but after that first week he didn't need it anymore. The serenity amplified his senses almost three times the normal human's. Just before the second week was up, he reported that he was in possession of a particular power, a power that lets him directly interfere with people's nervous systems if he touches them. Eventually, he developed his power to the point where he can fuck up someone's central nervous system and mix up their brains' censors at a range of 25 meters out."
"To note, Gaz was previously a medical student before he joined the Special Air Service," Lauren points out. "After the first experiment on Gaz, which was an immediate success, more volunteers filed their consent, and we tested refined serenity on them as well. So far, all subjects have been deemed successful. They have all developed some sort of superhuman ability and are able to sense serenity, both unprocessed and refined. Soon, other international organizations requested that we share our experiment and research as to prevent a purely American and English monopoly on us 'superhumans', even though they do not realize that there have always been such 'superhumans' even before the existence of serenity-induced subjects."
"Serenity can turn normal humans into magic users...? Magic essence cannot bestow power upon those who have not previously used magic in their lifetimes; it is only possible through inheritance! Just how strong is this serenity exactly?" Yukari wonders, concerned.
"Strong enough to give powers, apparently," Big says. "We don't know if people can 'overdose' on refined serenity, though, for lack of a better term, but seeing how those rats died from OD'ing, I don't think I even wanna know."
"That's jus' 'bout all we know on serenity, though," Sanford says. "We're still in the middle of researchin' the shit, so we'll update everyone on whatever else we find. Now, we need to focus on our problems -"
"Wait, hold on! You guys seriously don't know anything else? Anything that might be screwing with our boundary?" Reimu asks, half in irritated annoyance, half in desperation, but the members of ST6 shake their heads.
"Unfortunately, we have not found anything about it that may suggest some sort of connection to your predicament, Reimu," Lauren apologizes. "Not so far, anyway. If we do come across something, we will be more than happy to let you know."
"Because we can't fix it on our end in Gensokyou, that's why we came here, to find answers and fix it from here!"
"Now hold up, Reimu, they can't tell you much just from what they know 'bout serenity alone," Sanford says.
"Yes, listen to Sanford. He tell you thing that help." Chuck urges, and Reimu, having stood up in emphasis, reluctantly sits back down.
"Alright, so lemme explain how the show runs. Losira's told you about this already, but people've caught onto the fact that serenity can get 'em big bucks if they sell 'em to private agencies and research groups like us who wanna know more about it. It's no secret to those guys now that refined serenity exists 'n gives people powers. Now this Beta Tester shit's some sorta black market underground business, kinda like a casino, 'cept when you lose, you die. Sometimes. One of those agencies is the AAHW."
"AAHW? One of the men who attacked us last evening mentioned the name when Losira interrogated him briefly," Yukari notes.
"Advanced Adminstration of the Holy War," Sanford rolls his eyes while saying this. "Their name's really dumb, but they're basically an organization that knows us and does what it can to fuck us up. They're in this Beta Block traffickin', too, naturally."
"In other words, they want us dead," Losira says.
"They want everyone dead, except for them, obviously," Kane retorts.
"Why do they want to kill you guys? And what've they got to do with us?" Reimu asks.
"We were the first ones to refine serenity, so I guess they want our secrets and waste us at the same time," Losira snorts. "The reason why they might interest you is because their leader, some idiot who calls himself the Auditor says that he wants to use serenity to, and I quote, 'destroy one world and set the other on fire'."
At this, both Yukari's and Reimu's eyes widen.
"And yes, he's most likely referring to Gensokyou," Losira mentions, noticing their reaction. "He's mentioned it directly too."
"He's a fat fuck, is who he is," Sanford complains. "Like, seriously, what the fuck's your problem calling us and asking us a bunch of fuckin' philosophical questions that we don't give two flying fucks about?"
"He is our most dangerous opposition, Sanford, remember that, please," Lauren sternly warns. "If he is somehow able to contact us directly into our own private channels, I cannot imagine what else he can do."
"Then all we need to do is to find this Auditor guy and beat him up? That's simple, then!" Reimu sighs, relieved.
Lauren puts her stern gaze onto Reimu this time. "Reimu, I do not think you are truly aware of Auditor's power. He is one of us, as well, one capable of fearsome magical power, a power even we have no clue about. If I may demonstrate, this is a video clip that we had recovered when one of our facilities was attacked by him and his association a year ago."
A panel appears above the sun and angles itself down onto the people below. The video loads with a bit of static, and a video feed shows six men in heavy military armor and equipment marching down a corridor, on patrol. Suddenly, entire screen statics and blacks out completely for a split second before normalizing and showing an empty black brick corridor. The screen blacks out temporarily again, and when the light does come back on, six severed heads, the top portions of their spines dangling out of the necks, are drilled into the walls, impaled by their own spinal chords. A small, cheerful humming echoes down the corridor as a horribly mangled figure, unable to scream as desperately as she wants to, crawls slowly towards the dim lighting and reaches out with a handless right arm, trying to reach for help that would never come. The humming catches up to the woman, she simply stares at the man doing the humming, who stops near her. Something drops at his feet, and Yukari and Reimu have to squint to see what it is.
Her throat is lying at the man's bloody formal dress shoes.
The woman, also realizing this, squeezes her eyes and begins to smash the back of her head against the brick wall as hard as she can, repeatedly, over and over as the man watches the woman paint the wall with the color of her own brain. A very robotic crawl scrapes through.
"I wonder when I can do this to all of you?'
The video cuts, and Lauren claps her hands to dissipate the screen.
"That man, Auditor, has already assaulted many of our military outposts that have been in our direct contact. He is looking for anything that is related to serenity: Beta Blocks, papers on our research, files, whatever he can find. He is clearly very interested in serenity as well, but unlike anyone else, he is not actually going after the Blocks; he is solely targeting us. Beware; Auditor is extremely dangerous, to extents we must see for ourselves to know fully."
Deimos pops the bubble that he is blowing. "And the best part is, we don't even know why he's doing this. Just because we were the first ones to get refined serenity doesn't mean jack shit - he knows things that we don't, and there's something else that we have that he wants." Deimos gazes over at the two residents of Gensokyou. "If you can try asking him a few things, don't end up like those guys you just saw. Oh, and if you see AAHW personnel, do us a favor 'n kill 'em all."
The Avendator is silent as it pulls out of the military supply depot's front gate. Losira breaks the silence.
"You'll be staying at my place, then, and going back tomorrow?"
Yukari, who sits shotgun this time, nods slowly. Reimu also speaks up.
"...Losira, how long have you known that...that Auditor guy for?"
"He was the one who got me into this whole fucking Beta Block business."
"...he did?"
"For the record, I'll be fucking ripping his head off when I see him."
They drive for a few minutes in silence again before Losira fiddles with the stereo.
"I hope you don't mind some music; seeing that you're from Gensokyou, you probably won't like it, but deal with it anyway. I play music in the car whenever I feel like it, so..."
The speakers inside the Lamborghini pump with sound as the lyrics roll in.
"I'ma be that nail in your coffin, sayin' that I softened, I was duckin' down to reload-"
The headlights roar up the mountain towards Losira's home.