"We need to draw Tadashi out into the open," said GoGo. "Get him where we can ambush him, and take him out."

"Down," said Hiro, cutting into GoGo's small speech.

"What's that?" she asked.

"Down," said Hiro. "We're going to take him down." He turned away. "He's still Tadashi. We need to remember that."

"That's right," said Honey Lemon.

"That's fine," said Wasabi, "but we have to be ready if the need arises, to do what needs to be done." His eyes lingered on Hiro's for a moment before breaking off and turning away. "I know—but we need to be ready for whatever."


"We need to look into this again," said Honey Lemon, adjusting her glasses as she peered closer at the slow-motion security footage on the computer screen in front of her. "There's got to be something we can use to get to Callaghan, something that might lead us to him." She watched as Krei spoke to some of the technicians readied parts of the experiment.

"Wait, what's that?" asked Wasabi, pointing over her shoulder.

"What?" asked Honey Lemon.

"There," said Wasabi. He took control of the keyboard from her, brushing Honey Lemon's hands away. He zoomed in on the space just over Krei's shoulder. "Who's that?"

"That's Callaghan," said Honey Lemon, as the computer auto-focused the image. "But that lady he's with…"

"That's Krei's assistant," said Hiro, leaning in as well. "I remember her from—the night…"

"Okay, but what's she doing back there with Callaghan?" asked Honey Lemon, pressing play on the video again. The film continued on in slow motion, and they watched as Callaghan and the assistant spoke for a moment, and Callaghan planted a firm kiss on her lips before they parted.

"She and—Callaghan?" asked Wasabi.

"That's—new," said Hiro.

"Wait," said Honey Lemon. "If he had a relationship with her…"

"…then she might have been in on the plan," finished Hiro.

"What do we do, then?" asked Wasabi. "I mean, how do we proceed?

"I've got a plan," said Hiro. "We just need to organize some things…" He glanced away and called off: "GoGo! How are you with intimidation?"


Krei's assistant, Julie, walked briskly down the sidewalk. She held in one arm a tablet computer, on which she had organized her boss's agenda for the day. A slight twinge in the back of her head indicated to her that she had not yet had a single cup of coffee that day. She moved her legs back and forth as fast as she could in her pencil skirt. She wasn't late, not yet, but punctuality was important to her—and her employer.

Her cell phone rang as she passed by a large bookstore with an outdoor terrace café. She shifted the tablet to her other arm and fished her cell phone out of her pocket. She didn't recognize the number, but she often didn't recognize the numbers of Krei's many business contacts. She answered. "Hello, Krei Tech, Julie Hand speaking…"

"Ms. Hand, I'm well aware of who you are, and your connection to the late Professor Callaghan."

Julie stopped walking, frozen. "E-excuse me?" she asked, he voice coming dry from her throat.

"I understand this might seem abrupt," said the voice through the phone, "but I'm going to need you to come with me. I have some questions for you."

"Who are you?" asked Julie, looking all around her. The person might be watching her at this very moment—she stood still, frozen in place by terror.

"I'm the good looking dude in the sunglasses," replied the voice. Julie looked around a bit more, and her gaze fell upon a young man within the café corral, wearing sunglasses and propping his feet up on the table in front of him. He gave her a wave. "Hey, Julie," he said through the phone. "You're going to follow me around the corner to a car I've got waiting."

"I…"

"And before you try to, like, go against what I'm saying or run away or something; realize we're ready to stop you." The young man nodded toward her, and she looked down, to see a small red dot of light quivering over her heart. Her breath quickened.

"Okay," she said. "Just—please…"

"Ah, don't do that," said the man on the other side of the line. "Just follow me, a little ways back." He hung up the phone and, shaking, Julie followed him around the corner.


Julie was led to the roof of a nearby office building, the young man and the woman who had been driving the car making sure she didn't get away. The woman smacked her gum as she popped a bubble and shoved Julie toward the edge of the building. She stood on the edge, and, glancing behind her, noticed the height at which she was standing. She wobbled and, almost panicking, pin wheeled her arms and leaned forward before catching her balance again.

The brown haired young man with the hat stepped forward. "So, tell me, Julie," he grinned, "What do you know about microbots, and the 'death' of Callaghan?"

Julie mustered the best poker face that she could, and smirked. "You aren't going to push me off of this roof. Your sniper doesn't have their sights on me now, and you look like a nice young man. Knocking me off of a building doesn't seem like it would be your style."

The young man grinned. "No," he said. "It's not my style. You're right." He stepped backward, and Julie let out a sigh of relief. The purple haired young woman took the gum out of her mouth and stuck it to the side of an air conditioning unit next to her. "But it is hers."

The woman stepped forward and, with a firm side-kick, knocked Julie off of the roof.

Julie's heart leapt into her throat as she saw the rooftop disappear above her, as she fell backward in what seemed to be slow motion. Her arms pulled at the air, grasping at anything, but nothing was there. She closed her eyes, ready for the impact, when she was grabbed under the shoulders. Something caught her, and lifted her upward. She was brought upward, past the top of the building, and dumped her to the roof, on her hands and knees.

"Thanks, Hiro," said the young man. A large red-armored robot and his small rider touched down next to her. Another, larger man entered through the roof access behind the man and woman.

"Oh good, I missed it," he said. "I would have been terrified for her."

"Come on, Wasabi," said the girl, giving him a slightly harder than playful punch on the arm. "We're playing bad cop/bad cop here."

"GoGo," said he small robot pilot—he must have only been a kid—as he dismounted and walked over to Julie, holding out a hand to her. "Now isn't the time for joking around."

"Well, then," said a voice from behind them all. A tall girl with long blonde hair also appeared through the roof access. "Let's ask her, now."

"Yeah, dude," said the young man she had first met. He stepped forward as she took the young boy's hand and stood up.

"What do you know about the explosion at SFIT? And Callaghan?"

"Don't throw me off the building again, please," said Julie, her legs trembling. She glanced over her should at the edge of the tall building.

"Answer the question, and you won't have to go for another fall," said the shorter woman, popping another stick of gum into her mouth. "Because we might forget to catch you, next time."

"I—I can't—Krei will kill me."

"Krei?" asked the smaller boy, raising an eyebrow. "What does your boss have to do with this?"

"You didn't—what did you think happened?" asked Julie.

"Your connections to Callaghan," said the young boy, "as well as that you were at the presentation before the fire at SFIT. You and Callaghan burned the place down and stole the microbots. Now you're his contact in the real world, keeping an eye on Krei." The young boy raised an eyebrow. "We thought Callaghan was trying to get revenge on Krei for the death of his daughter."

"You really don't know Callaghan at all, do you?" asked Julie. Her mind wandered to her former lover, and shook her head at the theories that they had concocted. "He wouldn't hurt a fly. His daughter went into the wormhole, but he knew that it was her choice as much as Krei's. She wanted the mission, and she knew the risks."

"So what does Krei have to do with this?" asked the tall blonde girl.

"You really have no idea, do you?" asked Julie. The bubblegum girl scowled and Julie reminded herself to check her words. "It's not a revenge scheme—it's a power scheme." She turned to the younger boy. "You're the kid who invented the microbots, right? Hamada?" He nodded. "When you turned down Krei's offer, he decided to take what you wouldn't give." She paused. "He is a man unused to refusal."

"So is he running what's going on with the microbots now?" asked the larger man, stepping in. "Is he responsible?"

"Yes, he is the brain behind the Yokai program." Julie glanced down, and back to the Hamada boy. She looked at his face, turned away from her at the moment—his dark eyes, and smooth face—and realized where she recognized his features. "You—you're his brother, aren't you?"

The Hamada boy pushed a tear from his eye and looked up to her. "I want you to tell me," he said, his eyes stern and his mouth set, "exactly what Krei is planning. If you don't, I won't hesitate flying you up another few hundred feet before dropping you."

Julie swallowed, hard. Despite her height advantage over him, Hamada intimidated her. "I—well…" She cleared her throat. "He plans on using the Yokai program to garner public sympathy, and rebuild his Silent Sparrow program."

"What about Yokai?" asked the taller man, raising an eyebrow. "How do we stop him?"

"How can we save him," said the Hamada boy, shooting his eyes toward the man, who nodded.

"I am not sure," said Julie, her heart pounding in her chest. "I mean…"

"Out with it," said the woman Julie was pretty sure had been referred to as GoGo, smacking her gum. Her eyes bored into Julie, and she was very suddenly conscious of the group of people staring at her, the group of people who had kidnapped her and threatened her life. They couldn't have been more than twenty-five years old, at the most, and she was, even when frightened for her life, impressed by their resolve.

"The Yokai program is controlled through electrical impulses," said Julie, choosing her words carefully, speaking slowly. "First through electroshock conditioning heavily in the Kreitech lab. Once put into the field, he is controlled by a series of smaller, directed electric pulses and suggestions manipulated through his mask."

"So if we get the mask not only do we stop his connection to the microbots, but we also can stop Krei's hold on him," said the Hamada boy, placing his chin in the crook of his finger and his thumb.

"Not exactly," said Julie, continuing even more carefully still, conscious of the emotional stake the boy had in the conflict. "Due to the high of this amount of conditioning and control we've gone through, there is no way that he will be exactly as he was before."

"Are you saying the damage will be irreparable?" asked the tall blonde woman, her eyes growing dark with concern.

"Maybe not irreparable," said Julie, "but we haven't tried. We don't know how much lasting damage might be there."

"There's hope," said the Hamada boy. He turned to his robot and began to mount its back.

"What do we do now?" asked the large man in the back. "What do we do with her?"

"We'll use her to get in and break the stuff they're using to control Tadashi," said the Hamada boy from the back of his robot. "If we stop their control, we can stop him, get him back, and more on taking down Krei."

"So we don't' just go for the mask…" said the blonde. "We go for the main base. Approach it from a different angle."

"Wh—what are you going to do with me when you're done?" asked Julie, realizing her time to talk was coming to a close. "Krei won't let me just go after I've—I've betrayed him to you."

"We're not the cops," said the tall girl, shaking her head. "We can't keep you safe. That's—that's up to you."

Julie was frozen, but her legs were still able to quake underneath her. "What am I supposed to do, then?"

"I say, disappear," said the shorter woman. "Krei has to deal with us. With luck, he'll be too busy with us to even think of coming after you. And when we're done with him…" She trailed off.

"He won't have the means to finding you," said the shorter, aggressive woman. "Now, let's go. I'm sick of standing around."

Julie felt like she was going to be sick, speaking of, and she numbly followed them down off of the roof. Her arm brushed past her jacket pocket as she went, where her cell phone, unbeknownst to the young people who had kidnapped her, blinked softly with its GPS uplink.