So this one's a little shorter, but I know exactly where I'm going from here, so the next installment should be up relatively soon.

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Lloyd whipped around as the lights flicked on, but the light blinding his eyes prevented him from distinguishing any shapes from the mass of white in front of him. His first instinct was launch his hands to either side of his waist and draw his swords, but prudence told him that, as he was not yet dead, he would probably have at least a little while to explain himself, which would be significantly be decreased if he proved himself hostile.

"Well, well, well…" came the mocking voice in front of him. It sounded like it belonged to a young male, perhaps a bit younger than Lloyd. Lloyd blinked twice, and the moisture in his eyelids seemed to wash the spots of light from his eyes. As he had predicted, the steady rapid clicking he heard earlier was the rhythmic march of trained soldiers into the room. Every one of them was armed with a loaded crossbow, and everything he was beginning to see exuded deadly efficiency. Even the crossbows themselves looked threatening. They were of a bluish metal, and were shorter than the average man's forearm, but the bolts they carried were affixed with bulb-like heads covered in barbed points that Lloyd did not feel like getting lodged in his flesh. Realizing that he could see fully once more, Lloyd took another good look at his surroundings.

The room was as he had originally appraised, without further traps. The Key Crest armor stood in the middle, seeming exactly as he had determined earlier, though slightly less threatening when it was not the only thing in the room with any light on it. Simple grey desks stood on the sides of the room. The strange boxes on the desks looked familiar, and Lloyd realized they were actually computer monitors. It was a disturbing turn of events that their foes had approximately the same level of technology as the Desians Lloyd had fought in the journey of world regeneration, but an occurrence Lloyd would have to think about later.

The soldiers who flooded into the room now stood three to each wall, with five on the side of the door. They stood close enough to the wall to avoid a sneak attack from a theoretical third infiltrator, but not so close to prevent them from drawing and using their swords, which Lloyd noted were slung over their backs, and attacking. Their uniforms were unadorned blue cloth covering what Lloyd would guess was chainmail, based on the way the material draped over their bodies. Their legs and feet were guarded by thin metal plates to help prevent an attack to the lower portion of the body, and was the reason their feet had clicked as the moved across the hard metal floor. Their helmets were simple steel, and were thick on the forehead and temple areas, but very thin in other places. Clawlike spikes of metal sprouted from both sides of the helmet at cheek level, curving around their faces and covering most of their countenances, but still allowing them to breathe. Lloyd realized that all of their armor was designed to protect only the most vulnerable areas. The rest was up to good training.

"Who would have thought…the saviors of the world to personally come to visit our…humble facility?" questioned the man at the door, who Lloyd quickly turned his attention to. Lloyd realized that the word 'man' was an overstatement. He looked barely a year or two older than Lloyd had been when he had set of to save the world. His face was slightly snide and mocking, with the smooth, soft, yet still handsome features of what Lloyd guessed to be Sybak, though he could be wrong. His hair was black, short, glossy, and impossibly unruly. Though his hair appeared to all be the same length overall, it was going in so many directions at once, that some places on his head were completely flat, while others stood up, like peaks and valleys of the very continent they were on at that moment. It did not however, look like he had just rolled out of bed, or forgotten to take a shower. Instead, it seemed like no one had ever told him that it looked awful, and as such a young person in a position of power, it was likely no one ever would, as long as he didn't meet Zelos. His eyes were unusually large, and Lloyd was sure they would be mesmerizing if he kept them more open. Instead, he half-squinted at them, as if he didn't want to wear glasses, but really needed them. He had a long thin scar, extending like a white wire from the left corner of his nose downward diagonally to the corner of his jawbone. His clothes were simple lab robes, although they were embellished by a gold lining around the edges. If Lloyd peered closely at them, he could even see a Sybak logo on them, proving the connection to him, if not to Meltokio politicians. Physically, their opponent didn't look like too strong of a fighter, but he had some muscle on him, like a fencer gone to waste. Still, he had an air of magic power so strong that Lloyd could smell it, like the stench of alcohol on a drunk. It smelled almost metallic, but with undertones of something that smelled like fur. It was an interesting blend.

"And look which two they send!" he exclaimed. "Lloyd Irving, leader of the group, and Sheena Fujibayasha, chief of the Mizuho! I mean, I could understand it if you sent…that little girl…Presea, right? She's not too important, or the little half-elf boy…what's his name…it starts with a 'P', doesn't it?"

"A 'G'" spat Sheena. Lloyd was fully aware that everyone in the room knew Genis' name, but the man at the door seemed to like to mock them.

"Oh, right, right, sorry," apologized the man insincerely. "But still, wow! I mean that the leader of the group himself would try to infiltrate our facilities, badly, I admit, extremely poorly…but…do you know how many alarms you set off on your way here?" His mocking tone was gone, and now it seemed more like he simply wanted to carry out a conversation with them. "Thirteen! One of them was before you even stepped foot in the building! How could you expect this to be so easy? I mean, there are your blatant breaking-and-enterings, and then there are your blatant breaking-and-enterings!" He seemed to like the sound of his voice. He didn't speak particularly fast, but the way his thoughts just flowed into each other and spilled into his mouth, it was like a river gushing over an outcropping. "You know, I was the one who thought up the alarm system. The Desians were the first with video cameras, and sound recorders, but those can't actually detect infiltration unless someone is on the other side watching them, and they're kind of easy to spot. I was the first with laser breaker devices. The Desians had lasers, it's true but they only used them as offensive weapons, never to detect when someone was coming inside. Whenever you stepped across one, it broke the beam and set off a silent alarm. I even have ones that are outside, but don't turn on until a certain time of night, so that they're not set off by every random hobo wandering along. Cool, huh?"

He paused for a moment, as if waiting for a response, but was disappointed. He continued anyway. "So, what do you have to say for yourselves? Were you impressed by your little tour?" He cocked an eyebrow, but waited for far shorter than it would take for Lloyd to throw together a clever response, that would not reveal what they knew. Fortunately, he didn't seem to be too intent about getting information from them. As a matter of fact, it seemed almost the opposite, like a child with a secret they couldn't wait to spoil. "I'm afraid you won't find what you're looking for, because there simply aren't any condemning papers anywhere in this facility. Actually, this is a paper-free facility. Now, I know it's dangerous to be with entirely no data backup, but that's not the case. Every piece of datum is backed up at our other seven facilities."

"Master!" hissed the soldier next to the speaker. At first, he looked like he wore exactly the same thing as all of the other soldier, but he spoke with an air of command, even when pleading with a superior not to disclose sensitive information. After a glance, Lloyd noticed that there was, in fact a difference in his outfit. A single extra screw was located on the left side of his head plate. It was a subtle system of command, noted Lloyd, but it would be impossibly hard for any foe unfamiliar with it to eliminate captains in battle.

"Oh, pshawww…" scorned the speaker. "If the Darting Shadows are working for them, they probably already know everything they want to about our facilities, or they will soon. I was just discouraging them from any further attempts at infiltrating any of our bases. They won't try if they know that they can't prove anything. The Meltokion nobles won't believe anything but paper evidence, which I was encouraging them to stop looking for. I'm just doing it because if they did try, we both know that they could cause some trouble if they really wanted to. I mean, we have backups, but it's not like any of this stuff is cheap. Especially not the macr…" he turned and glanced at Lloyd and Sheena, then as if introducing them to an old friend, he stepped to the side, and gestured to the room before them containing the strange walls made of flipping black sections.

"Behold, the macrochip! The source of all our technological wonders!" A wild grin occupied most of his face, one that he kept as he continued rapidly spewing information. "You know, we wanted to make it a microchip, like the ones the Desians had, but we just can't figure out how to make them so darn…small! I mean, we've tried, but those things are tiny! We're really at an interesting point in history, you know. We have the technology of the future, but production means of the past. We used to be working on cannibalizing the Desian factory line, but we gave up on that, partially because your friend Zelos was so adamant about them being destroyed, or at least guarded, but partially because they only used it for exspheres, and we don't really need to know how to activate those on a large scale…"

"Why not?" interjected Lloyd, hoping that their new foe would continue spilling his guts.

"Well, you see we don't actually…Well…Hah! Wouldn't you like to know?" he caught himself just in time, and Lloyd winced. He had been so close. The man strode slowly towards them as he explained his superiority. "You see, I have the advantage here. I don't have to tell you anything, the only reason I am, is frankly because it's entertaining, and I'm not giving away anything useful. All you know about us that you didn't before is that we have eight total bases…and that our weaponry is hundreds of years past your wildest imaginings. You don't even know my name."

"Yeah, I do," replied Sheena smirking, surprising Lloyd as much as anyone else, "It's Jasper Patricks." Jasper looked stunned, looking around for an explanation. Barely containing her mirth, Sheena extended a single finger, pointing at the left side of his chest. "Nametag: Jasper Patricks, Head of Practical Magitechnology Development of the Tethe'allan Superiority Society."

Jasper bit his lip and looked down at the tag, picking it off his chest and looked at it, truly quiet for the first time that night. He pocketed it, then looked Sheena in the eyes, and sighed. "Damn it." It was more of a statement than an interjection.

One of the soldiers let out a single muffled snort. "Shut it, Atherson!" cried Jasper, turning and singling out the man. "I'm still your superior!"

"Sir!" exclaimed the officer near the door. "Please, don't reveal any more information. You know the saying, 'One name is a suspicion, two is certainty.'"

"Captain, I'm sure these two are fully aware of everything they want to know. With the Darting Shadows, it's hard to keep anything a secret. They're only here to prove our existence, not to find out about it. I'll show you." Jasper turned and barked. "Gargenteth! Ferham! Mean anything?"

Lloyd nodded fervently, although he had never heard of the second. He hoped that Jasper would explain, however, and he did not disappoint. "See? They already know the identities of our two biggest leaders, and…er…well, I guess Gargenteth isn't exactly a leader…he's more like a sponsor…but…well Ferham is a leader…so yeah…I guess they both count." He appeared to be lost in thought for a moment. He snapped out of it quickly, and changed subjects dramatically.

"I bet you think I'm a horrible person, only concerned with power and personal gain, right?" Lloyd nodded slowly, and Sheena did the same next to him. "Well, you're wrong…" he spoke, but this was softer, almost like he had been planning all of this, for dramatic effect, trying to justify it in his head. "I'm not in it for the power. Gargenteth, yeah, he's just your typical Meltokio noble, desperate to get in position for the kingship, determined to get money off of everything…and Ferham…he really believes in all of this superiority nonsense. I don't. Not at all, actually. I'm not that different from you, Lloyd. I think equality is very desirable. I too, am appalled by the living conditions in the slums of Meltokio, and I can see where this world is headed. The way technology is advancing, soon there will be factories in every city, and conditions will be worse than ever for the poor. I'm trying to save them, you know." His speech was beginning to sound more and more practiced, as if he were an apologetic. "I'm trying to save them," he repeated. "Don't you agree that I'm going to do a good thing?"

"Maybe, but how is shooting beams of mana from the sky going to save the poor?" questioned Lloyd, scoffing.

"Oh, that's not what the end goal is," replied Jasper nonchalantly, returning to his former manner. "That's just the first step. Soon, I plan to move from controlling the sun's mana, and make a way to control the sun, make it shine when and where we need it. Think about it, Lloyd. Think of the effect on agriculture. By letting plants grow at night, I'm at least doubling production yield. Plus, they can grow in even the coldest of winters, and there will be no losses to frost. Think of what all of that food could do for these people. Part of the reason they're all so poor, is the fact that there simply isn't enough food out there to feed everyone adequately, and the upper class are dead set on keeping it like that, even hogging more than their share, so that the lower classes have to pay more for food, and don't have enough to advance, to threaten the nobles position. If there was more food, if the poor didn't have to pay as much, they could spend their money on other things, like housing, or an education, which as everyone knows is the best tool to escape poverty. Isn't it a good idea? I'm just trying to perfect your salvation, Lloyd." He smiled, thinking himself quite the humanitarian. "Which, by the way, I admire exquisitely. I find it…amazing at certain times…what you did. Like…your victories over Desian Grand Cardinals, despite the fact that you had next to no training, and they had a life time of preparation. Or…the part where you thought Zelos had betrayed you, but you still trusted him." A smile was flashing on Jasper's face, though he was trying to control it. Lloyd could tell that he just wanted to burst out. "IT WAS SO COOL!" but thought it would be unprofessional. He was like a small child. It was almost endearing, but the situation was too serious for Lloyd to sympathize right now.

"But is this extremely dangerous method the best way to go about saving the poor?" inquired Sheena. "Allying with two men who are probably insane with power, launching deadly beams near the world tree, possibly creating a new, extremely deadly weapon?"

"Now, I'll admit there are risks," laughed Jasper offhandedly, "but I think the rewards are too great to pass up. Plus, I'm the only one who really knows how to make all of this work. Gargenteth and Ferham are going to listen to me because, frankly, without me, their research would be set back…maybe…one hundred and twenty years, at a conservative estimate, and honestly, neither of them are capable of thinking that long term. Plus, I'm the only one who knows how to wield it as an offensive force, and once I figure out how to deweaponize it, I'm destroying all records of the original experiments. And about the world tree, I doubt the relatively small amount of mana from the sun would damage such an immensely powerful mana producer, and it has that…Marcel lady defending it, right?"

"Martel," hissed Lloyd, but Jasper continued on.

"I don't think there are any concerns for human lives," he mused seeming more thoughtful this time, "except for my researchers, if something goes dramatically wrong, but that's why we built the bunkers, and they know what they're getting into. As a matter of fact the closest village I can think of to a test…" He broke off his thought. "That reminds me, tell the Flanoir area experiment, number 156-C that they have to complete the preparations tonight, and perform the experiment tomorrow, or else they're coming home early. I wouldn't want any of the other saviors interfering, and according to our friend Lehrow, they do know about it. Hmm…I guess he was right. It's a shame Ferham killed him."

"You killed him?!" exploded Lloyd, enraged at the injustice, "He was killed by you, his friends, while we, his enemies spared him?"

"Not me," replied Jasper casually. "Ferham. Once he gets in one of his moods, someone's got to die, and Lehrow was just unlucky."

"And you ally yourself with him, and then try to plead your case with us, justify yourself. How dumb do you think we are?" asked Sheena. "And more importantly, how dumb do you think they are? Do you think Ferham and Gargenteth are honestly just going to sit back and watch you work, ready to be betrayed at any second? I'd bet my hide that at least one of these men here is a double-agent, ready to shift the aim of his crossbow just a hair and get rid of you once and for all. It might set back their research, but I've seen all of their scientists, and I've heard of the massive vaults of knowledge they have. It wouldn't take long. As a matter of fact, I'll bet some of Gargenteth's corps have already figured it out. His smuggling ring traffics in more than materials, you know." Sheena was bluffing, but Lloyd didn't realize until halfway into her speech. She was very good at it, and for a moment, Jasper seemed unnerved. He licked his lips nervously, but decided that a response was, in fact, necessary.

"I'll have you know…I…have some agents of my own…inside their…inner circles." His bluffing techniques were not anywhere near par. "But enough of this. I've discussed too much with you already. Charbd…" he paused, realizing he was about to give away another name. He licked his lips, wetting them. "You…and you…and the two of you in the back, take them to…" He paused in thought for a moment. "I guess the kennels are the best we have here for containment…I wish we were at a larger place…like the Triet facility…" Lloyd grinned at the revelation of more important information. "They'll have to do. Take away all potentially dangerous equipment, and make sure they're locked up tight. Don't leave the room. You know, all of the standard 'dangerous prisoner procedure'. I trust you to know the rest." He paused. "You know, it's a shame we are destined to fight, Lloyd. I really did enjoy our conversation." The two guards Jasper had pointed to at opposite ends of the room marched towards Sheena and Lloyd, producing handcuffs from pouches hanging on their belts. Lloyd glanced at Sheena for a cue, but as she caught his eye, a slow wild grin spread across her face, like a trapped animal that has just spotted a way out.

Before Lloyd could react, she twisted on her heel so that she and Lloyd were facing opposite directions, and pressed her back against his, as if ready to fight. In a single, swift, and perfectly unified motion, every soldier in the room, except for the two who were going to handcuff Lloyd and Sheena, whipped up their crossbows. Lloyd really hoped Sheena knew what she was doing. Still with the barely restrained grin of someone with a secret, Sheena reached back and grasped Lloyd's hand.

It was a testament to how confused Lloyd felt about his feelings that the first thing he noticed was how soft her hand was, how delicate, like a young flower growing off the side of a large road, instead of noticing the small, slightly squishy sphere now clamped between their hands. He hadn't worn gloves on this mission, and Lloyd felt embarrassed at how clammy his hands wore. It had always been a problem for him, and was the reason he had started wearing gloves in the first place.

"Aww…look at the lovebirds," sighed Jasper, turning back around as he heard the commotion. Lloyd blushed slightly, but when he looked over, he noticed Sheena hadn't, shaming him more. "So sweet…You know, Lloyd I always thought that you had a thing for Colette…but I guess she's gone off and married someone else, so that's out of the question." Lloyd and Sheena winced in unison. Neither of them knew how Jasper had learned of Colette's family, but they would definitely now have to protect them better.

Sheena squeezed Lloyd's hand slightly, as if asking him if he was ready. Lloyd realized he still had no idea what Sheena was doing. He slipped his thumb into the cup formed between their two hands to feel what the sphere Sheena had concealed there was. It was engraved with a Mizuho character that Lloyd felt he had seen before, but it was hard to determine what it was using only his fingers, instead of his eyes. Unfortunately, the small gap the absence of his thumb caused was large enough for Jasper to see between their hands, and he recognized what was there much before Lloyd. "Is that…" and his face quickly switched from wonderment to dismay. "No! Don't! You'll be killed by the mana shiel…" but it was too late. Sheena smashed the sphere between their two palms, and suddenly, Lloyd felt like he was trying to contain a grenade with his hands. An explosion of light, heat, and some kind of gas ripped not only their hands apart, but it also seemed to rip their spirit from their very bodies. Lloyd felt like he was growing, getting larger, or the room below him was rapidly shrinking. It was a unique sensation, but one that Lloyd found somehow familiar. Looking down into the room, he saw neither himself nor Sheena, only a cloud of smoke.

The crossbowmen had fired, each bolt whistling through the cloud of smoke where he and Sheena had been, and only narrowly missing the soldier on the other side. Jasper was looking around frantically, and Lloyd realized what was happening. Sheena had brought along one of the famed Mizuho Spirit Fades, like the ones she used to escape from them in the journey of regeneration after her failed assassination attempts. Lloyd had only used one once, when the entire party had escaped from the Desian facility with Sheena, the reason the sensation was familiar. He and Sheena had actually shifted between dimensions to the spirit realm, and were now being carried away by a friendly one to a better location, where they would be safe.

Grinning at Sheena's foresight, Lloyd looked up, the direction he was rapidly soaring, but saw something he was unfamiliar with. A barrier stood in their way, a lattice made of what looked like lightning bolt, flaming, crackling, and ready to scorch anything that came near. Lloyd didn't remember anything like this, and something told him that this was not planned. But there was nothing he could now do; he was accelerating faster and faster straight at it. Lloyd looked desperately around for Sheena, but everything was now black, even the room that he could formerly see below him. She was no where in sight. He was alone with the wall of electricity, and about to crash into it.

And suddenly, a gentle, but impossibly powerful voice echoed around the oblivion he rocketed through. "I will protect you both!" It was a voice Lloyd recognized as the green haired goddess, Martel. Her giant form appeared at the lattice, and as he soared at it, she grabbed two crossbars of lightning. It jumped from her hands, up her arms, looping around her body. Her head was tossed back, and she seemed to scream through gritted teeth though Lloyd could hear nothing. And still, despite her efforts, the lattice hovered in front of Lloyd, weakened, but as present as ever. Lloyd drew a single breath of panic as he bludgeoned straight through it. As he passed through the barrier, the only sensation in his body was that of pure agony. The actual places the lightning struck him, he felt nothing, every nerve deadened completely. Everywhere else, he felt as if he were being atomized, then every atom being scalded, electrocuted, and fitted back into his body. He had never felt such intense pain anywhere in his body, and now it was all but universal. Every fiber of his being was stretched to the breaking point, and sometimes, beyond. He felt parts of his arm dying as they passed through the lightning, his left leg totally numbed. Even one of his lungs seemed to have stopped functioning, the only gasping breaths he managed to take wheezing through his other one. The pain was so impossible that Lloyd felt himself become removed from his body. His mind couldn't cope with the distress signals issuing from everywhere it monitored, and was shutting down. And Lloyd welcomed it. Death, or possibly insanity, anything was better than this.

And then, when all his mind had ever sought to maintain was almost gone, when his life was almost over, he felt something stroke the side of his face, his chin. It was so soft, so pure, so loving, like a mother's touch, and for a moment Lloyd wondered if he had in fact truly died, or simply come so close that it didn't matter. He sighed at the simple embrace, and all went black.