The school bell rang, indicating the end of classes as the students put away their textbooks. Akira wondered what was up with the adults, not having seen them since that day in Mementos. "They don't even reply to my messages..." Oh well, chances were that they were bogged down with work and simply didn't think he'd be interested in hearing about boring procedures. "Or Kirijo might be making them test something out, like with the cameras."
Anyway, he wasn't going to get the answer until one of them broke the silence. "I hope they aren't in some dangerous business..." He valued them as teammates and had even considered taking the deal with the raven. "Yeah, I'll start gathering materials." But he would have to wait until she approached him to make the trade. At least he managed to alleviate the woes of his teacher and the doctor. "And I'm finally free from being a guinea pig..." His stomach twinged with a cramp at the memories of those concoctions.
The teen thought over what his priorities should entail. "Hrm... The sooner we map out the entire Palace, the sooner we can send out the card..." He pulled out his phone and Morgana perked up, poking his head out from the bag. "Is it time for an infiltration?" He nodded, sending a message to his teammates. "Let's find out Okumura's true colors." Time to check if they could discover the Treasure's location. "And Haru might get the push she needs to unlock her Persona."
~m~
Oracle was creating a map as the thieves explored the factory. The workplace as it was perceived by Okumura was hellish, as the workers were seen as robots, not giving them decent conditions to earn their keep and chipping away at their sanity. Noir felt guilt over how her father envisioned his employees as mere machines to be exploited until they burned out, discarding the broken ones with callous disregard. "It's people's lives we're talking about..."
Joker had a strange feeling, he could swear that he saw Geist with his third-eye, but the kitten hadn't come with them. "Hallucinations?" - The blackie would have sweated if he could, the boy was quite perceptive. "He can see ghosts?" He only came along to scout out and devise a getaway schematic for the detective. "Gee, that was risky..." He'd better go back to hitching a ride on that flappy trenchcoat, that way Joker wouldn't catch him again. "It would be bad to make them suspicious..."
At one point, the thieves were confronted by Shadow Okumura. "He looks like the toy from that movie..." Joker briefly wondered if the Investigation Team had to face something similar. The Ruler barked at his daughter for daring to defy his orders as the cognition of the slimy fiancé stood by him. "Virtue and sentiment are for losers." The girl stayed silent as she discovered how rotten her father had become, drunk with delusions of power and reaching for the stars.
The posh bastard began slandering Noir, considering her 'tainted'. "She needn't be your legal wife." The thief watched in shock as Ruler and cognition talked about her as if she was simply a tool. "Mistress...?" Noir was devastated to learn that her father saw her as a mere bargaining chip. "... I even accepted a political marriage for you." But if her father was knowingly pushing her into the claws of an abusive bastard...
No, she refused to be trapped with the disgusting lowlife, she'd break free from the stranglehold her father had her in. "So vulgar..." Her spirit burned with outrage, the good and docile daughter was no more. "Farewell, dear Father." Well, she wasn't going to stay silent, she'd fight that dreary fate with all she had. "I am no longer your subservient puppet!" Noir kept her head high as she announced how she'd reform her father, along with the thieves he despised.
Their newly-minted teammate was surprisingly effective against the robotic Shadows, making them drop like flies. "Noir can deliver the calling card for the heist." Joker grinned, this excursion had gone better than he had expected, as Noir had fully awakened her Persona and they had pinpointed where the Ruler hid the core of his desires. "Yosh, let's stock up on supplies, then it's showtime!" With this in mind, the thieves left the factory.
As the young leader watched his teammates disperse back to their homes, he had glimpsed some blue mist flowing from his shirt into a trashcan. "Again... Was that Sissel?" The senior detective had commented about the kitten's strange ghost powers, explaining what made him so special. "But why haven't they said anything yet?" Did they send the cat to keep tabs on them?
~m~
Rise slumped on her seat, wiped out from the intensive recording session. "My cramps are getting cramps..." Then a scream ripped through the set, startling everybody. "What pissed off the manager this time?" Her fellow main actor had a bored look, favoring his meal over the incident that got people rubbernecking. "The director's always causing a mess, I heard from my mother that he has a penchant for trouble."
The actress thought back on some stories from Mikumo. "I sure hope we don't get a murder case..." Then they heard shouts from the source of the commotion. "I wouldn't count on that, the guy seems to have a death wish." One of the assistants seemed worried about the incident, Kamiya sounded really angry. "Hah... That woman won't kill him, though, she needs him alive to get her payment." Aizawa had zero sympathies for Yahari, sure that he did something stupid.
After a few more screams and wails of pain, the director was free from the demon manager, holding a bag of frozen peas to his face. "Alrighty, boys and gals! Your great director got a brilliant idea!" He waved a script, hastily penned on spare paper, ignoring the evil glare behind him. "Guess what, I think that a romance subplot will appeal to the masses!" Aizawa was unamused as his colleague cracked into giggles, as it was obvious who'd be the couple.
"The manager should veto this, we'd have to reshoot many scenes if this gets approved..." The actor disliked getting involved in such plots, as it let to badgering from the media, who'd ask if there was a blooming relationship. "Don't be a bore, this could be interesting." Then the singer mused about how her friend would respond to this spin. "Although Naoto is a bit of a brick when it comes to romance..."
~m~
Geist was annoyed by the airlock section, he'd have to check if his tricks could bypass the activation levers and if his Persona could muster enough speed for a getaway. "This is more complicated than the usual..." He sighed, at least in the real world he had a clear grasp of his limitations and his partner was an escape artist. "No negative thoughts, she won't die in this place, I'll make sure of it." He cared not for Okumura's fate, only for those he felt affection for.
Sissel had disengaged from Akira the instant he exited the Palace, going straight to his partner, she had to familiarize herself with the location. "Well then, let's go, Sissel." The kitten was possessing her coat, being able to materialize his Persona even as a disembodied soul. "Roger that." The operation was to be launched simultaneously with the heist, so there was no leeway for failure. "Time to scout the stage." She arrived at the factory, hearing the robotic Shadows slaving away, and mounted the phantom cat. "Hold on tight."
~m~
Mitsuru had hashed out the finer details of the plan with the detectives. It was highly probable that Okumura would react like Madarame and try to go for a public confession. "How can we intercept him?" They would have to fabricate a good tale to sell to the masses. "A mental shutdown... effectively brain dead..." The woman sighed, there were many variables to keep track of. "Intercept... can Fuuka override a TV channel?"
Then her mind wandered towards the teen thieves, they were scalded cats untrusting of authorities, their leader even more so. "Will they blame us...?" It was regrettable, but she had to let the Phantoms take a hit to their fame, or the opposing party might get suspicious. "I hope he forgives us." The thieves were mature compared to other teenagers, but they might lash out for being used as tools. "We have to be ready for all kinds of aftershocks."
As the woman pondered over the ramifications of the plan, her friend focused on what might go astray during the heist, as the assassin might get a lucky hit on their agent. "I hope it goes safely..." Fuuka feared that things may turn south, like when their friend almost died. "Me too. But that's up to their skill." Once in the Metaverse, there was no support besides teammates and the Personas. "We can only wait it out and pray for success."
