The Phantom Thieves retreated to a safe room after their encounter with Black Mask. It effectively ended in a loss for them, unable to apprehend the mysterious induvial, while he escaped after inflicting noticeable damage to everyone, forcing them to take a quick break so they could recover. "Is everyone okay?" Joker asked, looking around the safe room that somewhat resembled a storage room. It was better than nothing.

"My arm hurts…but I am alright." Dragon responded, wincing as Panther carefully wrapped some bandages around her arm. The injury was likely to fade when they exited the Metaverse, but it was best to patch up just in case. The medical supplies Joker purchased from Takemi were really coming in handy now. "I don't know if I'll be of much help…"

"Don't worry about that." Panther said gently. "We've got plenty of arms to use. You just focus on making sure yours gets better. It sucks that healing magic only does so much…"

"I'll take what I can get." Dragon offered a slight smile in return.

"Gah! I'm still so pissed off." Skull grunted, kicking a box out of frustration. "We had that bastard right where we wanted him…!"

"I suspect he engaged us because he knew that he would be able to slip away from us…" Queen let out a sigh. "I feel responsible for not taking this into account. I was only focusing on catching him…"

"We did jump the gun rather quickly." Fox was sitting down, thinking back on the encounter. "I, for one, did not expect him to be so powerful…"

"We all jumped as fast as we could, but he was easily able to knock us all back." Mona grumbled.

"Is that really the person behind all of those scary Mental Shutdown incidents?" Violet questioned. "I know things were moving pretty quickly, but…" She shook her head. "Actually, did anyone know who that was? I couldn't tell…"

"Me neither." Oracle replied. "They were totally unhinged and psychotic, I couldn't guess if that was their real voice or not. My guess is that they've been lurking in this Palace for a while and started to follow us when they saw us. It's the only way they could've gotten past all those doors when we had difficulties."

"I don't mean to rush everyone…but I think we should get moving as soon as we can." Noir was understandably in a bit of a panicked and frantic state after that encounter. "But we have to hurry and find the Treasure! I'm not comfortable with that person roaming around my Father's Palace! If he…if he…"

"We won't let that happen." Joker said with a firm nod. "That encounter did slow us down a bit, but as soon as everyone's ready, we'll get moving again."

"I know you're worried, Noir…" Violet began. "But we'll make it through this, I'm sure!" She was being positive. Noir did need it to help her calm down a little.

"Thanks, Violet…" Noir let out a small sigh. There was nothing to be gained by rushing haphazardly when everyone was recovering from the sudden attack by Black Mask.

"We have to be careful from here on out." Mona told the others.

"As far as I could tell, Black Mask most likely left." Oracle reported. "We had to move forward to get to this room, and I didn't detect his presence. Though he was mostly able to avoid my full detection…I have to get better at that." She grumbled under her breath. This could've been avoided if she was a better navigator. But this only inspired her to work harder so something like this would never happen again, so long as she had a say in it.

"I think we could all strive to do better. If we encounter that person again, we must be prepared." Fox didn't enjoy that bitter taste of defeat either. Black Mask was strong and they needed to be stronger. He knew this wouldn't be the last time they encountered him.

"I'll definitely kick his ass neck time I see him!" Skull said. Talking about how to improve and prepare for the next encounter definitely made everyone feel a bit better.

"Then we shouldn't delay any longer! We must make haste to the Treasure!" Dragon sprang up, only to wince because of her arm injury. "Ow…"

"You…should take it easy." Panther had a sweat drop. She was glad that Dragon was feeling better, but she hoped the enthusiasm died down a little.

.

.

After they rested up with a quick break, the group continued deeper into the factory, moving from the Export Line to the Production Line. They stopped, noticing the path ahead was blocked by…hydraulic presses moving at rapid pace. Skull started to sweat. "Do we…really gotta go through all that?"

Oracle gave a slow nod. "Yup. The only way forward is to pass along those." Her confirmation made everyone pause.

"…There's no way we can press onward." Violet said. "We'll be crushed if we try…!"

"Now hold on! I'm picking up some more terminals nearby. If I'm correct, they should control these presses." Oracle said to calm everyone's worry. "I think there's one a little further down, actually."

"Alright. Let's press on." Joker said, leading the way towards the terminal Oracle mentioned. They found it and when he looked, he saw a few options. "Break time…or lunch. Uh…let's try Break." He pressed the button and an automatic voice spoke as the hydraulic presses came to a halt.

"IT IS NOW BREAKTIME!"

"Alright, let's go!" Panther started to run, but after about five seconds, well before she could even reach the frozen press, it started to move again. This caused her to panic and she yelped out, frantically backing away.

"BREAKTIME IS OVER! IT IS TIME TO RETURN TO WORK!"

"T-That was no time at all…" Noir said with a sweat drop. That Break was over before they could really even move. Somehow, the deeper they went into the Palace, the worse things became.

"Is it really that bad in the company that the employees are not even given ample time to relax?" Queen hated thinking about this. The deeper into the factory, the harsher the conditions became. That was saying a lot considering the conditions they saw earlier were pretty bad.

Oracle had to be pragmatic about this. If the Break option provided no time, then they had to go with the other one. "I know it's tough to think about, but we're not going to fix anything standing here talking about it. Try the Lunch option."

"Yeah." Joker agreed with Oracle. Tough words, but they needed to be said. So he tried the Lunch option to see how much time this would give them.

"IT IS NOW LUNCH TIME. IT WILL LAST 30 SECONDS! LET US CONSUME OUR SLOP AND GLEEFULLY REENERGIZE!"

"Only 30 seconds!? Maybe I could manage a bowl of ramen in that time…" Skull said.

"MOVE!" Mona yelled at him and everyone. 30 seconds was not a lot of time to cross a frozen hydraulic press. Everyone scrambled forward, quickly making their across the inactive machinery. 30 seconds was not a lot of time, and by the time did they manage to cross, everything started moving again.

"LUNCHTIME IS NOW OVER. IT IS TIME TO GET BACK TO WORK!"

"G-Geez…!" Skull was panting, not from exhaustion or anything, but how close of a call that was.

"That was no time at all…I wouldn't even be able to enjoy the first bite of a fresh bowel of ramen " Fox said.

"It takes you 30 seconds to start eating…?" Violent blinked, staring at Fox curiously.

"But of course. I must appreciate the finer details of the dish before I begin to critique its taste." Fox nodded sagely.

"I…I see…" Violet wasn't going to question this. Just like everyone else, she had to experience Fox's eccentricity for herself.

"Why is it always food with you two…" Panther stared at Fox and Skull.

"I…I think we're avoiding the underlying issue." Queen said, although it did make sense no one walked to talk about it just yet.

"Don't relax just yet…we still got a lot more of this to do." Oracle said.

"Aw man…" Skull whined.

"No whining, Skull." Mona huffed.

"We can't slow down now." Noir was already taking the lead. "Where's the next terminal? We have to keep going." Everyone opted to follow Noir…or rather, she was going off ahead a little bit, making it a point that she didn't want to stand around idly for too long. She couldn't take the risk of anything happening to her father's Shadow knowing Black Mask could linger in this Palace. Nobody blamed her for this either, they just got in line and repeated this frightening process of starting Lunch Time, just to run across the dangerous machinery. Eventually they were at the end of it, but their path was blocked by numerous golden worker robots.

"The path up ahead is blocked…that will take us to some dangerous looking employees." Fox noted.

"But we have to do this. I can smell the Treasure up ahead! We're getting closer." Mona said.

"If it's the only way…then we have no choice." Noir said firmly. The worker robots noticed the intruders and slowly began to make their way towards the Phantom Thieves. Noir's mask burned off and she summoned Milady. "Milady, let's dance!" She wasted no time going on the offensive, Milady's dress opening up to reveal all the heavy gunfire. "Firing!" And she began to upon fire, numerous explosives launching out from Milady upon the group of robots, sending them scattering in every direction.

"Belle Star!" Dragon could not resist, even though Panther was asking her to take it easy. "Sword of Judgement!" Belle Star flew forward towards some airborne robots, slashing her sword numerous times, beams of light shooting from the sword after every slash. She managed to take down a few robots, but of course her pose did make her draw her arm back because of her injury. "Ow…"

"Please take it easy…" Panther pleaded before calling forth Carmen. "Let's go, Carmen!" Panther pointed her hand forward, Carmen mirroring her stance, a large explosion of fire erupting outward, covering a large radius.

Joker was the one to finish it off. He summoned Arsene, thrusting his arm forward as his Persona charged ahead, spinning around while crashing through the remaining robots that stood in the way. It was barely even a fight. "Huh…That was simple."

"No kiddin', that looked way too easy." Skull said.

"Well they're brainwashed, overworked, and fighting against an impossible enemy." Mona said. "I hope nobody treats me that badly when I turn back into a human."

"…" Noir didn't have anything to say.

"C-Come on, let's keep going! Don't look so down, Noir!" Panther was trying to keep Noir's spirits high.

"The Treasure is up ahead, right, Mona?" Queen asked.

"Yeah, it's just a bit further. We're getting closer." Mona confirmed. So they went onto the next room, where it was some sort fuel chamber.

"What in the-!?" Panther gasped. There were numerous conveyor belts, all of them dumping scrapped robot parts into an incinerator.

"FUEL ADDTION HAS INCREASED OUTPUT! INCINERATOR OUTPUT HAS REACHED ROUGHLY 270%!" The automatic voice spoke out.

"Are those…employees being dumped into the incinerator?" Violet was attempting to make sense of this.

Queen quickly realized what this was. "No…they're turning all of the worn-down robots into fuel…!" A grim realization hit everyone at that moment. While it was obvious that the robots represented the people of Okumura Foods and how they were being overworked, this took things a step farther. Even when the employees were worn down and broken, they were still being used to fuel the company.

"….People's lives…are being used…" Noir mumbled.

"Noir…are you alright…?" Dragon glanced towards Noir worriedly. She knew this must have been shocking to Noir, to learn just how terrible your parent has been acting. That's why she had so much concern as their situations were similar.

"It's understandable if you are not…" Fox was also in that same boat. It was never an easy thing to see, or accept the terrible actions of the one who raised you.

"I'm not…" Noir began. "I'm not going to forgive my father for this! I can't believe this is how he sees his workers! They're not even people to him, just machines! I'm going to change his heart, no matter what!"

"…" Dragon did manage a slight smile.

"We're right behind you, Noir!" Mona confirmed.

.

The next area was the last one: The Airlock area. As they walked, they saw smaller buildings scattered about…outside. They did not forger this was a space station of some kind, but seeing that the only method of travel was an airlock…it sent some fear down their spines. "Wait…" Panther began. "This is called the airlock area…does that mean we have to go out into space!?"

"Putting it lightly, I believe such an action would lead to our extermination." Fox said plainly.

"Excuse me…!?" Dragon's eyes widened. "I cannot say that space travel has been on my bucket list."

"…I suddenly don't like it here very much…" Violet said, sweating.

"Wellllllllllll, apparently you'll be okay for like thirty seconds if you keep your eyes and mouth shut." Oracle said. "Which is weird, because honestly, I would thought we'd just explode out there."

"Eeep! Don't say stuff like that!" Violet panicked.

"Don't' scare us, dammit!" Skull was in the same boat as Violet. He did not like that at all.

.

.

The space trip wasn't awful, but it certainly wasn't something many of them wanted to repeat. It was all worth it as they finally arrived at the end point of the space station; the Weapon Production line. But ahead of them was the colorless mass that was the Treasure. "Yes, we've found it! This is it!"

"This is the Treasure…?" Violent tilted her. "How are we going to take that?"

"When we send our calling card, it'll materialize into something that we can steal." Queen explained. "But despite the fact we've found it…"

"We haven't found any information concerning the mental collapses." Fox said. "That bothers me…"

"Oh yeah, you're right." Panther was thinking it over. "All we saw was how the employees of Okumura Foods are treated."

"Maybe he's hidin' it?" Skull suggested while turning to the others. "We got this far. Wouldn't it be better to just squeeze the truth outta the guy?"

"A fantastic idea." Dragon nodded in agreement with Skull. "He won't be able to lie to us either. I'll destroy any lies he attempts to throw at us!"

"Why are these two always on the same page…" Panther couldn't help the exasperated sigh that escaped her.

"We can do that after we change his heart." Joker had to keep everyone on track.

"That plan is fine by me." Noir was giving the ok. This was her father they were talking about after all, so it was important that she agreed with their plan of action concerning him. "Oh! Oracle…we weren't followed again, were we?"

"Nope." Oracle shook her head. She was firm in her answer as well. "If Black Mask was still lurking around, I know I would've picked up him up for certain now that I know what his signature is like on my radar. I can say with absolute certainty that our unwelcomed guest left the Palace."

"Let's send out the calling card and take his Treasure, then." Mona said. "We have to be fast too. We don't want to risk Black Mask intercepting us or anything."

"Mhm! As soon as everyone's ready, I ask that we send the calling card!" Noir said.

"We'll do it as soon as possible." Joker nodded. "We can't let anything happen to Noir's father…and we need to get the truth from him as well. This is going to be our most important operation yet, so I hope everyone's ready for it."

"I'm ready." Noir said, turning her head to stare at the Treasure. "I don't know when you changed, or how you did…But I'll steal your heart, and remind you of the person you used to be Father. Of that, I promise…"