Danganronpa MV 4: Orderly Chaos

by Otterplay

Sixteen Ultimate Students wake up in a rather strange location with seemingly no way out. Forced to kill each other for a sick game, which side will win out in the end? Order, or chaos?

14. Chapter 6: Let Chaos Reign - Part 3

The room remained silent as Naomi pointed towards the mastermind. Her eyes drifted towards the others. "What? I know I missed a lot of it, but we have this trial to worry about now." She placed a hand on her hip. "And while I wasn't able to hear too much thanks to my ears being covered, I can tell right now you're spewing nothing but bullshit."

She slowly tilted her head. "Unfortunate that you had to be brought back like this. I would have loved to do the trial without you."

The nun shook her head. "Like hell I'd miss the last trial." She looked over at Florence, nodding her head. "At least one of you was able to see through her lies."

"I honestly thought I was going to die, which was a better alternative to how the trial was going." Florence mumbled out. Although it came off more like a joke.

"Sorry, I value my life too much." Regina placed a hand under her neck.

Jessica placed a hand on her hip. "We were doing fine without you."

"I'm not crazy." Nicolas shook his head.

Isabelle paused for a moment. "Wait… I'm crazy. Why didn't I do that!?"

"It doesn't matter." Naomi quickly dismissed her. "What does matter, is that we need to take down whoever the hell this bitch thinks she is."

"Oh? And what do you mean by that?" She tilted her head over to the side slightly. "Who do I think I am?"

The nun had a devious smirk on her face. "You aren't the mastermind. Not by a long shot."

Everyone in the room froze up.

"Ha! Nailed it." Jack said with a cocky grin. "What did I tell you?"

"Shut the hell up!" Jessica yelled out before turning her attention over to the nun. "What do you mean she isn't the mastermind?"

"Because, I know for a fact we were only sixteen in the building." She explained before letting out a sigh. "You know what, let me explain from the beginning. I'm not sure how much you've learned, so it's better for me to go through the notions of it all." She placed a hand below her neck. "I am Naomi Bishop, I am a high ranking member of the Seekers of Fate! But that's not all. Connor was also a member of our group. Him and I both went out on a mission hell bent on retrieving this class. Unfortunately, there were some complications, and we were both trapped in here with the rest of you. But to note, only sixteen of us went in."

"Wait, does that mean you know who the actual mastermind is?" Nicolas said, with hope about to be shattered.

The nun shook her head. "It's impossible to know who's acting, and who was actually under some sort of mind control. Or I guess memory manipulation is the better term. Either way, this mastermind here seems to claim they were in the group too. Which is bullshit, unless they are a member who's died before. But she went over how nobody but Kennith could have survived. And I don't think either was very good at pretending to be a girl."

Isabelle tilted her head to the side. "Well, Kennith might have been able to. One of his many talents, you know?"

The mastermind frowned. "Damn, I went ahead and told the truth for once, and now I'm being labelled some sort of liar."

Lawrence slowly looked around the room, spotting Naomi. "Man, this is starting to get annoying…" He mumbled. But then his eyes moved over towards the mastermind. "Well, we have no reason to trust you, now do we?"

"True, true." She pondered this. "But, there has to be some truth amongst what I'm saying, no?"

"Highly doubtful." Naomi shook her head. "You are lying out of your ass. And we're going to spend this next couple of minutes proving it to be so."

The girl crossed her arms. "Oh? And what? Do you like the alternative more? That one of you is the mastermind."

No hesitation in her answer. "I'm ready to accept that. I've been ready to accept that since I've arrived here. I know to save the others, I have to take down the one behind it all. No matter how close I am to them, I'm willing to sacrifice that for the fate of everyone else." She gripped onto her podium tightly, shaking slightly.

"Naomi, are you alright?" Isabelle mumbled out, seeing her shaking a bit.

"Almost three years…" She mumbled out, continuing to shake. "It's been almost three years since I started my mission to try and save everyone here." A single tear could be seen falling on her podium. "And I'm finally approaching the end of that journey…" She looked up at everyone, and more tears were falling down her cheeks. "I've… I've been trying too hard. Everyday. Even if I can only save one person, that would be enough. The fact that there's so many people left right now…" She quickly wiped her tears away. "I've known you all, except Florence, for almost eight years."

"Eight years…?" Nicolas repeated, clenching his fist. "So seeing all of us die one by one."

She nodded her head. "It hurts for you, but it probably hurts ten times more for me, as selfish as that sounds."

"Oh boo-hoo!" The girl pretended to cry. "I thought you were going to try and prove me a liar."

Naomi sent a glare her way. "I was just trying to get something out of my system. I've been holding it in this entire killing game." Taking a deep breath, she smirked again. "Continuing on. I've noticed several things. This killing game is vastly different from the previous ones." She turned to look at Jack. "Load up the rules from your killing game."

The critic nodded his head, pulling out a tablet of sorts. He pressed a few buttons, and soon, some text was displayed on screen.

.

Rule #1: Students may reside only within the city. Anyone caught leaving will be terminated immediately

.

Rule #2: "Nighttime" is from 10 pm to 7 am. Some areas are off-limits at night, so please exercise caution.

.

Rule #3: I have given you respective hotel rooms to sleep in. While it's recommended to sleep there, it is not mandatory.

.

Rule #4: With minimal restrictions, you are free to explore the city at your discretion.

.

Rule #5: Violence against Mayor Monokuma is strictly prohibited, as is destruction of surveillance cameras.

.

Rule #6: Anyone who kills a fellow student and becomes "blackened" will graduate, unless they are discovered.

.

Rule #7: Once three or more people have discovered the body, a body discovery announcement will ring across the city.

.

Rule #8: Once a murder takes place, a class trial will begin shortly thereafter. Participation is mandatory for all surviving students.

.

Rule #9: If the guilty party is exposed during the class trial, they alone will be executed.

.

Rule #10: If the guilty party is not exposed, they alone will graduate, and all remaining students will be executed.

.

Rule #11: Lending your e-Handbook to another student is strictly prohibited.

.

Rule #12: Please try to not slaughter everyone. Only a maximum of two people can be killed by one person.

.

Rule #13: More rules can be added in the future.

.

"Wait… those are…" Lawrence started to say.

"Now…" Naomi pulled out her own tablet. "Let me load up the rules for this killing game." She tapped a few buttons, and began to read it out loud.

.

Rule #1: Sleeping anywhere in this establishment is fine. Your room, however, is the only place where you can lock with ease. Remember that when you're feeling sleepy.

,

Rule #2: It's hard to know when nighttime is, so you can wander around at all times. However, try not to stay up alone as someone may attempt to kill you. Please be considerate of this before making any rash decisions.

.

Rule #3: With absolutely no restrictions, you may explore the area to your heart's content. Leaving the premise is allowed, in fact, it's encouraged!

.

Rule #4: Attacking %$&$% ) Monokuma is strictly prohibited. Doing so will be cause for immediate execution.

.

Rule #5: Anyone who kills a fellow prisoner and becomes "blackened" will graduate, unless they are discovered.

.

Rule #6: Once a murder takes place, a class trial will begin shortly thereafter. Participation is mandatory for all surviving prisoners.

.

Rule #7: If the guilty party is exposed during the class trial, they alone will be executed.

.

Rule #8: If the guilty party is not exposed, they alone will graduate, and all remaining students will be executed. But there's no way it would come to that.

.

Rule #9: Lending your e-Handbook to another student is strictly prohibited.

.

Rule #10: More rules can be added in the future.

.

"That's… vastly different." Jessica pointed out.

Naomi nodded her head. "I was suspicious the moment I read the rules, but I didn't put much thought into it. But now fully comparing the two of them, it only makes sense."

Jack looked down at his tablet. "The first rule we had is non-existence in yours. We would be killed for leaving, yet you were told to just leave." He scrolled down. "You had no way of telling time, so you didn't have any nighttime restrictions."

Nicolas tapped his forehead. "In the other one, it doesn't tell you what the punishment for destroying Monokuma is, yet here it just says you will be executed."

Florence looked at the ground. "Probably a scare tactic. Just like with Naomi being a hostage. They wanted to make absolutely sure nobody did the thing." He glanced over at the girl. "Yet, no punishment happened when he was dropped into the incinerator."

Naomi nodded her head. "Every previous killing game, there were multiple Monokumas at the ready. Yet, there only seemed to be one in this one. The mastermind was very worried that it would get destroyed, so it tried to ward us off with the promise of execution."

"Not to mention leaving was encouraged here." Regina pointed out.

The nun nodded her head. "They wanted to tempt you leaving, since you'd probably just get shot as soon as you stepped out of this place. Which is why I had to cut off the wheel from the vault door."

There was a long silence as everyone slowly turned their attention to her.

"You did what…?" Nicolas blinked a few times.

Naomi sent him a glare. "Well how did you want us to fight back? The guns were all removed, so we wouldn't even stand a fighting chance. I did what I had to do to ensure our safety. Sorry it isn't exactly what you wanted." She looked the other way.

Florence shook his head. "She was just trying to do what she thought was best. Nobody died because of her after that."

The poet wanted to say something, but held back. Because he was right, nobody had died.

The girl shook her head. "Ah, all that speculation just to have it be Naomi, huh? Oh well." She smirked. "How can you trust a girl like her? She talks about being on your side. But she wanted to murder someone right off the bat, and then after that, she eventually did murder someone."

The nun leaned forward. "Just for the record, the person I wanted to target the first time was the same person I eventually had to kill." She frowned slightly. "I knew if I left him unchecked, he would turn everything on its side. And because of him, three people had to die.'

Jessica grimaced at the thought. "I don't want to have to think of him controlling me ever again."

"What a creep." Regina huffed.

"Anyways, I don't see how this proves I'm not the mastermind." The girl said, tilting her body slightly. "Whatever you say, it's still going to be me."

"There is actually a rule that makes this easier to figure out." Naomi pointed out.

Lawrence took a look at the rules that were displayed on screen. "Is it rule #5 from the first killing game."

"Bingo." The nun took a look at her own rule set. "Violence against Mayor Monokuma is strictly prohibited, as is destruction of surveillance cameras." She put away her tablet. "Yet, this set of rules makes no mention of destroying cameras or not. Almost like they aren't there."

The girl let out a small laugh. "Oh, please. We're just employing something similar to the second killing game. Smaller cameras. I know just how chaotic some of the people here are, so I took some early precautions. I know everything that happens in this killing game."

"Is that so?" Naomi asked her. "Would you mind naming off a few things, then?"

The girl took a bow. "Oh, I would be more than happy to name a few instances. Oliver dropping your blood on everyone. The entire incinerator incident with Isabelle using the flamethrower. The day right after the first murder with Alina, Frederic, Regina, Jessica, and Adeline. Adeline and Nicolas getting the axe stuck in the gears, Lawrence and Regina playing chess." She paused for a moment to try and think of more. "Connor capturing Monokuma. The entire Nadeln fuckery that took four days of time."

"Enough, enough." Nicolas shook his head. "We get it, we get it. You've seen it all."

"So, you've seen it all, huh?" Lawrence tapped his chin a few times. "I kind of want to hear her say more."

"Sure, I'm fine with stalling longer if I have to." She tilted her head slightly.

"No, it's probably best not to…" Naomi mumbled out. She still had her doubts, but she would need to find a different way to prove it.

"How much do you actually remember?" Florence mumbled out, looking at her. "Like, all of it?" He tilted his head over to the side.

"Most of it, small details I won't remember." She answered.

The emo remained silent for a few seconds. "Well, how about how people would act?"

"I've seen enough of you, so of course I could tell that." She placed a hand on her hip. "Why do you ask?"

He looked at the people in the room. "How would Isabelle, Jessica, Alina, and I play poker? Our individual strats."

There was a long pause. "Well, Isabelle bet high no matter what happened."

The explosive expert looked at the ground. "Hey! It was bound to work one day!"

"Jessica is a good liar, and she knows exactly when to back down, " She continued.

The hacker looked away, since she had gotten it right. "This doesn't seem like it's going to lead anywhere…"

"You, Florence. You never bet high. In fact, you put on a huge speech about risking your life, but you would have been fine no matter what outcome happened." There was a long pause. "As for Alina, yeah, she's not very good at poker. A face like hers isn't meant for lying."

Finally, exactly the answer he was looking for. "Heh, you're just making things up." He glanced off to the side. "She doesn't look the part, but she's a wonderful liar, and she was winning the poker game."

"Of course, I knew that. But still, it's on you for not noticing how bad of a liar she was!" The girl smirked to herself. "Sorry, I forgot not everyone is as good at identifying lies as me."

Jessica slowly looked over at the lucky student. "Wait, but I was winning-" And then she understood what he was going for. Her eyes turned towards the mastermind. "You don't know what happened at all. Nor can you identify liars."

The girl remained silent, looking the other way.

"Haha! Outed at last!" Regina let out a laugh. "To think you would try to pull something like that on us."

The girl shook her head. "Well, the only thing I lied about was seeing everything. You see, I only watch the stuff I find interesting. And I thought it was going to be a landslide that Jessica would win, so I didn't bother watching the whole thing." She covered her mouth. "My bad!"

"Are you just going to keep claiming that?" Jack glared at her. "You don't know what the hell is even going on."

"Oh? Then how did I already know so much? Jessica and Nicolas investigated the Major's office, while Lawrence and Regina investigated the clockwork tower." She hummed in thought. "What else can I bring up? Right, how could I forget the sound of chains?"

Lawrence shook his head. This entire thing was heading nowhere, quickly. "You can keep coming up with all of this stuff. But I doubt that changes anything."

"Why? Why does it not change anything? Because I wasn't there when everyone went inside?" A smirk grew on her face. "What if I was already in the building?"

Jessica froze slightly. "Wait, you don't mean as one of the agents, right?"

"Exac-"

"Nope." She shot that down right away. "The handy computer room I found has a record of all the agents. Only two were ever marked as on site. Isabelle, and Nila. And I highly doubt you're Nila, so try again."

"Let me add onto that, there's another reason why I think one of us is the mastermind." Naomi started. "When I was in the blocked off room, having my memories erased, I only saw fourteen other people. Sure, it was too dark to see who was who. But someone was definitely missing. Which means someone didn't get their memories erased."

"All an illusion to make you not trust anyone here." The girl pointed out.

Then, a wry smirk appeared on the nun's face. "But up until maybe a few trials ago, you probably didn't even know that I still had all of my memories. Oh, here's something interesting!" She clapped her hands together. "If you truly watched everything interesting going on, where did Lawrence question me, and when did he question me?"

There was a long silence before an answer came. "After the third trial."

"OK… and where?" Naomi narrowed her eyes.

"I…" She didn't know. She knew when, but not where.

"Objection!" Lawrence called out towards the girl. "There's no way you'd forget a meeting like that. Not after we talked about UA, and the Church of the Shattered God."

"Just face it." Naomi told her. "You're nothing but a liar trying to stray us from the truth. Cunning, might I add."

Jessica slammed her fist down on the table. "You know what, I'll hit you with evidence you can't refute!"

The girl tilted her head. "Oh? Miss cunning hacker here thinks she can beat me? I'd like to see you try."

Moving her hands off the podium, she straightened herself. "The third motive. When Nadeln took control of everyone." She explained. "Monokuma was put out of commission for the entire length. And he had no idea what had transpired, safe for the murder. How do you explain that?"

"Well obviously Nadeln had a doll of Monokuma." She replied.

"OBJECTION!" Lawrence called out. "I searched all the voodoo dolls he had. None of them were of Monokuma. And if there was, you'd have personally investigated what was going on. Which you didn't." He placed his hands in his pockets, feeling something inside.

"Haha, but imagine if he did have a Monokuma doll." The girl laughed. "But no, the truth was that I thought it was an opportunity to stand back and not do anything. You know me and my stalling. The killing game came to a grinding halt for four days, so it wasn't a complete waste!"

The lawyer had removed the metallic piece he had nabbed from the blacksmith room. "Hey, answer me this, won't you. If you can answer this honestly, I will say you can see everything we're doing." He started tossing the rock into the air, catching it. "What is one supposed to do after hearing "For all that have fallen before us!"?" He looked over at the girl.

Her silence indicated she was trying her best to think. Did she know the answer or not? "It's what you'd say before figuring out who the mastermind is."

The lawyer shook his head. "Nope, think again!" He chucked the rock in the air, before adjusting his stance. When the rock was at the perfect height, he swung to grab it, and chucked it at the end of his swing. A scene, still playing in his head.

.

Jessica shook her head, placing one hand on the table. "We need a game plan against Monokuma."

"In our darkest moment, we yell "For all that have fallen before us." and then we chuck a rock at him." Kennith suggested with glee.

"Where would we get a rock…?" Oliver mumbled, shaking his head.

The archeologist shrugged. "Hey man, I just came up with what to say. You can't expect me to do all the work."

Lawrence had a small smile on his face as he shook his head. "I doubt that would do anything but piss off Monokuma."

.

The rock connected with the screen she was on, and lodged itself in. However, the TV still seemed to be working. She spent a few seconds looking at the rock. "Alright, so I didn't know what it meant…"

"It's what we were supposed to say before chucking a rock at Monokuma." Lawrence explained. "Kennith came up with the idea, but neither him, nor Monokuma are around, so I had to improvise."

"Just face it, there are no cameras you can look through." Naomi pointed at her.

She let out a long defeated sigh. "Fine. You got me. I haven't been able to look through any cameras."

Jessica finally realised what Lance meant when he had said something.

.

Jessica slowly turned to look at him. "How did you know I was yelling at him? Do you just stalk me around the facility?"

"What? No. I have like sixteen cameras to look through."

"Huh… only sixteen?" She blinked out of confusion. "Why only that many?"

"Well, it's a really embarrassing story, actually. But it's the only sixteen cameras I have access to. I know, very weird, but."

.

"There really were no other cameras. Lance could only access sixteen, because that's all there was. I'm guessing you used those ones?" Jessica looked at her.

The girl clapped her hands together. "Nope, I'm done lying like that for now. I tried to get access to those cameras, but someone was blocking me from doing so."

Someone was… Lance? Here he goes, being the hero again… "So wait, how were you able to see some stuff?"

"Monokuma, and mostly just amazing guesses." She answered. "See, nothing risked, nothing gained. Had I folded so early, I wouldn't have been able to lie my way this far."

"So…" Florence looked at her. "Are you saying you are not the mastermind?"

"Haha, nope! But I hope I was distracting enough to make you all waste time!" She grinned at them. She looked around the room. "Well, I guess either way, all that lying was all for nothing! Hey boss!" She called out to someone in the room. "When you eventually get found out and killed like all the other masterminds, can I take over for the UA? You know, with you out of the picture?" She didn't even bother waiting for a response. "Alright! Thank you!" She turned around, and the video footage turned off.

The room remained silent, as finally, that girl was gone.

"Now… we can move onto the stuff that really matters." She let out a sigh. "We still have some rules that need to be addressed, as well as the entire camera issue."

"There's more…?" Florence mumbled out. "I thought we were done with the cameras…"

The nun shook her head. "Hey, if she couldn't look at the camera footage. That means the same must hold true for the true mastermind, right?"

Jessica slowly looked over at her. "So what, they were running this entire killing game without footage? How hard can that be?"

"Harder than you think." Jack crossed his arms. "It's how the mastermind can figure out who kills. Without them, they'd end up being wrong about the killer."

"Just like with the last trial…" Nicolas mumbled out. "Wait… Then what about everything else?"

Naomi shook her head. "No cameras, and no equipment to do things. Now, might I bring your attention to rule number 7 from the first killing game."

.

Rule #7: Once three or more people have discovered the body, a body discovery announcement will ring across the city.

.

"This rule was present in every single killing game… except this one." She pointed out. "It was something I found off, but didn't put much thought into it."

"Why would they remove that as a function?" Florence asked.

Jessica realised where this was going. "Because it would be impossible to know when three people had discovered the body, if there's no cameras. They could never truly know…"

"Wait…" Nicolas came to the conclusion of something. "Then they couldn't have seen any of the murders play out."

"What, were they just taking random guesses on the blackened?" Regina seemed a little disturbed by that. "How is that fair?"

Lawrence shook his head. "How is that fair? That's how a real courtroom works out. The judge doesn't know what the truth is. It's up to both sides to present their cases. Not just that, but every. Single. Time. Someone confessed."

.

What was left was one sad looking clown. "I wasn't ready to die yet…" Georgie mumbled sadly. "I didn't even know who was attacking me and I couldn't think straight because of the poison!" He tried to justify himself.

.

There was a long silence, before someone finally went. "I didn't vote for Nicolas."

All heads turned to the source of the voice, which was Adeline herself. "I just… I just couldn't go through with it…" She hugged herself, a tear going down her cheek. "I don't want to die, but I don't want someone else to die either…" She gripped her book tightly. "I think I'm the one Monokuma wants anyways. Nicolas might have shot him, but I was the one who started swinging the axe back, so I think I'm the one that killed him."

.

Lawrence shook his head. "But when I found him originally, he had no blood on him at would that be possible if he supposedly got some on himse-"

"Enough." Oliver shook his head. "This isn't how this game is supposed to be played."

.

"That's it!" Alina called out, getting really tired of these antics. "He saw me! Covered in blood!" She finally admitted. She had a ticked off look on her face.

.

"How could the mastermind not know who did it when this happens?" Lawrence pointed out.

"Wait…" Nicolas had a shocked expression on his face. "You don't mean…" He turned to look at the lawyer.

Naomi jumped in. "Exactly, even your confession. You thought it was true, and nobody countered you until after the verdict was decided."

.

Nicolas was holding on his podium, looking at the ground. "He… He deserved it… He…" He didn't know what he wanted to say.

.

"Even that wrongful confession got the mastermind to think he did it." She continued.

"Wait…" Florence mumbled out. "Then what about the Monokuma Files?"

A grin appeared on the nun's face. "That's exactly what I had Oliver look into. You still have some of his files, do you, Lawrence?"

"Huh…" He hummed in thought. "No, not on me, but I did give it a look."

"Ugh, well I did also give them a look around before he went down to die." The exorcist mentioned. "Paige's cause of death was wrong. And Frederic's time of death was wrong. Kennith and Nadeln were both right. I'm sure Connor missed a few things on his, and obviously, Florence's was very wrong." She placed a hand on her hip. "Only once before has a file ever been wrong about a cause of death. And it's because the victim was still alive. It was during the first killing game. A girl had been impaled, and left for dead. This is because the mastermind assumed she had finished her off."

"And I guess these ones happened because the mastermind didn't see it happen." Nicolas pointed out. "Guess they were way more careful after the first one."

"I bet they didn't want to be called out again." Regina pointed out.

The poet shrugged. "But that still doesn't make complete sense. Why would they mark down electrocution anyways?" He crossed his arms. "That's not what my first thought was when I first saw the body."

"Nor mine…" Lawrence shook his head. "Honestly, I didn't know how she died at first. We walked into the room with her on the ground."

"Pfft, well you would have assumed she was electrocuted if you walked in when I did. She was hung up there, and she was still spazzing out occasionally. I wouldn't blame them for thinking that." … "Hey wait a minute…" She had just thought of something. She frowned slightly. "That's exactly why it was written down as the cause of death. Because the scene was so burned into the mastermind's head, that they couldn't see it as anything else."

"Wait, are you saying one of the people who discovered the body wrote that down?" Florence looked over at her.

The hacker nodded. "It's what makes the most sense, right?"

Lawrence looked around the room. "Well, besides you, who else discovered the body?"
She tilted her head to the side. "Well, Adeline was with me, as was Regina."

The room fell a little bit silent.

The Queen looked around the room, almost unaware why it had grown silent. "... Wait… EH? Don't tell me you think it's me." She took a step back.

"Well, unless Adeline is still somehow alive, I don't know how it would be her. Which only leaves you." Jessica pointed out.

Lawrence frowned slightly. "Well, that is a possibility, yes."

"No it's now!" She whined. "You think just because I discovered the body that I'm bad? You have to remember the mastermind had to try their best at guessing what the cause of death was. I had brought the body down, so obviously I would have noticed the holes in the heart." She pointed out. "You should be looking at the people who didn't get a look at the body!" She pointed forward. "Which isn't me." She said nonchalantly, looking the other way. "What, with the power flickering on and off."

Lawrence slowly nodded his head. "Right, we can't make assumptions like that here."

"No, we can definitely start making assumptions now." Jessica pointed out. "I'm sorry, Regina, but if the mastermind is truly one of us, we can't just turn away from every theory."

"You think it's Regina?" Jack crossed his arms, finally joining back into the conversation. "Well, you might just have to keep throwing evidence at her if you truly think it's her."

"What the girl said." Isabelle brought up. "She named off several different scenes."

The queen placed a hand on her hip. "Yeah? So what?"

"Well…" The explosive expert trailed off. "When she mentioned all of those scenes. She wasn't just guessing wildly. She named off stuff that happened. However, most of those could be written off as Monokuma being there. The trial stuff, some motives. However, there were a few that stood out. She mentioned a chess game that Lawrence and Regina had. As well as the two investigation groups that just happened."

Lawrence covered his mouth. "You're right…"

Regina crossed her arms. "That sounds like a set up to me." She frowned sadly. "You don't actually believe what she said, do you?"

Jessica shook her head. "Well, it's impossible for her to have actually looked into any cameras, since Lance was blocking her off. So the only way she could have known, is if you told her."

"Not to mention…" Nicolas mumbled out. "When Kennith said that thing to all of us… The only person not present at the time was Regina who had slept in."

"Why did she sleep in, anyways?" Florence mumbled out.

"Beauty sleep, duh." She crossed her arms.

Jessica thought for a few seconds before looking over at Naomi. "Hey, I have a question. How did the previous mastermind go about cleaning up a murder?"

"Well, looking into it, most of them used multiple Monokuma-" She stopped, slowly turning her attention over to Regina. A smirk appeared on her face. "You didn't have multiple Monokumas did you? You had to do everything on your own."

"What?" She seemed kind of ticked off.

"She was tired from cleaning up the first murder? Fixing the generator?" Isabelle mentioned.

"It's why the second murder never got cleaned up. It was impossible for her to do so…" Lawrence concluded. Then, something else came to mind. "In fact, you let it slip with me, didn't you."

.

Thankfully it didn't matter, as the axe chose this moment to get unlodged, and the two of them went falling back. Her head banged against the ground, and she quickly went to rub it. "Oww…" She said in a pained tone. "Oh hey, I tried to get this out the other day, but it didn't work. Guess I wasn't strong enough."

.

"You mentioned that you tried to remove the axe before." He pointed out.

Regina placed a hand under her neck, trying to defend herself. "Hey, just because I attempted to remove it, doesn't mean I'm the mastermind!" She stomped her foot on the ground. "Look at who you are talking to!" She ordered him.

He frowned slightly. "Right, I'm talking to the Queen, aren't I? You know, I remember our chess conversation from the other day quite well. In fact, it ties you to this place, doesn't it?" He had read one of the files over again. "Paradise, was it? A tower to pierce the heavens, as some described it."

.

"I wish to build a tower to pierce the heavens. I wish to build a place of art. Of architectural genius." Regina rambled on for a bit before sighing.

.
"Now, it's not hard to assume that if you designed Paradise, you also would have designed-" Lawrence started to say.

Jack clenched his fists, narrowing his eyes. "The replicas of Hope's Peak. We found some blueprints, however, all of them had ripped portions to them. Hell, even the blueprints for the amusement park had ripped segments. Your name was on them, wasn't it?"

"W-what?" Regina took a step back. "No! They weren't!"

Lawrence crossed his arms, glaring at her. "Stop hiding behind lies. All the evidence points towards you!" He slammed his hands down onto his podium.

"P-Prosecutor?" She mumbled out, cowering slightly.

"No, worst. It's just me." The lawyer continued his glare. "So why don't you come out and confess the truth."

Regina had a worried expression. "T-then… Bow down!" She ordered weakly.

He wasn't expecting that at all. "Huh?"

"I said-" She pulled out a remote with a huge smile on her face. "Bow down!" She ordered more forcibly this time.

The moment she pressed the button, everyone but Naomi (and obviously Jack), fell to their knees in pain.

"W-what the hell…?" Nicolas mumbled out, his hand gripping his shoulder. "This is-"

Regina placed her hands on her hips. "Why yes, this is exactly what you think it is. The second motive, the bombs in you." She glanced away. "Not a feature I wanted to threaten to use, but…" She frowned slightly. That facial expression quickly went away, and was replaced by a smirk. "But it's nice to see everyone actually bowing down to me." Her eyes turned towards Naomi.

The nun had begun to pull out her gun, so the Queen had to react fast. "W-wait!" She called out, gripping the remote. "You wouldn't want them to explode, would you?"

She still aimed the gun at her. "Hey, you've been bluffing this entire time. What's stopping you from bluffing now?"

"I am literally on the floor in pain!" Jessica called out, shaking.

The nun lowered the gun slightly, a rather nervous expression. "Fine…" She mumbled out.

"Good. Good. Listen to Her Majesty for once." Regina instructed her. "Now, this isn't how I wanted any of this to go down, so it's unfortunate circumstances lead to this." She moved her hand off the button of the remote, and slowly, everyone got back up.

Isabelle leaned forward on her podium, still adjusting to the pain. "You… She mumbled out. "Why would you."

"The why isn't important." Her Majesty explained.

Lawrence shook his head. "No, I'm sure the reason is very important right now." He had a few profound conversations with her, so he felt somewhat betrayed right now. "Was all that caring just an act?"

Regina glanced the other way. "I abstain from talking about that." She crossed her arms. "Isn't there more things you'd all like to discuss."

"How did you determine who the killer was, was it by confession?" Florence asked her.

"Oh? That? Well, only for the second trial was it by confession. Every other time." A smirk appeared on her face. "Every other time it was whoever the Prosecutor said it was."

Lawrence gripped onto his podium. "Wait… based on what I said…? Hey! Don't lug me in with you!"

She let out a laugh. "Too bad, the lugging has begu-" She paused, a more neutral expression on her face. She glanced away. "Can I change my phras-"

"Nope." Naomi said.

"FUCK!"

Jessica frowned slightly. "So you just followed whatever the Prosecutor said? Who was really in charge here? What if he got it wrong on purpose?"

"But he wouldn't get in wrong on purpose." Regina pointed out. "He's too proud. He raged that much for getting it wrong. I knew it was a safe bet. To think his winning streak would come to an end here." Her attention turned towards Nicolas, a small smirk forming on it. "Well, there was also the second trial we were both stuck on. And I was willing to let you both die. Fortunately for you, Adeline yielded."

"..." The poet froze slightly. "Wait… are you meaning to tell me she might not have been the true killer…?"

The Queen shrugged. "There's no way for me to know for sure, but the confession was nice. Besides, she had the most votes and the game couldn't have ended there.
Nicolas grabbed onto his podium, shaking slightly. "I… I could be the true killer, yet here I stand…"

"Did you not care about us at all?" Isabelle asked, seeming a little broken inside. "I cared about you, so why would you do this?"

For a slight moment, one could see a pained expression on Regina's face, but it was quickly replaced by a smirk. "Because I could! Besides, like -" She cut herself off. "Almost said the name there. Like the girl said, I had to get rid of some evidence."

Jessica crossed her arms. "Hey… Who made the food?"

The Queen quickly turned around. "Monokuma, obviously. I… I can't cook." Although, this felt more like a lie.

"Wait, you complained about the food this entire time, yet you were the one keeping us here!" Nicolas pointed out.

Regina turned to face them again. "Let's not worry about the past, shall we?" She tilted her head to the side.

Jack spoke up. "The girl asked if she could be the boss after you die or get captured… Does that make you the boss?"

The Queen didn't answer at first, only looking away. Once her eyes slowly moved over to look at the critic, she spoke. "Well, what if it does?"

Naomi narrowed her eyes. "Then you're exactly the person we've been looking for this entire time."

"UA activity severely decreased the moment this class got locked up in here, so it's no surprise to think someone high ranking was the one running this killing game." Jack pointed out.

"You're leading UA…?" Lawrence mumbled out. "Why lead such an awful group?"

"A-awful?" She took a step back, losing a bit of confidence. "Sure, we've done horrible stuff, but a lot of the stuff was aimed towards terrible people." She lifted her hand up at Naomi. "You should be blaming her more often. She's the reason this whole killing game is even happening. Without her intervention, most of the people here would still be alive."

"Alive just to serve you…?" Florence mumbled out.

"T-that's the part you worry about? It's better than being dead, no?" The Queen mumbled out.

Naomi crossed her arms. "Well, if you're the one leading UA, you're responsible for all the other killing games, aren't you? Why go through that?"

Regina remained silent for a few seconds. "I don't have to answer that, you know."

"Then how did you keep this entire killing game running?" Jack instead asked.

"Well, it wasn't easy work, but still, I managed to get it functioning to some extent." She placed her hands on her hips. "Most trials went smoothly, and getting food to you all was easy enough. The only difficult part was the cleanup, which was honestly exhausting, as well as…" Her head turned towards Lawrence. "The Prosecutor being wrong."

"Then what about the executions?" Jack asked. "Most of the time, the mastermind had prep time to make an execution since they knew who the killer was."

A frown appeared on her face. "Everyone had an execution already planned and made. That's probably what took the longest to set up this whole killing game." She looked back at the critic. "They are all under this current floor. Naomi tried to do some early snooping, so I had to take her out."

"Would prefer not continuously being knocked out, but whatever." The nun mumbled.

"This whole thing is to take out the bad people of the world? It's the reason UA was formed?" Jessica mumbled out, glaring at her.

Regina placed a hand on her hip. "Well, that was the general gist of it. It was formed by mostly Ultimates that were tired of the corruption in the world. Hell, our very own headmaster was one of the most corrupt!" She pointed out, laughing out a bit. "And then she went missing." She said nonchalantly. "But that's not important. The Insurgence, the Agency, all people who aspire to make the world theirs, we're just trying to fight them off."

"Then why all of these killing games? Why kill fellow Ultimates!" Isabelle called out. "I'd expect that type of talk to warrant you wanting to make a better future for the next generation!"

Her Majesty frowned slightly. "A lot of them were opposed to it, and even then, some of them." Her eyes trailed over to Jack. "We're just awful human beings. Still searching for answers on Enima? Trying to atone to the past?"

He quickly turned around, looking away. "How could I possibly be expected to pay for something I don't even remember?"

"You know, we don't have to fight against your group." Regina suggested, a smile on her face. "We could join forces and rebuild the world anew, no?"

Jessica gripped onto her podium. "Oh? Trying to backpedal now that you've been caught, huh?"

"We… We weren't a bad class, right? You said some of the classes were bad, right?" Isabelle asked her.

"The 74th class was full of rather selfish people. Sure, there were a few good people. But most of them would probably grow up to be awful." She paused slightly. "The 76th class were decently friendly, but they tended to push other people away. In fact, the mastermind of their killing game was one of those people. The 77th class." She looked back the other way. "There was one troublesome person in there. Well, she's similar to us, but she would never stop to talk things out. If she got a shot, she would take it."

"And our class?" Isabelle mumbled out.

"Truth be told, your class isn't any better! Paige's first instinct was to go for the kill right away, and Georgie was the one who followed through. Frederic-" She paused slightly, glancing away. "Frederic was planning on ending that altercation violently. Probably leaving someone without a limb so they couldn't kill. Adeline also snapped rather easily. I doubt I even have to tell you what Nadeln did. Oliver killed, and then sprayed blood on everyone. Kennith…" She paused slightly. "Connor was definitely a criminal, and Alina was fine with letting Florence die in her place."

"H-hey…" The emo mumbled out. "Don't talk about that…"

"She's always been about turning a blind eye. She did the same with Molly. There's definitely no way she didn't know, right? She's not the good girl you imagined her to be." Her Majesty continued on. "As for the people here right now." Her eyes trailed towards everyone in the room. She pointed to Jessica. "You were a criminal hacker who attempted to steal thousands of dollars."

The hacker glanced away. "That was in the past…" She mumbled out.
Her Majesty pointed over to Isabelle. "You've blown up people left and right."

She quickly covered her face. "Don't remind me…"

Regina moved her head to look at Naomi. "I don't think I need to remind you what you've done."

The nun shook her head. "I'm well aware of the lives I've taken. But that's just what kind of world this is. I have God on my side."

"Yeah, another one said that. Let's see how her fate ends." Moving on, she looked at Lawrence. "You want to know how many times you've turned a blind eye to a criminal? Mindy? Hell, Jack might find this one interesting. You've helped prove Enima as innocent on her charges, and I bet you knew exactly what she did."

Jack looked slightly ticked off. "He did what…!?"

"H-hey, I don't have any memory of that!" Lawrence defended himself. Besides Mindy, I remember that one clearly.

Continuing on, Regina looked over at Nicolas. "Even you! The amount of times you've resorted to attempted murder. And hell, you were probably successful the first time."

"Stop…" The poet mumbled out.

"And lastly!" She started off dramatically, turning towards Florence. "Florence-" She stopped herself, going back to a neutral expression. "Actually, you've never done anything horrible, so, huh, good on you for surviving this long." She quickly shook her head. "The point is, almost everyone in this room has done some bad things."

"Are you saying this to try and justify what you've done?" Jessica raised an eyebrow. "You should know I don't tolerate these kinds of things."

Nicolas shook his head. "She really doesn't…" He mumbled out. He grabbed onto his podium with one hand. "I know firsthand…"

"And so what if we've done bad things?" Naomi asked. "Nobody is free from sin. And some stuff doesn't come without sacrifice."

"Oh, don't I know that." Regina mumbled out, looking away. "Oh well~ For a new world, sacrifices must be made!"
"No!" Lawrence yelled out. "They don't have to be made. Nothing… Nothing we've done could even compare to what you've done."

"Oh…? Is that so? You know… When I altered your memories. It was only slightly. You still all kept your core personalities. You just needed a little push. That's how messed up society was. Jessica, you can't tell me you've never felt rage at the company that ruined your life."

"Well-" The hacker started to say before looking away.

"Nicolas, aren't you mad at the school that accepted bribes, and then turned their backs on the one not at fault?" Regina asked him. "I know I would be."

The poet quickly shook his head. "No, I wouldn't do anything that horrible…"

Her Majesty tilted her head. "You want the truth about the fall of Hope's Peak Academy? Fourteen students, right? Minus Connor and Naomi, how many people are left from this killing game?"

Lawrence shook his head. "You better not be implying what I think you are!"

"Of course I'm implying that. The fourteen of us took down Hope's Peak Academy."

"Like- Like we'd ever believe that!" Isabelle called out. "Where's your proof?"

Naomi frowned. "She's not lying. The fourteen of you as well as the Insurgence all took down the school. Almost completely levelled it. There's nothing left. It's why you've been on the run since. So many people blame you for the tragedy. Hell, even some members of the 75th classroom blamed you for a while. It took a lot of convincing to make it so you were never shot on sight."

Nicolas quickly shook his head. "Well, I refuse to believe it!" He called out. "I… I don't need more on my conscience right now…" He mumbled out.

"Aww…" Regina frowned slightly, before lifting up the remote. "Well then, how about I just grant you your memories back?" Without even waiting for a response, she pressed a button.

Everyone froze at once, except Naomi. "Wait! What are you doing!?" She gripped her podium. "Since when was that a function?"

"It's always been a function." Her Majesty replied, looking around at everyone else.

Isabelle was currently shaking, gripping onto her podium. "Nonono…" She mumbled out. "So many… So many explosions…" She fell to her knees, dropping to the ground. "Why did I set off so many…?"

Regina placed a hand on her hip. "Ah, don't act like you've never done that before."

"Monokuma…?" Jessica mumbled out. "I built Monokuma…?"

"Oh yeah, I needed a symbol. Someone who could run things on their own. I wasn't good at making electronic things, so I made you do it. The great thing about this." She pointed to her remote. "Is that it doesn't remove anyone's skills, given that it just alters personality slightly."

"And-" She turned to look at Nicolas, but was cut off.

"Dammit… dammit…" Lawrence mumbled out.

Regina blinked a few times. "Lawrence?" Oddly enough, she had a little concern in her tone of voice.
"Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!" He called out again, slamming his fist on his podium.

"Is everything alright? The others handled it much better than you did. You didn't even do anything bad-" The Queen was cut off.

"This isn't what I asked for!" He yelled out, glaring at Regina. "This whole thing is bullshit!"

"H-huh!?" She had no idea what was even going on. "Calm down, won't you? Everything will be-"

"No, it won't be fine!" Lawrence yelled out. In his head, several scenes kept replaying. But one was more prominent than the others. It was right after Mindy's trial…

.

Lawrence walked out of the courtroom, adjusting his suit. He walked a few steps before he saw someone standing to the side.

The boy was leaning on the wall, arms crossed. He had some short curly hair, and he was currently looking at him. "Hey, that was a really nice trial back there. The evidence seemed a little overwhelming. To the point I'm pretty convinced she's the Thief of Mist."

Lawrence looked at him for a few seconds before smiling. "Well obviously. I can't make the truth go away." He leaned on the wall next to him. "But she was young, and still had a bright future ahead of her. I didn't want her to throw it all away. Besides, the man that took her to court had committed a worse crime in my books." He looked at the ceiling.

The boy frowned slightly. "She reminds me of myself. Stealing from those who don't deserve the wealth they have.." He seemed to be reminiscing about something. "Honestly, I wished back in the day, I had someone like you as a lawyer. You seem like you wouldn't care about how much money someone has, and would fight for what true justice is…"

"Did something happen to you…?" Lawrence mumbled out.

"Sorta… someone had- my mom was killed, and I witnessed who did it. But the person was untouchable in court because of their status. But this isn't about me." He turned to look at the lawyer. "I'm here to make an offer."

"An offer…?" Lawrence raised an eyebrow.

"You probably don't recognize me, but I'm a student at Hope's Peak just like you. And I'm part of a group that's trying to change the world. So people don't have to go through what we've gone through. Basically doing stuff like you did for Mindy."

The lawyer crossed his arms, looking at the ground. "Really, how many members do you have right now?"

"Well, we only have eleven so far… so. But one of them is in a similar situation, and we'd need a lawyer for her." The boy explained.

The chance to save people like I've always have. This world… The way it's currently running. I don't see any sort of future for it. "Hmm… You know what, I'm interested." He extended his hand.

"Oh, that's nice to hear." The boy shook Lawrence's hand. "The name's Jean, by the way." He smiled at him.

.

"Why did it turn out like this?" Lawrence asked her. "When I joined UA, this wasn't what we had planned."

"Huh…?" Naomi slowly turned over to look at the lawyer. "You're a member of UA…?"

"But- But!" Regina called out, terrified of how this was playing out. "But you've done so much for us! You've kept us off the radar?! What do you mean this isn't what you wanted? You know how many murders you helped brushed under the carpet?" She held her hands tightly together. "Don't… Don't do this to me…"

Jessica seemed kind of ticked off. "Are you telling me you're part of the reason we're here?"

Lawrence shook his head. "I'd never agree to these killing games. They go against everything I've been trying to do." He placed a hand on his shoulder. "So, I'm working with you, but you went ahead and took control of my mind anyways."

Regina took a step back. "That's- That's- I was forc-"

"Don't lie to me!" The lawyer yelled out. "Tell me the truth!"

The Queen made her way back over to her podium. "Isn't this all justice? Most of the shitty people in charge of society are gone now!"

"That's not what I'm talking about." He looked away. "I couldn't care less about those people. But… But…" He looked like he was ready to break down. "Where's my brother? Where's Gabriel?"

Regina froze for a second. "You have… a brother? Gabriel…?" Her expression then turned to one of horror. "I-"

Lawrence turned towards Naomi. "The 76th class! Did he survive!?"

The nun quickly looked the other way. "I-"

"I didn't know you had a brother, alright? Don't look at me like that!" Regina yelled, hell, even ordered him. "You never told me, so I couldn't make the necessary precaution."

Lawrence gripped onto his podium, mumbling some stuff under his breath. "I won't forgive you for this…"

Florence glanced over towards Nicolas. "I feel like we've lost the plot."

"Yeah, can we just leave…" He mumbled out.

"No!" The Queen called out. "Lawrence, I'm sorry he had to die in one of these games, but sometimes, you have to sacrifice things for justice."

"Justice…? Haha… If this whole thing is justice…" He started to mumble. However, he quickly slammed his hands down onto the podium, grabbing onto it. "Then I reject that justice to hell and back! Hell, cast it to the flames for all I care!"

"Right!" Isabelle called out. "I reject it too!" She leaned forward on her podium. "There's no way we'd agree to something like that!"

"Huh?" Regina blinked a few times. "But this is all we have left…" She looked at the ground. "We can't let the world return to how it was before. If the world returns to how it was before, the cycle will continue to repeat."

"No…" Jack called out. "You seem to think we want the world back like it used to be. We want better than it was before. We don't want the corruption from years ago to return."

"And- And to achieve that!" Regina placed a hand above her chest. "You need someone who can run that world, no?"

"We have Riley for that." The critic said. "We don't need anyone else. Better yet, not like we'd ever trust a member of UA." Then, something caught his attention off screen, as a ringing sound could be heard. He leaned over and picked up the phone. "Yes? Oh, really? They're all on standy? Send them in. I'll be there shortly." He hung up the phone, looking over at Naomi. "I should be heading off now. The rescue operation is currently in motion."

The nun nodded her head. "Got it. I've got everything covered on my end." She placed a hand on her hip. "We should be out soon, this shouldn't take too long."

"Alright, see you in a few." He leaned over, and then the camera turned off.

"And that's all from him?" Regina tilted her head. "Haha… You know, I figured something like this would happen."

"Hmm?" The exorcist looked over at her. "What do you mean?"

She looked at the ground. "I… I need to keep fighting for the future I've dreamed of. Which means I can't lose now. I don't care how many people are caught in the crossfire." She held onto her remote. "Isabelle, I thank you for rigging the outside."

"Huh?" She seemed confused, until she remembered something. "Wait- Nonononono!" She clutched her head. "That can't be it…" She mumbled out. "You made me do that!"

Regina took out a second remote, which was just a single button. "I guess I'll wait a few until your crew is here. What section is it?"

"Not saying." Naomi glared at her.

Her Majesty shrugged. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter then." She turned to look over at Lawrence. "I know you're mad at me, but please don't abandon me…" She frowned slightly.

The lawyer shook his head. "I can't follow you into this hell you have created for yourself. I refuse your offer."

"W-what? But please reconsider-" Her attention was immediately drawn away when she felt something getting knocked out of her hand.

Naomi had thrown her dagger at the second remote, successfully sending it flying. The knife landed amongst the podiums, clattering to the ground.

"W-wait-" Regina called out, attempting to catch the remote, but it broke when it hit the ground. She instinctively covered her ears, ready to hear a large explosion in the distance. But nothing. "Huh…?" She turned to look at Isabelle. "Why… Why did you make it so weak that it broke on impact!?"

The explosive expert placed a hand on her chest. "Hey! Don't look at me!"

"Checkmate, Queen." Naomi called out, pointing the gun back at her.

Her Majesty frowned slightly. "What? Don't you need me alive for your questioning?"

"Yeah, but I'm sure a bullet should subdue you rather quickly."
Weighing the options she had left, Regina wasted no time in pressing a button on her first remote.

Once again, everyone fell onto the ground, in pain, leaving Naomi and Regina as the only two people standing.

"G-GAH!" Lawrence cried out. "N-Not again!"

"You think a mere bishop can take down a Queen?" Regina glared at her.

Naomi shrugged. "Well, I have a gun and you don't." She reasoned.

Despite all odds against her at the moment, Her Majesty moved between the podiums to try and get to Naomi.

Of course, she took a shot, except…

CLICK!

"Huh?" She took a step back, realizing that the gun was empty. "I- I made sure to refill it after the trial."

"Oh please, I'm not stupid." Regina glared at her, kicking her down before she had time to react. She took out a bullet from her dress pockets. "I made sure to remove them when I knocked you out…" She placed a foot on her stomach, digging her heel into her. "Everything is your fault! And Connors! If you hadn't gone and made a mess of everything, everyone would still be alive!" Her other heel stepped onto her wrist, trying to make her drop the gun. "Now here I am, trying to get everyone out before it's too late and they get here!" She seemed to be losing it a bit.

Jessica was lying down on the ground, groaning in pain from the feeling in her shoulders. She slowly looked up and spotted the two of them. I… I have to do something… Not moments after that thought appeared in her head, she saw it. The dagger that Naomi had thrown. It wasn't too far from her at the moment. She began crawling over towards it. It intensified the pain, but if she didn't do anything, she would go back to being mindless… Grabbing onto the dagger, she used her free hand to lift up her body slightly. She needed the space to give it a good chuck. Readying herself, she chucked the knife. Unfortunately, as she was throwing it, she was hit with another immense wave of pain, and the knife landed a foot away from Regina, who took a glance at it.

Turning around, and seeing the hacker being the one to have attempted to throw it, she only frowned. "And I thought you were better than that." She moved her foot off Naomi's hand to kick the knife away. It missed Jessica by a lot, but it lodged itself into Connor's podium.

Turning her attention back to Naomi, the Queen let out a small sigh. "I could just end you quickly, but…" She stomped her foot on her stomach. "I want you to hurt a little from all the pain and suffering you've caused me!" She stomped down again. Then, for good measures, she moved her other heel back onto her wrist, digging in slightly. "Let go of the gun." She ordered.

"F-fuck… off." Naomi tried to resist the pain, but her hand eventually yielded, and the pistol was on the ground.

"Good bishop." She smiled, picking up the gun. Then, she started to load it with the bullets she stole. "Running an empire is much harder than it seems, and I don't think enough people give me credit…" She moved her foot off her wrist, but instead, she stomped down onto her cheek. "I want to make you unrecognisable before I kill you." Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!

Naomi tried to block off the hits from her heels with her hands, but she was still getting through, and she was getting very bloodied from the entire ordeal.

"I'm sorry, but in the empire I imagine, there's no place for people like you in there." She slowly pointed the gun at her. "Goodbye, Naomi." Despite saying that, her tone sounded rather sad.

A single gunshot filled the entire room, followed by silence.

…

…

…

…

Regina stood there, frozen. After a few seconds of not moving, she collapsed to the ground.

Naomi seemed rather confused for a second, but soon saw what had happened.

Someone was leaning forward on their podium, blood dripping from their shoulder. The cause of it? Naomi's dagger was lodged rather deeply in it. The person was panting heavily from the pain. They also seemed a little light headed, but in their hands, was the gun Connor had brought. "Goddammit…" Nicolas mumbled, having just shot Regina. "That… stings… Stay down…" He glanced over to the knife, attempting to pull it out.

Naomi moved over to the remote, turning it off, and everyone else let out a huge sigh of relief.

"What the hell…" Jessica slowly got up, leaning on her podium. Her eyes trailed over to Regina. "Is she dead?"

Naomi got up from the ground, wiping the blood off her face with her clothes. "No, she's just been frozen." She walked over to Nicolas, who was still struggling with the knife. "Hold on." She ordered him before ripping the knife out herself.

"AHH!" He screamed out in pain. "I thought you were going to make it better!"

"Nope! Just wanted my knife back." She wiped off the blood, turning her attention to Regina.

Lawrence had already moved over towards her, taking out his handcuffs. He had a small frown on his face as he handcuffed her hands behind her back. "Should we wake her back up?"

Florence looked at the ground. "I mean, I don't want to have to carry her." He moved over towards her, nudging her in the side with her foot. "She seems like she'd be a pain to carry."

Naomi nodded. "We should probably wake her up." She looked over at the poet. "Nicolas?" She asked him.

He was currently covering his shoulder that was bleeding. "I went through all of that trouble to only keep her unconscious for thirty seconds?" He walked over to her, aiming at the back of her neck. He took another shot, and she quickly woke up.

"H-huh?" She mumbled out, looking around. "What- What happened?"

"The gun got you twice." Florence mumbled out, grabbing onto her shoulder. "Can you stand."

Lawrence wasn't as kind, and pulled her up onto her knees. "Get up." He ordered her.

She obliged, and slowly got up. "Please… Don't kill me…" She begged slightly.

"We aren't going to kill you." Nicolas shook his head. "I don't feel like having anyone else die…" He moved over to the elevator. "So, what now?"

Isabelle marched her way into the elevator, turning around. "We blow that door off the wall. I don't care what's waiting on the outside. I intend on reasoning with them. I doubt they'd kill me."

Regina quickly shook her head. "Please don't, you'll all be killed."

"Can it." Jessica stepped into the elevator.

Florence dragged the Queen into the elevator. "Let's just go…" He mumbled out.

Soon, everyone stepped into the elevator. After a rather short ride up, they were back in the cafeteria.

"Well, our options are either waiting for the rescue team to get here, or blowing our way out." Naomi said. She glanced over at Isabelle who had already begun climbing the ladder. "There's no stopping her, is there?"

Lawrence shook his head. "No, and I don't feel like stopping her." He moved over to the ladder, and began climbing too. "I want out of this place. It's brought upon too much pain."

"How exactly is she going to get up the ladder?" Nicolas hummed, looking at Regina.

"Huh…" She glanced around. "You know, you could just handcuff me?" She was then shoved into the ladder.

"No…" Florence mumbled out. "You'll just have to try your best with just your feet."

She blinked a few times. "B-but there's like five ladders…"

Naomi grabbed onto her hair. "See, I'll guide you." She started making her way up the ladder, attempting to drag Regina with her.

"O-Ow- please stop…" She mumbled out.

Jessica frowned slightly, looking down the ladder. "Hey, try not to rough her up too much, won't you?"

.

Isabelle had reached the top floor, wasting no time to head over towards her room.

Lawrence quickly rose up behind her. "Hey, slow down will you."

The explosive expert ignored him, instead, barging into her room.

The moment the lawyer walked in, he froze slightly. "When did you have the time to make all of these…?"

The room was full of different amounts of explosives.

Isabelle was grabbing a bunch. "Well, since I found this room, that's all I've been doing. Besides, I was gone for most of the investigation because I made a few more." Once she had them all, she turned towards the door. "I really don't want to have to stay here, so we need to blow off that door. This should hopefully be enough." She was carrying a large bag load of explosives.

"Huh…" He scratched the back of his head. "Hey… you aren't mad at me, are you? About UA?"

She walked past him, shaking her head. "I was part of the Insurgence, and I believed in them loyally, so I would be a hypocrite…" She frowned slightly. "Getting memories back… it sucks…"

"Why?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Going from fifteen to now… I just… The excitement is gone, you know? I just feel like a normal boring person."

"You're carrying more tons of explosives than I've ever seen in my life." Lawrence deadpanned.

She quickly clutched her bag. "H-hey! This is a reasonable amount, alright?" She left the room. "At least for blowing the hinges off a vault door." She giggled a bit.

.

Jessica was waiting at the top of the ladder, only hearing the sounds of pained groans as she slowly watched Regina make her way up the ladder.

"You know…" The Queen mumbled out. "Like, there's three of you, and only one of me. One of you has a gun and a knife. I doubt I could actually do anything." Although, her tone was just one of defeat. "Ow…" She mumbled sadly, having her head hit a rung. "There's definitely easier ways to do this…"

Naomi finally got to the last floor, still holding onto her hair. "Yeah, there probably is. But since we can't kill you, I figured unfathomable pain would be a good substitute." She pulled her up onto the ground.

Jessica shook her head. "Look, we could have at least had her climb up the ladder on her own. As mad as I am towards her." She sent a glance towards the Queen, who seemed a little bruised up now.

Florence made it up on the floor. "Are the others nearby?" He asked just as Isabelle rounded the corner.

"Ready for some explosions?" She cheered slightly, showing off the rather large bag.

The emo spent a few seconds looking at that. "How can you carry all of that? Isn't it heavy?"

"Nope." She offered him the chance to lift it on his own.

Being the poor fool he was, he extended his hands out, and she dropped the bag into them. Spoiler alert, it was heavy. He attempted his best to keep it up. "You… lied to me…"

She quickly snatched it back, making her way over towards the room with the door. "You're just weak!" She called out.

Nicolas rubbed his wrists, looking around. "It's finally over… huh?"

"Seems so." Naomi started following the crazed ginger. "Jack should be here soon. And while I really don't want to have to leave this place without any confirmation, it seems some of you won't be stopped."

As she said that, Lawrence walked past them. "Yeah, we won't be stopped."

The group eventually gathered in the room, watching Isabelle load up the entire wall. "Alright!" She announced. "This is enough explosives to level a school."

"Don't phrase it like that…" Florence mumbled out.

She turned to face everyone else. "I would step back, because I'm going to set it off."

Naomi took a step forward. "Haha! I have a way to stop you. I simply won't move." She smiled.

The explosive expert looked at her for a few seconds before shrugging. "OK, still pressing it." She took a few steps towards the center of the room.

Having been out crazed, the nun reluctantly moved away from all the explosives.

Everyone had moved back into the hallway, well, except you know who.

"Huh… Isabelle…?" Lawrence raised an eyebrow. "You should probably move away…" He felt like he didn't need to warn her about the danger of explosives, yet here he was.

She sent a glance his way. "No, I should be fine. These explosives are different from typical ones." Her eyes looked away. "Probably…"

The lawyer let out a sigh. "Well, don't you want to be on the safe-"

There was no warning when she set them off, there was only loud noises and fire.

But she was right. While flames definitely filled the room, they seemed to only coat the walls on the side, leaving her completely fine. Even the door that was blasted off missed hitting her from a good bit. She looked a bit deranged standing in a room of flames, especially with her ginger hair. "Let's go." She ordered, stepping through the doorway, ignoring the heat that was still there.

Obviously, everyone else waited a good twenty seconds before even attempting to go through the room.

"You first!" Naomi said as she pushed Regina forward.

"H-hey! I'm going! I'm going…" She frowned. "No need to push me…"

Lawrence had run up, in an attempt to catch up to Isabelle. "Are you sure you'll be able to reason with them?"

"I-" She looked at the ground, shaking her head. "I'm not sure… I can only hope." She looked back up when she saw sunlight on the floor. "Here we are." The air was hot, given they were in a desert. When they fully stepped out of the tunnel. There was… nobody around. "What?" She mumbled out.

"Did my explosives go off?" Regina looked around the area, but there was no sign that something had gone off. "Or not?"

Soon, everyone stepped out. And… It happened a little too quickly.

The first person to react was Isabelle, who quickly turned around at the first sound she heard, but by then, they had already dropped down from the top of the tunnel. "Wait-" She was grabbed and dragged away.

The others were unfortunately too slow to do anything.

"Get down!" A voice yelled out as he grabbed Lawrence, pushing him down onto his knees.

Soon, everyone except Isabelle was on their knees. "H-hey!" The explosive expert called out. "Leave them alone!"

Jessica quickly looked around the area, seeing several different people coming out of hiding. "H-hey…! We didn't do anything!" She yelled out.

Out of the group of people that just came out of hiding, a girl walked forward, holding a revolver. She made a show of slowly loading in one bullet at a time. Once they were all in the cylinder, she pushed it back into the revolver. She stopped a foot away from Jessica, slowly bringing the gun down at her.

Regina quickly shook her head. "Please don't kill us…" She begged.

Naomi attempted to reach into her clothes to grab her knife, but a foot pushed her body down into the sand. "Ow…" She mumbled out.

"Don't try anything stupid…" The soldier behind her warned.

"HEY!" Isabelle was still fighting back, she wasn't getting anywhere.

The girl standing in front of Jessica pressed the barrel of the gun against her head. "End of the line…" She mumbled out.

For a second the hacker could swear she had a sadistic grin on her face. A moment later, it subsided and was replaced by a rather neutral expression. Just someone doing their job.

It was over in an instant. The girl fired all six of her shots in rapid fire style.

Jessica was somewhat frozen, because for one, she was still alive, and the person who was holding her still, was not holding her anymore. She craned her head to look behind herself, to see that all six people holding them still were dead.

The air was silent as nobody on either side knew how to react.

"And now we leave." The girl with the gun said before quickly dashing off to get to some cover.

Multiple gunshots went in her direction, however, they were all blocked by the concrete barrier she had hidden behind.

Nicolas was the first one to react, and by react. I mean he hid himself behind cover too. "What the hell…?" He mumbled out, having thought his life was over just a second ago.

Everyone else scattered. Well, everyone but Regina, who was having a hard time getting up. "Huh… a little help here?" She mumbled out sadly, looking around. They weren't just going to leave her for dead, were they?

"Goddammit…" Lawrence mumbled out, running out into the open. "I swear, you'll be the death of me-" As he grabbed her arm, he turned towards the side, just in time to see a soldier slowly aiming their gun at him.

However, they didn't get to pull the trigger, as a shot was fired from behind Lawrence, and above. It was a clean shot to the head, and the body fell back.

The lawyer looked around the area. "Sniper…?" He mumbled out.

On a tower a bit away, someone pulled back a sniper rifle, she adjusted her silver hair, before placing it down, ready for her next shot. Behind her, were a few dead soldiers.

"We got lucky…" Lawrence mumbled out, taking Regina and hiding behind cover. "Any other instance, and we would have both been dead."

"Sorry…" She mumbled out.

"You better be." He glared at her. He decided to peek over, to see what the others were doing.

Isabelle was still struggling against the one person who was holding her down, until something slipped out of her shirt. Realizing what it was, she kicked it back into the wall behind her.

"What was-" The girl holding her started to ask before slowly turning around when she heard a beeping noise. "You didn-"

The device went off, blasting the two of them away. And with that, Isabelle was now free. She rolled on the ground after almost falling down, pulling out another explosive. Sizing her target, who was too busy trying to kill that girl who had the pistol, she chucked it like a frisbee.

The person was still very unaware. That is until the device smacked him in the cheek, and he looked out in horror as it started to go off.

When the explosion happened, Isabelle ran for cover, sliding in right beside Nicolas, who seemed disturbed by everything.

"You… You just…" He mumbled out.

She took a peek out of cover to notice that one took out three people. "Yeah, it's us or them at this point. I don't intend on dying here."

Not far, Florence was mumbling under his breath, his hands covering the top of his head.

Then, he heard footsteps as someone turned around the corner, gun pointed at him. "Say goodnight."

I mean, he wasn't just going to die like that, so his instinct told him to kick his leg out, which made the guy lose balance a bit and miss the shot.

Unfortunately, that trick wasn't going to work again-

Someone quickly passed by, and before either guys could register what happened, the soldier fell to his knees, bleeding from his neck.

"Huh…?" Florence mumbled out, looking around.

He saw what looked like a small girl, turned towards him, a blade in her hands. He couldn't see the lower portion of her face. She was wearing a face mask with blood splattered into a smile.

Once the girl assessed that he was safe, she moved on.

Naomi, who was nearby Florence, but still a decent bit away, was quickly looking through her pistol to make sure she had bullets in there. Once she had that figured out, she looked over, taking some shots at some soldiers, managing to hit two of them.

Then, she saw someone familiar. There was a man spinning around a pocket watch on a chain, forming a perfect circle as he did so. He had messy hair, and nobody around seemed to notice him, being preoccupied with the other things. Despite all the chains, he moved around rather silently, sneaking up behind one of the soldiers. Once he was at a good distance away, he spun the watch around the soldier's neck horizontally, grabbing it when it looped around.

Before the soldier could react, he pulled down on the chain, sending the poor soldier to the ground.

The man kept looking at him for a few seconds, placing a foot on his hand. "Hey, Erika." The man called out. "I thought you said you'd take out most of them."
He said that just in time for a girl to come tumbling by him, her wig getting knocked off. The girl slowly stood up, showing off her dark ocean blue hair. "Well Serena was supposed to take a few out too. Don't blame me for this." She twirled her gun around, aiming it at a soldier in the distance. "Besides, we haven't lost anyone, and there's only a few of them left."

The man took a deep brief, placing his foot right under the guys neck. "Listen up!" He announced loudly. "You're outmatched, you can either give up now, or die trying to fight us. If you wish to live, simply toss away your guns."

The remaining soldiers all looked at each other, hesitating.

One took a step forward. "Like hell we'd-" A knife slash to the neck from the girl from earlier, before she disappeared behind some cover.

The remaining soldiers decided it wasn't worth it and chucked their guns onto the ground.

"Good, good." The man said, swinging his pocket watch around. He turned to look at Erika. "Tell the survivors they can come out now. Jack should be here with the rescue vehicles."

Isabelle quickly raised her head out from behind cover. "We can hear you perfectly fine." She jumped over cover, wiping some dust off of her. "So, you're the rescue team?"

Soon, the others eventually made their way out.

The man took out a pistol. Not to shoot, but because he had gotten bored. He spun it around in his hands as he looked at the remaining seven people. "Hey? Where's Connor." He surveyed the area.

Naomi quickly looked away. Clearly she didn't want to be the one to answer.

Lawrence frowned slightly. "He was killed during the killing game…" He mumbled out.

The man frowned slightly, still spinning the gun around. "Oh… That's…" He stopped spinning the gun when it was pointed at the soldier he was standing on. "Unfortunate." A gunshot. "But he knew the risk when he accepted the job." He put the gun away. "Anyways!" He was at least happy to see some survivors. "Let's round up the rest of the soldiers." He looked around. "Did we kill the mastermind this time?"

Naomi shook her head, walking over to Regina, who was still handcuffed. "Nope, she's right here."

"Ah, her." The man said. He turned around to see three cars pulling up. "And that would be Jack." He smirked. "Load her up!"

Soon Erika would walk out with someone tied up. "We found the leading officer of this base."

The officer took one look at her. "Hey, w-" Tape on the mouth. "It would be nice to interrogate him for information on the Major. We still haven't found him.

Footsteps could be heard, and Jack joined up with the group. "Hope you guys didn't have too much difficulty." He looked over at the officer. "Thanks for keeping everything in check, Danny." He addressed the man with the pocket watch.

Danny pulled out the pistol he had, handing it over to Jack. "Hey, if you want to at least kill a higher ranking officer." He nudged his head towards the person Erika had captured. "There's this one."

The critic grabbed onto the gun, aiming it at the officer. After a few seconds, he shook his head. "No, there's been enough death as of lately. I don't intend on adding to the pile." He made his way over to the survivors.

"So, we finally meet in person, oh mysterious monitor person." Jessica greeted him sarcastically.

He crossed his arms. "Haha, very funny…" He nudged his head over towards the cars that pulled up. "These are the rescue vehicles, so it's best we don't stay here for much longer." He moved over and grabbed Regina. "I'll keep her in my car. You guys can figure out what to do with the rest of them." And then he walked off.

Danny approached the group, looking around. "You know, seven people still being alive is rather impressive." He noted. "Normally, it's only six or five." He looked over to the side, seeing someone approach them. "There you are."

Serena was currently walking towards them, not very content. "Hey, I did my job, don't patronize me." She had a sniper rifle over her shoulder.

Danny placed a hand to his forehead. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever. I'm sorry you had to impersonate her like that, but it's the only way we could get two people into the base like that."

Lawrence was looking at Serena for a few seconds before his eyes trailed off towards the girl with the knife and mask. She was standing a bit away, just poking the knife with her finger. "What's her deal?"

Danny shook his head. "It's best if you don't ask. Trust me."

The lawyer spent a few more seconds looking at her before he glanced over towards the truck. Except Naomi was standing a few feet away. He looked at her for a few seconds before his eyes trailed down, and he spotted what she was holding. In her hands were handcuffs. He frowned slightly before looking up at her.

She couldn't bring herself to look him in the eyes. "I'm sorry… but because you are a member of UA… I have to do this." She took a step forward.

Lawrence nodded his head, turning around. "I understand." He placed his hands behind his back. "You probably have a lot of questions, don't you…"

"Yeah, I do." She nodded her head.

… "I'll answer what I can, but know I might not be able to answer all of it." The sound of clicking could be heard, and he could no longer move his hands.

"Right, right. Of course. Let's go." She didn't bother grabbing onto his arm, as she felt like he wouldn't attempt to run.

She was right, of course. They both made it to one of the carriage cars, and he was loaded into the back. Naomi made her way to the front, stepping in.

"So how did it go?" A boy with spiked light blue hair asked with a huge grin on his face.

"Shut up, Ashton."

"OK." He started the car getting ready to leave. "You know, for my second mission, I didn't feel like I did much. I just drove."

She looked over at him. "Isn't that what happened in your first mission?"

"Yeah, but with more explosions." He mumbled out.

Soon, all the cars pulled away, leaving this base abandoned for good…

.

.

.

It was a long drive, but soon they arrived at their destination after about a two day drive.

Danny got out of his car, moving over to the backdoors. He opened it, leaning in to grab Regina to pull her out.

"H-hey! I'm going! I'm going!"

The doors to the large building opened, and a girl with blonde hair, with two green stripes walked up. "Oh, you're back already?" Her eyes trailed over to the Queen. "Wait, you actually managed to get someone this time?" She glanced away. "I wish ours had ended differently…"

"Yeah, yeah…" Danny rolled his eyes, bringing Regina into the building. "I'm going to the cell block." He announced.

The blonde watched him leave before turning his attention towards the other people getting out of the car. Surveying the areas, she frowned upon seeing a certain someone missing. "I see…" She moved over towards Naomi. "Well, you did good with what you had."

"Thanks Riley…" The nun frowned slightly. She turned to look at Lawrence. "Come on, let's go."

Right, nobody seemed to be in a good mood.

"We kicked ass!" Well, except Ashton, but he was a new recruit, so he hadn't grown some form of attachment to the people.

Jack stepped out of his car. "Can it." He crossed his arms, making his way over to the leader. "Well, we're one step closer at finally stopping them, so that's always good. From what I've gathered, we might have actually hit the jackpot with her."

"Oh? How so?" She went to take a glance at Regina, but Danny had already vanished with her.

He took out a file. "Well, according to herself, and the virus."

Hearing that last word but a frown on Riley's face. "She made an appearance at the trial?"

"Yes, at first she claimed to be a member of our group, but she backpedalled when I showed up, and instead claimed to be the mastermind of the killing game. After everyone tore down her lies, she asked the mastermind if she died or was caught, if she could become the new leader. Take it with a grain of salt."

The blonde crossed her arms. "Still, it's definitely something since she was responsible for transporting an entire class around and causing mayhem. She's also responsible for the fall of Hope's Peak. Although, I doubt this fight is anywhere near being finished with several members still on the loose." She turned around to head into the building.

Jack frowned slightly. "Right…" He then started to follow her into the building.

.

.

.

Florence was aimlessly walking around the area, looking at the doors, but not actually going in. "This place doesn't feel any better…" He mumbled to himself, noting the layout of the place. Some help he was during the trial, he freed Naomi, but then what? Regina pretty much rendered him useless after that Alina comment.

"Are you lost?" A voice came from behind him.

He froze slightly, slowly turning his head to look back. But, nobody was there. "What…?"

"I said, are you lost?" The voice was now in front of him, and when he snapped his head forward again, there was a short girl standing in front of him. "This isn't the way to the dorms, if that's what you are looking for." She had magenta hair for the most part. There were various splotches of green and purple in her hair too. Similar to if she spilled paint on her hair. Except it was actually just dyed like that.

Florence spent a few seconds looking at her before shaking her head. "I'm not looking for anywhere. Just walking."

She had a rather intense gaze to her, but she eventually yielded. "Alright, but don't stay up too late, you need your rest." She walked past him, heading back the way she came. "They'll probably put you to work really quickly, so take as much time off as you can cram." She warned him.

Once she was out of sight, he looked at the ground. "Putting me to work already… huh?" He pondered it for a few seconds before he resumed his walk.

.

.

.

Nicolas had already found the food court, and he wasted no time sitting down after grabbing some food. And you know what, the food didn't look the best, but it beat the canned food, and the atmosphere here beat the one at the base. Taking a moment to think, he shook his head. No, at least at the base he wasn't alone. Here… not so much. He surveyed the area, but nobody was around. "So much for happiness…" He mumbled to himself as he took a bite.

What he wasn't expecting to happen next, was something being thrown into the table and sticking. He jumped slightly, taking a quick look at it. It was… a ninja star? He glanced up, spotting someone crouched up on one of the beams above head.

"You must be one of the new guys." He called out, lowering his face mask. "I just got back from my own mission, so I wasn't aware the group had returned. The name's Stephan." He dropped down, landing right beside the table. He spent a second looking at him before shaking his head. "Well don't you just have a gloomy aura." He sat down across from him. "In fact, it's the same one I've seen countless times." He frowned. "The aura of regret. What are you regretting?"

Nicolas turned his head away. "I don't feel like talking with someone I just met. Especially someone… dressed like that."

"Haha, think I'm some sort of assassin?" Stephan asked. "Don't worry about it. I was one of the survivors from the first killing game. I work here." He leaned back slightly. "Hey, whatever you're regretting. The feeling won't go away if that's all you think about. If you've done something bad. The best you can do is accept that it happened and moved on."

"And what if it resulted in death…?" He mumbled out.

The ninja wasn't phased by that at all. "Look, death happens. Clinging to that is a spiral you shouldn't go down. You aren't the only person dealing with that right now. In fact, that certain someone is probably dealing with it way worse than you are." He placed a card down with a name.

"Rial Cardel"

"If you ever meet this person, try chatting with them. I think you both might need to talk about things." Stephan told him.

Nicolas looked at the name, glancing up. "How will th-" He was gone. "... Alright there, Batman…" He mumbled out.

.

.

.

Isabelle was lying down on a bed in the room she had been assigned. She was looking at the ceiling, getting lost in her thoughts. The many thoughts that had plagued her since Connor unleashed the motive on all of them. After a few seconds, she placed her face in her hands. "Ugh… I need to get away from these memories…" She mumbled out. After stepping out of bed, she moved over to the mirror, checking the scar on her shoulder. "I should probably also get this removed." She could still feel the phantom pains from it even days after it occurred.

Grabbing her military vest, she put it on and headed out the door.

The hallways reminded her of her old home. So cold and lonely. "Hello?" She called out, expecting nothing in return.

And she did receive nothing.

Most of the people here were too busy to pay attention to the new survivors. Maybe they had grown so used to the killing games that survivors just weren't interesting anymore? Peaking into a room, she noticed someone working on some stuff. Or, well, two people.

"Lily, be more careful." A boy called out, moving the girl with pink hair away from the counter.

"H-hey!" She tried to break free. "I'm fine!" She called out. "I've been dealing with dangerous stuff for years, I'll be fine-" She glanced off to the side, spotting Isabelle. "Oh, didn't know we had gotten new people."

The man, who was dressed up as a butler, narrowed his eyes. "That's because you almost never leave the lab."

"What are you doing here?" The explosive expert took a step into the room, before spotting the leak on a purplish substance on the counter.

Lily glanced back and shrugged. "Just making things up as I go. There's not much use for a florist in this time and age." She spent a few seconds looking at Isabelle's attire. "See, someone in the military, infinitely better if you ask me."

"Haha, yeah. Right." The explosive expert frowned slightly before smiling again. "Well, you seem to be still doing stuff. What are you making?"

The butler shook his head. "These types of questions aren't im-"

"Poison!" Lily didn't hold back.

"Goddammit…" The boy mumbled out.

Well, she definitely wasn't expecting that. "Poison huh? And then she froze slightly.

.

Oliver slowly stood up, placing his hand on the table for support. "You think it's funny to play around with our life…" He had blood around his mouth. "What the hell did you poison us with?" He seemed like someone calm and collected, so to have him seem this pissed off.

Monokuma shrugged. "I don't quite remember, but the girl who made it said to be careful with it, so I assume it had to be bad."

.

Well, she didn't suspect anything right away, she didn't want to mess with poison. "I've… I've got to go…" She mumbled out, turning around and leaving the room.

"What was that all about?" Lily blinked in confusion.

"Stop making pois-"

"No."

.

.

.

Naomi was currently standing in front of a door, looking at a sign. Every time she made her way here, she found it cute, to be honest. Despite the world going to hell, this person was still just trying to do their old job. The sign read "Taylor's Brewery". She had seen that sign so many times whenever she was here. She opened the door and stepped inside.

The room was dimly lit as it has always been, and it was pretty much empty. Nobody would be drinking at a time like this. Well, nobody except Naomi. Not like it mattered anyways. She did it for the taste, as she had a hard time actually getting drunk on it.

The lone bartender noticed her sitting down and tilted his head. He had very messy blue hair, and a few piercings on his face. "The usual?" A bleak tone.

She traced a circle with her finger on the counter. "Yeah, the usual."

The frown on his face deepened, but he obliged. He went under the counter to grab a few things. Once he had grabbed what he needed, he poured both contents into the glass, and after making sure they were mixed in well, he slid it over towards Naomi. "What's the problem this time?"

She didn't answer at first, nor did she drink. She just stared emptily at the counter. "Just letting everything that happened wash over me. Connor dying, me having to kill someone I was trying to save." She put her head in her hands. "Two people from the survivors being UA members…" She paused, looking over to the man. "Guess you'd never understand, huh, Darren? You always stay here."

"The world has no use for someone like me out there. The moment I attempt to do anything out there, I'll die." He was cleaning one of the glasses. "It's just better if I stay here…"

"Hey now, don't say that." She was shaking her head. "You just haven't bothered trying, is all"

No, he had definitely tried, but every attempt he made was a failure. "Don't stay too long, I'm thinking of heading out in a bit."

"Oh? Going to do nothing as you always do." She joked towards him, but she might have hit in right on the nail. "Yeah… I won't be here long." She grabbed her drink.

.

.

.

Jessica was walking around the hallways of this place. It had been a few days, but she never took the proper time to explore things. As she was passing by a hallway, one of the doors automatically opened, and she was expecting to see someone step out. But… Nobody did. "Hello?" She poked her head into the room. It seemed like a room for storing some amount of information. There was also a large computer in the back.

"Hmm?" Someone was reading a file in the corner. "How can I help you?" He had white hair and yellow eyes.

"Oh. Well, the door opened so I thought someone was stepping out." Jessica said.

"Ah yes…" He nodded his head. "Doors opening on their own. A very big occurrence here. It started happening as soon as Naomi left, so my guess is a ghost haunting the place."

She wasn't going to buy that one bit. "Really?" She raised an eyebrow.

The man tapped his chin a few times. "Well, it's either that or the AI we have running our system."

"AI? Haha, that's pretty cool." Jessica placed a hand on her hip. And then a thought occurred to her. Wait… this group was originally founded by the 75th class, which could only mean-

The screen in the back of the room lit up, showing off the girl with light blue hair. Her eyes seemed to sparkle while she looked at Jessica. "Welcome home master!" She greeted.

Right, her memories were only slowly coming back to her, so she had forgotten all about the fact that Hope's Peak accepted one of her creations as a student. "Reika?" A smile appeared on her face. "You've been here this entire time?"

"Yep, been helping out with the Seeker's of Fate. They really needed it and they were my classmates." She had her hands behind her back. "I'm glad you made it back safe."

The boy looked at the two of them. "Now this is the time where I leave to give you two some space, but I'm quite comfortable, so."

Reika clapped her hands together. "I have so much I want to tell you!" She smiled brightly.

"Well, I'll be here for good, so you have all the time in the world to tell me."

.

.

.

It had been two weeks since Lawrence had been locked up. Did he regret his choice of just letting it happen? No. Not at all. But, he didn't feel much regret from when he had first joined UA. Even if things didn't turn out like he had hoped. He hadn't wanted the end of the world, he wanted basically a new start. Oh well, he had helped the group, and this would be his life now. Locked up here.

Then, he heard a distant sound. It sounded like a groaning noise. Then, the sound of someone falling to the ground.

"Hey!" A voice called out, but it was then followed by a thud.

"Someone stop her!" Another voice called out.

Whoever this person was, based on the sounds, they were winning by a large margin, as the sound of more people falling to the ground could be heard.

Then, it went silent, and Lawrence had his eyes fixated on the door.

Ten seconds passed before he saw a silhouette on the other side. Some beeping could be heard, and the door would swing open, allowing the person to step inside. "There you are…" The girl mumbled out. She was wearing black and red attire, and she had a scarf wrapped around one of her arms. She had purple eyes and brown hair tied in a long ponytail. "We need to talk, you and I…"

.

.

.

Regina was currently bound to a chair in an interrogation room, averting the gaze of the person interviewing her.

"Look, we could do this the easy way, or the hard way." The tall girl with light orange pink hair said.

The Queen let out a small laugh. "Isn't that a little too cliché? But out of everyone who could have started the Seekers of Fate, didn't think it would be you, Victoria."

She frowned slightly. "Hey, I'm full of leadership." She walked over, sitting back in the chair. "Now, it's a simple task I'm giving you, really. All I ask is for you to tell me who's working for you."

Regina shook her head. "You think I'm going to rat out the pawns I have placed? They may be pawns, but they still have their use, you know." She looked her into the eyes. "But I'm feeling generous today, so maybe I'll give you a hint."

This definitely got Victoria's attention. "Well, go on, spit it out."

"This may not be the answer you want to hear. But, every single member of UA is in this building." The Queen informed her.

That was exactly the answer she didn't want to hear. "Every single one of them?"

"Well, obviously not the dead one, but every member who is alive is currently here, deep undercover." She continued. "Tell me… How many people have you let in?"

.

A girl was currently typing some things out on a computer, with the footage of the investigation also on screen. "That's right. Incite paranoia." She said to herself.

"How long have those people been here?" Regina continued on. "How many people have you built strong bonds with, and how many are ready to stab you in the back at a moment's notice."

This seemed to have the desired effect, as Victoria bit her thumb, looking away. "Even so, it won't be long till everyone is found out."

"Oh, you're right. It won't be long." Regina agreed. "They'll reveal themselves when it's too late to do anything."

The girl typing turned away from the video footage, humming to herself. "Aaaand, stolen." She said to herself as she removed the USB key. She logged out, and some random numbers and letters appeared on screen.

.

3G4HC73

KR2983D

K37204G

JA5P5JS

1VI4MD0

D94G74K

D30FM4V

.

Then, the text faded away, and the girl started skipping away, humming to herself.

.

"So tell me, Victoria? What will you do? Will you just wait here for them to reveal themselves, or will you try your best to figure out who they are." Regina continued on.

.

The girl who was skipping spotted someone carrying a tray of food. She bounced, and grabbed it. "Mine now."

"Like hell it's yours." The boy glared at her, ripping it out of her hands. "Go back to stealing information like you always do." He glanced down at the tray, noticing that there was a USB stick on it now. Looking around, he quickly covered that with some napkins. "Whatever, I'm going." He continued his path.

.

"I'll continue doing what I've always done." Victoria crossed her arms.

"I've heard you locked someone up over fear he was associated with the Church of the Shattered God." Regina pointed out. "Are you going to do the same with anyone you think is related to UA?"

Victoria slammed her hand on the table. "You shut up. I'll find every last member of your damn group, if it's the last thing I do!"

.

"Food up!" The boy called out, sliding the tray under the door.

A groaning voice came out, and an older man slowly got out of bed. He walked over to the food, picking up the tray. He didn't seem too pleased about the choice of food, until he realized the napkins weren't where they normally were. "What's this?" He slowly lifted it up, seeing the USB stick. A small grin slowly formed on his face. "Ah, guess it's getting time for that soon." He moved over towards the bed, sitting down. He pocketed the USB stick, and began eating.

.

.

.

.

.

Someone was walking through the ruins of a city, a blue hood pulled over his head. A gust of wind blew it off, revealing his short orange hair. After a few more steps, he took a look at his watch, which was beeping. "Around here, huh?" He mumbled out, looking ahead. In the distance, he could see a rather large building that was still pretty intact. "There you are…" He flipped his hood back on, and kept walking.