Finding out where one of the places Rogue Nirvana is stationed at, Davis and the others all headed to Marseille in France. That also happens to be where Charlotte is from, but she wasn't all that happy about returning home. After meeting up with Wade, the team scattered to search for clues that could lead to Rogue Nirvana. As for Charlotte, being escorted by Ichika and Laura, she went to her father's company to pay him a visit and soon met with him upon entry.

"Bonjour, Papa. It has...been a long time." Charlotte said.

"Yes. It has." Mr. Dunois claimed as he didn't sound happy about it and Charlotte seemed rather scared.

"Uh... Charl, aren't you going to introduce us?" Ichika said to break the tension.

"Of course. Where are my manners?" Charlotte said. "Ichika and Laura, this is my papa and the head of the company: Albert Dunois. Papa, these are the friend I have made at the I.S. Academy: Ichika Orimura and Laura Bodewig."

"It's nice to meet you, sir. Charl has told me a lot about you." Ichika said.

"Yes... I've heard a few things about you, but I unfortunately can't say the same since my daughter never told me." Albert said as he looked down at his daughter with disappointment. "What is this Charl anyhow? That is not your name."

"It is just a nickname that Ichika calls me." Charlotte said, but Albert didn't seem that interested.

"Well, what brings you home after all this time?" Albert questioned.

"Right now, I'm just visiting my papa." Charlotte claimed.

"Yes. Is it wrong that she wished to see her father again?" Laura questioned, but Albert didn't appear to approve of the tone or what she said.

"Uh... It looks like the Dunois Corporation is doing well. Did you come into some money recently?" Charlotte asked.

"Yes. We've actually had an investor to help keep us running seeing as how you didn't exactly get what we needed." Albert said. He was coming down hard on Charlotte and Ichika and Laura were getting worried, ready to step in and protect Charlotte if they have to.

"Dunois!" They looked behind Dunois and saw a man in a navy suit wearing glasses and had brown hair walking over to them. "We still have much to discuss."

"Of course, Monsieur Bourgeois. I just received a surprise visit from my daughter. You remember Charlotte, don't you?" Albert said as he gestured to her. Bourgeois took a look at Charlotte and seemed rather displeased.

"Yes... The accident." Bourgeois addressed her with Charlotte a little hurt.

"Accident?! What does that mean?!" Ichika said as he was upset someone addressed Charlotte liked that.

"It's fine." Charlotte said as she was a little shaken. "We should probably get going. I only came to say hello, but there is something we should be doing anyway." She just ran straight out of the door after that with Ichika and Laura going after her.

"Dunois, we must be talking about later." Bourgeois said with Laura eavesdropping on the conversation. She thought something about how he said that sounded interesting. "La vente aux encheres est se soir a La Criee. Nos investisseurs aimeraient des resultats." Laura didn't know what they meant, but she doesn't trust Bourgeois.

...

Serene and Kimi

"Argh! This is a huge waste of time!" Kimi shouted as she was getting annoyed. "We've been looking around and can't find a single thing!"

"And I'm sure shouting like that is sure to help." Serene said with annoyance.

"I don't see you coming up with any ideas on to find these guys." Kimi said. "This place is huge. How are we suppose to find anything on Rogue Nirvana. We can't just keep going around and ask people who probably don't even speak the same language."

"I'm sure we'll figure something out." Serene said, but there was something neither of them knew. What they didn't know was that they were being watched by someone. "Maybe if we..." When Kimi wasn't looking, someone came from behind Serene and covered her mouth.

"If we what, Serene?" Kimi questioned. "Hey, what were you saying?" She asked as she turned around to face her, but saw Serene was gone. "Serene? Where are you?" She looked around, but didn't see her anywhere. Suddenly, she felt something cover her mouth and she instantly blacked out.

...

The Base

When it seemed like no one could find anything on Rogue Nirvana, all of them regrouped at the base they were using. Davis, Fria, and Veemon came back and already met up with Sierra and Lita.

"I take it you guys didn't have any luck either?" Davis said.

"Afraid not. If Rogue Nirvana really is stationed somewhere here, they're doing a pretty good job at hiding." Sierra said.

"We'll just have to try again." Fria said.

"What's the point?" Houki said as she, Rin, and Cecilia all came back. "It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack out there. Rogue Nirvana works in the shadows, no one knows much about it, and we have absolutely no other leads."

"Excuse me, Miss Orimura, but shouldn't we contact Marinda to see if she can narrow the search." Cecilia suggested, but Chifuyu appeared to be ignoring her. "Miss Orimura?"

"Not now." Chifuyu said as she pointed over to the other end of the room. They all looked and saw Charlotte was rather upset with Ichika and Laura trying to comfort her. All of them were a little worried now.

"Charlotte, are you okay?" Sierra asked.

"If there's a problem, maybe we can help." Rin said. They all wanted to help, but Charlotte wasn't really in the mood to talk.

"Guys, I don't think Charlotte wants to talk about it." Ichika said.

"No. It's fine, Ichika. They'll all about to find out eventually." Charlotte said. "Since we're all here, you might as well know the truth of what's going on. Visiting my father didn't go so well."

"What, Daddy didn't throw a welcome home party or something?" Davis joked.

"Davis, this is serious. Charlotte and her father have a tough relationship." Ichika said. Davis was curious as what he meant, as were the others as they all wanted to know. "For those who may not know this, when Charlotte first came to the academy, she disguised herself as a boy named Charles."

"I remember that, but you never really explained why you did it, Charlotte." Houki said.

"It was all because of my papa." Charlotte claimed, but they didn't really understand. "In order for you to understand, I have to start from the beginning. The truth of the matter is that my father and I haven't seen or spoken to each other in the past few years."

"You haven't? Why?" Lita questioned.

"Well, in the beginning, I lived with my mama and my father wasn't part of my life." Charlotte explained. "However, she got sick a few years ago and ended up passing away. After that, I went to live with him, yet he was still not part of my life."

"But what does that have to do with you disguising yourself as a boy when we all met?" Rin questioned.

"Well, as you all might be aware of, France was not part of the alliance that helps in the development of the I.S." Charlotte said. "France is on the second generation while other countries are on the third. He was facing bankruptcy. So, I enrolled in the academy as a chance to gather data. As for disguising myself as a boy, it was to get close to Ichika and steal his data."

"I understand that part." Sierra said as she too had some bad memories with her father. "I had to gather data on Ichika and Davis when I met all of you to learn why they were the only male pilots."

"I would have been in some serious trouble when Ichika found out, but it was thanks to him that I would be protected by staying at the academy and work on a more permanent solution so I would not be sent back or go to jail." Charlotte said.

"You're father was risking you to go to jail?! That's unbelievable!" Davis said.

"Charlotte's relationship with her father hasn't gotten any better." Ichika said. "One guy named Bourgeois even called her an accident. What the hell was that about?"

"Bourgeois is a partner to my papa." Charlotte explained. "Given the circumstances of my birth, it would look bad for the company, on top that I failed to get anything they can use." Charlotte had it real bad and all of them felt bad for her.

"Hold on. I hate to interrupt, but Kimi and Serene aren't here." Lita pointed out. "Shouldn't they have been back by now?"

"That's true. Where are they?" Fria questioned.

"Hey, Wade!" Lita called and got her brother's attention. "Do you know where Serene and Kimi are?"

"Give me a second. I might be able to track their I.S." Wade said as he pulled out a tablet and got to work on tracking them. "Found them. They're at La Criee Theater."

"La Criee?" Laura questioned as she thought that was strange.

"What is it, Laura? Do you know something?" Chifuyu questioned.

"Just before leaving Dunois Corporation, Dunois and Bourgeois were speaking about that place in French thinking we wouldn't understand, but I did." Laura said. "They said that there's an auction happening at La Criee, and that their investors are looking for results."

"Investors? That's right! Charlotte just said that the corporation were facing bankruptcy." Sierra said.

"Oui, but I just learned that new investors helped them." Charlotte said. "The two things can't be connected. I'm sure it is only coincidence."

"But what would their investors be looking for with an auction? Why would Serene and Kimi be there?" Cecilia questioned.

"I'm checking to see what's happening at the theater, but all I'm seeing is that it's invitation only." Wade said. "That's strange. There would usually be a little something that tells you what's being auctioned."

"Unless they're auctioning something they don't want the public to know...like people." Chifuyu stated with all of them shocked she would suggest that. "They might be auctioning off people and they don't want the public to know about it."

"Isn't that jumping to conclusions?" Rin questioned.

"There's one way to find out. Either way, two of our own are where they shouldn't be. We need to get them out of there at once." Chifuyu said. They all certainly agreed to that, but this wasn't looking good at all.

...

La Criee Theater

That night, many were gathering at the theater. They were all dressed fancy, but the strange thing was that they were all wearing masks and it appeared to be quite ominous. Many were gathering inside the theater and took a seat. Thinking their friends are in some sort of danger, they had to get Kimi and Serene out of there. All of them split into teams and tried to find their own way in. Davis and Charlotte were together and tried to find some way in while the others were trying to find their own way in.

"You know where we can go from here, Charlotte?" Davis questioned.

"Oui, follow me." Charlotte said as she showed Davis where to go. The two of them waited in the shadows of two people showed up. When they did, they grabbed both of them and knocked them out. Swiping their masks and the invitation, the two of them were able to get inside.

"Smooth." Davis complimented as he likes the way she thinks. Once they were able to get inside, they ditched the masks and went into the main theater. The place looked packed with a bunch of people gathered in. "What is all of this? It's a little creepy."

"I do not see Serene or Kimi." Charlotte said as she looked around. As she did, she spotted something she couldn't believe. Even underneath that mask, she recognized her father. "Papa?! Why is he here?!" None of this was looking good at all.

"Bonsoir a tous!" Whatever was going on was happening now. Ichika and the others managed to find a way in and kept themselves concealed as they watched things unfold. "Thank you all for coming. Let's get down to business. Here are the lovely ladies that we are selling off tonight."

"Selling off?!" Davis said as he couldn't believe it. None of them could. It was just as what Chifuyu said. They were auctioning off people here. A whole bunch of girls were being shoved on the stage with all of them chained together and gagged. Among them were actually Kimi and Serene with all the other girls scared and upset on what was happening. "They're really selling people?!"

"This is horrible!" Charlotte said. "How could they do something like this?!"

"As you can see, we have a bunch of lovely ladies with us here tonight." The emcee announced. "We'll start with first impressions, maybe try to appeal to you with some interesting outfits, switch over to some men, and much more. Let's see who wagers the most on who." This was inhumane, selling people off like their items. "Who wants to start the bidding?!"

"Right here, pal!" Davis shouted as he wasn't going to watch this anymore. Everyone looked to him and saw he was furious. Kimi and Serene spotted him and were thrilled to see him. "We're taking our friends and everyone else out of here, and in exchange, no one gets their butts kicked!" He called as he just ran straight to the stage.

"Davis, wait!" Charlotte called and chased after him with Albert becoming aware of her presence, as well as someone else who wasn't happy to see her. "You can't just run down there!"

"I don't care! I'm not just going to watch these sick people do this!" Davis called.

"I understand, but..." Charlotte tried to reason with him, but something unexpected happened. The sound of a gunshot could echoed through the whole area and Charlotte suddenly felt a sharp pain. With the sound of something dropping right behind him, Davis turned around to see what it was. Ichika and the others could see what happened and they were all horrified. When Davis turned around, he was just as horrified as he saw Charlotte laying on the stairs with a red puddle forming from her. There was only one thing that red substance could be. It was horrendous to see, and for it to happen to Charlotte of all people now was heartbreaking. Davis just couldn't hold back.

"Charlotte!" Davis screamed.

...

Davis: No way. No way! Charlotte is in real trouble now! I can't believe she was actually shot. Whoever did this is going to pay, and if it turns out her lousy father had anything to do with it, he's going to pay double. If Rogue Nirvana has any part of this, they've gone too far. There's only one thing to do in a situation like this, and I intend to get it!

Next time: Dunois Family Matters

You never really know what you have until it's taken away, but I won't let Charlotte be taken away like that.