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Episode 2

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Max Payne 2 - Main Theme

All of the ITEM members were seated properly on the bed mattresses that they all occupied. They would see floating holographic screens hovering from both the left and right corners of their eyes. Some of them showed a symbol that has an outlined circle with three arrows crossing its contour and pointing to the center. The structure is closed in a thin frame, which repeats its silhouette—a circle with three protruding rectangles (around the arrows' tails). There were also the words "Secure. Contain. Protect." that were found in the lower corner of the symbol. From what the ITEM members guessed, this symbol belonged to an organization of a sort. What this "new organization" that they recently discovered remains a total mystery.

Was this organization a Dark Side one? If it was, they never heard of them before. In fact, the fact that they have the technology to make this prison cell where it disables the powers and abilities of any esper that they know of, including a Level 5 as Shizuri Mugino could attest, then this organization is something that they needed to take in absolute seriousness.

The "scary woman" who introduced herself to them—Councilwoman Amanda Waller—was holding a grey remote with her right hand while the file folder that she once held was given to one of the agents with unruly blonde hair (Agent Shiage Hamazura) who was cracking the folder open and reading it with narrowed analytical eyes, flipping through the pages with interest.

"As of today, you four are now officially under my employment, and by under my employment, you will be assembled into a tightly knit mobile task force bound together for one purpose. To do whatever it is that you've always been doing. To monitor the upper echelons of Academy City and the movements of the Board of Directors. However, you'll be far more than just that. You will do your duty under the organization that I work with, and I am among the thirteen prime overseers of this organization's council."

"...And what exactly is this organization that you work for?" Mugino asked with arms crossed, making sure to bite her tongue and be as respectful as possible to this woman.

"We call ourselves the Security Containment Procedures (SCP) Foundation, or SCP Foundation for shorter usage. As to what that is, I'll just let one of our top scientists explain to you what that means for you and your future through this documentary that you are to watch and listen to very carefully."

At that moment, Waller begins to press a button, and a holographic screen from the center that has the SCP logo turning into a grey-colored static before it eventually shows a countdown of "3. 2. 1. 0." as if it were an old black and white classic footage. Then, the background would reveal an advanced server room and laboratory with multiple scientists working from the grey metal tables.

From the front of the screen, there was a person with grey hair, wearing a scientist lab coat that also had the Foundation symbol attached to the shoulders; underneath would be a black business suit with a black tie the same as the two agents who were standing side by side with Waller. There was also an ornate medallion (SCP-963) that was being worn around his neck that he kept tucked in within his white dress shirt.

"Hello, new recruits. My name is Doctor Jack Bright, Site Director of the SCP Foundation's Administrative Department, or AdminDep for short. Today you're all about to be inducted into an organization that has existed ever since before you or your world were even born..."

That one made the ITEM girls raise their respective eyebrows. Before they or their world were born? What did this man mean by that?

The two young agents (Agent Shiage Hamazura and Agent Jiang Haoyi) that were with them were thinking. "("Understatement of the millenniums...")"

"...What do I mean by that? Well, buckle up whatever seatbelts you're wearing, because you're about to delve into something that, depending on your personality and beliefs, may either be found to be quite intriguing or world-shattering."

By the end of the admittedly well-informative documentary, the ITEM girls can only say one thing only within their heads as they absorbed everything that they had just watched and seen with their own two eyes. A common thought that united them all.

Doctor Bright wasn't really kidding when he said that it was either intriguing or world-shattering. Perhaps that was understating and simplifying things just a bit too much. The introductions start with explaining the organization that they would be working with in greater detail.

The SCP Foundation.

If they were to compare it to anything, it was like all of those B or C-rated movies that Saiai Kinuhata tended to watch from time to time whenever they weren't on missions and just doing some downtime of their own. It all spoke of a shadow organization that apparently has the Multiverse's best interests at heart (of course, the term "cold but not cruel" would be needed to be added as part of the resume), being an organization dedicated to the following:

1.) Protecting the Multiverse (yes, apparently it exists, much to ITEM's shock, and it's as simple and complex as it sounded and the multiple theories don't do them justice) from potential, mundane, and cosmic threats. What that entailed can depend on the situation that is being dealt with which could be expanded upon by the term "SCP" being a given acronym for a set of anomalies that were classified into Safe (anomalies very easy to contain or do not need many resources to contain), Euclid (anomalies that require more resources to contain completely or where containment isn't always reliable), or Keter (very difficult to contain or haven't yet been contained) which are the three ordinary classifications. There's more where that came from but there's too many to list. The noteworthy ones are Thaumiel (anomalies containing or counteracting other anomalies) and Apollyon (anomalies impossible to contain and/or are expected to breach containment very often).

Speaking of the anomalies, they ranged from a simple peanut statue (SCP-173) to a run-of-the-mill predator that doesn't stop until you're dead with very sharp claws and wide open mouth (SCP-096) to someone claiming or verified to be God (SCP-343) to a cactus hybrid superhero (SCP-2800) to yet another superhero with a cape (SCP-4051) to a massive serpent (SCP-6004) to many countless other things.

2.) Upholding the so-called Prime Directive which is an official directive apparently agreed upon as part of a sacred treaty made by a gathering of higher races and temporal powers relating to the sharing of technology with the younger races and the moral dilemma of interfering in the affairs of the younger races. The term "younger races" could mean a lot of things, depending on who you're talking to, like those cultures or societies who haven't even advanced in their discoveries of science, let alone achieved full space flight that would allow them to, let alone time travel or universe travel (to the ITEM girl's shock, the latter two does in fact exist).

3.) Ever heard of the Men in Black? The ones usually associated with popular culture, especially those in the sci-fi genre, and conspiracy theories? Apparently, the Foundation is the originator behind that very concept. Some would say that the "Men In Black" division within the organization was the one ultimately responsible for coining the term. There were in fact two MIB Division Agents standing in front of them who were located near Waller's side. The one with unruly blonde hair (Agent Shiage Hamazura) and the one with Chinese handsome features (Agent Jiang Haoyi). What does the MIB Division do? Pretty much anything that you might have heard about what the Men in Black had been doing may have been done by them at some point.

And now...

"Now that Doctor Bright had explained to you most adequately about our organization, do all of you have any questions?" Waller asked them with a professional tone while holding a folder that Agent Hamazura had been holding the past several hours before Waller took it back from him after Agent Hamazura had reviewed the files.

The agent with unruly blonde hair (Agent Hamazura), while reviewing the files, was glancing specifically at Shizuri Mugino, the only Level 5 among the group. His thoughts were silent on the matter but he needed to keep a close eye on her specifically. He didn't know why but there was this gut feeling that he needed to. This gut feeling had managed to save his bacon many times in the past, so he's gonna keep listening to it.

The ITEM girls were slowly shaking their heads in silence. They really didn't have much to say with regard to the SCP Foundation itself as all of their questions were answered satisfactorily. Although they do have questions about what exactly was the Foundation doing in their city.

"With regards to this...Foundation is it? No, ma'am," Mugino replied with a courteous tone that she tried to force if only because she was seeing this woman in a new light. "But I'm rather curious as to what the hell have the Foundation been exactly doing in Academy City specifically?"

"That has many reasonings in response to your answer, many of which are in relation to the official dealings that our Chief Scientific Advisor and the Board Chairman of Academy City have had a few years ago," Waller explained briefly.

"Wait? The Board Chairman?" Mugino raised an eyebrow while the rest of ITEM were in shock. "You're telling me that the highest authority in the city knows about what you've all been doing?"

"He does," Waller nodded. "And since then, the Mobile Task Force: MTF NFR-137 ("Eye of Ra") has been dispatched to act as your world's and your city's secret security force, with eyes and ears everywhere, including the dark side, all as one part of the negotiations."

Mugino was silent for a moment and mulling the information, glancing at the two agents (Agent Hamazura and Agent Haoyi) who were silent and didn't give any expression except a professional stone-cold one. She thought about things for a moment before saying.

"So what exactly made you want to recruit all four of us?" Mugino asked.

"Well, before we get into that, I must say that you all have quite the resume...starting with you, Mugino Shizuri," Waller said, grabbing Mugino's attention. Waller was flipping the folder in her hands open and was reading the file of one Level 5 of ITEM. "The #5 Rank Level 5 Esper of Academy City, also known as Meltdowner. As to why you were called that, it is based on your esper ability which follows the principle of manipulating the ambiguous state of an electron that allows you to fire highly destructive beams made up of high-speed electrons that pierce through a target at the same velocity that it was fired upon. Your past is quite unknown throughout the official records of your city. And yet, according to the records that my people do end up finding, it would appear that you were born from a rich family of prestige with a bunch of connections on the table, many of them from the political sphere. You were given the spoon treatment so to speak ever since you could recall from your youth, a high-class woman who was given to her everything that she could desire with no personal effort on her part, even being provided with a personal butler to attend to your every matter, being spoiled rotten, until it was eventually decided that you were to be officially enrolled to Academy City in order to increase your family's prestige."

Mugino flinched a bit as she was listening to every detail that was her very own life, if in a brief summary of it. She didn't want anyone snooping around her past and the fact that this woman knows more than she lets on made her hair stand up. Fortunately for her, it appeared that Waller is to move on from another one of her teammates.

"Frenda Seivelun," Waller said, grabbing Frenda's attention, uttering a "Meep!" sound and standing up straight. "A Level 0, skilled in close-quarters combat and is proficient in using an array of concealed weapons through the use of modified devices that are deemed quite innocent enough, but are actually quite lethal when turn to the opponents in question. You could be a fine unorthodox engineer in the future based on this skill. Your past is also a mystery, but the basic gist of it was that you only had one family member that you're taking care of as a part of your job. A younger sister perhaps?"

"...!" Frenda widened her eyes a bit and her mouth was slowly hanging with an "O". Her heart stopped as the black woman casually mentioned. She gulped. She feels her throat running dry. The other members of ITEM looked at Frenda with surprised and curious expressions of their own.

"You have a sister?" Takitsubo asked.

"...Umm..." Frenda became hesitant to answer, twirling both of her fingers. "Yes...I suppose so..."

Mugino simply raised an eyebrow as the information sunk in. Not once had Frenda mentioned or even bothered to mention anyone from her family. But if Mugino were to be honest, she didn't care about what was going on in the personal lives of her subordinates just so long as it wouldn't get in the way of their job. But still, she couldn't help but feel a little curious. Why would Frenda even keep something like this a secret from them? Did she not trust them at all with regard to her family?

In Mugino's thought, she supposed that it made sense from one point of view. Academy City was all about the intricate web of lies, secrets, and deception. It would make sense for Frenda to not trust anyone about her personal life, keeping it even from her and their two other colleagues. It was a smart choice. After all, if one were to give one single truth that could relate to even a hint of the Dark Side, then that person's life would seemingly come undone in a matter of seconds to minutes, depending on the time and place when a sudden execution would come by and take the life of the person willing to expose the truth in order to raise the flag that would give the signal for everyone else around their world to take notice.

That Academy City was in reality a desolate graveyard designed by the machinations of cold practical adults who could care less about the opinions and dreams of the children.

She suppose that if Frenda were to have a sister, the latter would probably have done everything in her power to ensure that her sister was safe. Quite the commendable and redeemable trait, despite the fact that Frenda's hands aren't necessarily clean with all of the blood that she had gained while working for the Dark Side. Same as the rest of them who each have their own blood on their hands for cleaning up the adult's messes.

Waller eventually speaks, giving Frenda a surprisingly, if out-of-character, empathetic expression.

"If you are truly worried about your younger sister, then don't, Seivelun. With regards to your sister, she has been under the constant surveillance of some of our best undercover agents on the ground, some of them belonging to the MIB Division. Rest assured that you have my word that your sister is perfectly safe and secure, free to live as normal of a life as she can be."

"Wait?! You were watching my sister?!" Frenda muttered, concerned even more that there were a group of individuals that were shadowing her sister.

"We were watching every single child of Academy City and counting them all. Every single one of their names, we know," Waller said ominously.

"All of them...? What do you mean by all of them?" Mugino asked.

"Like I said...All of them. It comes with the job. How did you think one of my agents here had been recruited?" Waller said once again cryptically, meaning that it was something that shouldn't be discussed right now. She glances at Agent Hamazura which resulted in all of the ITEM members staring at him.

"Hold on...you're an esper?" Kinuhata asked.

"A Level 0," Agent Hamazura spoke simply with arms crossed. There was no shame in his voice as if he never felt bothered by it. In fact, his professionalism and confidence were showing, not affected by his status, and was showing a stone-cold to-the-bone expression which gave a sense of intimidation that made him...rather handsome to the girls if they could admit it. Of course, they won't. "And that doesn't matter right now since I believe that the councilwoman is still speaking."

"Thank you, agent," Waller thanked the agent with a professional tone. "Moving on. Kinuhata Saiai."

Kinuhata's attention was grabbed the moment her name was called.

"A Level 4. In the past, you were one of many that participated in a secret experiment called the Dark May Project, and that in turn gave a clear connection to the esper ability that you possess which is known as Offense Armor which allows you to control the nitrogen in the air in order to create a thin barrier around yourself."

Kinuhata only remained silent but couldn't help but winced a bit at the mere mention of the project that made her into who she was.

"Dark May Project?" Frenda said, curious.

"Umm...hehehe, that's nothing for you to super worry about anymore, Frenda," Kinuhata said with an affiliative smile, raising her right hand to rub the back of her neck.

"And she would be right," Waller said. "You and everyone else wouldn't have to worry about the defunct project."

"I take it that the Foundation had some involvement in that?" Mugino asked.

"In an undercover sense, yes," Waller replied, once again being cryptic. "Takitsubo Rikou."

Takitsubo's attention was grabbed the moment Waller spoke her name.

"A Level 4. Like most of the others on this resume, your past is quite a mystery. Your ability - the AIM Stalker - allows you the power of Clairvoyance and remote viewing, meaning that you can record other espers' AIM field and track them down, and as long as you recorded their AIM diffusion fields, there is always the distinct possibility that you can track them down. Hypothetically, it could even reach the solar system in terms of range."

And then, Waller finished her brief report.

"All of you have been chosen for a purpose that I have in mind."

"And what purpose is that?" Mugino asked, with arms crossed.

Waller's eyes narrowed a bit and made a point.

"I wanna build a team of some very bad people who I think can do some good. And you girls would provide for such a team."

Mugino raised an eyebrow. "What's in it for all of us then?"

"Aside from getting paid for your services, of course, hard cash and credit cards, any of your past records that relate to the dark side would be swept clean under the rug. You'd be given a fresh start. Once, you were a part of the darkness. Now, you would be the grey line standing between the darkness and the light. You're the ones whose job is to keep the balance. Secondly, if anything, we'd be doing all of you a personal favor."

"A favor?" Mugino said.

"Come now, Mugino, what exactly has Academy City's Dark Side ever done for you and for everyone else on your team?" Waller asked bluntly.

"..."

They never answered. Actually, they all have an answer but they just couldn't bother with it or even try to mention it. A common sense that had been ingrained into them for years. The fact of the matter remains that in the line of work that they have done, one wrong step and you die. Doesn't matter how, you just do. And you wouldn't even get a decent burial out of it. If you have, then you'd be lucky in spite of being dead.

You're basically trapped in the hands of adults who are cold-hearted and rotten to the core. The adults don't even care about what happens to you so long as you're doing your job and wouldn't be a risk to their preferred interests. That also explains the existence of groups like Skill-Out because of the negligence of adults.

"I'll tell you this. Work for me and you wouldn't have to worry about the day when someone from god knows where is gonna target you four due to being rendered either as a threat or you may have seen something that you shouldn't and perhaps even succeeding in their mission of getting rid of you under the orders of the adults," Waller said.

"And what makes you think that we can just trust you at your word? What makes you different from all of the other wannabe adults hanging about in their high horses?" Mugino asked.

"If there is one thing that the Foundation has known me for several years, it's the fact that I tend to speak more through actions than through words," Waller said, with eyes narrowed that made ITEM sweatdrop and grimace. "Just to be perfectly clear, if I wanted to, and if you give me a clear and valid reason to do so with no hint of personal enjoyment on my part such as being potential security threats as one given example, then I would have been able to pick all of you off one by one through other questionable methods besides the one diplomatic method that you are all experiencing, Levels and potential be damned. You four aren't invincible despite your powers. We of the Foundation have the capacity to turn the powers of every single esper from Levels 1 to 5 off as if by the press of a single button. Only a few could resist it. And you are not one of them."

All of the ITEM gulped for a minute as it sunk into them. And when recalling the predicament that the girls find themselves in, Waller had a good point. No one among them had seen it coming as they get knocked out one by one while the firefighting in the alleyway was going on. Not even Mugino who couldn't really be taken down easily and was quite sharp in detecting people who were about to make a move on her. Not even Takitsubo whose ability didn't save her from getting knocked out because she didn't sense it coming.

"Now," Waller's eyes turn normal and stone cold, looking at Agent Hamazura. "Starting from this moment forward, this young man here will be your field leader in charge of all of you and would show you the ropes of how our organization operates. Introduce yourself to them by whatever means you see fit, agent."

"Yes, ma'am," Agent Hamazura nodded. He walked forward with a confident and solemn demeanor toward the four ITEM girls who could not help but be curious about this young man standing before him.

The only thing that they knew about him so far was that he was Level 0. When discussing levels, it was important to look back on something that had influenced the society and culture of Academy City as a whole from the inside, meaning that the city's public image is merely a surface illusion to the scraps that lay inside once one gets a foretaste of the experience.

The Parameter List.

Described as the seemingly infallible database of espers and their potential levels, used as a basis of comparison for esper development procedures and the efficiency of said procedures.

Of course, Academy City had other things like the System Scan which is a regular city-wide testing event in Academy City to determine the power levels of the espers participating in it and is part of the Power Curriculum Program. Various methods were used to check on the aptitude of an esper. It thoroughly checked what Level they were at, what type of power they had, and whether they would grow easily or not. However, that was supposed to just be a rough estimate at best. The students known as Level 0s and Level 1s believed that they could grow if they worked hard. That was why they were able to work hard. They believed it would all pay off eventually. They believed they would bloom eventually. That was all they wished for.

And yet…

Were the people who worked hard and grew from a Level 0 to a Level 3 merely people who were established from the beginning to be able to reach Level 3? Were the potentials sleeping within individual people all determined before they started studying and before they even entered the schools? Was the myth of gaining more skill by working hard just a means of manipulating the people who were at their set upper limits? In that case, was there any hope for the people who were determined to be Level 0s from the moment they were born?

These questions eventually spawned groups like Skill-Out or Deadlock among others that came from negative feelings such as disappointment, bitterness, anger, a feeling of never having a place to belong to, etc.

Heck, it influenced Mugino's thinking and bias when it came to Level 0s in general. If one is a Level 0, one is at the bottom of the food chain so to speak. They were the ones that would get stepped over no matter what since they don't even have the powers and abilities to call their own and are stuck with no accomplishments. Only the strong could survive in the concrete jungles of the city and the Level 0s were simply just mere nuisances that could be swatted like a bunch of pesky flies that should know their own place in the world.

For this young man, Agent Shiage Hamazura, to claim that he was a Level 0 with no sense of bitterness, a rare trait as one way or another, there were Level 0s that probably resent their lot in life whether to a greater or lesser degree. In fact, there was no hint of what this man was thinking. He was professional to the bone and his face only showed a serious expression as his narrowed eyes stared without fear to the Level 5 who tends to look down on Level 0s to the other members of ITEM. The only one among ITEM that Hamazura appeared lenient and accommodating in looking at was Takitsubo.

"My name is Agent Shiage Hamazura, and the one to my back is my partner, Agent Jiang Haoyi," he said, indicating to the young Chinese agent standing just a few meters behind him and Waller. The Chinese agent was simply showing a simple stone-cold expression. "From now on, you will all have to answer to me and do whatever it is that I told you to do. That means that whatever complaints you have against me being in charge of all of you, you can take it up with the councilwoman right next to me since she was the one who put me in charge of all of you. Here are my conditions. One: No civilian casualties. Ever. Break that and you deal with me. Two: Don't try to rattle or tall-tale classified information relating to the Foundation to just anyone without approval. Break that and you deal with me. Three: Don't try to escape your probation. And yes, this employment could be considered your probation and rehabilitation considering the many illegal activities that all of you tended to dabble on in the dark side. By legal terms, you are all minors and I am your parole officer. Break that and you deal with me. Four: Follow my orders if you want to have the slightest chance in hell to even survive what's out in the field unless you have a very good reason not to follow those orders. I'm open to whatever suggestions could contribute to the mission so long as it doesn't involve civilian casualties or the risk of the Foundation's exposure to the public eye. Break that and you deal with me. Five: Don't try to irritate or vex me. I don't care if you are a Level 5 or a Level 0 or whatever labels you call yourself by or wherever you came from or what the hell you have been doing before coming here. You are all my subordinates and you are all equal in my eyes. Break that...and you deal with me. You all got that?"

The ITEM girls were silent. Frenda and Kinuhata were just intimated when the young man simply looked at them with a glance. Takisubo seemed curious about this young man, tilting her head and remaining silent as she listened to her every word, intending to fulfill the proposed conditions to the letter. Mugino, being one to be prideful in nature, would have no other option but to suck it up to this Level 0 who was now bossing her around like a dreaded drill sergeant. The way he looked at her gave shivers running down her spine. Those eyes of his, Mugino thought. Interesting. Those eyes that have seen a lot of action and probably horrors to boot would make others piss their pants.

This man was dangerous. Better to not underestimate him. A common thought among the girls. They simply made a simple nod to the young man, each and in their own way.

Agent Haoyi thought with slight humor. "("At least he didn't say "You die." when reciting the conditions. He's going way too easy on them.)"

"Now then," Waller introduced the other woman in the room with glasses and a couple of folders. "Aside from Agent Hamazura being your designated parole officer, the other woman in the room on the other hand is to serve as your new Liaison."

"New Liaison? What happened to our other Liaison?" Kinuhata could not help but ask.

She was referencing the mysterious woman who contacts ITEM indirectly and sends them out on various missions. Some concerns the cleaning up the trash in the city. Some concerns getting involved with providing security measures for certain dark-side projects. Some concerns guarding a few important individuals. Depends on the type of day that they were having.

"She's in dispose of. I would not worry so much about her anymore," the Supervisor only said cryptically with an ominous tone, touching the bridge of her glasses that shines a bit, reflecting the light of the room. The way she said it made the ITEM girls shivered. Mugino in fact getting to know Waller by now wouldn't have put it past her to plan that far ahead if there was already a plan to set them up and capture them in order to bring them all here without any power or weapons at their disposal. "In the meantime, what the councilwoman had just said, I am to be your personal Liasion. Like Agent Hamazura, I expect that you are to follow all of my orders to the very letter unless you have reasonable contributions or suggestions that could improve or inform upon the present orders given. And I also expect punctuality and discipline from all of you, is that clear?"

"...Y...Yes, ma'am," the ITEM girls made grimace expressions at the looming intimidating woman that was just giving them the cold stare.

Really? What is with this organization and very intimidating people? Is that just a part of their job description or was it always a part of their personality? That's what ITEM thought. On the brighter side, Agent Haoyi seemed to be the only non-intimidating figure in this room. But they wouldn't want to press their luck on someone like him as well since he was the partner of their parole officer after all.

"Agent Hamazura," Waller addressed Agent Hamazura who turn to the former with a respectful expression. "I've heard that you and your partner are currently working on a case that involved a rampaging Waxzyme back on DCMK Universe-Prime."

A Waxzyme.

An alien species from the planet Involvulo. These creatures were friendly and benevolent in nature, basically giant worms in terms of their physical appearance, about 600 feet tall. Their diet consisted of disposable wastes which made them quite the asset to get a handle on, making the jobs of the hard-working men and women who are in charge of taking out the trash much easier. One of them, the one that Waller was referring to, and one that Agent Hamazura and Agent Haoyi had last seen on the city block being knocked out via specialized tranquilizers courtesy of a certain caped crusader, was the one that centered on an investigation that dealt with the mysterious out-of-the-norm reaction.

"Yes, ma'am. What about it?" Agent Hamazura asked.

"Well then, consider that their very first field assignment for this time. I want you two to go back to DCMK Universe-Prime and handle the situation."

"Of course," Agent Hamazura complied.

"But before you two and the girls are to leave, send them to the Wardrobe Room just a few corridors down on the tenth floor. I feel like they needed to get a new fresh set of clothing before heading out. After that, send them to the Equipment's Vault just a few meters down the left," Waller ordered.

"Right," Agent Hamazura nodded at the councilwoman before turning back on the girls. "Well girls, you heard the lady, if you were to please follow me."

"...Ah!"

The four ITEM girls were looking around in awe and excitement as they see the various types of fashionable clothing trends all hung up and in line. The room itself may as well felt the size of a shopping mall, just with more clothing and less of everything else.

They all look to Agent Hamazura who simply said this with a serious expression.

"Go on, ladies. Pick and choose whatever it is you found to your liking. I'll be the one to say the final approval however of what you planned on wearing."

"Huh? What? Who the fuck do you think we are, you're personal fashion models?" Mugino made an annoyed and displeased expression.

"No, you're my subordinates, and you're my responsibility, so quit complaining and just focus on what you need to find for your sets of clothing," Agent Hamazura deadpanned with both stare and tone.

"Tck..." Mugino clicked her tongue a bit in annoyance.

Looking through the various amount of clothing and trying it for themselves in the dressing stalls, they presented themselves before Agent Hamazura who was simply sitting down on a comfortable waiting chair and acting as the person who would approve or disapprove of the outfits. It needed a male perspective after all when looking at the more fashionable outfits. The Supervisor was right beside Agent Hamazura and assisted in approving the outfits while Agent Haoyi was content to just wait outside.

Mugino's outfit was not a problem as it has been approved immediately by Agent Hamazura with a simple nod. Mugino consisted of a dark dress with grey shorts, along with black thigh-high socks and polished black heels.

Frenda's outfit was also not a problem. It consisted of a black sailor top and a pleated white skirt. She also wears a pair of black pumps and dark-colored pantyhose. A dark-colored beret adorns her head. There was a little piece of black ribbon that was tied around the collar of her white dress shirt.

Kinuhata's outfit was also not a problem. It consisted of a black hoodie, white shirt, and hot black pants covering modestly to the knees.

As for Takitsubo...well, sufficed it to say that she had over ten tries before getting approved by the eleventh time. Her outfit consisted of a black jacket, white shirt, white skirt, and black-white sneakers.

The next stop was the Equipment's Vault just a few corridors from the Wardrobe Room.

The room itself was filled with all types of advanced technology. All types of gadgets, circuitry, and equipment were all lined up in proper order. There were multiple scientists that were walking around from every corner and performing checks as part of standard procedure. In fact, some of the items here were SCPs by nature and it is where many scientists tended to flock by.

As the ITEM girls all looked around in awe at the room before them, they immediately noticed something to their shock and horror for some of them. Not everyone here was human. In fact, they noticed a person who was basically a walking shark, a hammerhead, wearing a lab coat and a black business suit coming toward them. He also appeared to have goggles that accommodate his eyesight.

"What the fuck..." Mugino became rather intimidated and concerned by the physical appearance of this shark-like scientist. The rest of ITEM was simply hiding behind Mugino's back as they only look from the corner with eyes wide open and with shaking bodies.

"Agent Hamazura, Agent Haoyi, Supervisor Onna-Musha," the hammerhead shark scientist spoke with a sophisticated tone and demeanor that wouldn't be out of place with an aristocrat, a sharp contrast to his physical appearance. The shark noticed the three terrified girls hiding behind one girl with soft tea-colored hair from the corner of his eye. Judging their reactions carefully and quickly, the shark correctly guessed. "Ah...these are the new recruits to the Foundation, aren't they?"

"That's right, doctor," the Tokiwadai Dorm Supervisor nodded.

"Well then," the hammerhead shark scientist bowed his head low to the four ITEM girls in a courteous and accommodating manner. "Children, you have no need to be afraid of me. My diet consists of vegetables only and I have no need for meat to sustain my health. I am Doctor Sphyrn Hammerhead, one of the head researchers of the Scientific Department stationed here on this site. I provide Agent Hamazura and Agent Haoyi with whatever it is that they need in the field. I have hopes that all of you and I tolerate each other's presence without the disruption of our primary and secondary duties."

Doctor Hammerhead simply offered his right flippered hand for a handshake towards Mugino. Mugino was hesitant, with the urge to draw back. She glances at Agent Hamazura who simply gave a casual shrug, telling her that he was alright and that there was really nothing to be afraid of. Then Mugino slowly raises her right hand towards the shark's flipper.

"Likewise...doctor," Mugino said, shaking the flippered hand that was firm when shaking, showing a sign of genuineness that reassures her somewhat.

"Now, if you all please follow me," Doctor Hammerhead said as he takes point and leads them to a vault full of weapons.

While the other ITEM members were looking at all of the sci-fi-looking weapons that were hanging from the walls. Frenda made a surprised expression as she saw all of her confiscated dolls and equipment lined up on the table. "Ah, my dolls!" She takes one of them back and hugs them a bit, missing her toys deeply.

Insert Song: End

Insert Song: Start

Real Gone (Original Version) · Sheryl Crow

Afterward, after prepping for weapons and equipment, with Frenda getting her dolls back, they were in an area considered to be a parking lot. Well, it was a parking lot that had a lineup of automobiles that had a black color scheme.

"What exactly are we super waiting for here?" Kinuhata had to ask as she and her fellow teammates were just standing at the exit.

"This," Agent Hamazura grab a car key and press a button.

A beeping sound was heard and a black automobile materialized around them. It was a black Mercedes-Benz E-Class (W211).

"...Huh..." Frenda blinked her eyes out at the sudden materialization of the car. The other ITEM members were blinking as well.

"Well," the Tokiwadai Dorm Supervisor touched the bridges of her glasses. "This is as far as I can go from here."

"What? You're not coming with us?" Mugino asked.

"Sadly no," the Supervisor shakes her head. "I have other responsibilities back in my universe that I need to attend to. In the public eye of Academy City, I am known to be the housemaster of the Tokiwadai Dormitories. One of my tasks within the Foundation is to monitor the students of Tokiwadai and ensure their complete safety."

"Huh. So your job besides being our Liasion is basically taking care of all of those naïve and spoiled princesses?" Mugino asked, looking a bit unimpressed at the information.

"Those naïve and spoiled princesses as you called them I've trained and disciplined personally one by one. I ensure that their esper development isn't sabotaged by others who are unworthy of their company and trained them with the ways of the world and of the formal environment. If one tries to engage one of my own in a fistfight, they'd be sorely mistaken to think that they would get out unscathed. And also, I wouldn't call them naïve either. They have their own problems in life just like the rest of you. Of course, not all of them are affected by the dark side, but nevertheless, they have problems all the same."

Mugino became rather curious at the statement and became a bit intimidated by the woman's look in her eye that spoke of command and authority. Right, she thought. This was her new Liaison. And considering that the Foundation had assigned her to Tokiwadai where the Levels there tended to reach from 3 to 4, with only two known Level 5s currently attending, then of course it wouldn't be out of place to say that the Foundation would also have a hand in ensuring the safety of the sophisticated princesses by indirect methods. One of them would be the woman standing in front of her.

"Alright girls, it's time to leave," Agent Hamazura turns to the Supervisor and spoke politely. "Ma'am, if you would excuse us."

They all begin to hop in the car. The girls were sitting in the back while Agent Haoyi was seated in the front left of the car. Agent Hamazura was seated in the driver's seat and begins to start the engines and pull the brakes up.

"Girls, you may need to fast in your seatbelts. This could get a bit bumpy," Agent Hamazura said.

"Huh?" all of the ITEM girls muttered.

The sound of the throttle was heard as the car drove forward. The Supervisor was simply watching as the car drove forward with a smile.

"Good luck, agents," she muttered softly.

As the car was accelerating forward across the empty road, something was happening. The background was automatically changing. No longer was ITEM seeing a parking lot. Rather...

"What the!" Frenda exclaimed in shock at the sudden transition.

They appeared to be on an expressway filled with cars. Agent Hamazura drives the car with subtle skill as he curves through each of the cars. The early morning sunrise was seen from the horizon and brightening up the expressway and several of the buildings that were seen nearby and from a distance.

"Girls, welcome to your first-ever trip to another universe, starring Downtown Tokyo," Agent Haoyi spoke with a smile.

And so, the ITEM girls get to see the sights of the city of Tokyo as they drove their way through the expressway. Noteworthy ones of interest would be what appeared to be a couple of billboards showing advertisements of unfamiliar products and merchandise. One of them has a "Kamen Yaiba", whatever that was, but to the guess of Kinuhata, it may be some kind of toku hero. There was another billboard that showed the image of a beautiful young actress and pop star idol with brown hair that has the name "Yoko Okino".

They see the beautiful sunrise complementing the surrounding area like a piece of art. The outside world looked and felt like a real-life-like moving set of pictures that were all being played like a film.

But that wasn't the end of it just as the car now passes by the tunnel. All of a sudden, like the blink of a photo being taken, multiple cars throughout the road would disappear, leaving the car that they currently occupied alone in the expressway.

"What the?! What super happened to all of the cars?!" Kinuhata asked.

"Wait for it," Agent Haoyi said with a reassuring tone.

Agent Hamazura would only smirk confidently as he put the brakes forward and step on it. The car was driving much faster now. Agent Hamazura was now about to press a red button on the brakes. And by the time they reached the end of the tunnel, Agent Hamazura presses the red button and the car begins to hover and fly to the skies.

"Woah!" Mugino, Frenda, and Kinuhata all exclaimed as they look out of the window and saw the car that they were occupying actually floating in the air and was now making its way to a group of hovering craft that was likened to a skyway of sorts that had a lot of hovering light posts, signs, and lane markers through the use of antigravity mechanisms. But that was not the only thing that they noticed. They noticed the tall hovering platforms and buildings that were more or less acting the same antigravitational principle.

The ITEM girls could see crowds of people simply going about in their daily lives. Strangest and surprising part is that there were more non-humans than there were humans.

As the car was driving, it turned right toward the direction where a building that had the logo of the SCP Foundation at the top centermost area was seen. It was a large complex building that has hovercraft come and go.

All of the ITEM girls who were watching from the windows can only look on in amazement as they see what they should have considered as belonging to the realms of sci-fi coming to life right in front of their eyes.

In all that time, Agent Hamazura smiled as he looked in the mirror, seeing the girls looking at the sights He even sees Mugino becoming utterly speechless as she sees the sights. He looks back to Agent Haoyi who nods knowingly at him.

One personal mission accomplished at least. Making sure the ITEM girls are at ease with the new normal. In fact, Agent Hamazura would have liked to share this type of experience with the girls as he too remembered his first experiences when discovering worlds beyond. Of course, that was an entirely different matter but still, he couldn't help but share this transitional experience at least.

And there was nothing but smiles and amazement for the rest of the trip.

Insert Song: End

ED Song:

Thunderball (Main Title) · Tom Jones · John Barry

New Characters:

Doctor Jack Bright (SCP Foundation) - A: Steve Buscemi

Doctor Sphyrn Hammerhead (SCP Foundation) - A: Alan Rickman