Interlude 1

*1 Month Later*

"Again"

A screen glowed in the dark room, several figures deep in thought, one of them focused on the projected images.

And the events repeated themselves, the satellite images next to the footage recovered from the survivors. Impossibility after impossibility piled on screen and more frustration was felt from the one whose focus was taken by the blue and silver figure featured on all. "Have we confirmed all the data on those drives?"

"Doctor, you know well that any information about the threat is highly classified and research as is it's hard to perform…" Another figure, in a lab coat answered only to get a withering glare.

"You mean to tell me, that someone out there, decided to disseminate more knowledge than we have about these things, more information than we could ever classify, and we know nothing about them?" She looked at everyone on the table. "Perform as many tests as we need to confirm the data, then forward the results to my terminal, we have an opportunity. Better not lose it. Dismissed."

And the lights came back one, revealing that while all those leaving were not that old, the one directing the meeting, and the angriest of them all, was just a young schoolgirl. A girl whose mind was racing at the implications revealed by the images presented to her.

She'd been asked to join, she'd accepted. The days after that had been spent on every report from the previous attacks, any and all observation, no matter how low in the ranks those who
made them were, had been compiled and her mind had formed a picture that didn't bode well for humanity.

So she was rightfully pissed as this footage, which depicted events that had happened in the hours after she'd evacuated, had taken so long to get to her. "Have we established contact with this… 'Steel Locust'?"

A general that had remained behind answered. "We have put feelers for them, but either they were black ops or recently purged, the US has no records of this group or their technology, The British have no idea and the Russians are pissed about nukes blowing up so close to their territory. The Chinese haven't answered yet and the rest of Japan is still busy suppressing anything about the eruption."

"How can such powerful players exist under everyone's noses? The intel on those drives are invaluable and… they just gave them away…" Another general, this one a bit younger, looked around at the people still in the room. "Something is wrong…"

"Either they found something about the threat someone up in the chain didn't want to be known or…" another woman answered, her Scottish accent in full display due to the stress. "Or they were purged and threw this as a hail mary to let someone know… I'll check the data for ciphers or code, there might be something in there that might explain their actions." She stood up and moved to the door. "Let's pray no one out there actually wants these monsters to succeed."

So the MI6 agent left, leaving the rest of those behind to ponder her words, the youngest among them spoke again. "What about the soldiers, their debriefing, the confiscated devices, any news on that?"

"The devices appear to be biometrically locked to their users, for some reason. The weapons are being analyzed extensively but the sensors cannot penetrate the chassis, only full disassembly would grant us access to their internals, but the risk of the devices having some sort of failsafe against tampering is high. We cannot risk them without procuring more samples." One woman in a lab coat answered with clear frustration on her voice.

"The soldiers have been interrogated extensively, but no method has made them change their testimonies, they claim that this 'Edward Yinsen' had been the one to granted them access to the devices' functions. We could try for more persuasive methods but at this point I don't think they will make any difference." Another man, this one a bit shifty, quietly stated his piece.

The youngest spoke again "Release them, at this point there is no use on keeping them under arrest, induct them into our assault teams' training program. At this point, they're the closest thing we have to experts on fighting the Honkai."

"And the gear?"

"Let them keep it, its of no use for us anymore, just make sure to make it presentable for them. They're mementos of a fallen comrade, aren't they?" the Youngest gave a grin that absolutely didn't belong on someone her age. "Let's get back to work."

The recently promoted Dr. Mei dismissed everyone and exited the room.

Himeko Aikawa was blinded by the sun again, much like back then, at the top of that tower.

The last month had been hell for Watchpoint, detained for some reason or another in that damn bunker and treated worse than captured generals, everyone had been made to spill everything they knew about Yinsen and his gear. The fact that it hadn't responded to them redoubled the 'treatments' they had endured from these bastards. Now they had the 'honor' of training whoever these guys were to fight the fucking Honkai. They had told Watchpoint almost nothing except their questions about Yinsen and the gear. She'd only guessed them being UN when she heard a pair of interrogators speak with Australian and French accents.

Motherfuckers claimed that there was no Steel Locust on the UN, that Yinsen didn't exist, that all they went through was a dream they should forget.

Assholes, they probably were the REMFies that Yinsen had warned Kanata about. Himeko hoped they hadn't treated the poor bastard like they did to watchpoint. He deserved a medal, for keeping as many of his people alive as he had, not being left on ditch in the middle of nowhere.

She found the rest of her team nearby, some of them were running drills on the base's soldiers, a myriad of nationalities that didn't respond well to the training they didn't have a clue they would need to survive the coming war.

Wait, no. they were at war already.

They'd slowly found some changes after that shitty month. The wounds their captors had inflicted on them had healed quicker than normal, their bodies fighting the hell they were put through. Himeko had only noticed when they broke her ribs again just after having done so two days before. For some reason, no one noticed, so she decided to keep quiet, so did everyone else.

Among the rookies there was only one that took the training seriously. A white-headed boy that should be still on school, his protests were close to none as he was beaten again and again to learn the way you fought those things. Never staying still, always finishing in one shot. He'd exceeded their expectations when it came to taking that lesson to heart. The only one so far.

The drills finished and Tyler trotted back to their group. It was odd. A month back and they were in base for nothing more than drills and maintenance, now they were bloodied veterans of a war close to no one knew existed.

Her thoughts went back to the one responsible for all. She'd seen the 'hawks. She'd seen them chaging course, she'd seen the mushroom cloud.

"Where are you, you big idiot? You still owe me a beer."

There was no answer but the wind blowing on her face.

"In other news, investigations on the disaster of Nagazora, as the internet has named it, continue, the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Defense have denounced the allegations of nuclear weapons being fired upon Japanese soil as 'baseless and without merit', citing efforts of extremist groups to incite the people against the recent agreements recently signed with the United Nations. The Minister of Defense clarified the presence of the American War Fleet as…"

"Father, why do you listen to that drivel again? Come on, we have to finish training before the sun comes up…" A young girl, barely in her teens, asked the older man who was now looking at the tv, their meditation having been interrupted by the new caster. The man shook his head and looked towards his daughter.

"My dear daughter, do not be so focused in the now, a warrior has to learn to pay attention, even to the sound of a fly. One must know their surroundings as one knows their own body."

"I… apologize, Father… but can we go train now?"

The man chuckled "Of course, of course…"

The pair of martial artists set out to the streets, a routine set for life to be accomplished.

A pair of eyes watched them from a nearby rooftop, eyes that shone red before disappearing as the sun rose to start a new day.

Over the northern Pacific Ocean, in the middle of a deserted island, had someone been paying attention, much like in another universe, they would have seen that a lighthouse now stood there. But they wouldn't have noticed the metal it was made from not being corroded from the saltwater around it. Nor they would notice the strange glow that made for the lamp atop of it. Or the symbol emblazoned on the door.

But they would have noticed the voices coming from the depths, voices that should not exist this far into the ocean…

"Cold the air and water flowing…
Hard, the land we call our own…"