"Haah~ virtual reality truly is a treat. Emotion can't be held back within a virtual environment. It's truly exquisite seeing the unbridled emotions that people feel in perceived desperate situations...but you are truly in a desperate situation as far as you are concerned, my dear."

Suguo Noboyuki enjoyed virtual reality in a deprived way. Playing with other people emotionally was a treat to him. It wasn't about experiencing something he couldn't in reality, it was being able to get away with things which outside of a virtual environment would be deemed morally horrifying and depraved.

He spun around with his flittering insect-like wings flapping totally uncoordinated to his other movements. He was an uncoordinated mess with his virtual body and it irritated him when he spent more than a ten minute span of time inside of the world of Alfheim. His company had inherited what had developed Sword Art Online, and in so doing inherited the people who had been trapped within what had been titled around the world the "death game". It had claimed over a thousand people in the first weeks, then later was saved by a group of individuals, and namely their head savior who led them. He held the hero both as an ally and a foe. As an ally for providing him with useful tools for research, but as a foe because of who the tools were.

He received a message ping to his interface which informed him he was needed in his research facility for a check on certain information. He glared with pin pointed fury at the message.

"It seems our time together today has been cut short. Don't be causing any trouble~"

He moved to the door of the cage he shared with the person he trapped there and swiftly pressed in the code which kept the door locked when he was gone. He waved a carefree way, made his way into the tree they were perched on and disappeared from her sight.

"He feels more and more irritating every time I see him and hear him now...it must be from having so many good experiences and then being trapped in a more literal sense..."

Asuna gritted her teeth and slammed her fists against the bed of her cage. The surroundings were as if she was just perched up in a tree. When she had taken more looks at her surroundings, a distinct fear of heights traveled through her and froze her feet in place. She had managed to shake it after a few days of adjusting. She was already used to controlling her emotions within a virtual space. She just needed to make sure she released the contained emotions at some point or in certain directions or they would overflow. The anger boiled consistently around him now.

Before her experiences in Aincrad, she would have felt hopeless. She would have felt depressed to be stuck with the man she had been experiencing instead of her family she had developed. Alt were her family, there was no other way she could think about them.

"I need to find out more about this...thankfully Kirito helped me level my stealth skills. Sharp vision also helped. I can get more information today..."

Asuna made sure there was nobody around watching her cage. Once in a while one of the people working under Noboyuki would be patrolling the branches of the massive tree, but it seemed there wasn't a shift happening currently. She had been trying to figure out a schedule but it was too early to know one. It would be too valuable to get more information though if she could so she needed to take the chance she could get out.

"Level one stealth..."

She whispered those words and her visibility dimmed to the point she could see through her own hands. It was still something incredible to experience for her. Kirito was far better at it, able to completely vanish, but she was glad she could hide herself at least decently well. It would finally come in handy whereas she hadn't needed it in Aincrad because Kirito would handle stealth missions and quests on her own most of the time.

She keyed in the passcode for the cage door and it popped open with a familiar sounding clunk. She slowly and gently pulled the door open, and put it back barely not closed. There was no wind up in the branches for some reason. She braced herself against the branch and looked down. There was a massive sprawling city surrounding the base of the massive tree she was on. Just looking down however made her feel incredibly dizzy and regretful for making such a big leap from the safety of the cage. She shook her head, braced herself and stood up. After a few breaths, she looked around her own level of height for other people and finding nobody, she followed in the direction Noboyuki left. Asuna's cage was on a branch which showed nothing but the huge trunk and smaller surrounding branches with a brilliant canopy of leaves. It was enough to make her wonder if there was something else above, or more cages on other large branches since the foliage of the leaves were thick enough to block vision between branches.

She looked back at the cage and realized it was far more fantasy than she was used to from Aincrad. It was like a bird cage, elegant and pearl-like white. With a feminine set of furniture and decorations, an elegant table and bed which depicted purity, it felt more and more creepy knowing who put her in it. She shook her head again and headed into the tree through the space where the branch connected to the trunk. At the trunk, it opened at a touch. She ducked quickly to the side to avoid being seen after a momentary lapse in memory made her forget that a touch opened the door he had been walking through. The other side of the door, the inside of the tree gave off a very unfortunately reality-like feeling. It was like a medical facility, but there was a much more distinct lack of people and the lack of sounds for life support machines.

She looked both ways down the hall which took away the reality feel, being in a curve which matched the shape of the massive tree. There were labels on the doors on the other side. She was curious about the contents on either side of all the doors, but she felt she would be safer checking the ones that went outside, to the branches.

She touched a door a few away from where she had been, opening her mapping interface to make sure she was going to be able to get back if she couldn't get out. The lack of a logout button on her interface was all too familiar, but it wasn't hopeless. She wouldn't be in a high fantasy setting where she had elf ears and not be in another game.

The lack of contacts, items, anything other than her basic abilities and stats made her feel crippled, but she in fact wasn't. Her fear of heights was the most crippling thing for her and while inside of the tree, it wasn't so bad.

She moved out onto the branch the door had opened to, and thankfully there hadn't been someone on the other side. There was however another cage much like the one she had been stuck in. Inside...were two faces she knew very well.

She hurried over to the door of the cage and made the better thought that the code might not be the same for all the cages and she might set off an alarm of sorts by failing the code for another cage. Leafa and Sachi were on the other side of the bars of the cage, Sachi nervous out of her wits curled up on a bed. Leafa was grumbling and swinging her arms in a motion as if she were holding a weapon.

Asuna checked over herself if there was something she could drop on the other side to let them know she was there, something that signified her. She noticed that one of her hair ribbons was loose which was tying her hair back. The colour scheme was much like what she wore in Aincrad most of the time, red and white. She slid it into the cage and being separated from her, it became fully visible. Sachi was the first to notice, startled at first but then curious.

"Where...?"

She shivered a little and looked up and around.

"Is Asuna there? Above?"

Leafa was alerted and she immediately stopped her practice. She looked where Sachi was looking and she looked up where Sachi was looking she decided it was too convenient for it to be right by the door when there was no wind and got close to the door. She whispered her next words.

"Am I right to guess...you learned well from oneechan?"

Asuna sighed softly in relief and hummed an affirmative response.

"I was able to get out for a little bit, but I'm sneaking around since it's the only skill I could think would come in handy right now she helped me level so much. I need to be quick and find a way out for us or get back to the cage before he notices..."

Leafa shook her head.

"Whoever put us in here, they better give us a fair chance to get out. This is ridiculous. At least that Akihiko-san gave us a chance to get out of SAO."

Asuna downcast her gaze but remembered her expression wouldn't be able to be seen through her stealth.

"The man who trapped us here is...someone I unfortunately know. I'm frustrated to know that he's doing something horribly immoral aside caging us up...but I need to find out as much as possible so we can get out, or find a way to help Kirito get us out."

Leafa and Sachi both gasped, Sachi hurrying up to the door of the cage.

"Is Kirito not trapped along with us?"

Sachi's question was a little louder than expected, but thankfully there was no response from a security of some kind to their observation. She shrank back a little and the red of her embarrassment made her retreat a little.

"Yes...he confirmed yesterday to me that Kirito might become a thorn in his side if he couldn't pin some kind of crime on her to have her detained and untrustworthy...of course Kirito isn't like that and we know, but people are going to believe an adult over someone who was trapped inside of a virtual world for nearly two years most of the time..."

Leafa grew more and more angry in her facial expression as she heard more.

"At least...she's free..."

Leafa took a deep breath and clenched her fists and teeth to let out the anger she was feeling.

"Kirito will be able to save us. This is obvious. She also has that genius Ela to help her. She would never give up on saving us. You've seen how unhealthy she can be toward saving the people she cares about and us still being trapped would..."

Leafa sighed and slumped to the floor of the cage, turning her back to the door.

"Thank you for letting us know what you could, Asuna. Please, get some more information so we can help Kirito save us. We're stronger than these cages...this feels so humiliating."

Sachi nodded, her embarrassed flush drained from her face, looking more normal. Asuna smiled and gave a happy response.

"I'll do everything I can to get us free."

Asuna headed off back into the tree and began checking through the doors going more inside of the tree. The tree could hide a veritable city inside of the trunk it was so massive. She increased to level two stealth and hid her footsteps because she wasn't quite as steady on her feet as Kirito had been when avoiding being seen. She went only five minutes of searching but when she got back to her cage, she felt infinitely more informed than she had before stepping out. She canceled her stealth and light footed skill and plopped her butt on the chair at the table.

She went through her interface and took down as much information as possible. She wondered if it would be possible to generate notes of information by exchanging a fallen leaf from the tree within her cage, and used the crafting system available to turn the leaf into paper. The elation from the transformation of the leaf to paper made her feel even more excited. She wasn't helpless, and she could make more progress. If she could find Lisbeth, they could develop weapons and hide them in their inventories until they would fight their way out.

There were so many options. From fighting their way out, to accessing a terminal in one of the labs if she went in one at a time when there weren't people working in them, she had so many ways of getting free.

"Ah~ that happy expression of yours is so enjoyable. Did you miss me? Were you remembering a good memory of ours?"

Asuna shrugged her shoulders and made sure her paper was hidden before moving it into her inventory. Noboyuki was back and his horribly smug expression made her want to cringe. She held herself back.

"I'm tired, honestly. I was remembering some good memories from Aincrad. A lot of my good memories there are exhausting though..."

She made to start resting her head on her arms while sitting at the table since she was already close to that position. He made no move to suggest that he knew she was hiding something from him, only frustration that she wasn't fondly remembering him.

"I certainly hope you start getting used to the idea of calling me your husband soon. At the rate you have been trapped, even your father is suggesting I marry you before you can no longer be maintained on life support, so I can be part of the family. He's very desperate not to lose his company and everything else after the catastrophic failure of Sword Art Online. Your life is in my hands. Remember that Asuna-kun."

Asuna didn't respond, making it seem like she had fallen asleep.

"Such a disrespectful girl...she didn't used to be so vibrant before. What really happened in that virtual world? What happened that could make such an empty doll into such a beautiful young woman? I could just take both her and the girl she fell in love with..."

She paid more and more attention, focusing on her ears so she could hear everything. She was holding onto her anger by gritting her teeth, but she couldn't allow herself to react. She needed more information from him. She wanted to fight back immediately but it wasn't viable to her. She was in a battle of intelligence right now, and she needed as much information as possible to win. No matter how she grew angry at him mentioning Kirito, she couldn't let herself get angry. Maintain the facade of sleep...

"That Kazu girl was quite frail, but two years of her body not moving attributes to that. She's a strong girl and would get strong again...I wouldn't let her though. I really need to finish the next project so I can ensure she's...perfect for the picking."

His cold, nearly quiet cackle sent shivers through Asuna. She knew what it meant that he talked about her the way he did. He had met with her Kirito, her Kazu outside of the game. While she was vulnerable. What did he do to her? Say to her?

Asuna's burning and seething fury had made her clench her fists and teeth hard enough she witnessed her hit points draining and restoring. She had a status that made her heal from wounds immediately, but it would still hurt, she would still feel the damage. It wasn't as bad as the pain inside Aincrad. What hurt most was the thought that Kirito might be hurt by him. She needed to put a stop to him before he hurt anyone important to her.

After he was gone and she was fully healed from restraining her anger, she flexed her hands and specks of data floated up from her hands. She probably made herself bleed from stabbing her fingernails into her palms.

"I need to figure out more...how can I beat him as soon as possible...?"

Asuna put together as many ideas in her head as possible from what information she had, but as soon as she was about to put together a solid plan of action, she had a ping in her messages. She didn't think she would be able to receive messages while being trapped. She was thankful she had her alerts set to personal so it wouldn't notify her surroundings when she would get a message.

"Test message...we'll all do our best, Asuna-san. I really hope we get free soon so we can join Kirito outside."

The message from Sachi made Asuna tear up from the overflowing emotions. She finally let her emotions run the way they naturally would. She cried and cried until she got it all out. After she finished crying, she clapped her cheeks gently and buckled down. Messaging worked. Would she be able to send a message to Kirito if she were in the game? Kirito wasn't in her contacts because they were wiped, but it would be easy to find her through player search if it was possible for her to do so.

Asuna explored her menus thoroughly, used the player search function and found an offline Kirito in the player database. She could be sleeping outside since it was early in the morning. Asuna sent a friend request so that Kirito would at least be back in her contacts. She would make sure just in case someone didn't copy Kirito's name when the person was online. She added everyone from alt who she could find in player search and formed a party with them through the contacts menu. Lisbeth, Leafa, Sachi, Sinon and Silica ended up in the group with her. Asuna told them to wait until she managed to get everyone she could into the group. Yuuna was added in next, and then some more from their guild's squadron. Klein and all the members of the Midnight Black Cats were also available.

"This was possible?!"

Klein's text message rang out the end of Asuna's recruiting of their raid group.

"Please, calm down. I've figured out a lot of things about our current situation. I am guessing that everyone here has been trapped since Kirito cleared SAO?"

Confirmation texts filled the group chat.

"Alright, so our situation is that we're trapped here by a very manipulative man who works with the kind of people who do human research...the illegal kind. We're very likely to be used in his experiments with them and sell the data for nefarious reasons. He has threatened to use this on Kirito to make her like a doll. We need to do whatever we can to stop him and his operations in this virtual environment."

Asuna's first big statement in the group chat got a quick response from Klein.

"How are we supposed to do anything being trapped in cages?"

Asuna put a shush emote in the chat before continuing.

"I'm able to get out of my cage. I need to be very careful and stealthy about it so that we can continue with this plan I've put together so hopefully I can keep this option available at least until I can get to Lisbeth's cage. When I get to Lisbeth's cage, I'll bring whatever things I can get my hands on. The crafting system is available here. You might be able to make something sharp enough to cut apart the cages, even from the leaves from the tree. But I'll bring something better since I can get hold of scraps of metal inside the tree. We'll arm up, hide our weapons, and the day after we all have a weapon suited to us, we'll fight our way out of here. The man who trapped us is a monster, so if we come across him when we're escaping, we need to run or we can't hesitate to cut him down. He's likely to cheat like Akihiko-san though, so it would be best to run."

Asuna's explanation of her plan earned some silence.

"I just made a dagger out of one of these big leaves. It's not good enough to cut the material of the cage bars so we'll need that metal I think. I'm all with this plan!"

Lisbeth's response was what got everyone on board. Asuna sighed in relief and said one last message for the time being.

"I'm exhausted from using so much of the stealth skill before, so I'm going to rest for a while. Please rest up so you'll be ready too everyone. Use this chat to make sure you'll all be ready on your own ends, and send me direct messages if you want details on how we'll approach exiting, but wait until I have more of a plan to approach the layout of this place."

With confirmations, Asuna smiled and moved to the bed, laying on it and nearly falling asleep right away. As she fell asleep, she heard the familiar purring of a feathered dragon. She blinked her heavy feeling eyelids only to see that Kiin, Kirito's feathery dragon was on the pillow in front of her.