"Ow..."

Shirabe winced as the cotton ball gently touched her cheek.

"Hold still, Tsukuyomi-san," the nurse said. "I need to treat it before it swells."

Shirabe wordlessly obeyed her instructions. Mere minutes after the heated exchange in the brig, Shirabe and Kirika had headed to the infirmary in order to treat the wound Maria had accidentally inflicted on her. As Kirika watched the nurse, she snuck a glance to the other end of the room, where Maria sat with the doctor, treating her own injury. She had bled profusely during her scuffle with Millaarc, nearly losing an eye in the process.

While the tension had more or less dispersed by now, it still hung in the air as a cloud of uncertainty. In particular, Maria had been deathly quiet, following the doctor's orders without a word. Ogawa had been told to take her to her room, but they had decided to pass through the infirmary first so her injuries could be cared for. Even now, he stood still by the door, guarding not its occupants, but the others.

Maria was to be punished for her outburst, regardless of the reason. That much Kirika understood, as much as it pained her to admit.

"And we're done," the nurse said. "You're free to go, Tsukuyomi-san."

"Thank you."

The nurse smiled, and returned to her worktable to put back her tools. Kirika sat down by her partner's side on the bed, looking at her worriedly. "Does it still hurt?"

"A little bit, but I'll be fine," Shirabe answered, touching her wounded cheek briefly. Upon lowering her hand, her face fell. "I'm more worried about Maria."

"...Yeah, me too," Kirika said. Together, the two looked towards their elder again, watching as the doctor left her side for a moment to grab a few necessary tools. Seizing the opportunity, the two rose from the bed and approached her silently, unsure what to say.

Maria, for her part, seemed to ruminate to herself. She looked to the floor with her one open eye, the other in the process of being bandaged. The doctor returned, putting the finishing touches on his patient so she could be released. All the while, Shirabe and Kirika stood quietly, simply watching the process unfold before them.

A few minutes later, he was done, and he stepped away to give Maria and the duo the space they needed. While he and the other nurses couldn't leave the infirmary for their privacy, they could at least not listen into their conversation.

"Maria..." Shirabe mumbled sorrowfully.

The idol looked to her with a grief-stricken, conflicted expression. She raised her hand to Shirabe's injured cheek, caressing it tenderly.

"I'm sorry, Shirabe."

The younger girl placed her own hand atop hers, gently lowering it to hold it with both hands. The pain from her cheek was nothing compared to what Maria was going through. She could see it in her gaze, how she was torn apart by her own thoughts. Still holding onto her hand, Shirabe sat down next to her on the bed while Kirika took her other side. The two of them looked to her as her gaze returned to the floor.

"Maria..."

"I can't accept them," Maria cut in. "I will never, ever be able to accept them. To forgive them."

Shirabe's forlorn gaze cut into her. "Why?"

The older girl fell silent for a tense moment. She bit her lip, her thoughts churning. "It's like I'm looking into an old mirror, reflecting back at me everything that I was. I was—no, I suppose it's more correct to say that all three of us were in their place once. The difference between us and them is miniscule."

The two younger girls quickly understood what she meant. Thinking on it now, she was right; FIS and Noble Red were two peas in a pod. Regular people with messed up pasts that were experimented on for someone else's benefit. Living in the shadow of others, and deemed criminals by the masses. Desiring a certain goal, whether world salvation or inner peace.

The similarities were great. The only difference was in their circumstances.

And in who they decided to put their trust.

"And it's precisely because they are exactly like us that I can't forgive them. I don't blame them for what happened to them, and I don't blame them that they were betrayed. No, I blame them for the fact that they gave up. They gave up on themselves and are now just desperately trying to reach for anything that can help them."

Maria squeezed Shirabe's hand tight as her expression soured.

Her younger charge, who has shown great wisdom in the past, understood. "Because we could've ended up just like them..."

"Yeah," Maria agreed with a nod. "We could've ended up just like them if we had believed in Ver so blindly. No... I could've ended up like them had I done so. They let their agony consume them, and they did everything they could to get back what they lost. In the process of trying to become humans again, they discarded their human hearts."

That was where the difference lay. In the end, Maria never threw away her pride as a human, even while she gritted her teeth and drew her own blood while assisting Ver. She never relished death and she never aimed to cause as much destruction and suffering as possible. She never went out of her way to try and justify her own acts, knowing full well that they were evil.

But Noble Red did.

Kirika gave her a sorrowful look. "But Maria, the way Millaarc-san cried, isn't it—"

"The same exact way I did, yeah," she replied. "We both committed the same crimes due to our own reasons. I can understand that, but I can't accept her. If I do, it'll be like forgiving the sins I myself committed. I will never forget the shame of allowing myself to fall that low, and I don't mind giving my life to repenting for what I've done."

Once again her expression was painted with anger, and she released her hold on Shirabe's hand to clench her fists tight. "But they don't even care about such a thing. If they did, Millaarc wouldn't have gleefully murdered thousands just for the sake of riling Tsubasa up. If they did, they wouldn't involve people who had done nothing to them. If they did, they'd have said they're willing to repent. But they don't, because even now, they're only thinking about themselves and no one else. For them, there's never been anyone else except themselves."

The doctors shuffled about in the background, the beeping from the machinery occupying the air in the medbay. Maria's wounds stung, a constant reminder of her failures.

"That's why I won't accept them. I'll work with them for everyone's sake, but that's as far as I'm willing to go. I'll never see any of them as an ally, comrade, or a friend. That's Hibiki-san's territory, not mine. The only thing I have on my mind right now is making that bastard pay, and getting Tsubasa and Miku-san back. I have no room in my heart for forgiveness."

It was a somber thing for her to say. Her juniors could only look at each other, saddened by the fact that their guardian had been turned towards such an absolute conclusion.

The two of them had briefly thought about how to make Noble Red feel more welcome, but they knew that Maria would not budge on this front. They knew that they would not be able to make her change her mind.

It was inevitable. They'd have to live with this tension so long as this uneasy alliance existed. They just hoped that the trio would still be willing to work with them after what happened.

"I understand," Shirabe muttered. "You don't have to explain it any further. Leave them to the rest of us; I don't believe we're in a hurry to become friends with them either. They're using us just as much as we're using them, so it's only fair."

Kirika however looked conflicted. "But is it really fair?" she asked hesitantly. "If they're just like us, then they need the chance we got. Maybe if we really give them that, like Hibiki-san said, then they can change too."

In response to that, Maria let out a huff. "You're a lot more optimistic than me, Kirika; it's always been one of your better qualities," she said, and her face hardened. "I want to believe that's possible, but right now, I can't."

And that's where she ended it. If there was anything that Kirika and Shirabe found vexating about their elder, it was her headstrong stubbornness. Now that she was like this, only a hard smack to the face will get her to change her mind.

On cue, Ogawa walked up to them. He spoke softly, but somewhat sternly. "Maria-san."

She looked back to him and nodded. "I know. I'm under house arrest, aren't I?"

"Yes. That was the commander's judgement," he said.

"And what do you think?"

He was silent for a moment as he gazed at her. "Honestly, not very different from his. I know why you did what you did, but it risked sabotaging our relationship with a critical ally."

She rose from the bed and walked past him to the door. "I know. I won't try to make excuses. Let's just get this over with."

Ogawa alternated looks between her and her two juniors, unsure what to say to them. Without a word, he turned back to the door just as Maria stepped outside, joining her in the hallway. Just as they started walking, the door shut, leaving the two juniors to stare at it sadly.

"Shirabe... what're we going to do? I don't like this," Kirika said timidly. It was during times like these that she was at a loss, because her attempts at keeping everyones' spirits up failed to bring any results. Had the situation been more manageable, it might've worked, but she was not so foolish as to not understand when it was inappropriate.

It made her feel helpless. Like there was nothing she could directly do to help anyone, and could only watch from the side and wait for things to happen.

"We do what we can, Kiri-chan," her partner said as she took her hand. "We'll figure it out, like we always did."

How she wished it was truly that simple. Without anything left to do in the medbay, the duo left to plan their next move.

-!-

Genjuro rubbed the bridge of his nose as he went over the latest reports. This situation was nerve-wracking, especially since they couldn't slip in their vigilance.

"Any changes in the barrier?" he asked off-handedly.

"None, sir."

He didn't expect a different answer. He sighed, tapping the surface of his console in perturbed silence. He felt so useless, just sitting around waiting for something to happen. They had no proactive action to take, and all they could do was sit on their existing information and try to turn it into something useful.

But above it all, he found his father's lack of action strange. Normally he'd immediately put his new assets to work, and not just loaf around inside of a bubble. Fudou didn't get as far as he did just by letting time pass on its own. He had grasped his position through extreme effort and subterfuge, and had even served as Section 2's commander years ago.

It was the Zwei Wing Incident, along with everything following it, that caused him to step down. Fine spiriting away Chris and Ichaival right under his nose made him lose face, and so Genjuro had succeeded him.

Not that losing this position ever mattered to him. He had already deeply ingrained himself in Japanese politics to the point that it didn't even matter what role he played. It only mattered that it was him who played it, whether he had to act on his own or have someone else do so on his behalf.

A master at manipulating others to do his bidding. If Genjuro's action films were any indication, his father made for the absolutely perfect villain. The final boss that the protagonist had to defeat to save his loved ones and the world.

Normally, Genjuro would've met that challenge with a smile and a laugh. But now, seeing it in reality dug in just how unrealistic life was. He felt no joy or excitement, only a frigid anxiety that clung to his heart and made him question everything that had led him to this moment.

How could he have allowed this to happen? There was only misery to be found in such a situation. The goddamn movies lied to him, and he fell for those lies like a child seduced by candy from a stranger.

He was torn from his thoughts as a familiar beep rose from the front of the bridge. He raised his head, looking towards his team of operators.

"Sir, it's from your brother."

He exhaled softly through his nose. "Put him through."

With a click, the display lit up.

"Gen," Yatsuhiro said in his usual business-like tone.

"Aniki," the younger brother replied. "What did they say?"

His older brother releasing a tired sigh told him all he needed to know. "They threw us under the bus," he confirmed. "They're pulling out their support and leaving us to deal with it on our own."

Genjuro clicked his tongue. "Damn. They have another international incident on their hands and they're sitting back and letting it happen," he grumbled. "Are you sure we can't handle this without them?"

"As much as I'd like that to be true, we can't," Yatsuhiro said with a shake of his head. "In fact, it's not so much as needing their help as making sure they don't turn against us."

That alarmed Genjuro greatly. "Explain."

"They decided to air out their grievances with our government by blaming the Kazanari clan directly," the older brother said. "The very fact that I am a Kazanari already makes me a possible suspect in collusion in their eyes. For all the strings he pulled and all the connections he's made, Fudou has also made a great deal of enemies, particularly on the international front."

Genjuro crossed his arms. "His nationalistic attitude was just a front for his xenophobia. The old conservative farts worshipped the ground he walked on. If they find out about this, there's no doubt they'll rally to his side even if it means damning our relationship with the UN and making enemies of every nation in the world." His brows furrowed in irritation. "And that's what he wants too. The best case scenario for him would be to drive a rift between Japan and the rest of the world, forcing the civilians into siding with him."

"Exactly. As a result, it's imperative we don't lose the support of the UN. We have to make sure they at least stay on our side so we can isolate him," Yatsuhiro said.

Genjuro once again grumbled, scratching the back of his knuckle in thought. "How useful would that be though..." he said. "We still don't know the extent of what the divine power is capable of. For all we know, it doesn't even matter to him who sides with him. Because everything is possible, we have to take virtually every possibility into account."

"And that, by its definition, is impossible," Yatsuhiro finished for him. "We must start by reducing the possible dangers to us first. We'll just have to see what he does and react accordingly. In the meantime, Gen, there's a favor I'd like to ask of you."

The younger brother raised an eyebrow at the sudden request. "Hoh? What is it, Aniki?"

"Well, it's—" Yatsuhiro started, before he was interrupted by the door to the bridge sliding open.

Genjuro swiveled in his chair partly, looking to see Chris enter the bridge with a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Old man."

"Chris-kun," he said. "How can I help you?"

She briefly noted Yatsuhiro's face on the monitor, then turned back to the commander. "I want to talk to those three."

He raised an interested eyebrow. "Noble Red, you mean?"

"Yeah," she confirmed with a nod of her head. "What happened earlier doesn't sit right with me, even if I think she deserved it."

"I assume you mean Millaarc-kun," he said as he rubbed his chin. "What brought this on?"

Chris scratched at her hand as she looked at him seriously. "They're probably having second thoughts right about now, no? Then I want to set the record straight with them. Keep them on board and make sure they don't backstab us."

Genjuro blinked at her curiously. He looked over his shoulder at his brother, who remained suspiciously silent during the whole exchange. Seeing as he had nothing to say, he turned back to her. "And what are you going to say to them?"

"I'll be real," she said confidently, knowing what she said wasn't all that clear. "I'll put all the cards on the table and let them know what we're offering. I don't like them either, but if I got the crap beat out of me by the people I'm supposed to be helping, then obviously I'll start thinking if it's worth helping at all. I can understand where they're coming from; and besides, none of the others are fit to do this anyway. The twins aren't good at this type of thing, and neither is the idiot. Maria ain't allowed out of her room, and you're busy doing your own thing. I'm the best bet at keeping them on our side."

Genjuro could not hide his surprise. Touched by her forwardness, and intrigued at what she had in mind, he could only give her an approving nod.

"Alright, I'll allow it," he said, and she nodded in return. "As a precaution, I'll keep the cameras on and monitor your situation from here. I trust that you can handle yourself, but it's always a good idea to be careful."

"Okay, so I just go in, or...?"

"Your security pass will open the door like normal. Keep your relic in your hand and take care not to look Millaarc-kun directly in the eye. We still don't know exactly how her power works, so be extra careful with her."

"Got it," Chris said. "Then I'll get right on that."

Just like that, she turned on her heel and left the bridge, leaving Genjuro to stare at the closed door in half amusement, half surprise. He then turned back to his brother, who had remained on-screen.

"So where were we, Aniki?" he asked.

Yatsuhiro did not answer immediately, causing Genjuro to look at him with a narrowed, confused gaze.

After a silent minute, he finally spoke up. "Gen, let me watch their exchange."

Genjuro's eyebrows shot upwards as he processed what his brother just asked of him. "Wait, what?"

"It's relevant to my earlier request," Yatsuhiro clarified. "I want to see how she performs in the face of this problem."

Genjuro felt somewhat skeptical, but didn't ask anything further. "Alright. Tomosato, give him access to the brig cameras."

"Yes sir."

A few clicks later, the display lit up with the footage inside and outside the brig, moving the window showing Yatsuhiro's face to the side.

With all eyes on her, Chris trudged through the hallways to the jail.

-!-

"Millaarc, how are you feeling?" Elsa asked worriedly.

"I'm fine," the vampire said with her teeth bared, cradling her one unbandaged cheek. "With the blood they gave me I'll heal this up in no time, but goddamn did they have to be so stingy with it?"

"It's a sign they don't trust us," Vanessa sighed, crossing her arms as she stood across from the duo.

It's been a few hours since the altercation between Millaarc and Maria, and just as was agreed, the jail cell remained open. The door was naturally locked, and Vanessa's attempts to examine the systems revealed that SONG had isolated the brig's network from the rest of HQ. She could only head into the local files, all of which were worthless and none of which gave any real access to the door controls.

The fact that nobody came in to check on them after she did that proved that they had planned this out from the very beginning. It only further exacerbated her cynicism about whether or not SONG would uphold their end of the bargain. For all their talk of being allies against a common enemy, they had treated them like a threat in the making.

And that was all after one of the Symphogear Adaptors assaulted Millaarc. The words Maria screamed at them still echoed loudly inside Vanessa's mind, giving her pause as she dwelled on their meaning.

"Even with the little blood we have, we can still break down the door," Elsa said with a wistful gaze. "But..."

"Nobody would earn anything from that, especially us," Vanessa said. It's not like they hadn't considered such a move already; in fact, it was the first plan that came to mind once the doctor had left the room. Their second plan had been to brainwash him with Millaarc's power to open the door from the outside, but that fell through as well.

It wasn't because the vampire had failed, or that her power didn't work; it was more because they had hesitated, still pondering which course of action would be the right one to take.

They found themselves at an odd crossroads, with the walls closing in on them from all sides. Cooperation was without a doubt the most correct path, however...

"I don't know if I want to help them anymore," Millarc stated bluntly. Vanessa and Elsa looked to her with saddened expression, knowing exactly why she felt this way. "I don't know if working with them will do us any good. They don't trust us? Fine. I don't trust them either, not after what this bitch did. We didn't come here to be lectured by a hypocrite like her. If they have a problem with what we want, then they can kiss my ass."

Her aggressive tone was only a front, Vanessa noted. Every time Millaarc showed her displeasure, it was through blunt cynicism. She was normally a very preppy girl, and no doubt would've been a happy-go-lucky person had her life not taken the turn it did.

All of them would be, really. But they can't turn back time to those better days; all they can do is try and fix themselves and move on. That's the only way they'd be able to put the hell they've been through behind them.

"Then what would we do instead?" Elsa asked. Vanessa gazed at her, knowing that her question was rhetorical.

The vampire bit the edge of her nail. "I don't know, maybe anything else. Go about this our own way; we could maybe still pull this off. Smash the door, grab the blood, and get out. We can figure everything out after that."

As reckless and thoughtless as always with her. Her two companions knew that she was only speaking out of helplessness though; Millaarc wasn't so dim as to arrogantly believe such a plan would come to fruition. In the hypothetical scenario in which they decided to escape by force, they knew that they'd come up short. Five Symphogear Adaptors would be enough to take them down due to their weakness, not to mention the immovable object that was their commander.

They had virtually no real plan at this point. They were at their mercy, and both parties knew it.

What bothered Vanessa was not knowing why SONG weren't using this leverage against them. Sure, they called for cooperation, but in her experience, such words normally meant the stronger side imposing its will on the weaker one. Practically, they didn't even need to go through these motions at all. Just like with Fudou, they held their reins by seducing them with the blood supply. A single wrong move on their part could spell their deaths in an instant. All SONG had to do was simply not give it to them and they'd be finished.

And yet, the doctor that came to check on Millaarc hadn't given some just to her; no, he had kindly given Elsa and Vanessa some too, claiming that they seemed unwell. That's all he had said, and then left.

It bothered her. Her lips twisted as she tried to make heads or tails of their intentions, but couldn't come up with an answer.

That was when she heard the brig door slide open. The trio were torn out of their thoughts as their shared gazes turned to it just as Chris walked inside. The door slid closed behind her again, locking with a click.

"Yo," she said casually.

Noble Red looked at her with dumbfounded expressions. Of all the things they expected to happen, Yukine Chris walking into their cell alone and unarmed was not one of them.

Vanessa stepped forward to put herself between their visitor and her companions. "What're you doing here?"

"I'm here to talk," Chris said simply.

Naturally, they were skeptical. "Talk? About what?"

"I want to set a few things straight with you three," she replied. "If you're wondering, I'm not here representing anyone. I just want to make sure we're all on the same page so none of the shit that happened today repeats itself, alright?"

It was a bold declaration to make. Still doubtful of her intentions, Vanessa stared up at the camera overlooking the cell, certain that SONG were watching them like hawks. She briefly wondered if she should turn the girl's offer to talk down, but her curiosity took the better of her. She glanced at Elsa and Millaarc, who were both equally confused, and then back to their visitor.

"Fine."

She relaxed her posture, and went to sit on the bed next to her companions. Chris roughly grabbed the lone chair in the room and set it down smack dab in the middle of the cell, making sure she could see all three of them clearly. She sat down without any hint of finesse or professionality, leaning forward slightly.

Millaarc was the first to speak up. "So you're here to talk huh?" she said as she rolled her eyes. "I've heard that a thousand times already."

"Yeah no shit. Old farts tend to do that a lot when they look down on you," Chris replied, shocking the vampire. Millaarc had expected her to lash out, yet her surprisingly calmness threw her off. "I know what it looks like, so hear me out before you decide anything, alright?"

The tone of her voice caused the three to swallow down everything they've been planning to say. They waited for her to speak, watching her cautiously as she seemed to ponder how she should continue. She leaned forward even more, scratching the back of her knuckles.

"Look," she began, raising her gaze to look them straight in the eye. "I know you're in a bad place. Believe me, I've been there too, and if your Illuminati connections were worth anything, then you know that. I think you know everything about everyone here really."

She paused for a moment, knocking her knuckles together a few times.

"I know what it's like to be used by others. My childhood in that regard was absolute hell," she continued, biting her lip as unpleasant memories rose to the surface. "When Fine finally took me, I thought I found my place. She gave me everything and more, and I loved her more than I loved myself. But that was a fucking mistake, because she used that for her own gain. She abused and tortured me, and I took it all in stride because I thought it was for the right cause. But when I proved useless to her, she tossed me aside. I had absolutely nothing except the clothes I wore and my relic pendant that I somehow managed to keep. Honestly, I was damn lucky Miku found me and helped me out. But... sometimes, I stop and think what would've happened if she didn't. Just the thought scares the crap out of me and keeps me up at night."

She leaned back in the chair and took a deep breath, trying to stop herself from shivering from the memories. Noble Red listened, remembering the data they had gleaned on the adaptors from the Illuminati databases.

Not a single one of them was a normal person. No matter how they looked at it, the Symphogear Adaptors were twisted people. Distorted individuals who've had nothing but upheavals in their lives, from being used as test subjects to slavery to social isolation. It was as if one of the requirements to use such a device was to be a problem child with traumatic experiences.

"I'm not gonna mince my words: what she said wasn't entirely wrong," Chris said, and naturally their reaction was to frown deeply, as if betrayed by her sudden stance. "Just like the idiot said, you're not to blame for everything that happened to you, but you gotta understand that what you've been doing hasn't been doing you any favors. You want to become human, but you're literally doing everything that's the opposite of that."

"Oi—!" Millaarc started, but Vanessa forced her back down.

Chris deeply understood her need to protest, but she needed to tell them everything she had in mind. "As someone who's been in that place, you need to know something important: it's not too late. Don't lose what's left of your humanity as you're trying to return to being human. The deeper you go down that hole, the harder it'll be to crawl out of it. You've already done some pretty fucking unforgivable things, but I won't lecture you on that. I don't have the right to."

Chris knew that she herself had done really bad things to innocent people. To this day, she blamed the death of every person killed by the Noise on herself; her quest for world peace led her right to where Fine wanted her, and to the activation of Solomon's Cane. She knew that Maria and the twins felt that way too about what they had done.

She dearly hoped her senpai and the idiot wouldn't fall into such depths themselves. However, as soon as her thoughts drifted to Miku, her mind refused to acknowledge the same. The mere thought of what would happen once Miku knew what Shem-Ha had done would haunt her forever.

The death of those men on the ships she destroyed already tore at her from the inside. Any more than that, and she wouldn't be able to live with the guilt.

"Don't lose yourselves more than you already did."

Millaarc couldn't hold herself back anymore. She shot to her feet and immediately started yelling.

"You think it's that easy?! If we had any choice, we wouldn't have done any of this! You've already heard that so why're you asking us again, huh?! What the hell do you want?!"

"What do you want?"

Chris's question gave her pause, and she stared speechlessly.

"We already talked about the become human part, so what else is there you want? Seriously..." she spit out, scratching the back of her head. "Tell me what you want and we'll do what we can. We already promised you that."

Vanessa huffed. "And you said you don't represent anyone here."

"Not much I can do on my own you know," Chris answered her with a shrug. "But seriously, what the heck do you want? Everybody says cooperation is a compromise and yadda yadda yadda, so let's follow through with that, yeah? You have something we want, and we have something you want. We can't make this work if we don't make that perfectly clear."

As the trio fell silent again, struggling to process her words, she pushed further.

"You want freedom to walk around? You want to run the fuck away with the blood and never look back? Say it! Cos otherwise, nothing will get done here," she continued. "You want a lifetime supply of the blood? Deal. I'll hit up the shortie and see if she can synthesize you something for the long term. You want to become human? We talked about that; we'll do what we can. What else? Buffet of endless cheese? Crackers? Car batteries?"

Her increasingly ridiculous list made Elsa let out a muffled chuckle, which somewhat lightened the mood.

Only for it to be brought down again as Chris offered the next item.

"You want revenge on the old fuck? Deal. We'll catch him, tie him up, and let you go to town on his ass. V.I.P treatment considering we've got a whole damn line of people with his number. What else could you possibly want so we can get your help?"

Her serious, tense gaze repeatedly hammered in that question in their minds. What do they want? What will they give to receive it? What sort of exchange will win them over?

"What we want is for you to help us fix this, just like the idiot said. Research or whatever, and all your fancy magics and alchemy and whatnot that won't end up with someone we care about dying. You have answers, we have questions. You have demands, and we can provide them so long as you give those answers and cooperate." Chris kept her gaze steady on theirs, making sure not to lose eye contact for even a second. "Nobody's asking you to get chummy with us; that's for you to decide. We don't have to be friends, but we do need to be allies and work together to get us out of this shitstorm we ended up in. This goes way beyond personal desire, because if we fuck this up, that goes out the window. Nobody will get what they want, especially you."

That was clear as day to the trio. Failure to stop Fudou will end up with their dream completely out of reach.

And to die filled with anguish and frustration would be the worst death anyone could want. If they fail, even by the off-chance they get their desire, there won't be anything left for them to live by.

Vanessa shuffled uncomfortably, and crossed her arms to hide her uncertainty. Millaarc looked away, gritting her teeth.

It was Elsa who then spoke up, probing at a question that bothered her. "What guarantee do we have for anything you just said?"

"A guarantee?" Chris almost dumbfoundedly asked. The wolf girl stared as her expression twisted between a thoughtful frown and a confused stare. She scratched her nose as she answered. "Honestly? There ain't."

"Then what the hell is the point of all of this, huh?" Millaarc started again. "You try to buy us over with empty promises?!"

"What guarantee did you have that the old fart would do what he promised?" she asked in return, silencing the vampire once again. "At least now you don't have anything to lose, while we do, so... yeah, that's the guarantee. You can be happy with the fact that you're holding most of the cards."

The trio fell quiet again, bringing back the awkward silence to the room. As she waited for them to say anything, she looked back at the camera, mindlessly looking at its lens widen and contract.

They sat in this silence for a few minutes. Seeing that they weren't sure of themselves, Chris sighed and rose from the chair. She pushed it aside, causing the trio's gazes to turn to her.

"Look, I won't ask you for an answer now, but you need to decide on it as soon as possible, cos every second makes this harder for all of us. I promised you a lot of shit I probably shouldn't have but fuck me if I don't force the old man to provide them anyway. I'm sure he can pull some strings to make this easier on all of us," she said as the corner of her mouth slightly rose. "Nobody's asking you to be heroes or to care about others. Help us get through this, and we'll leave you the fuck alone and make sure nobody else messes with you."

She turned to leave, and the door slid open as she stepped into the doorway. Before stepping out, she looked back at them. "Give the old man a ring once you've made up your mind. Till then, do what you want. See ya."

And with that, she left, kicking up a storm as wild as when she came. The trio, so unused to such honest, blunt treatment from anyone were left somewhat speechless in her wake, giving her words an easier time to settle in their minds. For a moment, Vanessa wondered if the girl had actually planned this out ahead of time, but her knowledge of her nature pushed that guess out the window.

As the door clicked and beeped to signal its electronic locking, Elsa mumbled in surprise.

"She talked."

With Millaarc too busy grumbling to herself, Vanessa answered her younger comrade's comment.

"Yeah, she did."

-!-

Genjuro and Yatsuhiro watched Chris leave the brig and head in the opposite direction of the bridge, towards the cafeteria. As she disappeared from the hallway cameras, the perspective switched to inside the jail cell, showing the now perplexed Noble Red sitting in silence.

Genjuro had to admit he was pleasantly surprised. While her speech was rough, as always, Chris had quite well put the cards on the table, just as she had said. She shared her experiences, established parallels, and even made them some outrageous promises. Even without her claiming that she'd force him to acquiesce, he had already begun thinking of ways to help her uphold her end of the bargain.

What surprised him the most, however, was the fact that she hadn't truly spoken to their conscience. Usually, when one attempts to persuade a hesitant party, it's customary to speak to their principles, to make them feel like that course of action would be the most humane.

And yet, she didn't do so, as if she knew that it'd be useless.

It was too early to tell if Noble Red were convinced, but in the end, she was right; he wouldn't even be able to come up with half the things she said to them, and he reckoned no one else would've been able to either.

To see Chris of all people speak diplomatically definitely caught him off guard, as diplomatic as one could call what she did.

"Gen," Yatsuhiro said, forcing his younger brother to focus back on him. "I've seen what I needed to see. I'll be contacting you in the future to clarify what exactly I'll need from you."

To say that Genjuro was confused would be an understatement. "Aniki, can't you explain right now?"

Yatsuhiro shook his head. "No. I need to first see if I have a cause for concern yet. If I do, then I will broach you on this subject again. Until then, keep your wits about, and update me if anything changes."

"Alright," Genjuro answered with a nod. When his brother was like this, nothing would get him to budge. With a final nod of his own, Yatsuhiro cut the line, and the bridge fell silent as he vanished from the display.

An air of uncertainty and befuddlement were left in his wake, as even some of the staff on the lower floors looked at each other as they attempted to comprehend what Yatsuhiro's motive was.

Tomosato looked back at her commander. "Sir, what do you think he meant? And what does it have to do with Chris-chan?"

He grumbled to himself, crossing his arms in thought. His console blinked with long strings of numbers, streaming across the display unbidden. "I'm not quite sure, but if my guess is right, then..."

Anything else he wanted to say was cut off as the alarms blared loudly all over headquarters, instantly alerting all personnel. Wracked with shock, Genjuro shot to his feet, yelling to his subordinates as total chaos descended on the bridge.

"Status report!"

Amongst all the shouting, he managed to catch Fujitaka answering him. His tone of voice, filled with horror and slack-jawed awe, made the commander's blood run cold.

"S-sir! The American Base at Yokosuka... it's under attack!"

"What?!"

"And that's not all!" Tomosato screamed out in alarm. "We're detecting two familiar Aufwachen signals! Putting them on screen now!"

She pressed the buttons on her console swiftly. The large display at the front of the bridge lit up with two new windows, both showing the signals in question.

Both of which gave him pause.

"Vambrace of Shem-Ha, and..." He mumbled the second name in grief. "Ame-no-Habakiri?!"

He didn't waste another second. Smashing his hand down on the comm button, he made the calls.

"All Adaptors, sortie!"

He'd update them on where to go enroute.

And pray to god that they'll make it in time.

-!-

The Yokosuka United States Fleet Activities Base.

A remnant of the American occupation of Japan towards the end of the second world war, previously built from the ground up with pressure from Commodore Matthew Perry to open foreign trade. It is by far the most important strategic naval base in the western Pacific, and has been occupied by American Navy sailors for a hundred years. Since the end of the war, it has served as a joint port for the American and Japanese navy, and was one of the most commonly used ports during major conflicts such as the Korean and Vietnam wars. It is without a doubt one of the oldest relics of the war, still often used after all this time.

For the many sailors who lived within its confines, it served as a home away from home. For some, it was a symbol of cooperation. Yet for many others, especially the local Japanese, it was a blight upon their sacred land. The extreme nationalist voices among the populace commonly called for its removal and destruction, and for its inhabitants to return whence they came.

Over the long century, many talks were held and countless meetings were joined, reaching no conclusion as to what to do with it. In the end, the status quo had been kept, and the tensions had remained, for better or worse.

However, that status quo would soon be broken.

Unknown to anyone, and right under the noses of SONG, three figures stood over on the neighboring Agatsuma Island, gazing upon the sleeping base. They had, under the cover of night and illogical power made their way to this place.

Nobody knew they were there. They were akin to shadows, having moved completely undetected by anyone. None at SONG knew that they had even left the mansion, and believed that they had barricaded themselves within an impenetrable barrier.

The fools. They do not know the extent of what the divine power is capable of. Of course, of the three, only one of them gazed at all. The pair by his side could hardly be called figures at all; just puppets for his use.

Kazanari Fudou looked on, grinning savagely at his target. To his left, Kazanari Tsubasa stood as still as a statue, her eyes empty of light and will. To his left stood Shem-Ha in the body of Kohinata Miku, utterly obedient to his will. The Direct Feedback System hummed softly, signifying its continued domination.

Neither of the two were there by their own will. The man held their leash, their minds and free will caged in the palm of his hand. One shackled by the might of humanity's machines, and the other bound by a fearsome curse.

Truly, there was no real difference between them. It was said that sufficiently advanced technology was indistinguishable from magic, and any sufficiently researched magic can be turned into technology.

He did not regard the two at his side as people, as humans at all. Even though one was a god in a human body, for him, she was merely a tool, a weapon to be wielded against his enemies. Her divine power was limitless, and he was itching to see what potential it held. In a way, he was akin to a child playing with a new toy, going above and beyond to discover what mysteries it held.

Tsubasa too was a useful pawn for his plans. The most experienced of the Symphogear Adaptors, wielding one of Japan's most sacred relics as her blade. He had attempted to cultivate her as the ultimate weapon for his cause, but his foolish sons' meddlings delayed his plans unnecessarily.

But it all came together in the end. All of the battles she had fought were to prepare her for this moment. Her future as an artist was no longer relevant; to him, it was an absurd notion.

A sword cannot be a human. It has no feelings and no heart. It is meant to be used and nothing more.

And now, he was going to use that tempered sword for its true purpose.

"It is time," he said. "Destroy them. Make an example of those who'd dare defile our nation."

Tsubasa's eyes flashed briefly with kaleidoscopic colors. "Yes, Grandfather."

Shem-Ha gave no verbal answer. The neon hexagons symbolizing the Direct Feedback System's activation sparkled on her forehead and back as the command was registered.

She rose to the sky as Tsubasa jumped down the cliffside.

Moments later, two sun-like lights filled the world. One coming from the Symphogear Adaptor as she donned her armor, and the other coming from the caged deity that began to gather its power.

And as the two lights came down upon the unsuspecting base, Kazanari Fudou laughed triumphantly once more.