"You'll need to find and reassemble the surviving officers," Bella spoke to her phone as she paced the kitchen, "Find some way to set up a communication network, even if it's dependent on cell phones."

"They're going to be spread across the city," Raivis pointed out, his voice projected through the speakerphone, "How do we reassemble?"

"You can set up temporary stations across the city," she answered, "Community centers, fire halls, hospitals, schools, wherever you can find the space and resources. Find some volunteers to manage the phone lines and track who was able to report in."

"What about you guys?" Raivis prodded, "Why can't you be here to lead this?"

"We really should be, I know," Bella admitted, glancing over at the others who were listening in on the call, "I'm sorry, Raivis, but we can't be pulled away from our current situation. You'll have to manage without us."

"Okay, I better get to work then," Raivis said, "I'll talk to you soon, okay?"

"Will do, Raivis," Bella replied, "Bye."

"Bye," Raivis answered back before hanging up.

Bella closed the app on her phone before glancing up at Lovino and Kiku, noticing some form of guilt on their faces.

"We'll have to count on them listening to Raivis," Bella explained as she went past them to return to the living room, "He was investigating the law firm when the blast happened, he got lucky."

"You would be leading the recovery efforts right now, wouldn't you?" Lovino asked, "If you hadn't gone rogue?"

"It's in a time of crisis like this where leaders are the most needed," Kiku replied as they followed Bella, "With Roderich and Lars both dead, the three of us would be taking command."

"So why did you go rogue?" Ludwig asked from the far end of the living room, "How did you get me out?"

"We've had a good break now," Natalya noted, "Gilbert still needs to explain today's events."

"You're right, I do," Gilbert acknowledged as he pulled a folded document from his jacket, "We should probably start with this."

"What is it?" Natalya asked as Gilbert handed it to Ludwig.

"After that crappy meeting this morning, I went and looked it up in her health records," Gilbert explained as Ludwig opened it, "It turns out there's some truth behind that sob story you shared, Luddy."

"What did you give them?" Katerina asked.

"It's a hospital record from nearly five years ago," Ludwig described, "Mathilda was rushed in by ambulance for life-threatening alcohol poisoning. The blood tests later on showed the pregnancy hormones, which is how they discovered the miscarriage."

"So Antonio was telling the truth?" Natalya realized, reading it from Ludwig's side, "She really did go through all that?"

"She sure did, and her files had all those psychiatric tests too," Gilbert confirmed, "Arthur Kirkland has been leading the police force on a wild goose chase for the last three years, with JCI restrictions impeding us all over the place. Not once did the asshole ever mention Mathilda's mental health concerns, or how she could counter-sue him for domestic abuse. He earned his wife's hatred, and she finally got her revenge today."

"Holy fuck," Felociano muttered.

"So Arthur Kirkland has been an asshole this whole time?" Lovino summed up, "What does that have to do with anything?"

"After that meeting today, Gilbert was extremely pissed off," Bella elaborated, "Kiku and I were trying to calm him down in his office when he started looking at Mathilda's files again. We noticed a detail Gilbert failed to check on before: the phone call Mathilda made when she was arrested. Eduard was diligent enough to record this outside contact on the detainment reports, including the exact phone number she called. After careful consideration on our end, we tried to call the number, and it was answered on the other end by Antonio."

"What the fuck?" Natalya uttered, "You just called the number on a wild whim, and Antonio answered it?"

"He nearly hung up on us, but we convinced him to listen," Kiku continued, "We explained our situation, and asked for their assistance. They were reluctant at first, and Mathilda had a few choice words to share. But once Gilbert made his case clear, they agreed to help us."

"What did you have her do?" Katerina inquired.

"They forged the prison transfer paperwork," Gilbert explained, "They made it look like Lars was setting up Ludwig's transfer to the county prison, with Roderich's signature of approval. The paperwork allowed for myself, Bella and Kiku to take care of the prisoner transportation."

"Jesus fucking Christ, why didn't you just fake the paperwork yourself?" Ludwig yelled, "Why the fuck did you go to Mathilda for help?"

"Because I had no other choice!" Gilbert roared, rising to his feet and facing his brother, "I have been to hell and back the last few days trying to save your ass, Ludwig. I'm fed up with the bullshit surrounding this case, Mathilda's, Arthur's, yours. The only reason she agreed to help was because by breaking you out of jail, I would be going rogue. I'm off the force, Ludwig, I'm off the case, and that's just fucking perfect for whatever plans she might still have up her god damn sleeve!"

The room sat in silent shock after the outburst, watching the tension between the two brothers.

"Our cellphone communication this morning," Natalya calmly pointed out, "Mathilda told you to do that, didn't she?"

"She told us about your safeword system," Bella replied as Gilbert sat back down, "She told us to take Ludwig's phone and send you his safeword. Once you replied with yours, we could start a dialogue and request your help. The forged paperwork and the safewords were all they provided us. She seemed satisfied to know that this plan would see the three of us also discharged from the police force and wanted for arrest."

Natalya nodded in understanding, as another strange thought crossed Bella's mind.

"Even our timing was perfectly in line with theirs," Bella realized, "We were breaking Ludwig out of jail at the same time they were killing Arthur at his firm. One of us three could've been in that deadly ambush with Lars."

"We could all be dead right now," Gilbert morosely added, his head now resting in his palms, "Because of our rogue mission, the four of us are here at this safehouse instead of underneath the rubble at headquarters."

Bella's phone started ringing again, and she looked down at the caller ID. Noting that the group seemed to want to pause the discussion again, she answered it and put it on speakerphone.

"Hello Raivis," Bella greeted, "You have more questions already?"

"My apologies, ma cherie," a different familiar voice answered her, "This is not Raivis."

"Francis?" Bella recognized, seeing Gilbert perk to attention, "Why are you using Raivis's phone?"

"He's the only person who has been able to reach you all afternoon," Francis clarified, "He says that Gilbert is with you there, I must speak to him at once. You can tell him it's about Mathilda Jones."

Bella looked around the room, noting that everyone came to attention at the mention of that name.

"I have you on speakerphone, Francis," Bella revealed as she brought the phone over to Gilbert, "He's already listening."

"Ah, bonjour Gilbert," Francis acknowledged as Gilbert took the phone from Bella, "Perhaps we can turn off the speakerphone for this, oui?"

"No more secrets, Francis," Gilbert declined, "Everyone in this room knows all about her now."

"You've been talking about the case," Francis realized, "You do remember that it is classified?"

"I've given up the case," Gilbert declared, "I can't have anything else to do with it."

"What are you talking about?" Francis, "You're the only one left on the case."

"I went rogue, Francis," Gilbert bluntly declared, "I've betrayed the police force, we all did."

"What have you done?" Francis hesitantly asked.

"We broke Ludwig out of jail," Gilbert confessed, "We forged his prison transfer and got him out. We're now hiding at a safehouse with Ivan's sisters, the Vargas twins, and Elizaveta Herzevedary."

"Mon dieu, that is a mess," Francis said, "I thought Ludwig was among the dead at headquarters."

"I'm here, Francis," Ludwig confirmed, "I'm still alive, even if under dubious circumstances."

"It is good to hear your voice, Ludwig," Francis assured, "And there may still be a chance for your entire group to redeem yourselves in this time of dire need. Gilbert, your help is specifically needed at JCI."

"I can't do it, Francis," Gilbert refused, "I'm not dealing with any more of their bullshit."

"It's worse than you realize," Francis insisted, "Mathilda intends to use the supercomputer."

Bella watched Gilbert pause, frowning in concern and disbelief.

"She actually did what I thought she would do?" Gilbert asked.

"Arthur's official cause of death was decapitation," Francis explained, "His corpse was found with neither his head or right arm. Vash confirmed the security protocols don't require the eyes or hand to be attached to the rest of his body."

"So she can still open the doors," Gilbert recognized, "Now she just needs Alfred."

"Vash is already barricading their offices and evacuating JCI headquarters," Francis informed, "Their original contingency plans involved having the police there to help the JCI security team, but -"

"Mathilda knew to eliminate the police first," Gilbert caught on, "That's why she bombed the police headquarters. With the surviving members scattered across town, struggling to prevent anarchy, JCI is left to defend itself."

"You know exactly what she's doing, better than anyone," Francis encouraged, "Vash knows that she will be targeting them first, and is requesting your immediate assistance. If anyone can stop her, Gilbert, it's you."

Gilbert silently glanced around the room, before giving a heavy sigh.

"You can tell Vash that I've gone rogue, and what I've done," Gilbert decided, "If he still wants my help, he can call me."

"Thank you, Gilbert, I will pass your message on to Vash," Francis acknowledged, "I must go, Raivis needs his phone back. I'll be helping him manage this chaos. You all take care of yourselves, mes amis."

"You too, Francis, bye," Gilbert replied as he stood up.

The lawyer hung up, and Gilbert crossed the room and gave the phone back to Bella.

"It appears we still don't know everything about this case," Natalya remarked, "What is this supercomputer? And why did you just agree to help the assholes who nurtured this chaos in the first place?"

"The supercomputer is your brother's most powerful creation, from his time in R&D at JCI," Gilbert explained as he returned to his seat, "Ivan and Mathilda created this massive computing machine that could hack, corrupt and destroy any databases that JCI has access to, including commercial and government databases. Their chaotic intentions were discovered three years ago, when they managed to hack the government's nuclear missile launching protocols."

"Their original crimes and subsequent escape," Katerina noted, "But why does she need Arthur's head and right arm?"

"When escaping, Ivan triggered the security mechanisms for the supercomputer," Gilbert elaborated, "Impenetrable doors were installed to keep anyone from accessing the machine, and it cannot be hacked from the outside. The only way to open the doors again is for all three JCI shareholders to have their eyes and right hands scanned simultaneously. As you can imagine, Arthur and Alfred would force Mathilda to help them re-open it so they can shut it all down. For Mathilda to access it without them, she would need to have Ivan and Antonio hold their heads and right arms to the scanners."

"Which would be why Alfred is the next target," Kiku concluded, "And why Vash wants your help."

"If she's able to access the supercomputer, she would execute those protocols," Gilbert illustrated, "She can destroy all records belonging to JCI, the government, the banks, the police, all information databases. With access to nuclear missiles, she could also destroy all physical locations where that information would be stored. JCI facilities, government buildings, banks, you name it."

"She will likely kill thousands more people in her wake," Bella inferred, "Raivis needs to evacuate those places immediately."

"That's why you've had your change of heart," Kiku deduced, "Keeping her away from the supercomputer protects Vash and Alfred, but it also protects everyone else."

"Yes, that's right," Gilbert confirmed as he rose from his seat, "Vash might call any minute, he will be asking me to join them at JCI."

"I'm coming with you," Ludwig declared, "We can take her down together, Gilbert, just like you wanted. She will pay for what she did to me."

"Mathilda has taken this far enough," Kiku agreed, "I will help you stop her before she can do anything else."

Gilbert nodded at them, before looking at the rest of the group.

"I understand if you have no interest in helping us," Gilbert spoke, "You would want to keep your distance from Mathilda, from JCI, from all of this. But if there was ever any time to keep her chaos from affecting the rest of the world, it is now."

Bella watched the others glance between each other. After the moment of silent communication, Natalya stepped forward.

"That bitch has dragged us through this bullshit for three years," Natalya proclaimed, "I will go with you, even if it's for my own personal vengeance."

"I agree with Natalya," Lovino concurred, "We will help you, even if it's only to take them down."

Elizaveta silently nodded in agreement, taking Lovino's hand in hers. Bella then glanced at the couch, where Katerina was glancing down and shaking her head in dissent.

"I can't do this," Katerina refused, "I cannot let their misdeeds dictate my life anymore. I also have my unborn child to take care of."

"Count me out too," Feliciano chose, grabbing his arm around Katerina, "I'm done with all of this bullshit, I will stay with Katya."

"Bella, you should stay behind as well," Gilbert suggested, "Take on the role of Acting Commissioner, and regroup with Raivis to coordinate the rest of the force. Evacuate any places Mathilda might target with a missile launch."

"I can do that," Bella accepted as Gilbert's phone started ringing in his hand.

"It's Vash, just as I expected," Gilbert reported as he accepted the call and walked towards the front door, "Excuse me a moment."

"What supplies do you have here," Kiku asked the group as Gilbert left the room, "We'll need guns, ammunition, the works."

"It's all in the garage," Natalya replied, "We should start getting ready."

The group followed Gilbert's path out of the room, leaving Bella alone with Feliciano and Katerina.

"You know, we could use your help downtown," Bella proposed, "We would need volunteers to help answer phones and coordinate the exchange of information. It would also serve as good community service points against both your records."

Feliciano and Katerina glanced at each other for a moment, before nodding at each other and turning back to Bella.

"Yes, we can help," Feliciano accepted, "How are we getting there, if the others are taking the van?"

"I'll arrange a pickup," Bella replied as she pulled out her phone, selected the most recent contact, and called the number.

After only two rings, it was answered by the familiar voice.

"Bella, is that you?"

"Yes, Raivis, it's me, there's been a change in plans. I am taking control as Acting Commissioner, and we have a lot of work to do."