"A single stroke of fate"

Two Earths, different times in different dimensions… currently accessible only to ATLAS in both ways, changes mostly anything when it comes to parallel dimensional travel. When ATLAS of Earth 1 had taken the City of Rome, every even head on began to be a fall for the rest of the country called Romagna. It becomes a puppet state preserved for ATLAS, while the combined force of the new Neuroi and ATLAS begin to attack targets that slow down or break the human resolve. The Axis Alliance engaged production lines and supply routes.

"It's coming back!" A sailor running on a secure oil rig on a group of small islands was running. Neuroi attack craft intercept the oil rig facility in its fast speeds, comparing it to a jet or a jet striker's speed. From the first time it attacked, it only took 7 minutes for the rig to lose structural integrity. And the running sailor heading for an escape isn't so lucky, being the last one alive. "No, no! AAAAAHHH!" The sailor panicked and jumped just as a blue Neuroi beam decimated him and triggered an explosive in the oil rig. Soon, the whole dig detonates and was destroyed.

In a cargo plane, a medium-type Neuroi matching its speed was firing at the aircraft. While it had fighter escorts, the cargo plane couldn't completely evade damage and destruction. That plane was considered to contain supplies for a Witch Outpost.

At the Witch Outpost established at Southeast Gallia, named the Lunar Brine, a witch who assisted in unloading boxes for the supply move from Fuso to that outpost started to suffer hyperventilation, then it later turned into a sudden heart attack. Before she left from Fuso, she received an injection to 'inoculate' her from diseases that are starting to be evident in Europe. But it was all a ruse. That same witch couldn't bear the pain she suffered and her body started to glow red as she screamed in pain. Suddenly the whole area of the base, the secondary hangar, was destroyed in an explosion, killing 4 witches and 9 crew workers. The worst part of the report finished after an investigation, was that the explosion started directly from the witch who was receiving a simulated heart attack.

Irons sighed, looking at the monitors in the ATLAS-controlled safehouse. His time in Liberion isn't brief as he was still trying to get a private industrial company to work for him. Having schematics of the factory on hand, he studies it carefully, should he need to take it by force if he has to.

Irons – Virginia wasn't my first choice. I was once thinking of trying to take Washington State instead of Virginia. There's more industrialization there, but Virginia seemed to be the only place that makes an insane amount of aircraft and firearms. It was said at this world, this was the place where some strikers are being produced. So I have to be careful. I'm at one end of the state trying to improve production of weapons even little by little. Just for this time, I'm only reaching a deal for that factory to make weapon attachments.

A man opens and enters the room, wearing his dark grey shirt and pants. Having a common crewcut for hair, Irons immediately recognizes him as one of his own, besides having a printed patch of ATLAS on the shoulder part of the shirt. He then made a report. "All quiet out there, sir."

"Excellent," Irons replied before he changed the subject. "Chris, how's the deal going?"

"Dealmakers just came back just before I got here. They said that factory is as good as yours. Like always."

"Good to know. We're slipping private industries out of the hairs of the country's military. Now who would do that? The first they'd think of are shell companies. But the list grows deeper. It gives us well enough time to produce the additional resources as long as we're dug in. And we're sucking the life out of Liberion at the same time. If that's not genius, I don't know what is." He sighs, continuing to speak. "You ever had some Cuban?"

"Cuban?" Chris asked, then realized what Jonathan meant. "Oh. Cigars. Light smoker, but not on cigars, really."

"It's a habit that one takes when one has complacency over what he's achieved. But it's not something I'd afford... not as long as I'm alive. My health has to improve upon itself. Well... It's a good thing you don't smoke that kind... at least not yet. We have a long way to go before all becomes well. And... Most of the ones who heard that transmission still hate us." Irons said it just as he saw a holographic image come into view near him. Seeing as he was accompanied by Genie again, he smiled.

"...not as much as they still hate the Neuroi." Genie said it before looking at Chris. "Chris Warren, I need some time with him."

Irons puts the schematics down on the bed just as his man Chris leaves the room and closes the door behind. "Can I help you?"

Genie giggled. "You can say that. But right now, it's just that I need a pair of ears to hear what I have to say." She looked around the safehouse before speaking up. "I must say you still maintain a nice place even if it is a safehouse. Custom-made interior. You certainly don't hold back on your living standards."

"The living standards are still minimal. It still helps resource allocation, Genie. Now... I think you're here to tell me what you need."

"Oh... Yes..." Genie looked down and frowned a little, and seconds later she looked at Irons with determination. "Jonathan, you should know by now that not all collectives are perfect. They tend to lose alignment with just one or a few individuals. In the case of an incident during the occupation of Gallia by the Neuroi before my presence, an individual broke out of containment from the collective. And ever since, that individual was being a thorn on the whole faction of Neuroi. I was investigating this myself, and found out something grim. You remember the Neuroi nest over Venezia was branching out of the side itself? Well... It's almost the same case as the former Gallian nest. Except the Super Hive that was deployed on Venezia, completely destroyed that nest. I'm sure you can see where this is going. The crackdown on these individual Neuroi has started. And that Super Hive is moving slowly, for now."

Irons took a seat on the bed in his room. "You fear the collective you control would lose a few or several individuals ever since the first one from Gallia."

"I wanted to hear from you, Irons. My choice... is to completely purge my collective of those thorns... so that they will never be threats to my control ever again. Management has been better after I arrived. I'm able to consolidate Neuroi forces better and we're now starting to adapt spreading out. But with this problem? I have to make a stand as to what I need to do."

"It's exactly that, Genie. Your choice. Well... I made my choice to try and disarm my world's foreign military." He stands up from his seat and approaches Genie's holographic image. "...knowing that policy making has been a better strong suit than profit. As ATLAS makes more both here and on my Earth, I realized something. We only needed pure will to make it through most of our trials. And we didn't fail to live up to our expectations, much less exceed them. As to what I'd recommend you'd do? Well... I made a mistake of letting Gideon and Mitchell live, not deploying Manticore in New Baghdad. Seems SENTINEL wants to try again. I won't make that same mistake before."

"Are they willing to strike again?" Genie asked, concerned. "Because since we've connected our worlds together, I could do something for you in exchange. Thanks to the time you bought for the Neuroi, we were able to accelerate our own production. So... as a way of paying it back... I could suggest sending some of my own to make it hard for SENTINEL."

"It'll reveal that they're not alone. But it'll be worse for us if you plan to start an assault. Though you know of the technology we have, they're always improving every day." Irons smiled a little before looking away. "Let's hold the line here a little longer. We've been making progress so far. I'd say we wait until we're in a relaxed position here... with proper defenses set up so that we're really hell bent on staying."

"I see. I understand."

"And... You're still missing my recommendation... not a suggestion. Unlike your collective, I deal with my contractors in fair conversation. Do the same thing on the individual level. Talk to them first. Then if they decide to provoke you in the wrong way, make them suffer slowly, just before you dispose of them."

"Thank you. That's a different advice, but I'll try it." Genie sighs. "It'll be a little difficult, but I could make this work. Besides... That individual evolved since then. Even if the constructs are destroyed, that anomaly stays alive. I doubt it'll be in one place... but who doesn't love a challenge? Once again, I thank you, Jonathan." Genie said this before her holographic image faded from Irons sights.

Meanwhile... Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke was walking on the corridors of a building, looking at a paper filled with instructions. Sighing, she knew she had to comply. It's been a while since she's been called personally by Command's Marshals. But she wasn't alone. The 502nd's commander, Gundula Rall was just outside the door of the Marshals meeting room.

And Minna winced at this, seeing Gundula herself. "Commander Rall?"

"I still maintained being a Squadron Leader just officially, even if it was mentioned I should accept a promotion at these times." Rall said this just as she looked at Minna. "Wilcke. I heard you took it hard when you split up the 501st. How are you holding up?"

"At least I'm not behind a desk. Right now, I'm just supervising route protections. Can you believe the enemy's smart enough to target supply routes too?"

"That's not the only thing they're smart for now," said a voice behind Minna... which belonged to a blonde-haired witch with tied braids on the back.

Minna recognized who it is. "Hemricourt de Grunne... Rosalie."

"Commander Wilcke... And Commander Rall..."

"...still a Squadron Leader," Gundula joked, now hearing the misconception again. "But I'm glad to see another face."

Rosalie looked at Rall briefly. "Strange events, call for strange meetings like this." She then looked at Minna. "Knowing we had to hold the line and send some of our own on Secret Operations like command had instructed was I think the most moronic move they made. I'm not calling them completely stupid, but it lessens our manpower for counteroffensives."

"But it doesn't decrease defenses over key structures. You have to remember that our resources are far from running out."

"For most nations, perhaps. But some like Gallia are starting to lose supplies again... not to mention friends..." Rosalie said this, briefly frowning and looking back with determination. "It doesn't matter. I'm sure Command has their hands full on this, and hopefully meeting with them would make things different."

"As any other meeting," Minna said, just before the doors were open.

A woman clears her throat in front of the three wing commanders. "They're ready for you three."

Several minutes in with the basic updates, these three were in attention for a while before they were told to be at ease as the meat of the conversation was just beginning.

The four Marshals included in this meeting are Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, Italian Marshal Ettore Bastico, Air Marshal Keith Park, and Lieutenant General Ruben Lagus.

Kesselring then spoke. "Romagna was seized, North Africa is beginning to start thinning out from our forces, and Karlsland is in danger of being shared by ATLAS and the Neuroi, which in possibility could get picked clean if that were the case. But it's out of our control."

Park continued. "Reports suggested you three have been making sure some critical supply routes haven't been touched yet. Only with the 501st as being undermanned due to assignments on deep reconnaissance missions, the 506th and the 502nd share resources via direct trade. We can at least loosen up when the routes clear up of enemy activity completely. It's a good thing the enemy is being pushed back from that area."

"But it doesn't eliminate the main problem." Kesselring interrupted Park and spoke. "Numbers aren't the problem here, but armaments and training. And both are being drained out of us from a sponge."

Rosalie partially listened to the marshals bicker with each other that she decided to whisper to Minna. "Aren't they supposed to discuss report details with us?"

Minna sighs. "With all the mess that's been happening and with the enemy spreading out effectively, I can't blame our marshals. And the terrifying thing is the resource protection is increasing. But some places would be left defenseless in return."

Gundula then replied hearing the other two talk. "If only a miracle comes to our doorstep. Some of my lower ranks went back to their respective nations, but the ones with higher battle experience are in the secret operations payroll too."

"Kanno Naoe?"

"Right." Gundula sighs. "The new addition... Karibuchi Hikari was sent back to Fuso to not only intensify training there... but meet witches in the same nation."

Minna winced and smiled. "If you ask me, I think she'd be someone Miyafuji Yoshika wouldn't expect. I heard some stories, but it seems Hikari bounces back from most things from the moment she fails."

"Yeah. Stubborn girl." Gundula said that in a mutter and smiled.

At about the same time on a high afternoon in Yokosuka, Fuso… a domestic supply truck, being civilian in nature, was just coming into Yokosuka. And at the back of the truck was a girl wearing an all navy-blue colored sailor's outfit. Hikari didn't think of which city or town she would be in, and now she's hitting it well in coming into civilization again after hours of travel. Having been coming from one other city, she expresses a sigh of great relief and smiled, finally able to see Yokosuka. "Wow…! I'm here! Is that…? Yokosuka, right?"

Back at the Marshal's meeting when the leaders were still bickering, Rosalie felt silent for a little while. It was just right when Gundula Rall had finished up telling Hikari was meeting other witches or those former in Fuso, she decided to share. "Um… About that. You said one of the 502nd… Karibuchi…"

"Hm?" Gundula Rall noticed it from Rosalie. "Hikari? She's visiting witches for those formerly in Fuso during her time, so I gave her some names and-"

"You read my mind, I think! Actually… One of mine… I gave her a break to do the same thing! Her name… It's Kuroda Kunika. Hm…" Rosalie then wondered about something else. "I have to ask something. Miyafuji is taking a break in Yokosuka. Right?"

Minna nods. "That's right. She's just accompanied by Yoshikawa Michiko, one of the JSU witches under Kathryn Bolton."

"That's all well and good, but it seems I'm a psychic. You see… One of the names I put in a list I provided for Kunika was actually Miyafuji Sayaka, Yoshika's mother."

Rall chuckled. "Well well. I gave Hikari a name related to Yoshika… and that's her grandmother Akimoto Yoshiko."

Minna giggled. "You both booked a name related to Yoshika. If that's not a stroke of luck, it must be fate."

In Fuso again, Hikari was standing at the side of the road, waving goodbye to a truck just leaving her. "Thank you! Thank you very much! Hm… Let's see." Browsing her bag, she had a piece of paper in hand, which she unfolded. "Akimoto Yoshiko … Hm… Just off the town? Okay!"

With some walking involved, Hikari had to find the town that was next to the Yokosuka Naval Base. And she was able to see the view of the sea, and was awe-struck by the first sight of it. She then thought of something. The only place closest to a view of the water's expanse with hills was that transceiver station she always goes to bring her father lunch. The view in Yokosuka didn't seem to compare to any other places in how she knew it in her life. Nodding and smiling, she proceeded down to the town area.

And HIkari was easily able to get to the Yokosuka Naval Base, having a feeling that Miyafuji Sayaka would be known at some point. She was asking one of the guards of where Akimoto Yoshiko lives. After having been told that the Miyafuji Clinic and the residence was just the same as their workplace, Hikari was relieved. She didn't need to go far. Being told the address, she got excited so much that she ran into someone.

Kunika got hit and was found sitting on the ground, the side of the road. Shaking her head a little, she was hearing some girl apologizing. And looking up, she could see her and was even reaching out a hand. "Um… Thanks!" She said this, being pulled up and measured the other girl a little shorter than she is. "Hey… Um… Now that you're here, I wanna ask. Could you tell me where Miyafuji Sayaka lives? The only other thing I was told is that she's a doctor but that person didn't me where the address is."

"Wait a minute… You wouldn't happen to be looking for a clinic, were you?" Hikari asked, seeing as information this girl was looking for could connect with hers. "I'm told to go to the Miyafuji Clinic to find someone! Sounds like you're looking for someone from that clinic, and I got the directions!"

"Really?! Fantastic! Well… In that case, we should go together!" Kunika said it and offered her hand. "Kuroda Kunika."

Hikari reached and took Kunika's hand and made a handshake. "Karibuchi Hikari. This seems weird… Both of us are led to the same place? Fate?"

"I don't know about fate, but what I'm taught is that I have to get used to different types of people, no matter what or who they are." Kunika replied this before continuing. "That's what makes a very noble type of person really."

Hikari then started to walk and lead the pair. "Um… Kuroda … I need to ask. Since we're looking for the same house, we may as well get to know each other. You're not from a fighter wing or squadron, are you?"

"Currently taking a break to meet people in Fuso. My unit was disbanded because… Well… It's Gallia. Maybe you haven't heard, but it's under attack again. This new human faction and the Neuroi working together seems to be very bad for all of us. It's a good thing only three of us from the 506th left to recuperate. Otherwise… The others wouldn't be able to do well if we're dragging them down on their missions." As Kunika said that, she noticed Hikari stop walking and turned around to look at her. "Karibuchi?"

"Did you say missions?" Hikari asked, being serious on the subject. "Not one to say so much, but I think… Were those missions you're talking about secret in nature? Because most of mine are running secret missions too… something about looking closer at what the enemy's capabilities are."

"Wow… Your unit too?! Which unit are you from?!"

"The 502nd Joint Fighter Wing… Brave Witches. We're formerly from the Eastern Front but we were beaten back badly and forced to move." Hikari said it just as she lowered her head. "We even took a casualty before disbanding… Kanno Naoe…" Hikari said this and didn't feel like moving from where she is. "I don't know… All I'm just experiencing are very bad memories. She's probably a close friend to me so much more when she gave me courage to overcome anything past the things that I didn't wanna hear."

Kunika smiled and put her hand on Hikari's shoulder. "We got some sharing to do… so taking a break isn't so bad. A cure for sadness is to let things out, even crying loud too!"

Hikari that time was shedding tears from her eyes. "Yeah… Maybe if we took a break, we could at least reminisce. I need it…"

Meanwhile, a set of human eyes was keeping its sights on the front of the Miyafuji Clinic before the pair slowly turns red. The sights were focused on Yoshika and Yoshikawa Michiko that time. They were its targets… or maybe just friends it would tolerate? It remembered Yoshika… all too well. "I finally found you," the female briefly spoke, looking at her intended subjects. "Out comes one truth… and out comes another…"