The empty, filthy concrete streets Kobayashi and Kai drove in were a bleak contrast to the bright lights and futuristic designs of the main city of Mitakihara. Paved with trash, dirt and garbage that mixed with the running rain, stray animals wandered about the area, looking for scraps and or other animals to eat and stay alive. The outskirts of the city was a part that had yet to be renovated as one could see the cranes meant for this job in scattered throughout the area.

Narita sat in the cramped backseat of the van, the harsh humming of the van engine vibrating the vehicle and the sliding windshield wipers ringing through the car as they slowly drove. Beside Narita were a couple of tightly-sealed boxes, crates and some titanium cases at her feet. At the front, Kai nervously looked out the window as if he was expecting something to pop out from every corner they passed while Kobayashi continued driving calmly in the rain.

"Where are we going?" Narita asked, her tone sounding serious as she fished a cigarette from her pockets.

"To a warehouse at the edge of the city," Kobayashi answered, "We have more to discuss there."

"You do know exactly why we called you, right?" Kai asked and the school nurse shook her head as she lit her cigarette.

The smoke from her lips swirling in the air, the smell made Ken cough. Narita placed the cigarette back in her lips and said, "You called me in the middle of the day, told me Hachiko and Ken are dead, and you asked me to ride with you to a place that I don't even know where it is. How should I know why you two called me?" she grunted, taking her cigarette between her fingers to puff out some smoke.

The car stopped at a red light and the eye-patched driver looked over his shoulder to clear up some of the nurse's questions, "Akira, do you still remember how we first met?"

Narita nodded, leaning back on the rough car seat to rest, "Yeah... In a hospital in Egypt, years before we moved here. I was stationed there for a few weeks when you and your men suddenly came into the lobby, covered in lacerations and stab wounds," her grip on her cigarette tightened, nearly breaking it between her fingers, "And it was the same day my sister died."

The street light turning green, Kobayashi stepped on the pedal and the car moved again. The sudden movement had Narita thrown off slightly in her seat, "Correct. But, your sister never did tell you what was she working on, was she? Even after becoming a top military scientist, she never shared anything with you about her work," Kobayashi almost sounded regretful, "Whatever she told you, those were all lies."

Narita narrowed her eyes on the man, "What are you talking about?"

"Today, I will tell you everything we know, and things you never knew about for years. It's important that you know this now."

The van took a turn into a dark, abandoned warehouse district and the sound of the pouring rain disappeared from the car ceiling as they entered the opened bay doors of a large storage house. The three unlocked their seat-belts, stepped out of the van and into the darkness; the stench of military rations was fresh and Narita pinched her nose to avoid the smell. The stench of oil and gunpowder could also be smelled in the air if one did not hold their nose. It was something that the nurse had long forgotten from her days working in the military.

"Kai, turn on the lights."

"Yes, Commander."

Dim lights lit on the ceiling opened and Narita rubbed her eyes as cones of light illuminated the large warehouse. Wires were everywhere, some lead to a bunch of tables with equipment boxes, and the rest lead to a few laptops and computers stationed on arranged tables beside them. The area looked like a base of operations as Narita looked about to see racks of weaponry to her left. Illegal weapons, she realized. Ranging from M241 rifles to G36 Compacts with boxes of ammunition placed not too far away from them. There was even a Gatling gun sentry nearby.

"G-Guns? How did you...?"

The two fatigues-wearing men unloaded some of the titanium crates from the van and placed them beside the others inside the warehouse. Kai removed his gloves, dusted his hands and the young man explained, "This is our base. The commander had brought this place up when we heard news of Ken and Hachiko's deaths," he took off his jacket and threw it on a chair, "It wasn't easy to do so in a matter of hours. We had it brought up in just a few hours."

"W-Wait, wait, slow down!" Narita threw her cigarette to the ground, unable to register what she seeing right now, "Just what is going on here? Why are you in possession of illegal weaponry?"

"We're trying to protect this city, that's what," another voiced answered as an old, wrinkled man dressed in oil-stained military overalls entered the warehouse through one of the doorways. Narita recognized the man's easy-going expression, his white hair and the the scar that ran down one of his eyes, leaving one of them blind. Another one of Kobayashi's old friends, she remembered. He had a thick cigar between his teeth and a bulky toolbox in his gloved hands.

"A-Akihiko?" Narita staggered, "What are you doing here?"

"The Commander called for me and I hear the old toys needs fixing," the old engineer answered as he placed his toolbox next to the other equipment, "It's nice seeing you again, Akira. It's been a while. You too, Kai," he saluted and the two other soldiers did the same, "Didn't think I'd be seeing these old things again. Not after so long," he looked at the stored weapons inside the crates, almost reminiscing as he ran his hand through them.

"I guess I could say the same," Akira muttered.

Walking up to Kobayashi, the older soldier patted his commander on the shoulder, speaking sorrowfully, "I'm sorry to hear about Ken and Hachiko. I never thought the two youngsters would bite the dust earlier than me."

The commander sighed, rubbing his temples, "Sadly, we have no time to grieve. Where's Kou?"

"Right behind me."

Another soldier entered the doorway, dressed in slightly torn cameo fatigues with knife holsters strapped around his body. He carried a large cardboard box in his hands and gently laid it down in front of them. The young man was almost silent, not a word coming from his mouth. Just one simple salute and a bow. Akira didn't know this man, but she could understand his silence from the fact that there was a huge scar running horizontally on his throat. It wasn't a pretty thing to look at.

"Good work, Kou," Kai opened the cardboard box up to take out a small disc, "Were these all you could find?"

The silent man nodded and folded his arms.

"Kai, insert the data file," Kobayashi ordered.

Kai then took the disc and inserted it into a CPU on a table, facing the monitor into Narita's direction as Kobayashi sternly gave out his orders to his other men, "Akihiko, I want you to work on the equipment Hachiko and Ken brought for us; try and unlock some of the titanium boxes and see what you can fix up. Kou, take a rifle, along with a few Dycic rounds, an Obscrurum detector and patrol the area. Keep an eye out for anything and shoot anything on sight."

"Sure can do," Akihiko said, taking out a wrench from his toolbox before the two carried out their work. Kou nodded and did as he was told.

"Playing the file now," Kai stated as he pushed a button on the keyboard and static began to show on the monitor. The commander gave the computer a kick and the video began to clear up, showing the recordings of what looked like a prison ground. What were inside the cells, though, were not human. Narita could see strange, almost monstrous humanoid creatures sitting in the cells like animals. Black things that were outfitted with collars and cuffs to secure them. She saw her sister walking along the cells with a clipboard in hand and two soldiers at her sides.

"What is this...?" Narita muttered, putting a hand on the monitor and looking closer for a better view, "Just what was my sister doing?"

"This was something not even the government knew off," Kobayashi stated, pausing the video for a while, "You remember what you were told, correct? Your older sister was killed in a lab accident that killed multiple of her colleagues and injured my men, even myself. But in truth, it was a lie. The truth was quickly covered up, only a few knew what really happened, and only a few in the government and the army really knew what happened there. "

"So, you're telling me that... it was a lie?" Narita whispered, staring down on the floor. Her lips quivered and Narita sat down on a seat Kai had gave her to rest on. The nurse was reacting just as they had expected, "I thought it was an accident, for sure. They told me that..."

"Commander, are you really sure you want to tell her about this?" Kai nervously asked, unable to bear the betrayed look Narita had.

"She deserves to know," Kobayashi then continued the video and sat on a nearby dusty chair, "Like you said: it was a lie. Underneath a mansion in Egypt, your sister was in charge of conducting experiments that involved 320 test subjects in a prison built underground," the commander brushed his hand over his eye-patch, "Those experiments broke out, escaped the mansion and my team were the only survivors. For the next 4 years, my team and I, along with a special group formed by the government, hunted them down... but now..."

"They returned," Narita guessed, piecing everything together fast despite the information she just had to take in, "They're directly responsible for the town's disappearances, and were what killed Ken and Hachiko this afternoon," she got a slow nod from Kobayashi and the nurse jumped when an explosion erupted in the video. The sounds of a thousand screams and the howling of bloodthirsty cries played over the speakers until nothing but static was played again.

Kai stopped the file and sighed, saying, "I know this is a lot to take in. But-"

"It is a lot," Narita stood up from her chair and leaned against the side of the van, putting a hand on her forehead, "But to think that things like these actually exist and happened while I sat clueless. I... I need some time to think..." taking out another cigarette from her pockets, Narita's hands were trembling as she brought it between her lips and lit it. Taking in the smoke into her lungs, she puffed out the smoke and said, "But, even after telling me all this... I know there's something more," she gave a hard glare at Kobayashi, "You're going to ask me to to join you, aren't you?"

"Told you she'd figure it out," Akihiko said from the corner of the warehouse before continuing to work on the crates and equipment.

"We're not forcing you to join. But if you do, you have to think about it hard," Kai explained as the commander sat up and went to Akihiko, checking on his progress, "Before, we were the best of the best at what we did. But now, we don't have funds pouring into our pockets, nor can we have everything as proper as it should be; its just worn-out equipment stuck together with duct tape, along with some experience to back things up," Kai gestured to the equipment around them and leaned back on his seat, "We're doing it because we're the only ones that can."

After that, the three gave the nurse at least 20 minutes to think about it. But even with the time, it wasn't any less easy to decide about something like this. Because even if Narita wanted to help, even if she wanted to know more about these government experiments that had escaped, she still had things to do: people to look after, kids to take care of and a life to go ahead with. She had Homura, Takuya and Tomura all depending on her. Even Mamoru, Tateyama and Hideki, as even they saw her like a parental figure in school.

As a 26-year old woman who still had a life to go back to, Narita stood up and tossed her cigarette aside, saying, "Look, I know my medical skills could be useful. I know these things are responsible for many events that are unknown to me and were the things that killed my sister, but I... I just can't... I have the brothers to look after, along with a kid that just lost her memories. I can't just simply join you guys and risk leaving or even losing them," Narita turned her back to them and went back to the van, "I'm sorry."

"It's all right," Kai said, walking towards her and placing a hand on her shoulder, "Unlike us... you still have a good reason to live on."

Narita looked up and saw Kobayashi still watching over the weapon repairs Akihiko was doing, "Should I...?"

"You may leave," the commander said, "Kai will drive you back home now."

Slowly, Narita was guided to the van by the young soldier and the two buckled up their seat-belts upon entering the vehicle. As Kai started the engine, Akihiko tapped on the window of the van and Narita rolled it down.

"Before you leave-" Akihiko took out one of the metallic crates that bore a digital lock and handed it to Narita, "-I want you to keep this for us."

"Why me?" Narita was confused as the crate was small, but heavy and cumbersome in her arms.

"I couldn't figure out the pass-code for this thing; only Hachiko knew it. So, I want you to keep this. Only God now knows what's inside it. We can't keep anything we can't use here."

Narita looked at the crate, and out of respect for the dead, she accepted it and rolled up the window before the warehouse doors opened with a loud metallic groan. The van reversed slowly out into the pouring rain, and the only thing Narita had in mind for after she returned home was that she would keep this box safe in her secret compartment and move on with her normal life, deciding to leave this business to those that can handle it. Feeling that she could count on them, Narita sank into her seat and fell asleep on the way back to her house.