Hello. This is one chapter I managed to squeeze out before I go take my AP exams. I'm going to die. But enjoy this chapter! And you get to see our characters finally getting into action!

tandem repeats

In the next few days, Daryl definitely felt much better! His heart no longer ached like crazy. He no longer required any pain medication to make it through the day. His heart was beating as it normally should. But...since he had been leaving Jessica to work the shift alone, she was taking multiple days off as payback.

Daryl began solo clean up in the coffee shop. Today was a slow day. Since nobody was really coming, he could close up shop early. It was his personal base anyways to begin with. That's why he stuffed as many weapons and supplies in here as possible.

Ring! Sounds from a bell rang in the little shop.

'Now who could that be?' Daryl glanced over, but did not see someone standing awkwardly at the door. In fact, she was sitting at the door in a wheelchair.

"Oh. It's you." Daryl dryly commented in disappointment. "What do you want? Trying to pick another fight?"

Ayase glared at him and huffed, "I came to apologize. Shu told me since GHQ keeps him updated on everything. I didn't know you were on our side now. So I apologize for acting so rashly."

"Apology accepted. Now get out!"

Ayase frowned. Her face contorted from surprise to pure anger once again. Even after she accepted that she was in the wrong, he'd rudely shove her off to the side. Why that insolent bastard! She puffed her cheeks and began to turn her wheels. "Fine! I'm leaving! I don't know why Tsugumi gets so worried over a jerk like you."

Tsugumi? The runt?

"Wait!" He quickly called, effectively halting her. "What do you mean she's worried?"

"And why do you feel concerned about her? The last time I checked, you tried to kill us both!"

"That was eight years ago!"

"Where you were fighting in the army against us. And you're still in the army. It's not going to take much for you to go off the edge and get her killed." Ayase stubbornly stuck out her tongue.

Daryl sighed, "Didn't you want a truce?"

"No. I came here to apologize, not make friends." Ayase suddenly wheeled over to him and pulled on his shirt, effectively lowering him to her level. "Let's make this clear between you and me. I don't trust you. I don't like you. But I'll let this slide because of Tsugumi. But, I swear, if you do anything to hurt her or make her cry, I will tear you limb-by-limb apart." She violently released the man.

"Whatever, crippled bitch." He mumbled.

A sudden pain shot up from his shin. Ayase rammed her wheelchair so hard into his leg, he swore she broke something. As he keeled over, holding onto his leg, she wheeled right above him.

"Don't you ever call me that! Kill 'em All Daryl!" Ayase declared. "My name is Ayase Shinomiya. Remember it, little boy!"

"Daryl Yan", he corrected, "Not 'little boy'"

"Whatever", she huffed and wheeled out the door. "Oh! Before I forget, tell that girl I'm sorry for aiming a gun at her."

'What a bitch!' Daryl glared at her while she left. Oh, how he wished he killed her! He had so many chances. He had so many reasons. Only Ayase's best friend was truly stopping him...

-GC-

Tsugumi quietly exited her school. Today was a long day and she wanted to go home and sleep. Usually, she ventured out to the coffee shop out in the northern district of Tokyo. But nowadays, she found herself just going straight home. The few times she went to the coffee shop, she would only meet with Jessica. They talked, but she longed to see someone else. However, seeing as he hadn't shown up whenever she was there, he probably didn't want to see her anymore. But Jessica told her how affected he was after their fallout. So why did he suddenly reject her? Or was he still working his other job and that kept him preoccupied?

When Tsugumi neared her home, she discovered something peculiar. Some sort of aircraft hovered over her house and flew out farther than due could see. Was that a military aircraft? But judging from the sleek black, it couldn't be GHQ! Their stuff was white!

A grumble shot from under her feet! Tsugumi staggered a bit before her but planted to the ground. What was that? She glanced up in the sky in pure fear. The sky that was once blue now covered in green tiles that stretched beyond. She watched the thin green sheet cover her neighborhood before abruptly stopping a few blocks away from her place. Was that a barrier? What's happening?

Tsugumi finally scrambled to her feet and ran into her home. Funell and Funelli ran up to greet her, but she merely ignored them. She promptly slid into her chair, faced her huge computer interface, and opened it up. Screens of transparent blue popped up, each clearly listed statistics, diagrams, readings, and videos. Right now, the electrical field reading was through the roof! Same with the magnetic field reading!

"It's a barrier. I'm trapped." Tsugumi hurriedly dialed on her phone. "Aya-nee! Pick up!"

"Tsugumi?"

"Aya-nee! Where are you?" Tsugumi screamed into her phone.

"Ouch! Tsugumi! Don't yell so loudly!" Ayase complained. "I'm in northern Tokyo, just getting some shopping done."

Tsugumi breathed a sigh of relief. At least her friend was safe. She spoke again into the phone, "Listen, Aya-nee. I'm at home and I'm trapped in some sort of barrier. It could be a terrorist attack or some sort of hostage crisis. I don't know, but get help! As fast as possible! I don't know how long we can talk before they dis-"

The phone clicked and went silent.

Shit! Mad, she chucked her phone onto the top of her bed and swiveled back to her computer interface. She checked the current signals and just as expected, Internet and phone networks were down. Tsugumi buried her face into her hands, too terrified, confused, and sad to think about getting out. What should she do? Should she wait here until someone rescues her? Or should she find a way out? What if terrorists are scouring the neighborhood, trying to evict as many hostages as possible? But what if they already had weapons pointed at her at this moment?

Even so...there was only one thing she was truly good at. Hacking in and breaching their system. Once she got herself set up at the computer, she silently prayed the government was making their move. If not, she was as good as dead.

-GC-

"All systems ready to go."

Soldiers in white uniforms scurried about GHQ headquarters. They were getting prepped for battle. Scientists had to retreat back to their labs or assist in handling their bio-weapons. Soldiers suited up into their plugsuits. Intel officers fastened on headsets and prepared their interface for immediate connection. In the hurry and confusion, Shibungi stood over everyone else, carefully overlooking the situation. His best comrade, Argo, suddenly appeared behind him. He wore a black uniform with a little tinge of white. He bore a large machine gun in his hands as if shooting down Endlaves. By the looks of it, he was fighting as a foot soldier.

"Your orders, sir?"

"We'll depart soon. From this point, I want you to lead all the foot soldiers. Major General Yan will lead all the Endlave units. Can you relay that information to him?"

"Right!"

Argo quickly ran off to a corridor behind Shibungi. He bolted down a flight of stairs and turned to a special floor specifically for the Major General and the other Endlave units. The room was filled with bright lights and there laid a single pod for the Major General himself. Moving further back, there was an interface with only one operator. And that one operator was the Major General's personal operator; someone he could trust.

"Junior Intel Officer! Where is Major General Yan?" Argo demanded.

Jessica sat up from her seat and saluted. "Major General Yan will be back soon after he makes final check-ups on his Steiner 2.0 model."

"Right, tell him he's directly leading the Endlave units."

Jessica nodded, "Yes sir!"

After Argo left, little Jessica finally relaxed. That man was always so tense; it freaked her out a little. Jessica tied her hair back into a messy bun, readjusted her white uniform and black boots, slipped on her white gloves, and stared back at her large computer interface. The floating panels of text were her tools for today. Her only job was to act fast and stay connected.

Finally, her partner in action came through the entrance. He was already in his white and red plugsuit. His helmet rested neatly in between his arm and his side.

"You're finally here. Ready?" Jessica pulled up Daryl's Endlave data.

He simply nodded. "Yeah." he pulled his helmet over his head and sat into the pod. "What did Argo have to say to me?"

"Oh, he just wants you to know you'll be leading all the Endlave units." Jessica reported while putting on her white headset that composed of an ear bud and a microphone. "Don't mess up!"

"Don't you dare forget to bail me." He warned through her audio.

"I won't," she reassured him. Finally, a familiar growl erupted from the pod and her interface grew to life. Just as fast, Jessica's fingers started typing madly, getting all the information necessary to boot Daryl into his Endlave. "All systems are ready. Connections are a go. Battery percentage is at a full 400%. All weapons are loaded. Everything good at your end?"

"Yeah", he confirmed.

His eyes were closed, but he could see everything. He could see Endlaves of black, blue, and green, each containing one soldier. He had to command these people for today...he hoped they would be able to catch up. Interface panels scattered at the side of his vision and dead at the center was a circular panel. That was for aiming, his favorite. Inside, he was excited. They were finally getting some action in these recovering, battered remains of Tokyo. As far as he knew, this mission was an independent terrorist attack or hostage crisis that was not affiliated with any country...yet.

"We're breaking through that barrier once we get to that district. After we break in, a special team and I are heading in to find out who's behind this. The rest stay behind and figure out how to completely take down that barrier. Everyone got that?"

"Yes Major General Yan sir!" All of them chorused back.

"No mention of the people stuck in there?" Jessica's ticked off voice rang in his headphone.

He merely scoffed, "They can figure out how to get out."

"Cruel bastard."

"Do that again and I'll execute you. Right now, you're an officer under me so listen to your superior."

"You're going to regret that", she sighed and tapped a couple more buttons. "You'll arrive there in a couple of minutes. Get your team assembled. Doors open in three, two, one!"

A dark gateway pulled open, revealing light and the fast moving ground below them. One by one, Endlaves jumped out, planted their wheels onto the ground, and sped forward ahead of the van. Finally, Daryl jumped out with his gray nimble Endlave gracefully landing on the ground. That was his newly reinvented Steiner 2.0. After determining that Gespenst was too big and bulky for his taste, he went back to his custom model that he took quite a liking for until a certain Funeral Parlor member stole it. So he built a new one and he also made a few personal changes.

Daryl sped out to the front of his team. The menacing green barrier glowered down on him, becoming almost intimidating. He smirked and gave a signal; all Endlaves held up their weapons, he gave another signal.

Everyone fired. Everywhere, around this entrapped circular area, there were explosions.

-GC-

Tsugumi rushed closer to a nearby police station. Quickly ducking behind a bush, she peeked out at the building. Luckily, the two guards armed with weapons and bombs did not spot her. If this place was being closely guarded and all the signals led here, this had to be the center. The barrier must be emitted from somewhere in here! Careful to not make a sound, not even a small peep, she carefully took out Funell and typed in a few commands.

"Time to do your job, Funell", she whispered.

Two guards stood at the upper floor, attentive of everything in their scope. Their orders were to shoot down any civilian near the building. They already massacred every police officer, detective, and such, anyone in this building; they were already dead. Even if it was a wandering civilian or one that was only a babe, they all needed to be shot down.

Suddenly, a girl with long purple hair bolted out from a nearby bush and ran across the police station. Both guards pointed their guns and fired. It seems like the first couple rounds missed. Repeated sounds of machine guns fired relentlessly at this girl. Unknown to them, that girl was a fake, a hologram.

The real Tsugumi ran close to the building and scoured for any electrical wire. Anything! Be it light or heating, she needed something to connect directly into the system. Finally, she located a thin wire covered in red insulation and she carefully snipped it in half. She connected one end onto another conducting wire and plugged it into her laptop. Whatever this wire was, if she navigated her way perfectly, she could definitely take down that barrier! How long it was going to be down, she was not sure. But, hopefully, it was enough time to run and make her getaway.

After some time and some firewalls and encryption, she finally hacked her way into disabling the barrier. She calculated everything. If she deactivated this thing, then it would stay deactivated for a good five minutes. She didn't have to worry about Funell because he was programmed to go home. she just had to leave everything, run for it, and not get shot. And if they didn't deactivate everything, she would have enough time to run and get out of here.

Tsugumi readied her finger on the enter key.

Three.

Two.

One.

-GC-

Jessica pressed her ear bud closer and her blue eyes widened in shock. Was she hearing right? Was that true? Either way, this was definitely something her boss needs to hear. "Major General Yan!" She heard an explosion erupt from the other end.

"All units move in!" She heard him bellow. "What Jessica?"

"This just came in from headquarters. Tsugumi's stuck in there. In fact, that breach in the barrier may have been her doing!"

"What?" He grew frantic. Why was the runt there out of all places?

"Be careful! Shibungi doesn't want her hurt."

"Roger!" He didn't want her hurt…not again… He would never hurt her again, even with Ayase's threat. "All units work on taking down this barrier! My team, follow me! And make sure not to hurt any citizens there!"

Jessica grinned. "Good job Major General."

"Shut up!" He growled through his microphone. "Give me the runt's coordinates."

"4.60°N, 23.07°E" Jessica reported. "That's in the central square of the area."

"Copy that!" He sped forward. He needed to find her first and make sure she was safe. He wanted her on a roof or somewhere out of any danger. Better yet, he could get Argo to help protect her and make sure she stays out of harm's way. Besides, he didn't want her to see him fighting again…

After making it to the square, he surprisingly found it painfully obvious of where the terrorists were hiding out. There were two guards smack in front of a police station! They pointed their guns at him…at the Endlave…where there was armor. Many tiny bullets merely bounced off his robotic armor. If this was all they have, then this mission was a piece of cake! Daryl switched gears and prepared to storm in. He was pretty sure the rest of his team was behind him, not that he needed them for dealing with these weaklings.

Once the two terrorists found him growing closer, they quickly ran in.

"Sir! An Endlave is approaching!"

"And Endlave? The government's finally acting up, I see." A sinister figure smirked from the shadows. At his sides were more terrorists, each fully loaded with a gun. He finally got up from his operating chair and pulled on hair of dark blue and purple, inciting a cry from his victim. "Let's see how he deals with a hostage at our hands. You shouldn't have done that, little girl. This is your fault!" He violently flung her away by her hair.

The powerful throw elicited another painful cry from Tsugumi. If only her hands were not tied and her mouth was not muffled, she would be trying to break off and run. But, in the end, she was captured. They discovered what she was doing, destroyed her laptop, gagged her, and brought her into the police station. Luckily, they didn't knock her out. She was still conscious enough to make out a few faces here, even though all of them covered their faces with black cloth, only leaving their eyes open. But, even so, she could still tell their age at least. Most of these terrorists were male and there were one or two females. The ages ranged from around thirty to even teenagers as young as thirteen.

They had a moderately size group, but Tsugumi knew they stood no chance. There was a whole team of Endlaves coming in to nab them and guns were useless.

"Prepare our Endlave unit! Ryo. Get ready to fight!"

"Yes sir!"

Tsugumi screeched in sheer surprise once the thirteen year old boy disappeared. What! They were letting such a young boy die! Her muffled sounds caught the attention of the leader and he promptly ripped off the cloth that was binding her lips.

"What do you want?" He gruffly said.

"That boy is so young! Why are you sending him off to the battlefield like that?" Tsugumi spat at him.

"It's only right that he goes. He has the biggest grudge against the GHQ government out of all of us."

Tsugumi scoffed, "GHQ fell apart. They don't dictate Japan anymore."

"That's what they want you to think!" The leader pulled her up by the shirt so they could see eye to eye. "GHQ never fell apart. They are still the ruling party of this country! That's why it's our job to bring them down once and for all."

"Are you kidding me? The rebel groups brought GHQ down!"

"The rebel group only assimilated into GHQ. They never brought GHQ down. GHQ still exists today! The oppressions we suffered eight years ago still persist today!"

'These people are nothing but rebel groups trying to pick a fight! They're either trying to revive or imitate Funeral Parlor.' Tsugumi realized.

Suddenly, a noise of whirring wheels and grumbles of bulky metal rang through the police station. The leader gave a signal and every soldier filed out of a single door. The leader finally dropped Tsugumi down to the ground, picked her up by her tied hands, and dragged her out as well. Tsugumi gave a struggle, but that seem to do no good. She was too weak.

They took her out to the main lobby, which was wide area with a lofty ceiling, and brought her to the terrorist army. She saw the Endlave. It was a different unit then what she was used to. For one thing, it was definitely not an Endlave from eight years ago. The composition looked entirely different! Instead, it was sleek and nimble and the outer coat was obsidian black. This was an advanced model, nothing like the government Endlaves. In fact, this must be brand new, meaning they were getting some funding from an outside source.

Tsugumi felt the hands gripping on her tied hands loosen. She was allowed to finally stand, but someone from behind roughly pushed her out into the open. Her body flew a long distance, scratching up her knees and banging up her body for a good measure. Her head began to pulsate and her body ached in pain. Just as she was pushed down, the door in front of her exploded and a single Endlave sped through the entrance.

She recognized this color.

It was white.

'Is that her?' He let his vision zoom in on the girl lying on the floor.

She finally got up to her knees, and breathing heavily, she finally pushed her body up.

-GC-

"Oh no! Tsugumi!" Ayase gasped as she watched the scene from her screen. As promised, she ran right to government headquarters and contacted Shibungi through much trouble. After finally speaking with him, he quickly contacted other major officers to relay the same information to them.

All reconnaissance teams were tasked to find her location. The Endlave nearest to Tsugumi was supposed to rescue her, though it seems that one was perfectly intent on finding her. And to prove it, his personal officer put her interface on simulcast for them to see.

Shibungi furrowed his brows in worry. "Go see what they want."

-GC-

She looked terrible. Both of her knees were bleeding. Everywhere on her arms were scratched or were bleeding with cuts. But, most of all, her cute face was damaged. One eye was swollen to a red pulp, her pursed lips bled red, and a scratch was prevalent on her soft cheeks. He could even see the red marks of a burn from clothing being removed too quickly. They gagged her…and they were not gentle about it either.

Anger greater than the flames of hell burned in his heart. "You goddamned bastards!" Daryl angrily charged forward.

The masked leader pulled out his gun. Even though it was useless against a charging Endlave, he was not pointing it at the Endlave. He expertly shot it and soon, another round of pain shot from Tsugumi's jaw. She fell forward, feeling hot liquid spew around her neck. But it was not instant death. No. It was a graze from a bullet.

But the sight of her blood dripping to the ground was enough to stop Daryl from his murderous rampage. As much as he wanted to take them all out with a missile, he couldn't without Tsugumi being killed in the process.

"Calm down, Boss." Jessica's voice warned him. "Let's see what they want."

"Where are the other units? Where's Argo?" He growled back at her, still obviously pissed.

"They're surrounding the area. Argo will join you soon."

"Good", he directed his attention to the terrorist group in front. "Somebody needs to clean up my mess once I'm through with them. Especially that guy!" He glared down at the terrorist leader.

"Calm down! You don't want Tsugumi to see you like this." She began to grow worried.

Tsugumi struggled to keep her conscience. 'That voice …is it him…?" Her eyes began to droop down and she began to lose control and her strength. "Sprout…Daryl." She softly said, trying to reach out to him. But not too long after, she fell forward to the ground.

"Runt!" He felt his heart ache after seeing her pass out like that. His anger came about anew as if waved by a fire fan. He angrily turned back to the terrorists and yelled, "Who the hell are you?"

"We?" The leader smirked and grabbed onto his mask, removing it for all to see. "We are the Pallbearers!"

We get another character introduced and another one coming back! Do you recognize which is which? Now what is going to happen to Tsugumi? She got captured and Daryl sure is mad! And yes, the new terrorist group's name sounds a little funky, but they took one of the cooler names in funerals! Read and review and wait for a week or two!