A/N: Apologies for the both wait on this and the length of it. Pen name change is for security reasons.

"Huh?" Nu glanced up from her lunch. Or what was left of the messily-eaten sandwich, anyways. "What's that, Tsubaki?"

"An additional report, concerning Captain Hazama's treatment of us." Tsubaki's eyes did not leave the paper as she scribbled notes on it, pen in a white-knuckled grip. "I fully intend to free both of us from that monster's jurisdiction, so I'm recording everything from that meeting. With any luck, we'll be placed under the command of another officer. Or he will face a court-martial for his treatment of his subordinates. Preferably both."

"Oh, okay." After burying her face in the sandwich's corpse for a moment, Nu grinned. "Good! Nu doesn't wanna work with that meanie!"

With a light chuckle, Tsubaki cast her half-eaten lunch a disdainful look. "Nor do I, Nu…huh?"

As Tsubaki spoke, Nu's face went pallid—even more so than usual—as she stared at something behind the redhead. Tsubaki started to swivel around. "What's wrong…?"

A bright red face with yellow spectacles and fangs protruding from the lower jaw greeted her and Tsubaki froze up as well. "You…you're Sector Seven's Red Devil…"

"And you're with Zero Squadron, correct?" Tager held her gaze for a few long moments before extending a hand. "Unit TR/0009 Iron Tager. And please relax; I am not here to fight."

"Really." As her shock faded, Tsubaki's eyes narrowed and her hand shot down to her sword. "Then may I ask why you are here?"

"I have orders from a top scientist within Sector Seven to speak with the Prime Field Device here and, with her permission, possibly return her to the lab. These would not be interrogations; Kokonoe just needs some information." Tager paused to push his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "And…I believe I heard you mention a certain Intelligence officer."

"…I see." Tsubaki allowed herself to relax, although her fingers remained on Izayoi's hilt. "…We will talk here then. My apologies, but I refuse to let Nu leave alone with an agent from the Sector. Especially one with your infamy. In return…please tell me what you know about Captain Hazama."

As they spoke, Nu curled up against her seat, trying to make herself look as small as possible. She reached out to tug Tsubaki's sleeve. "…Tsubaki, this guy is scary…"

With a sigh, Tager nodded. "…Very well then. And my apologies for intruding upon your meal. However, I must request we speak elsewhere; it would be too easy for an agent of Hazama's to overhear us in such a public setting."

"…You have a point. However, a location affiliated with Sector Seven…"

"Would be impermissible. I understand. Do you have a better meeting place in mind?"

"U-um…" Nu cast Tager a nervous glance and raised a trembling hand. "We could, um…talk on a monorail…or something…"

Both Tsubaki and Tager stared at her for several long seconds, making her shrink behind the table. Tager nodded. "That sounds workable. Could you assure us our own car, miss…?"

"First Lieutenant Yayoi." After giving Nu a reassuring smile, Tsubaki sent a curt nod Tager's way. "I believe I could, yes."

"Very well then. I…should probably report to Kokonoe quickly." Tager turned to leave. "Meet me at the area 5 monorail station, First Lieutenant."

"Understood, Mr. Devil." As soon as the behemoth was gone, Tsubaki exhaled and turned to Nu. The girl's face had color in it once more, but she still appeared scared to move. "…It's alright, Nu. I promise we'll be fine."

"…He looks really scary. Like, rawr I'm gonna eat Nu scary!" She turned a pouty face up at her friend. "…Do we have to go with him?"

With a sigh, Tsubaki looked away. "…I believe it would be for the best. I do not trust him much, but I doubt he would take no for an answer, and I'd rather not fight him. And if he does prove trustworthy…then we may have an ally against Captain Hazama."

"Mm…" With a nod, Nu bit back into the remnants of her sandwich with roughly half the enthusiasm as before. "Okay then. I guess you know what you're doing."

Not really, no; a thousand doubts bubbled within Tsubaki. Still, in the end she figured it would be best to settle this whole matter as peacefully as possible. She gave her lunch one last look and sighed. No point denying a meal.

Half an hour later, a chrome-colored monorail train thundered down its southbound track. The exterior shuddering of the machine had little impact on its occupants. Tsubaki shifted in anxiety, her eyes on the colossus before her. In contrast, Tager's face was as calm as ever, even with the two seats he'd been forced to shove into the overhead baggage compartment threatening to topple over onto him. Nu, for her part, had chosen to sit on the floor by Tsubaki's leg, looking for all the world as though she wanted to race from this monstrosity.

After nearly a minute of uncomfortable silence, Tager adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat. "Thank you for coming, First Lieutenant and…Nu, was it? I apologize for the need for secrecy but I would rather not have your Intelligence captain catching wind of this."

"It's no problem." Although the look on Tsubaki's face, narrow-eyed and scowling, indicated otherwise. "Please continue."

Tager suppressed a sigh. It came as no surprise for her to be so terse, but it was a bit of a problem. "Very well then. Kokonoe is opposed to Captain Hazama gaining any more power than he already possesses—he has instigated far too much destruction as of late. As such, she wishes to extend an invitation for both of you to her laboratory, so that she can work on releasing some of the strictures designed within you, Miss Nu. Primarily the identity wipe procedure, which is a loathsome tool."

Nu blinked slowly, rising from the faint and fearful stupor she'd remained in since Tager's arrival. "You mean you can stop him from ever using that?"

Tager offered a half shrug. "I do not know. Kokonoe is the specialist in that area, but I imagine that it can be prevented given her brilliance. In addition, any time you spend at the laboratory is, inevitably, time Hazama is denied access to you, which is also to our benefit."

Tsubaki closed her dagger stare and looked down in thought. "...I see. Your offer sounds good. Too good, in fact. Last I checked, we are technically enemies. Why should I place my trust in Sector Seven?"

Tager inclined his head. Here came the difficult part; convincing a Wing of Justice to trust him. "A good question. The simplest answer is that Kokonoe has no interest in seeing a Murakumo Unit in Hazama's hands, regardless of circumstance. And…forgive me, Miss Nu, but as long as you are Nu's handler, then you are at least unlikely to deploy her in pointlessly violent and destructive missions. Such as, for example, senseless assassination assignments."

The words came as a verbal blow to Tsubaki and she opened her eyes out of shock. He couldn't be referring to her orders, could he? But…there was no other explanation for him pointing out assassinations. She regained her composure and said, "...I suppose you are aware of what Hazama has sent me to do, then? May I ask how? We just formally met half an hour ago; is this Kokonoe aware of me?"

"The attempted assassination of Miss Vermillion is, perhaps, more important then you believe it to be," Tager said with gentle gravity. "To you, it was personal—but to rest of the Librarium, it is the highest of black ops deployed against a highly talented woman who had engaged multiple times against the Bloodedge and survived. The political fallout has been tremendous."

Tsubaki stared in gape-mouthed shock at the crimson titan. Her mission was that widely known? And... She couldn't imagine the shockwaves that no doubt rolled through the Librarium at the news that she hunted the Hero of Ikaruga, as well. She felt a pang of guilt for hounding her closest friends. "I...was unaware of the magnitude of my actions..."

She paused. If her mission was so well-known, then for the sake of safety, it would probably be best to leave with Tager here. The chances of an overzealous defender springing to Jin's "aid"… No. This was not enough to betray the Librarium over. Not even close. She shouldn't even believe his words, but... "...Could you please tell us what you know about Hazama?"

Tager exhaled. He had hoped to avoid mentioning this, but if it helped convince her… "Hazama is an alias. He is Terumi Yuuki—of the Six Heroes, yes—and he is singularly malevolent in intent and action. I am not entirely certain of his goals, but he has instigated anarchy and destruction at every turn, and is personally responsible for the genesis of the Murakumo project."

Silence followed Tager's words. As Tsubaki sat stock still, her mind churned to work out the colossal magnitude of what he had just said. Hazama...was Terumi? The traitor to the Six Heroes, who had slain Nine? How was this possible? That had been almost a century before!

...But Hakumen was still around, wasn't he? Then...it wasn't completely out of the realms of possibility for Terumi to be as well... She turned to Nu, still sitting by her leg, but looking less ready to bolt at a moment's notice. "...Nu? What do you think we should do?"

Nu wrapped her arms around herself. "Nu doesn't know. But…Nu doesn't want to go back to Hazama. Ever. She's happy here. With you."

She grabbed onto Tsubaki's leg for emphasis and squeezed tight.

A breath later, Tsubaki leaned down to give Nu a brief hug around the shoulders. Tager coughed once. "If you don't mind me asking, Miss Nu, what exactly did Hazama…no, Terumi do to you?"

"He…" Nu sighed once and looked up, cyclopean gaze glinting. "He treats Nu like she's not a person. Like she's just something to use, and then throw away when he's finished. He's trying to use that identity wipe thingy to erase Nu."

"Trying to use it?" Tager blinked behind his glasses and leaned forward. "Then how are you still…well, you?"

"…Nu doesn't know." She hung her head. "Nu just…is still Nu. He was also super-mean to Tsubaki when she tried to defend me."

Nu looked up, tears budding at the corner of her eye. "…If we went with you, would Nu be safe?"

"As safe as anywhere." Tager nodded, brows unfurrowing to soften his expression. "The NOL is not aware of Sector Seven's location, and I am certain Kokonoe would do her best to protect the two of you."

"Okay then. Nu wants to go with you, Mister Tager." The girl turned her gaze up at Tsubaki. "Is that, like, okay, Tsubaki? I…never want to be near Hazama again. Ever."

Tsubaki tightened her one-armed embrace around Nu. The man's existence was clearly toxic to her, and that alone was reason to go along with Tager. No matter what awaited them at Sector Seven, to remain in Terumi's clutches would be disastrous. "...Very well. I believe I will accept your offer, Mr. Devil. I...will reveal whatever you or Kokonoe may need about Hazama, but any other Librarium information..."

Tager raised one massive hand, the fingers brushing against the seat flanking him on that side. "None of that is necessary. Our interests coincide in the removal of Terumi. As long as you remain in Sector Seven's company, he will be the only enemy you will be asked to work against. Anything else is wasteful conflict of interest."

Nu brightened the faintest bit, rather than remaining sullen and silent as she had for the majority of the meeting, and rubbed her head against Tsubaki's bicep. "Thank you, Tsubaki." she half-whispered, the happy shine in her eyes too bright to be anything but unshed tears.

After turning a bright smile at the girl, Tsubaki looked back at Tager, the flames held for him absent. A smile, small but grateful, crept onto her lips. "Very well, then. Thank you very much, Mr. Devil."

The eternal rattling of the cabin ceased as the train slowed to a halt. Perfect timing, that. Tsubaki stood up and extended a hand to Nu. "Um, I suppose it would be best for us to leave straight away?"

"Most likely." Tager agreed, and the gauntlet on his upraised hand whirred to life for a brief moment. It magnetized and drew a steel box up off where it was attached to Tager's belt and startled Nu into a jump. "My apologies, Miss Nu, but I do not possess - fine dexterity. I have to find alternatives."

He extended the box, magnetized onto his fingertip, out to Tsubaki, revealing one side to be clear plastic. The interior contained a great deal of steel filings which, as Tager's brows furrowed in concentration, drew into recognizable letters and symbols. "You may enter Sector Seven at these coordinates. Please memorize them."

Tsubaki read over the numbers several times so as to commit them to memory. So, Sector Seven was located in Wadatsumi, district... She damn near facepalmed at the area number. "I see. Thank you."

She turned to look down at Nu. "Is there...anything else you need to do before we leave?" Of course there wasn't, but she had to make sure.

Nu glanced up timidly at Tsubaki, then inhaled, stiffened her spine, and offered her hand to a rather surprised Tager. "Thank you, Mr. Tager. For helping us. Me."

Tager stood motionless for a moment, then carefully returned the magbox to its latch, and attempted to take Nu's hand in response. It proved an exercise in futility, and with a slight giggle Nu instead just grasped his index finger with both of her hands. The soldier snorted in amusement. "It was my pleasure, Miss Nu. I think I'll see you again soon."

"Indeed." Tsubaki gave Tager a quick nod and stepped away to disembark. "Farewell, Tager. And thanks."