LII

Wandel

Bando had already spotted her and further ahead he could already see the daft kid, guess that bastard Dreachon had been right when he told him to keep an eye out on the kids as they left their school. "Damn kid can't even watch himself, some people just can't look after themselves. Alright kid then it seems like you're in luck today."

He set off in pursuit but he did not find it necessary to exert himself in order to catch her, he knew perfectly well where they would both be going and he had learned the shortcuts to the Inn. He would get there well before either of them would be. "Just a little exercise and then you and I are going to have a little talk brat."

Turning into another street he kept on going. Still it was galling to him that these kids were so careless even with them knowing damn well who were after them, this was the kind of mistake that not even a rookie cop could make. Already he was having some fun at thinking how the kid was going to react upon seeing him, perhaps with some luck he would clamor like he had tried before.

Yet it did not take away that he was still planning on getting his revenge on the horned woman, still it was a fight between himself and her. Nobody else would be allowed to get in between or get caught in the crossfire, that was his reason for helping them at the moment.

When the DRI or the government came plenty of people would get caught in this and they did not deserve such a fate, yet he was also painfully aware that their group could not take on all of them. It was rather foolish what they were trying to accomplish and yet so far they had been rather fortunate or maybe the rest was just that awful.

"All in good time you horned freak." He silently cursed as he turned in another side road, the way this was going he would catch up with the kid shortly and with that he began to think back of his eventual revenge. All that he needed to was to make sure neither he or any of that misfit family would get killed, well that was going to be easier for himself than for them. Like hell his beautiful self could die, he laughed hard thinking about it.

Dai just kept to himself as he, the commander and a few others were led through the massive hall. He was puzzled why there was even a need for such a large space as the weapons being developed here were all meant to be man portable or in some cases to be mounted on cars. But this hallway gave him the impression that a battleship could be stored here, it was just that enormous. "Pardon me commander but may I inquire why we are being led here, I do not see anything that could help further our cause?"

"That is very astute of you agent Hirano and you are right, what is being developed there is of no use to us. However what I am really interested in lies just ahead for us. On another note, tell me how is the search doing in Kamakura? Have there been any results so far?"

One of the others stepped forward. "I'm afraid not commander, so far there has been no trace of the missing silpelits that broke out from the DRI. It might be better for us to consider that they drowned as the sea was quite rough that night."

Shimada halted on the spot. "We thought the same when Lucy escaped from there and look what happened. Logic and others would have told us that she could not have survived and yet she did. Do not underestimate the Diclonius for they have proven to be a formidable if yet disgusting foe. All the more reason for them to be utterly wiped out."

"Of course sir, my apologies." The man slid back amongst the others.

Shimada watched as they approached a large door, unlike the others it was heavily reinforced and the security guards stationed in front of it made it clear that entrance here was heavily restricted. Seeing them approach they stepped forward to meet them.

"No entrance without the proper authorization." Guns at the ready they stepped forward to halt the group. "Identification papers please."

Shimada handed them his papers but it seemed that even he was denied without the proper authorization. "You cannot pass sir, you will need to wait until commander Sohara arrives."

Shimada nodded and told the rest of his men they would stay put, they did not have the clearance to go inside when the doctor arrived.

"I have a bad feeling on what lies behind that door." One of the men muttered as they took in the sight of the door, it was equally massive and Dai had to agree with the man. Whatever it was that was being kept there it did not bode well to him or for the safety of the girls.

The Kiseba research facility had already established a reputation for developing advance weaponry and most of their recent work had been towards anti-vector technology amongst others, still what in god's name where they building in here.

He and the others turned their heads when they heard voices approaching, looking carefully he was shocked to see several high ranking members of the chief of staff making their way towards them.

He was further shocked to see commander Kanbe being present as well, further along he also noticed a man belonging to the first escort fleet. Judging by the insignia he had to be an admiral but that likely meant he was the acting fleet commander, with such high ranking people present he knew that something big had to be going on. That little dinner he had planned with Mako was going to have to wait, he needed to inform the others of this first.

"There, rest of you are dismissed, commander Shimada if you will follow us." They made it clear that their presence was no longer wanted here and the group left, Dai felt some relief as he could likely leave earlier but that didn't take away the ominous feeling he was having.

Breathing a sigh of relief that she had made it home she sat down, her knee was still aching and it hadn't gotten any better even if she had used a taxi for most of the journey to get here.

Taking of her shoes she flexed her toes, she was glad that she could finally grab some rest and use an icepack to cool her knee. "Nana-chan, Nyu-chan, I'm home." She shouted.

Not much of a response greeted her but then that was not all that weird in this house, the girls were likely just enjoying themselves and hadn't heard her. Taking it a bit slower she made her way first to the kitchen, much to her surprise it seemed that Nana had already taken care of things though from what she could tell they had made a rather simple dish. Well that did mean there was no risk of it having gone wrong like most of her other more elaborate dishes.

Going further down the hall she was somewhat surprised to not see anybody in the living room as well, that didn't leave much more places in the house unless they were playing perhaps hide and seek.

She laughed at the thought of that, surely that was something that would be suited to do outside in the summer but then it was a pretty big house she had to admit. With so many rooms left they could easily hide themselves and not be spotted or found for a while. "Now where are you hiding?" She muttered as she checked the washroom, nobody there as well.

"Girls where are you?" She called once more, having checked up stairs as well there was only one place left but she couldn't imagine why they would all be in the bathroom. For that matter there wasn't even enough room both them all in the bath.

Getting closer she could just make out the sound of splashing water and laughing, it seemed that they were indeed all in the bathroom. Oh she prayed that Kyou could at least behave herself for the moment, slowly approaching the door she stopped to listen. Planting her ear against it she could clearly make out the voices of Nyu, Nana, Saeko and Ryou, all giggling and laughing as there was something going on.

She shot back as she suddenly heard the loud voice of Kyou yelling at the others, guess it had been too much to hope for and she braced herself for what she was likely going to see inside.

Her blood ran cold as a blood curdling shriek came from within, taking a deep she took a firm hold of the door and making a little prayer she flung it open. Eyes open and ready for anything she yelled. "Kyou-chan what do you think you ar-!?"

The sight of what she saw silenced her. Her breath caught in her throat.

Suddenly ripped from the street Kouta had little time to react before a hand closed around his mouth. "Keep your mouth shut punk and listen carefully!"

He recognized the voice, he had heard it before but struggling to tilt his head he couldn't get a look at who was holding him, that said he couldn't even move the rest of his body.

"Are you daft kid, stay still or she will find us both? Stop struggling and keep your cool! Damn brat!" The man snapped at him again after he had tried to break free. Then it hit him, who was this "she" that the man was referring to.

Being kept in place he finally noticed who it was that the man had warned him about, just appearing from around the corner was the assistant, dammit she must have been following him. He felt sick in his stomach that he had been so careless, how could he have been not been making sure that he wasn't being followed. He felt like an idiot.

As the assistant vanished from their sight he felt the man's grip on him loosening, feeling relieved he turned around to face the man and offer his thanks but upon seeing him he heart sank to his shoes. He was staring right in the face of the same who had now on three previous occasions attempted to kill Nyu. "…Y-You…?" He gasped.

"What's the matter kid, lost your tongue from the sheer joy of seeing me again?" The man grinned at him, it was anything but a comforting smile to him and Kouta's first reaction was to run.

"Don't try that kid, she might get you and if she doesn't I will for certain! I also know where you brats live so don't get funny with me!" His hand hovered over a holster kept at his side.

"W-What is that you want from us, a-are you still after Nyu-chan?"

Bando nodded. Aye I still am but for the time being I am going to help you kids survive the oncoming onslaught as I doubt that a couple of brats even have the faintest idea on what kind shit storm is going to hit them. You have made some powerful enemies and they are hell-bent on finding your precious Nyu, hell they would even raze this city to the ground I'd say."

"T-That is crazy, the government would never allow for something like that." Kouta objected as he did not want to believe it, surely they wouldn't be so foolish.

"They sanctioned for SAT to kill a teenage girl on sight or have you forgotten about our first night out." He sneered as he held up his right arm for Kouta to see. "I remember it all too well."

"B-But they can't just do that, there are innocent lives at steak here."

Lifting him up by the collar Bando looked at him. "Foolishness, kid. Foolishness." Waiting for him to stop struggling he continued with his little lecture. "Might controls everything and without strength you cannot protect anything. Let alone yourself." He let him drop on the ground and taking in the sight of him sitting them he gave asked him one simple question. "Do you brats have the strength to protect yourselves?" Watching around the corner he did not wait for Kouta to give an answer to his question. "Come on kid, we need to get away from this place, I will show you a different route to get to that Inn of yours without running the risk of bumping into her."

Still keeping her pace she started to notice that there had been no sign of the kid anymore, had she lost sight of him or had the kid noticed her. She uttered a low curse as she stopped in the middle of the alley. "You have got to be kidding me, I lost him. No that cannot be, he could not have noticed me at all."

Looking over her shoulder she wondered if she needed to go back and try to find him again but the chance was likely that he had by now gotten enough of a head start on her. "Well that certainly is irritating, where could he have possibly gone to?"

Looking at her map she noticed much to her own disappointment that there was no Inn anywhere near her, surely he wouldn't be walking for another thirty minutes to reach it.

No she had to have missed something, an Inn located nearer but that wasn't on the map or the books. Why could she not find it, perhaps it would be better for her to go back to her apartment and consult them once more to try and find out where this mystery hideout of theirs was located?

"Nice work kid, you should enjoy your peace while it lasts as I fear it will be over soon for the both of us." Guess it had been too much to hope for that she could follow the kid all the way to his house, it didn't matter as she gotten a lot closer and now she did have more information to work with and to narrow down the area in which to search for them.

"Not much to do but go home and enjoy a nice warm bath." Folding back the map she turned around and went back the way she had come; now she just had to hope that she was not going to get lost here. It was likely that she would receive a call from the chief demanding to have an update on her hunt, just thinking about was already starting to give her an headache. That man could really work on your nerves just by being himself.

Following Bando closely he was shown a different route. "So Bando-san, that is what Mayu-chan called you back then on the beach? Why if you hate Nyu-chan so much are you willing to help us? brats?"

Bando didn't reply, instead preferring to keep his attention focused on the streets up ahead. They had avoided the assistant with practiced ease but it seemed that he was not taking any further risks and somewhere Kouta could find some admiration for that kind of thoroughness

"You're not planning on giving me answer right? That makes it hard for me to trust you in this, you know that if you try anything that he will not let you get away with it."

Reacting with such speed that Kouta did not even have the time to blink, lashing out he grabbed him by the collar and like before lifted him off the ground before slamming him into the wall behind him. "Shut up idiot! Your friend has been keeping me informed for some time now and called me to look after you brats, you honestly think that you can make such a bluff against me!? Wake up punk or I will punch those eyes open for you!"

That couldn't be, Kouta refused to believe that Dreachon could have even considered in letting this man help them, to him it was insane and yet it had happened. It made him question to what degree he could trust the man any longer, how many things had he arranged behind their backs without even letting them know?

"…I don't believe, I will not believe that he would sell us out to the likes of you."

Bando just shrugged his shoulder at the kid's denial. "Then don't, see if I could give a fuck. But know this, your friend isn't all that you seem to think he is. The man's a cold blooded killer through and through. Besides for that matter so is your girlfriend or have you forgotten all the people she killed on that bridge, I was there as well."

Yeah he did remember that and it wasn't a memory he cherished at all, but he also knew that that person wasn't Nyu at all and the other side had promised him never to kill again.

"…She promised me that she wouldn't kill anymore, I need to give her a chance..." He objected but deep down inside he felt that Bando was right, what her other half had done could never be undone. Many people had died and the story of the Diclonius was already one covered in the blood of innocents, it wasn't surprising to him why people hated them.

Allowed to stand on his feet again he asked Bando a question. "Do you hate them? Do you hate all of those girls just because they are not fully human?"

He smiled. "I don't hate people because of who they are, their skin color, beliefs or from what fucking country they come don't matter to me. I judge people based on their actions and the actions of your little Nyu have really pissed me off, make no mistake kid. Once this whole mess is done I will have one final showdown with that horned bitch and I will not let any of you get in my way then."

Letting him know that the coast was clear to move on he left instructions on how to proceed.

After that he said his farewell and just left him there alone in the alley. Waving him off he kept on walking going back towards the beach and his hut, if he kept going on with the kid he would likely run into both the horned bitch and that girl, right now he wasn't really in the right mood to see either of them. "Not today horned bitch, not today."

"What is this?" Shimada could hear the admiral ask as they took in the sight of strange craft in front of them, truly it was unlike anything he had seen before. The simplicity of its oval shape belied the advanced technology that had gone into its creation.

"It's a newly developed weapon, unlike anything that came before it."

The admiral frowned. "A weapon?" With a certain disbelief he gazed at the craft again.

"No, rather… I'll say it's a shield to protect humanity." The minister informed him. "This time the mission is to overtake the Diclonius Research Institute and retrieve any vital information with regards to the vector virus." They all listened as the man informed them of the upcoming mission. "We cannot use weapons of mass destruction as they would destroy the institute and the information we are after. However the enemy has forces that would render conventional weaponry useless." He pointed out at the craft. "Without this the mission cannot be accomplished, their deployment is absolutely vital to the success of the operation."

Shimada knew all too well what the minister was talking about, he was also aware what was hinted with the enemy forces and it was one he had expected. The DRI still possessed a sizable stock of diclonius and although it had considerable dwindled over the years even the few they had left would be enough to make a difference. They would either need to resort to chemical or even biological weapons though such usage would only lead to public outcry if they were to find out.

"Conventional weaponry wouldn't work?" The admiral asked in disbelief, the poor man Shimada told himself. He had no idea what they were going to be facing.

"There are two important matters that you must take into consideration before transporting it. Firstly you must not move or shake them."

"Using ships to transport it across the sea and saying not to moveor shake it. That is impossible." The admiral remarked with a snarky tone underlining how foolish the man's explanation was.

"Oh right, I see your point. As long as there are no major vibration you should be fine, a heavy impact would probably cause it to discharge. Make certain that you keep that in mind."

The admiral was becoming suspicious with each word, the look in his eyes told Shimada already that the man would likely not even contemplate transporting the craft, he would need to be forced to do so. Then again not even he would be foolish to disobey a direct order.

"What on earth is that thing? Some kind of bomb?"

Not even getting an answer the minister moved on towards the second point. "And then there is the second point, do not get interested in this craft. Your task is simply to transport this craft to the DRI and that is it." The man paused for a moment allowing the admiral to process the information; in the meantime Shimada had noticed that commander Kanbe and one of his associates had stepped forward. He wondered what role Kanbe would have to play in it.

"You will also transport the crew as well, this makes your job solely the transportation of the craft and its crew to the island. That's all."

Letting out a deep sigh the admiral lowered his head to look at the floor. Still it seemed he did not get the full picture on how grave the current situation was becoming. "Commander Kanbe you are authorized to deploy craft three to twelve, craft one and two will be transferred to commander Shimada and be deployed in the Kamakura area. Given that Lucy is still within the area. Under no circumstances can she be allowed to be recovered by the DRI or escape, termination of her is crucial."

The men nodded and with that Shimada left the hall, he had work to do now.

It was a mess that she not seen before. How was it possible the girls could have done this?

The entire bathroom was covered with water, soap and shampoo, it was just about everywhere. Towels were scattered all over the room and most of them were completely drenched just as well, it would not surprise her if there wasn't a single dry piece of cloth left in here.

"… W-What have you girls done in here…!?" She was in an almost state of shock, already the cleaning up of this mess was easily going to take her the entire evening with ease for that matter.

Nana and Kyou were frantically struggling with each inside the bathtub with Ryou doing her utmost best to pull them apart, Saeko was tending to Nyu who apparently was lying fully naked on her back on the floor. She did not even want to know what had caused this and right now she felt more inclined to go back to her room, take some aspirin and just not think about it. "…Can anybody try and explain to me why this happened, why can't you girls just get along when we are gone?"

"Oh my god, what happened!?" Mayu gasped as she appeared next to Yuka, she was shocked even more than Yuka at finding such a scene. Placing her hands before her face she didn't know else to say. Even in the old days when Nyu was in essence behaving like a child she had never made such a mess before.

"Mayu-chan." Yuka sighed as she turned towards her. "Could you please head to the storage room and get as many dry towels as you can, I fear we are going to need all of them."

Still with her eyes wide open she nodded and then left, meanwhile Yuka couldn't do much else besides shaking her head in disbelief. Her knee was still aching, she needed to let Nozomi have a look at the injury on her head and to top it all off she now needed to clean up this mess and give these girls the lecture of a lifetime.

"All of you, get out of the bath now!" She yelled as she slammed her fist against the door frame. "You are all going to help to clean this mess up and after that I want a good explanation on what happened and who started it!" She gazed at them all with a venomous look in her eyes; she would not accept any excuses anymore.

Almost in unison the girls bowed their heads as they came to realize the trouble they were in now. "We are sorry Yuka-san." They announced as they all sat down waiting for her to make the next move.

Somewhat exhausted and still a bit tense Kouta finally arrived back at the Inn, the route he had been told to take had worked. It was one he would remember but somehow he did not even feel in the slightest bit comfortable that Bando had helped him, sure he had done something right but it did not take away that he had threatened and abused them at multiple occasions.

Mayu considered him to be a good friend but looking back he could not agree with that view, to him the man was somebody that he could likely never trust no matter how hard he tried.

That said an element of doubt had started to form with regards to Dreachon, was it really true what Bando had said and if so how much more things was being kept from them.

It made him question if they had actually done the right thing when he had offered them the choice, would it have been wiser to have rejected it and go on with their lives?

All in all things were getting crazier by the day it seemed, the assistant was back to her hunt. When was this madness ever going to end, when would people finally leave them alone?

"I can't despair, I need to be strong for them. They all rely on me as well." He told himself as he needed something to keep him motivated, yeah there was something that would keep him motivated alright. Family, these girls were part of his family now and he would be damned if he would just let those people come in here, abduct them and then abuse them as they saw fit.

Bando was right there when he had said that without strength one could not protect anything, even so he was not going to give up. He may lack the strength and skill compared to the likes of Bando, Dai or Dreachon nor possess such a powerful ability like the girls did but it would not stop him from giving it his all.

Clearing his head with a few deep breaths he opened the front door and stepped inside.

"You look somewhat concerned, did something happen at work?" Mako asked as she saw the expression on his face as Dai entered her house. "It isn't good is it?"

"Yeah your right, it wasn't good at all. I fear that the high command is planning on undertaking military actions, if it is alright with you then-."

Placing her hand against his lips she told him that is was okay if he wanted to cancel dinner. "Go to them, you just warn them and if you are there could you also give my best wishes to Saeko-chan?"

He stopped at the door. "I know that there has not been made a decision on you visiting the house but if you want you can come along with me in the car, I could actually use the company." Already he had her coat in his hands though she appeared to be a bit apprehensive.

"Wouldn't that get you into trouble? That would be the last thing I would want."

He laughed at hearing her concern. "Well as long as you stay in the car there shouldn't be any problems, besides they might just let you come in."

"You are just being a little too optimistic about this, don't rush it for my sake and besides I think that their safety should come first." She tapped him on the chest. "We will take my car if you don't mind, at least then I won't have to worry about getting dumped." They both had to laugh hard at that remark of her, well it certainly helped to lighten the mood and lift his spirit.

Opening the door for her he gestured. "Ladies first then I guess."

"Well aren't you being a gentleman now. Be kind and grab my purse will you?"

Sitting there with their arms crossed Yuka and Kouta both stared at each other before turning back to look at the girls all sitting in front of them. Mayu and Nozomi had wisely chosen to keep themselves busy with cleaning the dishes to stay away from it all.

"Okay if you girls just us what happened there and who started all this then I promise that I won't get mad at you, that sad I am pretty disappointed and I had hoped that some of you would have known better."

Yuka chimed in. "We know that things haven't been exactly going well lately and that you girls hate being stuck inside the house. If that is part of the reason then we too have a share in the blame for this but you must understand that you cannot keep going through with this."

There was a moment of painful silence, for now it seemed that none of the girls were willing to talk. Why was is that they preferred to stay quiet over something that wasn't even that severe?

The silence was finally broken when Kyou stood up. "It was my fault, I am the one who started with it all… we were just trying to have some fun… let of off some frustration."

Kouta was taken aback by this, he certainly had not expected for her to be the first to explain let alone to take the blame for it. Yet he did looked at the other. "Is that true, did Kyou-chan start this little fight of yours? Just give an honest answer, we won't be angry at you."

"Kouta-san… I… uhm." Nyu wanted to say something but she appeared hesitant about it, was there something she did not want to tell them. "Not entirely… it was me actually who started it… she did not do anything wrong this time."

Well that certainly caught both him and Yuka by surprise, they had thought that by now Nyu didn't revert back to her old antics but there it was. And just when they thought they had heard it all both Nana and Saeko came forward to explain their participation in it.

She sighed as it became apparent that everybody was the culprit in one way or another, strangely yet was that in this case Kyou really didn't do all that much wrong other than to react to one of Nana's taunts.

"Okay well you girls did help me out with cleaning up your mess but we are going to have further talk about this tomorrow, until then you should go to your rooms." Watching as the girls all get up she called Kyou and Ryou back to sit with them.

"There is something else we need to discuss with you two."

Somehow it did feel somewhat wrong but she and Kouta had talked about this before. "This is rather painful for us as well to say but I'm afraid that with the way things are going it will become more difficult to have the two of you here with us."

"It is not like we don't want you here." Kouta chimed in as he could already see the effect of Yuka's talk on their faces. "But there is a lot of tension between you and the others and while both share the blame I guess it might better for the two of you to find a different home. However until we can find one with people who will treat you right you can stay here provided you behave." His gaze fixed on Kyou though he had no ill intend.

With tears already in their eyes the twins looked to each other and back at Yuka and Kouta with an equal mix of anger, desperation and fear.

Before either of them could react there was a knock on the door followed quickly by Mayu opening the door. "Ehm it is Hirano-san, he says it is pretty urgent."

"Please let him come in." Yuka informed her before looking back at the twins. "You can go to the kitchen and then get yourself something to drink, after that go to your rooms. We will talk about this tomorrow."

Even though there was a certain reluctance in their eyes both Kyou and Ryou followed without arguing with her.

"This day is never going to end I'm afraid."

Holding tight to her seat Yamada was feeling anything but pleasure in the bumpy ride of the helicopter, the turbulence in this region had been much stronger than the pilots had informed her of. "Damn bastards making fun of me." She cursed as she could hear them laugh from the cockpit, the moment it touched down she would teach them some manners.

It had already been a long and tiresome flight to her, truth be told she would be glad to get onboard the ship if though with this kind of weather it was likely that the ship itself would be no comfortable stay anyway.

Going through the files she had been impressed by the extent the ship was being modified, now it also became clear to hear why the chief had never mentioned or had ordered any reference to it to be purged from the DRI databanks.

This ship was going to be the carrier to bring his plans to fruition; still it made her wonder how long this project had been ongoing. Surely it must have been initiated a long time ago as the components for it were not easy to come by, even for a man as wealthy and influence as the chief. Just how much power did the Kakuzawa clan truly possess if they could afford such an extension conversion?

There was a certain megalomania about it that she found amusing. "Yes this really has your work written all over it." Even then it wasn't going to be an easy task to make certain that the crew would stick to their allotted schedule.

"They will have it completed even if it means I will have to whip the flesh of their backs in order to do so. The chief will not be disappointed, I will not fail him." Biting back on her lips she ushered another curse as the helicopter was starting to shake violently, no doubt those two excuses of pilots were struggling with the controls. Oh she prayed that she was not going to die simply due to their incompetence. "If they let this helicopter crash in the ocean before we reach the ship I will personally choke them before they have a chance to drown."

Leaning her head back against her seat she looked at her watch, if everything was proceeding according to their flight schedule it would only be a few more minutes before they would finally reach the ship. "I can't wait to get off this flying deathtrap."

Finally at last there came the announcement from the pilot she had been waiting for.

"Fasten your seatbelts, we are about to come up on the Akashi. Might be a bit violent until we touch down, strong crosswinds." She wanted him to just shut up and get on with it.

Finally after having gone through what must have been the most violent landing of her life she could finally set foot on the deck. "I'm here to oversee, take me to the captain now."