The Phantom Thieves were prepped and ready to go. They were Alice's Jail, looking over the warped Shibuya. "Alright, Let's begin the operation." Mona said.

"Our first order of business is the Treasure route, correct?" Fox asked.

"Yeah." Mona nodded. "I'm sensing something Treasure-like over…that way, towards 705." Mona confirmed.

"That's where you were taken when they captured you, right?" Queen asked.

"Yeah…" Skull grunted, annoyed. "Just thinkin' about it pisses me off. That piece o' shit was so full of herself."

"Skull-senpai…you are saying things that my mouth wouldn't allow right now." Violet said. She was still extremely bitter about the treatment Joker received. She wanted to get her revenge for that too.

"It must have been bad if Violet is upset." Dragon remarked. She was usually the most well- mannered of them all, so it said a lot that Violet was noticeably upset about all of this.

"So Alice is in there now?" Panther asked while her gaze was directed on the 705 building in the distance.

"You know, it kind of looks like a castle." Noir pointed out.

"A castle ruled by a Monarch – I admit, it's rather fitting." Fox nodded. Dragon also nodded in agreement to this statement.

"So, we're heading to the castle?" Oracle asked.

"Looks like it." Joker said while adjusting his glove. "This place is crawling with Shadows from what I remember. I don't think it's going to be like our past operations. But it's nothing we can't handle when together. So watch your backs out there."

"Got it." Sophie nodded. "I'll watch your backs out there."

"And please don't run off on your own, Sophie." Violet pleaded. She could only take so many heart attacks.

"We don't know the opposition we'll face, and our numbers are much larger than before." Queen said. "We'll have to proceed with caution, but we'll follow your lead, Joker."

"And if we're stuck, I'll be counting on the rest of you to help with a plan." Joker nodded. This was a team effort after all. "Alright then! Enough standing around. Let's go!"

.

It took a little while for a few of them, but the motions of being a Phantom Thief slowly but surely returned to them. They made their way to the 705, the entrance to the castle up ahead. But as expected, things weren't going to be so simple. "Hold it!" Oracle shouted. "Spotlights confirmed up ahead." Multiple spotlights that completely barred entry to the front door of the castle.

"Guess there's no chance of using the front door." Dragon let out a sigh. "I should've known it wouldn't be that easy." But she did have a little hope.

"Okay, so the front entrance is out." Joker said while stroking his chin.

"Why don't we try another way?" Noir suggested. There was some scaffolding they could climb nearby. "Anyone up for a little climbing?"

"I wish it was easy." Panther looked at the size of what they were about to climb.

"I think this'll work." Mona was looking ahead. He could see a path that led to a side entrance within the case. "Getting into the castle would be a cinch." They had their plan. So they began to make their way up along the side of the nearby building. But they would find even that route was cut off by more searchlights.

"More searchlights ahead." Sophie reported.

"Why don't we just sneak past them? They're smaller than the others?" Skull suggested. He was even willing to go first to try it out. Violet decided to go with him. The moment he poked his head around the corner and stepped forward a single step, a gun began to open fire on them. Luckily he was more than fast enough to react to this and practically flung himself backwards. "H-Holy shit..!"

Violet let out a surprised yelp, but she was able to flip back gracefully to avoid being shot. "O-Okay, I suppose that route is out of the question." She was sweating a bit, a little shaken, but ultimately fine.

"Before anyone asks, I will not brute force this with my shield." Dragon spoke up. "I think it's wiser to shut down any power and security we can before advancing. Oracle, is there a way to shut this down?"

"Looking it up…" Oracle said, typing away. "Ah, okay. The power source for this particular system is south of here."

"South! Okay." Panther paused. "…Where would that be?"

"In reality, it'd be somewhere around Maruku City. Must be some sorta facility providing power over there." Oracle explained.

"That's pretty far away…" Panther let out a small sigh. This was similar to a Palace infiltration, yet totally different at the same time. But they had no choice but to get going.

.

.

Maruku City was a little ways away. They had a lot of distance to cover, but they were approaching it soon enough. "It's just up ahead." Oracle reported. "Oh, but wait…!" Everyone stopped around a corner. There was a small drone hovering in the air not too far away from them. It was blocking the way and sneaking around it was a near impossible task.

"What appears to be the problem?" Sophie asked.

"Looks like the security here is a little tighter than expected." Joker reported.

"Do you need me to take care of it?" Sophie offered. She was already prepared to dash ahead, but recalled Violet's pleas for her to not do that.

"Allow me to take care of this one." Dragon said while pulling out her trusty sniper rifle. "If I recall correctly, multiple Shadows can spawn from even a single entity. So…Fox, Sophie, and Violet. Would you be so kind to follow up my shot?"

"Of course." Fox nodded.

"Just say the word." Violet smiled.

"Okay, I've got it." Sophia replied.

Dragon picked Sophie, because she figured this would be the best way to see what their new member was capable of. Violet stated Sophie's abilities had to be seen to be believed. With those three chosen, Dragon waited for the drone's search light to face away. She took aim, and then fired. "Firing!" The bullet soared through the air, striking the drone in the back and knocking it down to the ground. Multiple Pyro Jacks collapsed from the air, stunned from the sudden impact. "Now!"

"Gorokichi!" Fox rounded the corner, sprinting forward while drawing his sword, his Persona appearing behind him. In the blink of an eye, Fox passed the Pyro Jacks. The ground was completely frozen over, and multiple icicles stabbed the enemies before they had a chance to react. A lot of them were finished off in that swift strike, but the others were cleanup duty for Violet and Sophie.

"Ella!"

"Pithos!"

Whereas Violet summoned her Persona, Sophie's makeshift summon acted in unison. The others watched as the two of them began a barrage of light onto the remaining Pyro Jacks. They were felled instantly and swiftly as well. "Enemy eliminated." Sophie said.

"Whoa…" Dragon blinked.

"I'm not sure what I was expecting, but that was cool!" Oracle beamed.

"I didn't take Sophie for one to use light magic as well." Queen said.

"I copied Violet." Sophie replied, bouncing a bit.

"She makes it sound so natural…" Noir still had a few questions as to how Sophie worked in the Metaverse, but she would roll with it for now.

"Let's keep moving." Mona said, getting everyone back on topic. They had to continue their way through this maze-like area, leaping onto various buildings and cupcakes to make progress.

"Wait." Panther came to a halt, staring at one of the cupcakes in front of her. "…I'm gonna have a taste."

"…I feel as if you're setting yourself up for disappointment." Dragon said with an exasperated smile. Panther did try, but she was unable to.

"What the heck!? It's not real!?" Panther kicked at the lie of a cupcake that was in front of her.

"…I did warn you." Dragon patted Panther on the back.

More importantly, there was a huge gate in front of them. They arrived to Maruku City, but they were barred entry. "Maruku City is right here!"

"Behind that big ass gate!?" Skull shook his head. "How're we supposed to get through there?"

"I don't see any way to open the gate either. We'll have to find some alterative." Queen suggested. Forceful entry was obviously off the list, they were trying to be sneaky after all.

"I doubt climbing will be the option." Fox said.

"Sooooo…" Panther whipped around, pointing to a nearby building. "Why don't we climb up there instead? I dunno if it'll help…"

"But it's worth a shot! Great idea as always, Panther!" Mona said with his usual enamored tone. Skull just snickered. Oh, he just couldn't wait for that bombshell. But they had to keep moving, finding the tallest building they could. And this involved having to slide along a few narrow edges in order to cross. "Be careful, everyone."

"This isn't so bad…as long as you don't look down." Oracle made sure her back was flat against the wall, carefully shuffling along. She was having an easy time…easier than Panther, who was having trouble finding her balance.

"This…isn't suited for me…" Panther said. She was a little too top heavy for this. It wasn't exactly a smooth process, but she was making her way along somehow. Luckily, she made it across along with the others. "That was stressful."

But now they had a pretty nice view of the area around them. "Whoa! Check out this view!" Mona said with glee.

"Hey…" Skull gestured to something in the distance. Something he'd never seen. "What's that birdcage lookin' thing there?"

"Oh, there's something shiny in it." Panther pointed out.

"Could it be a Treasure?" Noir asked.

Mona shook his head. "Nah. It's actually something totally different…"

"But it seems like it's connected to the searchlights." Oracle pointed out. So this was a high priority object for them to go after.

"Hm…" Dragon knelt down, peering through the scope of her sniper rifle. Even with her scope, she couldn't make out what the object inside of the bird cage was. "It's likely guarded. But that's the least of our concerns at the moment. I don't foresee a way we can even get close to it."

"I thought about using my grappling hook, but I didn't see any good spots for it." Joker shook his head. "Anyone else got any ideas?"

"I don't think I see anything resembling an entrance…" Queen sighed.

Violet was thinking for a moment. If they couldn't go in from above or the front door… "Can't we try approaching from below?"

"Below?" Fox looked at Violet. "What brought this idea on?"

"Well, I was thinking about where Alice tossed us. We never explored that area fully…we were just focused on escaping at the time." Violet said.

"Violet's assessment is correct." Sophie spoke up. "There is a high chance there is a path in that area."

"Wasn't that area a sewer?" Dragon asked. "Perhaps it won't be that bad…"

.

.

Nope, it was that bad. The moment they entered the underground tunnel system, the stench hit Dragon's nose and she scrunched her face up. "Ugh. It's that bad…." There was also a large yellow gate in front of them, barring access to the rest of the area.

"Would you believe me if I said it can get worse?" Violet looked over to Dragon. "The area we were dumped in was a trash pit…ugh."

"She dropped us directly from her throne room, if I had to guess." Joker said while looking up. "I doubt we'll find a way in there through here, so it's best to just focus on the task at hand.

"This does lead directly under Maruku City…" Oracle said.

"But how are we going to get through?" Queen asked.

"Welp, looks like we're swmimin'!" Skull said.

"Nope, nope, nope. Nooope!" Panther shook her head. Was Skull seriously suggesting they swim in SEWER WATER? Absolutely not. She refused. "I am NOT swimming in that."

"I refuse." Dragon shook her head. She didn't feel like she needed to explain why.

"Not happening." Queen shook her head too.

"I would prefer not to as well." Noir said.

"I…also have to agree. I don't want to touch that water." Violet said. "Not your best suggestion, Skull-senpai. I'm sorry."

All of the girls immediately vetoed the idea. Skull rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly in response. "I-I was just jokin'! Come on…!" He said this, but he could feel Dragon's judgmental gaze peering through his soul. She had multiple reasons to not buy that excuse.

"Solution." Sophie said, walking over to a nearby vent. "We should be able to pass through here. No sewer water required."

"That's a relief." Panther sighed. The last thing she wanted was to swim in such dirty water.

"Alright, let's use this." Fox said. He was the first one to crawl through, Mona and Joker following. No matter the formation, Dragon was the one who felt the need to bring up the rear for…obvious reasons.

"Agh, it's so damn cramped in here. I keep running into Panther's boots." Skull grunted.

"Run into anything else back there and I'll show you how much damage these boots can really do." Panther said with a low, threatening tone.

"A-Ah, no no, it's fine! Please don't…" Skull would shake his head if he had the room.

.

By making their way through the waterway, the Phantom Thieves were able make their way to the tower within Maruku City. As they entered, they noticed numerous jail cells around them. "Hey, what's going on here?" Skull asked.

"Are…these jail cells?" Queen was looking around.

"Look at all the prisoners….!" Noir gasped. There were so many people locked behind cells.

"Are these all the people whose Desires were taken?" Queen said.

"I see some familiar faces." Mona said. "There's no doubt."

"We have to rescue them!" Panther shouted instinctively.

"…I don't think it'll help." Dragon shook her head. "I know you want to help…you've always been like that, but they're in no state to be freed. The best way to free them is to deal with Alice."

"…." Panther let out a sigh. Dragon was right and she knew it.

"If they've lost their minds from having their Desires stolen, they'll need them returned first." Fox stated.

"Shit…how could someone do this to people…" Skull couldn't believe what he was seeing. Trapping people's Desires like that…

"…Panther-senpai." Violet looked over to her.

"What is it?" Panther tilted her head. The conversation was going to have to wait because a Shadow appeared in front of them. "Ack-!"

"Who're you!? Where'd you come from!?" The Shadow asked.

"Looks like we're busted…!" Mona said. He was right, because a mob of Shadow soon appeared around them. "Let's get 'em, Joker!"

"Hold a moment." Dragon said while shaking her head. "You and the boys can go up the tower, I think the girls and I can handle things down here?"

"You sure? This is a lotta dudes…" Skull said.

"No, I'm with Dragon." Noir nodded, her axe at the ready. "For the most part, you all are already warmed up. It's been a while since we've gotten to fight. I'd like to get back into it." To warm up, and for the violence. "Things would go too fast if all of us fought down here."

"I could use the exercise myself." Queen punched the air.

"Lord knows I need the warm up." Panther cracked her whip. "Don't worry, we can handle it."

"Go on, Senpais! You can take the next one." Violet told the boys. They were out voted, so they would go up the tower for now. But if things got bad, they would leap into actions. Something told the boys they wouldn't be needed anyway.

"I will stay for support." Sophie bounced up and down.

"Alright girls! Let us begin!" Dragon said while staring at the mob that surrounded them. Multiple Silky floated forward, all of them throwing multiple spears of ice towards the girls. Dragon was the first one to act, her mask burning off as she held her arms out in front of her. "Bella!" Bella appeared after a long rest, holding her shield up to defend everyone from the incoming ice. She did wince a bit, since these Shadows were a bit stronger than anticipated, but she held strong. "You won't break through my Aegis!"

Panther bent her knees and leapt into the air, her whip blazing. Once she was above Dragon, she began swinging her fiery whip wildly, causing the Silky to cry out and attempt to retreat backwards. "I don't think so!" She slammed her whip across the ground, multiple pillars of flame shooting out to create a wall and prevent their escape. Panther's mask then burned away and Celestine appeared beside her. "Burn!" Celestine tossed a gigantic fireball at her targets, carrying them into the nearby wall before exploding, even taking out numerous guard Shadows due to the blast radius. "Nice work, Dragon!" She said, high fiving Dragon.

"You as well, but we're far from finished yet!" Dragon said, turning to the rest of the enemies around.

Violet leapt onto some candy that was strung up by a balloon. She had the perfect position to drop it, so she cut the line and fell with this dangerous piece of candy to the ground. "Noir-senpai, it's going to you!" Violet said, leaping off the candy at the last second before impact. It fell on top of and crushed several Shadows. As for those nearby, they were flung into the air helplessly.

"I'm very grateful!" Noir smiled before her mask burned away. Lucy appeared in front of her, her dress opening up to reveal the heavy artillery she was known for. With a somewhat of an overexcited smile, Noir pointed her hand forward dramatically. "Firing!" Multiple bullets and missiles were fired from Lucy's weaponry. The bullets pelted the airborne Shadows, while the missiles just violently exploded everywhere, creating mass carnage and destroying many foes in its wake.

"What are these people!?"

"They're crazy!?"

"But the Monarch is crazier…!"

The Shadows were bickering about wanting to fight or run. Most of them wanted to fight out of fear for Shadow Alice, but a number of them realized they were a little outmatched. The moment they turned to try and flee, Queen was already waiting for them on Agnes. She revved the bike a few times, glaring towards them. "Where do you think you're going?" She asked before putting the pedal to the metal, driving ahead to mow down multiple Shadows with her dangerous driving.

"Hee-hoo!" A few Pyro Jacks attempted to put a stop to this, throwing fireballs in Queen's direction to hit her and knock her off her bike.

Queen wasn't going to be dissuaded by this. Instead, she welcomed the challenge, driving around the incoming fireballs. She then hit the brakes and turned, violently side swiping the Pryo Jacks. A wave of nuclear magic followed suit, washing over dozens of Shadows in the process.

"Whoa….." Sophie was watching in awe. "They're so strong."

"Aren't they? That's why they're my Senpais." Violet said with a proud grin. "They need this more than I do. They look like they're having fun."

"Should I assist?" Sophie looked to Violet curiously.

"You don't have to, at least not yet." Violet replied. "I learned that it's important to learn how everyone fights, so you don't accidently get in their way. Isn't it a great learning opportunity for you to learn as well, Sophie? You've got a lot of people to watch, after all."

"Understood. I shall watch and observe, to learn how everyone fights." Sophie replied with a nod.

"They've taken out so many of us…!"

"We can win this! We have the numbers!"

"Keep fighting!"

The Shadows were trying to boost their own morale to win. To that, Dragon just scoffed and took a few steps forward. "I highly doubt that." She said as her mask burned off once again, and she drew the special greatsword in her possession, only used for special attacks. "You should've surrendered." Bella appeared behind Dragon, and the two of them lifted their blades into the air. This prompted numerous sword composed of almighty magic to appear in the sky above the battlefield. "Heaven's Blade: Retribution!" Another attack based off of her tactics in Shogi. She and Bella brought their swords down together in unison, causing the blades in the air to rain down onto the ground. Some Shadows were struck while others just narrowly avoided the swords that jutted out of the ground. Dragon then lifted her sword and snapped her fingers, these blades of magic exploding in a chain that completely wiped the area clean of all the remaining enemies in the area. "Checkmate."

"Whew…" Skull was watching all that from below. They weren't even all the way up the tower yet! "…I forgot how scary they can be sometimes."

"…You and I both." Joker nodded in agreement.

"…You know, I'm beginning to realize how the numbers are not in our favor." Fox mentioned.

"…Don't let them hear that." Mona said. Eventually the boys made their way up to the top of the tower and inside the birdcage. The girls soon caught up.

"Whew! I needed that." Noir said with glee.

"That was very refreshing." Dragon nodded.

"Did you guys check out the shiny thing yet?" Panther asked the boys.

"We're just about to." Joker said grabbing the shining sphere. It was…a dress with blue and white strips. "Uh…"

"Is that…a dress? It is rather cute." Noir liked how it looked.

"I've seen this before…" Panther was pulling from her memory. "It's a dress from Alice's lineup. I recognize it from a fashion magazine."

"Wait, that DRESS made the searchlights here? Does that make any sense?" Skull didn't think it was logical.

"Well, we're in the cognitive world." Queen brought up the excellent point. The Metaverse had a certain logic to it that was only somewhat related to the real world at times. "Maybe it holds some sort of power here?"

"It could be her own power source." Dragon suggested.

"I think it's something like that." Mona agreed. "One could say that Alice's brand is, in essence, what allowed her to become what she is today. Proof of her dominance as a Monarch. This core should be a power source for this Jail."

"…Mm…" Violet went quiet.

"Before you get too excited…" Oracle was going to be the bearer of bad news. "The searchlights are still up. Two of them, anyway. They have their own power sources…and the closest one is in Miyabi park.

"Agh. What a pain in the ass…!" Skull groaned. That was so far away!

"…By the way, we should have a reference for these areas." Fox said. "How about, Incarceration Zone?"

"In…car…so…" Skull was attempting to pronounce the word but failed. "Who the hell would call it that!?"

"Suggestion: A different name." Sophie said. Clearly a long winded name like that wasn't going to fly with everyone.

"…These areas are for protecting the Jail's power sources. So how about Prison Keep instead?" Mona suggested. That seemed to be a hit. Now they could start moving on…

"Oh, yeah." Panther looked back to Violet. "You wanted to ask me something?" They were interrupted by the fight earlier.

"Mhm." Violet said. "You said that in the interview, Alice was lonely and didn't have any friends…?"

"Yeah, why?" Panther tilted her head.

"Well, I was just thinking…" Violet wasn't sure how to phrase this. It was probably a rude assumption too. "Hearing her speak before, how she was talking about people becoming someone else. Do you think she actually hated who she was before?"

"…It's possible." It was something Ann considered as well. The real Alice she saw in that hallway earlier in the day was something she didn't want to believe. That kind of behavior had to come from somewhere. "I don't know. But I do know that I want to save Alice too." She couldn't stand Alice's actions, but she wanted to trust in Alice's words before. How she wanted to be a ray of hope for people.

"…I hate what she's done, but I want to save her too." Violet replied. "I want to see which Alice is the real one before I make my judgement call, though."

Panther smiled at Violet gently. "Me too." They still had a long way to go in Alice's Wonderland. But their motivation would easily carry them through this long task. This was nothing the Phantom Thieves couldn't handle after all.