Irony...


The smooth music filled the room, slightly covering the clinking of the metal hitting on the plates and the low chatters from people around the restaurant.

" I see. So far, you've been doing a great work, Eva."

The man praised the woman by his side who gave a coy smile. She brushed back her black hair.

Eva: " I told you chief, I'm your woman when it comes to profits. Just leave the budget to me."

" I belive I can leave the whole country to you if I want."

Eva's sneer widened by his comment as she reached for her tea and sipped it. So far, her work was proceeding very well. Despite what she heard about what happened to their other members, she didn't bother worrying. No one was better than her in slipping away. She was always the one who covers for the others' mistakes and slips.

Eva : ' men are so dump...'

She thought to herself. Her eyes suddenly widened as she let go of her cup and the liquid poured down on the table and her clothes, startling her guests.

She didn't give it a thought and grasped the napkin, trying to force out what she had swallowed.

Eva: " hurry and call an ambulance...!"

She called out warily before she felt smothered and fell to the ground in front of everyone. The last thing she heard were the screams of the waitress before she was completely out...

Jessica bit on her lip as she entered the room where Yagami was and whispered something in his ear. His eyes shot wide open at the news and then flicked back to the man on the other side of the table. So far, the head of Crysta Ingram wasn't the least bit cooperative, nor was he thankful for the effort they had done to save his life.

Yagami: " we were just informed. Another member was poisoned in Dubai."

If he felt anything upon hearing the news, he did well hiding it.

Reiji: " so... Eva is dead?"

He said frostily, carefully gauging their reaction. Jessica was the one to answer, seeing how she was well informed of the situation.

Jessica: " her fate hasn't been decided yet. They're saying her situation is critical. The poison actually managed to damage her nerves badly. She is under tight supervision."

Her voice was steady and calm although inwardly she was livid at how fast their enemy was striking.

Yagami exhaled as he sat down on the chair again.

Yagami: " you can't fool yourself. You know the situation isn't in your favor at all, nor it is in ours as a matter of fact. Unless you cooperate and give us the information we want. I'm afraid all of you will be down."

Reiji : " we're already all down..."

He spoke up, much to Yagami's surprise.

Reiji: " all is left is that man. And let's face it, without all of us, he can do nothing. It shows just how strong, yet weak, we're at the same time."

Jessica squinted her eyes at him.

Jessica: " you're talking about the head of CIS, aren't you?"

Reiji: " who else? He is the only one left out there. And the World Savers are playing around and left him to the very end, so just to traumatize him."

He snorted at that thought.

Yagami: " where is he?"

The auburn head insisted again.

Yagami: " unless we find him, his life is in danger."

Reiji: " I know."

He looked away at nothing specific as if contemplating on his choices.

Reiji: " they got Eva, I doubt it will take them long before getting to him as well."

His fingers wagged up and down on his arm in thoughts.

Reiji: " what can I get of helping you?"

Jessica and Yagami seemed shocked at his words.

Reiji: " if I leave things as they're, he will be killed, and I will be prosecuted for the things you have against me. If I speak and you save him, then you'll question him and I'll stand trial for three times those things. I have to secure my safety rope if I daresay."

Jessica shot him a dark glare, wondering how could he bargain them at that situation while Yagami remained indifferent.

Yagami: " if you help us out before your secret organization is down, it will be the same as turning on them. And this will be very helpful on your case."

Reiji: " and can I trust you will both report back that I helped?"

His eyebrow shot up as he gave them a quizzical look. Jessica stiffened, not liking the idea. Yagami's head bobbed much to her surprise.

Yagami: " I promise."

When detecting no trace of deceit neither in his voice nor in his face, Reiji leaned forward on the table and took off his glasses.

Reiji: " there is one place that man can run to..."...

Japan...

Yuuki : " are you sure about this, Ban-kun?"

Ban: " yep, defeating Leviathan is certainly more important than the assigned class project."

Yuuki skimmed through the blueprints within the brunette's laptop most interested in them.

Ban: " you think it's possible to create them?"

Yuuki: " there is nothing we can't make here in Tiny Orbit. We're not the top LBX company for nothing."

His eyes glistened with confidence as he began copying the blueprints and working on improving them along the brunette.

Not far from them, Eva and Ruri were also working on their own with the help of Haruka and Jun'ichiru...

Kirito's room was soon turned into a small maintenance room where both he and Mizel were working on everyone's LBXs.

William, Rina and Otacross claimed the Seekers' base for themselves as they strengthened the company's security.

The other members took turns patrolling the city for infected LBXs...

Jennifer: " one more round!"

Sendou and Asuka swapped worried glances before looking at her.

Asuka: " that was the 12th battle just this evening."

Sendou: " more importantly why insisting on battling us. I mean, we can be your opponents anytime you like, but you seem to only ask us and you're fighting on your own."

His eyebrow quirked upwards as he gave her a questioning look. Jennifer took off her goggles as to look him in the eye.

Jennifer: " it's an important matter to me that I can't reveal. But please, one more time!"

Asuka sighed as rubbed her head.

Asuka: " sorry, but that will have to wait."

Senodu: "our shift is due and we have to get our LBXs to Mizel and Kirito for further tuning."

They grabbed their units and headed out.

Asuka: " you should give your units to the professors to tune as well. I've never seen you or Ryan doing so."

Jennifer promptly shifted to face them.

Jennifer: " nah, we're fine."

Sendou: " even though, it won't hurt to let them take a look every now and then."

He said before they both disappeared behind the door. Jennifer heaved a sigh before Ryan's voice resounded from behind her.

Ryan: " I see you're so set on defeating them. How much wins so far Jen?"

Jennifer: " 8 losses 4 draws this evening. 3 wins on the long run."

Ryan: " wow! You! Only three!"

He exclaimed pushing himself off the frame of the door as she passed by his side.

Jennifer: " for god's sake, it's them Ryan! They've always been strong! What else did you expect?"

Ryan: " Asuka-san, yeah I get it. Though Sendou-san, I frankly doubted he was even playing anymore. Yet he is really strong."

He pointed out as he trailed after her, trudging down the corridor.

Jennifer: " you never had the chance to witness one of his battles. Of course he is!"

Ryan rolled his eyes.

Ryan: " that aside. You know that challenging them again and again won't sort things out."

Jennifer: " I know, but at least I can get closer to her."

Ryan: " suit yourself. As for me, I'm going to do some maintenance on Astray. You're welcome to join me at the hall."

He said taking a right and disappearing behind the double door of the hall. Jennifer, having nothing better to do, flowing after him...

Albert was like a kid who had received his long awaited birthday present, strutting in between all the machines wheezing loudly in his long white lab coat which was flapping behind him with each step he took.

Albert : " never have I dreamed to be so close to such futuristic technology."

He stopped to admire the pieces as they got assembled together, forming their long awaited army. The blunette inhaled deeply, relishing his moment.

Albert: " finally. Years of hard work will be put to effect. All of my data, my blueprints, they're being used for a great purpose. The world we yearned for is just a fingertip away."

" And it shall be in our grasp sooner than you can wish for."

The man whirled around to face the red logo hologram floating overhead.

Leviathan : " everything is going smoothly I trust."

Albert pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose proudly.

Albert: " as long as you've allowed me control over the technology section, you needn't to worry about progress. Results are sure to be pleasing."

Leviathan : " as long as you fulfill your role perfectly, it sure is."

And the hologram dissipated...

They were quite surprised when Takuya called them up to his office, and even more when they found a certain pinkette waiting for them there, clad in her black tux.

Elie: " Touko!"

The woman smiled the best she could at them, yet he aftereffect of all-nighters and stakeouts were clearly visible on her face.

Sendou: " Jessica is not with you?"

Touko: " nope, we've split up. She needs to take care of things back in country A and I'm required here."

She swapped looks with Takuya and once he nodded, she span to face her friends.

Touko: " Everyone, I need your help."

Their faces were washed over with confusion and wonder.

Touko: " the head of CIS escaped to Japan, Tokio city exactly. We need your help to secure him before Leviathan or the World Savers would reach him."

Arata: " World Savers?"

Ran: " they're on the move again!?"

Touko heaved a deep sigh.

Touko: " I'm afraid it's the case. With help from Leviathan, they're slowly and steadily building up their forces again."

William's face contorted at the news.

Aya: " we will surely help. But, Tokio is huge, how can we find him in here?"

Touko: " we know exactly where he is, but he is sure to be surrounded by tough security."

Queen: " we will need your help. The SP fixers' LBXs alone won't make it through."

Sendou pulled a card and his brow furrowed slight.

Asuka: " what was it?"

Sendou: " nothing."

He deftly hid it back down his sleeve.

Sendou: " nonetheless, I doubt we should be wasting our time here."

Touko nodded in agreement before eyeing them carefully.

Touko: " I will be taking a few of you. A large number wouldn't help our mission and the city still needs protection. So Ban, Jin, Elie, Jennifer, Ryan, Ruri, Ken, Ran and Hiro you will be coming with me."

The said players stepped forward with unwavering expressions on their faces which satisfied her. They weren't thinking of backing down.

Touko: " no use telling you to consider this thoroughly right."

Her grin broadened slightly at the shimmer of confidence in their eyes.

Touko: " alright then, get your LBXs in shape. We're moving tomorrow..."...

Jessica secured her helmet before she glanced at the older man by her side who nodded in respond. Right now they were by the door of Omega Dain's building. Their teammates scattered all around the place so to prevent any attempt of fleeing.

Jack gestured with his thumb to the door and their LBXs rushed in, weapons held up. Unexpectedly nothing happened. Not even the slightest alarm sounded. It was calm... All too calm.

The humans followed after the robots very carefully.

Jessica: " no one is here."

She pointed out once they reached the deserted lounge. Jacck felt uneasy about that and reach for the comn within his helmet.

Jack: " team Alpha, team Beta! Infiltration your points!"

A few minutes went by before both teams reported back, saying both the parking lot and the staff rooms were vacant.

Jessica: " it can't be! Have they figured out about our plan?"

Jack took off his helmet and bit his lip in exasperation at their situation. The enemy had seen through their moves and fled before they could get a grasp of him.

Jeanne D: " we have to search thoroughly, maybe they're hiding somewhere in here."

Jessica was next to get rid of her helmet.

Jessica: " right, I doubt they would abandon Omega Dain that easily."

Jack had to agree and with a nod from him, his men fanned out and covered the whole area, searching for the enemy...

On board of a boat crossing the ocean towards Japan, Knight was smirking from ear to ear as his secretary held out the tablet to him, showing him the live footages of Omega Dain.

Knight: " search all you want. That place was nothing but a temporary base for us, there is no need for it anymore after we've manufactured what we wanted."

He took his drink and held it up.

Knight: " to the future world of Leviathan... Thank you, future~"...

Taking Touko's advice, they spend the night working on their LBXs.

Elie: " I wonder why are they after CIS members?"

Jin: " the World Savers had been always after them. But on their own, they couldn't do much."

Ban: " now with Leviathan's help..."

They tried to wipe them out.

Ken: " it's ironic though."

He held a piece of Ranger's armor high to inspect it before giving it to his sister.

Ken: " we're trying to protect the head of CIS. The one, based on your conclusion so far, who had been pulling the strings of the world and causing chaos everywhere."

Elie: " would you rather let him die?"

She rose an eyebrow and Ken held up his hands in defense.

Ken: " not that. But honestly speaking, don't you think he deserves that."

Ban's brow furrowed as he looked down at his LBX's visors.

Ban: " even if what he had done is unforgivable, we can't let him die. While we can stretch out a hand and save him let's do so. It's not our place, nor the World Savers', to judge him."

Elie noticed his hand balling tightly on the table surface.

Ruri: " you're really a kind hearted person."

She heaved a sigh at how soft the brunette was.

Jin: " I have to agree. We can't let people carry out judgement the way they want. It will only lead to more hatred and mistakes. We can't let them harm him."

Ken: " even Jin-san too."

Jennifer: " you should take them seriously."

Ruri and Ken looked up at the girl by their side.

Jennifer: " just look at them."

She said flicking her red eyes back to the two men pouring all of their attention on their LBX.

Jennifer: " you can tell they weren't saying whatever, they were speaking from experience just now."

Another glance at Jin and Ban had the Reizetsu siblings wonder what could they had been through to take the matter of CIS head that seriously. Ran and Hiro on the other hand exchanged worried looks.

Ryan: " for the time being, let's take a leaf of their book and do what we can."

His words earned the approval of the rest as they buried themselves back within their work.

Time went by and one by one, they had pulled off from the maintenance room as they finished. The only ones left there were Jin, Ban and Elie with the later two almost finishing with their LBXs.

Ban looked at the black and white haired man by his side, and from the still unstrapped armor frame, he knew he didn't finish yet.

Ban: " Jin, Elie and I are almost finished so let us give you a hand."

As he opened his mouth to answer, the door of the room slid open as Eva entered.

Elie: " Eva? Why are you still awake?"

Evangeline : " never matter, Jin, I will need to burrow Zenon from here?"

Jin rose an eyebrow at her.

Evangeline : " I will explain everything in the morning."

He finally relented and gave her his seat.

Jin: " let me know if you need any help."

He said walking to Elie's side so he can help out with the last tunning.

Evangeline : " nope, I would rather it be a surprise."

She grinned broadly as she pulled her kit from who knows where and started working...

The next day, they were up early and getting ready to leave along with the SP Fixers. As soon as Jin reached the lounge, he found the blonde waiting for him. She smiled widely as trudged over to him, holding up his LBX in her open palm.

Evangeline : " Ta-da. Hope you like the new modifications I've added."

The first thing his eyes caught were the blades strapped on Zenon's shoulders. They were large and beneath them were hidden small beam rifles.

The second was the new shinning hammer. Though it didn't have much difference from the one he had, Jin new immediately it was different.

Jin: " what's-"

Evangeline : " I've modified Titania, you will find it extremely useful later on, trust me."

Jin took the LBX with a thankful smile before his eyes landed on her face.

Jin: " Eva... Have you slept at all last night?"

Evangeline : " nope."

She was still smiling broadly, almost making Jin want to facepalm himself.

Evangeline : " I had to manufacture the pieces. And convincing Kousuke to help wasn't an easy feat, he ranted on and on about me using supposedly exclusive data of his company. And then I had to modify Zenon a tad bit for me to be able to use the blades."

Guilt washed over his face when he heard that.

Jin: " Eva-"

She held her hand up in front of his face.

Evangeline : " nope, I don't want to hear a word of it. You just take this modified Zenon and go risk your life while I go take my nap."

Jin giggled at her.

Jin: " well, putting it like that, I think it sounds kinda fair."

Evangeline : " glad we've reached an agreement. Now go before they forget about you."

She pointed at the cars revving outside Tiny Orbit.

Jin: " alright then, rest well."

As if. She thought.

Evangeline : " be safe."

It wasn't before long that the cars left with all the assigned players on...