Gun shots rang out through the darkened hallway as the click of heels signalled an approach to the gun shot's source with measure steps. The individual reached a light at the end of the hall way where the sound of the gunfire was the loudest. Stepping into the light was the Researcher in the same getup of black smart trousers and light blue shirt beneath a large white lab coat, she pushed up her glasses gracefully to observe the room, however her gaze was callous and cold.

Within the lit room was a fairly extensive firing range, with various targets situated from the firing point. Aiming at the targets and firing carefully placed shots with one of his specially built emerald green pistols was the Operator. He was at this point not wearing his long military coat or combat vest and tie, exposing the black shirt usually worn beneath them as well as a double pistol holster over the shirt. He was also not wearing his formal military cap replacing them with a pair of sound muffling headphones, this lack of his usual head wear showed off his almost black hair with a slight extremely dark green hue. He was still wearing his gasmask however, largely covering his face save for his highly focused eyes.

The Operator noticed the Researcher's arrival, taking off his sound muffling headphones and stepping back to a metal table situated a few meters behind the shooting range. He then pulled out one of two metal chairs placed by the table.

As the Operator sat down he removed a cloth from his pocket as he proceeded to take apart his pistol and carefully wiped down each piece, "You need me for testing something?"

The Researcher walked across to take the other chair situated across from the Operator, crossing her legs with a casual bravado, "Hm no, actually I'm on break."

The Operator held a slight chuckle in his reply as he continued to carefully clean each part of his weapon, "Ha I didn't think you took breaks, you always seemed like such a busy woman."

The Researcher observed the Operator's cleaning for a second with a playfully raised eyebrow, "You know you don't have to do that right? The life fibers built into the weapon's frame can automatically consume and dirt and debris that touches the surface belonging to any part of the gun."

"I'm aware." The Operator responded as he refused to cease his work, "To me its more than just cleaning, it helps me get in tune with the gun, lets me more easily treat it as an extension of myself."

The Researcher scoffed as she turned to stare at the rooms right wall, away from the Operator, her gaze was lost in boredom, as if the wall was a window to see a far away sight, "Hmph, how Illogical..."

The Operator raised his eyes from his work for a second to look at the Researcher before looking back down at the gun parts, "Are you sure giving life fibers to those... Thugs, was a good idea? We need all the life fibers we can get to reach our goal don't we?"

The Researcher replied, turning her head but not her body back to the Operator, "Its fine, we need them to be capable of being a threat to the nudists for them to serve the purpose we require of them, which should be better than I originally hoped as it seems based on the combat data retrieved by the Reaper, Nui Harime is far weaker than I was expecting her to be, perhaps her revival had some... drawbacks for her life fiber's capabilities."

The Operator responded with an ambivalent mumble, "You still shouldn't underestimate her, nor Ryūko for that matter."

The Researcher retorted with a smug smile, "I don't plan to, but at any rate with the growth rate of the life fiber colony we should still be able to meet our goal within the expected time frame, the life fibers we gave to those thugs is the equivalent to taking a glass of water from an ocean."

The Operator answered in return with a dejected grumble, "But you still want us to go out there and try to retrieve life fibers in the wild..."

The Researcher snapped back "Well of course, any life fibers you can find in the field widdles down the goal's completion deadline."

The Operator sighed as he set down the pieces of his weapon, "And giving away our life fibers to a bunch of two-bit criminals adds onto that deadline..."

The Researcher leant back into her seat, creating a bridge with her hands as she laid them on the table, "The benefits we can gain from the time the nudists are chasing that red herring out weighs the time taken off from giving said herring the life fibers." She then leant forwards, lying her hands flat on the table, "But that isn't what I wanted to speak to you about."

The Operator crossed his arms expectantly, "Oh yeah? And what's that?"

The Researcher elaborated with intrigue, "Well... its about you, you've never told anyone about why you joined the servants, except for the CEO that is..."

The Operator replied with raised eyebrows, "None of the others talk about why they're here, and besides why would you of all people want to know about that?"

The Researcher gestured with her arms spread open, "Its a part of my job to be curious after all, and well... I feel it would be easier to trust those who use my masterpieces if I know more about them."

The Operator gave a simple unenthusiastic "Hmph."

Leaning in, the Researcher stared intently at the Operator, "How about this... I have a new upgrade for your thread regalia in the works, if you tell me about why you joined the servants then I'll tell you what the upgrade is."

The Operator leaned forward as well, "If I said no, would you really jeopardise our mission by not telling me about this upgrade of yours?"

A mischievous smile emanated from the Researcher's face, providing a better answer than any words could.

The Operator sighed in acquiescence, "Fine fine..." He began to elaborate, a subtle melancholy permeating through his voice, "I was in the military when I joined the servants, having served for five years, its not like I had a calling for it, but my dad he was also in the military so I guess you could say he sorta got me into it, although he wasn't really around when I joined."

"What happened to him?" The Researcher questioned with soft curiosity.

The Operator was quiet for a moment, weighing up the will to answer before doing so with a solemn tone, "...He was killed ten years ago, so five years before I enlisted. Should be about a month away till the anniversary of his death actually... I was just thirteen at the time."

The Researcher casted her eyes down to the table, "I see..."

The Operator continued, "I wouldn't be the man I became if it wasn't for him, and that includes being a servant of the threads, around the time he died he was working as a professor in an institute studying life fibers in secret. Weird career change I know, but what mattered more is how he turned from working for the institute to being an agent for REVOCS."

"REVOCS?" The Researcher seemed somewhat surprised.

"Mhm" The Operator reaffirmed, "He was tasked with being a mole in that very same institute feeding information back to the company. Of course I didn't find this out until years after, but when I did it made more sense than you would think. My father was... A pessimistic man, he would talk a lot about the horrific things he saw, going around the world from battlefield to battlefield, his experiences met with atrocity after atrocity. And... I would meet the very same sights when I joined... and then his words hit ever harder."

The Researcher met the Operator's gaze, "And what was these words?"

The intensity increased in the Operator's voice, as he poured his emotion in what he was going to say, "My old man would say there's two types of people in this world; Liars and fools. Liars use fools to get what they want and fools use their ignorance to avoid becoming liars. Both are worthless. One will use those that hide behind ignorance to their advantage and the others are the one hiding behind ignorance, refusing to see the horrors in this world. You have to transcend this as an exception to the rule to truly change this horrific cycle, but as long as people like that are a rarity, things will never change. That is just human nature."

The Researcher nodded with understanding, "So he turned to the life fibers..."

The Operator replied, "Yeah... My old man believed that life fibers are the salvation for humanity, that to be consumed by them is to be more than food, but to become one with them, that humanity's minds would be preserved within the life fibers while transcending to be free of the nature that makes us destroy each other as we exist eternally amongst the stars. And well he's spread that belief to me, so when the CEO found me, telling me of a group with the same beliefs as me? joining it was a no brainer."

The Researcher responded with a cold confident smile, "And what about the nudists? They believe the life fibers want nothing for humanity but to use them as a resource."

The Operator scoffed as he picked up his gun from the table and slotting it into one of his holsters, "Hm, I can't hold it against them for being ignorant, but as I said; Liars and fools."

A slight chuckle came out of the Researcher's mouth as she stood up from the table before patting down her lab coat to rid it from folds, "Alright, as I promised, come with me to the testing chamber. I'll show you the upgrade, perhaps you could even try it out for me."

The Operator in turn stood up from the table as well, answering back with playful banter, "I thought you were on your break."

The Researcher answered back as the two made their way out of the shooting gallery, "You don't know? I don't take breaks."

Leaving one headquarters and going to another, Mikisugi observed behind the glass of the observation window into the testing chamber where Ryūko and Nui duked it out. He watched with a focused gaze and eyebrows furrowed in befuddled frustration, seemingly lost in anxieties for the future as he was unimpressed by what he saw.

True Nui was on the offensive, throwing a flurry of strikes towards Ryūko as she dashed towards her. Ryūko parrying the blows as she maintained distance with a back step.

Nui's back bent backwards as her face turned up to the ceiling, seemingly blown back by Ryūko's parry. Nui using this to wind up her next attack, her posture snapping back up like a pulled rubber band, Nui carrying the momentum into a swipe with both claws.

Ryūko blocked the attack, with both her blades crossed against each other, the impact of Nui's claws with Ryūko's blades leaving a shockwave in the air.

As soon as the swipe's of Nui's claws met Ryūko's weapons, Ryūko's mind was hit with a sudden observation, "Has she gotten... slower?"

Ryūko quickly retaliated by sending her knee flying flying into Nui's stomach. Nui seemingly not reacting to the attack, simply taking the hit without much of a whimper. Ryūko followed up her knee assault with a swing from one of her blades towards Nui's head.

Surprisingly the attack connected, and in a most gruesome fashion, as it proceeded to sever the top half of Nui's head from the rest of her body. Blood spurted out from where it used to be, the remainders of Nui's face becoming her mouth and chin while the top half splatted on the floor behind her, almost gliding away via her enormous twin drill hair.

Mikisugi, Clone Nui in her spectral form, and even Ryūko was wide eyed in surprise, as True Nui's body seemed to stumble before collapsing onto her back, a pool of blood gathering on the floor around where the top half of her head used to be.

A few seconds passed by before Nui's body began to twitch. It then suddenly picked itself up off of the floor with laboured motions, like a baby learning to walk before making it's way towards the severed piece of Nui's head, which's eye was open and looking about with a frenzied pace as it spasmed uncontrollably.

The body picked up the half of her head by one of the twin drills before slotting it onto where it used to be before being sliced off as if she were a cyclist putting on her helmet. She then waited expectantly for a second, before snapping her fingers in impatience.

"Oh right!" Clone Nui realised this was her cue as her spectral form rushed over to sew the invisible crimson threads between the severed piece and the rest of true Nui's head.

And thus quickly after clone Nui finished her work, the wounds in true Nui's head sealed up and her head was back to normal.

True Nui felt her face, touching several parts and even pinching in areas, almost as she was operating a machine and checking for faults, "You can have that victory." She addressed Ryūko strangely casually with a monotone feel of disappointment in her voice.

Ryūko's shock simmered down into taken aback acceptance, "Right..." However as Nui began to walk away Ryūko snapped back, "Hey Nui! What the hell was that?"

Nui answered back in quiet irritation, "What on earth are you talking about...?"

Ryūko continued, her eyes squinting with infuriation, "Come on, your attacks were weaker and way slower than the last time, so what's going on? you taking it easy on me or something?"

Nui answered with a defeated sigh, "I wouldn't say that... Just still not used to needing to try, so I got rather tired of it."

This very notion only served to confuse Ryūko, "Huh?"

Nui replied, catching on to Ryūko's befuddlement, "So you haven't noticed..." Ryūko's eyes widened before Nui elaborated, "Ever since I... Awakened I have been disturbingly weaker than I used to be... Its like I'm back to being a novice starting up combat training..."

Ryūko scoffed with irritation, "Never felt like that before."

Nui snapped back angrily, "I would damn well hope so! If there's anything I remember learning from lady Ragyō, its to hide your weakness. I would usually do it via never playing my full hand, fighting with elegance... Now I have to put all my effort into the fight while pretending I'm not putting any in at all..."

Ryūko uttered a dismissive, "Right..."

Nui however turned away as she seemed to become more and more furious as she uttered to herself through seething hisses and clenched teeth, "I used to fight like a queen of the battlefield... and now... And now!" She pressed her foot into the ground hard enough to leave a crack in the stone of the testing chamber floor, "And NOW I fight like a rabid animal!"

Ryūko almost gasped, met with another sight piercing through Ryūko's understanding of who Nui was, "Nui?"

Nui refused to turn towards Ryūko, as she continued clenching her teeth hard enough to almost shatter them. And without a word she marched off out of the testing chamber, Leaving Ryūko to watch her, confused on how to feel.

Mikisugi scratched his head before reaching down to activate the the receiver for the testing chamber speakers, "Just er... Head back to the hotel for now, Nui is probably heading to the car right now anyway."

As Ryūko began to leave from the testing chamber, Tsumugu appeared stepping forwards to stand next to Mikisugi in the laboratory, as he joined him in looking into the testing chamber, "Yo, how's your little experiment going?"

Mikisugi sighed with frustration, "Could be going better to say the least, seems like all we've achieved is breaking down Nui's self esteem..."

Tsumugu answered back without skipping a beat, "Then kill her." Mikisugi vocalised an uncomfortable sigh as Tsumugu continued, "If She can't get the job done then she's just a liability, someone that's dangerous enough to need a leash but not dangerous enough to our enemies to take 'em down ain't worth keeping around."

Mikisugi refused to reply with stone cold silence, as he continued to gaze intensely into the testing chamber.

Tsumugu turned to look at Mikisugi, "You don't have to be the one to do it this time, just let me push the button for her collar and we got one less pain in our asses."

Mikisugi finally answered, simply but firm, "She WILL get the job done."

Tsumugu tutted with aggravated disapproval as he turned to walk away, "Tsk your own friend but not the bitch that put down the old man, what a fucking joke."

Mikisugi returned to becoming stoically silent, as Tsumugu exited the laboratory. An air of melancholy surrounding him like a dark cloud.

A female nudist beach agent in a lab coat approached Mikisugi hesitantly, "Sir? Are you alright?"

Mikisugi turned his head to the agent, putting on a calm and confident smile, "Yeah I'm fine thanks."

The agent replied with her own wry smile, "Oh no problem sir, by the way we have a team going with Nui and Ryūko to the hotel to finally set up the new barrier system."

Mikisugi responded, retaining his usual playful flourish, "Excellent, now we can be absolutely sure we're ready if anyone is stupid enough to fall into that honey pot."

"Sir? Are you sure you're ok?" The Agent continued to press, noticing a fault in his demeanour.

Mikisugi answered, furrowing concerned eyebrows, "Er yeah... Why ask again?"

The Agent, the reservation clear in her voice, "I just know that you're the kind of person to stay quiet when something is hurting inside..."

Mikisugi's face broke with surprise before reforming into a sombre smile, "Ah I see... I guess, I'm just not ready to talk about it right now."

The agent nodded solemnly, "I understand... But we're all here when you need us, Since we don't just see you as our boss you know."

Mikisugi gave a quiet, short but grateful chuckle, "Thank you, I'll be sure to keep that in mind."

Meanwhile, Ryūko made her way through the headquarters lobby towards the entrance.

She let out an audible "Hmph." As she was met with the sight of Nui on the outside of the building leaning casually the glass door.

"Surprised you're not waiting in the car." Ryūko stepped through the glass doors, staring off at the black armoured car parked outside of the building.

Nui's gaze was drawn to Ryūko, although this quickly changed as she turned to pout, "Tch this driver wasn't comfortable spending any time alone with me."

Ryūko smiled slyly, "Can't exactly blame 'em, anyway lets get going."

Nui replied with a dismissive "Mhm."

However as the two began walking towards the vehicle, a voice rang out as an individual stepped out from the front doors, "yo bimbo bitch."

Nui, realising the insult was of course directed at her, turned her attention back to the door to see Tsumugu staring at her with his usual malevolent glare, "Ugh it's you." She remarked with annoyed exasperation, "What do you want ugly mohawk man?"

Ryūko looked over her shoulder at the two with a curious glint in her eyes, however she turned back to walking towards the car.

Tsumugu replied to Nui, un-phased by her sassy antagonism, "Woulda thought you'd learn my name by now."

Nui retorted, "Oh I have, but if you think I can be bothered to use it then you're sorely mistaken."

Tsumugu responded with almost bemused understanding, "Hm fair enough."

Nui snapped back impatiently "Anyway cut to the chase, what do want?"

Tsumugu answered as he steeled his gaze, "Not much, just to tell you to stop pretending to be something you're not."

Nui raised her singular eyebrow, "Excuse me?"

Tsumugu elaborated, "Heard what ya said back in the test chamber, how now you fight like a rabid animal? Why are you pretending like that ain't exactly what you are?"

Nui clenched her teeth as a hint of anger crawled across her face, "You either got brass balls or that dumb mohawk is sapping out your IQ."

Tsumugu pressed on however, "I've seen your memories, how you fight when your backs against the wall, its your true nature, I know because I've fought the same way. So How about ya get off your high horse, cut the prissy bullshit and accept what you are."

Tsumugu's words seem to drudge up the same rage as before within Nui as it began to bubble back to the surface, Nui's furious glare meeting Tsumugu's cold judgemental gaze, "How dare-"

"YO! You still going over there?! I Don't wanna be here all day y'know!" Suddenly before the sparks between Nui and Tsumugu could grow into an inferno, Ryūko shouted out from over by the car.

Ryūko's voice seemed to break Nui away from her argument as she turned to walk away as Tsumugu continued stare at her with his unrelenting poker face.

As Nui entered the car, Ryūko gave her a quick look before turning her head back towards the entrance to see Tsumugu standing there before turning to go back inside the HQ. Ryūko then shrugged before getting in the car as well, a moment later the car pulling away from the building.

Returning to the hotel, Ryūko and Nui passed through the security checkpoint stationed in the lobby, the agents checking the two with various devices, including, metal detectors, blood pressure monitors and even radiation detectors.

During this, something gained Nui's attention as she shot a curious peek around the nudist agents carrying out their checks. What she saw appeared to be several nudist agents, carrying out what appeared to be construction work on the lobby, carrying panels of black metal material, drilling them into machinery embedded in the floor and laying various cables.

Nui's peeking was broken however as the checks were complete allowing the two to head upstairs.

Ryūko collapsed on the sofa immediately upon reaching the hotel room, throwing her arm casually over the side. Nui sat cross legged on the front of her bed, leaning forward as she held her head in her arms, propping them up via her elbows on her knees.

Ryūko took out her phone as she sighed with exhaustion, "Man I'm starving... Gonna get some take out for lunch."

Nui replied, the boredom oozing through out her tone, "Didn't you do the same thing yesterday?"

Ryūko answered with irritation, "Had pizza yesterday, gonna get some Chinese food this time and besides, all that exercise burned a lotta calories."

Nui responded unenergetically as her attention lackadaisically wandered out the window seemingly into the distance, "I see you haven't figured out how to maintain your bodily intake with your life fibers yet, can't really blame you, took a while for me to master that..."

Ryūko casually tapped her phone's screen casually with on hand, "You like Chinese food Nui?"

Nui continued to stare out the window as she answered, "If I tried it before then I don't remember... Maybe on one of my missions." She then fell onto her back on the bed, her face towards the ceiling, "I tried a lot of foods back then... I wanted to try all that I could when I became grand couturier, although I had a particular fondness for sweet things."

Ryūko replied with a casual sassiness, "Oh yeah? Didn't know you were much of a foodie."

Nui elaborated as a tinge of melancholy creeped its way into her voice, "I had a strict diet back before I became grand couturier, since I hadn't learned to manage my body via my life fibers and they needed me in peak condition."

Ryūko pushed herself up to peer over the sofa with one arm, "A diet? W-what kind of diet?"

Nui responded almost as if she ranted to herself, refusing to face away from the ceiling, "They had what was called "Nutrient cubes" they were a few centimetre long, I ate only three per day and they tasted like carboard, but they supposedly had all the vitamins, proteins and energy supplements I required... Still I hated them."

A bead of sweat dropped down Ryūko's head as she was hit with the awkwardness filling the scene, "R-right..."

Nui continued like she was caught in a trance, "The other part of the diet was the regurgitation sessions every other day, that ones pretty self explanatory, at first the sensation was like filling my mouth with acid each time... but eventually I got used to it."

Ryūko uttered in disgusted surprise, "Christ..."

Nui suddenly sat up, a furious look splayed across her face, "But the worst part about it? Was that shit head of a handler!"

Ryūko was taken aback but the sudden out burst of anger, "Handler?"

Nui seemed to simmer down upon seeing the look on Ryūko's face, "...He called himself "Dr R" he was a truly pathetic human, but he had skills and... dedication, that made him a useful asset, so he was tasked to overseeing my development to become the grand couturier, development including; my behaviours, my physicality, psychological state etc. a task he was fiendishly avid about."

Ryūko raised a morbidly curious eyebrow, "The hell does that mean?"

Nui was quiet for a moment before answering, "Well for one he augmented himself with machine parts to prevent himself from needing sleep, so when he was around he would observe me every moment of every day, and if I did anything considered... unrefined, then I would get a shock via a device implanted in my spine, since I hadn't learned yet to control my pain receptors, the device was also meant to help train me in that as well. The bastard would even shock me while I was sleeping just because I wasn't sleeping in a way fit for the grand couturier."

Ryūko replied with a wry expression, "Yeah sounds like a real asshole to say the least."

Nui let out an aggravated sigh, "And the worst part is, even when I became the grand couturier and got the chance to kill him, the bastard was elated, always calling me "his masterpiece" I wonder what he say if he could see me now..."

Ryūko tried to cut through the awkwardness with a more positive tone, "Well fuck him, that guy's work is down the drain now."

"I never wanted to be a product of his work." Nui responded with over coming solemnness "I just wanted to make Lady Ragyō proud..."

Ryūko matched Nui's solemn demeanour, "Cuz that's the only thing that mattered to you right? I get it, its just like what we talked about before at Satsuki's house, you can't fight if you're too scared to lose your reasons to fight along the way and that was your reason to fight. But y'know Nui in the end you gotta face the music, one way or another, and that means accepting the truth; that things aren't gonna go back to the way it was, but by rising up to meet that truth, you can make something better out of it."

Nui snapped back, "So what? let loose? Fight like a rabid animal?!"

Ryūko answered simply, but her words cut through Nui's lashing out like a hot knife through butter, "Why not? It was that bastard that beat the refined methods into you right? So what better way to spite him than throwing all those methods in the trash? To be truly free."

Nui face froze up before looking down at the floor in dejection, "Maman would be disgusted with me..."

Ryūko retorted like a therapist trying to get through to her patient, "She doesn't have to know, and well... Baby birds gotta fly the nest sometime, right?"

Nui was quiet for a moment as she suddenly raised her head with a stern gleam in her eye.

Ryūko almost jumping expecting to get into another argument, however Nui responded calmly, "If I'm gonna fight like that... I may commit to a heretical sin..."

Ryūko was hit with sudden confusion, "Huh?"

Nui turned her head away, holding her chin as she uttered to herself, pondering with an intense look on her face, "Without a god robe and without the power of my original life fibers... Yeah there would be no other way... But can I really do it? Lady Ragyō would be furious with me even considering such a thing..."

Ryūko continued to be confused as she prodded in befuddled curiosity, "Er Nui?"

Nui built up the confidence in herself with deep breathes before turning back to Ryūko, her eye now aflame with determination, "Ryūko, I need you answer me just one question."

"W-what is it?" Ryūko answered as the tension climbed in her face.

Suddenly A sinister razor sharp toothed smile crawled across Nui's mouth, "Would you be willing to defile yourself for your power? For the awakening... Of your true nature?"