Chapter 46: Falling Moon and the Rising Star

"The recent intense thunderstorm led to the first major city-wide blackout in over a decade. Though brief, it left many in the dark, wondering what was going on.

A few deafening thunderclaps were reported within the city itself, with yet another major explosion going off within a warehouse district.

Meteorologists are currently working to get to the bottom of this strange thunderclap, while the police were tasked with investigating the warehouse.

They came back with a quick report stating that the damage to the warehouse was likely caused by a stray, powerful lightning bolt, and fortunately there was nothing of importance inside of the warehouse.

Many cast their doubts at these reports, believing this to be yet another cover-up regarding criminal activity in the city, with the recent cargo platform excavation and warehouse bombing being cited as the source of the citizen's growing unrest with the situation…

It's hard to put a definitive statement on what is happening to the fair city of Seattle, but hopefully, this string of incidents will be put to rest soon enough, so the people can live their lives in peace both day in and day out…"

Lunalei tabbed out of this news article and grit her teeth, flopping her hand down at the side of her bed, and her energyless self let the phone slip off onto the floor.

She dully beat her fist against the side of the bed and then turned onto her side, cuddling her head against the pillow.

"...Does 'Dregs' have someone manipulating the news too?"

If you want to put pressure on crime, one of the best ways to do it is to highlight the criminal's activities in the public eye.

If you want the pressure off though, you give the citizens what they want to hear to believe that a solution is being looked into.

Only the grittiest of truth seekers will act up after that.

That the news article aligned with her latter viewpoint not only confirmed those suspicions in her eyes, but also furthered the point about someone in 'Dregs' being inside of the police station Mark works with.

"...Unless…" She turned onto her back and sprawled her arms out on top of her bed, having this strange twitch in her mind telling her, "I'm overthinking this…?"

She took her glasses off, squinted her eyes tightly, and rubbed them off.

"No. No. That has to be correct. So I should try to have S.A.N.C.T.U.M. infiltrate all the news organizations in Seattle and see…?"

No. Not only was Seattle like, the nexus for news channels in the state, but that wasn't also considering the online news organizations.

And sending S.A.N.C.T.U.M. into the place with a treasure trove of cameras was just asking for her whole operation being exposed, even if she exercised utmost caution.

"..." She pressed her lips into a tiny scowl and then backhanded her forehead, "What is wrong with me, I…should be able to figure out a new route of attack easily."

She keeps turning to her door expecting her parents to drop in and interrupt her anytime, but then she remembered…

"Oh, yeah. Dad's still at work, and mom's visiting Uncle Sol with Xander…" The loneliness crept in like ivy around her heart, "It's just me…and Zelene."

And one quick look at her clock told her, "God, it's already close to midnight? Where did the time go…"

Zelene was likely asleep already, so…

She adjusted her glasses and hopped off the bed to then walk to the edge of her rug and flip it around, revealing a thin teleporter pad she had stitched into it with her senpai's aid.

"Nothing else to it except to get back out there and hunt for Dregs members again…" She dipped into her vest and glided her finger towards a sensor that would activate the pad.

"...Then again, I still haven't run a scan on S.A.N.C.T.U.M. to see what went wrong with him."

After that brief pause she closed her eyes and dismissed these rogue thoughts with a shake, "Wait, am I seriously believing that he saw the Valkyrie's memories? No. It's more than likely the electricity was too much for him to handle. I can up his resistance with a quick tune-up. I need to hurry back to work."

She then committed to her decision in an instant, but upon seeing the pad fail to light up she uttered, "Huh?"

And then ran her finger along the sensor again. A brief chill went down her neck before she realized, "Wait…the only other person who could access this tech is…"

Her heart went from racing in fear to being lifted by delight, as she rounded the bed and picked up her phone, dialing up the security cameras around the house to see if she could catch the rascally visitor in the act.

But when all the cameras came up blank, save a raccoon scrounging for food in the backyard, she hung her head and thought to herself, "Maybe I'm just going crazy…"

Because being realistic, she would be too busy to come visit her anyways…

"HARK!" Came a cry as familiar to Lunalei as the sound of breathing.

She spun around and standing under her open door with arms crossed, posture loose but triumphant, and lab coat waving like a cape, was her senpai Catherine, AKA, the famous, amazing, supercute superheroine Aurian Saturn!

Lunalei's glasses almost slid off her nose when her mouth fumbled the speech check, "B-B-Buh…! Senpai!"

Catherine grinned and proclaimed with aplomb, "Bwahaha! C'mere, my star pupil! Let us engage in our glorious greeting!"

After pushing her glasses back up she ran over and raised her fist. The two bumped knuckles, and Lunalei's smile threatened to extend past her cheeks.

But with her heart racing in both surprise and happiness, she DID have to settle on asking with some mild confusion, "W-Wait wait wait…what are you doing here?"

"Heh heh!" Catherine closed her eyes and the lens of her glasses let off a flare, "Since when have I ever needed a reason to do whatever I want?"

She then pulled her head back and shouted, "Not even the chains of democracy can bind this free spirit down! Ha ha ha!"

Lunalei knew this was blasphemous to do, but she waved her hands down and muttered, "C-Could you keep it down? Zelene's sleeping…"

Catherine's eyes widened and she brought her volume down to normal, "Ah, my mistake. Thank you, my star pupil!"

"Now!" She let herself into her room and wandered around, "Everything seems to be in order here…"

She went and flipped the rug back over and then stood on it, facing Lunalei with a welcoming smile, "Then why, pray tell, did you greet me with your head hung lower than your belly button?"

Lunalei pressed her lips together and even to her most trusted ally, shyly shook her head and tried to pass off a lie as the truth, "I-It's nothing…"

Catherine turned and smirked, "Ha ha ha! You're two-thousand years too early to be trying to pull the ol' 'It's nothing' dialogue option on me, my pupil!"

Lunalei recoiled from a small helping of emotional damage and then itched the side of her blushing cheek, letting off a stutter, "I-I-I…I'm going to be honest, senpai, I don't know."

"Hmmm…" Catherine closed her eyes and thought so deeply that her brows started to wiggle like a brainwave pattern, "My brilliant deduction skills have come up with an answer…"

"That my unexpected presence here has merely made things more complicated for you!"

"I-I mean…" Lunalei pressed her lips together and held herself back, "She's not…wrong necessarily…"

"You…you know NOTHING about what it means to deal with criminals…"

"Some of them can't help the circumstances they were given! They resort to crime because they feel they have no other options left to them!"

"But you don't try to reach out and understand them! The moment they do a 'crime', you paint them black and mark them for death! End of story!"

"..." Lunalei hung her head again and muttered, "Stupid…!"

"Eh?" Catherine chimed in.

"N-Not you! DEFINITELY not you!" Lunalei replied with her hands frantically shaking.

"Ha ha ha!" Catherine took zero offense, "Alright. I see what must be done! Tell me, Lunalei, you're getting to that prime age! Have you gone out to experience the quaint old night life yet?"

"Only through S.A.N.C.T.U.M.'s eyes…" Lunalei made a pop with her lips.

"Then what say you and I enjoy a late night soiree in the town? Escaping familiar sights has always helped ease my mind!"

"A-Absolutely!" Lunalei answered. It helped that she didn't have to deal with work tomorrow.

"A perfect answer from my perfect pupil! Now, if you'll allow me…" She masterfully flipped the rug around when she stepped off it, and then with a twirl she summoned a watch out of thin air and tapped it.

The teleporter pad whirred to life, "My apologies for intercepting the signal. It DID take me a few seconds longer than usual though!"

Lunalei flashed a brief smile of pride before entering the pad alongside her senpai, who took care to make sure the rug was flipped back with the help of her aura before they left.

The pads coordinates had been set to somewhere in the middle of town, with no rain to worry about, and the atmosphere mellow and slow.

Then as Lunalei walked a couple steps out she realized, "This isn't Seattle…"

"Correct! We're in Spokane!" Proclaimed Catherine, trotting out into the paved road and splashing her bare feet against the puddles.

Lunalei nudged her glasses and tipped on the edge of the sidewalk, "S-Senpai where are your shoes?"

Catherine stood in the middle of the street and was grinning impishly, "Hahaha! I've had to submit my feet to too much imprisonment on the job!"

"Ok fine, but what about the three S's?" Lunalei remarked.

Catherine crossed her arms and said in a more relaxed fashion, at least by her standards, "Ah, you're quite right. Oh well! We'll just have to see what happens!"

Lunalei couldn't help but admire that bold side of her.

After crossing the near empty street, Catherine dropped them into a random night lounge.

"One private room for two please!" Catherine declared to the patron running the front counter.

They raised a brow and remarked, "Identification please."

Catherine flicked her card from her sleeve like it was a shuriken into the patrons hand. The details were all accurate, save for the age, which was labeled as 24.

Of course, Catherine's naturally youthful cuteness led to a bit of suspicion. But perhaps, suspecting she was the VP, he decided not to press the issue.

"Down the hall, third door from the right."

"Thank you!" Catherine proclaimed.

As Lunalei followed her senpai like a loyal puppy, she felt a little antsy being in this unknown space.

She had heard about this kind of place from summaries of her parents' dates.

It's a simple place that let's people relax at night without brazen drunks raising a ruckus.

Smooth jazz filled the air, and a mix of dark purple walls and dim red lights kept the place in a perfect mood.

But she had also researched that this was a place where the criminal element loved to come to set up deals.

And she looked at her senpai and thought, "Wow, even when you take time off, you're still looking to stop crime in its tracks!"

Her admiration would've manifested literal hearts from her eyes if possible.

The room they went to had a circular leather couch and a table in the middle. It also had a tablet to order drinks and appetizers, and a music selection function.

Catherine sat down and immediately ordered a glass of milk, and Lunalei did the same.

Immediately after that was over, Catherine slid a tooth shaped fitting across the table.

"Here, put that in. It'll keep our conversation in a language only we can understand."

Didn't take a genius to clue in how the topic of 'Dregs' was going to come up at some point.

Lunalei was curious to know what language I would be though…

"Testing…!" Lunalei blurted upon successful insertion. But the language sounded the same.

Catherine gave a thumbs up though, and inserted the device into her own mouth.

"Ah, of course, WE would still hear English." Lunalei was embarrassed that she was still making these slip ups around her idol.

Once they had their milk and a soft techno beat, Catherine propped her feet onto the table and remarked, "Alright. Parameters have been reset. Maximum coziness achieved! Lets chit chat, Lunalei!"

"R-Right, ummm…It doesn't sound like you're enjoying the job."

Catherine laughed, "Oh, hahaha! Is that what it comes off as? Naaaah, I just gotta deal with a lot of bureaucratic nonsense every day. It's worth it though to see those stubborn farts in office lose a few bolts trying to argue that their fascist ways are somehow better aligned for the people's benefit."

"At least I'm only dealing with one planet's worth of laws. Try managing a cluster for a day, THAT…is a real migraine inducer."

Catherine gulped down her whole glass and slapped it down between her feet.

Lunalei then casually mentioned, feeling a bit happy as she did, "Well, I still got my job. My classmates are solid learners, the pay is good…"

"So you got around the family roadblock?"

Lunalei tilted her hand back and forth and grimaced, "Ehhhhh…?"

"Need some advice?" Catherine offered immediately.

"No thanks. I can manage." Lunalei said confidently.

"Right-o! Then how about your robot partner? Any glitches so far?"

The encounter with the Valkyrie came to mind, but it was a foolish idea to bring it up. And her senpai was too smart to consider it as a viable variable.

"...Then again, the key to advancing science is to explore all possible routes."

"Senpai," Lunalei said softly, leaning into the table with her cup in both hands, "Theoretically, would it be possible for an AI to sync with the brainwaves of another human?"

Catherine sat up and with an eager smirk began wiggling her glasses, "Sounds pretty plausible."

Lunalei flinched, then added an extra detail, "By touch…?"

"Hmmm…a little oddly specific, but a functional hypothesis nonetheless. Describe it in greater detail. And remember, your thesis statement is only good-"

"-if you remember to provide all possible data." Lunalei hesitantly finished it off because essentially, her senpai had already pieced together that she was hiding something.

After a bit of milk to prepare herself, Lunalei held her hands together and relaxed, "S.A.N.C.T.U.M and I got into an encounter with another superpowered individual. They had the ability to control electric fields, generating electricity, creating magnetic fields, the works."

"Uh huh. I'm following!" Catherine smiled fondly.

"S.A.N.C.T.U.M made contact with her when we delivered the final blow, and claimed afterwards that he saw her memories. But that's ludicrous because then I would've seen them too!"

Catherine calmly pointed out, "Was there a blackout in his systems?"

Lunalei was stunned, "Y-Yeah, how did you-"

"Wahaha! As if you have to ask! It seems you already had all the answers you needed! You just needed me to make sense of it!" Catherine then rallied herself up for her grand explanation.

"If your enemy could manipulate electric fields, then it stands to reason that she temporarily hijacked the function of your sphere when S.A.N.C.T.U.M made contact."

"R-Really…?!" Lunalei was pulled aback, "Wow, thank god the enemy couldn't get anything out of him."

"Mmm hmm!" Catherine nudged her glasses and smiled, "Still, that makes…two super powered individuals now?"

"Three. You're forgetting the White Devil…senpai."

"Ah, you ARE correct. This is all a very unprecedented development around these parts, and yet…"

Lunalei waited and waited for an answer and instead got the longest hum ever, "And yet…?!"

Catherine pressed her lips, causing Lunalei to use a little impatience, "Senpai are YOU trying to play the 'It's nothing' card on me?"

Catherine burst into laughter, "Hahaha! Drat! I'm sorry my pupil, but the temptation to air my theories out is too great!"

She then crossed her arms and declared, "But not so great that I shall succumb, and risk overshadowing all your hard efforts thus far!"

"Senpai…" Lunalei groaned with a blush.

"You have answered the call magnificently, Lunalei! Neither night nor day has been an impediment to your justice! And you've even stood strong alongside your partner against two mighty threats."

Lunalei wanted oh so much to smile and back warmly in her glowing praise.

"And yet…" Catherine slowed down and stared at her like a blunt tool, "That is not the face of someone beaming with pride I see before me."

Lunalei pulled her head back and smeared her lips wide, "...A-A…"

Catherine smiled and declared on the spot, "My offer always stands, pupil! If this is getting to be too much, then I will vacate my role as Vice President immediately and team up with you to finish this case."

No, don't do that!" Lunalei sucked her lips in and after nudging her glasses up with little success, she held her hands together and tapped her fingertips together for a bit.

Then she went totally still and closed her eyes, "...Justice…is about stopping evil at the source."

"And igniting the beacon of hope to shine brightly toward tomorrow!" Catherine followed suit.

"...By any means necessary." Lunalei added on her own, independent of what her senpai has ever told her, but now, her voice was clouded with doubt.

"...Senpai, you…you've never been afraid to get your hands dirty if that means giving everyone another day of peace, right?"

"Oh absolutely! I've been in a ton of bone-crunching, back-breaking, oil-slinging, cuss-flinging, blood-spewing brawls across the universe!" Catherine's boast was followed by her eyeing her student and telling her gently, "But I get the distinct feeling that's not the flavor of dirt you're chewing on."

She then closed her eyes and with a wiggling smirk remarked, "In fact, when you said S.A.N.C.T.U.M. delivered the finishing blow earlier…"

"Is it really that obvious?!" Lunalei shouted nervously.

"Easy there, pupil!" Catherine roared happily.

Lunalei stood up and slammed her hand on the table, "I-I was just trying to emulate the way you do things! B-But now because of what some…upstart cop said, it's got me second guessing me…second guessing you!"

"I didn't do anything wrong though! I saved the city! Saved thousands!" For all Lunalei tried to force a frustrated stance, her glasses were dampening with her tears.

"I-I…"

Catherine waltzed up, pulled her glasses off, and then raised the corner of her lab coat, "Glasses are a scientist's most trusty partner! Do not stain them on unnecessary tears, my pupil!"

Lunalei sniffled and then wiped her tears off, upon which her senpai returned the glasses. But she hesitated to put them back on, seeing the reflection of two dead people looking back at her.

"...Senpai, please…tell me I did the right thing."

"It can't be helped sometimes!" Catherine declared, "There are those out there who REEK of pure evil, where negotiations are always doomed to fail! So for the sake of the stars we ignite, their darkness must be taken out!"

Those words were filled with guidance and hope that Lunalei so desperately sought, except…

"However…!" Catherine then added on, putting her hopes on hold, "No matter how harrowing the encounters I face, I always strike forth with the intention of turning my enemies around!"

"W-What…?" It was not only a surprising revelation, but one that put even more guilt on Lunalei's shoulders.

Catherine crossed her arms and nodded twice, "Justice is about stopping evil at the source. Killing is one method, but another…is turning evil into a force of good."

"Some cannot help but lament the circumstances of their birth, and lose all hope, turning their anger and suffering into a weapon to bleed the world with."

"But sometimes all one needs is for someone else to reach out and understand their suffering."

"Humanity desires compassion at it's core! And to that end, they will even extend their search to the vast unknown!"

"But they will also deny themselves that love just as easily! We are nothing if not fickle decision makers, ha ha ha!"

"You may never see eye-to-eye. They may choose to double-down on their hate, seeing no other route left for them."

"But we must never forget to keep trying. For to deny suffering is to walk through life with blind eyes."

She didn't try. "Criminals, terrorists, that's all you ever call them…! When are you going to grow the hell up, and realize that all you're doing is dehumanizing them?!"

She denied someone the opportunity to try. "Had we used the metal rod behind the Valkyrie as a conductor, we could have safely helped her discharge the excess electricity into the clouds. The storm that followed would've been harsh, but…the city would've survived it."

"...We could've stopped her without killing her."

And worst of all, she looked at all that blood spilled before her and committed the ultimate act of arrogance by labeling it "justice".

Catherine ended her speech by thrusting her finger at her student's nose quickly enough to put a shock on her face, "Ask yourself this, my pupil…Did you NEED to kill your enemy? Or did you WANT to kill your enemy?"

Lunalei imagined herself at a crossroads split by both questions. And though she dug her feet into the ground wanting to think about it, her body was being tugged towards the right…

And so, she dropped her glasses.

Shamefully looking the other way, Lunalei's lips quivered and she looked ready to cry, "S-Senpai…thank you for all that you've done for me…the lessons, the constant supply of parts and tools and…"

"...I-I think…you picked the wrong per-"

"Nonsense, my star pupil!" Catherine proclaimed, "That would imply that I only make the right decision 99.9% of the time!"

"W-Whuh…?" Lunalei turned and started babbling incoherently.

"Think back to our first fateful encounter!"

Lunalei's gaze shifted around, "Uhhh, that feels like so long ago…"

But the emotions behind that day were so strong that it didn't take long for her to recall what happened, "T-That was the day I got suspended for thrashing those assholes who were bullying Zelene!"

"Yep yep! Freshly bruised off the battlefield, yet holding your head high and proud with eyes gleaming as bright as stars fueled by the fires of justice!"

"In spite of lacking what your parents had, in that moment you believed with all your heart that you DID have the power to make a difference, and delivered your own brand of justice!"

"And once I figured that out, what did I say to your father? 'Let me take her under my wing! She has what it takes to be an amazing heroine!"

Then, with her smile beaming wide Catherine proclaimed, "And he shouted 'Absolutely NOT!'"

"Understandable, but a parent's love can only thwart the tides of destiny for so long! Brimming with a smile so bright I needed shades, you followed me out of the house, eager to become my pupil!"

"And you immediately showed high adaptability with mechanical parts and computers! It was like looking at my younger, cuter reflection!"

Lunalei grit her teeth and with her face red she muttered, "Then all I've done is broken it…"

"Wrong!" Catherine proclaimed, and revealed Lunalei's glasses had been kept safe and sound by a platform of aura.

"You may have strayed off the path a little, but you're slowly coming to realize your mistake. Now the question remains…are you going to stop walking forward out of fear, or will you boldly go where Lunalei Whiter has never gone before?!"

Lunalei began to raise her hand for her glasses and then clasped it shut, trembling.

Catherine closed her eyes and chuckled, "I am not asking you to surrender with guilt weighing you down. Perhaps asking you to save the world was too much of an ask for your first major mission."

"But I did so with full faith that you could do it!"

"...I know that senpai. But it's not enough…"

"Then find someone else to be your 'enough'!" Catherine proclaimed, "Teamwork makes the dream work!"

"Yeah, but you can do ANYTHING on your own!" Lunalei showered her with the utmost praise.

"Bwahahaha! I appreciate that I come across as that well put-together, Lunalei, but that couldn't be further from the truth!"

"Huh?" Lunalei looked stunned.

"If I need something knocked down quickly, I have Noel do it! If I need to sneak into somewhere quickly, I have Seth do it! When there's a gap in my knowledge, then Gabriel's wisdom covers it for me!"

"We all have holes that need to be filled, to say so otherwise is foolhardy!"

Catherine then closed her eyes and crossed her arms, "Even at my current job as Vice President, do you earnestly believe that I, the space-faring ultra magnum cute superheroine, have kept up to date on Earth politics?!"

She thrust her eyes wide open and shouted, "Keep this between you and me, but there was once a king by the name of Plutonian. A rather gangly, dust-colored old coot who sought to reclaim his right to rule! He believed that by following the wishes of the tyrant Gravitus, he would be gifted the Earth as his new throne."

"So, the man studied up a lot on Earth politics, and his hardened personality topped off with his bluntness meant he knows how to be honest about what he would want changed."

"Loathe as I was to seek his aid, he has slowly shown a desire to reform his ways after years of stewing upon Gravitus' betrayal, so we came to a mutual agreement. He would help me catch up on the honest truth of Earth politics, including ways to undermine the attempts of those nasty conservatives to uphold the status quo, and every time Joe Dark decided to implement a new policy or change I would run it by Pluto first and after a long debate we would create a solution that reaches the middle ground of our ideals."

Catherine did reel her explanation back a bit to clarify, "Not saying any of this to undermine the Prez' hard work though! He's supplied the grit and gumption to stare deep into the darkness and come out unscathed! It's just that when it comes to tackling political issues, he TOTALLY lacks organizational skills! Ha ha ha!"

Lunalei shook her head a bit and remarked, "S-So…you HAVE successfully reformed an evil doer?"

"When have I ever been known to emptily boast, Lunalei?! Ha ha ha!"

Catherine then declared, "Now! If that isn't good enough, then I'll keep firing off motivational speeches until I've emptied the whole book! All I seek from this is to see you reach your full potential, Lunalei!"

"A-All she wants from me…is also what I want from my students…" Lunalei felt like crying again, but this time more out of joy and a sense of relief.

"If senpai still sees there's something worth salvaging out of me…then I can't let her down."

There were many questions she would be forced to ask about herself, and maybe it would be difficult to reconcile with the decisions she made and accept that there were flaws…

"But…" Lunalei clenched her fists and told herself, "I can't give up the fight yet when I haven't even thrown a punch."

She swiped her glasses off the platform and applied them with one finger and a smile.

"That's my pupil!" Catherine cheered, then reached out and patted her twice on the shoulder.

Lunalei got a little squirmish, but thought of this warmly.

Legacies could be passed down in a variety of ways. Lunalei was not Catherine's child by blood, but felt so in spirit, even more so than she did with her own parents…

Catherine crossed her arms and remarked, "So, what's your next course of action gonna be?"

Lunalei paused with her mouth agape, "I-I don't know. I lost the tracker, I don't know where the enemy could be…"

Catherine pushed her glasses up and caused a flash on the lens, "For my two cents, I believe you've already discovered the solution to your problem through our conversation. BUT, I will say no more, unless you want to finally have our first team-up!"

"I-I would love to but…" Lunalei shook the childish expression of admiration off her face and looked her teacher dead in the eyes, "The training wheels have to come off at some point."

"A brilliant answer!" Catherine proclaimed, "Very well! I shall leave you to your devices, but know that I am always a text message away! By all means, PLEASE give me an excuse to give my feet the taste of freedom again!"

"O-Of course! I always enjoy talking with you, senpai!" Lunalei exchanged a fist bump with her one last time to confirm they had a solid bond.

After which they paid for the room, and headed back into the nocturnal town.

They found a secluded place to stand around, and Catherine pulled out her watch to tap up a few things on it, "Alright, I've set the coordinates for the pad to recall you."

Lunalei waved her hand up, "How are you going to get back?"

"I think I'll take the long way back! Not as if I need any sleep anyways, ha ha ha!"

Catherine then turned around and craned her head back to shout, "Look, my pupil, the sky is full of stars!"

It was a truly beautiful sight to envision…in the imagination, for the sky was full of clouds and cold air.

Lunalei smiled and appreciated the gesture, and after they enjoyed skygazing for a little bit, Catherine sent her on her merry way.

When Lunalei popped out back in her room she quickly took a couple steps forward and let the rug fall to the ground.

She checked her phone again, it was getting close to 1 AM, and though she was free to sleep the morning away, she figured now was the best time as any to get some rest.

The milk was definitely doing a good job of dragging her off to dreamland.

But before that, there was one last thing she wanted to take care of.

She pulled out her phone and activated a hidden app to put her in contact with S.A.N.C.T.U.M.

He stirred to life, sounding surprised and carrying a little fright in his tone, "M-Master…? What seems to be the problem?"

Lunalei remarked, "...Me, as it turns out. Look, I'll keep it brief-"

"I'm sorry master, I wasn't aware that you knew how to speak binary."

Lunalei had completely forgotten about the device in her mouth, but figured it was fine to keep it in.

"I had been thinking it over for a bit now during sleep mode, and…I realize that you put that function inside of me as another means to fulfill my duty to protect you. So I am not upset at you…I think."

"That's a horrible excuse," Lunalei bemoaned in shame towards herself, "You should have been made aware of all your functions from the start."

"...I got a lot to work out to find out what caused me to malfunction like this, but I swear I won't make you take a life again."

"Master, if I may remark for a moment…you sound much better than before."

Lunalei got a light feeling in her chest, "Yeah. I had a good talk with my senpai."

"What a relief…Then, are we going to continue our hunt for Dregs soon?"

Lunalei closed her eyes and gave it some thought, "No…Our enemy just lost another powerful combatant. They'll likely need to regroup and think of a new plan. So let's not rush headlong into another trap."

"Then we should regroup with Mark and think of a new plan."

"..." Lunalei could accept that he had a point about her behavior, but he was still a fool in other ways, "Not yet. We'll try to keep an eye on him for his safety, but I don't want to butt heads with him."

"...I suppose that's fair."

"Say. I have an idea I want to try that might help us get information from our enemies easily…but I'll only do it if you're comfortable with me fiddling around with your systems."

"I trust my delicate framework to your hands, master."

"...Thanks S.A.N.C.T.U.M. And…sorry for being a poor master lately. Good night." Lunalei then shut off the phone and laid it atop her chest, staring off at the ceiling until she was tired enough to get under the covers.

The next day, after a nice breakfast, she decided she'd start her weekend off right by doing a little extra work for herself.

Motivated by her senpai putting faith in her potential, she thumbed through her student files to try and find Violet's.

She had access to these all this time, but wanted to take the natural route of learning about her students.

But Violet, much like her, had a lot of potential that she didn't want to see go to waste. And after that talk they had following the homework assignment, she wanted to try and narrow down some options for her.

"Ah, here it is!" She pulled out a folder and flipped it open, confirming her name before scrolling down to see where she excelled in the past and any other important details.

"...H-Huh?" She laid her eyes on the name of her parental figure.

"Father: Mark"

She trembled, and gulped tightly.

A name as simple as that would mean nothing, but Violet's tendencies towards delinquency and disdain of cops made her thoughts into fact.

Destiny once again had a laugh at her expense.

It seemed that her efforts were in vain.

She was tied to that man's fate, no matter what side of the day she worked in…

Next Time: Seeking Wonderland