Book II, Part II: Outbreak - Convergence
Chapter V: Invisible
[July 16, 2152 | Trabia Garden, First Floor, Main Concourse | 1:24 PM]
Hikari Tanaka stepped through the entrance and lobby area of Garden into the circular main concourse of the interior, followed closely by her second-in-command. As she expected, the ground floor of Garden was lively with activity. She could see cadets and SeeD scattered around, some reading textbooks or magazines, others in a group running PT around the circular area, still more filing out in loose formation as they headed out for a mission.
"So this is Garden, huh," Butler commented from behind her, gazing around the spacious interior of the building and the relatively relaxed atmosphere of the visible students. "Hard to believe a place like this trains some of the nastiest soldiers in the world."
"Agreed," Hikari said, nodding lightly as she began to walk through the concourse. "Garden has always been full of surprises."
They'd been informed by the receptionist at the entryway that Commander DeValle was on his way down, and they could see one of the elevators at the center of the concourse descending from the upper levels as they made their way towards them. The SeeD members around them gave curious looks, some wary and others simply interested as the two armor-clad Guard members walked, but most returned their attention to whatever they had been doing after a few moments. Garden being what it was, unusual sights such as fully-armed and armored special forces members just didn't hold the same intrigue and mystique that they did in other parts of the world.
The elevator doors opened as they began to ascend the short flight of stairs leading to them, allowing Katanas to briskly step out and past three cadets who were waiting to enter, each of whom snapped quick salutes as he passed.
"Commander Tanaka," he said, extending a hand which Hikari shook graciously. He shook Butler's hand a second later, looking at the burly man with a kind smile as Hikari spoke.
"Commander DeValle - this is Avery Butler, my second-in-command. I trust it is not a problem that I had him accompany me?"
"Not at all," Katanas replied, shaking his head. "I imagine that anything you have to say to me today, he has likely already heard. I trust your judgment, Commander." He gestured to the elevators after a moment, beginning to walk towards them as Hikari and Butler followed closely. The three stepped into one of the sets of doors, and Katanas grabbed his GLD and pulled up something on the screen before holding it up to what looked like some sort of scanner on the elevator above the digital button display. Light scanned the image on the screen before Katanas opened his mouth, speaking clearly into the silence.
"Authentication - Commander Katanas Terentius DeValle."
"Credentials accepted," a robotic voice chimed from the elevator, and Katanas pressed something on the display screen that was inset into the elevator wall. It rumbled for a split-second before beginning to descend, slowly lowering beneath the ground level of Garden into relative darkness broken only by cool blue lights that lined the shaft around them. Hikari looked to Katanas for a moment, clearly curious as to why they were not ascending instead, and Katanas smiled a thin smile before replying.
"Most Garden debriefings are held within standard briefing rooms on the upper floors," he began, "but given the sensitive nature of this information, I decided to take alternative measures." The elevator slowed to a stop, doors opening into a clinically-bare hallway lit with the same blue lights that illuminated the shaft. The walls and floor were a dull gray, spartan and militaristic in nature, and Katanas stepped out of the elevator before turning to the two Guard members.
"Commander, welcome to the Dark."
The Dark Facility.
Garden's most well-kept secret.
Each Garden possessed a facility used for the most secretive of tasks - extremely high-secrecy briefings and debriefings, interrogations, storage of high-value and sensitive information...perhaps even torture, if the rumors were to be believed. Located on one of the MD levels, it served as Garden's center of operations for black ops and warfare, primarily used for interrogations of critical targets. Information about the facility was classified to all but the highest level command staff and the facility itself was only accessible by the Headmaster and Garden Commander of each Garden.
Hikari found she was less surprised to be walking through the halls of Garden's black-ops network than she should have been; as it were, she felt she would have been more surprised to learn that Garden did not possess such a thing. It was quite unnerving, however - the hallways were barren and utilitarian, the doors were lifeless, cold metal...everything here was built with clinical precision and the absolute barest design possible.
Katanas suddenly stopped in his tracks, causing Hikari and Avery to follow suit and letting them hear the pair of footsteps that had until now been blending into their own. Katanas frowned as he watched the form of his youngest brother step around the corner they had just passed, somehow not surprised that he had followed them down here.
After all, locked doors and secret facilities meant little to a Planeswalker.
"Darius...what are you doing down here?" he asked, the stern tones of a Commander in action filling his voice as he watched his younger brother. Darius didn't flinch, instead simply folding his arms and looking back at Katanas.
"Was on my way back to the shop when I noticed these two walk in and head for the elevator," he said matter-of-factly, nodding lightly in the direction of the two Guard members. "Figured I'd come see what's up, since Lindsey is the only reason I can imagine them showing up here so soon after Vector got shut down."
Katanas didn't immediately refute the point, which only served to tell Darius everything he already suspected. "Darius, this isn't a meeting you need to be -"
"Please, Katanas."
The abrupt change in tone from the usual cocky, self-assured demeanor to such a quiet, beaten voice stopped Katanas in his tracks.
"I just...I want to know how she's doing."
There was a long shared look between the two brothers, nothing being said for several seconds as each watched the other. Not a sound came from the clinically bare, red-lit hallway until Katanas finally gave a short sigh and closed his eyes.
"...Alright. Everything you hear in this meeting is classified until I'm sure it will be safe to release. Clear?"
"Of course," Darius said, nodding. Katanas was well aware that his brother was capable of handling sensitive information - every SeeD should be, realistically - and he knew that he could trust Darius with any information about Lindsey. What Hikari had mentioned about information affecting the Garden, however...he was still uneasy with regards to that topic. He turned again, starting to walk back down the hallway as Hikari, Butler, and Darius all followed. Another minute passed before he finally stopped and reached for his GLD again, holding it up to a panel beside a door and hearing it chime softly before sliding open. He stepped inside before taking a seat at the table in the room, which was the only furnishing inside the room of any kind. There were no projectors, screens, computers...not even notepads and writing implements. The light scraping of the chairs being pulled out echoed in the room as the other three took their seats as well, and Katanas looked over at Hikari.
"Commander Tanaka, you called for this meeting - the floor is yours."
"Thank you, Commander DeValle." She gestured to Butler, who pulled out a sheaf of papers and passed them over to Katanas to read. "That is a copy of Lindsey's full medical file up to yesterday, in case you have any questions or concerns later. I'll go ahead and begin with an overview of Lindsey's condition," she said, taking a deep breath and looking between the two DeValle brothers for a moment before continuing.
"Lindsey Geneave was remanded to the care of the medical wing at the Presidential Palace upon her rescue from Vector Industries. First and foremost, we ran into a major issue before we could begin assessing her physical and mental condition - that of the computational intelligence implanted into her to assist with the functionality of the KP-X hardware. Lindsey's personality and emotions were suppressed by this intelligence, which was designed to keep her 'on task,' so to speak, and ensure that she would perform her duties unfailingly and without hesitation."
Darius clenched his fists, but said nothing - he had seen the robotic, unfeeling Lindsey as she dismantled the homunculus they had fought in Vector Industries.
"We brought in our best minds in the fields of artificial intelligence and robotics to collaborate with the medical staff in order to shut down and remove this intelligence, and we were able to come up with a solution. Unfortunately, it was impossible to simply remove outright - the intelligence aided Lindsey in everything from basic movements to monitoring the condition of the hardware and cybernetic implants themselves. So, we instead developed a solution to allow that system to be operational in the background and bring Lindsey's mind back to the forefront."
"So she's...herself again?" Darius asked quietly, the question unexpectedly loud in the silent atmosphere.
"As far as we can tell, yes. Once we were sure that we had done what we could with the intelligence program, we ran Lindsey through a full psychological examination along with a battery of tests to check her physical condition. She seems to be stable mentally, though she has some trauma from the conversion procedures she was put through. Our psychiatrists on staff have been working with her for the past few days, and I would suggest continuing with evaluations once she returns to Garden to help develop a plan to help her further."
"I'll see that it's done," Katanas said, nodding. "What about her physical condition?"
"Physically...Commander, to be blunt, Lindsey's physical state is extraordinary. We've seen SeeD in action before, so we have a baseline as to what can be done with Guardian Force junctions in the field. Lindsey's tests surpassed anything we've ever seen as far as physical conditioning and ability goes, junctioned or otherwise. Vector's project notes claimed that KOS-MOS would be able to match an entire battalion in terms of sheer strength and combat ability, and I believe that is rather on the mark."
"We were a little cautious when she started tossing around the anti-tank weaponry," Butler added, a small smile on his face. "Given the armaments for the KP-X project that we've recovered, though, it wasn't much of a surprise to see." The same small grin crept across Darius' face after a moment, and he gave a short chuckle.
"Yeah...that sounds like Lindsey, alright."
"The aforementioned intelligence also appears to give Lindsey an edge in processing information - essentially, it's as if she can process multiple things in parallel, working through information at a rapid rate and deciding on a course of action far faster than any normal person. However much of an atrocity the KP-X project may have been, the underlying technology itself is remarkable. Integration of a computational intelligence with a human mind such as what Lindsey possesses may very well be beyond even Esthar's technological skill right now."
Katanas nodded - he had expected to hear something close to what Hikari had just described, given Darius' brief explanation of what had happened at Vector. The news was much better than he had expected, though. He had feared that Lindsey's mental state would be irreparably damaged, something which would have killed Darius to hear, but it seemed as though the girl would recover - slowly, but recover nonetheless. Lindsey had been a strong-willed young woman in the time Katanas had known her, and it seemed like not even conversion into a living weapon had dulled that spirit.
"What is your course of action regarding Lindsey moving forward?" Katanas asked.
"If it's acceptable, Commander, we would like to spend a few weeks studying Lindsey and making sure that we've done all we can for her before we release her back into Garden's care. We've made a large amount of progress, but I want to make absolutely sure that there's nothing more we can possibly do to help her before she comes back here."
Unexpectedly, a smile slowly spread across Hikari's face. "And off the record, Commander, it'll be a shame to see her go. Many of the active Guard members and the medical staff have already taken a liking to her."
The SeeD Commander smiled as well - it was truly nice to see that at least something good had come of such an awful situation. "Lindsey was one of Galbadia's best, Commander. It's good to see that she's maintaining that image. I have no problems with you taking additional time to ensure her well-being."
"Thank you, Commander," Hikari replied, nodding. She looked back to Butler again, who retrieved a large manila envelope with a red 'CLASSIFIED' stamp across the front, passing it over to Katanas. "Now, for the main reason I wished to meet with you personally. That file contains information that we retrieved from Vector Industries following our lockdown and takeover of the facility. Upon our realization of what information we had discovered, President Loire immediately classified the files in question and requested that I speak with you personally."
Katanas' smile immediately gave way into a stoic look, the SeeD Commander immediately all business once again as he pushed the thoughts of Lindsey Geneave to the back of his mind. "I appreciate the discretion, Commander. What did you discover?"
"Commander, we know who passed Lindsey Geneave off into Vector's custody."
Katanas' face darkened, and Darius gripped the edge of the table in equal parts anticipation and anger.
"Who?"
"Galbadia Garden Headmaster Mathius Martine."
Katanas stiffened at the name, and the next sound that he heard was the gentle scraping of Darius' chair as he slid it back and stood up. Before Darius could make a move, Katanas had slid a Planar Lockout over the entire area, wide enough that Darius wasn't going to be able to leave easily.
"Let me go, Katanas," he growled at his brother, his face reddening in anger. Katanas wasn't swayed, and he stood as well to put a hand on his brother's shoulder.
"Sit down, please. We need to hear everything that Commander Tanaka has to say before we act."
"She just told us that Lindsey's own Headmaster is the one who offered her up to Vector, and you want me to -"
"Darius," Hikari cut in, her voice quiet amidst the tension in the room. "Respectfully, there is more information that I feel you need to hear first, both from a professional and a...personal standpoint."
Katanas noticed the particular pause and wording that she had used at the end of her sentence, and the normal civilian part of him did not like it at all. It hinted that there was something awful yet to come, something foul and rancid like the deepest pits of a sewer. The SeeD Commander part of him, the side which was all business and level-headed throughout, pulled his focus back to reality as he spoke again.
"Darius, you know that I cared for Lindsey almost as much as you. Before you decide to run to Galbadia and assassinate our Garden Master, let's take a moment to make sure we have all the facts in order first."
Darius didn't respond for several long seconds, but finally conceded to Katanas' request, slipping back into his chair and leaning over the table with face stony and eyes glaring at nothing in particular. Katanas hesitated a few moments before removing the Lockout, temporarily satisfied that Darius wasn't going to do anything damaging just yet. He didn't sit down, though, instead simply looking back at Hikari.
"Commander, in light of what you have divulged, I feel that it's necessary to inform the command staff of Balamb Garden as well...unless you have reason to believe that forces there have been compromised as well."
Hikari nodded lightly. "We have gone through almost all of the information recovered from Vector at this point, and there is no reason to believe that any forces within Balamb Garden shared a part in these events. I assume you're referring to Commander Leonhart and Headmaster Kramer?"
"I am," Katanas replied.
"Go ahead."
Katanas nodded in reply, turning away again. "I'll return shortly - I do not trust any of this information over communications. I would prefer that they were here in person."
Before Hikari could ask what he meant by 'return,' Katanas took a single step inside the room and simply...vanished from sight. Hikari and Butler's eyes widened, and Darius chuckled despite the anger he felt still filling his body. Butler muttered something under his breath that was decidedly unprofessional, eyes scanning the room, and Hikari frowned as she realized that Katanas was simply not there anymore. Her suit was still feeding her biometric data from everyone in the room, and Katanas wasn't registering as one of those signatures anymore.
"That's just like my brother...you don't know about us, do you?" Darius asked, drawing a slow shake of the head from Hikari and an equally confused look from Butler. "Let's just call that..." he started, nodding towards where Katanas had been, "a nifty little gift from a wealthy benefactor."
Hikari sat in silence, her mind working as she pondered Darius' statement. Obviously, there was a lot more to what Darius was saying than was immediately evident. She considered her interactions so far with Darius and his brother, mentally poring over things they had done or said in her association with them. She thought for a minute or two, searching for anything in her memory that seemed unusual or simply out of place, until her mind wandered back to the strange area they'd found underneath Vector's laboratories.
Something in her mind clicked.
"Something to do with whatever 'Planeswalkers' are?' she asked suddenly, causing Darius to quirk an eyebrow.
"How do you..." he started, before suddenly seeming to realize the same thing she had realized seconds before. "Oh yeah...back at Vector." Darius had almost forgotten about how he had asked Katanas for the available Garden Planeswalkers to extract his team, and that Hikari and her team had seen them leave. It seemed obvious that she'd put the pieces together. Before he could formulate any kind of a real response, however, Katanas walked back into the room with two other figures in tow - the black-clad and stoic Squall Leonhart, and the grandfatherly Headmaster of Balamb Garden, Cid Kramer. Squall offered little more than a polite nod as he entered, but Cid extended a hand towards Hikari and Butler in turn, shaking each of the Guard members' hands before taking a seat.
"This is an unexpected situation, Commander," Cid said. "I'm glad that you were willing to offer Garden discretion with whatever information you have to share with us."
"I wish it were under better circumstances, Headmaster," Hikari remarked as Squall seated himself beside the Headmaster. Katanas returned to his seat as well, looking briefly between the newly-arrived Garden staff before sighing.
"Commander Tanaka, as I stated a minute ago, has brought some disheartening news to us today," Katanas began. "Headmaster, do you remember the incident with a Galbadian SeeD named Lindsey Geneave who went missing a few years ago?"
"My memory is spotty, I will admit," Cid replied. "It isn't particularly fresh in my mind."
"Lieutenant Geneave went missing several years prior under mysterious circumstances," Katanas explained. "No information as to her whereabouts was ever found until just recently, when Commander Tanaka and my brother discovered her within the Vector Industries campus in Esthar. She had undergone procedures designed to turn her into a biomechanical weapons platform code-named 'KOS-MOS.' The Commander's team recovered her from the campus and is now safeguarding her in Esthar until she is medically cleared to return to Garden custody."
Cid slowly nodded, looking troubled by even the short description that Katanas had given of Lindsey's ordeal. "I see...is she doing well?"
"She is, Headmaster," Hikari replied. "As I told Commander DeValle, we expect to be able to release her to Garden within the next few weeks."
"The reason I called you both here," Katanas continued, "is regarding how Lindsey arrived at Vector. The Commander's subsequent investigation of data recovered from Vector shows that Headmaster Martine was responsible for Lindsey's abduction."
Squall's eyes narrowed considerably at that, and Katanas thought he heard the Balamb SeeD mutter something under his breath. Cid's eyes widened behind his glasses, and he looked solemnly between the Trabian SeeD Commander and Abel Squad leader.
"You're sure of this?"
Hikari nodded. "We have records of communication between Mathius Martine and Arthur Wilhelm that directly show Headmaster Martine authorizing the kidnapping of Lieutenant Geneave. Transcripts of the communications are included in the information I provided Commander DeValle." Katanas passed over the envelope that Hikari had given him earlier to Cid, letting the older man open it and begin to skim through the contents to find the referenced documents. Squall and Katanas could see the older man's brow furrow and face redden as he read through the files, seeming to become more agitated as he did so. He set the papers back in the stack after a minute of reading, taking a deep breath before speaking again.
"This is...I can't believe Headmaster Martine would do something like this. It was bad enough that NORG wished to undermine Garden's mission, but to see Martine as well resorting to such a thing simply for money..." He shook his head, not saying anything further.
"Unfortunately, I have one more thing to share," Hikari said after a moment, looking around the table at the assembled SeeD command staff members. "We also found information that suggests that Darius DeValle, Sr. was complicit in Lindsey's abduction, though we don't know in what capacity."
It wasn't often that Katanas was truly, unquestionably caught off guard by a statement, but the group gathered at the table was treated to the rare sight of Katanas' facial expression melting into a look of shock. For a moment, the normal facade of the always-prepared and ever-composed SeeD Commander slipped, giving way to the shocked visage of a young man who had been presented with the notion that his father had partaken in a truly heinous event.
"He knew..."
Darius' muttered statement snapped Katanas out of his shock, and his eyes tracked over to his little brother who was sitting stock-still in his chair, fists clenched atop the table and twitching in barely-constrained anger. Seeds of doubt that had been planted in Darius long years ago suddenly bloomed within him, swelling to fill him with a burning rage that Ifrit himself would have shrunk from.
"Hyne damn it, he knew...!" he snarled, slamming his fists down on the table and startling everyone gathered.
"Are you absolutely sure that what you're saying is correct?" Katanas asked Hikari, trying to drag his mind back to some semblance of functioning order and composure.
"The communications we recovered explicitly mentioned your father," Hikari replied, stone-faced. "Beyond that, as I mentioned, the extent to which your father is involved is unclear. We can make a trail from Wilhelm to Martine to your father, and it's very clear with the information we recovered from Vector Industries that he was complicit in this operation with Martine. What we are not able to determine, however, is how."
Squall reached over and quietly took the stack of paperwork in front of Cid, beginning to leaf through it. Several times, he removed a sheet of paper and scanned over it before returning it to the stack until he finally settled on one in particular, placing it back down after looking at it so that Hikari could see it.
"This happened in April 2151, correct?"
"Correct," she confirmed. Squall gave a slight nod before reaching for his GLD and beginning to run a search through the OSIRIS Network. Cid looked over, curious as to what Squall was after but trusting his SeeD Commander's instincts in the matter. The Headmaster could see Squall skimming through a list of communications within the month in question - it wasn't an exhaustive list, but it was still quite lengthy. Transfer requests, personnel file requests, contracts...lines upon lines of text scrolled past Squall's eyes as he skimmed the data for any sign of something linking Trabia Garden to Lindsey Geneave.
Just when he thought his lead would be fruitless, his eyes caught on a particular line of text. It was nothing more than a simple transfer request, but it was from Headmaster Martine to Headmaster DeValle...and the name...
It couldn't be a coincidence.
He scrolled further, but had barely gotten twenty lines further before he spied something else that immediately set off alarm bells in his mind. This one was a personnel file sent from Headmaster DeValle to Headmaster Martine for none other than Lindsey Geneave.
Squall's eyes narrowed, and he looked to Katanas.
"Commander, you said that Lieutenant Geneave was a Galbadian SeeD officer before, correct?"
"That's correct."
Squall showed the GLD to Katanas. "Why would Headmaster Martine need Headmaster DeValle to send him a personnel file for someone in his own Garden?" He put the GLD down again, going back to the sheaf of papers and flipping through before finding the one he wanted and scanning it for an instant before going back to his GLD. "The date on this personnel file transfer is just over a week before the date that Lieutenant Geneave was reported missing from Galbadia Garden."
Silence filled the room.
"It appears that Commander Tanaka's data is correct," Katanas said, sighing. "This simply cannot be a coincidence, especially given what Commander Leonhart just pointed out."
"I am inclined to agree, as much as I hate to say it," Cid remarked, looking between Squall and Katanas. "Given the evidence we have right now, what would you suggest as a course of action?"
"Headmaster Martine should be removed immediately," Squall said without hesitation. "The evidence against him seems impossible to disprove. Headmaster DeValle, I believe, should also be removed. Even if it isn't permanent, to keep him in the position right now may be too dangerous."
"...I agree with Commander Leonhart's assessment," Katanas said, slowly nodding. "For the security of the Garden Network as a whole, I think it is the best choice."
The next few minutes were spent in quiet discussion regarding exactly how to enact the plan they had chosen. Katanas decided that confronting his father with the evidence and removing him from command was his responsibility as SeeD Commander, and Squall had volunteered to lend his standing as Garden Commander of Balamb as an impartial party. Darius had all but forced himself into the situation as well, stating that he would be going with Katanas no matter what. Cid chose to return to Balamb Garden and send Xu and Quistis to remove Headmaster Martine from command, with the JAG officer and Instructor taking over temporarily until a full investigation of Galbadian command officials could be carried out by Xu. Hikari and Butler planned to return to Esthar and inform Laguna of what would be taking place within the Garden Network, as the ensuing upheaval would likely cause waves in some form or another throughout the world.
It took thirty minutes for a sound enough plan to be worked out in full, and Katanas had immediately left with Cid to return to Balamb Garden and inform the relevant parties as soon as they had finished. Hikari and Butler were on the move towards the elevator, with Hikari holding a special access card which would allow them to enter the central lift back to the public ground floor of the Garden facility. As they walked through the sterile halls, Butler whistled quietly, looking over at his commanding officer.
"Hell of an operation they have here. Underground prison facility, people blinkin' in and out as if walls aren't a thing. Makes me question a lot."
Hikari nodded silently, her mind again recalling the word she'd heard before, 'Planeswalker.' It clearly meant something, some kind of formal word or title, but Hikari had never heard the likes of it and she'd been schooled thoroughly in history during both her time in Guard training and before. It almost sounded archaic, like something forgotten to time and then dug up again in modern times like a fossil from the past. Darius had not gotten to elaborate on the matter any further, unfortunately, which left Hikari strangely frustrated at the lack of information.
"I've got some research I want to do once we get back to Esthar. There's still some work to be done to clean up this Vector situation, and we still haven't located Arthur Wilhelm so that he can be charged for his crimes."
Butler nodded. "I'll get on it, but… seems strange. The man, by all intents, is one of the wealthiest men in the world, if the profit margins from Vector are to be believed. We've tracked down most of the Vector money, but his? It's like it never existed."
Hikari paused. Things were swimming at the edge of her periphery, a linking that she couldn't quite put together, but somehow, she instinctively knew that it was all related. The question was how. Shaking her head, she looked towards Butler as they reached the lift. "Once we return, pull up everything we know about him. After you've done it, work with Eve on verifying every piece. When you're done, contact Scientia and ask them to verify our information."
"You think our databases were hacked?" Avery asked, turning towards his commanding officer.
She sighed, staring at the floor as they stepped onto the lift. "At this point, I'm not ruling anything out. Make this a top priority, I want to put this to bed as quickly as we can," she replied.
"Yes, ma'am. I'll start consulting with our databa-"
The man stopped, his finger mere inches away from the lift control. Hikari looked at him.
"Avery?" she quietly said, but received no response. She quickly moved in front of him, but saw him staring, almost as if mid-action at the button. No amount of interaction caused him to break out of whatever state he was in. Growling quietly, she turned to press the button herself, her hand on her service weapon. She would get out of this elevator, then find someone who could give her an explanation.
"You'll find the button won't work."
She whipped around, the pistol flying out and upwards to almost rest against the forehead of a man who very distinctly had not been there when they entered the elevator doors. Her mind flew through a dozen different scenarios in an instant, but her thoughts fled as she noticed something that unnerved her, something that had unnerved her in the exact same way when she had encountered the abomination of a homunculus created by her previous employer.
The man was smiling.
"I would appreciate it if you would lower your weapon and allow me to talk, please," the man said, staring at Hikari from behind the handgun's business end.
Hikari's eyes narrowed.
"I think that you should release my partner and put your hands behind your head before this situation becomes undesirable for you," the Abel Squad commander replied coolly, keeping the handgun pointed directly at the center of the unknown assailant's head. There was the barest flicker of motion in front of her, slight and unnoticeable enough that her instincts caught it before her eyes, and she found herself holding...nothing, the handgun gone from her grasp and fingers clutching empty air in the same position as they had been an eyeblink before. The man casually reached up, handing the gun back to Hikari...piece by piece, neatly disassembled into each of its major parts with the ammunition that was once in the gun nowhere to be found.
"Commander Tanaka, think about the situation you are in. If I wanted to harm you, you've already seen that I could have done it. Your partner is fine. I just wanted some privacy."
Hikari didn't say anything, her hands automatically working to piece her disassembled gun back together. She glanced back at Butler, still frozen in time beside her before looking back at the strange man. "What do you want?"
The man across from her smiled, and began pacing the small lift. "You were asking about Planeswalkers a few moments ago. Planeswalkers are the emissaries of extraplanar and interdimensional entities."
Hikari nodded, her eyes narrowing. If this man knew of Planeswalkers, he was either a Planeswalker, or a…
"You're an extraplanar or interdimensional entity?" she questioned, finishing her weapon assembly and re-holstering it.
"Correct."
Crossing her arms, she leaned on the wall of the lift. "So, what do you want from me?"
"I'm not sure yet, Commander," the man said with a smile, "but that's unimportant. Allow me to introduce myself."
He bowed politely to Hikari.
"My name is Will, and I'm..."