Sitting in the company of the blips of constantly-active machines, a figure was hunched over at a computer. She glanced to the side through a pair of spectacles. All around her, screens of various sizes filled the space. The one displaying a sub-zero prison was one she held with more vigilance than others. But once she saw nothing unusual about it, she returned to look at the main screen.

Her tails swayed to the unseen rhythm of monotony. Only the sweet taste of silvervine candy and the anticipation for status updates from her most trusted subordinate kept her awake. After her equipment had detected unknown signals going on and off from various cauldrons, she sent him out on patrol to see if he could encounter the cause of those signals.

Her eyes went to the monitor displaying a variety of data being collected. Most of the numbers became white noise which she promptly filtered out to keep only the few relevant parts. Just then, her ears twitched at the sound of a beep.

Turning her head, she reached over and pressed on the button to activate the communication line. "Tager?"

"Kokonoe." His voice passed through the device, carrying a heavy weight behind it.

"What's—" The visuals switched on abruptly from Tager's end, enabling her to see what was in front of him. She saw an ordinary view from inside one of the cities, which went in line with his current location. But she certainly did not expect a certain man wearing a golden mask at the center of her screen. "Relius?!"

"My, it has been a while since we last spoke, Kokonoe. Your toy robot here is exactly the same as I remember. Quite faithfully obedient." Half hidden in the shades casted by a mesh of support structure, the man stood with his automaton at his side.

Kokonoe pulled herself closer to the screen, all her attention focused on it. "Cut the lame pleasantry crap, asshat. What do you want?" According to his vitals monitoring system, Tager didn't sustain any sort of damage. No ambush or combat took place, so she assumed Relius had simply shown himself in front of Tager and asked for an audience.

"There's no need to be hasty. We have time to spare." Below the mask covering his eyes, a smile appeared. It was a convincing act of friendliness, only ruined by the way his companion stood with her gaze sharply focused on Tager. He chuckled before adding, "Don't tell me your Idea Engine is no longer up to par to ward off threats?"

Kokonoe's brows furrowed deeper. "No clue what you're talking about. Whatever's your reason to seek me out, it's exactly why I know you're up to something." The last time Relius and she had worked together, she got a glimpse of his true nature. It was a project she had come to regret. "Tager, get ready to teleport back or fight. Can't be too cautious with that damn guy."

Tager responded through the communicator right away. "Roger that. Preparing increased output!"

"Now, now. Let's put aside our hostilities for later. I didn't come to you empty-handed," the man replied.

"Yeah, right." The tips of her fingers turned the lollipop stick she held in her hand. "Is this a new scheme again? 'Cause I don't want to be part of whatever you're cooking up."

Taking her question as a sign of interest, Relius raised a hand to his chin. "Don't act like you're any different. Aren't we all scheming something at all times? Let me ask you this then. Have you noticed the state of the world?"

"Noticed what?" There was one thing she truly despised about the man, and it was the fact that he always seemed to be in the know of something she didn't.

"Oh, no use in pretending. Surely the flow of events seems rather odd. Small abnormalities showing here and there…for lack of a better word. A shrewd person like you would understand."

Correct as he was, she had zero intentions in sharing her own findings with him. "Stop wasting my time discussing rhetorics. Just say what you're after, or else I make Tager squeeze it out of you."

"You're ever the impatient one, but I digress." The smile he carried curled into a calculating smirk. "I've happened upon something peculiar, and I wish to bring it to an Observable state. The only caveat is that I require a capable workshop to store the specimen. Sadly, I no longer have such resources at my disposal."

Kokonoe scoffed. "That's it? You're just using me to keep your research safe while you go prance around elsewhere? No thanks."

"I assure you that the task fits well within your range of abilities, guaranteed to be a fascinating subject of study too." The man on the screen let out a low laugh. "Perhaps it will even provide the truth you've been seeking all this time."

The last part renewed her attention by twofold. "What do you mean by that?"

"Exactly what I said. There is potential to discover the 'forbidden'. Some things are just not meant to be known after all. But the rules can be broken, much easier than one would think. You too can come to a true understanding of this world. Should you accept my request, of course."

"Tsk." His proposal reeked of a trap, yet her drive to seek knowledge proved hard to deny, especially when she had been grasping at straws. She bit at her bottom lip. "You son of a bitch…"

Not waiting for a proper response from her, Relius turned around, his cape flowing behind him. "Let us rendezvous in the coming future. Come, Ignis. Time is of the essence now." Sinking deeper into the shadows, he disappeared along with his weaponized puppet.

After the pair had left, Tager finally voiced his concerns. "…Kokonoe, are you sure about this?"

"Hm, it's a calculated risk. I'll just have to do my best to keep my guards up. Report back to base, Tager." If she were to continue with her current methods, then she could be potentially searching for a very long time. No matter what, she had to find an explanation behind the strange gut feeling plaguing the back of her already busy mind.