Far East Branch – Den Lobby

The first couple of days of the Far East's new policy was met with skepticism. While the official announcement had warned everyone of the dangers surrounding the Bias Field, none but the 1st Unit's two members had personally experienced it. Thus, the lack of information led many to believe the precautions little more than paranoia. Nothing more than a one-off incident that wasn't much cause for concern. A belief that was soon challenged as more began to discover the phenomenon themselves.

And that was only the beginning.

Within a matter of days, what was originally believed to be a freak accident, quickly started to become the norm. The Bias Field began appearing more frequently across many different locations. And with so many soldiers suddenly feeling the effects, people were finally beginning to understand the gravity of Soma's warning. Not only were the fields showing up in wider spread areas, but their effects seemed to be growing stronger with each passing day. What were once scattered reports of scant fatigue and minor nausea were now becoming recurring instances of God Eaters suddenly growing exhausted; their energy draining and leaving them feeling lifeless and sluggish. In the most severe cases, some even lost consciousness.

The gunners had been the hardest hit; with the fields draining Oracle energy itself, many were no longer capable of firing their weapons. The results grew so problematic that teams were being called back to Headquarters, having no choice but to abort their missions. Strangely, some God Eaters like Federico, Caleb, and Terrance were more resistant than others. For those so lucky, their symptoms were mild at worst, and nonexistent at best. The same unfortunately could not be said for everyone else. The reason behind it was a mystery. Regardless, it was beginning to take its toll, especially on the more active members.

Thus, such conversations were becoming commonplace.

"Thanks to that damn Bias Field, all of my Oracle Cells keep draining away. I was barely able to fire on my last mission. It's robbed me of my main joy in life… isn't that just cruel?"

"Your main joy in life? Seriously, Gina, you need to get out more," Shun mumbled, tossing his empty beer can into a nearby bin.

"It just isn't fair. Where is this thing even coming from?"

"I'm not sure," Alisa commented. "It's hard to believe we didn't notice a Bias Field so strong until now… and reports just keep trickling in faster and faster."

"I tried to warn ya," Kota shrugged. His teammate scowled, crossing her arms in mild irritation before huffing and looking away. "But it's kinda weird though, right? I mean, I've never heard of a Bias Field that drains Oracle Cells. And is it just me, or is it getting stronger than before?"

"Oh, it's definitely getting stronger," Kanon said. "Yesterday it got so bad, I couldn't even lift my weapon. It felt like all of the energy was just sucked right out of me."

Shun chimed in. "I was fighting an Aragami a little while ago, and suddenly I couldn't move… I had to have Federico back me up while I ran away with my tail tucked between my legs… it sucked!"

"That doesn't surprise me." Everyone turned at the sound of a new voice, approaching from the eastern stairwell. Covered from nearly head to toe in grease, Licca joined their conversation. I was doing some extra maintenance on everyone's God Arcs, and I found something strange. Around the time that Bias Field appeared, the Oracle resources in the weapons dropped suddenly. That probably explains why everyone reported feeling so heavy."

"I see." Alisa hummed. "Then, this Bias Field must somehow activate the Oracle Cells it touches… that's the only logical solution."

Kota nodded emphatically. "Makes sense, especially considering what it did to Neo… The damn thing just took her out. Scared the crap outta me, I'll tell you that." Beside him, Alisa glared, nudging him with her foot.

Shun turned toward him. "What it did to… Oh yeah, that's right. Her and Utsugi are probably getting the worst of it. Don't those two have, like, crazy high compatibility or something?"

"Uh… yeah! Yup, that pretty much sums it up, hehe."He gave a slightly uncomfortable laugh. Taking note of Alisa's darkening expression, he quickly changed the subject. "I just wish there was something we could do. I hate having to sit on our hands until the investigation's over… Oh, speaking of which, I saw Soma a little while ago. He looked really pissed about something. Did anything happen?"

"It's Soma. When is he not pissed about something?" Gina quipped.

"Yeah, that's true. Guy's got a permanent stick up his ass," Shun added.

Kota shook his head. "Okay, fair. I mean, I can't argue that. But something seemed different about him this time. He was more… I don't know, usually, his anger is always directed toward everyone else. This time it felt like —" 'Like it was directed toward himself.'

"Hey, guys?" Utsugi's voice called from the Mess Hall entrance. "Sakaki just summoned all of the 1st Unit to his office. We need to get over there, pronto."

"Oh boy, this can't be good…" Kota grumbled. It seemed his fears had been warranted. Alisa met his gaze, exchanging a similarly concerned expression before following their captain out of the hall.

Far East Branch – Sakaki's Office

Upon arriving at the office, Kota's estimate was spot on. When the trio entered the room, they found the other remaining members of their unit, sans Sakuya and Lindow, gathered in the room. Sitting on the couch was Ichiro looking particularly exhausted. To his side, Neo leaned against him, staring boredly at a loose string in the upholstery. At the front, standing beside Sakaki's desk, was Soma, looking pointedly more frustrated than usual.

With the last three members present, the doctor began. "Good day to you all and thank you for joining me."

Kota waved, stopping in front of the desk. "What can we do for ya, Doctor? Heya Soma! What's up?"

"…It's good to see you all again," he muttered.

"Ehehe… Is it?" He certainly wouldn't have been able to tell from his tone. If anything, Soma sounded like he'd rather be anywhere else.

Sakaki cleared his throat. "Right. New information has come to light concerning that anomalous Bias Field you've been encountering of late. To begin, let me give a summary of our intelligence —"

"Doctor. Perhaps, I should…" the veteran interrupted.

"Of course, Soma. As you wish."

"This way we can skip the… usual proceedings."

The atmosphere in the room changed immediately. It was clear from his interruption that he was in no mood for games. Which, considering that Soma was never in the mood for foolishness, only further accentuated the seriousness of the situation. The first to address him was Neo, sitting up and leaning forward.

"…What is it?"

"I —" Soma paused for a moment, eyes widening in startled surprise. He hadn't been expecting for Neo to address him so readily. And now, with everything coming to light, he was finding himself feeling uncharacteristically flustered. How couldn't he be, after what he had learned? Kota watched as the two of them exchanged a glance, a look that he couldn't describe. There was a bothered expression on his face. In fact, he almost looked… guilty. Getting back on task, the veteran recovered. "I have reason to believe that a second Nova has been born in the Far East."

"What?!" Lenka yelped.

Alisa nearly lost her footing. "Another one?! Soma…"

"Since the events of the Ark Project, I've gathered up any unstable Nova fragments I could find. I wanted to have them accounted for. A temporary facility was constructed on Aegis, to hold them in stasis and eventually dispose of them. Then, yesterday, we discovered a hole had been gouged out of the containment field."

"Say what?!" Kota blanched. "Gouged out? What exactly does that mean?"

"It means something's broken out," Neo answered, her tone far too calm for having just learned that an unidentified creature has busted loose.

"Broken out? A fragment? I'm sorry, but shouldn't that be… you know, impossible?"

Soma scowled. "Most likely, one of the fragments deteriorated to a point where it could no longer be contained, kick-starting its drive to devour. Speculation suggests that the fragment is still within the Far East…"

Neo's expression turned grim. "Which means it's taken the form of an Aragami… and now, it's probably mutating as we speak… maybe even evolving."

"Exactly." Soma's fists clenched. "I can't believe I didn't see it sooner."

"This isn't your fault, Soma…" Ichiro frowned.

"The hell it isn't. The inspections weren't thorough enough… The response wasn't fast enough… I failed. And another monster was unleashed upon the Far East…"

"Now, now, Soma... we will accept none of this," Sakaki interjected. "The fault lies on more shoulders than you know. I was responsible as well. Knowing you were overworked and understaffed, I gave you yet another massive project to undertake."

"You didn't let the beast out of its cage!" he snapped.

"In any case… this presumed Nova has not been roaming free for very long. Its power is still mostly potential, contained in its Larval stage. However, should it manage to reach adulthood... I doubt even the entire 1st Unit could defeat the beast. Suffice to say, we must slay this creature. The sooner the better..."

"Doctor Sakaki, I beg of you… The fault is mine. This disaster is of my making. Let me be the one to amend it."

"Enough, Soma."

"Of course, Doctor," he mumbled. He shifted his attention for a moment, taking notice of the New Type's eyes, watching him carefully. He briefly met her gaze before glaring at the floor.

"This Nova is an incredible threat to us here in the Far East. I expect you to proceed with caution. I will do all I can to track the beast."

Ichiro slowly rose from his seat. "I will help however I can. If we can get ahold of some samples, I may be able to learn more about it."

"Yes… Yes, I believe that will be best. Hamasaki, you're with me. The rest of you are dismissed."

Sakaki had barely finished his sentence when Soma turned and stormed out of the room, startling the other members. Anger was a common — many would argue the only — emotion displayed by their resident moody soldier, but the sheer ferocity in his gaze this time had been almost unnerving. Alisa and Kota looked at one another, uncertain of what to do. Both were clearly concerned, but neither dared to follow after him. Utsugi was similarly distraught; he had learned already that approaching Soma in such a mood never ended well. Neo, however, had no such reservations, turning and immediately rushing after their retreating comrade.

She caught him not far down the hallway. Regardless of how quickly he was moving, Neo was always faster. It didn't take her long to get around him, slowing his movements as she spun around and walked backward in front of him. She had seen the look in his eyes prior to his departure. No matter how betrayed she felt by his transgression, she wasn't about to stand by and let him do something stupid.

"Soma. You don't have to do this."

"I haven't done anything."

"Not yet, but I know you're going to. Whatever you're planning to do, don't."

The veteran finally stopped walking, coming to a stop not far from the lift. "I have to. This is my fault, whether he wants to admit it or not."

"How is this your fault?" Neo demanded.

"I should've seen it coming. I should've done something to stop it. I should've —"

"No. No, we're not doing that," Neo interrupted. She had already gone through this scenario once with Ichiro. She would not tolerate anyone else taking unnecessary blame. "There is nothing that you could have done to stop this, Soma."

"Like hell I couldn't."

"And what would have done? Shrink down to a molecular level and stop the cells from activating?"

"I don't know, Neo, but it was better than failing to take action like I did. And now…"

"Enough, Soma!" Neo snapped. "Why are you so determined to take the fall for this? There's no way you could have possibly —"

"Yes, I could have! If I had only listened…"

"Listened to who?!"

"To you!"

"Me?! Why would you think —"

"Because you were right, Neo!" he snapped back, startling her with his sudden rage. "…Because you were right." he muttered again, this time no louder than a whisper.

"Soma, what the hell are you talking about?"

"Your suspicions, your foresight…" He scoffed. "I stumbled upon the opening by chance. But I should have been searching for it. Neo, it was only your suggestion that even made me think to backtrack in the first place. After you brought up the possibility of a mutation, I couldn't get the thought out of my head, so I decided to do a second sweep of the facility… and you were right."

Finally, Neo understood. With a heavy sigh, her expression softened. "So, I gave you a second opinion. That still doesn't make any of this your fault."

"I should have seen it coming."

"How? You can't predict the future, Soma. No one could have expected something like this would happen…"

"But you did," he growled, finally look her in the eye. "You did. You saw it immediately… You took one look at the charts — one — and already had the answer, and had I acted on it, I could have stopped this. You had insight where I was blind and now —"

"Soma… stop." She addressed him gently. "It doesn't matter who knew, or who didn't, or who saw what. Maybe it would have made a difference, maybe it wouldn't. For all we know, the activation had started long before I returned. The only thing we can do now is move forward and address this."

The veteran took a step forward, pausing when she took a step back. The movement was odd to him; his eyes widened for a moment in confusion. Deciding to disregard it for the time being, he replied. "That's exactly what I'm trying to do."

"And you don't need to do it alone. Soma, let us help you," Neo pleaded. "Let me help you."

Soma took note of her expression; she looked… worried. A far cry from the glares she had been sending his way for the past few days. It seemed that she was still concerned about him. Regardless of everything else going on between them, she still cared about him. That was Neo's way.

That thought gave him hope for the future. Hope that she would eventually be willing to forgive. With that being the case, refusing her certainly wouldn't help with that. And now that he had calmed, he was beginning to realize that running off into the wilderness to take on an unknown opponent with unknown potential — especially with the ongoing threat of the Bias Field looming over head — probably wasn't the brightest idea. Giving in, he finally nodded.

"…Fine. We'll be sure to finish it off, before it can fully mature…"

Neo smiled. "Yes, we will."

. . .

Far East Branch – Executive Office

With their tasks assigned, the 1st Unit immediately set to work preparing themselves to confront the Nova. With Ichiro and Sakaki working behind the scenes, Neo and Soma leading the charge, and everyone else somewhere in between, all hands were on deck. With the announcement made, the other members of the Den offered what little help they could. Although with the current state of things, there wasn't much many could offer aside from scouting support. Even so, everyone busy, focusing on doing their part to try and contain this novel threat.

Which was precisely why no one noticed the lone soul on the top wing speaking quietly into the Norn terminal.

"A Bias Field, hmm? I see…"

The man nodded, looking lazily over the documents. "Yes. What exactly is causing it, we can't be sure. But they suspect it's a result of a new Nova."

"A Nova?" His eyes widened with genuine surprise. "Now, that is interesting. What else have you been able to find? What have you learned about it?"

"Nothing much, only its effect on Oracle cells. It seems to… activate them somehow. Causing a great deal of trouble for the other members of my unit. All we know so far is that it weakens God Eaters and empowers Aragami."

"Empowers them?" he asked. Humming, he tapped his chin in thought. "Yes… yes, that would be logical given the situation. And I suppose that poses a problem in your case."

"It most certainly does."

"What effect does it have on the girl, I wonder?"

"Difficult to say. I was unable to get a good look at her in the medial ward before her boyfriend showed up. From what I was able to tell, I would say it's having a much stronger effect on her than most. Theoretically speaking, it could work out in our favor. But it also has the potentially to backfire heavily. In the worst case…"

"It could make her unstoppable."

"Exactly. Tch… as if she wasn't already hard enough to dispose of."

"For now, remain cautious. Keep an eye on the situation and see what you can find out. Do not take unnecessary risks."

"Didn't plan on it. What are you going to do in the meantime?"

"I am going to put some wheels into motion."