Shaking off the thought, Gunvolt tried to use his login for the QUILL forum. Everyone used their codenames, he was talking to Chi Lang from the Chinese branch where Xiao was. Chi's codename was Cheshire. She wanted to check on Xiao because she hadn't heard from him since he swapped branches. They wre talking about xiao's ever expanding comic collection. But the conversation quickly went to Atari.
I don't understand, did she do something wrong?
She didn't, but since the fight against Demerzel, Lily's been a hot topic here at the Chinese branch of QUILL. It appears she's been a top priority target of the Sumeragi, so we think it's best to keep her out of the fighting.
Did Mr. Shino say anything like that?
He said it'd be best to take her along and see how they'd react.
What do you mean how they'd react? What are you talking about?
The Sumeragi. You remember those memories Stratos gave Lily? They were artificial. After discovering her amnesia, they were hoping to get her back on their side because she's so powerful.
Demerzel said there's something about Lily we don't know. Do you know what he was talking about?
We're still trying to decrypt the information you sent.
Thanks for contacting me.
Anytime, I'll let you know when the decryption's done.
After seeing that message from Chi, Gunvolt logged off.
"Lily said she'd be glad to help us and it's the least she can do to repay our kindness." Joule notified.
"But?" Gunvolt interrogated.
"But Zeno was in the background protesting while we were trying to talk. He said Lily would be better off learning to play Blaster Master by herself." Joule informed.
"Of course he did. Wait, text her to wait at midight near the front door if she wants to partake in the mission. I'll pick her up." Gunvolt added.
Joule nodded as she texted Atari, informing her of Gunvolt's recent idea. She later agreed although she didn't want to alarm Zeno. Joule reassured Atari she was doing the right thing and that Zeno would be proud. The day was full of fun, until nightfall that is.
Atari waited by the door, thoughts of peace was the only thing keeping her awake and eager to fight. Gunvolt picked Atari up at 12:05 and they reached the pillar at 1:15. Zeno woke up in a panic thinking he left his console on. After making sure the console was off and unplugged, Zeno decided he would check on Atari.
However, he noticed Atari's head was covered. Thinking she was having a nightmare, Zeno removed the covers, afraid Atari would suffocate. To his shock and utter dismay, it appeared that Atari had disobeyed his wishes. There was a fluffy black yard long, foot wide body pillow and Atari's two regular pillows used to mimic her body.
T-there's no way she coulda done this. Zeno worried as he sat on the bed to collect what he could of himself (if there was anything to collect).
After a few minutes of thoughtful silence, Zeno came to a conclusion. After a late night phone call, Copen agreed to give Zeno a lift since he couldn't sleep. Unfortunately, upon reaching the Grave Pillar, there was nobody there.
"This is suspicious, there would certainly be guards here. But they appear to have been disposed of, most likely by a sharp object." Copen noted as he inspected the remains of the android guards.
"That must've been Lily's tessin fan, she's gotta be here." Zeno snarled.
"What's so wrong with her being out here?" Copen questioned.
"I told her not ta come so I could make sure she was okay. Seems that wasn't in her best interest." Zeno growled.
The two explored the buildings interior, finding signs of damage and struggle everywhere they surveyed. Zeno decided to contact Gunvolt and see if he knew anything.
"Zeno, what are you doing up?" Gunvolt asked.
"Lily's not in her bed, so I thought you or Joule might know somethin'." Zeno explained.
"No, we have no idea where she is, we'll keep an eye out though." Gunvolt responded before turning his com back off.
"Thanks for bringing me along, but I'd better go. Maybe I can convince him he was hallucinating or something." Atari thanked as she floated down to the nearby exit with the help of Gunvolt's Flashfield.
Twenty minutes of travel later, Atari hurried back to bed, replacing the pillows into their normal positions and going back to sleep. Four hours and fiteen minutes went by before Zeno returned home. Atari couldn't go back to sleep because she was worried about Zeno and the others. Mainly how Zeno would feel if he discovered what she did.
So, she decided to clean up around the house. Atari was in the hall when she heard Zeno's footsteps. She tried to quickly and quietly get to her room, but felt a grip on the middle of her upper left arm and screamed while ( horribly failing at) attempting to flee. "Lily, did you step a single foot out of this house today?" Zeno interrogated.
Zeno let go so Atari could turn around. Which she did and put her head down like a guilty child who just got caught trying to eat an entire chocolate cake.
"Like a taped a ruler to one of my shoes and put them outside" Atari squeaked.
"Did you, any of your appendages or any part of your body go outside this house in the past twenty four hours?" Zeno questioned.
"Does my mind taking a walk through regret road count?" Atari pondered.
Zeno shook his head.
"If that was the name of a real road then yeah. Look, did you physically vacate the premises?" Zeno asked.
"My soul vacated the physical premises of my body nearly earlier. I heard a sound and got scared, nothing was there though thank goodness." Atari notiied.
Zeno was starting to get slightly fed up with Atari's antics, which were quite cute and rather funny in his opinion.
No! That's exactly what she wants ya ta do! Just treat this like an enemy interrogation, yeah, that's it. Zeno thought.
So, Zeno took out a clip light with a bendy neck and clipped to the top of a kitchen table chair. He made sure Atari sat down in that chair and bent the neck of the lamp so the light was over her head. He sat in the other chair at the opposite end of the table.
"What I'm asking you is did you go on a mission though I told you not to?" Zeno queried.
"In which sense?" Atari wondered.
Suddenly, the two heard the door slowly creak open.
"Hey Zeno I wanted to ask you somethi- what are you doing with Lily?" Gunvolt questioned.
"Copen said he saw cut marks on some of the androids earlier. There's only two ways that coulda happened. Either someone got a new weapon, or Lily went out ta fight against my better wishes." Zeno elucidated, turning to glare at Atari when he said 'against my better wishes'.
"I suppose I'm the one to blame. I had Joule call Lily. But she said you were protesting in the background that you would't let her go anywhere. So I had Joule text Lily that if she wanted to join us she'd have to stand near the front door around midnight and I'd pick her up." Gunvolt explained.
"W-what? Lily how could you!?" Zeno exclaimed.
"I thought GV was going alone, and I couldn't let him go alone. Something could've happened to him. It would've been all my fault if I refused to go." Atari cried.
She began sobbing and Zeno felt guilty. He was accusing her of being a rebellious teenager when all she wanted to be was a good friend.
"Man, that was dumb, but you're not gettin' off the hook that easy. No texting or calling anyone unless it's monitored for a week." Zeno declared.
"I came by to ask if you saw the news broadcast about the Grave pillar." Gunvolt interjected.
"No, what did they say?" Zeno inqueried.
"The Mother Computer and Workers have gone rogue so no one is to go near the Grave Pillar." Gunvolt replied.
"Well we don't take no for an answer, right Lily?" Zeno smirked.
"I don't quite think I can say that. I mean, I just took no as an answer from you." Atari remarked.
"If it wasn't for her I would've died yesterday. She deflected a Bullit I failed to notice coming straight at me." Gunvolt stateed.
"Aight, but no more convincing her to go on missions." Zeno huffed.
"Joule wanted me to tell you she feels sorry for what hapened Lily." Lumen apologized.
"There's no need for either of ya to apologize." Zeno assured.
"Though there is a need for sleep, I'll see you guys later for the mission." Gunvolt yawned as he walked back to his apartment, shutting the door behind him.