"What's going on over there?!"

"Hey, hey, hey! Is that a…oh gods, no!"

"Evelot? Evelot! EVELOT! Where are you?!"

"Y-You…? W-Why did you…? You killed them all. Why? Why?"

"Why did you kill them?!"

"Why else does one kill villains who make the world their experiments?"

"AAHH!"

Phoebe jolted off the ground, panting heavily. Her eye adjusted to the darkness, and she became more aware of her surroundings. As she calmed her breathing, she took a glance around the area and found herself back in the carriage. She was resting in her bed, a familiar sight from days ago.

Looking down at herself, she found herself stripped from her clothes and clumsily wrapped with bandages around her chest, neck, and tail. Her fur felt damp, and a quick sniff of her arm told her she had blood on herself recently. Someone scrubbed her clean.

Her ears perked up to the sound of breathing across the carriage. She glanced over and saw another figure bound in bedsheets. It was Caractacus, and he seemed to have been given the same treatment based off the bandages coiled around his head.

Phoebe pressed down on her forehead and groaned, feeling a dreary migraine wash over her. "W-What the…?" She pulled her blanket over herself like a cloak before sliding out of bed. Her legs nearly collapsed under her weight, but she caught the edge of the bunk to keep herself upright. Her body churned like she was on a boat at sea, which made her feel noxious.

"Uuuugh…" She rubbed her good eye and mumbled, "What happ—"

Then it all came flooding back to her.

Flashes of steel. Flesh being flayed. Blood flying in front of her eye. The memories caused her to recoil, grabbing at the bandaged wound on her neck. Fear trembled within her one eye, the pain and humiliation of defeat she and the others faced by Babylas' hands.

"…Evelot!"

Phoebe quickly rushed to the door and kicked it open, though tripped over herself as the glow of morning sun hit her face. She braced herself to faceplant on the ground, but someone caught her just in time.

"Easy. You lost a lot of blood, and your body is still recovering from the poison."

Phoebe blinked twice as she recalled her senses, then glanced up at Amos, who gently sat her down on the lip of the entrance. She studied his appearance closely, noting his own bandaged physique, the scars on his face from what she assumed to be frostbite, and the dark purple scar across his throat.

She looked around and found Magni sitting by a smothered campfire. The poor Scolipede wasn't as bandaged up thanks to his thick hide protecting him from deeper wounds, though he had his neck bandaged as well. He stared sadly into the lingering embers within the firepit.

"…" Phoebe held her head and groaned. "That…wasn't a dream, was it?"

Amos glared. "No. It wasn't."

"…He really took Evelot away."

"Yeah."

"…" She closed her eye and growled quietly. "How…How are we alive? I thought for sure we were dead."

"We were. Technically." Amos reached inside his tattered poncho and handed her something. "You can thank Evelot for our miraculous survival."

Phoebe took hold of the object, revealing it to be a bullet glowing in a faint pink aura. Her eye widened in realization. "The Healing Bullet?"

"I knew Babylas was going to kill us, and I knew we didn't stand a chance at defeating him in our state. So, I made a bet on our survival. I figured with the way he was toying with us, he wasn't someone who would drag out the actual execution. I assumed he'd do it in one shot once he made his point clear. We're lucky all he did was cut our throats open."

Amos gripped his wrist and twisted his mechanical pincer as he continued, "I knew he would dodge those bullets, but I never intended to shoot him with them. I kept my Curve Shot active as long as I could, keeping the bullets' momentum up until he was gone. Then, with what little I could perceive, I directed the bullets onto us. The speed and power of those bullets amplified the Heal Pulse within them, allowing our wounds to be sealed near instantly."

"…You crazy Gligar." Phoebe pinched her nose and groaned. "Just for that, I'll forgive you for stripping me in my sleep."

Amos grunted. "My fucking apologies for saving you."

"…Sorry. I'm just, ugh…" She groaned. "What was that you said about poison?"

"That dagger he used on us? It works similarly to his other tools. It had concentrated Poison-Typing in it. Fortunately, it wasn't anything I couldn't neutralize. We should count ourselves lucky Evelot stockpiled on medicine. My Immunity and Magni's typing kept us safe, so I had to treat you and Caractacus for poison."

"That explains this headache…" She closed her eye and sighed. "Why weren't you resting?"

"Someone had to play doctor, right? Unfortunately, when you have your arm and tail cut up, having your neck sliced open doesn't feel nearly as painful."

"…" Phoebe clenched her fists and tail. "We got our asses kicked. Hard."

"Understatement of the year."

"I knew Babylas was a skilled fighter, but I didn't think we'd be that unprepared. I didn't think he'd be that much scarier than Amadeus." She clenched her teeth. "I didn't think he'd…be a Sin."

Amos frowned. "So, this really is new information to all of you?"

"We would've noticed sooner, believe me. I should've suspected something sooner. I was just so tired that I let my guard down. I should've noticed. Amadeus was a Sin, too. I should've noticed Babylas."

Amos patted her shoulder. "I noticed something off, too, but I didn't speak up sooner. We can't shoulder the blame alone. It's all our fault. In more ways than one, it's all our fault this happened."

She exhaled a shaky growl. "The scary part about all of that? I actually believe he was telling the truth. Had we just gone along with his escape plan, we could've kept Evelot safe. We could've just forgotten about all of this. We could've turned our lives around." She covered her face and groaned. "What the fuck is wrong with us?"

Amos sighed. "We got greedy. Too greedy. Surviving this hellscape for as long as we have, is it any wonder we thought Last Autumn couldn't compare?" He shook his head. "I thought I could turn this land upside-down and prove I'm not some forgotten trash. I was willing to bring hell on earth to make the region pay for dragging my name in the dirt. Look where that got me."

"…" Phoebe clutched her bedsheet. "I got swept up in the excitement without thinking." She slapped herself and groaned. "I'm so stupid."

Amos paced around the campsite. "Babylas has us outmatched, and I doubt we'd survive an encounter with Absalom if we ever ran into him again."

Phoebe glared. "I still don't get why he didn't kill us or…do anything back then. Did we catch him on a good day or something?"

"He seemed content eating our lunch." Amos groaned. "I don't know what his deal is, but…how deep is he into Last Autumn's schemes? More importantly, if someone like that who we couldn't even kill with a bullet to the brain, what does that say about the rest of them?"

Phoebe grunted. "We really were too greedy. And now we lost our only chance to just vacate this shithole. Now the next time we show our faces, no amount of life-restoring ammunition is going to save us." She covered her face and shuddered. "And now…now I have to live with the burden of failing Evelot. I couldn't protect her. I was so close to grabbing her, but I failed. I failed…"

"…" Amos scratched behind his head. "So, what's the plan now?"

"…What's your take on all of this?"

Amos glared. "Personally, I might as well just abandon this Last Autumn crusade, if only temporarily so I can focus on finding my team. I want Cain dead more than anything, but…finding them first should've come first."

Phoebe pulled her legs up to her chest. "I don't know what to do anymore. What's the point? We lost. Badly. I wouldn't even call us being alive a blessing. Now we have to live with that humiliation." She growled. "Dammit all, we're just outlaws trying to make sense of our fucked up lives, and now we're getting roped into this conspiracy shit with magic space letters and ancient organizations!"

"…How much do you know about Logos?" Amos asked.

"Not enough to say I had a name to go by."

"If what Abel said was true, and the fact that Evelot had connections with Logos, how could she and Babylas both have those…Inherited Will things? Does it have anything to do with those number fellows that lived around the lab?"

"…" Phoebe glared. "I didn't recognize Caractacus' cube thing as Logos because that's not how I've seen them. Well, that's not entirely true. I had an inkling of recognition, but couldn't place it at the time. Yes, we had these two…things floating around the hideout. I couldn't understand a thing they said, but Evelot spoke to them as clearly as this conversation. They looked like letters that got mangled and stamped with a giant eye. If they are Logos, they look a lot different compared to Alpha."

Amos scratched his chin. "Form changing is a possibility. And Abel did mention there might be more of these things outside of Virdis. They could've adapted to their environment. The timeframe holds up. They would've had thousands upon thousands of years to evolve."

"Thing is, I wasn't in the hideout when it collapsed. I…I only knew why it collapsed." She shook her head. "17 and 24 disappeared. I don't know if they were captured or destroyed or…whatever. They just vanished."

"Then how did those two get Inherited Wills? Maybe they are descendants of the Laurus Vanguard."

"I can't speak much for Evelot, but Babylas once told me his father was a pirate who came to Virdis. He was born on that ship, he told me. There's no way he had a family connection here, barring a series of coincidences."

"So, he got it through an alternate means, just like Abel suggested." He grunted. "Either way you look at it, it doesn't change our situation. We're stuck where we are without a plan."

Phoebe shrugged. "So, what is the plan?"

"…Find Evelot."

Amos and Phoebe turned toward the mostly silent Magni, who finally stood up and interjected himself into the conversation. His solemn expression narrowed into restless, yet shining determination.

"Evelot is friend. No need for discuss. Save her. We save her. No question."

"…" Amos sighed. "No matter how we look at it, I don't think leaving the region at this point will save us. Last Autumn clearly needs Evelot's knowledge for something bad."

Phoebe glared. "Meaning we're dead either way."

"Might as well go out with a bang, right?"

Phoebe groaned. "Shame. There go my plans to find a wife and settle down."

"At least you'll be remembered for something."

She smirked wearily. "Here lies Phoebe Burkhard: a bitch to the end."

"Heh." Amos glared. "We do need to figure out how we approach this. We can't charge in recklessly anymore."

Phoebe scratched her chin. "Well, I may have an idea to shut down Babylas' arsenal, but he's a weapon master for a reason. He could get his hands on virtually anything and turn it into a deadly weapon."

"Better than nothing. However, I think the first thing we need to ask ourselves is obvious: where do we start searching?"

"Hmm…" Phoebe paced around for a moment, clicking her tongue as she sorted through the incident last night. "Didn't he say something about keeping to a schedule?"

"I think. Why does that matter?"

"If he was just taking Evelot straight to Last Autumn, why would he imply a deadline? Plus, barring their limited Rainbow supply, the Deadly Seven haven't exactly been rushing to grab us. Amadeus gave me a few days to prepare for our fight. That tells me Babylas knew he could snatch Evelot and attempt to assassinate us without fail."

"Where are you going with this?"

"I think he's aiming to trade Evelot off with someone. An exchange for his services. That is more his style, being a mercenary and all."

Amos nodded as he started to understand. "So, you mean to say we have a chance of catching up with him?"

"Roughly, but yeah."

"Well, that's mildly comforting, but that doesn't tell us where to find them. Not unless Magni can sniff them out."

The Scolipede shook his head. "Can't. Shadows cut off…aroma."

"Checks out."

Phoebe crossed her arms and grimaced. "Well, this isn't based on anything, but…I have a hunch." She sighed. "He seemed awfully troubled by what happened all those years ago. If there was anywhere he might go, I think he took her to Knife's Edge."

Amos glared. "That means—"

"I think he's going to the Faucher's hideout."

The busy rattling throughout the carriage stirred Caractacus from his sleep. He groaned and shifted in his bed, feeling the aches and pains of last night catching up with him. Too tired to understand how he was alive in the first place, he pulled himself out from his covers and rubbed his eyes.

"What the…?" He glanced over his shoulder, his eyes adjusting to the low light.

Amos and Phoebe were gathered around the small dining table, sorting through a variety of rations, medicines, and whatever bullets they had left. They had a map laid out between them with Amos tracing a path along it. Magni, meanwhile, watched from the open window beside them as they discuss…whatever it was they were discussing.

Caractacus crawled out of bed, wincing at the soreness around his neck. He touched his throat, feeling the bandages wrapped around it. All but his pants were stripped off, and he had lighter wraps tied around his torso. He felt dizzy as well, though nothing he couldn't push through. His metal paws clicked across the floor as he sauntered up to the group.

Amos lifted his gaze. "Ah, you're awake. Good."

Caractacus groaned. "I feel terrible…"

"Good," Phoebe grumbled.

"Tch." Caractacus ignored her and glanced at Amos. "What happened…?"

"We died, I shot us with Healing Bullets, and I spent the rest of the night nursing you idiots back to health."

"…I died. I see." Caractacus backed into the opposing wall and plopped himself down. "That's…That's…" He grunted. "Great." He glanced at the Gligar again, noting the dark circles under his eyes. "All night?"

"Shut up." Amos rubbed his eyes and continued examining the map. "Look, I'm low on energy as is, so I don't have time to chat."

"…" Caractacus glared. "What are you three up to?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Phoebe asked. "We're going to hunt Babylas down and save Evelot."

"…" The hound sighed through his nose. "I see." He stood up and limped toward his bed. "Well, you have fun with that."

Phoebe paused before glaring at him. "Come again?"

Caractacus pulled on a shirt, slipped his tattered jacket back on, and reached into the drawer under his bed to pull out his belongings. "Don't mind me. I'm just grabbing my stuff before I leave. Feel free to keep the carriage. I have no use for it—"

"Hold it!" Phoebe jumped off her chair, staggering for a second, and marched up to him. "Are you fucking kidding me right now?! You're actually seriously leaving us?!"

"You say that like this should be surprising." He threw a bag onto his bed and started cramming his smaller inventions inside. "Main target of our deal was getting to Abel Underhill, and I helped hasten the search. Our contract is over."

She clenched her teeth. "Contract? CONTRACT?! Did you not hear a word we said?! Evelot has been kidnapped!"

"And this is supposed to move me to tears?"

"Stop acting so fucking heartless for a moment and listen!"

"I think I've gotten enough of your vulgar shouting for one lifetime." He shoved past her and went for the rations on the table, scooping up half into his bag. Amos hardly passed him a glance, keeping his focus on the map.

However, as Caractacus tried to return to packing, Phoebe stuck her tail out in front of him. "Oh, and now you're taking our food. Some companion you've been!"

Caractacus rolled his eyes and dropped his bag. "We're not companions. I was merely following the agreements set up between our shared interest. There is no team here. I came as far as I needed, now I'm moving on with my life. Just like how you should move on from the fantasy that you'll ever see Evelot again."

Phoebe's eye widened briefly, then she screamed and threw a punch at his face. Caractacus recoiled, but froze as her fist stopped against his Negative Space. The hound couldn't bring himself to act smug, merely amplifying the barrier to push her aside and hurry back to his bed.

Phoebe scoffed. "Oh, now I see the issue. You're scared."

"Yes. Scared. Terrifié." He glared over his shoulder. "Because unlike you, I'm not stupid enough to confuse bravery with crippling insanity."

"The whole reason we went to you was because Evelot recommended you for help! You'd still be sulking in that cave of yours like a crazed loner!"

"Better to be alone than to deal with annoying factors like extra minds." He tapped himself on the head. "All I need is my intelligence. Nothing else. It's gotten me through the Outlands for years, and it'll keep me going until I die. I didn't need anyone before, and I still don't need you."

She smirked. "You're insane. After everything we've been through, you get rid of us just like that?"

"How bold of you to lecture me on the subject. You didn't seem to have trouble cutting people out of your life."

She snarled. "See, here's the difference between us: I know how fucked up I was and still am, so little comments like that don't faze me. But you? You're as sad as they come. A one-man parade of misery pretending the world should just listen to him because he was born with the secrets of the universe in his skull. Congrats, you came from a prestigious family of geniuses. You're still alone."

"What part of me not needing anyone isn't clicking with you, Burkhard?" He finished packing his bag and slipped it on. "Friendship doesn't feed you on cold nights. Friendship doesn't save you at your lowest. You think my life has been easy? I've been passed around my entire life as some miracle worker for the scum of this land. I've only ever known the Outlands, and I've come to learn I'm the only genius in a land filled with morons. Abel was probably the only person who I could speak to as an equal, but even he wouldn't understand what I was going through. He had it lucky."

"HA! Lucky? Yeah, being turned into a tree really is the definition of making it big! Boo-fucking-hoo, your life sucks! I was raised by a serial killer! Magni's a pure carnivore rejected by society! Lamecaster got his whole life ruined! And then there's Evelot's entire fucking situation! I'm not in the mood for your little pity party!"

Caractacus scowled. "Then here's a more logical reason for my leaving: you three are heading on another suicide run. Really ask yourselves what you plan to accomplish. None of us could land a single hit on Babylas. What difference will it make hunting him down? It doesn't matter if you have some plan to counter him. You will lose. Again and again, you will lose. You expect me to risk my neck again for this illogical retaliation?! Look at me! I had to crawl through the desert for days until I could rebuild myself! I almost died once before! All because I didn't run faster!"

Phoebe scowled. "You are a piece of work, you know that?" She marched up and tapped on his barrier. "Nothing more than a coward hiding from the world because it got too tough for him out there."

"This isn't about being tough. My blood is the reason I'm being hunted. You idiots had a choice in your shitty lives. I never did! You think I wanted to be born with this vast intellect? Look what it got me: a miserable life as a toolbox and a bounty on my head because of who my family is! But it's so easy for you to say suck it up because you could just slaughter your problems away." Caractacus pushed Phoebe back. "Because I can't just crawl away into a fantasy and say everything will be fine! There're no gods, there's no greater purpose after death, and there's no future to hope for! Life's unfair! Some are born lucky, and some are lucky to be born…"

A silence hung between the duo with only Caractacus' haggard breathing filling the dead calm. Phoebe's anger didn't settle, her fists clenched harder and teeth grinding together. Amos kept an eye on them for a moment before getting up from his seat and walking over to the kitchen to look for something.

Finally, Phoebe let out a tired sigh. "You really are a hypocrite, aren't you?"

Caractacus' fur bristled. "What?"

She directed her emotionless stare at him and whispered, "For all that talk about severing connections and unfairness, you just can't stop thinking about how your mother threw you out like trash—"

BOOOOM!

Amos jumped as the entire left side of the carriage was blown open by a sudden burst of electricity. He rushed over to the giant hole in the carriage and gazed upon the smoking crater several meters away.

Caractacus panted heavily, electricity crackling off his fur, as he pinned Phoebe down with his metal paw. For the first time since meeting the hound, she saw nothing but the raw anger festering within.

"I've about had it with your noise," he growled.

Phoebe smirked. "Is this the face of the man who killed an entire vill—AGH!" He pressed his paw down harder on her throat.

"Shut. Up," he growled louder.

Magni nearly charged in to break up the fight, but Amos held his arm out and stopped him. "Don't," he said. Though confused, Magni settled down and backed behind the Gligar.

"You don't get to speak," the hound hissed, leaning close to her face with a growl. "Your cursed blood may not be a big deal to you, but you've always had a choice. You killed your father. You liberated yourself of your ties to Amadeus. You chose to stay with the Fauchers. You've always had a choice. But from the moment I could walk and talk, this has been the choice given to me. And now I'm too far deep into the Outlands to turn my life around. I have a criminal organization after me just like Evelot, and I'm not risking my life for hers."

"…" Phoebe glared.

"And if you ever say anything like that trite you spouted again, I'll kill you."

"…" She scoffed. "You've always looked down on everyone thinking they're uncivilized. Hate to break it to you, but you look just as disheveled as the rest of us."

"Tch. You just can't help getting the last word in, can you?"

CLICK!

Caractacus paused, then glanced over his shoulder. Amos, with his pincer gun pointed at the back of the hound's head, said, "You mentioned something about your Positive Cannon deactivating your barrier temporarily. I think you've overstayed your welcome, MacGyver."

"…" Caractacus lifted himself off Phoebe and stepped aside. Keeping his back to the Gligar, he glared out at the horizon. "Of all the people I've met, you surprise me the most, Lancaster. Why would you risk everything to save her? You seemed less than thrilled hanging around this merry band of misfits. Is it because you long for your so-called family of crooks?"

Amos narrowed his eyes softly. "Do you regret what you did in Haunted Willows?"

"…" Caractacus turned his gaze down.

"If you can't understand your own feelings, what point is there in explaining mine?" He lowered his pincer gun and grabbed the hound by his jacket, pulling him close. "Let me give you some advice as someone who has been at this game longer than you: grow up. You can pretend all you want that connections mean nothing to you, but you wouldn't have joined us if some part of you didn't yearn for that warmth of camaraderie."

"…"

"Marsaili was a bitch I couldn't stand being in the same room as. Rogier is a fucking idiot who longs for his glory days. Ainsley was a psychotic cultist who just wanted an excuse to kill. Frank's a power-hungry mercenary who is always looking to test himself. Terrick is an irritating lunatic who freaks out over someone vaguely sneezing in his direction. And Althalos…" Amos closed his eyes and sighed. "Althalos is the man I admire most, for giving me another chance…and for allowing me to actually feel something other than self-loathing for a change.

"Yeah, I had my moments where I hated those idiots, but I finally felt a range of emotions after so long of isolating myself. I could be annoyed, angry, befuddled, exhausted, snarky…" He sighed. "And now I feel anxiety over how they're doing, hoping the rest of them are still out there."

"…"

Amos fiddled with the inside of Caractacus' jacket before shoving him back. "But I guess that's too illogical of a concept for you. After all, why else would you hide yourself away for five years after Haunted Willows? Did you just decide you couldn't keep sacrificing pawns to buy yourself time?"

"…" Caractacus closed his eyes and sighed. "I'm done with this conversation." He whistled sharply.

From the carriage, Alpha floated out and hovered beside the half-metal Boltund. Picking up and throwing his bag back on, he turned and started his way out of Dead Man's Field. Phoebe picked herself up and sneered at the hound's back. She reached for her dagger, but Amos stopped her.

"Let him go. He wants nothing to do with us."

She glared. "After all of that, you're not even going to punch him or something?"

"…" Amos sighed. "I'm starting to get sick of the violence. I just want to save Evelot, get you two somewhere safe, then finish my search for my team."

Phoebe frowned. "Lamecaster…"

He turned away, casting one last glance back at the fleeing Boltund. "It's not my place to decide his ideals, nor is it my burden to untangle his mess of emotions. That's his burden to bear. Ours is saving Evelot."

"…" Phoebe sighed and nodded softly. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right." She cracked her knuckles. "This is going to be difficult. We might not be fully rested up in time."

"We'll manage. Once Magni's back to full strength, it's a straight shot to Knife's Edge." He walked back to the destroyed carriage.

She followed behind, glaring back once at Caractacus, who shrunk more and more the further into the horizon he went. "Tch. I'd say we'd have a better shot with Tac, but who needs his deadweight slowing us down?"

Amos closed his eyes. "One thing's for certain: Babylas gave us all a wake-up call last night. Now we're going to show him just how greedy we are."

"Because no matter how fragile or unstable it is…"

Caractacus paused briefly to look back at the group, who were barely above a speck in the sand. His weight shifted unsurely, nearly faltering back in their direction, but he caught himself and continued ahead with a wavering scowl flickering on his face.

"We stand under the banner of the Broken Glass Alchemical Company."