Ann hung up on her call with Akechi, but kept her phone in her hand. "Right, where were we?" she asked Burns. "I think it was your turn to ask a question."

"Who was that guy?" Burns asked. "Like, I know you don't wanna go into details, but I'm really curious."

Ann sighed. "This is a long story. Bottom line is that last time we interacted he tried to kill us and now apparently he doesn't for one reason or another. My friends know or will know to watch out for him, so he's low on the threat scale. Also, he narrowly avoided two of my friends so I know where they are." She showed him the Pip-Boy, displaying the relevant part of the Mojave on the map. "They're near the outpost near Nipton."

"That's not too far," Burns remarked. "Like, they should be here tomorrow at the latest if they sneak around."

"Do they know they have to sneak around?" Vince asked. "Or be prepared to fight off raiders and whatever?"

"I'm sure they picked that up at this point," Ann replied. "Those two together have half of my group's brain cells."

"[We now know where Akira and Makoto are]" Yusuke commented, guessing the topic from what was displayed on the Pip-Boy screen, "[and we know where Futaba is. How about we don't wait for the latter to call us back and reach out to Haru ourselves?]"

"[Yeah, that was my idea too]" Ann replied, tapping the contact in her phone. She turned her head to Burns. "I have to make at least one more call, if that's okay with you."

"Yeah, go ahead," he replied. Vince half-heartedly shrugged.

To Haru's relief, her axe was where she had left it. "Thanks for watching my weapon for me," she told the nearby Kings.

"Don't mention it, kiddo," one of them replied.

She grabbed her axe, rested it on her shoulder, and turned back around to walk back to the East Gate when she felt her phone buzzing in her pocket. She glanced around in search for a hiding spot, then trotted behind a barely-standing support of some long-disused overpass. She then pulled out her phone and answered the call in a conspiratorial murmur: "[Hello? Ann?]"

"[And Yusuke]" his voice came out of the speaker.

"[Hi to you as well then.]" Haru was glad to hear them. "[How are you? Are you safe?]"

"[Yeah, for now]" Ann replied. "[We are in the town of Novac, coasting off of the charity of the locals. It should last for a few days. And you?]"

"[I am in an aid camp in a settlement called 'Freeside']" Haru exposited. "[It's safe, I guess? The camp would be willing to offer us some humble assistance if need be.]"

"[You guess it's safe?]" Yusuke asked, as Ann moved the map around trying to find the location of it.

"[There are tensions between the local inhabitants and the newcomers from the New California Republic]" Haru explained. "[I have already seen how ugly they can get.]"

"[Is this a problem for us though? We are of neither group.]"

"[Which means both sides see us as outsiders]" Ann pointed out, somewhat familiar with the phenomenon.

"[Yes. I've been working to get on the locals' good side though]" Haru said. "[There's a… gang-militia-thing in Freeside, and I'm currently running an errand for their leader.]"

"[Please watch out for trouble, Haru]" Ann pleaded.

"[Take my word for it, trouble should watch out for me.]"

Somehow, that just made Ann and Yusuke concerned in a different way.

"[Nobody's giving you grief where you are though, right?]" Haru asked them.

"[Ehh]" Ann replied with a verbal equivalent of a shrug. "[There's one townie, a motel owner, that gives us some grief because we don't have a job.]"

"[And the job market here is lacking]" Yusuke added. "[All our options involve leaving the safety of this town, fighting whatever threats this world has in store, or a combination of the two.]"

"[Sounds like you'll need to move at some point anyway]" Haru pointed out.

"[Probably] Ann agreed. "[We're gonna stay put for now though. Akira and Makoto are on their way and should reach us soon enough, we can plan our next move from there.]"

"[Cool. I'll keep doing my thing in the meantime]" Haru replied. "[For now, I'd recommend everyone coming to Freeside to regroup, but I've been here for a few hours so maybe I overlooked some ugly things for now.]"

"[Keep us posted]" Ann said. "[I was planning to call Futaba and ask her if she's planning to get off of Black Mountain or wherever she is right now. We'll see how that would work with whatever plans others are having.]"

"[Great. Good job, Ann]" Haru smiled. "[I gotta go, but I've got one last question. A language one.]"

"[Cool, my single strong suit]" Ann remarked. "[What is it?]"

"[What does] 'side piece' [mean?]"

"[Uh…]" Ann hesitated. "[What was the context?]"

"[One overconfident jerk referred to me as a, quote] squatter side piece. [I know it's an insult but I want to know the exact meaning]."

Ann sighed. "'Squatter' [is someone that lives in a building without permission or anything, and] 'side piece' [is like, a lover. Like, someone has a formal relationship and someone on the side, so to speak.]"

Haru's left hand tightened on the axe handle. "[Thank you. Good to know.]"

"[Please avoid unnecessary fights, Haru]" Yusuke pleaded with her.

"[I'll avoid unnecessary ones, I promise]" she muttered. "[But I'm not going to let people walk over me, and I will strike back if attacked first.]"

"[Is this, like, something you expect to happen?]" Ann butted in, "[You said it's safe where you are.]"

"[Well, it's…]" Memories of the fight with the Fiends came back up. "[It's safer than… on other places I've… heard of.]"

There was a short pause on the line. "[Haru]" Ann said, as gently as she could, "[do you want to talk about something?]"

"[...not really]" she replied with some hesitation. "[I… I should get back to work.]"

"[We can always lend an ear if not much else]" Yusuke reiterated. "[We are friends, after all.]"

"[I'll keep that in mind]" she said. She wasn't going to take that offer. "[But really, I gotta go. Talk to you later, guys.]"

"[Hear ya la…]" Ann didn't finish the sentence, as Haru had hung up by then.

"[I noticed you hadn't mentioned Goro-san's survival to her]" Yusuke pointed out. "[That feels like a good call.]"

"[Tell me about it.]"

"Okay, you translated some insults for your friend and now you look like someone pissed in your Sugar Bombs," Burns remarked. "I'm kinda concerned."

"So am I," Ann remarked. "Haru, that friend I talked to… she's good, she's a good person, but she has a bit of a sadistic streak and I can totally see her getting into something way over her head. Something that'd have someone – not necessarily her – get smacked around or worse."

"She's in Freeside, right?" Vince picked up about five words from their conversation in Japanese and 'Furisaido' was one of them.

"Yeah. Is it safe?"

"Well, it's stable enough," Vince shrugged. "There are a few thugs roaming around that try to punch above their weight, but if your friend's willing to fight back, she'll manage."

"Cool," Ann commented, worried. "Cool cool cool."

"[Could you show me on the map where Freeside is?] Yusuke asked, hoping to distract her.

Ann turned to Yusuke and showed him the map. "[Okay, Freeside is here, in this urban area. You came from Searchlight, from the south, and I was told the other end of that road is Vegas.]"

Yusuke didn't expect that. "[As in, Las Vegas?]"

"[Maybe? We're in the late 23rd century so they probably call it 'New Las Vegas' or whatever.]"

"New Vegas, actually," Burns accurately guessed the conversation topic from context.

"[Well, that's just unoriginal]" Yusuke remarked with disappointment.

"[Right, so now we're going back to Futaba]" Ann said, dialing her number.

She picked up the call after a long while. "[Hi, yes, I know I was supposed to call you back]" she said in lieu of a greeting. "[I got sidetracked.]"

"[Yeah, in the meantime we've called Haru and a little black birdie called us and informed us about Akira and Makoto's position.]"

"[Why did you fail to mention Akechi's survival to us?]" Yusuke asked.

Futaba sighed. "[Because I didn't have enough data to speak up and didn't want to scare you before learning more. I mean, what would you do if I told you 'oh by the way, Akechi's here'?]"

"[Describe him to the town sniper and ask him to shoot him on sight if he shows up]" Ann replied.

"[He seems to be unwilling to confront us for the time being, so that is unnecessary though]" Yusuke added. "[By the way, he requested assistance with the Nipton situation. Did he mention what happened to you?]"

"[Yep.]" Futaba paused for a moment. "[Don't tell him I said this, but man, I feel sorry for him. Anyway, Akira and Makoto learned of that mess independently, and they traveled with some guy who knows a guy that can help them. My logs say Akira already called the bastard, so they probably have some arrangement at this point.]"

"[It's genuinely impressive of Akira to already make local connections in such a short time]" Yusuke remarked.

"[He's the best]" Ann agreed. "[But moving on, you're still on Black Mountain, right?]"

"[Yeah, but I'm working on decoupling myself. I'm trying to establish a secure remote connection between the host and my phone that would allow me to keep track of the mobile network without physically being here. This would've been a formality but unfortunately I don't have access to third-party libraries and the computers in this world have the parameters of half a brick phone.]"

"[Oh my]" Yusuke gasped.

"[So you're preparing to pack up and leave]" Ann remarked. "[Any plans on where you will go?]"

"[Didn't think about that yet. I'm focusing on code work for now. You have any suggestions?]"

"[Haru said there's an aid camp in Freeside, but I dunno. She manages just fine, but based on what the locals told me, it sounds too unsafe for you. I would hesitate to go there alone.]"

"[And what about Novac?]" Futaba asked.

"[I'm on the fence]" Ann replied. "[The townies are nice. Yusuke and I have a roof over our heads and can survive on their generosity for a few days, but there's little to no jobs suitable for any of us and I don't want to push our luck.]"

"[Nobody says we have to set root here]" Yusuke countered. "[Akira and Makoto will reach Novac soon, we can regroup here and plan further actions – fetching Haru, relocating to greener pastures, or seeking out our missing teammates.]"

"[Hm.]" Ann centered the map on the Pip-Boy on Black Mountain. "[I've got a map here, and it looks like the road off of the mountain puts you west, on the other side from where we want you to be.]"

"[That road is not an option]" Futaba protested. "[I have seen some massive scary looking monsters at the base of the mountain.]"

"[Shit]" Ann cussed. "[Hold on a second]" she said, then turned to Burns. "Hey, would you guys know how I can get a friend of mine off of Black Mountain, on this side of the Mojave?"

Burns and Vince looked at her with concern. "Black Mountain?" Vince repeated. "The Super-Mutant-infested Black Mountain? The one with the madwoman running a radio station?"

"Well, she went away with most of the Super Mutants," Futaba said, in English. "There's one left, and there's one, uh, ghoul they held prisoner here as well, but they seem alright for now."

"Maybe those two guys you're with can suggest something," Burns remarked. "'Cause we got nothing."

Futaba stepped out of the building, still holding her phone to her head. Raul was nowhere in sight and Neil was standing by the exit road. Noticing Futaba trotting up to him, he asked: "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just on the phone with my friends," Futaba explained. "We've been talking about potential rallying points and how I can get off the mountain." She put her phone on speaker. "[Ann, Yusuke, say hi to Neil.]"

"[Greetings, Neil-san.]"

"That was Yusuke and this is Ann, hello," Ann's voice came out of the speaker.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance," Neil replied.

"So you're a first-gen super mutant, huh?" a third voice remarked. "Greetings by the way, I'm Bernie Michaels, gun merchant. Vince and I are helping Ann and Yusuke out."

"[They 'guessed' we're time travelers and we're rolling with that]" Ann added under her breath.

"[Same. I told them it was a science experiment gone wrong and they bought it for some reason.]"

Neil ahemed. "Where would you want Futaba to go?"

"For now, Novac," Ann replied. "We have some accommodation for the next few days here."

"Well, isn't that convenient," Neil remarked. "The eastern side of the mountain is gentle enough that she can go down it and end up close enough to where you are. The road should be safe enough that, accounting for her lack of endurance, she could reach you in half a day."

"Ooh," Ann remarked, intrigued. "If it's that close, could you possibly walk her to us?"

"I'm sorry to say I have other duties. There is someone else with me, however, that probably looks forward to leaving this place. I can go ask him."

Neil turned and marched down the road out, with Futaba following him.

The road gently sloped down a bit, leading to a bunch of ruins that were just barely rearranged into something of a camp. A massive satellite dish had fallen down from its base on the cliff above, and based on whatever Futaba was able to spot through the gaps, was used as a storage room for assorted clutter. There were also a few shacks from wood and sheet metal, and a bunch of half-destroyed unusable buildings nobody bothered to properly demolish, and some upturned earth in the distance that she wasn't able to approach because Neil blocked her off with his massive arm.

"Stay here," he commanded. "Up ahead is a crater from the direct impact of a nuclear bomb during the Great War. The radiation is not immediately lethal, but you shouldn't linger around here for too long."

Futaba tilted her head. "Why did you make a camp here if it's so bad?" she asked.

"Super Mutants are immune to radiation," Neil explained. "Raul, as a ghoul, is actually healed by it, and so he decided to rest a bit in the crater. Hey, Raul!"

Raul's head poked out of the crater. "What is it?" he shouted back.

"We're on the phone with some of Futaba's friends right now," Neil explained, pointing at the device in Futaba's hand. "You should be present for the conversation."

With some difficulty, Raul crawled out of the crater and walked up to the group. "Hello there," he proclaimed to the phone. "My name is what the super mutant shouted at me a moment ago."

"Hello sir, I'm Ann," she replied on the other end. "Pleased to meet you."

"Turns out some of Futaba's friends can offer her shelter in Novac," Neil explained. "Would you be willing to walk her there?"

Raul mulled it over for a moment, hesitant. "You know," he said, "you could go and take her yourself, and I could stay here and direct any Super Mutants to Jacobstown."

"I don't see it," Neil shook his head. "Even if you were to bite your tongue, Super Mutants are distrustful of non-Super-Mutant folk. There's a lot of bad blood on both sides, not necessarily unearned."

Raul didn't reply to that. Neil did not interact with him that much, but the lack of a sarcastic quip was unusual enough to concern him. "Futaba, go back to the radio building," he asked. "I have to speak with Raul in private. Mano a mano."

Futaba turned around and left, explaining the situation to her friends in her own language. "Walk with me," Neil commanded, and Raul didn't feel like arguing. The two circled the crater and walked off the road, and went a bit down the mountain – off the beaten path, but still gentle enough to descend and ascend without any trouble.

"Look," he pointed at the small building in the distance. "That's the NCR substation." He pointed at a much larger building a bit further away, with a massive tower sticking out in the distance, surrounded by a few hundred solar panels pointed vaguely in the direction of the tower's tip. "That's the Helios One power plant. And right behind it…" He pointed at the barely visible large drag- ahem, dinosaur. "Novac. The NCR keeps enough of a force in the first two locales that escorting the girl through them will be a cakewalk. You can do this."

Raul stared into the distance, mulling it all over. "...there were other girls. Others that I wanted to protect. Neither worked out. Best I could do was avenge them."

"And you want to avoid a repeat of that scenario," Neil commented.

Raul just nodded in agreement.

The two stared at the dinosaur for a moment in silence, before Neil continued: "You know, I was a part of the Unity. With all the ugly things that implies."

"What is- was Unity?" Raul asked.

"That is how we called ourselves back when we were the Master's army."

"Ah," Raul nodded. "I heard about the army but I never heard that name used."

"It was called Unity because that's what we wanted to achieve," Neil continued. "And we wanted to achieve that by exposing everyone to the FEV virus, to turn everyone into Super Mutants. The Master believed that it was the only way to save humanity, to elevate it to new heights."

He paused to give Raul space to mock that idea. He remained silent, and so Neil continued:

"But then… someone stopped him. I do not know what transpired, all I know is that a nuclear bomb was detonated in our headquarters. Possibly by the Master himself." Neil watched a patrol going around the corner of the substation building. "It's been over a century, and yet humans persist. True, they hurt themselves and wage war on one another, and will probably do so in the foreseeable future, but they are still around, having outlived the man that claimed to have the only solution. Every atrocity the Unity committed, everything I did in the name of Unity, was all for naught."

"Look," Raul butted in, "I don't think our situations are comparable."

"They are not, and I do not claim otherwise," Neil retorted. "My point is, I know how it feels to be burdened by the past. To dedicate yourself to something that falls through in the end, and you probably should have stayed away from to begin with."

Raul winced slightly. There was a difference between regretting not doing enough and doing something in the first place.

"The past shapes us," Neil continued, missing that cue, "but we shape the future. We owe it to ourselves to, if not move on, then at least move forward, towards something better. And just because you failed once, doesn't mean you will keep failing until the end of time." He gently put a hand on Raul's shoulder. "The road to Novac is safe enough. I know you can do it."

"A la tercera va la vencida," Raul muttered under his breath. "Let's go back to Futaba and talk about the details."

A bit before that, Ann asked Futaba: "[Are we out of their earshot?]"

"[Yep.]"

"Okay," she turned to Burns and Vince, "apparently Futaba's there with a ghoul, but based on the context clues I got elsewhere, aren't ghouls mindless monsters?"

"Please don't say that within earshot of a ghoul," Vince winced.

"Obviously," Ann replied. "I am asking that now so I can get the full picture and not say anything ra-, xeno-, uh… insensitive later."

"Short version, ghouls are humans mutated by radiation," Burns explained. "On the plus side, they get immune to further radiation, further exposure heals them, and they can live centuries longer than normal humans. They can be great conversation partners."

"On the minus side," Vince continued, "they look like zombies, smell like zombies, and ghoulification is a random process. The radiation might just kill you, or ghoulify you and turn you feral."

"If the context you meant is people complaining about the ghouls on the roads to REPCONN, those are ferals," Burns said. "Feral ghouls will attack anyone on sight and cannot be cured." His tone turned firmer. "Shoot them without hesitation. They can hit harder than you think and travel in packs."

There was a pause before Futaba's voice came out of the phone: "So, outta curiosity, are there any slurs for ghouls?"

"Futaba!" Ann shouted.

"I said 'outta curiosity'!" she defended herself. "We might as well learn them so we don't use them by accident or anything."

"I mean, there's some generic insults you could throw at a ghoul, but nothing I'd call a slur," Burns scratched his head.

"There's 'zombie', but that's super mild," Vince pointed at Ann. "Like, milder than if I were to call you a jap. It's not polite, but nobody will throw hands for it, just tell you," he put on a gravelly voice, "'ah, shut yer yap, smoothskin'."

"Lol, 'smoothskin'," Futaba repeated, amused.

"That's what some ghouls call humans," Burns explained. "That one's like, tap-water mild."

"And what's the state of your tap water?" Ann asked.

"It's fine," Vince shrugged. "Novac has some barely-working pipes, and the water's only slightly irradiated. It won't kill you, just pay a doctor for rad removal if you feel too weak."

"I could jury-rig you some water purification set-up if you want me to." Burns offered. "I've been doing that professionally back in the Rangers."

"Do you have nothing better to do?" Vince asked him.

"It's literally a hot plate, two pitchers and some tubing," Burns countered. "They probably won't have enough caps for regular deradding, you know."

Another shrug from Vince. "You offered them a job, that's not on us if they don't take it."

Before that conversation could continue, Neil's voice came out of Ann's phone. "Pardon the interruption, we are back."

"Yeah, Neil monologued at me a bit and convinced me to bring naranjita to you," Raul added.

"I can't leave just yet!" Futaba protested. "I gotta get the remote control set up!"

"And how long will that take?" Ann asked.

"Reinventing all the freakin' protocols for wireless communication on laughably underpowered hardware? A few more hours." After a beat, she added. "Slash srs."

"I'll try and bring her over by tomorrow then," Raul said. "We have a safe path from here to Novac."

"Okay, someone has to play the cynic," Vince butted in. "Why are you helping this random girl? What's in it for you?"

"Getting off this mountain, for one," Raul replied. "The mutants here held me prisoner until naranjita here fixed their leader's robot and they all left. I owe her."

"I only restarted it," Futaba protested. "You fixed it, Raul."

"One way or another, we appreciate your help, sir," Ann said. "Please bring her to the Novac motel. The number plates are all damaged – we'll be in the room on the upper floor, first door from the entrance. Avoid the motel owner – this old woman with glasses and gray hair in a bun. She already gave me grief about sharing a room with Yusuke, she won't like Futaba here as well."

"Oooh," Futaba remarked, excited, "are we going to share a bed?"

Ann had no patience for her. "Well, I was planning to sleep on the couch, but you can share a bed with Yusuke."

"With Inari?!" she screamed in indignation.

"[Why are you invoking my name and derogatory nickname?]" Yusuke asked.

"[To annoy Futaba]" Ann told him. "[But seriously, get back to work so we can put most of us in one spot.]"

"[Right, right. I'll keep you posted. Oracle, out.]" She hung up.

"Okay," Vince said, "I don't care one way or the other, but I would avoid advertising that any of you is a lesbian. Crawford would definitely bitch and moan about it."

"Futaba's bisexual, I think," Ann replied, still holding her phone in her hand.

Burns and Vince stared at her with confusion. "What?"

"Bisexual?" Ann repeated. "Like, attracted to men and women. And probably whoever's cute enough in between. Is that going to be a problem?"

"Not with us, at least," Burns replied. "We just never heard that word, is all.

"Well, did you live in the early 21st century?" Ann retorted.

"No, of course we didn't!" Vince very firmly protested.

"There you go. Let's just move on." Ann dialed a number. "I've got one last person to call."

Akira scraped the bottom of his bowl for the last few beans. Makoto and Whitmeyer were done with their meals already and the courier was just finishing his bottle of water. The bought goods were already left on the counter or packed into the backpacks. The courier did not pay for any of them and even got some cash out of Lacey, who was willing to part with the money for some stimulation.

"So, are we heading out?" Whitmeyer asked.

"I'm gonna need a-" Akira was interrupted by something buzzing in his pocket. He pulled it a bit out of his pocket and discreetly glanced at the screen. "I'll be back in a bit. Makoto, out."

Akira and Makoto trotted out of the barracks and into the empty corner from before, and Akira picked up the call. "[Ann!]" he greeted her. "[I was just about to call you. Is Yusuke with you?]"

"[Correct]" he said. "[Would you happen to have Makoto nearby as well?]"

"[Present.]"

"[Well, that's half the team on one line]" Akira remarked. "[Good to hear your voices.]"

"[Likewise.]"

"[Same.]"

"[Anyway]" Akira continued, "[I've heard from Futaba that both you and Haru are in safe locations, and I wanted to hear your take on it.]"

"[We had a word with Haru prior]" Yusuke explained. "[She said Freeside is… mostly safe.]"

"[I've spoken with some merchants living here and they used similar words, but I feel their definition of 'safe' is less strict than ours]" Ann added.

"[Are you scared she'll get hurt?]" Makoto asked.

"[Honestly, I'm more scared she killed someone in self-defense already and doesn't want to fess up.]"

Akira said nothing. He knew enough about both his friend and the world they were now in to be aware it was possible, but he didn't want to acknowledge that possibility out loud.

"[I am…]" Makoto said, hesitating, "[I am sorry to report… there are two notches on my pistol already.]"

"[Oh my]" Yusuke gasped.

"[I am so sorry, Makoto]" Ann went with the first thing that came to her brain. "[You know… you know that doesn't make you a bad person, right?]"

"[That's what the rational part of my brain keeps telling me.]"

After that, there was silence on the line. Finally, Akira decided to distract them: "[Right, and how's Novac?]"

"[Safe and guarded]" Ann replied. "[There are no jobs for people with our talents, but I've managed to get a roof over my and Yusuke's heads and some local currency to help us survive the next few days.]"

"[Good job.]" Akira told her. "[No, great job. Fantastic job, Ann. I am going to kiss you on the mouth when I get to you.]"

She let out a giggle. "[Buy me dinner first.]"

"[The praise is genuine though]" Akira dialed down the flirting. "[I honestly appreciate the effort you put into this.]"

"[Eh, it's nothing]" Ann waved him off. "[I played to my strengths, and all I can use right now is my mouth.]"

Akira snickered.

"[...are you sure you want to go on record with that phrasing?]" Yusuke asked.

"I meant that I speak English," Ann replied, slowly, shooting him a glare. "[Making connections with locals to gather information and find more opportunities.]"

"[Anyway, Novac's good enough for us for the time being]" Akira moved on. "[We'll be heading in your direction. Try and pass through Nipton without incidents and continue east, then north.]"

"[Goro-san called us to mention what had transpired in that town]" Yusuke commented. "[Honestly, he seemed shocked enough by the cruelty of it all that it might've activated his dormant conscience.]"

"[Yeah, we've heard about that massacre too]" Akira shuddered. "[We've gotta get the group back together in one place.]"

"[Well, I got in touch with Futaba and she'll get here tomorrow or so]" Ann mentioned. "[In brief, she and a local helped one another and he's gonna escort her to Novac when she's done with the remote control of the cell phone tower.]"

Akira felt the weight on his chest get ever so slightly lighter. "[That is great news. We regroup in Novac and then either join Haru or have her join us. We'll see how it shakes out.]"

"[So that's a plan]" Ann nodded. "[Keep us posted and we'll keep you posted.]"

"[Of course]" Makoto replied. "[See you soon.]"

"[Farewell.]"

"[Bye!]"

Akira hung up and pocketed his phone. "[Well, some things are coming together at least]" he told Makoto, as they marched back to the barracks.

"[We have to take the wins when we get them]" she replied. "[For our sanity if nothing else.]"

They re-entered the barracks. The courier and Whitmeyer heard the door open and turned towards them.

"Ready to march out?" the courier asked.

"As ready as we'll ever be," Akira replied.