"Talk," I say as I aim my shotgun. This simple movement is enough to make Carla flinch and sob one last time before raising her head towards me.

"F-Fine." She says. "I-I'm Carla, and I'm from the Organization. M-my ability is Barrier.Create(), and-"

I zone out of the conversation before she can finish her sentence. I have no idea what she's talking about. The Organization? What does that even mean? Did I make yet another powerful enemy without realizing?

It might just be the case considering my abysmal luck.

But the most important thing is her ability. She said it's called Barrier.Create(), which doesn't make any sense. It sounds like a programming function, not a real name. I tilt my head to the side; maybe her Organization just has an eccentric naming scheme?

I nod to myself, that must be it.

I Rewind to make sure that my surprise doesn't show, and interrogate Carla again.

"I assume you're working for the Organization, am I correct?" I say, and the teenager becomes even paler as her shoulders slump.

"Y-You're right." She answers.

"Tell me more about your employer, and about yourself. First of all, why are you here? I heard you were looking after me." I continue.

It's better to gather as much information as possible, especially since this Organization seems to want me dead.

The list of people who wants to kill me is getting worryingly large.

Carla almost faints when she hears my question, "So you are John Thomson then... We didn't stand a chance." She whispers before continuing, "The Director of the Organization learned about you during what some may call the 'Beelzebub Incident.' He had his eyes on you ever since that day, and has been keeping track of you."

My blood freeze, could these people be possibly related to the Oracle? That's the only reason I can think of that would allow these people to track me without the Order noticing. I adjust my weapon and grit my teeth, "Do you know anything about the Oracle?"

Carla seems to rack her brain before shaking her head. "I h-haven't heard anything about that person."

I narrow my eyes; she could be lying. Not to mention that her employer might be observing us right at this moment if there's even an inkling of truth in what she told me. I Rewind, and this time I order Sarah to come to assist me, I also call for Mary in case things get hairy before I can Rewind.

The two women appear less than a minute later. Mary smiles when she sees me and look at my prisoner with narrowed eyes.

"Who is this bitch?" she grumbles with hostility as a fireball forms into her open palm. The only thing stopping her from killing on the stop is my order, and I can't help but raise an eyebrow at the unusual situation.

"Do you know her?" I ask the hybrid.

"Nope," she replies instantly. "But I don't like her."

I nod, she seems to hate Carla even more than the other enemies we faced before despite the teenager not doing anything to harm me... At least in this particular timeline.

My attention then turns towards Sarah, who is observing the prisoner with a curious eye.

"Tell me what you can learn about her and who she's working for," I order, and the mind-reader nods.

She furrows her brow as she focuses, and she suddenly freezes before falling on her knees and coughing a few droplets of blood.

"What's happening?!" I say as I rush to her side and fire a Shell into Carla's barrier, causing the teenager to wail in pain as her body contorts in strange ways.

"I-I'm fine," Sarah says as she heals herself with a rapid spell. "I have a hard time describing it, but it's like her mind is 'bigger' than anything that I've seen before. I felt like I was about to lose myself, that my brain was going to explode."

I glare at Carla. If looks could kill, then the teenager would be a pile of ash by now.

"Do you want me to take care of her?" Mary growls with anticipation as she idly plays with the fire in her hand.

"Not yet; we need more information." I calm the over-zealous hybrid.

"Did you learn anything?" I ask Sarah, who is slowly getting up.

"Not at all," the mind-reader replies, "All her memories were somehow encrypted, the few things I saw were distorted images and static. Focusing only increased my pain, and you know the rest."

I grit my teeth as I stare at the prisoner; she somehow resisted Sarah's ability. This situation never happened before. Not even the Empire was able to evade Sarah's power.

A sigh escapes my mouth; there's definitely something fishy about this Organization.

"Okay, you did all you could. Go back home; Mary will stay with me in case things take a turn for the worst." I order, Sarah nods and disappear into the ground while Mary grins.

"Do you think she's that much of a threat?" the draconic woman asks.

"She isn't a threat, what I'm worried about is who she's working for. If Carla is telling the truth, then they have Oracle-like observation capabilities." I reply.

Mary's expression becomes grim; the mere mention of the Oracle is enough to make her shudder.

"I will take her down..." she mutters in an almost inaudible voice.

I am not saying this lightly. As far as I know, the Oracle was the only one aware of the Order and their operations. Even the Empire and the Enforcers don't know anything about us.

However, I was proved wrong.

"What do you know?" I ask Carla, who is eying the fire dancing into the hands of Mary with bulging eyes.

"I-I wasn't told much. I only know that you were put under observation after the Beelzebub Incident and that the Director deemed you enough of a threat to send us to take care of you." She replies.

"How dare you! You filthy whore! I'll show you that Prome- " Mary shouts as she raises a fire-clad hand.

"Mary, enough already," I say, and the fierce woman backs down.

"And, perchance, don't you happen to know why your employer says I'm a threat?" I ask the prisoner, who shakes her head.

"I wasn't told anything else, our squad leader might have known more, but-" she stops talking as tears roll on her cheeks. I resist the urge to fire another Shell into her barrier to make her stop crying. I won't give in to the voice's often horrible suggestions.

"And who was your squad leader?" I ask.

"A-Alison was the one with the leather jacket..." she says between sobs.

"Could you tell me anything else about her?" I say.

"What's the point?!" Carla cries, "She's dead! All the others are dead! And I bet that you're going to kill me too!"

A sigh escapes my mouth; there's no point in asking questions when she's in this state.

Luckily, it isn't anything a quick Rewind can't fix.

I Rewind to before I asked about her squad leader. This time, I plan on learning more about her employer.

"Tell me more about this Organization of yours," I order.

"T-The Organization is a group dedicated to stopping Earth to fall to any form of apocalypse, and to collect people from all over the world who can use the World Code to-" Carla stops talking in the next moment, likes she said too much.

It's too late for regrets. I have a lot of new questions to ask.

"Keep talking if you want to live. What's this World Code?" I order.

"The World Code is-"

A sudden force almost crushes me flat, and I grit my teeth as a man wearing an expensive-looking suit along with a group of armored soldiers wearing balaclavas appears nearby.

"That will be enough." The man says with a smirk as he glances at me before turning towards Carla.

"I'll be honest; I'm very disappointed." The mysterious man says.

"D-Director, I'm sorry!" Carla says as hides her face in her hands. "I-I had no other choice; he would have-"

"-Killed you?" the Director finishes her sentence. "Haven't you learned anything? This guy was going to kill you regardless. You should have accepted your death with dignity rather than betraying us like this. Is this how you repay me after all I've done for you?"

"I-I'm sorry." She says in an almost incomprehensible voice.

"Don't worry; it will not matter in a moment." The Director says as he turns towards one of his soldiers, who grumbles and teleport near the crying Carla. "You will not disappoint me again."

"N-No, please!" Carla says as she tries to crawl away from the large man. He grabs her small helmet and rips it off her head, causing her to scream in pain as blood flows from-

I can't believe my eyes. There's something resembling a USB port embedded right into the side of her head!

The large man pulls out a small USB stick from his pocket and jams it into Carla's head. She screams and convulses, her voice dies down, and she slumps on the ground before getting up. Her moves are somewhat robotic, and her lifeless eyes staring at nothing creeps me out.

"It's too bad that I had to resort to such drastic measures, but we could not risk you disappointing us again." The Director says to Carla.

"Yes, Director." She says with a monotone voice before walking to the side of the grinning bastard.

"As for you," the piece of shit then focuses his attention on me. "You've learned a lot today, but it will not matter in a moment." The pressure increase even more, and I feel my joints giving out.

I scream as I activate Phase 2, the sudden surge of power surprises the bastard enough to have him release his hold on me. I don't waste the opportunity and grab my pistol. A volley of bullets fly and Mary unleashes her draconic fury in the form of a myriad of flames.

"Carla, if you would?" the Director doesn't react to our attacks and taps the young woman on her shoulder.

"Certainly." She says as she takes a step forward and raises both of her hands. A massive barrier suddenly covers the group, and blood flows from every orifice on her head as the projectiles smash against her wall. She almost falls over once the assault is over.

In the meantime, the force came back stronger than ever, and I am forced to my knees.

"Sorry for the unsightly display," Carla says with a weaker but still monotone voice as she wipes her bloody face before placing herself near the smirking Director.

"I much prefer your new personality." He says before tapping her on the shoulder.

"As for you," he points a finger towards me. "You seem to pack quite a punch for a 'magical' idiot. Your petty tricks might have worked with the Enforcers, but that shit will not fly with me." An icicle appears above my head, and the sharp crystal smashes against my shield.

Empty casings fly out of my Glove at an impressive rate, and the one who is probably responsible for the icicle narrows his eyes as sweat rolls on his forehead.

"Just Connect and be done with it." The Director says. The burly man nods and presses a button embedded into his head. The icicle suddenly speeds up and my shield makes worrying noises as even more ammo is used.

I grit my teeth and reach for the laser pointer.

Let's see how you handle the Hammer, you piece of shit!

The device beeps and portals appear above the targets.

"How interesting." The well-dressed bastard says as he glances at the portals.

"Director!" Carla shouts as the shells are propelled at orbital velocity towards them.

They don't have time to react as the shell explodes, thus destroying everything in a wide radius.

I sigh as the pressure disappears, and Mary imitates me.

"Fuck, I thought that I was about to be flattened!" she says as she cracks her neck.

"I'll have to admit, that was quite impressive." The Director's voice echoes as the smoke clears.

I freeze, and my jaw drops when I realize that he isn't harmed. There's not even a speck of dust on him. My glance shifts towards the desiccated corpse at his feet, and I freeze when I recognize the clothes it's wearing.

The corpse was Carla.

"Could you please make a note for later? The automated defense system seems to have a bit of latency." He says to one of his soldiers. The man nods and the suit-wearing trash kicks Carla's corpse out of the way. "A shame for her, she still had a bit of use left in her."

"Now let's take care of you properly, shall we?" he says before raising a finger towards me.

I ready my weapons, if that piece of shit wants to fight then he'll ReGrEt It!