Katelyn stood in a darkened room all alone. It was hard to tell where she was, the room barely had any light nor did it have windows.

"Hello, Katelyn," a gravel voice rasped and Katelyn shook visibly when she heard the modulated voice.

Turning around, she found a figure, who has appeared out of nowhere, sitting on a chair. The shadows concealed the figure, preventing her from knowing whether it was a woman or man.

"You've failed again," the figure said calmly.

"He was there," answered Katelyn, her voice stiff with vigilance.

The figure didn't immediately reply. Instead, it lit a cigar and smoked for a moment. "It doesn't matter. Even if that accountant's alive, she'll direct them to the syndicate. Not us."

"What do you want? Why call me here?" Katelyn asked warily.

"I wanted to thank you personally," the figure replied, the voice think with amusement. The embers on the lit cigarette failed to reveal the figure's features as it slowly breathed out a stream of vapor. "Letting Alice go to him could be seen as an act of betrayal, but I think it's an effective weapon against him. Just imagine his face, when he'd have to choose between saving this city, his sister, or his daughter. All while condemning everyone else to their deaths. Ah, I'm quite curious to see which he'd choose."

Katelyn clenched her hands into fists tightly as blood slowly leaked from her nails that dug into her flesh while the figure chuckled.

"You promised," she whispered. "You promised that nothing would happen to her."

"And I'll keep my word," the figure answered smoothly. "But who's to say Fenrir will? I can't possibly stop him if he decides to kill her."

Katelyn didn't reply and walked away, her figure rescinding into the shadows while the mysterious figure laughed darkly once again.

***

After Alina and her friends left, Jason went back up the kitchen and sat on the dining table opposite of Alice. The little girl was in a sky blue pajama and her mouth was full of food, her round cheeks and nibbling made Jason think of her as a little chipmunk or squirrel.

"We're alone, kid. You can drop the act," Jason said to Alice and she turned to look at him with a naive look of innocent surprise. Jason raised an eyebrow and continued looking at her knowingly and soon Alice's face changed.

"Tch," Alice clicked her tongue while looking away and Jason smiled with amusement when she turned back to him again with a pout. "What gave it away?"

"Lots of things," answered Jason as he leaned back in his chair. "First time we met and that look you gave me. Don't get me wrong, kids always look at me in awe, just ask Alle. But not with … expectation."

"Bah, lucky guess," Alice said while rolling her eyes as she swung her legs.

"Then yesterday when I went to pick you up, you told me that you missed me," Jason said in a relaxed manner. "Kinda weird, you getting so attached and so quickly. Seemed a little forced to me, hmm?"

"Angh," Alice made a noise that was between a snort and a grimace as Jason tossed a strawberry into his mouth. He then grabbed a pancake and placed it in Alice's plate and poured her some maple syrup before touching her arm. He frowned at how thin she was, warming Alice's heart despite her annoyance.

"Then, yesterday when you stabbed me with your finger calling me a pervert? If you can understand that much then you must be very cunning, right?" Jason continued asking and Alice glared at him.

"That's because you were ignoring me and picking up chicks instead!" Alice said scathingly while using her fork to stab at her pancake and Jason flinched. "I get that you thought mom was dead but why flirt in front of me?!"

The mention of Katelyn sobered Jason up and he studied Alice for a moment before looking away guiltily.

"Y-you look just like her," Jason muttered to himself while he blankly stared at her with a range of emotions. A thought then crossed his mind and Jason looked at Alice inquisitively. "How old are you?"

"Six, why?" Alice asked. "Don't tell me you don't know when you slept with mom?"

Six? The fuck? I slept with her four years ago. If anything … wait a minute, how does she know about ...?! She's just a kid! Though a damn cheeky one.

Jason frowned but didn't ask anything else. Instead, he looked at Alice, his dark eyes unintentionally turning into a basin full of gentleness. Alice squirmed when she saw his expression and looked away.

"Don't get too comfortable. I'm only here to see the pighead that dumped my mom," Alice said and Jason winced at the accurately described name she gave him; he had to admit, he was worse than a pighead for what he had done.

"How long?" Jason asked quietly, his heart sinking, and Alice hesitated with a hint of reluctance on her face.

"Dunno, maybe till the end of this week," Alice muttered before looking at Jason. "Why do you care? You were having a great time before I showed up."

"Alice, I didn't know. If I knew I-I'd never abandon you or your mother. I would never leave you alone. Never," Jason said. As an orphan, he knew how important it was, how those without parents would reverie and fantasize about them. And he would never want his child to go through the same pain he did.

"Too late for that," Alice snorted while crossing her arms. "Mom had to kill and hurt people just to-"

Alice paused and didn't finish her sentence, she realized that she said too much.

"To what? Work? Pay off her debts?" Jason asked, his heart sinking. When he saw Alice staying silent, he decided another approach. "If you and Kat- your mom, if neither one of you likes it … you could come here.

"I'm not saying move in with me. I know I don't ... deserve that. What I meant was you could move to this city. I'm here, so is your aunt, and I - we could protect you …" Alice glared at Jason and he began to hastily explain himself.

"I like aunt Alle, she's so nice," Alice muttered as she contemplated Jason's offer. She shook her head after a while though. "I'll go with whatever mom decides. So work hard, 'dad'."

"I promise, I'll make it up to her, to both of you," Jason said quietly. Alice noticed his wet eyes and looked down at her plate to avoid him noticing her own watery eyes. Her emotions were affected by his and she didn't want him to notice that.

"Do you know where she is?" Jason asked Alice after a while. He was swirling the mug of coffee in his hands while looking at Alice.

"No," Alice shook her head as she spoke, her eyebrows furrowed together cutely. Jason had an unbearable urge to smooth it out before pulling her adorable nose. "She only told me to escape and find you. She said it was the only chance to see you."

"Considering that she's somewhere here, I suppose we'll meet again soon," Jason murmured before turning to smile at Alice. "Until then, let's spend some time together."

Alice nodded and Jason got up to clean up the table. As he picked to dirty dishes and placed them into the sink, he talked to Alice over his shoulder.

"Wanna go out? It's nice and sunny today and we could visit the park or something," he asked her. The robotic hands from above the counter helped Jason dry the plates before placing them in the dish rack.

"And then you'll leave me to a babysitter while you go and flirt with schoolgirls?" Asked Alice 'innocently' and Jason groaned.

"No, I'll be taking you to school with me," Jason said after staring at Alice reproachfully while the latter ignored him and nibbled on a biscuit.

"Hmm, not bad," Alice muttered under her breath. "Is he a yes-man …? Maybe I should get him to ..."

Jason, who heard her with his impeccable hearing, looked at Alice with exasperation and amusement. I'm a yes-man?!

"Well, ok. Since you love me so much, I guess I'll listen to you," Alice said as she trotted away. "I'll go and get dressed."

And of course, she's a clever devil, Jason thought as he smiled. Wouldn't expect anything less from her. Damn, I did good.

A hint of pride surfaced in his face as he thought of her; he finally understood why people would over exaggerate and boast proudly about their children.

***

Alina, Michelle, Emily, and Asami exited the bullet while chatting and joking. The three arrived at an open station and used their ID, swiping past a counter which beeped in confirmation. A floating board slowly arrived in front of them and each of them stood on one. A gravitational spell kept them balanced as they flew onto the maglev tracks.

"Hey, wanna race?" Asami asked Michelle provocatively.

"Vos funérailles," Michelle answered as began to speed up.

"Count me in!" Alina grinned as she flew from between the two at incredible speed while using her powers to hack into the board.

Emily smiled and shook her head as she watched them race ahead. As she flew at a much slower speed, Emily closed her eyes and meditated on her ability. She moved the green energy, that was now the size of a large fist, around her body before forcing it up to her hand. Opening her eyes, she could see her hand wrapped in a warm green light.

"What should I do now?" Emily muttered to herself. Like Jason had instructed her, she could easily move the energy around her body but she didn't know what to do to improve her powers.

Maybe I'll ask Jason? Emily shook her head once this thought crossed her mind. No, last night he … Besides, he might find out real my level and ask how it increased so quickly. But that would be the case no matter who I asked.

As she trailed behind the others, following the path to Second Academy, a wave of nausea interrupted her musings and Emily frowned. She had been feeling sick since this morning. Ignoring her uneasiness, Emily pushed the SLIDE faster in order to catch up to her friends.

***

"Dad, look at that-"

"I'll buy it."

"Ooh, that's so-"

"I'll take it."

"Doesn't this-"

"Pack it up for me."

Jason took Alice to the Atlantis Mall after playing with her in the park. What was supposed to be an hour of normal shopping, turned into a buying spree as Jason bought whatever Alice pointed out without a shred of hesitation. Alice, seeing his commitment to buying her whatever she wished for, couldn't help but feel giddy and content with happiness.

She originally was scared that Jason wouldn't accept her, that he'd treat her badly, that maybe he was as villainous as she heard he was. But no matter what she liked, from clothes to even pianos, Jason nodded at whatever she pointed out at and instructed the shop to pack it up. The duo garnered several passersby as Jason spent thousands over Alice like it was water.

"Hmm," Alice looked behind them and at the stores that they had visited. Each of them had dozens of packages outside, the spoils of her war. "Isn't that a lot? How will we take it all?"

"Oh, they'll be delivering them to a house," Jason replied without concern.

"Another safehouse?" Alice asked.

"Another safehouse," repeated a smiling Jason in confirmation.

"How many do you have?"

"Oh, you know. Between the villas, houses, apartments, warehouses, and a mansion I think? … Dunno. Never counted."

Alice rolled her eyes and Jason looked at her while smiling sheepishly. Right now, Alice was dressed in a knee-length blue dress with a cashmere cardigan sweater from a renowned clothing brand. The outfit was itself was over a thousand. A sky blue headband completed the look.

Jason, on the other hand, was dressed in a casual but formal outfit. He had a blue-tinged white shirt and dark blue dress pants along with a pair of black casual dress shoes that had hidden grips like sneakers. The shirt had two buttons undone, giving his refined collarbone a peek while accentuating his muscular body. His messy hair reinforced his casual 'I-don't-give-a-shit-cause-I-know-I'm-hot' look, drawing several eyes from both sexes to him.

Alice humphed and grabbed his hand, holding it with both while glaring at anyone who looked at Jason with infatuation, inducing awws and oohs at her possessiveness.

"Let's get going," Jason said as he checked the time. "Don't you wanna see me teach a class?"

"Nope. I bet you just beat up your class," Alice answered and Jason looked away avoiding her eyes while whistling.

"Ha! I was right!" Alice smirked before sniggering.

"Nope, absolutely not," Jason lied as he hurried Alice to the exit. "Let's go, my bike is on the way."

***

Raphael reloaded his rifle and fired again. His target was a rampaging Esper, a hulking man with incredible strength and skin that was thick enough to bounce bullets. It didn't help that he also reinforced his abilities with his spellcasting to such an extent that even armor piercing rounds were ineffective.

Right now, Raphael was firing at the Espers eyes, distracting him while Junco had enough time to assemble her sniper rifle and circle around the latter, flanking the Esper. The Esper roared, grabbed a car, and threw it at Raphael, forcing him to roll and dodge the car that smashed into the AEM perimeter behind him.

"Junco! Anytime now!" Raphael shouted into his comms.

Junco was kneeling behind a newspaper stand, using it to balance her sniper rifle. She adjusted the scope as she slowed her breathing, allowing her to aim more accurately. Her finger hovered a millimeter away from the trigger as she aimed at the back of the Esper's head. A split second later, she pulled the trigger.

The bullet hit the Esper accurately on the head, jarring his brain and the hulking brute fell to his knees. Unfortunately, he rose up after a moment and Junco grimaced. She was hoping the kinetic force of the bullet would shock his brain and knock him out but she had underestimated how strong the Esper was. She activated her hover boots and dodged the Esper as he angrily charged at her with a lunge.

"Merde!" Raphael cursed before opening his comm. "Command, requesting use of an AKEERA, asap!"

"Roger that Angel. You are clear to deploy a AKEERA," a female voice said after a moment.

"Copy that," Raphael answered and turned to Junco. "Keep him busy for a moment!"

Junco didn't reply and kept moving, sliding sideways and dashing backwards while dodging the Esper. At every chance, she would fire her sniper rifle, sending the Esper reeling back from the force of each shot and slowing him down.

Raphael hurried to a nearby AEM truck and entered an AKEERA. The twelve feet mech was curled in a crouching position, and Raphael crawled into the chest of the AKEERA. He flipped the switches, activating the machine. A quick diagnostic was run, checking the systems as Raphael stood in the machine. His hands reached the mechs biceps and his legs were standing in the legs of the mech, reaching its knees.

Once the system lights turned green, Raphael radioed the driver to release the AKEERA from the trunk of the vehicle. Raphael stood up once the AKEERA was on the street and the mech followed suit.

"Junco, disengage and disperse!" Raphael yelled out, his voice was slightly distorted from the speakers in the AKEERA.

Junco stopped hovering and used her exosuit's legs to leap away from the Esper who turned to look at the AKEERA that was charging at him. Raphael slammed into the Esper and kicked out as though he were a soccer player. The shove unbalanced the Esper who was then sent flying away from the kick; he flew like a cannonball. A storm of dust and debris covered the area he landed in and Raphael engaged the AKEERA's ARP. The propellers allowed the AKEERA to jump and land right next to the dazed Esper and Raphael pummeled the latter with his mech's fist. [1]

"All right, he's down," Raphael said and signaled at the AEM officers to step forward and arrest the Esper.

The AKEERA kneeled as it powered down and Raphael jumped down the hatch. Junco arrived and nodded at him while he turned to the officer that was in charge.

"Can you handle the rest?" He asked and the officer nodded. "Ok, then we'll take our leave."

The officer saluted while Junco followed Raphael and they both left the scene. Fifteen minutes later, Raphael and Junco returned to the AEM base where they were called over the PA by the Colonel.

Raphael knocked on the door to Watson's office despite the door being wide open. Watson, who was checking over a report, looked up at smiled at him and Junco who was behind him.

"Raph, Junco. Come in," Watson said while gesturing at the chairs in front of her desk. "Please."

"You have a mission for us, Colonel?" Raphael asked as both he and Junco sat down in front of her.

"More like a favor," Watson answered. "Right now, Suni is combing over the surveillance footage of the area surrounding the pier and Dhole is checking with the underworld. Since there haven't been any major discoveries involving the incident, I'm hoping you can take some time to train Michelle in my absence."

"Training?" Junco asked.

"Yes. Michelle wanted to complete her AKEERA training," Watson answered. "I started training her this weekend but I can't help her for this entire week."

"Something came up?" Raphael asked.

"Yes, I need to deal with the ambassador of India," Watson said while massaging her eyebrows. She only had three hours worth of sleep this morning and only the half dozen mugs of coffee were able to elevate her headache. "Apparently, a delegation from India wants to come to Atlantis for a ... negotiation."

"Is there a specific reason why they're coming now?" Junco asked. The timing of this delegation was very coincidental.

"Seems like there was a leak," Watson replied with a frown. "Somehow, the ambassador discovered that Fenrir had gifted his poultice to the injured. Now, he's hoping to barter for a poultice."

Raphael grimaced but didn't interrupt Watson as she continued explaining.

"Right now, the Council requested AEM to intervene and negotiate with the ambassador who is representing the delegation."

"Representing the delegation? Not their country, India?" Junco furrowed her eyebrows when she heard Watson.

"Yes. The delegation is from the Singh family," Watson answered with an approving smile. She felt that Junco was perfect for Raphael but sighed internally when she remembered how it was against regulations for them to date; Raphael was Junco's direct superior, meaning they could not be together as long as they were in AEM. "As you know, the Singh family has control over a fifth of India's infrastructure and is a prominent family with hands in both politics and the military."

"They're also said to be directly descended from Gobind Singh," Junco added and Watson nodded.

"Ouch. Talk about a bunch of heavyweights," Raphael muttered. When he saw Watson turning to look at him, he cleared his throat. "Alright, Junco can help improve Michelle's shooting skills and I'll train her in handling AKEERAs."

"Thank you, Raph," Watson said and she returned to her reports. "Can you pick Michelle up today?"

"At school? Oui, ok," Raphael replied. A glint passed through his eyes as he recalled that Jason was teaching there, meaning this was the perfect moment to confront him.

***

Jason led Alice by the hand into Second Academy's school grounds. Lounging students that were on a break and teachers alike looked on in surprise when they noticed him holding a little girl's hand.

"Uh, was this a good idea?" Alice asked out loud.

"Don't worry. No one will have a problem with you being here," Jason assured her.

"Oh, I know. I'm too cute to be kicked out," Alice replied seriously while blinking. "I'm just concerned if everyone will think you're a pedophile."

"..." Jason looked at Alice, speechless at her cheekiness, the thought hadn't crossed his mind until she mentioned it. He then stared at all the onlookers and realized that they were watching him strangely.

She's my daughter! Jason screamed internally but said nothing but grimace. What he didn't know was that everyone was just wondering about why Jason had brought a little girl with him, and not that he was a pedo.

As he awkwardly walked onwards, an arm appeared on his other side and hooked into his free arm. The scent of sweet vanilla mixed with spicy cinnamon tickled his nose and he turned to look at Melanie who impishly grinned back. She was wearing a casual outfit: a white t-shirt with a navy blazer over it and semi-casual black pants. With her shy smile and wavy light brown hair that was doused with caramel highlights, she had a certain casual yet professional look going.

"Hey there, handsome," Melanie purred. She exchanged amorous gazes with Jason before looking down at Alice who was back with her innocent and guileless look. "Oh, if it isn't … what's your name again, dearie?"

"... Daddy, who is this old aunt?" Alice asked innocently. Melanie's face changed as she realized what Alice was trying to say. The two had seen each other before when Melanie joined Jason and the others during their weekend shopping, but right now, it was obvious that the two didn't seem to get along.

[1] ARP: Auxiliary Rocket Propellers