“Now arriving at Washington Union Station. Thank you for riding on the government’s private railway. The doors will open on your left.” A monotonous and robotic voice said through the intercoms.

We stepped out of the train onto an empty platform, completely devoid of any people. “Is the martial law here even worse?” Hazeel asked, and I interpreted her question to Alpha.

“No… it’s not supposed to be.” Alpha looked around, trying to locate a stationmaster or service person. “In fact, this is supposed to be one of the most lax in terms of the curfews. Being right beside the Supreme General has its perks, after all.”

“We might need to change the plan then.” I said, taking stock of the people around me. “If this truly is an unprecedented situation and not the norm, we should take extra precaution going forward.”

“Agreed.” Katherine said as she walked up behind Alpha. “I do think we should stick to the script though.” She lowered her voice. “We don’t know if they’re watching, and if they’ve stopped all social activities completely or if today is just a special occasion.”

“You’re right.” Alpha said, shaking his head. “I think the strange situation is getting to my head. I wasn’t thinking clearly. For now, let’s just head back to the hotel.”

The Valkyries started walking towards the staircase, and Alpha turned to me. “We’ll bring your luggage to the hotel. Why don’t the six of you go out on the town and enjoy yourselves, if you can.”

Alpha shook his head. “Even if you can’t, there should be some parks open where you can just sit down and relax. Just give me a ping on this,” he held up his arm to show a smart watch, “if you need anything. I already told Vanessa my number.”

I nodded, and gave the man a stiff salute. “Thanks, Alpha. It’s much appreciated. Good luck on your end of the mission. If all is still according to plan, we’ll be counting on you in two days time.”

The old soldier saluted me back, before dropping his form and giving me a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “See you then, Leo.”

With that small goodbye, he was gone, leaving the six of us to navigate our way around the station, and then around the town.

“All right, so what do we want to do?” I turned back to look at the group. “We could go straight to a park and try to blend in, like Alpha suggested. The other option is to walk around the town and try to figure out why there’s no one around.”

“Eh, we can leave the town’s situation to the good old military man in our acquaintance. We should just go take in the sights.” Hazeel said, resting a hand on her hips.

“‘I think we should explore the city. There could be clues we can use to find out about what we’re dealing with,’ is what Rexir said.” Leresa informed us.

“I’ll agree with Hazeel on this one. ” Leresa said, shocking us all. I had assumed following her husband-to-be’s lead was what she was going to do, but I had been terribly mistaken.

“Really? I’m with Rexir.” Vanessa said, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “We’ve finally reached the end of our journey, so to speak. What we do next will impact our future. As such, we should treat this like a mission, and not a vacation.” Vanessa said, eyeing Hazeel and Leresa, who both backed down from her challenging gaze.

“Well, I guess that settles that then.” I said, rubbing Vanessa’s back. “We’ll go into the city from the station. Sorry for skipping over your vote Zare, but-”

I stopped talking as I realized that the young Minami princess was nowhere to be seen. My heart sank as I looked around and saw no trace of the girl. “Rexir, Leresa, what happened to Zare?”

Rexir’s eyes widened as he looked around for his sister, to no avail. “She couldn’t have gone far, it’s only been a few minutes since we got off the train.”

“She doesn’t have a photon suppressor, does she?” Hazeel asked, holding up her wrist.

“No.” Leresa sighed. “She doesn’t use them, after all, so why would she need one? In hindsight though, we should have got her one just to use as a communication tool.”

“Let’s split up then, and meet at the station entrance in five minutes.” I said, and we went our separate ways. Between the five of us running and shouting in an empty station, it shouldn’t take that long to find her, if she was still around.

And if she wasn’t… “Then we’ll have even more problems on our hands than we already do.” I muttered, turning the corner. My eyes barely caught a red blur that roughly brushed past me, heading for the stairs.

“Everyone, to the entrance! Something’s trying to escape!” I shouted through the photon suppression bracelet that Alpha had given me.

Everyone linked in replied in the affirmative, and I followed after the red blur on my own, dashing up the staircase in hot pursuit.

I had confidence in my own speed, but whatever it was left me in the dust. “Gotcha!” I headed from the top of the staircase around the corner, and saw Rexir and Leresa on top of a human-shaped figure covered in a red cloak.

“My candy…” A pitiful voice came from under the two. Surprised, Leresa jumped off immediately, while Rexir grabbed the person by the arm, and pulled it up with him.

“Zare…” I muttered, looking at the princess. She had tears in her eyes, and chocolate was smeared all over the red shirt she wore.

“Just because there isn’t anyone to stop you, doesn’t mean you should just steal from places.” Leresa admonished the girl, whose tears had started to overflow.

“Ugh, Rexir.” Leresa groaned, a mental dialogue taking place between them. They continued to stare at each other with Zare sniffling in between them.

“Fine! Do whatever you want. Gods, it's not like you even need me to do anything anyway. Just do your thing already.” She walked towards the station’s exit, flustered, and Rexir had a defeated smile on his face.

He let out a wordless sigh and started comforting his little sister, before taking her back downstairs, assumedly to get a replacement for the wasted food.