Gaston didn’t stay on the assault ship for too long. He did business with the Babaika Lioness, traded information, and oversaw the negotiation of the Consortium resources. The deal was straightforward, there were no hidden traps, and said clauses only had to be followed.

The Babaika Company has jurisdiction over the nation of Japan when it comes to fighting the biomass entities that are beyond Type-4 and Type-5.

They will be provided with the assets and authority to conduct businesses related to the harvest of ichorium, city patrol, and deep-sea mining operations

The Babaika Company would be in the front of the defense when there is SPAWNING or a monster that had appeared. And thus they would be given priority to any ichorium.

They were coming close to violating the third clause when they arrived late to the battle. If it wasn’t for their masterful sweeping of the biomass entities, then the Consortium would have placed a foot down. They wouldn’t leave them alone.

The Babaika Company also had acquired a live Type-5 which could be used as cattle to produce ichor for them. The Babaika showed its strength and gave the nation an idea of what it can do. The Red Valkyrie’s performance, the Black Lions sweep, and the masterful slaughter made it clear why they were licensed by the UEDF and the Consortium. To be given these benefits was something that every Breaker Company dreamed of.

They had used the deployable VTOL of the Babaika Company to get back down. After landing on the helipad at Roppongi’s Barracks, Gaston asked, “Should I hand over the gear?”

Ayumi took her eyes off her mobile pad. “No, we keep the gear, but I do advise on using it other than there is an operation that requires it.”

“I’ll have it stored in my apartment’s storage then.”

Gaston didn’t take off his webbing. He kept the gear and was driven back home by the service. Gaston bid Ayumi farewell in front of the apartment. “Sorry, maybe next time when there isn’t an accident.”

“A shame really,” she smiled inside the car.

Gaston took in her face, nodded, and said. “I hope you can rest, Ayumi. I hope we can work well for the days to come,” he offered his gloved hand which Ayumi readily shook.

The car service drove Ayumi to her apartment. Gaston watched the cargo before he faced his apartment, entered the door, stood in front of the storage, and put his equipment inside. He stared at the bed in the living room and sat. On his AR-module it was already close to 4 AM. “I need a short report,” Gaston thought. He opened his wrist pad and started a recording. There was an application module in his wrist pad that synthesizes his speech to text.

“Gaston Hardy, Freelancer, identification code is S18003,” he started. “I arrived successfully in Neo-Tokyo’s Branch. Please refer to the timestamp on my logs for further details on my arrival. I made contact with Secretary Ayumi Nara and her associates. Ibarra Shinji, and the Branch Manager Mino Kenji. I had delivered the documents, and later on met the newcomer of the Babaika Company, Miss Yumina Houki. The members who came were Jakob Stoll, Lady Lyudmila Romanov, and Hilda Valeria. They arrived on their transport vehicles. From my observation, they are acting as usual. I did realize that they had been on a mission due to the smell of monster blood. The subtle smell had left me to believe that it was a Type-4 monster.”

Gaston watched the texts formed in the wrist pad. He continued, “I have reason to believe that the Babaika Company will be active in their agreement, and from what I have seen they have recently acquired multiple jump units for their ships. The mother carrier, the Helicarrier Cecil, had not appeared in the region. It seems that in this region, the Babaika Company will not show its forces unless there is a need to. They have an underground hangar somewhere in the region, however, the Consortium, as expected, will not fully disclose information regarding the agreement and how many bases they had in the region. As this is the first day, I do not intend to inquire nor is it my prime objective.”

Gaston stopped himself for a while. He checked the synthesized text and nodded his head. “Battle logs, data, and information will be given to the UEDF headquarters for further details regarding the incident, please refer to Secretary Nara’s report that should be processed. The units fought were Type-3’s and Type-4. Japan’s reaction to the incident, performance-wise, is satisfactory and as expected. The Babaika Company’s Black Lions were deployed in this quick operation, they showed extreme efficiency, and the leading aces of the Company had managed to subdue a Type-5 to be their extra incoming. Further observation, there were no NAMED classes that appeared in the SPAWNING anomaly, only the unnamed class-types that prove no effort for the forces. There were no GOLIATH, BRAWLER, and HUNTER types that had appeared. However, the Type-5 that the Red Valkyrie had subdued showed signs of NAMED-class mutation. It would have developed into a BEHEMOTH class biomass entity if it was not subdued.”

Gaston held his forehead. He scanned the text, stretched his right leg, and continued. “I had acquired data regarding the Ahra Cult that the AETF had wanted to confirm. Though I did not expect that there would be a piece of information on my first day, nonetheless, it seemed that the Ahra Cult had started to move their operations in the region. I shall be sending video footage of the data through the footage recorded by my AR-module attached to my headpiece. I will submit daily reports as instructed, and will be using the encrypted lines to send data dumps.”

Gaston turned off his voice-to-text synthesizer and began to edit out the text. After editing it out, he attached the associated files, and references opened the encrypted line provided by the UEDF and sent the attached report and files. Gaston looked at the time and laid his back on the bed. “At least I’m not living in a shack this time,” Gaston thought as he drifted to sleep.

***

Gaston woke up at 8 AM. He was contracted to assist the Consortium but that was when there was a need. Most of the time he was usually idle, writing reports, and accompanying the one in charge of him. Gaston was physically fit, he had this shredded sprinter’s body, wide shoulders, and thick legs that he had gotten from roaming most of Europe and the Middle East for seven years and some parts of the world. Once in a while, he would have a contract in African nations, following a local warlord or start-up Breaker Company who wants to be supervised by the UEDF and escape the warring warlords there. Most of the time, they are slain by people who worshipped Papa Legba. He had run-ins with cultists and saw many good men die because of this cult.

The figure himself had nothing to do with their death. It was mostly through the ‘belief’ that all the powers that they have were born from Papa Legba. Of course, every religion had believed that this was a ‘gift’ from their deities. Some even manifest their bioenergy like they were something holy.

Gaston stayed idle until he got up in bed. He took a shower and stared at the bathtub that was hilariously small for him. He went to the kitchen, realized that he had no groceries, and went outside in his black suit. His black suit that had an ‘H’ pin on his left breast was quite strong. It was customized and built to be bulletproof and acted as a second layer of protection for him. It didn’t need much cleaning either and didn’t have to worry about it stinking. He had three of them in his luggage. He had already started to use that portable dry cleaning tool he carried for it. It was an item that he used all the time because of said suit.

There was no restaurant open so he went to this cafe called Segafredo. He ordered a coffee, and pancakes for a light breakfast. He then placed his laptop on the table. He sat in a private booth that was located at the back of the cafe for some privacy. Once his laptop had been fully opened, he started the encryption line and contacted his handler.

A one-eyed woman with hair tied for a bun appeared on the screen. Her eyes were naturally red after she became an "Evolved". “Bon dia, Gaston.”

“Bon dia, Janna.”

Janna took a bite of her truita. “Com està vostè?”

“Just fine, speak English, will you?”

She shook her head, “No ho entenc, but sure.”

“Eating truita at this time?”

“Bah, you are in the far east, you left me alone here with these pricks, I have to listen to that demente, Harvey. He wants me to date him. I told him that he can kiss the floor, showed your picture so he would fuck off. The damn llepaculs drives me insane, el meu amic.”

“I didn’t know you were the type to be bullied, Janna.”

“I am not! But the bark head is persistent. I’d rather fight monsters again than face that buffoon’s flattery!”

“Calma Janna, do you perhaps want your roommate to hear you?”

“That Pocatraça?” she sneered. “As if she’d have the balls to do so. Anyway, com estàs?”

“Estic bé, too many VTOL’s here, but it is a nice city. It is just that the work is already tiresome.”

“I have heard that there was a SPAWNING? Ah, the first day on your job and trouble already.”

“Sure is, you heard the report?”

“I scanned it before taking off my clothes, cultists huh. El meu amic, what is it with you and cultists?”

Gaston looked at the waitress, smiled, and returned his eyes to the monitor. “I don’t know, I think they might like me.”

“Bah, how many times have you run away from crazies? Never mind that, you called me this early, what are you after? If it’s for funds, go away. If you want to date me, I might think about it, but if you want official help? Pay your loans back, do not slacken in those interests, el meu amic. Remember Sania?”

“Ah, our classmate in military school? What about her?”

“She now works two blocks away from the main headquarters, sweeping floors, working three jobs to pay back those loans she had. I told her, ‘Saina! You’re killing yourself!’ and she replied with a bitter gaze at me, telling me, ‘I need to pay my loans’. Poor woman, so I don’t want you ending up like her, el meu amic.”

“Do I look that desperate?”

“Yes, you do. You were the one saying things like ‘I don’t need to be a Breaker! I’ll be a Freelancer as much as I can! I don’t want to be tangled by Bosses!’ and look how you are my friend. If I hadn’t worried about you like one would a sibling, do you think that you’d be found in that split-realm?”

“Fine, fine, I’ll try to be more competent in the future, Janna. Do not shout so much on my headpiece.”

Janna rolled her eyes. She seemed to have pulled something off her desk and adjusted her eyepatch. She ate her food so loudly that Gaston almost wanted to comment how it was going to look like one of those videos where some beauty would eat food in front of the camera.

“Can you not?”

“I sure damn can,” she ate fiercely in front of him. Gaston rolled his eyes and waited for her to swallow her damn food. When she was done, she took some medication and then adjusted that medical eyepatch of hers.

“Did you get the surgery?”

“I have, still, the Cybernetic Enhancements are holding me fine. I need to take these pills to prevent infection in the eye.”

“Are you still going to wear an eyepatch?”

“Do I look like I enjoy wearing one?” Janna sneered. “Sadly, I have to wear one so that the sensors don’t get busted. I once tried looking at the sun with this thing. I almost squealed like a pig for it. But enough about me, what do you want to call me while I am on my break?”

Gaston looked around and then leaned forward, speaking so quietly that only she could hear it. “Sitra Ahra, I need files on them.”

“Hostia, you want files on them?”

“Si, I need to be careful and nothing beats being careful than knowing your enemy.”

“So they reached there, huh. I didn’t hear this.”

“You have not read my report?”

“I have not. Who reads reports so eagerly in the early morning? You do realize that you are ten hours ahead? Not to mention, cabró. I was still on my shift. I handle three babau’s like you.”

“Where’s Helga?”

“I keep her close, unlike you who travel everywhere. Helga Ainoa is a diligent Agent, unlike the cabró who is too afraid of cultists. Still, are you sure about this? Once I pull this out, they’ll know. They always know somehow.”

“Send me the files, Janna.”

Janna looked at him intensely for a moment. That playful and tired expression became stern and serious. “Gato, you are playing with the fools who spread redlight on the east. I know that you do not like to interfere, and you do not trouble yourself with anything other than the contract tells you. So Gato, are you sure?”

Gato, Gaston thought. She only used his nickname when she was warning him of something dangerous. He didn’t like getting involved with cultists after his experiences with them. But now that the people he was in contract with might have to deal with them. He needed to know something about them. He had been in this business for a long time now that he knows what it was like to be ignorant. He had regretted not attending that orientation about split-realms, he had almost died because of how lacking he was in information!

He hated the thought of not knowing what to do. It became a shadow in his mind, the moment he saw those data. He knew he had to call Janna and had her help in gathering information. It would cost him, but he'd rather be prepared than be stupid.

Janna probably saw the look on his face. She gave a long terrible exhale and started writing something in one of her sticky notes. “I’ll call Brother Reginald about this. He’ll be discreet about this, but know that once they get a hold that someone is trying to get information, they’ll be careful and will monitor who got that information. Gato, remember that you are only acting as an adjutant, I know you don't need this, but for the sake of yourself, el meu amic, please be careful. The only reason that I am helping you is that these cultists, they aren’t like the ones who worshipped pagan deities and that Papa Legba, they are actually competent ones.”

“I understand,” Gaston smiled bitterly. “Sorry, I have to owe you a lot lately.”

“Nonsense, there are few of us left. Ah, just don’t try to call me on these times ever again, Gaston,” a teasing smile appeared on her. “You know I hate it when I get home, find someone calling me when I am finally free from suffering.”

Gaston couldn’t help but laugh. This friend of his was rather vindictive about her breaks. Joking, he made a promise and swore to her that he’d call this early as well next time he had something to discuss.

Her face became that of a demon after hearing what he had sworn. She snorted and then said. “Ves-te’n a prendre pel cul!” as she hung up on him.