This was not anywhere near as relaxing as she hoped. Elvira gave up on practicing—too much to think about—and opted instead to spend some time in the Park, on top of the Training Center.

Things went well, at first. She was bonding with Hassan Ahmose, the caretaker, and they were getting to the part where he started telling embarrassing childhood stories about Hitori, when all the sudden she had flashbacks to the metaflora invasion from the final.

Specifically, flashbacks to the part where a tree slapped her in the face.

She wasn’t saying it was because a tree slapped her in the face, but that might be part of it. In any case, that was half an hour ago. She teamed up with Hassan—and the metafauna, apparently—to beat back the suddenly hostile horticulture. The shrubs and spouts had just given up.

She felt sorry for the gardener. It did not look anywhere near as cute up here as it used to.

Hassan turned to her and said, “What in the black sun is going on here?”

Elvira had a sinking feeling she might have some clue. She looked into Hassan’s somewhat frazzled eyes. “I, uh… well—“

“Miss Peri,” Li said to her, after materializing from behind a rock. Her usually inscrutable face was notably anxious.

“Oh my God, Li, is something wrong with—“

“We need to talk.” She glanced at Hassan, then pulled Elvira to a shaded nook. She leaned in close.

“What’s going on?” Elvira said in a soft tone. “Does this have something to do with Hitori? Is that Eve chick attacking us or something.”

“She’s attacking everything.”

“What?”

Li hushed her with a finger. “There is a general contract out to quell the source of this chaos.” She leaned even closer and added in a dire tone, “By any means necessary.”

“Y-you mean they might kill him,” Elvira said. “But no one knows where he is.”

“We know it’s coming from somewhere in the Rusted Pass, and with what they’re offering it won’t be long before people find him.”

Elvira spent a few moment struggling to speak. She finally managed to choke out, “Wh-what can we do?”

“I don’t know…. I don’t know if there’s anything we can do. Master Foster is putting together a team. He’s….” She shook her head. “He didn’t want me to tell you, didn’t want you to worry… but”—Li reached in and gave Elvira a hug. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what to do.” She disappeared from Elvira’s grasp.

Elvira slumped to her knees. Her head was fuzzy, her mouth ran dry as her heart pounded in her chest. It was to much for her. It had to be. There was no way she—

She felt a tingling sensation in her hand. She looked down to see a fuzzy yellow creature nuzzling into it. Blue sparks danced off its cheek.

“Oh, Pierre?” She said, scooping him into her arms. It nestled into her. “I… uh, Hitori is in trouble.” It looked into her eyes. “And I don’t know what to do. I don’t even know if I can do—“She yelped in pain and jumped to her feet.

The small rodent was sitting on the ground chirping and hissing at her with shocking fury.

“Wh- what’s come over you?”

It continued to rage, nipping at her heels.

“Are you… are you telling me to… go help him?” She watched in bewilderment. The creature settled, then glared at her expectantly. “Oh, okay, I’ll do my best.”

Elvira hurried out of the park, waving to Hassan as she passed. He was tending to a Drake the size of a truck.

As she walked down the halls, she said. “But… how am I supposed to help him. I don’t know where he is better than anyone.” She shook her head. “The only one who might know is… that girl.”

It took a little digging, and more than a little pestering, but she was eventually able to find the doctor’s former host, the little Seitojin girl. When she burst into the room she found Reaper standing over the young woman.

“What are you doing here?” Elvia asked as the man turned to face her.

“I’d guess the same thing you are,” Reaper said. “Unfortunately, she’s totally unresponsive.”

“There’s got to be something we can do.”

Reaper shook his head and said in a soft voice, “Not with anything we have left.”

Elvira grit her teeth, then said. “You’ve got to have something. Hitori is in danger and it’s your fault.” She grabbed him. “So if you know anything at all, you’d better tell me.”

Reaper gave her a long look, then cast his eyes to the side. “There… well… I have reason to believe Hitori was taken to Morgan’s hideout.”

“Who?”

“Ah, I mean, Dr. Magnus.”

“And where is that, exactly?”

“There was, or most likely still is, a place known as the Eternal Archive,” Reaper said. “I… don’t really know anything about it.”

“Nothing?” Elvira tightened her grip. “Nothing at all?”

“It… well, I don’t… know, but I heard once it had something to do with the Southerners.”

“Newton!” Elvira exclaimed, letting go of Reaper. At his bewildered look, Elvira added, “She’s a Southern woman we rescued from the Wychwood a few weeks ago.”

“I didn’t know there were Southerners up north right now,” Reaper said.

Elvira was too busy running out of the room to respond. When she looked back a moment later she saw Reaper following. “What are you chasing me for?”

“If… if you find his location, I would… like to help rescue him, if possible,” Reaper said.

“What about the rest of your crew?”

Reaper shook his head. “There’s a great deal of trouble in the Wild Lands. I had to send them back to restore order.”

Elvira shrugged. “Alright, I’ll take everything I can get.”

She lead them to the dorms, and up into her room. Inside she found Newton happily tinkering away with a piece of artewood. She was humming a chipper tune.

“Newton?” Elvira said, maybe a little too loudly because the woman in question yelped and tumbled over the couch. She wasn’t even standing that close to it.

“Ah! Oh, Elvira, sorry, you kinda burst in on me,” Newton said as she clambered to her feet.

“Wha…? Don’t you hear the commotion outside?” The battle in the Park might have ended, but the rest of the school was under siege from all directions.

Newton canted her head. “Hm, yeah, I guess I do. What’s that about?”

Elvira explained the situation as quick as she could.

“The Eternal Archive?” Newton hummed slowly, resting her hand under her chin. “I feel I must have heard about something like that.” She frowned. “I’m sure my old master would know, but….”

“Please, you can contact him, right?” Elvira said, fighting the desperate tone in her voice. “Hitori is in danger, and you’re our only hope to find him.”

Newton settled into a serious face, then nodded. “Yeah, he saved me, right, so that’s what I should do.” She looked at Elvira. “Do you have a radio room.”

Elvira frowned a moment, then lit up. “There’s a Guild branch on campus! I’m sure they have one.”

“Alright, let’s go!”

They tore out the room. A helpful Paladin on the ground floor directed them to the Guild office attached to the main entrance, where a harried looking young man, perhaps as young as fifteen, was fielding questions from a handful of gruff men. They didn’t seem to be Nova Mercenaries, so Elvira supposed they were visitors trapped by the siege.

She barreled her way in front of them and said, “Sorry, urgent business.”

Before anyone could respond, Newton slapped the desk and said. “I need to connect to your antenna!”

The young man sent his bewildered gaze across all parties.

“Please?” Elvira said, leaning over the counter in front of him. “A friend of ours is in danger. We need your help.”

He looked up and blushed. “A-are, are you a student here too?”

“Yes.”

He gave a furtive glance to each side. “I— I’m really not supposed to do this,” he said, then stretched closer to her. “But just this once, okay? The equipment’s in that room over there.”

“Thank you thank you!” Newton said, bouncing to where he pointed. Elvira and Reaper followed shortly after. They found themselves in a cramped room, with cables and cords slithering every which way across the floor. Newton was already searching for the one she needed.

Reaper gave Elvira a sidelong glance. “I guess a mercenary really will use every asset at her disposal.”

“Yeah, Lagrange would be proud,” Newton said absently.

“What?” Elvira said. Reaper cast her another glance, below eye level. Elvira turned her head down, then quickly shot it back up. Her face went through three shades of red in half as many seconds. She wasn’t wearing armor, only a tight fitting athletic t-shirt. “I-I wa- didn—“

By the time Elvira finished stammering out no kind of response at all, Newton found the cable she was looking for and plugged it into a small electric tablet. She started talking to someone in her vaguely musical language, with, as near as Elvira could tell, an urgent tone.

The conversation lasted a few minutes, Elvira unable to guess whatever twists and turns it made except by the many rapid shifts in Newton’s manner and body language. Eventually the discussion wound to a close, and Newton tucked away her things. She turned to face the other two. Elvira thought the skin on her face was a little darker, but it was hard to tell in the dim lighting of the radio room.

“I got it!” She beamed, then looked awkwardly off to the side.

“That’s wonderful!” Elvira said, she bounced a little on her feet, then asked, “Was something wrong?”

“No, he, uh, made me promise to call again… after this is all settled.” She glanced to Elvira. “Hopefully, I won’t need your… help.”

“Ah, right,” Elvira turned away, a touch of red on her cheeks. “A-Anyway, let’s get this information to Gustaf. Li said he was putting together a team to rescue Hitori, and with it they’ll be able to get him out safely long before anyone else gets close.”

Elvira lead them through reception room, walking by the boy at the front desk and ignoring his awkward wave, then out the building. She wasn’t sure how to get in contact with Gustaf, but someone in the Main Office should know.

Unfortunately, after asking around for a half hour, all she was able to determine was the Headmaster left with Li and a few others, and that the WebLine Arte wasn’t able to reach him because of the metaflora. If there was a radio on the helicopter, there was no clue what, if any frequency they were on, or even if they were in range of the relay network.

Elvira meandered out the front door and onto the paved thoroughfare between the Academy facilities. She eventually settled on a metal bench adjacent a patch of disheveled grass. A mangled heap of wood had been swept into a pile nearby.

Elvira sat with her head in hand, staring at the ground. Newton perched beside her, frowning thoughtfully. Reaper remained standing, pacing slightly in front of them.

“There’s nothing to it,” he said. “We’ll have to get out there ourselves.”

“What?” Elvira shook her head. “How would we do that, and even if we can, how are we supposed to rescue him? Isn’t Eve really powerful. That’s why you wanted Hitori in the first place, right?”

“That is true, but….” He shook his head. “It needs to be done. I’ll find a way out there myself if necessary.”

Elvira looked up at him, confused. “Wh-why? You just met him.”

“Like you said, it’s my fault this happened so I’ll be the one to fix it. I owe at least that much.”

“I’m going too,” Newton said. “He rescued me, and my master said to always repay my debts.”

Elvira braced herself, and then stood. “Alright, we’ll find a way. I’ll contact the rest of the team and see if they’ll help. Grab any gear you need, and meet back here in a half hour. We’ll find away to borrow a helicopter.”

“Yokay!” Newton said with a twirl and a salute. She skipped off towards the dorm.

“I have everything I need,” Reaper said, patting the spear on his back. Elvira nodded, then turned away, pulling out her WebComm. The malhahonic connection didn’t work, but her team had an emergency radio frequency. It didn’t take any convincing, and within a half hour the entire team was mustered. Newton didn’t own much in the way of armor, but managed to scrounge a sturdy vest from somewhere.

“All for rescuing our big lunkhead,” Gordon said. “But the hell we supposed to get there?”

“I don’t know,” Elvira said. “My plan was to barge into the motorpool and start making demands. It’s worked so far.”

Gordon laughed. “Can respect that.”

As they approached the garage a voice called out, “Elvira! I knew you’d come this way eventually.”

Elvira looked about, eventually finding a figure in the shadows by the gate. As she got closer she saw it was Bridget, leaning casually against the wall.

“Hitori’s in danger, isn’t he?” she said.

“He’s been kidnapped,” Newton said cheerfully. Bridget huffed.

“How do you know about that?” Elvira said warily. She wasn’t sure how to process the pretty Mairtalan woman. Bridget rescued them from the forest, so Elvira was grateful, but she also had a very harsh and forceful personality.

“I have my sources,” Bridget said. “And I have my guesses. It looks like one of them was right. You’re off to rescue him yourself.”

Elvira hummed. This woman had a reputation for violence amongst the students. Mostly a kind of reverent awe, but Elvira couldn’t shake the fear Bridget might take what happened to Hitori as an opportunity to finally get her rematch. Nothing about her suggested she knew the meaning of holding back. Still, she was also said to be the best fighter in the school, and by a wide margin.

“Alright, yeah, we are,” Elvira said. “What’s it to you?

Bridget smiled. “I’m going with, obviously. I already got us a ride.”