Alexus contemplated the change of speed of Wrath. Usually, the amount of movement between the Deadly Sins was slow and sluggish, with sometimes bursts of energy that would push them to appear in another city in a day, but that was a very rare occurrence. He wondered what made these Deadly Sins move much more than last year.

They arrived at an abandoned trailer park.

Dentists, trash, and broken appliances were apparent from left to right. The open doors of the trailer squeaked, and the wind blew, bringing with it rustling leaves that crinkled underneath his feet.

"Creepy as always," Lara replied, hauling equipment boxes out of the trailer. Then, she and Crystal began setting up the surroundings, getting things ready to see the surroundings again.

"Do you guys need help?" Simon asked, coming over to pick up a folded table.

"Nope, we are good," Lara replied. She was opening up a few cases of equipment one after another.

"Are you sure? You guys have a lot." Simon unfolded a table, where Lara had placed a box she was carrying onto it.

"Yes, we got most of the equipment out, the rest is connecting things together, and it's going to take some time. I don't want to mess it up and start over again."

"Okay," Simon pulled back his hand, "I don't mind. I know I am not that good with electronics anyways; they don't usually go hand in hand with me. The last time I touched something and messed up the lines." He chuckled.

"That would be a big problem."

"What can you say," Simon shrugged, "but I assure you that these hands can do other things." He smirked.

Lara didn't pay attention to him and just rolled his eyes as she returned to work.

"We should check the surroundings," Alexus called out, "Lara. Crystal, will you guys be okay while we quickly check our surroundings?"

"Yes," Crystal replied with reassurance. "We can take care of ourselves. I have the defensive drones online as we speak." She had a tablet, tapping the screen as noises were made in one of the boxes they brought out.

The locks on the box clicked open, and it opened.

Three small black circular drones appeared. It floated into the air, circling around her as Crystal configured a few things with it.

"That's not bad." Simon glanced over; he reached out, poking one of the drones a few times. The drone bounced off his fingers, reorientated itself, and spun its cameras at Simon.

"Careful, I only have three of these right now." Crystal didn't even look up once, completely focused on her task. "Each of these drones will be able to take out an Adult demon, but their life span is about six hours or less, depending on the obstacles they would have to face. Luckily, the surrounding area is more spacious to calculate and fight under, so it should last longer."

"That's plenty of time," Alexus replied. "You coming, Simon?

"Yea." Simon stopped himself from picking up the bags of equipment completely.

"Let's go," Alexus replied. He started to walk out of the perimeter with Simon trailing behind.

Simon and Alexus trudged away from their location and walked around the abandoned trailer park. Leftover tricycles were still next to the sandbox, where creaking swings blew back and forth from the winds.

Old sleds speckled brown, and silver decayed in the middle of trash filled field. It looked as if they had left things behind, and instead, it was frozen in time. Old wooden chairs and leftover fire pits were covered in leaves.

Broken glasses of windows, old cars with flat tires and covered in leaves were parked with opened doors. Even some trailer doors snapped open and shut, banging as both Simon and Alexus walked by.

Not a single speck of birds sang their songs.

"It's too quiet here," Simon replied, frowning. His hand was on his side, ready to draw his gun if needed.

"I agree, it is," Alexus replied; such silence always kept Alexus on edge, wondering if there were any demons nearby. He checked for any fresh footprints, broken branches, or anything that screamed that someone or something was here, but so far, nothing.

Which made him slightly more at ease.

"Nothing on my side," Simon called out. But then, he straightened up with less worry.

"Same here," Alexus replied. They reconvene next to each other once again. He felt much more at ease, but he knew that wasn't the case.

"When did you start going out with Crystal?" Simon spoke up, breaking up the silence between the two.

They continued to walk, scoping the land for any demonic presence. So far, they have found nothing.

"Last year, during the fall season."

"She's a good catch."

"I agree."

"There is one thing you don't have to worry about," Simon replied, "I see Crystal as a true sister; I don't have any interest in her like you think. If I did, I would have moved in long ago."

Alexus thought over what he had said, "I had some thoughts, but from the way Crystal interacted with you and you with her, I wasn't worried."

"Oh really?" Simon looked over with surprise.

"I'm not worried." But, Alexus replied, "she's too engrossed in her tech toys, and her taste in men is quite different."

"Yea, she does," Simon looked over towards Alexus, smacking his shoulders a few times. "You can call me brother."

"Eh…" Alexus wasn't too thrilled at the thought of calling him that.

"Either way, you got my back. Just don't make her cry."

"I wouldn't dare. She would kill me." Alexus chuckled.

"She got you wrapped around her fingers already, huh?"

"Something like that."

"The life of a couple." Simon sighed, "I have been having trouble with my dating life at this time and age. Most women are a pain in the ass to deal with at this time and age."

"You don't seem like someone who would have a difficult dating life."

"You don't think so?" Simon asked. "I always had trouble."

"Well, I wouldn't believe that would be the case, but then again, everyone has their own problems."

Simon shook his head, agreeing with him.

"What do you think of the Deadly Sins' sudden appearance?"

"I think it's strange."

"You think so too?"

"Yea," Simon spoke.

"They couldn't all of a sudden have the ability to teleport long distances, could they?" But, Alexus asked, "did you see something out of the ordinary when you were out living in the wild?"

Simon started to scratch his chin, thinking over what he had seen and learned outside Seventh Sanctum.

"Nothing of that sort has to do with teleportation. There have been cases of demons being able to teleport short distances, but not such a long distance."

"I agree."

"But you have to wonder, why now?"

"It could be because of the death of Gluttony and Sloth."

"I had that thought as well." Alexus rubbed his fingers together, "Each of us has a portion of our power, which could be why they are drawn over."

"I wouldn't be surprised as well. That could be the major key trigger."

"We should be watching out for a possible another jump if they already have done it before."

"Not only that, each deadly sin tends to bring a hoard. So I assume we have something to deal with just the four of us?"

Alexus nodded her head. "Crystal created a new gadget to deal with that."

"Another of her toys?"

"Absolutely, we tested it a few times on large-scale groups of over a hundred, and it worked perfectly. A few kinks here and there, but that wasn't too bad. Let's go back."

They turned around.

A sudden piercing gaze was felt behind him, Alexus turned around, looking for the gaze, but he found nothing.

"Is everything alright?" Simon stopped, looking over her back.

"Yea, I thought I felt something or someone around here."

"You did?" Simon glanced around, searching for what Alexus felt, but there was nothing.

"It might have been nothing."

Simon turned around.

They turned around, leaving the place behind, leaving nothing. A shadow zipped through the trailers, following behind.

Alexus and Simon appeared back to the group.

The whole area was filled with a large amount of computer stuff from head to toe. Lara and Crystal were deep as they were scouring through multiple data.

"Hey Crystal," A familiar voice spoke through the comms.

"Timothy, good to see and hear you." Crystal replied.

"Glad to hear your voice as well."

"You guys alright over there?"

"Well, we have a few problems, but I think we are doing great."