Midas, Origin and Astra land back where they started in the Sanctuary still trying to process what they just witnessed. Midas looks over at the girl, her silent demeanor worrying him.

"Astra...are you alright?" Midas asks.

She turns to face him, wiping her eyes. But to his surprise, she was smiling a little.

"I think I get why Orelia wanted to hide my past. She only wanted to keep me safe." Astra says. "After reviving me, Oro, her and I revived the rest of the townsfolk and they all lived in the palace."

"I'm assuming they got their memories erased too." Origin buts in, arms folded.

"I'm not sure. I never really left the palace very often." She hums, shrugging. "Though, when I did, I never saw the people who were my parents. I wonder why..."

"Perhaps they were afraid that if you saw them, your memories would come back to you."

"Maybe..."

She pauses, hugging her arms.

"But at least now, with these new abilities of mine, I have a reason to put them to good use and kick I.O's butt!"

With that, she runs off elsewhere. Midas turns towards the Origin.

"Well, I apologize for dragging you into all that. I'll listen to what you want me for now." He says, readjusting his tie.

The Origin clenches his fists before turning away.

"It doesn't matter. You're free to return to your quarters if you wish. I... have something to attend to."

He then walks off, leaving Midas and his thoughts to himself.

------------

An hour or so later...

To pass the time, Midas had been studying the file on 8R3Z he stole from the I.O. So far nothing of interest had popped up as a majority of information had been either taken or scratched out by someone. Probably Slone since it was her experiment.

"There must be something in here that'll explain where this cyborg came from." Midas sighs, flopping down on the bed. "They just appeared out of nowhere after the island flipped."

The door to Midas' quarters opens up and Jones slides in holding some kind of tablet.

"Hey Midas! Got a mo?"

He looks up and smiles at Jones before sitting up.

"Eh, maybe. I'm currently reading through this file I 'borrowed' from I.O when me and Origin went to the Daily Bugle." He explains. "It's based on 8R3Z, but nearly all the info has been erased. It's like they're hiding information on them from me for a reason."

Jones raises an eyebrow, finding that very suspicious.

"Huh, that's odd. But I'm sure we'll figure it out eventually."

Midas shrugs, closes the folder and puts it on his bedside table.

"Anyway, moving on. What did you want me for dear?" Midas asks, shuffling closer to Jones who blushes a little.

"Oh, right!"

Jones takes the tablet in his hand and turns it on. The screen lights up to show a map with a blue outlined version of the Island.

"So recently the Seven have been receiving strange energy readings. But since they've been so busy, they asked me to find out where it's been coming from." Jones explains. "I think I've finally found its location. Take a look."

He hands the tablet to Midas and zooms in on the map. An orange circle reticle flashes around Loot Lake, a dot in the center of the circle points out the exact spot on the map.

"I see. Good job Jones." Midas chuckles, pinching Jones' cheek softly. "But what does this have to do with me?"

"Well I want to send you out with some tech that can read the energy waves. That way we can figure out what it is exactly that I.O is cookin' up. Whatcha think?"

Midas smiles at him, admiration in his eyes.

"You really have all this planned out huh. I'm highly impressed, my darling." He smirks.

Jones continues to blush, snickering to himself.

"Haha, well I do try my best to please you and The Seven." He smiles.

They both get up from the bed and head to the door.

"Meet me outside near the exit of the Sanctuary when you're ready to head out." Jones instructs him, leaving him with a quick peck on the lips. "See ya in a minute Goldie!"

Midas chuckles and heads back into their quarters as Jones runs off. Being quick, he fishes out a folder and skims through it before nodding. He runs off to the science bay, hoping to find The Scientist in there. And thankfully, he does.

"Excuse me, Scientist. Do you have a minute?"

He turns around.

"Oh, hey Midas. Sure. What do you need?"

Midas passes him the folder. The Scientist opens it up.

"If you're not too busy, I'd be grateful if you could recommission this for me."

He looks up.

"Uh, sure. But where'd you even get this? I've never seen armor this intricate and well done before."

"Well, a certain genius inventor and playboy made it for me ages ago as a gift. It was attached to an arc reactor that used to keep me alive." Midas explains. "But since my personal doctor, Remedy, managed to remove the rest of the shrapnel near my heart half a year ago, I've had no need for it."

He puts a golden hand near his chest.

"I'd just like a way to access the suit without needing the arc reactor. Nothing more. I feel like it'll come in handy for me in due time."

The Scientist closes the folder and puts it under his arm.

"Alright. I'll work on it as soon as I get the chance. When it's finished I'll let you know."

Midas nods, thanking him, before turning on his heel and running off to find Jones. As he said he was waiting by the exit of the Sanctuary holding a strange backpack. Midas slides to a stop in front of him, surprising the blond.

"Woah! You're fast Midas, hehe."

"Well you should already know how I like getting down to business my dear." He tells him. "Now, what's with the backpack you have there?"

"Ah, well since The Seven don't want me leaving the Sanctuary I decided to hook you up with this. It's a tracker. It'll let me follow where you're going from a comfortable distance, and it can also detect the energy readings at Loot Lake so I receive them over on my side of things!"

Midas looks at Jones, his eyes showing surprise and even more admiration.

"You've never been so resourceful before darling. Am I sure I'm talking to John Jones and not one of his snapshots?" He softly jokes, nudging his arm with a wink of his blind eye.

The blond laughs with a blush.

"Har har, very funny Midas."

Jones hands Midas the backpack and he puts it on.

"Okay, I think you're good to go now. I'll be on the phone with you the whole time in case you need help...or if ya just wanna chat with your cool boyfriend." Jones grins.

"Okay. You sure you won't worry about me the second I leave?"

"Of course! You're Midas! World renowned leader of Ghost and the man who bears the powers of a god! The most powerful man on the island!" Jones shouts, posing valiantly.

Midas chuckles lightly.

"Basically what I mean is, why should I worry? I know you can handle yourself, my brave and strong and pretty boyfriend.~" Jonesy coos, hugging Midas tight and pressing kisses against his cheek.

The mastermind begins blushing, failing miserably to hide his laughter. It made Jones so happy to hear Midas laugh, as it was rare that he did laugh. He eventually lets go of him, seeing as they both had work to do.

Midas summons his staff and, giving Jones a quick smile, teleports away.

-------------

The mastermind lands on a hill just outside Tilted Towers. He notices the blimp hovering high above and I.O troops walking around the town below. It was hard to see, but some guards were banging on the doors of houses and terrorizing people inside.

"Midas? You there?" Jones asks through the phone he was carrying with him.

"Yeah, yeah. Just observing Tilted from where I landed." He says. "It makes me sick. Watching Slone and her forces lay waste to the island mercilessly, not caring about the people who dwell on it."

Jones simply sighs through the phone.

"I know. But for now there's not much we can do. Not until we've taken back Condo Canyon and Rocky Reels first."

Midas takes a breath before regaining his focus and sliding down the hill, following the coordinates of the energy readings. Meanwhile on the other side of the phone, Jones monitors his progress.

"I'm getting some funky readings up ahead near those trees Midas." He mutters.

"Got it.'

As Midas gets closer to the source, he comes in-between two smallish trees. A light on his backpack begins flashing red, emitting a frantic beeping noise. He stops in his tracks as he sees something below in front of him.

"Jones, are you seeing this?"

"Yeah dude. I do.."

Below Midas' feet were faint orange waves of energy. He reaches out a hand, being sure it was actually there and not invisible. A few streaks follow a finger as he retracts his hand before returning to the cycle it was stuck in.

"This energy, the way it looks and moves... It feels somewhat familiar to me." Midas mutters.

Jones meanwhile is busy scanning the energy to see if he can figure out what it's up to and what it could possibly be used for by I.O. Then, something clicks in his mind. Something familiar.

"Hey Midas? Remember the doomsday device you built a couple years back?"

"Yes."

"The energy readings are super similar to that of your device. And I remember vividly that I.O LOVES doomsday machines... meaning..."

"... there's a big chance they have one in development right now..." Midas finishes Jones' thought.

At that moment, gunshots begin to fire around Midas. He turns around to find I.O guards AND 8R3Z there, weapons loaded.

"Shit, Jones. We've got a problem-"

Before Midas can say anything else, the cyborg charges him, knocking the phone out of his hand and making him lose contact with the blond.

"Wait what? What's going on?! Midas?!"

The two of them tumble down the hill to the riverside, the guards following and shooting after them. Midas grunts as he stands up, clasping his hands together and focusing on his power. As 8R3Z powers up the cannon on their left hand and fires a blast at him, Midas opens his hands and summons a shield to deflect the shot and bullets from the guards.

As 8R3Z recalls his laser, he whips out his katana blade and runs towards Midas. Meanwhile he tosses out a few explosive golden orbs and pulls out a dagger he happened to be carrying with him.

Their blades clash together, both glaring at each other in the struggle. But eventually Midas gains the upper hand and swiftly disarms 8R3Z and rids them of their blade, and quickly slashes the dagger down the right side of their face, making a gash in their cheek and ripping the mask covering their mouth and nose in half.

Midas breathes heavily, raising the dagger and ready to give the final blow. The cyborg growls, turning their face towards Midas.

The mastermind's angry expression pales as he gazes at them. His eyes go wide in fear and disbelief.

He drops the dagger as tears brim in his eyes, his heart growing heavy.

He couldn't believe it...

All this time, 8R3Z....

Was Aresthe whole time...

His presumed dead father.

"...Dad..?" He mutters softly.

Before both could do anything else however, a tranquilizer dart is fired and lands directly on Midas' arm. He flinches and pulls it out as he quickly begins to grow dreary and exhausted. The last thing he sees is Ares staring emotionlessly at him. He quietly mumbles...

"...A-Ares........"

Before collapsing on the ground.

Ares, plus the I.O guards, look up to see Doctor Slone atop the hill holding the gun that shot at Midas.

"Good job, Ares. Now do me a favour and pick him up. He's coming back to the blimp above Tilted with us." She orders with a satisfied grin.

He nods and does what she asks. Slone chuckles slightly before picking up Midas' phone, knowing who would be on the other side.

"Sorry Jones. Your friend is currently occupied... Don't bother coming for him. You never find out where he is. And even if you did, it wouldn't be long before I toss you into a jail cell where you belong..."

And hangs up the phone before stuffing it into her pocket.

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