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Daitetsu, Tetsuya, Laker, and Sakae discuss the recent spate of DC attacks. Thus far they've been focused on North America and the Pacific; Tetsuya worries that they may make a move on President Midcrid's office in Paris, but the DCs' hit-and-run tactics are so different from the previous war that it's impossible to know what to expect.



The Hagane has just returned from Aidoneus, and Daitetsu can confirm that the DCs are making no effort to reclaim their former headquarters. That would leave their other stronghold, the Earth Cradle, as a possible site for their main base. This doesn't add up, however; Sophia Nate cooperated with the Divine Crusaders only under duress, and in fact sealed the Cradle against outsiders to prevent its being misused again. Daitetsu wants to have faith in her, but the fact remains that some of the Earth Cradle's staff were DC members. The installation may have been sealed to outside interference - but interference from within is another story, and Dr. Nate may have been betrayed by one of her own. A task force will have to be organized to investigate, but the Hagane's immediate task will be to root out the enemies who attacked today, as they're no doubt still in the area.



With that settled, conversation turns to the other matter: the object that they discovered on the seabed off the coast of Aidoneus. Based on first observation, Tetsuya thinks it's part of the "White Death Cross." It's not clear why a piece of the White Star's core would end up there; perhaps it fell to Earth after its destruction during Operation SRW, or maybe Meteor-3 had been in the process of replicating it. There's no way to be certain.



Laker: "Is the object still alive?"
Tetsuya: "We think so. There are signs that... it... is regenerating itself."
Laker: "I see. Then we'll deliver it to Doctor Kobayashi. For the time being, let's keep this among ourselves."



After the White Death Cross' destruction, a few samples were given to the military for examination, while the rest were disposed of under Gilliam's supervision. Nonetheless, Daitetsu is concerned; what if the Divine Crusaders were to get their hands on the Aerogater material? If they haven't already...

-----



Ryusei runs to meet up with the Hagane's pilots; it's the first time seeing the ATX team in six months, though he's disappointed that Kusuha didn't come back with them, since it would've been a chance to see her parents again. Excellen suggests that they send Bullet instead, since after all, he's going to be part of the family soon enough. Bullet protests that they're not "like that" yet, Irm dryly observes that Bullet hasn't changed a bit, and Excellen agrees, gleefully recounting his abortive farewell to Kusuha back at Langley. Poor Bullet.



Kai is more interested in talking about what just happened on the field. It looks like whatever the enemy wanted, it wasn't the R-Blade. Better yet, they brought a new machine - and not a derivative of the Lion, by the looks of it. It's possible that the DCs are building their own hardware, but still... something doesn't seem right about this.



Latooni: (And they have Seolla, and Arado, and Ouka fighting for them... they'll be my enemies now.)
Ryusei: "What's wrong, Latooni?"
Latooni: "No, it's nothing."
Ryusei: "Doesn't look like nothing."
Latooni: "....."



Ryusei: "I heard a lot of stuff went down in Hawaii. I don't know all the details, but... Just remember the goal: get back what was stolen. Positive attitude, right?"
Excellen: "He's right. Think about what you can do instead of worrying about what's already happened."
Latooni: (That's right... I can still set Seolla and the others free from the School. I promised myself that I would do it. So...)
Latooni: "Thank you, Lt. Excellen... and thank you, Ryusei."
Ryusei: "That's better."



Excellen: "Ooh, what's this? What's that in the air?"
Latooni: "Huh?"
Excellen: "Could it be... has a love flag been activated?"
Latooni: "L-Love!?"



Scenting blood in the water, Excellen closes in, wanting to know all about what they've been up to. When pressed, Ryusei says that they did go to an arcade before Latooni left - the new Burning PT was in, so they had to check it out. He did end up losing 4-6, though; quite a change from when he was second in the country. But after that they went back to the base. Excellen dryly observes that even Kyosuke would have known to go out for tea afterward (he unhelpfully corrects her, saying that she drinks the tea and he just gets canned coffee).



Irm: "Ryusei, you're really supposed to take 'em out someplace else afterwards."
Ryusei: "Well, the Chief had me doing extra training right after that, so..."
Latooni: "It's fine. I was just happy you invited me."
Ryusei: "When things settle down, we should go do it again."
Latooni: "Yeah..."
Irm: (Hmm. Maybe they are making progress after all...)





Viletta enters, and after a brief reunion she gets right to business. Ryusei and Irm are both being assigned to the Hagane, effective immediately, to join in the DC hunt. Irm is glad for the break from his desk job, while Ryusei asks what he'll be piloting, given that the R-1 is at Mao for testing. Robert is willing to turn the R-Blade over to him, provided that he sends updates with his combat data on a regular basis.



Rai asks about the R-2; its adjustments are still underway, but the engine's output is much more stable than before - and they've cleared up that little problem with the joints. Ryusei is pretty much jumping for joy at the news that they'll be able to combine at will from now on, but then has to be reminded that he doesn't have the R-1 (even though we went over this literally thirty seconds ago). Furthermore, Viletta and Aya have their own duties and will be staying in Japan for the moment. Ryusei grumbles about this, but Robert says it's just as well - they're still upgrading the R-GUN, after all. Still, as Aya says, he'll have the chance to stretch his wings even if they're not around.



Viletta: "Speaking of wings, I saw a mech I didn't recognize in the Hagane's bay."
Ryusei: "Oh, yeah! I wanted to ask about that knockout too!"
Excellen: "Ooh... sounds like somebody's in love."
Ryusei: "You got that right! Love at first sight!"
Latooni: (...Huh?)
Ryusei: "The wings are great, but that skirt is just smokin' hot!"
Latooni: (I have a skirt too, you know...)





Ryusei: "If we could get some of that on the R-3, we'd have some sex appeal on the team!"
Aya: "Oh? It's just too bad that my sex appeal doesn't meet your standards."
Ryusei: "Owowow! My toes! My toes! I wasn't talking about you, Aya!"



Viletta is more interested in where the mech came from, given its outward similarity to the Valsione. Kyosuke and Excellen give the rundown on the Angelg and its pilot... but that's strange. Lamia seems to have wandered off.

-----



Lamia: "...Nobody will see us here. You can come out now."
???: "You identified me. Well done, W17."
Lamia: "Your movement-ents are too precise and never va-ary. Real people don't move like that."
???: "You have studied this well."



Lamia: "W16... what na-ame are you using for the mission?"
Echidna: "Echidna Iisaki. But that has no meaning between us. Why do you ask?"
Lamia: "...I'm no-ot sure. Your message?"
Echidna: "W17, your lack of communication has worried Mistress Lemon. Take this."
Lamia: "A mission disk. Then, you didn't rece-eive my transmissions?"
Echidna: "We did not."

In the original Echidna asks about Lamia's speech, but it doesn't come up here.



Lamia: "I thought s-so. My transmit-itter must be damaged. What are the contents?"
Echidna: "My command was only to deliver it."
Lamia: "You're not wo-orried? Not know-owing the reason for your orders..."
Echidna: "What? W17, I do not comprehend---"
Lamia: "No, it's nothing. Delivery confirmed."



Echidna: "Then, your report, W17. What is your status?"
Lamia: "Phase 2 has been successful. But..."
Echidna: "What?"
Lamia: "No, that's all."
Echidna: "Then I will return."



Lamia: (My opinion would be... unnecessary. We perform our given duties. The purpose... doesn't matter.)

-----



Back on Archibald's submarine...



Seolla: "Arado... Arado!"
Arado: "C'mon, enough with that. I can feel my bones creaking."
Seolla: "You... you jerk! Do you have any idea how worried I was!"
Arado: "Um... well, on a scale of 1 to your cup size, I guess it'd be---"





Arado: "Ow! Owowow!"
Seolla: "You really are a jerk! And a perv! The lowest of the low!"
Arado: "Is this how you treat somebody who's injured!?"
Seolla: "You'll live! And you earned a punishment for that stunt you pulled!"
Arado: "Oh, leave me alone... I kept my promise, didn't I? I'm back in one piece."
Seolla: "Don't get cocky! You were lucky that time! If you keep rushing in like that, you'll never save Lat!"
Arado: (Aww, there we go again...)



Seolla: "But..."
Arado: "W-What?"
Seolla: "....."
Arado: "Something else to say?"
Seolla: "Y-yeah. One thing... thank you."
Arado: "...Thank you?"



Seolla: "You saved me, so... thanks."
Arado: "....."



Seolla: "But if you do something that stupid again, I'll never forgive you!"



Arado: "H-Hey! Where are you going!?"



They run off. Carla was watching the whole spectacle, and is surprised by the quick turnaround given that Seolla was practically in tears up until Arado came back - but it looks like has her cute side as well.



Yuuki comes in; Echidna has returned, but they'll be lingering in the region for a while longer. Carla asks what he thinks of Arado's performance; was it just a fluke? He doesn't think so - more likely it's a product of his School training. But given what he's seen of the two of them... this could be very risky.