"Ah, hello again, Chika."

"How did it go?"

"My interview with Helena?  Well, it was interesting, to say the least."

"Oh?  What did she say?"

"She told me, quite simply, everything I already knew."
 

I couldn't believe my eyes when I looked at the mission assignment.  Fate or destiny or maybe just dumb luck... it hasn't really been very nice to me recently but I didn't think that this could happen.
 

"The world is at danger.  You can call it jealousy.  You can call it envy.  You can call it simple survival of the fittest.  I guess what Mrs. Baxter was trying to say was that different power levels exist.  There isn't any stopping that.  But these power levels are a threat to humanity more than anyone could imagine."
 

The assignment was top priority.  I didn't realize that I was the top doll in the force now besides Cammy.  That thing just sort of slipped my mind.  I wasn't expecting this...
 

"If everyone knew how large this difference was, there would be chaos.  People by nature get worried.  Perhaps you can call it a survival instinct of sorts.  They would not enjoy knowing that out there, there is someone else above who could easily smite them like a bug."
 

Why didn't they give the job to Fenrir?  She wasn't happy when she found out I got the latest top priority assignment.  But when she found out what it was, things escalated to the level they are at, now.  At first I thought she was just jealous, but it got much worse than that.
 

"They are a danger to all of us, Chika.  I wanted to tell Mrs. Baxter just how much I knew.  I wanted to tell her about beings so devastating they could seemingly wipe out armies.  About a race to use such beings or play god and create some, themselves.  I wanted to tell her about how everything had escalated to drastic proportions that got out of hand."
 

She subtlely threatened me before.  Even went so far as to say she would do something like this.  But it was only when she had her sword pointed at my neck that I knew she was serious.
 

"I wanted to tell her that I agreed.  That I would fight the good fight.  I wanted to tell her that I would do whatever I could.  That the rightful people would inherit the earth."
 

It was strange.  That I'd fear someone who on paper was so drastically inferior to me.  But the anger in those eyes, the pressure of the sword, the way she told me that if I succeeded on this mission and took away what rightfully hers, she would take my life in his place...
 

"I wanted to tell her that no matter what, together we would make our stand.  Instead, I said..."
 

A top priority assignment.  Unlike all previous ones, failure really IS not an option.  But I'm going to fulfill the assignment, even if it does mean my death.  Because if I don't, the next up agent, you, will have to do it.  And I don't want you to go through what I'm about to.
 

"I know how to blow things up!  Dr. Bremare Yamoto, ex-Shadaloo scientist whose time on earth is limited.  I'm glad to be welcomed aboard."
 

Juni, thanks for everything.  I'll see you later.

They who escape with vital information about the organization are top priority for elimination.  Juli, one of Shadaloo's top special force solders, recieve orders from high command.

"Locate and terminate the traitor scientist, Dr. Bremare Yamoto."
 

It seemed like it'd be a normal enough day for Chika Imawano.  The weather outside the Baxter Inc building was nice, nothing special was scheduled besides the usual, the help desk on the main entry area that Chika manned at that moment had mostly just the normal daily people asking the normal daily questions, most of said people being sadly mentally inferior Americans who couldn't figure out an answer for the life of them and always had to plague her with their stupid questions, but that was normal too...

Sure, she never saw that long-haired brunette walking into the office before, but she was just another silly foreign gaijin among a sea of them.  Nothing really out of the ordinary.  Grey suit, grey pants, pretty much an ordinary outfit.  Except for that wierd grey mask she was holding over her face.

Hmm... must have been a strange new western custom or fad or something.

Just great.  It looked like the dense girl needed some help.  Didn't they all?  Ever since she moved to Silicon Valley for her new job, Chika soooo despised all these foreigners who kept asking her these stupid questions.  She didn't like this girl already.  Well, time to see what the Masked Yahoo wants.

"Hi, I'm looking for an oldfriend of mi..."

"Authorization?"  Chika interrupted with a rather snappish tone.  Crazy foreign gaijins always wasting her time...

"Oh, right!"  The dense brunette quickly handed over an authorization card.  "I'm an old member of a certain group that is in the employ of Baxter C..."

"You assume I'm blind."  Chika snapped before grabbing the card.  Looking at the face on the card, it turned out that Chika's initial assumption was right.  Just another artistically inferior caucasian.  Chika's long blackish hair and Asian eyes looked much better than this... Bess girl.  And what kind of stupid name was Bess?  From then on, for the five minutes that Chika would probably know that girl, she decided that she shall refer to her as Lady Cow Trash.

Lady Cow Trash hung her head low as she removed the mask a little to reveal that yes, it was her artistically inferior mug on the card.  Still, using her superior pure Asian brain, Chika realized something might have been up.  The hunter group which this girl supposedly belonged to wasn't known to employ females.  Time to get some verification.

"Hold here, but don't loiter."  Chika ordered.  "I may be right back."

With that, she walked off, leaving Lady Cow Trash there to twiddle her fingers.

"It's a beautiful shiny day!"  Erriol would have told him if the scientist were there.  "Cheer up!  Enjoy the wonderful sun!  Have a delicious oh so scrumptious donut!"

Folken Saragorn never was one to indulge in donuts.  They tended to taste sweet but were sadly horrible to one's long-term health.  Perhaps some were able to somehow magically partake of them in impossibly large quantities like Erriol was, but it was quite obvious that Folken Saragorn was not Erriol Ferrars.

In the background of the quiet lounge, the classical music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart softly played.  The young handsome pearl-haired man slowly leaned back on the light-tan couch he was sitting on, waiting to pass away the remaining years of his now-pointless life.  At least those remaining years could have been interesting, but the lady called off all hunting jobs ever since that incident.  Not before telling him about it, though.

Le sigh.

The sky outside might have been a bright blue, but the sky in his own forecast was only a dull grey.  Ferrars told him again before he left to rejoin the Springtime Avelle hunter group that it was possible to love again, and proceeded to get into a rather complicated babble about loving and never lost, then never losing again.  It was incoherent, even.

"Fokken-saaaaan!"

There was a reason why he didn't care to go out searching for a new woman.  What do you do when you find perfection, then after it's gone, the rest of those 'fish in the sea' are nothing but...  well, Folken didn't need to complete the sentence because the example was standing there right before him.

"Fokken,"  Chika spoke in Japanese now.  She knew that Folken's Japanese wasn't as good as his English, yet she did it anyway.  And what right did she have to call him by that name?  One might suspect it was to annoy him.  Or perhaps really aggravate him.  "There's an old team mate of yours at the front desk.  Verify her."

Old team mate?  Lady June returned early.  Hmm.  Folken nodded with a quick badly accented "Hai" for "Yes" in Japanese, then stood up and prepared to go see what was going on.

"Oh, and Folken?"  Chika stopped the young man as her tone became even more bitter.  "I thought I told you not to talk to me that way.  Fix your accent.  It scratches the back of my ears."

Most certainly, the reason she talked to him in Japanese was just to annoy all English speaking people in general.

Le sigh part deuce.

He wasn't expecting to have to face two scornful women this day, though.  Though at least this one had a reason to talk to him the way she did.

"You?!?"

"Hi, Fokken!!!!"  'Bess' beamed as loudly as a beam could beam, as she tried to speak in her own Japanese to appease that cruel demoness's whim.  "Arigato, Chika-sama!!!  May light and happiness shine forth into the great land of sun rising!"

Juli's Japanese needed a bit of a touch-up.  Probably serious help.  Folken did find it a bit funny, though, that they were both wearing neutral suits that day.  It was, perhaps, a quaint but appropriate way of covering up ones' intentions of the cruel organization that perhaps was responsible for everything, yet responsible for nothing.  Best of times, these were definately not.  Worst of times?  Perhaps, but Folken knew by now that it could always get worse.

"That style certainly isn't very becoming of you."  Folken casually remarked about Juli's untyed hair.  "It seems... how shall I say it?  Perhaps a bit too free.  Though I suppose freedom is what you're going for since you brought along the mask.  I've noticed that thing breaks down walls for you."

Closing her eyes a bit more, Juli slowly brung up the mask to partially cover a little of her face.  "There's someone I don't want to recognize me.  I could say the same about you too, though.  What are you trying to pull?"

"I always prefer more formal dress."  The albino looked down at his own suit, then off to the side with a frown.  "The rest of the philistines in your partner's entourage simply don't appreciate it as much as I do."

"They make fun of you, huh?"  What part of Juli's face was showing from behind the mask indicated a grin.

"Quite."  Fast to regain his composure, Folken quickly reached into his shirt pocket and proceeded to hand Juli an access card.  "So, shall we start?  Though I imagine that what High Command didn't know about you and your relationship with the doctor may complicate things a little."

The card fell to the floor.  It was too bad that it was just a card, for it would have been nice to hear an artistic echo'ing ping.  Granted, the drama of the moment it caught was still quite artistic in itself.

Juli slowly put the mask down and stared wide-eyed at Folken.  "You... know?"

"Your partner is a bit more talkative than you'd initially suspect."  Deciding to be courteous, Folken kneeled down to retrieve the fallen lamenated slip then handed it back to her.  "I do believe she might have preferred the job, herself."

"Hmph!"  Juli snapped as she snatched the card.  "What would you know what it's like, to kill someone you were close to?  Including this mission, I've had to do it twice!"

"You forget that I assisted you in your first go around."  When a memory is all you have left of your life, you tend to not forget it.  "I suppose one could argue that she was already dead to me, anyway, but I still believe there was hope until that day."

"I... don't know why he did this to me."  Leaning against the wall, Juli closed her eyes and kneeled her head downwards.  If there were tears forming in her eyes, she was fast to hide the fact by putting the mask over them.

"If it raises your emotional status a tad, I'll tell you right now that I believe the doctor was a coward."  Folken casually glanced at his watch.  He couldn't look Juli straight in the eye anyway while she had the mask on.  "*I* actually put up with the witch that was once a angel but fell.  Simply put, he couldn't handle it."

Her arms crossed, Juli removed the mask from her slightly tearful face and frowned a semi-annoyed frown.  "Gee, thanks for thinking I'm an angel that metamorphisized into a witch, Folken."

"You're welcome."  Folken glanced upwards at her then shrugged, but perhaps he might have slightly grinned a little.  "Though I wasn't talking about you at that moment."

"Heh, I don't know who your angel was,"  Somewhat cheered up by the exchange, Juli responded with a slight smile.  "But to Bremare's credit, I think that Fenrir is a lot worse than just a witch.  Demoness... erm, even."

Folken glanced up at a camera monitoring the rooms.  Juli just let slip the name of her target.  The young man decided he'd better assist her in switching languages again for the sake of the mission.  It was the courteous thing to do, after all.

"There is a time when it's merely destiny, or it's the fault of a man's actions.  The doctor failed to behave responsibly, from what I know."  Ah, the window.  Perfect.  "I say, the weather is nice today.  The birds are flying in droves."

"Birds?  Huh?"  Juli glanced outside to see what he was looking at.  "I don't see anyth... oh.  Right.  Well, I guess I should get started... on this mission... of Baxter Corp.  Erm, yea."

"Certainly."  The albino began.  "They say the location of the Yamato Cannon is elusive, and many wonder if it even exists.  It was hidden under the shadows, but even that was only able to determine its location only recently."

"The birds are flying really high, Folken!"  Juli angrily snapped.  "I can't seeeeee them."

Folken sighed.  It appeared that Juli's knowledge of bird language was even worse than her Japanese.

"Doctors are hard to find and their location is unsure, and thus even the law of the shadow was only able to be used to locate one recently?  I must say, er, Bess, this isn't exactly even a very important statement."

"Look, don't blame me for you being so lofty in the head, okay?  I think you have birds in your brain."  The mask was quickly plopped back over her face.  "Outside would probably be a better place for bird watching, anyway."

"Very well, then."

A breath of fresh air would be a nice change of pace.  Folken had to admit, at least this was sort of something new, and it would be interesting to see karma catch up to he who could do nothing but run away.  Lady June would certainly love to hear about it when all was said and done.

"Bremare, are you still awake?  Just dropped by to tell you I'm going home for the night.  Don't stay up too late, okay?"

It was a quiet room, as well as a rather empty one.  Just a desk, papers strewn about all over the place, a few file cabinets, a computer with which to store unimportant small data and do calculations on... no carpet.  Just cold hard floor.  And a bed.

"You're going to stay awake all night, aren't you?  I guess I can't blame you.  The Shadaloo thing, right?  Do you think they'll come after you so soon?"
 

"Agent Juli, where are you going?"
 

"Chika, I'm not afraid of Shadaloo."  Bremare shrugged.  "They'll come after me eventually.  There's probably nothing anyone can do about it.  The only thing I'm afraid of is if the one they send is..."
 

At the sound of Fenrir's voice, Juli paused in front of the transport.

"Fenrir, why do you care?"  She muttered as he eyes slowly closed.  "Be careful about infatuating over me so much.  Desire might have a fit."
 

"Bremare?  Something wrong?"

The scientist glanced at his papers then sighed.  "No, it's nothing."
 

"Har har har."  Fenrir snapped.  "I just happen to be smart enough to notice when someone's leaving on suspiciously short notice.  So where are you going?"

"Emergency mission."  Annoyed, the brunnette turned around.  "They..."

"Found the location and don't want him to get away, huh?"  Fenrir completed the sentence.  "I've had the evil custodian do a little digging up for me.  I know what's going on."
 

"You never told me what happened to Ferishi by the way, Bremare."  Chika shrugged.  "Where is she?  You two were inseparable after she came back to Justice High."

"Chika, Ferishi's dead."
 

"You realize that's an abuse of custodial power, right?"  Juli shook her head then proceeded to enter the transport.  "You'll be lucky if I don't report you when I get back from this mission."

"Oh?  Assuming you complete this mission in the first place, you'll be lucky if you survive to report anything."
 

"No, wait... it's worse than that."
 

Agent Juli was superior to Agent Fenrir.  She had a higher efficiency rating for a reason.  Against Agent Fenrir, if the two ever got into a fight, even without Juni, Juli had the advantage.  Her reflexes were almost always fast enough to react and counteract Agent Fenrir's every move.

When she found herself in Fenrir's grip with Fenrir holding her sword against Juli's neck, however, something in her mind just told her that this wasn't just Agent Fenrir anymore...

"W... what are you doing!?"
 

"Ferishi... is a monster."
 

She found herself staring not at just another one of Fenrir's swords, but a sword of eternal darkness.  A complete pure black, which matched the aura of the one who's clutches she was in at that very moment.

"Juli... you know him, don't you?"
 

"A monster?  What a thing to say about your girlfriend."  Chika laughed.  "You marry her or something?  Husbands often call their wives monsters or vice-versa."

"No, I mean it."  Resuming his writing, Bremare decided he might as well tell Chika what happened to her classmate.  He was used to the story by now, anyway.  "Because Shadowlaw decided to play God, they killed her."
 

A blackness of nothing.  A dark eternal void.  An abyss, which threatened to suck her in and even now called to her.

"I remember, Juli...  I didn't think much of it at first, when I saw you and Rose in the sanctuary which belonged to us being defiled by YOU..."

"F... Fenrir, stop!"
 

"You don't realize it until you see it for yourself, but by then it's too late.  I can't put it into words."
 

Stormbringer, devourer of souls.  Juli never considered the true meaning of it.  At first she thought it was just a name and not the actual legendary weapon.  What was happening?!?

Fenrir's grip tightened.  "Stormbringer is hungry, Juli...  it has already feasted on several missions I've been on before, but there was always one particular soul upon which it wanted, but only had a small taste of."
 

"Whoa, they really did that to her?  I didn't know the DOLL project could..."  Distressed, Chika kneeled down her head.  "You're worried that she'd be the one Shadaloo will send to kill you?"

"No, I don't think they would.  No one ever really knew about the two of us for the most part."  Shrugging, Bremare took a new page out to write notes on.  "At least, none of the commanders.  I guess I'm just worrying too much."
 

A hard shove.  Juli slammed right into the transport in front of her.  She stumbled around for a brief second from the impact until she found herself pinned against the transport by a hand and the blade, which was now pointed right at her throat.  And the holder?
 

"Bremare, thanks."

"Thanks for what?"
 

Juli finally realized... she was a monster...
 

"I know how you felt about Ferishi."  Chika looked off to the side.  "I guess now that she's gone, it's just you and I.  It used to be just me, and I didn't think I could stand another minute of dealing with all these cruel Westerners alone."

"Huh?  Oh, um, sure."
 

"Agent Juli, just remember.  If you kill Bremare Yamoto, who is rightfully mine, I will kill you in his place.  My sword shall take its course through your body, and it shall drink the blood from your veins..."

"The... top... priority...  Fenrir... I have to..."  Juli stuttered, the fear in her voice evident.  But it only caused the demon to scowl.

And to strike.
 

"Maybe someday we could find a way to save her.  I still think you don't have to die, Bremare."  Walking up to the door, Chika looked back.  "Good night then, Bremare."

"I must say, it's getting late."  Folken casually remarked as Juli stared out the window.  Very few people were left in the building.  The few that were still there were already packing up to go home.

"I can't believe this!"  The brunette snapped.  "We've searched the entire building head to toe for the entire day and not a single bit of evidence that he's here at all!  Dammit, did our intelligence network screw up again?"

Fokken and Bess had reached the elevator.  The Baxter Corp Building wasn't nearly as tall as it was wide, but an elevator was mandatory always for those who were too lazy to go down one or two flights of stairs.  They walked into it and Fokken hit the button to take them to the ground floor.

"I assure you that I didn't hear wrong."  Putting his hand to his chin in thought, Folken glanced off to the side towards the elevator door.  "I don't see why Baxter Corp would spread a silly false rumour like that or how they'd be able to find out about the doctor to spread the rumour in the first place."

"You're sure you don't know of any secret areas?"

"If I knew of their existence, I probably wouldn't have known the passwords or methods to get to them."

Ding!  Ground floor.  Though Juli wasn't ready to go back to Mrigranka without completing the mission.  She'd have to sneak back into the building later on and see if she could get more clues.  Where was Marzche to hack into the mainframe when you needed her?  Though that'd probably be too risky too.  Baxter HQ probably had some hellaciously encrypted systems.  Baxter Corp was the largest global communication and news network out there, after all.

The elevator doors closed again.  Juli quickly pressed the door open button but it was too late.  The elevator already started going back up.  Hmm.  If Fokken and Juli stayed in there any longer, people would probably start to get the wrong idea.  ....ew. Annoyed as the elevator went back up to pick up some other people, she angrily kicked the stupid causing the panel below the buttons to fall off and a keypad to fall down with it.

Of course, she had to goofily grin at the next guy entering the elevator, cause he saw them before, probably heard the kicking noise, and probably WAS getting the wrong idea.

Ew.

And there was the fact that now the elevator's innards were dangling out, but the elevator hit ground floor soon enough again and the guy stepped out.  Juli was about to follow until Fokken yanked her back.

"Aren't you going to put the keypad back and close the panel?  It would be terribly impolite to..."

Juli interupted his stupid politeness speech with a glare, causing Fokken to mischievously grin back.  She didn't have time to play around with stupid elevator keypads and innards and...

Well, actually, she DID have time now that she thought about it.  It was probably worth a shot.  The still long-haired brunette kneeled downards just as the elevator doors began to close again.  The man who just exitted the elevator noticed that Juli and Fokken were still in it as the doors closed and had a rather awkward look of disgust on his face.

Now to try out some random passcodes.  If Juli was lucky, she could find one while she was still in the building instead of having to try to break back into the building later.

First the passcode Fenrir used to open up Bremare's secret sanctuary at Mrigranka.  Samurai Butterfly, wasn't it?  Juli couldn't help but wonder what kind of stupid password that was.

Nothing.  Time to keep trying.

Ferishi... JuliJuniper... Freak... FreudianMike... nothing.  JJValentine?

Ding.

Yes!  The elevator was taking them to a secret floor, most likely where Baxter's main information data storage drives and their entire key to their network lied.  All the secrets of the world were probably contained to where she was going, including the location of Bremare, himself.

Or... maybe it was just an empty... floor.  Completely empty.  No carpetting, computers... really vast open empty space.  A few big boxes here and there but most seemed to be marked as weapon storage containers, most likely for the hunters that Baxter tended to hire behind the scenes.

Great.  Juli found a secret storage floor of storing weapons and nothingness.  Well, might as well search around and pray that there was more to this place than she thought.

"Fokken, are you coming?"

"Ah, alas, I suppose this is where we must part ways."  The albino took a bow.  "It's your mission, not mine.  I was merely an informant.  I believe I shouldn't be threatening my standing in Baxter Corp anymore than it already is, and I really must be off."

"......yea, sure.  Okay, I understand."  Juli remarked as the elevators closed.  Yea, she understood all right.  Leave it to Fokken to always abandon her right before she made the killing blow to another one of the few friends in her life.

The doors quickly opened again with Fokken still behind them.  "You certainly don't look like you have a very understanding look on your face.  Extremely depressed, even."

"Look, just go, okay?  I can handle this, myself."

"Very well then."

And the elevator left.  Just in time too because Juli heard footsteps in the distance.  Shit!  Time to dive for the nearest box.

"Who's there?"

Ugh, it was that evil Imawano girl again.

Chika's flashlight quickly did a brief scan of the area, before the girl shrugged and went to the elevator.  After she was gone, Juli decided to resume her search and put away her Bess mask, figuring that she wouldn't need it anymore.  She didn't find anything for a while, though.  Just as she thought, the place was for the most part entirely empty, save for various passcoded doors which she really didn't have the time and energy to figure out ways to get past beyond plugging JJValentine into the ones that allowed passwords.  Every once in a while she found a furnace, more boxes, or various pornography lying around but that was about it.  Until she reached another area beyond a JJValentine accessed gate which, for the most part, was also empty, save for one small thing which told her that she reached her goal.  Lying mounted on the table in the center of that area was a small proto-version of the JJValentine cannon.

"It's a beautiful moonlit night!"  Erriol would have told him if the scientist were there.  "Cheer up!  Enjoy the wonderful stars!  Have a delicious oh so scrumptious donut!"

He still couldn't figure out that part of the equation.  At least, he seemed to have made a little progress tonight.  Another variable figured out, another factor discovered... though one always did seem to continue to elude him.  No matter, he'd get it eventually.

For he was Yamoto.  BREMARE Yamoto!  The great secret agent, complete with beautiful sexalicious female agent partner!!!  Or, at least he wished.  Well, Eric was the one that usually suggested the sexalicious partner.  Bremare would have been happy if he could have just been something... well, cool.  Instead of a cowering doctor doomed to hide in fear until the organization he scorned finally came to kill him.  It could happen at any moment too.  He tried not to be paranoid but that was a rather... annoying thought to say the least.  He could get assassinated the minute he finally figured out the key to his JJValentine.  That would really suck.

Or maybe he'd get killed now, before he could even start.  The long-haired Shadowlaw agent, standing there in the doorway, was a good indication of that.

Bremare calmly broke the silence.  "Juli, thanks."

"Huh?"  Agent Juli stared at him in surprise.  "I didn't even do anything yet."

"You could have just killed me without me ever knowing, but you're letting me face you first."  Bremare shrugged.  "Or maybe you should have just killed me with a sniper rifle from there, without having to see my face.  That probably would have been best for you, I think.  Wouldn't want you to have to face the trauma of killing another good friend of yours.  Too late now, though."

"Bremare, I..."  Juli glanced off to the side, then closed her eyes and quickly tied her hair back into a bun.  "I wasn't sent to kill you.  I was sent to bring you back."

She stared at him, pleadingly.

"Bremare, please come back with me to Mrigranka."

Sent to take him back?  That was ridiculous.  Even if Juli was telling the truth, he wasn't coming back.  He wouldn't be able to, after what he knew.  Though, looking into Juli's eyes, it became apparent that she really was lying, but didn't care anymore.  For a moment, Bremare realized just how much his running off probably hurt her.  He would have felt sorry and apologetic about it, but he didn't have any choice.  Yet, there was a part of him which wanted to accept Juli's offer.

Maybe, however... maybe he didn't need to accept it.

"Juli, why don't you stay here with us?"

The girl blinked in surprise.  "H... huh?"

"You're the skilled secret agent I never could be."  Bremare shrugged.  "Baxter Corp... no, the world could use someone like you."

"Bremare, no."  She gave a protesting sigh.  "I'm not going to betray..."

"Juli, I have something I need to show you.  Do you still remember the battle of Jokuzetsu?"

Juli closed her eyes and sighed again.  "Bremare, I wasn't there.  I never bothered to learn much about it.  Yet after what happened that day you ran away, I don't think I'll ever forget it."

"I saved some of the tapes."

"That's nice, Bremare."  Juli frowned, then got a bit snappish.  "Look, are you going to come back with me or do I have to drag you kicking and screaming then do something stupid like brainwash you just to have you back home?"

"You should make the choice for yourself what to do, Juli."  She really wanted him back that badly?  He'd save her.  Bremare only had to show Juli the evidence.  It was right there.  "Sit down.  Have a look.  Popcorn?"

"Um... thanks."  Juli sat down in the chair next to Bremare's as the humongous movie screen rolled down.  "Okay, I'm going to do this for your sake but after this, you'd better say yes to my offer."

"I don't think I'll have to, Juli."  Bremare's reply started just as the movie did.  "Now see this?  This is a security camera at the Jokuzetsu village within one of the four manned machine gun nests.  Over there in the distance, is another one of them.  Just watch."

"I really would have preferred wine, Brem."  Juli commented as she helped herself to some popcorn.  She was met with a sigh.

"I would have preferred wine, too, Juli."

The setting on a screen was a trench with a mounted machine turret during the night.  All was quiet on the front, though a few crickets chirped.  Several men were at the ready by the machine gun, which was pointed at some children in a pen in the center.  Typical Shadaloo hostage situation.  In the distance, another machine gun nest also pointed at the pen.  There most likely were others, too.  One of the generic Shadaloo soldier crew members laid back and yawned .

"Hey Joe, go tell Cross that it's his turn for his shift to start.  I swear, having to stare at these kids and all the while thinking I might actually have to start shootin' them is freaking me out.  I need a break."

"Cristen?  Well, okay.  You know he always gets annoyed when you make him start his shift early." Joe laughed.  "Man, I hate this job though.  I want to get back to Mrigranka.  Why are we always the ones that seem to get sent on these missions?"

"I dunno.  Justin doesn't get sent out on nearly as many missions like this as we do, though."  Shrugging, the soldier helped himself to another cigarette and stared back at the pen of children in the distance.  "At least, it doesn't seem like it."

"Justin?  Who's that?  An old friend from back then?"

The soldier shook his head.  "Nah, he's a new guy.  Just met him.  Pretty nice guy.  Cristen knows him better.  Speaking of Cross, go get him, dammit!"

"Okay, okay.  I'll get him."  Sighing, Joe stood up, before he noticed a light flying through the air.  "Wait.  Hey, look up there.  What's that?"

High in the night sky, a shooting star could be seen.  A beautiful blip of light, flying across the sky.  From it, another shooting star began to descend and fall, majestically, to the earth.

That shooting star... was death.

BOOM!!!

Falling back in her chair from the shock with popcorn flying all over the place, Juli nearly had a heart attack.  She quickly stared at the screen wide eyed as she got back up.

"HOLY SHIT!  WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!?"  The two soldiers stared at the smouldering crater where only moments ago, another one of the machine gun nests were.  "D... DAMN!  Arnie was stationed there!!!  ARNIE!!!!"

"JOE!  LOOK O..."

KAABOOM!!!

Juli found herself knocked down again and breathing heavily from the increased blood rush of the scene.  "What the FUCK?!?"

But the movie screen was black.

Panting heavily, Juli glared at Bremare, who was already at the film projector out back.  "Bremare, what the HELL was t..."

A new movie started.

"It's not over yet, Juli."

"We're under attack!!!!"  Several crowds of soldiers ran around the main headquarters, quickly grabbing their weapons.  Others were simply panicing, wondering what to do.  One of the soldiers quickly stopped another, who looked terror stricken.

"Samuel!  What's going on!?"

"Some... THING... it just... it... flew over and... the machine gun nests... BOOOM!!!  T... THEY'RE DEAD!!!!  Bobbie, Joe, Jenkins, Arnie... THERE'S NOTHING LEFT!!!!"

"Samuel!!!"  The other soldier slapped him.  "Get a hold of yourself!"

The loudspeaker boomed.  "There's been a security breech!  The Amazons are loose!  The Amazons are loose!"

Another announcment could barely be heard as many panic stricken soldiers ran around and various squad commanders tried to quickly gather up and restore some order.

"This is Eric Masterson.  Deploying Special Force Unit Akiko Tendo to handle the threat.  All special forces deployed.  Standing by for video of the threat."

"D.. did you SEE?!?!?!?"  Samuel looked like he'd snapped, and was already bloodshot with fear in the eyes.  "We're all dead!  Our special forces slaughtered the amazons, and now they're returning the favor!  It's our judgement!!!"

"Samuel!  I told you to get a hold of yourself!"  Samuel was shaken by the other soldier.  "We'll handle the Amazons.  We outnumber them!!  They aren't in fighting condition!  The fact that they have a few special troopers of their own can't turn the tide of impossible odds!"

With that, he handed Samuel a gun and took one up himself, and the two ran outside just as the announcement gave another warning.

"Situation running out of control!  Alert!  Alert!!!!"

"AAAGH!  This is Eric Masterson!  Akiko Tendo is loose!  All soldiers are ordered to KILL her on site!!!!  FIRE!  RED ALERT!!!  SHIT!!!!"

Bremare quickly switched the movie to an outside camera.  In the background, the amazons could be seen escaping from their prison and having several small skirmishes.  However, it was insignificant compared to the chaos happening with the escaped now-rampaging Akiko special force shock troop and that other being that was with her.  The battlefield was already a waste land when the camera started, but soldiers being blasted left and right only added to the gore and destruction.  Ash was strewn everywhere, as were several skeletons and charred corpses all over the place.  Despite how Juli usually was prepared for this sort of thing, there was a reason she always looked away when her partner commenced with using explosives on enemy soldiers.  The rotting flesh, the smouldering remains...

Teary eyed, the brunnette covered her mouth and ducked down.

The remnants of Shadaloo's regular infantry had formed up in what used to be the village square. Nearly a full company nervously readied their weapons in a futile hope that they could fight back.  Several cursed their "special forces" compatriots who had left them all doomed to die. The more desperate than angry cries asked "WHERE ARE THOSE IDIOTS!?!?" and ramblings about how "it was *their* jobs to handle the paranormals" only served to show their fear even more as they begged for something to save them.  After all, the soldiers sure as heck never signed on to fight girls who had mil-spec weapons hidden in their sleeves.  They sure as heck never signed on to get slaughtered en masse like hopeless cattle.  Many of the troopers looked up as silver comet blazed in the night sky once again.  The vengeful Akiko girl's deceptively melodic voice cried out the instrument of their doom.

"MELODY OF TEARS FINAL ATTACK: CELESTIAL CHORUS!"

Another grey streak accompanied it as the flying being in the form of a school girl, the Sakura that Juli had heard so much about, joined Akiko's orgy of destruction.  Several of the soldiers simply dropped their weapons, knowing that there was nothing they could do anymore.  Their lives were over.  Gargantuan balls of chi descended upon them like the wrath of God himself. As the Shadaloo soldiers were literally vaporized, the last thing that could be heard was the crescendo of an angelic choir and an attack phrase shouted by the demonic school girl.

Seeing them die... seeing the skin literally melt off of one man as another cried in agony and pain... hearing the voices of thousands of voices screaming in terror before being silenced as the sources were turned to ash... all Juli could do was stare in shock, before she finally quickly turned away, tears welled up in her eyes.

"STOP!!!!!"

The film turned off immediately.

"And now, Juli..."  Bremare muttered as silence slowly returned to the room, the echoes of the battle still going on in Juli's mind,  "I believe you understand what we are trying to save humanity from.  This... is Baxter Corp's goal.  To protect the world from the paranormal which is out there.  To save everyone.  We may never be able to fully fight back, but at least we will do what we can, and even if that's not enough, we shall save the public from witnessing what you just saw, until there is no possibly way to do so, anymore."

Juli didn't respond.  Her eyes were still closed, her face in her hands, turned away from the screen.  She was still crying.

It probably was too much, to show her the videos.  But like everything, it had to be done.

"Juli, I'm going out to get something.  Please think about my offer.  I trust you'll have an answer for me when I return."

And with that, Bremare decided to leave the near-catatonic girl alone, to work things out for herself.

It was, in fact, an entire hour before Juli could finally get back to her senses.  Bremare was nice enough to make sure she had enough time to herself.

It... was just a video.  Just a movie.  Just a show...

Denial was good.  Denial would save her.  Denial was probably how Juni could always bring herself to do those "cool" killing methods.

There was no denying it.

Everything was quiet.  There weren't any explosions, or any cries of pain, or any moans of death, or any ash and smoke slowly sizzling away.  All there was... was him.

"Feeling better?"

"Huh?  Oh yea, of course."  Juli sighed.  "I'm sorry, I was just... really surprised.  But... I've considered your offer."

"Oh?  What's your answer?"

What was her answer?

Juli could have decided...  She could have decided to say 'Yes' to Bremare.  They could have had their nights of simply sitting by the table, having some wine, and talking while enjoying each other's company and friendship once again.  They could have finally been together, with no Ferishis or Fenrirs or even Junis to get in the way.  Shadaloo could have become a thing of the past.  It might have been ungrateful, but Juli could have brought herself to do that.

But... why?

To become one with Baxter Corp, saving the world from destruction?  Working for the betterment of all!!  Finally rescuing humanity from bloodbath psychos and everything!  FOR THE GREATER GOOD!

Is that why he did it?  Is that why Bremare ran away?  Was that why he abandoned her?  Was that why he abandoned HER?  The world threatened forever... Juli would have just been happy if Bremare never ran away.  If Avelle had decided to never leave.  Nothing was accomplished by their decisions to abandon her.  So, who else was going to be abandoned when she finally became the abandoner.

Juni... would be next.

Something clicked.

She couldn't answer yes.  She couldn't be the coward.  More so, if she said 'Yes', the next one would be Juni... literally.  Juni would be sent to kill Bremare, Juni would be the one that was abandoned, Juni would be the one to suffer through hell in what was becoming a seemingly endless chain.

But she couldn't tell Bremare that.  To him, Juni was just another one of 'them.'  There was only one thing she could tell Bremare.

"Bremare, I have to kill you..."  Juli finished.  "I can't go against my orders, Bremare.  And I couldn't do anything about those freaks in the video you showed me, anyway.  Shadowlaw gave me my life... no, Shadowlaw IS my life.  I can't turn back."

"Are you sure that's your choice?"

"I... don't know..."

Bremare handed Juli a pistol from his lab coat.  "Very well, then Juli.  You can have my gun.  See if you can kill me."

"Huh?"  Juli stared at the gun in surprise.  "You're..."

"You'd find a way to kill me, anyway, wouldn't you?  If you must kill me, I won't have you live with the guilt of it all."  The doctor remarked as he closed his eyes.  "Know that I accept my death willingly."

"Bremare,"  She slowly pointed the gun towards him.  Because she had to.  Because the chain reaction had to end, ideals or not.  "I'm sorry..."

With that, Juli pulled the trigger.

And then there was nothing.

........

Literally.

Nothing happened.  At all.  Juli stared at the gun in shock.  "Out of bullets?!?  Oh, gee, thanks Bremare.  You made me go through all that moral dilema just to shoot you with hot air!"

"Perhaps.  But now I know that you truly will kill me when you get the chance."  Bremare shrugged.  "I already suspected that I wasn't truly safe.  And now I know for sure.  It's the price I have to pay for my sins, I guess.  Good bye, Juli."

"Dammit."  Juli frowned, then quickly threw a glare at Bremare.  "What makes you think I still can't snap your neck now, anyway?"

"I'll give you one chance to guess."  The scientist sighed as he paused for a moment.  "That's all Ferishi ever gave me."

"Um..."  Giving Bremare a guilty confused stare for a bit, Juli quickly threw out a random guess.  "Because now I feel too much like an evil jerk to kill you?"

"Nah."  Bremare shrugged as he whipped out a remote control and pressed a button on it.  Before Juli could even think to react the Proto-JJValentine quickly stood up and blasted Juli with some sort of sonic ray, sending her slamming against the wall to the side and tumbling to the floor.

"Ow..."  Juli slowly glanced upwards as she saw Bremare point another gun at her head.

He... was pointing a gun... at her head.

"B... Bremare?  You're..."

"I'm sorry, Juli."  There were tears in his eyes as he continued.  "You were the last victim of my foolishness, and now you have to be the first of my newfound competence."

Juli closed her eyes and proceeded to lose consciousness as Bremare began to pull the trigger.  The last thing she heard was a gun shot going off.

Arrrrrgh!!!!  He really most certainly needed to work on his aim.  In the back of the transport, Folken scowled as it continued to fly along.  Really, seeing that stupid coward stare at him with his vulgar whiny little 'OOW!  YOU SHOT ME IN MY ARM?!?' when Folken was aiming for the kill... vile ruffian has no appreciation for a dramatic rescue and...

"Aaaaaaaah... where am I?"

Hmm, it seemed like Lady July had finally come to.  She quickly glanced around, before finally locking onto the albino.  "Fokken?  What..."

"Couldn't kill him.  I missed.  He ran after the first gun shot.  Was expected, since he was the coward."  Folken's explanation was rather brief and terse, but it was enough for Juli to figure out what happened.  "I'll spare you the details.  It wasn't my job to kill him, anyway."

It wasn't his job to save her life either, but that was the courteous thing to do, after all.  Besides, at least it was fun to see the coward cringing in pain from the gunshot wound then decide to bail at the realization that there was another assassin around.

Why did she look so shocked?  Well, Folken supposed anyone would look that way if their best friend pulled a gun out on them.  Not only was Bremare a coward, he was dishonorable trash, too.  That... was not proper etiquette.  At any rate the transport was landing and it looked like Juli could finally bring herself to comment on something.

"Folken, when Bremare did that... I... I just... maybe you should have just let him kill me."

Hmm.  How was he supposed to respond to that?  Folken wasn't a bloody therapist.

Juli frowned at Folken's silence.  "Are you even listening to me?!"

"Hello, Agent Juli!"

The two quickly glanced at the open door to see a smiling waving Fenrir waiting for them at the helicopter hanger bay of Mrigranka.

"Couldn't do it?  I told you you should have trained harder!"  She cheerfully and playfully mocked.

Juli merely gave her an awkward glare with a raised eyebrow as Folken helped her step out of the transport.  Normally, if Fenrir were to say something like this, Juli would most likely snap back with an insult in return.  The tone in Fenrir's voice probably threw her off.

"Juli, you know..."  Fenrir happily continued as she put her arm around the brunnette and spun her stainless steel bright Stormbringer around.  "If you wish, we could have a sparring match and see if you could get back into shape.  It'd be my way of thanking you for... reserving that... thing for me."

"Reserving that thing?"  Agent Juli blinked, until she slowly realized what Fenrir was talking about.  She stared at the circular-haired agent in surprise.  "Fenrir, I..."

A pause as Juli considered what she was going to say, followed by Juli giving Fenrir what was most likely a fake nod and smile.

"Why, yes!"  Juli happily continued.  "See?  I'm nice enough to reserve what's yours.  Really!"

Folken supposed that she might as well take the constellation prize.

"Ha, that's what I thought."   She sheathed her sword and smiled some more.  "Agent Juli, don't worry.  When the time comes to see Lord Bison, I'll be there to talk with him and throw in a good word for you."

"Really?"  Still surprised, the brunnete slowly beamed.  "Um, why, thanks!"

With that, the two walked off, as Folken Saragorn watched.  Odds were quite high that Juli wasn't as happy as she seemed.  Completely certain, even  One doesn't get over a fiasco like that instantly.  It was cruel, that.  Folken couldn't think of what he could say to comfort her, nor did he really care to.

That shouldn't be taken the wrong way, of course.  He did do his part to cheer her up, even though it wasn't very obvious.  Perhaps, it was better and more effective than words of comfort ever could be.

Because as the Lady of July reached into her suit pocket to find a small music box that he planted there, she would find out.  A small music box about a song of springtime, devoted to an angel which fell to become a witch.  A love that was lost, which will never love again.

She would realize who Folken's angel that he mentioned to her was.  And realize what he was trying to say.

She would realize that, regardless of it all, she wasn't alone.

And life would go on.

..........Hmm.  Now to get back to Lady June.  The entire group would probably tar and feather him for possibly getting them in trouble with Baxter Corp if he were discovered.  Bloody hell, this seemed to happen to him every week!