Episode 15

**A Place to Call Home** (居場所, *Ibasho*) is the 15th episode of *No Guns Life*.

## Synopsis

As Juzo faces Victor as Mary is shocked by how much he has changed. The war and what he saw there seems to have turned him into some kind of monster. If someone has to stop his maniacal rampage... At the very least, it should be her.

## Summary

Mary recalls her time with her brother and how he got interested in the extension technology. She felt her place where she belongs is next to him. After he disappeared, she was happy for him and later found friends and became engineer herself. She wanted to meet him again and tell him that she had found the place she belongs.

Victor tells Juzo to fight him seriously if he wants to win. As Juzo attacks, the headless extends surround him. Mary guesses they are remote controlled by Victor's friends and they must be nearby. However, Victor explains that extends stuffed into a body without a head often lose their free will and they are just puppets following his orders. Juzo quickly beats them, but Victor touches his back and causes an explosion. He reminds him that his nickname is the Dismanter and he can dismantle extends simply by touching them. The headless extends then grab Juzo's legs and hold him and Victor pierce Juzo's chest with his hand. Victor then decides to remind Juzo why he always hesitate to flaunt his power: among the 13 Gun Slave Units, only Juzo got a role and that is to slay his own brethren. Mary can't believe what happened to Victor, she pulls a string and shoots rockets she hid in her chest. Victor dismantles one, but the other hits next to Juzo, freeing him from the headless extends. Juzo then punches Victor, tearing his left arm, but in return Victor tears Juzo's right arm. Juzo then bites Victor's right arm, making Victor realize that he sacrificed his arm in order to seal Victor's arms. Mary gets behind Juzo, who lets her use his gun head. She tells Victor she doesn't know who the real Victor is, the one she knows or this, but at least she will stop him from hurting more people with her own hands. Mary then pulls the trigger, blowing up Victor's top half.

Lefty then connects to a voice box and tells Mary she shouldn't blame herself. He thanks Juzo for keeping his promise and protecting Mary, making them realize he is Victor. Lefty confirms that he is the real Victor and that body over there is just a puppet used by the other Victor. He explains that the other Victor is his shadow he created and asks Juzo to destroy it. Victor explains that as he joined the military, he attempted to make remote controlled extends, so that soldiers to not have to die, but they had to deal with the intense feedback from the remote body. As Pain is important source of information, they couldn't just disable it. The sub-brain system was just developed and it wasn't enough, so he proposed parallel sub-brain system, using two sub-brains for the left and right side of the brain. He used himself as test subject and connected to an extend on the battlefield. There Victor saw extends killing humans, which crushed his soul as he was trying to save lives, not take it. He ended up killing his fellow researchers along with someone that looked like him but it wasn't him. His sub-brain had taken control of his body and following his desire from what he saw on the battlefield, it is trying to stop extension technology. As their goal match, they realize why the other Victor is working with the Spitzbergen. Juzo asks Victor where is his real body, however Victor tells him he will soon learn and when he meet him, to destroy the sub-brain in his body. As the other Victor subconsciousness returns, Victor starts to loose control over Lefty, making him guess that he has another puppet somewhere.

Avi Kovo who has been listening, shoots Juzo in the leg and points his gun at Mary, explaining that he can't let them take care of Victor's real body and will take it into custody.

## Characters

* Mary Steinberg
* Victor Steinberg
* Juzo Inui
* Lefty
* Avi Kovo