Torn: Excerpts from the Betrayed (Excerpts 3)

## Chapter 1: Swiss: Remnant:

I can't stop thinking about it. That boy just looked so familiar and I can't place it.

"What is the problem, Keller-Sama?" Lucinnia, the gunner, asked, snapping me from my trance. My senses come back and I remember where I am. A rumbling metal box with Three others: Lucinnia Maccilla, gunner; Mark Fullbuster, loader; and Hariku Tsunayoishi, driver.

"It's nothing," I say. Then there is me, Swiss Keller, commander of this tank and girl with no past.

The girl below me, Lucinnia, was not so different from me. She had gentle, white hair that looked almost like a cloud from my position above her. "I understand."

That boy I was thinking about can't get out of my mind, his roughed-up, white hair had felt familiar. The feeling of safety flowed from him like an aura. I would be seeing him again soon. We were only a short drive away from the embassy/lab/medical facility mashup where I had dropped him and that poor woman off at. I shudder at thinking about the headless body that was somehow still alive...

I open the hatch for a breath of fresh air. It is good to do that when I start having negative thoughts. I breathed in and look at the surrounding area. The tank is traveling down a muddy dirt road. The forest surrounding the tank was too thick for even the 25 tons of steel to break through. Hariku starts to turn around a corner in the road and a cliff wall comes into view.

The rocky terrain surrounding the cliff is broken by a white, rectangular building that seems sunken into the wall. That is the SJJGSDFSSRSL, the 'Switzerland-Japan Joint Ground Self Defense Force Special Recovery Staff Lab', but we just call it 'The Lab'.

As we get closer, I notice that the usual hum of the on-site generator is off. "Maybe they are doing maintenance on the generator," I ponder.

Below, in the tank, Hariku speaks up. "Wouldn't the door be closed, in any situation?"

I pick up my binoculars and look at the face of the building. Sure enough, I saw the dark spot in the side of The Lab. Hariku stops the Leo when we get close. "Maybe they are letting air out? If the generator broke, it might have let out a lot of smoke."

Lucinnia tugs on my leg, "I don't even hear the sound of metal, so they can't be fixing it," I trust Lucinnia's judgement. Her hearing is very sensitive, which is why she normally wears earplugs, even when we are just driving. But now, I see that she has pulled the plugs out.

I duck my head down into the tank, "Hari, bring us in slowly." Hariku nods her head in affirmation and coaxes the Leo in quietly. Once we are in the garage, my eyes adjust and I see that it is empty on the inside. The plot for the Volvo was empty too. The crew needs a break, I decide. "Everyone dismount and stretch." I climb out through the hatch and once on the roof, I call down the hatch, "I'll see if I can find Mari and ask her what's going on." My legs almost buckle when I land on the ground. Clearly, I needed to stretch too. I catch Lucinnia as she drops down and leave her to help the others as I start towards the swinging door that leads into the rest of the facility.

When I open the door, I notice that the lights are in low power mode, probably the result of an offline generator. I pass down the hallway, that is when I notice how truly quiet the facility is. All I can hear is my breathing. Every step seems to take forever. Finally, I reach the door at the end of the hallway. The sign over the door reads:

"LAB ENTRY"

Through the window in the door, I see that the lights inside are completely out. However, through the window I can see structural beams hanging from the ceiling. On the beams, I can see the shadowy, snake-like filaments of wires hanging from the ceiling. If I'm going to explore further, I need a spotlight.

## Chapter 2: Swiss: Horror Beyond the Screen

I open the door back to the garage. Hariku was already waiting for me.

"What did Mari say?" She said, her eyes expectant.

"She..." I pause, carefully choosing my words before delivering the news, "wan't there." Hearing this, the others turn to us so they can hear too. "The facility is in low power mode," I continue, "and the lights in the buffer chamber are out, but the inside was a mess." Mark lifts his head to speak, and I gesture for him to speak.

"Maybe my sis went to get supplies after some kind of accident."

"It's possible," Lucinnia jumped in.

"Maybe it was the ghost," Hariku says with a shiver. As a driver, she is great at navigating, but her superstitions would make her take different paths just because of 'a vibe' she has.

"There's no such thing," Mark says what I was thinking, "you're just being superstitious." The conversation was starting to get out of hand.

"Let's not jump to conclusions," I say before someone else could speak, "I'll be going in and look for myself to see where everyone is. You guys go ahead and resupply the tank."

The crew responded with a mix of "ryokai," "hai," and simple nods, then broke up to do their own tasks. As they did that, I climbed onto the turret, where the spotlight was, and take it off. On the inside wall of my seat there was a pistol grip to put the spotlight on, so I took that.

I returned to the door that led to the buffer chamber. "Here goes," I said to no one, then opened it. Turning on the light, I point the beam up to the ceiling. The steel beams that are supposed to hold up the ceiling are twisted at impossible angles. The rest of the area is littered with debris. Stepping over beams, I make my way to the far side of the room, but at some point, the debris is too thick to get through. I shine my light to the edge of the room, where I see a door labeled:

"LAB"

The door is far away, but I can see that it is bent outwards, like an explosion pushed it open. My beam isn't able to penetrate the darkness beyond the door either. That is when I then smelt it. A faint stench. One that I wouldn't have noticed if I was paying attention. It was like the smell of lemons, if they were left out, cut open, for two weeks. Maybe it was an experiment gone wrong that stunk so bad that they had to evac? Either way, I needed to see what happened, so I started to the observation room.

Unlike the lab room, this door was untouched. I enter and see that the large glass screen that normally looked into the lab room was completely covered in some kind of black substance. "Oh Mari, what have you done?"

On the desk in the room was a terminal. Surprisingly, it was still on. When the screen illuminated, all I could see was large, white text over a black screen that said "Connection Lost"

"hm... what happened in there?" I open the playback folder from the terminal. The thumbnails for every date is marked with the same block text telling me that there was no footage. Eventually, I reached a file that had video. Its date was from a few weeks ago, the same day that I was last here. That was also the day I saw that boy...

I open the video. I see the lab room.

\*The first part is bland, it is early morning and the room is empty\*

\*7:24: A woman enters the room and examines some of the vials in the far side of the screen\*

\*7:26: The woman leaves\*

\*8:57: 2 women and a man enter the room and start work as usual\*

\*9:23: One of the workers takes a phone out of their pocket. After a few seconds, she starts directing the others to rearrange the room.\*

\*9:31: Swiss and Monterey enter the room, carrying Mozzarella wrapped in a cloth\*

\*9:32: Mozzarella is situated on a bed and Swiss leaves\*

\*9:34: The male worker pulls Monterey out of the room, as he is getting in the way because of his stress\*

\*9:34 - 10:53: The workers operate on Mozzarella to stabilize her condition\*

\*10:54: Female worker leaves to talk to Monterey\*

\*11:12: Workers monitoring Mozzarella look up as what is assumed the intercom buzzes\*

\*11:13: Workers start to wheel in large machine and move Mozzarella into a medical tank\*

\*11:48: Monterey enters room with female worker and looks at Mozzarella, holding his forehead to the glass\*

\*11:49: Monterey, resolved, strips off outer clothing as workers place wires on his body\*

\*11:51: Preparations are complete and Monterey enters the machine\*

\*11:52: Machine starts, causing interference on the monitor\*

\*11:53: A glow starts to emit from both the tank and machine. Mozzarella twitches\*

\*11:54: Glow brightens enough to see distinct colors swirl around the machine. Orange around the machine, Cyan around the tank\*

\*11:55: Between the machine and tank, the Chain becomes visible. Mozzarella's neck starts to deform and stretch\*

\*11:57: Glow brightens further and the colors start to swirl and merge\*

\*12:00: Both glowing swirls mix completely into a pale, wispy grey\*

\*12:12: The stretching of Mozzarella's neck forms into a head without features\*

\*12:13: Mouth and Nose begin to form. Hair also grows\*

\*12:34: Mouth and nose are fully formed and holes start to form for the eyes\*

\*12:37: Hair stops growing once reaching full length\*

\*12:40: Eye sockets are fully formed\*

\*12:41: Reconstruction ends\*

\*12:42: Workers increase power on machines to attempt to continue reconstruction\*

\*12:43: Machines start to glow red from heat. Workers stop adding power\*

\*12:44: Machines continue to draw increasing amounts of power from the system\*

\*12:45: Glowing increases, Mozzarella starts to move as workers cover ears and start shouting\*

\*12:45: A few seconds later, a bright flash from the machine Monterey is in occurs. Power to machines is forcibly cut\*

\*12:46: Silence\*

\*12:48: Tank with Mozzarella breaks open. Workers move to catch her and put her on a table\*

\*12:49: Before the workers can move to open the machine with Monterey, Mozzarella wakes up\*

At this point, I stop the fast-forwarding video so that I can hear what they are saying.

"Miss!" the male worker calls.

"I can't feel..." I can't make out the end of what the girl on the table is saying. Everything is coming at me all at once.

"Ms. Covaste?" Mari says.

The girl, who I assume is Ms. Covaste, stands up. "I can't feel him," she says before stumbling over to the machine the boy is in. The machine then opens and I can make out a dark, charred figure in the static. It looks a prop straight from a horror movie. The girl freezes for a second, then reaches her hand up to touch the blackened figure. Just when her fingers barely brush against it, it collapses into ashes, then even the ashes disappear. Nothing is left of the boy that entered that machine less than an hour ago. The girl's arms fall limply to her sides, then I can hear the faint gasps of crying.

Mari takes a step forward. "Covaste," she says faintly.

The girl stops crying, going completely still. "Tell me," she starts, "do you know the meaning of betrayal?" Her voice is monotone.

"Ms. Covaste," Mari starts to try to comfort the girl, "I know that loss can be rou-"

"The act of disappointing a person's trust, hopes, or expectations."

"What are you talking about?"

The girl turns her head slightly. "He trusted you with his safety... Did he not?" The room becomes deathly silent. Covaste then opens her eyes, revealing a single, glowing, blue eye. "You disappointed that trust. You killed him." her voice stays monotone.

"I know how it looks," Mari starts, but is unable to find words to continue.

"I'm not just talking to you as a single person. Ever since we came back from that world, just the two of us were enough for each other." Mari starts to tentatively approach the girl, who hasn't turned to face them yet. "This world was a disappointment to our trust. This world, and all its inhabitants, betrayed us."

Mari reaches the girl. "Let's just calm down," she says, reaching up to touch her shoulder. Not even a second after her hand makes contact, the girl's eyes grow brighter. She moves faster than the camera's framerate is capable of registering. In one swift move, the girl had crushed Mari's hand and thrown Mari into the other lab workers. In one instant, I watch as the once headless girl stomps on every one of the worker's throats, killing them.

"This is how it feels to kill," she says, head downcast," It's... relieving to kill those that betrayed us." An artifact in the recording makes it seem like there is a blue and orange glow radiating from her.

Or was it even an artifact? It is impossible to think anymore, only watch.

Glass starts to break around her. The chemicals in the vials mix and start to react. The girl looks up, revealing that she had one blue eye and one orange eye, both glowing. "I feel it, dad, my reason for fighting. I can finally call myself a Venator," the girl says, leaving the room as the reacting chemicals form a wall of a foam-like substance that reminds me of elephant's toothpaste. Eventually, the chemicals completely envelop the camera and the screen cuts to the block letters saying that the connection was lost.

I stare at the screen for a few more minutes, stunned. So many thoughts race through my head, but I can't hold on to a single one of them. At some point, I collapse to the ground and start crying.

Images of Mari appear, and just as quickly disappear. She was the one who brought me to the world. I woke up with no memories four months ago. She explained that she was a medical professional that brought me back to life after I supposedly drowned. She told me that the cells in my brain that controlled memory died due to lack of oxygen and that I was lucky to be alive. She was the one who gave me my new name. In a sense, she was my mom.

I wake up on the floor of the observation room. A new kind of feeling washes over me. "Venator," I say with a growl, "I'm coming for you."

I get up and head to the washroom to wipe the tears off my face, then I enter the garage, where my crew is waiting for me. Lucinnia runs to me and says something, but I'm not paying attention. I march over to Hariku. "Do we have enough to make it to the closest port?" I ask, still hearing the growling undertone in my voice.

"H-hai!" they stutter out, straightening their posture. I get onto the turret of the Leo to make an announcement to the crew.

"We're going." I feel my voice drop with such an unfamiliar feeling of finality. After the rest of the crew filters into the tank, I sit down into my seat. Without giving the order, Hariku starts the engine and backs out of the garage.

Venator will pay for killing my family. I will make sure of that.

## Chapter 3: Swiss: UPUO

After a day of travel, we make it to the docks and just what I was looking for is moored there. The light from the afternoon sun is blocked by the shape of a large schoolship. I look through my binoculars and can just about make out the text on the side of the hull.

"Saunders," I say, lowering my binoculars and hold onto my neck mic, "This is good. Hari, you have a sister here, correct?"

"Hai," Hariku's voice meekly sounds through my headset," imouto Callimento."

"Let's board," I command. After a second of hesitation, the tank starts towards the ship. The docks are silent, clearly all the workers have left for the night. Based from the equipment I could see around, they were doing some kind of maintenance on the ship. Hariku deftly maneuvered around I-beams and machinery as she guided the tank to the ship's stern, where a large boarding ramp was positioned. We boarded without saying a word, and, after riding the automatic tank lift up onto the upper deck, we were in a warehouse-like building that sheltered the lift from rain. "We will take this road all the way down. At the end, there should be a terminal to the SJJSDF secure data server." The tank starts to move, but Hariku hasn't said a word. I lower myself down and can see that she is uncomfortable.

"A school?" I hear Mark say. I look to my left and see him scanning with his periscope.

"Yes," I say, "Saunders University. It is the most protected school that is not affiliated with anyone other than the Sensha-do Federation and the SJJSDF."

"All this stuff looks American though."

"It may be confusing, but Saunders is not actually affiliated with the United States. They are only this way because the city that was moved onto the schoolship used to be a school town made by Americans, for Americans. Whenever the Schoolship became popular, the land problem that schools in the U.S. dealt with was solved. Eventually, the city became fully Japanese before moving its facilities onto a ship."

Lucinnia pipes up. "But still, why this ship?"

"Saunders just got it through luck-of-the-draw," I say, looking to my front at Lucinnia, "before, the school was failing until the SJJSDF decided to use it to house a backup server of all data that the SJJSDF collects. The SJJSDF paid Saunders with stimulus for protection of the hardware. Before the SJJSDF could tell Saunders how to use the money, Saunders had invested it all and started to make massive profit from a variety of sources that are placed all around the ship. By now, only the senior staff remember that the servers are held beneath decks." While we were talking, Hariku had stopped again. I looked up through my cupola's periscope and saw that we reached the end of the road. "Hari, turn left."

"But, there's a wall?" Hariku said questingally.

"Just do it." At my order, Hariku turned the tank left and drove to the wall. When the front part of the tank intersected with it, the wall shimmered and the tank passed through. Inside was another warehouse-like building. At the side wall, there were places to park and resupply. At the end opposite of the entrance, there was a dimly glowing terminal.

"Hologram?" Hariku says cautiously, but I don't reply. I have already left the tank and was going to the terminal. This terminal was connected directly to the servers below deck. If there was any way to know where Sahira Venator was going, it was this panel. This panel is also connected to the international headquarters of the SJJSDF, so I could contact the higher-ups. Actually, forget the higher-ups. This has gotten personal.

I boot up the panel and start to look over the GIS map for any appearance of Sahira Venator. The area around Japan had no hits, so I looked at a global scale. "There!" I exclaim when I see a hit, "Europe! in Greece, a girl gave the name Sahira Venator on a bill for a bar!" I am about to close the panel when something interests me in the Japanese region of the Map of Anomalous Activities. Here, at Saunders, there is an UPUO, 'Unidentified Persons of Unknown Origins'. I open the file. "Cameron Bright" it says. For some unknown reason, I feel like he is connected to what is going on. I print the page out and go back to the Leo.

"We're going to Greece!?" Lucinnia's excited voice surprises me. I forget exactly how good her hearing is.

"Maybe, but first we need to see someone." I lower myself into my position. "Hari, go down to dorm C." Hariku revs the engine and the tank starts to move.

Not even a minute later, the tank lurches to a sudden stop. "What happened?!" I call down to Hariku.

"Onee-san!" A voice outside the tank calls out. "I know you're in there!" Opening my hatch, I see a tall girl at first she looked foreign with her red hair, but then I saw her Japanese facial features. Actually, she looked like a taller version of-

"Imouto!" Hariku's voice booms to my left. She had opened up Mark's hatch and was climbing out of the tank. "Why are you here?"

"I go to school here, dummy!" So this here was Callimento Tsunayoishi, Hariku's sister.

"You are still in that band?" They look so similar, but if you saw them without knowing them, you would think that Callimento was the older sister.

"What else would I do? That band is the only fun I have around here!" I cough into my sleeve to signal to Hariku that we don't have time for this family reunion."

"So uh, you see... I'm on a mission now and can't talk." Hariku has her hatch closed again and is driving away with her sister shouting behind us. I close my hatch as well when Lucinnia starts talking.

"What happened between you two?"

Hariku scoffs, "long story short, I knew I wasn't going to make it to college, but I wanted my lil' sis to be able to make it." She sighs, "she is awkward, but smart."

"oh..."

"Well, at least this job pays well. Say, we never have really talked about our pasts, haven't we?"

"I'll go first," Mark starts after a moment of silence, "my real parents died a long time ago."

"That sounds awful," Lucinnia says, on the verge of crying.

"Don't be sad," Mark says, spreading his arms and leaning against the turret wall," I was only two when it happened, so I don't remember anything about them."

"What happened after that?" Hariku's voice says in my earpiece because she is on the other side of the tank.

"My aunt and uncle-in-law took me in," Mark resumed his story, "You see, they were having trouble having kids, so I was kinda like a blessing to them. Then one day, my aunt got pregnant. Apparently, anything could be fixed with a bit of percussive maintenance, if you know what I mean."

"I don't-" Lucinnia says before Mark cuts her off.

"Good, you probably shouldn't know. So, my aunt had a daughter when I was 3. They named her Mari."

The tank jerks, then returns to course. "You're Dr. Keller's cousin?!" Hariku exclaims.

"Yeah," Mark says, then continues, "eventually, my uncle-in-law convinced me to join the SJJSDF academy to become an officer. I flunked that entrance exam, but it didn't stop me. I joined the ground branch and well," Mark looks at each of us, "here I am."

"Well, my story isn't as interesting," Lucinnia admits, "I was found abandoned Infront of a SJJGSDF base that was disguised as a convent. When I was older, I was told that it was because my sensitive ears." She pauses, "What about you, Commander?" Everyone looks at me.

"I don't have a past." I say admittedly.

Lucinnia raises her eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"all I know is that I was found dead by the SJJSDF. Mari took the challenge to revive me because I haven't been dead for long. When I woke up, all my memories were gone, but my skills from before my death somehow remained."

Lucinnia starts to cry. "That is so sad!"

"Hey!" I wipe her face. "Don't cry, I don't think much about what my past could've been." I didn't notice, but while we were talking about our pasts, Hariku had already stopped infront of the dorm building. "Hari." I say as I put down my headset, "you know this place better than me, so come." Hariku follows me out of the hatch.

"It has been a while..."

"You took your first year here, right? You should still know a lot more than me." Hariku catches up behind me, and I take the printout from earlier out of my pocket as we enter the dorm's anteroom. "We need to go to the top floor."

"I might meet someone I know here," Hariku says shyly as she leads the way to the elevator. "Kyoya-kun..."

"If we hurry, we won't be out for long." I press the button for the third floor, which is the top floor just below the roof. "Who is this 'Kyoya' you were talking about?"

Hariku blushes. "He was my- my boyfriend that I left here."

"So he would be a 4th year now?"

She shakes her head. "He actually failed the year that I met him, so he will still be in the 3rd year dorms." I feel lighter as the elevator stops.

I look out the elevator to make sure that no one is approaching. "No one's coming." I leave the elevator and start down the hall, looking at room numbers. "We are going to room 306 to meet someone of interest."

"Interest? How so?"

"Cameron Bright, he came here the same day that we detected a disturbance in the electromagnietic field in the Wakayama Prefecture, where Saunders was having a match against Chi-Ha-Tan academy that day. He has no birth certificate, and his only information that registered him was an American ID. The registration process seems rushed, as the ID wasn't back-traced to the States for verification."

"Is he a run away?"

"Unlikely." Room 306, I stop infront of it. "Here." Hariku goes to the other side of me and gets into a breach position, but I stop her. After collecting my thoughts, I knock on the door. "Cameron Bright," my voice sounds authoritive, "We are here from the SJJSDF." Noises start to come from outside the room.

"C-coming!" A male voice inside says. There is more noise and what sounds like locks being closed before the door opens. "What do you want?" a tall, dirty-blonde-haired student says in a distinct, albeit diluted, Texan accent that makes him sound like a bartender in one of those old western movies. Through the accent, it sounded more like he said 'Whad'ya'want?'

"We are here because we know you don't belong."

Hariku suddenly pushes him out of the way and shoves the door open. "We heard noise in here!" she shouts.

"Hey!" Cameron shouts as he is unexpectedly shoved back.

I follow Hariku in, already too late to stop her.

"What's this?" she says, pointing to a large, dark case sitting on the bunk, "Trying to run?!"

"No?" Cameron says, looking like he is trying to figure out what's going on. "And don't touch that!"

Hariku unlatches the case, but I stop her before she opens the lid. "We are just here to ask some questions." I glance down at the unmarked case. "This being one of them."

"Well, this is just my bari." Cameron says, moving infront of the case and opening it. Inside, there is a large, gold colored instrument laying inside. It was almost as tall as Lucinnia. "I was just about to start practicing when you came by."

"So it wasn't anything shady, then," I say with a sigh.

Hariku takes a step towards me. "Wait, you were just as suspicious as I was!" Cameron is now stuck between us and tries to back out of the way to his desk. He presses his hand onto something and something starts to speak.

"Hey-uh, it's day 130 of being here," a phone on his desk starts to play from a recording. "Why do I keep log anymore? Nothing is going to change. It's been a couple days since that performance for Valantine's Day. Kay looked happy during it."

"Now this is interesting." I grab the phone before the surprised Cameron can.

"Well, I've been doing great too, though I am starting to feel like this isn't a dream. I mean, it is still ridiculous for me to just show up in Japan with all the things from that one anime being real." There is a pause. "My will theory is still holding up even though the 'important characters' are immune..." Will theory? "Oh well, we have a gig later and I am gonna just practice for a bit to warm up." I start to hear metal clanking together dully, then a knock on the door. "Hang on." The recording ends.

"What is this?" I ask, looking at Cameron.

"Well, I kinda have been keeping a log of my life here."

"130 days, strange. Mostly because that is exactly when this print-put says you showed up." I hold up the paper from earlier. "In correlation with a disturbance in the electromagnetic fields." Cameron doesn't say anything. "And what is that 'Will Theory' you were talking about?"

"It's like a uh." He pauses and scratches the back of his neck. "It's hard to put it in words."

"Just say you don't want to tell us."

"I just... Can't tell you right now." He sits down defeatedly. "So yeah, I don't know what to say."

"You are a runaway from the United States. A fugitive too, maybe."

He raises his hands defensively. "No, that's not it!"

"What is, then?"

Cameron inhales, preparing his words. "I was just a regular dude a while back, but I wasn't from." He pauses, trying to find words. "this world, I guess you can say. Everything is different where I come from. This whole world could only exist in a dream, but it is too real to be fake."

"Are you just crazy?"

"I don't know anymore. It feels good to talk about, though."

"I already back-traced the ID you gave when you registered in Japan. There is no Cameron Bright anywhere but here. Which means that your ID is either the best fake ever made, or you actually came here through anomalous means."

"So you believe me?"

"I have to. One of the duties of the SJJSDF is to monitor and clear anomalies."

"Clear?"

"Kill."

"Who?"

"You."

"Me? But I don't have that big of an impact." He diverts his eyes to think, then snaps back to me. "I'm a human, too!" I don't say anything. "I know! You are looking for Monterey!"

"The boy?" The images of the boy that entered the machine flash before me again. "How do you know him?"

Cameron thinks for a bit. "Hard to say, saying might bring more changes that aren't needed. I hate to say this, but I can't tell you anything else about it."

I draw my L-35 pistol. "Then I should clear you."

Cameron backs all the way back against the wall. "But I know you need help! I know things that shouldn't be possible!"

I shove my gun between his eyes so that I barely graze the hairs on his face. "Then where is Sahira Venator going?!"

Cameron looks dumbfounded for a moment. "The draft?... The story is continuing, even with me here... I know!"

"Where?"

"Europe." That part checks out. "Either Italy or Germany... maybe Austria."

I holster my gun. "Now we are getting somewhere. Come with us, and I won't report you to the SJJAMSDF."

"What does that acronym even mean?"

"Switzerland-Japan Joint Anomaly-Monitoring Self Defense Force. They are the ones that actually have the ability to clear you."

Hariku let's out a loud breath that she has been holding. "You were bluffing?" she says.

"Yeah." I say to her, then take my gun back out and give it a flick. Instead of a metallic 'ding' sound, it just made a dull thud. "This gun isn't even real."

Cameron stands away from the wall. "Can I at least make a call?"

"Yeah, and take a vehicle, we don't have room in ours."

"Thanks." Cameron grabs his phone from the desk, where I left it, then dials a number. After a few dial tones, Cameron starts to talk to it. "Hey Mike... I just wanted to talk to you about that, you take over for now... I'm going to be away for a while... Hey, if anyone asks, just tell them that you don't know where I went, or that I left at all... Just use the B versions of those songs, but don't play anything from our Dusk Set... Bye dude." Cameron puts his phone into his pocket, then looks at me. "Let me grab my things."