[Acheron]

The night was a clear one, one of the clearest in the recent memory of both of the young Galbaldian troopers. They had just been called home from Esthar, a long time spent on foreign land doing some security duty for Tears Point, a duty that neither of them figured to be that important but they had been assigned the job by General Henry Verseau; one of the most prominent figures in the military, it wasn't like they had the option of telling the man no. He had promised both of the greenhorns that once they did this simple errand, the rest of thier vacation would be free of any and all interuptions from the government. It was such a beautiful night though and this was the last thing either soldier wanted to do, they had been given a location of where the man they needed might be found but that was just a maybe; both of them had fully convinced themselves that they would be on a manhunt all over the city tonight. So far they had ignored the location that the General had given them and checked downtown a couple times, along with the most popular locations in the city but now they finally made thier way down to the Grand Arch; or to be more technical, they went into the park next to the Arch. After looking around the park for about ten minutes, the two young men in the Galbaldian Army uniforms located the man that they were looking for. While everyone else was out celebrating the good night, having a carefree time, this man was setting on a bench under one of the many lamposts; he wore a grey overcoat and had what looked to be reading glasses on, as he was filling out a crossword puzzle in the newspaper. Both of the soldiers moved across the park, standing in front of the man and speaking with somewhat timid voices.

"Uh...Inspector?"

"Hang on please.", he was filling out one of the answers on the crossword puzzle and then finally looked up to see the faces of the two soldiers, "What exactly can I do for you two gentlemen?"

"He..Here..", one of the soldiers handed the man a piece of paper, which both of the soldiers watched him read with something of an unhappy face. When the man didn't move or say anything like the two soldiers thought he would, they were somewhat puzzled. "Uh sir, the order says.."

"I've been around long enough to know what an order says my young friend. It says that it's urgent but if the General sent two wet behind the ears soldiers to find me, no offense gentlemen, then I'm sure that it will be alright if I don't rush over there. Thank you for bringing me the order, I've received it and your duty is complete, I'll head over to the residence once I'm finished with my crossword puzzle.", while the man went back to the crossword puzzle, both of the soldiers stood there with blank expressions, "You can go now guys, it's alright, have a good night. Go downtown to the arcade, go fall in love, you're both young."

They took a few steps away still facing him before they turned around and started a little jog so they could catch the next tram which would take them downtown, "The other guys were right, he is a weirdo and he's supposed to be the guy that caught that big time terrorist?"

While the two soldiers ran off to get the next tram and made thier jokes about the man in his early thirties doing his crossword puzzle, he was none the wiser to thier jokes. If he hadn't been doing the puzzle or had a cup of coffee next to him, one might mistake him for a homeless man, it wasn't cause of how he was dressed but the very atmosphere that he sometimes put off. He usually wanted to be left alone, he led a life that had take him down some dark paths that people wouldn't normally imagine but at the moment, the only thing that mattered to Inspector Nathan Preston was finding a six letter word for cucumber.

---Galbaldian Corkscrew Prison---

Edwin James had been the Guard Captain for five years at the Prison, it was a decent paying job but it wasn't something that he went home raving to his wife about every night. Maybe if he was working a different section of the prison, something like the psych ward where the inmates may be insane but at least they would be doped up enough so they wouldn't be a major threat to anyone. Edwin wasn't that lucky though, as being the lead guard was a pretty high job on the food chain and he had to spend his time with the worst of the worst; most of the time the offenders would be in shackles but there were a few incidents where Edwin needed backup to take some of them down. Tonight was very usual though, he received transfer orders for inmates regularly but tonight he received an order for an inmate he didn't expect to go anywhere but the rack where he would be strapped down for lethal injection. He took his time, counting each step as his black boots stomped down on the stairs which led him to the solitary confinement ward, the war where he would find the inmate that he needed. There was no rush to get to the cell of a man who had killed more people than Edwin could ever imagine, once at the cell door, he slid his key card through the reader and stepped inside of the cell.

The cell itself wasn't too different from a standard prison cell, besides how the prisoner was being treated. The prisoner was suspended in the air, with shackles around both of his wrists and ankles, the cables went from the shackles into the wall which kept tension and had him in the air. There was nothing covering the man's mouth as he wasn't considered a spitting threat yet when he wasn't restrained like this, anyone who stepped inside of the cell was putting thier lives in immediate danger. Edwin pressed a button on his workbelt, during the single light high on the ceiling of the room on so he could look right into the prisoners eyes.

"It seems like Christmas has come early for you. I don't know how and something tells me that I don't want to ask why, but it looks like you're being granted a temp release. I never thought I'd see the day when they would let a monster like you back out there in the world."

"Monsters usually have horns and fangs, Mr. James, and from what you can see, I have neither. Why am I being granted a temp release, I did not file any sort of papers for such."

"Haha you're complaining that you actually get to go out in the real world? That you're going to be around sane people?"

"It's your opinion that the people out there are sane, it's not fact and I'd rather take my chances on in here than outside. You did not answer my question either Mr. James, you know how that annoys me."

"You cons are all the same..., Edwin pulled a piece of paper from his belt to read the order, "You are to be granted a temp release and then to be transported to the Presidential Residence, where you will meet with your commander who you'll be serving. Apparently you're going to be assisting with a unit that's going to investigate that biological attack."

"Hahahaha! Oh dear...I don't think I'll have any part of that."

"Well you don't have a choice..", a group of eight guards showed up behind Edwin, ready to take the prisoner out of his shackles and get him ready for transport, "Think of it this way, you'll be getting to work with an old friend from what I hear."

---Presidential Residence---

A wait wasn't something uncommon for anyone who had been summoned to the residence, Nathan had made many trips over to the residence in his time working for the government; most of the trips weren't of a happy nature but there would be the rare occasion that something good actually came out of the long walk. He was more focused on finding the words that he needed to complete what had turned out to be a pretty tough puzzle for tonight; once he thought he had come up with a word, he was ushered into General Verseau's office. The General wasn't what he expected, as he had never met the man before and had assumed that he must have been a pretty haughty guy, he commanded a lot of power in Galbaldia but had done it all very quickly. Nathan took his seat in front of the desk as Verseau poured himself a drink and took his seat behind it.

"Thanks for coming down here in decent time. I didn't expect you right away but I'm glad you at least made it here tonight. I'm guessing that you've heard about the attack in Tinlilly?"

Nathan held up the newspaper, showing the General the front page who's headline was about the attack, "Impossible to avoid. I heard that one of your daughters was in the village...I'm sorry."

Verseau showed off a stern face, "She's not dead yet Inspector, I have high hopes we'll find a cure in time. That's part of why I called you here tonight. Due to troop assignments and the shear fact that you're one of, if not the best investigator we have in the military, I'm putting you in charge of a unit who's goal is to find out how exactly this happened, who's behind it and if there will be more."

"I'm guessing you want me to save the world after all of this?", it was Nathan's bad attempt at some humor; he took off his reading glasses and let out a heavy sigh, "I appreciate your confidence in me General, I really do but it's been a little less than two years now since I conducted an investigation, into anything for that matter. You say that you want me to find out who did it, how, why, and if there will be more...Sir I'm sorry to tell you but the biggest search I've done in my time off has been trying to find matching socks. I was put on leave for a reason sir, I burned out and I didn't have any intention on coming back to work, treading water till retirement would have been just a perfect course for me. Now I'm real sorry about your daughter and I hope that you do find a cure in time but I think you have the wrong man for the job."

General Verseau took a sip of his whiskey and then let off a smile, "I was told that you were going to say whatever you could to talk me out of making you the leader of Sunshine, that's the name of the unit you're going to be commanding...

"Sir I can't..."

"I've granted P.D Carroll a temporary release from prison to join up with Sunrise. His views of being on the other side of things will help the unit, plus one false step and you have plenty of cause to kill him.

Nathan was speechless, "The man that I spent nearly a decade trying to catch...you're releasing just like that? Carroll won't follow orders and frankly I don't want to give him the chance, he's nothing but a monster and a waste of flesh."

"Here", Verseau threw a manila envelope across his desk and over to Nathan, which Nathan caught, "Open it when you leave here, it contains the bio's of your team members, numbers for resources and such. It also had the address of what's going to be your base of operations, everything that you need to conduct a proper search mission."

"You...You won't take a no for an answer, will you?"

The General leaned forward, placing his hands on the top of his desk, "I won't only because I remember the fire that you had while you were hunting Carroll, while you were hunting anyone who crossed on the wrong side of the law. I remember the passion that you had, yes we had never met before tonight but I would watch you in the command center as you worked and barked orders to the younger officers. Nathan, what happened in that near decade to you sucks, it really does...my daughter may be sick but I don't know what it's like to actually lose a family...but you're only thirty-two Nathan, don't write the rest of your life off now. Galbaldia needs you to do this Nathan, I need you to do this...the victims of this brutal attack need you to find out who did this and bring them to justice."

Preston tried not to have a blank look on his face but he was failing. This was the first time in a long time that someone was asking something important of him, it wasn't a feeling that he was used to anymore. He nodded, looking down at the ground and tucking his envelope into his overcoat.

"Pickle", Nathan stood up from his chair and started out of the office.

"Excuse me?"

"Six letter word for cucumber, it's pickle."

[Fehrant]

(OOC: Got permission and confirmed with Acheron about some things that will happen during this post)

Sitting straight with her back like an arrow, Kurenai carefully sipped from the cup of tea she had prepared herself from one of the cabinets of the new base of operations. She was on the first floor, where there was a bathroom, and a living room. Up on the second floor was where matters were going to be discussed, and plans laid out. The state of the second floor was much better than the precious facade the first floor tried to deceive unwanted visitors with.

Up to this point, she knew nothing of the people she was going to be working with. She only had a picture of her new commander, a man with reading glasses, and a scar running from his mouth to his left cheek. She was supposed to follow his every command, and assist him however possible. That wasn't something she would have problems doing, as she had been a mere chess piece all of her life. While she had been hired as nothing short of being a mercenary, she was in truth a bodyguard for an underworld figure. Her actual boss had pulled up the strings with his connections to have her partake in this event, for reasons that as per usual she wasn't aware of, nor was she in any position to find out. Her only instructions were to report the situation whenever necessary.

The lights of the first floor were mostly turned of, and the main source of light was the strong light coming from the stairs of the second room. She awaited quietly upon the arrival of Nathan Preston, her temporal commander, who was supposed to be arriving soon. At this moment however, there was only a Galbadian soldier with her, who stood guard at the door in silence. Kurenai looked at him as she sipped tea. She wasn't much different from him; the only difference between them two was battle prowess. The rest was exactly the same. They were both puppets on a string.

A knock broke the silence of the room, followed by a someone's voice to open up. The guard did, and in entered more similar-dressed soldiers, followed by a tall man covered in a coat, almost as if being hidden from outside onlookers. In fact, once the door had been closed the draping coat was removed, to reveal a man that looked like he had been just released from prison, and from the looks of his unshaven beard and long hair, he had done a long time inside. He was shackled in both legs, arms, and his hands were entirely covered with a protective metal box. Being part of the underworld world, however, Kurenai was not disturbed by this, nor did she have any moral sense to emit any judgment. She would do what orders told her to.

The man was led into the bathroom, and which point he started to be shaved, whether by request or unwillingly, Kuranai did not know. His shackles were never removed, and the man did not perform any brusque movements. He just let his strands of long hair, and messy beard litter the ground as he took on a different appearance, one that Kuranai did not bother to see.

She continued to drink her tea. Her commander would come through that door any minute.

[Acheron]

Preston was thinking over the situation in every single detail in his mind as he opened the door to the hallway from Verseau's office, the only way that he figured he would be able to get out of this assignment would be if he struck the General dead right now but the idea of spending the rest of his life in jail just really didn't seem like it at the moment. Before Nathan walked down the hallway and into the main foyer, he opened up the manila envelope to take a peek at the person's name who would have been transported with P.D; he didn't want to be rude and owed the person a thank you for standing around for so long with the person that Nathan considered to be the worst living. He took his time walking down the hallway, he was in no rush to see P.D as it was going to be an event that he thought he never would have to go through all over again.

It was to his surprise when he rounded the hallway corner than neither P.D nor Kurenai, the name of the woman who was another important part of the unit, was in the main lobby. Already given a job and already he was ignoring important details, as if he had read some of the briefing file a little closer he would have seen that P.D and Kurenai would have been heading directly for the base and wouldn't be stopping at the Presidential Residence, apparently the President of Galbaldia thought it would somehow lessen the greatness of the country by having a convicted felon even standing in the waiting area; considering the felon in question, Nathan wasn't about to argue the President on that point. Waiting outside for him was a humvee along with a soldier who would be driving him over to the warehouse that had been made into the base of operations for Sunrise.

It wasn't until he reached the warehouse itself and went inside that he got that sickening feeling in his stomach all over again. His right eye was the first to catch the glimpse of the virus that he called a mission for nearly a decade, standing there in his infinite prison glory. P.D's face had been shaven clean while he apparently had asked for a mohawk, as they buzzed off most of his hair but left enough of a strip of hair in the middle to make it so. P.D's arms and legs were both shackled, along with a protective box being placed around both of his hands; Preston remembered adding that protective measure to his notes when he had arrested Carroll. The outfit that the convict had been placed in wasn't as bad looking as Nathan would have liked, as P.D wore a bright orange jump suit but seemed to have a little smile on his face. It felt like every organ in his body was nearing failure by looking at Carroll but he held in the bile that wanted so badly to come up and free itself of it's internal prison. Nathan instead focused on the interiors of the warehouse, a functional kitchen, bedroom area, shower and bathroom facilites and much more in the way of making it look like a home. Then there were the tv's, computers, white boards, chalkboards, tables and more supplies than Nathan could have imagined, Verseau wasn't lying when he said he was going to have every single resource open to him.

Nathan made his way over to the woman who was standing next to the steel clad P.D, extending his hand towards her with a weak smile.

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Nathan Preston, glad to have you aboard", he tried to sound like he was passionate about what was going on but he wasn't there just yet; instead he sounded like he had just come from a funeral. "We can get more aquainted later but since the situation is already a day and a half old, we need to start analyzing things right away before ANY leads dry up.", he didn't bother looking at P.D, he had no interest in whatever would or could come out of his mouth.

"Oh come now Nathan, you're not even going to say hi to your old friend? It's been, how long now? Not to mention that we parted on such sour terms..."

Preston ignored P.D and still kept his attention to Kurenai, "It's been a little while since I've done this but I think we'll be alright, the important thing is striking while the iron is hot, once again, glad to have you on board."

"You'd think with all the money they spent here, they could at least give us a swing set."

Nathan ignored the comment.

[Snowman Rob]

A Galbadian Army motor bike pulled up outside the Sunrise Unit base of operations. The soldier astride it, Lt. Artemus Black, had been transferred from his platoon stationed just outside Deiling City only the previous day. He had not had much time to act and had had no time to make a pit stop at his dormitory at the army base.

For that reason he had very few posessions on him. In his duffel (OOC: or duffle if you're British/Aussie) bag was his machine gun and a single change of clothes, black pants, a black dinner jacket and a white shirt. In addition to this he had a silenced pistol, which he kept in a holster at his waist.

Soon after his arrival a truck pulled up behind... Black had seen similar trucks before.

"Prison transfer..."

He hurried inside and into a small room on the first floor. A woman and a single Galbadian guard were waiting.
Black was a little awestruck by the woman. She was attractive, which initially caught his attention, however it was her red iris that kept his gaze.
However he shook it off. He had been trained not to let things like that get in the way of the mission. He stepped in and sat down. The prison procession, who had followed him in, had moved towards the bathroom where who he assumed was the prisoner was receiving a shave.

A short while later another man walked in. He seemed to demand authority, but was troubled by something, perhaps burdened. Black wasn't sure.

He moved towards the woman, and said,
"It's nice to meet you, I'm Nathan Preston, glad to have you aboard."
Black wasn't quite sure how sincere the man was.
"We can get more aquainted later but since the situation is already a day and a half old, we need to start analyzing things right away before ANY leads dry up."

The prisoner had an odd smirk on his face.
He cricked his head to the side and asked "Oh come now Nathan, you're not even going to say hi to your old friend? It's been, how long now? Not to mention that we parted on such sour terms..."

Nathan Preston shrugged it off. It was obvious they had a history together.

"It's been a little while since I've done this but I think we'll be alright, the important thing is striking while the iron is hot, once again, glad to have you on board," he said to the woman.

The prisoner had to have his say, adding "You'd think with all the money they spent here, they could at least give us a swing set."

Most of the Galbadian Soldiers in the room gave a small chuckle before coming to attention and waiting for their orders from Nathan Preston.

[Fehrant]

Kurenai. In the underworld you only get one name unless you are a high ranking person, or an arrogant one. For her, a mere bodyguard, one name was sufficient. But that was not the entire reason why she was only named "Kurenai". In fact, she had been abandoned at an orphanage without as much as a name. She was adopted by her boss, but it had not been out of love or spite. Kurenai had simply been means to an end. She had been raised since then to be a competent tool. Just like a sword, she was sharpened, and molded to become as efficient as possible. As the years passed, she grew accustomed to it, gradually giving away her emotional side turning instead into a machine that would comply with orders. Sometimes, a latent inner voice would question why she was doing what she did, but a part of her felt indebted to her boss, for she had been offered a better life than that of the orphanage, not to mention a purpose. As long as she followed orders, and did her job, she would be fed, dressed, and even have her own luxurious room with hot batter and a comfortable bed. Of course, it could be argued that her former precarious lifestyle was not as dangerous, but back then she had nothing. Risking her life was only a small price to pay.

Preston offered her a courteous greeting which she silently acknowledged. His words were kind, but his tone was too formal and lacking sincerity. The inmate kept attempting to get the commander's attention, but his efforts were thwarted by Preston's sheer wall of indifference. Another figure of notice joined the group, he was dressed in the Galbadian uniform, had blond hair and blue eyes. Kaysha noticed she was being stared at by him, if only temporary. She looked at herself and became aware of her clothes, a fancy dress that had been picked to suit the exotic tastes of his boss. These might have been appropriate perhaps in an underworld meeting, but here they made her stood out unnecessarily. She needed to blend in.

Atop the table in front of her there was an inventory list sheet accounting for everything that the team had been supplied with. She picked it up, glancing over it. Everything was there, even the tea she was drinking was there. Another peculiar set of items was included: spare clothes. She decided to take advantage of this, and change her outfit.

Kurenai stood up with the list on her hand, and approached Preston. "Commander Preston," she said stiffly. "I request permission to change." She pointed at the clothing items on the list. Preston took the list, seemingly interested in the details. He nodded to acknowledgment at her request, and she went off to find whatever was available. The clothes were not on the first floor, so she went up the second floor. The difference was notable. Technological gadgets, a whiteboard, maps, pins, everything needed to keep tabs on what's was going on and plan ahead was here. Even brand new laptops were supplied.

She spotted a couple of plastic bags, and inside finally found the clothing. There were some plain color shirts, and jeans. They were all male clothing, but it didn't matter. She took a pair of jeans, and a white shirt, and changed herself in the bathroom of the second floor. She had to fold the bottom of the pants a bit because they were long, but they were good enough for now. Kurenai came out looking surprisingly plain, her long brown hair hanging loose, the plain clothes made her look fairly ordinary, unlike moments ago. She still had high heels, but she was going to get plain footwear eventually.

On the second floor also, each person's room was situated. She picked one at random, and deposited her clothes there. She closed the door, taking out the key, and having a strip of leather tucked with knives hanging from her other hand, as she tried to conceal them in her new clothing, ready to use when necessary.

She was going to go back down again, but people were already coming up.

[Acheron]

Preston was a bit taken back by Kurenai asking him for permission to go and change into clothes, it had taken him a couple of minutes before he realized the rationality in the question, he was the leader of this unit and it seemed like she was going to take that pretty seriously. Either that or he was over thinking the situation, but his attention was quickly diverted from Kurenai to the Galbaldian soldiers that had been hanging around; he knew that the Lt. that had just come into the warehouse was apart of the unit but he wanted the rest of these soldiers gone.

"To all of you uniformed soldiers, besides Lt. Black that just came in, get the hell out of here. You aren't needed and I don't want to hear what any of your supervisors told you, we don't need security or drivers, we're big boys and girls; if we need your help, you can be sure we'll give you a call sometime.", he spoke as he was looking over a map on one of the tables. When he looked up from the map, with his reading glasses slightly sagging to his nose, the soldiers knew he was for real and they started to file out of the building.

P.D moved over to where Nathan was looking over the map, the proximity of the two men was something that Preston wasn't too thrilled about but he was able to deal, seeing how P.D's hands were still encased in the protective box. "You really could have been much nicer with them Nathan, they didn't look that old."

"I'm starting to find it comical that you're being sincere for people now, I seem to remember you lacking sincerity when I was carrying dead children off the train you bombed, you know, like when you shot me in the shoulder?"

"Oh Nathan, let's not cry over spilt milk okay?"

Preston ignored P.D like usual and then waved Lt.Black over to the table where the map had been laid out. Nathan waved the man over and then shook his hand, "Nice to meet you Lt. Black, I'm Nathan Preston and this beast next to me is the scum of the earth, if you want his real name you can ask but it's not worth it. As I told Kurenai before, we need to move quick but not blindly. Tomorrow morning we'll be heading for Tinlilly, the village where all of this started, it makes no sense to investigate something in pitch black. We've got plenty of equipment as you can see, places for showers, beds to sleep in along with dressers for your clothes and such." Black seemed to be following along with Preston just fine, taking in every part of the plan, "The sleeping quarters are upstairs, I'll take you up there."

Nathan left the table and kept the map open on it, he was sure that he wouldn't be going to bed for awhile still so he would come back down and make sure that he picked the right travel route for the group. He heard the footsteps of Lt. Black behind him but not the shackles of P.D, when he turned around to look, P.D was carefully going over the map and it's routes. Nathan really wasn't in the mood for an argument or another exchange of quick comments from P.D, so he left him alone and continued up the staircase. Once he reached the second floor of the warehouse, he noticed Kurenai was still up here and she had changed. Preston stepped aside to let Lt. Black walk past him and place his things down where he wanted, "I'm sorry I didn't mention it before Kurenai but we're going to rest here for tonight. At sunrise we'll set out for Tinlilly, via helicopter more likely than not. Until then, rest, sharpen your weapons, whatever you wish, I'll be downstairs looking over some maps and documents.", he smiled a little bit and then went back downstairs.

[Snowman Rob]

Black tossed his duffle bag into an empty room. Black was perplexed. Every Galbadian soldier had been asked to leave... except him of course.

"We don't need security or drivers..."

Artemus had grown used to having people below him. People he could boss around, and people who looked up to him. But now he found himself back on the bottom of the food chain. It was something he would have to grow accustomed to.

Lt. Black loved the army. It had been his life.

However his life was full of blanks that Arty just couldn't seem to fill. He had been lied to... he still knew very little about his past, and whenever he attempted to think about it images of death and pain would come to mind.
What Black had been told was that he had grown up into the military. He remembered nothing of his true past, and few people could provide evidence to doubt the Galbadian Army's claims.

According to their fraudulent documents Artemus was the son of Captain Willheim Black, a high profile Galbadian officer who had been posted all over Centra over the years before dying to the hands of SeeD. As soon as he was old enough Arty had joined the Galbadian Army, ascending through the ranks quickly, completing his officers course and being placed in charge of a squad before being attached to the Sunrise Unit.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
After a short walk around the base of operations Black retired to his quaters. Tomorrow would be a long day...

[Acheron]

Nathan had quickly realized that with Black upstairs, along with Kurenai, he would be alone on the groundfloor with P.D; alone time that Nathan didn't know if he was either ready for or one that he could handle. It wasn't like it mattered though because the steps weren't adding on as he kept going down and he really doubted that P.D was going to just up and leave once he arrived down at the table with him. He was greeted with a surprise once he made it to the bottom of the steps, as Kurenai had stepped out from the living quarters area upstairs and spoke to Nathan from the balcony of the staircase.

"Sir, permission to retire for the night?"

Preston thought it was pretty insane that she was asking for permission for such a thing but already it was starting to become clear that she was used to following orders and that free will might be a little more common for him than it was her. "Of course. We'll be leaving at sunrise, have a good sleep." He then turned his attention to the table where the map had been laid out before, P.D was sitting at the table going over the map and Nathan pulled a chair up and sat across the table from him. Neither man looked each other in the eye at first, P.D had a bottle of water with a straw in it which he was sipping sometimes while Nathan still had a mug of coffee on the table which was reasonably hot.

"Helicopter ride over to Tinlilly eh?"

"It's faster than the train, it doesn't make any sense to take more time than we really need to. But it's not like I need to explain any of these actions to you."

"Of course not.", P.D took a sip from the bottle of water then looked back to Nathan, "You hate me more than I could ever imagine, don't you?"

"I'm pretty sure that you know exactly how much I hate you, right now General Verseau is pushing my limits too though by letting you out so don't think that you're alone on that island.", Nathan took a sip from his mug then cringed, it wasn't as good as he had remembered.

"I guess that's good to know. Do you ever wonder what your life would have been if you never decided to hunt me down?"

Nathan had been writing something with a pencil on the map but placed it down when P.D asked that question. He slowly took off his reading glasses and placed them in the front pocket of his jacket. "I didn't decide to hunt you down P.D, I really never wanted to actually, infact I didn't give a damn until you decided to bomb the south bound train out of Deling Station. Hunting you down was no pleasure P.D, I've got the scars to prove it but because of what you did, I didn't have a damn choice. If you're trying to get in my head, if you're trying to figure it all out, stop now. You are just a tool that I plan on using to acomplish this mission."

"You'll never going to be as cold as you're trying to make me believe Nathan. You're going to kill Verseau though, aren't you?"

"He won't be getting a Christmas card from me, I can assure you that."

The two men spent the rest of the night looking over the map and the routes that Nathan wanted to take into the village, not another word was said between them for the remainder of the night.

[Fehrant]

(OOC: Clarifying that some things in my post were settled with Acheron)

After requesting permission to retire, she went straight to her room. It wasn't too late yet, but an early morning awaited the group. Closing the door behind her, she locked it with the key. It had nothing to do with a matter of mistrust; it was a mix of precaution and underworld common sense.

Kurenai removed her stilettos notable feeling more comfortable. It wasn't like she had picked them, as she would much rather dress to be as comfortable and movement-effective as possible. Her shoes, her dress, all had been picked up by the boss' underlings to suit his tastes.

Looking at the side table next to the bed, she spotted an alarm clock, setting it to ring at 4:00 AM. It was a bit too early, as during this time of the year the sun would start showing up at 5 or 6, but she wanted to be up early to be ready if needed. That, and possibly prepare breakfast for everyone who so desired, something that her cooking training would facilitate. Besides, preparing breakfast for her superiors, and waking up before them was something she was used to.

She was ready to go to bed, when she decided to check the bags with clothes once again. She'd have sworn she had seen the word "shoes" somewhere on that list. Outside her room there was no one. Either they were on their respective rooms, or were still on the first floor. She checked the bags again, but no luck. Below them on the floor however she found more. On there, she found black boots that fit her pretty decently and a mid-length black leather jacket, ideal for concealing small weapons, like her knives or a gun. Satisfied, she returned to her room, and went to sleep.

Kurenai was not the type of person that would have many dreams. She did not have remorse, happiness, or deep scars on her past. Most of her dreams were simple patterns of missions she would accomplish, and how she would be of use. But she would not remember any by the morning.

The alarm clock woke her up instantly, and she silenced it. Laziness was not part of her character. She immediately woke up, donned the clothes she had found yesterday, fixed her knives to be at reach when needed, and exited her room. The sun had not yet come up, and the only noise present was of her boots on the hardwood floor.

She went downstairs, but to her surprise P.D. Carroll and Nathan Preston were still at the table checking maps, jotting down notes, reviewing this and that. Without averting their eyes much, they --even the inmate-- cordially greeted Kuranai. She felt ashamed she had been relaxing while her commander had been here working apparently all night long.

"Sir, my apologizes for sleeping while you were on duty all night," she declared. "Would I have known..."

"Uh...it's fine," he dismissed. "I'd rather you be rested, I was just bullshitting with the convict anyways."

P.D. Carroll smirked. "Sticks and stones Nathan, sticks and stones."

"Can I offer you and your companion any breakfast, Mr. Preston?" She asked promptly.

"Uh, well..." Nathan started to say. He seemed reluctant to make a request.

"I'd like pancake mix if there's some, please," P.D. Carroll requested without hesitation.

Preston sighed resigned. "I'd like cereal with milk and bananas, if you don't mind."

Kurenai immediately started to open cabinets in the kitchen and getting the required materials. She first prepared the pancake mix and left it with a straw in front of Carroll. The mix did not take any preparation or much effort, so now that it was out of the way, she grabbed a banana and chopped it with a normal kitchen knife with scary accuracy and at incredible speed. She prepared the cereal, and arranged the bananas on top. After leaving it on front of Preston with a spoon, she prepared herself some black coffee.

[Caije]

The Presidental palace was quite at most times of the day, not many guards patrolled the corridor's except for a t night, during day the place was empty which was usual. A loud sound of metal thumping was heard. Metal boots stepped hardly through the corridors. He approached the door and opened it without hesitation, the man was dressed in a Estharian guard uniform. He stood infront of a desk until his name was called. The person sitting at the desk stood from his chair.

"Veron Cortez...." The Man behind the Desk called.

"You called, Mr Loire sir?" Cortez asked. His Blade hung on his back as usual which weighed him down, but after 10 years in the army he was use to the weight of his weapons and armour.

"I have a out-of-state mission that require's to be done..." Loire paused.

"What must I do, Sir?" He asked without hesitation.

"I know you do not have a fondness for Galbadians after ten years ago, Cortez, but I would trust no one else with this mission..." The president handed Cortez a file in which Cortez opened in very little ammount of time. After a minute of scanning through the paper-work, Cortez turned to the president.

"You wish for me to help Galbadian's?" Cortez asked, he was shocked that the president would ask such a thing.

President Loire turned to a cabinet and opened it. inside were many bottle's of fancy Esthar custom ale's. Loire took out a bottle of rum and two large glass's.

"Can I tempt you Veron?" The president asked. His back was still turned at Cortez.

"I'd rather not, sir, once I get drinking there is no stoping me, as you may of noticed from last new-years eve...." Cortez sighed in disgrace. He had got drunk infront of his fellow Field marshalls and embaressed himself.

"Ah yes,....." There was a long pause as the president filled his glass with the Estharian Rum."back to the matter on hand then, yes I do wish for you to help the Galbadian's out, as we need to show support, if we don't Join forces then the world as we know it is not Joined, there is no alliance or friendship. If there is no friendship it leads to war, do you understand Veron?"

"Yes, though I have my worries...." Cortez looked at the document again of the Biography of a man well despised in Esthar.

"I assume you saw who your working with then...." Loire smiled, though Cortez could tell it was forced to lighten the current situation.

"He is a terrorist after all...." Cortez sighed. "I think I will have a drink after all...." he took up the bottle of rum and washed a mouthful down his troath.

"You are Stationed to Help Nathan Preston find any Results possible, and are in his hands until the mssion is Complete. You will arrive in tinlilly by Train, if you leave now you should be ablle to get there Directly before the team go in to investigate."

"Yes sir, I will do my best." he turned and headed for the door.

"I could expect no more...."

He opened the wooden door and heard his own footstep's echo through the large hallway. He walked quickly through the hall and reached the city in a matter of minutes. He entered a small Vehicle and it soon took off towards the nearest train and entred it. he took a final look at the city knowing it would be a long-time before he saw it again. he took his window seat and the train slowly began to move, picking up speed as it went along the railway lines.

[Acheron]

It had been the first time that someone had gotten Nathan something for breakfast, let alone prepare it. He was sure that Kurenai didn't think of it as anything, P.D didn't seem all that worried either as he was sucking down his pancake mix but for Nathan, it was far different. The last time someone had prepared anything for him, whether it was breakfast or any other meal, it had been made ready by his wife. Nathan thought of her and thier daughter every single day but hadn't had an actual reminder of her like this for a long time, he thanked Kurenai and ate as quick as he could; they really didn't have too much time to spare as Nathan wanted to go over Tinlilly with a massive search. Once he was finished with the breakfast, he went into one of the many rooms of the warehouse and got changed into his protective suit for the trip to Tinlilly, he didn't think it would be needed but it was better to be safe than sorry. Lt. Black came downstairs moments after Nathan got changed and then did the same, before Kurenai could ask permission to get changed, Nathan had already told her it would be a good idea if she did so.

Getting P.D ready wasn't as much of a problem as Nathan had expected, he didn't even have to threaten the man to follow along when he released the protective box and the shackles that P.D had grown so acustomed to. P.D was placed in the same protective suit and once was finished, the four of them boarded a chopper that had arrived for them and were off to Tinlilly. Nathan's eyes didn't move from P.D during the entire flight, except when the pilot starting voicing concerns about being infected from flying over to the village.

"You'll be fine. We're only wearing these suits as an extra precaution, stop worrying and fly the damn chopper.", it might not have been the nicest thing Nathan could have said but it shut the pilot up rather quick. The quick wasn't the longest of flights either because before they knew it, the helicopter was landing down in the center of Tinlilly. Nathan yelled to the pilot before he took off, "We'll give you a call when we're all ready!"

The four suited investigators stood in the middle of the village, Nathan had a map in his hands which would eventually be placed in the backpack that he had brought along. All of them had backpacks, inside of them would be any equipment they would need to find evidence or at least keep it in good shape once it was found. He had decided that all of them would break off and search in thier own areas, which he had circled on the map. "Okay everyone circle up around me for a moment. Lt. Black, you're going to be searching in the northeastern corner of the village, there's not too many homes there but don't just write it off. Kurenai, you're in the southeastern corner which has a couple more but not too many homes, there is a greenhouse there too though. Asshole, you're at the northwestern corner, don't miss anything. I'll be taking the southwestern corner, the most populated besides the core of the village. Search your area and we will meet back here in the center in about five hours to throughly search the market place together."

"You told me last night that all the bodies have been cleared out but what if we do find one?"

"Remember where it is and we'll take it with us when we leave. As for what you're all looking for, my guess and it's only my guess, is that this weapon was released via grenade or canister. Now it's an airborne weapon obiviously but we don't know what the effect on the skin is so don't take your suits off unless you're that ballsy. Any important documents you find, pretty much anything that you guys think will be important or even semi-important, I would like you to collect. Most importantly, be safe!"

Once he said that, Nathan left the group and started off for his section of the village that he would be investigating. He had full confidence in everyone that was with him, even P.D because knew that P.D wasn't about to risk his own life unless he really had to. The slightest disobeyal of Nathan's orders would easily constitute in P.D either being sent back to prison or being shot down here on the spot, it was a thought that had crossed Nathan's mind but he decided against it; worst came to worst, he figured he could probably order Kurenai to do it and she wouldn't blink an eye. Either way, he wasn't thinking about anything besides finding whatever he could to help the investigation along.

Nathan's section of the village was exactly what he wanted, a lot of work and places to search. He gave the others the easier spots of the village not because he thought they lacked the skill to search the big one but if anyone was going to miss something, he would rather have it be himself so he could blame himself. After searching the first couple houses though, he was starting to wonder if he was going to find anything as all he saw was just the chaos from the people who had lived there before. Blood was found in most of the homes that he walked through, not due to any physical damage from the attacks but from the people getting sick due to the weapon. It wasn't until Nathan entered the fifth home that he found something relevant to the search, he found what looked like to be a fragment of a grenade. Nathan's smile was almost equal to a child's at christmas, for he had pretty much had just found the one item that he really needed to get a good look at. He kept track of time and went about checking the other homes that were in his area, hoping to find more of the same.

[Fehrant]

For Kurenai, it would be the first time to do this line of work. Usually her work would not consist of critical thinking, or something as nitpicky as this. She felt she wasn't qualified to perform the task appropriately, in fact, she wasn't even sure what she should be looking for. The details of this incident escaped her, since she was a person whose environment had been the underworld, and more specifically she was not a person interested in this type of affairs. She knew only one thing: people from this village had been killed by an unidentified weapon, presumable of biological origin. Like most of the aspects in her life, she felt nothing about it, only did what was told.

She reached the sector of the town that had been designated to her. Everything looked desolated, but the houses were not damaged, at least not at plain sight. She didn't draw a conclusion from this like an inspector would have; instead, she just focused on finding anything that would reveal what type of weapon had been used. She figured she was going to have to check the inside of the houses, because the outside showed nothing special. If there had been any traces of the weapon, they would have been cleared by the wind.

Kurenai went inside the first house, the appearance changing drastically from the outside. It looked like something had exploded, the furniture had been blown aside, and broken at some places. The front windows were all shattered. Picture frames were cracked on the floor. A strong force had caused all of this in a single flash, just like a grenade would have.

Her sharp eyes found pieces of what could've been a grenade, but it would not have been clear enough to determine that for sure. After a while, she exited the house resigned, not been able to find a solid piece of evidence. However, as she closed the cracked door behind her, she looked at the entrance, scanning the grass and the bushes. She went down on her knees, as she spotted a small metallic piece. It was a pin, just like a grenade's. She placed the fragments and pin on a bag, and proceeded to the next house.

[Acheron]

There was a time when I would see something like this village and think to myself, "How many ways can I ruin what seems to be nothing short of a picture perfect scene?", obviously things are so much different now. Instead of actually breaking down what could be considered art, I'm now tasked with figuring how who broke it and how. I guess it beats the jail but that's a very close guess, as at least in the jail I was able to live in peace and quiet, as opposed to being bossed around by Preston. Shocking though, that he hasn't pumped a couple bullets into me yet...or is it? Nathan looks to be in decent shape physically...yet saying that he's a broken man would be something of a large understatement. I've destroyed plenty of "things" in my lifetime, never did I think I would actually break a person...or maybe I was just too naive.

P.D had been on plenty of searches from his days in the Estharian Military and had also been the victim of many searches, those had been all due to the man that he was now following as his leader. It didn't matter if he was a victim or an investigator now, he thought this entire search was starting to get rather boring. His section of the town was barely that, only a handful of homes and then a barn with what looked to be a wheat field next to it. When he couldn't find anything inside of any of the houses, he decided that he would head out to the barn.

The people of the town had suffered horrible results from being exposed to the weapon but apparently the cows didn't, for the ones that P.D found inside of the barn had been in perfect health. He let a laugh out from underneath the mask he was wearing, he thought it was pretty funny how the cows just sat around in the barn eating thier hay and the fresh water that had been filled in the trough in front of them. P.D wasn't a professional investigator like Nathan and had never spent time as a detective to boot but it didn't take rocket science for him to figure out that someone was clearly putting fresh water for the cows to have. It had been such a long time since he had been out in the open, so long since he actually had to worry about possibly defending himself.

--Nathan's Village Section--

Preston had finished with all of the houses he had assigned to himself besides the largest, which was known as the Mayor's Residence. According the the files that Nathan had been given, the Mayor had been on vacation with his family but another family was living in the house for the summer; the family that was written down on the file was General Verseau's. He was able to protect them and keep them safe from the weapon, along with having them pulled out mere minutes after the attack; Nathan laughed a little bit when he thought of the situation, once a soldier, always a soldier.

The first floor and the basement had been two of the largest floors that Nathan had seen in a long time, especially in a home. Once on the second floor, Nathan was nearing the deadline to meet up with the rest of the group in the market place but he needed to check the remaining rooms on the upstairs level. Hallways weren't that important to him but the bedrooms was where he thought the evidence would be, if there even was any to begin with. It wasn't till Nathan reached the last bedroom that he found something that was interesting, as interesting as the piece of a grenade that he had found beforehand. Once he stepped inside of the room, he took a couple of pictures of the closet from the digital camera that was in his backpack; once he looked under the bed he was able to find a canister that was also used in the attack. It had taken what seemed like forever but Nathan finally thought that the group was going to have a good place to start with thier leads, he made sure that he had everything loaded up in the backpack and started for the market place center; the place where the group was supposed to meet up with when finished.

--P.D's Area--

Never in his life did P.D think that he would afraid to do something but it had been so long in the real world setting that he found himself a little out of his element. He creeped around one of the cows who had been eating and peaked behind the water basin itself; it wasn't exactly the most pleasent sight he had ever seen but not the worst by far. P.D walked over to the body that was lying next to the water basin, he wasn't a doctor by any means but just by his eye sight, he was able to tell that the woman had been dead since the attack maybe a little before but an autopsy would have to be done to determine the exact cause of death.

That was before P.D looked at the woman's head though, this wasn't the place to make any searches so he lightly picked up the body and slung her over his shoulder; maybe not the best way to move the body but P.D wasn't one for just letting the body sit there any longer. "Oh how Nathan is going to love this...the plot does thicken.", it didn't take P.D that long to reach the market place center and then placed down the body once he met up with Nathan, the others looked like they were coming back in the distance.

"I thought I told you to leave the body where you found it, if you found one. Now you might have disrupted something in the area, not that it matters, we know that she died of from the weapon."

"Not so fast Nathan, she wasn't killed by this biological weapon."

"You've been in the jail for a decent amount of time but..."

P.D took a knee and lifted the woman's head up, showing Nathan the back of her skull, "Infected or not Nathan, this woman was shot in the back of the head as you can see, she was probably killed before the weapon. Now we'll have to test to be sure, but.."

Nathan let off a sigh and then called for the helicopter, which would land down in the village center in ten minutes, "Something tells me we're not getting the full story of what's going on."

[Caije]

30 minutes late at this stage. Some cow's on the Railway line had caused him to be late, the train had took off again and the next stop is where he would get off. His leg's were numb from sitting in the same place for what felt like a week, though it was just a day. Getting up and Dragging his sword as the next stop approached. People looked at him as if he was a weirdo, but these people did not know a thing about Esthar, only that it was hidden.

Cortez sighed. The announcer stated Tinlilly was next and Cortez sighed greatly in relief. Though he was dreading this mission, he had a fond dislike for trains, he was always afraid since he was a kid they'd topple over, though now as he thought about it he was acting quite silly. Cortez stepped off the Train as it came to a sudden stop. He now a Mile outside of Tinlilly, he began to make his walk threw the abandoned lands. Stone cottages on the way had been evacuated. There we're Galbadian Guards everywhere. It made Cortez cringe at the very sight of them

Cortez thought it would be unsafe to actually go in any further without a Bio suit. He approached one of the Guards. The guard looked Nervously as Cortez approached him.

"C-can I help you at all sir..." He stammered.

Cortez smiled pleasantly, "You can, good sir, I need a Bio-suit, I am a Investigator, from Esthar and I Just got here, Late you can say but my service's are required here...."

"B-bio suit?" The Guard stammered again.

"Yes, you wouldn't want me to get infected now, would you.....?" Cortez raised an eyebrow.

"I'll contact my Commanding officer Via walkie-talkie" The Guard took out a small walkie-talkie and started talking to his Commanding officer.

"You do that,". Regarless Cortez turned from the guards and sat at a Large log, waiting for further Instructions. Soon after the Guard approached him with a Bio-suit and Cortez hastily put it on. The Helmet wasn't knew to him, when serving as a regular guard he wore them all the time.

With his suit on, he walked through the countryside, and found the town and Row's of Cottages. He moved quickly, there were still possible bodies being undiscovered. He approached two men who were also in Bio suits. One in which he recognised very well, Bio-suit or not. It's a face that would stick with him for many years.

"Infected or not Nathan, this woman was shot in the back of the head as you can see, she was probably killed before the weapon. Now we'll have to test to be sure, but.."


A Large sigh was heard. "Something tells me we're not getting the full story of what's going on.

"Ah, You Must be Preston, ." He said coming from behind them he looked at P.D and scowled. "...and you no doubt are scum.."

"And you are.....?" Preston asked.

"Ahh, Veron Cortez from Esthar. Forgive my late Arrival, The train in which I was arriving from smacked into a Herd of Cattle,"

[Acheron]

Nathan looked to Veron Cortez, the man who had just shown up to meet up with the rest of the group. He gave a reasonable enough answer for being late, it wasn't something that Nathan was too worried about anyways. "Don't worry about it, you're here now and that's really all that matters.",Nathan was able to tell from his dress that he was the other one from Esthar and smirked at his response to P.D, "Well Veron, we've finished here and we'll be loading up soon, you'll have plenty of time to meet everyone and get introduced to the case when we're back at the base."

The helicopter touched down on the ground at the market place just as Lt. Black was getting back from his search of his area of the village, Kurenai followed suit a mere couple of seconds later. P.D looked hard at Cortez at a moment before speaking, "An Estharian dog eh? I guess they're lowering thier standards." He left it at that though and picked up the dead body he brought to the group with care, placing her down in the bed of the chopper before he hopped in the chopper himself. Everyone else soon filed into the aircraft, Veron included though he didn't sit anywhere near P.D, that was Nathan's job.

Preston was happy that the ride back didn't feel as long going back as it did coming to the village. Once they all had gotten off of the chopper, along with thier backpacks, the team wanted to start diving into the evidence right away and get started on making a case. Nathan wasn't in a rush at the moment though, as he made his way up to the living quarters of the warehouse and while he was walking up the steps, spoke to the group. "I'm going to shower, I suggest you all do the same and clean up, clear your heads and get something to eat. We've been in Tinlilly since sunrise and now it's five in the afternoon, once everyone's cleaned and ready, we'll start."

P.D looked to Nathan from the ground floor, "The body and the autopsy?"

In a move that might have shocked the group, "We've got the equipment and means down in the basement, you can conduct the autopsy down there." To Nathan, it looked like Cortex was going to object to that but Preston didn't give any time, as he had already started undressing in the living quarters and went for the showers; he had made sure that if Kurenai wanted to take a shower, there was a seperate section for her. Nathan had been looking forward to a shower all day as he had regretting staying up so late with P.D, going over plans and routes that they should all take if something went wrong while they were in the village; it had all been for nothing. He didn't care though, he just closed the curtain to the shower he was using and cleaned up as quick as he could, eager to upload the photos that he had taken, along with examining the evidence that anyone might have found.

While Nathan had instructed everyone to clean up and get something to eat, P.D didn't see the point of resting when they had a body to study. He was still wearing his bio-suit when he picked up the corpse and took the freight elevator down to the basement, which was pretty far underground but equiped just as well as the ground floor if not better. Nathan hadn't lied to P.D, as after he walked down a few hallways along with making some turns, he was brought to a perfectly laid out morgue, apparently the Galbaldian's had used this morgue before to treat some of the initial patients. P.D placed the woman's body on one of the many stainless steel tables down there and begun to search her clothing for ID, something he felt like a dumbass for not doing sooner. She was dressed well, in a business suit and looked like she had some importance to her.

P.D found her wallet once he checked one of the pockets to her suit jacket and somewhat wished that he hadn't. She was important, infact she was a member of the Galbaldian Military, her ID said that she was an intel officer that was assigned to General Verseau. Her name was Samantha Daniels, only twenty-two years old and was found dead in a barn, in a village that was being searched by a convict, not the best way to go. P.D was respectful when examining the woman's body, he was getting no pleasure out of this and was determined to figure out what had happened to her. He took blood samples but wasn't worried about her blood, she seemed to be out of reach for the weapon because of where she was found but there was nothing wrong with being safe. The most important thing that he wanted to check was the bullet wound on her head, most importantly the angle and the damage. He grimaced when his worst fears came true while looking at the bullet wound, he walked over to the empty table next to him where he had been working on an autopsy chart and filled something in under cause of death, "Bullet to the brain for lack of better words, she was executed at short range, most likely put on her knees". P.D continued with the rest of the autopsy, saying to himself, "What did you get me into Nathan?"

[Fehrant]

Upon Arrival, she removed her suit, bathed and headed straight to the kitchen. There, Cortez was searching the fridge find something to eat, just as Nathan had suggested.

"Please, Mr. Cortez. I will take care of preparing a meal suitable for everyone."

Cortez closed the fridge and faced Kurenai. "You are the cook?"

Kurenai tied her hair, and donned the cooking apron very systematically. "I just assist however I can. My experience includes cooking. If you will excuse me, I would like to request you to stand aside."

Cortez moved out of the way, but still looked at Kurenai who checked the fridge to see what meal she could make. The fridge was supplied with various food, so there were several options available. Kurenai considered, almost mathematically, the number of people, and what they could eat based on their size and what little she knew.

"What's your background, Miss...?" Cortez prompted.

"Kurenai. I am merely a mercenary." Her curt responses were monotone, without traces of emotion.

"A mercenary, huh?" He mused. Kurenai simply took ingredients and food out of the fridge, searched for bowls and utensils, and slowly started to shape today's meal. Cortez keep watching as the mercenary prepared the meal. He was about to say something, when Kurenai started cutting the food up, in a way no ordinary person would.

Cortez decided to change the subject of the conversation. "You know there's a convict between us...?"

Without stopping what she was doing for a single moment, she replied. "Yes, I am aware."

"He is very dangerous," continued Cortez, but the mercenary remained occupied formulating no reply. "Better be careful."

"I appreciate your warning, Mr. Cortez," she said, a mere formality.

Cortez decided to check the place out, so he left Kurenai on her own. After an hour, the meal was finally ready: meat seasoned with lemon and various spices, and two types of salad to accompany the main dish. She toasted bread, prepared the table, and called everyone.

[Caije]

Everyone sat down for a pleasant meal. Cortez was the first to finish, he had nothing to eat all day. He watched the other's eat as he sat at the table.
"Their is more in the Kitchen, if you're still hungry..." She stated possibly annoyed that he was watching her eat.

"I couldn't eat anymore if you paid me...," He smiled though her face was still showed the same expression, motionless.

"So what do you do Back in Esthar," Preston asked for the sake of conversation.

"I'm a peace-keeper and Defender of the State." He said. "My last achievment was 8 year's ago, I succesfully sunk the Lunatic Pandora again, Galbadia finnaly gave it up....Vincent Deiling and I Both had a meeting, we would sit down, for about 2 hours each day until one of us came to an agreement, He finnaly allowed it to be drowned under Centra, and we celebrated until the sun rose that night."

Kurenai face was motionless and Preston took a slug off his wine. Cortez began to speak again.

"Though with the Lack of war around, I am Just Laguna Loire's personal Bodyguard, though I'm pretty sure I like the Peacekeeper Job better, Less responsibility" He stood from his chair politely and addresed Kurenai as he stood. "You should cook more often, the food was delicious and if I wasn't so full of meat I would certainly ask for seconds.

Cortez took his leave from the room and quietly made his way towards his room in which he collapsed onto his bed. He left his Defender blade by the doorway after locking it. He Didn't want the renowned terrorist sneaking into his room in the dead of night.

[Acheron]

While Cortez went up to get some rest, Nathan was busy uploading the photos that he had taken from the village onto a laptop, along with pulling out the evidence that he had taken from the village. Preston was connecting a cable to his laptop which was apart of a projector, the pictures that he took would be transfered through the computer and onto the screen of the projector, that way everyone was going to be able to look at the photos at the same time. Kurenai was present, she had cooked a pretty good meal for everyone, Nathan had thanked her at least ten times and felt like it wasn't enough but was going to leave it at that. It was important for everyone to start going over the evidence now and get a feel for what they were working with, it was a decent hour at the night but Nathan figured that they had plenty of time to start working on what they collected before it became too late. It wasn't like they had plans for tomorrow either, tonight was all about figuring out where to go next; Nathan did want to visit the few remaining victims to see what thier side of the story was like.

Nathan had almost finished getting all of the photos ready for showing on the projector when P.D came up from the basement level of the warehouse, he was just taking off some plastic gloves when he walked off of the elevator and near the tables where Nathan was setting everything up.

"There's a problem."

"I was just going ask how the autopsy went, it's been that long since you've done one?"

P.D had a pretty serious look on his face, it was a look of concern and wasn't something that Nathan had seen before, "I took blood which is being tested in one of the machines as we speak for the weapon but that's not what I'm concerned about, nor is it the problem."

"Then what is?"

Carroll placed a wallet down on the workstation in front of Nathan, it had some blood on it, "Her name was Samantha Daniels, a Galbaldian Intel officer. This may not be so groundbreaking but what is, is the fact that she was under the command of General Henry Verseau. I tell you this because she was murdered Nathan and there's no doubt in my might."

Preston made no attempt to hide his displeasure at what he was hearing, it was pretty clear on his face. P.D had done many things in his life, Nathan pretty much knew the man's history and knew that he had served as a medic in the military; along attending medical school for a a little while before he decided to turn into a life of terrorism. He knew that P.D wasn't going to waste his time, Nathan was sure that P.D didn't exactly know where the two men stood and wasn't going to push his luck. Nathan got up from his chair and picked up the coat that he had placed on the back of it, putting it on and placing the woman's wallet inside of one of the pockets.

"The General won't want to be disturbed at this hour but he'll have to deal, I'll find out what's going on with him". Nathan looked around the workplace area, P.D and Kurenai were the only two around as Cortez was upstairs and he didn't know exactly where Lt. Black was. Preston let out a heavy sigh and then looked to P.D, "I uploaded the photos onto the projector, you and Kurenai go over them. I don't need to tell you what happens if you don't behave. Kurenai, review the photos and village evidence with P.D, make any notes that you find nessisary about things that stand out and such."

Though he didn't want to, he had to make sure that someone started going through what they had and P.D was going to have to spearhead that at first, with help from Kurenai.

[Fehrant]

(OOC: Acheron, let me know if this needs editing)

As Nathan exited the room, Kurenai and P.D. were left alone. There was a brief moment of silence, in which the inmate appeared to be enthralled in his own thoughts given the recent discovery and its possible implications. Kurenai approached the table with the laptop, where the bagged, physical evidence lay. Most the pieces were arguably inconclusive, small metal chips or metal parts of what could be considered a grenade. Along with the evidence was the pin she had found, and a cannister. She looked at it, trying to figure out why Preston would've picked it up. Since all leads pointed to a biological weapon, a cannister could have been used a container to spread the virus, so it made sense.

P.D. Carroll took a sit, crossing his arms. "If you don't mind, I'd like to take a look at those pictures," he suggested.

Kurenai nodded. "Certainly."

She moved behind the laptop, turned off the light, and started to cycle through the pictures slowly, both the inmate and her stared at them in silence as the projector magnified them on a bigger scale. Most of them were things that they had both seen: broken furniture, broken windows, explosion signs. To Kurenai, all of them shown nothing of interest.

"Stop," P.D. requested abruptly after a picture of a cabinet was shown. He stared at it critically. To the mercenary, however, it did not look any different from the rest. Was she doing something wrong? She started to feel she was useless in this area.

"Move to the next one," P.D. said.

Kurenai did. This one was the picture of the cannister beneath the bed just as it was found. Once again he looked at it with intent.

"The next one, then."

The cycle had ended. No more pictures. P.D. spoke once again, "please turn on the lights, I'd like to inspect the objects found. Also, could you make me a cup of coffee?"

She turned on the lights. "Right away. Would you like any sugar?"

"Three spoonfuls," he replied, getting up. He grabbed the first item, carefully moving it with his fingers as he buried his eyes on it. By the time she returned, little had changed. The only difference was the object in the inmate's hands, but his thorough check was carried in the same fashion. She left the coffee atop the table.

"I will be around, do not hesitate to call me if need be," she said, taking her leave from the room. P.D. made no reply; he was too drawn into his own thing. As she exited the room, she felt her lack of skill in the subject. She would have to apologize properly when Preston came back.

[Acheron]

--Sunrise Warehouse--

P.D thought himself to be dreaming when Nathan left the warehouse and told him to review everything that had been found today. He easily could have went upstairs and woke up Cortez, it would have only taken a few more minutes out of his time and wouldn't have been a big deal. Preston didn't do that, instead he told the man that he had hunted for almost a decade to deal with what was one of the most important investigations in all of history; not just Esthar, Galbaldia or Balamb, this investigation was something that could effect other nations just as easily as it did Galbaldia. He wasn't going to object though and thanks to the coffee that Kurenai had brought him, he would be able to review what they found for a couple hours still before he decided to head into bed.

The first thing that he looked at was the series of photos that Nathan took of the various bedrooms of the homes that he had searched. P.D himself hadn't taken many photos, just due to the fact that there weren't that many for him to search, plus bringing back the dead body made P.D think that he did a little more searching than anyone else. Everything looked to be in order until he got to the series of bedrooms that was marked as those from the Mayor's Mannor, meaning the home that Verseau and his family had been staying in. While he didn't see any reminants of grenades or canisters around, he saw something far different and maybe even a little scarier than that. The first two rooms, which had been the ones that Verseau and his wife stayed in and thier daughter Noelle stayed in the second one; all the clothes in the closets had been removed. P.D moved the photos onto the third room, the one that belonged to thier other daughter Hannah and all of the clothes that she had brought were still there.

It wasn't too long ago that P.D took his time to perfectly craft a plot to destroy something or make a bomb, so patience was one of his virtues and it paid off as he went through all the photos from the village, looking at every closet from every bedroom in the village. The one that belonged to Hannah Verseau was filled, just like everyone else's in the village besides the ones that belonged to her own family. P.D then pulled out the paper documents that Nathan had placed on the table and looked to see Verseau's recollection of the events, he said that he was able to get his family out moments after the attack, yet where had thier personal items gone?

"I'm starting to think that prison might be safer than this mission.", he was speaking to himself of course but it just felt good to relieve some of the stress from all this. P.D wasn't stupid and wasn't exactly one for wild thoughts but he was starting to think this "random" squad that attacked the village wasn't exactly so random.

--Verseau Residence--

The jeep that Nathan had driven to the Verseau residence came to a screeching hault out front of the iron gates that surrounded the lavish home, clearly Verseau wasn't pinching pennies when he built his home. In front of the gate was a small guard station with a fairly young looking soldier sitting in the post, Deling City was a pretty safe place to live but Nathan knew the General would be watched due to anyone from another government trying to get to him. Nathan slammed the door to the jeep and walked towards the guard post, prompting the guard to stammer out of the post with a nervous look.

"Uh Inspector Preston, it's late and..."

"And I don't give a shit, I really don't. Spit whatever you have to at me, I'm not leaving."

The young guard stepped forward, placing a hand on Nathan's chest and by doing that, made his biggest mistake. Nathan quickly grabbed the young man's wrist with his left hand and then jammed his elbow up with his right, the young man quickly fell down and started to squirm in pain. Preston smirked a little bit and then walked into the post, pressing the button to open up the gates; before he walked inside, he found a bandaid in the post and tossed it to the guard on the ground.

"Next time stand at least five feet away from your target and have your weapon drawn. Your guarding one of the most important men in this country, don't bitch around."

"Go to hell!"

Preston hadn't expected any other type of response as he quickly passed through the gates, making sure that they closed behind him once he was through. He was sure that one little guard wasn't the only line of defense for the General but Nathan had noticed that the lights of the residence had been turned on, Verseau was probably up and ready to scold Nathan for his brash actions. Preston wasn't touched or interfered with on his way up to the front door of the massive home though, once he knocked he was greeted by General Verseau opening the door; he was dressed in some pajamas and didn't look like the happiest man in the world but still he motioned for Nathan to come inside and closed the door behind him.

"Inspector Preston, I really hope you have a good reason for waking me up, along with another one for breaking the arm of poor Michael out at the front gate."

"Your guard brought it on himself, he should have been more aware of his duties. A good reason for coming here at such an hour? I don't know, maybe this?", Nathan pulled out the wallet of Samantha Daniels and threw it into the chest of Verseau, "I really don't like surprises General, I call an officer under your command, who's been placed in a barn after being shot, a surprise."

Verseau motioned for Preston to follow him and now Nathan was starting to think it was a good thing that he told someone where he had gone, he was starting to feel like wherever he followed Verseau would be the last place that he ever saw. Instead he was led to a library, where Verseau took a seat in a chair near the fireplace, Nathan took a seat in the chair across from him; Verseau had been reading down in the library when he was informed of the issue at the gate. Preston was in awe of how large the library was and figured that he could have spent years in there, reading every book that the General had but now it was time for the two of them to talk.

"I picked Samantha myself for assignment, to work under me and give her some good work study, it would be a fantastic job reference for her one day. Sadly I started to notice things about her, especially about when I would forward mission information to her, it was odd when our top units were being intercepted by SeeD's all the time. Putting two and two together, Samantha turned out to be a spy put in place by Balamb Garden."

"So you just figured, "Oh hey what the hell, we'll execute her, because you know, her Garden isn't going to give a damn", forgive me for being a sarcastic prick General, but that's a pretty god damn dumb idea."

"You really do have a sharp tongue."

"That and a quick mind. That wasn't the only thing that I wanted to ask you General.."

"Well it's late and I should be getting to bed.."

"I think this is more important General. I noticed something when I was going through the Mayor's home, the one that you and your family stayed in. You, Your wife and your daughter Noelle, all three of you didn't have any personal belongings in your closets, no clothes, nothing. Yet your daughter Hannah had all of her stuff there, that's a little bit confusing, don't you think General?"

"Inspector Preston, I don't think you realize what path your starting down."

"Forgive me General, I didn't actually ask you the question yet. Why was Hannah the only one infected from your family?"

"Myself, my wife Sarah, and my daughter Noelle had all gone out for a day in the fields, picking berries. Hannah wasn't feeling too well so she stayed back. We got back to the village moments after the attack and we were able to meet up with the troops there who had masks for us, Hannah wasn't as fortunate and I don't appreciate your sarcastic tone with all of this, nor do I appreciate you talking to me like I had something to do with all of this! Do you think I would sacrifice the life of my daughter?"

"Honestly? Yeah, I do but don't take it personal, I don't give many people very high morals when I first meet them. I don't know exactly what's going on General but I'll tell you this, I don't buy everything your telling me and you're a very smart man, but even though I think you'd sacrifice a daughter, I don't think you'd sacrifice a town. I think there's a lot more going on than you'd led me to believe, I'm pretty sure this rabbit hole goes down deeper than anyone will admit.

"Now I understand why you caught Carroll."

"Carroll and myself both were working with disadvantages, he let his guard down for a moment and I was able to take advantage, nothing more than that, P.D was in control for longer than people think."

"What were the disadvantages?"

"P.D fell in love, I was blinded with rage and grief over losing my family; anger usually wins out for better or worse. Anyways, this isn't about myself. I'll need confirmation about Daniels's status, you'll have to lie to Balamb and get her file.", Nathan stood up and proceeded to show himself out.

"Inspector Preston.", the General rose from his seat and stood in front of the fireplace, "You were given this assignment so you could find the attackers who did this, attackers that harmed this country. This country is mourning the loss of that village, just don't make waves, you know what I'm telling you to do."

Nathan gave the General a smile, "You didn't read my file all the way, did you General? I'm not too good at following orders. I'll see you tomorrow Sir, I'll have some questions for Hannah.", before Verseau could argue, Nathan was gone.