Chapter 102 : Arrival

"Did you see that man? He has traces of her magic in him," said Verchiel. He must be related to her. We must meet him."

"At ease. We don't want to make a fuss in someone else's den," said Valerius. "If the Admiral is truly involved, then reaching those rangers would be hard."

"What are we going to do?"

"I have an idea," said Valerius. "Let's send a magic puppet to watch and follow him. I'm sure he can lead us to her. 

Valerius creates a magic circle on the floor. He put a lump of clay in the middle of it. He closes his eyes and flows his magic to the clay. The clay slowly reformed itself into a small humanoid doll barely the size of his palm. 

Verchiel added a magic circle to it. An invisibility spell to hide the doll. 

They nodded at each other. 

Valerius closes his eyes. He focuses and begins merging with the doll. Seeing and hearing everything the doll experienced. The doll moved and ran out of the spaceship into the wide hangar. It rushed to follow Kaizo. Swiftly, the doll jumped into Maskmana's office just before the door closed. It hides in the corner, silent and watching.

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 As soon as Kaizo and his team arrive at Astraeus, they go straight to Maskmana's office to find Maskmana and Vion waiting for them. 

"I'm glad you finally returned?" said Admiral Maksmana. "How's the investigation?"

"We have a description and a serial number of her spacecraft," said Kaizo. He nodded at Rum. 

Rum showed data of the investigation on the holograms. "The spacecraft is an ion drive powered Asterope jet. It's been repainted into black. The serial number is L45HCLY. It's second-hand but still in good condition. Good enough to take her quite the distance," said Rum.

"I see... Vion, send information about the spacecraft specification to the headspace station on Mars," said Maskmana. 

"Mars? Why Mars?" Ramenman asked. 

"You're dismissed," said Maskmana abruptly. 

"W-wait dismissed?! No. She is my team. You can't just dismiss us!" Kaizo protest. 

"It's an order. I will personally handle this case along with a few other high-ranked personnel. Your order is to stand by at this station," said Maskmana.

"No. She's our friend. We need to look for her," said Rum. 

"I understand your concerns but this case is bigger than you think."

"We can handle it. We just came back from handling a war. Do you think we can't handle a missing person?" Ramenman asked. 

"Some of us assume it's more complicated than a missing person case."

"Then what is it?!" Kaizo raised his tone in frustration. 

"Careful with your tone. I'm still your Admiral," Maskmana firmly warned. 

"Why do you keep hiding her? What's with her case?" Kaizo asked. "You made us into a team. We went through ups and downs together. And now you're telling me to just let her go?"

"I didn't mean it that way," said Maskmana. "You saw what she can do. She can freeze an entire coliseum. Who knows what she can do when we find her. She can be... burning a city or... bringing down a meteor to a planet. I can't risk you getting involved in whatever crossfire that we might find."

"Admiral, this job is all about taking risks. We are trained to face risks," said Kaizo.

"Yes, but I am responsible for you. All of you! Your life depended on the decision I made," said Maskmana.

"The meteor one sounds exaggerated. But still, after all the time we went through, you think she'd do that? You think she would harm us?" Rum asks.

"It's a possibility," Maskmana calmly replied.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Kaizo asked. 

"Enough! No more of this conversation. You will stay here at the station. That's an order! Obey it," said Maskmana.

"With all due respect, Admiral. We are involved in this case. We are a part of this case. We deserve to know," said Lahap. "Admiral... What is going on? Why Mars?"

Maskmana is silent for a moment.

"We presume that Axion might be heading for the Milky Way galaxy," said Maskmana. "We have connections on Mars so we ask for  stations on Mars to keep a lookout for her." 

"Why the Milky way?" Kaizo asked. 

"Because that's where the galaxy she came from," he answered. 

"So… she left us and just… went home?" Lahap asked. 

"No," said Maskmana. "We suspect that she's trying to run."

"Run?" Kaizo and his team looked at each other, confused. "Why? Run from what?"

Maskmana showed a picture of three men on the holographic display. 

"These three men came to the station a while ago. They were looking for Axion. One of them, Valerius, claimed to be her brother," said Maskmana. 

"Axion has a brother? Wow. I didn't know that," said Rum. 

"They said she went missing long ago and they've been looking for her. To bring her home," said Maskmana. 

"And you believe them?" Kaizo asked. 

"At first, not so much. But after hearing Vion's testimony, I have to reconsider," said Maskmana. 

They all looked at Vion. 

"When they first came, I sensed something wasn't right. As a bounty hunter, Axion made many enemies. I thought they came to hunt her. So I sent Axion reports of these three men. I never thought it would make her run," said Maskmana. 

"Why is she running from them?" Rum asked. 

"It doesn't make any sense. These men want to bring her home. If Axion is running away from them, why is she going home?" Ramenman asks.

"Because they don't want to just bring her home. They want her dead," said Maskmana grimly.