Day 1: 11:20AM

"Forgive me, boss, for my language, but," Clarissa said, taking a sharp breath before giving herself a nod. "what the fuck?"

"It is simple, we cannot win," the boss replied, not moving an inch from where he was. "It is that simple, Clarissa, that's why we would be discussing our escape plan. We need to buy some time.

"I don't understand…" Mabel muttered before she scowled at Dimitri. "You're leaving us?"

"No, no… that's far from what I had thought of. I love you all, that's a fact, Clarissa." He turned his gaze at her, still with his voice carrying that ominous tone. "I am very glad that you've managed to hold your ground and even neutralize those vile reapers, but I do apologize that none of us are able to help. Truth to be told, I can't have any important information leaking out; however, I trust you all, and that's why I'm telling you this now to hold off to your positions. Walter, Masaoka, and Eleanor are with me, and they're helping me to pave through some unknown territories and lands so we could have ourselves a new paradise that is of course, safer than this. Lucille had asked me what I wanted for my birthday, so I decided to ask of her to turn this place into a bastion that we could use for our final stand in case things go south." The boss then looked at Walter, Eleanor, and Masaoka and followed, "Go on, tell our other friends what you guys have been up to."

Eleanor combed her hair with her fingers and cleared her throat. "We're expanding our territory to the north, which is very far from you, of course. There were some confrontations that we could not avoid and we've sustained heavy losses, again, but once we've taken some backup from the border patrol under Walter's and Masaoka's care, we should probably be able to move once more after we've elected ourselves some new captains. I'll be leading the vanguard while these two are in charge of thinning their forces by existing somewhere else."

"We're expanding the net but just like what Miss Eleanor said, we're thinning our forces out so we could spend most of our manpower to support our vanguard, and that's why it's hard for us to provide some backup during this time. We're taking things slow since they should not learn our intentions. They are slowly boxing us in and there's nothing that we could do to fight them off so please, forgive us." Masaoka ended his words with a heavy breath as his gaze fell upon Clarissa and Arnel. "If Valencia didn't disobey our orders, I believe that she, along with her chosen bodyguard, would still be alive by now."

Following that was Walter, who clapped his hands and curved his lips into a wide grin. "Well, Dimitri has been working on our doors. We need to occupy that spot over to the next town because that would be just perfect and safe! Just so you know, our man has limits and that's why we're spending some of our resources to keep him safe as well. It is not that easy for him to dig a tunnel from here to there. Aaaaanyways, don't worry about it because you know me, I'll make sure that it would be perfectly safe! Once we get there, and I'll make sure that we would, we would disappear from their grid and if they did catch a bit of our trail, we would be gone from their eyes forever! Also, ew, Dimitri, throw that turd away, it made us notice you for too long."

"Fine, and I have nothing else to say and to contribute," Dimitri added with an awkward laugh before he pursed his lips together. He ended up giving Walter a disappointed gaze before he shook his head and glued his eyes on the table. "I'll just steal Miss Lucille's thunder and reveal to you that we have ten Teddy Bear Gundams that are ready to be deployed at this moment."

"Gundams?" Mabel asked while scratching the back of her in confusion as Lucille clicked her tongue.

"Robots, they're robots, Grandma Mabel, I'd doubt about the cuddly part but, let's just say fluffy, they're destructive and fluffy," Eleanor added with a chuckle. "I think they don't have guns but they should be strong enough to flatten anyone."

"Well, let's go ahead and crush them then, what are they going to do against those… fluffy… teddy bears…" Arnel jolted with his voice starting to falter the more he talked. "Why the hell did you make Teddy bears?!"

"It is perfectly reasonable, those bears could be moved, of course, but what they're made of is where they would shine the brightest! The things that built it up would make it susceptible to blunt force that would be good against some real heavy hitters!" Walter shouted and raised both his fists into the air in celebration. "It's genius!"

"Then, why did you make ten gigantic teddy bears when we could have more suits that could do the same thing?" Arnel tilted his head with his face dressed with a concerned gaze.

Walter fell silent and dropped his smile. He turned to the boss before looking back at Arnel at the following second and as he held his breath, he pushed the corners of his lips once more and pointed his finger at Arnel with a chuckle. "Yes."

Masaoka then cleared his throat and followed, "Well, the only problem is that we cannot produce guns and none of those bears could fly. They would just be as good as sitting ducks when we take account of MC's barrage of fire for her ships—"

"You mean a glorified umbrella," Clarissa commented as her voice lingered in their ears. "You're forgetting about that monster and that bitch."

"Well, I'd like to make an announcement too." Arnel leaned forward and looked at them before settling his eyes on the boss himself. "I would like to inform you of my recent loss, but then again, it proves my point. A mere bodyguard, chosen out of one's likes instead of his strength was able to defeat one of them while fighting four all alone."

"Tell me more," the boss followed.

"I'd like to attest to that," Masaoka added. "Reports had shown that Felix, Uncle Arnel's boy, fought against four of them, well actually, there's five, though we were not able to determine who the other two was. There were traces of the Milkman, who we think did him in. The Vendor was there too, seeing that melted concrete around him and the last one, who we believe to be MC's Teleporter, who left the shard of his sword at the entrance of a nearby forest park as well as his decapitated body. It was an ugly mess..."

"Go ahead, boy, hurt me more," Arnel added as his lips slowly twisted into a frown. About to break into a cry, he swallowed his saliva and added, "I'm okay… don't worry about me."

"Well—" Masaoka gave him a nod and continued but his words were cut at the moment he saw Arnel let out a whimper before he covered his mouth and rubbed the corners of his eyes. He couldn't help but take a deep breath through his teeth and after looking around, he glanced at his boss and continued, "The fight turned into an ugly mess. Felix," he added as he looked at Arnel with an awkward smile. "it seems that Felix was able to take the Vendor's strongest attack and survive through the Milkman's spear while also taking possibly eight to nine shots from MC's boat to boot. Judging from the crater it made… I believe that each shot would be able to demolish a single building."

"But I could demolish a building too," Clarissa scoffed.

"That's not the point," Walter continued, raising his brow at her.

"Well, the point got derailed…" The boss took a rather deep breath. "It was Arnel who I asked to share, not you, Masaoka, and you've made him cry."

"I'm sorry, boss," Masaoka and Clarissa said in unison as they pulled themselves back to their chair.

Realizing this, Masaoka crossed his arms and looked at her while raising one of his eyebrows. "What the hell are you sorry for?"

Clarissa tilted her head and smiled at him before looking away. Then, with his words that seemed shaken, she replied, "Nothing… don't worry about it. I just wanted to get back to the frontlines instead of playing priest, don't ruin this for me!"

The boss looked at them fidget and whisper at each other like a secretive couple having a rough day and as soon as they were able to realize what was happening, they froze and retreated to their seats once more. They offered the others a moment of silence soon after and there, as the others began to look at them as though they were shaming them in their minds, Arnel cleared his throat and took the stage.

"Mother Clarissa and I have been working together, with the current case too, of course, and while you guys are busy paving a way for us in the north, we've been taking care of the southern parts of the capital. The cases of some reapers coming are not entirely new but the biggest piece of news I could show for is that at this very moment, I could present you six other pairs of what my boy wore," Arnel said with a proud smile that made the others somehow follow his lead and curve their lips to mirror his expression. "Honestly, I am trying not to market my family but imagine this," he continued with his voice now teeming with pride as he leaned forward to meet the boss' calculating gaze. "if one, who was probably the weakest in my family, got ahold of those armor and was able to fight off five of them and kill one, imagine what our captains, or if you guys, would be able to wear it… match that with those… things… Gundams… or something… We would be unbeatable."

"The-they have the Dolphin shi-shithead…" Lucille muttered with a sharp breath before she looked away.

"Ah…. we have nothing against that… thing…" Walter let out a hearty laugh and turned to Masaoka. "Wait, have we tried hitting him till he dies?"

"We made an attack force once, he broke our men like little twigs," Masaoka replied and shook his head.

"Still, if it were able to take nine shots of a cannon that could demolish a building, what could that monster do to us other than give us a little nudge?" Arnel followed and as a response, their boss dropped his hands to his lap and smiled, it made Arnel widen his grin. "So, what do you think, boss?"

The boss leaned back and presented his smile to the others. "Well, I need to repeat to you all that we are not looking for war, but add that to the Gundams that we have, then I believe that we would be formidable indeed. I do need to ask, I believe that this would not win us a war if it did break out but I think I could trust this to protect us, would you be able to make us more?"

Arnel smiled. "Yes sir, give us a week, and we'll be able to produce just enough to bring the boat of that bitch to the ground."