//Sae: Welcome

Sae had found her answer. Nathan was, in fact, an idiot. There was not a single intelligent cell in his head, which over a dozen guns were pointed at now. She wasn't situated very well either, looking down the barrels of a few plasma rifles aimed directly at her face.

The building, while it looked as plain as any other when they saw it from the outside, was something entirely different when they walked in. Bright purple lights covered the ceiling, tinting everything violet. A large bar sat in the center of the room in front of a massive wall covered in a wide array of alcoholic beverages.

Men and women, most wearing outlandish clothing, sat around the bar, talking loudly. A few of them were fighting, but nobody else seemed to pay them any mind. A large man clad from head to toe in ballistic armor walked around behind the bar, carrying drinks to the customers.

It reminded Sae of some of the more energetic casino atmospheres in District 5, but was different at the same time. This was less like looking at people trying to have a good time, leaning instead towards observing rabid animals in a cage together.

'Best keep our heads down,' Ahn's voice said to her.

She nodded. While it was likely that most of these people wouldn't particularly care about who they were or where they were from, only a fool would make a scene in a place like this. One such fool was accompanying Sae and Ahn.

"It's so good to see you all again!" Nathan shouted. Sae stared in horror at the man next to her. What was he thinking?

"Your savior has returned!" he continued confidently. "Bartender!" He gestured towards the armored man. "The usual, please."

Sae realized that she had subconsciously taken a few steps away from Nathan, as if to dissociate from him. She noticed Ahn doing the same. He was signing his own death certificate if he made these people angry.

The entire room went quiet. Sae flinched. Never had she thought silence could be so overbearing. Nathan, however, stood proudly in the doorway, as if waiting for a king's reception.

"Ah!" he exclaimed, looking at the confused faces around him. "It's this blasted mask!" He reached up and lowered his mask, then lifted his goggles to rest on his forehead.

The room remained silent for a few more painful moments, then erupted into a volley of cheers.

"Gray!"

"What kept you?"

"Gray is back?"

"Gray! It's been a while! Come have a drink with me!"

Sae was speechless. How had Nathan managed to gain these people's favor on such a large scale? They seemed to almost revere him as a leader of some sort. Even the most rough-looking men and women were on their feet hollering.

Nathan had a large grin on his face, and was looking proudly at Sae and Ahn. "Well?" he said, spreading his arms out. "Take a seat, the people here will love you!"

Sae walked to a table away from the center of the room and sat down. Ahn sat across from her.

'Who do you think these people are?' she thought to him.

'I don't know, but they clearly respect Nathan for something,' he replied.

They waited quietly at the table for a few minutes, waiting until the madness in the room died down. Nathan approached them.

"Great, isn't it?" he said.

"What is this place?" Ahn asked, ignoring Nathan's question. "Why does everyone here like you so much?"

"What can I say?" Nathan replied dismissively. "I'm a likeable guy."

Sae glared at Nathan. "Answer him."

Nathan put his hands up in a surrendering gesture. "All right, all right, don't get your circuits in a bunch." He froze, knowing he had messed up, but put a smile back on his face to try to cover it up.

Sae, however, had caught Nathan's slip of the tongue. From the looks of it, Ahn had, too.

"Circuits?" Ahn asked cautiously. "Do you think we're androids?"

Nathan let out a nervous laugh. "No, well, that is, it's just a figure of speech, you know? I said it out of habit. I didn't mean any offense. My apologies."

Ahn looked at Sae. 'He's lying.'

'I know,' she replied. She had been monitoring Nathan's heart rate as he spoke. It had risen from a resting rate of forty eight to eighty beats per minute when he tried to explain himself. His cardio, she noted, was extraordinary, but it couldn't conceal his nervousness.

"I see," she said, turning back to Nathan. "Back to Ahn's question. Why are these people so fond of you?"

Nathan looked relieved. "Right. That. I've ah, you see...helped them out quite a bit in the past. Quite a while ago, for that matter."

"With?" Sae pressed.

"Small things," Nathan said. "Nothing of importance."

Sae responded to his roundabout response with another glare.

"Robbing the OEC," Nathan admitted, a defeated expression on his face. "Taking weapons, credits, bombs, uniforms. If the OEC has it, I've likely stolen it before. If I walked into their headquarters right now, I would get a far, ah, different reception."

Sae nodded. It made sense now. Nathan's decisive movements, evading detection like he had been doing it all his life. His quick thinking while under pressure. If he was an experienced criminal,

"And are the others here all criminals, as well?"

"I suppose everybody in District 3 is a criminal some way or another," Nathan said. "These people just...how can I put it? Have a few extra charges tacked on, that's all."

"Right," Sae said, unable to hide the hints of skepticism from her voice. "But that still doesn't explain why you're so highly regarded. Doing a few jobs for them doesn't earn treatment like this."

"I built a bit of a reputation for being able to take down any android or augmented people despite not having any augments of my own. It's kind of my specialty." He shrugged. "What can I say? I'm good at what I do, whether the OEC approves it or not. It doesn't particularly matter to me as long as I don't get caught."

Multiple flags went up at once in Sae's head. What were the odds that Nathan, who was specialized in taking down androids, would join up with two of the most powerful androids in District 5? Why had he been so quick to trust them?

Sae couldn't voice any of her thoughts - Nathan was being swept away by a small group of drunk men, all of which were shouting and laughing at the top of their lungs.

Something was wrong. With this place. With Nathan.

Sae didn't want to wait to find out what it was, but Nathan was an invaluable asset for the time being. It was like being stuck in a cage with the door open, but the door led to a pit of acid. There was no way out.

She looked at Ahn, who appeared to be deep in thought. He was resting his head in his one good arm, his elbow forming a sort of awkward support on the surface of the table.

She felt a pang of guilt every time she saw it. If she had just been a little quicker, he wouldn't have been like that. She sighed.

They needed Nathan's help, but also needed to avoid getting lost in District 3. While doing so, they had to avoid the eyes of EDGE and the OEC. They needed another variable.

If they wanted to fix Ahn's broken arm, they had to break out of the cage.