017

A fist slams into the table, spilling the tea resting calmly upon it, "That bitch has gone too far this time!" Said Daphne, followed by a small 'sorry' over the spilled tea.

"Yes…" Said Haya, "That's why I appreciate you guys for coming back together."

"Pfft," The blonde man, Neil Cypress, rasped, "Daphne won't pass on the opportunity for an adventure with you two again. Plus, if she managed to get Cassie on board then I guess I would too."

I kept silent through their entire conversation. Perhaps they know now that I have no clue who any of them are. But seeing how welcoming they all seem to be to us…

Twain pushed the door open as he carried more monitors than he could possibly carry, "Damn it, Marcus help me with these." I rushed over to him as I helped with carrying the monitors.

Cassandra was just sitting in a corner silently, waiting for the monitors to be plugged in along with her computer. "That said," Daphne begins to ask Haya, "What's your plan now?"

Jeremiah and I cautiously set up the monitors, there were at least 50 of them, almost covering the entire wall. Managing the cables were even more of a mess. "Twain and I couldn't find Marcus' memories in any consciousness servers available." I heard Haya say.

"That means they, most likely Cecil, kept it in the Sagittarius vaults." Cassandra said, fixing her glasses, "If that's the case, we would have a harder time retrieving it."

"Unless…" Neil thought, "Unless it isn't in the Sagittarius vaults. Maybe it's somewhere closer to Cecil." He said.

"If it's that closer than we expected, then all we need is to infiltrate her office, no?" Haya said.

"Seeing as she's currently stationed here on earth, it's safe to assume that her office is in the Zone 01 headquarters." Cassandra noted, going over to her computer. Pushing it on, and beginning her work.

"Oh hell yeah! Always wanted to infiltrate that piece of crap." Daphne slams her fist upon the table again.

"Woah, hold your shit." I started, "Infiltrating that base is good and all, but we don't even know where to begin."

"Well, for starters. Everyone here is basically a fugitive now. Thanks to our lovely friends who killed the commander." Twain said, glaring at the both of us.

A dreaded aura filled the room as it fell silent, "Ah well, what do I care! If this is gonna be the last mission in my lifetime, I'd gladly have it with the commander here!" Yelled Daphne once more, standing up as she looked straight at me.

"C-commander?" I asked her.

"Ah shit. She removed your memories of the war too?" I nodded, causing her to heave a heavy breath, and sit back down. She looked at Haya, who's just sitting down on the bed, "Is he still capable at least?"

"Yeah! Capable. My partner here's very capable." Said Haya as everyone else turned to look at her.

"I see…" Said Daphne, "Come here, commander." She stood up and grabbed me by the elbow. Dragging me outside, "Tell me, how far have you two gone?"

"What? What do you mean?"

"I mean since the disbandment of this gang. How far have you two gone? Being partners and all that."

"I-i think you misunderstand."

"Like hell I did!" She shouted.

"No, I mean, really! You misunderstand. I only remember being in 3 missions with her."

"Oh… oh… well… I see." She pushed the door open and said to the others, "Welp! I interrogated our commander and it turns out, he's as capable as he once was!"

Haya just stood and watched, shrugging as I looked to her for answers. "Well, in any case. We should at least plan our first course of action." Said Twain.

"Yeah," Neil butted in, "If you guys are gonna infiltrate Zone 1, we should at least need to find a way to get in."

"I got it." Cassandra said, "I'll try to find the entire place's schematics."

"Yeah! That's great! That's just great, hey, old man Twain!" Daphne rushed oever to Twain, pulling and dragging him, "Let's go and hunt for some food, yeah?"

"But don't you guys have su-" Twain was interrupted by her again.

"That doesn't matter, let's go!" They rushed out, perhaps to hunt for some food later on.

Haya just shrugs once again as she stands from the bed and approaches Cassandra who's hard at work finding the schematics of Zone 1 headquarters.

"Ey, commander." Neil waved towards me, I sat down in front of him, "Sorry to hear about your loss."

"My loss?"

He stares at my head, "Ya know."

"Oh. Yeah, I know. Uhm… it's alright? I appreciate you all trying to help, genuinely. I can't help but feel lost in all of this though."

"That's cool, boss. We'll get those back, that said. How old do you think you are?" He asked me.

"22?" I said.

"Damn, either Cecil is a memory manipulator genius, or she just stole someone else's."

I just laughed awkwardly. Not knowing how to respond to something as menial as someone saying I have someone else's memories.

"Don't worry boss, we'll get it back no matter what."

"That's cool and all, but I don't really know you."

"Ah, oh.. Well." He seems flustered, "Neil Cypress. I thought I would introduce myself earlier. But yeah, 84 years old. Undergone Ambrosia 14 times. I don't really have any family to speak of apart from you guys. So I'm glad we got the gang back together."

"I see. What about Cassandra?"

"Oh, Cassie. She's like, 78. Only 3 Ambrosias though, she wasn't really active in the frontline unlike the rest of us. I know that Daphne is at least 87, with 24 bodies under her belt. Pretty wild yeah?"

"Huh, I wonder how much mine is." I rubbed my chin before sitting deeply into the chair, "what about Twain though?"

"I don't know much about old man Twain. I don't even know if Cecil knows about 'im. All I remember is that he has a reason he keeps his own Ambrosia here."

"Hm, I see." I heard a short celebration from Haya coming from her and Cassandra's spot. We rushed over to it as we saw in our own eyes, along the monitors, the dozens upon dozens of rooms of the Zone 1 headquarters.

I saw Haya giving a sly smile, "Seems we've found our guy."