Chapter Ten: Old Friends

The crew makes sure to take the military files with them before they leave. They try to mentally prepare themselves before they leave the police station, but some of them had troubles coming to terms with what happened. "I can't believe our home is our enemy now..." Satomi says.

"This wasn't meant to happen" Haru says with a low voice. "I'm sorry".

"The rest of your squad is still safe, right?" Mikoto asks. "They weren't involved... maybe they can avoid being pursued?".

"I already had a talk with them beforehand" Haru says. "If suspicions arise of them cooperating in such a task, they were to deny any knowledge and involvement with me. They can't prove anything against them, so they'll be fine".

"Then we have an inside source" Holly says. "For now, we'll need to have absolutely zero contact with them until we're sure it's safe to get in touch".

"Yeah" Haru says. "We're not completely screwed yet".

"Always have a plan B" Siran says. "Come on, we should get out of this country before everyone starts looking for our heads".

"Dad..." Silas asks, "did we do something wrong?".

Siran pauses for a moment, and tries to think of what to say. "Sometimes, bad things happen. All we can do is use our better judgment and think rationally, when times get tough. As for you, you've done nothing wrong".

"But... I killed five people..." Silas responds. The whole room fell silent, as nobody could think of what to say in response. "That's bad... isn't it?".

"Maybe it was bad..." Dana says, looking at the floor. Suddenly, she looks up and harshly pats Silas on the back. "But, they were trying to kill us. You saved us, Silas. Isn't that a good thing?".

"There's nothing wrong with standing up for yourself" Zia says softly as she crouches down a little and hugs her teenaged son. "But I also didn't want a world like this for you... we didn't want a world like this for you. Promise me that you three will stay out of trouble?".

"Yes, ma'am" Carl says.

"Mhm..." Dana agrees.

"... Silas?" Zia asks.

Silas looks up slowly, with tears in his eyes. "Are you and dad gonna be alright?".

"We'll be fine" Siran says. "I promise".

"You don't need to worry about those two" Rose says. "They're like... our trump cards! Your mommy and daddy can handle themselves".

"What if... the problem is too big to handle?" Silas asks with an honest and worried expression. "I think... I have this feeling... that this is going to be too much".

"Silas...?" Siran asks. "What... What makes you say that?".

"I dunno" Silas says as he looks down. "I've just been... getting these weird feelings... and lately... my gut feelings haven't been wrong".

"Son..." Siran asks in surprise, "are you hiding something from me?". Silas looks over to his side to avert his gaze from everybody else. "Silas, if something is going on, you have to tell me!".

"It's just some stupid dreams, dad..." Silas responds, sounding embarrassed. "I know it sounds silly, but sometimes, these dreams actually come true... bad dreams. I'm not sure what all was happening in these dreams, but...".

"But what?" Siran asks.

"I kept hearing this voice trying to tell me something" Silas says, "and this bright giant keeps appearing in one of my dreams... bright and tall, like... a bolt of lightning during a dark thunderstorm".

"What do you think that means?" Zia asks as she looks at both Silas and Siran.

"I dunno" Silas responds.

"Well, for now" Siran says, "let's get you kids at home and safe".

"Mhm..." Silas says as he nods his head.

"Yo, your kid is freaking me out" Blake says.

"Blake!" Ying says as she elbows him in the side. "That's so rude!".

"Ow! What!?" Blake asks. "What if he's like a psychic or something!?".

"Such a thing doesn't exist" Holly replies unenthusiastically.

"Focus" Demetri says. "Do not let guard down. We are in enemy territory now. Keep eyes up, don't start trouble".

"Demetri is right" Vivi says.

"Let's take the kids home now" Alex says. "We'll need some people to stay in Seeira with them".

"Well" Robin says, "it's not gonna be me. I'm not good with kids".

"They're teenagers, how hard could it be?" Blake asks. "Don't they basically take care of themselves?".

Rose, Finn, Vivi, Alex, Siran, Zia and Tanya all begin to laugh softly. "I think it's safe to say you've never had kids before" Tanya says. "I'll stay with them. My daughter, Ali can help too. She's an adult now, she should be able to help out".

"I'll stay too" Demetri says. "It's rather impractical to have doctor on battlefield, no?".

"Fair enough" Vivi says.

"What about Aunt Holly?" Dana asks.

"I'd love to" Holly says, "but these Endo-Streams need looking into, and I'm nosy enough to be the one to collect data on it".

"Agreed" Haru says. "We need to learn all that we can about these phenomenon".

"Right" Mikoto says. "Now that that's all settled, let's get moving".

Demetri sighs, then says "I'm getting too old for this shit".

The crew leaves and makes it close to the airport before they notice a lot of guards already searching for the crew. The crew tried to come up with a plan to get home safely, but suddenly, a few civilians approached the crew. "You're trying to go home, right?" One of them asks.

"What the- who are you?" Vivi asks.

"We'll help get you out" another one says. "Just stay behind us so they can't see you".

A third and fourth stranger also joins in, and helps hide the crew as they approach the airport. "Don't worry" they tell the crew, "The Six Guns are still heroes to the people. We won't let them take you".

"Thanks" Siran says. "I'm glad to see you're still on our side. We promise, we'll fix everything soon enough".

The staff in the airport also helped sneak The Six Guns onto a plane and sent them back to Balphor. From there, they traveled south, back to Seeira and made it home safely. "Tomorrow's another school day" Finn says as they approached the town. "You kids should head off to bed for now".

"Should we keep them all in the same house?" Vivi asks. "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, but I'll let them stay in my house, since it's bigger and I trust my son to know how to use a gun in case of intruders".

"That's a scary thought, but okay" Siran agrees. "It's better to have them keep each other company".

"Demetri, you know how to run my shop by now" Vivi continues. "I'm trusting you on this, old man".

"I may be old" Demetri says, "but I can take care of house. I'm 60 and healthy, not 100 and riddled with mental disorder".

"Hey, doc" Finn says as he rests a hand on Demetri's shoulder. "Thanks for the prosthetics... I know it doesn't sound like I appreciate you enough, but... thanks".

"Why do you speak as if I'm going to die?" Demetri asks with a concerned look.

"Well... they are teenagers now" Finn says.

"Pfft- bwahahaha! You really are idiot!" Demetri laughs.

"Try not to drive the old man insane, Carl" Alex says.

"I'm only 60 years old!" Demetri says. "Stop making situation worse!".

"I can't make any promises that I'm not sure I can keep, dad" Carl jokes.

Alex smacks Carl over the top of the head and says "Then do better!".

"Ow! Okay!" Carl complains.

The crew arrives at Vivi's house and rests for a bit. Eventually, a knock on the front door was heard. Before any got up to check the door, the door opened and Tanya's daughter sticks her head in the door. "Hey, mom" Ali says. "There's... uhmm... there was someone looking for you guys?".

"Someone looking for us?" Tanya asks.

Ali opens the door wide, and exposes a man standing nervously behind her. "He says he was looking for this place all day... I told him earlier this afternoon that you guys weren't here, but then you guys came back... and he says it's very important".

Ali shoves the man inside of Vivi's house, forcing him to stand in front of The Six Guns. He looked very nervous as all eyes were now fixated on him. "U-ummm" he says quietly, "we've met before... well, I mean... some of you".

"Huh?" Vivi asks. "You don't look familiar".

"You seem so young too" Tanya says. "You look to be about my daughter's age".

"Well, y-you see..." the man says as he thinks. Suddenly, he remembers something. He begins to walk up towards Zia as he reaches in his back pocket. "M-my name is Benjie Santos" he says as he places a calling card in Zia's hands. When Zia looks down at the card, she could see that it was her old calling card that she gave away long ago. "Y-you gave this to me, about 15 years ago... I-I'm from the Philippines, you see... and uhmm...". Suddenly, Benjie sits on his knees and bows his head. "I really need your help, please".

"Wait a minute..." Zia says as she remembers, "you're that little kid that we met in the Philippines! Benjie! What's wrong!? What's happening!?".

"You'll help!?" Benjie asks. "M-my mother is sick, a-and we don't know what's wrong with her! We can't get any doctor to help, because nobody can find out what's wrong, or what's causing it!".

"Explain" Demetri says.

"Well, her body is slowly shutting down" Benjie says. "She's barely maintaining consciousness throughout the day, and her eyes... t-the whites of her eyes are slowly turning darker and darker!".

"What!?" Siran asks.

"Do you think you know what that is?" Benjie asks. "Does this sound familiar to you?".

"I'm not sure, but I have a hunch" Siran says. "It sounds like an overload of endo, which probably means...".

"It probably means that an Endo-Stream opened up in the Philippines!" Zia says.

"Where is your mother now?" Demetri asks.

"Quezon City General Hospital" Benjie says. "There's an international airport in that city as well. We should be able to make it there easily, if we go".

"Slow down!" Alex says. "We don't know how to fix it yet".

"But if it's Endoindustria poisoning" Ying says, "then can't we use something that drains endo out of people's bodies?".

"Yeah!" Vivi says. "We've come across soldiers that have had equipment like that before! I think we can replicate equipment like that, if we tried!".

"I do have files from Omnium Guild" Siran says. "I'll bring those over and hopefully it has something useful for such a device... but don't you think it'd be easier if I just... pull the endo out of their body myself?".

"Are you going to be personally responsible to travel the world endlessly and personally do that for each and every victim?" Vivi asks.

"Ah... no, I guess not" Siran says.

"Then we'll make a device, and have other people pass it around and replicate it" Vivi says. "That way, they can save themselves".

"It won't take long, will it?" Benjie asks.

"It'll take a couple weeks" Vivi says, "if we can make the design simple enough".

"There's no time!" Benjie says.

"We'll have to work on it there" Siran says. "I'll try to keep his mother and the others there that are affected alive, you work on the device".

"I'll need a lot of my equipment" Vivi says.

"Then start packing" Siran demands.

"You'll do it!?" Benjie asks excitedly.

"Sure" Zia replies. "We'll help you take care of your mother, Benjie".

"Oh my god" Benjie says as he stands up in excitement. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!".

"Relax..." Alex says.

"You guys are seriously my heroes!" Benjie says.

"Uh-huh..." Holly replies without any enthusiasm.

"I mean it!" Benjie exclaims.

"Kid, seriously, relax..." Alex says. "We'll go tomorrow. Until then, try to not cause a scene".

The next day, the crew goes out to the Philippines with Benjie. When they get there, Siran removes endo out of the bodies of 37 patients in the hospital. After removing the endo from Benjie's mother, the doctors agreed to take Siran to the other patients in the hospital that were suffering the same condition... or, at least, all of the ones that were still alive. Finally, Siran arrives back with his team to discuss what to do next. "She said she started getting sick while at an island in the middle of Crater Lake" Benjie says.

"Do you think that's where the Endo-Stream is?" Alex asks Siran.

"It's gotta be" Siran says. "We'll go there to check it out. Meanwhile, Benjie, you stay with your mother and stay out of trouble. Got it?".

"Yes sir, thank you!" Benjie says.

"Come on" Siran says. "We have an Endo-Stream to investigate".

The crew heads south to Taal Lake, and takes a boat to Taal Volcano Island. When there, they take another boat across Crater Lake, to a small island called Vulcan Point Island. When there, they expected to be able to investigate a geyser of endo. What they didn't expect, was four other people already there, one of them being Laurence. Once the crew steps foot on the island, the four waiting there instantly knew that they arrived. Slowly turning around to face the crew, with a disappointed expression on his face, Laurence says "Ah, hell. I thought I told you not to worry about it!".

"Brother... is that Ishmael!?" Todd asks.

"Here we go..." Laurence says in an annoyed tone.

"You've had contact with him this whole time, and never informed us?" Manny asks. "You didn't think that would be important to know?".

"Is that... Laurence?" Zia asks.

Laurence puts his right hand over his face and rubs his forehead in irritation. "Why does this kind of crap always happen to me?".

"Excuse me" Aaron asks, "but if you knew he existed on this plane too, then doesn't that mean that you already also knew he isn't behind this?".

"Behind what?" Siran asks. "And stop calling me Ishmael!".

"Does he know?" Manny asks.

"What?" Laurence asks in an irritated tone. "I can't hear you over my own rage...".

"Does... he... know?" Manny asks again.

"No..." Laurence says. "He doesn't know what's causing this, he doesn't know who he is, he doesn't know us, he doesn't know a god damned thing".

"Tch" Manny scoffs, "just when I thought we had another lead... right back to square one".

"Hey, I will not be ignored!" Siran shouts as he approaches the four brothers. "What's this about a lead? You're investigating this Endo-Stream too, aren't you?".

"So... he knows something, brother" Todd says.

"Todd, I swear" Laurence says. "I don't need you, of all people, berating me".

"Hey, you want a lead?" Siran asks. "I've got a lead for ya! Who the hell is Yamamoto and Dolos?".

All four of the brothers freeze. "... What?" Laurence asks in shock.

"So you know those names?" Siran asks. "I'm gonna need some god damned answers!".

"No idea who this Yamamoto is" Manny says, "but did he just say... Dolos?".

".... oh shit!" Laurence exclaims. "It just had to be them again!".