600"Time to get up."
"Time to get up."
"Time to get up."
"Time to get up."
Sola's hand slammed against the alarm indicating her to wake up. She made a mental note to ask Meida about a less annoying alarm before sitting up. While she felt better than she had been a few days ago when Chainz and Azure had their battle, she knew that Grooz's poison was still in her body and would not fully go away as long as she was on Earth unless an antidote was developed. Looking over to her left, she noticed that the chair Lily used to sit by her bedside was empty, meaning that Lily was awake and most likely downstairs. Sola had to admit that the Tateshi Estate was very nice and that it brought a sense of comfort and security. Wrenching herself out of bed, Sola stood onto her feet for the first time in days. This was more evident when she heard the crack in her knees as she stood. Stretching her arms up rewarded her ears with another crack, relieving the tension in her shoulders. Sola walked towards the covered window and pulled the curtain back to reveal the outside light.
The sun sat perched atop the blue sky over the island nation of Japan. The significance in this, is the fact that this was the first time in weeks that the sky could be seen without snow clouds blanketing it. Now, the sun was not expected to stick around long enough to start melting the snow that still blanketed the entire region, but its presence would warm things up somewhat.
After staring outside for a few moments, Sola left the room and descended the stairs onto the main floor. After traversing the hallways, she found herself in the dining room where Lily and the other mamodo along with their own respective bookkeepers were waiting. Sola found herself sitting next to Lily as Meida garnered everybody's attention immediately thereafter.
"Everybody, I have gathered you all here today to present the dossier on our enemy, The Black Corps Science Division. As you all know, while they are obviously part of the Black Corps, they are also their own subgroup. They oversee many of the Black Corps' science experiments and engineering projects. We have reason to suspect that they infiltrated my company's regional lab and launched operations from it. We can assume that they infiltrated around the time I lost the company and Toru had taken over, since many Black Corps Members were on the company board. That being said, the Tateshi Zaibatsu is still recovering both internally and from a PR standpoint so I don't know the extent of the damage they caused yet, that assessment will take weeks before I get any results. On another note, I have a video call coming in from one of my informants." Meida said, cutting her long-winded speech short
Meida pressed a few buttons on a remote control in her hand as what appeared to a screen appeared above the table. If one was to guess, it appeared to use the same technology a hologram uses. The "hologram" screen was a fuzzy light green as Meida pressed few more buttons on her remote and a figure in a trench coat and a wide-brimmed hat as a means of concealing their identity appeared.
"Tateshi-sama, I have some news to report to you and your allies." the informant said
"Why are you wearing a trenchcoat and hat? Where is your lab coat?" Rika asked, curious
"My informants can't risk their identities being compromised, so they conceal themselves when they reveal information. This informant is working as a scientist within The Black Corps, I personally filed an inquiry with him and he had himself transferred to the Science Division and managed to rise to becoming one of Hatcher's key assistants and has been a very valuable asset when it comes to gathering info." Meida responded
"Oh, I see."
Meida nodded for the informant to continue revealing the update and did so on cue. "The news I have for you is brief. According to a conversation between Aria and Altheria, there will be a meeting among The Science Division at a rendezvous point in the countryside outside of Kyoto on January 3rd. Apparently Aria is currently in Hokkaido ready to mobilize the next group of lab mamodo. This could mean trouble."
"Sounds like we should crash this meeting." Ishimaru interjected
"That's exactly what I was thinking. Not only could we land a major blow, but perhaps we can get t the bottom of the Scientist Division's true objectives while we're at it." Meida said before turning back to the informant on-screen
"Thank you for the info. Please keep me updated if anything else comes up." Meida said, bowing
"Of course." the informant replied before the screen went back to the light green static
"Let's leave for Kyoto on New Year's day, which is exactly ten days from now. That will be plenty of time to prepare for this and we will use the other two days to observe and crash the meeting at the right moment!" Meida exclaimed
"I'll get my revenge on Grooz." Sola said
"That's a negative as of right now." Meida vetoed
"Why is that?"
"Keep in mind that you still have some of Grooz's poison in your body. My researches are in the Alpha stages of an antidote and even if the antidote does have a positive response, you also have to get back into training form since you've been bed-ridden for quite some time." Meida pointed out
"I have to agree with Meida on all of that. You'll get your rematch with Grooz, I'll make sure of that and besides, we have to make our own plans for that." Lily added
"You guys are right I suppose." Sola conceded, her rematch having to wait for the time being
Meanwhile in Hokkaido, the informant under the trenchcoat shuffled a bit before loosening and ultimately removing the garment only to reveal Aria herself! The pink-haired girl was spattered in bloodstains, so many that it looked as if her clothes were covered in red polka dots. In her hand was a small remote similar to the one Meida used and a few yards away, a corpse laid on the ground bloodied and broken to the point of being unrecognizable, even to the more efficient forensic investigators. Faint runes could be see near the corpse as they slowly faded into obscurity, indicating that the attack occurred some time ago.
Aria looked over at Mia before smirking. "The bait is now set! I can't believe everything worked just as Altheria said it would!"
"That's because the plan was foolproof that even you couldn't mess up." Mia muttered
"What did you say?!" Aria growled
"Nothing." Mia replied
"That's what I thought. Anyway, I can't wait for the ambush in Kyoto! Seeing everything come together is sooo exciting!" Aria squealed, a few droplets of blood leaving her hair.
Mia sighed. It was going to be a long ten days.
A/N- Intentional short chapter, but I promise you that the next one will make up for it. I would have posted this one about a week and a half ago but I need a new laptop charger and decided to use the computer lab at school for the time being. R&R!