Sigma sat amidst the former of students of Saint Maurius Academy, trying his best to begin to forge connections with them, to gain a better sense of what it meant to be completely human. He certainly felt he was a more complete person now than ever before, and it had only grown since he had begun recovering memories, but there were still some holes in his being.

And there was more to it than just turning back into the man he had once been. He didn't particularly like that person as much anymore, a selfish pacifist who sought only to waste his days with the woman he loved. While it was certainly noble, it was also naive and ignorant, and didn't take into account the risks he was generating for those around him by ignoring reality. Certainly, hoping for peace and happiness was not a terrible thing, but was it really allowed in his modern world?

And so the android now gathered with the teens, who were lacking Porter. Raul had just come back, using one of the shuttle ships under Sigma's control. Of course, the cyborg knew exactly what had happened to Porter and where he was, but he made sure that just because he knew something, didn't mean it was time for everyone else to as well. If Shotuku and Raul hadn't explained where Porter was going or why, Sigma didn't need to spoil anything himself. He instead tried his best to enjoy the sand against his metal frame, and the sun on his face. He felt neither of them. He only knew through feel that there was sand and he was sitting on it, but it felt no different to any other surface, his body only indicating to him that he was touching something.

"If you didn't have to go to the Academy, what do you think you would have done?" Nami openly asked the entire group at once, even though the question went right over the heads of Sigma and Rex. Neither of them were being schooled, Sigma having refused and dropped out of society when he was Leif, and Rex never having gone to any sort of school ever.

"My father would have always kept me at the company." Riya's voice was as soft as usual, and she rushed through her answer, throwing it out first to avoid the subject of her deranged dad.

"Your pops owns a company?" Rex blurted out, and the rest of the group threw their heads back and groaned. "That sounds pretty fun, what are you doing here then?"

Riya's fingers twitched a little, closing into a bit of a fist before reopening. She managed to give Rex a smile as she processed an answer. "My father is a little...eccentric...so it's easier to not end up working there."

"Isn't he in custody right now anyways?" Nami immediately covered her own mouth after innocently throwing out the question faster than she could think about it. "Next person, next person!"

"Woah, your dad went to jail? Must've been some shady business deals, right?" Rex was up on his knees, leaning into the group, and towards Riya, as he grew increasingly fascinated by the whole story.

"Yes, Rex, that's why." Riya's demeanour began to calm and settle down, her unease brushes away by a lie. "I think it's someone else's turn though."

"Me, I would still be doing the same thing, you know?" Rex proudly pointed his thumb at his chest, revelling in his own glory as a pilot. "It's my calling."

"Rex you didn't even go to the Academy," Ardwen said, rolling his eyes as he leaned back on his palms. "You aren't even Enian."

Rex gasped, standing up in a hurry. Trickles of sand slid off his body as he did so. "Why, I never. Are you trying to say that I'm less than you guys just because I'm not from your country?"

"No," Ardwen replied, "I'm stating the simple fact that you didn't attend the academy and couldn't have even if you wanted to."

"Yeah, I'm sure that's it." Rex folded his arms and sat back onto his posterior, evidently not amused by the entire situation. And Sigma just watched it all pass and smiled.

"I was only trained my whole life," Raul muttered, not wanting to draw much attention to the fact that he didn't seem to have many interests outside of fighting. As an orphan, he hadn't been taught much other than basics in education, and then Reaver had taken him in. He really had few outside interests, other than the metalwork he had done from time to time. The rose he had created for Nami so long ago seemed like a distant memory compared to where he was now.

"My family always wanted me to work for the Ministry of Science in the space development programs." Ardwen tilted his head back, staring up into the blue sky that hid the darkness beyond the Earth. "I only enrolled at Saint Maurius because of my brother. If he hadn't been here, I never would have." Adrwen smirked, sliding his glasses off and rubbing one of his lenses with the edge of his shirt. "Years spent in advanced engineering classes, going to Junior Space Summer Camp, all to hear my brother had disappeared and jump on the next shuttle to the Academy. What a strange life."

"Well I would've worked in the fashion industry as a famous designer," Nami shouted out, rather proudly, ending Ardwen's emotional moment of reflection abruptly.

"Do what?" the rest exclaimed at once, shocked by the studious Nami's intentions to do something completely unrelated to the Goliaths she so loved.

"Ah, Nami, my love, beacon of hope among these desolate sands," Rex began, before getting smacked aside by the tiny girl.

"I'm not interested in boys! I'm only interested in men!" Nami leaped to her feet, stars in her eyes as she began to fantasize, leaving Rex tasting dirt, and the rest snickering. "I would design clothing for men, suits for them, dress clothes, casual apparel, everything! And it would be Porter who would have served as my ultimate inspiration and model, for his lanky, half-useless body is perfect for a model. You can mold him into anything you like, when they're so plain and thing like that."

"Wait," Ardwen said, cutting through the girl's dreams as he scratched his chin. "Aren't you the Kaiser's sister? Wouldn't you have government duties to be doing if you hadn't enrolled in the militar-" A swift kick in the face from Nami ended Ardwen's thought before it could finish, sending the boy tumbling across the beach.

"A princess? A member of royalty?" Rex scrambled back up to his feet, trying his best to brush himself off before bowing back down on one knee. "But of course I would feel my heart pound at the sight of such flawlessness, for the likes of you is too great for the common folk, a diamond in the rou-" Another unfinished thought. Another foot in a face. Another boy sent mercilessly soaring. Nami spun around, glaring at the rest of the group, who shrunk back a little out of fear and to show respect.

A slow clap interrupted Nami's rage, as Shotuku and Chandana approached. It was the elderly man who was giving out the applause, admiring Nami's work at pummelling miscreants. He withdrew a black slipper from the sleeve of his robes, holding up in front of his face. It flopped over to one side, undramatically. "It would be my hope that perhaps, one day, you choose to take upon you the art of the Black Slipper and the potential it holds."

Nami gave a slight bow of respect to her elder. "Thank you, master."

* * * * *

Porter was sprinting through the hills outside Easley, doing his best to keep up with Reaver's insane demands. He grabbed a set of weights, throwing them over his shoulders as his pace slowed. He would have to trudge onwards from here on out, under the watchful eye of Reaver, who kept pace and followed him every step of the way.

The young boy froze, a chill rushing through his spine, spreading into his entire body. He nearly dropped the weights, shaking for a moment before regaining his composure. "What is it, trainee?" Reaver's blank tone took some getting used to, as he wasn't asking out of concern, but just curiosity as to why Porter had stopped.

"I'm not really sure...it feels like some joining of two evil powers came together somewhere..."

* * * * *

"I'm glad you're all able to rest and relax," Chandana said, her crimson hair flowing out behind her in the sea breeze.The rest of the group leaned to the left, trying to peer behind her to see if the head of the Jade Fang was stalking her, as she was clad in nothing but a bikini. "What's wrong with me just relaxing a little and looking good?" The woman shouted, stamping her foot down and clenching her fist, sending up a torrent of sand as the students were blown back. "Being attractive doesn't mean you always have to be stalked,." The fiery woman tossed a lock of hair over her shoulder as she finished her sentence.

"I forgot she was always known for her insane temper," Ardwen whispered, trying his best to right himself and flip his body back over after being tossed around.

Before anyone else could make a move, Ling Shi sauntered up, as if on cue, approaching the group with a casual wave. His eyes caught sight of Chandana and he froze in place, standing perfectly still. The tension grew among the students as the pause was drawn out longer between the two, and the silence was finally broken by a single drop of blood falling out of Ling Shi's nose. His hand flew up to his face, covering the lower half before anything gushed out, and the man took off in the opposite direction, as far from the scantily-clad woman as possible.

"I swear," Chandana muttered through grit teeth, "that I will kill everyone on this island if I get the chance." The leader of the Red Scarf gang then brushed off the incident, refocusing as she spun to face the students. "Listen up. Seems we have a bit of a problem going on in the mainland."

"Yes, I hear the Jahari have been attacking all over." Rex had bounded up to the woman, and peered up at her from below with his puppy-dog eyes. Chandana took a moment to eye him up and down, her eyebrow twitching as she tried to determine whether this remark stemmed from attitude and sarcasm, or just plain ignorance and stupidity. She seemed to settle on the latter, her body relaxing.

"A different problem," the woman continued. "It would seem that the Artisan Confederate is taking this opportunity to do a little housecleaning. The latest round of Jahari attacks have been closer to the Eastern United States, and it seems both the Enian Federation and the States have come together to combat them. During all of this, the Artisans have announced they will be purging all rebel elements from the country to help unify them against the ongoing Jahari threat. A lot of anti-government sentiment has been stirred up by that broadcast Porter made."

"Well that's good that they're getting around to cleaning up crime." Chandana once more had to pause and examine Rex, her fingers twitching slightly as she held back on account of his naive stupidity.

"The Silver Lance is included in that purge, kids. We want the Silver Lance on our side. Dig them out of a hole, they'll pay us back."

"Seems a bit much though." Ardwen made his statement with hand on chin, his brow furrowed in thought. "We're Goliath pilots, not advanced soldiers. We couldn't go in there to take out armed forces on the ground. Wouldn't it be best to send in the Red Scarf and the Jade Fang?"

"The problem is," Chandana countered, instantly rounding on Ardwen. She had been prepared for this particular retort. "The problem is that the Artisans have decided to use their own Goliaths in order to do this purification. They're ordering people out of towns and then wiping them out."

The group gasped in response at the ruthlessness of the actions the woman described. "Entire villages?" Nami exclaimed, partially as a question and partially as a protest. "That's insane."

"And not very practical," Ardwen cut in. "If they give forward warning of which towns they will raze, the rebels can simply leave."

"They aren't giving forward warning." Chandana folded her arms and closed her eyes, internally grieving at the losses that had already been incurred. "It's a small Artisan task force, a group that's going around doing the dirty work. They contact trusted informants and allies within a town, the core government officials and families and those they know they can trust. The rest are left to die."

"How horrible!" Nami cried, clutching at Riya for support.

"But not uncommon." Raul had regained his composure from being knocked around by Chandana, standing up and squaring off with her. "It has happened throughout history in numerous countries."

"But how can you kill your own people?" Nami pleaded, overly distraught by the subject matter.

"They are not your own people," Raul answered. "They are the other. They are insurgents to be crushed, those who gave up their citizenship and rights to live where they do. The Artisan Confederate has done it before. So has the Enian Federation." Raul paused, staring down at his palm, and the tiny scar sitting in the centre of it. "I was told, at the orphanage, it was one of these purges in this country that killed my parents. My entire town was burned to the ground, branded a part of a rebel faction so many years ago. It was probably in response to the Red Scarf Rebellion." Raul shot a look across at Chandana, but the woman did not flinch, used to be accused of having blood on her hands.

"Then I suppose I have the support of all of you in dismantling this task force?" The students were already up and nodding before Chandana could finish, sprinting off towards their Goliaths in preparation. Only Raul stayed behind, staring down Chandana as the two exchanged a wordless understanding of the weight of Raul's past. And then he too was off.

"You'll be wanting me to go too, won't you?" Sigma placed his metallic hand on Chandana's shoulder, standing next to her as he watched the youths running down the beach.

"If it wouldn't be too much to ask of the mighty Sigma." Chandana grinned slightly, brushing aside the cyborg's hand.

"I would have to do very little to avoid attracting the Jahari...or worse things."

"Worse things might just be waiting there for you." Chandana began to walk away from the android, winking over her shoulder at him. "Alpha will have sent you a file. Some deep scans we've done of the area show some traces of him. This may a shot to catch the lion in his den, if you know what I mean.

Sigma smiled behind the woman, watching her stride along the sand. The file was already in front of his eyes, and had been for the entire conversation. Maps, wavelength readings, sound measurements, energy gauges, everything had been thrown out there to search for Syn, to see if they could pinpoint where it was that he went in between appearances.

And maybe, just maybe, they had their answer.