Sophia stands in front of her house. She already felt nervous, like she should just stay in Valdis’ house for the next month. She takes a few deep breaths before she pulls out her keys. She fumbles with them for a few seconds before opening the door.

“Mom? Dad? Nico? I am home…” she says. If she was lucky, her parents would be out dealing with something more important… like what happened at Ackademi. However, her brother would still be home. And her parents were probably worried enough by now to stay and wait for her return. The only person she really wanted to talk to was Artemis though. However, putting it off now just meant she had to deal with it later.

"Ahh, Good. Sophia, you're home." a gruff, male voice says from the next room over. Colonel Torres was looking at a document of military nature while a monitor was lit from a nearby panel of a laptop. The older man turns in the direction that Sophia would come in from, and lean forward with his fingers intertwined beneath his chin in a contemplative pose.

"The Japanese are worked up over something...a school got lit up or whatever. I was starting to get worried, but I knew my little girl would stay away from trouble." he says, then exhaling a bit. "But damn if they aren't worked up over it, they're using some code language I don't fully understand, being secretive about something..." he grumbles. The American vs Japanese military relations were always a little tense: the Japanese often didn't understand why the Americans held a presence here while the homeland was under attack, while the Americans believed the Japanese were too hesitant to take action at all times/

"Ahh, Good. Sophia, you're home." a gruff, male voice says from the next room over. Colonel Torres was looking at a document of military nature while a monitor was lit from a nearby panel of a laptop. The older man turns in the direction that Sophia would come in from, and lean forward with his fingers intertwined beneath his chin in a contemplative pose.

"The Japanese are worked up over something...a school got lit up or whatever. I was starting to get worried, but I knew my little girl would stay away from trouble." he says, then exhaling a bit. "But damn if they aren't worked up over it, they're using some code language I don't fully understand, being secretive about something..." he grumbles. The American vs Japanese military relations were always a little tense: the Japanese often didn't understand why the Americans held a presence here while the homeland was under attack, while the Americans believed the Japanese were too hesitant to take action at all times/

That was odd. So her parents didn’t know that she was in any danger because the Japanese military was keeping them out of the loop. “It’s Ackademi Art University in Shibuya. There was an attack and an explosion there during the art exhibit. The one I said I was going to,” she says. She is shaking a little bit, trying to keep it together.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t come home earlier… I was… I couldn’t…” She could think of dozen things she wants to say, but can’t. “I didn’t know what to do…” She starts to cry again, partly because this was somewhat frustrating.

Colonel Torres' brow raises when Sophia mentions an attack. He bites his lip slightly, looking at his young daughter with a scrutinizing gaze to measure how serious she was and if she knew exactly what she was saying. The body language and her shaking left little doubt that there was any falsehood in her statement.

"An attack? By what exactly?" he says, but when Sophia began to have a breakdown, he then stands up and walks over to Sophia, giving her a light embrace.

"It's alright. Let me get you some kind of tea to help you calm down." the colonel says, departing to the kitchen, leaving Sophia in the room alone for a few minutes. If she were nosy or intrepid enough, she could look at the documents he was glancing at or the monitor that was on an email screen, with various subject lines.

Sophia stares at her father when he asks by what. “The sort of thing we have evacuation plans for…” However, she could imagine how simply leaving the base to the neighboring areas would be good enough if Scorpio actually decided to wreak havoc on the area.

Normally, getting a hug from her dad or her mom would have been somewhat reassuring. Now, while it consoling, but not altogether reassuring that everything would be ok. She dries her eyes a little after the hug, but is still a bit shaken. She looks down at the floor and nods as he mentions tea. At least, she had a few moments before having to relive the whole incident and then edit the part out where she took part in the fight. She sort of sits there for a few moments with the laptop across from her, not really thinking to do anything with it. However, eventually, she remembers that there was some kind of goal during this conversation.

She looks in the direction of the kitchen before looking over at the documents. She feels a slight pang of guilt over the action since it goes beyond her normal level of secrecy regarding senshi life.

The colonel's expression hardened substantially when Sophia mentioned 'the things we have evacuation plans for'. "Well, it's nice to know the Japanese are trusting us with information that there is activity in the town." he says with a thinly cloaked annoyance. The fact that Covenant forces were increasing active within Tokyo was distressing and worked against the needs of the US Military to provide security on the base.

While Sophia was snooping, the Colonel's voice would shout from the kitchen.

"What do you want in your tea?"

Meanwhile, the document Sophia held was classified but on a lower level.

[Alpha Eagle status is normal. Agents have reported Covenant activity in the area, but Japanese as usual covering up incidents under the guise of accidents or criminal activity. While none have come within range of Alpha Eagle, the increasing frequency is concerning. Ito and Eagle to meet on the twenty-fifth to discuss this matter.

American battlefronts universally falling back. West Virginia high casualties. Floridan front stable as is New England front. Citadel activity increasing. Aquarius killed Brigadier General Anderson on the Arizona front, resulting in heavy losses and ground loss. Nevada company 80% casualties, 15% of which dead from violent attack by Leo.]

“Honey and milk,” Sophia says back to her father. Unfortunately, that mostly likely meant she was running out of time. She takes a quick picture with her phone before putting everything back the way she found it, and then returns to her chair. She is pretty sure that she’s committed multiple crimes now at this point. Now, if only Valdis had a cell phone, maybe she could answer what the hell Alpha Eagle was. It wasn’t an abbreviation in NATO phonetic alphabet. E was Easy or Echo.

As far Virgo’s Citadel, there wasn’t much information there. Activity increasing… but no dates. However, there seemed to be at about three fronts. Were they pushing from the North, South, and West to meet in the middle? Perhaps, Virgo’s Citadel would be the meeting point of the forces? It was as good a guess as any. However, wouldn't the Western front have too many issues crossing mountains and desert? It'd be like reverse Oregon trail with more monsters. She makes a mental note to look up Brigadier General Anderson to see if that yielded any more information.

As the Colonel comes back in, she saw Sophia was moving just a little quickly, which made him raise a brow a little. Perhaps it was a panicked reaction. After all his little girl had just gotten through a rather serious incident. He sets the tea down on a saucer on a nearby table for Sophia to get at her leisure, before he sits down again.

"That's why I keep saying you should only leave the base when you absolutely have to. The Japanese have no idea how to handle this situation. They think if they keep quiet and focus on promoting the idea Japan is so much safer worldwide, the Covenant will believe it too and leave them alone. While it is the 'safest' in the loosest sense of the word, it's still dangerous." he states, his dislike for the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and national policy of Japan showing.

"I really hate to ask this, but if you can, I'd like to tell you just what you saw. I'd like to pass the information up the line on our side."

Her father startles her a bit, and she hopes that he doesn’t think much of it. She never really snooped around before, so there wasn’t much of a reason for him to believe that she would now. “Thank you,” she says taking the cup and getting somewhat comfortable in her chair.

She nods at the lecture about leaving home. “I just wanted to go see a friend,” she says before starting tear up again. She finds her dad’s assessment of the JSDF a little harsh, but not undeserved. The event at the theatre was evacuation worthy as well, but it wasn’t spoken about on the news too much. All swept underneath the rug.

Comforting time was over and now to business. She is a little curious how far up the chain her story would go and whether she would be forced to repeat it again. But now the big question… how much to spill. How much could she trust the American military with? There was no reason not to start with the beginning with the girl. If the JSDF hadn’t gotten similar report after speaking to the others at the site, she’d be a little surprised.

“I was towards the middle of the exhibit when I remember seeing this girl. She fell on the ground. I think a few people went to help her, but they all ended up falling unconscious too. And then this black cocoon surrounded the girl… then she turned into something else.” She makes herself look uncomfortable, but this wasn’t really the triggering part of the story for her. She fidgets in her chair. The girl was saved, and compared to Scorpio, was sort of mundane.

Should she mention the existence of the senshi? Kousuke had told her that the military already knew, but how widespread was that knowledge. Well, if the Japanese military knew, she could level the playing field a bit. And honestly, the story made little sense without mentioning everyone else.

“I know this sounds weird, but these people in costumes or something came in. One boy had a gold mask. One boy had bright armor. Girls had short skirts with one of those sailor collars. I don’t think I hallucinated them… They came in and tried to fight the girl. Then… I think I fell unconscious.” She gives her dad a pleading look to believe her, and tries to gauge his reaction at the same time.

She pauses as she tries to form some kind of believable story for a bystander, but keeps the appearance of a distressed young girl. “I don’t remember how the first hole happened. I just remember a sense of fear like nothing I ever felt. Like the world was ending.” At this point, Sophia’s distress becomes more real as she gets to the event. She looks panicked.

She wasn't sure what kind of effect mentioning Scorpio's existence in Japan. It may make the American military more suspicious of the JSDF, regardless if the JSDF knew or not. However, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing if the cats really were rescued from a JSDF base. “I saw a man dying… only to be restored with dark black armor and a scorpion’s tail. He made the second hole as he left.” She stops to take a few deep breaths. “I ran away as fast I could.” She isn’t sure what feels worse talking about their defeat or ending the story like that without acknowledging everything the knights did. She looks a little sick.

The colonel listened calmly as Sophia went into her explanation. No interruption or interjection was forced upon her by her father, and at the end of it, he rubbed his chin a little bit in deep thought, weighing the statement against his own knowledge.

"Superheroes show up to save the day from a Covenant attack that seems random...girls in skirts and boys in armor. That sounds a little farfetched, but if it's true what would they be trying to accomplish...that seems too convenient that they show up in the middle of an attack..." the colonel says thinking analytically. The last remark though he had to think a little more on.

"...You describe what happens when a Zodiac member takes enough damage...I've seen it on reports when a lucky and brave platoon managed to get a sniper headshot or a powerful explosion on a Zodiac directly and then they turn into something else. What you described sounds like Scorpio, though he is rarely seen and his transformed state has never been witnessed. If the Covenant is using a Zodiac in Japan...and something in Japan hurt him enough to use his full potential...that's interesting. Distressing, yet interesting. If these heroes are legitimate, I'd like to learn more about them...I can see the Japanese being paranoid of them, but I recognize an asset when I see it...though I am concerned it might be a larger ploy to distract and mislead us to cause something worse to happen." the Colonel says, then going to his laptop and putting it on his lap.

"Get your rest Sophia...you've been through enough today." he says firmly, then gets to furiously typing on the electronic device.

So she gave away their existence to another military. At least, everything went as well as she could have hoped for. She nods, and heads up to her room as he dismisses her. However, she has to wonder what kind of report will be sent to the higher ups, and whether this will mean an increased American presence. And the idea of a general somewhere reading about superheroes saving the day was an amusing one.

She opens to the door to her room, and sits on her bed. She looks at the picture of the document, and memorizes the contents. She had remembered long passages on much shorter notice before. This was simpler than that. Then she deletes the picture. It’d be so helpful if they had some secure way of storing and sharing information…

“Artemis. Are you around somewhere?” she calls. The cat and her had a ton to discuss.

Artemis was sitting at a window staring out. A pile of hair near him indicated his level of stress, which is a trait that Sophia may or may not have noticed whenever Artemis had a lot going on or on his mind. When Sophia enters the room, he turns to her with a dim expression on his face.

"...I could sense what was going on...two planetary guardians faded from my ability to sense, along with a deep feeling of shadow and hatred...I'm just glad you are okay." Artemis says, hopping down and walking over to Sophia, looking at her with a useless expression on his face. It frustrated the white mau cat how little he can do sometimes, though he knew he also had limited ability to assist in combat anyway.

“So you already know about Earth and Venus knight…” Sophia’s small amount of composure fades before she hugs Artemis. “I called a meeting, but I don’t really know what are next steps are going to be with the two of them gone. I couldn’t stop Kousuke and Kenji from getting hurt, so how can I possibly help the others? And Scorpio… I don’t know… I can’t do anything against him. Everything I need to do seems so impossible now.”

She sobs for a few seconds before quickly drying her eyes. “I still to meet with Amarissa to see if she is holding up ok in a few hours. I can’t have it look like I’ve just been crying this whole time…”

She finally sees the pile of hair on the windowsill. Cleaning up her room was always harder when Artemis was stressed. His white hair stood out in an otherwise colorful room. “I’m sorry for not coming home last night. I was really upset, and I ended up staying with Valdis.”

"...You speak to the others, you form a plan, and you carry it out. Fighting evil is always going to be challenging. The reality is that loss will happen sometimes. However, the Silver Princess can always restore those who fall in battle." Artemis says with a small sigh feeling horrible for Sophia right now. Artemis shakes his head when Sophia starts cleaning up.

"No, don't worry. I made my mess, I can clean it up." the white cat states, beginning to paw his fur into a small pile. "Just rest right now and get yourself together. Things will be alright in the long run, you can't let despair fills you the second you have a setback or Chaos already wins."