When Sophia would get back home, she would find a black car outside the unit on the base that her family resided within. Two men with black suits, along with a few soldiers would be talking to Colonel Torres outside the home. The Colonel was in full uniform this time. The scent of exhaust in the air would lead the obvious conclusion that the car was running and ready to go as it was. When Sophia came into sight, one of the men in the black suits would speak to the Colonel, whom reluctantly nodded and walked over to Sophia, meeting her on the approach.

"Sophia, I need to borrow your afternoon. There is an important person you need to meet right now." he says, calling her out before her instinct might compel her to try to hide from being noticed. Artemis stares out the window, his fur on edge and raised. The white mau was worried: had they found out who Sophia was somehow? Was there going to be some kind of backlash?

Meanwhile the men in black approached the vehicle and gestured for Sophia to come, waiting for the young girl to come in. The seriousness of the affair might admittedly cause some anxiety. The colonel sighed as he was sure the dramatic presentation would not look inviting.

"You aren't in trouble, it's just a chat, you'll see, okay?" the colonel says reassuringly, tapping his daughter on the shoulder to reassure her before approaching the vehicle, hoping Sophia wouldn't make a scene of it.

It wasn’t like she had never seen her dad in uniform, but combining that with the several men in suits and black car certainly put Sophia on edge. Her unease shows a bit on her face, but considering the circumstances that was more than a reasonable response. Did they find out about her somehow? Did the JSDF somehow figure out who she was? That would probably put the American military in an odd predicament, but she gets the feeling that there would be significantly more people involved if that was true.

“Oh… ok,” she responds to her father. She looks at Artemis through the window as she gets guided away. Hopefully, if she didn’t come back, he’d be able to find a way to leave and get to the others.

“And this is one of those talks that can’t be done at home.” She isn't sure she entirely believes her dad, but it's a little reassuring. She enters the vehicle, wondering where they were headed and what would be discussed. It would seem terrible for her time being a senshi ended due to interference by the American military. She still appears on edge, but she does a good job as restraining most nervous actions.

As Sophia gets in the vehicle, one of the men in black touches an earpiece and speaks into it in a cool, professional voice: "The chick is in the egg, proceeding to the nest"

The colonel gets in the vehicle as well, and the men in black take the front seats. The vehicle was clearly American, and even had US Government serial numbers on a panel in the front dash. The car would proceed past several armed gateways with US Marines in combat dress watching vigilantly, leading to a long, winding driveway that had eight feet stone walls on both sides along the entire way with cameras and guardsmen on top. Whatever was here, the security was absurd.

The Colonel was silent the whole way, perhaps mostly due to the fact that there was two men in black suits escorting them. After the end of the ride, an armed guard opens the door, as the Colonel gets out first and waits for Sophia to follow. Outside she would see a sizable structure which looked like a small estate that was turned into a command center. The American Flag flies overhead, as a number of manned turrets, anti-air guns, and a small platoon of soldiers kept vigil here.

The Colonel would then lead Sophia into the building, where two guards simultaneously enter a complex looking code onto a alphanumeric keypad. The men in black stepped forward and took the lead while the Colonel and Sophia would be ushered into the building. As they walked, The colonel smiles a little and looks at his daughter.

"You are about to meet a very important person, and find out one of the biggest secrets of the US Government." he says calmly, as the procession would eventually arrive at a pair of large wooden doors with yet more armed guards outside. The two men in black open either door and step in. Within would be a very patriotic, large office with computer equipment all throughout. Displays showing troop placements in the United States along with Obelisk locations and other targets of interest could be seen. Piles of paperwork were on tables and desks throughout the room.

At the desk, a man who looked ragged yet prominent could be seen looking at some documents. As Sophia and the others approached, he looked up with a gentle smile on his face. The short, crisp brown hair, the staring and piercing blue eyes, and the composure of a man who had the weight of the world on his shoulders. He wore a black suit that looked freshly dry-cleaned with a tie of the US flag's coloration. He steps up and walks around the desk to Sophia, extending a hand to Sophia.

"Good afternoon Ms. Torres, I apologize for the abrupt circumstances, but I had to speak with you after some recent developments." he says with the perfect poise and gesture of a practiced politician. Sophia may or may not recognize this man as the President of the United States, Alexander Castor. Ever since the Covenant outbreak, the head of the command chain's location had been kept and intensely guarded secret, and it may be perhaps now it finally made sense why there was a substantial US Military Presence in Japan when there was a war on the homefront.

"Your father, the good Colonel has informed me that you witnessed some very...unique individual who could stand up against the Covenant and actually make leeway against them. While I read his report, I would like to ask the young lady herself what she knew exactly, if there was anything that you may have just now remembered." he says as he then pauses and waits for the young lady's response.

The car ride would have been a lot more frightening if the phrase “the chick is in the egg” wasn’t used. Something about that phrase gave her the giggles. She tries to hold in a laugh, but isn’t too successful. However, she quickly regains composure and says, “Sorry.” She is quiet for the rest of the car ride after that.

She watches the scenery pass them by, trying to figure out where they are headed. She goes through a list of possible scenarios, but is surprised to see the small estate. It is not exactly the location that she was expecting. With all that security, she can’t help but wonder goes on at this place.

She nods as her dad says that she is about to see one of biggest secrets in the US government. Now, she was a little excited rather than scared. Upon seeing President Castor, she gets star-struck again. She thought she was done with that, but nope. She shakes his hand, “Good afternoon to you. It really isn’t a problem. I didn’t have much planned today anyways.”

And then finally, she hears the reason why she is here. The Art Exhibit event. Well, this was far preferable to everyone discovering the fact that she was a secret superhero. She wonders how much more detail would be safe to give though. “I remember a bit, but there's still a gap from when I think I went unconscious,” she says, apologetically.

“I can try to describe them a little better though. There were two boys. One sort of looked normal-ish. Hoodie with the hood up, green sweat pants, golden mask. Very tall. The other had a loose white shirt with yellow and white armor. It almost glowed around him. He had a white cape and mask. The two girls were dressed similarly though. They both had skirts with bows in the back, one of those sailor collars, tiaras, boots, and chokers. One had an outfit with orange, yellow, and white. The other was just blue and white. The girl in orange had long brown hair while the girl in blue had long white hair. The one in orange said something about being a guardian of love and light… The girls had bows that they called from out of thin air. The armored boy had a sword, which radiated light. The other boy had a stone quarterstaff. And that’s about it... They didn’t seem too affected by the girl who changed into… whatever that was. She didn’t have any eyes… green skin. And she had a paintbrush… I felt really tired. I think I passed out after not too long.” She feigns some uneasiness despite feeling rather calm in actuality. With Scorpio handled, she felt much more at ease with looking back at the past. Still, she keeps the act of frightened young girl, making nervous gestures likes running her hand through her hair repeatedly.

She shakes her head, “I can’t recall anything else until seeing the dying man with the scorpion tail. And I rather not remember that part…”

President Castor smiles warmly and patiently waits for Sophia to describe her experience in detail. There wasn't much in the live interview that the report didn't cover, and as she came to a pause, the President calmly walked back to his desk and then sits, leaning forward, clasping his hands under his chin while looking at Sophia, perhaps to judge how much she was telling and how much she wasn't. The President had a feeling deep down she knew more than she was saying, but to push might scare her.

"I see. Well I am sorry for the experience you went through that night, though I am surprised you recovered in time to see the end of the battle. Normally Covenant creatures attack normal humans through an 'energy wave' for lack of a better term that draws on the mind and electromagnetic fields that the body emits. It compels rapid ATP exhaustion, and often the body's inability to keep up is why most people fall unconscious unless they get an adrenaline surge going. Or at least that's how the science people explain it to me..." he says, as he opens a panel on his desk, and pulls up a few holographic displays.

"The reason I wanted to talk to you today, is that yesterday there was an event in the Shibuya district where a number of people much like you described engaged battle against what the Japanese call a Class V Covenant, or more commonly known as a Zodiac. To date, Zodiac level entities have been unfathomable engines of destruction that we haven't been able to touch, but somehow these...superheroes...managed to destroy it..." he says, popping open a satellite feed of the battle which was angled directly overhead and too distant to see any specific faces or details.

"The grisly details of 'Scorpio's' death aside, this Zodiac's demise has had an interesting effect. In the twenty-four hours since his defeat, all battlefronts on the American continent have had extremely high levels of success in the engagements that have erupted since then. The ground forces of the Covenant are in disarray, and their energy based abilities even seem unstable. We have repelled them from every offensive attack they had started, and have even destroyed a few of their outposts which had before been too difficult to penetrate due to energy shields." he says, pulling up a few feeds of various battlefields where the American soldiers were quite easily pushing the Covenant ground forces back, a perhaps reassuring sight to see humans and armored vehicles pushing back youma and corrupted humans with ease.

"...I have got to admit, this is the first time it's felt like we had a chance ever since this whole thing started. The Covenant have begun to regain their composure by this point, but even after the fact they still seem a little weaker than they were before. The current theory is that the Zodiac's death had some kind of organization wide effect that lingers. Think of it like a computer network that has taken extensive damage and performs at a lower capacity than before. What I'm trying to figure out is their secret...trying to find out how they can do it and then applying it to a large scale offensive to bring the entire organization to justice and eliminate the threat once and for all." he says, as he leans back and takes a breath.

"Plus, this is something that has been kept quiet, but the one that looked like the grim reaper has been known to appear on our battlefields sometimes and attack the Covenant directly, cutting down impressive numbers in quick order...that one might scare me the most, after this video was made aware to me..." he says, pulling up the monitor again and showing a scene that appeared to be the dusk of day. Nazo was standing in the center of a large battlefield with tens of corpses of youma around him. His posture and disposition seemed far different than Sophia may have been used to: there was a clear intent to kill this time. He begins to float and hold his axe-scythe in front of him, spinning it once as a seal of green energy is drawn in the air. A bright flash manifests, as a huge gate of metal and bone appears in the air above the battlefield, while Nazo hovered near it. The gate had ten chains on the front of it, and the doors bulged and smashed forward, as if something within were desperately trying to get out. Nazo brings his weapon up and smashes it down upon the gates, shattering the chains as two giant, skeletal arms stretch out and grasp either side of the gate, pulling it forward and opening. There is a second of silence, before a surge of skeletal entities, ghosts, and hell hounds surges forth, at which point the feed cuts to static...

"The feed ends there, but when we sent a team in to investigate the day later, there was no trace of the large Covenant platoon that was on that field...our scouts estimated there were at least five thousand in that group that were marching on Dallas, possibly saving hundreds if not thousands of soldier and civilian lives in the process...but the fact that something out there can pull that much power out is terrifying, even if it is on our side." Castor says, then taking a deep breath and pausing, before looking at Sophia again.

"At first we thought it might have been some secret Japanese project, but when their military turned on them it was clear they weren't playing on the same team. The Japanese are notoriously xenophobic and distrustful...however I see this as an opportunity." he says, pausing and then leaning back in the seat.

"I don't know if these are kids that go to your school, or they live in some other dimension. I am hoping for the former somehow, as I would like very much to find some way to cooperate with them. I wish to learn how they can do what trillions spent in research and equipment could not. I want to keep the pressure on the enemy and find a way to defeat them once and for all." he says, standing up and then walking to a window, smiling a little and looking out into the snowy field outside.

"If there is anything else, then please don't be afraid to share it. I have no interest in harming those, and if they are friends at school or if there is anyone that seems suspiciously like the ones in question, then maybe let me know so I can arrange for someone to contact them." he says, pausing and hoping the impassioned speech might have jarred some new information forward: it was understandable that if she did know anything else she might be scared to share it: the reason he showed her all of this was to create a sense of trust and urgency, to see what else could be gained in this situation.

Sophia gets the feeling the president isn’t buying her story exactly when he brings up ATP exhaustion. However, she can’t make enough sense of what he is trying to explain to her. They never really covered this in her biology class after all. So she ends up looking at him a little blankly like a student at a teacher when they don’t really understand the material.

She is thankful for the change in subject, even if it a story that she already knows. She finds it interesting that they were watching the battle the entire time. At the same time, it’s almost somewhat embarrassing watching a replay of your own actions. The other members looked so cool though, but they always did. However, she does her best to keep a solid poker face through it, intently watching the screen as though she was seeing this for the first time.

Then, suddenly to the American fronts. She always wanted to have some kind of worldwide impact. As she watches the feeds, she wonders where Gabriel was in all this mess. Which front was he at? Did they all feel hopeful after these new successes?

The video of Nazo catches her off-guard though. She makes a horrified expression as she watches the skeletons, ghosts, and hellhounds get unleashed. Hopefully, it could be passed off as a teenager seeing what amounted to something from a horror movie actually becoming reality. Who was Nazo actually? Some gatekeeper of hell? No trace… where did they all go? It brings to mind what Scorpio said about being banished to a realm made of nothing but nightmares. But he wouldn’t do anything like that, would he? It makes her a little queasy thinking about it.

After the president continues talking, it’s obvious that he is pressing her for more information. Having some group that didn’t want to kill them was a nice offer. It would be the first one actually. But how could she do this in a way that didn’t reveal her or the others?

“They saved my life… without the knightly one, I wouldn’t be here. And it looks like they saved others as well. I don’t want to see them being shot at or hurt by the people that they want to save. I don’t really want to see them hurt at all…”

She looks conflicted. Was it worth taking a chance? The benefits of having an ally for once were worthwhile. She really wants to trust him too. “I don’t really have a hotline for them if that’s what you’re looking for. But if I could arrange them to meet with one of them, where should I tell them to go?”

"Yeah that was kinda the expression I had when the science guys explained it to me the first time too, don't worry about it." Castor says with a warm, amused smile at Sophia blanking out from the scientific terminology.

President Castor rubs his chin as Sophia goes from 'I don't have a hotline' to 'If I could arrange for a meeting...'. An interesting shift in direction. Not quite one-eighty, but certainly a one-twenty. She had to be aware of at least one of them. Of course, spooking her right now would probably cause more problems than it solved: interrogation or having an agent stalk her wouldn't work. After a moment's silent thought from Sophia's inquiry, he leans forward.

"If you should happen to have that opportunity arise, I would have to send one of my agents, since my own personal location's secrecy needs to be maintained. When the Covenant wars started besieging Washington, it was deemed necessary to relocate to what is the 'safest place in the world'. My top Generals insisted to the point of threatening to resign. While I don't appreciate the gesture and I would as a matter of pride prefer to be back home, I reluctantly have to see the logic." he says, his expression dampening briefly showing genuine shame and regret at not being able to be on American territory.

"Just inform your father, and he will be capable of reaching me for the arrangements, should that opportunity arise." he says with a calm smile.

"Young lady, on a less serious note, how have you enjoyed your life on the base so far, living in another, radically different country? Even with the world's circumstance I imagine there is a fair amount of excitement. he says then pausing. Sophia could certain ask any questions she wanted during the moment of silence that would follow.

Sophia smiles brightly back. She’s a little surprised at how understanding the President was, but endlessly grateful. Maybe there was some hope for an alliance between them and the military. Fleeing after every battle would prove to be a little difficult.

“That makes sense. Alright, in such a circumstance, I will talk to my father.”

How was living in Japan? That was an interesting question. It wasn't one she received too often. “I do like living on base. It sometimes seems like a piece of the U.S. in another country. Sometimes, I see myself on the border of two cultures. Have you ever read ‘Storytellers without Souls’ by Yoko Tawada? She’s the reason why I ended up teaching myself German. I think she captures the idea of living in multiple cultures well.” She laughs, “At this point, I think in both English and Japanese. When I’m writing for myself, I’ll jump between the two.”

“As for excitement, this was probably the most exciting thing to happen in my life. Well, besides thinking about the school dance… But this makes that feel really mundane,” she jokes.

When Sophia went into a bit about how she was living in Japan and an author of a work that she liked, President Castor nodded and smiled warmly. The older man seemed genuinely interested to hear how one of the citizens of his troubled nation was faring, enjoying the positive news for once instead of something negative and inherently bad.

"That's excellent. I will have to read that book at some point when time allows. I have had to take an accelerated Japanese course myself, but I don't get much practice outside of dealing with the occasional member of Japanese government and I still use a translator during those meetings." he says, then chuckle a little when she talked about the school dance.

"Just enjoy yourself. I'm sure a lovely young lady like yourself is the object of desire for many young men, just act responsibly to make certain your father doesn't worry." he says, then turning to the Colonel with an amused smile.


"Ah yes, that reminds me. Colonel, you'll be happy to know that your son has been promoted to Field Commander in the Floridan Front. He performed fantastically during the pushback and led an offensive into a Covenant compound, liberating a number of captured civilians. When this is over, I'll have to put him in for a Silver Star." he says, while Colonel Torres nodded. He then stood up and looked at Sophia warmly.

"Well then. I don't want to take any more of your time young lady, I again apologize for having to infringe upon it. If you want to ask me anything, by all means, but I'm sure you and your father are quite busy." he says. "I thank you both for this meeting and the information that was given. I hope that I will be able to find a way to contact these young...activists soon."

Sophia nods. “They say Japanese is the hardest language to master for the native English speaker. So if you pick up anything after that, it’ll be a ton easier by comparison. At least, that how I look at it.”

She blushes a little at the mention of young boys. “Thank you. But I’ll just be going with a group of friends, I think. So no reason for dad to worry.” She still needed to organize a trip to get everyone’s outfits ready. That’d have to be done next week or something.

The news of Gabriel becoming Field Commander is surprising. Florida… she’d have to remember that too. From what the document said before, that was thankfully a more stable front. She wonders though, if she’ll see him when they went to Virgo’s Citadel.

“It’s not like I had too much planned this evening,” she says. “And it was a pleasure to meet you. I’ll do my best.” She takes a look at her father for some kind of indication on what was to happen after this.

"Okay then, if you don't mind waiting outside I would like to have a word with your father on some work related matters..." Castor says with a warm smile, patiently waiting for Sophia to depart the room where a marine would escort her to a waiting area near the front door of the building as per security protocols, but otherwise being no obvious threat to the young woman. Castor looks at Colonel Torres, folding his hands in front of him.

"So, Colonel, what do you think?"

"...I feel like she's aware of more than she's letting on, but what exactly that might be I don't know. She's also been out of the house more lately, and I swear sometimes I hear her talking to that cat a little too much muffled through the walls." he says, then frowning looking in the direction of the doors.

"I agree with at least the part about her knowing more...do you think she will come clean of her own volition? I don't want to pressure her and scare these gifted individuals off before they have a chance to do even more. Destroying Scorpio is a huge step forward that we've been needing, a chance to push back." he says, then watching as the Colonel's face contorts.

"I see...so you don't want me to try to pull parental influence unduly. You do realize, that if she is associated with one of them, or god forbid, one of them, I am not exactly...enthusiastic about the prospect of her being directly involved in the Nihilim War." he says, to which Castor nods and then frowns a bit.

"Yes, but at the same time, we have to consider the fact that the Nihilim won't give us forever to find a secret new technology to defeat them with. And do you think she would want to stand by and do nothing? If it comes to that, then the decision should ultimately be with her. I know that in a situation like this, the rules are a bit...different."

....Fifteen minutes later....

Colonel Torres comes back out with a small stack of folders under his arm as he looks to Sophia and nods.

"Let's go home Sophia, I believe that you are quite busy today yes?" he says perhaps a little too casually as he begins to walk out. Sophia could probably tell that something was bugging him, but he wasn't inclined to bring it up right here and now. The black armored sedan outside would be waiting, and once Sophia and the Colonel would get in the vehicle the process of exiting the presidential compound would begin with the layers of checkpoints and winding roads.