64B threw her helmet down on the ground. "Damn it! Goddamn them all!" she shouted. Her echoes were not responded to in the empty building shell.

Meanwhile, 22B made her grief known in her absolute silence. She sat in a curled up ball, her head pressed against her knees.

"First 7S gets critically injured, and then 4H fucking dies?! What the fuck is the point of these black boxes if they never save us?" 64B shouted. "If they never save them?"

"It was just, it was just an accident. It wasn't anyone's fault. We were just unlucky," 22B murmured out, forehead pressed against her legs.

"No, there's no fucking way. The Commander, the council, or whoever the fuck is up there has it out for us," 64B said. "I don't know what me, or you, or 7S, or the Captain did in a past life to get this shitty deal but I know I'm sick of it. Once 7S gets patched up we're getting to the bottom of this, I want to find out why and stop this bullshit."

22B was silent for a moment before she said, "I just want to stop, I just want all of this to stop."

Those words rang an alarm bell in 64B's memory. They were echoes of sentiments of friends she lost. "Whoa whoa whoa, stop right there." She knelt down in front of her friend. "We'll get this done easily. It's not a problem. We just need to look around, ask to find out who's responsible for this nonsense, and take it up to an operator we can trust. We'll take it up directly with the Commander if we need to. Okay?"

22B nodded, not even looking up.

"Okay, good. We'll just wait here for the Captain to get back and we can get started and fix all of this." 22B seemed to accept the words, but she wasn't reacting better, or recovering maybe. 64B wasn't sure how to situate herself, she didn't want to make things worse. She was torn between trying to physically comfort 22B or let her have her space. After a moment of standing she finally decided to compromise between the two and sit next to her, about half an arm's length away.

The silence ticked on as the two friends and squadmates waited. Neither of them could even expect an Operator to interrupt the monotony, they already did that earlier today.

And then 22B shot up from her position, looking towards the entrance. 64B stood to ask why when she heard the cause: two sets of footsteps. For a moment 64B considered it was 8B coming back with 7S, but pushed it away as impossible. No way would 7S be fixed up so quickly.

A few figures revealed themselves in the open arch of the building. First was their captain 8B, as stoic and strong as always, second was 7S, completely fixed up, and the third figure was a man carrying 7S.

"Is that the Red Mercenary?" 22B asked.

8B nodded her head. "Yes, and he'll be helping us escape this war."

"And you're sure we'll be safe from the Machine Network too?" 64B asked.

"Yes, the area you're being sent to is a complete deadzone of wireless communication. Only a very narrow bandwidth of radio frequencies are able to be used," Archer said.

64B looked back to see how her squadmates (no, they weren't in the army any more. Friends) were reacting to this. 8B was as focused as ever, and 22B didn't seem too focused on the words, more concerned in 7S who was still unconscious in her arms.

"Come on guys, I can't be the only one with questions about all this," 64B said.

"Are there ways to resupply? Do we have any environmental concerns to be aware of?" 8B asked.

The man started to turn around the corner of the rocky outcropping before he stopped. "That's a good question. Um, yes to resources, there are a good number of broken down machine parts I have stored there, so there are raw materials to construct what you need. But I'm not sure how you'll fair climate wise. How good are you- sorry, your models in subzero temperatures?" Archer asked.

"We're good temperatures two hundred to negative fifteen degrees fahrenheit, long term speaking anyway," 8B said. "Our range is much better in the short term."

"Ah," Archer said. He ducked into a cave and came back out with a bundle of things in his arms. "You should wear these then, the Antarctic can get below those temperatures if you go inland." 8B took the bundle from Archer and unraveled a part of it. It was apparently multiple pieces of very thick clothing. She stored it away in energy storage.

"The Antarctic!" 64B said. "How are we supposed to get there?"

Archer motioned to follow him and moved away from the cave and towards the shoreline farther ahead. Stopping at the thin amount of sand and pointed at an object floating by the shore. It was a boat. A small one.

"You expect us to make it six thousand miles in that thing? Even with the fact that we don't have to deal with waves normally, it would just take one storm to sink us," 8B said.

Archer walked over to the boat and said . . . something. 64B's language processors couldn't translate what it meant or even what language it was. She did pick up the name "Jason" and based on Archer's inflection it wasn't complimentary. Bright blue symbols painted and carved along the frame flashed with light. The boat kind of had a shimmering field wash over it as it repositioned itself in the water.

"This boat has protections for its passengers within. For the distance it travels much faster than other crafts by bending the space around it," Archer explained, gesturing to the boat. All three of the conscious androids stared at the thing in confusion and shock.

"The shit?" 64B asked. "You want me to believe you're giving such advanced tech to some deserters? No fucking way, you're probably an E type trying to kill us without getting your hands dirty. I'm out." As 64B turned to walk away, she heard her friends gasp in shock and a shift in movement. Before she could even react, her legs froze in place. She looked down. There were no restraints on her legs; she knew she wasn't hacked into, she was capable of sending a signal to her legs to move. 64B just was entirely incapable of moving her legs.

Looking behind her, 64B saw Archer with his hand stretched out, and a simple sword stabbed into the earth behind her. All of her friends all stepped forward, ready for a fight. She couldn't connect what was going on and how it was affecting her.

"There are many things about the world that people don't understand," Archer said. "I'm a researcher trying to find a way to stop this war. Is it so crazy to believe that I want to use something I learned and have to stop the suffering of the people in front of me? Not all mysteries have to be cruel."

And then, after monologuing at her, Archer walked up to the embedded sword and pulled it from the ground. The force rooting 64B in place ended, and she stumbled forward, not able to readjust her motors in time. Her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to figure out what the fuck that was. "I wasn't hacked, it was definitely a physical force. Magnets maybe?" 64B thought. "But he walked through the area just fine, and only my feet and legs were restrained. Maybe it was directional? No, that doesn't make sense, if it was directional wouldn't it be more useful to freeze my whole body. I was on sandy ground so that couldn't have been magnetized." The only odd thing she could think of was that the sword being under her shadow, it wasn't shaded.

Her processors almost collapsed trying to piece together what that clue suggested. She shook her head. She was a soldier, not a scientist, no point working out how it worked. "Fine," 64B said. "You have some super advanced tech. I'll-"

"What was that?" her ex-captain shouted. "What did you do to 64?" 8B shouted at Archer. The android stepped up to him and wrapped her fists around his armor's collar and pulled him closer. "If you harmed a hair on her head I don't care if you could get us to the moon, I'll end you right here."

"I never was going to hurt her, I didn't hurt her. I was just demonstrating my abilities," Archer said, trying to placate her.

8B snarled. "I'll show you a demonstration." And then she reached one hand up to his throat and wrapped it around. 22B was getting nervous by the display, but 64B knew it wasn't a problem. She knew her captain: she was just going to rattle him a little. But then 8B froze. Her grip went from a steely hold on the center to a pressing on the side of Archer's throat. Archer winced as 8B probed his neck. Eventually she stopped, and then her eyes widened.

"8B, what's going on?" 64B asked. But the woman didn't respond. She stood there, holding Archer's throat, looking up at him in shock.

"Are you . . ?" she trailed off.

Archer nodded slightly, careful of her grip. "Yeah."

"What are you doing here?" she whispered.

He smiled. "Like I said, I'm here to stop this war and all this suffering."

"How? Why now?"

"Because I couldn't before, but now I can," he said, as if that explained anything.

But apparently it did for 8B. She ducked her head down, and the grip on his neck loosened. She kept two fingers resting on his neck. "Then-" she licked her lips. "-you're not mad we're leaving the war? That we're deserters?"

Archer shook his head. "Of course not. You did your part, you sacrificed so much, and now you want to protect what you have left. You did a good job."

"You, you mean that, sir?"

64B almost glitched from shock. She's never, in her life, heard 8B use the word "sir" for anyone, not even the Commander. At least not as sincerely.

Archer nodded, no longer worried about her touch on his neck. "Of course."

And then 8B threw her arms around his torso and slammed into him. Her eyes were closed and her ear was pressed hard into his chest. "Thank you, thank you so much. You have no idea what this means to me." And in 8B's arms, Archer awkwardly returned the embrace.

64B and 22B shared a bewildered glance. Looked like 22B didn't have the slightest idea either. 64B was starting to consider if she was infected with the Logic Virus and this whole afternoon was a hallucination while she was actually slaughtering a bunch of androids. That might've been more understandable.

Eventually Archer patted her back and she let him go from the hug. "But if you could do me a favor and not tell anyone for now?" he asked. "I'm worried it will get in the way of my work."

8B nodded her head sharply. "You got it." When she turned around she jolted, as if just now remembering the two of them were still there. Instead of saying anything, 8B just speedwalked to the boat. "Well, let's not waste any more time here ladies, we've gotta get out of here before Yorha realizes what's going on." And without another word she stepped into the boat.

22B shared one last look with 64B before she gently stepped onto the boat after the ex captain and placed little 7S down next to her. 64B was the last one on. Archer walked up to them and handed 64B a piece of paper. "The command on the left is what you say if you need to stop the boat, the one on the right is to get it started again. I wrote the commands down phonetically."

She opened it up and read the one on the right. "Euryproktos Jason?" she said hesitantly. The boat lurched forward. Ever so smoothly the watercraft coasted across the water towards their destination. The three of them were barely able to shout out their thanks and goodbyes before they were out of casual earshot. Archer's figure on the shore shrunk, and 64B could see 8B sneakily trying to get peeks of him over her shoulder.

As the boat increased distance from the shore their speed picked up. But it wasn't just from whatever was propelling them. Looking at the surface of the water, 64B could literally see the space bend and warp underneath them, made clear by the water.

The boat was silent for a long time, the ex-Yorha androids were used to long periods of silence afterall. Besides, 64B was formulating a theory as to what the fuck happened back there near the end. And based on how 22B was going between making sure 7S was okay and glancing at 8B, she was thinking it too.

Eventually, when 8B decided to pass out the cold weather gear to them all, 64B broke the silence. "So, who was that guy? An ex?"

8B sputtered in shock. "What? No way! He's, there's no way we could've- even if he was my type we couldn't be in a relationship."

Now with other people, 64B would just ignore denials, and use the reaction as more ammunition for teasing. But she knew 8B, and she wanted to know what was going on. Besides, it made sense, that guy wasn't 8B's type. "So then what's his deal? Was he an old commander that you thought you lost?"

8B was quiet for a moment before she said, "Yeah . . . something like that. He- he wasn't my official captain or anything. I just looked up to him when I was a newbie. There- after some missions I didn't hear anything from him, I thought he was dead. I didn't realize how much I missed him until I realized it was him standing in front of me."

64B nodded, yeah, that all tracked. It was probably the only thing that could've made her serious, no nonsense captain react like that.

"I'm glad you got to see him before we left," 22B said. "And that we all got to meet him. He seemed very kind."

8B was quiet for a long moment before she said, "Yeah, I'm glad you all got to meet him too."

Shirou sighed as he hung up the call with Caster. The earful he got for using the boat on some "random androids" was much more than he thought he deserved. It wasn't like he destroyed the mystic code, he was just loaning it to someone who needed it instead of just having it lay there idle. The boat would come back. It was especially annoying how everyone else was basically on his side and did nothing to stop her scorn!

Shirou decided to not stew on it too much and instead do something productive. He pulled out his audio communicator. "Hey Emil, how's it going with the ritual? Need some more gold ore?"

"Uh uh," he answered. "I should be good on the materials front."

Shirou nodded his head to himself, he knew Emil couldn't see him but it was just out of instinct. "And how goes the magic circle for the leyline?"

"Great!," he cheerfully said. "I think barring any other complications, it'll be done in about a week!"

Shirou smiled. "That's good news Emil. Keep up the good work."

Emil laughed on the other end. "Of course, of course. You don't have to worry about me, I'm just as invested in this project as you! By making magic more accessible and healthier, my products are guaranteed to shoot to the top of the market!" he said.

No matter how much Shirou despised the rich and wealthy hoarders back in his own world and time, he couldn't help but feel an echo of joy from Emil. It was good that he had goals and dreams to fulfill that aren't based on war or violence. Lots of people had them still, few were able to act on them however. So Shirou saw the Emil's excitement to be a good sign.

"Hello? Archer? You still there?" Emil asked.

Shirou snapped out of his thoughts. "Sorry Emil, got a bit distracted. Were you trying to get my attention?"

"Yeah, I was just saying I'm totally fine doing this for you guys, we can talk about proper payment or ownership rights over the magic circle later. I'm just really interested in having a working relationship with you mercenary mages, I see us getting along great!"

"Yeah," Shirou said. "I just wanted to ask but: you're sure about this Emil? You don't have a problem that we're . . . mercenaries? That we aren't working in the best interests of the humans on the moon? It seems to me that all androids are pretty gung ho about fighting this war for them. You don't mind that we're more interested in accomplishing our own goals rather than fighting for them?"

Emil laughed. "You're asking the merchant, remember? I have no problem being a little selfish in a war. As long as you're not trying to kill them or me, you and I will get along great. And even the first one I wouldn't mind you doing it a little since I want to make the magic around here better too. I'm sick of everything being about this war. Pleasure doing business with you Archer!" And with that he terminated the call.

Shirou sighed. So, that at least meant they had one person would be okay if he revealed the truth? Maybe two people if he counted 8B. Shirou sat down on his cot and thought back to the planning meeting he had with the other Servants of Chaldea.

"So what are we waiting for?" Lancer asked. "We got the leyline fixed here, haven't we? What was the point of all that work if we aren't going out into the world?"

All the Servants sat around one of the conference room tables that were in the Chaldea base. Rider, the only Servant who could and was willing to lead sat at the "head" of the table (under Saber's insistence they got a round table to remind them all that everyone was equal, but Rider still always took the seat opposite of the projector screen as her "executive position"). Saber sat next to her, and Shirou would be damned if he didn't get the other seat left next to Saber.

Rider frowned. "Don't tell me you forgot the plan, did you? We need to send Archer and Assassin out first, since they're the best suited for these things."

"Why do we need them for information gathering? Didn't we get everything we needed from the scout?" Lancer asked, pointing a thumb over at Icy, who was observing the meeting off to the side. Saber, Assassin, and Shirou all weren't sure about having the admitted military scout watching the meeting, but they were outvoted and overruled by the other servants who wanted them here.

Rider shook her head. "The information we got from Icy, while valuable, can't be all we're relying on. We need to do things intelligently, and that means doing some of our own, unbiased scouting, and making sure we have the right first impression towards the current rulers."

Lancers eyebrows furrowed. "What's the problem? I can maybe get trying to avoid this "machine network," that sounds like a real piece of work, but shouldn't we introduce ourselves to the androids? Won't that be fine?"

Rider shrugged. "We don't know. Based on what Archer said, modern humanity's reaction to magic in general was never the best, not even mentioning how they'd react to a faction like us. While as much as I wish we could just help these soldiers fend off these invaders, we simply have our own goals and responsibilities we have to focus on. Only this way can we reattain our humanity."

"So wait," Icy said. "You guys are humans."

"Not quite," Saber said. "We were humans, but now we're partial reincarnations of them. Only by fulfilling our duties we were given during our summoning will we be able to have our freedom and complete humanity back."

Icy was silent for a moment before they said, "Sounds plenty human to me."

"Yes, but we can't be sure how the androids or the humans will react to that," Caster said. "Since we are partially shaped by prana, and not entirely flesh, we could be considered not human and have our goals dismissed, or we could be attacked as 'abominations' before we can make an alliance. They could see us as another faction of competitors for the planet and wage war with us too. There are many negative ways they could react to us, especially while facing such a long war."

Icy was silent for a long moment before they said, "I don't get it. Humans are humans. I think they'd respond just fine to more of them being around. But you guys know them better than me."

Rider chuckled. "We appreciate your optimism nonetheless little one."

"Alright, I guess I can understand all that. But why Assassin and Archer? In fact, why not just Assassin. He can totally hide himself," Lancer said.

"They'll be accomplishing two different goals that only they can do," Saber said. Shirou was a little surprised she was explaining it first, she was one the most adamant that Shirou not go out alone. "Archer will be gathering information publicly and by asking questions, we plan on having him pose as an outdated model that recently 'rebooted' and is trying to find his footing in the world. He can ask questions, establish a reputation, and understand the finer details of the relationship between androids and humans. And while doing all of that he can start working on improving the leylines over there."

"Wait, what's this about him improving the leylines?" Lancer asked. "Can't we wait until we reveal ourselves so Caster can do her thing? We're fine with the supply coming from the one here, right?"

Caster nodded. "Yes but if we do intend to fully reveal ourselves, I would like to have a more direct connection there, so that I can establish a Temple as a fortress against attacks if need be. Besides, no point in dawdling on our core task."

Lancer nodded to accept that.

"Meanwhile Assassin will be focusing on hidden observation," Rider chimed in. "More specifically, gathering information on the machine network and its weaknesses. He's uniquely suited since his presence concealment works even in the digital world due to one of his servant "bases" having fought in the Moon Cell virtual war. As of yet we can't begin negotiations with the machine network due to their absolute war mongering mindset. And we can't face them head on either since some of them don't even want to fight. The machine network is like Rome, using slaves of my own countrymen against me, I don't want to do that again!" Rider declared.

Lancer nodded. "Yeah, I don't really see anything honorable fighting against some people that are forced to. But why is Archer being our 'emissary?' Wasn't he a mercenary?"

"Who else would go?" Rider asked. "Saber has no interest in subterfuge or the foundations for the runecraft necessary to start improving the leylines over there. I'm best suited here, as my skills are primarily focused around defense. Caster, while a princess, has no experience in large scale war. And lastly Bers- Florence just flat out stated she doesn't have influence outside her fields of expertise. Archer is simply best suited due to his most modern experience and past in warfare politics as a mercenary."

"Unless you want to be our diplomat Lancer," Caster teased. "Maybe we could throw you at some high ranking female android and your Love Spot curse will spontaneously come back."

Lancer immediately crossed his arms in an x. "Nope, no way. Not dealing with all that again. I just want to be a knight and do my duty, not cause any more clusterfucks." He leaned back in his chair. "Okay, alright, I understand all this. Oi, Archer," he said, almost like a man shouting across the battlefield. "You better put all your focus on getting these androids ready for us to reveal ourselves."

Shirou nodded. "You got it, Lancer."

Shirou rubbed his eyes. He's been only able to confirm that two people would be okay with them total, and one he just shipped to the Antarctic to help them desert. He really was hopeless in doing anything other than trying to save people.

He tried to dig through the memories that were his, that weren't his, that could've been his, to find the answer to this problem. Never in any of his lives had Shirou been the first impression, representative for anything or anyone. The closest he was to that were the few times he was guarding some diplomats who were trying to make peace with a ruler or ruling power. And even in those cases, there was never this same type of intelligence gathering, or even the facet of eventually making a first impression.

Shirou flopped down on his cot in thought. Alright, screw trying to find a precedent. What was Shirou actually good at? Well, not diplomacy. He was good at doing the right thing even if people hated him for it, which wouldn't be great for this specific mission. But then again, it's not like he had to deal with outside journalists or people looking to put the blame on him. At least, no one needed to place the blame on anyone as far as he knew.

Shirou shook his head, he was getting off track. Okay, forget everything: the politics, the diplomacy, the subterfuge. Imagine if he was a mercenary android. He wants to help people and wants the resources to fuel his own goals, which included wanting to stop the war. There wasn't any real reason or authority for him to contact Yorha directly, unless he wanted to join (which Shirou was not interested in), but was there anything stopping him just walking into the camp and asking? As far as Shirou could figure, no.

He swung his legs over his bed and steeled himself. He had to stop avoiding the problem and face it head on, like he always did and was meant to. Besides, if he did something wrong he might learn more than doing everything carefully and "perfectly."

Anemone was in the middle of updating the war map and discussing some logistic problems with a commander on the field when she noticed him. Right outside her tent stood a medium sized, white haired, tanned man. He wore a red coat and carried a backpack. He stood just outside the strategy tent, standing to the side, staring ahead. Anemone didn't let her gaze linger on him too long or thoughts wander too far before she forced herself to focus back on the meeting she was in the middle of. She did motion for her second in command, Pike, to make sure he wasn't spying on her, but that's all the focus towards him she allowed herself to have.

Once she was finished managing the ammunition and battery supplies and "bargain" the amount of alcohol allowed, Anemone turned her attention back to the new visitor. He seemed to have taken Pike's command seriously and stood a good yard away from the tent. His torso was facing away and he was looking in another direction. Now with the time to look him over Anemone knew he wasn't anyone she knew, so not someone under her jurisdiction or anyone high ranking in other Resistance companies. Nearby ones at least.

With the white hair she was just briefly reminded of 2A and Yorha, but she immediately dismissed that thought. Yorha only just recently had male androids in production, and they were all young boys. So in summary of all her deduction and analysis, she only had a vague idea of who this guy wasn't.

She called him over, "Hey, new guy. I'm ready to talk."

The man turned over to her and walked over. He was a little stiff about it, but not doing a soldier's march or anything. Kind of a good sign, he was taking this meeting with her seriously while also trying to be as casual as possible.

"So, my second in command says you want to speak with me?" Anemone asked. Pike didn't actually tell her, but she already knew.

The man put out his hand for a handshake. Anemone took it. "Hello, my name is Archer. I'm a mercenary and I wanted to formally introduce myself to the leader of the resistance."

Anemone blinked. "Nice to meet you Archer. My name's Anemone. And I'm sorry to tell you, but I'm not the leader of the whole Resistance, just the leader of the area. What's an android like you being a mercenary?"

Archer took a breath. "My model was decommissioned a while ago and I just recently turned back online a few years ago. I decided to cut official ties with the Army of Humanity and work on my own goals."

Anemone nodded. "Alright."

Archer jolted. "Uh, forgive my rudeness but, that's it? You aren't, I don't know, angry that I'm working for coin?"

Anemone shrugged. "That's basically how some soldiers function around here anyway. Most don't cut ties off and declare themselves as 'mercenaries,' but that's fine. Why go all the way?" Anemone motioned him to follow her to the command tent. Archer wordlessly followed. He copied her by grabbing a chair and sitting down.

"Well," Archer began. "To be honest I never was able to fully fall in line in a chain of command, that's why I think my model got decommissioned. I decided that if I were to pursue my own goals after being forgotten by my 'superiors' that I might as well do it under my own directive than as something I squeeze in whenever I can."

Anemone nodded in understanding. "That's commendable. While I don't encourage people to leave the resistance, I get that you understand your position and I'm glad that you're still working with us. Honestly it's not that bad, we'd be working with you basically the same way we do with Yorha."

"Wait, what? I thought you both worked under the Council," Archer said.

"Oh, you got turned off a long time ago. What's the last thing you remember?"

"Ah, before I was reactivated I remember Atlantis going back underneath the sea?"

Anemone's eyes almost burst out of her head. "Damn, you're technically older than me." She leaned back in her chair to think. "Well, Yorha is the android organization that receives its directives straight from the Council of Humanity. They're the only ones the council trusts with their shipments and orders due to the fact they were specifically built by them and are better protected against the Logic Virus. The Resistance, while still serving humanity, has no direct chain of command. We were given our original directive to protect humanity and retake the Earth back from the machines, but that's it. So allies, but structured differently. We basically can only get them to work with us when we pay them to do certain tasks: they're almost never on the front lines, meanwhile the front lines are all we focus on."

Archer nodded in understanding. "I see. So the Resistance are the self organized and directed ground forces and main military force, while Yorha is something along the lines of a special ops company?"

"Yeah, exactly like that." As Archer put his hand on his chin in thought, Anemone considered him. "It's interesting that you use the term 'special ops,' that human term was outdated even by the time you were around."

"Oh, I'm a researcher," he said.

"I see, and does this research have anything to do with your personal goals?"

Archer went quiet, his head looked down in thought. Eventually he whispered, "What do you know about magic?"

Anemone frowned as she thought. It was obvious he wasn't just talking about fairy tales. " . . . it's a power that humans used to have, right?"

Archer nodded. "Now do you know how it worked?"

Anemone shrugged, easily able to admit she was completely out of her depth.

"Well, besides the specific system of runes, mysteries and rituals, there are two factors which I believe can be used magically by anyone." Anemone immediately leaned forward. "The first is culture and history. Based on records I've unearthed and some analysis I believe that there was a type of powerful magic items that were only fueled by the culture that produced it and the belief of people in it. These types of items and powers were almost always more powerful than anything else. The second factor is the environment. Magical power in things rely on the health of the environment around it, both naturally and magically speaking. Now, the world is certainly healthy nature wise, plants and animals are everywhere, and there are no urban environments. But magically speaking, based on what I can tell, it has decayed. I believe with certain treatments I can fix it, allowing more common magical items to be used."

"And what about actual spells? Could Androids reproduce those?" Anemone asked.

Archer grimaced. "Based on my research humans had a unique organ and process to do so. Androids might be able to reproduce it but it would require an upgrade if we even can." Anemone's shoulder sagged involuntarily; until he continued. "But based on some records, there are types of magic that don't require these organs: Alchemy and Formulacraft. Unfortunately, they are much more expensive and will require a lot of experimentation and materials to do anything useful with it."

Anemone sat back in thought. "While what you say is certainly . . . interesting," she said, trying to hide her excitement and hope. "Do you have any proof?"

Without saying anything, Archer reached his hand out to the side and summoned a red spear. When the motes of light finished forming the object, he gripped his hand around it. "This is a cursed spear from Ireland. It was gifted to a legendary warrior by someone from the Land of Shadows, the world of ghosts. It's said to have three abilities, and the first is this." Archer slashed his arm with the tip of the spear, leaving a small wound. He then used his other hand to summon a small knife, slashed his other arm, and dismissed the blade

While the knife's wound was made more recently, Anemone could see that it was closing rapidly in front of her eyes. "Now normally, all my wounds are closed and repaired with a small self healing unit I have," Archer said. "But wounds from the spear Gae Bolg can not be healed by any means until the spear is removed from the world." Saying that, Archer dismissed the spear back into storage, and immediately his wound started to recover at the same rate as the knife one. "I have a few other effects and magical abilities but they aren't as easy to demonstrate or aren't that easy to differentiate from advanced technology."

Anemone didn't realize her mouth was open until Archer stopped talking. "I will give you 1,000,000 G for that spear," she said.

"Sorry," Archer said. "Due to the nature of how I own it, I can't give it to others." Summoning it again, he placed it on Anemone's desk. She carefully went to pick it up, but as soon as her fingers touched the handle, the spear disintegrated into motes of light. Anemone cursed. She looked back up to Archer.

". . . I will let my researchers and others in the camp know what you're looking into. It should help if we're able to pool together our knowledge of humanity, right?" she said.

Archer nodded.

She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "So, it looks like I can rely on you combat wise, any other relations or skills I should know about?"

Archer thought for a moment. "Well, I'm decent with fixing mechanical things, not so good at software and the like, but good with hardware. I have a good sense of the local plants and fauna of the area. I can scout well, my stealth isn't the best but I usually rely on my good vision and senses. In terms of relations I just offer work and take jobs whenever I can. I have a few regular clients but they're unique individuals."

Anemone nodded, and just as a test asked, "What's your opinion on machines? Like, say hypothetically, you ran into some pacifist machines?"

Archer blinked. "You mean like the amusement park ones or Pascal's village?"

"You know about Pascal's village?"

Archer nodded. "Yeah, I do favors for them and they give me some mechanical replacement parts and the like. They seem like good people."

Anemone smiled at that. So she had one reliable source to do trading with them, that was good. "What was that about the amusement park though?" she asked.

"Oh, there's an amusement park that the machines took over. While the machines act festive and only interested in celebration and cheer, that's just a facade. They're still connected to the machine network. I think they're some type of experiment. If you need to, I think you can trust the resources you can get from them, but I wouldn't rely on or overly trust them to any extent," Archer explained.

Anemone nodded and noted it on a piece of scrap paper. "We'll try to get some data on it ourselves at some point. We just lost our most recent Yorha representatives so we don't have the manpower to spare for it right now."

"So, Ms. Anemone, are there any jobs you want to offer me right away? Or is our meeting done?" Archer asked.

"Please, just Anemone is fine for now," she said, suddenly feeling a little uncomfortable from the prefix. She thought about what she could have him do. Eventually she remembered a recent problem. "So do you know about the abandoned factory around here?"

Archer moved his hand in a so-so motion. "Heard about it but never had the time to check it out."

"Well, it's a good thing you didn't, it's technically under Yorha jurisdiction right now. However, Commander White asked me to send someone over to scout it for them for a mission. I didn't have the talent to spare at the moment so I told her no, she tried to convince me with an offering of a payment, but it didn't change anything since I was still lacking the manpower. But if you could go for me, you and I could split the payment she offered for us. How does that sound?"

Archer thought for a moment. "What would my cut be?"

"2 Complex Gadgets and 3000G."

"Make it 6 Simple Gadgets and with the pay decrease and I'll take it."

Anemone couldn't shake his hand fast enough. She grasped his gloved hand and shook it twice. "You know Archer, I have a feeling we're going to get along great in the future."

Archer nodded. "I hope you're right. I've . . . had really bad luck in the past in that regard so I hope this goes better, for both of our sakes."

Anemone smiled. "Me too."

But as she watched Archer leave, she couldn't help but notice something. Wow, she trusted that guy, like really fast. She didn't focus on his past, she didn't question the difficulties he had with authority, nothing. Her gut was telling her to trust the guy, that he was good and kind, but what if her gut was wrong? Rose followed her gut and look what happened to her, and Anemone wasn't even half the leader she was. Anemone suppressed a sigh as she thought about her duties and responsibilities. She wished she could do something better to guarantee her soldiers', her friends', safety than just how she's been doing so far.

I did it, made it technically still part of this year. I'm not sure how clear what I'm going for is, so if you're not certain about something please let me know! Either so I can go back and edit or clarify in a future chapter. Next chapter will probably take even longer since I think I'm going to work on my other work a bit.

Responding to Reviews:

Shirozaki Kizuro: Oh that'll be a fun scene

The Loud Person: While Shirou is a fascinating character, I can not wait to get to the parts where the other characters are more directly involved.

Giuseppe: You know, "slice of life" isn't what I would think to describe this but it does kind of fit. Never thought of it that way. I'll try to keep that in mind as a facet as the tone shifts.

Dasgun: =)

A Sleeping Moon: Yeah, now that you say that I agree. I just didn't want him to say "by the root" because I'm personally kind of sick of it. I don't know, I want to fix it but I don't have a good idea of how to change it either since Shirou isn't exactly a religious person, and neither is the Fate universe in general, so I'll have to mull it over or something.