Enter Caduceus

[srwu_npc]

After the fight around the medical camp, relief has arrived. Machines belonging to an unfamiliar organisation appear and activate some kind of smaller devices around areas damaged by the brief fight.


"The damage is nowhere near as severe as speculated... oh well. That is only for the better. Your job here is the same, regardless."

The woman seems to be in charge. She contacts anyone present as around her the devices start doing their work - releasing familiar-looking, if small clouds of shining matter. Clouds that start to reconstuct buildings and heal minor wounds...


"Excuse me. Caduceus chief executive officer, Setsuna Zeeck. Are you an acquintance of Willis Clades? He is currently supposed to be a member of Unity Group."

Comments

[a_linear_mind]

I'm guessing you already have a good idea as to why, or else you wouldn't be here yourself.

So what do you need me for then?

[srwu_npc]

"I'll be blunt, then. What do you know about the crystal monsters?"

[a_linear_mind]

So much for small talk then...

I'm not sure how much you already know but they were created by rogue U.I.I.N Cells. They assimilate human hosts to turn them into a working Core before building the creature around them.

[Willis looks over to a nearby swarm administering medical care to one of the workers to emphasize his point. He had to say all of this in a way that didn't show his own personal relationship to the origin of the creatures.]

I thought they were all destroyed years ago but I've been shown very clearly that they weren't.

[srwu_npc]

"That was wishful thinking but no, they were not. And now... I take it you didn't forget the name Silvius Christianson. You may want to know that as soon as the crystalline chimaera started to appear again, he took a leave of absence from most activities regarding his position in the Olympios Conglomerate."

"Coincidence? I think not."

[a_linear_mind]

...as much as I want to believe it, I can't make that kind of accusation without any hard evidence.

[It was something that always hovered around the edges of his thoughts. That the Antarctica Incident might have been intentionally caused by Silvius to test the limits of the U.I.I.N System but...]

I'll keep it in mind though. Thanks Setsuna.

[Perhaps it was just an assumption but he got the feeling that if Setsuna came here to pass this information to him she had to know something that he didn't. Even if she couldn't speak about it directly.]

[srwu_npc]

"Hard evidence or not: the fact is, Aegis has sided with Chimera now. That means the Conglomerate is only two companies. If anyone tries to take us over by force - we will have little means to resist."

"Regardless... I have no intent of bowing down to anyone. And I hope my counterpart in Ono-Sendai thinks the same way."

Setsuna turns around, considering the conversation over.

"..."

"Watch yourself around Aegis, Willis. The last thing I want is to lose someone I care about."