Damn! It looked like the Tri-legion had turned to the Darkside. First Heather and now possibly Quincy? After all these years Chandler, the leader of Evil Sigma 6, finally got his wish. Hope you’re happy now you wicked little pupper.

All joking aside, the Director's words made me sick to my stomach. Even though I didn’t want to admit it I had always feared that something bad had happened to Quincy and now my worst fears were being confirmed. Well, one fear was confirmed and the other was about to take place if the first fear turned out not to be the case...it’s very crappy I know.

“You’re kidding right?” I asked.

Unfortunately, the Director’s words had held no humor, and judging by how the room’s mood went from depressing to downright mournful, I was sure she meant what she said.

“You seriously want to kill Quincy?” I asked, in disbelief.

“No one here wants to kill Quincy Dale; especially not after all he has done for Persona and for us individually.” She looked at Lisa and Matias as she said that last part. “But,” she continued, “we have a mission and a duty to safeguard our world from all threats tied to the Hidden World. Even if that threat happens to be one of us.”

“But-”

The Director held a hand cutting me off. “We can keep debating this forever but regardless of the reasoning behind his disappearance, whether he has been kidnapped or has gone rogue, one fact still remains the same. Quincy Dale is still missing. For the past two months we have been unable to locate him.”

Douglas nodded grimly. “The Director is right. We have to handle one thing at a time. The first step is to find Quincy. Ever since the cave incident it’s like he’s dropped off the face of the earth. He is nowhere in our reality or the Bridge.”

“Bridge?” I asked. “Wait, is that why he hasn't contacted mom and I in so long?”

“Yes, that’s correct. But rest assured we are doing everything we can to find him.”

“Yeah, so you can kill him,” I mumbled. “Also, how am I supposed to believe that you’ll find Heather if you all have had two months to find Quincy but haven’t been able to do that?”

I stared down at my feet. I was angry and justifiably so. These people, Persona, weren’t just ripping off the name of a quality video game franchise. They were also actively trying to hunt down and “eliminate” my big brother. To add a nice little cherry on this already sucktastic sundae it seemed like Heather was also a part of this whole mess. The Tri-legion wasn’t falling to the Darkside, no we were falling apart.

I think the Director sensed my growing agitation. “Mr. Dale,” she said in a soft voice. “I’m not one to make promises lightly but let me promise you this. We will find Quincy and your friend Heather. If they can be saved they will be but if not we will carry out our duty.”

This didn’t sound any different from what she had said before and as far as promises go this was far from comforting. But as I looked up and caught her eye, I saw something. The Lioness hadn’t summoned her mask but even still her eyes burned with a fierce determination.

*********

After my debrief, the Director dismissed me back to my “room.” Lisa and Matias stood to leave with me but a glance from the Director immediately stopped them in their tracks. Reluctantly, they retook their seats. I think I saw a tear form in Matias’ green eyes, poor guy.

I waited for what seemed like ages before finally there was a knock at my door. I didn’t even have time to answer it when it swung open and Matias and Lisa barged inside and quickly slammed the door shut again. Matias made a beeline for my bed and instantly collapsed face first on top of it. Lisa, never one to lose her composure, calmly took a seat in my desk chair.

“You guys are still alive,” I said. “Although, I would say barely. What happened?”

“That was so scary,” Matias said but his face was buried in my covers so it came out as “ta wa sho scory.”

“What happened?” I asked again.

Lisa turned to me. Her cheeks were starting to regain some of their color. “We’re on probation.”

“Probation? What for?”

“For helping you, Little Idiot,” Lisa said.

“What? Why?”

“We left our countries and home Orders to keep an eye on you. And let's just say we didn’t exactly ask for permission. So, of course, our Directors weren't happy about it,” Lisa explained. “I think we can thank the Commander that we only got probation.”

“Yeah,” Matias said as he flipped on to his back. “But I never want to do that again.”

“Agreed,” Lisa said.

These two didn’t make sense to me.

“You knew that you’d be punished but you still left your homes all to help me. Why would you do that? I didn’t even know you existed a month ago.”

Matias sat up. He and Lisa exchanged a glance.

“Well my bro Quincy asked for my help. So why wouldn’t I help him out?” he asked, confused.

“The Big Idiot is right; Quincy asked for our help in protecting you so we did,” she said simply.

“Dude, when a bro asks for help, you help him, it’s as simple as that,” Matias concluded.

I couldn’t do anything but stare at the two of them bewildered. As I did, one thought crossed my mind. These two, Matias of the Emerald Bull and Lisa of the Azure Dragon were either A) stupidly loyal or B) simply stupid. But still, I didn’t dislike that about them.

Just then there was a knock on my door. Matias instantly grabbed my pillow and held it tight. A moment passed and Lisa and Matias both stared at me.

“Oh, uh, come in,” I said.

The door opened and Pseudo Davos entered the room. “Director Jones has signed off on you returning home. You should be cleared to go in the next few minutes.”

“Thank God,” I said. “I have a lot of explaining to do when I get home. Mom’s never going to believe me.”

“Uh Little Idiot,” Lisa said. “You’re a nerd, so surely you know how this works.”

“Know how what works? What do you mean?”

Lisa rolled her eyes. “Obviously you can’t tell anyone about this. It would only put them in danger. Come on if you’re going to be a geek, you might as well be one of the smart ones.”

Again her tone bothered me. I glared at her and she glared back.

“What is y-”

“Ms. Mizuno, uh, Lisa is correct.” Pseudo Davos said.

Lisa smirked smugly.

“But she could have said it more nicely.”

“While would I?” Lisa mumbled.

Pseudo Davos ignored her and continued. “One stipulation of Persona allowing you to return home is that you cannot share any part of this with anyone. Doing so would make them much more easily susceptible to the influence of the Hidden World. We’re talking Shade possession, waking nightmares and even death.”

I nodded. I figured that’s why Quincy never told me about this. He’s not one to not share cool things with me.

Pseudo Davos smiled. “That’s good. The other condition is that you check in everyday after school is over. Lisa and Matias will lead you here.”

“Huh, why?” I asked.

“For training of course. Since you have bonded to the mask the Director thinks it best if we helped you learn how to use it. Unless,” he narrowed his eyes, “you rather we just kill you and give the mask to someone else?” His eyes glowed, and he took a step forward as tendrils of light wrapped around his fist.

Instantly, Lisa and Matias were on their feet forming a barrier between me and Pseudo Davos. Their summoned masks were on their face although compared to the Commander ’s and the Director’s their’s looked like toys.

“Sit down you two. This is between Deshawn and I,” the Commander ordered. Against their will Lisa and Matias obliged. Their masks disappeared and they backed off. The Commander continued his march toward me. I tried to back away but backed myself into a corner. Unable to do anything else I slumped to the ground and cowered. I remember mentally apologizing to my mom and promising to say hi to dad for her.

Pseudo Davos stopped when he was right in front of me. He looked down.

“I’ll ask again. Do you want to learn how to use the mask's power or do you want to die here and now? Persona doesn’t care either way, as long as the end mission of safeguarding this reality is achieved. Usually, those who join us have an easier choice, between living their regular normal lives or joining us in protecting this world. You, however, through no fault of your own, must make a far more difficult choice.” His face and tone were measured, controlled, clinical. Completely detached from the situation and any potential outcome. This person was not Davos Teare, the intense and overly passionate leader of the Halo Herald. “But still the choice is yours,” he said.

The choice is yours? This, this entire situation, is what Mrs. Kirks would probably call a logical fallacy. A False Dichotomy to be specific - see Mrs. Kirks, I paid attention...sometimes. Essentially the Commander was saying ‘join us, live this secret life and save the world or die.’ It was like asking me to join the Jedis or die. The answer was obvious. Seriously, there wasn’t a need for all the theatrics after all I had already picked out my codename.

Still though, like the Director, the Commander’s words carried weight. He was genuinely prepared to execute me right now if I picked the latter option. And that made me pause. Hmm, maybe this wasn’t a fallacy. This was coercion. But why? It was taking the whole “with great power, come great responsibility” thing way too far.

I swallowed and eventually blurted out my answer. “I’ll do it. I’ll join you guys. I’ll learn how to use this mask and help save the world.”

Commander Douglas stared at me for a moment but then his face relaxed. His glowing eyes and the light around his fist disappeared. “Good, I thought you would.” Then he exhaled a breath of relief. “Thank God. To be honest I’m not sure if I could have gone through with killing you, at least not myself. Plus, I doubt those two would have made it easy.”

It was then that I noticed that the metal armrests on the chair that Lisa was sitting in were broken off, the jagged pieces resting at her side. Matias also looked ready to fight. Somehow, he had managed to literally squeeze the pillow he was hugging earlier into a dense cotton ball. I’m not sure what he planned on doing with that but how he palmed it made it look like a deadly weapon.

“Once the command has been given, the Lions, no, the whole of Persona would have been after you,” Commander Douglas continued. “I was hoping to spare you that fate, and luckily it looks like I won’t need to.” He smiled again. “Come on I’ll give you a ride home. On the way, I can fill you in on your alibi as well as your cover story moving forward.”

“Uh…” I started but trailed off. This mood shift was so jarring. The Commander reminded me again of Davos. Taking matters into his own hands in order to protect the greater good from a far more terrible fate was a very Davos thing to do.

“Lisa, Matias, I can drop you off too if you want,” Pseudo Davos said as he left the room.

Lisa looked at me and for once it wasn’t a look of disgust, disappointment, or derision. Rather she looked sympathetic; like she had somehow been in my shoes before. But of course, the look disappeared almost as suddenly as it had appeared. She was back to glaring at me.

“Stop shaking,” she said. “If the Commander really wanted you dead, you’d already be dead. And I doubt the Big Idiot or I would have been able to stop him. In fact, we’d have all been dead the second he stepped into the room if he so wished.”

Matias nodded. “My big bro warned me that when it comes to the Lions there are two people I should never make angry. The Lioness and the man called ‘Calvary’”.

The Lioness? That had to be the Director. So Calvary must have been Pseudo Davos.

Lisa got up and left the room. “Commander Douglas, I’ll take you up on your offer,” I heard her say. She poked her head back into the room. “Big Idiot, do you want to grab a bite on the way?”

“Oh yes please,” Matias said. He dropped what had once been my pillow and it made an audible thud. Note to self - never have a pillow fight with Matias.

“Let's try that burger place again,” he said as he and Lisa chased after Pseudo Davos.

“No way, not after how much you complained last time,” I heard Lisa say. “You said you hated it.”

“I didn’t hate it. I just thought it was something else,” Matias corrected.

“I have a place we can try. My treat,” Pseudo Davos said. “How do you feel about spicy food?”

Again, the shift in mood caught me off guard. How on earth could they think about food after everything that had just happened? Especially since I’m pretty sure I almost died. Not to overstate the obvious but these people were not normal!

Just then my stomach growled, and I realized that I hadn’t eaten for three days. Ok, maybe food wasn’t such a horrible idea.

“Wait up guys,” I said as I rose to my feet and chased after them. “I call shotgun and we are not going to Wendys.”