At least the sun was out when the sentinels in the Aethereal Queen arrived at the entrance of the Novak University. Just like everyone else who comes into the University, they are immediately checked and scanned for credentials and weapons. Gamma Crucis was about to take off her sheathed katana from her side, but Rahkaze stopped her, who was checking in as well.

“No, don’t ever surrender your weapons here. Let them see it,” Rahkaze suggested.

Following his suggestion, Gamma Crucis and the others walked through the metal detectors at the security officers to identify their weapons.

Walking through the lobby, was a modern architectural marvel all in itself that even rivaled their own headquarters. It was quite obvious the architects took a lot of inspiration from the Vatican and seventeenth-century Spain. At the ill-fated and cheeky for some, but it’s that the message of purity and starting over.

While walking through the halls, the Crucis Sentinels in the Aethereal Queen were immediately being stared down by students and faculty alike. Of course, most of them were a part of the Oleander syndicate and resented the fact that a bunch of Aethereal users roaming through their territory.

“Hey, Alpha, when Quinten sets you up with an office, let’s talk,” Rahkaze whispered.

“Sure,” Alpha Crucis accepted. Rahkaze goes into another conference room.

It was then they were met by a jovial Olivia, “Lycka! It has been such a long time!”

Olivia approached Lycka as they hugged.

Lycka letting go of the embrace as she took a good look at her old friend, “Hey, Liv! I see you’ve taken yourself!”

“Yeah, I have been swamped. It’s so nice for you to help us, follow me!” Olivia offered.

Olivia and Lycka had known each other for many years, and their relationship has been amicable, which is very curious and strange for some. But that is another story for another day.

The Sentinels and the Aethereal Queen follows Olivia to the spacious boardroom.

“This will be your makeshift office with all of the essentials that you requested. Files on every operative of the syndicate are on the desk. Here are your card keys so no one can get in. You have my number if you need anything. Good luck, and thanks again,” Olivia cheerfully presented.

“No, thank you, Liv,” Lycka said as Olivia left the office.

The well-furnished office was spacious with six computers and office essentials. The Crucis Sentinels were amazed by one of the inner circle's cooperation.

Especially Alpha Crucis, who was rightfully suspicious, “Warm hospitality…”

“Makes you wonder if she is killing us with kindness…” Delta Crucis walks around the conference room.

Someone knocks at the door, and it was Rahkaze. He enters the room even shuts the door behind them and shuts the blinds, “Sorry, it took so long. I didn’t want to be seen. Had to check up on Chloe.”

“You mean Detective Constable Serpentine, Mr. Zayne?” Lycka reminded.

Rahkaze only shook his head as he addressed the Aethereal Queen, “They don’t care about rank. Who you are and what you are mean absolute dick to these people. Right now, and forever, she’s simply Chloe to these people.”

Alpha Crucis couldn’t help but monitor his behavior as he was indeed in fear but not for his own life, “Mr. Zayne, I didn’t know you worked for Oleander--”

“No--! I mean, unofficially… And please, just call me Rahkaze.” He passionately corrected as he looked around the conference room. He spotted the stack of personnel files, and he chuckled at the sight of them, “I see they gave you the dummy records already…”

“I figured they were worthless…” Delta Crucis said. “If I want to get any kind of information, I’ll find it myself.”

“I know more about them then the grandmaster himself, too busy jerking off to their workout photos… And yeah, he actually does that. Fucking pervert…” Rahkaze admitted.

Hearing this offer, Lycka accepted, “Okay, Mr. Zayne, what do you know about them?”

“Through Copeland,” he answered.

“Alastair Copeland?” Gamma Crucis guessed.

“No, his sister. He was too… scared to dig up anything on the Nether Elite. Even though he could have. But his sister, Cordelia, didn’t give a single fuck,” Rahkaze said.

The TV turns on and chimes three times, and a slightly disheveled Senna appears on the screen in the office.

“Mrs. Reese, good morning,” Lycka greeted.

“Morning? I have… I haven’t slept yet. I have been wrapping my head around Locke and Agent Winehouse all night, and it like peeling layers of an onion with a potato peeler!” Senna complained.

“It stinks that bad?” Epsilon Crucis added, fumbling with the coffee maker.

“Hilarious, funny girl. Agent Winehouse was working on gathering Intel from various prisons throughout Europe, mainly in England,” Senna said, typing on her keyboard.

“Such vast knowledge anyone would kill for,” Beta Crucis said while going through the stacks of dummy records. “Yes, but here is the weird thing. She maintained her silence from the CIA and withheld information from the agency.”

“I may have something that would be some of the importance,” Senna warns as she plays a video file with Lycka and Winehouse.

The video takes place in a car with Lycka in the driver seat and Agent Winehouse riding shotgun.

“So, it’s true. You don’t age at all, do you?” Winehouse detected.

“Guilty, and there was no need for the gun, Locke. If you wanted to talk to me, you could have inside the restaurant,” Lycka offered.

Winehouse shook her head, “no, I didn’t want to… Is it true? She’s still alive?”

“Just had dinner with her, remember?” Lycka answered.

“I know I waited for you. I know it’s her. This is all one big joke…” Winehouse contemplated.

“Usually, situations like these are…” Lycka reflected.

“Nothing changed. They’re coming back, Lycka. He’s marked. The wolves are out to get him and his family…” Winehouse warns.

“So, where have you been?” Lycka asked as it took Winehouse to answer truthfully.

“I have been lost in the echo. The galaxy I was in was very telling…”

A bit baffled by her words, Lycka wanted to learn more, “You don’t say?”

“Yeah, dealing with a huge man wearing his crown upside down,” Winehouse being cryptic.

Lycka shrugged her shoulders, “Why would he wear it upside down?”

Winehouse scoffed, “Who knows? But the smaller person next to him might know. Always sitting in her chair. She’s just as backward as he is.”

“What makes them so backward?” Lycka wondered.

“They think they could get away with it, chaining up their broken princess…” Winehouse explained.

“Someone has to know…” Lycka contradicted.

“Yeah. He was a big fish. He was under the man for a very long time,” Winehouse said as the video ended.

The Crucis Sentinels and Rahkaze himself were rightfully confused by the video.

“You were there?!” Alpha Crucis asked.

“I ran into Agent Winehouse hours before she was murdered. She knew she was marked for death as well,” Lycka concluded.

“There are a bunch of video files are in Agent Winehouse’s cloud-based servers. And she had plenty of them scattered throughout the net,” Senna said.

“She was right, you know… About the wolves coming back to hunt down the ones they got away. Ending up being hunted herself…” Rahkaze analyzed.

“People usually midstride wolves in general of being lustful and/or ravenous killers. The wolf is a symbol of guardianship, ritual, loyalty, and spirit. Having the ability to make quick and firm emotional attachments, and often need to trust their own instincts. Protective, but not combative. Thus, they teach us to do the same, to trust our hearts and minds, and to have control over our own lives. Highly organized and disciplined, they waste no time in accomplishing all your tasks. Also, they maintain diplomacy and avoid getting into any kind of argument,” Alpha Crucis lectured.

This made Epsilon Crucis laugh, “Too bad, none of them are here…”

“Delta, look into the University’s database and look up how many female wolf kemonomimi were in the Oleander Syndicate at that time,” Alpha Crucis ordered as Delta Crucis worked on her Aethereal powered laptop. She hacked into the Novak University mainframe and walked into Dolph’s and Olivia’s workstations and conducted a thorough search.

It only took her ten seconds to do so as Delta Crucis and asked her results, “ten, altogether. Ayeka Junichi, Dizzy Hayes, Gideon Blake, Kayla Anderson, Magdalene Locke, Natalia Silvestri, Ryoko Shimizu, Samantha Riesel, Clara Odon, and Kayo Azusa.”

“Not counting Locke, eliminate the one who was active five years ago…” Alpha Crucis, conducted as Delta Crucis, narrowed it down a few seconds later.

“Seven. Kayla Anderson, Ayeka Junichi, Ryoko Shimizu, Gideon Blake, Kayo Azusa, Clara Odon, and Natalia Silvestri.”

Even though Alpha Crucis pretty much knew who the potential suspects were, she had to be sure, “And how many were in London during the firebombing?”

“Four and still alive. Kayla Anderson, Ayeka Junichi, Ryoko Shimizu, and Natalia Silvestri.” Delta Crucis informed.

While they were talking to themselves, Beta Crucis was using her natural abilities to find the truth inside the suppose it dummy records. Little does anybody know; she had run into them before their little run-in in Sycamore University. She has an uncanny ability to get side the minds of criminals and deviants alike.

Beta Crucis quickly rose from her chair, as this startled everybody of it since she was reticent the moment she entered the city, “okay, I’m ready to deduct a profile on these four.”

Rahkaze was in disbelief, “Um, I don’t want to piss in your coffee, but those records are fake. How can you deduct a single profile of these four if you haven’t even met them personally?”

Beta Crucis hesitated for a moment and looked at him with wide eyes, almost as if she didn’t fully understand what Rahkaze was talking about and just started to smile. Rahkaze didn’t really know what to make of that reaction, as this creeps him out.

Epsilon Crucis leans over to Rahkaze and gives them a stark warning, “she knows a lot about people without even being in the same room with them. To be quite honest with you, the reason why she is smiling is that she knew you would say the exact same thing. The word for word.”

She’s that scary… Rahkaze thought.

“I don’t think I’m that scary, Mr. Zayne. Just well immersed,” Beta Crucis happily defended as Rahkaze nervously smiled and cautiously walks away from her.

“Okay, Beta, what have you came up with?” Lycka offered, giving Beta Crucis the floor.