Fshes of red and blue travelled down the A75, gliding past the minimal traffic as it rushed to the hospital in Emberlyn. Tailing the ambunce was a white sedan with a brown-haired driver and a bck-haired woman riding shotgun. Ataraxia tapped her phone, causing Jonathon Steen's sobbing voice to be heard over the car's speakers.

  Jonathon Steen sobbed, "Thank you... for saving Alicia."

  'Typical doting father.' Mumei thought as she kept her eyes on the road, "No problem, Mr Steen. I'm gd that she is fine considering what had happened."

  "Indeed... To think that the security of Emberlyn would try and capture my beloved daughter!" As if he had become another person, Jonathon Steen stopped sobbing immediately. His tone of voice had been repced with a fiery rage. "I will have a word with Harold."

  "I would heavily advise against that, Mr Steen." Mumei cautioned, "Harold Lar, head of security at Emberlyn is also taking bribes. If he so much as thinks you're onto him, he won't hesitate to make you and your family disappear. Tread carefully, Mr Steen."

  "I... require time.. to process this. My apologies Contractors. I will have to cut this conversation short." Jonathon Steen muttered, barely audible through the sedan's speakers, before hanging up."

  'Guess he had a good retionship with Mr Lar.' Ataraxia thought as she looked at the watch on her wrist. 'We arrived at the tunnel at 11:00 and left at about 15:07 or 08. So I still have about 1 day left before I have to log out to get ready for school. Only the Goddess can comprehend how much I hate school.'

  "Anyway, I'm surprised you made it out alive, Head of the Phoenixes." Mumei said, bringing both Ataraxia and the Boss out of their thoughts.

  "Name's Xaiden. Thank you for saving us." The boss, Xaiden, thanked. "Even if your ways are a bit... questionable."

  "You got a problem? Would you like to have a nice chat with me again? This time with some proper stuff?" Mumei retorted whilst keeping most of her attention on the road.

  "No thank you, madam." Xaiden replied instantly.

  "Great, gd to hear I won't have to 're-educate' you again," Mumei said as she looked into the rearview mirror, revealing a sadistic smile that caused Xaiden to shiver in fright.

  1 Hour Later, Emberlyn...

  Making it to the hospital, the civilians and Phoenixes were being checked up on. Outside the hospital, Mumei and Ataraxia were talking with their employer.

  "So, let me get this straight. You, CEO of a rising car company, want us, start-up Contractors, to expose the Head of Security?" Mumei said with a headache. "It's not like you've got any issues with money, so why are you not commissioning some more experienced Contractors?"

  "Because they don't know about the deal with Harold." Jonathon Steen answered, "You outnders and your assistants don't come from around here, so you don't know about his reputation. But if you ask any member of the public here, they will, without a doubt, sing praises galore about Harold."

  'Outnders?' Ataraxia thought at the new term. 'Guess it means pyers.'

  #Look, I don't doubt his high reputation. But if you hand us this contract, we expect to be paid accordingly. You must also acknowledge that there is a high chance that we will kill Mr Lar ourselves.#

  "I don't care about his life. As for the reward, I will pay you accordingly. This will be a separate contract so I will send you the payment for rescuing Alicia once she's done with her checkup." Jonathon Steen agreed as he went to meet his daughter in the waiting room.

  #You think we should accept this contract?# Ataraxia asked once Jonathon Steen left.

  "I think so. Serves as a reputation boost, whether for the revealing of Harold's dark side or the attempted murder of a reputable man." Mumei replied as she took out a cigarette.

  #Where'd you get that from?#

  "Perk of being an assistant, I get them for free. Besides, it helps de-stress after the experience in the tunnel. I went from having no combat experience to having experience in fighting in CQC, providing cover fire for allies and much more in the span of four hours."

  #Hand me one.#

  "...Excuse me?" Mumei lifted her gaze from her lighter and cigarette and to her boss.

  #Hand me one. I can't get lung cancer or whatever else in a game.# Ataraxia wrote. 'And Goddess knows I need one. Been too long since I st had one. Starting to get murderous thoughts again.'

  While Ataraxia tended to stay away from drugs, anti-depressant cigarettes were an exception. Over the time that cigarettes were around, numerous scientific developments were made to mitigate the negative impact they had. While not completely addiction-free, it was controlble enough that it was prescribed to patients who didn't want to announce to the world that they were depressed.

  "Look. I'll buy you some anti-depressant ones instead. These are for stress. So there's no use in you having one."

  *CLICK CLICK PSHH*

  Lighting the cigarette, Mumei reflected on her experience in the tunnel. As she smoked the cigarette with such finesse, she seemed to be extremely experienced in such an act.

  *DING*

  Checking her phone, Ataraxia was delighted to see 1,000 credits, along with a notification from the Contractors about a request reserved for her.

  'Another hunt for a traitorous fool...' Ataraxia thought with glee.