Outside, with Teach and Moshiro, down the hall from them rushes a familiar woman. She walks fast down the hall before seeing Teach and coming his way. She looks distressed as she calls out his name angrily.
"Teach." She says as he turns around to look at her. Jackal Anderson, Wolf's mom, suddenly stops with a sweat as she sees Moshiro. Moshiro looks at her, surprised, with rough eyes as Jackal stops and calms herself a bit. "Hi dear."
"Hello, Ms. Anderson." Moshiro says softly. Jackal looks at Teach with a glare as Teach gently encourages Moshiro along.
"Go catch up with your partner and get some rest. We'll talk about it more later." He says as Moshiro nods and walks off the same way Yoko did. Teach watches her for a moment before suddenly he's slapped across the face. Jackal holds her hand out with an angry look as she glares at him.
"Where is he?" Jackal asks as Teach looks at her with a soft but serious look.
"He's not here. I'm sorry." Teach says as Jackal only gets more frustrated. She pulls her hand back to slap him again but stops, still staring at him intensely.
"He said she'd be safe. You said she'd be safe! Why weren't you there? What were the Directors doing when she-" Jackal shouts but suddenly stops when Wolf and Phoenix step into the hall. Wolf looks up, surprised to see her mother.
"Ma…" Wolf whispers before tears begin to well up in her eyes. "Ma..!" she cries as she rushes to her. Jackal instantly focuses on her daughter as he crouches down and grabs her child in a tight hug.
"My sweet baby. Shhh, it's okay. It'll all be okay." Jackal says in a warm motherly tone as Wolf cries into her embrace. Jackal looks up at Teach with a serious look. "I'm not leaving until I speak with him." Jackal says as Teach nods. Jackal then pulls back and looks at her daughter softly.
"Wolfy, Husky and I are gonna stay at the civilian lodge for a while. We'll be right there, so if you want to visit us, do so, okay?" Jackal says as Wolf nods, getting her crying under control. Jackal stands and looks at Wolf softly as she rubs her head, helping Wolf calm down and feel a bit more at ease. Jackal then looks at Phoenix. "Look out for her, please?" She asks Phoenix. Phoenix inhales softly and smiles gently.
"When have I done anything else?" Phoenix responds as Jackal smiles and nods. Soon, the partners walk off to return home for some rest as Jackal looks back at Teach with a scowl before leaving too, leaving Teach standing in the hall by himself.
In the lounge the Directors used before, suddenly a wooden chair is flung across the room and smashed against the wall with a shout. Axe pants heavily before shouting again and smashing a table. He takes a moment to stabilize his breathing before he straightens up and speaks.
"What do you want?" He asks as Taiju and Averi stand behind him.
"We heard what happened. Are you alright?" Taiju asks softly. Axe turns around with a smile.
"Yeah dude. I'm great. Considering I just had half my face ripped off before being stabbed multiple times, I'm doing great." Axe says sarcastically before lifting a hand to his ear at them. "What's that? What do I want? That's easy, I want to know why South decided to leave out the little detail that a Sovereign Power was here." Axe says sarcastically happy as he gets progressively angrier. Both Taiju and Averi look shocked at his words.
"The Pilot Light?" Averi asks quietly. Axe shakes his head with a huff.
"The Dark Arm." He says.
"Oh, that makes it much better." Taiju says sarcastically to Averi. Averi adjusts his glasses as he sweats, looking at Axe.
"You're certain of this? Where is it?" Averi asks.
"You can never tell with those things, but considering what he told us and what just happened, yeah. I'm gonna make a guess and say it's true. One of the kids has it, Wolf Anderson." Axe explains with a frustrated tone.
"The student? How does she have it? All he said was that it returned." Taiju says as Axe laughs to himself.
"Heh, you know? That's not even the thing I'm mad about. What I wanna know is why he felt the need to withhold this information from us and why he's just letting this teenager walk around with it, bringing it out into the public?" Axe rants angrily before motioning toward Taiju. "All he said was it returned, right? You'd figure that means maybe a villain has it or-or we know the location of it. Not that this kid has it! At the very least, if he had just told me, I could've done something!"
Axe shouts before turning around and throwing a table against the wall angrily. He faces the wall as his frustration exerts from him when Taiju slowly approaches him and places a hand on his shoulder.
"I know. We've all been there." Taiju says. Axe exhales as he turns around.
"Yeah, I know, it's not my first time. Still, I just…" Axe says with a conflicted look. Averi thinks with a hand on his chin.
"There had to be a reason he didn't tell us. Maybe she doesn't know? Maybe he doesn't want her to know." Averi says as Axe sighs in frustration.
"Yeah, well, it's a little late for that." He huffs.
"Southpaw is a wise man. We can trust that he has a good reason for what he's doing. Even if things happen he couldn't account for…" Taiju says, a bit upset about what happened. Axe looks at them with a serious look before marching off.
"I know. I hope whatever he's doing is really important. Cause if not, he's not gonna like the earful he's coming back to." Axe says, smirking a bit. Taiju chuckles as they follow him out.
"You got that right. You, Komori, Teach, not even mentioning Lady Sharp and the press. He's got his work cut out for him…" Taiju trails off as they leave the room.
Averi stands there watching them leave with sharp eyes, his bright yellow eyes glowing in the dark ever so slightly. He suddenly looks over sharply to an empty side of the room and stares for a moment. There's a silence as even his breathing has stopped before a loud smack is heard against the doorframe, startling him.
"Come on, Averi. It's not often we're all together. We gotta stick close before Southpaw sends us away again." Taiju says with a smile, slapping their strong hand against the frame to lean on. Averi is a bit startled but adjusts his glasses and follows.
"Right." He says softly before they both leave.
Somewhere else, in an unknown location during a different time, in the dark of an underground area, lays a room. It is lit by lined lights around the roof and various devices around attached to the main landing. Obviously, some kind of hideout or base of operations.
Two people step up some stairs and onto the landing from a lit up room. They talk casually as they go. One is a man who stands tall and bold, he is built strong and sturdy. The woman talking with him is a shorter woman wearing a mask. She is quite muscular with odd looking hand coverings.
The man laughs a little as he steps to a counter by the entrance and taps a button which brightens the landing. He then grabs a small device attached to another machine in the counter before quickly pocketing it.
"So how long do you think it'll take the others to show up?" The man asks with a smile.
"You are one impatient man, Goliath." She responds. "They'll probably be here soon. You know how they are." She says, crossing her arms. The man, Goliath, smirks.
"Wanna bet, Nacho?" He asks as the woman, Nacho, rolls her eyes. Suddenly, a Sanir Portal opens up quickly as another person steps through. He looks over and smiles at the two before him.
"Glad to see you're not last this time, Dance." Goliath says.
"Who's not here?" This skinny man, Dance, asks.
"Callutang, Taiju, Axe & Komori, you know, everyone else." Nacho says as she motions towards the empty room. Dance sweats as the obvious answer.
"Right.."
"It is kinda strange Teach wasn't here first to greet us." Goliath says. Nacho squints a little with a serious look.
"Yeah. Stranger still that South told us to meet here of all places." She says softly, quieter than before. "You think something happened to the academy?" She asks as Dance looks curious.
"Oh yeah, that is the protocol, isn't it? When South calls for all the Directors, we're supposed to meet at the ASA no matter what. So why'd he specify here?.." Dance asks, getting a little anxious.
Suddenly, someone comes flying through the air and lands with a thud behind them. They turn around as this person stands tall, looking around.
"Callutang. Glad you finally showed up." Goliath says as Callutang looks stressed.
"I've been here." He says. The others look confused as he steps towards them. Nacho notices his demeanor and looks at him sharply.
"Where are the others?" She asks. Callutang stops and looks at them.
"I've been checking the perimeter. No one's around for kilometers out. There's no reason none of the Directors shouldn't be close by." Callutang says seriously. The small group of four starts getting anxious as they get their guard up.
"Should we..?" Nacho asks as Callutang looks conflicted but slightly shakes his head. Dance looks nervous as he steps back.
"Guys.. what's going on?" he asks. Goliath looks over before his eyes grow wide. Suddenly, he rushes Dance and quickly grabs him by the collar before tossing him aside. In that moment, Goliath is struck in the chest and sent hurtling into the stone wall.
The Directors look over with shocked looks to see someone standing before them. He's large and hunched over from the punch before slowly standing up tall, revealing who he is. Their eyes widen.