"Jin and Eva would be able to get in easily, right? So that just leaves me..." Ban said, looking between them as they tried to come up with a plan along the way.

Jin however, shook his head. "It might not be so simple anymore. Grandfather... That android might've reported some kind of suspicion about me. Evangeline might get caught as well, because we used Dreamer to take that photo."

Evangeline on the other hand, bit her lip. "Actually... I might have a way."

"Hm?" Jin blinked, clearly stunned by her sudden initiative.

In contrast, Ban's eyes sparkled. "Really, Eva?"

A small, and not-quite-reassuring, smile appeared on her face. Jin felt his heart sink. He doubts he was going to like this.

~~~~~

Evangeline had her eyes closed as she sat on the front passenger seat while the butler drove them there. As soon as they reached the gate, he rolled the window down and greeted the security guard. "I'm Dr. Kaidou's butler. Experiment E.V.A. seemed to have malfunctioned. Seeing how Optima was developed by Kamiya Craft, I was asked to bring her here."

The guard took a look at her. She was motionless, just like a doll. "You can pass."

As they drove in, the two boys emerged from the back to their seats. Evangeline sighed before finally opening her eyes. "I can't believe that worked..."

Ban's cheer from earlier had gone. "Eva, are you..."

She smiled sadly. "They don't think of me as any more than an ongoing experiment, trying to see how long I'll last with just the prototype and AI. If I malfunctioned, they'll repair me and continue as usual, until they don't have a use for me anymore."

"... Is Haibara Yuuya the same?"

"More than likely, yes." She shook her head. "Though he had it worse than I did. At the very least, I was treated humanely."

"But you're both free from that now." Jin stated, a strong sense of certainty in his voice. "I'll make sure of it."

Both hers and Ban's eyes widened at the intensity of his seriousness. It was clear that he felt responsible for all his grandfather did.

Without letting them comment, he turned to his butler. "Sorry." Another life had been put in danger. This time, if anything bad happens, it would be his own fault.

But the man gave him a kind smile, no fear present in his voice. "I'm your butler, Young Master."

Jin couldn't help but returned it with his own. "Thank you."

~~~~~

They were dropped off at the parking lot inside the building. The outside had tight security, but on the inside, it was practically deserted. They began to explore the place, looking for their captured friends.

"Jin." Ban spoke up suddenly. "Why did Kaidou Yoshimitsu turn into an android?"

There was a small pause before he got his reply. "All I know is, a terrible plan has been forming while I wasn't looking."

"A terrible plan?" He didn't like the sound of that. Then again, with the Innovators, it's always something he didn't like to hear.

Silence was dawning on them again, but it was short lived as the machine they were just talking about came out. The old man turned to face them. "What are you doing here?"

Ban took a defensive stance. "Kaidou!"

Jin's expression remained calm. "Where is everyone?" When he didn't reply, he sighed. "No use. Then I'll go find them myself."

"You won't get past here." An LBX flew to his shoulder.

Evangeline's eyes widened. "That looks like...!"

Jin and Ban immediately took action.

"Zenon!"

"Odin!"

His eyes continued to gleam menacingly. "Kaiser!"

Attacking it was easy at the start, it's movements were much slower than Jin and Ban's. Though eventually, it got faster and faster. The two figured out pretty quickly that it was the AI's doing, and after only a few setbacks, Odin's new Extreme Mode and Gungnir took it out, Ban fully gaining his confidence along the way.

The blast sent Kaiser's upper body flying straight to Kaidou's face, revealing the circuits underneath the face plate. The damaged area was sparking as the android turned to the black and white haired boy. It reached for him. "Jin... Jin..." The light in its eyes blinked before they went off.

Jin took a step forward, and then another. He walked past the machine without so much as a glance. "Ban. Let's go."

"Yeah."

Evangeline took one last look at the android before catching up with them.

They started running, not knowing whether or not they would be followed after that battle. The place was large and it was difficult to know just how much progress they've made.

"No good." Ban said, putting down his CCM. "It won't connect. Where are Ami and the others?"

"There's no doubt that they're somewhere here in Goliath. Keep looking." Jin was only stating the obvious, but knowing that they are at least in the same building gave the brunette some form of hope.

After a while, they began to realize just how many dead ends they ran into and Ban's frustration was growing. "Damn, which way is it?" Then he ran ahead.

"Ban!"

"Where are they? If we don't make it in time, Ami and the others will..."

"Ban! Panicking won't help us find them!" Jin continued to call out to him as he chased him.

They continued to run around the series of hallways, running into walls more often than not. Jin began to look out for his surroundings. Something's off. Could it be...? Eventually, Ban too began to realize and he finally slowed down.

"Another dead end? What's going on here?"

As soon as they took a step closer to the wall, another wall came down behind them.

"We're locked in. Did they find us?" The brunette asked.

"We were guided here." Jin stated. "Someone made us go this way."

Then, another wall opened right beside them. They peeked in and found exactly who they were looking for.

Ami's eyes were wide. "Ban! Jin!"

"You're all here!" Ban ran in with a smile. "Ami! Kazu! Gouda! Eh? Sendou too? I'm glad you're all safe."

"What are you guys doing here?" Kazuya asked.

"We heard the Innovators captured you and came to rescue you." Jin answered.

Sendou smirked. "But rescuing us got you captured instead."

"Well..." Ban was dumbfounded. Sendou definitely got them there.

"Hey Ban," Kazuya called out. "Are you okay now?" Minus Sendou, they all turned to him for an answer.

Ban gave them a smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry I made you worry."

"So you're back on your feet." Gouda smirked.

Ami was relieved. "That's great."

Jin's gaze went to window looking down on a production line. It was creating hundreds of tiny items, some kind of device about the size of the Platinum Capsule.

Ban went to his side. "What are those?"

"They called them Acorns." Ami stated.

"Acorns?"

"We don't know what they are either." Kazuya said.

Jin stepped back and saw the screen showing the items in better detail. "It might be a weapon that uses the Eternal Cycler."

"A weapon?"

"Oh right!" Ami's sudden call gained all of their attention. "About Kaidou Yoshimitsu... He might not be the top of the Innovators after all."

"He made contact with someone and talked about this Fairytale Project thing." Kazuya continued.

"Kaidou is moving on someone's orders, meaning someone else is above him." Gouda finished.

Ban turned to Jin. "So you were right."

"Yeah."

"What do you mean?" Ami asked.

"Kaidou Yoshimitsu is an android." Jin took out his CCM and showed them the picture.

Gouda was first to react. "What...?"

"This is Kaidou Yoshimitsu?" Kazuya followed after.

"Evangeline and I found out not that long ago." Jin explained.

"Speaking of Eva..." Ban blinked as he looked around. "Where did she go?"

At those words, Jin's eyes widened and he immediately started to look around. He had been so focused on finding the others and keeping Ban in line that he actually forgot she was with them. Now it was his turn to feel the worry and panic sink in. He bit his lip and clenched his fist, forcing himself to remain calm.

Ban felt a bit of guilt and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe she stayed outside to keep watch?"

"There's no reason to, both ways are blocked off." His heart sank further. That meant she got left behind while they were running through the corridors. She might even still be where that android replacement was.

The door then opened and a blonde boy came in, smirking at them. "So you're all here, rats,"

Ban took a defensive stance. "Who are you?!"

"Ban, Jin, watch out. This is the guy that locked us up in here." Ami warned.

"Kamiya Kousuke."

"Eh? Jin, you know him?" The brunette asked.

"He's the son of the president of Kamiya Craft. He's known as an LBX player with the senses of a genius." He replied.

His smirk grew wider. "You should take better care of your dolls."

All eyes widened when he reached behind him and pulled the blonde girl in by the hair. "O-Ow! Let me go!" Her eyes met with everyone else's in the room before landing on another pair of red ones. "S-Sorry..."

"It's not your fault." The reply came before he even thought of it.

"So you're the one, Kaidou Jin? The one who has set vengeance against Dr. Kaidou's grace. You'll receive retribution for it, because that's the rule of this world." He held up a D-cube with his other hand.

"You did this to have a battle with me? That was quite a long winded way to arrange it."

"It's art." He turned to Ban. "You might as well join in since you're here. You'll save me time by doing so anyway. If you want to leave this place, you'll have to defeat me." Kousuke let Evangeline go, but before she could get away, he turned to her with a sinister look. "That excuse you used to get in here was a smart one, but move one step further and I'll make sure you do malfunction." He threw the small cube down and it expanded to the fortified cardboard arena.

Jin took one glance at the blonde girl and his decision was set. "We'll have to do it." Ban stepped up beside him.

They called their LBXs into the field and the duo began their attack. Though Kousuke's LBX, Lucifer, was faster than them and he managed to dodge all of their attacks. Zenon went on the offensive, but Lucifer managed to deflect its attack and send it flying.

"I was chosen by God." Kousuke sneered. "No one can even touch my LBX."

This time, Odin went to attack. Lucifer dodged all the blows and went up to a hill. Odin jumped up and went for an aerial attack, but was knocked away instead. Both LBXs continue to attack their common enemy, but neither was able to land a single hit.

"Slow. Much too slow. You won't be able to touch my LBX with that speed." The three LBXs took turns attacking, but Lucifer was clearly superior. I've heard of the rumors, but I never thought he was this strong. Jin tried to keep his calm as the battle dragged on.

Lucifer was solely aiming for Zenon. "Come on now, what's wrong? And they call you the number one player in the Innovators?" Odin went to help, but Lucifer escaped easily, going on the attack right after. "Useless. What fools. I'll get rid of the both of you!"

"Damn it..." Ban muttered.

Even Jin was getting frustrated. "It's taking all we've got just to defend."

Kousuke smirked. "Break apart!" Lucifer went to attack, but Odin managed to escape and stabbed Lucifer on its side. "What?! ...You touched my Lucifer. Those who defy the rules of the world are not to be forgiven." He glared at Ban. "You're first! I'll finish you off first!"

Then a voice came from the speaker. "It's time, Kousuke. How long are you going to play around?"

Kousuke clicked his tongue. "Time over, huh? Seems I went too easy on them." He turned to the security camera. "Roger, daddy. I'll be there soon." His gaze went back to his opponents. "It's over. You guys better leave soon." He called Lucifer back and cast a pointing look at a doorway that just opened. "If you go that way, you'll be able to leave without getting caught again."

Before he could walk away, Ami called out to him. "Hey, give us our CCMs back!"

"Oh, right." He opened a hidden section in the wall. "They're here. Oh, and this too." He threw a familiar black case to Ban.

The brunette's eyes widened when he saw what was inside. "This is...!"

"The Eternal Cycler?" Ami asked.

"But why?" Kazuya asked.

"I was told to hand it to you. Probably because they've completed the Gravity Pump."

"What's the Gravity Pump?"

"It's the machine that creates Acorns using the Eternal Cycler technology. Once its activated, it can create Acorns for eternity. It's truly a work of God."

"What are Acorns?" Jin asked.

"So you don't know the most important part? Well, fine. I'll tell you. Acorns are micro-sized megaton bombs."

Ami was first to react. "B-Bombs?!"

Gouda turned to the screen. "So everything being made there are bombs?"

Kousuke however, remained indifferent. "That's right. The Fairytale Project is already on the move. No one can stop it now." He turned to the brunette. "Yamano Ban, was it? I'll bother to at least remember your name for having touched my Lucifer." Then he turned to the blonde girl, who still stood frozen in her spot, not daring to move a single muscle. "As for the doll, you can take her too. Seeing how you're betraying us, there's no reason for the experiment to continue. Daddy might disassemble you if you stay any longer, so you better get going." And on that grim note, he left the room.

Letting out the breath she didn't even realized she held, Evangeline let herself fell to her knees. "Eva!" "Evangeline!" They ran over to check if she was okay, to which she nodded to with heaving panting. "I'm... I'm fine... luckily." She rubbed her shoulders. "That was terrifying... I don't... I don't want to be... disassembled..."

"No one is going to disassemble you." Jin reassured her, earning another nod.

Ban, Ami, Kazuya and Gouda turned to each other with concerned expressions, while Sendou had an eyebrow raised. He pulled out a card from his sleeve. The High Priestess. Mystery and understanding? So here's something strange about her that only I don't know about. He'd be lying if he says he wasn't all that interested.

"Anyway, we need to get out of here and let Takuya-san and the others know." Ami said.

Ban nodded. "Yeah."

After taking their CCMs, they headed through the doorway, only to be met with a dead end. Before any of them could comment, the doorway behind them closed and the floor went down, turning into a ramp. They all slid down, panic and confusion with them. At the end of the slide, they fell on top of Yagami's subordinates.

Ami winced. "Ow..." She, Kazuya and Ban were tangled up.

"We're in the garbage dump..." Evangeline sighed. Jin's expression was unreadable.

Gouda growled. "That guy thinks he can treat us like trash...!" Sendou seemed like he couldn't care less.

~~~~~

The blonde man wanted to laugh. "To me, you guys are even less than trash."