Ace watched Trisean dash out of the room with a less than bemused expression. He had never seen someone backpedal out of an argument so quickly in his life. He turned back to Rika, who was currently being measured by Shizuka with a ruler, apparently Shizuka wanted to give her one of their cloaks as soon as possible. It was never necessary to wear a cloak, however they were useful for the more discreet missions they took on. "Undermine us on principle, huh?" Ace whispered to himself. He had to ask himself, would someone truly sympathetic to their cause sabotage them out of spite? Ace did not know this woman, and he did not often place much stock in first impressions, however, Rika was painting a rather bold colored picture of herself. He could tell she wasn't a member of the Empire, however, he highly doubted she gave a single damn about the Unbound Hearts. She had an ego the size of Hollow Bastion's castle, and was proud of it. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, opening them once again as if he were attempting to refresh his view of Rika. "You've made your point, Rika, I'll contact the leader and fill him in on your terms, and see if he'll fill you in." Ace left the room, passing a group of medics that stormed the room to tend to the injured. This left Rika with Shizuka.

"You'll have to excuse Ace, he... Well." She stopped herself, realizing she was about to say more than she had the right to. "The Empire's taken a lot from him, is all." She said, running her fingers across the flexible material in her hands. Her ability had breed a hobby of collecting objects made of different materials, and in turn she had developed a fixation on feeling different textures in things. Her hands glossed over, mimicking the plastic ruler. Knowing this might seem a little odd to Rika, she looked to her and grinned. "I'm sure you've seen stranger things, right?" She asked. "Hey, if you tell me know you made it past Ace without him noticing, I'll tell show you something really cool."

"Save it for later." Ace entered the room again, holding what looked like a silver dinner plate from a cheap science fiction movie. Recognizing the device, Shizuka stepped back, giving him room to place it on the ground. A red light came from the edges of the disk, it moved up and down the room as it scanned everything and everyone inside. Next, a blue light sprouted from the center of the disk, and a hologram of a man appeared. The man was middle aged, tall, and had a head of alabaster hair. He looked down at Rika, and then glanced at the mess around him.

"I wouldn't call this 'in one piece' Acesto." He said with a deep, boisterous voice.

"It's relative.." Ace responded.

"Anyway." The man said, turning his attention back to Rika. "This is quite the interesting situation you've placed yourself in, young lady. I've seen people do some rash things to try and join us, but this takes the cake. Now, I'm quite busy at the moment so I'll make this quick. Acesto here tells me that you may have something to offer us, what we're looking for is any data concerning those infernal factories being built on world after world. If you can help in this endeavor, you will be handsomely rewarded. Though I do hope you understand the importance of our resistance..." The leader stopped talking for a moment, as his attention was turned to something none of them could see. "That's all the time I have, good luck." The feed cut off, and the silver plate powered down.

"Well there it is." Ace said. "So, how much are you charging for your help any....way?" Ace's voice trailed off as his badge beeped, he held it up to his ear, and heard Trisean speak on the other line. "It's on fire?... I was the last one to leave, and when I did, it was fine. Did you see who did it?..."

"That gear head's wolves were the only things there, and not that much time has passed, do you think he did it?"

"Nomis?... Well he was perfectly content with killing his comrades to create those filthy machinations of his, I wouldn't put it past him. But why in the hell would he do that?"