[hr][hr][i][h1][color=salmon]Haruka Takashiro[/color], & Daphne "Holly" Hope.[/h1]
[@Estylwen][/i][hr][hider=Fate/Zero OST - Nervous][youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWlcDwg0GtA[/youtube][/hider][hr]
[b][code]Greencrest Heights, White Coast_[/code][/b]

"Uuugghh..." Haruka moaned, and clutched his head. This was another reason why he would normally take great care to control himself when drinking: not only did he want to avoid troubling his family with his drunken state (even though Shizuka once commented that he was so much easier to deal with than the likes of Cindy), the hangover part was what he hated most.

...It felt like he had rammed his own skull against a steel wall.

He got up from the couch slowly, then he realized someone had put a sheet over him while he was asleep. [i]Has Shizu come back?[/i]

"Take it easy."

He turned his head around to see the willowy figure of Holly - in her usual office suit - walking towards him with a glass of water, which she placed on the short table before him. "Drink some water first. You okay?"

"I'm... fine," he mumbled, looking down to hide the disappointed expression on his face from her, then stretched out a hand for the glass of water and took a long swig from it. "Well, I guess it's better for you to see me like this than Shizu or Aunt Akemi, because they will skin me alive, [i]literally[/i]."

Holly merely shook her head and sat down beside Haruka. "...Do you want to talk to me about it instead?"

Haruka gave her a sideways glance, but didn't reply. Holly let out a sigh. "This is the first time I've ever seen you so drunk. Something must have happened to you last night." Haruka's eyes widened when the auburn-haired lady stretched out an open palm before him.

"Mind explaining about the number on this napkin to me? Who does it belong to?"

Haruka regarded Holly for a moment; finally he reclined back on the sofa and looked up at the ceiling. "I guess all of us should stop playing this stupid game of hide and seek, and just be honest with each other," he began in a tired voice as he picked the napkin off Holly's hand. "...That was from someone who claimed to be from a cult called 'Polaris'."

He then stared at Holly in the eye, his brows furrowed at the frozen expression on her face. "Before I go on, can you tell me more about 'Polaris'? In fact, [i]everything[/i] you and Shizu know about them."

Holly swept her front bangs off her eyes and let out a long sigh, before she started off, "It's an underworld cult that originated from China during the 1950s; not only are they ruling over the Chinese government from the shadows, they also have the whole of Asia in their hands, just like how the Founding Family has Europe and North America under their control." She closed her eyes briefly. "...Shizuka has been using the suspension as a smokescreen to gather more intelligence - and he suspects that they are working together towards world domination. To achieve that, it seems like they have been working on a certain machine... which is probably why they set up the hostage situation in order to get DOVE and RAVEN to hand Dr. Cross and the Mannequin over to them."

Haruka listened intently; the scattered pieces were starting to fit together and formed a clearer picture in his mind. Some of the things he had been seeing on the news about the Black Hound was making more sense to him. "A... [i]machine[/i]?"

Holly shook her head again. "We still don't know what kind of machine it is, nor do we know where this machine is being made and kept. All we know is: the Family seems to be in an urgent need for top scientists around the world to work on it, so it's likely to be some extremely dangerous device. If we don't find it and destroy it fast, this is going to be much [i]much[/i] worse than the Verthaven Disaster and the Prague incident."

Haruka clenched his fists; the mention of that incident flooded his mind with the horrible memories from seven years ago, making his head throb again. "...Then what about Polaris? How are they related to the Founding Family?"

Holly was silent for a moment before she replied slowly, "For one, they probably have a mutual goal with the Family - sharing their resources with each other is a win-win for both sides." She paused for a second, before continuing in a grim tone, "The other reason has something to do with Shizuka's trips to Asia - either they are wary about his success in gathering most of the Asian Metahuman organizations to RAVEN's side, or they plan to use him to spread their evil influence beyond Asia to the West. In fact, Shizuka's presence was the catalyst that complicated all this."

She grabbed Haruka's shoulder, her green eyes bored into the young man's darker ones with such intensity that made Haruka feel the dread churning harder inside of him. "Your mother, Asami, is a member of Polaris. She went into hiding after she saw Shizuka representing RAVEN at the Asian Metahuman Summit; eventually Polaris connected the dots themselves to find out the truth behind the superpowers that you two have."

"So it is true..." Haruka buried his face into his hand. "...That Shizu and I are not natural Metahumans. That our own [i]mother[/i] subjected us to some kind of 'ritual' or human experiment, or whatever the heck it is..."

Holly was sympathetic about how all this had to turn out for the two boys, but she chose to cross her arms before her and looked at Haruka expectantly - that it was now his turn to start telling her his story. It was the only thing she could do now to help them.

"...I went out last night to, well, look for Jennifer," Haruka began. "It's about her past, her time as 'Missy Baroness' during the seven-year gap after the Verthaven ‌incident... but she wasn't in the cafe she's working at. I was about to leave when this tall Chinese lady came in, and I offered to help her with her drink order. She insisted to treat me to a drink for my kindness, and pressured me to stay, saying that she's looking for Shizu."

He flattened the balled-up napkin on the table. "She introduced herself as 'Xing Huo', a Fire Spirit in Polaris."

Holly narrowed her eyes. This was really the worst possible development that both herself and Shizuka had feared. "One of the 'Wu Xing'," she muttered. "...What did she want from you?"

"At first she said she was looking for Shizu because he had something important to them in his possession," Haruka replied, then he turned his head to look at Holly. "Then... she said Polaris wanted us to go back and reunite with them, that they are our 'real' family."

Holly couldn't help but frown. That didn't make any sense - Polaris should be aware that Shizuka was against both them and the Family. Even if the twins' powers were probably originated through a 'ritual' from Polaris as mentioned in Asami's diary, they should be seen as betrayers to the cult. Why would they want to welcome traitors back into their ranks? Also, why did one of the seven leaders had to personally come all the way to Baybridge, to the Family's turf, just to bring the twin boys back 'home'?

[i]What is Polaris'[/i] true [i]goal?[/i]

"But you don't get drunk over [i]coffee[/i]..." Holly commented dryly. There was obviously more to Haruka's little adventure last night.

"Tea, actually," Haruka corrected her automatically before he went on. "After I left the cafe, I bumped into someone - Aislin. She was looking for me because she thought I might have some clues to help her find her missing friend. She seemed like a private investigator of sorts who worked for some company that she claimed to have ties with the big shots. I thought I could try to test if she had heard about Polaris or the Family---"

"---But you ended up getting her involved," Holly finished his sentence for him. She pinched the bridge of her nose with a hand. "How much did she charge you for offering her service?"

"She said she would give me a discount for the bits of information I provided about her missing friend, so it's a few thousands..."

Holly suddenly stood up and sighed, raking a hand through her red hair. "I'll pay that fee for you - but I'll need to meet her face to face first. Can you contact her and arrange a meeting?"

"I have her number..." Haruka looked up at the serious expression on Holly's face, uncertain. "Are you going to stop her or...?"

"No," Holly replied as she picked up Haruka's empty glass and walked towards the kitchen. "...I just need a talk with her, that's all."