The crew heads back and spends a while in the hospital, as Vivi works on a device that can remove excess endo from human bodies safely. Only having a few charms and gadgets that she's already made, and without having her workshop, Vivi works on the blueprints for the device to give to the people here. As Vivi works on that, Haru and Holly work on finding any links that Ares might use to gain access to another country. "Is it not done yet?" Finn asks.
"No" Holly says without taking her eyes off of her computer. "Gaining classified military information isn't only not recommended and highly illegal, but it takes a while. So shut up".
"But it's been like two days!" Finn says.
"Hubby, let's not bother Holly and Haru for now" Rose says. "Besides, while they're working on that, we'll need to see if anyone needs our help here".
Mikoto and Satomi look at Rose with a disgusted face. "Did you just say... hubby?" Satomi asks.
"Is there something wrong with that?" Rose asks.
"No... no, that's only pretty weird" Satomi says. "I guess I've seen you guy act weirder... no idea why I even asked".
"Couples are gross" Blake says.
"You're gross" Finn says.
"I am nothing of the sort" Blake declares.
"You used to kill people for a living" Finn argues.
"Bad people!" Blake says. "We killed bad people for a living!".
"At some point, we were also on that list" Alex says. "And I doubt it's long before we're back on that list again".
"Yeah, but!" Blake begins to say, then pauses. "Yeah... okay... I see what you mean".
"Perhaps if we focus on what's going on now" Ying says, "we will have less to worry about".
"She's right" Vivi says as she comes into the lounge and places a blueprint paper on the table. "Like, for now, we have a device for these people to use. Once they start producing these, we won't have to worry about babysitting an entire hospital of lousy doctors".
"I'm sure they're trying their best..." Rose says gently.
"You're doing that thing again" Vivi says as she stares directly at Rose's goggles. "That thing where you're being too nice and lenient. That's how you ended up with such a lousy husband".
"Hey!" Finn protests.
"Finn is a great husband!" Rose argues. "And he's a great father too!".
"Your daughter is always insulting you two!" Vivi says.
"Our daughter is smart for her age!" Rose says, then goes quiet. "She's really really smart" she says quietly. "Smarter than me, and I'm her mother... and we know it".
"Rose..." Finn says gently.
"But Dana is a good girl!" Rose declares. "Sure she may not have a filter for the way she speaks to people, but in the end of each day, she always talks to the two of us about how much she loves us... we know she's smart, and we know she doesn't hate us. She just has a hard way of expressing herself, but she's really sweet".
"As much as I hate listening to people bicker" Holly says, "Dana talks more about how she's worried for her parents than anything".
Vivi thinks for a moment, then says "I'm sorry, Rose". Vivi looks at Finn, then says "I'm sorry to you too. I guess this mess going on has me on edge, what with wanting to be home for my son and all...".
"Aw, that's sweet" Finn says. "I understand, Vivi".
"Don't make this conversation any harder than it needs to be with your stupid antics" Vivi says.
"But you have such a sweet side too" Finn says. "Who knew Vivi could be nice too?".
"Finn, I will tear your god damn arm off" Vivi says. "I know how your robotic arm works. I can remove it".
"On the brighter side of things" Haru says, "we think we have a confirmed link between Japan and Israel. Seems that a high ranking officer has reportedly self deployed in Israel. This definitely seems fishy enough to be right up our alley".
"Think it's that Ares guy?" Blake asks.
"Sounds like a good lead" Alex says.
"Then, our next destination will be Israel?" Siran asks.
"I'll take this blueprint to the nearest mechanical developer" Vivi says. "We should wait until they develop this device before we leave, in case there's more people around here that need the help".
"Oh, you guys are leaving soon?" Benjie asks as she enters the lounge. "Is it something important? Does The Six Guns have another job to do?".
"Something of that sort" Siran says. "We'll leave your mother in your care while we're gone. Can we trust that you guys will be safe when we're not here?".
"You can count on me!" Benjie says.
"Good, because we're leaving in a couple days" Siran says.
After two more days, the device that Vivi designed was being produced and shipped all around the country. This device, called The Syphon, soon began to shop worldwide and help people all over. Meanwhile, The Six Guns crew took a flight to Jerusalem, Israel. However, not long after entering Jerusalem, the crew is confronted with a squad of soldiers. The soldiers stopped the crew without pulling out their weapons. "Stop right there" one of the soldiers say. "We're aware that you're The Six Guns, and we have orders to keep you out of Israel. We'd prefer to do this peacefully, if you would please come with us".
"What?" Siran asks. "We're here on business! This is important!".
"That business is now Israel's business" the soldier says. "And only Israel's business. That means your crew is to stay out of this too".
"Is this because of Japan's recent action?" Haru asks.
"Our ally's grievances are their own" the soldier says. "We were given direct orders to not let your crew interfere. We'd rather do this peacefully. If you come with us, we'll only keep you in a personal jail cell for a single night, then we'll promptly find you transportation out of this country".
"Hold on!" Siran demands. "We can't just-".
"Wait, Siran!" Rose says as she grabs Siran's shoulder. "We can't risk ruining a relationship with yet another country! Think about this first".
"She's right" Zia says. "There may still be another angle here that we can approach from".
Siran thinks for a moment, then looks at the soldier and asks "Then, if we come with you, we won't have any trouble when being sent out of the country".
"If you're willing to come" the soldier says, "we can even arrange this without the use of restraints, like cuffs and chains".
"Can we at least choose which country to be pushed out to?" Rose asks. "If we can, I'd at least like to see my home in Egypt again".
"We can only arrange as much as we can get the transport team to agree on" the soldier says. "I'll personally look into it though, if you come now".
"Then I guess this is better than starting a war with yet another country..." Siran says with a sigh. "We'll come with you".
The crew is taken to a large police station, and put into several empty cells in a quiet jail in the back of the police station. Everybody was silent, and their draining determination was only paired by the silence they shared and the sound of dripping water from a broken pipe. After spending a while in silence, the crew began to go to sleep one by one. Deep in his sleep, Siran began to hear the familiar voice of Gaia echoing in his head. "Siran" it echoes, over and over. "Siran. Siran. Siran. Siran. Siran. Siran. Ishmael, no!". Suddenly, Siran's head jump up from the cold and hard mat that he was sleeping on. He woke up and saw a high ranking soldier standing in front of his cell. The soldier was looking down at him in disgust.
"Tch" The high ranking officer says. "I see you're still alive".
"Do I know you?" Siran asks.
"We've met" he says, "though, only once before. I went by the name of Yamamoto until now".
"Ares!" Siran says as he sits up.
"So you remember me" Ares says. "That's gross! You have always disgusted me... your persistence and inability to die when you're supposed to... it angers me".
"What do you want here!?" Siran asks. "Are you the one opening these Endo-Streams? Who do you work for?".
"More importantly" Ares says, "why does that bitch keep reincarnating such trash as you, Ishmael? You're not even useful anymore. I thought you'd put up more of a fight when I ordered people to capture you... you can even make this fun for me anymore".
"So it was you who put out those orders!?" Siran asks.
"I was hoping for a show" Ares says. "A war... but you had to go and be peaceful. Tch- that's such a disappointment. I should finish you off right here". Ares creates a small vortex of pure black endo in his hand, and a sword appears in his right hand, covered in fire. "I love war" Ares says. "I thrive from it. Everything to be gained in life can be gained through war! So, do me a favor... let's start a war".
"Everyone, take cover!" Siran shouts as he prepares a digital shield. With a single slash of his sword, a blade of fire cuts the entire chain of prison cells in half, horizontally. The brick wall behind the also had a scorching scar, burning with an intense fire and revealing the outside world behind those walls.
"Good luck explaining this" Ares says as he begins to vanish.
A couple guards run into the hallway with the prison cells and sees the entire crew laying on the ground. "What the hell happened here!?" One of the guards demand.
"There was an assassin that came to kill us!" Rose shouts.
"An assassin!?" The guard asks. "Where!?".
"Well... we don't... know where they are" Rose says.
The guard stares at Rose is an unhumored expression, takes out a walkie-talkie and says "We're going to need back up... and a maintenance team".
The next morning, the crew was taken out of Jerusalem by van, all of the crew chained up tightly and cuffed together. The transport team didn't take the liberty of driving the crew to the nearest city. Instead, they dropped the crew off at the border of Egypt and Israel. The team spent a couple days walking, with no signs of civilization anywhere near. Eventually, the crew come across a landscape of a sand covered rock mountainous area. In the middle was a shallow gulch, that the crew was originally going to in order to take shelter in the shade. However, as they got there, Siran and Zia could feel a strange presence. After entering the gulch, they saw Laurence and his brothers already there at the bottom of the gulch. "This can't be a good sign" Siran says as the team ventures further into the gulch. When they approach Laurence and the others, Siran says "So I'm assuming this means we're too late, and there's already a stream here?".
"Ah... Siran" Laurence says.
"Hey, you got my name right this time" Siran says, surprised.
"You either have a good nose for finding these things and following clues" Laurence says, "or you have bad luck with staying out of trouble".
"It's usually the latter" Siran says.
"There's an Endo-Strean here?" Zia asks.
Holly uses her digital magic to scan the area, revealing a geyser of endo that was slightly bigger than the last one. "That's definitely an Endo-Stream" Holly says. "But why here?".
"We understand it's a remote location" Laurence says, "but something about this location doesn't fit the others".
"The previous locations required evacuating civilians" Haru says. "This one is far away from all forms of civilization".
"Right" Aaron says. "But why the sudden change in preference?".
"They must be getting ready to make a move" Siran says. Everyone looks at Siran in surprise. "What?" He asks. "I know if I were planning something big with something like these, I'd definitely make the last few ones especially important. The size of it looks bigger and it's less likely to be disturbed. So maybe they're ready to make their move, or maybe they're trying to play smarter since they now know someone's on their tail!".
"That's actually... rather... a good assessment" Laurence says with an impressed tone.
"If they're planning something big" Siran says, "then we'll need to come up with a plan to stop them before they can execute their plan. We've already seen this guy cut part of a building in half with little to no effort at all, so we'll be needing your help on this too".
"Our help?" Manny asks. "Isn't it you that's helping us though? Not the other way around?".
"Friends help friends, and vice versa" Todd says. "What matters is the kinship, not who is assisting whom".
"Todd, that was the smartest thing you've said all day" Laurence says. "I'm proud of you".
"Thank you, brother" Todd replies.
"You guys are weird..." Finn says.
"Well... we're weird... so, call it even" Blake says.
Ying begins to giggle as Finn complains "Hey, that's not fair!".
"Think we can work together on this one?" Siran asks.
"Do you think you can bring us to the culprit?" Laurence asks. "I need to meet the person responsible for this, both to bring them down and the finally figure out who they are".
"That, I think we can do" Siran says. "After all, I have bad luck with staying out of trouble".
"It's a deal then" Laurence says.