Mahō at the first sight of Eon Nexus was astonished at the size of the city he had never seen or heard of anything this large, But Gramps had been away from society for a while so that's not too surprising. Gray and Mahō kept walking through the city unnoticed due to the sheer number of people walking the streets, this city looked like a functional normal city compared to Flagsmaine. The people in Eon Nexus, we're all living normal lives and having normal experiences. But they were poor, nobody had nice clothes and most didn't have shoes on, but they didn't seem as much in despair as the people before, it made Mahō feel nice that not everyone was suffering in this world.
"Hey we're almost there, be ready because nobody will be happy that I brought some stranger back with me after I left against orders." Gray said to Mahō walking a little faster now than before.
"Don't worry, I'm ready to plead my case to the Revolution, I deserve to be here." Mahō responded with vigor.
Gray turned into an alley and then walked into a broken doorway then down a flight of stairs before seeing two guys sitting in the corner next to another doorway which looked a lot more secure.
"Hey Gray your dumbass actually made it back alive, what a nice surprise." Random guard 1 said to Gray with sass and relief in his voice.
"Yeah I had some unexpected help when I was there, that's the only reason I made it back." Gray said, glancing back at Mahō.
The other guards tensed when they realized someone else was with him and stood up before opening the door to let Gray go through, they whispered to Mahō good luck as he was entering through the door. He walked into what looked like an abandoned old subway that used to run under the city. Mahō kept following Gray through the open space getting glared at by almost everyone they walked by with whispers following their passing.
"Don't be nervous man I'm sure it'll be fine you helped me survive that's going to count for a lot." Gray said trying to lighten the mood for Mahō which did not work.
They come up to a large metal door with 2 more people standing outside of it and they give Gray a dirty look before opening the door.
"He's waiting for you and your new friend Gray and he didn't sound very happy." one of the guards said as they walked by.
Walking in the door slammed behind them and there was an older looking man with a full gray beard and medium length dark hair with gray streaking through it.
"Sir before you say anyth-" Gray gets cut off.
"Who the fuck have you brought back into my shelter without my permission and proper screening, what if you can't trust this random dude you found on the street and you get us all killed because he was a little nice to you do you know how dangerous it is to trust people in this society do you know how dangerous it is to be one of us." The old man finally takes a breath after the rant and glares at Gray and Mahō waiting for a response
"If it wasn't for me he would be lying dead in the dukes mansion in Flagsmaine right now sir, and to be frank if it wasn't for him I would be lying dead in that mansion too." Gray responded.
The old man looked at Gray then at Mahō then spoke, "Get out of this room and go stand with the guards I need to discuss this privately." The old man said while waving Mahō out of the room.
After a short period of time maybe 20 or so minutes the door came open with Gray walking rubbing his arm like it hurt Mahō hears,
"And you better make sure that fuck doesn't mess anything up he's your responsibility Gray."
Then the door closes and Gray smirks, "Looks like you made it in greenie, time to go meet the team." Gray said as he walked past Mahō gesturing to follow, still rubbing his arm from being grabbed by the old man.
Gray led Mahō down the main tunnel for a mile or so before turning down a long hallway like walkway. About half a mile more down that hallway Gray stopped at a door and sighed before looking at Mahō.
"This is going to be rough man, my team tends to be a pretty tight knit group and don't like outsiders. So please don't take what they say to heart." Gray said in a light hearted tone.
"Man, I feel like I've been accepted a lot easier than I expected up to this point, maybe my luck will prevail here too." Mahō said with a grin of confidence.
Gray opened the door labeled T7 - 41 and walked in with Mahō following just behind him.
"Gray what the hell you were gone for months how could you just leave us here and not tell us where you're going again and you were gone longer than ever you jerk." A blonde girl scolded Gray as he was walking in but everything fell silent when they saw Mahō.
"Who is he?" The other boy said plainly.
"He's the new member of our squad and I want you guys to accept him." Gray responded with no hope for a good reaction. The man Scoffed and the girl who spoke before glared at him with distaste.
"You gotta be fucking with us Gray our team is fine without some kid from who knows where, we can't trust someone we don't know with out life are you dumb." the dark haired girl said before turning around to go sit back down.
"Guys we haven't even exchanged names and you're already assuming you'll hate him. Just give some proper introductions please." Gray said.
After some brief and unenthused introductions Mahō knew the other boy was named Luke and he's 20, the blonde was Bella she's 19, and the snarky dark haired girl is Sophia she's 18.
"Now that he knows our names and feels welcome can he leave?" Sophia said irritatedly."
"Sohpi can you please stop with that I'll explain how I met him." Gray responded to the glaring room that was his team.
"I met him in flagsmaine, the stupid kid was walking down the street with a useless ass invisibility spell that anyone with a drop of mana would see through. So I waved at him thinking he was part of the revolution in Flagsmaine. Little did I know the kid had a horrified look on his face and charged into the building and attacked me accusing me of being part of the government because I could see hi-." Gray gets cut off by sophi.
"So he's just some random kid off the street that happens to have mana, you bring some outsider maybe even a spy here and introduce him to us and show him the tunnels are you fucking stupid gray like what the fu-." Sophi cut off Gray to yell at and scold him.
"I'm Just upset you didn't talk to us first Gray." Luke cuts off Sophi to stop her angry response to try and cool things down and have a proper discussion.
"Guys just let me explain a lot more happened just sit down and listen please?" Gray asked them sympathetically.
Sophi sat down and crossed her legs with a mean looking face, Luke kept standing with an understanding but skeptical look and Bella sat next to sophi also concerned. Gray proceeded to tell the story of them raiding the Duke's mansion and the long hard journey back trying to make sure to avoid any suspecting government personnel. Hearing the fight with the Duke and how Mahō sacrificed himself to say Gray they all seemed to loosen up a bit but were still unhappy with the situation.