September 14th, 2222. "So... if these laibah are real..." Jade asks as she sits in the conference room, "then the rumors behind The Six Guns... and those nicknames they gave to the last remaining members. You know about it well, don't you?"
"Would you believe me if I told you we used to be part of The Six Guns?" Holly asks.
"I think that's definitely not the craziest thing you've said to me..." Jade thinks. "Wait! That means... that Silas' mother?"
"That's Zia Mahina, of The Six Guns." Holly answers.
"So the nickname for her... Witch Mother..." Jade asks.
"That is likely where it comes from." Haru answers. "Look, we know America is looking to get intel on us Mages. But believe it or not, your bosses know already all about us being part of The Six Guns before."
"That's right." Holly agrees. "I'm not sure what else they'd wanna know, unless they sent you on a wild goose chase just to see if you would."
"Now, now." Haru argues. "It's better safe than sorry. We can't assume safety. Be careful what you let out."
"What else do they know?" Jade asks.
"I'm sorry?" Holly asks.
"What else do they know that they didn't tell me about?" Jade asks. "I heard you were behind the death of former secretary of defense McNamara! Is that true!?"
"No." Holly says as she reaches up and grabs a black scarf around her neck. "Zia- or, Witch Mother as you know her is the one who killed McNamara. Though, that really happened because the lunatic was interested in kidnapping Silas for some twisted reason. In the last war, there were... circumstances we can't go into and Silas played a vital role in ending the Black Skies Incident. That's all I can tell you about that for now."
"No way... someone my age solved a problem that big?" Jade asks. "I was still in training then! I couldn't do anything and Silas was... taking on that kind of stuff?"
"As for me, I was given these scars from McNamara himself when he took us prisoner during the civil war." Holly then pulls down her scarf and shows off her old burn scars she received, covering the full front of her neck.
"Maybe we said too much there, huh?" Haru asks.
"No, I don't believe so." Holly says. "She rejected the idea of Silas being her leader. It's best if a unit has faith in its captain. The Six Guns has diminished to six members as of now. Believe it or not, there were much more than six members up until the end of the Black Skies. Zia Mahina, also known as Witch Mother. Siran Mahina, also known as Demon. Mikoto Sakai, also known as Tiger. Satomi Watanabe, also known as Dragon. Benjie Santos, also known as Ghost. Then finally, Ali Branely, also known as Crimson. All six of them now live in hiding somewhere else in the world. Perhaps it isn't us Mages that your bosses wanted intel on. Perhaps it was The Six Guns they're looking for. Unfortunately for you, we don't know their current location, as they've been careful at covering their tracks. Wherever they are, we wouldn't be able to tell you even if we wanted to."
"Man..." Jade says as she stares at the floor. "And I'm going to be working under one of these... laibah?"
"Are you scared?" Holly asks.
"Of that... thing?" Jade asks. "He seems too soft. Hard to believe he's done anything at all."
"That's true, but above all else, you better be good at getting in line." Haru suggests. "Silas is a softie. But we don't tolerate any antagonizing within our own. I only let you know this info here for two reasons. One; because it's something your bosses already know. If you want to, to keep them off of your tail, you can report this to them. It won't compromise our goal at all. Two; because I need you to be prepared for the unusual. The stuff this Gumiho Unit will be getting into will be nothing short of handling the best of the best around the world. You're a counter-terrorism unit now, intended to reduce acts of terrorism worldwide and help progress modern day restoration and safety. There's no buts about it, you're going to face some situations you don't want to be in. That's why I was pleased when I saw your record. You are what we're looking for. We look forward to working with you."
"Just one thing." Jade asks. "If you were former Six Guns yourselves... why have any interest in counterterrorism? Weren't The Six Guns outlaws?"
"Is that what the world still thinks?" Holly asks. "Let me answer your question with a question. When Omnia fell apart due to actions related to The Six Guns, Omnia somehow pulled through in a civil war that America was directly involved with. By the time the conflict ended, we were deliberately elected by popular vote- by the people of Omnia to be their leaders. Why do you think that is, if we were simply just outlaws with no interest in doing any good?"
Jade thinks for a moment, then says "Then what are The Six Guns hiding for now?"
Meanwhile, in Fukushima, there was an attack in the metro streets by arsonists. Six figures with black hooded coats walk up to the scene. Each with Japanese letters on their backs. For Crimson, the Kanji 深紅 or Shinku. For Ghost, the letters 化け or Bake. For Dragon, the Kanji 竜 or Ryuu. For Tiger, the Kanji 虎 or Tora. For the Witch Mother, the kanji 魔女 or Majo. For Demon, 鬼 or Oni. "Old habits die hard, huh Siran?" Tora asks.
"Well, we gotta make sure our kids grow up somewhere safe, don't we?" Oni asks.
"You got that right." Ryuu answers. "If my son Kei has to grow up around gangsters and riots, I'd never forgive these people."
"Remember to hold back just enough to not garner any attention." Majo adds.
"Some of us aren't doing this for the kids." Shinku replies. "Some of us just like knocking heads."
"Right, let's get to it." Oni says. "Remember, clean and professional. Don't leave any evidence behind. We were never here."
"Roger!" the rest, except Majo reply.
The other four Run ahead, using illusion magic to cover their movements as they travel through the night. Majo and Oni were left standing at a distance. After a while and the other four got into position, Majo uses powerful elemental magic to not only immediately kill all of the fires at once, but create a massive smoke screen that they could move through freely. The six of them rush through the smoke and barely any noise was heard aside from two panics screams that ended abruptly. The smoke clears almost as fast as it came and 11 different arsonists that even the police couldn't get close to were all knocked unconscious and laying in the street. Any hostages walked out of the building, confused and the police were left stunned. Tonight, what looked like a miracle happened, and from one moment to the next, it looked like this city was under extreme stress and suddenly all violence stopped. This made it to the news all over the country. Not only was it scary how fast criminals have been getting rounded up, but it's far from the first time this has occurred. News of this happening has started to quell other potential criminal acts all over the country as nobody was sure what was happening or how. Meanwhile, Siran and the rest of The Six Guns still went to work in the morning as if nothing happened. A few construction workers that Siran was working with at his contract job made a few jokes about Siran and his crew secretly being active again, but Siran replies the way he always does. Smiles, laughs a little and asks how he could've made it to Fukushima when he clearly had work in the morning.
"I guess that's true, y'know. I've heard Siran has never been late!" one of the coworkers said.
"I was scared of this guy at first, but I guess The Six Guns really aren't all that bad!" the other coworker said. "Y'know, there's a lot of people saying they're a hero or some sorta villain. But you're just a normal guy."
"Well, I don't know about normal, but thank you." Siran says with a smile.