The group date at Lake Leucippe was… well, calling it a 'resounding success' was probably stretching it a bit, but it was fine. In retrospect, there was very little of the promised 'teaching a new couple how to couple' getting done, but everyone had a nice time, and that was all that mattered. Or rather, most of us did. My disposition ended up considerably sourer than the rest's thanks to the aggravating presence of Sir Percival, but I did my best not to taint the experience for the girls. I even indulged Elly and let her sit on my lap for about an hour, though we never managed to recreate the same level of cutesy atmosphere the class rep and Mike radiated.

In any case, I was still feeling a little chilly even after the long car ride back to Critias, so I took a hot shower and made myself a big cup of piping hot tea, as is tradition, and was just about to return to my room when I was intercepted by my knightly sister by the stairs.

"Brother? Have you seen Uncle Percy? I can't find him."

Our house wasn't so big the old bastard could be easily misplaced, but she sounded serious, so after an obligatory sigh, I used my Far Sight to pinpoint his location. Less than a heartbeat later, I was looking down at him from above. He was in our small backyard, still wearing his light indoor clothes despite the cold, and talking to someone on the phone. Curiously enough, it wasn't his usual device, but one of those clam-shell design dumbphones. Was it a burner, I wondered?

Hoping that I might've caught him red-handed, I tried to listen in on his conversation, but I only caught the tail end of it.

"… as we discussed. We'll be there."

I couldn't even hear the voice on the other end of the line, as he immediately put the phone down and pocketed it with a frown. Whatever that was about, I obviously missed it, but since Penny was still waiting for my answer, I didn't dwell on it for long and returned to my body. There was always a second time for these kinds of things.

"He's out back. Why?"

"We're going to cook the fish we caught for dinner," my sister replied without actually answering my question, and when I raised a brow, she hastily added, "I mean, Snowy's going to do that, and I'll help, but we don't know how to gut them, so I want Uncle Percy to show us."

That sounded innocent enough, and I was just about to drop the topic and be on my way, if not for Penny launching into another thought, completely unprompted.

"Snowy's so awesome! She's an Abyssal princess, and yet she can not only do all kinds of housework, she can cook too! Isn't that crazy?"

"I don't think 'princess' is the right term, but putting that aside, did I just hear a tinge of jealously in your voice?"

"No!" she exclaimed by reflex, but then after a long beat, she muttered, "Or… I mean… maybe a little?"

"Meaning you can't cook or do any housework, right?"

"A-Awawa! Why do you have to put it that bluntly!?"

"For your sake," I answered with a practiced smile. "You don't have to force yourself, since you're a tomboy, but you could at least try to take care of your own laundry."

"I'm not a tomboy!" she protested, going as far as to stomp her feet. "I'm a maiden at heart!"

"An iron maiden?"

"I'll punch you! I will!"

"Says the definitely-not-tomboy."

With my regularly scheduled teasing quota for the day fulfilled (it was part of the sacred duties of a big brother), I roughly tousled my fuming sister's hair, and was just about to head upstairs and drink my tea in peace when someone called out to me.

"It's so nice to see you two getting along," Sir Percival said loudly as he came into the living room and flashed one of his insincere grandfatherly smiles at us. "Leonard? Can we talk for a moment?"

"Sure, but before that, Penny was looking for you," I said and pointed at the girl by my side. "Go ahead, kiddo."

"R-Right! Uncle Percy! Please help us prepare the fish!" she requested altogether too loudly, causing even Snowy to poke her head out of the kitchen to see what the commotion was all about.

The old man looked conflicted for a moment, which caused a spark of glee to light in the pit of my stomach, but I pretended to be regretful and told him, "Go ahead. We can talk afterward. You can always find me in my room."

"… Very well," the old man acquiesced, though the glint in his eyes said he was none too happy about getting passed off like that… which, naturally, made me all the giddier.

"It won't take long! Come, this way!"

Penny grabbed hold of the reluctant codger and pulled him towards the kitchen, and after watching them leave, I said, "Be careful not to cut yourself."

"I'm a Knight!" my knightly sister answered with a daredevil grin. "Handling sharp things is my specialty!"

That response prompted me to glance at Snowy, and without the need for a single word to be exchanged, her lips bent into a reassuring smile that said 'I'll keep an eye on her'. My Abyssal little sister was a trooper, as always.

Anyhow, with that intermezzo over and done with, I finally made my way up the stairs and into my room. I automatically sat down in front of my PC, but didn't turn it on. It would've been pointless, as aside from watching funny animal videos, there was nothing else I could do with it. All my important observation files, along with the secure browser, were still locked away in the hidden partition of the hard drive, and I wasn't going to restore it until Sir Percival was well and truly out of my hair.

This, of course, meant that I didn't have proper access to the Hub over the past couple of days, but I asked Judy to keep an eye out for new developments in my stead. I gave her a moderator account, so she could peruse most of the site's functions regardless of the lockdown still in effect. She was still limited in what she could do, but it was better than nothing.

But speaking of the Celestials, I was planning to go on another excursion into the Elysium one of these days, as the amount of information I could gather through the common placeholder types I marked during my last jaunt around the tower and its surroundings had proven to be rather superficial and useless. The only semi-important mark I had available for me was Jaakobah, and even though I checked on him multiple times a day, I couldn't catch him talking to any higher-ups or learn anything I didn't already know.

Since I was thinking about him, I figured I might as well give the Celestial special agent a quick glance, and as usual, I found him dressed in his impractical hoplite-cosplay gear, along with his peers. To my pleasant surprise, however, there was some kind of briefing going on in a large, brightly lit room, with about a dozen of these guys lining up in front of a higher-ranked officer. Or at least I presumed so, considering his armor had way more golden inlays and fancy engravings.

"… be deployed in Argentina. Our agents confirmed that the covert field team is already in the operational area, so you have to set up a gate and be ready for a lightning strike at a moment's notice. Any questions?"

"Sir." One of the Celestials in the front row, specifically the woman with the silly, midriff-revealing armor, stepped forth. "Are we authorized to use lethal force?"

The question caused the atmosphere in the room to tense up, and after an unnecessarily long beat, the commanding officer exhaled a shallow breath.

"I understand that you must have your reservations about fighting our own, but desperate times call for desperate measures. They are our brothers and sisters by blood, so you may attempt to subdue them if you can, but you must be ready to kill if you must. No matter what, you cannot let their operation succeed."

"Understood," the woman saluted and stepped back in line.

The man in the lavishly decorated armor waited for a while to see if anyone else wanted to say something, and when no one else came forward, he leveled a solemn gaze at Jaakobah.

"Optio Arpachshad. You have already received your briefing from the director, but I cannot stress it enough: don't fuck this up."

I nearly burst out laughing at the sudden and unexpected f-bomb in the middle of a serious briefing, but this kind of thing must've been a common occurrence, as nobody batted an eye, and the phlegmatic agent nodded with the utmost seriousness.

"Everyone, move out!"

"Sir!" the whole squad cried out in unison and did a fancy salute before streaming out of the room to get their gear prepared.

While I didn't have the full context, what I'd heard gave me enough clues to conclude that things were heating up on the Celestial front soon, with the likelihood of the predicted civil war getting higher by the minute. Once I was back in my body, the first thing I did was to pick up my phone and message Judy, telling her to keep a close eye on the Celestial Hub in my stead. Then, just after I was done typing and was about to finish up my drink, the door opened without as much as a knock.

"That was quick," I told my guest while doing my best to ignore the wave of irritation washing over me like a tsunami of wasps, yet Sir Percival didn't even acknowledge the comment and simply closed the door behind himself.

"As I said, we need to talk. If you have any plans for tomorrow, clear them."

I wasn't a fan of his commanding tone but did my best to hide my distaste with a curious hum and emptied my cup in a single gulp before responding.

"Do you need me for something?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," he answered, coming closer. "I told you I would pull a few strings, didn't I? I've managed to get hold of an insider on the Magi's side, and he could make a useful tool for the upcoming conflict."

"The Assembly's only arriving on Monday, so that means it's a local," I noted with a skeptical frown. "How is that going to help us negotiate?"

"Officially, maybe. If you're already keeping tabs on them, which you should, you should also be aware that it doesn't mean that they haven't already deployed some of their trusted pawns on the island in preparation."

"And you managed to get a hold of one of these 'pawns'," I surmised, and he looked at me like I just stated the obvious.

"Indeed. Everyone has a price, and in our line of work, only the best negotiators make it."

"Yes, yes. You're very impressive. Please get to the point and tell me why I need to clear my schedule," I bit back, though to be fair, I didn't have any plans that needed clearing, to begin with.

"Since you put so much time and effort into building up your reputation over the past couple of months, we might as well take advantage of it while it lasts," he told me off-handedly and patted his beard. "It should greatly help the negotiations if you were to 'show your sincerity' and appear in person, so I'll need you to come with me tomorrow morning."

"So you just want me to be there as leverage."

"Precisely. I'll do the talking, you'll just need to stand back and appear cooperative." Percival paused and narrowed his eyes, then added, "Speaking of which, make sure you appear as non-threatening as possible."

"Meaning?"

"No weapons, no armor, and for goodness sake, wear something other than a black long coat for once."

"I'll take that as a personal attack," I spoke in a deadpan voice, but the old guy dismissed me with a flat hiss.

"Pssh. Stop with the jokes and pay attention. I can't believe I have to explain this to you, but since you've lost your memories, I guess I might as well do it: this is going to be a clandestine operation. Dress inconspicuously, act naturally, and don't say a single word about it to anyone. Not even your 'girlfriends' and 'sisters'. Trust me; it's important to keep this on the low."

The way he was putting implied air quotes around the words made my blood boil, but after sneakily clenching and unclenching my right fist a couple of times, I gave him a curt nod. It was enough to satisfy him for the moment, and after checking the time on his phone, Percival locked eyes with me again.

"They should be done with the gutting, so I'll go and teach Penelope how to debone her catch. If she asks, this conversation was about buying a pedestal where we can put the rest of the helmets in our custody." That seemed to be the end of it, and he soon turned to the door, only to glance back and emphasize, "Just to be sure we're on the same page: nine in the morning, no gear, dress plainly, keep it a secret, and trust me."

"I've got it the first time. Go."

The old bastard wasn't exactly pleased with my tone, but nodded all the same and left the room. I waited until I could hear him going down the stairs before I let the tension drain from my shoulder, and I let out a groan of monumental proportions.

"So, we're off to negotiate tomorrow, huh?" I muttered under my breath, and after closing my eyes and taking a few measured breaths to expel the last vestiges of abnormal annoyance still clawing at my thoughts, I picked up my phone again and wrote a text message to Judy, spelling out the details of the previous exchange.

Because screw that guy.