"Hey, Lyn, can we have a moment?"

"Hm?" Lyn said as she rummaged through her wallet. "What's up?"

"There's something I want to tell you. It might be better if I tell you in pr—"

"Ah shit." Lyn cut him off when she noticed two bright red cards jutting out of the side of her wallet. She looked around the restaurant. It was bustling with customers, but the group that had been huddling behind her (while brimming with excitement about the fact that Lyn was treating them) had reduced in size. Only Irene and Neil were here.

"Wait, where's Raph and Millie?"

"What do you think?" Irene snorted. "Millie saw a sale going on and bolted, then Raph followed."

Lyn groaned. "Okay, I gotta find them and give them something before I forget again. Could you pay first?"

"What? You said you were treating-"

"I am, I am, I'll pay you back later." Flashing an apologetic grin, Lyn dashed out of the restaurant.

She spotted the Indian man in the streets, all alone with a bashful look. He was standing outside Elizabeth's Secret, a lingerie store. Lyn had to stifle a laugh as she approached him.

"Too embarrassed to go in with Millie?" She leaned her head next to Raph's ears, causing him to jump up in shock.

"W- What the? Oh, god, Lyn, d- don't pop up like that..."

"Sorry, sorry." Lyn chuckled before handing him the cards. "Anyway, I have these new supplementary cards for you and Millie. I know the previous ones were deactivated 'cause I was gone for too long, so I got you guys new ones. Now you can use it to buy potions and stuff, and Millie can use it for any quest items, and also to pay for her storage unit. I hope she still has that storage unit?"

"She does." Raph nodded. "Thank you."

"You got it. Although..." Lyn glanced inside the store. A giant '50% off everything!!' sign was propped up everywhere in bold, neon pink letters. "Could you try to remind Millie that the card is for quest expenses only, not for personal... stuff?"

"Ah, I'll... I'll try... No promises though."

"I believe in you, dude." Lyn winked before turning to the burly man who had followed her. "So, Neil, what did you want to talk about?"

Neil cast Raph a wary look. "I found out about something, but we should probably talk privately a—"

Once again, the fighter was cut off when Irene appeared out of nowhere and pounced on Lyn's back.

"Argh! Get off me, Irene!"

Despite Lyn's struggle, Irene's arms clasped firmly around Lyn's neck. "Shut up, idiot, don't think about running away! Answer me, why didn't you show up for that date I set you up with last night?"

"I- I wasn't f-"

"Don't you dare say you're not free! I checked your schedule and you were extremely free yesterday."

"Erm, well, s- something important came up..."

"Bullshit, Manda told me you went out to bar-hop with her and Ivan. That is not important."

"Wow, Manda's such a little snitch..." Lyn muttered under her breath as she thought of a new excuse. "Well, that girl you set me up with is not my type at all, so..."

"What do you mean, not your type? She's totally your type!"

"What is Lyn's type?" Neil chimed in, his eyes twinkling in amusement.

"Let's see." Irene lifted up her fingers and counted, "Femme, athletic, nice ass, and... that's it."

Neil's eyes widened while Raph choked on his saliva.

"That's it?" Neil said with a chuckle. "I know loads of people like that. You should've told me, Lyn."

Lyn rolled her eyes. "That is so not true, Irene."

"Oh yeah? I've witnessed your dating history for the past eight years, I know it's true. That's all you look for."

"Not... true... at... all..." Lyn coughed out another denial, but with every word she uttered, Irene's chokehold tightened even more.

Amidst Lyn's wheezing and Neil's snickering, a soft voice cut through the group.

"What about Millie?"

All three pairs of eyes turned to Raph, baffled and stunned.

"What?" Lyn blurted.

Raph squirmed under the attention, but he remained adamant. "I- I mean, I've never seen you take an interest in her, but she's very feminine, and very athletic, and- and..." His voice turned into a strained whisper. "She has a nice ass too, so..."

An awkward silence fell onto the rest of the group. Irene's grip on her neck loosened, but Lyn was now too perplexed to get away.

"Oh, Raph..." she muttered. "Why would you say that? Millie's really pretty, but I would never..."

"Why not? Do you think she's not athletic enough?" Raph's tone was strangely accusatory. "She may not be a combat quester but she's still a very well-trained quester. She's very good at fighting, you know."

"No, I know that, Raph, it's just that I would never do this to you. I'm- I'm sorry that you even think of me as that type of person."

"Huh?" Raph blinked. "What do you mean?"

Lyn blinked too. "I know she's yours, Raph, and I would never go after my friend's girl."

Raph's mouth dropped wide open. "M- Mine? What? W- Why would you say that... What?"

"Huh?" Lyn was now even more confused. She looked at Irene, who stared back with similar bewilderment. "Sorry, am I... am I wrong? I shouldn't have assumed then, I'm sorry..."

"Oh hey!" Millie's cheerful voice pierced into the bizarre tension of the group. "All of you are here!" She hopped next to Raph, her hands carrying four giant pink bags from Elizabeth's Secret. "Are you all coming along to watch the musical with us or something?"

"Nah, Lyn here is going on a blind date," Irene insisted, squeezing Lyn's neck once again.

"Exciting!" Millie gasped. "With who?"

"No one!" Lyn exclaimed. "I told you, I'm not going unless it's a double date with you and Cameron!"

Irene was about to rebuke when a bright, blue light shot up from her hand. It was the ring on her finger—the standard QA communication device. The palms on the four other team members radiated a similar azure glow. The entire group suddenly flared up like a huge sapphire under a spotlight, as crowds of passersby stared at them in awe.

"Aw, yeah." Irene let go of Lyn as she grinned at the rings. "Finally."

"Mission time?" Neil asked, raising his eyebrows.

Lyn nodded. It had been three weeks after their last briefing with the QA, but the rings were the signal that the quest was starting: they finally spotted the Crimson Witch again.

Millie let out a small sigh as she threw her bags up. The four shopping bags vanished into thin air.

"I guess I won't be watching The Tiger King today," she mumbled, her lips puffed out into a petulant pout.

"Sorry, Millie," Raph offered. "I'm sure the tickets are exchangeable. We can try tomorrow?"

Millie pushed her curly hair off her shoulders. "It's fine, let's just go."

The five of them raised their hands and twisted the gem on their rings. The blue rays shone even brighter, expanding in size and engulfing their bodies in the light. When the brightness subsided, they found themselves standing in front of the famous QA headquarters—a tall skyscraper that seemed as though it was made entirely from grey-tinted glass.

Three temporary teleportation ports sat in front of the building, among the crowds of QA employees and other pedestrians; the three dome-shaped structures, with their distinct colors, lined themselves in a way that resembled traffic lights. As Lyn oriented herself to the new surroundings, a few more familiar faces appeared next to them one by one.

The joint commission had officially begun.

"Alright, remember what we briefed about," Lyn declared, "let's break into our assigned groups. Good luck, everyone."

Raph and Millie nodded before running towards the green port that was designated for group one. A couple of healers from the Blue Cross of Clerics were also there, and they gave Raph a light slap on the back as he approached them.

"I guess I'll be going to the group two port," Irene grumbled. "This is unfair, you're getting all the fun."

"The Crimson Witch can counter elemental magic, Irene, you won't be safe."

Irene made a face. "You're also an elemental mage," she mumbled before making her way to the yellow port.

"I guess we should go too." Lyn peered at the copper-skinned man next to her. "But you've been wanting to tell me something, right? What is it?"

Neil stretched his arms; his round shoulder muscles rubbed against his sword that had been conjured during the light teleportation. "Yeah, I did, wanted to tell you about an open quest I found, but I guess now is not the best time to—"

"An open quest?" Lyn perked up. "Wait, you mean one that Han might be in?"

Neil nodded. "It's a pretty unique treasure hunt. I can tell you more about it after this quest is over."

"No, tell me about it now!" Lyn insisted.

Ever since Millie had told her Cydney's birthday (it was August 28, so honestly, Lyn was not that far off in her guess), she had been looking through Cydney's entire collection of photos in the eye-fone, and it had been driving her crazier and crazier by the day. If she could, she'd be more than willing to abandon her current life and dedicate all her time to finding the Asian woman. Unfortunately, she wouldn't know what to do and where to start. Thank God for Neil, though.

"I need to know, Neil. Tell me, please."

"The open quest doesn't start till next week, so there's no need to fret." Neil chuckled as he handed Lyn a piece of paper. "But here's some information about it. We can talk about it more later."

Lyn snatched the paper and skimmed it. It was a poorly made poster, with a blurry image of an island and the words 'Mysterious Island Emerges Randomly?!?!' in tacky font plastered all over it. "What is this about—"

"Look, do you want to complete this quest, or not?" Neil said, gesturing towards the red port—the teleportation port designated for group three. "Your Dawn Avengers friends are here already."

Indeed, Emily had arrived at the scene, flanked by Becca and Monzo, a big-sized man with a head as bald as the rest of his body. Lyn had to look away when the blonde woman pulled Becca in for a kiss.

"Yeah, you're right... let's- let's just go..." She let out an annoyed grunt and stashed the poster into her pocket. They joined Emily and Monzo inside the port before the door slammed shut. With a press of a button, the walls began to vibrate.

"You're late," Emily remarked without so much as a glance at Lyn.

"So are you."

"I was at the group leader briefing. What's your excuse?"

Lyn had nothing to say to that. "Where's the other fighter in your team?"

"He's already there to get everyone in position," Emily said, her blue eyes glaring at Lyn disapprovingly. "Everyone except you and Neil, apparently."

"God, Em, lay off of me, I'm probably just a few seconds behind."

"A few seconds could make or break the entire commission."

"Can you save the lecture for after the quest, maybe?"

"And then it would be too late, wouldn't it?"

Thankfully, the port came to a stop at that point. A sharp light pierced through the door, blinding Lyn's eyes momentarily. As she blinked, her vision cleared to reveal a vast, rocky terrain. The reddish hues of the land seemed to exacerbate the harsh heat of the sun. Giant boulders and irregular cliffs spotted the field of crimson, with some of the jagged rocks coming together to form the weirdest-looking sky bridge that spanned the entire region.

"Where is this?" she asked, her eyes still squinting from the sunlight.

"Some kind of canyon, perhaps?" Neil commented. "Kinda reminds me of Arizona."

"Lyn, Monzo, follow me; Neil, get to your position!" Emily wasted no time in dropping orders and dashing out of the port, Monzo following close behind.

The moment Emily was out of earshot, Neil turned to Lyn and smirked. "So, what's with you and Emily? Exes? With a really bad breakup?"

"W- What? How do you know?"

"Just guessing." Neil shrugged. "My main job is a private investigator, after all."

"Did you guys not hear me?" Emily bellowed from afar. "I said, get to your position! And get your butt here right now, Lyn!"

Neil stifled a laugh. "Have fun with your ex," he said before sprinting away.

Lyn groaned. She could not wait to get through this commission and then focus on that open quest Neil had found. She picked up her speed and ran next to Emily and Monzo.

"Sorry, Em," she muttered. "So, where is the Crimson Witch?"

"Should be somewhere close," Emily said, her brows furrowed as she darted her head around.

"There she is!" Monzo shouted, pointing upwards.

The two women shot up their heads. Running along the rigged sky bridge was a small hooded figure; her auburn hair floated above her hood, while a mist of red sand trailed behind her.

"Let's bring her down," Emily growled. She swung out her sword, and the three of them dashed forward, following the direction of the mysterious witch.

ϟ☁ϟ☁ϟ

A/N: This is somewhat of a filler chapter before the actual action, so I hope the pacing wasn't too bad! And yes, in the middle of this quest, we're learning about yet another one ;) What do you think of the mysterious treasure hunt?