Lopera: Cowards, mutineers, traitors!
Lopera: You've made your choices; now you'll learn the consequences.
Lopera: Zeno never forgives!
Lopera: Attention! Ready, aim—
Lopera: Fire!
Admiral Igor: A shame you had to see all that.
Admiral Igor: Our Second Lieutenant Lopera is a crack shot. I trained her to be nothing less. Yet, no soldier of Zeno would take pride in an execution.
Admiral Igor: The burden falls on me. This was my fault, my negligence.
The soldiers collapse, their limp bodies falling among the weeds.
Their blood stains the soil.
Admiral Igor: She hunted down these traitors herself.
Lopera: M.E., check the bodies.
Lopera: The rest of you, form up!
The soldiers leave in formation amid the clearing smoke as the medics arrive to examine the deceased one by one.
Lopera hands the rifle to the attendant, removes her gloves, and turns to face Admiral Igor. He stands in the shaded colonnade, away from the blazing sun of São Paulo.
Lopera: Orders completed, Admiral.
A rare smile flashes across the admiral's face.
He nods, a glimmer of approval for his adopted daughter in his eyes.
Admiral Igor: Well done, dismissed.
Lopera salutes before following the soldiers away from the execution grounds.
Admiral Igor: There have been too many accidents—an unacceptable rate.
The admiral's face shows discomfort. The recent soldier desertions, like the leaked footage, have exposed the embarrassing state of the Zeno army.
Lilya: What reason could you have to kill your own men?
Admiral Igor: Not our men. Not any longer. They mutinied and killed their superior officer.
Lilya: So they got what they deserved, then.
Admiral Igor: Lieutenant Moldir is investigating still. We will find out who else was involved.
Admiral Igor: The Apostles Brotherhood is back. We suspect they may have even infiltrated our base.
Admiral Igor: We've also received intel indicating Manus Vindictae's presence in São Paulo.
Vertin: Manus Vindictae?
Vertin: I'm not entirely surprised. Intelligence suggests they are closely associated with the Apostles Brotherhood.
Vertin: What I hadn't expected is that they would drop their "Order of Enlightenment" guise so soon.
Vertin: But Arcana is dead.
Admiral Igor: There is no room for doubt. No one, nothing, could survive a vacuum bomb.
It was the admiral's personal order to annihilate that once formidable woman. Destruction rained from the sky, and once the dust settled, it was clear that she had been utterly obliterated.
The sun glistens in the pooling blood of the executed traitors.
Vertin: Hm ...
Sweat gathers on her forehead.
Admiral Igor: You will become used to the tropical sun in São Paulo.
Vertin: ...
The early summer heat here is overwhelming.
Lilya: I've been through a lot worse.
Lilya: Snowy mountains, deserts, and soaring eagles.
Admiral Igor: I, too, find myself thinking back to those times.
Admiral Igor: It should never have been a battleground.
Admiral Igor: Our business here is concluded. Timekeeper, Lieutenant Lilya, let us continue inside.
Lilya: Do you really need me in there, Captain? Otherwise, I'd like to hang out here for a bit.
She gulps down some sweet liquor, but it provides little succor. It lacks the frosty flavor of the north.
This drink is lethargic, but it's all the base has to offer.
In São Paulo, soda is cheap, but rum is cheaper—and in near endless supply.
Lilya: I'll check on Sotheby. See you both later, bye!
Admiral Igor: Dismissed, soldier, but I caution you, much has been abandoned here. Remember our rules and keep to within the guarded areas.
A simple office. Military papers litter the walls and shelves, and a phone sits on a side table. A few dice are scattered casually on the desk.
Admiral Igor: There may be a person of interest to us nearby, a writer for the UTTU Magazine, said to be a blind woman named Urd. Her works seemed to be published after every era the "Storm" has affected.
Admiral Igor: It could be this is only an alias, a pen name used by a new person each time, or—
Vertin: Or could she really have crossed the "Storm" eight times?
Vertin: And, somehow, the "Storm" has never affected her?
Vertin: Ms. Barbara provided us with some information.
Vertin: She said the latest piece was sent from a Veterans' Residence in São Paulo.
Admiral Igor: I understand they have a doctor working there, a blind woman. If so, she would match our intelligence on this mysterious UTTU writer. You should seek her out.
Admiral Igor: You are fortunate to have come now, Timekeeper. Carlos, the late commander here, was something of a pain to work with. An idiot. Maybe this is why his own men rose up and killed him.
He turns away.
Vertin: ...!
Admiral Igor: We've already dispensed with most of them.
Vertin: Those men you just had executed?
Admiral Igor: Yes. Lopera raided one of their locations. Manus Vindictae will not be so happy to hear that, I think.
Admiral Igor: She was, I'm told, excessive in her work, a "loose cannon," but I am pleased with her results.
He seems to hold Lopera in high regard.
Cold, ruthless, decisive—qualities that don't quite match her sweet face and fiery orange hair.
Vertin: Admiral, with you in charge here now, I thought I might ask a favor.
She needs to familiarize herself with the local area, transportation, and intelligence.
Vertin: Things may become quite complicated during our visit to São Paulo. I wonder if I might request Zeno spare some manpower to assist us.
Admiral Igor: Our situation is more dire than expected. I will see what can be done, Timekeeper. But, no promises.
The seventeen towers and twenty-two courtyards of the base were once all fully patrolled, but now most of them are abandoned.
Admiral Igor: Lieutenant Moldir will provision you with everything you need.
Admiral Igor: And Lopera, she knows São Paulo well. You may take her with you, as a guide.
The admiral has offered all the assistance he can spare. He sighs at the state of the base.
Admiral Igor: Now, Timekeeper, there is also something you might do for me.
He seems resigned. Zeno is just like this dilapidated base, a weakened shadow of its former self.
Vertin: As long as it's within my power, Admiral.
Admiral Igor: I see that you have one of ours with you, Lieutenant Lilya—I ask that she serve us for the duration of your mission here. She is a fine instructor, and Zeno is in need of help training our latest recruits.
Vertin: I'll speak with her and see what she thinks.
Admiral Igor: Thank you.
Admiral Igor: I should return to my work. Your comrades should be waiting for you in the meeting room with Lieutenant Moldir.
