It all happened in a blur. In one moment, Hiro stood before squads of policemen. In the next, he was hurled into a cramped vehicle with Maki and Haruka sitting at the front. Maki stepped on the gas and zoomed away from Ushiro Village.

Hiro’s heart raced. He looked back at the rear window. Police cars dashed outside the village gate; their sirens blared all around. However, they scattered frantically in all directions. None chased after them.

“Aaaaand, looks like we’re in the clear!” Maki said. “You good back there, Hiro? That was a smooth getaway, huh?”

Hiro held a hand over his chest. All the stress and panic amassed in him melted away at once. He leaned back against his chair and exhaled deeply. As he did so, his finger brushed against an old cigarette butt.

“I don’t think ‘smooth’ is exactly the term I’d use for it. I’m just glad I’m alive.” He shook the ash off. “Still… not complaining or anything, but what the hell happened to the police? Don’t they see us?”

“Hehehe. Of course not.” She raised the inflection in her voice. “It’s ‘cause we, my innocent, ignorant hobo, are completely invisible!”

Hiro looked around. Apart from the pile of trash on the floor, the inside looked no different from a regular car. “But I can still… see us.”

She spat out laughing. “You silly goose! If we can’t see anythin’, we’re gonna crash! Obviously, we’re only invisible to those ass-suckin’ dogs outside.”

“Obviously… Right. Very obvious. But, how—”

Haruka snapped her head to Hiro. “No.”

He jerked back in surprise. Her tone of voice had never been this adamant before.“...Eh?”

“Don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“Aw, you’re such a party pooper!” Maki waved her finger at her. “You were about to ask me how it works. Right, Hiro?”

He shifted his gaze between the girls. “Um…”

“Well, I’m glad you asked! It’s one of my prized inventions: a special coat made of small nanomachines! They adapt to the environment and change their colors super fast, so we can always appear invisible. What’s super cool is…”

She rambled on for half an hour. Hiro could see her wide grin from the rear view mirror. Not once did she let down her beaming smile during the whole lecture.

“So, did you get all that?” she asked.

He pressed on his temples. “Ah… right. The um, c-ca…”

“Camouflage Automated Machine-Optimized Hologram! Were you not payin’ attention?”

“I’m not memorizing all that.”

“You poor, dumb soul. Fear not! I’ll make it much easier to understand!”

Haruka sighed and positioned herself to sleep. “You two have fun.”

“Conveniently,” Maki continued, “I carefully constructed this beautiful piece of tech’s name to have an easy acronym. It’s called… CAMOH!”

“Camo? Like camouflage? Ohhh!” Hiro clapped his hands. “You should’ve told me in the first place!”

“No, silly! First off, camouflage was already in the name. Dunno how the hell you missed that. Secondly, there’s an ‘h’ at the end!”

“That doesn’t sound much different.”

“The difference is intrinsic, and it is massive. Know your distinctions.”

“How can you piss on Bandito’s name when you literally just named something ‘camo with an h’?”

“How dare you! Don’t ever compare me to those dead bozos again.”

He put his hands up. “Okay, okay.”

“Oh, and there’s more! I design all my vehicles to be completely sound-proof, which makes us even harder to track. And here’s the kicker: check that window again.”

He looked behind him. Other than the village in the far distance, it was nothing but sand for miles. “What am I supposed to be looking at?”

“Nothin’!”

“N-Nothing?”

“Nothin’! Not a single track left behind! We’re currently hoverin’ over the sand! I call it the Duneguana. Perfect for movin’ along sandy terrain. You’ll see why I named it this way when we get to the base.”

“That’s… kinda cool, actually. I never thought getting away was gonna be this easy.”

“I told you, right?! Just do your job distractin’, and we’ll handle the rest. You should trust me more, sillyhead.”

“You make it extra difficult to do that, you know. Still, your group— Lionheart, was it? They must be really good with tech.”

Maki wiggled her finger. “Um, no. I am really good with tech. They do the manual labor.”

“Eh?! So you’re telling me you designed this invisible car? All on your own?”

“Hell yeah! I mean, I had some help, of course. But I’ll take the credit as the genius inventor. You’ve seen my hamster bombs, right? And my precious robo-bees? They’re all my babies! Wanna know how they work?”

Haruka hurriedly shook her head.

“I-I’m good,” Hiro said.

“We got so much time left, though! Come onnnnn! It’s useful info!”

“Maki. No,” Haruka said.

“It’s behavior like this that makes all the kids so dumb nowadays. You need some educatin’!” Maki cleared her throat. “So anyways, I’m gonna start with the CAMOH since I have it installed in every vehicle I make, and…”

Hiro and Haruka’s protests couldn’t stop her from babbling on. Hiro tuned her out and stared at the window—nothing but sand and the occasional cactus. Eventually, he closed his eyes and dozed off. While in deep sleep, the Duneguana screeched to a halt.

Hiro sat up, startled and in a daze. “Wh— Huh? What’s going on?”

“You guys weren’t listenin’?!” Maki yelled.

“Why? Just… why?” Haruka rubbed her eyes. She too was disturbed from her slumber.

Maki clicked her tongue. “Hours of explanation, and for what? Now I gotta repeat everythin’ from the start.”

“No. No, you don’t.” Haruka yawned.

“You two are just so rude.” She let go of the brakes and continued driving.

“Wait, so why did we stop? What happened?” Hiro asked.

“Me witnessin’ a betrayal, that’s what!” Maki yelled. “Here I am, spillin’ the deepest, darkest secrets of my genius brain, and it turns out you’ve been sleepin’ for the past three hours! So disrespectful!”

“Three hours?! I was out for that long? Wait… you stopped the car ‘cause we fell asleep?”

“Yes! If you’re gonna be rude to me, you deserve a rude awakenin’ yourself.”

Haruka chopped her on the head. “You made my neck hurt.”

Maki bared her teeth at her. “And you made my feelin’s hurt!”

As the two bickered, Hiro’s eyes adjusted to the light. An entirely new verdant scenery enveloped them. Lush, green grass replaced the wide desert plains; they encroached the roadsides. Tall redwood trees surrounded them. Sunlight poked through the dense foliage.

“I can’t finish my lecture in time anyway. We’re almost there!” Maki veered to the right. They left the road and drove through thick grass.

“Looks like we’re in the middle of nowhere,” Hiro said.

“Says the guy livin’ in some broken down town in the middle of the desert.”

“Right…”

The Duneguana sped up as it weaved around the trees. They soon made it out of the forest and into a wide open field. A tall mountain, its summit dressed in clouds, lay ahead. All the while, they only continued to accelerate.

“Aren’t we going a little too fast?” Hiro asked.

“Actually, not fast enough. We’re goin’ full throttle!” Maki slammed down on the pedal.

Hiro held on to his seat. Beads of sweat rolled down his chin. The mountain drew closer and closer. “Maki! Slow down!”

She giggled, but didn’t answer him.

His heart rate skyrocketed. Panic overcame him. The cliffside was fast approaching. “I’m serious! STOP THE CAR!”

Green light flashed from his eyes as he got up from his seat.

“...Eh?”

Almost immediately after, Hiro sat back down and exhaled. His panic faded away, and all he had left was confusion.

Full speed, they ran straight into the cliffside. Instead of a crash, however, they passed through it like air. Suddenly they were inside a steel-clad tunnel. Blue lights lit up the whole stretch of it.

As they slowed down, Maki turned to Hiro. “So? Did you like my surprise?”

He hunched forward and rubbed his forehead. “No.”

“Well, whether you like it or not, we’re here!”

They arrived at the tunnel’s end, which opened to a massive workshop. Heavy machinery and equipment designed to look like animals and insects were everywhere. Various tools and gadgets—together with an assortment of garbage—littered the concrete floor.

They parked next to a row of other animal-inspired vehicles. Maki burst through her door and ran out. She spun around in excitement and stretched out her arms. “Welcome to the Lionheart base, Hiro!”

He stepped out. Upon doing so, he realized the Duneguana bore some semblance to a chubby reptile, like its name suggested. Its stubby form and lack of wheels went against the modern sleek designs most cars had. Instead, it evoked a childlike sense of playful creativity. He found it rather endearing.

“...Hello? Earth to Hiro?”

He was too preoccupied with the infrastructure surrounding him. A quick jab to his side cut his basking short.

“Hehe. Awesome, ain’t it?” Maki proudly held her waist. “This place is where I tinker around with my babies. Ain’t it so cool? All this space just for me!”

“All of this… I… I see.” Hiro’s mouth was agape. “If I wasn’t still recovering from the scare you gave me, I would actually be complimenting you.”

“Aw, come on! It was just a prank!”

“‘Just’?! I thought I was gonna die! You didn’t have to go that fast!”

Maki waved her finger at him. “Ah, but you see, young hobo, I did have to go fast! The inside of this mountain is like the perfect hidin’ spot for our base, but we gotta somehow blend everythin’ together with what’s outside. To the few hikers who pass by our entrance, all they see is a regular cliff. Yes, it’s a hologram, but with CAMOH technology, it also has the texture of rocks when you touch it! You can even climb it and you won’t notice a thing!”

“Wait, is she giving another lecture?” Hiro asked Haruka.

“I blame you for this,” she said.

“The only way to get in this base,” Maki went on, “is to disturb the nano-particles’ field of movement! You gotta do it through sensory vibrations, and then charge in super fast while the CAMOH is repairin’ itself. All my precious babies can produce the frequency needed to disrupt the CAMOH, so pretty much the only way to get in is through my inventions.” She laughed profusely.

Hiro quickly switched the topic. “That’s really cool and all, but do you just never clean? This place is a dump.”

“Hey! Unlike you slackers, I’m way too busy to clean.”

“Because of you slacking, the boss makes me clean up after your mess,” Haruka said.

Maki snickered. “As you should. Oh! And speak of the devil…” She spun to Hiro. “We gotta introduce you to the rest! Follow me!”

She hopped and skipped as she led them to the glass elevator at the other end of the workshop. Surrounding heaps of trash made it a long and winding trip. The elevator itself was large enough to rival any expensive suite; its lustrous white light made it feel expensive and fancy.

Once they entered, a robotic voice that sounded like Maki greeted them. “Howdy! Where we headin’?”

“Fourth floor!” Maki said.

“Gotcha! Enterin’ the livin’ quarters.”

Hiro looked at the guide to his right. The base had five floors: the workshop, training grounds, infirmary, living quarters, and command center.

They soon arrived at their destination. The elevator doors opened up to a room that closely resembled a hotel lobby with a maroon carpet floor and marble walls. It had a hangout section complete with a television over the fireplace and a u-shaped couch. Used cigarettes filled the ashtray atop the coffee table. Across the elevator was a hallway that led to several rooms, and the door at the back led to the kitchen.

Maki pranced out, followed by the others. Hiro only took a few steps before a hand grabbed his arm. A cold sensation gently caressed his neck. His gaze drifted down to an arm dressed in all black holding a knife with an indigo edge.

A man’s voice whispered from behind. “Don’t move.”