The group made there way out of the underground parking lot and into an open grass field. Thankfully, no drones were around so the group started to walk their way over to the front of the academy in search of the siblings van. When they made it near the front they notice the exam students that had entered the building were being released to their waiting parents. The ceremony seemed to be already coming to an end and the drones are starting to exit the building like search dogs on the hunt for prey.

“Shit! They’re already here! We’re surrounded!,” exclaimed Enola in frustration.

“How are going to get back to the van without the drones seeing us?,” Inez asked Carmen who was deep in thought before the sound caught her attention.

Caw caw!

She looked up to a lamp post that was beside the sidewalk next to them and spotted her crow friend, Reaper. An idea popped into her head and she stretch out her arm for Reaper to land on.

“We might not be able to get to the van but someone else can.”

The crew looked perplexed by her vague words.

“So we’re sending a crow to get the van? Yeah, great idea since he has no thumbs. Maybe we can get it to teach Keito how to drive after this,” Piers said sarcastically which caused Keito to look slightly offended.

Carmen rolled their eyes at Piers before whispering to the crow and sending it off into the sky.

The team waited behind a large group of bushes at the side of the academy for the next few minutes. While the rest were busy talking to one another about the current situation Carmen couldn’t help but wonder how Satoshi got here in the first place. Most importantly she wanted to find out how in the hell he became a UI in the first place.

Yes, it was normal now a days for people to become UI when they pass away but when the Moon Crasher incident happened a few years ago the invention of UI was still a new thing mostly reserved for the upper class or testers. There was no mention in the media release for the incident indicating any of the victims becoming UI so that just made the whole situation a lot more stranger. Yet the more she thought about the situation the more the revelation of her friends being Ui made sense.

When she first talks to Piers he had mentioned the fact her siblings were on a mission to the moon but Carmen didn’t plan on placing any characters on the moon yet. This made less sense when she remembered that when she and her siblings entered the simulation in the first place they appeared on a moon which was completely empty of people except for them. The only possible explanation for this could be that Piers was talking about a subconscious memory from when they were alive.

Another clue to their UI identity is back when she and the group were traveling in the mysterious hallway. When she warned them of their being a possible UI hacking into her world Keito got defensive and brought out a dagger similar to the ones Moon defense force personel carry around. She had never modeled that type of weapon before and never goyt the model assets for it from NASA when she was chosen for the Cybrim Space Sim program. So the only explanation she could come up with was that the dagger was a mental projection of one of Keitos most prized possessions from when he was alive. He was Satoshis brother after all and he worked as a member of the Moon defense force so it was likely he was the one who gave it to him in the first place.

“This does makes sense after all. How could I’ve been this stupid?,” muttered Carmen to herself.

“What makes sense?,” asked Enola who was laying on the grass in the middle of the ring of bushes.

“The fact that our friends are UI. I never made Keito’s dagger which is a common weapon for members of the Moon Defense Force. Piers also talked about his siblings going on a mission to the moon but the moon here is empty of people. They must have just being carrying memories from when they were alive.”

“But I thought you said you made them? How could they be real people if you made them here in the first place?,” questioned Inez who seemed to puzzled.

“Yeah but that’s the thing. I just made their virtual models. Not their intelligence. When someone dies and becomes UI their consciousness is uploaded to the Virtual Simulation System. VSS companies such as Cybrim are paid to connect their intelligence to a virtual model they create to fit the requested taste of the patient. I never made the intelligence of my characters since I didn’t have enough experience with making complex AI yet so I bought some in a AI Starter Pack from a robotics company known as ScyllaMIX. I couldn’t afford the ones Cybrim should so I went for a cheap option which I thought was a steal at the time due to how powerful the “AIs” were. They came with pre made virtual models connected to them which I customized. I can understand if this has upset all of you but I promise ya’ll I never wanted to hurt you guys.”

The rest started to process what she was getting up and the more they thought about it the more everything they just went through in the academy building appeared more believable. Despite Carmen changing their memories and features the rest didn’t have the heart to hold a grudge against her for that. Most of their personalities and identity did stay intact and in the end she was lied to about them being AI in the first place.

“Why are you apologizing? Sure you may have brought us as some form of entertainment but you didn’t know we were UI in the first place and treated us as people either way. And besides the company that you brought us from is at fault since they were the ones who knew about our true existence. Not you,” said Laren as he poked at Carmen’s shoulder in order to remind her who the true enemy was. It definitely wasn’t her to begin with but rather the ones who set her up in the first place.

“Thank you for that,” responded Carmen in a soft voice full of gratitude.

“No problem. And just so you know. I’m glad it was you who got us. You did give us a second chance at life together again after all. Even if you weren’t aware of it.”

Carmen just nodded softly as she feared if she were to respond she would just ramble herself to tears and floor the entire place with them.

“Wait you said ScyllaMIX was were you got them from?,” asked Satoshi who appeared to act like he was attempting at being Sherlock Holmes for the moment.

“Yes sir. I got them at one of Scyllas new tech shop that opened at a mall downtown were I live from. They were advertising them as “Powerful Ai Assistants Perfect Prices” since they sould them at half the amount usual AIs are sold these days. That should have been the first sign there was something wrong I brushed it off since tech companies are all shady nowadays,” answered Carmen as Satoshi nodded while he processed the information.

“So the attack was a group effort then. Seems like a crime ring to get as much profit from the incident as possible. The ones who attacked the Moon were trying to make a statement against internationalizing the new research lab they built there for VSS research. They must have partnered with companies to use the event as an oppotunity to make profit. During my capture I hear them they were using stolen data and assets they stole during the incident to create their own VSS headset. I also heard them saying they were going to “wipe” some of the people they managed to erase during the attack to get rid of any evidence and use them for research purposes,” explained Satoshi as he used the new evidence to piece together their enemies plan. The mention of the word “wipe” in relation to the victims caused Carmen’s stomach to twist in disgust. The level of evil some people go to cover their tracks and experimentation’s. Even if it meant erasing peoples entire identities.

“It sounds like that’s what they did to us since we don’t really remember being “alive” at the moment. Which is really disturbing to think about,” inserted Peirs who looked a little pale since all the information they were taking was probably draining him.

“I wonder if Killian is a UI too since you did probably buy him with our friends too,” suggested Varian which caused Carmen to nod in agreement. He was right that Killian was brought by the same place their friends were so the possibility was him being a UI was bound to be true. This mystery seemed to have more layers than an onion which was saying something.

“We have to investigate this further. Sounds to me like we have a mystery on our hands gang,” says Carmen before the sound of a car beeping drew their attention to the parking lot. The crew popped their heads over the bushes to see Leilani waving over to the inside the van while the crow perched on the exterior mirror.

“Hello! Thought you guys might need a ride,” says Leilani as the rest rushed out of the bushes to hurriedly enter the van.

“Leilani you’re a life saver!,” praised Carmen as he opened the back door to let the others inside.

Leilani looked over to the siblings new friends who appeared mentally drained and largely exhausted.

“Looks like you made some new friends,” says Leilani before turning to Carmen with a puzzled expression. “What happened when you guys were gone for an hour?”

“Well everything was fine until we started getting chased and then we found Satoshi here who was being held hostage by-,” says Carmen before being rudely interrupted by the sound of a dozen police sirens. The group turned around to see that their was a large group of military vehicles from Cybrim currently following them.

“Them,” snarled Keito who was glaring daggers at the pursuers.

“Can you drive us out of here. Please,” says Hoku, anxious and afraid.

Leilani nodded before hitting the gas peddle and they drove out of the campus and onto the highway road. The group held onto the handles on the inside of the van in order not to move around as Leilani drove the like she was a professional car racer. Leilani started to swerve and drift order to avoid explosives being thrown at them by their pursuers. The sound of gunfire and constant explosions startled the group.

“They’re trying to kill us! Again!,” screamed Hoku as he stared horrified at the site of the pursuers through the window.

“I knew something like this would happen but did anyone believe? Noooo. Of course not!,” yelled Varian in frustration. He held on tightly to the handle on the wall he sat against.

“Oh get a grip! We’re not gonna actually die. We just need to fight fire with fire,” says Carmen before she pulled out her infinite bag.

“Wait, am I hearing what I think I’m hearing?!,” asked Inez, excited.

“I can finally set fire to government property!,” cheered Enola, having waited for this moment. She pulled out her infinite bag and started to pull random items out. Potion bottles, knives, and even bombs were even pulled out of the floor and onto to the floor. Enola picked one of the bombs that looked like a black orb with a white skull image on it.

“This will do.”

She opened the backdoor of the van before lighting up the bomb and throwing it on the ground near a military vehicle. A few seconds later and explosion can be seen in the distance as a vehicle is shot up into the air and catches on fire.

“Yeah! That’s how it’s done!”

Enola cheered at the success of her explosive before immediately pulling out three more bombs from her bag. She lit the up as well and threw them at the rest of the vehicles that exploded to pieces a few seconds later.

As Enola did a evil laugh at the fiery destruction the rest of the group looked at the scene outside in horror.

“I think we just created a murderer,” whispered Hoku, horrified.

“Don’t worry. She’s unhinged but not downright insane. Lets just hope the glitch Killian caused doesn’t affect the bombs as well,” says Carmen.

“Well she did get rid of them so I’m not actually complaining,” says Keito.

Enola continued to throw explosives out of the car. The group no longer knew if she did it to defeat the enemy or to cause chaos instead. She seemed to no longer to be aiming at anything in particular and was just throwing bombs out the van in any direction.

“Are you sure your twin’s not an arsonist?,” whispered matteo, leaning near Carmen to not be heard.

“Honestly I don’t even know. Anyways – a group of drone helicopters are coming towards us,” says Carmen before pointing out the window.

A group of black helicopters could be seen in the sky chasing after the group. Spotlights were shined on the groups van causing some to squint due to the brightness.

“Oh fuck!,” said Varian in shock as the others stared at the helicopters in various forms of fear and annoyance.