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It was three in the morning and the Adept Slayer couldn't sleep. He was dreaming of the battle he had with Gunvolt at Eden's Garden in Tashkent. The battle was raging from both sides. In spite of his efforts, the Muse was amplifying Gunvolt's Septimal capabilities.
He felt betrayed, not by Joule, not even by Lola, but Mytyl. His own sister, his very flesh and blood sought to destroy him. Copen knew this wasn't true, as Lola claimed that the Muse Septima was drawing her toward this course of action. Regardless, Copen's emotions took over as rage was the only thing left fueling his efforts.
Realizing there was only one way to end it all, Copen withdrew his last hope. The gun left from his father's efforts in fighting Adepts, the original Border gun. Copen did what he could to mimic the effects of the original, save for the Bullits. Not even aware of what he was doing, Copen grabbed the gun off his nightstand, aimed at the door and shot a bullet which got stuck halfway through the door.
Upon hearing this, Nori panicked and ran to the room, hoping that Copen wasn't in any sort of danger. Nori used her "Maid Quick" ability to kick open the door. That's when the 14-year-old genocidal maniac woke up with a start, practically springing into action. Copen was dumbfounded when he saw the gun was in his hands rather than where he placed it prior to falling asleep.
"Another bad dream I take it?" Nori guessed.
"I apologize for disturbing you, and damaging the door." Copen apologized.
"I'm just glad it didn't hit anybody." Nori assured.
Copen nodded as Nori turned around to shut the door, but not before telling Copen one last thing.
"If I were you, I'd lock that gun in a safe so that doesn't happen again." Nori warned as she closed the door.
Copen turned on the lamp beside him and sat in silence for two hours. He got up at 5:00 sharp, performed his morning routine and got some coffee. Wanting to explain what happened last night to Nori, Copen began to search for the maid throught the sanatorium. That's when he found Nori with the housekeeper, straining to prevent herself from telling the housekeeper that she'd be better off cleaning up her attitude rather than the main room.
Deciding to wait until the mess was over, Copen just quietly sipped his coffee nearby. When it was finished, Nori noticed Copen standing five feet behind her and leaning on the right wall.
"Is there something you needed Copen?" Nori asked.
"I'm pretty sure you were wondering what caused me to shoot that gun at such an odd hour, is that right?" Copen theorized.
"At first I was worried that Eden managed to infiltrate the sanatorium and kidnap Mytyl again." Nori notified.
"It was worse, far worse. I was reliving the visit to Tashkent." Copen explained.
Nori knew emotions weren't a tough subject for Copen, but to admit a weakness like this was surely an oddity for the boy. Taking advantage of this once in a millenia event, she sat back and listened to the tale he told. Around 5:35, Copen decided to get going. So, he finished his coffee, handed the mug to Nori and left for the day.
After the nightmare he had, Copen was determined to make sure it didn't recur. He knew where Gunvolt was staying, the secluded mansion on the outskirts of town. Copen calculated how fast it would be to get there on foot and opted for rooftop parkour with a mix of Bullit Dashes instead. He reached his destination at 6:07.
It was easy enough to enter, considering no one was near the doors to stop him. Gunvolt had a cast iron frying pan in hand, he offered to cook for Quinn that day while she patched up his "duds". He looked into the living room from the kitchen. His instincts were telling him someone was there that wasn't Quinn, but Gunvolt just couldn't see it.
Not near the potted plant, nor the short, round table, not near either of the single seating cushioned chairs and not near the- hold up. He saw someone near the front doors, someone he thought he'd never see again. The person who claimed himself to be Gunvolt's sworn arch nemisis for eternity. Copen saw Gunvolt peering from around the corner and fired a shot from the Border in Gunvolt's direction.
Gunvolt dodged to the left as the bullet went through Quinn's dark oak storage cabinets under the counter. Copen narrowed his eyes and glared at the Azure Striker standing before him. Gunvolt took this as an opportunity and closed in on Copen, whacking the crimson curse over the head with the pan. It was in this moment that Copen knew he messed up. Copen's body fell to the floor with a loud thud, prompting Quinn to almost come barrelling downstairs.
"GV! Are you okay!? What happened here!?" Quinn shrieked as she looked from the body on the floor to the azure Adept with a frying pan.
"It looks like Copen wasn't satisfied with how things ended at Tashkent." Gunvolt supposed.
"This looks serious, we'd better move him to the couch and make sure he's alright." Quinn worried.
Gunvolt grabbed Copen by wrapping his arms so his elbows were under Copen's shoulders while Quinn made sure Copen's legs didn't hit a chair. They succeeded in placing Copen safely on the couch.
"He didn't hurt you, did he?" Quinn queried as she looked Gunvolt up and down for any injuries.
"If anything, he's the one that got hurt. I hit him over the head with the pan." Gunvolt elucidated as he held the pan in both hands horizontally.
Quinn was paralyzed from shock, she never thought Gunvolt would do something like that. But when she looked, Quinn noticed that Gunvolt's Dart Leader wasn't in its holster. She soon remembered that he left it in his room unless he was going on a mission.
"Do you think it was too much?" Gunvolt asked.
While they waited for Copen to wake up, around 6:57, Xiao showed up with a cake and comics in hand.
"I brought those Sumo Samurai comics you asked for Quinn! And to pay you back I brought ca- no way is that Copen!? What's he doing here!?" Xiao panicked.
"We don't know, he just showed up so I hit him over the head with a pan." Gunvolt elaborated.
"You what!?" Xiao shouted.
"Yeah, it's pretty messed up I know." Gunvolt rambled.
Xiao could only sigh and shake his head as he set down the cake and comics on the short, round coffee table.
'Nori definitely won't be happy about this.' Xiao thought.
The three continued on talking about their morning as if the maroon menace wasn't on the couch. Both Quinn and Gunvolt took turns making sure Copen didn't escape or try to hurt somebody else. The next morning near 8:32, Copen awoke with a splitting headache. Gunvolt knew this because he was in the living room sitting in the chair near the left wall and saw Copen sit up.
"Quinn, duck!" Gunvolt warned.
"Huh, where?" Copen wondered as he looked around.
Gunvolt thought he was playing games, so he walked over to the couch and loomed over Copen. If Joule were there she would claim that Gunvolt currently had an appearance similar to that of Sumeragi's orbital elevator.
"Why did you come storming in last night trying to shoot me?" Gunvolt interrogated as he stood in front of Copen.
"What are you saying? All I know is I just woke up." Copen groaned.
"You have to be joking." Gunvolt grumbled.
That's when Gunvolt got an idea, one he felt would be something Zeno would do. So, in honor of his retro gaming friend and colleague, Gunvolt carried out his plot.
"I was worried you wouldn't wake up. It felt like forever waiting, I'm so glad you're okay." Gunvolt smiled.
Copen was a little confused as to why this person's emotions changed so quick, but brushed it off.
"What am I doing here?" Copen pondered.
"You came to hang out, but you were really tired so I left you to sleep on the couch. I knew all of that work was bothering you after Eden but I didn't know it was this serious." Gunvolt lied.
"What's Eden? Is it an acronym?" Copen wondered.
Quinn was watching the entire incident go down from the kitchen and called Xiao from the landline phone to fill him in on everything as it happened. Xiao was so confused that he had his phone on his desk, arms folded and head on his arms.
"It's the group that tried to kidnap your sister and use her to fulfill their own evil desires." Gunvolt informed.
"I have a sister?" Copen questioned.
"Yeah, she's your younger twin sister and her name is Mytyl." Gunvolt confirmed.
"Where is she?" Copen queried as he looked around, thinking the aforementioned girl was nearby.
"At the sanatorium where you live, where that is I have no idea. But now that you're here, we can get some work done. Since there's only three QUILL members left, we have a lot of work to do. Those three being me, you and Xiao. He'll be here soon so I can introduce you then." Gunvolt replied.
"Can you come over? GV said he'd introduce you to Copen today." Quinn hoped.
"Is he sure it's safe?" Xiao doubted.
"It seems that Copen lost his memory after GV hit him over the head with that pan. He's even convinced him that he worked for QUILL." Quinn added.
"Now this I have to see." Xiao muttered under his breath before hanging up.
Quinn prepared breakfast while they waited for Xiao who arrived at 8:47. Quinn made toast, bacon and eggs. She had a glass of orange juice, as did GV while Copen and Xiao drank milk. Xiao had to keep himself from looking up. Because, sitting in front of him on the other side of the table, was the carbon copy of the enemy of Asimov, his old boss.
"So, what kind of work will we be doing today?" Copen asked.
"We'll be looking into the Sumeragi, they may be down, but they're not out of the fight just yet." Gunvolt responded.
"What did they do? Are they similar to Eden?" Copen inqueried.
"Eden's aspiration was based on Sumeragi's. They wanted to use your sister's Septima to control other Adepts. It would've made her miserable in the process. If GV here didn't put a stop to it I couldn't imagine what would've happened." Xiao answered.
"It looks like we'd better hurry up and get to work." Copen noticed as he continued eating his fried egg.
And that, is when Quinn knew she was about to be in for a very, very, VERY long day.