Sakurako lays in her hospital bed. Wrapped up in her blankets, looking out unto the skyline of the city she'll no longer live in after this ordeal is over. Secretly, she wishes to just get all of this healing over with... but something inside wants to prolong the recovery... to stay in her home country, if just for a bit longer.

She knows she has new obligations in the US. She knows someone will be wanting her to live up to her end of the contract...

Thing is, she's had a hard time thinking of nothing else but what happened a month ago. The last thing she remembered from the fight was going unconcious as all hope for assistance faded when all she saw was a press helicopter.

In a way... she's angry at her country for being so obsessed, that they'd send the press before sending assistance.

She risked the lives of her friends, and for what? A vendetta... spurned on by rage ofer another's actions? That's not how a woman treats her friends, even if she's a Nova as well as said friends...

She snuggles a pillow, burying her head in it a bit, holding back tears...

"What... What did I do... what did I do to hurt them... Those that I love... Those that I trust... What gave me the damn authority?"

She flips through a computer guide book, thumbing the pages with her still casted left arm.

"Computers are so easy to fix... but relationships... friendships... those are never so easily repaired..."

Long walked quietly through the Hospital, his shoes making no noise as he walked. There was a small bundle of assorted flowers cradled in his hands. He had put off his visit since that day.

There's so much she'll probably want to know, things the media couldn't show. Her injuries were so severe, I honestly thought her dead when I arrived. I almost failed someone else .

Long's face contorted into a dour frown as his mind entertained these thoughts.

Who knows what Deathsquad would have done if I had been slower..

Long shuddered slightly as the thought sent a chill down his spine. He stood in his dormed form, The weakling form he had forsaken for power long ago. There was no air of superiority in his form, he looked like he had only aged a year or two since his erruption.

Thank God she survived it, though I'll wager at times she has regretted it. Long stopped in front of the door. Enough dour thoughts, Be thankful she is alive, For that alone is a miracle. She isn't paralyzed or wounded in a way that cannot be healed, so that is something to be thankful for.

Long steeled himself and thought of the night at that Tokyo club where had met Totem, Endeavor, and the others. A smile came to his face and he rapped his knuckles on the door to Endeavor's room three times.

"Endeavor, It's Long, do you mind if I come in?"

"Enter."

The voice was familiar... but not easily placed. Sakurako doesn't even recognize Long standing before her. She hadn't seen him dormed down before, so she thinks that he's just another well wisher. But hearing him introduce himself and the bit of residual quantum she picked up before he dormed lets her believe that the person standing before her is truely Long.

"Long... You seem well, despite saving me." She downcasts her eyes. "I..." She can't put together a sentence, and just nuzzles her pillow. "I'm... sorry..."

Long opens the door and enters. Long takes care to shut the door behind himself and sets the flowers on a small table in the room's corner.

"I realize you've probably never seen me like this before, but I can only come here in this form, The hospital's board of Directors felt an eight foot tall Tiger-man might cause some of the weaker patients some discomfort, so here I am. Please, call me Ryu, that way any passersby won't freak out and realize who's in here. As for you being sorry, you have nothing to apologize for. I am your friend and helping each other is what friends do. Honestly, how many times must I tell you that?"

Long takes a seat and gives Endeavor his best winning smile. "You stood up to one of the most lethal and deranged novas I've ever met and you survived." Long pauses as he tries to assemble his thoughts. "What you did took alot of courage, I'm just glad you survived Endeavor. It would reflect rather poorly on your friends to have not been there for you when you called. You seem to be mending well, How much longer do the doctors say you'll be cooped up in here?"

"On my own... Well... let's just say that DS did a number on me. Without outside help, probably a year, Ryu. That's the thing, see, I sorta pissed off the Japanese government. They would have actually forgave me for what happened at the HMII, but... Remember the dive? I sorta... took something from the Yamato. Withought you guys really knowing..." She says, before pausing.

"...It was a family heirloom, not any military property, but they claim it's part of their historical record. Quite frankly, as the last direct decendent of my Great Geandmother, I have every right to my Great Grandmom's footlocker.

But, back to the situation now, see, because I sorta... ticked them off, they impounded the box before I had a chance to see what was inside. Not to mention this whole deal about when I get better, I gotta leave for 5 years as part of an agreement I made just to keep from having Nippontai from arresting me for vandalizing a war memorial site... The condition of the deal is that I bug out of here within a couple months from now."

She sighs, still hugging her pillow like it was an old friend.

"I really messed up this time, Ryu."

Long's brow furrows slightly as he thinks about what he's been told. Warring emotions fight behind the deep blue eyes and finally one wins out. Long looks up and locks his sapphire blue eyes with Endeavor's.

"It's ok, Everything will work out fine. Now you say you took something that belonged to your family from the Yamato."

His voice betrays a sense of disbelief, but he prsses on.

"You are being "asked" to relocate from your home for five years for this. Then it only seems fair that you keep what you took. It is after all, the least the government can do. Now my question to you is this, do you still want the contents of that locker?"

"They already sent me the contents that they said were of "non importance" to Japan's historical legacy, but I still have a suspicion... but only a suspicion that there was something there."

Her tone seems to be hiding something. That, and she starts fidgeting with her hospital gown on the right side with her index finger.

"But... no matter. Let's focus on now. Namely three things. One, Thanks for stopping by. I sorta like the company. It's always so lonely here, and I can't really relate to doctors. They're expertise is Medicine. I'm a stark-raving tech-head. Two, I hope everyone is alright. I would like to know some of what happened after I almost checked out, as it were. Finally, again, I owe ya big time, bud. If there is anything, and I mean just about anything that you need, let me know."

Long chuckles slightly and shakes his head.

"Let me tell ya, the Board was very suprised when I made the request, and when I agreed to come in this form I thought a few of them would have a heard attack. While I'm not much of a tech head, I've devised a few little trinkets that have always helped out in a pinch."

Long pulls out a small cylinder with vents on both ends.

"This is a quantum battery, while I meditate I charge it with my own energy which can be used at a later date by any nova. It takes around 4 hours to top it off, but it's a nice toy to have. Too bad I didn't grab it for the battle."

Long hands it to Endeavor and returns to his seat. If Endeavor looks closely she would see the beginning of a scar at the bottom of Long's neck. Long takes great care not to reveal the flesh of his body or arms because of the scars covering them from his battles.

"I don't know how well you're fixed for energy here, but that little thing has about a half charge in it, I figure a little extra juice might help your convalescence. I figure you at one time had something like it, but with the Government taking everything you might need another. Besides I figure tinkering with it will give you a little something to do to keep you from going stir crazy in here."

"Heh, cute trick, but I've been... cheating myself." She pulls out a crystal. "Ever heard of a Nodestone? I always kept a few incase of an emergency, fully charged incase I ever needed the juice. I've been having a personal courier head to a safe deposit box where I keep these little beauties and bring them here. How you think I can do this?"

She gets up out of her bed, slowly, since several muscles of her's are still greatly damaged.

"I was able to correct some damage DS did. He had broke three vertebrae in my lower back, severing the spinal cord at that location. I had been pulling some juice from the stone from time to time, and focussed my somewhat inadequate healing in critical areas first. That's why I've been so slow."

She hands Long a Nodestone, it glows pink from energy within it.

"At least I can give you this as payment for a start. There should be enough of my quantum stored in it to replace whatever you've spent during that fight."

She smiles.

"I sort of forgot who found this stuff, or made it, infact my memory is still returning in bits and pieces... but whoever did find this stuff is a real great guy... or gal..."

"That... and I would love to look at that cylendar."

Typhoon peeked into the hospital room, he was so nervous walking thru a building that had so much within that was so... fragile, He was so light-weight that he was barely even disturbing the dust.

He tapped gently on the door.

"May I come in?"

As Endeavor stands Long springs to his feet ready to assist her should she need it. When Endeavor places the nodestone in Long's hands Long locks his eyes with hers.

"I cannot take this Endeavor, it is too great a gift. You probably need it more than I do. You keep it. If you must repay me in some way, see to it that you heal up and right and suffer no permanent damage from this. I am honored by your genorosity, but all I ask is that you get better. Perhaps when they see fit to let you out of here, you, me, and the others can go out and celebrate your return to good health. Machines and money can always be replaced, people cannot."

Long's face reddens slightly as the innate corniness of his statement hits him. I did not just say one of the corniest lines in history...

At the sound of another voice Long whirls around to face the door fully prepared to release the dampeners holding his powers back.

The pages of a computer manual lying forgotten in a corner begin to turn of their own accord, rustling audibly over the quiet hum of machinery. Suddenly it rests on a diagrammed page, the picture of a W.A.Co. device bulging outwards and resolving into the outline of a winged woman. When the outline solidifies, a diminutive woman emerges from the shadows, shining with opalescent light and surrounded by wheeling black cursive letters.

She has golden-brown wings with creamy-gold undersides and yellowish-cream skin tanned to a rich pale gold. Her eyes are large and brilliant yellow, the lentil-shaped pupils reflecting light like a cat's, dominating her youthfully attractive face with its black-striped cheeks. A mane of wavy tawny-blonde hair falls to just below her shoulder-blades and breasts, held back by a thin leather cord. Her garments are simple, consisting of an undyed linen halter-neck and matching loose pants, with no shoes on her narrow feet.

"Hello," she says in a soft medium soprano voice, giving Sakurako and Long a dazzling smile.

Long turns around to the manual, The long braid of raven black hair coming undone as he prepares to change to his normal form. His mind runs through a catalog of novas, trying to assertain whether the incoming nova is friend or foe. Upon seeing the outline take shape Long visibly relaxes and a smile forms on his face.

"Hello Saimhe. It's been awhile."

Ty walks in and smiles warmly at all in the room. He goes to shake hands as he doesn't recognize him.

"Hello, I'm Typhoon, Are you a friend of Sakurako's... Wait... You look... is that you Long?!"

He goes over to the hospital bed and looks over Endeavor and her injuries.

"Some days you get the bear, and somedays the bear gets you.
You're looking well enough of to take on an army, how are you feeling?"

He glances back as Saimhe enters, He waves at her. "Hey Lady."

The speed at which Saimhe and Typhoon arrive almost floors Sakurako. Still not at full health, she sits down slowly, and catches a breath. "Man Long, too much NeoCaffeine or something?"

She scratches her chin, then says "Geeze guys, perhaps a little early warning?" She says playfully, notreally dismayed, just trying to enjoy her visitors. She had barely missed Saimhe's arrival, but it is heard to miss Typhoon's.

"I wouldn't dare take on any Army... Typhoon. I think DS is the last Windmill I'll ever try to tilt." She then turns towards Saimhe. "Hello yourself, my fine feathered friend." She says as her expression takes on an almost child-like smile.

Not to play down her company, but it is more of an expression that she's around... normal folk. At least to her.

"Yes Typhoon it is me, though for the time being, you can call me Ryu."

Long shakes the offered hand. He then turns to Endeavor and pushes up his glasses.

"In my former line of work I learned to highly dislike suprises. Though I admit seeing Saimhe and Typhoon here is a pleasant one. I hate this human form sometimes, when you're used to seeing and hearing things beyond human capacity and being fully aware of everything around you, coming back to baseline senses can be downright boring. In my normal form I'd have felt them and sensed them before they showed up."

Long unconsciously curls his hands into fists as he speaks and relaxes them as he finishes.

"Oh well, I guess the form has its uses as well. I would not have been allowed in here if I did not have it."

Long doesn't return to his seat, offering it instead to either of the new arrivals. He walks over by the window and casts a gaze towards the cloudy sky. Long rubs his right shoulder idly as he seems to be looking for something.

"We'll be getting some rain sometime today."

"What makes you say that, Ryu?" She says, slightly tilting her head. Sakurako knows about dorming. When she's switched off, as it were she feels... less whole. As if a friend has gone away on vacation when you were a kid. You'd miss them severely and wonder if they forgot about you.

"Got a bit of a shoulder problem dormed?"

"You could say that. It's nothing really. Just a reminder of the life I've lived."

Long smiles and rolls his neck around.

"I have learned to deal with pain. My teacher's favorite teaching was that whatever didn't kill you made you stronger. That said his other one was "Pain is in your mind, master your mind and you master pain." That's one I never fully mastered, but I'm working on it."

"That's the thing with flesh and blood... You don't have it for very long, and you never truely master it." She sighs. "It is amazing... how some of us are so fragile, yet we have so much for us. Us Novas."

She looks down at the floor. "I should have taken that into account. Nothing is invincible." She turns to Saimhe, after positioning herself in the bed. "How is your leg, Saimhe? Need a new brace? I haven't heard much from you in a long time."

She then turns to Typhoon ((After she gets her response from Saimhe)). "And I assume you're checking in on how well I've gotten as well? Or maybe you're more interested in the condition of the HMII? You really seemed to like her on our trip."

Saimhe smiles crookedly at Sakurako. "I had Franklin break the knee so I could regenerate it again. It worked, though I still have a faint limp."

Cat-slit eyes slide over to Typhoon. "Hello. I'm Saimhe, if the cat-stripes, eyes and feathers didn't tell you."

Little remains of the tiny librarian from Utopia in her appearance, demeanour and attitude for those who knew her then as she limps over to Sakurako's side, producing a pair of small stone statues from a pocket in her pants. "These are for you. I hope I got a good likeness of yourself and ronin into them."

Long notices the changes in Saimhe's face and eyes and smiles.

"Do your eyes confer the abilities of a cat's eyes, or are they simply meant to dazzle onlookers?"

Long looks at the gifts Saimhe presents Endeavor and reaches inside his coat. He removes 2 small bottles ad sets them on a table.

"These are two bottles of the finest Sake I have ever tasted. I know it isn't allowed, but if I have to make some concessions so does this hospital. There is a gentleman who lives near my estate who has refined his recipe and process to perfection. While the alcohol doesn't do much for nova metabolisms, I have found the taste alone worth the cost."

At the mention of the HMII, Long reddens a bit as he remembers the effects of his final blast that ended Deathsquad's existence, and of his debt that remained to be paid.

"I'm glad the ship is still afloat, she was to good a ship to be done in by that psychopath."

Sakurako smiles at the statues. "If only my resolve towards our relationship was as strong as the stone in these sculptures... Thank you, Saimhe." She then turns to Long.

"I am glad as well. She took two torpedoes to the Starboard cargo room. Thank god I had left my Jet on dry land. I usually kept it in that cargo bay. If that would have went boom... I might be on the bottom of the ocean right now. Or at least my ship." She then see's Long's expression, as if ther was something on his mind. "What happened, Long? You seem... to have something on your mind."

"I cut loose with all the destructive power I could muster... The blast took him out, and most of the upper deck. I knew I didn't have much left. I took the only option I had. The person you should really thank is Jager, neither of us would be around without him."

Long's tone suggests an old rivalry, but one filled with an ocean of respect.

"His actions were the ones that lead to victory, not mine."

"You're welcome, Sakurako." Saimhe edges away from Endeavour's technological cocoon, her wings tucked close to her slim body.

In reply to Long, she shakes her head. "The glow and the eyes are from the 'quick fix' I got for my mood swings, but I do have enhanced vision."

She falls silent and listens as Long and Endeavour discuss the combat.

Ty smirks. "No, I remember our first meeting quite clearly, Saimhe, you tend to stand out in a crowd."

He smiles back at Endeavor. "If I wanted to see your boat, I'd be back in the harbor. I came here to see the 'Prodigal Daughter."

"Endeavor, before your other guests arrived you had asked me to tell you about the battle. I assume you still wish to hear how I saw it."

Long doesn't wait for a response, he forges on in the tale.

"I received your signal and alerted our little online community, Jager and Alchemist promptly replied that they were taking appropriate actions. I was asked to do on the scene recon. I blasted out to the signal's source and wasn't quite prepared for what awaited me. The HMII was a smoking wreck, yet I could make out two distinct quantum signatures. One was very faint, the other was still fairly intense." I cleared through smoke, my abilities all kicked into gear, and I had taken my Shiva form. I found Deathsquad standing over you, with perhaps the most perverse and psychotic smile I've ever seen. None of his clones were present, I assume they were trying to finish the ship's destruction. "So one of her friends wishes to die." was his only comment. I interposed myself between your broken body and him. I knew I couldn't get you to safety,and hold him off, so I decided to play for time until someone else could get there. That's when the dance began. I can't remember the words said, merely that his remaining clones showed up. There were still 4 of them. I was attacked from all sides, my defenses barely holding out some truly horrendous damage. I was completely on the defensive. What was getting through my healing ability was taking care of. Suddenly I felt the presence of another familiar nova. It was Jager, one of the last people I expected to be happy to see. What happened next can perhaps best be described as Jager drawing an immense amount of quantum from the area, and all the novas/clones there."

Long pauses for a minute to allow the others time to digest what he's said before he finishes.

"There were still clones left... Damn. I know my drones took out a couple, well, by self-destructing en-masse, but there were still DS clones?"

The thought gave her pause.

"How many of you guys died, Ryu... Be honest. After Jager pulling that drain, DS still would be a threat. I think... Of course anything that kicks my ass like this tends to make me think there might be a thing as 'invincible', you know."

"Endeavor to my knowledge none of us died, though Jager and I needed a very good medic by the end and I desperately needed to replace my energy reserves to begin healing. My right arm was broken in 4 places and was nearly torn away. I had at least 6 broken ribs, a punctured lung, my left hip was dislocated, I was bleeding internally, and 6 of the bones in my tail were crushed. I have some rather large scars running across my chest and arms, hence my jacket. That was the worst and most intense fight I've ever been in. I can't speak for Jager, but I believe he also suffered some nasty wounds as well. I've never had to dig so deep into myself for power, or even the will to get back to my feet. That you survived is something to be proud of. Nothing is invincible, Endeavor, just a pretty tough nut to crack is all. As I've said everyone made it out ok, though you probably got the worst of it."

"No... your damage report is just as bad as mine. I got a couple scars I'm sporting including..." She stops, as she unbuttons the front of her "scrubs" and while strategically hiding more naughty bits, reveals a large scar from the top of her chest down to the bottom.

"It seems for a bit, they needed to put me on a heart-lung machine. My cardiologist reported to me after I regained conciousness that they had to repair my aorta. They said at one point... I was one good movement or jarring motion away from having it tear enough to cause fatal bleeding. I had enough internal injuries as is, that would have done me in for sure." She buttons back up her scrubs again. "After they had sewed me up and I had built up enough quantum, I had healed up all of the stitched up bits. But I've really had to prioritize. Unless I find a Nova with ability to repair skin damage, I'll be keeping these scars untill the last of my physical damage is properly patched."

"But... I am glad everyone is accounted for..."

Saimhe makes a rude noise in the back of her throat. "Sakurako, I can repair skin and flesh damage - " She pauses, a spasm of remembered pain flashing across her features before they assume a mask of impassivity. "This time, it will be some good," she finishes, her voice low and more than a little bitter.

"I've chosen to keep my scars Endeavor, they serve to remind me of my choices and how some decisions cost more than others. Besides it's a good way to guage the weather provided someone doesn't start playing around with Mother Nature."

Long chuckles slightly as he rubs his shoulder.

"Saimhe... if it's your wish to repair the damage, I accept your offer. Just keep the scar on my chest. I wish to have it as a reminder."

She looks down towards the floor.

"I need to remember, that I need to depend more on my friends than my own intuition."

She smiles, looking at the crowd in her room. "You guys here have either saved my life, or are glad I still have it, or helped in some way I'll probably find out about later. I owe everyone involved."

"No, not everyone is accounted for..."
Ty had been very quiet staring at the floor, he now looked directly at Long, and then to Endeavor.

There was a hard edge to his voice as he sounded out the name. "...Conduit."

It was no secret, Conduit was the first of them that Typhoon had befriended, Metallic skin aside, they were more unalike than alike, but despite that they had trusted eachother with their lives. He had come to view Conduit almost as a brother,
But the last time Typhoon had seen Conduit, he failed him.

"Conduit and I went in before the HMII had surfaced... We're were gonna go in fast, hit the hull hard; Conduit was going to knock out the electronics.
I swam in with him in tow at about 500kph, I thought 5 times as fast as a torpedo would be fast enough..."

Typhoon paused to make sure they understood.

"The sad thing is I knew, I knew that the NAVY was designing some sort of Uber-Torpedo, designed for Novas swimming at high speed, but the Jimmy Carter was armed with this torpedo. I don't know how she detected me, but when I came within a 1000 meters, she fired three advanced torpedoes, I managed to dodge them all on the first pass but only barely, but on the second...
The Torpedoes were either being guided remotely by someone who knew my tactics... or they were programed to hunt me personally."

He lowered his head.

"The first one exploded 5 meters from us, the shockwave alone... Hurt alot. The second one exploded closer, causing me to let go of Conduit, He sent an electric charge into the water to screw the sensors on the Torp I guess, and I don't know why but the torpedo turned to strike him looked as though it hit Conduit directly, I lost conscieness for a few seconds, I looked but I couldn't find Conduit anywhere."

He allowed himself a moment.

"I charged the USS Carter, phased onboard, and I found a clone of DS at the helm, after a brief... "negotiation", I took command of her and surfaced the ship. but by that time hostilities with DS had ended."

He looked out the window at the view of the gardens.

"I'm going to find him, I'll bring him home."

"No... not everyone was accounted for..." The words ring in her head. Conduit had not only potential, but she considered someone she could consider a colleague. She clutches a bedsheet, tears hitting her hands.

"You... you did what you could, Ty. But... I'm sure Conduit is alive... As soon as I can be sure I can get out of this damned bed... I'll help you. It's what he'd want."