"Can't believe I'm doing this," a young blue haired woman thought to herself as she paced through the corridor, clutching a folder tightly against her sleeveless white blouse.

The walkway was silent, sans the occasional footstep or distant door click. To her right, she could see the city of Illinois below beyond the glass wall. The early morning sun shone through the glass, dying the hall a bright cerulean. To her left were several white doors, each with a boldly written label. "Restroom", "Utility Room", "Beta Testing Room", "Customer Service"; she glanced at them all as she walked by, stopping at none until she reached the room at the center of the hallway.  Unlike the others, this door was made of grey steel with an electronic lock close to its left. "Special Conference Room"was its label, and she was the only one there.

"Using death like a chess piece, I swore I'd never do this again," she scowled mentally, her eyebrows furrowing as she reached into a pocket on her blue pencil skirt. She pulled out an ID card with her picture on it. "Catherine Williams" was written next to the image, as well as "Member Status: Support".

"But chances are I'll never get another chance like this..." She closed her eyes for a few seconds, before swiping the ID's bar-code against the scanner on the lock. The lock's light turned green, and with a mechanical hum the steel door opened, revealing the dark room inside.

"Naito is already on standby if I need him, all that's left is this," She took a deep breath, then stepped inside, disappearing into the room as the door closed behind her.

Inside the room was so dark she could barely see the floor, and all she could hear was the humming of of the air conditioning far to the back of the room. The only light she saw came from luminous blue rings on top of the elevated platform towards the middle of the room, so bright they acted like beacons. As she walked closer to the light she could barely make out three overhead monitors suspended by steel beams in front of the elevation. Only the center and left display were on, but they were both blank.

"Here's hoping they'll listen..." She told herself, adjusting her blouse before stepping onto the small stage. The blue rings of light around her brightened, and the two screens activated, revealing the two men behind them. Both were sitting behind an office table; the one to the left was a fat bald man dressed in a while suit, and the other was a young man with dark unruly hair, dressed in a dark blue tuxedo.

"Catherine Williams, punctual as ever, nice to see you this morning. But I'm sure you're not here to talk about how your day was." the bald man commented, his eyes heavy as he leaned his head against his left fist.

"You're right Enigma, although you seem pretty relaxed considering what happened." Catherine replied as she opened her folder, her eyes fixed on their screens.

"What are you talking about?" Enigma questioned as he sat up closer to the table.

"You've seen the reports submitted by the Japan Segment; you know the damage that was done there, yet we've done nothing about it!" Catherine shouted, pulling out one of the papers from the folder and holding it high for both men to see.

It was a report of an event titled "Shadow Emperor's Assault: Japan". Next to "Attacker(s) Name(s)" was nothing but a stack of question marks, while the label "Interceptor(s)" listed several names; most had "deceased" written in brackets next to them. "Ender's name(s)" was also marked with question marks, and "Attacker's status" simply wrote "Unknown"

"What's worse is we have no clue on what has become of both the attacker and the one who stopped him!" she went on, before returning the report to the rest of the stack.

"Something needs to be done before The American Segment falls to the same fate!" She concluded, holding her hand close to her chest and staring at them with eyes wide open.

"You're worrying over nothing. America's SHC's Main Defense Line is well trained to handle situations like this. We should be more concerned about identifying this new enemy" Enigma said, folding his arms.

"I'd rather we don't take that chance; or have you forgotten the the 2145 assault on Corona Dispatch 12 and 15?" Catherine answered, turning her gaze towards him

"You weren't even there for that event..." Enigma retorted, now glaring at her.

"You're right, and I prefer it doesn't happen twice!" But Catherine continued with an angry stare of her own.

The two of them stared each other down with gazes that could cut through steel for a brief moment, until--

"Enough!" The black haired man in the center screen barked.

"...I'm sorry Reshe, please go on." Catherine apologized and took a bow, while Enigma sighed and reclined into his chair.

"For starters you have no place in talking about events you weren't a part of, especially to those who fought hard in them! And Enigma is right, our primary concern should be towards finding out who this attacker is, as well as if the string of robberies in Detroit are SH related," Reshe went on, locking his hands together and resting his arms on the table in front of him.

"But you're right when you say no one wants a repeat of that terrible event," Reshe added "So tell me, what do you suggest?"