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It's no use! The road is blocked up ahead!

They're coming from that direction as well. This isn't working. We aren't getting anywhere!

That's as far as you go!

Nowhere to run. Now hand them over!

Dammit...

We can't let them take the Infected! Hold on, I'll take out the hostiles blocking the way upfront. Use the opportunity to break through them!

Hey, don't do it! Come back!

Calm down! This is no time to be a hero!

That's right! You're injured!

But—!

No buts. Ace will come back us up for sure! Don't panic!

—You got that right!

It's her!

Huh?!

Watch out! Argh, it's damn hot—

Suddenly it's getting hotter in here. What's going on...? Hold on, what happened to the wall over there and the barricade... They got sliced apart?!

That's our backup.

Feeling toasty? Sorry about that. It took me some work to cut these things apart. I might've overdone it.

I'm still learning to control the heat. I'll try harder next time.

That chainsaw... You're with Ace—

Thank goodness, it's Blaze!

Ha, fashionably late.

Yeah, here I am!

Sorry for keeping you all waiting. It took me a little longer than I expected to deal with the other bad guys. The teams will regroup here soon.

Okay, let's charge through them. Stick to the plan.

How is this even possible? Those barriers were made of some real special stuff! Did she seriously cut right through that?!

Sorry, buddy. Honestly, I didn't expect it to go that well myself. All I did was slicing from top to bottom—

Seriously, we don't have to fight to the death here, right? How about this? You leave my friends alone and let us take the Infected, and you guys get to go unharmed.

I don't want to hurt you if I don't have to.

What a meanie. Just lash out without saying a word? It's really not that hard to talk it out, is it?

Blaze, there's no talking to these guys. Get ready to break through!

Got it! Let me raise the temperature a bit more—

One last thing. I'm really sorry this is how things turned out, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart.

O-Owww...

Ugh, my arm. Oww.

I used that technique I've been working on. I guess I pushed myself a little too far... Hurts so much I thought I broke my arm.

I guess the thrust's a little off? Did I miscalculate? But...

Hmm...

What are you doing here talking to yourself?

Whoa!

Huh?!

Oh... It's you, Weedy. You spooked me.

Well, you spooked me.

What's the matter? Am I not supposed to be here?

N-No, that's not what I meant. It's just... I don't usually see you around this time.

It's not often you step outside that workshop of yours when it's not lunch or dinnertime.

Sometimes you don't even come out to eat, and I couldn't drag you out of there no matter how hard I try.

Don't exaggerate. I come outside for fresh air sometimes.

Also, if I ever see you in my lab with your outside shoes, I'll snatch your entrance permission.

R-Right, I'll keep that in mind!

Also.

Also?

Could you at least... wear your clothes right? Look how messed up you got here.

Huh? My clothes? Where? Here?

What are you doing? Wait, stop pulling so hard. You're making it worse!

I can't take this... Stop! I'll fix it for you!

Hehe, thanks.

You're way too sensitive about this stuff, you know that? You even managed to get Closure to wash her hands after work. That's no easy feat...

Oh, right, perfect timing. Weedy, you're good with the book studying stuff, right?

I do research... Does that count as studying?

Yes, of course! Why wouldn't it count?

See, there's something I wanted to ask you about...

Now that doesn't happen every day. Go ahead.

Uh, it's actually a question about gravitational acceleration. Also, I need a formula for figuring out parasitic drag and energy expansion. You have to know this stuff, right? Mind teaching me?

Huh? What's the matter? Why are you touching my forehead...?

Hm... Doesn't seem like you have a fever.

I'm surprised to see you interested in this topic.

How strange. I thought it was sunny today? Did it start raining all of a sudden?

Don't be like that. It's not that I'm into it, but I don't really have a choice here. This is actually useful.

Whatever, just take a look at this.

What is it...? Have you been reading this?

This is all advanced stuff, and the questions listed here...

Sorry, I take that back.

Hm? Take what back?

You're actually studying hard. One cannot come up with these questions just by leafing through the book. I must apologize.

Eh? Hahaha, no need. Why so serious? I don't mind at all.

You're not the only one who says stuff like that.

I mean, I'm really not all that smart. It takes a lot of work to learn this stuff, and researching on stuff like that is just not my thing.

But you...

I don't have a choice. There are lots of things I wanna do, so I gotta get stronger, and I'll try anything that could help me get there.

Hehe, I mean, this is just studying. It's so much easier than being Ace's punching bag on the training grounds, right?

Oh, so you talk about me behind my back like that?

Agh!

Well, I'm glad to see you so full of ginger, Blaze, but enough screwing around. You're being a bad influence on Weedy.

Ace!

Hello, Ace.

I'm not being a bad influence on her. I'm just telling the truth!

When you and Mechanist took me out for special training last time, I almost got sliced into two, right through my belly button!

Well, we were tuning your new weapon for you. Making it as destructive as you wanted it to be wasn't an easy thing. Mechanist spent days at his workbench just to get it done.

You should've seen the sketches he shredded. He used so much paper, Logistics gave him an earful.

That's not good.

But I really gotta thank him for giving me this big guy. It feels so natural while I'm slicing things up... And if it wasn't for this, I guess I wouldn't have been able to use that new technique of mine.

Look! I brought some Siracusan cheese back as souvenir. It has some really unique flavor, supposedly. I'll take some to Mechanist later.

(Sniffs)

Gross.

Haha, I can't say for sure he's going to like this...

Oh, right, Weedy.

Yes?

It's the application you filed with Engineering the other day. We got the materials from Closure already.

I was just about to ask...