Quite a lot has happened since I posted the last chapter, hasn't it? First and foremost, the Royal's been out for over a month and made the already crazy ride that was Persona 5 even wilder. It was one ride that I thoroughly enjoyed. That said…this story shall continue! I'll save the rest of the commentary for afterward, so read on!

I do not own anything.

Chapter 27-In Our Hands Pt.2

It was a strange feeling heading into a place you'd never been to before, yet having an odd sense of familiarity to it. Akira had felt that way with all of the Palaces that he and his teammates had entered. In their adventures, they'd learned no two Palaces were alike, in fact, some were radically different from one another. Such was to be expected given the fact that people were different, even the wicked. That said, there were always a few similarities.

For starters, they were all eye-catching. Honestly, if there was one thing that both repulsed and amazed Akira it was how places borne out of wickedness could be so…stunning, at least on the surface. There were some that took the cake such as Okumura and Sae's Palaces, which had tickled personal fancies of his. Oddly enough, the two represented two clashing periods of his life which the Palaces had called to. Okumura's had awoken the awe he held of space, of the moon and the stars and the childish wonder of if he could ever touch the stars himself. In a dark twist, he had…but then he learned that doing so came with a cost, that aiming so high left him vulnerable. Ironically, the one who shot him down had been there when they entered Sae's Palace, a colorful casino which called to the young man he'd become, a person willing to indulge in the darker impulses of humanity, but only to a certain extent; not to mention he'd seen the darkness that could lay beyond the glitter and glamour that attracted so many. Had he not played his cards right, that would have been the end of him.

But it wasn't. The person who'd be integral to both of those Palace explorations was right beside him, guiding him and the rest of the Team to the upper levels. He told them that they would be blown away; they most certainly had been on the outside. Akira had a gut feeling that the inside would level up the grandeur on the outside.

He wasn't wrong.

A whistle sounded from a member of the group as they finally made it out of the basement and stepped foot on what was undoubtedly ground level. Their red-masked member had certainly known where he was taking them as the group of eight teens and their cat found themselves surrounded by massive glasses walls that held back hundreds to perhaps thousands of gallons of water. Within that water swam a collection of sea life that left them all doing double-takes. Or in the case of one-feeling an overwhelming sense of hunger.

Drawn by their curiosity, some walked toward the glass, reaching out to place their fingers against it only to be stopped by a hush from their red-beaked member. He told them all to look, but be careful on touching. Queen seconded his opinion as they had no idea if touching the glass would trigger any alarms. Or the glass to suddenly shatter and the water to come spilling out, fish included. Joker and Queen had a sinking feeling that the numerous fish they saw swimming beyond the glass weren't just fish. They had no intention of testing their theory, at least not this evening. A look to their princely compatriot told them that there was certainly more to the fish than met the eye.

Panther discovered that herself as she lost herself in the colorful display of a passing fish. Her pink-gloved hand reached out and touched the glass. The fish who'd caught her attention responded by swimming toward her, lining itself up with her palm.

To the rest of the group, the flash was instantaneous, but for Ann, it was a blinding explosion that sucked her in like a blackhole. Her voice rose in shock, yet she couldn't hear her voice, it was muffled, drowned out by the sounds around her. She couldn't look away either, the scenes and sounds wouldn't let her. Ann couldn't even hear her heartbeat, for a moment she began to fear that it had stopped beating. Then it roared back to life in her ears, along with Ryuji's concerned voice. The pig-tailed blonde blinked not once but twice. Heart racing, she looked around, taking in the concerned and shocked looks of her teammates, all but one.

"T-That was…that was…I saw…" Stammered the whip-user toward the red-beaked teenager.

Goro nodded in silent understanding. "It's quite a rush, isn't it? Or at least it is the first time around." Based on his posture and voice, everyone quickly deduced that he'd grown through the same "rush" that Ann had. What that rush was, they were all ears. "The first piece of 'forbidden information' I gleaned inside of this place concerned a hit and run. Some wealthy socialite's daughter had gotten drunk and rode off with some friends. Ended up hitting a pregnant woman. She survived…but her baby didn't. The incident was covered up."

Those words caused Ann to look back at the glass screen. The fish was back to swimming along as if the flash had never happened. Now that she had an idea of what had happened, she realized that the transfer of information was meant entirely for her, and other curious minds. "I…saw it, a lawsuit. A lawsuit filed over a wrongful death against some corporate stooge. That's what these fish are, aren't they?"

"Indeed, Panther." Answered the Detective Prince taking several steps forward until he was alongside her and Skull. The rest of the team lined up and stared at the blue yonder that lay behind them through the glass. "Those fish and the rest of the sea life in this aquarium, they're all the materialization of news, stories, incidents, every little incident that happens in Japan, or at least those that reach the broadcasting network. That is the secret of Komori's Palace."

"I see, an aquarium is meant for viewing, just as the news is." Haru deduced. Like her red-garbed teammate, she felt an earnest curiosity to put her hand up against the glass in favor of calling one of the fish. "These are all the stories that Komori has suppressed on behalf of Shido and the Conspiracy, aren't they?"

"Yes, though almost half of them are more mundane and some unrelated. All the news that comes across Komori's media empire."

"That's a lot." Futaba spoke up, her mouth somewhat agape. She'd taken a quick little pick using her goggles, what she saw knocked her from a loop. "That's news coming in from not just Tokyo, but all of Japan and even China and some parts of South Korea and some parts of Australia."

"All parts of the world that Shido has kept his eye on, especially China and South Korea." Goro added in a quiet, but subtly annoyed voice. Makoto shot him a sideways glance implying she wanted to know more, but she held her tongue. There was a time and place for questions, and this wasn't one of them. "This aquarium contains four levels, each one quite large and broken up into sections. These sections each pertain to a different topic: business, cooking, social media, technology, military affairs, and all other kinds of categories. You could spend days exploring them all, getting lost in just section for all the stories and info that it can contain."

"Seriously?" Ryuji inquired with a screwed-up face. He knew he had to pay attention to the news, but he had other things to do, and he also knew at some point one needed to disconnect from the news.

Goro looked to the shotgun user with a smirk. "Skull, every second of every day news is being made somewhere…no matter how miniscule it is. Just think of all the stupid things that people post online, sometimes without even realizing it. Some of that stuff can come back to haunt you, or it can make you famous."

"All too true." Echoed Futaba, her goggles now pulled on allowing her to analyze the data streams in the shape of marine life. Through them it was manageable, without them, well, Futaba wasn't eager to do as her pig-tailed teammate and friend had done. "Every second of everyday someone is online, and posting something on the web."

"But still, to track all of that, how can one man, one company, do that?" Yusuke inquired.

"It's because Komori has his hands in other news stations as well, as well as the fact that some people are unknowingly being spied on." Goro answered.

"Hooray for modern technology." Ann bemoaned. "You know, I'm kind of hoping that we can call it a day, but we can't, can we?" Her words were directed toward the team's leader, who'd silently watched the fish and his teammates.

Akira's face was a mask of concentration. Clearly he'd observed his rival's words while analyzing the situation before him. He couldn't deny that a part of him was curious as to what sort of "forbidden" information they would find if they hung around, but they were on the clock, not to mention their enemies more than likely knew that they were already on the move. "No, Panther, we're not. We'll at least go up a level or two, map things out and look for some safe rooms for us to spawn into when we come back tomorrow." While it had been fun, Akira had no intention of putting his team through another round of underwater exploration, at least not the sort involving mine fields. "Everyone, let's get moving. We're going up a level to a safe room, after that we'll explore for a little bit before calling it a day. That sound like a plan?" At the collective nod, the black-haired teen looked to his brunette rival. "Crow, with me. Let us know where we're going."

"Last I checked you had a map for that, didn't you?" Cheekily replied the former runaway.

His response was met with that same smile he was fascinated by and loathed. "I'd like a second hand opinion, preferable from someone who's been in this place before."

Those words both put Goro at ease…and made him feel highly uncomfortable. So too did the rests of the rest of the team, they were in full agreement with Akira.

He found it more unsettling how they all moved as one cohesive unit, just as they had back in Sae's Palace. On the other hand…he couldn't deny that a part of him was actually happy that they were replicating that endeavor. In an odd way, he was even happier in knowing that they all knew a little more about the real him, that they trusted him enough to move side by side with Akira. Goro told himself it was for the common goal that they shared, which was very much true, but something inside of him told him it was more, or perhaps at least the makings of more. Pushing those thoughts to the side, he focused on the task at hand, which was getting them all to the next level of the aquarium.

At his behest, they came out in the rafters of the next level, having taken several stairways up, including "backdoor" stairways that led to them moving over stage lights and chandeliers which cast illuminating light over the ground, the massive watery tanks housing dozens of fish. Down below them, moving through the alleys were the featureless forms of countless citizens and bystanders. Even from up high, the team could hear the chatter, as if they were real people. This too wasn't a surprise for them, the imprints of the masses were a common feature in Palaces; the memory of Sae Niijima's Palace being fresh in their minds.

In comparison to the prosecutor's Palace, Komori's was…quieter, and for several members of the team, that was the unsettling part. Unlike the roar and bustle of the casino, the aquarium was much quieter, but not quite silence. What the aquarium had was the sound of water, of rivers and oceans humming along creating a soft rhythm that the teenagers were both enticed and unnerved by. Then there were the people. Akira dropped down from the rafters, quietly looking around to see if any of the phantasmal visitors noticed him. None did, allowing him to signal to the others to drop down as well.

"You know, I heard that a new aquarium in Shibuya was going to open up in Shinjuku in a year or two." Makoto somewhat woefully admitted. "Now, I don't think I'll be able to go to it if it does."

"I think it'd be better for us to focus on living to that point." Goro countered, not quite sure how to take the statement. The murmurs of the "shades" were what was unnerving everyone, and understandably so. In this day and age, wherever there was a news site, there was a comment section, and that's what these shades were, commentary, walking commentary in the shape of people. Goro's first time coming to Komori's Palace had been filled with awe which had later turned into disgust at what he saw and heard. He didn't like the thought of that same transition happening to his teammates.

In spite of his earlier words, Akira felt himself drawn to the sea life beyond the glass. He heard his teammates advise him to exercise caution, which he did, as he placed his hand against the glass. As with Ann, he was hit with a flash of light followed next by information, raw unfiltered information that zoomed directly into his brain. Unlike the pig-tailed blonde, he was somewhat ready for it. Quickly, he pulled his hand away and shook his head.

"So, what new piece of forbidden information did you get?" Goro baited.

Akira looked to him a slight frown. "That I won't be doing any eating at that diner ten blocks down from Shijin Academy."

"What?" Makoto spat, her eyes wide and fearful. "Why? Why won't you be eating there?"

"I'll tell you later." Akira waved off.

"N-No, I think you should probably tell me now! Please!" Stammered the fist-user, having gone from cool and cautious to damn near hysterical, to the amusement of some of her teammates. Futaba quickly set her sets on the fish that Akira had just touched and snickered. It only made Makoto all the more nervous. Hanging her head in defeat, she quietly began to follow after the rest of the ground. When she returned home, she could only dread how her sister would react to whatever revelation she'd be able to force out of Akira. Provided that nothing else hectic happened to make her forget about this whole side adventure.

Quickly, it became evident that Komori's Palace was just as labyrinth-like as those before it, and like your typical aquarium chock full of exhibits. Akira kept the map out, his eyes periodically rising from the blueprints to the surroundings, coordinating what he saw around him with what was on paper. In the Metaverse, the blueprinted glowed with neon light, taking on a near holographic tone. It certainly came in handy as he directed the team down corridors and hallways, all of which timed with visitors gazing in absent-minded awe at the dozens of fish that lay beyond the glass. The Thieves themselves spared several glances at the fish. While only a handful knew much regarding marine life, they could all recognize that there were quite a few exotic fish swimming through the waters. They all also had a gut feeling that the truly exotic fish lay on the next upper levels, and no doubt the lower levels where according to the map, the Palace's core lay.

Speaking of which, looking at the map, Akira noted how it was going to take an elevator ride for his team to reach Komori. He found it rather fitting that he lay down at the bottom of the Palace, almost like a burrower or some deep sea creature that preferred slumbering on the ocean floor to moving through the blue waves. It was rather fitting since his Palace was officially called the "Aquarium of Sloth". Come to think of it, all of the Palaces we've been into has fit the mold of some sin…the seven deadly sins to be precise. It's fitting, but…

Spotting a pattern, eh, master? Beckoned his inner self, delight evident in his voice.

Just another piece to the puzzle, a puzzle that I feel like I'm going to have to solve before we reach the endgame. Akira responded.

Arsene was amused, he wanted more. And what, pray tell, do you think awaits us at the endgame?

…I don't know, Arsene, and quite frankly, that's what worries me. Responded the teenager. As it was his mind, he could be honest, especially since he was ultimately conversing with another version of himself. On top of that, he learned that even if he tried to hide something from Arsene, the black-winged thief would find a way to discover what he was hiding. Again, it was only natural since Arsene was ultimately a part of him. Speaking of parts, Akira stopped and stared at the map, his sudden stop caused the rest of the team to stop as well. Without even looking back, he could tell there was a slight disturbance in the group. "Futaba?"

"Yeah?"

"Is that bracelet of yours glowing?"

"Have you grown eyes in the back of your head?" Cheekily replied the hacker.

Akira smirked. "No, I'm just using my own normal set of eyes to look at this map Mr. Nanjo gave us. It's blinking green…right where we are." Looking up, he stared straight ahead at the corridor that would open up into a massive lobby area. Ordinarily, that wouldn't be a problem for his team as they'd crossed dozens of sites before. Here though, the moment they set foot in the area, they'd be exposed in front of cameras, which would sound the alarm and they'd be surrounded by Shadows in a heartbeat. Akira wanted to keep the fighting on this expedition to a minimum. Something in his gut was telling him that Futaba was the key to doing that, and so was the strange bracelet that Mr. Nanjo had given them.

He and the others had been curious about what its function was, they were about to find out. Some already had a feeling what its function would end up being, especially as Futaba tapped against a holographic panel that appeared from the bracelet. Seeing it reminded some that the Palace they were currently infiltrating may have belonged to a man, but an AI ran security for it, a fact that several still struggled to wrap their minds around. With every step, they had a feeling they were about to get a front row seat to yet another mind-bending display of metaphysics.

They were right as they came upon a terminal that stood before an ocean display.

"Oracle?" Makoto called, already having a feeling of what was going to happen. At a glance, she could see that the terminal was displaying information about the fish on display. She felt if it were actually operated, it would also dish out some juicy details on the information that composed the fish.

Holding up her right hand, her goggled reflected the flaming that engulfed the limb. The flames burned a mixture of bright red and emerald green, the flames representing her Persona and the flames representing herself, green was after all one of her favorite colors. "I'll hack into the network and shut the cameras and security down. That should buy us some time to explore."

"In the meantime, we focus on protecting her." Akira commanded, looking to the rest of his teammates, each one gave a silent nod as they took up positions in a semi-circle around the hacker. His gaze fell on his surrogate sister, who looked back to him with a determined frown. "Knock 'em dead, Oracle."

The former reclusive flashed a V sign, content in the faith that her teammates, her friends, had in her. Woah, who'd have thought that I'd be here? Who'd have thought that I would have…friends, friends watching my back. Contemplated the orange-haired girl as she held her arm up. The limb burst into an arrow of red and green-colored flames, the green being emitted from the Tron-lines on her suit, and the bracelet that she'd been given. The terminal in front of her practically beckoned to her like a child crying out for their mother.

Sucking in a deep breath, Futaba reared her arm back, then plunged it forward. Her palm slammed against the touch screen, the flames funneling into it without it cracking. The second that they made contact, Futaba felt a rush of pure adrenaline blast its way into her, surging through her body like water from floodgates. And then as quickly as it came, it reversed direction, taking her along with it. It was a feeling beyond words, yet she couldn't quite say that it was unpleasant. In the corners of her mind, she realized what was happening. She remembered how several times she'd pondered what it would be like if she could escape into the world of cyberspace

As the Metaverse was a realm of dreams and possibilities, that yearning was fulfilled.

Ah, so you've finally arrived, heads up, seems we've dropped into a little bit of a warzone. Chimed a masculine voice that Futaba took comfort in hearing.

When she first awakened her Persona, it had been…quite a telling experience. Ultimately, she was grateful that she had someone to talk to, even if that someone was another piece of her subconscious. It was freak and defied almost all reason, but considering that her Persona was a tome of eldritch knowledge, it was surprisingly fitting. Not to mention her life was by all definitions incredibly wild and the high points of it flew in the face of logic…including the forgery of her mother's will which was borne out of nothing but pure wicked spite. Yes, reason and logic definitely took a backseat when it came to her life.

Which made it rather ironic when she opened her eyes and found herself inside of Prometheus, the digital mainframe of Komori's Palace all around her, a world of bright blue Tron-lines that raced forward in all directions. Her breath was completely taken away as she laid eyes on it, a world composed entirely of computer data, and she was sailing through it in the confines of her Persona, which was itself a flaming head racing through the data stream.

"Holy shit…this is awesome!" Exclaimed the hacker. "Why the hell can't more Palaces be like this!"

Masculine laughter sounded from all around her. Rather than be frightened or surprised, Futaba laughed all the louder, having recognized it. If only, my young master. For now, I believe it's best we enjoy this venture while it lasts! Heads up, we've got enemy programs coming in on our five o'clock! The Greek Titan boomed, no sooner had his words been spoken did the scanners light up. Four red dots were fast approaching on the monitor.

Futaba wasn't a fighter, at least not like the rest of the Phantom Thieves of Heart. Her hands couldn't hold any type of melee weapon or firearm; it was somewhat ironic considering her many, many long hours spent gaming and watching anime and movies had given her a fantasy weapons library of knowledge, to say nothing of a handful of real life weapons. In spite of all that, Futaba didn't wield any herself. No, her weapons were her brain and her hacking abilities, which had been enough to see her and her teammates through. For that reason, Futaba had always felt content, but somewhere inside she had yearned for more. Like the rest of the Phantom Thieves, there was a…darkness inside of her, an urge to be able to wreck havoc as a form of emotional release. Hacking had certainly been fun, but deep down, she'd wanted more.

And now she was able to get that.

Her mind flared up, her hands on one of the digital touch pads. From her right side, an array of flames hot out of Prometheus. Futaba watched in wicked glee as they collided with the oncoming defense programs, masses of blue-colored data in the shape of sharp-toothed faces that would no doubt have tried to sink into her Persona's fiery exterior. Briefly, she pondered if Prometheus' flames would have been able to serve as a last line of defense in case the enemy programs got in close enough; they probably would, and Futaba had a feeling she'd be finding out how well they'd hold up sooner or later. A part of her was almost excited at the thought. The excitement was fueled by watching the approaching programs explode into fiery clumps of data.

Futaba stared ahead and grinned. "Prometheus, let's get to work!"

The smiling face of the imprisoned Titan was rocked with somewhat demented laughter as he surged through cyberspace, his master and "mortal half" safe inside of him, directing his offenses against the multitude of enemy programs that manifested in response to their intrusion. They were met with bursts of fire from the Persona, blazing masses of energy that mashed into them and incinerated them without remorse. Futaba's grin never left her face as she watched the enemy programs evaporate, sometimes passing their remains as she sped along. While she was enjoying herself, she still kept the goal in mind, more accurately, she had a destination.

It was only natural that a wall protected her target, a firewall. Crimson red code stood in-between her and her goal. Drumming away on her keyboard, Futaba shaped the flames that radiated from her Persona into drills, which instantly shot forward. Her face turned from excited to grim as she watched them attempt to penetrate the firewall. She adjusted the power of the drills, her goggle-covered eyes watching as the protective coding began to wear away bit by bit, she was making progress, and in good time too.

But she wasn't in a vacuum.

On our six! Called out her Persona.

Futaba grimaced as she kept one hand against the "drill pad" while stretching the other out. She'd seen her friends multi-task in the middle of battle countless times, now it was her turn, just as it was her turn to step up and fight.

The two of the four drills reshaped themselves into scythe-like blades, which were swing in a wide arc, the flaming data intercepting the oncoming programs. As the blades completed their rotation, Futaba furiously typed away at the sideways control panel, at her command, the flames reshaped themselves into massive fists that were quickly launched at the rest of the attacking programs. Sweat quickly began to pour down Futaba's brow as she maintained her drilling and kept on attacking at the enemies behind her. More and more were coming, and at some point something was going to give, Futaba just hoped that it wouldn't be her.

CRA-ACK!

"Yes! No wall can stop us!" Cheered the orange-haired girl watching her drills finally bore through the firewall. At the exact same moment, her scanners screamed in alarm, something big was coming her way, and fast. A screen came up showing what that something was. "Huh, more fish, gotta say, it's actually kind of fitting all things considered." She'd seen Jaws, Deep Blue See, and Shark Week at least five times each, and each one always left her in awe of the white-bodied killers of the deep. Of course, she also absorbed the knowledge that when charging, sharks sometimes had a hard time changing direction, at least if one timed their evasion right. Futaba had played a lot of video games giving her rather quick reflexes. One would argue that such things weren't exactly transmittable into real life, but the fantastical and digital was real life for Futaba at the moment.

And besides, she'd seen Akira and the others pull off stunts like this enough times she felt confident enough to replicate it.

The shark-based programs opened their jaws and lunged at Prometheus, hellbent on taking a bite out of his flaming exterior. All they chopped up was empty digital air.

Prometheus rolled upward, his owner grinning inside of him even as her hair whipped from the sudden motion. Throughout it, she never lost control. Below her, her targeting scanners locked on the multitude of enemies. Fingers curled and spiritual energy surged through Prometheus, who opened his mouth, out came a burst of digital flames that incinerated the attack programs as if they were tissue paper. It was awe-inspiring and horrifying.

Wonder if these things count as Shadows. Can Shadows be programs? Pondered the hacker as the flames died down.

Naturally, her thoughts weren't spoken in a vacuum. That's one way to look at it. Technically speaking, these programs are what you might call "Program Shadows" as they are manifestations of hostile coding. Be weary as you advance, things are only going to get tougher from here on out.

Futaba already knew that; she knew that the minute she got a look at the virtual landscape that was hers to explore and conquer in the name of the Phantom Thieves. It was like a video game as was the rest of their adventure, but if they failed there would be no do overs, nor were there any extra lives to be gained. That oddly excited her all the more.

Pressing on, Futaba zoomed in close seeing the massive sphere of pulsing data. Connecting to it were several massive tubes. Those tubes were carrying huge amounts of data that she knew transferred instructions and other data into other parts of the Palace, namely security doors and defenses. If she could hack into it, she could disable them thus opening up the way for her teammates. It wasn't going to be easy though.

Pockets of data began to come together in front of the sphere, they quickly pulled into a shape-a face. Sky-blue eyes flashed murderous red and a mouth roared in anger sending shockwaves rippling across cyberspace. Futaba and Prometheus grinned back in response. More streams of data began to flow in, creating a body for the head. Arms came next, massive, oversized arms that seemed large enough to palm Prometheus like a basketball were they to get a hold of them. Instead of that, they balled into fists which were immediately launched at the flaming Persona. At Futaba's command, the flames shaped themselves into massive fists, which collided with the enemy's. The hacker was forced to come to a stop as she had to put all of her strength into maintaining her flaming fists; her fierce concentration was mirrored in the angry face of the defense program, who seemed enraged at the thought of something being able to challenge it. That anger manifested in the eyes, which began to glow a burning shade of red; Futaba knew what was coming next.

Once again, it was timing that made all the difference. A well-timed evasion could open the path to victory.

As the twin beams of red energy shot from the program hand, Prometheus dismissed his flaming arms and ducked downward. The beams streaked through the air above him and his owner, both of whom rushed forward with the speed of a jet fighter. They were fast enough that the defending program was seemingly taken by surprise, but not for long. The fists came flying at her, pulsing with the aim to utterly crush her. Within her Persona, Futaba gripped the control panels and braced herself.

Suddenly, Prometheus changed directions, jerking upward. The imprisoned Titan's flames reshaped themselves into a vertical saw blade that buzzed seconds before making contact with the target. Inside, Futaba's entire body jerked as the impact rocked Prometheus' interior; in spite of it, she kept on going, commanding the flaming buzz saw to roar while pushing her Ultimate Persona upward. She watched with gnashing teeth as the digital face split in half, screaming all the while. It continued to scream for a few seconds longer, a mournful sound that would haunt Futaba more than she was willing to admit; at last, the face broke apart, the saw offed edges burning with translucent red flames.

The data terminal was open to her and Futaba quickly rushed forward. Prometheus' upper portion split open like a hatch allowing for the hacker to leap forward. It felt like she was moving through water, which was appropriate all things considered. As she'd done with the physical terminal, she did so again with the data terminal, slamming her hand against it. Green lines surged forth from her arm into the terminal, corrupting it as evident by the red sparks that shot out around her.

Not bad at all, young mistress. Chuckled the Greek Titan from behind her.

Pulling her arm away, Futaba floated backward, a sudden sense of exhaustion suddenly washing over her. Perhaps it was the adrenaline rush beginning to wear off; she didn't bother to think about how that work would in a virtual realm which existed inside of a mental realm. Her mother might have been able to come up with something vaguely reasonable, or perhaps she would have been just as lost as Futaba was.

Futaba, Prometheus called out, concern evident in his voice.

In some ways, he reminded her of her adoptive father, something that Futaba was thankful for. She didn't think it would be too bad if she grew up to be a little like Sojiro, she just wanted to make sure to keep some of her personal quirks along the way. "Hey, I-I'm good. This was only level one so no worries, albeit maybe I got a bit carried away." The teenager responded holding up her right hand in a thumbs up manner. "I won't be doing that; I'll keep my head on straight until we've cleared this Palace."

The flaming head stared long and hard back at her. Again, since Prometheus was an aspect of her soul, he was privy to all of the secrets that thoughts that she wouldn't vocalize. Likewise, he was also what could be called an embodiment of her desire to know the truth. Here they were in a place where that desire could be fulfilled, yet she was restraining herself. It would be so easy to lose control, but the hacker had showed restraint. For that, the imprisoned Titan could say that he was proud; that pride manifested as he welcomed her back inside of him. Warmth washed over her like the flames from a hearth, such flames had been born when he'd stolen the flame of the gods and given it to man. With it had come knowledge and the beginning of humanity's path to progress. It hadn't been an easy road, but no road worth traveling was easy. Futaba knew that incredibly well, as did the rest of her teammates, her friends.

They were the people that she longed to return to as she typed into the keycodes needed to log out. When she returned, she hoped that she'd managed to burn a path for them to advance.

"Heh, not bad at all, granted I sort of wish we got to see what it was you were doing." Came the voice of her surrogate brother causing her to laugh in amusement. Futaba could feel herself being held by him, healing energy gradually flowing into her from either Mona or Panther.

With her goggles pulled up, she blinked several times, her vision slowly returning to her. Everyone was gathered around her, their looks of concern faded as they saw she was back in the waking world. There was only one thing on Futaba mind, "Did it work?"

"Hacking success." Fox chuckled as he offered a hand to help her stand up. She graciously took it.

Looking around, Futaba could see the slight indicators of a battle: everyone's clothes ruffled up in some way or ammo magazines lying on the ground along with a few scorch marks. It had been a scuffle, one that her teammates had handled incredibly well as they always did. When she looked back at the terminal she'd logged into, Futaba chuckled seeing it was now blood-red with the Phantom Thieves' logo on it. Ryuji slapped her on the back proclaiming that she'd left her mark in the cyberspace of the Metaverse. Goro reminded them that they could celebrate later.

Together, the thieves began to move down the hallway that they'd previously stopped at. Their hearts silently raced in their respective chests as they took several long steps into the dimly lit darkness. While the design of the Palace was certainly drawn from a real life aquarium, the group couldn't help but feel like they were progressing into some sort of forbidden complex. They most certainly were, especially as they came to the end.

"Hm, seems much hasn't changed." The princely-garbed assassin mused laying eyes on the lobby area. It was for the most part as he remembered it, which was of slight concern to him. As usual, what stood out was the central elevator, a massive tube that cast a shadow over the entire area. Bright silver lined the elevator as did several ocean-themed designs that glowed a faint blue. It stretched both ways, heading on up to the upper two levels and downward, extending to the basement where a maze-like obstacle course awaited them, at the end of it would lay Komori. All that said, the surroundings were just as vibrant as ever. Hundreds of feet of glass kept at bay thousands of tons of water in which swam countless fish and sea creatures, all them flickering with iridescent light. Six pathways diverged from the one that they were on, three on each side, two leading off to the side and one leading upward.

"We could spend a whole day exploring all of this." Makoto noted.

"Exploring it, and recording what we find." Added the male brunette causing the others to look at him. "Guys…the information in here could bring down some very powerful men and women, not just in Japan but across the sea well."

"You know, when you say that it just makes it more tempting." Ryuji grunted. "Kind of makes me wish you hadn't given us that three day deadline."

"Speaking of which, do we really need that much time?" Ann inquired. She was standing beside Akira giving her a good view of the map he'd been using to guide them. "From the looks of things, that elevator will be a straight shot down to the basement then to Komori."

"Which is exactly the problem." Yusuke stated. Everything in his gut was telling him that there was going to be a catch somewhere. He looked over to his leader for confirmation.

Akira promptly nodded. "In order to activate that elevator, we're going to need six security codes, otherwise it'll shut down on us and we'll have to spend our time trying to pry it open."

"Um, I'm pretty sure I could do that." Ryuji offered, yet knowing his offer was going to be shot down. "Still, what's the worst that could happen."

The red-caped teenager pointed up to the ceiling. "Komori will drown this entire place. I've seen him do it to entire chambers and hallways, and it won't just be with water."

Ann made a face. "Please tell me he can't have the sprinklers rain acid on us."

"He can." Goro replied in a flat voice that was belayed by the rather sober expression on his face. Odds were, he'd discover that fact the hard way. It was clear he wasn't eager to relieve the experience, or force them to. "On top of all of that, trying to force the doors open will cause the underground level to seal itself up. We'll have to blast our way through until we get to Komori, at which point we'll likely be too exhausted to fight his Shadow."

"Thus we have to do this the long way." Haru mused. "I must say, for a man so inclined to doing nothing, Komori possesses rather powerful defenses. Not to mention with all of this information he's collected, he could make or break the balance of power at his will."

"When you think about it though…that may be the point." Goro offered, his arms crossed and his eyes focused on the sealed elevator. Several times he'd stared at it, half wishing that glaring at it would be enough to break the locks and allow him to enter the underground aspect of Komori's Palace. Even Shido himself had been somewhat surprised to learn that the media mogul's Palace had such defenses; fittingly, that only made Shido dislike Komori even more. "Sloth isn't just laziness, it's an inability or unwillingness to use that which you have, it's quite literally doing nothing when you could be doing something."

"You know, when you say it like that, it actually makes it sound worse." Ryuji mumbled with a sour look on his face. Interestingly, it was one that Goro shared. Taking a deep breath, he turned to his black-haired best friend. "Alright, Joker, what's the plan here? Guessin' those security codes are scattered throughout the Palace?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Akira answered.

"So, will we splint up? This'll go a lot faster if we can get multiple targets at once." Morgana chirped up, having regained his focus after being temporarily awe-struck by the array of aquatic life on display before him. Internally, he'd been steeling himself as it was only going to get harder from this point onward.

"That's be the best option." Commented the leader. "Six codes, nine of us, we could hit at least two or three targets at once. That would give us strength in numbers."

"Barring the fact that three members of the team would be…operating at less than one-hundred-percent efficiency." Goro quipped, a thin smile on his face. The mentioned three all shot him glares that could have boiled the thousands of gallons of water around them. All he did was lightly bounce on his feet, the smirk on his face never quite fading. "Before all of that, I believe you mentioned finding a safe room, right?"

Ignoring the annoyed faces of his oldest companions, Akira folded up the map and pointed to his left. "Yep, stay close, everyone, and don't touch anything too strange looking."

"Oh, you mean pretty much everything in here?" Ann quipped with a raised eyebrow. While she was blown away by what she was seeing, the amazement was muted by the fact that she'd be fighting at less than full strength, just as their formerly renegade member had pointed out. That said, it wasn't like she was completely helpless; just because she couldn't use her fire attacks didn't mean she was completely helpless. The same thing went for Ryuji. As for Morgana, well…it was no secret that the humanoid feline loved fish. Technically speaking though, they weren't really surrounded by fish, just masses of information in the likeness of fish. Ann didn't have any desire to see what would happen if the data fish behaved just like real fish if dragged out of water; to be precise, she had no desire to get any close to the things after her previous experience.

But something told her as they progressed deeper into Komori's Palace, she wouldn't be having a chance.

Lower Levels…

"Master! Master! Master! Dammit, will you wake the hell up, we have a situation!"

Golden eyes slowly but gradually began to open, drowsy ringing in them. A mouth stretched open a tired yawn. "Huh? What is it? Seki, can't you handle it? I'm going back to sleep." Before the Shadow could close its eyes, something was on them, prying them open. The stretched mouth immediately twisted into a grimace as an ear-piercing scream went off directly in front of the man's face. That was certainly enough to wake him up, and force him to stay that way too, much to his chagrin. "Alright, alright, fine! I'm up! What is it? What's the problem?"

The Shadow of Masaya Komori wiped his eyes and sat up, his lengthy arms stretching upward before falling back on his shoulders as he creaked his neck. It felt like he'd been sleeping for ages, which he had been all things considered. He could never keep track of time in the Metaverse, a trait that he inherited from his real self, albeit exaggerated; truthfully, he really didn't see the problem. His Palace had many defenses that could stop any would-be intruders, including his boss' little assassin whom he also planned on disposing of when he was finished with him. Hovering in front of him was the proud pinnacle of those defenses.

Palace Defense AI Seki, arms crossed and looking quite annoyed with him…which was entirely normal. After all, she was somewhat based on his sectary, who often gave him an earful about his duties and staying on schedule. Even their likeness was the same save for the fact that Seki was a transparent woman whom was made of data and light. Her light-blue frame stood before him with an obviously cross look on her face. Her eyes narrowed as he got himself comfortable and opened his ears to what she had to say.

Turning to the side, she flew her hand out to the side where a holographic screen came up. "We appear to have a rat problem." Her cold voice resounded through the office as if it were a cave.

Komori stared at the distorted screen with now open and narrowed eyes. He leaned against his left hand, which rubbed against his cheek. "A pack of rats with a straw dog in their midst, I can't quite say that this outcome wasn't off the table to start with."

"Do you think Okumura and Sakura know what Akechi has done?" Seki questioned. Her response was rooted in the tactical advantages that they could exploit using the friction that hopefully lay within the Phantom Thieves. While they were moving together as a unit, she doubted all was one-hundred-percent well within the team of teenagers.

Her master and "creator" was on a similar train of thought. "There's no way they would know of this place or way to go without Akechi having revealed some bit of information, especially after Shido's failed hit on them. Komori knew that failure would come back to haunt them all. Like his father, Akechi had a vengeful streak, the rest of the Phantom Thieves had good reasons to share in that vengeance, especially Futaba Sakura and Haru Okumura. The question was, would that commonality be enough to keep them together if they were reminded of the runaway assassin's crimes against them? "Have we done a scan to see how strong Akechi has grown since his last infiltration?"

Seki raised a digital eyebrow at him. "Do you think he'll turn so easily?"

Komori yawned. "No, I'm thinking if reminded of who he's fighting for and how doomed his quest was from the start, he'll snap and take everyone else down with him."

"Wasn't that the boy's original plan? Heh, I suppose here in our Palace would be a good as place as any for that, a pity he won't be taking Shido down with him." The security AI remarked with a snobbish chuckle. It quickly faded as she watched the Phantom Thieves safely maneuver their way through a set of corridors, avoiding the patrolling Shadows and even assassinating them without making so much as a sound. Begrudging as she was to admit it, the teens were good. Their hacker had disabled her security systems preventing her from being able to act in full to stop them thus allowing the kids to continue on course unimpeded by the Palace's stronger defenses. While they would come back online in time, by then the damage would be done. "Master, from what I can gather, they're on level two, Section C; they're moving quite fast."

"Then stop them." The Shadow said in a detached tone seconds before another yawn stretched his mouth open. "You know what to do, handle things as you see fit." With those words, the Shadow closed his golden eyes and became almost as still as a statue. Were it not for the steady rising and falling of his chest, one would have assumed he was a corpse. The aura of subtle harmony returned to him, completely submerging him back in the realm of dreams.

Seki watched the transformation with a blank stare on her face. Since her creation, this had been what she knew of, what to expect, from her "master". He was an incredibly lazy man, and that trait most certainly manifested in his Shadow self. For one reason or another, she had enough of a free will and mind of her own so she could form an opinion on the things around her. Her opinion of her master was that he was a lazy man the likes of which would have made some turn their noses in disgust, more so given the raw talent that he possessed. That said, one talent he seemingly made use of was making sure that he had ideal help in getting things done, her existence being a shining pinnacle of such. While she could be annoyed by his lazy tendencies, she couldn't exactly say she was ungrateful for them. After all, if Komori was more active, she would have less things to do with her time and life.

She wouldn't be able to deal with intruders as she saw fit.

The bun-haired security AI looked back to the distorted screen. Loath as she was to admit it, the group's hacker had done a good enough job of disrupting the security systems of the Palace, but it was only temporary. At the snap of her fingers the system was rebooting and gradually coming back online. Enough of the systems had come back online that she could act, albeit it'd be a wide sweep instead of a singular and focused counter attack like she'd have preferred. Seki shrugged her shoulders and proceeded; this was war and one had to adapt to changing battlefield conditions.

On top of that…she couldn't deny that a part of her wanted to nab the glory that came with tangling with the elusive Phantom Thieves of Heart. She would succeed where countless others, including the traitorous Black Mask, had failed. A dark smile spread across the AI's face.

Aquarium of Sloth, Second Level, Section C…

When Akira felt a tingle up his spine, he knew that something was wrong, very wrong. For that reason, he came to an instant stop, the rest of his teammates following suit. They'd all been with him enough times to know if he felt something was off, then trouble was likely just around the corner; not to mention some of them had begun to develop a type of danger awareness of their own.

Oh, and then there was their resident hacker whose job it was to forewarn them of trouble. "Oh no, the security systems have rebooted!" Futaba cried out in alarm.

"But the safe room is just a few meters away, I think we can-" Haru's words were cut off as she quite literally sensed something amiss. Looking straight ahead with the rest of her team, she saw it, and sprung into action. "Astarte!" Called the heiress, her hand flying to her face where her mask burst into azure flames. At the forefront of the group manifested the demonized god, her arms thrown out and a thin layer of multi-colored energy outlining her body. That same energy materialized in the form of a translucent wall that guarded the Phantom Thieves against the torrent of water that came rushing at them a second later. Haru grimaced as she put forth more effort into hold up the barrier.

Futaba's eyes widen behind her glasses. "We've got contacts coming in hot!"

Akira cursed. "Noir, get ready to drop the barrier, Mona, Fox, to the front! Panther, Crow, watch our six!"

Everyone moved into position without a word. The two sword-users summoned their Personas and braced for when the wall could come down. As they did, they looked into the water and saw the enemies their navigator had mentioned coming in hot, aquatic bulls, bulls with fish-like tails that were propelling them through the water. They were charging at them through the rushing water like torpedoes. Before they could make contact, Morgana called out to his Ultimate Persona as did Yusuke. The two trickster gods raised their staff and sword respectively, then thrusted both weapons forward releasing a cyclonic blast of sub-zero air. The combined attack pushed back the aquatic bulls, and the wave that they were trying to ride in on. With the path temporarily clear, the group moved as fast they could. Gunfire lit up the rear as the model and Prince Detective unloaded their firearms into a pack of enemies approaching them from the rear end.

Their eyes widened as they heard the echoing roar of a bestial Shadow. To their surprise, they saw an oni fast approaching them, it's body armored and a spiked club scrapping against the wall. Acting quickly, Goro manifested his white clad Persona and ordered Robin Hood to let loose with a volley of penetrating arrows. To his relief, they hit home, stopping the advancing Shadow dead in its tracks. Unfortunately, the beast didn't go down as one would have expected, it remained standing; a second later something took hold of the now defeated Shadow and began to use it as a battering ram and shield.

Goro cursed and readied himself to attack again, but Ann put a hand on his shoulder while the other went to her mask. The Archer of Sherwood was joined by the Greek goddess of magic, who took aim at the approaching threat with all six of her multi-colored eyes. Coldly, she threw out a hand and let loose a torrent of flames that filled the entire hallway.

While the scene in front of them was lit up, Goro turned his head back around. "Why the hell aren't we inside the-" His words froze in his mouth as he saw what was happening at the front. Haru and Astarte were back to trying to hold back a wall of surging water while the others were fending off attacking Shadows, particularly in the shape of what was undoubtedly fishmen armed with various weapons. They were holding their own, but it was clear that they were sandwiched in. Immediately, his mind began to race thoughts of what they could do to get out of this situation.

Wait a minute! Just because we're surrounded by water doesn't meant that we're completely helpless. Water boils at one-hundred degrees Celsius! In a heartbeat, Robin Hood was pulled back causing slight confusion in the pig-tailed blonde beside him. "Panther, have Hecate create as much heat as possible, then get ready to run on my signal! The same goes to the rest of you! Oracle, flame-proof everyone, especially Fox!" He shouted back.

"Seems like Bird Nose has come up with another plan!" Ryuji called continuously firing his shotgun, and at times using it as a bludgeon against the aquatic Shadows that the teens were now engaged with. Their ugly faces matched perfectly well with their ferocious attitudes, attacking them all with their weapons and bare handed.

"If it'll get us out oft his situation, I'm all for it!" Makoto shouted back. Much to his chagrin, punching the fishmen was quite like punching rubber. The full force of her punches was being lost thanks to the elasticity of the creature's skin, it was both revolting and annoying. Of course, with enough force they could be downed, and a perfectly timed bullet to the head had they scrambling backward dead before they hit the ground.

From the corner of his eye, Akira saw that his rival had called in Phoenix. A part of him smiled at seeing the fire bird, its radiant glow lighting up the hallway just as their attacking was. The glow grew brighter, and with it came a sudden heat wave that he and the rest of his teammates were shielded from thanks to their navigator. Helping things along was Ann and Hecate, who kept a watchful vigil on the opposite end of the hallway. More enemies were coming, and if Akira had to guess, so too was another wave of water that would have washed them away if they weren't careful. Or if the two teens didn't have their Personas generating enough heat to put a blast furnace to shame. At the very least he was able to grin and watch their aggressors quickly begin to recoil as the moisture within them rapidly began to evaporate. He and Ryuji and Yusuke took the opportunity to land what hits on their enemies they could.

"Everybody, get ready!" Came the former assassin's voice seconds before his Persona flapped its wings releasing a blast of golden light that was blinding to all, including the security cameras that had just recently come back online. The burst of heat and light was strong enough to temporarily scramble the surveillance systems, including the artificial intelligence operating them.

But none of that was going to be enough to stop her, she'd already thought several steps ahead, as the Phantom Thieves were about to find out.

Speaking of which, the team moved toward the safe room in a surprisingly disciplined fashion. They held one's another's hands, tightly at that. It was a common tactic to ensure they didn't' get separated, but it also showed the solidarity between them…including the white-garbed thief who'd framed them for murder, yet had came to his rescue.

As he popped open his eyes, Akira smiled in relief seeing the door to the safe room in front of them. Things had gone more or less as he'd expected, maybe a little more. Ultimately, he felt like his team had made good headway thus once they were in the safe room they could exit Komori's Palace and retire for the evening. A part of him was looking forward to it as it'd bene one hell of a day; he knew the sentiment was likely shared by the rest of his teammates, especially his fellow Wild Card.

Mere seconds after he opened the door, it hit him that such things are further away than he'd hoped. He was blasted face-first with a room's worth of mist that caused him and Makoto and Morgana to recoil back. Now with an opening, the mist exploded outward into the hallway, and hit the rest of his friends as well. His mind racing, he ushered everyone inside. Whatever came next, they could at least take a few seconds to catch their breaths in relative safety before dealing with it.

The door slammed shut once the last traces of the mist had blown outward. Akira slid against the door, his chest rising and falling in heavy pants, just like the rest of his teammates.

"Just a simple recon mission." Came Ryuji's annoyed voice.

"Hey, we've done this before, and look how things turned out. At the very least we're safe for now." Ann chirped, having taken a seat on the couch alongside the skull-masked teen. "Everyone alright?"

"A little toasty, but I think I'll live." Makoto answered, temporarily withdrawing her mask from her face. Even with the protection of her friends, she'd felt a tad bit uncomfortable wearing her metal mask. As she removed it, she wiped the sweat from her brow, it had been borne more from the fighting than the heat.

"I honestly think this is the first time that we've entered a Palace with…what is the phrase, guns blazing from the Palace owner." Yusuke added. "Komori certainly knows that we're here and is acting accordingly."

"More like the security is acting accordingly. Knowing Komori, he won't act until we've sent the calling card causing his Treasure to manifest and we're ready to snatch it." Corrected the team's former rogue. He'd taken up residence off to the side as he usually did. He felt a tad uncomfortable being so close to another stretch of glass holding back tons of gallons of water, but he was willing to make exceptions. It was a given that before all of this was over with, they'd be seeing a lot more water, and getting more wet than they'd likely wanted to. He removed his mask and wiped the sweat from his brow just as Makoto had done; creating that much heat and being so close by had left him a little cooked in his princely uniform.

"Speaking of which, are we really going to be able to clear this Palace in three days?" Haru spoke up.

"Rather we like it or not, we have to." Morgana answered. He had to admit, he wasn't exactly pleased with the tight timeline, but it was the card they'd been dealt and they were going to make do with it. They'd done so before, and this time would be no different, especially since they now had more going for them, and perhaps more riding on their victory than they previously thought. Sensing a set of eyes on him, he looked back up to Haru and Futaba. "Hey, come on guys, we already went through this, I'll be fine! Really!"

"You went moony-eyed once we got into the lobby." Futaba sniped with a mischievous smile on her face.

"It was rather cute to see." Haru added with a laugh. As expected, the humanoid cat went slack-jawed as the two girls had their fun at his expanse. "All that said…I don't quite blame you. All things considered, Komori's Palace is quite…striking. If it were a a normal aquarium, I'd love to walk around in it and see all of the exhibits."

"This whole thing is the first time that I've ever been to an aquarium." Futaba said with a distant look on her face. Her gaze went down to the floor where she felt like she was staring into an abyss. For just a brief second, she felt a temptation to lose herself in it as she always did before. Thanks to the people around her, that urge had been nipped in the butt as it should have been. "I'm glad that even if it's one filled with murderous fishmen, I get-huh?"

After a minute of silence, Akira opened his eyes. "Oracle? Futaba?"

It was gone, all of it.

And in its place was all too familiar scenery.

"What…the…what the hell?" Stammered the black-haired teenager. "What the hell?" He repeated looking around him. Quickly, he shot up, his eyes widening as he looked down at himself. Oh shit! Oh shit! That mist, there was something in the-

"Akira?" Called a feminine voice to his left. "Honey, is something wrong? Bad dream?"

Snapping his head to the side, he saw a sight that made his heart both leap in joy and at the same time weep. The shock and adrenaline that had been rushing through him in the last three seconds suddenly evaporated as he stared into the warm blue eyes of his mother.

Yep, definitely just an ordinary recon mission. Thought the leader of the Phantom Thieves of Heart with a sense of dread as he stood within the last place he would have ever felt fear or worry-his family home back in his hometown of Meguro. A place that he'd sorely come to miss over the last couple of days, and the people, his parents, especially so.

I'm sorry that this chapter took almost half a year to put up. Once the Covid crisis hit in full force I found myself losing track of some projects. Regardless, this story's back and will be continuing.

The design philosophy of Komori's Palace is pretty much that an aquarium is a place you go to so you can do nothing but look at all the bright and colorful marine life. Hand-in-hand with this, it's heavy association with water is meant to refer to the go with the flow sort of attitude that it's owner has, namely in how he doesn't put up much a fight and leaves things to take their "natural" course. As Goro said, sloth isn't just laziness, it's an inability or unwillingness to act, which I wanted to show in that while Komori is aware that his Palace has been infiltrated, he's not going to do a thing about, that falls to his "assistant". Speaking of said assistant, yeah, a computer-based AI inside of a metaphysical world born from the distorted desires of a media mogul…I just can't help but see something as crazy as that being somewhat acceptable in the Persona-universe; I mean if cats can turn into cars (and helicopters) then I'd say anything is possible.

Speaking of said assistant, seki is Japanese for "barrier", I figured the name would be short and to the point; she does her job well and will be the main obstacle the Thieves have to overcome before they can get to Komori. Especially for Futaba; her hacking segment was based on my desire to put her in her own world, the word of cyberspace, and have her contribute to the party with more than just battlefield support and navigation. Those sections will be based on the Bentley-centered hacking minigames of Sly 3 and 4. A clash between hacker and security AI is coming, but you all will have to be patient for when that happens, it'll most certainly be coming after the team gets out of this latest mess which is no doubt going to be a bit of a hold up for them.

Hopefully the next chapter will be up in a week or two. Until then, stay safe everyone, on top of the Coronavirus, the weather's been absolutely nothing to scuff at, that is if you're here in the US. Until next time!