The man was silent, staring at the whiteboard and the equations written on it. He ran a hand through his red-dyed strawberry blonde hair, almost in exasperation. He loosened the top button of his shirt, which hugged his muscular body slightly, but it was enough to flow on him.

He then crossed his arms over his chest, staring at the board some more.

"...damn it." he cursed.

"These just refuse to add up." he muttered, unfolding them and grabbing a bottle of water. He took a drink of the liquid inside, recapping it, and setting it down on the desk beside him.

"This might just be impossible..." he sighed, shaking his head.

"NOTHING is impossible." a new voice from behind him declared, causing the man to whirl around.

"Who...?" he started to ask, before sighing in relief. "Oh, it's you." he said.

"Keep going." the second person told him. "You're getting close. So very close." they continued.

"I know, but... it just... they refuse to match up and cooperate." the first person lamented.

"And yet you're closer than you were years ago. MONTHS ago." the new person countered. "Already you're proving that this has a very real chance of being possible." they told him further. "You CAN do this." they assured him.

"Perhaps the problem is with THAT part there?" they then suggested, pointing to one of the equations.

The man looked at it, paused for a moment, and narrowed his eyes.

"...maybe... yes... maybe... just maybe..." he said quietly, before starting to work again, this time with a renewed vigour.

The newcomer just smirked to themselves, watching the man go back to work.

'Excellent...' they thought to themselves.

- - -

Jake just sighed, setting his newspaper down and placing his hands behind his head, intertwined in his green hair. His matching green eyes looked a little weary and dreary, as he let out a yawn.

"Guess I'm overdue for some time off.' he mumbled, before his stomach grumbled.

"Then again, I might just be hungry." he said further, leaning back in his chair, putting his feet up on his desk, and looking at the clock.

"...12:45." he muttered.

"I'll give it until 1:15. Mira should be back by then." he reasoned. "I'll ask her to cover for me. Maybe take a half-hour longer and relax some on my lunch break." he went on, before sighing again.

"Just hope nothing major happens before then." he added with a light chuckle, grabbing his coffee cup and downing the rest of the brown liquid contained within.

'Damn, Sydney gets premium stuff. he thought, making a mental note to thank the head of the Triad for giving him the beans to grind for it when she was last visiting the Unit.

Jake was... stunned.

Stunned, shocked, and confused.

His serpentine tongue darted out a couple of times, and it was easy to see he was suspicious.

"See... there's a problem." he said.

"I know who you look like." he told her.

"I know what your mana tastes like." he went on.

"And they're not adding up." he said. "Yet... at the same time, they ARE." he said further.

"Are you going to tell me that you are, in fact, Victoria Remmington?" he asked.

"...yeah, see, not helping your case." he told her.

"Vicki goes by 'Remmington'." he said.

"Now, I can tell that you're strong. FAR stronger than Vicki." he then commented. "However, I cannot let you in, without fully knowing who the hell you are." he finished.

Just then, before either of them could say anything more, Emerald walked in from outside.

"Hey, Ja-" he started to say, before freezing.

"...woah." he said, looking at Vicki.

Emerald blushed a little when she called him 'Gem'.

"Heh." he chuckled.

"Gem?" Jake asked. "No... no, that's Emerald. You don't even know the difference between our agents." he told her.

"Who ARE you!?" he demanded.

"...it's a long a complicated story. But that IS Victoria Remmington. Or Fyrane. Whatever." Emerald concerned.

"How...?" Jake started to ask, before sighing heavily.

"Fine. But YOU'RE escorting her to the boss." he told Emerald.

"Of course." Emerald replied, as Jake buzzed them in.

Jake merely glared at her as she said that, before she and Emerald disappeared into the building.

"You called me 'Gem'." he told her as they walked.

"There's only one person he knows that goes by that." he went on.

"Gemini." he said.

"I know 'Emeralds' are 'Gemstones', but nobody's called me that before." he continued.

"Not yet, anyway. Not even Rylie." he told her further.

"Hence his reaction."

Emerald paused for a moment, before catching his stride again.

"We are." he said.

"We're engaged, actually." he told her.

"So, that should give you an idea as to... uh... where you are." he said. "Or... well, maybe that's not the right way to put that..." he mumbled further, shaking his head again.

"Regardless!' he continued.

"Why ARE you here?" he asked.

"...somehow that doesn't surprise me." Emerald responded.

The rest of the journey was mostly silent, before they stepped into the receptionist's area to see she wasn't there.

But they could hear faint tapping away in Hal's office.

"Ah, his secretary must be at lunch." Emerald commented.

"And it seemed Agent Sharp is working through lunch." he lamented. "Or he came back early from it." he shrugged.

"Regardless, seems you'll need to knock for yourself." he told her.

Hal had been wary of the power he sensed, and the knock confused him even more.

"Eh?" he mumbled.

"Is that...?" he wondered.

"Couldn't be." he said.

"But... who else could this belong to...?" he wondered further.

He then just sighed, shook his head, and trusted his gut.

"Come on in, Hollie!" he called out.

Hal was extremely confused now.

"I'm... I'm sorry?" he asked.

"Victoria?" he asked her.

He then shook his head a little.

"Right, I'll get to the hotel question, and why you're asking it in the first place, as you know you can stay here whenever you need to, later." he told her.

"And which brother?" he asked.

"Ash would be stopping by here to fill us in on guild and hunt-related topics, so I don't know WHEN he comes in." he admitted.

"Lindsay's been dropping by here every weekend to work on some project of his, and needs our resources for it." he then said.

"....I see." Hal replied.

"Vicki, what's going on?" he asked.

"I know it's you." he said.

"But at the same time... it CAN'T be you..." he went on.

"Something is vastly different about you." he told her further.

"And this is a very confusing situation I am finding myself in." he continued.

"Your power is reminiscent to... Hollie's."