"This place looks creepy," Sora whispered, edging closer to Croissant. The five of them stood before the daunting building, the crisp wind blowing past them. Texas took in the size and atmosphere of the building, keeping her eye out for anything out of order or slightly off. While she didn't trust this building to be the one to handle something as salient as missing people, but from the looks of Boston and how large it was, it would take them days to cover the entire city on foot.

Lappland leaned back and tapped Texas's shoulder. "Uh, leader? You gonna go in or what?"

Texas shot her a glare and started forward, pushing the heavy, semi-rusted metal doors. They squealed loudly on the concrete floors, protesting being open. Sora, Croissant, Exusiai and Lappland winced at the loud noise but Texas barged on ahead. Her tail flicked back and forth with her movements, her feet hardly making a sound. The other girls hurried to follow, Lappland taking her sweet time shuffling along.

Sunlight filtered in through cracks in newspapers that were covering every surface of window. Mold and various plants were scattered around, adding to the eerie feeling. Leaves crunched under their feet, echoing as if the place had been empty for decades.

Texas sniffed the air, but only inhaled mold and dust. How can a building in this condition still but up? Wouldn't a management company or a safety group deem it too dangerous to be apart of the community? While I'm not an expert on Boston or their ways of living, it would make sense to tear it down to avoid it crumbling due to the infrastructure.

"Freeze!" A voice demanded from somewhere in front of them. Sora, Exusiai and Croissant all screamed and leapt several feet back while Texas and Lappland just glanced at each other.

"Who's there?" The voice called again. This time, the gender was identified. It belonged to a girl, probably fairly young, judging by the panic and fear lacing what she wanted to be bravery. Texas slapped Lappland on the arm to get her attention.

"Go around, see if you can find where she's hiding. Don't engage in anything battle related unless they strike first." Texas instructed, then shoved her to the right, where the voice hadn't come from.

"Yes, ma'am." Lappland rolled her eyes but crouched, creeping along a wooden table towards where they thought the voice originated from.

Texas brought her attention back to the girl. "We don't want to fight or cause any harm. We only wish for help."

" Yeah, right. You just want to steal my ideas. " The girl answered.

"You're ideas?" Exusiai chimed in, apparently recovered from her scare. "What do you mean?"

"Don't pretend like you don't know. People always want to steal my ideas and claim them as their own. And you won't be getting any of them!"

Croissant tapped Texas's shoulder and pointed up to the top banister, where a peeling and eroding railing stood. A figure, short yet unmistakable, stood with what looked like a crossbow aimed at the group of them. Texas knew the figure knew that they had been seen, but they stayed rooted in their place, the weapon gripped in both hands.

"Uh, Texas?" Sora pointed to the banister across from the other. Another figure stood, but this one held no gun, rather a long and sharp spear that reflected the slim light that came through the peeling newspapers.

We're surrounded. They hold weapons, but yet they don't attack. I don't believe they wish to launch a full-scale attack at the moment. Perhaps they want to avoid a commotion and want us to just leave. Understandable. But an explanation as to why would suffice. What are they hiding, and why is it so important that they'll risk injury to protect it? The girl mentioned people stealing her ideas. Who stole them in the past? And why would she assume we would do the same?

Lappland crawled under a batch of concrete slabs stacked together and peeked around them. There, she saw a girl crouched behind a tall black shield, a long and pristine sword by her small feet. Lappland raised an eyebrow, clearly not as impressed as she was before. Seriously? A kid? All this for a....oh. Well, we are trying to find a kid, so I guess this is pretty ironic. She crawled out slowly, trying not to make too much noise.

"We don't wish to steal any ideas, you have my word." Texas said reassuringly. She held up her hands to show she held no weapons other than the swords on her backs. The other girls followed suite. "We wish to talk."

"How do we know we can trust your word?" The girl asked. She sounded like she was about to at least consider what Texas was saying, but was still on the skeptical side.

"Because we're nice." Sora said with a bright smile. "We won't hurt you, we promise. Come on out. We can be friends."

"Sora..." Croissant whispered, kicking the girl in the shin.

A bang was heard from a few feet in front of them, then some grunts and one cry from the girl. Texas and the others perked up, and Texas immediately knew that it was Lappland. Another series of grunts, then Lappland poked her head up over a large stack of concrete slabs.

Lappland, what are you doing? Texas thought with her teeth gritted.

"I found her!" Lappland called, holding the supposed girl by her jacket, a victorious look on her face. Texas gave her a hard glare while the other girls were mildly unimpressed.