[Greave, a masked towering giant turns slowly towards Serris, feeling intimidated, Serris inserts left hand into his coat’s pocket, ready to pull out his pocket Polaris if the conversation turns ugly. X, who was tailing Serris, moves to a vantage point to eavesdrop Serris and Greave.]

Greave: *annoyed* “What do you want… if you think the armours here are too expensive, go to the auction house, I am sure you will find what you need… now get out, before I call the security…”

Serris: *smirks* “Fine, before I leave I just want to ask one simple question… what happened to Rudkin? You know, the guy who sells body enhancement modules.”

Greave: “He got what is coming for him…”

Serris: *squints* “And what is that may I ask?”

Greave: “He died for the obvious reason, selling cheaply made combat performance enhancing module at that kind of price… too cheap for the Spiral Order… they killed our brother and made one hell of a job covering it up.”

Serris: “Why kill someone who is helping them out? Making our knights stronger is a good thing isn’t it?”

Greave: “The rookies… the Spiral Order fears that they will get too strong and no longer listen to their will, removing Rudkin would mean that the low ranking knights cannot rebel against the higher ranking vanguards.”

Serris: “So, stopping a revolution at its infancy huh? Kind of Cruel… yet effective…”

Greave: “Exactly… you knights champion your unity, but at the end, you all are nothing more than individual pieces on the inside, selfish and unforgiving, we should never have accepted your kind into our peaceful Haven… it was a mistake…”

Serris: “So? The Spiral Order has already granted this town protection from the Gremlins, is that not good enough?”

Greave: *chuckles* “… Ha Ha… foolish knights… We don’t support you, the war between the spiral order and the other denizens of the clockwork is the reason why we are here, the war economy… making a profit from the conflict is all we ever cared about. If the spiral Order falls, we will just sell our weapons to someone else…”

Serris: “Is that so? Ha, we are cut from the same cloth! Making money off war, we should talk sometimes! My weapons and your association with the people in clockwork can make big dollars!”

Greave: *sneers* “Don’t make me laugh, Serris, you have being holding a pocket pistol inside your coat for the past five minutes, I don’t do business with my enemy.” *pulls a blitz needle out of his robe* “Now, DROP it…”

X: *moves out of her cover and puts the blade of her beam katana onto Greave’s throat* “Not if you drop your weapon first, stranger. You will not harm LORD SERRIS.”

Greave: *feels the heat of the plasma blade on his neck and lowers his blitz needle* “You won this time, spiral knights… now get out of my store before I report this to Ozlo…”

Serris: “Okay, X, come on, let’s get out of here, Mister Greave doesn’t want to do business with me, then I won’t waste his time any further.” *leaves the store* “Have a nice day, Mister Greave!” *deep breaths* “Phew! Damn… that was intense!”

X: *sheathes her katana* “Lord Serris, are you okay?”

Serris: “I am fine… I wished that I could have gotten more information out of that guy.” *shakes his head* “Well, let’s move on to the next merchant…”

X: “Lord Serris, I have retrieved some photographs from the back of the Greave’s storage.” *shows the photos* “I have taken them with my mini camera. Thank you again for this well-crafted machine, Lord Serris.”

Serris: “Haha, it was your birth day present, you deserved it.” *sees the photograph* “What the, are these Dark Fang elite flak jackets? What are they doing at the storage of Greave’s shop?”

X: “They must have salvaged them off the corpses of dead Gremlins after the siege of the Grand Arsenal. They are dismantling the flak jackets and used the scrap to make Spiral Order weapons.”

Serris: “Well, that explained why those fencing jackets are so poorly made… those bastards, I wonder if they do the same thing to our fallen soldiers’ armour? Converting them back into Gremlin gears and sell it back to Tinkinzar…”

[The two Gremlin nomads revealed themselves from their dusty robes, the dark tights beneath shows that they are both senior ghost mane stalkers, one of them has five skull badges and the other has four of the same badge on his chest, each skull represents a life they have ended, either the life of a fellow Gremlin or an unlucky knight. They chucks out three saw blades each and the blades ricochet along the wall and headed for Serris and X.]

X: *instinctively shields Serris and parries five of the six saw blades* “CONTACT!”

Serris: *sees a lone saw blade buried itself deep in X’s shoulder* “Hey! You are injured! Get down!”

X: *refuses and pulls out the saw blade with her bare hand* “Lord Serris! Stay back! I will neutralize the threat…” *runs off into the passage*

Serris: “HEY! WAIT!”

[X draws her beam katana and flips into the air to dodge another three blade. Her acrobatic is astounding, the two stalkers walked side by side as they approached the assassin with the intention of ganging up on her.]

X: *frowns* “Herex’s stalkers? What are you doing here?”

Stalker A: *grins* “Within a few more days, Haven will fall! And we shall crush the spiral order where they stand!” *activates the round electric saws on his hands* “None shall stand in the way of the Crimson Order!” *charges for X*

[X evades the first stalker’s razor sharp saw and kicks him in the knee, the first stalker falls and the other seizes the opportunity and mercilessly punched X in the stomach and forced her to drop her sword. X is temporarily stunned and the two stalkers recovered and moved in on X for the kill, at the last second, Serris intervened by shocking one of the stalkers in the back with his pocket polaris.]

Serris: *pulls the flourish hidden inside his staff* “Hey, how about you two pick someone of your own size?”

Stalker B: *punches X again* “Hah! If it isn’t Serris Lengsk! The playboy Isoran millionaire! Well, you won’t be rich for long, because soon enough, not any amount of money can save you!”

Stalker A: *recovers from the shock* “You little punk!” *rends the saw at Serris*

[Serris almost shattered his one fragile spine when he tried to evade the saw blade, but his ballet dancer like agility, he successfully avoids the stalkers’ frontal assault and counters with a poke from his flourish, one of the stalker is stabbed in the chest and falls and X regains her composure and chopped down the other stalker before he can do Serris any harm.]

Serris: *cleans the blood with a white handkerchief* “Ugh, Gremlin blood, so sticky… do they have just blue berry jams for food or something?”

Stalker B: *wounded by Serrris* “… Ha ha… you knights have no idea what you getting into… we will soon burn Haven to the ground…”

Serris: *points the flourish at the wounded stalker* “And what plan do you and your order have in mind this time around? More stupid machines like the roamulus twins?”

Stalker B: *chuckles* “Bluff all you want, you are as good as dead, long live the crimson order…” *breaks the cyanide capsule concealed within his teeth, dies instantly*

Serris: *sheaths his flourish and sighs* “Hmm… that is a pity, I never wanted to interrogate him, I just wanted to bribe some information out of him with a crown or two. Geez, why do these stalkers have do get all serious like this?”

X: “Maybe they held informations that the Crimson order doesn’t want us to know. Ever since what happened back in the siege of the Grand Arsenal, the Gremlin’s war efforts are severely pushed back. It is only logical for them to seek help from a third party…”

Serris: “Third party?” *hears commotions behind a large iron door at the end of the passage* “…wait, X, did you hear that?”

X:*whispers* “… Sounds like Gremlins and Strangers…”

Serris: “They are teaming up? This is some seriously bad news!”

X: *picks the lock of the small iron door* “…” *unlocks the door* “Lord Serris, I think I have broken through… I will go in first and scout ahead…” *sees blood dripping out of her wound left by the saw blade* “… I will be fine…” *pushes open the iron door*

[A large empty hanger is what lies behind the iron door, steel cranes and large cargo crates littered the place. In the middle of the hanger stood eight figures, Greave, Kragen, Quillion and Ricasso stood on one side of the hanger representing the strangers, while Herex, two stalkers and a strange, mermaid like Gremlin female stood on the other side representing the Crimson Order. Their conversation is eavesdropped by Serris and X. Serris finds the female Gremlin particularly abnormal, unlike her furry compatriots, she is covered in mostly fish scales and has a fish like tale, wielding a trident as her weapon, the glare of her eyes screams vanity and self-indulgence, a polar opposite to the personality of X.]

Greave: *grumbles* “The prototype… it is gone, it was in the hanger yesterday…”

Herex: *crosses his arms* “I am afraid that answer is not good enough, where is the weapon?”

Greave: “… Someone must have stolen it… the spiral knights don’t know this place’s existence, something here is amiss…”

Gremlin female: *yawns shamelessly* “Ugh, you strangers are SO sloppy, can’t you see that only fiends can stole the weapon within this short amount of time?”

Kragen: *sneers at the female Gremlin* “… Herex, what is this… girl of yours?”

Ricasso and Quillion: *whisper to each other* “… Gremlin filth… maybe we are better off keeping the knights in Haven.”

Herex: *chuckles* “She is my top assassin, the true fruit of my bio organic research! A biologically enhanced super being, the blade of the crimson order! She is Type-158, our next generation ‘super assassin’!”

Gremlin female->type-158: “You strangers are so primitive! Can't even keep a 50 tone machine in the hanger for a day without having it stolen! Just give us the schematic for the weapon! We will make it in the great colony, far away from the fiendish vermin!”

Kragen: *nods his head* “Fine… so be it… even if the prototype is stolen, you will still pay us the money for the schematics, Quince! Hand the schematics to our Gremlin clients! Quince?”

[Unknown to the four strangers, Quince have claimed the schematic for himself and headed to the gloaming wild wood in an attempt to destroy any chance of the weapon be recreated. But he was caught in the line of sight of one of the stalker at the last second.]

Stalker C: *yells* “Hey! What are you doing stranger?!”

Quince: “Oh no!” *speeds up*

Greave: *yells at Quince* “QUINCE?! WHAT ARE YOU RUNNING FROM?! HAND OVER THE SCHEMATIC!”

Quince: *takes the schematic out his robe, threatens to destroy it* “Greave! Fellow brethren! What have we become? I thought we were meant to achieve justice and aid the weak! This is not what I intended to become!”

Kragen: “Hand over the schematic, Quince… you have nowhere to run…”

Quince: “NO!”

Greave: “We have become exactly what we intended to be… We were once nothing more than simple merchants who helps the passing travellers. Now it is our chance to rule a piece of cradle all for ourselves!”

Quince: “And what makes you think the Gremlins won’t betray us? And burn down our home?”

Greave: “Doesn’t matter… beneath the ruins of Haven… A new kingdom will rise, our kingdom. You can either be a part of this or you can die just like Rudkin… it is your choice…”

[Serris and X left the secret hanger with many unanswered questions. When they are finally back to the Bazar, everything is back to normal. The place that once Greave stood is miraculously replaced by another stranger, who resembles Greave greatly.]

Serris: *whispers to X* “Crap, these strangers sure did one heck of a job covering up their trails…”

X: “We don’t have any hard evidence to put them in the court, their complex may have already reached all the way into the heart of the Spiral Order. We can’t report this to anyone but Miss Mawashimono…”

Serris: “Hmm, ok, I will write her message…” *com link rings* “Huh?”

[A message is revealed on the hologram of Serris’s golden plated com link device. It was sent from Mawashimono.

Dear Special Investigators,
A worldwide civil war is coming, one in which new alliances will be formed and old ones altered. Our friends may not be our friends, and our enemies may not be our enemies.
I believe the Stranger Rudkin was murdered by a Stranger to prevent us from getting a hold of the trinkets of power, which we succeeded in doing. Be wary of Strangers and do not assume monsters to be enemies, especially amongst the gremlins and beasts.
Watch your backs and continue to report whatever information you discover.

Serris’s suspicion is confirmed, the strangers and the Gremlins are indeed up to no good. And now what is worse, the fiends are now blended into the mix. They are most likely trying to get the most out of this conflict without dragging themselves too deep into the war.]

Serris: “…I got some bad news… a war is coming.” *shakes his head* “No, not this again…” *tears started to flow out of his eyes*

X: “…” *strokes Serris’s shoulder* “… Are those memories coming back to you again?”

Serris: *wipes the tear away* “Yes, I can’t let this happen again! War has ravaged my home once, I cannot allow history repeats itself! But first, we need to find the weapon that the stranger was making in the secret hanger…”

X: “If the Gremlin woman was correct. The fiends must have teleported the weapon to one of their major city. There are two known fiendish city. Sol-fork and Amu-sol…”

Serris: “Amu-Sol is out of the question. As long as the weapon is mechanical, I don’t think it will do any good in a frozen wasteland. So that leaves Sol-fork…” *takes out his com link device*

[Message to Mawashimono.

Dear Mawashimono,

I know we have never met in person but I have to agree with your suspicion. Just moments ago, I saw the unthinkable, the Gremlin and the strangers are joining up together to destroy Haven, but the alliance is pretty shaky at this point. I don’t think it will take too long before the alliance breaks up. But the important thing is, the fiends had stolen the prototype weapon that the strangers was making. It seems the Gremlins are planning on using it to destroy Haven, whatever it is, it is bad news for us. I and my assassin are going down to Sol-Fork to investigate the whereabouts of this prototype weapon. And hopefully, I can take a good look at the weapon and maybe prototype something that can destroy it. Please, whatever you do, don’t inform Feron or Ozlo about this, it will encourage the terrorists amongst us to use this opportunity to wreck Chaos.

Ps. while I was eavesdropping on the strangers, Quince, one of the strangers decided to betray his fellow brethren by stealing the schematic for the weapon. He is headed for the gloaming wildwood, I wouldn’t try to rescue him if I was you, Herex and the stalkers are on the hunt for Quince, he is already a lost cause.

Pps. If you want to rescue Quince and procure the schematic, just be very careful. Herex has been tempering with some mad science lately. My Assassin just fought one of his latest work, a bio weapon called ‘Type-158’, she is one flirty dame, but not really my cup of tea. If you want to rescue Quince, be ready for a tough fight. I have no idea how many experiments he made after the fall of compound 42.

Good luck out there,

Serris Lengsk ]