It was early in the morning and a young woman was seen pulling a rather large cart down the dirt road leading through the outskirts of town towards the town center. The road was decorated with an alley of trees. The trip seemed to be going a bit slow for the young woman. Even though the cart she was pulling was full of food, drink and ingredients for cake, she knew she could pull faster. The young woman was Eliza Falynnen, current manager of the towns maid cafe. Eliza stopped and grabbed a bag of high performance briquettes for steam engines and grabbed a couple out. She swallowed a couple and drank a bottle of water. Eliza then grabbed the cart again and started to stomp in place, getting faster with each second. The moments her legs were making seemed almost mechanical. Suddenly she started to run at a rapid pace, pulling the cart behind her. But soon she noticed a figure on the path. It was an escaped steamborg abomination with a psychotic smile on his face. All Eliza could say was: "You picked the perfect time to get shredded apart. I am almost at 75% of my potential power." before she took one hand off of her cart and got ready to punch the steamborg.

The next moment Elizas fist hit the steamborg so hard that her synthetic skin disappeared from her hand revealing a mechanical hand. Her punch was so hard that her fist nearly penetrated the steamborg all the way through, sending the steamborg flying. She then stopped the cart and went over to the steamborg who was laying on the ground. He was in pieces. Only one leg, his torso and his head were still together. Eliza huffed out a cloud of steam through her nostrils. She then tore off the head of the steamborg. Decapitation wouldnt kill a steamborg from the old inventor. You had to destroy its head and she did so. Eliza crushed the abominations head as if she was a trash compressor. The orange oxygen filled fluid that kept his brain intact splattered everywhere. "This one was easy. Probably was made of tin." Eliza said and loaded the scrap onto the cart. "I can at least use the scrap to work on my own creations." She then started pulling the cart again. Minutes later, she got to her home, the mansion.

She unloaded the crates of supplies for the cafe and set up the tables. It was two hours until the first guests would arrive. Eliza at least hadnt gotten her dress dirty. It was a long black dress with a white button up shirt, a red tie, a headdress, a black ribbon choker, black boots and an apron. It was time to wait until the others would show up. Eliza in the meanwhile was taking the mechanical pieces of the other steamborg apart.

Sunlight was peering through the window curtains and shone into Maya's eyes. She awoke with a loud yawn, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and stepped out of bed to take her morning shower. Sence it was a weekend she didn't have school today, which meant she had to be at work earlier then usual. After finishing up her shower and her other hygenical exercises, she rummaged through her closet to find her maid uniform. 'Hmmm... I don't know why, but I feel like something different from the usual will happen today.' She thought as she finished tying the left braid of her hair. Afterwards she realized that today was the day the new supplies were coming in. Maybe Eliza would bring something interesting with her.

As she made her way down the road to the cafe, she let out yet another yawn, as an old man called out to her. "Maya! Going to work I see?" Maya turned to look at the old man. It was one of her regular patrons, well.... more like her only regular patron. Most of the others who have had her before ussually never return to the cafe. This one was different though. "Good morning Mr. O'Neal!", "Now, shouldn't that be 'Good morning, Master?' Ahahaha!" Maya smirked as the old man joked around. "Not until my shift starts, 'Old Man'!" Maya ussually dosen't really like serving anyone, but Mr. O'Neal is the only one so far who has had the wit to tackle Maya's rebelious behavior. And so shes grown quite fond of him. "Well then I'll see you there, 'Young Lady'." An anger mark formed on Maya's forehead, as she stopped walking, and turned back around to yell at him. "How many times did I tell you not to call me that, damn old geeser!" Just the mention of the work "young lady" around Maya angered her, especially when it was directed at her. "Ahahaha! Your going to have to accept the fact that your a girl eventually, Maya." Maya turned back around and stamped her way angrily to the cafe. "Damn old geezer, who does he think he is... Accept the fact that I'm a girl, hmph! If I haden't already, I wouldn't be doing this job!" Maya mumbled to herself, reaching the cafe several minutes later.

"I'm here! Huh? I'm not the last one here this time." Maya exclaimed, grinning to herself as she opened the front door. She never bothered to bring her key, sence she was never the first to arrive, so she was used to the door already being unlocked. At the same time, she liked not being the last one there, so she could attack the other members right as they enter through the door, and giving them a good groping. Maya didn't even look to see who the first person was that went into the store. Eliza was ussually the first to get there, even if she wasen't bringing new supplies into the cafe. "So what did you bring in today, Eliza?" Maya asked while standing on a chair, next to the wall. She successfully managed to balance her fingers on the doorframe and the tips of her feet on the molding on top of the wall next to it. Hopefully one of the other members would walk in soon before she got tired.

Just as the latex like substance that formed Elizas skin had dried on her hand, Maya had come in. "So what did you bring in today, Eliza?" She asked. Then Eliza answered: "Well I bought plenty of food and ingredients from the store for the cafe, as well as drinks. Wine, ground coffee, sparkling water, packs of tea, cocoa. Stuff like that. But as a ran towards the cafe with the cart, one of those damn abominations got in the way. He was made of tin, so he was easy to beat. I punched him to pieces and crushed his head. Now I have brought the scrap here to eventually make something out of it. Luckily my mechanical parts were made from a heavier titanium allow, plus I am not one of those psychotic freaks. How are you doing this morning?"

Emma skipped down the road, stopping into the sweets shop for a second. She glided in, looking over at the cakes and fruits, stopping at something she had never seen before. Her big brown eyes widened with curiosity as she looked over to the shop keeper. She pointed a slender finger. "What's this?" She asked, biting her bottom lip. New candy? Her mouth watered at the thought. She smiled at the old man and waited his answer.

"Chocolate bar." He told her. He then took out a bag full of rolled candies and showed her. "We got these in this morning. Tootsie Rolls." He winked, "They're awful good."

Her smile widened. "I'll take a few." She began to think of all the people in the mansion that'd maybe like some. She then took out a small bag of money, it wasn't much but it was enough. "I'll take a bag." She decided. "And a chocolate bar, too."

"What about jelly beans?"

"Oh, of course, jelly beans!" He handed her the candy and she paid, then happily took her leave.

When she got out on the streets, she was so excited that she was running toward the mansion. She didn't stop to say hello to anyone, all she could think about was the candy she bought and how happy the others would be... had they shared her sweet tooth. She couldn't help but have her mother's voice in the back of her mind, nagging her for spending all her money on candy. She was sure she could shut up the nagging with some chocolate though.

She made it to the mansion, her high socks now covered in dust and her gloves falling down her arms. She stepped up the stairs and rushed inside, trying to pull up her gloves the best she could, she somehow always managed to look kind of messy. "Eliza, Maya!" She exclaimed on her way in. She stopped for a second to catch her breath then she set the small bags of candy on the table. "I brought us some candy." She opened the bag of Tootsie Rolls. "I guess they're chocolate. I never had them before... why don't you have some?" She smiled at the two females, her blonde pigtails uneven and her bangs an unkempt mess. She unwrapped the chocolate bar and broke off a piece, holding it out to Eliza. "Would you like some?"

She then placed the chocolate on the table and reached up to fix her pigtails, retying the red ribbons in her hair. She reached down and let out a silent curse, wiping the dust from her socks.

"Huh?! An abomination?! Dah! You should come get me so I could help kill it too. Even if it was a weak one." At this point, Maya was beginning to get a little tired and started losing her grip. But she recovered quickely, grunting. "I'm doing ok I guess. Really no different from the usual." She then heard someone running up the front steps to the cafe. 'Hehehe, 1st target approaching' She thought in her mind, right before Emma burst through the door, as excited as ever. It seems that she'd bought some candy for them. How sweet. Maya would have to repay her, in her own way. Right before she lost her grip, Maya jumped off of the wall and tackled Emma to the floor, right after she offered some chocolate to Eliza. "Good morning my sweet little Emma!!! Lets see, lets see! Did they grow any today?" Maya exclaimed joyfully as she grabbed the young girl's breasts and gropped them repeatidly. "Ahahaha! What about me, can I have some chocolate?" Maya asked as she took a piece off of the bar and placed a tip of the square in her mouth. She then turned the girl around and spoke, while holding the chocolate between her teeth. "Would you like to share, Emma? Huhuhu." Maya chuckled evilly, trying he best to bug the young girl, pushing her face closer.

Emma tilted her head to the side, pushing herself up with her small hands. Her heart beating from the sudden shock. She couldn't help but pull up her dress over her cleavage a little more. She giggled at her friend's antics. She leaned over as if to bite the chocolate from Maya's mouth, then she brought her hand up and tugged it from her teeth, placing it in her own mouth and laughing. "Maya, you're so silly." She then thought for a moment if it was normal to grope someone in such a way, so she reached out and thought for a just a second to return the favor to Maya. She decided against it, biting her bottom lip and smiling once more. "Have some jelly beans, Maya. They're my favorite." She finally made up her mind, holding Maya in a tight hug. Maybe she had enough sugar for one day with the way Maya is bouncing all over the place. "And good morning to you too."

She turned and grabbed an apron, tying it around her waist. She stayed quiet before her curiosity got the best of her. She turned back to Maya. "Did they grow any?"

"Fine to hear that you are doing well." Eliza said to Maya. Then as Emma came in Maya started to grope her. Eliza hit Maya on the head and said: "You know she doesnt like that. Stop it." Emma then offered chocolates to Eliza to which Eliza declined. Eliza sighed and said: "Well, its been a week since the owner was killed and everyday more of these machines pop-up. It was a tragedy when I found his mutilated corpse torn to pieces in his lab. That damn android will pay for what he had done! By the way, we are opening soon. Are you guys ready for work? I hope so, since its a weekend. And weekends mean lots of customers. But also it means lots of stress." Eliza then grabbed a newspaper with WAR! written on the first page with a picture of a steam powered tank in front. "This also worries me. We will have problems if this war ever reaches us."

Maya winced a little as Eliza hit her head. Yup, as hard as metal. She rubbed it, as she laughed when Emma took the chocolate she had and ate it herself. "Have some jelly beans, Maya. They're my favorite." Maya heard the young girl say. "Don't mind if I do little Emma, but your really the only candy I need." Maya said, while they hugged each other. As Emma went to get an apron, she turned and asked in the most innocent way. "Did they grow any?", "AHAHAHA! Your so cute little Emma. Of course they did. In a year or two, you might even get up to my level." She grabbed the girl's hand and placed it on her breast. "See?" Maya smirked as she continued to hold her hand on her no-so-impressive C-cup. All of a sudden, Eliza started talking about the owner's death. It was true that it had been a week sence he died, but Maya tried not to live in the past. She didn't really care for the android that turned on the old man, so she decided to let Eliza take care of him. She soon changed the subject, and stressed how much work they had to do sence it was the weekend. "Yeah, yeah Eliza. I've been here for almost a 6 months, I know how business is. Although, thanks to me it shouldn't be as busy as it usually is." Maya beamed proudly, even though it was nothing to be proud of. "She stopped listening to what Eliza said about the war that was going on, and stood next to the door, waiting for Yukie to walk in. Hopefully she wouldn't oversleep and miss work.

Emma gasped and pulled her hand back, finally decided that it is not normal to grope another girl... or anyone for that matter. She then gave Eliza a hopeful smile. "I have a feeling that everything will work out well." She nodded, so sure of herself. War? Yea right, why would anyone want to fight? There was no reason. She then grabbed a handful of jelly beans from the bag and took the rest of the candy to the back to hide by the stairs. She then took a look at the newspaper and harrumphed, machines are human controlled, and what human would ever go out of it's way to hurt another? No human she knew. She put the paper back, doing her best to keep a smile through her confusion. She isn't sure what she would do if a stupid robot ever decided to attack her. Offer a sign of peace? Hell no, no stupid machine is getting her candy!

"I can't wait for customers to come. They always say such nice things." She bounced jollily.

At that moment, the door to the mansion opened and a familiar face entered. Alexander Wheeler, or Alex as they know him. He is a return costumer, and it seems as though he spent most of his time in the cafe, but he never did say much. He looks young, around twenty-one or so, but judging by his maturity and the way he dresses, he has to be at least twenty-five. His hair is a light brown color, but when it catches the light just so it may look a little red. It hangs in clumps around his face and sweeps just over his honey colored eyes to make him look slightly mysterious. He is very attractive.

He wears his usual black steampunk jacket, adorned with silver material as well as silver buttons on the chest. His long legs take a few short strides toward the twogirls and he watches them with his usual emotionless stare. He nods to them, remembering them from all of his other encounters.

"Am I early?" He asks, his deep voice very rare to hear. He then turned to find Maya standing unusually close. His eyes widened in shock but he seems to have trained himself to stay calm. "Erm, good day, Madam."

Suddenly a teddy bear dropped down onto Emma yelling: "Candy!" It was Elizas robot stuffed bear Larry. Compared to Eliza who was a steamborg who weighed probably slightly more than half a ton, Larry was almost as light as a normal stuffed animal. He had his very own personality, but had the flaw to make smart aleck statements. Eliza grabbed Larry and caressed him in her arms while he was stretching his arms out towards Emma. "Silly bear. Candy is only for organic life forms." Eliza said. Then Larry answered: "You should have then given me a gastrointestinal tract, bitch!" Eliza then squeezed Larry and said while still smiling: "Well I at least gave you the ability to feel pain. And what was that about calling me a bitch?" Larry cried out: "Ow, ow, ow! I am sorry!"

Eliza then noticed a customer. "Am I early?" The young man asked. Then Eliza answered: "We were just about to open. What may we get you?"

Emma giggled hysterically, grabbing Larry from Eliza. "Hello, there!" She hugged it tightly. "Who's an adorable mechanical life form? Who is? YOU ARE! YES YOU ARE! YES YOU ARE!" She ignored the man, seeing as Eliza was taking care of him, and went over to the corner to play with the bear.

The man tilted his head, a calculating look upon his face. "Cheesecake and tea." He decided, starting with dessert was always the best way to go. He took a walked over to a table at the back of the room, where he had a view of the whole place. He always preferred to sit in the back anyways. He watched Maya with an especially picked interest, and really not in a good way. He felt like that chick was raping him with her eyes. He shuddered at the thought. But then the thought of the teddy bear caught his eye and he couldn't seem to take his eyes off it. A robot... with it's own thoughts and actions. The very imaginative idea of it all just caused the ends of his lips to pull into the tiniest smile. He'd have to get a closer look...

"Eliza hurt me. And dont treat me like a dog. :3" Larry said. "Shes a mean mean old hag." Eliza had heard this and gazed at him with her red eyes. If Larry were able to sweat, he would be sweating a whole lot just from that gaze. Eliza meanwhile made some tea and cut a piece of cheesecake. As she brought it to the customer, she said: "Would you like to have milk or sugar in your tea, sir? And that would be one punt fifteen. Do you desire anything else?" "ELIZA!!!! Make me a playmate so that I am not bored when you are gone!" Larry demanded. Eliza then mumbled: "That bear is such a child."

Emma tickled the bear's tummy. "I'll be your playmate!" She grinned. "We can twirl and dance and sing like those opera women!" She exclaimed, spinning the bear in circles.

Alexander shook his head and put the money on the table, his gaze not dropping from Emma and the bear. His eyes narrowed and he leaned over to Eliza, speaking softly as not to startle the young one, "What is she, about thirteen?" He nodded, staring at her more intently. Then he shifted his eyes to Maya. "And the other, about sixteen?" He sipped his tea. "They better be careful with the uh, war picking up our way, hmm?" In all of Eliza's time serving this man (a good year or so), she had never heard him talk so much. "Poor things. You take care of them? Someone must... it'd be a shame if they live on their own, hmm?" He nodded again but his gaze was rather eerie and something was off. "You plan on doing anything about the impending outbreak of violence? I saw y-" He stopped himself. "I heard you destroyed some sort of machine today. You must be very strong." He gave her a slight smile, as if to ensure she knew that he meant nothing by it. "Where do you suppose they are coming from? Around town perhaps? Or maybe, somewhere in Europe." He then glanced back to Emma. "She's awful small, can't help but think how easily one would be able to-" He stopped himself once more, drinking his tea. He was doing that 'creepy' thing his father used to tell him about. "This tea is very good." He finished, flashing her a quick smile before turning to his cheesecake. "Thank you." He bowed his head and returned to his eating. The last thing he needed is for this violent woman to hurt him. He was sure that she could probably kill him with just a glare.

Maya got ready to pounce, but stopped herself right as she noticed that it was a customer instead of Yukie. 'Boooo! It wouldn't be any fun to grope him at all.' She thought as he greeted her, but remained silent. She continued starring at him dissapointingly as he went to a table. She slightly remembered seeing him before at the cafe. In fact, almost every day. Was he stalking them or something? He seemed to be farely rich, a least enough to hire real maids. She couldn't understand why he would choose to spend his time here. She noticed that while she was thinking, she was practically burning holes into his head. When he looked over to her, she looked away quickely and blushed a little, almost seeming as if she had a crush on him or something. She looked over to Emma and Eliza as they were talking with Eliza's mechanical teddy bear, Larry. 'How should I torture him today I wonder? Huhuhu.' She has sort of a grudge against the bear, because of how good he gets along with her little Emma. Eliza left to get what the patron ordered, while Emma began playing with the bear. Maya casually walked over to the two, and grabbed the bear's cheeks while leaning on Emma's back, pinching them as hard as she could. "Hey there Larry, how are you doing today? Hehehehe..." Emma said with an evil laugh trailing after. She starred at the bear threateningly with piercing red eyes. "Would you mind if I played too?" She asked, giving him a dark expression, while beggining to pull on the bear's cheeks.

Emma nodded. "Mhmm!" Her cheeks were so delightfully pink. She kissed the bear's cheek then handed him off to Maya. "Have fun, Lenny." She then poked Maya and whispered, "That man is creepy, Maya. I think he wants my candy..." Her eyes widened suspiciously as she grabbed her bags of candy and tried to stow them in her bosom. When they didn't fit she shoved them in Maya's bra. "Don't let him infiltrate, Maya. The fate of the candy rests on your boobs." She nodded definitely. She remembered plenty of times when Maya would store things in there, she didn't feel it was weird at all anymore. She looked over to see the man intently watching them now. She blushed. "Maya... it's official. He wants my candy. Maya. MAYA! WHAT DO I DO?!" she began to hyperventilate. "Eliza! He wants my candy!"

(You guys watch too much ecchi.)

"Just put him in a cage and he wont be a problem anymore." Eliza said to Emma. She then turned to the customer. "Maya is 18 and Emma is 15. And war wont be a problem." Eliza said. "I can protect everybody here. You heard about me destroying a machine or you saw me destroy a machine. Because I didnt notice anybody nearby when I shredded that steamborg. The former owner was an inventor, but his creations murdered him and escaped. The problem is that most of his steamborgs turned out to be mentally disturbed abominations who now roam the area looking to see human blood flow." She continued. It actually was a fact that the steamborgs the owner operated on all had mental disturbances, even Eliza. Just with Eliza it wasnt as bad. She was slightly megalomanical when creating things, seeing herself as a goddess and she enjoyed killing the rogue machines.
Eliza took out a pick of charcoal and swallowed it, replenishing the fuel for her mechanical body. Then she grabbed a glass of water.

Maya smiled sinisterly as she took Larry away from Emma. He looked as if he were about to wet himself, if he could. All of a sudden Emma began rambling on about someone wanting her candy. Before she could even respond, she turned around and had a small bag of candy stuffed into her bra. "Don't let him infiltrate, Maya. The fate of the candy rests on your boobs." Maya looked at Emma with a stare of confusion. The bear snickered, and jumped at the candy bag. "I won't mind infiltrating!", "Hey, you little bastard get out of there!" Maya exclaimed, blushing as she pulled the mechanical bear away from her chest. "I'm definately gonna enjoy torturing you now, pipsqueak." Maya said to him sadistically. She went into the kitchen and stuffed him into a cage, locking the door. She gave him one last smile before dissapearing around the corner to retrieve her instruments of torture. "E-Emma! Heeelp!!!" Larry hollered out to no avail. The kitchen walls were sound proof. They had to be so no one got creeped out by the weird drill and hammer noises coming from deeper within it. Maya returned with a saw, a needle, and thread. "Its a good thing I can saw off your limbs and you won't die, right? That means I can practice all I want. And then I can just sew them back for tommorow." Maya stated as she walked closer and closer to him, as he backed away to the opposite side of the cage. "No. No! Stay away you demon woman! .....AAAAAAAAAAAAH!" His screams were inaudible on the other side of the wall.

Emma frowned, sitting in the corner with a paranoid fear. She watched everyone cautiously. "The... the candy..." She muttered, looking for something to take her mind off it.

The man just began to answer Eliza's question as to whether he saw or heard of her with the abomination, "Well, I may have been on the same route as you when-" When he was interrupted by a young girl.

Emma skipped over to Eliza and Alexander. "Need any help hmm?"

The man gave her a creepy smile. "You can't help me at this point in time."

She nodded, "Oh?" She replied. "Ok, enjoy the cake. It's my favorite." She giggled. She turned around looking for Maya, though, not being able to find her or Larry, she walked over to one of the empty tables and sat down, waiting for the next customer.

Eliza stood there. She noticed the water move in her glass of water. Then a second time, this time there was a small vibration. The third time, made the tables shake. "Everyone! Watch out! I think we are going to get company!" Eliza said. Suddenly a drill came through the door. It was a machine, so large that only half of it was to be seen through the door frame. "You are going to pay for destroying my door!" Eliza yelled. The next moment she took out one of her briquettes and swallowed it. She took it a position as if she was going to dash forward. Suddenly the machine began to speak with a metallic voice: "I am going to have fun with you puny inferior beings. Then I am going to paint this mansion red with your blood and make chairs out of your bones." "He? You really that confident?" Eliza said huffing a bit of steam out of her nostrils. Within a split second she was at the machine with her flat hand against the machine. Then there was a loud bang, a ton of pressure in the room and the machine went flying through a couple trees. "Everyone! Get ready! I bought us some time but this one wont go down so easily."

Emma stood up, and in her rush she knocked over the table. Her eyes were wide as she crouched behind it for a moment wondering just what to do about the intruder. At this point, the thought of keeping her candy safe didn't even seem to be of any importance to her. She chewed her nail for a moment before getting up, making sure to stumble to the floor over the chair she had dropped, but she quickly picked herself up and ran to the back room. She found Maya and Larry. She grabbed Larry (and all of his severed body parts) and looked to Maya with big, fearful eyes. "MAYA! MAYA! There's this thing, and it- it-" She looked as if she might burst into hysterics.

Alexander stood up and fixed his tie, making sure to drink the last drop of his tea before looking to Eliza. He didn't say anything but she could tell that he might be somewhat of a help as he cracked his knuckles and began to search his long coat for something useful. He settled on pulling out a long dagger and holding it tightly. He had never even imagined fighting a machine, only creating them. He looked between Eliza and the space where the door used to be, then tried to figure out whose team he was on. He settled on playing on Eliza's team this time. He nodded to her to let her know. He then searched the area for the two little girls. He snickered, he thought they might run.

After a little while, Maya felt a few large trimmers as the entire mansion began to shake. "Wh-what is it this time?! An earthquake?! Gah!" She exclaimed, dropping the saw and Larry on the floor and covering her head. A couple of pots and pans fell off their hinges and one fell right beside her head. "Haha! I'm free!" Larry shouted with glee as he got up from where he was dropped and ran to the labroom behind the kitchen, with his left arm barely hanging on by a few threads and strings. "Damn it. This better be pretty damn important." Maya cursed, as she got up and slammed the kitchen door open. "Whats going on here?!" She gasped a little as a drill came spiraling through the front door. "Hoho! Another one, eh?" To her surprise Eliza appeared in front of the machine and pushed it with a mass of strength, willing the room with wind and pressure, as the machine suddenly onclogged the hole it had made. "Kyah!" Maya covered her eyes, and put her other hand on her skirt to keep it from flying backward. "Do you always have to make the first move, Eliza? You'll never get into a serious relationship with that kind of attitude." Maya remarked as she speedily ran through the hole and brought her hands out to her sides, as an array of knives appeared in between each gap between her fingers. "At least let me play with it a little first!" Maya exclaimed as she reached the machine within several seconds and jumped into the air. She threw four of the knives first, and as the machine lifted it's drill to deflect them by rotating it, she shot the other four just beneath it's arm to catch it in it huge face that took up half of it's body. Each of knives puntured it with incredible force, as if they had been lauched from a crossbow and point blank range. "Yes!" Maya beemed as she caught a knife that had been deflected at her and proceeded in carrying out the plan she had for the four that were embedded in the robot.

Hideaki had just arrived in town and was walking down the main road, starring at his map in anger. "Emmmmmmmm...Damn it! I can't tell where anything is at all! This is really embarressing. Can't even read a map." Hideaki said to himself as he threw the map away, and it flew away with the wind in a hurry. Almost as if it had been trying to escape Hideaki's grasp for a while now. He sighed, walking on the main road, unsettlingly. Sence the town wasen't too big, there weren't very many cars. With about 638 residents, there were only a few neighborhoods, and everyone practically knew everyone. That is, just resently the number had gone down to 612 and this spooked those who remained living in the town. Hideaki decided that even though he haden't been here a while, that he would just see if he could find the cafe by memory. It had been 6 years sence he had lived here, and yet there were many new features. There was a large building in the middle of town. Hideaki wondered what kind of business it was, but decided not to think much of it. He was aware that there were a few wealthy men who lived here. Some of whom, his uncle owed a debt to. Hideaki would eventually have to deal with them himself. "I sure hope these maids can fight like the old man said." Hideaki muttered, as he began seeing a few familiar sites. Such as the bakery he liked going to as a kid. The owners were nice, and gave him leftover bread at the end of the week, from what they haden't already sold. He always loved eating their bread. Hideaki subconsiously stopped in front of the bakery. 'I guess it couldn't hurt to visit. Maybe they can even tell me where the mansion is.' Hide thought to himself as he opened the door and walked in.

A large burly man with large pointed, black sideburns, an aftershave, a white apron, and a white headband covering his forhead looked over to Hideaki and smiled. "Well if it isn't Little Hide. I see you've returned to Lincester." The man smiled to him and walked up to him patt him on the back. "I'm not little anymore, old man." Hideaki remarked, yet smirking at the owner jokingly. "I can see that. So what brings you back to Lincester, anyway?" The baker asked a little knowingly, but with an unknowing tone. Hideaki kept a little silent and then replied with a, "Nothing too important. So, where is Merry?" Hideaki asked, trying to change the subject. The baker's grin, turned into a grimm frown. "She died. Or rather... She was murdered." Hideaki's heart skipped a beat, at the words that the once jolly baker had spoken. "I see. I'm sorry to bring it up...", "Ah, don't worry about it Hide. I loved Merry, but she wasen't the only thing I had to live for." Hideaki looked to him puzzlingly. "What do yo-...", "Papa!" Hideaki's eyes went wide, as a young boy, around 5-years old came running out from a doorway and rushed to his father's side. "Ah, Jimmy! What are you doing up so early? Its a weekend, ya know." The small boy grinned and hugged his father's leg. "I heard you talking to someone and so I came to see who it was. So whos that scary-looking man, Papa?" The boy asked innocently while pointing to Hideaki. "Oh, hes just and old friend Jimmy. Now go wash up and I'll get ya some breakfest." The Baker said, smacking Jimmy on the back and sending him off through the doorway. "I see you have another mouth to feed, now. Things really have changed.", "That they have Hide. But at least I can wake up in the morning, knowing that he'll have a bright future ahead of him." Hideaki grimaced at the words. A bright future... With who knows how many monstrasities lurking about the forests, the poor boy could be killed before he even knew what had happened. And if the baker died, then where would Jimmy go? All of his relatives lived out of the country, and the closest orphanage was several towns away. Hideaki decided that he shouldn't take fate into his own hands. He said goodbye to the baker and his son with a frown, and opened the front door. "Wait, Hide!" The baker yelled to stop him. "At least take some bread, for old times sake." Hideaki mearly smiled at the man and took the bag of bread thankfully. After a few minutes, Jimmy came running back in. "Where did the scary man go , Papa?" He asked his father. "Nowhere son. Hes just off to go see some pretty girls. Thats all." He smiled to his son, proudly.

As he finally made it to where he could make out the top of the mansion above the treetops, Hideaki felt the greatest relief. He began running at top speed towards the sanctuary. "Finally! Its about time I found this pl-..." His excitement was spoiled by a large rumbling noise. that came from the direction of the mansion. "Damn it. Just 3 hours and I already ran into one." Hideaki continued to run as fast as he could, hoping to reach the scene before someone got hurt. Most of the way there he dropped his pack and the bag of bread, to lessen the load he was carrying. "This way I should get there faster." About 28 yards away from the mansion, Hideaki stopped and put his hands on his knees, breathing hard. "I haven't had to run that fast in a while." He remarked to himself, as he sprinted the rest of the way there. Once he got there he saw several maids already apprehending the dangerous machine. "It looks like I didn't have to rush afterall." He said, as he watched in amazement. After a few seconds he got his wits back, and reached into his pockets for his twin brass knuckles. "I guess I should help out too. I can tell I'm gonna hate this job already." Hideaki complained as he leapt into the battlefield and rushed at the machine. The machine seemed distracted by the others, and he shot straight for it's right leg, tearing it off by connecting the knuckles and pinching the metalic material apart, knocking the giant monstrasity on it's back.

As Maya moved in to continue her assault, the machine suddenly flipped backward, and brought up a cloud of dust. "W-what is this?!" Maya gasped in surprise. She looked to see the machine was missing half a leg. She quickly turned her attention to what appeared to be a male. The first thing she noticed was his mismatched eyes. On of them was piercing and red like her's, and the other was a calm sky-blue tint. She then looked at his snow-white hair. Finally she managed to comprehend the machine's farely large leg, partially clutched in between his teeth. He spit out the hunk of metal, and looked at the fallen creation with distaste. 'Just who is this guy?' She thought, turning her attention back towards the machine.

Eliza noticed the new guy tear the leg off of the machine. "Impressive." she thought. She held out her hand and a light came from it. There was a loud bang and suddenly a projectile tore through the trees tearing a hole into the machine. "You know. Jeffrey is too weak to have killed master. It is a wonder that he can feel fear. He is hiding and cowaring with fear of you. He thinks you killed master and are out to kill all of us." The machine said with his low voice to Eliza. "Who knows. Maybe you killed master and are blaming Jeffrey for it." He suddenly noticed Eliza stand over him with a scary smile on her face. "You think I killed the owner. No, I didnt kill him. Jeffrey, the android butler did and you guys helped him!" Eliza said and started to tear him apart with a creepy giggle. "I will kill you all for killing the old man."