Kurogane Renkon(Iron Lotus Root), Shimazu Clan Gym

"What the hell?" Takeru looked to Aoko for answers regarding their strange behavior, only for the beastkin to give him an expression that indicated that she was totally in the dark as well.

He quickly turned to the blonde, who seemed to look terrified to him. Something in his gut was telling him that things were going to go horribly wrong.

This fear was realized when he heard the other girl's threat.

"Oh shit." he said as his hand slowly reached his no-dachi. Aoko, in the mean time, stood in front of Es and Kinjou as if to shield them.

"Get behind me." she spoke swiftly with none of her usual mirth.

"Current objective of this unit is to assist Takeru Oda. Further objectives are classified and any attempt to query their state, their use or the persons in charge will result in termination of the unit giving the query."
Nu raised her hand, her fingers spread out, and reached it out to Lambda- not in a friendly manner, but with the fingertips pointing at her, a gesture used for launching a volley of swords.
"Any further threats will be responded to with lethal force."

Es, hearing those words from Lambda and likewise her counterpart, could only gaze at them, and shiver.

Lambda stared back before backing down "Unit Lambda is satisfied by this response. Standing down." she floated back to the ground and turned around to leave, she reasoned that proximity to Nu was dangerous for herself and the others here so she decided to leave for now.

Takeru and Aoko breathed a collective sigh of relief at Lambda's response.

"That could've been ugly." the feline beastkin said out loud before approaching Nu "You okay?"

It was then the boy noticed Es standing there, and decided to ask the same question as well.

Nu lowered her hand and gazed at Aoko, but without an answer she returned to Takeru`s side.
"We should finish quickly, Takeru." That was all she said, and it wasn`t as much a threat to others as a warning to him that her restraint not to fall into a frenzied rage of destruction wouldn´t hold for long.

Es, looking up at Takeru, couldn´t form words, and stepped back from him quickly as soon as Nu came to him, where she ran back to Lambdas side.

Lambda felt her self released now that her curiosity was satisfied from Nu. she returned into the gym and cam into the room "Ahem...sorry about that, that was impolite of me." she apologised for her behaviour and stared at Nu briefly "Unit Nu.." she began, unsure of how Nu would react to her presence again.

Naturally this would lead to Kinjou's emergence, though he had come rather late to said meeting, he'd hoped to be greeting her friend. Who as he had noted, showed up with a near perfect twin to his present guest. As he thought of it, Lambda herself was the spitting image of this mysterious young albino woman, though he'd had no actual words for it. He tried to invite the tense atmosphere to pass peacefully by speaking calmly if at all. "Eh...I apologize for my lateness. I...believe I am welcoming you here, friend of Aoko. And it is nice to see my guests as well. And miss that I do not yet know." well the kinkajou was in hopes of seeing that things were peaceable, though he did understand one thing; the odd pulse tickling his senses from within his gut made one thing clear. That neither his guests or the traveling companion of this young man (Not that he himself was normal) were clearly in a league beyond himself.

A battle here would simply have cost lives and he was there suddenly, very hopeful that the matters could be addressed. He was sure at least there was a tension present even though he was not sure of the reason why.

Nu briefly turned to Kinjou as he adressed her, giving him a nod and a simple "Hello" rather than anything else, before her gaze returned to Lambda.
"Presence acknowledged, Unit 11. State your business with me." She asked, in a less harsh tone than before as Lambda`s own threatening atmosphere had subsided. Yet, as a matter of caution, her combat subroutines were fully active and targeted Lambda`s vital spots in case she needed to defend Takeru.

Es, meanwhile, grabbed Lambda`s hand and held it tightly, trying to hold onto her the best she could.

Lambda remained where she was "I am sorry for my previous behaviour unit Nu." she held onto Es' hand tightly as well, she knew the girl was still scared after what had happened and blamed herself for following her directives to investigate fellow units and had set everyone on edge with her completely uncalled for threat.

Perhaps it was best to try and see if he could bring the focus to matter at hand? he knew that Aoko had a small purpose with inviting Takeru and naturally this other girl seemed to come with him. But he'd decided on introductions, it might further break tension maybe? He knew that he was insignificant in the meaning at hand, these two women had something that involved them on a level beyond his understanding. But...he wouldn't press into something that he knew  that simple pleasantries might at least test the water. "My name is Kinjou Shimazu...would you like to come in and rest?" what better to do even if it had no effect?

".....Apology. Situation unfitting for apologies- no physical harm has been inflicted on this unit. Hostile behavior considered normal for combat-oriented units." She answered, nodding to her.
As official business was done, she looked at Es, who shrank down and shivered, as well as Lambda, and narrowed her eye again.
"Why are you alive?" A question she could ask herself as well, and would come up with an answer that sounded something like "To become one with Ragna" or "To make Ragna mine", but Lambda was a test bed for technology, and Embryo Storage served as carrier for the source code of the Takamagahara system, as well as protector of an Azure Bearer known as Touya Kagari- both of which objectives had long outlived purposes.

Lambda narrowed her eyes at this question, she had remembered how she died and how she was now alive, neither were pleasant or nice to talk about "Why do you ask?" she wondered why Nu had asked this of all things, there were other things that she would ask but about why she was still alive is something that she would rather not talk about.

The fact was more than clear that he had no presence here, at least as far as these two beings heading into something that was a grade much worse than he'd thought. 'And...it seems that I was right on some level, can't tell what it is...but I hope this doesn't break into battle. None of us...would survive it.' to say that he knew their strength would have been easily outclassed at his best. He could gauge the strong with a bit of examination, but as he remained quiet he was sure praying on the moment. Let it end positively, above all else it was what he hoped for.

As Takeru watched Es walk towards the other girl, he couldn't help but smile a little at her shyness.

"She's pretty cute." he thought, obviously deciding on not telling this to Nu.

"Oh, sorry." Takeru chuckled as he extended a hand to Kinjou "The name's Takeru Oda, and the girl with me is my friend, Nu."

He motioned to the silver-haired girl with a kind smile, something Aoko caught.

"Friend, huh?" her lips curled into a mischevious grin. Oh, she was going to grill him later.

Alas, there are more important matters at hand "Anyway, this is the friend I told you about." She said aloud to Kinjou "The one who could help with our little problem."

The beastkin would not hesitate to greet the young man and took his hand with his own, giving him a firm but polite grip as he shook the hand lightly. "Pleased to meet you Takeru and Nu." he wasn't going to interrupt what was going about out there, he knew better about the eerie powers that he sensed; so making due with the feeling he'd given it a shot and tried to see if they could handle said 'problem'.

"It might be possible to see that problem is dealt with, your friend seems capable." he wasn't certain of his skill level, but he was at least stronger than most people, but he wasn't here to gauge him. This was not a rival or opponent, but an ally as far as it seemed.

Nu briefly nodded to Kinjou, before returning her gaze to Lambda and Embryo Storage.
"Because as far as my memory serves me, you should both be dead."
Quite a harsh sentence, and it made Es twitch, but it was nothing but the truth in the purest sense of the matter. She crossed her arms, and leaned lightly against Takeru, gazing at the fellow units... it was odd to talk to inferior models in the first place, as nearly every confrontation imagineable led to a battle to decide the superior unit or to system talk babble.

Lambda shrugged to Nu "For myself I was revived by someone, however that information is classified and in her case I believe that she was retrieved by the same person as myself." She stated much more warmly, she noticed the look that Takeru gave Es but played it off as simple curiosity on the males part, she leaned against the wall a little and stayed quiet, she knew she had no hope of stopping Nu if she became violent which was common in this situation but her warp drive was fully charged and had an escape route ready, she looked to Es and smiled a little "Are you okay Es?" She was referring to the confrontation moments ago that had frightened the fellow unit and despite being one of those involved she felt a little bad about it, she looked to Nu "Unit Nu, what are your intentions to this unit and sister unit." She decided to inquire, she could avoid Nu or she could try to reason with her, if it came to violence her friends would attack her as if it was her fault, even if they knew not how these meetings usually worked.

"So..." Takeru decided to get straight to the point "What do you need my help with?"

"I need you to track some one down for me." Aoko began to explain "Tell me, how much do you know of Carl Clover?"

At that, Takeru's eyes widened; he had an encounter with him during his first year as a vigilante, back at Ishana. They were after the same bounty and, inevitably, they butted heads over who would get the reward.

Oh, he would never forget the mistake he made of underestimating the boy.

"I've encountered him once or twice." The vampire explained "Is he the one I need to track down?"

"Naturally." Aoko confirmed for him while gingerly patting her bruised rib "I must warn you, though; he's one tough cookie. Even Shimazu-san and I barely escaped our encounter with him."

She then paused, then turned to Kinjou, wondering if he had anything to add.

Es slowly nodded, a bit weary at the look Takeru gave her but calming down at last. "Y-yes... she`s just... scary." That obviously referred to Nu, although she also eyed Takeru with caution.

"Scary, huh." Nu remarked, without looking at her in preticular. Nu hasn´t got any intentions. You´re neither a mission priority nor are you even related to my mission objectives. Its interesting to see you here, but thats about all i can say." Having no further use to talk in system code, Nu reverted to normal human language for the conversation. "So long as you don´t threaten me or endanger my mission we won´t have problems with one another."

Kinjou had nodded to the young man, this kind of situation was honestly just one of a difficult one. From the sounds of it, he was going to be helping them...well what more did friends do? Even though he knew that the vigilante had spoken words of return, this just might mean that he had to face someone down. "The action you take should be careful. I've no doubt that young Clover has exposed himself to dangerous drugs...his reactions are inhuman by what he may be capable of. It is only a guess, but I suggest caution." his eyes would rest briefly on the Dhampir before going back to the small blond and her friend.
As he noticed the look of wariness to her eye, he could not help but feel a bit of concern, not that he would do anything less than to extend the offer he had before. Speaking to both Lambda and Es in this context. "For what its worth, you two ladies are still welcome at the Shimazu home if you wish to stay. The invitation remains." perhaps it was some effort to offer something kind or in a way to say 'If it helps, you may stay and I will be here'. Kinjou felt like he should, as something about the young appearing blond being distressed did trouble him so.

"I know. I've tangled with Clover before."

"You have?" Aoko asked him with a raised eyebrow "How did that end for you."

"I got my ass kicked. Hard. That puppet of his can take a beating, that's for sure." Takeru huffed in annoyance, though only noticing Nu against him now made his cheeks turn a little rosy "But I was just starting out then, okay?!"

"Suuuure... That's what happened." The feline beastkin shot back with a wry grin, noting that dhampir was flustered for two reasons.

Lambda nodded to Nu slightly "Acknowledged, if your mission attacks myself and Es here this peace wont last." she wasn't threatening just making a statement before she looked to Kinjou "Are you sure, I would not want us to interfere, you hardly know us." she thought that she might get in the way of his family business and was about ready to go on their way.

While briefly looking to Aoko and Takeru, he'd offer but a small word towards it, at least they'd had a goal in mind. Though he was certain that the undertaking was going to have quite the outcome. "Taking on Carl Clover will be no simple matter, if anything it is going to prove a desperate act at best. But at least tracking him comes first and do so in a stealthy manner. Though I would not doubt that the young man will be prepared for those with whom he finds."

Upon hearing Lambda's response to his mention about staying with the Shimazu family throughout this passage of time, he'd looked to her and Es and nodded gently. "I do not consider your presence to be interfering, despite our knowing each other being brief; something tells me it is important that I do...so I will. I hope you accept the gratuitous act." in short the offer stood and he wanted to see her and Es had some kind of safe place. He did this also accounting for the fact it was an extension of his mother's invitation to them.

"Heh, I don't doubt it either." Takeru nodded. If his first encounter with the Puppeteer taught him anything, it was to never underestimate him or that Nox Nyctores he has.

With a nod, he turned to Aoko, his expression business-like "Is that all, Aoko? 'Cause I gotta buy dinner for me, Mizu and Nu."

"Yeah, that's pretty much it." The blue haired beastkin nodded in kind "Try not to die, okay?"

"I ain't planning to." He was about to turn and leave before stopping himself, immediately remembering that he had something important to tell the 1st Lieutenant as well.

"By the way...I saw your 'brother' earlier." The shocked reaction on her face spoke a thousand words.

Nu continued to glance at Lambda.
"I have no interest in killing off people weaker than me if they don`t entertain me first. If people provoke me thats a different matter."
She sighs slowly, deeply, gazing deep. "...how have you been, Lambda? Seeing a production model Murakumo unit is a rarity... even more so one with a friend, in casual clothes." She could speak for herself, there.