Chapter 8a:  Just setting up here folks...don't mind me...  

<Note to reader:  This part of the chapter takes place starting the day Myles left on his quest.>

	Craig sat on his bed waiting for one of his roommates to show up.  He wanted to kill Kei for ruining a poor girl's innocence.  He wanted to kill Myles for running off and not telling him where he was off to.  Craig reached down into his foot locker and produced a bottle of Amstel Light.  He popped the cap and took a swig.  It then struck him that he had not contacted his cousin to thank her for the "care package".
	Craig got up and walked out of his dorm room.  He then made his way down to the lobby of the dormitory and walked over to the vid phone.  There was someone using it.  Craig stood there for a moment, but the young man using the phone seemed to be dragging on his conversation just to smite him.  Craig became impatient, grabbed the young man and flung him across the lobby.  The young man landed on the couch and got up.  He glared at Craig who only stared him down, the young man turned tail and ran.
	Craig, smug with himself, deposited his credit chip into the pay vid-phone and then connected his call to Chicago, Ill.  The phone rang three time before the answering system picked up.  It was a female voice.
	"[Hello, you have reached an unlisted number.  This number is not personal, nor is it business.  Please hang up and call the number you had originally intended.  Bye!]"  The message was shortly followed by a beep.
	"[Pick up the damn phone, Rally.  It's me, Craig.]" he said into the handset.  The screen lit up and the face of an attractive blonde woman appeared.
	"[Hey, kid, what's up?]"
	"[Stop calling me that.]"
	"[Okay, kid.  So what's new?]"  Craig was not fond of her calling him that, but supposed he should be used to it by now, she called him that even when she was no more a kid herself.
	"[Got your 'care package'.  In one piece this time, too.]"
	"[That's great!  How do you like it?]"
	"[Loved it, thanks.  What was the idea with the condoms?]"
	"[Don't tell me you're not going to use them...or is it more that you don't know how?]"  Rally laughed.
	"[Funny.]"
	"[Sorry.  You had that coming.]"
	"[S'pose yer right.  Speaking of the use of sexual periphinalia, how's business?]"  Rally's face turned crimson.  Her eyes immediately sparked with fire.
	"[What that supposed to mean?]" she screamed.
	"Gomen, gomen..."
	"[Don't you dare use that language around me!]"  Craig began to laugh.
	"[So, how has business been?]"
	"[It's been slow,]" Rally answered, sounding very irked.
	"[Really?  How's Bean taking it?]"
	"[Not too bad, he says it's a good time to take care of his cars.]"
	"[Sounds like Bean.  Listen, could you do me a favor?]"
	"[Sure, what's up?]"
	"[I need some more ammo.]"
	"[WHAT!?!  What the hell happened to the crate I shipped you the other month?]"
	"[Well...you see...there was this fight...and things kinda got outta hand...and...]"
	"[YOU USED ALL THAT AMMO?]"  Craig winced at his cousin's shrill scream.
	"[Look, a couple of friends and I were in danger and--]"
	"[You mean that stupid Scottish friend of yours did something dumb to get his as in a sling!]"
	"[Hey!  I resent the fact that you don't respect my friends!]"
	"[Okay, I'm sorry!  *Irish* friend!]"
	"[That's better.]"
	"[Do you have any idea how much it costs you keep you supplied?]"
	"[Actually, you've only told me a thousand times...]"
	"[AND THERE WAS A REASON FOR IT, TOO!]"
	"[Hey, I asked nicely!]"
	"[I'll see what I can do...]"
	"[Thanks, Ral, you're the best,]" Craig said.  Rally huffed.  Craig set the hand set in the cradle and turned to walk away.  "MAN, I WANNA BONE 'ER IN THE POOPER!"
	"I HEARD THAT!" Rally shreiked.  Painfully, Craig realized that he had forgotten to press the disconnect switch.  _And since when did Rally start speaking Japanese?_  Craig thought.  He then headed back up the stairs to his room.
					* * *
The frat house...
	The paramedics arrived to remove a battered poor soul.  His entire upper torso was crushed beyond repair and he seemed to be more emotionally wounded rather than physically.  The paramedics gently lifted the young brown-haired man off the floor of the basement of the frat house, just underneath a large gapping hole the extended up to the top floor of the house, through a bedroom, through a bathroom's plumbing, through the kitchen's ovens, that were in operation at the time, and finally through some pool tables that were in the basement and some three feet into the duracrete foundation.
	"...Shiii...koooo..." was all the young man would utter.
	"We'd better get him stabalized, no telling how long it'll take him to recover.  Poor kid...who would do such a thing to him?" one of the paramedics said.
	"I have no idea, but whoever, or whatever it was, I wouldn't want to be on their bad side," the other added.  The paramedics left the fraternity house with the injured man and slid him into the back of the ambulance.  Before they knew it, they were well on their way to the hospital.
	Ume, Ine, Asa and Mari looked to each othere with great concern as the ambulance pulled away.
	"Ooo, there's gonna be hell to pay..." Ine said.
	"You gonna tell her?" Asa asked, looking at Ine.
	"ME?  WHY ME!?!  You're her best friend, Ume!  *You* tell her!" Ine shrieked.
	"Nani?"  For the next few moments, the girls contemplated what they should do.  <See last chapter for what they did.>
						* * *
	A young man walked over to a slightly older man sitting in a chair in a darkened room.  He stopped just a few feet behind him.
	"Yes?" the man sitting in the chair asked.
	"Sir, the evil has landed."  With that, Director Yashida shot up out of his seat.
	"Nani?  How did she get past our scanners?  Where's Daitokuji?"
	"Well, sir.  She had an authorized vessel.  So she had all of the proper codes to get past our defenses."
	"So that's why she stole the ship.  What about Daitokuji?"
	"He has had a full update on the situation.  He should be here..."
	"Any idea where this...*alien* is, now?"
	"No sir, but if she's here for her princess..."
	"They already have their princess, you dolt!"
	"H-hai..."
	"Damage report."
	"Well sir, there were reports of an EDF craft slamming into an airplane as it was prepared to takeoff.  No survivors."
	"Fuck.  How much longer before *he* gets here?"
	"Well, sir.  He had some business in America to deal with.  Something about a corporation that had something to do with Daitokuji Financial Group back in the 1900's... Stark Industries, or something like that."
	"Hmm...yes, I've heard of them.  They used to do some power suit construction or some shit like that."
	"Anyhow, he should be here by Wednesday."
	"Why so late?"
	"'Money is Money.'  That's all he'd say."
	"Chikusho..."  Yashida turned away from the young man and looked out his office window.  "Keep tabs on the aliens that were left here the first time.  She may try to contact them soon...dismissed."
	"Hai."  With that, the young man saluted the Director General and left.  Yashida could only sigh.