Sargent First Class Natsuki Aki, or Nurse Aki, had first been assigned to care for Kazuto Kirigaya a little more than a year and a half ago. When the SAO Incident had begun, his mother had checked him into a hospital in Chiyoda Ward, and when he woke up, two years later, his condition had forced him to stay in the hospital for an entire month, during which time he was required to start his physical therapy. It took Mr. Kikuoka—the then leader of the SAO task force—hardly any time at all after that to uncover that Natsuki had been a graduate of the Tokyo Self-Defense Force Higher School of Nursing, and, as a result, she had been promptly transferred from trauma to rehabilitation.

She hadn't been briefed on who she was caring for until after their first session together. She had to admit that the first time she met Kazuto, she hadn't thought much about him. He was a kid with twitchy fingers who was constantly surveying his surroundings. Every time she teased him he barely reacted, and he didn't want to talk much. She had pitied him for whatever traumatic, hellish experiences he had forced to live through.

Then, she was told a story about the hero of Aincrad.

After that, she saw him for what he really was: a soldier unexpectedly pulled out of a war zone, trying to make the difficult transition back to civilian life. After her graduation from nursing school she had done a tour with Doctors Without Borders to, in a way, complete her education. These kinds mental scars were familiar to her, and that, in turn, had actually made it easier for her to talk to him. There was no longer any pity, only admiration. And with every hours long session spent together, the more comfortable he became opening up to her. He wasn't some scared kid. He was a man with an incredibly strong will trying to make the best of his situation.

By the end of his rehab, she found herself feeling a bit wistful and, perhaps, even a little melancholy. She was going to miss him. In the month they had worked together he had started to feel more like a kid brother of sorts rather than a patient. She recalled how, as his body had built itself back up, the female volunteers would watch him through the windows of the training room. At first, she had thought he was oblivious to the attention…until he started to flirt with them in order to get things. One thing he asked for on the regular was the use of a laptop. Another that came up near constantly was the request to make calls from their cell phones. Natsuki had no idea why he was doing these things, but that was when she first realized that there was so much more going on under the surface of the facade known as Kazuto Kirigaya that he presented to the world.

She had been pleased a year later to receive the call from Lieutenant Colonel Kikuoka requesting her for a job once again involving Kirigaya. It had only lasted two days, but it warmed her heart to see that he was doing well. And she got to meet his girlfriend, Asuna Yuuki, as well. Natsuki thought everything was going to be alright for her favorite hero, which was why it came as such a shock for her when, a week ago, she got the call that she did.

As soon as she had been told what happened, she gladly dropped everything and jumped on a helicopter to come to the JSDF base off the Izu Islands called The Ocean Turtle. It may have been her orders to do it, but even if it weren't, she still would have done it anyway. Her first night on the mega-float had been spent reading a 300 page dossier on the Soul Translator (STL) and its predecessor, the medicuboid. Aki couldn't help but be impressed by the machine. It had the ability to change to face of modern medicine as the world knew it. And if someone actually took the time to read up, it wasn't all that difficult to use, either. Now, six days later, she could measure Kirigaya's fluctlight and brainwave activity with perfect ease.

The brain scan taken the previous night had presented the most optimistic results of his treatment, thus far. Natsuki secretly suspected that it might have had something to do with the impromptu arrival of Ms. Yuuki. Whenever she had come up to the sub-control room level (Sub-Con) to visit, the neurons in his brain had lit up like a fireworks show. Hopefully Mr. Higa would declare that it was safe to wake the sleeping Kirigaya sometime that night.

Nurse Aki swapped out the nearly empty saline drip for a full one, mentally checking the task off of her list of afternoon procedures. That was the one thing she didn't like about the machine. It completely covered his face, forcing her to rely entirely on the numbers it provided her instead of allowing her to use the coloring of his face, eyes, and mouth as an indicator of the care to provide like she was used to. As a result, these daily procedures had become near sacred rituals as far as she was concerned.

Her lunch break was scheduled for 14:30, and she wanted to finish updating his chart before then. She checked the watch on her wrist. It read that it was only 14:08, so there was no reason for her to rush. There was plenty of time to allow her to do her job deliberately and effectively.

That was when the popping noises had started.

It took only one second for her to register and catalogue the noise, then one more to make the mental switch from Natsuki, personal nurse to Kazuto Kirigaya, to Sargent First Class Aki, personal body guard to Kazuto Kirigaya. Aki had been given her orders to protect him, 'life and limb' as she had assured Ms. Yuuki. While nothing had been expected to happen, a series of protocols had still been created just in case an emergency occurred. And, as unlikely an event as it was, it appeared that one had come up.

She calmly made her way over to the viewing windows of STL - Room Two, turned makeshift infirmary, and dropped the blinds before twisting them closed. After she was sure nobody could see in, she walked over to the door, smoothly turning off the lights as she passed them. Just to the right of the door frame, on the top of an adequately sized metal table, was her first aid bag. Inside was all of the usual things in case there were staff members requiring medical assistance on other parts of the base, but Aki was much more interested in the locked drawer located just underneath the lip of the table-top.

She removed a silver chain from under her smock that had a small matching silver key hanging on the end. She fitted the key into the drawer's lock, then twisted it to the right. The drawer silently slid open, and inside was a SIG Sauer P220 standard service pistol of the JSDF along with the required ammo. Aki expertly loaded the gun and flipped the safety off. She made one last cursory look at Kirigaya's vitals before exiting the room and securely closing the door behind her.

As she stepped out of the little alcove into the main corridor, she held the gun directly out in front of her, then proceeded to check that both directions were clear before facing it back down towards the floor. She first went to the right to close the bulkhead leading down to the main-control room level (Main-Con) and enabled the security measures that would allow only key authorized personell into Sub-Con. When the titanium reinforced door had closed completely the popping noises of gunfire ceased as well. She checked her watch again just as 14:08 turned to 14:09. Just under a minute. Good.

She turned on her heal and started walking back down the hall towards the stairs leading up to Sub-Con. She swiftly made her way up the first flight, and when the floor to ceiling viewing screens came into view she made a one-eighty and continued up the second flight to the observation deck where all the desks, chairs, controls, and, most importantly, the phones were located. She picked up the phone at the first work station she came to and pressed the button labeled 'MAIN'. It rang a few times before somebody picked up.

"H-hello?" A very shaky voice answered followed by a small yelp. Aki ascertained that this meant that she was most likely speaking to one of the engineers, not JSDF. She could hear the exchange of gunfire through the receiver.

"Yes. This is Sargent First Class Natsuki Aki up in Sub-Con. What's going on down there?"

-WoU-

"Lt. Colonel, the door's been breeched. We have to leave. They'll be in the control room any second now. We're abandoning Main-Con and closing the pressure-resistant bulkhead."

"No, wait! Just buy me a couple of minutes. I still have a few things to sort out here. We can't let them take this place now."

Seijiro Kikuoka had been caught off guard far too many times for his liking in the last few days. First this organization calling themselves the Axiom Church had taken Alice, followed by Kirito being attacked by the missing Death Gun accomplice. Then, Asuna had managed to con her way onto a top-secret JSDF research base, and now it seemed that everything was quite literally blowing up in his face. Things were out of control, and he didn't like when things were outside of his control. It was causing him to lash out.

"Higa, isn't the lockdown done, yet?"

He looked over at the bespectacled young man. The calm disposition Takeru Higa had managed to maintain throughout the echos of automatic rifles and sidearms going off all around him was very impressive. He was only a civilian after all. His fingers never stopped moving across the control keys and his eyes didn't even leave the screen as he responded.

"I need another eighty—no, seventy seconds."

Just then, a second-lieutenant called out from the far end of the console, "Sir, Sargent First Class Aki is on the phone. She says that she has secured Kirigaya up in STL - Room Two, and she has already closed the secondary bulkhead separating the Upper and Lower Shafts. Sub-Con is officially blocked off from Main-Con. Only someone with level three clearance can open the door now. She's wondering what your orders are."

Well, at least one thing had gone right. "Tell her to hang up the phone and sit tight. The rest of us will be up there soon. In the mean time, I need you to start leading the Rath staffers up the walkway between the primary and secondary bulkheads. Then, wait for someone with the appropriate clearance to open the door."

"Yes, sir!"

As he ran off, Kikuoka turned back to Higa. "How we doing?"

"Don't worry, Kiku, we're almost there. Just activating the final encryption to keep these guys out."

Kikuoka couldn't help but feel that it wouldn't be enough. Whoever they were, these people seemed to know exactly what they were doing. They had bypassed all twelve lower decks and headed straight for the Main Control Room. He smelled a rat.

They know about the project.

"Crank the FLA rate up to a thousand."

"Huh?! What for?"

"They're here for Alice." For the first time in minutes Higa stopped typing and looked away from his screen. When the two men made eye contact, it was obvious just how serious Kikuoka was with his request.

"…Sure, Kiiks, no Problem." Higa reached for the lever and pushed it from 120 to 1000. Kikuoka hoped that would be enough to keep these people from finding her. Higa was doing everything he could to lock these guys out of the simulation, but in the panic of the moment there were sure to be things that they all had missed. Right then, it was best practice to take every precaution that they could.

If only they could have somehow made contact with Kirito, or more specifically, a Kirito who hadn't had his memories of the real world blocked. That would have solved so many problems. Kikuoka knew with every cell in his body that Kirito would have located Alice and then would have safely escorted her to the World's End Alter, but there was no point in chasing after pipe dreams that would never come to pass.

"Sir! They're about to infiltrate the electrical room!" shouted Lieutenant Nakanishi, before he fired two more rounds from his gun.

Kikuoka shot to his feet, turning to face the entrance of Main-Con for the first time since the bullets started flying. "What?!" There was a strangled gasp behind him. He heard Higa's chair hastily scrape across the floor as the other man clumsily got to his feet, prompting Kikuoka to turn back towards the terminal.

"This is bad. We're screwed! If they cut the main power line now, it's gonna cause a surge….The Lightcube Cluster should be safe, but Kirigaya's STL in Sub-Con won't be. The surge will cook his fluctlight!"

Kikuoka stared at Higa in silent horror. The implications behind that statement were not lost on him. His sharp intake of breath was barely heard over the rat-i-tat-tat of automatic weapons. "But…that can't be. How?! There are numerous safety measures on the STL; not to mention the redundancies."

Higa was already shaking his head before Kikuoka had finished speaking. "They were all deactivated. He's receiving treatment, remember?!"

A split-second of silence fell, until Kikuoka broke it.

"Okay. I'll handle the rest of the lockdown. Higa, you take Dr. Kojiro and Asuna, and get to the Upper Shaft. Keep Kirito safe."

Higa didn't need to be told twice. He took off running in the same direction the rest of the Rath staffers had gone. His clearance was high enough to open the secondary bulkhead. He would make it. He had to. The rest of the JSDF had already evacuated through the primary bulkhead. The only two people left in Main-Con were Lt. Nakanishi and Seijiro Kikuoka himself.

Just as the screen flashed confirmation that all commands had been executed, a smoke bomb was thrown into the room. It was time to retreat and join the others. As he was running, Kikuoka took a moment to be grateful that he had decided to wear his red Hawaiian shirt and cargo shorts that morning instead of his traditional cotton yukata. The two men fled through the primary bulkhead and closed it behind them, enabling the same security protocols that Aki had done earlier to the secondary door.

As they turned to start making their way towards the others, the lights began to flicker, and there was a sudden jolt to the mega-float.

-WoU-

Aki sat alone in Sub-Con as she stared at the wall that made up the viewing screens. Taking up a small portion of the left side was the security feed to STL - Room Two. She checked her watch again, 14:11. Kirigaya seemed stable. There had been no change to his condition in the three minutes since she had left him. For a brief second she envied him, to be able to sleep peacefully through this. He was the only person on this rig completely—blissfully—unaware of what was happening down below.

After calling down to Main-Con, she had been extremely grateful when the Rath researcher had immediately handed the phone over to one of the JSDF guys. It had saved so much time, and in a situation like this every second was the difference between life and death.

In the distance she heard the mechanical release of air-pressure, indicating that the bulkhead had opened. She readied her stance in case it wasn't the people she was expecting. Her caution was proved unnecessary, though, as a familiar head of sandy brown spiked hair came sprinting up the stairs. Mr. Higa was followed closely by Ms. Yuuki and Dr. Kojiro. There was sweat on his brow and he seemed out of breath. This was confirmed when he just about collapsed into a desk chair gasping for air. Had he run the entire way from Main-Con to Sub-Con?

Following the trio were the rest of the JSDF and the Rath staffers. An officer Aki hadn't met before was directing everybody to continue through the sliding door at the other end of Sub-Con up another flight of stairs to the bow block. There were mats and blankets up there. The civilian workers would be much more comfortable. Aki hardly paid them any attention, though, as Mr. Higa closed the window containing the security feed of Kirigaya only to open up a black window with nothing but text and began to type furiously on the keyboard.

"Come on, please work. Please work."

Aki couldn't begin to fathom what he was muttering about, let alone why he was in such a rush to get it done. She decided to head back down to STL - Room Two. Everyone was here now, and she would probably just be in the way of the higher ranked officers. If the Lt. Colonel needed her, she wouldn't be hard to find. But before she could take a single step the screens inside the room started to flicker.

"They're cutting the power. The propellors are going down!"

Mr. Higa slammed his hands onto the counter in frustration just as the rest of the lights in the room went out, followed by the ground lurching to the side. Everyone started to fall, and Aki could hear the scared moans and cries of the civilian staffers. Suffice to say that this was not what they had signed on for.

"What about Kirito?!" Asuna asked.

"I couldn't do anything in time. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

Aki quickly stumbled to her feet. "What about Kirigaya?"

"The power outage would've caused a surge of power to go through his STL that would've severely damaged his fluctlight. I tried to stop it, but I didn't get up here in time."

That was all she needed to hear. Aki took off running for STL - Room Two. The subtle lighting from the glow-in-the-dark paint lines on the floor and stairs were all she needed to guide her. By the time she reached the hallway of the Upper Shaft the back-up security lights had turned on. Just as she started to turn into the tiny alcove housing the door to her makeshift infirmary, the titanium door at the end of the hall opened once again. This time only Lt. Nakanishi and Lt. Colonel Kikuoka stepped through.

Aki checked her watch one last time, 14:13. In just five minutes these intruders had managed to completely take control of the base. She didn't know who they were or where they came from, but one thing had made itself exceptionally clear: these guys were pros. That made her nervous. After closing the bulkhead and activating its security protocols once again, the men turned and Aki greeted them with a salute.

"Aki, where is everyone?"

"Mr. Higa, Dr. Kojiro, and Ms. Yuuki are all up in Sub-Con. Everyone else went up to the bow block on the next floor. Sir."

Kikuoka nodded his head at her before turning to the smartly dressed lieutenant at his side.

"Nakanishi, head up to the bow block to check on everyone, I want a status report of our casualties."

"Yes, sir." Nakanishi saluted his superior before heading up the stairs to Sub-Con.

"Aki, get your medic bag. I'm sure people got injured in the crossfire. Kirigaya will be fine on his own for now. You can check up on him once you've seen to everybody else."

"Yes, sir." After saluting as well, she pulled a plastic keycard from the pocket of her smock. She expertly slid it through the reader on the door to STL - Room Two and stepped inside the open door just enough to return her gun back to its home inside the drawer of the metal table and grab her first aid bag from the top of it. It was the size of a duffle bag, and it was very heavy due to it being filled to its maximum capacity with supplies.

She swung in over her shoulder and hauled it through the door, down the hall, up the stairs, through Sub-Con, and up the next flight of stairs into the bow block. Later she would regret not taking a moment to look up at the still form of Kazuto Kirigaya. Otherwise, she would have seen the now visible face of her still sleeping patient.