Cotton's Request

"I heard of your mishap the other day." Instructor Dan stood in front of the kids with an imposing pose. "I believe I've taught you to be more vigilant."

"""We're sorry!""" The children chimed in collective remorse.

"We'll be doubling training intensity from now on." Dan approached Iris and held her in his arms, just like how Joel had grabbed her. "I'll teach you how to get out of situations like this."

"""Yes!"""

Thus, the children devoted their time in the pursuit of strength and time flew by rather quickly.

One particular evening, Cotton sat on the deck and gazed at the moon. Her eyes glowed silver and occasionally, she would jump up in joy or wilt in sorrow. As the silver glow began to fade, those beady eyes of her's seemed to have teared up.

She looked up at the glowing moon with longing eyes and blinked, opening her eyes again with conviction. Cotton left the deck and hopped over to Kin and Joan's bedroom.

Kin heard soft knocks on the door, the sound being followed by a clear, kiddish voice. {Father, Mother. Please open the door for me. I have a favour to ask.}

"What's wrong, Cotton?" Joan opened the door and picked up the little ball of fluff.

{Um, I'd like to request a, uh, rescue mission.}

"A rescue mission?" The couple repeated.

{You see, before Cotton became Cotton, my name was R-143. I was in a research lab where people tested things on me all the time. My friend told me that they were trying to find out how to make spirit beasts.}

Kin rubbed his chin in pensive alarm. Such research was strictly forbidden under international laws, who could've been brave enough to attempt it, and for so long no less.

{I was a spirit beast from the start but they didn't know because H-108 told me to hide it. As time went by, the experiments got more and more dangerous so H-108 helped me to escape. But, she stayed behind.}

"If she was able to help you, couldn't she have escaped herself?"

{The plan was that I'll go find someone to help us but last night she told me that she couldn't leave anymore. She said that because she helped some others escape, they increased surveillance and now she doesn't have the opportunity to use her ability.}

"I see…"

{H-108 was in the lab since forever so she doesn't even know what the outside looks like. She is a really pitiful child. Please save her, Father.} Cotton implored tearfully.

"H-108…Cotton was R-143 so she must be a hedgehog or a hawk or possibly…human." Joan guessed.

Cotton nodded. {I don't know what she looks like but she sounds like a little child. Like Iris.}

Kin closed his eyes for a bit to think. After a while, he raised his head and nodded. "Alright. Tell me the details."

{Yes! The lab has a lot of researchers but the main researcher and the boss is an old guy with bushy eyebrows and mean eyes. There's a lot of guards and security things.}

"And the location? Are there any landmarks?"

{Cotton was teleported out by H-108 so I don't know where it is. But I remember one of the researchers talking about how hard it was to get to work from home. They said they live in XXX so they have to cross the bridge everyday.}

"That narrows it down a bit. I'll get my men to find him and we'll work it out from there." Pausing, he added, "Is it very urgent?"

Cotton shook her head. {No. Thank you, Father, Mother!}

"Anything for our cute Cotton."

The relieved Cotton hopped out the room and gazed outside with glowing eyes. However, it seemed that her friend had already fallen asleep so the call didn't go through.

{I promise to save you.} Cotton solemnly vowed.

Meanwhile, Kin and Joan discussed the request in their room.

"It will be difficult." Joan pat Kin's hand and said.

Kin nodded. "For such a research to go undetected for so long, there's no doubt that there are influential forces at play here. However, I suspect their goal isn't simply the artificial production of spirit beasts."

"You're right. You don't need human subjects for such a project. Could it be that their goal is to research the enhancement of abilities?" Joan suggested with alarm.

The mood grew heavier.

"Such a thing has long since been proven to be useless."

"And yet, that doesn't stop people from trying."

"The purpose of the research is of no concern. What's more important is how heavily guarded it must be. In order to carry out this mission successfully, many men may be needlessly sacrificed." Kin grumbled.

As Kin pondered on how they'll carry out the rescue mission, Joan suddenly raised her voice. "I know! We can use the heroes."

"What?"

"That lab is obviously bad news. There is no doubt that the heroes would stop at nothing to put an end to it. Also, the hero division had only just started so they have no notable achievements under their belt. This is the perfect bait."

"Hmm, good point. This way, we don't have to personally make a move but the problem is how we'll get the girl before the heroes."

"Ah, that's true."

"If possible, I'll like to avoid the scenario where Cotton's friend is rescued by heroes but as a result, they are never able to meet each other in person."

"Ufufu. You're already planning to adopt her too." Joan giggled.

"Having an additional child is of no problem. What's most important is that all the children are happy."

Seeing Kin say such a warm thing with that cold face of his was somewhat jarring but at the same time, charming beyond words.

Joan smirked and commented, "Looks like we should prepare another room in the house then."

"Ahem." A little embarrassed, Kin cleared his throat. "Well, we have to work out a plan before then."

"The idea is that we discover the location of the laboratory and expose it to the heroes along with evidence of their acts. If we can't find any evidence, we can just make it up. Heroes are too dumb to ignore fake evidence anyways."

"Mm, we can listen in on their plans and while they're busy destroying the researchers, we'll send in a man to rescue Cotton's friend."

"Sounds like we have a plan."

"Yeah, we have to find it first though."