The tension in Special Ops was palpable to all of the Unnamed Otaku present. It had been a long time since Lord Dionysus had taken his seat at the head of Castle Anthrax's power stucture. In fact, most of the Unnamed Otaku considered Bob to be Mistress Celeste's right-hand man; some hadn't even know that Dionysus had existed at all. Now, the two men sat, in the same room, attending to their work. It was a frightening experience for the Unnamed Otaku. Whenever one man took a position on a subject, the other quickly countered; no questions asked. They were forever set against each other.

And all because of Mistress Celeste.

Bob sat at Ops with a worried frown. Gods, this is getting worse and worse, he thought to himself. Lambda Project is at 98% efficiency. The status is green, and we're good to go. But only Mistress Celeste can authorize such an action. But Mistress Celeste isn't here. And Lambda Project is just getting too hot to handle. The Project may go underway even without Mistress Celeste's authorization. If that happens, no one will be able to control it! Bob resisted the urge to start pounding his head in the wall. Dionysus was here, after all. I can't afford to look bad in front of him. Bob smirked. The poor idiot doesn't even have an inkling of knowledge about Lambda Project. Bob continued to chuckle to himself about how far Dionysus had afllen out of the information loop when the silver haired man looked up from his files and directly at him. Bob hurriedly dropped his head and started to work again.

Dionysus regarded the files in his hand thoughtfully, his mind not really on the matter at hand. I hope Ce-ko is okay, he thought to himself. She's slipping back into that other personality more and more often ever since she was taken here. Kuso, if I ever get my hands on whoever put her here in the first place... Dionysus looked up from his files and saw Bob smirking at him for some reason. When their eyes met, the major domo dropped his head, but the smile never left his lips. Dionysus frowned. Bakayarou, he's never gonna give it up, is he? This is my position and I have a right to be here. Who cares if I was kicked out by the Council? I wouldn't spit on the Council if they were on fire. My standing in the Council doesn't affect my position by Ce-ko's side. Dionysus entertained wicked thoughts of tying up the major domo and leaving his on a set of train tracks. Hmph, I'd kill his, but I know he'd just get back up again!

Both Bob and Dionysus were startled from their thoughts when a green light started to flash over their consoles. Bob's fingers flew over the keys and Dionysus quickly read off the situation report.

"Kuso!" Bob yelled. "This is impossible! This is absolutely impossible!"

Dionysus was in a state of shock as well. "Dare!" he barked out. "Who was able to access SERA? Why didn't the sensor net pick them up?!?"

"I don't know! How the hell could they get through?!?" Bob quickly scanned the report as well.

"Got it!" Dionysus exclaimed. "Mark 10.3.56... Sector 17-G... whoever it was got in through back door access. Kuso, I can read that they entered "Celeste" first... whoever they were, the system decided to let them back out."

"Mark 10.3.56... Sector 17-G... I've got the replay... two intruders. Positive ID, it was and Otaku and a Guardian."

"Give me the visual replay! I want to know how the hell they got in!"

"Hai!"

Both men turned to the viewscreen as the replay of the events came up. The identity of the intruders startled them.

"Hotohori no Otaku!"

"And, Roger..." Dionysus added.

They watched as the two entered through a holographic wall. They stayed in "Celeste" for a certain amount of time before they were almost forcibly ejected from the system. The same thought ran through the men's minds.

Why did the "Celeste" aspect of SERA let them out?

The replay ended and was replaced by flying toasters. The two men sat in silence, each rapidly trying to assess the situation and what to do about it.

"Who died?" a voice asked.

The two men turned towards the doors and saw Celly walk in. She was garbed in her fuku again and she looked none the worse for wear. Dionysus was pleasantly surprised by her appearance. This was his Ce-ko, smiling and happy. She seemed to have her other side in control, at least for the moment. Bob was happy for another reason. Mistress Celeste was back. Arigatou, kami-sama! Now she can take care of Lambda Project!

Red lights and alarm klaxons went off before anyone could say another word.

TBC...