Zeroth Directive

Archive III

It's never an easy task to investigate the past of a Bolívarian. Through our countless interviews and lengthy investigations, we've uncovered a name—Carlie Lander. Carlie Lander was born to a single-parent family in the Bolívarian slums and was raised alone by her mother, who worked as an assembler for the local munitions factory. When Carlie was old enough, she naturally started wandering the streets with the other kids from the slums. She was already showing talent in stirring up trouble. Her name is linked to many incidents, such as how a group of government soldiers who bullied the local citizens all lined up and fell into the sewers one-by-one, or how an infamous thug got hung up on some power lines in the dead of night. According to a young man from the streets, everyone saw Carlie as a genius when it came to pranks. They thought she would one day take on the 'Redhead' that ruled the five barrios and take over as the new boss in town. They were right about the first part, at least. Carlie did indeed fearlessly challenge Redhead, and the intellectually lopsided challenge ended with Redhead getting tricked into getting on the car that took new recruits to the barracks. But afterwards, Carlie didn't rule the streets as everyone expected. She simply announced two perpetual rules and disbanded the gang. But her two rules were more puzzling than the disbandment: No hurting anyone, and go home before 5:30. Ever since, she continued to live her best life on the street with her buddies, causing trouble everywhere, and went home right on time in the evenings, living each and every day happily. Those peaceful days lasted until two years ago, when Carlie unexpectedly contracted Oripathy. After an intense argument with her mother, she left home and the city she lived in, never to return again. After that, the professional hoodlum Caper was born. [Investigation Notes] ...Young Carlie, huh? Of course I remember her. Good kid. Never caused any trouble for her family. *sigh* The kids here are all like that... I mean, what're you supposed to do about that? Things were better when she was around though. It's gotten worse. Gotta say. Señora Lander raised her well. Young Carlie always listened to her mother and never failed to be at home by sundown. Not like those other kids. There's one other thing that comes to mind. It happened when Carlie was still a kid, on her birthday. She stole some fuel from home, and was going to show the kids in town what she was really capable of and make a big ruckus at a high end fashion boutique. When she had everything ready and was about to pull the trigger, she suddenly hesitated. She ran back into the store and tried to get the shopkeeper out. That was when... she saw her mother inside, buying clothes for her as a birthday present... She was shaken, you know. She knew she almost messed up, but her mother simply grabbed her hand, bought some clothes with three months worth of wages, and went home with her. She'd known about everything, really, and trusted her daughter not to hurt anyone and to learn her lesson... She's a good mother.

Archive IV

It has been some time since Caper came to Rhodes Island, and compared to when she was fresh aboard the landship, she seems to have gotten a fair bit 'unused' to her environment. For example, many of our operators are no longer as surprised as she expects when she pulls off her carefully designed pranks. They even start laughing before she does now. This really puts a damper on her fun. Another example: she's found that there is lots of fun readily available aboard Rhodes Island: video games in the game room, operators joking around in the cafeteria, and tons of new things to see on field missions. There's no need to go looking for any. Her old lifestyle has become unnecessary. Although it is not uncommon for operators to be unaccustomed to their new environment, we nonetheless kept an eye on Caper's situation. Past cases have shown that most who've returned to normalcy after such a chaotic lifestyle had difficulties adapting to their surroundings, and the more serious of such cases have even led to self-harm. Not to mention that Caper is still a child. As such, we observed her actions and provided psychological counseling to be able to address any unexpected situations that could arise. What we've noticed is that Caper simply looked a little helpless. The frequency of her pranks has gone down, and she's been spending more time paying attention to every detail around her. Our follow-up with her also found no signs of depression or anxiety, but rather a huge sense of curiosity, 'just like a mathematician who discovered a new method of verifying their hypothesis,' as one operator put it. When we saw that, all our worries faded away. [Caper Observation Report - 23] ...When Caper kicked that can to irritate the kids in the sickroom, it really made all of us jump out of our skin. I didn't expect them to actually start playing kick the can. They chased after each other, and tired themselves out before long. I'd never seen the kids go so crazy. They all had smiles on their bright red cheeks, saying how they weren't going to lose, how Caper must've had training in kicking the can outside, how they're all sick and so it's unfair. Caper then chuckled, took her glove off, and showed them the Originium crystal on her hand. They moped a little, and kept quiet. After a while, the youngest of the children asked her if they could still play kick the can tomorrow. She immediately refused. She said, 'You dummy, there are tons of other games to play.' ...... We can more or less conclude at this point that Caper is a lot more mature than we imagined. She understands the truth behind her sharpness, and that's why she actively tests out her new environment. Most importantly, she's always understood what it is that she is looking for— She wants true happiness. Good thing that's something we can give her. [Childlike Handwriting] Mamá, I have to go now. I'm looking for somewhere different. Somewhere I don't have to be happy to cover my eyes. Somewhere I don't have to be happy to forget about all the pain and sadness. Somewhere where being happy is just that. When I find that place, I'll write you...

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