It was not until later that they were able to stop and take a break once it seemed safe enough to do so.
Tiffany had suffered the most from it all after losing one of her puppets, but she was not too beaten up about it.
Rather than her being upset, it was Gasser and Springer that had been the ones to be the most upset over the loss.
Unlike Tiffany, who knew that the puppets were just her puppet bodies to manipulate, the two of them had been led to believe that they were living people who shared memories and challenges with them.
To suddenly lose someone like that was quite a big thing for them.
It was like losing a close friend and comrade, even if they did not know the true identity of that person.
That person had sacrificed their life to allow them to get away, and that was just what mattered to them.
That had such a deep meaning to them, so they could not let go of those feelings of loss so easily.
They felt frustrated and helpless about what had happened.
They regretted not being more careful.
They mocked themselves for being too arrogant to think that they could take on a gang like that.
Despite their emotional states, Tiffany stated calmly, interrupting the silence. "We got away alive. That is all that matters. We cannot let that sacrifice be in vain. We did learn something from this, so do not let this be the end of us.
We must live on and use this as something we must overcome and grow from. Only then can we honour Arms. I hope to hear from you all in the future, but I will understand if this experience has made you lose your resolve."
She did not wish to sugarcoat things or reveal the truth about what her current body had been or the one that had been sacrificed.
All that she could do was to bring up how they were at a critical point where they could rise or fall from what they had been put through.
They could fall apart from that loss, or they could evolve through that hardship and loss so that next time, they would do better and they would not have to suffer that kind of loss again.
Perhaps the next time such a thing did happen, it would not just be a puppet that would be lost.
Perhaps it would be the life of one of them that would end up being lost.
To them, it would be that they would not wish to lose another life since the life of the puppet was, in fact, a real living person to them.
Through the loss of their comrade, they would have to face that loss seriously if they were able to continue to be vigilantes.
They could not afford to falter in their ideals, the moment that things started to get more dangerous.
If they faltered, then they were simply not suited to that kind of life, and it would be better if they retired before they got hurt or they ended up getting others around them hurt.
If they were just there to play hero games and were not taking things seriously from the start, then such a loss would be a big wakeup call for them.
Tiffany did not have any risk of dying in such situations, but that did not mean that she had never borne witness to death itself.
She had been the one to possess her bodies or had controlled some to do the killings of people, just as she had been there to witness the end of others, whether intentionally or unintentionally.
Sometimes she saw such things coming while others just happened on their own before she could realise what was happening in front of the watching eyes of one of her dolls or toys.
There were times when she was able to arrange for an intervention, while others, she had to turn away for various reasons.
She had witnessed many things that had left her feeling helpless, just as she had been the one to end the lives of others.
There were people whom she wished to save, while there were people whom she had no qualms about killing.
While she did try to live by a certain code of conduct and rules, those very things could get in the way of what she wanted to do or what needed to be done.
There were limitations to how much she could intervene in certain matters that were beyond her control, just as there would be times when there would be no benefit or reason big enough to move her to intervene in things she witnessed.
There were just too many things happening in many places that she could not reach, and she herself could not intervene in a lot of what would take place in those areas of the country.
Even if she could see things coming from what she observed, her ability to get involved would often be limited by how she would have to risk exposure of her ability to control the dolls and toys.
It would be just as problematic for her to send people to get involved, as it could end up putting her people in compromising positions.
There were times when she had to decide whether she would intervene or whether she would not risk the safety and freedom of those she was currently responsible for.
Not every decision made ended up the way she would have liked.
There were times when even she felt herself wavering and thinking about giving up on everything.