From this chapter onward, every weapon is going to use the stats from Jungle Inferno update.

Interdimensional RED-Coded Contract

Good Luck and Bad Luck

"And so, he falls. Again I might add." CFW Magic remarked, exactly at the same moment she and the other Felons felt their loud and violent comrade die. All 3 remaining CFWs were waiting in their hideout, deep in the Gamindustri Graveyard, curious whether the recently upgraded Judge would be enough to stop the CPU Candidate, but it seems like that child has won.

Magic found that strangely amusing, actually. He was trying so hard to get his revenge, but fell short at the last step.

"Eh? He lasted longer than I actually expected." CFW Trick commented boredly, he had expected CFW Judge to fail even with his upgrades, although it came later than he expected. Maybe the escapee wouldn't be as much of a problem as he perceived. "That Candidate must not be as strong as we thought she is."

"His recklessness shall not be missed, he was given a second chance and he still hasn't learnt anything. He should be ashamed." The CFW Brave shook his head in disappointment, he was a fool for having a shred of hope that CFW Judge may succeed. "However, weren't we supposed to not let any other CPU escape? Wouldn't this impede our plans?" His questioning gaze fell onto CFW Magic, the one who thought first about using the Loweean CPU as a bait.

She gave no reply, instead opting to caress her lower lip with those oversized and sharp nails she has. Her golden eyes stared at Brave with indifference, despite the robot's patience growing thin.

After a moment of silence, she finally answered, shrugging.

"Trick was the one who wanted to get rid of her. And trade her for the Planeptunian CPU." Despite getting an answer, it only made Brave even more confused. They ditched one of the CPUs only because Trick wanted to? Why? Why didn't they inform him of this!? The robot failed to think of any logical reason for this, but that's why he kept silent. To give them a chance to explain themselves. "You take it from here, it was your own idea." She continued, passing the responsibility on the lizard.

Surprisingly to some, speaking about the reason why made the lizard looked genuinely sad, as if something drained all of the joy out of him. "She wasn't a cutie like her little sisters. She looks young and cute but deep inside she was just an ugly and disgusting adult." He shuddered at the memory. He tainted himself by doing it with a filthy old hag like her… He cannot wash off that impure sensation from himself.

Why couldn't CFW Magic give him those Loweean twins instead? He would care so much more about them. Spend time with them, feed them, protect them, lick them...

"And you released her only because she didn't suit your tastes?" CFW Brave deadpanned, the machine too shocked to respond in any other way. This reptilian degenerate possibly compromised their entire work because of something as trivial as not being satisfied by… doing that. With her.

Another thing which really ground his gears was how CFW Magic looked unbothered by this. The Reaper was scratching her neck, looking bored, she wasn't showing even a shred of anger or any other emotion. She was truly and utterly indifferent to all of this.

Feeling Brave's gaze onto her, Magic confirmed everything Trick said. "He did." And as Brave's rage meter went from 0 to 100, she added. "But Trick made sure that she will have her uses once she wakes up, right?"

Something occurred inside the lizard's head, as if Magic's words reminded him about something. "Yes." Releasing a heavy sigh, he admitted it. Remembering the vile thing he did to her. He wasn't proud of it, he wasn't happy about doing it, but this was the only way to get Magic to agree.

Facing the Reaper, he wept, crying his eyes out for a cause only he understands.

"I didn't like doing it, you know. I'm a purist! I only like the young cuties... Now it's all over… Over because of a loud and saggy old woman disguised as a cutie-pie!" CFW Brave could only watch the lizard with some sort of pity. Not because he felt hurt but it was something more of 'You're a horrible being and I pity you.' The lizard would not get any sympathy from him, only pity.

"But yes, I made sure she won't cause any trouble and that she may be useful to us." He spoke between sobs. It's kinda weird and awkward hearing and seeing him cry, at least to Brave it was. But as always CFW Magic was indifferent to it all.

"I regret asking…" Brave murmured under his breath, turning away from this shameful display. A member of Four Felons shouldn't cry, even faking or as a joke. It brings shame to them as the leaders of the Arfoire Syndicate of International Crime.

"Curiosity killed the cat, as goes the saying." Magic suddenly remarked, eyeing Brave with a smile which says that she heard what he was musing. The machine dismissed her before changing topics. "Right. What about the other CPUs?"

"Keep them hidden." Was the Reaper's immediate order, leaving nothing to misinterpretation. "Preferably somewhere deep underground, so their Share energy is much harder to detect and pinpoint." She added, knowing very well what the Oracles and the Candidates are capable off. "Also, since we're on the topic. Trick, any plans on doing the same thing to the other CPUs?"

Hearing that question, CFW Trick stopped weeping to make gagging sounds, as if the sheer thought of it sickened him. "Blech! No! No! Never!" Feeling the bile building in his stomach, the lizard kept refusing.

"Then I'm going to keep my CPU hidden, away from the prying eyes of anyone else." Brave declared, getting ready to depart to continue his work in Lastation but Trick found something funny in his statement.

"Your CPU, heh? You fancy one of those hags?" He teased with a chuckle, his humor coming back after the trauma he caused himself by remembering that…And he suddenly shuddered again.

But the other CFWs didn't share his humor, with Brave getting slightly annoyed by his suggestion. "That was simply a figure of speech, I plan to do nothing but keep her away from the others." His tone had a bit of edge to it, something that Magic has never heard before, it intrigued her actually. Although this could be written off as him simply being salty over releasing a CPU. "Now, if there's nothing else left to discuss, I'll be leaving, I have work left to do in Lastation." The Felon waited for any of them to stop him, but instead all he got was a dismissal from Magic.

"Nope. Go ahead, you're free."

To some people, today's morning was beautiful. After the rainstorm yesterday, a rainbow enriched today's clear, cloudless sky, as if a sign of Mother Nature's mercy and kindness. Not only that, but the air was also perfectly cool, not too hot but not too cold either. It was like Gamindustri itself was happy about the successful rescue operation.

And then there are people like Spy...

Down to a single second, the time between the mercs going to sleep and the current moment were apart only by an hour, 23 minutes and 41 seconds. In layman's terms Spy was asleep for less than an hour and half before Soldier decided to be a douchebag and wake everyone up, starting with the mercenary from the baguette's country-of-origin, France.

"Wake up, Spy! We overslept! Get your frenchie ass up and out to training!"

The american yelled at the top of his lungs, repeatedly and simultaneously smashing the doorbell and pounding directly on the doors. It wasn't long before the spook's eyes snapped out, completely bloodshot from the intense anger he's feeling right now. Ce macaque dégénéré just can't shut his mouth and not bother him for a single goddamn day?

Spy never felt more justified to do this.

He kicked the doors open, his pissed off gaze digging holes into that american swine's stupid face. Soldier even dared to flash that idiotic, satisfied grin toward him, pushing him over the edge even further.

"Good morning-!"

Was all he managed to say before Spy shot him, thrice. The first shot hit him in the forehead, dealing critical damage, and then 2 following gunshots hit him in the chest and finished the job.

Before Soldier realized what happened, his lifeless body fell to the floor.

Spy blowed the smoking barrel of the Ambassador. "And don't bother me again, you sluggish simpleton." He snarled in anger, furious that this... imbecile, dared to take his sleep away.

Not wanting to drag this out, he closed the doors and placed a sapper on the doorbell, preventing anyone else from disturbing him.

Today is just going to be a glorious day. Sarcasm intended.

As the Spy closed his eyes and went back to his very-deserved sleep, Soldier felt his anger build up. He makes sure that they exercise, stay healthy and on top of their form everyday and this is how they repay him!? With bullets!?

Oh he's so mad right now.

"I'm going to choke that white-flag waving maggot with his own cigarettes…" Growled the recently respawned mercenary, taking the Beggar's Bazooka and the Disciplinary Action from the locker.

But upon reaching the lobby, his rightful anger cooled off completely. The reason was a bunch of suspicious Mann Co. crates littering the entire room. "What?" He let out in confusion, turning left and right. He could not understand why there are so many Mann Co. supply crates here, they weren't here before. Those boxes even covered the Sentry Gun protecting their home.

Who was in charge of taking out trash this week?

Before he could decide to turn this week's janitor's ass into a pounded pile of crap, Miss Pauling spoke out of the blue, catching his attention. "Um, Soldier?" The assistant descended the stairs with the same confusion the mercenary feels right now. "Why is the lobby cluttered with Mann Co. crates?" She asked, feeling genuinely confused. "Also, do you know where Mr. Hale is?"

"Good morning, Miss Pauling!" The patriot greeted with a salute, his weapons leaning against the wall. "I'm afraid I know nothing about the culprit of this." He dropped his salute to stand perfectly at ease, namely with his legs apart and hands behind his back.

"Mhm…" The assistant hummed. "And where is Mr. Hale?"

"Saxton Hale left with Falcom to do some missions submitted by the Guild! He gave orders to inform Miss Palagi that she's on her own before he left." Informed the patriot.

Hearing this, the ravenette nearly tripped and fell from surprise, but she saved herself at the last moment by grabbing the handrail. "He- WHAT!?" She yelped, staring at the Soldier for confirmation.

And he did.

"Yes! From this day forward, Miss Palagi is supposed to work on her own. But I don't know how she looks like or where she lives..." Soldier scratched his chin, thinking as deep as his peanut-sized brain could. "Finishing this objective may be harder than I thought, actually…" He murmured under his breath.

He looked at the Administrator's assistant and his former supervisor. Someone of her standing would surely know Miss Palagi, maybe if he asked her for help then he could… "Miss Pauling?" He spoke. But the woman was unresponsive, as she was busy gritting her teeth and fighting back a headache. 'Damn it Hale, You're going to screw up this whole mission…' She thought.

"Miss Pauling, hello?" Repeated the patient Soldier. Only after the 4th time did she sigh and replied, her tone resigned. "What is it, Soldier?"

"I need help."

She can kinda expect what he's going to say, call it an intuition after all those years of working with them. "Yeah? With what?" The ravenette rubbed her forehead. Here it comes...

"I need to inform Miss Palagi, but I have never met her in my entire life."

Just as predicted, Soldier was still as much of an idiot as he was before. "Yes, yes. I'll go inform her. Just go, I dunno, wake up your team like you wanted or something. I gotta make some phone calls." The ravenette ended the conversation and immediately went to pull her brick out and call a number.

Meanwhile, Soldier gave an abrupt nod and bent to retrieve his weapons. "Thank you, Miss Pauling. I'll be going upstairs now!" The assistant dismissed his words with a wave, like a bad mother letting her badly-behaving children roam free and cause chaos everywhere. She even ignored how Soldier skipped climbing the stairs and just straight up rocket jumped to the higher floor.

If not for the helmet covering his eyes, others would be able to see them burn…

Burn with the flames of freedom.

The patriot loaded the chamber full and unleashed (freedom) hell onto the poor doors that were standing between him and his revenge. The wooden barrier itself actually resisted the combined force of 3 rockets, but its hinges gave up, letting the doors be thrown into the wall after the final rocket.

The smoke covering the doorway blocked the sight between both sides. The patriot tensed, preparing for some sort of retaliation on Spy's part. However as the time went on and the smoke was dying down, nothing of the sort happened.

When the smoke died down enough for him to see, Soldier was staring down at the surprised Spy, still in the bed and wearing his nightwear. The french knew that his teammate would try to wake him up again, but he expected him to be spamming his doorbell endlessly, not blow the doors off its hinges!

Moment later he sprung to action, grabbing his gun.

While he was quick enough to successfully grab it, he failed to shoot it, as Soldier's riding crop was faster.

Spy's hands stung from the blow, with his revolver now lying on the ground. "Do you call that a weapon, son?" Soldier pointed at the Ambassador, disappointment dripping from his mouth.

The spook hissed at the sudden and brash assault. Can he get at least 1 day of peace? The merc retaliated by feinting a punch to his stomach while actually going for his neck. The blade of the Sharp Dresser glinted dangerously as it closed in.

But he never reached his mark.

"Somewhere, your father is weeping because of you!" snarled Soldier, holding Spy's wrist, too far away from him to even hope of gazing his neck.

Spy went for a reversal, but a quick jab to his face, and then a knee to his hip stopped him from doing anything meaningful.

And the finishing blow was one of Soldier's modified Judo techniques. The short duel ended with Spy lying on the floor, and the victorious Soldier stood on top of his back. The beaten french stared at his teammate with a venomous look, but the american easily shrugged it off. "And now give me 40!" He ordered, raising his whip to act as a silent threat.

Spy was a smart guy, and knew when he should just buckle up and give up. He realized that disobeying now would only end up with him getting whipped and wasting even more time dealing with Soldier, and this was also one of the few situation where his cloak watch was completely useless. Now he's pinned so this would obviously not work and before then Soldier was blocking his only escape route. All the american needed to do was just patiently wait for his battery to run out.

Or worse, start shooting to spy check him and destroy his room even more.

"Ahem, maggot!" Soldier's heels dug deep into Spy's back, ruining his $4000 nightwear.

Biting back a sigh, which was very hard to do. The frenchie started doing the push ups, struggling heavily due to additional weight on his back.

'You will pay for this…'

Impatience. That was the one word you could call Histoire's mood right now. She was staring into the monitor of her computer, waiting for someone to answer her video call.

'Maybe it's still too early…' She thought, tapping her fingers against her desk. That nap she had taken was a goddessend for her mind, but her duty as the Oracle couldn't be done by anyone else but her. So unfortunately she had to cut her rest short, but not without some coffee and promise to go to sleep earlier.

The constant ringing sounds coming from the speakers made the fairy think that this was really too early of her… but the news she has are too important to wait.

Although-

Nevermind that, she picked up. Her milky-blue hair and the red hat that rather fits a graduation student instead of an Oracle says that she found the right person.

"Y-Yes? The Oracle of Lowee speaking. Hello?" The Oracle greeted with a sentence she rehearsed so many times, but her features, that is a light-skinned face, and dark-blue eyes with red squared glasses in front of them, morphed into worry upon seeing the Oracle of Planeptune. "Are you okay…?"

Her worry was justified as despite the nap, the fairy still looks like she haven't slept in a while. Her skin was paler than normally, and there were very visible bags under her eyes, she definitely didn't look "normal".

But despite all of that, Histoire still tried her best to give her a reassuring smile. "No need to worry, yesterday was just... chaotic. However because of that, I have brought some very good news for you!"

"Good news?" The Oracle parroted, piquing her eyebrow in curiosity. But as luck would have it, someone interrupted.

"Mina...? Who are you talking too…?" She was familiar to Histoire, and her voice sounded as childish as ever. The speaker then was quickly followed by a different, but also audibly childish-sounding person. "Sleepy…" The two newcomers surprised the Oracle, visible by her widening eyes and tone of her voice. "Ram? Rom? Why are you up so early!?"

Despite her posed question, the girls didn't seem to answer it, opting to latch onto her, blue and pink pajama-wearing girls appearing into Histoire's view. The twins still looked like she remembered them, blue eyes and brown hair, with the pink-wearing child letting it grow much longer than her blue counterpart.

"I'm hungry…" They cutely groaned at the same time. The heartwarming scene brought a smile to Histoire's face.

Mina turned towards Histoire, her face all but saying 'I would like to talk with you, but you see…'. "I understand, we can talk later after you are done eating. And I think that Rom and Ram should also hear this, this is something that would certainly cheer them up."

The Oracle of Planeptune did catch that curious look Mina was shooting her, but the twins seems to not notice the hint Histoire has given them. Call her dastardly but Rom and Ram would be overjoyed when they hear that Blanc is rescued. "I, see… So until then Histoire. We will hear that good news you have for us."

"Farewell."

With goodbyes done, the conversation ended.

A sigh escaped Histoire's mouth.

This was truly too early for this kind of conversation, the night shift hasn't even ended and the Oracle is already deep into her work. A short vacation would be the most optimum thing for her but without her the nation will fall into ruin.

To kill some time, the fairy picked up some paperwork and scanned through them.

As always the first was the daily report on Shares, with Planeptune rising 1%, Leanbox dropping a whopping 5%, strangely enough, Lowee's shares didn't change over the course of a whole week and lastly Lastation rose by solid 3%.

That leaves the ASIC with 1% more Shares than before, Planeptune isn't the only place where the ASIC is so their pincer attack won't harm them in the long run. They'll need to get the cooperation of the other Candidates and Oracles.

The plans to build that lakeside resort where the warehouses once stood has ground to a complete halt. Apparently a strange and worrying influx of monsters made the work hazardous, and the Guild is busy dealing with it and investigating the cause. According to them, something has scared all the monsters from the depths of Virtua Forest and into surrounding areas, now Darkness 60 and the outskirts of the forest possess much more monsters over a broader range of strength, which is troubling for beginner-level adventurers.

Additionally the Guild requests more funding for one of their projects; helping the poor and homeless by recruiting them into adventureship. Giving them weapons, protective gear and a bunch of supplies for free to give them a push and then creating squads of those newbies and assigning them to veteran fighters, so they can grow and learn until they can handle adventuring on their own. Essentially creating something akin to schools for adventurers and monster hunters.

This would certainly hurt her budget, but this would help fight off unemployment and make Planeptune safer in the future… Histoire left this one for later consideration, preferably after she has a bit more sleep.

Reading the next report made Histoire's heart ache. The public was growing nervous about the mysterious slaughters happenings in Planeptune, hundreds of e-mails littered her inbox demanding her insight on the matters. There are even conspiracy theories saying that it was Histoire and Nepgear killing them, as they happened shortly after her rescue and Histoire's brash declaration on the press conference. The sudden presence of mercenaries also didn't leave the public's watchful eye, there were comments about them as well, different hypothesis were created about their roles and how they got so close to Nepgear. Some were saying that they were the ones who rescued her, others that they're a bunch of mercenaries hired to help (she can't help but to be surprised how u/LobsterQueenJournalist nailed that one), or that it was them doing the killings.

All in all… the jig's up. There's nothing Histoire could do to refute those statements if it came to direct confrontation…

If she confirmed everything… how would the public react?

Nepgear's and basically every other CPU's lives literally depend on whether the public is satisfied with them or not. If they suddenly rioted, Nepgear would certainly feel the backlash, and with how low Planeptune's shares already are, it could even put her safety into jeopardy.

"Thinking about this situation, it's a miracle that the ASIC hasn't used our failure against us, they could easily turn the tables if they wanted..."

All the ASIC needs to do to get at Nepgear is to release their security footage from one of the attacked facilities. Histoire knows that Spy is proficient at destroying all incriminating evidence, but there's nothing he can do if they send the copy onto servers outside Planeptune or simply broadcasted them live. It would expose them and leave their fate at the hands of the public.

And when that happens, it would be game over if they started a riot or something similar. Shares would plummet, and Nepgear would share Blanc's fate or even worse.

If Nepgear died from share deprivation, how would the Re:Spawn react to that? Will it just leave her dead? Re:Spawn her only for her to die again immediately?

She could waste centuries pondering this question, the majority of things about the Re:Spawn System and the mercenaries in general is still a mystery to her… Maybe it's time to get some questions answered?

But that is for later. First she needs to wrap things up with Blanc and Lowee, then she needs to figure out what to do with their new guests…

Being led by the constantly shouting Soldier, the recently woken up team climbed down the stairs. The mysterious crates haven't moved an inch from the lobby, though Miss Pauling was gone, presumably doing those phone calls she said she would.

"Wot in the hell?" With just that single sentence, Demoman summarized the team's thoughts.

"Men, recently someone left these crates here. I don't know who, but we have been given a shipping of Mann Co.-made munitions!"

Yes, everyone could see them, 10 wooden crates in total and all but one was marked with the Mann Co. stamp and a class mark.

No one dared to say anything though, not because they were afraid of interrupting but because it would be quicker if everyone just shut up and let him talk himself out. The sooner they can rest the better.

Although there was one person who didn't want to wait, and was also strong enough to deny Soldier. "Let me pass, Soldier." Heavy Weapons Guy pushed himself to the front, staring down at the tiny american.

"What you want, Comm-umph!?" His words were cut off by the Russian's gigantic hand clapping his mouth shut, then with the next moment the merc was shoved sideways.

Soldier spouted very creative insults at his motherland, family and communism, which fell on deaf ears while Heavy calmly scanned through the room and found a crate marked with his class emblem. He continued ignoring the angry baby crying behind him to walk towards the wooden container. It was tall enough to reach his chest and it seems to be open, no locks or chain holding the lid and also a note was stuck into it.

Hey there, Morons!

Do you remember the Mercenary Park? The one where you guys fought each other for our not-real currency to buy hats and War Paints? Yeah, the government shut it down. They told me it was illegal and dangerous to let kids punch deadly animals and that I will pay a hefty fine and jail time for every wound the kids and their parents suffered, like humans don't really regenerate, right?

So with the park shut down, I was left with a bunch of trash that I needed to dispose. I could sell them, but no one wanted to buy this junk so I am leaving it for you, for free! (Not really, but I already stole the money from you guys so I'm fine with leaving them here).

So they're your problem now.

This just got signed by

SAXTON HALE!

P.S: Anyone know what are those "Special Surprise Crates?" Their name tag says it's Mann Co.-made but I don't remember ordering anything like those. Someone is trying to impersonate my goods, I won't stand for this!

P.P.S: And before my amazing self forgets; You won't get any free War Paints from me, don't even think about it, and also to that trash I'm leaving you I included new balance changes. Just flip this page to see the full list.

P.P.P.S: Hey Demoman! Sorry but I had to take your Eyelander with me, I couldn't find my Dragon Slayer and Hale was hurrying me. This was the only weapon that I could find and matched my fighting style. I'm sorry again but I'll buy you some beer or something.

- Falcom

Saxton Hale's stamp signing this letter means that it was true, the Australian has barged into Heavy's room to steal his money.

And all he has is that goddamn Second Banana and some hats as a compensation!

He thought back to that Meat vs. Match competition where he got steamrolled by Pyro…

Visibly pissed off, Heavy rips off the cover from the crate; looking inside he saw what he figured he would. Neatly arranged cosmetics items filled most of the crate, 27 pieces of different clothing if he remembers correctly.

And like a cherry on top of a cake, a sole plate with just 1 banana lying on the clothes. His consolation prize he got from the Mercenary Park. His building up infernal anger… was swiftly cast aside by Demoman's shrieking.

"The Eyelander!?" Thanks to his anger, Heavy failed to notice that everyone else had climbed down the stairs and were reading the letters left for them. The Post-post-postscript seems to shake Demoman so much that the scot hurried upstairs without opening his crate.

After him, hell began.

Everyone expressed their reactions towards the recent gameplay changes. The loudest of them was Spy with "He nerfed the Dead Ringer!?" Everyone expected the Spy to react negatively towards the Dead Ringer nerf, it was his favorite cloak watch after all, but this was the first time Heavy has seen Spy's hands and eyes shake so much, it had hit the french so hard that he could shake a drink with those tiny shaking hands.

Flipping the page, Heavy read the list of balance changes casted upon them. Hale has a habit of doing that sometimes, tweaking their gear to make them stronger or even weaker to spice things up. It doesn't make sense to make a weapon LESS effective of course, though the reasoning is simple: It's Saxton Hale, that's all the reasoning it needs. Either way, the list of tweaks was a very long one this time, probably everyone got something changed… And the Russian's eyes shot wide when he saw the balances made for Spy.

While he agrees with the paper that the Dead Ringer was an annoying thing that deserved to be brought down a peg, with the cloak watch no longer rechargeable via ammo kits or the dispenser, but the Ambassador nerf is actually kind of concerning. Now it won't apply critical damage to headshots on longer distances, which could affect strategic flexibility. Without an enemy team to share in the nerfs, negative changes hit the rest of the team harder than before. At least, for those of the mind to care about anything other than schadenfreude.

Still, he chuckled, since he himself got all of his Miniguns BUFFED, now achieving their full accuracy and damage without needing to needlessly fire. The change cost him by making his Eviction Notice and GRU useless, but he can live with that. Nodding to himself, Heavy considers his own changes as 'beneficial', if only due to it making Sasha and his other girls better.

Heavy wasn't the only one who was happy with the rebalances, Soldier in particular was ecstatic right now, and for good reason. "My Righteous Bison got buffed! Yay!" The american cheered, holding a small, retro-futuristic raygun in his hand. He was one of the more fortunate people who got mostly buffs, turning 3 of his once-useless weapons into something more usable.

"It still sucks!" Scunt jokingly called out across the room, with great amusement as he watched Soldier turn his face towards him. The American looked like he was betrayed by his own comrade or that the war has ended and world peace was achieved.

But just as quickly, it morphed into anger. "Shut your stupid mouth, maggot!" Soldier snapped, aiming and shooting lasers at Scout. They missed of course as their intended target retreated behind the foyer counter, which irked Soldier even further. "Don't you dare hide, I'm gonna rip out your throat for this! Ta zniewaga krwi wymaga*!" Roaring like a lion, Soldier jumped onto his own crate and started shooting from there, but even with the high ground Soldier underestimated Scout's power of retaliation.

"Ohoho! See watcha think of this!" The young boy pulled out his changed Pretty Boy's Pocket Pistol and started firing at Soldier, forcing him to jump down and take cover like Scout.

The Balance Hammer seems to have hit Scout heavily as well, nerfing his most effective combo of Sandman and Guillotine and a few other weapons as well, but surprisingly Scout doesn't seem to be bothered with the nerfs, actually he never was. Out of the entire team no one has ever seen him get mad or even slightly annoyed when his stuff got nerfed.

Back and forth, Scout and Soldier shot at each other from behind cover. Despite looking like it, they actually didn't really try to hurt each other, the mercenary equivalent of children having a snowball fight.

That's how cheerful the atmosphere was, their exhaustion temporarily forgotten. Some of them played with their changed weapons like Scout and Soldier, some discussed the recent changes like Medic and Engineer and the sole winner, namely Pyro, was hugging its new weapons.

No I'm serious. Right now the Pyromaniac was embracing his Thermal Thruster, which is literally a red-painted jetpack with Pyro's emblem on the right thruster and an enclosed yellow light on the top.

It was a soreness to the eye for the Heavy Weapons Guy, but he'll be calm. He'll let Pyro enjoy its 4 new weapon. Someday he'll get some new gear of his own.

Sniper shook his head at Pyro's silliness, then faced the most assholish mercenary of them all, Spy, currently weeping salty tears over his Ambassador and Dead Ringer nerfs...

"How's living with yer new Dead Ringer, enjoy the changes?" Sickly sweet words, hiding poison inside them. With a grin plastered on his face Sniper waited for Spy to take the bait.

He did not disappoint.

"Shut the hell up, bushman! Why do all of you idiots think the Dead Ringer was overpowered!? If you'd just take your eyes out of your scope once in a while and watch your back then maybe you wouldn't find yourself with a knife in your back. But nooo, none of you imbeciles could bother to so much as LISTEN for the decloaking sound, you fools need every single thing served on a tray because you can't do it yourself! You're all just amateurs and incompetent cowards-!"

Spouting more and more salty words, Spy suddenly realized that everyone had fallen quiet, as all mercenaries stopped what they were doing to watch him, even Demoman came back to observe the spook from the stairs, his jaw a bit loose.

Sniper struggled to hold himself from laughing, ever since the beginning of Spy's tirade the spook had grabbed him by his collar and his shouting face was inches away from Sniper's own. In fact their foreheads were touching.

Now that it was over, there was just one question an amused Sniper could ask.

"Mate…" He began, not knowing what else to say. This was literally the first time Spy behaved like this… "You havin' a meltdown or something?"

Sniper ended up being punched, but the kick and giggles were worth it.

Permission to renovate school's old basement. Signed.

Permission to open a small fast food joint in the city mall. Signed.

Police have caught a thief stealing boxes of pudding from a pudding factory. Signed.

Permission to expand an animal shelter. Signed.

Details of a new trade contract between Leanbox and Planeptune. Signed.

Permission to hold a Yaoi Butler Cosplay Convention in the Basilicom. Sign- Wait what?

Flabbergasted, Histoire scanned through the paper again… Yep. Someone asked Histoire if they can hold a cosplay convention. In the Basilicom. Of shirtless butlers. In the Basilicom. Possibly engaging in unwholesome behavior. Yet again, in the Basilicom. Someone went as far as to organize an entire week of it, where people can sleep, eat and defecate, where booths selling butler souvenirs and action figures will be placed, costs of the tickets, how they're going to be distributed and how much the Basilicom will be getting from it…

Did she forgot to mention that this would be held in the Basilicom?

She was at a loss for words. Someone was really serious about holding such an indecent event in the government building. The sheer 20ish-page length of the plan shows how truly dedicated this person was, wasting so much time planning this entire even to the smallest details, calculating every possibility, not even caring about the chance that this might not even pass through Histoire's secretary in the first place.

"Sometimes people are dedicated to the strangest things…" 'Weirdo.' She thought, throwing the results of someone's hard work into the shredder without a shred of mercy…

Having this short break from signing thousands of documents showed just how numb her hand was. This was all it did for the past hour, writing her signature from paper to paper like some sort of copying machine.

She kept going.

But as she finished signing a hunting request to the Guild, Mina suddenly called. Histoire instantly abandoned the document and jabbed the answer button so fast that her pen flew off her hand.

"Thank you for your patience, now where were we?" The Oracle of Lowee asked. Rom and Ram weren't present as Histoire wanted, but oh well.

Mina was oblivious that her sudden call made Histoire lose her pen just now, nor that Histoire will care about this. "That was rather quicker than I expected, but thank you for remembering."

"Yes, although Rom and Ram weren't interested in hearing your news, so it's just the two of us." Her face was apologetic but Histoire kinda expected it. Two lively children probably wouldn't be interested in what growns-up were doing.

"Don't worry, it was nothing big actually. As for the news I mentioned…" Histoire took a deeper breath. Here it comes. "We have rescued Blanc, their sister and the CPU of Lowee, from the ASIC. She's currently resting in our custody."

Silence...

Histoire was met with dumbfounded silence. Mina watched her with wide eyes, not knowing how to react or say anything. It took a full 6 seconds to break through her bewilderment.

"I-I'm sorry. C-C-Could you r-repeat that? L-Lady Blanc is rescued?"

"Yes." The fairy confirmed with a nod. "She's currently resting outside of the Basilicom, but I entrusted her to one of my best men. She's safe."

Understandably, Mina didn't know how to take the news. Histoire lost her at 'We have rescued Blanc' and now her kind and collected demeanor changed into complete confusion. It's as if she just won a billion Credits on a lottery, you just don't know how to react.

"I-I-I'm sorry, it's just so… so sudden. How is she? Lady Blanc I mean."

"Share Deprived, she has enough shares to maintain her immortality but not enough to remain conscious. It would be best if you created a Sharicite, not matter how small, and brought it here to help her, as we alone have barely enough for Nepgear to be healthy."

She wasn't lying when she said that. Unless those Nano-Machines changed the efficiency of how she's processing shares, then Planeptune's shares are barely enough to fully sustain Nepgear. If they used them to create their own Sharicite then it would take its toll on her.

"I-I see." She shakingly acknowledged, slowly calming down with deep breaths. "G-Goodness, who would have thought that I'll manage to see Lady Blanc again after she and the other CPUs ventured into the Graveyard."

"It was a surprise to us as well." The fairy gave a depressed sigh, "But on the bright side, Blanc doesn't appear to be physically wounded." Histy added with a forced smile.

"That's good to hear, but I'm rather curious on how Blanc has been rescued. From what I know, only Nepgear managed to get out of the Gamindustri Graveyard and I didn't hear or see any reports of you launching another rescue operation." Points Mina, showing that despite her shock and surprise, she's still an Oracle in charge of a whole nation.

With her eyes closed, Histoire nods at her statement. "You're right, we haven't. But for some reason the ASIC… I don't really know why. But they challenged Nepgear and her friends to a fight with one of the CFWs. Blanc was actually used as the bait to draw her and her friends in."

"And they just accepted it!?" Mina eyes widened at such foolishness. "I don't know the details, but from what I hear this was an obvious trap, why would the CPU Candidate endanger herself like that? Is she alright?"

"I-" Histoire stopped herself, she was about to say 'I don't know…' but there is no point in telling Mina what happened to her, especially when Histoire or even Medic himself doesn't know what happened. "She's fine, don't worry."

The Planeptunian Oracle felt that the Loweean one isn't buying this, so she quickly changed topics.

"I don't know why they went, I tried to stop them but they were determined to go." The fairy rubbed her face at the memories, sighing.

Soldier wanted to spring the trap just to get few more kills, Nepgear fully believed that they'll give Neptune back if they go, even other mercs like Spy or Demoman showed interest. The plan was generally bad, their Plan B was just a quick suicide to return to Planeptune via Re:Spawn System…

They had no good incentive to accept the challenge and go head first into an ambush, other than to kill more of the ASIC. And yet they did go, destroyed a CFW, and rescued Blanc in return, if only by sheer luck.

"Thinking back on it, I still don't understand why those mercs wanted to go so badly…" She added, rubbing her cheek. She failed to think up even one rational reason for the mercenaries to spring the trap, which was weird since their other moves were pretty logical. Was it simply hubris from their own immortality, making them believe they had nothing to lose?

The blue haired woman also thought similar thoughts to Histoire, but on a different topic. "I'm sorry, but I find it rather hard to believe that the ASIC just gave away Lady Blanc, or any CPU in general. I apologize but I will need to see some proof." She felt a little saddened saying this, but she couldn't ignore this fact. From her perspective, Histoire gave an outrageous claim without giving any sort of proof. Anyone with a working brain would be suspicious, especially so when she asked to bring a Sharicite to her nation.

She doesn't want to be suspicious of other Oracles, but she can't help it in this situation.

"That is understandable. Then if I could come back to you later, with photos with Blanc as my proof, will that suffice?" The fairy proposed with a forced smile. Of course her dizzy past self forgot to make any sort of proof for her plan. Just great.

"That would be great, I'll be waiting until then."

Histoire doesn't even know if that smile was 'I believe you, so I'll be patiently waiting.' or 'I know you're BSing me, but I need to be polite.' It could be either of them.

Her chair creaked when the fairy leaned back, closing her eyes and letting out another sigh.

"Why didn't I think of this…"

Histoire feared for her deteriorating mental state.

Meanwhile, in unknown parts of the endless Virtua Forest.

"You think he's gonna be mad?"

"Yes and it is totally your fault. I told you not to bring any weapons, that you don't need any weapons, and you took one anyway. Not my fault."

"Well, I'm a swordswoman, not a martial artist."

Falcom and Saxton Hale had a little argument, while being surrounded by many monsters which Saxton Hale had to personally track down to punch them. The monsters were very diverse, varying from some sort of ghosty-thingies and frogs, to gigantic spiders and plants with a lot of sharp teeth, to even a bunch of Grandogoos! Any that's not even all of them!

"Hahahaha!" Hale gave a cheery launch, punching the weight out of the colossal Dogoo. "Even in this new, beautiful world there's still people who can't give a good punch even if their lives depended on it!" His voice was cheery as ever, but the context did hurt. "Those toys are making you weak, girlie, WEAK! Grow up and get some muscle! Oh I know! I'll train you. I'll abuse you until you drop that butter knife and get some grit into you."

"I'll... rather stay with the sword, but thanks for the offer." Falcom sweatdropped at the proposal. Yet another Piranha Flower tried to sneak up on her, but... "Headdd…" The sword Falcom is wielding, the Eyelander, guided her body to swiftly decapitate the threat.

Two more monsters tried to jump from her blindspot, but like before the Eyelander was controlling her body well. Parrying both blows at first, and then retaliating by taking their heads.

Falcom watched their heads fall onto the ground, feeling a mild terror building inside of her. The rest of the monster horde wisely kept their distance, seeing that they can't ambush the adventurer. This actually gave her an opportunity to speak up. "You know, Eyelander, you're kinda freaking me out there… I didn't even notice those two."

Despite her comment, Eyelander was indifferent to them. Falcom could see him shrugging when he answered. "You would be mad if you weren't. I am a ghost sword after all, one of a kind. People are naturally afraid of ghosts."

"But Demoman isn't afraid of you, he even talks to you."

"Demoman is drunk."

No one could counter that perfect argument.

"Right-" She was about to change the topic, but Hale butted in before she could.

"Hey! We were supposed to be having a life-or-death fight, not a talk show! Start killing things!"

Now Falcom noticed that she lost sight of her partner, seeing as she's completely surrounded from all sides, however she could guess where he is by looking at the monsters flying upwards, like a bull ramming through the crowds and sending them flying.

Eyelander, acting like a total tsundere, took offense to that. "I refuse to acknowledge her as my significant other. She's merely my vessel used by me to decapitate everything in my path, and she can barely even do that job."

"Hey! I'm not that bad. Right?" Doubt seeped through her mouth at that last part. That was a heavy blow to her self-confidence which the ghostly sword seems to follow up with another.

"You're always hesitating, rejecting me consistently. I'm not able to give my all when you're subconsciously resisting-"

"But I don't want to get possessed by a ghost! Bad things happen when people get possessed!" Argued Falcom, sounding like a small child this time around.

However, Eyelander continued without giving her argument even the slightest thought, discarding it to the trash can where it deserved to be. "Your stance is unrefined, your moves are sloppy and slow and somehow your luck is ridiculously low. Unnaturally even. I'm not exactly sure how that happened, but it did."

"Huh? Really?" Falcom's eyebrows rose in confusion, she doesn't know what the sword meant by her low luck. Well, she can't say she's had a life full of good fortunes so far but she wouldn't say her luck SUCKS.

"Yes, really. Your left foot."

Cue her left foot being caught by a tentacle.

And then cue Falcom cutting that tentacle off.

"As for the possessing, it worked out just fine for Demoman." He casually continued.

"But Demoman kills people for a living." Argued Falcom.

"And you kill monsters for a living, and are currently surrounded by dozens of them." Countered the sentient sword. He was right by default, as no matter where Falcom looked there were monsters waiting to beat her skull in. Hell, there were a few of them even waiting on trees!

But all of a sudden, the Eyelander started muttering. It wouldn't bother Falcom if not for the context of those words, or the sword's emotions when speaking them.

"Hmm. This is rather… interesting. Really."

So far, Falcom has heard him sounding bored, offended or coldly indifferent, but this the first time he sounded so intrigued. Like a mad scientist who found a new way to destroy the world. Falcom couldn't help but to ask. "What is it?

"I sensed, a kindred spirit… I wish to meet them." He firmly declared, leaving no room for anything else.

"Huh?"

"I am sensing someone in the same predicament as me. I wish to meet them, so you'll lead me to them." He repeated demandingly.

"So… another possessed sword? Hmm. We're surrounded though… not sure if I'll be able to take them all on." She stated worryingly. Strength-wise Falcom was much stronger than any of them, but the monsters had very superior numbers. She doesn't think even the Eyelander will be able to handle all of them at once.

"Numbers aren't a problem! SAXTON HAAAAAAAAAAAALE!"

A Seismic Slam outta nowhere! With one good punch, Saxton Hale shook the very earth itself. The nearby monsters were instantly obliterated, with those further away being knocked a fair distance and stunned.

"Thanks Mr. Hale! Listen, we're changing locations, Eyelander sensed someone-"

"Yeah I was listening the entire time." The CEO cut her explanation short, his eyes not leaving the stunned monsters. "Just go already!" He gave Falcom a small push, which nearly knocked her off balance and threatened to break her ribs. "I'm gonna stay here and entertain myself…"

"But-"

"Just go! You won't be fighting when you're talking to that toothpick. Just stop holding your share of animals and let me have my fun."

He left her with no room to talk, immediately jumping onto a branch after telling his piece.

Being scattered gave the monsters an opportunity to run, which most of those beasts used, scurrying away like prey from the predator to see another day.

But unfortunately for them, that predator couldn't have asked for a better chase.

"Let's have ourselves a little HUNTING! PARTY! Ahahahaha!"

"Woah." Falcom looked around the forest in confusion. She could hear the australian's cherry laugh from… everywhere. It was impossible to pinpoint its source and to make things even worse, her companion disappeared completely.

Did he use magic? Or maybe those cloaking devices Spy have?

"Let us get moving. They will wait of course, but I want to meet them as fast as possible." The Eyelander hurried, going so far as to move Falcom's legs himself, which obviously frustrated their owner.

"I'm walking, I'm walking. Stop possessing me, please."

Eyelander gave no heed towards Falcom's pleading, making her run towards the unknown with greater speed than she could ever imagine herself reaching.

The precious, her own beautiful precious. She yearns for its touch, she needs its touch. She wants to gaze again at that majestic sheen, she wants to hear again its godly voice. She wants to see her precious again. To be lulled again by its marvelous sounds of choirs, to be mesmerized again by its magnificent beauty. It's so pretty. Prettier than anything.

Prettier than-

"Huh?"

Nepgear opened her eyes… and she doesn't recognize this ceiling.

She doesn't know where she is.

She doesn't know how she got here.

She doesn't know what's going on.

She doesn't know why she's tied up.

Total confusion is what she's feeling. Imagine yourself going to sleep, and then waking up in a different bed in different country.

The CPU Candidate struggled against her restraints, but they wouldn't budge. Whoever made them took her increased strength into account. Escape without outside help is impossible. "W-What's going on? W-Where is this?" She felt herself panicking. She was in unfamiliar territory with no way to defend herself. Judging by these factors, her confused and alerted mind reached the most logical conclusion:

"D-Did the ASIC capture me!?"

Her panic intensified. She doesn't know what the ASIC is planning to do with her, but it couldn't be anything good. Without thinking, and with all her might, Nepgear tried to wriggle herself free. She wriggled, pushed, ripped and bit. She couldn't stay here, she needs to return to Histoire, to Planeptune… basically she needs to be anywhere but here.

"I have to... get away quick... Hauuuuh..."

But no matter how much strength she mustered, the restraints held tight. Releasing a defeated sigh, the lilac-haired girl stopped wrestling with the restraints. It was pointless. In fact, she just noticed that she isn't in her HDD anymore, she probably turned it off in her sleep.

The CPU Candidate turned her head to look around, mentally pointing out that she should have done so before thrashing around… "Hmm?"

She could see various medical equipment, x ray scans, a heartbeat detector, various vials with mysterious liquids and handheld tools lying on a table, like scalpels or bonesaws…

So she's in some sort of hospital right now? If so then...

"Wait. What the goodness!? Why am I on an operating table!? What did they do to me!?"

Her brain had thousands of questions, but zero answers. She was watching the mercs' reunion with those new people, and then suddenly she woke up here...

"Ugh… what happened? I was watching over Blanc and then the mercenaries were talking with those two, and then I heard that-"

Then she heard that beautiful choir calling out to her, and again her memories got dizzy. She remembers feeling strangely warm and passing out shortly after.

"It's the metal! The material from which CFW Judge's armor was built!"

She doesn't understand what it was, but something about that armor threw her into a trance. A trance where all she could think of is how to get as close as possible towards her precious. No matter the cost. It clouded her mind and make her threw away all reason...

They finally managed to build a hard-counter against her.

"What a scary thing the ASIC have at their disposal..." She noted with a hint of fear.

In the past, way before the ASIC was even founded, there were already people who tried to make anti-CPU weapons. From making weapons and guns for humans to wield to giant war machines, many have tried to overthrow the CPU regime.

But none of them succeeded, not even the biggest weapon manufacturer in Lastation Avenir managed to do it. The CPUs destroyed everything those people threw at them.

B-But now... the ASIC managed to create something that doesn't assault the body, but the mind. And it worked horrifyingly effectively on her.

If Nepgear fought alone back then, she would certainly have lost. Scratch that, even with her friends and mercenaries backing her up it was still not enough! They won by the sheer luck that those new people arrived to save the day.

What if they're going to run tests on her? Testing more methods to see which one of them is effective against a CPU? This would turn into an all-out war where the ASIC hold a clear advantage!

Nepgear may have the Re:Spawn System protecting her, but it doesn't mean much if that metal can just drive her insane. It doesn't even reach everywhere, like the cave they were in.

What if she's out of Re:Spawn's reach right now?

Nepgear doesn't know how to check if she's in Re:Spawn range, nor does she know how far the Re:Spawn System can even reach. There's a good chance that if she dies, she may not Re:Spawn at all!

"Ah!?"

Something suddenly landed onto her chest, right onto her right breast more accurately. That thing turned out to be the familiar, blood-stained pigeon though. "...Archimedes?" As if reacting to his name, the pigeon turned towards Nepgear and cooed, 'Hi there!' Nepgear imagined him to say.

'What is he doing here? He should be in the mercs' hotel.' Ignoring the uncomfortable feeling of having a bird standing on her boobs, Nepgear stared at the bird in confusion. Well… considering her circumstances she couldn't do much else but that. Or try to make him fly away by wriggling.

The bird, tilting his head, also stared at the CPU, doing nothing else as the CPU Candidate reevaluated her surroundings. When she passed out, she was surrounded by her allies. There would be no way they let the ASIC capture her. And even if they did, Archimedes wouldn't be able to be here…

Her conclusion about this being an ASIC lab was false from the start.

So this place was...

"Oh… this is just Medic's lab. Oh thank goodness…" She sighed in relief. It seems she was worried for no reason. She is in a safe place.

She was safe, truly safe indeed...

But then it hit her.

"W-Wait! Why would Medic tie me up!?"

And this is where we switch scenes…

Taking the teleporter leading to the mercs' hotel, Histoire was met with a rather… interesting sight.

"You'll never hit me! You'll never hit me! You'll never hit me! Give it up, Solly!"

"You cannot run from me! My bison is faster!"

The first thing she noticed was Scout and Soldier, playing a rather dangerous game of tag, with the bostonian trying to dodge the endless onslaught of Soldier's ray beams. Then near the corner she could see Medic who was rather interested by the moving, wooden cutout of some strange, purplish beast with white fur Histoire has never heard of. Sitting on a bench next to the german was Heavy, wearing a silly costume resembling said beast and eating a banana.

She was already ready to ask questions, confused by what they're doing or why the lobby is littered with open Mann Co. crates, but then she noticed Demoman… sleeping as always, but Pyro was already trying to wake him up… by endlessly slapping the merc in the face with a grey rubber glove...

Spy is crying and Sniper is rubbing the salt by laughing at him...

Engineer, the only one who wasn't caught up in the weird antics, noticed the fairy hovering near the stairs. "G' mornin' Histoire. Anythin' we can help with?" He greeted, catching the attention of others and making them look at their employer.

"I am, yet again, at a loss of words on what is happening right now." She confessed truthfully.

"S' nothing big. We just got a new shipment from Mann Co." Sniper shrugged and pointed his thumb at the weeping merc. "Spook here is just having a breakdown 'cus Hale nerfed his Dead Ringer."

The words 'Hale nerfed his Dead Ringer' were confusing to the fairy. How do you make a watch less dangerous to you or anyone else?

Not knowing what else to say, Histoire simply parroted Sniper. "Nerfed? The Dead Ringer?" She spoke them while furrowing her brow, but Engineer, being a helpful guy, handed her the list of the balances.

"Yup, here's the list of changes our gear is goin' through."

The more she read it, the more she grew confused. The entire list looked like a list of gameplay changes taken straight out of a video game. 50% faster switch speed, 30% less damage, et cetera. This huge list was full of stuff like those. Why would they weaken some of those items anyway? Is it some sort of punishment?

It just shows that the mercenaries are still full of mystery, and they still have tons of surprises for her.

Finished skimming through the list, Histoire handed back the list feeling rather nonplussed. She had gradually accepted the fact that the mercenaries and their employers don't make sense half the time so she wasn't totally surprised, but that bout of strangeness hit her from an unseen angle. She was expecting more totally casual bloodshed and not… this.

"And those will be in effect… when?"

"Right now actually, seems like Hale left those when we were sleepin'." Engineer shrugged.

"I see." She dismissed it, not feeling like questioning the rather insane logic (or lack of it) behind the 'balancing'. Instead she locked her gaze onto Medic, who raised a questioning eyebrow. "Medic, I would like to check Blanc again, do you mind?"

Medic, expecting this question the moment he saw her, shrugged in an 'eh, whatever' manner. "Not at all, Frau Histoire."

Eerie silence surrounded both of them as they ascended the stairs, the mercenaries watching them go without saying anything. It was creepy actually.

But the moment they disappeared from view, the party resumed. Like a bunch of teenagers.

'She looks so peaceful.' Were Histoire's immediate thoughts, watching the sleeping form of the CPU of Lowee.

"Her condition hasn't changed at all. Still invincible as before." Medic stated, watching the fairy's thinking form.

No changes at all, that's good actually. It eased her mind a little.

Pulling out her tiny, custom-made phone, the Oracle of Planeptune snapped a few pictures with her and the sleeping CPU. Naturally, it confused Medic quite a bit. "You came here only to take some pictures with her?" His puzzlement was clear in his voice and body language, as the german was scratching his head.

"The Oracle of Lowee asked for proof that we managed to rescue Blanc. However as I was previously too... preoccupied to think about it, I neglected to prepare any so I'm fixing that now." She explained, snapping more and more photos.

"Ah, I see. Shall we check on Fräulein Nepgear as well?" He proposed, nodding.

There was only one answer Histoire could provide.

"Nepgear?" Medic asked, slowly opened the doors to the Medical Bay.

After having had time to think, the CPU Candidate had calmed down completely and patiently waited for the doctor to check on her, and seeing both him and Histoire to enter the room made her brighten up. "Ah! Medic, Histoire!"

"I see you're awake, Fräulein." Noted Medic with a flat expression, but the fairy was much more happy about her wakeful state.

"I am glad you're awake, truly. You had me worried back then."

"Ehehe… I'm sorry." She sheepishly laughed, but then she suddenly shook her head and looked at both of them with a more serious gaze. "But nevermind that, I have something important to say. It's about the CFW Judge."

"Hov convenient." Medic remarked. "Ve vanted to ask you about zhis as well. Well? Vat is it?"

"The armor CFW Judge had… I don't know what it was or what it actually did, but I couldn't exactly think straight because of that beautiful choir coming out of it."

The 'I couldn't exactly think straight' was an understatement, but the choir part intrigued Medic, who pressed his fist to his mouth in thoughts. "Hmm… zhe choir you say, can you elaborate?" He questioned. At the same time, Histoire pondered about Nepgear's tone when she said 'beautiful', it sounded like a woman struck with love.

"I could, but can you first let me go? These restraints are getting a little… uncomfortable."

"Huh?" Histoire's eyes widened.

She couldn't see it thanks to the sea green blanket covering her, but the restraints holding Nepgear down were still in place.

Medic however was much more casual about this, simply apologising with a quick "Ah, right. Apologies." And getting to free the CPU Candidate from the operating table.

"Why did you tie up Nepgear?" The Oracle questioned, feeling both confused and angry at this fact.

"It vas for her own protection. If she woke up in zhe same mental state she could have hurt herself even more."

"Hurt myself even more?" Nepgear parroted in shock. "What did I do to myself?"

She felt rather fine actually, nothing was aching her other than her legs starting to get a little numb…

Medic looked Nepgear right in her purple eyes, boring his gaze right into her soul. She felt a little freaked out by this, like there wasn't anything she could hide from him. After a while, he finally spoke.

"Do you really vant to know?"

Her confidence faltered a bit, something in his tone suggested that she would be better off not hearing it…

"A-Actually I'm fine. No, thank you." Choosing to not hear what happened, Nepgear felt slightly relieved when Medic turned his creepy gaze elsewhere and freed her. The method he used was kinda anticlimactic…

I mean seriously, she wrestled with those restraints as much as she could, but all she needed to do to free herself was to press an easily reachable button!? The CPU Candidate internally facepalmed, feeling stupid. But stupid or not, she was finally free. Taking a deep breath and feeling grateful, Nepgear thanked Medic and moved on with the explanation.

She talked about how she felt in CFW Judge's presence, describing the effects of this new armor of his in rather creepy detail. It wasn't uncommon for Histoire to stop Nepgear before she went onto yet another ramble about how beautifully the choir sang or how she wanted to cuddle herself to sleep with this metal. Even Medic felt a bit creeped out the longer she talked about it.

But there was something interesting.

"A heavenly choir und an attractive look only for specific people…" Medic mused. No one, especially not him, felt anything like what Nepgear described. But the effects were actually familiar to him, actually there was an expert on that subject in their team, waiting right on the lower floor.

"Hold on zhere, fräulein. I need to get someone to listen to zhis." He pardoned himself, cutting Nepgear short. "O-Oh. Alright." The candidate said, pausing until Medic comes back.

While the doctor was unavailable, Histoire, who was silently listening until now decided to speak up. "How do you feel?" She asked. She's been worried about her ever since she saw that horrible scene.

"Uhm I think I'm alright now, but I'm sorry. I probably worried you all."

"Yes, you did."

There was no point in denying it, Nepgear's rash actions had been alarming even for the mercs, but hearing the story from the Candidate's perspective confirmed her suspicions that Nepgear wasn't thinking right then. It almost sounds like the metal hypnotized her to the point of madness. Hopefully Medic will be able to help them figure out exactly what's going on before the incident repeats itself. The image of Nepgear giddily throwing herself into an incoming blade of silver were among the nicer horrors that plagued the little Oracle's imagination right now. The fairy shook her head and changed the subject.

"Anyway… Before coming here, I was talking to the Oracle of Lowee actually." She switched topics, trying to make Nepgear (and herself) focus on something else.

The CPU Candidate did seem interested in the affairs of different nations. "Really? How was she?"

"She was shocked, to put it simply." Histoire had no other verb to describe her. "If our next discussion goes without problems, she and the Loweean CPU Candidates should bring a Sharicite here to revive Blanc."

While Histoire was smiling at those words, Nepgear was rather shocked. "Huh? Mina will come here? And the CPU Candidate!? Lowee has a Candidate!?"

As far as the lilac-haired girl remembers, she was the only Candidate in Gamindustri. In fact, she's certain of it. Of course, that was 3 years ago.

Just how much has the world changed in just 3 years?

W-Wait! Histoire said Candidates. As in plural.

Lowee have more than one CPU Candidate!?

Histoire didn't expect such surprise from Nepgear, the fairy actually thought that she was aware of other Candidates that were currently protecting their nations. "Yes, they will come here-"

But before she could explain further, Medic returned with the person he sought for. And that person turned out to be Sniper, for some reason. "Alright, so watcha have, Nepgear." He crossed his arms. "We should make things quick, though. Miss Pauling is throwing a fit in the lobby, saying that she wants to talk with you, Histoire."

"Throving a fit vould be an overstatement zhere, Sniper." Medic corrected and adjusted his glasses.

"Well, whatever. Point still stands." He shrugged and turned his head to Nepgear. "Well, sheila. I'm waiting."

And so Nepgear explained the effects of CFW Judge's armor to the australian, basically repeating what she said before but making sure to lose herself way less than earlier. It didn't take long for the merc to state his opinion.

"Yup, sounds like Australium, and that's strange." He agreed, but there was some confusion in his voice. "I 'aven't feel anythin', so that ain't really Australium, but the effects you describe are the same as when an australian sees Australium."

"What is Australium?" Histoire asked, another thing of the mercs' world she's never heard of.

"Australium is…" Medic began, "Zhe rarest element on Earth, zhat is our homevorld actually. Australium can be found only in Australia, and its sought by everyone due to its amazing properties."

"Ye, what Doc said." Sniper agreed with his teammate's explanation. "But there's something more to it. It's poison."

"Poison?" Nepgear repeated.

"Ye, poison." The australian spat out venomously. "It makes you smarter, stronger, mannlier, but also crazier. It'll poison your mind until you can't think rationally. Every Australian 'sides me and my parents can't think of anythin' else but how to make their moustache thicker or how to punch the bloke standin' next to them. They're a bunch of stupid geniuses who invented a cloaking device to create an invisible kangaroo wrestling match."

Histoire and Nepgear didn't know what to say, they haven't met any australians besides him or Saxton Hale (who Histoire technically still hasn't met in person) but from the sound of it, the australians don't actually sound so bad and Sniper is just envious of them.

But then again, they don't know how the stereotypical australian acts, they can't judge. Considering the kind of company Sniper hangs out with, if he considers Australians insane then there's probably more to the 'poisoned' populace than they can imagine.

"So CFW Judge's armor was made from Australium?" Nepgear pondered, but Sniper shook his head.

"Nope, not possible. Australium looks like gold, but that tin can was silvery, it was somethin' else with similar traits."

"So while we've confirmed the cause, it's still nothing conclusive." Histoire sighed, the plot thickens. "I'll have to let the Guild know about this, and also ask them to analyze his armor. Thanks for the help, Sniper."

"Any time." He nodded, before pointing at the exit. "Now you might wanna talk with Miss Pauling, be careful though, she'll lie and manipulate her way into you."

"Thanks for the concern, but Medic already informed me about her. I am aware of how dangerous she is."

Too dangerous to keep close, but at the same time too dangerous to let go. The mercs would probably gladly kill her if she asked but the Oracle doesn't want things to escalate that far… also it probably won't sit with Mr. Hale very well…

"Good." Sniper nodded in the affirmative. "Still, better for you if make things vague. Don't let her latch onto anything."

Oh boy… he sounds like she's some sort of shady dealer.

"I'm sorry for keeping you waiting."

Histoire greeted with a fake smile, although she's confident that no one can read it as being forced.

Sitting on one of the chairs, Miss Pauling also said her greetings with an ambiguous smile. "Nah, don't worry about it."

Histoire wasn't sure how she did it, but it's just both of them in the lobby. The rest of the mercs were missing. Sure, she isn't completely alone as there is Medic, Sniper and Nepgear to aid her in case something happens, but the fairy is still worried. This is most likely due to the mercs constantly warning her, but Histoire started to see Miss Pauling in a new light.

"I understand that you have some sort of proposal for me, right?" She might as well take a more direct approach and not waste time. The quicker she's done with it, the faster Histoire can show Mina the photographic proof.

The chair creaked as Miss Pauling leaned on it, her eyes closed and her arms crossed. "Straight to the chase then." She noted, nodding to herself. Then she nudged a chair which was on the opposite side. "Wanna sit?" The assistant suggested, but Histoire declined with a shake of her head.

"No thank you. I'll remain on my book."

And also if she actually sat on that chair, she won't be able to see Miss Pauling at all.

"Fine then. I want to help you take down the ASIC."

And the hearing began, with Miss Pauling stating her desire to help right from the start. Histoire heard her saying this before, that she was initially there to grab the mercs but then she said they'll stay to help because they have nowhere else to go…

Would Histoire be able to live with the guilt of throwing out someone onto the streets, with them not having anywhere else to go? Sure, she could be lying about this, but considering she's from the same world as the mercs. It holds some credibility.

"...because ve know her, ve know she can't be trusted. Her boss is planning on using you, Frau Histoire, to achieve her goals like she did vith us. Sooner or latter ve vill be in trouble."

"Now you might wanna talk with Miss Pauling, be careful though, she'll lie and manipulate her way into you."

The mercs are already suspicious of her. But does she even have a connection with her boss? From what she remembers, the mercs tried contacting her too and they failed.

"We're going against an international crime organisation. You know that right?"

"Yes, I am aware. But this is where me and Hale might be useful."

Histoire raised her brow at this, she spoke nothing but nodded for Miss Pauling to continue.

"The mercs probably already spoke their complaints about me to you. I can see how wary you are now."

Histoire sweatdropped at this, the assistant read her completely.

"So let me put in this way. Accept my help and I'll join the ASIC, nono, stop, let me finish." The Oracle was quick to argue, but Miss Pauling was even quicker to stop her. "I'll feed you intel on what they're doing. I'll manipulate and blackmail their workers to do what you ask me and then throw them under the bus to get a higher position. When the mercs bust a place down and kill everyone, I'll dispose of the bodies and evidence for the police to have a harder time."

The assistant said all of that with indifference, but it was harder and harder for Histoire to listen to her. Yes, she was definitely working with mercenaries, there was no doubt about it now.

But even then. "Isn't this all what Spy is already doing?" Everything she listened there sounded like something Spy was already doing. Why would she need someone who both concerned her other employees and had a set of skills similar to one of her already trusted personnel?

Histoire's resolve to hire her dropped, but Miss Pauling looked rather disappointed at her words. "It sounds like it but no, Spy is an assassin. He's a person you send when you want someone discreetly missing. He isn't suited for pure espionage where you only collect information and getting it leaked without raising suspicion. That's my job, I was in charge of collecting intel for the Administrator. I'll be able to reach into places where even Spy, with a cloak watch and disguise kit, won't be able to. With my help, the ASIC won't be able to hold any secrets from you."

'She knows how to market herself.' Histoire thought. "I see, but then what would be Mr. Hale's role?"

"He's my bodyguard and a reliable plan B. If there is something I can't obtain by blackmail or manipulation, I'll use Hale's force. You saw how powerful he is."

Yes, he showed his might very clearly…

"Okay. But what's in it for you?" Miss Pauling clearly explained the benefits Histoire will get from hiring her, but the ravenette never said a word on what she herself will be getting from the deal.

Shrugging, Miss Pauling said her price. "A place to stay and a reliable source of income. What else can I get?"

Sound rewards, she's from another world so she doesn't have anything to her name. Having a roof over her head and money would be reasonably the first thing to desire in a new society.

This is a dilemma for Histoire. The mercs say to get as far as possible from her, but what she is offering is to actually hold herself at that distance, and help her defeat the ASIC from the shadows. If she accepts her help then Saxton Hale will join as well, who'll be a big help in the next fights against the CFWs.

Should she hire her, and reap the great benefits? Or reject her and play it safe?

Histoire had to think about this carefully.

The mercs say she's dangerous, and Miss Pauling's aware of their distrust. That's why she offers to be as far as possible from them and instead live with the ASIC, where she'll stab their backs for her benefit.

While information and discourse in the enemy ranks are useful, that's actually one of the less helpful benefits, the mercs are doing fine getting under the ASIC's skin without her help.

What is really important to her is Saxton Hale. He took on CFW Judge one-on-one and emerged decisively victorious. It doesn't matter that the Felon was already wounded, Hale won without a scratch where the entire mercenary team and Nepgear's friends combined had failed.

If they could get him onto their side, they could defeat the ASIC by taking out their leaders directly. There wouldn't be any need of slowly removing their influence from the nation.

But he's tied up to a person that the mercenaries absolutely distrust…

So that's why...

"I thank you for being eager to help. But I'm afraid I must decline your proposal."

She'll place her faith in their judgement, like she should as their employer.

The mercenaries were helpful to her from the start, literally sacrificing their lives to protect Nepgear from the ASIC, using their barbaric, yet effective, strategies to help Histoire and Nepgear to free Planeptune from ASIC's influence. They also made her and her friends immortal thanks to the Re:Spawn System.

Not only have they fully committed to their duty, such as saving Histoire's life during the press conference, with Spy taking a bullet for her, but they've gone above and beyond it too. Soldier trained Nepgear and her friends, she knows Engineer's befriended the Candidate in their mutual love for machinery, and something similar applies between Medic and Compa. For all their faults, madness and violence, they are as loyal as can be, and sometimes the fairy found it easy to forget that they're just hired guns, simply because they act like so much more than that.

These men care for her, and for Nepgear and her friends. When a group of people like that tells her not to trust someone she can already tell is dangerous, how could she not listen to them?

Miss Pauling meanwhile, was mildly surprised. "Pardon?" But she tried to keep her voice polite.

Usually, when Histoire rejects a deal she doesn't like, the second party will try to force her into accepting their proposal, through her work as the Oracle there were many people like that. Desperately trying to make her give in and accept it.

"I'm afraid I'll decline your help. I'm rather certain that I wouldn't need your skills."

"Well, that's unfortunate."

At least the person sitting in front of her was decent enough to not be one of those people. Act or not she already topped a few other businessmen who tried to take advantage of her.

The assistant stood up, facing the Oracle fully. She didn't think she would succeed in persuading the fairy when she's protected by the mercenaries, but the ravenette likes to at least try her hand before giving up.

And because of that, she'll try something else.

Miss Pauling raised her finger to get Histoire's attention. "But before I leave though." Then she turned her hand, with the palm facing upwards. It was common when people wanted something.

"Can you lend me some money for a plane ticket? Please?"

…

…

…

Now this scene was rather comical. Histoire was watching the ravenette with a deadpan expression, judging whether or not she should throw her a bone and give her some money, while the beggar just stood there with her hand reaching out and a sheepish smile decorating her face. An awkward silence slowly consumed their souls until one of them does anything.

Then Histoire opened her wallet.

Miss Pauling walked out with 3000 Credits more to her name. This is a new currency to her so she isn't certain just how much she can buy with it, but at least she received something. "Onwards to Leanbox, then. After I pick up Hale." She declared, calling the over-muscled idiot with her oversized brick of a phone.

Yeah, she caught a few looks with it.

As for Histoire, the Oracle was pondering if she screwed up somewhere. She felt that tiny nagging feeling that this isn't the last time they'll be seeing her… and they'll be in lots of trouble when that happens.

"You made the right choice. It's better to keep people like her away from you."

Spy's reassuring words came from the corner, he must have been standing with the Cloak and Dagger equipped. Histoire doesn't know how much he heard but she bets that he heard everything.

"Where is the rest of the team?"

"Listening in from the Resupply Room."

Oh. So there they were this entire time. The 6 remaining mercs watching her from the staircase, with only their heads visible. Pyro even waved to her when Histoire noticed it. She was about to ask why they were there, but Soldier answered it before she even asked. "No interruptions. Miss Pauling's orders!"

"Oookay…."

The awkwardness haven't left her yet, and the mercs weren't exactly helping it.

So now that Miss Pauling/Histoire talk is over with, how about we skip to the next scene.

There are a lot of discussions in this chapter...

"Hello again, Histoire."

"Good day to you too, Mina. I've brought the proof with me and am sending them now."

For the 3rd time in just one day, both Oracles greeted each other, with Histoire uploading her collected proof immediately, dragging the pictures one-by-one from her phone and onto the chat box.

The time break had given Mina an opportunity to steel herself. She was certain that Histoire would keep her word and prepare proof, and well… she did.

But there would never be enough time for her to properly prepare for when the first photo loaded on her screen, for when she could finally see her employer, leader, friend, safe, resting peacefully in a warm and cozy bed instead of the Graveyard.

It's just too much for Mina's fragile heart. Blanc is back. Blanc is finally back...

"...Are you alright?"

Only because Histoire asked, dumbfounded by that, did Mina notice the moisture leaking out of her eyes. She tried to wipe them away and remain calm but just couldn't. "I-I…" Even her voice was breaking. "I never thought I'd see Blanc again. This is… This is real, right?"

The proof was right in front of her, delivered to her by a trusted person, the timestamp showed that these were made only a few minutes ago and the picture was too clear for it to be any sort of mistake. And yet, the Loweean Oracle couldn't believe it. It's too good to be true. After those 3 painful years, where all of them struggled all they could to keep this country from burning down, when they've grown to accept that their CPU will be lost forever, she just gets a sudden call like that, saying Blanc is rescued.

This isn't a dream, right?

"Yes, those are authentic. The CPU White Heart is currently resting in Planeptune, and waiting for your Sharicite." Histoire assured. The fairy also feels warm inside, seeing Mina so happy that she loses composure… it bring a light smile to her face. She genuinely shares her happiness like a true friend.

Using her hand like a fan, Mina tried to dry those happy tears away. "I'm so happy. I'm so happy…"

She must start creating the Sharicite, there's no time to lose.

But let her just calm down first…

The rest of the talk was insignificant, mostly composed with Mina trying to stop crying and Histoire reassuring her that his is all real. Perhaps the only thing worth mentioning is Mina stating that she'll arrive as soon as possible after she finishes creating the Sharicite.

"Girls?" Now the still teary-eyed Oracle slowly opened the doors to Rom & Ram's room.

As expected of it being a child's room, it bore bright colors, with walls being light blue and pink striped. It possessed everything to be comfortable for them, like colorful bean bag chairs scattered across the room, a bookcase full of picture books and plushies, two desks where the twins did their homework and finally a Loweean console connected to the 4k TV monitor attached to the wall.

Anyway, seeing their guardian opening the doors, the twins raised their heads from the picture book they were coloring. "Hey there, Mina- are you crying?" Ram blinked at Mina, clearly confused.

Rom saw it too, and looked at their caretaker with concern. "Are you okay?" She said softly.

The bluenette just realized that it was still clear she cried, despite her washed face. The Loweean Oracle just looked to the ground, admitting the deed with a small sigh. "I was."

The twins' worry intensified, but Mina raised her face again. A smile was present on her face.

"Get ready, girls. Y-your s-sister returned. We're going to see her." Her voice was dying out at the last bit, but Rom and Ram still caught it.

Frozen in shock by those words, both twins dropped their crayons.

"We're getting close, stop now."

Doing as instructed, Falcom halts her run with a small slide. The adventurer looked back at the path they took; she couldn't believe how fast she moved. She never achieved such speed before, in fact she could only dream of moving so fast with any other weapon besides Eyelander.

So this happens when you have a ghost on your side?

"You can turn around now, look where we are now."

Said ghost broke her out of her reverie. There were no monsters crossing her path so Falcom sheathed it to free her hands, now it hangs from her hip.

Facing her front, the redhead breathed out of disbelief. "Woah…"

She was standing at the edge of a shore, being so long that it reached the horizon, and where there was a shore there was... "Water?"

This sapphire-colored liquid went as far as her eye could see, looking frighteningly like an ocean. But Falcom knows that she hasn't reached one yet. Her sense of direction isn't that bad. "It's so clear, I can see the bottom!"

She's heard of and seen lakes that were so clear that you could see the bottom. Those usually look shallow, but their appearance can be deceiving and be even 200 meters deep.

"Yes, the water looks good, I get it. But look to the right, do you see that small island in the middle of this lake?"

Falcom narrowed her eyes and scanned the lake, trying to see what Eyelander noticed. "The one with the castle? Yeah I see it. Wait, this means… we're at the Heart Lake?"

The largest lake in Planeptune and all of Gamindustri, named because of its shape of a heart. Falcom knew that they're pretty close to it when they were hunting with Hale, but to think that this 'kindred spirit' of the Eyelander is at this lake?

"Yes, that castle. This is where my kindred spirit awaits. Do you know what it is?"

Falcom closed her right eye, searching within her history knowledge. "Umm… some castle left by Neptune's predecessor. LAN Castle, historians call it, I'm not sure what its purpose was though. Some sort of fortification in case of invasion perhaps? An old Basilicom?"

"Can we still enter there?"

"If I remember my geography right… There should be a natural bridge connecting it with the main land. Ah, there."

Spotting not one, but two naturally formed bridges, Falcom points them out. "Splendid." Eyelander said with a hint of eagerness. "Let us depart then."

…

…

…

…

…

...

Unbeknownst to them, to everyone in Gamindustri. Falcom, Miss Pauling, Histoire, everyone. They were all observed by a mysterious figure hidden in the white void.

And as Falcom neared the LAN Castle, that person panicked.

TF2 Dictionary:

- Nerf

A term used to describe a weapon or item that has been downgraded or had its capabilities reduced. Typically weapons are "nerfed" for gameplay balance reasons, i.e. the item is significantly overpowered or provides too great an advantage over other players.

- Buff

May refer to:

A charged Buff Banner, Battalion's Backup, or Concheror deployed for use by a Soldier.

The state of a player being overhealed by a friendly Medic.

Slang for a weapon or item's game mechanics being improved or made stronger.

- Spy checking

A common term for the investigations players make to determine where or who enemy Spies are and eliminate them. These investigations are both useful and important because Spies cannot attack while cloaked, cannot immediately attack or place Sappers after decloaking, and can effectively kill by attacking from behind.

Interdimensional RED-Coded Contract

Good Luck and Bad Luck

Before saying anything else, I'm sorry for going META, I had no idea how else I could explain sudden major changes to merc's arsenal other than going into META so I'm sorry. Although it did give me an opportunity for a comedic scene…

And that's that for the 21th chapter, it took a while to write, mostly because I'm also working on rewriting the crappy prologue (which was actually done, but my editor threw it out and is now writing one by himself. So I spent an entire month for nothing...). But nevermind all of that.

So what do you guys think? What is the meaning of that cliffhanger? Who is that person or the Eyelander's kindred spirit? Haha! Those questions will be answered later, as always.

VERY IMPORTANT: Because Falcom's adventures in LAN Castle are an important, if not a critical part of the story. Next few chapters are going to take the break from other stuff and focus purely on her. As this location will make the plot really thick, extra thicc even!

But after we're done, we're going to see Blanc waking up pronto, I assure you.

Responses:

- Samdaman95

Stop that caps, jeez. There won't be any conquest endings, I already have an ending picked up and this isn't a conquest one. Trust me.

Maybe you guys will even like it.

- Piggyslayer1235

Standing on Nepgear's boob like in few scenes ago.

*- "Ta zniewaga krwi wymaga!" is a quote from a Polish comedy book named "Zemsta" ("Revenge" in english) written by Aleksander Fredro and published in 1838. Because Soldier was actually in Poland, it would be possible for him to read the book or at least learn the saying, as it is pretty popular here.

I'm not sure if there is an official english adaptation of the book, but I would translate this into something like "This insult requires a blood spill!"