Interdimensional RED-Coded Contract

Breaking the Wall

After learning that Neptune was awake, the first thought that came to IF's mind was a relieved 'Oh, that's great!' immediately followed by 'Oh damn... Neptune's back.' as she realized that a major source of her headaches had just returned. Combined with the mercs, her sanity had never been so threatened before.

Oh, yeah, the mercenaries. Between them and Neptune, she's not sure who's the weirder… though she's inclined to choose the latter.

And indeed, as Neptune and the mercenaries finally met for the first time, the crew of hardened psychopaths already found themselves confused by a certain fact.

"You're older." Scout said.

"Yup." Neptune confirmed.

"Older sister of that girl." Demoman pointed his thumb at Nepgear.

"Mhm, big sis of the great and beautiful Nep Jr., right here." Neptune proudly announced, her fist banging against her chest.

"But you look even younger zhan Nepgear…" Medic muttered under his breath… however Neptune still heard him.

"Hey! Don't make fun of my youthful appearance just because you look like some old doctor guy!" The CPU snapped.

"...I am zhe doctor, though."

"Oh… cool." Neptune said before a lewd grin spread over her face. "I bet you touched me and my sis plenty when we were asleep, eh?"

Medic… didn't dignify her teasing with a response, and merely pushed up his glasses. There wasn't even a hint of a blush on his face. Nepgear meanwhile found the joke a lot less funny and looked with uncertainty at the doctor. "Uh… d-did you?"

"Compa was taking care of you, ask her."

This answer relieved the Candidate.

Sniper grunted in annoyance and tried to bring back the discussion to its original topic. "So you're in charge of Planeptune, right?"

IF covered her face as Neptune put her arms behind her head. "Well… Histy usually does all the work for me, but yeah, I'm in charge!"

"She gets overruled most of the time by Histoire." IF added.

"So she does nothing." Heavy asked.

"Yup." IF nodded.

"Hey! I do work… sometimes...yeah." Neptune defended herself, but IF effortlessly pierced through those defenses.

"Only when Histoire forces you to do it."

This was like a heavy blow to the CPU. Neptune recoiled exaggeratedly with her hand grabbing her chest. "Ouch… that was cold, Iffy." The CPU fell to her knees and begged for mercy, however Spy went for the kill. The merc turned fully towards the Guild agent, a confused frown visible even with his mask.

"...So, why exactly did you want us to rescue her again?"

"Nep?!" Neptune coughed, as if a knife buried itself within her back.

IF paused as she tried to think up a legitimate reason, however nothing came to her mind. Neptune as IF knew her didn't do any work, was annoying and dumped everything onto Nepgear and Histoire. Though she didn't want to outright admit the CPU was pretty much useless in front of her face.

"Uhhh… Shares? I mean, she's still our figurehead and people look up to her..." IF shrugged.

In the background, the useless Goddess seemed to lose all her color as she looked like her soul had just escaped. No one paid her any heed.

Spy meanwhile seemed to accept the answer. Figureheads are useful in any government, afterall. "...Well, as long as you're paying. We don't care."

All of a sudden though, Neptune sprang back to her feet and clapped her hands. "So, guys… I have a question to you all."

All eyes immediately focused on her, and even as some of the mercs wondered if the goddess of Planeptune had finally decided to get serious, IF simply gave her a long suffering look. She's about to say something stupid, the agent just knew it.

"Sooo… Any of you got the hots for my sister?"

And there it is.

"Goddamnit, Nep!" IF shouted at the CPU while Nepgear blushed in embarrassment. The mercenaries looked at themselves with an unspoken 'What?' plastered all over their face, however Scout didn't meet their gaze (which his team noticed) as he was trying to hide the fact that he did in fact have 'the hots' some time ago for Nepgear (which his team was aware of).

"But Iffy, this fanfic has been going for 42 chapters already! I need to know if my sweet Nep Jr. is dating some self-Insert with a harem."

"N-Neptune, please stop..." Nepgear pleaded, but to no avail.

"This is a M-rated story! I know this particular one doesn't have a romance tag, but the authors of these things always put some romance in it anyway! And then we end up getting married to some edgy and 'cool' self-insert because they're horny teenagers with no life at all!"

…

Soldier not-so-subtly leaned towards a confused Spy.

"I think this child is crazy." He whispered.

The fact that Soldier of all people said this made Spy think that hell has frozen over.

Meanwhile, IF could feel the familiar headache creeping up on her, and as the Guild agent pinched the bridge of her nose, she couldn't decide if she missed this feeling or not.

"...What the hell are you even talking about, Nep?"

"Oh just poking some fun at the guys behind this 4th wall." The CPU motioned… towards a window where everyone could see the white colors of Lowee. IF just shook her head, even as she felt herself involuntarily grinning.

Y'know what, yeah. She did kind of miss this feeling.

"Welcome back, Neptune."

The CPU smiled and gave IF a peace sign. "That's right, the main character's finally back~ Thanks for rescuing me by the way, I really mean it!"

"Don't mention it, Nep." IF smiled back.

Then she pointed at the doors.

"Now go home."

Neptune was an easily excitable person. This became apparent when IF escorted the CPU towards the teleporter to Planeptune… and Neptune ended up teleporting herself back and forth between locations.

"This is fun! Planeptune, Lowee, Planeptune, Lowee!" Neptune said as she switched countries within seconds.

"Be careful Neptune." Nepgear warned. "It's easy to fall off these."

"Don't worry I got it all figured out!"

Finally Neptune stepped off the teleporter, and to her credit she didn't trip when leaving. "So how the heck did Histy get these things? We never had teleporters before."

"Those mercs you met before set them up, and also some other stuff. Here is where they're staying when they're in Planeptune." IF spread her arms, showcasing the lobby of the mercs' hotel. A single Sentry Gun beeped from behind the reception desk, but it ignored the girls.

Neptune nodded in understanding. "I see. You know, I couldn't really settle on them being NPCs or a group of self-Inserts, but with all this cool tech that would make Nep Jr.'s heart skip a beat, I think… oh, I get it!" The CPU slapped herself on the forehead for not realizing it sooner. "It's a crossover story! That explains that Team Fortress 2 tag!"

As The CPU of Planeptune spewed more and more meta nonsense, a bead of sweat ran across Nepgear's face.

"Umm sis, please don't destroy the 4th wall."

Nep-Nep chuckled evilly. "No can do, Nep Jr. It's been standing tall for far too long."

IF shook her head and pulled out some painkillers. "Headache. Approaching." The brunette took a bottle of water and drank its content with some pills. Neptune ran towards the counter and gaped in awe at the Sentry Gun. "Wow, check it out Nep Jr.!"

With a smile on her face, Nepgear followed her sister. "Two multi-barreled machine guns, and a salvo rocket launcher placed onto a tripod. It's capable of shredding through any intruder that dares to enter this building-"

"Alright alright, I get it Nep Jr. No need to fangirl." Neptune cut her off. "So that's the reason you forced this onto me?"

She pulled on her sleeve and revealed a red bangle on her wrist - a small gift from the mercenaries that Neptune was pretty reluctant to wear as it didn't match her colors.

"Pretty much." IF nodded. "Unless you want to be shot at by every Sentry Gun you come across."

"...How many of these do they have?"

"There's one here, and 6 more on standby in case of alarm." Nepgear answered. "Each one just like this one."

Neptune blinked twice. "Yeah… I'm going to keep this on, thank you. So what else do they have? ...Do they have pudding?!"

"No, I don't think so." IF answered, shooting down Neptune's hopes of eating some crossover delicacy. Neptune's shoulders fell for a moment, before she sprang back up again. "Shame, but what other cool stuff can you show little ol' me?"

"There's the dispenser, the medi-guns, teleporters but you've seen those…" IF counted off her fingers. "The enhancements… and the Re;Spawn System."

"The Re;Spawn System? What's that?" Neptune queried.

"It's a… death-preventive system." Nepgear explained. "Basically when one of the mercs die, this system will bring them back to live. Isn't this amazing?!"

Stars could be seen in Nepgear's eyes as she got excited over the technology, but Neptune didn't share her enthusiasm. "...Oh. So this brings people back to life, huh. Wait, that's bad!"

IF raised her eyebrow at CPU's outburst. "Uhh... Why?"

"So this is why there's an M-rating. This isn't a romance, this is a 'death is cheap' work! Iffy! We'll all drop like flies! No one is safe! Anyone can die! My protag's plot armor is gone!"

The Guild agent rolled her eyes at Neptune's tirade and just let her continue… hoping that she'll get tired and calm down on her own. She went to the kitchen, grabbed some beer and drank it there while Nepgear tried to calm down her distressed sister.

"G-Goodness, Neptune! Calm down!" The candidate grabbed Neptune's shoulders and the CPU simply launched herself at her younger sister, taking her into an embrace. "Don't worry Nep Jr.! With or without plot armor I'll… not finish this sentence."

Nepgear was confused. "... Umm… Why?"

"Because that would be a death flag."

"Ah." The candidate nodded in understanding.

IF came back, now a bit more tolerant of Neptune thanks to the alcohol in her veins. She noted with some relief that Neptune has calmed down, and there wasn't even a hint of tears in her eyes. At least she won't need to hand her a tissue.

"Okay. Now that you've calmed down and seen where the mercs live, let's go to Histoire."

"Can we take the teleporter again?"

Neptune asked with a smile on her face. After what she did last time, IF wouldn't let her to go near another teleporter again - lest she break it somehow - but she didn't know if she should let the CPU back in public yet.

After a long, agonizing pause where IF's brain weighted the options, the Guild agent relented.

"Fine."

"Woo-hoo!"

Neptune threw her hands above her head and cheered. The CPU skipped down the stairs and jumped onto the first teleporter she saw… and was in Lowee again.

Nepgear giggled while IF bit back another sigh. At least Neptune came back on her own and they wouldn't need to chase after her, the CPU stepped off the teleporter and scratched the back of her head.

"Hehe… oops. Wrong teleporter."

In a way, it was funny how quickly Blanc could change her mind.

Just a mere hour ago she had wished for her recovery to be over and for Medic to finally move his ass over here and check her out so Blanc could finally do something.

Her stance changed very quickly when Medic actually arrived, a black briefcase in hand and a pair of glasses. "Are you ready for zhe procedure?" Asked the doctor. His enthusiasm unsettled the CPU, just by his tone she could say he couldn't wait to begin, and she knew the doctor enough to know that when he's excited, she should be worried.

Blanc gulped and eyed the briefcase. "What's in that?"

"My tools, und zhe Neptulium blade. Ve don't vant you to fall under it's effects you see, so I got you zhese glasses."

...

"So all I need to do is to wear some glasses, and then I'm safe from Neptulium." Blanc said slowly, as if she couldn't believe it. "Right?"

"Yes. Herr Sniper can attest to that."

…

…

Blanc opened her mouth, but no words came out.

Who the hell designed this? This was the closest thing humanity got into creating an anti-CPU material, and it can be easily countered by… wearing glasses. It was a laughable oversight from the scientists behind it.

The CPU closed her mouth and put the offered glasses onto her face. Once her eyes were safe from the silvery material, Medic clapped his hands. "Excellent! Now please strip from the waist upwards."

Blanc's hand went to remove her coat, before her entire body froze. He said from waist upwards, and all Blanc had was a dress without any pants.

"Shouldn't a female surgeon do this?" The CPU asked, her hand still gripping the hem of her coat. Medic looked at her for a moment, then sighed.

"Frau Blanc… your embarrassment is unnecessary. Everything I see will be confidential, unless you wish to share it."

"That's… not what I had in mind." Blanc deadpanned. "Why can't Compa do it?"

"I am not a qualified surgeon!"

"Aaah!"

Blanc could've sworn her heart leaped out of her chest. The CPU turned around, her hand clutching her chest, and she saw the blonde nurse looking at her in confusion. How did she get here? Blanc asked herself. When did she get here?

"Is something wrong?"

"How the hell did you get there?!"

Compa blinked and then pointed at the door. "Through the doors."

The brunette looked back at the entry doors, which were the same doors that Medic entered through… and there wasn't any other entrance besides the windows.

"How?" Blanc wondered out loud.

"Frau Blanc, could you please?"

The CPU in question could only sigh in defeat. With one swift move she removed her coat and gave it to Compa, then she pulled over her dress and also handed it over. Only in her underwear, the CPU of Lowee lay down on the bed… why it had to be her bed she didn't dare to ask.

"The doors are locked, right?"

At her question, Compa rushed towards the entrance and locked it. Blanc nodded to the Nurse and then she noticed a disturbing lack of something.

"Uhh... Where's the anesthetics?"

Medic was visibly confused by this, which only made Blanc more concerned. "Vhat do you mean?"

"The sleeping gas." Blanc repeated. "Tranquilizers? Painkillers? You're gonna put me to sleep before the surgery, right?!"

Finally, the German doctor's eyes widened in realization.

"Oh! Ahahaha… No."

Blanc did her best to ignore the sheer uncomfortableness she was in right now. The sensation of being under a knife, awake for that matter, was surprisingly painless… although very uncomfortable. The same thing she could say about having her arms and legs bound to the bed, courtesy of a certain blonde assistant.

Medic was in his own world and ignored any distractions coming from the outside. He was engrossed in his surgery and examining the inside of Blanc's stomach and chest. If he was to describe Blanc from a biological standpoint it would be 'Fascinating'.

Just like he saw in Nepgear and Uni, Blanc also possessed the usual motherboard and processor attached to her heart - although they were mainly white in color. However there were also objects that he hadn't seen before, evidence that there was a substantial difference between a proper CPU and a mere candidate.

While the candidates were rather empty for hardware, Blanc was fully equipped. The Doctor already found RAM memory and a graphics card attached into Blanc's motherboard, and now he was tracing a set of cables that led him towards a hard drive.

What was the purpose of those items Medic could only speculate, he didn't dare to remove them. He looked around once more, but the german couldn't find any obviously-alien devices, everything he found was attached to Blanc's hardware. Medic sealed a hole in her chest and moved onto the neck and head area. Blanc winced at the blade slicing into her, but Compa kept her head steady. The Neptulium blade cut her skin like paper.

...It didn't take long for Medic to find something.

In her ear canal, just a little under the skin, he found a device that wasn't connected to anything - unlike any other hardware Medic had encountered. Not only that but there was a logo on it; a red and yellow heart - the ASIC logo.

"Vell, vell, vell, vould you look at zhat."

"What is it?" Blanc asked as she couldn't turn her head to look at the Medic.

"Zhis little thing vasn't connected to your hardware, und it bears zhe ASIC mark!"

Blanc's blood went cold. An ASIC's device... inside her.

"Oh, we know everything you hear and see."

...That's how he knew. They must've planted it when she was still ASIC's captive, and they hid it underneath her skin so it wouldn't be reachable by conventional means. Blanc grit her teeth while Medic checked her other ear - and found the same device hiding in her ear canal. Then he checked her jaw, throat, eyes and the brain.

She had been bugged, thoroughly. The ASIC heard and saw everything through Blanc's point-of-view. Her conversation with Histoire, her time spent with her sisters and the deals and plans she has made with the mercenaries...

All of that had leaked right into their hands.

Blanc finally understood.

"So this is why they let me go."

The ASIC hadn't let her go out of some stupid excuse like her not being to Trick's taste. They wanted her to spy for them and collect information about the mercenaries. Her freedom was planned all along.

Take, read, sign, put away. Take, read, sign, put away. Like a machine Histoire signed document after document, creating a tower made out of ready paperwork. It's been hours ever since she began, but the Oracle hadn't taken a single break. These papers had to be filled in and sent today.

Then her doors were suddenly flung open, and three people entered her office. The fairy recognized them and smiled.

"Hi Histy, I'm home!" Neptune shouted, a wide grin on her face.

Despite her work being interrupted, Histoire didn't mind it for once. "Welcome home, Neptune. I'm glad you're back."

"Yeah it's been a while, huh. I saw that cool stuff you've set up while I was away."

She was probably referring to the mercenaries' teleporters and other tech, IF confirmed that thought when she groaned at the memory. "Ugh… She spent 5 minutes just teleporting between here and the hotel." The brunette said, earning a chuckle from the Candidate.

"Oh dear… she didn't break anything?" Histoire asked.

"Fortunately not…"

Histoire sighed from relief, while Neptune walked up to a window. "So how's my dear nation been holding up these past… three… oh." The CPU's eyes widened as she saw the state of Planeptune. Even from her height she could still see the smoking buildings and the trashed streets, the masses of people gathered at the bottom of the Basilicom.

Neptune turned away, a confused frown on her face. "Uhhh, Histy? Why is Planeptune on fire?"

The fairy froze at her question, not even daring to breathe. Histoire knew the answer to that, of course, but she couldn't bring herself to say it - to say that she was the reason for this carnage. To admit that she had ordered the deaths of thousands of people, that her people had caught wind of it and rioted because of it.

IF and Nepgear looked at the Oracle, before looking at one another. They also knew the reason why, but none of them wanted to say it. Ever since Histoire realized that her actions will have consequences, she was preparing herself for the inevitable, that sooner or later she'll have to tell the truth about what she has done; she already did this with Mina and Blanc - but they're outsiders, they have bigger problems than someone else's nation.

But this was the CPU of Planeptune.

How would she react to the knowledge that her own Oracle has hired men to kill her people?

"Histoire?" Neptune asked.

All eyes were on her, they all awaited her word. This was her time to reveal the truth.

...But she didn't.

"...We had a few riots that started a few days ago."

Histoire avoided IF's and Nepgear's gazes as she said this. It wasn't a lie, but she hid the most important detail. Neptune didn't notice it, but she did say something that surprised her.

"Anything I can do to help?"

Now it was Neptune who held all of the attention. "What?" The CPU asked, looking around at the wide eyes staring at her.

The fairy blinked. To think there would come a day that Neptune actually volunteered to work and didn't have to be forced into doing even the bare minimum. If it was under different circumstances Histoire would gladly give her something to ease her own workload, but today…

"I appreciate your offer, but you don't need to concern yourself with it. I can handle it."

Histoire would've thought that this would make Neptune happy as she would be free to laze around… but Neptune just looked at her skeptically. "Really? You'd usually jump at the chance to force some work onto me."

Histoire could feel her panic rising. Since when was Neptune this astute?! Fortunately, the Oracle had plenty of practice keeping a cool-headed appearance. "U-Under normal circumstances, that is true. However you have been a captive of ASIC for 3 years, and has barely woken up for a few hours. I believe it would be for the best if you rest, at least for a few more days."

Neptune looked at her long and hard, as if looking for something. Then she shifted her gaze onto IF and Nepgear, who stayed silent the entire time. Nepgear's face could be read like a book - there was something eating her inside, while IF had her eyebrow raised - she wondered what Neptune was doing.

"Okay, something is going on alright." The CPU announced.

Histoire's heart skipped a beat, while Neptune continued.

"We're already on chapter 42 of this story, I see new faces and stuff in the Basilicom, my nation is on fire, people are rioting, which's never happened before - I know you're hiding something from me, Histy." Neptune sat down on the chair, directly in front of the Oracle. "Please talk to me, Histoire. What happened?"

In front of Histoire was no longer the girl who she knew as the annoying, irresponsible and lazy freeloader of the Basilicom. No, in front of her sat the Goddess of Planeptune, finally acting as a CPU should… at the worst possible time. The one time she wanted Neptune to be the carefree slacker she always was, the girl had suddenly matured and became what the Oracle had always wanted her to be. The fairy internally cursed her luck and wondered if Neptune had been making her life hell on purpose all along.

The stress was mounting to irrepressible degrees, and even as Histoire tried to avoid Neptune's gaze, her discomfort had grown apparent to even the CPU. "Please, Histy. I just want to help you." She pleaded, but the fairy didn't say anything. She stayed silent out of fear of her reaction - she dreaded what Neptune might think of her if she knew.

IF saw that Histoire wasn't talking, so she spoke up first. "Let me say it, Histoire. You don't look like you're able to."

The first thing that popped into Histoire's mind was 'No!'. It was the worst possible thing that could've happened - she can't bring herself to tell the truth, but she also couldn't stay silent. To let Neptune hear it from someone else would be even worse.

Neptune however simply looked at the brunette. "You know what happened, huh?"

"Yeah." IF nodded and gave Neptune a pat on the shoulder. "I didn't think you would catch on to all of that. Really smart, Nep."

"Hey! You make it sound like I'm dumb!" Neptune complained.

"...You almost broke your nose when stepping off the teleporter."

The CPU slightly flinched when IF brought it up, but she recovered quickly. "But you caught me, Iffy! Thanks!" Neptune gave her a thumbs up.

"N-No…"

It was merely a whisper, barely audible at that, but it still made Neptune look back at Histoire. The fairy slowly raised her head and looked at IF. Tears were building up in her eyes, but they didn't fall down yet.

"Let me do it. It's my responsibility, after all."

This was happening. Histoire had trouble believing it, but it was really happening. She knew this day would come, but honestly… she didn't know where and how to begin.

'Just start the same way you started with Blanc and Mina.' Histoire told herself. She has already done this before, this was simply repeating what she did previously… no big deal.

But it was a big deal.

The Oracle grit her teeth and forced herself to calm down, while Neptune patiently waited with her arms crossed.

Histoire gulped… and started.

"A few weeks ago I sent IF and Compa to the Gamindustri Graveyard with a mission to rescue you all, a mission that… partially succeeded. The only one they've managed to save was Nepgear, then they were forced to retreat by one of the CFWs."

Neptune leaned back and nodded. Histoire continued.

"On their way home they encountered those… people in red you've seen before. They were - still are - a group of mercenaries."

Memories started flooding back, IF buried her face in her hands. "Oh goddesses, the memories, no!" She cringed at those flashbacks, but no one else paid her any mind.

"Mhn." Neptune hummed, allowing Histoire to continue.

"They… they've shown they're good at their job, very good, so good that I feared what might happen if they fell in the wrong hands… so I hired them first."

It was a concern that had long since passed, but now that Histoire thought about it, they agreed rather easily. They weren't from this world, afterall, of course they'd jump at the first opportunity to get their bearings. If it so happened that the ASIC found them first, would they've agreed to work for them just as easily?

Neptune nodded for her to continue.

"They agreed to the offer and signed up a contract. Once our partnership became official, they shared an interesting detail about them - that they aren't actually from Gamindustri, but rather from a planet named 'Earth'. Most of the new tech you see is actually theirs."

"Mhm."

"The objectives I gave them were simple. To help us defeat ASIC and rescue the CPUs. It took them a mere three days to defeat CFW Judge."

"Mhm."

"...Neptune?"

"Mhm."

Histoire narrowed her eyes.

Through all of her speech Neptune had her arms crossed, and her eyes closed. At first it didn't bother the Oracle as Neptune would nod or hum in the right places, letting Histoire know that Neptune was still listening. It was also Histoire's internal turmoil that prevented the Oracle from focusing on the CPU. Now that she looked carefully though...

Nepgear blinked twice and walked up to her sister. The Candidate poked Neptune's cheek twice and declared her verdict.

"She's asleep."

…

"Seriously?!" IF said.

All of the concern and intellect Neptune has shown them in the previous scene had simply vanished, and all that's left was… perfectly normal Neptune. The fairy stared blankly at her goddess, the fear and nervousness she held evaporating to the wind. Honestly, what did she expect?

"...To think I thought she finally matured." Histoire sighed. She could shout for her to wake up and continue talking, but not even a day has passed since her return, she'll allow some leniency at this moment. Besides, the wind had gone out of her sails too at this point, and she was not eager to continue. "Nepgear, can you carry her to your room? Make sure you don't wake her up."

"Oh, okay." The Candidate scooped her sleeping sister into her arms. It could be because Nepgear had enhancements or because Neptune hadn't eaten anything in… years, but nonetheless the Candidate didn't feel her sister's weight at all. IF opened the doors for the lilac-haired girl to leave, and Nepgear was very careful to not hit Neptune's head over the doorway.

Now it was just IF and Histoire.

"You know, for a moment I thought you'd shout at her to wake up and continue." IF said.

"I… considered it, but I changed my mind. It's true she's been through quite the ordeal, afterall. Let her rest."

"Or was it just because you didn't want to see her reaction?"

Histoire paused as IF hit the nail on the head. "...I thought I was prepared for this moment, but I wasn't. I'm not going to try to put off the inevitable any more, but I don't mind having a bit more time to get my emotions in order before I continue."

IF nodded at her words. "You do that. Okay, I'll go help Gear tuck Neptune in. See you later, Histoire!"

"You too IF, until later."

The Guild agent left the room and left Histoire alone with her thoughts. She could continue to do the work she was doing before Neptune interrupted her, but gathering her thoughts seemed to be the better option at the moment.

She has… tried to tell Neptune about what she has done. It felt nice to see Neptune show such concern for the nation, and her… until she simply fell asleep, of course. But now Histoire can say with confidence that she has tried, that she genuinely tried to own up to her sins to her CPU, and when Neptune wakes up again, she felt like she could find that same resolve again with much less difficulty.

She feels so light now. She feels… free.

With her thoughts sorted, the blonde fairy resumed her work with renewed vigor. The paperwork was checked, signed or rejected at a faster rate than usual. The Oracle quickly make up for the time lost from Neptune's interference.

For the first time in a very long time, there was truly nothing bothering the Oracle of Planeptune.

In a hidden place a lone woman was sleeping, while two men observed and took notes.

She was of a fair carnation and with jet-black hair. She was wearing a fancy dress consisting of dark blue, white and red colors. The men who examined her knew who she was, her name was easy to find.

Noire. The CPU of Lastation.

A man, donned in a lab coat, took a clipard and began writing.

Day 3… The Subject shows no changes as of yet. All our efforts at waking her up have failed. Autopsy is impossible - nothing we have is able to penetrate Subject's skin. The Neptulium we have doesn't seem to have any effects on her, probably because of her comatose state. Chief said that we need 'Shares' to wake her up, just like Planeptune did to Lowee's CPU, however we lack both the means and knowledge to utilize those 'Shares'.

The only people with knowledge to turn them into physical form - dubbed Sharicite - are the Oracles themselves, and the Leanbox's Oracle is missing. Other Oracles are outside of our reach.

At this rate we'll run out of things to report to the Admin.

The men placed the note on the table and sat down. His assistant placed a mug of coffee onto his table, which the man was thankful for. Both of them had a moment of peace before the Chief arrived.

"Hey, doc!"

Right on time, down to a second.

Miss Pauling entered the room, nodding to both men in the room. She appeared to be in a hurry, but she was always in a hurry. "Anything new?"

"Nope." The man answered and gave her his notes. Miss Pauling skimmed through the writing, and then made her own notes. "Any progress on getting those Sharicites? Or some documentation about these?" the man pointed at the bar of Neptulium.

Miss Pauling shook her head. "Nope to both. There's no intel on how to utilize Shares, at least in Leanbox's Basilicom. And everyone with access to the documentation has been pulled out of Leanbox."

"Without either of those, we can't do anything. She won't wake up..." His assistant complained.

"I know, I know. We're working on that." Miss Pauling said.

They've hit a roadblock, and the three of them knew it. They already got whatever intel they could get from here. The ASIC was now fully aware that their people are leaking information, so they transfer any important people to other nations - Miss Pauling can't get in touch with any of them. Noire refuses to wake up, which was another wrench to their plan.

...And that wasn't all.

"Got some news though, Leanbox's CPU is coming back."

Both men were surprised at Miss Pauling's announcement.

"An opportunity?" The man said, but Miss Pauling shook her head. "Hardly, she's coming from Gray Mann himself. She's already expecting us."

"So what do we do?" The assistant asked.

"We…" Administrator's right hand paused, a thought just died in her mind. "...play it safe. Be ready to pack at any moment, we can't be sure when she'll try to kick us out."

The man nodded and pointed his thumb at Noire. "What about her?"

"Leave her if necessary." Miss Pauling pushed up her glasses. "But keep trying to wake her up. Play nice, and no dirty business." She pointed at his assistant. "Especially you, keep it in your pants."

The assistant turned away in embarrassment. Miss Pauling walked up to the CPU and watched her sleep. "They are invincible, right?"

"Yeah." The man shrugged. "We even tried blasting her open with a shotgun, but the bullets just ricocheted into walls." He pointed his finger. "See?"

Miss Pauling followed with her gaze, and she saw multiple bullet holes left from the gun. "Oof." She said.

"If Vert is anything like her… then let's not fight those girls."

On that she could agree, however there were other solutions. One of them was a silver bar of metal just next to Noire's bed. Their information on how Neptulium controls the CPUs is lacking, but if just a sight of it made Nepgear throw herself into a fire, then how would Vert react?

"Yeah… I'll be going guys, see you later." Miss Pauling waved at them.

"Stay safe out there."

...The Killachines have invaded Lowee.

Interdimensional RED-Coded Contract

Breaking the Wall

Responses:

doom2099

Now that Sam isn't in True Celestia but rather on the ground, few things will change and it's going to be his/her fault. Just wait and see.

And I can offer no explanation on why she doesn't know Team Fortress 2.

YORCHspartan117

You didn't hear the sound of 4th wall being broken.

You heard the sound of 4th wall being outright nuked.

The mercs have (finally) refiller for their canteens, yes. But they don't have Re;Spawn. Reason for that will be explained in later chapters.

Share Imprint IS useless when it comes from any other CPUs. However Magnavox is so strong that her Share Imprint can leave its own Share Imprint and even that can do something. It's like a normal CPU giving 1 cent to every person that stays with her for week, while Magnavox is handing out 100 dollars to every person she sees on the street.

The author of the second letter is actually hinted in the letter. You can guess on it now, or simply wait for an answer.

Just wait for what I have in mind for Leanbox, I won't say any details, but I'll tell you that this is going to be a surprising turn of events. As for the Gray Mann - he doesn't know that Mercs left the Admin. He still thinks that they're her goons and that's what he said to his allies.

Guest (x2)

Vert was captive for 3 whole years, she doesn't know how the world has changed so she has to rely on others for information.

And Gray Mann has backing of both Uni and Kei, two people in charge of Lastation. They add weight to his word, and there's also Nisa's testimony painting the mercenaries in a bad light.

The only thing I'll say is that I don't think the CPUs would kill somebody. It would paint them in bad light and that could make them lose shares.

- Harmless Orange