Alright little fella, here's the newest issue of Saxton's Mannly Adventures (Interdimensional RED-Coded Contract), in pure text. Personally I would skip right into the epic fight starting somewhere at the 350 word mark. I'm not sure though, I don't read. In fact when the Author and his Editor begged me to read their stuff, I punched them out into a group of hippies to be devoured! But instead of eating those New Zealanders, those hippies gave them WREATHS! They wanted to make hippies out of those two!

Luckily the Author didn't want any flowers or patchouli oil. Instead he STRANGLED them with those things. Ma boy.

Now, if by the end of reading this issue you say that you're not 100% satisfied by this adrenaline-pumping, mind blowing piece of e-paper, I'll personally go forward in time, find out where you live, and tell your mom/dad/grandparents/sister/brother/dog/cat/hamster/fish that YOU DO NOT EXIST!

- Saxton Hale

P.S: What do you mean this isn't Saxton's Mannly Adventures!?

Interdimensional RED-Coded Contract

Australian Justice!

Upon hearing the Australian introduce himself, Histoire perked up. She has heard that name before, but where... 'Saxton Hale… Saxton Hale… Saxton… Hale? Is that? No, it can't be…'

Steeling herself for the worst, the fairy slowly raised the monitor's screen. It still showed IF's point of view but thankfully it seems like the CFW Judge had let her go. 'Is he the Mr. Hale the mercenaries mentioned? He's not quite what I expected. But what is he and that woman doing here?' Histoire asked herself. Weren't they supposed to still be in the mercenaries' world? Did they figure out how to travel here?

"Do you know who they are, Histoire?" Falcom asked, noticing the recognition present on the fairy's face.

"Saxton Hale… I believe this is the name of the CEO of the company who supplied our mercenaries before I employed them." Histoire closed her eyes in thought. Yes, she can remember his name on that letter from one of Mann Co.'s crates.

"Oh. That's… one heck of a CEO. But what is he doing there?"

"I honestly have no idea, but let's see where this is going, this could at least be a chance for Nepgear and IF to get away and rescue Compa."

With a primal roar as his war cry, Saxton Hale lunged straight towards Judge. The ASIC Leader tried to raise his axe but forgot the fact that he left it with Compa. This allowed the CEO to tackle the robot and send both of them into the pond, spilling the dirty water everywhere. All who witnessed it were amazed by the man's strength.

Nepgear and IF distanced themselves as far as possible from the pond, but they were still caught in the mini-tsunami created by Saxton Hale, forcing the girls to cough the water out of their lungs.

With him somehow pinned, Judge couldn't do anything but taste the explosive power of Hale's fists. The blows were coming so quickly and with such force that the robot's chassis started becoming red hot and crack under pressure, but the CFW found the strength to interrupt with a sucker punch to the CEO's gut. While Saxton's mannly lungs refused to release even a singly particle of precious oxygen, the force of the blow still sent the him straight into the sky.

Finally free, CFW Judge managed to 'stand' up. He waited for his newest opponent to crash down so he could follow-up, but to counter such a thing was child play for Sax.

Breaking the boring laws of physics because no one cares about stuff like gravity, Saxton Hale increased his falling speed, falling faster than it's realistically possible. Because he's Saxton Hale after all so don't question it. Anyway, the shockwave caused by his landing was so great that it again blasted away all water from the pond and even directly affected the CFW, who's hovering above the water level.

The 'Slam' technique knocked back the Graveyard Guardian, making him lose his balance, and the Australian followed up with a few jabs to his thrusters.

Miss Pauling watched from afar, wisely distancing herself away from her fighting bodyguard, which in turn allowed her to escape the uncalled showers, unlike those two stranger girls who were unfortunate enough to take the brunt of Hale's Slam. Confident that the CEO of Mann Co. can handle this mechanical giant on his own, she hid away the Spellbook Magazine and focused on more pressing matters.

Namely reviving those fools of mercenaries.

Readjusting her glasses, Miss Pauling looked around the battlefield for Medic's corpse and by extension, the Medi-gun. She spotted him in pieces close to the entrance to the cave with the gun in one piece close to his hologram. Before she could race towards it though, out of nowhere a brunette in a blue coat suddenly spoke nearby, her lungs finally empty. "Who… are you?"

"Don't concern yourself with that." Pauling answered. "Just let us handle things and get out of here, it's not safe."

Miss Pauling didn't say a word more, opting to leave the confused brunette and jog towards the Medi-gun. The reanimation process didn't take long, and when it was completed and he saw who had brought him back, Medic's eyes froze and his face paled. Uh oh, he thought.

"Revive your team, then assist Hale." Pauling ordered, giving the German back his gun, or the more suited term would be she basically pushed it into his hands, narrowing her eyes. She wasn't in the mood for any disobedience. "We're going to have a long talk afterwards."

CFW Judge fired one of his rocket at Saxton Hale, but the CEO easily dodged that and the explosion was too far to affect Hale in any way. The robot tried again but this time the musclehead reflected it back with a flick of a finger. Like with Pyro's Air Blast, the missile spun more or less 180 degrees and headed back where it came from, though the reflection was off the mark and missed.

If Judge's eyes could move, they would be twitching in irritation. "Oh for god's sake! Just die already!" The machine roared in anger, but all he got was an amused chuckle from Sax.

"Are you serious? This isn't even a warm up!" Hale grinned and raised his eyebrow, fueling the ASIC Leader's anger.

"Oh, yeah?! How about this?" The machine disappeared from sight, and with that Hale's grin was gone as well, a more infuriated face taking its place.

"You scoundrel."

Meanwhile, Compa's arms dropped to the ground, exhausted. The nurse tried to get the weapon out of her body but it was too heavy for her, even with the nano-machines and training. She was weakening. Just when the Planeptunian gathered her quickly fading strength for another try, the axe suddenly turned invisible. Her light creamy eyes blinked before she felt the weapon being ripped out of her, painfully.

With the cloak hiding him from sight, Judge snuck up on the unsuspecting CEO, easily slicing him in half with a diagonal strike, instantly killing him and Nepgear's chances to rescue the CPU along with him.

…Or at least, that's how it was supposed to go in Judge's head, but reality begged to differ! Because the moment the towering titan lowered his weapon, Mr. Hale sidestepped and avoided the attack. Before Judge could react to this in any meaningful way, his face was hit with an uppercut so strong that one would wonder if all 3 stars or the entire Power Meter were spent for this single KO Punch.

"That cloak technology belongs to Australians, you scum!" Hale accused, pointing exactly where the cloaked robot is.

"H-How!? How did u see me!?" Judge asked, dropping the invisibility to conserve the bit of energy remaining inside him. However the robot didn't get his answer. All he managed to do was enrage the strongest CEO on Gamindustri and Earth.

"I shall claim your pay with your life!"

Compa pointed the Quick-Fix at herself and pushed the lever, healing her injuries with her teacher's formula. Luckily the axe missed the backpack or else she would've been in biiiiiig trouble.

She was nearly done when a female she didn't know approached her. Her green eyes, similar to Iffy's, started down at her lying form with a mix of curiosity and anger. "Where did you get that?" Miss Pauling questioned, keeping her voice even. The girl did have the Quick-Fix, and she also knew how to use it, but barring that there wasn't any more reason to be suspicious, yet.

Compa was slightly alarmed by the ravenette suddenly appearing behind her, but it was quickly replaced with interest. "Huh?" The nurse stood up and faced the assistant. "You mean this?" She raised her Quick-Fix.

Miss Pauling looked the girl up and down, and for a moment, pondered what someone like her was doing out here. The peach-haired girl didn't have much of a fighter's look compared to the brunette in the blue coat, in fact she was downright adorable even covered in blood, dirt and god knows what else, youthful and endowed…

'Job. Focus on the job. Mercs first, girls later.' Miss Pauling reminded herself about her objective before she goes off track. But still, she was looking forward to speaking with the girl after this is over, for more reason than wanting some answers.

The assistant nodded and the nurse beamed with glee, her usual kindness overtaking the nurse's features. "Ah, it's one of Mister Medic's inventions."

Miss Pauling's eyes widened in shock and her hand twitched upon hearing the name. "M-Mister Medic?" She repeated, getting a hum of confirmation.

"Mhm, that's him." The Planeptunian pointed right at the German helping Scout onto his feet.

"Just what in the hell have those morons been doing here…" Pauling mumbled under her breath, ruffling through her hair with her right hand. The ravenette can feel the migraine kicking in. 'These idiots… Let them out of sight for a moment and they're already going against their contract and mercenary conduct...' The ravenette sighed and turned back to the nurse. "Say… what's your name?"

"It's Compa! An aspiring nurse wanting to help people!"

"Okay, Compa. I need you to get out there and help that idio- I mean my friend." Miss Pauling pointed at the fight happening behind her. "Just use this thing on the red holograms like you used it on yourself." The assistant pointed out. Fortunately for her the nurse knew what she needs to do. "Okie-dokie!" Compa nodded and put on the most serious face as she could muster. Which failed and just made her look more adorable.

Miss Pauling watched the Planeptunian jog towards two other girls, starting to heal them. For a brief moment the ravenette wondered how the three delicate-looking girls ended up with the mercs, before her thoughts were cheerfully interrupted. "He-hey, Miss Pauling!"

"Scout." The assistant immediately cut him off, anger freely dripping out of her mouth. The Bostonian wisely shut his mouth and let the woman continue, a bead of sweat running down his forehead.

"If you don't help Hale right now." Scout watched in fear as his crush pulled out a Spellbook Magazine and opened it. "I'll show you what happens when you really piss off a magician."

Somewhere back on Earth, Soldier's former roommate sneezed and sniffed. Someone must have talked about Merasmus the Magician, or just Merasmus for short. Also known as the "idiot in a dress". The old man was wearing a black robe and a stupid hat that he named "The Skull Island Topper", which is basically a ram's skull with a missing left horn and an intact right eye which wobbles around upon movement. In addition he also happened to be tied to a chair inside a Soviet mafia's household.

Unfortunately for the wizard, he sneezed right into the mafioso's face. His lackeys laughed while the Mafioso punched Merasmus's face before he could utter any words of apology.

Back in Gamindustri, this threat was enough for Scout to reconsider saying hi. Actually no, this was enough for him to get the hell away. "O-Okay, that's fine. I'll be right over there, then." The Bostonian sheepishly smiled and ran off in the general direction of the Saxton Hale vs. CFW Judge fight.

It took about 3 seconds for him to be punched out right back to Miss Pauling.

"Hey stickman! He's mine!" Saxton Hale roared, pointing more less where the merc flew from the punch. When the other mercs stepped in, the CEO pointed at them as well, stopping all the REDs in their tracks.

With no one else around to get a piece of his robot, the Australian resumed thrashing the hell out of The Graveyard Guardian.

Miss Pauling gave a tired sigh. Of course Hale would be a stubborn mule and waste time beating the robot himself. The assistant turned towards Scout, who lay unconscious few feet away from her. Well, she could start asking now, she guessed. It's not like they have anything else to do.

Suddenly a sharp whistle pierced the air, catching her attention. Miss Pauling turned back to see the rest of the mercenaries, along with the mysterious girls and Compa, retreat inside the recently opened cave (the pink haired one had to be dragged away, because she seemed to be constantly eyeing the robot), save for the Spy who calmly walked towards the assistant.

"Spy!" "Miss Pauling." They both said at the same time, the former was angry while the latter was calm. They also simultaneously abruptly stopped, surprised that they spoke at the same time.

Spy however was first to break and continue. "We have a problem." He announced.

"Oh, ye?" Miss Pauling scoffed. They abandoned their post, hid in another world for months, probably thinking they're safe from the Administrator's wrath, and now they're fighting (or died fighting) with some giant killer robot that doesn't look like one of the Gray Mann's. Oh yes… they definitely have a problem.

And only because the Administrator showed interest in this new world and wanted to find its potential uses, was Miss Pauling willing to consider busting their asses out of trouble again… Afterall their knowledge here can be useful now.

"The robot Mister Hale is fighting with, it has a bomb that could set off at any moment now."

Okay, that's a surprise.

"How strong is it?" The ravenette crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows, her green eyes staring at the French merc with suspicion. He could be bluffing to buy time for the mercs to escape through the cave.

"Just around Hiroshima." Spy shrugged. It was an exaggeration, but there was some truth in it. Miss Pauling analyzed Spy's words; Searching for body tells is useless, considering that she's dealing with a master of espionage. Looking at the towering titan though, it's quite possible to put a big bomb in it. Plus, all she needs to do is to warn Hale. Oh well…

"Hale!" Miss Pauling yelled. "There's a big bomb inside this thing!" The Australian gave a thumb up, confirming that he heard the warning. The CEO's grin widened and he readjusted his hat. Saxton Hale knows just what Saxton Hale needs to do.

Removed far away from the fight, a wide-eyed Histoire and shocked Falcom watched the fight through the laptop's screen. The might of Saxton Hale's prowess rendered them speechless. A single mortal decisively winning against a CFW, an upgraded one at that, a feat that even a CPU would be hard-pressed to achieve, yet here was this man keeping him at bay, bare handed and half-naked.

Seriously, wearing even a T-shirt wouldn't kill him, would it!?

Falcom gave a nervous chuckle. "Boy, I sure am glad he seems to be on our side, f'now at least." There was a small trail of blood coming out of redhead's nose… But she was right, this surprise was a welcome one, and it was what they needed to turn the tables. Histoire however was silent, opting to rub her cheek in thoughts and try her hardest to not think about that person's quite developed muscles... 'I thought the mercenaries themselves were powerful, but this man is on a whole new level. At this point it's far beyond what a strict training regimen can do for someone… How is he doing this?'

Back at the fight, the Graveyard Guardian used his axe to knock the CEO away from him. The CFW was now literally twitching, either from anger or the damage. Sparks were emitted from various places on his body and the Anti-Gravity Engine, once nearly silent, now rivals decades old cars in terms of loudness. It's not going to be long before it shuts down.

All while the man he's fighting was perfectly fine, not even a scratch ruining his skin, which is miraculous since Judge can remember a few blows he delivered with his axe, blows which should be enough dismember a normal human.

Hale easily landed on his feet, not even fazed by the attack. His eyes noticed a didgeridoo lying next to his foot. With newly found interest he kicked it into his hands and inspected the nicely made instrument in his hands, ignoring the growing fury of Judge in front of him.

The fact that his opponent disregarded him, HIM, the mighty CFW Judge, the famous Graveyard Guardian and ASIC Leader sent the machine into frenzy. "You dare to ignore me!?" His destroyed hands gripped the bent axe tightly, and with a feral roar the punished Judge charged, wanting blood for this disgrace. Meanwhile Saxton Hale calmly examined the instrument, not knowing or more likely not caring about the danger nearing quickly.

The mercenary group stared ahead at the depths of the cave. The tunnel was narrow and straight, going slightly down like a slope. There was also no light source nor light at the end at all, making the cave look endless. There's also a cool, underground air chilling them to the bone, with an exception of those accustomed to the cold like Heavy Weapons Guy.

"It looks scary." Compa pointed out, looking back over her shoulder. The muscular stranger was still fighting with the CFW Judge, and seemed to be winning, thankfully.

"Achoo!" Sniper (still shirtless) suddenly sneezed, sniffing a moment later. Out of the entire team, he hates the cold the most. Or perhaps that's the Pyromaniac, but it's never clear with that thing…

Surprisingly, his voice echoed a few times.

"Bless ye." "Ah, bless you." Demoman and Nepgear said politely at the same time. Out of annoyance the Australian let out a groan. The girls were curious on why Sniper is shirtless but they disregarded it as another mercenary thing. (Nepgear couldn't help but to blush though, her innocence wasn't prepared for the sight of a shirtless grown man near her.) Unknowing to them, even the mercs themselves didn't know the reason why he discarded his clothing in the already chilly night.

"Y'all got some light?" Engineer asked, checking his metal supply to see if he got enough scrap for the teleporter, and luckily he had plenty.

IF opened one of her phone cases and took a light pink flip-phone. "Just a sec." With a few button presses, the Guild agent activated the flashlight function of the phone's camera. The bright light casted away the darkness of the cave and allowed them to see more. It was ominously empty, just a steep, almost even path running down. This couldn't be a natural cave, it had to be dug up by a machine, but by who? The ASIC? If someone tripped and rolled down, there's a risk that they won't stop until they reach the bottom.

"Ahh hou shhur thss ishh ah pahnd?" Pyro asked, tilting its head. The firebug was then rudely shoved aside by the group's self-proclaimed leader as he stepped forwards, scratching his chin.

"Hmmm…" Soldier thought for a moment, well… 'thought' since his lead-poisoned brain isn't capable of any intelligent thinking. However he DOES have a rocket launcher…

Raising his main weapon, the American let out a single rocket and startled the girls. "H-Hey, what are yo-!?" "Shh!" Soldier silenced IF, pressing his finger to her lips. Everyone watched the rocket go, growing smaller and smaller…

…

…

…Bloody hell that rocket is really flying a long distance.

"T-That's a very long tunnel…" Nepgear sweatdropped. Just how in the world did the ASIC get this place…

But at the end of this tunnel… Neptune.

IF however was skeptical of this. One would think there must be something valuable here if they really did send a CFW to guard it, but there's something missing… Why would the ASIC even risk giving up the CPU to them? This must be either a trap, or some sort of decoy.

In order to put her mind at ease, IF called Histoire. "Hey Histoire, the ASIC isn't pulling some sort of stunt in Planeptune while we're gone, do they?"

There was the sound of computer beeps and IF could see the Oracle's dull blue eyes light up, literally... "Hmm…" The little fairy ran through the reports in her memory. It's kinda weird to see Histoire with shinning blue eyes instead her usual dull blue ones.

"There doesn't seem to be anything unusual going on inside Planeptune or the Basilicom. Just the usual piracy. However we couldn't check the mercenaries' hotel because their defenses prevent anyone from going in. Like an impenetrable fortress." Mercenaries heard that one and felt both proud and annoyed that their employer tried to run through their stuff. The proudest one was of course Engineer, he's the one specializing in area denial afterall, and today it paid off.

"I see, thanks." IF acknowledged. So this must be a trap then. The ASIC nearly succeeded too had not Saxton Hale suddenly appeared, but they aren't out of the woods yet.

And just now the group heard the rocket explode, like a barely audible pop, but it did show just how long this tunnel is.

"That's a very long tunnel." It was IF's turn to sweatdrop. Is digging tunnels that long even beneficial in any way?

"Alright men!" Soldier turned towards his team, remembering that he have girls alongside him. "And ladies." The American saved, but Histoire and Falcom still noticed it. "Pyro. Go fetch Spy and Scout, we'll charge with the full team! Even if this cave is full of ghosts we shall break through! The ghosts I mean. Anyway GET OUT OF HERE SMOKEY JOE!"

"That won't be necessary."

The entire group turned back towards the entrance, there stood 3 people, Scout, Spy and Miss Pauling. Anger and hostility radiated from the female, but it was only directed towards the mercs.

"What the hell are you doing here..." growled Miss Pauling. The assistant's left hand wielded the Spellbook Magazine and her right hand was outstretched towards the group, emitting green particles.

Suddenly a loud and familiar roar was heard, followed by an earthquake which, in a very anti-climatic manner, knocked Miss Pauling and a few others off their footing.

Few seconds earlier…

"Hmmm…" Saxton's attention was solely focused on the nicely made didgeridoo in his hands. It had a nice brown shade with beautiful decorations. A traditionally handmade thing by Australian artisans, using the greatest hardwood found in Australia. Eager to hear it, the CEO put the instrument to his lips and played a short song, the instrument releasing very nice sounds.

Meanwhile the pissed off Judge was charging straight at Saxton Hale with the intention of killing him in the most gruesome ways, but the murderous machine wanting to kill him can wait, the didgeridoo has the priority.

Fortunately for him, Hale seemed to have accidently summoned backup, which with a mighty roar entered the battlefield and successfully stopped Judge's movement. The monster helping the CEO turns out to be a fucking Ancient Dragon which upon hearing the music decided to assist the singer of this beautiful concert. After landing on the injured CFW Judge, the reptilian growled at the machine again, as if to add an insult to injury. "Get off me you damn lizard!" Judge roared, swinging his axe madly to get the dragon off him. Unluckily the dragon stopped the weapon by biting it and forcing it out of his grasp.

If Judge wasn't already falling apart (seriously, just a little more and his engines will go out. It's miracle he's still online), then this dragon wouldn't stand a chance, but since Judge was indeed falling apart, the dragon remained a perfectly valid threat.

Saxton Hale finished the song and decided to store this nice piece inside his mannly chest hair. "How lucky of me to find it just lying around, haha!" The CEO heartily chuckled to himself, as if he heard some funny joke. Then he noticed a few stories high dragon standing no further than 4 meters away from him. Saxton Hale looked blankly at the dragon, then down at the downed machine, and back at the dragon.

And again at the Judge.

"I didn' know you also sparred with nature!" Sax pointed out with excitement, his unreadable face replaced with goofy smile, his mustache even gave him +20 to goofiness. But all Hale got in response was an angry growl from the robot, who tried to get up. However the weight of the King of Skies was just too much for Judge's destroyed arms.

"Well then, good job dragon. You showed 'im!" The CEO gave a thumb up to dragon, and received one in kind. "Now how about a round with ME!" Saxton Hale punched his arms together. "C'mon reptilian! I'm waiting for challenge!" Hale roared so hard that there's a chance that other dragons could hear him, but if there were any they had quickly scarpered off to safety, including the one present. Perhaps it was wild instinct, but even the beast knew messing with Hale will get you and all other representatives of your race punched to extinction. That was why the Ancient Dragon joined the Nope Train and flew away in a rush, not looking forward to a fight with a clearly superior foe.

Seeing the legendary Ancient Dragon fly away, unharmed, not taking even one of Saxton's punches to its body, caused something inside Saxton Hale to break. His pride, ego and legs collapsed, his eyes wept mannly tears of sadness and a sad violin played in the background. Every decision, every minute of living in the wilderness, every beast he has destroyed with his fists, his entire life had led him to this moment, and it had just turned tail and bolted. Deep inside, he understood. He had become so powerful, so feared, that nothing dared to challenge him anymore. Nothing COULD challenge him. He had reached the top, it was over, and all Hale could do was wail to the heavens as visitors of emptiness revealed themselves…

Except not really, since big menn don't cry and there isn't anyone with a violin around, besides Medic of course but he's stuck in the cave with the others. And Saxton Hale felt fine, besides a little disappointment that he won't get to kill magical beasts to death with his BEAR (yes, BEAR) hands, not today at least. However he quickly shrugged this off when the beaten Judge finally started to rise from the ground.

As the mighty Graveyard Guardian struggled to get up, his neck was tightly grabbed by the CEO of Mann Co. "You aren't as tough as you look, tin can." Hale mocked, a sly grin on his face. Robotic lenses a few inches apart from his face glared at him back.

"Don't you DARE mock me, meat head! If I wasn't already weakened by my previous fight I would have your head by now!"

Judge's hands shot forward in order to push his attacker away, but the damage caused to them was too great to even break his balance. "Meh." Hale raised his free hand. "Say 'ahh'."

If the ASIC leader's expression could change, he would stare blankly at the dumbass in front of him. Well in a sense Judge was already doing that. The machine knew that the man just wanted him to open his mouth, but to be that dumb… "Say 'ahh'. Say it now." Hale repeated.

"You moron! My jaw won't move even if I wanted to!" Judge tried to bonk him on the head, but the machine failed even at that.

But this new piece of information surprised Saxton Hale. How does this thing eat then… "Oh, well…" With no point of holding Judge's head, he released it, which alongside his entire upper body, the machine unceremoniously fell to the ground due to lack of support.

Immediately Hale picked Judge's head back up, the reason being Hale's foot was stuck underneath the ASIC Leader. After getting it out of the way the CFW tasted the dirt again.

Now, what was that about that bomb again?

"Waah! An earthquake!?" Compa yelped, losing her balance and falling onto her butt. The violent shaking also knocked Miss Pauling, Nepgear and Demoman onto the ground, the latter falling into drunken sleep very quickly. Those who weren't swept off their balance crouched down and waited, but the most out of luck was Nepgear, who made the mistake of being one the forefront people and after losing her balance the CPU Candidate started rolled further into the cave. "Waaaaah!" She yelled in fright. Soldier and Heavy who noticed her falling jumped forward in order to save her, but their hands failed to take a hold of her limb or hair. The rest of the group turned around in alarm, and IF and Compa were the ones to call out. "Gear!?" "Ge-Ge!?"

"Man overboard!" Soldier announced, looking at the painfully rolling figure of Nepgear. There wasn't anything for her to grab and stop herself, nor was she in her HDD form, which means she can't use her Flight Module. "Girls go ahead and catch-." The nurse and Guild agent didn't wait for Soldier finish, the pair ran ahead as fast and safely as they could, chasing their friend in trouble.

Still on the ground, Miss Pauling silently watched the leave them. Everyone's attention was focused on the pair of girls until Scout spoke up. "Hey! You alright, Miss Pauling?" He extended his hand towards her, offering to help, but unfortunately the ravenette swiped it away. "Save it, Scout." The assistant got up without anyone's help, dusted off her dress, and finally faced the team with a growl coming off her mouth.

"Since they're out of the way… You…" Miss Pauling growled, facing the rest of the team. Engineer, who immediately paled, started sprouting excuses.

"I-It's, It was just a mistake-"

"Don't give me that excuse, Engineer." The assistant sharply cut him off, fed up with their mistakes. Because of them, Miss Pauling had to pay dearly…

Engineer's words froze up in his throat. They're so screwed, so so so SO screwed. Even if she was just the Administrator's assistant, Miss Pauling isn't a woman to be taken lightly. She can fight competently, has the intelligence and the influence. And there's even Saxton Hale with her…

The ravenette continued, anger emitting out of her body. Even if they have the numbers, all Miss Pauling needs to do is say 2 words of incantation for all of them to die. Or just call Saxton Hale. He would happily take them on. "Do you know just how much trouble you have caused? You have no idea how pissed I am right now." Mercs, even Heavy and Soldier, visibly flinched at the news. If Histoire and Falcom weren't busy watching Nepgear's POV right now, they would be surprised just by how afraid their mercs are right now, them, the people who take death as just a mild inconvenience, are able to achieve impossible feats and defeated both CFW Judge and a Viral Ancient Dragon… and they're all afraid of a lone witch who they even had surrounded and within arms' reach.

Although she IS a magician, so it's quite possible that she does know some crowd control tricks.

Scout, again taking the role of team's first punching bag, nervously asked. "H-How. How bad was it?" The Bostonian scratched his neck and looked away, all while Miss Pauling slowly turned her fiery gaze at the youngest member. The hostility could be practically visible on her. "I didn't sleep, shower or eat for an entire week just to get the BLU Team to replace you. The Administrator nearly killed me because you disappeared, and she spent over 3 months spending all her resources and favors to comb over the Earth to find you. And when she finally sent me with Hale and 3 BLUs to get the Engineer's teleporter off Gray Mann's hands, I HAD TO FIGHT A FREAKIN' WAVE 666 BACK THERE!" She yelled, raising her finger to his face, her breath heavy. "Now I'm in some completely different world and I got only one question." She continued, now with an unnaturally quiet, calm and more dangerous voice…

...

…

…

…

…

"How the hell did you of all people manage to find this place?"

"Hmmm…" Saxton Hale absentmindedly twirled his mannly moustache, his strong brain pondering where the hell that bomb is located. "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe" Sax rhymed, pointing his finger at various places across Judge's body. "Catch some tigers by their toes. If they holler, punch them. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. AHA!" The Australian's finger stopped, pointing at his chest. If going by the human chest's anatomy, he should be pointing at more-less the exact location of a heart.

"ORRRAAAAA!" The CEO brought his open fist down, in the same manner as one does the overhand right punch in boxing. He thought he could easily penetrate the silvery chassis like it's made out of paper, and then rip out the bomb from the insides. Instead all Hale got was a painful and sudden wakeup call, and all his fingers pointing in wrong directions. The evidence of strength placed in this move were 5 deep dents on Judge's armor, as always the mighty Saxton Hale poured his entire strength when throwing his hands around.

"Jesus Christ!" He cried to heavens, clutching the wrist of his hurt hand. All 5 fingers painfully bent sideways and/or backwards, though luckily his skin was still as flawless as ever. With gritted teeth and a sound of cracking, the Australian swiftly and painfully straightened back the broken fingers, and yes the process was as painful as it looked like.

"Alright you metal bastard, I've had enough of this! You hear me!? I had ENOUGH!" Mr. Hale firmly stated, resolving his mind to use the most dangerous weapon ever known to humanity. Banned in pretty much all countries except in Russia and Australia, a weapon so horrible that it was used only once, and the consequences were so severe that people are still afraid to even speak of it today.

But the CFW Judge didn't even listen to Hale. The machine opted to search his databanks instead, he was busy and couldn't be bothered by some idiot who spent too much time working out in gym. It was laughable that he was beaten TWICE, by some mortals and the pathetic CPU Candidate, but he wasn't about to throw the towel in yet.

Scanning down through various lines of text, listing the damage, his own status and the status outside, a minimap of the area and other useless stuff, his searching engine searched for the only thing that interested him. The bomb control system, his last hope of taking this bastard down. Surely CFW Trick had installed it while rebuilding him, right?

Right?

…

…

…

Oh, you son of a-

Saxton Hale inserted his arms into his chest hair, searching for this cursed object. His limbs felt around, finding other useless stuff like a burning Team Captain hat or a Golden Frying Pan. "Aha!" The CEO ripped his hands out of his chest hair, his hands grasping two objects of total mass destruction.

A perfectly innocent looking lemon.

Miss Pauling was met with silence, its reason was the question she asked which threw the mercs into a mild state of confusion. It's not the question itself which was strange but rather how quick Miss Pauling was to replace most of her anger with curiosity.

The first one who broke through the disarray was Engineer, who pressed his gloved fist onto his mouth. "A-As I said, ma'am. We don't quite know, it was an accident." The Texan stated, his voice little nervous.

'The dumber they are, the luckier they get… Somehow.' Miss Pauling thought. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, this is going to be heavy for her… "Well. Count yourself lucky… The Administrator still sees at least some use in you." The ravenette said to them, to her absolute annoyance she heard a few sighs of relief.

And of course a certain someone is lacking any sort of tact. Or gray matter. Or perhaps everything that is needed to exist as a successful person.

"You-You ain't mad anymore?" Scout asked meekly, even a little hopefully.

As a response the assistant slowly turned her head towards him, her 'I'm gonna horribly kill you' smile never faltering even for a moment. "Of course not, Scout." The assistant took a slow step towards the Bostonian, who took a step back in return. "Did you ever see me angry? Of course not, I'm a Pillar of Community. Friendship is Magic as they say, right?" Scout's back was pressed against the wall, his eyes fearfully watched a pair of Miss Pauling's hands reaching towards him, wrapping themselves around his throat and pressing tightly. "Yes Scout. I am actually very furious right now. It just so happens that you can be useful to my mission that the Administrator gave me." The ravenette told the merc, her voice sickly sweet and her smile still present.

"Halp meh." Scout choked out, Miss Pauling's grip on his neck intensified with each passing second. The woman had a grip. Fortunately for him, a few mercs were interested in that… objective. Heavy for example.

"Old woman gave job?"

Broke out of her own little world and into the harsh reality, Miss Pauling with a heavy sigh let go of Scout's neck. (Unfortunately for them all, he survived.) "Yes. Now that we found this new world, what was it again? Gaming Industry?" Miss Pauling patted her hands over themselves.

"It's Gamindustri." Spy, being a total smartass, corrected her.

"Whatever." The ravenette waved her hand at him in a disregarding manner. "The point is, the Administrator sent me and Hale to reconnaissance and find potential uses for this world. And you're going to help me." Miss Pauling waited for the info to sink in, which was visible by the mercs sharing a look with each other. After a moment of non-verbal communication the assistant continued. "To start with; what are you doing here and who were those girls. I don't care about your private lives but it's hard to believe that Scout managed to woo a girl, much less 3 of them." Several snickers came from the mercs, along with something that could be interpreted as sobbing coming off Scout. She's so cruel…

"Little girls are friends of our employer. We work with them." Heavy explained. The twitch on Miss Pauling's right eyes was visible, as well as her expressionless face as her brain failed to process the information.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait. Employer…?" She said after a pretty significant amount of time spent staring blankly at the Russian behemoth. Her mouth hung open like a fish, same with her wide eyes. These morons didn't do what she thinks they did, did they…?

Filled with complete anger towards his backstabbing 'comrade', CFW Judge shifted his focus back onto the Australian CEO. And saw the moron holding the fruit like it was some sort of divine artifact. "What are you going to do? Have a picnic on me!? Ahahahahaha!" The ASIC roared with mocking laughter. The titan knows that he lost, so he might as well mock the human until he puts him out of his own misery.

Hale lowered his gaze at the machine, a mix of proud and goofy smile on his face. "That's not a bad idea, the scenery here is quite nice." The CEO agreed, looking at the clearing destroyed by the fight. Holes in the ground left by Judge's rockets, smithereens of rocks and wood blown everywhere, dead cadavers of Fenrirs, many small ponds created by his Slam and blood where the water didn't reach. Mostly near the cave.

Yes, the scenery was absolutely gorgeous.

"Unfortunately I have to decline. Sorry tin man, but I really hate robots, so." Saxton Hale threw the lemon at Judge. The fruit hit the chassis with a loud splat and stained it with its sour juices.

"The hell was that supposed to do? I'm not some damn meal for you to season you fool!" Judge yelled.

"Oh just shut up and wait." Saxton tried to silence the ASIC Leader, but the machine was having none of it.

"I'm not gonna listen to your crazy ramblings, old man!"

"Old man!? I'll have you know that I'm in my early thirties!"

"I don't care! You're still old!"

The CEO brimmed with anger, but then his mannly brain noticed something peculiar. "It's not working." The Australian mumbled under his breath, curious about why his weapon didn't work as intended. Did that man just scam him off!? Him, Saxton bloody Hale!?

While the Australian had his own internal rage building in. The Judge's only regret is that he gets to die with this simpleton in front of him. "Huh!? Speak louder!" The Graveyard Guardian spoke up.

"I said it's not working!" Hale roared to heavens, scarring off all monsters in the forest even further.

"Well, what did you expect? You threw a damn lemon at me! If you thought that this will do something then you're an even bigger idiot than I thought!"

"Gah! Where's the instruction manual!" The CEO's hands went back to his chest hair, only to come back out with a very thick book with cover, like 1200 pages thick. The cover, instead of being made out of leather or paper at the very least, was basically a slab of some metal welded into the paper. How did they manage to do that is beyond even the author. The title was unreadable due to rust damaging the cover. The idiot who made that book could at least have engraved the title into it.

Hale sat down and put on the reading glasses that he stole from Miss Pauling. Opening the heavy book without any effort, he began to read. The creak of rusted metal moving was loud and heard by both of them. "Are you serio-!?" "Shhh, I'm reading." Saxton Hale silenced the machine next to him from speaking up.

With the last remaining bits of energy in his batteries, the ASIC Leader moved his right hand to facepalm, then it fell apart just a moment later.

Seriously… how did he lose to this idiot.

On the brighter note this moron turned his bare back towards him. With his guard dropped and his undivided attention solely focused on the book.

Resting the urge to maniacally chuckle to himself and ruin the surprise. The CFW pointed his rocket launcher at Australian's back, how lucky he is to have his enemy sit on his left side.

Adios amigos, except not. Go to hell.

With such a short distance between the machine and the CEO, the rocket's flight time was nearly non-existent. The lack of any delayed arming time on the rockets allowed for the missile to explode at full power on Saxton Hale's back. Because of the radius of explosion, Judge lost his other arm. But that was a small price to pay for killing-

"Was that pain, or just those damn mosquitoes on my back?" Saxton Hale wondered, not even removing his gaze from the manual while his hand ran over his back to swipe the annoying insects of his back.

The rocket didn't faze Hale at all, the explosion didn't even swipe that stupid hat off his own head. Though on closer inspection, there was a bit of red where the rocket had hit, like a bug bite, or at worst a slight burn, and that was all that a man-obliterating rocket at point blank achieved.

Judge's anger briefly turned into shock. Who the fuck is this man!? WHAT is he?! Then that surprise evolved into much greater anger. "Are you damn serious!? A damn rocket and you're still living!? What kind of trash did Trick equip me with!?" The ASIC Leader roared, spouting more and more complains while the CEO finally found out what was wrong and slammed the book shut.

Ignoring the absolute shitstorm the CFW was raising, the Australian steeled his resolve and swallowed his pride. It's going to be embarrassing for him.

"I, Saxton Hale, CEO of Mann Co and fourth wealthiest mann on Earth. With my status given to me by Barnabus and Bilious Hale, my grandfather and father respectively, I claim and declare this beaten and broke tin can as my house. I swear on my pride as an Australian to move in into his cold, metal chassis and sleep there until the end of my days. To protect my house from anyone and anything that yearns to destroy him. This is my home and I'm going to protect it!" Saxton Hale swore an oath to the moon, his voice loud and clear. Immediately he was rewarded with the smell of something burning.

Turning around he found the CFW Judge engulfed from head to 'toe' in lemon yellow flames. With a big smile of satisfaction on his face, Hale took a deep breath. "Ah, the smell of burning lemorine trifluoride. Never gets old."

"T-The hell is this!?" Judge asked in panic. Countless warnings and errors passed through his processor. That shouldn't be possible. Neptulium was supposed to be fireproof material!

Saxton Hale didn't answer however, instead he simply started preparing the picnic he was considering. Then again, a simple picnic sounded very hippie-like and he HATES hippies.

So Saxton Hale needs to create a new kind of picnic, for real menn.

With blackjack and hookers!

And steaks of course.

That hurt…

Nepgear slowly raised herself off the ground. Goodness, that landing was painful… Her descent was pretty quick, that's undeniable, considering that she rolled down what the goodness was a mile long slope… Never again. Please just, no. At least looking on the bright side, she's already at the bottom.

Her entire body was sore, but that's not surprising. She rolled for quite a while. It's actually amazing that she didn't break anything. However her clothes weren't so lucky.

She can't help but to wince on her awful appearance. Her dress is totally soaked and filthy from the pond water. And it's also totally see through! Oh goodness she now realizes why Scout was occasionally eyeing her. It was also tattered, same with her leggings, mostly because of the friction of the cave. Her already embarrassed face lit up even brighter when she noticed that her white and purple stripped panties and bra were visible from a few of the holes on her clothing, and her ascot was undone too. She could still feel the water in her boots and she's certain that she lost her hairclip... Also the skin all around her body is bruised, scratched and dirty.

Nepgear took few strands of her hair and held them in front of her face, the lilac color was stained with muddy yellow.

All in all, she looked like she went through hell and back, which actually isn't much of an exaggeration.

The CPU Candidate was ashamed to admit that she was so caught up in things that were happening around her that she forgot to check on her own appearance. Sure it probably couldn't be helped, but it was still embarrassing that she hadn't noticed until now.

Nepgear sighed in disappointment. Hopefully Compa or Medic were on the way, even if the Medi-gun doesn't remove any dirt or water, it can still fix the holes left on her clothing. Putting that thought aside, her purple eyes tried to scan her surroundings but it's too dark to see. Still, she could detect a faint trace of Share energy… Neptune!? Is she here!? "B-Big sis!? Are you here!?" Nepgear called out to the darkness…

And she actually got a response!

It was just a quiet grunt, but that's the proof that her sister is here! After all this time she can finally reunite with Neptune!

Nepgear took an eager step forward, not caring that her eyes still aren't adjusted to the darkness. Her sister is here. She can save Neptune. She can atone for how useless she was 3 years ago. Her sister, Neptune…

All of a sudden, her N-Gear starting ringing and vibrating inside her holder at her hip. The Candidate jumped in fright, clearly spooked by the device. After a moment to calm down, she realized that someone just called her, and the lilac haired girl opened the holder and sucked some air through her teeth. Her leather holder was full of water, which means her N-Gear is now completely soaked. She carefully pulled it out and examined the damage, but luckily the pink device shaped like Lastation's handheld doesn't seems to be damaged in any way, thanks to the shock-and-water-resistant casing. The N-Gear's screen showed Histoire's caller ID and Nepgear pressed 'Accept' on the touch screen.

"Histoire?" Nepgear asked, however Histoire's voice was drowned out by an unintelligible noise which rendered the message unintelligible, in addition the signal was too weak to transfer the video feedback, so the screen was blank. "Are-… -ay?! Nep-…!? -ease- answ-… me! I can't-… …stat-!" The fairy's voice sounded gravely worried, but barring that Nepgear couldn't understand a thing.

"H-Histoire? Sorry I can't hear you. Could you repeat?" Nepgear requested, but it seems Histoire couldn't hear her as well. The Chinese whispers game went on for few more moments before Nepgear, with a heavy sigh, hanged up and hid the N-Gear. Histoire was going to be so worried. And sure enough, she called back nearly immediately, but this time the CPU Candidate ignored it. 'Don't worry Histoire, I'll be back. With Neptune this time.'

Tears built up in her eyes, but Nepgear forced them away. Her big sis wouldn't want to see her crying so she has to stay strong. Or that's the nagging fear of what happens when Soldier sees her crying…

The tears immediately dried up, replaced with a great shudder. Oh that wouldn't be good.

She was about to take another step forward, but two familiar voices calling out stopped her. "Gear?! Are you alright?" "Ge-Ge?" A worried IF slid into the room, with Compa following her, who upon landing lost her balance and staggered forward, right into-.

"Waaah!"

Unable to retrieve her balance, Compa crashed into Nepgear and sent them both straight to the ground. The last one standing stood there with a blush setting in, IF awkwardly looking at both of them. The Guild agent mentally tried to redirect her flashlight elsewhere, but her hand refused to let the upskirt shot ahead go to waste. It didn't help (or it was a great help, depending on your preferences) that Compa's face was just inches away from Nepgear's own, with their chests pressing against each other.

Fan service to the fullest.

Nepgear couldn't help but to think that this feels pretty nice, but this is Compa, her best friend. Yet again her face lit up like a streetlamp on the side of the road, but luckily Compa was blocking the light of IF's flashlight, so there's still enough darkness to hide her blush.

"Okay you two lovebirds, but how about you wait until after we get back?" IF smugly teased, despite a light blush of her own. Her words brought the two other girls back to reality and they awkwardly stood up.

"Sorry Ge-Ge. I tripped." Compa apologized, healing her CPU friend with the Quick Fix.

"I-It's nothing, really."

"Hey, did you also feel something wrong with your Respawn chip? Like pain of some kind?" IF inquired, massaging her neck. The CPU Candidate perked in surprise and raised her hand to touch the general area where her own chip was supposed to be. Well she was already in a lot of pain from all the rolling so she didn't notice anything…

"I'm pretty sure that means that we're out of the respawn's range, at least that's what Mister Medic told me when we were flying to Lastation."

Nepgear and IF's eyes widened and both of them turned their heads to look at the clumsy, busty nurse who just bluntly delivered them one of the worst kind of news there is. Without Re:Spawn they're vulnerable and they shouldn't try anything rash.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, the brunette panned her light around, illuminating their surroundings entirely. "Anyway, I think we hit the jackpot."

Nepgear was right by calling it a chamber, the room was quite small but still big enough to comfortably move. It was more or less the size of her own bedroom. Bluish rock walls surrounded the girls on all sides, it was a dead end with the sole exit leading back to where Saxton Hale's fighting with CFW Judge…

There was only one object in the room…

Or several, depending on how you look at them…

Right at the back, countless thin, black tentacles were wrapped around a small person, hidden completely under a cloth, with only a small hole cut on mouth area to allow them to breathe. The tentacles, no thicker than a standard USB cable kept their prisoner bent towards the girls, with their hands forced behind them.

Neptune…

It's Neptune!

Nepgear rushed towards the captive, but IF managed to grab her wrist and stop her. "Hey, wait! Don't rush in." The brunette warned, pulling her friend away from the tentacles which tried to reach the CPU Candidate and pull her closer. Nepgear just now realized that she narrowly avoided recapture. It would spell disaster to Planeptune if she went missing again.

"Thanks IF…" Nepgear breathed out. "You're welcome." Replied the Guild agent. "So, you're sure that's Nep, right?" IF asked, pointing at the shackled person in front of them. It's hard for her to believe that they're so close to rescue Neptune... Even when Nepgear nodded excitedly as an affirmative it was hard to take in. "Y-Yes. I can feel the faint share energy coming out of her. She must be still in her HDD."

Smiles grew on the trio's faces, and they all stood in front of the captured CPU, ready to be rescued. Only a bunch of tentacles stood between them and the CPU. But they don't have the Sharicite to free her…

So what now?

Without a Sharicite crystal they aren't able to free the CPU. If they leave to get more shares they risk her being moved elsewhere by the ASIC…

Was this their plan? Did they want to show them how powerless they really are? IF balled her hand into a fist. There must be something they can do, right?

Wait a moment.

IF made a quick glance at Nepgear, still in her human form. The hopelessness was clearly visible on lilac-haired teen's face, just now starting to realize how close and yet so far she was to saving Neptune…

But since she's in her human form, then magic is on the table. Right?

Wanting to test her memory, the brunette channeled her mana and "Le Delphinus!" summoned a giant pillar of light which engulfed all the tentacles on the captive's left side. The motion spooked her friends but IF didn't care.

If they can't rescue the CPU using the Sharicite, why not try to destroy the things holding her!?

Except that after the light faded and the skill attack was spent, the tentacles were still there. What really insulted IF's power is the fact that they even looked unharmed. "I-IF!?" Nepgear recoiled in shock, but her brunette friend wasn't done, oh no, with a vein throbbing on her forehead the Guild agent pulled out the Winger and started shooting. Despite the fact that the cables were pretty thin and the brunette is shooting with just one hand, IF still managed to mail the Mann Co. issued bullets into the black tentacles.

Unfortunately, they also didn't do a thing…

"Iffy has that scary look again." Compa quietly noted to Nepgear, referring to how mad IF's green eyes look right now.

The girls started to panic when IF loudly clicked her tongue and hid away the Winger, replacing it with Katars.

"Time to send you all to-" "Umm, Iffy?" Compa suddenly interrupted, stealthily teleporting right behind her. The nurse's ample bosom pressing against her back. "Maybe there's something else we can do, so please put the weapons away?." The brunette suddenly found her arms forced behind her crush- ahh uhh FRIEND, I mean friend, yeah. Compa restrained her arms just like Spy did in chapter 2, saving her from charging forward and potentially getting captured or even permanently killed. Which the former could even translate into weird stuff being done to her brunette friend.

"What have you got in mind?" IF asked, her psychotic look vanishing and hiding her Katars.

Compa smiled and stepped in front of IF. The nurse pointed her Quick-Fix at the captive and pushed the lever, releasing a stream of healing beam into her. The reaction was nearly instantaneous, with the captive and tentacles starting to convulse and shift, grunts were heard coming from the captured woman.

Seeing that this was working, Nepgear and IF started to cheer. "Just a little more, Compa!" "Nice thinking, Compa! Keep going!" The blonde nurse brightened up and continued, the captive convulsing faster and more violently. Same with the tentacles, which grew a bit fatter and moved faster, more of them wrapping themselves around the body, yearning for more of its energy. Her grunts turned into groans…

And all their enthusiasm turned into horror…

When the groans evolved into screams…

The shrieks coming off the CPU surprised the girls. Their shell-shocked bodies couldn't help but to watch as the captive wriggled violently in pain, with the tentacles feeding off her energy without any stop, Growing in size, length and power, they yearned and sucked more and more life energy out of the captive. It was a vicious circle; the more healing Compa was pumping into her, the more pain she caused, and the horrified nurse forgot that she even held the Quick-Fix.

Not only that, but as long they actively sucked her energy, a strong electronic current would course all over her body, causing more pain and basically cooking the person inside.

The woman in front of them was in state of complete and utter agony, screaming to the heavens to make it stop. Meanwhile, the 3 girls in front of her simply stared at her, frozen in fear. One of them was even the cause of her suffering. The black tentacles grew to the size of a finger right now, and more tentacles started latching onto her body, desperately searching for any spare space in order to feed on. The tentacles didn't only sucked out her energy and created the electricity, but they also pressed against her body, crushing it. Thanks to Compa the cables were already past the 'lethal for normal humans' point.

IF finally snapped out, and immediately grasped the Quick Fix, forcing it to point anywhere else but at the woman in trouble. "Shut it down! SHUT IT DOWN! COMPA!" She yelled an order, breaking the Nurse and CPU Candidate out of the trace too.

Compa finally stopped pushing the lever, cutting off the healing beam, and the supply of energy for the tentacles.

With the Quick-Fix turned off, the trio froze again. They watched as the woman continued screaming bloody murder in front of them, but only for a moment before it was turned into heavy breathing, as if the torture device was finally turned off, and finally the captive lowered her head and stood silent. She either passed out or died. It could be anything at this point.

If they were alone here, silence would engulf them right now, but because there's a group of battle-hardened mercenaries rushing here right now, their voices and footsteps were definitely heard. But it will be a while until they get in here…

With shaky hands, Compa let go of the Quick-Fix. The fire hose connecting it with her backpack was the only thing preventing it from hitting the ground. Her legs couldn't support her any longer and they went out, falling onto her knees, the once cheerful and kind nurse stared at her unstoppably shaking hands.

She had hurt someone.

She just hurt someone.

Her own world went black, the voices of her friends trying to check if she was ok were distant.

In her own shock the Nurse didn't notice the mercenaries loudly swarming the chamber.

Resembling a fish, Miss Pauling blankly stared at mercs with her jaw closing and opening, but no sound was coming out. Her mind couldn't comprehend that these idiots just went out and left Mann Co. in the middle of Gray Mann's uprising.

As silly as she looked, they didn't have much time and Spy didn't feel like waiting for her to snap out on her own, so to speed things up, the Frenchie loudly clapped his arms in front of her face. Her slight jump out of surprise proved its effectiveness.

"It's not like we had any other choice. As you can see we're stuck in this new world and our supplies aren't exactly unlimited, are they?" The neatly clothed spook reasoned, another one of his death sticks in his mouth.

The assistant's hand ruffled her raven hair as she let out a sigh. "Just wait until Administrator hears this… your funeral." Miss Pauling said with hint of tiredness.

"Herr Engineer did try to contact zhe Administrator. Unfortunately zhe phone service here says zhat zhe number doesn't exist." Medic supplied, hoping that it will help in some way. The assistant looked at the German, on the outside she looked doubtful, but on the inside she was facing a dilemma. 'On one hand, they broke their contract and there are severe consequences for that. On the other, their contacts would be a big help in gaining intel on this new world.'

The ravenette fell into another sigh. They're useful, for now. "You know, boys, you could sit here trying to explain yourself to me all damn night, but I don't really care right now. Just tell me whatever you're doing right now. We'll see what the Administrator will say about this later."

"Hooray!" Scout cheered, forgetting the fact that his crush tried to kill him just now. "Miss Pauling's joinin' us!" The Bostonian wrapped his hand around ravenette's shoulder. Much to her anger. She pointed her free hand at his stomach and with a 'You fucked up' grin she chanted.

"Deus."

It was at this moment Scout and his team knew, he fucked up.

"Invictus."

A transparent, glowing purple orb shot out of Miss Pauling's hand. Well, 'shot' because the projectile's travel time was literally none. The sphere exploded with a small radius but only Scout was hit, because the splash damage ignored it's caster and rest of the team was fortunate enough to be out of its range.

The spell, "Ball O' Bats" as it's named, launched the merc into the air with a horde of angry bats tailing behind him. However his flight was cut short by the ceiling and Scout dropped down onto the ground, the bats relentlessly biting and scratching him all across his body, causing him to bleed.

"That was unnecessary." Spy deadpanned, watching his teammate flail his arms everywhere in panic, trying to chase off the angry bats assaulting him, all while Miss Pauling calmly readjusted her Point and Shoot hat. "I got no time nor patience to verbally reject him every time he hits on me, he needs to take the cue that I'm not interested. Besides even I need some stress relief once in a while. Anyway, the details on your job." With a click of a pen, Miss Pauling prepared the necessary tools to note their testimony.

"And why should we tell you? I think we clarified that we don't work for the Administrator anymore, so we don't take orders from you."

Miss Pauling's narrowed gaze turned to Spy, and the ravenette took two steps to get her back against the wall and said with a hint of anger. "Don't get all cheeky with me, Spy. I got Hale on my side, and I'm sure he'd like to have few words with you all."

That shut Spy up.

Reluctantly, the mercs spilled the beans to their supervisor, and while she could smell a lie and bullshit from miles, they still could keep the intel as vague and uninformative as possible. They told her that the governmental figure of Planeptune hired them to rescue a few VIPs of this world, taken hostage by a criminal organization, and as well protect those 3 girls that ran ahead.

"Why did you even take these girls with you? Why even give them Mann Co. weapons?" Miss Pauling frowned.

"We got our reasons." Heavy stated, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He would give no more to her. They all knew how she and the Admin are towards any kind of positive relationship, they could get mad at them even training those girls how to fight.

"Uh-huh." Miss Pauling hummed, finishing writing the Russian's statement. It was obvious to her that mercs are hiding information… something must be going on in the air. But asking the mercs directly would be futile.

Luckily there are other sources…

Suddenly the questioning was interrupted by shots going off from below. Alarmed by it, the mercs readied themselves for a fight. "No time to waste, we got a princess to save!" Yelled Soldier, his rocket launcher firmly held in his hands.

The battle cries of mercs were loud and clear, nine professional killers plus one purple-clothed mage flooded into the room. At first glance this chaotic motion was without any order, but in reality this is just an everyday thing for the mercenaries.

The barrels of their weapons were locked on the mess of tentacles with a person inside. Some of the mercs' eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Why is it always us who gets to see sights like these?" Spy remarked calmly, even bored. Weird stuff seems to just follow them like a curse. Perhaps it was a bad idea for Soldier to piss off his roommate by eating those "Kill Me Come Back Stronger" pills…

The spook's eyes moved onto the crouched figure of Compa, the Quick-Fix lied on the ground next to her, and Nepgear with IF were crouching at her sides, staring at the mercs in surprise. But the nurse didn't even flinch when her allies rather loudly arrived. The blonde teen still stared at her shaking hands with teary eyes.

Seems like whatever happened here, it caused a mental breakdown for our nurse…

"We heard shots and screams, what in the hillbilly happened here? And what kind of mother-hubber are those things!?" Engineer demanded, shooting one shot at the tentacles.

Meanwhile, the Pyromaniac stood still and silent, taking in the scene happening before it.

Dozens of licorice candies surrounded a weirdly clothed young girl with blue hair. Sorrow was the only thing that could describe her mood, despite the countless licorice sweets around her to eat. Everything around them was grey, boring, sad. On the ceiling, right in the corner was a starved, depressed hamster watching them from above.

Seeing the depressed child in front of it caused Pyro's soul to stir. The Pyromaniac tightened its grip on the Rainblower and steeled its mind.

Pyro loves licorice.

And cheering up others.

IF just started to explain what was going on, with Miss Pauling listening like a vulture. Just when the words "…Gear is sure that's the captured CPU!" left the brunette's mouth, the Firebug went into action. It mumbled a cry of some kind and released a thick stream of bubbles and rainbows (flames) at the field of licorice candy (black tentacles).

The surrounding gray area struggled, but the rainbows (flames) eventually managed to turn everything more lively (deadly hot). Pyro directed its Rainblower at the depressed female and again pressed the trigger. The licorice candies immediately turned more vivid and lively (caught on fire and threw themselves everywhere in futile attempt to put out the flames) same with the child who brightened up, casting the depression away. (The burning hot temperature damaged her skin and hair, with the blanked wrapped around her also catching on fire.)

Some children around it giggled and gleefully cooed at Pyro's innocent antics. (Mercs screamed and tried to restrain the demonically laughing Pyro who tries to kill them all.) While others went through the field of licorice candy to convince the blue-haired girl to join their circle of friends. (Panicking IF and Nepgear ran through the horde of mad, burning tentacles to haul the CPU away before she gets hurt anymore.)

With its mission done, Pyro rewarded itself with a nice and long nap with a red and white candy cane lying on its stomach (Medic stabbed Pyro in the gut with a strong tranquilizer, forcing the Pyromaniac to sleep.)

Right outside the cave, they were met with… a rather interesting sight.

'Why am I always surrounded by idiots?' Noted Miss Pauling, not knowing what to really think about it…

The CFW Judge was presumably dead, with burning bright yellow flames engulfing him entirely. The scent of lemorine trifluoride in the air tipped the assistant on what Hale just used. Surrounding the giant 'campfire' of a robot were meats of all kinds, stabbed onto sticks and hanged above the flames. In addition, eggs were cracked on the flat rocks set next to the flames.

A Party…? But how… and who?" Nepgear questioned, staring at the burning giant. Even now she can hear the choir calling out to her… it's scary but so… mesmerizing.

The host of said party, Saxton Hale wore an open longcoat made out of blue fur which still showed his Australia-shaped chest hair. The Australian sat by a long table place and played the didgeridoo. Said furniture looked like it's made out of bones and skin, there is even still blood on that. The chairs surrounding it were either logs of wood or rocks.

Heavy carefully put down his Svetlana and the CPU, as he and the others stared with surprise at the Australian before them. Even Histoire and Falcom were speechless, their minds overflowing with questions…

The only one who wasn't surprised but angry was Sniper, who recognized the instrument as his own one.

Unfortunately he knows that he won't be able to get it back from Hale. Because that's Saxton Hale.

"Whoa…" IF's eyes widened. "Where the heck did all that stuff come from?" The Guild agent looked around in amazement at the feast. After that challenge they all went through, they did deserve some reward, a tasty steak with eggs sounds really nice to her hungry stomach… The brunette can already feel the saliva building in her mouth.

"…What do I even say to this?" Histoire shrugged, simply at a loss at this point on the emotional roller coaster that was this operation, with Falcom excitedly adding "Hey! Do you think you could take save some of that meat and eggs for me? It looks delicious."

"We just had a sizeable supper just an hour ago, how are you still hungry?" The fairy turned to the red-head adventurer sitting comfortably next to her.

"Well… adventurers just have big stomachs, I suppose." She grinned sheepishly…

"Before we do any partying, how about you check on the… CPU as you called them." Miss Pauling pointed her thumb at the person still wrapped in the quite burnt blanket. Medic stood on her side, the beam of his Medi-gun healing that person.

This was it.

Everyone nearby turned their gaze to Nepgear, making her do the honors. The lilac-haired girl flinched from their stares, but the deep breath resolved her mind.

With firm steps, the CPU Candidate of Planeptune neared her sister. The one who she failed 3 years ago, and abandoned in the Gamindustri Graveyard. 'Will she be angry?' Nepgear thought, before immediately discarding that thought away. 'No. My sister would never be angry at me, or be disappointed.'

Many eyes watched her crouch down next to the lying enigma. Is this really her sister? Yes, it is her. There is no doubt about that. The lilac-haired teen can feel the share energy coming out of her, it seems that even without the tentacles holding her she's still in her HDD…

Her hand grasped the cloth. This is it, all she needs to do is to pull it away. And she can finally see her sister's sleeping face. Her sister who would be proud of her for rescuing her from ASIC's grasp. The same sister who will help her cast the ASIC out of Gamindustri. The lilac-haired girl refused to let tears build up in her eyes, Neptune wouldn't like to see her cry… And there's also Soldier watching her.

She had waited so long for this moment…

The candidate removed the blanket separating her from the person inside, and her purple eyes widened in surprise.

Her skin was damaged, cracked and charred in few pieces. Despite that, she slept peacefully. But there was something wrong with her…

Instead of dark purple hair, worn in twin, long braids, Nepgear stared at the messy light blue hair, with long strands on the sides of her head. Unlike Neptune, this person doesn't have any hairclips either. And lastly instead of a black skintight leotard, this person wore a white bathing suit with unattached sleeves.

Th-This isn't her sister.

B-Blanc!?

Interdimensional RED-Coded Contract

Australian Justice!

Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Got you!

I bet no one saw that coming, you most likely thought that this is either a ruse or Neptune, but NOPE. It's Blanc. Yes everyone LOWEE GIRLS ARE COMING!

So what do you think about this? Was it so overwhelming that your mind just blow up and now I indirectly caused hundreds of headless humans everywhere!? Please no, I don't want to lose my 'Harmless' title…

Don't you think Saxton Hale feels kinda OP? Well you're right, because he and WILL be OP, even more that Nepgear.

Anyway, responses:

Jiffcef – Yes. Because I just couldn't not to put him in here, with Miss Pauling as the cherry on top. Although she seems kinda angry at them but that's understandable. As for the lore, it was kinda easy to do it actually. It also adds some interesting scenes of characters from the first world commenting on lore of the second world, and vice versa.

Piggyslayer1235 – Rule #4 Whenever Saxton Hale is holding a lemon, strawberry, orange or any other fruit. All Mann Co. personnel, along with everyone living 510 072 000 square km away from Saxton Hale should evacuate, presumably to space. That goes double for oranges because these suckers aren't as harmless as they say.

Samdama95 – LLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

BreadNotDead – It's our friendly neighborhood writer-slash-leader. Blanc! *doots in the distance* And yes, there is going to be a reason as to why the ASIC are basically giving her away. They do have a plan.

If you previously felt sorry for Compa, now you'll probably start crying for her. Such poor girl. Unfortunately my sadistic pleasure chosen her as my target.

At the end of certain chapter in the back, there is an event hinting the reason why is Nepgear behaving as she is towards the CFW Judge. And no I'm not talking about her love for robots, it's completely separate reason.

And oh god I sooo missed this opportunity. Damnit!

Gotta keep it for later tho. Thanks.

bot – You'll find out in later chapters.

- Harmless Orange.