Interdimensional RED-Coded Contract

Stranger Danger

Keeping CFW Trick on the ground was easier said than done. The Felon made multiple attempts at flying away - all of which were denied by Sniper. And each time Blanc and the mercenaries had to run towards where Trick landed only for him to fly away and be shot down by Sniper again. Rinse and repeat. It was a cycle that Blanc was getting fed up with very quickly.

After the 5th shot Blanc voiced her annoyance.

After the 8th attempt everyone else shared Blanc's feelings.

On the 10th try, Blanc considered just going HDD and going after that bastard herself. But then she remembered her last encounter.

Right before the 13th attempt, Soldier volunteered to quickly rocket jump towards Trick's next crash site, but he was denied by the rest of his team.

After the 20th shot Engineer decided that everyone should take a break, and he also built a Dispenser for Sniper. Moments later the australian shot down Trick for the 21st time.

After the 32nd shot everyone was well aware that CFW Trick was just toying with them. Unfortunately they were forced to keep doing this because he had Blanc's sisters and his head was worth 120,000 credits.

Shot number 50 marked exactly 2 hours after Pyro led the rest of its team towards Blanc. Their motivation was gone and the mercs demanded a raise. Blanc reluctantly agreed to pay them 150,000 credits.

After the 76th attempt everyone just stayed in one spot while Engineer built and upgraded all his buildings to level 3. They also had time to set up the E.R.S.S. and bury it under the snow.

After the 100th attempt, Trick decided it was finally time to stop.

CFW Trick dug himself off the crater left from his landing, and faced the mercenaries. The barrels of their weapons were pointed at the Felon, but they didn't fire just yet. Rom and Ram were close by, so they didn't want to risk friendly fire just yet.

"You all are so persistent!" CFW Trick exclaimed.

"And you are so annoying!" Blanc shouted back. "Just give me back my sisters, and we can finish this quickly!"

"But why would I give up such cute cuties? They also don't seem to want to go."

As Trick said this, Rom and Ram were embracing the lizard's body. Their faces showed pure ecstasy, but their eyes were dull and emotionless. Blanc's right eye twitched from anger, while the few mercenaries raised their brow, Trick's creepy nature not working on these men at all.

"You bastard! I'll rip your ass out and feed it down your freaking neck!" Blanc shouted.

"Zhis is possible, by the way. Ripping zhe anus out I mean." Medic added, earning confused looks from both the CPU and CFW. "Personal experience." He said, adding more fuel to the confusion.

Blanc and Trick looked at one another, thinking 'What the hell was this man talking about?'. This awkward moment just killed all the anger that was brewing within the CPU. Blanc just shook her head and tried to ignore what Medic just said.

Then she noticed something… Numerous scars running over Trick's body, scars she didn't see when she met him the first time. They also looked as if they were left by fire. So he did meet Pyro, didn't he? She thought to herself. "Rom! Ram! Get over here right this instant!" The CPU ordered.

For a brief moment, the twins' eyes lit up in fear, before they went back to their dulled and emotionless selves. "That won't work, old hag." He said.

But Medic noticed the twins' reaction, and then he remembered how Neptulium affected the CPUs. The doctor pulled out a bar of metal and showed it to the Candidates. "If you come vith us, I vill give you zhis!"

The instant Medic finished his sentence, Heavy was in front of him. CFW Trick tried to attack Medic with his tongue, but Heavy Weapons Guy jumped in and took the hit instead. Soldier, Demo and Engineer with a wrangled Sentry Gun retailated.

Bullets shredded the flesh of Trick's tongue as the Felon himself retacted his organ. Then CFW Trick turned around and took to the air, taking the CPU Candidates with him. The mercs tried their hardest to bring him down, but the Felon took the punishment without batting an eye. Even Sniper's shots barely made him flinch, further proving that the CFW had been messing with them the whole time.

"Oh no you don't!" Blanc activated her HDD, engulfing herself in bright light. Once the transformation was complete, the CPU of Lowee chased after him.

She easily caught up and even overtook him, flying a little bit above before bringing her axe down at Trick… only to miss entirely. "Huh?" Trick hit Blanc with his tongue, knocking her away. The Felon was about to fly away, but something flew into his vision.

It was small, and glowing red.

Then it exploded, and Trick was paralyzed. All his muscles spasmed from the critical electricity, while Demoman reloaded his Stickybomb launcher with a wide grin. "Random crits, eh?" The lizard was falling down, but he did his best to protect the Candidates from the fall.

Once he hit the ground, Blanc and the mercenaries wasted no time. Blanc plunged her axe into Trick's body, the blow not only hurting him a lot but the sheer shockwave also sent Rom and Ram away from him. Blanc went for Rom, Scout took Ram; the rest unleashed firepower on the ASIC leader.

Blanc successfully grabbed her target, who struggled against her grip. "N-No… I don't wanna..." And the CPU flew towards Engineer.

"Let me go! Get away from me!" Ram shouted, trying her hardest to escape the grip Scout had on her.

"I-I got her!"

"No!" Trick roared. He locked his eyes on Scout, and then he spat on him. "Uwah!" The merc barely avoided the disturbingly corrosive spit - as demonstrated by the tree behind Scout. Then Trick used his tongue to strike at the others, using his organ like a whip.

Those who were hit suffered various debuffs. Heavy and Demo became paralyzed while Soldier became sick from poison, though none of that really mattered, as Medic swiftly avoided the attack coming at him while already healing the affected ones with his Medi-Gun and Crossbow.

While Trick focused on getting Ram back, Blanc dumped Rom in front of Engineer. "You take care of her, okay?" Engineer nodded and Blanc left them alone.

CFW Trick pulled out a series of knives and threw them at the mercenaries before the Felon rushed at Scout and took both him and Ram into the air. Ram cheered while Scout cried in surprise. "W-Woah! H-Help!" CFW Trick glared at the bostonian. "Um… let me go, please?" He tried with a sheepish grin.

In response the lizard tightened his grip. Scout's eyes widened as breathing became harder, his innards were squished together, and his bones were on the verge of breaking. Bullets and rockets struck the Felon, but Trick didn't care. He had one of them within his grasp, and he's going to kill him. Trick opened his mouth, and clear liquid dripped onto the merc.

Scout winced when Trick's saliva ate at him, hissing in pain, which soon turned to full-blown screaming when more and more acid fell onto him. Finally the CFW closed his mouth, with Scout's head between his teeth.

"Scout down!" Trick heard one of the mercs announce, before Blanc hit him in the head. Scout's headless body and the Reanimator fell onto the ground, just as Blanc continued to beat the Felon senseless.

She hit him in the jaw, knocked a few of his teeth out and smashed his nose, but the moment she tried to pry Ram away from him, Blanc was forced to duck and disengage - of course he still had those Neptulium blades, she mustn't get careless.

But that also made him vulnerable, which Sniper capitalized on and cracked his eye with another shot. Trick flinched from pain, while Blanc got onto his back. In one swift motion, she destroyed the wing that kept him flying. And so Trick fell once more.

Medic revived Scout, and the mercenaries laid waste on the fallen Felon. Trick tried to use his tongue again, but the mercs were ready this time; Heavy and Soldier grabbed the organ, while Demoman and Blanc worked to cut it off.

Medic observed Trick with a critical eye. Despite the abundance of bullets they hit him with, the CFW looked more or less just like he was when they started fighting. But their weapons worked on him, unlike when they were fighting with CFW Judge. All of them saw his tongue getting shredded by the minigun's fire, yet here it is again. Medic turned his gaze towards Demoman, who desperately tried to cut off Trick's tongue with his Eyelander, but the wounds caused by the ghost blade were fading.

Medic looked at Trick's face, and the eye that Sniper damaged was there. Completely whole and clean.

The gears in his brain turned.

"Everyone, he's regenerating! He has regen!"

CFW Trick laughed.

"Aye. He has that." Demoman noted.

"Are you freaking serious right now?!" Blanc shouted, before knives embedded themselves in her shoulder and leg. "Augh! Damnit!"

Trick threw more knifes at Heavy and Demo… but for some reason the blades were just bouncing off them, doing no damage.

"Huh?" Even the CFW was surprised.

Medic fired his crossbow at Blanc, before trailing his Medi-Gun at her. Meanwhile Demoman was placing stickies underneath Trick's tongue, but the Felon charged and headbutted Heavy, freeing his tongue before grabbing Soldier.

The sticky bombs harmlessly exploded behind the Felon, doing no damage to him. Soldier pulled out his Panic Attack and fired a few rounds into Trick's face, making him flinch and consider twisting the man's head off, but that would force him to release the cutie he was holding with his other hand, so Soldier ended up being thrown into a tree instead.

Blanc charged at him once more, aiming for the hand that was holding Ram. She managed to bury her weapon in his wrist before he jerked his hand away - and Blanc by extension. Blanc managed to hold onto her weapon, but she didn't predict Trick outright punching her in the face.

The CPU groaned from pain, and sat up. She was about to charge into the fray once more, but then she noticed that her sunglasses were broken.

And to her horror she heard the beautiful choir again. The desire for NEpTULIum.

Sniper clicked his tongue in annoyance, mainly because those were one of his favorite pair of sunglasses. But them losing Blanc to Neptulium was also a bit of a problem. They're gonna need a distraction, and the Australian had just the thing. Without hesitation, Sniper pulled out a jar of Jarate and threw it at Trick.

The reaction was glorious.

"Pfeh, pfoot! YUCK! What is- Huh? Huh?! Wha- wai- is this what I think it is?!" Trick's eyes focused on him. "You did this… didn't you?" The Australian grinned and nodded, before shooting him in the face.

"How do you like that, you mongrel?"

"Out of all people… uugh." Trick shuddered. His body was getting destroyed by Heavy and Engineer's wrangled Sentry, but the Jarate - being covered in an adult man's piss - was more disturbing than pain. His body can recover, his pride cannot.

He simply dropped a bar of Neptulium for Blanc, which took her out of the fight, before spitting on Sniper and the mercenaries attacking him. Engineer was too far to be hit, but Heavy, Demoman, Soldier and Sniper were covered in the yellow substance. The Australian sniffed his shirt and his eyes widened.

Trick just covered him in Jarate.

Then the lizard hit him in the cheek before Sniper could react. The blow almost broke his neck but the mini-crits finished the job. Sniper's body lay motionless as the second casualty of the fight.

"And how do you like that, huh?" CFW Trick growled.

"Sniper iz dead!" Medic announced.

Trick wasn't finished, he lashed out at the mercs again - this time dealing much more damage than before - and he also spat at Engineer's Sentry Gun. The clear liquid flying high in the air before landing right on top of the turret.

His saliva hardened, breaking the Sentry Gun's moving components. Engineer decided to just destroy this Sentry and build another one.

Medic tried his best to get his team up to shape, but the effect of Jarate on them wasn't making this easy. There was also the dead Sniper to revive- oh, his body was taken by the E.R.S.S.

With their anti-air units gone, CFW Trick decided it was good time to rise to the air again. Unfortunately that was no longer an option, that damn old hag had broken his winged backpack completely, and that was something he couldn't just regenerate. Now he couldn't fly until he fixed it. The Felon growled in frustration and set his sights on Heavy instead.

Heavy saw the yellow lizard charging, and braced himself for pain. One, two, four blows and the merc was still standing and shooting. Trick's hand that was holding Ram was nothing more than a ragged limb when the russian was done with it. "Now!" He shouted, feeling a prick on his back from Medic's syringe.

CFW Trick bit the russian. Heavy hissed as the acid ate away his Jarate covered skin, as Medic focused his Medi-Gun on him. Heavy dropped Sasha and put his hand and leg in Trick's mouth, forcing it open before the lizard chewed off his other arm.

Then Ram screamed.

"No! I don't wanna! Let me go! Let me go!"

Soldier took advantage of Trick's dropped guard and stole Ram from him. The Candidate struggled against his grip, she even bit his hand, but that only got a few laughs from the red-blooded American. "I got the VIP, men! I am running away right now!"

"No!"

Trick released Heavy and attacked Soldier, but he rocket jumped away. Medic took a moment to heal Soldier, which allowed him to keep rocket jumping until he reached Engineer.

CFW Trick desperately chased after him, breaking through the mercenaries' lines, only to suddenly stopped. Heavy was holding him back by his tail, with his damaged arm holding a tree. Precious milliseconds were running out as the filthy kidnapper was getting away. Trick did what he had to do.

Heavy's eyes widened when he ripped Trick's tail from his body. The Felon's backpack, and his wings by extension, were also abandoned and left behind.

"Engineer!" Soldier shouted, catching the texan's attention. The merc looked up and saw Ram trying to claw his face.

"Get in there, boy!" Engineer pointed at the prepared entrance.

His Level 2 Sentry Gun beeped and opened fire at the charging CFW Trick. Engineer was about to help his Sentry but he reconsidered, the Felon wasn't even bothered by its gunfire. His sights were solely on Soldier running towards the teleporter entrance.

Engineer stepped aside with his Destruction PDA ready.

The Sentry Gun kept shooting, but the bullets didn't bother the lizard as he made a mad dash towards Soldier. It was too late though.

The counter-kidnapper stepped on the teleporter, staring down the charging CFW Trick. Just as the Felon got close, Soldier disappeared before Trick's tongue could swat him away. Then Engineer destroyed the teleporter to stop Trick from following. It was done.

The lizard stopped and frantically looked around. Ram disappeared, Soldier disappeared and Rom was nowhere in sight. Engineer's Sentry Gun irritated him, so Trick destroyed it with a flick of his tongue.

With no other targets nearby, CFW Trick locked his eyes onto Engineer.

The texan wasn't impressed. He twirled his Golden Wrench and challenged him. "C'mere, sissy boy."

Trick lost two cuties. Two sweet, adorable children were taken away from him. By these old and ugly bastards. "Old hag!" The leader of ASIC shouted, anger dripping from his tone. Blanc, still holding a bar of Neptulium to her bosom, raised her head in attention.

"Kill them! All of them!"

The CPU of Lowee stood up, her axe in hand. Demoman, Heavy, Medic and Scout turned towards Blanc, who was looking at them. There was a mad glint in her eyes that worried the mercenaries, as Medic slowly backpedalled behind his teammates.

Blanc rushed at them, but she found herself being slowly pushed back. Heavy's minigun was forcing the CPU to take a step backwards, and then another. White Heart found herself being pushed back one step at the time, when suddenly Demoman planted a sticky bomb underneath her. The explosion sent her upwards, and without solid ground there wasn't anything stopping the enraged Heavy and his torrent of bullets from send Blanc far away from them.

CFW Trick charged at Engineer, intending to bite his head off, but the texan ducked underneath the lizard. The Felon jumped forward and looked back, only to find no one there. Trick looked around but he couldn't find him, until he felt pain in his back when the mercenary shot him with the Windowmaker.

Trick tried to punch Engie, but he sidestepped and shot his hand. Trick tried again, this time with his tongue, but he received similar results. Engineer ran around him, keeping himself close while pumping the lizard full of lead.

Finally Trick had an idea. He toppled over and rolled his entire massive body in Engineer's direction, and he was rewarded with the man's cry of pain as his bones gave out from the sheer weight. "Augh… ugh." Engineer groaned.

Trick stepped into his vision, saliva dripping onto the texan's face. It smelled badly, but it didn't do much else, oddly. Engineer tried to raise his gun, but none of his hands responded. The Leader of ASIC kicked some snow onto the merc and left him alone.

Brown, candy looking walls and furniture, with actual candy rocks decorating the outside. IF wondered how and why someone created this house. "Erm… this looks nice. I guess?" The Guild agent remarked, putting her hands on her hips. Even the freakin couch looked like some sort of crêpe! "This can't be actual candy, right?" It would be a pretty unstable building if it was.

But Falcom, who was checking out the walls, reassured her. "Nope. It only looks like gingerbread." Then she tried to scrape some of the frosting, but like the gingerbread, it was also fake. "Frosting seems to be fake too."

"Oh, good." IF collapsed on the couch. It was surprisingly comfortable, even more than her own bed. The brunette took an orange-shaped pillow and propped her head against it. "So it is a proper house, pretty comfy too." IF closed her eyes and tried to snooze off.

"Hey! Any of you want some drinks? The mercs have some beer here!" Compa called from the kitchen.

"Yes, thank you!" IF answered.

"Nope, I'm good." Falcom said. "Some water would be nice though, thanks."

"Okay!"

Compa laid the drinks on the table and sat with Falcom on a different couch. The lit fireplace offered them heat and protection against the harsh climate of Lowee, and also created a cozy atmosphere for the girls. It was something they needed after all the hard days of work.

No words were exchanged between them. Minutes passed comfortably as they bathed in pleasant warmth.

"I think Iffy is asleep." Compa pointed out, earning a quiet chuckle from the blue haired adventurer.

"Yeah, let her. We've been working pretty hard."

"Mhm."

Another silence fell between them, broken only by quiet snores coming from IF. It was a rare moment where the adventurer could just forget everything and relax. Spend some quality time with her friends and write things in her-

Oh.

Falcom opened her guitar case. Inside was her sword, a book and several pens. "Hmm?" Compa hummed as Falcom silently dragged the table closer to her, and placed her book onto the table. Compa noted that it was unfinished.

"So much stuff has happened that I almost forgot to keep my journal updated." The adventurer whispered, a sheepish grin on her face. "Do you mind if I...?"

"No, no. Go ahead." Compa said, a bit louder than she meant to, but she was surprised that Falcom was writing a journal. Compa tried to keep her gaze on the fire, or her sleeping friend, but the sounds of pen writing on paper were gnawing on her curiosity. The nurse took a peek at what Falcom was writing - which the Adventurer clearly saw - and Compa frowned.

"Um, Falcom? Why are you scribbling on your book?"

That got a heavy sigh coming out of Falcom. "You can't read this at all, can you?" She pushed the book closer to the nurse.

Compa tried to read the first lines, but even that was intelligible. "No." Compa shook her head. "I can't read scribbles."

Falcom sighed again. "It seems like I really can't write anything about him." The adventurer crisscrossed the scribbles, and started writing again. This time it was something about a castle, and an Eyelander.

"Him?" Compa asked. "That stranger who you met after going to that castle?"

"Yeah." Falcom nodded, rubbing the scar on her stomach without realizing. Compa couldn't see it because of the black t-shirt Falcom wore over her outfit, but the nurse saw her troubled look. Unfortunately before she could say anything, they heard someone crying.

"Huh?" Falcom raised her head. "Do you hear that?"

"Yeah." Compa nodded. "It sounds like Rom!"

But why would Rom cry? - Falcom asked herself and hid the book away before she and Compa walked towards the stairs to investigate, but then IF woke up. "Uwah?" The brunette turned around, looking at them in confusion. "Wuhs goin on?"

"Rom's crying." Falcom shrugged. "We were going to check what's wrong."

IF blinked, and then got off the couch. She rubbed her eyes as she walked towards the other girls. "And I was just having a pleasant nap for once, ugh."

"You could just go back to sleep." Falcom said but IF waved her off.

"Nah, I'm already awake now." The brunette said as she walked past them.

Then Ram started screaming as well, and it was enough for them to get going. They passed over the bedroom where Nepgear rested, and stopped just before the stairs to the attic. They heard commotion from inside; Ram was yelling, stuff was getting knocked over, and Rom was crying even louder. IF stopped Compa just before the doors, as Falcom went back to get her sword. When the adventurer was ready, the brunette prepared her own weapons. "On three…" She whispered to them.

Compa and Falcom nodded and prepared for breach, IF counted down the seconds before kicking the doors open. They barged in screaming, before they just… stopped.

Rom, Ram and Soldier paused, staring at the girls in surprise. Rom was sitting in the corner, trying to make herself as small as possible. Tears trailed down her face. Soldier was holding Ram under his arm, while the pink candidate was biting his hand.

The breach quickly turned into an awkward stare down, where both parties were surprised by one another. Not only that, but IF wondered why Rom's and Ram's eyes looked so… empty.

"Soldier, what the hell are you doing?"

If he was doing something to them, they'll kick his ass. Consequences be damned.

Falcom frowned at the twins, trying to find the easiest way to wring their necks and put their bodies on pikes. Then she blinked. Where did those thoughts come from?

"Hello girls! Me, my team and Blanc are fighting CFW Trick right now." Soldier explained. "These girls are under his control, so I was taking them to Histoire."

IF took a deep breath, before releasing it. CFW Trick. Why? "Okay." IF said, nodding. "Compa, take Rom and Ram to Histoire. Me and Falcom will help the mercs."

Soldier grinned and placed down Ram. She immediately went for the crotch, but Soldier blocked her with his hand. "Roger that! We need you out there, soldiers!" IF rolled her eyes, as the much more child-friendly Compa gently took Ram's and Rom's hands, leading them towards the teleporter to Planeptune.

All IF wanted was to catch a break, she's been doing too much work and now she's going to fight with another CFW as well…

Hopefully she'll avoid drowning this time around.

The mercenaries knew that Blanc will quickly catch up to them, they didn't forget about her ability to fly or her speed. Once Heavy's rage ran out, it didn't take long for White Heart to come back for round 2. She attacked Demoman, but he swayed and stepped to the side. Then she tried to hit Scout, but he double jumped away from her.

With two mercenaries away Blanc set her sight on her true target, Medic. With one mighty swing she knocked Heavy down and attacked the german, slashing diagonally, but Medic deflected her blow with his Übersaw, before he stabbed the exposed Blanc right in the face.

Blanc flinched, then had to immediately dodge the Eyelander and kick Heavy in the stomach. Her eyes widened when Heavy tanked her kick and grabbed her leg, spinning her until she got nauseous, before the Russian threw her towards Scout.

The bostonian was waiting to do a sick homerun with his frying pan, but all he got was a swift kick to the face. Blanc swept him off his feet, grabbed him by his face and then threw him at the others. "Tanzerin Trombe!" Blanc grabbed her axe and spun around the mercenaries. They huddled together and waited, as the CPU left no opening for them to escape.

When Blanc stopped and raised her weapon, the mercenaries ganged up on her. Medic activated the Übercharge, Demoman stopped the axe with his sword, Heavy tackled her to the ground and Scout pointed his Baby Face's Blaster at her head. Blanc tried to break free but Heavy firmly kept her down while Medic circled around her, his glasses in his hand.

It would be over, but CFW Trick chose that moment to intervene, charging at the group. "Incoming!" Scout warned. He tackled their Medic to safety while Demoman ran away. Heavy was the only who got caught.

Blanc stood up and tried to grab her weapon, but it was gone. She looked around and found it in Scout's hands, the young merc already running away with it. The CPU grit her teeth and chased after him, leaving Trick alone to deal with the remaining mercenaries.

Heavy tried his best to escape, to force Trick's jaw open, but the hardening saliva wasn't making it easy. It didn't take long for Heavy to find himself unable to breathe as Trick's teeth bit further into his torso. For a brief moment he thought he was going to die, but then Trick was screaming and he was lying on the ground, with Medic healing him.

"Are you okay?"

Heavy blinked. Since when were Falcom and IF here? Heavy asked himself again why they were here, but then he spotted Soldier. He must've brought them here. "Yes." He nodded and picked up his Sasha from the snow.

"Demon Flames!" IF launched another barrage of flames, making Trick scream in pain. Memories of his fight with Pyro were still fresh in his mind. Trick tried to attack her with his tongue but a freshly revived Sniper shot off his eye again, so Trick missed by a centimeter.

Demoman stabbed Trick's tongue with Eyelander, pinning it to the ground, and soon the organ was surrounded by sticky bombs again. Soldier got close and fired rockets into his mouth, while Falcom jumped onto him and stabbed his neck.

Unable to retract the appendage in time, Demoman's bombs then exploded, completely obliterating the tongue. The Felon cried from pain as blood burst out from the destroyed organ… only for it to regrow within a few seconds.

"He can regenerate!? Really?!" IF shouted.

"IF, Falcom!" Medic yelled at them. "Find Frau Blanc! Get zhese onto her!"

IF couldn't react when Medic pushed his glasses into her hands and pushed her away. "Run! Schnell!" The Guild agent wanted more information, like where was Blanc? Or why she needed to make her wear these? But the most pressing one was "What about Trick?"

"We'll hold him off! Go and get these glasses onto her!" Soldier replied, emptying his rocket launcher into Trick's face.

IF and Falcom shared a look. They obviously missed some context here, but nonetheless they shrugged and left the mercs to deal with the Leader of ASIC. Finding Blanc was easy, as she (in her HDD IF noted), was playing a rather loud and dangerous game of tag with Scout. Blanc set her fist at him, but Scout double jumped from left to right and Blanc hit the tree instead.

The merc didn't look back as he ran away, and it just occurred to the girl that he was carrying Blanc's axe. Why did he have her weapon? What was going on with Blanc? "Scout! What's going on?"

Scout perked up and jumped to the side, as Blanc tried to tackle the bostonian. She only grabbed air. "Oh, hey girls!" Scout said, dodging several punches, kicks and swipes Blanc sent at him. "When did you pop in-OOF!?" He miscalculated and accidently reached a tree, then Blanc punched him through that tree.

Scout died immediately and Blanc was free to recover her weapon. Unable to think of anything but murder, the brainwashed CPU searched for new targets, and her eyes found IF and Falcom. Blanc's eyes were dull, just like they've seen in the twins.

Falcom stepped to the front and drew her blade. "I'll handle this."

Blanc and Falcom began walking in a circle, watching each other, waiting for an opportunity to strike. IF was following Falcom closely, preparing to jump in to support. "Blanc, I don't know what's going on but you need to snap out of this! This isn't you!" IF pleaded, but it fell on deaf ears. Blanc didn't react to her words at all.

The fight between the mercenaries and CFW was loud, but their screams and gunshots were ignored by both parties. IF looked worried that they may actually be forced to fight Blanc, a CPU already in HDD. Falcom meanwhile was only thinking how she should make that she-devil stop breathing.

Falcom blinked.

This was all Blanc waited for. The CPU charged forward, way faster than IF could react, but despite all that speed Blanc was still stopped by Falcom, intercepted by her as if she was an immovable object. Both of them were at a standstill, trying to overpower the other with sheer strength. This stalemate lasted for a moment before IF jumped in with her magic. "La Delphinus!"

A pillar of light engulfed the CPU, Falcom didn't even spare a glance at IF when the adventurer sent a roundhouse kick at Blanc, kicking her out of IF's spell. Blanc recovered by rolling, and then she rolled again to avoid Falcom's jab.

Blanc swung her axe at Falcom, and caught her in the side. The adventurer fell down screaming. IF sent a couple of jabs and swings at the CPU, all of which Blanc either blocked or simply avoided. She saw an opening, and punched IF right in her face.

The Guild agent staggered and Blanc kicked her in the side. IF fell face-first into the snow. She turned around and saw Blanc looking down on her, her eyes still dull and emotionless as before. "Blanc, wake up! You're not seriously gonna kill me are you?!" IF asked her in desperation.

Blanc simply raised her axe.

IF gulped and raised her hands, her Katars poised to catch the blow.

And then, without warning, a sword popped out of Blanc's chest.

Blanc looked down onto the blade, emotions finally returning to the CPU, life returning to her eyes. Just as she was on death's door. "Damn." Blanc cursed, watching herself bleed all over, a few drops of blood even fell onto IF.

IF was shell-shocked. She was simply, truly shocked. Falcom stood behind the CPU, Gehaburn stabbed deep into her back.

She just saw Falcom kill a CPU.

And that wasn't even the scariest part.

"Die like the monster you all are." She heard her whisper into Blanc's ear, before twisting her blade and ripping it out.

Blanc's dead body hit the ground. Dead. Blanc. A proper CPU. Dead. By the hands of her friend. "W-What did you-"

"N-No… Wha-What have I done?" Falcom dropped her sword in the meantime. The sudden dark glint in her eyes were gone as she looked at her blood-soaked hands. They were shaking just like her legs. Falcom looked as shocked as IF was. "I-I didn't mean to…" The blue haired woman whispered.

IF finally found the strength to get up. She dragged herself to Blanc's side; she was bleeding profusely, but IF could feel her still breathing! She was still alive! "Medic! Medic!" The Guild agent screamed, looking around for the german doctor. Her reply was a faint prick in her bicep, where she found a small needle stuck to her arm. She ripped it out and threw it at the ground.

"It's not me! Blanc got hurt! She needs help!" The brunette cried.

"Iffy? What's going- Blanc?!" Compa, like an angelic savior descending from the heavens, appeared next to IF. Her Quick-Fix was already connected to Blanc, pulling her back from the precipice of death. "What happened to her, Iffy?" The nurse asked.

"Falcom. She..." IF turned around to point at the blue haired adventurer, but she was gone. "Where's Falcom?"

Compa also looked around, but she couldn't find her.

Falcom had ran off.

Spy prided himself for his capability to suppress his emotions and feelings. But this...

...He refused to comment on.

Spy stepped over a charred corpse, only to step onto another one. The terrain was burnt so well that some bodies were almost indistinguishable from the floor; charred, dry and scorched. The whole place was falling apart, and Spy could still feel the heat from a few small fires that remained. It was obviously Pyro's work.

Spy walked towards a door and tried to open it, but the handle fell apart just from his faint touch. Spy took a step back and kicked the doors, which flew off the hinges and left the mercenary with an unobscured doorway.

Just how long was Pyro here to burn the whole place down? Spy decided to not think about this as he stepped inside, his Dead Ringer and Revolver prepared just in case. It wouldn't be far from the truth if someone said Spy was worried that even if he found Pyro, that thing might attack him just like it did with the others.

Fortunately no one specified he needed to bring the mumbling abomination alive, he might as well carry its dead carcass to Medic or Planeptune.

The room was empty… completely. The furniture was turned into ash and scrap metal, there were no signs of Pyro nor anything that would give Spy a clue where he was or who this building belonged to. Spy left the empty room and continued his search, trying to knock the ash off his boots.

The silence was the scariest part. There was no background noise, no noise at all besides Spy's footsteps. No indication that Pyro may or may not be here. It was like in one of those bad horror movies where the monster would suddenly appear screaming.

But unlike in those cheap entertainment for the poor with horrible taste, this was authentic. Here there was a creepy atmosphere that seemed to follow Spy. He couldn't even cloak or disguise because he brought the Dead Ringer and there was no one to disguise as, either way he would still be targeted.

All they needed to do was to leave Pyro alone and- No. That would just bring more long-term problems.

Spy found a staircase leading below, but he didn't want to go there. The whole building was already weakened by fire and on the verge of collapse, too risky. He passed by the stairs and made his way to another room. He had to check every single one in case his teammate was dead. The french cursed his team for leaving this job to him, but it was either this or fighting a giant robotic reptilian pedophile.

...He preferred the pedophile. At least a gunfight wouldn't fill Spy with so much dread and anticipation. It was like Pyro was right behind him, ready to murder him and no one would even know.

A footstep.

Spy turned around and pointed his gun.

Pyro was standing in the hallway, blood and soot staining its suit. In one hand it carried the Mascot, and the other kept a girl on its shoulders.

Spy raised his brow, noting the coincidence for Pyro to appear behind him exactly when Spy imagined it to be there. The French raised his gun so it wouldn't point at Pyro, but he kept it ready just in case. Pyro meanwhile just stood still.

"Well?" Spy said.

Pyro took a small step forward, before falling onto the floor and surprising Spy. The French would have asked if Pyro was okay if its reanimator didn't activate then, signifying that the maniac had dropped dead. "Okay…?" Spy muttered, flabbergasted. Maybe the physical strain of what it's done here has finally caught up with it all at once; afterall, even Pyro was not completely immune to fire and heat, not to mention whatever defense the previous occupants may have tried to put up.

At least he won't have to worry about it anymore.

Spy looked at the girl Pyro was holding. She was young, 12 or maybe 14 years old. She had pale, deathly pale skin and light purple hair. She wore a white hoodie (just a hoodie! She didn't have any pants or skirt covering her underwear) and white and blue striped socks that reached her thighs. Just like Pyro, she was covered in ash and soot.

Spy was curious about this girl. Who was she? What was someone as young as her doing here? Why did Pyro save her when it killed everybody else?

Spy offhandedly pointed the resemblance this girl had to Nepgear.

And then it all clicked.

Interdimensional Cliff-Hanging Contract

Stranger Danger

You know, it took me roughly 4.5k words to realize just in how big of a corner I wrote myself there. Because without Pyro, the mercs's firepower just could barely out damage CFW Trick's regeneration. You can see that with how Trick could just keep going despite all the damage the mercenaries did to him. Because it just disappeared after few moments.

Meanwhile the damage caused by Pyro remained through the entire fight because burns don't heal as easily as other wounds. So Pyro in itself was a perfect candidate against CFW Trick, but unfortunately it wasn't available for this fight.

So I just realized that mid-fight, and I could either pull out Saxton Ex Machina again (which I didn't want) or I could just stop it on a cliffhanger (which I did, sorry about that).

But be at ease. Blanc isn't dead! I'm not killing her off like I did with Cave.

Now tell me how many of you saw it coming? How many of you just knew will happen after Blanc started fighting Falcom?

Please tell me your thoughts.

Responses:

Slenderbrine

A week, huh? That's pretty fast. I'm glad you like it.

Guest (Just 1 this time)

No dude. Pyro is ded. Not big surprise.

YORCHspartan117

Writing Pyro's POV was honestly the hardest thing I've done so far. For one paragraph it's pretty easy, but when you gotta do it for the whole scene… never again. I'm not gonna say anything about the Small Blue Bird except the fact that he's small… and blue. And also I based him out of the blue bird from Mary Skelter Nightmares that I still have to finish.

Fun fact: I struggled to come up with a Pyroland name for Sharpened Volcano Fragment until I settled for Rainbow Rod cuz fire = rainbows and this thing is made out of fire.

Then when I was writing this chapter. I came up with a better suited name "Heartburn"... I kicked myself for not picking it up sooner.

While Neptulium works wonders against all CPUs, I doubt Australium would work against Saxton Hale. It's Saxton Hale after all.

Pyro actually had the best matchup against Trick. Its fires reduced healing rate and resist shield effects by 25%, so Trick has problems healing wounds left by Pyro. And yes, Trick retreated because there was so much fire that the Candidates were in danger, which Trick didn't like.

I reread the previous rescue attempt, and besides Pyro only IF tried to attack the tentacles. They resisted her magic. So it's possible that the rest of the mercs could still rescue the other CPUs on their own. But yeah, Pyro got the most experience in that.

And yes, you were right. Neptune joins the party, only Vert and Noire remains.

- Harmless Orange