If you think this chapter is forced… that's because it is.

Interdimensional RED-Coded Contract

A Change in Force

On the day the twins and Mina brought back Blanc, the mercenaries allowed themselves to kick back and rest for the rest of the day. They all needed it and even Soldier agreed.

Especially when the first thing on the next day was Blanc gathering them all in the lobby.

She looked up to them, literally because of the height difference, and couldn't help but to feel disillusioned. What she expected was a group of battle-hardened veterans, people you could just see they're not to be messed with…

But what she saw was a ragtag bunch of misfits, actually it was amazing on it's own that a group like them can cause so much trouble. Then again, one of them can double jump while the other could turn invisible at any moment. Looks can be deceiving.

"So you're the guys that've been wreaking havoc on the ASIC." Blanc said as all 9 of them climbed down the stairs. The dark-skinned man took her attention, as he was reeking of alcohol and swaying, nearly- and he fell down and smashed his head against the table.

"Is he okay?" Blanc pointed at him, genuinely concerned about his health. Bless her for not knowing how sturdy the mercs are. Soldier walked up to the unconscious Demo, and gave him a strong kick to Demo's side.

"Demoman!"

The only response was a quiet snore of the scottish man.

"Affirmative, ma'am!" The american saluted. "Demoman is just drunk, please continue."

Blanc, not knowing how else she should respond, and the lack of Histoire didn't help the matter, decided to bite her nail. "This doesn't look comfortable, move him somewhere." Soldier saluted again and was about to carry his teammate upstairs, but Heavy volunteered for this duty instead, lifting the drunk Scot and… throwing him up the stairs like a sack of potatoes.

Somehow the merc's body bounced against the wall like a ball and landed in a comfortable position on a chair conveniently placed upstairs, but of course Blanc didn't know that. "Wha- I said move him not throw him! Are you sure he's okay after that?" The CPU asked in exasperation as Heavy casually dusted off his hands.

"Little CPU shouldn't worry about him, Demoman won't remember this."

Blanc's vein popped way before Heavy finished his sentence, but Sniper intervened before she could explode in rage. "So why did ya call us here, Sheila? I don't think that's only to show us you're fine and all."

The CPU nodded at his prediction and said "Yes. I just wanted to inform you that I'll be taking control over you."

"Eh, alright."

"Meh."

"Welcome aboard, Lady Blanc!"

The mercs took the info way easier and faster than Blanc expected. She raised her eyebrows in surprise as the group of mercenaries dispersed, each of them going off to do their own thing. "You knew that already?" Blanc asked the lone remaining person, Soldier.

"Yes, ma'am." He nodded. "Spy already informed us of a change in command yesterday. Good morning, Lady Blanc!"

His commander smiled at him. "Good morning, Soldier." Histoire was right when she said he responded well to established authority… now the girl wondered how far she could push it. "I see. Then I'll also inform you that we're changing how we're dealing with the ASIC from now on."

Engineer, who was working on the Sentry Gun behind the counter, stopped. "What?" He put down his wrench and looked at her, and so did the rest of the mercs. "Pardon me, ma'am. What did you say?"

"We're changing how we do things around here. I order you all to stop attacking and killing the ASIC."

The reactions were… varied. Engineer considered it for a moment, and went back to work with a "Depends on them, Lady Blanc." Sniper and Spy shrugged and dismissed her with "Whatever." and "I see."

Pyro and Scout weren't even listening from the start, Pyro was playing with a lighter while Scout made himself some breakfast. Medic and Heavy nodded in affirmation, although the doctor wondered how he's going to gather fresh corpses for his experiments from now on.

And Soldier…

"Wait. What?" He blinked in confusion. Did he misheard her? The American asked the Lowee's CPU to repeat herself and her eye twitched in irritation.

"I'm serious here, men." She growled. "Your senseless massacres have pissed off basically the entire public. Histoire is already afraid that they'll do something drastic, and the killing needs to stop."

"Pffft." Scout chuckled. "They should be grateful we're taking out their trash! Who would cry after them?"

"Oh, I dunno, maybe the thousands of families who've lost loved ones in one of your raids?" Blanc dryly countered, completely unamused by the Bostonian youth. "I believe some of them would be eager to rip you, and Nepgear and Histoire to shreds."

Engineer sighed and stood up, again placing his wrench onto the counter. "I dunno about you guys, but I'm with Lady Blanc on this one." He raised his hard hat and scratched his bald head. "It's one thing bein' hired to kill folks who respawn, but it's another to kill folks who stay dead. This many of 'em too."

The RED team took his words a bit more seriously than Blanc expected, something she was glad for.

Then Heavy stepped forward and argued. "But then why Miss Histoire didn't say so?" She never, ever told them that they're killing too many people. The mercs just thought they were doing good as long they're getting ASIC off Nepgear's back, and help her gather Shares from her people. They were oblivious to the unrest happening in Planeptune.

"Histoire's already considered it for a long time." Blanc explained. "Why she never did it, I don't know."

"She's our employer." Sniper grumbled. "What did she expect us to do? Blow her head off for tryin' to stop us? We're assassins, not crazed gunmen!"

Before someone else could say anything, Soldier flipped.

"AAAAAAH!" The american yelled, putting both of his hands under the table and flipping it upside down. "HOW AM I GONNA SPREAD FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY NOW?! AMERICA WAS FOUNDED TO PROTECT FREEDOM! NOT TO LET SCUM LIKE ASIC TAINT OUR GLORIOUS FLAG-!"

The rest of the mercs restrained Soldier while Blanc watched from nearby with confusion and shock. Soldier struggled against the combined strength of his teammates, but he was quickly knocked onto the ground and apprehended.

"YOU COMMUNISTS AND NAZIS CANNOT STOP ME, FOR I AM THE AMERICA-!" Scout took a nearby frying pan and bashed Soldier's face with it until he shut up. Blanc cringed at the violent display of force, and the loud clangs combined with Soldier's cries of pain didn't help it.

After a moment of bashing Soldier's skull in, Scout sighed and went to drop the bloodied pan into the sink, and Blanc finally snapped out of her shock to ask. "Is- Is he alright?"

The mercs looked back at the american, his face bloodied with at least a broken nose, with a strong chance of having a skull fracture. "No?" They shrugged.

"You guys are maniacs alright." The CPU muttered under her breath, then she pointed at Medic. "Medic. You can heal him, right?"

"Zont vorry Frau Blanc. Herr Soldier will just respawn in a few seconds." Medic smiled at her while Soldier's corpse faded out of existence. None of the mercs were bothered by it as they stood up and turned towards the CPU.

It was only then that Blanc realized Soldier wasn't just maimed, he was straight-up murdered, and the fact the rest of the blood-splattered mercs didn't care about it only intimidated her more, and few things intimidated the CPU of Lowee. Now she remembered their immortality and realized why this group was so dangerous, beyond the implants and special technology. They have a completely different perception of death from everyone else. If they're willing to beat their own comrade to death without any guilt nor hesitation just to shut him up, what care would they give to the lives of strangers, much less enemies?

Still, she tried to steady herself and maintain an air of authority. "...Well, whatever just happened, you're not to do that to other people. ASIC or not."

"Mpmh mh mmph mphmhpmh fhmph?"

Blanc frowned at Pyro's mumbling and turned to face him, speaking bluntly. "I don't understand what you're saying." Fortunately there was Engineer there to translate for her.

"Pyro said: 'What if they attack first?'"

Blanc stopped, surprised that someone actually understood Pyro's mumbling and because this was a good question. Of course, she already considered as much, the ASIC aren't some pacifistic organization protesting for reforms and signing petitions, confrontations are inevitable. "Then incapacitate them, make them unable to fight but don't kill them."

"How far we can go?" Spy questioned, making the CPU aware of a potential loophole. They could just turn someone into a living vegetable and it wouldn't fall under 'killing a person' because said victim was still alive, in the most technical sense of the word.

"No chopped off limbs or anything like that. Anything so they won't be able to fight, but nothing they can't recover from."

"Understood, madame Blanc." Spy nodded and then checked the time. "I'm sorry but I must go, my shift at ASIC is starting." The french turned invisible right after saying this, the doors behind Blanc mysteriously opening and closing on their own. Blanc watched this unfold with an unreadable expression. She wasn't used to people turning invisible on a dime.

"'scuse me, Miss Blanc." Sniper raised his hand and took Blanc's attention. "If we can't go around attackin' ASIC, then what are we supposed to do?"

"...Did you do any Guild missions before I woke up?"

"Да. We did a lot of them with Nepgear and others." Heavy nodded.

"Then do those. Just don't harm any human." Blanc shrugged. It wouldn't do any harm to let them kill monsters or fetch some items. No one cared about monsters.

"Alright, men. Now that we have that sorted out, do you have any question or can I go back to the Basilicom?" The mercs briefly looked at each other. Heated discussion happened outside of Blanc's knowledge thanks to their telepathic connection. All of this took only a single second, and after that the mercs collectively faced the CPU and said "Nah, we're good."

Blanc was now increasingly creeped out, but she still had to keep her facade of a strong leader. "I see, then I'll be going." She nodded and left in a hurry, but not too quickly as to give them the idea that she was scared. After she slammed the doors, Scout looked at the rest of his team.

"...No one told her Engie put a teleporter straight to the Basilicom?"

The mercs could only shrug, wondering the same thing.

Falcom silently stared at her reflection in the water.

Her hair and eyes weren't red and orange, not anymore. They were navy blue instead. Her appearance changed, just like Samuel warned her. It wasn't much, but it was very noticeable.

There was also a big scar on her stomach where Gehaburn had impaled her. Over the scar however was a bright blue tattoo, with circles and symbols unknown to her and Eyelander, though Histoire could know something. Was it Gehaburn's doing or was that the seal Samuel placed on her? It covered her entire stomach and even stretched around her back.

Because of that scar, Falcom has to consider getting a different outfit, something to cover the weird tattoos and the wound. Eyelander was silent while Falcom lost herself in her own reflection, fresh from the bath she took at the lake, her skin was clear of any blood but her clothes were not.

...Everyone would worry the moment they lay their eyes on her.

"Sooo…" The sword began, his first words ever since the adventurer came to the beach. "Do you know what happened to you?"

The malevolent spirit nearly killed her, so that she could meld herself with Falcom and take control of her, only to be sealed by the 'Overseer of NEO Hyper Dimension' who asked for her help. Perfectly normal and boring exploration of an old castle.

"I don't know." Falcom answered. The adventurer doubted that Eyelander would believe her. Hell, she hardly believed herself. "I woke up in a stran# ^ !#%-" The red, or now blue haired girl paused. Censorship.

"It should stop Gehaburn from taking control over your brain. It will make you unable to talk about our meeting here, and it also has the neat effect of encrypting your mind, so now no one, including me, can read your thoughts or look into your memories."

Falcom couldn't even tell him what happened.

"You woke up where?" Eyelander questioned, voice thick with confusion. "I didn't understood what you said there."

Falcom sighed and tried to wash some of the sand off her. The worst part of leaving the beach, sand always stuck to you no matter how hard you tried. "I don't know. I don't know what happened." The adventurer wiped the soles of her boots on some rocks.

"Uh-huh." The ghost didn't sound convinced. Both of them knew Falcom was bullshitting, but Eyelander didn't push it.

They would go back to Virtua Forest, find the Mascot, take it to the Basilicom and get some help from Histoire. Then they could find some more info on the Gehaburn, or Arfoire. And also Samuel...

Falcom paused, getting an urge to bash her head against the nearest tree.

She didn't ask him about the Histoire shown in the Wraith Manifestations, worse, she completely forgot to ask how she could contact him when she was done or needed help… This was one of the most important things and they just forgot about it.

"This day just couldn't get worse…" Falcom mumbled, and in a completely predictable and cliche manner, it began to rain. It didn't matter there were barely any clouds in the sky, it will always rain when someone says the magic words.

Falcom clicked her tongue and took the Eyelander, tying his sheath to her belt and marching into the forest. At least the rain will wash the sand off her.

As her feet carried her through the increasingly damp forest, Falcom remembered one more thing. No, not the book. She had it with herself, Falcom didn't know what it would do once it gets into IF's hands, but the adventurer was curious about it.

The adventurer remembered that Eyelander was Demoman's sword, and he would be pretty pissed over her taking him. She did leave a note saying she'll get him something in exchange, right?

Let's just hope some cheap booze would be enough to make up the 2 day absence.

She would also need an explanation for why she was covered in blood, scarred and changed her hair color. The adventurer could tell them the truth, but there was a chance it would get censored as well. It's also so crazy that they might not even believe her, despite all the weirdness the mercenaries and Nepgear have been through.

Now that Falcom thought about it, maybe they would actually believe her. Would her adventure sound crazy by the mercenaries' standard?

She would have to wait and see.

"I know nothing about it!"

"We told you about it yesterday, mate."

"I don't know what you're talking about, sissy. What is yesterday?"

Medic and Engineer shared a look, wondering if their teammate just mispronounced his sentence or seriously didn't know what yesterday meant. Heavy just shook his head in disappointment, the others shouldn't be so surprised. They're talking to Soldier after all.

"Umm… good morning?"

Their argument was put on hold by the new voice, the mercs turned around to see Nepgear awkwardly standing on the stairs, with Ram and Rom.

"'Morning, Nepgear." Engineer greeted, and then he noticed the blue-clad twin, looking as if she was about to cry. "You alright there, girl? What happened." The texan crouched down and gently smiled, trying to make the kid open herself to him.

"I… tripped. When I left the teleporter." The candidate answered him, covering behind the Planeptunian candidate.

"Oh, valk it off." Medic rolled his eyes, getting a glare from the pink-clad twin.

"Rom, Ram, these are the men who saved your sister. Say hi."

A few of the REDs chuckled when both girls meekly greeted them. The kids were intimidated by the mercs, but then again what kid wouldn't be? Especially with Heavy in the room, towering above anyone else, and Soldier shouting his lungs out. Ram tried to act brave, but the mercs saw right through her, she wanted nothing more than to go back to her older sister's safety.

"What were you arguing about?" Nepgear asked, patting Rom's head to help her calm down.

"Soldier's turn to clean the toilets, and he doesn't wanna." Scout shrugged. Ram grimaced in disgust, sympathizing with Soldier's choice of not wanting to clean the lavatories. Yuck.

"Listen here, maggot." Soldier jabbed his finger into Scout's ribs, "Enlisted men don't clean toilets, it's not their responsibility. It's the responsibility of maggots, janitors and women! I refuse to do anything not-combat oriented."

Many were surprised when Soldier correctly used the word 'responsibility', but some of them were enraged by Soldier's sexism. Ram in particular was angered by Soldier and like a brave girl and CPU Candidate, the pink clad twin marched towards the mercenary with bravery Nepgear didn't know she had. The small child went undetected by the American, the rest of the mercs and Nepgear worriedly looked at one another, afraid of what will happen when Ram raised her foot...

...And sent a solid kick to Soldier's crotch.

His team silently gasped and their legs instinctively moved to protect their sole weakness. It was too late for Soldier though, the man just froze when Ram's boot collided with Soldier's body. "My… nuts." The merc dropped like a rock while Ram looked proud of herself.

"Ouch." Sniper said.

"Ram, don't do that!" Nepgear's eyes widened, the lilac haired candidate rushed to take Ram's hand and dragged her away from Soldier, afraid of the retailation the crazed man might do to her. The mercs offered no help as they were stunned by the Candidate's move, like the kick had some sort of area of effect.

"Hmph." Ram scoffed and wrested herself free from Nepgear's grip. "This stupid dummy deserved it." The candidate sounded so proud of herself, while Soldier was still doubled over in pain. Not even his enhancements helped to fight the pain of being kicked in the jewelry. "Right Rom? Rom?"

Her sister was at Soldier's side, her staff glowing as she used her magic to heal the mercenary. "A-Are you alright, mister?" She asked once she was done, Rom defeated her fear to help a stranger who suffered because of her twin, oblivious to the danger she placed herself.

A hand clamped on her shoulder, holding her in place as it squeezed tightly. The temperature in the room seemed to drop when Soldier slowly and wordlessly rose from the floor. Rom felt her heart stop in fear when the man glared down at her, eyes covered behind his helmet but the candidate could feel his gaze on her.

Another hand wretched Soldier's hand away and held it above his head. Heavy looked down at his teammate and dragged him away from the frightened girl. "Let it go, Soldier. It's just a small girl."

"Yeah, you're scarin' kids here, pal!" Scout joined.

"Alright, y'all might wanna scram quick. Soldier will forget about it later, but don't piss him off more." Engineer pushed Rom into Nepgear's hands, where the Planeptune's candidate was terrified, expecting Soldier to actually hurt the child in front of her.

Ram meanwhile was a few seconds from freezing the merc solid, the only thing stopping her was the crowd around him. Heavy held Soldier back but the mercenary wanted vengeance over his family's jewelry. "Let me go, Commie! This girl thought it would be funny to harm a US Soldier, she deserves some discipline!"

"That ankle-biter is just 7 years old! Hell mate, you're screaming at the wrong kid too!" Sniper shouted as he helped Heavy. What the hell was with Soldier today? This was the second time today they had to restrain him.

Seeing the entire team (minus Spy) trying to hold Soldier back before he delivers freedom and democracy on some innocent kid, Engineer turned back to Nepgear.

"Yeah, l-let's go Rom and Ram." The candidate slowly pushed the twins back into the Resupply. What did Nepgear actually expect when she tried to introduce a pair of kids to a bunch of violent maniacs?

On their way back, the twins locked theirs eyes on another mercenary, a familiar figure clad in an asbestos suit. Lowee's Candidates brightened up upon seeing it. "Pyro!" Ram called, greeting the merc with a wave, Rom did the same with a big smile on her face.

"G-Good morning."

"Mmph!" The merc greeted. Its hands were busy carrying buckets with stuff in it, Nepgear spied some rockets, tools and a medium ammo pack inside. For what reason? The candidate decided she didn't need to know, she wasn't curious about that.

What she wanted to know however, was the twins' relationship with the fire-loving mystery. "You two seem to like Pyro." Ram rolled her eyes like it was the most obvious thing in the world, technically it was pretty obvious but Nepgear had no idea how else she should start this conversation.

"Well, duh! Pyro is great, even better than that loud dummy I kicked."

"Y-You shouldn't kick others, Ram. It's not nice." Rom scolded.

"Yeah, that wasn't nice." Nepgear joined.

The pink twin took offense to that. "He deserved it, Rom." She defended herself. "He said that us girls should just clean up men's messes and make dinner for them."

But Soldier didn't say anything about cooking - Nepgear thought with a frown, and then she sighed. "It's still not nice to attack people, Ram." Especially attacking someone who possibly wouldn't be above attacking a child. The lilac-haired girl could see Rom's face when Soldier grabbed her, no doubt mistaking her for the culprit of the attack.

It would turn into a mess if Heavy and the others didn't interfere. Rom could be hurt or worse, then Blanc would raise hell onto them.

"He-He's scary." Rom sniffed, at which Ram eagerly pointed out.

"See! He spooked Rom, this dummy obviously deserved it!" Ram glared at Nepgear, as if daring her to argue it. The Planeptunian however decided to change the subject before more problems arose.

"Let's just go back and play with Hatty, who's with me?"

Ram immediately raised her hand. "Me, let's go Rom!" The pink clad twin dragged her sister into the teleporter, who jumped into it with a cheerful "Woo hoo!" and disappeared. Rom quickly followed but she was much quieter about it than her twin.

Nepgear had to withhold a giggle as she saw Ram's shenanigans. The Candidate quickly hopped onto the teleporter and went back to the Basilicom.

On the other side, Nepgear was met with Rom lying on the floor, again.

There was something special about walking through the forest in the rain, it was this calmness that filled Falcom with peace unlike the one she felt at her 'death'. The humid air and the sound of rain enriched that sensation.

The adventurer marched forward, drenched and tired but she kept going. The Eyelander was ready to draw if necessary, although there wasn't a monster in sight, all of them just disappeared from Virtua Forest. Saxton Hale was most likely the reason for this.

Samuel's map was accurate, and Falcom easily found the Mascot - a purple CD/DVD disc. And just like he said, it was broken. It was hard to pick the pieces from the mud, but Falcom did her best. One step closer to defeating the ASIC and freeing the rest of the CPUs.

"Can you finally explain to me how did you find this place?" Eyelander said, not missing the face Falcom did. She wanted to tell him, truly. But she didn't have any way. "You know something, and you don't wanna tell me. You so conveniently found a strange book and a map leading to this 'Mascot' as you put it, the thing we were searching for all this time."

"I know."

"You nearly died from Gehaburn, but for some reason you're still alive. The ghost and sword disappeared."

"Yes. I know-"

"You're not Falcom, Hilda Gehaburn."

The adventurer stopped.

"Your hair and eyes changed color. I dunno why, it didn't happen when I was possessing her, but both of us can see the difference between red and blue. Not only that, I lost control over your body. Until you appeared, I could lead and hint where and how Falcom should move. Even take control of certain parts of her body if I tried enough. But now I can't do that, huh? Interesting right?"

"What's your point, Eyelander?" Falcom(?) looked down at the sword, she could feel it emitting hostility and malice.

"My point is, if you don't let the woman go I'll make your new life a living hell."

…

His threat was met with silence. His distrust hurt, but how could she blame him? She's the one not telling him anything after getting an appearance change and suddenly gaining all sorts of new insights.

"...I am Falcom, Duke Eyelander." She reassured, sighing. "It's just… something happened, and I literally, physically cannot talk about it."

"Oh yes? How convenient for you." The sword mocked. "And why exactly can't you talk about it?"

"This s$ ! *$ ^ $&!)&?*-" The adventurer pointed at her stomach, at her recently-made tattoo.

"This what? The scar? It looks bad, but it shouldn't prevent you from talking."

Now Falcom was confused. Did the ghost… not notice the giant tattoo covering her body? They were all around her abdomen and are in bright colors, they're basically screaming for attention! "You really don't see these? These tattoos on my body?" The adventurer said, if only to confirm.

"You're acting very strange, Gehaburn, Falcom, whoever you are." The ghost deadpanned. "No, I don't see any tattoos, I see only a scar on your stomach."

The blue-haired woman was in such shock she could've dropped the bag from her hands. Her eyes widened and she thought that Eyelander may be possibly pulling her leg here, but why he would do such a thing? It wasn't the time or place for playing jokes.

"You're… You're serious? No blue symbols covering my belly and back, nothing?" Falcom touched one of the symbols written on her skin, as if hoping that Eyelander would somehow see the bright blue colors if she just pointed them out.

"I'm starting to think you aren't actually Gehaburn." The ghost suddenly said, but before Falcom could say anything Eyelander continued. "Hilda doesn't seem to be the type to try to force bullshit like this. You should probably go to Medic, blood loss seems to make you hallucinate."

His harsh words and doubt hurt Falcom who thought they'd built up some kind of bond of trust over their adventure, but again it wasn't something she could blame him for. There was no evidence she could present, not for her mystical invisible tattoos, nor for her inability to speak of what happened. To Eyelander, she might as well just be a blabbering madwoman. And to anyone else as well, if she doesn't think of some way to explain herself. At least now she knew not to mention the tattoo.

Still, the stinging feeling of embarrassment clung to Falcom as she travelled back to the Basilicom.

"I thank you for your help, Mina."

"This wasn't anything to thank me for, Histoire."

The two Oracles walked through the hallway of Planeptune's Basilicom, enjoying a small break they earned.

"No." Histoire shook her head. "It's been a long time since I had someone to help me with my duties, I truly appreciate it." It's been a long time since the fairy wasn't feeling completely exhausted after chipping through her duties, or since she's completed it so quickly. Having someone, even if they're from a different nation, worked wonders for Histoire.

"You make me blush." Mina smiled. Yesterday was a shock for her, but the blue-haired woman didn't seem to show it anymore. Whether she got over it or was simply faking it, Histoire didn't know. But that didn't matter anymore.

Then Histoire stopped all of a sudden. Her smile was gone and she had an unreadable expression on her face. Mina understandably was confused by this behavior, the Lowee's Oracle was even more confused when Histoire sighed and tried to push Mina out of the way. "It would be wise to get out of the way." Said the fairy as she hovered close to the wall.

"Huh?"

"Just wait and see." Was all Histoire said. The two Oracle waited for something, their bodies were as close to the walls as possible. Mina was confused over what is happening while Histoire was just resigned.

Then it happened.

"Ah! F-Faster Rom! She's still chasing after us!" Yelled one voice, which Mina recognized as Ram's.

"Heelp mee!" Came a distressed yelled, which Histoire recognized as Rom's.

"Slow down so I can beat your crap you little brats! Who the hell let you draw all over my character sheets!" An angry, loud voice was the third thing the Oracles heard. Obviously Blanc.

Not a second later, 4 figures passed the two Oracless. Pyro, Ram and Rom were driving as fast as possible in their bumper cars. Mina's eyes widened in shock but she couldn't do much else, as they quickly turned right to continue their escape.

The last one came was Scout, running for his life despite the rest of their group having a vehicle. The young merc passed them, saying "Hi Histoire! Bye Histoire!" and turning left.

Histoire and Mina shared a look, before Blanc… and Medic for some reason, caught up to them. The CPU was looking pissed and had her hammer in her hands, while Medic wrote something on his clipboard. "Good stamina, check!"

The Lowee's CPU turned back. "You're STILL doing this?!" Blanc shouted at the merc, more confused than pissed, but the german merely shrugged at her.

"Shouldn't you chase after them?"

Blanc scoffed and turned around, looking left and right at the cross section. The CPU had no idea which way the brats went, but there was someone who knew. Blanc turned towards the Oracle, her message clear; "Where did they go?"

Histoire didn't feel anything when she pointed left, where Scout ran to. Blanc nodded to her and ran off with Medic following her. It wasn't long before the two women heard shouting.

"Ha! I caught you, bastard!"

"Oh no! I knew this would happen! I FORESAW THIS-!" Mina winced when she heard a slam, and undisguisable cries of pain. Both women could hear the CPU beating the ever-loving crap out of the mercenary. And those sounds were very imagination-inducing.

"Don't. Touch. My. Notes. Damnit!" Each word was emphasized by Blanc's hammer crashing down into what could be described as a wet slab off meat. Mina was horrified at what could be a murder happening just around the corner, while some other onlooker just couldn't be happier.

"Oh! Brutal, check." Like a cherry on top, Medic's giddy voice was all they heard before Blanc reentered their vision. The CPU looked relieved if her smile was anything to go by. "I feel much better now." She said to them. "Goodbye Mina, Histoire." And just like that, the Lowee's CPU left them while Mina processed what just happened.

After a moment of silence, Mina calmly (too calmly all things considered) approached where the Oracle expected to see Scout lying on the ground, broken and beaten.

Instead Mina was met with Scout dusting off his pants, looking no worse to wear. "Thanks doc!" He nodded at him and Medic nodded back, turning off his Medi-Gun. Mina was speechless and didn't even register Scout walking up to her. The merc looked her up and down, obviously checking her out. "Why hello there." He greeted, oblivious to the fact that Mina was having trouble figuring out what just happened.

A tiny but comforting hand patted Mina's shoulder. "There events are a daily occurence, Mina. It'll be easier on you if you just didn't think about them too much." Advised Histoire.

Falcom opened the doors, and peeked inside.

No one was in the lobby. Just the Sentry Gun in the lobby was active.

The adventurer sighed and closed the doors, having an urge to collapse onto the floor. Her expedition was officially over, and it was way more demanding than she expected it to be.

"No one's home, huh?" Eyelander noted.

Falcom was about to say something but a loud crash silenced her, and it even silenced the Sentry Gun.

No seriously, it was dead quiet.

The adventurer frowned, her gut telling her about arising trouble as she instinctively held onto Eyelander's handle.

"Grrrrrrrrrrrr…" It was a low growl, like a beast hidden upstairs. Falcom now was seriously concerned, was there an intruder in the Hotel? One of Medic's experiments running free? A monster?

Falcom took a few cautious steps forward, noting that the Sentry Gun was suddenly silent. And the footsteps were as clear as ever, the growling didn't stop.

"Is anyone there?" Falcom called out, drawing out the sword. If this was one of the mercs, then there wouldn't be any loss. She would just sheathe the Eyelander back, and leave it there with the drink for Demoman and an apology note.

But if this wasn't a mercenary nor one of her friends?

The answer came quickly.

"REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" The unknown person roared, quickly climbing down the stairs and pouncing at Falcom. She was frozen in place as Demoman sent her onto the floor, with him crashing on top of her.

Falcom was left dizzy, while the scot got off her and grabbed her by shoulders. "Falcom!" He yelled at her. "Ya traitorous devil! Where's me Eyelander?"

Her vision spun and she felt sick from him shaking her, but the blue-haired adventurer found strength to raise the possessed sword. The scotsman immediately let her go to grab his dead roommate. "Eyelander! Ya possessed, rusty friend. I was worried sick aboot ye!"

"Yes, yes. Hello again, Demoman." The ghost said, rolling his eyes if he could.

Shaking his head, Demoman placed the sword next to the wall and turned his attention back at the woman who stole his roommate from him. "What the bloody hell, Falcom! Ya just don't take someone's stuff without askin' fer it! Didn't ya mum taught you sum manners? What are ye; some sneaky thief who doesn' know to keep her hands to herself-?"

"I bought you some booze, I'm sorry!" Falcom interrupted, holding out a bottle of whiskey for him to take before he could continue his furious rant.

"And welcome back, me good ol' friend." Demoman took the booze and started drinking, his anger now forgotten in alcohol. Worked like a charm - Falcom thought with relief, and took this as a chance to recollect herself and make her vision finally stop spinning. The mercenary shook her so hard, her neck and shoulders hurt.

"So where have ya and Mr. Hale been?" Demoman asked, playing with his open bottle.

Falcom sat on a chair and twiddled her thumbs. "Well… me and Mr. Hale seperated, I went to investigate an ancient castle and he wanted to kill some more monsters. I dunno where he is now." Falcom tried searching for him, but Eyelander told her it would take an eternity to find him, and Falcom didn't have his number so she couldn't call him… She hoped he was alright.

...This was Saxton Hale though, it's better to hope that the monsters were alright.

"Aye, fair enough. I dig ya new hair color." He commented, drinking more booze that Falcom bought him. The girl in question was slightly flustered at Demo's casual compliment. She wanted to speak more with him, but she remembered the things she needed to do once she got back.

"Thanks Demo, sorry but I can't talk right now. I gotta go to Histoire and show that I'm not dead and… stuff." Falcom stood up while the merc nodded understandingly, however someone else was confused.

"Why didn't you just call her? You have your phone on yourself, right?" Falcom froze at Eyelander's words. After all that had happened, it didn't occur to the adventurer to use the wonder of technology and update the Oracle via the easiest means. "...Oops?" She sheepishly shrugged. "Anyway, I'm going to Histoire, bye."

"See ya later, girlie." Demoman raised his bottle.

"Goodbye, Woman."

"Hey, Historie. I'm back.

"F-Falcom? I'm glad you- what happened to you?"

One look at Histoire, and a perceptive person could tell she was troubled by what she saw. Mina was one of those, but she didn't need to look at her… ally's face to tell something was wrong. This Falcom's clothing was covered in blood, a lot of blood.

Histoire however, was concerned about many more things.

The person standing in her office was undeniably Falcom, but she changed drastically. Her sudden change in hair and eye color, this scar that Histoire was sure wasn't there before. All of this piled into a conclusion that something happened during Nepgear's friend's adventure with Mr. Hale. The fairy could only hope nothing very bad happened, but judging by the scar and blood there was some bloodshed involved.

And most of the monsters don't bleed red.

The recently-blue haired woman put her arm behind her neck, struggling to explain herself. "I- well… I have no idea how I should explain what happened."

The fairy's features hardened, sensing yet another batch of troubles arriving. "Take a seat, Falcom. And please, try your best to explain."

Falcom did as told, and pondered how she could report her recent adventure while simultaneously trying to avoid the censorship placed on her and make her story believable. Although the evidence is clear, and it's on Falcom's body.

"Let me start with this." She placed her plastic bag on the desk, and took out the shards of the mascot and the skillbook, laying them both on the desk. "I found the Mascot, Histoire. I found the Planeptune mascot!" Falcom announced with a bit of a pride, while Histoire and Mina stared at her in shock. The fairy carefully grabbed one of the shards and examined it, confirming that this was indeed the remains of Planeptune's mascot, which both she and Spy has been searching for all this time (mainly Spy)...

And Falcom just delivered it to the Basilicom, just like that.

"W-What happened to it? How did you find it? Where did you find it?"

"It was like that when I found it, the ASIC found it first. I found it deep in the Virtua Forest and how…" How was the funny part which Falcom feared to say, because the adventurer would have to explain that her speech is Censored and how she was being Censored. The latter one was tricker to explain.

"!&$(#^ told me." Falcom sighed upon revealing the forbidden name of that Overseer. Of course saying it directly wouldn't work… But she had an idea during the walk home.

Before the confused Oracles could ask about whatever Falcom just said, the adventurer continued. "Nevermind that, can I have a pen and some paper?"

Histoire was understandably confused by Falcom's request (which was a feat considering the fairy is usually nonplussed when she partakes in the mercenaries' shenanigans), but the Oracle gave her a pen and a clean sheet of paper. Falcom began to work immediately and began to write a message, confusing the Oracles even further.

I met a man named Samuel Neikan, who helped me find the Mascot. He claimed to be the "Overseer of NEO Hyper Dimension" (whatever it is). He (maybe) saved my life but also prevented me from speaking about certain things at the same time. Help.

She skipped over the details about Gehaburn and Angela, but she didn't have enough space (nor their patience) to write about it. Falcom pushed her letter to Histoire, urging the fairy to read it, but the writing on the paper just confused Histoire even more. "Falcom, what am I looking at? What are these… symbols I'm looking at."

Of course this wouldn't be so easy! - The adventurer inwardly screamed. It was a good idea though, now she learned that she couldn't say anything even through paper, because Samuel wouldn't be so nice to forget about it.

Histoire was about to ask if those events she had been through somehow reduced her ability to communicate, or it was some weird prank (doubtful, Falcom doesn't seem the type to make jokes like these). But then Falcom came forward and answered her unspoken question.

"Alright, let me try this. I met a man, just… a man, and he helped me, but also put a spell on me that… well, censors me, I dunno how it works but it doesn't let me talk about certain things, including anything about this man or how I found the Mascot." The adventurer found joy in the fact she could actually explain her troubles to the Oracle in front of her. It was vague and not very helpful, but it was SOMETHING at least.

"I've… never heard of a spell like that before." Mina mused, she had vast knowledge over all kinds of magic, and yet this was the first time she ever heard something that's able to censor the speech of a person.

Maybe she was lying?

Then Mina would leave the talking to Histoire, while Mina analyzed Falcom's answers.

Although with the way both of them were staring at her, Mina will have to continue. "Lowee has a vast knowledge over all kinds of magic, I even passed this knowledge to Rom and Ram… but none of the books ever mentioned a spell like that."

Falcom looked away, thinking on Mina's answer. Then after a brief moment she took the book from the desk and handed it to Mina. "Can you read this and tell me what it is?" Mina took the book and looked at it, a thin book with a thick red cover and a golden flame on it. There wasn't any title on the cover. The Oracle tried to open it.

She couldn't.

Mina checked if something was somehow preventing it from opening, or if it was glued together, but there was nothing. The book simply refused to open. "I think someone magically bound this book to a someone, so that it could be opened only by that designated person."

Falcom nodded. "He said this is a gift to IF, a reward for freeing Blanc from the ASIC."

And just like that, Histoire was suspicious. "Who was this person?"

Falcom pointed at her brain. "Sorry, censoring seal. Every time I've tried it just comes out as jumbled gibberish, I even tried writing it just now and all you saw were symbols."

"So, this… man, placed a seal on you to prevent you from leaking any information on him, is that right?" The fairy deduced.

"Yes." Falcom nodded.

Histoire collapsed into her chair, already feeling more exhausted than from hours of paperwork. She already has enough problems on her plate, and now there's some mysterious entity with unknown knowledge and magicks involving himself into their affairs. As a tome fairy, one of the things that aggravates her the most is the lack of information, and this… man was the epitome of 'lack of information'.

"Well, if nothing else, I think he's on our side, considering he helped me find the mascot."

"If he wants to help, then he could do it in a more obvious manner. Playing a mysterious benefactor isn't a good way to earn people's trust." Histoire countered Falcom's statement, but then she sighed. "Putting the matter of this man, and the mascot, aside for now though, what happened to you Falcom? You're covered in blood." The adventurer sank into her seat, suddenly very aware that she's reeking of the familiar crimson liquid.

"I think I can talk about that much. Okay, let's start with how me and Mr. Hale separated ourselves…"

Histoire sighed, her finger scratched the area between her brows. Next to her was Mina with a thoughtful expression, thinking hard about the ghost Falcom just described. The fairy however was also concerned about that Angela girl who tried to utilize said spirit to kill Nepgear.

Nepgear was this close from going through an assassination attempt. The mere thought scared the Oracle of Planeptune. "Do you know where Angela currently is?" The fairy had to remind herself that bringing harm to the Dark Magician would only justify her actions, however that didn't mean Histoire couldn't keep tabs on her.

But the plan of spying on the would-be assassin fell to pieces when Falcom shook her head. "Not really, our Mysterious Benefactor moved her somewhere inside Planeptune. But I don't think she'll be any threat to us without the Gehaburn." Then Falcom turned to Mina. "By the way, Oracle Mina, do you know anything about Hilda Gehaburn? Or the sword Gehaburn?"

The lightly-blue haired girl thought for a moment, sighed and then shook her head in defeat. "No actually, but I could search through the myths and legends to find something about that cursed blade."

"Judging from your story, the Gehaburn holds a deep resentment towards the CPUs, right?" Histoire said, and Falcom nodded.

"That's right. She called Nepgear a Devil, and said her (involuntary) actions lead to a lot of people dying. Me and Eyelander defended Nepgear of course, but Gehaburn still attacked us. Something about stopping history from repeating itself."

"Yes. You said it before." Histoire nodded at Falcom's retelling. "Although I'm still unsure about this history you saw in the castle. I don't remember ever interacting with the Deity of Sin, nor with a CPU with twintails who killed her own subjects… this is our first incident like this." Admitting it hurt Histoire way more than she expected. Nepgear shouldn't suffer for her mistakes.

"Is it possible that Gehaburn simply lied to Falcom and Eyelander?" Mina suggested.

"What would she get from lying to us though?" Falcom answered as she looked at the ceiling. "Besides, Angela's Wraith Manifestation shows memories that people made. So Angela and Gehaburn would have to be in on it together."

"It's unlikely then." The Oracle admitted.

"It is, now let's move onto the aftermath of your adventure. Falcom, give me your hand." Falcom was confused, but she did as Histoire requested. The fairy took Falcom's hand and Histoire's eyes suddenly lit up… literally. Histoire's eyes went from dull blue to light blue.

"W-What are you doing?" Falcom asked, but she received no answer from Histoire, and a shrug from Mina. Falcom felt like Samuel was inspecting her for the first time, except Histoire was way less invasive with it which makes the adventurer suspicious that the Overseer really just wanted to grope her bosom.

Suddenly Histoire frowned and her eyes reverted to their original color. "It's… strange." The fairy said as she let Falcom go, who raised an eyebrow.

"What is it?"

"First of all, I found a Share Imprint on you. The Shares are… familiar, but they don't belong to any CPU I know, and not only that, but there's also something preventing me from checking your psyche, something very powerful and complex in design. I speculate that has something to do with our mysterious benefactor."

This something is probably the Seal that Samuel placed on her - Falcom thought. It was supposed to make her mind unreadable by any third party. But what was a Share Imprint? The adventurer was about to ask that, but then Histoire's expression turned grave.

"And the most worrying of all, I can confirm that there's someone else's soul infused with yours. Too deeply to safely separate them in any kind of way."

…

"What is a Share Imprint?" Falcom asked, as if Histoire didn't just drop that bombshell on her a second ago. The fairy looked at her for an extended period of time, blue eyes staring into darker blue eyes while uncomfortable silence fell between them.

"You're not bothered by the fact someone else has melded with your soul?"

"I am immensely bothered, but I already knew about that thanks to him." Though it was hearing it from Histoire that sealed the deal for her, Gehaburn was inside Falcom and there wasn't anything she could do about it. At least she had time to mentally prepare herself, even if it was a short time. "So, what's a Share Imprint?"

Histoire sighed and Mina was amazed how calmly Falcom took this information. She had a malevolent spirit infused with her and the adventurer is like 'Ok'. What a woman.

"Falcom, this is serious. You're a threat to the CPUs, to us, right now. Do you truly understand the magnitude of the situation you're in?"

"I am, Histoire." The adventurer matched the blonde's gaze, not backing down from her words. It was Histoire who broke away first.

"I would say I trust and understand your decision, however that would be a lie. I won't throw you out or lock you away because you're Nepgear's friend, but I am forced to at least place you under surveillance for the time being. Are you fine with that?"

"Yeah, honestly it makes me feel safer knowing someone's keeping tabs on me." Falcom nodded. "So what's a Share Imprint?"

"A Share Imprint is a sign that a person is spending a lot of time near a CPU. The stronger the Goddess is, the faster her shares will imprint onto others, and the mark will also be stronger as well."

"Does it do anything?"

"It doesn't. It only shows that a person spends a lot of time near a CPU. For example; IF and Compa have Share Imprints on themselves albeit smaller and weaker ones, but yours..." Histoire swallowed. "is very strong and very visible. Tell me, was there anyone with him, and for how long were you with him?"

"We were alone, and we talked for... few minutes, I guess? An hour max." Histoire's shoulders dropped, Mina blinked, and Falcom was slightly confused by their reaction.

"You were talking with someone for up to an hour, and it left a Share Imprint so strong on you?" Histoire asked, more to herself than the adventurer.

Falcom slowly nodded. "Also he told me he's just a human, so maybe he's not even a CPU at all."

It was the second bombshell that Falcom dropped on both Oracles, and both times Falcom didn't realize how significant that was. Mina and Histoire shared a look, both of them very unnerved by this information. "He told you he was... a human." Said Mina.

"A simple human like any other in Gamindustri." Said Histoire.

"And he's not a CPU, God or anything similar?" Finished both of them.

Falcom had no idea what was happening, so she just gave them a confused "Yes?"

Histoire collapsed into her chair while Mina felt like fainting. "I hope he was lying, please tell me he was lying, please." Mina whispered loudly while Histoire felt like all of her troubles so far just stopped mattering anymore.

"At this point I'm more ready to believe he lied and he's actually a Male CPU, as unlikely as the situation would be."

"But- But why?" Falcom blinked.

"Because if he isn't a CPU, then that can only mean there's a Goddess who left her mark on him, and said mark was strong enough that it rubbed off on YOU, and still left an imprint that strong in so short a time. For such a thing to occur, this CPU may well be on a completely different level of power from any CPU to have existed in Gamindustri. The implications are… concerning."

Her doors closed with a click, and then Falcom sighed.

At long last, her own room in the Basilicom.

Funny how exhausting one adventure could be.

The recently blue haired woman walked around the room, silently examining her little nest in the most important building in Planeptune. It was her habit to do so when she had something to think on. And today she had a lot to think about.

"Why me? Why this?"

It wasn't a question directed at anyone, Falcom just wanted to say it. Why did she take the Eyelander with herself, why did he find and wanted to meet the Gehaburn, why did she fight Angela instead letting her take the sword? Funny how each of those little things lead to her being… possessed? Half-possessed? Soul-melded? Does it even matter what she calls a malevolent spirit who wants to kill her friends being infused into her very being?

"And all of this could been avoided if I just did something different." Falcom muttered, sitting on the bed. She won't cry about what happened, that won't change anything. But it's nice to think about what happened in peace, trying to imagine various 'what ifs' and how the story would go from there.

If Falcom had simply walked elsewhere, then she wouldn't have arrive at the LAN Castle. Then Angela would get the Gehaburn, or be possessed by her. Then Samuel could abduct the Dark Magician instead and seal the spirit within her. Which begs the question, why did he even compliment her on stopping Angela? The outcome would be the same; 1 possessed person meeting the Overseer of NEO Hyper Dimension and the Overseer sealing the ghost within the possessed person.

Okay… maybe Angela wouldn't want to help Samuel like she did… and maybe Angela would try to somehow unseal herself to kill Nepgear…

Okay, now she understood why Samuel was thankful that Angela was stopped.

But now she was the threat.

The pillow buckled under the weight of Falcom's head. The woman on the bed frowned as she lay there, still in her blood stained clothes. The adventurer was used to the metallic smell that followed her, so she didn't even notice it, because something was more worthy of her attention.

The fact she was now a threat to Nepgear.

Falcom turned around, noticing the camera in the corner of her room. True to Histoire's word, the Oracle was serious about placing her under surveillance, because she was a potential threat to the CPU Candidate of Planeptune.

Truth be told, in hindsight, she's surprised it wasn't something worse, like being locked away in some containment facility or even having the mercs sent after her, but thankfully Histoire was a merciful person, and now really wasn't the time to cause a rift between the Oracle and Nepgear by imprisoning or killing the Candidate's friend.

All things considered, Falcom was grateful that being observed at all times was the worst she got, and she wasn't kidding about a part of her feeling safer for it even. At least someone will know if the seal ever weakens and Gehaburn starts taking over.

That didn't change the fact life's going to be hard for a long while to come.

Interdimensional RED-Coded Contract

A Change in Force

This chapter, I hate this chapter. It came at such a shitty time when I was low on free time because of a job I took for the summer holiday, and combined with the fact I was suffering from a writer's block through the entire month.

And worst of all, I couldn't even skip this chapter because of Histoire meets New!Falcom scene, it was too important to skip and I also couldn't put it on the next chapter because there'll be an event which I want to focus an entire chapter on it. That's how important it is.

In short: A job + writer's block = 2 months of writing… around 9k chapter. Yeah.

Also school is starting, which is great /s

Hopefully the next one will come faster.

Responses:

kerrowe:

At this point, I'm giving Falcom so much focus that she might be as well the Main Character here, especially when she's going to be crucial for the ending (Samuel too, which was why I said LAN Castle was crucial for this fic's ending)

G-Man? I don't think I can write G-Man. Samuel is kinda similar to him now that I think about it… but Samuel is (or will, at least) be more active than the mysterious briefcase guy.

Metastable:

Eh, don't worry.

FourElemental:

IN HELL! He's ripping off the devil himself!

And yes, Samuel was [censored] Falcom's [censored].

NexusPrime42:

I'll admit it, I forgot about him and Underling. I'm not gonna promise anything, but I'll try to put them somewhere in the story.

- Harmless Orange