Interdimensional RED-Coded Contract

White Snow and Red-Stained Purple

"Blanc!"

"Blanc!"

Two children sobbed, tightly clutching the body of Lowee's Console Patron Unit, the awake body of Lowee's CPU. Those children repeated her name over and over again while Blanc, seated on Nepgear's bed, gently stroked their heads. No one was cruel enough to interrupt them. Two little girls, welcomed their missing sister who returned after 3 years of absence.

Mina was watching them from the background, a stained handkerchief in her hand, but not even the cotton could stop her tears from leaking.

The Loweeans were happy, because their leader has returned.

Long story short. After learning that Blanc was waiting in Planeptune, Mina dropped everything she had and rushed with both Candidates to the Land of Purple Progress, a hastily-constructed Sharicite taken with them. Histoire meanwhile ordered her staff to carry the unconscious CPU to Nepgear's room. Because goddess forbid she'll allow two little girls reunite with their sister in a place like Medic's room, or Merc's Hotel in general.

So now there was Blanc sitting on Nepgear's bed, attending to the crying Rom and Ram, while Medic, Nepgear, Histoire and Mina watched them in silence. Blanc had a lot of questions to ask them, but she put those on hold until her little sisters stopped wetting her dress with their tears.

"I'm here, I'm here girls. It's all fine now." Blanc whispered, tightening her embrace a little. The Lowee's CPU doesn't know for how long she was captured, but it felt to her that a lot of time has passed.

"Blanc!"

"Blanc!"

The twins continued sobbing, that's all both of them have been doing for the past 10 minutes, and it seemed like they'll do it for much longer. Crying over lost time they could've spent together, and not wanting to let go, in fear that she will disappear again.

Deciding that it was time to go, Medic dragged Nepgear and Histoire out of the room. They could wait until they're ready in the hallway. There was just no point of them being here.

The hallways of the Basilicom were empty, as always, but sometimes there was an occasional worker patrolling the area. Medic placed himself in front of the window, idly observing the city below him. Two weeks in this city, and yet it all felt much longer than that, it's almost funny how they turned the situation so quickly. "So, zhat makes 3 CPUs left to be rescued? Ja?" He said, watching the sun shining above him. How could it still be at an early hour? He could've sworn much more time has passed.

Then again, that could be just his boredom talking, or time here goes slower than on Earth. At least the Loweeans arrived relatively quickly, the transportation between the nations wasn't half-bad, perhaps they're even better than the Motherland's. Those tend to over-engineer everything.

Now that he's on the topic, how is Germany doing? Or his hometown Rottenburg? Are they still waiting for him with pitchforks and torches? Those ungrateful wenches dared to insult his work, despite him arriving to save their city from robots…

Well… saving the city was a secondary objective. Getting fresh samples came first.

Setting thoughts of his homeland aside, it was a shame he didn't get to experiment on the proper CPU. Although he did learn quite a lot about their immortality, those rumors of their godhood aren't actually so senseless after all.

Maybe Fräulein Blanc will lend her body for some more experiments if he asks nicely. Or maybe Rom and-

No, no no. No performing on children.

"Yes, yes!" The fairy enthusiastically nodded, a big, proud smile plastered on her face. All of her efforts, headaches and misery are finally showing some effects. "Great job Medic, all of you mercenaries actually, I'll reward you later but for now, thank you all for your work!" They finally secured a proper CPU, getting back the rest of them will become much simpler. Now collecting shares will be more efficient and they won't have to resort to committing… such brutal acts.

"Ve vill be waiting for zhat. Frau Histoire." Medic turned towards the fairy and gave her a small nod, before going back to observing the traffic below.

"So uhhh… what's the plan now? Should we still gather the Mascots?" Nepgear nervously cut in and Histoire froze, before facepalming.

"Goodness me… It totally slipped my mind." She had so much to worry about that the Oracle totally forgot about finding something that should be a priority.

She needs a vacation.

Meanwhile, Medic was readjusting his glasses. "Vell, I suppose zhat couldn't hurt. Fräulein Blanc vill also need to undergo some tests, to check if zhere aren't any problems. She vas sleeping for 3 years after all."

Now that Medic thinks about it, did Histoire ever explain to them how the CPUs got captured in the first place? They were working for two weeks already and Medic still has to hear how the ASIC even managed to capture 5 CPUs at once...

Well, in his and Histoire's defense, after they signed their contracts, there wasn't really an opportunity to ask for context. But he will need to ask when an opportunity arises.

"And we should -no, must also investigate this mysterious material that composes CFW Judge's armor. We need to know what is this material, and prepare countermeasures." Said Histoire, her head resting on her fist.

"Yes, zhat is vhat ve need to check as well." The german agreed. "I'll get on zhis with herr Engineer once I finish checkups with Blanc."

"Actually, I was thinking about leaving that objective to the Guild." Histoire countered, getting Medic's attention. The Guild organisation was usually kept away from their operations, because of mercenaries, so then why would Histoire want to bother them now? "We've established that it's a threat to Nepgear and possibly even other CPUs. It might be a good idea to warn other nations about them, and the Guild can handle that easily."

So what she's proposing is leave the analysis to people who can raise all the alarms if they find something. "Hmm… a time-conserving solution, yes. Very vell." That would kill 2 or even 3 birds with one stone, giving Medic some free time to conduct his other experiments.

He couldn't wait to begin.

"I'm sorry for keeping you waiting for so long."

"Don't vorry mein freund, ve understand. Und besides, 3 hours of vait izn't actually zhat long."

Rom and Ram were slow, very slow to finally calm down. But they eventually got tired of crying and fell asleep, giving Blanc and Mina an opportunity to talk with Histoire, Nepgear and Medic without trouble. Over some tea and cookies of course, courtesy of Nepgear.

The Lowee's CPU paused, taking a moment to understand the thick german accent. To her, that person was speaking in a weird, alien way, und zhis vas achually wery hard four her too undahstant. And with his outfit, he was also sticking out like a salt pillar. Blanc doesn't remember him at all from before she was captured, nor was he wearing the usual Basilicom worker uniform.

"Can you introduce yourself, mister? I don't think we have met."

"Oh! I'm just a Medic, me und my colleagues have recently come under zhe employment of Frau Histoire." The german and Lowee's CPU exchanged handshakes and then Medic took a swig of coffee that Nepgear was kind enough to make him.

On the other hand, Blanc blinked in confusion. She could see by the Cross emblem on his shoulders, and his white coat which hinted his profession, but she didn't want titles, she wanted names. "But, what's your real name? Not job."

"Zhe Medic is vhat you can call me, Fräulein. Being called by our Class Titles is something ve are more comfortable vith."

"'We', as in you and your colleagues, right?"

"Correct."

'That's suspicious.' Blanc though, sipping her tea as she pondered on Medic's refusal. Why would he refuse to tell them their names, and give away only their aliases? It could be because they just met today and that Medic doesn't trust her… but Histoire should know their names, so the Lowee's CPU turned her gaze towards the Oracle of Planeptune.

"Medic and the other mercenaries refused to give away their names, and asked to be referred only by their titles." Only to learn that the fairy is oblivious to that as well.

"And you just hired them when they didn't even share their names? What kind of employee is that?" Blanc argued.

"The kind that does their job very well, Blanc." Histoire countered without missing a beat. "I entrusted this person with you when you were unconscious, and he also brought back Uni from near-death, after she was attacked."

"Who?"

"The Lastation's Candidate nearly died?!"

Blanc blinked in confusion, while Mina yelled in shock. The CPU had no idea who Uni was and the Oracle had no idea that Uni was attacked. Histoire decided to answer both of them. "Uni is Lastation's CPU Candidate and Noire's little sister. Before we rescued you, Kei requested my help because their best doctors were having trouble treating her."

"So Frau Histoire sent me und Compa, und we got zhe patient back to the peak of health in exactly 30 minutes." Medic finished the tale. That was one of his proud moments, where he proved that a roll of duct tape can fix anything.

"Seems like Planeptune is still the lead in healthcare and medicine." Blanc grumbled. This was fine, she wasn't mad. Why should she care about some stupid drugs when her nation has the most innovative technology, and the most extensive knowledge. Planeptune could shove their stupid pills up their ass, she doesn't care.

There was just no need for her to be mad, her nation of magic and ideas is superior.

Suddenly, Mina took everyone attention. "Pardon me for a moment, Histoire."

"Yes?"

"When we talked through Skynep, you said that you were challenged by the ASIC. Could you elaborate on that?"

"Ah! Right."

The fairy punched her fists on her open palm. Yes, this was something she wanted to tell them, but there wasn't an opportunity to do so, so it was good of Mina to ask this.

But before she could, Nepgear came out of kitchen and placed a silver tray on the table. "More tea and cookies ready! Sorry for the wait and please help yourself" That was enough to derail the conversation, as Blanc took a teapot and refilled her tea, and also tasted a few of the freshly-baked goods.

"These are pretty good!"

"Ehehehe, thank you! Oh, would you like some more coffee, Medic?"

"If you please, yes."

The Candidate took merc's empty cup and went back to the kitchen, which was just a across the room, well within earshot. While everyone else took turns to refill their drinks and snacks. "Allow me to-" Histoire began, but only to be interrupted by Blanc.

"Hold on. Before that, I want to know what happened when I was still captured. It's annoying to not know what people are talking about."

Histoire sighed in irritation and looked at Medic, for no reason in particular, however something weird caught the fairy's eye. It was brief, but she looked right through his eyes, and read what he was thinking right now.

It's kinda hard to describe, but for that short moment, Histoire felt like she could telepathically communicate with the mercenary.

Tell her, Frau Histoire.

Feeling a little bit confused by this mysterious way of communication and half wondering if she imagined that, Histoire slowly nodded and turned back towards the CPU. "Actually this challenge from the ASIC was how we managed to save you, Blanc. Allow me to begin from the start, right from the message itself…"

And so, almost an hour passed before Historie finished explaining yesterday's battle, as well as the presence of the mercenaries. Sometimes Medic or Nepgear switched to fill in a few details, like what happened inside the cave or their meeting with Saxton Hale and Miss Pauling.

Of course, they skipped the CEO's and Supervisor's relationship with the mercenaries. This was something the Loweeans didn't need to know.

The story left Mina horrified, her face turned white as sheet of paper. At the same time, Blanc felt anger rising inside, her short fuse was lit up and and the countdown to explosion began. "Damnit, that must have been a hell of a fight! 12-on-1 and you guys still lost?!"

"I'm sorry- Waaah!" Nepgear jumped in fright when an even more pissed Blanc slammed her fist against the table.

"I'm not pissed at you! I'm pissed at them, damnit! Those bastards sure are tough, but now I'm here and I'm freakin pissed."

"Goodness! Please calm down Blanc."

"At least one of them is dead. Und we learned some fascinating things we can use to counter zhe rest." Medic cheerfully pointed out, raising his finger.

"And that's because some muscle-headed bastard had to save your asses!" The Lowee's CPU retorted, jabbing her own finger at the german. "Where is that Heil guy anyway?!"

And silence was all she got. Medic, Nepgear and Histoire looked among themselves, but no one said anything. Finally after a moment of silence, Histoire was the first to speak. "I'm… not sure actually. Where did Mr. Hale go?"

"All I know is that Mr. Hale took fräulein Falcom, und disappeared to do some Guild Quests. Zhey did that… around 3 in zhe morning, und zhey haven't come back ever since then."

"I'm sorry to ask, but who is Falcom? Is she another mercenary of yours?" Mina asked with a frown, letting the others know that she's still here, as she was barely talking at all. Nepgear rapidly shook her own head in disagreement. "N-No, she isn't! Falcom is actually a friend I made. She's been helping us for a while now."

"Oh, I see."

"Ehehehe. I could introduce you two to her, but I'm worried now. No one knows where she is."

"Hmm… perhaps you could call for her and ask if anything happened. If she's missing for long enough to cause doubts, then perhaps something happened."

"I don't think zhere is anything to vorry about. She is vith Mr. Hale after all." Medic shrugged, completely unaffected by the rather disturbing news of their missing teammate. After all, she is with Saxton Hale.

That didn't actually appease any of the women in the room, but that didn't matter because their talk was cut short when Scout barged into their room. He was looking rather excited by something.

"Hey check it out, guys! There's a Spycrab migration in the Basilicom!"

At this point, Histoire wasn't even surprised in the slightest. It was perfectly normal for people to have an entire hallway flooded with living crabs.

When or how did they even get here? She has no idea. Who was the culprit of this? Nothing there either. But those creatures were calmly walking through her basilicom, without a care in the world.

Those 'Spycrabs', were literally tiny little crabs, even smaller than Histoire. But unlike other crabs that she has seen, these had pincers growing out of the top of their heads, and all of them had a cigarette and a red balaclava going over their legs and pincers.

She can understand why Scout called them 'Spycrabs', they really did imitate Spy.

And the Spy himself was right with them of course, right on the front as if leading this army of animals through the government building. He was walking funnily and had his Disguise Kit out and above his head. He was like a king to them and all of them followed their apparent ruler.

The familiar migraine was setting in but Histoire didn't care at this point. "Scout. Please explain what we're seeing." The fairy said in a calm, resigned tone. This is her life, it's just another day. If it's not Neptune, then it's going to be the mercs.

The poor Basilicom staff had no idea how to deal with the problem, and the rest of the mercenary squad were already present on the scene, but instead of helping the staff they were escorting thoseSpycrabs and not letting any of them be harmed or lost…

Heavy was even wrestling 2 Basilicom Workers for the same reason.

Unlike the fairy, who was barely bothered by the view in front of her (why should she when stuff like that happens daily?) the rest of the girls were less than prepared for the daily dose of craziness.

"What the goodness?! Why are there crabs in the Basilicom?"

"I… erm... Is this normal, Histoire?"

"Even without Neptune, things don't really change here, do they?"

"So, yeah." Rubbing his hands together, Scout walks between the girls and the horde of crabs. "Whatcha seein' there are a very rare, very endangered species of crabs. Very rare gotcha? They're also harmless so no worries, we got this."

"I understand, but how did they even get here?" Histoire calmly asked, at which Scout could only shrug.

"I dunno. We just saw 'em walking through the hallway and scarin poor guards, but don't worry Histoire. We have it covered!"

"Scout. I see thousands of little crabs swarming the Basilicom. I want answers." The fairy deadpanned.

Scout laughed awkwardly, rubbing his neck and thinking on how to respond to his employer. At the same time, 1 crab broke away from the herd and approached them, or Nepgear more accurately, and began tugging Candidate's boot. "Huh?" Nepgear looked down at the animal trying to get her attention and feeling curious, she picked it up. She smiled at how cute and happy he looked.

Unlike any other crab in the herd, this little guy was wearing a tiny top hat and a monocle. Just by looking at him you would assume he was a male, a male with class looking for a female to mate with. And lovely Nepgear just caught his eye.

"He is so cute! Can I keep him, Histoire?"

The lilac-haired girl squealed in delight and waited for Histoire for her blessing. But before Histoire could tell her to put the crab down, a loud and obnoxious whistle pierced the air and attacked everyone's eardrums.

"Stop!"

Soldier, wearing the Law cap and carrying a whistle, suddenly approached them and pointed his finger at the crab in Nepgear's arms. "Girl! This Spycrab you're holding is a very endangered one. You must not harm even a hair on its hairless body! Didn't you see the poster?!" Soldier pointed at the wall next to them, where a weird poster was taped onto it. It read:

Save the Endangered Spycrab!

Think twice before you wrench!

Everyone collectively sweatdropped at the picture of Spy doing a 'crab pose' instead of an actual Spycrab. And what did it mean with the 'think twice before you wrench?' phrase? Nepgear was the first one to break out of the confusion.

"B-But I'm don't want to hurt him, I just want to adopt him. Please?"

The american merc raised his cap so it didn't cover his eyes, and then he very intensively stared at Nepgear without any words. The CPU Candidate froze and her legs instinctively tensed into attention, her entire posture tensed and waited. Like a soldier in front of the Drill Sergeant.

Seconds passed and the american patriot kept his blood chilling gaze on the getting-nervous Candidate. Slowly his hand reached for something underneath his coat and Nepgear visibly flinched, expectecting him to pull out his Disciplinary Action, the Shovel or something else to beat her ass with.

Soldier found what he was looking for and-

"Eeek!"

"...?"

-handed it for Nepgear to take. It turned out to be a rather thin book titled: "Spycrab Raising for Dummies WITH PICTURES (For Early Readers)". Nepgear, still in flinching position, quickly calmed down when she realized that a beating wasn't in order.

Mina and Blanc grew concerned about the Candidate, trying to imagine what kind of abuse the poor girl went through to make her flinch at the mere raise of a hand. It wasn't anything normal that's for sure.

Cheeks red from embarrassment, Nepgear accepted the book and that was all Soldier wanted from them. He said no words about what just transpired and just left them, making sure to point at his eyes and then at the Nepgear, wordlessly saying that he'll observe her.

After Soldier left, it was official that Nepgear just got herself a pet.

This would be the end of the scene, if Blanc didn't catch a rather peculiar sight.

It was Rom and Ram, awake and not crying. They were holding hands with a strange person in an asbestos suit, probably one of those mercenaries that Histoire told her about. The twins gazed at the horde of crabs with an amazement and wonder, while that person was holding them a safe distance.

"Rom? Ram?"

Both girl perked up and saw Blanc calling for them. Their smiles grew bigger and the CPU Candidates waved towards their sister.

"Hi Blanc! Check out those funny-looking crabs!"

"We… were looking for you."

"Mmph!"

Pyro greeted her as well, but Blanc ignored him. (Although if he harms either of his sisters, he'll eat a hammer.) The Lowee's CPU reciprocated the gesture and dragged Nepgear a little closer, confusing her and the crab a little. "Hey girls! I want you to meet somebody."

Nepgear felt a little bit nervous and awkward, the atmosphere felt the same way too. She had no idea how she should break the ice and start a conversation. It didn't matter that those girls were just preschool children, they were CPU Candidates. Candidates like her!

And there was also Blanc lying on her bed, silently reading a book.

Goodness, when did those two even become CPUs? Blanc never mentioned them at all, did they became CPUs when she was still a captive? In either case Nepgear, well-behaved child that she was, crouched down to their level. "H-Hi there, I'm Nepgear-"

"We know who you are! You're that dummy who got rescued 2 weeks ago!"

"O-Ow! Hey!"

Nepgear's attempt on making a good impression went out of the window when the pink-clad twin, Ram… probably, whacked her straight in the face with her staff. It wasn't anything strong, but it was enough for Planeptune's Candidate to stand up and clutch her hurting nose. At the same time, Blanc lowered her book and glared at her sisters, but she didn't do anything yet. However there will be hell involved if Ram takes it too far.

"Ram… It's bad to attack others." The blue-clad twin scolded, gently grabbing her sister's sleeve. Ram just scoffed at her. "You've been all over the news so we know who you are. This was for taking so long to rescue Blanc, Nepgear!"

"I tried my best!" Nepgear cried.

"Now now, Ram. Don't be harsh, she did all she could."

"Ram… hitting others… is bad."

Blanc was glaring daggers at her and scolding her, Rom was also holding her sleeve and scolding her. Ram could understand that she did something bad, and turned her gaze downwards and scratched her head in shame.

"Fine, I'm sorry, I'm Ram." She said in a disinterested 'let's just deal with it' tone.

"And I'm… Rom. Let's be friends… Miss Nepgear."

Rom beamed and took Nepgear's hand, and connected it with Ram's hand that she was holding, then Rom took her other hand and the three of them were holding hands. Rom was happy, so was Nepgear, but Ram wanted to just get out of here.

Even Blanc smiled, she noted Ram's cold reaction towards Nepgear but the brat should grow friendlier towards her with time. Lowee's CPU bookmarked the book she was reading, and closed it. "I'm heading out to do this test that the Doctor wanted me to do. You girls play nice together while I'm gone, okay?"

Those words were like buckets of water thrown at twins, their faces fell and both of them turned towards their sisters, their eyes watering.

"Blanc why?"

"Are you… leaving us?"

"Don't worry Rom, Ram. I'll be back in a moment, those tests won't take that long, just go play with Nepgear until I'm back, okay?" Blanc pulled them into a hug, and the Lowee family embraced each other once more, while Nepgear and the Spycrab awkwardly stood in the background, they didn't know what they're supposed to do in this situation so the Candidate and Spycrab ended up just staring at each other.

Blanc was the first to break their embrace. Rom didn't want her sister to leave, but she did. "I'll be back girls, just stay with Nepgear for a while." She said again. The doors were closed and it was just Nepgear alone with 2 strangers, preschool girls. Well, Nepgear did have a console, so perhaps they could play some games on it, or maybe they could talk about their nations? She doesn't know much about Lowee, so it would be interesting to hear how it feels to live in a nation forever covered in snow.

"So what's his name?"

"Huh?"

But instead, Ram turned her attention to the hatted Spycrab. "Oh. I just got him recently. So he doesn't have any name yet." Nepgear answered. And there was also an option to play with her new pet, the lilac-haired girl realized, her currently nameless pet, and she had no intention to let it stay that way. But how should she name him?

"He's… cute. Very classy." Rom giggled. The crab, standing on the stool, took her attention very well and even started posing for Lowee's candidate. Ram and Nepgear were also amazed by his actions, Ram for the same simple reason as Rom, his cuteness, and Nepgear because of his intellect. He was a pretty smart crab.

Maybe this was why he was wearing a monocle? Monocles were supposed to be a sign of intellect.

Suddenly Ram punched her palm and a bulb lit up above her. "I know!" The pink-clad twin ran towards a backpack she brought with herself, and took some papers out of it. They were crumpled, drawn all over with crayons and some of them were even wet, but… "We can give this crab a name using Blanc's characters!" Ram held the sheets high.

Nepgear had to applaud the twins' preparedness.

"Oh, really? What kind of names do you have?" Blinked Planeptune's Candidate, surprised by how Ram had the exact thing she needed for this situation. Whether it was just a stroke of luck, or an actual planning made by Ram (that would be pretty scary, considering she looks less than 9 years old), Nepgear couldn't deny it was a pretty convenient thing.

...Wait, all of this is Blanc's stuff? Wouldn't she get angry if she learned that her sisters destroyed her work?

As Nepgear was paling from fear, Ram flipped a few pages and scanned the content, looking for anything that could pass for a name. After a few 'hmms' and 'umms' caused by endless and unreadable walls of text, Lowee's Candidate eventually found something. "I have, umm… 'Great Grand Lord Fluffy Bottom Cornelius Ampleton of The Majestic and Grandiose City Known as Lowee?' Nah, this one sucks."

"Yes… it's too long."

"Yeah, it's kind of a mouthful."

Ram wasn't surprised at all by their rejection, she simply continued searching for something that wasn't too long for the Author to write. By the way, try to say that fast 3 times. After a few more flipped pages, Ram eventually found a next candidate. "Okay, how about 'Mr. Mittens', then?"

Rom shook her head. "It sounds like a name for a cat, not a crab."

"Okay. let's go with…" Ram frowned. "Beasa-? Bessa-? Beast-? Beesam?" The twin turned the page left, right and even upside down as she tried, and failed, to pronounce the next time. Eventually she gave up. "Gaaah! It's hard! You do it!" Making an irritated sound, Ram shoved the paper to Nepgear.

"O-Oh, okay." The Planeptune's Candidate cleared her throat and…

"Beesabe Kratzikatt… Yeah, I guess it could be pretty hard to say."

...Perfectly pronounced the name, without any difficulty. Both twins stared at Nepgear like she grew a second head, while the lilac-haired girl had no idea what she did wrong. Was she going too far by saying it could be hard to say? Did she hurt their feelings?

With her hands shaking, Ram picked out a seemingly random page, and showed it to Nepgear. "H-Here, read this one."

"Carl Brutananadilewski."

"And this?"

"Grzegorz Brzeczyszczykiewicz."

"Now read this one."

"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious? Ram, what are you-"

"She is a witch, Rom! An evil witch! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Ram threw all the sheets she was holding into the air and let out a loud shriek. The pink-clad twin hurried to her sister's side, who was cowering in fear before the 'evil witch'.

"P-Please don't kidnap me… I-I want to see Blanc again..." Rom tearfully pleaded.

Nepear wasn't prepared to be accused of witchcraft. Well… no one would be. The Candidate's eyes widened from shock and surprise, as she was stuck on processing how this even happened.

Well, being a witch wasn't something that didn't cross Nepgear's mind, but she certainly wouldn't be the evil type of witch who kidnaps children for… whatever evil witches do with kidnapped children. No, if Nepgear would ever become a witch, she would become the good kind of witch. The one that helps others with her alchemy and magic, traveling from town to town and cure the sick and diseased for free. She would need to travel into other nations because they don't have as great healthcare as Planeptune does, but this would be her first reason to leave Planeptune. Because not everyone is as lucky as her. In fact, Nepgear probably still has that costume of the Witch class from 4 Goddess Online that Vert once gave her. It would be too small for her but-

-Why she's even considering becoming a traveling witch healer? She's a CPU Candidate already!

"N-No! I would never kidnap you or anyone! I-I'm not a witch!"

Next time, she should probably say something much sooner. Nepgear sweatdropped when she realized how long it actually took her to defend herself from Ram's accusation, way too long. She went into la la land a bit too easy…

Rom sniffed and looked at Nepgear in such a way that it melted her heart away. Maybe that was because of those twins in front of her...

"Really?"

"Don't listen to her Rom! She's lying! This is what an evil witch would say!"

"Goodness no!" Nepgear cried out as Ram pointed an accusatory finger at her. Think, think, think, think, think think think think. She needed something to distract them. The lilac-haired girl's eyes darted around the room in search of ideas… Blanc's papers! If she could bring them back to the previous topic… "Hey, I just thought of something! How about... 'Crustaceous von Hattington the Third?' That'd be a good name for a crab, right? Or we could just shorten it to… Hatty? How about that?"

Yeah, Hatty because of his top hat. Of course! It's so simple AND YET NO ONE THOUGHT OF THIS UNTIL NOW?! REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Sorry, caps. Imagine this as Nepgear being frustrated with herself.

It also had the intended effect of making the twins forget about this whole evil witch deal. Both Rom and Ram were visibly deep in thought as they considered the suggested name.

"Hatty… it sounds, good."

"Yup. I guess Hatty works."

And that was how Nepgear's Spycrab became Crustaceous von Hattington the Third, or just Hatty for short. Hearing his name finally being picked, Hatty made something very similar to an actor bowing in front of the audience, if crabs could actually bow that is.

And the scene came to an end when the doors suddenly opened, and a confused IF and Compa peeked inside.

"Everything okay here?"

"Are we having guests?"

Nepgear smiled warmly at the newcomers. "Oh hello IF, Compa. I was just spending time with Rom and Ram." She gave them a small wave, at which the two female mortals responded in kind.

"Hi there, Gear. Sorry we're so late, yesterday drained us all and… well." IF's cheeks lit up with faint pink, but this time the Guild agent had a plan to save her face. Coughing into her fist, the brunette adventurer noted the presence of the two Lowee's Candidates. "-And I see the kids arrived. Where's Blanc then?"

"In the Training Area, with Histoire, Medic and Mina. Oh! You have to see this, I just got myself a pet!" At the word 'pet' IF and Compa shared a look, both of them could sense new kinds of trouble looming over them. "Look! We just named him Hatty and he-"

-And he wriggled out of Nepgear's arms. In a completely ungentlemanly manner that he wouldn't even dare to do in normal circumstances, Hatty jumped towards IF and-

"Ow! H-Hey!"

-pinched her finger with his pincers. The girls grew alarmed or shocked by this completely unexpected scenario, while IF flailed her arms around like a madwoman, but that didn't help her throw off the Spycrab. With one pincer holding his hat and the other harming his enemy, the Spycrab spilled the monster's blood with satisfaction.

But IF quickly managed to overpower him and pry his pincer off her finger, and Hatty wasn't feeling so confident anymore. He quickly scurried back to his mate, and let himself be raised by her. He felt safe and protected in her arms, despite the vile monster that threatened his and everyone else's safety.

"I don't think he likes you, Iffy."

"Well duh he doesn't like me! He nearly cut my fricking finger off!"

The vile monster cried out as its blonde friend was attending to its wound. Meanwhile his mate looked into his eyes and asked "Why would you do this?" He felt worthless and dejected for saddening her, but this was for a noble cause! However he couldn't relay this information to her, as she couldn't understand him because of this cruel barrier limiting their communication.

All he could do, was to lower his hat in shame and beg to be nested on top of her head. He knew he didn't deserve this, but his own primal urges told him to ask. To beg to be bathed in her luxurious, soft silky hair. However he would understand if she refused his request, he wouldn't hold a grudge and take it with dignity.

But the kind mistress nodded to his request and placed him on her head. He felt like he was in heaven, the lavender scent of her hair reached his nostrils (do crabs even have nostrils? Can they even smell anything?), and the hair underneath him felt like a fluffy pillow. He felt like a king of the world, he was so high that he was looking down on everyone.

And from his 'throne' he heard…

Car horns?

No one noticed it until now, but the twins weren't just standing idly in the background.

No, Rom and Ram and even Pyro for some reason... were driving around the group.

Yes, driving. As the twins and the merc had actual vehicles of transportation with which they were doing victory laps around the room, in the form of small, red bumper cars taken straight from Merasmus's Carnival of Carnage.

IF was the first to respond, because she was the only one who actually expected something weird to happen very quickly. Although not even she predicted Pyro's appearance. "Where did you even get those cars? And when did Pyro get here?"

"Pyro gave them to us, and he snuck in when you got bit by Hatty, dummy." Came a snappy response from Ram, who slammed her hand against the steering wheel, honking her horn.

"They- They're very nice cars!" Rom added, chasing after her own sister while trying to escape from Pyro, who was trying to escape from Ram. They were making a circle and rest of the girls were right in the middle of it.

They had, but one question resting in their minds.

Why did the Author even write this entire crab scene?

At the same time as the previous scene, Blanc and Scout were at the Basilicom's training area, with Medic, Mina, Histoire and Heavy watching them from the sidelines. Scout was cockily cracking his knuckles while Blanc prepared her weapon, a hammer that was bigger than she was.

Medic took a short, single glance at Blanc and that was enough for him to write something on his clipboard. Curiosity led Mina to look at what the doctor was writing, which he didn't mind at all, and she sweatdropped when she saw it. Medic was crossing out boxes next to… rather specific observations like: 'Looks bored', 'Drags her own feet' and 'Carries a hammer bigger than her'.

Finally, Medic cleared his throat. "Alright Fräulein Blanc, zhis test is very simple. Just try to hit Scout."

Blanc was quite surprised by the simplicity of the test that Medic wanted her to go through. "That's all?" Then she shrugged as she said this. "I guess that works, you just wanted to see how strong I am."

She was calm as the waters of the relaxed ocean, stoic like an ice sculpture, quiet and beautiful like a doll. Her posture, albeit comical with the gigantic hammer, was still perfect like a CPU should be- a composed and dignified leader-

"Alright kiddo-"

*SLAM* Blanc's hammer shattered the spot that Scout was in just a moment ago. The calm and stoic CPU from moments ago was history, replaced with the angry, foul-mouthed girl that was infamous in Lowee for her temperament. The world would soon learn that locking Scout and Blanc in the room together, will quickly result in a brutal murder.

"Don't call me a kid, you little brat!" Blanc snapped, easily ripping out her hammer from the floor. Scout avoided a physical injury, but he reflexively gulped when he saw her face. It was covered in shadows, but there was that one eye that creeped him out, it was ominously red. It was like he was staring at the Headless Horseless Horsemann… except y'know… smaller and more pissed off.

Yeah, he is IT alright.

Medic checked the 'Flips like switch' and 'Strong as heck' boxes while Blanc continued her assault, madly swinging her hammer, but the agile merc avoided every strike, and with each miss Scout chuckled and taunted, rubbing it in regardless of the thickening killing intent radiating off the hammer wielder.

"Ha ha!"

"Nope!"

"Nice aim!"

"De-nied!"

With each taunt Blanc would grit her teeth harder to the point that Medic eventually crossed the 'Bad temper' and 'Rather strong teeth' boxes. Suddenly Scout jumped onto her hammer, as if to mock her some more. Then he jumped onto her shoulders and jumped off her with a laugh, while Blanc staggered forward.

His dirty boots touched her shoulders, soling her dress.

That really pissed her off.

"Why you!" She tried to kick behind herself, but the bostonian sidestepped her leg. Then she jabbed at him with the handle, but Scout jumped... right into her trap! The CPU smirked smugly and put her foot down, Scout was falling down and he would fall right into the hammer coming to meet him… but then Scout double jumped to safety.

"Hah!" The bostonian scoffed as Blanc trembled with anger. Her rage was reaching new heights and she was prepared to murder the bastard right in front of her. Just imagine there's an anger meter inside Blanc going from 0 (calm) up to 10 (very pissed).

Just because of the stunt that Scout did just now, Blanc was reaching level 255. Her blood could be literally boiling right now as steam left her body… but then, it all looped back to a near, zen-like calmness.

"Really? Double jump?"

There wasn't a shred of anger present on her, she was back to the state before the battle, calm as the waters of the relaxed ocean. Still feeling smug, Scout flexed his (rather non-existent) muscles. While she had to admit his footwork, reflexes and speed were impressive, his attitude and looks could use some (a lot of) work. "Yeah, pretty much." To show off his skills, Scout double jumped from left to right and vice versa. He smiled at the still-calm CPU while showing off his aerobatic skills-

-Only to get his face crushed by a hammer that Blanc threw at him. She smiled at the satisfactory wet crunch and enjoyed the view of her weapon, and him soaring across the room towards the others. Only for both objects to be ultimately caught by Heavy Weapons Guy, and for good reason because Mina looked as if she was about to die of a heart attack.

"Thanks!" Thankful for his rescue, the bostonian raised his finger… only for Heavy to unceremoniously drop him onto the ground, not wanting to hear whatever Scout wanted to say next. "Ow! Doc!" Medic crossed the 'Cunning', 'Intelligent' and 'Has good aim'.

The hammer dematerialized, and reappeared in Blanc's hands. The CPU leaned on her weapon, feeling rather proud over her passing the test. "I passed the test, right?" Medic readjusted his about-to-fall glasses and matched her gaze.

"Vell, I must say I vas underestimating you a bit zhere. But you fared vay better than I thought you vould."

Blanc took that as a compliment, and enjoyed the view of the injured Scout slowly raising his hand from the ground. "Medic." Was all he said. His face was nothing more than a pitiful, broken mess that Medic couldn't stare at.

But before he could reach for his Medi-Gun, the cheerful voice of Ram took everyone's attention. "Hey Blanc! Look what those guys gave us!" Everyone turned their heads to see Ram driving a bumper car. Questions arose in Medic's mind, but the presence of Pyro also driving his own car silently explained everything. However Mina and Blanc were still confused, even worried.

"Beep beep." Rom happily honked the horn. The three of them pressed the gas and slowly rode towards the Loweean CPU.

And following the trio of drivers were IF, Compa and Nepgear. Medic noted the presence of a Spycrab- now named Hatty, but he and also Histoire were confused by the fact he was nestled inside Nepgear's hair, like some sort of hat.

Histoire sighed while Mina blinked from confusion. Both Oracles shared the same question.

Why was there a crab nestled in Nepgear's hair?

With the tests done, there wasn't much of a reason to stay in the Basilicom's Training Area. The twins took their sister away to play with them, also letting Pyro join them (When Blanc asked why, Ram answered with "Because he's cool, so he can come too.") And Medic decided to follow them as well so he can observe Blanc some more.

The rest dispersed wherever they wanted, with Histoire and a few other girls going to her office.

"Allow me to start with this. Have either of you seen Falcom or Mr. Hale today?" Histoire began. Her face was passive as the drop in atmosphere was immediate, the cheerfulness of the previous scene come to a near halt. Compa, IF and Nepgear shared a brief look, and all three of them simultaneously sighed and shook their heads as no.

Mina saw their concern over their missing friend and looked at them sympathetically. "So your friend is still missing, that's unfortunate. Did anyone try calling her?"

Nepgear twiddled with her fingers and answered first. "Yes, but she didn't answer any of my calls."

"I did it too, but all I could hear was ringing." Compa nodded, looking a bit down as well.

The only one who wasn't as worried as the others was IF, the Guild agent crossed her arms and closed her eyes. "Same here. Although I don't think we should be worried just yet. Chances are, she's just in a low-service area where there's no signal, like Darkness 60 or Severed Dimension. I actually saw some quests to go to both of these dungeons today, so she and Hale probably just took some of them."

"Yes. Just stay patient and believe that everything will be alright. As for another matter, why exactly did you call us here, Histoire?"

Mina was glad that she wasn't the only one to think optimistically, but even she grew concerned about their friend. If they're concerned that she's away for so long, then that means something did happen. But all she could do was offer some kind words and make sure they don't panic.

"I called you and the others here, because I want to request an alliance between Planeptune and Lowee. So that we can work together to defeat the ASIC and stop the revival of the Deity of Sin."

"An alliance between Planeptune and Lowee." Mina repeated, considering the benefits. That would make it easier to share the shares (no pun intended) between the active CPUs and Candidates with Sharicites. They could always request help from Nepgear and her forces in case ASIC does something that Blanc couldn't handle. And Planeptune is a nation leading in medicine, being able to import the rare and expensive medicine and equipment at cheaper rates would be great for their healthcare.

But the rumors of Histoire hiring mercenaries to murder the ASIC members is worrisome. Would it hurt Lowee publicly if they allied themselves with Planeptune?

W-Wait. Didn't Histoire actually confirm she hired some mercenaries?

Mina's features paled as she came to a disturbing realization. Her mouth opened but no words came out. Her eyes were fixed on the other Oracle in the room who frowned at her stare. "Is everything alright?"

"I-I-I just realized something." Her words were slow and shaky, as her breath grew rapid. Mina finally realized in what state she was, and took a deep breath to at least look calm, even if she was freaking out deep inside. "Histoire, I must ask something. Those rumors that were spreading on the Internep, those about you... h-hiring mercenaries to kill ASIC workers. A-Are they true?"

Mina didn't want to believe that her senior would resort to something like this. Mina wanted Histoire to laugh and tell her that it's not her, and it's some other group that does the killing. Mina didn't want to believe that a nation founded by the most cheerful CPU in history would fall so low after her disappearance.

Mina just wanted to believe that all of this was untrue.

And yet, Histoire sighed.

"IF, Compa, please call Blanc here, Mina, please take a seat, you too Nepgear. I don't think we should hide this from you."

And this is how Lowee learned about the dark secret of Planeptune.

Then, as if to break the tense atmosphere, Hatty suddenly fell from the top of Nepgear's head. The Candidate was helping him the instant she heard the small crunch of his shell hitting the floor. "G-Goodness, Hatty! You're not hurt anywhere, right? Ah look… your hat."

Histoire sighed at Nepgear suddenly breaking the mood, while the Candidate and Spycrab cried over Hatty's squashed top hat. Nepgear straightened it up as best as she could, but the damage has been done.

"-And this is the entire truth of what's going on here." With those words, Histoire finished her tale. She told no lies, she omitted nothing, she didn't leave anything for misinterpretation.

A group of nine, suddenly appearing from another world. What Histoire feared to be a tragic end of their rescue attempt, turned out to be an event which changed the whole world. The most dangerous individuals to exist in Gamindustri, capable of destroying everything in their path, with technology to turn death itself into a mere inconvenience, hired by the Planeptune's government out of fear of them falling into the wrong hands. And eventually leading into the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of ASIC grunts.

There was only one way any sane person could react to all of that. It as just too shocking for anything else.

"What. The hell."

"My goddess..."

Both Blanc and Mina were at the loss of words.

The former clutched her face with both arms, unsure what to think of the newest revelation. Should she call all of this a bunch of bullshit? Scream and curse at the fairy in front of her till her throat gets dry? Or accept all of this and run as far as possible from this place?

The latter was pale like a ghost, her arms shook violently as the blue-haired woman couldn't even imagine what went through Histoire's mind when she decided to hire those people. Out of all Oracles, Mina regarded Histoire as the most humane one, the least one to not stop, not even turning a blind eye, but to go along with such… brutal plans.

The situation here was graver than anyone imagined.

On the other side of the desk, Nepgear hung her head in shame. When she heard all of those 2 weeks being repeated in front of her. Maybe Nisa was right, maybe this wasn't the right way to fight the ASIC. But the candidate was too oblivious to everything, and 2 weeks has passed by with a rain of blood and a pile of corpses.

Histoire awaited the oncoming with closed eyes. She laid everything bare for those two and only those two, Rom and Ram were still oblivious to the truth. It would break Histoire's heart even more if she had to say that their new friend is actually a psychopathic killer, and an arsonist.

And when Blanc slammed her fist against her desk, Histoire knew it began.

"What the fuck, Histoire?!"

"This- All of those rumors, they were real? I-I-I..."

Mina was basically out of this discussion, the mere fact that Histoire even agreed to do such things stunned her into disbelief. Physically, Mina was in the same room as her Leader and Planeptune's Candidate and Oracle, but mentally she was the furthest she could be from this place. She would need time to recover after her fragile heart learned of this injustice.

And if you believe that Blanc was angry at her, you would actually be wrong. The CPU was too dumbfounded to be angry. Blanc actually expected some shady stuff coming from Thunder Tits' nation, as her Oracle is a psychopath. Some deals under the table, taking bribes from certain individuals to change certain rules, look the other way at some incidents. That's the stuff that Blanc expected to see when she got back, from Leanbox. Not this slaughter from the meek fairy.

Holy shit. If Blanc is surprised, how would Neptune react to that?!

Her own Oracle just committed genocide on her own people. How the fuck would that lazy bum Neptune react to this?!

"You're telling me, that you ordered your men to commit a goddamn genocide? What the hell were you thinking, Histoire! Screw the fact they're from ASIC, there is a line you should never cross! Fucking hell, how would Neptune think of this?!"

"I-I-I can't… believe it."

Blanc continued to spew more and more profanity towards Histoire, the cause of all of this, who took all of those straight into her face without offering any rebuttals. After all, there wasn't anything she could use to defend herself. No matter how you cut it, it was Histoire who decided to hire the mercenaries, and gave them a green light to relentlessly attack the ASIC bases.

But yes, Blanc raised a good question. How would Neptune think of her? How would she react if she heard that news?

That lazy, irresponsible CPU that was also one of the happiest, kindest people in Gamindustri. How would she react to the news that the Oracle she used to trust with an entire nation suddenly ordered deaths of several hundred -no, thousands of people.

Forgiveness won't be an option here.

"Seriously! Did it ever cross your mind that you're going too damn far? Was all of this shit worth it, Histoire? Were those deaths of your own people worth saving me, or defeating one of those goddamn bastards once and for all?!"

All of those lives, so much blood, so many bodies. Just so Nepgear can gather some Shares in peace, so that the ASIC will not have enough personnel to work in Planeptune. Just in those 2 weeks, Gamindustri lost the most people in history, roughly the same amount of adventurers and Guild agents that die within FIVE YEARS, 1826 days, 43824 hours.

5 years worth of death from monsters attacks, equal to 2 weeks of the mercenaries' work.

I think you can understand the situation.

Histoire didn't give Blanc any answers, which caused her to slam her fist again and growl. "I want answers, Histoire."

"..."

What answers? What could she give her for an answer? That she's sorry? That she was too desperate to not see another way? It wouldn't change anything, it wouldn't bring any of those people back, nor would it appease their families.

All it would do…

...Is give them a clear target to direct their hate.

If Histoire was to go out and apologize for all of what happened. It would be like a confession, people would know that she did it, and they would come with vengeance. In fact, all it takes is someone brave to come forth, and ask 'Did you do this?' And it Histoire could either answer 'Yes', or stay silent. Both choices were catastrophic.

But Blanc wasn't someone who lost someone in those assaults. She had no reason to hate Histoire besides the fact she ordered a genocide of her own men, men who were of no concern to Lowee's CPU. And so after a moment of silence, Histoire took a breath. "I had no choice. We were already desperate to do anything to turn things around. As you heard, we initially tried to rescue all 5 of you, but we managed to save only Nepgear. While I marked that operation as a success, it was but a small victory that ASIC could rip apart if they just bothered to do so."

"..."

"Hiring the mercenaries was a choice made on a whim, not a pre-planned procedure. Even their contracts are something I had to write in less than a day. I was afraid of a chance that those men would go onto ASIC's side instead, which would be disastrous for us. This is why I hired them first, and why we're having this conversation in the first place."

"..."

"Nepgear, IF, Compa, Nisa, Falcom... None of them had anything to do with this. That decision was made entirely by me. And the blame lies solely on me."

Until now, Blanc didn't utter a single word or shifted her attention elsewhere, as she listened to Histoire heartfully pouring her reasons onto her. Her own paranoia, all of this happened because of her paranoia. She was simply afraid, afraid of her nation facing something even worse than the ASIC or CFWs. So she decided to get it on her side before that happened.

"...You're a coward, Histoire."

"Yes, that was true. But now..."

She rejected Miss Pauling's offer to help, even if she were to spy for someone else, she still had enough courage to say no to her. She didn't shy away from the mercenaries, Death Merchants who kill as easily as they breathe, and she even decided to put her faith in them.

And now she was even prepared to take the entire blame on herself, instead of shifting it onto someone else.

Did she perhaps grow without noticing?

Blanc just couldn't not sigh at this, staring long and hard at the fairy. She should be furious with Histoire, she IS furious with her, by all means she should just walk out and go home right now. But that won't stop ASIC being a problem, and for all the blood that now stains the fairy's hands, it got results. Blanc of all people understood the necessity of violence, even if Histoire had gone way, WAY overboard. They both need help, especially Planeptune, if the Histoire she once knew had been pushed to this.

The CPU made her choice.

"...Look, fine. Fine, if you want an alliance then we're allies, but we're gonna do it under my leadership and my rules. No more genocide. No one gets killed or permanently injured, be it a civilian or ASIC. If I even hear of someone killing another, I'll kick their ass. None of that apply to monsters though. And maybe the CFWs themselves. Got it?"

"I… accept your conditions."

And the instant Histoire said it, she realized there's a Spy in the room.

"I see... that would be quite troublesome for us, Madame Histoire." A familiar voice with a French accent suddenly appeared from the doorway.

"Spy?" Histoire called out to him, but he was still invisible.

Blanc and Mina also turned towards the voice, but all they saw were closed doors and no one else in the room. "The hell was that?" Blanc asked. Her eyes still wandered around the room, trying to find the source of that voice, this Spy that Histoire called, when suddenly he decloaked right in the middle of the office.

"Sorry to pop in unannounced."

"Wha-"

Blanc and Mina stared at Spy, surprised by his sudden appearance out of thin air. While the mercenary casually pulled out his Disguise Kit and took data for a new disguise, and also a new cigarette.

"You guys really have some interesting tricks. First that boy's double jump and now invisibility? What else?"

Spy chuckled at Blanc's words. He was about to lighten up his death stick, but abruptly stopped. Histoire disliked when he smoked in her room, didn't she? So instead of smoking right in front of her, Spy decided to smoke by the open window.

"Well…" He puffed out some smoke. "There's invincibility, Re;Spawn, using explosives to travel, our Doctor's Medi-gun, bionic enhancements, and even more." He counted off his fingers, each thing was strange to Blanc and Mina, who were unfamiliar with the mercs' and Mann Co.'s technology. Blanc intensified her glare at him.

"You heard the condition of our alliance, right?"

Spy disregarded her words with a wave. "Yes madame, but that's not relevant now. I bring a message from ASIC, from the CFW Magic herself."

His words were like a sound of alarm for the trio of leaders. Mina, who just seemed to snap out of her shock, swallowed and decided to ask. "A message, from one of the Four Felons. Should we be worried?"

"I'm rather curious how did she even get you to deliver this message." Histoire added.

A sigh was an answer for both of these questions, Spy internally debated whether or not he should turn towards them or stay as he is. But he eventually decided on the latter. "Magic found me actually, she saw through my disguise and cornered me."

CFW Magic hovered above Spy and glared down at him, who had his back against the wall. She held his mask in one hand and the other caressing her lips. She examined the mercenary closely as he tried hard to construct some sort of escape plan, but all of that would be futile. She had him cornered.

She couldn't see it because of the ski mask covering his face, but he was sweating bullets right now.

Eventually, CFW Magic decided to speak up. "Do you like what you see here, member of Histoire's Secret Staff?" Her voice was casual, lacking any emotions bar boredom. Without any effort or change in expressions, she tore apart his paper mask and threw the pieces above him, like a confetti.

"It's a little… cramped in here. Would you mind giving me some personal space?"

Yes, they were in a small janitor room, there was barely enough space for two people. Spy couldn't say that he didn't like the view she was giving him, but she could kill him in seconds.

But… she didn't kill him yet. Maybe she was in the mood for talk?

She gave a chuckle and actually stepped back a little. One of her wings knocked down some toilet paper but none of them paid it any thought. Then before Spy could process this info, she wrapped her hands around his neck, and brought him to her eye level.

Spy was so scared right now, that he felt blood rushing to the area between his legs. For a moment, Spy was afraid that she awoke something inside him, but Magic didn't seem to notice anything. (Or she did, but decided to ignore it) "I actually have a message to Histoire, would you mind delivering it?" She asked him, her voice sweet as honey.

The french shook his head to disrupt those flashbacks while Histoire became worried. "Magic found you? Are you alright? Will you be able to continue your espionage?"

"Yes. Yes, I went to the Doctor, and yes it won't change anything." He groaned at her concern and pulled out something out of his coat. Those were… tickets? Invitations? "The ASIC is planning a public memorial, in memory of those who died-" "-those you killed." "-yes, those we killed." He nodded at Blanc's accusation. Wait, she was serious about wanting to stop them from killing?

"Everyone is invited." He continued, not paying those thoughts any more attention. "And they'll also ask you to make that day, a day free of work and school. I'm not sure if they already did or are about to, but keep your eyes open for that, madame Histoire."

"I see. But if everyone are invited, then what are those… invitations that you have?"

"Because CFW Magic gave me a special invitation, for you, Madame Blanc and Mademoiselle Nepgear."

"Huh?"

"Huh?"

Both recipients blinked in confusion as Spy delivered them their invitations. Lowee's CPU matched gaze with Planeptune's candidate, and both of them had a similar thought.

This couldn't be good, yes?

Blanc needed some time to think this through.

In one of the guest rooms that Histoire allowed her to take, Lowee's CPU rubbed her head. She was awake for less than a day and the problems already gave her a headache, it was annoying.

She spent her time trying to calm down after such a… sudden reveal. Blanc finally calmed down from that but she still had troubles believing it. She wouldn't even expect even Chika to do something like that, and everyone knew that Oracle has some loose screws in her head.

Then there's this piece of paper that CFW Magic mailed to her. Just the sight of its writing pissed her off.

"Freakin' ASIC bastard trying to take the moral route." She grumbled. It was Planeptune who put themselves into check, Blanc shouldn't be even bothered with any of this. She had no place in the affairs of a different nation.

But hell, they freed her. The least she could do now was to get them out of this hole they dug.

"Annoying!" The CPU crashed her back against the bed, resisting the urge to scream herself dry into some pillow. Her sole relief was the fact that Rom and Ram weren't here to bother her right now, for some reason they liked that Pyro creep who gave them bumper cars.

Blanc lazily wrote a note to smash or at least hide those cars when the twins aren't looking. Two little brats were already a headache on their own, two little brats driving small cars are a danger to society.

Now the CPU realized this is her first time in ages where she had some time to herself. But after all that happened today she didn't feel like writing, her inspiration and motivation were at zero, and she even forgot the plot of the novel she was writing.

Yet another reason to smash that Magic bitch's skull when she sees her again.

The twins were busy, Mina was with Histoire and Blanc was just lazing on the bed like Neptune, with no one to bother-

"-Blanc? Can I come in?"

Blanc released an irritated sigh when someone suddenly interrupted her alone time by knocking against the doors. The Loweean CPU raised herself into a sitting position and yelled "Come in."

Compa entered the room, followed by IF. Blanc noted that both girls have grown a lot since the last time she's seen them, maybe Compa even started studying medicine like she wanted, to Blanc she looked the right age for high school or college.

The nurse tried to bring herself to speak, several times, but each time she stopped just short. IF on the other hand tried to encourage her friend to do something. Blanc's eye twitched from irritation before she finally decided that she'll start, as Compa was just panicking silently. "Did you want something?"

That seemed to do the trick. Compa jumped slightly, startled by Blanc's voice."I just wanted to apologize! I'm so, so so so so sorry for hurting you!" The nurse sputtered words as fast as she could. Compa was looking pitiful, her head cast down and her hands and shoulders shook slightly in anxiety, wondering whether or not she'll be forgiven for her sins.

But Blanc was too busy being confused by her outburst. "What?"

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you, it was an accident!"

Compa looked as if she would cry at any moment, while Blanc became even more confused. The CPU was asking herself 'When did Compa even hurt me?' but she couldn't think of anything. The petite brunette didn't feel anything wrong with herself, and her doctor (who was observing them from behind a window, 74 floors above the ground) said everything was fine.

Blanc sighed, and just decided to get it done. "I accept your apology." She could ask what Compa did that hurt her, but she decided against it. Blanc already had too many concerns on her head, she didn't need another one.

Also Compa looked like a kicked puppy.

"Really?!"

"Yes." Blanc answered bluntly. Then the taller and more… gifted girl abruptly tackled her into a hug. Two squishy thunder tits were pressing against Blanc's chest and it pissed her off, but the nurse didn't notice it. "Thank you thank you thank you thank you so much!"

"See, Compa. There wasn't anything to worry about!"

"What the hell, Compa?! Are you crying or something?"

IF crossed her arms, feeling proud of her friend, while Blanc tried her hardest to escape the nurse's clutches. When this girl got so physically strong Blanc will never know, but luckily for her Compa let her go rather quickly.

"I was just so happy. I was so worried you would hate me for what I did."

'Okay, seriously. What the hell.' The CPU rubbed her forehead, maybe she really should ask what happened to her… later. Blanc felt her irritation rising, and vented some of it out with a deep sigh. "As you can see, I'm fine. Now can you two please leave me alone? I'm tired."

"Okey-dokey! Have a nice day!" Compa eagerly left the room, her smile looking brighter and more cheerful than before. Blanc accepting her apology was like taking a weight off her heart. IF was about to leave too, but she suddenly stopped in the doorway and stepped right back it. "You don't even remember what she did to you. Right?" The Guild agent saw through Blanc's stoic facade.

Blanc just shrugged. "Yes, should I know about it?"

IF chuckled at her answer. Compa was worried sick about her, afraid that she may be hated by Blanc for this, the nurse even broke down because of it. And Blanc didn't even remember what happened. All of Compa's worry was in vain.

"Nah, it wasn't that big of a deal. Thanks for cheering her up though."

"That wasn't a problem at all."

"Yeah. Have a nice day Blanc."

IF closed the doors, and Blanc nodded to herself. They needed her, they needed a proper CPU. They sacrificed so much for her, people from a different nation.

Screw the fact that her rescue was accidental, Blanc will fucking pay her debt somehow.

But first, she turned her gaze towards the windows. Medic was pressing himself against the glass, watching her from the outside, 74 floors above the ground. As Blanc found him looking, the german smiled and waved at her.

She gave him the sweetest, warmest smile she could manage, and rolled the blinds. Getting back inside was his problem now, she won't let a pervert like him into her room.

Medic's smile turned upside down, now his vision towards the literal Goddess was obscured by cloth, but he learned something about her.

As Medic was falling down, 74 floors above the ground, he crossed out 'Doesn't like when her private life is observed by 3rd party.'

It wasn't even 3 minutes since the previous scene before someone were bothering Blanc again. The Loweean CPU inwardly screamed when someone, Nepgear this time, knocked on her doors.

"Blanc? Are you there?"

"Yes! Come in." Blanc's answer was a bit stronger than her usual. She wasn't pissed, but she wasn't happy either. But if there's going to be a third person, then she'll tell them to piss off. Or just summon her hammer.

Nepgear entered her room, looking even more nervous than Compa. She was fidgeting, playing with her fingers as if she was afraid to say anything. Yet again, the Planeptunian won't speak until Blanc says something first.

"So what do you want?"

Just like with Compa, that small push was all Nepgear needed to talk. "I just…" Before she stopped and tried to think what she should say. Eventually the Candidate just gave Blanc a quick. "I'm sorry."

Hearing two apologizes in a short amount of time, made Blanc inhale air until she couldn't inhale anymore, puffing herself like a balloon. Can they finally leave her alone for this single moment? "Seriously, is everyone going to just come over here one by one to freakin' apologize to me for something I don't even remember?" The CPU deadpanned.

"N-No. I'm-"

"Save it, I'm just tired already." Blanc sighed and sat down on a chair. "So, what are you sorry for?"

Yes, for what Nepgear was sorry for this time. From what Blanc remembered about her, this girl used to be so underconfident that the smallest thing could lead to even hours of apologies. Blanc even remembered that time when she made her tea a bit too hot, and then one thing led to another and Nepgear was on the verge of crying as she was apologizing to everybody.

Over their tea being too hot.

No one even cared about this besides her.

So what Blanc expected was getting an apology for some mundane thing that didn't even matter, then she'll just accept it and shoo her away.

Which meant Blanc was unpleasantly surprised when she couldn't just shoo this girl away, not when she was sorry for this reason.

"I'm sorry for being so useless 3 years ago. If I just did something to help you all, then CFW Magic wouldn't have won. The ASIC wouldn't be able to take control over Gamindustri if we weren't captured by Magic. I could've prevented this. Me. But I didn't do anything. I'm so sorry."

Well what do you know, Neptune's little sister finally found a good reason to be sorry for. Not some spilled milk or keeping them waiting a few minutes too long, but for being the cause of all the crap that the ASIC was doing during those 3 years. At least, that's what Nepgear believed.

'Neptune where the hell are you, your sister needs you.' Blanc wasn't prepared for this kind of scene, but as a certain lazy CPU was currently slacking away, voluntarily or not, it was up to her to help Nepgear make peace with herself.

She opened her mouth to accept the Candidate's apo-

"I mean it, I'm sorry I was so useless! All this, the people's suffering, separating you from Rom and Ram, even Histoire ordering what she did, it's all because I couldn't help! It's my fault!"

"Okay hold on-"

"I'm sorry I wasn't stronger, even now I'm still not strong enough to save anyone! I couldn't even have saved you if it wasn't for Mr. Hale! I'm sorry I'm a failure! I'm sorry-"

And Nepgear just kept going, quickly devolving into self-loathing hysteria while Blanc couldn't even get a word in. The guilt must've been eating away at her ever since she's been rescued, and now that she's finally got the chance to apologize to a CPU, the floodgates have breached. Now Blanc really did wish they'd rescued Neptune instead of her. She doesn't know how to deal with this at all, and Nepgear's frantic apologizing is giving her a headache! She needs to stop Nepgear now! What to do, what to do…!

Recalling similar scenes in some of the novels she's read, Blanc stood up and approached the candidate who didn't even seem to notice in her guilt-ridden madness and promptly slapped her. Nepgear staggered, but kept her balance. Even though the Candidate was silenced, Blanc was inwardly stunned for a split second; she had expected Nepgear to fall to the ground dazed, but she underestimated the Candidate! This isn't following her internal script!

Before she knew what she was doing, her body acted to correct that mistake and socked the lilac-haired girl in the face. Hard. This time Nepgear did fall to the ground, where she rubbed her sore spots. "I-I'm s-sorry-" She curled up and protected her head, expecting more blows coming her way. Still, Nepgear didn't resist as she believed that she deserved being beaten by the one who had to suffer because of her inaction.

But instead of continuing her beating, Blanc growled in frustration as she stood over the Candidate.

"Just STOP! Just stop apologizing and listen! Okay? Look, you were about as useful as a rock back then, let's not kid ourselves, but as much as it pisses me off to admit it, things wouldn't have changed much even if you were on the same level as us CPUs. Freakin' four of us didn't even put a scratch on that bitch, what do you think a fifth one would've done?"

Blanc crossed her arms and waited for her answer. Moments passed as Nepgear played an armadillo, but the Candidate eventually realized that Blanc wanted her answer.

"I don't know. Win? Maybe?"

"No. Not in the freakin' hell we would've won that fight." Blanc countered almost immediately. It hurt her pride and ego to admit it, but this kid needed it. "And if I'm saying this, then you know shit was real. That bastard was too powerful for us, you weren't ready for a fight like that and no one expected you to be, so just let it go. Here." The CPU extended her hand towards her. Nepgear looked at it, debating whether she should or not.

"Goddamnit! Just take it already!"

And Nepgear timidly took Blanc's hand and allowed herself to be raised. "I still could have done something more back then."

"Yeah, you could've, but it wouldn't have mattered at all." Blanc reminded her. "Honestly the best thing you could've done in that situation was to tuck your tail between your legs and run."

"R-Run? But I could never abandon you!" Nepgear admitted, her eyes widening. But then she realized something. Nepgear already abandoned her, her sister, and the other CPUs in the Gamindustri Graveyard. She wasted their way to save others, just to save IF and Compa. "I-I'm sorry again. This time for leaving you all back in the Graveyard."

Blanc was two steps from banging her head against the wall. No wait- she was doing it.

"WILL. YOU. STOP. APOLOGIZING?!"

"Wha- Blanc! Stop!"

"NO. I. DON'T. CAAAAAAAAAAREEEEEEEE!"

Would it be bad if Blanc just left her and went to Rom and Ram? They pissed her off too, but not in the way that Nepgear is doing right now. This girl was breaking her down on an emotional level, while the twins simply pissed her off.

It took a moment for Blanc to finally calm down from her head banging moment (from which the only evidence were cracks in the wall, Blanc's hair wasn't even disturbed from any of this.) But once that was the past, the good parts of Blanc decided to console Nepgear some more.

But she swore to the true goddess that if she apologized one more goddamn time she'll leave her on the spot and go look for the twins.

"For fuck's sake Nepgear… just stay down and listen." The Lowee's CPU growled.

"Yes!" Obedient like a little child (who isn't Rom or Ram), Nepgear sat down on her knees. It kinda confused Blanc because there were different, much more comfortable spots to sit on, but the Candidate specifically decided to sit on the floor. Whatever.

"This. Doesn't matter. There was nothing you could do to save us, not back then with Magic, and not when you were rescued. You did the right thing by just pulling out with IF and Compa. You did GOOD. You understand that already?"

Blanc was already gritting her teeth as she tried to come through this thick-headed moron in front of her. Moron who just casted her head down, and stubbornly answered with "B-But, if it was you, or Neptune, or any other CPU that IF and Compa saved, things would've been better."

...

This girl… is such a pain in the ass right now. Even more than before. Before Blanc could just tune her out and ignore her, but this time Blanc actually needed to listen to her to do the job that Neptune should do, and by the goddess (that is herself) does Neptune owe her big time for this.

She was about to punch Nepgear again for being stubborn, but instead she just clutched her face with it. "Just like everything else, it wouldn't matter. No matter who would be rescued, there would still be four CPUs in the Graveyard, 1 freed CPU with survivor's guilt, and the ASIC everywhere. No one, holds a grudge towards you… maybe except Chika but screw that psychopath."

All the things that happened were just beyond Nepgear's ability. The only thing that Blanc could really blame her for is not stopping this genocide that Histoire ordered… but Blanc could kinda relate to that one.

Is everyone in Planeptune just stubborn in some nonsense way?

But finally… Nepgear's shoulders dropped a little and Blanc heard something that made all of this worth it. "Thank you, Blanc. Really, thank you." The Candidate tried to hug Blanc, and this time the CPU gladly reciprocated the gesture. She finally got through to her.

"-And I'm sorry."

Nepgear didn't even finish her sentence before Blanc slammed the doors shut. The Loweean CPU left the room with her fists itching from anger. "Rom? Ram? Where are you?"

Call it a lazy way to end a scene, but Blanc just could not get through that stubborn idiot's head.

Not without Blanc exploding from anger.

A girl, blue hair, red scarf and a jumpsuit, jumped from tree to tree in order to avoid gunfire. She jumped again, and the branch she was standing on was blown to pieces with a mix of gunfire and explosives.

As she gracefully soared through the air, the blue haired girl retaliated by shooting them with her gun… which was shaped like a penguin, for some reason. Bullets flew both sides, as her opponents didn't bother taking cover. Bullets stuck them, but they didn't flinch, the girl's only inditation that she hit someone was a robotic cry of pain.

She hid behind a tree, her breath ragged from exhaustion. She had to run for quite a while now, even her stamina had its limit. And to make matters worse, it didn't seem like they were tired at all, of course they're not tired at all! She's fighting robots! The machines were circling around her, wary of any surprises, as they laid waste to her hiding spot. She crouched down and clutched her head as pieces of wood and bullets flew by her, as the gunfire focused on her sole cover. They were trying to expose and surround her. And it almost worked.

Almost.

"EX: Multi Blaster!"

A beam of blue light consumed the machines on her left side, and the survivors stopped firing at the blue-haired girl (for which she thanked her teammate), and trailed their guns on the mysterious assailant instead. Now left alone, the girl regained her breath and observed. The next tree or bush is too far away, the robots briefly forgot that she even existed and focused on her teammate. With their superior numbers, they most likely pinned her down. She had to regain her stamina and act, fast.

The tree she's hiding behind is still standing, barely. Maybe if she brought it down on them?

The blue-haired girl jumped away from the tree, before jumping right back at it. "Justice Kick!" She shouted as her boot connected bark. After already being damaged by gunfire, the tree toppled over with ease. A few surprised robots were crushed underneath, and she threw her knives at a few more before hiding back again from the remaining army.

The machines refocused on her, but the mysterious assailant, a girl with black hair wearing a black dress, peeked out of cover and unloaded her rifle at them. "Taste these bullets!" A few bots fell from her gunfire, and those who tried to take her down had a knife thrown at them with expert accuracy and speed.

Sandwiched between two threats, machines fell one-by-one until the last one was defeated. The two last standing women released an exhausted sigh at the job done.

Nisa, Gamindustri's Heroine of Justice, wiped some sweat off her brow and smiled at her sidekick, the Lastation's CPU Candidate Uni. "I thank you for saving me, Uni." Nisa gave her a salute, but Uni just shrugged it off… feeling slightly embarrassed by her… in general.

"I-It's nothing big, I was just doing what Noire would do. Thanks for taking their attention back when they were focusing on ME though." Because she knew that getting out of that situation would be hard if she was on her own.

"In the name of justice, I say we're even!"

Uni awkwardly chucked at Heroine's words. Sure, in the name of justice…

Shifting into more serious gear, Nisa crouched down and raised one of the machines they just destroyed, to have a closer look at it. "Do you know how many of those are left? It feels like we already destroyed a platoon of those machines." And why did they resemble those… those Death Merchants from Planeptune.

All Uni could offer, was a troubled shake of the head. "Not really. All Kei knows is that there's a lot of them swarming this forest. We don't even know how they even appeared." She frowned as she counted the half-burnt bills that the machines dropped. It's not currency she knows about, but that's money she's holding.

Why were these robots running on money? No one knows. Why did they appear here? No one knows. How did they appear? No one knows. Why did this machine look like the Doctor from before? No one knows. Her sister's nation was under attack by a mysterious army of robots. Who did this?

No one knows. But Uni was eager to punch them in the face.

Nisa stood up, looked at Uni and gave a heroic pose. "Then for the peace of Gamindustri, I, Nisa, will lend you a hand in defeating this evil, and protecting the weak!"

"..."

All Candidate could do was blink at Nisa's audacious proclaim. She wasn't used to the heroine's 'grand' speech pattern. But... "I-I could it alone, you know?" She was a CPU Candidate, sister of Noire. She didn't need any helpers.

However that didn't pose any problems to Nisa. "I understand and respect your decisions, Lastation's Candidate. However don't you think it would be beneficial for us to team up and together defeat the wicked? Two heads are better than one as the saying went." And more importantly, Nisa ran out of money by just getting here.

"Fine, geez." Uni groaned, Nisa had a point and she saw that. They don't know much about these machines, so fighting alone would be more dangerous than fighting in a pair.

That didn't mean she can't handle all of them alone if she wanted to!

But if there was someone to watch her skills, that wouldn't hurt.

Nisa was about to declare her joy to the heavens, but both her and Uni heard something crashing close to them, it was like a quiet thunder that crashed just a few meters away from them (kinda paradoxical, I know). Both girls snapped towards the source, knives and gun ready.

The source was a group they failed to sense approaching.

No, this group wasn't there until now. They just appeared there as if… teleported. More robots appeared, and they had their guns trained at them. Nisa and Uni were about to jump towards cover but… "Stop!" A human male yelled. His voice was refined, and yet rough; the girls ignored his command and split to take cover.

But the robots didn't fire a round.

Nisa sensed something wrong and frowned. Uni felt that too, but she kept her gun pointed at the invaders. There was someone hidden behind those robots, but she didn't have visual on him. "Let's not do anything rash. I want just want to talk." He said.

"How about you show yourself first?" Uni yelled. He didn't sound like a robot, more like an old man. Her prediction was spot on when the ground of robots dispersed, and a very old person appeared in her vision, wearing a gray suit.

Gray Mann raised his hands to show he didn't have a weapon. All he had was a golden pocket watch. "See, young woman. I'm unarmed and not a threat."

But neither Uni nor Nisa were convinced. "Funny thing to say with those killer bots behind you." Any act of aggression, and Uni would be the first one to shoot him, and Gray Mann knew it, and he also noticed his own machines scattered around the field.

"Yes, and I want to discuss this matter first. If you don't mind."

"You evil heathen, tell us the reason why you're invading Lastation?"

Nisa's words confused the last standing Mann, although he didn't show it. Invade? Lastation? What were his own robots doing without his supervision?

"I'll explain myself, but drop your weapons first."

Whatever it may be, Gray Mann didn't need to create any enemies. Especially not now and not in this new, mysterious world.

Interdimensional RED-Coded Contract

White Snow and Red-Stained Purple

At first I wanted to split this chapter into 2 parts, the first one being comedy-focused and leave the heavier stuff for later. But then MortalitasBorealis told to me to put everything together because I sidetracked off the plot for too long, so here you have it around 14k strong chapter.

This entire chapter takes place during the first 3 chapters of Falcom's Arc. When she was lying unconscious in front of the LAN Castle. And the 'Spycrabs' mentioned in this chapter are a misc named 'Spycrab' for Spy, just an alive version of it.

And yeah, Hatty is in love with Nepgear.

Nisa is back too! I didn't forget about her, it's just I didn't need her till later. I still don't need her now, but I could start explaining what is happening before she crosses paths with mercs again.

So what do you think? Let me know.

Responses:

FourElemental -

And because there's no 4th wall in Neptunia. Characters and say and talk whatever they want. There are no consequences in destroying something that doesn't exist.

- Harmless Orange