Interdimensional RED-Coded Contract

by Harmless Orange

Having just rescued Nepgear from ASIC's grasp, IF and Compa have a chance encounter with 9 odd mercenaries far away from home and asks for help. Hilarity, violence, and hilarious violence ensues.

1. Prologue: First Meetings

Interdimensional RED-Coded Contract

Prologue: First Meetings

---

"Welcome, lambs, to the slaughter!"

Greeted the Administrator, watching the newest batch of Mann Co.'s own mercenaries from the her comfortable chair. Countless monitors showed every inch of the facility they were tasked to defend. Nothing could avoid her gaze, especially not the gigantic Carrier Tank and the endless horde of machines coming out of it.

Their sole numbers spelled doom for that handful of men, however as stupid they are. She have to give credit for their luck. So far their performance is… sufficient, tolerable.

But sooner or later, they'll fail.

She knows this.

Their employer, Saxton Hale, knows this.

Even their enemy knows this.

But those morons don't know this.

Oblivious to their death, they stand up against the odds and will emerge not victorious, but stomped to death by an army of robots. And when that happens the Re:Spawn System will bring them back, so they die once more.

A vicious circle, a samsara if you can even call it that way, with no reward waiting for them at the end, they won't get even a penny from her. If it's money they want, they'll need to scrape off any dollar they can from those tin cans. Which wasn't a lot to begin with.

But beggars can't be choosers.

After their former employer died by the hands of Gray Mann, they had nowhere to go. None of those degenerates would be accepted by the society, they would be outcasted, exiled, hanged for their crimes.

They would become desperate.

And when someone becomes desperate, they will take any job just to survive.

The Administrator leaned back and watched, like a queen she observed her paws fight for her.

---

"Are you ready, Doctor?" Asked an overweight and bald man, thick russian accent present in his voice. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the mascot of Team Fortress 2, the Heavy Weapons Guy, or just Heavy for short. Now anyone who played the game or even looked at the cover will know how he looks like. But for those who aren't familiar with him, here's his description: A red t-shirt worn underneath black vest and a pair of gray pants. Carrying a big fuck-you minigun he calls 'Sasha'.

Oh and also a pair of black fingerless gloves, because every cool character needs a pair of black fingerless gloves.

In fact why are you, TF2 veterans, are even doing here? Go skip this character introduction and meet other cast of characters on the next scene, right under the horizontal line.

With the question hanging in the air, the russian checked behind him. Kinda expecting a machine to jump on him in some off-chance, but fortunately all he saw was his teammate; a german wearing a lab coat with burgundy pants and a red rubber gloves. You know, a most important class in any game, Medic, wielding his iconic "Medi-gun", which was just a modified fire hose wrapped in a black tape and attached to a bulky backpack. A weird but pretty useful tool.

"Hold on zhere, just a moment." The German answered, aiming his gun upwards and pushing the lever attached to his Medi-gun. The Medi-Gun released its signature red glowing beam, reaching out into a person that stood above them. You wouldn't be far off the mark if you compare him to a construction worked, but this guy doesn't constructing buildings, he constructs… well… um... "Buildings"? Not the ones you would want to live in though…

Anyway, if the team needed some area denial or just their TV fixed, he's the guy they'll look for. Their own Engineer.

"Much obliged, Doc." Engie thanked, his skin emitting some red and transparent crosses. This was known side effect of 'Overhealing' but it wasn't exactly a bad thing… fortunately.

After ensuring that their the texan will live longer, the muzzle of Medi-Gun sparkled. "Now. I am ready." Medic evilly chuckled. Humans or robots, now he can decide who shall be the only one standing.

With everything taken care of, Engineer went back to his Sentry Gun. You don't really want to mess with his thing, as this machine was armed with not 1, but 2 machine guns and a multi-rocket launcher to the boot. And placed next to the death machine, was a chair with small umbrella. It was Engineer's place to relax but this time it was occupied by someone else, a young and lanky boy.

"Scout." His name left Engineer's mouth. Hands on hips and a passive expression on his face.

Scout's eyes opened and zeroed onto the merc. He was matching Scout's gaze with an expecting look and slight shifting of his wrench, coated in gold metal no less. He realized what Engineer wanted, and the silent implication of what will happen if he doesn't oblige.

"Okay… fine." He sighed, standing up and doing some stretches. But Engineer didn't care about that, because his leg resting apparatus was free. The fact that Scout was running away with loud "Woo hoo hoo!" made his mood even better.

So yeah, that's Scout. America, Boston. Wearing dark, baggy pants, red t-shirt and a gym bag. Hard to actually see him because most of the time he stays dead and waiting for Re:Spawn. Nothing special about him, except the fact that he's the fastest out of everyone and is freaking annoying!

With nothing else to do, the young merc decided to bother someone else… like that freak wearing a red fire-retardant suit.

"Hey there mumbles, whatcha doin' there?" Scout tapped them on their shoulder and looked at whatever his teammate was doing. Whatever Scout saw there, it spooked him so much that he immediately thought to find someone else. "Actually, nevermind."

It was so sudden that his teammate, known as Pyro, got confused. What Scout has seen was so horrible that it will haunt his dreams, but in Pyro's twisted mind it was something else. It doesn't exactly have the best mental health you see, instead of the real world, all Pyro sees is its own one twisted reality named "Pyroland", and in that Pyroland all it was doing was just petting a puppy.

This Pyromaniac was a total mystery, no one knows who it is or where it came from, no one even knows its gender. Everyone just refers Pyro as 'it', the Author included as you can see.

Who cares that we're referring to Pyro like an object, it doesn't care.

From afar, someone else saw what Pyro was doing. "That's just a waste of a good coyote…" He commented, zeroing a scope of his rifle using a cactus as a reference.

This person was tall, and also skinny Australian, Sniper. Wearing a vest and red shirt underneath and welding a bolt-action rifle with laser sight and a massive telescopic scope.

He gave an irritated sigh while Pyro was still played with the dead corpse. He could even see its fire axe sticking out of the animal's jaw. Probably he was just looking for food before Pyro found him.

His neck just throbbed, someone is behind him.

"Seems like you were a little too late to catch that pray, don't you agree bushman?" Said a voice behind his back. He immediately recognized this fancy, mocking tone, with just the right amount of frenchness in it. "Piss off, Spy. Go spook somewhere else, we got bloody robots comin', you know."

His call was dead on, as Spy suddenly appeared out of thin air. Wearing that overly-expensive suit and balaclava.

Spy and Sniper, two different and yet so similar professions. Both assassins but one preferred espionage and sabotage, while the other liked precision. Elegant with Sapper and knives, and the savage with Sniper Rifle and good eye.

Sniper's words fell on deaf ears, as Spy simply pointed far away into a distance. "Don't you think this spot is a bit too close for your tastes? How about those bushes few miles away?"

Spy meant that as a mockery, but he didn't know that Sniper already considered that spot. It wouldn't give him a good visual onto the battlefield, but the australian won't give him the satisfaction of knowing this. Instead he'll pretend to not hear him until Spy goes away. They're short on time after all.

And he did, sneaking off like a snake he was.

Silence returned to his post, with his the scope being as prepared as it could. Sniper gave himself a brief moment to relax, a calm heart and steady hands are important in his line of work. He needs to be calm or else he'll miss.

And Sniper never misses, his pride wouldn't allow it.

However, because it would be too boring otherwise, another commotion suddenly arose. But that one thankfully was out of his earshot.

It was between two people, with one of them being wasted on the ground, while the other stood above him, shouting and spitting saliva at wasted man's face. "You black, scottish drunk! I ordered you to be sober and you're disobeying me!? Get your ass up!" The loud man kicked his side, but this black, scottish drunk was in deep, alcohol-infused sleep.

"Just a pitche of muriatic acid and…" Slurred the sleeping man, lying his stomach next to a bottle of scrumpy and a modified grenade launcher. His explosive-resistant suit dug into his gut but he didn't care, he's drunk after all.

Which pissed off the person trying to wake him up even further, grabbing his reddish helmet in anger. "Damn it, Demoman! Get up!" He kicked him again, much harder this time. So hard in fact, that he turned Demoman onto his side.

But at least it worked out, because the scot slowly came to the world of living. "Uwah?" He sluggishly rose his head and noticed the person standing above. "Soldier?" Said Demoman, feeling dizzy from drinking all of that alcohol.

"Who else, maggot?" Soldier snapped, placing his hand on his hip.

Those two were the main generalists and crown control of the team. Soldier from America could handle any job, capable of doing everything his team needs to achieve victory. While Demoman from Scotland had undisputedly the highest burst damage out of the entire team.

"Wake your drunk ass up and sober out! You are so pathetic that robots will pity you instead of shooting!" Yelled Soldier, shifting his shoulder to better carry the weight of his rocket launcher.

Suddenly, a bullet whizzed past him, almost taking out his nose. He forgot about his drunk teammate and snapped his towards the source of fire.

What he saw was a bunch of machines which resembled Scout, almost scaringly so. Like someone took the bostonian and turned him into robot. The entire group was charging towards him and Demoman, but only one of them was equipped with Scout's signature main weapon, a short, double-barreled lever-action shotgun named Scattergun. While the rest of them was armed with aluminium bats, eager to beat their faces in.

Robots.

Robots has arrived.

"What are you lookin at?!"

"Not so tough now are ya? Are ya?!"

"You're a disgrace to the uniform, pal!"

They mocked him with their pre-programmed responses. Their voices was also emulating Scout's, albeit the difference was still clear.

Soldier raised his weapon but someone was faster, a glowing, red spiky ball passed him and landed right in the middle of charging horde.

"It's on! It's on like-!"

Synchronizing with Demoman's loud burp, the ball or rather, the bomb, exploded, creating a rain of metal limbs and money. Soldier turned back towards Demoman, feeling very surprised by scot's speed and accuracy.

But this was just a first group of many...

Giving the Demoman a last heartfelt kick, Soldier joins the fray, shooting rockets left and right towards the invading forces.

---

Meanwhile, at a very distant location.

Two girls, having only themselves to rely on, gazed in awe at their frightening surrounding. An entire area, as big as a nation, was decaying and unwelcoming: The dark crimson clouds covered the sun, thunders could be heard and seen in the distance.

The ground allowed no plants to grow, with rivers of the glowing, corrupted, yellow liquid making sure of it. This liquid couldn't be even called water, but rather a thick, dense poison. And lastly the mountains of dirt and trash as tall as buildings littered the area. While they offered plenty of hiding places for the pray, they could be also lairs for the predators.

Just by a mere glance you can tell this isn't a welcoming place, no one should ever live here.

"We have finally made it, all the way to the Gamindustri Graveyard!"

One of them announced, feeling a mixture of amazement and anxiety. Her face didn't show it, but she couldn't believe they were actually in the Gamindustri Graveyard. It felt so… surreal, wrong even.

The name of this girl was IF. Yes, just I-F. IN ALL CAPS. She's a Guild member and an veteran adventurer. You know, traveling around the world, learning a wide range of knowledge and skills, having their knees shot with arrows, usual stuff. She's also one of the Main Heroines™.

Her hair was light-brown and reached her waist, with one ponytail sprouting onto a side which was held by leafy green hairpiece. She's wearing a black tank top and shorts underneath an oversized dark-blue coat. The coat have a loose belt where she keeps nine, NINE goddamn phones. Crazy, but their varying colors created a fashionable display in their own right.

She had a sidekick standing next to her… feeling less confident than the brunette.

"Y-Yep, s-so it s-seems." She stuttered, unable to resist the fear as her entire figure shook.

This was Compa. An airhead nurse-in-training that seems to have as much common sense as Soldier, except she was less insane and much friendlier person.

Her hair was in an interesting creamy-pink shade, and her eyes bore the same color. Her white wool sweater was the most eye-catching thing nearby, if only because of her ample bosom. And if you somehow manage to take your eyes of her chest, you will be able to notice that her sleeves were detached, or that she's wearing a red plaid skirt. A very short red plaid skirt.

How she's not flashing her undies is a mystery to everyone...

With the introductions done the plot moves on. Starting with IF not sharing Compa's fears. "I don't get why you're so scared."

"B-But, look at the weird stuff all over the p-place."

With her shaking hands, Compa gestures towards the source of her fears, which was basically everything around. IF shook her head in silent disappointment. Yes, most of those things are weird, some of those things she even sees for the first time in her life...

But nothing here actually looks even slightly intimidating, at least to IF...

If she didn't know any better, she would just say that someone used to dump their trash here. But in reality, this was how the Graveyard really was, mountains of trash from who-knows-where with barely any space to move around, like in a labyrinth.

And deep inside that labyrinth was their objective.

Their conversation came to an abrupt halt, not because of enemy approaching, but because IF's phone called. Or rather something else… as the brunette didn't pull out one of her phones but rather a strange, purple device, resembling closely a PSP console. Or just Lastation's probable console if you really want the Author to go by Hyperdimension Neptunia's lore.

"As its name implies, the Gamindustri Graveyard is where those who have passed go to rest for eternity." Explains a person through this device, known as N-Gear.

Actually, that person looked rather like a fairy, judging by her blue and purple wings. She had dull blue eyes and a curly blonde hair. She wore a purple dress with blue and white tie, and a white cuff. Long white socks and tiny shoes adored her legs.

She's yet another Main Character, Histoire. A sentiment tome fairy which records the history of the world.

And she's also incredibly, adorably tiny. You could fit her in a bag or maybe even a pocket.

"Everything you see here were once inhabitants of Gamindustri proper." She added, making Compa even more frightened than before. "O-Oh really…?"

"Tch. You know, this is why I said it'd be okay if you stayed behind." Snaps IF. The brunette could handle this mission very well on her own but Compa also wanted to go too, and Histoire agreed with her. And now the Guild agent is being dragged down. Not that she'll ever say this to Compa, there's just no way she's going to do that.

But she can't help but wonder - If anything happens, will Compa be able to act?

Although, IF's remark had some positive outcome. Compa actually tried to force some confidence into her. "N-No way! I'd never agree to that! I wanna help Nep-Nep and Ge-Ge, and the other CPUs as well!"

Because of her overall look and personality, acting brave just made her cuter... IF tried hard to not chuckle at this, seeing her friend trying to act confident just makes her smile. It was infectious.

"And so do I. Hard to believe they've been missing for three whole years now…" But as quickly as it began, her smile disappears and a heavy sigh took its place. "It's so stupid to make me worry like this…"

"All will be right soon. I am certain they are alive." Histoire reassured. "Even if they are seriously injured, they'll be fine as long as you possess the Sharicite I had prepared for you."

Compa reaches out to her purse and pulls something out, it was a crystal, a small mineral small enough to fit on her palm. It looked beautiful, with its cuby shape, rough, even edges and faces and that deep purple color.

"Sharicite, the crystallized power of the people's faith…" The brunette mumbled, staring at their only hope. All of their hard work was inside this 1 tiny thing. If they lose it, all of that time was wasted. "If that's true then you're right. Okay. Let's hurry back and find our ladies, Compa. We'll carry them all home if we have to!"

They're already at the last steps, they can't fail here.

Compa carefully hid the Sharicite back in her pouch, eagerly nodding to the brunette. "Okey-dokey!"

---

The machines were relentless, they kept pushing without fear or break like Russians did in World War 2. Fortunately for Medic, he avoided being sent to any of the fronts back in the day, otherwise the situation would centraily trigger some sort of PTSD.

"Zhis wall is robot death!"

But unluckily for the machines, Medic was one of the more eager mercs to fight, using his newest inventions; an electric shield that blocked all projectiles coming towards him, while allowing his teammates to shoot through it without any problems. It also burns all electronics that are passing through, which doctor was eager to demonstrate by charging head-first into the fray.

Nothing survived the onslaught.

His laugh was drowned by the endless gunfire, his ears rang non-stop, but he didn't care. The sight of literal-killing-machines being dismantled at atomic level brought him sadistic pleasure.

Even the Administrator was entertained. Not by the shootout, but because of the fact that those morons actually outsmarted Gray Mann. They came up with this stupid idea and it actually worked out.

They took this abandoned town near an anthracite coal mine, and then poorly altered it to resemble a Mann Co. Facility. With an extreme emphasis on poorly.

Those idiots are evennamed this place 'Decoy' and Gray Mann still fell for it!

The stupidity runs in Manns' blood. Was how Administrator commented it. Even she can find this situation hilarious, and that's an achievement in itself.

She's actually curious how he would react if he defeated her mercenaries, and then find out that what he destroyed was literally just a Decoy.

But judging by their performance, Gray Mann will need to try harder. As her men just beat another wave of his machines, and were preparing for the next one. It doesn't seems like any money was lost too, a sufficient, greedy performance. "Greed is good. Have a bonus."

She never liked paying them, but praising good performance raises morale.

And it's not like she was losing any money. Those 'bonuses' were stolen by Miss Pauling from their own accounts, so they got was their money back. They have an incentive to work hard, and she doesn't lose anything. Both sides are happy.

Idiots.

With her mercs resetting their defense, the Administrator glanced at a different monitor. The next wave will contain a lot of critically-boosted robots and some giants to boot.

Pure entertainment, watching her nemesis trying to fight a bunch of idiots. Lucky bunch of idiots.

"The robots are here! Protect Mann. Co! You owe me, Hale."

---

No matter how long they kept searching, lady luck wasn't smiling at IF and Compa today. They snuck around the Gamindustri Graveyard, avoiding all sorts of monsters and trouble, but they still couldn't find anybody. IF in particular was getting fed up with this crap.

"…Jeez, this search is taking forever…"

"Uh-huh… Where do you think everyone could be?"

Wondered Compa, looking around a the nearby area. It appeared to be devoid of any monstrosities, but they couldn't really know for sure.

They were about to move somewhere else, but something stopped the nurse. It was sound, a faint, brief, almost inaudible sound, it could even be just a wind. But by some divine intervention, Compa stops and turns her head towards the source, waiting.

"...Urgh…"

"Yikes!"

The nurse squealed, spooked. She heard it again, much clearer this time.

Someone was there? It could belong to a person. Maybe it was even a captured CPU! Feeling hope, the nurse turned her head towards IF, who was flinching. "Hey come on. What's with the sudden shouting?" The brunette glared at her friend, annoyed that Compa scared her for no reason.

But that didn't matter, the blonde immediately explained what she just heard. "A…A…A… A voice! I heard a moaning voice!"

Hearing this, IF's eyes widened. "You did? Where? What direction did it come from!?" She didn't even care to even keep her voice down anymore, this was a breakthrough in their search. "I think it was that way…"

Compa raises her hand and instantly IF breaks into a sprint, leaving her friend behind. This could be it for them, they waited all this time for this moment.

Moment later, she realized that she was leaving the nurse in the dust. The Guild agent ceases her run, kicking up more dust, and turns around to hurry up her busty partner. "Nice, let's get moving!"

IF didn't bother to wait for an answer, again the brunette just left her behind and ran ahead. "Um, w-wait a minute! Please don't leave me here alone!" The nurse stammered. Compa tried her best to catch up, but her stamina or speed simply didn't allow for her to do that.

At least, she didn't had to run very far. Because a short moment later second, the nurse could hear IF shouting again.

"There, it's Nep!"

Her was voice was full of hopefulness, ecstasy and joy. Her green eyes could finally see them again, after those hard 3 years, she could finally see the CPUs again.

And they looked was horrible.

Hundreds of tentacles, black as moonless night, restrained their limbs, keeping them midair. And the pain on their faces was clear to IF, even a this distance. They hair was disheveled and lost their former shine. They were just a mere shadows of their former, proud selves.

Compa finally caught up and both of them got closer, allowing themselves to stare at one of the captives. It was a beautiful woman, wearing a black skin tight leotard with silver and purple detailing. Her hair was deep purple and split into very long twintails which were at verge of becoming loose. Miraculously, she was still conscious and had her blue eyes focused on both of them.

They knew her, they knew everyone here. This person's name was Neptune, also known as the Purple Heart.

"I-Iffy…? Compa…?"

She murmured with her voice weak from fatigue, it was a struggle just keeping her eyes open. Neptune tried to look at them for a moment longer, but she became weaker with each passing moment, and inevitably she passed out.

IF gave her friend a moment of silence, while Compa points out the other captives. "Ge-Ge is here too! And look, the other CPUs…!" Next to Neptune was her little sister, Nepgear, bearing the title of Purple Sister. (Original, yeah. /sarcasm)

She had a bright, lilac hair, long enough to reach her knees and to be used as a blanket during chilly nights. Like her sister, she also had blue eyes and wore a leotard, but this one was white with purple detailing.

She was the special one of the group, mainly because she is the only one who wasn't a full-fledged CPU. She was a mere candidate, a CPU Candidate.

There were 3 other women behind her, with the furthest one being Black Heart, also known as Noire. She had a pure white hair and teal eyes, and wore something looking like a black bathing suit.

And in front of Noire were the last two goddesses. The closer one was named Blanc or White Heart. She was flat as board and had a messy, light blue hair, with very long strands on the sides of her head. Her eyes were bright red too. No, not her entire eyes, only the irises. Her clothing consisted of a white bathing suit with unattached sleeves, with it's details being painted black and light blue.

And last goddess was definitely the most curvy one, maybe also the oldest one. Maybe. Possibly… Most likely… Her name is Vert, also Green Heart, and fittingly to her name her hair have a green shade which could be only described as sea-foam green. It was very long and kept in ponytail. Her light purple eyes shown visible signs of pain, just like with every other goddess.

Besides being the one with the biggest bust, she was also the most exposed one, wearing a white and green bikini which left the bottom of her breasts exposed for everyone.

"How awful… Who would restrain them like this…?" Compa covers her mouth in shock. The tentacles that were holding them were alive, which was shown by how they tried to capture IF and Compa as well. But they were just out of their reach to do that though, it would be bad and also very embarrassing if they just got captured as well.

"Nep! Snap out of it, wouldja!?" Shouted IF, hoping that she'll get at least some reaction. But after a moment of waiting, Purple Heart said nothing, so were the other goddesses. "It's no good, she's still out cold. Man, what's up with these stupid tentacle things!?" Just a mere sight of them made brunette's stomach to turn from disgust, they were silmy and moved in this disgusting way.

Just their mere presence irked the brunette enough to cut them down, using her weapon of choice; a pair of katars with 1 broad blade in the center, and 2 smaller blades going onto the side. Those should be enough to tear these things apart, but the Guild agent never got a chance to even raise her hand. "Do not attempt to force them free by hand." Histoire interferes, most likely saving girl's life. Before IF could ask why the fairy continued. "Compa, please utilize the Sharicite."

Right away, the nurse got into rummaging through her bag. "R-Right! It's somewhere here in my handy-dandy nurse's pouch…" She tried to find the crystal in question, but suddenly the earth started shaking and something crashed behind them

"I won't allow it!"

It wasn't a good sign. It's never, ever a good sign.

---

The next wave was a complete opposite of the previous one.

Even though she expected it, it still left her with distaste.

One. Just one lucky Sentry Buster. And their entire defense crumbles...

The moment it arrived, the Sentry Buster made a beeline for the Sentry Gun. It had a very predictable behavior, so the mercs let their Engineer handle it like always. But as luck would have it, the texan and also Sniper were busy fighting off a bunch of Robo-Spies. With Sentry Gun and Dispenser sapped.

They didn't notice the discharging Sentry Buster before it was too late, nor they survived the explosion.

With 2 of them dead, their Sentry Gun and their main source of munitions destroyed, their defense weakened. And to make matters worse to them, a giant Robo-Heavy with by several Robo-Medics was breaking through its remains, riddling Scout, Pyro and Demoman with bullets. Medic just barely saved Heavy from the iron curtain by deploying another Electro-Shield.

In span of just few seconds, most of them were killed and it was up to Heavy to protect the line. Fortunately, Spy and Soldier destroyed the smaller robots and were now destroying giant's healers.

But the final nail in the coffin was...

"Alert! A tank has entered the area!"

With a loud crash, the planks blocking the mine shaft were destroyed. And out of smoke a heavily armored vehicle slowly emerged. It had tracks instead of wheels and, interestingly enough, no weapons to defend itself, but its armor was thick and very difficult to destroy.

It's presence worked like a time limit, it will slowly proceed towards the bomb hatch and nothing can stop it from achieving that. But at least, the mercs destroyed the giant and the Robo-Medics.

"Not so mighty now, tiny giant." Heavy grinned widely, looking at the destroyed body of his robotic counterpart. The tank was the only thing left they had to take care of. But with half of their team dead it would be a difficult task, especially without Demoman and Pyro, who were the best suited for destroying tanks.

Re:Spawn will take a while and they couldn't afford to wait. Fortunately, Medic has prepared a solution for that.

When everyone opened fire at the approaching vehicle, despite tank shrugging bullets as if they were airsoft balls, Medic ran away.

His legs carried him away from the gunfire, but the german did not run to flee and escape. No, he ran towards Pyro's corpse, where next to it lied a strange device, emitting a red transparent hologram above it, which looked like its silhouette.

Medic dubbed this device The Reanimator, and he's very proud of it.

Coming into range, he wastes to time healing the hologram. The reaction was instantaneous, bits and pieces of Pyromaniac's body slowly hovered towards it, setting themselves inside the projection.

Then a brief red flash of light…

And the most insane human(?) being was brought back to live. "Mhnk nhya mhph." It spoke, giving a thumbs up to Medic for a fine piece of work.

They don't need to wait for Re:Spawn, Medic can simply bring them back himself.

Picking its Flamethrower, Pyro turned its gaze towards the tank. What it saw wasn't an armored vehicle set on destroying them all.

...But rather an ice-cream van.

Within the realm of Pyroland, Pyromaniac skipped to the van, his Rainblower spinning around and spraying rainbows while lollipops, candy canes and other sweets grew nearby. Children around cheered and happily danced as the van slowly rode ahead, playing a cheerful tune in the process.

In reality however, the Pyromaniac skipped towards the tank, his flamethrower blazing and spraying hot flames everywhere. Luckily nothing caught on fire, but nothing could save the ground nearby, the burnt dirt even melted and became glass in few places. Additionally, few mercs even received burns from the roaring flamethrower, but nothing to stop their own fire.

The flames proved themselves to be very good against Gray Mann's tank. The heat weaken its armor, overheat the components and melt the circuits inside. All of that stuff build up until the tank finally slowed its advance and prevented it from turning, but that itself brought a different problem.

Namely the tank is going to crash through the central building, which was an important part of their defense.

As Pyro and others tried to stop that tank, Medic got himself busy with reviving the rest of the team. Scout being Scout, has already Re:Spawned by himself, so he doesn't need his help. Instead, the doctor revived the Demolition Expert. "What did I miss?" The scot asked as he picked up his Stickybomb Launcher.

"Zhe tank arrived, go destroy it!" Medic ordered, switching his beam to resurrect Engineer. The team was probably started to ran out of ammunition, so setting up a dispenser would be a nice thing to do.

---

"I won't allow it!"

IF stared in awe as the newcomer covers them entirely in its shadow, it was a machine, as tall as an Ancient Dragon. It had a black armor with neon blue lining, and adoring it were silver accessories. Its weapon, a combination of double edged axe and a spear, was proudly held in its right hand, similarly to its armor the edges and spike were neon blue, with everything else being a metallic black and silver. It also had wings hovering behind him, made out of the same material and looking as sharp as the weapon itself.

It was hovering above the ground, which made IF curious on what caused this earthquake. At the same time Compa fell with a loud "Kyaaaah" onto her knee.

"Who are you!? You'd better not get in our way!" IF demands as she points her weapon at the threat.

"For someone to be insane enough travel here… inconceivable!" The gigantic mech roared. Its or perhaps, HIS voice sounded very impatient, at least it sounds like a male... "Three long years… I've remained idle for too damn long. It's finally time to destroy…!" Without any reason, he braced himself to fight.

"I don't get his problem, but we've got a fight on our hands. I'll handle him, so go save the CPUs, Compa!" IF turned her head towards Compa, who was picking herself from the ground. No need to worry, all she needs to do is to just buy time without dying. May the Delphinus watch over her.

However Compa wasn't as psyched as her brunette friend was, but at least she didn't need to face the towering robot flying above the ground and wielding a gigantics axe. That alone gave allowed her to acknowledge IF's words with "Y-You betcha!" and let her take him on.

Giving the Nurse a goodbye-thumbs-up, the Guild agent dashed towards the machine.

The battle started with the machine spinning his weapon above his head, and then slamming it where IF was, the attack missed as the Guild agent rolled over her shoulder to avoid her death.

Hitting nothing but air, the blade was stuck deeply in the ground. The robot struggled to get it out which made IF realize that he seemed to favor strength over accuracy.

His mistake granted IF a perfect opportunity for counterattack. She attacked his arm with the downward slash, but her blades didn't left even a scratch. She attacked again but got the same lack of results…

IF jumped back when her opponent finally pulls out his axe. She narrowly escaped his stab, but the blade still left a scratch on her cheek as a parting gift. Then the machine tried to sweep her with axe's handle and the brunette somersaulted above it.

His attacks were fast and strong, but they were predictable and inaccurate. It was easy for her to dodge them.

The titan was getting pissed, none of his strikes could hit because of her superior agility, which sent him into anger-fueled frenzy. "Gaaaah! Stand still, damn it!" He yelled, but all he got was a smirk to appear on IF's face as she swiftly avoids another one of his swings. If he continued to focus on her, then Compa can revive the goddesses without any problems. Then they can destroy this him and they can leave this place. She just need to keep this up.

The robot grabbed the end of his axe with both hands, right near the counterweight to get the maximum range. Then he spun around and 'round and charged at the girl. She weighed her chances...

He was moving too fast for her to run, and that attack was too dangerous to risk jumping over it. She can't go to sides, ran away or jump away…

Then she shall simply avoid downwards.

The Guild agent waited and waited with anticipation, for that one perfect moment. Her soon-to-be executioner fearlessly charged forward, like an enraged bull he didn't expect a thing from her. She only had one chance to do this or else she'll go back to Planeptune in pieces.

"Now or never!" The Guild agent makes a short sprint and slides below the robot, less than second later the spinning axe passed where her neck was. IF 'hugged' the ground as much as she could, letting machine's attack pass overhead her.

But then the machine suddenly stops with a loud "Aha!" He knew she'll make such a move and prepared accordingly. Now the robot had her right where he wanted.

As the axe nears the ground, IF could have sworn she has seen her life before her eyes.

But the weapon didn't strike her, it struck the ground centimeters away from her. The machine seemed to miscalculate the trajectory and got his weapon again embedded deeping in the ground, cutting only few strands of IF's hair.

The brunette never got up so quickly before. She used this mistake to safely put some distance and check herself for injuries, her head hurt a bit, and she could see the few familiar brown hair… Putting two and two together made IF furious, and her opponent's guard was fully open. Perfect.

Tapping into her SP, IF slashed the air multiple times. Each strike sent a rain of magical icicles to pelt robot's armor. "I will send you personally to your grave!" She yelled, her anger so thick that it's even visible. Like, seriously, her katars were literally glowing from her anger!

And with that pair of powered up weapons, the Guild agent charged headfirst towards her enemy, dead set on unleashing the ultimate punishment on the vile thing that dared to cut off her hair!

"Gyaaaaah!"

That was her plan, but the reality begged to differ… as IF's ultimate move came to an anti-climactic end. With her enemy, completely unscratched the Author might add, swinging his fist at her. Caught completely off-guard, IF soared through the air towards Compa and the CPU's.

---

Fifteen feet away from the building, Tank's tracks and armor began to glow from heat, the flamethrower and as well the hot weather were taking their toll on the metal. Demoman just emptied another magazine of his sticky launcher and began loading the next one.

Thirteen feet left and Engineer finished rebuilding his Sentry Gun, the automated defender immediately opened fire with its zero-point-five caliber machine guns and the rocket launcher. Scout collected whatever money was left on the ground and raced back to help out.

Eleven feet and Heavy Weapons Gun ran out of ammunition, Scout replaced him but his Scattergun couldn't even slightly makeup for the lack of minigun's fire. In a last ditch attempt Sniper tried to stick his kukri in Tank's track, but the machete snapped in half without offering any resistance.

Nine feet. Another Sentry Buster has appeared, forcing Engineer to grab his Sentry Gun and run away. Just like Heavy, Soldier also ran out of rockets to shoot and there were no signs of tank taking any heavy damage. Only whole load of small dents and black soot.

At seven feet mark even Spy had enough, he dropped his cloak and joined with his revolver blazing. Engineer came back as well, with his Sentry over his shoulder and the Sentry Buster harmlessly exploding in the background. Heavy and Soldier replenished their supplies and resumed fire onto the vehicle.

Five feet and Pyro's flamethrower abruptly stops, surprising Pyro with its sudden lack of ammo. Bigger cracks finally starts to appear on the tank, acting as an encouragement to fire even more lead its way.

When only three feet separated the tank from the building, everyone backed off to a remotely safe distance. Pyro even waved it goodbye as it happily skipped away, completely unbothered by everyone's gunfire.

And when there was only one foot left...

…

…

…

…

…

"You've beaten them back. For the moment."

The Administrator's words marked the end of today's assault. There were no more robots coming out of the Carrier Tank and that monstrous tin can was slowly closing its hatch and returning home, leaving the mercenaries alone and in peace.

The Administrator made some mental notes about this victory and planned her next move, at the same time Medic, Engineer and Sniper simultaneously released a huge sighs of relief.

It's over…

At least for today.

---

Away from the fight, Compa tried to use the Sharicite on the unconscious CPUs. "Please…" She plead, shifting the Sharicite a little closer to the captives. Iffy was doing her best to protect her and the Goddesses, she couldn't mess this up and let her down.

The Nurse was leaning in so far that she was at a risk of losing balance her and falling into the pool of tentacles, who were so close that Compa could feel their tips tingling her arms. She was but a mere inches of getting pulled into her doom, and yet the crystal still doesn't show any changes. "Please wake up!" She plead once more. She was so close, just a little more… Maybe she needs to be a little close-YES!

Out of the sudden, the crystal emitted a warm, purple light, charming Compa in its beauty. The light also seemed to scare the tentacles away, as instead of trying to pull the nurse in, the cables were trying to get as far as possible from her.

"Ah… Urrgh…"

In addition, the captives were emitting their own bluish glow, just like the Sharicite itself. Compa couldn't be happier about it, it filled the nurse with enough bravery to take a step forward.

Step by step, Compa got closer to the goddesses and the tentacles, even though they were scared of light, remained vigilant. They waited for any opportunity to strike, but they did nothing else though.

The eyes of the CPUs stirred, like they were being woken from sleep. The hold that the tentacles had on them also loosened, which motivated the nurse to walk little faster.

"Ah… Urrgh…" Muttered one of them, Nepgear that was, and she finally opened her eyes. The CPU Candidate felt her consciousness coming back, but she was still sleepy. Like being woken up by an alarm clock at monday's morning.

Compa noticed that the tentacles were all but gone from her, so the nurse dared to pull her into her safety bubble. "Ge-Ge! Are you back with us?"

It took about 2 seconds for Nepgear's dazed grogged mind to fully register what was happening, but when it did, shock and confusion swiftly overrode her tiredness. "Compa…? I… I… was…" Her eyes widened. Questions like 'what is she doing here?' 'Why am I hugged?' 'Why is Compa of all people hugging her in a place like this!?' filled her mind.

But those questions had to wait as the very-relieved-and-happy nurse bear-hugged the CPU Candidate with all her might, which was surprisingly a lot. "I'm so happy you're alive!" She a small tear leaked from her eye, but that was a happy tear. After all so long, she can finally hug her missing friend.

Meanwhile, The CPU Candidate was too dumbfounded to resist Nurse's affection, just seeing Compa all but fried the lilac-haired girl's thinking process. Similarly, Compa was too happy to remember what she was supposed to do, which was to rescue all of the missing CPUs.

But then, as if guided by the Author, her brain remember that small detail. Breaking the hug, Compa gave the brightest smile she could manage.

"Let me get the other CPUs up too…"

"Gaaaaah!"

Before she could even take another step forward, IF crashed near them with painful thud. The machine has shown a great accuracy or luck to punch her precisely into the safe area, if the brunette landed mere few centimeters to either side, she would land right into tentacle's 'hands'.

In a way the way she landing could be called comical, not to mention painful.

"Weak! So pathetically weak! C'mon, make the fight more interesting for me! C'mon!" The machine taunted. No imperfection tainted his armor, his own body. Nothing IF did to him had any effect, even her EXE-Drive was proven to be useless against it.

The lilac haired girl's gaze froze on the brunette. Her disheveled, uneven hair was the first detail she noticed, with her dirtied and crumpled blue coat being the second one.

She was an another person she recognized, which intensified her shock. "IF!?" Nepgear yelped, not knowing what else she was supposed to do or say. 'W-What is she and Compa doing here? Who hurt her? Where's Histoire? What is going on!?' Her panicking mind screamed for answer, but she had none to give.

Her landing was hard and it made a number on her back, even tender strokes failed to give even a slight relief. But even in pain, IF couldn't possibly miss that voice. After all, the distance between them didn't even reach 2 meters, her green eyes gave a quick glance and confirmed it. Gear was free and was frozen in shock right next to her.

"Gear!? Heh… Well, now I feel stupid that you got to see me in such a sorry state." The Guild agent gave the CPU Candidate an awkward mock salute. The fact that IF wasn't thrashing around, screaming meant she thankfully didn't break anything.

As if turned off by a switch, her awkward expression fell and was replaced with full seriousness. IF looked back at the hovering titan, who seems to let them have their talk in peace. "Be careful. This creep is freakishly strong." She warned.

Because of everything that happened, which was a lot to take in for Nepgear, the CPU Candidate failed to notice a goddamn giant with bloodthirstiness so thick he was basically emitting it.

Is this the 'creep' that IF spoke of? Why is he here? What is he doing? Can she dismantle him? Is he an ally? Foe? No, he's obviously a foe, he attacked IF.

They have to fight this thing!?

The mere mention of fighting someone as tall as house threw the CPU Candidate into panic. Her legs froze to the ground, her weapon, a mix of a sword and a gun, a Gunblade, nearly fell from her shaky grip. Her entire figure was uncontrollably shaking.

They can't do it, she can't do it, there's no way she can win against him.

"Let me help out, too! We have to buy some time so everyone can wake up and regain their strength!" Nepgear stared at the Nurse wide-eyed. Even in the face of certain death, Compa shown nothing but pure confidence. She believed that they can win this, she believed that they can rescue all other CPUs.

How!?

With her weapon in hand, an oversized syringe full of questionable liquid. Compa and IF charged together, leaving Nepgear alone to watch them with amazement… Or rather, as if she saw someone crazy.

They were just humans, how can they be so convicted that they can win? Just by looking at him she can say that he's above them!

And yet…

They didn't stop.

The machine brings his axe down and the girls split, IF rolled to the right while Compa dodged to the left. For the third time today, the robot's axe got stuck deep in the ground and the girls persistently attacked his hands with their weapons. They stabbed, slashed, punched and kicked but nothing worked, nothing was leaving even a tinies mark on his forearms. In it's own right, it was an amusing sight to watch.

But even so they still attacked.

Even when being outmatched, they were still fighting. Hell, this robot doesn't even look like he was taking this fight seriously!

But seeing their friends acting more bravely than she was… it was embarrassing. She's the CPU Candidate, she was supposed to protect them, not vice versa.

"I…"

Should she do it…? Yes, she definitely should.

But can she do it…?

Can she accomplish what she failed to accomplish earlier?

"I'll fight, too!"

There was no other choice.

Tightening her grip on her Gunblade, Nepgear charged.

---

"Huh? What the-!"

The CPU Candidate has struck the giant before he could finish his sentence, behind that blow was enough force to the entire titan flying. Before anyone could react, she fired multiple shots towards his flying form, with each bullet hitting his body with perfect accuracy and sending him even higher. The titan was basically juggled like a ball.

As a finisher, the CPU Candidate charged up a giant-fuck-you laser and then fired it straight at him. The collision of the beam and the titan resulted in a gigantic explosion. Once the sky was clear, IF and Compa could see the robot crashing down with a trail of smoke.

They had no words to describe it. It was just… wow.

With the deed done and the threat removed, the CPU Candidate slowly faced her friends. "..." Both of them were saying nothing, they simply stared at Nepgear with their jaws on the ground. The awkward and lingering silence left the lilac-haired Candidate feeling rather embarrassed… "Um…? Ehehehe…"

Her feet felt the force of the robot's mighty body hitting the ground, threatening to tumble her. Her ears heard the loud sound of him crashing with the earth, it was painful to her ears but also so satisfying. Her eyes saw pieces of hardware and other trash rolling or falling into her vision.

She did it!

She defeated him!

They're safe!

Woohoo!

Nepgear would be lying if she said that she wasn't feeling proud right now. The CPU Candidate, the weakest of CPUs, has defeated this guardian with just her EXE-Drive. All on her own.

Who wouldn't feel proud of this!?

And why is Compa looking up?

Or why is IF pointing behind her?

...

...He's right behind her, still alive, isn't he?

"B-Behind you."

Confirming her worst fears, IF spoke with a weak, frightened tone.

Bracing herself, Nepgear turns around and...

...Her short burst of confidence shatters apart in an instant.

Surrounded by mountains of trash was the same enemy Nepgear has just cut down, perfectly fine, perfectly beautiful, not even a scratch ruined his black armor.

"That's it? Really? Is that seriously all the strength you possess!?"

He said that as he swept some of more trash off his shoulder.

Meanwhile his opponents were at the verge of panicking, if they weren't already.

"We're not affecting him at all… Compa, aren't Nep and the others coming to yet!?"

"Um… I don't think they're gonna be waking up soon…"

Compa grimly answered as she checked the Sharicite. Moments after Nepgear used her ultimate attack, the crystal stopped shining as brightly as before, and the glow coming from CPUs ceased altogether.

"Perhaps the Sharicite was not pure enough to awaken the CPUs proper, only…" Histoire explained, feeling guilt for this grave miscalculation. She knew this wouldn't be enough and yet she still sent them away. The fairy wanted to say more, but IF stopped her before she could do so.

"You serious!? Then… there's nothing else we can do here!"

Nepgear was already at the verge of crying. "Again… I'm going to lose again…" Due to her own incompetence, she failed to make a difference, again. "N-No, no no no…"

And just like the last time, she'll suffer consequences for it.

"This was just a waste of my time! I'll finish you off right now!" With his axe in hand, their executioner left the pile, getting ready to unleash the ultimate punishment. At the same time, the lilac-haired girl was slowly succumbing to her own despair.

"No! I…I'm completely powerless…"

---

The unsuccessful invasion of the Decoy left the streets littered with blood, oil, bullet shells and corpses, metallic ones of course.

With nothing left to fight for today, the team returned the run-down shack where they set-up the Re:Spawn system. They were tired but there were plans to be made and wounds to be licked, not literally of course, that would be gross. But even so they had to quickly pack up and get to their next destination.

A young woman was already there, looking through the various maps of the area. Among the red-clothed mercenaries, her purple office dress stood up, with her black, transparent tights and black boots adoring her legs. This ladies and gentleman was Miss Pauling, the Administrator's right hand and a woman to be feared.

She swept away the annoying strand of her raven hair and raised her gaze towards the mercs, her brows couldn't be even more furrowed than they already are. "This is bad, guys." She summarized their situation with this simple sentence.

"Is that so?" Spy raised his eyebrow.

"Apparently Gray Mann will attack the Coal Town next. But-" She took time to adjust her glasses, looking at the frenchie with her green eyes. "-He left even more robots patrolling the streets than usually. We don't have time to fight every patrol, nor we could afford the possible casualties while on the move."

"Now yer just underestimating us." Sniper pointed out, a preparing himself a cup of coffee and taking a piece of his bread ration.

To this day, Sniper still can't understand why Mann Co. only cans one slice of bread and not the whole thing. That's just wasteful.

The Australian's words were ignored however, with Scout voicing his own idea from the floor in the corner. "Can we just take a train like we always did?"

"Zhat isn't possible, Scout." Medic quickly rejects it. "Three dayz ago, zhe last train going to Mann Co. got attacked by zhe robots. Ve vould just make zhe history repeat itself."

"Cars?" Scout shrugged. "I mean Snipes' van can take some of us, right?" Scout retorted, looking at the dining Australian. His van could possibly take 3 or 4 of them, that would be enough to slow down bots for the rest of them to catch up, but then one small detail occurred in his mind. "Actually, nevermind. Snipes' van prolly stinks full off pee-pee."

"Still bad idea, Scout. And not because of Sniper's van." Miss Pauling also rejected his plan. "The cars are too slow and there are Gray Mann's robots patrolling the road, they would shoot you like a fish in a barrel."

"How 'bout we use my experiment?" Engineer raised his hand, which caught Miss Pauling's attention. "That new teleporter, it's finished?"

"Yup. It should be fine to use right now, I tested it before and it worked fine."

"Then why didn't you say so before!" Miss Pauling threw her hands in the air, visibly pissed at Engie for keeping this information to himself. "That's what we seriously needed right now! Speak up earlier, next time!"

Defending the facilities was the easiest part, the mercs are handling it well so far. After losing enough ground, the robots had hard time pushing through the rest of their defenses, which resulted in a Gravel War-like stalemate.

Knowing where Gray Mann's next target is a bit tricker, but with the Administrator they should be able to handle it. Her connections and the bugs hidden are enough to know where and who will be sent.

The hardest part is getting there before the Carrier Tank. Trains are an obvious no, too easy to ambush and losses are always severe. Cars were too slow and the planes can't land everywhere.

But with Engineer's new teleporter, they'll have a chance…

"Sorry, sorry ma'am." The texan raises his hands in mock surrender. "But I reckon I'll be able to get it working today. Might need some help collectin' parts though."

"Right. Heavy, go help out Engineer. Rest of you guys, pack up. I want everything to be ready as quickly as possible." She clapped her hands as she gave out orders. It was a common sight, Miss Pauling orchestrating their work and priorities, and the mercenaries grunting in response and obeying diligently.

The ravenette will need to question Engineer more on that thing he's creating, that could be their trump card in this war.

Her ears caught the sound of quiet snores, Demoman was peacefully sleeping next to the doors, which irked Miss Pauling. But then that was changed into surprise once Spy took a glass of water, and poured it on Demo's face.

The drunk people always have the best reactions, don't they?

---

She doesn't want to die…

She truly doesn't want to die…

Not like this…

Their soon-to-be executioner got closer with each moment, and with him their death also neared. He moved slowly, so agonizingly slowly, as if savoring this moment. The, once brave, Guild agent and Nurse were now shaking in fear. Time has seemed to slow down as the distressed Nepgear tried to find a way out from this predicament.

But, is there any?

They were truly concerned. Behind and on their sides were piles of trash blocking the way, too tall for them to attempt climb with this machine chasing them, Nepgear wasn't confident that she could fly over them even on her own, as the EXE-Drive left her exhausted. Even now, the fatigue tried to overtake her, but the adrenaline was still in full effect.

If she faints now, it's game over for all of them. She, IF and Compa will surely die here.

She doesn't want any of them to die...

The only way for every of them to survive, is to take the path in front of them. The one that is guarded by the giant.

Using brute force was impossible, nothing even scratched his armor…

If they could do at least somehow immobilize him. Paralyze, stun, seal, anything, if they could distract him they could make a run for it.

W-Wait. That's it!

"Wait, if I use what's left of the Sharicite's power…" A seed of an idea formed inside her head, it was a small and risky, but at this point anything would work. Her blue eyes took a glance at the Sharicite Compa was holding, it still possessed some of the Share energy. All she needs to do is just steal it.

But… will it be enough? It looks very weak, it may even not work at all.

Please…

Please work...

"Please be enough…!" Mumbling a prayer, the CPU Candidate tackles the nurse. The sudden movement caught machine's attention, which made him accelerate. At the same time, Compa yelped in surprise when Nepgear's body suddenly crashed into her. The lilac-haired girl clumsily took the Sharicite from Compa's palm, and then ran towards the machine, leaving the confused nurse on the ground.

Filling the crystal with her own power, Nepgear hurled it above the titan. Luckily, the robot has bit the bait and raised his head, IF and Compa did it too. All three of them were unaware of Nepgear's plan, or that she was covering her eyes and muttering "Come On."

A flash of white and a shriek pierced the air.

"Agggghhhh! The light! My eyes, my eyes, my eyes…!"

The machine's screams acted as a cue for Nepgear to act, she snatched her blind friends' arms and guided them to safety. Hey eyelids were growing heavy but she beared with it, her duty as a CPU Candidate had the highest priority, she had to keep them safe.

The titan swung his axe, his lack of vision completely his accuracy. Piles of junk were knocked by his trashing which then littered the area around, Compa even tripped on them but Nepgear quickly help her get up.

They blinded him, they took away his ability to enjoy their fear. They will pay! This was unforgivable! He will rip out their eyes so they'll be blind like him right now, except forever! The robot vowed to get a bloody revenge for this insult towards him. But right now all he could do, was to swing his axe with hopes of hitting anything fleshy. Which he didn't.

By the time girls' vision fully returned, they were away from where the CPUs were captured. They were hidden inside a small cavity made out of old tires, completely hidden from sight. Nepgear has found them a temporary sanctuary to hide and bide their time until it was safe to leave.

"It… worked?" Spoke IF, blinking rapidly to get the spots out of her vision. Once her vision was clear, the brunette looked around and found her savior, a heavily-panting-feeling-sleepy lilac-haired girl. "Nice thinking, Gear!" IF praised, but the CPU Candidate was sooo tired to care. It was a struggle just to keep her eyes open.

Compa had similar thoughts like IF, but the state of Ge-Ge concerned her.

"Was it enough…? Ugh…" Leaving this question hanging in the air, Nepgear closed her eyes and again went back to the deep slumber. She fell, but Compa caught her before she hit anything. "Huh? Ge-Ge!? Th-This is no time to pass out again!"

The only answer she got was CPU Candidate's body being engulfed in light, it covered her entirely and it passed as quickly as it appeared.

The person who Compa was now carrying was different-yet-similar-looking girl. She had a less brighter and bit shorter hair than her predecessor, purple eyes and an outfit resembling a school uniform, consisting of a white jacket-dress with purple lining.

"What? What happened? Did she seriously lose consciousness now, of all times!?" IF groaned loudly but quickly shut her mouth.

She can hear him, he was close.

Very close.

"Unforgivable! You'll never escape! Once my retinal system come back online, I'll kill you all!" The earth violently shook and IF could hear something crash nearby, he was unbelievably close to their hideout. Maybe even right above them.

But they found out his weakness to remember for later, IF needs to make a mental note to take flashbangs in case they encounter him ever again.

Suddenly, Histoire spoke through the N-Gear, making IF almost curse out loud at her horrible timing. "The time has come to withdraw. Nothing more can be done now." At least the fairy had enough tact to make her voice as quiet, and she also raised a good point.

It's hard to admit it, but they were horribly unprepared for this kind of mission. Their Sharicite has saved only 1 out of 5 goddesses, they had no information about someone guarding the captured CPUs, and the girls had no countermeasures or even Plan B.

It's honestly a miracle that they even saved anybody.

"You heard her, Compa! Let's hurry up and get Gear out of this place!" IF peeked out of their hideout. On her left she could see the CPU Guardian running havoc on a pile of trash, but judging by his words, he was still blind. Maybe if they moved fast enough they could get away from him before his vision came back online.

---

After taking like… nineteen, maybe twenty alien parts from Robo-Engineers, Heavy began to wonder what kind of building their Engineer was creating. The texan ignored everything else but the Robo-Engineers, even scrap metal didn't catch his attention. Which was amazing on its own, the tiny man built everything out of scrap.

"Alright, that outta do it." Engineer said, throwing yet another mysterious part onto the pile that Heavy was carrying. Their weight wasn't any problem for the Russian, but when he had to hold so many of those itty-bitty things, it's a wonder none of them are slipping through his arms.

"What are those, Engineer?" Heavy asked. Looking at the small green circuits he's carrying.

"Those are Teleportation Cards. It's those that make Robo-Engies teleport anywhere, we're gonna use their tech against 'em."

Heavy once again looked at the small circuit boards. Those tiny things are why Robo-Engies are constant problem on the battlefield? Heavy wouldn't be able to guess, he always thought that they had a teleporter built somewhere. But now it all makes sense.

The texan led his temporary assistant to his workshop, a shack built away from the road and the main robot's route. Because of that it was far less affected by the invasion than the ones they used in their defense.

They could see Miss Pauling standing there, looking through one of the windows. "Curious?" Engineer asked, amused by her attempt to be sneaky.

The assistant jumped in fright and faced the mercenary. "Gosh darn, Engie!" She held her chest and tried to calm down her beating heart. The source of her momentary fright had to actively hold himself from laughing out loud, opting to let Heavy in so Miss Pauling won't see his face. "Alright partner, place 'em near the Control Point, would ya? Just watch for cables, don't trip on them."

Heavy acknowledged his words with a silent nod and entered the building. Being a curious and a bold person, Miss Pauling peeked through the opened doors. Her eyes widened once she saw it.

In the center of the room was a Control Point, even surrounded by the yellow-and-black striped tape that the assistant often saw on the battlefields. Surrounding it were many strange metal cylinders, each of them about only slightly bigger than Demoman's pipe grenades. Each of those was connected to a dispenser of varying levels standing next to a wall with a thick black cable. For what purpose, only Engineer could know.

Protecting the cylinders and the Capture Point was Mann Co.-made bulletproof glass, creating a chamber with a hole as an entrance. It had no ceiling, and there was a huge raygun above the entire construction, aimed at the centre of the Control Point.

"And that is your new teleporter?" She asked, motioning towards the crude structure in front of her. There were more than few things that she needed to ask about it, like how did he get a Control Point here? Those things were strictly guarded by both Redmond and Blutarch. There's no way either of them would give out such an important object.

Did the Administrator pulled some strings without telling her?

"Yup. It can transport everything at once, no exit needed. Y'all need to do is just put whatcha want moved into the chamber, put in some coordinates and you're good to go."

"I see…" This was the means of fast transport they needed. If this works like he said, then they'll gain a significant edge against Gray Mann. They'll be able to instantly transport mercs anywhere they want, with no warning. Hell, with that they could even make an assault on Gray Gravel's HQ and end this war right here and now.

But how he got the Control Point… Those were built to remotely control the facilities. You can control doors, signs, and even the local Re:Spawn System!

Who would give him such a dangerous device? Why he's even using it?

There were many questions surrounding the teleporter, but before she had a chance to ask anything Medic gave an announcement through the speakers.

"Ahem. I instruct everyone, except herr Engineer und Miss Pauling, to report to zhe Medical Bay. Zhis is time for zhe usual check up."

---

The Medical Bay was a special place. Unlike anything else, it was located under the ground. You had to enter the 'Mann Co Hatch of Great Importance' to reach the lobby.

It wasn't anything impressive, just few plastic chairs, a ticket dispenser, "Now Serving" sign and a some blast doors. You know, nothing special. The walls and ceiling were pained red, grey and white like in the Process base.

This was where Medic is conducting his questionable experiments. Experiments which were approved, and even encouraged by the Administrator and Mann Co's CEO. They even gave him few 'volunteers' and endangered animals to work on. His results were pretty amazing.

"How are you feeling today, herr Soldier?" Medic asked, stripped off his lab coat and gloves.

"I am feeling good, doc! Kinda scared though!" Soldier answered. He was shirtless and restrained but still in a great mood, the presence of many sharp things and his limited movement also sent 'DANGER!' alerts to his brain, but German's not-so-believable assurance calmed him down. "Oh ho ho! Don't vorry… You're in good hands."

Were it anyone else, Medic's smirk would have a completely opposite effect. But this was Soldier so… he believed it. He still have his helmet to reassure him that everything is going to be alright.

Armed with scalpel, Medic attached his Medi-gun to the ceiling and turned it on. This'll make sure that Soldier won't actually die while Medic played the real-life-version of Surgeon Simulator, complete with needlessly ripping out all organs out of Soldier's body.

First cuts posed no problem, getting into Soldier's cavity was as easy as stealing an unguarded intelligence briefcase.

"Zhe bleeding is minimal und I can't see any inflammation anyvhere. Zhe Nano-Machines seems to be vorking fine." The german mumbled to himself, scanning the innards of american's body.

This was a foundation of the bionic enhancements that Medic helped to invent. The Nano-Machines improved blood efficiency, making the cells capable of carrying more oxygen to the muscles which in turn improved stamina, regeneration, strength and vitality. They also stop the blood from leaking out by acting like an improved platelets and physically stopping the bleeding.

But most importantly, they collect information about the person, his physical and even mental status is recorded and then sent to the designated implant. For an unknown reason, they also greatly reduces the damage taken from long falls. No one is sure why, they weren't designed for that.

"Doc, I'm in a immerse pain right now." Soldier informed, but despite the context of his words, his tone betrayed no emotion. He said that as casually as person could, if not a little bit rushed.

"Oh, don't cry, okay? Zhis all going to be fine." Reassured Medic. Without hesitation he shoved his hand right under Soldier's lungs. Getting an immediate reaction from the patient. "It's hard to breathe…" But merc's complaint fell on deaf ears. Soldier struggled to draw even the slightest breath to no avail, he just couldn't, whatever his surgeon was doing it was suffocated him. But that quickly ceased to be a problem once the german uncaringly ripped his american's heart out of its proper place.

Attached to his beating heart was a strange device, bigger than the heart itself. "Hmm…" Medic hummed, scanning through the readings of the device. "Zhe Heart Implant seems to be vorking as well, zhis isn't loose too. Gut, gut."

This device was another bread-and-butter enhancement, it allows the user to the survive getting Übercharged, and it also made the revival via the Reanimator possible. Without that, all of them would have to wait for Re:Spawn, while robots were marching through their dead bodies.

Dropping that very important organ onto the table, as if it was just some rubbish, Medic continued his work of dismantling the mercenary piece by piece. This time he went lower where his intensities were located. Medic had no interest in Soldier's digestive system, but he pulled out another tiny device out his body, which was attached to Soldier's spine via needle.

It didn't take the surgeon to find out what was wrong with it, all it took was his short glance.

"Zhat not good, zhis Critical Booster is nearly burned out. Replacing."

Unceremoniously throwing the defect implant over his shoulder, the german opened a drawer and took the identical replacement, and also a hammer.

This little thing was just a supplementary implant, but pretty useful one. It allowed the user to land Critical and Mini-Critical hits with their fists or melee weapons. It usually worked only under certain conditions, but sometimes it will randomly activate on its own. Those were commonly known as 'Random Crits'.

A situational but very powerful advantage, especially against other enhanced people. Critical Hits wreck havoc on the poor Nano-Machines, causing them to explode and obliterate everything nearby, bloodstreams, tissue, nerves.

Critical Hits, or just Crits for short, aren't only limited to close-quarter combat, there are special Critical chips to use on guns as well. Attach one to its barrel and you'll gain the same results but with bigger range.

Medic hammered the nail-like implant into Soldier's spine, right between the vertebrae. "Aaargh!" The American yelled loudly. It hurt him like hell, and there was an off-chance chance that Soldier will be permanently paralyzed from waist-down. But that was just a minor detail.

"Now zhen, please turn your head to zhe left und hold still. Ve are nearly done."

Soldier felt a mild relief from the fact that this was the ending. All that's left is to check on an implant so important and sensitive, that it could be destroyed by just looking at it the wrong way.

On this critical moment that Medic had to take few deep breaths to calm himself before he could continue working. The next cuts weren't in patient's torso, but on his neck, where the last enhancement was hidden in Soldier's body, the Re:Spawn Chip.

It works like a processor which collects and processes all information it receives from the Nano-Machines, and then sends them to the Re:Spawn System. Thanks to that, the system will know when someone dies so it can bring him back.

Looking at the fragile chip, Medic released a brief sigh of relief. "Yup, nothing is vrong. Time to put you together." The clean-up part was a lot easier that someone would expect, you would think that there's no way Medic could reattach Soldier's heart, his left lung and his acid-leaking stomach without killing him, right? Wrong, getting him healed is a easy a very easy process. All you need to do is just put all organs more-less where they were supposed to be, and the Medi-Gun will take care of of the rest. Easy peasy, no need for medical license.

By the way, that immerse pain that Soldier was talking about, it was just the acid eating his body. Don't worry it's nothing serious.

Medic unfastened Soldier's restraints and let him out of the room.

"Next."

There was a 1 implant that Medic failed to check, because this was only for Scout. It's an Agility Amplifier located in his thighs. It allowed him to jump mid-air and sometimes even run as fast as cars. Thanks to that he's the most mobile mercenary in the group.

His speed is earned, no other merc have their legs as firm as his.

Not even a hour has passed and Medic already checked three out of eight mercenaries, himself included. Nothing major occurred which was boring for the German. No one felt any unreasonable pains, there wasn't any blood mysteriously leaking from their skulls, their hearts still struggled to beat with the Heart Implant attached to them. It was all boring procedure that you readers wouldn't even want to read more than one time.

Engineer already went through that procedure before the fight even started, this gave him some free time to work on his long-range Teleporter.

I'm sure all of you knows how this will end.

---

"Seems we managed to lose him…"

Said IF as she observed the scenery, which wasn't changing at all. Piles upon piles of random objects and streams of yellow liquid was there is. The brunette began to wonder why someone named this place 'Gamindustri Graveyard' while this is all just a gigantic garbage dump.

Maybe she should put a request in the Guild to change its name, a Gigantic Garbage Dump sounds nice enough.

But on the bright side, that maniac with axe was nowhere to be found. Maybe he has already given up searching, or he just went the wrong way, it didn't really matter.

Compa, exhausted from carrying Nepgear this entire time, fell onto her knee and panted heavily. "Hauh, hauh… Ge-Ge is way heavier than she looks…"

Yes, she's a nurse (in training) and good at carrying bodies. But the blonde is by no means athletic, she can't run even a kilometer without panting and running with an unconscious body on your back is way more tiring than it sounds.

Not to mention there may be something really wrong with Ge-Ge… it would be best if they had a professional to check on her once they come back to Planeptune.

"Even after all that, the only one we could help was Gear… Not to mention…" They were supposed to rescue all 5 of them, not just 1.

IF sighed, feeling down by their failure. If they just prepared better than they could save all of them... "The Sharicite's power was expanded and it shattered when Ge-Ge had it thrown at him…" Solemnly added Compa. With the Sharicite gone, they have lost the only any chances of rescuing other CPUs. It officially marked the end of their operation.

3 years of hard work, and they only saved Nepgear.

"There's no way we can help the CPUs without that…" The brunette mumbled to herself…

Both of them felt miserable, they planned all of it for so long and it could barely feel like a success. And even that was just by sheer luck. They just walked ahead, hoping to get out of this place unnoticed. But there was this one person who wouldn't allow them to stay depressed like this, especially with such an achievement.

"There's no reason to be so hard on yourselves. Saving Nepgear is a very critical accomplishment."

IF took out her N-Gear and glared at the fairy, who evenly matched her gaze.

Initially the Guild agent wanted to lash out on her, to ask why she sounded so happy when they failed to save the rest of the CPUs, when they had an opportunity to do so. But she ceased this thought, getting Gear back was a huge deal, yes. Things might get a little better even with just her around.

So instead of screaming like a madwoman, the brunette just sighed. "Then what's next, Histoire?" She asked, trying to keep her voice passive.

"Return to Planeptune, we shall have Nepgear rest until she has recovered her strength. Besides, I must learn what transpired three years ago, even if her memories are painful for her to recall…"

Regroup, reorganize and plan their next step. Basics. IF easily understood that.

Taking the unconcious girl off Compa's back, the group continued their slow return to their home. And IF had to admit, Gear really was way heavier than she looked.

---

The team wasted no time packing things up. Clothes, weapons, food and other munitions were all stuffed into wooden crates or, like in case of Scout's drinks, other containers like coolers or bags. The only thing that they weren't taking with them was bread, mercs either ate it on the spot or just threw it out. They didn't want another rampaging Bread Monster.

While Medic was busy tearing other mercs apart, Engineer finished replacing the burnt Teleporter Cards with new ones, those will take everything standing between them to anywhere he wishes. All that's left was reprogramming them and punching in the coordinates.

Miss Pauling wasn't the only one who was confused by Engineer's newest invention, his team were also puzzled by its strange look.

"It's… a Control Point?" Scout burrowed his brows. When the bostonian heard words 'A new teleporter.' Scout expected something like a bigger version of that spinning plate which the texan was constantly building everywhere.

"Is that thing even safe?" Sniper skeptically questioned. To him it didn't matter how it looks, but he doesn't want to lose his limbs because of some slight miscalculation or to suddenly find himself in a Spook's body. He knows how dangerous some of his projects can be, like that Repair Node or the Guard Dog.

Poor doggy… that good boy never deserved the fate that Medic and Engineer brought on him...

"Yup, y'all should be fine takin' it. There weren' any problems when I was testin' it back at Bigrock."

Engineer reassured them as he pressed few buttons on keyboard, his eyes never left the screen. "I need more time to get this thing ready, but ya can already load your stuff onto it. Make sure no one touches cylinders though."

During the next minutes the traffic never ended, someone just left and another guy replaced him. One by one, the crates were loaded onto the pedestal, even Spy, who usually avoided menial labor, was working... by carrying only his own stuff of course.

Luckily, Engineer has prepared a lot of space to work with, it helpful because other mercs had a lot of stuff to move. The crates were heavy and enormous, requiring even 4 people to move them.

Half an hour has passed, then a full hour, but the crates kept moving with no end in sight. The doors were open at all times, so that mercs could enter without much trouble. Their constant, loud footsteps were distracting Engineer at first, but he quickly got used to it. He should fini-

Something crashed and Engineer rose his head from the terminal, the texan saw a furious Soldier standing over the fallen Scout. The former was wet with an unknown liquid, it didn't take a genius to figure out what happened.

"Watch where you're going, short pants! Were we in a shoot out right now, you would be dead faster than your momma can mail you your clean, white panties!"

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry, I just tripped. Jeez…"

Scout picked some scattered backpacks and suitcases, rolling his eyes as and Soldier sniffed his coat. He made a face at the strong smell of BONK! and nearly vomited because of it.

at the same time, the youngest merc reached out for the fallen can that lied on the teleporter. It was empty.

"Aw, man…" The bostonian sighed, reaching out for a fallen can of his drink. It was empty. Not only he has pissed off Soldier, but also spilled the rest of his favorite drink all over one of the cylinders. Scout winced when sparks appeared from the wet device. Other cylinder was doing just fine, only this one appeared to be broken.

…

Act natural, nothing was wrong, no one saw he did it...

...Maybe.

...Probably.

...Most likely.

---

After finishing the last command, a smile grew on Engineer's face. "Okay, boys! It's ready! Just stand still on the point while Miss Pauling activates it." The texan enthusiastically announced. He saw that the guys were kind enough to pack his stuff too; all of his blueprints, unfinished projects, scrap metal, clothes, everything that belonged to him was neatly packed into a crate and waiting on the pedestal.

However they didn't take Miss Pauling's belongings, but that was okay because she said she will go report to the Administrator once she sends them to the Coal Town.

Few mercenaries felt uncertain or even nervous. Teleporting one thing at the time was normal and known to be safe, but teleporting so many things at once wasn't ever done before. They had a good reason to be worried. "Zhere are a lot of stuff in here, is zhis really safe, herr Engineer?" Medic was the first one to voice his doubts, then a Spy, his voice a bit mocking.

"I certainly hope we won't end up with Scout's dirty underwear instead of our heads, I wouldn't want to stain my suit with his jizz."

"Your suit sucks, Spy!" Yelled the owner of said dirty underwear.

"Trust me, I'm an Engineer. I calculated everythin' and I trust my math." The merc spoke proudly, standing on the front of the group. "Ahem, Miss Pauling? You know what to do?"

The ravenette was more focused on studying the written instructions than on listening the mercenaries, which meant she didn't answer right away. "Pull the lever downwards to release the locks. Then press the big red button reading 'Start', do not touch the 'Self-Destruct' button which will cause a nuclear explosion and wipe out everything within miles. Once activated, the teleporter should..." She mumbled to herself, blindly pulling the lever.

A glass cover opened, uncovering the mentioned buttons. All she needed was to press one and they'll create history.

"Yeah, I got this. Good luck guys!"

Telling her goodbyes Miss Pauling punches the button, activating the teleporter.

Purple electricity surrounded the team, their source was the raygun above them. More and more lightings appeared until purple was all they seen.

...And then they disappeared...

They successfully teleported, but not to the place they intended.

---

Interdimensional RED-Coded Contract

Prologue: First Meetings

---

And that's it for the prologue of Interdimensional RED-Coded Contract, I hope you'll enjoy reading the rest of it. This is going to be pretty long and an interesting adventure.

But before you move onto the next chapter, let me take some of your time with some disclaimers. Written specifically so you'll have less reasons to bitch at me.

There won't be any romance between mercenaries and the Neptunia girls, at most there are going to be some suggestive scenes. And possibly yuri.

People who aren't fans of excessively-described violence can leave now. As traumas, both physical and emotional, will be common in the future.

This was written after the Meet your Match update. All weapons' stats will be from that update until stated otherwise.

If you have any suggestions or questions, feel free to PM me as I'm always open for new ideas. Although expect me to change few bits to suit my needs or don't add them at all.

Yes, I know Sniper isn't Australian and that the 'Electro Shield' is actually the 'Projectile Shield'. But this story happens before the TF Comic, and I was too late to notice that I have been calling this shield wrong, just bear with it.

This is a rewritten version of the original prologue, which means I removed few outdated warnings. So if I didn't already revise the next chapters, you'll probably be confused by the numeration on author notes. Just ignore them please.

Also, unless I already rewrote the next chapter, you'll experience a drastic drop in quality in few next chapters (at least until Histy Meets Them All Part I). That was because my writing style back in the day wasn't as polished as of today, and I was also lacking any editors to fix my mistakes, please be considerate.

I take the criticism though, so if you have any problems with my story then don't be afraid to tell me.

Harmless Orange