Nepgear Goes to Work!
Chapter 1: A Brand-New Day!
Nepgear woke up with a rapid beeping raging from her alarm clock. She tried to turn it off, only to fall out of her bed and bruise her forehead. She proceeded to kick the alarm clock and head into the bathroom. She turned on the showerhead, brushing her teeth as she waited for the water to heat up. Her toothbrush ran out of battery before she could even put it in her mouth and accidentally put hand soap instead of tooth paste. Stepping into the shower, she jumped out of shock when she realized that the world was still scalding cold because Plutia had used up all the hot water beforehand.
When she put on her clothes, she ripped the side of her sailor outfit, the fabricated scar lay bare for the world to see. Her D-pad head clip was chipped on the side and her bracelet was bent out of shape. As she threw various clothes out of her closet, panic rose deeply inside of her as she couldn't find the other pair of her pink stockings. In a hurry, she snatched one of Neptune's and ran out the basilicom with her suitcase.
When she reached the train, the various citizens of Planeptune gave her weird looks, not of ill intent. Her hair was a bird's nest, her stockings were non-matching and different sizes. Her shoes her untied and her breath smelled like a dishwasher. When Nepgear turned to her left, she saw a mother nudging her kid closer to herself and further from Nepgear while giving her a half-suspicious and half-disgusted glance.
When Nepgear reached the Planeptune Investor office building, she accidentally walked into some wet concrete and muddied up her and Neptune's stockings with grey matter, she got really annoyed when she overheard construction workers laughing and pointing at her. As Nepgear slid keycard into the reader only to hear an ear grating buzzing sound. She swiped and swiped again only to be met with the same beeping taunt. It was only a good 2 minutes later when Nepgear realized that she was inserting the car the wrong way. The nearby office workers, who noticed her struggling to enter the door, merely laughed at her.
When Nepgear reached the elevator of the lobby, she noticed an open elevator, only for it to be closed just before she could enter it. Another elevator opened with a good 20 other persons in it from the parking garage below. Nepgear crammed her and her suitcase into the cramped elevator. The workers inside the elevator gave the messy CPU candidate odd looks as she struggled to fit in. The lift slowly went up, and the intercom beeped pass every floor. Various coughs and sniffs could be heard from the other people in the elevator who had also just woken up. Nepgear pulled at her collar to try and vent out all the stress and heat that had built up, only for the elevator to lose power. The workers inside started to panic as Nepgear merely dropped against the elevator door.
When the power came back 15 minutes later, Nepgear had been sweating bullets. Her arms were weak, her clothes were in shambles, and she still had the rest of the day to drag through. The curtained-covered, glass-stained doors of the presentation room felt like pure masses of Iron and steel mountains, slowly being pushed by the nerve-wracked CPU candidate who felt anxiety slowly building up within. The table looked so small, but the walk around it felt like an endless desert of carpet. Nepgear stood in-front of all the investors of Planeptune, individuals who focus their business and marketing ventures towards a certain country. Nepgear knew that this presentation would be a major turning point in Planeptune's status as a sovereign nation.
Nepgear opened her suitcase to bring out her laptop and hard-drive. Only to realize that neither were packed inside. Nepgear's pupils contracted and her hands dropped. Her heartbeat stopped for a good second before beating accelerating to an insane pace. Static started to blur Nepgear's vision and a familiar beeping assaulted her ear drums.
It wouldn't be until a solid minute, where one of the investors questioned Nepgear "Ms. Nepgear, are you going to start the presentation? We don't have all day." Nepgear closed the suitcase and turned to the investors with a solemn look on her face.
"Gentlemen, I'm sorry to announce that I will be postponing this meeting until next week." The room was bombarded with curses and disappointment. "What a waste of time." One of the investors said as he left the room. Nepgear slumped into one of the chairs and buried her face into her arms.
It wasn't till a good hour later when Nepgear woke up and exited the presentation room. Everyone who was working on their computer turned to her for good moment and either chuckled or gave a disappointing stare before continuing to work.
In the break room Nepgear grabbed herself some coffee, she put in the packet into the coffee maker and the desired amount of creamer. Before she could even think about where to sit down, she tripped on her shoelace, dropping her coffee and subsequently falling into the newly formed puddle. Nepgear screamed in agony as the scorching black liquid burned the side of her body. After she got up, she collapsed into the nearby couch and pulled out her game gear. Unfortunately, she only got to see the title screen of her game before the game gear shut off and the screen vision was consumed by an endless void of darkness. She had forgotten to charge her device last night. A burst of sadness, anger, and despair erupted from Nepgear as she threw her game gear against the coffee machine breaking both.
After work she walked through the automatic door, the breeze and the emerging sunrise felt like the gates of heaven, opening for her to fly away. She took a taxi to the usual bar she'd visit after work. There, Falcom was working as the bartender, organizing her drinks and placing them in certain spots. The red headed adventurer smiled as she saw the door open from the reflection of the bottle she was holding, and saw the usual purple-haired regular walk in. Nepgear slumped onto one of the stools, pulling out a cigarette and lighter. The silver flamer could barely create a spark, Nepgear snapped it over and over before Falcom smirked and took it. Nepgear, who was confused and annoyed, was about to retort violently until she saw Falcom pull out her own lighter and put it against the end of her cigarette.
"I'll bring your match to M.A.G.E.S later and see what she can do with it, you can have mine for now, it's on the house, the drinks aren't though so don't get too excited."
Nepgear exhales a puff of smoke and smiled at Falcom "Just get me the usual crap." Falcom nodded and pulled a few dozen bottles and vials from the cabinet marked with a CAUTION sign on it. Mixing the various bottles and alcoholic ingredients into a deadly concoction for humans, but a slight kick for CPUs.
"Rough day?" Falcom asked
"Rough life" Nepgear wittingly responded with.
Another visitor came in, a friend of both Falcom and Nepgear. "Well, well, well. Fancy seeing you here Nepgear!". Nepgear turned around to see IF who sat next to her and ordered some whiskey. "I just came back from a guild venture. Crazy shit as usual, had to butt some heads with some ASIC goons. This prosthetic arm kicks ass I tell ya what!". Nepgear looked at IF's sleeve to see sew marks around the point where IF got her arm cut off by Arfoire. "How's the other arm holding up?" Nepgear asked as she rubbed in her cigarette into a nearby ash tray. "Ah, its fine, Compa checks it every damn day. I love that girl to bits, but she can be real over-protective sometimes." "You can't really blame her, your job isn't exactly the safest in Gamindustri" Falcom said as she poured into a glass that had a singular ice cube in it, sliding it down to IF who caught it just in time. "What about you Nepgear? How was work?". Nepgear leaned back and hung to the table with one hand and downed the entirety of her drink in the other. She snapped back into place and turned to IF with an extremely depressed look on her face "Do you really need to ask?". IF patted Nepgear on the back and downed her drink as well. A *clank* was heard as she tipped Nepgear's glass with her own and then payed her bill. "Have a good one Neppy Jr." IF said as she walked out the bar.
When Nepgear arrived home she noticed her older sister run up to her a hug her by wrapping her arms around her waist. Neptune looked back up and patted Nepgear on the head. "You're a real hard-working sister Nep Jr.". Nepgear blushed as she looked away and pulled against her collar. "I mean, I snuck through your suitcase last night and saw your renovation plans for Planeptune, they looked TOTALLY cool. You should show that stuff to our investors sometime sooner or later."
Nepgear, realizing what Neptune did, felt a massive rush of adrenaline surge through her head. Her pupils contracted even more than last time and she slowly turned her head toward Neptune. "Uh, Gamindustri to Nepgear, can you hear me?". Nepgear slowly inched her way to Neptune who stood still and confused. "Aw geez Gear, don't tell me some itsy-bitsy misunderstanding happened awhile back and now you want me to apologize for it or something everything's fine. I can handle whateve-".
Neptune never even got to finish what she was about to say. Nepgear's vision went black for a good 30 seconds. When she snapped back to reality she was on her knees, on top of Neptune who had multiple bruises and scars across her face, and lay unconscious in a puddle of blood. Nepgear stood back and put her hands against her mouth. She was disgusted and guilt-filled when she looked at her blood-stained hands and realized what she had just done. She shook Neptune a little bit and examined her heartbeat. Luckily, she was still alive. She called Compa and told her to come quickly. In a state of fear and paranoia, she left the door open and ran out of the basilicom.
Covered in blood, wet cement, coffee, and cigarette ashes Nepgear slumped onto the train and held on the handle bars with both hands. The ride she took was head on toward Lastation. When she got there, she immediately ran toward Uni's apartment.
Uni had just finished up her paperwork when she heard a rapid knocking that slammed against the door. When she opened it, she saw a mess of a person, covered in filth and blood, who then collapsed onto the floor. Uni screamed out of shock at the sudden impact of Nepgear's body.
When Nepgear woke up, she found herself half naked on top of a couch with a thick blanket over. "I put your clothes in my laundry" Nepgear turned to her left to see her girlfriend who was reading a magazine on guns and other various parts. Nepgear tried to pull herself up only for Uni to walk up and set her back down. "You passed out from exhaustion, just calm down and tell me what happened." Nepgear started to have flashbacks of the entire day. All the failure, humiliation, and chaos she endured. She grabbed her hair and started to pull it out screaming and cursing. Uni was appalled and shocked at the state of Nepgear. She quickly slapped her across the face "I told you to calm down dummy!". Nepgear rubbed the red mark that started to dissipate from her skin. "Nepgear, you walked into my room, smelling like alcohol and cigarettes, you were covered in blood Goddamit, the least you could do is explain yourself!". Nepgear started to cry and put her hands against her face. "Oh, Nepgear, I didn't mean to make you cry, I j-just wanted to know what the hell was happening with you! I got scared!"
Nepgear looked up at Uni and wrapped her arms her waist, Uni responded by wrapping her arms around her head. "Oh Uni it was awful! I had a presentation for my investors today and forgot my goddamn laptop!" "Oh Neptune, just calm yourself down, that issue will sort itself out." "No! Its not just that, its what happened afterward, when I got home." Uni sat down next to Nepgear and held her hand tightly. "Nepgear… what happened when you got home?" Nepgear sighed heavily "When I got home, I saw Neptune and she greeted me like usual, but then she said she took the hard-drive and laptop from my suitcase, she didn't know I had an important presentation". "That stupid Neptune, I can't belie-". Uni's eyes widened as she suddenly realized why Nepgear was covered in blood when she got to her apartment. "I didn't kill her! I swear I didn't, but I just lost control, and everything went dark, I just!". Uni stood up in disgust and headed immediately to her laundry grabbed Nepgear and pushed both of them out of her apartment. "Uni! Why!" screamed Nepgear desperately "You're fucked up Nepgear! How could you do that to your sister! No, no I know exactly why! You're a goddamn alcoholic!" Nepgear gasped at Uni's accusation, only for her to look down in shame and realize the legitimacy of her claim. "Just leave Nepgear, I can't be with you if you're going to go down this path." Uni slowly closed the door and turned the lock. Nepgear banged on the door "Uni please! I'm sorry just, just let me back in! Please!". But there was no response.
As Nepgear put her clothes back on and left the building she called for a nearby taxi. "Where to Ms.?" "Back to Planeptune, lower district, drive halfway through peach boulevard and stop at the alleyway marked with a Planeptune simple painted onto the side." The cab driver was perplexed by the very specific location but nodded in agreement and drove Nepgear to her desired location. When she got there, she reached a hidden doorway. "Password?" asked the man behind the door. Nepgear sighed, "You can tell its me already!" yelled Nepgear. "Its formality ma'am". "Goddamit" Nepgear whispered to herself. "The endless void consumes all. Abandon hope, all thou who enter, for thou has forsaken purity for the sake of pleasures of the flesh." "Thank you, ma'am," "Such a stupid fucking password" Nepgear said as she entered the club.
Nepgear emerged from a curtain of red. From her view, see could see the entirety of her private club. All the dancers who were either mostly or completely nude. She could silhouettes of people indulging in their lust behind light curtains. Crowds of people surrounded various stages, all of them being either privately selected officials or higher ups in Planeptune's government. As she entered, two maids put out their elbow. "Heh, perfect timing" Nepgear though to herself. She looked to see a bouncer staring at her and the two maids, "hey buddy! Get us three a room will ya?"
Nepgear and the others walked through a light curtain into a room with a singular heart-shaped bed. One of the maids opened a wall safe that had various drugs and a knife in it. Nepgear took the knife and the maid poured bits of powder onto it, Nepgear put the knife against her face and inhaled the various chemicals that laced the blade. She snapped her fingers and the two started to undress themselves. Nepgear also undressed herself and entered the bed first. "Entertain me first". The two maids caressed each other and while looking at Nepgear seductively. Nepgear pulled a couple hundred Nep-bucks and threw it at the two. "C'mon you can do better than that!" she yelled. The two started to embrace and lick each other. This continued for a dozen minutes before Nepgear asked the girls to come and tend to her "personally". Nepgear Moaned in pleasure as the two prostitutes licked at her weak points. One of them spread drugs across their bosom, which Nepgear proceeded to rub her face against her chest. Inhaling various particles and receiving an intense high. The perversion and lust of Nepgear continued for 3 hours until all three of them passed out.
When Nepgear woke up, the two were on both of her sides, wrapping their arms across Nepgear's body. Nepgear pulled out another cigarette and lit it. Wrapping her smoking arm around the girl on her left and clutching the rear of the girl on her right. "I feel sick…" she thought to herself.
Nepgear left the club a 6:00 in the morning and called a cab back to the basilicom. When she entered, she saw Neptune with bandages wrapped around her head. "Oh sis, how are you feeling…" Nepgear said remorsefully. Neptune slowly approached her, "I feel great! How about you sis!?" "Oh, I'm hanging in there, nothing to talk about really". "That's good to hear! I don't even know how I got these bandages or injuries; do you know how sis?" "Uh, uh, I just saw you lying down on the floor with blood, yeah, I think you might've tripped or something" Nepgear retorted. "Ah well, nothing we can do about it now!" Neptune said as she patted Nepgear on the back. "Let's go grab a bite to eat, ay sis?" Nepgear nodded and the two left the room.
As the sisters walked down the street, Nepgear thought to herself about how low she fell. As a person, she was nothing more than alcoholic sex-addict. She abused her power as a CPU and opened an illegal sex-club beneath the streets of Planeptune, betraying not only the very hopes and beliefs that her people entrusted to her, but the relationship she formed with the other CPUs and candidates. She felt sick. She felt wrong. But alas, the day had started to begin, and she had to leave Neptune during their breakfast to head straight to work on those apology letters. Nepgear, went to work.