Quick notice before you begin reading this chapter: when it comes to how to CPUs and their abilities/fighting style, I'll be using elements from the anime as well as from the games.
Chapter 3: Freight Fight
Somewhere in the middle of the Gamindustrian ocean between Leanbox and Tari, a small motorboat carrying three heroes and a CPU candidate was slowly, but steadily being propelled forward.
Nepgear gazed at the vast blue ocean. They had been going for some time now. Long enough for the coast to be blurry.
While the others were calmly exchanging idle chat, the candidate had remained quiet for the entire trip. She'd been thinking about seeing her big sister again after so long. For some reason, she tends to get herself into trouble a lot. First, she got herself captured by ASIC about four years ago. Then she somehow wound up in a whole different dimension thanks to this dimension's Rei. And lastly, she got herself captured again by the hands of her old friend.
Truly, the Nep sisters had a tendency of getting separated time and time again.
And the younger of the two had the habit of getting lonely when her sister was absent. Even at this very moment.
Nepgear was pulled out of her thought when Toby suddenly gave her a little tap on her shoulder. "You okay there, Nepgear?" he asked. "You're looking a little grim."
"Huh? Oh. I'm fine. I was just thinking."
"You've been staring at nothing for the last half an hour or so. What's on your mind?"
The candidate shuffled on her seat. "Well. It's just... I only now realize how often my sister and I tend to get pulled apart and how much I really miss her whenever she's gone."
The boy raised an eyebrow. "Hum. I see... I mean, I can't know. I, uh, don't know too much about what happened in Gamindustri a few years ago... Yeah. I don't. What's your sister like?"
"What she is like?" Describing Neptune would be like explaining the meaning of life. Too many random variables. "Uh. If I had to describe her, I'd call her energetic."
"I'd call Nep-Nep unique," Compa stated. "But unique isn't a bad thing. It means you stand out of the crowd and dare to be yourself."
"Unique, certainly," IF added. "Uniquely lazy. Out of all the goddesses, she's probably the only one that never actually does her duties. Yet she somehow always pulls through when we need her."
"So people put faith into her for her occasional heroic actions?" the teen questioned.
Compa let a short 'tee-hee' laugh out. "Don't say that. People also put faith into Ge-Ge, because of how strong and heroic she is."
The nurse's kind words made Nepgear feel rather fuzzy and warm. "Goodness, Compa. You're making me blush. I'm still not as strong as Neptune."
Suddenly, IF stood up and looked ahead. Following her line of sight, Nepgear saw a large curtain of mist floating on top of the water.
Toby also stood up. "Is that...?"
"Yeah," IF confirmed, sitting back down to steer the motor in the right direction. "According to the plans, the ship is equipped with a weather control system. They must be using the mist to camouflage the ship. Get ready everyone. We're sneaking aboard."
"R-right," Nepgear hesitantly replied. "Hang in Neptune. I'm on my way."
"weather control system? Sounds familiar," Toby noted.
On board of the ship, in the control room, a grey-skinned delinquent sat in a comfy leather chair, leaning back while listening to some music with her new headset.
"Ba-dum PAH! Ba-dum, ba-dum Pah! Tssk, tssk, tssk," she hummed along with the beat while tearing the petals from the flowers she picked a little while before departing.
Just because she's on a job doesn't mean she can't relax, right? After all, those broads aren't even here yet. Plus, the ship is on autopilot anyway. There was no actual reason for her to be here, other than do nothing and act tough when the broads come.
Which reminds her, she should probably check whether those twerps are here yet or not.
Taking off her headset, she got up from her seat and checked the ship's radar.
Unsurprisingly, there was a dot visible. Which means it picked up a signal. Which means the broads are here.
"Aww, dang it. Alright. Time to call that smartass, I guess."
Taking her phone from her hoodie's pocket, she dialled in a number and waited for a response.
"Yes? Linda? Are they there yet?" Geoffrey asked over the phone. Linda could tell the man was watching TV. "I'm really busy here. Like, super busy. Oh boy. You won't believe how, uh, yeah. Busy. What's up?"
"Busy my ass," Linda mumbled.
"What was that?"
"Nothing. Yeah. They're here. Once more, what do you want me to do? Like... what exactly do you want me to do? Last time you just told me to be me. Be specific for once."
"What? Just... be you. Remember back when ASIC was a thing? Be a nuisance! Fight them or something. Just make it look real."
Still not sure what she could do to hold out on her own, she peeked out the window and looked around. Suddenly she spotted the spotlight on the freight crane. "And, uh... What if I accidentally kill them all?"
Geoffrey paused for a second. "I suppose if it comes to that, we'll just have to fake an accident on the ship and pretend the CPUs escaped that way."
The underling smiled deviously. "So no need to hold back?"
"Go nuts. That ship is junk anyway. I got it off a bargain sale. You'd be surprised how low the prices can get on Nep-bay."
"Heh. Alright, doc. I'll catch ya later."
"Actually, I'm not a doctor. As a scientist I-" Linda ended the call before he could begin another of his speeches. The man loves hearing himself talk and she didn't care enough. Nor did she want to keep her guests waiting any longer.
Slowly drifting through the mist, IF carefully navigated the boat. "This mist is so thick. I can't even see Gear from here. How the heck are we supposed to find the ship?"
"Maybe... Maybe we can be quiet and listen for it," Toby suggested. "a massive freight ship is bound to make noise, right?"
"That's not a bad idea, mister Toby," Compa complimented. "Let's be as quiet as a group of mice."
"..."
The group quietly listened for any signs of the ship.
"..."
"..."
"... Squeaky, Squeaky~" Compa quietly whispered, being truly as quiet as a mouse.
"..."
Nepgear closed her eyes. She could hear the waves quietly hitting their little boat, the soft sea wind blowing past them, and... something large. Very large.
"I... I think I can hear it. It's close."
IF took out a flashlight and shined it around. "Close? I don't see anything."
"It's getting closer. I can hear it clearly now."
For some reason, Toby looked a little nervous. "H-hey, uh. You know how ships make waves beside them and not in front of them? Like pretty big ones? I didn't feel any turbulence yet. And considering the ship is getting closer..."
Trailing off, the teen began looking rather bleak. "Oh god... Abandon ship!" He shouted as he jumped overboard.
"T-Toby!?" Nepgear called after him, looking over the edge of the boat. However, as she looked up to search for the teen, she realized what he was talking about.
Quickly taking a flashlight from her hammerspace, she shined it straight ahead and saw the massive freight ship, heading straight for their little motorboat.
"W-what the goodness!? Everyone, jump!"
On command, both IF and Compa dived overboard as the massive hull of the ship headed straight for them. Nepgear didn't jump, however. She quickly transformed and flew off to the side of the ship right before their little raft was devoured by the ship's hull.
"Oh no. I have to do something!" She thought. She quickly spotted Compa in the water, struggling to keep her head above the surface.
Divebombing towards her, she grabbed the nurse by both arms and lifted her on the ship. Next was IF. The agent wasn't too hard to find either, and she was having a lot less trouble staying afloat too. Lastly was Toby. It took her a minute, but finally she spotted the orange dot floating in the distance.
After getting him out of the water and putting him on the ship, the teen got on all fours and took a deep breath.
"Oww. I got salty water up my nose," Compa complained.
IF took two brushes out of her hammerspace and handed one to Compa. She used the other one to put her hair sort of back into shape. "Geez. Talk about bad luck."
"G-good thing my phone is *cough* *wheeze* waterproof," Toby said while gasping for air. "Hey wait a sec. If you can fly, why not just fly over here instead of using a pathetic little motorboat?"
"We are trying to be stealthy," IF answered. "Don't you see how much light those processor units of her emit?"
The teen didn't respond as he got up. Instead he looked around. Nepgear, once again, followed her friend's gaze.
From what she could see through the mist, the ship is quite large. Enormous even. From the stack of storage containers they are standing on, Nepgear could barely see the rows and rows of containers. You can probably fill at least a dozen of football fields with just how many there are.
"It's like a finding a straw in a stack of needles," Compa commented. "We'll never find Nep-Nep and the others in time."
"That's not how the saying goes. But don't lose hope, Compa," the brunette reassured. "Let's think about this logically. Keep an eye out for a locked container that looks relatively new."
Toby walked to the edge of the container. "That should be easy. Most of them got rust on the edges. But what makes you think they won't be in any of the old ones?"
IF moved beside the teen. "According to Good Luck Lana, our spy, the ship had been sitting around catching dust for the past few months. Including the containers. Containers like these aren't strong enough to contain a CPU, so they probably had one custom made. So keep your eyes peeled for any new containers. They could be in any of them."
"Even in the one above us?" Compa innocently asked.
Nepgear looked straight up. "Above us?"
Because of the thick fog, it was rather unclear. But she could just barely make out a rectangle quickly getting bigger. Or rather, quickly descending towards them.
"... Whoa! Watch out!" she shouted as she tackled Compa out of the way, which let out a small yelp out of surprise.
With a loud crash, the container slammed down.
"T-thanks G-G-Ge-Ge," the nurse stuttered. "M-m-my knees are still s-s-shaky."
"You have to get over it Compa! We're not safe yet."
Just like the candidate suspected, the container was being pulled up again. Someone must be using a freight crane to lift it up from a distance. If it wasn't for the mist, she would easily be able to spot the crane and get whoever was in it.
The container quickly moved to the side of the ship, only to swing back and hit the side of the stack the two were resting on. Nepgear carried Compa like a bride and flew up to avoid getting knocked off.
A few of the containers flew over the side of the ship.
"This is insane!" Nepgear shouted. "Neptune might be in one of those! I-... I have to do something!"
As she desperately looked for the crane, she saw her two other friends running for their dear lives, just barely dodging out of the way of another swing.
"Oh no! IF! Toby!"
"Gear!" IF shouted back while jumping over a gap, followed by the teen. "The front! Get to the front of the ship!"
"The front? R-right!"
Summoning a little platform with her share energy, the CPU bend her knees and launched off it at high speed. She reached the front in no time and surely, she spotted the bright yellow crane hidden in the mist.
"Compa. Hold on to me for a sec."
"Okay. Please don't drop me. I don't want to become a Compa pancake."
The nurse wrapped her arms around the candidate's neck and in turn Nepgear let go of her legs and held on to her with one arm. With her free arm, she summoned her gunblade.
"M.P.B.L.!" she cried, firing a pink laser at the crane's base.
Hitting it head-on, the crane began to tilt, slowly falling to the water.
Right before it could fall over, a grey figure quickly jumped out and safely landed on a container.
Her opponent has finally shown herself.
"Alright. Compa. Let's get them together."
Nepgear set her childhood friend down. She quickly got her oversized syringe from 'somewhere' and held it in both hands. "Yep yep. Let's beat up mister bad men and free Nep-Nep!"
Until now, the figure had been standing there, looking menacingly. Whoever it was must be tough. They wouldn't let their sister be guarded by some weakling. It might even be Geoffrey or Rei standing there. The thought alone sent a shiver down Nepgear's spine.
"Alright, you broads. You ready for another round?" a tough girlish voice said. She knew that voice. It's been a long time, but she has heard it before.
"Miss Underling?" Compa asked.
"For the last time. My. Name. Is. Not. Underling."
"Wait. What are you doing here?"
Finally getting close enough for her to see, Underling smiled deviously. "Well ain't it obvious? I'm getting paid to kick your asses back into the sea and keep those stupid CPUs locked behind bars."
"But don't you get it?" Nepgear tried to argue. "Geoffrey isn't ASIC. He's not trying to revive some deity to fulfil all his wishes. He's literally trying to destroy Gamindustri! That includes you!"
Underling shrugged and took her pipe out. "Yeah. So what? I mean, yeah. He's a complete douche, standing me up on a 'date' when he was the one that reserved a spot at the restaurant." Underling visibly shuffled in place. Nepgear couldn't whether she was angry or felt abandoned. "But let me tell you, I think I know a little more than you do. Plus, do you know how much I'm earning an hour?"
"Definitely enough to last you a lifetime at this rate."
Underling frowned and gave her pipe a swing. "Oh, HA-HA. Very funny. Here's something you should laugh at. I'll punch you in the gut so hard, you won't even feel it. Right after I snapped that fragile little neck of yours."
The two girls looked at each other and then back at Underling. "I... don't get it," Compa said.
Underling hissed. "Whatever. Let's get this over with."
Meanwhile
"..."
"Uggh. My head. What just happened? I feel like I had one too many last night." IF sat straight up. She tried to look around, but because she had hit her head on something she can't quite remember, she was seeing stars. Not to mention everything is hazy, her ears are ringing, and she has a throbbing headache.
The agent could vaguely hear someone call out her name several times.
It was Toby, which suddenly emerged from out of the mist. The teen kneeled down and said something. Or so IF assumed, considering his mouth was moving, but she couldn't hear him say anything because of the ringing in her ears.
IF shook her head with narrowed her eyes. "What?"
The teen's mouth moved again, although this time she could actually hear some inaudible noises come out.
"S-say that again?" IF asked, slightly tilting her head.
This time, the teen just stared at her for a second before getting up and handing her a bottle of medicine. Again, his mouth was moving, but he was also pointing at his ear. He probably asked if something was wrong with her hearing.
The agent opened the bottle and guzzled its bitter contents down. Shortly after, the ringing faded away and her headache became somewhat bearable.
"Alright. I can hear you now... I think. What was that?"
Toby pointed behind him with his thumb. "I said, I think I found the container with Neptune and the others. It's relatively new, locked, and chained to the ground it wouldn't fall overboard."
"Really? Great. But what about Compa and Nepgear? How are they doing?"
The teen shrugged. "No idea. I can see Nepgear in the distance over there. She's the purple glowing ball of light rapidly dashing left to right, I guess?"
IF looked to where the teen was pointing. Sure enough, a lilac-coloured spec dashed around like she used to do with a laser pen to play with the Dogoo's on the edge of Planeptune.
"I guess she found whoever was in that crane."
"Should we run over and help her out?" Toby asked as he stretched his hand to the agent.
IF grabbed his hand and got up. "Meh. She'll be fine. She and Compa should be able to handle it. Let's not forget why we're here. Where'd you find that container?"
"Right this way. Follow me."
The Toby jogged forward with IF right next to him.
"You know," IF began, "if you found them, why didn't you free them yourself?"
The let out an awkward laugh. "Eheh... Yeeeah. About that..."
Earlier
After finally finding the container that held the four goddesses, the only thing standing between him and getting to meet his idol in real life was a pathetic little padlock.
"Dang. It. Open. Up. You. Piece. Of. Crap!" the teen yelled each word as he hit the padlock with a steel pipe found laying around on the deck.
No matter how hard he tried, though, the lock didn't budge. Considering was trying his hardest, Toby felt rather annoyed at his display of failure.
After at least fifty hits, Toby stopped to catch his breath.
"Huff... Puff... Huff... Puff... Nghh. Maybe IF knows anything about smashing locks."
"And that's how I failed to open that little lock," Toby explained.
For some reason, the agent couldn't do anything but give the teen a pity smile. "Two things. First, I find it mildly concerning you completely forgot about me after finding that container."
Toby scratched behind his ear. "Sorry. I just got excited about finding them."
"Don't sweat it. Anyway, second, how are you so sure they're in there?"
"Well, I just knocked and heard some mumbling in response. Anyway, I think it was this one."
Among all the containers, Toby pointed at a grey one with steel chains going all around it. While it was at the bottom of the stacked containers, it was undoubtedly the most odd looking one, being the only one chained up.
"Hum. Not bad for a rookie, Toby. I'll put this on your guild profile."
"You'll put 'capable of finding a straw in a stack of needles' on my profile?" the teen jokingly asked.
IF sighed while inspecting the lock. "Again, not how the saying goes. Let's see..."
The lock is the only thing keeping the chains together. Destroying it would certainly unlock the door. From its design, all she had to do was give it a diagonal sweep from upper left to down right. Funny enough, there were a few dents on the upper right side. If only the teen had aimed at the other side...
"Alright. Stand back."
With one swing of her qatar, IF broke through the lock, resulting in all the chains around it to break loose.
"Smooth move," Toby mumbled just loud enough for IF to hear.
"What can I say. It's all in the wrist" IF boasted. "Now then. Time to get Nep back into the game and-... uh..." The agent stopped as she looked at Toby. He has an odd smile spreading on his face, like a teen being a little too proud he just farted without anyone noticing. That kind of goofy smile.
"You okay there Toby?"
"Huh? Yeah, no, I, uh... eheh. I'm as cool as an aaah... As a cucumber."
"Riiight. Imma just open this thing now."
"G-go on." Toby nervously replied.
IF turned her back to the teen and put both her hands on the handle. Before she opened the door, though, she turned back to the teen. "You're thinking of something perverted, aren't you?"
"W-what? No!" The teen denied. "I just... I was just... uh. I've just been looking forward to meeting goddesses. That's all. I mean, they're gods. Why wouldn't I be excited?"
IF turned back to the handle. "Well then... Prepare to meet a goddess with anger issues, one so tsundere it makes even a cactus look pale in comparison, another as perverted as you just looked a second ago, and lastly... well, however we just described Nep a few minutes ago."
"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. It's happening," Toby thought, barely able to contain his excitement. "It's finally happening. I'm meeting Neptune. THE Neptune. Master of fourth wall breaking, devourer of pudding, best goddess of them all. Not only that, but I also get to meet the other three. This is like the best day in my life! It was so worth sleeping in that crappy apartment every night... I still don't know what that smell is in there. But who cares! Time to meet the four goddesses IRL."
While Toby was having his internal monologue, IF was struggling to pull the handle up. "I'd appreciate your help right about now."
"Huh? Oh. Right!"
Putting his hand over IF's and his other bellow the handle, the two barely managed to pull it open.
IF gave the teen a nod as a thank you and pulled the door open.
"Oh my god, here it comes!"
The two gazed inside. It was rather dark, but they both could hear someone or something moving.
Toby noticed a little light switch to the side and flicked it on.
Both the agent and the teen had to put their hand before their eyes when the container suddenly lit up. Having been on the dark, murky ship for so long, their eyes had to adjust.
When Toby opened his eyes again and looked inside, he began to smile, which quickly faded and was replaced with an unsure look.
Sure enough, the four goddesses sat there, tied up with some rope and piece of cloth stuffed into their mouth. Neptune was the first to catch Toby's attention. Wearing her usual outfit from Re;Birth 3, she looked a little different from what he expected.
Not only was she a lot shorter than he thought, but for some reason Toby felt like she looked a little... off? Maybe it was her naturally coloured hair. Sure, he was expecting it, but never before had Toby actually seen anyone with a hair colour like that in real life.
And then there were her eyes. They're as big as baseballs. Taking up at least forty percent of her face.
She also looks a lot younger than he imagined. He almost feels like a creep for... uh...
Toby shook his head and snapped back to reality.
"L-let's get them untied."
Toby glanced at IF (and couldn't help but notice she too had similar baseball eyes, which he never spotted before for some reason). She appeared to be lost in thought, so Toby finally gave her a little love tap.
"What? Oh. Yeah. Let's."
The two quickly untied the four girls and removed their gag.
As expected, Neptune was the first to speak up. "Geeeez. Talk about bad transport. I'm so gonna give this a bad review. They didn't even have complimentary peanuts on board."
Noire stretched arms. "You don't have to force in a joke now of all times."
"Not even extended captivity can change that one's attitude," Blanc noted as she dusted her hat off. "That's quite a talent, actually."
"Goodness, where are your manners, ladies?" Vert said with a scolding tone. "Aren't you forgetting something? Thank you for rescuing me Iffy. And you too, mister..."
"T-Tob, Tobiast, abpf, Tobias Ka-Karston," the boy nervously introduced himself. "B-butjustcallmeToby."
"Hm? My, are you really that afraid of meeting a goddess in person?" The blonde asked as she put both hands on his shoulders, making him jump a little. "There now. Breath in. Breath out. Inhale. Exhale."
Taking deep breaths, Toby managed to (sort of) keep his inner fanboy suppressed. "S-sorry. I, uh... It's just... I'm not sure what to say."
"You can be cliché and ask us if we'd like to go out with you and start your OC harem," Neptune bluntly said.
The teen's heart skipped a beat or two. "Who should do what now?"
"D-don't just say that, you idiot!" With a wide blush, Noire softly bonked her on the back her head.
"Ow! No fair, Noire! I've been holed up in there for hours," Neptune whined. "At least let me blow off some steam."
"Neptune!" Someone yelled.
"Huh?"
Suddenly, Nepgear dived onto Neptune and embraced her in a tight hug. "Neptune! Are you okay? Did he hurt you? Has he been feeding you well? Are you hungry? Don't worry! I'll feed you like a lil' Dogoo pup when we get home!"
"W-whoa there, N-Nep Jr. Can't... Breath... Need... Oxygen!"
While Nepgear was almost choking her sister to death, IF and Noire chose not to intervene. Meanwhile Vert was watching the spectacle with a cheeky smile.
Blanc stepped forward to face Toby. "You there."
"Uhh... Me?"
"Yeah. You. Thanks for helping out."
With her usual poker face, Blanc softly padded the teen on his back.
"Oh. No problem. You're lady Blanc, right?"
"Yeah... Just call me Blanc, please."
"Alright, Blanc. Nice to meet you. I'm Toby."
A short silence befell on the two.
"So. Was it bad being stuck in that prison?" the teen asked to try and get a conversation going.
"Could've been worse..." Blanc simply responded.
"I see."
"..."
"Man, Blanc really is hard to get talking," the teen thought. "Maybe she doesn't like guys. Oh well. This isn't really the place to just hang around anyway."
Conveniently, Noire cleared her throat and spoke up. Toby also noticed Compa had rejoined the party while he was having his talk with Blanc. How convenient.
"I hate to ruin this moment, but this isn't exactly the place where you two should be making out," Noire said with a sarcastic tone as she closed her eyes and transformed into Black Heart. "Instead, try to make yourselves useful and transform so we can fly ourselves out of here."
Nepgear got off her big sister, which more disappointed than relieved to be freed. "Party pooper," she said with a pouty face before also transforming. "Well then. Come here Compa. I'll carry you back to Planeptune in no time."
"Really? Okay. Please don't go too fast, Nep-Nep."
The purple CPU took hold of Compa and carried her like a bride before taking off at a moderate pace followed by Nepgear.
Both Noire and Vert also transformed into Black Heart and Green Heart respectively.
"Very well. I suppose I'll be carrying you then, Iffy," Green Heart suggested.
"Eh. I don't mind. Just don't drop me on the way."
And just like Purple Heart carried Compa, so did Green Heart with IF, flying off into the horizon.
For a moment Black Heart just looked at her friend and the teen. She then let out a small laugh. "He's all your, Blanc," She said before flying off.
Toby and Blanc looked at each other.
"Hmph."
Being the only one left behind with the boy and having no other choice, Blanc transformed and suddenly tossed him over her shoulder.
"Eep!" Toby yelped out of surprise.
"Don't get the wrong idea, kid," White Heart exclaimed with her usual angry tone. "I'm just carrying you so you won't have to swim all the way back. But if I feel your hands reaching anywhere they don't belong, I'm dropping you."
"P-please don't drop me!" the teen pleaded. "Why would I even try and do that when you're the one giving me a lift."
"Boys will always be boys. Now hang on tight, because we're taking off."
"Wait, if I can't touch anything then what am I supposed to hang on to?"
Without replying, the CPU of Lowee launched off at top speed to catch up to the others.
This was going to be a long flight.
Several days later
"Stupid, annoying, inconvenient teleporter crap," Linda complained as she walked down the hall of Tari's Basilicom. "Of course it had to just go out and break on me when I needed it the most."
After her crushing defeat on the ship, the delinquent's teleporter seemed to have spontaneously broken for no good reason. She had to swim all the way back to the shore. And after that, she still had to walk back to Tari. All while being gravely injured.
She would've called for a taxi. But she quickly figured she forgot her phone back on the ship.
What aggravated her the most was the fact that her 'boss' got to watch it all from his comfy chair. The bastard probably watched it all with popcorn in one hand and soda in another.
But she's finally back. Ready to give the crook an earful.
Not even bothering to knock, Linda pushed the door open with a loud 'Ka-Thunk' and stepped on the cyan blue carpet of the office.
"Ka-thunk!? Abnes?" Geoffrey asked from his leather office chair facing the large back window of the room.
The office is, like you'd expect, cyan themed. With a large window overlooking the western half of Tari and a desk with a computer on it, the only things that would stand out are the telescope looking through the window and the two marble busts of Rei. One of her in her CPU form, the other of her in her human form.
"Who? No, you dolt. It's me. Your assistant!" Linda nearly shouted.
"Oh. Why didn't you call? Could've picked you with a limo or a heli or something."
Stepping forward, Linda slammed both hands on the mahogany desk. "I forgot my phone on the ship. But I ain't here for a reimbursement phone. I'm here for that promise you made for making me act like a decoy."
With his chair still facing the back window, the man turned his head slightly to the left to look at the girl. "Didn't even know you had such a wide vocabulary. Reimbursement. Next you'll start saying things like... Je ne sais quo. Or fence-sitting."
"I don't know what that means and I don't care." Linda slammed her hands on the desk once more. "Stop beating around the bush and give me what I asked for, you creaton."
The man sighed and turned his chair to the girl. Shockingly, the man's right arm was wrapped in bandages, probably broken, his right eye was covered by an eye patch, and a large sutured cut ran from his forehead straight down to his chin. "Yeah, yeah. I get it. Let me just get my keys."
"W-whoa, hey. What happened to your face? And your arm?"
"Huh? Oh right. You haven't been here for the past few days. Yeah, Rei didn't really like me 'accidentally' letting the CPUs escape." He wagged his fingers to quote 'accidentally'. "Don't worry. Nothing a little modern medicine can't heal. I actually had to buy a new liver from a hospital on Earth. I mean, I could've cloned my body and put my mind in that one, but I'd rather avoid that risk."
The punk's eyes widened. "You just said so many bad things so casually, I'm not sure what to think of you anymore."
The man shrugged and laughed. "Heh. Whatevs. Aren't you forgetting why you're here in the first place?"
"Of course not. Just-"
"Stop right there," the man said as he used his free hand to take a small key out of his jacket's pocket. "I had already prepared everything long before you got here. In fact, she's already back alive."
"S-she is?"
Geoffrey slowly rose up from his chair and limply walked out of the office, gesturing Linda to follow him. "I assume you want to see her. And you can. Under one condition."
"What's that?" Linda asked as she tailed the man.
"I simply ask you to not kill me. I mean, if I'm gone, who's gonna keep Rei in check?"
Linda gave the man a look of disgust and disappointment. "Do you really think we'll beat a crippled old man after he just did me a huge favour?"
"...Yes?"
"No, we won't, you jerk. Beside, we got nowhere to stay. So we're staying here."
The man groaned. "Fine. Just don't make a mess."
With that, a silence befell on the two. It was a great opportunity for Linda to realise what really was happening right now. She finally paid off her debt, her boss is letting her stay in a luxurious Basilicom and she gets to meet her role model again after so long.
After so long.
So long.
Something good is actually happening to her.
She's even getting butterflies in her stomach.
"It's been a while," she thought. "but I'm finally getting to see you again, CFW Magic."
And that concludes the introduction arc. Next up will be the wrath of none other than CFW Magic.
On a side note, I'd like to mention I do read every review and try to respond to each of them. So feel free to let me know what you think.
Next arc: Return of ASIC