Disclaimer: I do not own Hyperdimension Neptunia. All characters, thoughts and ideas that exist in this story that were taken from the original works belong to their creators, Compile Heart and Idea Factory. Only original thoughts and or characters created in this story are my own.
Chapter 10: Encroaching Darkness
Chika entered Vert's office, carrying in one hand a tray of food, and in the other a handful of documents and reports, "I brought you lunch, Lady Vert," Chika said as she softly padded across the carpeted floor and set the tray down on the desk, just behind the six monitors Vert had set up around her.
"What do you have for me, Chika?" Vert asked as her hands danced across the keyboard, she was flipping through various electronic reports filed over night on the right two monitors. The left two monitors were connected to the MMORPG, Four Goddesses Online where she was leading a raid against a boss monster. The keyboard and mouse placed under the table was used to control her in-game character. She had trained hard to be able to use a mouse and keyboard with her feet just as adeptly as she could her hands.
The central two monitors were something else entirely. The top one was a video feed of a training room Vert had set up for Xone. The little girl was currently there now working on perfecting her new techniques with her fancy tri-pronged kunai. Vert had given her the blueprints for a third type of projectile, a shuriken. Vert was pleased to see that she was practicing hard with those as well.
She'd be there with her, working on their teamwork, but she had something more important to look for. Vert noticed that Xone wasn't dressed in any of the 'outfits' Chika had sewn up for her, not surprising either all things considered. She noted however, with some pride, that the special formula Xone had been drinking was kicking in spectacularly. Vert had suspected that Xone's growth had been stunted by lack of nutrients, those borderland towns were never meant to support a super unique character, and now that it had the proper nutrients her body was obviously trying to make up for lost time.
At the rate she was growing, given a few months she'd easily eclipse Noire in her normal form, provided she didn't reach her peak before then. The formula encouraged natural growth, it didn't perform miracles.
The final screen bottom middle screen, was connected to a spy drone she had scouring the country-side. It could see and detect multiple frequencies of light and energy and Vert hoped. So far it hadn't turned up anything of interest but she still maintained hope. More were planned but just building that one drone had been prohibitively expensive.
Chika gave her Goddess a smile. "Well, first off there's the Earl Grey tea with two teaspoons of sugar, half a teaspoon of milk and some biscuits. There is also a soup with—"
"I meant information," Vert interrupted and pointed to the small set of documents in Chika's her hands. Chika could go on forever describing every single spice and ingredient she had added to Vert's meal.
Chika was unperturbed by the interruption as she looked down at the reports in her hands, "I found some things I felt you might be interested in," she started as she placed the first report on Vert's desk, just beside the tray of food. "The CPU of Lastation paid that good for nothing in Planeptune a visit. Something about 'further developing and enhancing relationship between neighbours', but we're quite certain she just wanted to get more information on this Nepgear that has taken Gamindustri, and Planeptune in particular, by storm."
"I expected Noire to do something like that," Vert said. She wasn't particularly concerned by the report. She had seen all that she needed to see.
"Yes, according to the report she didn't stay very long, she should be back in Lastation soon."
Vert nodded and signaled Chika to move onto the next report. The movements of her fellow CPU over in Lastation wasn't something she was particularly concerned about. However this boss she was fighting was rather annoying.
"Move up and group together!" Vert snapped into the microphone on her head, "mitigate the damage!" There was a bright flash on her left monitor as a massive boss attack hit her party, "spread out, quickly, get those HoT's flowing. Damage dealers, I want more DoTs, more DoTs! Off-tanks, pick up those adds! Keep them off the healers!"
Chika thumbed the second report in her hands, "the next report is something from Lowee, the CPU of Lowee has been seen wandering the city for some reason. It seemed particularly odd to me so I thought I should mention it." This report would normally have been nothing but Blanc was a notable shut-in and was rarely seen outside her room, let alone the Basilicom. It was strange for her to be seen out in the city every day for the past week. The only difference between her and Neptune was the fact that Blanc actually spent most of her time working in her room, instead of Neptune who spent most of her time simply gaming.
"That is odd," Vert agreed with her Oracle, "but not enough to go on, have our spies in Lowee tail her and see what she is up to, keep me notified if she does anything else—Don't stand in the fire! How many times do I need to tell you? I don't care if it's green and reminds you of your mother's beard, anything glowing is bad! That's raiding basics 101!"
Chika set that report down on top of the previous one and skimmed over the next one. "There have been reports of suspicious individuals landing at a remote beach along the coast this morning. Or rather, 'a' report, as no one I've sent to corroborate the report has returned."
"Strange, send patrol ships to search the waters in the reported area."
"I did, they're at the bottom of the ocean now."
Vert frowned, that made things inconvenient, and was almost important enough to draw her away from her raid, but the boss was almost dead and she wasn't giving up the phat lewts for something so trivial, "send aerial reconnaissance that way. Keep it high so that it can evade any incoming fire."
"Consider it done, but there's something else," Chika said as she placed the third report down on the table and held up the fourth, and last, report. "We got another report from that same area yesterday. There was a rather unique and distinct glow coming from some long ancient ruins on a cliff side overlooking the coast in the area."
"Glowing ruins, how cliché," Vert murmured. Her eyes narrowed as the enrage timer on the boss kicked in, "everyone, full DPS on the boss now, that means you too healers, bite its ankles if you have to! Every point of damage counts!" Vert snapped over the microphone. The boss only had five percent health left, but it was close to the enrage timer. They could do this!
"Well, that's the thing, when we compared the glow and energy readings coming from the ruins, well, it was almost an identical match to the Sharicite crystal that made you into a CPU," Chika said as she slid the report across the desk so that it rested between Vert's keyboard and mouse.
Vert was out of her chair and across the room in an instant, "cancel all my meetings for today, Chika, and handle things while I'm gone. Xone and I have somewhere we need to be."
"Yes Lady Vert," Chika said respectfully and bowed low to her Goddess.
Vert didn't even wait for Chika's response, already knowing what it would be. She was long gone by the time Chika finished speaking. She even missed collecting the loot after the boss fight and the cheers over her headset.
~o~
The 'Great' Ancient Ruins was a rather small outdoor based dungeon situated on the edge of the cliff overlooking the straight that separated Leanbox from the mainland. It was filled with large, ruined buildings, broken walkways, and crumbling statues. The ruins pre-dated Leanbox and some said that they pre-dated any of the current nations, although no one really bothered to date the place to check for sure.
The place had been picked clean so many times over the years that any treasures, hidden or otherwise, had already long been found. The monster levels were quite low, befitting of a newbie zone. This, however, only added to the mystery that no one really cared about since all the surrounding zones were twenty levels higher and no one low enough to even benefit from the experience here could reach it safely.
Regardless it was picturesque in its own way, if one liked exploring collapsed buildings, rotting walkways, broken tables, statues with bronze nameplates worn down to illegibility due to the passage of time, and more hazards than you could shake a stick at.
All of that was why Vert hadn't even bothered to check this place in her search. It was a pain to get to, a pain to explore, and had already been picked over so many times anything hidden should have already been found.
Evidently not however as Vert felt the telltale presence of a Sharicite crystal the moment she stepped into the zone. It was very faint, but as a CPU she was naturally attuned to the sensation. She was even more in tune with this one in particular since it was so similar to her own.
Xone walked beside Vert, dressed as she was always was. With her long revealing duo-black dress that was split down the center both above and below the waist. The young, platinum-haired girl touched her chest, she was starting to fill out now and that was making her dress a little tight. She was already larger than Neptune in her normal form, so that was something to boast about, although she was a long way from matching Vert.
The young girl slid her hand under her dress and gripped the end of one her kunai. She needed to keep a sharp eye on her surroundings to make sure nothing ambushed them. She naturally came with pre-emptive strike so as long as she maintained her awareness their group couldn't be ambushed.
Her senses picked something up. Her hand flick, a kunai hurtled through the air, around a corner, up some stairs, and stabbed a monster between the eyes. "…weak," Xone noted as a victory screen popped up around the two of them displaying their spoils of combat. "…worthless." The numbers of the victory screen were less than impressive. And what spoils they did get were better off just dumped on the ground. They weren't worth the inventory space they took up.
"My, it appears that the monsters here are rather weak. They'll probably just run from us if we get too close. Don't waste your time on them, we're here for a different reason," Vert said, resting a gentle hand on the shoulder of her companion.
"…yes," Xone nodded and held her hand up. The thrown kunai returned instantly and she slipped it back into its place beneath her dress.
The two continued on through the ruin dungeon in silence. Vert led the way, keeping an eye on their footing as they crossed crumbling bridges and path walks, while she followed the source of that unique energy she sensed. Xone followed closely behind keeping an eye out on the monsters, but like Vert said no monster ever came up to them, and those they approached fled on sight.
The two of them were simply too high a level for any of the monsters here to even want to consider fighting them.
That meant the only things left that were a danger were any left-over traps, which were usually already tripped by earlier excursions into these ruins, or the broken, crumbling ruin itself which looked as if it would fall apart if someone sneezed too hard.
Just to emphasise that point, as the two of them were walking over a narrow ledge that hung over a yawning chasm, Xone couldn't help but poke the wall with her kunai.
Half the wall subsequently fell inwards with a thunderous crash, startling the two girls.
"What happened?" Vert demanded as she whirled around to face her companion, holding a hand to her breast as she calmed her rapidly beating her. Her eyes darted across the landscape looking for the cause of the sound.
"…wall fell?" Xone said as she pointed at the collapsed wall. She made sure to hide her kunai quickly inside her dress before Vert was able to notice it.
"Are you alright?" Vert asked in concern.
Xone nodded and looked inside the new opening she had unknowingly created. "…hidden room?"
"Well, it's not in the right direction but…" Vert's lips twitched, as she tried to fight down a smile, "we can't just leave it. Hidden rooms must be explored the moment they're found, its standard RPG protocol." The CPU of Leanbox quickly hoped over the remains of the wall and headed into the newly discovered room.
Xone let out a quiet sigh of relief, glad that her curiosity hadn't caused any problems. She'd have to be more careful of what she poked in the future, at least when it came to crumbling ruins that could to fall apart at a moment's notice.
The young girl followed Vert into the room, vaulting over the remains of the wall, and walked up to her CPU that was standing in the center of the room. She was staring up at something with a thoughtful expression on her face.
She pulled out a torch and two kunai. She hit the kunai off each other and used the subsequent sparks to light the torch. Holding the now bright light source up to see Xone couldn't help but be startled by what she found.
Her CPU was staring up at a statue of a beautiful women carved from marble. Her features, her proportions, her everything were absolutely perfect. Whether or not it was an accurate rendition of whatever individual they were trying to capture, Xone didn't know, but the statue was breathtaking. At the base of the statue was a large altar that seemed very much out of place, it seemed like a later addition to the room as it didn't match the beautiful statue, or the marble floor that still looked perfectly clean and pristine, even eons after it was created.
In fact the altar looked rather hideous. It was carved out of black obsidian with an odd indentation in it. Four drainage channels had been carved into it, one on each side of the altar, that, went down to the floor and followed yet more channels to four different round pools that appeared to have been carved into the pristine marble floor.
Realization hit Xone like a ton of bricks. That was no altar of worship, or perhaps it was. It was a sacrificial altar. People had been sacrificed on it and those channels were meant to drain blood away from the broken body. She swallowed hard as she realized that size of the indentation in the altar wouldn't allow for anyone but children to rest comfortably on it.
"…this is…" Xone didn't want to say it.
"Not a very nice place," Vert finished for her as she looked around the room. "It seems this room was once a place of worship towards the true goddess, the first goddess. But somewhere along the way, it got perverted into… this," she said, waving her hand around the room.
The walls were covered in an enormous mural. In the four ordinal directions, northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest, were images of four distinct individuals; books with cute little girls floating above them. Vert instantly recognized one of them as Histoire, the Oracle of Planeptune, but she didn't recognize any of the others. Beneath them were the masses, their hands stretch up towards them accepting the offerings and blessings of the Oracles that served the one true goddess. They looked happy and thankful.
However additions had been added to the wall later. In each of the cardinal directions was something else. Hideous monsters set to prey upon the books, huge, vicious talons and fangs outstretched to devour them. Beneath these monsters the people looked happy and joyful as well, but instead of stretching their hands up to take the offerings provided to them from the Oracles, they were taking it from each other, usually through brutal force and violence, sometimes through manipulation and deceit.
Only one 'monster' was missing, the part of the wall Xone had knocked in had destroyed whatever the fourth monster had been, it would have also been the one that was set to pounce upon and devour Histoire.
What little they could decipher from what was left of the wall made this monster seem different from the rest. The bottom of the mural was still intact so they could see how the masses reacted to the monster.
And that image made Vert really nervous out of the four monster murals. The masses looked happy, they looked joyful, they were helping each other, caring for one another. Of all the murals they looked the most independent, the most selfless. However there were two things wrong with the picture, they were doing all that, to serve the monster above them.
And every last one of them looked viral.
However the image that truly scared Vert was the image above the statue of the true goddess. Painted to look as if it was coming out of the wall a massive hideous monster thing with countless bladed appendages was descending upon the statue. When one looked straight on at the statue it looked as if the Goddess was about to be torn to shreds from all directions.
"…I don't like this place…" Xone said in a tense and nervous voice, her eyes darted around the room, chasing shadows. There was something very wrong and evil about this room. Despite being eons old, it still felt evil.
"You're right, we should go, this isn't what we're here for," Vert said as she turned away from the statue of the true goddess. She nudged Xone with her fingers, urging her on. Xone didn't need any more encouragement than that. The young platinum haired girl was over the wall and back outside almost instantly and a moment later Vert joined her. The two continued on through the ruins without taking another look back at the dark, evil room.
If they had, they might have noticed three individuals make their way into the room.
The smallest of the arrivals looked like a small grey rat with a heart shaped tail. He had a large red and yellow heart on his chest and unlike others of his kind, walked on two feet instead of all four.
The second individual was the sole female of the group. She was a pasty-skinned, gothic looking clown, middle-aged woman that seemed to enjoy exposing far too much skin someone her age, or with her looks, should be allowed to.
The final individual was an enormous robot like machine that could barely fit through the hallway leading up into the room. He was all dark and evil looking, with brilliant cyan lights used to emphasis his dark outlines. He had enormous legs, a skull pasted to his crotch, a dark creepy helm, jagged horns that looked as if they were ripped straight from Diablo himself, and a pair of skeletal wings held together by what appeared to be a glowing directional pad.
"This is the room, chuu!" Pirachu said as he looked around the place of worship. "What a creepy room. This place sucks, chuu."
"Oh stop complaining and find the damn switch," Arfoire snapped as she kicked the mouse in the back of the head.
"WHAA!" Pirachu screamed as he hurtled through the air, bounced off the statue, slammed into the ceiling, shot across the room, ricocheted of the wall and then tumbled into the indentation on the altar. The grey mouse quickly recovered and glared at Arfoire, "What do you think you are doing you saggy middle-aged whore?! Don't you know I'm the third greatest mouse in Gamindustri, chuu! You should pay me more respect, chuu!"
"A rat is a rat, now find the damn switch," Arfoire snapped back.
"Enough with this search! Just let me smash everything!" The massive robot roared as he swung his enormous battle-axe-mace around wildly.
"Stop that, we were given direct orders to retrieve the Sharicite Crystal intact, you don't want to upset him do you?" Arfoire snapped back at the massive robot. She didn't give two shits about the ruins and wouldn't care if CFW Judge went wild in here destroying everything, but she did NOT want the ruins to come down on HER head and she wasn't going to let herself be… toyed with by that monster because they accidentally destroyed the crystal.
Ever since news of Nepgear's arrival reached their ears, the 'boss' had been in a foul mood. Despite destroying the Sharicite Shard of Planeptune, Nepgear still arose. So until they knew how that happened they weren't to destroy the shards, but instead gather them up and hide them.
There was always the possibility that destroying the crystal had released its energy and it had sought out the proper Candidate instead of simply dissipating into thin air. Their boss didn't want that to happen a second time.
"I'll kill him too! I'll kill everyone!"
"He'd turn you inside out in five seconds flat, then he'd turn what's left of you into a bunch of serving trays," Pirachu said as he stood up on the altar. He paused and looked at one of the murals on the wall curiously. "Hey, doesn't that picture look like our boss?" Pirachu asked as he pointed at the image of a hideous, monstrous creature trying to consume one of the Oracles.
The Oracle in question wasn't the same as the one for Planeptune. While she had blonde hair, all the Oracles had blonde hair, the book was a different color, being a deep red, and was oval instead of square. The oracle also had green and white wings and appeared to be slightly overweight.
Arfoire followed the rats hand and eyed the picture carefully, "in a way, our boss isn't as ugly, but it's close. And that looks like the Oracle of Planeptune," Arfoire said as she pointed at a mural to Pirachu's right.
Pirachu saw the resemblance as well. "Damn this place is creepy," Pirachu said as He quickly looked around for the switch, a shiver worked its way down his spine all the while. He did not like this place at all.
"Let's just smash it!" CFW Judge shouted as he brought his hammer down on the floor of the room.
"No you idiot!" Arfoire snapped at huge idiotic machine, but it was too late. The floor fractured and broke apart. A deep, dark chute opened up beneath Arfoire and CFW Judge. They weren't given any time to react and fell into the newly opened entrance to the depths of the ruins.
"I'm going to kill youuuuuu!" Arfoire's voiced howled up from the depths.
"MUWAHAHAH! This is much quicker!" CFW Judge's loud booming voice echoed up afterwards.
"I think I'll look for the secret entrance," Pirachu muttered to himself as he eyed the deep chasm in the middle of the room. Countless obscenities were still flowing up from within its dark depths. There was no way he was going to throw himself down that deep pit, he'd let CFW Judge be her punching bag until she calmed down. Besides he wasn't too worried about them. CFW Judge would survive because he was too stupid to admit he was dead and Arfoire always managed to survive, no matter how many times she was beaten or knocked down.
"Here it is!" Pirachu said happily as he found a small indentation at the base of the statue. He clicked the button and the statue shifted to the side, displaying a set of stairs leading further down into the ruins, "time to find that Sharicite Shard."
He didn't know how their 'boss' knew that there would be a shard here, or about the secret passages that existed herein, but he knew better than to try and question him. He didn't rise to be the third most popular rat in rat society by being stupid!
~o~
Xone paused and glanced back the way they had come, "…hear something?" Xone asked her CPU curiously.
"These are old ruins, the wind howls through here and makes odd noises at times, just ignore it," Vert said, brushing away Xone's concerns. Although this place did appear to have very good acoustics. Vert could have sworn she heard someone screaming obscenities.
Xone shrugged, "…alright," she said as she accepted Vert's explanation. She hadn't sensed anyone following them so it was probably nothing.
x~X~x
DING-A-LING
A chime on the door to the bookstore went off as Blanc exited it with a light smile on her face as she tried to keep her excitement down. In her hand was a new book that had just come out that she wanted to read. Supposedly a rendition of herself, a different version of her, was in it. The book took place in a completely different universe and was filled with lots of intrigue and interesting characters. Multiple universes were mashed into a single universe in a very compelling, if sometimes random and nonsensical, way.
It was called The Ninth… Blanc shook her head and frowned at herself. This wasn't what she was out here for. She was here to look for that special someone that will let her catch up to Planeptune. Lowee, and even her own life, was at risk if she didn't succeed. She tucked the story away into her inventory and looked around the street.
Nothing.
She tucked the book away and returned her attention to the streets around her. There were plenty of people wandering the streets at this time, but none that she'd considered for the position of CPU Candidate.
She started down the street, picking her destination at random. One direction was as good as another. Mina seemed to have little success in helping her find what she was looking for, which was odd since Mina knew every young girl and boy in Lowee on a first name basis. The fact that Mina couldn't find anything worried Blanc a great deal, but she wouldn't quit. Her people and her nation depended on her.
Blanc didn't pay much attention to where she was going, she'd walked these streets for four centuries, she could be led blind folded into any section of the city, spun a hundred times, and still find her way back without even thinking about it. Instead she focused more on the people.
The mental institution had been her first stop during the search. There had been reports about attacks on young girls. The girls had been left a wreck afterwards, few could look people in the face anymore, and those that could had a lust filled expression that looked very out of place on someone that young. There wasn't much Blanc could do for the little girls stuck in that place, but she was relieved that none of them had been the ones Blanc had been looking for.
There would definitely be justice to mete out once she found her little sisters. She'd hunt down the pervert and send him flying into next week.
One thing that did bother Blanc a lot, however, was the lack of children running in the streets. It wasn't even two months ago one couldn't walk down the street without seeing at least a dozen groups of children playing happily together.
Now the only children you could see were the ones hiding behind their mother's skirts. No one was playing in the streets anymore. Blanc's frown deepened as she noticed the looks of discontent being thrown her way as she walked down the streets. The people really had lost faith in her, and not just because of the rise of Nepgear over in Planeptune.
If she didn't find her little sisters today she was going to have to change her strategy.
~o~
The torch light flickered fitfully in its scorn as a shadowy figure silently passed beneath it. The dungeons beneath Lowee's Basilicom were damp and dank. It was a disgusting fetid place that never saw the light of the sun, or even a good cleaning. It hadn't always been like this, but ever since Mina had been replaced the dungeon become far more chilling and evil. And unlike the past, it housed prisoners now, mainly people that looked at 'Mina' the wrong way, or were too loyal to Blanc to be turned.
Of course, for the shadowy individual that was silently making his way through the dungeon, this place seemed almost bright and cheery compared to his former home. He could still see insects and bugs moving around under the light of the torches, back home they'd be too scared to ever move out into the light. A fear that had been ingrained in to them over generations of nightmares.
The shadowy figure had one destination, a large, wrought iron door, chained and sealed tightly against intrusion, set at the deepest part of the dungeon.
As he turned the last corner, the door came into sight. There weren't any guards at the door, there wasn't any need. The locks and seals on it were enough. It was impossible to get through it without the proper key. Plus there were patrols all throughout the dungeon and four strong guards at the entrance.
Of course the dungeon had never been designed to keep him out.
He stopped as he reached the large doors. He raised a shadowy grey hand to the door and laid it gently against the large seal in the center. Dark gold writing surged across his grey outline, up his arm, and embedded itself into the door.
"Rewrite," he whispered softly.
The grey door flashed a malevolent gold-black color and changed from a dark, wrought iron door, to a set of gauze curtains. He brushed the curtains aside and entered the dark chamber beyond. He snapped his fingers and the dark, empty scorns on the walls of the room were suddenly filled with new torches that lit up and spilling warm light throughout the room.
In the very center of the room, dangling from the ceiling, was the tortured form of Mina, the Oracle of Lowee. What had been done to her was too horrible for words to describe, but the large pool of feces, piss, blood, and other fluids, on the floor beneath her was testament enough to her suffering.
Amazingly enough, she was still alive. Although whether that was a good thing or not was debatable. Living in that state was not very enjoyable, he'd been in her shoes a few times before, although he counted those amongst the happier times of his childhood.
The sudden rush of light woke Mina up. The cyan haired woman coughed and choked as she struggled to push away the haze of sleep. Her stomach heaved and a viscous mass of phlegm and vomit was coughed up. The disgusting fluid ran down her chin and dripped onto her body where it joined the other dried streams of bodily fluid that soiled her body.
The shadowy slowly made his way up to the bound woman, heedless to the mess he waded through on the floor. It almost smelled pleasant compared to some of the things he had smelt over the years. It was a nice aroma of chemicals and bodily fluids, far better than the pools of liquid suffering and rot he remembered from his childhood.
The shadowy figure smiled up at her, "Good morning, Mina," he said.
Mina's eyes narrowed suspiciously as they focused on him. He could easily tell what was going on in her head, her face screamed distrust and suspicion. She obviously thought that he was here to torture her as well. There was a fire in her still. She hadn't been broken despite everything that had been done to her.
"I won't say anything!" Mina snarled fiercely.
"Hi, I'm Random NPC 60173," he said cheerfully, ignoring her words.
"You're no random NPC!" It was impossible for him to be a random NPC. A random NPC couldn't get in here, wouldn't be so nonchalant about her situation. A random NPC couldn't turn those wrought iron doors into a pair of gauze curtains.
He laid a gentle hand on her dirty stomach and beamed a smile up at her, "I know, but it's a good enough disguise for now."
"I don't know what you're planning but I won't give in!"
Random NPC 60173 just shook his head and let out a quiet laugh, "I don't need you to do anything," he said and pushed his hand into her body. His fingers coiled around her inventory like a snake coiling around its prey.
"KYAH!" Mina cried out in pain and surprise. She could feel his hand digging around inside her, probing, searching. Real fear etched upon her face as she realized what it was he was looking for.
"Hmm, you're locked down tighter than Fort Knox," he said and gave her an approving look, "not bad, but unfortunately for you, not good enough."
Mina's eyes widened in horror as streams of gold code surged across the man's grey outline, up his arms, and into her body. Her body jerked and spasm as the foreign code entered her. It smashed through her barriers, rewrote her security features, and opened wide her everything to him. And then he found the one thing she had hid more securely than anything else: The orphanage records.
The records of all the children, their locations, and background information. The very thing she had been tortured for. The item that she had endured so much to protect.
"NOOO!"
He pulled it from her inventory, the memory disc with all the information about the little children and with it a spare pair of her red-rimmed glasses.
"You can't! They're just children! Please…"
He ignored her pleas as he tucked the disc away inside his own inventory, another thing a random NPC wouldn't have. He turned her glasses over in his hands, giving it a once over to make sure it was indeed the exact same as the glasses Mina normally wore, and then promptly fractured the left lens.
"W-What are you doing…"
He wiped the glasses on her soil body, making sure to smear it well in her blood, before he tucked that away in his inventory as well.
"Well, that's all I needed you for. Farewell, Mina," the random NPC said as he gave her a cheerful wave and skipped out of the room, whistling a merry tune. The satin curtains disappeared and the wrought iron door came back as he left the room. The torches, too, went out, dumping Mina back into pitch darkness.
She could do nothing more than hang there, wallowing in her failure to protect the children of Lowee.
If they came for her again, she would break. She wouldn't have the will to resist, now that she had nothing left to fight for.
x~X~x
"…stronger," Xone murmured as she watched her tri-pronged kunai hit a large monster in the chest. A moment later a dozen kunai punched a hole through the center of it, causing the entire monster to explode in a shower of pixels.
"It seems that no one has ever been down here before," Vert replied as she pulled her spear out of another monster and watched it disappear in a shower of pixels. "These monsters are definitely worth grinding for the average adventurer, but not for us, we're much too strong for these monsters." They were useful to get a basic warm-up going though, just in case they did encounter something a bit more significant
Xone nodded and glanced up as the victory dialog window appeared before them. They were definitely getting significantly more experience than that single monster had given them at the ruins entrance. Many more credits too, and some of the drops were actually worth keeping. While the monsters on the surface ranged from levels five to ten, the ones down here were easily thirty five plus.
They still weren't worth grinding for Xone and Vert though. Xone was level sixty-three and Vert was level seventy, all thanks to the massive boost that the Leviathan Mk-1 out in the ocean had provided.
"…almost there?" Xone asked quietly as she tucked her weapons away beneath her dress. It wasn't that she was impatient and wanted the dungeon crawl to end, she was just honestly curious.
They'd been underground for some time now. There was an enormous stone labyrinth hidden beneath the ruins that no one had explored. They'd opened quite a few treasure chests since coming down here, although they hadn't found anything too out of the ordinary. It WAS weird to find a Nep Bull EX down here. Xone didn't even want to really contemplate how something more advanced than anything currently in production today found its way down in the depths of an unexplored ruin older than any of the current civilizations. The worst thing was, that the item was too high a level for either of them to use.
Which was even stranger since items these days didn't come with level restrictions.
"Yes, we are, it's just behind this door," Vert said as she walked up to a large double door made out of solid granite slabs. They were deep underground now, and while the walls were still manmade, they carried that damp earthen smell that most underground places carried.
The entrance to this never before explored underground labyrinth had been hidden beneath some stone floor tiles. It was as if someone had deliberately sealed it up so that no one could find it. But Vert, with her attunement to the Sharicite Shard, had been able to find it readily enough.
And now it was in the next room, the secret to obtaining her own little sister, her own CPU Candidate to match Planeptune's.
With a victorious smirk on her face she pushed the doors open and boldly strolled into the room beyond to retrieve the prize she had travelled out here to collect.
The smile left her face, she wasn't the first one to enter the room.
"So you three are the intruders that illegally entered my land," Vert said in annoyance as she stared across the room at the three people that were gathered around a pedestal. On the pedestal was a green crystal with bands of black and silver streaking through it. It was a Sharicite crystal that glowed with pure share energy.
"Oh look, the pathetic goddess of Leanbox has decided to show up," Arfoire said with a confident smirk of her face. She stepped towards Vert and leered at her, looking for all the world like she was the better person. The look was somewhat spoiled however by the numerous scrapes and bruises on her body, "I must say, I am surprised you could pull yourself away from your games long enough to come out here." The evil super villain let out a long cackling laugh.
"Can I smash her? I wanna break her into tiny pieces!" CFW Judge shouted as he stared eagerly at Vert. He literally quivered with excitement, overjoyed by the prospect of finally being able to smash something into pieces.
"The boss never said anything about CPUs," Pirachu said as he ignored Vert and Xone, his eyes were on the prize: The Sharicite on the pedestal too high for him to easily reach.
Vert glowed green for a brief moment as she activated her HDD transformation. As the transformation ended she held out her hands and summoned her enormous spear. She pointed it at Arfoire, her eyes narrowing, "step away from the crystal, it belongs to Leanbox, and that means me."
"Humph, as if a pathetic CPU that does nothing but play games all day can make me, the great Arfoire, do anything."
"LEMME AT HER!" CFW Judge roared in excitement.
"It seems words are useless against mongrels who don't know their place," Vert said contemptuously. "Xone, back me up," she said and she launched herself across the room, closing the distance between the villains and herself in an instant.
But as fast as Vert was, Xone was even faster. A smile crossed Vert's face as a dozen kunai hurtled past her towards the pasty-face hag that insulted her.
"SMASH!" CFW Judge roared as he slammed his huge hammer into the oncoming kunai, destroying half of them and scattering the rest. Faster than one would expect from someone so huge, CFW Judge altered the direction of his swing towards Vert.
Vert, however, was a veteran of many wars, and countless RPG game battles. She knew just how to deal with this situation. The fact that she could fly made it even easier. She vaulted over the hammer, placing her free hand on the head of it as it passed beneath her. Her legs lashed out, the metal heels in her shoes slammed roughly into CFW Judge's face, rocking the large monster backwards from the force of the blow.
"You're open!" Arfoire cried out victoriously as she thrust her javelin at Vert, intending to skewer the goddess through the back.
Six shuriken hit her from behind, digging deeply into the soft flesh between her shoulder blades. The sudden attack caused her to miss, the javelin going wide of its target.
"Now you're open," Vert said as she thrust her lance at Arfoire from her upside down position. There was a bright flash of light as the lance slammed into a hastily raised shield. It was the only thing that saved Arfoire's life. Despite Vert's awkward position the force of the blow was still powerful enough to destroy the barrier entirely and hurl Arfoire back several meters.
"Damn it!" CFW Judge shouted and swung at Vert with his free hand. There was a resounding smack as Vert was thrown through the air by the blow. He glared at Vert angrily, upset that he had been hit, and hurt, so badly by someone who looked so weak. "I'll massacre you!" Before he could chase after the CPU however he was forced to move backwards to avoid a tri-pronged kunai and a dozen kunai that followed closely behind.
Vert righted herself in midair and halted her impromptu flight across the room. She rubbed her side a little where she had been hit. It stung a little, but it wasn't anything that would slow her down. She eyed the two villains carefully. Arfoire seemed rather weak compared to CFW Judge. Vert's attacks had thus far been more effective against her than the larger opponent.
Which meant he was the larger threat and needed to be dealt with first.
The villains had other ideas however. Before Vert could start towards the large burly metal super villain, Arfoire darted between them. "Deal with the little pipsqueak, I'll keep the goddess occupied while you squish her," Arfoire snapped at CFW Judge.
"RARGH! Time to paint the walls red!" CFW Judge roared as he charged across the room towards the young girl.
"Xone!" Vert shouted a warning as she tried to intercept CFW Judge.
"I don't think so," Arfoire crowed as she stepped between them again, "Final Boss Omega Thrust!" Arfoire shouted as she attack Vert with her Javelin.
The javelin slammed off a hastily raised shield that easily repelled the attack, but it accomplished what Arfoire wanted and bought CFW Judge enough time to close in on Xone. Being inside an underground room didn't leave Xone a lot of room to maneuver and she was forced on the defensive to stay away from her much larger opponent.
"…I'm fine," Xone said as she easily evaded the attacks sent her way. CFW Judge was stronger, powerful, durable and possessed considerable skill with his hammer. However compared to Xone, he might as well be moving in slow motion. She could keep away from him all day if need be.
"I'll be there soon, just let me deal with this annoyance first," Vert called out to Xone as pointed her lance at Arfoire. If the pasty-faced villain wanted to be the first to go, she'd have to oblige.
"Not if I kill you first," Arfoire retorted as she pointed her hand at Vert, "Oblivion Annihilation!" A massive explosion of fire and darkness consumed Vert and the space around her. Reality warped and twisted as the powerful explosion annihilated everything within its confines. "Ka ha ha ha ha ha, burn to ash you pathetic CPU!" Arfoire crowed victoriously, "bear witness to the power of someone who was the final boss in another dimension!"
A lance erupted from the explosion of fire and darkness and pierced straight through Arfoire's unprotected stomach. Arfoire doubled over and a shocked look appeared on her face as she stared uncomprehendingly at the weapon.
"You sure are confident for someone who can't put any real strength behind their attacks," Vert said as she calmly walked from the inferno, unharmed and unscathed. "Perhaps you should work on raising your magic stat first before you start bragging about how strong you are."
"B-but how! That was my ultimate attack!" Arfoire gasped out. A gout of blood gushed from her mouth as she puked up the blood that was rapidly filling her stomach.
"It could be because I'm twice your level. You're ten chapters too early to even think about beating me," Vert said and ripped her lance from Arfoire's stomach.
"Damn you! How is this… even possible!" Arfoire snarled and stumbled backwards as she tried to put some space between her and the over-leveled CPU. "When did you have time to grind that much? I never heard anything about this!"
"Let's just say I completed a special event and got a thirty level bonus for it."
"This isn't the last you've heard of me! I'll be back, I swear! I'll make you burn in hell for this insult!" Arfoire snarled as she fled the underground room, rushing back up the secret passage she had used to get down there, all the while holding a hand across her stomach to keep her innards in.
"What a cliché thing to say," Vert murmured as she let the super villain flee. Arfoire was lucky her death flag wasn't set yet otherwise Vert would have finished her off then and there. That and she needed to hurry to Xone's side before she got overwhelmed.
She turned to Xone and was about to rush to her rescue but stopped when she realized that Xone didn't need any rescuing.
"This isn't fair! Let me go so I can squash you like a bug!"
"…" Vert was speechless at what she saw before her.
CFW Judge, the massive super villain that was easily the strongest of the villains here, was tied up like a fly in a spider's web. There were almost a hundred kunai in use. Tied to the end of each was a long, thin metal wire that was stronger than steel. Each kunai was embedded into something, be it the floor, wall, ceiling or anything else within range. The wires tied to the ends of the kunai were wrapped tightly around CFW Judge, leaving the metal monstrosity suspended in midair, completely tied up and helpless.
And sitting on his shoulder without a care in the world was Xone, who was idly twirling a kunai in her left hand.
"…what do I do?" Xone asked Vert when she saw the older woman looking up at her.
A smirk crossed her lips as she floated up to her young charge, "and here I was worried about you, I should have known better. Of course someone 'I' choose… would be able to do at least this much."
"…leave him?" Xone asked as she rapped the end of the kunai off CFW Judge's skull. A loud gong sound reverberated throughout the room.
"Hey! Stop that! Get off me and let me make a flute out of your intestines!"
Xone gave him a weird look and then glanced over at her CPU, "…turn him into kunais?"
Vert smiled up at the platinum haired girl, "that sounds like a lovely idea."
"I think it sounds like a bad idea," CFW Judge threw in his two credits.
"You don't get a say in the matter, mister super villain," Vert said as she floated up to eyelevel with the monster, "I'm trying to figure out how to dispose of you, now hush."
"…spoons?" Xone asked.
"SPOONS!? I'm the most powerful villain in the world and you want to turn me into spoons! Come here where I can bite you, you little bitch!" CFW Judge roared angrily.
"Maybe some knives and forks as well, we're running low on those," Vert said, nodding her head thoughtfully as if she taking Xone's suggestion seriously. She wasn't really considering turning him into forks and knives, not completely anyways.
"I am destined for far greater things than kitchen utensils! At least turn me into a weapon of mass destruction!"
"…toy cars?"
"That could work as well, we could turn a profit that way, perhaps trains as well."
"GAH! Anything but toys! I strike fear in the hearts of my enemies! I don't bring joy to little kids!"
Vert's eyes narrowed suspiciously. Something felt off here. CFW Judge seemed to be going along with this a little too easily, "what are you up to?"
CFW Judge grinned maliciously at the green-haired CPU, "buying time for my self-destruct mechanism to go off." As if to emphasise his point his body began to glow red as if he was melting from the inside out.
All traces of humor drained away in an instant.
They needed to get out of here, now. "Xone! Let's go!" Vert shouted as she turned for the Sharicite, she wouldn't leave that behind to get destroyed…
The pedestal was empty, the crystal was gone. Vert was certain that Arfoire hadn't taken it with her when she had fled, she had been far too injured to go for it, and Vert had been watching her like a hawk.
"…mouse thing?" Xone asked as she landed in a crouch beside Vert. She wasn't sure why they had entered the ruins but the crystal was the only thing here worth anything. She had seen the mouse take it from the pedestal and run when she had been occupied covering Vert. It had been either protect her goddess, or secure the crystal, and to Xone, Vert was far more important than some unknown crystal.
A loud whine picked up behind them and the two girls suddenly had this feeling of impending doom.
"GWAHAHAHAHA!" CFW Judge roared with laughter, "you lose bitches! No sharicite and you get to die here with me today!"
"NO!" Vert cried out as she reached and grabbed Xone. She put herself between CFW Judge and her charge and shot towards the exit as quickly as she could.
She wasn't fast enough.
There was a massive explosion, one that was magnitudes greater than the explosion Arfoire had hit Vert with earlier. It consumed every particle of breathable air in the room, and expanded beyond. The ground shook and heaved and finally erupted. The ruins that had stood for eons flashed once and before it were completely consumed in an enormous destruction blast that sent a pillar of fire miles into the sky, and pieces of the ruin hurtling miles in all directions.
x~X~x
"How was your trip?" Kei asked as she looked up from behind No ire's desk, and over a pile of reports and documents she was filling out.
Noire gave her Oracle a hesitant smile as she stepped off the elevator onto the main floor of her level of her sanctuary. "It went alright," she said, trying to keep her voice neutral.
It had been anything but alright but she didn't want to worry Kei. The memory of Nepgear's terror stricken face, her ruined HDD form and the screaming flashed across Noire's mind causing her to flinch. She had seen soldiers come home from wars in the past, broken, scarred, but nothing like that. She hoped she never saw anything like that again. What's worse, she would supposedly cause that to happen to Nepgear in the future.
The thought did not sit well with her. Neither did the thought of turning viral. That thought scared her even more than the first. She would definitely keep that secret close to heart. If the people ever learned that their beloved CPUs could go viral and potentially turn on them? There would be complete chaos in the streets.
Nepgear was a kind hearted girl, even she could see that. Noire had stayed in Planeptune for two days, and not because she wanted to, but at Nepgear's insistence. Nepgear was terrified of Noire, but she didn't blame her. She tried her utmost to get over her fear of her, constantly forcing herself to come in contact with Noire in some way. She didn't want Noire to distance herself from Neptune on her account.
It was touching, but Noire could only take those looks for so long. Whether Nepgear made any significant improvements, Noire didn't know, but she no longer let out a scream whenever Noire suddenly appeared. She only flinched violently as if she had been struck. It was usually followed by a bout of fear-laced apologies that sounded sincere despite the heavy emotion.
Neptune helped the situation a lot. She had been in her human form the rest of the stay, constantly doing silly antics that brought laughs and smiles to everyone's faces. And more than a few embarrassing blushes to Nepgear as she was usually on the receiving end of Neptune's hijinks. It was the one thing that Neptune excelled at above all else: Making people happy.
But ultimately Noire had to say goodbye and head home. She did have a nation to run and could only put it off so long
"I see, that is good, glad that you returned safe and sound," Kei replied in an even tone that didn't betray her thoughts. She knew Noire was lying, she had known her long enough to tell that something had happened. But she wasn't going to pry, if Noire wanted to talk about it, she would be here.
"How has everything been in my absence?" Noire asked as she made her way over to her desk where Kei was sitting.
Kei gave her a short nod, "things have been well, no major incidents have been reported while you were away and our shares have remained steady at where they were. There was a rather large explosion over in Leanbox earlier today, Vert has been missing since then but I imagine that she'll turn up eventually."
"Vert always has a habit of showing up when you want her to the least," Noire said as she waved away the report like it was nothing. "She's probably doing another forty-eight hour raid."
Kei nodded in agreement but didn't say anything to refute her. She'd much rather wait until more information came in before making a judgement call. "Aside from that, nothing has changed, Nepgear's arrival hasn't affected us as much as the other nations."
"Of course! It's only natural for them to prefer me over Neptune and her little sister," Noire said with a triumphant smirk on her face. It quickly disappeared however as her eyes scanned the room for someone that didn't appear to be there, "where's Uni?"
A frown crossed Kei's face, "I don't know, I haven't seen her since you left. I've been so busy with work without her that I haven't had time to go check on her. I assume she's just sick." That was the only explanation Kei could come up with. Uni was totally devoted to Noire and wouldn't skip work for any reason baring illness or injury.
Noire placed a hand on her hips and let out a long sigh, "That girl, I swear, if she wasn't feeling well she should just tell us," she said with a slow shake of her head.
"You know how Uni is. She doesn't want to make you worried."
"Well I'm worried now, I'll go check on her," Noire said as she turned from the desk and headed back towards the elevator she came in from.
"Let Uni know the rifle she ordered has arrived, that might help her get well sooner," Kei called out after her goddess.
Noire entered the elevator and turned to face Kei, "She better work extra hard when she comes back to work!" she said and pushed the button for the ground floor.
Kei just smiled as Noire disappeared. Noire was coming a long way to so blatantly admit she was worried about Uni. It seemed the trip to Planeptune hadn't been a complete waste after all.
~o~
Noire grumbled as she walked up the steps towards the second floor balcony. Uni lived in a small apartment a ways away from the Basilicom. It had taken her almost two hours to find her way here. It was a two-story apartment building where the stairs were on the outside and you walked up to a long balcony that stretched the length of the front. There were five apartments on the ground level and five on the top. Attached to it, on the right side of the building, was a large three story house where the land lord lived.
Each apartment looked exactly like the other, whitewashed walls with a single door entrance and a small. The only discerning feature between each of them was a small metal plate screwed into the door at eyelevel labeling the apartment with a number.
"I'm going to make that girl move in with me, I can't have her living this far away," Noire muttered to herself stopped as she reached the door with the number 023 on the metal plate. She scowled at it and knocked firmly on the door and waited a few moments.
No one answered the door. In fact Noire didn't hear any signs of movement from behind it at all. She knocked on the door a second time, harder than before thinking that maybe she was asleep.
Still no answer.
Noire was about to bang on the door a third time when Uni's neighbour, the occupant of apartment 022, opened his door and glanced outside to see what all the commotion was about. It was a random NPC with a shadowy grey outline whose only purpose was to make a few bad jokes before being promptly forgotten. The moment his face turned to Noire he dropped to one knee and began to worship Noire.
While normally Noire would have been flattered, she wasn't here to worshipped. However the random NPC prompted her to ask, "do you know if Uni is in?" As a neighbour he would most certainly be aware of the on-goings of the apartment next to his.
"I reckon she is Lady Black Heart, she was screaming something mighty fierce a few nights back. I remember the first time I laid out a girl like that, she was bed ridden for a week afterwards, probably just the same. Whoever plowed her fields kept at it for quite some time," the random NPC said with what would have been a toothy grin had he a mouth to grin with.
Noire turned away in disgust, "Uni would never do that," at least she wouldn't do that before she did. SHE was the Goddess of Lastation and her attendants weren't allowed to get boyfriends without her say-so!
"Well, I knows whats I heard, it was getting pretty heavy near the end, coulda sworn I heard gunshots but musta just been mah imagination," the random NPC said with a shrug and went back to worshipping Noire.
Noire scowled again, gunshots! Now she was getting into cosplay as well! That was HER area of…
Wait a minute, Uni was a gun collector, she didn't cosplay…
The blood drained from Noire's face and a cold sinking feeling started to develop in the pit of her stomach. She rammed her fist through the steel door and ripped it off its hinges. She tossed the useless hunk of metal over the balcony and rushed inside.
She froze in the middle of the living room, her eyes wide, at what she saw there. The cold, sinking feeling froze and became as hard as ice. Fear gripped her heart.
The place was a wreck. No, Noire couldn't say that, it was even worse. The entire place had been torn apart. The carpet was ripped up, a couch had been thrown through the wall separating the living room from the bedroom. The coffee table was smashed into pieces and Noire could see jagged shards of blood stained wood scattered across the floor. There were huge gouges in the floor, like someone wielding an enormous sword had been swinging wildly at a small, agile target. The upper sections of the walls and the ceiling was riddled with bullets, as if Uni had been shooting up at a tall individual. There were hundreds of bullet shells all over the floor along with several empty magazines. The most disturbing thing of all was the trail of blood leading out from the bedroom and across the living room floor.
She shot across the room and into Uni's bedroom. It was just as bad in here as out in the main room. The bed had been split in half and the covers shredded to pieces, the dresser riddled with bullet holes. The door to Uni's private bathroom was blown off its hinges and there was an Uni shaped indentation in the far wall of the bathroom. That was where the source of the blood trail was. The wall beneath the indentation was stained dark black with dried blood. There was a trail of blood leading away from the base of the wall across the floor of the bathroom, through the bedroom and out into the living room.
It was easy to figure out what had happened here. Someone had attack Uni. They'd fought across her living room into her bedroom where the intruder had ultimately overpowered her. They had then dragged Uni across her apartment, only picking her up when they reached the exit.
Noire slowly walked across the bedroom and into the bathroom. She stopped just before the indentation in the wall, her fingers brushing lightly along the ridge. An image of Uni, battered, bruised, and unconscious, came unbidden to her mind, filling the hole in the wall.
"Wow, talk about some kinky sex, Uni must be a real masochist," the random NPC said as he poked his head into Uni's room.
Noire twitched violently, her teeth ground together angrily and she rounded on the random NPC with an angry scowl, "How can you joke about something like that at a time like this?!" she shouted at NPC.
"Who said I wassa joking? I'd love to get in on this—"
He never got to finished. Noire was out the bathroom and across the bedroom in an instant, flashing from her human form to her HDD form. She violently slammed a boot into the NPC's sternum and knocked him flying out of the doorway and into the living room. Noire appeared above the airborne NPC and backhanded him into the floor, cracking the floor.
Before the NPC could even react Noire had one foot on his chest, pinning him to the floor, with the edge of her sword pressed tightly against his neck. "You've got five seconds to tell me who did this before I send you to the afterlife!" Noire shouted down at the now very frightened NPC.
Uni was almost like a little sister to her, and this creep wanted to joke around about having abusive sex with her when she had obviously been assaulted, injured and kidnapped! Noire was beyond upset.
And what's more, she noticed something now that she didn't before…
"P-Please, no! I meant what I said!"
"Wrong answer!" Noire said as she raised her blade above her head, "I know you're not one of my people! I feel no faith coming from you! If you won't tell me anything I'll just end you here!" Her sword descended.
"AHHH! NO! I worship Lady Uni!"
Noire's blade stopped instantly, mere millimeters from the NPC's neck. He was quivering in fear, if he had eyes they would have been closed tightly as he waited for the end to come.
The NPC's words rang through her head like a clarion bell: Lady Uni. This NPC worshipped her assistant? Uni? But why would he? Noire was the Goddess of Lastation. Uni, while obviously very important to Noire and to Lastation as a whole, was still just a citizen. She wasn't…
An image of Nepgear standing just behind Neptune wearing a brilliant smile on her face as she looked down at her sister, flashed across Noire's mind.
The image shifted, and instead of Nepgear and Neptune, it was Uni and her…
Noire's eyes widened in shock. It had been there right in front of her all along, and she hadn't noticed. She hadn't even considered the possibility. And now Uni…
A report of attacks on little girls in Lowee flashed across her mind. The image of the platinum haired girl standing beside Vert on the injured cruise ship along with news of Vert desperately searching for something in Leanbox and Kei's mention of the explosion in Leanbox, joined the first report. An older memory surface, this time of Kei mentioned a Sharicite crystal being stolen from Planeptune.
And now Uni had just been attacked and kidnapped.
Some villainous force was trying to stop Lastation from gaining a CPU Candidate like the other nations were. Uni had been attacked while she was gone, taken and possibly worse. Why she wasn't outright killed could easily be attributed to blackmail.
Noire's focus returned to the person she had pinned to the floor, "You know something!" she snapped at the NPC. That was the only reason he was still alive, he was needed to push the plot along.
"P-Please don't kill me! H-He forced me to say those words! He came to me the day after Uni was taken away by a big gundam looking monster!"
"Explain yourself!"
"H-He likes t-to see you p-panic and s-snap!" the random NPC said in a quivering voice.
"WHO!?"
"OhhHHhhh, don't be so hard on him, my lovely Noire," an effeminate voice picked up from across the room, near the outside door.
Noire's head whipped up, her anger filled gaze finding a new target to focus on, this being a floating screen that was slowly hovering its way across the room towards her. There was nothing more than a static clad dark image in the video feed, obscuring the person almost entirely from view. All she could make out was that it was a tall robotic shaped individual. He fit the description of what the NPC said and the evidence she found in the room.
"What have you done with Uni!?" she snapped at the screen. She was going to tear him apart if he hurt her.
"Oh, yes, that look in your eyes, that fear and worry, I wonder if I can get more interesting expressions out of you!"
"I'm not scared!"
"Huhuhuhuhu, I wonder," the static clad individual said and snapped his fingers. The image changed and it showed Uni, dangling from the ceiling of what appeared to be a jail cell by one arm. The other arm dangled at her side, bent in unnatural directions. Her black dress was ruined, the left half had been torn off completely while the other side had numerous rips and tears in it. Her gloves and boots were missing entirely. She was covered in dried blood and Noire could see dozens of injuries on her person. Her breathing was slow and shallow, as if she no longer had the strength, or the capability, of breathing properly.
The image flickered back after a few seconds, but it was enough for Noire to tell that Uni didn't have a lot of time left. Without medical treatment she wouldn't last the day.
"Oh my, that's a nice expression you have on your face!" the anonymous individual said in a sing-song voice.
A grinding sound echoed across the room. Noire, her teeth clenched almost painfully, glared murderously at the person hiding behind the static, "You... You bastard! What have you done to Uni!"
"Saved her, for the moment," he said unexpectedly.
"Saved her?! She's dying!"
"And she'd already be dead if I hadn't intervened, or worse."
"How can you say that?!"
The image cleared and suddenly Noire's eyes were assaulted by a vibrant pink robot covered with neon-green lights in honeycomb shaped patterns. "Because I didn't attack Uni."
"That's the guy that forced me to say those things!" the random NPC shouted as he tried to save his own hide.
"Mmhmmm, I won't deny that!" the pink robot said as he leaned back in his chair. Noire could almost see the grin on his face despite the lack of expression on his robotic face. "But you saw who attacked Uni, did you not mister 'I have a dozen peep holes in the wall.'"
Noire glanced to the left, her sharp eyes picking up at least eight small little holes drilled between the random NPC's room and Uni's. She never would have noticed them if they hadn't been brought to her attention. The man coughed and spluttered as Noire dug her foot deeper into his chest, "who attacked Uni!"
"I-I… told you! S-Some… gundam looking robot thing or even Erde Kaiser Sigma from that Xenosaga III game!" the random NPC coughed up. It was getting increasingly more difficult to speak, what with Noire's foot pushed halfway through his grey shadowy outline and all.
The flaming pink robot already knew that the random NPC had talked, he just wanted to antagonize Noire some more. "Quite," he said as he changed the image, turning it into a split screen. On the new half of the screen there was a large, brilliant colored robot, much larger and more powerful looking than the flaming pink one. "CFW Brave, a proud and honorable villain, and one quite easy to take advantage of, working for an evil master mind by the name of Spybore, who I can assure you is anything but honorable. Not willingly, of course, but one can't really defy someone ten times their level. Hard to do much against someone who is over level five hundred."
Noire pushed aside the 'level five hundred' tidbit, she knew she had heard wrong, that level was just outrageous. What mattered however was she had names and a description, but that could all be dealt with after she saved Uni. "If you're not in league with them then hand over Uni! She needs medical attention!"
"It's true that I, the great Anonydeath, am not in league with him, but I'm not with you either. I work for myself, although if the price is right I am willing to use my skills for others. Spybore pays quite handsomely, for a rather ugly fellow, both inside and without. And for Uni… he has offered me enough technology and credits to keep me entertained for a very long time."
"You bastard! You'd sell Lastation out for credits and technology?! When I find you…"
"Ah ah ahhh…" Anonydeath said as he waggled a finger at the irate CPU. "I wouldn't take that tone with me, there are two buttons here," a panel on his chair opened up to show two different buttons, a blue one and a red one, "If I push the blue one, you get Uni's coordinates, I push the red one, and Spybore gets her coordinates."
"Argh!" Noire growled angrily. He had her in the palm of his hands and he knew it. "What does this Spybore want with Uni anyways?" she said as she moderated her tone. She had to bite back all the vitriol she wanted to shout, Uni took precedence right now.
"Uni is special, but I'm sure you're aware of that by now," Anonydeath said in a pleasant tone and an earlier memory of Uni standing behind her as the CPU Candidate of Lastation came unbidden to Noire's mind, "I don't know his ultimate plan but I do know that Uni will not survive it. CFW Brave had been ordered to kill her, the honorable man that he was could not do that. His boss, however, won't hesitate to end her life."
Noire clenched her fists so tightly blood began to leak out between her fingers. Breathing in deeply she let out a long breath and relaxed, letting her anger flow out along with her HDD form. She stared at Anonydeath, her breathing normal, her emotions controlled.
"Name you price."
She would save Uni. She wasn't going to lose her. And it seemed that there was something she had that Anonydeath wanted more than money or technology, otherwise he would have already sent the coordinates to this… Spybore.
So long as it didn't kill her, she'd endure it, to get her soon to be little sister, Lastation's future CPU Candidate, back.
"How wonderful!" Anonydeath said in a cheerful voice, "I knew you'd see reason. That's what's so amazing about you my lovely Noire. You catch on far more quickly than your fellow CPUs. As for 'what I want,' come to these coordinates." The image of CFW Brave disappeared, replaced by a set of coordinates and the picture of a large warehouse near Lastation's industrial park. "I'll meet you there. Oh, and come alone and tell no one, otherwise I might just slip and hit the red button."
Noire memorized the coordinates and the image, she knew where it was. She knew everything about Lastation.
"I'll be there."