Disclaimer: [Here]

A/N: Is Himeko (Tachibana) a brunette or a blond? I can't tell with my eyes...(she's somehow more of a brunette, but somehow close to dishwater blonde?) xD

Enjoy !

Musique Sans Frontieres

"We've been walking all day and still no sign of those mercenaries!" Ritsu complained while they wandered around the forest somewhere in Costa Rica to pursue an elite mercenary group who was supposedly responsible of attacking MSF's former base in the Barranquilla Coast in Northern Colombia. The soldiers in the said base were wiped out in existence in just a few minutes. Also, the unit that the deputy commander dispatched earlier was feared to be missing as they were not responding in the transmission.

The sky was already dyed orange and soon it will be more harder for them to track their targets during the night. The fearsome group was lead by a versatile commander who was an excellent strategist in the battlefield and known to use nifty guerrilla tactics as well. The last transmission Mother Base received from the outpost was not too long ago and the deputy commander dispatched the light music club to make a further investigation about what happened, hoping that he did a right decision sending the girls into another mess.

"Yui-senpai, you're eating nonstop since we came here..." Azusa noticed.

"Azu-nyan, being a soldier means being prepared!" Yui firmly defended, showing a piece of tortilla chip to the pigtailed guitarist. "You don't know when hunger strikes!"

"I think you misunderstood that..."

"You only say something decent when it comes to food." Ritsu replied.

"Miller-san, did you found anything about the mercenary group?" Tsumugi asked through the radio.

"So far, they were dispatched in Costa Rica to clean up some of our outpost for someone else. I have also received reports of activities in the abandoned bases of the Peace Sentinels which was somewhat odd. I'm afraid that we're dealing with the KGB here..." Kaz informed. "The CIA won't easily give in, I'm sure that they're still sending some units around there too."

"How about the others? Any news about them?" Ritsu asked.

"They should've reported something by now..." Miller said, getting impatient for an update about the other unit's status and progress.

"Wait...something's up ahead..." Mio informed in a low voice.

"What is it?" Ritsu asked.

Not far ahead of them was a large rectangular table with an expensive-looking tea set on top of it. The cups were already filled with soothing tea and there were also cookies and madeleines on a plate. They confusedly looked at each other in the peculiar display, as if inviting them to have tea time with someone else, yet there was no one to be seen around the area.

"Oh my, what a fancy-looking tea set." Tsumugi said, quite fascinated on the tea set.

"Is it a trap?" Mio asked.

"Well, one thing's for sure: that's a pretty dumb trap. Who would fell for that one?" Ritsu pointed out.

"Yay! Tea party!" Yui rushed out from their hiding place to the table, disregarding the dangers thatshe might step on.

"Oh, crap! Get your ditzy head back here!" Ritsu shouted.

"Ricchan, everything's fine!" Yui assured. "Are you guys coming or not?"

The others decided to cautiously follow with weapons at the ready. Upon reaching the table, they tensely looked around the area for potential assaults. They could only hear the rustling of the leaves and chirping of the birds above. Ritsu knocked the guitarist's head for her carelessness.

"See? Nothing to worry about." Yui said with confidence while rubbing her sore head. She looked at the snacks left by someone else. She picked a cup of tea and felt that the food was newly made. "The tea is still warm!"

"Now, I'm starting to feel that this is really a trap..." Azusa said. "It looks like they left these foods on purpose."

"Ehhh? You're imagining things, Azu-nyan." Yui said then she took a sip from her tea.

"How's is it, Yui?" Ritsu asked.

"It's good! Try it!" Yui responded giddily. "I want to try the cake now!"

"Well, it wouldn't hurt to try. Besides, we haven't eaten in the last few hours." Ritsu held a cup of steaming tea. Unexpectedly, Yui collapsed to the ground unconscious. Everyone panicked as they rushed to aid the guitarist.

"Y-Yui-senpai, w-what happened? Are you okay?" Azusa tensely asked, shaking Yui's shoulder. "Maybe the tea has some kind of drug in it!"

"She seems fine, she's just sleeping..." Tsumugi calmly said.

"I knew that this was a trap..." Mio nervously said to herself, shifting her vision to the trees around them. She drew her combat revolver as she sensed that someone was patiently watching them, especially her.

"I got a bad feeling about this..." Ritsu whispered.

"It's about time..." A frightening female voice echoed in the woods, making them jump in astonishment. They gulped down in distress as they looked around them to find the voice's source. "I knew you girls would never resist tea time!"

"Who the hell are you?" Ritsu asked, drawing her dual submachineguns. "Better show yourself this instance!"

"Hm? What are you going to do, Ricchan? Throw drumsticks at me?" The voice taunted. Ritsu was dumbstruck upon hearing her name from someone she didn't know. "You girls should be practicing your instruments instead!"

"How did she-"

"Well, I only need someone from you to test my creations! I just know the perfect person for the job..." The voice continued. Soldiers wearing ghillie suits appeared from their hiding places with their weapons aimed at the girls. The ambush kept them frozen in their place, not sure if they had the time to retaliate at their enemies.

"Neutralize them!"

The moment the order was given, consecutive gunfires started to fill the whole place. Without anyplace to take cover with, they left themselves open to the sudden barrage of projectiles, making them realize that it might be the end for them. Mio and the others dropped to the forest floor one by one, hopeless and unable to fight back.

"Damnit! Please respond! What the hell happened there?" The deputy commander exclaimed in panic as he heard the gunshots and suddenly, everything became quiet after a minute.

"It never crossed my mind seeing them as a member of that military group. Anyways, I'm borrowing her for awhile."

"Do you know these girls?"

"Yes and no. We should head back, our business is done here."

"Then, why do you need to bring one..."

"Not another word from you or I'll..."

"Sorry, ma'am!"

"T-Tranquilizers? I thought we're done for." Ritsu weakly whispered to herself as she slowly opened her eyes. She sat up in a dazed state and checked the others. "Everyone okay?"

"I'm fine...but quite dizzy though..." Tsumugi responded. Azusa just got up and gave an assurable nod to the drummer. Yui was awake as well, already munching on the cake earlier."

"Don't worry, Azu-nyan, the cake is safe to eat!"

Ritsu decided to contact the deputy commander from Mother Base. "Miller? Can you hear me?"

After hearing the drummer's voice, Kaz sighed in relief as he thought something terrible happened to the girls and might be much far more worse could happen to him when the news reached the commander himself. "Thank goodness, that took you almost an hour to respond. What's your status?"

"We've dozed off. Those were pretty strong tranquilizers; it took us out in a few seconds."

"You got me worried guys..."

"Mio? What about..." Ritsu looked around to find the club's bassist, but she was nowhere to be found. "This is no joke, Mio! Where are you?"

"W-What's wrong?" The deputy commander asked.

"It's no good Miller-san, they...kidnapped Mio..." Tsumugi informed as she sobbed solemnly.

"M-Mio-chan..." Yui sniffled. "W-What are they going to do with her?"

"Argh, how could we get so careless?" Ritsu slammed the ground with her fist. "More importantly, how in the world that someone would knew that we have tea time all along? "I'm guessing that we got ourselves a spy inside Mother Base.""

"A-A spy?" Azusa blared. "But that's..."

"We managed to track them down. They have a small base south of your location, near a river." Kaz informed. "If things get worst, A backup team is ready to..."

"No worries, we could manage."

Azusa rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms. "You're acting the leader again, Ritsu-senpai..."

"Well, do we have other choice? Commander Idiot sent us out here in the first place!"

"So, you're blaming me now, huh?" Kaz answered back.

"Hush! We're going to save Mio-chan, no matter what!" Tsumugi cut in, filled with determination to save the bassist.

"Okay, your call. Anyways, the boss would definitely kill me if you girls returned here without Mio." Kaz sighed as he rubbed his forehead. "It's kinda odd that they didn't kill you girls. From what I've heard, they slaughter anyone who stands between them and their mission."

"Great, they got us stripped our gear and weapons." Ritsu angrily stated. "But luckily, we still have our radios and fulton recovery kits."

"Ha! I still have my backpack with me!" Yui said. Ritsu gleamed with high hopes as she snatched the backpack from Yui's hands. "How come they didn't take yours?"

"I dunno..."

"Let's see what we could use here..." Ritsu stopped for some seconds before she asked the guitarist. "Yui, what's this?"

"That, Ricchan, is my backpack."

"No, I mean, what the hell are you bringing all the time?" Ritsu asked, showing the cluttered contents of the bag.

"Oh, that's my emergency food supply in case of situations like these. The usual special curry from Mother Base and some other snacks."

"Idiot? What are we going to do here, going on a picnic or something?" Ritsu exclaimed as she threw the backpack .

"...Huh? It...It's missing?"

"What's missing?"

"My chocolate bar!"

"Please, shut your mouth until we finish this mission. Who gives a damn about your snacks! We need to rescue Mio!"

"Then, we could finally use our on-site procurement training." Tsumugi said as she gave a wink to the drummer, ready to move out.

"Hell with that...I'd rather sleeping at our room now."

They continued their way to subdue the mercenary group without their gear. Their decision of pushing onwards empty-handed was somewhat tantamount to suicide. Following Kaz's instructions, they proceeded south of their current location to the enemy encampment where the mercenary group was probably stationed.

"R-Russian soldiers?" Azusa whispered as she recognized the soldier's uniform. "Your suspicions are right, Miller-san."

"KGB, huh?" Ritsu followed. "Whoever they are, I can kick their stupid..."

"There you go again, Ritsu-senpai..."

"Remember, avoid being detected as much as possible. Without your gear, it will be much harder for you to fend off enemy attacks." Kaz advised.

"Just shup up will ya? We know that." Ritsu replied.

"Mugi-senpai, are you okay?" Azusa worriedly asked as she noticed the keyboardist quite anxious.

"That voice...it sounds familiar..." Tsumugi muttered, gazing at the night sky.

"Do you know something Mugi-senpai?"

"Oh, nothing. We should find the mercenary group encampment before they could do something to Mio."

They took cover in a cargo truck parked nearby and saw two patrol soldiers having a chat with each other. "Hmm...the one in the left has a combat shotgun, similar to Yui's. The other's an assault rifle. "Ritsu noticed. "I bet they can kill us in seconds in a front assault."

"Let's take this chance now." Tsumugi whispered to the group.

"We don't have weapons..." Azusa pointed out.

"I got a plan!" Yui proudly announced as she held the banana from her backpack up high.

"A...banana?" Tsumugi curiously asked.

"Yui-senpai, this is no time for jokes!"

"Azu-nyan! I'll show you the power of the banana!" Yui turned to the pigtailed guitarist and held the fruit as if it were a gun. "PEW PEW PEW!"

Ritsu knocked some sense out of Yui, reminding her about their important mission. "Quit playing around. Are you forgetting that they got Mio?"

"I know, that's why this banana will help us on our way to her!"

Following Yui's plan, Ritsu picked a medium-sized rock on the ground. The drummer threw the rock straight to one of the soldiers, hitting his helmet-protected head. The soldier staggered a bit after the blow then exclaimed in pain. "Okay, who the hell did that?"

"Something wrong?" His companion asked.

"Are you blind? Someone just threw a damn rock at me!"

"Then check it out, don't blame me for that!"

The enraged soldier went to the source behind the parked truck. "Nothing here..." He muttered then turned his back to return to his post.

"Don't move..." Yui whispered behind the unfortunate soldier with her 'weapon' acting as an illusory deterrent. The soldier helplessly complied while Tsumugi restrained him and confiscated his weapons.

"Err, Ricchan...what should we do next?" Yui asked.

"What's with that question all of the sudden?"

"I never thought that we reached this far. This means my plan worked perfectly!"

"Ack...w-what do you want?"

"Where did you took Mio-chan? Answer me!"

"Who the hell is this Mio-chan?"

"Okay then, are you the one who took my choco..."

"Yui-chan, let me handle this..." Tsumugi interrupted then turned to the soldier. "Did you happen to see a captured female soldier about our age and wearing the same fatigues like us?"

"Nope, but our commander was babbling about her new model for her costumes earlier. I don't wanna hear more about it either."

"Where's your commander hiding then?"

"What if..."

"Please cooperate, you don't want to know the consequence." Tsumugi said as she played the knife she got from the previous soldier. "We need to rescue our friend as fast as we could."

"U-Uh...see that cottage over there? That's the office of our commander."

"Let's see...A cottage, huh?" Ritsu said as she looked around to find the said building.

"T-That cottage?" Mio pointed at the large vacation home, not fitting to be inside a military encampment. "How come there's something like that here?"

"...She's abusing her authority, that's why." The soldier added.

"Maybe you should apply as an interrogation specialist, Mugi-senpai." Azusa said.

"Really?"

"What are you doing, Ritsu-senpai?" Azusa asked as the drummer was busy attaching a fulton recovery kit to the restrained soldier.

"We can't just leave him here y'know?" Ritsu replied then gave a mischievous smile to the soldier.

"All done...you're on your own now! Say hi to the birds for me."

"W-What the hell is thiiisss?" The soldier exclaimed as he was quickly drifted to the sky by the helium balloon.

"Huh? What's that?" The other soldier asked himself while watching his comrade taken above. This gave an opportunity for Ritsu to tackle the soldier. The disoriented soldier struggled to recover but was totally overwhelmed when Azusa pointed an AK47 assault rifle, preventing him from doing any offensive actions. Tsumugi got a M1911A1 pistol and Yui got a SPAS-12 shotgun from the soldier.

They entered the vacation house and searched for the whereabouts of their friend. The building wasn't guarded inside, making it much easier for them. Not long after, they heard a voice coming from a room at the end of the hallway with its door slightly open. They peeked inside to find two persons inside and a large collection of different costumes scattered around the place. Some of the costumes were piled in a corner while others decorated the wooden floor. Their eyes widened as they recognized the unconscious person wearing a cute waitress costume.

"I-Is that M-Mio?" Ritsu stammered. "C-Can someone explain what's happening here?"

"No clue." Azusa replied softly.

"FREEZE!" Tsumugi shouted with her pistol aimed at the female soldier.

"Mugi? We haven't planned yet!" Ritsu uttered.

The soldier unnervingly spoke, her voice reminded the girls of someone close to them. "I didn't think you girls will reach this far."

"I...I can't believe it..." Azusa said in astonishment.

"Sawa-chan?" Yui exclaimed after recognizing the person.

"What? You girls know her?" Kaz asked, astonished himself on what he had heard.

"That took you long to recognize me...I'm quite disappointed, all of that things we spent together..."

"You're the one to talk! " Ritsu answered. "You nearly killed us and even kidnapped Mio!"

"Sawako-sensei, you're working for the KGB?" Azusa asked.

"Thanks to them, my costume collection rapidly increased. I need funds for me to create more elaborate costumes."

"That's it?" Ritsu exclaimed. "You could have worked for MSF instead!"

"I was about to ask the same question. How did you get yourselves inside that military organization?"

"Well, we weren't supposed to join, until Mugi-senpai thought of that idea..." Azusa defended.

"You girls are really have a knack for trouble, huh?" Sawako just sighed. "You should thank me for leaving your fulton kits and radios with you..."

"So, you killed everyone in the base then wait for us to be dispatched in Costa Rica so you could get Mio to test out your costumes? YOU'RE INSANE!" Ritsu burst out as she couldn't comprehend the actions of their club adviser.

"Hey! My unit was not the one who attacked that base, mind you. I even spent my whole day that time drinking tea and reading magazines. Why would I spent my time doing such things?" Sawako answered back. "You might be referring to the other mercenary group hired by the KGB. We're not the only ones, you know?"

"Do you think we would believe that? Why attack us in the first place?"

"It's our job. Any possible threats will be dealt accordingly. I only took the chance of meeting everyone of you, don't put the blame on me."

"Sawa-chan, stop this!" Yui cried with tears on her eyes.

"I wouldn't want to hurt you girls..." Sawako pulled a combat knife from one of her pockets and swiftly threw it to the wall which pierced and held in place upon impact, nearly hitting Yui's face in the process. Yui's eyes widened then fell to the floor as she got nearly nailed by the knife. Sawako stared at them with a mischievous smile when she had a 'brilliant' plan in her mind. "I'll return Mio soon, don't worry."

"You've gone too far, Yamanaka-sensei!" Azusa yelled, aiming her assault rifle to the music teacher. Sawako chuckled as she knew that Azusa will not be able to pull the trigger and kill the person who supported them as their club adviser. Azusa dropped a sweat, her hands shaking as she tried to read what would be the teacher's next move. Even as a teacher, Sawako is still quite a force to be reckoned with, making the girls powerless in times of their nonsense or sudden outbursts of the costumer when she is in a bad mood from work or stress. Only gets worse when she didn't have her usual portion of Tsumugi's snacks.

"Are you willing to challenge a former member of the club?" Sawako dashed forward to the pigtailed guitarist for a preemptive strike with a stun rod in her right hand. "I will test what you have learned so far..."

"Oi, that's our stun rod!" Ritsu noticed.

"No time for that, Ricchan!" Tsumugi said as she parried the incoming attack before Sawako could send more than a million volts to Azusa then aimed her pistol at the teacher's chest. Knowing that her student couldn't shoot a bullet at her, Sawako grabbed the keyboardist's hand with the pistol and about to use the stun rod at her. Tsumugi quickly intercepted and grabbed the wrist of the teacher, twisting it afterwards, making her drop the stun rod in her hands. Sawako contentedly smiled as she wasn't expecting it, also quite impressed on her student's prowess. She threw a fist using her free hand to the keyboardist for a follow-up but was easily evaded.

"Hmm...not bad, Mugi-chan! Not bad at all..."

"Sensei, why are you fighting with the enemy? You're not the gentle teacher we knew!" Tsumugi asked as she tried to tackle the costume enthusiast to the ground. Sawako nimbly dodged the attempt while the keyboardist crashed to the pile of costumes. Ritsu dived to reach the stun rod but she was stomped midway by Sawako. The teacher casted a menacing stare to the others.

"Ack, you'll pay for that!" Ritsu uttered in pain.

"Yamanaka-sensei, if you just want to try your costumes, why not join us instead?" Azusa offered.

"You're making things more complicated!"

"First class food is also served in our base." Tsumugi added while Yui nodded in accordance to what the keyboardist said. "You won't be disappointed."

"Hm...why didn't I think of those things?" Sawako muttered. She shrugged off her second thoughts and made a bargain to her students instead. "How about you girls join us? We could take over the world and you could wear all the costumes I make!"

"Not a chance!" Azusa quickly answered back, pointing her assault rifle to Sawako.

"If they serve better food, I...might..." Yui said hesitantly.

"Don't even think about it, senpai!"

"You girls should've left earlier while you got the chance." Sawako advised while opening a chocolate bar she got from her pocket with her right foot on the back of the drummer. "Unlike me, my comrades won't hesitate to kill anyone, especially that other mercenary group I told you..."

"Eh? That's my chocolate bar!" Yui cried. With not much time to waste, Yui sprinted towards Sawako with astounding speed, snatching the chocolate bar which made Sawako quite stunned.

"How could you, Sawa-chan? You even took my favorite snack too. This is intolerable!"

"What the hell are you saying?" The bewildered costumer asked.

"I'll take care of this..." Azusa swung her assault rifle with all she had to their adviser, knocking her unconscious. Tsumugi did the favor of releasing the unconscious bassist from her seat then checked for her vital signs. "She's okay but I guess she won't be waking up at this moment."

"Miller, chopper for recovery, we're bailing out." Ritsu requested.

"Acknowledge...you're goint to take that teacher of yours back here?"

"Definitely." Tsumugi replied.

"I didn't imagine that Yamanaka-sensei would be defeated that easily." A familiar blonde girl wearing jungle fatigues with a WA2000 sniper rifle on her back entered the room with a couple of heavily-armed soldiers carrying various kinds of weapons.

"H-Himeko-chan?" Yui exclaimed as she took a step back.

"T-Tachibana-san?"

"What's with your reactions? You seemed too surprised to see me." Himeko said in a rather disappointed tone. "I'm the subcommander of our mercenary group made by our sensei."

"Himeko-chan, what are you doing here? Why work with them?" Yui asked.

"Yui, sorry...but orders are orders. We need to restrain all of you..." The blonde haired girl suddenly drew her Makarov pistol from its holster when she felt someone's presence nearby. She intuitively hopped backwards as she was anticipating the incoming round.

"I missed, just as expected. Impressive."

A shadowy figure dashed towards her. Himeko fired a few rounds to the figure but was quickly evaded. The person then knocked the pistol from her hand, making her surprised. The next thing she knew, someone was already behind her with a stun rod in its hands and only a few inches away from her neck. "Drop your weapons, or she'll get a good dose from the stun rod." The man wearing a sneaking suit warned.

"Boss, what are you..."

"Kaz, I'll deal with you later." Snake interrupted. "Let's get out of here first."

"Why am I always in trouble?" Kaz protested.

"Snake, it's good to see you." Azusa said, relieved as the commander himself arrived just in time.

The soldiers threw their weapons to the floor while the girls went outside. Tsumugi carried the club adviser while Ritsu carried their bassist.

"It's quite intriguing why the legendary soldier is helping my classmates to escape." Himeko muttered.

"They're my comrades and I help because I wanted so." Snake replied calmly.

"Snake, you know her?" Azusa curiously asked as they got outside the room.

"I met her one time in the forest." Snake replied. "Her unit almost got me that time."

"Boss, we're clear to move." Ritsu announced while carrying Mio from her back. "Ugh, Mio, you're quite heavy..."

"Please, don't hurt her...she's a good classmate of mine!" Yui pleaded to their commander.

"Her? Classmate? How on earth you guys are getting involved to things like this?" Snake's eyes widened as he scratched his head after releasing Himeko. Before Yui closed the door, Snake immediately tossed a sleep gas grenade inside the room, preventing the soldiers to pursue them in their escape. He looked at the astounded girl for some seconds then he turned his back. "Well, I don't care if you will shoot us now. I won't stop you."

"N-No, I-I want to go with you guys!"

"Himeko-chan!" Yui tightly hugged her. "I knew you'll join us!"

"Wait, aren't we going to find our other weapons first?" Ritsu asked as she tried to keep herself balance.

"They're in the storage room." Himeko informed. "We should hurry, the backup team is about to arrive now..."

Upon getting their respective weapons in the storage room, they went outside the cottage house and took cover in an old warehouse nearby. Yui cleared their path with her custom SPAS-12 loaded with rubber buckshots, effectively knocking out nearby soldiers. Snake used his silenced M16A1 with a grenade launcher attachment to incapacitate the remaining distant soldiers. Himeko decided to help as well with her sniper rifle.

"Yui, you're quite good with a shotgun. Are you replacing your guitar now?" Himeko jested as she replaced the empty magazine in her WA2000.

"No way! Gitah is still my favorite!"

"Just kidding."

"Looks like they're already here..." Snake said as he saw two BTR-60PAs approaching to the camp. He handed over a fulton recovery kit to Himeko. "That's your free ticket to Mother Base for joining."

"Thanks." Himeko said as she attach the harness around her waist.

"Yay! We should celebrate when we get back!"

"Just hope that they won't send attack choppers to shoot us down." Snake said, releasing the self-inflating balloon in his fulton kit. "Let's go home..."