Chapter 24
FoxPup headquarters was smaller than IF thought it would be, towering above her at only about three floors. For some sort of spy agency, it simply felt "off". Even as she approached the building, it didn't seem that imposing. As she drew closer, there was one question she had to answer within her mind.
How does one infiltrate a spy agency? Surely it couldn't be that easy. The security must be top notch. In her mind, she ran through different scenarios. Maybe she could use a box, like Lid? Steal someone's clothing and use it as a disguise? Ask for a tour and sneak off? No, stuff like that only works in movies. This was the real deal. Maybe she should have asked Lid or K-Sha for some tips... Well, too late now. Actually, scratch that. She could easily just text them, of course. After a quick message to them, IF received a reply explaining a verbal password she could recite to the front desk to get inside. With confidence, IF stepped through the automatic sliding doors and walked past the two guards, right up to the front desk.
"May I help you?", the clerk asked.
IF paused for a moment before answering. "140.15."
The clerk blinked a few times in confusion. "Excuse me?"
IF froze for a moment and gulped. "You're… pretty good."
The clerk smiled and nodded. She pressed a button on her desk and a door next to her opened up, letting IF inside. The brunette was in disbelief that the strange "passwords" actually worked. She nodded at the clerk before actually walking through the door. The next room had six elevators and two stairwells parallel to each other. When IF went to press the button to call an elevator, she noticed that there was a "down" button. In that instant, the building's relatively small size began to make sense to IF. When the elevator arrived, her suspicions were confirmed- most of the building was underground. Now, all she had to do was figure out which way to go from here…
She looked around for some sort of map to guide her way, and found it on a wall. Every single floor, from the top floor to fifteen levels of basement. On the list, she found the locations of many different facilities, including a cafeteria, weapon storage, a gym, a firing range, a "stealth training" room, and even an in-house theater! IF eyed the wall up and down, searching for a place where information might be stored. This is when something caught her eye: the Central Intelligence Storage Room. It was just past the "stealth training" room.
IF took a photo of the map with her phone and began to make her way down the facility to reach the training room. She peered inside before going in. What she saw was not a giant room or anything, but a hallway.
"Huh? This is weird. What kind of training room is just a hallway?", IF thought to herself.
She stepped inside and began to walk down the hallway. Upon closer inspection, something became clear. It wasn't just a hallway, but a series of hallways. A maze. That made sense for IF, since this was supposed to be a room for stealth training. The problem was, this was nothing but a maze. How was anyone supposed to practice stealth here?
This was when IF noticed something odd. Someone was behind her. How long had they been following her? Her cover was blown. Mission failed. Well, the least she could do now is look at who was capturing her. She turned around and saw…
A blob.
A monster.
A ghost…?
Whatever it was, it was huge. And it was coming after her, fast. IF quickly turned around and dashed away from the giant ghost. It didn't take her long to realize that she was actually running away from the entrance because the ghost was in the way. Now, she found herself deeper into the maze. She turned around corner after corner, quickly getting herself.
To make matters worse, she was now surrounded by three different ghosts. Perhaps it was because she was panicking, but IF couldn't see when a hand reached out from another hallway and yanked her away from the ghosts, by the sleeve.
"Move, you idiot! They'll catch you!", a mysterious blonde woman said. Confused, but eager to not get caught, IF obeyed and followed her away from the ghosts. Once they were able to get away, they stopped within another location of the maze.
"Who're you?", the lady asked.
IF didn't know how to respond. Was this girl in FoxPup? She'd be in trouble if that happened. What would they do to her? Torture her for info? Find out who she works for? Take away her phone?
"Hey BRAT, are you going to answer me or not? I can just leave you behind, you know", the lady said in an annoyed tone.
With a gulp, IF replied, "Uh, sorry. I'm… IF."
"IF, huh. What kind of coat is that? It looks about ten- no, fifteen sizes too big for you", the lady snickered.
"...It's custom-made", IF muttered.
"It looks ridiculous!", the lady replied, "Kids have no sense of fashion these days."
IF sighed. "And who the hell are you, old lady?", IF grumbled.
The blonde snapped. "Do NOT. Call me. OLD. And for your information, I'm Lady Wac."
"Lady Wac?", IF said.
"Yes."
"Your dress is wack."
"...Hey! Ugh, that's it! Good luck finding your way out of here!", Lady Wac scoffed as she began to walk away.
"W-wait! I need your help!", IF reached her arm out towards Lady Wac. Her call went ignored. "Wac, please! I need to get through this maze!", she pleaded. "Lady Wac!"
Lady Wac stopped in her tracks. "I'm hungry. If you can give me a snack, I'll help you."
Upon hearing this, IF stopped and searched her pockets. The best she could find was some beef jerky CC2 had given her. "How's this?"
The blonde eyed the salty snack for a moment. "It'll do." IF passed the small bag to her, and Lady Wac began to chow down into it.
"So, how do we get through those ghosts?", IF asked.
"Well, we have to look for some special discs. Once we do that, leave everything to me", Lady Wac explained.
"That's it?", IF replied quickly.
"Well, it's not like I know where they are. I wouldn't be here if I did", Lady Wac shugged.
"Wait a minute. What are you here for, anyway?", IF crossed her arms.
"Well, I'm here for some top-secret blueprints for my aunt!", Lady Wac smiled.
In her mind, IF thought to herself. Just how old was Wac's aunt? Oh well. It's not unheard of for old people to still be into building things. But isn't this going a little too far? This is a top-secret facility. Anyone caught here could get into loads of trouble. Then again, IF herself was in the same situation.
Lady Wac waved her hand in front of IF a few times. "Hey, are you listening? You can't zone out in a place like this."
IF shook her head to snap out of her overthinking trance. "R-right. I need to get to that intelligence room, too. Let's go find those discs!"
The pair ran off, traversing the maze in search for the discs Lady Wac had mentioned. They spent what seemed like forever traversing the halls and avoiding ghosts, to the point where they weren't sure where they were at that point. Finally, IF spoke up to the blonde.
"Are you sure there are even any discs here at all?", she said in a hushed tone.
Lady Wac turned around and shrugged. "There's always discs to be found in new dungeons, you know?"
"You're not even sure?!", IF blurted out in frustration, a bit too loud. This was a BIG mistake. Suddenly, the ghosts began converging upon their location.
"You stupid brat, now they've found us!", Lady Wac growled. She grabbed the brunette's sleeve and began to pull her along as she began to dash away from the approaching ghost monsters. As they scurried away, IF's phone fell out of her pocket.
"Wait!", IF cried out. She slipped away from Lady Wac's grasp and ran back to get her phone.
"What are you- ugh!", the blonde scoffed and watched as IF valiantly (or foolishly) ran directly back towards the ghosts to retrieve her phone.
When IF reached her phone, she sighed in relief. The relief lasted a mere moment, as by the time she looked up, the giant ghost monsters were looking down upon her. All the greenhorn adventurer could do was stare back, paralyzed. Just before she could reach a "Game Over" screen, she was yanked backwards. Lady Wac had sent out a hookshot shaped like a yellow circle with a mouth to save IF from her pixelated fate.
The yellow hookshot pulled IF into safety, but they weren't clear yet. The ghosts had found them, and they weren't about to lose them again so easily.
"Don't just stand there! Run!", Lady Wac barked. IF didn't think twice, and promptly obeyed. They ran away from the monsters as fast as they could, but this time, they were unable to lose them. At one point, IF tried shooting one of them with her gun, but the bullets went right through them. It didn't seem like fighting these things head on was going to work, and at the speed these things were keeping up with them, it was unlikely they would be able to shake them off this time.
"This is all your fault! I should've left you behind and gotten out of here on my own!", Lady Wac complained as she turned around a corner. If it weren't for the fact that this story is based off of a video-game, there would be no way they would be able to run much longer.
IF felt guilty, and didn't know what to do besides simply follow along. It was better if she just let Lady Wac handle everything, since she at least had a plan. Well, right now, that plan just consisted of not letting the ghosts catch them. As they ran, Lady Wac snacked on the bag of jerky IF had supplied her with earlier. Another ghost showed up in front of them, causing the two girls to split up.
Now on her own, IF dashed through the halls, trying to lose her giant pursuers. Soon, she realized something bad- a dead end. She was now stuck between a wall, and two giant ghost monsters. IF brought out her weapons and blasted the enemies with fire, but they had no effect. Being ghosts, her attacks just went through them.
IF gulped. What was going to happen now? Was this the end? Would she be brought in for questioning? Silenced? Did she even see too much? Would she ever see the light of day again? She wouldn't be able to get the latest phone, or see her friends again now. After all this trouble, she was gonna lose in some deep underground maze, and nobody would know until far after the fact. Her mission… had failed.
"I'm sorry, everyone…", she muttered, accepting defeat.
"Wow, that mission was so easy!", RED cheered as she walked back into the Lastation guild with Compa. Everyone else had already returned.
"Yeah, I can't wait to share what we've found!", Compa added.
"After this, we should go out to eat together!", Nisa spoke up.
"Good idea. We can help advertise the wonders of Doc P when we go out", MAGES. grinned.
"I'm surprised we were able to synthesize it so quickly!", Vio said to MAGES.
"What kind of mad magician would I be if I couldn't do something as simple as mix a magic potion together?", MAGES. replied.
Vio paused, thinking to herself for a moment. "Good point."
S walked into the room. "Welcome back. I trust you've all returned from your investigations with some good intel?", she looked around the party. "...Wait. Aren't you forgetting someone?"
"Oh, that's right. Iffy isn't back yet", Compa said.
"I'm sure she's on her way back right now, ready to eagerly share her findings with us", Nisa said, "She's got everything under control!"
IF had completely lost control of the situation. Now she was all alone in a maze, where nobody could find her. The worst part? She had no phone signal here. The absolute horror of this fact dawned upon IF quickly. She couldn't call for help at all. Where was Lady Wac? Well, not like it mattered at this point. She was so upset earlier, that she surely took this chance to just leave IF behind, like she said she should have done earlier.
She closed her eyes as she braced herself for the inevitable…
MAKERDIMENSION
NEPTUNIA...
BAD END.
.
.
.
.
At least, it would have been the end, if it weren't for a sudden "beep" that echoed through the maze. IF opened her eyes, wondering why the credits weren't rolling yet. The giant ghost monsters were now blue, with terrified looks on their faces. IF stared at them in confusion, wondering what was going on before her. What happened next was something she couldn't have foreseen.
A giant woman showed up from behind and grabbed the two ghosts, one in each hand, and… ate them. This caused IF to back up even more, until she reached the wall. The woman looked down at her.
"Wait a second…", IF muttered. "...Wac?"
The giant blonde woman looked down at IF. "Teehee, you look pretty delicious when you're scared. If I didn't know any better, I'd gobble you up right now!", she teased.
IF was even more scared now. This was just like that nightmare she had, not too long ago…
"No, but seriously. This won't last forever, so come on!", Lady Wac spoke up. She lowered her hand down so IF could climb onto it. "We'll be able to cruise out of here while I'm like this. Just hang on tight!"
IF wasn't exactly in the position to refuse, so she quickly climbed into Lady Wac's hand. Once she was secure, the blonde got up and began to run through the halls.
"What about the other ghosts?", IF asked. She had to shout in order for Lady Wac to hear her.
"Already got 'em. But they won't be gone for long. More will- Ah!", the giant woman stopped herself when she reached a dead end. A dead end with a door, that is.
"Is that what I think it is?", IF said.
"If you're thinking this is the entrance, then no. This has to be the end of the maze", Lady Wac replied. "I already marked the entrance, just in case."
IF was surprised. Why didn't she think of that? "That's great! Let's just go ahead and-"
"...I can't."
"Why?"
"I'm still big", Lady Wac replied, a little embarrassed.
"Can't you just change back to normal?", IF asked.
"If I could, I would have already!", the blonde sighed.
IF leapt out of Lady Wac's hand and landed on the floor. She looked behind Lady Wac nervously to check and see if there were any more monsters approaching. Her eyes widened when she saw that there were indeed a set of four monsters floating down the hall towards them.
"They're coming this way!", IF shouted.
"Don't worry. As long as I'm like this, I'll be able to gobble them right up!", Lady Wac said reassuringly. She turned around to face the approaching ghosts, ready for her second serving. However, as they drew closer, she began to shrink. When she finally returned to her original size, she turned to IF and spoke plainly. "Run." The two of them then made a mad dash for the exit and were just barely able to slam the door shut.
"Okay, now that that's over with... This should be the intelligence room, right?", IF said. The room was well-lit and had many file cabinets and shelves lined up, resembling a library. Down one of the halls were tables with computers on them. Lady Wac wasted no time going to look for the blueprint she was looking for.
"Don't worry about me. Just look for whatever you came here for", Lady Wac muttered.
IF decided that the best place to start was to check one of the computers. Luckily, she didn't have to sign in. On the screen was a simple search box. After a moment of deliberation, IF elected to simply type in "PC Continent". Several results popped up onto the screen. IF made sure to take clear pictures with her phone of her findings. This went on for a while, as she wanted to make sure she was very thorough. After all, there was no way she'd be coming back here after having to deal with those ghosts.
Well, technically, Lady Wac dealt with them. Based off of IF's own performance back there, she knew she still had a lot to learn. Some time after she began, Lady Wac walked over with a blueprint enclosed within a tube in hand.
"I already found what I came for. What about you?", the blonde asked, peering over IF's shoulder. She saw IF going through different files on the screen and all the pictures she was taking of them. "I hope you have enough memory for all of that."
"Don't worry. When it comes to phones at least, I'm an expert!", IF smiled. It's a good thing she had an extra memory card for more storage. After basically photocopying everything about PC Continent, she glanced towards Lady Wac. "Okay, let's get out of here."
Luckily for them, there was a teleporter to the outside of the Stealth Training room within the intelligence room. IF made a mental note to herself to buy an "Eject Button" item as soon as possible for future endeavours. Once back in the outside hallway, they kept their heads down as they headed for the elevators. On their way there, they passed by a maintenance worker fixing some sort of control panel.
"Huh", the maintenance worker muttered, "That's weird. It's set to 'Retro'. Isn't that supposed to be really hard? Oh well. No point leaving it on that difficulty…"
The pair scurried along quickly, ignoring the worker completely. They got outside without a hitch.
"Ah, there she is!", Compa said as IF walked through the guild's sliding doors.
S quickly recognized the blonde who had walked in with IF. "Lady Wac. Always a pleasure."
"Lady Wac? She must be important!", Nisa commented.
"She…", S paused, making sure to be careful with her words. "...Precedes my sisters and I."
"That's right. I used to be the top shareholder of Gamindustri!", Lady Wac gloated.
"T-top shareholder? That would make you the most powerful human in Gamindustri!", Nisa staggered at the impact of the information.
"Hold on, she said used to. What happened?", Vio crossed her arms and asked.
"I passed my shares on to my aunt, B-Sha", Lady Wac revealed nonchalantly. "She's not as strong as I was, but she's still pretty strong."
"Hold the phone. Your aunt is B-Sha?", IF said as she crossed her arms, a hint of skepticism in her voice. "Must be a pretty complicated family."
"They're probably not related by blood", MAGES. commented.
S tapped her pen on her clipboard to get everyone's attention. "If you would be so kind as to share your findings with me…"
"I'll go first", Nisa replied. "I found that there's a location in Lowee from where agents are being deployed to PC Continent."
"Interesting. I thought they were being deployed from Lastation", S replied.
MAGES. stepped forth and posed. "Vio and I found a password: 'La Li Lu Le Lo'."
S nodded. "That should help us immediately gain the trust of those agents."
Compa stood forward next. "Me and RED found a whole list of agents! Well, it's not a very long list, but it's a list nonetheless!"
"S smiled. "Excellent. Now, if we just narrow it down a little, we can investigate quickly."
Finally, it was IF's turn. "I took pictures of the reports made about missions in PC Continent."
S nodded approvingly. "Excellent work, everyone. With all this information, our next move is obvious. You're to use all this information to approach these agents in and figure out who filled out which report. Then we'll narrow down which one could be the leaker. Pack your things. You're going to Lowee."
CHAPTER 24… WAC;ING A PUNCH... END.