Chapter 19: A Presidential Visit; A Successful Successor
"Arresting the president?!", RED exclaimed.
"This is super duper serious stuff!", Compa said, in an alarmed tone.
IF crossed her arms. "Let me guess. You want us to be there?"
R nodded. "It only seems right, considering the work you put in towards this."
"I agree. We might as well see how this ends", Nisa replied.
IF sighed. "Alright, let's do this then."
"I'm glad you understand. Now, your mission is to assist in the arrest on location. at AE headquarters. The president is to be detained and brought in for questioning", R explained, "You have a warrant. You're free to search the entire building if you have to."
"Understood. We'll track down that villain and bring him in so he can face justice!", Nisa declared. She got up from her seat and pointing forward, towards nothing in particular. "Come, let us commence our-!"
"One moment, please. Two agents of Leanbox will be accompanying you", R interrupted. She raised her voice as she spoke again, "You may come in, now."
The door to the conference room opened, and in came Cave along with a person wearing some sort of green space armor.
R looked around the table. "I'm sure you've already met Cave by now." Cave gave the table a brief nod before walking over to R and standing next to her. The other person stood next to R on the opposite side of Cave.
"Meet Mister Chief, a veteran Leanbox agent", R announced. Mister Chief nodded and gave everyone a thumbs up. R continued speak, "You'll all be working together on this mission. There shouldn't be many obstacles since you have a warrant approved by the Oracle herself… but it doesn't hurt to be prepared."
"Hopefully this goes smoothly", IF said.
"As long as the media doesn't get involved, we'll be able to go in and out without any attention, right?", Nisa replied.
Cave shook her head. "Not quite. The employees we have to pass by along the way will surely speak up about it. Besides that, there's a certain pair of journalists who somehow show up wherever there's a potential story."
"A pair of journalists? I wonder who they could be…", Compa muttered.
IF shrugged. "No point worrying about that. Let's get this over with."
R bowed before them. "I wish you all good luck."
It didn't take long for the party to arrive at their destination. It was getting late, and the sun was going to set soon. The party stood around in front of the AE HQ campus, going over the plan one more time.
"Is everyone ready?", Nisa asked. Everyone responded with a brief nod. "Good! Operation Deflated Balls is a go!"
"Hold on, when did we start calling it that?", IF asked.
"Focus", Cave interjected, "We're going in now."
The party walked through the automatic doors and marched right up to the receptionist.
Cave presented the warrant to the receptionist. "We're here to take the president in."
The receptionist was stunned, completely unsure of how to respond to this. "I'll… er… let him know…?" Her shaky hand reached for the phone and she made a call. "S-sir… er… some people from the… guild… are here to see you." After listening for a few seconds, the receptionist looked up at IF's party. "He… isn't taking any visitors at the moment."
"I'm afraid he doesn't have a choice", Cave replied. She turned around and faced the rest of her party. "Go look for him, and fast. He might try to slip out of here undetected."
With a nod, the party split up to search the building up and down for the company president. This time, they were free to wander the building without having to worry about the guards. IF and Nisa made their way to the nearest elevator and took it right to the top floor. Once they arrived at, they split up in opposite directions to look around the floor.
Within his office, AE's president stood by the window, peering outside with a glass filled with some sort of drink inside. Standing behind him was Elsa, with her arms crossed.
"They'll be here soon", Elsa's father muttered. He took a sip while his eyes were glued to the view outside his office. "This shouldn't take long. I'm counting on you to post bail."
Elsa remained silent as she looked away. Elsa's father turned to face Elsa. "Is that clear?", he said, in a firm tone.
Elsa reluctantly made eye contact with him. "...Yes, father."
Elsa's father chuckled as he began to look outside once more. "I knew I could count on you, champ." Elsa grit her teeth before making two fists with her hands. A few moments later, Nisa barged through the door.
"Halt!", Nisa shouted, "By the power vested in me by the Oracle of Leanbox, you're under arrest!"
"Oh? All by yourself?", Elsa's father replied, "It seems I'm being grossly underestimated."
"Let's not do this the hard way, shall we?", Nisa said. She took out her phone and quickly texted her location to her party's group chat before putting it away again. "My friends will be here soon, so don't try to pull a fast one on me!" Nisa stood at the entrance and scanned the room before finally noticing Elsa. Her eyes remained fixated on the girl, until something in her mind clicked.
"You're…", Nisa muttered, before switching her focus to Elsa's father. Elsa remained silent and completely still.
Suddenly, Elsa's father turned around and tossed a football directly towards Nisa. The heroine attempted to catch it, only for the ball to slam into her stomach and send her flying into the hallway.
"Foolish child, I've lived my life perfecting my body to become the ultimate athlete!", the president shouted, "It's going to take more than one person to catch me!" Nisa continued flying into the air until she slammed into a wall, completely knocking the wind out of her. She fell to the ground coughing and clutched her stomach in pain. When she looked up, she saw the president's hulking figure charge right towards her. Nisa attempted to dodge, but was only able to manage to weakly limp aside. Nisa winced in pain and was left with no choice but to brace herself for the approaching tackle.
Faster than she could blink, Cave swooped in and grabbed Nisa, allowing the both of them to easily evade the president's attack.
"Hah, I see your help's arrived. No matter- I'll make quick work of you both before the rest of them arrive!", the president boasted. Cave put Nisa down and stood between the heroine and the president.
"You'll have to catch me first", Cave muttered.
The president grinned. "This should be interesting…" Both the president and Cave got into a battle stance, and waited in a silent standoff before moving again. The president reached into the inside of his suit's pocket before pulling it out, surprising Cave with a dodgeball. Then another. And another. And another. A barrage of balls was headed directly for the stoic redhead. Cave proceeded to do what she did best: dodge. Not a single projectile was able to his it's mark. The president grit his teeth as he continued to unleash his assault, becoming more and more frustrated that he was unable to hit his target even once.
Cave moved closer and closer to the president as she continued to dodge until she was within melee range of him. Now that she was close enough, she took out her weapon- an oversized pair of scissors- and slashed at him.
This caused the president to reel backwards and halt his assault. The look on his face was one of discontent, having been completely humiliated by Cave's ability to dodge pretty much everything he threw at her.
"I hope you realize how futile it is to try to hit me", Cave muttered.
Elsa's father stood still for a few moments, trying to figure out his next move. He suddenly grinned, then began to run away from Cave. As he ran, he spoke into his watch. "Get my chopper on the roof ready, pronto!"
Nisa coughed before calling out to Cave. "Don't… let him get away!" Cave nodded before beginning to give chase. The president barged through the door to the stairwell and began to sprint up the stairs. Cave did her best to catch up to him. He was surprisingly fast, and managed to maintain a sizable distance between himself and his pursuer. After a few tiring minutes, the president finally reached the door to the roof.
Unfortunately for him, IF was already waiting for him there. "I knew you'd try to sneak off like this", she said. The president clenched his fists and ran the only direction he could: forward. IF was surprised, completely not expecting him to charge right for her. She drew her weapons out and charged forward, prepared to collide with the president head on.
The president charged forth with a hulking presence, like a quarterback, much bigger than the young Gust of Wind. In the last second, IF slid under him and sliced at his crotch as he passed over her. IF quickly stumbled back onto her feet to observe the results of her attack, only to be surprised that it had no effect.
The president turned around, laughing. "Athletic cup! Strongest in the industry!", he boasted. He then turned back to face his escape helicopter and ran up to it. Leaping inside, he told the pilot to take off.
IF attempted to run up to the helicopter before it was too late, only for the gusts created by the helicopter's propellers to force her eyes shut. She raised her arms up to try to shield her eyes before trying to take a peak. The helicopter began to rise into the air. With each passing second, IF was running out of options. She took out her gun and started shooting at the helicopter, which went about as well as you'd expect.
Suddenly, someone else stepped through the door to the roof: Mister Chief. Instinctively, he rushed forth and hurled some sort of grenade towards the helicopter. Once the grenade hit the helicopter, it stuck onto it and began to glow. After a few seconds, it exploded.
The pilot of the helicopter lost control and was unable to pilot the chopper any further. "Mayday, mayday!", he shouted. He and the president grabbed the available parachutes and bailed out of the doomed vehicle. Their parachutes opened, ensuring that they would land onto the ground safely. The helicopter, however, was left to crash right into the street in front of the headquarters. At this point, Cave arrived at the rooftop. IF ran over to the edge to look for the president.
"He's still up in the air, with a parachute!", IF shouted. Cave was quick to pick up on the situation and took out her phone and sent a message via the group chat. The one closest to the scene was none other than the ditsy nurse, Compa. Compa ran outside the building and tried to run towards wherever it looked like the president would land.
As the president landed, he took off the straps connecting himself to the parachute and looked around. Compa stood at the ready with her trusty oversized syringe. The president couldn't help but laugh at the sight of Compa.
"What are you gonna do? Vaccinate me to death?", he chuckled.
"If I stabbed you, it would hurt a lot!", Compa replied, trying to sound as threatening as she could.
"I bet it would", the president replied dismissively. He looked past Compa to make sure nobody else had arrived yet. He noticed that the helicopter's debris in the road and he shoved his hands into his pockets, then pulled them out. Except, instead of his bare hands coming out, he now had a pair of boxing gloves equipped. "Bring it on, kid."
He suddenly bolted towards Compa, who had no choice but to run towards her attacker. Just as their blows were about to collide, Compa tripped. Her syringe went flying towards the president, who easily punched through it, causing it to shatter. The contents of the syringe splashed onto him, leaving him completely soaked. Just as he was about to hit Compa, he completely froze.
"W-what?!", he growled. He tried to move, but his body did not respond. "What… is this?!"
Compa got up from the ground and knocked some dust off of herself. "That was my Paralysis Shot. I've been meaning to try it out for a while, so thank you for being my guinea pig!", she smiled.
"This can't… be! Done in by some girl with a giant syringe?!", the president muttered. He continued to struggle, completely in vain.
"Compa!", someone called out. Compa turned around and saw RED running towards her. When she arrived, she looked at Compa up and down. "Are you okay?"
Compa nodded. "Yup. ...I'm going to need a new syringe, though."
RED looked at the paralyzed president. "Is this the guy we're after?" She noticed that he was frozen in and awkward stance. She stepped forth and poked him, which caused him to fall over to the ground. The president grit his teeth, frustrated at how defenseless he was.
"Well, I guess it's time to arrest this guy!", RED said. She took out a pair of toy handcuffs and positioned herself to place them onto him.
"Would that even work? That looks like it was made for little kids…", Compa said.
"Maybe in the hands of a child, but for me, these are as good as the real deal", RED replied. She then proceeded to roll the president over so he was face down and sat on him before finally handcuffing him. He tried to speak, but his voice was muffled by the ground. As she finished cuffing him, the rest of the party arrived. IF and Cave were walking in the front, while Mister Chief carried Nisa over in his arms.
"I see you were able to apprehend the suspect", Cave said.
RED pushed herself off of the president before responding. "Oh, Compa did all the work. I'm just making sure he doesn't get away!"
Compa noticed Mister Chief carrying Nisa. "What's wrong with Nisa?", she asked.
"She took a pretty nasty blow when the president attacked her", Cave spoke up.
"Oh, oh! I can fix her!", RED butted in. She walked over to Mister Chief and looked at Nisa. "Here's some Sweet Stuff!", she said before giving Nisa a peck on her forehead. A moment later, Nisa's eyes fluttered open.
"Huh? Where am I?", Nisa asked. At this point, Mister Chief put Nisa down so she could stand on her own two feet. She took a moment to gather herself, and realized that the president had been captured.
"It looks like our work here is done, then. Sorry I wasn't able to do much, in the end", Nisa said.
"Nonsense. You were the one who found him in the first place", Cave replied.
The sounds of sirens could be heard approaching in the distance. In a matter of moments, fire trucks sped onto the scene of the helicopter crash and started dousing the flames. As if on cue, a certain pair of journalists arrived on the scene.
"Hello there, I'm Dengeki-"
"Hi, I'm Famitsu! I'm here to-"
"Out of the way, Famitsu!", Dengekiko said as she shoved Famitsu away.
"No, YOU get out of the way, Dengekiko!", Famitsu said as she began to butt heads with her rival.
As the pair began to bicker, IF pulled the president off the ground and started to slip away from them. Dengekiko and Famitsu stopped fighting when they saw the president's face.
"Wait a minute, could that be…?", Famitsu muttered.
"It's the AE president!", Dengekiko gasped. At this point, they realize that he has been handcuffed by IF's party. The two reporters stopped bickering with one another and marched up to the president quickly. Dengekiko snapped a photo of the disgraced company leader, while Famitsu other shoved a microphone into his face.
"What do you have to say for yourself?", Famitsu asked.
"...I want to speak with my lawyer", the president muttered. He lowered his head in shame to make it harder to get a good picture of his face.
"The president of AE… arrested? Oh, what a scoop!", Dengekiko cheered. When it was clear that he wasn't going to speak anymore, Famitsu asked Cave what was going on.
"No comment", Cave said in a dismissive tone. Famitsu pouted. She then moved over to IF and asked her the same question.
"What makes you think I'd spill the beans after she already said no?", IF replied as she pointed at Cave.
"Let us return to the guild at once", Cave muttered.
Famitsu sighed and shook her head. She looked over to Dengekiko, who seemed to be nervous for some reason. Dengekiko beckoned Famitsu over, then began to whisper to her.
"That girl over there, in the sweater… she's the one who caused that traffic jam in Planeptune!", Dengekiko whispered.
"No way… you're right!", Famitsu whispered back, "What should we do?"
"Calm down", Dengekiko whispered back, "She doesn't know we're the ones who broke the news."
"You're right…", Famitsu replied, "Let's just head to the crash site and see what we can gather from there." The two of them faced IF's party.
"Well, sorry to bother you. We've got a story to report!", Dengekiko said. The two reporters bowed before bolting over to the crash site to cover their latest story. IF's party began to make their way back to the guild with the captured president in tow.
Several hours have passed since the incident at AE. Trucks were brought in to remove the debris from the road after the first responders combed through the wreckage.
From within AE Headquarters, Elsa simply observed the aftermath as the road was being cleared up. Standing behind her was Battlefront, Ai and Linda, all standing around idly until the phone rang.
"Shouldn't you pick that up?", Linda asked, "This is like the fourth time it's rang."
Elsa turned around. "...I suppose I should." She walked over to the phone and picked it up. She brought the phone to her ear and was immediately greeted by the far from pleased voice of her father.
"Elsa, my dear, it seems you've forgotten to post bail!", he said to her.
"Why, I have no idea what you're talking about", Elsa muttered.
"Don't you dare play this sort of game with me at a time like this!", he barked.
Elsa paused for a moment before responding. Before closing the phone, she said:
"This is MY company now."
CHAPTER 19… A PRESIDENTIAL VISIT; A SUCCESSFUL SUCCESSOR... END.