A hand emerges from the ground in the middle of nowhere, the limb is covered by a grimy white glove and then a pink umbrella comes out next, raising a handful of dust, the object is dropped by the other hand that had dug up from the earth and then the pair of hands starts working to dig up the rest of the body.
Before long the bust was out of the ground, revealing a small but very pretty girl with heterochromatic eyes of pink and brown colors, hair that was parted in the same way, a very annoyed expression, a damaged cuckoo hat and a disheveled outfit.
If this girl wasn't mute, she would use all the curses possible, which didn't stop her from mentally cursing the situation she was in, in a completely empty place with only a few trees every ten meters.
She had finally managed to get the rest of her body out of the dirt, her name was Neopolitan, and she was spitting dirt out of her mouth and dusting her clothes, even what was inside, she was completely dirty and grimy.
Neo would kill for a bath... Literally. Now, the question was, Why had she woken up buried 4 meters deep? And where the hell was she? It certainly wasn't Atlas, it looked a bit Void, but that was debatable.
The girl looked around her, it was a mountainous region with a forest nearby, the sun was starting to set and there was a worrying amount of debris just behind her like something had blown up a piece of the mountain.
And curiously in the region where it had been destroyed, there was a steel trapdoor, with the door open like a sardine can, something had pulled out, possibly a Grimm, but Neo doubted, there were human footprints there after all and if it was a person who had done it would be someone especially strong, possessing a brute strength she preferred to avoid.
But considering she was in an unknown place, with no information on how far the nearest human settlement was. She remembered falling into the pitch black of that place, but Neo was pretty sure she wasn't dead, she was probably transported to another place in Remnant, a realm or two away from Atlas.
She grimaced, her kill list had grown with that bitch Cinder's betrayal.
Not having many options, she went down those stairs that led to an incredibly long hallway. Neo sighed and started exploring, she walked for 5 minutes until she found something...
She stopped looking at the broken lamps and then at the crater on the wall, it seemed relatively recent, something interesting had happened there, she could deduce the presence of at least three individuals, the two that came from where she had walked before, which corresponded to the two sets of footprints heading towards the trapdoor and someone else coming from the opposite direction destroying the lights along the way.
She continued on her way until she realized that the corridor ended in a heavily closed door, the thief grimaced at the sight, preferring not to believe that she had come down there for nothing.
Neopolitan reached the door and ran his hand, looking for some hint on how to open that place, he didn't need to, as the thing opened by itself, the girl took out her umbrella, the blade emerging from the tip and pressed from the man's throat. who had opened the door.
The thief had improbably found someone who was in a worse condition than she was: a broken arm, phlegm running down his face, blood running down his forehead, incredibly tangled hair and a completely messed up outfit, it looked like that guy had been run over twice.
A small mocking smile appeared on the thief's face, it was nice to see someone in a more pathetic state than she was at that moment, the man took a step back still surprised at the new person, who had not been invited, the man swallowed a little saliva.
"W-Who are you?" he managed to speak, it would be easier if this man knew sign language, but she had a scroll that could facilitate communication, he seemed like an intelligent man, so she will conclude that maybe the hands are enough.
"You're in my lab... Or at least what's left of it..." he understood sign language, that was great.
She looked at the room the man was in the process of leaving, there was the body of a creature burst into the middle of the huge place, a few craters on the walls, with one standing out for having punctured the massive totality that divided in and out, giving up even to see the sunset and some burn marks on the ground.
She could tell that the two invaders were successful, what kind of weapon could have done such damage in that place, just from the size of the underground part, Neo could tell it was a sturdy place, very well guarded, the outside had disappeared along with it. with a piece of the mountain and the lower part in ruins, it was unbelievable that only two people could carry such powerful weapons.
"It was a bald man and a cyborg that did this, they went out that hole about 5 minutes ago" he answered her questions perfectly, the guy was certainly an intelligent individual. She shouldn't be too far away from Atlas after all, a cyborg is something only Atlas could do, maybe her revenge wasn't as far off as she imagined.
"Well, the nearest town is 50 kilometers from here in the straight direction of that hole over there... Can I ask you a question?" She raised her eyebrows but accepted the question, it wasn't like he was in a position to pose a threat to her and considering the resources here, it was only a matter of time before Grimms showed up and devoured him, she needn't be afraid to answer a question. question.
"What is this 'Kingdom of Atlas' you mentioned?" she stared at him for a long moment, he didn't seem to be making a joke and he certainly didn't look like a person who lived under a rock... Or maybe he was?
It was better to ignore him, she needed a shower urgently and preferred not to waste time with stupid questions.
The sun was fading over the horizon, it was time to get out. Neo ignored the man's surprise and ran into the hole jumping over the remains of the strange creature, she could question that later and went back outside, as long as she was straight, she would arrive in a city.
But there was something strange there... Something in the sky... 'Wait, what the fuck happened to the Moon?!', the moon was untouched totally different from Remnant's moon.
Neo took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a couple of moments, it was more than obvious that she was no longer in Remnant and if she was no longer in his world, that meant she needed information, the more the better.
Did the Grimms exist here? And the Hunters? The Cops? Thieves? Dust? Was the city really a city or something else? Maybe the humans here could shoot lasers out of their eyes... Neo's imagination might have gone a little farther thinking about the possibilities, but she was in a completely unknown place and if this world's moon was whole what was possible and what wasn't? That's why she needed answers and exactly what Neopolitan would snatch from the scientist, she turned around inside the lab or what was left of it.
Although she was in a completely unknown place, there were conclusions she could draw as the relatively advanced technology, such as the base that although in ruins showed to have Atlas-level technology, it was also possible to conclude that humans existed in this place as well... The guy is definitely a human... Or could he be something else? Neo cursed the sci-fi movies she and Roman watched...
A bitter smile broke out on her face for mere seconds, she missed that idiot... The feeling of longing welled up in her heart, which was soon replaced by an iron focus, she would get her revenge no matter the cost.
She dodged the exploded body of that strange being... She should have realized she was in a completely new place much sooner, was that thing a normal being in this place? A possibility that would soon be remedied, as the scientist was just a few feet away from Neo, there was confusion in his gaze.
Probably from being ignored a few minutes ago, "Hello? I thought you were going to leave...", she sighed, and with her umbrella cornered him against the wall, "Wait a minute, what happened?", he was slightly scared, it would be good to start with something simpler.
"... My name is Genus and I am... I mean, I owned this lab", great, now she had his name, "That body over there belongs to Carnage Kabuto, he was my strongest creation... He was killed with a single blow." He was cooperating perfectly, but part of that cooperation came not from his fear for her, but from fatigue and shock, as if he was processing reality.
"Well... Yes, but the police force and the hero association are in conflict, they don't have the ability to cooperate with each other, silly I know, but it's a reality... As for the 'hunters', they hunt animals generally, unless you're talking about bounty hunters, they're quite common in the underworld", Neo stopped thinking for a second before remembering that she was in another world and with that response from him, she also realized that if he was going to ask all the questions he wanted to ask, he would stay there until morning.
As important as gathering information was, she was in an exposed place and who knows what exactly could interrupt them? If anything of the caliber of the duo that had left this facility the way she'd found it, Neo would have a bad time.
She analyzed the scientist carefully and then observed the remains of the recently dead experiment, flies began to be attracted to the body, Neo then turned back to face the scientist.
"Yes, technically I am a criminal, after all I have experimented on humans, although I intend to retire, the height of artificial evolution is nothing but bullshit", he certainly enjoyed hearing the sound of his own voice, just like his old partner... She had to shake her head, had to get those thoughts Neo could regret after his revenge.
A cold smile crept across her face, that was a gamble, but considering the man's miserable state she could afford to present a small proposal to Genus, having a supporter in this place would be essential to her revenge, she glared at the more once, and she'd be extra careful, Neo couldn't let a betrayal like that bitch happen to her again, the thief wouldn't be made a fool of again.
The scientist watched with interest the movements of the woman who lowered her peculiar weapon and pulled something out of her pocket, Genus widened his eyes as Neo exposed his proposal, "Well, my artificial evolution research went to waste, but this... This It could be something very interesting."
Both criminals smiled coldly, a partnership formed on a peculiar and unreal occasion.