Chapter 22 - A proper disguise
The rest of the day was spent in relaxation, since the job requests for the Guild hadn't included anything from Avenir yet. By 'relaxing' they really meant training, and as usual Nico showed no mercy in his 'brutal beat down' that he called his training, leaving them bruised and battered. However, his teachings did start showing results, since they were able to last longer than before at least. Hell, Neptune even transformed to see if the power of a Spec Ops Agent would rival that of a HDD user.
It had attracted the attention of the rest of the party, even Chian herself was intrigued enough to pause whatever she was working on to go watch. In the end, there was no clear victor as the sparring matches ended in a draw, though that was what the two decided on. They concluded that Nico and Neptune were equal in terms of power when she transformed. Neptune was just slightly faster than him thanks to her mobility advantage, however Nico compensated with absurd reaction times and his wide arsenal of Skills plus his weapons, though he only used Rebellion, Ebony and Ivory. It wouldn't be unexpected to call them the two main powerhouses of the Party.
Afterwards, once they were treated from their injuries, IF and Compa went to gather some supplies for their group as Neptune kept on hogging all the Pudding. Since the economy was so bad, the prices they had to pay put small dents in the Party's budget, and they couldn't afford to go onto the Abnormal slaying jobs considering they weren't Spec Ops Agents, and the only one they did have was registered as 'on leave' by the Guild's archives. Which meant that what authority Nico did have was useless until his Armour was restored.
Chian had went to a meeting with other factories in prep for the Expo. Lots of skilled craftsman were going to help make an item that would beat Avenir's, whatever that may be, in order for them to go meet the CPU to tell her what was happening to Lastation. Their drive amazed Nico when he heard this, it showed to him that these people were dedicated to their task, and while he was slightly annoyed that it was for the sake of their CPU, he would let it slide since they weren't part of the Spec Ops.
Noire spent the afternoon strolling through Lastation, frowning and contemplating to herself about her current situation. With Avenir destroying her Nation like this, she knew that if she were to engage Neptune again she would certainly lose. Even more so if she had Nico with her, and it wasn't like she could take that guy down either with her low shares. Hell even if her shares were higher she doubted she'd win against that guy. He seemed to be someone who specialised in fighting beings above him in strength, stature and the like. Then there was that uncontrollable form he took when he fought her, the Demon Drive Demonica as she had learned it was called from Neptune.
To her, Noire had never expected to find someone who had another version of HDD, one that was more primal and animalistic than the CPUs transformations. She wondered why nobody had heard of it, as she had spent ample time in the library before her strolling to conduct research on this DDD. Next to nothing was found however, which irritated and frustrated her with her lack of information on it. The only person she could ask would be Nico himself, as he was the one who most likely knew the most about it. At least, those that she knew of. She wasn't sure how he got it, the only thing Noire was sure of was the fact that it was powerful and had just manifested one day during a mission to annihilate a bunch of Abnormals that were causing trouble.
Lastation's Shares were declining by the day, which limited her power greatly. A part of her feared she may lose her ability to transform with the remaining Shares focused on keeping her… around, shall we say. Worse still, was the fact that her military was suffering budget cuts thanks to the Basilicom, these cuts transferring credits and funds to Avenir's projects. Those cuts should have remained with Lastation's military, that was her decree when she had formed the legislation controlling the budgeting for it. However, someone must have found loopholes around it to exploit the budget. If things went on like this, her military would n't be properly equipped to deal with the Monsters on so many fronts.
It was made even worse when she remembered the many monster Packs that were forming these days, more and more packs were assaulting the various cities under Lastation's banner, cities smaller than the Lastation capital, with trade routes becoming inaccessible thanks to them as well. It was mostly thanks to the Spec Ops, Guild Agents and Adventurers allied with the Guild that they still had what they did, but even then the Monsters were slowly pushing forwards, taking more lands and more resources for their own.
Despite all of this, Noire knew she couldn't do much, and resolved to steel her mind and soul for the time being. She would just have to bide her time till the right moment. Perhaps this time, she could have Neptune help her with Avenir while maintaining her cover. Since she had been doing a bad job of that so far, Noire needed to step up her game. If she wanted Avenir to be stopped, she shouldn't have allowed all those close calls. For now, she'll focus on maintaining her image and taking out Avenir.
Neptune and Nico will have to wait.
The following morning, Nico and the others were getting ready for their job… their job working for Avenir that is. IF and him had received notification by the Guild on their devices, her phone and his Bracer, that a job request for them had opened up. It only made sense that they would, as even they would be affected by the monster attacks. Thus, they were prepping to head out. Nico was putting the finishing touches on his outfit, straightening his Trench Coat before moving on to his gloves, when he looked up and found his gaze on Noire. Or to be more specific, her Eyeglasses. The male twitched his brow at this. 'Are you freaking kidding me? Is this what I think it is?' the male thought in disbelief, refusing he urge to pinch his nose. "Hey, Noire?"
"Yes?" Noire asked after disposing of the case for her Eyeglasses back into her Inventory, before turning to him to see his disbelieving/stern gaze focused intently on her. "Wh-what is it?" she asked again, stuttering a bit at how intense his gaze was. She didn't know why, but that gaze of his looked quite intimidating right now.
Slowly the male walked over to her before stopping and raising his hand, pointing at her Eyeglasses. "Don't tell me that's your attempt at changing your look." He stated with an undertone of disbelief, like he couldn't believe that she thought this would be an ample disguise, all the while shaking his head in disappointment while lowering his hand.
Noire huffed at his obvious disapproval of her attire, crossing her arms and turning her head away from him. "So, what if it is? People won't recognise me even if I did a change as minor as this. It's enough to make most think I'm not the CPU of Lastation." She explained hotly, trying to defend her choice of disguise.
On that, Nico could agree. Most people who follow the CPUs can be dim-witted at times, to the point where a flimsy disguise like this would be enough to fool them into thinking she wasn't a CPU. Nico however, wasn't fooled one bit, though. He was not like the rest of Gamindustri, so reliant on the CPUs for their protection. Therefore, it stood to reason that he found this sort of thing a mockery of all attempts at a Disguise.
The male rolled his eyes before, faster than a bullet, he grabbed her by the hand and began dragging her out of the room. "Wh-What are you d-doing?! U-Unhand me this instant!" Noire screeched, trying to break free of his grip while also digging her heels into the wooden floors. However, those attempts were futile as Nico's grip was as solid as steel.
"If you want a disguise so bad you're going to have to go to a professional. And lucky for you, I know a guy who can help with that. Don't worry about the others, I've messaged them and said we're taking a small detour and will meet them before we go to the Quest's meeting point. Now shut up and follow me."
His sharp, blade-like retort stopped Noire cold in her tracks, making her tense as her eyes widened and her hands become rigid. This satisfied the male, as they didn't have much wiggle room for this little... detour. In his eyes, Noire's disguise was atrocious, a major insult to those who made disguises anywhere. While it would fool the common folk into thinking she was a civilian, a rather well-dressed civilian at that, it would do practically jack shit to those with a brain, something that Nico feared Avenir would have much of with how they managed to get this far in their plans. This had to be rectified at all costs, and he knew just how to do so.
However, there was a problem. The male knew two places that he had already briefly scouted out during the day. The first was a simple clothes shop that had been doing well recently, since they weren't part of the Lastation Tech Expo due to the nature of their wares. They did well thanks to civilians always needing new clothes thanks to their old ones being shredded whenever they run from monster attacks. This was, regrettably according to his research, quite a common occurrence, something he had heard rumours that Avenir may expand to after the Expo. This shop sold a variety of outfits for many a profession, be it a simple worker, an adventurer, Guild Agent, even Spec Ops Agents use it to buy various items of clothing they like. One could say that it was a successful clothes shop, he believed it was called 'Boohoo' or something.
The problem was location. They were hard-pressed for time and if they went to this clothes shop then they would likely be late for the meeting, which would damage their reputation with Avenir, make them think twice before hiring them again, and thus make their task of finding out their exhibit plans much harder. Not to mention it may discredit them in more ways than one in the future, which had to be avoided at all costs. They did have an online ordering service, but the problem there was time, something they didn't have a lot of. Plus, Avenir's actions meant that the prices would be higher than if they bought the items personally, what with the shipping, distributing, and checks that the Basilicom under Avenir's control now imposed, so that was a no go.
In addition, even if they went and gotten an outfit that suited their purposes, Noire would stand out regardless, especially with her face. As much as he loathed himself to admit it, Noire's natural looks would attract LOTS of attention from... unsavoury individuals. She was indeed a pretty girl with a mature face and the right body balance, even someone like Nico could admit that, though he kept such thoughts to himself. Her personality would be a trigger for people, too, Neptune did call her a 'tsundere' once, and many people are fans of that emotional trope. The bottom line was, her face would not be covered by anything, and thus Avenir may become suspicious regardless. One can tell lots about a person from their facial features, it was why Criminals resorted to wearing facemasks to hide their identities when they commit their deeds. Facial recognition was a great way to identify a criminal or a suspect, as Capital cities, even normal cities, had many a high civilian population count.
The second Option was another familiar shop to him, one that Nico had used several times in the past. It was a Mask shop, and like it's name implies it sells Masks, even custom makes them too. A Mask can be a deadly tool when used correctly, able to hide the identities of the most sinister of criminals, like murderers, rapists, paedophiles and full-on deranged psychopaths. A Mask suggested that they would have something to hide, true enough, but it also showed people that those who wear Masks were serious about their... darker business, yet refused to do it as their true selves, opting to hide that self so they could still lead normal lives.
He should know, he'd seen it before.
Unfortunately, it still meant that Noire would have to go in her current apparel, and while there was nothing physically wrong with it, it gave her the appearance of someone who belonged to a high class side of society, someone who was important or someone who was involved heavily in how Lastation was run. Given how he had practically figured her out already thanks to prior submitted evidence, that was indeed the case. The only reason Nico hadn't confronted her sooner was because she hadn't tried anything yet, plus she seemed more focused on helping the Nation than killing her enemies at the moment, thus he would keep a watchful eye on her for the foreseeable future.
It didn't take Noire long to realise any attempts at escape from Nico would end in futility, so with reluctance she stopped struggling and allowed him to pull her out of Passé. She was glad that the others had went ahead of them, as Neptune would no doubt use this moment to try and tease her in some manner, making some big misunderstanding that Noire would have to clear up.
Once they were out of the streets, Nico let go of her hand. She didn't try to run from him as it would prove no point, he would be able to catch her and likely make her go through something even more humiliating. She was sure he can do something like that, too, especially when she looked into his eyes when he let go of her hand. They were filled with caution, a gleam that came with being prepared to act if necessary. She got the impression that he would do things when they were necessary, the impression of a Soldier.
It made sense when she thought about it, Nico was, for all intents and purposes, a Soldier.
However, there were certain differences between him and the average grunt. For one, Soldiers fight on behalf of their Nations, their Goddesses. However, Noire got the impression that Nico didn't fight for anything like that, which begged the question, what did he fight for? She never got the chance to ask him though, because by the time she thought this the male's voice was heard. "We're here."
Blinking owlishly, Noire snapped herself out of her little funk and looked to where Nico had dragged her out to. She saw that it was a shop, a Mask shop that was titled 'Anime Skrillex'. Noire looked at the display windows and saw various Masks on the mannequins, Masks that served to look various forms of intimidating. It made her feel a little hesitant on going in, if she were honest with herself. 'What is this place? I've never been here before, and from the looks of things this place looks well-maintained, which indicates a decent budget. Kinda strange, considering Avenir's influence on the Market…' she thought to herself.
"C'mon Noire, are you coming or not?" Nico's voice once again snapped her out of her thoughts. She looked at him and saw him by the door, which had been halfway pushed open when he had looked and saw her once again lost in her own thoughts. His expression indicated that he was mildly annoyed, yet a flicker of understanding flickered through his gaze.
Shaking her head, Noire groaned to herself before giving an annoyed look to him. "Do I have a choice? Let's just get this over with." She sighed before walking towards him, Nico nodding as he pushed the door all the way this time and entered the shop. The doorbell rung when they stepped in, and in a second Noire began looking around the interior of the shop.
Masks. Everywhere she looked, the blackette could see Masks. They were on the walls, on long isles of shelves, some were on small stands at the corners of the room. There were some which were covered by a white cloth, which likely meant they weren't ready for display. There were wooden floorboards beneath their feet that creaked and groaned when they moved along. Noire had to admit though, despite never hearing of this place before, the Masks here were well made. There were so many that she could see, all different from the others.
'So many shapes and sizes… maybe I should visit here more often, buy some of these for some costumes…'
Once again, Noire shook those thoughts away as the two looked around. Although she swore she saw a knowing gleam pass through Nico's eyes when he separated from her after saying to look around to see what tickled her fancy. Moving along the isles, Noire examined each Mask, a sense of wonder about her as she gazed at some of them, and shivered at some of the more… sinister and insidious looking ones. Whoever made these certainly had a creative flare for the horror and intimidation genre, that's for sure. There were various demon Masks, Masks taken after various monsters, legends like the Kraken, so many creatures. Hell, even the cuter ones like a Bunny Mask she saw had a disturbing feel to it.
The whole damn shop was like that!
Soon, Noire came up to a stand covered by a tablecloth, which likely meant that something wasn't meant to be on display yet. However, Noire had been captivated by curiosity's allure, and wanted to see what was underneath. However, as the saying went, curiosity killed the Cat, which was more than apparent here with what happened next.
When she approached the tablecloth-clad stand, Noire slowly reached down for it, a gulp sound coming from her as she prepared herself for what may lurk underneath this Stand. If it were following the theme of the rest of this Shop, then…
"Boo."
"KYAAAAAAA-!"
Nico's brow rose as he heard Noire's startled cry, before a sigh escaped his lips. 'Looks like he's at it again…' the male thought while moving from the Mask he was examining to look over the scene that followed. Noire had fallen onto her backside, her legs curled towards her chest while someone had kept the tablecloth raised when she screamed and fell, showing that it was a man bend in the fatal position on top of the stand.
It was a tall, lanky man with black hair, styled into an undercut. Various tattoos cover his arms, and a sun tattoo covers his entire left pectoral region. He wore a grey tank top underneath a black wrap sweater, along with harem pants and black sandals. He also wears a black necklace with round, white gems hanging from it. His eyes were crimson red, with a black sclera with multiple piercings on his ears, and his lower lip. One could find that his appearance was quite… scary, at first glance.
"Scaring Customers again, I see..." Nico remarked with his hands in the pockets of his Trench Coat, a knowing look crossing onto his face as he regarded the man while he stepped off the Stand, allowing the Tablecloth to fall onto it. Judging by his expression, it was clear that Nico had suspected something like this would happen, and when he looked at Noire's face, it was all he could do to stop a smirk from forming on his face.
The man glanced at him, looking a child who did nothing wrong as he responded. "Everyone needs a scare now and then…" he said this while glancing down at Noire who scrambled up to her feet, glaring angrily at him. The man however, looked like he wasn't the least bit scared of her one bit as he looked her from top to bottom. "… she's cute." He said simply, yet it sparked an… amusing reaction.
Noire's face changed from anger to embarrassment in the blink of an eye. Her face lit up with a light reddish colour as she struggled to keep her emotions in check. She clenched her fists tightly which were shaking from thein inquiring gaze that the man was giving her.
"Her reaction is interesting…" the man remarked once more, humming thoughtfully as his gaze shifted from Nico to Noire, and then back again. A light shined in his eyes as a look of realisation and understanding crossed onto the man's face while he fisted an open palm. "Oh, I see. You two are boyfriend and girlfriend."
Noire's expression just got worse at that insinuation. "WHA-?!" she squeaked, stepping back from him at the shock of what he just said, and he didn't look all that bothered about it either. "What the heck-No! we're not b-b-b-boyfriend and g-g-g-g-girlfriend! Stop thinking those thoughts this minute!" she screeched, pointing at the man with a furious gaze in her eyes. Although it didn't help that she was blushing from embarrassment, which sorta toned down the danger factor.
Seeing her flustered state, the man looked at her with doubt, before looking over to Nico for clarification. Noire did the same, and if looks could kill, the glare she was sending his way would have burned a whole in his head like a laser. "No, we're not a couple, Uta." The male said while pinching his nose. This was so not what he needed before a difficult quest. Not because of how tough the Monsters were, but difficult in how he'd have to fight his instincts to rip Avenir's representatives apart at the meeting point. "You know I'm not the dating type, I've said it over a million times with my fellow Agents."
"Right, right. Sorry…" The man known as Uta waved a hand apologetically, although both knew that it was just a formality. Uta then twirled around and sat on the Stand, though this time he didn't go into the fatal position like he did before. "What brings you to my shop? If I had to guess, I'd say it's about that girl." He asked, nodding his head to the blackette's direction. Said blackette had regained her composure, a bit of pink remaining on her cheeks though that would soon vanish, since the conversation had moved forwards from her… dating… someone.
A nod came from the Spec Ops Agent as he gestured to her without looking at her. "Yeah, you'd be right. She's in the need of a Mask." He explained. His eyes rolled from one side to another as he continued. "She thought wearing some Eyeglasses would be considered a 'perfect disguise' for her jobs."
Hearing this, the man raised a brow, as if to say 'Seriously?' before looking towards the girl in question. Noire flinched under his gaze, knowing that Nico was telling the truth. In hindsight, maybe she should have bought something better than eyeglasses, but hey it's not her fault most people are too gullible to see past something like that! "Well, I can agree that would be a pathetic disguise." He admitted thoughtfully, but not giving any condescending looks to the girl, much to her relief. "Well, you're in luck, I think I have the perfect Mask for something like this. Oh, and I have your custom order ready as well."
Nico raised a brow at that, surprised. "Really? Wow, you work fast. I thought it would have taken longer for my order to be ready." He remarked with an impressed tone while they walked to another section of the Shop. He spied Noire glancing around at the Masks she hadn't seen yet, flinching at some of them, until they came down some stairs to a basement-like room. It only had a couple light bulbs for light, and to the side was a counter with a series of cupboards above it.
"It was almost too easy for me." Uta replied as he went to the back of the counter and kneeled. Sounds of shuffling could be heard from below while Noire and Nico went to the opposite side. The man then stood up, having pulled from below the counter a medium sized box, which he then placed on the table. The Spec Ops looked at him and Uta nodded, "go ahead, see for yourself." He urged, gesturing to the box.
Nico opened the box one piece of the lid at a time. The lid was soon open, exposing what lay within the Box: A Mask. Nico brought it out the Box and looked it over. The Mask covered the lower half of the human face. Being black in colour with a leather-like feel to it. it had a lipless mouth which was frozen into a maniacal grin, befitting someone who had been to an insane asylum and back again. The Mask's eyepatch attachment was of the same material and covered the right eye, with a band that when it was on, it would be like it was part of the Mask. On the sides of the Mask where the Jaw would be, there were a pair of bolts, like the tops of screws.
The male looked it from front to back, an amazed gleam in his eyes with his mouth slightly open. At Uta's urging, Nico put the Mask on, making sure the Eyepatch attachment fit snugly on his right eye before adjusting the Mask to make sure the rest was the same. When he was satisfied, Nico turned to Uta who held a mirror out before his face, allowing him to see his masked reflection. The lone eye that was visible was filled with appreciation for the new accessory, he really liked it, for it felt oddly… fitting, for some reason. "Wow, this is excellent work Uta. Once again, you do your skills proud." He praised.
Uta nodded, neutrality on his face as he began put away the storage equipment he had used for the Mask. "Like I said, it was easy and simple to make for me, your requests were taken into consideration for it. I liked the idea of you having one eye exposed like that Armour you always wore. Wat happened to it?" he questioned, tilting his head to the side during his work.
This prompted a solemn gaze from Nico, and Uta didn't ask for any more information. He knew that look already, it told him all he needed to know. "I see… well, then, as for your friend here…" Uta began, steering the conversation from that topic towards something more… fruitful. He saw out the corner of his eye, how Noire tensed up at seeing the Mask, and had to fight a chuckle to himself, knowing how easy it was to scare some people with his designs.
Once again, Uta kneeled and brought a small box out, standing upright to put it down on the counter. "This one was made recently, but it's no less the same quality that you would expect." He explained briefly, taking off the box's lid to show another Mask. Noire then looked at the Mask, and found that like the others, this one was also sporting an intimidating, sinister presence. And yet, for some reason, this one felt… different from the others. She couldn't quite explain it, though judging by the expressions Uta and Nico gave, she didn't even need to. They knew already, and that slightly worried her.
Was she going insane?
Once they left the Mask Shop with their purchases in hand, Noire and Nico journeyed to where the other girls would be waiting for them to go meet their Client. The male had gotten the location from the brunette member of their Party, shortly after Noire's first… introduction to Uta. It still made him have the urge to smirk smugly thinking about it.
"Well… that was something." Noire tried to say after a moment's worth of awkward silence, well, to her anyways, Nico was more focused on the upcoming Quest for Avenir than anything. Though, her words did serve to make him shift his focus to her as he turned his head to look at the blackette as she fumbled about with her new Mask.
Her Mask covered the entirety of her face when she put it on. It was the same colour and material as Nico's, but had a mix of demonic and dragon to it. it had four eyeholes, each one having black and red lenses to simulate the same eyes as Uta had. Its lower jaw extended downwards into a V shape, giving it a pointy edge. 3 horns protruded outwards from both sides of the Mask, making it look like a 6-horned, 4-eyed demonic dragon mask.
Nico nodded his head with her in agreement. "Yeah well, that's Uta for you. He does care about his customers, though he can be a bit weird about it. First meetings with him are always a sight to see when he scares the newer and more arrogant of the recruits to the Guild." The male mused, putting an index finger on his chin as his eyes rolled upwards, memories of the last few times he'd heard about how the recruits depicted the Mask maker, none of them friendly.
Narrowing her eyes at him, Noire frowned as she realised something. "You sure seem to know about one of m-I mean, Lady Black Heart's citizens. Who is he?" she asked him, while also nearly blowing her cover once again only to barely stop her slip up. 'Shoot, I can't do that! Nico isn't like Neptune, he's going to notice if I behave oddly!' she scolded herself.
The male did indeed notice her slip up, but paid it no heed for now. It would not be wise to interrogate her in the middle of the street like that. So instead, he decided to answer her. "That was Uta, he's a Mask maker, provides his services to anybody. Guy's also part of a group called the Clowns: a group of information brokers, though they have had hands in various events throughout Lastation's history. Remember Racoon City?" Noire nodded her head with a grimace. How could she not? That horrible incident would haunt her for a long time. "Well, they're another factor that lead to Umbrella's downfall."
That new titbit of information intrigued her. If they were part of that corporation's downfall, then they were worth knowing about in her opinion. Though she was not foolish enough to think they were good people just from that. After all, they were information brokers, from what Nico said. It was likely that they sold information to anyone, even bad people. they were just doing their jobs if that was the case. "Huh. I see…"
"Though that doesn't mean they're afraid to get tough." Nico remarked with a small chuckle. The two were just outside the city when he had said this, which meant they wouldn't have long till they were at the meeting point. "Their members usually operate independently, but if a group of them come together their teamwork is considerable. They're the sort of people that many Spec Ops Agents, myself included, would rather not go head to head with them if we can help it."
Now THAT got her attention. If someone like Nico, who had the codename DEATHSTROKE, would rather not fight these Clowns, then these guys must be either dangerous, or tough as nails. "Really? That's a little hard to believe, though I guess I'll take your word for it." she responded dubiously. She'd believe that if she were to see them fight, since what he was saying sounded a little difficult to take in now.
Seeing her hesitation, Nico shrugged his shoulders discreetly while rolling his eyes in a similar manner. It wasn't like he could convince her, Nico wouldn't force her to change her opinion on them that would be just evil and tyrannical. Plus, Compa would literally ram that giant syringe up his ass if he tried. Girl was seriously way scarier than she gave herself credit for.
"Anyways, we should focus on getting to the others. Neptune probably won't like it if we're tardy especially the one who suggested this in the first place." Nico commented, getting an agreement from the blackette. Neptune tended to be impatient on the best of days, so it would stand to reason that they would need to hurry.
"Though it is quite unfortunate, let's start working for Avenir…" a depressed Neptune unenthusiastically moaned as she stared at IF and Compa. They were standing at the entrance to a forest, where the meeting point for the Avenir Quest was going to happen at. This meeting point had the feeling of isolating people from prying eyes, and with the Monsters roaming about it would make for an idea place to talk without fear of being observed. People didn't like monsters, and for good reason.
Looking at the deflated preteen, IF twitched her brow, quickly glancing around to see if their client had appeared yet and heard that. Fortunately, that was not the case much to IF's relief as she turned on Neptune with a frantic look on her face. "Please don't say it out loud." She requested with frustration and annoyance. She knew Neptune didn't like this, but she was still acting like a kid about it. she'd been doing this the whole trip, and it was starting to grate on her nerves.
Compa smiled awkwardly, feeling the tension from the brunette rising by the second. "Nep-Nep doesn't really have a zipper for her mouth…" she remarked, trying to ease the tension with fact. It was a sad truth that the preteen tended to say what she was thinking without thinking of the consequences. It was both an endearing and annoying trait of hers, that much was certain.
The sound of bushes moving could be heard, and the trio tensed, thinking that it was time for their meeting with the client. However, they deflated when they heard a pair of familiar voices, although something seemed… off, about them.
"Looks like this is the place…"
"Sure does. Neptune and the others are already here. #CHUCKLE#"
"What's so funny?"
"Looks like she's still not with the idea you suggested, Noire."
"Well, I don't like it either, but you don't see me complaining about it!"
"She's a childish one."
"True."
From the bushes, came a pair of familiar faces… well, that was what they thought, as Neptune bounded over to them. "Hey, hey-hey, Nicky, Noire! What's sha-aaaaaaaaah! What the Nep guys, what's up with those Masks?!" Neptune waved as she cheered, however her eyes were closed. So, when she opened them and saw two intimidating looking Masks on their faces Neptune's face shifted to shock and slight fear as she backpedalled back to her non-masked friends.
Said friends were also caught by surprise. Compa's face turned white at the sight and she barely resisted the urge to run away and hide. Though a squeak did come out of her mouth which sounded oh so adorable. IF's face lost a little colour, but she remained composed as she looked upon the two new arrivals. If she hadn't heard their voices beforehand, IF would have readied her Qatars already. Even now, she barely restrained herself from flicking her hands out to get them into their proper places. There was also the fact that they wore the same clothes as Noire and Nico.
"Huh? oh!" Nico's lone eye widened in realisation as he pulled the Zipper on the mouth's side and pulled it across, revealing his mouth before lowering his hand to his side once more. "These are Masks we're wearing. This one here, thought it would be good to use mere Eyeglasses as a disguise, so I took her to a Mask Shop I know. The rest, well, you can see the results yourself." He explained to them.
Seeing that they now had answers, the girls all sighed with relief, realising fully that this was indeed Nico. They looked to the duo's Masks and visibly shuddered. Both Masks served their function to be as intimidating as possible, in their opinions. "Well," IF began as she examined the Masks the two wore, "aside from the clothes thing, which I doubt many people will look at, you got the disguise thing down."
Compa nodded her head up and down so fast that nobody would be surprised if it came off. "Yessie!" she bellowed, pumping her fists and pulling them close to her chest. "You two give off the feeling of 'if you come near me, you will feel the wrath of my sword!' or something."
Neptune herself hummed as she got over her fear and let the inquisitive side of her take over. The male nearly jumped when she suddenly was before him, leaning towards his face. He was glad that the Mask hid his blush though, memories of her as her HDD form still in his mind. Goddamnit, why couldn't he forget about that?! "Hmmm… Nice Mask there, Nicky! Nep approves!" she proclaimed with a thumbs-up sign, her tongue out the side of her mouth as she winked at him. "horror mixed with a sense of badassery that only a true main protag would have! Sensei Nep is positively impressed."
The male grew flustered as he rubbed the back of his neck, shuffling nervously under her praise. Meanwhile, Noire huffed and turned to the side, getting Neptune's attention. "Awwww, is Noire sad that I didn't compliment her?" the preteen teased with a wide grin. She then proceeded to glomp her from behind, her arms wrapped around the other girl's neck as she hung her head over her shoulder. "Don't worry my young Padawan, Nep approves of your Maskie too!"
"E-Eh?! I-I mean, it's not like I care about your opinion! And get off me, I'm not your Padawan or whatever!" Noire shouted as she tried to pry the preteen off her. However, like glue Neptune stuck to her, wrapping her legs around her waist much to the dismay of the blackette.
Nico watched this with no small amount of amusement. He glanced around to find out if they were being watched, and found nothing, not even on his Bracers' and their tracking systems. Thus, Nico snorted as he held back the urge to outright laugh at the playful nature of the preteen. "Hehehehehe, well Noire, you do seem to be like a tsundere, so…"
"Shut it, Mr Spec Ops!" Noire's shout only served to make Nico's efforts turn out to be more in vain than before, he was starting to bend over to hold in his chuckles as Neptune kept playfully teasing the blackette. It looked quite… off, seeing a girl with a scary mask on her face acting like a schoolgirl being hugged by her crush.
Eventually, though, IF had to return the Party's attention to the task at hand when she looked at her phone and noticed the time. "Okay, stop it right there." She commanded them, and with strength nobody expected was able to pull Neptune off Noire by force alone, dropping her onto her backside like a sack of potatoes. "You can continue after our work is done. Let's go." While Neptune grumbled about how rough IF was with her, the Party travelled deeper into the forest for their meeting with their Client from Avenir.
They travelled down the path till they came towards a small clearing, and they were not alone there. Two men stood there patiently waiting, men who had been conversing in hushed whispers until they came along. They were easily recognised by their formalwear as Avenir employees, and the Party was recognised by the two men. Nico hid his Scowl behind his Mask; the Zipper having been closed when they travelled into this place. 'Man, something about these guys puts me on edge, and NOT just because they are with that damned company…' he thought, noticing one of them looking at him intently.
The first of the two, as well as the one who was looking at him funny, was a very well-groomed man with a neat appearance. He had brown hair, brown eyes, light skin, and was also dressed in a suit. Underneath was a white dress shirt and a green tie, while on his feet were a pair of polished dress shoes.
As for the second one, he had well combed brown hair with matching eyes, seemingly middle aged while the first one looked to be in his twenties. He wore a smart red suit, white shirt with gold buttons on the collar, dark blue tie, and black shoes. The way he looked at them indicated distain or reluctance, like the very air they breathed was an offence to the Goddesses. Though this was well-hidden, so nobody but Nico noticed it. 'I have a feeling he will be trouble in the future…'
While they approached, the purple suited man stepped forwards and extended a greeting towards them. "Nice to meet you. We've been waiting." He then looked them all over, his gaze lingering slightly on Nico, IF and the Masked Noire. "So, you're the folks who will be handling our orders?"
"Yes, and you're our client… Ganache?" IF replied while asking for confirmation. She was no fool, she knew that look. While Chian did it out of concern that they were weak, the brunette could tell that it was different with this man. He had a different fee to him, one IF wasn't sure she liked.
The man nodded in confirmation. He then leaned his upper body forwards with his arm swept across his front, hand in a chopping position at his shoulder. "Yes. My name is Ganache, and I work at the Avenir Company." He introduced himself, before standing up straight like he did before. he then turned his body slightly to address the man beside him, pointing his chop-ready hand to him as he introduced him. "This here is our representative, President Singe."
There was no response from the man, but Nico noticed the hidden distain, mixed with impatience, at their presence. 'the feeling that these two are trouble… it's getting stronger…' Nico thought to himself, making double the effort to remain composed. He was slightly surprised that these two, Ganache and Singe, didn't fret over his and Noire's Masks. Meanwhile, Noire was scrutinising these two intently behind her Mask. 'So, these two are Avenir's top officials…'
Unaware of their thoughts and opinions, IF remarked with a hand on her hip. "It's rare to get work from your ranks. Or is it we're just that important?" she asked them. While it came off as slightly arrogant, IF was actually trying to goad them into giving something they could use. She thought that since they were high ranking members of Avenir, they would know something about what their project they would be presenting at the Expo might be.
Though it didn't serve to rattle the two like she had expected, unfortunately. "Hahaha. You're suck a joker." Ganache commented with a light chuckle. Finally, Singe spoke while having his hands behind his back in a formal, tall pose as he regarded Ganache from the corner of his eye. "Stop the unnecessary prattle here. I don't have time to spare.
The way he spoke indicated how long he had been president of Avenir, his mannerisms, his speech patterns, they all had a strong, dominating presence that commanded underlings to obey him. The voice of a leader. "Oh, my." Ganache turned to face him and lowered his body like before, his eyes closed behind his glasses. "I am so sorry." Singe didn't answer, so Ganache stood straight and turned back to them, his polite smile ever present. "Very well, then. Here is what I would like to order from you."
Neptune struggled to keep herself from bouncing up and down, so she lightly hopped in a manner that could be considered discreet. "Let's hear it!" she stated with eagerness. She may not like Avenir, but the chance to fight monsters always got her blood going. That, and the money for Pudding. 'Ahhhh… pudding…'
"We are planning to construct a new plant around the area here." Ganache began as he procured a small handheld device from the confines of his suit. He pressed a button on it and a Holographic Map of what looked like a forest Dungeon manifested. He then closed in on a part of the Forest that looked like a red circular area. "But, we are having problems with a certain monster around the area."
'Hmmm…. Interesting, they don't give us much detail on the monster's physical appearance, but they do give its general area… suspicious, yet not unreasonable. Depends on the problems, but I can see people not being able to see the full form of the monster.' He thought to himself, cupping his chin in thought as calculations raced through his mind. 'This Dungeon seems familiar, like I've seen it before… I'll investigate it when we leave.'
Noire finally spoke, her voice deepened by her Mask. "I see. So, you need us to exterminate the Monster?" she asked them, trying to keep her tone level and free of her usual haughty attitude. Despite wearing a Mask Noire knew she needed to remain professional lest they learn of her identity.
Ganache nodded his head in confirmation while Singe remained motionless. "Exactly. We will be inspecting the area, so we need it cleared out." He explained. "If the place is cleared, I could care less what you all do." Singe spoke, his impatience seeping through like water trying to burst through an unstable dam. Though Neptune didn't bother with the apparent hostility that Singe displayed as she said her own thoughts on the matter. "Is that it? that's a lot easier than I thought. I was thinking we were going to have to do office work and stuff."
Compa nodded her head, voicing her agreement and reliefs that they weren't doing anything complicated or something they hadn't done before. "I'm glad too, since I'm not very good with detailed work. I used to work placing belladonnas on food, but I was even bad with that…"
Turning to look at her friend with a weak smile, Neptune voiced her opinion. "Yeah, you don't seem good with that, Compa. And yeah, I can relate… wait a sec. what kind of job is that?!"
'And she's training to be a Nurse… Goddess, I fear for Planeptune…' Nico thought while pinching his nose and putting a hand on his hip. IF rolled her eyes at the misunderstanding caused by the Nurse-In-Training. "For the record… Belladonnas are lethal. Those were probably edible orchids." She informed the group. Seeing as things were getting out of hand, Nico saw that Ganache was about to say something, figured out what it was, and beat him to it. "Alright ladies, we have a job to do, so let's gossip later. Alright, let's roll out!"
