This Chapter is honestly one of my favourites, I was practically shaking when I wrote this one, not only does it have cannon elements to it, but my personal twist made it all the more epic!

Now let's see why, shall we?


Chapter 27 - Swords good, guns great

Now that their morale was back, IF and the others began making their way through the Factory, going along the only path available to them. According to the Holomap on Nico's Bracer, the path they were going down led to a large open area ahead of them, this path they're on being like a straight line. Along the way, Noire had disposed of her Mask back to her Inventory, it wasn't needed right now so it was pointless keeping it on. Nico kept his on his face, though.

The whole desolate and empty impression that it gave off did well in showing how disturbing it was. It showed on their pensive expressions as they looked around for any sign of monsters coming to attack them. They were in an unknown area so they had no clue of the dangers that awaited them, but it wasn't like they had any other choice right now.

"Say Nicky," Neptune began as they walked down the corridor. There were multiple windows to help sunlight get into the factory's interior, but they were barred from the outside so they couldn't use them to get outside. Now that they were inside, the Party could admit to this being akin to a prison. She had her hands on the back of her head in a bored manner, once again showing how fast her mood could change. "When Ganache said an "Honorary experience of Racoon City" you think he was just bluffing?"

Nico turned his head to look at her, his gaze level before he shook his head. "No, he was serious. I investigated Ganache after we finished our previous mission for him, and found out that he was the founder of Avenir, which means he must have a cunning mind. Someone like him would definitely not joke about something as dangerous as Racoon City." He explained darkly, gritting his teeth behind his Mask. He could only hope that Ganache hadn't gone as far as he thought he did with regards to that topic.

From behind them, IF looked to the back of the male's head, her eyes filled with resolve, yet underneath there was a nervousness that ate away at her resolve. She may not have been at this incident, but just from the posture of her companion, the brunette could tell that this was serious, more so than Ganache having betrayed them. "How bad was it back then?" she asked him.

"Well…"

BEPP-BEEP-BEEP!

The motion Tracker went off as dozens of red dots appeared on it. Nico's lone eye widened in horror as he realised what just happened. "Everyone, stop!" he called out, getting the girls to halt suddenly. Because of how sudden his shout was, or perhaps it was lady luck toying with them, Compa tripped on a piece of risen ground, a squeal escaping from her lips as she tumbled into Noire, officially starting a game of dominos that resulted in them forming a dogpile on the ground.

'Ugh, if this was Racoon city…'

As they all got to their feet, each rubbing sore spots on their bodies, they all gave him looks of varying emotions. Before anything could be asked like the reason why he had disrupted their leisurely walk, why they would think that with the situation like this being up for debate, their answer soon arrived… in the form of many hands bursting out the ground.

"Kyaaaaaaa!"

"Oh no! it's the apocalypse, Compa! The apocalypse is upon us! I blame you for this Noire!"

"Shut it Neptune!"

The girls, save for IF, glared at each other before they returned their gazes towards the hands, which had already began bringing their bodies out of the ground to leave holes in it. In moments, their indignation was replaced with horror, when they saw a horde of 40 humans standing around them, each of them groaning and snarling like animals. There was an immediate discoloration and rotting of the skin compared to normal people, causing them to look grey and dying, some of them even showing what looks like bruising or skin damage. Their eyes were a pale green, with a bright red colouring around the outer edges of the iris. Each one wielded a weapon, some wielded Fire Axes, others wielded Cleavers while a rare few wielded Assault Rifles.

"Wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-what is THIS?!" Neptune shrieked as they all got their weapons ready. She had to use Murasama to block one of them from belching a large spit, which hit Murasama's blade. Electricity constantly sparked from the weapon, originating from where the spit had latched onto the blade. "Eh?! My blade is electrifying!"

Nico cursed, gritting his teeth as he pulled Ebony and Ivory out of his hip holsters once they appeared there, crossing them in front of him as he began firing at the Zombies as they shambled and stumbled towards them. "Everyone, back-to-back! These ones seem to have the ability to utilise their basic instincts!"

Everyone quickly obeyed his order, seeing as he was the most experienced of them when it came to these Zombies. They each turned their backs together before stepping back till they formed a Circle in the middle of the path. The Zombie Horde advanced, groaning and snarling like vicious vipers. "Anything else we should know about these guys?!" IF called to Nico from her spot in the circle.

"1: Don't let em grab you, it's hard to get loose otherwise. 2: Don't let them even scratch you or you'll become one of them. And 3: Best way to kill them is removing the head or destroying the brain." Nico replied as one of the Zombies wielding a Cleaver suddenly lunged at him, for Nico to bash it on the head with one hand, before firing Ebony into its skull, blowing it to bits.

Compa hummed at this information as she gulped back some of her saliva. "Okie-Dokie, Ni-Ni!" she called out as she fired on several Zombies, keeping them away from her. One of them managed to get close however, so she batted it away with her Syringe before firing on its head. 2 more jumped at her, but she ducked under them, stabbing one through the chest while elbowing the other. They were then swiftly dealt with when Nico aimed Ivory over his shoulder and blasted their heads off.

These short battles incited the horde into a frenzy, their groans and snarls becoming screeches and roars as they ran at the group from all angles. They were like a human herd of bulls, stampeding across the ground thunderously towards them, eager to rip them apart and feast on their entrails.

Neptune puffed some air out her nostrils as she transformed, becoming her HDD self as she readied her sword to face the upcoming horde. "So basic rules for Zombie killing then, got it." she commented, swiftly decapitating one of them before kicking another in the side, knocking it down. "CROSS COMBINATION!" Neptune quickly activated one of her Skills, aiming each slash at the head of the Zombies. Much to her surprise some of them had the foresight to sway out of the direction of her Sword when it came to them, though she managed to decapitate a few regardless. "It appears they have intelligence. Intelligent Zombies… that's new."

"Something tells me that Avenir has a hand in this, if what I fear is true." Nico commented from his side as IF and Noire kicked and slashed away at their adversaries.

The blackette's instincts made her suddenly duck to avoid a shot fired at her by one of the Zombies, which lazily aimed its Assault Rifle in a swinging arc. Noire growled as she ran towards it. "LACE RIBBONS!" Activating her Skill, Noire swiftly dealt with the Zombie, the end slash decapitating its head. She found it easy to cut through them with this HF blade, which both amazed and irritated her. Amazed because of how lethal it could be on the battlefield, and irritated that it took Planeptune's theft and developers to complete the technology.

IF quickly double kicked one, twirling around to block another from slicing at her with its cleaver. She then jumped to the side to avoid another as it swung a Fire Axe, hitting its brethren instead. Neither of them reacted, it didn't even look like they had noticed at all. "Tch, these guys may be easy to kill, but their numbers are proving to be a real annoyance."

More beeps came from his Motion tracker, making Nico curse even more. "Well, get ready IF because your gonna wanna strangle Avenir. We have more company." He told her from his side as, through the shambling Zombies, more began to rise out the holes, groans and moans turning into mad screams and roars. It was honestly grating on everyone's nerves, though some of them focused more on other things than their obvious annoyance.

"Uh Oh, more of them are coming!" Compa cried as she quickly activated her COMPA LOVE HEART Skill, decimating multiple Zombies at once. She spun around and batted another away, before a call from Noire told her that she had nearly been pulled out of their defensive circle. "Whoopsie." She eeped as she jumped back, firing on nearby Zombies that tried to grab her.

Neptune took to the skies above, glaring at the reinforcements as they joined the main horde. "Worry not, Compa. I shall deal with these creatures myself." She proclaimed as she took a stance. Though there was something… familiar about that stance that the Party couldn't help but notice.

'Neptune, did you…?'

While Nico and the others thought that, the zombies seemed to collectively look up with 'o' shaped mouths like they were trying to go 'huh?'. The purple haired swordstress either didn't see it or ignored it as a grin spread across her features. Her blade's edge became coated in purple trails of energy from the base of the blade, much like a certain massive eye-sporting sword in a certain someone's possession. "Tastes some bullet hell, you monsters!"

With her weapon fully charged, Neptune swung it downwards in an overhead arc. During the swing to the end of it, dozens of long, small energy rays exploded outwards., spreading across the air before falling onto the Zombie horde. They never knew what hit them as every time a beam met them their bodies were vaporised, with nothing left of them behind. Everyone gaped at the use of such an attack, as it reminded them of one other time when they saw that technique being used.

"Hmph! Surprised?" Neptune remarked while heaving her sword onto her shoulder, her smirk widening slightly at the astonished looks on the faces of her Party. "Well then you'll love this." Lifting her sword off her shoulder, Neptune reared back before thrusting it forwards towards a large portion of the horde. She watched as the energy trails shot from her blade and hit the space between the Zombie horde. They gathered quickly, forming a spiralling sphere the size of an average adult, before it exploded into a flurry of purple winds, completely shredding through the Zombie masses.

One tried to aim its Assault Rifle at her, however Neptune quickly noticed it and evaded the rounds that were fired at her with impeccable reflexes. She then gathered energy into her hand and thrusted it forwards, shooting a large energy sphere towards the Zombie, which vaporised it like her energy ray attack earlier.

"Iffy, those attacks…" Compa whispered, turning her head to look at the brunette with shocked realisation on her face as she remembered the last time she saw such attacks.

It seemed that IF had figured it out as well, considering how her eyes lit up in understanding and narrowed. "Yeah, they look like Nico's attacks when he's in that DPU form." She analysed, thinking about the homing ray attack that Neptune did. "Although I never saw him do it, I bet that Energy Sphere thing, as well as that explosion of winds, were based off his attacks too, attacks Nico never used in that battle." She remarked as she tried to figure out how Neptune could have learned such attacks after seeing them only once.

Noire shuddered as she remembered that battle, that battle where she saw for the first time how destructive and deadly Nico could be when he transformed. "Yeah, I can see that happening." She remarked, while she also stared at Neptune with… melancholy? 'Neptune… in that form, she always did have keen insight and battle prowess. Seeing attacks like that in HDD would be like her reading up on something. It makes sense that Neptune can perform such attacks after seeing them once. Though this time she's expanded upon it.' Noire thought as she reminiscence on old memories.

Nico saw this, and his eye narrowed. 'Looks like that talk will be happening soon…'

Finally, they managed to deal with the rest of the Zombie horde, which didn't disperse when they were defeated so the girls got a full exposure to the horrid smell of rotting corpses and decaying flesh. "Ewww, so gross!" Compa cried as she covered her nose with her hand. Noire and IF were better off as they just cringed or grimaced at the smell, both for their own reasonings.

Neptune, after returning to human form, hopped up to them with a pair of tissues in her nose like when one would suffer a nosebleed. "What? What you guys cringing at?" she asked, tilting her head in an innocent manner. both IF and Noire glared at her while Compa pouted, puffing her cheeks out. Neptune was lucky to have those tissues, otherwise they would have done the same.

Nico however, didn't focus on any of this. He was too busy staring down at the corpses that they had just killed. Well, the ones Neptune didn't vaporise that is. 'This… this is a tragedy… a tragedy I swore not to let happen again as long as I lived…' he thought, gritting his teeth behind his Mask and narrowing his lone eye. Nico bit back a curse, knowing that cursing wouldn't solve the issues that had aroused inside his mind, issues that plagued him currently. 'What I don't get is how these guys used weapons. albeit not very good, but still it shows that they retained their intelligence…' he thought as he began scanning the Corpses with his right Bracer.

'What's more, their movement patterns were different compared to those at Racoon City. The running wasn't something the T-virus Zombies could do, at least for as long as these ones did.' he thought while kneeling before the corpses. He then remembered what had happened to Neptune's Murasama. 'And that acid ability is also a new one. My hunch that Avenir is involved with this is getting stronger…'


Sounds of groans and moans could be heard in the distance, making the Party dread having to go through there as Compa moaned in dismay. "Aaah… There's so many monsters here…" she whispered under her breath with a whimper. There was going to have to be lots of fighting soon, she could feel it.

Neptune went and applied some meta logic. "They keep spawning like some military game!" she groaned in annoyance, her Murasama still covered in some remnants of that acid, though the electric currents were dealing with it. She wasn't as worried as the others, albeit she was still worried. However, with the use of those techniques she learned to replicate from Nico's usage of DDD, Neptune felt confident about their chances. She then hummed and put an index finger under her chin as she mused thoughtfully. "But, um, spawning from the ground's a new one. never seen something like that before."

IF hummed as she pondered this information. Like Nico, she too was suspicious about the number of monsters that were in this Factory. "Odd… Even if this was a monster's nest, this is way too many." She told the group as they neared the end of the path. Fortunately, they stopped and hid behind a pillar, seeing that the open area it led to was teaming with moaning and groaning Zombies, each of them shambling about like soulless husks.

'That could be a problem…' Nico thought to himself as he observed the Zombies. There were a couple new ones that he could see there, some of which he had recognised from the Racoon City Outbreak. One of those would be the Doberman-based creatures called the 'Cerberus'. He saw them as Doberman breed dogs, with necrosis on parts of their bodies, showing the muscle and bone beneath the flesh. Their eyes were pure white, because the virus had destroyed their ability to see in exchange for sharpening their other senses. Fortunately, the groans of the Zombies masked much of their presence from them.

Another type he saw was a really… obese one, but no less horrific. It had the same skin tones and general appearance of a Zombie, but its body was larger, and fatter, than the others. It moved slowly, groaning with its bloated head and various patches of blood on its body. Nico had no idea what that was, but for now he'd designate it as a 'Whopper'.

There was also one type that could be considered enormous. It stood at 30 ft tall, with a bipedal humanoid appearance. It had disproportionately long arms, and an overdeveloped bone structure; seen in its legs, hips, and jaw. Nico also noticed that there was a large, rod-like device that likely went to its internal body structure and protruded slightly from its back. 'On basic observation, this thing may possess impressive strength. It'll likely employ a wide range of crushing attacks, from stomping, smashing, or accidentally falling on its targets. That's what I'd think anyways, as for a designation, 'Ogroman' would be appropriate since it has a large height and stature associated with the fantasy-like ogre species in fairy tales.'

Like the other girls, Noire shivered in revulsion at the Zombies, particularly the Whopper and Cerberus ones, while she sweated slightly at the thought of dealing with the Ogroman. "Could it be possible Avenir gathered them here to finish us?" she asked in a hushed whisper, so that the enemy wouldn't notice their presence if they didn't notice while they were slaughtering all those Zombies.

"Yeah, I think that's very much the case." Nico responded, his eyes fixated on the Ogroman as he drew confused looks from the others "These creatures aren't like the ones I fought in Racoon City. Either someone upgraded the T-Virus, or this is another Virus altogether, one much more dangerous. My scanner's almost done, but I can still recognise some of these creatures. Remember, Avenir had a rivalry with Umbrella, so it would make sense to steal some of their tech especially when they were about to be disbanded.

The thought that Avenir had dug its hands into Umbrella's viral research was not a comforting one, especially if it was full of manipulative assholes like its founder Ganache. And if that was the case, how much would Avenir have taken? Likely they took everything they could before the authorities could claim it, for whatever reason they didn't know yet. They would believe Nico's word as he was not one to make stuff up, and he had good points to put across.

Turning back to the open area, IF scrunched her face in disgust. "Even if that was the case, how? How can you herd monsters of this number?" she asked them, stressing some parts of her sentence as she gestured to the large number of creatures there. However, when she saw the face their resident male member was making, IF felt like she didn't want to know the answer, as a particularly disturbing train of thought was formed in her mind.

"I guess so…" Noire muttered, although she too was thinking along the same lines as IF and Nico. Just entertaining that thought was enough to make her want to throw up her lunch, but she refrained. For one, it would alert the monsters to their position, and two it was unladylike to do so. But still, this didn't change the fact that she was going to destroy Avenir after this.

Neptune hummed in thought at this information, though she didn't think the same as the others considering her lack of experience in situations like these. Though when she looked down, Neptune noticed something that made her eyes widen in recognition. Quickly she picked it up and grabbed IF by the shoulder, swiftly pulling her a safe distance from the end of the corridor. "Hey, Iffy. Look what I found! This isn't what I think it is, is it?"

While slightly miffed about being pulled around like some cart carrying some baggage, IF had to admit it was a decent idea since they didn't want to be detected by that horde. It was larger than the one they fought earlier by a wide margin. So, she pushed her feelings aside and looked at what Neptune was literally shoving into her face. "This is… an enemy Disk! Where did you get it?!" she shrieked with a hushed tone of voice. How the hell did Neptune find something like this, when they didn't, again?!

The preteen pointed to a wall, where a suspicious looking indentation had been made. "Oh, I found it in that wall. Do I get a prize for finding it?!" she asked her excitedly, almost forgetting to be quiet though Nico's glare was a sure way to remember. "I'll take… Ohhhh… 10 puddings!" she decided after crossing her arms and closing her eyes to think about what she would want for her 'prize'.

"Um, no."

As IF mercilessly shot down the Nep Plane, sending her into a pouting mess, Noire looked at them in interest as she saw the Disk that they were talking about. "What are you two talking about? What's this about a Disk?" she asked them. Something old her that she had been missing something important, and for someone like her that was not something she could ignore.

Turning to her, IF held up the Disk, though not shoving it in her face like Neptune had done to her. She was not that petty. "This looks like a normal Disk, right?" she asked the blackette, getting a confused nod from her. IF's smile widened slightly as she shook the arm holding the Disk lightly. "Well, it's a monster generator." There, IF dropped the bomb on Noire.

And Noire exploded, right on cue. "What?! Seriously?! If so, that's an amazing discovery!" she exclaimed in shock, awe and amazement as she took the Disk herself and examined it like a Scientist would a new specimen. Her eyes shined with intrigue as she did this, making her look akin to a curious child examining a new toy.

Compa watched her examine the Dis, and couldn't help but frown in confusion at such a reaction from the blackette. When they had found one the first time, their reactions hadn't been as… extreme as Noire's. they were extreme yes, but not as much as Noire's was. "Is it really that amazing?" she questioned.

Noire looked up from her examining of the Disk and stared at Compa like she had asked something stupid, as in Neptune's level of stupid. "Yes. It's been 3 years since the Monster Population spikes started to happen. Each Land is trying to figure out the source, but none found one yet."

After explaining it to them, Neptune thought of something, something that made her eyes shine with many small stars in them. They knew that look, it was the look she got when she was thinking about something drastic. "If we disclose this, could we be famous?! Can you imagine all the Paparazzi storming in fore picture shots and stuff?! We'll be rich! I'll make a pool full of pudding! Mmm… pudding…" Neptune ranted, wild fantasies invading her mind as she was left as a drooling mess at the thought of her favourite desert.

This girl had an addiction, Nico swore this to himself mentally. 'I'm getting worried for her sanity…'

"Nep-Nep, you might want to wipe that drool from your mouth…" Compa said with a weak smile and a sweat drop at Neptune's behaviour. Even knowing her for as long as she had didn't make her immune to Neptune's antics. She doubted she'd ever be fully immune to it all, since Neptune was just that way. She was so random at times, that one could never predict what she might do next.

Noire then put her hands on her hips as she gave them all a stare. "Did you let Lastation's CPU… no, the Basilicom know?" she asked them. This was ground-breaking knowledge here, it may not explain the cause for so many of these creatures since they were far from the norm, akin to Abnormals, however it would explain the monster population spikes that have been happening.

Unfortunately for her, she forgot one crucial detail about the Basilicom, one which IF reminded her with her dry response. "We were going to, but we were pretty much kicked out without a chance." She explained, remembering that day well. She supposed that it was a twist of fate, that moment had not only defined a bit of Nico's character, but also started this mess with Avenir in the first place.

A part of her wondered what would have happened if they didn't go to the Basilicom, but scrapped the idea.

Noire paused, before scolding herself for forgetting the state that the Basilicom was in right now. If Avenir was running it like they were, then they wouldn't have gotten a chance to explain it to the CPU in the first place. "I see…" she muttered, trailing off as she thought about this information. 'They did say that an unruly bunch had arrived at the Basilicom asking to meet with the CPU, but still…'

"Iffy, what should we do with it? I can crush it in slow-mo if you'd like." Neptune offered to the brunette as she gestured to the Disk, which had been handed back to her by the blackette before she lost herself to her thoughts.

IF levelled a stare to the purplette. "This isn't a music video or anything…" she remarked, before shaking her head and deciding what to do quickly. "Let's just hurry up and break it." she stated bluntly, with a tone the indicated no argument would sway her. Not that they would want to anyways.

Unfortunately, just as IF raised her foot to break the Disk after she threw it to the ground, a bright flash came from it as several monsters, 2 Bits that looked akin to the Recon Drones Nico used, and a larger robot that had the shape of an ice-cream cone and a series of wings behind it, appeared before them. Fortunately, the flash didn't incite the Horde's wrath, which meant they would have to deal with this quickly.

"Oh, how cliché. Monsters appearing just when we're going to break it." IF remarked with a scoff, before switching her Qatars out for her Pistols. She quickly took out from her inventory and put silencers on them, much to the confusion of the preteen which prompted her to explain before she could give one of her random comments. "It's a silencer, we don't want the Zombies ahead to hear us, do you?"

Neptune hummed in understanding, seeing the logic behind that move. Then, she gave her a disappointed glare as she gestured to the Monsters. "See, Iffy? What you said prior must have triggered a flag!" Just then, more Monsters appeared, and these one looked like Dogoos with Tentacles on them, much to Nico and the girls' unified ire. "Oh great! Now we got some other odd-looking ones here!"

Noire released a frustrated groan as she summoned her HF blade. "This is going to be a pain handling all of them." She remarked snidely, giving an accusing glare to the two girls who'd been about to break the Disk.

Compa got an idea and turned her head towards Neptune. "Nep-Nep, now's the time to transform!" she called out. In her mind, Compa thought that in HDD mode, Neptune would be able to deal with the monsters quicker. This thought was shared by the preteen, who nodded her head furiously before making to transform, when….

BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG!

5 Gunshots rang out, each one hitting the Monsters that had gathered before them and blowing them up on impact. Everyone looked to the source of the shots, seeing the dual Pistols Ebony and Ivory to be steaming at the tips. Their wielder, Nico, put one of them at his lips and blew, extinguishing the steam before repeating the process with the other one. He then noticed the stares that the girls were giving him, making him raise a brow. "What, it got rid of em, didn't it?" he responded incredulously.

His words snapped them out of their reprieve as Neptune became the first to comment on what just happened. And like in true Neptune fashion, it was childish and dramatic. "Oi, what gives Nicky! This was supposed to be where I become all cool-looking and take care of the enemies in one turn! Stop stealing my spotlight, Nicky!" she whined, flailing her arms about while looking mad that she couldn't transform anymore. Well, it was more like she had no reason to do so now, since there were no more enemies and fighting in HDD was more taxing on her stamina.

"Nep's logic aside, what Nico did, did do the job of destroying the monsters without getting the Zombie's attention, plus Nep isn't exhausted after transforming, so I'd say that should count as a win." IF explained to the others, trying to placate the preteen with hard facts. Though it served to calm her down, IF could still see that she was annoyed still. This made the brunette huff as she turned back to Nico. "Anyways, you have an idea how to take those things out?"

At her question, Nico looked at the Zombie Horde, then back down the way they came. It seemed to be straight and narrow, and those holes could serve as means to slow the enemy down if utilised correctly. Also, that big one would have to remain behind since the roofing was lower here than in the open area, so that would be where it would have to be fought. Soon, a plan started to fold together, and with a quick check on his Void Storage, he discovered that they had everything they would need. "Alright, here's the plan…"


The Zombie Horde was doing its own thing. The Cerberuses were sleeping at the back of the walls, the Whoppers were stepping about like the standard Zombies, while the Ogroman was looming overhead like a prison warden watching his charge. This ominous, oppressive atmosphere was like a stained-glass window, which was shattered into tiny pieces by a grenade, a basketball sized one with dozens of smaller grenades and shrapnel strapped to it, thrown into the centre of their ranks. They only had seconds to go 'huh?' before the grenade exploded, followed by a trail of explosions that sent the shrapnel flying, shredding through the Zombies like tissue paper and damaging the Whoppers. The Cerberuses, while not in range of the blast, jumped awake with a startled manner, howling in displeasure at being awoken so rudely.

They realised though that explosion meant there was flesh nearby. Flesh meant food, and food meant hunger.

In an instant, the horde turned into a wild frenzy of limbs, maws and shrieks as they charged down the corridor that the grenade had come from, the Cerberuses quickly taking point in front of the horde. Not a ¼ of the way though, did something go wrong.

BOOM!

Several Cerberuses fell victim to landmines, their paws clicking on them and triggering their explosions. Their forms were splattered everywhere, some hitting other Zombies causing them to fall to the ground. Some missed other Landmines, others were not so lucky.

Up ahead though, they could see something in the distance. It did not take long for them to realise it was man-made, which meant the living were near. Their hunger bolstered, the horde began to advance, running in without a second thought and thus resulting in the detonation of more landmines. As they crossed the Corridor, they didn't notice the heap of fallen Zombies ahead, so when they tripped and fell, more Zombies were killed by their own kind, having been flattened to the point where their brains were reduced to mush.

It was then, that the final barrier came into being, as up ahead the thing that they had spotted was not just a manmade object, but a barricade. And there were the girls plus their sole guy member, standing strong and using the Barricade to support their guns. But not just any old guns, no sir…

These… were MINIGUNS!

All of them were lined up, using the Barricade as a means of cover and support for those who didn't have that much physical strength. By the time that the Horde had begun to recover from their unexpected topple, the Miniguns were spinning around, loud whirring sounds filling the air which filled the Zombies with a sense of dread, even though they didn't seem fazed by te sensation.

And then, with a victorious grin behind his Mask, Nico pulled the trigger of his Minigun first. "Alright ladies, let's bring the pain!" at once, a hailstorm of bullets came flying at the Zombies who had no time to react to their sudden offensive. They got shredded, turned into paste by the constant onslaught of bullets from the Miniguns. Limbs went flying, blood was splattered everywhere. It was a bloodbath.

The Whoppers made to take point, considering their obese appearance they should have been able to endure so many bullets. However, even they were unable to truly endure the bullet hell that had descended upon them for long, their forms stumbling back before they fell to the ground with dozens of holes in their bodies, their brains nothing but shredded remains as they groaned their last.

"This is freaking insaaaaaaane!" Neptune shrieked over the sounds of their Miniguns revving it up to maximum. She had chosen to use the Barricade as support while standing on top of a crate she'd found, while keeping her legs spread apart for better balance. "DAKKA-DAKKA-DAKKA-DAKKA-DAKKA-DAKKA-DAKKA-DAKKA-DAKKA-DAKKA-DAKKA-DAKKA-DAKKA-DAKKA-!" She kept imitating the sounds made by what she was firing with a massive grin on her face. Clearly, she was enjoying being a badass with a Minigun. When the hell did she find and put on a pair of gangster shades while she was at it?

Must have been one of Neptune's 'Neptunisms': basically little quirks the Preteen had. And she had a LOT of them.

Laughing over the gunfire, Nico shouted over to her. "Insane is fun, Neptune! Less DAKKA and more pulling that trigger, missy! Hahahahahaha!" Nico exclaimed. He had chosen to stand at the side with his hands perfectly holding the Minigun without need for support. The girls had opted to use the Barricade for support since they weren't used to the weight of these babies. Like any proud male, Nico had a thing for some big guns. He never got the chance to use them though because Neptune, no matter how outlandish she was, was still the leader. She would charge in with sword in hand, with them following suit, so he never got the chance to use them lest he want to cause friendly fire.

"Where the hell did you find all this?!" IF shrieked over the gunfire. She had meant everything from the Landmines, to the Miniguns they were using to reduce the horde to nothing but smears on the ground. While she was never really one for guns, favouring her Qatars hence why she only had a pair of pistols as secondary weapons, she did have to admit the feeling of mowing down her enemies with a barrage of hot lead, felt just as satisfying as cutting them down a peg.

Noire had to admit as well as she filled the enemy with lead. "It does seem like an odd coincidence that you have all this gear! Where the heck did you find it all?" she yelled as she watched the Zombies' demise. The sound of gunfire practically near melted her eardrums, but fortunately for her Nico had supplied them with some earplugs to drown out the noise.

"You'd be surprised on what loot you can get when you visit Monster Nests. Now, let's finish them off then go for the big boy!"


After they had finally finished killing off the Zombies, the girls stopped firing their Miniguns, their weapons slowly grinding to a halt, steaming through constant use. Some of them had been overheated during the barrage, but fortunately they had been able to get around that problem by switching up who made the barrage and covered for those that were cooling down.

"Whelp, that's the last of them." Nico mused while manipulating his Bracer, sending every item still in play: the Miniguns and their ammo, the Barricade pieces, any Landmines that were missed, as well as the earplugs since they didn't need those right now.

Afterwards, the male looked to his left Bracer, and saw that the scanning of the Zombies had been completed. "Huh, looks like the scan's done. Alright, let's see what we got… hmmm… Okay, girls remember when I said Avenir likely has been tampering with the virus? Well, here's proof." He told them.

IF held a hand up, stopping him from speaking. "We can discuss that after we take care of that big guy, can't we? It's likely not gonna take this defeat lying down." She reasoned, making the male pause and think about her words. He soon realised she was right, and nodded in acceptance about her reasoning.

With that out of the way Neptune flipped into the air, rolling through it like a dive bomb, before landing perfectly like an athlete would after a high jump before turning to the others. "Alright ladies, and Nicky, we gotta job to finish, we did well so far, so let's keep it up! Lllleeeeeeets get ready to RUUUMMMMMMMMMBBBBBBLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEE!"