Chapter 28 - A light within the Darkness

"Hmmm…" a voice hummed as the owner stood atop a tall building in Lastation, overlooking the surrounding streets below, which were abuzz with commotion. What were once civilian-filled streets, now looked like they were ready for war on a large scale. Barricades dotted the streets in strategic positions, buildings were fortified to make them look like bunkers, with their occupants being soldiers who wore black combat gear with silver highlights. They were armed with various assault rifles submachine guns, as well as side arms that included combat knives, pistols or shortswords. The ones with shortswords had medals on their uniforms, signifying their ranks as higher ranking officers of Lastation's military.

More soldiers, operating in squads of 6 with a single commander patrolled the streets, with a Tank escort. These Tanks had black colours to signify their CPU, but with silver highlights like the Officer's combat gear. These Tanks would patrol the streets with squad escorts around them, ever vigilant against this looking threat they were about to face.

If anyone else had sent them the warning, then they would have laughed it off. However, because it came from HIM, their response was different.

Lastation's military remembered HIM, and what he had done for them in the past. Officially, he was one of many Spec Ops that aided them in that hellish time known as Racoon City. Unofficially, he was a well-worshipped war hero, nearly as popular as the CPU herself. Although with Avenir around, they only worshipped him in secret. That was why when HE came to them with a warning of an impending attack, well, they were quick to respond.

The owner watched all this happening from it's perch on the building, overlooking the streets. The owner was shrouded by the shadows of the sun, so whether it was male or female was up for debate. However, the tones and sounds of the owner's voice was a giveaway to the femininity of the person. The person looked like she was looking at her phone, holding the bottom of something strapped to her waist. "It appears that DEATHSTROKE was right." she muttered, her voice softer than silk, but like roses, it had a deadly set of 'thorns' behind it in the form of an icy chill in it's undertone.

"You know, its sorta weird, why didn't we expect those Avenir assholes to be any better than Umbrella?"

A masculine voice spoke through the intercom that was placed in her ear. The voice was slightly droned thanks to the intercom, but one could tell that the voice's owner held distaste for the company that they were discussing. "Though, I guess I can't blame the guy for not realising this sooner, since things back then were… complicated."

The womanly figure hummed again in confirmation as she looked out towards the direction of the factory Nico and the girls were sent to. She could understand the masculine voice's frustration all too well, for she too despised the outcome of that horrible Outbreak. Mentally, she had prepared herself, or so she hoped, for the possibility of a repeat performance. "I do believe we agree, FALCON. What is your report?" she asked him. Her voice once melancholic and calm, turned cold and hard in an instant, like an experienced war veteran.

"Yes ma'am, an unidentified target is approaching the North-Western District, the same District Mrs Chian's factory is located. Its moving slow though, because it's got Ganache with it. He appears to be giving orders to the robot while talking on the phone." The Masculine voice on the other end of the com channel replied, his voice just as cold and hard as the womanly figure's. that tone meant they needed to be professional, and if anything, they were excelled at being professional while on the job.

Pondering this information for a moment, the woman then requested of him. "Can you get a better visual of what it is he is transporting? We should know what we're dealing with."

"Roger that, moving into position. I cannot get too close, otherwise that thing could detect me. It looks like it has long-range sensors, unfortunately."

A simple nod was all she responded with. With that, the womanly figure raised her hand to her ear and pressed on the intercom, disconnecting from the channel. She then lowered her hand and looked out into the distance, now in the direction of the North-Western district. She had no illusions about being able to defend it completely, judging from what her scout had reported to her earlier, this would be an amount to a full-scale assault. Likely they already have a cover story ready for the fallout afterwards, organisations have the tendency to do that.

The hand on the item strapped to her waist clenched tighter on it, a sense of tension filing her that matched the unease in the air. She knew that this would end badly, civilians may have been evacuated to the underground shelters, but that didn't make any illusions of their safety form in her mind. She knew well from experience that plans don't tend to go the way you want, and something in her gut was telling her this was one of those times. It was fortunate that the Military was able to occupy this much of Lastation, what remained had been on the Basilicom's payroll, thus they would only follow their orders. Right now, Lastation's military was at... 40% efficiency. They would have limited air support, the soldiers here were low on morale given that they were protecting goons like Avenir and the Basilicom, whom had been terrorising them for several years.

Nevertheless, she had been in worse holdouts.

Her hair was blown back by the wind that brushed past her, hitting her face with its breeze. Although this didn't deter her in the slightest. There would be bigger fish to fry, and things would be much worse, hellish even, soon enough, making the wind out to be some minor inconvenience. Fortunately, the rest of her team would arrive soon, and then they would aid in Lastation's defence.

'It's been a while since we saw each other, though. Ever since that mission in Deep Heaven we've been busy with our own assignments.' The womanly figure mused thoughtfully as behind her calm façade lay an underlying excitement to see an old comrade… and possibly something else, again. Unseen by anyone, a small smile crept onto her lips. 'Nico… we'll meet again soon enough. I can feel it.'


"Okay, this is getting ridiculous!"

"Tell us something we don't know iffy!"

BOOM, CRASH, SMASH!

"Well, how about this fucker's getting on my nerves!"

"Less talking more fighting, ladies!"

Back at the Factory, Nico and the others were busy focusing on taking down the Ogroman, which was proving to be a migraine-inducing affair. The Ogroman was not only strong, but its size was considerable and it seemed to have great defences. Whenever bullets would hit it, they would just bounce off it like they were hitting reinforced steel, clattering uselessly onto the cold, hard, and unforgiving ground. They likely had the fact that it had overdeveloped skin to thank for that.

After Nico launched a PHANTOM WAVE, the male watched as his attack was swatted away like someone hitting a file with a fly swatter. 'Tch, looks like this guy knows how to play.' He thought. As an offhanded note, the male had the picture of this creature in a rugby uniform scoring tries by the dozens.

Neptune cried out as she quickly rolled to the side to avoid the creature's stomp. She got back to her feet using the momentum and glared angrily at the Ogroman, which ignored her as it focused on slamming its palms on her party members. "Oi, what's the dealie here?! Why the heck are we having so much trouble with this boss?!" she whined, before rushing towards the back of the enemy's heel. "We're the good guys, right? So shouldn't we have some kinda easy mode for our first time?"

IF managed to jump back to avoid a palm slam, then ran to it and jumped onto the back. The Ogroman didn't like that as it swayed its arm about like one who just got their finger caught in a mouse trap and was trying to shake it off. Only IF was the Mousetrap. She barely clung onto the hand as she was shaken about like a ragdoll. Eventually, she was thrown off with a cry, falling to the ground and landing on the nape of her neck, bouncing back several times before she stopped on her front. Groaning, the brunette struggled to her feet, while the looming Ogroman stomped to her and tried to pin her under its foot.

However, Noire managed to dive for her and grab the brunette, knocking both aside and out of its foot's way. As they got up, the two girls looked over to the ranting Neptune and growled in irritation. "You know you COULD help us, you know, by TRANSFORMING?!" IF cried out at the purplette with multiple veins visible on her head. "You were complaining about not being able to transform before, what changed?"

"Huh? oh, right! Whoops, sorry! No attacking while I'm-"

Before Neptune could turn into her HDD self, the Ogroman, seemingly in a surprising show of intelligence, managed to grab Neptune, shake her about a bit, before slamming her into the ground. It roared as it raised its fist to smash her, and Neptune wouldn't have been able to react in time had it not been for a series of demonic energy slashes from a certain Claymore. "What are you doing, Neptune?! This thing doesn't follow the norms of Gamindustri Monsters, you know!" Nico yelled from his position, before he jumped back to avoid a fist that would have crushed him under it.

Neptune made no notion that she had heard her fellow party member as she stood up, now thoroughly pissed off as she wordlessly transformed, becoming her HDD self, which flew up above the creature while it tried to fatten her again. "You will pay for interrupting my transformation sequence!" she yelled in anger, quickly focusing energy into her blade and swinging, firing a barrage of homing energy rays at the Ogroman. Each ray hit it on the mouth, torso, legs and shoulders. She followed up with a CROSS COMBINATION and a CRITICAL EDGE, chaining them together for higher damage.

The Ogroman roared in agony, stumbling back as wounds began to appear on its body where Neptune had cut it. Her eyes widened when she realised what this meant as she turned to the others. "Everyone, Chain your Skills, it seems that's the only way we can beat it!" just after saying that Neptune had to ascend suddenly to avoid a mad hand swipe from the Ogroman. Neptune then summoned several purple energy swords, a trick she hadn't used since the fight with that Banshee, before hurling them at it's face. They collided against the creature's cheeks, under it's mouth, and barely grazed it's forehead, almost like a set of rocks falling on top of it. She swiftly formed a few slashes and attacked its arm, seeing the skin manage to block her sword. Like she had said, it appeared Chaining Skills was the only means they had of damaging it.

"Even better, try to target that red rod-thing on the back of its neck!" Nico called out, pointing at said part of the creature's anatomy. It seemed to be the only area uncovered by the defensive skin, remaining nothing but a rod made from the flesh underneath the Skin, an apparent weak spot. However, the creature's height made it difficult to get to it without risking injury.

An idea sparked in his mind, and Nico nearly face palmed himself at his stupidity. 'Of course, how could I have forgotten that?! The Banshee Queen died from it, so we should do that too!' he thought to himself before breaking off into a sprint. The Ogroman was distracted by IF, Compa and Noire who attacked its lower body with their respective Skills while Neptune flew through the skies like a blurry bug, slashing through its upper body while trying to get at its weak spot, which it kept swerving about to keep it out of their warpath.

When he was close enough, Nico clenched a fist, focusing on his palm before jumping to the back of its right calve, slamming his palm on it before landing and using the momentum to roll away. He then had to side flip to avoid a foot when Neptune and Noire did a combination attack that sent it stumbling back, though it didn't fall over. Jumping back several times, Nico grinned in triumph behind his Mask as he raised Rebellion and stabbed the ground with it, forming a familiar Magic Circle. "CHAINS OF HEPHAESTUS!"

The Chains sprang forth, quickly restraining the creature which shuffled and struggled to break free. The Chains never slackened their grip though, just tightened instead. The Chains dug deep into its flesh, opening its wounds from the other attacks as it tried to break free to no avail. This lack of movement finally forced it to remain idle and exposed the weak spot they had been targeting. "There you go guys!"

"I thank you Nico." Neptune said, the purple haired woman smiling fondly down at him from her spot in the skies. She then raised her head and glared towards the direction of the chained-up monster. "Now leave the rest up to me." With a firm grip on her sword, Neptune crouched as she formed a panel below her feet. This panel propelled the woman forth in a burst of speed as her sword became engulfed in her energy, signalling the activation of her Skills.

She flew towards its face with her form akin to a bullet, and in one last ditch effort to stop her from getting at its weak spot, Neptune saw it lunge its head forwards, trying to get a bite out of her. However, the serious warrior queen spiralled her body out of its maw's path while it passed harmlessly by. She used the momentum to continue her journey towards its weak spot, and when she was close enough reared her sword back to unleash her strongest Skill right now. "CRITICAL EDGE!"

Her attack landed, and the monster roared in absolute pain as its body coursed with damaging energy. The energy travelled through its system, burning away at its insides till they were nothing but mush. The red object on its nape was destroyed by the hit, and the creature fell to its knees, motionless for a few moments, before it finally got toppled by its own weight and fell to the side, a loud THUMP being heard on its impact.

The battle was over… they had won.


As she saw the creature's dead form, Neptune slowly lowered herself to the ground, and by complete coincidence Nico was right beside her when she was just above the ground. She gave a weary sigh, slumping her shoulders in fatigue. "There. It is done… fighting that thing in this form is tiring…" the woman mused before she was engulfed in light, and a near-dead Neptune took her place. "Haaaah… I'm beat…" she muttered before slumping onto the male for support, said male quickly catching her in his arms.

'Damn, she must have expended a lot of energy in this fight… maybe we should give her some pudding…' Nico thought as he held the girl in his arms. She seemed to like the contact, given how she was snuggling in to make herself more comfortable. A soft smile was on her lips as she held him tightly with a dreamy sigh escaping not long afterwards. The male barely held in the heat that threatened to burst from his cheeks. He may be a badass Spec Ops Agent, but not even he was immune to the warmth of contact with another person. Humans naturally desired such contact, and he, while a DPU, still had the body and instincts of one, so he was no exception.

"… did someone say Pudding…?"

Hearing her words made the male blink in disbelief down at the girl in his arms, who seemed to be trying to get even closer to the warmth his body radiated if that were even possible. '… Did she read my mind? Glad then that she's too tired to figure out it was me otherwise she'll do stuff I don't even want to think about.' He thought, shuddering at what Neptune might have done if that was the case. She was random yes, but she could also go to extreme lengths when Pudding was involved.

The fight with the Hraesvelgr is one such example.

Compa pouted in jealousy at the preteen as she clutched onto her childhood friend. She didn't like seeing her so close to Nico, but she couldn't go over there and pry her away because, unlike before, she looked legitimately tired. So, she pushed her jealousy aside for the moment and patted the preteen on the head. "Good work, Nep-Nep, you were really great back there." She praised, before switching her gaze towards Nico, her eyes brightening at him. "You too, Ni-NI. You both were really cool."

After hearing her words and the embarrassed chuckle from the Spec Ops Agent, Neptune broke away from him and smiled goofily, grinning at the cream haired girl while suppressing the surge of disappointment inside of her at the lack of the warmth Nico's body provided. 'Man, this feeling sure is strange… usually this franchise is about cute girls only, this dynamic isn't something we're used to. The Author must be trying to make his Fanfiction unique if he pulled a near all-nighter trying to create new OC Designs that may pop up in a few chapters.'

"Heh-heh, really? Well, now I have another reason to transform."

IF rolled her eyes at the sight. To her, Neptune nearly looked like a rocket with how her ego was being stroked. She may blast off into space and never come back down again. "Compa, don't flatter her too much. It'll get out of hand." She warned with a playful smirk, though her eyes cast a brief glance to the preteen as she noticed the slight tension between them. 'Huh… well, I guess this is a long time coming.' She thought, not saying anything.

Neptune turned and huffed at the girl while making a superhero pose. "Oh, come on. I was MVP back there, so go ahead, praise me." She bragged as she remembered dealing the fatal blow to the Ogroman. "Or you could pamper me if you don't want to praise me. I can take either."

Nico rolled his lone eye at her attempts to make herself look cool. "Stop that, Neptune, if anyone was the MVP it'd be me. Who was it that came up with this plan? Who set up the proper equipment? Who restrained that thing so you could finish it off?" he asked her rhetorically. There didn't need to be an answer since everyone saw it, even the boaster herself.

The preteen made to respond, but no words came out. She tried to form one, but the points hit her in her head and made her realise that Nico was right. Neptune did the only thing she could think of at this moment, pout like a kid. "You're a meanie." Her pouty face combined with how adorable she looked made Nico chuckle in amusement, his eyes filling with mirth as he rubbed the girl's head.

"Well to be fair, you did take the monster down in the end, so props to ya on that one, leader." He told her, making the preteen beam happily as he rubbed her head affectionately. Was it just him, or did Neptune suddenly grow cat ears and tail while meowing like a cat?

"Hehehehehe, I got praised by Nicky."

"Your just like a kid in the strangest places, aren't you?"

"Hehehehehe…"

Before he could ponder this any further, IF changed the topic back to something important. "Anyways, I'm surprised Lastation had a monster infested place like this. Heck, those guys are still here." She remarked pointing a thumb behind her to gesture to the corpses that they had left behind. "Even that guy's here still, these monsters aren't normal. Even Abnormals vanish into Particles like normal monsters do."

It was truly a bizarre sight for those who grew up in Gamindustri. They are used to Monsters dying in a single manner, no matter the circumstances or the types of monsters that are encountered. Die bu disappearing into Particles, that was the norm in Gamindustri. However, these creatures, they defied that norm, which was honestly worrying the heck out of her.

"That's because they're not monsters, at least not in the typical sense."

All eyes were drawn to Nico when he said that. The male's face, from what the Mask didn't hide, looked grave, graver than normal as he brought up the information he had gained from Scanning the Zombies earlier, that he had been unable to share because of the circumstances. Is face honestly unnerved the girls right now, if something could unnerve someone like Nico, who had seen a lot of shit in his line of work, then it must be something pretty messed up.

"What do you mean, Nicky? Your face looks like its seen the nine levels of hell up close and personal." Neptune spoke, her face now losing its previous cheery persona, now replaced with a slightly nervous one as sweat rolled down her forehead. She wanted to make more random comments to lower the tension in the air, but the combined stares of Noire and IF told her not to.

Taking a deep breath, one that they noticed shook slightly, Nico calmed his racing heart enough to explain the situation to them, a situation that was likely more than they ever realised. "I scanned the Zombies earlier. They were made not with the T Virus, but another one that had greater control over the infected created. They are left with minor parts of their intelligence intact, enough to use various weapons like any normal person. But the hosts, they had to come from somewhere, right? Look at them, where do you think they come from?"

IF and the others glanced back at the Zombies, and it took them a moment to realise what he was saying. And Nico was right, judging by their expressions of horror and revulsion, that this revelation was more than they expected alright.

"Wait-wait-wait, hold on! Your saying that…"

"You're kidding…"

"Eh? Iffy, Noire why are you so shocked suddenly? Ni-Ni said that they had to come from somewhere, so… oh no… oh my goddess…"

"Eh? Eh? Come on gals, don't leave me hangin, what's the big reveal? I don't get it so say it in simple words for me, will ya?" Neptune exclaimed, now feeling utterly out of the loop. She didn't know what was going on anymore, having lost her train of thought when Nico didn't finish his sentence.

Neptune's simple-mindedness caused Noire to release a loud irritated groan as she face-palmed loudly, the sound echoing across the factory. "Neptune, those things were once people, not monsters! They didn't disappear because they were once normal people like in the games!" she yelled out, releasing her stress on the preteen.

"Eh? ... EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?!"

"Yeah, remember in games were the person dies, then gets brought back by a virus into a Zombie? Well, this is that, only in real life." Nico confirmed grimly, his mouth set in a firm line behind his Mask as he gripped his fists. Neptune could only stare at him with the matching expression of horror on the faces of the other girls, now she could realise the gravity of the situation. "Only, instead of Racoon City's T Virus, this one improves them in a manner that makes them unlike other Zombies. You could say that, in RPG logic, they levelled up."

The purplette's mouth opened and closed rapidly, her eyes blinking as she tried to regain her composure with her heart racing a million miles an hour. "G-Geez, this is getting really dark, real fast. Glad this is only a fanfiction not a real part of the franchise, critiques would be all over this." She remarked in the best way she knew how, making meta jokes. She then turned to the Ogroman, and saw that like the Zombies, this thing wasn't going bye-bye, and pointed at it. "What's the dealie with this one then? It doesn't look a thing like a human, but it's not going."

"Aha, good point, but easily explained. I assume Chian referred to the BOW's when she told you about Racoon City, yes?" he asked them, getting nods from the girls as they remembered the haunted look in Chian's eyes when she told them that story. Only, it was no story but a fact, a true tale that had reduced one of Lastation's Cities to mush. "Well then, it'll be simple to explain. This, girls, is a BOW. Apparently, it's a newer variant in this time of bioterrorism, but I guess we can call it an Ogroman due to its size and strength. This thing was made somewhere secret, and then kept here to be used for whatever means its masters saw fit." Nico explained, glaring down at the corpse. "I think we can all guess what that purpose was, huh?"

Everyone nodded, none of them had any words to say to that. They didn't need to, they were all on the same wavelength. This was their first time experiencing a fight against Zombies, creatures that don't disintegrate when they die. For the first time in their lives, they were glad that the monsters they usually beat died in the manner as they did, because killing these zombies had much more of an impact on them.

If this was what it was like in just a small factory, how could Racoon City have been? The horrors that the people had seen… suddenly, they all realised just how traumatic that must have been, it hit them faster than a bullet train. This horror, this carnage… Avenir had to pay, it had to pay dearly for what it had done here. Not only did they commit crimes violating anti-trust laws, but they performed some of the worst acts possible, not including human experimentation.

'One thing about this does still bug me though.' Nico thought through the silence that the Party was experiencing. ' I mentioned this once in a previous chapter, but back when Racoon City was still… around, there were lots of people working for Avenir, workers, janitors, engineers, among others. Now, work is done by machines and they still function at the rate they did normally. Machines are good and all, but how could they just fire so many people without it leaking to the internet? Something like that would have…'

A small pause came over him as an idea entered his mind. It was an idea he hoped to goddesses that wasn't true, but if it was, then Avenir was worse than Umbrella ever was. He barely stopped himself from becoming green at the horrific thoughts in his mind, and hoped to every deity in existence that what he was thinking hadn't happened.

If it had...

Meanwhile, the girls were going through some roller-coasters of their own. Compa and Neptune had similar thoughts, though, considering their mentalities being alike. They both had thought this would be a happy-go-lucky adventure, where they would meet people, fight bad guys and save the day, the typical plotline for this Franchise. This time however, things weren't so simple, things had gotten dark, darker than the dark night that took the skies every 7-8 hours.

IF had been a travelling Mercenary for a long time now, and she had seen some weird stuff in her life. From the oddest monsters, around to the people she associated with, IF had thought that she had seen enough to make her open-minded to anything. However, what she had just learned, what she now knew, it turned out to make the world seem a whole lot darker. She realised just how twisted and dangerous the world really was. She thought it was hard before, but now… now she was scolding herself for even complaining about it all.

Back then things were bad, but now… things had gotten a whole lot worse.

'This… this cannot be happening… is this what happens when humanity is left unchecked for so long?!' Noire frantically thought to herself, barely keeping herself from screaming everything to the world and sounding like an utter psycho, though most of her didn't seem to care at this point. 'We have fought in the Console War for hundreds of years, leaving humanity to its own devices for the most part… and this is what happens? I may have thought that the Console War was important, but now that opinion has greatly weakened! All but diminished!'

Noire had always prided herself on her ability to lead and protect this Nation. It was in her blood, it was her job and her passion. She had thought that by fighting the Console War that she was doing the right thing to her people, that she was helping them. Now though, that belief had been utterly crushed beyond hope of salvation. She felt bitterness creeping up her throat just thinking about the times when she was conflicted with herself in choosing Lastation or the Console War.

Stupid war seemed so trivial considering these horrors.

"If…" Everyone's eyes turned to Neptune, whose expressions looked oddly subdued, though they couldn't blame her. After what they had learned, they were barely holding it together themselves. "If there were so many monsters here…" She had her head hanging low, but when she trailed off the second time, she looked up at them, and they saw that her face was uncharacteristically serious. "You think they might be keeping something important here? Like a Key Fragment?"

IF cupped her chin, thinking about those words. Part of her wanted to hug and kiss Neptune right now for giving them something to distract from those recent revelations. "Hm, that could very well be possible, Nep, very much so." She said, nodding her head in confirmation.

Hearing the unfamiliar term, at least to her, Noire tilted her head in confusion. "Key Fragment? What's that?" she asked them. She hadn't heard of this item before, was it something important? Something told her it was, hence her inquiry.

Neptune looked at her surprised for a moment, until she bopped herself on the head as she realised something. "That's right, we didn't tell you yet, Noire. So sorry." She apologised, lowering her head in a bowing motion. She missed the weirded out face that Noire had made while she procured the Key Fragment from her Inventory, the item fitting snugly in her hand as she held it out before the blackette. "It looks like this… Noire, have you seen one before?"

Staring down at the item in her hand, Noire rummage her brain for any ideas as to what this was and if she had seen it before. However, she came up empty and shook her head negative before looking back into the preteen's eyes. "Never have… Why? Are you collecting these?" if someone like Neptune was interested in these, then they had to be worth something. Neptune wasn't the kind of person to go on wild goose chases willy nilly.

Neptune made a laugh like one who had successfully lured someone else into a trap. "Hahaha…! Glad you asked! It's to revive Histy and to save the world!" she proclaimed like some massive and holy adventure, which in a sense it was. Girl didn't need to be so dramatic about it though.

Noire stared for a long moment at the preteen, her eyes showing her thoughts about her right now before she turned to IF and asked what was on her mind. "Ah… um… IF? Is she… okay?" she questioned while raising a hand and poked herself in the noggin a few times.

The brunet heaved a sigh at this and remarked with a dry undertone. "A little too late at birth, I suspect." She said, tiredly. Although with the recent revelations IF couldn't blame the girl too much. She may be acting like she normally was but IF could tell by how her hands were shaking that she was still disturbed by what they had learned.

This obviously didn't sit well with Neptune as she glared at the two for insulting her mental state. "Hey! How rude! Even the docile me is angry now!" she bellowed with multiple tick marks as she made to stomp on over there, but Compa held her back resulting in her looking like a flailing mass of limbs.

Watching the girl for a few minutes in that state made a small smile break out onto IF's face as she gave an amused chuckle. "I'm just joking, Nep. We need them to release a tome named Histoire…" she told the blackette.

Nico then followed suit as he added on to her explanation. "Apparently, this Tome's job is to record history with the Goddesses, but has been sealed for a while. She asked us though some form of dream telepathy to help set her free by gathering these Key Fragments." Even now, Nico still had trouble getting rid of his doubts about the disembodied voice though. He likely would keep them until they see her for themselves, tough with someone like him who was cautious around normal people, it would make sense for him to not completely trust Histoire.

Noire digested this information, and almost instantly found this information to be suspicious and difficult to believe. She hadn't heard of this Histoire person before, and if she hadn't then the others likely hadn't either. That brought more doubt on the claims this 'Histoire' person's identity. "Who is this 'Histy'…? How does this person know more than me…?" she mumbled under her breath. She had put a fist under her chin and her other hand under her elbow, looking like she was thinking hard about an issue, which she was.

The knowledge that someone out there had more information than she did, knew more than she did, didn't sit well with her. Especially someone she didn't know about until just now. Nico said that this time had been sealed for a long time, which would make sense then as it would explain why they hadn't heard of it. However, her doubts didn't start there, but with the apparent connection with the Goddesses. None of them had heard of this tome before, and even if they did they likely wouldn't have thought much of it due to fighting for so many years.

"Hm?" She was so deep in thought that she didn't notice Neptune skip over to her and wave a hand in her face. "What's the matter, Noire? You got a bug in your mouth?" she asked her, moving to check her mouth.

However, Noire snapped out of it in time and batted her hands away before they could pry open her mouth. She wouldn't want someone's hands there, or anywhere else on her body. "Huh? Ah, no, I'm just mumbling to myself. Don't let it bother you." She waved it off, though inside her mind these thoughts still lingered. She mentally pushed them aside however, this wasn't the time to be pondering such information. That could come later when things weren't so chaotic.

Neptune hummed at this information, seemingly thinking hard about it while staring at Noire's face trying to put a hole in her brain. It made Noire shift uncomfortably, but before she could react Neptune bounced back with her usual happy grin on her face. "Oh, I thought you went nutty in the head with all the pressure, Noire. Well, if that happens, don't worry, I'm sure psychiatrists can help."

"You're the one who needs help in the head!" Noire shrieked as she began chasing a laughing Neptune to and fro. The others only stood there and watched the two squabbling like a bunch of kids, some of them, AKA Nico, having Popcorn out to share with the others. Although he made a note to visit the bathroom soon after this. Eventually, Noire stopped chasing her after she ran behind a sweat dropping IF, who stepped aside to show the preteen grinning still, like a Cheshire cat. She released a sigh while holding a hand over her forehead. "#SIGH# I can't believe how lax you're approaching all this…"

Compa giggled cutely, causing the black-haired girl to look forth in her direction with a raised brow, silently asking what was so funny about this situation. A question she was more than willing to give an answer to. "You're so friendly with Nep-Nep, Noire."

Her little observation quickly dissolved what little calm state of mind Noire had built in that short timeframe, her face quickly sporting a blush as she frantically denied what was said. "Wha?! Me? Neptune? Of course not! You've got to be kidding!" she screeched while waving her arms in front of her.

Nico watched her with a brow raised and no small amount of amusement in his eye at the girl's response. 'Girl, you're just digging yourself a hole, you tsundere…' it was times like this though, that the randomness that Neptune generated within the party was a blessing in disguise. Already he could sense that they were calming down from the recent revelations. The tension that he had created with his words had all but vanished as the mood lightened up considerably. It was one of the things he liked most about her.

Speaking of antics…

"SHOCKER!" Neptune stumbled back as if struck by lightning, an utterly shattered look falling onto her features at Noire's words. She placed her hand on her chest as if clutching a newly opened wound as she looked away from the blackette. "Ouch… I thought we were like war buddies and all. Friends above friends." She moaned while wiping a tear from her eyes. She gave off the impression of a heroine who had suffered a tragic fate in some form of love story.

In an instant though, her face morphs to one of realisation as she snapped her fingers like something had just came to her. "Wait!" She was then in front of Noire, leaning forwards with her hands behind her back, smiling cutely at her. "Maybe your affection towards me is one notch higher…" she put a pondering finger on her chin and hummed for a moment, before looking back at her with a victorious smile. "Like Love?!"

Afterwards, she bounced back and began holding herself while wiggling like a worm, refusing to meet anyone's gazes as she closed her eyes. "I, ah, didn't know… Um, I appreciate the feeling, but ah…" Neptune drabbled on, unaware of the reddening face of the blackette or the muffled snickers from Nico as he tried to suppress them by biting on his knuckles. "You know, I'm a girl, you're a girl… You know what I mean…"

'Not touching this one! Hehehehehe! Goddamnit Neptune, you just love teasing people, don't you?!' Nico shrieked in his mind as he struggled to contain his laughter. Now, while he could have just been a prude and told them to focus on getting out of this hellhole, Nico felt that would be too much of an asshole thing to do to these girls, so he had opted to remain quiet. Plus, his inner prankster was loving this scene before him, it reminded him of the times THAT guy would troll other people just for giggles, and when they would come to blows he would curb stomp their asses.

"But, if you REALLY want me, I guess I can… accept you."

"Pft!" Nico snorted as he lost the battle against the urge, and began chuckling hysterically as Noire's face was turning from rage to one of dread and horror at the thought of doing… that, with another girl. Especially when Noire went "BLEH!" while sticking her tongue out in disgust, shaking her head and shivering at the images of them doing that kind of thing. That was so wrong in her mind that she doubted millions of cold showers would be enough for it.

She then gave Neptune a rage filled glare as she shouted. "Are you stupid?! Love?! I don't even LIKE you!" she roared like a banshee, figurative flames spewing out her mouth which made Noire look like a she-demon or something. And they were literal Abnormals, too, scary creatures that reside in Leanbox. Hellish, and nightmarish to fight even for Spec Ops Agents like him.

Her words had little effect on the preteen though as she carried on her teasing of her. "Oh, come now. No need to be shy. You're so "Tsundere" and all."

Maybe she overdid it a bit as Noire got in close, pulling a page from her books and grabbed the preteen bu the scruff of her hoodie, glaring down at her as she pointed to her lips while the preteen showed no signs of being caught off guard. "Read. These. Lips. I don't like you!" she yelled in her face. "In fact, I think I hate you now!" upon seeing her face, Noire realised that her efforts were indeed pointless, and harshly released her while holding a hand to her forehead. She swore she was getting a migraine from all of this. "#SIGH# Why am I even arguing with you?! You three! Some help here?! And stop laughing!" she yelled at the spectators, before noticing what Nico was doing.

Compa smiled happily, and Noire thought that she would take pity on her for once. Those thoughts were soon dashed however, when her words came out. "Oh now, you really do like Nep-Nep after all."

IF rolled her eyes, both at Noire and at Nico's childish actions. "It's almost as if you two were meant for each other. Yin and Yang."

Finally, Nico managed to stop himself from laughing as he held his stomach, feeling a bit dizzy from the lack of oxygen in his lungs. "Sorry, sorry about that, but IF's right you know, you two seem to get along perfectly." He remarked, wiping a few tears out the corner of his eye.

Noire gave him the evil eye, making him turn his head away and whistle like a child trying to hide the fact that they had done something naughty, much to her provocation. Before Noire could act on her impulse to strangle the male, which would end badly for her, IF turned on her heel and began making for the opposite side of the area. "Well, let's find a way out. You girls can do whatever you want at the hotel."

"H-H-H-HOTEL?!"

"I-Iffy?!"

"Whoa girl, did not know you were into that stuff. You know what I'm not touching that one!"

"?"

The brunette's comment had multiple reactions to it, and not in the good kind. Noire's face literally became a furnace as images raced through her mind, images… not suited for children and would likely give grown men nosebleeds since they were into that sort of thing. Steam rose from the top of her head, as Noire's face did a fantastic job of operating like an oven. Ironically, her body was frozen stiff, unable to move because her brain was too scrambled trying to deal with the other issue first.

Neptune's face was akin to Noire's as well, red like a tomato as her normally cheerful teasing face became that of a lobster, images rolling through her mind at the insinuations that IF had unknowingly made. Her mouth opened and closed a second later, no words coming out to express her emotions right now.

Nico himself, backpedalled like he was close to an Abnormal, his posture defensive as he held an arm out in front of his face protectively. He tried so desperately not to think of Noire and Neptune in THAT kind of hotel. 'Goddamnit girl, now look what you've done, not only did you make a sexual innuendo, but you also made it look like we're going to a love hotel!' he shrieked in his mind while fighting off the… stimulating images in his mind as he became lost in between feeling aroused at the thought and being so utterly mortified by the woman's words.

And Compa, poor, sweet and innocent Compa remained clueless. Turning around, IF's face showed she was confused as she examined the Party. She saw their reactions to what she said and for a moment became concerned for their health, the idea that they had caught a cold not sitting well with her with the situation being as it was. Though she did take solace in the unlikelihood in which that scenario would be a thing, seriously how can 3 people get a cold at the same time? "Hm? What's the matter?" she asked them.

Her eyes soon became saucers however when she replayed what she said and gauged their reactions to it, realising that she had said something entirely different to what she meant. "… Huh? … Oh…no… No! Don't misunderstand me! I didn't say "do" whatever at the hotel in that sense! No, not at all!" she exclaimed, flailing her arms so fast they were like blurs, while she became flustered like they were as she tried to clear up the misunderstanding that was happening before her. 'Oh god, why did I say that?!' her thoughts became chaotic thanks to her flustered state.

IF's state made Nico come out of his stupor first as he cleared his throat awkwardly, looking to the side and not meeting IF's face right now as he didn't want her to see his red cheeks, he was sure they could be visible even with his Mask on. "Sorry girl, too late for that. Please, since we know what you like, find someone consenting and do it when we're not around."

"I know you're a guy, but you two as well?! You three have your minds in the gutter!" IF shrieked. Finally, Neptune snapped out of it and saw an opportunity, a golden one that her prankster instincts refused to ignore. The same grin she had for Noire formed on her face, this time aimed at another target. "Oh Iffy." She gushed with her hands over her cheeks as her eyes twinkled while they stared at her. "You're so C-U-T-E, blushing and all."

Noire, having snapped out of her stupor at the same time as Neptune, saw the situation and made to take advantage of it, as well as get some payback for her humiliation earlier. "Yes, you really are C-U-T-E." she teased with a small smirk, but the amusement in it was just as great as Neptune's grin. Compa, the sweet innocent angel that she was, didn't know what was going on before, but she could see why Noire and Neptune found IF's flustered state adorable like that, so she went and voiced her two cents. "Yes, C-U-T-E."

"Come, come now girls, it's not cute what IF said…" Nico began as he received a thankful look from the brunette. Noire and Neptune made to argue with him about the opposite of that, but they saw a gleam in his eyes that made them close their mouths and evil grins form on their faces. They realised what was coming, but IF didn't not even until it was too late. "It's KA-WA-IIIIIIIII!"

Before, IF's face was like a furnace, now with Nico's teasing grin and how his words caught her when her guard was down, made her face heat to supernova levels as she gave them betrayed looks. "You too, Nico and Compa?! S-Stop teasing me already!" she stammered, making her words seem weaker than they already were. She turned and ran off faster than they could track, which was likely her plan so she could forget about this incident forever, but not before grabbing the Disk from Noire and shattering it under her boot. "Th=The di-disk is already borken… no! Broken! Le-Le-Lets's g-g-goooo!"

After she ran off, leaving a smoke trail behind her, the quartet began laughing at the new side of IF that they had seen, it was so out of character for her that they couldn't help but find it hilarious. Nico's pretend rescue then merciless tease was just icing on the cake. Neptune regained her composure and wiped tears from her eye. "I didn't expect to see the cute, bashful side of Iffy there." She remarked, stifling a few chuckles. "I guess the plan worked fine, getting that side out. Nice work, Noire, Nicky!" she complimented the two while giving a thumbs up sign.

As expected, a Tsundere reply came from the blackette as she huffed and turned away. "I-I didn't do it for you or anything, you know?" she retorted, but couldn't help but smile in amusement at the memory of IF's face. It felt good that's he was not the only one Neptune teased anymore.

She would soon come to regret her words however when, to her horror, Neptune picked up on something, made some form of connection, and put on her troll face. "Ohoho?" she laughed like a dirty old man. "So, was that talk back there Noire's true desire…?" Now she was cursing that she had joined in on the teasing as she hurried along after the brunette in a manner that was akin to her. "Stop it already! Stop Joking and let's move on!" she yelled at them as her voice faded into the distance.

"Hahahaha, sorry. You're just fun to tease!" Neptune called out while waving at her as she turned a corner. A hand clasped itself onto her shoulder and she turned… only to gulp when she saw that Nico had unzipped the mouth of his Mask to show the evil smirk on his features as he spoke. "Well Neptune, could the same be said for you, too? You and Noire have been awfully close these last few days." He remarked teasingly, and watched with no small amounts of amusement as Neptune ran off without a response, though he did catch her face reddening like cherries.

Compa watched this go on as Nico laughed, zipped his Mask up before walking leisurely off after the girls, with a light spring on his step that indicated that his mood had significantly increased after this. "Nep-Nep and Noire are really great friends after all." She mused, before walking after him. "Ni-Ni too, it looks like he's loosening up, and letting his true self out a bit more."