Chapter 32 - Who called in the Cavalry?
Moving on foot through the hellish streets was much worse than driving through it on their Vultures, everyone realised. The reason for that was because they were constantly surprise attacked by a mix of Zombies, J'avos who would sometimes mutate into various other forms to slow them down, even a few old BOWs that Nico recognise from the Racoon City Outbreak, implying that Avenir had samples of the T Virus in their possession.
Yet another crime that they had to answer for.
"Ugh, these things are pests!" IF cried out as she pushed back what Nico had referred to as a 'Hunter' which was a BOW developed by Umbrella for the Racoon City Outbreak. Back then they had been all over the place, killing humans wherever they went. When they got out of hand they began killing Zombies also, displaying newer evolutionary traits like increasingly advanced healing when they cannibalised Zombie flesh, meaning that they grew stronger by eating other infected.
Hunters were human/Amphibian hybrid creatures that walk on 2 legs. They move with a Hunched back, and their bodies were covered with dark green reptilian scales, their undersides being a lighter green shade. Their main weapons were their hands, feet and mouth, as they had spiked ridges going from their heads down their hunched backs. Their eyes were yellow and slitted like a cat's, with their mouths filled with sharp triangular teeth. Their hands had 3 fingers and opposable thumbs, each ending in an elongated, curved talon. Their feet had 3 toes each and they had the same Talons.
They had found themselves within a barricaded park that had once been a small military outpost, but it was recently abandoned when a horde of Zombies overwhelmed the place. They were easy enough for the Party to dispatch, a few DEMON FLAMES Skills with some PHANTOM BLADES and COMPA LOVE HEART Skills later, they were cleared out. Though after that they were attacked by a bunch of J'avo with sickle arms and Zombies. This next fight had been slightly more difficult, but mostly because the J'avo were co-ordinating their attacks with the Zombies, taking advantage of their mindless, shambling states to use them as either shields or projectiles to throw them off their game.
They had been busy fighting them off when a pack of 30 Hunters ambushed them, taking the party while allying with the infected.
Those were what had attacked IF right now, causing her to spout that curse and insult. The Hunter growled as it jumped at her, trying to pin her down to the ground however she managed to roll out the way in time so it only hit air. She entered a spin and went for a slash to her opponent's back. However, her Qatars merely bounced off its scaled body like they were stones being thrown at a brick wall.
A small part of her wondered what would happen if she had better weapons and powers to fight these monsters?
"Go for either the heads or the unscaled areas! Those are their weak spots!" Nico had informed them before being beset by 6 Hunters and 2 Sickle-armed J'avos. Neptune had gone to help him though, as she didn't like the odds he was facing. She had even made to transform, when Nico yelled at her saying that he would handle it so she should focus on protecting Compa from any close ranged threats.
It took a moment of convincing, but Neptune finally agreed and ran to where Compa was fighting off a group of J'avo. She and Neptune took the rear left corner of the park, while Nico, the Hunters and their J'avo support took the opposite. The rest was IF's territory, and she wasn't doing so well. Quickly activating her DEMON FLAMES, she breathed heavily as the attack killed a large group of Zombies. However, the J'avo in that attack survived and began to regenerate, only to mutate their second arms into their shield forms much to her dismay. "Oh, Goddamnit!"
Her instincts detected danger from behind, and reflexively IF managed to duck under a claw before she aimed a Pistol at the bottom of the Hunter's jaw, pulling the trigger. The attack hit it in the jaw, sending it stumbling back but not for long. another Hunter charged at her and tried to slash her arm off, only for IF to swerve out of the way and slash diagonally at its exposed armpit, making it howl in pain as its brethren jumped over it to attack her from above.
This time she couldn't react in time due to both her fatigue from using DEMON FLAMES so much, and the fact that it had hidden behind its friend before pouncing. The brunette gasped as she was knocked down, pinned by the Hunter's feet. She tried to break free, but the Hunter wasn't having that so it intensified the strength its foot was placing on her, causing IF to grit her teeth and struggle even harder.
Unfortunately, her efforts were in vain as her strength wasn't enough to overpower the Hunter, and it knew it. Rearing its right claw back, the Hunter prepared to finish her off with a jab to the head then a decapitation, but the brunette wasn't known as Gamindustri's Windwalker for nothing. She swiftly aimed one of her Pistols and fired at its right eye, the socket exploding in a shower of red.
The Hunter shrieked and roared with pain, swinging its claws wildly. The distraction was all she needed though as IF smirked, rolling out from under the creature's feet and sweep kicking it, sending it crashing to the ground back first. She then pushed herself into a back flip to avoid a Sickle arm from a J'avo, one that barely missed her back as she repeated her motions to get some distance.
When she stopped, IF noticed that a J'avo with the sword/shield combo in the form of mutated limbs had ran at her and tried to slash her head off. However, she was barely able to bend back in time and sidestep the incoming shield bash She jumped back to avoid an overhead smash by the sickle-like limb, knowing that thing would shatter her Qatars like they were nothing but tissue paper, then tan forwards to strike at its head. However, it adjusted its stance and blocked with its shield, bashing her to knock her back then it backhanded her with its Sickle arm, sending her to the ground.
IF gasped as she felt pain shoot up her back, but she had no time to acknowledge the pain because she had to avoid an overhead swing that would have sliced her in two like Neptune had done to a J'avo earlier. She got to her feet and ran towards it, jumping into a kick t its face to stagger it, before falling into a handstand that she used to her advantage by using her legs to grab it by the head then toss it behind her.
Seeing this as a prime chance and not willing to waste it, IF moved herself back into a backward flip, soaring through the air before slamming into the J'avo, stabbing one of her Qatars into its head, ripping the head clean off. Blood scattered across the ground and stained her Qatar, the brunette making note to clean her weapons after this.
Looking out, IF cursed as she saw the numbers of enemies moving to attack them from both sides of the streets. 'Tch, this is getting us nowhere fast! What the hell is Nico doing over there?!' the brunette raged as she glanced at the male to see him using Rebellion to parry the sickle arm of one J'avo while another had the mutated shield form to use as a sword/shield combo. She winced to herself when she saw this, it looked like to her that Nico was having just as difficult a time as her.
If things didn't change soon, then they would be too exhausted to fight Ganache or whatever mechanical menace that he has with him since he seemed like the type to let others do the dirty work for him. Proof was in how he had used them to advance Avenir's goals before trying to trap them in that Factory.
"Target sighted. Engaging."
"Target sighted. Engaging."
A masculine, deep-voice suddenly shouted, cutting through the sounds of combat like a hot knife through butter. IF blinked in surprise at both the nickname and the fact that a guy's voice other than Nico's was herd, but before she could ponder or do anything a hailstorm of rockets slammed into the ground, blowing apart Zombies and knocking others down. The Hunters also took a hit, reducing their numbers to 15.
The cause soon stopped moving and hovered above the battlefield, attracting everyone's attention. The attacker was revealed to be a young teenage male, with a tanned skin tone. He had dark coloured hair and eyes which were staring down at the battlefield, his hair having a sharp bowl cut.
He wore military gear over his tight black shirt which shows off his slim but trained build, a pair of grey camp pants that are tucked into his black military boots. He had black fingerless gloves with armour plates on the back, wearing a futuristic Backpack on his back, from which a pair of metal wings shaped like a Falcon's protruded out. On top of his head was a pair of goggles that were intricate with his Backpack. On his hips were a pair of holsters which had a pair of 357 Mangum Pistols, while on the tops of his shoulders were a pair of sheaths which hold military grade Combat knives in reverse position.
Noticing the Zombies, the teen pulled out his Pistols and dove down at them, spewing bullets faster than they could see, sometimes shredding through multiple Zombies and J'avo at the same time. The man then ascended to the air and dodged several RPG rounds fired from windows, so he blasted them with his Pistols.
While watching the teenager worked, IF felt her mouth form an 'O' shape. Who the heck was this guy? That question was everywhere on her mind, but more importantly was the sensations she felt when looking at him. He reminded her of a professional and skilled solder instead of a mercenary. Not only that but he gave off the same vibes that… that Nico did. Did that make him a Spec Ops Agent, too?
Her attention was drawn back to the battle when she saw a Zombie lunge at her, making her jump to the side then slam the back of her right heel into the back of its head, sending it down to the ground. That bit of action was what reignited the conflict in the Park, the sounds of groans, snarls and roars resounding through the battlefield.
Nico grinned behind his Mask as he scissor-kicked a J'avo from him before spinning and punching another through the face. The male then slashed the creature apart with Rebellion, damaging it too much for it to repair itself. The male knew who tat guy was, he knew all too well. 'And if he's here, then the others must be as well.' He thought to himself, barely containing his gleeful excitement. Finally, some good news! After having to say so much shit today he had been hoping something good would change things.
Looks like Lady luck hasn't given up on them just yet.
Compa eyed the boy as he flew through the airspace above them, sometimes shooting more Missile Barrages to lessen the numbers of the enemy both on the ground and in the air. She had her mouth slightly agape as a question formed in her mind. "Um, who is that strange flying man up there?" she asked, not expecting an answer since everyone was busy with their own battles.
Neptune nodded her head in agreement as she too wanted to know who that person was. "Yeah, who called in the Cavalry, that dude's Nicky-level badass." She chirped, earning a look from Compa as she questioned the girl on her choice of words. Her looks were comparable to a confused child wanting to know what a big word meant and had asked their professor at school.
"Nicky-level?"
The preteen nodded her head intently at her friend as she elaborated on her reasoning. "Of course, Comp! There's badassery in action hero movies, and then there's Nicky! Hence, Nicky-level." She said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Her words were sort of enhanced when they saw Nico jump onto a Hunter's head and twirl around, stabbing Rebellion into the back of its head and twisting it, making it howl in pain as it ran around, trying to get him off while also attacking its fellow Hunters plus the Zombies. One Hunter lunged at him directly, but Nico side flipped off his little 'Mount' and the two crashed into each other, only for a marker to appear on their bodies and a Magic Circle to appear beneath them, the CHAINS OF HEPHAESTUS soon restraining them. Bisecting a few Zombies with Rebellion, Nico charged it with demonic energy and sent a large wave at the restricted BOW's, slicing them both in half at the same time. "See?"
While Compa questioned Neptune's choice of words out there, she did admit that Nico did have a level of badass in him that only he seemed to be capable of, a specific type of badassery that was starkly akin to action movie heroes.
"Yeah, Nico does have that feel to him, doesn't he ladies?" Another voice that was an unknown, this one being feminine in nature, spoke suddenly, grabbing their attention. The source of te voice burst out a formerly cracked but intact window, kicking the Shards in mid-air so fast they couldn't see them, into the heads of several Zombies and J'avo. The cause flipped through the air and landed in a crouch before them, slowly getting to her feet while grinning at them and doing a salute. "Sup."
"Who are you?!" they cried in unison, staring in absolute bewilderment at the new arrival. This arrival was a well-endowed young woman with a height of 5 foot 9 and pale skin whose breast size is comparable to Compa's, which sort of made her look down at her own chest briefly before shaking her head, chanting to herself over and over that this wasn't the time.
She had Crimson red wavy hair that fell over her petite shoulders like water and charming red eyes. She wore a black choker around her neck with a crimson red rose on the centre. She wore a of black transparent gloves that reached her triceps with matching bands on her wrists that have white frill trims, the gloves having several bands that wrap around her upper arms to keep her in place. On her upper body, she wore a Corset with red frills and white beads along the edges, a rose sitting comfortably between her cleavage. She wore a black tight skirt that goes down to just above her knees, a slit on the side exposing some of her thigh for better mobility, with a pair of black nylon stockings and black stiletto heeled boots.
In her hands, were a pair of cleavers that serve as her primary weapons. They have brown hilts that have vine-like patterns going down them, and human arm-length blades. Their blades are segmented down the middle, each ending in curved spikes that were longer than the 18-inch-wide blades.
The girl gave a sheepish chuckle at them as she smiled kindly. "Hehe, the name's Lucy, vice leader of Team RAIL of Planeptune's Spec Ops, nice to meet you ladies." Lucy introduced herself with a curtsey… before jumping into a split kick that staggered a pair of Zombies, before she landed and swiftly decapitated them with her Cleavers. A Hunter rushed at her from behind, but she swiftly turned around and slashed at its jaw with one Cleaver, following it with a slash across its chest and arms with the next. Before going into a flurry of slashes that left it filled with gashes and serious injuries.
She finally ended with an upward slash that split its head open like a banana, the now dead BOW falling on its side with a THUD, before she turned back to them. "I gave my name, only polite you give your own." She said sweetly, as if that had just not happened at all and they weren't looking at someone with two bloodied Cleavers for weapons.
Both girls slowly took step back from her, making appoint not to let the girl know this by answering in the best normal manner they could. "Nice to meetchya Lucy, my name's Neptune, protag of all protags!" Neptune introduced herself with a matching salute, aa childish grin and a wink.
"My name is Compa, and though I'm a Nurse-In-Training I swear to do my best so everyone can be healthy!" Compa chirped as she held her Syringe as if to signify her promise.
Lucy nodded her head at the two, her polite smile ever present, as she nodded slightly to the before spreading her arms out. "A pleasure. Perhaps we can exchange conversation after we deal with this mess, shall we?" she suggested to them, reminding them that they were exchanging conversation in the middle of the battlefield.
Both made expressions as if to say 'oh, right!' before they brandished their weapons and gave might war cries, charging back into battle. Neither of them noticed the analytical look that Lucy had given to Compa and Neptune's blade. 'Hmmm, looks like they may be acquaintances of dear Nico. Raven's not gonna like that. And did she say Compa? Would that make her the infamous childhood friend?' she wondered while doing the same as the two girls.
Elsewhere, the male that Lucy had been talking about noticed her helping Neptune and Compa while grabbing a fallen pole piece from a toppled lamppost and shoving it into one Zombie, before stabbing it into several more behind him, decapitating all three with Rebellion. 'Heh, there's Lucy, and if she's here then Raven must be nearby. I wonder how long it's been since I last fought with them.' The male thought to himself.
Nico then had another thought while he flipped over a Hunter, time briefly sowing down when he was in the middle of his flip, before resuming at its normal place when he landed and charged at the creature from behind. Just when it turned to face him, Nico empowered Rebellion with demonic energy and stabbed it through the head, killing it instantly since the sword pierce its brain and the energy burned its insides to mush. 'Now wait a sec if Raven isn't right here, Lucy and Aiden are, then that leaves…'
"Look out below, motherfuckers!"
A Wry grin crept onto his face behind his mask as Nico, when surrounded by Zombies, dive rolled to the right. Just in time too, for something slammed into the ground where he once stood, a large shockwave knocking down the Zombies who cried out in shock at the sudden surprise.
The male slowly got to his feet and eyed the one responsible for the surprise attack. the new arrival was a male with brown hair that reached down to his jaw, with blue eyes. His build was moderately muscular, with indications of various martial arts disciplines. He wore a black lightweight tactical suit, complete with a face mask and goggles that give him an intimidating appearance. He wore a fingerless combat glove on his left hand as well as military boots, with sheaths on his legs that store knives for hand-to-hand combat. Most notable about him though, was a bionic right arm. One that was a major indicator of who this person was.
"Hey CYBORG," Nico greeted while walking to the male and silencing the downed Zombies with a newly summoned Ivory that he deposited back into his Void Storage once he was one with it, using the male's Codename since they were in conflict right now as they fist bumped each other. "If you three are here and SAMURAI isn't then she must be somewhere else, right?"
CYBORG nodded, his Mask and Goggles hiding his reaction to his greeting. However, with the words he said back plus his returning of the brio fist made the male realise that he was smirking back at him. "Got it right on the money, bro. Old SAMURAI's at Passé right now, told us to come back you guys up." He replied, tilting his head at the other male as he patted Nico on the shoulder. "Best not keep the lady waiting, you know how she gets when your tardy."
This made Nico shudder, remembering the last time he had been late in having a meeting with her and her Team. For a SAMURAI she was insanely scary, scarier than manty Sadists out there. He groaned and face palmed himself, "Don't remind me. At least I have these as an excuse." He gestured to the battling Zombies, J'avo and BOW's around them. "Say, you seen a black haired, Tsundere-looking girl-?"
"Yeah we found one." CYBORG replied. He even acted in a manner akin to Nico earlier, arming his Bionic arm at a charging J'avo. It then split apart, rearranging itself to form what looked like a cannon that was shaped like a Tesla coil replacing his forearm and hand. It charged up a round and blasted a high voltage blast of lightning, incinerating the J'avo and several Zombies behind it. "She was hysterical, demanding to be let through so she could get to Passé. We figured she was with you so we told her to wait, fortunately we saved a squadron of soldiers beforehand so we left her with them. She was reluctant to, but she did comply in the end thanks to a 'look' from Lucy."
After saying that, both males shuddered, trembling at the image of a certain 'look' that Lucy would give to someone who earned her ire. Usually that was either annoying people or a guy trying to get into her pants. Team RAIL did have a notorious reputation amongst the male population, the two women being the major causes of said reputation. The expression 'bitches be crazy' matched them perfectly.
"Enough chat about who has the pants, let's go clean this mess up, like old times, shall we?" CYBORG suggested, his Bionic arm switching from Cannon Mode to a Murakumo MDL 1 Blade, outfitted with HF technology giving it increased durability and cutting power: an idea CQC weapon. Like the Cannon Mode, the Bionic Arm's Blade Mode replaced the forearm and hand.
Seeing this made a dark chuckle that sent shudders down the spines of every enemy in the vicinity, feeling like they now had the eyes of death upon them as Nico responded while hefting Rebellion onto his shoulder. "Dude, you always seem to read my mind. After you, Madame." He stepped aside and made an 'after you' gesture, prompting a chuckle from the black clad male as they both joined the battle.
With the addition of the three newcomers, Nico and the others managed to defeat the rest of the Zombies, BOW's and J'avos. It really wasn't that difficult, but there was one thing that did unsettle the girls about these three. They moved with such finesse and skill that made them feel like a low-level player fighting alongside a bunch of high ranked ones. The guy that flew in the air like a bird was quite into using his wings, showing how he knew how to use them whenever he would block or deflect attacks from the enemies that he faced, when he wasn't shooing them with his Pistols or launching missiles that is.
Then there was the other guy with the transforming Bionic arm, not only did he seem skilled in Hand-to-hand combat, with his arm and glove whish seemed to use electromagnetic pulses to generate shockwaves from the impacts of whenever it is used for a punch, increasing their strength. The male seemed to have other fields of expertise like Knife handling, in addition to hoed reflexes, strength, agility, stamina. It felt akin to what the flying guy gave off, a trained soldier ready to do battle.
Lastly there was Lucy, the sole female of the group, and she was just as deadly as the others. She looked like some form of hostess, but that opinion of her was shattered when they saw her combat skills. She seemed to be able to keep up with the three males in combat, blurring about slashing through BOW's, Zombies and J'avo with ease. Her Cleavers caught the girls by surprise when they saw them change into Gatling Guns that spewed bullets like a baby blowing raspberries at his or her parents.
Obviously, these guys were pros and good ones to be able to fight so well.
Furthermore, Nico was fighting on their level as well, utilising his Skills like a pro. While that wasn't anything new, the way he fought with them felt freer, less restrained. It made them feel like they were holding him back from unleashing his strength, which wasn't something they enjoyed. It made them feel… inadequate.
By the time that the horde was dealt with, the group was surrounded by sliced apart corpses, the smell beginning to settle in. Fortunately, they were used to it a little better thanks to having smelled it before back at the factory, but the quantity was larger so they were still affected like they were back then.
"Ugh, this stench…" Neptune complained as she held her nose to block the smell out, though she could still smell it a bit much to her dismay. She waved her free hand over her nose to wipe the smell away, although it was a fruitless effort.
Compa, understanding Neptune's plight pulled out what looked to be a pair of pegs that one would use to hang clothes on a washing like. One of them was on her nose too as she walked over to the purplette. "Nep-Nep, use this. It'll help keep the smell out." She stated with a helpful smile.
The purplette beamed at her, joy in her eyes as she grasped the Peg and placed it on her nose. "Whoohoo! Yay, now I don't have to smell that stench anymore!" she bellowed to the heavens while kneeling like a knight would to a king, making Compa giggle at her antics, though she hid it behind her hand.
"Nep's new discovery aside," IF began, not minding the stench as much as the girls though her face showed a little green, as she looked around the battlefield. "Looks like that was the last of them. We should be good to move on for a while." She observed. Though they should probably get a move on, the smell might attract more of those guys and she wanted to get out of here before that happened.
Then, she noticed the other three that had helped them when they were in this bind. "Thanks for the assist you guys, we likely would have taken longer to beat them without you help." She thanked them with a polite smile. That smile turned into a contemplative frown as she continued her speech though. "But you guys don't look like you're from around here. Who are you exactly?"
At that question, Nico stepped forward, gesturing to the trio. "Allow me to answer that. They're fellow Spec Ops from Planeptune, team-" he began, but was interrupted. Though not by any verbal means, or rather, not by verbal means alone.
Lucy, who had been at the front with the two men beside her, the flying man to her left flank with his wings retracted into his backpack and his Pistols sheathed in their holsters, and the male with the Bionic Arm to her right flank with his Mask lowered and his Goggles raised to his forehead, smirked as she waddled up to him, swaying her hips seductively as she placed a hand on his chest, "Hey there handsome, it's been a while hasn't it since our last encounter. Why did you not call, I was getting lonely…" she whispered into his ear, making the male cough and splutter incoherently with his face reddening as he backed away from her.
"I-pum-ndodlafnaflakdsc-pfdfdfbleffcia-!"
This did not go unnoticed as Neptune and Compa both glared at her with fire in their eyes, Neptune's being a bright orange while Compa's being a light bluish colour. "Heeeeey, whatchya doin' to my- I mean, OUR Nicky, making him blush like that?" she questioned hotly while throwing her arms to her sides.
Pausing her ministrations, the redhead turned behind her and addressed the girls. "Oh my, how silly of me, I forgot you girls were there. My apologies for that." The duo bristled at the callous way she referred to them, while IF lightly sighed, rolling her eyes at the trio. 'Looks like Nico here has his admirers just like every other Spec Ops Agent…' she thought to herself, before glancing at the male in question as he tried to recover from the attempt at seduction. 'Although he doesn't seem to find this all too appealing… then again, I have to admit it's amusing to see him react to sexual teasing…'
Stepping away from him for the moment, much to Nico's relief as the other males snickered in amusement at his plight. Though, the backpack-clad teen made his subtle while the other one did it openly much to Nico's chagrin, the redhead once more introduced herself. "What Nicky-dear here was saying was that we're Team RAIL, a Planeptune Spec Ops Team assigned to work together for the tougher of the Abnormals. My name is Lucy, Codename VERONICA, vice leader, while these are Ivan and Aiden Codenames CYBORG and FALCON respectively. Nicky-dear here called us just before you guys left for your job, telling us to watch out for any activity from Avenir with the military."
After hearing her response, the girls had a flashback to this morning when Nico had said he would have contacts that would keep an eye out for Avenir activity that wouldn't be too beneficial for the City. IF glanced around at the damage and gave a frown. "Well, looks like you had everything under control then…" she remarked with slight sarcasm.
Lucy looked around and sighed, her eyes glancing downwards as she knew what IF had meant. "Yes, this is indeed a… less-than-ideal situation. Ganache came and released some form of aerial gas, which spread through the southern District and turned lots of good soldiers here into Zombies. Those that survived tried to fight back, leading to a stalemate between them. Civilian casualties are at an all time low though." She explained, scowling as she remembered what had happened. The earlier teasing that was in her eyes had been snuffed out now, replaced by seriousness equivalent of a soldier.
Her teasingly seductiveness returned a moment later though when she caught Nico's gaze. "Though I will admit, seeing my Nicky-dear's face again is a blessing to me. Maybe we should take some time to… catch up, if you catch my drift." She suggested with a flirtatious wink, causing the male's cheeks to redden again.
Before Nico could respond however, Neptune suddenly jumped onto his back, glaring at Lucy from behind his right shoulder. "Hey, missy, leave him alone! Only I can tease him like that, Nicky's mine!" she boldly claimed while nuzzling the side of his neck with her head.
Next to her, Compa grabbed hold of Nico's arm and pulled it into the bounds of her chest. Nico's face turned even redder when he felt her breasts pressing against his arm, his mind now completely blue-screened with steam rising out of his head. "That's right, Ni-Ni's not to be played with-Nep-Nep!" she began to say, only to blink when she realised what Neptune had said and turned to scold her. "Ni-Ni's not someone you can play around with, you'll hurt his feelings!"
Watching the two interact like they were, a realisation crossed into Lucy's mind as she gave a ladylike giggle behind her hand. "Ohohohoho, oh me oh my, it appears that Nicky-dear has gained a couple more admirers. Ohohohoho." She remarked between her giggles. "My, was a lucky stud you are, to have so many cute girls around you. I may be getting a little jealous." She teased, although there was a slight edge to her voice while she said that. Despite this neither Neptune nor Compa let go of the teen, who looked like a human oven at this point.
"Now, now you three, settle down." A hand pulled Lucy back while Neptune and Compa were suddenly pulled off the male to their surprise. They didn't even have time to react to the sudden sensations. They looked behind them, and saw that Aiden, much to their shock and disbelief, had somehow gotten behind them without any of them noticing, and had pulled them away from Nico with ease like he was picking up a pair of feathers. Lucy turned to look behind her and saw that it was Ivan who had pulled her back, making her pout in annoyance. "Oi, Ivan! What were you doing, I was just defending my territory!" Lucy whined to him.
The male gave her an apologetic smile as he gestured to the direction of Passé. "While we usually enjoy seeing you tease Nico like that, Raven told us to keep an eye on you lest we 'lose what makes us men' remember? What would she think when she learns you tried to one-up her?" he asked her as if it were a rhetorical question.
Lucy looked at him for a moment with the same pouty face, until she reluctantly accepted his answer. "Pft, fiiiiine." She whined like a certain purplette. She knew that, if she learned this, no, when she learned this, Raven would have a little 'talk' with her and those 'talks' usually resulted in some… collateral damage. And she rather liked Lastation, she wouldn't want to be another factor in the destruction of a large portion of it.
Hearing that she would stop, Nico exhaled a large sigh of relief, the tension in his body evaporating like water when exposed to the sun. "Th-Thank you, guys. Th-that was nerve-wracking, I didn't know how much longer my heart could have taken that." He thanked them with a nod of his head while holding his chest, feeling like all his breathe had been stolen and returned to him in one second flat.
Ivan raised a hand and gave a thumbs-up sign. "No problem, bro. You know how those two get, Lastation doesn't need more collateral damage." he remarked, smirking deviously. His eyes twinkled in amusement as he stared at the male who had been the (un) fortunate target of teasing yet again. It was like they enjoyed seeing how flustered he would get when a girl flirted with him, if their reactions were anything to look at.
Nico rolled his eyes at the jabs at his rather… flimsy defences when it came to girls flirting with him. Or rather, teasing him as his mind put it since there was no way that they would want to flirt with someone like him. At best, they would just like to tease him since Nico wasn't boyfriend material. He was a fighter, a soldier who fought not for flags, but because of ideals. It was the same with every Spec Ops Agent, none of them held specific loyalty to CPUs or governing bodies, oh no what they held loyalty towards was their own ideals, it just so happened they could do mercenary work for the lands that tickled their fancy. In the end, one could say that unlike the normal Guild Agents, they were truly Mercenaries.
"Going back on topic," the male shook his head and pushed those thoughts from the back of his mind. "You told me you guys had found Noire, right? Where is she?" Nico asked him while raising a brow and giving an inquisitive stare.
Now THIS got the girls' attention faster than Neptune devoured pudding. They all turned to Lucy with stares akin to Nico's own, though theirs held a sense of urgency in them that Nico's lacked. Instead, there was a rationality in his eyes that was only there through experience and calculations. If they had to go through all this trouble just to get this far, chances were that Noire couldn't have made it to Passé yet.
Seeing as the topic had moved on to something else, Lucy went and answered Nico's question with a mild indication of annoyance in her eyes. "Yeah, we found one girl with that name, tried to be full of heroism and take on a Zombie horde all by herself with nothing but an HF Blade and no backup. Sure, we managed to rescue her, if we hadn't we'd have gotten here sooner. She tried demanding us to let her pass, saying that she needed to Passé, so I made 'sure' to keep her quiet."
Let it be known that on this moment, Nico felt the chills of death crawling down his spine when Lucy smiled at him, but this wasn't an ordinary smile. No, this was a smile only someone who enjoyed tormenting others, AKA a Sadist, could make. Lucy may be a seductive, teasing temptress, but any who annoy her were usually dealt with by a swift punishment… and she would enjoy every second of it.
As if by instinct, Lucy sensed Nico's apprehension and raised a hand as if to say, 'calm the fuck down, bitch'. "Don't worry I only gave her a look, and she quietened faster than Aiden when he's near a drinking booth." She ignored the glare that Aiden, who had been silent for most of the conversation, shot at her. She knew it was true, the rest of Team RAIL and Nico could agree to that, whenever Aiden was near a bar or drink that was alcoholic… it tended to not last very long. Fortunately his Piloting suit would filter out any harmful chemicals that would come from what he ate or drink, making him immune to poisoning or getting drunk.
"Okay, well that's a relief." Nico admitted, sighing in relief that the blackette wasn't hurt… physically anyways. Her mind, or rather her pride, would likely be another story that he was not looking forward to hearing anytime soon. "Could you take us to her? We kinda need to go to Passé so we can fry Ganache's keister."
"Sure, we'll lead the way."
The trio of Team RAIL lead Nico, IF, Compa and Neptune wandered down a nearby street, one which according to Nico's Holomap would have lead them to Passé, until they came to a small checkpoint. This checkpoint was guarded by several Lastation Soldiers, their Captain in the middle and talking to someone, someone who looked to be the second in command of the Squadron. There, standing by a metal fence beside the gate with her arms crossed and a troubled look on her face was Noire. She was leaning against the fence with one heeled boot on it with the other on the ground. "Noire!"
Everyone minus the Team RAIL Members rushed over to her, their eyes filled with relief at seeing that the blackette was alright. For an instance back there, they had feared the worst when they had been beset by all those enemies. Seeing so much death coming to her people would have made her act irrationally and cause her to get herself a date with the grim reaper.
Upon hearing them again, Noire blinked, her troubled face momentarily replaced by shock before she looked up, noticing the others coming at her with Team RAIL behind them. "E-Everyone, you're…!"
Neptune jumped at her when she was close enough, and Noire expected to be crushed by another hug of hers so she made to defend herself. However, a "Kya!" broke out of her lips when Neptune bonked her on the head with a fist. "Moron, what were you thinking?!" Neptune cried with a pissed off look in her eyes. "Don't try and get yourself killed like that again, ya hear?!" for a moment, Neptune looked almost like a leader, even to Nico and Noire. But that was soon shattered by her next words. "I mean, we're a party, we gotta stick together so I can get the spotlight again!"
Everyone stared at her and sweat dropped at her words. Even the members of Team RAIL were smirking weakly with sweat drops on their foreheads. Before any of them could comment on Neptune's weirdness, Nico stopped it by speaking up. "Well, Neptune's randomness aside, we gotta head on, ladies. Passé ain't gonna wait to be saved, ya know."
"You all heading to Passé?"
They turned to see the Captain of the Squadron and her second walking up to them, their rifles held in ready positions while the rest of the soldiers kept watch. Once they saw Nico, the two saluted him by raising their left hands and placing them over their foreheads. "Sir, it's good to see you once again. I'm Captain Ryouko Kusakabe, and this is my sergeant, Sergeant Origami Tobiichi." she said, gesturing to the silvery-white haired girl with light blue eyes. They lacked any emotion whatsoever, making her gaze more than a little creepy. At least, in Neptune's eyes.
"Hello."
"Woooow, not only does she look weird, but she talks all drone-like, too-"
BONK!
"Nepu!"
Neptune held her head, which was steaming from Nico and IF's fists, two lumps forming as she kneeled in the fatal position. They didn't bother scolding her for now, since they had bigger fish to fry. "Nice to meet you two. You have an update on the situation?" Nico questioned, not once looking in Neptune's direction as he focused his gaze upon the Captain.
Said Captain nodded her head as she began to explain. "We've isolated this area to battle the infection directly. Our Tanks are our only bet against the larger monsters, and the aerial ones pick away at our standing forces. Still though, if we had access to 100% of our military strength, we would have curbed this before it could even begin." She muttered that part under her breath, although with his enhanced senses Nico heard it loud and clear, as if she hadn't tried to hide it. "Me and my forces were cut off, the Zombie hordes hit us in our fuel depots while we were doubling back for fuel. They had some of those weird, eyeball guys leading them, and while we managed to hold them off we were unable to save our Tank. We were cut off from the others, so we would have died had it not been for Team RAIL over here." she explained, gesturing to the three new arrivals.
Aiden nodded wordlessly.
Ivan grinned in pride.
Lucy gave a satisfied smile.
Nico nodded in her direction. It appeared the Military wasn't faring too good, but it could be worse. They did manage to quarantine the Southern District, limiting the amount of hosts the virus can infect. Their tanks seem to be their lifeline, thus making the J'avo a bigger threat at the moment thanks to them co-ordinating attacks on the fuel depots. It seemed that these Tanks had to be refilled regularly with fuel, which presented a major weakness to their offensive, one that the J'avo utilised just now. Who knows how many squads were pinned down out there?
Nevertheless, the male still had a few ideas in mind.
"Alright, then you guys go and gather as many squadrons as you can, have them retake any stolen fuel depots you've lost. Re-establish contact with each other and only then can you focus on eradicating the infection. Me and my comrades here..." Nico spoke, gesturing to Neptune, Compa, IF, Noire, Lucy, Aidan and Ivan, while saying this. "We're going straight to Passé, we'll hit the big guy where it hurts then come back to you."
Ryouko nodded in acceptance. "Roger that. Alright ladies, let's move! We ain't got all day here, quit dragging your fat asses!" she barked, quickly moving to issue orders to the rest of her Squadron while Origami followed suit, being told to scout the paths ahead of them for any sign of ambushes.
"You think they'll be alright?" Noire asked the others in concern, watching them head off down the corpse-ridden streets. It honestly looked like a biblical depiction of hell at this point, and that was enough to worry her. Her own people, her own subjects, were being torn apart by these undead abominations, which were once her own people as well. This was very... perplexing, for the several Century old CPU.
Nico nodded his head in response, quickly looking into his Bracer and activating it's Holomap to check their route to Passé. "Yeah, they can handle it. Soldiers with eyes like them can go far in life. I should know, I've seen more of them than anyone else here." he told her, before his eyes hardened as he addressed the entire Party. "Now then, let's follow their example and haul asses, people! Chian isn't going to wait for our lazy behinds to get into gear! Let's go, go, go!"
Chapter end!
A new story, a collab between me and Zergface whom you've likely seen in the Reviews, has been posted. Its' called "Rules of Engagement" and i'd really appreciate it if you go and check it out.
