IF is alive! Yay!

I know it seems weird at first, maybe it impacts the dark themes of the story, but don't worry. IF's new body does come with some pretty messed up powers, something that's a constant in all BOWs, regardless of form or not. I had intended for her to be this way from the start of the fic, actually. Everyone is going to be OP'd in their own ways, so as to not upset the balance of things, Neptune and Noire have some additions planned out, Compa I haven't worked on this arc, but rust me, I have plans for her. IF, well, I figured this would be a good boost for her.

Now then, on with the show!


Chapter 35 -Killachine Round 1

'Holy… fucking… shit!'

Everyone was staring with jaws agape at the brunette that they had assumed was dead after she was infected with a virus that SHOULD have turned her into a freaking monster of mass destruction. However, here she stood before them, alive, well, and not a mass murdering monster. They were frozen in disbelief at the sight of their friend like the way she was… until they realised that she was naked.

"Everyone, quick, cover Nico's eyes, we must keep his innocence!" Neptune exclaimed, Compa already on it as she covered the male's eyes with her hands, much to his shock, though he didn't 't resist as his face was already reddening. He didn't want to seem like a pervert so he let Compa do her thing, it wasn't that IF was ugly, far from it, he just despised the idea of being considered a pervert by his comrades.

Turning, IF noticed them acting weird, and raised a brow in confusion. "Huh? what the heck are you guys doing now? something idiotic I presume." She asked them, holding a hand on her hip. The girls refused to answer as they looked away, looking uncomfortable with the thought of answering the brunette, until a wind blew through the area.

The wind made a chill crawl up IF's spine as she shivered under the sudden cold. "Whew, it's kinda chilly huh? Maybe I should get a bigger jacket…" she began, chuckling to herself when she looked down and noticed for the first time her sate of undress. Her eyes widened and her face POOFFED with a red hue, her mouth falling open at the sight... before she let out a girly scream to the heavens. "KYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"


Deep within the interior of the Southern District, chaos was echoing through the streets. Soldiers released mighty war cries, firing Assault Rifle rounds to the Zombie and J'avo masses, while the enemy side shrieked and roared as they tried to get close. Fortunately, that was easier said than done since the soldiers had gathered several Squadrons together to form a massive group. They held up on a crossroad section that led to multiple Fuel Depots, with buildings Garrisoned by soldiers armed with Sniper Rifles, RPGs and other firearms taken from the corpses of fallen J'avo.

"This is getting ridiculous!" Ryouko snarled, quickly taking out a Grenade and pulling it's pin. She then tossed it from behind a piece of rubble she was using for cover, hearing the sweet sound of its detonation and the screams of several Zombies. "There's just no end to these fuckers!" She then leaned out and provided covering fire. The attacks were getting fiercer by the minute, with a majority of the fighting being centred around this crossroads. The J'avo controlling the Zombie masses must have been drawn by the large abundance of 'fresh meat' here, just as they planned.

If they would have gotten to the blockades around the District, they would have been overwhelmed since they didn't have nearly as much weapons and ammo as they did. Knowing this, she and the other Captains of different situations had hatched a plan, to use themselves as live 'bait' to draw the enemy back into te Southern District, then gun them down as they came. Fortunately, when not using their freaky morphing shit, the J'avo used conventional weaponry like RPGs, Grenade Launchers and other gear, so they had small scraps to work with instead of nothing at all.

Still didn't explain how they got there though.

"Captain." the smooth, calm voice of her Sergeant reached Ryouko's ears as she turned to the direction it came from. Origami Tobiichi came jogging towards her, her rifle in hand as she stopped before her superior. She then gave a salute, before initiating her report. "5 Squadrons have made it back to us. They have brought their Tanks with them as well, and are presently setting up their defences." she stated.

Ryouko nodded in confirmation, mentally thanking the CPUs that they still had some Tanks left. Those Whoppers tended to take a lot of ammo to take down, which was why they brought Tanks in the first place. They had intended to take out the bigger threats first, neutralise the strength of the Infection. It was a lesson they had learned from Racoon City, even though she hadn't been there at the time. Some of her girls were, and what they described to her made her glad she wasn't.

However, they had been unprepared for Ganache to suddenly release a toxic gas from his body, which had turned a large portion of their forces into undead. Many Tanks had fallen during the initial chaos, either by the infection or their own forces in their panic. There had been so few Tanks left, at least 8 to 9, when they were rescued by DEATHSTROKE and his comrades.

Things took a turn for the worse however, when they heard several bestial roars in the distance, making Ryouko pale. While Origami didn't look like she was affected, if one looked carefully they would have seen light beads of sweat on her forehead. "Oh shit, you've gotta be kidding! Hunters, really?! This day just keeps getting better and better!" Ryouko snarled more like an animal than a human. She quickly pressed a finger against the earpiece in her left ear, leaning out and firing upon several advancing J'avo, who quickly fell back to let some Zombies take the fall instead. "Support teams, where the hell are those Hunters?!"

Just then, before she got an answer...

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Everyone, including the enemy Zombies, J'avo and mutated monsters, all covered their eardrums at the shrill, Banshee-like shriek that had erupted from out of nowhere.

"What the heck?!"

"What's with that scream?!"

"It sounds awfully like a girl's scream, do you think...?"

Several female soldiers commented to each other about the shriek they heard, their instincts telling them that the screamer was female. It was almost universal to know whether a scream was male or female in Gamindustri. Ryouko scowled as the ringing in her ears subsided. Whatever made that scream was definitely not human, that was what her gut told her. A feminine part of her somehow felt a flash of sympathy for some reason, although he quickly quashed it to relay orders to her troops. "Quit your lollygagging and reinforce those defensive lines! We've got a checkpoint to defend, or have you forgotten, ladies?!"

"No, Ma'am!"


Back with Nico and the others...

In an effort to preserve her modesty, IF curled up into a ball while remaining on her feet, wrapping her arms around herself to cover what little dignity she had left. "What the hell happened to my clothes?! Why the hell am I naked, of all things?! And, WHERE THE HELL ARE MY GODDAMN PHONES?!" she shrieked at them, before narrowing her teary eyes at Neptune and glaring at her. The brunette's face was red, either out of embarrassment or anger was difficult to tell at this point, but they weren't able to ponder on that for long. "This is your doing, isn't it, Nep?! You just wait, when I get something on I'mma…"

Her words were cut off, when she saw what looked like dark greenish black sludge suddenly burst out her shoulders, cascading down her shoulder s and her body. startled, IF stood up and stepped back as the sludge spread over her upper body, save for her neck, before splitting when it reached her waist. The two pieces fell to her feet, while the main piece sprouted what looked like the bottom of a coat.

After a couple seconds had passed, IF now had an outfit identical to the one she had on before, save for her belt of phones.

"Eh-whoa… what the hell happened just then…?" she wondered, blinking in awe as the girls, seeing that IF now was no longer naked, let Nico see again. When he noticed she was clothed again, Nico released an audible sigh of relief, which prompted IF to look at the male in question. "Uh, Nico, do you know by any chance, what's going on here?"

At her question, the male remembered what had happened in the last few moments, making him blink in confusion as well. "Honestly, I haven't much clue. I just used the formula that we found in the Factory on you, enhanced it with demonic energy, and here we are." He replied, frowning as he cupped his chin. His eyes gained a sorrowful glint in them afterwards as he looked back at the shocked brunette. "I-I'm sorry IF, but it was the only way I could save you, I…"

Seeing what he was about to do, IF raised her hand, silencing him and stopping Nico from making any further attempts to apologise. "You don't have to say sorry, Nico. While I admit I'm a bit peeved that you used the Virus on me, I don't seem to be… you know, acting like a normal monster. In fact, I look s human as I could be." She remarked, looking down at herself. "Although, I do feel a little different. Honestly. I feel… stronger, and there's like, something in my gut that's just… siting there, waiting for something, I'm not sure."

Everyone's brows furrowed as they contemplated what had happened to the brunette. She was indeed infected, that was a fact. The chrysalis that was made from her body was proof of that fact, something IF had only noticed just after she had explained what she was feeling within herself. However, the fact that she was talking, looked like a normal human, had the mind of one, as well as the fact that she just generated clothes with some sort of mass, meant that IF had indeed become a BOW, one that retained her mental faculties unlike let's say the Ogroman.

"Please, allow me to explain."

Everyone blinked when the piece of the Key Fragment they had in their possession appeared before them, shining brightly with the voice of a certain tome spoke through. "Histy!" Neptune exclaimed again, surprise in her tone as she regarded the Key Fragment.

"So, this is Histoire…" IF mumbled in comprehension, eying the glowing fragment with rapt attention. She, along with Noire, hadn't been around when the Tome had talked to the party before, so this was the first time that they had spoken to each other. The fact that she had information on what had just happened to them was also a bonus, she had seen Nico's facial expressions change erratically for seemingly no apparent reasoning as well, despite her vision being slightly blurred at the time, which likely meat she had been discussing something with him alone. Thus, she was quite eager to hear what she had to say.

If they could see her, the girls knew that Histoire would be smiling politely. "It is nice to finally speak with you, Lady Noire, IF. The last time Neptune and Nico here heard my vice was back in West Wind Valley. I could only speak to them due to anchoring myself to Neptune's energy. As for your current condition, it is due to Nico's demonic energy changing the virus's genetic code. One of the DPU's abilities is to control diseases down to the cellular level, as well as spin them from within their beings. DPUs would use these viruses to empower their worshippers, turning them into monstrosities that equal the Abnormals in strength." She explained.

"Histoire? You're the one Neptune is rescuing? Anyways, nice to hear from you too, and what do you mean by DPUs? It sounds like there's more than one of them." Noire interjected with a frown. She was sure she was missing something here, something to do with the transformation that Nico had apparently underwent during their first meeting.

Histoire hummed in acknowledgement, a pulse of light releasing from th glowing fragment. "Indeed, there was a time where DPUs existed as much as regular monsters did, although that time has mostly been lost to darkness. However, that is a story for another time as I do not have long, this Fragment has exhausted most of its power already. Please ask Neptune and the others for more details, Noire. Now then, as for you IF, I told Nico to imbue the Virus strain he had with his own energy, changing it down to the molecular level to allow you to retain your mental faculties. The fact that you're human in appearance is a fortunate stroke of luck."

IF hummed as she struggled to take all this information in. "So, you're telling me that you helped Nico learn more about his powers and save my life in the process? Well, thanks I guess. Though I'm not sure how I feel with being a BOW now…" she remarked, before trailing off sadly at the end as her eyes lost their shine from before, looking down dejectedly as she realised a brutal fac. She wasn't human anymore, she was now something akin to a monster, something that should not have existed, but yet it did at the same time.

Seeing her state made Nico act out of instinct. "Look at me, IF." The male said as he approached her, grasping her shoulders firmly which made the brunette look up at him in shock and surprise at his bold move. She was speechless, which allowed the male to continue with a firm, steeled tone and a strong gaze. "Whether you're a BOW or human does not matter, do you understand? You're you, and nobody else has a right to say differently. Find someone who does, then beat the living hell out of them… and maybe even call me to I could give them a piece of my mind, too." He smirked at the end, amusement yet with hints of seriousness dancing within his light blue irises.

Blinking momentarily, IF struggled and eventually regained her wits about her, before smirking back as she pulled away from him, chuckling at him in amusement. "Heh, you seem to know wat to say to a girl, NICKY." She remarked with a snarky tone. "One has to wonder if you say that to every depressed damsel."

Nico mirrored her smirk with his own, though his eyes held a slight defensive gaze as he replied with. "Hey, that's not nice, IFFY, I'm no ladies' man. I was just trying to comfort someone I trust with a problem she was dealing with, nothing else about it." he then gestured to the others, his smirk widening into a grin. "Though now that you say that, judging by what you said earlier back at the Factory I can assume you swing that way, Mrs C-U-T-T-E?"

Remembering that little event caused IF to flush in embarrassment, as well as the hits to her sexuality. "Ugh, you win this, round… #MUMBLE# #MUMBLE#." She grumbled under her breathe, which made Nico laugh in amusement. IF responded by punching him slightly on the chest, though there was no strength in it and she had a slight smile on her face.

That smile vanished and was replaced by shock when her little 'love-tap' managed to send Nico flying a total of 40 metres, the male quickly righting himself before landing on the ground, sliding to a halt. "Whoa! Dude, I'm sorry, I guess I just don't know my own strength!" the brunette apologised while running up to him. She guessed the transformation had altered her body completely, enhancing her physical abilities beyond that of an ordinary human. IF knew he was alright, considering Nico had fought worse than that, but still she felt a spark of guilt for knocking him bac like she did, albeit accidentally.

'Ufufufu, it appears that your situation has been resolved. Unfortunately, I must go now, there's not much power left In the Key Fragment, so I must wait for it to recharge before speaking to you all as a group again. Farewell.' Histoire spoke, her presence soon fading away as the Key Fragment vanished back into Neptune's inventory. Though while she was indeed gone, for now at least, her help had been greatly appreciated, especially by Nico and IF. IF because she could now live her life free of the horror of being infected, as being already infected with her faculties intact would have its perks, and Nico because he didn't have to kill a comrade.

Their moment of bliss however, came to a sad end when Ganache, much to their annoyance, had come back from his little visit to the debris and was dusting his Trench Coat off, glaring slightly at the brunette. "It seems that you have gained some form of divine luck, Mrs IF, for you to have survived such a transformation with your mentality unaffected." He remarked, though to them it felt like almost an insult. With her mind intact, it would be practically impossible for him to usurp control over her, as his controlling abilities only worked on those who have weaker minds than he did.

"Aw, don't be jelly Ganache." IF replied with her snarky attitude on full blast, smirking cockily at him. "I know you just jelly that I got something you couldn't." she taunted back, and her taunts seemed to work as Ganache went rigid at her words, making them snigger in unison. It was true, IF's power, enhanced by her viral rebirth, could be felt across the battlefield, and it easily surpassed Ganache's power which was likely due to the C Virus being more prominent than whatever Virus used on Ganache.

Ganache, after regaining his wits, glared at them and growled, all form of business demeanour gone as he snarled. "Well, we shall see about that. It is fortunate that we managed to pack a spare of these in case one of them was dealt with. Come, Killachine Mk 1.5!" he bellowed, pulling out a remote and pressing a button on it. Afterwards, a flash of light appeared before him, forcing the others to cover their eyes.

When it died down, another Killachine appeared before them, only this one was slightly different. For one, its weapons were a pair of oversized sickles, with the matching colour scheme of the robot's, and the tail was significantly longer, looking twisted and horrifically jagged. Its sole crimson lense focused down on them and in a moment, it raised its sickle, as if trying to issue a challenge to them. Basically, a robotic way of saying 'bring it, bitches!'

"Cocky little guy, aren't you?" Nico remarked, his mood skyrocketing at having saved one of his comrades, to the point where he didn't mind his playful side creeping to the surface in this situation. "Sure, you don't wanna tussle with us yourself? I mean, you took us to the cleaners before, so we owe you a favour." As he asked this, Nico raised a newly summoned Rebellion and pointed it in a similar manner to the Killachine at Ganache's face, hoping he'd take the bait.

Sadly, no dice, as the man shook his head while waving him off dismissively, much to Nico's annoyance "Like I said before, I am a busy man, so I do not have time to indulge in petty conflict." Oh yeah? What was with that fight earlier, then? Nico remarked to himself silently while Ganache continued unawares. "Therefore, I shall continue our research with this Killachine since the other one is being dealt with by your friends."

BOOM, BOOM, CRASH, BANG, BANG!

"Don't you mean "has been" old fart?!" A yell came from the distance where the battle with the first Killachine had been raging. From that direction, Team RAIL, along with its leader, dropped from the rooftops while one of them, Lucy, was carrying the destroyed head of the Killachine they had been fighting… all with an innocent smile on her face. She then tossed it, or rather flicked it, towards Ganache who swiftly roundhouse kicked it into the air, allowing the other Killachine to slice it apart.

Afterwards, Ganache lowered his leg and dusted his leg off, as if what had happened didn't just happen. "I will not dignify that claim with a response. However," he pointed upwards at the Killachine as it loomed over them. "If you think that this one will be anything like the last, then you will be in for a nasty surprise."

"#COUGH# stereotypical villain bullshit #COUGH#" Nico pretended to clear his throat while placing a fist over his mouth in a poor attempt to hide it, although his true intent was visible in his eyes. At some point, he had discarded his Mask, placing it back in his Void Storage. It had been getting a little too stuffy from being worn through so much action, with how much sweat that was released from all this drama.

Compa was the only one to hide her smirk of amusement.

Nevertheless, the Killachine groaned as it launched its Tail at them, making the group scatter to the sides. Nico landed first and went on the offensive, imbuing his Rebellion with demonic energy to send an upward energy slash at it. The Killachine deflected it with one Sickle while hurling the other like a Boomerang. Nico managed to dodge it by ducking under it, and when it came back to hit him from behind Nico back flipped over it, leaving no trace of him on it as it returned to the Killachine's hand.

Raven and Ivan went next while Compa distracted it with a COMPA LOVE HEART. The woman unsheathed her sword, the blade having a glowing blue edge unlike the crimson one from before. She jumped at the Tail and sliced through it in one clean cut, resulting in an explosion of ice particles erupting from the wound. The Tail shuddered and smashed itself on the ground, breaking the ice while Ivan switched his Bionic Arm to Blade mode to slash at the open wound.

The material seemed to be stronger than the last one though, because both of their weapons hardly made any dents in its armoured Tail, which thwacked at them both. Raven used the Tail as a means to jump back while Ivan managed to flip multiple times to get the distance he needed, switching his arm to Cannon mode opting for some lightning bolts to try and slow it down.

"Team RAIL, enemy has upgraded armour, weaponry and who knows what other shit it has." Raven said, pressing her finger against the ear piece to activate a Com channel shared by her team, handing out instructions like a proper leader. "We'll implement containment, CYBORG is gonna keep it dazed with his lightning bolts. We've got FALCON up top, he's going to help CYBORG keep the pressure off us. Me and VERONICA, we're going in close combat. Alright team, you got your orders! Move out!" a unified chorus of "Roger that" came from the rest of her Team as Raven nodded in satisfaction, readying her blade.

She then began charging forwards, noticing that Nico was beside her with his blade at the ready, having prepped a skill of his own. "You wanna go first, or shall I?" she asked him, smirking behind her Mask as Nico responded in kind, nodding at her to tell her it was alright for her to go first. Raven nodded, showing that she understood as Nico hung back while she took off.

"HYPER SLASH!"

Energy matching the colour of her blade's edge crackled along the blade as she dashed past a slash from the Killachine, cutting through one side in a single slash, before dashing back and cutting through the other side. She then jumped into the air and brought her Katana down on the robot, making a third vertical slash on its body, all three exploding into energy that dealt significant damage.

Nico grinned as he saw this side of her. The male loved fighting alongside Team RAIL for one reason, and that was because they were almost as badass as himself. Almost. And that was not him being arrogant, they had the potential to be as badass as he was, but they weren't as reckless as he was. Plus, they didn't have powers they couldn't control, unlike him.

Seeing that her attack had ended, Nico went in with his own before the Killachine could recover. "here, take this, PHANTOM EDGE!" he yelled, running up to the Killachine and jumping at its chest. He reared Rebellion back while FALCON and CYBORG kept it distracted with bullets and lighting blasts, before slashing it diagonally. The energy slash erupted seconds after, making the Killachine stumble slightly in its hovering.

When he landed, the creature made to slam one of its Sickles onto him, but the male managed to roll out of the way, getting back to a standing position until he had to duck under the second horizontal swipe. He then jumped back to dodge the third overhead strike that left the Sickle embedded into the ground. Nico smirked darkly, his eyes gleaming menacingly as he reared Rebellion back and fired a PHANTOM BLADES Skill at its chest, knocking it back a couple metres.

Groans came from within as the Killachine stumbled again, much more noticeably this time. This filled the party with hope as Neptune and Black Heart flew in from above, diving down towards it like 2 fighter jets about to launch their payloads.

"You ready for this Noire?!"

"Hmph! I was born ready for this!"

The two girls gave a mighty battle cry as their blades, each one crackling with energy, were swung in unison. As their blades were swung, their energies combined together, forming a silvery purple slash that was sent roaring towards the Killachine, impacting on its head and making it groan in pain, if that were even possible since it was a machine.

It fell onto its back, before the shoulders opened up and launched a volley of 50 Missiles… from one shoulder each. Neptune and Noire gasped at this, knowing that they were coming too fast to avoid in time. But before they could land a hit, a familiar metal winged man came swooping in, floated in front of them, and generated a smokescreen by negating the missiles with his own.

Turning his head to them, he finally spoke. "Keep a weather eye on your surroundings, lest you end up dead." The way he spoke was cold, harsh, and lack any warmth one might expect from a human being. It was like he was more of a soldier than a man at that moment, something that sent chills down the girls' spines. Nodding in satisfaction, FALCON took to the skies and once again began raining fire upon the Killachine.

Down below, the Killachine got to its feet as Lucy ad Raven walked up to it, their bladed weapons ready for combat. Instead of the former, it was the latter who went first, her Cleavers glowing Brightly as she picked up speed and went into a dash. "Hehehehehe, looks like you were at the wrong place at the wrong time, dearie. JACK THE RIPPER!" she cackled evilly, almost borderline psychotically as she began dashing back and forth, cutting into the Killachine wherever she could, before jumping into the air, and coming down into an X shaped slash, finishing the Skill off.

Then, Raven went next, gripping the Odachi as she sheathed it the rotating cylinder switching to a yellow colour. When she pulled the blade out once more, the edge matched the colour change as lighting constantly sparked from it. "The hands of hell shall engulf you. DEMON CLAW!" Gripping her sword, the energy around it flew off it, forming several new blades above and below it, making it look like she was holding a 'claw' of blades as she charged at the Killachine. The Killachine tried to block her with its left Sickle, however she slashed it aside and jumped to its chest area, spinning into a diagonal swing to its chest, making several claw marks through the metal.

After she landed behind it, she immediately jumped away to avoid the Tail as it slammed down on her position. The Killachine's eye narrowed, as if it were annoyed as it began smashing everything around it with its Tail, forcing everyone to be constantly moving. Though several people, Black Heart. Neptune and FALCON, had no problems considering they could fly.

'Those guys are freaking lucky they can fly…' IF gritted her teeth in annoyance, glaring jealously at the ones flying above them, raining fire upon the Killachine's Sickles with bullets or energy slashes. That was when something began to change within her, and her right arm began to tremble. The same sensations assembled at her upper back as well, making his groan and moan in pain and confusion. "Wh-Wha-?!" she tried to say, but the pain shooting through her stopped any words from coming. The Tail's next strike came down upon her, however when it was about to hit, something blew it back, sending it crashing into the wall.

"What?!" Ganache yelled as the reason why this happened was made apparent. IF looked to her limb and felt her jaw dropping. It would have fell to the floor if it weren't connected to her face. Her arm, well, now it looked nothing like an arm but a set of insectoid Tentacles, their thickness rivalling that of an average bodybuilder. They numbered at 6, and had sharp glowing orange tips. Each one protruded from her shoulder, having replaced her entire arm up to the shoulder socket.

When everyone else saw her mutation, they too were flabbergasted at what they saw.

"Holy…"

"… well, this is indeed quite the surprise."

"Neptune, I can agree with you there."

"Iffy has… Tentacles…?"

Those were the reactions of Black Heart, Neptune, Nico, and Compa respectively. They knew that while she did survive, IF was still a BOW now, so she was bound to have some mutation. This apparently was it. To them, it looked akin to the mutations J'avo underwent, only much more drastic and deadly.

IF's eyes were bulging while she tried to rein in her stunned awe at the limbs she had formed unconsciously. "Whoa… neat…" she muttered, before looking at the Killachine and deciding to test these guys out.

The said Machine made to slam a Tail strike into her gut, but the Tentacles lowered themselves before flicking upwards, deflecting the strike towards the harmless sky. They then lunged, spearing the Tail at 6 different points, before tearing themselves free and ripping the Tail apart, piece by piece.

Several sounds of skin tearing were heard from behind her, as several more appendages burst out her upper back. When she looked behind her once she felt that the mutation was complete, IF saw, once again to her shock, that she had wings: 4 dark green reptilian wings made from her flesh, the lower ones being shorter than the upper ones.

Instinctively, IF tried moving them, and something must have been triggered in her brain because they shifted slightly, but did nothing else. IF made to try again when the Killachine launched another volley of Missiles at her. The Tentacles reared back as they began slashing or deflecting the missiles, thrashing about violently while IF began to run around the Killachine, keeping mobile to keep ahead of the hounds and to allow her weapon to deal with the missiles safely.

While she distracted it, Nico closed in with Lucy and Ivan beside him, the teen swiftly jumping onto its back and placing a marker on it. "Heh, I got it! CHAINS OF HEPHAESTUS!" he bellowed, jumping off just as the magic circle and chains appeared, restraining the Killachine and stopping it from harming IF any further. Lucy and Ivan followed up with a JACK THE RIPPER and a barrage of Lightning Blasts respectively.

Landing, Ivan switched his arm to Blade Mode, which began to glow blue as he activated a Skill. "Heh, you're done! CHIDORI!" instantly his blade became covered in a layer of lightning, sparks flying off it. Running at the Killachine, Ivan saw that the robot had raised its right Sickle to slash down on him, but before it could attack a series of missiles hit it in the arm, stopping its attack. Looking to the source, he saw Aiden giving him a confirmation nod, getting a thumbs-up from Ivan as he ran at the base of its Tail and sliced while dashing past it. The attack erupted and sparks coursed through the enemy, dealing significant damage.

Not done yet, Ivan spun around and returned his arm to default mode, the parts rearranging themselves back to a normal arm. Both his arms shined in a bright blue light as he activated another Skill of his. "Like I'm through with you, bitch! 1000 PUNCH CANNON!" Rearing his fists, both human and machine, backwards before unleashing a vicious flurry of punches, punches so fast that it looked like he had multiple fists flying forwards. Each punch created an energy sphere of blue colour when thrusted forwards, and by the time he had done a thousand punches in a couple seconds, Ivan punched forwards with his human arm, which launched the Spheres at the Killachine.

Each hit knocked it back, until the last one finally made it lose balance and fall to the ground, lying on its back. As it tried to get up, Aiden flew overhead, his eyes narrowed behind his Goggles which had its lenses narrow slightly at the enemy. "Prepping to attack. Make way." He spoke robotically as he flew down low like his codename's sake. When he was close enough to its chest, Aiden righted himself as his wings began to glow a greyish colour. "Taste the power of a furious storm. STORM BLADES."

Each wing gave a single flap, and the energy in those winds was released as a single salvo of 40 long blade-like feathers that rained down upon the downed Killachine. But Aiden wasn't finished as he circled backwards in a Vertical manner, before coming back and righting himself with grey energy trails pouring from the top of his wings to the space above his head, forming a large spiralling sphere of energy. "The power of the storm compels all to follow in its wake. PROTON BEAM."

The sphere was then launched as a large beam of grey energy, and when it hit the downed Killachine, it was sent sliding across the ground, by about 20 metres before an explosion concealed it from view.

The non-Team RAIL members watched their efforts in awe, amazed at the display of power from these guys. It was like seeing a bunch of Goddesses fighting together against a single enemy, something that they hadn't seen before, or entertained the idea of since the Goddesses usually were fighting each other in the Console War.

"Okay, I will admit that these Spec Ops Agents are more than just for show…" Black Heart muttered, barely concealing how impressed she was with their skill in combat. The way they worked together was fantastic, and their experiences together allowed them to know what each other was thinking without the need to fall back on their Earpieces. She had thought that Nico was one of the special ones, with how overpowered he was, but seeing this, she was starting to think that was just the norm for all Spec Ops Agents.

Every one of them was freaking overpowered.

Neptune also had something to say, regarding Team RAIL. "And here I thought that we wouldn't see any other Agents than Nicky in this fanfic. I guess the Author was struggling to come up with ideas for their designs, so he just mixed a bunch of ideas into them,"

The girls glanced at Neptune with weary eyes, seeing that she had gone and done a meta joke in her HDD form. "Nep-Nep, joking in HDD form feels… kind of weird…" Compa remarked with a weak smile.

"Well, I guess that Nep will always be Nep, no matter what form she's in. Though you're right Compa, it does feel weird seeing her joke like that when she's in serous mode." IF remarked with a light smirk, showing that she wasn't as annoyed as she should be. That was likely because she had some of her attention diverted to her mutations "Now, finally I can see if I can get these to work…"

With that said, IF closed her eyes and reached into her mind, trying to locate the new instincts for her winged appendages. For a few seconds, she couldn't grasp them fully, and her wings would shift slightly in response on the outside. But finally, after grasping them for so long that she had gotten used to the feel of them, firmly clutched those instincts with her mind, and opened her eyes to see that she had took to the skies. "Yes! Finally!"

Glee filled her as IF flew in a circle through the air, circling her companions as she did so. "Heh, is this what you guys feel when you fly?! Have to admit, never knew what I was missing!" she called down to the two transformed girls. She then righted herself and hovered in the air, looking to her Tentacles. "Hmm, now how would I return my arm to normal…" she mumbled.

Almost as if on command, the Tentacles shortened till they were back at an arm's length, merging together and reforming into IF's normal arm. Right down to the tiniest Cell in her limb. The brunette blinked owlishly at this. "That was weird…." She then shrugged her shoulders, not caring at this point. "Well, I'll just roll with it."

Soon, the party re-joined with Team RAIL, Aiden's wings retracting into his backpack, while Raven sheathed her Odachi, Lucy returned her Cleavers to her Inventory, and Ivan set his Bionic arm to default mode. "That was amazing, you guys! You were all really cool!" Compa praised, her eyes sparkling with admiration towards the four.

"Hehehe, well, thanks." Lucy replied bashfully, rubbing the back of her head. "We're glad we could help, ya know." She then noticed Nico among them, and her bashful look changed to one of seduction, like the one she had when they met back in that Park-turned-battlefield. "And I'm more than willing to help you in plenty of… other, physical means, Nicky-dear." She whispered sultrily appearing before him while doodling on his chest.

Once again, as with all attempts at the M RATED FLUFFINESS, Nico lost his composure and his face reddened to th shade of cherries. "I-I-I-I U-um…" he tried to speak, but no words came out of his orifice. He was quite literally tongue tied at the moment.

The girls glared jealously at Lucy, not liking how close she was getting to the male of their group. Neptune and Compa made to intervene on their friend's behalf, however that was soon proven unnecessary when a sharp Killing intent pierced the back of Lucy's head like a dagger. "Lucy…"

Her face losing colour a little, Lucy slowly turned her head over to Raven, whom had discarded her Mask to reveal her face, which was arguably insanely beautiful. Well-developed and womanly, as well as contorted with silent anger as her eyes gave this demonic crimson shine that scared the other girls, save for Lucy, senseless. "What do you think you're doing…?"

Compa squeaked in fright at the sight of the furious Raven. "e-eek! Mrs SAMURAI is scary…" she whispered while running behind Nico for comfort. The male just sheepishly chuckled as he struggled to think of something he could say.

Eventually, he was able to find something. "Um, Compa, her name is Raven…"

Nevertheless, Raven continued to glare at Lucy with an ominous 'I'll kill you' stare, of which Lucy held her hand over her mouth to hide her amused grin as she looked away innocently, wiggling her booty from side to side. "Why, I'm not so sure what you man, fearless leader…" she began, only to see her glare increase in intensity. "I'm just giving our friend here some of my gratitude for letting us know of this beforehand."

"And you have to put yourself over him like a slut to 'show your gratitude' do you?" Raven remarked, stepping forwards while flicking her Odachi slightly put of its sheathe. "You've got a lot of gall, doing that while I'm here and while we haven't met with Nico in a while."

While the girls were stepping back away from the furious team leader, Luc was not scared in the least as she lowered her hand to reveal a dangerous smile as she summoned her Cleavers, slowly taking steps towards her leader with her Cleavers gleaming menacingly. "Fufufu, I don't get what you're so upset about, seriously, shouldn't we be smothering him with our attention since we haven't seen him in so long? you know he likes it, so why fight it?"

At this, Raven glared even harder at the redhead, gripping her Odachi and drawing it halfway, the blade's edge being its default Crimson. "We're not all slutty skanks like you are, slut. Some have dignity, unlike you." She retorted, noticing the twitching of Lucy's brow which made her smirk, knowing her insults were getting through as they neared each other. Their bodies were literally radiating the desire to utterly maim each other until there was nothing left but mangled corpses.

Just before they could come to blows however, Aiden and Ivan pulled them back, the former going for Raven while the latter went for Lucy. They had their arms coming under their armpits and pulling them against their chests, their hands on the backs of their necks. "Hold it ladies, we just got through multiple fights at once here! No need to go ape shit and deal more damage than necessary to the city."

"Lemme go, Ivy, I gotta kill her! I gotta turn her to mush!" Lucy whined, flailing her legs shamelessly, unintentionally flashing the guys with what lay under her skirt. Fortunately for Nico and Aiden, they were able to look away with their dignity as men intact, they didn't want to have their manhood damaged after all.

Though, the spectacle did make Raven struggle harder in Aiden's grip. "As your commanding officer, FALCON, I order you to let me go this instant, let me get that hussy and show her where her place is!" she yelled, trying to play on the fact that Aiden was a hardened soldier.

However, the male remarked with his ever-stoic expression. "Do not misuse your position of power as an excuse to beat up your underlings." He told her, before glancing to the side towards Nico and the girls. "Especially when we have company that is not affiliated with us."

When he said those words, Raven's eyes widened and she finally noticed the Party. While anger bubbled within her at Lucy, she forced herself to calm down and clear her throat awkwardly. "Oh, well, why didn't you say so earlier?" Aiden wisely gave no answer as she stepped around him and walked towards the group having sheathed her Odachi. "A-Apologies that you had to see that unruly business. it most have been most unpleasant."

"Tch, unruly she says…"

Ignoring her vice leader, Raven lowered her head in a bowing manner as she introduced herself. "We have not officially met, but I am Raven, codename SAMURAI, leader of Team RAIL. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." She then gestured to the others, starting with Aiden who was now leaning against a broken lamppost. "This is Aiden, codename FALCON, our combat scout." Her finger shifted over to Ivan, who gave a polite wave and lowered his Mask to show his grin. "This is Ivan, Codename CYBORG. Heavy hitter. The last one isn't worth mentioning (HEY!) but her name's Lucy, codename VERONICA, our vice leader."

Recognition flashed in IF's eyes as she finally figured something out. She clicked her fingers while this happened before pointing at them with the same hand. "Hey, I remember now. I heard there was a Team of Spec Ops Agents in Planeptune, brought together to better make use of their skills. Their strength alone is capable of rivalling the CPUs, so this is you guys, huh?"

At this, all of Team RAIL looked sheepish as they looked to the sides, even Aiden. "W-Well, we wouldn't go that far, but I'd say we were plenty powerful." Raven admitted with modesty. Modesty was mostly rare these days, since most go arrogant with the amount of praise for their skills they receive. Raven then heaved a breath as she got her composure back. "I assume then that you girls are with Nico on some job, then? That's the only explanation why we haven't seen him around for a while."

"You would be correct, Nicky here is-"

WHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Everyone jumped, spinning around to face the Killachine as it once again started up. But the thig was, that all its damaged areas began to repair itself, metal spreading like it was living tissue, the Tail restoring its pieces to their original state, till it was back to full power. Only one thought entered their minds when they saw this. 'You're shitting me…?!'