Chapter 44 - Planeptune Time!

It was about 10 in the morning within the land of Purple Progress, Planeptune. The civilians under the protection granted by its CPU, Purple Heart, were just starting to get out their houses to go to their jobs, do shopping or whatever activities they did during the day. To them, the day would go on like any other, the threat of monsters attacking ever constant, the growing power supplied to the Military, among other topics racing through the papers. Adults went to do their daily jobs, both the single and the taken ones, there was no distinction. Some would even play mobile games while donning classy suits, while occasionally they would see patrolling Militiamen across the streets by the hour. Teens would either go to College, high school, or would be shut in nerds chatting with others from within their dirty rooms on social media while their families worked their asses off.

But at Compa's house, things were about to take an interesting turn.


"Whatchya watching Iffy? Some Neptuber on a sugar rush? Some lovable pervert who likes big titties and cute butts?" Neptune's sudden question brought IF's concentration on the video that she was watching on her phone. It had been a nice, relatively quiet morning in the house, something of a rarity considering the house's occupants, and the brunette had been watching her video in relative peace, while Neptune had remained doing her own thing.

Sadly, for her anyways, that seemed to be over now.

Looking up at the preteen, IF noticed that she was standing right beside her, looking over at what she was watching like a curious child. She gave an irritated scoff at having her personal space violated so blatantly, and moved away from her, eyeing her warily. "Nothing like that, Nep. It's just the footage of our last few battles with the Abnormals in Lastation." She replied, showing her phone so Neptune could get a better look. Indeed, it was the footage of herself, Neptune and Compa battling an Abnormal, one which according to Nico's notes that he'd given them, was called a 'Quadriga': a massive creature that looks like it was a mix between human, horse and tank. It had the lower body of a mechanical horse, with the two front legs a set of Tank treads. The front of its horse body had a face-like cartridge that opened to fire missiles. It had a skeletal upper body, with a skull for a head. On the back was a large disk-like structure, with several wing-like protrusions coming from the sides. On the back of its horse body, were a pair of rectangular missile launchers.

It was something that could be considered an Abnormal, both in its defence and its offence. Not even Neptune's HDD form could easily pierce through its armour, which spoke volumes about how powerful it was. Heck, Compa's armour was hard pressed to dent its armour with its rounds. They had a real difficult time dealing with that particular Abnormal, and when they had returned to gloat to Nico about their success, he just casually shown them his own record for beating that particular Abnormal. He beat one on 6 minutes, while they took over 30.

That shut them up, quickly.

"Ohhhh… that guy…!" Neptune pouted, remembering how difficult that monster was. She made a sour face afterwards, unwanted memories coursing through her mind. "That meanie kept shelling me with missiles…" she groaned, shoulders dropping as she felt phantom pains in several parts of her body. "Not to mention how long it took to break its armour… muuuu! Why ya watching this, Iffy? Ya like seeing me get beat or something?" she asked her. While Neptune wasn't fond of getting beat, she could tell that IF would like it, since she did get annoyed over her antics. Seeing her beaten would likely be a way for her to relieve those stress.

IF looked back at her and smirked deviously, a twinkle in her eyes that all but confirmed her earlier thoughts. "Maaaaaaaybe…" she began, her smirk widening as she saw Neptune begin to groan in dismay, shoulders dropping and her arms hanging in front of her sides, until she decided to get on with it. "Hehehe, just kidding. Anyways, I'm looking it over see how I could improve on my BOW abilities." She told her, becoming more serious and dropping her smile for a firm line. It was how she usually was when discussing how to get better as a Guild Agent. As she said that, she looked down at her phone and saw the moment when her video self, mutate one of her arms into a weapon she was intending to create to suit the situation.

Within the video, her video self's limb twisted, moulding itself with grotesque sounds ringing throughout the speakers, however she was so used to it now thanks to having heard them so many times. She vaguely noticed Neptune grimacing and shuddering as she heard the sounds, but she ignored it. In IF's eyes, Neptune would have to get used to such things with her new... status.

When it was complete, the arm looked normal down to the elbow, save for several Tendrils made from flesh wrapping around it and going into the shoulder. Below that though, was a long, large organic shaft, as large as a bodybuilder's arm. At the tip, there was a large Axe blade, about 8 feet long and 6 feet wide. The blade was double tipped with a large crescent edge, a single notch next to the bottom tip. That same tip of the Shaft had a large shell-like structure, meant for bashing and crushing. One could call it a Hybrid of Axe, a slashing weapon, and a Hammer, a crushing weapon.

She had hence called it: an Axammer.

The Axammer was an idea she had been pondering for a while. Before, her body was built for speed and agility, with only a moderate amount of strength. Thus, she wasn't very good with large weapons that dealt massive damage. She had been more of a speed-type, dealing rapid barrages of blows that were both weak yet occurred so fast that if they were tallied, they'd equal out compared to the rest of them. She had not been a powerhouse like a few of their members, like Neptune or Nico, so she had to maximise her skills with dual wielding, either Qatars or Claws. She had only a few Skills that helped her offence further, which was the limit she could reach.

Now though, thanks to the power of a BOW, she had noted down many changes to her physical ability. For example, one time she had tested her strength by asking Neptune if she could hold her weapon. A CPU should be the only one who could hold her weapon, it was designed that way by their own essence, any who tried to wield them other than their divine asters would find them as heavy as an atomic bomb. Neptune had done so, to her confusion, and when IF grasped her HDD Form's Katana, she half expected to drop to the floor since Compa had once tried only to fall flat on her face, and everyone knew that her strength had been impressive for a human. Both Nico and Neptune could attest to this.

However, to her shock as well as Neptune's, she had only slightly dropped, her knees bending before she got used to the grip and held it in a manner akin to how Neptune's HDD form handled it. She'd even managed to swing it a few times, though not nearly as fast as Neptune's swings. Turned out that her physical ability, while it didn't look like she had any with her... petite, frame, had actually been heavily augmented. Nico and her had done some additional experiments and found out something quite interesting...

(Flashback)

"Alright, IF, I think that's enough." Nico's voice rang through Compa's back yard, where IF had just finished testing her strength by having a 15 feet tall pile of junk strapped to her back. The male watched her as the brunette simply discarded the pile, without making it collapse by the way, to the ground beside her, before looking over to him and nodding.

The male nodded as he opened his Void Storage and pressed a few keys on the holographic screen, the junk pile vanishing into it. "Alright, it looks like you have indeed been altered in the strength department. While I observed you walking about like an old hunched hermit..." Nico smirked as he tilted his head to the side, avoiding an annoyed stone throw that would have given him a mild concussion, curtesy of an annoyed Guild Agent. His expression then turned serious as he opened up another holographic screen from his right Bracer. "I did a little Scan on your body, and thus discovered something interesting."

This drew IF's attention like a moth to a flame, whenever Nico had that look it was usually something significant, so she wanted to know what he was thinking about. She walked towards him with her hands in her pockets. She didn't even care that, thanks to her clothes literally being a part of her now, thanks to her BOW powers, that she was putting her hands inside herself. At first, she did care, but after a few days she got used to the idea. "Oh? What did you find, Nico?"

"That your body is a literal definition of 'survival of the fittest' right now."

... Huh? What was he talking about? IF had to think that as she aimed a confused look to the male. What did he mean by survival of the fittest. It sounded like it was a big deal, especially with how serious he looked right now.

Seeing that she was not getting it, Nico swung his free hand in a circular motion, and the screen swerved a full 180 degrees, so that its display was now pointed at her. "If you look at this here..." he began, pointing to the display, which showed IF's own body, bare of any clothes since it was a digital 3D Model, with her arms spread like the angel of the North in Lowee. He made the zooming in motion with a finger and thumb, so the image focused into her stomach area.

When IF looked, she saw that some of her cells looked like they were... consuming, consuming the other cells, cells that tried to fight back but their attackers proved to be too powerful. That was what IF thought she was looking at, and Nico confirmed it when he pointed to the sight. "As you can see, your cells are killing off the weaker cells, then promoting the growth of the stronger ones. The newer, stronger ones then eat the older cells, and thus the cycle repeats. This is basically survival of the fittest, the rule of the jungle. Now this is happening on a microscopic level, over hundreds of times a day, thus it does explain your ability to shapeshift. Essentially, your powers potential may be limitless due to this, and I'm basing that off personal experience."

IF gaped, her eyes like saucers as she went on pondering on what he said as Nico continued. "Back in Racoon City, one of the Tyrants I fought was a 'Hypnos T-type' which was a special Tyrant. It had a special gene called the Hypnos Gene embedded into it. This gene killed off weaker cells then grew the stronger, better cells. That, combined with its other abilities, made it a dangerous foe to combat. Your body seems to have a similar trait to constantly reinforce its cells with the strong and destroy the weak cells. In addition with the fact that you're in control over your powers, you can literally guide your own evolution, give yourself powers that could rival or even surpass the CPUs, even my own."

After he told her this, Nico closed the Hologram, letting the brunette digest the information. When he saw how stunned, disbelieving, and outright nervous she looked, the male gave a sigh. This would likely take a while.

(Flashback: END)

With the discovery of her strength being augmented by what they had henceforth called the 'Chrysalis Gene', IF had tested out her other physical abilities, which she theorised were also changed, to be proven right. She managed to run 20 laps around the entirety of Lastation and Planeptune's capitals, before getting mildly winded, she shot herself with one of her pistols at point blank and a distance, dodging both faster than a second, jumped onto a single-story building's roof, and lastly her instincts had become much sharper, allowing her to detect things that normally she wouldn't have been able to detect. It showed that not only her body, but salso her mind and senses had been affected by the C Gene.

Next was her apparent regeneration: Upon having her arm blown off by a stray missile fired from the Abnormal, IF had found out her body reproduced cells faster than normal to give her a healing factor, proven by when she slowly regenerated the arm back to full capacity. Thanks to her clothes also coming from her powers, she managed to restore the sleeve of her trench coat as well, much to her relief. So far, the perks to being a BOW were quite promising, much more so than the cons. She knew there was more to her healing ability, however she didn't have enough time to further test it as back then it was close to the time where they would have to return to Planeptune.

Nevertheless, the Chrysalis, or the C Gene, had definitely vastly improved her body's abilities.

"Well, I guess it's better than what we talked about last time, eh Iffy?" Neptune remarked, a sly grin spreading across her features as she elbowed the brunette in the side, getting an annoyed scoff from her. "What, with you being a stalker of Lady Green Heart and all."

This earned an elbow to the stomach, with an exasperated "Guh!" escaping from Neptune's lips as she doubled over on the floor, holding her stomach with her arms and thanking every deity she could think of that she didn't throw her pudding up. The perpetrator scowled as she crossed her arms under her bust, something she had noted hadn't changed from her transformation to her displeasure, while tick marks formed over her forehead. "Sh-Shut up, Nep! And it's not like you're going to win that bet anyways!"

What IF was referring to was an earlier conversation that had taken place in the morning, where Neptune had found her going through a blog, but not just any old blog, but Green Heart's blog, the CPU of Leanbox. This alone would have caused her merely a minor headache, as while Neptune now was aware of her identity as a CPU, she still had amnesia so she wouldn't know that out of the four Goddesses, only Green Heart had a Blog. Though, that headache was mixed with a sense of disappointment at Neptune's pettiness when she suggested teasing Noire over her entries, but fortunately that wouldn't happen because only Green Heart blogged.

However, things went downhill for her when Neptune discovered a hidden link to Green Heart's private diary. Let it not be said that IF quickly lost her composure at the thoughts of reading the CPU she idolised more than the other three's diary, though Neptune quickly made a teasing remark about how she would do so later. She tried to push past the issue, but deep down, she had made a note to mark the page down in her phone.

Upon examining its entries, they discovered that Green Heart had a lot of… hobbies to do with the otaku genre. Of course, IF believed firmly that the CPU of Leanbox wouldn't be into anything like that, while Neptune thought the opposite. Thus, a bet between them had been born. The bet was that whoever was right would get 1 weeks' worth of the loser's pudding. IF could already see it now, Neptune bawling her eyes out while watching, while Nico held her back, as IF smugly ate her pudding for a whole week, feeling more satisfied than she had been in her entire life.

At that point, Compa and Nico had returned from their activities, Compa with her groceries and Nico with training his powers and taking a load of quests from the Spec Ops Quest board. He'd gotten a message that his armour was nearly complete, with a few set changes, thus his vacation status was removed so he could partake in Spec Ops Tier Quests again, plus all those privileges he'd lost with the status change were restored as well. They'd came just in time to hear them betting about the CPU of Leanbox, making them realise that Leanbox would be their next destination.

"Anyways, I gotta head out. There's a Phone sale that's starting soon and I don't want to miss it." IF stated, standing up after checking the time on her phone. What she meant was that there was a special sale where she could get higher quality phones than the ones she had. She then headed for the door, opened it and closed it behind her, leaving Neptune all by her lonesome, giggling to herself.

Not long afterwards, the door was opened and Compa walked in, carrying a new bowl of pudding. She had this confused look on her face as she glanced down the corridor she had come through, where she had brushed by IF who was looking own at her phone at the time, before she went downstairs, put her boots on, and headed out. "Um, Nep-Nep, where is Iffy going…?"

"Oh, nothing much, just some sale or whatever, I didn't listen to the finer details since they seemed boring."

"… Nep-Nep, Iffy would throttle you if she heard that, and Ni-Ni would help."


IF wandered through the streets, heading towards the centre where the sale would be. She had her phones out and was scrolling through Green Heart's blog, looking at the 'regular' updates instead of the ones that she discovered from the hidden link. To her, it felt like she would be acknowledging that Neptune was right about the Goddess that she worshipped, and that was not something she wanted to ponder for long, if at all.

Just imagining the stupid dopey smile that formed on her face when she made those insinuations grinded her gears like no tomorrow. 'That little… I'm so gonna enjoy taking from her pudding stash.' She thought in anger and irritation. She was so affected by her emotions that she almost crushed her phone had she not noticed in time. Quickly, she took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. She was known as the level-headed one in the group, at least aside from their resident Spec Ops Agent.

The thoughts of the male were quick to calm her nerves down. While she may not be as… into him as Neptune and Compa were, IF could say without a doubt that Nico was a good looking young man, she had seen many of those types around, and usually they wind up being good partners… for a time anyways. Then they reveal their true colours which revolved around 3 things: money, sex and pleasure.

May sound cliché, but according to her experiences, true.

Thus, she was always cautious around guys and preferred working with female colleagues at the Guild. When she had first heard of DEATHSTROKE with his reputation, she did have her doubts about his skills and competence. He wasn't as well known as the other Agents, even now he wasn't, so she didn't exactly have much of an opinion on him at the time. However, with time and how he had supposedly done things he had slowly made her realise those rumours were not just rumours.

Despite being her junior with how long they'd been with the Guild for, IF recognised him as a high-level Agent.

Plus, and this was her feminine side that she usually repressed talking, Nico… wasn't exactly the worst to look at, quite the opposite in fact. Like previously stated, she found him to be easy on the eyes, though not to the extent that Compa and Neptune saw him. To her, Compa knew him the longest while Neptune, well, she assumed that the pinkette liked him because he'd done what nobody else had done, noticed what others didn't and did something about it. Despite his shy nature, Nico did have a gentle side to him, of that IF was aware of.

"Hey IF, what are you doing wandering around here?"

The sudden masculine voice abruptly cut her out of her thoughts like a knife through glass. IF practically jumped in shock and fright at the suddenness of the voice, and would have reacted in a violent manner until she spotted the familiar red hair and light blue eyes that were looking at her with obvious confusion. When she reacted the way she did though, the eyes widened and became filled with frantic panic. "Wh-whoa, s-s-sorry about that, I didn't wanna startle you, you just looked like you were lost or something."

IF blinked as she calmed herself down, placing her hand on her chest and taking a deep breath to settle her nerves. "I-it's okay, Nico…" she wheezed afterwards, eyes closed for a few seconds before they opened allowing her to face the male's own. "I was just in my own thoughts, is all. Anyways, what's up? I thought you'd be out questing or training, like you've been doing all week." Unlike a certain someone who she didn't have to name, Nico took this break and spent it productively, training his powers and learning how to harness them to their full potential, a lot like what she'd been doing.

Though unlike her, Nico had also thrown himself into his Spec Ops Quests. Apparently, the other Agents had left him a sizable chunk of them for him to do while he was away, thinking that with him gone there was no need to work as hard, at least that was what she heard from a few colleagues. The thought had sent her through a bout of silent rage at the other Agents, how could they just leave such important work to just one person, and then just go galivant off like that?! At least Team RAIL helped, they were just as workaholic as Nico was, and it was thanks to them that the male had finished the Quests as fast as he did, even he readily admitted that they were a big help.

It added too her high opinion of the male.

There were few times when he couldn't do those things though, and the two reasons that were, were Neptune and Compa, who did what they could to spend time with the male who had garnered their interest. Though, despite this, it seemed as though Nico enjoyed himself all the same which, to her, showed that the girls had chances with him.

"Well, I just finished today's quota and was convinced…" when he said convinced IF mentally reworded it to forced. She could imagine several of his colleagues telling him to take a break when he got through his workload and began taking work from them as well, the hypocrites. Although she was furious at them, she could understand that even he needed a break at times. "That I needed to take some time to do my own thing, and since my training's proceeding well I thought I'd take a wander around Planeptune. Even if people don't make quests for them, crime still thrives where you least expect it." he explained, before sighing dramatically and muttering about 'not needing any breaks' under his breath.

IF just chuckled at his eagerness to work. "While I get where those hypocrites are coming from, you do need to take some breaks occasionally. That was what this should have been, but you spent it in a more… productive manner." she remarked, getting a sheepish look from him in return.

When she had said that, Nico had no response to give other than that, so he decided to just move on. "Well, while I was 'being productive' I noticed that you were walking by looking at your phone for some reason, looking like you were troubled by something so I came over and… well, you know the rest." He finished off nervously, tilting his head to the side in a manner that reminded the brunette of a certain Nurse-In-Training. "So, is something bothering you?"

'Those two really are childhood friends…' IF thought, sweat dropping at the similar mannerisms the two displayed. They may have only known each other for a year before separating, but still it was surprising how well they knew each other's quirks. When her brain registered his question, her eyes widened as she remembered her previous engagement. "Shoot, Its nearly time! Ugh, I gotta go, a phone sale's happening, and I don't wanna miss it. the time window is short thanks to the updated models being so high in value."

She made to leave the male alone, when something he quipped stopped her in her tracks. "Uh, you mean a phone like this, right?" Nico asked her, reaching into his Void Storage and pulling out what looked like a black phone with purple frames. There were several lines going through the back of the phone, making it oddly resemble the colours of Neptune's HDD form.

IF's eyes almost flew out her sockets when she saw the device in his hands. "Ah!" she exclaimed while raising a hand and pointing at it dramatically. "Y-Yes! That's the one! how the hell'd you get one?!" she shrieked in shock and dismay. "Phones like these are not only worth a fortune but people almost instantly buy the entire stock before the second hour hits, making these guys extremely rare!"

Nico did a double take at the intensity in IF's voice as she gazed at the phone like Neptune did her puddings, eyes shining like stars with a bit of drool on the corner of her lips. The male sweat dropped as he held the phone in his hand in a wary, sceptical manner, slightly afraid that IF would try to jump him to get to the Phone. "Well, I guess it's a combination of luck and circumstance, you see the shop owner was someone I helped out a while back, his kid was being bullied by his peers so I gave him the confidence he needed to stand up to himself, plus I happened to be in the area so he just reserved one for me." He tried to explain. Nico remembered that incident and knew the story involved a lot more depth like psychological and emotional issues, but it looked like IF didn't care much for that, so he shortened it as much as he could.

Still though, the look on IF's face was priceless, and it nearly made him chuckle in amusement, though he managed to suppress it into a smirk instead. IF's eyes were shaking with her jaw agape as she tried to form a coherent sentence. However only single letters and sounds came out, rendering her attempts useless which caused her to release a defeated groan. "Ugh, you Spec Ops get all the good stuff, I swear…" she mumbled in depression, her mood decreasing significantly. "Odds are the sale is over by this point, I spent a small portion looking over the footage of my training, so its likely that they've sold out of these already."

The sight of a downtrodden IF was something that Nico wasn't used to, nor did he like it. It felt wrong, like he was placing a perfectly usable piece of equipment into a junkyard for petty reasons. He knew IF to be a cool, calm, composed and snarky character, someone he could have logical conversations with. It was something to be admired, especially with a group like theirs. There had to be something Nico could do to salvage this situation, but what? An idea soon came to him, though. Looking down at the phone in his hand, the male quickly concluded to help elevate her mood, and stretched his hand out towards her in a silent offer.

Her face once again became stunned with what she was seeing as she stared at the phone with shock and disbelief. "Seriously?! You're just giving me this?!" she shouted, for Nico to give a nod in return. "N-Not that I'm complaining, but why?! I mean, these things function 10 times better than average phones, can play games that are usually only on consoles thanks to their graphics cards, and last twice as long!" she exclaimed, listing the pros of the Phone being given to her on her fingers.

"Yeah well, I don't need something like that when I could just update my Bracers." Nico replied, simply shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly. He didn't see why IF would be so surprised at his gesture, seriously she knew that he would have done something like this, it was in his character. Was it really that surprising? "Plus, I know you like phones, so I figured 'IF likes phones, so why not give this to her?' Like I said, not like I have any use for them." he remarked, remembering that train of thought.

While not particularly caring about the newest phones when his Bracers could just be updated, Nico never did not see the uses in them. One of which was making his comrade glad to be around him. He didn't think Compa would want one and Neptune didn't care much for phones unless it was for a mobile game or something… or if it had to do with pudding. She was weird like that, but it was endearing. Thus, IF was the best choice to give this to.

Slowly, IF reached out and grasped the phone, feeling its weight and taking it from his hand. She felt that it was a bit heavier than normal Phones, but she didn't mind it especially with her physical enhancements. "I… I don't know what to say, dude." She said breathlessly, barely above a whisper she was that stunned at his gesture.

At that point Nico felt insulted. "Just a simple thank you would suffice for me." He responded, keeping the irritation from his voice as she may take it the wrong way. Now that he thought about it, IF probably had some form of grudge against males. When he first met her back at the beginning of the story, Nico had seen how much KI she had radiated when being harassed by those guys. Sure, she said it was because she had a stressful day, but something in his gut told him that the amount of KI she held within her was larger than what one would make in those circumstances. It was becoming more likely with her reactions to his gesture, something that troubled him slightly.

Looking up at him, IF weighed her options. While she would aay thank you, it just felt a little lacking for her tastes. She would feel like a thief if she didn't do something to repay him, something that DIDN'T revolve around anything lewd. She'd seen a few people do things like this only to want a good time afterwards, and didn't want to be like that. Plus, Nico wasn't that kind of guy especially with his reactions to Neptune's teasing and flirting.

An idea hit her, one that she got the inspiration for when she remembered something she'd seen out the corner of her eye whilst walking along the street behind her. "Well, thanks Nico. Though I' feel shitty if I at least didn't take you for coffee or something. I know a place nearby, so how about it?" she offered him, feeling an odd sense of anxiety for some reason.

'C'mon girl, it's not like you haven't done this before? It's just with a colleague instead of a client whose grateful to you for whatever reason. No need to be shy about it.' she scolded herself as she waited for his answer. IF had been with a lot of people in her lifetime, mostly on business terms. She never forged lasting bonds though as in her line of work you could die at any moment. Thus, this was her first time asking someone for a coffee as a friendly gesture, and she felt a little nervous because of it. Perhaps this was what happened when you worked with detached emotions, perhaps this was the toll it took on one's psyche.

On his end, Nico hummed in thought as he considered her offer. While surprised that she offered him this, Nico was also quite happy. After all, aside from their adventures and planning to fight Avenir or planning their next moves, him and IF never really talked outside a business environment. That time where he discussed the name of his DPU form with her came to mind, but even then, it still had a formal business air about it. When he thought about how she forgave him for his slip-up in the Basilicom, it made him glad that she considered him to be… well, above normal business colleagues at least.

Also, it wasn't like she would learn anything dangerous about him if he went with her, as opposed to if she asked him to go to a fancy restraint with her. For his body, Coffee was easily digestible, one of the few things made by people he could use as sustenance. It always made his day when he got a good cup of coffee in the mornings, but he didn't get the chance to go to a café very often with the nature of his job, thus he had to resort to buying and making his own Coffee which he kept in a silver canister, like the ones people who want to camp would take.

In the end, he decided that the pros outweigh the cons, and gave her an appreciative smile. "Sure, I'm down for some coffee, haven't got anything better to do anyways." he replied while shrugging his shoulders.

IF smiled, feeling glad that he had accepted her offer. "Great." She turned on her boots and began walking to the Café she had seen, which was back the way she came. In addition, there was a notable ease to her strides that Nico noticed, but didn't delve very much into. "The Café's back this way, so follow me. I'm paying by the way."

"Oh c'mon, lemme pay!" the male exclaimed in dismay, making IF laugh in good humour as he quickly jogged after her.


It was a short walk to the Café that IF had recommended to them, and when they arrived there Nico saw that it was titled 'Little Nep Coffee Stand'. He remembered hearing about this place one time from some colleagues after returning from a Quest. They said it was a charming little coffee shop with a few token stools that serves delicious coffee in a paper cup. They said that the friendly owner will be more than happy to engage in conversation with visitors while roasting quality beans and serves single-origin drip coffee along with the typical espresso-based drinks, which are prepared on a Synesso machine.

"Hmmm, this place seems quite homely… As expected of Gamindustri's Planeptune." He remarked thoughtfully as they entered the Café. He could feel the warm, informal atmosphere that the place generated, how the few customers here were enjoying their coffee while chatting away merrily, as if the problems of the outside world were of no concern to them.

IF nodded her head wistfully, a small smile tugging at her lips. "Yeah, I hear ya. Anyways, let's go find us a table, don't wanna be standing around here like idiots, now do we?" she remarked, already walking to a table with Nico silently agreeing and following suit.

The two sat down at a table and began waiting for the waiter to arrive to request their coffee. While they waited, Nico glanced at the menu along with the brunette. 'Hmmm… Well, the choices are a normal blend of coffee, a quick drip, or an Iced Coffee.' He thought, looking through the menu before running his options through his mind. 'Well, since I've been working a lot I should probably cool my body of with some iced coffee. Whelp, that's me set.'

Closing the menu, Nico placed it in the middle of the table as did IF not long after. "You set?" the male asked, getting a smile and a nod from the girl. "Well I'm for Iced Coffee, what about you?"

"I'm going for the quick drip. I like my coffee without any lumps in it. Sticks uncomfortably to my throat for the entire day unless I get some water." IF replied, shuddering a little as she remembered that sensation the first time she had some coffee.

Nico grimaced, he had experience with that feeling, so he could relate. Thing was though, it wasn't with coffee that he had that sensation but… something else, something to do with the secret that he kept hidden inside.

Soon enough they were approached by a waiter, who was a tall woman in a black overcoat, white shirt, long knee length skirt and heels. She had a notebook and pencil in hand as she held it like a journalist ready to write. "Welcome to Little Nep's Coffee Stand, may I take your order?" she asked them with a polite smile, one that seemed like she'd practiced for a long time, indicating how long she had worked in this business.

"Iced Coffee for me please."

"Quick drip for me as well, please."

The woman nodded as she noted down their sugar intakes and if they wanted any milk or not. After they confirmed the order, the woman left to get it prepared, leaving them to wait till it was done. While they waited, IF looked over to the male and noticed that he was scrolling though the holographic interface of his right Bracer. "You are looking something up there?" she questioned him.

Looking up from whatever it was he was doing, Nico nodded as he proceeded to explain. "Yeah, just trying to make sense of these Quest ratios. Apparently with my absence, there have been increasing Abnormal attacks, and they're getting bolder every time. Newer ones we haven't seen before are cropping up, coming out of the woodworks you could say." While explaining this, Nico was looking at some video feeds that the other Spec Ops Agents had sent him to look through when he had the time. "It kinda explains why the Militia have been getting better and better, they're trying to show they were not obsolete in the Guild's wake."

"Sounds like things are getting worse. You still plan on staying with us on our journey?"

"Yep." Nico replied with another firm nod. "I'll return if they need me, but they do have other capable Agents besides me. Plus, there's Team RAIL, they have more to offer them than just single old me." He elaborated further, holding an index finger up in the air.

A thought came to him, and Nico paused the feed he was currently looking through to turn on his seat, which he had been sitting on sideways since this conversation began, so that he could face her with a quizzical look on his face. "I've been curious actually, how has your training as one of them been doing?" the way he said 'them' indicated the BOW's but he said it that way because A they were in public, and B it wasn't a well-known fact that a Planeptune Agent had become a BOW but remained mentally sane. It was almost as big a secret as Neptune being the CPU of Planeptune, as there hadn't been a BOW that was sane before.

It made her a rare commodity, one that people would kill to get their hands on.

"It's going well, got a few ideas I wanna try out sometime, but I gotta say, with things as they are right now, I'm actually better off than I was before." She mused, mauling over her many hours of training in fights with the Abnormals. While tough, it gave her new ideas to experiment with her ability to manipulate her body. The only downside she could think of would be that she had to perfectly imagine the weapon she desired, right down to its specs for the first time. If there was so much as a shred of doubt, the virus mutation would fail, and other unforeseen mutations could occur. One time she messed up and grew a third eyeball on her forehead.

Fortunately to compensate this weakness applied itself only once per mutation. Once she had the idea down, all she had to do was think of the ne of her mutation in her head and she gets it instantly. Made complex mutations like her Axammer much easier to attain, that's for sure.

"Since we're on this topic, what about you? How's your questing doing? You look like you've been working like hell." IF asked him after a moment of contemplating her mutations and training.

Nico hummed in thought, patting his chin with his index finger as he made to think of a response. "Well, not much to go on other than the rising Abnormal activity. Feels good to be Spec Ops questing. Lemme tell you, to me, not being able to quest is like Neptune losing her rights to have ANY Pudding for a couple weeks."

IF rolled her eyes at his slight exaggeration. While a part of her paled with dread at the thought of Neptune without her favourite desert, the carnage that she'd unleash in that situation, she didn't think Nico would go quite as far. "Huh, well then, I guess it's a good thing your back on duty." She mused.

Before they could continue, the woman from earlier returned with their orders, placing them on the table before them. After they gave their thanks, the woman nodded politely and walked away to continue serving customers. IF discreetly noticed that she had looked at Nico a little longer than necessary for the profession, something which made her scoff lightly.

Looked like Nico had another fan without him realising it.

"Say… have you noticed?" Nico's words brought her out of her musings as she made to blink owlishly a few times, before directing her attention towards the male. The said male was thinking deeply while looking at her intently. It was honestly a little nerve-wracking which showed on her features as she averted her eyes from him. "U-Uh…What exactly?"

The male, either unaware of her discomfort or ignoring it, continued to stare at her lost in thought. "Well, I think this might be the first time you and I have really talked since this journey began. We've usually been focused more on the Goal of the Key Fragments or Avenir, so we've never really talked that much, huh?"

After he said that, IF pondered on it and to her surprise, she realised that he was sporting a good point. There weren't as many times where they themselves talked where it was just the two of them. Usually Nico and IF would talk mostly about business-, matters like how to take Avenir down, or about the Key Fragments. Whenever they were talking it was usually with Compa and Neptune nearby, so this could be considered a rare occurrence for them. "You do have a point…" she mused, agreeing with the male until memories flashed in her mind. "Although, if you wanna be technical, I guess you'd sat this is our second personal talk. The first one's the time where we debated over THAT form's name."

Nico paused to ponder this, before realising that like him, she too had a point about her argument. "Ok, I see your point there…" after he said that, the two relapsed into silence, drinking their beverages while pondering on their own little issues. This silence lasted for a few minutes, about 10 in total, when they finally finished their beverages and put them to the side.

Eventually, IF began the next topic. "How about this then, we take turns asking and answering questions about each other. We can get to know more about each other so we're not totally strangers or if we're somehow separated from the others we don't have to act all awkwardly around each other. Sound good?" IF proposed to the male, who nodded in acceptance. "Alright then, ladies first. '#AHEM# So, Nico, where the hell did you get so good with so many different weapons?"

That was her first question, IF had seen many Agents in her lifetime, but most of them usually were fit for a couple different fighting styles, weapon or non-weapon, maybe three but four at max. Not only did Nico blow that number out of the water, but he also had way more skills, maybe even too many, to count. She'd always been curious when she saw his Weaponry about how he got so good.

Nico hummed at the question, this one was an easy one for him to answer. While he had a question of his own to ask her, the male played by the rules and replied. "It's nothing too great, I mean, I trained a bit before I joined the Guild, that was in hand to hand combat. Next thing I trained in was Claws, how to use these, and by the time I joined the Guild I had the claws mostly mastered. I'd been a Guild Agent for only a few months before I moved into two-handed weapons, and while I was training in them I came across the head of the Guild's WDD: Helena Dawson."

"! H-Helena! As in, THE Helena! Codename VALKYRIE?!"

The male nodded, smirking in amusement at the stunned face that IF was sporting right now. "The very same. She'd retired from active duty and became the head of the WDD after she married her husband, a simple Tavern owner. She took me under her wing, helped me gain all sorts of skills under her guidance. Her only catch was for me to beta test the equipment the WDD develops, even allowing me to keep some for myself for my troubles. She's a major reason why I'm as good as I am, and I could never repay that debt to her." He explained, turning serious and stern near the end, his eyes swimming within a whirlpool of emotions.

IF gaped at him, amazement in her eyes. "I'd heard that VALKRIE was renowned for her skill in many fields, but I didn't expect her to have a student. I guess I should have though, since you two have several similarities in your combat forms." She mused under her breath, a frown etched onto her lips.

"Yeah well, what can you do. My turn, so anyways I've been wanting to ask but how did you join the Guild, IF?" Nico questioned as he leaned forwards on his seat.

The brunette blinked, momentarily caught off guard from the question until she sighed and responded while brushing some hair strands behind her ear. "Well, I guess you'd say I was born into the role. My dad was a freelance mercenary and my mom was a simple fashion designer. I was the result of a one-night stand, but my dad kept me anyways, taking me on his jobs when I got old enough to fight while my mom stuck to her job of designing clothes. He taught me how to fight, survive in the wilds, as well as other skills I'd need to have on the battlefield." Her eyes glazed over as she remembered memories she hadn't thought of in a long time. Mostly because she was too busy to do so, but even then, they were as clear as crystal. Her father wasn't exactly the sociable sort, he was more of a stern, serious mentor than a father. However, there had been moments when, once they ad a relative safety guaranteed them before his jobs, where he'd drop the act and become an attentive father.

But all that did come to an end, though, something that IF still felt sad about to this day. "One of his jobs got him in the end though when I was 8, and I decided to follow in his footsteps and become a mercenary." She explained, shifting in her seat in discomfort as her eyes darkened into pools of sadness.

Of course, Nico noticed this and attributed it to be an uncomfortable memory for her. It only made sense since it was her paternal guardian that had passed away "I see. Well, let's not go deeper into that territory, since we're supposed to be getting to know each other better." He spoke smiling at the relieved expression IF shot him for his decision. Her shoulders slumped, indicating a decrease in tension as she mouthed a thanks to him.

Once she was confident she could speak properly, IF began to think about something she could ask him. No, that was a lie, there were several things she wanted to ask him, things that she had noticed from his daily activities and questions that she'd been harbouring about his plans for how he did things. In the end, she decided to go with one, shifting in her seat while crossing one leg over the other. "Well, I was always wondering, but where did you get those Bracers of yours? They seem high tech, more so than standard equipment."

"Yeah, it is." Nico replied, his tone starting to sound smug as he placed his hands on the table so he could look at the Bracers adorning his forearms. "These babies were my first earned prototype gear from the WDD, with my Armour following suit. You probably don't know this, but one of the things that makes me... unique, amongst the Agents is that these Bracers, and my armour? The armour is made from a supervillain like Neptune pointed out one time, while many of the others have armour from famous Superheroes."

IF DID notice that actually. Many times, when she'd been in the Guild in between taking jobs for pay, she had seen a few Spec Ops Agents, some with their #shudder# fangirls, and some of them deployed armour that looked similar to the attires famous comic book superheroes had. When she noticed Nico's Codename the first time, she had the image of not a superhero, but a supervillain, in mind. It was only confirmed in her mind when she saw his Armour in the Banshee Cave.

Taking a sip from his drink, moaning at the soothing feeling of the liquid going down his throat, Nico took his turn to ask a question that had been on his mind for a while. He idly noted, when he asked his question, that some of the male customer's peeked over at their table, hidden interest in their eyes. "Now that its my turn, I'll go with this: Are you a Lesbian?"

"HUH?!"

IF gaped at him, shock and disbelief in her wide, plate-like eyes as she tried to process what she had just heard, and why the hell he had asked that. "Hey, its not like I'd condemn you for it, though." Nico hurried stated, waving his arms in a panic before quickly getting to his point lest she try to get psycho on his ass. "I mean, you seem to have lo opinions on guys, thus work with girls, so I was just wondering if they were to your preference."

Hearing his explanation, and admitting to herself grudgingly that he had a good point, IF took slow, deep breaths to quell the urge to just throttle the guy, somehow feeling a sense of irony fill her gut inside. "I see... Well, for you information, I'm NOT a lesbian, I'm straight thank you!" she stated hotly, unable to hide the pink hue on her features. She didn't notice it, but some of the customers seemed to slump in their seats, crestfallen about her declaration.

Heh, sorry fellas... not.

An awkward silence took over them, the two sipping their drinks for a moment of intense silence. Nico flinched and made an awkward face, trying to endure the irritation rolling off the Guild Agent in waves. She didn't show it, but just from her posture, aura, and how she subtly gripped the handle of her Coffee cup, made Nico aware of how irritated she was at him.

Well, he guessed he kind of deserved that one, considering he had just blatantly questioned her sexuality, and in public no less! She had every right to be mad at him, so the male decided to endure the discomfort. He'd let her glare at him all she wanted, to let her see him squirm under her oppressive aura if it'd give her at least a little satisfaction back. It was the least he could do, in order to appease the brunette before him.

In her mind, IF was restraining herself once again, this time from pouring her drink over him like a waterfall, damaging his clothes, pride and his beloved Bracers. She hadn't ever felt so... insulted, maybe? Nico did base it off observation, so it wasn't like his question was unfounded, but still it was the principle of the matter. She made sure that, while looking calm on the exterior, her irritation and annoyance would be palpable internally. Judging by how squeamish he looked, she figured he realised this as well and was not saying anything in favour of opting to take the 'punishment' she had for him.

After a few, intense, awkward moments, IF finally relented, dismissing her oppressive aura after seeing him squirm so much. It'd felt good at first, pleasurably satisfying even, but through time passing she had begun to feel more and more like SHE was the villain here, since he wasn't trying to apologise and make her forgive him. She let loose an irritated sigh as she looked down at her coffee. "An apology would be nice, you know." she stated bluntly, breaking the silence between them.

"I guess it would, and while I do apologise for my rudeness, I just felt it better to punish myself by enduring your irritation, if you know what I mean." Nico quickly replied, like a nervous army recruit in boot came and in the presence of a ruthless drill instructor. "If you'd like, we could go on a Quest as my way of making it up to you, or do something you'd like..."

IF sighed once again, the guilt rising intensely at how he looked like a frightened child rather than the Agent he really was. "Hey, don't worry you don't have to do that. I'm just as content with us just talking like this." she told him, but it didn't look like he truly believed her. His eyes were still panicky, but there was a hint of understanding slowly overcoming them. It resulted in a conflicted expression forming on his face, which made IF roll her eyes once more. "Seriously, its good. Lets just move on from this, and forget it ever happened, shall we?"

For the sake of their dignity, Nico wisely chose to agree with her.

Aside from that, things gradually eased up between them, and once again the two began to talk. They talked for what felt like hours, until the woman informed them that they were closing for the day and thus, they paid and left, soon returning to Compa's house. They then were met with two very irritated girls, and had to spend the rest of the night convincing them nothing had happened.