Chapter 137 - Where's Nico?
In an instant, everyone froze after that question got asked, shattering the previous atmosphere with no chance of return. If one were to apply sound effects here, then the sound of shattering glass would be the effect to be utilized here. That would have been something Neptune may have imitated to try and relieve the tension, if she weren't so worried herself to the point where her worry smacked her desires of relieving the tension away like swatting a fly. It almost felt like something forbidden had been asked here. The one question nobody had thought to ask, the one question they hadn't even CONSIDERED before now, popped into their minds and with it, settled a large weight on their chest. Sweat rolled down foreheads, teeth clenched in worry, hands twitched sporadically, and eyes filled with panic alongside worry. Heck, Compa and Neptune would glance around, trying to keep their cool whilst searching for any kind of answer from the other girls. The moment it was asked, a huge wave of tension swept over the room, taking the previous tranquility by storm and freezing everything in place, not just the girls.
Where…
Where was he?
Where was Nico?
Where had Nico been this entire time?
What happened to him?
Upon asking that one question, dozens of others came to mind, almost like a chain being pulled out from the depths of their consciousness. A chain that completely blew their sense of security off the rail like a nuclear bomb going off. None of the girls had even thought of THIS particular angle to the situation, so much so that they believed the overall situation to have been largely resolved with the heroes going off to confront the instigator of this entire invasion. Now that the question regarding Nico's whereabouts had been asked, however, those thoughts had been swept from their minds completely, replaced with uncertainty and concern.
"Come to think of it…" Noire began, breaking through the tense silence nobody else dared to break, not even Neptune. The black-haired CPU of Lastation furrowed her brows as she tried to think back, replaying the events of the entire invasion inside her mind. She tried, she tried so hard to see where she could find some traces of Nico's involvement in it, but to her dismay that attempt became a failure. No matter how many times she repeated, how many angles she searched her memories from, the result remained the same. "I never even saw him during the entire thing… its like he wasn't there at all."
As she said that, it soon became apparent to the others as well. Now that they thought about it, none of them had even seen the male redhead Spec Ops Agent at all throughout this whole invasion. There had been no doubt that he had shown up for the Gala though, that definitely had been a fact due to how many of them had seen the male. Lucy, Neptune, Compa, IF and Noire, which basically meant that over half the people in Vert's room had seen the male enter the Gala. Therefore, it should stand to reason that Nico would have been there to fight against the Demons when they invaded.
But... that wasn't the case.
So... why was that? What happened to Nico before the invasion?
Noire's words, coupled with some of the implications, DEFINITELY sparked a comment from Compa at last, as she finally managed to retrieve her voice which the tension in the room had stolen from her. Spurned forth by both those words and her newfound resolve, the young Nurse-In-Training quickly turned to try and defend her childhood friend. "But that can't be…" she countered, though the volume was below a whisper. Whilst she got her voice back, the previous strength she spoke with it still eluded her, thanks to the wild thumping in her heart that pumped worry through her body. "Ni-Ni wouldn't just stand by while an invasion like this happened. Just look at Lastation, Ni-Ni went off on his own and thanks to him, a large amount of lives had been saved." She stated, her tone laced with concern.
Those words also had merit to them, just like Noire's words and everyone knew it, either through rumour or actually being part of that incident caused by Avenir. Despite their sources, all of them had a good foundation for the thought process, the thought process that Nico wouldn't have missed something like this. If he were to be his normal self, then it wouldn't be unsurprising if he had kicked the asses of every Demon in his path to save as many lives as possible, just like what he had done in Lastation. But, like Noire had said, none of them had even seen Nico throughout the entire invasion, before, during or after. It almost felt like he had simply vanished off the face of the very earth itself, which WASN'T something that any of them liked to think about. He WAS after all, the guy that most of them held a mutual attraction for, and more than a few of them had made moves on him already. The thought that Nico may have vanished didn't appeal to them, or any of the group, not one bit. But still, no matter how hard they tried to forget about it, the possibility refused to leave their minds.
That was when IF had a realization, one that got triggered in an instant so she quickly got caught by surprise, as she recalled the last time she saw him. "Wait, the last time I saw the guy..." she began, attracting everyone's gazes. Depending on the girl or guy themselves, one would be able to see different levels of anxiety for their male companion's safety. "It was on the dance floor in the Main Hall. Me and him were dancing on the dance floor, and whilst we talked, I noticed that his mind... it seemed elsewhere, like something was troubling him about the Gala. Considering that in the past, he's been going off on his own like in Lastation, I guess he must have been up to something regarding the Gala itself." She explained, thinking back to the dance itself.
Whilst they had talked (she didn't mention what they were talking about for both their sakes), IF had searched through his gaze. She had found emotions that indicated that he understood what she had been saying, and felt guilty about it, but IF had also seen something else. It was something she had noticed about the male, something she bet only those who spent a lot of time with Nico could have ever seen, like Team RAIL or Helen. Whenever Nico had something like a plan in his mind, his eyes shook in a certain way, like he was trying to keep something under wraps. The shaking was minuscule, so minuscule that one would have needed a super powerful focusing lens or a magnifying glass to see it, but thanks to her vision she had seen it. That was why she found herself convinced that Nico had something going on, especially when she handed him that diary. Using past experience, IF figured that whatever he was doing had something to do with the nobility, and as such she had decided to indirectly help him out by offering him that diary.
She had not been a fool, she'd opened that diary and looked through its contents. There had been enough incriminating evidence on that thing to put more than a dozen Nobles six feet under in the eyes of the law. Blackmail, murder plans, shady political schemes, the works. Honestly, she felt much like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders when she had handed it over to him, as that kind of heavy stuff was NOT something she could see herself handling well for very long. Even so, it gave her ideas as to what had been going on, something that went on behind the scenes that apparently, Nico was aware of. It felt like a reoccurring theme, that Nico would be aware of something before the rest of them and thus, act upon it.
Even so, it didn't mean that he should go at it alone, not when he had people whom had just as much capability to help him. Neptune and Compa she could understand, both of them were just too innocent for that kind of dirty business, not to mention Compa was someone Nico had shown extreme protectiveness over. It seemed perfectly logical for him to not involve them, but she could have no doubt helped out somewhat, Nico wasn't the only one who had connections to people throughout the Guild. Not to mention she had seen shit like this a few times during her days as a solo Guild Agent, so she'd be much more helpful in whatever it was that got Nico spooked. Hell, she'd indirectly heed him further his goals by presenting that evidence, so Nico SHOULD have thought she could be of more help.
Hence, what she had said to him back on the dance floor...
At her words, Vert gave a sad sigh, looking down at the ground as a troubled look formed over her eyes. "I guess... there were a load of plots going on behind the scenes back in the Gala, not just myself, Noire, and our mysterious attacker." she remarked sadly. It felt like Vert had found herself trapped inside a web of schemes going on, weaving their way in and around the Gala which had been MEANT as a means of socializing and downtime for the governing parties involved with the Nation's leadership. Now, it had been reduced to a political landmine, not to mention a full-on war-zone thanks to the forces of Chaos.
A slight sympathetic glance got aimed at her by the redhead, Lucy could sense the conflicting thoughts inside the Leanbox CPU's head on this one. There were just times however, where something happens in ways other than what they initially expected. Not everything happens how people would wish it to go, this Gala was a perfect example. Even so, she too began to think about the last time that she had seen Nico, and that was during that moment in the corridor. She remembered how flustered he had gotten once she approached him with her dress, and she had to use ALL her willpower to try NOT to seduce him with that dress thanks to him looking like he did. After all, she DID manage to secure something that could be JUST as precious as taking Nico's virginity.
Aside from that however… There was something else to that situation as well, something which she had indeed noticed before she had announced her presence. At that point, Lucy's eyes narrowed when the memories flashed through her mind, a certain detail coming back to the forefront of her brain, something that Nico likely didn't figure out. Not like he could, due to the circumstances. Before she had yelled out to let Nico know that she was coming, Lucy had seen the look in his eyes, a look she knew all too well. It was a look that reminded her of someone who had been thinking of something hard, something akin to a plan. The way his eyes trembled made her realize that Nico had been planning something, a sight she had more than ample experience with thanks to going on so many missions with him.
IF's words had helped spark her memory of that event, though if she had enough time, Lucy felt like she would have recalled something like that anyways. Now that she thought about it though, there had also been the feeling that Nico had been talking to someone… even though there had been nobody else around him, something she had caught him doing more than a few times when he thought that nobody would notice. It had been something she had been planning to question him about after the first couple times when she realized something was amiss, but thanks to their limited time together the redhead had little time to actually sit him down and ask… not to mention she had prioritized other things whenever she DID get some alone time with him.
Not to mention, Lucy didn't doubt that the other Team RAIL members noticed, too. Possibly IF as well, as Neptune and Compa didn't seem like the sharpest tools in the shed. She wasn't sure if Vert had noticed, since she spent the least amount of time with Nico to notice those particular oddities about him. Nonetheless, everyone had an entitlement to their own secrets, and as long as they didn't harm anybody it didn't matter if they had secrets, everybody had those, she herself was a perfect example. Nico's secrets DEFNITELY didn't seem too harmful in comparison to someone like say, Ganache's.
"Hmmm, so the plot this time has become some sort of detective manga, huh?" Neptune hummed, rubbing her chin like a stereotypical detective. She had even switched her attire to a grey trench coat, bowler hat and a brown pipe. After pretending to smoke some of her pipe, Neptune took it out and gave a low sigh, imaginary smoke coming out of her mouth. "Hmmm, looks like the plot is not done with us just yet, not even after this whole action-packed arc…" she remarked, chuckling a little uneasily. "Wonder how the readers will take this lack of break between intense moments in the plot."
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…
At this, everyone rolled their eyes while sweat dropping. Now that Neptune had pretty much shattered the tension that had been building by their respective comments like when construction vehicles demolish a building, they felt like the atmosphere couldn't be recovered. No thanks to the preteen, something which they each had some level of experience. Though, some weren't sure whether or not that was a good thing. IF however, merely rolled her eyes as she looked over to the preteen in slight annoyance. The fact that she didn't so anything extra just showed how used to this she had become. "Really, Nep? You just couldn't wait a bit longer?" she asked her.
A sheepish chuckle escaped Neptune's lips at that one, especially when a pit of nervousness formed in her stomach from all the deadpanned stares aimed her way. "hehehehe, aw ya know me, Iffy. Unless I'm in HDD form, I can't take much of this serious stuff, even if this story makes me able to take it up the bootie better." She responded shamelessly, making the brunette blink several times.
'Did Nep just make a sexual innuendo about asses just now?' the brunette wondered, although when she looked towards the snickering Lucy, said sounds having been the cause of her attention's diversion in the first place, IF soon got her answer. Thus, it made her hold her forehead with a couple fingers. "I may not be human, but sometimes I feel like you just get off on giving me headaches Nep, geez." She stated bemusedly.
"But hey, that's what makes Nep-Nep so much fun, Iffy." Compa cheerily replied, Neptune's mood once again demonstrated how infectious it was, since the Nurse-In-Training's worried feelings got significantly abated by the amnesiac's antics. "We all need to keep our heads up high, if we do that I'm sure we'll figure something out!"
RING-A-LING-LING!
Just then, a phone's ringing sounded throughout the room, everyone's eyes instantly being drawn towards the baffled IF. Said brunette just reeled from what Compa had just said, before she noticed what was going on. "Ugh, you two sometimes… you need to read the mood a little… anyways, that sounds like the Phone Nico got me a while back… so who could be calling me right now?" she muttered to herself, though she intentionally mentioned how Nico got her that phone to rile up her 'rivals' for Nico's affection. If the jealous Killing Intent she got from everyone interested in him bar Compa was any indication, then her strategy worked, much to her amusement as she finally too the phone out.
"Huh?" Upon noticing whom the calling party was however, IF had to blink several times once more, this time out of surprise and confusion. "What the… why is Helen calling me? And, how did she get this number?" she muttered to herself, soon getting confused looks from everyone else for similar reasons to herself. This wasn't the person she had expected, in fact this person would be the last person IF would have thought to contact her. She wouldn't lie and say she didn't wish it were Nico calling to let them know he was alright and where he had been during all this shit. Nevertheless, she soon opened the phone up, pressed the 'receive' button as well as the speaker, turning the volume up to max so that everyone could hear it. "Hello? Helen?"
Soon enough, Helen's voice came through the other end, and the woman's tone sounded quite jovial. "Ah, Iffy! It's good to finally get through to you." Helen greeted through the phone. "And judging by the location your phone is showing, you're with some other people right now, so I'll just go ahead and say: Hi there everybody, I's ya girl Helena Dawson, Nicky-Nick's momma. Pleased to meet ya!"… Okay, IF did NOT just feel marginally creeped out by the fact that Helen had been tracking her phone, she did not feel creeped out one bit. Nope, not at all, so let's just move on, shall we?
"Um, Hel-Hel seems to be acting like another Nep-Nep…"
"Hush, don't let her hear you say that, otherwise it'll encourage her. Neptune isn't the only childish one here."
"Oh, I see…"
Ignoring the obvious conversation Lucy and Compa had with each other, whispering into each other's ears like a pair of devious pranksters, IF spoke into the Phone's speaker. "Well, that would explain why you know my phone's Number, at least, which is kinda sorta creepy if you ask me…" she remarked uneasily, before shaking her head and getting straight to the point. "Anyways, what's this call about? You need something from us?"
"Hm? Oh, that. Well, your phone number's pretty easy, as I'm the one who got that phone to that shop in the first place. A mom knows when her boy wants to give his girl a present, you know." Helen responded with a teasing undertone, something which made IF slightly blush at the insinuation. The brunette refused to think about the… quite stimulating thoughts that came with the proclamation of being Nico's girlfriend, and what that would allow her to do to him when they were alone. "But anyways, too the point I'm calling to let you all know a little something."
At that point, Helen's voice deepened, and judging by the cold, serious tone that followed everyone quickly assumed something big had happened. Even so, it did NOT prepare them for what she told them next. "I found Nico. He's with me, but… he's not at the same time."
"WHAT?!"
"Alright, it'll be hard and impractical to talk about him over the phone, so I'll send you some co-ordinates. Meet me there, and we'll talk more in person." With that, the phone line cut itself off, before a text message appeared on her phone's home screen seconds later. That could only have been the co-ordinates Helen had talked about, IF figured, and when she looked she got proven right.
Even so, that was a plot convenient bombshell that had been dropped on them. Helen knew where Nico was, in fact he was with her, that was something that confused the heck out of them, especially the Girls in the same Party as him. Thoughts about how Nico could have gotten there filled their minds, as well as other things as IF quickly pocketed her Phone and turned to the rest of the Party, a look of grave concern forming on her features. "Alright, I don't know what this is about, but I got the co-ordinates, so let's get moving ladies. One of our own has been found, so we gotta see if he's okay."
Everyone nodded in agreement with that, and afterwards quickly proceeded outside the bedroom towards where Helen had wanted to meet them. There would be no stopping for them this time, not even for someone like Vert whom would have had to do her duties in mitigating the soon-to-occur fallout this attack would bring, not when the fate of one of their beloved comrades was on the line.
After leaving Vert's bedroom, the group had to navigate through the damaged Basilicom hallways towards the ground floor. Unfortunately, that would be easier said than done since a large amount of those hallways were filled with Soldiers from Leanbox's Military whom were quarantining certain areas which got more damaged than others… not to mention, areas with brutally mutilated corpses were also sanctioned off so that people didn't have to see such disgusting horrors. Something which, whist the group of girls plus 2 guys could respect the decision to do, it nonetheless lengthened their journey to the ground floor.
Once they DID get to the ground floor, Vert along with the others got bombarded by Basilicom staff members, staff members who either expressed gratitude for saving their lives from the Invasion, or who wanted to know how Vert was feeling since her self-imposed isolation. Some acted all haughty like they were all deserving to know her secret, looking down on Vert with distain and scorn… though, they soon got rewarded with… more than a FEW weapons aimed at their 'special areas' if one knows what the author means… especially all you males reading this.
Needless to say, none of them wanted to get near her for a while, especially if they wanted to still make babies.
After they finally left the Basilicom, IF had checked the co-ordinates for the location Helen had specified in her call. Much to their surprise and confusion/suspicion (on Raven's end, mostly) it seemed to be located way outside of MICROSOFT in what seemed to be somewhere west. Looking on a map, it showed to be some place in the middle of nowhere, which only heightened everyone's confusion (and Raven's suspicions but they wouldn't talk about those).
Though, just when IF suggested they get going, Lucy suddenly swiped the Phone away from her (much to her surprise and anger), found the location, before wrapping everyone in Vines from her body and Teleporting them over to it.
Thus, here they were…
At a place that none of them would have expected to be at in this lifetime.
"Holy…"
"Shit…"
"Exclamation Mark!" Neptune yelled out at the end, though nobody bothered to look at her for that bad reference she had helped make, too transfixed on the sight before them to even notice.
For right in front of them, was one of the most LAVISH-looking Mansions that they had EVER seen throughout the entirety of Leanbox. The Mansion itself looked to be a hybrid of Leanbox and Planeptune architecture, with a wired fence all around the Mansion's rather large front yard. Around the interior of these fences, were these large bushes that seemed to stretch to over 20 metres, whilst the fences reached only 15. Some thorns also wrapped around the fences, but they did so in a way that almost made it look intentional. In the centre of the yard, a single country path ran down it, circling around a rather large fountain with water constantly pouring out of it. Ahead of that, there seemed to be some white steps, which lead along a white floor before ending at a white ad green frame. The door itself had a black colour to it, but overall the mansion itself had this very regal looking, green and white colour scheme.
"Whoooooaaaaaa!" Neptune exclaimed, going all starry eyed as she hung her mouth open. There was even a little bit of drool coming out of her mouth whilst she leaned forwards slightly, completely mesmerized by the sight of the Mansion before her. "I've heard that the rich have grand places like this, but this is just ridiculous!" she exclaimed once she got her composure back (after a couple minutes worth of admiring the building itself…). "What the heck is this place?"
IF frowned to herself, eyes gazing across the area like a security guard on patrol. "No idea here, Nep." She replied curtly, before she noticed someone sitting on a small, wooden rocking chair next to the door. "Huh? Guys, someone's by the door…" she stated, narrowing her eyes and focusing on her enhanced vision to try and identify who it was. It didn't take her long to figure it out, the black high heels, the white lab coat, the knee length skirt, all those pointed towards one person in her eyes. Something which filled her with surprise as she looked towards the others, gesturing to the woman whom calmly sat in the chair as if waiting for someone. "It's Helen!"
Lucy nodded her head in agreement. For her previous stunt, Raven had 'tapped' her (read: bonked her on the head so hard that it rivalled that of a sledgehammer) as a punishment for doing it without warning. Whilst she knew this would have happened when she had done it, Lucy still got a laugh out of seeing everyone's stupefied faces when she pulled them into her teleportation ability. Thanks to her being the Spring Goddess, wherever spring touched she would be able to teleport to, which basically meant she could fast travel to anywhere across Leanbox. "Looks like…" she stated whilst nodding in agreement, hands behind her back as she and the others stepped towards the open gate. Said gate opened by itself the moment they got close enough, rather creepy but they didn't care much. Not when Nico's fate was on the line. "Only she would have something like this on Leanbox soil."
Vert however, looked around in astonishment. None of the reports she had read to catch up on events that had transpired through her Nation when she returned from the Console War had detailed something like this within them, so seeing something like this right under her nose…. It put things into perspective for her, let's just go with that. "I did not have any awareness of this…" she muttered under her breath, frowning in concern. If something like THIS had been kept under her nose, then what else had been kept from her? She would have to look into that at some point, just in case anything dangerous may be hidden from her knowledge.
A 'tch' sound came from her right, and when she looked Vert saw that it had been Raven whom had been the source of the noise. Just when she made to ask what was wrong whilst the party walked up to Helen, Raven spoke up once more. "Believe me, Lady Green Heart, that it is likely that a whole load of injustices have been kept from your eyes. If you think THIS is something, then you have much to learn about the twisted desires in the human heart." She stated darkly, giving a sense of foreboding to the other woman's very soul, her very essence.
Aiden and Ivan stayed quiet, as they glanced to each other with knowing looks on their faces.
Walking up to the main steps, the girls finally stopped before the woman, whom turned out to be Helen just as IF had told them. Not like she would lie, since her vision had been improved quite drastically thanks to the Gala. Said woman had a serious, grim look on her face as she stood up from her chair, turning on her heels as she made her way inside the Mansion. "Alright everyone, follow me. Nico is inside here, within this Mansion."
"Um, Mrs Hel-Hel?" Compa barely managed to get out, the way the woman carried herself made the Nurse-In-Training feel like she would be gutted at any moment, such was the intensity rolling off the head of the Guild's Weapon's Development Department. "Can you please explain to us what this place is? I've never heard of such a building in Leanbox, before." Even so, Compa still managed to gather her courage (which had built up considerably thanks to the Gala, again).
Just as she opened the door, Helen paused when she heard Compa's question. For a moment, she wondered if it were best to tell her and the other girls or not. After all, tis would be one of the many secrets surrounding her and her adoptive son that these girls would be learning about, Helen figured. Her mother's intuition told her that these girls were slowly stepping closer and closer to the truth about Nico's true self, closer than anyone who knew of it would have liked… save for her. In her eyes, it was about goddamn time someone trustworthy, several nonetheless, came into Nico's life to show him that there was still good people left in the world.
Therefore, in the end she decided to let them in on this little secret. After all, her mother's instincts told her that these girls, whilst some had their personality quirks to consider, each of them cared about her adoptive son in their own way. Thus, they would be trustworthy in her eyes. "This here, this is called the Sanctuary. It's a special Villa that had been licensed to me by Nico's mother before she renounced herself as a Noble for Leanbox. It's one of the few legacies we have of them."
"HUH?!"
Each and every girl gaped at that knowledge, especially the main girls in the redhead male's Party. Of course, Nico hadn't told them about his parents, nor did he say much about them. All they had known about his parents were that they had disappeared, and that now Nico had no parents to speak of. Not to mention how secretive Nico himself was, so it sure as hell shocked them that A: This Mansion belonged, somewhat, to their crush, and B…
"Wait, Nicky-Dear's a descendant of NOBILITY?!" Both Lucy AND Raven exclaimed in unison, whilst Ivan and Aiden sighed together, having expected this reaction. They themselves had known about this place, and the redhead male's heritage, since they had been made aware of Nico's true self way back when. Of course, they had similar reactions to the girls right now. Only, Ivan had nearly crapped his pants (something Aiden sometimes brought up whenever Ivan tried to flirt with the ladies, though usually as revenge for when Ivan tried to set him up with a girl himself) when he learned of this, whilst Aiden fared much better at it.
Though, they could still understand everyone's reaction to it. After all, Nico hardly fit the type of a Noblewoman's son, nor did he fit the image of a Noble in general, he seemed more like the common person than that. Not to mention how much HATRED he had for Nobility these days, it seemed like way more than a grudge against them for renouncing his status as a Noble. Something which Nico had never even THOUGHT on, Nevermind tried. Even if he did, it would end in failure since a 'half-breed' would never be considered a true Noble in the eyes of Leanbox Law. Not like he would want to be one, anyways since they were mostly corrupt and power-hungry assholes who never knew how to treat ladies.
Their looks of extreme shock had been mirrored by the other girls too, especially those who knew of his hate for Nobility. Though, it begged the question…
Just how much did they not know about their male love interest…?
Seeing the shock on their faces, Helen gave a quick nod, the look on her face definitely suggesting how uncomfortable this topic made her. It definitely surprised them, though at this point they shouldn't be able to be surprised anymore, that Helen had some side like this to her. "You could say that, though my little Nicky-Nick doesn't acknowledge it nor will he ever, he hates the Nobles with a passion, and would NEVER want to be near them willingly even with a 15-foot pole. If he were asked, he'd gladly tear through the innards of one corrupt Noble after the other till there were none left, such is his hatred towards them. Anyways, Nicky-Nick's heritage isn't why we're here, so come and follow me. We have much to discuss about him."
Everyone looked at each other with complex expressions at first….
DASH!
Before they suddenly felt like someone was missing from their group. Looking to their left, all the girls saw was a faint blinking outline of a certain preteen, weirdly enough with a sign saying 'Neptune' above the head. Quickly looking towards the door, they all saw Neptune bounding off after the woman. "H-Hey, Nep-Nep!"
After hearing Compa's cry, Neptune paused mid stride before turning her head to look at them. Never would they admit it, but the moment that Neptune stuck her tongue out at them whilst girlishly winking did they feel any more irritated towards her. "C'mon you slowpokes! The early bird gets the worm, as they say! If ya don't hurry, I'll have Nicky all to myself to have my way with tonight." She teased, hoping to get a reaction out of the girls who wanted Nico's heart.
A pouting expression formed on Compa's features as she quickly dashed forth after the preteen. "Hey, that's no fair, Nep-Nep, that's cheating!" she cried, unknowingly accessing her Spirit Mana and augmenting her speed to catch up to the laughing Neptune.
Even so, it didn't mean that she had been the only one, as IF soon built up Biomass into her legs to take off after BOTH Neptune and Compa… though, she definitely had thoughts of pinning Nico under her fuelling her every movement. "Oh, you two are NOT gonna leave me behind, no sir!" she bellowed angrily. 'Sorry girls, but Nico's ass is mine for the taking! You kids just continue playing with your dollies or something.' She mocked in her mind.
As she watched the girls go after each other (and with the intent of trying to capture Nico for themselves), Noire frowned to herself. She had her bodyguard stay back at MICROSOFT, telling him to make sure her representatives stay in line. As a Spec Ops Agent of his calibre, Raiden would be well respected within the Military, not to mention his reputation (like every other powerful member) scared politicians witless. If he remained there, then things should prove much less complicated when she finally returned. Even so, Noire got the strangest feelings inside her chest, and she felt a swelling competitiveness overtake her (especially when she saw Vert having rushed in after them. 'Oh, hell to the no will I let them get to Nico before me! I'll make sure they won't touch a hair on his head!' she screamed to herself whilst dashing forth after them.
Not long after, Lucy and Raven gave each other looks… and well, their response could be classed as obvious, right?
Once the girls had all gone ahead, Aiden and Ivan looked at each other, their eyes set in a deadpan whilst they calmly trekked from behind. They didn't dare say anything when the girls had been in earshot, but now that they had gotten some alone time…
"Just how the heck does that guy do it?"
"Query: inconclusive."
Soon enough, inside the Mansion each and every girl managed to catch up with Helen, whom had already beaten them to where they wanted to be: which was a single door leading to a bedroom. They all knew this due to there being a sign on the door, one that said: 'Nico's bedroom – keep out', something which elected laughs from the group of girls over the childish thing on the door.
"Boys will be boys, I guess…" IF remarked whilst trying to suppress her snickers. Raven's mouth twitched a bit, whilst Lucy snickered into her hand, same with Noire. Aside from them, everyone else… didn't really hide their amusement at the boyish way of keeping people out. Behind her, Aiden and Ivan smirked to themselves, well, Ivan did whilst the other male's lips twitched ever so slightly. They DEFINITELY could agree with that statement, and nobody would ever make them feel guilty about it! They were men, and they needed their privacy for… things, alright? Men stuff, any man who reads this would understand the hidden meaning there… although, in Nico's case something ELSE took place in this room… something much more sinister… twisted and horrific beyond any boundaries.
Something only themselves and Helen knew of, out of the entire group aside from Nico himself.
A faint, if not bitter giggle escaped Helen's lips at their reactions. "Even if people see my boy as some badass hardcore fighter, deep down all he really is, is simply a young boy wanting to have fun. He just buries it deep beneath thick layers of seriousness which makes it hard to manifest sometimes." She explained, before her chuckles died down and a look of grim coldness took it's place, a deep frown etching itself onto her lips. "Nico's just beyond this door, but be warned, he's not-"
"Open sesame!"
FWOMP!
She had just begun her warning, when suddenly Neptune kicked the door wide open with just her foot. She then grinned apologetically at the surprised woman. "Uhhh, sorry bout that, Nicky's mom, just couldn't take all the seriousness anymore. Don't ya worry, we'll be there for Nicky no matter what state he's in! You can count on us!" she chirped, winking at Helen and giving her a thumbs up… whilst also childishly sticking out her tongue and then jumping straight into the room.
Bewildered, Helen could only gape slightly as the rest of the girls moved in, though the boys stayed out to comfort the older woman. "Don't worry Mrs Helen, they're always like that when it comes to Nico or anything serious." Ivan assured her. "Neptune especially, you know yourself who she reminds you of."
Soon enough, the woman regained her composure and let a small chuckle escape her throat. She of course knew EXACTLY who Ivan had been referring to, and she just couldn't help herself. "Yup, I know who you mean, Ivan dear. I know who you mean all too well. In any case, you two should head inside, I'll come in after you."
Both boys nodded, Aiden wordlessly giving his support to the older woman beforehand. It was then, that they entered the room after the girls did, something which allowed the older woman to frown to herself. 'This isn't good… once they discover Nico's current state, I fear that they may try something reckless… and considering who these ladies are, its likely that I will not be able to stop them, either.'
As Neptune stopped inside the room, the first thing she took note of, was the bed on the opposite end of the room. "Heh, a standard layout for a cliché bedroom situation, huh author?" she remarked, looking upwards and smirking at the fourth wall (which hadn't been taking many hits until recently). The second thing her eyes took note of was how... clean, the room looked. Like it had never been used, though Neptune could smell some sort of soap-like thing in the air, so that meant this place must have been recently tended to by someone.
She then looked back down to Nico's body… and when she saw him in his present state, she immediately changed her tone. Her smile became slightly more forced and something danced across her eyes, too fast to be seen as she eyed the male. "Uhhhhh, Nicky? You alright dude? Ya look kinda pale." She questioned with no small dose of worry etching onto her.
Indeed, with the way he looked right now, the amount of worry coursing through Neptune's being could not be underestimated. The teen lay on his back, clothes still on whilst the pure white blankets covered everything but his head, which rested over a soft, smooth-looking white pillow. However, that was where the 'normal' looking stuff pulled a pit stop and refused to go any further. Nico's skin looked horrifically pale, almost as white as the sheets that covered him, whilst his sun clung to his form so much that he looked like an extremely old person. One could even see the cheek bones which he sported whilst his well-kept hair hung over his head, though it didn't conceal the wide, almost soulless gaze that he possessed.
Nico's state did NOT look like his normal one. Why, if it weren't for the steady rising and falling of his chest, Nico would look more and more…
like a corpse.
"Heh..." Neptune bit back the worry rising within her throat as she walked up to the side of the bed. "Come on, Nicky, ya don't gotta keep this up anymore, your beloved's here to make everything better. She may have gone through one whirlwind of a ringer before, but nothing this sword maiden can't handle, ya know? hahahahaha..." she spoke further, though each word got progressively harder and harder for the preteen to say. The more she looked at him, the greater pain erupting within her chest like a volcanic explosion became. It soon reached a point where the young girl lowered her head, her hair shadowing her eyes in darkness as she repeatedly tried shaking his shoulder. "Come on, Nicky... jokes over, ya can wake up now..."
Pretty soon, everyone else walked inside, judging by the sounds of footsteps that she heard coming from behind her. However, with the way that Neptune looked and felt right now, she didn't even care.
"Huh? Nep, what's wrong? You're acting..." IF began, before she too noticed what had happened with Nico' Her eyes shrunk to the size of saucers whilst her form stiffened. Though, that didn't last very long, as she quickly jogged over to his other side in a burst of speed. "Whoa dude, what the heck happened?!"
"NI-NI/NICO/NICKY-DEAR!"
Once everyone else saw how messed up the male Spec Ops Agent looked, each of the girls quickly jogged over, copious amounts of worry writing itself onto each of their faces. Even Raven showed it, albeit only slightly, but even so it seemed to be much more emotion than she found herself showing so far. Each of them took up a space around the bed, taking in the horrific sight of the male before them. Panic, dread, worry and confusion spiraled together into an uncomfortable, dreadful mix within the depths of their hearts, a vicious gut-wrenching pain accompanying it the longer their eyes took in the sorry state that Nico had been reduced to.
Not to mention countless questions formed in their minds about what had befallen their male companion. What had happened? Who did this? What? Where did this happen? When? How did this come about? WHY did it come about?! After all, throughout the time they had known Nico, the girls had seen him as this unstoppable, unrepentant badass who took care of problems on his own and came out on top against some rather steep odds. Fighting undead monstrosities, godly level Abnormals, taking on one of the CPUs themselves, even outlasting whole hoards of demons whom wanted to kill him, rape him and actively fuck over everyone he cared about (even all three at once). Nico had fought dozens of challenging opponents, some of which the girls felt CERTAIN they didn't know the full extent of his roster, but through all those challenges Nico had come out on top, either through pure strength or some of his deceptive cunning. The way he took down Umbrella in a one-man war had been proof of that.
So, seeing him in this weakened, horrifically vulnerable state...
"What the heck happened?" IF questioned, barely managing to rein in her emotions. It hadn't been easy, but with the way things were, the people around her and the fact that she didn't know for certain about what was happening, she couldn't afford to lose it. She'd long since figured out the angrier she got, the quicker and increasingly unstable her mutations became Odds were, that had been due to how she got her powers in the first place, she figured, as she'd noticed a few times that when Nico got angry, his body would radiate slightly more Demonic Power than normal. That would mean that his rage and other negative emotions influenced his powers somewhat, and since those powers were what saved her and forged her into what she is today, IF felt like that structure got passed onto her somehow. Though, if anyone else were to figure this out, they would have to commend her for her mental ability to focus. If she didn't have such a willpower, than IF would likely have lost herself to her rage, and the monstrous form she took before Compa became a Spirit, well, it would PALE in comparison to what she would become if Nico's life were to be threatened. Quickly, she turned around to see Helen walking into the room, a look of grim seriousness about her as she held her arms by her stomach, hands over her elbows. "How did Nico get like this?"
Unfortunately, and much to everyone's frustration, Helen shook her head as a snort escaped her lips. "I'd like to know that myself. I found his body within a smoking crater about 20 feet deep, easily the size of a small town that constantly sparked wit violent-looking Lightning. In a way though, you girls are lucky, since THIS..." she began, pointing down to the redhead male's prone form. "Is actually BETTER than what I saw when I first found him." she explained, and it took every ounce of her willpower not to break down. It helped that, thanks to seeing him now and remembering how bad he had been when she found him in that crater, that his regeneration abilities were still active. That meant that Nico was still alive at least, though it didn't look good for him... not something she wanted to think about, lets be honest here.
When she heard that, Vert could only grit her teeth as she battled within to hold the frustration boiling within her like a steaming kettle at bay. Seeing the state Nico was in right now, hurt on so many levels. It hurt way more than seeing a thousand rotting corpses to her, heck she even remembered having nightmares like this a few times before the Gala. She'd never wanted to think that they could somehow become reality, but as luck would have it, it was not on her side. Then again, something began nagging at her, and that was if there was even a deity of luck at all. Worse, was that this right here, reminded her of the people she had seen shortly before her powers were stolen, and just the THOUGHT of comparing the two, one she really liked and the other she absolutely LOATHED, nearly sent her on a murderous rampage.
Her feelings DEFINITELY got mirrored by the rest of the girls, if the looks of restrained fury (Raven's looked more subdued, whilst Ivan and Aiden who just came in, kept their expressions tight... though, their rage shone through their intense eyes like fierce flames) were any indication.
'I believe I may be of assistance...'
Just then, Neptune, Compa, IF, Noire, Vert, and everyone else in the room blinked several times. Just now... did they just hear something? Did they just hear that correctly, or was it just them? That had been their individual thought processes at that moment.
"Uhhhh, Guys? I know i'm a bit of a loony at the best of times, but I swear that I just heard a voice that sounded strangely like Nicky's for some reason..." Neptune queried, looking about from the left to the right, trying to find the source of the voice. However, it would be all for nothing, since she couldn't find anything. Then, n idea came to her. "Oh, wait!" she then proceeded to lean over the bed and grab Nico's jawline, before proceeding to try and mimic the voice she just heard... with her own mouth. "'I believe I may be of assistance...' ... Nope, Nicky's silent."
Just before IF could whack her upside the head and pull her away from the unresponsive male, suddenly a flash of red blinded all of them, causing the girls tocry out as they covered their eyes.
When they opened them...
"Whoooooooaaaaaaaaaaa...!"
"What the heck?!"
"Wha?!"
"Whoa, what the hell?!"
"My goodness..."
These reactions each escaped the words of everyone involved, when they saw that nothing had changed... save for the floating ball of orangish red energy that hovered above Nico's body. The orb itself constantly radiated a large, sinister Demonic Aura which flared around it like a calm flame. A calm flame that could ignite into a fierce storm. Not to mention the circles of orangish red lightning that violently crackled around it, each circle moving either up or down, left or right in various angles. The orb stayed there, motionless aside from the hovering whilst everyone else could only stand there, looking absolutely dumbstruck with what had just happened.
Neptune's eyes had cartoonishly elongated so much that they looked like they had flown out their sockets, her jaw hanging open.
Compa gaped just as much as Neptune had, whilst trying to say something but only 'awawawawawawawa' came out.
IF had her eyes wide as she struggled to pinpoint what the heck was happening right now. "Holy..." she muttered under her breath, taking a step back.
Noire, Raven and Aiden had similar reactions to the brunette, each of them looking as stupidifed as a certain spell in a certain series about a boy with a scar on his forehead would make them.
Lucy, Vert and Ivan's reaction looked more like an extreme version of Neptune's.
Helen just looked like a fish with the way she looked right now, so it could be said that everyone had different levels of shock when they had seen this orb come into being. Wherever it had come from, it was there now, and with the way it looked... well, it definitely had more than a little intimidation going on.
"At long last, the time for us to finally meet."
"?!"
Once again, the same voice that Neptune heard before resounded throughout the area, quickly convincing the others that Neptune hadn't been crazy before them. Sharply spinning around, each of the girls tried to search about for the source of the voice... until their eyes once again landed on the chaotic-looking orb itself and a feeling of confirmation filled them to the brim of their beings.
"Okay, this is just some weird voodoo stuff i'm seeing right now. Is this for real?" Noire exclaimed as each of them beheld the orb whilst trying to get over the fact that A FREAKING REDDISH ORB had just LITERALLY appeared out of nowhere. Not to mention, Noire couldn't help but try to feel out it's energy,and almost found herself SWALLOWED by the sheer amount emitting from that orb. It felt MASSIVE, so much so that if she hadn't pulled her senses back in time she feared what might have became of her if she hadn't. Not to mention that, strangely enough which DIDN'T go very well with her current emotions... this thing felt familiar, as in very familiar. Sure, it felt Demonic and she had dealt with more than enough of that shit for an entire population's worth of lifetimes, but still she couldn't help but feel like she knew this energy.
This mentality soon became adopted by IF as well, the more seconds passed allowing her to calm down and analyze this thing with her senses. Although thanks to her having greater experience in sensing Demonic Power than Noire, she didn't find herself drowning within the large reservoir that was the energy this thing possessed. Not to mention, she too found it familiar, and it didn't take long for her to figure out why especially when the image of a certain unconscious male Spec Ops Agent came into mind. 'Wait, could this thing be...?'
Soon enough, Vert began to speak after looking at the floating orb for a moment, having quickly noticed IF's expression and came to a similar conclusion to her... although the Leanbox CPU didn't have the same surety for her thought process. "Am I correct to assume that you are connected to our Nicky in some way? Your energy signature, as devilish as it feels, is too much like the power that I sensed inside of him whenever we met, so that is the only conclusion I can come to," she questioned, caution laced within her being. Her past experience with the Demonic had been anything but pleasant, so the fact that this thing seemed to be connected to her Nicky did NOT sit well with her.
"You would indeed be correct, however I am more than that. Under normal circumstances, you all would never have known about my existence, however these circumstances have to be treated as 'special' for more than one reason. Therefore, you may call me Biko, I am the personification of Nico's Demonic Powers, I am them given form and their response to encourage him to learn how to master them." The orb replied, bobbing up and down as if to mimic a nod, since it couldn't do that with it's form looking like this after all. The orb then went on to using the flames and lightning to make pseudo appendages made from the two, appendages that it pointed towards itself. "This form you see me as, is not my true form. It is merely a result of myself and my attempts to create a construct out of Demonic Energy, something that nether myself or Nico have attempted before now thus it remained in the experimental stages. I do not have much time, however, as this form is extremely unstable at the moment. It could collapse at any time into a violent explosion that could take out about 3 miles worth of land."
Now THAT startled the girls, horror and dread filling the up inside at the possible risk that this 'Biko' Character had taken to speak with them. Taking out 3 miles worth of land? That sounded WAY too dangerous! Any other time and they would have tried to do something, however with the fact that it apparently was connected to their male companion (it's energy signature proving this) they didn't. At this however, did a 'huh?' expression form on Compa's features before she gestured to all of them. "Um, us? Why would you try to take such a scary risk to talk to us? Is it to do with Ni-Ni?" she questioned, nervously. Not only did she feel somewhat intimidated by the dark, distorted tone that Biko's voice possess, but she felt like if she asked something stupid then the Orb would fry her to a crisp. That was just the way chaotic energy worked on the mind, she guessed.
Thus, Biko responded by bobbing the Orb form it took to mimic a nod again, something which the Nurse-In-Training in spite of herself, somewhat felt a bit bad. Biko couldn't even show them his true form because of this unexpected situation, that just reminded her of how she couldn't express her own feelings before. "I have formed like this on Nico's request. Since you all have proven yourselves trustworthy, combined with the situation at hand, it has been deemed necessary for me to make my existence known to you all. However, to get to the point of my intentions, I intend to explain to you what has happened thus far."
Now THAT got their attention, something Biko noticed as the Orb shot a couple Hellfire flames up above where it's 'head' would have been if it had an actual body. These flames then took on physical shapes, and began enacting a scene of Nico and an older man talking to one another. "Myself and Nico, we were conversing with a man named Yvoire, someone whom is highly regarded as someone with great political power due to being the head of the military." he began, noticing the look that appeared in Vert's eyes, before he scowled afterwards. "Unfortunately, we were ambushed by someone, and a very toxic poison entered his system."
"... Wait, WHAT?!" Each and every girl exclaimed in a unified cry, their eyes becoming white from the shock coursing through their system. Helen took that part the worst, she looked like she was about ready to faint on the spot from something like that.
Neptune took a huge gulp as she tried not to lose it from this information. "Hey, this scene seems reminiscent of the canon scene when I, the main character, get poisoned by Evilest! What the heck, why does this seem even worse than mine?!" she exclaimed, her face losing color fast especially when she glanced down at Nico's prone form and barely resisted the urge to go on a fear-filled tangent.
Compa covered her mouth to prevent herself from screaming out her feelings to the world. Whilst she had her resolve, right now wasn't the time to be shouting to the heavens, this was more of a time to remain calm and collected... although her heart pounded both painfully and quickly within the confines of her ribcage. Not only that, but her palms sweated profusely and she KINDA felt more than a little sick, especially when she realized that this 'poison' must be an advanced version since she saw the symptoms clearly visibe on the patient (Nico) Just what kind of poison could do THAT?! She'd never even heard of something like this before! Not even in Nursing School!
'Posion?! Geez, this seems way too big for something like that!' IF shouted within her mind, whilst outside she tried to keep a calm face. Not just so that people didn't see her mounting panic, panic born from her attachment to the guy in the bed, but also to set a better example for the other fearful girls. The brunette scowled in her mind, gritting her teeth behind her lips while clutching her hands into fists within her coat pockets. 'Anyways, we need information! What is the poison, how did it get into him, where did it come from? Facts, we need facts right FUCKING now!
Vert herself felt much like Neptune and the other girls did at the moment, though she had a much calmer demeanor. Didn't mean she wasn't fearful for Nico's safety though, especially when she recalled the time she spend with him. Worry seeped into her being sure, but that wasn't the only thing within her at the moment. Sheer anger towards the one responsible for this also filled her being like a cup being filled with water. 'Someone... had the audacity to try and and my Nicky's life with something like poison... how dare they... how DARE they...!' she thought, biting back the urge to growl. In her eyes, Vert didn't see herself as much of a fool, if at all. She always kept it in the back of her mind, that even if she wasn't interested in the Console War and wanted to either play games or try to seduce Nico someday, Vert felt that deep down she had a warrior side. The side of her that enjoyed battle, the side that sought to fight against strong opponents. Why else would she have started to fight in the Console War during its infancy? But this... seeing someone she treasured like this, someone whom had earned her respect and admiration as a warrior, reduced to this state...
It pissed her off to no end.
Not to mention, these responses were also adopted by Team RAIL, as well.
"B-But how the heck can that be a thing?! I thought DPU's were supposed to be resistant against poisons!" Noire shouted, interrupting the Orb's story, which made the man look in her direction. For a moment, it looked like the Orb had been about to splash her with Lightning and Hellfire, however the Orb turned out to not do that and instead remained silent. The blackette CPU felt like she had just narrowly dodged a bite from a wild animal like an Abnormal.
This had NOT been something Biko had wanted to do, not one bit. This had been one of the riskiest moves that Nico had asked of him to do for him whilst his body stayed the way it was. Biko had already expressed the dangers of possibly unveiling his existence to the girls, how it could lead to them being targeted more by various interested parties like Maghda, that silver haired woman named Arfoire, and perhaps even the forces of Chaos themselves. However, Nico had remained adamant that they now had to know the truth about what had happened, what he had tried to do and what had befallen him. Not to mention his argument got supported when they had sensed a violent clash of energies through the seal separating Gamindustri from the rest of the Devildimension. Thus, in the end Biko ad to dig through his various research notes for something to allow him communication with those in the outside world, resulting in this current situation. What had happened with Noire had just been his annoyance for having to speak with people other than Nico and his OTHER half briefly taking over.
That couldn't happen again, not when the risks this power he used posed were so great.
The Orb then continued to speak, taking into account her interruption. "Back in Lastation if you all remember correctly, Histoire said that DPUs spun poisons from within their beings and control them, and that does indeed grant them a high resistance to powerful toxins as a result, an adaptation the DPU body makes. However, this Poison is different, for I managed to analyze its contents briefly, but when I did, I found something alarming. This was no ordinary poison, it was one specifically tailored to Nico's genetic code. In other words, this was..."
The Demon Persona trailed off there, but IF finished his sentence for him, her eyes wide as realization dawned on her. "An actual intentional assassination. Normally poisons would only work on anyone who takes them, but if what you're saying is true, this one would only work with Nico himself due to it being altered, am I right?" she questioned.
Biko nodded his Orb form in response. Out of all these females, it were IF, that black haired woman who looked as cold as ice while dressed as a Samurai, that one bald headed boy, and Leanbox's CPU who felt the more tolerable of the group. Nevertheless, he had been asked a question, thus he would answer. "Indeed. Nico's body is well and truly capable of poison making, he just doesn't use that particular ability. However, in order to strengthen his body's poison resistance, forging immunities to certain diseases that ravage Gamindustri, I have had him create poisons within him and then have them be released throughout his body whilst he is training, allowing his body to grow stronger through the stress of having to deal with the poison. The results speak for themselves. Some were weak, however most of them were strong enough to take out an S Class Abnormal. However, this one was genetically modified to be used SOLELY on him. Any others whom would take it in would be merely knocked unconscious for a couple days from the smell. Nico on the other hand..."
"So, what does this poison do exactly?"
"Young Neptune, this poison was meant to not only kill Nico's body, something which would have happened had he not gotten strong poison resistance, but also to permanently destroy his very soul, something very dangerous to a DPU. For their souls are otherwise immortal, even if their bodies die their souls remain until they reform. This poison however, affects the victim down to that level so that they can never return to this world again as their Souls are completely destroyed, which makes me believe that the DPUs developed ways of countering it at some point. Fortunately, that last part had not happened, as his body is still fighting the poison itself. Though, not long into the struggle, something else happened that potentially spun things in Nico's favor." Biko explained, the fiery images above the Orb showing everything he was taking about through shape manipulation. The flames then began to mimic Nico's form gasping as it clutched his chest area, where they saw additional flames take on the form of what looked like... a sword, a Broadsword the ones who know such things thought to themselves (Neptune, Noire, Raven and Aiden). "I do not know much about it, due to not having enough time to examine this phenomenon, but something had happened to one of Nico's weapons, and it morphed itself into a new form... though not after he had to do something whilst his body remained under the effects of the poison. In any case, Nico managed to pull through, and afterwards the sword, with a new form and power, used its strength to stop the poison from separating his soul from his body... though there were some other events that happened."
On their end, the girls each hummed as they took in this information, pushing aside their worry for their male companion for the time being, even though it had been building within them the more they heard. If what Biko said was true, then this poison had to have been something either insanely difficult to acquire, as poisons are usually brewed by alchemy or sold within the black market. In that case, then whoever obtained the Poison must have had both great resources and great knowledge on their side, which limited their lists of suspects.
Whilst they thought on it though, IF then remembered something else about Biko's story. "But wait, what about Yvoire? Shouldn't he have died instantly from this poison if its so powerful? I mean, the guy's a normal human and Nico's a DPU, and Nico's been reduced to this." she questioned him, prompting the Orb to respond after a few moments of pondering.
"Before Nico submitted himself to unconscious land, I noticed that something on Yvoire's person began pushing the Poison out and away from him. My theory on that is that he had something, likely an item he possessed like a ring of sorts, that he had likely inherited from his family line. It must have been something from the DPU Era, an item meant more for protecting the Soul that just barely fit the bill of protecting him from this poison. Make no mistake, both him and Nico (by extension myself as well) have had a close brush with death this day. For now however, I am uncertain as to what the outcome may be, but..."
Just before he could continue, Biko and the Party soon started sensing the Orb becoming more and more violent. On the Party;s side it looked worse, as the orb started looking like it was going to explode at any moment, whilst the flames above it and the Lightning and Hellfire around it began to act up on their own. This made Biko groan in what they thought could have been annoyance, it was hard to tell with this guy. "Tch, looks like the time was shorter than I expected..." he muttered under his breath, before looking back to the Party from monitoring his current form, with his gaze returning to its neutral state and the flames vanishing. "Unfortunately, I cannot tell you the rest for we are out of time However, do not be alarmed, even with what Nico's body has gone through and it's present states, present elements have gone under his favor, and we are going to be fighting an uphill battle against this poison. In the meantime, I humble request that you all guard his body whilst it recovers from an ordeal much like the one that you all appear to have gone through."
"W-Wait, pl-"
Noire made to say something, but the Party soon found themselves enveloped by another flash, forcing them to cover their eyes once again.
By the time that they could see once more after lowering their eyes, the group found that the Orb had pretty much vanished, with only slight scorch marks around the bed being an indication that it had even been there at all. They couldn't even sense any remnants of Demonic Power like they could whilst leaving the Basilicom. For a moment, a session of stunned silence passed through them as their minds struggled to process what just happened. The rapid shift in environment, combined with the curve-balls thrown at them, made them temporarily shut down or more specifically blue screen for a moment. Even Team RAIL looked like they had just survived going through a whirlwind experience, something that didn't usually happen to them.
The Party remained like this for well over 10 minutes, before some of them began to blink, the first few to actually show any form of movement, as they soon came back to their senses. Those people, ironically, ended up being Raven,, Lucy, Aiden and Ivan, whom hadn't really said much during that whole conversation. "Duuude..." Ivan groaned, holding the side of his head. "What the hell was that?"
"Your guess is as good as mine Ivy..." Lucy responded, looking around and finding a wooden chair nearby. She soon sat down on it and crossed her legs over each other, looking deeply troubled all the while as she leaned forwards with her elbows on her thigh and her hands meshed together whilst she put her nose on top. "What we just saw right now... combined with what we learned..." she muttered, worry seeping back into her as the shock wore off.
Aiden nodded his head in agreement, and if he were any normal person he'd be scowling right now, but his military once again prevented him from showing much emotion. Just like all the other times in his life ever since joining the Spec Ops Program. "Be that as it may, what we were told just now... I don't think we were dreaming, for its highly unlikely for us all to have the same dream. Too many people were involved." he admitted.
"Indeed." Raven stated, glancing down to Nico's prone body. "Although we learned little, what we do know is that his body is fighting against a poison which made him look like this. He may look dead, but upon closer inspection..." slowly, Raven reached out and pressed two fingers at his neck. Just as she had suspected, there was a pulse, a weak one but a pulse nonetheless. "It appears he is indeed still alive. Not to mention I can indeed sense his energy, its weaker than normal, however it's strength is slowly returning. "
"Whew, ain't that a relief then..."
The other members of Team RAIL nodded their heads in agreement with Lucy, before the rest of the Party snapped out of their stupor. Neptune went first, as after she blinked several times to regain her focus, she soon let out her own response... one that Ivan just now let out himself. "Duuude..."
Lucy just snickered at the response whilst Ivan glared at her. "Don't you say it, you..." Ivan stated, but nonetheless that statement proved useless in the next few seconds.
"Awww, how can I not, you're sounding like another Neptune, you know." The redhead woman teased, looking unrepentantly towards her fellow Team RAIL member whom Aiden quickly restrained from trying to get at her... for his sake more than anything else. With what they knew of her, before and after her revelation of her true identity, Aiden quickly deduced that if Ivan tried anything with her he'd get his ass beat in any manner of humiliating ways possible, ways that not even he would be able to look at without flinching.
"Please don't get that image in my had, Lucy..." IF groaned after she came to and heard that comment, holing her forehead in one hand. The thought of there being more Neptunes than the one she had come to know, more annoyances that would drive her bonkers on a daily basis WASN'T something she wanted to entertain the possibility of. "One's bad enough, we don't need any more Neptune's in the air."
Afterwards, Helen gave a sigh as she looked upon Nico's body. "Be it as it may, it would seem that we at least know what has happened to Nico's body..." she stated, and the rest of them soon recalled what Biko had told them. About the poison, about how Nico's strong resistance (something which they still struggled to comprehend thanks to the sadistic nature behind it) kept him from instantly succumbing to it. Not to mention that something had happened to one of Nico's weapons that served in helping him after a while, too. Whilst it wasn't exactly everything they wanted to know, not only a little bit vague, it did somehow help them calm their nerves. At least Nico wasn't in any danger of dying... for now, at least.
They weren't sure about the future, though.
It wasn't just the poison they had to worry about either, though. Not only it, but the culprit themselves was a source of concern. It would be highly likely that the would learn of Nico's survival, as well as his bedridden state, Helen would be a fool to think otherwise. Countless years worth of experience in handling assassinations worked for her at this moment whilst she continued to ponder the implications of their situation. If their unknown enemy learned of Nico's current state, then they would likely try to send 'assurance' to finish him off. That could not be allowed, she thought, not until Nico was back on his feet.
Just then, Helen remembered something whilst she thought about the poison that must be flooding her baby boy' system. "Ah, I know!" she exclaimed, surprising the others as they all looked to her, wondering why she just shouted like that. Ignoring their states as she began to elaborate like so. "There's something I have that could help Nicky-Nick recover from this poison faster. I found it a while back before my retirement as a Spec Ops Agent, and have kept it hidden ever since." she explained, before quickly rushing out the room leaving them with more than a few questions.
Not moments later though, did the woman return with a hand clenched, obviously holding something rather small. When she walked up to the bed which Nico rested on, Helen placed a knee on it whilst placing her clenched hand over Nico's chest, soon opening it and dropping something there. When she retracted her hand, the girls all looked to see what it was, and found it to be a palm-sized, glowing green pearl-like sphere. The moment it touched Nico's chest however, it began to glow brightly and then bathe him in its glow.
At this, Helen smirked in satisfaction, a immense sense of relief spreading through her chest at the sight of the item working. "This girls, is called the Sky Poison Pearl, I found it at one of Planeptune's lakes one time after a mission, and out of curiosity I took it for myself. This kiddo didn't let me use its powers most of the time, but it has been recorded to be able to detoxify poisons. The few times it DID let me, I saw how it managed to cure people of some very potent stuff, such as Abnormal-type venom's and various other illnesses." she explained, before a weary sigh escaped her lips, her eyes showing a level of fatigue only those in their sixties and above would possess. "Though ill be honest, I know next to nothing about it aside from that. I tried looking into it, but all I got was that it was like a medical tool to heal people. We have a few more with strange, almost mystical abilities like it within the WDD's treasury, including one that's so freaking evil that Abnormals stay away from SEGA because of just it's mere presence. Even so, It'll help Nicky-Nick recover faster, but we'll have to be patient." she explained to them all, getting relieved sighs from the rest of them.
Hearing that from the woman who had the more experience as a Spec Ops than them (save for maybe Lucy since she was way older than all of them put together... except maybe the CPUs themselves), definitely set everyone's minds at ease. With everything they had gone through today, the Demonic Invasion in addition to Nico's situation, having some good news for once felt like getting bathed in water after going through a hot summer's day without taking a single break. In addition, as they saw the Sky Poison Pearl working it's magic, each and every one of them couldn't explain why, but the more that they looked at it, the more... drawn to it, they began to feel. It was like it was trying to pull them closer just with the shining glow that it possessed, all the while releasing this calm, refreshing scent that smelled like a mix between the purity of nature, and the cleanness of a hospital. Compa knew that smell best, since her Nursing School was located by a large patch of forest within SEGA.
Ivan then asked a question that appeared in everyone's minds seconds later. "Will we be able to visit him?"
Helen gave a nod, her eyes sharpening whilst she formed a vengeful scowl on her face. "Indeed, you may. Whilst he recovers i'll have the staff here keep a watchful eye on him and for any intruders who might want to finish the job. In the meantime, I'll start a search for the culprit myself, see if I can find any leads." she explained, clutching her fists in repressed fury. "Nobody tries to hurt my boy without my fist being punched through their faces..."
In response to Helen's anger, everyone else nodded in agreement, a mybrid of furious emotions crossing onto their faces, even Compa and Neptune's. Whoever just did this invoked the wrath of not only two best buds, but also a group of female capable of unleashing mighty feminine fury. If they were to find Nico's attempted killer before he woke up...
Whelp, god have mercy on their poor souls.
Chapter end
Here goes another chapter. Now, this cheater has foreshadowed some bits about the DPUs workings, more specifically the way the inner world works. Notice how I referred to it as a cognitive world? How I only said it was here that Nico and Biko trained by stuff like sparring and did experiments here? Whelp, this will be explained in a bit.
Also, a LOT of things have happened in this chapter, Nico's been poisoned instead of Neptune, though in this fic I changed that scene in the games even more by including politics, drama and a whole Demon Invasion. It was foreshadowed the moment that the Hellverse Arc ended, and I bet you guys all noticed what had happened too didn't you? It was plainly obvious to see from there anyways.
Plus, keep those poll results coming please, it seems that Nico, Noire, Neptune, Compa and IF are so far in the lead. Not sure when the Poll will end, probably when I wanna put up another one which won't be for a while unless I get an idea. As for that Spec Ops Exam, that'll be a smaller arc between the Party staying in Leanbox then travelling over to Lowee, where a whole load of shit will be going down so look forward to that. Not to mention that the surprises for the climax of the main stuff for the entire Leanbox Arc ain't over just yet, either.
Please read, fav, follow, review all that good stuff. I like hearing what my readers think of the story. Now then,
Peace out!
