Noire brought me to her room. There was posters promoting LS4 consoles and games. There was a desk and a bed, along with a TV and magazines. She pointed to the wooden chair. "Sit." she ordered. I sighed. "Alrighty." I sat down. She sat at her desk.

"Now then. Could you pass me a- never mind." She grabbed a pencil and went to work. I look over. "What are you doing?" I ask. She sighed. "I have to sign these papers to approve the development games on the LS4." she explained, signing some of them, but writing Rejected on others. I looked around, watching the second hand as I sighed in utter boredom.

Neptune would hate the silence, and she would probably throw in some meta jokes, or tease Noire about whatever.

"And... done." She slipped the papers into a plastic tube and put it into a chute. With a pop, the papers shot down the chute. I looked towards the shelf next to her. "You never told me you were a sucker for model kits." I observed, looking at the many models on the shelf. Noire put her pencil down. "Huh? Oh yeah. Me and Uni collect those as a hobby." she replied. I walked over.

"I like this one. Is it a new model? It looks really detailed." I told her. I instinctively moved my hand towards the model to take a closer look. Noire slapped my hand away. "Don't touch, you moron." she snapped. I paused, looking at her. "Oh. Apologies." I replied. Noire's expression softened a bit. "I-its just that the newer ones are harder to build." she said softly. I smiled. "Of course. And it looks really good." The model was a 1/4 scale replica of the Purple Sister The knee and elbow joints didn't look unnatural, and the joint connecting the hip to the thigh looked natural as well.

"Kenji, your nose is bleeding." Noire said in an annoyed but concerned tone. I took a tissue and used it to plug my nose. "This model is really detailed." I concluded. "The joints look natural, and it's not top-heavy."

Suddenly, phone ringing split the air.

Noire picked up her cell phone. "Yes?" she asked. "Yeah. Uh huh. Okay. Gotcha. On our way. Thanks. Bye." She put down her cell phone. "Suit up, Kenji. We got trouble in Midgard." She dragged me to the elevator. "We really need to move." We got into the elevator and she pressed the Balcony button. The elevator stopped. She dragged me out. I looked over. There was... something coming towards the building. "DOWN!" I shouted.

The object slammed into the balcony, It unfurled, revealing a mechanical spider. I drew my sword. "A destroyer tarantula?" I exclaimed. Noire transformed quickly. "It has razor-sharp blades on the tip of it's legs. Stay clear. It also has resistance to lightning magic." The robot ran forward, slicing with it's talons. I dodged, retaliating with my own strikes when the opportunity arose. It jumped away, and I saw a red laser sight point direct at me. The robot began beeping. "Shit!" I exclaimed. "It has a laser cannon!" I dodged as it fired, coming within inches of my chest.

It suddenly stopped. It's back unfurled into... wings? It flew off. "Wait, it left something behind." I pointed out. It beeped. "Get away!" I shouted, as it exploded. The entire top of the building was blown off, shaving off the balcony and the floor below it. I was flung off the building by the force of the blast, leaving me to fumble open my parachute.

The robot was flying towards Midgard. Black Heart was behind me. "We have to go after it!" she shouted, and she grabbed me and took off. I was ready. Within minutes, we reached Midgard. The robot landed near Reactor 6. At that moment, Black Heart was struck by a bolt of energy. She cried out, then we began to fall. If we hit the ground, I'll die! I grappled onto the reactor wall, but it didn't work. Working fast, I looked in my inventory for a wooden boat or a water bucket. I found a water bucket. I splashed the water onto the ground the second before I hit the ground. Close call.

I saw the destroyer droid move towards the entrance of the reactor. I grappled towards the robot. I kicked it. It fell off balance, and toppled through the railing. I watched as it jumped up to the reactor wall. It began to fire it's missiles from it's back. I dodged and weaved through the raining firestorm. With a well-placed slash, I cut through two of the legs.

The robot twisted, and I continued my assault on the robot. Me and Black Heart cut away at it's armored hide as it staggered backwards. It suddenly thrust one of it's legs in a stabbing motion at me. I slipped under the blade and slammed my blade through the joint. I pointed my metallic finger at the droid's neck. It began to rapidly extend. "STAR FINGER!" The finger slashed into the thorax. Using the fingers like a blade, I sliced through the neck and wings of the robot.

It's guard broke, and Black Heart went in for the kill. She cleanly sliced the head off. The robot staggered, then it began to rise. It's lasers and all of it's weapons discharged. I grabbed Noire and pulled her away from the explosions.

The robot fell over the side, and burst into a ball of flame.

I heard a helicopter approaching. Uni looked out. "Did you already take care of the droid?" she called, asking. "Yeah. It was a pain in the ass." I replied loudly. She nodded. "I'll meet you in the slums!" she called, as the helicopter flew towards the Sector 6 slums.

I jumped over where the railing used to be and unfurled my paraglider. Black Heart soon followed closely behind. I quickly landed in the slums. The town was run down, but big. Uni slipped from behind one of the buildings.

"If the recent intel is correct, they should be hiding out near the train station." Uni informed us, opening a map. "If we want to get to the station, it's up north. Come on." I sighed. "Yeah." As we walked, I began to hear footsteps behind us. I gripped my sword, glancing towards the source of the sound.

I heard a voice right behind me. "Boo!" Whatever composure I had was gone.I shrieked and fell over. I looked towards the offender. It was Compa, who was now giggling like mad. My face went hot as I heard my party laughing. "Geez, I got you good." she teased.

I looked around, embarrassed. I can't believe I fell for that. Well, at least it wasn't a Thunder Cross Split Attack. No fighter has escaped it! "Yeah yeah." I mumbled. "Do we know where these scumbags are?" I asked. "Yep!" replied Neptune, who had just arrived.

"Well, let's put some scumbags down then." I suggested. "Kenji! Look out!" called Nepgear. I turned around to see a group of bandits. "Mirage Dance!" Nepgear swiftly and beautifully knocked two of the bandits off their feet. I moved in to assist, drawing my sword. "Volt Slash!" I drew my sword across the ground, gathering lightning magic into the blade. Then, I swung the sword at the bandits. A pulse of electricity flew from the blade, striking any bandits who were unlucky enough to be in it's path.

Noire sighed. "Don't blame me if you get charmed." she cooed, as she cut through the rest of the bandits. I sighed. "That was too easy." I sighed, relieved. I looked at the map of the undercity. "The map says that the hideout is... 8 miles north." I read though some articles on the small tablet given to me by Nepgear. "King Crab-fish have been sighted in the area. Avoid them and stick to the path." I read.

"What are king crab-fish?" asked a voice. I turned around to see Neptune and her alternative self. "They are a cross between sweetfish and crab. And they're freaking huge. They are herbivores, but they have murderous tendencies." I answered. "What do they taste like?" asked Compa. Big Nep looked over to her. "Wanna toss one on the grill and find out?" she asked.

"We could feed everyone before we split after the mission." I pointed out. "One crab could feed everyone. The meat should taste rich." I began walking towards the hideout. Quite abruptly, I felt the ground shift underneath me. Uh oh. I jumped back as three giant crabs burst out of the ground. "Looks like our dinner came early." I called. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a red infrared beam focus on my head. "A sniper?" I dodged, and a bullet whizzed past my head, inches away from rendering me deaf and dead.

"Uni! There's a possible sniper. Can you knock him or her into retirement?" I ask. Uni squinted. "Gotcha." She drew her gun, holding the sight up to her eye level. As I looked, I saw another red laser hone in on Uni. "Oi! Get into cover!" I called. She looked at me. "I don't take orders from you." she snapped. Without thinking, I jumped into the beam, blocking it with my metallic arm. The bullet whizzed towards me, striking my arm... And bouncing off. "What the-?" I picked up the bullet. "A tranquilizer? Those don't work on... oh dear Gamindustri." I looked at Uni. "Take the shot or take cover! The sniper has anti-CPU bullets!" I called. As soon as I said that, Uni took a deep breath and pulled the trigger.

A sharp cry sounded from the sniper, then the beam vanished. The crabs were gone, possibly scared off by the gunfire. I looked myself over. The anti-CPU chemical infused bullet had burst open on impact. I looked at my left hand. I almost gagged. The thumb looked almost like it was rotting. The nail had already fallen off. It wasn't pretty. It was numb.

"Oi, I may need a heal." I called. Nepgear looked over. "What are you talking about?" she asked. "We didn't even get to- what happened to your hand?" I sighed. I managed to stop the anti-CPU bullet before it hit Uni. As you can see, anti-CPU toxins have different effects on humans. It causes necrosis upon contact with human skin. Meaning the flesh of my thumb is basically rotting away."

She sighed. "Here." she said, passing me some healing grass. I bit into it without thinking. "Umm, you are supposed to-"

I gagged. On the skin, not ingested! I'm a moron! I put the grass onto the rotting thumb. We need to get moving.