Chapter VII
[ASG2: The Silver Bullet of Revenge]
Copen looked at the readout in front of him. It was analysing the data he had recovered from his past few missions.
In here would be the key, a clue he could use to find his sister.
"Boss, you've been up too long." Lola said from the terminal. Her ball was sitting, lifeless, on the table as he tinkered with it while waiting for the analysis to be complete.
"I've been up this late before." He noted "I've spent over thirty hours awake before."
"Boss." Lola tried "It's not the lack of sleep. It's that you've had a total of 10 hours of sleep this week."
He had only been able to grab the odd wink of sleep as he worked. Honestly, it had been good that Eden was causing problems so often. It gave him something to do that wasn't stew in his own thoughts.
Nori brought him a cup of coffee. He loved the stuff but at this point it was all that was keeping his body going.
As he drank, his mind slipped back to a talk he had once had with Mytyl.
"And you drink it black? Really? That's so grown up!"
His heart hurt. Not physically but the clenching feeling wouldn't leave him alone.
There was a beep from his computer and he looked over as it brought up information.
"There?"
Nori looked it over and nodded "It shouldn't take too long. I'll get the car-"
"Get the bike, it's faster."
Nori looked at Copen then. It wasn't her usual strict emotions, it was something warmer. Her face hadn't changed though.
"Master Copen, dawn will break by the time we reach there either way. You might as well get a chance to rest before you rescue your sister."
Copen tilted his head but nodded.
"Very well. The car."
Nori nodded and left the room. The door stayed open though as the newcommers stepped in.
"It's time then?" Moniqa asked.
Copen nodded at the woman, trying to ignore her partner who entered with her. He still wasn't entirely comfortable with Zeno in his base.
"You'll be playing support then." Copen continued, tossing her a headset from the table "Encrypted. I heard that Eden has a hacker, these should be unhackable."
Moniqa nodded and Copen closed Lola's case and turned it on. Lola uploaded herself back into the case and A moment later the sphere was floating in the air.
"Ready to go boss."
Copen nodded, grabbed his equipment and left the room. The ex-members of QUILL followed him out but split up to head to the command room.
Heading down to the garage, he fond Nori filling the tank of the car. He slipped into the back seat as she finished up and climbed in the front.
Slowly, ever so slowly, the roof slid open and the platform the car sat on rose up to the driveway of the mansion. Once the platform locked, Nori turned the key and shoved her foot down on the accelerator.
The car leapt forward and shot down the road to the gates which were swinging open automatically as the car shot out on to the main road. The road was clear, there wasn't anyone out in the middle of the night and Nori glanced into the mirror to catch Copen's eyes.
"Master Copen, please do try and rest. We'll be driving for at least four hours."
Copen grumbled but got some shut eye.
Nori listened to his breathing, he faked sleep for about thirty minutes but then he fell asleep properly.
...The fact that his coffee tonight had been non-caffeinated had probably helped that.
Her master had asked for coffee, not caffeine. If he didn't want her to use the supply that tasted exactly the same but lacked caffeine, he should have specified.
"He's asleep."
"I am aware Lola."
They spoke quietly as the car drove along. There was soundproofing in the car but not a lot between the front and back. Neither of them wanted to wake their leader while he was sleeping.
"...Keep him safe."
"That is my job Nori." The ball replied simply "No matter what else, I will keep him safe. You do the same. No matter what happens, keep him happy and healthy."
Nori nodded and repeated "No matter what happens."
Copen ended up sleeping for most of the journey. By the time he woke, dawn was already breaking.
He grunted about not being woken up and began to slip on the white tiger suit. Lola linked up with it and they went over the plan.
Nori would wait outside in the car, ready to take the siblings back the moment he extracted Mytyl. He'd go in and make his way to the center of the compound, defeating any adepts on the way.
Finally, they arrived at their destination.
Copen stepped out, his white suit seeming to glow in the morning sun.
[ASG2: Utopia ~Foreigner~]
"Here we go." He spoke quietly, looking at the office building before him. Somewhere, in it's basements, was his sister.
"Lola, load systems."
The suit hissed as locks released. Programs executed and readouts appeared in his vision.
"Armour system: 100%"
"Energy system: 100%"
"Lola: 100%"
"Prevasion: 100%"
"Stellar Spark: 100%"
"Hailstorm Blade: 100%"
"Twintail Bunker: 100%"
"Hydro Zapper: 100%"
"Prism Break: 100%"
"Vantage Raid: 100%"
Copen looked at them but shook his head "Lola, what about the last two slots?"
"Umm-" Lola hummed as she looked through the data "Ahh- I can download some from the server. How about Jealousic Gorgon?"
"Lazy laser first." He noted "It will be more useful."
It was also expensive but it's ability to clear obstacles was without peer.
Lola gave a little bob and a new readout appeared.
"Lazy Laser: 1%"
It would take a while to download. Copen sighed and decided to use it as an exfiltration option.
Nori closed the door and drove off. She'd stay close, once he gave the call, she'd be back here by the time they got out.
Copen didn't care about doing this quietly so he simply walked up to the front door.
"Prism break."
A few moments later, a massive crystal punched through the front door and he dashed in to follow it. He found the elevator and called out again.
"Spark!"
An electric field shorted out parts of the door controls and he shoved them open revealing the shaft below him.
Without waiting any time at all he dropped down the shaft. As he neared the bottom he activated white tiger's boosters and drifted down to the hidden door before dashing into it and electrocuting it open.
He threw down an echo scanner and sent the data home.
"Moniqa!"
"I'm reading!" The voice in his ear said. There was a pause before he heard a sound like a sigh "Multiple possible rooms. I'll send you to the deepest and you can work your way out."
The Eden soldiers were starting to move but many of them were only just waking up so Copen had time to shoot through the hallways filled with unarmed guards.
Unarmed that was, apart from their powers.
Tiny fireballs or orbs of energy shot at him like bullets and he threw himself into a dive to dodge them. He activated the thrusters and jetted down the tunnel to get there faster. He found an elevator for the secret base and entered the shaft the same way he had above to drop to the lowest level.
As he fell something strange happened though. Moniqa's signal went dead.
"Lola, was that a faraday cage?"
His little robot bobbed with an affirmation as he decelerated and charged out into the lowest level. As he advanced though, a wave of green seemed to pass over him.
"What was that?"
"I don't know boss." Lola replied "But something seems off."
"LOL, YOU ACTUALLY CAME!"
A voice spoke from his headset, the one that should be unhackable.
Damn it.
"Where is Mytyl?" Copen yelled.
"AHAH- NO! UR NOT GOIN TO FIND YOUR SISTER HERE, WE GOT RID OF HER ALREADY! #NOTSORRY!"
"Got rid?" Copen's voice was quiet and Lola rushed to speak "She's not dead boss, I'd be able to tell."
The adept slayer ran down the green corridor as platforms and enemies appeared from nowhere. So this was his power was it?
Eventually he found a large room with the adept standing there and grinning.
"Where did you take her!" At this point, Copen's emotions were overflowing.
Lola shifted, the sphere expanding as light around it took on a new form.
[ASG2: Vast Circle (Lola)]
"I've got you boss-"
The adept smiled then, more than he did before anyway "LOL, NO YOU DONT!"
[ASG2: The Nightmare Comes]
Lola let out a scream.
"LOLA!" Copen yelled as he turned to her. The muse form was fading away and the sphere form dropped the the ground, lifeless. In less than a moment, the green light of this place had overtaken it and the Adept smiled, breaking away into the same green light.
"MY WORK IS DONE! THE BOSS WANTED A LOOK AT UR TOY. L8R!"
The green faded from the room as it turned into a normal room again, no longer affected by the adept's power.
...
Copen was in shock.
Everything, in that moment. What had happened?
His suit's readout flashed.
"Lazy Laser: 79%"
...That was enough.
Copen opened the portal just as he heard the yelling from behind him and he fell through it. He fell onto the road outside and within a few moments, Nori had picked him up.
He was in the back of the car when he realised where he was again. They were driving down the road, back home he guessed.
What had happened.
Something-
He pulled up the logs that Lola sent to his suit, it was part of the debug systems.
"Firewall paused; Shifting state; Error, software;"
He'd forgotten. It was such a small thing and he'd missed it.
Her firewall paused in the moment that she changed. They'd never been able to find a situation that would always trigger the change so he'd been unable to find a patch for it.
The adept had slipped malicious code in at that moment?
Copen's teeth grit. He'd not only failed to rescue Mytyl, but he'd now lost Lola too.
When they got back to the mansion, his stomach was growling. The noon sun was up and Nori basically carried him inside.
"I can walk." Copen complained but Nori ignored him.
[ASG2: One Conclusion]
"Nori, this is an order, put me down!"
"No." His maid said simply. She carried him into the dining room where the others were waiting. She put him down on a chair and Moniqa brought in some sandwiches.
Nori looked at her master "Copen. At this moment, you have a choice. Give up, or keep going. I know full well which you'd chose."
"Of course I'm going to keep going!" Copen yelled, his anger reaching a peak "I don't get why you're doing all of this!"
"Because the next thing you're going to try is to rush in alone wherever the next clue pops up." Zeno said "And in your current state, that will get you killed."
Copen stood up "This is still pointless! I've lost Mytyl and Lola! What is the point of the sandwiches at a time like this!"
"...we made them." Moniqa said quietly "Earlier. While you were still on your way there. We were all going to share them when you got back with Mytyl. We may be missing two of the people we intended to eat with, but that isn't going to stop us eating."
"If that's meant to be some kind of cheesy 'life goes on' message-" Copen's voice was venomous "save it. I have more important things to do."
"Lola sent a ping." Nori said.
Copen's face turned to her "What?"
"While we were driving back, Lola sent a ping. She was only awake for a moment but she gave us that."
"Then why are you all standing around!" Copen roared "I need to get after them."
"Not until you eat." Nori noted "And get more equipment. Without Lola, you're not at full strength."
Copen stormed off, but not without grabbing one of the sandwiches first.
The others glanced at each other and Moniqa coughed.
"We could have done that better."
"Agreed." Nori said "But still, Lola said to keep him happy and healthy. I tried my best."
When she went to see Copen later, he had taken out one of the prototype shells for Lola and he was fixing it. On the screen was a folder.
"RORO BACKUP"
Nori looked at the folder. It wasn't a new backup, it had been made a while ago. When Copen booted that, it would be like Lola lost a few weeks of memories. He still had the backups for the EX weapons but-
"Nori?" Copen was looking up from the ball, he looked much calmer now.
Nori just passed him the plate of food she was carrying.
He nodded at her but didn't say anything else.
At supper, Nori went in again to check on him.
Copen was gone. All that was left was a note.
"She sent another ping. See you all tomorrow. Make sure there's enough for Mytyl to eat too."
End of chapter.
Arrragh- I both love and hate this chapter.
Mostly because Copen has enough shit to deal with without Lola being taken from him too. The friends also completely misunderstood what the problem was and so that just made it worse for him.
...While I could finish this side story before 3 comes out, I don't want to just in case three could have some minor effect onto the last chapters.
So now I'm looking for something else to write for the next few weeks. Someone mentioned something about a Code vein crossover but never suggested what the other story would be.
Also, there was a guest who was reviewing and expecting me to answer. I can't. If you're a guest, I can't reply to you.
