Disclaimer: I do not own any of the material of the Hyperdimension Neptunia series or the Halo series in this story as they belong to Microsoft, Compile and Idea Factory…


The Rookie

Location: Lastation

Two Days after drop…

CHAPTER 2: THE CROSSROADS OF DEFEAT

BGM: $100 - Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 2

After securing the Planeptune Mascot's powers, Rookie and the girls started to head out to Lastation where they'll seek aid of this nation's CPU Candidate and the Lastation's Mascot. As they arrived in Lastation, the Land of Black Regality, more like a steampunk city. Rookie looked around and was amazed, looking at super large satellite dishes, not as large as the satellites back at Earth, a lot of large pipes connect throughout Lastation with skyscrapers as everything around them are mostly colored black.

'Wow. This is kinda looks like a steampunk city...' Rookie commented then he saw Nepgear's eyes sparkled. 'Uhhhhh?'

"Wow… Lastation is chock full of nifty gadgets and machines" Nepgear sparkled.

"Is this the first time coming here, Ge-Ge?" Compa asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Yes. I've heard stories Neptune told me and she'd sometimes bring baggies of gears from Lastation" Nepgear explained, smiling even more.

'Who's Nep- Oh wait, it's Purple Heart's normal name… I get it now...'

"Oooo~… This place looks like so much fun for tinkering! Can we look around a bit… please?" Nepgear asked as her eyes sparkled even more towards her friends as they sweatdropped.

'Is she a fangirl of machines or something…' Rookie sweatdropped. 'I wonder how she'll react to our technology?' He imagined Nepgear fangirling to death, looking at Scorpion tanks, warthogs, hornets and… dear god, she WILL die from fangirling…

"Whoa! Cool your jets. We got more important things to deal with right now" IF said.

"Y-yeah, you're right. We have to do our best or Lastation be in danger… Must… Not… Window shop…" Nepgear tried her hardest not to be obsessed of machines.

"Iffy, do you know of any leads?" Compa asked.

"Yeah, let's head to the guild, get intel and take on quests to get more shares there, too" IF explained as they looked at each other and nodded, they decide to head to the guild.

Ten minutes of walking later…

"Hey IF. I was wondering… Who the boss of your guild?" Nepgear asked.

"Histoire" IF answered as Nepgear raised her eyebrows, surprised.

"Wait... Histoire's your boss?!"

"Yup, she's the Oracle and the Guild's Manager. It's admirable that she can handle two roles"

"How does she act at the Guild?" Nepgear asked.

"Well… She knows about everything and can do just everything but… She takes too long to do everything, she takes three hours, three days and EVEN three months to locate ASIC products and their base of operations!"

'What's with her saying three?' Rookie wondered.

"Ahahahaha… That's our Histoire" She quietly laughed as they continued heading towards the Guild.


Inside the Guild…

"Not much foot traffic here today…" Compa said as they look around, seeing the guild is a bit empty.

"This place must be firmly under ASIC's control. Hmm… I hope we get some legit intel…" IF hoped.

"Oh. While you get some intel, let me get some quests to take on" IF nodded and Nepgear went away while IF and Compa walked away, leaving Rookie all by himself.

'Huh… Looks I'll be going outside' Rookie walked out of the Guild till something caught his eye. 'Hmm?' He saw Linda walking at the other side of the walkway along with a giant rat floating besides her, he has a red and yellow broken heart marking, rat-like tail with a big black heart on the end and a zig-zag split in the center and demon wings on his back. They were carrying boxes of discs. 'What's she doing here with those discs?' Rookie ran across the road and follow her as he eavesdropped their conversation.

BGM: Warechu's Theme - Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 2

"I can't believe that girl is a CPU all this time…" Linda complained.

"Well, at least you smash that mascot, chu" The Rat cheered as Linda glared at him.

"Shut up, rat! That CPU bitch is not the one I'm worrying about..."

'That's fucking rude, ma'am' Rookie glared as he continued to eavesdrop.

"What do you mean, chu?" The Rat seem confused.

"It's that guy in that black armor" Referring to the Rookie.

"You mean that guy who beat you up real good, chu?" The Rat asked.

"Yeah. Remember that we saw a bright light from the skies a few days ago? I think it was him"

"That person..." Then the Rat went pale. "What if that person came from the goddess' cries and going to destroy us with no mercy, chuuuuu!" Rookie tilted his head while Linda began to laugh.

'I'm not that lethal, idiot…' Rookie replied.

"Ahahahahahaha, you think I can believe that piece of crap. *Sigh* Come on, we got a job to do" Linda said.

"Hey…"

"What is it now, rat?"

"Do you have a feeling that someone is following us?" Linda raised her eyebrows as Rookie knows what's gonna happen.

'SHIT! I need to hide!' Rookie reacted quickly and found a dark alley as he hides in the shadows, Linda looked behind her and saw nothing then turned back.

"Hmph…" Linda saw a truck coming and stopped beside them. Rookie came out of the shadows and saw Linda and the rat dropping the boxes in the truck as soon as they walked away, the truck started the engine.

'Not in my watch!' Rookie quickly sneak past Linda and the rat, went under the truck and hold tight on the pipes as the truck starts to move. 'I wonder where they taking those discs' Then he noticed that he's leaving Lastation, he hoped that the girls won't be so worry about him.

END BGM


Back at Earth

Mickey

Location: Kizingo Boulevard

90 Minutes after Drop…

After blasting the Covenant off the streets he saw Dutch dealing with a Wraith. Mickey soon destroyed the Wraith and joined Dutch as him and the marines reached their rally point near the ONI Complex but they soon noticed that the Covenant knows their rally point. Dutch, Mickey and the marines went to higher ground where they got ammo and weapons as the Covenant brought reinforcements, including a Wraith. They kill most of the Covenant forces including the Jackals, flanking their sides. After that, Dutch distracts the Wraith while Mickey board on the Wraith, putting a grenade inside the hull and the Wraith exploded.

Mickey join up with Dutch at the door and both clasp hands.

"You heard from Gunny?" Dutch asked.

"No, Romeo neither…" Mickey added.

"Huh… Guess it's you and me then…"

"My vote. Hold up, wait for backup" Mickey suggested as the doors started to open, they aimed their guns at the door, only to see a NMPD Officer came out as he heavily sigh.

"Thank god! Do one of you know how to use explosives?" The Officer asked as he looked back and forth at Dutch and Mickey as they look at each other.

"Your vote? Just got overruled..."

"Ohhhh…" Mickey moaned as they join up with an Officer, they walked towards the ONI Complex


The Rookie

Location: Unknown, Night-time

Two Days after Drop…

BGM: Deference for Darkness - Halo 3: ODST

After a few hours, the Truck stops at an abandoned factory as the Drivers jumped out the truck and gets the boxes at the back, Rookie drop himself, rolled off the truck and hides next to a crate as he took a peek of the abandoned factory. It's heavily defended by ASIC Soldiers, armed with AK-47s and wearing heavy armor, he looked up to the sky and saw dark clouds covering the bright night as it started to rain with thunder booming and roaring through the clouds, he looked back to the abandoned factory.

'So this is one of their base of operations… Hmph' He grabs his Automag at his side.

'Let's see what valuable information I can find…' He cocks his Automag and soon activates his Night vison and sneaked around the abandoned factory, not getting caught in sight, he walks through the shadows and hoping to get valuable information from the ASIC or something else...

END BGM


Author's notes:

I decided to do something very different. Throughout the story, Rookie will rarely disappear from the girls, walking through the shadows of the dark and the night and ODSTs... Are used to work in the dark...

I have my reasons why but I'll talked about it after this Story is done but expect the updates will be a bit slower due to school or my laziness...