Neptune and Nepgear sat around the TV, playing video games with Uni, a cheerful atmosphere engulfing the building. Bansen went to find some video games of his own liking. Namia simply sat in a random corner, silent, and watching everyone else go about their business with a smile on her face. This left Belri and Noire on their own as Noire did some work and Belri stared out of the window. Noire took a quick glance at Belri.
He wore a dress shirt, a pair of khakis, a red tie, and a fedora. He totally did not look like he was from the military.
Noire got up and pulled Belri towards a corner.
"Can you do me a favor?" she asked. Belri blinked in confusion.
"What would that be exactly?" he asked.
"Can you not say your job in front of anyone?" Belri wrinkled his eyebrows at this strange request.
"That's technically what I'm supposed to do in the first place." Noire sighed at her own ignorance.
"It's not that, it's…" Belri widened his eyes, like an idea just popped up.
"I got it!" he claimed. "You want me to pose as your friend because you don't have any?"
…
…
…
…
...savage.
"I'm not lonely!" she whisper-yelled. Belri pretended to cover his ears just to add to the illusion.
"... but yeah I guess that would be the reason," she finally reveals.
Sighing, Belri nodded at her request.
"Yes ma'am," said he, before shifting his attention back to the group playing video games. An argument seemed to be brewing.
Neptune wanted to play a fantasy RPG, Uni wanted to play a FPS, and Bansen wanted to play a Flight sim.
"Right," Belri said, adjusting his hat as he did so. "Time to settle this argument."
As he walked over to the group, Noire could not help but feel some sort of confidence in the person she chose for this job.
In the end, the group simply settled with playing something completely different: a world domination game. Noire sighed, game controller in hand, and announced her intentions.
"Alright, I hereby declare war against Planeptune!" said she, and moved a fairly sizable number of units into Neptune's territory.
"Nepu!" Neptune exclaimed. "Why!? Why did you do that now!? I was so close to removing Nepgear from the game!"
Belri and Bansen chuckled at the exchange before returning their attention to the screen… and realizing a number of their cities had been nuked.
Namia giggled at their reaction as they frantically struggled to identify the culprit.
"That's what V2 is for," she said, in a rather cute-yet-menacing impression of a demonic voice.
As it happened, Namia seemed to be rather familiar with nuclear warfare (at least within the context of the game they were playing) and subsequently forced both CPUs and CPU Candidates into a corner. With victory in her hands, Namia walked off, drawing a small red book from one of her pockets as she did so.
Noticing Namia's actions, Bansen got up as well and walked over to Namia.
"Need help with that?" Belri heard Bansen say. Namia nodded in reply.
"Thanks," said she. "I just need some help with this paragraph…"
Apparently this is a normal occurrence for these two.
Meanwhile…
Somewhere underground
"Are you sure this will work?"
"Of course. With this, we shall bring down the CPUs once and for all!"
Such words echoed in an underground bunker deep below the surface. Two people, a man and a woman, stood in front of a large glass tank, filled with some strange liquid. Rubber tubes, both thick and thin, snaked across the floor. In one corner of the room, another tank stood against the wall, this one containing what seemed to be a person.
"Right," one of the men said. "Ms. Zastava, the lever please."
"Yes sir," said the woman, before pulling on a nearby switch. A rushing noise echoed throughout the bunker as the liquid within the first tank drained into the second tank. The figure within the second tank began to squirm, as if it were in pain.
A bright light suddenly engulfed the room, flooding the vision of the two scientists.
The light subsided.
The man walked over towards the tank and paused right in front of it. He looked carefully inside. Specifically, he looked at the eyes of the figure inside.
They were open, and staring back.
The man smiled.
"I have done it!" the man exclaimed. "A powerful weapon to defeat the CPUs with!"
The woman, with a slightly saddened look on her face, clapped her hands in response.
"Congratulations, Professor Gründer," said she.
Was she the only one who saw the insanity of this act?
The next day
Noire slowly opened her eyes.
The morning sun, its rays seeping through the curtains, forced her to squint her eyes a bit. Eventually, she calmly removed her covers and got out of bed.
Annoyed, she looked at her alarm.
"7:45…" she muttered.
Noire sighed.
"First time I've missed my morning alarm in some time…" she said, slightly tired. "I blame Neptune."
Suddenly, she paused. Noire took a sniff of the air before raising her eyebrows in surprise.
Someone was making tea.
Noire quickly grabbed some suitable cloths, not before washing her face and combing her hair, of course, and made her way towards the dining room. The smell of black tea wafted in the air, its aroma causing a smile to creep across Noire's face.
A soft singing floated into Noire's ears. It was quiet, yes, but she heard it all the same.
"Мы рождены, чтоб сказку сделать былью,
Преодолеть пространство и простор,
Нам разум дал стальные руки-крылья,
А вместо сердца - пламенный мотор.
Все выше, и выше, и выше
Стремим мы полет наших птиц,
И в каждом пропеллере дышит
Спокойствие наших границ."
She peeked around the corner to find a certain someone sitting next to the window, music playing from his phone.
Belri just sat there, staring out of the window, and taking an occasional bite out of the piece of bread he held. A tin cup, filled with what seemed to be tea, sat on the table next to him.
Noire took a brief breath before walking out into the open.
"Morning Belri," said she. Belri jumped a bit in surprise at Noire's voice. He immediately stood up at attention and snapped into a salute.
"M-morning Lady Noire!" he stammered.
Noire chuckled at this.
"You don't need to salute me like that," said she. "Although, it is good to see that you are taking your job seriously."
Belri blinked.
"Um… Thank you," said he.
Noire nodded, before taking note of what exactly Belri held in his hands at the moment.
"Is that your breakfast?" she asked. Belri nodded.
"Yep," said he. "Black bread and tea. Standard rations for every foreign legion member."
Noire's jaw dropped in disbelief.
"What!?" she exclaimed. "That's it!?"
Belri casually nodded before taking another bite as Noire shook her head in disappointment.
"What are you eating for dinner?" she asked, worried about the reply…
"The same thing."
...of course.
"Lunch?"
"Nothing. Only two meals a day."
"Same with Bansen and Namia?"
Noire sighed.
"How do you survive with that!?" she exclaimed. "You know what, I'll make breakfast for you guys."
Belri raised an eyebrow in curiosity.
"You can cook, ma'am?" he asked.
"Yes, and stop calling me ma'am," Noire replied. "And there's no need to call me ma'am, is that understood?"
"Loud and clear," Belri said. "I guess I'll go wake the others."
"Citizens of *static*, this is an important broadcast from the ministry of foreign affairs. Without a declaration of war, *static* forces fell on our country, attacked our frontiers in many places, and murdered countless innocent civilians… *static*... The Grand Federal Army of the *static* and the whole nation will wage a victorious Patriotic War for our beloved country, for honor, for liberty… *static* Our cause is just. The enemy will be beaten. Victory will be ours!"
*static*
Blood…
*static*
Screams…
*static*
Gunfire…
*static*
A bright flash of light...
"...!"
Namia jumped awake, sweat pouring down her forehead, breathing ragged, and some tears streaming down her eyes.
Two knocks echoed from the door. Quietly, Namia stood up and walked over to it, taking care not to wake the others up.
The door creaked open.
"Um… good morning Belri," she said. Belri took a peek inside the room before replying.
"Morning, Namia. You mind telling the others that breakfast is almost ready?" he asked.
"... as in, not Black bread and tea?"
"Yup."
"Okay. I'll do that."
As Belri left the doorway, a rustling sound caught Namia's attention.
"Mmm… Namia, you awake?"
She jumped a little at the voice.
"Yeah, I am," she replied.
Bansen yawned in response before noticing Namia's condition.
"Um… you okay? You look like you went through hell and back…" he asked.
"Huh? Oh, um, well, I'm fine. Yeah."
Needless to say, she was not fine.
Author's notes: Right. I'm back. Sorry for the long wait, fellas. Kinda got out of the groove for a sec. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter. Leave a review below if you feel so inclined. (Please do. It motivates me to write more) Thanks ;)
-SPSH Karl