Hyperdimension Neptunia: The Flame Guardianes
Third chapter… wow.
Ranger and Hana are my OCs, so don't steal them!
Chapter 3:
The Flame Guardianes and Nepgear
Nepgear awoke with a start. Waking up yet again in yet another unknown place, this time, however, she wasn't tied up, and her head was bandaged, and laying down in a bed that seemed like the kind that you would find in a hospital. "What the goodness!? I thought that I was kidnapped, but if that's the case… I wouldn't be here. But who in the world brought me here? And why? Why would they…?" Nepgear thought. But her thoughts were interrupted a new voice. One she wasn't familiar with.
"You're up. Good, that thug's board did a number on your head, so I'm relieved that you're up. You ok?" the man standing in front of her was tall, wore a white t-shirt, jeans, and running shoes. He also wore a bulletproof vest, which sported several individual bullets, clips, even very small guns. Four to be exact. He came off as rough, yet he seemed concerned for her health. With no other words left, Nepgear asked, stuttering,
"W-who are you? W-where are we? Why do you look like a soldier? Why do I look like I'm in the emergency room? WHAT'S HAPPENING!?"
Her words were met with a harsh "SHHHHH!" and the man followed up with,
"Relax. I understand your confusion, ok? Listen to me, I was hired by Histore and the others to save you and the goddesses. As for my name, you can just call me Ranger. And as for where you are, well…" He turned to the window, and paused. After what felt like forever, he pulled the curtains back, revealing a blue sky, a thin cloud barrier below, and what looked like… wait… clouds… BELOW THEM!?
"What the goodness! How are there clouds below us?! What even is this place!?" Nepgear shouted. The response from Ranger was a slight chuckle, followed by,
"This dimension is not yours, it's mine. And Nepgear," he began. "Welcome aboard the pride of my squad, the Flame Guardianes, The Swifte Flame!" Confused, Nepgear asked,
"Swifte Flame? Flame Guardianes? What?" she sat up, and instantly her head felt like it just slammed into a brick wall. Grabbing the area of her head where the bandages were, Nepgear clutched the throbbing pain for a long moment, the pain finally subsiding.
"Yeah, I thought that might happen. Like I said, that plank did a number on your skull. Its fine, just a massive bump. Let me tell ya, it wasn't pretty. It should recover by tomorrow." Ranger said, immediately after, a speaker in the room's ceiling clicked on, with a voice calling:
"Ranger, this is Hana. I think you should come to the bridge. I've made a HUGE find. Bring that Nepge… whatever her name is, and get down here!" The voice, evidently belonging to this "Hana" girl sounded urgent. Sighing, Ranger replied,
"Coming…" Turning towards Nepgear, he said,
"Come on, I think you'll like this." Nepgear nodded, then stood up.
To her astonishment, she was wearing her normal clothes, and had all of her equipment as when she was captured… but why? Not deciding to question it, Nepgear followed Ranger through the maze of halls, rooms, finally making their way to the bridge. Upon entering, the Bridge was a huge room, with screens mapping the ships' course, the engine status, even where on the ship had more weight. The real sight, though, was the hug screen showing a record of some facility about their "SPR" areas.
"SPR? What's that?" Nepgear asked.
"SPR stands for "Special Powers Research", it's a norm at this facility." The girl controlling the screen said. On it was 10 rooms, most of them being under high guard, some read: 'power not understood, subjects must not be allowed access to any of the facilities public rooms, and must be contained at all costs' some had camera feed, but only three had it. And it was just some person standing there, crying.
"No luck finding the room or rooms we need huh?" Ranger asked, looking at the list.
"Well, I've narrowed it down to ten rooms, all are recent entries within the past 48 hours, and they're all in the same wing, look here." The girl said. The map of the building showed a large segment of the building, which flashed red, and pointed out where each room on the list was.
"These rooms are the only ones." The girl began. "Sadly, this entire wing is under heavy guard. We really can't get in unnoticed." Ranger sighed, stating,
"Hana, you're smart. Find out when the guards change shifts, we'll go in then." Turning to Nepgear, he said,
"In the meantime, you need to learn how to shoot a gun. It'll go a long way where we're going." He began walking out of the room, leaving Nepgear to awkwardly stumble behind him, Hana adding,
"You have three days Nepgear… good luck"
After two days, the Swifte Flame landed in Los Angles, California, to refuel the ship. Today was the day that the Flame Guardianes would rescue the four CPUs from their containment. They had ten rooms to search, in one hour, one room being on the top floor, the others at the bottom floor.
"We'll start at the bottom" Ranger told the squad that was going in with them. "After that, we go to the top floor. If they have a badge, kill them. When approaching a room, look through the hatch in the door. That will tell you what's inside. If you see them, say "Rose found" into your coms. If you see all of them, say "The roses are in basket," and say the room number. We get in, retrieve them, get out, and get them home in time for supper, got it!? Good. Suit up, men, we've got two hours from here." The squad hurried away to the barracks, Nepgear following. She had been trained how to shoot a handgun, and a SMG, which was what she was assigned. During her training, Ranger had told her,
"A sword is only effective in a sword duel, where we're going, you'll need a gun." And that's exactly what she was going to do.
At the facility, Ranger, Nepgear, Hana, and the squad waited on the roof until the coast was clear. Descending through an air duct to the first floor, the hunt began. At first, nothing. Then after three rooms were crossed out of the list, several soldiers appeared out of the elevator, and started shooting at the squad.
"Get back! Get back! Nepgear, you ok? Men! Fire at will!" Ranger yelled out, causing a flurry of bullets and loud bangs to be unleased throughout the floor. The men who were on the squad had suppressors on their guns, so nobody heard their shots, and after killing the opposing troops, they cleared the rest of the floor. This went on until Ranger himself checked the last room. Inside was a Bird-man, not a CPU though…
"Damn, so close…"he muttered. "Men! Get into the elevator! Go to the top floor!" he commanded through his com. After everybody cramming into the elevator, it ascended to the top floor. Peering out, one member checked both ways, before whispering to the others,
"All clear! Which way, Hana?" Hana replying,
"Left, we have one minute, let's go!" and the squadron moved to the room, Nepgear checking inside. What she found, was more than she expected… The four CPUs were hooked up to some device, which ran several scans, and in the wake, Ranger kicked down the door. Then the alarm sounded.
"Damn it! Get the CPUs and their belongings and let's get the hell out of here!" Ranger yelled. Deactivating the device, and unhooking the unconscious goddesses, four men slung them over their shoulders, while the rest carried the bags of their belongings, and ran to the roof access ramp. Outside, the Swifte Flame had dropped a panel from the bottom of the ship, this panel had a mesh net as a cushion, and the men hopped in, taking the CPUs with them. A flimsy ladder provided Ranger, Hana, and Nepgear with a means of returning to the ship. After climbing the ladder, the ship turned, and took off for the west coast. Towards their destination.
On the way back, the ship stopped in Hawaii to refuel, and took off again, within 12 hours, an announcement was made:
"Strap everything down. Prepare for interdimensional travel!" The entire ship hurriedly strapped themselves in chairs, the ship picking up speed to open the portal, just as the portal was about to open: the pilot shouted out:
"Sir, anomaly spotted! It's giving chase!" Sure enough, there was a fast-moving, small object headed straight for the ship. The back cameras showed what looked like a CPU, yet with yellow hair and claw gauntlets, of she knew how to use well, as she flew into the right wing, damaging it severely.
"Warp! Damn it, Warp!" ranger began shouting. At this point, the portal had opened, allowing the Swifte Flame to go back to the other world of the CPUs.
"Do you think she followed us, Ranger?" Hana asked, looking back on their leader.
"Probably, but we've lost her. Let's get the CPUs back to their homes. And thank god we avoided a real disaster…" Ranger replied.
Nepgear had seen it all now. Sitting next to Neptune on her bed, Nepgear's mind went through everything that had happened when Neptune began to stir.
"Neptune? Sis? You ok?" Nepgear asked, waiting for her sister to respond.
"Nep…gear…" Neptune croaked. Realizing how badly damaged her sister's vocal cords were, Nepgear quickly said,
"Shh shh shhhhh… you're ok sis. You're ok." But was met with
"N..no. Listen, Nep Jr., they… are looking for something…and they think you have something…and they want it…" Meanwhile, unknown to the both of them, Ranger walked into the room, saying:
"You're not wrong, Neptune. Nepgear, you may want to sit…oh, you are, g-good." He began.
"I think it's time you learned what our true mission is… why I truly took the job to save you…"
Dun Dun Dunnnnnnnn!
Leaving it as a cliffhanger for now
See you in the next chapter!