Hi everybody! I'm sorry this is so late, I was writing this section, and then since I was trying to reach a certain point before I published, it end up being three times as long as most of my other chapters. And then I didn't want to publish a chapter that's that long, so I split it up. This one is the first part, then there will be an unrelated part in the middle, and then I'll post the second half (with week-long breaks in between so I can get a good start at writing the next sections). As a result, part one of the chapter is actually shorter than most of my chapters so far, so...yeah. It also ends somewhat abruptly, sorry about that.

Alright, I'm done apologizing. I will take this opportunity to thank everyone who's reviewed and followed, and to answer Vardan's question: unfortunately the Lunar Base won't be touched on in this story. I hadn't really played any rd_asteroid when I was starting to think about/write this, so I kinda forgot it existed, and the story got built up without including it. Besides, with how many plot threads I've currently got going, I think adding another one would make me a bit insane. Maybe for a sequel though, if I ever got around to making one (I'm gonna be pretty burnt out on long stories for a while after I finish this, I think).

Also, as with a lot of the past few chapters, I recommend reading the most recent Sniper chapter (Chapter 20) before reading this, just so you're not completely lost. Thanks for reading!

Oh man I forgot to do the "previously on" segment the first time I posted this! This is what happens when I don't post in a while, my brain just forgets a whole bunch of prior information that would make things so much easier for everyone involved. So, here it is!

Previously on The Nine Red Men Incident: Sniper Chapters: The Sniper, after crash landing in the garden of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, attempted to get help from within only to be accosted by Sakuya, because he was still wearing his vampire hunter Halloween costume. In order to confirm his story (that he wasn't trying to kill Lady Scarlet), she brought him to Patchouli. After the Sniper stopped Marisa from stealing some books, only to lend her one of his own, Patchouli set up a magic circle to act as a lie detector. After getting assurances that the circle wouldn't cause him to explode or anything like that, the Sniper tentatively stepped into the circle.

We now return you to The Nine Red Men Incident: The Sniper Chapters.

Nothing felt strange, so the Sniper cautiously cracked open an eye. Despite everything looking like had been put through some sort of rainbow filter, it didn't seem like he was any different, nor was there anything different about the room. He took that as a good sign. He felt surprisingly good, considering the situation he was in. He took a deep breath and smiled. He firmly believed everything was going to be fine. Something in the back of his mind was screaming at him that something was wrong, but he ignored it. It probably didn't know what the hell it was talking about.

"Wow, that's kinda creepy," Marisa said. "Why's he smiling like that?" The Sniper felt his face and realized he was, as Marisa had said, smiling. He hadn't noticed.

"That means it's working as intended," Patchouli said, allowing a smirk to form on her face. "Whenever you're ready, Sakuya."

Sakuya gave her a slight bow. "Thank you, Lady Pathcouli." She turned towards the Sniper, who smiled and waved at her. It was off-putting to say the least, but Sakuya had mostly gotten used to off-putting things by now. "Sir," she began.

"You can call me Sniper!" the Sniper said cheerfully.

She raised her eyebrow slightly. "Very well, Mr. Sniper, who sent you here?"

"Ah, well that would be that wizard Merasmus. Soldier's former roommate."

"Soldier?"

"Oh right you wouldn't know about him, I suppose. He's this American member of the team I'm on. Very patriotic, always going on about how America's the best and all that. Rather crazy, but he's very skilled with a rocket launcher," the Sniper said happily. For a brief second he looked confused, but then he went back to being happy.

The fact that the Sniper knew someone who could use a rocket launcher (which sounded fairly threatening) was disconcerting, but Sakuya pressed on. "Why did this Merasmus send you here?"

"Hell if I know. For all I know he could have been trying to send us to the moon and made a mistake somewhere, which would be a rather lucky mistake for us, I suppose," he said, laughing.

Sakuya frowned, wondering if Patchouli had made a mistake somewhere. "Then why were you carrying silver bullets and wooden stakes?"

"I told you, it's a Halloween costume!" the Sniper said, indignant. He let out a sigh. "But it is an old one, I suppose. And my supposed 'teammates' weren't wearing any, but I suppose they were somewhat distracted by Merasmus."

Sakuya's frown deepened. She leaned over and whispered to Patchouli, "Are you sure this is working correctly?" Patchouli's response was a stare that told Sakuya that yes, she was sure it was working correctly, and no, she didn't appreciate her work being questioned. Sakuya bowed in apology.

"So you had no intention of killing Lady Scarlet?"

"Nope. Didn't even know she existed until you mentioned her earlier. Although once you did, I of course began to think of a way to kill her."

"You what? Why?" Sakuya said, indignant.

"It's just a thing I do. It's one of the rules of sniping," he said, pointing at the book Marisa was holding. "'Be polite. Be efficient. Have a plan to kill everyone you meet.' It's really just a precaution, and a sort of mental exercise. I wouldn't actually attempt to put it to use unless I was actually threatened. And to be honest, I didn't even have much of a plan at this point. It was mostly along the lines of somehow incapacitate you," he said pointing at Sakuya, "grab my stakes back, find her, and try to take her by surprise."

Marisa and Koakuma looked shocked, Pathcouli was frowning, thinking, and Sakuya simply looked slightly disappointed. "Not much of a plan," she said.

"Give me a break, I have barely any information about her. All I know about her is that she's at the very least convinced you she's a vampire. And all I know about you is you seem to be able to move near instantaneously. And to be honest, any plan I come up with to deal with both of you is probably going to be near impossible to pull off."

Sakuya smirked slightly. "So what you're saying is that while you do currently have a 'plan' to kill Lady Scarlet, you weren't sent here to do so, and you won't do it unless you feel threatened by her."

"Yeah," the Sniper said, nodding. He was feeling slightly confused, like he'd said something he shouldn't have, but he couldn't think of what.

"Hmph. I suppose I can't fault you for that," Sakuya said. She sighed. "Well, that's going to have to be enough for me. When Lady Scarlet wakes up, I'll have a discussion with her, but for now, you can move about the mansion as you wish. However, I am keeping these," she said, pointing to the stakes she was suddenly holding in her hands.

"Oh, that's all right," the Sniper said, waving his hand dismissively.

"Glad to hear it," Sakuya said. She turned to Patchouli and bowed. "Thank you for your help, Lady Patchouli."

"Wait, wait, I have a question," Marisa said, waving her hand. Sakuya and Patchouli looked at her suspiciously. "What? It's actually an important question." Sakuya and Patchouli exchanged a look, before they both shrugged. "How did you get here?"

"He already answered that question," Sakuya said, sighing.

"No, but I mean like, how did this 'Merasmus' guy actually get you here? How'd he break through the barrier?" Patchouli and Sakuya looked impressed. "Oh come on," Marisa said, indignantly. "I'm not an idiot!"

"Barrier?" the Sniper said, questioningly. "Well I don't remember seeing a barrier, but he used that book of his to summon a bomb that created a vortex of sorts. I got pulled through and wound up here."

Patchouli looked slightly interested. "A book? Probably some sort of grimoire then. Do you know the name of it?"

"I believe it was called the Bombinomicon, but-" the Sniper said, his hand on his chin, before being cut off by a clattering noise.

Patchouli had jumped to her feet, the book that had been in her hands clattering to the floor. Everyone stared at her in shock, except the Sniper, who could only manage mild surprise. "Did you say the Bombinomicon?" Patchouli asked.

"Yes, I think that was it," the Sniper said.

"It's not just a legend," she said, talking to herself. "Though that does explain why all the experiences you've had with magic have been so strange and impressive."

"U-um, Patchy," Marisa said, recovering slightly. "What's so special about this 'Bombinomicomic' or whatever?"

"It's 'Bombinomicon!'" Patchouli said, nearly shouting. "And the Bombinomicon is the most powerful grimoire in existence. It's said that it was filled with so many spells of such power that it became conscious."

"So what, it's like one of those youma books?"

"No, no, no," Patchouli said, shaking her head. "The youma books are books that have been infused with the consciousnesses or knowledge of youkai. And for the most part, those youkai aren't actually conscious in that form, they're dormant. But this grimoire didn't have one implanted into it, it actually gained an entirely new consciousness, and one that's not even dormant."

"Well, it does talk all the time," the Sniper said. "And sounds Mexican for some reason."

"It actually gained the power of speech?" Patchouli said, sounding shocked. "That's even more advanced than I would have thought possible," she murmured to herself. Turning back to the Sniper, she said, "And this 'Merasmus' has it?"

"Last I checked, yeah."

Patchouli bit her lip. "Where is he?"

"Merasmus? If I knew, do you think I'd be wasting my time here?"

"I need that book," Patchouli said, a dangerous glint in her eye. "Maybe if I can-" she began, before she collapsed to the floor, coughing. Koakuma quickly fluttered back down to try and help her, and Sakuya was at her side with a glass of water near instantaneously. Eventually, the coughs began to subside, and she sat up from where she'd collapsed on the floor. Although the coughing fit had sapped most of her energy, she still seemed excited.

"Sheesh Patchy, the only time I've seen you this excited is when you got that lucky shot and knocked those books I'd been borrowing out of my hands before I'd made it out the doors," Marisa said, smiling. "Which means this book must be super rare. Which means I want it."

"Marisaaaa," Patchouli said, her voice dangerously low. "If you take this from me, I will go all out on you. I haven't even used a thousandth of the books in here, and I've never used the really dangerous ones, but if you steal this one from me, I will not hesitate to use everything I have."

"Well, technically," the Sniper said, chiming in, "you would be stealing it from Merasmus in the first place, so that's somewhat hypocritical of you to say." Patchouli glared at him, while Marisa grinned at him before smirking at Patchouli. The Sniper shrugged his shoulders.

"Hmph, see, Patchy, you can't get mad at me for stea-borrowing from you if you're just gonna go and steal from someone else," Marisa said, wagging her finger.

"Well, I was going to ask to have it first, of course," Patchouli mumbled.

"Suuure you were, Patchy," Marisa said.

Patchouli groaned and buried her head in her hands.

The Sniper turned to Sakuya, who had been watching the proceedings with a surprised look on her face, and asked "Can I step out of this circle now?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes, yes of course," Sakuya replied.

"Thank you," he said, and stepped out of the circle. The smile that had been on his face since stepping into the circle slowly faded back into a neutral expression, and then drooped even further into an angry frown. He walked towards where Patchouli and Marisa were talking. "What the hell was that?" he asked, his tone cutting through their argument. "What did that circle do to me?"

Marisa took a step back, surprised, while Patchouli looked at the Sniper, looking slightly confused. "Had you tell the truth?"

"Yeah, I got that, but why did it make me feel so damn peaceful and carefree?" the Sniper said, angrily. Sakuya appeared at his side and clamped a hand on his shoulder.

"Well, that's how it works. It basically makes anyone inside it feel like they'd have no reason to lie, so they don't," Patchouli said. "I don't see why you're upset about it, I could have made it so that whenever you tried to lie it caused immense pain, would you have liked that better?"

"Yes!" the Sniper said, through gritted teeth. "Because I can handle pain. Pain doesn't dull my senses or change how I think, not anymore. And I need to have sharp senses and clear thoughts for what I do."

"Very well then," Patchouli said, nodding. "If I ever have to test you for lies again, I'll be sure to keep it in mind."

The Sniper glared at her for a second longer before sighing and walking back to his chair, which he sat down in angrily. Patchouli and Marisa restarted their argument, while Sakuya, who had disappeared after the Sniper had turned away from Patchouli, reappeared with a first-aid kit, placing it in front of the Sniper. "Oh, thank you Miss Sakuya," he said, "I'd almost forgotten about them." He looked at the scratches on his arm.

She bowed, saying, "My pleasure."

"Oh yeah, so since you believe me now, are you willing to answer my questions?" the Sniper asked, opening the first aid kit and pulling out a few bandages.

"Questions?" Sakuya said, looking puzzled, before realization dawned on her face. "Oh yes, right. I'll answer them as best I can, unless," she smirked, "they're about the weaknesses of myself or milady."

The Sniper smiled in return. "Well, there goes half my questions," he said. "I guess I'll first ask, is this 'Lady Scarlet' actually a vampire?" he asked,

"Yes, she is," Sakuya said.

The Sniper groaned and put his head in his hands. "I don't suppose she could just be tricking you and is actually just pretending?"

Sakuya laughed slightly. "No, I'm afraid not. And I have to warn you, attempting to maintain a skeptical attitude here in Gensokyou is a recipe for insanity. There's far too many things unexplainable by perhaps more traditional logic that happen here."

The Sniper sighed. "I guess, considering that your version of a lie detector is magic, you work for a vampire, and can move near-instantaneously, that's a fair point. Maybe I can at least keep the skeptical attitude when I get back home."

"That would probably be your best bet," she said, nodding.

The Sniper shook his head to clear it. "All right, time to stop dwelling on that. So, next important question: where the hell am I? I know it's called Gensokyou, but where is that supposed to be?"

"Well, as far as I'm aware, Gensokyou is essentially in Japan, but it's separated from the outside world by a barrier."

"Right, Marisa mentioned that while I was in magical happy land," he said frowning.

"Yes, it's not visible, but it separates Gensokyou from the outside world. If a regular person approached the border, they wouldn't even notice its existence. At least, that's how Lady Scarlet explained it to me."

The Sniper looked at her blankly, before shaking his head. "Engie'd probably understand that better than I would." Suddenly, he sat up. "Oh right, the others!" He hesitated and turned towards Sakuya. "Is it dangerous out there?"

"Well, it depends. For the most part though, those who live here will not attack unless provoked, at least, not anymore," Sakuya said.

The Sniper thought about the Scout and the Soldier, and brought his palm up to meet his face. "That might still be a problem," he mumbled to himself. "Still, I guess Scout can just run away, and Soldier, well, Soldier can take care of himself." He hoped everyone would be fine. "I don't suppose I have permission to leave here, do I?"

"I would prefer it if you stayed to talk to Lady Scarlet," Sakuya said, nodding, "though to be honest, where exactly would you go? I can understand being worried for your friends, but you don't have a clue where they are, do you?" The Sniper sighed and nodded. "This is as good a place as any to wait for them, or come up with a plan to track them. Now," she said, standing up, "would you like a cup of tea?"

"You have tea here?" the Sniper asked curiously.

"Of course we do," Sakuya said, affronted. "Tea is actually rather important here. We have it for celebrations, for relaxation, for any number of occasions, really."

"I…see," the Sniper said, slightly disturbed. "Which occasion is this, then?"

"Celebrating the fact that I don't have to kill you," Sakuya said, smiling.

"Ah," the Sniper said, weakly smiling back. "Well I'll certainly celebrate that." Sakuya nodded and seemingly vanished in an instant.

With Sakuya gone, the Sniper's attention was drawn back to Marisa and Patchouli, who seemed to have stopped arguing and reached some sort of agreement. The red-haired woman seemed to have run off to fetch some things. Patting his pocket, he realized that Marisa still had his copy of Richard the Eagle-Eyed, so he walked over to them.

"-read it together?" Patchouli was saying, a suspicious look on her face.

Marisa sighed. "I already agreed to it Patchy. I'm not one to go back on my word!" she said, indignantly.

"Is that so?" the Sniper said, stepping up behind her.

"Wha-Rumia?" she said turning around, a surprised look on her face.

"Huh? Who's Rumia?" he asked, confused.

"Oh, just someone who says that a lot. Anyway, perfect timing," she said, grabbing his shoulder. "We need your help."

"Hmm, really? Maybe if you keep your end of the bargain we made I'll consider it," the Sniper said.

"Bargain?" Marisa said, confused.

The Sniper stuck out his hand. "My book?"

"Wha-oh," Marisa said, looking at the book still in her hand. She clutched it tightly to her chest. "But I haven't finished reading it yet."

"I don't think it was part of the agreement that you had to finish reading it in order for me to get it back," the Sniper said, raising an eyebrow. "Or are you 'going back on your word?'" he said, a smirk appearing on his face.

Marisa flinched and made a small choking noise, while behind her Patchouli snorted. "C'mon, can't you let me keep it till I've finished, I'll give it back as soon as I'm done!"

The Sniper's raised eyebrow somehow climbed even higher. "At the rate you're reading, you won't be done until Smissmas."

"Smissmas?" Marisa said, tilting her head.

"You don't have Smissmas here? I guess it is an American holiday, really. I always celebrated Australian Christmas, myself, but that's only celebrated in well, Australia." He remembered the fun times when his parents would have him hide under the floorboards while they fought off Old Nick and his hired thugs. He'd gotten his very first rifle one year, after managing to take out an elf that had managed to sneak past his parents. He remembered how proud they'd been of him then, unlike nowadays, calling him a "crazed gunman," and all that. He sighed, before realizing he'd been silent for a while. He broke out of his reminiscing. "Anyway, it means you wouldn't finish till around mid-December, so hand it over."

"Rggghh," Marisa said, defeated, before reluctantly holding the book out. The Sniper grabbed it and put it back in his pocket.

"Was that so hard?" he said. "Now, what was this thing you wanted my help with?"

Patchouli decided to speak up, seeing as Marisa was sulking. "We need your help to track down the Bombinomicon, and by extension, Merasmus."

The Sniper raised an eyebrow. "How exactly do you expect me to help with that? I am a good tracker, but I wouldn't even know where to start in this case."

"Well, to be more accurate," Patchouli said, as the winged woman came and deposited a few books on the table in front of her, "we don't necessarily need you, we just need your body."

The Sniper was silent for a moment, before saying simply, "What?"

"The method you used to get here was a spell from the Bombinomicon, correct?"

"Yeah," the Sniper said, suspiciously.

"Then you should have some magical residue on you. If we can get a sample of that residue, I can create a spell that will follow that residual magic to its source," Patchouli said as she opened one of the books the winged woman had dropped off.

"And then I'll steal it from him!" Marisa said, having apparently recovered.

"Am I going to have to step into another magic circle for this?" the Sniper asked.

"Well, yes-" Patchouli began.

"Then I refuse," the Sniper said. "Besides, Merasmus might be a bit stupid sometimes, but there's no way he's going to let some girl steal a book from under his no-" he said, before Marisa held up his copy of Richard the Eagle-eyed. He patted his pocket to find it not there. "How the devil'd you manage that?" he said, astonished.

"It wasn't that hard," she said. "You've got a serious case of tunnel vision. But if you want this book back, you're gonna get in the circle once Patchy's finished making it." She paused, thinking. "And you're gonna let me finish reading it," she said, smirking.

The Sniper growled softly. "You-" he began, before attempting to grab the book back, but Marisa pulled it away before his hands even got near it.

"Uh-uh," she said, waving a finger. "Not until we've got the spell going."

The Sniper grunted in irritation. This girl was beginning to remind him of the Scout. "Fine," he said. "I'll get in the bloody circle, but you will give me back that book." Marisa smiled, while Patchouli, having found the appropriate spell in her book, began to trace a circle on the floor.

It was at this point they all heard a sleepy voice coming from a side corridor say, "Whas going on? Whys it so loud?"