Chapter 45 - The Mirror Heist (Part 1)
...
"First, let me detail our target, the Student Council's contraband storage. The current location of the Mirror." The white haired hacker begins to explain. "Seminar, Millennium's Student Council, are a naturally suspicious bunch, and the topmost floor of the Millennium Tower is dedicated to their exclusive use. The contraband storage is on the west side of that topmost floor."
"Between our location and the storage room are about four-hundred cameras and a little more than fifty security robots." Maki adds. "Some of said robots were confiscated from shady organizations."
"Four-hundred and forty-two cameras and fifty-two robots of three kinds, to be precise." Utaha interjects. "It was the Engineering Club that helped implement their security system, you see."
"Whoa..." Momoi mutters.
"So, I'm guessing you girls left a backdoor?" I guess.
"Correct." Hibiki says with a nod.
"The biggest issue is that you have to take an elevator to get to the contraband storage." Hare continues. "And this elevator can only be accessed by personnel with fingerprint authorization. Even if you were to bypass the elevator, you're bound to run into members of the Student Council and armed security guards. And most importantly, these areas exclusive to the Student Council are all sectionable."
"What does that mean?" Midori asks.
"Let's say that smoke is detected in one of the rooms. That triggers a shutter that sections off the room from the rest." Hare explains.
"Meaning, if we run into the Maid Club, we can separate them." I add.
"Indeed." Hare says with a nod, as the Game Development girls' eyes sparkle in understanding. "Once a shutter drops, it can only be disabled by a Student Council member's fingerprint."
"What happens if someone else uses them?" Yuzu pipes up.
"A titanium-enforced shutter also drops. Disabling both then requires a valid simultaneous Student Council fingerprint and retina scan." The white haired hacker says.
"Ugh. I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around all this." The green twin complains. "Let me get this straight. The only way to move between floors is an elevator. The area upstairs is equipped with fingerprint-based security devices, which, when triggered, activate heavy shutters that section off the area. Furthermore, failing to get through the security triggers and even more powerful shutter."
"Don't forget about the armed guards and security cameras!" Maki adds.
"Surveillance cameras can be hacked." Utaha begins. "However, these security shutters are impossible to tamper with, even for Veritas. Their only connection is an isolated, internal network."
"We've also just learned that trying to brute force the elevator will seal off the entire floor." Hare adds.
"GAH! This is nothing but terrible news! Where's the good news?!" The pink twin roars.
"Well, there IS our backdoor." Hibiki says.
"How's it help?" I ask.
"For starters, the system is vulnerable to external power failures." The dog girl explains. "When power is lost, it automatically connects to an external network, opening a short window for the system to be hacked. Using our nano-EMP, we can send Millennium back to the Stone Age for about six seconds."
"Only six? Damn." I curse. Six seconds is next to nothing.
"Six seconds..." Hare mutters, before growing quiet in thought. "It's enough time." She says, confidently.
And so, we continued to run over our plan in Veritas, as evening came ever closer. Gotta hand it to those hacker girls, they know how to plan. The plan's simple, in and out in not even twenty minutes.
Though, there's a slight snag in the plan.
"Gah! Every time we get to this point in the run through, the plan always falls apart." Momoi says, upset. "Getting everyone's attention is easy enough."
"Trap Akane and Asuna. Isolate Karin. Take on the Student Council's security robots." Midori summarizes. "After all that is the easy part, getting into the storage room, but if any of that falls through..."
"...then it's game over." The pink twin finishes. "Nobody at Millennium can go head-to-head with an opponent as prepared as the Maid Club."
The green twin continues. "Even using Himari's name to sow confusion can only get us so far. It'll buy us some time, but we'll probably still end up getting cornered."
"I think y'all are forgetting one thing." I interject.
"What?" The green twin asks.
"The Maid Club know the capabilites of everyone in Millennium, save Aris and I. Aris, since she's new here. But they don't know what I can do. Since we know what they can do, we have the upper hand. I'll take on Asuna or Akane myself if need be." I say.
"Sensei! You can't stand against them!" Momoi shouts in alarm.
"Yeah! One bullet will seriously hurt you!" Midori shouts in agreement.
"It might hurt, yeah, but I've been shot plenty of times. Put a little faith in yer Sensei, he's fought Spec-Op agents before." I say with a grin. The twins, and the rest of the girls, look at each other. They trust me, clearly, but... "Trust me y'all. I'm tougher than y'all think."
"Aris believes in you." Aris says, causing everyone to look at her. "Sensei is the Legendary Warrior, after all." She says with a bright smile. A smile grows on my face as I reach over to pat the robot girl's head, making her even happier.
"You're definitely confident, Sensei." Maki praises. "All right, we'll re-write the plans with that in mind."
"Still, we need to figure this part out first." Momoi says. "By minute two, we trap Akane and Asuna. By minute five, Karin is isolated. At minute eleven, we defeat the bots. We secure the Mirror at minute thirteen."
"And by minute twenty, we'll all be arrested." Yuzu finishes.
"...But what if it wasn't ALL of us?" Midori asks.
"What do you mean?" Momoi asks.
"I get it. To win the war, some battles have to be lost." I say.
The green twin nods at my words.
"M-Midori?" Momoi asks, worriedly. "What are you saying?"
"I'm talking about turning the bug of the plan failing... into a feature." The green twin says with a grin.
If I could see myself, I'm sure I'd say my eyes sparkled with interest, like most everyone else's when she said that.
Not long before nighttime, in the Millennium Main Control Room.
BOOOOOOOOOM
An explosion rings out, caused by Akane, who's standing in front of Yuuka at the controls.
As the smoke dies down, Aris is revealed, lying on the ground in pain. "A-Aris is down! Resurrection spell... please..." She says as she flops into unconsciousness.
Yuuka stares dumbfounded at this turn of events. "...Ridiculous. Their plan for taking on the Student Council was... a bum-rush?" She says, incredulous as can be.
Akane moves over to the downed robot girl and observes her. "So this must be Aris. She's. So. Cute!" She all but squeals. "Can we keep her? I just want to scoop her up and train her to be out sixth maid agent."
"You may not." Yuuka shoots her down. "She'll be held in the counseling room for assaulting the Student Council." The treasurer sighs and rubs her temples. "What a mess. I can't believe she tried to get past the elevator's fingerprint recognition system by blasting down the door."
From one of the control panels, a female voice reports to them. "The elevator's lock is beyond repair. It needs to be replaced immediately."
"Hmm... Then let's order a replacement right- wait a second." Yuuka catches herself. "That weapon..." She looks at Aris' railgun. "It must have come from the Engineering Club... If that's the case, then it wouldn't be wise to go to them like we usually would. Something about this smells suspicious..." She turns back to addressing the operator. "Find the strongest security system in Kivotos not designed by the Engineering Club and get that ASAP."
"Yes, Ma'am." The operator says.
A few minutes later, I and a few of the girls hide behind the corner of a wall in one of the main hallways of Millennium Tower. We watch a few robots haul Aris away, and four more carrying the railgun.
"C-Crap! They're taking Aris away!" Momoi whisper-shouts.
"Calm down, Momoi." Yuzu says.
"Yeah, this is part of the plan, remember?" I ask.
"Stay strong Aris... we'll save you soon." Midori says to the apprehended girl.
"Well... so far so good." Hare says, behind us as we stop peeking around the corner. "Right, Sensei?"
"Yup. Y'all ready?" I ask. "We've got one shot at this. And only one."
Maki, looking at her phone, report. "The Engineering Club's message says, 'Good work. The trojan horse is past the gates'."
Trojan? Was Troy even a thing here?
"That's a relief." Momoi says. "If this hadn't worked out, Aris would have gotten locked up for nothing."
"It's time for the next phase." Hare says, eliciting a nod from us all.
After a few hours, night falls over Kivotos.
"Sh-Should we get started?" Midori asks as we walk through the large, yet darkened hallways with quiet steps. She lets out a sigh. "I'm so nervous. I haven't felt like this since we invaded the Ancient History Research Society building."
I place my hand on her shoulder. "It'll be fine. Let's do this." I say with a grin.
"What's the status of Hibiki and Utaha?" Momoi asks, over the comms.
Hare, back in Veritas' room, responds. "We're all set to meet our guests."
"Good." I say, as a smile graces the pink twin's face.
"Is it really, though?" The green twin asks, worried. I squeeze her shoulder lightly to get her to look at me. I stare at her with a knowing look, and she nods somewhat, her nerves calmed a bit, hopefully.
"What about Maki and Kotori?" The pink twin asks.
"Standing by!" Maki reports, over the comms.
"Don't worry, we can do this for sure!" Kotori says, over the comms. "My calculations say we've got a whole two percent chance of pulling this off!"
"B-But that means there's a ninety-eight percent chance of failure!" Momoi says, shaken.
Kotori giggles. "I'm totally kidding! It's actually the other way around!"
"Oi. Don't joke like that." I chastise.
"Well, if Kotori and Maki are ready..." Midori says.
"...then phase two is a go." Momoi finishes.
The twins and I ready our guns. "Let's do this, then." I say.
""Right!"" The girls say, in unison.
At the same time, in the control room.
Yuuka rests on a chair with her eyes closed, taking a break in silence.
be-beep be-beep
A monitor begins beeping.
Her eyes open. "They're here."
The robotic operator reports. "Camera visual on targets confirmed. Targets are emerging at point A-one of entrance number one. Targets are approaching point A-two."
"Which means they have no means of escape, correct?" Akane asks, standing up. "All right, then. I'm on it."
"Huh? Is this really something you need to handle yourself?" Yuuka asks.
"But of course." Akane replies with a smile. "After all, welcoming guests with a smile is a maid's most basic duty."
In one of the narrow hallways, two girls move in the dark.
"Um. It should be around here." The first girl says.
"This isn't right. Doesn't it seem like we're in too deep?" The second asks.
"Not at all. You're exactly where you're supposed to be." Akane says. walking around the corner.
"Huh?!" The first girl shouts.
"Welcome. I've been waiting for you." The bespectacled maid says with a polite curtsy. "As you've no doubt already realized, your plan has failed. I'm C-and-C's callsign Zero-Three. My real name is confidential, so you can just call me the Beautiful Maid of Mystery."
The second girl gasps. "It's Akane!"
"Isn't she the maid agent who specializes in assassination?" The first girl asks, worried.
"Phooey." The maid curses. "What's the point of maintaining a secret agency if everyone knows about it? Does this mean I should stop playing the mysterious heroine?"
"Oh, right, didn't Kotama say that the last time you weighed yourself, you were-" The first girl begins, but is interrupted by the maid.
"S-S-Stop right there!" Akane hastily says with a panicked expression. "The fact that you even know something like that is a huge problem! You'd better keep that info to yourself, Momoi. You too, Midori!"
The two girls look at one another for a moment, before one of them lets out a chuckle. Akane stares at them in confusion.
"You don't realize it yet, but you're the ones who have failed." The first girl says.
"I beg your pardon?" Akane says.
The two girls step into the moonlight seeping through a window, revealing Maki and Kotori, both with big, smug grins plastered across their faces.
"Hiya, Akane!" Maki says with a big smile. "We got lost on our way to the dorms. Can ya believe it?"
"Wh-Who are you?!" Akane all but shouts with alarm.
"You really wanna know?!" Kotori asks, moving closer to the maid. "Then allow us to introduce ourselves! Ask and ye shall receive! The walking encyclopedia of the Engineering Club, Toyomi Kotori!"
"Why do art and science have to be at odds? Meet Veritas' resident digital artist, Konuri Maki!" The redhead introduces.
"But you're not with the Game Development Department... What is...?!" Akane says, unbelieving of this turn of events.
Back at the control room, Akane's voice booms over the comms. "Yuuka! What is the meaning of this?!"
"I don't know! The surveillance cameras definitely show Midori and Momoi approaching point A-two! But I can't see you anywhere!" Yuuka snaps back, looking back and forth between screens frantically.
"Wh-What?!" Akane shouts, surprised. "Then... can it be?!" She says, drawing a conclusion.
Yuuka orders the operator. "Reset camera settings! Block cloud access and play only the closed circuit feed!"
The female's voice comes through the comms. "Refreshing feed... Visual confirmed! It's Akane! She's locked in a confrontation with Maki and Kotori!"
"That means..." Akane says. "...the feed we've been watching until now was...?!"
In a different section of the building, the twins and I walk quietly, yet quickly through the empty building.
"I wonder if they've figured out that the security footage is pre-recorded." Momoi says, smugly.
Earlier, after Aris' break-in attempt, the twins ran through a hallway. Veritas hacked the cameras to show an empty hallway while they did it, yet saved the footage of them to use to trick the Student Council.
"Do you think it would have been better for us to just play pre-recorded footage of an empty hallway while we grab the Mirror?" Midori asks.
"Nah, we needed to get them to take the bait." I say. "Splitting the maids up is our best bet."
"Sensei's right. People are coming and going through there all the time. We had to do it just right, or they wouldn't take the bait." The pink twin says, agreeing with me.
Just as she says that, a dinging sound rings out.
"There's our ride." I say, looking at the elevator.
"Let's go up for real this time." Momoi says.
"Wait a second... Sensei." The green twin says, turning to me. "It's pretty dark so... grab ahold of our hands." She says, averting her eyes from me. Even though the room we're in is dimly lit, I can see the pink dusting her cheeks. To the side, Momoi stares at her sister in surprise.
"I..." I begin to say, before sighing. "Fine." I take Midori's small hand in mine, causing her to jolt slightly. The two of us then look at Momoi, who flinches at our expectant gazes.
The pink twin's hand moves towards me, before hesitating for a moment. She lets out a quiet exhale, before she quickly and boldly grabs my hand "Alright." Momoi says, quietly, looking anywhere but at me.
"Okay, then." Midori says.
Then, we move.
A robotic voice calls out among the hallways.
Intruders detected. Commencing emergency shutdown for designated Seminar floor sector.
Akane, hearing the announcement, looks around at the nearby doorways, shutters beginning to drop from them.
"Hey, now! The shutters are dropping. Wait, you don't think...?!" The bespectacled maid says, growing very worried, very quickly. She begins to run towards the shutters, but she's too slow.
With a loud 'thunk' the shutters hit the ground, trapping the maid like a rat.
"Oh, dear..." The maid says with wide eyes.
"Looks like we got locked in together!" Maki says with a grin, holding her arms behind her head.
"No matter." Akane says, a prideful smile on her face. "Unlike you all, I can easily escape from here." She looks at the nearby machine on the wall next to the shutters, a fingerprint scanner. "All I have to do is put my finger here and I'll be free while you are trapped here."
Akane takes off her white glove and presses her finger against the scanner.
beep
Invalid fingerprint.
"...Huh?!" Akane shouts.
Secondary shutters activated.
"No, wait!" Akane shouts in panic.
rumumumumumumum... THUNK
A loud sound permeates the enclosed hallway as the titanium-enforced shutters slam down, denying any and all escape attempts.
"Akane's been trapped!" The operator reports, worriedly.
"Send a Student Council member! Noa should still be nearby. She can open the door." The treasurer orders.
Yuuka bites on her fingernails in worry.
'What are they thinking?' She thinks to herself, trying to figure out their plan. 'The real Midori and Momoi should also be trapped somewhere... Wait a second...' Yuuka's eyes open wide. "It can't be!"
The operator's voice rings out again. "We've just received word from Noa! She's also trapped and the door won't open! The second shutter also dropped on her!"
"Wh-What the...?!" Yuuka says, shocked. "But how?! This is brand-new equipment! Just installed today by... oh, no!" Yuuka's face suddenly changes to one of realization, then fear, then anger. "This is why Aris broke those doors? Was this their plan all along?!"
Meanwhile, on the top floor, the twins and I run through a large hallway on the building's side. The entire wall is pretty much a window to the skyline of Kivotos.
The twins also let go of my hands when we got out of the dark.
"Sensei." Hare's voice comes from the comms. "Akane has been trapped."
"Really?!" Momoi asks, hopeful. "Then the fingerprint recognition device is working just as it should be."
"They're stuck and we can move free. Just as planned." I say with a smile.
"Thank goodness the Engineering Club was able to trick that manufacturer into being the go-between seller for their new security system." Midori says.
"Yeah, they really did a damn good job quick." I praise. Maybe that 'Body for Arona' plan can work.
"I guess it was so well-made that the council had no idea it was actually designed by the Engineering Club." The pink twin comments.
"All right, enough talk. Let's move." I order, eliciting nods from the twins.
Momoi, Midori and I press our fingers against the fingerprint scanner.
beep
Saiba Momoi, Saiba Midori, Joshua Birkin Sensei. Access granted.
The doors open and we continue to move trough the moonlit hallway.
"Hmm? Didn't something like this happen not that long ago?" The green twin comments.
"Oh yeah, the ruins." I say.
"How nostalgic. It already feels like a lifetime ago." Momoi says.
"Still, I wish we could've gotten Asuna too." Midori says.
"If she's as much of a wild card as the others described, then it's best we don't plan for her. If she shows, we'll deal with her." I say, hoping to placate the girls.
"Hare looked all over Millennium, but couldn't find her." Midori adds.
"Maybe she's outside the academy?" I guess.
"Probably." Momoi shrugs. "I heard she ditched a mission once to get a parfait."
"The hell?" I ask, surprised. "Really?"
"Yeah. She even got back on time and finished the mission, but still..." Momoi says, before changing the subject. "Anyway, everything's going according to plan!"
"Who goes there?!" A voice suddenly shouts.
Suddenly, a bunch of gun-wielding girls run around a corner.
"Student Council members?!" Momoi shouts in fright. "There are still some left?!"
I step forward and ready my rifle.
"S-Sensei?!" Midori asks, worried as well.
"Get ready." I order.
"Sensei..." Momoi says.
"You're serious." Midori says.
We fall into silence as robots now appear.
"Let's go." I order, causing the two to nod. "I'll rush 'em. Cover me."
""Huh?!"" The twins shout in unision as I move.
I dodge through gunfire once more. The Student Council girls and robots fire a deluge of bullets at me, but I prove my superior speed over them. These girls are clearly grunts and not some highly-trained guards like C-and-C.
While moving, I jump into the air and dropkick a turret robot in front. The machine is a round white thing with wheels on the bottom and a gun turret on the top, and is about four and a half feet tall, but I send it flying towards some girls, knocking them down. Landing on my feet and hands, I leap to the side, doding more gunfire as I jump over towards a turret robot, smacking it with my rifle's butt causing it to spin 180 degrees around, using it as a shield to block incoming fire.
To the side, Midori and Momoi place their shots, taking out a few girls and robots while hiding behind corners.
I slam my fist into the robot's back and find the turret controls. Grabbing on this and that, I control the turret robot and its gun. It has little fenders over its wheels, so I stand on them and begin to move around, huddled behind the robot, yet firing its gun at the girls and other robots. My robo-ride isn't bulletproof, as a few rounds pierce the machine. After just a moment, I have to get off. I do so by letting go and using my feet to kick it forward, but not before grabbing a grenade off my belt and placing it inside.
"Girls, shoot it!" I shout.
A pair of rounds, one glowing green and the other pink, slam into the robot as it reaches the middle of the crowd of girls and robots.
BOOOOM
The grenade explodes, as does the robot, knocking the girls out and blowing holes into the robots.
Huh... The girls here are sturdier than metal robots? Kinda impressive.
"Sensei! Are you all right?" Midori asks, as she and her twin run to me.
"I'm fine." I say, relaxing my muscles.
"That was awesome! I've never seen anyone ride one of those robots like that!" Momoi praises.
"I was pretty fun." I say with a chuckle, getting a smile from the twins in return. "Enough 'o that. Let's move."
In the hallway with the maid, the hacker and the meister.
"That wall looks a lot more formidable than those steel shutters. We're really stuck, aren't we?" Maki asks.
Kotori lets out a chuckle, before turning to the bespectacled maid. "Hey Akane, since we just happened to be confined in here with nothing else to do, why not take this time to listen to my lecture on relativity?"
Akane, however, isn't listening to the other two's jokes and is instead all but screaming into her comms. "Come in, command! This is callsign Zero-Three, and I'm trapped in area A-eleven! Requesting response from callsign Zero-One! Do you copy?!"
The comms then ring out with a robotic voice. "Your call has been forwarded to an automatic voice mailbox."
Akane, in a very unlike her manner, screams.
"AHH! Asuna! Where the hell are you?! Turn your comm on, for crying out loud!"
The comms, at that very moment, beep twice. Akane reads the screen
Connecting... New message. Sender: callsign Zero-Two.
'I don't know where Asuna is, but don't worry, Akane.
I've got the Game Development Department exactly where I want them.'
fssssssssh
A shutter in front of a door raises after using our fingerprints.
"That's the last one, yeah?" I ask.
"Yup!" Momoi says, happily. "Now the only way to navigate the Student Council floor is with my fingerprint!"
"Just a further until we reach the contraband storage." Midori adds.
"Momoi! Hit the deck!" Hare shouts over the comms.
"Huh?" Momoi dumbly asks. Wasting no time, I pull the twins down to the floor.
BOOOOOOOOM-kssssh
An explosion rings out as the wall made almost entirely of windows shatters, causing glass shards to rain on the ground.
"AAAH!" The pink twin shouts.
Looking behind us, I see a massive hole in the wall. Sniper, using a massive round, clearly.
"You two all right?" I ask, quickly.
"Wh-What WAS that?!" The pink twin shouts. "That massive thing barely went over our heads! Look how big that hole in the wall is!"
"A thirteen-point-ninety-seven anti-material sniper round?!" The green twin shouts, in fright. "That was close. If we were just a bit taller, or if Sensei hadn't tackled us, it would have hit Sis square in the head..."
"Thank goodness we're so tiny... not! What's going on?!" Momoi shouts.
"Looks like our sniper friend found us." I say, as the three of us huddle behind a solid section of the wall.
"Karin's already in position." Midori says, in realization.
whirrrrrrr-rrrrrrrrrr
"Brace you two!" I shout, hearing the round coming.
BANG
The next round slams against the metal wall near us, denting it slightly, causing the twins and I to back away from that spot. Fuck, that gun's strong.
I want one.
On a nearby rooftop, a familiar dark-skinned girl in a maid uniform looks through the scope of her sniper rifle.
"Hmm... Not bad." Karin praises out loud. 'Those pip-squeaks are hard to hit. They're as nimble as they are small. However, their speed and movement are predictable. No wind and no obstacles in the line of fire. Even clinging to walls and avoiding windows won't save them now. But that Sensei... he's quick... too quick. The way he tackled the twins down, it was fast. Even Asuna and Neru couldn't move that fast.'
She exhales slowly. "Sorry, girls, but there's no escape now."
"You sure about that?" A voice asks.
"Wha...?!" Karin snaps around, standing to her feet and aiming her rifle at a small robot. It's white, but has a pearlescent sheen of pink.
"My calculations say otherwise. In fact, your chances of hitting are zero percent." A voice calls out from the machine. It's gun trains on the sniper and begins to spin its gun before firing.
The maid, however, is too quick and narrowly misses the gunfire. "Whoa! Th-The hell is that?!"
"I do believe introductions are in order." The voice says again, but not from the machine, but from Utaha, who steps around the corner. "Feast your eyes upon the Engineering Club's latest and greatest invention, the bipedal all-terrain, combat-ready chair: the Thundergun!"
"...But why?" Karin asks, after a moment. "Who needs a walking chair?"
"Your lack of imagination is depressing." Utaha says sadly with a shake of her head. "I suppose I should have realized earlier that a dullard such as yourself wouldn't be able to appreciate Thundergun's charms." She says with a sigh.
"You and that 'chair' don't make sense, but the rest is coming together." Karin says, still holding her rifle at the ready. "I'd been wondering how those two from the Game Development Department managed to make it this far on their own. Is it because of that Sensei person? I bet Himari's intel was just a ruse as well."
"Ah, so Sensei was right about that." Utaha says, slightly surprised.
"About what?" Karin asks, eyes narrowing.
"About Himari ratting us out." Utaha says. "He didn't believe it since she and President Rio don't get along... But, it seems like he was wrong."
"In any case..." The maid says, quickly aiming her rifle and shooting the machine.
"Ah! Thundergun!" Utaha shouts, as her creation tumbles over, onto it's back, the round stuck within it's body.
"It's pretty tough, huh? My shot didn't come out the other side." The maid sniper observes. "Oh well. Not much good it'll do you stuck on it's back like a turtle. I've got to admit, the idea of a walking chair with a gun strapped to it is pretty amusing. However, if you really wanted to stop me, you should have attempted an ambush instead of trying to take me on with this stupid, glorified wheelchair. Your calculations were foolish, Utaha. You were never going to beat me somewhere as open as this rooftop without cover."
Utaha remains silent for a moment. "Without cover, huh? Yeah, that's true."
Karin looks at the purple haired girl with a face of confusion, as one of smug satisfaction appears on Utaha's.
"But you know what else a rooftop doesn't have? A ceiling."
"Huh?" Karin asks as Utaha finishes her sentence.
whirrrrr
The sound of something moving through the air appears from nowhere.
"Wh-What's that sound?!" The maid sniper asks, frightened.
Then...
BOOOOM
Karin just barely manages to dodge an explosive, landing right where she just was.
"A mortar?! But from where?" Karin asks, looking around.
"Our dearest Hibiki is firing off shells from the opposite side of Millennium Tower." Utaha proudly admits. "Reaching Hibiki means going through four walls and two ceilings. That is, unless you also have a mortar hiding in that frilly maid costume."
"You can't be serious!" Karin snaps.
The purple haired meister lets out a soft chuckle. "You doubted them, but my calculations are always right."
The twins and I remain hiding for a short while.
"It's quieted down out there..." Momoi says.
"That must be Utaha and Hibiki's doing!" Midori says.
"Good. Then let's move while we can." I say.
As soon as I say that, however, the tower shakes. The three of us center our weight as to not fall over.
"Eek! W-Was that an earthquake?!" Momoi squeaks in fright.
"No, that was an explosion." I say, suddenly growing worried.
"You don't think...?" Midori begins.
"Considering she's known to carry them, like y'all said, I wouldn't be surprised." I say.
Meanwhile, in a narrow hallway.
Smoke fills the air as a large slab of titanium-plated metal covering a doorway is blown open with a tremendous amount of force.
From the smoke, walks out a bespectacled maid, her uniform just as pristine as ever.
She walks down the hall with measured, focused steps.
..All this happens while a certain hacker and mesiter lay on the ground, dizzy from being blown backwards.
"Ugh. My lecture's... not over yet..." Kotori whines.
"I thought we were toast! Where the heck does she keep all those bombs, anyway?!" Maki shouts.
Akane takes one more look back at the exploded door and sighs, before continuing onward. "Normally, I wouldn't condone destruction of school property..." She then speaks into her comms. "My apologies for destroying the shutters, Yuuka. What's the Game Development Department's current location?"
"Karin had them suppressed until a moment ago, but they've slipped out of our vision." Yuuka reports. "However, it's not hard to guess where they're headed."
"The contraband storage..." Akane says in realization. "Understood. I'll take the elevator and intercept."
beep
"Hm?" Akane questioningly hums after hearing the beep.
Then, the hallway is plunged into darkness.
"Wha...?!" She lets out. "Y-Yuuka? They... cut the power?! They'd really go to such lengths...?"
The lights click off for a few seconds as the three of us reach a large, open room with a few pillars keeping the place stable. Though it's near-impossible to see anything in this darkness. The twins grabbed a hold of my hands as the lights went out.
They'll never admit it, but they were totally scared by it going dark like that.
The light did come right back on, but still, the room is very dark.
"That blackout just now..." Momoi says.
"I guess Utaha and Hibiki did it." I say with a smile.
"Watch your step, Sensei. It's really dark." Midori warns.
"I know, I know." I say with a chuckle.
"Just through here should be..." The green twin begins.
"...The Student Council's contraband storage." And the pink twin finishes with a laugh. "We did it!"
"Wow! You finally made it!" A super cheery female voice says.
"Hmmm?" Momoi says, tensing up.
"Huh?!" Midori squeaks.
Both girls tighten their grips on my hand.
"What kept you?" The cheery voice asks, moving closer to reveal... oh, great.
The cheery-voiced girl has long, blonde hair reaching her shins, with part of it being tied into a bun on the back of her head. On top of her head is a maid headband that connects with a piece of white and blue tech over her left ear, likely a communicator of some type. Her eyes are a dark, yet bright blue. She wears a maid outfit with a white collar and sky blue tie and a black choker above a black 'shirt' around her shoulders that ends in the middle of her biceps with a white Millennium logo on said cuffs. Her rather large chest is covered by a white undershirt, revealing quite a bit of her chest, including the small mole on her left breast. She has on a black skirt which also covers her abdomen, along with a small, white apron tied around her waist, ending before her skirt does.
Her skirt has a blue stripe near the bottom and a frilly, white undersection coming out from beneath. The apron is tied with a large, white bow on her back. Her legs are covered by white thigh-highs, with a black stipe near the top, held with a garter belt underneath her skirt. She has small, black bands around her ankles and small, black high-heels on her feet, each having a small bow on the outside. On her hands are white gloves which reach her elbows and end with a doily pattern, outlined by a black stripe, one of said gloves has a black '01' in black font. In her hands is a black, blue and white assault rifle. Her halo is blue and comprised of three rings. The outer ring is made of four, identical parts at each of the cordinal directions. The middle ring is a perfect ring, whereas the middle ring has indents in it at the inter-cardinal directions.
"Howdy, Game Development Department! And..." She looks at me, curiously. "Uhh... What was your name again? Jacky? Zenzy?"
I stare at this girl, disbelieving, for a moment.
"Oh, right! It's Joshua! Joshua Sensei!" The maid says, upon remembering.
"That's me." I say with a shrug. "What're you doin' here, Miss Maid?"
"Oh, me? I've been waiting here the whole time!" She happily admits. "Nice to meet you, Sensei!"
"You as well." I say with a laugh. What a peppy girl.
"A-Asuna? How'd you know we'd be here?!" Midori asks, shakily, still grasping my hand.
"I dunno!" Asuna happily admits.
Wait, what?
"Call it a hunch! I had a feeling that if I waited here, I'd meet up with Sensei sooner or later. And you guys too!" The blonde maid happily explains. "Call it a woman's intuition."
I don't think I'll be able to keep up with this girl...
"Geez. You didn't even try to figure it out with reasoning." Midori complains.
"Anyway, shall we begin?" Asuna asks.
"Huh? Begin what?" Momoi asks.
"Our fight of course, silly!" The maid says, like it's obvious. "There's nothing better than a good fight! Oh, right. We should make formal introductions first." She then clears her throat. "C-and-C's callsign Zero-One, Ichinose Asuna, reporting for duty!"
"Wha...?!" Midori shrieks.
"You two had better let go of Sensei's hands and ready yourselves!" Asuna says.
The twins look down at my hands, remembering they're holding onto them, then pulling away fast as possible, their faces now a bright red.
"Now then, ready or not you two, here I come!" The maid girl declares.
Two?
Guess she doesn't see me as a combatant.
I suppose I'll have to remedy that!
AN
Guess what? Guess what?!
It's double upload time. Oh yeah.
Edit: April 8, 2023: Fixed some stuff.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and look forward to the next!