Snyderverse Neptunia Snippets

by Derald Snyder

Snippet 37- Samantha's Mission

Timeline- Shortly after Snippet 35.

She was used to exploring subterranean caverns, not the back streets of a city. But Samantha Lisand had her mission, and she would complete it without fail. Although this time, she wouldn't be entirely alone, either...

"Lady, do you hear me?" a voice came over the comm-link, Samantha putting her left hand up to her helmet.

"Yes, I copy, Adam," the metal-clad bounty hunter replied.

"You say that your armor suit has the ability to transform in order to enter narrow spaces, correct?" Adam Malkovich stated. "I would recommend using said ability to try and enter the mafia boss's headquarters through the air vents, in order to avoid detection."

"Got it. Sam out." She killed the link, walking slowly around the steel building that had been officially abandoned and condemned, though there was evidence belying both assertions. (When you've got enough money, you can convince any bureaucracy to declare a certain building off-limits...) Keeping an eye out for any mafia grunts, she soon spotted what she was looking for- a small vent near the ground, supposedly too narrow for a human to squeeze through. Curling into a fetal position, the hunter's body transformed into pure energy as the suit itself reformed into a compact, mobile sphere. The metal ball then dropped a small explosive charge, said bomb blowing apart the vent, allowing the ball to roll inside...

The metal ball made its way through the vents, occasionally using bombs to pop itself up when a vent turned upward... soon, Lisand found a way out into a hallway, rolling around a corner and unmorphing back into human form. (I'm in, no alarms. So far so good.) Peeking around the corner, she saw a lone armed thug walking her way... she ducked back, waiting for the man to approach, then swung her arm cannon when he got close, the impact knocking him out immediately! She caught him before he could fall to the ground, dragging his prone body out of sight. Looking out again, she saw no one else in the hallway, emerging from her cover and quietly walking down to the door at the end.

"Lady, are you there?" Adam's voice came in.

"I'm inside the building," Samantha hissed back. "Whatever you have to say, make it fast."

"I just wanted to remind you that we need the target alive," he replied. "His underlings are fair game, though I would prefer to keep the bloodshed to a minimum."

"I'll try, but no promises. But I know how to capture a suspect alive. Sam out," she answered curtly, cutting the link. That done, she reached for the door, turning the knob...

But behind said door was another lowlife! "What th-" That was as far as he got before Lisand punched him in the face with her arm cannon! But as he slumped down unconscious, another thug was revealed behind him!

"Holy shit!" the thug cried, turning tail and fleeing. "HEY! THERE'S SOME GUY WITH AN ARMOR SUIT HERE!"

"Dammit!" Samantha grunted, pushing aside the unconscious thug and chasing after the fleeing man. But then two more men showed up, opening fire with assault rifles! She morphed into ball form to avoid the brunt of the gunfire, rolling in close before unmorphing and punching out the thug on the right with her arm cannon! The other thug turned to fire, but Lisand shot him in the leg, causing him to fall to the floor! "You're not worth killing," she said, kicking him in the face a few times to render him unconscious. That done, she blasted apart a nearby vent, morphing and rolling inside, just before more armed men showed up.

"What the-?! Where'd he go?!" one of the thugs looked around frantically.

"He was just here!" the scared thug insisted. "Maybe he went the other way...!"

"Well, we better find him!" another armed lowlife said, the group running down the other length of the hallway...

(Suckers,) Samantha thought as she rolled out of the vent and unmorphed. (If they came from this way, then my bounty should be in this direction...) She ran down the hallway, seeing a door that was closed and locked. Pointing her arm cannon at said door, she fired a tiny missile which blasted it to smithereens!

"What the hell?!" she heard a voice beyond the door, pushing through and seeing a man with black hair, grey eyes and a sharp face, dressed in a tan business suit, sitting behind a desk. "Who the hell are you?!"

"I come in the name of the Leanbox Guild," Lisand answered dispassionately. "You're under arrest. Come along quietly and you won't get hurt."

"To hell with that," the mafia boss grunted as he pressed a button under his desk, a nearby panel sliding open to reveal a green reptilian monstrosity standing taller than Samantha herself! "Specimen Kraidus rex. And he's been wanting a new toy to play with! Sic, boy!"

The fat reptile let out a cute not-Godzilla roar, firing spikes from its belly, Lisand rolling to the side to evade! The Kraidus rex then spat up acid from its mouth, the hunter going into ball form to dodge, the spit sizzling into the carpet! She then unrolled and fired several missiles into the creature's face, its head being all but destroyed as a result, the reptile slumping over dead.

"What?! Impossible!" The mob boss stood up from his desk in shock. "Y-you killed my Kraidus rex?!"

"Please. That one was just a baby compared to the ones I've killed in Lowee," Samantha shook her head. "I've brought down Kraidus rex that were over two stories tall! Now how about you surrender before you suffer the same fate?" Just then, she heard multiple footfalls, turning to see the armed men from earlier bearing down on her position! (Sorry, Adam,) she thought as she switched to plasma beam mode and fired rapidly, the mafia thugs falling in short order. Her armor suit then registered damage as the boss fired on her from behind with a handgun, Sam quickly rolling into ball form, rolling up to the boss and unmorphing, hitting him with an uppercut before he could react! "What part of 'you're under arrest' don't you understand?" she snarked, pulling the dazed man up by his shirt, then putting herself behind him with her arm cannon pressed into his back. "Let's go! Move it!"

"Ugh, okay okay..." the mafia boss groaned as he was marched out of the office with hands raised.

"Adam, I've got him," Lisand opened the comm-link. "Have a bus ready to take him into custody when we get outside."

"Roger that. Well done, Lady," Adam complimented. "Any casualties?"

"Just a couple of armed men and a baby boss monster," she replied.

"Baby...? Never mind, you can explain during the debriefing. Adam out."

*Back at Leanbox Guild HQ...*

"I have to say, that went far more smoothly than it would have sending a SWAT team in," a senior NPC agent commented, standing with Adam, Samantha sitting across from them, now out of her armor suit. "It seems Agent Malkovich's instincts about you were on the money after all. And thanks to that boss siccing his (ahem) pet on you, we've got him dead to rights on assault charges; that should be enough to hold him until we can try him for his more grievous offenses."

"I always complete my mission," Lisand stated succinctly. "I was Lowee's number one hunter for a reason, after all."

"Yes, you've more than proven that, milady," Adam nodded. "But of course, this is only the first step. You've still a ways to go before your debt to society is repaid, so to speak."

"Right. But what about Lady Blanc? Has she been informed of this?" Samantha asked. "I know she was pretty upset when I was convicted in the first place..."

"We don't inform the CPUs of our operations, to maintain plausible deniability in case something goes wrong. I believe it's the same for the guilds in the other nations as well," the senior agent responded.

"Of course, we should inform them if we encounter something that's beyond our capacity to handle," Adam added.

"Yes, of course," the NPC grunted. "That being said... if you continue to perform well, then we could possibly inform Lady Blanc that you're serving as an asset to us. Is that acceptable?"

"...Yes sir," Samantha nodded.

"Good. I think we're done here, then. Agent Malkovich, I leave the rest to you," the senior agent nodded to Adam.

"Understood," Adam said as the NPC took his leave. Turning to Samantha, he said, "Sorry if he seemed harsh, but you know how the old saying goes: 'Trust, but verify.'"

"Right," Lisand nodded, standing up. "At least he kept it respectful- not staring at my body."

"Well, he is married, for what it's worth," Adam replied. "As for myself, I am not blind, but rising through the ranks of the military taught me a great deal about discipline."

"Which is why I insisted you be my handler," Sam pointed out. "So, you'll take me back to my prison cell-slash-apartment now?"

"Now who's being too harsh, Lady?" Adam quipped, eliciting a smile from the blonde as they left together...

*Snippet 37- End*