Interdimensional RED-Coded Contract
First Blood
"Can you describe those people?" Histoire said. Several mercenaries looked at eachother with raised eyebrow.
Sniper looked through his scope once more.
He saw a complex of buildings, with a layout similar to the Lumberyard, but with a few differences; first was the lack of mountains, cliffs or train rails - the whole area around the bridge was flat. The buildings themselves were much more modern and the area itself greener and cleaner.
The bridge was wide and seemed to be made out of some metal, and on that bridge were two groups of people.
"Two groups, 4 people each; one with varied, colorful clothing and armed with melee weapons. All girls." Sniper relayed.
"Probably a group of adventurers who were back from a quest." IF commented. "Not really a concern for us, who's the other group?"
"Gray clothing, mostly armed with guns and seems to be belonging to some group. I see the same emblem on all of them - a red and yellow heart."
"...Red and yellow heart, gray clothing." IF mused to herself, before groaning as her fears were manifested. ASIC was on the bridge. They would have to do something about that. "...They are ASIC. Crap."
"There's also twelve more hiding in the building. Gray clothing too." Sniper observed. "Another 4 is going deeper into the buildings."
"Will they be a problem?" Spy asked, tapping his cigarette to remove the ashes.
"Yeah, it will take too long to find a different-"
"Shouldn't be too hard. I could snipe four from where I stand." Sniper said, cutting off IF.
"You said there were about twenty of them." IF said, frowning.
"And there's nine of us. Not bad odds." Sniper responded. "We're armed, Sheila, we can handle it."
Soldier perked up at his teammate's words, finding a good place to interject himself into a conversation and lead his own team to victory. "And if fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight!" The merc said, pushing himself to the front. "Right, Sniper?"
Sniper rolled his eyes. "Ye."
"Attention!" Soldier exclaimed turned towards the team.
"We will fight! And we won't stop until we beat each and every single maggot standing in our way to that city."
There was… no cheer, but a few awkward grumbles and "Yeahs." from his team. And even that was half-assed because no one wanted to set off Soldier, and waste time getting him to calm down.
The girls saw that and understood that they were reluctant to fight. They understood wrong as the mercs just didn't want to bolster Soldier's ego while also not make themselves a target for his disciplinary measures.
"So… what will we do?" IF asked. "Just let them… march up there?"
"We don't have many options to get in otherwise." Histoire sighed. "I don't have anyone to spare or trust to slip you into the city, and the longer we wait the harder it will be to get in. We can only hope we're not walking into an elaborate trap."
IF wasn't happy that their sole option was hope for the best. "...Seriously? That's all we can do?"
"Doing anything else might result in you getting shot." Histoire said. "Look at them, each one carries a gun. And while they seem reluctant they're also confident, remember they have access to turrets and devices capable of healing their injuries within seconds."
The moment they met them their fate was sealed. If they tried to run they might get shot, if they tried to fight they would get shot and killed. And as Soldier already demonstrated one of them was skilled and strong enough to take on both of them at the same time, fighting the entire group would be suicide.
"How about we hire them to help us?" Compa suggested with a warm smile.
…
IF stared at her friend as if she was mad.
Histoire thought really hard if this was a good idea.
"I'm a little skeptical about this… usually mercenaries have no morals and will do whatever someone ordered them to, as long as they get paid. However I also can't deny that such an armed group near the city is going to be a concern… If they are really from the ASIC then we'll have a huge problem."
"Well, we can't just stand and do nothing! It took us three damn years to gather enough shares to get Gear back!" IF snapped. However before she could even realize what she said a loud and sharp whistle shifted the attention of all three girls to the Engineer who motioned them to get up.
"Mr. Engineer, are we going now?" Asked Compa while raising Nepgear onto her shoulders.
"Yup, we'll be going through that bridge." Engie pointed at the ASIC infested warehouse. The mercenaries already went ahead.
The girls had a bad feelings about this, but nonetheless they followed.
A little earlier at the river, two groups of people were at a stand-off.
"So here's the deal. You guys hand over your money, and we will let you into Planeptune. We will even throw some Arfoire chips for free." A commanding female voice filled the air.
The owner of that voice was a light skinned female named Maxie. Her hair was black and tied up into a pony tails. Purple tattoos decorated her body, resembling lines of data. She was wearing a black jacket zipped all the way to her neck which covered her small chest, and a black skirt which ended above her knee. She was also wearing black boots with black and white striped socks and black leather gloves.
And the most noticeable aspect of her were her arms, they were in fact, artificial and robotic prosthesis. Very sleek, clean and white.
"And what if we refuse?" One of the adventures reached for her sword. The black haired female snapped her fingers and the ASIC members behind her raised their guns. Besides her were three others carrying a shotgun, an SMG and a pistol.
"Then you morons would get some early birthday gifts." She took her whip and held it menacingly. Her eyes glowed red and sparks could be seen from the whip. The group looked at themselves, nervous, before their leader nervously reached into her bag and grabbed her wallet.
She gave the ASIC member all of her money, and as if a switch was flipped the black-haired girl's eyes turned blue. She put her whip back to her side and grabbed the cash.
"Thank you~ Linda."
"Yes, Ma'am!"
With a snap of her fingers another female stepped in. She bore the typical ASIC clothing except it was unzipped, which showed her purplish skin. A hood hid her head but some of her pastel green hair was leaking out.
Linda held out a pouch filled with Arfoire chips and reached inside. She gave four of them to the group's leader, who took them and nervously distributed them between his teammates. Afterwards the ASIC members moved to the side to let them pass.
As the adventurers passed, the leader greeted them officially.
"Welcome to Planeptune, hope you enjoy your stay."
The adventurers said nothing as they left, but Maxie enjoyed watching them squirm. She counted how much money she got from the ordeal and smiled at how much there was. These idiots had more money than brains or balls.
"Hey, Max!"
Linda broke her out of her brief reverie. "Ya?" The grunt leader turned her head towards her.
"Did we really have to mug these broads? Our job was to just distribute these damn chips." Linda said. Maxie rolled her eyes.
"Linda, Linda, Linda. Sweetheart…" The black-haired woman sang as she divided the cash. "No one said we CAN'T take something from them. We can do what they're telling us to do, and earn some extra while doing so. Because as you really know, ASIC pays crap to us and I'm behind with the bills."
Maxie reached out to one of her underlings, her fist full of cash. Linda frowned at it but nonetheless she took the offered money.
Once she did so, Maxie walked away to distribute the rest, but not before giving Linda some few last words.
"So simply enjoy your share, and shut up."
"So what's the plan?" IF asked. "...You have a plan, right?"
"Mhe mmll mphy mmph. Ih mphy geh mmah." Pyro mumbled loudly and waved his hands around. IF did everything she could to figure out what it said… but the longer she did the more she realized it was a fool's errand.
Fortunately Demoman decided to speak up and break their confusion. "We'll just run 'em through, lassie." He waved his hand dismissively and brought his bottle to his lips. IF and Compa could smell the alcohol from where they were. The merc offered them some, but they refused.
"Trying to simply force your way in? Why haven't we thought of that?" Histoire sighed, feeling a little sarcastic about the whole ordeal. "Also, wouldn't it be safer if you, sir, didn't drink alcohol while having so much explosives on yourself?" A small spark would turn him from a Demolition Man to a suicide bomber. One would expect a person with so many explosives to be more down to earth and reasonable...
"It's fine ma'am. You don't need to worry about our Demo." Engineer jumped to his teammate's defense. "And y'all don't need to worry, we'll be fine."
"I would be more inclined to believe that if we had some sort of plan…"
Engineer just smiled at her, which set off alarms in the girls' minds. If this was a trap prepared for them by the ASIC, they have no chance of getting out of it.
"We are here." Heavy suddenly spoke. The mercs crouched behind some rocks and trees as cover, and dragged the girls to do the same.
The group was still inside a forest, over thirty meters away from the bridge. The sun was barely visible and with it gone the darkness started seeping in. Bushes and trees in front of them concealed them from the ASIC hideout's vision.
Engie poked Spy's shoulder. "Ya ready?" He whispered. Spy nodded and grabbed his Your Eternal Reward with his right hand. Compa was amazed at the skill of his fingers. Under his left sleeve the others could also see a digital watch with a golden case, the Cloak and Dagger.
"But of course." Spy activated said watch and disappeared into the thin air, surprising the girls.
"He can turn invisible!?" IF and Compa's exclaimed at the same time. A few mercs chuckled at their reaction.
Sniper peered through the scope of his Classic, watching Spy's silhouette slowing moving towards the warehouse, before stopping to recharge his motion-sensitive batter, and then moving once again. The process will take some time but… they were patient.
"So… you do have a plan." IF said to Medic.
"Yes! Herr Spy vill disguise as one of zhe guards, und zhen ve will try to pass. If there von't be any trouble zhen Spy vill come back to us. If not zhen ve vill force our way in vith Herr Spy causing havoc among them." The merc explained.
...Histoire was appeased that they actually did have some sort of plan, even if it was just 'get a man into their ranks'. But she saw a hole within his reasoning. "Disguise? But wouldn't they know if there was someone new within their ranks?"
"Ve have vays, don't vorry." He tried to reassure her.
...It didn't work, now Histoire was more worried about what kind of ways they had. The way he said it didn't actually help either.
"What… kind of ways?" IF tried to press.
"Very efficient vays my dear." Medic said with a smile. IF did not smile.
"Okay fellas." Engineer suddenly said, catching everyone's attention. He placed down a toolbox on the ground, and it turned into a Dispenser. IF frowned at the self-building machine, wondering what it was. "Grab some steel boys." Engineer whacked the building with a wrench, causing a loud clang. He whacked it again and again and after a moment the building was upgraded. His teammate gleefully took the supplies from the offering machine.
"Mr. Engineer, what is this?" Compa pointed at the dispenser.
"That, my dear, is a Dispenser. It heals you when you're nearby and stores ammo for you if you run out." The merc explained.
"By healing, you mean the same way the Medi-Gun does, right?" Histoire asked.
"Yup, handy thing ain't it?"
Nepgear would love it. IF thought to herself. A building hidden within a toolbox? Capable of assembling itself within seconds and with the ability to heal and resupply others? That kind of thing would be right in the CPU Candidate's interest.
A grunt ran towards Maxie, tripping from his sheer rush. "Ma'am!" He shouted before finally falling onto his face. The grunt leader sighed and helped him get up.
"What is it?"
"It's a call from CFW Judge, Ma'am!" The grunt said, handing Maxie the phone. She clicked her tongue in annoyance. It was already the second time he was calling her, asking about two women about to get here with a rescued CPU.
She grabbed the phone and put it to her ear. "Sir? Maxie here."
The CFW wasted no time getting to the point. "Did you get them yet, Maxie?"
Maxie frowned as she heard a loud crash in the background, and then an even louder scream of people. CFW Judge was in a bad mood if he was terrorizing people like this.
"No sir! No one matching their description came through here." She answered evenly. Hoping to end the conversation as quickly as she could.
The CFW didn't take the news well, Maxie heard another crash and was left wondering where Judge was causing trouble this time. "Grrr, damn it all! Where are they!?" He shouted. Maxie winced at the volume of his voice.
"I assure you, if they come to Planeptune then we'll capture them. We got enough people to take on just two girls."
"I hope so. If I find out that they DID come to Planeptune, then it's your head on the line, you got that? Now get me Linda on the line." He said sternly.
"Yes, sir!"
She scanned the area, trying to find the green-haired girl, and found her chatting with some coworkers. The grunt leader whistled sharply and got the attention of all of her members. She motioned Linda to come to her and handed her the phone.
"CFW Judge." Maxie whispered to her.
Maxie walked away to give Linda some privacy, then crashed on the couch and yawned. Another day passed, and she was slowly inching her way up to a comfortable life.
After a little consideration, she got off the couch and left to patrol. There was still time before sleep, so she might as well make some rounds around the area and check on her guys. When she was about to go to the 2nd floor she heard a crash from above. Maxie frowned as she walked up the stairs.
However she saw nothing out of the ordinary…
The room was simple with just a few chairs and tables inside. It was mostly used to spot things from above. There were bottles with water for whenever someone was thirsty and some cards to kill the boredom.
"Hey." Maxie called out to the spotter. "What's up?"
"Nothing. I just knocked over some water." He answered.
Maxie nodded and looked around a bit. On the table there was a 3-story pyramid made out of cards, but nothing else besides that. She missed the spotter's smirk as she left.
"CFW Judge, hmm?" Spy said to himself. With the threat gone and him officially within their ranks, he could start calling for his teammates. He repeated the message three times, using hand gestures as the medium, before going to add something to the house of cards.
Sniper relayed Spy's message to the rest of his team, and soon enough the group approached the bridge. Ammo was stocked, guns were loaded and buildings were upgraded. They were ready.
Scout held his trusty Scattergun in his hands, with pistol in pocket and his bag filled with the 'Sandman's baseballs.
Soldier was holding his Rocket Launcher and had the Gunboats on his feets. The Equalizer was ready for any emergency melee combat.
Pyro prepared his Flame Thrower and a Scorch Shot to set everyone and everything ablaze.
Demoman traded his Iron Bomber for a stock Grenade Launcher. He still kept his Stickybomb Launcher and a half-empty bottle of whiskey.
Heavy proudly carried Sasha in his arms, and a sandvich safely wrapped into paper and tucked into his pocket.
Engineer carried a toolbox with a dispenser on his left shoulder, supporting it with both hands. Golden Wrench and a shotgun were at his side to defend himself if necessary.
Medic used his Medi-Gun to keep his teammates at the peak of health, and the Übersaw was there in case someone thought that he would be an easy target..
Sniper stayed behind, watching their backs through the scope of the Classic.
As they walked, they surrounded the girls in a protective circle while also keeping themselves spread out. If the enemy had any explosives then not all of them would be caught in the blast.
...They can't help but to remember how the Administrator would always start the battle. Every fight started the same and now they can't help but to hear her voice in their heads. Just counting down the seconds until the next conflict.
"Mission begins in sixty seconds…"
Spy informed Maxie about the mercs' arrival, and that there were a few girls with them. She outright ripped the binoculars out of his hands and looked herself. She was exposed and Spy had a prime opportunity to plunge his knife into her neck, but he stopped himself, even if he knew he had it in him to kill those three other grunts present after stabbing their leader.
He once managed to stab the whole enemy team and turned the tide all by himself, but his big moment would have to wait. His team wasn't yet ready to move, so there was no need to cause trouble yet.
Maxie smirked as her gaze fell on the girls surrounded by the red-clad men, all three of them perfectly matched CFW Judge's description. She just needed to capture them and she could kill everyone else…
A quick glance at the men surrounding them made her frown though, they were heavily armed and there weren't any reports of them. But there was just eight of them while she had about twenty. Troublesome but nothing they couldn't handle.
"Mission begins in thirty seconds…"
The mercs reached the bridge, and the ASIC was there waiting for them. As usual Maxie herself was standing on the front, with three of her group at her side.
"Sorry guys but keeping this bridge well and maintained costs a lot, so you hafta pay a toll to cross." The Grunt Leader said. "But we can also check on that unconcious girl over there for free, she looks like she might need a doctor.
"I'm afraid we can't do that, Ma'am." Engineer refused with a shake of his head.
"We won't pay a penny." Heavy added as well.
"Mission begins in ten seconds…"
"You can't, huh?" Maxie whispered. She snapped her fingers and the rest of her squad rushed out of the building, RED Spy among them. They pointed their guns at the mercs and they did the same. Two of the ASIC even carried light machine guns and were setting them up on a wall.
"Care to repeat that? " Maxie growled. She braced her whip, sparks of electricity leaving its tip. Despite being right at the front, and therefore the closest one to the mercs, Maxie didn't show a shred of fear.
"I am fully charged." Medic said, his voice low. Heavy nodded and shifted a bit to the left, so that Medic was better kept out of view.
"Five…!"
Engineer urged Compa and IF to hide behind a tree, and the girls didn't need to be asked twice. Compa rested the Candidate against the tree while IF readied her Katars and readied her SP.
"What? Ya deaf or something? We ain't gonna pay." Scout taunted.
"We are Americans! This bridge should be proud for letting our feet step on it." Soldier added.
"Four…!"
"Okay, you shithead. I'm giving you one last chance, hand over your money AND the fucking girls, and you may even live long enough to get to the hospital." Maxie's eyes turned red, and the electricity on her whip cracked faster.
"Three…!"
"Aye lad, she's really deaf!" Demo nodded.
"Two…!"
Maxie's eye twitched.
"One…!"
"Fire!" She yelled.
On her mark the ASIC fired, drowning out everything with the sounds of warfare. Bullets flew at the mercs, and the girls alike. IF and Compa yelped and dropped down, clutching their heads and hoped that they wouldn't be hit.
The mercenaries didn't move from their spot, as Medic's Electro-Shield stopped all gunfire from reaching his team. They retaliated and the ASIC quickly took cover behind anything they could find.
Maxie dodged Heavy's hail of bullets, weaving right and left until she and her lackeys reached the nearest cover. A precise bullet from Sniper went through an unlucky grunt's head and killed him on the spot. His whole body exploded into a fine red mist and the blood splattered over his surrounding comrades, Maxie included.
Engineer backed off and put down a dispenser behind the bridge, giving his team a resupply point to keep up the pressure. He gave out a sharp whistle to let Heavy know where he needed to move.
Maxie realized they were pinned down and needed to get out fast. The tattoos on her body flashed green and she ran out of cover, much faster than would be possible for a normal human. Heavy tracked her movement with his minigun, but Maxie was too fast and agile for the bullets to actually hit. She reached the nearest building with only one bullet bouncing off her forearm.
Then Heavy felt a sharp, fiery sensation of pain as one of the ASIC members felt cheeky and shot him.
Inside the warehouse Maxie saw two of her men fighting RED Spy. They had him surrounded and with his back to the wall but very much unhurt, while they sprouted numerous cuts and there was one of her men lying on the ground, already dead.
She braced her whip and waited, her men charging at the infiltrator with knives which he skillfully deflected. Then when he saw an opportunity he took it, his own knife about to pierce the man's throat.
With a crack of her whip she saved her grunt from death, and managed to surprise Spy as her whip dealt Mini-Critical damage.
"C'mon, scum!" She shouted and lashed out again. This time Spy sidestepped the whip and activated his cloak, turning invisible.
Back outside Soldier rocket jumped onto the roof, using Medi-Gun's overheal to keep himself healthy. The ASIC saw that and were surprised that someone would be actually crazy enough to do this.
"What the hell?!"
"On the roof!"
The ASIC grunts shouted and started firing at the merc flanking them. The bullets hit him twice in the chest, on the chest and his right arm, then Soldier shot them with a rocket.
Seeing a rocket flying at them, some of the ASIC abandoned their cover and were gunned down by Heavy, their bodies shredded to bits. Demoman also fired his grenades over the walls and either blew the hiding ASIC to pieces, or forced them into a more unfavorable position. Pyro sniped one retracting ASIC grunt with a Scorch Shot's flare, knocking him down and severely burning his face.
He screamed. Loudly.
"AAAArgh, ahhh… AAAAAAAHHHHHH!"
The flare that knocked him down fell and exploded, covering him entirely in flames and granting him a slow and painful death. To the last second the man struggled to extinguish the flames, in vain.
Then Heavy started to run out of ammo, while Medic's shield charge was starting to run out. Both of them moved back towards the dispenser for a resupply. The ASIC couldn't capitalize on this as they were getting slaughtered by everyone else.
Scout ran in circles around ASIC's fragile line, sewing more chaos among their ranks. They tried to shoot him and he simply shot them back, while avoiding their own bullets. They tried to catch him and he simply jumped and ran out of their reach, before killing them.
His reign of terror was short lived however, as when Maxie came back on the scene she hit him with her whip. The mini-critical damage surprised Scout and opened him for a knee into his stomach. "I will kill all of you myself if I have to!" She shouted, grabbing a nearby pistol and shooting the merc several times in his head and chest. He didn't survive that.
"Scout down!" Soldier yelled, getting Maxie's attention. She shot him too and he fell dead as well, tanking one bullet too many. She saw Heavy and Medic charging towards her and she recalled her surviving men, guiding them into a building.
Sniper fired at her head and Maxie ducked underneath. If she was a half second slower she would've died right there and then.
The ASIC kept shooting even when retreating, hoping to force Heavy and Medic into hiding from all of the gunfire coming their way. They didn't hide, they kept going until they were close enough.
"Charge now, Doctor!" Heavy yelled.
"Jawohl."
Medic flipped the switch and activated the Übercharge. Both him and Heavy began glowing red and their eyes turned yellow. The bullets, now instead of embedding themselves inside Heavy's thick flesh, now pathetically bounced off his reinforced skin. Meanwhile he was free to sow all the destruction he desired.
"Now is coward killing time!"
They pushed towards the Scout's and Soldier's Reanimators, sowing death and iron with every step they took. Sniper caught another grunt in the head while Demoman got lucky with his grenade, obliterating everyone besides Maxie with a Critical Hit.
While the crits didn't do much against not-enhanced targets, the grenade itself was enough to rip the majority into pieces and forcefully amputate the rest.
Maxie decided to just screw everything and run back towards the phone. If she couldn't capture the girls then as her last act of revenge she will alert the CFWs. Maybe the ASIC will intercept them from inside the city.
Good thing Linda was called back before this mess started, otherwise she would be dead with them.
She found the phone that was connected with the main HQ, and also found two people lying on the ground. Dead with knife wounds on their backs. Maxie grit her teeth as she kept running, however her foot caught something and she fell to the ground.
She turned around and sent her whip towards anything that was behind her, but a knife intercepted her hand and buried itself within her wrist. The damage caused her to drop the whip and it was sent flying.
She saw the RED Spy with a quite nasty mark on his face. She kicked him away and prepared herself for a fight.
"Who are you!?" She yelled.
"None of your concern." He answered and reached into his suit. Maxie sent a straight jab into Spy's face and then quickly thrusted her left into Spy's gut. Her speed was nothing Spy wasn't prepared for. While he was dazed she sent a kick to finish him off, but he blocked it by crossing his arms. He was slid across the room, causing his boots to squeak against the floor, but he did not lose his balance.
With more distance between themselves, Maxie turned around and bolted for the phone. Her plan was to send a distress signal so that the CFW would be alerted of the emergency. Maxie hoped that this would be enough to stop them from reaching the Basilicom.
However all of her plans were for naught as there was a Sapper attached to the phone, rendering it unusable.
And after that came what she expected. The sound of a gunshot, and a piercing pain in her left shin.
It took the girls a while to register that the battle was over, and once they did they slowly peeked from the rocks.
"My… goodness…"
What they saw was carnage, death and destruction. Bodies and blood everywhere, IF felt nauseous at the sheer number of scattered organs and spilled gore.
Among those corpses was Scout and Soldier. The former had a nasty burn across his face, his skin nearly torn off from his cheek. He also had bullet wounds near his heart and between his eyes.
Soldier was a definition of a bloody Swiss cheese, with bullet holes everywhere on his body. It was a wonder that he didn't die sooner.
There were also a few other things like a charred human corpse left by the Pyro, the spot from Demo's grenade (which left enough blood to fill a bathtub), along with the occasional hand, leg, eyeball or brain piece here and there. Countless bullet dents and spent bullet shells.
...The girls stared at the warehouse in shock, burning this image inside their mind. Forget them being with the ASIC, these men were much worse than the ASIC.
And they just led them straight into Planeptune, their own nation which was already weak thanks to the ASIC.
A sharp whistle broke them out of their thoughts, the girls' gaze fell onto Engineer, who was motioning them to come forward. Towards the warehouses filled with blood and death. Compa and IF looked at one another, wondering if they should follow them or run away and hope for the best.
They eventually took Nepgear and walked through the bridge, because sooner or later they'll have to go back to Planeptune. The smell was nauseating, the image was nauseating, everything about this place was nauseating.
Their eyes fell onto the dead Scout and Soldier before looking at their comrades. None of them was bothered that they died, they weren't sad or angry… just indifferent towards their allies' death.
"A-Are they...?" Compa asked.
Medic pointed his Medi-Gun onto Reanimator's hologram and pushed the lever. In that moment Histoire threw her entire medical knowledge out of the window as she witnessed the previously dead mercenaries coming back to life.
"I'm back baby!"
"I did not have permission to die!"
"Wait... it's over already?" Scout looked around and saw only dead bodies around. His and Soldier's wound were fixed, just like that. Not only that but their clothes were mended too.
Leaning against the wall Heavy nodded towards the two. "Da, we can go to Planeptune now!" He unwrapped his sandwich and began eating it, uncaring about the dead body lying next to him.
The girls were at loss of words, just staring wide-eyed at Scout. He really enjoyed having their eyes on him. "Hey, there! Did you see what I-"
"H-How are you even alive!?" Compa shouted, cutting the merc off.
IF and Scout flinched at the volume of her voice. It also snapped IF out of her shock and made her truly realize that the man in front of her, who was supposed to be dead, was now living.
Scout thought hard to think of an answer to Compa's question. "Erm… Umm…" Then out of sudden he was saved by Spy, with a new cigarette in his mouth.
"Ladies, gentleman. I think you should see this." He motioned everyone to come into the building.
Maxie was lying there, next to the destroyed phone. It was as if fate itself was mocking her - she was so close to sending out a message to the ASIC, but there was nothing she could do. Both of her legs were shot by Spy, and she didn't have any desire to crawl.
She saw him return to her, with his whole entourage. "...You bastards." She growled at them.
"Madame Histoire, what should we do with her?" Spy blew out the smoke at Maxie, and she started coughing.
"Wow, Spy. I never thought you had the balls to hit a woman." Scout said.
"She didn't want to surrender." He sighed.
"I would like you not to kill her, we could interrogate her for information about ASIC." Histoire ordered. Anything they could learn about them was good and the woman here was their leader, she should know something that would help them.
Maxie chuckled, which quickly turned into hysterical laughter.
"Pffahahhahahahahaha! Do you morons have no brains? I'm not going to tell you shit!" She spat while trying to stand up in defiance. The pain in her legs sent tears into her eyes, but it was the thought that counted.
Histoire winced at her straining from her injuries, so did IF. "We will pick her up later, could you ensure that she doesn't die or escape with those injuries?" She added. Engineer and Heavy tied her wrists to the leg of a couch, ensuring that she wouldn't be able to escape. Compa stepped forward to treat her legs but Medic did it first - with one push of the lever the Medi-GUn healed both of her legs. Enough to stop the bleeding, but not enough to fully heal it and erase the pain. Soldier grabbed her legs and Spy taped them together. Now she was imprisoned.
Once that was finished the girls left the warehouse, and were about to move towards Planeptune. But now Histoire had a dilemma. What should she do about these men here? Their bloody battle proved that they're not with the ASIC… but that might change. These men simply hadn't heard of the ASIC before, they had no real ill will towards the Syndicate, did they? What if ASIC reached out to these men and hired them? With all of their skill and technology, defeating them might be nigh impossible in the nation's current state.
And even if these men refused the ASIC's proposal, Histoire didn't like leaving such a dangerous group unsupervised.
She had one idea. One that would let her keep those men within her sight and bring them onto her side, but she hesitated to do it. She knew that if she went through with that idea there will be no going back. She'll have to deal with the consequences as they arrive.
But leaving them alone might also bite her later on, and Histoire was very afraid of the possibility of them becoming her enemy. She couldn't even bear to imagine the scene of the ASIC slaughter being reenacted on her own people...
Which was why she stopped IF and Compa from departing, and had IF help her talk to them again. It wasn't hard, but the hard part was starting now.
With her throat feeling dry, and her head feeling light, Histoire spoke towards the mercenaries. "Excuse me."
Spy turned around and stared at IF and her communication device with a raised eyebrow. "Yes Madame Histoire?"
It was this moment. The most important moment in the history of Gamindustri.
"I would like to hire all of you."
Interdimensional RED-Coded Contract
First Blood
After editing this chapter I had no energy to write an author's note. Also besides the fact that I rewrote this whole chapter I don't have anything else to say. Responses stay as they were though.
Responses:
Thaqif – I will disappoint you and some other people, but I did NOT watch Akame ga Kill… I have too many anime to watch on my list to add more stuff…
BreadNotDead – Why don't ya download it then? It's free on steam. Also yes, their first encounter with ASIC turned out to be very violent and bloody. Their first encounter with CFW will be even more violent and bloody.
