Interdimensional RED-Coded Contract

Calm Before the Storm


The CPU Candidate found herself struggling for breath. "C-Compa… I-IF…H-H-Histoire…Can't breathe…" Nepgear groaned, her purple eyes wincing from the pressure. It was a good pain though, as its source was a bear hug from three of her dear friends, the adorable Nurse-in-training, the tomboyish Guild agent, and the little fairy Oracle of Planeptune. Granted most of the pressure is from the former two, but the Candidate didn't think the fairy could be that strong until those little arms wrapped around one of her own.

Fortunately the girls realized they're choking their friend to death and backed off to give her some breathing room. "You're finally awake!" IF said with a warm smile, one similarly plastered on Compa's and Histoire's faces.

"We were so worried! You slept through the whole day!" Said Compa, relief very apparent in her voice.

"How do you feel?" Histoire asked. While she was smiling at Nepgear's swift recovery, there was still a hint of concern in her voice. Before the CPU Candidate could answer though, there was a scream of agony from the media room.

"Goodness, was that a person?!" Nepgear exclaimed with wide eyes. IF and Histoire sighed as they turned back towards the TV, but to their relief what they saw was only the usual screen with all the mercenaries posing, nothing… questionable. Until it cut to a scene of Pyro walking away from the burning remains of the town, and the camera went through a large hole in the Soldier's chest while panning backwards, said Soldier carrying his heart in his hands before dropping dead to the ground, his helmet rolling off his head while the camera continued to show the full scale of carnage.

"…Uhh, I didn't know you were watching a movie. Sorry, did I interrupt you?" Nepgear asked nervously, worry could be seen on her entire body as she put her two index fingers together in nervousness. She wasn't expecting her friends to have a taste in horror films, she knows she doesn't.

"Don't worry Nepgear, we already finished-" Histoire explained, only to perk up in confusion as the screen lit up again even after all nine introductions were over…

"Another one?" Compa asked, slamming her butt again on the pillow with a *pomf*.

"There's more?! Oh goddess why…" IF wailed in exaggerated despair, sitting next to her nurse friend and motioning for Nepgear to sit next to her. The Candidate didn't know what was happening, but she obeyed without a word regardless.

"I thought we'd seen all nine already? Did we miss someone…?" Histoire also sighed and sat right next to Nepgear, though for once she was more filled with curiosity than dread. What could this one be? An explanation of the mercenary team as a whole? Maybe this will tell them something about this "Reliable Excavation Demolition" company she's never heard of until now?

The screen started by showing the insides of a white refrigerator, along with a subtle buzz suggesting it's turned on. Its contents included a few bottles of beer, and sandwiches the girls have seen Heavy eating. Much to the girls' confusion the screen stayed that way for a few seconds before…

Meet the Sandvich

And like in the old cartoons, every girl's face (minus Nepgear who just blinked and stared confused) teleported itself to the floor. Not literally of course but Compa was dumbfounded, Histoire mouthed "What…?" under her breath, and IF slammed her palm on her forehead so hard it left a red mark.

"Pause." Compa called out. Histoire did so.

"This is obviously a joke now…" IF muttered.

"Yes, Compa?" The Oracle asked.

"Copyright omnomnom." Nurse-in-training pointed at the tiny words reading 'Copyright omnomnom' above 'A T.F. Industries Picture'. Nepgear gave a nervous smile and responded with an "I see what they did there", even though she still has no idea what they're supposed to be watching.

"Do we even have to watch this?" IF mumbled, but no one heard her and the resume button was pressed.

The screen went back to the refrigerator and a series of unmistakably Heavy's groans were heard, along with Scout's and Soldier's voices. "Yo, there he is!" "You! Stop where you are! That is an order!"

"Five credits Heavy will beat them up." IF crossed her arms.

Of course, Heavy wasn't listening to his pursuers, and before Soldier finished barking orders, the Heavy (not sure which color, since only his gloved hand and legs were visible through the door gap) already opened the refrigerator, took a slice of 'Sandvich', and slammed the door close. Soldier and Scout instantly switched their priorities from 'Catching Heavy' to 'Calm him down before he kills us all'…

"Umm, can someone tell me what's going on?" Nepgear asked, which IF replied by whispering "[After this video.]" Still confused, Nepgear nodded anyway and the video went on.

"Oh dear…" Histoire could almost picture Scout and Soldier backing off with their arms raised in surrender, but she knows how this will end…

And as expected…

"Oh god, oh my god ohmygodomygod-" Scout was cut off by the wet squelching sounds of Heavy beating him to a mushy pulp. "My blood! He-He punched out ALL my blood!" Scout was slammed somewhere, most likely near the refrigerator since the impact caused the doors to open and one of the beer bottles to roll out of the camera range.

"Ouch, that sounds painful." Nepgear winced, but Histoire simply patted her comfortingly on the hand.

"Don't worry, they'll be fine!" Compa reassured the CPU Candidate with a warm smile as well, and while the CPU Candidate looked around uncertainly, IF and Histoire simply sighed while the unseen violence continued.

Before Scout could even finish his screams of agony, the Heavy already moved on to the next target. "Ouch! Ouch, ouchouchouch. You call that breaking my spine!? You RED team ladies wouldn't know how to break a spine- AHH MY SPINE!" The Soldier's wails were accompanied by very imagination-inspiring sounds of bones snapping, and the final impact also caused the refrigerator to slam shut again. However when the door rebounded open, there was a pool of blood on the floor in front of it.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH" A very high-pitched girly scream filled the air, but the audience will never know if that was Scout or Soldier, because the screen was quickly changed to…

"Sandwich blueprints?" IF muttered in exasperation with a face that said 'Seriously, guys?'

"Edible… device…" Nepgear sweatdropped, unsure how else to respond.

"New meat!" Compa cheerfully chirped.

"Plus one-hundred-and-twenty nutritional points included…" Histoire quoted, her face saying the same thing as IF's, only with more confusion and less irritation mixed with murderous intent. Her eyes quickly glanced through the "blueprint", which showed the sandwich was composed of almost every healthy food group, with each layer giving a certain numeric value of health. While that did look like a nutritious meal, even if she's not a doctor, she's fairly sure food and health does not work that way…

However that wasn't the end! The screen shifted into the same ending like in Meet the Heavy, but instead of Heavy firing his minigun in the middle of a raging battlefield, he's…

"Is he seriously eating a sandwich right now?" IF groaned, facepalming again. "This has to be a joke, it has to be!"

"Why does this look familiar?" Compa asked, her focus clearly on other things, and Histoire nodded.

"I believe this is the same ending as in 'Meet the Heavy', but… parodied, I guess?"

"What is this 'Meet the Heavy'?" Nepgear innocently asked, unaware of how much her friends were dreading that question. As both Compa and Histoire looked at each other, they collectively turned their gaze towards the guild agent. IF tried to silently push responsibility back to them but failed and awkwardly scratched her neck while trying to decide how to go about retelling the day's chaos. Finally though, she cleared her throat.

"You see…"


It took over thirty minutes for IF to finish recounting what happened after Nepgear passed out, even with skipping the details over a few parts like the slaughter the mercenaries created back in the warehouse complex. She did include Medic reviving Scout and Soldier, and Compa added a few bits here and there, healing Soldier's damaged foot after rocket jumping included.

Needless to say, it was hard for Nepgear to take in everything at once. Even IF realized that this entire thing sounded like a bunch of bull, and if not for the fact she saw it with her own two eyes, she would most likely just laugh if someone told her a similar story.

"Um… hmm… wow..." Nepgear managed to say, the amount of stuff that's happened even made her forget about those beautiful machines IF described. But only for a moment. "Wait, what was that about that… Dispenser, right?" The CPU Candidate completely and instantly recovered from shock the moment she remembered about them. She MUST ask that Engineer to show her how to make one of these 'Dispensers'.

IF sighed, she should have expected this. Compa simply smiled warmly and started explaining. "It's one of the machines their Engineer uses to support his team! Just like their Medic, it can heal any kind of wounds in just a few seconds!" Compa's eyes started sparkling… literally you could see sparkles appear from thin air around the blonde's eyes.

"Anyway, Nepgear, I want you to rest for now, said mercenaries should arrive tomorrow and we will discuss their contract then. I want you and IF to be there with me as we will discuss everything." Histoire requested, and IF crossed her arms while Compa pouted.

"I assume you will want me to report this to the Guild, like stated in the international laws."

"What about me?" Histoire ignored Compa's question.

"That's right IF. As much as I would want to keep it a secret so ASIC won't be able to prepare before it's too late, I think it would be more troublesome if I break the law set up by the Guild."

The Guild is much more complex than most common citizens give them credit for. The Guild has branches in all nations and they're what most people turn to if they have problems varying from simple delivery to monster extermination. Unless the 'Quest' is too much of a risk, it's visible to any citizen, freelance adventurer, guardsman etc., making it a nice way of earning extra profit.

However when a Quest is too much of a risk or too important to put in the hands of normal citizen, the Quest is handed to Guild members like IF.

Outside of helping the populace, the Guild is tasked with information gathering and helping each nation's Goddess. Guild members collect information about anything that may be a threat to their branch, the nation, Goddess or even the entire Gamindustri. The sole reason the ASIC were able to remain under the Guild's radar was because they snuck in with 'good intentions', helping people that no one wanted, the homeless, poor et cetera…

No one would actually accuse charity workers of wanting world domination…

And when the truth came out it was too late to stop it, their plan worked and the Goddesses were imprisoned…


As always, Soldier was very successful in waking up the entire team JUST at the right time… namely four in the morning. How? Obviously by loudly banging his favorite shovel against his helmet, while said helmet was on top of his head; yelling seemingly random insults directed at Nazis, communists, hippies and the Beatles, and compliments to America and everything that is related to it at the top of his lungs; and literally punching through the doors to the room where the mercenaries slept several times with his bare hands.

The slight difference from their usual routine was the fact that they had pretty comfortable furniture to sleep on. Back in the Gravel War and the Gray Mann Uprising, they had to sleep on the benches, crates filled with explosives or ammunition or even on the floor, though thankfully they still had their own bedrooms back then. However here all of them were sleeping inside different rooms and on the couches or even beds! With covers! A luxury their old employers didn't want to give them no matter what.

The team woke up easily and well rested. All team members learned early on that it was better to wake up on your own than have Soldier wake you up himself. Last time Soldier woke someone up, Medic had to waste over three hours fixing their neck after it got broken by Soldier, even the medigun alone wasn't enough. Sniper somehow surviving Soldier's famous 'NECK SNAP!' only made it harder to heal.

The mercenaries didn't mind actually, having nearly five hours of sleep is a real luxury for them! Back in the wars they were given less than four hours.

After breakfast (which were the remains of Pyro's barbecue) was (goddammit…) Soldier's training routine, involving racing, an obstacle course, and a good old-timey bar fight involving everyone wreaking total chaos while trying to knock each other out, like Heavy obliterating the unlucky Scout who decided that breaking an entire crate of beer over his head is good idea, and trying to knock THEMSELVES out by drinking so much alcohol that they passed out. Except Demoman and Spy, the former passed out way before they even began and the latter cloaked out of the battle, giving up like a true Frenchman!

The entire training routine took only an hour and a half. Recovering from the hangover took till seven A.M.

Finally the nine mercenaries left the warehouse, but not without properly securing their supplies with a dozen Sentry Guns (Engie really likes to have his stuff secured), building level three teleporters, double-checking their E.R.S.S., and with Soldier eyeing his team as they change into more… civilian… attire with more disgust than the Nazis' opinion on Jews.

If you can even call Mann Co.'s clothing line 'civilian', but the Soldier didn't care.

After another hour filled with arguments, several mercenaries respawning several times and countless death threats and insults later, Soldier was finally convinced that he's just disguising himself as a civilian. But his team will know the truth.

Scout didn't change much. He just wore the 'Track Terrorizer' painted with the R.E.D. version of the 'Operator's Overalls'.

Soldier's wearing a… 'Stout Shako'? (Demoman told him jokingly it was 'too refined', but the crazed patriot ignored it), the 'Bonedolier' and the 'Primeval Warrior' badge. (The American doesn't know the meaning of 'civilian' clothing.)

Pyro… wore its usual attire, only without grenades.

Demoman carries his bottles of whiskey inside the 'Liquor Locker' on his back. His usual grenades changed into the 'Battery Bandolier', and he's also wearing a 'Dead of Night' painted with 'A Distinctive Lack of Hue'.

Heavy took a more intimidating approach, the 'Eviction Notice' (a pair of brass knuckles with a flat grip and spikes on the bands) worn over his hands, along with the 'Heavy Lifter' to add bonus to his intimidation factor.

Engineer changed his hardhat to the 'Western Wear', loaded his 'Trash Toter' with necessary scrap metal and took the 'Idea Tube' filled with blueprints he 'borrowed' from his former job.

Medic only took the 'Couvre Corner' to his pocket and was departing with 'Archimedes' on his shoulder.

Sniper tried to be a little more normal, so he simply removed the bullets from his vest.

Spy, perhaps the second most sane individual in the team, wore the 'Blood Banker' and the 'Fancy Fedora'.

They agreed to not go out with all of their weaponry, taking only their secondary and melee default weapons and Reanimators. (Except Spy who equipped the L'Etranger, Sharp Dresser, 'Dead Ringer' (a gold-plated pocket watch with an engraving of a hummingbird on its lid, and a circular cloak display within) and sapper.) Given they were going out into a city and they didn't want to be caught carrying heavy weaponry… But they also didn't want to be completely defenseless, in case the ASIC somehow hunts them or some other trouble arrives.


"Well… I-I-I'm speechless guys. Just look at this city!" Scout put his hands on his hips.

The atmosphere in Planeptune is… mixed at best. On one side all you can see is a typical busy city, but if you let your eyes wander to the back alleys you will find groups of people who looks like you don't want to be around them.

To the mercenaries' surprise, only a few people even bat the eye at them, they could also see several people (mostly girls but there were some guys) in pretty unique clothing and carrying various weaponry. Mostly melee though.

"Okay civilians, where is the Basilicom!?" Soldier shouted, spitting 'civilians' as if it was poison and causing more eyes to land on him. Spy (disguised as IF, because he's Spy.) punched him on the shoulder with a sigh. "If you would use your brain you would know. It's that big tower."

"Vell then, Move! Schnell!" Medic called out, already walking towards the tower.

...

"Are we there yet?" Demoman asked. "Nein." Medic answered.

Getting to the Basilicom was harder than they expected. The mercenaries have spent an hour walking around the city with only a very tall tower to guide them, but the city was built in such a way that actually prevented them from making any real progress. "Man, it's like Steel base all over again." Scout grumbled.

Finally Spy had enough and swallowed up his pride to ask for directions, but not before going into an alley, cloaking in, redisguising himself as Maxie and cloaking out of the alley.

"Hey, you!" 'Maxie' grabbed the shoulder of one of the passers, a woman with rusty red hair with a hair band and orange eyes, wearing a blue and white jacket with gold accents and a white tank top underneath. Her skirt is white with thick strips of blue in the center and worn with a brown belt with gold details and a small orange and black pouch attached. Her hands coated in black fingerless gloves were carrying a guitar case.

"Yes? How can I help you?" The redhead asked with a smile, before noticing the ASIC emblem on 'Maxie's' breast pocket which caused said smile to drop. Her shifting and rising suspicion didn't go unnoticed by Spy, but he did nothing. "Can you point me to the Basilicom." It wasn't question, but a statement. However the redhead didn't seem to notice.

"Just take that path, go straight and then right. All the way to the Basilicom entrance." The female pointed her hand at the right path. Spy took mental notes and nodded. As he walked away he could still feel that female's glare at his back, causing him to tense and prepare the Dead Ringer in advance…

It wasn't curiosity but outright suspicion…

Perhaps taking IF's disguise would've been a better idea…

"At least the general direction should be right." The spook mumbled.


In the meantime, Histoire was doing some paperwork. Being an Oracle with no Goddess to help is really a tiresome task, even if said Goddess never worked at all even when she was here…

Only after she went to sleep did she realize she forgot to give the mercenaries some crucial details, like the time of the meeting or how to actually get there, she's sure they will be mad at her.

The Oracle sighed as she read the next report. Another batch of Arfoire chips were distributed in the city center, lowering the already low Planeptune's Shares.

The next report surprised her however. The police caught a famous redhead adventurer for the assault of said ASIC members distributing the chips. She chuckled as she sent the police order to release that adventurer.

Suddenly the door to her office opened, and the anxious face of Nepgear popped in from the doorway. "Um, Histoire…? A-Are you busy?"

The Oracle simply smiled politely. "Hello Nepgear, did you sleep well?"

The CPU Candidate looked away. "Y-Yes, but… I-I'm sorry. It's my fault that my sister got captured. If only I was-" Tears were threatening to fall from the lilac-haired girl's eyes, but her Oracle cut her off.

"Nepgear, please sit down." Histy motioned for Nepgear to sit at the sole chair on the opposite side of her desk, and the depressed girl obeyed without a word.

"Don't blame yourself for what happened. Ultimately it was my fault for sending you five to the Gamindustri Graveyard." Histoire gave the CPU Candidate a serious look which soon saddened. "If anything, you should blame me for not realizing what danger lay ahead."

Nepgear's eyes widened. "N-no! I could never blame you for anything! It was my fault! While sis and the other CPUs were getting beaten by her, I-I couldn't do anything to save them!" She shouted, the first time Histoire ever heard Nepgear raise her voice.

In the hallway right outside Histoire's office, IF and Compa overheard their conversation. "Poor Ge-Ge. She must really be taking it hard." Compa said sadly.

"Jeez, just who's this enemy to beat five CPUs to the ground?" IF muttered.

"It shouldn't be me who was saved! If sis, Noire, Blanc or Vert were saved before me, they would easily have beaten that machine back then! But no! I just had to blow it all up and-"

"Enough!" Histoire shouted, causing Nepgear to flinch. The Oracle took a deep breath. "It must be hard for you, being the only one who was rescued. But you can't give in to despair. The other CPUs are still out there, alive and waiting for rescue. Now with you around, we can much easier collect shares to rescue the rest of the CPUs. So please, don't cry." Histoire smiled.

Before Nepgear could say anything IF stepped into the room as well, with Compa at her side. "She's right, you know." Both CPU Candidate and Oracle looked at the newcomers.

"I-IF?" Nepgear asked.

"If you have time to be depressed then you have time to stand up and be strong. So wipe off those tears because it's not over yet! Those three years were hell, you know, but we did manage to make progress and save you." IF blocked the memories of more… difficult moments from her mind, and grabbed Nepgear by the collar. Making Nepgear yelp in surprise and lock her eyes with IF's as she glared at her.

"I-IF!? W-What are you-?"

"Will you let you our sacrifice go to waste!?"

"N-No."

"Will you let Nep rot captured and imprisoned!?"

"N-No."

"Will you go out there and save her!?"

"Y-Yes."

"Louder!"

"Yes!"

IF grinned and let the now comforted and more determined Nepgear go. "Good. Right after we recruit these mercenaries we will begin." The guild agent announced, and Nepgear vigorously nodded.

"Good work, Iffy! Ge-Ge looks better now!" Compa cheered. IF smiled at her and turned to Planeptune's Oracle, who finished speaking with the receptionist and cleared her throat.

"About the mercenaries… it seems they have arrived."


Interdimensional RED-Coded Contract

Calm Before the Storm


And there we have it! Last chapter before 'Histy Meets Them All' Part II. Well that took pretty long. But then again the school just started which will really slow my writing down.

I hope you liked the last scene with Nepgear. Some may think it's little too early but I think Nepgear wouldn't actually do anything while she was depressed. So I needed someone to knock some sense into her.

If some is wondering. Yes that's Falcom in both scenes where Spy is asking for direction and her getting caught by the police.

BTW: Bloody hell listening right music really makes writing much different .-.

Responses:

- BreadNotDead

I like doing gore scenes, I assure you cannibalism won't be the worst thing you will read here. I have more suffering in plans.

- Appelflap64

I hope I lived to your expectations in this chapter too , but I don't think we will see much Maxie in next episodes.

- Harmless Orange

Editor's Note: Mortalitas here. Finally another chapter done and released! If you're curious what any of the 'civilian' clothes worn by the mercs look like, you'll have to search them up on the TF2 wiki. That's it for now, until next time!