Interdimensional RED-Coded Contract

Ceasefire Break


Linda casually strolled down the pavement to the western entrance of Planeptune with her partner, Pirachu, a cartoonish gray mouse the size of a human child with two white whiskers on each cheek and big red eyes, plus two small red-purple demon wings and a rat-like tail with a big black heart on the end and a zig-zag split in the center. On his chest is the ASIC logo, the red and yellow broken heart symbol.

The green-haired elf released an exhausted sigh. "Damn… CFW Judge is a real slave driver."

The rodent simply shook his head. "At least we're lucky that it wasn't us who got beat up by that redhead adventurer. Those guys will probably never recover, chu."

"And I heard they even released her for that! Frickin' Planeptune. Entire country going to the dogs!" Linda spread her arms wide for emphasis. "Hardworking people being called criminals, meanwhile some dumb chick attacks them without reason and even gets set free by the Oracle herself!" The ASIC Underling complained.

"You do remember we did that first part, right? Framing those guys so they'd get hit instead of our own guys?" Pirachu commented, and the elf glared at him.

"Whatever, let's just say hi to Maxie and get our cash from CFW Judge."

"You're still friends with that sadist?" The mouse raised an eyebrow.

"Well duh! We've been friends since middle school- Hey do you hear gunshots and explosions?"

"Sounds like she's busy." Pirachu nodded.

The duo continued forward cautiously. The sounds of gunfire and explosions intensified with each step, and Linda had that lingering feeling that something's wrong. Eventually she had enough and took her pipe she had attached to her back.

"What are you doing, chu?" Pirachu asked, noticing the look on Linda's face.

"I don't like this, Maxie-" A sudden explosion knocked both of them onto the ground in addition to knocking the air out of Linda's lungs.

"What was that, chu?!" The rodent screeched, alarmed.

"An explosion, duh…" Linda's sarcastic answer died down in her throat as she got up, ruby red eyes wide from shock when she saw the aftermath.

Where the warehouse complex once stood, all that remained was a charred, pitch-black crater, not even a trace of lingering fire to be seen there. The pit was slowly filling itself with water from the river nearby, the water quickly burying what may have remained of the complex. That wasn't the end of it however, as the air was full of shrapnel of various shapes and sizes, from smaller than bullets to bigger than people, some still burning as they fell from the sky like meteors straight out of the Apocalypse. Some even landed near Linda and Pirachu, embedding themselves in the grass or pavement, igniting the grass nearby or extinguishing themselves after getting stuck in the footpath.

"It looks like someone nuked the place, chu…" Pirachu nervously commented, a bead of sweat sliding across his face. Linda however kept staring where the warehouses once stood, her mind unable to process the information that it was her friend's station that she's looking at. Maxie could've been caught in that explosion. Her best friend could be dead. Without thinking the elf took one small step forward, and her partner instantly figured out what she's trying to do. "Don't do it, chu." He stood in front of her, his arms spread to the sides as if he could do something to stop her.

Instead all he managed to do was antagonize her. "Tch." The ASIC Underling ignored the rodent and sprinted past towards the disaster. "Hmph, not my fault if you get hit by the shrapnel." Pirachu jogged behind her, keeping his eyes above in case some of the fragments flew towards them.

The Elf managed to sprint for about 10 seconds before something slammed down in front of her. The green-haired underling was unharmed and jumped back, getting into a battle stance out of instinct. The distraction was all Pirachu needed to catch up with his partner. "I told you not to run off! You'll just get yourself killed if you do, chu!" The mouse scolded, but the elf ignored him entirely, thoroughly occupied by the fallen fragment in front of her that felt familiar.

The realization hit instantly when said thing began to laugh hysterically.

"AhahahahahahahHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Yes! YES! I sent them all to hell! Ahahahaha!" CFW Judge continued to laugh. What was once the toughest of the CFWs was now nothing more than a steaming severed head, his armor slowly melting and outright missing in some places; the eyes were completely destroyed, as were the ears, but his thinking processor, memory and vocal system were intact and functional.

"CFW Judge!? Sir!?" Both members of ASIC yelled in surprise, their eyes wide and darting between their partner and their severely 'injured' boss.

The hysterical laugh of the machine continued as both of the ASIC grunts tried to figure out how to get their leader out of the crater, a task proving to be difficult due to the steaming hot armor. They could figure out what happened to reduce the mighty Judge to just a head later, the important thing was getting out of there with him before the busybodies of the Guild arrived…


After Histoire (albeit reluctantly) paid the mercenaries for assassinating CFW Judge (with all taxes already paid), the mercs had earned a grand 180'000 credits to split amongst themselves, getting 20'000 for each merc, in cash since they didn't have a bank account. Add the cash they looted from the ASIC grunts in the warehouse and each merc had over 22'000 credits to their name.

Scout and Demoman decided to celebrate this with a drink, but since the Scotsman's own stash was getting dry, they decided to find a good pub in Planeptune to refill it. Maybe even woo some hot chicks in the process (mostly Scout's idea).

"Drink! Drink! Drink!" The crowd cheered as the Demoman finished his 12th bottle of liquor, while his opponent, a tall adventurer with short crimson hair with a headband and orange eyes also finished her twelfth. Demoman recognized her, she was the one who Spy asked for directions while disguised upon their first arrival.

On the center of the table lay a stack of money, whoever stays standing longer takes it all, and the competition quickly gathered a large audience until soon the entire bar were watching the two competitors trying to outdrink each other.

A blush was clearly visible on the girl's fair-skinned face, the hiccups also present; everyone could see that she's heavily drunk and it won't be long before Demoman wins, especially when her opponent was still more or less fine, at most a little dizzy from the alcohol.

"Aye! Bartender! Another one!" Demo yelled, earning a "Woooo!" from the moderately-drunken crown.

"Looks like your friend's winning." Scout's female companion commented. The bartender simply shook his head with a smirk and prepared another whisky.

A tan-skinned girl with brilliant emerald green eyes and blonde, spiky hair adorned with a white and black themed hat, gold goggles with green lenses, and pointed canine ears, she has white tribal-like body markings and a black and white canine tail. And a fair sized bust.

The girl, who introduced herself to Scout as Cyberconnect2 (Scout figured it's a nickname or codename. There's no way that's her real name, no one uses numbers in their names anymore), wore a white vest with green detailing and three straps over the chest, and also a big, loose collar. She also has white loose gloves with green detailing and gold bracelets, slightly puffed white shorts with an orange and gold belt with CC2 on it, and attached to said belt were two white and green sheaths with dagger handles sticking out of them. Her boots were also white and green. She has black, tight pieces of clothing under her gloves, vest, and shorts.

Cyberconnect2 drank the drink Scout treated her, while the Bostonian took his time to look at his teammate. "The Cyclops? Yeah he's like that, no matter what he drinks he won' pass out. Anywa', those ears and tail real? They're so fluffy and you look great with 'em." The merc remarked flirtatiously, earning a small grin on CC2's face.

"D'aww, that's sweet~ But they're fake, see?" She raised her hat, and Scout saw only gold blonde hair on top of her head. 'Phew, for a minute there I thought I was tryin' to woo some weird half-dog chick. Not that that's necessarily bad, she's still hot.' Scout thought with a hint of relief.

"Hey, did you hear the news?" Cyberconnect2 suddenly asked, hints of intrigue plastered on her face.

"What news?" Scout frowned in confusion.

"Apparently someone blew up the entire warehouse complex to the west of Planeptune." She said in a low voice.

Just then the sudden loud applause made Scout and CC2 look over their shoulders to see Demoman doing a little victory dance over the unconscious body of the redhead adventurer, all while the crowd cheered and applauded before returning to their own business while the security carried the adventurer outside.

The Scottish cyclops sat down next to Scout with a small laugh, slamming the cash onto the bar. The bartender, smirking knowingly, handed the Demo the receipt, making his single eye widen upon seeing the numbers. The barman proceeded to take three quarters of the mercenary's winnings, much to his dismay.

CC2 giggled when Demoman simply slammed his forehead onto the table. "Seems like the house won afterall." Scout grinned at the girl's comment while Demo mumbled some unintelligible things.

"...yer arses arse and I'm the grass man, punk yeah ya havin' heathen."

"C'mon Demo. Buck it up!" Scout lightly punched the drunk man in the shoulder to no effect.

"Any one of you… Everyone, damn it..." Demo sobbed, muttering more unintelligible things before giving out snore-like sounds. Scout and CC2 shared a look before the Bostonian shrugged and drank his own share.

"You just gonna leave him like that?" Cyberconnect2 asked with concern, but the young man just shrugged.

"Yeah, he may look like it, but he ain't really sleepin'. Here, watch this." To demonstrate, Scout reached out to steal some money from the remains of Demoman's stash. He knew what would happen, but was still just a little too slow.

"NO!" The previously snoring Demo suddenly grabbed his hand and immediately broke his fingers, all of them. "Ya bloody pint-sized mutt!" The drunk man added insult to injury as Scout yelped and yanked his hand back before going back to 'sleep'.

Scout chuckled painfully, wincing and holding his left hand. All 5 fingers broken in just a second. "Anywa'." He shrugged it off and tried to act all mighty and strong, despite the tears building in his eyes from sheer pain. "The news about the warehouse? Yeah I know that." He admitted.

"Uhh, I don't think you should move that hand right now…" CC2 pointed at his fingers with increasing concern, but the Bostonian just forced out a laugh again. "Eh that's nothin'." It hurt like hell. "I know a guy who can fix this in a sec anyway. So, it's getting late, huh? How 'bout I walk you home?" He offered, but CC2 simply shook her head at the offer.

"I appreciate the gesture, but I'm taking a taxi and going back to Leanbox after this."

'Leanbox? The hell is that?' Scout frowned. "So what's the problem? I can just ride with you to that Leanbox." He joked, and the blonde-haired girl giggled.

"I don't think they'll let you in, Leanbox is pretty strict when it comes to traffic from other countries, but because I'm a Leanbox civilian I can go out and in whenever I want."

"Oh…" Scout's heart sank. 'Leanbox, that a whole other country here?' "S-So you're going then?" The mercenary asked nervously, and to his disappointment she nodded.

"Mhm. But it was fun, thanks for the night! I come around here pretty often too, maybe we can go out for another drink sometime?" She smiled.

"Yeah sure." His depressed mind doubted that will ever happen. Like with all the other girls.

And with that, CC2 finished her drink and thanked Scout for the treat, leaving him alone with the drunk Scottish cyclops while she took a taxi to the nearest train station, not leaving him any contact info. Scout will never know if this was because she simply forgot, or if it was out of cruelty.


3 Basilicom Staff members escorted the shackled Maxie through the Basilicom hallways, towards a secluded room used for interrogations. They let Maxie wear her usual outfit, but both mercenaries and the Basilicom Staff searched them thoroughly for anything that would aid her in escape. In addition she's wearing handcuffs on her wrists and shackles on ankles so she couldn't move her arms very much nor run. The strong robotic limbs were useless against the specially designed restrictions.

The floor they're in is one of the least visited by the CPUs, Nepgear and Neptune didn't like the purpose of that floor, nor Histoire, but the latter understood the potential necessity of such a room.

The interrogation room is basically empty room with two chairs and an empty table, illuminated by the fluorescent lamp on the ceiling. The doors are durable enough to break only under CPU, CFW or Saxton Hale's assault, and you can open them only from outside.

The Basilicom Staff opened the sturdy doors and strapped Maxie to one of the chairs and left.

Maxie waited for her interrogator, staring at the wall while having flashbacks to that horrible, horrible moment when she woke up with her stomach cut open and her organs scrambled. She can still feel and see her heart beating against her stomach, and it's impossible for her to have children now because her freakin' womb is where the heart is supposed to be. How is she even still alive?

After several more minutes the doors opened. The ASIC lieutenant's eyes focused on…

Maxie…?

An exact copy of Maxie entered the room, carrying a vanilla folder with various documents. The real Maxie's eyes widened in confusion and surprise. "Who the heck are you!?" She rudely asked, and the fake Maxie smirked smugly and answered "You." with perfect voice imitation. "Yeah sure." The real Maxie rolled her eyes. "Look, I dunno why Histoire's hiring my body-double," She actually had a couple ideas, but she sure as hell won't voice them. "but whatever the reason is, it won't work when CFW Judge is breathing down my neck. Get lost." The smugness on fake Maxie intensified. "Yeah, how about you and wipe that smug grin off yer face now!" Real Maxie barked, irritated.

"You're in no position for demands, ya know?"

"Screw you. I'm not talking."

"Well, all I need are the locations of ASIC's bases here in Planeptune and nearby." The fake Maxie sat down on a chair opposite to Maxie and pulled out 2 maps, one of Planeptune city, and another one showing the entire nation.

"Are you deaf or some crap? I'm not talking!" Real Maxie spat on her fake's face. The fake Maxie said nothing while she wiped off the spit, while the Maxie let out a triumphant 'Ha ha!'

"Ugh, disgusting." Spy had enough and dropped the disguise with a puff of smoke.

Maxie instantly recognized him. "…You're one of those bastards who killed my buds!" She snarled, entering her 'Punishment Mode' and trying to break the cuffs holding her. Not only did they not budge at all, but electricity suddenly coursed through her entire body, making her stop whatever she was doing as her entire body started violently convulsing.

"Yes, and we did the same to your CFW Judge." The masked man claimed. When the electricity stopped coursing, Maxie started to laugh, and laugh, and laugh some more. Soon her amusement reached hysterical levels, there were literal tears in her eyes from how hard she was laughing, and it took her a few minutes to calm herself down, during which Spy impatiently waited.

"~Ahhh, that's a good one. I barely remember the last time some broad amused me like that."

Spy shrugged, not feeling like wasting time arguing over irrelevant details. "Anyway, whether you believe me on that or not, I'm certain you remember what happened with your buddies." The amusement was quickly erased from Maxie's face, replaced by raw anger.

"Oh yeah I remember, you goddamn sicko! You're all some sort of crazy psychos for doing that to other people!" She snapped at him, voice rising with each word.

"And I'm sure the Guild is now finding the charred remains of most of your friends." The Frenchie smiled devilishly.

In the Virtua Forest, several Guild members, IF included, examined in horror the pieces of who were once the ASIC members. A few of them thought the explosion was responsible, a few smarter ones pointed out the pieces were too cleanly cut for it to be the explosion, but only IF knew the identity of the true culprit behind this human bonfire.

"The moment I'm free, I'm going to kill you." The raven-haired ASIC lieutenant hissed in a low, dangerous voice. "I'm going to rip off that stupid mask of yours and shove it up your ass."

"You know, we didn't actually kill everyone, some of them are quite alive." Spy bluffed, but Maxie didn't catch on to it, her sapphire blue eyes looking at Spy in surprise.

"What?" She asked cautiously, know where this was going, and she didn't like it one bit.

Instead of answering verbally, Spy knocked three times against the metal doors. They opened, and a handcuffed Sniper disguised as one of the ASIC grunts was shoved into the room, Basilicom Staff following and strapping him to the other chair in the room.

Maxie's eyes sparked with recognition. "Matt?! The heck they did to you?!" She exclaimed with genuine sorrow, taking note of the injuries she saw on her 'friend'. Bruised face, cuts across his body, severed tongue and obvious burn marks across his neck and shoulders.

The person Maxie sees as Matt only looked at her, grunting something. "Matt cannot talk. Seems like our Docteur had too much fun with him." Spy explained, savoring the anger rising on her face.

"You sick bastards!" She again activated her 'Punishment Mode' and tried to break the ties restricting her, but it only earned her another electric shock. After a minute of torture she was left gasping for breath while Spy chuckled.

"Here's the deal." Spy pulled out the Enforcer, a snub-nosed revolver with a pearl grip. "If you give us the locations of the ASIC bases, I'll make sure no more harm will come to him." Spy pointed the Enforcer at 'Matt', who looked at him pleadingly. "Or." The Spook cocked the hammer and pointed it at his kneecap, "I'm going to blow his kneecap open and make him go back to our Docteur for more experiments. And I'm sure you remember what surprise he gave you when you woke up." He referenced when Medic scrambled her organs. 'Matt' gulped and looked at his leader pitifully. Never before had Maxie felt pity for others, but looking at one of her best buddies and knowing what these freaks were capable of, she couldn't help but feel it.

After a long time of consideration, just when Spy was about to pull the trigger-

"Alright. You win." She sighed. "Just. Let's get this over with."

Spy nodded and ordered the Basilicom Staff to drag RED Sniper out of the room. Just as the professional assassin was shoved, his and his teammate's eyes met. One simple sentence traveled through the simple glance.

'Too! Bloody! Easy!'

After that Maxie told him everything. All the details she knew about the locations and their purpose was squeezed out by the mercenary, who circled the leaked locations with a pen and started mentally planning the assaults.

Maxie didn't feel bad for doing this. She never cared about the ASIC as a whole, especially when her superior had such a superiority complex. The only things she cared about were her pay and the small circle of comrades she worked with. But there was that nagging voice telling her something was weird, and she just couldn't figure out what.

Later, back in prison, she saw the news of the huge explosion in the warehouses, along with the discovered charred and in pieces bodies. The Guild only managed to identify one of them due to the burnt ASIC badge ID code on it. The Lieutenant recognized it immediately.

Matt White.


"Engineer, do you-wah!" Histoire ducked just in time to avoid a sudden smack with the wrench. The fairy oracle stared at the Texan mercenary with shock and horror in her wide eyes, while the wrench wielder, upon realizing that it was his employer and not some BLU mother hubbard in a balaclava, awkwardly brought the tool down. "Sorry ma'am, habits." Engie smiled sheepishly.

"Was your previous employment so dangerous that you needed to develop a habit of attacking every person who shows up behind you?" Histoire asked, genuinely wondering and fearing what could force him into learning such habits. The Texan's answer was quick, straightforward, and expectedly frightening. "Yup. Anyway, how can I help, ma'am?"

'Considering the amount of times he died… It would actually be more surprising if he didn't attack anyone who sneaks up on him.' Making mental notes about announcing her presence from a safe distance to mercenaries, the fairy rubbed her cheek with her index finger. "You can simply call me Histoire, Engineer, and I'm looking for your Medic, is he around?" Histoire looked around the reception of the Hotel she wrote off to the mercenaries, noticing that its quite tidy. She actually expected to see a big mess here, but the mercs were actually not nearly as slobbish as she thought. Only the disabled level three sentry gun right behind the reception disturbed the living tome; she's seen it before through the N-Gear and Spectator software, but actually seeing such a construct of two Gatling guns with a multi-rocket launcher on top in her vicinity, she must say it's no less intimidating.

The Texan pointed his index finger at the ceiling. "The Doc should be in the medical bay, teachin' Compa about the Medi-Guns and such, first room to the left." Histoire silently clicked her tongue, she did have a question to ask him but she didn't want to disturb the lesson. Besides it wasn't like it was something important, just a simple thing she noticed and was curious about.

"I see. By the way, can I ask you what you're doing?" She frowned.

Engineer was standing next to a medium-sized wooden crate, big enough to fit Sasha and still have enough room to squeeze Histoire with her book into it. The crate was wrapped in thick metal chains with a sturdy-looking padlock locking it in place. Attached to the chain was a tag which read:

Mann Co. Special Surprise Crate

Crate Series: #?

You need a Mann Co. Surprise Crate Key to open this.

You can pick one up at the Mann Co. Store.

This crate contains one of the following items.

?

?

?

Or an Exceedingly Rare Special Item!

"Me and the boys found these weird crates in our supplies disguised as normal supply crates. None of our keys are workin' so I'm trying to bust the lock. But. It's. Solid." The blond fairy watched the mercenary struggling with cutters to cut the padlock with the bolt. Eventually the padlock won and Engie was left panting.

"Wouldn't it be better to simply shoot the lock off?" Histoire suggested, a frown appearing on her face. They have tons of guns here, why not use that? Engie however simply shook his head. "Tried, the lock survived an entire clip." The frown on Histoire's face intensified. 'Just what's in there that'd require such a resistant lock?' "Why don't we just simply remove the boards from the crate?" She suggested. Engie after some consideration shook his head. "Nah, we did that once. Not worth it." Histoire briefly considered asking 'why', but knowing how ridiculous but effective Mann Co.'s goods are, she bet they didn't overlook such grave detail. There could even be some sort of security measure to prevent exactly that, though what it could be she wasn't sure. "May I see it?" The fairy glanced at the mercenary, who simply shrugged. He ran outta ideas so he might as well give someone else a chance.

"Go ahead."

With the Engineer's consent, the fairy's small adorable hand took the padlock, and her dull blue eyes examined the sturdy obstacle. 'He really tried to shoot the padlock.' She noticed several depressions on the metal structure. No matter how sturdy the metal though… The Oracle channeled her powerful Mana into her hand.

And she froze the lock solid in an instant.

Then she effortlessly crushed the frozen padlock in her palm. The motion made Histoire look and feel like some sort of cliché evil mastermind. A small, adorable evil mastermind.

The hardhatted Engineer whistled, looking very impressed by the display. "Well I'll be damned, Histoire. I've been strugglin' with that lock for 30 damn minutes, and all I needed to do was freeze it?" He shook his head with a smirk, feeling dumb for not figuring that out sooner.

"I am a tome of knowledge afterall, it's only logical I know a few tricks. Now then, shall we check the contents?" She let the Engineer do the honors of moving the chains out of the way and opening the crate's lid. Both of them grew confused upon seeing what's within though; Histoire because she has no idea what it was, and Engie because of how it ended up there…

The crate was nearly entirely filled with hay, lying upon which were two leather canteens with a small metal plate screwed on one side of each and two leather belts holding it together as well. Between the plates and canteens were letters squeezed in between.

"Canteens? A rather strange item to dedicate an entire crate for just the two of them, much less such security." Histoire took one of said items and read the letter attached to it.

Here at Mann Co., we take care of our employees. After you've completed your first task we ordered you to do, you will get, free of charge, one Mann Co.-brand canteen. It's filled to the damn brim with life-giving air. If air's not your thing, these canteens can also be filled with a variety of power-ups at an Upgrade Station.

Saxton Hale

Following it were instructions on how to use it. Apparently you need to choose from five types of power ups and how many of them you want; you can fill the canteen with only one power up type, but up to 3 charges of it. Then, if you're connected to the Re:Spawn system, all you need to do is think 'Power up!' two times, but there's also a button hidden between the layers of leather to activate the buff if the user doesn't have any bionic upgrades.

Histoire opened a canteen's lid and found it really filled with nothing but air. Stale air but still air… 'A seemingly free-of-charge canteen inside a crate which needs to be opened with a special key, which according to the tag requires purchase from Mann Co.'s own store. What a deal, I can see why your employees are so loyal, Mr. Hale!' Histoire thought sarcastically as she examined the flask.

"So that's where our Power Up Canteens went…" Engie muttered, examining his own one. "We lost 'em after robots attacked the Mannworks base. We 'ere searchin' high and low for 'em but we never did find 'em." Engie retold. Histoire briefly wondered what he meant by 'robot attack', but then she remembered what they were doing before coming to this world.

"If I understand the manual correctly. You can fill them with various… power ups, and then use them when the time calls. Right?" Histoire folded the letter and put it back in. 'I would ask for an explanation on how that'd work… but I've seen how strange and crazy Mann Co.'s products are, so I'm sure I won't really understand it. Like mixtures of technology and magic, so ancient-looking yet so advanced at the same time… It's hard for even me to comprehend them.'

"Bullseye, Histoire! I lost count on how many times this little thing saved our bacon during a siege. Doc's a real master of them, his medigun can make the buffs last longer and share 'em too." He extended his hand to Histoire, who handed the Canteen back and said her goodbyes before going back to the Basilicom. She'll speak with Medic some other time.


After an entire day of investigating and traumatizing discovery, IF was glad that the day was finally over, along with her shift. She's also lucky that she wasn't actually last to arrive or her superior would chew her ear off.

The Guild agent walked along the pavement, staring at her phone and texting with some of her friends. She would text Compa but she said she's going to Medic's lessons and will keep her phone off, so she's out. Otome-chan said she's going to the gym, and Mate-chan is busy doing some Guild quests.

That leaves her with Neverlan-chan, and both Guild members began texting each other random gibberish or her asking why she was away for a few days. After a few dozen minutes of texting and giggling later, IF receives a sudden text from Otome-chan.

Otome: "holy crap IF"

Me: "what happened Otome?"

Otome: "im at the gym r/n and there's this… HUUUUUGE guy, lifting 150kg at once. WITH ONE HAND!"

Me: "._."

Otome: "lol now one of the girls decided to join him XD"

Otome: "hold on lemme upload video"

The video IF's friend uploaded showed Heavy wearing the 'Weight Room Warmer' (a red hoodie) and 'Toss-Proof Towel' (exactly what it sounds like) over his shoulders, lifting a barbell with 3 weights of 25 kilograms, on each side, with one hand.

Next to him was a girl with deep blue eyes and matching hair that appears to be very long, but is worn up with a few long loose curls. She has a pair of black goggles worn over her hair, like a headband, and wearing a black body suit with the zipper worn below her belly button and bandaging worn around her chest. It has thin red and blue lines on the side and is worn with big cuffed, gray gloves and matching boots.

Her slim figure did not match her strength, since she's able to keep up with Heavy and also lift similar weight, even though she needs both hands for it. Several other girls and guys were gazing in wonder at these two while doing their own work-out. Only two others besides Otome pulled out their phones and started recording.

Otome: "im gonna upload this to neppit IF im lucky I'll get lots of nepu points. Muhahaha :)"

Me: "Did you just pun my name?"

Otome: "did u just assume my pun? :o"

Me: "Did you just assume my assumption?"

Otome: "Did u just assume?:)"

The silliness of this conversation is just what IF needed to brighten her day. After the Gamindustri Graveyard, Soldier's inhuman training, the operation, CFW Judge and her first death. IF suddenly felt cold when thinking about that. The endless darkness with only letters "Respawning in…" as the only beacon in the sea of darkness.

The Guild agent shook her head to stop these thoughts and continued the text conversation with Otome. A few years ago such carefreeness was common to IF, but now with ASIC running around slowly destroying Planeptune and the rest of the world, such moments largely devoid of worry were few and far between. Hell by this point she MISSES Neptune and her insanity.

Damn these thoughts made IF feels old.

"Waaaaaaaah!"

The sudden shriek that filled the air was enough to force IF to shift her attention away from her phone. The brunette immediately recognized the owner of said voice as her blonde ditzy nurse-in-training best friend. Her emerald eyes searched the general area of where her voice came from. When she saw them, her eyes widened. They were up above, Compa and Soldier, falling-

Right onto her.

There wasn't even a chance to scream as the blond nurse slammed herself onto the brunette, sending her straight to the ground and knocking the air out of her lungs. Several bystanders stopped to watch in confusion as the busty blonde got off the not-so-busty brunette, all while Soldier, who Compa was healing, stood on the side and laughed. "Hit and sunk, maggot. Perfect landing, private!" The crazed American patriot chuckled as he extended his hand to IF, who after a few seconds of staring blankly at him took it and got raised to her feet. The war hero then patted her shoulder for good measure.

"Ooh my head…" IF moaned, clutching her head in pain. The onlookers were too confused by the fact that the girl wasn't dead from being crashed head-on by something flying at such high velocity, much less still conscious.

"Sorry Iffy. Soldier was teaching me how to… um…" Compa tried to find the right word as she inhaled the Quick Fix's beam. "Strafe." Soldier reminded her, causing the nurse to snap her fingers in realization. "Yes! Strafe." With all her wounds and fractures healed, Compa pointed the Quick Fix at the other girl. Bystanders were even more shocked when they noticed the forming bruise on Compa's chin had disappeared instantly. "It's your turn~" Compa sang cheerfully while healing IF, the fractured skull and ribs gluing back together quickly.

IF gave her best friend a grateful look when the Quick Fix started pumping IF with pleasurable overheal. "Better?" The nurse-in-training smiled, and the Guild agent smiled in return. "Better."

"Now with that outta the way, private. Let's continue." Soldier cut in, the Rocket Jumper held proudly in his two hands, the patriot nodded to Compa who nodded back and started focusing the Quick Fix's beam onto him.

"Bye, Iffy! I'm gonna flyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy~" IF watched Soldier starting to rocket jump through the busy streets of Planeptune, and for some reason Compa was also launched into the air not far behind the Soldier, only much higher due to lighter weight. While she did look frightened, she also sure looked excited and was having a ton of fun. W-Wait, they're rocket-jumping on the streets- No road damage? A quick look confirmed the rockets had left absolutely no trace of damage on what they hit, besides some small dust clouds. Huh, okay then.

The brunette watched the creamy and red blur flying away. As people started to gossip all around her with some of them trying to catch up with the flying duo, a small smile crept across IF's face. She shoved one hand into her coat's pocket, and the other resumed texting Otome.

Maybe, just maybe, those days will come back someday.


Interdimensional RED-Coded Contract

Ceasefire Break


Hello ladies and gentlemann, it's Smissmass time so here's a chapter about mercenaries interacting with other characters, and getting some new toys because why not? And there will be some more toys with it.

On the side note I seriously want someone to draw the beginning where Linda and Pirachu are standing over destroyed warehouse complex, with fragments of it still falling onto the ground. Also HOLYCRAPJUDGEISSTILLALIVE!? Yes he is, did you seriously think I'll just kill one of main villains THAT easily? Nah he'll come back, not very soon but he'll.

Also I think I'll need to do a huge time-jump soon or this fic will soon go over 100 chapters and I don't think I have a time or patience for it.

Responses:

- HuntyPlay

Thanks for the kind words, but could you write something more constructive?

- Lady Vroom Vroom

I'm glad you liked it, I didn't want this to be such a major buzzkill so if you liked it, I accomplished my goal.

- BreadNotDead

Well Iffy will got slight PTSD from it, but not very much since it was instantaneous death. If she died like, pretty fuckin' horribly then she wouldn't leave the spawn room for decades. And about the FFF, yeah it needs some love so I'll try my best, but MB have too much things to do to edit that fic so I'll be on my own there.

- Harmless Orange