Before we proceed, allow me to write few words as last time I didn't write the author's note.

The poll is finished, and I'm already outlining and drafting the next project. I'll tell you that RWBY has won by a large margin (RED-Contract Prologue and Fire Emblem / XCOM crossover barely got 1 vote each). But I'm NOT going to tell you if it was the RWBY/Terraria Crossover, or pure RWBY fanfic.

I want to keep some semblance of suspense.

Each month I'll divert some time into writing/planning the next project, so after I finish RED-Contract I can upload the next piece quicker. Don't expect it to be done immediately though, me and my editor have a lot to plan and probably even more to edit and rewrite.

Though I can tell you that I have high hopes for it.


Interdimensional RED-Coded Contract

Spycheck


Uni laid eyes on Noire for less than a second, and the Candidate's face had already brightened.

"Noire!"

Uni bolted right towards her sister, before wrapping her hands around her waist. Joy overrode everything else in her mind. Noire had finally returned to Lastation and everything was alright again. The happiness at seeing her sister return was so strong that Uni started sobbing. "N-Noire!"

The CPU didn't flinch nor was she surprised. She merely placed one hand on Uni's back, while the other stroked her head. "Hey there, Uni. Did you miss me?" She said.

Uni pressed herself more into Noire and continued sobbing, and the CPU took that as a sign that her sister really missed her. Also from behind Uni, Noire could see a girl she hasn't seen before, wearing a black bodysuit and a pair of goggles in her blue hair.

Then out of sudden Uni suddenly froze, as her mind finally caught up to what she was doing. The tears halted and Uni broke out of the embrace. "I-I'm s-sorry Noire. I just couldn't help myself." She wiped off the rest of her tears. "I-I tried not to cry… b-but I did."

Noire's mouth turned into a grin. "It's fine, Uni. Do you feel better now?"

Uni smiled and nodded.

"Also who is that?" Noire pointed at the blue-haired girl behind them. Noire assumed it was Nisa, but she wanted a confirmation.

"Good day, My Lady." The girl respectfully bowed "I'm Nisa, protector of justice and Uni's friend."

Noire tried not to react.

Uni found a friend faster than her.

Noire was proud of her and definitely not jealous.

She was not mad. Why would she get mad at her own little sister for making a friend? Neither was she sad because she didn't have anyone to hang out with, she had tons of friends. And she'll be visiting a few of them. Gray Mann in particular.

But after getting some insight from the others.

"Just Noire is fine, nice to meet you Nisa." The CPU reached out for a handshake, and the girl shook it.

"Pleasure is mine."

"Do you mind if we move into my office?" Noire asked, only to remember that 3 years have passed since her last time here. "I… still have an office here, right?" She looked at Uni, her eyebrow raised.

Her sister's eyes widened. "Y-Yes! Me and Kei kept it cleaned for when you return!"

Noire liked that answer. Neither her sister nor her Oracle have lost their diligence when she was away. "Good, then let's catch up." She nodded at Uni and then looked at Nisa, Noire's smile faded a bit. "Do you mind if I take her for a bit?"

She will talk to Nisa too, but later. For now she wanted (and needed) to talk with her sibling, they haven't seen each other in a long time and Noire immediately saw how much she has grown. "Of course. I'll be waiting in my room." Nisa nodded, and to her credit Noire didn't sense or see anything weird about her.

Nisa left, leaving Uni and Noire in the hallway. And Uni didn't waste any time asking the most important question.

"So why did you take so long? I heard from Kei that you spent a week in Leanbox."

It took a moment for Noire to respond, as her mind was busy repressing those memories. The sight of Leanbox engulfed in flames, screams of people needing aid, and the endless stacks of paperwork needed to be filled and read carefully, because a few scumbags had decided it would be a great time to reap some profit while the nation was literally falling to ruin.

"I was helping Vert deal with things. Terrorist attack, paperwork, multiple break-ins into the Basilicom and one time someone even kidnapped 5pb… when me, Vert and the entire security staff were watching over her." That was a fun experience. It wasn't often you saw a person willingly jump off the Basilicom, survive the fall and even manage to get away. While carrying someone. "Sorry Uni, but I didn't have an opportunity to leave."

Uni sighed. "I heard about those. Yeah, Vert has it rough."

"Apparently Chika will make a full recovery, so fortunately Vert will have help."

Hopefully Noire wouldn't have to deal with something similar over here. But if Gray Mann turned out to be malicious, then Noire will have on her plate something even worse than an overpowered terrorist. But to get a good read on the situation she needed to question people who knew him and who she could trust, like Uni or Kei.

They reached the doors of Noire's office. They were locked but Uni had a key on her. The Candidate opened the doors and let her sister pass, while also returning the key back to its rightful owner.

"Thank you."

The office… was much cleaner than she remembered it to be. The only time she had for clean-up was during weekends, so through the business days the dust was gathering on the less-used surfaces. Like the drawers, or boreal wood shelves filled with decorative ceramic. Noire remembered those places filled with dust like crazy.

It was weird seeing her rich mahogany desk so devoid of papers. Before she had always a sheet of paper on her desk, waiting to be filled in.

The black carpet looked freshly washed and the table and sofas… were just like Noire remembered. The table and sofas Noire kept regularly clean, as often they were where the CPU talked with her guests. However there was a distinctive lack of a glass bowl, filled with candies that Neptune really liked to steal.

Her office was clean… because she wasn't there for 3 years.

"Welcome back, Noire." Uni said.

"Yeah… I'm home."

She was finally home.

And where home was there was work to be done.


"So Uni, how are you?"

That seemed to be a good question to ask first. She could check how her sister was feeling and go from there. Noire opened a cabinet and took out glasses she kept for guests, and she also checked the spot where she usually kept drinks… and found it stocked. "And how old are these drinks?"

If they were there ever since Noire went to the Graveyard, Uni, Kei and the rest of her staff have failed. Badly. Every single one.

Uni smiled at Noire. "Good now that you're back, oh and Kei put those there shortly after she heard you're back."

Good job, Kei. As always her Oracle knew how to help. Noire grabbed some water and returned to the table, sitting next to Uni. "Water?"

"Mhm!"

Noire opened the bottle and filled their glasses. "Yeah, I'm sorry for taking so long. There has been a lot going on in Leanbox and I didn't think Vert would be able to handle it."

It also got Noire so busy she genuinely forgot that the thought of leaving Vert with all that work didn't even cross her mind. One moment she was entering Leanbox's Basilicom, asking for Vert. The next moment a week has passed.

...Hopefully Uni didn't know that.

Uni grabbed the glass and took a small sip, quenching her thirst. "I read about that." She said. "Is it as bad as the papers say?"

"Worse. Way worse." Noire sighed. She could talk about Leanbox's problems all day, but she needed to change topics. She wanted to learn what her own nation has come through. "But instead of talking about that, how was Lastation while I was gone? What did I miss?"

Uni hummed and placed the glass down. "Well, where do I begin?"

There was that time where she almost died and Kei had to call Histoire for help. That time where Gray Mann's machines invaded Lastation's forests. Taconep going bankrupt. The fact they've discovered a completely new world.

Noire has missed a lot. But the CPU knew what she wanted to know about first.

"I heard that robots have appeared inside our forests."

"Oh, that." Uni scratched her cheek. "At first we thought those were a new type of monster roaming the area, then someone theorized that they were ASIC's failed prototypes… and then we found Gray Mann." The Candidate looked at her sister, her brows furrowed. "You know Gray Mann, right?"

Noire nodded. "Yes, Kei told me a few things about him. He made a robot army, sent them here to chase his enemies, and he's from another world."

"Yes, that seems to be the case." Uni said. Then she got really excited. "Did you know I visited his world?"

Ah yes, the United States of America. "Oh yeah? How was it?"

"It's… weird, nice but weird." Uni said. "They have cities as big as Lastation! Their food portions are gigantic and they don't have a CPU."

Noire froze, her mind grinding to halt.

No CPU at all?

"...Really?" Who ruled them, then? Who protected them? Was there chaos all around because of no leaders? Noire had trouble imagining a world like this. Without a CPU to rule a nation.

"Yes. Instead they all hold a vote and choose a person, and that person ruled their nation." Uni said.

That was… "Huh..." an intriguing way of picking their leader. Noire could already see similarities between the CPUs and human leaders. Both needed a good public opinion, because they would either die and their nation would fall, or not get chosen at all for the ruling position.

While that topic was interesting, Noire had to shelve it for later. She couldn't get distracted. Not now. "What do you think of Gray Mann?"

"Well…" Her sister trailed off. "He seems... nice. But he's like… afraid, I think. Every time he says something it's like he doesn't trust us to believe him, so he's showing us mountains of evidence that supported his case."

Either afraid or overly prepared. Noire thought to herself. It was good that he has evidence, that meant there was some truth to what he was saying or doing. But at the same time he could be cherry picking stuff so it better suited his own narrative.

Noire however didn't blame him for not believing they would trust him without proof. "Well, would you believe what he says without any proof? Like the fact he was from another world?" No sane person would believe something like that, not without some hard evidence to back it up.

"I guess not." Uni agreed with her.

Still, Noire looked forward to seeing what Gray Mann had in store for her. She expected to be dazzled with his preparedness. Or bullshittery.

"Uni. Do you think he will turn on us?"

There, she asked it. Now let's see how her sister will react.

"Hmm?"

"Do you think Gray Mann would turn on us?" She repeated the question.

Uni pondered for a moment, quenching her thirst with some water. "I… don't think so. Kei made it clear that we've made counter measures in case he tried something. He doesn't know what those are, but I never seen him asking about them."

That was one point in his favor. If he asked about them then that could mean he was planning something, and sought a way to gain an upper hand against Lastation. At the same time he may have realized that asking this question would raise some eyebrows, and instead he sought for a different way to get information about them.

So good he hasn't asked, but that didn't mean anything in the grand scheme of things.

"I see. Good to know." Noire nodded.

"Do you want to know what these are?" Uni suggested.

And risk leaking that information to Gray Mann? No. Noire shook her head. "No. I trust you and Kei to handle him if he tries to pull something." Kei already told her that they know where his HQ was, and they had an elite squad placed there. And she also trusted Kei enough to develop a Plan B and C if taking control of the HQ failed.

"Okay." Uni said.

After that the topic went into more casual category, nothing really significant but a small talk to learn more about Uni's achievements in the recent years. While insignificant to the story, they were of great significance to Noire, who felt proud of her sister.

Once they finished their talk, Uni left the office and allowed Noire some time alone.

The CPU leaned back in her chair, her mind deeply in thoughts.

Her talk with Uni didn't reveal anything new that was relevant to the case. However the fact that her sister wasn't nervous or scared when talking about Gray Mann reassured her a little. There wasn't anything off about her answers, be it about Mr. Gray or what she has done during these past years.

That alone told her Uni wasn't blackmailed into joining, or had any doubts about what they were doing. It reassured her that she might overreact to the whole thing, but Noire still needed to know more. Stopping at one person would be a mistake.

So she invited Kei to her office, and the Oracle didn't make her wait for long. Kei most likely expected to be called sooner or later.

"Hello Noire." Kei greeted. "If you don't mind, I've already personally swept your office for bugs."

...She actually forgot about the possibility that her office could've been bugged. Good thing Kei was vigilant. "Did you find any?"

"None."

"I see." Noire took a sip of her water, and the Oracle filled her own glass. "I just want to know why? Why work with him at all?" The CPU asked.

"I wasn't really on board with it at first, you know. But then..." Kei shrugged "...he showed us proof. Evidence of corruption, under the table deals and blackmail happening in his own world. In Gray Mann's world there's a single woman controlling every nation that is out there, not through actual authority but by manipulating the actual people in charge like puppets. And anyone who speaks up is..." Kei dragged her finger across her throat "...quietly disposed."

"Then why is Gray Mann still alive?" Noire asked. He was actively opposing the Administrator, and yet he was still alive. The story did not check out.

Kei had an answer to that, however. "Gray Mann has an army of robots… and just that. There's very little human personnel within his ranks that would be in position to assassinate him. That doesn't give the Administrator much room to act. Not only that but he has a machine that keeps him alive."

Robots couldn't be persuaded, bribed or blackmailed. The three favorite tools of the Administrator and her goons were rendered useless. And before his war against the Administrator he kept himself under her radar, amassing his wealth and army while keeping his hostilities to minimum. Biding his time until he was ready.

If the Administrator caught wind of his actions, and she surely did, she hasn't acted on them. A rare mistake on her part.

"Couldn't someone just reprogram them to attack Gray Mann?" Noire asked.

"You know it's not that simple." Kei shook her head. "And even then, they're hardcoded into not attacking Gray Mann at any cost, and to always listen to his direct commands."

That rendered him to be virtually untouchable to indirect means, and the sheer size and might of his army made a direct assault a difficult and costly thing. The Administrator had a hard time merely defending Mann Co.'s facilities from his machines, going onto the offensive would be a hard thing to do in these circumstances.

That mended the hole of Gray Mann's survival, but why was he here?

"Why is he here at all? Personally, I mean."

"Because Miss Pauling, the Administrator's right hand, is here."

"And we don't know why she's here, right?" Noire asked. Kei nodded.

"And even then, he's trying to figure out what they're planning and stop it?"

Kei nodded.

Noire had trouble comprehending this. Gray Mann came here, a potentially hostile land, without knowing anything about the area on the other side, and yet he still came here. Goodness, that was risky, dangerous and outright stupid.

He could be walking into a trap for all he knew. What would he do if instead of Uni and Nisa he was met with tons of guns pointing at him? He would be dead before he could realize his mistake, his luck was the sole thing keeping this man alive.

Was that sheer incompetence or did Noire miss something?

Uni said he seemed afraid, her talk with Kei led her to believe he was rash. Maybe it was the stress of that shadow war that caused him to be slightly irrational, maybe he was just an idiot. All in all these talks were already painting a picture of what she should expect once she interviewed Gray Mann.

But first she wanted to talk with Nisa. She was also a new face in the Basilicom so Noire was curious about her and her… friendship with Uni.

She wasn't jealous, no sir.

Kei left and a moment later came in the blue-haired girl. Contrary to the usual Nisa didn't feel confident meeting an actual CPU like this. Being called for a 'private chat' was never a good thing in the movies or anime.

"I... heard you wanted to talk with me, Lady Noire." She said, her voice a bit meek.

"Yes, yes. Come on in and take a seat."

At Noire's command Nisa closed the door and sat on the opposite side of the table. Immediately Noire could see that she was nervous, probably because the CPU of this nation asked specifically for her. To talk in private.

So the first thing to do would be to break the tension. "I just wanted to know you a little, as I've never seen you around here. Water?"

Nisa shook her head so Noire put the jug down. Now what would be appropriate as a first topic?

"So how did you and Uni meet?"

"At Lastation's Guild I found a quest to clear the forest out of Gray Mann's robots, Uni picked it up too and… we decided to party up." Nisa answered.

The simplest of reasons and yet also a very plausible one, Noire could easily see them becoming friends over a simple search and destroy mission. Very often adventurers made friends simply by picking up the same quest, and then partying up to deal with it faster. It was easy to create strong bonds.

If she wished too Noire could easily become friends with any of the adventurers in the Guild, but she often preferred to save time and go deal with them alone. She could fly, others usually couldn't.

If she wasn't so busy then Noire could get lots of friends.

"Your usual Guild story." Noire said.

"Your usual Guild story." Nisa repeated, smiling a little.

"So how did it go?" The CPU asked.

Nisa shrugged "Pretty good actually. One of us would take their attention, then the other would flank and destroy them." Their quick pincer attack didn't fail them yet. It helped that the tin cans weren't exactly the smartest fighters and had a severe case of tunnel vision.

"Glad to see that you two work together so nicely." Noire said. And now that she got the conversation going she can finally start asking the real question. "So I heard you two have met Gray Mann, what do you think of him?"

Suddenly...

"He threw away everything to fight evil and corruption of his own world! As a fellow heroine of justice I commend his determination!"

...Don't sweat drop, Noire. Stay calm and appear neutral.

One moment Nisa was sitting and talking calmly and casual, the next she was shouting… and posing. It took Noire's everything to not appear surprised or shocked by the drastic change in appearance. Nonetheless her eyes still widened a little.

"I… see." Noire said.

"If he was just a bit younger and more agile I would gladly honor him as my sidekick, and the three of us would together fight the evil spreading across these lands, on both Gamindustri and Earth!"

Poker face, Noire. Keep up your poker face.

Nisa was easily the most vocal supporter of Gray Mann.

"His robot army gives us strength to fight the villains! They'll fear us! And peace will return to these lands once more!"

A very loud supporter.

"And with you onboard we shall-!"

Okay, that was enough. Noire reached out to Nisa to calm her down. "Okay, okay I get it now. You can stop."

Nisa froze and then returned to her seat, clearing her throat and acting as if everything was going great. "I can see that you like him."

To that Nisa nodded. "Yes. Compared to those… mercenaries in Planeptune, he's a keeper of justice."

...Mercenaries in Planeptune? Those that Histoire apparently hired? Now that would be an interesting topic. "Mercenaries in Planeptune?" Noire repeated.

"Yes. Before coming here to Lastation, I was with Lady Nepgear and Lady Histoire of Planeptune. And they hired a squad of mercenaries to fight the ASIC." Nisa said. Noire nodded to show that she was listening. "They killed without remorse. Anyone who they come across, be it an active combatant or restrained person, will be executed. I've seen it with my own eyes."

"And Histoire hired them? Out of her volition?" Noire asked. She didn't know Nisa actually had any information to shed some light on that matter. This could be a good opportunity to gain insight on the matter with Histoire. Whether she voluntarily hired them, or were they there to keep her in check.

Nisa casted her head down. "She said that they couldn't afford to not do it, that they needed them to fight ASIC."

Couldn't afford not to do it, huh? That was interesting.

Perhaps Histoire was forced to do it.

"Do you know how Histoire even found them?"

This was a very important thing to know, as depending on how they approached Histoire it would either make or break that argument.

"From what I remember two of Nepgear's friends were returning to Planeptune after rescuing Nepgear from the Graveyard, and then they met those mercs in Virtua Forest." Nisa said.

"Like… they waited for them there?" Noire asked.

"Yeah, I think so."

Suspicious. Very suspicious.

Perhaps the Administrator was a threat to Gamindustri afterall.


Once their talk was done, Noire bid Nisa farewell and let her leave. The CPU was now sitting alone in her office, looking at the news on her computer and processing information.

No one had any bad things to say about Gray Mann, be it through direct speech, subtle hints or body language. However she only got to listen to one side of this conflict, so it was given that the answers would be in favor of this faction over the other.

However neither side was a saint. One side let robots run rampant in Lastation's forest, the other has mercenaries killing everyone. Kei's videos showed how brutal they were, and Nisa confirmed that they belonged to Histoire.

At the same time said robots were calmed down and the man behind them was helping with fixing the damage. The other faction meanwhile... was apparently dealing with the Killachine threat in Lowee. A quick check on the news revealed the same mercenary squad fighting the infamous machines that has plagued Lowee for centuries. Noire also found a few headlines of Blanc, Neptune and Nepgear fighting the same machines inside Lowee.

Uni and Nisa reported that Planeptune and Lowee weren't with Miss Pauling, and by extension, the Administrator. And yet they still had those mercenaries Histoire hired and Kei had videos that contradicted said report.

Something didn't match up here, Noire knew it but she didn't know what.

The mercenaries were with Histoire from the very start. Noire found headlines of ASIC facilities being attacked by a mysterious group. The earliest one was a few weeks ago, just a few days before Gray Mann's robots appeared in Lastation's forests.

Those assaults were most likely carried out by those mercenaries. Nisa even confirmed that they were hired for this exact purpose. Noire was surprised to learn that they've even defeated an Ancient Dragon, CFW Judge and CFW Trick. Two out of four leaders of ASIC were killed before Noire even woke up.

There was Nepgear getting announced that she returned and later Planeptune and Lowee entered an official alliance. This moment probably marked when Blanc returned to Lowee.

Then a thought occurred to her.

When Gray Mann's robots entered Gamindustri for the first time, they lost connection to Gray Mann and went rogue.

What if the same thing happened to those mercenaries?

What if those mercenaries didn't belong to Miss Pauling, by the sheer fact that they lost contact with her?

That got Noire thinking. How would the whole script look like if those mercenaries were stranded?

The mercenaries and Gray Mann fought against one another. The mercenaries retreated using… whatever means they have to enter Gamindustri. Let's say it was a teleporter. They teleported to Planeptune, and for one thing they would be terribly confused. And after that… Noire hit a roadblock.

If the machines appeared in Lastation, why were the mercs in Planeptune? Even if they knew about Gamindustri beforehand it would be more logical to go to Lastation, it was much closer. Even Lowee and Leanbox were better candidates than Planeptune which was on the other side of Gamindustri.

Were the coordinates of teleportation changed after the mercenaries went through? That would explain the difference in exit locations.

So the mercs appeared in Planeptune, and another problem. How would they meet up with Nepgear's friends (who couldn't be anyone but IF and Compa)? Nisa worded it like these mercenaries waited for them there... but what if it was just a chance meeting? They appeared in Virtua Forest, got horribly confused over where they landed, and they asked for help from the first people they saw.

...There was a lot of coincidences and luck involved. The more Noire thought about this the less likely it seemed.

First they would need to appear in Planeptune instead of Lastation, where Gray Mann's robots appeared.

While the theory of switching coordinates after a teleport seemed plausible, there were days between the first assault on an ASIC facility and the robots appearing in Lastation. Enough time to travel from Lastation to Planeptune and set up an ambush for IF and Compa.

Reason for why didn't matter, as it was clear that the mercenaries were there, in Planeptune.

Second, the mercenaries would need to land exactly on IF and Compa's path. Or at least close to. Planeptune was large and those mercs would need to appear between Planeptune and the Gamindustri Graveyard, on a path exactly where and when IF and Compa would be going through.

Third, the first person they met needed to be IF and Compa.

If the mercs met literally anyone else, they would ask for their help first and likely move out before sunfall.

The sheer luck involved in that just screamed to Noire that this idea was bullshit.

So she scrapped that scenario and called Gray Mann.

The doors opened after half an hour of wait, easily the longest period of time Noire had to wait for someone to meet her today. "I heard you've been calling me."

"Yes, Mr. Gray Mann. Come on in and make yourself at home." Noire answered.

Finally it was time to face the music, and interrogate the person who practically became a second leader of Lastation. Whether he will be an ally, or if Noire will have to kick him out was yet to be seen.

The Mann nodded and closed the doors, before sitting by the table. Just like Nisa or Kei, he took the spot on the opposite side of her.

"I heard you've been making friends with my staff, my own sister and even a couple of strangers." Noire begun, taking an empty glass and a jug of water. "Water?"

Gray Mann chuckled lightly. "Is it wrong to make allies? And yes, thank you."

Noire poured him a full glass. "It isn't yes. But you can't expect a CPU of this nation to not react, when after 3 years of captivity she finds that her entire staff replaced her with someone else."

The brows on his forehead furrowed, but before he could speak Noire continued. "I'm not jealous or angry, I just want to know what's going on. I heard you're participating in a shadow war, and I see my own nation is helping you… without any of my input."

Now Noire was finished, and waited for Gray Mann's response.

He started with "If I have done something to offend you, I apologize." To his ears Noire's voice was leaking hostility, something he wanted to avoid. "As for getting help of your country, I've done it out of necessity. This war between me and the Administrator has reached a stalemate, neither of us could make any progress so it all came to a battle of attrition. And I was losing."

"Losing with an army of replicable machines?" Noire asked, her eyebrow raised.

"Machines that are costly to repair or replace." He responded. "My pockets, while deep, are still finite, and each robot destroyed is a dime lost. Meanwhile they have the Re;Spawn System, a device that can revive their soldiers from death. Endlessly and without any cost."

To that Noire had no rebuttal. She sipped some water before her brain actually processed this information. A mild shock occurred shortly after. "W-Wait! They can come back from the dead?!"

"Yes." Gray Mann nodded, giving no room for misunderstanding. "Their troops undergo a procedure that turns them into bionically-enhanced soldiers. They have superior agility, stamina, and strength. Most importantly however, if you manage to kill one of them, their body will disappear and after a short moment they'll reappear back in their base - ready to fight once more. Nisa can confirm this information as well. Those mercenaries in Planeptune have the same thing."

That was… concerning. Super soldiers versus robots. A cool concept for a video game but not a great scenario in real life. And Planeptune had a squad of them right at Histoire's door steps. "They have a base in Planeptune, right?"

"Nisa confirmed that they have Re;Spawn set up there, yes." Gray Mann nodded. "One of those would be enough to cover a city, or in your case, a nation."

Invincible soldiers, now she understood why Gray Mann sought help. "Now that's a scary picture you're painting. I take it you have… evidence that everyone else was talking about.

"Ah, yes. Right here." Gray Mann reached into his suit and pulled out a vanilla folder. He gave it to Noire and the CPU was surprised by how much it was packed there; research notes, posters, and even blueprints. "Everything I managed to dig up on the Re;Spawn System. It's not really hard as it was widely used during the... Gravel War."

Gravel War. An interesting name for a war, Noire had to admit it. The CPU also caught how his eye twitched at the mere mention of it, and she couldn't help but to ask. "Gravel War?"

"Two of my idiotic brothers wasted their fortunes and a century fighting over an empty and useless land of gravel. Nothing relevant to what we do here." He said, not hiding his annoyance in the slightest.

"I see." She said absentmindedly. She was more focused on reading the really detailed research notes, that did not only shed insight about the Re;Spawn but also on the bionic enhancement used by the Administrator's forces.

Apparently all of them are weak to electricity at a strict range of amperes, huh. Not what Noire would call a lethal voltage too, the same current would only paralyze a normal person.

And the Re;Spawn System needed an element called 'Australium' to work, something foreign to Gamindustri.

The more she read, the more surprised she was at how… plausible this all sounded. The techniques used in this procedure made… some kind of sense. She won't rule out the possibility of immortal soldiers, especially if Nisa backed him up on that. In fact there was a step-by-step instruction on how to perform the procedure and blueprints to create their own enhancements.

She would need their engineers to look at those, see what they have to say about it.

So if she was to believe Gray Mann, they would be fighting an army who just won't die. In that case a frontal assault is pointless, you couldn't whittle down a constantly regenerating army. Noire would need a different approach if she was to fight them.

She'll also need time to process the information and do the homework she was just given. At the very least she didn't get any outright bad feelings about Gray Mann, so Noire didn't feel bad for choosing to let him stay for a little longer.

That didn't mean she won't watch him closely. He was an unknown with power within her own country.

"I'll need time to look through this at my own pace. I'll talk with you later." Noire stood up, with Gray Mann shortly following her lead. As a courtesy she extended her hand to him. He grasped it and shook it.

"I'm not going to kick you out, but I'll be watching you." Noire said.

Gray Mann nodded. "Good. This healthy skepticism actually reassures me."

Good. That went for both of them.

The doors were slammed open, and one panicky-looking Kei peered inside. She was out of breath and her hair was disheveled. Kei ran here, that was never good. Her gaze settled on Gray Mann and she took a deep breath, before she started to outright shout at him. "Gray Mann, what the hell did you do!?"

The old man was confused. "What do you mean?"

"You gave an order for your army to invade Planeptune!"

...

...What?

Noire watched from sidelines; noting how confused Gray Mann was, how his brows furrowed or his eyes moved. Kei meanwhile had her gaze zeroed-in on him and him only, completely ignoring the fact that she was standing in Noire's presence and that as an Oracle of Lastation Kei should remain calm and professional.

Kei was livid, and Gray Mann had no idea what was going on.

"Your forces have regrouped and returned to the Carriers, and then all of them ventured to Planeptune. All eight Carriers are en-route to invade and conquer. What is the meaning of this!?"

"I…"

I don't know He wanted to say. Gray Mann didn't give this order, he knew that. But Kei was right there in his face, demanding an explanation. His salvation came in form of Noire, already giving Kei her orders. "Kei, you have made counter-measures for this situation, right? Use them."

The Oracle continued to glare at him, but her hand reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. It only took one press of a button to connect with the squad she placed in Gray Mann's HQ.

Noire's gaze shifted onto Gray Mann. He gave her a fearful shook of his head, 'it wasn't him' it said. Noire nodded. She will give him a benefit of the doubt. If he double crossed her then she will personally deliver him to Planeptune, and hopefully they'll be able to smoother things out.

"Strike-1." The Oracle said to the phone. "The chain has broke, I repeat the chain has broke. Seize the building, reinforcements will come shortly."

A moment to confirm that the orders were received and Kei hanged up, hiding her phone in the pocket. "I already sent Uni and Nisa to aid Strike-1. If we're lucky we'll be able to stop the robots before they reach Planeptune."

And after that they'll figure out what to do next.

Noire meanwhile went to her locker and unlocked it. Inside was her rapier, well kept despite its years and the edge as sharp as a razor. Noire grabbed it and felt the years of combat experience coming back to her.

"I'll follow them and try to stop them before they reach Planeptune, worst comes to worst I'll help defend. Kei, warn Histoire. Have her set up defenses."

"Good luck." Kei nodded. "I'll also notify Vert and see if she can help as well."

While the others drew battle plans, Gray Mann felt powerless and frustrated. His army moved without his orders, his credibility was shaken. There was only one person who could do this.

"Miss Pauling."

The Administrator's Right Hand has finally made her move.


On the other side of the phone, lying on the couch in a dim light, the captain of Strike-1 listened to Kei's orders. "The chain broke, I repeat the chain broke. Seize the building, reinforcements will come shortly."

And he acted like he was trained to do, snapping a salute and giving a loud. "Yes, ma'am!"

It did the trick, the Oracle of Lastation hanged up, and the captain barely could contain his facade. His urge to laugh at the butterflies in his stomach was growing and it was a matter of when he broke, not if. "They finally realized!" He shouted, before breaking down laughing. "They're- they're coming here! Hah!"

Lastation has been bamboozled, but they don't know it yet.

With his work done the captain dropped his disguise, revealing his trench coat and fedora. He wasn't alone in the building, his crew (also trench coats and fedoras) and boss were with him. They heard him, and just like him they were happy that their work has paid off.

"Hah! I won! John pay up!"

"...Goddamnit."

With an exception of one person who just became 10 bucks poorer.

Money exchanged hands while the rest of the crew did some finishing touches. Splattering blood on the walls, rearranging the corpses, planting bullet cases and bullet holes. They turned the whole building into a scene of massacre, for the guests that were making their way here.

The captain was at his phone, talking to a different squad stationed elsewhere. He has received their report and relayed the news to his own boss - a fake version of Gray Mann. "Well boss, phase 1 complete, though Noire left to chase the robots but that's not so bad. Squad at Planeptune will wait until things gets chaotic before proceeding with phase 2."

"In other words," The Fake Gray Mann said "All according to plan?"

"All according to plan, boss."

"Good." He reached out to his face and pulled the mask covering his- her face. Miss Pauling nodded towards the captain. "It's time we finish this, let's go."

Miss Pauling has already won this war. Gray Mann won't know what hit him.


Interdimensional RED-Coded Contract

Spycheck


It's happening bois.

The first chapter started with robots invading Decoy, and the finale with start with robots invading Planeptune.

The idea of having an MvM match in Planeptune was actually the thing that sparked the whole RED-Contract project. I held onto that idea for years. And while it didn't start how I imagined it, the current version is way better.

When I said I'm going to end this story with a bang, I meant it. I want you, who managed to power through the horrible early chapters, to feel rewarded with the ending. So I'm pulling all stops.

This is the beginning of the end.

And I cannot wait to show you what I have planned. It will be a ride.

Responses:

- kerrowe

Yes. Gray Mann's army is back for round 2, this time led by Miss Pauling to do her bidding.

- YORCHspartan117

...You know, I actually don't have a plan for Mercs vs Hilda. I have Hilda vs Other People (not gonna spoil who) but not the mercs themselves. I have to change that considering Demoman has the Eyelander.

As for the Medic becoming a Demo-God… hmMMMmmMMmMM.

Nah, I plan to do something else with it, something you may not expect. The hint is in that same scene as you referenced.

As for Neptune…

I'll have to think what to do with her.

- Harmless Orange.