Interdimensional RED-Coded Contract
Some Women Just Want To
Samantha stumbled out the forest with a fire extinguisher in her hands, completely spent to clear herself a path. Her steps were uneven, her gait exhausted. She was pissed off beyond measure. The only thing on her mind was to return to Fay and the others.
A few heads were turned as she suddenly appeared. The CPUs, the mercs and even Fay herself were there. Samantha threw her hand back, motioning towards the enormous fire that consumed the forest. While it wasn't near the house yet… it was coming. "Whose bright idea was this?"
Her girlfriend slowly raised her hand.
Samantha pointed an irritated finger in her direction. "Fuck you. Fuck you and not in a pleasureable way. How the fuck do we fix it now?"
Blanc snorted, amused by how even her girlfriend didn't approve of Fay's actions.
"Firefoam artillery?" Fay suggested.
Samantha gave her a dull look.
And now Blanc was baffled. Artillery? Do they have an actual honest-to-goodness ARTILLERY to just summon out of their ass? Besides furniture, weapons and random components they had a piece of military hardware used to lay waste down from long distances?
And they wanted to use it on this forest?!
Blanc wasn't the only one surprised, Spy cleared his throat and looked at Fay with a bewildered look on his face. "Artillery? Did you just say artillery?"
"Yeah, we have two." Fay nodded.
And in the next instant she just casually summoned two enormous cannons next to her. They were taller than Blanc with barrels thicker than her hand and longer than Vert. They carried the military-green color. That was an actual artillery cannon, and they have two of them.
Spy's cigarette dropped from his hand. The merc noticed it a moment later. "Merde!" It was too late to pick it back up. He stomped the burning cigarette with his boot.
The mercenaries observed the artillery cannons in silent awe, surrounding the cannons and examining them. There was a stack of carefully placed shells lying on the ground between them, heavy and dangerous-looking projectiles perfect for the artillery's chambers. Their tips were gray, while the base was in some gunmetal blue colors. The words "Firefoam" were etched into each of the shells.
What even is firefoam?
Blanc and everyone else had many questions. How the fuck did they even get their hands on that? This didn't even look like Gamindustri-made stuff.
"Where did you get these?" Vert asked.
"We salvaged them from a military base in a place none of you would know about." Samantha sighed.
"I… I don't recognize this model." Spy said.
"Yeah. It's not $Y%$- bah!"
Samantha groaned as the seal took effect and started preventing her from leaking information about different universes.
"It's beautiful." Soldier crouched down and hugged the barrel, immediately taking a liking to it. "A true weapon fit for the american soldier."
"It's not yours." Fay called out. "Please don't destroy it."
"I shall treat it as if it were my own son." Soldier caressed the hull of the cannon. "I shall feed it, take it out for walks around the park, and build it a nice, small box to sleep next to my own house."
"...That's… That's how you treat a pet, Soldier." Fay said.
Soldier turned his head towards the blonde fairy, getting a good look at the helmet covering his eyes. The merc saw darkness as he stared in Fay's general direction.
"Yes? So?"
"I don't think you're legally allowed to treat a son like that."
"The law can go fuck itself! The two of us will have fun, and then I'll go to sleep inside the box with my raccoons!"
"Huh? What box and raccoons? I thought you lived in a hotel?" Fay pointed out.
"Don't cite lies to me, lady. Just because I spend my time in a hotel doesn't mean I will sleep on that communist bed. My box is all I need!"
The longer the conversation went on, the more done Fay was feeling. "Why?"
"Because it's more comfortable than the floor." Soldier said matter-of-factly.
It was at that moment Fay finally snapped. "NO! I mean, you have a BED! Why do you sleep in a box instead of using the bed?!"
"Hah!" Soldier laughed at her question. "That's such an obvious trap! That bed REEKS of communism! Don't use it, or it will consume you and take away your freedom!"
"What freedom?!"
"Freedom of being awake when you want it!" Soldier said. "Freedom of choosing where and how I want to sleep! That bed is too comfortable. It's too dangerous!"
It was the first time Fay heard someone call a bed too comfortable unironically. She's heard stories of course, but Fay had little contact with the mercenaries up until now… Were all of them really this kind of stupid?
Blanc walked up to Fay and leaned in towards her ear. "Know my and Histoire's pain."
Fay turned towards her. "Are all of them like this?"
Blanc closed her eyes and nodded, giving the blonde fairy a pat on the back. Now Fay dreaded spending more time with them.
Suddenly, Neptune got in between them. "Uh, guys? Can I say something?"
"What is it?" Soldier asked.
"Oh, nothing big. I just wanted to say some lines so the readers can know I'm still here. There's so many people here that some people just haven't spoken a word in ages."
"Yeah, it's hard to squeeze into the conversations..." Compa voiced her opinion.
"Yes." Heavy crossed his arms and nodded. "Heavy hasn't gotten a lot of screen time recently."
"Or me." Sniper raised his arms. "I mean, well, fine by me but still."
Nisa nodded. "...I must agree. How many of us are here right now anyway? Nine... Fourteen… Nineteen people. Wow."
Nine mercenaries, five CPUs, IF, Compa, Nisa, Samantha, and Fay. Nineteen people in total. That's a bigger cast of characters than some other finished stories. If you were wondering why your favorite character has little screen time, that's because the sheer number of people would prevent the story from advancing if every character needed to say something every time.
The amount of people also meant it was difficult to keep track of everyone. No one noticed Scout already being next to the controls of the artillery cannon until they heard him. "Heyyo! What are we firin' at?"
Seeing another man touch the cannon triggered Soldier. "Get your hands off my stuff, son! This cannon is mine! "
"What? No!"
The two mercenaries fought over who this particular artillery cannon belonged to, ignoring the fact that there was another similar cannon nearby and the fact these two weapons already had an owner.
"Get your twin twigs off my cannon, city boy! She's mine! You will not get your filthy, bleeding hands on my love, maggot!
"Piss off, Soldier!"
Fay watched the two of them fight to the death over who would be the first one to become an artillery operator. She looked at Spy, giving him a confused look, who gave her a shrug in return.
Sniper and Engineer walked up to the other artillery cannon. "Can we?" The australian politely asked, pointing his finger at the cannon. Fay and Samantha shared a brief look, before Fay shrugged and allowed them to touch and check whatever they wanted.
Heavy finally had enough and separated Soldier and Scout, both from themselves and from the artillery.
"Nooo." Soldier cried out, reaching out towards his love.
Heavy threw both of them back and took the cannon for himself, and Demoman joined him.
"You guys aren't actually going to use those things." Blanc deadpanned.
They aren't actually going to fire artillery shells anywhere close to Lastation. Blanc won't allow them. They didn't need any more fuckery than what's already all around them.
"Oh we're not using them to blow stuff up." Fay spoke up, "These shells are loaded with fire immune foam. It will just make an area where flames won't be able to burn. We make a line between the fire and Lastation, and let the rest burn out."
"Huh, okay, but with artillery?"
Have you ever heard of fire departments using artillery to extinguish forest fires? You didn't because that's a dumb idea.
"Why not? We have specially created shells just for that." Fay pointed at the pile of shells labeled 'Firefoam'.
"But what will we do with the foam?"
"Rain will clean it. It's not toxic so it won't have much effect on the environment."
Vert spoke up. "Can we talk about the fact you two have not one, but two artillery cannons?!
Even if this was just to save Lastation from fire, the fact still stands that Fay and Samantha have a pair of military siege weapons at their disposal. The amount of damage they could've caused if they wished to was… concerning.
"I'm not sure about you, but I don't feel safe knowing that these two have access to such weaponry." Vert said.
"And what are you going to do about that?" Samantha said.
Demoman slowly shuffled around the CPUs, trying to not attract attention to himself. His mind was focused on the artillery shells lying beside Neptune's legs. His eyes widened as he just realized how heavy the shells were, while Neptune watched him shuffle back with an amused stare.
"Trying to stop us now just puts Lastation in more danger." Samantha said.
"I want to know what else you're hiding. The true extent of danger you're to all of us." Vert glared at Samantha.
Demoman managed to carry the shell back without getting too much attention on him. He and Soldier gleefully loaded it into the artillery with just some difficulty, and Neptune was now grinning.
"No."
Vert narrowed her eyes at Samantha's refusal.
"We don't have time for me to show you every little 'suspicious' thing me and Fay have in store. This would take ages, and we need to get to Lastation before-"
BOOM! Samantha, and everyone else, recoiled as one of the artillery cannons suddenly fired. The shockwave kicked up a cloud of dust and the projectile… the projectile was long gone. No one could see it anywhere.
Demoman had a wide, open grin plastered on his face. "Wooooo!" He threw his arms up and yelled. Soldier too, was satisfied. He took off his helmet and held it close to his chest.
"I can now die a happy man."
A far less happy Blanc stomped towards Soldier. "Good, cause I'm gonna fucking kill you!"
"You don't even know what you hit." Fay deadpanned.
"Ow! Argh! Ooch!" Soldier's cried as Blanc grabbed Soldier's helmet and started beating him up with it. Demoman watched the beatdown happening with a sheepish grin on his face. The merc turned even more nervous as Samantha walked up to him. However instead of following Blanc's example, she checked some measurement tools on the artillery cannon.
"Let's see… 63 degrees, small wind towards north-east..."
Demoman had little idea what she was calculating, but waited patiently for her to finish.
"Raise the barrel by 2 degrees, and then turn it 5 degrees to your right. Use these."
There were some levers that Samantha was pointing at, which Demoman grabbed and started moving the artillery as instructed. The lightest pull or push moved the barrel by a lot, so Demo had to be careful with the controls.
Blanc quickly took notice of them and stopped beating Soldier. "H-Hey! What are you doing?!"
"Didn't we already tell you? We cut off the flames with foam before they reach the city, and the rest will sort itself out." Samantha turned towards the mercs, looking at Heavy in particular. "Hey Heavy, can you help Demo load up the artillery?"
She pointed at the shells, and Heavy nodded. Taking a shell, putting it in the chamber, closing it and waiting. At the same time, Fay seated Soldier at the other artillery and loaded the cannon herself.
Scout looked back and forth between the now manned cannons, dejected that he didn't have a go at either of them. "Hey, what about me?"
Samantha looked back at him, sizing him up and down. "I don't really have anything for you. Maybe later." Samantha said.
"Booo."
IF watched the mercs load the cannons and fire the shells, then glanced over at the immense dissatisfaction on Blanc and Vert's faces. "You know… I might have an idea."
Spy looked down at her. "What kind?"
"Flame Awakening allows me to control fire." IF said. "What if I tried to extinguish it?"
Spy looked away, taking a deep swig of his cigarette. After a few seconds he let it go and puffed out the smoke. "Get to it, then."
IF nodded and stepped in front, her mind already acclimating with the transformation process. Her temperature rose as her clothing and hair color changed - becoming more fiery in the process.
The firing stopped as IF stepped in front of the artillery. Now everyone was watching her. The attention was on her… time to not make a fool of herself.
Focusing her mind, she told the flames to disappear.
And she almost dropped by just how much flame was there. Her mind lagged as if it was an overwhelmed program. Her eyes widened and her legs shook as her order was sent out to several cubic kilometers of fire and brimstone.
She stopped and collected herself.
So she couldn't do it all at once, what about bit by bit?
Doing the same thing, IF told only a portion of flames to disappear. This time it went smoother. With a silent poof the fire turned into its last bit of smoke and disappeared. Doing it again, this time slightly increasing the radius, IF achieved the same result.
She could… actually do this. It would take some time though.
IF turned around and saw all of the mercenaries watching her, impressed. The CPUs and Samantha were impressed as well - Samantha was actually clapping.
Well, if they were impressed she might as well continue. "This might take some time, but I think I can stop the rest of the fire." IF said. "I'll go and fix it."
"You don't need to, we will just use this." Samantha pointed at the artillery. "We will make a line so Lastation doesn't burn, and then let the rest burn out. Why bother?"
IF turned around and faced the brunette. "Do you not care about the damage to the environment? Even if it won't touch Lastation, losing a forest will cause it a lot of other problems in the long run."
Monsters migrating to new areas, looking for a new home. Lost resources. The possibility that the fires spread to other regions. It was better to kill the fire ASAP. Samantha nodded and backed away from the conversation. "Okay, fair enough."
Spy gave IF a wave and sent her off. "Good luck."
IF walked deeper into the forest and Pyro, seeing this, broke out of the group and followed her. Not "sneaky-sneaky-sneaky" style but it just started walking the direction IF was going. "Pyro? And where are you going?" Engineer said.
Pyro turned around and started mumbling some incomprehensible words while waving its hands around. To people that didn't spend years around Pyro and its way of speech, all of that was just cryptic nonsense. The mercenaries on the other hand read its mannerism like an open book.
"Ah, okay." Engineer nodded and Pyro continued walking. Neptune and a few other people look at Engineer for answers.
"...What did he say?" The CPU of Planeptune asked.
"Pyro said it will follow IF and cover her." Engineer translated.
"Huh…?" Neptune blinked. "You got it all from those mumbles?"
That man was able to speak gibberish!
Up in Lastation's airspace, Magic enjoyed the sensation of Miss Pauling struggling to break free from her grasp. The slippery mastermind of so much unnecessary suffering. She was finally in Magic's hands, helpless and vulnerable.
It would be so easy to kill her. Let her go and watch as she plummets to her doom. Choke her to death and watch as she turns blue until her body gives up. The possibilities were endless. Samantha was sure they only had one Re;Spawn System, and Magic made sure to make Pauling watch while she cleaved their Re;Spawn System in half, then a few more halves for good measure, before reducing the rest of their base to ruin anyway. If Miss Pauling died… that was it for her.
But CFW Magic, though ruthless, was not truly a sadist. When it came to killing, she killed for necessity and not for fun. Though eliminating Pauling for good was objectively beneficial, there were more pragmatic options to be taken. She was sure that her captive was more useful to Samantha alive than dead, for the time being.
As CFW Magic reached the forest, she was pleasantly surprised to see portions of it not being on fire. Some of the trees weren't completely burnt to a crisp, so the felon thought that there was someone actively working on extinguishing the fire.
A moment later she heard a couple of explosions, which guided her to two cannons set up at a clearing and aimed at the edge of the forest. The cute mercenaries she tried to kill were manning them. And with them were the CPUs and exactly who Magic wanted to see. Samantha Neikan was talking with some of the CPUs.
Magic landed next to them and dumped the tied up Miss Pauling onto the ground. Contrary to the CFW's expectation, Samantha and Fay immediately reached for their weapons as soon as they saw who it was, intending to kill their nemesis right here and then. Noire however put her hands in front of them, stopping them in their tracks.
"Don't." Noire said.
"What? She's right there! We can't risk her getting away again!" Samantha argued.
"Don't." Noire said with more force. "I need her interrogated, and then tried and held liable for her crimes."
Plus, if she really did kill Kei, then death would be too good for her. Let her rot in prison instead giving her a quick and painless death.
Samantha scowled and hid her gun. Fay soon followed. "First of all, she's just going to lie if you question her. Second, my employer wants her dead. I will have to check with them if permanent imprisonment is okay." Samantha said. "But if they refuse, or if she tries to get away, I'm killing her no matter what."
Noire just shook her head tiredly. "I've seen enough death today to last me a lifetime. If you must, I'll let you have her later, but not now. Besides, I know where to put her so that she can't ever escape."
It had been a long, long, long day for Black Heart. She has fought a machine legion, CFW Magic, and assassins from another world back-to-back. She will always remember the sight of the blood soaked streets of Planeptune. It will keep her awake for many nights to come. And Kei… That was a grief she won't be free of for an even longer time. She just didn't want to deal with this day any longer.
Samantha fell silent as she tried to recall any prison places from her research about this universe. There was that one moment where C-Sha, a character that presumably doesn't exist in this time yet, was chained to a wall all the time. While it was in Lowee, would Noire do something similar and keep Miss Pauling chained 24/7? Anything less than that would be too much of a risk.
"Fine, but I stand by what I said. If my employer says she dies, she dies."
The CPU huffed and walked up to Miss Pauling. She was bound from neck to toes with thick, pink ropes, given zero ways to actually move her limbs. Noire didn't even question where Magic got the rope from - she had more pressing answers to get.
"Were you behind all of this?" Noire asked.
Miss Pauling looked her in the eye and said "No, I didn't do anything." Her voice was even and betraying nothing. Noire glared at the black-haired woman, trying to force a reaction out of her. Something to break her facade…
She asked again. "You were leading those people that just attacked us, right?
Miss Pauling raised her eyebrows, and there was still nothing that Noire could see as her faking it. This woman looked confused. Either those were genuine feelings… or she had a lot of experience dealing with the authorities.
"I don't know what you're talking about. Why are you asking me?" Miss Pauling responded.
There was no sly smile of a fox, no smug grin of a narcissist. Miss Pauling looked nervous, confused and slightly scared… Just like anyone would if suddenly kidnapped.
Noire actually never heard of her side of the story. She only heard from her enemies, and she felt uncertain in the face of such flawless acting. Even then, some people were less than sympathetic. "Typical. Admit nothing, deny everything, demand proof." Samantha deadpanned.
Miss Pauling said nothing as she looked around, letting her gaze fall on everyone nearby. Her eyes eventually froze on Samantha, as pink mist gathered in her hand and revealed a syringe, full of mysterious glowing blue liquid. The brunette tapped Noire on the shoulder and let her gaze fall onto what she was holding. "It's a truth serum, can I use it on her?"
Noire looked at Samantha, not understanding her for the first few moments. Then once the words 'truth serum' sank in she made a double take and looked at the syringe with a bewildered expression. Other people were also surprised, with Blanc exploding.
"...Why the fuck do you have that? How the fuck do you have something like that? Who made this?! I want names!"
"I'm…" Samantha turned towards the CPU of Lowee, a sheepish grin arose on her lips "...not allowed to say?"
Faced yet again with the usual stonewall, Blanc breathed in and out very hard. Anger seeping out with each breath, like an angry bull about to charge at whoever was unlucky enough to cross her. "I'm going to barge into your home, at the dead of the night, and fuck you to death with my hammer. You understand that? This shit is annoying."
Samantha smiled at the threats. "Kinky."
"Shut up."
"Does this work?" Spy asked, far more intrigued than surprised.
"Oh yeah, absolutely. One dose and she'll answer any question we ask for 8 hours."
And just like that, Miss Pauling's mask broke. "This is against the law!" Miss Pauling said. "This is unethical, I don't agree to this!"
"You shut the FUCK up!" Blanc turned her anger at her.
Not hearing any objections from people whose opinion actually mattered to Samantha, the brunette took a step forward. The moment she did, Miss Pauling suddenly attempted to break herself free. She struggled against the bindings and even pulled out a knife from a place CFW Magic didn't even know about. However her struggles were for naught as Samantha kicked her in the stomach, pressed her knee on her chest and jabbed the syringe into her neck.
Roughly grabbing her hair, the Overseer prevented Miss Pauling from moving her head as the syringe's content was dumped into her bloodstream. Once it was empty, Samantha threw the syringe away - pink mist reclaiming the emptied object back into the hammer space.
"Give it a sec." Samantha said.
Everyone watched as Miss Pauling started to breathe heavily, almost like she was exhausted after a great exercise. Her pupils widened and her eyes became unfocused, just like a person under the influence of drugs. Light seemed to avoid her eyes, making her look as if broken… a look the mercenaries never believed they would see on Miss Pauling.
Samantha nodded.
"Ask away, but be specific. It's not perfect."
Noire gulped, her mind wondering what kind of other sketchy drugs Samantha had in her possession. This woman was dangerous… but she was out of their reach at this moment. They could only be glad she was on their side.
If she could get a truthful answer for any of the questions she wanted to ask… there was one she desperately needed to know. Noire was dreading asking this, afraid of knowing the truth. "Is… Is Kei dead?"
Noire closed her eyes and waited.
And Miss Pauling told the truth.
"Yes."
Noire felt her heart clench, but… "Where's Kei's body?" She asked next, still holding onto a smidge of hope. If they could recover the corpse, maybe Medic could-
"I had a team dispose of it. I don't know where it is."
Noire stared at the woman for a long moment. There was no way to interrogate every single one of Pauling's men, not when they couldn't even be sure if the ones that dealt with the body weren't dead now themselves. Finally, Black Heart clenched her fist, nodded and left. She went back to her sister, and no one said a word. The two embraced as Blanc stomped forward towards Miss Pauling, Spy however grabbed her shoulder and stopped whatever she was planning. She glared at him and he shook his head.
Neptune was the next one to ask. "Did you invade Planeptune?"
"No."
No?
Samantha reworded the question. "Did you send a squad to take control over Gray Mann's robots to send them to Planeptune?"
"Yes."
Neptune stared at Miss Pauling with a mix of conflicting emotions, each one fighting for dominance. This gave Samantha time to ask another question.
"Did your team kidnap Histoire?"
"Yes."
Whatever goodwill Miss Pauling had with people who didn't know her yet, it was long gone. At that point everyone was now hostile to her, and the only reason she was unharmed was the fact she would be more useful alive.
Compa walked up to Neptune and gave her a hug, both to appease herself and to support her own friend. Samantha continued her questioning.
"Where did you tell them to send her?"
"Bilious Gorge."
One small grace, a facility that the mercs and Samantha knew about. The fact that Histoire was sent back to Earth hit them a moment later. The tiny book fairy, an Oracle of Planeptune… inside one of Administrator's bases…
Almost like they wanted the mercs to meet up with the Admin herself.
"Why?" Neptune finally asked. "Why did you do it?"
"We-"
Neptune cut her off. "You sent out an army to invade and massacre my people. Your team kidnapped Histy, killed Kei… Why all of this?"
"We needed a distraction."
"A distraction?!" Neptune shouted. "All of that just as a distraction?!"
"Yes."
Neptune was stunned, and Blanc really wanted to kill her.
The Truth Serum wasn't for the faint of heart, as whoever it was used on will tell the truth in the bluntest of ways. For Miss Pauling as she was now... tactness or gentleness was a concept foreign to her.
Just the cold hard truth.
Vert frowned. "If all of that was a distraction, what was your main goal?"
"To kill Gray Mann."
Vert froze for a second, before realizing that Samantha already told her that. The fact that all of this was just to kill one person... "Did you succeed?"
"No."
And in the end, her grand plan failed. She played them all like a fool and became one in the end. "What were you doing in Leanbox?"
Vert didn't like how Samantha shook her nation up, but there was one thing she was right about. Miss Pauling was in Leanbox, usurping power, but for what reason?
"Expanding, gathering contacts and equipment."
So basically leech resources out of the local civilization, turn good men into dangerous criminals, and leave everything to chaos once drained dry of usefulness. And Vert was… not none the wiser but had trouble finding a lead to start her investigation.
She will not be glad that Samantha stopped them. What she did was too horrible to be grateful.
Vert gave another question. "What was your plan… here? In this forest. You tried to turn us against ourselves."
"We wanted to kill Samantha Neikan and her friends."
Yet another person trying to get rid of her. Vert found it amusing how little actual friends Samantha had. Other CPUs didn't help her because they understood it was a losing battle and circumstances prevented them from helping.
After this is over, their attention and weapons will turn on their mysterious 'benefactor'. And Vert will do her best to lead the charge.
Samantha herself snorted at the mention she was the target of an assasination. "You'd have to do better than that. This wasn't even in the top 10 attempts at trying to kill me."
"Should I even ask?" Blanc said to her. "Like, will asking about that get me some kind of an actual answer from you?
"I'm older than you think." Samantha said. What she actually meant by that, she probably 'was not allowed to say.'
"Yeah, screw you too." Blanc said, ending the talk here and then. Instead she turned towards Miss Pauling. "Hey bitch, did you try anything in Lowee?"
"We haven't."
"Yeah, you better not." ...Small blessings. There was at least one place devoid of their activity. Blanc calmed down a bit after hearing that. "All I wanted to hear." The CPU said, releasing a sigh of relief before turning towards the group. "So what do we do now? Wait for IF to finish? Go to Lastation?"
"I would like to go back to Lastation." Noire spoke first. "It's been a tiring, chaotic day and I want to see the state of my own Basilicom."
"Yeah." Uni breathed out. "I'm… exhausted. And..." A yawn escaped her lips, which she quickly covered with her hand. "Sleepy. What time is it?"
Spy checked his watch, seeing only a bunch of blue lines that signified his cloak's battery. He pressed some buttons on the side and the blue lines turned into an actual watch - showing the time of day.
"It's four in the morning." The merc said. A frown appeared on his features. "You're right, it is late."
They've practically pulled out an all-nighter, fighting the whole night until it was the edge of dawn. Sun will soon rise above the horizon and a new day will begin… With them being dead tired. Once Spy said what time it was exhaustion spread among the group, as if their brains realized how late it was and immediately became tired to force the body to sleep.
"I know you're all tired but we should at least wait for IF to be done." Fay spoke her piece. "Remember that the guys that attacked us might still be in this forest, we didn't wipe them out. They've retreated."
If some vengeful guy tried to avenge his fallen comrades, IF would be their safest bet even with Pyro covering her.
Samantha was not aware that there could be enemies waiting in the forest, as she arrived well after the battle. However once the initial dread passed the more calculating mind returned. "Magic. Go find IF and cover her. Help her if she asks." Samantha ordered.
The CFW gave the brunette a smirk and a brief salute before taking off, flying in the direction IF was last seen going. That gave Samantha a peace of mind. She could trust Magic to protect IF from some common goons and prevent Magnavox from kicking their ass out.
Samantha just realized that she has done it. Miss Pauling is in their custody. While not dead like Magnavox wanted… It was still one less issue to solve. The clean-up will be hell though, as there was an unknown number of goons running around but Samantha trusted that CFW Magic completely destroyed their base - Or at least destroyed their Re;Spawn System.
She finished their objective.
No… Half their objective. The remnants of Pauling's faction shouldn't pose a serious threat, though they'll have to be dealt with nonetheless. Now they just have to deal with their other big problem. The other, goddess-slaying problem.
While Samantha pondered their next move however, exhaustion remained the prime concern for much of the rest of the group. "I think we should just go back to Lastation." Noire said. "IF can handle things here, she has help if she needs it. But I need to know what's going on in my Basilicom.
They were done in this place. There was nothing left for them to do here besides wait. It was better to just go somewhere else… Like to her home and her bed.
"Mind if I take one of your beds?" Vert asked. "I may have experience with staying up for long hours, but today I just want to sleep…"
"Yeah, we have guest rooms." Noire nodded.
Her Basilicom had enough guest rooms to accomodate the whole group, however Noire wouldn't be able to just sleep the moment she arrives. There were a whole set of other problems to deal with, knowing that her very government had been infested with foreign agents and assassins. Such was the duty of a CPU though, and now more than ever she needed to take it seriously.
"Yaaaay! We're going to have one giant sleepover!" Neptune cheered with her hands in the air. "Do you have snacks? I really want some pudding right now, I'm craving it so badly."
"We're not going to have a sleepover you dolt!" Noire snapped. "You can sleep in my home, yes, but lest you forget you have your own country to rule. No one is there right now!"
"Oh relax." Neptune waved. "Histy already made like, crazy tons of preparations just in case something happens. This is one of those 'somethings' she was prepared for!"
"I'm glad to hear that Planeptune has at least one competent leader." Noire said.
"Oh don't be such a meanie, Noire." Neptune cried out. "It's going to be okay!"
"Have you forgotten everything that happened yesterday? Or why there's no one governing your nation right now?"
"No I didn't, but that's exactly why we need to have some fun! All that doom and gloom stuff can't be good for you." Neptune said and pointed at Miss Pauling, who was still tied up and high. "Besides, we already caught the girl behind it! Can't we take a break for a few hours?"
Noire sighed - clenching her fist. The cheerful nagging of the other CPU started to annoy her. The moment they had a breather and were able to rest… Neptune just returned to her old annoying self. Infuriating. Like nothing actually bothered her.
"I'm with Neptune on this one." Samantha said. "Regardless of anything else, more than half of us are too exhausted to continue. We need a break, and an emotional one would be just as helpful as a physical one."
Neptune smiled brightly at the backup and agreement, looking at the CPU of Lastation with a cheerful expression. Noire really wanted to say no. She really didn't have the patience to do this.
"Hold on. You're talking like you're coming with us." She decided to change the topic, looking at Sam.
"Uhh... Yeah?" Samantha raised her eyebrow. "I'm sticking around until I know you have Pauling under control for good. Besides, I got some words for Gray Mann."
The fact she wanted to meet with Gray Mann was met with suspicion from a few members of their group. "...You're not going to kill him too, are you?" Vert butted in, glaring at Samantha.
And Samantha of course didn't disagree with her words, putting more wood into the metaphorical fire. "That… will depend on him."
"I will not allow it." Vert said.
"And what will you do?"
"Can you fucking not?" Blanc suddenly shouted, cutting off Samatha's challenge. "Like I'm seriously starting to actually consider pairing up with Thunder Tits over there."
"Hmph." Samantha turned away, silenced. Vert took it as a victory. A small victory, but still it made her feel better. "Let's just go somewhere we can sleep." Samantha said.
Blanc had no arguments for that, as she also wanted to finally go to sleep. The group wordlessly started to pack and move out, all going towards the same destination - Lastation's Basilicom.
"Please just don't break anything." Noire whined. "I don't need more trouble."
"If you want cash, I can give you gold bars." Samantha said, summoning one of the biggest gold bars Noire has ever seen. It's size and shine made Spy stop in his tracks. And Samantha was just casually offering it to Noire.
And like anyone else would, Noire gratefully accepted the payment without question. "Thanks, actually." Until she noticed how much it weighed. "Oh, it's... heavy." Noire had no idea where she could store it, so the CPU just carried it in her hands.
"Oooh, gold!" Neptune skipped up to Samantha, looking up at the brunette with a pair of puppy eyes. "Can I have some?"
"And what will you offer to me for a gold bar?"
"How about pudding?" Neptune offered. She actually didn't have any pudding right now, but she could give her later. A gold bar would fetch for a good price. Enough to buy tons of pudding.
With a small smile sprouting on her lips, Samantha summoned another gold bar and handed it to Neptune's waiting hands. The CPU of Planeptune eagerly took the gift and noticed how light it was… and how soft.
Neptune peeled the golden cover and revealed a bar of dark brown material. Neptune glared at Samantha in betrayal.
"Hey, did you think I wouldn't notice?!" Neptune shouted, waving a bar of chocolate in front of her face.
Samantha started to laugh and get away as a pissed off Neptune chased her. Everyone could see the high and mighty Samantha Neikan just going along with Neptune's antics, as the two of them ran towards the sunrise.
They did not see the figure watching them from a distance.
A familiar figure bearing an eyepatch and a blade born out of a curse and a blessing.
Hilda Gehaburn watched the group move towards Lastation. Sensing an opportunity that will soon arrive. An opportunity to claim the lives of all of these Devils.
Nepgear is going to have lots of guests.
Interdimensional RED-Coded Contract
Some Women Just Want To
Few chapters ago Samantha threatened Uni and Nisa with a syringe, this time the syringe was used.
Hurrah for continuity.
…Also I feel like the quality of humor has dropped a bit and I apologize for that. I'm feeling a bit burnt out, but I still want to finish this story. I'm not taking a break until I do.
At first I thought about ending this chapter by already throwing Hilda at everyone, but on second thought I felt like we needed a break. The last break before the final battle. It might not start off climatically building up, but we will get there. Eventually.
Miss Pauling is defeated, Gray Mann and Hilda are next.
I cannot wait to show you how this story will end.
In any case, I can't wait to see what you guys think about this chapter.
- Harmless Orange
