Snyderverse Neptunia Snippets
by Derald Snyder
Snippet 68- Nuns In The Night
Timeline- After Snippet 64.
*Lastation Guild HQ*
Uni couldn't help but yawn as she walked into the briefing room. "You know, I would have liked to get a few z's in before you called me..."
"I'm sorry, Miss Uni," a Guild NPC shook his head. "I understand you've had a long day, but Agent Duane really wanted your help with this one..."
"So where is he...?" Uni asked as she plopped down on a nearby chair.
"Getting suited up... oh, here he is." As he said this, the door opened, revealing Brian Duane in his familiar Batsuit, though he hadn't donned the cowl yet.
"Oh... if I had known you were in such condition, I would have just gone to handle this one myself," Duane said upon noticing the CPU Candidate's fatigue.
"It's fine..." Uni shook her head. "That one Quest took a bit longer to handle than I thought... (yawn) but I can just grab a nap on the drive over..."
"...Well, if you insist," Brian sighed. "Basically, it seems we've got a rouge vigilante group on our hands. They appeared a few nights ago, shooting down some street gangs, though no one was killed outright..."
"Even so, this is Lastation, not the Wild West," the NPC said. "We need to find these people and rein them in before they get in over their heads..."
"Any leads?" Uni grunted.
"We have a few snapshots from security cameras," the NPC agent replied. Bringing up a holo-screen, a picture appeared showing a blurred female outline with two guns in hand. "We think she may be wearing dark clothing to blend into the shadows..." Another shot, showing a vaguely dog-like silver blur with what appeared to be a red cape. Behind it was the shadow of a hooded young girl. "We believe the dog is trained to attack criminals..."
"So two women and their superhero dog...?" Uni said in mild disbelief.
"Right," Brian nodded. "And given that one of them's a gunslinger..."
"That's where I come in," Uni finished. "Well, hopefully once they recognize me, they'll stand down without going into a shootout..."
"Let's hope that Gun Girl doesn't have an itchy trigger finger, then," the NPC deadpanned. "Agent Duane will drive you to the last area where they were spotted; hopefully you can pick up their trail..."
"I'll drive slow this time, so you can get a quick nap in," Brian concurred, sliding the cowl over his head. "Shall we head out, Lady Uni?"
"After you, Batman..." Uni grunted as she stood up, yawning and stretching...
*And so, out in the streets...*
The 'Batmobile' came to a halt in an alley, Batman gently shaking Uni awake before getting out, checking his utility belt to make sure everything was in order. Uni slowly opened the door and climbed out, wincing as said door scraped a little on the wall. "Sorry..."
"It's fine, it's not like this is a snazzy sports sedan," Batman shook his head. "Is your rifle ready?"
"Yeah, should be..." Uni grunted as she shut the door, before summoning her sniper rifle and checking it over. "Yep, all good."
"All right, let's split up," Batman suggested. "I'll go left, you go right. If you find them, fire into the air and I'll be right over."
"What if you find them first?" Uni asked.
"Then I'll fire off a flare," the caped crusader said. "Try to keep your eyes and ears open, these vigilantes might have some hidden tricks up their sleeves."
"I'll try," Uni nodded. Truth be told, she was still a little groggy...
"All right, let's meet back here in 15 minutes if we don't find anything," Batman stated. "Good luck." And so he vanished into the shadows...
"Same to you," Uni waved, before heading in the other direction...
However, a few minutes later, the CPU Candidate was leaning against a wall, trying to stay awake... (Guess that nap didn't help much...) she thought, feeling herself nodding off... but suddenly she felt her body enveloped in a healing aura, jerking back to full awareness. "Wha- huh?!"
"Are you okay, Miss?" asked a young voice, Uni turning to see a teenage girl holding a staff, dressed in white with a pink hood resembling a lop-eared bunny.
"What..." Uni clapped her cheeks a few times to make sure she wasn't dreaming. "Um, what's a little girl like you doing out here at this time of night?"
"I'm with my sister," the girl responded. "We're looking for our other sister who went missing on us... we're sure she's somewhere in this city, though."
"Then why not search during the day? Or going to the police?" Uni pointed out.
"Police...?" The girl tilted her head in confusion. "What's a 'pol-eece'?"
(Wait, is she serious...?!) Uni thought in disbelief. Shaking her head, she decided to try a different approach. "Look, what's your name?"
"Um... it's Blanc," the girl replied hesitantly. "People say that's the name of a goddess of Lo-ee, but I'm just a nun in training."
"...You're not from around here, I'm guessing," Uni deducted.
"Um, no," the girl shrunk into herself a little. "But, big sister says I can't tell anyone where we're from..."
In order to try and ease the girl's anxiety, Uni set down her rifle, leaning it against the wall. "Look, I'm not going to hurt you. My name's Uni, and my sister is the ruler of this nation."
"She is?!" little Blanc gasped. "Does that mean you're a princess...?!"
"Uh... not exactly," Uni ducked her head and sweat-dropped. "My official title is CPU Candidate, which basically means I'm her successor if something happens to her... so I gotta prove that I have what it takes..."
"Oh! So... you're patrolling the streets for bad people?" Blanc realized.
"Kind of," Uni nodded. "Actually, I'm here with a member of the local Guild to-" Suddenly reports rang out in the distance. "Gunfire?!" she gasped, quickly retrieving her rifle.
"Oh no! Big sister must be in trouble!" little Blanc fretted.
"We better get over there! Stick with me!" Uni ordered. (And I hope Agent Duane is okay...!)
"Okay!" Blanc nodded, the two running off together...
*Elsewhere...*
"Where?! Where did you go?!" hissed a woman dressed like a nun, with a klobuk shaped vaguely like a cartoon mouse. She looked about as she pointed her twin guns in every direction... She suddenly perceived something flying above her, looking up... "A giant bat?!" She opened fire, but the bat vanished into the shadows once more. "I can't get a bead on them...!"
"I'll go! I can sniff out that bat easy!" said her companion, a silver colored-creature that looked like a cross between a dog and a horned dinosaur, with a red cape tied around its neck.
"...All right, but don't get in over your head, Hackmon!" the nun reluctantly acquiesced.
"No worries!" the creature nodded, running to the building the bat had flown to, using his claws to climb up the wall easily... pulling himself onto the roof, he looked around a bit, walking forward slowly on all fours... "The shadows won't hide you! I can pick up your scent!"
"Are you sure about that?" said a voice right beside the creature, who yelped in surprise before turning toward the sound- getting grabbed and thrown off the roof, only for a grapple line to wrap around his foot, leaving the creature dangling helplessly in midair! "Bad dog. You stay."
"Ah-hahahaha!" the nun pointed and laughed. "Looks like you're a bit strung up, Hackmon!"
"Okay, that does it. No more Mr. Nice Digimon!" Hackmon growled, being enveloped in a bright glow... "Digivolve to... Bao Hackmon!" In a flash, he was now bigger and more lithe, his rear legs now sporting curved blades, which he used to cut the line and free himself, turning over and landing on his feet, before jumping upwards and grabbing the roof's edge, pulling himself back up! "Time for round two!"
"What the...?!" Batman gasped at the sudden change. As Hackmon charged, he pulled out a Batarang and hurled it into his face, slowing his forward momentum, the Dark Knight then grabbing him by the horn and throwing him on his side! Bao Hackmon rolled away, before jumping and kicking with his rear leg blades, Batman deflecting them with his armored gauntlets before striking back with a kick of his own, knocking Hackmon back, but he rolled backward and came up on all fours. "Stubborn mutt, aren't you?"
"I'm no mutt!" Bao Hackmon shot back in a slightly lower voice than before. "I'm a Royal Knight in training! And I won't lose to an overgrown bat like you! Fif Cross!" He attacked with his front claws, but Batman blocked with his gauntlets, hitting him with a knee to the gut! Undeterred, Hackmon intoned, "Burn Flame!" blasting fire out of his mouth, Batman rolling aside to evade... "Teen Blade!" Bao Hackmon cried as he whipped out his bladed tail to attack-
-only for said tail to be evaded, then grabbed by Batman, pulling in the same direction to flip Hackmon head over heels! "Don't telegraph your moves!" he critiqued, backflipping to get some breathing room as his opponent righted himself... But then Bao Hackmon wordlessly charged at Batman, hitting him with a tackle that sent him flying off the roof! The caped crusader managed to shoot his grapple gun and hook something to arrest his fall, swinging and then letting go, curling into a roll as he hit the street, coming up on one knee-
-only to see a gun pointed in his face. "One wrong move and I shoot!" the nun warned. But then...
"Sister!" cried little Blanc as she and Uni ran onto the scene, the nun taking her attention off Batman for a moment... but that was all he needed, dropping a smoke bomb and causing her to go into a coughing fit as he grappled away! "What was that thing?!"
(cough cough) "Some kind of... (cough) bat-man!" the nun gasped out as she stumbled out of the smoke cloud.
"No worries, I've got him!" came Hackmon's voice as he bounded across rooftops to try and catch up...
"Wait!" Uni called after him, to no avail. "He's making a big mistake!"
"What mistake is that?" little Blanc asked as she used a healing spell on her sister.
"That Batman's one of us! He's a good guy!" Uni asserted. "Ugh, forget it! I'll go after them myself! Access!" Blanc gasped as the CPU Candidate was engulfed in a pillar of light, fading to reveal her HDD form! Black Sister then flew off into the sky after Hackmon and Batman...
"Wow! Did she just digivolve?!" the younger nun said in awe.
"She's not a (cough)Digimon," her sister grunted. "But she's clearly not quite human either..."
"We should go after them!" Blanc insisted, "before Hackmon gets hurt or worse!"
*On the rooftops...*
Bao Hackmon jumped from one rooftop to another, using his nose to try and pick out Batman's scent... "You won't get away!" he called out. Suddenly he was hit with a kick in the side, tumbling off the roof and crashing painfully to the street below! As he shook his head to regain his senses, Hackmon saw a horned shadow slipping away... "Cheap shot! Not good enough!" He jumped and dug his claws into the wall, bounding upward until he was atop the roof once more... (Good thing Noir didn't see that...) He spotted Batman swinging away, shooting a fireball from his maw before giving chase... the fireball missed, as expected, but it lit up the area just enough for Hackmon to see his fleeing quarry on the other side of the street, running down the parallel rooftops to try and find a way over... An overpass came into view, Bao Hackmon leaping down and running across, dodging a few vehicles which blew their horns at him...
(This creature doesn't know when to quit!) Batman thought as he saw Hackmon jump and climb the building adjacent to his position, taking out an item from his utility belt, before whistling sharply! As expected, Bao Hackmon promptly turned and charged at him, only for Batman to press the trigger, discharging a waft of pepper spray into the Digimon's face!
"Agh, my eyes!" Hackmon cried in agony as he tried to wipe his eyes with the back of his paws, Batman using an upwards kick to knock him upright, then tackle him into a billboard, before laying into him with several punches! But Hackmon surged forward and shoved him off, unleashing another Burn Flame from his jaws, forcing the Dark Knight to roll away! Bao Hackmon then leapt and tackled Batman off the roof, but he managed to shift his weight and turn so that the Digimon took the brunt of the impact on the street below! But Hackmon managed to roll back over, pinning Batman to the street, preparing to burn his face off-
A report sounded through the air, striking Bao Hackmon and knocking him off Batman, reverting back to his smaller form! Looking up, he saw a white-haired woman with futuristic wings and a black leotard descending towards them... "That's enough!" Black Sister ordered. "As a goddess of Lastation, I hereby order you to stand down, Hack-mon!"
"G-goddess?!" Hackmon gasped in disbelief.
"That's right," Uni affirmed as she touched down. "You are in the wrong here. Batman is an ally of mine, not a villain!"
"Ugh... Thanks, Black Sister," Batman grunted as he slowly rose back to his feet. "He almost had me there..."
"No problem," Black Sister nodded. She turned her head slightly, hearing footfalls, little Blanc and her sister running up to the scene. "It's okay, you two, the situation is under control."
"Hackmon! Are you okay?" Blanc gasped. "Here, let me heal you!" She promptly raised her staff, Hackmon enveloped in a gentle light.
"Wait, so this thing isn't a monster?" her sister said, holding her guns up defensively.
"...Agent Duane, take your mask off," Black Sister sighed.
"But, Lady Uni-"
"That's an order!" the CPU Candidate insisted. Brian sighed in resignation, pulling back his cowl. "See? He's just a man in a costume, not a monster, okay?"
"Oh, I see," the nun nodded, relaxing and lowering her guns. "You just dress like a bat to scare people, then."
"A human?!" Hackmon gasped. "Oh no... I messed up big time! Master will never let me hear the end of this if he finds out!"
"Master?" Uni asked as she reverted to human form.
"Yes, Hackmon here's training to become a Royal Knight," the older nun clarified. "Blanc and I are tasked with overseeing his training... Oh! I haven't introduced myself, have I?" Putting her guns away, she said, "My name is Sistermon Noir. Blanc and I were looking for my twin sister, Sistermon Ciel..."
"Ciel?!" Uni gasped. "Wait, that means... you guys are Digimon! Just like that Demon Lord Lilithmon!"
"Digimon...?" Brian asked, utterly confused.
"...oh, right. You weren't there when Ciel jumped into the computer network," Uni sighed. "Okay, let me call Noire, (hopefully she's still up) and have her come down here to explain things..."
"Noire?" Sistermon Noir tilted her head in confusion.
"Also known as Black Heart, the goddess and ruler of Lastation," Brian clarified. "That you and she have similar names is just a coincidence."
"Oh, right," Sistermon Noir nodded in comprehension.
"And so, back at Guild HQ...*
"So, let me get this straight," Noire sighed, dressed in her black pajamas. "Sister Ciel's twin sister and younger sister came to this world looking for her, bringing a knight-in-training with them, and you all got in a fight due to a misunderstanding?"
"That's about the size of it," Uni nodded. "Thankfully I was able to stop the fight before anyone got seriously hurt..."
"Goddess Black Heart, you have our deepest apologies," Sistermon Noir bowed deeply. "We meant no harm..."
"Yes, I'm really sorry for attacking your friend Bat-man!" Hackmon bowed his head to the floor. "We didn't realize he was human until he took his mask off! Please have mercy on us!"
"Okay, okay, calm down," Noire sighed, rubbing her temples. "I don't know how goddesses are in your world, but I don't smite people unless they're completely irredeemable! That being said, you did shoot and injure several people in the streets, even if they were ruffians themselves! We don't condone that kind of vigilantism here! So for tonight, you'll be locked in holding cells, and then when morning comes around, I'll see about reuniting you with your sister, all right?"
"Very well, we will accept your judgement," Sistermon Noir agreed.
"But, your sister said a Demon Lord Digimon was here...?" Sistermon Blanc spoke up.
"Yeah, that's right, which is why your sister decided to stick around here, just in case," Noire nodded. "But that Lilithmon is laying low right now, to my knowledge..." She paused to take a yawn. "I'll explain more after Uni and I get some beauty rest..."
"Yeah, I think I need to turn in myself..." Uni grunted, mimicking her sister's yawn.
"Right, well, we'll put these three into custody until you come back tomorrow," the NPC Guild agent spoke up. "Speaking of which, you should take it easy for a day or two yourself, Agent Duane."
"Duly noted," Brian said as he doffed his gauntlets...
*The next morning...*
"You called for me, Lady Noire?" Sistermon Ciel said as she entered the hall where the Guild's holding cells were located.
"Yeah, someone's here to see you," Noire nodded, gesturing to the guard to unlock the cell... as soon as the door was open, Sistermon Blanc ran out and grabbed Ciel in a big hug!
"Wha- Blanc?!" Ciel gasped, looking up to see her twin sister emerge. "And Noir?!"
"Sister! I missed you so much!" Sistermon Blanc cried, with tears in her eyes. "We were looking all over for you...!"
"We had a run-in with one of the younger goddess' enforcers," Sistermon Noir put a hand behind her head sheepishly. "That's why we were locked up..."
"Yeah, we goofed up big time," Hackmon said as he also came out.
"Oh, I... I see," Ciel nodded. "Well, it is good to see you again... I'm sorry I didn't send a letter, but you can't exactly send one across dimensions..."
"Well, given that they engaged in unlawful vigilantism, your sisters are going to have to do community service as repayment," Noire stated. "And their doggy knight-in-training, too."
"I'm not a dog, Lady Black Heart..." Hackmon whined.
"Oh, I don't know, you could probably entertain the human children..." Sistermon Noir teased. "Fetching a ball, rolling over... maybe even play dead!" She doubled over with laughter at her tasteless joke...
"You haven't changed a bit," Ciel sweat-dropped. "This, Lady Noire, is precisely why I decided to strike out on my own..."
"I can see why," Noire nodded in understanding. "Anyway, I'll see if I can assign you to supervise your sisters and Hackmon during their community service... and you have my permission to smack your twin upside the head, if she makes another bad joke like that."
"Oh, don't worry, I will," Sistermon Ciel nodded back.
*Snippet 68- End*