"We'll go through the city, and if we encounter the resistance group, we'll simply deal with them."

"Very well. Follow me. I'll lead us forth."

Nepgear followed her until they reached the city border, where a checkpoint was set up. "Stay near me. I have notified the SDM squad beforehand. Do not transform under any circumstances. We do not want our cover to be blown before we reach Chika."

Nepgear nodded. "I understand. I can probably deal with them in my human form. So... about the SDM."

"Worry not. The SDM is currently managing the situation with evacuating the civilians and fighting the resistance group."

"That's good to hear. Seems the SDM garnered quite the reputation. I remember when you guys were small back then."

"I suppose so. Back then, the SDM had only me and a few individuals. We lacked members and hardly were equipped with military gear. As of now, our numbers and funding had increased significantly."

"Ah, I see."

The two walked before they were stepped by one of the soldiers. "Halt."

The other soldier immediately recognized the two women. "Ah, miss Cave and Lady Lilac Heart. You may enter but be on your guard at all times."

"Have you put the city on full lockdown yet?" Cave asked.

"Of course. The SDM finished evacuating most of the civilians."

"Good that ought to—"

A loud explosion in the distance echoed. "Be advised. The resistance group has launched an attack on one of the checkpoints."

"Copy that. We'll send a unit over—"

Suddenly, there was an explosion and Nepgear, along with everyone else, was knocked back a few feet by the blast wave. There was a loud ringing noise in her ears before Nepgear blacked out for a moment.

After regaining her bearing, Nepgear looked around and coughed as smoke was surrounding them. Her vision was blurry and her ear was still ringing. The noises were muffled and all she could make out was the noise of people screaming, followed by shooting. She slowly but surely started to regain her vision and tried to push herself to stand up but her body was not responding. Her eyes were tearing up from the dust and smoke.

"Push back! We're losing too many men—" A bullet pierced through the soldier's skull as he fell beside her.

Nepgear saw soldiers aiming and shooting, but not before some got shot and were killed instantly. Bodies were laid everywhere. She looked around, trying to find Cave amid the battle and chaos, hoping she wasn't lying in a pool of blood nearby. The battlefield was filled with the smell of smoke, gunpowder, and blood. She then saw one of the Elite Resistance Groups spotting her before they aimed their gun at her.

She instantly shielded herself with her hands as she braced herself. She heard the sound of the bullet firing but after a few moments she felt nothing. Confused, Nepgear glanced over her arm and saw the body lying dead in the ground with a bullet hole in the head. She saw Cave emerging from the smoke and rushing towards her.

She quickly extended her hand and helped her get up. "Come. We must escape from here before more appear."

Nepgear tried not to fall and balanced herself. She then ran along with her friend, who began shooting the sniper rifle with automatic mode as she cleared the way. There were molotovs being thrown, which spread fire everywhere. Suddenly, the two heard the roar of an engine, followed by a tire screeching. A truck pulled up with a mounted machine gun. The guy immediately started firing and bullets were raining.

Cave pushed Nepgear down to the group while she easily evaded the bullets. However, she couldn't keep up dodging forever. Cave then spotted an alleyway. With a focused mind and steady aim, she fired a shot that stunted the man momentarily, with the bullet hitting his armor vest and knocking him off. "Quick. Into that alleyway."

She and Cave made a run for it while the machine gun was firing at them. The bullets were a few hairs from hitting them but they managed to escape deeper into the alleyway, away from the battlefield.

Nepgear took a moment to catch her breath before she turned to her friend. "Are you okay?"

"Yes. I'm still breathing."

"That was total hell. We've lost many soldiers."

The two continued walking down the dark alley. They found a couple of people gathered around a barrel that had fire inside to try to warm themselves up from the harsh cold weather. Others were slouching by the rubbels, and some were sleeping using cardboard boxes as covers. A couple of people gave them a strange look as they passed, but Cave and she kept their heads low and walked faster. Honestly, the scene broke Nepgear's heart.

"I can't believe the state the people are in right now." The scene broke Nepgear's heart into pieces. "This is so messed up."

"I know. Many people had suffered. There were a lot of unfortunate people who were caught in the crossfire and lost their homes. To witness my home go in flames, it felt like I had lost a part of myself."

"I'm sorry."

"Not all hopes are lost. But for now, let us—" Cave suddenly stopped and dragged her behind a dumpster before she was able to register the situation.

"Why did you stop—"

"Hold still. An ASIC surveillance bot is heading our way."

The bot stopped and a light beam appeared as it began scanning the alleyway for a while before it advanced. Suddenly, a loud thud noise grabbed its attention and it went to look for the source of the noise. Cave threw an empty can from the dumpster. While the bot was distracted, she went to the barricaded windows and forced the wooden blanks out just enough to make room for them to slip by.

"Come. Into the building before another appears." Cave let her go first, then she climbed next. "We'll continue on from the rooftop. It will make it easier for us to avoid most patrol bots in this area."

"Just how much further until we get there?" Nepgear coughed as she inhaled some of the dust that had accumulated in the abandoned building.

"Not much further, I imagine. Those patrol bots are a sign that we must be nearing."

They continued until they reached the rooftop and began hopping from one building to another. They then stumble on a scene where some resistance members wearing masks were lighting molotovs and throwing them, lighting the streets and buildings on fire.

Nepgear was able to do anything but witness the barbarity that's taking place right in front of her. Cave put a hand on her shoulder, bringing her back to reality.

"We must carry on. We can not afford to waste more time."

"But—"

"I assure you. There are more enforcement coming on the way. For now, we can not do much to assist at the moment, not without risking blowing our cover up."

Nepgear remained hesitant for a bit before giving in. "Okay..."

"Sometimes I wonder about my conscience, you know?"

"You are not alone in this. Things aren't white and black like they used to. These are tough times for sure."

The two continued on foot as they had run out of buildings to jump to. The two descended from a fire exit stairway and walked for a while until they reached what seemed to be an abandoned manufacturing factory for game consoles. The building was lifeless and gave off a sense of uneasiness.

"We are here."

"So that's the place?" Nepgear asked as she took in her surroundings. The room was dim but she could make out that they were in a room full of many crates that have a '360' labeled on them and old machinery. The place was filled with a smell of damp walls and rusty metal. There were no power sources powering the place.

"It should be, if the information I received is to be trusted."

"Well... it seems like a good place to convert to a base for illegal operations—omph!" Nepgear's speech was interrupted when her leg tripped on one of the consoles lying on the floor.

"Crap..." Nepgear swore under her breath, hoping no one heard that. She looked over at her friend, who gave her a disapproving look, which prompted her to silently argue that it wasn't entirely her fault. Well, it kinda is but she couldn't predict it even if she could.

"Hey, wait up. I think I heard something over there."

"Really? I didn't hear anything. Look, it's probably nothin'. Let's get going before the big event. I wouldn't want to miss that."

"No... I definitely heard something. I'm going to check it real quick just to be sure."

"Fine then. I'm going to keep watch here. Just holler if you need help."

The ASIC entered the room, looked around, and found nothing out of the ordinary before he spotted one of the dolls lying under a spotlight near one of the crates. As he walked over the toy and went down to pick it up, he saw a gun barrel aiming directly at him. Cave, who was hiding behind the crates, slowly emerged out of the hiding spot while keeping her gun fixed on him.

The man slowly raised his hand in surrender while slowly backing away from her as she approached him while aiming the gun before she patted his pocket and tossed his gun away.

"Hey! What's takin' so long in there, Vic?"

"Tell her that everything is fine."Cave instructed him with a stern look while her rested finger at the trigger.

The man gulped before he complied, not wanting to earn a ticket straight to Celestia. He turned his head around and yelled, "Everything is fine here, Liz. Uhhh... You go on ahead. I'll... catch up soon, okay?"

"Fine, but I'm giving you one minute before I leave you behind."

The footsteps went further and further away until Cave confirmed that they were alone. She signaled with her gun for him to turn around before she delivered a swift hit with the butt of her sniper rifle at the back of his neck, which knocked him cold instantly.

Nepgear then went out of her hiding spot soon after. "Well, that went well."

"This should buy us some time, but not for long." Cave went and grabbed the legs and dragged the body to hide it somewhere among the crates. "Go and deal with the other one. It will be a problem for us if she catches on that something is up when her friend doesn't show up."

Nepgear nodded and walked with silent steps on the other ASIC member, who had her back turned on her. She raised her Beam Saber before she delivered a quick and clean kill by impaling her from behind. The girl let out a pained and surprised gasp before she stared with horror at the blade sticking from her stomach. Nepgear yanked her beam saber and watched the ASIC girl drop dead in front of her without any remorse.

She grabbed the body and hid it behind the many crates in the storage room before she regrouped with Cave, who was waiting for her. "Good. Now, let us search the place and locate Chika before more ASIC appear. And do mind your step this time if you could."

"Jeez, sorry..." Nepgear muttered under her breath. The two girls began searching the place from top to bottom but had no luck finding anything.

"Are we sure this is the right place?" Nepgear began. "I'm starting to think we were purposely misled."

"Continue searching. We will not leave until we check every nook and cranny."

"Okay, but we won't have long. Also, you heard what the ASIC woman said. She mentioned something about a big event... Maybe that could be a lead."

"I suppose it's worth investigating." Cave nodded before they entered an empty room and looked around for a bit.

"Well, we searched everywhere." Nepgear turned to her friend before she sighed. "I'm sorry, but it looks like Chika isn't here."

"Very, well." Cave sighed. "Let us get out of here before more ASIC show up."

Suddenly, the door behind them loudly closes without a warning, startling both girls.

"What the goodness?!"

"We're trapped." Cave gritted her teeth as she tried to force the door open. Suddenly the room was filled with strange gas from the vents.

"Sleeping gas." Cave tried to cover her nose. "This is not good. We must find a way out quick."

Unfortunately, it was too late, as the gas had already taken effect on the two girls. Both Nepgear and Cave tried to cover their faces with their clothes, but it proved futile as they felt their movement getting more sluggish.

Must... stay... awake...

Soon, the two girls bodies flopped on the floor like ragdolls, their consciousness fading away.