Hope everyone is at least getting more resources out of the newest collab.

  We're never going to get anything better than the Nier collaboration we got, aren't we?

  Oh well, at least the potential political ramifications of this will be fun.

  x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

  Thankfully, there didn’t seem to be any Raptures that followed us. The avalanche had to have drawn some attention, but we were well gone by that point before we found Unlimited. Not to say that we couldn’t be tracked, either. I wasn’t picking up anything for Chatterbox either, which could mean any number of things out here. Hopefully, it meant he’d pissed off entirely, but I wasn’t entirely sure how much a trusted that.

  I’d run into the bastard twice already. Both times, I’d been pulled out the fire by someone else. A complete stranger who seemed to make Chatterbox, a very powerful Tyrant Class Rapture, run the other way. If I were him, I’d want nothing to do with me. Once is a circumstance, twice is strange. And I was the type of person who generally didn’t want to find out whether something was enemy action or not.

  Though I had no idea what Chatterbox wanted with me. If he wanted anything at all. That was something I was very much unclear about, and it still kept my mind turning some nights. Not that my brain needs help on that front. But the first time we met, he ordered me. A big question that even Anderson had struggled to figure out. There was only one real answer for it.

  Corruption.

  Well, it should have been. We were supposed to get scanned for it when we got back, and nothing had happened. Unless Syuen was truly that incompetent, then I was clean. And as little as I thought about the brat, I doubted even see would be as stupid as to keep me around if I was corrupted. Hell, it would just give her an excuse to kill me then and there.

  Which led to the second time. It was surprised to see me. Enough to freeze. Not that it mattered when it came to trying to fight him, but still. Why? He clearly remembered me, clearly noticed that I’d been able to track him. He had to know I was there. So why the surprise? What could have possibly taken him off guard?

  That was a question that I didn’t like the answers to. Because I couldn’t think of anything that fit. Corruption was a shoo-in, no matter how much the concept terrified me on every possible level. And yet, nothing. Just straight up nothing. Chatterbox was smart. Something about me took him by surprise. But what could that have been? What could have changed between our first and second encounters?

  Yeah, I’d gotten stabbed, but they should have gotten my head off before anything from that caused any issues. As weird as that entire experience had been. That was the only possible thing that could have caused a reaction, but once again, I was scanned. I’d been checked for this because, despite Syuen being stupid, there were enough people around her to at least avoid that sort of stupidity.

  I know how Sherlock worked. If you can remove all other options, then what remains, no matter how improbable, is the truth. But all the explanations seemed equally impossible. There wasn't like I would really be able to.

  “Eeeppp!” My thoughts were cut off as something warm nudged my side.

  “Sorry, did I scare you?” Alice looked up at me.

  “I was thinking about, stuff,” I wasn't going to bother Alice with anything about Chatterbox. “I didn't expect you to be that warm, is all.”

  Seriously, why was she that warm? Alice's temperature wasn't, hot hot, but it was still way warmer than it should be. Could it be the body suit? It was either that or she was running really internally warm. No, it had to be the bodysuit.

  “At least the bodysuit is keeping you toasty,” probably could have phrased it better, and it was still a bit weird. We weren't immune to extreme temperatures, but a lot more resistant. So I guess something to keep you warm was a smart move.

  “It's a cold suit.”

  Eh?

  “Eh?” A cold suit? Why the hell would she need a cold suit? This place was freezing as is! Why would she need to get colder?

  Wait a second. She felt that warm and she was wearing a cold suit? What was her internal temperature even like?

  “How warm are you to need to be out here and have that suit on you?” The question probably was rude, but even with all that her temp was elevated. She had to be running as hot if not hotter than my spine got when using my powers.

  Alice looked up at me, slightly confused. “My Queen says it's important to keep wearing it.”

  For a brief moment, Alice looked me up and down. “Are you cold, Cinderella?”

  I don't know why she'd taken to calling me that name, but given how she seemed to like her fairy tales? It wasn't too surprising. She did manage to hit that nail on the head though.

  Didn't expect my life to become a dystopia reenactment of Cinderella, yet here I am, I guess. As for Alice's question? There was a bit of a twinge in my toes. Not quite cold, even, just a familiar discomfort. If the chilblains were back, I was going to be pissed!

  “It's fine, I'm just,” before I could finish speaking, Alice wrapped her arms around me anyway, holding me tight. Her body heat soaked into my frame, fighting off the biting cold that I hadn't quite noticed. Despite myself, a sigh of contentment left my throat.

  “Thank you, Alice.”

  x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

  The reason that Ludmilla wanted to speak with Commander Johnson was about the mission objective. As it turned out, the Research Lab was where Unlimited usually worked out of.

  Someone could probably tell where this was going. Raptures had managed to capture the lab. Leaving Unlimited without a base of operations while fighting the Raptures in the north. As to why they hadn't phoned this in yet?

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  I'll give you three guesses and the first two shouldn't count. They had, it's just that nobody had done anything to reinforce them. I wouldn't be surprised if the report never made it's way to Anderson's desk.

  If there was one thing a military could afford in a time of crisis, it was incompetence. Even smart people could make mistakes and bad calls in bad or stressful situations. A person who has no idea what they're doing? It makes things so, so much worse.

  As this mess was so clearly putting on display. Was I going to have to find a way to see if the Art of War survived so I could force it down people's throats? It was meant for incompetent people who had no idea how wars worked. And there seemed to be a lot of that around here.

  Seriously, who leaves a group out to dry like this? It's so, so stupid!

  At least Anderson and Johnson had brain cells.

  Plus, from the sound of it, the Raptures had done, something to the building itself. Several things, from the sound of it. I had no idea what, but I probably wasn't any good for us. Ludmilla sounded like she had reason to believe everything was intact, so we could get what we needed once we took the place back.

  But that could just as much be her regular confidence at play, rather than an accurate assessment. We didn't have any other options though. If we wanted to find any of these Pilgrims, we needed that data.

  And that meant dealing with whatever it is they did to that building.

  And, well? There was only so much one could do while traveling. As much as I'd normally stew on wanted to punch at least half the command structure in the throat.

  “Do all of you have legendary weapons?” Alice's energy made that difficult. She was just, very much like Neon. A whole lot of energy, good vibes, and nothing sign of any of the jadedness.

  Of course, Neon did not need any degree of prompting to start talking about her laser eye that could set fire to anything she looked at. A perfectly fitting choice for one such as her.

  Rapi, the poor woman, had no idea how to react to any of this. Neon was one thing, but Alice was another. The two of them together? Was either something one would find absolutely adorable or utterly maddening.

  I didn’t exactly have too good of a handle on Rapi. Neon was eccentric and excitable, Anis was jaded and sassy, if a bit lazy at times. But Rapi was straightlaced. Too straightlaced. As if being a soldier was her entire personality. I didn’t mind the seriousness in the field, it was needed then.

  But, at the same time?

  Well, I couldn’t possibly judge Rapi harshly on that front. Nikke’s were supposed to have their memories scrubbed. I don’t know how well it worked. Being an abnormal case that I was, there was no way I was a representative example. But with Alice seemingly obsessed with a fairy tale that she likely hadn’t heard about when she was anything but a child, I kinda had to wonder. Neon also seemed pretty young, too.

  But it really seemed like she didn’t ever remember being a kid. That childish whismey and wonder towards the world around you. It’s as if Rapi had never seen it before. Not even in herself. Felt bad for her, but I wasn’t exactly going to pry on that front. We hadn’t known each other for very long. If she wanted to talk, she would.

  I knew it was only going to be a matter of time before Alice asked me, though. I kinda already had one. No real need to make something up. Of course, calling it a legendary weapon was overselling it considerably. It also gave Syuen way too much credit for something that was, by all accounts, a complete accident.

  Not that I wanted to give the brat any amount of credit at all, but.

  “I do have one, yes,” Rapi’s words almost made me jump from just them being spoken alone. Out of everyone here, I never expected Rapi to go along with this. The look on her face was awkward. Not quite pained, but. I couldn’t place it.

  Maybe it wasn’t a fib? Merely stretching the truth, like I had intended to do?

  “Really? What can it do?” Alice was excited, moving closer to Rapi as Neon followed behind. What Neon had told Alice was what Neon wanted. Not that Alice knew, but it was still nice seeing them talk. But now Alice was going to start asking questions. Something Rapi didn’t see coming, despite how obvious it would be for someone starting to ask questions would be in that situation.

  Of course, Alice was going to want more information. I might have piped up, but I didn’t expect Rapi to open her mouth at all!

  “Do you have one, Elen?” She turned to face me, her eyes sparkling. It took all I had not to try and give her head pats with the look on her face.

  “Yeah, it’s kinda dangerous to me, though,” I admitted, still not used to Alice’s sense of wonder. I’d probably tone down the worst of the side effects. She didn’t need to know that I could cook my brain inside my body. Plus, that might just hit a bit too close to home, given that her body was running hot enough that it needed a specialized containment suit and required being in the frigid wastes on top of that. “It’s in my spine. I can make it so my body reacts quicker than it should, but I can only do it for a few seconds before my body starts to overheat.”

  “Really?” For a moment, she looked really excited, before her expression became a bit more muted. “Does it hurt?”

  Agonizingly.

  “It only hurts if I overdo it,” I lied as easily as I breathed. She didn't need to know that. She really didn't need to know about that. I wasn't the biggest fan of lying, generally preferring omissions than outright deception. But if I told Alice the truth she was probably going to cry.

  Alice continued to give me a look over the next few seconds. I couldn't make up what was going on inside her head. She looked as if she was about to offer me something.

  “I have a glove that can knock things out in one punch!” Anis to the rescue! Maybe! I don't know if she did that on purpose or not. She did seem pretty socially savvy, so probably.

  Still, it was enough to distract Alice, the sparks of wonder returning to her eyes. And the surprise of Anis speaking up was enough to make me make any comments about One Punch Man.

  Was I willing to let the cat be out of the bag around Counters? Yeah, I was going to be working with them in the future, it was best that they did have that bit of context. It would make me seem slightly less weird.

  Anyone else besides Anderson? Yeah, no. I didn't want the Central Government digging into anything about me. I didn't like them or trust them to not have me locked up and experimented on if that ever came out.

  And while Ludmilla and Alice were probably trustworthy, loose lips sink ships. And there was the simple principle that two could keep a secret if one of them was dead. While I didn't exactly like it, there was truth to the logic.

  “Really?”

  “So cool!” Neon and Alice were invading Anis's space now, to the point where I was starting to wonder if I was going to come to her rescue now. “Rabbity has such strong allies!”

  Which brought Alice's attention back to Rapi.

  “What can your legendary weapon do?” Alice beamed at Rapi, who seemed just so awkward under Alice's gaze.

  “Rapi’s weapon is too strong, so it had to be sealed away!” Anis once again stepped in, seemingly pulling a fairly convincing lie out of thin air.

  “That's correct,” Rapi said, still looking just awkward under the childish attention. I was doing my best to suppress my grin.

  “Really? How is it sealed?” Alice was still asking questions, just like a child would. I had to wonder how far away we were from some sort of answer like a stork did it. Sometimes, it was the only answer you could really give.

  “You see, it's locked inside her chest.”

  I turned away, trying to keep myself from letting out a snort or laugh of surprise. Anis, what the hell? Where did you even get that idea from?

  x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

  “That used to be a lab?” I asked, looking down the scope of my rifle. It looked more like a fortress, brimming with more guns than I could shake a stick at. Then again, on the surface you kinda needed that sort of firepower for defense.

  Though now, those guns were pointed at us. Either because there wasn't enough time to sabotage the defenses, someone didn't think to do so, or the Raptures got them back online. One way or another, it was our problem now.

  “How did the Raptures manage to capture this installation?” Rapi asked, giving voice to what I'd been wondering.

  “There was a glitch in a system. A minor one. It was largely ignored, but they kept piling up. By the time anyone in charge thought to fix anything, we were already under attack,” Ludmilla explained as I bit back a groan. Seriously? Did people forget just how important it was to keep your hardware running? An untreated problem was just going to get worse!

  “Well, that raises the question of how do we do this?” I asked. Because we didn't have any high explosives, or better yet, bunker busters. Our guns hit harder than they should, but playing the game of a thousand cuts with a building wasn't my idea of a good time, either.

  “If we destroy the external support beams, the fortress should collapse,” Ludmilla spoke, pointing out each of the said structures to me. Those words.

  I'm pretty sure every engineer I knew just had a rage induced aneurysm. External support beams that would collapse the entire structure when destroyed? Who approved of that design? Oh, wait, the Central Government approved. Or the Raptures did. One of the two.

  Well, that seemed simple enough.

  All of us got into firing positions, a hail of bullets raining onto the superstructure. It didn't take long for the beams to start to crumble. Platforms of artillery plunged from their perches, carried down by gravity with screams of metal. Though as the defenses began to crumble.

  Something else emerged.

  “Some please tell me that I didn't just see a building get chest bursted!” I scowled, reloading as another building emerged from the crumbling structure. Even more guns covered its body. And worst of all?

  It was moving. Not fast, but it still looked like it was coming at us, the demented what-if offspring of a snapping turtle and a US armory.

  “What does that even mean?” Anis shouted back as I brought my gun up, shooting at the several missiles heading our way. So Aliens didn't make it?

  “Is that the Queen of Hearts?” Alice's voice was full of grim determination. I doubt it, we were still living, after all. If this was the Queen, I would be disappointed.

  “No. It is a mighty servant of the Queen of Hearts, but is not her,” Ludmilla confirmed, firing her weapon into its body. It was too big to miss. I had no idea how much damage we were doing, but hopefully a lot.

  I took a few shots at the artillery emplacements along its shell, seeing several waves of them firing toward the rocky outcrop we were shooting it from.

  “We got incoming!” I warned, reloading my rifle. My body hummed as I activated power, lining up the rifle with the first shell.

  Then I pulled the trigger, sending it down range, before picking the next target. With my power, and the helmet, I could cheat. One bullet, one shell. That was all I needed.

  At the last bullet, I let the power drop, feeling a slight pain inside as my body heated up.

  BOOM!

  The eruption of several artillery shells going off at once was a spectacle, even as my body began to cool down, the external temperature eating away at the heat as if it were ravenous.

  The sudden back and forth wasn't good for my body. I had no doubt in my mind that it was doing some degree of damage. But that was a problem for me in the future. For now, I had a job to do.