EVENT 1: Fan/Fiction Opening
OST: FSN OST 03 - Unmei no Yoru
Night One, 8:00 PM, Ground Zero
The wind howled through the night, carrying with it the powerful stench of death and decay.
Heedless of this, perhaps even somewhat enjoying it, the woman walked through the scorched earth as calmly as one would along a park, armored boots crushing the gravel beneath her as the edges of her immaculate black dress flapped dramatically in the air. Reaching her destination, she shifted her stance, and giving what would initially seem a dainty little jump, leapt six meters up in the air to land atop a massive boulder.
She smiled, and pushing a few loose strands of red hair away from her blazing green eyes, surveyed the chaos.
Ground zero.
It had been less than a week since the Internet Trade Center had been razed to the ground, and the area was still swarming with security forces, easily hundreds of agents. From her vantage point, it looked almost like an angry mass of ants, swarming over the twitching corpse of a dead roach.
Dead roach. Hehe. She should write that down.
She felt whimsical, really. She always did when something big was coming up. Cassandra the Great and her escort were still within chasing distance and she wouldn't put it past TFF to retaliate this soon. However, she did not think they'd be so stupid as to make that their base plan. With their infrastructure and weapons capability so badly mangled, it wouldn't matter how many volunteers they got, any token wing of fighters they managed to cobble together from their own forces here would easily be shot down before they even managed to come across the Agent they'd hired to watch their backs, much less the actual flagship.
No... it had to be something else.
As if on cue, a loud beeping filled her ears. Quickly, she reached a hand into her bustier, pulling out a black handheld computer. On its screen, the device was showing several quick flashes of energy in disparate locations around the city, along with a myriad of different power signatures, each of which seemed to be converging around a single-
...the screen went blank. The signal frequencies were being interfered with. So they'd taken precautions, it seemed. It didn't matter, though. After this, their real plan had become obvious.
She wondered if she should tell Catherine. The woman had been so smug in their last conversation after the attack, and her ego would no doubt grow once she'd defeated the strike force and handed her hostages, including those blasted traitors Zeni and Eterna, back to the Grandmaster.
The look of utter horror on her face when she realized that she'd actually led their worst enemies to the Empire's doorstep -and she was certain that was what TFF had in mind, no doubt- would be priceless.
The miniscule part of her that still held any loyalty to anything other than her own sick fulfillment exploded in protest at the implications, at the massive risk, at the foolishness of letting the door open just for her own enjoyment.
She crushed it like a bug. If Catherine was half as self-sufficient as she claimed to be then she should be able to deal with this.
Still, that didn't mean she was going to make it easy for TFF. That'd be risking her own head, and she wasn't about to do that. No. First, she'd have to find out the details of this plan, and then she'd strike. Even if she didn't manage to stop them in this city, her involvement meant that there would be plenty of opportunities for taking credit later on. She relished the thought.
She nodded to herself, and in a single, fluid leap jumped down from the boulder and walked away into the night.
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Night One, Zaraki's Bar, 8:15 PM
The city was roused. Screams calling for war carried through the wind, impassioned speeches could be heard around every corner, and the sound of boots hitting the snow covered asphalt of the streets as the volunteers gathered around the plaza was unmistakable.
It didn't really matter all that much, though, the woman thought as she looked away from the bedroom's sole window. Though their part to play in the plan was important for initial success, the real action was here.
A knock on the door. She turned around to find her impeccably dressed aide waiting for her.
"Yes, Guilford?"
"Lady Genocide, our main contractor has arrived, and he claims the shuttle that will ferry the team to his carrier is already on the Central Military's hangar. If true, all we have to do is wait for the others."
The woman shrugged, advancing past Guilford and heading down a staircase, towards the bar.
"Provided those we wanted to catched the call's frequency."
"Well, yes," Guilford said, following her.
The woman swept back her long black hair, sighing.
"And that they actually choose to answer it. And that other people we might not want might have been drawn by the call, too. Honestly, is this the best plan we could come up with?"
Guilford frowned.
"Hime-sama-"
"I know Guilford, I know," she muttered, smiling, "besides, what else could we do?"
With this, she reached the end of the staircase and went into the bar proper. It was deserted, as per the heavy bribe paid to the Bartender. Deserted, save for one person - a taciturn, brown haired man sitting on a stool, nursing his drink. He barely looked up, taking one good look at Lady Genocide before returning to his drink.
"My money."
"And a good evening to you too, Mr. Locke Watcher."
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Night One, The Slums, 8:20 PM
The alley was dark, silent except for the passing of a stray cat every once in a while. The bums who slept here were currently gone, and wouldn't be back until even later at night. The place was well hidden, secure, and unlikely to draw attention.
It was the perfect spot for an appearance.
A strange, cold breeze began to pick up, despite the fact that the wind hadn't blown for hours.
There was a tiny flash of light, and a small page, made from something too shiny to be paper but otherwise looking for all the world like something taken out of a doujin, appeared out of midair.
It floated down for a moment, until silently touching the ground.
At that moment, the breeze became a storm, as tens, dozens, hundreds of pages appeared in a veritable tornado of metallic death.
Then, it stopped.
The pages seemed to hover in midair for a few seconds before a sharp crack was heard as they shattered like glass, shards flying in every direction.
As the chaos died down, a tall, white-coated man came into view, calmly dusting himself before stylishly sweeping a hand through his white hair.
"Dramatic Entrance, N?mero Cuatro, perfectly engaged," he muttered, smiling as he looked up. In the distance, the smoke from the smoldering ruins of the Internet Trade Center still rose into the sky.
"Looks like this will be an interesting mission."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And so it would be. At the same time, similar scenes were occurring all over TFF Academy City, as a large group of adventurers appeared, all headed towards the same location - Zaraki's Bar in the slums. Most of them knew about the incident. At least a few had an idea of why they'd been summoned.
And, more importantly, they had all answered the call!
OST: FSN OST 03 - Unmei no Yoru
Night One, 8:00 PM, Ground Zero
The wind howled through the night, carrying with it the powerful stench of death and decay.
Heedless of this, perhaps even somewhat enjoying it, the woman walked through the scorched earth as calmly as one would along a park, armored boots crushing the gravel beneath her as the edges of her immaculate black dress flapped dramatically in the air. Reaching her destination, she shifted her stance, and giving what would initially seem a dainty little jump, leapt six meters up in the air to land atop a massive boulder.
She smiled, and pushing a few loose strands of red hair away from her blazing green eyes, surveyed the chaos.
Ground zero.
It had been less than a week since the Internet Trade Center had been razed to the ground, and the area was still swarming with security forces, easily hundreds of agents. From her vantage point, it looked almost like an angry mass of ants, swarming over the twitching corpse of a dead roach.
Dead roach. Hehe. She should write that down.
She felt whimsical, really. She always did when something big was coming up. Cassandra the Great and her escort were still within chasing distance and she wouldn't put it past TFF to retaliate this soon. However, she did not think they'd be so stupid as to make that their base plan. With their infrastructure and weapons capability so badly mangled, it wouldn't matter how many volunteers they got, any token wing of fighters they managed to cobble together from their own forces here would easily be shot down before they even managed to come across the Agent they'd hired to watch their backs, much less the actual flagship.
No... it had to be something else.
As if on cue, a loud beeping filled her ears. Quickly, she reached a hand into her bustier, pulling out a black handheld computer. On its screen, the device was showing several quick flashes of energy in disparate locations around the city, along with a myriad of different power signatures, each of which seemed to be converging around a single-
...the screen went blank. The signal frequencies were being interfered with. So they'd taken precautions, it seemed. It didn't matter, though. After this, their real plan had become obvious.
She wondered if she should tell Catherine. The woman had been so smug in their last conversation after the attack, and her ego would no doubt grow once she'd defeated the strike force and handed her hostages, including those blasted traitors Zeni and Eterna, back to the Grandmaster.
The look of utter horror on her face when she realized that she'd actually led their worst enemies to the Empire's doorstep -and she was certain that was what TFF had in mind, no doubt- would be priceless.
The miniscule part of her that still held any loyalty to anything other than her own sick fulfillment exploded in protest at the implications, at the massive risk, at the foolishness of letting the door open just for her own enjoyment.
She crushed it like a bug. If Catherine was half as self-sufficient as she claimed to be then she should be able to deal with this.
Still, that didn't mean she was going to make it easy for TFF. That'd be risking her own head, and she wasn't about to do that. No. First, she'd have to find out the details of this plan, and then she'd strike. Even if she didn't manage to stop them in this city, her involvement meant that there would be plenty of opportunities for taking credit later on. She relished the thought.
She nodded to herself, and in a single, fluid leap jumped down from the boulder and walked away into the night.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night One, Zaraki's Bar, 8:15 PM
The city was roused. Screams calling for war carried through the wind, impassioned speeches could be heard around every corner, and the sound of boots hitting the snow covered asphalt of the streets as the volunteers gathered around the plaza was unmistakable.
It didn't really matter all that much, though, the woman thought as she looked away from the bedroom's sole window. Though their part to play in the plan was important for initial success, the real action was here.
A knock on the door. She turned around to find her impeccably dressed aide waiting for her.
"Yes, Guilford?"
"Lady Genocide, our main contractor has arrived, and he claims the shuttle that will ferry the team to his carrier is already on the Central Military's hangar. If true, all we have to do is wait for the others."
The woman shrugged, advancing past Guilford and heading down a staircase, towards the bar.
"Provided those we wanted to catched the call's frequency."
"Well, yes," Guilford said, following her.
The woman swept back her long black hair, sighing.
"And that they actually choose to answer it. And that other people we might not want might have been drawn by the call, too. Honestly, is this the best plan we could come up with?"
Guilford frowned.
"Hime-sama-"
"I know Guilford, I know," she muttered, smiling, "besides, what else could we do?"
With this, she reached the end of the staircase and went into the bar proper. It was deserted, as per the heavy bribe paid to the Bartender. Deserted, save for one person - a taciturn, brown haired man sitting on a stool, nursing his drink. He barely looked up, taking one good look at Lady Genocide before returning to his drink.
"My money."
"And a good evening to you too, Mr. Locke Watcher."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night One, The Slums, 8:20 PM
The alley was dark, silent except for the passing of a stray cat every once in a while. The bums who slept here were currently gone, and wouldn't be back until even later at night. The place was well hidden, secure, and unlikely to draw attention.
It was the perfect spot for an appearance.
A strange, cold breeze began to pick up, despite the fact that the wind hadn't blown for hours.
There was a tiny flash of light, and a small page, made from something too shiny to be paper but otherwise looking for all the world like something taken out of a doujin, appeared out of midair.
It floated down for a moment, until silently touching the ground.
At that moment, the breeze became a storm, as tens, dozens, hundreds of pages appeared in a veritable tornado of metallic death.
Then, it stopped.
The pages seemed to hover in midair for a few seconds before a sharp crack was heard as they shattered like glass, shards flying in every direction.
As the chaos died down, a tall, white-coated man came into view, calmly dusting himself before stylishly sweeping a hand through his white hair.
"Dramatic Entrance, N?mero Cuatro, perfectly engaged," he muttered, smiling as he looked up. In the distance, the smoke from the smoldering ruins of the Internet Trade Center still rose into the sky.
"Looks like this will be an interesting mission."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And so it would be. At the same time, similar scenes were occurring all over TFF Academy City, as a large group of adventurers appeared, all headed towards the same location - Zaraki's Bar in the slums. Most of them knew about the incident. At least a few had an idea of why they'd been summoned.
And, more importantly, they had all answered the call!
