5

Play: Meditation

I palmed the pair of pistols at my side, along with a P90. "Hm... not as much ammo as I would like. But it'll do. I'll need to see if I can workshop a coilgun while we're out there."

Anis gave me a blank stare. Then she said, "Commander. Give me a serious answer. Just who the hell ARE you? Like, honestly."

Rapi frowned, eyeing my outfit. "...I have to admit. I have questions as well, Commander."

Marian tilted her head. "What's wrong with Commander's loadout?"

"What's wrong?!" Anis threw her hands up. "It's not what's wrong! It's the fact that it's too right! Isn't our commander supposed to be an average graduate? How the heck is he like this?!"

I hummed, testing the feel of the weapons in my hands.

They felt surprisingly familiar to the grip.

I was a bit worried since this wasn't 'my' body. But it seemed like this body had muscle memory of wielding firearms too.

After expertly putting everything away, I looked at Anis and said, "I 'was' an average graduate. By definite though, I'm clearly not average since I led you all to victory against a Tyrant-class Rapture."

"...I give up." Anis gave me a deadpan look and said, "Okay. Commander. Just answer me one thing."

"I'll answer whatever you want, Anis. I'm an open book, you know?"

"...Sure. But." Anis looked at me. "...At least tell me this. Can we trust you? To not abandon us?"

It was a vulnerable question. For once since I'd met her, Anis wasn't brushing things off or being irritated.

I stared into her eyes and said, "I would burn the world to ash first."

"Tch." Anis looked away and said, "...A simple 'yes' would have been fine. Stupid Commander..."

Marian smiled. "Well. That's our commander." She looked at me and said, "We mean the world to him. So... If we're gone..."

"The world has no meaning." Rapi finished. "...So let's do our best to not die. I have a feeling that the world's fate rests on that..." Although she said it with a deadpan voice, the slight smile on her face showed it was a joke.

Shifty didn't get it though.

"U-Um! Hello?! Are we being serious here?! Should I be concerned?! Commander Hoopa seems like he could actually burn the world to ash though?!"

I let out a teasing smile at my datapad and said, "Don't worry, Shifty. I'll let you know when to not come into work that day."

"...I DON'T KNOW IF THAT'S A THREAT OR A PROMISE AND IT SCARES ME!"

Me, Anis, Rapi, and Marian laughed as we headed towards the elevator. Along the way though, someone approached.

I paused and looked over.

Rapi noticed as well, but then she gave me a weird look. "Commander?"

"Hm?" I looked at her. "What?"

"...Nothing. I'll ask later." Rapi looked at the person walking towards us.

Marian instinctively moved to my right side, eyes sharp and hand on her machine gun.

Anis moved to my left, eyes sharp too.

Before any of us could react though, the person approaching us called out.

A friendly and bubbly voice. "Hello! My name is Neon!"

A young woman with white hair and red-rimmed glasses, wearing a white uniform with the Elysion logo on it.

I blinked. "...Neon?"

Neon looked at me and saluted. "Nice to meet you, Commander! I was sent to take part in this investigation!" She adjusted her glasses and said, "From now on, I'm under your command! Oh, and also..."

"...Also?"

Neon smiled. "I'm a spy."

Dead silence.

Anis gave Neon a blank look. "What?"

Neon let out a happy smile and said, "Miss Ingrid said to do my best to help you and then to report everything back to her afterwards! That's what a spy does, yes?" She clapped her hands. "I've always wanted to be one! So I'm looking forward to helping you all and in being the best spy I can!"

Anis blinked and looked at me.

I just kept staring at Neon. Then I chuckled. "Well." I held out my hand to her. "Pleasure to be working with you, Neon."

Neon grabbed my hand with both of hers. "You're amazing, Commander! No fear of shaking a spy's hand!"

"H-Hey." Rapi called out. "Commander. Is that wise?"

Marian frowned. "Yes, Commander. A spy... that's a danger to your safety. Shall we... eliminate her?"

"Eep!" Neon flinched.

I laughed. "Don't worry." I smiled at Neon. "She's a good person. I get the sense that she'll die before betraying a friend. So, from this point on... you're my friend, Neon."

Neon blinked. For a split second, her smile wavered. Then she laughed. "Oh, you're dangerous, Commander. But okay! Friends don't tell on friends. But... agh! I'm a spy! What do I do?!"

I winked. "Be a double agent, obviously. Just leave out the important parts. Tell no lies, tell only truths, but just enough of the truth to let the others connect the dots."

Neon's eyes widened. "Oh! You're good at this, Commander. Are you sure you're not a spy too?"

I laughed. "Me? A spy? Please. Why be a spy when you can just kill your way through?"

Silence.

I coughed. "...Right. Forgot. That joke falls flat when I can actually do it."

Anis broke the tension and said, "Well. At least we know our commander isn't a murder hobo."

"On the contrary." Rapi spoke up. "...I do believe that directly defines him as a 'murder hobo' if his first instinct is to kill his way through..."

"Hey!"

Marian laughed.

Neon looked at me and the others. Then she said, "So... are we heading off- OH MY GOD, are those guns!?"

===

Play: Maze in Abyss

Back on the surface, I took a look at my motley crew.

Rapi was adjusting her weaponry and checking her equipment, being the consummate professional as always.

Marian was staying close to me, always surveying the surrounding and making sure I was safe.

Anis looked pissed to all hell and back, but begrudgingly marching along.

And Neon...

"...That's incredible! You really blew up a bunch of Raptures with just basic equipment? And conserving 90% of your ammo? But what about the firepower?!"

...She was constantly yapping with me about any and everything.

Still, I didn't mind it.

I thought it was pretty cute, actually. She gave off an excited teenage sister vibe, so I enjoyed it.

"Firepower is fun, but ONLY for fun. Most things are weaker than you think, you know?"

"Really?!" Neon looked at me excitedly. "Like how?"

Anis sighed. "Commander. Are you REALLY humoring her...?"

"Well, it's useful intel, Anis. And besides, if Neon really IS reporting all the stuff back to Ingrid, it would be good if she knew about it too, being the CEO of Elysion and what not. It'll help with future efforts."

"...You're honestly too good for this world, Commander." Anis sighed again. "Please don't raise any death flags soon."

Neon looked at Anis. "Death Flags?! Oh, is that like a secret codeword for-"

"Encounter." Rapi spoke up, interrupting us. "Raptures, 12 o'clock."

"Oh thank god." Anis mumbled.

Marian pulled out her machine gun and said, "Commander. Stay close."

"Of course." I scanned the surroundings and the incoming Raptures.

Neon focused. "Well. I guess it's up to you, right Commander? Orders?"

"Allow me to show you a live demonstration, Neon." I stared at the hovering Rapture units. "Watch."

I read the tempo of the propellers, observed the direction of the tension, and then fired my pistol, emptying a clip.

Ten rounds, ten Raptures crashing to the ground and exploding.

Neon gasped.

Anis blinked. "I will NEVER get used to that."

"Mari, Rapi. Take care of the ground units. Left legs, tempo of ba-dum-tsh for the firing. Fire on the 'tsh' when the leg hits. The moment they lose their legs, Anis, blast them."

"Roger." Rapi nodded.

"Yes, Commander!" Marian raised her gun.

"What about me, Commander?!" Neon looked at me. "I wanna help!"

"Watch first. Information gathering is the name of the game, Neon." I reloaded my pistol and waited.

Ten seconds.

Rapi fired her shots. Marian sniped them with her machine gun... somehow.

And then Anis finished them off.

"Huh." Anis tilted her head. "...Man. Kind of makes me wonder if the other commanders we have sucked that much, or if our Commander is that amazing, Rapi."

Rapi checked the surroundings and said, "Two things can be true at once, Anis. And sadly, the answer is both."

Neon watched the aftermath with wide eyes. "Holy cow... Is this... the true path of firepower...?"

Marian leaned against me and said, "How was that, Commander?"

I smiled and patted her head. "That was amazing, Mari."

"Heehee."

Anis rolled her eyes. "Still flirting in public, I see."

Marian looked at Anis and said, "You're just jealous Commander's focused on me."

"Wha- I am NOT!" Anis blushed.

Rapi raised an eyebrow.

"Wh-What's with that look, Rapi?! I'm not, I swear!"

"Right..."

"Ugh! Shifty!" Anis changed the subject and said, "What's the situation?!"

Shifty's voice crackled over the comms. "W-Well... I was going to say that we had Rapture readings. But you took care of them all... There aren't any in a 10KM radius..."

I blinked. "Really? That far?"

"Yes." Shifty typed on her keyboard and said, "I'm searching... but it appears that you handled it. Commander Hoopa... You might just be built different..."

Neon nodded her head, making her look like a bobble head. "Yes!"

I chuckled. "Well. I wouldn't say that. I just look at the world a bit different. Speaking of that..." I hummed and looked at Neon. "Neon. How good are you at tinkering with things?"

Neon puffed her chest out. "The best! The way of firepower knows no bounds! ...Why?"

===

Play: Languor

Anis gave me a blank stare. "Commander- No, Hoopa. Friend. Leader. ...Are you SURE you aren't some like Missilis sleeper agent or something? Because literally what the hell?"

I eyed my makeshift coilgun built from Rapture parts and a spare battery. "Elementary, my dear Anis. When it comes to warfare, there's a simple principle: use what is disposable with wanton abandon, conserve what is irreplaceable. And what are we surrounded with but incredible amounts of supplies?"

We were in an open field about halfway towards the power station.

I'd noticed that quite a few Raptures we destroyed used electron beams. And that the metal parts looked magnetic.

So, using some basic physics and jury rigging with the help of Neon, I made myself a wagon full of coilguns that didn't have recoil.

Well, it TECHNICALLY had recoil in the form of immense heat with every blast. But no knockback!

"...Whoa." Neon looked at my stock of disposable coilguns and said, "...Now THIS is firepower. Why did no one think of doing this with Rapture parts?!"

Rapi shook her head. "They did. But no Commander has been skilled enough to apply it in combat. That, or they died doing so."

Marian picked up a coilgun and tested it. "...Useful." She looked at me and smiled. "Now I won't run out of ammo, Commander. All I have to do is just turn more of those monsters into parts. Right?"

Anis looked at Marian and slowly back at me. "Commander. Uh. Are we... SURE that Marian's like... still all there?"

I nodded. "She's probably always been this way, Anis. It's not the corruption."

"...Right." Anis slowly nodded. "You know what? That explains a lot. We got a yandere, a kuudere, a genki girl... Wait, am I the tsundere? I'm not!"

Neon gasped. "I'm the energetic girl?! Neat!"

Rapi gave me a blank stare. "Commander. Please..."

"Right, right." I clapped my hands. "Come on, guys. We have a mission to fulfill, remember? Shifty, status?"

"O-Oh! Right! Well..." Shifty typed a bit on her console and said, "While you were moving, I cleared out the Alva Particles. Um... the power station is at the end of the maglev train tracks. You've been walking towards them, but if you want to actually get to the station, you'll probably need to turn off the power."

I slowly blinked. "Wait. Shifty. You're telling me that all this time I was making a coilgun running on maglev principles... and we're heading to a place that has a running maglev current along a track for a train? And you didn't tell me?"

"...You were having fun?"

I sighed. "Coincidences. They're SO weird at times... but alright. Where to then?"

"I've marked the control room on your map! Just head your way there. But um... look out for Raptures? I'm not getting any signals, but there could always be some underground."