Nova turns her face to Junko, giggling gently. She pats her companion's shoulder. Junko's body jumps slightly at the action. Anyway, they now know what to do next.

Somewhere away in the left wing, Vulture is walking around frustrated that his prey slipped pass him due to carelessness. Every step of his is filled with irritation and angst. Suddenly turning into an iron door, he gently sways his hand at the closed door causing it to break in half.

"This time for sure..." *he exclaims* "I'll cut them to shreds."

While Hippo and Giraffe are looking around, they notice trails left behind by the girls as they flee. Seeing this, the two of them exchange smiles before sneaking quitely to corner their opponents. Yet, no one's there unexpectedly.

"Giraffe, how about we try to corner them from both sides?"

"Not bad, I'd say. I'll go this way then."

"Then this way is for me."

The two of them go separate way, intending to corners the girls when catch them both in one go. With them going like that, they won't be able to protect each other however.

Giraffe intends to hasten his search by activating his Addition - Rubber Grabber, stretching his arms far and wide as they traverse through the hallways and corridors. Unberknownst to them, Junko is waiting for the stretching arms to come to misleadingly redirect them to Hippo.

In the meanwhile, Nova will create fake foodprints by burning the ground with her attacks and pin the traces of her shoes there. This will mislead Hippo into heeading towards Giraffe's hands.

As Junko and Nova carry their plan carefully, they already destroyed security cameras just to make sure no outside party is helping their foes.

In the end, Giraffe's hands do end up touching Hippo. Hippo is as clueless as Giraffe due to his eyes being touched. The both of them end up trying to pull each other without realizing. Nova looks in awe of Junko's capabilities to come up with a strategy like that.

*claps hands* "You can be quite amazing sometimes, Junko."

*brushes her hair* "Indeed, my mother always knew how intellectually talented I had always been."

"Gosh, you're bragging now huh."

In reality, that is not the end of the formulated plan. As Giraffe and Hippo keep pushing each other, they end up being wrapped around by each other before finally realizing it.

"Gah, Hippo? It was you?"

"I could ask the same too. Why is it you?"

"You useless moron! How did you end up getting caught by my arms?"

"I uh... tracked down footprints."

*frowns* "Foodprints do not mean anything in this building for Pete's sake."

"How would I know?"

Amiss their confusion, Nova proceeds to aim her hands at the two tangled infividuals, ready to give them a blast.

*panics* "Hippo, if you could phase through my arms then do it now! Or else we'll be toasted!"

"But... I don't like ending up as an almagamate, especially with a stinky."

"God damn you! Just do it now!"

And then, a large electric beam launched from both of Nova's hands fly towards them. Yet, the sudden rush of actual adreline causes Hippo to instictively uses his Addiiton. Both of them are saved in the nick of time.

As if fate is sliding with the bad guys, Vulture and Rattlesnake eventually shows up and corner the girls. However, Junko remains calm and so does Nova. They exchange nods before Nova runs off into a nearby room.

Giraffe and Hippo immediately run after her before Rattlesnake has to tell them to do the deed himself. Hence, Junko is now stuck with him and Vulture.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

*Vulture chuckles* "I don't know if you come up with something but facing against me on your own is a bad move."

*shrugs her shoulders* "What about the other guy then?"

"He only needs to watch, I alone am far more than enough to handle you... and it should be me to do the job." *tightens his fists* "This time, you might lose more than just hands."

"Do your worse, bird brain."

Having his irritation raised by double, Vulture begins attacking restlessly while Junko calmly dodges.

In the meantime, Nova has led the other two guys into a room with no signs. Apparently, people would call this a bad situation for her due to the number of the guys is two and the room does not have much space for running around or dodging.

It won't be an issue for Nova however. She trusts Junko for know what she's doing. The atmosphere here would be mostly noticed for the good smell it emits, clean and pure. This is a trash handling chamber, surrounded with things that Nova could use to her advantage and sufficiently overhwhelm the risks.

*Nova looks at the two guys* "Hey, aren't you going to catch this mouse?"

"Tempting us, I see? We never lose in any cat and mouse game when working together."

"He's right."

"Then how did I escape earlier?"

"Dumb luck, I say! Dumb luck!"

"If you won't catch me, I'll catch you instead."

Two electric blast are launched respectively at both of them and they barely dodge. They seem to have failed to wonder if Nova has any offense up in her sleeve. Hippo dives into the ground while Giraffe hangs on the ceiling, truly shows the contradictory in their style even though that makes them a good duo.

Nova proceeds attacking aimlessly, causing them to have to maneuver between her randomized pattern of electric beams.

When Giraffe's hands catch up to her, she suddenly uses him as a swing to avoid getting touched by Hippo. Nova aims her hands at Giraffe, he jumps down. However, he lands right where she wanted him to. She activates the vaccum like machine affected by one of her reckless attacks earlier. This is a capability that she has only done once in the past by accident when she reawakened her Addition.

"Gah! No! Let me go! My body will be crushed at this rate."

*she chuckles* "Not to worry, you'll be toasted right after this."

Nova's beam attack finally hits Giraffe, toasting him as he's rendered immobile by being stuck. Though that beam of hers ends up destroying the machine as well. Regardless, one enemy is down, only the other to go.

Hippo looks in disbelief, shocked to see his teamate being taken down. He knows deep down that he has to escape. Yet, Nova has something ready for him too.

Nova continues blasting at him, causing him to hide behind a tank full of flammable junk. Unknown to him, that is what will spell his doom. She concentrates and lauch a huge blast at the tank, causing it to burst fiercely burning Hippo's body alive.

"Hm... I guess that counts as being toasted too." *rubs her own chin*

"GYAAAAHHHHHH!"

"Be thankful that I eradicated your pimples. Now you don't have to do skincare anymore."

Looking at the situation, Nova feels happy for emerging victorious once more. This will add up to her win streaks and it's partially thanks to Junko's planning.

...

Junko is having an intense battle with Vulture - who could cut through things with simple gestures from his hands. Yet somehow she has gasped the nature of his Addition, allowing her to dodge his incoming hits.

"Vulture, you're a fierce warrior. But I intend to win, for my own sake and for others as well."

"If I'm as fierce as you say, then walking out of here alive is not an option."

Despite the battle, she knows that there's also Rattlesnake who might do something behind her back while she's occupied with Vulture. So, she must finish both of them in one battle.

Vulture doesn't cease his attacks. It's hard to throw anything at him too, the offense he has is also a good defense against things, solid one that is. That brings down to the pumping nitrogen she's been waiting for.

Junko tries to break the nearby pipeline. Even thought something thin has wrapped itself on her again, she manages to cause the air to leak out from the pipe temporarily blinding her enemies.

Vulture struggles once more, Rattlesnake is cautious as he senses that something is amiss. He proceeds to navigate around the walls.

Eventually, the fog of nitrogen dissipates. Seeing Junko leaning on the wall calmly in front of him, he chuckles.

"Ha, that was a waste of time there but your cheap tricks seem to serve no purpose. Now then, any last words."

"You're going to regret that."

"Is that so." *he pulls the strings harder with his fingers* "Now tremble before my Shred Thread as your body crumbles to the ground."

"Stooooopppp..."

Mind filled with pride and prejudice, the faint sound nearby does not reach him. After that, he notices Junko still standing normally as if nothing has happened to her.

In Junko's POV, everything has gone accordingly to what she has discussed with Nova. And now, her efforts are bearing fruit. She gestures Vulture to look behind him. He does that and sees Rattlesnake bleeding on his neck as he slowly lose consciousness and might never wake up again. The hiding man could only utter a few words.

"How... did... you... k-know...?"

"Simple, when you and you gang caught us I suddenly got a glimpse of hint as I saw the reflection on the pipelines. The you I saw didn't have any reflection."

"My... Vibrant Visage... busted... for a... fleeting moment...?"

With those last words, he officially dies. Vulture in the meanwhile is filled with shock and disbelief, struggling to comprehend how she comes up with all this.

"Screw you! I'll rip you to shred."

"Oh right, my Psyke Strike could also do that."

"Huh?"

As he hurls his sharp threads at her, she simply cuts them off remotely, canceling his attack. In the end, Vulture ends up being the one with multiple cut wounds on his body. Junko casually approaches him and searches for the access key only to find a haft of a card.

Despite clearly losing, Vulture smirks knowingly as he subconsciously admits his lost.

"Heh... now you should pray for your friends on the other wing to win so you all could proceed further."

Vultures finally falls into the abyss of silence, a permanent one in fact.