"You!" There was the snap I craved, with Linda wearing an ugly scowl.

Me," I shrugged, keeping a smug look on my face, Linda's fists tightening to the point where they looked completely white. "I mean, come on, Linda. Did you not see this coming? Did you not think we could find you?"

"How are you supposed to be here? Shouldn't you be trying to deal with that little problem with the brats?" Linda snapped, grounding out her teeth. "Not to mention your missing songstress."

"You mean doing what Green Sister has been trying to do for years now? Talk with her fellow Candidates? Frankly, I should give you a medal," I taunted, grinning all the while. "As for 5pb? You don't think Green Sister can't multitask?"

"There is no way you came out here on your own," Linda frowned, glaring at me in a manner that would have resulted in my spontaneous combustion.

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. You wouldn't know either way, content on hiding behind that little shield of yours. Does your main base have one as well, or was this an attempt at bait?" I watched Linda's teeth grind together with every word I said. I'm guessing the answer was no and yes, in that exact order.

"Shut it!" Linda brandished her weapon.

"How scary," I crossed my arms, looking as bored as humanly possible. "You're aware that the forcefield is still up, right? You can't fight me through a forcefield unless you want to make it a mime fight, or something."

"I told you to shut up, you flat bitch!" Linda shouted, looking like she was about to pop a blood vessel.

"You're one to talk, Linda," I shook my head, still more amused than anything else. "And if we're going to go to insults, at least try to keep it to true things. You know just as well as I do that I'm very, un-flat, while you're very, great plains, as it were."

I couldn't tell if Linda's face was red with embarrassment, or red with fury. Quite frankly, it was probably both. Morbid curiosity, but I was starting to wonder if it was possible to kill someone by pissing them off. Worst for her was that she knew I was right in my assessment.

Seriously, why did people even act like that was such a big issue in the first place?

Still, Linda looked like she wanted me dead. As in, Blood for the Blood God, Skulls for the Skull Throne, levels of pissed. Which was personally quite impressive.

"I take it you still haven't tried those breathing exercises I recommended to you," I continued. "Seriously, being perpetually angry isn't good for your health. Trust me, I would know."

It was a surprise that Linda hadn't ground her teeth down into dust. If looks could kill, I'd be stone dead, but all Linda could do was sit and stew in her anger. And the angrier she got, the more likely she was to do something completely stupid.

I didn't like planning around my opponent making mistakes. Those types of plans never went well, in all honesty. It was impossible to plan for every single outcome, sure, and most plans had a tendency to shatter like glass when it came time for the enemy element, but baiting Linda into making a mistake was the best play. It wasn't the first time I'd been able to do such a thing, either. No matter how much she didn't like it, the two of us had our similarities. Which was what made it so easy to needle her.

"You!" Linda ground out, quaking with rage. I kept the smug smirk on my face, a silent yet effective taunt. Seeing me like this was naturally going to piss her off. Especially if she thought I was looking down on her.

"Yes, we've already established it's me, Linda. What's the matter, something got hold of your tongue?" I continued to gaze at her with an expression that combined both smugness and boredom in equal measure. "If you're going to stay cooped up in the little safety cage of yours, I'm going to have to leave. I'm sure those currently taking your main encampment don't need the reinforcements, but if you're just going to cower here, then I see no reason that I can't just leave and lend them a hand."

That part was at least, a bluff. There was no way in hell I could make it to the location promptly. I wanted to get this finished, ideally, with Linda and her little cohort of fellow ASIC minions waiting out the rest of this war in either a jail cell or awaiting trial. Either worked for me, as they'd be out of the way and in a location where they couldn't do any more damage, or even harm to themselves.

"Bullshit. You aren't just going to leave," Linda snarled, snapping at the bit.

"And who's going to stop me? You? Oh, Linda. From where I sit, you're all bark and no bite. You're sitting behind a force field, one I certainly can't pierce. And frankly, even if there wasn't, there isn't a damn thing you can do to stop me, Linda," I smirked, sounding very proud of myself. "Face it. You've spent the last several years backing up a horse that never cared about you, who only viewed you as a sacrificial pawn. One they branded an 'Underling' at the slightest screwup, in a situation where you simply got outplayed. Of course, every mistake after that?"

Oh, the look on her face was perfect. She was pissed off as I did a merry little dance over all her buttons. Pointing out that her bark was worse than her bite, a firm reminder that she could never back up what she claimed with anything remotely substantial. Nor did she ever like me bringing up our first meeting, though, in her shoes, I wouldn't blame her. But was I going to use that hate and rage to my advantage as much as possible? Yes, I absolutely would.

One of the people standing next to her let out a squawk, as Linda's fingers lashed out, grabbing hold of something. The field began to flicker, giving me just enough warning to raise the great bow to block an overhand swing. I grinned, despite the strain.

"I'm going to kill you!" She bellowed, and it was clear that if I let her, she would more than make good on that promise.

"You think you can, Linda? How quaint. We've been doing this dog and pony show for years," I gave her a smug look. "It's time for you to give it up already."

"Never!" Linda continued, swinging her weapon like a lunatic.

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Hinum was holding herself. For now. The for now was clear, as Underling could prove to be trouble for all of them at times. But Hinum was also capable. Though to call what she was doing fighting may have been a stretch. Hinum hadn't landed a single attack yet. Or, more accurately, she hadn't once launched an attack. Even at this range, her bow could make for an impressive club.

But her attacks so far, had been nothing but verbal. Which was working, focusing Underling's attention on herself in a blind frenzy. Though why Hinum kept calling Underling by a name was confusing. Underling didn't like being called that by anyone. But for some reason, Hinum using that name seemed to anger Underling more than being called Underling.

Nepgear wasn't sure why that was the case. It was clear that the two weren't exactly on good terms. They were enemies, after all, but Underling's grudge seemed to go beyond that. Yes, she was always angry at them, but never like this. Hinum had managed to worm under her skin in a way that seemed, bizarre, all the while still taunting and insulting.

Hinum continued to prove she was a person of many faces. She had gone from barely restrained anger to jovial mocking insults in a short period. Or had she?

Nepgear kept her eye on the fight, even as they slinked around to the side. Hinum seemed like she was completely and utterly carefree, Underling's words sliding off her like water on a rock. But was she? Had Hinum already calmed down? She wasn't sure. Either way, Underling was the worse off of the two, and it showed, as Hinum's voice seemed to stick to her like a barb.

Hopefully, everything will be okay. Right now, they just needed to disable the rest of the equipment while everyone was gawking at the fight in front of them, which, to be fair, was understandable, given what she was seeing. Hinum was putting on a good show for everyone to watch, as she weaved and blocked her way through Underling's strikes. She was surprised Hinum was that nimble. Or was anger making Underling that sloppy?

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

The plan was working. For the time being. Frankly, the fact it lasted this long was, concerning. Plans that lasted a long time always made me uneasy. Sure, I liked my plans, but plans went wrong all the time. Once they did you wrong, one had to be ready to improv or otherwise hijink their way to a solution.

I smirked, as a brief series of explosions happened behind us, Linda taking her eyes off the fight as parts of the camp went up in flames.

"Them!" I waited for her to give a sign that she had caught sight of the others, before I shoulder-checked her, knocking Linda to the ground.

"Come on, Linda, I tipped my hand at the start. You're all that surprised?" Linda's face was contorted with hate as she glared up at me. I softened my expression slightly. Doubtful that it would work, but it was worth a shot. "You lost, Linda. You and your fellows are under arrest."

I didn't expect her to take the offer, as I blocked Linda's lunge, twisting around her. She practically snarled at me, but her stance was unsteady. Was it my words finally catching up to her, or her exhaustion? Or was it both?

"Screw. You!" She ground out, glaring at me with murder in her eyes.

"No thanks, Linda. You aren't exactly my type in the first place," something that wasn't an insult might take some of the wind out of her sails. Linda's face blushed for a moment.

"The fuck is wrong with you!" Linda shouted, stomping her foot.

"You're the one who offered, Linda," I shrugged. "But I'm not particularly interested."

A beeping sound came off the device on my wrist. Taking care to make sure my attention didn't leave Linda, I spared it a glance. They were making a good way in the compound assault, which was good.

"But in all seriousness, please surrender. I've had a long enough week as is, and I'd rather get you processed and charged as soon as I can," I said, returning my full attention to Linda as she ground her teeth. "You're badly outnumbered by this point."

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"I can still handle you, even with the brats," Linda scowled, narrowing her eyes. "They're busy finishing off the others. There's still more time to deal with you."

"And how long have you already spent trying to deal with me, Linda? Sure, I didn't land a hit, mostly because I wasn't trying in the first place. You don't think I can play for more time waiting for you to finish?" I said, giving her a look. Linda was stubborn as an ox, and that annoyed me. Seriously, if she could use that spite for the betterment of others, she would be a potent force for good.

"Because she isn't alone!" The voice allowed me to dodge the attack, and it was my turn to scowl.

"I see. So the rat makes his presence known," I knew Warechu was sneaking about in Leanbox as well, so this wasn't much of a surprise. Not as much as he would like. If he wasn't at the main compound, it makes sense that he would be here.

Still, that was going to be a problem. I was able to keep Linda distracted by snarking and insulting her. A lot. Get under her skin and rile her up, as it were. With Warechu, that was simply a lot less effective for two reasons. One, I couldn't do the same to him, as I simply knew less about him. He didn't like being called rat, but when that was my only card to play, it became a whole lot less effective. And secondly, I couldn't purely focus on Linda now.

Then there was the matter of the fight, at least for now, being a two-on-one. Never exactly favorable, those were not, unless the balance of power was overwhelmingly on one side or another. And, unfortunately, it was not. If I could open the range, maybe, but that would require me to play cards that I wasn't quite ready to play yet. Most of my range attacks were a bit too ranged to be all that effective this close, and those were the source of a lot of my damage output.

This time, it looked like I was going to have to fight back. I couldn't keep being passive at this point. I just had to wait for the other four to finish up and it would become a five to two fight, in our favor.

The bow faded from my hands, replaced with an arrow. Not the best weapon, but I needed something nimbler than what amounted to a giant hunk of metal. An arrow made for a poor spear, but at the end of the day, I was going to use what I had. The upside was that the entire thing was made of metal, at least.

"I'm not a rat!" The little rat-like sentient plush declared, huffing at my words.

"Of course you are. If it skuries like a rat, and it squeaks like a rat, then it's a rat," I took a fighting stance, keeping my guard up. I was still on the defensive here. But I needed them to come at me one at a time. They had the numbers advantage, and I need to stop them from pressing that.

Not until back-up arrived, anyway.

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"Guys? There might be a problem!" Ram shouted over the chaos. They had nearly dealt with everything else, so the fact there was a problem now was, concerning. But turning her attention over to what was going on made it clear why Ram said there was a problem.

Someone had joined Hinum's fight with Underling. And it was clear the older Candidate wasn't doing as well as she had before. The bow was gone, while Hinum was striking back against her opponents. But the fact she needed to was a concerning change from before. She was still holding, even as the weapon in her hand danced erratically, but there was no telling how long that was going to last.

"Do we have everyone?" Nepgear found herself asking. When Hinum said she wanted the ASIC members arrested, she wasn't exactly kidding. Hinum had handed them a considerable number of handcuffs, which were now being distributed among several groaning human members.

This had almost been too easy. Most of the time, they summoned monsters, but this time, they didn't. Or maybe it was that they couldn't. Hinum had shown the disks the ASIC used to capture and control monsters to the world, so maybe she had been particularly aggressive in getting rid of such constructs.

"I think so," Uni frowned, her eyes gazing across the ASIC members. Everyone looked like they were properly bound up, and the rest of the defenses were down. She watched as Hinum threw her improvised weapon between Underling and Warechu, creating another out of thin air. Warechu recovered first, rushing down Hinum before she pivoted out of the way, grabbing Warechu out of the air by its tail, before throwing him in Underling's face.

It was funny to watch, until Linda returned the unorthodox projectile with intense accuracy, once more forcing Hinum to retreat. Why wasn't she transforming? Uni knew that Hinum could do so, and the display of destructive power Green Sister could unleash was something she was more than familiar with, even if she only observed from a distance. So why hadn't she? Green Sister, despite her popularity, was not exactly the most public figure. Even by Goddess standards, Green Sister could easily come across as isolated, or, quite frankly, alloof.

But none of them had any problem transforming if the need arose. That was what it was there for. So why was Hinum not doing so? She could easily gain the range and strength necessary just by transforming. Even with the weird thing where she would unconsciously transform, it shouldn't have chewed through that much juice.

The answer was either that Hinum couldn't transform, or because something else was preventing her. And it wouldn't be a lack of shares slowing Hinum down, either. Was it, pride? The belief that it wasn't needed?

No, Hinum wasn't like that, Uni would admit that much. Stubborn, maybe, but not prideful to the point where she'd be willing to lose a fight. Or, maybe Hinum was trying to keep her being Green Sister a secret? No, that couldn't possibly be it. That was, stupid. Even if she was willing to keep it a secret, who would believe the words of two criminals, outside of their organization? Besides, Underling had seen them all transform anyway, and it wasn't like the matter was at least somewhat of an open secret.

So why go through all the effort? No, the matter had to be over something completely different.

Was she, trying to make them seem helpful? Holding herself back so they could get some of the credit? What purpose would that serve? Why would that even help her? Was she just trying to be nice?

Or was it something else?

Ultimately, it was a question she would have to answer later, as she and the other Candidates attacked Underling and Warechu, creating enough of a distraction for Hinum to disengage, falling back, bow appearing in her hands once again.

She watched, one eye on the battle and her shots, as Hinum launched arrows into the fray, this time seeking to keep Warechu and Underling boxed in. Dirt erupted with each strike, creating craters on the battlefield, helping to trip up the villainous due. Uni was nervous about the rat, as Warechu had managed to get an advantage during their recent fight, but this time, he was a lot more manageable.

It took time, but eventually, Rom and Ram's magic froze the two in place.

"Thank you," Hinum sounded tired, breathing heavily, moments after the fight ended. "That was most appreciated. I'll contact someone to pick us up."

She took a brief moment to look down at her watch-like device, grinning. "They managed to get 5pb out as well." Hinum's expression softened at her words as if she received news that lifted part of the world's weight from her shoulders.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"You're okay?" I asked, probably coming off more as a fretting girlfriend than I ever intended.

"I'm a bit shaken up, but I'm otherwise okay," 5pb nodded her head, as I breathed a sigh of relief. At least that and the arrests had gone well. I hadn't expected the ASIC to be so bold. They usually weren't, not like this. There was going to have to be a security review over this, and frankly, the fact that it wasn't a massive scandal in and of itself was a blessing. But repeat incidents would likely not result in the same, even if we arrested more members of the ASIC.

On that front, the arrests were a good haul. Linda was, for the time, going to be out of our hair, as was Warechu, though, with a pair as stubborn as slippery as those two, I had doubts it would last.

"If you need to take a breather, please let me know," I offered. After something like that, I couldn't blame 5pb if she wanted some time off.

"I, think I'd rather still perform. Will you still be there?" 5pb looked at me, eyes sparkling as I grinned.

"Of course, I will," though I winced. "Though I'll need four backstage passes last minute." That was going to be so expensive. My poor, poor wallet.

"They're the other Candidates, right?" 5pb asked me, looking over at the group of younger girls. "Didn't they come here looking for something?"

"Yeah, the mascots. Supposedly, every nation has one, and I haven't had any luck digging up where one might be hiding," I stifled a yawn in my throat. "But given how today went, it'd be for the best if we put a pin in it for tomorrow."

"A mascot? I think I remember hearing stories about a protector in my childhood, one that wasn't one of the Goddesses," 5pb said. Stories? Myth and legend are more like it. But it wasn't like I had any other leads. I hadn't dismissed storybooks, but if this was more of an oral tradition, then it would have passed me by.

"Well, any information you have would be great, as Chika is still tight-lipped on the matter," I sighed. This was fairly important, and I still couldn't get any information out of her. It was annoying, to say the least.

"I can tell you a bit more after the concert, but I do remember the stories mentioning a volcano, or just a lot of heat and fire," 5pb said as I processed the information. There were not a whole lot of areas in Leanbox that had that sort of description. That would narrow it down. "I'll see you at the concert!"

I waved at 5pb as she went, mind stewing. Part of me wanted to go over and try and find it right now, but I was sore, and I'd given my word. Frankly, it was time for a break.

Now I needed to see if I could sell two teenagers and two kids on going to an idol concert. And that did not sound as hard as I'd probably want it to be.