"Hinum, you were showing us up!" Uni declared, huffing at me as I chuckled. Part of me didn't enjoy having the reputation of being smarter than I actually was. But sometimes it could be funny.

  "To be fair, I didn't count on Vert joining me for any of that," I admit with a shrug. I think Leanbox's Share count was helping with her recovery. Everyone was steadily regaining their count as well, as everyone was clear into the double digits.

  Even Leanbox had clawed back a few percent, though everyone else was taking far larger chunks out of the ASIC. Which was fine as far as I was concerned. They had lost more ground compared to their pre-ASIC standards than Leanbox did, and had more to gain back.

  I didn't care too much. If it meant the others recovered their strength even faster, then it was good news.

  "I was talking about your party!" Uni continued, puffing up a storm. "I have no idea how you threw that together on short notice!"

  The thing is that I didn't.

  I'd kept plans in the reserve for a while now, on what to do when Vert was no longer captured. Making them was a, sanity retention measure that I had taken. It had taken no small bit of free time to make, but it was worth it.

  Working with my hands had helped, considerably, as a way to release some stress.

  But good luck getting me to admit that right now. Not because I didn't want to, bit I really didn't want to have a reputation of being overly prepared for stuff like this.

  I totally was too plan-oriented sometimes.

  But yeah, when the planning was done in advance? Made things a lot simpler.

  "What can I say?" I grinned, slightly. Needling Uni was something I should dial back on, but it was kinda fun.

  "She had plans for that years back," I heard Vert's from the other room, almost sounding smug. "I found the books and gave them a read."

  I felt a heat rise in my face. The worst part was I didn't know if she did that on purpose, or if she was just trying to humblebrag about how I was a good sister. If there was a downside to having someone like Vert around, it was the line between her wanting to humblebrag about everything under the sun and her just messing with me for the sake of it was.

  Thin. On a good day. And today, humblebragging was exactly what she wanted to be doing. Well, maybe humblebrag was the wrong term by this point. I think she reached the point where she was just bragging. Which was kinda nice, but at the same time, utterly embarrassing.

  I wanted to deal with things all sneaky-like. Hard to do that when you have a one-person fan club talking about all your accomplishments over snacks.

  The look on Uni's face was nothing but judgment as I rolled my eyes. Oh, like she didn't cope with Noire being gone in her own weird ways. Nepgear chuckled at me as I blushed, laughing with my moment of sisterly embarrassment.

  It was hard to tell some days, the difference between laughing at someone, and laughing with them. But Nepgear was a fairly nice person. She wasn't the time to laugh at someone. Still, I let Uni take the win from that.

  Going no you was not an example I wanted to set Rom and Ram. That, and it was my fault that I got cheeky in the first place. If I didn't want Uni to get one up on me, I shouldn't have tried to needle her up in the first place.

  Okay to be fair, the reason that didn't work was entirely on Vert and Vert alone, but that was it. Shouldn't start things if I fully didn't intend to deal with things going wrong.

  Plus, we weren't entirely here for a social call. Okay, we really weren't here for a social call. We really needed to have more of those, but we all had work to do. I couldn't wait for this mess to be over and done with.

  No, we were here because Histoire had found a very juicy target.

  If she'd been hiding it, I would have actually been pissed off. Understanding, but still more than a few degrees ticked off.

  Those factories I raided and then exploded as part of a PR puff piece?

  Were looking quite like being happy catching a trout, while there was a whale right underneath your ship.

  Yeah, it wasn't quite centrally located, but damn, if it couldn't have been a thorn in my side all on its own. It was certainly closer to Planeptune than anyone else, and it was considered to be in Planeptune's territory.

  But it was close enough to Leanbox that I wouldn't be too surprised if it was giving me problems. Still, it was for the best. Hitting it on my lonesome, even with permission from Histoire, would have been a political quagmire on a good day. Even if I could hit the place safely.

  What was this it, you may ask?

  It was a factory. On an isolated island.

  And it was a big one. Hence the fishing analogy.

  Unlike the ones I got, isolated out in the wilderness because they wanted to avoid detection, this was isolated enough that it could use that isolation to grow. It wasn't like Planeptune's Goddess and her sister had been captured, after all. Oh right, they were.

  Couldn't blame them, but even then, the place was isolated enough that even if Nepgear was around, clearing it out would be risky unless it was caught early.

  And it would have been difficult to catch early. Histoire may have been in a league of her own when it came to intel, but if anyone lived on the mainland near it, much less lived on the island until now? I'd eat a hat. Hell, I'd probably eat several. Damn thing has probably been producing since the start, if not even longer.

  "So, do we have a plan of attack here?" I asked, looking down at the map. For once, I think going in brute force might just be the way to go.

  "Just blow them up again!" Ram suggested, bouncing excitedly as I felt the temperature drop despite being in a completely different room. Did someone forget to add the don't try this at home disclaimer?

  Or was Blanc on the receiving end of a child ignoring the disclaimer anyway? One way or another, I was hoping she wouldn't take it out on me. Also, do not share the secret of coke and mentos.

  That would get me more than just an angry phone call. And diplomatic incidents over something that stupid would totally be a thing. Would want nothing to do with that.

  Stolen story; please report.

  "I'm a bit surprised you didn't suggest that yourself," Uni nodded.

  "It's a bit too big to easily disable its defenses from the air," I pointed out. This wasn't like the trio, that just had a few museum pieces. This place was likely loaded with who knows how much equipment.

  I'd suggest trying to artillery duel this, but the island was fairly flat. Trees provided cover. Trying to engage like that was going to be a pain.

  Plus, there was always that little risk of hostages. Probably less so, but given just who we were I wouldn't be surprised if it became standard practice. As much as the concept revolted me.

  "I do have an idea," Nepgear said, pointing at the map.

  Oh, this was going to be fun.

  x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

  Is what I would say if I hadn't been given the most inglorious of jobs.

  Bait.

  But someone had to do it, and that someone was going to be me.

  Well, it could have been Uni. We were the only two with that extreme of a range option to at least sit outside the initial pocket and do this.

  Thomp.

  I have come to love the sound of faint explosions in the distance.

  Probably needed to find a new therapist after all this though.

  Several more explosions went off in the distance as more arrows made their way home. It wasn't much, just given the scale of the compound, but it was enough to kick the hornet's nest. Things were starting to wake up during the night.

  This wasn't exactly riskless, though that was a given. My job was to be that really annoying fly that you couldn't quite deal with. Give them something to shoot at while Nepgear and the others snuck in. But thumbing my nose at the ASIC was always my definition of a good time.

  And really it was only a major problem if one of their big leaders was on sight. And what were the odds of that? But it wasn't like they'd seem to go to ground. Even Magik seemed content at the moment.

  Sure. The odds were probably higher than the average. This was a fairly large base after all. But there is no way the odds were that high. This was Planeptune. The ASIC didn't usually assign people all that important to this area.

  x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

  Oh, I was absolutely going to beat that little.

  x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

  Like I said. The odds of that being a problem weren't too massive. No, the big issue at the moment was dealing with everything coming my way. Because my initial analysis may have been right on the money. I could already see spotlights filling the air. Getting off a few more shots into what seemed to be important, I cut the altitude, rocketing toward the ground. They'd be looking for me in an overwatch position, so it would be best to abandon it as soon as possible.

  Speaking of which.

  Multi-shot.

  The shotgun-like spread of arrows erupted from my bow, spreading out in a cone. This wasn't meant to hit anything in particular. Just take advantage of one of the things I'd noticed over time.

  That projectiles couldn't bank worth a damn. It didn't take long for the sound of explosions to reach my ears, meaning the barrage did exactly what I wanted it to do. Buy me a few moments to reposition and give myself an explosive smokescreen. Keeping on the move, I made sure to launch two arrows towards every flash I could see.

  One for the projectile, and the second was for the source. An effective double tap. I was going to pick off everything I could get away with. But my job was to buy time. Give Nepgear, Uni, Rom, and Ram enough time to blow the generators, and disable most of the defenses. With that, we'd be a lot freer to deal with the base at our leisure.

  Hopefully, they were having a good time of it.

  x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

  "WOO!" Ram shouted as one of the robots disappeared in a ball of flame. The plan was working. Her plan was working. Hinum was putting up a distraction up above, and she was doing a good job of it. Hardly anyone was paying attention to them. And what few monsters or ASIC members that did were quickly incapacitated.

  The hallways almost seemed to blur together in the massive compound, but they were making good headway toward the reactor. Once they managed to destroy that, then the rest of the base would be easy to clean out, and they'd be able to link back up with Hinum.

  "We're getting close!" Nepgear said, even if she wasn't sure that was entirely true. They were being guided by the signs in the corridors, which should be leading them to the right place.

  Uni seemed to mutter to herself about how she would be doing a better job doing what Hinum was working on, while Rom was scanning the signs themselves, making sure that they weren't doubling around again. But if anything, the increasing defenses, automated or otherwise, told them they were getting close to something. Something important.

  Soon, they found themselves before a pair of massive doors. Combining their powers made breaking through the metal rather easy, leading them inside. At the center, electricity sparked and danced, as something began to uncoil around the generator, lightning running down its body as it looked at them with baleful, mechanical eyes.

  "Hinum, I think we're going to be a bit longer, we've run into a little bit of a complication," Nepgear said through the earpiece in her head, hoping Hinum could hear them on the other end as they prepared for battle.

  x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

  "You and me both, Gear, you and me both," I said in response. The lack of any new projectiles coming my way had been the first sign that things were about to go pear-shaped. And I did not like it when things went pear-shaped. Especially when things went to this extent. I narrowed my eyes, a death glare so fierce it should have stricken the man dead on the spot. Though, the look he was giving me was no less furious.

  "Brave," I ground out, arrow notched in my bow, ready to fire at a moment's notice.

  "Green Sister," his voice was full of as much animosity towards me as I had for him. The air was almost filled with lightning as we glared at one another, waiting for the other to make the first move.