Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Commander, Scout, Minigunner, and Sniper, please report to the briefing room immediately,” the familiar voice of Dispatcher rang throughout the base.

In the room, Dispatcher was standing to the side of the central display board, which displayed an image of a sprawling metropolis. Captioned at the top of the display was “DIMENSION OF INTEREST: KIVOTOS.”

Commander was the first to arrive, taking a seat at the center of the table. He and Dispatcher acknowledged each other with a nod.

Scout was the next to arrive. He bursted through the door, panting. “I’m not late, am I?”

“No. Take a seat,” Dispatcher said.

Scout sat down next to Commander. Scout stared at the screen.

After Scout was Sniper. He propped his rifle against the wall next to the door before sitting next to Scout, who gave a little wave. Sniper fidgeted with his fingers as he stared at the board.

While all of them waited for Minigunner to arrive, Commander asked “What exactly is the nature of this meeting? Is this for a mission?”

“Yes; I’ll be skipping over the finer details until Minigunner arrives, but essentially, we have detected traces of an unknown energy strikingly similar to that of a God Cube Fragment. You guys will be responsible for investigating the source of that energy.”

“Ah, I see.”

After a few more minutes, Minigunner finally arrived. “Sorry guys, I had to finish my reps.” He set his minigun next to Sniper’s rifle and took a seat next to Commander, unfazed by the disapproving looks from everyone else.

“Now that all of you are here,” Dispatcher began, “again, you all will be investigating a dimension in which we have detected numerous traces of God Cube energy.” She gestured to the board. “This will be taking place in Kivotos. From the limited information we are able to gather,” she flipped to the next slide, which showed one large logo in the middle, three around the center logo, and numerous others around the edges of the screen, “we know that Kivotos appears to be a sort of academy city with a large number of independent schools each governing their own district. We have discerned three of the largest academies in Kivotos: Millennium,” Dispatcher gestured to the stylized “M” logo, “Gehenna,” she gestured to the crown-like logo, “and Trinity” she gestured to the logo of a triangle intertwined with three circles. “There also appears to be a federal entity governing them all, the General Student Council.” Dispatcher finally pointed at the logo in the middle, showing what appears to be a skyscraper towering amidst a city.

Scout already had his head down on the table. Commander woke him with a tap. “Wake up. Last time you fell asleep, you missed instructions on staying away from splitters!”

“Sorry, sir.”

“We lack knowledge on the specifics of the schools,” Dispatcher continued, “which is another reason why you are getting sent. Your secondary objective is to establish diplomacy with any schools that you come across.”

“Now, please keep in mind that this mission will occur for an extended period of time. It is of the utmost importance that we secure and confirm either the source of the energy or the God Cube Fragment, whichever one it is.”

“So, like months?” Sniper asked.

“It will take as long as it takes for your objectives to be completed, so yes, possibly months. When you have discovered the source of energy or Cube fragment, I will communicate a point of extraction.” Dispatcher said.

Minigunner grumbled, “Dude… I’m gonna miss the next twenty releases of the Fallen Warriors comic…”

Ignoring him, Dispatcher proceeded, changing the image on the display to that of a picture of a town with entire swathes of sand on the streets. “The largest amount of anomalous energy has been detected here, in the territory of Abydos. From the looks of it… it’s practically abandoned, although the main Abydos campus shows some signs of life.” The display now showed a picture of a seemingly ordinary school, albeit with the grounds stained with sand. “You’ll be dropping here. Try to make contact with whoever still remains in that school, and see if they have any knowledge of the God Cube or anything related to it.”

“Because of the dimensional distance between our realm and Kivotos, I can't promise that I or anyone else will be able to keep communication with you guys. Does anyone have any questions?” Dispatcher asked.

Sniper raised his hand. “Why am I chosen? Normally, Commander, Minigunner, and Scout handle most of the God Cube stuff.”

“To be frank, you’re the only other available specialist in urban warfare,” Dispatcher said.

“What about Shotgunner?” Commander interjected. “We could always use another tower.”

“He’s working with Firework Technician on something else just as important,” Dispatcher said. “You are all the best fits for the mission. Anything else?”

“Is this mission optional?” Minigunner asked, his face twitching as he suppressed a laugh.

Dispatcher put a hand to her face, shaking her head. “Are you kidding me? What do you think the answer is… Now, any more questions?”

Everybody at the table shook their heads.

“Very well. Report to the dimensional travel array at 5 o’clock sharp. You are all dismissed,” Dispatcher said.

By five, the squad gathered at the dimensional array, standing in front of a circular portal frame. Each one of them carried a backpack with some bare minimum essentials: a change of clothing, water, and food. A few maintenance workers scurried out of the room; scientists looked on from behind a window. A couple of them gave the squad a thumbs up.

“You’re here in time,” Commander remarked to Minigunner, who was trying to deadlift his weapon.

“Oh yeah, of course, of course. This is important, y’know?” Minigunner lifted his weapon above its head before re-strapping it to his back.

Scout patted down the two holsters at either side of his hip, making sure he didn’t forget a pistol. He tapped Sniper, who was fidgeting with his shades, on the shoulder, asking “You ready? You look a little tense there.”

Having been intently gazing at the portal frame, Sniper jumped a little. “Eh!? Oh, yeah, I’m ready. Totally. It’s just that this is the first time I’ve been sent on a God Cube mission.” He took a deep breath. “I’m ready.”

Scout gave Sniper a pat on the back. “You got this, bro. You’ve been a member of T.D.S. for as long as I have.”

An announcement blared in the room. “PORTAL ACTIVATION SEQUENCE INITIATED.” Blue, glowing energy began to swirl within the portal frame.

“PORTAL ACTIVATION COMPLETE. PLEASE PROCEED.” The inside of the frame was a solid blue with cloud-like patterns swirling within.

“Alright, troops. Move in.” Commander waved his arm for the rest of the towers to follow suit as he walked towards the portal.

Chapter Text

The towers stepped out of the portal, with the school seemingly nowhere in sight.

“Don’t be alarmed, dimensional travel isn’t an exact art. We’re somewhere in Abydos, so making it to the school shouldn’t be difficult,” Commander said.

They were situated in the middle of a road; cracks ran down the street, with most of them filled in by loose sand. Suburban houses were to either side of the road, exhibiting all of the signs of abandonment. Most windows were cracked, a good few portions of the wooden fencing had been torn down, and mounds of sand piled up in yards of dead grass.

“Dude… it’s so hot…” Minigunner complained.

“Get a grip on yourself, bro. It hasn’t even been like ten seconds,” Scout said.

“Alright. Troops, the Abydos school is…” Commander gave a few taps on his radio, bringing up a rudimentary map of their area.

“That way.” He turned, pointing. “We take this street.”

The squad proceeded onward.

The towers turned onto a street. Ahead was a gathering of girls, each of them wearing motorcycle helmets. Unusually, each one of them had a glowing halo floating above their heads. In all of their arms were assault rifles.

“Oi, who are you guys?” one of the girls called out. The rest of them turned to face the towers, and a couple of them pointed guns at the towers.

“Why are they so big?”

“Are they adults?!”

“They don’t have halos and they’re carrying guns… what are they thinking?”

Commander raised his arm to the side to signal for a stop. He spoke loudly. “TDS Organization here. We’re investigating something in this district.” He added, “We don’t want to fight.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” one of the girls, probably the leader given her distinguishing red helmet, sneered. “TDS Organization, investigation, whatever. You’re on the territory of the Kata-Kata Helmet Gang. If you cough up some money, we’ll let you go without a scratch. And only if!”

Commander’s hand drifted down to his holster. He said, even louder this time, “Don’t make us do this.”

“Not a chance! We outnumber you ten to one.”

This time, the strength in numbers was in the hands of the enemy. Commander turned back to the rest of the towers. He whispered, “Return to the street we were on. Get into defensive positions once we turn the corner.” He snuck a glance back at the helmet gangsters, who were now walking towards them. “NOW!” he yelled.

The towers began to sprint for dear life, trailed by gunfire. One of the girls yelled “Get them!”

It’s not like the towers couldn’t take some bullets. They could, but enough bullets would cause immense stunning. Of course, bullets still hurt.

Ahead was a rather convenient abandoned car positioned diagonally in the middle of the road. Scout dove over the hood whilst the rest of the towers rushed around the car.

“Weapons out! Defend like you mean it!” Commander yelled.

Scout drew his two pistols, peeking around the front of the car and firing a few shots.

A hail of bullets soon peppered the car.

Minigunner loosened the straps of his weapon. With a hold of the trigger, the numerous barrels began to whir to life. He crouched and peeked behind the back of the car, just in time for his minigun to open fire on the gangsters.

The squad could hear the girls yelling for retreat.

Sniper mounted his rifle on the trunk of the car. Shot after shot cracked out as a few stragglers were shot down.

Peeking up from the car windows, Commander saw the bodies of the gangsters laid scattered on the ground, with their halos nowhere to be seen. Oddly, not a single drop of blood was spilled.

“Yo… wait, did we just kill a bunch of kids?” Scout panted out. “We should check, right?”

“Uhm… there's no bullet marks on any of them. Not that I can see,” Sniper said, squinting in his scope. “It’s like they’re sleeping.”

“Who cares, they were asking for it…” Minigunner said, holding his weapon upwards now that he stopped firing. “Okay, on second thought, we gotta check.”

“...Very well.” Commander stood up. His lips were tightly pursed together. The mood had seemingly died down.

The towers made their way over to the fallen. The rest of the gangsters were seemingly long gone.

Upon closer inspections, indeed none of the bodies showed any signs of damage. At most, a few of the girls’ clothes were mildly torn.

With the stock of his rifle, Sniper prodded at one of the girls, causing her halo to flicker.

“Gah?” He almost dropped his rifle.

The girl began to stir, and her halo reappeared. “Ugh… h-how are you all so strong… We.. we’ll get you all next time!” she said weakly before slipping back into unconsciousness, her halo disappearing again.

“So they’re bulletproof…” Commander breathed out with a sigh. “Okay, troops. Lets get a move on. Abydos school is not far from here.”

Under the blazing sun, the towers proceeded onwards to Abydos High School.

“What blasphemy is this!? I’ve already lost, why can’t you people just leave me alone?!” The hunched creature’s glowing eyes stared wide-open up at the bulky figure towering over him.

“Watch your tone. I didn’t cross an entire dimension to say hi, now did I?” the muscular man growled, causing the wretch to retreat slightly. “This is your second chance to exact vengeance. Either you work with us, or spend the rest of eternity rotting in this abyssal hell!” The man stepped towards the wretch.

The hunch-back gave a nod.

Chapter Text

“That’s it, I can see the school!” With the detached scope of his rifle held to his right eye, Sniper was peering ahead on the street. “I can see the front gate.”

“That’s a damn relief.” Straggling behind the rest of the squad, Minigunner was hardly trudging along. “This place is almost as hot as Infernal Abyss… And my head is also burning.”

“Are you sure your bald head isn’t getting sunburnt?” Scout said, looking back; indeed, the portion of Minigunner’s head not covered by his thin headset was a shade of angry red.

“Dude, you can’t be serious.” With a tentative finger, Minigunner poked his own forehead. He yelped, “Ouch… Can I borrow anyone’s hat?” He was the only one without any headwear: Scout and Sniper both have baseball caps, and Commander has his Paradoxum-logo-embellished hat.

Commander slowed down, pulling his navy blue hat off. “Have mine,” he said whilst handing Minigunner his hat. “But please don’t lose it.”

“Thank you, sir!” With a quick little salute, Minigunner accepted the hat.

After more walking, the squad made it to the front gate of Abydos High School.

Minigunner wrapped his right hand around a bar of the gate and tried to pull it open. He groaned, now using both of hands to try and pull the gate to the side. “It's locked!”

“There’s a doorbell. And stop trying to pull it open! What’ll the teachers think when they see four armed men trying to brute force their way into a school?” Commander scolded, moving to press the doorbell to the side of the gate. With a glance at his radio, he noted, “It’s past three o’clock. School is normally out by now.”

“What, do we just wait?” Scout asked, sitting down on the concrete and taking a swig from his canteen.

“But don’t we have to wait for tomorrow morning? Or, what if it’s a weekend? I think we’d have better chances in another district.” Sniper suggested.

Ding. Ding. Ding. Commander pressed the doorbell a few more times before Minigunner stepped in and began to rapidly press the doorbell. DINGDINGDINGDINGDINGDINGDINGDINGDING

“It’s no use, really.” Scout looked down at the sand-strewn ground, wiping off the sweat on his forehead.

“Hey, wait, hold on.” Sniper said as he peered past the gate into the school using his scope. “I see someone in the window!”

“Really?” Scout got up and stood at the gate with the rest of the towers, trying to peer in.

The front door of the main school building swung open.

The first girl out of the door was a cheery girl with green eyes, flowing blonde hair, and a jacket of roughly the same color as her hair. She was casually holding a minigun in one hand as she gave the towers a large wave.

“Dude… how is she doing that?” Minigunner muttered to himself. He tried to take one hand off his weapon, but could only manage for a few seconds before replacing it.

The second girl had black hair, and, strangely, cat ears extending naturally from the top of her head. She held a scoped assault rifle. Her gaze towards the towers was less amicable.

“They got catgirls here?” Scout said, his eyes lighting up.

After the catgirl was another seemingly half-animal girl with grey hair and wolf ears. The wolf-girl also wielded an assault rifle.

“Wait a minute, all of them have guns too…” Sniper remarked nervously. His hand was tightly clenched around his scope.

Next out the front door was a seemingly ordinary girl with short bob-cut black hair and glasses. Except, she had elf ears. Holding a tablet, she was the only one so far without a weapon.

Finally, the shortest of the girls exited the building, holding a hand to her mouth as she seemingly yawned. With her heterochromatic eyes – yellow right and blue left – and long pink hair (from which a massive ahoge sprouted), she stood out just as much. On her offhand was a white shotgun, and a briefcase was slung on her opposing shoulder.

Each of the girls had a halo, too, colored around some aspect of their appearance and with a more unique form.

The girls approached the gate, standing back a fair distance. The blonde spoke first, asking “Hello! Who are you guys?”

Commander cleared his throat and spoke. “Let us in. We need to discuss something extremely important with your teachers.”

With a shake of her head, the short-haired girl replied, “We don’t have teachers here.”

The catgirl muttered, “They’re adults… And they have guns, but not halos. Suspicious…”

The pink-haired girl made her way to the front of their group, yawning again. “You guys aren’t one of those Kaiser folks, are you? This old timer has had enough of them for a lifetime.”

“No…? What’s Kaiser?” Scout shrugged, “And calling yourself an old timer is a little odd.”

“To be fair, we have no idea about what you guys are talking about, either,” the elf-eared girl said.

“It’s a long story,” Commander explained, “but we can discuss after we get inside. I PROMISE that ”

“Yeah, it’s also hella hot outside, and we’re thirsty,” added Minigunner.

“Hmph. I’m not buying it,” the wolfgirl said. She raised her gun up, which prompted Sniper to raise his arms.

“Hey, Shiroko, you don’t have to do that…” the blonde haired girl tried to calm her down.

“If you want in, we’ll confiscate your weapons. How’s that?” the pinkette suggested.

The towers paused for a moment.

“If that’s what it takes,” Commander replied. “Troops, hand over your weapons.”

Minigunner leaned in next to Commander’s ear, whispering a bit too loudly, “Dude, how do we know they aren’t gonna pop us as soon as we give them our guns?”

“Trust me, we would never do that!” the blonde reassured.

“Yeah, and this is our school, anyway. We don’t have to let you guys in at all, you know?” the catgirl added.

By now, the wolf-girl, or Shiroko, had lowered her rifle.

“Alright. Very well. Again, troops, hand over your weapons,” Commander ordered, drawing his own pistol from his holster and holding it by the barrel. He handed it to the elf-eared girl, as she was the only one without a weapon.

The rest of the towers followed suit in disarming themselves. Sniper’s rifle and both of Scout’s pistols were slotted between the bars and picked up by the girls.

Except for Minigunner’s weapon. It couldn’t fit through the bars.

“Why don’t you just take out the ammo?” the elf suggested.

“I can’t. This thing,” Minigunner slaps the barrel of his gun, “is a single package deal. No reloads. But it takes a while to wind up, so it’s not like I can shoot you guys behind your back. I’ll hold it by the barrel, just to be safe.” With his fingers awkwardly wrapped around one of the barrels of his gun, he did just that.

“Infinite ammo… There are some things not even this oldie knows,” she mused. “That’s all fine, but we’ll still take it from you once you get inside.”

With a flip of a lever on the interior side, the gate was opened, automatically sliding to the side.

“Welcome to Abydos~☆” With a wave, the minigun-wielding girl beckoned the towers to enter, once again having held her weapon with a single hand.

As the towers followed the Abydos students inside, the derelict nature of the school became apparent.

“You guys still go to school here?” Scout asked, kicking at a patch of sand on the parking lot ground.

Shiroko gave a nod. “It’s home to us. We all chose to stay here.”

“I see.”

Everyone made their way inside the school. Sand had managed to infiltrate inside, creating a light dusting over the wooden floor. Almost every classroom they walked by had its door boarded up, and many windows were cracked.

To store the towers’ weapons, Shiroko and the other animalistic girl split off to go to another room.

“We’ll get those back, won’t we?” Sniper was eyeing the pair as they walked off.

“Of course.”

The two girls caught up again before the destination.

Eventually, the students led the towers to a room with a central table and a whiteboard. Spent ammo casings and boxes lay astrew around the room.

“Take a seat, everyone!” With that, the pinkette took a seat at one side. Following suit, the other students sat around her.

Commander took a seat opposite to the pink-haired girl, and the rest of the towers sat around him. Minigunner returned the hat to Commander.

“Let’s introduce ourselves, troops. I’ll go first. I’m Commander, senior command operative of the TDS Organization.” he tipped his hat at the girls.

“Hey guys, I’m Scout, and I’m the junior field operative of this squad.” Scout took off his bandana and flashed his signature grin.

Removing his glasses, Sniper spoke next: “I’m Sniper, and I’m a specialized reconnaissance operative.” He capped off his introduction with a little wave.

Minigunner was already unmasked. “The name’s Minigunner,” he said whilst pointing at himself with his thumb, beaming. “Senior heavy concentrated fire control support operative.”

That was obviously made up. A few weird looks were thrown at him.

“Okay, we’ll introduce ourselves next. First things first, we’re all part of the Foreclosure Task Force, which also serves as the student council of Abydos High. This is our club room.” the blond said, gesturing around the room. “I’m Nonomi, and I’m in my second year. Nice to meet you guys!☆”

“My name is Ayane,” the elf-eared girl said, “and I’m the secretary for the FTF, in first year. We’re the only students left in the school. Oh, and I remember you asking if we have any teachers here, Commander.” She nodded to him. “There’s only one permanent teacher in Kivotos. He’s Sensei, and he works for Schale. Actually, it’s a long story, so I’ll save it for later. On to you, Serika.” She looked towards the cat-eared girl.

“Oh, right. I’m Serika,” she said. “I’m the treasurer… which is quite the job considering the situation we’re in. It’s another long story. I’m also a first year.” Judging by the way she stared narrow-eyed at the squad, Serika didn’t seem too enthralled.

The wolf-girl spoke next. “I’m Shiroko, the field captain of the Foreclosure Task Force and in my second year.”

By now, the pink-haired girl had already fallen asleep, with her halo having seemingly vanished. Shiroko poked her. “Wakey.”

“Uhee… what’s going on?” she yawned, her eyelids fluttering open and halo reappearing. “Oh, self introductions… my bad. I’m Hoshino. Chairwoman of the FTF and third year student.” Hoshino sat up straight.

With a nod, Commander proceeded, “Let’s get to business.” After unslinging his backpack, he pulled out a document from the back compartment and slid it to Hoshino across the table. “Read this. It’s a documentation on what we’re after. Tell us if anything from this sounds familiar”

With the paper in Hoshino’s hands, the rest of the girls leaned in closer.

“Affliction by a mysterious energy… hmm,” Hoshino said, her expression shifting to a more serious one. “Hold on, give us a minute.” The girls each stood up, hudding in a circle on their side of the room whilst whispering to each other.

“Hoshino, how much should we tell them? I don’t trust them at all,” Serika said as quietly as possible.

“From their document, it’s almost certain both Hoshino. The thing that they’re talking about is remarkably similar to the Chroma,” Ayane added.

“They seem exactly like Gematria members,” Shiroko commented.

Not gonna lie, they’re acting suspicious,” Minigunner whispered out to the rest of the towers. Yet again, loud enough to be overheard by the students.

The students snuck a nervous glance at the towers.

“We should ask Sensei. This seems like the type of situation we should get an adult for,” Nonomi whispered.

“Agreed. We’ll send them to Schale. Sensei will deal with them, one way or another.” Hoshino said. “Everybody agree?”

There was a unanimous nod.

“It’s settled, then.”

“Hey, you done over there?” Commander called out. His fingers drummed a beat on the table.

“Nothing, nothing.” Hoshino sat down first, and the rest of the girls followed suit. “So,” she continued, “we think that you’d have better luck asking Sensei at Schale. We’re rather clueless on stuff like this~” Yet another yawn came from her as she slid the documents back across the table.

“Back it up a few, who’s this ‘Sensei’ guy that you’re talking about? Is he you guys’ teacher?” Scout asked.

“Sensei is an adult, just like you guys. He’s much more qualified for things like this,” Ayane said.

“You say he’s at Schale? Where is that?” Commander piped in.

“I can send his address to you,” Ayane pulled out her phone.

Commander took out his radio. “Alright.” He punched in the coordinates of the Schale building into his radio as Ayane showed him her phone.

Upon seeing the location, Minigunner groaned, “We are not boutta walk two hundred miles!”

“Nope, there’s a railroad not too far from here.” Commander pointed to a line on his radio map. “The nearest station is only four miles away, and it goes to a station only a few blocks from Schale.”

“Then let's go.”

Chapter Text

“Tickets cost money here?” Sniper asked, pointing at the ticket purchase booth.

“No way, they do?” Scout turned towards where Sniper was pointing.

“Sigh… looks like we’ve been spoiled by our military privileges. Troops, did any of you happen to bring any money?” Commander said. He dug in his pockets and around in his backpack.

“I have…” Sniper pulled out a large handful of coins from his pocket, “50 coins. Took some just in case.”

“Guys, are you seriously concerned about tickets when there are CATS and DOGS and ROBOTS walking around?” Minigunner said. He was looking every which way, fixating on passerby at random.

Commander sighed with a shake of his head, “Stop acting like a child. We’ve seen them for the past half hour. You’re drawing even more attention to us.”

Indeed, despite schoolgirls with guns, talking animals, and humanoid robots walking around, the most stares were directed at the four decently ordinary men.

“Hey, excuse me, how much is it for a ticket?” Scout walked up to the ticket counter, with the rest of the towers following suit.

The robot at the counter said, “One hundred yen a person for regular, three hundred per for first class. The next train arrives in three minutes, so choose quickly.”

Sniper held the handful of coins up for him to see. “Is this enough?”

The robot leaned in closer. “What type of coins are those?”

“They’re… golden coins! Twenty-four karat pure gold coins!” Scout said. He nudged both Sniper and Commander with his elbows.

“Really?” the robot asked. The display of his face “blinked” twice.

“Erm… sure. Feel them, they’re quite heavy,” Sniper suggested, dumping half of his handful of coins into the cashier’s hand.

The robot moved his hand up and down for a moment. “Hmm… I can’t really te-”

“They’re legitimate,” Commander interrupted, “and if I were you, I’d take ‘em without question. Five seconds to decide, either you keep thousands of yen in gold or you lose. And give us first class, please. It’s the least you can do.”

“Fine, fine. But if I find out that you scammed me…” the robot took the coins behind the counter, “you’ll pay for it!” He handed each of the towers a blue-and-yellow ticket.

“I’ve got to be honest, not even I know if they’re real gold or not…” Commander said as the squad walked away.

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“Yes Sensei, I understand.” Head Prefect Hina listened as Sensei explained the whole situation to her.

“Try to present yourself diplomatically. You know, you do look a bit scary…” Sensei said.

“I… can’t really change that.” Hina said. “Regardless, I’ll try.”

She took a place on the couch facing the door, crossing one leg over the other.

The teacher turned back to his computer, taking the time to finish up the last of his work before the impending visit.

⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻

The station was just a few blocks from the destination.

“This place is just like old Cyber City,” Sniper observed as he and the towers walked.

Cars streamed through the adjacent intersection and roads. Buildings of glass and steel reached towards the heavens.

Holding out his radio, Commander guided his squad around a corner. “We’re right here.”

Students in all varieties of wear – lab coats, military uniforms, and plain schoolgirl outfits – entered and exited through the sliding doors of the Schale Building.

With the shortest of the group, Scout, being at least a head taller than the average student, the towers naturally stood out. No less stares were directed towards them now than at the station.

The towers made their way through the main floor of the building. All sorts of amenities seemed to be available: a convenience store, a game room, a lounge, cafeteria, and even gym. It was clear why this place is so popular with the student populace.

“Eighth floor.” Commander pressed in the corresponding button on the elevator panel.

Ding.

Up to the eighth floor they went.

At the end of the eighth floor’s left hallway was the destination. Next to the door was the label:

Independent Federal Investigation Club

S. C. H. A. L. E.

Above the text was a rather intricate image of what appeared to be a compass, with the northern pole surrounded by a halo.

“Down to the hundred-thousandths with the coordinates. This is it,” Commander said as he and the rest of the towers stopped at the door.

With a gloved hand, Commander knocked on the door.

“Please come in,” the voice of an adult male rang from inside.

A turn of the doorknob allowed for entry. The towers each stepped inside.

“Hello. You’re Sensei, correct?” Commander said to the man sitting at the office desk with his chair turned towards the door.

“Correct. Please, make yourself at home. I know you have a lot to talk about,” the man replied. In front of his desk was a window which overlooked the cityscape.

Just then, Minigunner elbowed Commander.

Commander turned back, hissing, “What?!”

He noticed the girl on the couch at the same time that Minigunner pointed to her. Shortly, all of the towers were staring wide-eyed at the same person.

Shimmering amethyst eyes.

Black clothes with a hint of violet.

A horizontal crown of horns peeking above flowing white hair.

Standing taller than her, a black-and-purple machine gun held to her side by a strap.

Demon wings sprouting from her back.

Most egregiously, a jagged, crystalline ring of black and purple floating above her head.

Attributes of the most dangerous enemies of the TDS Organization.

Before anyone else could react, Commander’s pistol was already trained on the girl’s head.

Chapter Text

A terrible presence watches from a nonexistent abyss.

‘This round is just a warm up! For your first challenge, can you stand up to the unbridled power of a juggernaut?’

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The first shot glanced off of Hina’s forehead, eliciting no reaction. Upon perceiving it, Sensei took his tablet and dove under his desk.

The second shot flew into the cushion behind where the student was.

In a flash, Hina had ducked away, weapon already in hands. She opened fire at the group of intruders.

Under the storm of bullets, the towers collapsed into a heap immediately.

They look unscathed… Hina thought. Even the clothing of the intruders remained pristine after being subject to some of the heaviest firepower in Kivotos.

Hina lowered her still-smoking gun. “Sensei, are you okay?” she asked, turning to him.

Sensei nodded from under the desk. “All right, what about you?”

After three seconds, a muffled “Ugh” brought both of their attention back to the pile of bodies.

As if nothing had happened, Sniper had sprung up, rifle in hand.

A crack rang out from his rifle, and Hina staggered backwards. The shot found its mark on her forehead, causing a purple bruise to swell up.

Before Sniper even began to cock his rifle, he was subject to another barrage. He fell down to the side.

Getting back up this quickly… nearly unheard of. Hina lowered her gun for a moment.

In that moment, Commander, Scout, and Minigunner leapt up. Each of them wielded their weapons.

A gutteral roar came from Commander: “Strength in numbers!”

Before Hina could even raise her gun, she was peppered with pistol fire from Commander and Scout.

A mechanical whirring filled the room as Minigunner began to wind up his weapon.

Hina gritted her teeth as she ignored Scout’s comparatively meager shots. That big guy’s a priority.

Both the student and the commander thought the same thing.

A split moment before Hina started shooting, Commander hoisted Sniper’s unconcious body up with his radio arm, holding it up in front of Minigunner.

After just one second, Commander was brought down. He collapsed with Sniper’s body on top of his.

One second was enough.

“Eat lead, ya punk!” Minigunner unleashed a stream of bullets towards Hina.

With a flap of her wings, Hina barely managed to evade the oncoming storm as she flew up to the ceiling. From her aerial position, she rained down bullets at Scout and Minigunner.

Both of them stared up wide-eyed before they crumpled.

Hina landed next to Sensei’s desk, reaching out for Sensei. “We have to go.” Her small hand tugged on his larger one, pulling him up.

At the doorway, Hina emptied the last of her magazine into the four bodies on the floor.

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‘They perished against the warm-up… Did he even need my help?’

The Underground Dweller scoffed. Slowly, a chuckle began to resonate from him. ‘Pathetic! It’s almost insulting, having my players lose so quickly!’

His excitement was shortly wiped out after five seconds.

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Sniper arose to the last sounds of footsteps growing distant down the hall. “Ow… damn, that was the most I’ve been hurt in forever.” He pushed Commander off of him, then knelt up and began shaking him. “What do we do now, Comm?”

“Ah.” Commander sat up. “We lost? No way…”

Sniper pointed to the doorway and nodded.

Minigunner and Scout awoke next in rough unison

“That was definitely a trap,” Scout said whilst rubbing his head through his cap.

“Agreed. Holy, she could even fly!” Minigunner said, standing up shakily.

Footsteps and voices echoed from outside the office.

“What happened? I heard gunshots, then saw Sensei running out with the Head Prefect.”

“I don’t know. But if there’s intruders, then…”

Two girls rushed into the room. One had folded black wings and was unarmed; she stared with a bewildered expression at the four men. The other looked rather ordinary with blue-purple hair; she was armed, pointing dual-wielded submachine guns at the towers.

“...It’s a long story, okay?”

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“I’M SORRY I’M SORRY I’M SOR-”

“You just used up your ace in the first round? And they’re unscathed? Are you KIDDING ME?!” Holding the creature by the throat, Sentinel Ramiel shook him mid air. “Useless! I’ll dispose of you right now!”

The Underground Dweller could only screech: its spindly dangled mid air. “ I’VE GOT ANOTHER CHALLENGE FOR THEM!”

“And what exactly is that?”

“Those towers are getting thrown in jail at this moment! Jailed towers! I can make sure they’ll rot in there forever!”

“Damn it… alright.” Ramiel threw the dweller to the ground. “You better not fail us again, got it?”

A flurry of nods was directed to him as a response. “Yes! I promise! I’ve got my game plan! They are- they have been playing directly into my hands!”

“Is that so… I’ll hear you out for as long as I can bear. But be reminded, THEY are not gonna die to a couple bullets.” With that, Ramiel turned away. An orange portal materialized in front of him as he walked.

Once the portal disappeared, the Underground Dweller was left alone once again.

He’s even scarier than that wolf girl…

Chapter Text

BREAKING NEWS: FOUR ARMED INTRUDERS ARRESTED AT SCHALE

This headline flashed on just about every TV in Kivotos.

Elsewhere, in a Valkyrie Police Academy base…

Interrogation Log 985-T-1

Interrogator: Ogata Kanna, Valkyrie Police School, 3rd Year

Suspect: Scout, TDS Organization

A single light flickered overhead.

“State your name.”

A woman with dog ears pointing out of her blonde hair sat in front of Scout. A halo of four connected squares floated above her head. She wore a blank expression.

Scout gulped. “I’m Scout, ma’am. Of the TDS Organization.”

“Are you sure that’s your real name? Not just your role?”

“Yeah, pretty sure.”

“Scout, what was your team thinking when they attacked Head Prefect Hina? And don’t say you didn’t. We have the footage.”

Scout shrugged. “Eh… Hina’s the little purple girl, right? It was kinda self defense. Commander – the guy in the navy uniform with the cap, if you didn’t know – shot her cuz’ she looked like a Void enemy. Not sure if you know what a Void enemy looks like, but I’m sure he can show you. Anyways, afterwards, she mowed us down, so naturally when I got unstunned I shot back.”

The interrogator was jotting on a notepad. “You and your group are from another world, correct?”

“Yup. Yes ma’am. By the way, are we going to jail?”

She ignored his question. “Explain your intentions for coming to Kivotos.”

“...It’s a long story. I’m pretty sure it’s classified, actually. Ask Commander.”

“Answer in your own words.”

“Do I really gotta? Okay, we’re trying to find something that corrupts people. We don’t know much about it, so that’s why we’re trying to find it here.”

The policewoman sighed. “I suppose that’s enough for now. But we’ll come back to you if your commander’s information proves dissatisfactory.”

“Got it.”

“And for your team’s punishment… that will be decided on.”

Interrogation Concluded

Interrogation Log 985-T-2

Interrogator: Ogata Kanna, Valkyrie Police School, 3rd Year

Suspect: Sniper, TDS Organization

“Your name?” the interrogator asked. She supported her head with her wrists.

“Sniper.” With his arms crossed, Sniper answered.

“You’re a member of the TDS Organization, correct? Tell me what you and your team were hoping to accomplish.”

“I am. And in what? We’re trying to secure a God Cube Fragment. Or at least investigate something like that here.”

“Please, explain to me in detail what a God Cube Fragment is.”

“I don’t know much. But if anybody touches it, then they become corrupted with energy.”

“I see.” The interrogator noted this down.

“We’re not going to jail, are we?”

No answer.

Interrogation Concluded

Interrogation Log 985-T-3

Interrogator: Ogata Kanna, Valkyrie Police School, 3rd Year

Suspect: Minigunner, TDS Organization

“Name?”

Silence.

“State your name.”

Even more silence.

“State your name!” the interrogator raised her voice.

Minigunner was leaning back in his chair. His eyes were glued to a point below the interrogator’s face.

The interrogator traced his gaze downward. She slowly stared back at him, eyebrows beginning to furrow.

“Answer me!” She screamed out, slamming both hands on the table.

Minigunner finally took his eyes off her admittedly large chest. “Oh, I’m Minigunner.” He flashed her a smile as he hadn’t done anything wrong.

The interrogator took a deep breath. She asked, “Tell me about the people of your world. You four held your own against Head Prefect Hina and immediately recovered from getting shot even whilst not having a halo.”

“The little girl? Well, TDS Operatives are something else, lemme tell ya’. We’re the best of the best, so naturally, we do the stuff only the best can do.”

“Is that it?... Next question: what is the role of your so-called Commander within the TDS Organization?”

“He’s our commander, duh. Leader of the dream team, the destroyer of the weak, et cetera. He’s awesome.”

The interrogator shook her head. “If that’s what you say. What does your group plan to do with the God Cube Fragment or whatever you’re looking for after you find it?”

“We’re gonna keep and study it… whatever the nerds want to do. Personally, I’m not all that interested in them.” Minigunner paused for a moment. “I am interested in you, though…”

The interrogator glared at him with her one eye not obscured by her hair. Both of her ears stood erect, twitching.

“Hey, frowning like that is gonna ruin your face.” Minigunner was oblivious.

After a few seconds, she took yet another deep breath. “I’m done.”

Interrogation Concluded

Interrogation Log 985-T-4

Interrogator: Ogata Kanna, Valkyrie Police School, 3rd Year

Suspect: Commander, TDS Organization

“Your name is Commander, and you are a member of the TDS Organization, correct?” The interrogator’s expression was the weariest yet. She held a steaming cup of coffee in one hand.

“Yes.” Commander gave a slight nod.

“Please state your group’s mission in Kivotos.”

“We’re investigating the possible presence of a God Cube Fragment.”

“Are you sure that’s everything? No extra aspects to it?”

“Our secondary objective is to establish diplomatic relationships with the schools of Kivotos.”

The interrogator raised her eyebrow. “Is that so? You do realize that spontaneously attacking people is counterproductive to that, right?”

“Uhh…” Commander paused for a moment. “Yeah… about that. The girl’s a native to here?”

“Yes. She’s quite well known, in fact. She’s the chairwoman of the Disciplinary Committee of Gehenna Academy.”

Commander gulped. “Gehenna’s one of the big three schools, right?”

“Correct.”

“Ah… damn it,” he whispered to himself. He spoke up again: “Can I meet with her after I get out of here? And with Sensei?”

The interrogator took a sip of her coffee. “That will be decided upon.”

…Interrogation Concluded

“Arrrgh!”

With both hands on adjacent bars of the jail cell, Minigunner tried to pry them open.

“Yeah, that’s not gonna work,” Scout said. He was laying on one of the concrete slabs protruding from the wall, idly tapping at the surface.

A guard in plain police clothes came rushing in the hallway, holding a baton. “Hey! Get back!” she yelled.. Upon looking at Minigunner’s stature, she froze for a moment.

Minigunner retired to sitting next to Scout on the slab. The guard walked away.

“Commander, did they take your radio?” Sniper asked.

The commander nodded solemnly. “Yeah. But even if I had it, there’s no guarantee the signal would reach back to the overworld.”

With nothing to do, the towers simply rested as best they could.

“Hey, you four.” The interrogator from before came up to the cell, holding a mug of coffee. Two more guards followed behind her; all of the guards got in formation behind her. “On official orders from the General Student Council, you are all free-”

“Hell yeah!” Minigunner yelled out.

“-on one condition,” the woman continued. “You four will temporarily be employed at Schale under Sensei. That is, he will delegate work to all of you, primarily assigning you to requests from the students.”

“Hold on, you want US to work for you?” Commander asked. “Are you one hundred percent sure about that?”

The canine woman nodded. “That was what the GSC told me. If you accept, you are all to immediately report to the Schale building.”

“Are we gonna get paid?” Scout asked.

“That will be discussed at the building.”

“What about our mission?” Sniper asked.

“Since you’ll each be on duty during the weekdays, you have the weekend to accomplish whatever you want,” the past interrogator said. “The GSC also promised to provide whatever information necessary.”

“All of your belongings will be delivered to Schale if you accept. And one more thing,” she continued, “the General Student Council is also interested in contacting your world. If you have a method to communicate back, please inform them sometime.”

“Got it.” Commander nodded. He stood up, facing the rest of the towers in the cell. “Troops, this plan is a go, yes?”

Scout gave a thumbs up. Sniper nodded. Minigunner said, “Whatever you want, boss!”

“Then we accept.”

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“That big fella can’t possibly come after me every time, right?”

For now, the dweller’s hypothesis proved true.

Just for now.

Chapter Text

After the arrest of a certain four operatives…

“...That sounds acceptable. But what about your own safety, Sensei? There’s no way to truly guarantee that they won’t try anything against you,” Administrative Officer Rin said.

Sensei reached into his pocket, flashing the corner of his gleaming, golden credit card. “I’ll be fine. I’d rather be in danger than let them unsupervised around my students.”

Rin nodded. “As you always say.”

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The towers had been assigned a dorm room below the floor of Sensei’s office. None of their weapons were in sight, for they had been “temporarily” confiscated to the Schale armory room.

“Rise and shine, troops!” Commander yelled from the middle of the dorm room.

Scout sat up in his bed, rubbing his eyes. “Good morning, sir.”

Minigunner groaned, “Come on, Comm. It’s our first day, can’t we have a little more rest?” He pulled his blanket over his head.

“Absolutely not. Things are gonna get harder once we actually start working, you know?” Commander said. He walked over to Minigunner’s bed, pulling his blanket off.

Sniper was still fast asleep.

“Sniper, that goes for you too.”

A few taps from Commander brought him to wakefulness.

With a yawn, Sniper obliged. “Getting up now…”

“Okay. We have a meeting with Sensei at 9 o’clock sharp,” Commander said. “We’ve got one hour.”

The towers were the subject of much attention as they went about their morning routine.

“I saw them on the news yesterday.”

“What the hell are they doing here? Why aren’t they in prison?”

“This can’t be right… FOUR new adults?!”

Downstairs, on the residence hall floor:

As Minigunner went to open the door to the general bathroom, Commander pulled his arm away.

“Someone’s in the shower. Be respectful and wait,” Commander said sternly.

Minigunner shrugged. “It’s fine, the shower’s probably disc-”

The three others dragged him away by the shoulders.

“Dude, they’re all high schoolers!” Scout said.

“Some of them don’t look li-”

Sniper put a hand over Minigunner’s mouth.

The humming of the elevator combined with warbled radio static.

“You still can’t reach Dispatcher? Maybe the signal’s worse because we’re in a building,” Sniper said as he looked at Commander tapping away at his radio.

“Yeah, it hasn’t been since we got here,” Commander replied. “It’s all been static.”

“Hey, wait. Do you guys remember Dispatcher talking about some Millennium school?” Scout asked.

Everyone nodded.

“If they’ve got advanced technology, maybe they have some way to fix Commander’s radio,” Scout continued.

“Excellent idea,” Commander said. “That being said… we have two weekdays ahead of us.”

“Eh, maybe we’ll be lucky enough to be assigned on a mission there,” Minigunner said. “I, for one, want to get a laser minigun from ‘em.”

8:58 AM.

Holding a stack of papers to his chest with his left hand, Commander took a deep breath before knocking on the door to Sensei’s office with his right.

“Please enter.”

Commander opened the door.

Sensei was sitting in his chair, rotated towards the door. Rather than greeting the towers with a smile, he simply stared at them.

The couch to the side of a room, having been shredded by gunfire yesterday, seemed to have been replaced by another of the same model. With a gesture towards it, Sensei said, “Sit, please.”

As ordered, the towers sat down.

Sensei took a paper laying on his desk. “First order of business… you four’s employment at Schale.” He crossed his legs.

“Your current contract at Schale lasts two months. After which, you are expected to either return to your home world or request an extension. As of now, your only responsibilities are to respond to my requests concerning students and to perform custodial duties around the Schale building. Later on, I will introduce you four to the task of paperwork,” he said.

“You will only be able to retrieve your weapons when approved. Whenever you return from a mission, it is expected that you return your weapons to the armory immediately.”

Minigunner interrupted, “Why do we gotta do that? You guys aren’t gonna steal our guns, right?”

“It’s… customary, for all students to do that. And don’t worry, your weapons will be in good hands,” Sensei responded.

He continued. “All four of you are free to use all of Schale’s facilities, minus the armory. Finally,” he took out a silver debit card from his back pocket, “This will be how your pay is delivered. Ten thousand yen per week. There’s five thousand in there currently.” Sensei stood up and handed it to Commander, who accepted it with a nod and put it in his pants pocket.

“Ten thousand yen… how many dollars…?” Scout mumbled to himself, staring at the floor as he did the mental math. His eyebrows furrowed. “Hey, hold up, you’re only paying us one hundred dollars per week?!”

Before Sensei could open his mouth to respond, Commander was scolding Scout. “Hey, it’s already generous of them to pay us at all.” Leaning in closer, Commander whispered, “Don’t jeopardize our opportunity.”

Scout shrugged, then nodded.

Sensei sat back down. “Any more questions?” he asked.

The other adults unanimously shook their heads.

“Excellent,” Sensei said. He opened the drawer of his desk, pulling out four Schale ID cards, each embellished with the names of the towers.

“Welcome to Schale.”

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A girl with pink-red hair and demon horns on the back of her head was sitting cross-legged in her office chair. She smiled wickedly as she held a corded phone to her ear. Three other girls huddled around her at the desk.

“Problem Solver 68 at your service – if you got the dime, we’ll do the crime!” The girl spoke in a sultry voice befitting that of a true villainess.

A gruff male voice emanated from the phone. “You’ve seen the news, haven’t you? You know about the four adults that came to your world?”

“Yes, I have. Wha-”

“I want you to kill them.”

The girl’s composure immediately snapped. “WHAT?!” she screamed out.

“How’s forty million yen sound?”

Hearing this, the girl’s jaw dropped. “No way… you’re for real, right?”

“Sure am. Meet me at -42.52512, -8.98353, I’ll drop off the cash and give more details.”

“T-that’s…” the girl hesitated for a moment. “Very well! We’ll do it.”

“Hey, keep in mind that they ain’t easy targets. A couple bullets ain’t gonna do them in, so I suggest getting some weapons with a bigger punch.”

“U-understood.”

The caller hung up.

One of the girls, with silver hair and a black-crimson dress, spoke out in a teasing voice. “Aru, what’s gotten into you? What happened to being a hard-boiled outlaw?~”

The pink-red-haired girl, or Aru, shook her head. She breathlessly replied, “I-It’s not that, Mutsuki. The guy asked us to KILL! KILL the four new adults at Schale. And they’re asking us to meet up at some coordinates – I think it’s in Abydos – to deliver FORTY MILLION YEN…”

“W-Well, it’s fine, isn’t it? We’re getting paid, so we have to do it, no matter what…” another girl, with purple hair and a navy-like uniform, spoke up.

The fourth girl, with black-and-white hair tied in a ponytail and a hoodie said, “Aru, do you have any idea of what you’ve gotten us into? Haruka’s right. We can’t just back out now. Who even is our client?”

Aru replied. “Uhm… I don’t know, Kayoko. He sounded like an adult man, somewhat like Sensei.”

“It’s not him, then? I can’t imagine Sensei ever requesting something like that,” Kayoko said.

“Well, we’ll never know until we actually meet the guy,” Mutsuki said.

After a few deep breaths, Aru spoke again. “Okay, how about this? We take the money first, then worry about the mission later.”

Haruka asked, “Are we still gonna kill them?”

“That’s the spirit!” Mutsuki cheered.

Kayoko just sighed.

They had one hell of a problem to solve.