It's a peaceful day in the video store, Anby noted. She sat idly behind the counter, patting 18 who waved at customers beside her. Her eyes flickered as customers stepped in once in a while, perusing their collection, and asking for recommendations.
"I'm looking for a mystery movie, but not detective or crime. The one where the ending is left vague, the stuff that keeps me on edge, yknow?" a man asked her, waving his hand animatedly as he said something that can be roughly narrowed down to a few hundred different movies.
"Have you watched Unlimited Players?" Anby asked, offering one that is about the same at the top of her head.
"Hmm? What is it about?"
"The main character is trapped in game and has to decide which people they meet is NPC and which isn't. Though it is heavily hinted that the main character themselves is the NPC. At the ending, it is revealed that actually..."
"WAIT!" the man put both hands on Anby's mouth. "Don't spoil it! What are you doing?!"
Anby gently pried his hands away. "the main character..."
"Okay, okay, you want me to rent it?! I'll take it, I'll rent the movie!" the man exclaimed in panic, grabbing the said movie and quickly pay the bills.
"Thank you for your patronage, enjoy your movie," Anby said with a wave of her hand. The other customer eyed her warily, clutching the movies they want to rent and preparing their bills.
As a young girl bravely stepped forward to rent a copy of Tre Carls, the door to the Video Store burst open, revealing Nicole sauntering in with that trademark grin and Billy making a super hero entrance. "Anby, sweetheart!" Nicole stepped towards the counter. "Hard at work I see? Say, can you wrap this up? Let 18 handle man the counter for a bit, mama got some juicy commission for you~"
Nicole then turned to the girl. "Hi, how can I help you?" she smiled sweetly. "Is that Tre Carls? Oh that's a delightful choice hun, that'll be just 100 dennies~ Be sure to tell your friends where you rent it from, mkay?" she took the money, gave her a change, and picked up 18 from the floor to sit on the counter. "Work hard 18, remember, every denny counts!"
With one last pat, Anby followed Nicole into the staff room. Logic suggests that Nicole would be less greedy now that she works with Belle and get paid 5 times what they usually make per commission. But no, despite being one of the richest Hollow Raider, the girl is still a money pincher.
The door to the staff room creaked open, revealing a dark room. The monitors from the HDD glows in blue light, illuminating a shape sitting in front of it. The silhouette turned towards them, a pair of bright blue eyes gleamed in the darkness.
Beneath the silhouette, shadows furled into a shape of a small cat. It jumped on to the silhouette's lap, bright yellow eyes shining in the dark. The silhouette gently pets the cat as it gazed at the Cunning Hares, all stereotypical end boss villain-like.
'click'
"Ahhh! The lights!" Belle yelped, rubbing her eyes when Nicole turned on the lights. "A warning would be nice!" she pouted and folded her arms. "Anyway, good job out there team," she grinned at them, giving them a thumb up.
Anby watched as the cat jumped off Belle's lap and walked up towards her. She leaned down, letting the cat sniff her hand, before giving it a few affectionate pats. The cat yawned lazily, nuzzling its head against her hand.
"Darling, what did I told you about not acting like a super villain?" Nicole said, sitting on a sofa facing the H.D.D. "As for the commission..." a smug grin formed on her face. "Ohoho! I believe we've done a wonderful job haven't we? To think that we'll be so good at pretending to be you!"
Billy stepped forward and struck a pose. "And not only that! But we've gained the trust of Belobog Industry!" his bright orange optics shone brightly. "Even Miss Grace was completely swooned over by our charisma!"
Anby already sat down on the floor, letting the regular black cat lay on her lap and gave it scratches. She's listening to everyone, of course, but she's really not the negotiation sort of member. She's more of uhh... Lightning Sword and Eliminate Target sort of member.
"Billy, I think Miss Grace was actually..." Belle paused for a bit and cleared her throat. "If she asks to meet up with you alone, kindly turn down her offer," she waved her hand. "Anyway, our next commission is simple, you, 'Phaethon', will go back to the Old Metro to do some friendly corporate espionage on Vision,"
Nicole nodded, reclining on the sofa. "Ha! Just leave it to me Belle, extracting information from some construction worker? Easy!" she grinned brightly. "They're absolutely clueless that they're not speaking to the real Phaethon, ohoho!"
"Nya~" the cat meows softly. Anby stopped petting it, it appears that the cat has finished playing. She wondered how much Belle paid the cat for that little super villain skit. A can of tuna? Three cans? She hoped the cat is adequately compensated for the troubles. "So it's corporate espionage on Vision, isn't it?" Anby said, getting everyone's attention. "They won the bid for reconstructing the Old Metro,"
Belle nodded. "Yep! And Belobog don't like that, so they paid us to go look into their plan more. They believe Vision is cutting some corners and they want us to figure out where exactly they're cutting corners," she looked up in deep thought. "Belobog explained that Vision only offers one fifth of the construction cost and that the thing they're cutting corner with, it's gotta be huge... Or at least that's what Koleda said."
From regular Hollow Raider mission to TOPS Corporation Espionage, Anby doesn't know if she should be concerned or impressed. It's a kind of leap that she's only seen in movies. Then again, Belle ticked all the boxes for the 'tragic shounen anime protagonist'. She just hopes that she gets her redemption arc before its too late.
"Understood," Anby said. "When and where do we start?"
"That's the spirit," Belle grinned and turned back to H.D.D. "Fairy, gimme everything you know about Vision current plans and see if you can find any opportunities,"
"Understood master," Fairy's voice echoes across the room. "Two weeks ago, Vision Company won the bid for the reconstruction of the Old Metro. They are currently in the process of delivering explosives into the Old Metro, they're going to use the explosives to clear up the place for demolition."
"But the demolition site is swallowed by the Hollow right?" Belle asked. "Are they going to bring explosives through the Hollow?"
"Affirmative, they're planning to use train to carry the explosives."
Silence swept across the room. Belle opened her mouth as if to say something, but nothing come out. Nicole rubbed her chin and looked up in deep thought. Billy folded his arms; one optics widen incredulously. Anby simply tilted her head and asked the obvious.
"Would that even work?"
"Calculating," Fairy replied. "Many variables are at play in terms of this plan. The Hollow's extra normal geometry and topography will make navigation near impossible. The use of train tracks instead of regular navigation might mitigate some issue. Some detour through higher dimensions might be required, but it might be possible. Based on all the variables above, the probability of success is between 12% to 84%."
"For a company that cut corners over quality, I don't like those odds," Nicole said finally. "We should look more into their method of getting explosives into the Hollow, I feel like that's where they cut corners. They severely underestimate the Hollow,"
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Alright then team," Belle sat back down in front of the H.D.D. "I'll meet you guys in the Old Metro. Let's figure out what these people are up to!"