A single pink glowing line shone in the darkness. It looks like a laser light, vibrating in certain wave. "Belle what the fuck just happened?" the line vibrates, carrying an annoyed female voice through the limited void.
The opening OST a popular Saturday Morning cartoon echoed through the void. With a laser light performance, a single crimson red line appeared, seemingly dancing with the epic tune. "Fear not! The Starlight Knights have arrived!!!" a voice exclaimed followed by a thunderous applause.
A green line finally appeared. "I don't think the concept of 'arrive' extends to the first dimension, Billy," a voice spoke calmly. "Belle, how is the situation, should we disengage?"
A blue line appeared. "Not yet everyone..." the blue line turned into a pair of neon eyes. "Still some people patrolling... we're just at the edge of the Old Metro Hollow, I don't think their equipment is capable of picking up the First Dimension... the perfect espionage strategy I say!"
"Sweetie, we can't see anything," the pink line said. "Or hear anything from outside,"
"Wait huh? Oh, hold on,"
Static filled the void and pages of comic strips materialized into existence. The comic shows a vision of what's out there, a bunch of men in heavy duty uniform climbing into a train cabin. Around them, echoes an announcement about a man preparing to haul explosives into the Hollow.
"Wait... where's the explosives?" the pink line vibrates. "Also, what the heck is this??"
"Just a Pataphysical Projection," the blue line vibrates.
"Look," the green line vibrates. "They're planning to bring explosives into the Hollow but they're hauling in armed personnel instead," it points out. "Perhaps those are the explosive operator? They know Hollow is dangerous so they're bringing in men to make sure everything works fine,"
"Hmph," the pink line scoff. "So, they are being careful huh?" the line spiked for a bit. "Does that mean they know what they're doing? Ugh, here I was hoping they fucked this part up so we can get the job done quick," the waved lazily. "Maybe it's just Belobog being too much of a perfectionist..."
"Guys, it's too soon to make a conclusion," the blue line vibrates as the comic strip shows another scene. In this one, an old chubby man is speaking with a reporter. The reporter asked something about everyone already relocated, to which he nervously said yes.
"Aha!" the red line spiked. "Just like in episode 76! The Galactic Federation corrupt personnel are going to demolish an entire planet to make a toll!!! The Starlight Knights bravely stopped them and become an intergalactic hero! Uncovering the corruption deep within the Federation!"
"Billy, I don't think Vision is the sort of monster to just blow up an entire city without evacuating..." the pink line vibrates. "But... we can exploit that!" a strange music began to echo in the void. "Think about it, instead of looking where Vision cut corners, we can ask the people relocated to complain about their new accommodation! Even if they're treated fairly, surely, it's not going to be a five-star accommodation, is it? Ha! Just use the ungrateful public's greed against them, easy~"
The green light vibrates silently, feeling like what she heard there came from experience.
"Fairy, can you tell us where they're accommodating the original residence?"
"Affirmative, looking up Vision Old Metro Relocation. Search complete, said accommodation do not exist, formulating hypothesis," the voice paused. "Hypothesis one: Vision is currently in the process of relocating the original residence. Hypothesis two: Refer to Starlight Knights Season 1: Episode 76. Hero's Guide to the Cosmos."
"Ugh, can't have complaint if they're not accommodated yet," the pink line vibrates. "Let's not waste our time Belle, let's slip into the train and see if we can sweet talk the people there to tell us what's up with all this,"
The line jumped into the final image of the comic strip. It's an image of a train platform with dozens of people in uniform preparing to embark. Some are still smoking outside, some are already sitting inside, some are sleeping and another is waking them up.
Slowly, the lines began drawing new characters into the scene.
The pink line drew an image of Nicole leaning on a wall near the train blending seamlessly with the background.
The green line drew an image of Anby crouching down atop of the train's roof.
The red line drew an image of Billy, hiding behind some boxes, guns drawn looking around in alert.
The blue line finally drew a picture of Eous, sneakily climbing into the open cargo of the train.
With that, the
[LINE BREAK]
"Ooh fuck, this does not fit," a man with tired looking face spoke, forcing a fake pubsec helmet on to his head. "Can we fucking not?" he turned to another man standing beside him, struggling to put on his shoe.
"Bear with it Tom, it's just for a whole day," the man finally managed to slip his foot on to the shoe, before jumping around awkwardly. "It's worth the dennies," he stretched his arms and looked around. "Wonder how much money Vision spent..."
There were dozens of hollow raiders all over the storage area. Some are lazing about on the storage containers; others are sitting near the train carriage smoking some electric cig. A few are already sleeping on a shady ground next to a checkpoint building.
"You think we all get paid the same amount? Is the Riddler Knight Axel worth 75k?" Tom asked with a teasing tilt.
"No clue, doesn't seem there's anyone notable here I guess," Axel replied, looking around. "Who's the big shots again? Mockingjay, Red Fang, Cunning Hares, Phaethon, Black Sun... I guess," he listed a few at the top of his head.
"Phaethon's not a raider, they're proxy, and I'm pretty sure Black Sun is just an urban myth," Tom said. "Anyway, I heard Red Fang was wiped out, have you heard about that?" he walked up to the checkpoint and leaned on to the wall.
"It's old news, gang war with the Hares, I guess," Axel sat next to him. "Some sort of rivalry I guess," he took out a cig and took a sip. "Monsters kill monsters I guess,"
"Monsters?" Tom asked. "The hares? Aren't they just con artists?"
"Used to be, I guess," Axel replied calmly. "Now it's different, they'll take in all sorts of job. Stuff like illegal research, corporate espionage, gang wars, I guess," he breathes out clouds of smoke. "Heard the godfather hired em to beat up some youngin to stop a turf war, I guess,"
"Huh..." Tom slid down and sat next to him. "So, they're tough then?"
"You got phone, don't you? Just check out the Inter-Knot I guess,"
Tom rolled his eyes and fished out his phone. "Cunning Hares," he raised an eyebrow at the profile, whistling a little as he read the review. "Hot damn..." he muttered. "What do you reckon happen?"
Axel opened his mouth to make another guess when a girl stepped out from behind the wall behind them. Pink hair, green eyes, a suitcase, and garbed in all the street sass. The girl flashed them a grin, sauntering up to them. "Good afternoon, hot stuff~"
Tom blinked, trying to pry his eyes away from the huge thing looming above him. "Uh, hi," he gulped. "Can I..."
"You can grab the uniform at the box over there," Axel said calmly. "I know Vision's pocket is deep, but I didn't realize it's this deep, I guess," he commented.
Nicole raised an eyebrow. "You know me hun?"
Axel took off his helmet. "Do I know you? You're the Cunning Hares," the guy said, before sighing a little. "Anyway, sorry, I didn't realize just how deep Vision's pocket are, they must be expecting some serious shit if they also hire you,"
"Ahaha~ It's the Hollow darling, you can't overspend when it comes to safety," she sauntered up in the open, attracting everyone's attention. "The Cunning Hares are only here for a backup, we don't need the uniforms, we'll stay out of sight, well, except for me," she grinned at the man. "Anyway, you got some private room me and my team can use for the trip?"
Axel nodded. "You can take the small storage room at the back carriage,"
"Aww, thanks sweetie~" Nicole blew him a kiss. "See you later then~"
Tom however, stood up and grabbed her shoulder. "Wait, hold on, you're supposed to show your..." his words were cut short when Axel slapped his hand away. "Wait, it's the procedure, boss said you have to show your..."
Axel sighed in frustration. "If you want to try your luck and sign up to join the Red Fang gang, be my guest I guess,"
Tom winced a little, glancing at Nicole who simply gazed at them in amusement. He tried to say something to her, but the girl sauntered up closer to him. "Darling..." he felt a finger raising his chin up, forcing him to meet her gaze. "Did the boss pay you to be an admin?"
Tom gulped and slowly shook his head.
Nicole leaned closer, whispering to his ear.
"Did the boss pay you to scrutinize my credential?"
Tom shook his head again.
Nicole's nail dug to his chin, clawing it ever so slightly.
"Is your life worth 75 thousand dennies?"
Tom shook his head.
Nicole let go of him and smiled sweetly.
"Then I'll be on my way,"
"Y-yes!" Tom gasped as Nicole walked to the train, hips swaying dangerously. "S-sorry for the hold up!" he added.
The girl stopped right in front of the train carriage. She then snapped her fingers and an arc of lightning came from the train roof landing on her left. A black and red blur jumped out of the shadow and landed on her right.
Nicole gave the other small fries one last glance. "Behave now~" she said before disappearing into the train.
Tom dropped on to the ground, chest pounding. Beside him, Axel is still smoking, though his hand was trembling.
"Okay... that was, wow... I..."
"Feel like you were this close from being dead, I guess," Axel said. "For real, that's gotta be the dumbest thing you've done so far, why the fuck would you do that?"
Tom took a deep breath. "I thought she was alone and like..."
"Think you can take her on?" Axel raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah?"
"See that's why you're just a small fry I guess,"