Portal 2 spoilers, Payback influence, and, of course, CODE RED spoilers ahead.
Reader discretion is strongly advised.
"What was that?" Heavy asked.
Suddenly, the signals scrambled again, but this time they came beside him-- from Neru's pink "EXE"-branded laptop atop one of Luka's summoned Companion Cubes.
Kshzzzt!
Heavy headed over to the laptop. On its screen, he saw an archival clip from a previous data retrieval mission when GLaDOS was exiled into her other body. Little did Heavy know that the clip was also playing on the damaged primary mental inhibitor back in the inhibitor room.
The clip was marked "FILE 08.31.2010" onscreen. In it, GLaDOS spoke in her authoritative commanding voice. "Your friend cannot hide anything from us mercenaries," she warned. She then declared with a stern expression on her face, "Three-nine-three-nine will pay the price!"
Sniper's voice was heard. "The princess...? Agh!" He screamed in a sudden realization.
Spy said, "My pleasure."
GLaDOS's expression softened. "Good luck," she said. Then, she winked.
Heavy remembered that nearly six months ago, after Mio was found, Sniper goaded him to mess with the inhibitor just so he could find the case file firsthand. He also remembered that Sniper constantly believed his "princess" was in danger, not from a physical weapons threat, but from an issue of morality.
"Ah!" Heavy said in realization. He quickly punched the laptop lightly a few times with both hands. Just then, Heavy proudly boasted, "Good idea! Ahahahahaha!" He then used his right index finger and pressed the Enter key.
"Congratulations," GLaDOS announced in her authoritative voice. She remained in a standing position with her arms crossed, and was still hovering in midair. "We have secured the intelligence."
Suddenly, a siren began to blare across the city. The mercenaries and their current companions who were out in the field suddenly stopped their counterattack on the missiles and turned to face the stage building.
Rick, Wheatley, and Mio were still on the stage floor. Mio watched to her left as Tsumugi and Ritsu had Azusa's arms around their shoulders as they walked off the stage. However, Soldier, who had been knocked down minutes before, was missing.
Wheatley asked the people around him, "Hello? Can you- can you pick me up, please?"
Spy stepped in front of Wheatley and picked him up.
"Oh! Brilliant, thank you, great," said Wheatley.
"All in a day's work," said Spy.
While Spy walked offstage, Mio also picked up Rick. "I probably wouldn't have let things get this far," said Rick, "but you go ahead and do things your way."
However, Sniper quickly ran over to Mio. "Get bloody going!" he pleaded.
With a smile, Mio said, "Keep it up!"
"Yeah!" replied Sniper.
Mio turned around and jogged offstage with Rick in her hands.
The siren stopped.
Just then, GLaDOS broadcast her computerized voice across the field, just as she had during Neru's attack. "Let's get to business. Federal regulations require me to warn you that -subject name here- ...is looking pretty good." Upon finishing her statement, GLaDOS had a catlike smile on her face.
Sniper turned attentively to his right. He faced the stage building entrance where the two signs and the turret had been flung from. He stared for a moment at the black touchscreen instrument with its triangular handle. Suddenly...
KPOW!
A girl with two long turquoise-green haired ponytails spiraled out of the entrance with a loud rocket-like bang, and soared into the field.
"There you go!" Sniper cheered. He placed his left hand high above his head and waved.
Demoman ran onstage to Sniper's right and called out, "Go ka-BOOM!" while he pulled up his lower body armor and showed his paper smiley face on his pants in his "kaboom" taunt.
Sniper looked at Demoman angrily. "Gotcha, you bomb-lobbing wanker!" he yelled. Sniper believed that Demoman had tried to make the green-haired girl, who just flew out of the building, do that taunt inappropriately.
On the field, Scout ran over near the girl as she landed. He cheered, "And now we're doing it, now we're doing it! Yeah! It's ours now!"
The girl pushed her arms outward to both sides and spread out her fingers, showing her turquoise-green fingernails and her black detached sleeves with green edging to Scout. The girl hunched herself briefly with her arms and closed fists to her chest, and then swung them back out to her sides.
Meanwhile, Heavy heard another signal scramble on Neru's laptop.
Kshzzzt!
Another archival clip played, this time from over two months ago. The clip was marked "FILE 10.25.2010". superslinger2007 spoke in his vector form. "I even heard she didn't get accepted in some obscure audition somewhere," he said.
Kshzzzt!
The clip switched over with a pixelation. What seemed like the inside of an auditorium stage was shown onscreen. It was where a voice acting audition for a mute girl named Meru Otonashi was being held.
"Okay, next please!" a man with a megaphone announced.
"I'm Meru Otonashi," a woman read from a script book.
"Blah blah blah," mumbled a man.
"Hello. I'm Meru," a boy read.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Meru Otonashi," read... the green-haired girl herself!
Heavy had seen what he needed to see out of this archival clip.
It seemed that the Critic had also seen what he needed to see; he appeared on the screen dumbfounded by the girl's appearance. The Critic flung his hands down several times while shouting, "That... makes... no... sense!!!"
Kshzzzt!
Medic ran by as he taunted in glee with his German accent, "Where are your precious papers now, dummkopfs?!"
But the signals on the laptop weren't done yet.
Kshzzzt!
Heavy continued to watch the laptop's screen.
Yet another archival clip, marked "FILE 07.24.2010", played showing Medic's visual alias.
Neru's fake voice was heard saying, "This will seem very important to you: 'Bizarre Jelly 5', at the two-minute mark!"
The screen switched to color bars before Medic could make his panicked scream. An odd soundtrack song began to play from its two-minute mark. Suddenly, Heavy heard a rather high-pitched female voice singing.
Kshzzzt!
The signal switch interrupted the song and caused a video clip to play that showed Strong Bad's more solemn brother, Strong Sad. He stood beside a cassette player named a "booOOMbox".
"Listen to my extremely scientific findings!" Strong Sad announced. When he pressed the play button, the clip suddenly cut to another archival clip marked "FILE 05.15.2010". Heavy thought the date was a bit strange; that day had no official mission, even though he and Sniper were at the inhibitors.
"All right, power geeks!" Haruhi shouted in a voice that wasn't really hers. "I'm tired of fooling around! Now feel my sting!" While holding her brigade leader armband, Haruhi pointed a finger-gun gesture outward and corrupted the signals.
KRSHbrrrrrrrsszzzzt!
Suddenly the distorted signal switch played again twice as fast and in a higher pitch. A slow song fragment seemed to play during the signal switch.
The signal then quickly played four times as fast. A one-second song clip played. It seemed to be of the same high-pitched female voice singing "a-cha, la".
Suddenly, the clip switched over to another archival clip, this time marked "FILE 10.25.2010". It showed a black-haired girl swinging a green onion in her right hand up and down while grooving in front of a multicolor diamond background. However, a Finnish song played in the background; it was on a scat-singing verse.
Kshzzzt!
With a signal switch, the laptop screen now showed a cartoonish caricature of an orange-haired girl spinning a green onion in her right hand while the Finnish song continued to play. Heavy screamed upon realizing that this girl, Orihime, had unwittingly inspired the very thing the #SK09-HM10-07XX case file subject needed for a popularity boost!
Kshzzzt!
Just beside the stairs to stage right, Akira Kogami was quietly pondering the green onion that she had thrown onto the stage before her performance; she held it in her sleeve-covered right hand. Yui was with Akira and was also staring at it in curiosity. Just then, Yui and Akira heard Heavy's scream. They gasped and looked over at the same time at where the scream came from.
Kshzzzt!
Meanwhile, a different orange-haired girl, the one who had danced to "Hare Hare Yukai" beside Haruhi and Yuki, was on the Construct grounds.
"Huh?! No no no no no no no no!" the girl yelped in a high-pitched voice. She shook her head furiously with her closed hands on her chest. This girl was Mikuru. She seemed to have a vague connection to Akira, Yui, and even Orihime. However, Mikuru was secretly a time traveler from the future.
Suddenly, Mikuru quickly regained her composure. She made a peace-sign gesture with her right hand, and smiled. A few seconds later, she waved with the same hand. It was anyone's guess as to why Mikuru would do these random poses.
Unbeknownst to Yui and Akira, though, Heavy was watching this impromptu surveillance of Mikuru from Neru's laptop.
"Do svidaniya!" Heavy called, using a Russian phrase for "goodbye".
Mikuru jumped. "Wah!" She then stammered, "H-h-how did you know that?!" It was, again, anyone's guess as to how someone like Mikuru would know of a phrase like that. Heavy considered the possibility of there being some people out there who wear cosplay costumes, much like there was a boy who dressed up like Scout, according to Scout himself.
Kshzzzt!
Tsumugi had snuck away from Ritsu and Azusa, and was on the field. She was astonished by the green-haired girl in front of her, and watched as the girl launched herself high into the air into a skydiving-like position.
The girl then quickly flip-kicked her legs like scissors to the sky as she adjusted to a midair sideways sitting position, with her feet vertically apart and her arms out to her sides. Then, just as quickly, the girl shifted back into her skydiving position as she fell toward the ground, and shifted again as she dropped into a light crouch.
While the girl stood up, Tsumugi noticed that the green-haired girl wore a black headset on her head with a microphone, a silver sleeveless shirt that extended over her black pleated skirt with turquoise-green edging, and a yellow nametag-like rectangle on her left side of her chest. The girl also wore a long turquoise-green necktie with two black rectangles that seemed to have been clipped onto it, and long black thigh-high boots without any laces or zippers.
Kshzzzt!
Another archival clip played on Neru's laptop. Heavy's attention remained drawn to it. The clip showed superslinger2007 the persona in his vector form and was marked "FILE 08.31.2010".
"And I thought for sure that the boy who ordered many keyboards appreciated that case file subject," said the persona. "His behaviour even rubbed off on her once."
Just as he said that last sentence, the screen quickly switched to show a blue-tinted room. The green-haired girl herself was shown smashing a keyboard on the desk next to a computer monitor, then screaming at the screen and leaving the room. Heavy realized that the girl acted exactly like a certain angry German kid he had heard about, and screamed again.
Kshzzzt!
Heavy saw another archival clip marked "FILE 05.21.2010". He paid close attention to it, as he had not accompanied Pyro in that particular data-retrieval mission.
In the clip, an outdated timecode as well as the Critic appeared on screen. Pyro's voice was heard in a mocking tone, seemingly saying, "Guess she'll fall now." Then, a crashing sound was heard while "1:11.60 trip and fall" appeared onscreen, and the Critic burst into laughter and fell onto his table.
KRRrrrrrrnnnrrrrsshhzzzt!
Another warped distortion sound played. Suddenly, as with the previous warped distortion noise, it replayed twice as fast in a higher pitch.
The third time the distortion sound clip replayed, it was four times as fast. Another short song fragment played with the same high-pitched female voice as before: "ku ni shi".
Kshzzzt!
Suddenly, a black screen marked "Connection lost" and "FILE 05.15.2010" appeared on the laptop. It was quickly accompanied by a third distortion noise.
KRSHHahhhhrrrrrrrzzzz.
As with the two previous distortions, it replayed twice as fast and then four times as fast, revealing another song fragment with the same voice: "ageru".
Engineer wasn't paying much attention to whatever friendly business Neru, Teto, and Haku were having behind him. However, he also couldn't go back behind the stage building yet to retrieve his toolbox-sealed Dispenser, either, because he was watching the green-haired girl who had just landed in the field.
The girl then gestured with her right hand's index finger near her smiling mouth, seemingly at Engineer. Then she punched the air a few times while alternating her closed hands, and then made a waving gesture with her right arm as she swung her right foot up to her side briefly. Engineer remembered that, over two months ago, he caught a signal fragment on the primary inhibitor where superslinger2007 the persona stated that the "subject starts punching the air". Sure enough, this green-haired girl had done so.
Kagami reluctantly walked around the tall hedge that separated the main street from the field. Following close behind were Konata, who was still wearing her "SOS supporter" armband, and Yutaka, who was more nervous than she usually was.
As the three of them walked around the Companion Cube and the laptop that were beside Heavy, Kagami gasped loudly upon seeing the green-haired girl.
Kshzzzt!
Another signal scramble sounded on the laptop, and Kagami turned to her right and noticed Heavy, who was again concentrated on the screen.
GLaDOS was still hovering in midair inside her room. "I suffered for this art," she said in her electronic voice. "I don't see why I should be the only one." With that implicit threat, she threw her right hand in front of her.
WhhzzzzzzZZZT!
After the loud charging-up whir, Heavy saw another clip on the screen: Kagami and Konata were sitting on some seats attached to a cabinet being moved by magic. Konata wore a witch's black hat and what seemed like the school uniform that Haruhi, Yuki, and Mikuru wore. She also wielded a homemade magic wand.
Heavy noticed that the clip was also branded "FILE 05.15.2010".
"Outta my way! Outta my way!" Engineer called as he ran over beside Heavy, and began to pay attention to the laptop screen.
"Since we're going this far, let's change your clothes," said Konata.
"Hey, listen to what I'm saying--" began Kagami.
Konata swung her wand with a cutesy noise from her mouth. Kagami's clothes glowed brightly.
wshhhh-DING!
After a bright sparkly flash, Kagami then found herself in a maid dress costume, and gasped.
While Kagami's clothes became transformed, Sniper's voice was heard over the clip. "Well, I'll be stuffed! This is gonna be a real piece of p-ss!" Heavy recognized it from that time he and Sniper were at the inhibitors, and he also recognized his own laugh.
"Is funny to me!" Heavy's voice was heard saying.
"Good on ya!" Sniper cheered.
Heavy's and Sniper's recorded voices drowned out the argument that Konata and Kagami had about going to a ball in a maid dress, which Konata referred to as a "default" costume.
Engineer looked up from the laptop and toward Kagami, Konata, and Yutaka. Kagami began to have a look of uncertainty, while Konata had a proud cat-smile on her face, and Yutaka looked at Konata as if she was giggling reluctantly.
"You're all about to have a real bad day!" Engineer warned. Kagami seemed like she had no idea what Engineer was talking about, even though she was overhearing the archival clip in front of her.
wshhhh-DING!
Konata swung her wand again and changed Kagami into her miko, or shrine maiden, clothing. This type of clothing was something Kagami and her sister Tsukasa usually only wore at Japanese New Year festivals.
Sniper's and Heavy's recorded laughs played over the clip.
Engineer couldn't help but chuckle a little as well.
Beneath the laughter, Konata and Kagami resumed their argument.
"But this," said Konata referring to Kagami's miko clothes, "is another default, or... your normal cosplay."
"It's not cosplay!" Kagami interjected.
wshhhh-DING!
Konata flicked her wand outward and briefly gave Kagami another costume: brown hair tied into twin bunches, a red shirt with a white cross on her chest, a black pleated skirt, and black thigh-high leggings and shoes. In the split-second the costume appeared on screen, Heavy remembered that GLaDOS had changed Kagami into this very costume over two months ago, but he still had no idea whose outfit this was supposed to be.
wshhhh-DING!
[!] The loud blare that played when Engineer had discovered the case file earlier that day had sounded again. Konata had flicked her wand backward and, in this already-twisted Cinderella-story, changed Kagami into the costume of... the green-haired girl! Kagami's hair became turquoise-green like the girl herself, but her eyes remained purple. As she angrily clenched her left hand against the green onion she was given as part of the costume transformation, the signals scrambled again on the laptop.
Kshzzzt!
The Critic appeared onscreen, still dumbfounded by the fact that Kagami wore the green-haired girl's very outfit. "Has everybody lost their minds?!" he shrieked while shaking his hands back and forth.
Pyro ran past the group, shouting a muffled "Hello!" while he blasted a flame in front of him into the air to ward off any incoming missiles.
A look of increasing worry began to creep onto Kagami's face as Heavy and Engineer continued to watch the archival clips on the laptop. Neither mercenary seemed to hear Konata ask softly, "Hey, what's the matter, Kagami?"
On the clip, Kagami was shouting rejections about being at the ball to a tomboyish girl the same age as her and Konata. "Why have a competition at all? I didn't wanna participate, and I don't wanna become your 'bride'!"
Engineer realized that he was watching the very clip that was previously obfuscated with heavy pixelation when he was in the mental inhibitor room earlier that day.
Konata, still in her witch-and-school-uniform costume, assured the tomboyish girl and so-called "prince" that Kagami was showing her outward "angry" side. The tomboyish girl then seemed to have her hopes up when Kagami interrupted.
"It's not that!" Kagami shouted angrily. "Geez, I didn't want to come here because I knew this'd happen!" She cleared her throat with her right hand while holding onto her green onion. "Anyway, I'm going home now."
Suddenly, the Critic reappeared onscreen. He pounded his fists on his table in confusion. "It makes... no... sense!" he shouted. "The movie's universe should have just imploded!" Then, the charging-up whir that GLaDOS let loose just a moment before was heard across the city.
WhhzzzzzzZZZT!
BRRRzzzzzzkkkkt! A loud electronic blare and a bright flash briefly engulfed the city. Heavy and Engineer looked up from the laptop and saw that Kagami and Konata had covered their eyes from the flash with their arms, while Yutaka had pushed her head against Konata's side. Konata then smiled brightly as Yutaka stood back up. Heavy and Engineer could see why Konata had that smile on her face.
Kagami moved her arms off of her face, but noticed that her arms were covered with the black detached sleeves that the green-haired girl wore. She then pulled one of her hair-bunches in front of her so she could see it, but the bright flash had turned it turquoise-green. Kagami's worst fear became realized when she looked down and saw her silver shirt, green necktie, black and green skirt, and black thigh-high boots; these were the clothes that Konata had transformed her into during the archive clip as well as the clothes the green-haired girl wore!
"Wwaaaah!" Kagami yelped as she flung her head up. A blush had formed across her face once again. "No way!" she gasped. To make matters worse, she faintly heard Sniper's chuckle all the way from the stage area. Kagami had enough. Upset, she began to run away along the main street.
Just then, Kagami heard a light giggle. She looked up and saw Tsukasa in front of her, accompanied by her rescuers Yuki and Yoko as well as her shy schoolmate Minami. Yuki was still reading her Force Unleashed II hardcover novel, while Yoko had her yellow-tinted goggles in her hand and did not have her rifle strapped to her back.
Tsukasa seemed to be well aware of her older sister's friendship with GLaDOS, and believed that she was running back to the "nice white-haired lady" after finding her using that mental inhibitor earlier.
"Go for it, sis! You can do it!" Tsukasa cheered. The other three "members" of Tsukasa's impromptu entourage each gave Kagami their thumbs-up.
Kagami hesitated and threw her closed hands to her chest. She was, after all, in a costume that was an incriminating factor in the missions she had been thrown into.
"Come on, Kagami! Do I even have a choice?" said Tsukasa.
Tsukasa's entourage seemed to agree with her statement: Minami smiled softly, while Yoko performed her random peek-a-boo gesture once more with her hands beside her head, and Yuki gave a slow nod towards Kagami.
Kagami then ran off along the main street with her left arm in front of her eyes.
Engineer watched as Kagami left the area. "Aww, shucks," he mumbled, then he ran back towards the stage area.
Meanwhile, Yutaka was astonished that Tsukasa had made some new friends, including Minami. "Wow! You're cool!" she said delightedly. She then ran beside Minami as Tsukasa and her entourage continued their walk. Little did they know that another girl with long, light blonde hair and what seemed like mechanical pink and white triangular ears was following close by.
Heavy felt it was time to take matters into his own hands and finally actually open a video that was classified under #SK09-HM10-07XX. After all, that green-haired girl was just standing out there in the field doing nothing... or so he thought. Heavy punched the laptop lightly, and the signals scrambled again.
Kshzzzt!
An electronic upbeat song clip began to play on the laptop as several blue columns, surrounded by digital rings, rendered, in front of a white background that turned a lighter shade of blue. Once Heavy saw the green-haired girl and her determined look on the screen, he knew the very next thing that would come in the next few seconds.
"Oh my God," Heavy said to himself.
Heavy was unaware that Azusa was beside him, having snuck away from Ritsu and was watching the video on the laptop screen.
The green-haired girl quickly crouched, then sprung into a 180 and took off. Her bottom faced the camera directly as she rocketed off into the background, "exposing her backside" through a quick, but blatant, upskirt shot.
[!]
The blare sounded again. Azusa's mouth flew wide open as a blush appeared across her face and a tiny spurt of blood gushed out of her nose. She fell into a crouch as she threw her head down and slapped her left hand onto her face.
"I-- I can't unsee it," Azusa moaned in shame.
Heavy quickly punched the laptop. On the screen, he saw a Japanese video description page marked with "October 25, 2007" as the video's upload date.
"Aah!" Heavy screamed. "This sick man put camera here!" Heavy then pointed up to his right; he could not bear to look at the laptop screen anymore. Coincidentally...
KPOW!
The green-haired girl rocketed into the air again while kicking her feet upwards.
Vrrak-BANG!
A group of green onion missiles also blasted off and caught up behind and alongside her. The girl performed a barrel-roll spiral in the air and, for a split second, was surrounded by a spherical electrical force field.
BLAM! BLAM!
Two of the missiles exploded in quick succession upon contact with the girl's barrel-roll force field.
Near the wall behind the stage's concrete seating, Soldier stood firmly on the ground. He pushed his hands outward toward the girl and mimicked a camera frame as he broke into a wheezing chuckle.
The Nerd appeared once more on the laptop's screen, as well as on the primary mental inhibitor's screen. He shook his head lightly and said, "You sick bastard."
Soldier ran forward to get a closer look at the action. The blonde-haired girl with triangular ears stepped into his place and pointed in the same direction. "Underpants," she said softly. This girl was far more innocent than Soldier could ever be. She was known only as Chii, and she had vague connections with Tsukasa and her entourage.
"Dammit, we know!" Rick screamed at the top of his voice. Though he was in Mio's hands, their position at the stage's entrance ramp allowed Rick to hear Chii. "Underwear-- we get it!"
Mio dropped Rick onto the ground. "Oh... man!" she shouted back at him in frustration, then ran off.
Rick spoke calmly. "Going for it yourself, huh? All right, angel."
Just then, the green-haired girl flipped around in midair and caused two missiles to crash into each other.
B-BLAM!
Konata heard the explosion and looked up. With her cat-smile, she said, "She even remembers to give the audience fanservice." Judging by the fact that the green-haired girl was in the air dodging a group of missiles shaped like green onions, Konata seemed to remember having a "doujinshi" disc, or fan-made self-published disc, that she bought at a comic market festival. The disc contained two particular CGI music videos featuring the green-haired girl; unbeknownst to Konata, the case file #SK09-HM10-07XX consisted of those very videos.
A man's voice was heard on the laptop. "It's just frigging sick!" he yelled. Heavy looked over at the laptop and saw the man on its screen. The man, who was also bespectacled, wore a brown trilby hat and a brown coat, and had a look of disgusted bewilderment on his face.
The Critic then reappeared onscreen once more. "You know, for kids!" he shouted. He seemed to have a belief that such a music video with a risky blatant shot would have been released for a teenage audience the same age as Konata back in 2007.
Zoey, through her visual alias of a blue-hatted magician, chimed in for one last broadcast. "Great," she said sarcastically. "That makes me... the last woman on Earth."
Kshzzzt!
The green-haired girl flew toward the stage building with another barrel-roll spiral, as her ponytails flowed around her. Several green onion missiles flew past her and broke away before they reached the building. The girl landed on her feet on the stage floor and continued to run. She took a step... onto her left ponytail, and fell forward onto the floor with a loud crash with her legs in the air.
Azusa heard the crash, stood up from her crouch and looked over to her right at the stage. In a higher-pitched voice that wasn't really hers, Azusa noted, "She's... tripping over herself."
"Da," Heavy agreed in Russian. He begrudgingly looked at the laptop screen again and saw that the green-haired girl had tripped over her left ponytail in the risky music video, in the same exact way.
Engineer, with his toolbox on his shoulder once more, also saw that the green-haired girl had tripped. To him, the girl tripping over herself signaled a loud event that was to come within the next minute. "Dammit dammit dammit dammit!" Engineer groaned as he shook his head. He ran out into the field and slammed the toolbox onto the ground. Soon, the Dispenser began to reassemble itself from its self-unfolding toolbox casing while Engineer whacked at it with his wrench. "Go on, get!" he yelled.
Meanwhile, on the stage, Sniper became concerned and ran over to the green-haired girl, who was now on her feet and huddled over.
Vrrak-BANG!
Two more missiles suddenly blasted off, and were headed directly at the green-haired girl.
"Give 'em a gob full!" Sniper quickly called out. He then ran offstage down the stairs at stage right.
The girl quickly looked behind her, then braced herself. She quickly spun around into a standing position and faced the oncoming missiles. Suddenly, the girl's left ponytail swung forward in front of her.
WHOOSH!
With a determined closed-eyed smile on her face, the green-haired girl caught the two green onion missiles with her ponytail. She held a tight grip on the missiles with it as their uncanny twin-propulsions ceased, then let it fall back behind her. It was just as superslinger2007 the persona said would happen. However, she then let the deactivated missiles fall onto the stage floor.
Heavy quickly noticed a difference between the events at the stage and the music video's depiction of the girl's hair-grab. He saw that, in the video that was again playing on the laptop screen, the girl continued to hold onto the missiles with her ponytail. Nevertheless, Heavy saw that there was a circle of missiles forming above her in the video.
Engineer stood beside his dispenser, took off his helmet, and placed a set of red acoustic earmuffs, his Safe'n'Sound, onto his head. Then he pointed upward and called out, "Incoming!"
Heavy heard Engineer and looked up at the sky himself.
Vrrak-BANG!
A circle of missiles began to form in the sky above the field, just like in the risky music video. "Very bad!" Heavy yelled.
Meanwhile, GLaDOS was still hovering in a midair standing position as she gave her next order across the city.
"Alert! Defend our control point!" she commanded in her authoritative voice.
KRRSH.
GLaDOS then heard the heavy doors to the sealed-stone room slam shut. She looked over and saw Kagami, who was still in her green-haired girl costume.
Kagami moved her left arm to her side and revealed her weeping face to GLaDOS.
"Did my hint help? It did... didn't it?" GLaDOS said softly. "You know, they'd be furious with us right now," she said, referring to the mercenaries. She then pushed her right arm toward Kagami with another loud charging-up whir.
WhhzzzzzzZZZT!
BRRRzzzzzzkkkkt! The loud electronic blare and bright flash returned Kagami's clothes back to normal. Kagami sighed in relief, but was still visibly upset.
As GLaDOS looked at Kagami's distressed face, her long-abandoned sense of odd friendship kicked back in more quickly than it did back in her supercomputer form. "I'm sorry. I'm under a lot of pressure. That was cruel," GLaDOS admitted. "Look. I was going to break this to you gently... but she's forced my hand," she continued, referring to the green-haired girl.
GLaDOS then landed and placed her hands on Kagami's shoulders. Kagami then placed her head against GLaDOS's chest as she silently sobbed.
"Listen to me carefully," GLaDOS pleaded. "We're in a lot of trouble."
The mercenaries noticed that more green onion missiles were forming in the circle high above them in the sky. Engineer barely heard his teammates' calls for "Engineer!" as they ran over to his Dispenser. The only mercenaries missing were Soldier and Spy.
"All righty then!" Engineer called out and struck his Dispenser with his wrench.
WHACK!
Six pairs of red Safe'n'Sound earmuffs spilled out of the Dispenser's compartments.
Scout picked up his pair of earmuffs with a "Woosh!" and flung another pair up to Heavy, who slid them onto his head.
Pyro picked up his earmuffs and clapped excitedly in a feminine manner.
Demoman twirled his earmuffs around his bottle before catching them onto his head.
Medic firmly placed his earmuffs onto his head, and thought he saw his gloves flicker a shade of red from the corner of his eye.
Sniper, wearing his pair of earmuffs, stood away from the group near the concrete seating wall's far end. He held his hat in his hand and had a solemn expression on his face as he looked over at the green-haired girl on the stage.
Just then, Sniper saw Scout double-jump his way onto the stage beside the green-haired girl. He had not yet worn his Safe'n'Sound.
"Will you just let's go?" Scout asked impatiently. He noticed two square futuristic pink-and-black ribbons at the base of the girl's ponytails, and a red "01" branding on the girl's left arm near her shoulder, just above her detached sleeve.
The girl nodded at Scout just before he double-jumped back to the mercenaries and switched his cap and headset for the Safe'n'Sound earmuffs.
The girl then noticed Sniper in the distance and smiled, prompting Sniper to secretly smile back.
Meanwhile, two more pairs of Safe'n'Sound earmuffs were on the ground beside Engineer's Dispenser. Soldier dived to the ground and managed to reach over with his right hand and grab one of the pairs. He knocked his oversized army helmet off and shoved the earmuffs on. He then turned onto his back and faced the sky.
Spy rematerialized with a whooshing hiss. He begrudgingly picked up the last pair of earmuffs and placed them onto his head. He groaned before he disappeared into his cloak once more, hiding his earmuffs along with him.
The multi-layered ring of green onion missiles began to rocket toward the ground.
It was then that the green-haired girl threw her open left hand to her side, and closed it at her chest in front of her. She held her hand there for a moment, alerting Sniper to the reason why Engineer had prepared them with spare Safe'n'Sound earmuffs.
The green-haired girl opened her hand again and spread it open to her left side while she touched her right hand to her chest. Unheard by the mercenaries, she let loose a powerfully held note toward the descending ring of missiles. As superslinger2007 the persona had stated, the girl would hold her note "for about the same length of time as Jack Black did".
BANG! CRASH! BOOM! KRAK! POW!
The green onion missiles went off in a fiery ring of explosions above the city.
Soldier, still lying on the ground, laughed gently.
Medic pulled off his pair of earmuffs and cheered, "Well done!" while pumping his fist into the air.
Heavy had already pulled his earmuffs off the moment the saw the explosion, as he was used to loud noises from his minigun "Sasha". "Good times!" he cheered. He was surprised to find Tsumugi grabbing his left arm in a glomp-hug while she spoke softly, "That's fun. I'm happy!". Black Rock Shooter also arrived beside Heavy, and nodded at him as she placed her hand on his right shoulder; for once, she wasn't carrying her giant gun.
Pyro flung his earmuffs off with a brisk nod, and cheered, "Excellent!" with his fist in the air. Beside him, he noticed Yui with her "Gitah", who cheered once more with a loud "Yes!"
Demoman continued to wear his earmuffs as he cheered, "That's the way you do it!"
Scout flicked away his pair of earmuffs. "Oh yeah!" he cheered. Konata and Azusa then jumped out beside Scout. Konata cheered, "Good job!" and Azusa shouted in her own voice, "That was fun!"
Spy felt so overwhelmed by the green-haired girl's power that, while he threw his earmuffs off, he reappeared from his cloak and collapsed to the ground with a yelp.
Engineer, having taken off his Safe'n'Sound earmuffs, ran over beside Sniper, who was wearing his hat once more. The both of them looked over at the green-haired girl.
The girl was now on the floor between the stage and its seating. She stood with her arms at her sides, her left foot slightly backwards, and her head in a slight angle as she looked at Engineer and Sniper. However, neither of them knew that the girl had a surprise in mind... for both of them.
Suddenly, a brief rock song clip played from the stage. In a swift motion, the girl swung her right foot around to her right, and kicked her left foot backward. Then she placed her right foot sideways where her left had been, and stomped her left foot in front of it. Then, with her right hand, she flashed a peace-sign gesture toward Engineer and Sniper, and looked at them in a cute manner.
"That there was a fine piece of work!" Engineer acknowledged.
Sniper took a few steps forward. He kicked his heels in the air and punched the area in front of him with a great "Yaagh!" as he looked at the green haired girl.
Sniper was then convinced that the green-haired girl could hold her own in a dangerous situation, and could never be in any more danger. He had befriended her on September 23, 2009. It was back when Heavy had first used his finger-gun on both Haruhi and Spy, when Scout had first met Konata, and when Sniper himself felt the green-haired girl would be useful as an ally, never suspecting that she had been caught in a matter of morality issues.
His colleagues would find out eventually, even if it took them a year from this point in time.
As the rock song ended, the girl winked, just as her allies had done over the past year.
Nevertheless, Sniper was proud of the green-haired girl.
His "princess".
The #SK09-HM10-07XX case file subject herself...
Hatsune Miku.
KRRRZZZHHHBOOM!!!
The primary mental inhibitor detonated in a fiery explosion.
"Victory!" GLaDOS announced in her authoritative demeanor.
The investigation is complete.
(Click "Next" below to read the epilogue.)
(Click "Next" below to read the epilogue.)
