LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 24
"Waaaah~! The outside is so… beautiful…" Mia exclaimed as she took in the scenery in front of her, and Nia could only agree. She had never seen so many green things before…
Nia and Mia had taken the Southern exit which led to the forest because Nia had insisted that it would be better to go where Lidia had been before if they wanted to meet a rabbit. But actually, Nia just hoped that, since Ticia had chased away the bad guys, this side of Clone installation 3 had become safe…
“Fuah~. The air feels different, it’s…fresher!” Mia exclaimed after breathing in. “And the light that’s coming through the leaves of those big… trees, right? That’s the real sun isn’t it?” She excitedly said before turning to Nia for confirmation.
"Yeah…" Nia nodded, her mind was elsewhere. In normal times, she would have also reacted excitedly, but… she was more busy verifying nobody else was around. I really hope nothing will go wrong…
"What's wrong, Nia?" Mia asked, seeing her sister not acting like usual.
"N-nothing." Nia shook her head. Come on, me, get on with it! She thought, trying to encourage herself to continue her play.
That was when she spotted something moving on one of the things she had identified as a branch of a tree, a brown, little furry ball. She immediately pointed it out to her sister. "L-look there's an animal over there!"
Mia immediately turned and followed Nia’s finger. "Ah! I see it!” She exclaimed excitedly. “It's a squirrel, isn't it?"
Phew, I escaped that one… I should think of how to make Mia go back inside quickly… Nia thought as she regained some of her calm. She answered Mia’s question in her usual, yet a bit forced, playful tone. "Yeah~, I think so~."
"Hehe, Nia, look, it's eating something, it's so cute~" Mia pointed out, and true to her words, when Nia looked at the squirrel on the branch, it was nibbling on something that was within its small hands. "Don't you think it kind of looks like Willia when she eats?"
"Pft" Nia let out a small laugh, now that she thought about it, she could see her sister Willia eat in the same way, then get reprimanded by Ticia for not following table manners. Most of all, the fact that Mia had made such a joke had released some of her tension. "That's a good one, Mia! Yeah, you're right, it does look like Willia."
The both of them looked at each other, smiling, before ending up laughing out loud as the both of them could not make the image of Willia eating like the squirrel go away.
But it seems they made too much noise, as the squirrel warily looked their way, before fleeing within the thickness of the branches.
""Ah""
Both clone girls exclaimed as they realized their mistake.
"... He went away…" Nia said dispiritedly. Now that she had regained her calm, she had become interested in this fluffy animal too.
"Yes…" Mia replied weakly, seemingly even more affected by this turn of event than Nia.
"D-don't worry, Mia, I'm sure we'll see other animals!" Nia tried to encourage her sister, not wanting to see her like that. But Mia did not answer, her face hidden by her hair.
"..."
"M-Mia?" Now Nia was starting to worry. W-was this too much? What should I do…
Maybe this was an opportunity though, since they have gone outside, maybe Mia’s curiosity had been satiated, so Nia tried to use it.
“M-Mia, it’s sad but, at least we got to see the outside! So now that we’ve seen it, we should go back inside, right?” She said to her sister.
"Rabbit…" Mia suddenly mumbled.
"What?" Nia asked, she had not heard well what her sister just said.
"It's a rabbit!" Mia suddenly exclaimed, raising her head and looking to the right.
"Eh? Where!?" Nia followed Mia’s gaze, her mood had suddenly changed to excitement. When it came to rabbits, she was just like Mia.
"Other there!" Mia pointed out.
Where, where?! Nia concentrated on the zone Mia was pointing out to her. She then saw one of the bushes move a bit, before two long, white ears popped out of it. “Ah, I see it!”
But Nia’s exclamation startled the rabbit, who jumped up to the clone girl’s joy before running away, to the girls’ deception.
“Ah, wait for me, little rabbit!” Mia began to run after the rabbit and entered the bushes without any care.
“Eh?” Nia did not expect this and froze. W-wait a second, that’s not good! Mia was going further and further away from the entrance of Clone installation 3. This wasn’t what Nia wanted!
“Mia, wait!” She called out, but Mia was already gone within the thickness of the surrounding bushes. No more noises or movements coming that way. She closed in on the bushes, and called out to her sister.
“Mia! Where are you?” She shouted, hoping her sister would hear her, but she did not receive any answer… She just lost her sister, and she was now alone outside.
This… is bad… Nia thought as she began to panic again. I need to find Mia quickly before she gets lost!
And so, with those thoughts, Nia entered the bushes too, hoping her sister hadn’t gone too far away…
***
Mia ran after the rabbit, the small ball of fluff her sister Lidia had boasted as being one of the best things to ever pet.
“Wait for me, rabbit!” She shouted, but of course, the rabbit did not listen to her. It was more frightened by the strange creature that was pursuing it…
And so it made sure to hasten its flee, going further into the thickness of the wild forest.
“Muh, I won’t give up!” Mia said as she too, hastened her pace. The branches around her grazed her clothes, but she did not care.
I’m gonna catch this rabbit! That was the only thought going through her mind right now, and nothing would get in the way of that. Not even nature, or her shyness.
Her curiosity over the white fluffy ball had become an obsession without her even realizing it, and if usually she would not even dare to do those things, right now, she had her helmet on. Her own little shield against her problems that her mother gave her.
And so, she continued on, not even caring that she had lost her little sister on the way…
They continued this chase for a while, Mia’s obsession made her forget her own tiredness, pushing herself over the limit. No obstacle could resist her right now, and thanks to the helmet’s target tracing, she did not lose sight of the rabbit.
If Ticia were to see this, besides thoroughly reprimanding Mia for letting her curiosity get the better of her, she would also reevaluate the clone girl’s overall performance, as it truly was a feat only Licia, Lidia or Vinia could achieve right now…
The rabbit slowly lost speed as it was getting tired, until it finally stopped in a small clearing, totally exhausted.
“Finally, *pant*, stopped, *pant*.” Mia said as she tried to catch her breath, she too was exhausted, but she did not care about that right now.
She closed in on the rabbit, who had already given up fleeing its pursuer, and reached out with her right hand.
I’m finally going to pet a rabbit, just like Lidia! Her right hand was trembling with excitement as she was finally about to pet the poor animal.
When her hand made first contact with the rabbit’s back, she retracted her hand quickly as if she got an electric shot. She did not expect the rabbit to be so fluffy to the touch!
W-what was that!? She thought as surprise overtook her face. That was so… soft! A glint illuminated her eyes, and the poor rabbit felt a strange fear as every hair on its white fur straightened themselves in alert. It tried to flee the place one last time, but unfortunately for the rabbit, two arms grabbed it from under and raised it.
“You’re so soft!” Mia exclaimed as she raised the frightened rabbit in the air, before hugging it tightly to her chest. She felt a strange sense of calmness doing that.
“Um, what should I call you…” She said as she raised the rabbit until their eyes met, of course, the rabbit could only see its own reflection because of Mia’s helmet.
“Ah! I know! I’ll call you Harry!” Mia exclaimed to the white rabbit who was now called Harry, before giggling and spinning on herself, still raising the frightened poor rabbit.
After a while, she stopped, now she would answer her own curiosity.
“Why do you have such long ears, Harry?” She said as she touched the ears with one of her hands, the ears twitching each time.
“And your tail… it’s so small and round… fascinating…” She became interested in the rabbit’s anatomy.
Maybe I should… Her train of thoughts began to go in a weird direction, before she caught herself thinking that.
No no no! What am I thinking! If I do that, Harry will… But I’m so curious, what’s the difference between me and him? She debated internally for a while.
Gah! Too troublesome! I should ask Nia. She ended up giving up on what she was thinking, wanting to rely on her sister again. Nia would know the right answer, she was sure. She was such a genius compared to her…
“Hey Nia?” She called out, before realizing something. Now that she thought about it, her sister had been strangely quiet. Well, there was also the fact that something seemed to have changed with Nia too ever since they got outside, but Mia did not give it much thought.
“...Nia?” She called out again as she got no answer. She looked around, her sister was nowhere to be found. Maybe her sister was playing another one of her pranks? Mia thought as she looked around, trying to find her sister, but to no avail.
Somehow, the atmosphere of the forest had changed, it was eerily quiet, and Mia began to feel fear.
Come on, Mia, you shouldn't be scared, you have your helmet on, right? She thought as she tightened the hug around her new pet. Besides, Nia’s here! I have nothing to fear, right?
She thought back on her sister who had reassured her all this time. It was thanks to Nia that Mia finally had enough courage to do what she wanted the most at the moment. Thanks to that, she could satiate her curiosity.
Mia was not an idiot. She knew what she had done when she used the Null code. She would never be able to go back to before now, but this curiosity that she had for the outside world… it was slowly eating her…
She had managed to lessen it by following Nia around, and she was thankful to her sister because she had the same thoughts as hers. Thanks to that, she felt like she was not the only one who felt this. But when Lidia told her about the outside… It changed Mia. Her obsession came back stronger than before, and when she was hesitating over what to do about it, her beloved sister was the one who proposed they just go outside, something Mia had not the courage to do.
And so, the gate having been opened, she became daring, and she came to a conclusion. She would do everything to see the outside, even if it meant sacrificing her relationship with her sisters… or even her mother…
She was glad Nia followed her though. She was not sure she would be able to do anything without her beloved sister, even though she felt guilt for putting Nia in the same situation as her, but going outside was what the both of them wanted, right?
“Hey, Nia? Please come out… this isn’t funny anymore…” She called out. Fear was beginning to take over. Right now she felt the need for her sister strongly.
She then realized something else, where was the path to go back to the facility? She did not know…
“Nia… Where are you?” She called out again, getting no answer. Tears began to form in her eyes as Mia was beginning to realize how scary it was to be alone in an unknown place.
“Hey, A-4? Can you hear me?” She called out as a last hope. Her helmet had a communication device too, after all.
However, no answer came back.
“A-4?” Mia panicked, there were two reasons why the AI would not answer her call she could think of.
The first was that she really upsetted the AI by using the Null code, and it decided to cut her out of the communication network. The second was as frightening as the first to Mia. Perhaps… She had already gone too far from the reach of A-4’s communication zone…
Oh no… If the second case was true, then it was worse. Mia did not know the way back, so she was now struck alone without anybody to rely on…
Then, she heard noise coming from the right.
“!!! Nia! I found you!” She said as she let go of the rabbit and rushed in the direction of the noise.
“Found you, Ni-” She stopped herself in her tracks as she gazed at what was in front of her. It was not Nia, but rather…
“... Well, well, well, looks like we found something interesting today…” The man in front of her said, he was so tall Mia thought he was a giant. Worst of all, he was not alone.
“Isn’t that just a kid? What is she doing here?” One woman asked from behind, gazing curiously at Mia.
“A kid with white hair… Just like in the report.” One other man said as he closed in.
“Not only that, this helmet she has on…” A fourth man pointed out. “It’s the same as the description from those guys from squad U reported.”
“Eh? That would mean this kid is part of our targets?” The woman asked back.
“She is without a doubt one of them.” The man in front of Mia concluded.
Mia finally understood what was happening. Th-those people… they’re bad guys! She slowly took one step behind, before turning and trying to leave. But before she could do so…
“Where do you think you’re going?” One strong arm suddenly caught her from behind, blocking her way to escape as she was brought back to the group.
“N-no! Leave me alone!” Mia cried out as she struggled against the man. Unfortunately, that person was too strong, and Mia could do nothing against him…
“Boss, that’s no way to treat a child.” The woman said to the man.
“Then you take care of her.” The man said as he threw Mia to the woman. Mia let out a yelp from the strong push and staggered.
“Got you, little one.” The woman said as she caught Mia. She then glared at the man. “Hey, that’s dangerous! What if you hurt her?”
“Hmph.” The boss of this party hmphed. “Orders were only to capture targets if possible, they didn’t precise in what state they wanted them.”
“You…” The woman kept glaring at her boss.
“... Boss, I have to agree with N4 on that one.” One of the other men suddenly said.
“See? Even N7 is telling you to be careful!” The woman exclaimed.
“Think about it, boss, if we give her in such a good state to Command, they might give us a bonus on our pay.”
“So it was money in the end!” The woman called N4 shouted back, feeling betrayed.
“What of it! I need money right now!” N7 defended himself.
“Well, if you stopped drinking so much, you wouldn’t have so many problems!”
“What does my way of life have to do with you!? Who do you think you are? My mother?” N4 and N7 began bickering, with a terrified Mia between the two of them.
“You-”
“Enough. Concentrate on the mission.”
““Yes boss.””
Their bickering came to an end when the man they called boss called out to them.
“N3, remove the kid’s helmet.” the boss ordered the fourth man.
“Roger.”
“N-no! Not my helmet!” Mia struggled. Not the gift mom gave me!
“Stay quiet kid. We’re not gonna do anything to you.” N3 said as he closed in.
“No! Don’t take my helmet off! Please!”
“Sorry, but no can do, kid.”
N3 removed Mia’s helmet as Mia yelled and struggled in N4’s grip. she stopped struggling as soon as the helmet was removed, as if her strings were cut.
“... Hey, isn’t she kinda cute?” N7 suddenly remarqued from the side.
“What? You’re into crying little girls? Disgusting.”
“N-not that! I’m talking about her face overall!”
“That’s still disgusting coming from you, N7.” N4 gave a look at her comrade as if she was looking at trash, before looking at the silently crying Mia. “But it’s true this kid is cute, I would definitely do whatever she asks to make her happy, if it wasn’t for the mission.”
“Wow, look at this helmet!” N3 suddenly said as he examined Mia’s helmet. “It seems much more hi-tech than our equipment, and we’re commandos!”
“P-please, g-give it… back…” Mia struggled to say, without her helmet, her speaking disorder was back. All of this was worsened by the fear she felt. Still, she spoke up. This helmet was her most precious thing after all…
“What’s with that kid? Why can’t she speak well anymore?” N7 remarqued.
“Maybe that’s because you have such a scary face.” N4 retorqued, and it seemed like the woman had hit a weak spot.
“Wha- My face isn’t scary! Look, look kid, I’m not scary, right?” N7 became agitated and asked this to Mia as she closed in on her. Mia closed her eyes, terrified.
“Stop it! you're making her cry more!” N4 suddenly put herself in front of her, still grabbing her. If it was not for the fact they were enemies, Mia would have hugged the woman right now.
“There, there, little girl, there’s nothing to be scared of, ok?” The woman said as she tried to reassure Mia.
“Enough with all of this. N3, make a report to Command.” The boss said, before going in front of Mia and crouching so that they were looking at each other in the eyes. “Hey, kid, tell me where you got this…” He pointed out at Mia’s helmet in his hand.
“I… I’m not, g-going t-to tell you…” Mia mumbled as she tried to avoid eye contact. She definitely was not going to tell them about her mother, nor Clone installation 3 or her sisters!
“You do know what will happen to you if you don’t tell me, do you?” The man said seriously, seemingly reluctant to come to this point too.
“...” Stil, Mia stayed quiet. This was her courageous act of defiance.
“...Trying to put on a brave act huh? But your face tells me everything, little girl…” The boss tried to play with words, but…
“Boss! There’s a report from the second team!” He was interrupted by N3. Still not getting up and looking at Mia, he said.
“... I’m listening…”
“They found and caught another kid not far from here!” N3 declared.
““!?!”” All members of the team reacted weirdly to this information.
“!!!” Mia understood what this meant. Nia! They caught Nia too! She exclaimed as panic and worry filled her heart.
“Strange, the report only mentioned one kid and one adult…” N4 commented as she reflected on what she just heard. Meanwhile, the boss let out a devilish smile that frightened Mia. He had seen the change of expression on the girl’s face…
“Well, if it isn’t interesting…”
***
Going back in time a bit, Nia was searching for her sister through the forest.
“Mia~~~! Where are you~~?” She shouted loudly. She had been shouting like this for a while now, searching desperately for her sister.
I can’t let Mia be alone! She’ll be scared! Mia thought. She knew her sister, and she knew just how much Mia was scared of being left alone in an unknown place.
Damn it! If only I brought a communication device! She cursed, she had forgotten something very important. But in the first place, she had never intended to truly go outside anyway… If she had a communication device, she would be able to contact Mia, and if not, she could still ask A-4 to locate her sister…
Speaking of A-4, Nia was not the only one who was searching for Mia. Around her were a lot of recon drones the AI had deployed to the zone, and Nia would try to contact A-4 with them, had it not been for the fact that those drones were not equipped with any audio recorder or audio devices.
So she could only stay close to those drones, which provided security to her and helped her search for her sister.
I just hope she’s fine… Nia thought, growing more worried for her sister as seconds passed. She truly regretted having done what she did. If she did not tell her sister that she was going outside… None of this would have happened. Now she could only search for her sister.
Fortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any bad guys around here… She sighed in relief at this fact, only to hear the sound of laser blasting and the drone the further to her right being hit.
“!!!”
She froze, somebody else was here, and it was not an ally. The recon drones immediately reacted. Most of them went the way the drone had been shot down while others stayed around Nia, establishing a security perimeter.
Why did I just raise a flag!? Nia panicked, if there was one thing she did not want right now, it was meeting strangers. Moreso if those strangers had weapons…
Another drone got suddenly shot down, and the recon drones began to shoot in a direction.
I have to do something! Nia thought as she saw yet another drone fall to the enemy’s laser beams. But what could she do? It was when she thought that one of the drones around her was hit.
I have to flee! She immediately thought when she saw that. Right now, she did not have any weapons, so she would not be of much help to the drones anyway. In fact, she might just be a bother to the AI right now, as it was sending drones to protect her instead of attacking the enemy.
And so, she ran for her life, tears in her eyes as she saw the drones charge in the thickness of the forest at the unknown enemy. Seeing so many mechanical things that she took a liking to being destroyed broke her heart. Thank you, A-4, I won’t forget about those drone’s sacrifices. She swore to use this opportunity well.
But unfortunately, that opportunity never came. Nia suddenly bumped into something…or rather, someone, and fell on her but.
“Ouch…” As she was rubbing her butt, she raised her gaze to see what she hitted, only for her face’s colors to wash away.
“Don’t try to move, kid.” A woman said, pointing her gun at Nia’s face.
Nia couldn’t do anything in front of her. And that person was soon joined by other people, all wearing something similar to the armored skinsuit she had seen Ticia wear. She was now surrounded, and had no way to escape.
Well, this couldn’t get any worse…
***
“I was wrong, it COULD get worse!” Nia shouted as she overheard the conversation of two of her kidnapers. They were nearing the rendez vous point between the two teams, and the woman who had captured her was telling the others about the fact the other team had caught another kid, which Nia had no doubt was her sister…
“Quiet, kid!” The man who was carrying Nia like a bag of potatoes chided her.
“No! Let me go!” Nia struggled even though she had been tied up like a sausage. “I warn you, if you don’t let me go now, you’re all gonna get into big problems with my big sis!”
“Yeah, yeah, it’s not the first time we’ll get into problems with someone over a mission, kid.” The man replied.
“My big sis will punish all of you! You won’t be able to see tomorrow! So leave me alone now!”
“Ugh, just gag her up already!” Another member of the team said, tired of this continuous back and forth between Nia and the one holding her.
“No need, we’ve reached rendez vous point.” The woman who had captured Nia said, and true to her words, they arrived at a small clearing, and the other group was already there…
“N12, good job catching another one.” The boss said. “Any casualties?”
“No, only minor damages to the armored skinsuits, nothing to worry about, boss.” A12 said.
Nia was let down in a rude way by the one who carried her, landing on her butt. “Ouch! Hey, do you have the slightest idea how precious my butt is?!” She glared at the man, who just shrugged.
“N-Nia…” Nia suddenly heard her name by a voice she knew all too well.
“!? Mia!? Are you alright!?” Nia exclaimed as she looked at her sister worriedly. Mia nodded back, she was fine, although with tears in her eyes, and only had her wrist tied up behind her back. A woman was standing closely behind her. That woman remarked.
“So that girl’s name is Mia, and the new one is Nia? Good to know.”
“Hey, N4, don’t you think those two look just like each other?” N7 said from the side.
“Now that you say it, that’s true…” N4 replied back.
“They are probably twins.” N12 said as she brought Nia closer to Mia. Nia was struggling all the way.
“... They might be twins, but their attitude is so different…” The man who had carried Nia joined the conversation.
“I don’t think that’s anything unusual though?” N4 remarqued. “It’s normal even for twins to develop different personalities, so don’t be bothered by it, N10.”
“But that one’s quite loud.” N7 said as he pointed out at Nia, who, for some reason, was glaring at him.
“Well, isn’t it normal for the big sister to be overprotective of her little sister?” N4 remarqued.
“I’m the youngest, you stupid baddies!” Nia declared as she pulled her tongue out.
““...”” The adults took some time to react to this very childish act.
“Well, they’re twins anyway, so it doesn’t matter much who came first.” N12 ended up saying.
“N squad, gather around and stop needless chat.” The boss suddenly called out, and all the members of the squad gathered at the center of the clearing, including Mia and Nia.
“I have received our next orders.” The boss declared to his comrades.
“What are we supposed to do next then? Find the adult one with the help of those kids?” N12 Asked.
“No,” the boss shook his head. “It seems like the mention of two little kids with white hair has shaken up Command. They request us to come back immediately and report to the temporary research center.”
“The research center? Why there?” N7 asked, frowning at the order, and the others thought the same.
“No idea.” The boss answered. “But we aren’t going to ask anyway. Remember, good soldiers follow orders.” He said as he walked in the direction of their base.
““...”” Nobody answered, they silently followed their boss, N4, N7 and some other soldiers sending complicated and questioning expressions to the two girls they had just captured.
Author's monologue:
Hey there! I'm back with another chapter!
Sorry about the delay, I had some work to do and could not free myself the time to post the chapter.
This chapter, really, a hard one to write in a sense. I already knew where it was going but still, it's just hard to write something that is not heartwarming or very positive. that's probably why the republian commandos in this chapter ended up funier than I originally planned them to be. But anyway, I did my best and I hope I was able to write it well!
So, going into the chapter itself, we see our little adventurers encountering some troubles and getting captured! What will happen next? Will they be saved by their sisters? Or will Ticia appear out of nowhere and save them? Or... I should probably stop there.
Anyway, I don't have much more to say about this chapter. Truly, because the story is begining to mount up in pression each chapters, I find myself with less and less to say in fear of spoiling you guys...
Oh well, time for today's illustration then: And today we have Nia!
Would you look at this, isn't she ready to cause more trouble? This girl...
Well, that's it from me for today, so I'll see you all in the next chapter!