Man, I was joking about how uncomfortable it'd be to sleep in this cage, but I didn't realize how true that actually was.
I haven't even fallen asleep yet and my neck and back are already hurting.
With the current guard situation, I could definitely escape, but I didn't want that anymore.
No, something far greater had been planted in my lap. If I behave enough, I get to join Zoe's squad.
Honestly, I can't believe that I'm genuinely being rewarded for the things I've done.
So, I'll grit and bear with it for now. Not like this is the first time I've slept in a shithole.
As I was trying to sleep, I noticed one of the guards peering through the cage at me.
I opened my eyes and looked over at him.
Cutter: "You make a habit of watching girls while they sleep, buddy?"
Male Operator: "I was told to keep a close eye on you."
Cutter: "You're wasting your time. I don't want to escape now."
Cutter: "That Minerva chick gave me the opportunity of a lifetime."
Male Operator: "...What do you mean?"
Cutter: "She says I can become a fellow Operator if I'm a good enough girl."
The guard reacted with incredible shock.
Male Operator: "W-What!?!?"
Male Operator: "You're lying. There's no way that Minerva would be considering something that ludicrous."
Cutter: "Why do you think I haven't been executed yet, my guy?"
Cutter: "Minerva's been here all day. If she wasn't deliberating about possibly keeping me alive, I wouldn't still have my head on my shoulders."
Cutter: "And if she wants to keep me alive, that must mean she intends to use me for something."
Cutter: "Really, if you thought about it all, it'd be obvious."
Male Operator: "Tch, don't act like you're smarter than me, you fucking lunatic."
Cutter: "If you really don't believe me, go and ask the elf herself. Minerva doesn't seem like the kind of person to lie."
Male Operator: "..."
With a look of frustration, he walked off. I closed my eyes again and attempted to sleep.
However, I found it to be very difficult. The complete and utter lack of padding from the steel floor was just too uncomfortable.
In a moment of frustration, I pulled my hands apart with extreme force, shattering the cuffs around my wrists.
The instant they broke and my magic was returned to me, I ran a mute spell through the cuffs to quieten the sound of them being broken.
There. I can sleep on my arm now. They'll probably be really upset that I did that but I don't fucking care. I just wanna sleep, man.
..
...
....
.....
Haze... Lightning... Blue...
...Cerulean.
I looked down at my rapier, and then up at the squad of PMF Operators who were standing before me.
Ah, I see. This is a dream.
This is what happened earlier today. This is the clearing where they captured me.
If things go the same as they did, I'll take down three of these guys and then Zoe will show up in a flash of lightning, throwing me into the rocks.
This should be fun.
I smiled as I ran towards them. My rapier was brimming with magic, ready to cut through flesh with ease.
The first Operator blocked my swing, but that wouldn't stop my magic. A fragment of my insanity splintered off of my sword and wormed into his mind.
He wasn't expecting it to throw him off so badly, leaving him unable to block my next swing.
A spray of gorgeous crimson flew towards me. I opened my mouth and tasted it with a smile.
I saw an Operator in the back with a staff. A mage or healer of some kind.
She seemed pretty new to this whole thing. She was clearly afraid, and hanging very far back.
Do you think you're safe in that position? If anything, you're less safe than you would be had you been closer to the fight. Now there's no way anyone can help you.
As I was fighting the other Operators, I suddenly backed off and pointed my pistol at the one sitting far in the back.
I pulled the trigger the moment my pistol was on target.
Someone screamed out her codename. 'Bloom!'.
I watched her terrified eyes as she realized what was happening.
Like a car crash, it all happened in slow motion. I tracked the magical bullet as it flew through the air.
I smiled. I already knew she was dead, after all. A rookie, and not even a fighter. She couldn't dodge or deflect the shot.
And because of where she positioned herself, no one could possibly get to her in time.
The bullet ripped right through her brain, instantly killing her with another beautiful spray of blood.
After that I heard a lot of screaming. The Operators were obviously upset, viciously trying to fight back against me.
At one point I stabbed another, but then my ears twitched. My heart stopped for a moment.
She was here.
I looked towards the source, but as soon as I did, my vision was filled with a beautiful cerulean blue.
The attack threw me back with immense force, launching me into a pile of rocks with a large explosion.
What a shame. It's just a dream. I can't feel the same pain I did when this happened for real.
I remember how my body ached. My muscles felt torn and my bones felt broken.
They weren't, of course. I'm not that weak. I could withstand at least this much.
But boy did it hurt when it happened for real. I really wished I could feel that same pain right now, but a dream is just a dream.
Zoe: "All of you, get the wounded out of here. I'll take her by myself."
???: "A-Are you sure?"
Zoe: "That's an order. Leave."
I laid there in the rubble and dust. Small sparks of her residual electricity snapped at my body, but once again, I unfortunately felt no pain.
Zoe walked towards me. Unlike the others, she wasn't afraid. She knew she could win.
Zoe: "I know you're still alive. Get out here."
I grinned. It was fun to be challenged like this.
I leapt from the cloud of dust straight towards her, but she instantly parried my rapier.
Each attack she delivered was a devastating, near-instant strike, with an aftershock of lightning that followed every time.
I could barely keep up. Even though I had seen this before, I still struggled.
At one point she scraped her spear across the ground, causing it to glow blue.
I remember this. When it happened for real, that line exploded after about five seconds and sent several bolts of lightning up and over her and then down onto me.
That's how she won. She really surprised me with that attack.
But this time I knew it was coming. Maybe I could change the outcome.
She did the same combination attack she did originally, trying to get me hit by the burst of lightning.
I dodged backwards the moment it came out to avoid the lightning as it hit the ground in front of me.
The explosion it left behind obscured my vision, and in an instant, my vision was filled with that familiar blue once more.
...You really plan for every possible circumstance, don't you, Zoe?
No wonder you're such a formidable fighter. I can't even beat you in my dream.
But even if I had won, it wouldn't have been real anyway.
I found myself on the floor once more. Zoe held me down the same way she did when it happened for real.
But this time, I closed my eyes and drifted off peacefully.
Man, it felt good to be beat down like this. Oh how I wish I could feel pain while dreaming.
..
...
....
.....
In the morning, I was awoken by someone shouting. I slowly got up and yawned.
My body was not at all happy with how I slept. I had aches all over.
It took a few seconds, but I had now fully awoken. I then looked towards the source of the shouting.
There was a man with red hair looking towards me with a very angry expression.
...I just woke up, bro. Give me a minute.
Red-Haired Man: "What the hell happened to your cuffs!?"
Cutter: "Huh? Oh, right. I forgot about that."
Red-Haired Man: "What did you do??"
Cutter: "I couldn't sleep comfortably, so I broke them."
He stared at me in disbelief.
Cutter: "What? You wanna come lie down on this floor? It's seriously uncomfortable!"
Red-Haired Man: "...What am I even supposed to do about this..?"
I saw Zoe approaching, likely investigating the commotion.
Cutter: "Zoe! Ah, I mean, Cerulean!"
She walked over to the cage, looked at the remnants of my cuffs, and then facepalmed.
Zoe: "When did this happen, Trigger?"
That must be the codename for the red-haired dude.
Trigger: "She said she did it last night 'cause she was uncomfortable."
Zoe: "...I see."
Zoe: "And you didn't use this opportunity to escape, Cutter?"
Cutter: "Why would I? If I escaped then I wouldn't be able to join your squad."
Trigger: "Join your.. What did she just say??"
Zoe: "Don't worry about it. There's no definitive decision regarding her fate at the moment."
Zoe sighed.
Zoe: "Just leave her. The last thing I want to do in the morning is deal with her crazy ass."
Trigger: "Without cuffs? Seriously?"
Zoe: "If she wanted to escape she would have done it by now. She's even more capable than I thought."
Cutter: "Awh, thanks~!"
Zoe: "At this point it's possible we could let her roam free with no consequences, but I'd rather not freak everyone out until Minerva makes her final decision."
Cutter: "Speaking of which, what's my fate looking like?"
Zoe: "Unfortunately, rather good for you."
Zoe: "You're very lucky to have Minerva making this decision. If literally any other person was in charge you'd already be long dead."
Trigger: "Minerva can't possibly be thinking of keeping this one alive!"
Zoe: "Go bring it up with her, not me."
Zoe: "Anyway, I'm going to have breakfast. Leave Cutter alone for now."
Cutter: "Do I get breakfast?"
Zoe: "No."
Cutter: "Huh, why not? The PMF doesn't feed their prisoners?"
Zoe: "We do. I just don't feel like feeding you."
Cutter: "Wow! So cruel!"
Zoe: "Minerva will probably feed you if you complain enough."
Cutter: "Such awful hospitality here at the PMF! This place is definitely getting a zero star review from me!"
She didn't even dignify that one with a response. She just walked off with Trigger following right after.
I sat there for a while, feeling bored and slightly hungry. However, Minerva then showed up to check on me.
Minerva: "What happened to your cuffs?"
Cutter: "I broke them."
Minerva: "And Cerulean didn't replace them?"
Cutter: "Nope."
Minerva: "I guess we're on the same page that keeping you locked up is kinda pointless."
Minerva: "Here."
Minerva walked over to the cage and unlocked it.
Minerva: "There, you're free now."
Cutter: "Are you sure that's safe~?"
Minerva: "You still have every eye on the camp trained directly on you, so don't try anything."
Cutter: "Don't try anything? You mean like this?"
I lunged forward and attempted to grab her neck, but I was surprised to feel something grab my wrist as I got close to her.
Minerva herself didn't even react. I wasn't expecting that, she seems pretty weak in terms of physical strength.
Cutter: "Oh. You have an invisible friend following you around."
Minerva: "Indeed I do."
Minerva: "You can let go, Phantom. She was just messing around."
I heard a 'hmph' sound before my wrist was thrown back by the invisible person.
Cutter: "Do you always have an invisible buddy protecting you?"
Minerva: "I usually have some form of bodyguard watching over me while I'm outside, but who it is depends on who is available at the time."
Minerva: "But as you can see, there are several people around here that are considerably stronger than you are, so do try to behave."
Cutter: "Alright, alright. I'll be a good girl."
Cutter: "Oh! Now that I'm released I can have breakfast!"
Minerva: "...Did Cerulean not feed you?"
Cutter: "No, she said she didn't feel like it."
Minerva sighed.
Minerva: "I get that she doesn't like you, but we have policies for a reason."
Cutter: "Oh it's fine, it's not like I didn't do anything to deserve it."
Minerva: "I haven't had breakfast either, actually. So let's head there together."
Minerva: "Cerulean's probably there, too."
Cutter: "Well now you have my interest!"
I followed her as she headed through the camp towards the food tent.
The moment I entered the tent I was met with a wide variety of hateful gazes from the Operators within.
I smiled and playfully waved at all of them, continuing to follow behind Minerva.
My Wolven ears popped up after seeing Cerulean sitting by herself.
I quickly grabbed a tray of food and sat down next to her, to which she responded by getting up and moving to the other side of the table.
Cutter: "Aww, don't wanna sit next to me?"
Cerulean: "Not even a little bit."
I looked around to see quite a few people still looking at me with very clear animosity in their eyes.
Cutter: "I'm not a popular woman, am I?"
Cerulean: "You're responsible for a considerable number of our Operator's deaths. Of course they're pissed."
Cutter: "What about you? Are you pissed off at me?"
Cerulean: "Death is a part of the job. All I care about is if your value as an Operator can offset the ones that you killed."
Cerulean: "Killing you won't bring them back, after all."
Cutter: "Woah!"
Cerulean: "...What?"
Cutter: "I was just thinking, if our situations were reversed, that's exactly how I would be thinking about the current situation."
Cutter: "We're more similar than I thought!"
Cerulean: "...We are not similar in the slightest."
Minerva and another person interrupted our conversation by sitting down at the table.
The unknown person sat next to me, with Minerva next to Cerulean.
Cutter: "Maaan. I'm jealous, Minerva, you get to sit next to Cerulean.."
Cutter: "Also, who's this?"
Minerva: "Phantom."
Cutter: "Wooh! You look so cool!"
Cutter: "Super edgy!"
Phantom didn't respond at all. He simply ignored me and ate his food.
Minerva: "Phantom isn't one you'll be able to mess with easily, Cutter."
Minerva: "He doesn't like speaking that much."
Cutter: "I can tell!"
I decided I should probably start on my food.
To my surprise, it was really good.
Cutter: "Mh! Sho good!"
Cerulean: "Can't you at least finish your food before talking?"
Cutter: "Oh right, table manners, or something."
I swallowed what I was eating and continued.
Cutter: "I figured soldiers would be eating gruel or something. This stuff is really good!"
Minerva: "We do spend a lot of money on our Operators wellbeing."
Minerva: "Speaking of wellbeing. Cerulean, I get that you're upset at Cutter but that doesn't mean you can waive our prisoner policy on feeding her."
Cerulean sighed.
Cerulean: "Got it. Won't happen again."
Cutter: "Yea! Meanie!"
We continued eating, but part way through, I noticed a presence next to me suddenly disappear entirely.
I looked over and saw that Phantom was suddenly gone, leaving behind an empty food tray.
Cutter: "Wah! He's gone!"
Minerva: "Phantom doesn't like interacting with people, so he stays visible as little as he possibly can."
Cerulean: "I really wish I could just disappear from sight sometimes."
Cutter: "I'd find you, even if you were invisible~."
Cerulean: "Something tells me you might actually be right."
Cerulean: "When I was chasing you down, you always knew when I was coming."
Cerulean: "You honed in my presence, didn't you?"
Cutter: "Yup! I've got good instincts and Wolven nasal glands. You can't hide from me for long."
Cutter: "That's why I was so surprised with how you caught me!"
Cutter: "You guys sure are smart."
Cerulean: "You certainly were a difficult one to wrangle, that's for sure."
Cerulean: "Minerva was the one who came up with the plan to catch you, actually."
Cutter: "Minerva, huh. Everyone really respects you."
Minerva: "Indeed. Very few people could have made the decision to keep you alive with any amount of support."
Minerva: "And even then, you can see for yourself how much everyone hates you."
Cutter: "I know! It's so exciting!"
Minerva: "Still, you need to go through your evals before you can become an Operator."
Minerva: "Speaking of which, the dropship to take us back to The Excalibur is arriving soon."
Cutter: "A dropship!? So cool!"
Cutter: "Suddenly, I really like the PMF!"
Cerulean: "What, 'cause we have dropships? Are you a little kid?"
Cutter: "Do I seem very emotionally mature to you?"
Cerulean: "..Good point."
I finally started to finish my food. I was eating rather slowly due to all the conversation.
All of this was a stark contrast to how I normally ate. I was very much used to eating my food by myself in silence, usually in a ditch somewhere. This was much more fun!
After I finished my food I could hear the whirring engine of a dropship. I immediately jumped out of my chair to go see it.
Minerva, Cerulean, and, presumably, Phantom followed after.
Minerva: "Looks like it's time to go."
Cutter: "What about my weapons?"
Minerva: "One of the crew will grab them for you. For now, let's board the ship."
Cutter: "Yes, Ma'am!"
I ran over to the dropship and leapt into it, to the surprise of the crew members who were likely expecting someone more respectable than me.
As everyone else boarded, I smiled as we started to take off from the ground.
Cutter: "Higher! Faster! Higher! Faster!"
Cerulean: "Would you settle down already? Good God."
The dropship was now flying very quickly and high above the ground.
In my excitement, I swung my body outside while holding onto the dropship with one hand, to which everyone responded with incredible shock and concern.
Cerulean grabbed me by the back of my collar and pulled me back inside.
Cerulean: "Are you insane!? If you fell you'd definitely die!"
Cutter: "Insane is what I do best, Cerulean!"
Trigger: "..Is this seriously the person we're intending on hiring?"
I spent the rest of the flight inside the dropship, but still grinning madly over how fast we were going.
Oh, the things I could have done if I had one of these babies!
After what felt like no time at all, we arrived at the city of Geo. Amongst many of the ships docked at the hangar was the absolutely massive capital ship called The Excalibur, the home of the PMF.
The ship was larger than any village I'd seen before. Hell, even some towns would be dwarfed by this thing.
Supposedly, it could even fly on its own. But due to the massive fuel costs, it usually stayed in one place, where it would operate as the mobile headquarters for the PMF.
For less desirable and moral folks like myself, it was tantamount that we operated as far from this ship as possible. If you commit crimes within range of its fast response vessels then you're toast.
That, and the railguns. If you're out on your own and away from any civilians and their scanner knows you're a threat you can expect a shell traveling dozens of times the speed of sound to send you to the afterlife.
Seriously, the sheer amount of funding these guys have is nuts. It's a wonder that they haven't been corrupted yet.
To my surprise, The Excalibur was so damn large that it had a hangar of its own for us to land in.
I got a look at all the aircraft that this thing stocked. I could see plenty of dropships, a squad of fast response vessels, a fleet of fighters, some helicopters and even several strategic bombers.
This ship was seriously armed to the teeth. It alone could probably wipe out most major cities.
But the PMF insisted that they weren't a military, simply a 'peacekeeping force'.
To me that sounds like political speak for 'a military, but we're good guys, we promise', but hey.
I suppose I shouldn't be slagging my would be employer too hard, though.
Once the ship landed I jumped out of it and skipped around the hangar
Minerva: "Don't stray too far, you're not an Operator yet."
Cutter: "Right, right~."
Minerva: "Cerulean, go and rest. I know this has been a rough situation for you."
Cerulean: "Thank you, but I'm fine."
Minerva: "Your squad is going to have to be on standby until we see the results of Cutter's evaluation anyway, so you might as well take a break."
Cerulean: "..Alright. I guess I have to inform the other half of my squad what happened, too."
Cutter: "What happened?"
Cerulean: "You."
Cutter: "Oohh, were some of those people I took out a part of your squad?"
Cerulean: "Yes. You killed two and severely injured a third."
Minerva: "That means a third of your squad is now open, right?"
Cerulean: "Yes. But we'll manage."
Cutter: "Damn. Unlucky."
Cerulean: "You say that is if you aren't the one who did it."
Cutter: "Whoops!"
Cerulean sighed and walked off.
Minerva: "You should probably hold back sometimes, Cutter."
Cutter: "Eh? Why?"
Minerva: "Joking around is one thing, but joking about dead people is a whole other thing entirely."
Cutter: "You're going to be hard-pressed to find a bone within me that cares about that kinda thing."
Minerva: "I'm saying this so you can get along better with Cerulean."
Minerva: "She's steadfast, but only to a point. If you really do piss her off, don't be surprised if you end up in the Medical Bay with most of your bones broken."
Cutter: "Why, that sounds supremely enjoyable!"
Minerva: "There really is no getting through to you, is there?"
Cutter: "'Fraid you're wasting your time, tactician."
Minerva: "Noted."
Minerva: "...Now then, time for your evals."
Minerva: "We'll start with getting you in to see Sera, so she has as much time to recover from having to deal with you as possible."
Cutter: "Sounds fun!"
Minerva led the way through the many, many corridors of the ship.
Eventually, we arrived at a room labeled 'Therapy Room'. I headed inside by myself to find a woman with long, purple, braided hair.
She looked pretty fancy and doctor-like.
Serotonin: "Please, sit down. My codename is Serotonin. Most people call me Sera, though."
Serotonin: "I'll be handling your mental evaluations."
I jumped onto the seat in anticipation.
Serotonin: "First, your name, please."
Cutter: "Cutter."
Serotonin: "..Your name, not your codename."
Cutter: "Cutter."
Serotonin: "...Right."
She sighed, but wrote it down anyway.
Serotonin: "Now then, there's going to be a lot of personal questions asked here."
Serotonin: "If at any point you feel uncomfortable with a particular question, just speak up."
Serotonin: "Any questions that are skipped will not affect your test scores, within reason, of course."
Cutter: "I'm no coward, don't worry."
Serotonin: "..So I've heard."
Sera then began an absolute avalanche of questioning. Pretty much every aspect of my mental state was scrutinized.
I must say, it was quite funny seeing her reactions to some of my answers.
The entire evaluation took about an hour, and I was definitely feeling kinda tired after all that questioning.
After she was done, she looked down at her tablet in horror.
Serotonin: "Three..."
Serotonin: "You scored a three..."
Cutter: "What, outta ten? Outta five?"
Serotonin: "Out of one hundred!"
Cutter: "Ehh!? I even lied on some of those questions to make it sound better!"
Serotonin: "D-Did you seriously just admit that you lied on your mental evaluations?!"
Cutter: "...Maybe.."
Sera facepalmed.
Serotonin: "..Doesn't matter. Your score is horrifyingly bad anyway."
Serotonin: "I think that might be the lowest score I've ever seen in my time here."
Cutter: "That sounds kinda bad! I'm not disqualified, am I?"
Serotonin: "Did Minerva not give you a sheet on how the evaluations work?"
Cutter: "Oh, that thing? Yea she gave it to me on the ride here. I didn't read it though."
Serotonin: "Y-You didn't even... read.."
She was struggling not to facepalm again.
Serotonin: "Okay. Calm."
Serotonin: "First of all, no, it doesn't disqualify you from being an operator."
Serotonin: "You have to score above a weighted average of fifty amongst all of the evaluations."
Serotonin: "So if you score higher on the other ones, you'll be fine."
Serotonin: "All this tells us is if you do become an operator, your mental state will require constant monitoring."
Cutter: "Ok! I'm gonna ace all the other ones!"
Serotonin: "...Good luck."
As I excitedly left the room, I heard her drop her head onto the table out of frustration.
Sounds like I've still got a chance!