A conspiracy in the shadows

Himawari ripped off her disguise and joined her subordinates in the raid. "I was getting worried when Sundae went missing, but looks like everyone arrived Just in time," she thought as an army of police officers swarmed in.

Members of the press also tried to push their way in to get in on the action. "Why are the cops and press here!? This is supposed to be top secret!" Mondeau fumed.

"None of your business, now come quietly," Himawari glared.

Mondeau attempted to sneak away but was caught by the female officer with short black hair. The officer let out an animalistic growl as she began pummeling Mondeau.

"Wow, Makoto's goin for the bone bustin," Inoka, the officer with glasses giggled.

"So strong and sexy, beat him to a pulp Makoto-chan!" Yumeko, the officer with pigtails cheered.

"She's gonna kill him at this rate. We need him alive!" Purin, the officer with pink hair glared.

"Makoto! DON'T kill him!" Himawari glared.

"Yes ma'am," Makoto, the officer with short black hair nodded as she threw the beaten Mondeau before Himawari.

"Himawari promptly cuffed him and stood him up.

"Looks like you can still walk. Good. Make sure to smile for the cameras," Himawari smirked as she marched Mondeau out.

"This isn't over! You may have Mondeau, but you will never catch me!" LaFleur thought as he snuck away.

...

Rika stared down Krokow in a secluded hall. "Why're the cops here? Well, who cares, I'll just eat em all," Krokow snarled.

Rika then vanished and unleashed a series of slashes at Krokow. Blood spurted out of Krokow, but it didn't seem to affect him much.

"If this wasn't a table knife, he'd be dead. Wish my main knife wasn't still lodged in his hand," Rika grumbled.

"Lookin for a better knife? Well too bad!" Krokow snarled as he ate the knife embedded in his mechanical hand.

"Huh? Why the hell is a gravy dish fighting?" a voice rang out.

Both turned to see two women approaching them. One had short red hair and wore a blue jacket, shorts, and black boots, while the other had long blue hair and wore a camo jacket, red skirt, and purple thigh-high boots. The red-haired girl then tossed something towards Krokow's mouth. Krokow ate the object without hesitation, but suddenly coughed up smoke.

"Wow, you got an iron stomach or something? That shoulda blown you to bits," the red-haired woman growled as she and her partner pulled out trench knives.

“Izumi will make sure you’re dead,” the blue-haired woman glared.

"The bounty hunting duo, Izuhana!? I'll eat you too!" Krokow snarled.

Izuhana were an infamous bounty hunting duo made up of Hanabi Natsumi and Izumi Izuki. Hanabi was actually Rika's distant cousin and had cut ties with her family. She possessed strength 10 times stronger than that of the average human despite her normal appearance. Izumi was a skilled killer that had grown up in the slums. Upon meeting Hanabi, she developed a crush on her and began following her. The duo eventually became bounty hunters and primarily targeted members of I.L.U. and their affiliates. Even though I.L.U. had branded Izuhana as traitors, the duo was on good terms with Rika despite the fact that her family was ordered to kill them on sight.

"Perfect timing Hanabi. Can I borrow a knife?" Rika asked.

"That voice, WAIT is that YOU Ri!?" the red-haired woman gasped.

"Yeah."

"Izumi has a spare knife," the blue haired woman smiled as she tossed a knife at Rika.

Krokow instantly ate the knife before it could reach Rika. "Oi! That wasn't for you!" Hanabi glared as she punched Krokow in the side of the head.

The punch was so powerful, half of Krokow's skull shattered. Krokow stumbled around in pain, but quickly regained his footing.

"Tch! Bastard really is an iron blob. Change of plans; Hanabi, can I have some dynamite?" Rika asked.

Hanabi grinned and handed a grenade to Rika. "Well, we're getting the bounty money for killing him, so least we can do is give you an opening," Hanabi grinned as she and Izumi began clashing with Krokow.

"I'll eat you all!" Krokow snarled as he opened his mouth wide.

Rika immediately threw the grenade as fast as she could into Krokow's mouth. "Blugh!" Krokow groaned as the grenade went off in his stomach, causing a puff of smoke to emit from his mouth as he fell to the ground with a thud.

The three women then relentlessly beat Krokow until all his bones were broken to the point where he couldn't move. Krokow groaned in pain as Hanabi then stuffed his mouth full of explosives.

"Good riddance," Rika glared as Krokow blew up in a massive fireball.

"Thanks for tipping us off about this, but why were you here in the first place? Wouldn't your family get mad if they find out about this?" Hanabi asked as she handed Rika a spare knife.

"Some dumbass officer dragged me into this for a promotion. I just did it to get her off my case."

"Sounds like you didn't have much of a choice. Well, considering I'm on your family's hit list, we should part ways. I also see a cop coming this way so let’s move. Nice seeing you again though," Hanabi smiled as she and Izumi vanished in a flash.

"Guess I better run too," Rika thought as she quickly made her escape just as a female police officer appeared.

The officer surveyed the scene before transforming into a robotic woman. The woman now wore a skintight silver bodysuit and boots and had long cybernetic tubes coming out of her head like a ponytail. Though the most unnerving thing about her was her face. It was a pale silver and covered in microscopic hexagonal projection screens along with her eyes, while her mouth was merely a speaker designed to resemble lips.

"Subject's lifeforce is at 4%. Commencing retrieval," the woman said in a robotic voice as she walked into the fireball.

...

"Not bad, you two performed satisfactory. Though do either of you happen to know where Sundae went?" Himawari asked "Rika" and Helga.

"No clue. How much longer do we have to stay!? I wanna shower dammit!" Helga shivered as she clutched the blanket wrapped around her.

"I guess you can go now. Just don't remove your disguises where the press can see you. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to brief the press on the success of this bust."

"Rika" and Helga walked away as Himawari approached the vibrant press corps.

"Press too? Thought she said this was supposed to be a secret. Guess maybe her buddies brought them along, but why to such a dangerous place? Come to think of it, I see more goons being taken away in body bags than cuffs. Guess this was more of a purge. Though Mondeau was alive but beaten to a pulp. I also don't see any cultist anywhere. Well, at least Dastard got Helga out safely" Rika thought as she gazed down from the roof of the building.

"So, like, why'd you ditch the party, gravy gal?" a voice cooed.

Rika turned to see Ruka and 12 of her followers behind her.

"Hell no, get lost you freaks," Rika glared.

"Like, join us girl. You'll love being mind-linked to our fabulous demon queen," two cultists giggled as they sucked their lollipops.

"Must be the recruits you brainwashed earlier. Well, good riddance," Rika glared as she leapt off the roof and flew away on a paraglider. Three cultists then immediately leapt after her. "Well, three in the air is no problem now that I have a proper knife," Rika smiled. She quickly flipped the paraglider upside down exposing her stomach to the sky and use the knife Hanabi had given her to slice the cultists to death.

"Hope no one looks up until I'm clear," Rika thought as she returned to proper position.

"Like we're so gonna assimilate her for that. Well, guess I better go meet up with that cop for business talks," Ruka cooed as she took her lollipop out of her mouth.

...

Once Helga and "Rika" had gained some distance, they parted ways. Dastard then shed his Rika disguise and met up with Rika in an alleyway.

"Thanks for the glider and the backup," Rika smiled.

"No problem, and with this, the favor is settled," Dastard smirked.

"I do feel a little bad about dragging Helga into this, but she was pretty much the only other person I could think to ask. Even though I've got blackmail on Sundae, there's no telling what she would have done if I had brought her. She might have even learned of my past or worse stabbed us all in the back. Waki and Mimi I trust, but this could have all been a trap, so I decided not to bring them. Plus, I don't want to drag Mimi into anymore danger."

"I too agree that Mimi should enjoy her new life. Her mission is over. I'm still searching for traces of Katrina, so I have no problem thieving and tangoing with danger. Well farewell. Do remember to watch your back. Something big was off about this whole farce."

"Yeah, I thought those acting as the dishes couldn't disguise themselves. That and there was a heavy press presence here. Hmm, I wonder if there was another more nefarious purpose for all of this.”

...

Yumeko smirked as she stared face to face with Ruka. “So you’re the cutie I’m trading with today? So, what do you want?” Ruka asked.

“The good stuff,” Yumeko snickered.

“I’ll need two cute girls as payment. Oh, and this time, don’t shave them bald yourselves. The last time you did, the girl’s mind was too broke for my nanomachines to mind control her.”

“I’ll do my best. Just make sure to deliver it to Chief Sakaguro’s place instead of the warehouse,” Yumeko sneered as she walked away.

“My, your leader truly is a malicious woman. I can see why Madam Ookuma has he eye on her,” Ruka thought.

…

Sundae glared as she watched the morning news on her restaurant’s TV. "Why are they giving that failure such an honor? So, she brought down Mondeau? Who cares! The fat ass can still cook better than her despite being a wanted criminal," Sundae huffed.

Suddenly, Himawari entered along with Makoto and Yumeko.

"Huh? Is that a failure I see! Sorry, no failures allowed," Sundae sneered in a cutesy voice as she skated up to Himawari.

"I'm not a failure. In fact, I just got a promotion for bringing down Nouveau Neo," Himawari glared as she grabbed Sundae by her hair.

"OW OW OW! WHY THE HELL ARE YOU GRABBING MY HAIR YOU BITCH!?"

"Hmm? Why do you have hair? I thought you were bald."

"BALD!? Like hell I'd ever shave my head!"

"What do you mean? I saw you bald before my eyes yesterday."

"Huh!? How deluded can you be!? First you think you're some hero, now you think I'm bald."

"Then let's talk in private at the station. I'll allow you to change out of those skates first, though," Himawari glared.

...

"What the hell! Why'd you drag me here!?" Sundae fumed as she sat down in an interrogation room.

"You'll be allowed to leave as soon as the interrogation is over. First, I'd like to know where you ran off to during the mission, Suica Nichiyobi," Himawari glared.

"Mission!? The hell are you babbling on about!?"

"You have the memory of a goldfish? You were recruited by Rika Komachi along with Helga Hepburn to accompany me as I infiltrated N.N.’s banquet last night."

"Huh? Now you're just sounding crazy."

"Crazy? The bust was real were you not watching coverage of it on your TV when I arrived at your place?"

"I wasn't anywhere near your banquet, hell I haven't been in your lousy presence in years!"

Himawari clicked her tongue and began heading out. "Yumeko, Makoto. Do as you please. I'm heading over to Ryokoma to crosscheck some things with Komachi,” she glared.

Once she had left, Yumeko immediately cuffed Sundae.

"Huh!? The hell are you- MMPH!?"

"Shh! You're going to be nice and quiet for me," Yumeko," chuckled as she gagged Sundae with a piece of cloth.

"Ngh mmph ngh!?" Sundae glared back.

"My, a talkative one, aren't you. Well, guess we can chat, though that gag's staying in. So, what was all that about calling our dear Commissioner a failure? She's a very successful and charismatic woman," Yumeko glared.

"C- COMMISSIONER!? That failure!?" Sundae thought as she began to go pale.

"I don't know much about her before she entered the academy, but Commissioner Rikuma is by no means a failure. Show some respect to her name!" Makoto glared.

Sundae squealed in terror as Yumeko gazed at her maliciously. "She did say we could do what we want, in that case you're coming down to the underground holding area. No one will hear your muffled screams down there when we shave you bald. And then, we can take care of Chief Sakaguro's pesky request and ship you off to the demon queen cult in exchange for some premium goods," she maliciously smiled.