A conspiracy in the shadows

"What the hell is going on!? Why is this bitch princess carrying me!?" Helga thought as Rika leapt through crowds of frantic goons with her in her arms.

"Relax, I'll get you out of here," Rika grinned.

                                                                               ...

Himawari ripped off her disguise and joined her subordinates in the raid. Mondeau attempted to sneak away, but was caught by the female officer with short black hair and no eyebrows. The officer let out an animalistic growl as she began pummeling Mondeau.

"Wow, Mako's goin for the bone bustin," the officer with glassess giggled.

"So strong and sexy. Mako-chan, beat that fat baguette into crumbs!" the officer with pigtails cheered.

"That animal's gonna kill him at this rate. We need him alive. Inoka, tell your pet to tone it down! And Yumeko, stop encouraging that freak!" the officer with pink hair glared.

"You know I can't calm her down now," Inoka, the officer with glasses giggled.

"Good girl Mako-chan! I'll massage your sexy abs and calves," Yumeko, the officer with pigtails lustfully cheered.

"If the superintendent or senior commissioner yell at us, I'm selling you two out," Purin the officer with pink hair groaned.

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

Makoto, the officer with short black hair and no eyebrows, snarled and threw the beaten Mondeau before Himawari.

"Just in time too. Looks like the cavalry is here," Himawari thought as an army of 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!" Jester fumed.

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

Jester's phone then began ringing.

"Ah, phone's ringing, it's my older brother from another mother. Hello... EHHHH!? What do you mean cleansing!? I thought this was a banquet event! Wait, were you trying to get rid of me!? You asshole! I'm way more evil and powerful than you! You only got the council seat cause of age! I'm coming to kick your ass!"

Jester then hung up and vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Well that was easy. Looks like they brought a full army with them. There were even some TV crews in there. Everything's going well," Jester thought as he walked away.

Suddenly, a stick of dynamite rolled up to him.

"Huh? I didn't invite any-"

*KABOOM*

"[FUCK YOU]! Whoever did this!" Jester screamed as he flew off into the sky.

                                                                             ...

Rika stared down Krokow in a secluded hall.

"Why're the pigs here? Well who cares, I'll just eat em all," Krokow grinned.

Rika then vanished and unleashed a series of slashes at Krokow. Blood splurt 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.

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

Both turned to see a woman with a red buzz cut wearing a camo jacket approach them. She then tossed something towards Krokow's mouth. Krokow promptly ate it, but suddenly coughed up smoke.

"Wow, you got an iron stomach or something? That shoulda blown you to bits," the woman growled as she pulled out a trench knife

"The hell you doin Bombino!? I'll eat you too!" Krokow snarled as he closed the distance and chomped down on the blade of the woman's knife.

"You're the detriment. I don't like doin organization shit, but killing a pirahna like you is fine," the woman glared as she punched Krokow in the side of the head.

The punch was so powerful, half of Krokow's skull shattered. The woman than relentlessly beat Krokow, until all his bones were broken to the point where he couldn't move. Krokow groaned in pain as the woman then stuffed his mouth full of explosives.

"Good riddance," she glared as Krokow blew up.

"Still working for them? You really should just leave," Rika said as she followed the girl.

"Shibawara?  Or are you the Korosekai brat? I didn't get a memo about you guys being hired."

"Don't recognize me with all the gravy?"

"Huh?"

"Whatever, you really should just ditch your family Hana."

"Wait is that seriously YOU!? Oh long time no see girl. So why you here?"

"Some dumbass officer dragged me into this for a promotion. I just did it to get her off my case. She said this was supposed to be a banquet for a merger, but I guess it wasn't."

"Huh? I was just told this was a purge even to rid Illumous of it's liabilities. Well, I hate being their bitch, but I also hate them so I had no problem killing their fodder and hopefully the clown."

"So was Nouveau neo and the cult on the list too?"

"Cult? I didn't even know there was a cult here. I didn't see any known cult members at the dinner table when the signal went off. I was just told to kill everyone except outside forces. I guess that includes N.N. and the cuIt, but I'm sure I noticed some assassins disguised as officers killing the N.N. chefs. I didn't kill any of the prisoners though and tried to save as many as I could."

"Same old Hana. Guess I'll leave then. Oh and for the third time, ditch your family."

"It's not so easy. My great grandfather's one of Illumous' council members so me abandoning my family means I'd also be up against all of Illumous. By myself, that's just too much. I hate the organization, but that isn't a strong enough drive for me to up and leave right now. Since I doubt you'd want to live the bounty hunter life, I currently have no one to partner up with, so for now I'm stuck. Well, at least use a proper knife," Hana smiled as she tossed Rika a trench knife.

Rika somberly nodded as she parted ways with Hana.

                                                                           ...

"Not bad, you two did great," Himawari said to Rika and Helga.

"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. You too Rika. 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 then cuffs. Guess this really was a purge. Though Mondeau was alive but beaten to a pulp. I also don't see any cultist anywhere," Rika thought as she gazed down from the roof.

"So like, why'd you ditch, gravy gal?" a voice said.

Rika turned to see Ruka and 11 of her followers behind her.

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

"Like smoke and sex with us. It's like-"

"-Whoa zone," two cultists grinned as they smoked joints.

"Must be the recruits you brainwashed earlier. Well, good riddance," Rika glared as she leapt off the roof and flew away on a paraglider.

"That was a close one. Lucky I was able to grab this before those freaks got it."

Rika then noticed three cultists leaping in the air towards her.

"Damn steroids must be powering them up. Well, three in the air is no problem now that I have a proper knife," Rika smiled.

She flipped the paraglider upside down exposing her stomach to the sky and use the knife Hana had tossed her as a parting gift 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 gonna so assimilate her," Ruka cooed as she exhaled a puff of smoke.

                                                                            ...

Inside, an officer stared at a near dead figure. They then transformed into a robotic woman. The woman  looked as though she was wearing a skin tight silver bodysuit and boots, while her face was a pale silver and covered in microscopic hexagonal projection screens along with her eyes. Long cybernetic tubes came out of her head and resembled a ponytail. Though most unnerving was the fact that her mouth, was not really a mouth at all, but rather a speaker in the shape of lips.

"Subject's lifeforce is at 4%. Commencing retrieval," she said in a robotic voice as she warped away with her target.

                                                                          ...

Once Rika and Helga had gained some distance, they parted ways. Rika then snuck around a corner and found Rika covered in gravy.

"Thanks for the glider," Rika smiled.

"No problem, and with this, the favor is settled. Quite ironic that I, the blackmailer have become more of the blackmailee's errand boy, the other Rika smirked as she removed her disguise and was revealed to be Dastard.

"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."

"I too agree that Mimi should enjoy downtime. Her mission is over now. 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, too much conflicting information, and I have a theory on who it could be."

                                                                       ...

One of the female officers that had initially raided the building, smiled as she met with a cultist.

"So like, wanna join?" the cultist cooed as she smoked a cigarette.

"I'd love ta mind meld with you sluts, but I gotta domesticate Mako first. So got the goods?" The officer asked as she held up a fat stack of cash.

"Right here," the cultist smiled as the two completed their transaction.

"Just make sure you don't snort some of that stuff yourself if you're delaying your assimilation to our beautiful Demon Queen's harem," the cultist smirked.