SERIES A113: RECORDS

The quick, rhythmic taps of her shoes hitting the polished floor echoed across the silent hallway. Verte grinded her teeth a little every time she stepped—the shoes didn't fit her very well, and she could feel part of the hidden blade underneath the sole, ugh—but she continued to walk away swiftly. She glanced behind her a few times, making sure that no one was following her from behind. She kept a tight grip on the briefcase.

Once she found a door within the hallway labeled "Storage", she immediately reached for it and practically dove inside when she swung it open. After locking the door behind her, she stood inside the somewhat dark room, waiting with bated breath in the silence.

There were no sounds of frantic footsteps, nor hushed whispers for directions. Verte breathed a small sigh of relief as she sat down. She placed the briefcase on her lap...

...but suddenly, she heard a suspicious *shnk*—as if a blade had been drawn nearby. She stood up quickly and looked around for any sign of life in the room. When she stepped forward, a strange scraping sound occurred, and her left shoe tip felt like it caught on something—

...Ugh. Right.

Verte groaned in annoyance as she sat back down. She lifted her left foot to inspect her shoe. She grimaced at the color—the other guards must've picked up that she wasn't a real guard, because she wore a pair of dark brown shoes instead of black! She stuck out like a sore thumb!

Her attention then fell to the small blade jutting out the tip of her shoe. There was a button close to her ankle, too. It should have instantly deployed the blade when she pressed it, not a whole minute later after the fight had long since concluded. She scrunched her nose and pressed the tip of her shoe against the floor. She remembered standing there like an idiot as she clicked her heels multiple times, and the blade still didn't come out...how embarrassing.

After getting that sorted out, she pressed a button on her small earpiece. It crackled to life. "Heyyyy Bughaw," she started in this sing-song voice she sometimes does. "I'd like a word with the smartass who thought they could design a decent pair of shoes."

She heard a soft sigh through the headset. "...Well, I'm glad to hear you're not hurt, at least."

Verte raised her eyebrow at that. "I didn't have to get into a fight, you know...I think the guards caught on to me because of these hideous things."

"...I highly doubt they noticed that, above the chaos the other infiltrator caused."

"...Mm, right." Verte scrunched her eyebrows together. She did kick said infiltrator right in the face to get the briefcase, after all. "So we're not the only ones after this briefcase? I really wish I wasn't testing out prototypes while I'm caught up with this."

Bughaw hummed. "Sorry, but your feedback has been the most helpful to the 'smartasses' back in R&D. They really value your opinions there."

Verte rolled her eyes at herself. "Well, here's my feedback: get a proper gizmo geek in there so their prototypes can, you know, work properly. And look properly, too. I hope that's loud and clear enough for them."

She heard Bughaw's little chuckle over the line. "I'll make sure to tell them. While we're still in the clear, I think we should check if we even got the right briefcase."

Verte gripped the suitcase handle tight. She inspected the briefcase closely. There was a lock mechanism in between the handles. "Good idea. Did you catch the code?"

"Mhm, 5-9-8-2. Overheard one of the guards before I lost connection there," Bughaw muttered. "A secret like that should be kept a bit safer, no?"

"Well, good for us then..." Verte twisted the small number wheels until the code aligned. 5, then, 9, then, 8, then—

*WHAP!*

"ARAY—!!"

"What?! Verte, are you okay?" Bughaw exclaimed as Verte rubbed the underside of her chin gently. She sucked in a breath as the pain slowly faded away.

"Ggh—yes, I am. Jesus..." Verte grimaced. "I just got slapped by the briefcase. It's got a real kick to it. For some reason..."

With a special spring mechanism like that, Verte thought to inspect the case carefully, looking for secret triggers or defense trips. Right now, nothing yet. The contents were fully undisturbed from the rude opening.

The contents in question are a clean stack of documents, and a box containing...something, not terribly important. Verte read the title of the top document.

"Top Secret: Project Cortex. Sounds like the one we're looking for."

Bughaw hummed affirmatively. "That's exactly it. Now—"

Verte perked up. Distant voices and muffled footsteps were heard outside the room. Quickly, Verte closed the briefcase and stood up.

"Alright Bughaw. What's the quickest way out of here, from the storage room hallway?"

"Okay, there's another door at the end of this room. When you get out, go right in the hallway, then left, then go down the nearest staircase. There shouldn't be any guards patrolling there..." Bughaw paused for Verte to hear buttons being pressed. "...because they're all currently searching in the hallway you were just in. Get going."

Verte crossed the storage room, and gently opened the other door. She took a small peek outside, the hallway looking the same as the one she was just in. Distant footsteps can be heard, but she saw no one down the hallway. She furrowed her brows. A large building such as this one should have their guards scattered a bit better, right?

Then, Verte heard a loud thumping behind her. Shit. She quickly walked out the room, then she locked the doorknob before closing it shut. She immediately booked for it. She turned her first right and, suddenly, the alarm started blaring.

"That's not us. I think whoever's after the case is making a commotion somewhere else." Bughaw whispered, though Verte could barely hear her over the alarm. "Some of the cameras seem to be offline now too."

Verte continued to run down the path she took. She was approaching two corners in a hallway that was eerily empty. "Did you say left after this?"

"Right."

Verte turned right before Bughaw suddenly raised her voice. "Wait, n-no! Go left, I said left was right, as in correct."

Verte groaned in exasperation as she swiftly turned around and went down the left hallway. She quickly approached the staircase, and as she got nearer, she started to hear a lot of screaming, gunshots, and guards trying to call for more backup. Was the ruckus from the floor below her—?

"Wait, the camera feed isn't working on the 2nd floor, I can't see what's happening in there." Verte sped down the stairs quickly as she listened to her handler. "—I'd say we should turn back, but the guards are catching up with you."

She arrived at the bottom of the stairs, where she immediately started running again. "We'll figure it out...somehow. Now—"

"Stop right there!" A guard shouted at Verte, and a gun was suddenly pointed right at her face. "Drop the briefcase, or I'll—"

The agent kicked their hands quicker than they could react, and their gun went flying on top of their head. "Yeah, sorry bud, I'm not going to do that. Let me just..."

She was about to kick them again, but they suddenly keeled over on the floor, and she completely missed their face. Before she knew it, her foot connected with someone else's face, and that face got slammed right against the wall.

"Oh, shit." Verte grimaced. The person wasn't wearing the usual guard uniform, and judging by the state of the poor guard crumpled against the floor (and the growing pool of blood underneath them—ew), they were actually helping her. Somewhat. "Uh, sorry—"

She froze when she saw it out of the corner of her eye—a stupid white hat on the floor. Her stupid white hat on the floor.

Oh, no.

"Ahahaha!!!" That wretched laugh echoed across the hallway and in Verte's mind. She just realized that the rest of the hallway was littered with defeated guards, and she just kicked the culprit in the face.

Said culprit slowly pulled her face away from the wall, with that damn goofy smile plastered on her face. "Verte!!!! Oh I'd know that kick from anywhere!"

"Oh. Is that..." Bughaw whispered.

"...Hey, if it isn't Miss Sunshine herself." Verte smiled as best she could. Slowly, she stepped one foot back. "I didn't think I'd see you here, Solaria."

"Aww, you don't look so happy to see me," Solaria pouted as she picked up her hat from the floor. "I am your rival, so I was kind of hoping you'd feel more excited, you know? With the thrill of our little nemeses thing going on?"

"For the last time we do not have a little nemeses thing going on." Verte flatly told Solaria. She heard Bughaw hum in disapproval, and she had to control herself from rolling her eyes at that. She could just about hear don't aggravate her in Bughaw's voice. "Just because I'm the only agent from Secret EGO who's escaped from you successfully whenever we meet—"

"—which is very often, too often I might add, kind of like...destiny...or fate—" Solaria interjected.

"—that does not make us a thing, okay?" Verte interrupted her back, quickly pointing between herself and her not-rival back and forth.

Solaria dropped her shoulders and she whined. "Mannn. I'll get you to admit that someday...But anyways! Great timing. I was actually trying to get that briefcase for myself, can you believe it?" She giggled as she stepped closer to Verte. The agent, in turn, stepped back. With their eyes locked together, Verte noticed a worrying glint in Solaria's eyes.

"I keep getting lost and these guys keep shooting at me and my partner got wiped out somewhere I dunno...and look who stumbles right in front of me!"

Verte tsk'd once, and she gave Solaria a little smile of her own. "Yeah, well...there's a problem, you know. I can't just hand this over to you. I did all the hard work getting my hands on it. I'm sure you understand." She patted the surface of the briefcase, which she was currently gripping ever closer against her body.

Solaria was eyeing the briefcase closely, then she flashed that smile of hers. Verte instantly felt cold. "Yeah, I know. Usually your seggo friends hand me whatever I want from them, but you're putting up a fight at least! That's why you're my rival, babe!"

"What—" Verte grimaced. "Ew. don't call me babe, and—and don't call it seggo, what the—"

"—BUT I can call you my rival! Yes, awesome, hold on." Solaria made a big show of removing her hat from her head. "I've actually been really excited to show off this set to you." She chuckled to herself as she wriggled her fingers. "So why don't you sit back and watch the show?"

Verte widened her eyes and immediately stumbled to grab a gun close to her feet. As much as she'd love to quip back, she had bigger things to worry about.

Hallway isn't wide enough. Can't run past her.

Solaria giggled as she watched the agent closely, though she made no attempt to kick away the gun between them. "Hey now! Already planning to leave the show?"

No exits on either side. The gun felt grounding and heavy on her hand. Comforting, even in the smallest of ways.

"Don'tcha want to stick around for the opening number? I've been practicing since the last time we met! Even took your notes on it and all!" Solaria pouted exactly when the agent stood up.

Can't run back, the guards will come down at any moment. Surely she can do something with what she has? Verte tried to find her voice as she wracked her brain. "That's funny, since I remember telling you to do nothing at all."

She needs to be caught off guard, somehow. Verte had a gun—with Solaria, they're virtually useless—her stupid, shit-brown bladed shoes—If she wasn't distracted like before, Solaria could predict her kicking patterns, and the blade is useless if she can't get it out immediately—and...what. What else...?

The agent continued her train of thought as she hid her ever-mounting nervousness. She rubbed the ankles of her shoes together. "...Because. Uh. All you do is slapstick comedy, and that...isn't..."

She gripped the briefcase in her other hand. The hard texture against her thumb knocked her back to reality.

"...really my thing..."

...Actually, on second thought...

"Aww, but slapstick is my heart and soul!" Solaria pouted. "Wait, just wait—I think this will finally change your mind, yeah?"

And with that, Solaria's arm plunged into the depths of her hat—

"Wait! Hey!" Verte quickly approached Solaria. She held the briefcase up to Solaria's face, but it was lying flat on Verte's palms, the lock facing the agent. "I'm—There's no need. Here's the briefcase."

"...Verte, what are you doing?" Bughaw whispered over her earpiece. Verte stayed silent.

"Ohohohooh?" Solaria widened her eyes at that. Her hands were still preoccupied with holding her hat, and reaching into her hat. Somehow that's a good thing for Verte. "Well, hey, thanks for handing it over Verte! I knew you'd get smart someday. Dunno why you're holding it like that, though..."

Verte balanced the briefcase on one hand, and she started working on the lock with her other hand. "Yeah just, you know, the password was a bit tricky, so I wanted to double check for you."

Solaria blinked coyly at her. Her eyes almost sparkled at the movement. "Aww, Verte! How sweet of you, getting through all that trouble, for silly old me. Thank y—"

*WHAPPOW!!!*

The briefcase opened with the swiftness and strength of one of Verte's kicks, right at Solaria's face. To the agent's relief, Miss Sunshine stumbled backwards, then accidentally tripped on a knocked-out guard behind her.

"OW owwiee—whOAHOOOA—!" *THUD* went Solaria's back as it hit the floor. She also let go of her hat in the process. Verte would probably be relieved to see that, but she's already running away, closed briefcase in hand.

"...I can't believe you just did that." Bughaw said. The surprise in her voice was subtle, but Verte caught it anyway, even if the agent was busy trying not to step on the guards lying on the floor. "...I can't believe she fell for it, too. I can't believe it worked."

The agent laughed to herself, but it sounded more like an incredulous scoff. "Well, I guess that makes the two of us—now, what's our escape plan?"

Bughaw hummed. "Okay, yes, just keep running. No other path leads to the stairs except this one, so unfortunately you won't be able to hide from her. Unless...you'd like to get a bit messy?"

Verte grimaced at the thought. She could see it, straight ahead: a tall window, just above the staircase at the end of the hallway. She could hear multiple footsteps approaching—both behind her and in front of her. She could hear them shouting, now. She sucked in a nervous breath.

"...Okay, yeah. I think it's a good time to get messy." Verte bit her lip as she kept running. She really didn't want to do this, but if the options are tight...

She could hear Bughaw sigh. "Alright, turn right on the next corner, there you'll be able to—"

Solaria's piercing laughter echoed behind Verte. Before she knew it, she was suddenly and violently tugged from behind by a lasso around her body.

"GAH—!" It was Verte's turn to fall on the floor now: *THUD!*

She flinched at the impact, and she had the instinct to reach behind her head—but the lasso wrapped her arms tight against her sides. She hugged the briefcase close to her while she was dragged against the floor by the rope.

"Oh you liar!" Solaria laughed maniacally as she pulled on her rope. She was a little ways behind, but she had a knack for being really, really loud. Verte sometimes wondered how Solaria kept getting away when she was the least subtle person she knew. "Clever, clever—You said you didn't like slapstick comedy! Are ya finally coming around to it?? There's a comedian in you yet, Verte!"

"...I mean, I didn't think it was that funny..." Verte muttered, mostly to herself, as she tried to think of something to do. The lasso was tight on her and she can't properly dig her heels to stand up and resist Solaria's pull. And now she could hear her footsteps getting closer to her. Shit.

Miss Sunshine's voice became a bit louder as she continued her blabbering about...something that Verte couldn't care less about. Then...

*shnk!*

Verte looked down to see that the little blade had finally decided to come out from under her sole. Finally! Now, to figure out how to use the damn thing in her current position...

When Verte looked up, Solaria was a bit closer to her now, but not too close yet. She already stopped walking, yet Verte felt the rhythm of multiple footsteps against the floor. Solaria must've noticed as well since she was looking over her shoulder.

"Hehe, well now! I think we've got a bigger audience this time." Solaria giggled. "Here's what I think: how's about I teach you the basics of slapstick, hands-on style?"

"I cannot overstate how uninterested I am with all this comedy stuff." Verte flatly stated, though her mind was busy trying to figure out what the fuck Solaria meant about...teaching her??? "Shouldn't you be worrying about the guards or something?" ...and why wasn't she reaching for the briefcase already? was a follow-up question Verte thought of, but she chose to keep that one silent.

Solaria wrapped the rope around her fists, and tugged the rope between them. "Oh I've got a neat plan, Verdy! It involves killing two birds with one stone. Multitasking, as it were." She flashed a very worrying smile at Verte, and suddenly: total clarity.

She wants to fling the poor agent around like some sort of human flail.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Verte shouted at Solaria, attempting to reason with her. "I still have the briefcase, you know! If this gets damaged, then—"

Solaria snickered at her. "Ehh, the boss changed his mind, now I'm allowed free reign with getting rid of you and the briefcase. He sounded so mad too. Guess he doesn't like your seggo mitts all over it at any cost? I don't know—but at least we get to have some fun, eh?"

Verte gulped. Well, it's now or never.

Once Solaria turned her back to her, the agent turned her body to the left, setting most of her weight on her left shoulder. And then she slightly lifted her hips, held the floor with her left arm, then pushed her feet against the floor to rotate her whole body, so that her shoe blade can finally reach the rope—

*SNAP!*

Verte felt Solaria's pull for less than a second before the rope got sliced, and she was free. Verte pushed her free hand on the floor, bent her legs beneath her and jumped backwards from Solaria.

"What the-?!" Solaria stumbled forwards, expecting to pull much more weight than just plain old rope. She groaned and turned around to see Verte already booking it once again. "Aww, come on baaaaaaabe! We were supposed to be a comedy duo! You're not gonna 'yes and' me?"

Verte put all her energy into running away instead of quipping. She was just about done with Solaria's bits, especially since they tend to get a lot more dangerous as time went on. "Okay Bughaw, it's right, right?"

"Right as in correct, yes. There's a window straight ahead that way...though the trees are a bit further to my liking." Bughaw's words were dripping with concern. "...Use your arms to cover your face, okay?"

Okay. Messy exit. She'll take it. She took a hard right just before she heard gunshots being fired...and Solaria's laughter in the midst of it. It all faded away in the background, though, once her eyes fell upon the window. She removed what remains of Solaria's lasso on her body, and she held onto it tightly.

Closer and closer she got, and so did the others. There were larger impacts in the background now, Verte thought whatever was happening was either big, or getting closer, or—

*KABOOM!!*

The floor shook under what sounded like a damn explosion. Verte gasped when she looked back.

"What the—a fucking bazooka?! Inside a fucking BUILDING?!" Verte screamed at her. Solaria laughed way down the hallway, then she aimed the gun at Verte's face...Kind of. It looked like it at a distance.

"Hey, don't worry babe! I've got a permit for it!" She hollered, and suddenly, it fired.

Verte quickly ducked down—or more accurately, she tripped and fell flat on the floor, but she had no time to think about it because—

*KABOOM!!!!*

She covered her face from the explosion that was really, really close to her, but it didn't take her long to see that the fire and smoke gave way to a much wider and less glass shard-sy escape. Very quickly, she got back on her feet: briefcase on one hand, lasso on the other, she ran the last distance, and then...

She jumped.

She probably should've stopped to find where she's going to use the lasso, but she quickly zeroed in on a tree branch and threw her lasso towards it.

"Eep—!" Verte squeaked as she swung down, feeling the lasso catch on a branch, thankfully. She kept a very strong grip on the rope and the briefcase as the branch swayed under her weight. But hey, she did it! ...Somehow.

*Crrrr-crack!*

...Nevermind.

"Gah—!" Verte held the briefcase close to her body as she fell down and—*FWUMPH!*

She tried to land on her feet with her legs bent, and for the most part she stuck the landing. Though she stumbled forwards and face planted right on the ground. Ew.

The agent immediately stood up and dusted off her face and her clothes from the dirt. Bughaw's voice slowly became clearer in her ear. She didn't even realize her ears were ringing until everything calmed down. "...Verte? Verte? Are you alright? Can you hear me?"

Verte groaned, then she spat a little. As much as she hated doing this, she wiped her mouth using her gloved hand. "Eugh, yeah I'm fine, I can hear you." She patted her messy hair down as she started to run as quietly as she could. "The parking lot's to the left, right?"

Verte heard another explosion from inside the building. Bughaw sucked in a breath. "Correct. You do need to hurry, though."

"Don't need to tell me twice." Verte huffed as she picked up the pace. When she turned to her left, she immediately booked for her motorcycle. She fished her keys out of her pocket and jammed the key into the keyhole. She opened the hidden trunk on the seat, threw the briefcase in and slammed the seat closed. Then, she jumped onto the seat and revved her motorcycle awake. She flinched at the noise it made...shit.

"VERTE!! COME BAAACK!!" She heard Solaria wail in the distance. "I PROMISE I'LL DO LESS VIOLENT BITS FOR YOU!!"

The agent drove away as quickly as she could, hoping that Solaria's voice was as far enough away from her as possible. She drove down the road that connected into the building's lot. After making sure that no one was following her, she went straight into the forest beside the road, disappearing into the vast sea of trees, underneath the thick canopy. Silence followed her all throughout, and Verte finally let herself breathe a sigh of relief.

She's had enough ""comedy"" in one day, if she has to be honest.