"'Sushi, two things. One, if you start another rendition of "Yellow Submarine", I will shunt your chair to the outside of the hull because we both know that won't hurt you. Two, if you start doing "My Heart Will Go On" instead, I will leave you out here and make you walk back to New York harbor." Shinano hissed at her sister as they passed the eight hour mark into their journey out to the wreck of the
SS Central America.
Musashi began to pout at her sister with her arms crossed under her chest, but soon adopted a pensive expression. "But 'Nano. The only other ship songs I know without looking them up are pirate songs! Unless…"
"Although I'm going to regret asking, unless what?"
Grinning like a mad fox, Musashi began to sing the most horrible song she knew of. "Whooooo, lived in a pineapple under the sea~"
"DON'T YOU DARE!" Shinano shouted, jumping up from her chair, apparently on the verge of throttling her dark-haired sister, "We are not doing
that, Musashi! Go download some sea shanties instead."
Seeing that it would be a bad idea to push her sister further, Musashi pulled a sea shanty right from her sister's library instead, hoping it wouldn't get her yeeted to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. "Okay. How about this one…" she paused for a breath. "There once was a ship that put to sea, the name of the ship was the Billy O' Tea~"
The silver-haired kitsune reluctantly sank back into her chair as her sister finally started singing something much more pleasant than an endless repeat of one of the Beatles' most iconic songs. Letting out a little sigh, she rotated her seat back around to face the command console and forward viewport. Even if all the data from the sensors was few direct into her mind via AI bullshit, there was something reassuring about also looking at the same information in a visual format with her own eyes. At the very least it gave her something to focus on besides the fact that they were currently more than five thousand feet below the surface of the ocean. She'd honestly be more at ease if they were just directly at the sea floor so there wasn't a pitch black void below them, but navigating and finding shipwrecks like that was a pain in the ass on its own.
Traveling like that at sixty knots? That was suicide, at least for normal vessels. A Fog vessel could and would survive the impact between its Klein field and Wave Force Armor but that didn't mean it wouldn't be; A) uncomfortable and B) embarrassing as all hell. Certainly not something that Musashi would ever let her live down.
As her sister moved onto the next sea shanty that she had pulled from Shinano's memories, the white-haired kitsune consoled herself with the fact that they only had another three hours of travel to reach their destination.
She could've gone so much faster but this was as fast as they could go without setting off every single sonar system in the Atlantic Ocean with their presence.
Letting the submarine gradually slow down to a crawl, Shinano flicked on the external lights as the wreck of the
SS Central America gradually came into view. Just like on their previous visit, she couldn't help the sharp intake of breath she took as the lights began to reflect across the pieces of gold scattered across the sea floor.
"Well, we're here, Musashi." She announced.
The sheer levels of excited energy coming off of the dark-haired kitsune would likely have made a Geiger counter scream in agony. She was vibrating in place as she watched through the sensors of the submarine, raising her arms to start the collection. "Epic. Let's go spelunking!"
A small army of miniature Musashis were launched from the submarine, equipped with diving suits, vacuums, and various other tools to dig up and gather the treasures and bring them back to their submarine. Humming a piece of music by Mozart, she carefully puppeted her minions as if she was a conductor at an opera, grinning wildly as all of her minions followed her directions.
She began to squirm as she directed her minions to gather the enormous amount of gold ingots and coins. "Hehehe, go forth my minions! Go forth and bring me treasure and gold~!" As she could see through the eyes of every one of them, she began to pant at the insane calculated value she was seeing with her own eyes. "My cute little foxy dwarves, this is your Hoxxes! Mine for me. Mine, mine, mine!"
"...I'm beginning to have concerns about letting you take the lead on this salvage operation, Musashi," Shinano spoke up after a few moments of this flurry of activity had passed.
Musashi carefully deposited everything they were taking into the appropriate containers, prepping it for transport while still managing to make it look like chaos Incarnate. Not a single coin was missed, and not a single item was damaged. "But 'Nano, Look at all this money!" She exclaimed as she pinged the gold ingots. "We're rich!"
"We're
going to be rich, 'Sushi, we still have to sell this stuff before we're actually rich. I'd say that 99.9999% of all transactions will not accept gold bullion as payment, so we will
have to get this exchanged." She replied with an amused huff.
After having packed up everything of value and taken all of it back up the klein field stairs and into the sub, the mini Musashi all lined up in front of her, holding miniature guns and pickaxes, and making stereotypical Dwarven victory poses. "Good work miners. Now go take a break, you've earned it."
"They're quite
literally your own subunits, Musashi, try to keep the self-aggrandizing to a minimum, dear sister." Shinano noted in amusement.
Chuckling at her lighter sister in mirth, Musashi dismissed her subunits, and shook her head. "I'm literally just bored and trying to be entertaining, lol. References are my go to method of humor."
Shinano gave that a bit of thought before shrugging and spinning her chair around to face the window. "Fair enough I guess," the white-haired kitsune said as she did one last sweep of the area for any missed valuables before she programmed a course into the navigation computer to take them back.
"So another twelve hours and then we'll be back in New York. At that point we'll need to talk to Calle to see what needs to be done to start selling the gold we've recovered. After that… I'm not sure? Maybe wander the streets a bit? See if anyone wants to pick a fight?" She asked once the submarine was moving on their return course.
Looking at Shinano with a tilt to her head, her ears flopping to the side, Musashi thought about the offer. "Wait. We're actually going on an enthusiastic walk later? I was actually kidding about that before… But I'm game."
"I'd hope that it won't be
that enthusiastic, sister, but we're going to need to get some experience fighting like capes so I don't see a reason to not start when we get back."
Setting up a goal to give herself more motivation, Musashi slumped in her seat and shrugged. "Honestly, I one-hundred percent agree with this. Besides, I didn't actually get that recommended coffee after all, so I want to go to a more local, normal shop for coffee when we're done as well if we do a good job. Not Starbucks or whatever, just a local coffee shop."
"We can do that when we get back if the time is right for it."
Speaking without thinking much of it, Musashi sat up properly in her chair, then leaned over to rest her chin in her hand "... Should we ask Calle for recommendations for coffee?"
"...Fuck it, you might as well since we don't know anyone else to ask about that sort of thing."
Twelve hours of frankly obnoxiously boring travel saw the submarine sliding perfectly into place within the hidden dock with nary a scratch to show for their rapid trip to the ocean floor. Letting out a relieved sigh, Shinano did a full body stretch as she got up from her seat and popped open the main hatch. She stood aside long enough to let Musashi shoot through it the manner of an over-excited five year old she enjoyed imitating. Once the mass of black fur and purple kimono had gotten out of the way though, Shinano hopped up to land on the top of the sub before calmly making her way off of the vessel.
"So first order of business," she began as she examined one of a couple of salvaged coins that she had pocketed for herself on the way back, "We need to get clear of our base so no one does something like backtracking our call to this location. Then we can call Calle, find out what to do about selling our gold and where to get coffee, and then we can roam around for a while and see if trouble finds us. That sound good, 'Sushi-chan?"
Smiling at Shinano with enthusiasm, Musashi gave her a playful wink. She was sure that the lighter fluff ball had plans upon plans for what to do with the gang members if they were to find any, and how they would engage in combat if they were hostile, so she felt confident she could leave this in her sister's capable hands. "Sure! Definitely better than any plans I can think of at the moment."
"Mmkay, let's go then."
Slipping out of the dock in the same manner that they had arrived a bit over a day prior, they made it a few blocks back into the city proper before dialing Calle's number from her cellphone. It took just a few rings before the call was picked up by their lawyer's secretary and subsequently passed along to the man in question.
"Miss Shinano, to what do I owe the pleasure of this particular call?" Quinn greeted her pleasantly.
"Good afternoon, Mister Calle… there are two matters which have led to This One calling you," she began with her usual style, "The first is a matter of concern… for this one's sister. That One wishes to know if there are any coffee shops… which you would happen to recommend."
"…We can get to that in a bit, but what's the second reason you called?"
"The second reason… is that These Ones have… completed the recovery of valuables… from the
Central America and would like to know… how we should… begin to convert this into usable wealth… as well as… how to handle the government." Shinano replied, ignoring the amusement on her dark-haired sister's face as she spoke.
There was a sharp sigh from the other end of the line and Shinano just
knew that the man was pinching the bridge of his nose at that revelation.
"...I'm going to hope that you didn't go and recover it before
I informed you that you had the rights to it?" He asked.
"These Ones did not… we had simply prepared ourselves to take action… as soon as you informed us of the status… of our claims." She assured the man.
"Alright, ignoring the concern that such knowledge would cause to a large number of people, it'll take a few days before you can begin exchanging that gold for cash. Your primary buyer is almost certainly going to be the US government to avoid having you crash the market. I'll get people started on that process but it is likely going to be a few days before the exchange can begin so keep things quiet. No sense in inviting villains to try and steal it before you can sell it." Their lawyer explained with Shinano nodding along and making mental notes.
"These Ones… thank you for your… assistance in this matter, Mister Calle… now, do you possess any recommendations… as to the first matter raised?" Shinano asked, absolutely willing to bet that he was rolling his eyes at the request.
"Are you ready to write this down? Good. Now the best places I'm familiar with are…" Calle began before listing off half-a-dozen different shops for them to pursue. Once they had that information, both ends of the call bid the other farewell before hanging up.
Turning to Musashi, Shinano asked, "Well, that's settled so shall we get moving, sister?"
Tails wiggling in barely contained anticipation, Musashi flitted over to stand right beside her sister, linking their arms, and letting her tails begin to curl around the lighter haired sister a bit. "Awesome! Coffee and combat waits for no one! Let's go!"
Shinano rolled her eyes with a fond sigh as she used her own tails to pry away Musashi's from her body to instead settle for letting her sister intertwine their tails together as they started walking.
["Clingy 'Sushi is clingy~"] she teased.
Musashi had a light flush on her face, but was very happy to be near her sister. She wanted it to be obvious to others that the foxes were a pair, and that you can't get one without the other.
["Yeah, I guess I am… On another note, I'm very excited to see how strong we are in this world compared to other ones.]
["It's cute, Musashi,"] Shinano replied warmly, favoring her sister with a fond smile. Humming to herself as they kept walking, the white kitsune continued the conversation as she said,
["And I can't deny being curious to see how we stack up against the local capes. Granted, if Haruna's rampage at the manor is anything to go by then we're probably going to be on the higher end of the power scale."]
Adopting a pensive expression, Musashi began to process a design in her mind.
["True. Klein Fields are bullshit. I almost wonder how hard it would be to make a micro graviton cannon for our rigging."]
["Not too hard most likely? We could do the focusing lenses but the power supply would be too vulnerable at that scale for me to be comfortable with it unfortunately."]
With a tired sigh, Musashi decided to save her work and close the program.
["Yeah, I'll put that on the back burner for now. Maybe if we study some of Armsmaster's tech we can pull it off."]
["It's less the size that's the issue and more the fact that we have to open a hole in our Klein field to fire it."]
Musashi paused at that. She had just finished saving the project, so she went over her notes quickly.
["Wait, so we can't have a barrier around us under the rigging, and then one that covers the rigging that can be opened to fire it? For one the size of a large rpg, I didn't think that would be that big of an issue." ]
["Maybe? I'll need to do some simulations tbh. All I remember is that the required hole is how Haruna and Kirishima had their hulls destroyed."]
Sending the image of a purple fox Tilting its head, Musashi began to crunch the numbers.
["I mean yeah? They had a huge target on their backs, and couldn't shut it off in time safely to close that hole. I assume that's because of how massive it is, and how much power they pump into it. A smaller, weaker variant should solve like 90% of that if my calculations are correct.]
["Hmmm… perhaps. We'll shelve it for the time being though until we're better setup to do it though."]
["Makes sense."] Musashi closed the file and left it be for now, figuring they'd go over it later. Her sister gave an affirming hum in response and so they set off in search of coffee. Six blocks and twenty minutes later they were standing in the lobby of a quaint but very expensive little café, drawing all manner of attention from the other customers as they stood in-line to order.
"What do you plan to actually order… this time, sister? As opposed to the… sludge you acquired… previously?" Shinano asked as they moved forward one spot in line. The woman in an expensive business suit heading away from the counter only to stop so sharply as the sight of two kitsune that she nearly spilled her drink.
A smile graced the dark furred kitsune's lips as she remembered the shenanigans of the earlier meeting. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she gave her sister a long, exaggerated wink, "An Americano. I mean, we are in America."
"Ah… This One was thinking to simply get… something sweet, with little coffee. The drink… does not appeal to This One… very much," Shinano replied with a thoughtful tone as they advanced another spot.
Musashi nodded, following the line as they got ever closer to the counter, "I get that, but I've had a lot of time to enjoy testing different flavors to find what I like best. I thoroughly enjoy testing new types of coffee to see if I can tell the differences."
"Understood," the silver-haired kitsune said with a nod before they finally reached the counter. Having gone over the menu quite thoroughly she calmly placed her order for a crème-based vanilla frappuccino, choosing to eschew any coffee additives for at least this visit.
When it was Musashi's turn, she stepped up and ordered her Americano with a small smile, some of her tails wagging as they let go of Shinano's own, "One
SUPER Americano in the largest size you have please! Oh! And an extra shot of espresso!"
After paying and receiving their orders, Musashi took them to the little tables arranged outside the coffee shop. Then, as she readied herself to take a sip by first taking a sniff of the fragrant drink, the dark haired kitsune said, "It's a good thing we fixed my nose, because this smells amaz-."
-Only to be promptly cut off when the ground erupted into violent shakes that sent the expensive beverage spilling across the table. Customers around them screamed and started scrambling as windows rattled in their frames and traffic screeched to a halt, horns blaring. The two women had a brief moment to wonder just what the hell was going on before the cause made itself known.
Eight men armed with automatic rifles came sprinting around the corner just up the street from them. Hot on their heels were four more people in costumes -very clearly capes- who were bringing up the rear of the group as they rounded the corner. All eight of them were navigating around the stopped traffic with admiral speed and alacrity, vaulting over car hoods and the like as they hauled ass away from whatever was chasing them.
["It's like watching a parkour race,"] Shinano noted even as she stood from her seat with a frown. The presumed minions with their rifles weren't firing them all willy-nilly thankfully, but one of the capes behind them didn't seem so cautious. The gold and black clad man unleashed a series of lasers that melted holes clean through a few cars and street signs, sending a flying cape that'd apparently been hot on their tail rushing upwards to avoid the attacks. The villain in the lead melted into a massive puddle of what looked like mercury and slid under a parked car before he abruptly rushed upwards, sending the empty vehicle hurtling back down the street to slam into an enormous beast-man-creature thing that had just come around the corner.
Probably a vigilante since Shinano didn't recognize the figure from the Protectorate roster.
A dispirited expression pasted itself on Musashi's face as she stood there with her hand out, as if she had almost managed to catch the cup in time, but it managed to escape her grasp and spill everywhere, "... My coffee. Why?"
She looked over at her sister with a pout, tails curling around her unhappily, but returned to staring off at the people who
murdered her coffee. "Why now?"
"Fate is… cruel?" Shinano offered, as she glanced at her dispirited sister for a moment before looking back at the rapidly approaching fight. The eight gunmen were just passing their spot now and the four capes weren't far behind. Their pursuers seemed to all be present now, the original flier and the man-beast-creature thing now having been joined by four other individuals in costumes similar to the flying cape, thus marking them as a team of some sort.
Interesting, but not really relevant. What was relevant were the increasing number of lasers and energy blasts flying between the groups to impact cars, the road, and the sides of buildings all up and down the length of the street. Also relevant was just how upset they'd made her sister by spilling her coffee, the culprit for which helpfully identified himself when the villainous cape farthest along the road turned around and stomped on the ground. The previous shaking returned with a vengeance, forcing the silver kitsune to widen her stance lest she topple over like many of the nearby civilians had.
And then spikes of asphalt started erupting out of the street, impaling cars clean through their engines, blocking shots from the pair of pursuing blasters, and promptly sending the weird looking cape airborne. Looking upon this growing destruction, she felt her lips pull down into a scowl as she finally made her displeasure known to everyone present.
"That is… quite…
ENOUGH!" Shinano began, her voice still soft and gentle, yet rising abruptly to the volume of a terrifying roar as she expanded her Klein field across their surroundings. Blazing white sigils flared to life across her body as a wave of silver-white hexagons expanded outwards. The field crawled across the vehicles and civilians without any effect beyond scaring them half to death. When the wave hit the villains, though, the four capes abruptly found themselves picked up and thrown across the road to impact additional barriers that appeared to protect the surroundings. She did note how the mercury-man splattered against her field and quickly slid to the ground as the Liquid Metal turned back into a human being.
A few of the mooks had time enough to turn on their heels and open fire on her, additional little groupings of hexagons appearing to catch the individual bullets in midair. The kitsune glared at the armed men before additional barriers appeared above them and promptly shoved each gunman to the ground.
"Yes…" Shinano enunciated quietly, her voice still managing to carry across the now eerily silent street, "I have… found myself upset… and to…
a frightening extent."
