Nier Chapter 126 Commissioned by Kriegan (Patreon)

My little adventuring party then returned to our main base on this world in the mostly intact Space Pirate vessel. All the while, YoRHa operatives continued gathering the Chozo artifact keys that were mostly in the polar ice regions of the world for some reason.

Not a joke at all. But like eight out of the twelve were actually in the ice region and with the majority of Space Pirate research bases there. Commander White was taking their extermination very seriously as there were already plans to colonize this very fertile and habitable world, despite its very hostile wildlife.

To say nothing of the technology of the Metroid universe that could be explored in the future while I continued my next journey to another world.

So while Samus went to go look at the data from these keys to add them to her systems and categorize the data with my strong warning to back up the data inside her ship... In case she loses her suit data and upgrades again. I was busy meeting with my YoRHa agents and of course Neo and... Cinder and her partner Emerald.

"So the retrieval went fine?" I asked Neo as I sat down across from the multicolored-hair smug-faced mute girl with her two subordinates glaring at me.

Neo used her semblance to form a sign that read. "Yup! It was totally easy! Literally easier than stealing from Atlas as those weird aliens didn't have hunters with Aura or other special abilities." Neo explained before she flipped the sign and my face twitched as I read the other side.

"Now I got Whitey to add triple chocolate fudge cocoa ice cream to the ice cream flavors... Now whip out your dick so I can rub some mashed-up banana's on it and then put the ice cream on it so I can make a super yummy banana split!"

I just eyed the fucking shameless perverted goblin known as Neo and for a moment I thought about just whipping it out. Then seeing Cinder and Emerald there I said wryly. "Later Neo," I said wryly but thankful that the two other girls couldn't see the sign she made with how she was sitting in front of them slightly.

Neo shrugged with another whiteboard coming up that's contents read. "Whelp in that case, I am out of here... I am going to going to fight Nora in a crepe eating competition after gaslighting her into thinking it was just pancakes with some ice cream filling!" She said grinning evily and making myself snort at the thought of the ice cream vacuum versus the pancake vacuum.

I nodded and with a wave of my hand, I opened a darkness portal that led back to Remnant. "Go on ahead Neo, I will be keeping the problem children for more missions," I said waving her on while Cinder and Emerald didn't move from their own seats and with Neo all but skipping away, I settled back against my couch as I eyed the two women... No tool's that YoRHa had leashed to my cause.

Despite Commander White being all but tied to the ideal of protecting and advancing humanity, she had come to terms that in order to protect humanity, the people that betray that ideal of humanity needed to be dealt with severely and without mercy lest they become the cancer that brings down humanity from within.

Cinder... Was a traitor to humanity, Salem was an extremely powerful insane immortal mage who was driven crazy by her losses but through the power of mind-breaking cock she was 'redeemed' via impregnation. Cinder on the other hand hated the humanity that made her suffer through a terrible childhood that mirrored the Grim Brother's version of Cinderella she had a girl named Cinder raised by a terrible stepmother and step-siblings that tortured her for years.

She was a broken spiteful girl who literally, and I couldn't understate this, we tested her mental state with sensors. She had become a twisted sociopaths who was physically incapable of forming true relationships or seeing other people as anything but tools to further her own goals of greater power and control over her surroundings.

Oh, she was charismatic for sure. She was capable of worming her way into the hearts and minds of her targets and had twisted Emerald into being her loyal little pet for years with the mocha-skinned woman being her ardent supporter who would die for her. But that didn't change that YoRHa and including Commander White herself didn't consider Cinder and Emerald by extension human, hence their disregard for shoving cybernetic enhancements within Cinder making her far more deadly than before.

I popped my finger's as I asked cooly. "So. How has your work been for YoRHa?"

Even as Cinder's lips twitched at my question I idly wondered why I was even bothering to talk to them. The only result was likely to be drama... I didn't care if they died, but they were a useful tool that could be used to bring down encampments to say nothing of Cinder's sheer combat capability that had her physical capabilities greatly enhanced cybernetically and even Salem taught her a bit of fire magic to enhance her fire semblance.

And I was right as Cinder said dryly. "Oh... It's going swimmingly, I wake up. Kill some monsters with Emerald to retrieve some artifacts and then I am forced to drop face first into the muddy ground for your toys to bundle us up to take us home in a bag via the heinous machinery you put into me... To say nothing of my obvious slavery and disregard for human rights everything is just fine." She said with caustic hate in her tone.

I merely blinked at the response and nodded without care before looking to Emerald who didn't have nearly the same amount of cybernetic implants that Cinder did beyond the rip-off Sandy YoRHa added to their spines along with Aura regulators that went under her scalp skin to help her illusion semblance target more people.

"Emerald, is there anything you would like to make your work here in YoRHa better?" I asked evenly, I wasn't going to go out of my way to torture them... But they knowingly planned to lead a hoard of monsters to devour a city and its inhabitants all to help bring humanity on Remnant to extinction. They were beyond the idea of war criminals and thus deprived of rights.

At my question, Emerald tensed and obviously looked at Cinder for guidance but the black-haired femme fatale paid her pet no attention, as she had her eyes closed and was clearly stewing on something. So seeing no obvious advice from her mistress, she bit her lip and said quietly. "Can we like... Get some kind of apartment or even a prison cell on Remnant, we cannot sleep and I feel like I am getting driven mad in the cell we have on the space station as we float in the room." She asked and my lips twitched as I realized her boots weren't magnetized so they were obviously going to be floating around.

I shrugged and said evenly. "That's up to White, I don't mind if you do Emerald. You aren't a threat but Cinder... I can all but see the stewing hatred in each little twitch of her impatient feet tick." I said making her tick stop and her glowing amber eyes snap up to me before they went ice cold as she took a breath to steady her emotions.

And then Cinder spoke the words we were all thinking in various states of mind. "I understand what I did was Wrong." She said in a clear understatement but before I could retort she continued with her voice being blunt but clearly desperate. "And I am doing my duty in repaying humanity, but what will it take to get the slate wiped clean and I receive the deal you offered previously... I am already, your assassin, I am your Tyrian to Salem, I will kill whoever you desire, shatter kingdoms and nations for you... But this complete control of my movements is killing my thoughts of continuing and breaking my very will to live." She clearly begged reminding me of my previous I offered to her.

Which she was basically facing anyway. Just with no autonomy, zero trust. And of course zero possibility in the view of YoRHa of redemption.

So what shall I do with Cinder, give her a chance to hang herself and make her into a Warhammer 40k Servitor but actually beautiful and not a horror show via a lobotomy and using the same technology that created Penny from Remnant to transfer her wiped soul into to a weapon of war. Maybe she would be good and she could earn some freedom... But on the other hand, giving her mercy would also allow Emerald to latch onto a new target which will earn her fanatical adoration.

I shrugged as I said evenly not in denial or acceptance. "Prove your worth then. We will obviously be watching but I will tell White not to drop you in the mud as I know you pride yourself on your beauty and that's why none of the cybernetics are monstrous things like your Grimm arm was... And you should be thankful for that replacement arm, as Salem was going to devour your soul once you gathered Maiden powers as was the norm for her to refuel her magic." I said standing up and leaving the room and leaving Cinder staring at the floor to consider her options.