Interlude: Left Behind
“Okay uhh, don’t panic but—“
And there it is, the very cue words that Nero has been dreading.
In a moment of carelessness in Nico's part, Tasha and Claudia ends up getting left behind. Now it's a race against the clock to try and reunite with the separated girls. V and Nero could only hope that they make it back in time.
Author's Notes
So, we got an extra 'DLC' mission wherein Nico accidentally leaves Tasha and Claudia behind and now they gotta survive until help arrives. Trust me, there's so much more mechanics and bullshit involved but this is just a thing I wanted to get out lmaooo
“Hey Nico, where’s Lame-dia and Tasha at?”
Nero knows, especially after years of training his instincts that the moment Nico’s cigar fell from her mouth with an abrupt ‘Oh shit’, something has gone positively wrong again.
“Hey come on, we got no time to waste. Tell the girls that we’ve gotta go—“ he tries playing it off, to remain cool and press down the urge and slowly bubbling panic flaring and telling him that something is wrong, mostly for his and V’s sanity.
Unfortunately it didn’t help with the other man’s ire.
“Where are they? Where is my little dove—“
“Okay uhh, don’t panic but—“
And there it is, the very cue words that Nero had been dreading.
“Nico, where is Claudia?” He sees Nico’s brief apologetic and guilty face, probably realizing that Nero using Claudia’s actual name means he’s not fucking around anymore. V's visibly bristled look upon realizing that Tasha is in immediate danger probably made the situation way more tense than it should.
“Better get in and strap on yer seat belts, 'cause we're going back for them right now—“
”Wait, you're telling me that you left the two of them behind—“
”—the demons will not be kind to them, and they are not equipped—“
“Alright, alright, slow down for a fucking second, Prince Charmings! Ya’ll gotta be dumbasses if you think that those two are going down without a fight. They aren't just delicate pretty little missies, capiche?" Nico rolls her eyes at the glare she got in response. "Finally, if ya'll mind getting yer asses in here, then maybe we can start heading back now.” Nico says no more before starting the van as the two worried hunters snapped out of their heads and headed inside the van. They’ve got no time to waste as both of the left behind girls weren’t exactly in a perfect state to defend themselves against a demon siege.
On the other side of the map, Tasha and Claudia stares at the empty spot that once parked the van with Nico. Honestly, maybe Tasha was right, that they shouldn't have gone too far off with scouting and searching for new medicinal herbs. They turned to look at each other confusingly before a loud squelch and roar made them glance behind their backs.
“Uhh so, what now?”
“We gotta have to find higher ground, Tasha. As much as I would really love to believe that we can take some demons head on, realistically speaking, we are really not prepared for this.” Claudia checks the magazine of her gun before clicking her tongue. “We’re also very limited on ammo.”
Seeing her friend’s scrunched eyebrows, Tasha gulped and held Mystery tighter. They’re on their own for now and Tasha hopes that whatever back up that would come for them would do so in time. Otherwise...
“Maybe next time, V would be willing to let me train up with Griffon...”
"If it helps, I'm dragging that jackass along to help us out with training."
At the incoming guttural roar of the arriving demons, the two girls scramble to begin heading their way up to higher ground, the clock ticking down towards their possible untimely death.