(Greentext) Denise Saves the World (Part 138/150)

>Back at the agency's headquarters, half the workers were busy fighting the fire ravaging their building while the rest were at their computers, desperately attempting to disarm the weapon remotely
>"3 HOURS TO DETONATION", the yellow text at the top of the massive screen flashed in response to their efforts
>Lady Kinoba stared up at the number and shook her head in preemptive defeat
>"...They'll never do it in time," she whispered to herself in her native Japanese while she removed her ornate red shako
>Bolting into the room, Molly quickly vaulted the short metal staircase and appeared at her side with a panicked expression
>"Boss!" she exclaimed, "Denise has gone, like, TOTALLY crazy! She's outside the old oil refinery holding General Clark at, like, gunpoint and stuff!"
>Kinoba's dread immediately gave way to an explosive fury as she stared into Molly's bubblegum pink eyes
>"WHAT?!" she roared, "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO HIS NINETEEN GUARDS?!"
>Molly didn't flinch at the outburst and began scratching the side of her head in an attempt to jog her poor memory
>"Uh... I think she, like, killed them all? I don't know. I honestly wasn't paying much attention. I just know that she said something about, like, a deactivation code for the bomb."
>"A deactivation code?!" Kinoba repeated in less angry disbelief, "Are you sure of this?"
>"Yeah, but like, she didn't tell the code to me," Molly mumbled defensively
>Kinoba huffed, knowing that she had no time to probe the near-useless nandroid for further questioning
>Instead, she pulled out her revolver, checked to see if it was fully loaded, then stomped towards the exit with her aides automatically in tow
>"CONTINUE THE DISARMING!" she ordered the room on her way out, "I WILL RETURN WITH DENISE'S HEAD ON A PLATTER!"

>By the time her car reached the refinery, a precious half hour had passed and the situation had dramatically escalated
>Dozens of navy blue agency vehicles were parked in a semicircle around the moss-covered front entrance
>Behind the safety of the other agents, Kinoba glared at the culprit herself and her weary hostage
>General Clark, or "Cody" as Denise once knew him, was already bleeding from his leg and looked miserable enough without the pistol jammed into his neck
>Denise's black mohawk thrashed around in the afternoon wind, her black jumpsuit was torn and stained with blood, and the fire in her mismatched eyes showed she was ready to kill her former best friend at a moment's notice
>Denise was yelling something to the acting negotiator, likely a string of demands mixed with insults, but Kinoba couldn't exactly tell what from her distance
>As she waded through the crowd of armed agents toward the front, she caught Denise's angry gaze and clearly heard a slur hurled her way, however, Kinoba chose not to acknowledge it until she could speak directly to her
>The nervous old negotiator straightened his posture in her presence and handed over his headset at her silent request
>She wrapped the wire around her ear and tugged the microphone to the side of her mouth, then cleared her throat
>"Denise," she harshly communicated directly into the nandroid's mind, "The bomb goes off in under three hours, so we have no time for this nonsense. Let go of General Clark, give us the deactivation code, and I promise that we won't kill you."
>In her brief time at the agency, Denise learned how to tell when Kinoba was lying; being merciful was not in her nature
>"You're full of shit!" she yelled, "I know you're going to off me the second I give you the code! The only reason you haven't killed me yet is because Dr. Penance isn't alive to tell you it himself!"
>From her elbow, her uniformed hostage groaned and attempted his own negotiation
>"Denise... I can guarantee your safety and a pardon from the- *cough* the president himself after all this is over..."
>"Shut up!" she screamed in his ear, aiming his stolen pistol upwards into his cheekbone, "The president takes orders from the agency! That Japanese bitch controls the whole damn WORLD!"
>"For your information, that executive order means I merely ADVISE the president on matters of national security, and only on certain occasions," Kinoba uselessly interjected
>Denise looked back up at her and appeared to slightly relax her grip on the general, not from what Kinoba said, but out of a realization on how she could escape the agency's clutches
>"Wait, Kinoba!" she shouted somewhat calmer, "I'll make a deal with you! I'll let go of General Clark, but I want you to take me to the bomb. I'll disarm it myself."
>"Are you mad?!" Kinoba responded, "The bomb is six states away! We would just barely be able to get there in a couple hours!"
>Denise suddenly let go of the general who collapsed to the pavement under his wounded leg
>"Well we're wasting time, then!" she said with a nervous grin as she dropped the pistol to her side
>After a tense second of fear that the agents would shoot her regardless, Kinoba took a deep breath and ordered her forces to stand down
>"Woah," she thought to herself, "...I can't believe she bought it!"
>Denise took a step forward before hearing the general's low voice beckon her from behind
>She stopped and turned back to him, feeling a surge of pity and remorse, but didn't have enough time to properly put her thoughts into words
>He stared up at her with the same blue eyes she innocently played video games with decades ago, yet the bags under them were proof he was no longer a careless teen
>"I..." she stammered while handing him back his gun, "I'm sorry I shot you, Cody."
>Hearing her call him by his first name filled him with momentary nostalgia; it was like he was back in his simple prewar life again
>He imagined her with the full head of black hair, matching green eyes, and ordinary clothes that once decorated her body
>"Surprisingly, I think I forgive you," he said with a light smile, "...Now go save the world, dude."
>She quickly turned towards Kinoba and the agents waiting for her, leaving Cody behind for the medics to tend to
>She didn't have the heart to tell him the truth about the "deactivation code" being a lie, yet she couldn't lie to him about it
>Kinoba motioned toward the open rear door of one of the nearly full agency APCs and called to Denise, "Hurry, we must go back to headquarters and take one of our jets!"
>The nandroid scowled at her as she stepped past and climbed inside the vehicle

>Once the hatch shut behind her and her eyes adjusted to the low lighting, she soon regretted her decision
>"Hi, Denise!" a wave of unfortunately familiar female voices greeted in unison
>She groaned as she saw her clone Esined, her old emo foe Sydney/Penumbra, and her betrayer Dixie sitting between the rows of stoic troops
>Being trapped in a tiny room with her adversaries was likely a mild form of torture orchestrated by Kinoba
>The APC quickly lurched forward and Denise grabbed onto the ceiling handles to maintain her balance
>"Why, I haven't seen you since the siege of Salt Lake City!" Dixie was the first to say with a sly grin
>Denise glared at her, remembering clear as day that Dixie's double-crossing was what landed her in the agency's clutches in the first place
>"...I should have ended your miserable life decades ago," Denise growled, "You're as much of a backstabber as the state you spawned from."
>Dixie merely chuckled, knowing she was untouchable under the protection of the agency
>"If God wanted me dead, hon," she smugly replied, "He wouldn't have kept me alive for two hundred years!"
>Denise slowly blinked and looked towards the other two nandroids, assuring herself that Dixie would get served justice in the end
>"Now what the hell are you two doing in here?" she asked them
>Based on their hair colors, Esined and Sydney looked like a pair of salt and pepper shakers sitting immediately beside each other
>The two glanced at each other and shrugged
>"Your guess is as good as mine," Esined said, "The boss interrupted our game of Monopoly: MCR Edition during your little mental breakdown and ordered us to get in this thing."
>"Yeah," Sydney verified, "I think the boss knows you don't like us and wanted to piss you off."
>Denise was about to comment, but realized it was fruitless and wouldn't get the trio out of the APC before they arrived at headquarters
>Esined wasn't THAT malicious or evil compared to the majority of the agency, Denise thought, but her own life would be better off if she hadn't agreed to that ill-fated cloning experiment several months ago
>Both her ivory hair and Dixie's white body armor were the brightest things in the dimly lit room, to the point that Denise thought she could still see them if she closed her eyes
>As for Sydney, she hadn't seen her in years and couldn't seem to remember what spawned their petty rivalry in the first place
>The hate was mostly coming from her end and Denise only despised her back in defense
>Sydney's neatly brushed black hair partially covered the damaged eye she received during their last fistfight, of which she was the aggressor
>In all those decades since they first met, she never abandoned the emo aesthetic of the 2000s, except for when it suddenly became popular and "uncool" during its brief revival in the late 20s
>"For what it's worth, I think your new mohawk looks pretty cool," Sydney unexpectedly said with a hint of prewar innocence
>Her tone caught Denise off guard enough for her to habitually run her fingers through it and blush, emitting a very noticeable pink glow from her cheeks
>She was a second away from thanking her for the complement, but pulled back into her tough exterior
>"...Yeah," she murmured, "I was getting sick of the mandated ponytails in combat."
>"Lord knows I couldn't make a hairdo like that work!" Dixie obnoxiously commented from behind
>Any ease that the compliment brought immediately evaporated at the sound of her voice
>Denise slowly turned around until she stared Dixie in the face, intensely resisting every urge to assault her
>"Before all this ends," she whispered, "I will kill you. Now, kindly keep your mouth shut."
>Surprisingly, Dixie's eyes widened as she complied with her order, her cockiness disappearing from the look in Denise's eyes
>It was going to be a long ride to headquarters, she thought



(Happy April Fools!)