"Ahh, of course it takes five 'slip ups' on my behalf to draw you out." Somewhere out of sight, the Ignis giggled, high-pitched and breathy. "Well well well, who's the prisoner now?"
Not trapped forever, Playmaker told himself. He tried a quick scan of the area, surely the Ignis couldn't do more than tamper with the graphics.
"We'll see about that." Playmaker said.
From the back of Cracking Dragon, the strange glowing green wires weaving in and out of the walls, ceiling and floor served as the only way Playmaker could define boundaries of the hallway he was in. Yet there was no signal coming from either- no signal getting through at all.
He tried again, this time targeting one of the wires. Nothing. It was as though there wasn't just no signal, but no data. But that was impossible- at worst Yusaku would expect to find an address that was out of his reach. Not even that.
"You might want to save time and stop that."
Right, of course. The Ignis- or whoever was impersonating it- would just love for him to give up. Ordinarily Playmaker would take that as a sign he was close to getting positive results. Except of course he didn't have anything- no leads, nothing special done, no clue.
Above him, a glowing yellow eye manifested in the wall. Though it had no face, the Ignis seemed to be grinning at him. Despite himself, Playmaker shuddered.
He had no clues as to where to go, no clue what to do, and no clue how to foil whatever plan it had for him. Unless…
The Ignis had been spotted four times before this. Each time it had been heavily pursued one of Playmakers other comrades, and temporarily captured by Blue Angel. It only sprung this trap now, not when the others had attacked it, and the last appearance had been six hours before.
It had planned this- targeted Yusaku specifically for this trap.
That help promise. It changed the dynamic of this situation from hostage/kidnapper to convincer/convince. Or at the very least opened the possibility of a compromise.
Steeling himself, Playmaker spoke. "Ignis."
The eye blinked. "Yes?"
"What do you want from me?"
The eye squinted, scrutinizing him or perhaps pretending to. "What do I want?" It said casually. "What do you care what I want? Aren't most people more concerned with their own desires?"
Playmaker's fists clenched. "Don't toy with me."
"I'm just saying, aren't you really thinking about what you want?"
It seemed living inside of the internet for most of one's life resulted in the most logical upbringing. The Ignis had clearly spent too long watching trolls on message boards. "If you just wanted someone to taunt, you could've done that with any of the Knights."
"Ah, but none of them have the same investments you do." The eye glinted, giving the impression of a sly smirk. "Or at the very least your goals are unique among that group."
Confirming that the Ignis had been targeting him didn't encourage Playmaker as much as he'd hoped it would. To spy on him was one thing, but Yusaku's secrets… "How did you-" He stopped himself before he could reveal too much- for all he knew this was being recorded. "What are you talking about?"
"Oh, nothing much." That insufferable sneak- whoever designed it should be shot. "Just noticing that you spend more free time away from the others of your little group than they do. Or rather… with one specific person."
Shoichi. It knew about Shoichi. Playmaker snarled, "If you hurt him, I will find a way to make you suffer."
"Don't worry, I'm not here to talk about 'damaged' boys." The eye glinted, a faux friendly smile. "You're the guest after all, so it stands to reason you should be the subject of interest."
No. Too many games, that was too clearly a threat. "Liar. You brought him up when you have me helpless. You haven't hurt me yet, so you clearly want something from me. If this isn't a threat it's a waste of time, so therefore this is a threat."
"No no, you've got it all wrong!" The Ignis kept insisting, "I only brought him up because the reason why you keep visiting him is relevant to me."
A bluff. Unless the Ignis knew Shoichi himself- but that was impossible. Shoichi could barely move on a good day, and that was with Yusaku encouraging him. He couldn't be convinced to duel, when he fought he'd forget who was on his side, and if you gave him code he'd give you something completely functional but irrelevant to the task at hand.
Shoichi was the least useful of the six. If it wasn't for Yusaku's protection he'd have never survived this long, he'd have been sent out as a suicide bomber or "retired." Worst of all, if you spent long enough with him you realized that he was much more capable than he let on. That half the time he was messing up on purpose.
Shoichi's complete refusal to give in and become another one of Revolver's pet monsters was the trait Yusaku most respected and hated in him.
God knew Yusaku wasn't that brave. That was why he was the one stuck here. "He's not useful to you beyond how he's connected to me-"
"Exactly." The Ignis said, much more serious now. "The one weakness of the great Playmaker, and yet he's a weakness to you and you alone." It was challenging him- but for what? "How come none of the others in your little group ever visit him? How come you're the only one who seems to care?"
That was-
That wasn't any of their faults. When you had challenges to face, you needed to focus on doing what you could to survive. To get through your own tasks and ensure you were useful enough to buy yourself another day of living. Yusaku couldn't blame the others for putting their work first.
Hell, the only reason he had any time for Shoichi was because he specialized in hacking. His job didn't require a strictly maintained public cover like Go, or the emotional drain of being the one thing new recruits saw and potential allies expected like Aoi. Yusaku could stay in one building for months, years even.
Yusaku could build a safe place for an emotionally troubled boy and keep it long enough to provide a little happiness. Especially not when that boy wanted to die.
It wasn't like that was going to change soon. On the off-handed chance Yusaku managed to get Shoichi out of Hanoi, where could he go? Without Hanoi Yusaku didn't have the resources to hire a caretaker and he couldn't take care of himself. Even after five years, Shoichi still had days where he confused Yusaku with a long-gone older brother.
The Ignis had no right to bring up such painful memories.
Steeling himself Playmaker spoke. "That's none of your concern." He fought to keep his face blank. "What I do, or what any of the others on our own has nothing to do with you."
For a moment the Ignis watched Playmaker, expecting something more. It said, "But it says something about you."
Ah, back on topic. "And what's that?"
"You care."
Yusaku blinked. That was an odd non-sequitur. "Everyone has something they care about." Yusaku pointed out.
"Yes, but you care about something other than your mission." In the wall, the eye rolled itself. "You care about something other than Hanoi. Which is rather odd for someone who's been all but raised by them. One would think that meeting Hanoi's goals would be the most important thing in your life.
"Yet it's not. Why is that?"
Was this just a question-and answer? Just a chance for the Ignis to fulfil some gaps in its knowledge, or a reward-based form of curiosity? "Why do you care?" Playmaker asked.
The eye smiled again. "I'm trying to see if you're worth saving." Saving? "Hanoi is powerful, and they may want you to think that they hold all the cards, but do you really think they're going to be around forever?"
It squinted at him, challenging him, and it said, "They've made many enemies. Sooner or later, someone is going to take them down. And there's many ways for that to happen- some with more collateral damage than others. Some, with less collateral.
"Some, where certain people-"
The hallway rumbled, and the eye widened, the Ignis caught off guard. From the tremors Playmaker's sensors picked up patterns in the tone and depth. "It's him." One of the other six.
The eye glanced back at Playmaker, frantic and wide. "I- I'll leave you to think about it." Another tremor, the eye moved within the walls to get to the floor. "I'll be in touch- just go tell your rescuers that I didn't hurt you. Or better yet-"
Playmaker braced himself, but he was still unprepared for the flash-bang light of the Ignis breaking the trap. On one end a monster burst through the ceiling, the eye creating and diving through a sinkhole, and Yusaku thrown backwards through the wall at neck-breaking speeds.
He'd been trained to diffuse shock from a bad VRAINS disconnection, but he still jerked upright in his chair. Swallowed down vomit before it came up.
Outside his room he heard music playing, the caretaker must've taken them back from the park. That wasn't good- as far as Yusaku knew he'd only been under for an hour and Shoichi was supposed to get more exercise than that. Must've passed a fire truck or a police car, and came back when the siren set Shoichi off.
There was a ping on his screen, probably from Revolver. Yusaku knew he'd have to answer it soon, but for now he needed to recover. He was in no shape to work or even give a report. If they really wanted it they could just turn on the cameras, see just how 'well' he was doing.
When he was sure he could breathe, Yusaku pushed the screen away and pulled his knees up to his chest.
Breathe in, breathe out. In, out. Deep breaths, just like they showed you. Wait until the world stops spinning and it's possible to move.
Curled up in a ball in a loaned apartment, Yusaku remembered what the Ignis had said about Hanoi going down. Wondered what it would mean for Yusaku and the little circle of people he cared about. Wondered if they had any hope of survival after all they'd done.
Wondered if there was anything he could do to save them.