DotHack: Rejoinder
A DotHack fanfiction by Renfro Calhoun
Disclaimer: Project .Hack and attached concepts are property of Bandai and Cyber Connect. They are used without permission, but with the utmost respect.
Notes: Happens about a year and a half after the end of the game, about 14-15 months after the end of Penance. Italics are thoughts. Yes, it's me again. Yes, I know I said the story would be a three-parter, but hey, I didn't think Heist would have sequels at the start. Go figure. This opening part is as much to get the story so far straight in my head as it is to recap for those just joining us. I had a hell of a time sorting out the dates and reconciling them with the established timeline, but I think it looks okay. Kindly point out to me any inconsistencies.
Anyway, it's good to be back. This will be a bit more mature of a ride (no, not THAT much more mature) but I'll do my best to keep it tasteful, if not appropriate. I'll keep the pretense to a minimum, though I can't say the same for geekly references - we ARE dealing with games and TV shows about games, after all. By all means read along, enjoy, and critique to your heart's content :)
Prologue
From: L.
To: C.
Subj: Timeline
I've taken the liberty of providing you with a timeline of events following the appearance of the phases, and the subsequent problems within. Certain issues are to be whiteboarded at the next meeting; I've detailed the relevant parts. Peruse them at your leisure and be ready to explain your proposal to the others. Due to Cyber Connect's reticence regarding certain information, understand that much of this is conjecture. Adjust your presentation accordingly.
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July 10, 2010 - First known appearance of the first phase, "Skeith". Believed to be a defensive measure constructed by the failed administrative program "Morganna" (as per the Epitaph programming), Skeith pursues the AI program "Aura" and the players who sought to protect her.
August 21-23 - Two separate coma incidents (characters "Sieg" and "Orca") are attributed to attacks by Skeith. Infection methodology is believed to be a form of audio/visual electrostimulant syndrome, an invasive technique in which light and sound patterns trigger incapacitation through damage to the optic and auditory nerves. Rumored sightings persist over the next few days.
August 28, 2010 - After a lengthy pursuit, Skeith is destroyed by characters "Kite" (Hiroshi Nakosuke) and "BlackRose" (Akira Hayami), alongside efforts by the hacker "Helba" (later identified as Yumi Minako; formerly Yumi Takahashi, now divorced from former Cyber Connect Vice-President Kyoya Takahashi). The coma patients remain unaffected.
August 29 - "Heist" incident. Asara Corporation endeavors to steal an experimental autonomous hacking program ("Delphi") from Cyber Connect; business agent Maxwell Kerrek, believing the program to be nothing more than financial data, recruits private investigator Dean Stollis and former CC employee Shinji Kayora to do so. They, in turn, seek out Kite to exploit his in-game hacking capabilities, and gain access to the CC mainframe. In the process of retrieving the data, the group discovers its true nature: Kerrek is incapacitated by Delphi and Shinji is killed by hitmen from Cyber Connect (later revealed to be under orders from VP Takahashi). Stollis kills the hitmen and infiltrates CC headquarters, finding and trashing the hard copy of Delphi as Kite and BlackRose dispatch its in-game persona.
September 2-5 - First recorded sustained encounter with entity "Cubia", purportedly a counterpart to the hacking abilities inherited by Kite. The second and third phases, "Innis" and "Magus", appear and are subsequently destroyed by Kite and company. The World is adversely affected by the battle, with massive data corruption and mutation; most servers and areas are visibly distorted or compromised.
September 6 - An outbreak of service fluctuations correlates with events in The World; several coincide with the appearance and destruction of phases four and five, "Fidchell" and "Gorre".
September 10-11 - "Relapse" incident. Seeking to cover up their involvement with Morganna, a rogue CIA faction penetrates Tokyo and begins an aggressive search for any and all leads regarding Echelon. A failed AI protocol developed by one Seijiro Tanaka during his tenure with the Agency, Echelon was applied to the AI entity Morganna in an attempt to create an adaptive and self-regulating administrative system for The World. It is unclear how the characters "BT" (Miku Kurasawa) and "Bear" (Ryo Sakuma) acquired knowledge of the program's existence; ostensibly, Harald Hoerwick left fragments of such information behind. Regardless, the faction attempts to capture and liquidate Sakuma and Kurasawa, with the coerced assistance of Tanaka. Stollis intervenes and, with Tanaka's help, exposes the faction's plot.
Additionally, it is known that Nakosuke and Hayami assisted Stollis in the course of his investigation. Harald, having known of Tanaka's efforts to modify Morganna, attempted to stop her by uploading, in essence, a digital version of himself (presumably, a variant of the same programming used to create Morganna). Shortly after the procedure, he was kidnapped by faction agents posing as police in Frankfurt, Germany. His current whereabouts are unknown. The AI is known to have been split apart by Morganna. The exact in-game events of Nakosuke and Hayami are unclear, though all evidence suggests they encountered and dispatched a fragment or subroutine of that AI.
December 20 - "Pluto Again" incident. Over time, Kite and BlackRose, with the assistance of Helba, Lios and others, find and destroy the remaining phases. The destruction of several phases notably coincides with certain events offline, namely power outages and fluctuations in a variety of public services. The nature of the final in-game confrontation is closely guarded by Cyber Connect, and rumors are at best sketchy or unhelpful. Supposedly, Morganna was successfully quarantined or suppressed by Aura; both appeared to enter a dormant state immediately afterwards. It was recently confirmed that a former CC official, Junichiro Tokuoka (fired at or around the time the character Sieg was incapacitated), aided Helba in the resolution of this event.
December 21-24 - Within three days, all the coma patients recover. It is unknown if this is coincidental or not; the time delay suggests human involvement in their recovery. Hospital records indicate many were visited shortly before their recovery, though the names appear to all be aliases, and no potential suspects have been identified.
January 20, 2011 - Beginning of the "Penance" incident. Asara CEO Aldous Rosenberg, conspiring with CC Vice-President Takahashi, enlists the aid of several convicted felons and renegade staff in both companies to extract Aura from The World. Rosenberg intends to use the program for his own company's benefit, while Takahashi wants it destroyed. Kerrek, suspicious of Rosenberg, asks Stollis to investigate.
February 3-12 - In the course of his investigation, Stollis is kidnapped by the conspirators and employed in a prolonged and complicated deception to lure out and hijack Helba in-game. Nakosuke and Hayami, among others, are initially pulled into the action, but manage to foil the theft attempt and discover Stollis' location and condition; Nakosuke alerts the police. Meanwhile, Stollis is somehow revived and escapes captivity. In conjunction with Tokyo police, Stollis and Nakosuke pursue the conspirators, culminating in the events on February 14. During this time, Takahashi betrays and attempts to kill Rosenberg and the Asara group; police intervene in time to capture Rosenberg alive.
February 14 - Global Cyber-Terrorism Conference, coinciding with the Annual Global Technology Expo. The conspirators use the events as cover to conduct extended operations inside CC headquarters, attempting to destroy Aura and mask the transfer of 500 million yen from the company's main account. Police, CC security (led by Francis Moritsu) and Stollis work together to apprehend Takahashi, Croker and company.
February 17 - The United States and Japanese governments, alongside Cyber Connect, file joint charges of conspiracy, data theft and attempted murder against the conspirators. Separate lesser charges are filed on an individual basis; Takahashi for money laundering, Croker for parole violation, et cetera. Pretrial procedures begin and proceed with atypical haste.
March 12 - Hearing and jury selection.
March 16 - United States, Japan, and Cyber Connect Corporation v. Aldous Rosenberg and Kyoya Takahashi (among others) begins.
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The details of the trial are of little consequence at this point. I suggest you focus your proposal on the lingering questions that Morganna and Aura pose; how their presence still poses security risks, in the potential forms of cyber-terrorism or corporate espionage, to name two. Also note that while the existence of the AIs is an open secret at this point (within the company, at least), the details surrounding them are not. I recommend they stay that way.
The information provided to us by your broker will be most beneficial in removing a key obstacle to our transaction. I look forward to hearing your proposal in person, and trust that it will convince the board to side with us.
Sincerely,
A Concerned Shareholder
P.S. I'm not fond of blades or spades. You are authorized to remove any that attempt to interfere.
He spun around, whirled and struck, blades flashing to and fro between the pair of monsters trapping him. Again and again his strikes hit home, cleaving deep gashes into armor, striking the skeletal figures within. Three- and four-digit umbers floated skyward from the melee, damage dealt and received; blotches of red text against the cloudless blue sky, revealing the winner by cold, hard math.
With one final, theatric twirling strike, Kite split his armored enemies in two from the neck up, sending helmeted skulls tumbling to the ground. The bodies began to fade before they could finish collapsing, one of them comically reaching up and feeling around where its head used to be. More numbers danced up from his body, experience earned and awarded.
Piece of cake!, he thought triumphantly, keeping his guard up as he scanned his surroundings. A strong breeze tugged at his shirt and cap, and caused the grassland around him to hiss as it bent with the wind; the only noise other than gentle string instruments playing soothing background music. Confident that the hills hid no further threats, he sheathed his swords and started towards a nearby treasure chest, which had spawned from a separate portal alongside the monsters.
The Twin Blade gripped the chest's lid and pulled it up, drawing a noisy creaking from its rusty hinges. He dimly remembered the update that added the noises: additional details and upgrades packed alongside new areas, new items, new creatures, and the promise of a new class before the year was out. Ever-growing and changing, as any worthwhile online game should be.
Inside the chest was a clean broadsword, ornately decorated with a golden hilt and small gemstones. Not a weapon for his class, but doubtlessly worth something to somebody. He drew the weapon out and stuffed it into his inventory, though to the eye of one unfamiliar with the game, it looked to simply disappear from his hand.
He watched the chest fade away. Piece of cake, he repeated, not quite so enthusiastic this time.
Pluto Again was mostly a memory now, along with the events that preceded it - and narrowly averted it. Artificial intelligence, corporate conspiracies, rogue software, outlaw hackers... the story took as many twists and turns in his mind as it did in the papers, give or take a few of the juicier details. He couldn't be sure Aura or even The World were safe - or rather, that they would remain safe - but he knew they were safer, as were the people playing it. Somehow, through more than one miracle and plenty of good old-fashioned moxie, Kite and his friends had made the game fun to play again, without fear of losing real people to fake monsters.
Calling it difficult to believe would be charitable; the boy sometimes wondered openly how much had actually happened, and how much had been meant to.
He took another look around, and decided to take five. Starting towards a nearby windmill, he let his mind wander to other questions, and it wasn't long before one in particular danced to the forefront; a nagging doubt that kept pestering him, and had been for the last few months.
Do I still want to play?
The windmill towered overhead, and he turned around to lean back against it. Offline, Hiroshi played his fingers across the keyboard, letting his character slide slowly to the ground. He'd wondered at times whether he would have kept playing The World without a mystery to uncover, and without a friend to help, and he couldn't deny that the game itself could only offer so much. Months of playing, chatting, fighting, adventuring, and suddenly it didn't quite mean what it used to.
He gave a rueful half-smile. It's strange... no, terrible, in a way... but I miss it.
The thought chilled him, if briefly. Still, he knew that despite the danger, despite desperate struggles online and offline, despite tears shed and blood spilled - virtual and otherwise - he had enjoyed it in some odd way. It was something bigger than any in-game quest could offer, than any rare item or other digital honorific. It was something that gave him, Hiroshi, a chance to make a real difference in something important. Kite was now a hero in the game, but Hiro, though not confident enough to think of himself the same way, knew he had done something for good; capital-g Good, good-and-evil good.
Oddly enough, that knowledge did indeed give him confidence offline. Sure it was just a game, sure the monsters were beaten by pushing buttons and shouting words into a microphone. And yet, the slender sixteen-year-old was a little more sure of himself at the end of it all. He was a little less shy and insecure in person, a little more concerned about doing the right thing; the kind of character that comes with doing good things, heroic things, even if he still had trouble with the actual word.
It wasn't just me, though, he reminded himself, and then chuckled softly at his predictable behavior. He was never one to give himself credit easily, all too eager to share it with his friends. I couldn't have done it alone.
As if to underscore the thought, a familiar chime drifted through the headphones, and with a push of a button a message popped up over the heads-up display. Its sender, the one he was about to think about, and not coincidentally.
From: BlackRose
"Hey there! Just logged on, I need to stock up. Don't forget, we have a time limit to beat with this boss!"
He smiled, remembering the challenge in question; a time trial encounter deep within the field's dungeon. He didn't have much direct interest in fighting the monster, but she did, and that was more than reason enough for him. His response was automatic: "I'm ready when you are," punctuated with a smiley face.
Slowly, Kite moved to his feet, and waited patiently for the arrival of his partner-slash-girlfriend. Just the thought of the latter of those two words was enough to put a blush on his player's face; old habits dying hard, if at all.
"Do-do-do doooo, do-do doooo, do-do de-de-de de-de..."
Scat-singing his way around the kitchen, the dark-haired detective delicately tossed dry dishes into the open cabinets, sliding clean plates beneath unused ones. Dried glasses shuffled to the back of the line and fresh silverware snaked to the bottom of the drawer. Over his musical mumblings, the TV blared its evening newscast; nothing of consequence, at least not to him.
A blue plastic nacho plate found its way into his hands, still not quite dry. With a deft spin of the towel, Dean worked out the last remaining streams of dishwater, along with a particularly stubborn bit of cheese. The plate, a remnant of Friday night poker, went easily into the cabinet next to the sink. For some reason, he distinctly recalled the phrase, "Screw it, I'll do dishes tomorrow."
He shook his head and laughed bitterly, remembering his defeat at the hands of his friends. Dominic, you lucky bastard. I'll get my $40 back next week.
The night had brought up a lot of issues, not the least of which was his not-so-recent trip to Japan - and all that lay attached. Puzzles within video games, corporate espionage, international intrigue and run-ins with old foes. Dean remembered everything in detail; he had to, for the trial of the century, now almost two months old. Cyber Connect and Asara corporations were all over the news, the big story about agents within both companies working to steal and conceal 'highly illegal products'. It amused Dean to no end how little the authorities could actually say about what it was all about, though it was clear to even the least informed that the coma cases had been cured, and the men (and things) responsible punished.
Despite the many facets of the court case, and his adventures overseas, his friends needled and questioned him about the more personally interesting aspects; about love and hate, towards two in particular: the latter behind bars, the former on the other side of the globe.
He tried not to think too much about Felix and the other conspirators he had fought, finding he could only hope that his former partner would stay in prison this time. Still, every now and then he twisted in a certain way, agitating what was left of the scar of a rifle bullet along his flank. He couldn't help but remember with that faint twinge of pain and numbness.
He sighed and closed the cabinet, letting his mind roam to the happier side of the subject - the one his friends, particularly Dominic, had pressed him about the most. Her names, both of them, flitted through his mind, each attached to a face and both tied to a single voice; a delightfully soft, vaguely coy voice that had stayed with him long after he last heard it.
Dean glanced over at his computer, which whirred quietly in its sleep. What're you up to, Miku?
Apart from increasingly brief meetings online and the odd phone conversation, it had been almost a year and a half since they parted ways offline, and around two months since anything else. Their letters to each other - last-ditch efforts at confessions of love, or as close to it as they could muster - were talked about at first, but gradually slipped off the radar as if they hadn't even existed. As the trial dragged on, the memories of his trip seemed to fade even as they were recounted by testimony. The detective had little doubt they were still friends, but not-so-little doubt they were anything more.
Briefly, his mind conjured up the idea of someone else entering the picture, possibly her other maybe-friend Ryo Sakuma, AKA Bear. With a momentary clench of a fist, he forced himself to change the subject.
It didn't last. He planted his hands on the counter before the sink and leaned against it, eyes closed. Questions pelted him mercilessly. Could I even go back? What's keeping me here? What could I do there? I don't even speak the language all that well. Where would I stay? For how long? What if nobody I know even lives there anymore? What if it's just been too long for us? A lot could've happened between now and then...
"Love don't pay room and board," he muttered to himself. Remembering the difficulty he had getting his possessions back from Japan, he added, "Or U-Haul."
And therein lay the other problem: money. Cyber Connect offered a fairly generous compensation package as a means of gratitude for his help, to the tune of a cool quarter-million; he had a hunch a certain security administrator had something to do with it. Thanks for that, Frank, he thought. But it wasn't nearly enough to retire on and it had become painfully obvious that, in terms of reliable income, 'private investigator' was only slightly more profitable than 'birthday party magician.'
Maybe I'm just bad at this. Apart from the small time stuff, the only cases I've ever seriously dealt with are... well, that.
He threw another look at the computer, standing up straight with a frown on his face. Two months out. No job, no girl, no life. No book deal, no CNN interview... Tanaka got on CNN, why don't I get to be on CNN? I was the star witness, for chrissakes, and all I got was some gaggle of asshole reporters asking about me going to jail for taking bribes. This sucks.
Mental griping aside, he knew that fame was tenuous and fleeting, and his part wasn't exactly the most interesting one, in comparison to one of the biggest companies in the world starting the next internet crisis and nearly caving in on itself. Besides, who'd wanna go through life as 'That guy who did that thing in Japan last year, I don't remember exactly what.'? I can't even describe it with one breath, and I thought THAT was going to be a gold mine? God.
He rolled his eyes and wandered back over to his computer, shaking it awake. The news ended, switching to a commercial as he opened his web browser and went for his bookmarks.
"I gotta do something," he said to himself, repeating it again and again in his head. "Maybe a little trip is just what I need."
He arrived at his destination, an airline's web page; he began scrolling through flight times and prices, already cringing at spending over a dozen hours in flight. Within minutes he had the ticket before him: round-trip for one month, departing June first, returning July first. Straight shot from LAX to Narita. Impulse buy, take it or leave it; no plans and no second thoughts.
He froze, flinched, smiled a weird smile and backed out of the transaction. "Well, maybe a plan wouldn't hurt," he chuckled as he opened an email and addressed it to a couple friends.