~Chapter 1: Radiance
Sir Kane sat in his private helicopter, bound for a large business building just on the outskirts of town. The businessman, as he thought himself to be, growled in anger at the group of young men and women he had just left at his base.
Years of planning and hours of work had been completely destroyed by mere children! His entire organization was on its knees, their plans discovered and its members dying in rapid succession. Not only was Dark Aero being destroyed by the "heroes" Lan and Megaman, but it was rotting from the inside out by traitors like Tyrell and Ambika!
His entire life's work was gone, everything Sir Kane ever had worked for was destroyed…by children!
Fueled with pure hatred for those who had destroyed his work, Sir Kane ordered the pilot to fly the copter faster, unable to stand being near his headquarters and watching it crumble in the dust.
As the copter raced faster and faster across the Netopian skyline, a young Electopian Official by the name of Chaud Blaze was hanging on for dear life. Having hurled himself onto the copter to try and stop Kane, he had unfortunately become stuck on it, flying hundreds of feet above the ground.
The single fear of falling was all that coursed through Chaud's mind, and he was one who wasn't scared of much. A single slip and he would fall…down…down…down…SMACK! He didn't even want to think of it; of course he would already by unconscious, most probably dead, before he reached the inevitable SMACK on the pavement below.
Instead he focused on where they were going, hoping that he may be able to map out a way to chase after Kane with the backup of the Netopian Officials. As he looked around, trying as he might not to look straight down, he saw that they were quite far from the city itself, yet he could still make out the Dark Aero headquarters in the distance.
As the copter slowly began its descent for a landing, Chaud began to loosen his grip on the metal railing. If they were about to land he wouldn't have to worry about falling!
But wait, if they were about to land he might be seen!
Panicking, Chaud slowly began to move himself around the copter as it reached its destination. Just as the copter started its landing sequence did Chaud find a hiding place, hanging upside down underneath the cockpit of the chopper itself.
Chaud shrank backward as he saw a black shoe, and then the end of a cane; touch down on the grey helipad floor. Sir Kane was getting out of the chopper, slowly, and he then made his way toward a group of three men in black suits, all of which Chaud could see from under the chopper, upside down of course.
One of the men stepped toward Sir Kane, wearing a neat black suit.
"Welcome back Master Kane. I am happy to report that everything is ready for your departure for Sharo."
"Very good," Sir Kane said with a smile, moving toward the door leading to the staircase. "And what is the progress on the laser, back at base?"
The group of men stopped, two of them turning to the one near Kane.
"Well?" Sir Kane asked, after a moment of silence had passed.
"…I'm afraid, Master, that…the lazer, as well as Iblis and the other Dark Aero members you left behind at the base…have been….."
"Yes?" Sir Kane asked, impatient for the answer.
"…Terminated." The man squeaked out, sounding like a mouse running in terror from a house cat.
Sir Kane sighed, and pulled on the end of his staff, revealing a slender sword built into the handle. Slowly he pulled the blade fully from its sheath and he pointed it at the man.
"So, you're telling me that years of planning has failed…all because of a group of stupid children?"
"…Y-Yes sir."
"How unfortunate…for you!" He yelled, taking the blade and slicing at the man.
The man didn't scream, he didn't have time. Sir Kane's blade had been finely honed, and so had his skills with said weapon. In one clean stroke he took the man's head off, only a single bit of blood defacing his clean blade.
He took the handkerchief from his suit pocket and wiped the blade down before returning it to its place, concealed in his cane once more. Slowly he glanced at the other two men nearby and smiled.
"So, any other news to report?" he asked with a chuckle.
Together, he and the other two men made their way down the stairs. But as they walked on, Chaud picked up one sentence that haunts him still.
"Is EVE still online?"
The man responded to his master, but Chaud was unable to make out the sentence.
What is EVE? Chaud thought.
It was that thought that haunted him as he climbed into the Netopian Officials chopper and met up with the group. The thought still haunted him during the party at Maylu's, and even still weeks later.
Chaud vowed he would find Kane, and bring him to justice for his crimes. As far as Chaud was concerned, everyone that died and was hurt during the fight with Dark Aero should be placed on Kane's conscience. It was Kane's fault that all of it had happened anyway, and Chaud wanted to make sure that he paid for it…each and everyone.
Is EVE still online?
It was those words, that single word really, that Chaud was searching for on the Net. His navi Protoman was searching through hundreds of millions of flies, looking through each thing that related to the word EVE, trying to see if Kane was connected.
However, with the day before Christmas being called Christmas "Eve" it was only natural that the search results were related to such holiday.
Chaud hadn't told anyone about EVE, not even the Officials, not even his friends. He didn't really know why he was doing it, but he was going to take Kane on, one on one.
Yes it was stupid, but sometimes stupid ideas turn out better than those thought through.
After a while Chaud spoke, his voice echoing around the room, the room happening to be a small room inside SciLabs, a room given to him during the return of Dr. Regal.
"So, Protoman…found anything yet?" he asked dully.
"Not yet sir, but I have found quite a few sale brochures for Christmas products."
Chaud smiled. "You can skip over those; I've had just about enough of the holidays of late. I'm just glad that Spring has came back."
"Not fond of the cold?" said a voice, one that did not belong to Chaud nor Protoman.
Spinning around in his chair, Chaud came face to face with Dr. Yuchihiro Hikari, renowned scientists and father of Lan Hikari.
Dr. Hikari was a nice man, and Chaud didn't mind his intrusion. However he didn't want the doctor to see what he was doing, so he clicked off the monitor on his computer and smiled at the doctor.
"So, what was that you didn't want me to see?" Dr. Hikari asked with a chuckle.
"Nothing…it was nothing…" Chaud said, looking away from the doctor's gaze.
Dr. Hikari smiled. "Oh well, it's none of my business, and you don't seem eager to share. The reason I came down here was to ask you if you've heard about the blackout in Sharo."
Chaud's senses perked up. "Blackout in Sharo? I hadn't heard, what happened?"
"It seems that something, or someone, caused a huge electrical failure. All at once all of Sharo was in the dark, and the Net went completely offline. They're still trying to fix things, because of all the damage. But the strangest thing of all was that nothing was stolen from anywhere! One would think that with a blackout like that it would have been the heist of the century, with no police being able to track them down."
"Do they have any idea what caused it?"
"Not a clue. All that they know, is that right before the whole continent went offline, there was a huge energy serge from an old abandoned factory just outside of the town major."
"Did anyone investigate?"
"Of course. Nothing was found, spare some broken ceiling tiles and a bunch of old machinery. The thing that worries me, is that just after that Netopia's lights started to dim. The Net in Netopia went offline completely for a few hours yesterday, and they almost had a fallout like Sharo!"
"So whatever it is, it's spreading…"
"Right." Dr. Hikari said with a nod. "Well, that's what I had come to tell you, so I'll leave you to your work, whatever it may be. I'll be in my lab should you need me."
"Thank you Dr. Hikari." Chaud said with a smile.
The doctor turned to the door, scanned his eye in the retina scanner, and stepped out the door. As the door slid to a close behind him, Chaud turned back to the computer and restored the monitor. Protoman was still sifting through data, and seemed to not have even heard a word of their conversation.
If there's a worldwide blackout coming…what's causing it? Maybe it has something to do with this EVE thing…
"…Protoman." Chaud called with an business-like tone.
"Yes sir?"
"…Add this to your search; World Wide Blackouts …see if anything comes up."
"As you wish sir…"
Just what is going on around here?
~Chapter 1: Radiance