Chapter 3: Chatter
13:51 PM (Japan Time), Monday June the 19th…
"… There. That white Toyota's mine…"
"Heh… Gotta have some cool tricks…"
"What? Oh no! I'm not a James Bond wannabe."
"… Heh, heh…"
"Hang in there."
Charles helped Netto walk over to a white Toyota parked in front of the warehouse building: Netto managed to improve a joke while making a weak smile and Charles rolled his eyes: he then took out the remote to unlock it and he helped Netto sit down on the passenger's seat while buckling the seat-belt: Charles sat down on the driver's seat and ignited the car up.
"Huff, huff… So… You're… who?"
"Huh? What? Me? Well… A member of the "Justice Council": we're kind of an NGO but we do many activities such as web programming, charity works, web adverts and such… But those are aimed at fund-raising when we try to gather evidence to expose criminal guys… And I don't mean gangsters' pawns but corrupt guys who come up with some sneaky manner to gather off money for their own profit…"
"Huh… I see…"
"By the way! Did Vadous never mention me? We've been in contact from time to time and last time was about March…"
"D-don't… think so…"
"Guess he wanted to wait for me to get back from overseas… And it was pure dumb luck that I ended up getting on the trail of that guy when we stumbled upon each other in New York City…" Charles muttered.
"What were… they doing… there?" Saito slowly asked.
"Stealing some data off an Army Office…" Davis replied.
"What… data…?"
"The officer in charge wouldn't tell us. We requested a favor out of the Net Police but the Army keeps the trap shut. But I don't think it's anything controversial to begin with or military secret… I've got that hunch."
"Stubborn…" Netto barely held back a groan of pain.
"Hang in there."
"By the way, Rock Man…"
"Y-yeah? What's up…? Davis?"
"Yeah. You can call me "Davis" without any honorifics. I'm the friendly type: my mental age is around 22."
"Huh… Thank you…"
"You see, Rock Man… We're fellows."
"Huh? Excuse me?
"I used to be a human, too." Davis let out.
"Whoa!"
"What!" Netto gasped.
"Oh. True." Charles calmly admitted.
"I had a white globe disease and my father was also running a similar research: his was aimed at trying to tap human consciousness and nervous stimulus to recreate those into Navis… We're talking about 16 years ago, more or less… He succeeded by using me as basis and thus decided to run the risk of implementing me within a Navi frame… My body died not even 6 days later… But I lived on… One thing, though. Charles and I aren't brothers: we're next-door neighbors. Both of our parents had met each other in college and thus they continued their researches. I had to keep the secret from Charles, too, until he was 13, when he figured it out by sneaking into my dad's lab and reading some notes…"
"W-whoa… So the pain sensor technology… it was derived from your father's… research? And then… Grandpa expanded on those and then Papa developed his "Synchro" system…"
"Yeah. Well. We didn't get into much trouble but it turned out that Charles' uncle had formed this "Justice Council" and, four years ago, we got appointed to replace him as he quit." Davis admitted.
"We're a bit odd, yeah… We call each other "Senator" when in meetings but we drop the formalisms outside of them… Davis has the "Captain" title and until recently ago he used a hologram project to interact with us on the meetings… Now we've gotten one of those new "Copy Roids" which a Densan University researcher developed…"
"Senator… Sounds cool, somehow…" Netto forced a smile.
"Regarding Vadous… Our first encounter somewhat marked him because that's when he began to realize what Anaya was up to… I'm talking about October, 2004… Shortly after the dissolution of the "WWW" and while you were on your worldwide tour… We'd been investigating some rumors of drug smuggling in Salt Lake City and it turns out that it was a new idea of Anaya to make cash… Vadous was there, having been told to watch the cache, and we had a little clash. Then something happened." Davis began and rolled his eyes.
"What?" Saito asked.
"That's… Well. I know: it's silly… But back then…"
"You called him "Darth Vader Wannabe"?" Saito guessed.
"Sure. And what did he reply?"
"Go to Hell?" Netto tried to guess.
"… "Who's Darth Vader?"…" Charles admitted.
"You gotta be kidding me. He didn't know why he had his name to begin with? He thought it was something unique and cool?"
"Sure he did. "Dude… There's something named Wikipedia"…"
"The guy seemed to be taken aback by that and forgot about his orders altogether: he ran off and it'd seem he made back to the spaceship, which was over 90% completed by then. He looked it up using the computer and, then, according to Omega… The guy spent the next 60 minutes cursing in Japanese, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Russian." Davis rolled his eyes and sighed.
"No wonder…" Netto wasn't too surprised.
"Yeah, I know. Realizing your own naming was a mockery and a sign of arrogance and that you were being looked down upon as if you were a mere insect to be squished… That set his mind straight: and when he found out about the real deal behind the deceit… He vowed to dethrone Anaya and have her rot in prison. Which he did…"
"I see…"
"There: that's your home, right?"
"Y-yeah…"
Charles' car began to climb the street heading for the home and they spotted a man on his mid-20s discussing with another two men on their 40s standing next to a black Audi.
The youngest man had black hair and blue irises' eyes: he was clean shaven and his profile was highly reminiscent of Netto's.
He could be about a meter and eighty tall.
He also wore simple clothes and looked like a businessman.
"That's Vadous… No wonder he's agitating like that: he must be nerve-racking by now… I wonder if they fell for the "bunshin" trap: a decoy ruckus… Something tells me they did… But I bring good news…"
"And those are… Ugh! Karasu – san and… Grah. Mori – san."
"Hang in there, Netto. You'll have to take the rest of the day to rest: you don't recover from such a thing in a breeze."
"O-OK…"
Charles stopped the car and the three men looked over there: they gasped and ran next to the car as Charles stepped out.
"Hi, Vadous."
"Charles! You found them!" He gasped.
"Yeah. The culprit was Yoru Yami."
"Who…?"
"Ah. "Admin 2"… In short: "Nebula Grey"…"
"The rascal…!" He cursed.
"Rascal sure was. He's brought Freeze Man back."
"Sheesh! What happened?"
"Remember MGS? The torture part…? A recreation..." Charles quickly summed up.
"By all the… No wonder Netto looks in pain."
"The guy now likes to materialize Pokémon. He used a Gyarados on me and I wasn't able to beat it: they ran for it along with Freeze Man to their stanching turf wherever the hell it's at."
"We'll settle that later. Let's bring him to the bed."
"Alright…"
Charles helped Netto climb down and they headed for the main door which opened: Haruka ran out and hugged Netto.
"Netto! Are you alright, dear?"
"Ugh… Not really, Mama…" He admitted.
"You look in pain!"
"A criminal inflicted harm to them: but they'll recover." Charles tried to calm her down.
"Who are you, young man?"
"Charles is my name, ma'am."
"And you rescued them?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Then come inside."
"Ah… Thank you…"
"I'll come in too in case you need some help…" Vadous apologized.
"But of course, Vadous - san. You are welcome anytime."
"Thank you very much."
Both men helped Netto climb up the stairs into the bedroom: Charles helped Netto sit down on the bed to then place him face-up there.
"Don't move: it'll be better." Charles instructed.
Vadous lifted the sheets of the other bed to reveal a young man about Netto's age and having a face profile identical to Rock Man's lying there: his eyes were closed and he had neatly arranged brown hair.
His clothes looked like a copy of Netto's although his vest color was navy blue instead and his shorts' color was brown with two parallel green stripes running across their sides.
"Oh. That's… the "cyborg body" you designed for Saito? If memory serves… You told me that the brain is electronic, that there are implants on the CNS and a network of intravenous nanomachines… He is able to "Plug-In" into the electronic brain anytime he wants to and leave as well: the nanomachines and the OS set it to "sleep mode" then…"
"Yeah. Lend me the PET."
"Alright…"
"Plug In! Rock Man EXE, Transmission!"
Vadous opened the right eye slightly and aimed the IR laser at its green iris: the eye closed and Saito began to mumble: he groaned.
"Ugh… The pain is somehow incorporated to this body too… I guess the guy altered something on my frame…"
"So! What's the tale?" Vadous asked Charles.
"I met the guy on NYC, stealing some Army data… Fled into the sewers and blew up an archway to cut me off… But I'd set a bug on the PET to trace the guy… They got here 2 days ago… And they settled on that building: I began to scout the building and today I happened to find out that the main room was locked so I forced my way in… And found that the guy had tortured them 3 times in a row each longer than the previous while using Navis to read the slightly edited lines of that game scene… He was showing off when I came in but it'd seem he expected me." Charles summed up with a sigh.
"So he wanted you to come in."
"Sure: given how he had that Gyarados thing ready… I barely avoided being frozen to death by that freak… Freeze Man came out after a short struggle with Davis and both fled…"
"I see. And their name is Yoru Yami?"
"Dr. Yoru Yami, yeah… Here's the photo: doesn't the guy remind you of Saito? I'm sure Anaya made that on purpose…"
"Hum."
"Ah! Speaking of… grah!" Netto began but got a spasm of pain mid-way through his sentence.
"Slowly."
"That guy… said he'd snuck into the prison… with a disguise… and spoken with that criminal… but… Ugh!"
"He doesn't dare to make a bold move to rescue her because I've set several traps to catch them?" Vadous guessed.
"The guy also said "K. S." was like a leech for them." Charles added.
"So "K. S." has been checking on them, then…"
"Yeah… We don't know much more about what he wants to do: there wasn't any compromising data there… And it won't be long before we've got news of their movements."
"Sure… A guy like that won't stay still for long taking into account what the guy did two years ago… Heck. The way they deleted Cache would make any horror film look pale in comparison. And then they say that reality overcomes fiction…" Vadous rolled his eyes and sighed.
"Boss? Any updates?" Omega asked through a purple and black PET with the "V" symbol Vadous had on.
"Charles found them and the culprit was the freak of 2 years ago: they're on the run along with Freeze Man so try to pick any trails they could've left behind in a rush…"
"Say. Did they have a Gyarados?"
"Let me guess: it's trying to freeze you."
"Yeah. It's annoying because I can't get too close to attack and my plasma shots only make water boil up and form steam… Hate to admit it but this guy is starting to drive me mad…" Omega admitted.
"No wonder."
"Heh, heh, heh… Heh, heh, heh…"
"Mr. Freeze." Omega grumbled.
"So! Did Milverton get the Purple Heart?"
"Stop calling me Milverton! Damn it!" Charles cursed.
"The Purple Heart…? Oh come on. You gotta be kidding me. Go tuna, codfish and mackerel in Shadow Moses Island, since your freakish Boss seems to like the place SO much…"
"Good attempt. I'll commend you yet, Yaoi Man."
"T-THIS JERK!"
"You're asking for it." Vadous muttered.
"Hum, hum! Things look dangerous. I better retreat. Go, Gyarados! Make them rest in a watery grave along with their own powerlessness! Heh, heh, heh! Heh, heh, heh…"
"You freakish sea-serpent…! Die already!"
"Then use "Avada Kedavra"!"
"You're into Harry Potter too or what?"
"Heh, heh, heh! Heh, heh, heh… It's coming! The end! The end! The end will descend next month! Witness the end!"
"The End, the Cobra Unit Sniper?" Omega seemingly taunted.
"Sheesh."
"Gotcha, Mr. Freeze."
"Heh… Fell into the trap…" Netto made a forced smile.
"Sure…" Saito did the same.
"Giga Count Bomb!"
"What?" Freeze Man gasped.
"Huh? Who…?" Omega wondered.
There was the sound of an explosion and Vadous turned on the holographic screen to display how the Gyarados blew up thus making Freeze Man, who'd seemingly been riding atop it, be sent flying and crashing against a building's side.
"De guts! Guts Man did it, de guts!"
"Whoa. Guts Man made the "Gyarados" swallow up the Giga Count Bomb and now it really works?" Saito wondered.
"Sounds like it… Uh… The pain seems to be fading…"
"Maybe the sequels of pain were something produced by manipulating the nanomachines and your chip implant… Maybe some pieces of that "bunshin" which the freak inputted two years ago are left there…"
"Heck." Davis grumbled.
"This barbarian…!" Freeze Man growled.
Omega suddenly aimed the blade at his neck while looking dull and unimpressed.
"Game Over, Lucy." He taunted.
"Damn it."
Freeze Man escaped and Omega landed back on the ground: Guts Man was doing some kind of victory dance.
"Mwah, hah, hah! Did ya see Dekao – sama's true power? I'll beat Rock Man with it and become Meiru – chan's hero!"
"I doubt it, really…" Omega muttered.
He warped out of the Cyber World and inside of Vadous' PET with a shrug of his shoulders: Netto managed to sit up and brought the right hand to his torso as if trying to test it out.
"Yeah… I feel better… I guess the pain was forcibly stimulated but maybe the chip implant came up with defenses…"
"Same over here…"
"Well. That's good to see. Guess we need to freshen up our battle techniques and improve them. We'll have to go for some intense VR simulator sessions…" Vadous muttered with a sigh.
"No wonder… And I need to work out in the gym too…" Charles sighed and rolled his eyes.
"We've been too neglectful and that almost led to tragedy." Omega grumbled as if scolding the whole group.
"Yoru Yami… So you want to be our enemy…" Netto muttered.
"But… We'll defeat you in the name of duty… As "Net Saviors"…!"
Come out and be defeated by our united power, you villain! We won't lose!