Chapter 9: Bitter realization

10:22 AM (Japan Time), Sunday December the 20th …

"… Good morning!"

"Oh. Welcome. What can I help you with?"

"Actually… It's about me."

"Do have a seat."

Netto, Saito and Nelaus stepped into the Electronics Lab to be greeted by Dr. Lartes: Nelaus sighed and Dr. Lartes signaled a group of foldable plastic chairs: they sat down.

"Lately… I seem to be acting out of a sudden subconscious impulse and I tend to space out from time to time as if reacting to some words… I thought I had the flu, but Isaac reminded me that my internal nanomachines would prevent me from that… I've been wondering if something else might be wrong with me and I thought you were the only one who could look into it." Nelaus explained.

"Hmmm… I feared as much." Dr. Lartes looked serious.

"Huh? Excuse me?" Nelaus frowned.

"Back when you decided to break ties with Maria and Twilight and become a free person… I took a sample of your DNA and genome just in case. I looked at it and found out several bitter facts. I didn't tell you anything back then because I didn't want to fret you."

"Then… Is something wrong with my DNA and genome, you mean to say, Dr. Lartes?" Nelaus assumed.

"It's not exactly "wrong" per se… It's just that some parts of it have been altered to suit Maria's ambitions…" Dr. Lartes replied.

"Could you explain me more, please?"

"It's a rather sad thing, but it's the reality… Some of your chromosomes were intentionally mutated."

"Uh-oh."

"Well. In short: your "puberty" was cancelled, you're impotent and sterile." Dr. Lartes closed his eyes and listed these facts.

"I suspected so." Saito admitted.

"Whoa! You did?" Netto was surprised.

"The moment Aura – chan invited him to a date and he gave us such a weird reply… I knew something was wrong with him. That's not the way you reply if you're so lucky."

"There's also something else… Maria had programmed several things in your subconscious with the help of that chip implant… And it must've been triggered recently. That's why you have been spacing out."

"Then…? Could it be…? When I met up with Aura – chan yesterday, I automatically called her "fancy" when she wasn't sporting any weird clothing or anything like that. Also… I happened to cross paths with Yuriko, who told me she was glad that her sister wasn't thinking of her as either a "weirdo" or a "freak"… That's when I began to space out more often, I remember." Nelaus related.

"Correct. Maria programmed some kind of "rejection" on you to feel no interest towards any girl and try to drive them away with those programmed automatic responses… Also… You reacted to Yuriko's words because Maria wanted you to think of your own as a weird person and so try to make close upon yourself and believe you'd always be alone in the world and that you'd had to handle on your own along with Isaac as your only partner." Dr. Lartes cleared up.

"Then… Something like that was also programmed into me? I've been acting in a similar manner, too." Isaac brought up.

"Well. Back then… We requested of you to pass a scan so that we could prepare a backup… So I looked up your personality data and found the same thing on you."

"I see."

"That damned "Palace" place… It was an S&M dungeon, yeah, but it overcame any club out there… It was more like a prison… And they constantly abused of their victims there, no?"

"Huff. A prison it sure was… The "East Detention Block" which you visited was reserved to males. The "West Detention Block", on the other hand, was reserved for girls. East had pair numbers while West had odd numbers… Those ID bracelets included a system which electrocuted the holder if they tried to exit the cell without authorization… And the uniforms were to reinforce the idea that everyone locked inside of that place were her prisoners to be abused of in unspeakable manners… The only difference between them was just the symbol engraved on it. It was an endless Hell." Dr. Lartes explained with obvious anger.

"I suspected as much. That must've been the purpose of the whole place to begin with… Apart from being a lab orbiting in HEO…" Saito nodded with a look of anger on his face.

"A least Vadous – san blew it up roughly a year and a half ago after we'd all exited it… To erase that ghost of the past…"

"I remember that I was supposed to fly directly there once I awoke from cold sleep, but that the plan was changed just two days before to go to Deadly Pandora HQ instead. However… I'm sure my plane couldn't go beyond the atmosphere." Nelaus brought up.

"No. But the "Palace" was design to land down on the surface as well. That's how Kuroshiro found it. They simply would have landed, waited for you to come, and then take off towards HEO again." Dr. Lartes cleared up.

"Say… They told me that what they did was some kind of "business" although they admitted the kidnappings some days after I got there… They justified them saying their victims were part of genetic research which could overcome AIDS and cancer… It was all a bunch of lies, wasn't it?"

"… "Business"? I've never heard a bigger lie on my life! It's true that they conducted genetic research… Everyone onboard of the "Palace" was sterilized via a small genome modification, but all those victims were not there for that sake!"

"Oh come on. What a blatant lie." Netto fumed.

"You guys said it: that was just a mobile illegal club in which people were abused of day and night until they broke down!" Dr. Lartes had actually stood up and began to pace around the chair.

"What a sick woman." Isaac made a grimace.

"Sick she sure was. And Marco was no more than a puppet. He was that kind of person who didn't care for the morale of anything and was just content with being given orders to follow. Although the grunts used to image them having a relationship, it was just master and servant. Marco merely appeared in public and relayed orders while Maria was the "ice queen" pulling the string behind the scenes… Hence Twilight's "IQ – sama" title…" Dr. Lartes had sat down and kept on looking in a bad mood.

"So… Upon realizing the monster she really was, Vadous – san and the others including Kanou Shade decided to dethrone her?" Netto assumed.

"Yeah. We began to plot it more or less after the fall of Gospel, roughly four years ago. By the time of your first encounter with Desert Man and when Enzan – kun managed to perform Cross Fusion on March, 2005, we'd already brought her down and had her sentenced for her crimes. In the midst of the re-organizing alliances, budget, assets and materiel, the Crisis popped out… We were monitoring it but we were as leadless as the Net Police was. And you know Omega was close to catching Forte but in the end he slipped away by mere inches."

"Hmmm. At least that woman won't get out of jail anymore."

"… Sorry for my outbursts… It wasn't nice recalling all of that."

"Obviously…" Netto sighed.

"… Hum… Eh… Dr. Lartes… Would it be possible to fix those alterations to my DNA and genome?" Nelaus slowly asked.

"Of course it'd be possible. We have all the equipment here. We can do it immediately if you want to." Dr. Lartes replied.

"Really?" Nelaus sounded quite surprised.

"I'm serious. It'd be a walk into the park. However… You must take into account that those "repairs" might take a while to take effect. It's up to the body itself to set the pace." Dr. Lartes told him.

"Then, I'd like for everything to be fixed… Expect for my sterilization. I would rather prefer to remain sterile for the time being… As a safety measure…" Nelaus slowly replied.

"We're gonna go and play a VR mission with Trill. It's been a while since last time." Netto announced.

"Good luck, Nelaus and Isaac." Saito told them.

"Uh… Thanks."

"Don't worry: this isn't like surgery. It's a less intrusive method. If you'd follow me… We're going to the genetics lab close by."

Nelaus nodded and followed Dr. Lartes out of the electronic labs and towards the left while the twins walked towards the right: they soon found a room labeled "GUEST ROOM #7" so Netto knocked on it.

"Come in!" A girl's voice replied.

They entered into the room, which contained a large sofa set against the left wall, a small wooden rectangular table in front of it and an LCD TV which hung from the right wall.

Two doors were set on the north: one was closed while the other revealed a bedroom with two beds.

Iris was sitting in the sofa and had been reading a magazine but she closed it and stood up to greet them.

"Good morning, Iris!" Both greeted.

"Oh. Hikari – kun and Saito – kun… Welcome. It's been a while."

"Is Trill around here?" Saito asked.

"He went to the dining hall to speak with Dragon – san again… He never tires of his Choina tales and his Confucius lessons."

"Wow. Trill sure must have a lot of patience to bear with Dragon – san's kilometric speech." Netto let out a whistle of surprise.

"Yippe~!" A child-like voice could be heard coming close.

The door opened and Trill ran inside.

"Hullo, Trill!" Both twins greeted.

"Oh! Netto and Saito came to see Trill! Trill is very happy!" Trill smiled and looked eager.

"Heh, heh! Say… Wanna come and play "dodge Mister security guard" with us?" Netto invited.

"Yippe~! Let's play, let's play!" Trill jumped up and down.

"We'll be borrowing him for a while if you don't mind, Iris." Saito announced.

"I don't mind. Please go ahead." Iris smiled.

"We'll back in a while!"

Both Netto and Saito departed the guest room along with Trill and entered one of the VR Rooms: Saito sat down on a chair and transferred his consciousness into Netto's Link PET.

"Okay! Dimensional Area: Power On!"

The usual "Dimensional Area" filled the whole of the room.

"Synchro Chip, Slot In! CROSS FUSION!"

The usual blue bubble of energy formed and "CF" Netto emerged from it: he stretched.

"Are you ready, Trill?" "CF" Netto asked him.

"Trill is always ready!"

Both of them went through the cybernetic "portal" and emerged into a bare-concrete-built corridor: "CF" Netto activated the mouth guard and peered into the corridor.

"It's time for some solid scouting."

"Jeez. It's a pun on that Solid Snake guy."

"Tee, heh, heh!" Trill giggled.

He could see four or five commando men with AN – 94s and grenades chatting amongst them.

"Hmmm… Trill. Let's go for the "literature" strategy." "CF" Netto crouched and told him in a hushed tone.

Trill blinked him an eye and produced a gaming magazine: "CF" Netto picked it and made one or two edits to it before throwing it towards the guards, shrugging.

"Huh? Where did this come from?" One wondered.

"Military Post Service!" "CF" Netto put up a dry and dull voice.

"Ah! Okay!" Another could be heard saying.

"CF" Netto began to make footsteps sounds to make it look like he was walking away: he kept on leaning his back against the wall of the corridor and paid attention to the commandos' conversations: Trill did that as well.

"Hey! Look at this: "New cheat codes discovered for World of Warcraft"!"

"Seriously?" A second one sounded surprised.

"I'm into this game and I'm totally stuck 'cause I get beaten by other online players! Some cheat codes would ensure me a string of easy victories!" A third one was saying.

"The same thing is happening to me!" A fourth added.

"Hey… Who's the receiver of this thing?" A fifth asked.

"Huh… The tag is blank…" The first commando replied.

"Then hand it over! You're not into this game, even!" One of the commandos announced.

"I'm into this game, you know!" Another protested.

"I'm into it, too!" A third added.

"Everyone is: you megalomaniac! So sod off! This is stuff for veterans and not newbies!" A fourth accused.

"What did you call me?" The first one growled.

"Ugly!" A fifth one added.

"Why, you guys…!" The first one cursed.

"Hand it over!" One ordered.

"It's mine!" Another proclaimed.

"Mine!" A third proclaimed next.

"You bunch of jerks!" The first one cursed.

Soon enough, the sound of punches, kicks and fighting could be heard close by: a cloud of dust had formed around the five men, who were fighting over the magazine and letting out curses: "CF" Netto and Trill used the chance to slip by unnoticed.

Your precious "literature" strategy sure worked off, Netto – kun…

I told ya it would, Saito – niisan. Netto replied.

"T-this MORON!"

"T-this GAMER!"

"T-this GAMBLER!"

"T-this GEEK!"

"T-this JERK!"

"T-this IDIOT!"

"T-this FOOL!"

"Yay! Dragon – san's prophecy was right!"

"What prophecy?"

"… "Those who must protect the flesh and soul of the Noble Ones have a fighting nature which shall lead them to civil war… Stir them up and they shall fight over their vanity." … Yay!" Trill quoted.

"Whoa. He was right." "CF" Netto whistled in surprise.

"I smell Sigma's hands behind that myself." Rock Man muttered with a hint of suspicion.

"No wonder."

"Yay! Let's go up the stairs!"

"OK! Wait for me, Trill – chan!"

"Jeez. Netto – kun. Let's not begin another Nickname War!"

"Don't worry! It's just the Nickname Race!"

"Loopholes… Huff."

"Yay!"

"Behave already and…! Hey! I want these cheats!"

"Wha~t? Private Robson! You rascal!" The other soldiers grumbled.

"Yikes! Oh! Look! Queen Amidala!"

"WHOA! WHERE?"

"Hey! Robson's running!"

"Get 'im, get 'im!"

"Yay!"

"Too bad: that's what you get for eating so many midnight snacks! You're FATTY! Laugh and grow fat!" Robson taunted.

"WHY, YOU~!" The others growled.

"Sheesh. Sigma's overdone it this time around." Saito sighed.

"Heh, heh! On the contrary! This is but a small demo! Let's go!"

10:44 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Sorry for the bother but the ones in the Electronic Lab are under maintenance so we had to come here… I've got a spare of the necessary equipment…"

"I don't mind, sir."

Nelaus entered the genetics lab along with Dr. Lartes.

The room had an overall cubical shape and various diagrams were attached to the walls.

There were three cylindrical capsules which were lying on the ground near the east wall colored gray and brown.

These capsules (like the ones in the Electronic Lab) had one small glass window near the north end which allowed one to monitor the insides of it.

They were all connected via wires and pipes to a kind of deposit which occupied half of the east walls.

Each of the capsules had a control panel placed in front of them.

"Wow." Both Nelaus and Isaac whistled in surprise.

The north wall contained a built-in desktop which contained several loose documents on top of it: some pencils and pens were scattered atop it along with a statuette of the Eiffel Tower.

There was a big cupboard built into the west wall and, to right of it, there was a metallic door with the "W. C." tag on it.

"That's Kir Osh's stuff… I've told him to store it on his room's drawers, but he always forgets…" Dr. Lartes grumbled upon examining the handwriting in the loose documents.

"Mr. Kir Osh is the second "disciple" of Mr. Vadous, right? I heard he was a car mechanic… Is he French, by any chance?" Nelaus inquired.

"No. He's Japanese but he was once in Paris and brought this over as a souvenir."

"These capsules remind me of the one I was "sleeping" in for five years, there, on Antarctica…" Nelaus commented.

"Yeah. They're based off Maria's own designs. Now…"

Dr. Lartes opened the cupboard with a key he had on his pants' right pocket and took out what looked like a diver's bodysuit colored black and with two red stripes running down the sides of it.

Instead of ending at the ankles, it covered the feet as well.

"You'll feel better if you put this on when you enter the capsule in which I'm going to make the genetic "repairs". This fluid will help your body enter hibernation and that's when it's safer to instruct the nanomachines to do the repairs." Dr. Lartes explained.

Nelaus nodded and walked into the adjacent toilet, closing the door behind him.

"OK. Let's set this up."

While Nelaus changed, Dr. Lartes opened one of the capsules and picked an oxygen mask.

He checked its integrity and the oxygen intake system to make sure it was working like it had to work like.

He also checked the pipes and intake/exit valves.

"Everything is green… Before I forget…"

Dr. Lartes checked the cupboard and picked a set of diver's goggles from a shelf.

"All's set now."

Nelaus came out of the toilet, having changed into the special suit: he left the Link PET on top of the desk before Dr. Lartes helped him climb into the capsule and make him lie on it on face-up position.

"We're going to test the oxygen intake first."

Dr. Lartes secured the oxygen mask and turned it on.

"Can you breathe normally? Do you feel normal?" Dr. Lartes checked.

Nelaus nodded in affirmation.

"Good. Here! Put these on."

Dr. Lartes handed him the diver's plastic goggles and adjusted them to make sure no liquid would come in: he checked the oxygen mask again to make sure it was working properly.

"Excellent. I'm going to seal it up. Relax and remember: this is not a coffin." Dr. Lartes joked.

Nelaus let out a small chuckle as Dr. Lartes closed the lid and sealed it: Nelaus looked out through the glass hatch and saw Dr. Lartes' face looking at him.

"I'm going to start filling up now. Before you're completely submerged, you'll already be in cold sleep. Sleep well."

Nelaus closed his eyes and felt nothing as the two rectangular hatches on his sides opened and a greenish transparent fluid began to emerge: his breathing and heartbeat began to reduce and his brain activity decreased to a minimum.

"Everything reads green. I'm going to begin the repairs. You can watch but please don't touch anything, Isaac."

"Please, Doc. I'm supposed to have a mental age of sixteen. I'm mature enough to know this." Isaac smiled.

"Sorry. Having Trill peeking in from time to time has gotten me used to saying this." Dr. Lartes let out a small chuckle.

He began to type into a laptop he'd taken out of a drawer: Various screens and diagrams showing a DNA string and genome coding appeared.

"By the way, Doc… A quick question… Twilight and the other two also…?"

"I fixed Boss' flaws but I dunno if K. S. fixed his. Twilight sure didn't."

"I thought as much… Well. Continue with the job. I'll look on."

10:52 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Who goes there?"

"… There is a package for you, sir."

"Come in, then."

"CF" Netto, disguised as a lieutenant, came in.

He'd edited his mouth guard to make it look like it was a mask for the cold.

He carried a square box on his hands.

There was a desk set on the other end of it and a man with the "Lieutenant Colonel" rank was sitting on a chair behind it.

"Who has sent this?" The lieutenant colonel asked.

"The post office says the sender is named Aunt Regula."

"Aunt Regula…? Hmmm… And it's explicitly addressed to me?"

"Yes, sir: there is no doubt about it."

"… I'll check it out. You're dismissed."

"Yes, sir!"

"CF" Netto deposited the package and exited the room: he closed the door, which had a camera lens built into it: he then walked towards the left and waited.

"YEA~RGH!" A loud cry of fear came out from inside the room.

CRASH!

"CF" Netto took out an ice pick and stabbed it at the camera lens: he ran past it and headed towards an empty room containing a black ragged flag with the word "GOAL" drawn into it using purple letters.

"It looks like the Mister didn't like Trill's "Devil Box" present!" Trill giggled.

"He sure didn't. He's a mean mister." "CF" Netto chuckled under his breath as well.

Both he and Trill grabbed the flagpole: some purple 3-D letters came out of nowhere and formed in the air.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Both "CF" Netto and Trill passed through the "portal" on their way out: they landed inside of the VR Room and the "Dimensional Area" powered down along with the matrix before a holographic screen popped out, displaying the results:

VR SIMULATORS SYSTEM

MODE: SNEAKING

DIFFICULTY SETTING: HARD

TIME: 05: 33

RANK: A

USERS: H. NETTO, ROCK MAN EXE & TRILL

HAVE A NICE DAY!

Netto aimed his Link PET at Saito's body to transfer him back there: Saito woke up, yawned, and stretched.

"What did you think of it, Trill?" Netto asked him.

"It was very fun! Trill had lots of fun!" Trill told them.

"That's a good thing."

"Trill will go to oneechan's room! See you around!"

"Good-bye!"

Trill ran out like an express while Netto and Saito smiled.

"Hey! Let's go check if Nelaus' operation is over."

"Yeah. Let's head over there."

They departed the VR Room and headed towards the genetics lab: they knocked on the door.

"Dr. Lartes? May we come in?" Netto requested.

"Sure! Come in!"

Both boys entered and looked around: Saito immediately looked at the set of capsules.

"I remember! This is where you revealed the "cyborg body" you had designed for me on the summer of the year 2005!" Saito commented.

"Yeah. I still remember you coming out of there like you were Frankenstein." Netto grinned.

"How is the operation going like, Doctor?"

"It's done with. I'm now making sure the nanomachines reallocate to the designed spots. Then I'm going to drain the hibernation fluid and vent out heat using normal water. I'll slowly reanimate him and bring him out of the capsule." Dr. Lartes explained.

The presents soon heard the sound of water being drained and going down a pipe: some steam came out from some small holes on the sides and was soon dispersed by the ceiling's air conditioner system.

"OK."

Dr. Lartes walked towards the capsule and unsealed it: he removed Nelaus' oxygen mask and diver's goggles before he helped him stand up and come out of the capsule: he then sat him down on a chair.

"Excuse me for a sec."

Dr. Lartes opened the cupboard and took out a hair dryer: he plugged it to a plug nearby and turned it on: he began to dry Nelaus' bodysuit and the small dips of the fluid which had remained on his body.

"Now I'm going to give him an adrenaline injection to help him regain his usual strength." Dr. Lartes announced.

He opened a case and took out a syringe missing its needle: he picked one small sealed package next and ripped it open to pick the needle: he grabbed a small sealed pot with the label "ADRENALINE" on its body.

"Good."

He filled the syringe with it until it reached half of the maximum volume: his next action was to walk towards Nelaus: he unbuttoned the part of the bodysuit spanning all the way from the elbow to the hand.

"There."

He injected the adrenaline slowly and put up a band-aid in the spot: he removed the needle and tossed it away before entering the toilet and cleansing the rest of the syringe.

"Hum… Is the operation… over…?" Nelaus began to mutter.

He yawned and stretched around while he rubbed his eyes and blinked several times.

"It's done. As I told you before, it's up to the body how you will take in these changes. Don't expect them to show up in a rush." Dr. Lartes told him.

"Good… I'm going to change back."

Nelaus walked towards the restroom and shut the door: he came out two minutes later, having dressed again with his usual clothing: he handed the bodysuit the Dr. Lartes, who stored it back on the cupboard.

"Let's go back, guys." Nelaus told them.

"We better go see if Bert Saxby left a message for us." Isaac grinned and sounded amused.

"Thank you for everything, Dr. Lartes." Nelaus politely bowed.

"There was no need for it. I was glad to be of help." Dr. Lartes smiled and sounded relieved.

"That reminds me of the "GENE" theme MGS1 had…" Isaac muttered.

"Maybe you'd preferred to battle Gene of the Fox Unit?" Nelaus grinned and improvised a joke.

"Jeez. That guy was scary, alright. Let's go back already."

01:14 AM (Iceland Time)…

"… So... Your friend Messier Brown has told you that the money of the previous head of the FOD was transferred to a "Private Navi Research Institution" which went bankrupt three months ago, on September..."

"That's exactly it."

Dr. Spimer was conversing in French with someone via the phone while sitting on his armchair.

"Who was the head of it and where was it?" Dr. Spimer asked.

"The head was called Jacques Taufex and was located at Marseille. He vanished afterwards. It's safe to assume he's the head of the FOD… Or, rather, the scapegoat Twilight set up." The caller replied.

"Thank you for your call, Messier Le Count."

"Oui, it was nothing, Messier le Doctor. Au revoir."

"Au revoir."

Dr. Spimer placed the phone back on its receiver and sighed.

"All that's left is to stop Duo before he can do something deadly. Messier Vadous will take care of it." He muttered aloud.

He took out his glasses, cleansed them with the swipe towel, and put them on again before he opened a laptop set on the top of the desk and began to work with it.

"Twilight sure bothered to do something complicated… Why bother to set up a scapegoat when we already know he's the guy in charge? The Net Police know that. Who was he expecting to fool, anyway?"

"This is Colonel Morgan… We repelled Zoan Gate Man who'd tried to breach into Sector 1 of the Cyber World!" The interphone buzzed.

"Speaking of the devil… What a forban. Reinforce security!"

"Roger, Dr. Spimer. They won't catch us with the pants down and that's a good ol' Texan speakin'! We're going to teach them a lesson yet!"

12:33 PM (Melbourne Time)…

"… I got repelled trying to break into Sector 1… I didn't manage to intercept any content this time around… The previous Killer Eyes were found and disposed of…"

"Patience. They must've found about the scapegoat."

"Why bother to place a scapegoat when everyone knows you're the one behind them, Master?"

"It wasn't MY idea. The guys who hired "G", my contact, had set up everything, including the previous boss' death, before they ran into trouble with the Navi programming and wanted me to give them a hand on it… Else it'd made sense."

Zoan Gate Man was reporting to Twilight in the Melbourne house while Philip calmly sat to his right: he looked puzzled and Twilight sighed to explain as if he was somewhat annoyed with the deal.

"Oh? Is that so, Master?"

"Yeah. "G" works in a company. This company got hired by "them". They ran into trouble: "G" spoke about me and knew how to approach me through IQ – sama. And IQ – sama got amused and ordered me to get involved so that's what I'm doing. But the scapegoat deal was already arranged for in September." He explained to Philip.

"Ah! I understand now. So the "Heptagon Scheme" began somewhere else and then Master got involved."

"Yeah. And the scapegoat guy isn't to blame for anything: that's why he's the scapegoat. Those guys didn't realize the consequences of my involvement at this stage. But it couldn't be helped. But I can't blame "G" because he was unsure if my involvement would be beneficial or not and after checking it with his Boss then he agreed on it. Jeez. If only he'd gotten the idea earlier… The guy's got brains and I don't question that: but then again he got contacted in September about the plot."

"And what does that company and "they" gain from this?"

"Heh. I can't say yet. It'd be a spoiler."

"Oh well. But when the project ends then I'll be able to know, right?"

"Of course, Darth Bapgei, my apprentice…"

"Fine."

"Is your cover intact?"

"Hah. Those morons can't start suspecting me of anything. I simply have to play the meek guy and they totally fall for it."

"Excellent… Fuel their arrogance and blind them!"

"That's what I've been doing, Master."

"If you want to go visit someone of your family to spend Christmas and New Year's with them I don't mind. I'm not ordering you to abandon your blood ties."

"Alright. Then I'll go to my uncle's ranch."

"Good. I'll provide you a contact method but only use if something urgent were to happen. I'll give you a PET and Zoan Gate Man there will provide copies of the reports. Get it, Zoan Gate Man?"

"Roger, Twilight – sama. No big deal."

"Run some maintenance on the RAY. I want it to work top-notch: maybe one day I'll use it to level the prison's outer walls and bring IQ – sama and Mr. Secretary out of that foul place… Mr. Opoulos would do fine too and we could shake the world's foundations by proving there's no safe prison anymore. Heh, heh, heh." Twilight chuckled.

"Amusing." Philip sneered too.

"And I that things will soon speed up towards the climax…"

"Heh, heh, heh… Heh, heh, heh…" The six subordinates chuckled.

"Heh. Heptagon Scheme is gonna be a great success: I can guess that."

"Obviously. And then… The real deal will begin. Heh, heh, heh…"