Chapter 10: Hybrid

11:06 AM (Japan Time), Wednesday March the 16th…

"… Are you alright, Tsukasa – kun? You look like you're going to fall asleep at any minute now."

"Huh…? Ah! T-thank you, Gino – kun… I just need to watch my face… Be right back…"

"… I think I'll better go check."

"Please do so, Subaru – kun. I think he's barely sleeping as of late."

"Yeah. Leave it to me."

Kiboyama called out to Tsukasa after a lesson ended: he looked sleepy and about to fall asleep: he formed a bitter smile and then sluggishly stood up to head to the restroom: Kiboyama whispered to Subaru, who nodded in agreement.

Tsukasa – kun is the one out of us three that spent most time unconscious at the hospital. Gino – kun seems to have more or less coped with what's happened but I'm worried about Tsukasa – kun. Can't be helped. It must've been horrible to him taking into account his past experiences.

Subaru silently came out of the classroom and headed into the men's toilet: he opened the door a bit and found Tsukasa washing his face with the faucet's water: he then looked up at the mirror and formed a grimace and he closed both fists and hit the sink's ceramic desk with them.

"I'll kill them. Kill them! And I'll be free…!" He hissed.

"No, you won't. Tsukasa – kun." Subaru stepped in.

"Huh? What. It's you. Did you follow me?" Tsukasa wasn't precisely glad to see him.

"Yeah. I was concerned."

"Hmpf. No need to!"

"Now, Tsukasa – kun… Being offended won't make you stronger or solve your problems."

"Then leave me alone. Why bother to stick around with someone so miserable and useless?"

"You're neither of those."

"Yeah, I am! Come to laugh me, right?"

"Wrong. You're not being rational."

"The hell with that!"

"Revenge is a delusion. Do you want to hear to several witness accounts of people who killed others in the name of revenge and then ended up being more miserable than they already were?" Subaru sighed.

"And what if I turn more miserable? Like I care."

"So you want to be the same as them?"

"Eh? N-no, I didn't say that."

"Yes, you did. You'll become someone who depends on hatred and anger, like them. You'll become what you wanted to deny."

"N-no! I'll become free!"

"You won't. That's an illusion, too. Free of what? Of nightmares? Doubtful. Do you have any scientific evidence proving that?"

"… Shit." He grumbled.

"I understand that you're in pain. And that you feel tempted to do something to get rid of it. But that's exactly what that guy was aiming to: turning you into someone like them."

"But I'll be stronger than them!"

"So you're admitting that you want to become someone like them. Those two were but programs that tried to imitate us humans but lacked major emotions like "kindness". They denied "bonds". They thought they were an incarnation of the hatred in the world but they were mere defective experiments."

Tsukasa remained silent and avoided making eye contact with Subaru: he still didn't look totally convinced or more like he was begrudgingly coming to terms with Subaru's advice.

"You're who you are. You needn't imitate others. I don't mind if you feel like you need to cry or you feel those memories haunting you. No – one's perfect. I have them, too. I've also felt the temptation you're feeling."

"…Really?"

"Really. Right after what happened with Virus Daemon… I did feel the temptation. It was very strong. But thanks to Master I realized that it was pointless."

"… So… You don't think I'm a whelp?"

"Of course not! Tsukasa – kun! Don't get the wrong idea about yourself. You're my friend. No matter what happens."

"… Thank you." He let out a sigh of relief and his eyes watered.

"See? I knew that you needed some advice. Sorry for listening in but I was worried, too." Kiboyama walked in.

"Thank you, guys… It's just that…"

"We know. But if we let rage get a hold of us then our efforts to resist will have been in vain."

"Oops. It's already 11:22 AM! Let's rush downwards, have the breakfast, and get back."

"Alright."

"B-B-B-Bertie~! I'm the king of trolls!" Omega's voice rang out from Subaru's Hunter – VG.

"Guess Boss told him to shake off some tension… It'd seem they've earnt no new clues ever since Saturday."

"Did you know, guys? April's Fool is only about half a month away!"

"Oh, true. Wonder what they'll pull off this year." Tsukasa wondered.

"Something crazy, as usual."

"Such as… Acid Ace became Acid Lover?" Omega laughed.

"Oh come on. That's taking it too far, no?" Kiboyama laughed at Omega's joke.

"Feels like an "acid" romance comedy title." Subaru grinned.

"Sure. Ah, yeah. Utagai – san is training to start his new version of the Swan Lake and will hire Ushijima to act the role of the villain's big and slow-witted henchman. Yessir."

"Omega. Don't overdo it, either." Vadous sighed.

"Oho. Shachou showed up. Did you find the dragon-shaped cookie Dragon readied for ya?"

"No. And somehow I think he didn't. Cut the call since it's about time for them to resume the lessons."

"OK. I'm going to visit Nangoku since he seems to be in a foul mood as of late, maybe he needs some humor. Bye!"

The group had already come down to the yard and they ate their breakfasts: Gonta was talking something with Kizamaro and Jack while Luna was going over the Physics textbook: the trees had begun to regain their leaves and the colors of spring radiated from their leaves.

"Hey. Kids. Did you see the rat?" Ogami Juurou asked as he carried his gardener's scissors on the right hand.

"Huh? No, sir. When was that, sir?" Subaru asked.

"About 5-10 minutes ago. I was doing some work in the rooftop vegetables when I saw it trying to eat up a carrot. I'm trying to locate it and get rid of it just in case. We don't any of them carrying diseases around." He explained.

"I see. But we haven't seen it, sir."

"Thanks. Guess I'll eventually find it." He grumbled.

Ogami left and the group began to climb back up into the building: they sat on their desks and readied the materials for the next lesson: the electronic board's screen suddenly frizzled and was filled with static for a few seconds: it fixed and the old man who called himself "Sepia" appeared onscreen.

"Heh, heh, heh. Foolish youth. Your struggles are in vain. We are all doomed for, anyway." He chuckled.

"How rude of you!" Luna got annoyed.

"The fire of youth, is it? Pointless. Truly. Parents nowadays! They slack off their duties. No wonder the world's heading to its untimely end as we speak. Heh, heh, heh. We'll go down with a bang. And your politicians will have wasted the chance to save you in exchange for money!"

"What's this?" A teacher came in, surprised.

"Here comes a fool. Listen up! You've got less than 24 hours to die. You've been a fool for too long. Use them wisely! The Fool Killer will be coming, make no mistake of it!"

"WHAT? I'm reporting you to the police!"

"Hmpf! Struggle as much as you want, you immature fools! Your headstones will cover the continents!"

The old man crackled and then footage disappeared: everyone fumed, grumbled or were annoyed.

"I better call the Satella Police. This is hacking! I hope it wasn't an attempt to steal pupils' or teachers' data! Wait here, students. I'll go make the call and then we'll start the lesson."

"Yes, sir." Everyone acknowledged.

The teacher ran off while the group sighed: Subaru frowned and brought the right hand to his chin.

Something tells me that this old man is an illusion and the real culprit isn't old at all. They must want to make us focus on this appearance and impede us from thinking of other candidates. The culprit could be a woman posing as a man, even. Anaya did spread rumors to make it look like she was a woman so that the underground wouldn't question if she was fit to rule them… And maybe this culprit is using the name of the "Secret Empire" but in truth he or she are wholly unrelated and it's yet another illusion, another dead end. What's their game, anyway?

"…bring them with the power of my charisma and…!" Luna had climbed to the teacher's stand and was making a speech.

"Ahem, ahem. Shirogane – san. You're still in the midst of a class even if I wasn't present." The teacher came back in.

"Yikes! I'm deeply sorry, sir! It's just that… I thought I needed to prove that that footage hadn't been able to bring down our morale."

"That's not a bad idea but I'd prefer if you asked for permission. Please sit down. We're going to start the lesson."

Oh well. Let's focus on the lesson. That other stuff can wait.

12:47 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Nothing new, Cepheus?"

"Nothing. I've had Viruses scan the place but apart from the secret exit I'd already told you about we found nothing new. Did Omega find anything on his files?"

"Turns out that some of them had been stolen by the same culprit who altered Lartes' PC. They apparently impersonated Omega and knew the passwords so the system didn't detect them as a threat."

"Hum. Who could it be?"

"Dunno… We investigated Kodama Middle, too, but found zero traces of any forceful intrusion. It'd seem the culprit planted something there beforehand."

"I see. What about Hyde and his man?"

"They aren't in Austria. And they haven't been spotted anywhere else as of yet so maybe they picked somewhere remote."

Akatsuki was speaking with Cepheus over the Hunter-VG as he went over several files he had piled up on his Satella Police HQ work desk: he looked tired and annoyed while Cepheus wasn't too surprised.

"We spread a rumor that those two self-destructed so that should reduce the risk of Hyde breaking them outta the brig."

"Good idea."

There was a sudden tremor and everyone stopped what they were doing, surprised, to look around.

"Some kind of laser has attacked the building's 35th floor outer wall! But the enemy is invisible!" An announcement rang out.

"Speaking of the devil, they finally decided to show up! Took them long enough, man. Acid! Let's go assess what we're dealing with." Akatsuki muttered.

"Roger."

"Don't take the enemy lightly." Cepheus warned.

"I know. Denpa – Henkan! Akatsuki Shidou, On Air!"

He transformed into Acid Ace and warped outside the building: at first sight there was no trace of the attacker but if one focused their sight they could see a silhouette against the gray background of the building.

"Camouflage system, huh… It merges with surrounding colors and makes it hard to spot with the naked eye and IR as well."

"Indeed."

"So you finally showed up! My disgraced son!" A familiar voice boomed out of nowhere.

"Your voice rings a bell." Acid Ace muttered.

"Enough hiding! Taste the despair! Hah!"

"HUH? Y-you're…! Sirius?"

The attacker turned out to be Sirius, the Denpa Body who'd controlled the Black Hole Server: his appearance remained the same yet something about him felt off place nevertheless.

"Your voice… Was it like this before?"

"Hah! Catching up, eh? About time! And to think I gave you some days to see if you'd assemble the pieces together…! But looks like you didn't! My disgraced son!"

"The only guy I know who'd call me "son" is… You… King!"

"Exactly! Now I am King Sirius! This body is my new vessel! I've been reborn into something greater! All thanks to that old man! I owe him one but when I get all of his knowledge I'll dispose of him! Hah!" King's voice rang out from Sirius' mouth.

"Bah. No big deal. You're merely remotely controlling Sirius' body through a powerful radio signal. It's a mere puppet. You're as lame as usual, King. You're a pitiful man who won't come to terms with reality. It's about time I settled the score with you as well." Acid Ace scoffed.

"Hmpf! Fine! I'll get rid of your loathsome existence while I'm at it! And with this new vessel I shall be invicible! I control the darkness of the Universe!"

"The Black Hole Server is but a spheroid with a hologram around it."

"Grrr!"

"It doesn't have dark matter or dark energy. It's only a name. And Sirius was lying about sucking off whole planets. What he did steal was their magnetic energy to power up his own spheroid. Subaru proved he wasn't that much of a deal by beating him years ago. Not even Mu Metal helped the guy avoid defeat." Acid Ace lectured.

"Grrrr! I'll tear you to pieces! Die! Satellite Laser!"

Sirius' wings jumped away and became the four "satellites" he controlled: they loaded up energy and began to fire the multi-colored thick laser at Acid Ace while erasing anything on its path: Acid Ace shot a Giza Wheel Battle Card at Sirius' forehead and it momentarily stunned the enemy: Acid Ace used his thrusters to jump upwards and above the enemy to land behind him and stab him with the sword yet it was met with an invisible barrier protecting the body.

"Hah! Fool! I foresaw that!"

"No, you didn't. That old man did."

"Grrr! I'd like to know what their game is, too! But first things firsts! I'll get rid of you bastards!" King growled.

"Their control signal is very powerfully encrypted. I cannot trace it back to the origin but it seems to use invisible "wormholes" to skip distances and be able to reach this body wherever it is at."

"That old man sure has knowledge about this stuff, man. I really want to figure out who's that guy's true identity." Acid Ace sighed.

"This isn't the only thing I can do! I can summon your antithesis as well! Be destroyed by yourself! Mwah, hah, hah."

A carbon copy of Acid Ace suddenly formed there: the eyes glowed with a red glow and a purple "aura" surrounded it: the carbon copy suddenly dashed towards Acid Ace while leaving a trail of "black paint" behind that went on erasing the Wave Roads.

"Oh shit. Not this stuff again."

"This could be troublesome." Acid drily muttered.

"You mean that we could end up in a tight spot!"

"Maybe."

"Oh come on. Why are you being so vague when it comes to these things? I'd prefer if you were straighter to the point."

"Mwah, hah, hah. Feeling cornered, Akatsuki? You can't run away from me anymore!"

"Shut up and do us a favor."

Acid Ace began to jump as he tried to outrun the "satellites" that began to shoot thick laser beams which went on cutting off and erasing segments of the Wave Roads: Sirius' body hovered in the middle of the air while several more "black" Acid Ace began to form and spread further "black paint" around the area.

"I've had enough! Eat this!"

Acid Ace landed atop the building and drew a Battle Card with Tabuu's face and upper body drawn on it: a copy of Tabuu formed and spread the wings as four circular shockwaves spread from around his body: they wiped out all enemies and Sirius got knocked off the sky to crash into the ground face-up: King grumbled and tried to make the body stand up again which it did in a sluggish manner.

"What the hell was that?"

"Need Not to Know. Ask your precious old man who surely knows and didn't tell you to make you look shameful."

"DAMN IT!" King roared and the sound of him beating his hover-chair's desk rang out.

"Go to Las Vegas and try to take over the casinos there. But stop bringing us further headaches." Acid Ace scoffed.

"FINE! I'll kill that old man first! You got next!"

A "Noise Wave" opened behind Sirius and he quickly hovered inside before it closed: Acid Ace looked with a grim face at how almost all of the Wave Roads had been erased: several Wizards and other programs began to build new ones.

"So that's why the culprit stole Omega's files. To build up pointless intrigue. And it turned out to be LAME. As expected!"

"Indeed."

"Struggle and die! Fools!" The old man suddenly roared from atop the building's antenna mast.

"Speaking of the devil! You! Come down and fight me!"

"Hah! No need to! Rubble will fight rubble!"

"I hate stupid suspense shows. Hah!"

Acid Ace jumped towards the old man but he turned out to be a hologram: the old man cackled.

"It's useless, Holmes! I, Moriarty, control all of the lucrative business in this metropolis! My death will not end it! New men will follow on my footsteps!" He laughed.

"Now he thinks he's Moriarty. Great, just great."

"Grab the knife! Let the kin-strife begin!"

"Sure, sure. You're the one who'll be backstabbed by your own paws sooner or later." Acid Ace fumed.

"I wonder about that. I'm already dead! So they can't kill me again. Hah, hah, hah!"

"Oh come on. This is LAME. It's pathetic. And you're going to tell me that you can't figure out the origin, Acid?"

"I can. It's that small spheroid SE of the hologram."

"Good enough."

Acid Ace quickly caught a small white spheroid some tens of centimeters wide which had some optical lenses in the front and shut it down: he sighed in relief and then jumped down in front of the main entrance.

"Let's analyze this but I'm sure there'll be no clues. Maybe this was remotely operated from close by but the logs have already been erased. Wouldn't surprise me."

"Good work, Akatsuki – kun. Let's get working on it ASAP."

"Roger, Chief. I'm coming up."

I hate these stupid shows. When will it end? SHEESH!

21:45 PM (Mexico Time), Tuesday March the 13th…

"… Ah! But then… The flamenco summoner summoned a flamenco summoner who wasn't a summoner until the summoner said he was a summoner and the summoner became a summoner of the summoner who wasn't a summoner but was a summoner and…!"

"Does he ever tire, man?"

"Nope. Don't ask me why."

"But why is he obsessed with that?"

"Ever since he met that Mexican with the pointlessly endless tongue-twisters he's gotten obsessed with them. Must think it makes him look smart. On the contrary!"

"Kuu, kuu, kuu!"

Shinobi looked on with disbelief as how Hyde paced around a worn-down living room somewhere: it had furniture similar to the one in Japan yet the windows had anti-mosquito nets installed on them: Phantom was sighing, Assassin was laughing and Shinobi was baffled: Hyde was speaking in a rush and trying to do a tongue-twister as many times as he could without getting his tongue stuck.

"Ah! But then… The lair's agents lurked in the 13 of Guy Street! Send the National Guard! They're cornered! They'll be caught in less than 66 seconds! The road awaits them! It's another triumph of the revolution! All thanks to the might General Camparro!"

"Why 66 seconds, anyway?"

"Dunno. Guess the author is obsessed with the devil and must believe it brings bad luck to his enemies."

"And who are the "lair's agents", anyway?"

"Spies sent by Ameroupe. Y'know, the nation north of us."

"And why not say it by name?"

"Insists it brings disgrace to whoever says it aloud. But in truth is that he's a fervent communist who hates what the northern nation stands for so he think he's humiliating them by degrading them to a "lair"…"

"Who was that guy, anyway?"

"The nephew of our employer!"

"That for real? Huff."

"Hyde must also think that this proves we're serious about "integrating" with this nation's culture. He didn't bother back when Virus hired us there in Taiwan, though. Meh. Guess it's the guy's manias."

"Kuu, kuu, kuu! Kaa, kaa, kaa!"

"Stop that stupid cackle already, Assassin! It makes me feel further annoyed!" Shinobi grumbled.

"Omee wee beekee!"

"What was that? That I'm an idiot? Oh, sure! You're one to talk! You can only think in butchering living things like sheep!"

"Oh boy." Phantom sighed.

"Yes, Miss Inés! The lair's agents lurk in the 13 of Lair Street! But fret not! We'll soon take care of them! My best regards, my fair lady! So long, my lady!"

"And that crazy nephew guy pretends he's a "gentleman" and that he can gain the admiration of women, huh? Pathetic."

"Sure. I fail to see the point."

"You're not the only one, man."

"Aha-hah! We caught you! You go to broom the road! 66 kilometers of road in 6 days! And then we send you to lick your masters' shoes back in the lair! Nobody can defeat the Grand Universal Golden Eternal Absolute Blessed Frivolous Beautiful Charming REVOUTION! Led by the Grand Supreme Charismatic Patriotic Revolutionary General… CAMPARRO~! Mwah, hah, hah!"

"It's only been 2-3 days since we got here and he's already like this. This doesn't fare well. At all!" Shinobi grimly muttered.

"Of course it doesn't. We're all heading to a shameful failure. I can see it coming!"

"What do you think of the latest news, though?"

"That old man is a decoy. No doubt about it. A disguise the culprit uses to hide their identity and their game. That "favor" he did to that King guy feels like a crappy collage. That guy's goal is something else but I cannot fathom what it is." Phantom deduced.

"Yeah. Insofar he's the one who told us our skills were sought by this Mexican CEO with powerful buddies in the current government: he wants us to do his dirty job of intimidating and plundering to benefit his conglomerate."

"But he wanted us to leave Japan since the Satella Police guys were about to get serious and catch us… In that aspect he was right, yet… It's only a matter of time before they detect us here."

"Sure thing…"

"So! Who was the rolling of rollers? Hum! Suspicious! Why? You don't know the Patriotic Revolutionary Universal Golden Mexican Revolution passwords! They should've been mailed to all true Mexicans over 66 weeks ago! Then you're a lair's agent! Caught you! It's useless to deny it! My nose tells me you reek of burnt rascal!"

"Sure, sure. Like you can turn "smell" into data. You can't. This guy is really an idiot. And I'm surprised the CEO lets him loose like that. Guess he uses him to give the image he's not serious." Phantom grumbled.

"Obviously! And how do you tell a "true" Mexican apart from a "lair's agent", anyway? They could've been Mexicans who've been outta the country for some time, they've just come back and they didn't get the letter back then."

"Yes, General! By your command, sir! I shall catch those lair's agents and send them to broom the roads! Yes, sir! I, Luis "Scarlet", will make sure of it, sir! Yes, sir! The number two of the United States of Mexico shall not disappoint you, sir!"

"And to top it off he believes he's the second most important man in the nation. Talk about egocentric."

"In truth he'd like to say he's the number one but he's begrudgingly come to accept nobody would take him seriously so he made up this genera guy that, for some reason, will make of him his right-handed agent. Oh, sure. Like it's ever going to happen." Shinobi sighed in defeat.

"Kee, kee, kee! Keeree wee eemeeesheeree!"

"Will you stop altering your words to use only "e" on them instead of using the proper vowels? And I know what you mean to say. "This is fun!"… For you. Not for us."

"Huff. Those Assassins' Clan guys… They could've bothered to come up with a more decent AI, couldn't they?"

"Obviously. Lazy dorks."

"Miss! Connect me to the Revolutionary Forces HQ! It's a matter of life and death! Yes, Miss!"

"And when the guy starts ringing at random and a woman answers he thinks it's the telephonist." Phantom mumbled.

"The guy's an idiot who doesn't know the day of the week or the day of the month to begin with. He's only survived because the CEO rascal has kept him around."

"And Hyde bragging he'd "civilizing" the nation to behave like Austria only to end up behaving like an idiot. When you say you'll do something it's often bound to end up in a failure."

"My Shakespeare soul guides me to supremacy! Our employer will be satisfied and our reward shall increase!" Hyde laughed.

"Like it would." Both muttered.

"Huh? Did you say SOMETHING?"

"N-n-no." Both quickly replied.

"Fine! Shinobi! Tell me! Who's that old man?"

"We'd all like to know, Master! But not even the Satella Police has managed to get a hold of who he's supposed to be. He claims to be of the same org Virus Daemon was part of, though."

"That much I got. But what's his game?"

"Dunno. That's what everyone would love to know, Master."

"Hum! He must be a spy from France come to laugh at us!"

"F-France? Dunno where it is or why they'd bother to do that."

"Hmpf! As expected of a barbarian come from southern lands! They're barbarians!"

"Hyde~… Stop acting like an idiot. Are you planning on doing that guy's "wet works" forever or what?"

"Depends. If the man starts slacking on the agreed reward then I'll crush his bones and go seek another employer. I need money! To restore the supremacy of the House of Hyde!"

"Huff."

"And once I do I will be able to crush those brats!"

"Yeah, sure. Like you will. You've tried over 20-30 times in the last few years and you've always failed."

"Silence, you evening tabloid envoy! You're not worth a shilling, even! Mere plebs!"

"Military isn't plebs, Hyde… I've told you countless times I was part of the Mu Army, didn't I?"

"But since it doesn't exist anymore you're back to being mere plebs!"

"Huff. You and your stupid loopholes… They're a waste of time."

"They enlighten the soul of Austria! Shinobi! Find me the office of General Camparro! We're going to ask him to give us the means to restore Austria to grand and eternal glory! Mwah, hah, hah!"

"That Camparro guy only exists in that Luis guy's imagination, Hyde! So stop wasting the time by becoming a clone of him and let's do something useful already." Phantom insisted.

"Ah! Such bewitchery! It must be the witches Macbeth witnessed and who led him to grand disgrace! But they won't be able to fool me! I will get the glory and I'll bring down those brats! No-one will stop me this time around!" He began to frantically pace around the table again.

"I give up."

"You're not the only one."

"Kaa, kaa, kaa!"

"Glory! For me! For Austria! And for my grand and beautiful victory!"