Chapter 10: Open conflict
09:02 AM (Japan Time), Thursday January the 29th…
"… Scope Gun!"
"Sonic Boom!"
"Useless."
Blues and Search Man were facing two of the Valkyries, who had shown up on Internet City again: all of their attacks were being blocked or nullified for the time being.
"Grah! Search Man! Can't you find a way around their shields?"
"Davis and Lander did say they were not good at close-quarters combat… I'll hold them off and you unleash a Program Advance on them." Search Man suggested.
"Fine."
Blues jumped backward while Search Man shot towards the helmet of one of the Valkyries to get its attention.
"I'm your opponent!"
"So be it, Net Savior. Be gone." The Valkyrie automatically replied.
Search Man rolled across the ground and dodged the two Valkyries' swords.
"Dream… Sword!" Blues roared.
The powerful shockwave headed towards the Valkyries.
"Battle Chip, Area Steal! Slot In!" Laika announced.
Search Man moved away and let the Dream Sword hit both Valkyries fully: they shrieked and were deleted in a brutal explosion.
"Phew! We managed to take them down…" Search Man sighed in relief.
"Yeah. But I'm sure it won't be so easy the next time." Blues grumbled.
09:09 AM (Japan Time)…
"… Elec Wheel!"
Thunder Man created an electric tornado around his body and shot forward towards one Valkyrie: the Valkyrie tried to cut through the tornado with the sword, but there was nothing inside: Thunder Man had jumped into the air.
"Thunderbolt!"
A thunderbolt fell down from the sky and hit the Valkyrie fully, leaving her roasted to a crisp and blackened.
"Chance! Go, Thunder Man! Program Advance!"
"Program Advance!"
"Hi – Cannon, Triple Slot In!"
"Giga Cannon!"
The brutal blast delivered the coup de grace to the already weakened Valkyrie and blasted her away.
"You know what, Raoul? I don't think that these things will be able to ensure Dark Land's triumph. I'd rather stake my money on those bloody robots." Thunder Man commented.
"These things seem to be pure show-offs as if to make us think Dark Land is blessed by them." Raoul grumbled.
"So? What do we do next?"
"Heh. Rock n roll with King Raoul!"
"Not that again…"
"Go! Masked Thundering Thunders!"
"Stop making up those stupid titles!" Thunder Man complained.
"Too bad, Thunder Man! I, Thunderbird, am inspired! I got visited by Inspiration Fellow! Let's go! Thunderbird's return into action! Hah!"
08:18 AM (Mongolia Time)…
"… Oi, Meta… We've already lost some of the Valkyries. Is that alright?"
"It's necessary, Scorpion."
General Meta was talking with Scorpion, who had reported him the news: he didn't seem worried.
"By using them as guinea-pigs… We can find out what defects they have and fix them so that they won't fall so easily. Besides… Once we manage to mass-produce them… There won't be anyone who will be able to stand up to them." General Meta replied.
"If you say so…" Scorpion scratched the back of his head.
"Let them be and all will be fine." General Meta assured him.
"I wonder about that. Comrade."
They both gasped and spotted Twilight leaning towards the right in the door's opening: General Meta cursed and drew his service revolver which he aimed at Twilight but he merely hummed Let It Be.
"Twilight! What's this about?"
"Nothing. Just teasing you: I'm like the Joker… I appear and disappear when I feel like it." He chuckled.
"What are you up to, you and Dr. Gate? I think you've only gotten involved because Dr. Gate got into contact with your Mistress."
"Correct, Lestrade. I'll praise you yet, my fellow."
"GRJZKTHL!" He grumbled something undecipherable out of pure annoyance.
"I'd rather applaud Ms. Viper's labor. Her Grace and Ms. Bella are a terrifying combination. IQ – sama sends them Their greetings."
"The last thing we needed!" Scorpion fumed.
"I'd rather say you should find a bunker, Comrade…"
"And what if I don't?"
"Then Bat – Man will beat you to a pulp."
"What's this scandal? Meta – sama: are you alright, sir?"
"Scorpion – sama, sir?"
Vulture and Cobra ran there while having his service revolvers drawn too but Zoan Gate Man formed in front of them and so did 8 Mettools numbered from "56" to "64".
"Metto~!"
"What the heck? What does this mean?" Vulture demanded.
"Answer!"
"Heh, heh, heh… Welcome to the experiment, fellows."
"What "experiment"?"
"To drive you to the edge of your patience and see if you'd rather blow up or drown up." Zoan Gate Man chuckled.
"That's idiotic!" Both complained.
"The Synchro Duo!" Zoan Gate Man suddenly announced.
"Wha~t?"
"Let's go back, Zoan Gate Man. See you around."
Twilight smirked before they all de-materialized and the four guys grumbled: they heard giggling and both Viper and Bella walked over there while looking amused.
"I guess you messed it up, Gin, dear. Vermouth tells cha that."
"Too bad, Vodka. Kir says you lack imagination."
The four men fumed as both women walked past them and elsewhere: General Meta brought both fists down on his desk.
"I knew it was a bad idea to rely on this snobby jerk! Damnation and hell!"
17:41 PM (Japan Time)…
"…Home, sweet home."
Nelaus entered his house on the same day's afternoon and stretched: he deposited the sports bag on the ground and sat down into the sofa.
"Do I have any new emails, Isaac?"
"Hmmm… Yeah. You have one. The sender is… Weird. The name tag says: "G"… Do you know anyone whose name starts with a G?" Isaac frowned.
"I don't." Nelaus quickly replied.
"Maybe it's spam?"
"Try scanning it."
"Hmmm… It's clean. Do I open it?" Isaac asked.
"Do so."
"Okay… The message goes like this… "I am the servant. I have found you. I shall bring out your innermost fears and terrors. You shall pay for your betrayal to the Great Ruler… G."… What utter nonsense is this?" Isaac grumbled after reading the message.
"The Great Ruler… Betrayal… Could it be….?"
"What?" Isaac didn't seem to have made the connection.
"… This guy…! He has something to do with Maria! No one else could've written such a message…!"
"Lemme check if someone else got it. Maybe it's a wide-scale prank, after all." Isaac suggested.
"Ah… Check with the guys, yeah…"
"Or maybe it's an attempt by Twilight to intimidate you."
"Heck. He wants to shine again."
"That's what I think… I'll check with Sigma and Blood Shadow…"
17:44 PM (Japan Time)…
"… No. We didn't get any weird mails at all. Right, Sigma?"
"Yeah. We'd noticed them."
Isaac had gone to speak with Blood and Sigma about the email, only to find out they hadn't received it.
"… Ask Vadous to look up if he knows anyone named "G" who worked for Maria. I believe he's trying to turn Nelaus nervous by exerting pressure on him. Maybe the guy's in league with Twilight or that's Twilight in person to begin with." Isaac told them.
"I'll go tell Commander Omega." Blood Shadow announced.
"I'll keep watch. Keep yer eyes open, Isaac." Sigma warned.
"I will." Isaac nodded in agreement.
"But to shatter Ms. Tension…" Sigma got amused.
"Oh heck." Blood Shadow groaned.
"…bring in Ms. Non Tension…"
"And where do I find her?" Isaac skeptically questioned.
"…and invent the Tension Non Tension Duet."
"Sure, sure."
"That will win the Nobel Show Award…"
"There's no such award, never was and never will be!" Blood Shadow snapped at Sigma out of exasperation.
"Mwah, hah, hah… And be bought by Vincent to become the "Funny and Creepy 100% Mexican Show"… Ta-dan!" He finished.
"Don't mix crazy Vincent with this, man. I'm back to Nelaus' place."
"Beware of Ms. Straight Road battling Mr. Curving Road!"
"Sigma! This is not a moment to joke! Stay quiet for a while, will ya!"
17:49 PM (Japan Time)…
"… It'd seem that your suspicions were correct, Nelaus. Nobody else got this message."
"Damn!"
Nelaus was nervously pacing around the living room's table and biting his fingernails.
"This guy somehow found out about my true identity! I'm in deep shit now… Who knows what he can do with that…? I don't wanna be exposed as a "freak"! Damn you, Twilight! I suspect you to be involved! Maria's vengeance: this is what it is!" Nelaus nervously replied while biting his nails.
"Calm down. I told Sigma and Blood, and I'm sure Vadous will be able to smoke the guy out. They'll figure out if Twilight sent it or not." Isaac tried to relieve him.
"I hope so…" Nelaus nervously replied.
The Link PET suddenly rang.
"It's an unknown number… And it's calling from the Tokyo prefecture, also." Isaac announced.
"It's my doom!" Nelaus gasped.
"Be realistic. It could be a bureaucrat for all we know."
"Patch it through!"
"Okay…" Isaac sighed.
"Nelaus Rainon – dono, am I to assume?" A man's voice asked.
"Who are you? You don't sound like ex-senpai." Nelaus asked.
"I am your doom. And I'm not Twilight, yes."
"I-I knew it! You used to work for Maria, didn't you?"
"Bravo." Sarcastic clapping was heard over the line.
"W-whaddya want outta me?"
"I am here to remind you of the price betrayal brings with it, in case you had forgotten." The man gallantly replied.
"You bastard…! Are you blackmailing me?" Nelaus hissed with obvious rage on his voice.
"Oh. No. I have no need for such low methodologies, after all. The Great Ruler may have used them, but I have my own methodologies to handle things. And Mr. Twilight was a business partner but we've parted ways: it's time for me to shine."
"If you're a man then come out and face me!" Nelaus challenged.
"Regrettably… I have not finished my preparations for that as of yet. You shall have to bear with it for a while."
"I demand to know your name, lowlife!" Nelaus shouted at him.
"My name, you ask of me? Well then… I am Gate. You would do well to remember it…" The man introduced himself.
There was a noticeable chuckle at the other end of the line before the call finished.
"… Go tell the guys. We need to get a hold of the guy's location." Nelaus told Isaac.
"O. K.!"
"I won't let you lowlife ruin my life." He hissed under his breath.
Breathing deeply, he walked into the kitchen and served himself a glass of water at room temperature: he looked calmer after doing so.
"Doing my homework will help me cool off." He decided.
He climbed upstairs into his bedroom and took out his institute stuff from his school bag: he laid them out on the table and began working on it while still looking annoyed.
"Yeah… I'm sure this guy will come after me instead of Twilight… Fuck."
17:57 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Yeah. He had an air of being in control of everything."
"All of Anaya's goons had it."
Isaac was speaking with Omega over the call they'd gotten.
They were standing inside of a system somewhere which had several firewalls and locked doors: both of them were standing near a revolving 3D image of the Earth.
"We've traced Gate's latest known employer… Schneider Inc.'s R&D Lab appointed him to be the head of it." Omega told Isaac.
"Hum. And he quit?" Isaac asked.
"His contract ended and he asked for no renewing, so he left. He had nothing else to do since the Project: Walkürenritt work had been completed. He admitted being interested in Nelaus, but never specified why to his Boss. Guess Twilight incentivized him to become a headache for us before cutting with the guy.
"Hmmm… He sounded like he was going to show up soon enough."
"Sure. We're going to try to trace his call in the meanwhile."
"OK. Good luck."
"Thanks."
"…gates leading to the Netherworld and beyond and such…"
"Dragon. Again. Who the hell placed those mikes which seem to pick up his mutterings when he goes fetch ingredients? Sigma?" Isaac groaned.
"Yeah. I'm being fed up. I take them out the guy sets up another 12 next day he comes over… I'll go and use the Continuous Glare of Bad Mood to quell the guy: he won't be so trigger-happy when he sees my mood!"
"Yeah. And you could try to do it on Shadow Man too."
"Sure… Let's make sure they focus on the job…"
18:11 PM (Japan Time)…
"… What? The South Korea Internet City was ravaged by a dozen of those Valkyries?"
"Yeah. That's how it was."
Davis had told Lander some bad news he'd just received in one square of Internet City near the Coliseum.
"Great… Those Dark Land jerks took profit of the fact that there weren't many powerful Net Saviors there and made a powerful display after we've foiled them this morning." Lander grumbled.
"You could warn King Land and they'll relay the warning. They might head over there next." Davis pointed out.
"Okay. I'll tell 'em how to deal with those bandits as well. See ya later, Davis." Lander nodded with the head.
"Shah, shah, shah! Lucky Luke's gonna come arrest "Kid" Billy~!"
"Jeez. Be serious."
Needle Man suddenly walked into the square and pulled a joke which Yuriko didn't find funny.
"Well. At least it's not obscene." Dr. Wily told her in the background.
"Speaking of which… Where are Dr. Regal and Laser Man at?" Martin asked Charles in a hushed tone of voice.
"Guess they've been told to repair some damaged building or Cyber World damaged as a consequence of the Darkloids when incentivized by Nebula about 4 years ago…" Charles whispered back.
"Hum. Alright. Keep an eye on the bulky guy just in case…"
"Don't worry… The Net Police monitor the guy 24/7…"
"OK. Let's go Snatch one of those gals and try to see if we capture them."
"Oho. Good idea… The Cyber and Analog Snatchers are on the move~!"
08:33 AM (Iceland Time)…
"… Phew! I think that we should be able to counter those things with this strategy…"
Dr. Spimer exited from the laboratory and sat down on his office's armchair: he took out the reading glasses and cleansed them with the handkerchief inside of the case.
"Hum, hum… Hum…"
His cell phone began to ring, so he opened the lid and frowned upon reading the display.
"Unknown number… Maybe Messier Vadous changed it for security reasons…"
He pressed the "REPLY" button and waited: the connection was rather bad, which surprised him.
"… I found you." A distorted voice announced.
"Do excuse me?" Dr. Spimer frowned.
"I have said it: you have nowhere else to hide." The voice replied.
"Who do you think you are?"
"I am the Apocalyptic Being which seeks to rule over the world. I am the Demon King." The voice replied.
"If this is a prank call, I'm going to warn you that it's going to cost you a lot of money to ring up Iceland unless you're not on it."
"I don't care. And this isn't a prank." The voice replied.
"… Are you from Dark Land's Foreign Department, perhaps? So? What's your answer?" Dr. Spimer tried to guess.
"I'm a nomad." The voice replied.
"… Huff. Well. That was a good joke, Messier Vadous. Can we talk about what's going on?"
"Who is Vadous?"
"… I'll ask you something: who is Dr. Lartes?"
"… Isn't he the head of the Lyon Hospital?" The voice seemed to have its doubts.
"Wrong. You're not involved with the Sub Space, then. Whom do you work for?" Dr. Spimer questioned.
"I work for my own. I unravel conspiracies which jeopardize civilian population." The voice shot back.
"If you're from Dark Land, shouldn't you say conspiracies which jeopardize your dictatorship?" Dr. Spimer grumbled.
"… I have nothing to with politics whatsoever, mind you. I am alone and work alone." The voice bluntly replied.
"… Hum. If you're trying to prolong this call to find me, I must tell you it's on vain. My encryption protocols are unrivaled. Besides: I know a good hacker who could break through the cheap one you must be using."
"… Damn." The voice hissed.
"You must be an amateur at this stuff, right? Do you even know who you're talking with?" Dr. Spimer smirked.
"Dr. Spimer: head of the Cypher syndicate." The voice replied.
"Call it whatever you want. But don't associate us to those terrorist mafias." Dr. Spimer warned.
"Hmpf. It depends on the amount of evidence I can uncover. That's all that there's to it. And that hacker of yours… Wouldn't it happen to be the sneaky and infamous "Octopus – han" which the Interpol has been unable to uncover or locate at all?" The voice assumed.
"Hmmm… Who knows?" Dr. Spimer teased.
"I know. Farewell."
"… Could it be…? Guess I'll need to ring up those gentlemen…"
18:49 PM (Japan Time)…
"… And that's what happened. May I count on your help?"
"You sure may, Dr. Spimer!"
"You can leave it up to us."
The twins were sitting in front of their computer and carrying out a videoconference with Dr. Spimer.
"Hum. Good. I only desire to know the owner of the SIM card and the location. There's no need to deepen more." Dr. Spimer told them.
"That's easy for us." Netto smiled.
"You'll have the results in less than an hour's time." Saito assured him.
"Do contact me once you find out the results."
Saito began to type into the computer while Netto connected his Link PET and engaged a set of programs.
"Ready?" Saito asked.
"Go!" Netto encouraged.
"Mwah, hah, hah… Some boilin' intrigue~!"
"Sigma. Stop meddling around with the mikes!" Omega growled as he came into the system.
"YIKES! C-Commander Omega, sir!"
"Oh. Omega. Dr. Spimer asked us to look up a little something…"
"Good. I'm just warning you: we found Twilight's house at last but the Mettools using stealth camouflage patrol all openings and all. The Cyber World's full of warp-holes and bottomless pits. We're going to sit and listen to what goes on there before we make a move."
"Good!" Saito grinned.
"I won't bother you further: I'm busy running an investigation… Later."
09:12 AM (Iceland Time)…
"… Dr. Spimer? We have the results."
"Do tell me."
Dr. Spimer was using his laptop computer to conduct a live video-conference with Netto and Saito.
"To begin with… The caller was using Skype from a laptop. This laptop is located in Narbonne and was using a public wireless network in the main train station." Saito reported.
"Narbonne…" Dr. Spimer brought a hand to his chin.
"We managed to find out the username of the Skype user: "Veritas". We later traced the user and found the registered email to be a Gmail accounted owned by someone nicknamed "V. D."..." Netto reported next with a smile.
"V. D… I thought as much. My hunch was correct."
"You know that person?" Saito inquired.
"I do. We used to be partners at Paris University almost a decade ago. I reencountered the person recently when I travelled to Paris for some businesses… It's a freelance journalist. It was asking too much stuff, so I tried to make it give up, but it'd seem it's become a rather stubborn person…" Dr. Spimer admitted with a sigh of defeat.
"More like a stalker, right?"
"Correct. If anyone were to ask just say that Cypher HQ is somewhere in Iceland. It'll work." Dr. Spimer requested.
"O. K.!" Both replied.
"Good-bye."
Dr. Spimer finished the video-conference and sighed.
"Veronica… You were always a stubborn girl and that hasn't faded even a decade later! I don't know what do with you: let's hope you give it up."
20:40 PM (Melbourne Time)…
"… Yeah. Stay away for a while… Kyoudai's sniffed this place and I'll have to move the stuff around… I'll take care of cleansing all trails of your presence too… I'll contact you when I find a new meeting spot."
"Roger."
"Good, Talon. I might need your services soon enough."
"Understood, Dr. Yoru Yami."
"That's all. Be ready for a sortie."
"Yes, sir. As you desire."
Twilight was speaking with someone over the phone as he used a handkerchief to cleanse furniture and dragged along a vacuum cleaner too: he was also checking a PET's holographic display which showed 64 blue dots scattered around a 3D model of the house and some red dots some distance away which looked like they'd converge from all directions at the same time.
"Good. Later."
"Later."
Twilight ended the phone call and began to tug off a bed's blankets to then use the vacuum cleaner and suck up any occasional hairs: he made a bundle with them and brought them down to the ground floor where he stuffed them into the washing machine.
"Luckily I know how to cleanse these: and kyoudai will want to have a complete assessment of my surroundings before moving on. Heh. By the time they get in they'll only find Darth Krayt's minions waiting to cut them down… Heh, heh, heh. I'll simply move to another house with basement and I've warped all the dungeon stuff there using the "DCs" anyway… No problem over there."
He whistled a tune as he kept on checking the display.
Dark Land's about to get serious too… Finally… The climax is close~!