Chapter 12: Who's the culprit?
08:18 AM (Japan Time), Saturday June the 30th…
Unh… Huh… Huh… Huh?
Saito stirred while slowly waking up: he felt dizzy and disoriented.
Niisan! Niisan! Netto called out.
Ne... Netto – kun?
Niisan! You're finally awake!
"Finally"…? Ah! The man who attacked us!
Exactly! Netto confirmed.
I can't move at all… He must have tied us… One thing is sure: he's either from Spain… Or from some Spanish – speaking nation…
Yeah, I couldn't really see him… The side alley was unlit…
… I think I saw a black Subaru…
… It could be. While you were out cold I tried to hear. We were driving for around an hour. We then got somewhere, and he carried us and then left us in "here", wherever "here" is. I've heard him chanting in joy sometimes, but it sounded muffled and distant. Maybe we're locked in a room. And I think it's already Saturday morning.
… Did he talk at all?
… No. He just yelled. I think he was drunk.
He was drunk? I think he's not really a pro but an amateur…
Maybe.
Whose turn is it today? Saito asked.
Keep on being the main personality: you might be able to find a quick way outta this mess.
Don't try to hide in the back of your brain after this. He warned.
… Alright… I'll try to.
Saito then interacted with the body: the dizziness was fading, but he could not move at all and he could not see or shout.
Lovely.
But he could hear: erratic footsteps and sobs increased in volume as they came closer along with a voice of someone muttering aloud.
He's speaking Spanish but I still have some Navi translation skills left on me so I should be able to more or less translate…
Alright. Tell me anything important.
"Hips! Yep! Yahoo! I win…! That man now must be feeling hysterical… hips! Who does he think he is…? Hips! Yahoo! Yep! Mr. Perfect…? Gimme a break… Stupid man… he and his ridiculous alias… what's so cool… about a… "EM Wave Change"…? No sense… hips! At all…"
"'EM Wave Change"… In Japanese, that'd be… "Denpa Henkan"! He knows something about him and he seems to think he's gotten smarter. And I'm sure he's an idiot to begin with.
The door opened with a loud creak noise.
"And now… this kiddo… hips! Who knew… hips! Kiddos knew self-defense…? Then again… hips! Ops! This is Japan… the manga country… and the karate and judou… fanatics…" The man kept on muttering aloud, sounding erratic.
Fanatics! How silly! It's just a typical sport!
Yeah! You don't say someone from Ameroupe is a football fanatic: it's just the national sport! This baka jerk!
"But…! The cleverest part… was sabotaging that… traffic light! That kept them stuck forever… and they didn't see me taking the kiddo! Heh… ho… huh… hi… hah… This bloody Mexican Vodka was too much… Oops!" The man couldn't stop getting hiccups from time to time.
Mexican Vodka, he says? What an odd choice for an alcoholic drink…
You said it, niisan…
He's an amateur, alright.
Yeah. No pro would drink vodka after getting away with it.
"What should I do with the kiddo? I need him to be… what was… the word…? Ah! Bargain chip… How I'm gonna convince him of not trying… to run away? Ah! What memory… I have this… Oops!"
What is he up to now? Is he gonna drink more Mexican Vodka? Netto wondered.
Let's wait and hear, Netto. Saito told him.
"Hic! I know this gun's… a fake… but it looks… convincing enough… Heh, heh! Wait… he's still… asleep? It's… eight in the morning… maybe I used too much chloroform? They use a lot in the movies … maybe I overdid it… and how to tell them 'bout… the… ransom? I have… an idea! Heh! But, firstly… let's get some food for me… and the kiddo! I'll order… a take away… can't drive… hips! With this… hangover…"
The door slammed shut, and they heard the erratic footsteps going away along with hiccups sound.
You were right, Netto - kun. This guy's just an amateur who's seen too many films. Saito told him.
And he thinks he's clever… He's just dumb stupid…
Listen: we know he has a fake gun. Let's play along with him. Let's act like we're scared. Since he's so idiotic then I have no doubt he'll fall for it. At the first moment he's distracted, I'll give him the biggest kickass of his life and we get outta here. Whaddya think? Saito quickly exposed a course of action.
Brilliant! Let's do it!
Saito remained quiet for a while and even dozed off before the footsteps and the hiccups sounds came into his hearing range again.
There they come!
This time, his footsteps were not so erratic: the door opened, and Saito felt a knife cutting the tape.
I better not move yet.
He noticed something cold against his head so he didn't move at all, feigning being still out cold.
Let's wait to see his reaction… And I know the metal is the fake gun to begin with…
"Listen, kiddo. This gun's real, and I can shoot you. If you try to escape, that is… hips! And don't think I'm a fool, because… hips! I'm a genius! If you behave correctly, you'll be back in home in some hours… hips! Get me?" The man kept sounding like he had a hangover and kept on having hiccups attacks.
"Huh… Sí, señor… Yes, mister…"
"Good, kiddo. Eat this…."
The man left some bags in front of him and signaled a wood door behind him with a smug smile on his face.
"That's the restroom… There's a bed there. And if you get bored, there's the TV. You keep quiet, and nothing happens. OK?"
"O.K., Mister." Saito put on an innocent face.
"Good kiddo… hips!"
He stood up and Saito took the chance to have a closer look at him. He looked on his thirties.
His hair was brown, had a bit of a sunken face and his eyes' irises were brown: he was clean shaven as well.
His clothes were a dirty-looking brown raincoat over a sleeveless white shirt, jeans and brown sneakers.
He exited the room, closing the wood door and bolting it from the outside before dragging his feet away.
"How many shoes are in a shoe-maker? A billion shoes in a shoe-destroyer! Bwah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah!" The man laughed at his own joke.
He's crazy. Saito looked totally unimpressed.
"Good live to the ugly things!"
"Sure, sure."
"Moan and roam!"
"What's the point?"
"Dispatch a dispatch!"
"Do that yourself." Saito muttered with some sarcasm.
"Roll and troll long the stroll!"
"Man. He's so… illogical! He'll end up driving me mad. I can't stand random and illogical things. The Cyber World's everything has a reason for its existence…" Saito complained as he brought a hand to his forehead as if he could feel a headache.
Whoa. Maybe I should swap?
Yeah. Swap. You're used to random stuff: handle it, Netto – kun, because I'm outta my league here. I need some time to cool off too.
He closed his eyes and opened them again: he walked over to the restroom and took out his eyes' contacts before pocketing them in the case he always carried.
"It feels weird to come back after all these days… Maybe Saito – niisan was right and nothing will change if I try to hide…"
"Those blessed, evil and repellent GUYS!"
"What the heck is that?" He rolled his eyes.
"I'm a GENIUS! GENIUS! GENIUS!"
"Someone get us outta here before we go mad."
10:33 AM (Japan Time)…
"… Damn it!"
Enzan was walking around a ground floor room on the IPC building, pacing back and forth.
I should've dropped him in front of the door: it would've only meant a two minute delay! He inwardly cursed.
There was loud noise as something crashed through the window, shattering it and dropping to the ground: he looked outside to see a black Subaru speeding away.
"What?"
He picked up a brick which had a piece of paper wrapped around it with a string: he cut it and read the paper, the handwriting of which was really messy: it was on Spanish.
"Enzan – sama. It reads as following… "Ya wanna see the kiddo, gimme 1,000 Credits in cash. Come by yerself to this address: 47 Kayora Road. Deal's at 14:00. If ye call the cops ye ain't seein' yer friend ever again. Vincent "Red"…"… It's a ransom notice, sir!"
"By all the…! A ransom note…! He asks for 1,000 Credits in cash. I'll go! But I have a surprise up my sleeve...He won't get away with it! Blues. Tell the limo driver to be ready to depart immediately."
"Roger, sir."
"I'll bring the money too but I've got some surprise in store for the villain who I don't think he's working for Shirakami or some thug: they wouldn't use such an imbecile, really."
"True, sir. They must be a wannabe, sir."
"Yeah. You've hit the mark… Well. He's soon gonna regret messing with the Net Police of all guys. Ijuuin Enzan won't let a friend be kidnapped so easily and then letting them to get away with it! My word!"
"Stick out your neck, you rascals!"
10:51 AM (Japan Time)…
"… Yep! Yup! Yahoo! The trick worked! I love clichés! They're so educational! Forget text books! Clichés are the answer! Yahoo! Yep! Hips!"
The kidnapper, Vincent "Red" was shouting while sitting on a chair placed inside the kitchen of his house: he'd been drinking a cheap wine as evidenced by the label.
"Viva la revolución! Blast the capitalists! Hah, hah! Hah, hah, hah! Hah, hah, hah, hah!"
"… This guy's nuts… Really. Just what we needed…"
Netto was trying to cool off watching something over the TV but he couldn't help to be distracted by his yells.
"Niisan? You there? What did he say?"
He's admitting he's a communist.
Is that a bad thing?
Not really. The "Communist equals to the enemy" thing ended along with the Cold War in the early 90s. I know I've only had skimmed over the basics of most nation's histories in these years but at least I know that no – one cares about that nowadays. Well. I know Choina is communist but that's their way of being. Besides, as an economical model, it was proven to be a complete disaster… So we're stuck with capitalism and I don't see a problem with it because it works fine most of the times.
Alright. So I shouldn't mind the guy.
No. He's saying random stuff outta the blue which drives me mad hence why we've swapped places. I'll swap again when we need to run off because you're a bit rusted when it comes to the self-defense classes while I'm fresher, Netto – kun.
Deal. I'll try not to escape reality either.
Huh? I think the guy's coming down to take the platter back. Turn off the TV and the lights and get into the agreed position!
Roger!
Swap!
OK!
He suddenly heard him climbing down the steps, so he hid beside the door and got into a fighting pose: Vincent entered and didn't bother to turn on the light because he'd just come to pick the tray.
"Buenas noches! Good night!"
"Qué? What?"
Saito took profit of his distraction and delivered a hand strike to the man's skull, knocking him out cold.
"Uah!"
That was way too easy. Netto sounded satisfied.
We're not out of here yet, Netto – kun.
Saito ran out and climbed up the stairs: he found a suitcase ready inside of bedroom, as well as plane tickets for Mexico City.
"Heh. They guy wanted to hide in Mexico, huh? That's not a bad idea. Too clichéd, though. And I think he comes from there to begin with: he must've wanted a ransom to get the money for some caprice or another to begin with…" He grinned.
Yeah. That's exactly it.
They heard a car stopping in front of the house.
"Oho. I think I know who it is."
Saito ran out and found an IPC limo: Enzan came out with a metal suitcase and his mouth gaped open.
"You escaped! You're telling me I brought up 1,000 Credits out of IPC for nothing!" He yelled while dropping the suitcase into the ground from the surprise.
"I just got out of there five minutes ago. The man's out cold on his basement. I think he'll be excited to find himself locked in there." Saito replied with a smile as he signaled the house behind him with his thumb finger.
"Okay. I was going to hand him the money and then call for a "Dimensional Area" to be formed with the newly-completed "Dimensional Generator"… But I guess you saved me the job." He sighed in relief and put up his usual smile.
"I sure did." Saito shrugged.
"I'll ring up the Net Police men. We gotta interrogate the dude." Enzan announced.
"Okay. He needs a lesson." Saito nodded in agreement.
"Hello? Commissioner Kifune? Trouble solved, sir. They're unharmed, sir, and they've trapped the culprit in the address I am… Send some agents and let's bring them to the HQ for interrogation, sir."
"Good, Enzan – kun! I'll handle that. I'll send Misaki – kun."
"Misaki – kun…? I don't know him." Enzan admitted.
"I dunno too." Saito admitted.
"Heh, heh. Well. No surprise. Can you still remember the day when Beast Man assaulted the Science Labs? The "Cross Fusion" experiment you witnessed? He's the young man who was trying it out but the experiment failed…" Kifune explained.
"Oh! I can remember… What was his Navi's name?"
"Prism Man! He's got incredible combat abilities. You should get introduced to each other. They're on their way there and since it's a close location then…"
The sound of a car became louder and a patrol car came into sight: it stopped and two policemen along with another man stepped down.
"Misaki Gorou. I've heard of you, Netto – kun."
"Ah… Nice to meet you, Misaki – san…"
"He's a Detective." Kifune announced.
"Detective Misaki, then…"
Misaki Gorou appeared to be on his mid-20s or a bit older but he surely hadn't hit the 30s mark yet.
He had messy dust brown hair and brown irises: his face was clean shaven and neat.
He sported an open yellowish coat over a simple white shirt, a pair of bluish jeans, and black sneakers with white soils.
His height could be over a meter and eighty tall.
"So you're Prism Man?"
"Yeah. I've heard of you, Blues."
Prism Man clearly was about a meter and eighty in height too and he had a look of being a serious type.
His main bodysuit color was a shade of white-toned brown yet he had purple armor over his upper torso and shoulders.
His face was protected by purple armor built around it and they had no mouth and nose but a pair of red-colored pupils shaped like pyramids aiming downwards set over a black background.
Two lances reminiscent of missiles had been attached to the outer edges of his shoulders' armor.
The chest armor contained the emblem which had brownish edge: the drawing was a set of three red thin lines forming an Alphabet "V" character when seen from the right and with a blue pyramid popping out of the left edge the peak of which was set on the middle of both pathways: the whole drawing was set over a white brown color.
His forearms' armor was also purple in coloring and protected great part of the hands leaving only the fingers (covered in black "skin") sticking out.
The boots began over the knees and used brown as the main color with purple for the part over the foot's front and the soils: a line travelled up the length of the boots until it spotted short of the knees: two metallic prisms aimed upwards from the knees' spot.
Overall he looked strong and agile: he and Blues were talking inside of the limo's computer.
"Where's the culprit?" Misaki asked.
"In the basement room: it can be opened from the outside."
"He seems to be Spanish or from some other nation given how he wrote the ransom note in Spanish."
"I think he's Mexican: he's got plane tickets for Mexico City."
"Seize them!"
"Roger!"
The two policemen rushed into the house along with Misaki while Saito sat on the seat of the limo and picked a bottle of water to serve some into a glass: he drank it up.
"Phew! My muscles are still aching from being tied so many hours: luckily I delivered some lessons to the guy too…"
"Heh, heh, heh… Heh, heh, heh… Heh, heh, heh… Heh, heh, heh… Hah, hah, hah! Hah, hah, hah! Hah, hah, hah!"
"GRUO~H!"
"Fuck. They're back."
"By all the…"
"Nebula Grey" suddenly projected out of the house's chimney and roared as it spread its arms: the "face" formed in front of the monster's chest and it seemed to be grinning.
"Enjoy this bittersweet victory while you can! Soon enough the world will be filled with terror and chaos! Farewell, you herd of fools!"
12:44 PM (Japan Time)…
"… The monster vanished rightly afterwards… But who the hell is behind that thing? If only I could have those three Navis listen to the guy's boasts then they might realize…"
"… Alright. It took a while but we've gotten the info of what prompted this guy to act…"
"Fire away, VP – sama."
"Hah, hah. How funny…"
Saito was waiting in one of the visiting halls of the Net Police and shuffling through a novel: Enzan soon met up with him and Saito pulled a joke on him which was met with dryness.
"Well! It turns out that he's just an interpreter-for-hire. He won't admit from where, but he knows about Denpa. He seems to even fear him and the organization he represents." Enzan summarized.
"What do you make out of it, Blues?" Saito asked.
"I looked it up. But I can't find any references as to when and how he met or heard of Denpa." Blues replied.
"He'd heard of Netto in the news back when you two put down "Gospel", so he thought he could try to provoke Denpa by abducting you."
"So that was his motive, huh… But didn't he ask for cash, too?"
"He sure did. He claimed that it wouldn't be a true abduction if he hadn't done so." Enzan shrugged.
"He's just a movie-obsessed idiot. What are you gonna do with him?"
"We'll keep him closed for a while since abduction is a crime. He doesn't seem to mind it: he actually seems to believe he'll be safe once he's in jail. I guess he's afraid of what Denpa could do to him." Enzan explained.
"OK! Case Closed, then. I'll praise you, Enzan – chan."
"Oh come on…! Saito! Gimme a break…!"
