Chapter 12: Armored complications

06:06 AM (Moscow Time), Monday October the 17th…

"… No anomalies?"

"Nothing, Comrade."

"Did you check the outer perimeter?"

"All's fine."

"Good. But I've got a bad feeling nevertheless. I want all troops awake and calling each other every 5 minutes. There'll be punishment for those who don't behave. It's a Level 3 state: imminent attack. They can come from anywhere and anytime."

"Roger."

Search Man (the real one) was speaking with a couple of Soldier Navis guarding one of the Sharo Army 13th Network Corps base's firewalls: he was issuing orders the whole time.

"Comrade… I've got news…" A soldier walked in.

"What is it?"

"I'm afraid that… you're a bit slow to catch up." The Navi sneered.

"You lowlife."

Search Man quickly aimed his Scope Gun and readied for battle along with the other 2.

BOOM!

"Warning, warning! Central Command Post compromised! There was a camouflaged VPN tunnel set there! 10 intruders! 5 Heel Navis, 4 Normal Navis, 1 unknown custom Navi!" A speaker claimed as sirens rang out after an explosion.

"Too late. Glory to Shadow Nova! Death will save us, but not this one! My role's been fulfilled! Glory to Lord Spiral!"

The Navi suddenly laughed as his core began to glow and he blew up: his pieces scattered around and Search Man formed a grimace as rage mounted up: there was another explosion close by so he took aim.

"Urra~h! Mugen Vulcan!"

"Dream Sword!"

"What! Mugro~h!"

"Gra~h!"

"Nyah, hah, hah! This is Shadow Nova's power!"

2 red Heel Navis ran in while having Program Advances ready: they attacked Search Man with those and hit him fully because he wasn't expecting those: the soldier Navis were deleted from the damage attained and Search Man hissed.

"Scope Gun! Satellite Cannon! Search Grenades!"

"What! Mugro~h!"

He shot through one's right shoulder as the satellite appeared behind another and hit the back and the grenades momentarily stunned them: he panted to recover.

"Search Man! Recovery 150, Slot In!" Laika announced.

"Roger, Laika – sama."

"Composure." Laika ordered.

Search Man focused and managed to regain his cold blood just as the enemies ran towards him for another attempt.

"Giga Cannon!"

"Elemental Sword!"

"You're not the only ones who can do this. Bodyguard!" Laika announced all of a sudden.

"What? Damn it!"

Search Man got hit but vanished with a puff of smoke and a boulder was left behind: he reappeared higher in the air and shot 5 shuriken at each one with his left hand: his attacks hit each enemy's shoulders, hips and chest: he landed back and loaded up his Scope Gun to then shoot and pierce through the left one while the right one ran for it but was pierced by the Satellite Laser: Search Man scanned around.

"Enemies defeated. Area secured."

"What's the status?"

"It's odd."

"Odd?"

"The custom Navi was tagging with another of the Heel Navis but he suddenly attacked him and now's run off the base. Looks like he betrayed them…" A soldier reported.

"Odd indeed. Or is it a new tactic?" Laika wondered.

"Odd stuff here too! The 4 Normal Navis suddenly turned on the 2 Heel Navis and deleted them: they've run off too! And the VPN tunnel has been destroyed from the origin point so… There are no attackers left. We've lost 18 soldiers, though." Another soldier reported.

"Hmmm… Something's going on." Search Man muttered.

"Laika." A voice called out.

"Commander, sir."

"Come to my office. Search Man. You too. Go back to the PET."

"Roger, sir."

Search Man returned to Laika's PET and projected with the hologram as Laika followed Commander Malenkov into his office: he shut the door and signaled for Laika to sit down.

"I knew this attack was going to happen. I got two warning notices from different sources."

"And you allowed it to happen to make the enemy think they'd gotten away with it." Laika calmly guessed.

"Indeed. I knew that there would be Navis recruited from the general populace amongst them and that they would betray Shadow Nova to rush back to the origin base and be able to round them up… I'm not sure who those 4 were supposed to be or whom did they work for but… I think you'll recognize the custom Navi…" He explained as he typed into his laptop.

He booted up sensory image that showed Video Man shooting a roll of video-tape at a Heel Navi from behind and then spawning tape strings.

"Golden Star's Video Man…! They actually recruited a Navi from Golden Star?" He was surprised.

"The info said that the Heel Navi in charge of recruiting decided on looks and didn't bother to ask further. They were surely intending to dispose of them one the job was over… Talk about reversal of roles. Serves that lot well." Malenkov looked satisfied.

"Who was the human traitor?" Laika asked.

"A man named Folopov. Turned out he casually had a permit to go visit his ill mother at the city… Some background check revealed that his mother's been dead for 2 years already… And it'd seem the man had been placed here by the Seraphs as a second phase agent…"

"Second phase agent?"

"Remember those attempts by them to organize coups across the world and start their regime? That was the first phase. If they succeeded then these second phase men were to weaken the military Networks to slow down response and by the time the whole military figured out what was going on they'd already be under the control of the Seraphs' agents who'd rule over the nation." Malenkov explained.

"I see. So it's true that they're re-using personnel and materiel the Seraphs had… They've absorbed part of it and take profit of their strategic placement…"

"Indeed."

"We should've investigated them further but the top brass decided that since the coup had been foiled there was no need to. How naïve of them."

"Speaking of which… I hope you keep your "assumptions" at bay and you haven't talked about it to anyone." Malenkov questioned.

"N-no, sir. I haven't told anyone but Search Man, sir."

"And… In case you didn't realize… Your actions back then lacked official permission and I later reduced your authority as punishment: the only way they'd allow me to remain here and you to continue here… Else we would be on the streets by now. They haven't forgotten, either. Any stupid move and we could end up badly." He turned icy.

Search Man rolled his eyes as if he'd seen it coming from time ago and didn't agree with Laika's behavior.

"Torolov will take care of things. Leave it up to him. You simply help patch up the damage and that's it. You're not taking a step out of this base without talking it to me. Understood? This is a warning as your uncle as well, Laika." He signaled him with the right hand's index finger.

"Y-yes, Uncle. Understood, sir." He was sweating, even.

"Fine. You're dismissed. Have some sleep: I'll tell the same to the rest of the men. Once we're all fresh and ready then we can work on things."

Laika stood up and saluted before exiting into the corridor where he spotted a fellow soldier waiting on the opposite wall.

"Hey. Laika."

"Ah. Torolov."

Torolov had brownish hair combed in a neat manner and brownish irises as well: his face profile indicated seriousness.

"I'm going to take care of investigating their traces: they seem to have a warehouse in the Moscow Internet City as well. We're going to surprise them there. No kidding, man. This is serious stuff."

11:18 AM (Japan Time), Tuesday October the 18th…

"… Shah, shah, shah! This place reeks, Burner Man. I know we chose it at random yet…"

"Marchando! You needn't tell me, Needle Man. I can feel it on the air: there's something."

Needle Man and Burner Man were inspecting a Cyber World warehouse somewhere and looking around.

"This darkness isn't normal. What's up with the lights, anyway? The power is alive." Needle Man pointed out.

"Of course not. It's a trap." Burner Man shrugged.

"Then… We trigger it?"

"Obviously."

"That container in the NE corner reeks. It's bigger and wider." Needle Man spotted.

"Fine. You cover me. I'll check it out. Expect the unexpected indeed. We should get ready for a brawl!"

"OK."

Both quietly headed for the container in question: Burner Man drew one of his burners and cut off the chains linked to the padlock and keeping it shut while Needle Man was ready to fire with both of his cannons as soon as the container opened: Burner Man placed his back against the right door and slowly began to pull it open with the left hand: Needle Man narrowed his eyes and steadied his aim: Burner Man finished opening the door and there were two sudden crimson flashes as two cubes began to glow deeper in: a growl rang out.

"Needle Cannon!"

Needle Man began to shoot in a row through the right arm cannon but, from the sounds of it, none met the target: there was a rumble followed by the whine of jet engines.

"What?"

Needle Man jumped into the air and warped atop the container as something shot out, taking out the still shut left door in the process and crushing the container ahead of it: both Needle Man and Burner Man prepared for battle.

"What the heck?"

"Shah, shah, shah! Gotta be that Infi-something robot!"

"Heck. Of all things."

"A Cyber World version, even… Sheesh."

The "Infinitus" robot that Eisei had battled some days ago was there and this version included a "face" drawn into the main body which included a couple of extensible arms with spinning circular saws on them: the robot howled like a wolf and jumped towards both of them so they dodged as they counter attacked at the incoming missiles: each missile, however, seemed to be able to know when it was being attacked because it changed its trajectory, surprising both of them: they kept on shooting back and jumping around but the missiles were relentless.

"Shit. They've got a guidance system or something like that: or maybe it's the robot itself that's smart enough to tell them how to dodge! Strike Burner!" Burner Man growled as he tried to shoot a stream of blue fire at a group of 3.

"Worse than those CIS drones during the Clone Wars!" Needle Man cursed next.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah! This is the power of SHADOW NOVA!" Spiral laughed through the robot.

"Damn. And the genius comes to taunt us. As if we didn't have enough headaches." Burner Man growled.

"Standard attacks won't do and we'll run out of energies at this rate: let's switch to defense and then find a way to attack the robot. EM fields won't work, obviously enough." Needle Man whispered.

"Alright… It's gotta have a CPU somewhere: surely in the main body so if we could take it out then…"

"I'll be bait."

"Good. I'll jump out of sight and let the missiles hit me, I recover and try to sneak on the thing… Now!"

Burner Man jumped towards the space behind the containers and 6 missiles followed: 6 explosions followed and a groan of pain ensued: Needle Man got distracted in purpose and another 6 hit him as well: he groaned again.

"Damn!"

"I'll turn into you SCRAP!"

The robot began to swing its circular saws and its chainsaw arm at Needle Man: he ducked and managed to slide away by inches: he loaded up a Giga Cannon and tried to hit the back but the blast got deflected as the robot quickly turned around.

Shah, shah, shah! It bothered to turn to repel my attack. That means that the defense is a frontal shield… I see! Like Ghor in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption…! Talk about rip-offs, man! But the problem is… If we expose that weakness now… It'll be deadlier by next time anyone has to fight with this thing! What do we do? Shit.

"Burner Man…! If we attack the back now then next time it'll be deadlier…!" He whispered over the radio.

"Shit. You've got a point. Hmmm… Wait. Maybe if we attack from above they'll only think on protecting that? And the weakness would still be present nevertheless." He suggested.

"Or… From below."

"Leave it to me… Rip-off for rip-off… Go, Dugtrio! "Dig"!"

"So this is the best you can do? Hmpf." Spiral taunted.

"Fuck it." Needle Man cursed.

"Feel the fear and die like a fool!"

"Oh yeah? Never felt the fear in the battlefield?" Needle Man tried to taunt.

"Hmpf! Only someone ready to face the enemy can step into a battlefield and emerge victorious! And I'm that type of man!" Spiral didn't fall for that one.

The robot prepared to attack but the ground suddenly began to crack and it collapsed under its weight: the robot got stuck into a hole waist-deep and Burner Man dropped from above while holding a blade on both hands: he stabbed it into the robot's head and then drew his burners to heat up the head: the outer alloy reached its fusion temperature and began to melt as the sword began to slide deeper in: the robot was unable to move now and its defensive field shut down so Needle Man drew his body's needles and rammed at the front thus destroying the arms in the process: Burner Man lifted the sword and plunged it deeper.

"How's this for a change!"

"Damn it. Infinitus got beaten by the weakest!"

"Weakest? By the veteran! We were there when Golden Star was on the planning and growing!" Needle Man grinned.

"You underestimated us!"

"… Damn it all. First that of yesterday and now today…! Whatever. Next time Infinitus WILL be INVINCIBLE! And then you will DESPAIR and DIE! I swear! Retrieval!"

The robot was retrieved: they then clasped hands and grinned.

"Good job." Slur told them over the radio.

"Thank you very much!" Both replied.

"Hmpf. Invincible… Mere delusions of an arrogant mind… That will not stop us… And even less me. Or Kuroban. Or Burai. Or Serenade. Or Andy's Ryuusei Form… Hmmm… Maybe that man could as well."

"Slur – sama still can't avoid resent Forte, huh?" Needle Man asked Burner Man in a whisper.

"According to the Danna…" Burner Man sighed and rolled his eyes as if he felt defeated when it came to that topic.

"Huh? What are you talking about over there?" Slur questioned with some suspicion.

"N-nothing, ma'am! That we'll need to find a way to disable the shields on the rear as well next time… I'm sure they won't be as stupid to leave the back unprotected forever. It's going to be harder to chew: and maybe its speed will increase as well. We'd need to work out how fast we really are when it comes to processing movements in a chain."

"Ah. Good point. Bah. There shall be a way to. Return to Purgatory and download your battle data so that we can go over it. The sooner we begin the sooner we will have some counter-measures ready. Hmpf. No – one is invincible and no robot is going to change that truth."

"Let's go meet Video Man after that and pick the next story." Burner Man told needle Man.

"Yeah. We gotta and we should begin the translation too."

"We could post some jokes in the blog in the meantime too!"

"Deal. Let's get moving! Shah, shah, shah!"

"Guts, guts! Guts Man came to beat the bad guys!" Guts Man burst in.

"Too late. It's already over." Burner Man grinned.

"Guts! I knew it! It was the curse of the second-handed CPU! Guts!"

"Not our problem, man! Go complain to whoever sold you that."

"Guts! Bubble Man! De guts! Get ready! Guts!"

"It had to be that little double-crossing rascal, huh?" Burner Man sighed.

"Shah, shah, shah. Yeah. I know. Oh well. Let's head back before Slur – sama runs out of patience. GS Nerds: on the move! Hah!"

10:44 AM (Philippines Time)…

"… You looked annoyed, sir."

"Huh? Ah. Ernst. Yeah. I am. Guess why?"

"Eisei?"

"Yeah. Meddling around as usual."

"He lied, I take it."

"Yeah. Said he had a lead on a warehouse those guys used but it was a lie to stalk the Hikari brothers."

"How brat-like. How immature."

"Yeah. But at least the guy managed to take out that piece of junk so I know what they'll throw at me."

"That's the only positive thing the guy's done recently, right?"

"Yeah. The only. My bad. I gotta be boring you with this talk. It's worthless to begin with."

"Not all, sir."

"You're not going to your town?"

"One of these days, yes. But I felt like I needed to be here to support you, sir."

"Do as you like. I won't force you to."

"Thank you, sir."

Kuroban was fuming as he leant on the handrail of a balcony built into the mountain that contained Shunoros' base: Ernst approached him from behind and kept a respectful distance as he talked: Kuroban glanced over his left shoulder from time to time to speak back to him but he didn't seem to be in the mood.

"By the way, sir… I was wondering… What led you to take over the "Seraphs"?"

"The Seraphs? Ah yeah. I remember. Well. Why not… I'll tell it to you: maybe it'll vent off my bad mood."

"I'd been wondering how you got access to such technology and…"

"Well. I should talk a bit about myself. Guess I never do it. Some years ago… Now's 2012 so… It was around 2007, I think… Well. I'd finished studying economics in Bangkok University and I'd also studied programming as a hobby… I began to investigate some documents my family had kept custody of that talked about a crypt somewhere containing a powerful artifact. My father had said that several ancestors of mine had tried to decipher it but had failed yet he had the hunch that the technology wasn't enough. He encouraged me to find and decode it because he thought I could do it."

"But that would mean it was…"

"An OOPArt, indeed!"

"Out Of Place Artifact…"

"Yeah. Because it contained programming. Done in a language that's almost vanished off the Earth by now… On'Setsu… Using ancient documents of my family and trying to apply the logic of current systems I managed to find the system tree and from there work on decoding its ramifications… And after I overcame no less than 5 passwords in the ancient On'Setsu language… I stumbled upon the core of the artifact: and there it was… A program like I'd never seen before… The power to turn one's body into an EM existence and freely move around the world without limitations… I named it "Denpa – Henkan" because I was interested in Japanese culture and I thought it sounded exotic. And after tweaking it a bit… I achieved this form. This battle armor."

"I see."

"That artifact was the mighty "Ultimate Orb", a secret weapon built in the late days of the On'Setsu Kingdom… And hidden so that our enemies would be unable to profane it… The crypt was hidden beneath several layers of ground and in the midst of a forest."

"Hide a leave in a forest."

"Good analogy! Hence why no – one stumbled upon it because no – one had the need to dig around there and there was no hint it was there… I thought that using this power I could bring back glory to our dynasty… And that I could resurrect the name On'Setsu and impress the world with it… But I alone wouldn't suffice and I needed something to use as base… That was when I found out about the Seraphs."

"And you decided to take over them?"

"I firstly thought of manipulating their leader, the Great Seraph, to do my bidding but… The man was old, decrepit and arrogant. To the point that he'd hired archaeologists to find the Holy Grail."

"T-the Holy Grail? Like in Indiana Jones?"

"Yeah. And like WWII Germany. So I decided that man would be a bother to my plans: and I put the man out of his misery. I made sure to spread rumors about him having appointed an heir amongst the org and didn't issue any orders for some months… I did some purging there and there to make the org run smoother… And then I thought I'd need a henchman that could easily move in and out of the under and stir up distractions if needed… Some searches led me to finding Gray… Having read on a police report his predisposition to "evil" I thought that he was fitting… I allowed him to be "buddy – buddy" because I knew I'd never be able to make him bow before me. But if I let him a bit loose then he wouldn't refuse to work for me. Hence why I tolerate the guy's manner of addressing me." He turned around and leant his back on the handrail while grinning.

"I see… And then you set up that "Charon Brotherhood"?"

"Yeah. I wanted something that would keep the police's and Golden Star's eyes away from the Seraphs for a while: until the Seraph Tower project reached its finishing stage… The Charon Brotherhood was made up by 3 members… The CO, named Dread Baron… Dullahan… And Styx. You might know him now as Atarasei Oscar…"

"And Styx would then become "Charon, the invincible thief", right?"

"Yeah. His mission was to secure some artifacts I was looking for: and needed for a plan of my own… In the meanwhile I knew I would have to increase the number of members of my dreamt "Elite Unit"… So I began to recruit people who had weak family ties and that didn't mind living elsewhere… Netsuhonoo, Kazebun and Kisei were found like that… Umisama was coincidentally washed into the Seraph HQ's island after a stormy night when he'd gone out with a boat… And I knew that a clash with Golden Star would happen… It was within my calculations. Seraph Tower left some impression but what happened next has left its sequels that can still be felt…"

"That "Mu Continent" which appeared on the skies…"

"Correct. After seeing how many of the Seraphs' coups across the world failed I decided that that org was done for and we ran off to establish Shunoros here, in this island. And you know the rest."

"Yet… How could ancient people build such artifacts? And how could they make a chunk of land float in the sky?" Ernst began to wonder while rubbing his chin.

"Oh, that. Well. I'll share it with you… It was… aliens." He let out after a dramatic pause.

"A-aliens?"

"Yeah. Aliens. They reached Earth millennia ago and approached the leaders of both tribes after seeing that they'd begun to take the first steps to understand things by logic instead of religion… They gave them materials and instructions as basis and told them to work with them: another millennia of ceaseless experimentation allowed Mu to achieve such power… While the On'Setsu Kingdom rather kept it for special uses and didn't boast about it…"

"So aliens do exist."

"Or did. I'm talking about millennia ago. Maybe they're extinct by now, even." Kuroban shrugged.

"Hum. I see…"

"In fact… That "portal" beyond the Kuiper Belt that allows one to skip directly into Kyutora… It's the work of those same aliens… They left a base in Kyutora and two here, on Earth… They're now dead citadels hidden in spots where no human would venture… I explored them and found remains of their history… But I'll tell you another day."

"Thank you for sharing so much with me."

"I'm sorry but I'll have to ask of you to keep this under wraps. It's very confidential. You can't tell your friend."

"I understand. Not like I told him anything about Kyutora either. Speaking of which: are you sure no – one's eavesdropping on us?"

"Sure. I set jammers all over the place to interfere with any surveillance systems. And I've got Killer Eyes patrolling the zone in a 5 km radius: air, land and sea. I'm not going to let them sneak on us like last time."

"Same trick won't work twice."

"Well said. That's the grace."

"Yet… Compared to past actions… The attack on the Sharo Army felt weak and poorly executed."

"Maybe it's a feint to make us think they lack the means. No. I'm sure they can do better than that. Slur told me they've got a Cyber World version of that piece of junk Gray beat and they're using that as means to know what to improve on the real one. I'm sure that they're staking a lot on that piece of junk and everything else is but distractions." Kuroban turned serious and rubbed his chin.

"Hum… Mass-production, maybe? Like that Shagohod in MGS3: Snake Eater…"

"I see. They could sell them to belligerent states and destroy the balance of forces in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Spiral gives off the vibe of being former military so the guy surely knows how to answer to militaries' desires and such." Kuroban deduced.

"It's but a hypothesis." Ernst reminded him.

"You're right but we can't discard anything at this stage."

"Understood. I'll go train."

"Good. See you later."

Ernst stepped away while Kuroban looked like he was thinking about it: he rubbed his chin.

"What would be these guys' goal? I don't think it's just plain terrorism: that must be a distraction. There's something else. But they're being very careful to keep it concealed. Surely only Spiral and that Void rascal know what it's about to avoid leaks. Maybe the members only know Spiral and never get to see or hear Void. Like how many of the BO members have heard about "Ano kata" and know the mail address but haven't heard them or seen them save for the very hi-rank members… Would that mean that Spiral is supposed in a status similar to that of Gin? Could be. Whatever it is that you plot… I'll make pieces out of it: the royal blood flowing on me swears you this… And by the High One! Its wrath will turn you nothingness." He began to mutter before gripping the right fist and closing it.

You'll soon realize how foolish it was to become enemies of the High One! And of the Four Heavenly Kings! Hmpf!

"Eh… Prince, sir?" Kisei walked in.

"Kisei. Do you feel recovered? Don't push yourself. That of a few days ago was very brutal."

"I know, sir. It's just that…"

"Don't feel ashamed for having been caught. No – one could've suspected that the man in front of you was an imposter to begin with. Forget about it already and try to focus on your hobbies."

"My hobbies… Guess that. I'll go to the Botanic Museum. But I'll leave the line open if you need to summon us, sir."

"Good. Feel free to come and go. And if you find eyesores like proxies of those rascals… Go ahead and use them as nutrients. Hmpf."

13:54 PM (Bangkok Time)…

"… We apologize."

"You need not, my warriors. You did what you could: if you could not gather information then that is because they no longer plan on operating on Bangkok."

"We understand."

"You are dismissed and you can remove your "skins" now."

"Roger."

XY was talking with the 4 Warriors inside of the gigantic "city" which was where he and Helios lived: the 4 Warriors, kneeling in front of him, looked up and stood up as their bodies glowed.

"Return to your posts and do not neglect the training."

"Roger."

The 4 Warriors turned out to be the very same ones who'd challenged Rock Man in Pharaoh Man's pyramid years ago: they were Guts Style, Shield Style, Brother Style and Custom Style and each one had an attribute associated to them.

"Lord XY?" Guts Style asked.

"What is it, Red Warrior?"

"What is that lot's goal? What do they hope to achieve?" He politely asked while looking worried.

"If we knew that… Things would be easier. Much easier. Believe me. I know what I say." XY sighed.

"That attack into that base felt like an attempt to fill them with paranoia and fear instead of an attack to destroy them. The numbers were too little and they relied too much on cache Program Advances." Custom Style exposed his opinion.

"That robot must be a distraction too." Shield Style muttered.

"They must be operating from somewhere. Maybe some abandoned base or city? Or a forgotten refuge?" Brother Style wondered.

"Hum… You just reminded me of somewhere… We should investigate it but you need not go out. I will send a remote unit."

"Acknowledged."

The 4 Warriors bowed and walked away while continuing their discussion in a whispered tone of voice: XY headed for the central box and opened the curtains to reveal a stone throne set inside: there were a set of spiraling staircases leading down built behind it so he descended them and ended up in a small dome-shaped room that had nothing: he headed north and across a corridor into a wide round room that had all kind of machines and devices accumulated there and there: holographic screens displayed simulations of experiments and unknown glyphs described what was going on: XY stopped at the entrance and looked around.

"Master Helios?"

"I am here. Section 3 – D."

"Understood."

XY walked down a central corridor and stopped at the third fork: he headed right and a bit down to find Helios interacting with a cylindrical machine that produced holograms of what seemed to be "hyper-space" travel: some objects were displayed in the graph and had annotations to them: Helios looked absorbed on studying them.

"As you can see I will not let some fools distract me from my ceaseless researches. I am studying the effects of faster-than-light travel on heavy bodies… How much energy they would need to plunge into it and if there was a way to detect that "entrance"… Be it dark matter, X – ray, gamma rays… There should be some trace left: our normal ships did leave a "ring" of gamma rays upon entering and exiting it… But heavier mass would mean that the force inflicted upon the time-space fabric would be greater and its effects should be felt for several days." He explained.

"Duo?" XY asked.

"Yes. I know Duo never had hyper-space technology and its max speed is but a fifth of the speed of light yet… Suppose some civilization we do not know of sends a behemoth like that across the galaxy… It would have a limit to how much distance it can travel proportional to its mass and energy… If it tries to force it its atoms would start shifting out and in of the "hyper-space" and it could eventually end up collapsing unto itself because it would lack its atomic structure keeping it in one piece."

"Hum. I see, my Master. So you need my help to compute possible formulae needed to perform that feat?"

"Yes. As usual, you are the one who is more fitted to hi-speed processing and calculation. I might have become a Network Navigator myself but I still retain my limitations of when I was of flesh and blood." Helios calmly told him.

"Understood. Please wait a minute. I want to dispatch a system to inspect a location that could be one of their bases. I have a hunch of a possible location."

"There is no rush." Helios calmly replied.

"Thank you very much."

XY headed for another section of the laboratory and interacted with a spherical device hovering on the air: it formed a "ghost" of it itself which soon vanished and a circular holographic display formed around XY: it turned on and displayed 360º view of an unlit and abandoned location somewhere.

"IR mode: on." XY ordered.

The surroundings changed to display the view in IR and soon enough a heat signature was picked up: XY made the machine approach it and since there was another heat signature that, going by the shape, could be a spotlight, he turned off IR to see that the heat signature was Spiral: he was inspecting one of many devices aligned in the middle of a room somewhere.

"Like I thought…" XY muttered.

The device consisted on a chair having a bulky cubical machine attached behind it: the chair included a helmet-like device hanging from above it and armrests coupled with footrests: most of it looked worn down and broken given the holes present in the cubical machine.

"… No use. This was self-destructed using our same method of acid sulfuric combined with C4… I can't retrieve anything from these to begin with." Spiral was muttering in Russian.

So he is a Russian. Maybe former KGB or SMERSH?

"Question remains, though… Who built these and for what?"

Hmpf. I know what they are but you will never figure it out. Because only a few selected know the truth…

"The helmet thing seems to suggest it could work upon the brain but as for the rest of these tubes and deposits… Psychological experiments by the Ameroupe Army? Brainwash? Interrogation? Torture? These being placed here must be no coincidence. Unfortunately it looks like I'll have to go back empty-handed to Lord Void. I can retrieve one of these and take some days taking it apart in detail to see if I can figure out anything but then again I don't think so." He stood up (he'd been crouching next to it) and grumbled.

Do us a favor and take it with you.

"… Bah. Why bother? It's a piece of junk. And maybe it was a failed project so they left it here to rot. Why should we rely on this junk, anyway? Not worth the time or effort." He switched his mind.

Hum. Not so fortunate… Whatever. There will be opportunities. Sooner or later you will lower the guard. No – one is perfect!

"Still… I haven't managed to figure out who that man on that Polaroid is and who wrote "eliminate" on purple ink behind it… Sounds like it was someone important: an interloper? Dunno. I'm sure the Army swept through the place back then and only overlooked the Polaroid because it was hidden in a small secret compartment in one wall. I found it out of sheer luck." Spiral mumbled.

He began to look around, mistrusting, and seemed to be quietly listening in but gave up soon enough.

"I can't let paranoia get to me or I'll be laughed at. And Lord Void wouldn't like that in the least. Let's pull out and get back to the base so I can resume upgrading Infinitus. This time… It'll be invincible! And I'll show it to my old bosses who laughed at it… Oh yeah… The face of fear, despair and terror that they'll make before they're SLAUGHTERED! It's time for my revenge to be fulfilled…! I've had to wait a long time but it was worth it: nobody will get on the way… And after those are out of the equation then I can focus on the main campaign…" He eagerly muttered.

Hmpf. How foolish… So what motivates you to build that robot is because you want to use it to pay back the humiliation your superiors inflicted to you time ago. But now that we know your true origin we can dig deeper…

"Shit. This place's freezing. And then they say this region is summer all year round. As expected of the capitalistic rascals. Always gloating and all and lying… I swear that if feels colder than Moscow! By the Motherland: what a scam!" He cursed next.

He shut down the spotlight and stuffed inside of an open case: he then drew a Makarov gun with silencer and removed the safety as he carried on his right hand and the case with the left one: his sunglasses began to glow and it was obvious they had an IR function built into them.

You will not detect the "Overseer"… Because it is a cybernetic body that does not emit heat… I simply grabbed its core program and created an "instance" of it that can gather imagery and send it to this computer that processes it and creates this 360º panorama.

Spiral headed up some stairs into an empty hall and exited through a slightly opened door: he closed it and shut the padlock again to exit into a deserted street somewhere: a few low-rise buildings could be seen standing there and there along with unfinished constructions.

According to the records this was supposed to be an urbanization next to a ski station but the company bankrupted and it was abandoned without having been populated…

"… This place is chilling, too!" Spiral was complaining.

It is no wonder that those folk had it easy to build a base underneath this place… A ghost district… And it would seem this is not their base but then again I did not expect it to be.

Spiral carefully advanced while taking cover every a few steps to scan the terrain: there was the sound of a can falling and rolling so he aimed his gun and shot in that direction: there was a cat's scream and Spiral cursed under his breath as he crossed the main street and realized he'd only shot a wild cat.

"Bah. They'll think it was some crazed brat playing around with a gun: why would they bother to look too much into it? If anyone ever drops by to begin with."

Spiral drew a flash-bang grenade and threw it followed by a chaff grenade: the flash and the chaff momentarily interfered with the live feed and when it reconnected he was gone.

He surely used those to hide a Dimensional Converter. It matters not: I shall find you again sooner or later… In the name of Master Helios…! Hmpf…

"I see." Helios stepped in.

"Master Helios." He calmly turned and bowed.

"Stop bowing like you were my servant. You are my laboratory assistant: do not forget that. Assistants need not to bow. Did you any of your comrades do that?" Helios insisted.

"No, Master." He admitted.

"Then just greet me and that will do it. We know each other inside out, anyway. Is there any need to pretend by now?"

"No, Master."

"Good. Then let us work on those simulations. The lot can wait."

"Understood. By your will, Master Helios. That lot will soon be history…"