U/N: uuughhhh. this is the poster chapter for all chapters with poor planning. But it ended up this way and it was kind of fun to write in the sense that it was a different story telling perspective. I'm sorry I failed already at keeping up to date with the schedule. I'm not at home, my sister has the files and wouldn't put them into doc manager. BUT this one is here.
Title: Digimon Adventure 06: Data
By: UrazamayKing
Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.
Part 2: Challenge
Chapter 14: Forced Entry
Willis Kennedy:
Once I'd tried to make a relationship work for a very long time when both parties knew full well that it was not going to work out.
Once I had made the decision to enter the Digital World when I thought it was in danger when, if I'd just stayed home that day I wouldn't have had to say goodbye to my two best friends for three full years.
Once I rejected the girl who I loved simply because—well there was no reason. I just did it.
Once I made the conscious decision to not use the rusted key my father had left for me, which resulted in time wasted, wondering about the fate of my family, when in reality, if I'd just used the damn key my mind would have been at ease knowing the truth.
Once I had tried to create friendship, greedy over the love that I felt with Terriermon and Lopmon, craving more affection. This attempted creation of friendship had resulted in a virus monster that had fled the country through Digital means and began targeting my future friends.
The point was... I'd made a lot of mistakes in my life. But the most recent mistake, and possibly the most boring, was that I'd chosen to stay behind inside my workplace instead of going home to my family and friends. Did I have a reason to stay in this building? No. I did not. It was simply curiosity that kept me here, and of course, as I knew, curiosity killed the cat.
I'd never understood that saying before. But now I did. I knew why.
Curiosity led to the cat being hungry and uncomfortable for days. Curiosity was the reason the cat had to shower in cold water daily, and the reason he wasn't wearing his own clothes. Curiosity caused the cat to be left to work permanently forever, with no hope of seeing his friends again for a long time. Curiosity was not something the cat would ever give in to again.
The cat, in this case, was me.
I was the cat.
I came to work Friday thinking'Gee, can't wait until I can go home tonight to that party that my friends want me to go to and fall asleep in my own bed tonight.'
But that wasn't how Friday had gone. Friday had been filled with tedious boring work where I'd not been allowed to leave, until finally my chance had arrived, and I chose... to stay? What was wrong with me?
After everyone had left, Arnold had sat everyone who stayed down for a talk.
Director Arnold stood at the front of the drafting room, staring to the side, out the wide window. We were seated in stiff, uncomfortable wooden chairs around a shining wooden table. There was a monitor at the end of the long oval shaped table, next to where Arnold would be sitting.
The only others who had been stupid enough to choose to stay were all sitting around the table with me. I recognized only one of them. A man in his late fifties. He'd been working here as long as I had at least—probably longer. There were two other men, one looked like he was past retirement age, and the other around forty. There were two women, one with short curly hair in her fifties maybe, and the other with long blonde hair was probably the youngest person to work here aside from myself.
Arnold turned to us all gracefully, and floated to the end of the table, where he calmly sat down and placed his hands palm down. "I must thank you all," He said softly, "Thank you for coming to my rescue. It is of great importance to me that this particular assignment be worked on, and I couldn't be happier with who my team is compiled of." His eyes lingered on the blonde haired girl in a way that clearly said he did not want her there, "We have much to accomplish."
The girl whom he did not entirely like raised her hand. "Sir," She said, "What is it that we will be doing?"
"That is none of your concern." Arnold snapped. He honestly had the shortest fuse of anyone I'd seen, maybe ever, digimon or human. It was like his calmness was a well rehearsed facade that he did not believe in, or enjoy, and whenever someone questioned it, or triggered even the smallest of his peeves, he would break.
We all knew what he was capable of. A few years back during our previous employers last mission, Arnold turned on him, and left the room. To be fair, there was no proof of that happening. It was all a rumour, but because of his personality, it seemed likely. He was the most ambitious person I could even imagine, and although ambition would usually be looked at as an asset, with him it was his most horrifying quality. He wanted power so badly that he would let his best friend die at the hands of a monster he, himself, had made.
Again. Rumours are just rumours—but seriously. That's the kind of thing he'd do.
"But h-how will we know what to do?" The girl asked timidly.
"You will do exactly as I say." Arnold said, trying to regain control of his temper. "No more interruptions." He spoke louder this time, "I do not take kindly to those who disrespect me." The girl in question blinked stupidly at him and he stood up again. "We are creating something big. Something more powerful than any of you could ever hope to dream of. Something that, if executed precisely will create true peace."
That seemed unlikely. Didn't he know that only the bearer of the crest of Trust could bring true peace?
Duh.
But what he was saying did seem interesting. Something with enough raw power to create peace...
This coming from Arnold kind of frightened me though. What did that mean?
"Sir," I said, making sure he was not about to say anything. "Even with your sparklingly brilliant mind," He flashed a smile at me, showing me his teeth which were actually sparkling, "How did you dream of something so powerful?" I wasn't sure which questions to ask, but any information was better than no information.
"A friend helped me," Director Arnold said gently, sitting down, once again calm and collected, "He and I worked together to envision a better world. A world where we will be looked at as heroes. A hero does not have to be the man of brawn. This time the hero will be the brains. Me. My plan will create peace to surround us all."
So he'd said.
He then stood, grabbing a stack of papers, and began handing out thick packages of paper. One went to each of us, and we looked at them, some looked confused, but what I was seeing was fairly straight forward. I did create a lot of the software after all.
'Section A'
That was my task. I could do that.
Then we were given sleeping arrangements in which we were told to not sleep. At least for as long as we could. He didn't care if we were rested or not, he just wanted his work done, and there was a lot to be completed. And so we were told to make good use of the coffee machine in the kitchen and to sit down and work.
The actual sleeping arrangements involved the couches in the lobby, pulling out into a bed. I'd had to share a bed with some random guy who sweated like nobody's business and kept taking the blanket. It was disgusting. And to make matters worse, he snored like a pig. Like, loud as all hell.
The first night wasn't even so bad. I could handle being uncomfortable for a night or two, no matter what the predicaments. I loved camping after all, and I'd been stuck in adventure mode a time or two, so there was nothing that could slow me down in that department.
It was the fact that bad things just continued to pile up. First, the smelly puddle of sweat that I had to sleep with, and then the fact that the coffee machine made coffee that tasted like tar, though it did effectively wake me up every morning, that was for sure. Showering with cold water was one of the worst—because I could only go so long without showering, and that was the only option we had. At least there were showers to be fair—not that it made any sense. Why would someone install showers here? That didn't make any sense. But I was glad they had done so, even if they did fail miserably at hooking up the hot water. Considering everyone here was of above average intelligence you'd think one of us would be able to do it, but we were never given the opportunity to try.
The worst—though perhaps that could have just been because of my current irritation—was the clothing. There was a storage room with plenty of spare clothing, all of which was too large and uncomfortable. The pants were tied together tightly with my brown leather belt the best I could do, but they puckered horribly around my waist. The shirt I'd been given was white, and stained, so I just left it off and stuck with a white t-shirt I'd found in the room. What was worst of all though, was the irritating, scratchy grey fabric the underwear was made out of.
How in the world was I supposed to get any work done if I couldn't stop thinking about how itchy my butt was?
Luckily there was a washing machine in the building. Unfortunately, it did not come paired with a dryer, and so all of my clothes were currently hanging over chairs in someone else's office drying. I thought many times of just putting them on anyway. At least they'd be more comfortable than this, but if I managed to wait it out, I knew I'd be happier in the long run.
What I was doing though, wasn't my task... and that was because of what had happened over the weekend.
First, on Saturday, our first real day of work I'd been partnered with someone I didn't know, and who refused to speak to me. She looked at me like I was scum or something, I didn't mind because she looked like she wouldn't be too pleasant to talk to.
Even then, on the first day I hadn't thought I'd be there that long, I thought maybe part way through the night, maybe into the next morning at most. But by the time the sun was going down I was still working away at my computer, adjusting all the mistakes the Director had made in his programming. Well someone made mistakes, I didn't know who, or care who, I just knew there were mistakes.
But whenever I saw that the Director was out of his office, and therefore not paying any attention to our monitors or what we were up to, I'd start working on breaking down the signal barrier. I just wanted to tell Michael, or someone that I was okay, and that I was at work. I figured they'd at least assume that, but talking to someone might've been nice.
Especially since I'd gone through all of Sunday without saying a single word until dinner time.
I'd just finished throwing my clothes into the washing machine for the first time, and retrieving the horrendous clothes I was not looking forward to wearing. I'd already taken my deliciously cold shower and was drinking the perfectly disgusting coffee provided for us.
Standing on the white tiles of the kitchen floor, surrounded by people who looked like they were ready to jump out the window, I realized I wasn't going to get to go home any time soon. I didn't know how I knew it, but something about that moment made me realize we were in this for the long haul. My co-workers' eyes were heavily lidded and they had dark sagging bags under them. Their hair was messy and entirely un-presentable, and their clothes, like mine, did not fit, and were barely staying up. One man had actually been given coveralls to wear, and I think I'd have preferred that. At least they'd be on my body.
Each of us checked the refrigerator in turn, hoping food would magically appear, but obviously it did not.
Then, as if by some miracle, Director Arnold entered the room with a bag full of groceries. He gently set them on the counter, and all of us sort of flocked around the food like a flock of edacious vultures who had not eaten in a month. It had only been less than a day, but god was I hungry.
Director Arnold somehow looked flawless. He looked rested, his hair was well groomed, and his suit looked as new as ever. It was a little unnerving actually. He stood, watching us eat momentarily. I'd grabbed an apple and an entire loaf of bread. I didn't know what I was going to do with it, but I wanted it all.
Finally, Arnold cleared his throat, and spoke, "I've been reviewing what you have all accomplished, and I am disappointed with the results." His eyes scanned all five of us. "Production is usually done much quicker than this."
Production is usually run by more than five people, but wisely, I said nothing.
"Section B is not programmed, and Section C hasn't even been touched." His eyes landed on the two women who were sitting at the table. They swallowed whatever food was in their mouth to respond, but they didn't get anything out, because he didn't let them. "I do not care for excuses. I want to see progress." He was very serious, and if anyone talked after that, they'd have a death wish. He then turned to me, "Good work." He said, nodding his head.
"T-thank you, sir." I said, my voice cracking, from not having been used.
"Now," he said, pacing across the floor, "If the work on all four sections is completed by the end of today I will allow you to return home briefly. Perhaps you could all do with a nice warm bed, and a fresh change of clothes. You will then return immediately following." Everyone, and I had to admit, myself included, was smiling then, "But only if you complete everything."
"Sir," The eldest man said, raising his hand, "I have a question about payment."
"You are being paid by the hour." Arnold said flatly, "Everyone who chose to miss work for the duration of our project is at fault if they are unable to make their personal payments. They made the choice to back out of our goals. We six are visionaries. We will be admired by all, while those left behind will be forgotten. I will not be forgotten."
Needless to say, we hadn't gotten our work done. I'd barely gotten my own work done as it was. I tried to help the others, but they were too far behind and there was no chance to finish by the end of Sunday. Sections A, B and C were all finished by the end of Monday, no thanks to me. I'd finished my work, and while I was pretending to help for a while, I was really working tirelessly on breaking the signal barrier so I could just call someone. I tried using my digivice to contact people to no avail. I used my D-terminal, still nothing. I even tried to go into the Digital World, but the gate refused to open.
Probably for the better. I didn't want to be associated with digimon at all at this point. Not after the events that unfolded on Tuesday.
Everyone was gathered in the main office areas by that day, and I was much more comfortable wearing my own clothes, and they'd been freshly washed for the third time that week—but I was certainly planning on throwing them out the moment I got home. It was inconvenient to work in the open, because that meant I had less time to hack away at whatever system was keeping us confined inside. Whatever it was it seemed to give life to the building though. The doors and windows wouldn't even open. It was like the building itself was trapping us inside.
Though that could be safer. I was pretty sure one of my colleagues was ready to jump out the window. Everyone looked even worse by this point, stressed, tired, frustrated and lonely. We'd not bothered to get to know each other. I don't know why none of them did so, but to me, it felt that giving in and speaking with them would be the same as admitting we were never getting out. But I wanted out. I just wanted to be done what we were doing.
The original four sections we'd been working on were all finished and in one folder. It appeared that this was the virus of what we were working on. My task was to read through the code of the virus several times to ensure it would work properly.
I only skimmed through it once, but it was fine, I was sure. Instead I resumed hacking the systems. I always felt really weird about creating the virus part of our projects. Nothing could live without balance though, and to create life you had to create chaos and control within the code. I didn't know what the others were doing today, but I wasn't making the control, so they were I figured.
The Director was pacing around the room, checking over our work a few minutes later, so I had the code open, casually reading through it. "Have you discovered any mistakes?" Arnold asked briskly.
"I have not, sir." I said, "I've been through it several times, and no mistakes have jumped out at me."
"Then you are not looking hard enough." Arnold said, folding his arms, frustrated. "I inputted mistakes into the code to ensure that whoever was in charge was doing their job. I know where the mistakes I created are, and I considered removing them when I placed you in control of the assignment. I thought you would be the one person here that would not fail me." He turned his back to me, "I was wrong. You're as useless as the rest of your colleagues. You do not deserve recognition for my masterpiece. My work of art." Then he walked off, across the room to the elevator. As he was waiting for the doors to open, he turned to me and said, "Find the mistakes."
When he was gone I began muttering under my breath about how it was stupid to meddle with your own project. He was basically screwing with his own 'masterpiece' just assuming we'd catch it. He could have caused a massive explosion. Though, the mistakes he added were very minor, which I'd found with one thorough read through. So, as much as it made me angry to admit it... he knew what he was doing.
When I was starting my second read through the telephone began ringing in the center of the room. No one else even looked up from their seats, so I ignored it as well. But when it stopped ringing, it just began again a moment later. I waited it out again, but on the third call I couldn't take it any longer and I answered the phone. "Hello?" I said into the phone.
"That is not a very professional greeting," A voice that sounded a bit like gravel being dumped through a wood chipper came through the phone, surprising me. I'd never heard anyone who sounded more like a stereotypic man. His voice was low and strong and... there was something about it that I just couldn't explain.
"Sorry," I said, clearing my throat, "How can I help you?"
"I would like to speak to Director Arnold." The man said.
"I'll have to retrieve him." I said, "He's just left. I'll ask him to call you back." He grunted his approval, "Uh, who are you?"
The man sighed, disappointed in my I guess, "Maugrim." The voice said, and then he had hung up.
"Kay..." I said slowly, hanging the phone up. I was heading down the elevator, unsure where Director Arnold would be, calling out nervously on every floor until I reached the basement, where I had no need to call out. I could see him, through a sheet of glass at the end of the 'Kennel'. This was where we kept Arnold's monsters. The ones who were successful anyway. Nervously I walked down the hallway, looking to the creatures inside the cages. They were all similar—always sporting the colours violet and black. They weren't digimon, and they weren't humans. They were something else entirely. Something created by man.
The information I'd provided from Diaboromon was changed drastically, but still stood as the base of the operation. Diaboromon was made using a combined data code from Terriermon and Lopmon, with me being dumb enough to tamper with it to make him stronger. I'd wanted someone to help me fight Marshall at the time, and Diaboromon was the one for the job.
But when I'd brought the information to the office they changed it. They took away the code that made them digimon, and added... something else. I'd never actually figured out what it was, but it had to be something to do with humans. There were too many similarities to ignore.
They were good creatures though. All except the one at the end. "Behemoth" his oh so clever name was. Arnold had named him. He was bigger than the rest and less human. Arnold was in his cage at that moment, stroking the long slender snout of the animalistic creature. The glistening golden eyes flicked up to me, but neither made any other indication that they cared I was walking toward them.
The entire room was silent, each creature seemingly holding their breath as I walked down toward the Director. As I neared them though I could hear faint murmuring from within the glass box, and when I was finally standing just outside the door I could hear him speaking.
"You're not like them." He was saying, "You're perfect. You're real. And soon, there will be no need for differences. Because you will be alive."
Stupidly, I knocked on the door. Arnold spun around quickly and Behemoth began barking in weird spluttering sounds. I jumped back quickly as Arnold opened the door, shutting it behind him quickly after slipping out. "What are you doing down here?" He asked loudly over his pet's squealing.
"I-I—"
"Speak!"
"The phone!" I shouted. "Maugrim called. He wanted your attention." Arnold's face lit up with a strange sense of victory and satisfaction and he pushed past me, leaving me alone to stare at the screaming pet.
Following him upstairs was one of the smarter decisions I'd ever made though. I acted as if I were getting a drink of water for the better part of an hour as I listened through his office door. I didn't hear much of the phone call.
Just that they were working on transferring the power into a weapon of sorts rather than just an energy source. That was good information... if only I could figure out what it meant.
It didn't take long for me to decide on my next course of action that lasted all day yesterday-Wednesday. I didn't know exactly who Arnold was talking to Behemoth about, but I had a feeling it was the digimon. There was something about the way he'd said it that made me suspicious. And that was why going to the Digital World would be bad. I didn't want an enemy as powerful and mysterious as Arnold. He could take me out and make it look like I'd never existed at all, like a file removed from the hard drive all together.
Plus Behemoth wasn't someone I wanted to be crossing.
But I was going against his wishes, and that meant every moment for the past two days I'd been on edge, waiting and watching for something to go wrong.
Poor choice of explanatory words as I was, in fact, making things go wrong. I was placing fractal codes in the wrong folders, and adding things that ought not to be there. Just small things. Subtle things. Earlier today the Director wanted to see how it was all coming along, and he'd tested everything out only to short circuit the entire room, and blow every fuse in the whole building.
That was pretty funny for me, as it was all my fault, but I didn't have to try hard to conceal my amusement because no matter how funny it was, I knew that if I was caught I could easily be disposed of. He obviously didn't like me much anymore, and if he found out what I was doing he'd certainly not need me—he didn't need me now. I was tampering with everything he was doing.
We were back to work now though, well not me. I was working on the signal deal. Finally I'd been able to locate the source of the barrier. It wasn't inside the building at all. It was a satellite. It was pretty straight forward from there on. I was good at hacking things—it was how I made my living. Finally, breaking through the last wall of security I was able to use my phone.
Well not really. I'd have to change the settings, which I now had full access to... but doing so would more than likely cause alarm to Arnold, and he'd lock me up or something.
I was staring at the page with the signal for a moment, wondering if I'd have time to hack into the Digital World and open a portal there... I couldn't stay here much longer without being found out anyway. I needed to go... but I wouldn't have access until I turned the signal back on... and I wasn't sure I'd have enough time...
I was staring at the page, my digivice in my hand rolling between my fingers absent mindedly wondering out I could escape when the Director stepped from his office again. I hastily shut the signal page and opened something one of the others had asked me to look over.
The Director's office was at the other end of the room, but his eyes were narrowing in on me anyway. He looked away a moment later, setting my nervous, shaking body to rest. He couldn't know I'd been doing anything. He had no more proof than he'd had before.
I couldn't even have proved it. But... maybe I should stop just in case... but what if what we were creating was something really really bad? I'd pretty much done it all for them as it was, it was the least I could do to whoever it was to be aimed at to tamper with it as often as I could manage without being caught...
"Kennedy." Arnold said, making me jump and slam my hand down on the table, dropping my digivice. It rolled along the ground in circles until it hit Arnold's black leather shoe, where it lost all momentum and landed with the screen facing up.
I quickly grabbed it, and tossed it aside. "It's nothing," I said to him, "Just something my friend gave me. A watch. That's what it is." Arnold looked to me, his eyebrows burrowing into one another as he thought. Suddenly he came to some conclusion and he moved straight toward his office.
Everyone was staring at me, and my heart sank quickly.
He knew what was going on. He was putting pieces together. I'd made Diaboromon. Where did I get the information? Someone was stopping this from working. I had a digivice—add in the fact that I was featured in a movie about saving the world with the help of the digimon...
I quickly turned back to my computer and opened the signal page and began changing every one of the settings I could possibly hope to. I paused briefly considering an attempted hack to get to the Digital World, but I saw Arnold standing in his office through the glass wall, turning to the door.
Instead I grabbed my phone and started typing madly to Mari
"Help. At work. Get me out."
I had barely clicked send when Arnold had grabbed me by the shoulder roughly with one hand and pulling my phone out of my hand with the other. He threw it toward the ground and began dragging me through the room.
"I knew I couldn't trust you." He said through gritted teeth as I fought against his surprisingly strong hold. My heart was hammering now. Was I going to die?
Dammit! I forgot my digivice on the desk...
"At first I thought you were admirable." Arnold said, "But I was smarter than you. You think you're all that. You young people always do. But guess what Mr Kennedy? You were wrong. I found you out—You and everyone else who has ever tried to stop my dreams from becoming a reality."
Even in all the rush and blur of things I could really only focus on how typical villain he was sounding. I was scared out of my mind, I was no longer in control of my body as the elevator made a soft 'ding' on every floor we passed by. His grip was getting tighter—I could tell but for some I couldn't tell. I couldn't feel it. My knees buckled under my weight and I gasped for a breath that I was, for some reason, unable to take.
"Trying to escape?" Arnold said, pulling me back to my feet. "I don't think so. You betrayed me. You turned your back on me and joined the wrong team." Arnold was insane now. He was smiling like a mad man.
Where were we?
The basement?
He was going to kill me.
He was going to feed me to the monsters.
Was it bad that all I cared about was that I was wearing my own clothes?
Mari Goutokuji:
It was strange, when the coin was in the air. You call heads or tails because you can't make up your mind, and yet while it was up there you knew which one you wanted it to land on.
There I sat, on the edge of a sidewalk, people passing me, talking about their days excitedly, some of them pushing into me with no respect for a human being. Some of them even went as far as to think I was a prostitute, which I'd let them get away with as I was sitting on a street corner. But I wasn't wearing anything too bad. Jean shorts, a tank top and a whimsical sweater like thing that I'd borrowed from Tatum. I'd been sitting there for at least fifteen minutes, just thinking to myself, watching the colourful cars drive by—or park in a traffic jam, really. The air was thick and gross, the sky could be described the same way, and the ground... well yeah, that too. I wasn't even sure why I was sitting there and not back at the house... probably because it seemed pointless with Willis around.
Which brought me back to the coin in the air.
Willis was gone, and I didn't know how or when he was going to come back. It made more sense to go back home and prepare the library, like I'd been doing the past couple months. Hideto and Kiyoko would more than likely be no more help than Michael, Tatum or Jenna, but at least I'd be home. I was worried about Willis and everyone was acting weirdly around me as if Willis not coming home would cause me to explode. I'd be pretty angry, yes. But I'd still survive! Willis was just a good friend now, and people lost their friends all the time.
Not that I wanted to lose him.
And not that we had to just be friends anymore. From what I'd seen last Friday, Marshall had moved on finally to the dark haired girl, Veronica, who ran the hate club against the digimon, which meant that it should, in theory, be okay for me to date someone.
Not that I was ready.
Nor was I ready to see the outcome of the coin.
But that wasn't up to me. There were many things in this world I could do, but stop gravity was not one of them, even though that would be amazing.
And it landed with a soft clink on the dirty road in front of me. I looked down to the coin I'd found on the ground in the first place and sighed. It was heads.
Tails meant I was to stay at Willis' house and wait for him, heads was to indicate my departure.
I reached down and flipped the coin over.
I wasn't going anywhere anyway, I didn't know why I thought I would be able to.
I tried to talk the talk, but I was scared. Willis wasn't coming home and I didn't know where he was. Was I overreacting to this? Most likely! But he was gone, and did that mean he wasn't coming back? Because I'd lost too many people to accept the fate of losing him too.
I'd gone to his work on Saturday three times, trying to get inside, but the doors had been locked and all the lights were out each time I checked. Sunday I visited only twice, while I looked in some other of his favourite places, such as his favourite restaurant, the movie theatre, and the kill shelter next to the mall. He often took people there to help get some pets adopted.
I myself had adopted a scraggly old cat a couple years back. Chandler, his name was. He was already nearing death, but it seemed wrong to just let him go. He died not long after, but he took a real liking to Hideto, much to his dismay. Kiyoko was scared to go near the thing. I couldn't be sure, but I figured it was at least partly to do with Sigma killing both my hamster and guinea pig while he was possessing Kiyoko.
Willis was nowhere to be found in this enormous city. And to be fair I couldn't be sure of that—it was after all enormous. What if we were thinking too small. He clearly wasn't hanging around like a fool. What if he was dead in a ditch somewhere? Or kidnapped? Or shacking up with some girl...?
I absentmindedly reached for my mess of hair and ran my fingers through it, working away at any knots that had formed with the wind.
What was I supposed to do?
I made up my mind quickly, and jumped to my feet. If I could ever join the mass of people heading down the street I'd be going to Willis' work place again. There had to be someone there eventually, and that was the last place he'd been seen. It was nearly lunch time, I noticed as I checked my phone. That meant someone would surely be leaving the building. Or staying. Or standing near it. Someone had to work there still! I wasn't in the wrong place either because there was a big gaudy sign that told me where to go.
Soon enough I was walking down the street, feeling weird wearing shoes with no heels. I felt short and unseen, like everyone was purposely looking away from me, trying not to see me, like I was that gaudy sign.
Pushing through the people to get to the crosswalk, I rushed across the road, and continued on my way. The walk went by in no time. I knew the way there better than I knew the way to any other place. I'd walked there more often recently than anywhere else, except perhaps my library. I didn't have a job see, aside from that one. Well I did, every now and then, but I was fired repeatedly.
I could have kept the jobs but I didn't take direction well.
Hideto and Kiyoko were still shocked when I'd tell them I was fired. It was always for different reasons. Once it was because my manager said that only the men could work more than twenty hours a week because they were simply better at the job. And as a woman I did not take that well. I wasn't some crazed raging feminist who fought for my rights over every little thing, but as the job folding clothes at a store in the mall, I simply had to disagree. Both genders were equally capable.
Once I was fired simply because I was late. I had been two hours late... three days in a row, but I didn't need a job! I was doing perfectly fine on my own. And how I was doing that, no one needed to know. No matter how bad Hideto wanted to.
And then there it was, standing tall in front of me. The dark stone walls rose high toward the horrible looking sky, standing there as if it were some monument to greatness. But it wasn't. It was some stupid building that took Willis. I kicked it, annoyed and instantly regretted that.
Limping toward the front door, I pressed my face against it, cupping my hands around my eyes to see through the glass.
The lights were still out completely. That just didn't seem believable! Why were the lights out all the time? Had they all been killed? Was everyone still inside? Could that be possible? Probably not...
I grabbed the shining brass door handles and pulled on them, finding that the doors were locked. I shook them, trying to break the lock, but they remained solid and closed.
Cursing under my breath I paced around the building, looking through the windows to see offices with their lights off though every single one, until I was back at the door. I took a few steps back to look up, to see the windows from higher up, but again, there was nothing. It was mid day though... maybe I just couldn't see the lights that were on. There had to be someone inside!
There had to be.
"Excuse me," A woman's voice said, causing me to turn around, almost excitedly.
"Do you work here?" I asked a little pre-emptively. The woman was clearly a reporter of some kind. She was wearing a pink blazer and had a clipboard in one hand. The woman shook her head, her hair bouncing along. She smiled to me and stepped closer, "Then... what do you want?"
"I was just wondering if you could partake in a survey?" She said brightly.
"No?" I said, shrugging my shoulders, "I'm kind of busy is all."
"It will only take a moment!" She said insistently—and that she was. Everyone on these streets was persistent enough to either get you to do what they wanted you to, or to stalk you until they scared you into doing it. So either way I felt as though I'd have to do the survey.
"I'm really busy." I tried in one last effort to get out of it.
"What's your name?" She asked, ignoring me, holding up her clipboard. She clicked her pen and readied herself to write it down, pushing her hair behind her ear.
I sighed, defeated. "Mari," I said.
"Mm-hm." She hummed, writing down what I'd said. "And how old are you?"
"Twenty five," I said quickly, tapping my leg impatiently. This was already proving to be boring and a waste of my time. Not that I'd be able to find him or anything, but I still wanted to try.
"Oh...kay," the girl said finishing writing it down, then she looked up to me with wide brown eyes, "And how do you feel we should rid ourselves of the digimon?"
I felt like I'd been slapped across the face. It was so sudden—so out of the blue. Was this what people were doing now? Just walking around town spreading the word that the digimon had to go? Was this how crap like this got blown out of proportion? Because I wasn't going to take part in it. And to prove that to her, I walked right past her, ignoring her.
I was fuming. Or was I upset? I couldn't tell. I was unhappy in any case, and it wasn't until I was nearly back to Willis' house that I realized what I should have done.
I shouldn't have walked from her. I should have told her exactly what I thought. She needed another perspective. If she was the one spreading the word then I could be the one taking part in spreading my word. The word that the digimon were good. Usually. But it was no use anymore. I was already turning into the laneway of the lot, kicking a rock along the paved drive.
The world was going to turn against us. All of us. I may not have had a partner anymore, but I was still heavily involved... but that was enough trouble. Enough pain to go through as it stood. I needed to know Willis was okay so that we could focus on what was really important.
The upcoming revolution I'd be leading in attempts to smack some sense into the people of Earth. That's all a person really needs, I found. A good smack upside the head and a scream in the face until they got the point across. They had such thick skulls, humans. I didn't want them to miss the message, no matter how simple it was.
"You are wrong."
That's all there was to it.
"You're home!" Jenna cheered, startling me. I looked up to see her with her arms linked with Chi's. The two were heading down the driveway, dressed like they might be going out for lunch together. I noticed Kudamon was not around Jenna's neck and did not have to ask why to know the answer. It just wasn't safe anymore.
I smiled to her, unsure how to respond. The couple stopped in front of me, looking like they might have something to say, but the silence that followed was pretty awkward. "Well..." Chi said finally, "We'd better get going." I nodded, and waved to them, never saying a word. I knew I was going to hear about that later. I'd been so careful about making sure to smile and be positive whenever someone came around... they'd just surprised me was all.
I stopped outside the door, ensuring I did not make the same mistake twice, and I prepared myself, taking deep breaths before opening the door.
I pushed it open and relaxed instantly. The house smelled like lavender. Tatum had been going to every room to rid the furniture of the scent of burnt popcorn and I could not have been more grateful. I saw into the dining room where Monodromon was sitting, eating a sandwich at the table using t-shirt he'd found as a napkin covering his legs.
I stepped into the kitchen, looking for the others, and saw both Michael and Tatum inside, sitting by the island counter. They did not look up to me even for a moment, and resumed whatever whispered conversation they'd been having before. I imagined it was important to some extent or I'd have been at least welcomed home. It didn't bother me much anyway, so I decided I'd go relax outside with Lalamon's flower.
Sliding open the glass door I was met with a cool breeze wafting the scent of the flower garden toward me. I closed my eyes and let it sink in for a moment, feeling a sense of familiarity about it. It smelled just like Lalamon's garden did back in Japan. I hadn't been there in nearly a year. Since the anniversary of her death, which was at the end of May, one day after Willis' birthday actually. It was easy enough to remember.
When I opened my eyes to look to where the beautifully strong pink flower usually sat, I saw Terriermon blocking the view, sitting, his back to me. Lopmon was standing next to him, a watering can in her hand as she poured some water down to the flower.
A smile crept onto my face as I walked toward them. As I got nearer their voices met my ears.
"He'll be back." Terriermon assured Lopmon, who I noticed, now that I was close enough to, was crying. "Willis always comes home."
Lopmon sniffled, and set the watering can down, before falling into a sitting position next to her brother. "I'm just scared that he won't."
"But he will." Though even Terriermon sounded unsure.
"One day he won't." Lopmon said softly. "One day he'll die, just like any other human. I don't want that to be soon, but no matter how far away it is, I won't be ready." Lopmon cried.
"I'll never be ready." Terriermon said in a voice that actually broke my heart. I hadn't been this close to crying in a long time, but listening to them made me realize how selfish I'd been. I hadn't even thought about how they'd be taking it—not to this extent at least, and that was mostly why I was ready to cry. I was a bad person. I'd been so caught up about losing my partner that I didn't even think about how these two would be feeling at the potential of losing theirs.
"We'll just be born again," Lopmon said softly, reaching for Terriermon's hand. "I guess... unless we die here, with Willis... but what happens to dead digimon?"
"I don't know." Terriermon said, looking up to her, "B-but... if we die, we'll die together... We'll always be together. Y-you and me."
Lopmon leaned sideways and hugged Terriermon, and I had my hand over my mouth, unsure if I should join them, or leave them be. "I know that." Lopmon said, "I just never want to say goodbye to Willis."
I wanted to tell them that they'd be okay! That Willis was going to come back, but I had no proof, and I wasn't one to give people false hope. I told them the truth, whether they'd like it or not. In this case I didn't even know the truth, so how was I supposed to treat them?
I just needed to hear from Willis. I needed him to tell me what was happening. I needed to tell the two digimon in front of me that they would be okay—that Willis would be okay.
Beep. Beep.
Terriermon and Lopmon turned sharply to face me and I froze, listening to my phone beep. With shaky hands I grabbed at my phone. I tried to ignore the look Lopmon was giving me as Terriermon turned back to wipe his eyes, but it was too hard. She looked broken. I pulled out my phone and turned it on, and stared at the screen.
My heart had skipped a beat, and I'd literally dropped my phone. I caught it awkwardly and brought it back up to see.
"Help. At work. Get me out. I think I'm in trouble."
It was from Willis.
"G-guys." I said nervously, unsure what this news meant. I fell to my knees, unable to stand any longer, and showed them the phone. Terriermon was next to me in an instant, taking the phone with a bragging look on his face, which he'd sported ever since he'd learned how to use a phone. He stared down at the message, Lopmon looking over his shoulder, then as one, they looked up to me.
"What does that mean?" Lopmon asked. "When did he send this?"
"A minute ago," Terriermon said, pointing to something on the screen. He smiled brightly to Lopmon, "He's okay!" She threw her arms around him and hugged him, and I smiled to them, still shaky.
Help.
He'd said help. He'd said he was in trouble. I got to my feet, taking my phone from them. "W-we have to do something." I said. "Come on, Tatum will know what to do."
We had just shut the sliding door when I heard an impatient sounding knock on the front door.
I started rushing toward it, slipping a little as I passed through the staircases, my heart pounding. Somehow I knew it was Willis. I was just so sure. He was home. He'd sent me a message, and now he was back! He was going to be okay!
I threw the door open, ready to greet him, aware of Terriermon and Lopmon rushing behind me and suddenly I shut the door most of the way upon seeing a man who was certainly not Willis. I ushered Terriermon and Lopmon with my foot, pushing them behind the door. I didn't know who this was, but I wanted to slap myself for thinking it would be Willis.
Why would he be knocking at his own front door? And more importantly, he'd just told me he was stuck at work. He was in trouble at work. Not here.
The man in front of me was wearing a pinstriped suit with a white suit and a tie with an ugly pattern repeated across the fabric. His hair was neat, and his face was bright, but somehow annoyed. Looking into his eyes I could see some kind of burning desire to accomplish something, and somehow it was unmistakable.
"Can I help you?" I asked finally, plastering a fake smile onto my face.
The man was leaning slightly to his left in attempt to get a good look at something behind me, and once again I found myself pushing Terriermon and Lopmon with my foot, further into the corner. "Hello madam, I work with Willis Kennedy and I was merely wondering if this is his current place of residence?"
"Who's the stiff?" Terriermon hissed from behind the door.
I kicked toward him with my foot and laughed loudly to cover up his voice. "He lives here, yes," I said, smiling brightly. "He's not in right now, could I take a message?"
"Oh, well, where is he?" He asked me, "I'm his employer you see, and I have something to ask him."
Willis' boss was standing outside Willis' house looking for Willis when Willis was stuck at work? That seemed more than a little off to me, but I didn't know what to say or do, or who to trust and who not to trust even. "He's somewhere," I said, deciding to not tell him where Willis was. He should know, shouldn't he...? "I thought he'd gone to work." I changed my mind quickly. The plan popped into my head quickly and I trusted my instincts.
"He hasn't been to work in days!" The man said with a shocked expression, "Surely you knew that." I shook my head, once again confused. Where was he if he hadn't been at work...? Had someone else sent the message. No. No one would choose me to send it to except Willis. Maybe Marshall... but I'd seen him the Friday Willis had left. It couldn't be him. "Could I have a moment of your time?" He was still craning his neck to look behind me.
"I'm busy right now," I said, "Maybe later?" I smiled to him and shut the door, but he knocked a second later, so I slowly opened the door back up. "Yes?" My eyes fell to the device in his hand. A digivice... was it his? Or was it Willis'?
"Willis left this at work," The man said.
"When?" I asked, "I saw him with it just the other morning!"
"Ah, well I don't know." The man said, "I was wondering if you could tell me what it is."
"I don't have a clue." I said, "Willis is a strange guy." I was trying to find a way to trick him into telling me something. If I could break him then I'd know he was lying, and who to trust and what to do next. But I couldn't stand here talking to him forever, I'd have to work fast. "Well, I'll give it to him." I said, reaching out to grab the digivice.
The man pulled his hand back quickly and jerked his other one forward, pushing the door open. I grabbed it quickly, but knew it was too late. He'd seen inside, and I could feel Terriermon rushing back into hiding around my legs.
"What was that?" The man asked.
"My dog." I said firmly.
"Woof." Terriermon added.
The man's nostrils widened as the fire in his eyes raged suddenly. His lips curled into a smile and he grabbed the door, pushing it. I gaped and started pushing back with Terriermon and Lopmon's help. "Willis just texted me from work!" I shouted out the door in one last effort as my body was pumped with adrenaline, pushing as hard as I could against the door as the man tried to get inside.
"That's not possible." He shot back to me. "There is no signal."
And there it was. I knew where he was for sure now and I'd even be able to get him maybe if I could deal with the creep on the other side of this door. We were getting the upper hand on him too, but just when I thought we'd won I looked down to see his leather shoe jam itself into the door, propping it open.
Terriermon leapt out and bit him hard, forcing him to retract his foot and stop pushing all together. The door slammed shut and I locked it with my shaking hands. My entire body felt numb as I backed away from the door, the man screaming on the other end, slamming his fists into it loudly.
"Monodromon!" I shouted, catching his attention. He looked to me from the dining room and ran toward me, "Come on." I told him, leading the digimon into the kitchen. "Guys!" I shouted to Michael and Tatum. "We need to leave. Now." They knew something was wrong before I'd even come through the door. Both of them were heading to check out what the noise was already.
"What's going on?" Tatum asked.
"Some freak wants inside." I said sharply. "It's Willis' boss. Willis is at work—he's in trouble, and we need to get him."
"But first," Lopmon said, her voice higher than usual as she spoke quickly, "We need to get to the Digital World. He has Willis' digivice, and I have a feeling he doesn't want to play nicely. We should go."
"NOW!" Terriermon agreed loudly, setting us all into motion. We ran through the side door of the kitchen and up the stairs. I stayed back to make sure everyone was going, and just as Monodromon had made his way up the stairs, the front door flung open, the lock broken through the door frame. Lopmon screamed and I turned to run after them all. Michael was leading the way toward his bedroom where—thankfully—a laptop was propped open on his bed.
His digivice was already in his hand and he pointed it to the screen, and with a flash we were all gone.
Next on Digimon Adventure 06: Confrontation—Mimi, Kari and Jenna