Cipher (1)19: Better Cancelled than Renewed

Somewhere in the darkest corner of the world lied an immaculate room of stainless plastic and metal, stocked with machinery and computers, suspended within a hollow core with walls aligned in a hexagonal grid. This was a sanctuary. Few could enter it at their own leisure. One whose Number allowed them to be wherever they wanted to be, was one of those few.. "Hello doctor." A man in black stepped on the floor, without triggering its usual intruder detection sensors. "What is today's bargain?" He addressed the master of the core with unusual decorum for a trespasser. "Punctual to the second.. As is typical of you, Prometheus." The master of his domain turned around, to gaze upon Prometheus with inquisitive eyes. "I am rather proud of this one." He took off his visor and produced a spell card for the catalyst to see. This card he had had crafted with his own hands. "I am always in the right place at the right time, Kapha. That is how I want it to be." With a flick of his finger, Prometheus telekinetically pulled the card towards him. "This will help us contain Chaos.. while we still require it." He hid it underneath his many cloaks. "That was the intent. Now then, are you going to spread this one among the commoners as well?" Kapha asked. "Who knows. They had one chance and wasted it.. I should have known better than to put my faith in humans. It is time to drop the subtleties..." Prometheus chuckled and then disappeared in a beam of light.

"You have someone who thinks likewise.." A smirk framed Kapha's face as he went back to his work.

...

A big reunion was underway at the Artega household. Azar and the others had returned and brought two more with them; Ruby and Xander. "How are you feeling?" Sky and Natasha were there as well this time. "Like I had a good night's sleep really." Xander yawned. All the things Theo had made him do were more than his body was used to. "Pissed." Ruby on the other hand turned the experience into rage. She got nothing out of the ordeal, not even a new Number like Xander.

Meanwhile Ariel and the rest had now added Claud the agent to their group. And in spite of everything, Claud was still hoping for some recognition. "Oh of course I remember you. You were the one who took my Number and put me in jail." As Darcy's reaction showed, Claud had not actually had many kind interactions with any of the duelists in the past. "Ohhhhh. Riiiiight." He suddenly felt a lot more awkward standing close to her, or Ruby, Shin or even Azar. "Oh I am not mad. That wouldn't help anyone. Don't do anything we will not like, and you will be fine." Darcy gave him a kind smile. "Wouldn't dream it!" Or a chilling smile, as far as Claud was concerned.

"Yeow!" The very next instant he felt a sharp pain in his wrist. "What was that for?" He whined at Xander, who was holding up a strange clamp device that had stabbed his arm with micro-thin needles. "Oh I reasoned it would be handy if we scrambled that chip inside you before your friend the Quartermaster starts peeking into your memories." Xander shrugged and put the device away. "Did not think I would have to use it again after Theo made me use it on Korose. But I figured it might come in handy one day, so I kept it. And I was right. Now we can trust you a little bit more."

"Great.."

"We have something to discuss." Korose cleared his throat to prevent any more side-topics from jumping up. He already saw Natasha in the corner itching to say something to Shin. "Claud. This is the person?" Agent K repeated his question to Agent C. "Yes. One hundred percent! I even have a picture of him!" Claud gave it to Korose. "Helder. Is this a person you saw in their meeting room?" He subsequently showed the photo to Azar. "...Azar?" And it took Azar a while to notice his name was called for. He was not all there at the moment. "Oh. I am sorry." He shook himself awake and looked at the face on the photo. "Yes. Yes it is." He did not need to look at it long, he could instantly tell that this was one of the faces he had seen that day.

"It all comes together. Characters like these are exactly what you expect to see in a council of evil. They can monitor and influence the flow of media, get their people involved, while not hiding in the shadows." Thomas would not be surprised if this man had helped getting showhosts Claud and Rita a job as an Agent, or agents B and C a job as a Showhost... whichever came first.

"Sooo.. what do we do about it?" Shin had to ask. Knowing Corazon was one step, getting to him was another altogether. "I don't think we can just ask him whatever we want." Natasha said. The only advantage they had was that Corazon did not know that his identity had been compromised, but even getting to him sounded difficult. "We need to duel him." Subito said. "I have faced Kincaid. He had a Number. Every member on their board of directors has one." As he spoke, Azar nodded along with him. When he had broken into the agency's headquarters, Chaos had sensed the same thing. "If we duel him and take his Number, he will lose everything that ties him to the council." No director would want that to happen to them. "Threatening them with a duel? I like that idea!" Ruby slammed her fists together. "When can we get on that?" She did not mind being the one to fight him either. "We need to proceed with caution. He could have many bodyguards whenever he makes a public appearance. And.." Sky looked around the room. "The council will know who we are."

"Azar? Something is wrong isn't it? You seem distracted." While the others kept discussing plans, Ariel stepped aside to talk with Azar. "Nothing.. I just.." She had not failed to notice that he had not been very involved, even though this breakthrough had to have made him somewhat happier. "You do not need to worry about me.." He did not want to tell her, because he did not think she would believe him. Could he even believe himself? He had seen a ghost. "Ion.." Not just once either. Before he returned to the city the image of the dead agent had passed by his eyes several times. It was not just someone who looked like Ion, he was wearing the same clothes as when he died. Azar was the only one who spotted him each time. At the very least Korose and Subito would have noticed if Ion showed up, but they did not see him at all. "I just have a lot to think about.." Azar had always trusted what he saw, he did not want to think that he could be going insane. Or why..

Meanwhile, Dakar, Subito, Xander and Claud got together to talk about something they had in common. "All of you.." Dakar had been surprised enough at his own Overhundred Number, now there were four on the table. "Well I am an agent. Its not that out of the blue.." Claud half-lied. He had still been quite stunned to get his Number 105. But he had heard stories about the Number Ion had awakened before his death. "Rita is going to be so mad when she finds out I got these before she could." Right now he was the only living agent with an Overhundred Number, as far as he knew. "Yet where do they come from? How do they come to us?" Xander did not understand their method. With his memories scrambled, he could not even tell when he got the card. "They are not of the original hundred, and going off of mine.." Subito's finger trailed alongside the three digits on his card. "..there are at least 2 more of them out there. I believe they are drawn to something else besides the self-important desires the original Numbers feed on. I have no basis for this idea, it could be a thought they planted in me." Dakars well-meaning for his family, Subito's self-sacrifice, Xander's sheer neutrality; a selfless theme tied them together. He was not sure where Claud fit in. What was the one thing that tied everyone together? "Do not forget they are still Numbers; beings from their world. We should treat them with caution, and not overuse them."

"Now we have to do come up with something, and soon. The longer Claud stays with us, the more Corazon and the rest of the council will be on their toes." Shin did not want this opportunity to go to waste. "Aha! Corazon is a producer, correct? And he is connected to your show, correct?" Thomas snapped his fingers. Sounded like he had a plan. "Yes and yes? Where are you going with this?" Claud was curious, and troubled. "There is a way to lure producers out of their holes. When money is at stake. Even someone as diabolical as him has to live out his daily routine. With that D-pad you agents always uses to capture people in barriers, we can then ensnare him." The irony was too much to pass up! "Yeah I have one of those." Claud's D-pad model was still the one he used when he acted as Agent C. "I see. We can also use them to cast illusions on the outside of the barrier, to stop others from seeing us." Korose had the same device. And he thought the plan sounded sturdy. "This idea would work better if we can bring Rita into this. We need a distraction, one Corazon can not resist."

"Oh I was afraid you were going to say that." Claud sighed. "Maybe I can get her on my side. It's not like she likes the current anti-dueling situation either, probably even less than I do." He did not look forward to calling her though. "Whatever you say. Make sure she does not suspect that we are with you. Even if she wants to work with us, the agency will be able to tell what we are planning if we tell her." Thomas meant that whatever Claud would say to her, it would have to be subtle. "So. Get Rita to do something that makes the producers come out. I think I can come up with something.."

The next day..

"I WILL TELL YOU WHAT IS GONNA HAPPEN IF YOU DO NOT SET THIS MESS STRAIGHT!" Invoking the wrath of Rita was a common occurrence for her manager. "YOU DO NOT CUT CORNERS IN MY SHOW! NOT EVEN NOW!" None of the people in the studio were particularly safe from Rita, yet they had to put up with her as she was the audience's darling and had been so for nearly a decade. No matter what she presented, people tuned in for her charming personality. "SO WHAT IF NOBODY DUELS ANYMORE? WE CAN RETOOL THE SHOW!" She used to be so much more manageable in her early years. Not now. Today her anger was of a particularly difficult-to-ignore size. Throwing away luxuries she had grown accustomed to, went too far for her. So she threw a tantrum once again in her room throwing dresses and wigs around. "But the producers say we can not take risks nowadays. It might not be as bad as you heard, we have to check..." Her manager had gotten used to it, not that it made Rita any happier. "Then get them here, all of them! Maybe they can say it in a way that makes sense! I am not showing up on the set otherwise!"

So far everything was going as planned...

"That was more effective than I could have imagined." Thomas could hear her screaming from over where he was standing. As the least conspicuous of the bunch, he, Darcy and Claud had taken positions across the studio. "And I only told her that I heard rumors that they were going to slash the budget too." Claud had never expected she would take things this far. "When is this guy going to show up?" Meanwhile Ruby and Subito, and Azar and Xander, were all hiding within mobile barriers on both sides of the building, communicating to each other through earpieces. If Corazon showed up, they could ambush him. But they had to move with precision and speed. Korose stayed behind on the rooftop to scope out the area, watching everything through his magnifying visor. "..I see him." It was after one hour of waiting, that their target revealed himself. Mister Corazon, he showed up in his car outside the main studio building. "Me too." Claud spotted him to his left as he entered the building and headed up the stairs. "Uh. Want to act now?"

"I am going for it!" Ruby and Subito were closest by, and they moved in. The two switched their barriers to solid-mode, and turned around the corner where they expected to find Corazon. "What the?!" Except he was not there. "How did he.." By all visual accounts he should have gone this way, he could only have gone this way. Ruby did not get it. "He was here.." Subito inspected the floor, noticing that dust had been moved recently.

"He is over here now." Thomas noticed Corazon. Which was bizarre to say the least, as he was one floor down from them. "Did he not go up the stairs after all?" Whatever he had done, he was out of range of Subito and Ruby's forcefield now. "We are going after him." This time Xander and Azar closed in, making the barrier as wide as possible before turning it solid as well. "There." Once they were sure they had him inside, they closed it off. "What?" And then Corazon, who was clearly in a rush now, moved straight through the forcefield. "He..he can do that?" Xander did not expect that. "It must be related to his Number's power!" Azars senses were already telling him that Corazon had it on him, there was no other explanation.

"He is coming my way." Darcy tried to act natural as he saw the producer walking towards another exit. "I think he is on to us. But we have one final chance." Korose knew they would not get another. "We could try another barrier. But he will just slip through that as well." Xander did not know what to do anymore. "Wait. You made a barrier without an Agent's D-pad didn't you? The double-layered one. Use that!" Darcy whispered through the com. Corazon was getting close. "Me? Yes, when I had the power of Chaos." Xander did not think he could use that technique without it. "You have a Number now. It is basically the same. Just use the D-pad Azar has and cast a barrier around all of us. Then strengthen it!"

"Alrighty." Xander did not have anything better in mind, so he went with it. "Just have to think of it like a Chaos card.." He left Azar and drew Number 106 from his extra deck. "!?" It was then that Corazon noticed his pursuer. Too late. Two barriers were erected around him, Darcy and Xander. "Heh. It did work. Try something new every day." Xander took a moment to catch his breath. "Hello Corazon. Or should I say, director Corazon?" Xander greeted his target from the inside of the two barriers, while Darcy and Corazon were inside the second.

"So. That is what it is all about huh?" Corazon stroked his mustache as he turned to the two. "I recognize you, you were one of Theo's. And you.." Corazon put on a monocle-shaped visor, which fed him data straight from the net. "You were a former Number owner as well. I should have seen it coming." He let out a cocky laugh. Then he touched the side of the wall. "And it looks like one of you gained a new Number in the mean time... Well you have me now. What are you going to do next?" It appeared this one he could not phase through. "What do you think we are going to do?" Darcy activated her D-pad and took out her cards from her belt. "You are asking me to to duel you? Why would I have cards on my person?" He asked flatly while he spread his arms as if he was defenseless. "You have your Number with you, and a Visor. And you do not look like someone who is going pass up on a duel." Darcy saw enough signs, in appearance and expression, that this man was prepared to fight back. "And Numbers do not like it when you ignore a duel." Xander added.

"Well darn. You thought this through, didn't you?" Corazon flexed his arm and made a colorful and curved D-pad model snap out of his sleeve. "I will judge how solid your plan is.."

"Now it's all up to us.. If one of us fails.." Azar was thinking he would step in and face Corazon if it came to it. However. "...?!" His thoughts strayed from that topic in a heartbeat, when he noticed a person through the windows. It was Him again. "Ion!" Azar shouted. He forgot about his surroundings, the situation, everything. He ran out towards the man he saw standing outside the building. "Azar!? Where are you going?" Thomas yelled, as he noticed Azar was leaving his position. He had even left the safety of the holographic barrier. "People will see you!" Azar was dressed as the Masked Raider, that disguise would not exactly go unnnoticed. Thomas knew that like no other. "I will take care of it." Subito handed Ruby the D-pad and left their barrier as well. "Hey wait, where..what are you doing?" Ruby yelled, but Subito was already gone from her sight.

"...Guys. Is everything still going as plannedl? Anyone?" Claud did not like a single thing he heard..

"Ion!" Azar finally caught up. "Wait!" And Subito was right behind him. "You can not just abandon..what..is...this?" Subito, who was trying very hard to not shout Azars name out loud, stopped dead in his tracks as he realized who Azar was chasing after. "You see him too?" Azar was not imagining things. They were both looking at a supposed dead man. "Azar?" Ion, who turned to face them, seemed to recognize the voice now. "That is you?" And he sounded unusually amused. "You are still going around, wearing costumes?"

"Ion. How can you be alive? How.." His mind had been destroyed, his body left a vegetable left to rot who knew where. Yet here he was. "Are you even.." Whether he was physically there remained to be seen. "I.." And while the Agent sounded like he wanted to clear things up. "I need your help." But the sight of something made his face turn pale. "You need.." Before the two duelists got a chance to glance behind them and see what was scaring Ion, the not-quite-dead man grabbed their arms.. and whisked them away to another realm..

(To be Continued in Cipher (1)20: For All Ages)