Cipher 25: Consequences

The city had been left in a state of uproar after the events of the 'Hunting Game'. People were either arrested, hospitalized or both, even though there had been just a few instigators. The rest picked up the pieces; traffic had become disorganized and property had been damage through, to the city, unknown means. Though riots did not break out at least, local enforcers were still sent out to patrol the streets at night. Next Monday the mayor made a public announcement that all perpetrators had been apprehended and that the worst was over. And he announced that there would be an inquiry into what caused this 'dueling madness'.

"Shin isn't here today." The aftermath could be felt at school as well. "A lot of people aren't." Half the seats in their class were empty. "Knowing this class, it would not surprise me if some are just going along with the chaos to get a free day." Sky and Ariel were one of the few that did show up. "I heard Natasha, Mia and Lucy were actually really attacked though, and the lunchlady." Another student said, noting that the mess hall had less staff than usual. "I can believe that. Those three would not deliberately miss classes." Neverthless it was Shin that Sky had wanted to talk too. He had never gotten around to properly apologize for his duel with him. "I am sure Subito will have made sure nothing happened to his younger brother." Azar spoke up. As he did not want to change his daily routine too much, he had shown up as well today. Though he would have liked to have take some time off after his last duel. "Azar." There was only one problem with pretending that everything was the same. Someone knew it wasn't.

"I need to ask you something."

"Ariel?!" Azar froze. "What? She has to.. What does she remember? What is it?" His composed stance hid the panic that his mind was struggling to contain. "That day that you found me by the road. It was you, wasn't it? You were the one that gave me my brothers D-Pad back." It turned out, she remembered. "D-pad?" remembered everything. "I do not know what you are talking about." That left him only one course. "What? You do not remember?" She said, careful not to raise her voice. "But you and I dueled together, I.. summoned one of these." She showed him a black monster card. "A number?" He reacted without thinking. "So you do know!?" Ariel held Number 25: Focus Force in her hand. "When did you.. Of course I know. I was there when Janus dueled Shin at the tournament." To maintain his facade, he had to admit that much. "But I do not remember, ever dueling you." The rest he had to cover with lies. What was one more victim suffering from amnesia, in a city filled with them.

"You don't? But you took my brothers Number; Illumiknight!" She could not believe what she was hearing. "Dakar? He had a number?" But Azars demeanour did not betray the deception. "Wait. If you are serious, why don't I.. Unless." And now he affected an epiphany. "I lost it?" Ariel took a step back. "No. It can't be. You told me you had saved my brother, that you were taking over his duties. I believe you now!" She knew what he was trying to get across, she knew what would have happened to Azar if he did actually lose a Number to someone else. "I don't think you are lying Ariel, but I just can't remember. I don't even know when it happened, it could have been this weekend or even earlier." Since he did not have the Number for very long, he did not have to add a coma to his story. "But why... Why would you be fine so soon, and Dakar." Her tone changed. "Whoever did this..." She stormed off angrily. The ruse had apparently worked on her, for the time being. "I am sorry Ariel. I did not want to do this. But I have gone too far reveal myself now."

But Azar was not alone in keeping secrets. As it turned out, Shin had reasons for his absence. He, Subito had matters to discuss with their father. And a meeting could only be held at Subito's academy. "I am glad to see you are okay, Shin. But I wish you could have avoided all of this." Their father was a kind if not overworked man, he was happy every time he saw his sons. "It is alright dad. I only need a new shirt now." Shin was always in a relaxed mood around him as well. "This is no laughing matter, brother. Listen to what father has to say." And Subito was discreet as always. "Shin, Subito." Their father began. "I am telling you this now. Because you have both been in contact with 'this'." Artega took out two number cards, the Numbers 11 and 64. "When Subito told me about his duel with Janus. I knew It sounded familiar." He shared a brief glance with the older brother before taking out a D-pad. "There were reports of malfunctions in the holographic grid, that caused virtual images to somehow become solid and cause damage to their environment. Incidents like these have been occurring for the last year or so. And these types of cards had been reported to be the cause of it."

He inserted one card, and turned the device on. "I am activating Display mode." He just let the disk show the monster, Big Eye, in full form. See if you can touch it." Shin did so and tapped the side of the cone. "Whoa. How did you do that?" It was as solid as rock. "That is the problem. We do not know. I have been working on this issue for a while with my team. Yet no glitch in a D-pad can create this phenomenon. It was as if the extra energy came from the card itself." He took the card out again. "Any analysis says that the card itself is made of the same material as a standard dueling card. However, there is one major difference." He showed another card, a regular vanilla monster. "Every card has code written within it, a digital sequence that allows scanners to translate the card into a three-dimensional image. However, these 'Number' cards lack this property. There is a code, but none of our machines can translate or even detect it." He shook his head. "I have tried everything; taking the card apart, carbon dating it, analyzing it on the molecular level. All I learned was that it had no determinable age, and that it puts itself back together by some magnetic force. Because these things defy our physics, I could only conclude they were not made any technology known to man."

"So. Why call for our help?" Subito figured he had a reason to meet here instead of at his work station. "I hate to say this. But I do not think I can trust my superior, or my co-workers. There is no official word about it. But the vibe I get there is that people want to reproduce this error. The technology to make laser images into physical objects, that is the kind of power you can not toy with. But if we pool our information together, we might be able to make a case for the inquiry." Shin raised his hand. "Ooh! Maybe we can ask that Agent guy, or.." He quickly shut himself up, before he began to talk about Dusk again. "Agent?" Artega had not been told about that Ion yet. "He is the man I told you about yesterday. But I do not think we can rely on him. He hunts the Number cards, but will not tell us who he hunts them for." Subito clarified to his father and to his brother. "Yeah I guess. So what do we do now?" Shin asked excitedly. "Nothing yet, I need to go back before I am missed. You should go back too Shin." Hearing this, Shin sulked. "Back? To school? Lame.." Artega chuckled. "Sorry Shin. I only arranged for the school to let you off in the morning.." Moping, Shin left the room.

"Father." Subito stayed behind a while longer. "You mentioned an incident at work. What was it?" He asked it while Shin was out of hearing range. "Oh. Nothing for you to worry about, some data was leaked to one of our rival companies." Artega smiled. "No possible relation to the current situation?" Subito started to wonder. "I know what you want to say, Subito. But we could not prove it was sabotage then, nor can we connect the two now." Artega got up and patted his son on his shoulder. "It will all work out, son. I know we can count on each other.."

Those words stayed with him as Subito trudged through the pouring water. It was a rainy spring day and lectures had ended early. But the subway station was nearby and home would not be a long walk afterwards. Once he was safely under ground he could put his suitcase down and dry off while waiting for the next train to arrive. "...Odd." Instead of counting down to the next arrival, the display boards were warning travellers of a malfunction on the rails. All trains were expected to have delays. "The system was operational this morning. Is this a delayed repercussion of the Hunting Game?" If so, Subito was better off ordering a cab. Before he could leave however, he saw another person walked down the stairs, a figure obscured by a grey hat and trenchcoat. "I am affraid the subway is closed.. madam." He said to what appeared to a woman upon closer inspection. "Do you need me to..?"

"...Eleven."

"Eleven?" The response caught him off guard, as did her surprisingly jagged and grating voice. "And Sixty-Four." Subito needed just those two words to recognize what was going on. "You know?" She was talking about those cards. "Those are the Numbers you hold." She continued to talk as she put down the umbrella that had kept her dry. "Who are you?" Subito put some distance between them. He looked around, the only exit was behind her or across the railway. "Not relevant." Was her answer, as she just took one step forward for every step he took backwards. "Are you with Agent I?" Prometheus' game was over, he thought. But if she knew about the Numbers, she could also have been an Agent. After all, Agent I was likely not the only one. "I gather that you want the Numbers that I have, like he did." He asked further. She did not respond, she did not even make eye contact. Her eyes were fixated on the railroad to her right. "You have caught me at a bad time, I do not have a D-pad with me." He lied. "Not true." Which prompted her to reveal her D-pad, which folded out of her coats sleeve like a switchblade. It had already found Subito's own D-pad on the radar.

"So you can not be fooled that way.." He took his device from his case, but did not strap it to his arm yet. "What if I refuse this duel?" He wanted to test if he even had a say in the matter. "Not possible." She took a penny from the floor and tossed it over her shoulder. It bounced off of an invisible wall. "I see. A barrier to trap your targets." He had seen Agent I used one of those on the tower. That made the decision easy. "Then I will take the first turn!" He activated the D-pad and inserted his deck. Then he drew six cards. "Not a problem." She drew five cards. Apperently her cards had already been inside her D-pad.

..

Elsewhere in a dark part of the city, a black van attempted to blend in. "Let me guess, I should be expecting company." Its owner was not very happy. "Considering the situation, my superiors and I agree that you could not handle this threat level alone." Once again Ion had failed to bring in any Numbers. His performance forced the agency's hands. "Oh I am sure some nastier words were said. But what's done is done. So who is it? Agent K, or someone I haven't worked with before?" He knew a few other agents, but there were few he preferred to work with. Some were just in it to get all the credit or make a quick buck. "The choice was left up to me. And I have chosen Agent N." The answer made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. "N? Isn't taking that a bit too far?" Agent N was an unknown to all hunters, yet that name was infamous. N had always been considered a last resort, one they only needed to send in once before. "The situation demands it I have already sent N out. She knows how to find you."
...

Agent N's LP: 8000 Subito's LP: 8000

"I set two cards." Back at the duel, Subito placed a monster face-down and a spell card behind it. "That ends my turn." As succinctly as he took his turn, the woman said even less. ".." Without even looking at her hand, she placed four cards face-down on the field in the trap zone. "What?" And then she activated a card in her field spell zone, raising a ring of flames that surrounded both duelists. "What is this card?" It was a field spell that Subito did not recognize. "You have a visor. Use it." She was not about to explain it to him either. "..." He did not have much choice and looked at what the visor had to say. "Crematorium of Nightmares. This field spell lets a player use traps on the turn they are set?" That the visor could scan it all, meant that this was a legitimate card. "Agent I told me he had a customized deck, she must have one too." And just like that, it was his turn again. "No monsters, that many set cards, and a spell to strengthen traps?" There could only be two explanations for that, and doubted she had that bad an opening hand. "You run a trap deck."

Crematorium of Dreams, Field Spell
The controller of this card can activate trap cards the same turn they are set. If there is a monster card in your graveyard, banish this card.

The agent had no response to this either. But if Subito was right, her deck would be a pain to duel against. At least trap decks had many weak points as well and he knew how to target them. "Photon Sanctuary." Subito's spell summoned two Photon tokens(4/2000/0) to his field, which could only be tributed for a light-type monster. "Photon Wyvern." And he sacrificed the tokens for the wyvern of photons(7/2500/2000). "It destroy all your set cards." Because it had been tribute summoned, the Wyvern could wipe out all set cards that were on the field. Its effect could devastate a trap deck in one turn. ".." Unfortunately, as was also considered, trap decks could compensate their weaknesses. "Fake Trap." Subito saw the woman flip one of her set cards, Fake Trap. It directed all destructive effects away from the rest of the field, and became the Wyverns only casualty. "However you need to confirm that the rest of your set cards are in fact trap cards." Fake Trap could not protect spells after all.

"True." Agent N revealed the three other cards she had set. They were Jar of Greed, Solemn Wishes and Scrap Iron Scarecrow. That last one would be especially problematic. "Scarecrow. It negates an attack, and then sets itself back on the field. But.." Thanks to her field spell, the Crematorium, she could ignore the rule that stated traps could not be activated in the same turn they were set. "She can use that trap as many times as she wants." No matter how many times he attacked her, she would stop it. And while she did that, she would gain lifepoints . It was at this point that Agent N activated Solemn Wishes. "A game of attrition." The user of Solemn Wishes would gain 500 lifepoints whenever they drew a card, like during the draw phase. Or when they activated Jar of Greed, to draw an extra card. And she did just that after her draw phase ended. ".." And just as silently as the last turn, she placed her cards. Two more traps were set.

Agent N's LP: 9000

"I need a new approach." His turn came and he summoned a Photon Lizard(3/900/1200). "I can sacrifice this monster, to add a lowlevel Photon monster to my hand." He took a Photon Cerberus from his deck with the Lizards effect. Its trapsealing ability could prove useful. "End turn." But for now he was at a stalemate with this woman. And she did not vary her turns up much. Thanks to Solemn Wishes she gained another 500 lifepoints. And without looking at her drawn card, she placed it down in her last empty trap zone. Up until now she had just let her disk do the talking, as it declared whenever her end phase ended and his draw phase began "She is just waiting for me to attack, or activate an effect." And already he was on his fourth turn. "I want to say its my turn again. But in reality, it is also hers. I need to find a way to overpower her before it is too late."

Agent N's LP: 9500

(To be Continued in Cipher 26: Without Name)

New Cards used by Subito Artega
Photon Lizard

Cards used by Agent N
Crematorium of Nightmares

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Fake Trap
Solemn Wishes
Jar of Greed
Scrap Iron Scarecrow