(Cipher 190) 24: One Giant Leap for Mankind

Mister Artega worked long and difficult hours far from home. The times he could manage to return to his home were few and far in between. This project was everything. In this world where the Numbers had become a part of every day-life and comfort, one last step needed to be taken. The threat of outside invaders persisted. That reason was part of what motivated the worlds governments to join forces and create ISA. They channeled funds into the united space flight project so they could build devices like the Probe. The Probe was designed not only to send messages far into space, it could defend their own planet as well. Artega was at one of the science centers working on the design and construction of the probe. He thought he was just adding his experience in computer design to help NASA to make this next step. He thought his machine would be the next weapon against beings like Chaos. He had no idea of what he really was doing.. not until this very day.

"Dad!"

"...Shin?" To his utter shock and awe, he encountered his own son in his office at the space flight center. And his son was not alone. He was here with five others; three girls and two men. "Why are you..who are all these people? Wait, I know some of you.." He recognized Azar and Kincaids daughter. These were Shins friends? "I am sorry, you will understand soon." Then there was a seventh person, standing behind him? "You? Aza.." Before Shins father could raise his own voice, Azar had tapped him in the back of his neck and sent 'something' into his body. "Uhn.." He felt his strength leave him and he collapsed. "EaSy nOw." He could hear their garbled voices while Azar was held him up. "DiD iT wOrK?" One of the others, the tall one, asked. "He iS nOt a duelist rIGht? sO he sHOulD not BE ablE to resist aNywAY?" Another, the girl with long pink hair, replied. His own son responded to that. "WELl My MOm dUEled wHEN she WAs younGER.. I foRGot IF dad did SO TOo." The world was still spinning, and all lights were bright and fuzzy. "If hE is, it ShOUld nOt matter. NoT to THe full poWEr of the LiGhT." Azar seemed to conclude.

"Whah!" Then, at last, the world was put back in place for his senses. That world was not the way he had left it. "Shin. Azar.. all of you? How did you.." He saw the world as they did now, as something that was created without Numbers. "Azar did it, dad! He cured you like he cured me! He did not kidnap me at all! That was just something Pandora wanted you to think!" His son blurted out a thousand details at once. Some of those had not been even established yet. "Pandora? Kidnapped? I had no idea anything had happened to you?" The old man had been under the assumption that Shin was still living at home. "It happened two nights ago! Nobody told you?" Ruby reacted with disgust. Not telling him anything was even worse than lying about Shin being 'kidnapped'. "I believe you were not told anything to not distract from your tasks, am I right?" To Korose, this center did not look like a place you could easily make phonecalls from. "..You are right. I was not allowed to talk about this place, or leave any evidence of it at home. Not even Subito knew exactly what I was doing"

"Wait, Subito..the Overhundred Numbers.. Why are you all here?" These people were not just exposing themselves here to save one man. "We can answer that while you take us to the Probe." Azars words made clear what they were here for, and that they didnt have a lot of time. "The probe? That is what this is all about?... what have I been working on?" With all that he knew now, Artega started to reconsider what the Probe was supposed to do. "It will make things a million times worse, that is what!" Shin yelled. "We need to take it down, dad. It can not be launched! Or else the Numbers will infect the entire cosmos!" And that was the key word; the Numbers, the same thing that had brainwashed him. "What? No.. I can not.." Horror came over him, his own hands had helped build such a thing? Yes, he had. "Artega? Is there still time to stop it?" Azar did not yet know how far into development the thing was. If it was even still here. That was why they came after Artega first. "All the instruments are ready, the Probe is constructed and about to be shipped off to the launch center. They say they want to fire it off next week."

"Not if we destroy it now. Not if we destroy everything." Necara was prepared to lay waste to this entire facility, just to be on the safe side. "No wait! People work here, innocent people! That and.." Artega lowered his voice, as he reminded himself of something. ".. and two directors from the Agency are here to oversee the process. Boothe from the miltary division and Powell from the Space flight division. The agency is all over this place now, and I do not think that is a coincidence." The fact that so many men had suddenly shown up this week had not felt suspicious to him before. Only now did he see it for what it was. "Pandora knew we'd would show up here." Dakar groaned at the revelation of yet another complication. "That was obvious. That was also why I wanted to regain my Shining Number before we proceeded." Azar had far less to fear from Pandora and the agency now. Plus he had made arrangements to keep the Seven busy.

...

Both directors were inside the main office. Through its windows they could watch into the cargo bay where the Probe was loaded into an army plane. The plane was surrounded by a dozen infantry men. Director Powell was not sure if the faster schedule and extra manpower were necessary, but Boothe had insisted on them after everything that had happened at the main office. They both soon discovered that these measures were quite necessary, and yet pointless at the same time. "What was that?" It started as low rumbling, and evolved into explosive pandemonium as a blast of light struck the lower floor and buried all the soldiers in light. "The enemy is here!" The light soon spread into the office as well. Powell reacted quickly and pushed a button on a console. It generated a force wall around them and warded off the light. "Who dares to attack us?"

"We do." Five people teleported right into the office. "You?" Boothe recognized one of them as former agent Rita Huxley. Another was one of their own hired men! "Artega, you traitor." They were here with Azar, Shin and Ruby. Necara, Korose and Dakar were at the level below. "What are you doing? Dont lay down your weapons!" Boothe's men all had dropped their guns and stared around dazed and confused. "I cured them already, director Boothe." Azar told him. He would have done the same to them, except he could not break through their barrier. "Your Number makes all barriers impregnable, I see." Azar could not get through, but he knew who could. "Leave these idiots to me." Rita nodded to Azar and took out her Number card.

"How soon you forget, ex-agent B; all of have Numbers whose powers we can invoke.." Powell placed his hand on Boothe's shoulder, and the two suddenly disappeared. "Wha-huh? Hey!"" Now Rita and Azar were inside the barrier, and the two directors were outside it. "Idiots you said?" Powell smirked, just before he and Boothe vanished again. They again left two people where they had just stood: Necara and Dakar. "What..just happened?" Dakar was certain that he had not moved himself here through his own power. "Feh! His Number lets him and whoever he touches switch places with anyone else he can think of!" Necara explained before taking out her Numberless card and summoned it. "Like that will stop me.. us!" The angel smashed the window and flew out into the hangar bay. There it released a blast upon the probe. "Destroy it!" The blast filled the room with smoke. "Necara, there were still people!"

"...there?" To Dakars surprise, the attack had not even damaged the Probe. "Nice try, runt." Boothe chuckled from behind another erected energy wall. "This Probe has a built-in forcefield. With my Number by its side, you will never get near it." He then glared at his own soldiers, who were too overloaded with memories to even acknowledge what was going on. "Director Boothe, Powell, you have to trust me. We need to destroy the Probe." Artega tried to reason with them. "This Probe was built exactly to stop such nonsense, Artega!" Boothe growled as he picked up one gun. "Hmph. Powell, you know what to do." The plan would take too long to escape. There was only one person who could get the Probe to safety now. "I do. But it tires me so.." Powells Number could not just move people he touched, but objects as well. "You will never find where we take thi..wha?" Though there was one person they had overlooked. "Agent K?" Boothe was attacked from behind by Korose, and now wrestled him for his weapon. "Powell!" Boothe barked at him to do his duty. "I will not let you!" Korose managed to knock Boothe out by throwing him against the wall. "Ngah!" Powell shrieked and quickly raced towards the Probe. Korose only barely managed to catch up with him before..

"Korose!" The two had disappeared along with the probe. "They left? Where could they have gone?" Shin only saw two people down below where they had once been.. A father, son and a large tractor. "A farm?" Just how long was the range on this Numbers power?

...

"Now look what you have gone and done, agent K!" Powell, Korose and the Probe wound up in the middle of a field of crops. Korose had grabbed the probe just in time. "I assume I interfered with your plans." Korose did not know the specifics about Powells Number. But from what Ann had said, it could be reasoned that Powell had to change who he could switch places with, if he abruptly had to take two people instead of one. "Yes of course you did. Now I need to think up a new person to ..ngeh!" Powell flinched backwards as Korose walked towards him. "Back off! I..I am warning you!" He rolled up his suits sleeve and revealed a D-pad. "You seek to challenge me?" Korose was not entirely surprised. "I can not overpower a hulk of a man like you in a fight. But in a duel, things are not so one-sided, eh? I just have to beat you before your friends find me and then I can take the Probe!" Powell could not leave the Probe behind. This the only way he could ditch Korose. "I can not refuse, when a Number is involved. I accept.."

Korose's LP: 8000 Powells LP: 8000

"I begin!" Korose was not only stronger than Powell, but faster too. He had already taken the first turn and set down one monster and one trap card in it. "I remember you agent K. You were not always this rash, or disloyal. Such a pain to the kid we picked from the streets, to fall so low." Powell also placed one monster face-down and ended his turn.

"I have learned that loyaly should only be given to those who have earned it, director. The agency lost that right even before you all became possessed by the Numbers." Before the turn ended properly, Korose activated a trap. "I activate Soul Transition. If I control no special summoned monsters, I can sacrifice a normal summoned or set level 4 monster." The trap tributed his face-down Noble Knight, Artorigus(4/1800/1800). "I can draw two cards in exchange for this sacrifice." The trap also blocked special summons this turn, but that was a minor nuisance in an opponents turn. "I take my turn now and summon Medraut!" Korose normal summoned a new monster; a blonde Noble Knight(4/1700/1000). "I start my battle phase now!" Medraut took his sword out and destroyed Powells facedown card with it. That monster's effect was now activated. "Such crude tactics just do not work, K." A tiny prospector mole(2/800/800) immediately dug its way out of his grave with a drill, still in defense position."My Mogmole can summon itself after its own destruction."

Korose paused to think and moved to his 2nd main phase. "...I unlock the power of Medraut, as he is a Gemini monster with two states. I can equip him with a Noble Arms equip spell card to turn him from his normal state to an effect state." The Knight was given an silver sword and shield; The Noble Arms of Destiny. "Medraut can destroy this equipment to summon a Noble Knight from my deck in defense position! I choose the Knight Bedwyr!" Medraut broke his own weapon, in order to call for the help of the silverhaired Bedwyr(4/1600/1500). "I can also send one Noble Arms spell card to my graveyard, when Bedwyr is special summoned." Bedwyr opened his arms and received the Noble sword of Gallatin from Korose's deck. He then placed it on the ground, letting it sink into an emerging lake of water. "Okay, so your turn was not done yet?" Powell seemed mildly enthused now.

"I have three more cards to play, so no it was not, director! I re-activate the Noble Arms of Destiny!" When a Noble Arms was destroyed, as it had been through Medrauts effect, it could re-equip itself to a living Noble Knight. The silver shield and sword were given to Bedwyr this time. "I can then tribute one normal light-attribute monster, to summon Ignoble Knight of Black Laundsallyn from my hand!" Medraut had reverted to his 'normal' state without his armements. Now Korose could tribute it to special summon the red-eyed knight of darkness: Laundsallyn(5/2000/800). "I, lastly, activate a field spell: Noble Knights of the Round Table!" A round table was placed behind Korose. "I can send one Noble Knight into my cemetery each endphase, if my field and grave hold three or more Noble Knights!" Four seats were taken, two by the living Bedwyr and Laundsallyn and two by the spirits of Artorigus and Medraut. "I send Noble Knight Eachtar!" They were joined by a third spirit; the noble brother of Laundsallyn.

"Well well. So there was more to your deck than brute force? Or there is now..." Powell drew his card. "I am willing to bet you are thinking about my choice of cards." He said as he summoned another beast, a young deer(2/400/900) with grass growing on its back. "I confess to loving nature just as much as I love the mysteries of the universe. Even this simple farm has its charm. But there is simply nothing left undiscovered on this earth. The Numbers are all that remain 'mystic'... But enough about me. My monster is the Mystical Beast Valerifawn. Once in my turn, it can discard one card.." Powell sent a monster from his hand into the graveyard. "..and revive a beast of level 1 or 2." And Valerifawn took that discarded back out and placed it on the field; a white bunny(2/200/1400) with chia-like plants growing out of its back. "This here is the Mystical Beast Kalantosa. When another beast summons it, Kalantosa can destroy one of your cards." The rabbit curled up into a ball of spiky plants and rolled towards Laundsallyn.

"I activate Bedwyrs effect! He can give one Noble Arms to another Knight on my field!" Bedwyr handed his brother the Noble Arms of Destiny. "Hm?" Now that Laundsallyn was equipped with that Noble spell, it could stave off its own destruction once this turn. The Black knight used the silver shield to bounce Kalantosa back. "Interesting. One leaves itself open to save the other. Indeed, joined forces can accomplish great things." Powell took Valerifawn and Kalantosa, putting them on top of each other. "Such a shame we lost your contribution to our cause."

"I shall Xyz-summon the Sky Cavalry Centaurea!" The two Mystical beasts overlayed into each other in the sky. One sacred centaur angel(2/2000/0) rode down the path of light they had carved in their ascent. "I equip it with a spell card: Big Bang Shot! It adds 400 attackpoints and piercing powers to my monster's attack!" The hooves of the divine centaur(2400/0) were sharpened greatly. "Now.. it attacks your knight Bedwyr!" Centaurea first stabbed the Noble warrior with its lance, and then it trampled it under its feet. His master had to share its pain due to Big Bang Shot. "I..ngh." Korose realized switching the Arms again was pointless, as Noble Arms of Destiny had already stopped one death this turn. That was not the only reason, as Powell was happy to make clear. "Centaurea can not be destroyed in battle! And by detaching one material it can return a monster, that it battled with, to a players hand." Not even the Destiny Arms could get around that kind of field removal. "You should never have gone against us, agent K. You are just one man, against all the power in the world."

Korose's LP: 7100

...

"Every minute we waste, Azar gets to infect someone else. Why are we standing around here?" Subito's patience had its limits. The Seven had been sitting here in this monitor room at the base for hours. Knowing what Azar could do now had only fueled his determination to apprehend him. "Until Kapha has developed an antidote of sorts, we can not go out there! That's what Darcy said!" Claud, like the others, were less inclined to go out there and risk getting infected. "You keep calling him Azar. But he is infected himself, right? With Chaos.." Ion had noticed how Subito's stance on Azar had slowly changed over the last few days. As far as he saw it, Azar was just a puppet of Chaos. "I am not so sure anymore." Subito could not even tell if Chaos was in control. That man sounded like Azar, and his powers were nothing like the powers of Chaos anymore "I want to end this as much as you, Subito. Even if you should take this time to recover." Ariel could see the damage Damage was doing to himself. His face was pale and his hands were trembling. "I want my brother back too. But.. maybe.." With all of this mayhem, she began to question their stance. She could not understand why Dakar had looked so guilty about his betrayal back at Neo Avalon. "Maybe.. they are still the people we know."

"Excuse the intrusion." Xander walked into the room. "Kapha has detected signs of Chaos.. Azar, whichever you prefer. You are not going to enjoy this news however." Xander was used to being the bearer of bad news by now. He activated his D-pad to visualize a holographic map of the world. "Huh? That can't be right.." There were five coordinates marked on the map. "I am affraid it is, Claud. Either Azar and his friends are in five places at once, or the spread has begun."

(To be Continued in Cipher 25: The Mind does not See Itself)

New Cards used by Korose
Noble Knight Bedwyr
Noble Knight Eachtar

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Round Table of the Noble Knights

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Soul Transition

New Cards used by Director Powell
MogMole
Mystical Beast Valerifawn
Mystical Beast Kalantosa
Sky Cavalry Centaurea

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Big Bang Shot