Chapter 36: "Saints & hands"
21:21 PM (Japan Time), Sunday July the 27th…
"… Hum. Isaac seems to be unlocking new abilities with each passing day given Shadow Man's footage… What do you think, Omega?"
"He's rising very fast. Maybe he could become an opponent worth my time even…"
"By the way! Did you manage to fix the damned system?"
"Yeah. I altered it so that you still kept your normal avatar instead of being forcibly installed into a game sprite."
"Did you make sure to lock the guy there, in the capsule?"
"Yeah. And I removed the power core manually too."
"Fine. Let the guy stay there until the 1st. That should be enough of a lesson to teach the guy I'm serious and this is not the type of thing you can waltz outta from by saying "oh, my bad"…"
Vadous and Omega were discussing inside of the Subspace HQ's command bridge room and both looked serious: Vadous was impatiently tapping the armrests while Omega calmly stood in front of him while folding his arms and looking calm.
"He fished out the report on Twilight… It includes some info which Kanou Shade mailed with his farewell message…"
"Yeah… "Cousin Vadous. I and Kuroshiro – kun have taken a decision: we will be exiling ourselves from this Time-Space. As long as Twilight is around then there'll be no peace for us and especially Kuroshiro – kun: I don't want him to end up becoming such a cruel person. Thus we will go to his "origin", to his Time-Space… And there we will carve our future: so this is my farewell. We didn't get to talk much but I don't mind it. Knowing you then… You'll surely be able to push back that guy. Good luck."… And they're still there: maybe they've sent a monitor to check on what's happened here and decided that it's not safe to come back… It's been almost a year by now…" Vadous quoted with a sigh.
"By the way: did we get to figure out what happened in January with that "Ancient Mansion Incident" in Kobe? I know it didn't involve any of us but the police report concluded someone was using the dismantled club by the same name as scapegoat while acting solo…"
"I think I know who did it: that "Empress" girl who worked for that Sidier guy and that "Emperor S" guy… She knew Saito was too protected and that their friends also were so she went and picked someone unrelated so as to not to draw attention… I think the victim didn't suffer post-traumatic sequels and managed to continue with his life…"
"So that's how it was." Omega calmly rubbed his chin.
"Hullo. Sorry to butt in…"
"Ah. Zero. I was expecting you."
"I've got some news… Anaya had Isaac and Nelaus participate in the "Survival Seven" game and had a chat with Millionaire… A guy named Drill Man meddled around too…" Zero explained with a shrug.
"Why would she chat with Millionaire? I remember about her even though I never met her… Did she want some favor?" Vadous wondered.
"No. Old times' chat…" Zero corrected.
"Oh? Old times? They knew each other from somewhere before? Maria deleted a lot of data on her life and Marco's…"
"Boston College…"
"Boston College, huh… No wonder… At least I figure her mother was the CEO for a perfume flask producing company with lots of profits… And Marco's father was manager of an electronic components store which was very popular and which sold all kind of loose components: capacitors, resistors, diodes, LEDs…" Vadous wasn't too surprised by the report.
"Well. Isaac beat most of the game before Drill Man meddled around because he'd been hired as industrial spy… He gave the guy a beating and he fled before Anaya and Millionaire had some little chat and then parted ways… They just wanted to meet each other again… And, also…"
"What else?" Vadous calmly asked next.
"It'd seem Millionaire had been tagging with Anaya in "dominatrix" back in college days but grew bored of it and quit." He added.
"Ah. How fortunate for us." Vadous muttered with a hint of sarcasm.
"Guess that. Snake Man actually brought it up as an idea to fuel her up but you can't blame the guy because he'd just heard that it was "thrilling" and "fashionable" but she shot the idea down…"
"Anything else?" Omega asked.
"Well… Thunder Man approached me and told me they'd shut down a new business Anaya had tried to fuel up but since the grunts there were rather blunt and amateurs then… They got caught on the act and the crowd beat them before the police took them away… There was a court in which the old mayor was involved and found guilty of tax evasion, collaboration with the criminals and corruption… That project of trying to tear down the Downtown of Heaven's Town was found to be filled with money which some avid constructing companies who were eager to build luxury hotels next to the "amusement park"…"
"Hmpf. Enzan – kun mistrusted the guy and eventually submitted data to the police to arrest him when he was caught red-handed back in October, 2004… Had it coming… Anyway… Has the "Committee" reported anything new either?"
"A "Synchro Chip" was stolen from the Science Labs last evening by Freeze Man in person… They must want Nelaus to gain that ability and have him participate in "CF" battles…"
"No wonder." Omega wasn't surprised.
"I'm wondering… Maybe the abilities Isaac has will be restricted in "Cross Fusion" mode because they would take a toll on Nelaus' body… Anaya couldn't have predicted it back in early 2003 because "Cross Fusion" wouldn't be invented until two years from then…"
"Good point, Zero. But he could still use "Program Advances"…"
"At least those are predictable." Zero argued back.
"Another good point… I should've thought of that…"
"And the guy was smug enough to leave a note saying "I'll freeze you and abandon you in the South Pole"…" Zero fumed.
"As smug as always, huh?" Omega wasn't surprised.
"Sure thing… Did you fix the mess?"
"Yeah. And the guy will never forget this lesson either."
"Alright. By the way, I checked with Blues and Search Man too… Blues told me he'd had to repel 5 attacks by industrial spies who seem to have been hired by the same guys Drill Man was and Search Man had to fight back 7 attacks by Middle Eastern militia…"
"So they're trying to sprout up some headaches, huh?"
"Prism Man also narrated how 11 hackers employed by the Choina Secret Service coordinated an strike against the HQ but they got repelled because their Navis were pretty cheap and they couldn't use anything else which wasn't Cannon or Sword Battle Chips… They'd managed to allocate a Mettool for each but they were no big deal… It'd seem they're having them operate in a rather tight budget."
"They must think this branch is a waste of their time and that they don't have time for some dispute with Japan despite the bad feeling between each other stretching back from WWII…"
"That's gotta be why, then… I also dropped by the lab the "Professor" had but it's empty and building up dust… I'm still surprised at the scale of the place… Guess there were some naturally existing catacombs or caves which he built over using robots I discovered there and there… Robots which surely Wily developed… Speaking of Wily…"
"Did he make some progress with Regal after he did that of bringing up the locked memories? Charles did briefly tell me about that."
"I wouldn't be so confident but…" Omega trailed off.
"He said "some initial progress"… It'd seem that he's starting to slowly admit he was being too cruel and Wily is showing him how he was just repeating his own mistakes… Maybe there's still room for a proper apology to Hikari – hakase but it'll be rather tense… Maybe having Lezareno or Colonel Talos close by would do if Hikari – hakase lets his emotions take a hold on him and… You know."
"Hum. Yeah. You've got a point there too… I'll speak with them. Have you met with Quick Man?"
"The guy was investigating some corruption plot between constructing companies involved in the project to urbanize the valley and the local governor which got arrested back then… The project got frozen and they got told to build on other cities which needed new facilities due to the increase in population but not before re-seeding all vegetation they'd torn down… Wood Man was helping along with Skull Man… Shark Man was having a look around Oosaka Harbor to make sure there's no smuggling involved there..." Zero listed.
"Good. What about Shadow Man?"
"He's roaming around backup servers since he suspects those could be hit as well… The "WWW Team" got mobilized by Wily and they are hunting down info there and there… Davis is reinforcing the firewalls of the "Justice Council" and said he needed to upgrade his processor too…"
"No wonder: if he wants to pull more "PAs" then he'll need to allocate some more processor to them." Omega calmly rubbed his chin and wasn't surprised.
"Well. I guess that's all for now… I'm off to chasing more info or trying to get a glimpse of those guys… Stay on guard."
"Huff. Twilight…! He can do better than this: he's been TOO quiet as of late and I don't think he's spending his time training those two. The guy must be up to something: more rip-offs? The whole Bat-man villain gallery or what? Now that would be LAME." Vadous fumed.
"Hmpf… Let them come… I'll simply cut them up into pieces…"
07:57 AM (Honolulu Time), Sunday July the 27th…
"… Alright. We'll project a "Dimensional Area" in this room and then you must insert the "Synchro Chip" inside while yelling "Cross Fusion" to start up the sequence… If the "Synchronism" rate is correct then there shouldn't be any problems…"
"Roger, Twilight – senpai."
"We're ready."
"Tee, heh, heh. Show it to me…"
"This could be interesting."
"It will be interesting, Mr. Izono. Excuse me for the smoke."
"Don't mind it, Mr. Opoulos."
Nelaus was standing in a large storeroom inside of the "Deadly Pandora" HQ and having a "Synchro Chip" ready: Yoru Yami was giving him final instructions while Anaya giggled, Izono was dry and Opoulos was amused as he smoke another cigar.
"So! Kranos. Are you going to end up importing Cuban cigars like Big Boss used to do~?" Anaya teased.
"It could be." He calmly replied without beating an eyebrow.
"So? What's your terrific strategy about?"
"Oh? That? I expect to be able to pull it off by next week: I wouldn't like to spoil anything but it'll be… Thrilling." He inwardly chuckled.
"My, my. Tease Man strikes at us from the NNE flank, Marco!"
"I knew that, my lady." He replied in a stiff tone of voice.
"Stiff Boy shows up through the evil backdoor of bad boys."
"That was from the college time." He looked like he'd never particularly liked that silly rhyme.
"Good memory, yeah. Maybe Memory Monster is stirring it up?"
"Huff. I'm starting to be fed up, really, Anaya – san."
"Tee, heh, heh."
"Start!"
"Synchro Chip, Slot In! CROSS FUSION!"
"Oho! It's begun."
The sphere of energy formed around Nelaus' body and the four presents shielded their eyes as it began to dim.
"Excellent!"
The "Cross Fusion" design for Nelaus had gone through some redesigns compared to Isaac's normal form.
To begin with, his helmet kept the blue coloring yet it had gained three square dots on the ear-pads and on the middle of the forehead which were colored golden, crystal and silver from left to right: a black matrix filled the rest of the helmet's surface.
His eyes remained the same and some blonde hair popped out behind the helmet.
The emblem remained unchanged and so did the armor protecting the base of his neck: yet, on the space below the emblem and before the waist belt (unchanged) the alphabet letters "S" and "E" colored in a platinum color had been drawn: the "S" was on the left and the "E" to the right of the vertical line splitting the body in two.
The shoulder design hadn't changed and the arms' patterns remained the same yet his forearms armor was different: the armor over the wrist was transparent purple in color and the Alphabet "N" letter colored green was set over it: the space over the palm had a black circle which contained a small red dot in the middle surrounded by different scales of red from dull red to crimson red.
The fingers had transparent red rings set on each one which glowed with a dull red glow.
His waist belt design hadn't been altered and his legs' drawings and knee guards were still the same.
His boots had slightly changed because they now had red and black matrixes across their whole surface and they included those "eyes" like in the space over the hands and set on both sides of each boot.
"… Wow! So this is "Cross Fusion"?" He wondered.
"Sure. I'm everywhere and nowhere." Isaac joked.
"And you're seeing through sensors?"
"Correct. And they tell me the HP values plus the integrity of the "Cross Fusion"… Remember! Any bickering between us might break it down like Hikari Netto and Rock Man found out way over 3 years ago during the day in which Bubble Man hit the Waterworks… Attacks to the chest emblem can lead to the break-up of it and the "Synchro Chip" too… And consecutive blows would deplete the HP values too and it would break down as well like "Darkloid" Desert Man did on that day of the factory trap…" Isaac reminded him.
"OK, Mr. History Teacher."
"Jeez. Just remember something else: all of my abilities are disabled in this mode because they'd take a toll on your physical strength… We'll have to resource to "Program Advances" and normal Battle Chips… You've got 25 of them but thanks to the "Folder Back" which Twilight – sama designed to re-load all 25 Battle Chips then… You could use all of them without running out because "Folder Back" would show up again."
"Let's try on something!"
"Try on those targets."
Yoru Yami snapped his right hand's fingers and some straw dummies showed up: "CF" Nelaus headed for them.
"Program Advance! Sword, Wide Sword, Long Sword!"
"Dream Sword!"
"Time to be sliced up!"
"Eat this!"
"CF" Nelaus sliced four of the dummies up by swinging the Dream Sword horizontally and then cut another vertically as well: 6 new dummies formed and "CF" Nelaus chuckled.
"Program Advance! Hi Cannon, Triple Slot In!"
"Giga Cannon!"
The blast destroyed more dummies because he slowly swung it towards the right to attack more enemies at the same time.
"Enough static targets: let's switch to moving."
12 Net Navis having a hostile look to them and wielding electrical bludgeons advanced towards him.
"Program Advance! Hell's Burner, Triple Slot In!"
"Wide Burner!"
"CF" Nelaus formed a large flamethrower weapon which shot a blast of flames: the blast expanded and kept on pouring out so it burnt out all of the Navis who were about to attack: Yoru Yami looked amused at the results and calmly clapped to summon 24 of them this time around but "CF" Nelaus didn't lose his cool.
"Program Advance! Wave Arm, Triple Slot In!"
"Power Wave!"
"CF" Nelaus hit the ground with both fists and two shockwaves spread forward parallel to his main body and which took out 16 of the Navis because they'd formed 3 rows of 8 units each one: the remaining 8 formed a circle around him.
"Battle Chip, Prism, Mega Cannon! Double Slot In!"
"CF" Nelaus calmly formed the Prism and threw it into the air before shooting the Mega Cannon at it: the beams bounced off it.
"Say "bye" and "bye-bye", you guys." He made a pun.
"Jeez."
The spreading beams hit the remaining 8 opponents and took out them out with ease: Yoru Yami looked satisfied.
"Not bad for the first attempt… You'll have time to polish it in the days to come… I'm a bit busy as of late preparing a little surprise which Mr. Opoulos requested of me…"
"So you're in the teasing club too, eh, Twilight? Well. I don't mind: just get your work done and tell us when it's ready. I'm off to playing MGS4 in Hard Mode and trying to go for stamina battle… I want to start digging up stuff there and there…" Anaya grinned.
"Hmmm… Maybe you could use the empty adjacent storeroom to train with the guys too… Given how it's sound-proof then you wouldn't be bothering anyone and the "DA" would seal it off to prevent damage to its structure…" He muttered.
"Very wise." Opoulos grinned.
"Indeed." Izono dully muttered back.
"And now… Cantos y manos! Santos y manos! Largos y manos!"
"Mike and Vincent AGAIN?" Opoulos grumbled.
"I dunno where he gets his ideas… "Songs & hands! Saints & hands! Long & hands!"… His Mexican Vodka must make him believe he's a singer this time around…" Isaac sighed.
"That guy and his obsession with rhymes and hands… They should send him an articulated fake hand by post mail and he'd faint: now that would snap him out of it…" Yoru Yami muttered with some annoyance.
"Whatever. Project Terror is about to begin. Heh, heh, heh."
You guys go ahead and laugh but… I'm starting to reach for the "truth"…
And we'll figure out your plans for us… We won't become mere puppets!